but on the whole of the facts of atmospheric illusion there is certainly much room for speculation and research.

Professor

On the cold Winds which issue out of the Earth. De Saussure, M. Chaptal, and others, have given an account of caves in various countries, out of which a cold stream of wind issues during the hot season; which is more rapid and of a lower temperature, the hotter the external air is but which in the winter changes its course, and is directed into the earth. In the present memoir, we find an account of a considerable number of these caves, by that accurate observer M. De Saussure; who has given a theory designed to account for the effect. On this theory, Mr. Nicholson makes several remarks which shew that it does not agree with the known facts. He himself thinks that this effect is simply the consequence of the slow heating and cooling of the materials of a porous hill. If these materials be supposed to require the greatest part of the summer to cool them, there will be a descending current within the hill, which will flow out at the base; and, on the contrary, when the external air becomes colder than the internal porous mass, the air in the interstices being less dense. will ascend, and be followed by a converging current round. the foot of the mountain. He directs his reasoning to the Mont Testaceo near Rome, which is intirely artificial, being composed of broken pottery; and he points out various familiar incidents in common dwelling-houses, in which currents of the same nature are produced.

We have now gone through nearly the first half of this curious and entertaining volume; and here we must stop. If we have opportunity, we may perhaps return to the latter portion of it but various accidents have so long delayed this ar ticle, that more than an additional volume has since been presented by Mr. Nicholson to the public; and what we have already said will afford our readers an adequate idea of the nature and value of his very commendable labours.

ART. IX. EYPIПIAOY EKABH. Euripidis Hecuba, ad fidem Manuscriptorum emendata, &c.

ART. X. IN EURIPIDIS HECUBAM Londini nuper publicatam Diatribe extemporalis. Composuit Gilbertus Wakefield.

ART. XI. ΕΥΡΙΠΙΔΟΥ ΟΡΕΣΤΗΣ. Euripidis Orestes, ad fidem Manuscriptorum emendata, &c.

[Continued from p. 207.]

TH HERE now remains, it is believed, only one of Mr. Wakefield's manifold charges against Mr. Porson's Hecuba, which demands examination. This is an objection, indeed, on

Y 4

which

which he appears to lay great stress, as may be conjectured from its having been frequently repeated in the Diatribe. The rule itself, on which the charge is founded, was originally laid down by Mr. W. in his Silva Critica, has been adopted in his philological writings, and is practically exemplified in his Tragadiarum Delectus. The following are the passages in the Diatribe:

"

P. 5. Primum mirari subit, V. D. qui summo jure MSS. et editionis Aldina testimonia tanti fecerit, auctoritates gravissimas passim contemptui habere, toties appingendo finalem si litera consonans sequatur; quam vis manifestissimum sit, et multis exemplis evincendum, librarios, qui istud additamentum invenissent, nusquam fuisse omissuras; sed omissum, propter inanem de metro timorem, multo facilius invecturos. Probani MSS. probant editiones auctorum vetustissima, hoc figmentum a Græcorum priscorum consuetudine prorsus esse alienissimum, ac scribis recentioribus unice deberi : biatui solummodo occludendo serviens, non autem producendis syllabis. Exemplo sit ver. 236. hujusce dramatis ;

ουδ' ώλεσεν με Ζ.υς

Ita V. D. edidit; Aldus autem et MS. Harl. luculentissime exhibent who: neque aliter fere passim. Si quis quærat, quomodo versum legam bujuscemodi, eum interrogem vicissim, quá ratione ver. 9. legendus sit:

Φίλιππον λαον ευθυνων ΔΩΡΙ :

aut Lucretii consimilis, iv. 271.

——— certe penitus remota videtur :

nam libri veteres MSS. literam non geminant. Hinc nimirum voci scienter modulata nullum negotium facessitur; nec, nisi suo periculo, miramque per inconstantiam, prudens editor has leges violat, quas grammatici, scholiasta, MSS. cum scriptoribus antiquis, citantibus poëtas, cumulate sanciunt. Nobismetipsis saltem nihil antiquius est, quam ineptias qualescunque, (et bene multis etiamnum procul dubio obsidemur) aliis quibusvis dedocentibus, dimittere, atque ablegare: nemo rursus, nobis hanc inscitiam plus semel damnantibus et irridentibus, videtur aut refutare velle, aut relinquere, Pergant igitur, si velint, in errore longe crassissimo, nimium amantes sui; vere doctis et aquis judicibus tamen, sat scio, sponte abjudicando, librisque veterum serius ocyus, cum unanimi consensu literatorum, expellendo.'.

P. 25. Editi de solito ayev: at enim te, finalis N. cum tuâ importunitate magnus perdat Jupiter !'

P. 27. OIAE is thus proposed by G.W. for OIAEN; et odiosum illum N finalem,

Εχθρος γαρ μοι κείνος όμως αἴδιο πυλῃσι,

me hortatore rejice, secutus Aldum scilicet.'

Ρ. 33. ΕΚΙΝΗΣΕ ποδα, for ἐκίνησεν πο

P. 35. EIPHKEN. Ad ingenium redit heic quoque V. D. offam putidam, N finalem dico lectoribus ingerens; auctoritates licet tam Ald, ed, quam Stobai, simul inde, prout centies, conculcentur. Nobis non licet esse tam disertis.'

Thus far the Diatribe. The passages from the Silua Critica, which relate to the rejection of the N final, shall also be produced in the words of their author.

"SILVA CRITICA, I. p. 81. where Mr. W. is examining this
line of Sophocles, Ed. Tyr. 1280.

· ΟΜΒΡΟΣ χαλάζης ΑΙΜΟΝΟΣ εγγείο,

as he is pleased to read it; and we have not time at present to state our objections; he adds these observations: "Metrum certè in tuto est. Ultimam enim pedis Iambei syllabam, quamvis sit natura brevis, non dubitant tragici passim producere, quoties cum illa finiatur verbum.”

Mr. W. then quotes from the Aldine edition of the Phonisse four examples of the omitted N final: "288. εpeolari δόμοις. 290. δωμασι πελαζείε. 933. Που 'στι Μενοικευς. 1446. Elonyaye copioua." He next censures Musgrave, "qui non semper, ut sæpe, hanc scripturam servaverit ;" and recommends all future editors of the Greek Tragic and Epic Poets to banish this final N, as it is passim omitted in the passages which are quoted by the Grammarians and others. He then proceeds,

Ultima vocis diuero; syllaba ob pausam in Sophocle [1. c. ex Oed. T.] producitur pari jure quo Bog in Homero.

Αυτάρ επεί άυλοισι ΒΕΛΟΣ εχεπευκες εφίεις.

Nec mihi videntur de metro cruciari merito Valckenarius et Musgravius ad Eur. Hipp. 234. ob hanc ipsam causam, vim scilicet pause in syllaba postrema vocis, si pedem finiat in anapasticis et iambicis, aut incipiat in heroicis; quá syllabâ, si modo consonans sequatur, semper debet exulare finalis N.

Τι τοδ' αν παραφρον εξέιψας επος;

Such is the Metrical Canon which Mr. Wakefield has promulgated in his Silva Critica; and which, as was mentioned, he has exemplified in his philological disquisitions, and in his annotations on some of the Greek Tragedies. however, been followed, nor even mentioned, by Mr. Porson It has not, in his Notes on the Hecuba; and to this neglect, or silence, may be attributed the censures conveyed in those passages which have been just quoted from the Diatribe.-In the Professor's remarks on Orestes, indeed, there is an observation which must be considered as referring to this new law of prosody. As we gave the reader an opportunity of perusing Mr. W.'s statement of the rule in his own words, we shall now let the Professor also speak for himself.

OREST. 64. παρέδωκεν τρέφειν.

Cur N finalem in ἐπέκλωσεν, V. 12. [ᾧ στεμμαῖα ἔκνασ ̓ ἐπέκλωσεν θεά] et similibus addiderim, nemo nisi qui communi sensu plane careat, requiret. Sed erunt fortasse nonnulli, qui minus necessario hoc factum arbitraturi sint in Tagedwner. Rationes igitur semel exponam, nunquam posthac moniturus. Quanquam enim sæpe syllabas natura breves positione producunt Tragici, longe libentius corripiunt, adeo ut tria prope exempla correptarum invenias, ubi unum modo exstet productarum. Sed hoc genus licentia, in verbis scificet non compositis, qualia Tixrov; Пlatzò; ceteris longe frequentius est. Ra

[ 763. Ἔστι δὲ τὶς σῶν ὄντος

HERCULES FURENS.

22.

ἄλλους ἐξεμόχθησεν πό- 1 41.

ἐν ἀνδάσι λέγειν.

ναζ 78.

284.

ἐχθροισι γέλων.

πᾶς τ' ἀνίστησιν πόδα.

565.

ὄμμασι δεδορκότες.

174. Σὺν μάρτυσιν θεῖες, δει

225.

241.

ὢν ἐμίχθησεν χάριν.
εισκομισθῶσιν πόλει,

δώμασι σὸν ομμ ̓ ἰδειν.

| 968.

φόνος σ ̓ ἐκβάκχευσε

νεκρών.

Ubi Musgr. taciti

286.

τα πολλά δώμασιν καλά.

ἐβάκχευσεν.

304.

φέυγουσιν φίλοι.

545

ἦλθεν φόβος;

πᾶσ ̓ ἔι δεν πόλις.

χρήμασιν δε διάφοροι.
θεῶν ἀνέστησεν μόνος.
καπεκόμπασεν τάδε.
κατέστρωσεν βέλει.
τίς ταδ ̓ ἔκλεινεν τεκ-

ἔκεινέν πόλε.

Μιλτισιν βάθροις *.

To these instances of the omitted N final, in the Aldine Euripides, a few others may be added: but they must not be considered as any additional proofs that Aldus judged this letter unnecessary in order to lengthen the concluding syllable of a foot, when it was naturally short, and could admit such an adjunct. The Canons of Dawes, respecting the power of the mutes and liquids, were not promulgated till above two centuries after the learned Aldus Manutius Romanus had closed a life of indefatigable exertions: a life to himself highly honourable, and of most essential service to succeeding ages! The following are the passages to which we allude, in the four plays from which our citations have been taken:

ANDROM. 853. Πᾶσι βροτοισιν ἢ τότ ̓ ἦλθεν ἡ τότε.
TROADES. 412. Ει μή δ' Απόλλων ἐξεβάκχευσε φρένας.
993. Αυτᾶις 'Αμύκλαις ἤγαγε πρὸς Ἴλιον.

1373: · ἀπόλλυσιν καλήν. This instance, though defective, and though it has been corrected, must not be neglected. Mr. Wakefield, in his edition, indeed, adopts Canter's correction, ἀπόλαυσιν, after Barnes and Musgrave. He has not, however, given any note on the passage. It surely was incumbent on him to have mentioned the lection of Aldus; and to have stated that the word απόλαυσιν was given in the text from a conjecture of Canter, which had been carefully recorded by the Cambridge and Oxford editors, and inserted by them in their editions of Euripides.Among the various and important duties of an editor, there is no one which demands more exact and religious observance, than the assignment of new readings to their original authors.

HERC.