Hence the question, when the proposed numbers are employed, admits of two positive answers, according as the upper or lower signs are used. Other expressions for the values of x, besides that in the 17th equation, might have been found by a similar process from other of the above equations, thus from the 10th, 11th, and 13th, :

(b+ √ b2 − a)×(c+v c2 —d).

3

and from these expressions for the values of r, the following general nes for the other quantities are easily deduced:

From these different expressions for the values of the four quantities, x, y, z, and u, several others may be easily obtained almost equally simple: thus, if the terms of the fraction first used for a be multiplied by c+c-d, we shall have

of the rest. From the above general solution it appears, that d must be less than the square of a, b, or c, that is, less than the square of half the given sum of each pair of products, as stated in the question.

T. E.,

EPHEMERIDIS CLASSICE EDITORI S.

CUM nihil habeam, quo te magis nunc temporis oblectem, versiculos quosdam tibi mitto, nescio cujus poetæ, qui nuper in manus meas inciderunt, et qui, ut mihi videtur, in suo genere sunt elegantissimi.

Norwich, Jan. 22, 1812.

AD VESPERAM.

VESPERA casta, veni, fusco circum undique amictu,
Seriùs æstivum, vespera, conde diem.
Diva, veni, et tecum libeat per devia sylvæ
Cunctantem occulto tramite ferre pedem.
Et modò, quæ lento humectant sinuamine ripam
Sub valle egelidi quærere fontis aquas;
Et modò, culta inter, solis adrepere dumis,

Mœsta iterat dulcem quà Philomela sonum.
Sin præsaga imbris venias, atque obsita nimbis,
Dum primo venti murmure sylva tremit,

1

Sit mihi stramineis tutò succedere tectis,
Exiguo tenuis quà crepat igne focus;
Unde queam colles extremo sole rubentes,
Et raras dubiâ luce videre casas;
Unde queam ex alto muscosa culmine turris
Campanæ lentos dinumerare sonos.
Purpureæ valeant Aurora gaudia; nostra est,
Vespera, deliciis mens magis apta tuis.

The substitution of m2 would prevent a position avoided by the best Latin Poets. En.

LATIN POEM.

TEMPLUM VACUNE.

PROH dolor! egressum Baiis me excepit Etonæ

Triste nemus, cujus veteres ego sæpe per umbras
Aoniam petii votis precibusque cohortem

Irritus; haud Thamesis saliens, haud lenta Favoni
Murmura, non turres sacræ, geniusve locorum
Suppeditant numeros; posthac ea prata relinquam,
Et faciles pueros, non Musas, voce precabor.

Hos quoniam invisos mihi deseruisse Penates
Non datur; ad ludos, lecticas, balnea, cœnas,
Ad choreas, currus, nugas, et inania luxûs
Otia mente feror, nequeo dum corpore: sedem,
Quam linquo, Venus ipsa colit, Charitesque solutis
Pervolitant Zonis; festa inter pocla Lyæum
Luxuriare illic, Momum levitate jocari
Perpetuâ, atque illic solium posuisse Vacunam
Dicitur:-hane sedem Flacco quoque contigit olim
Visere, nam (memini) quæ pandit amœna celebrat:
"Nullus in orbe locus Baiis prælucet amœnis."-

Cur tamen hæc ?- Hilares fuimus, fuit otium, et ingens
Copia ludorum!-vox in sua monia Etonæ
Imperiosa trahit; studiis incumbere, noctu
Evoluisse sophos, manibus versare poetas
Præcipit assiduis, nimioque labore cerebrum
Angit et exurit; versus (Di credite!) poscit,
Cogor et invitus socii transcribere carmen ;
Quid mihi cum Phoebo? luctantia verba modorum
Stringere si possem compagibus, horrida limæ
Eriperent sensus mihi tædia: culmina Pindi
Et juga Parnassi timeo lustrare; sodales
Non generis nostri videam illic, atque profanum
Aufugio (vatum mala scilicet agmina) vúlgus.—

Vos igitur, Lucane, Maro, Juvenalis, Horati,
Atque alii centum, quos non mihi dicere promtum,
In pluteis servate locum, indulgete quieti.

Haud equidem indignor, bonus ut "dormitat Homerus,"
Dormiat æternum, lectori claudere ocellos

Scit melius nemo.-Tamen has evadere pestes,
Et procul à studiis, utinam, Musisque liceret,

Non veterum libris," sed "somno et inertibus horis,
"Ducere sollicitæ jucunda oblivia vitæ.”

January, 1803.

VOL. V. No. IX.

H. H. JOY.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

MISCELLANEOUS.

A MS. Latin Translation of the lost Optics of Ptolemy has been lately found in the Imperial library at Paris. It was made by one Ammiratus Siculus.

It is said that, in the convent of Mount Athos, a Greek manuscript has been found, which contains the text of about eighty Comedies, supposed to be works of Menander and of Philemon. Doubtless, Asia Minor and Turkey abound in these curiosities, as well as the religious houses in Russia.

PREPARING FOR THE PRESS.

CLASSICAL.

In One Volume, Octavo, by JOHN MITFORD, A. B. the Achilleis of Statius; with the collations of several MSS. and some editions whose readings have not been given before, particularly two very scarce ones belonging to Lord Spencer. This work is intended to be followed by the Thebais.

In November will be published, by subscription, in Two Volumes, Quarto, (by express permission,) under the immediate auspices of His Royal Highness George Augustus Frederic, Prince Regent of the United Kingdom, and to be dedicated to the Right Honorable Lord Grenville, Chancellor of the University of Oxford; a new Translation (in Rhyme) of "The Nature of Things," a Didactic Poem, in Six Books; by Titus Lucretius Carus, with Preface, Life of the Author, Dissertation on his genius, philosophy, and morals; and Notes Comparative, Illustrative, Historical, and Scientific. By Thomas Busby, Mus. Doc. Cantab.

The work to be printed on a beautiful wove royal quarto, hot-pressed, with an entire new type; to be embellished with the Head of Epicurus, Founder of the Poet's Philosophy; and presented to the Subscribers in a form resembling that of the original Edition of Pope's Homer. Price to Subscribers, Four Guineas, (to be paid on the delivery of the work): to Non-subscribers, Five Guineas. A few copies will be printed on rich imperial paper, price Six Guineas.— Noblemen and Gentlemen, intending to honor this work with their patronage, are requested to favor the Translator with their names as early as convenient, mentioning which paper they prefer. No. 36, Queen-Anne Street West, Cavendish Square, London.

C. BADHAM, M. D. Physician to His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, is preparing a new Translation of Juvenal into English Verse, with brief Annotations. A specimen of the first Satire, and a few detached passages, may be had on application to Mr. Parker, Oxford, or Mr. Hatchard, Piccadilly, London, price 1s.

ORIENTAL.

The Reverend Mr. FABER is preparing for the press a work intitled, Origines Mythologica. The object of it is to show the fundamental identity and common origin of the various mythological systems of Paganism; whether Greek, Etruscan, Egyptian, Persian, Iliensian, Phoenician, Chinese, Indian, Scythian, (that is, Gothic,) Celtic, or American, &c. The coincidences between them are such as to prove, that they must have been originally one system, though consisting of two grand kindred branches, sometimes distinct, and sometimes blending themselves together. Hence it will follow, that there must have been some center, whence the various allied systems were carried to every part of the globe.

1. The first Book of the work is devoted to the mixed antediluvian and diluvian origin of Mythology; mixed, because the pagan accounts of the creation and the deluge are almost always blended together, and because many other matters are similarly united. In this book, as well as in the succeeding ones, it is the plan of the work to view the different systems comparatively; which will be found effectually to explode the common idea, that the classical writers were wont to give the names of classical gods to the deities of other nations, not on

account of any real and proper identity of character, but purely from some accidental and partial resemblance. Thus he contends, that the Theutates of the Celts, and the Tuisto or Woden of the Goths, were each really the Mercury or Hermes of the classics, being the very same personage both in name and character as the Phœnician Taut, the Egyptian Thoth, and the Hindoo Tat or Datta, who is said to have established himself in Egypt.

2. The second Book treats of the astronomical, material, and diluvian, origin of Mythology. In this, among other matters, the characters of the gods and goddesses of the different pagan nations are examined; the descent of what may be called romance, whether ancient, modern, or ecclesiastical, is traced; the peculiar religious sentiments and notions, with which the heathen places of worship were constructed, are inquired into; and the poetical astronomy of the ancients is discussed.

3. The third Book is employed on the postdiluvian origin of Mythology. In this, the triads of deity, venerated in every part of the Gentile world, are examined, and it is shown, from their obvious general bearings, connection, and history, that they cannot, as some learned men have most unfortunately conjectured, have the least relation to the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Trinity, but that they have originated from two successive primeval triads of an altogether different description. In this book likewise the inquiry is carried up to that common center, whence the allied superstitions must have sprung: and it is attempted to be shown, that neither Scripture nor probability, (not to say, possibility) will warrant the opinion of a most able mythological inquirer, that the evident identity of pagan mythology was altogether the result of the conquests of a single warlike family. Here, the mode of the primitive dispersion and the character of the leaders of the dispersed, both sacerdotal and military, will be investigated; and certain subsequent migrations and conquests of a remarkable people, whose chief settlements have been from the earliest ages in Cashgar, Boutan, Thibet, and Bokhara, will be traced. These have been known, in various countries and different ages, under the names of Scuths, or Scythæ, Chasas, Cushas, Ethiopians, Asiatic and African, Palli, or Bhils, or Philistim, Getes, Goths, Germans, and Saxons. Their influence has been great and widely extended; and their grand religious peculiarity, as an unmixed race, has been a vehement devotion to the Budahic or Taautic theology, as contradistinguished from, though nearly allied to, the Bacchic, or (for want of a more appropriate name) the Brahmenical system. Both these systems are discussed at large in the course of the second Book.

4. The fourth Book traces the origin of that singular resemblance both in matter of form and of sentiment, which may be observed between the Pagan systems and the Levitical economy, and in some respects even Christianity itself. The opposite schemes of Maimonides, Spencer, and Warburton, on the one hand, and of Gale, Dickenson, and Huet, on the other, are examined, and rejected as untenable; and, what at least appears to the author, the true origin of that resemblance is traced and established.

It is trusted, that in the present day of infidelity, the preceding inquiries will not be wholly devoid of utility; because, by the bringing together of much curious, but scattered, matter, they decidedly prove the truth and authenticity of the first eleven chapters of Genesis; below which, that is to say, posterior to the dispersion from Babel, we have very few satisfactory vestiges of the origin of Pagan Mythology.

As a strong prejudice prevails against etymology, it is abandoned as a foundation. The present system rests upon circumstantial evidence, not upon words; and, wherever the author indulges in an etymological conjecture, it may be admitted or rejected at pleasure, without at all affecting the ground-work. Yet there are instances, in which it would be no better than a childish acquiescence in prejudice, to doubt the proper identity of names, when the ground of that identity may be satisfactorily traced. Thus Goth, Scuth, and Chesa, are undoubtedly variations of but one Gentile title; and thus Taut, Thoth, Theutates, Tuisto, Twashta, Tat, Tatta, and Datta, are certainly one name of one primeval character.