Immo, quæ nobis disciplinam ceteram
Severis omni ex parte sepsit legibus,
Parens Eliza, cui debemus omnia,
Hanc ipsa nobis imperat comœdiam.
Nempe hoc, opinor, voluit; ut pueri sui
Jam primis inde ab annis adsuëscerent,
Fidenter, isto vultu qui ingenuum decet,
Cœtus frequentes intueri et alloqui:
Ut ne in senatu, curiâ, rostris, foro,
Trepident incertâ mente, et servili metu,
Risumque moveant mussitando turpiter.

Hoc est quod illa nobis scenâ hâc annuâ,
Credo, consultum voluit Mater optima.
Sin arbitretur quispiam hæc ad commoda
Aliâ potiore posse contendi viâ,

Si sineret illud tempus, est contra mihi
Quod disputarem plurimum; nunc non sinit.
Ergò ut fruatur is suâ sententiâ

Patimur libenter; nos vicissim poscimus
Ut, qualem Eliza jussit, hic saltem loci,
Sinat receptam stare consuetudinem;
Dum vos probetis, dumque nostra industria
Sit grata vobis, atque nobis utilis.

EPILOGUS.

MYSIS, DAVUS, CRITO.

Dave, resiste; mane. Dic quò properes. D. Nihil ad te.

M. Scire volo. D. Arcanum est.

M. Hoc magis ergo volo.

D. Importunum animal, muliercula! M. Dic tamen, oro.
D. Chirurgum accerso. M. Cur ita? D. Jussit herus:
Vult vaccinari natum. M. Proh Jupiter! An non

Novit, quæ generet monstra Bovilla Lues?

Heu! Miserande puer, si qua fata

aspera rumpas,

Tu cornutus eris! D. Perge! scd ecce Crito.

Opportunus ades. C. Quid enim? D. Auscultare ut aniles
Fabellas possis, stultitiamque-M. Tuam.

C. Narra, si quid habes, positis ambagibus. D. Audi

Perpaucis: taceas tu modò, si potis es.

M. Non possum. D. Medicus quidam est-M. Vaccinus Apollo! C. Quid porro ? D. Morbum repperit ille novum.

C. Perpulchrum sanè inventum! D. Sed qui tamen istas

Funestas possit tollere Variolas,

Ipse pericli expers. M. Falsum hoc utrumque. D. Tace tu.

Is de vaccinis ducitur uberibus.

M. Nec pudet infantum puris immittere venis,
Quicquid morborum bestia turpis habet.
D. Atqui non illis epulæ nocuere repostæ,
Bacchusque, ardentis Juniperique liquor.
Vaccino quid lacte, cedo, aut quid carne bovinâ
Dulcius? ut carni congruit illa meæ !

At tu, bone, narra,

M. Hoc argumentum est vitulinum.

Bos ipsa hoc virus, si potes, unde trahat.

D. Nescio: Davus sum, non-M. Scilicet. Atqui ego dicam.

Non novus hic morbus, sed vetus est scabies.

Hâc peste est inter mulgendum infecta malignâ
Vacca, Caledoniæ quam tetigere manus.

Hinc gangræna, lepræ, tetra ulcera, gramineum pus,

Et tinea, et tabes, atque elephantiasis.

D. Num vera hæc? M. Num vera? canis! Vera omnia. D. Quî scis?

M. Audivi, inquam, et credo; et scio; non dubium est.

Et testes mihi sunt Archillis, Lesbia: libri

Sexcenti. D. Docti, Jupiter! et lepidi.

M. Sunt et picturæ; maculosæ forma puellæ
Scilicet, et pueri, qui gerit ora bovis.
Et jam vera, puto, est ea fabula Minotauri,
Et vaccinator Dedalus ille fuit.
Infelix Io! quondam miseranda juvenca
Vaccinatoris crimine facta Jovis!
Protides implêrunt veris mugitibus agros.

D. Hei mihi! jam linguæ est fræna datura suæ.
M. Aurea mox ergo et Saturnia regna redibunt,
Horrida gramineis secula pasta cibis ;

Quum benè erat, si cruda interdum aut arbuta capro,
Aut glandem poterant præripuisse sui :
Atque homo, ceu modò nescio quis Sophus iste canebat,
Prolixum caudæ ponè trahebat onus:

Ipsi cornigeri Dî capri pedesque; Jovisque

Et soror et conjux dicta, Bownis erat:

Et Tauri magis apta Jovi, quàm forma Tonantis
Visa est, Europa quâ peteretur amor.

Mox quoque nostra ætas D. Ætas non aurea saltem !
M. Monstra feret nullis cognita temporibus.
Helluo posthabitâ testudine civicus herbas,

Et, Bacchi exosus munera, poscet aquam.
Spectantes asinos equus histrio delectabit:
Afraque visetur non Medicea Venus.
Nupturiens discet nudare puella decenter.
Non teretes suras, lacteolosque sinus,
Sed crurum tenus à mento palearia, et hirtas
Proh Di! sub camuris cornibus auriculas.

D. Tum quoque nulla geret, credo, muliercula, quales
Tu tot pulchellas, Mysis, in ore notas.

M. Dî te eradicent! Jam dic, Crito, nonne probatum est
Vaccinistam omnem commeruisse crucem?

C. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites:

Te vitula dignam censeo, teque bove.

M. Quin audi jam plura. C. Audivi plus satis; et jam
Rebus confectis omnibus ire libet.-

Quicquid id est, benè vortat: et huc si quando revortar,
Offendam salvos Vos, memoresque-Omn. Mei.

1811.

OXFORD ENGLISH PRIZE POEM.

PARTHENON,

As in some drooping form and time-worn face

Oft lingers yet the shade of youthful grace;
Lo, Parthenon, thy beauty still appears
Amid the wreck of thy forgotten years.

Though rude barbarian mosques profane thy site,
And cells unveil'd now mingle with the light;
Though but one lonely pillar lives to tell
Where a long range of shapely columns fell;
And, half suspended now, thy ruin nods
O'er mould'ring fragments of its prostrate gods;
Yet still Oblivion seems to toil in vain,
For what she razes, Fancy rears again.

Nor rears thee, Parthenon, of meaner mould,
Than when, from Cecrops' cliff, would gleam of old
Thy lustre o'er the rocky plain; or burst
Through morning mists by orient suns disperst:
How glows the frontispiece! in sumptuous stone
An awful Jove his offspring seems to own;
With gaze majestic on the stranger bent,
The heav'nly conclave nod their dread assent:
High on her car she stands, the Virgin Queen,
In peaceful garb array'd, and peaceful mien:
Light bound her steeds, unconscious of the rein,
While bloodless transport throbs in every vein.
Neptune behind, in Parian stone, the earth
Strikes; and behold a war-horse spring to birth.
Next Pallas gives the word; from stony roots
The branch of Peace in budding marble shoots→→
Eight fluted columns, rank'd in even file,
In front and rear adorn the shadowy pile:
The channel'd triglyph, and its dropping base,
Bespeak the new-born temple's Dorian race:
There might you see, a dread-inspiring sight,
The Lapitha and Centaurs wreath'd in fight.
Those wield their giant limbs; these grasp their foe
With sinewy arms, which branch from beasts below.
Far-sloping pillars range along each side,
And stretch a portico sublime and wide:
Six, at each front, retiring from the eye,
Shun its observance, but to tempt it nigh.
In slow procession move around the frieze,
Virgins, and youths, and guardian Deities.-
Such Fancy paints thee, Parthenon, and pours
Meridian splendor on thy waning hours.

As oft the sun, on some tall mountain's brow,
Crown'd with the wreath that winter wove, as now
It melts in silent lapse, will fling his ray,
And lend it lustre, while it wastes away.

T. BURDON.

NOTICE OF

Q. HORATII FLACCI OPERA,

Cum variis Lectionibus, notis Variorum, et Indice Locupletissimo.
Tom. II. Londini,

Extracted from the British Critic, of January, 1794.
With alterations and additions.

NO. I.

WHEN this splendid edition of Horace was first presented to our

view, we exclaimed in the words of Catullus,

Charta regiæ, novi libri,

Novi umbilici, lora rubra, membrana

Directa plumbo, et pumice omnia æquata."

The brightness of the paper, the amplitude of the margin, and the elegance of the type displayed in this work, are nearly unrivalled. They do honor to the taste and liberality of the editors. They show, that by encouragement and exertion, the art of printing is in a high and progressive state of improvement, and we are confident that many of our readers will be eager to purchase an edition which has so many recommendations from novelty and magnificence.

A variorum edition of Horace has long been among the desiderata of literature, and therefore great commendation is due to the enterprising spirit which produced the work now under our consideration. It is well known, that scholars of the first eminence, have often been employed in preparing editions of this kind. Among other instances we are indebted to J. G. Grævius, for the variorum editions of Justin and Suetonius; to J. F. Gronovius for those of Plautus and Livy; to Peter Burman for those of Quintilian and Ovid. But similar publications have often been undertaken with zeal, and executed with success, by persons of less intellectual prowess, and less literary celebrity, than the critics whom we have just now enumerated. If an editor unites a large share of accuracy even with a moderate portion of erudition; if he collects materials with industry, and uses them with judgment; if he distinguishes between ingenuity and refinement, and separates useful information from ostentatious pedantry, he will have a claim to public favor, though he should not possess the exquisite taste of a Heyne, the profound erudition of a Hemsterhuis, or the keèn penetration of a Porson,

The writings of Horace are familiar to us from our earliest boyhood. They carry with them attractions which are felt in every period of life, and almost every rank of society. They charm alike by the harmony of the numbers, and the purity of the diction. They exhilarate the gay, and interest the serious, according to the Vol. v. No. IX.

L

different kinds of subjects upon which the poet is employed. Professing neither the precision of analysis, nor the copiousness of system, they have advantages, which, among the ordinary classes of writers, analysis and system rarely attain. They exhibit human imperfections as they really are, and human excellence as it prac tically ought to be. They develope every principle of the virtuous in morals, and describe every modification of the decorous in manners. They please without the glare of ornament, and they instruct without the formality of precept. They are the produce of a mind enlightened by study, invigorated by observation; comprehensive, but not visionary; delicate, but not fastidious: too sagacious to be warped by prejudice, and too generous to be cramped by suspicion. They are distinguished by language adapted to the sentiment, and by effort proportioned to the occasion. They contain elegance without affectation, grandeur' without bombast, satire without buffoonery, and philosophy without jargon.

Hence it is that the writings of Horace are more extensively read, and more clearly understood, than those of almost any other classical author. The explanation of obscure passages, and the discussion of conjectural readings, form a part of the education which is given in our public schools. The merits of commentators, as well as of the poet himself, are the subjects of our conversation; and Horace, like our own countryman Shakspeare, has conferred celebrity upon many a scholar, who has been able to adjust his text, or to unfold his allusions.

The works of some Roman and more Greek writers are involved in such obscurity, that no literary adventurer should presume to publish a variorum edition of them, unless he has explored the deepest recesses of criticism. But in respect to Horace, every man of letters knows where information is to be had, and every man of judgment will feel little difficulty in applying it to useful and even ornamental purposes.

Of such a writer as Horace, such an edition as that which has lately appeared, may be well supposed to have excited a considerable share of public curiosity. We mean, therefore, to bestow more than a common degree of attention upon the contents of the present work, and we shall endeavour to conduct our inquiry in such a manner as will not expose us to the imputation of undistinguishing praise, or acrimonious censure.

The edition now offered to the public bears at first view the name of Dr. Combe only. The Dr. however, informs us, that his

We use the word Grandeur, because we think that Horace is seldom sublime. Under the article Grandeur, in the British Encyclopædia, our readers will find the distinction between grandeur and sublimity, stated with great perspicuity and precision.