I have often, with a pair of scissars, clipped off some hairs with the eggs on them from the horse, and on placing them in the hand, moistened with saliva, they have hatched in a few seconds. At other times, when not perfectly ripe, the larva would not appear, though held in the hand under the same circumstances for several hours; a sufficient proof that the eggs themselves are not conveyed to the stomach.' XXVII. Characters of a new Genus of Plants named Salisburia. By James Edward Smith, M. D. P. L.S. Of this there is one species named Adiantifolia, a large tree cultivated in China and Japan; a specimen of it is in Kewgardens. We have now gone through all the memoirs of this volume, in a cursory manner indeed, yet so as to give a general idea of their valuable contents: it only remains to hope that the future volumes of the transactions of this Society may be as valuable as the present. A.Ai. ART. IV. The Economy of Monastic Life, (as it existed in England,) a Poem, with Philosophical, and Archæological Illustrations from Lyndwood, Dugdale, Selden, Wilkins, Willis, Spelman, Warton, &c. and Copious Extracts from Original MSS. By T. D. Fostrooke, M. A. Curate of Horsley, Glocestershire. 4to. pp. 120. 95. sewed. Cadell jun. and Davies. MON ONASTIC or seclusive institutions have in all ages and climates been so common, that they seem to be founded on dispositions essential to our nature, and on real expediencies of society. For decayed tradesmen we build houses of refuge, in which the elderly bankrupt is sheltered from the more piercing inclemencies of poverty:-for superannuated labourers, we endow many an old-man's-hospital, in which the blessing of repose without fatigue, and the unearn'd meal, are offered to him whose exertions availed not to secure to himself an independence ;-and on the crippled defenders of our country, the palaces of kings have been munificently bestowed. Why should not the partakers of these cells of rest be clad in uniform, and be invited to appear in orderly procession, on those days which religion sets apart for the inculcation of that public gratitude which founded, and of that benevolence which maintains, institutions so useful? Why should not the number and variety of these edifices be increased? Are there not thousands of men, whose innate or acquired diseases are such as to impose on them the duty of not bequeathing to any posterity their hereditary imperfections? Might not monasteries of science be imagined, in which literary men, by clubbing their libra ries, might obtain the command of more extensive information; and, by collective toil, might execute works of instruction more than paramount to individual effort? Might not some command of property fitly be vested in the members, to accomplish the impression of those long-enduring works which the purse of fashion seldom patronizes, or to send devotees on the interesting missions of literary pilgrimage, and dispatch a Niebuhr to Palestine with the questions of Michaëlis? How many are there, even of the unconquerably indolent, whom to expose to the activities of civil life is to employ them in wasting the property of their friends, and in frittering away the resources of their families? Better far if they dwelt in clusters, and, like snails in the winter, slept away an unperceived exist ence. It certainly favours the revival of such foundations, to dress out in the charms of sweet poetry the occupations and pursuits of the monks. The obsolescent dialect and well-inwoven stanza of Spenser have often been imitated with felicity, and are again happily applied by Mr. Fosbrooke to detail the Economy of Monastic Life. We shall transcribe a portion: And in those iron times, no forest wide But shrouded robbers and asassins fell, Not having Customs's clue, to that lorn cell Where they were wont 'mid ferns and briars dwell *; Can there be one in better ages born, Who has not heard delighted infants tell, Of Robin Hood, his bow and bugle horn, And how he chased the deer o'er Sherwood's wilds forlorn? Amen, and slowly once the great bell tolled; The Forest of Dean, among others, was much infested by robbers, who were not suppressed till 8 H. VI. Camd. p. 232.' Ceremonies of the greater excommunication.' "Like fortune on the guilty limbs alight, Till lacking crimson life thy carcase sear, Through never-ceasing pain shall press an early bier. To the accursed house of Death and Fear Be there thy agonizing spirit laid, It meet be to invoke a Savior's hallowed name. Now Frenzy rolled his eyes, and now Despair Changed them to sightless orbs with petrifying stare.' The archæological illustrations are very numerous and very learned; and among them occurs, at p. 106, a short glossary, in which, however, we vainly sought the meaning of an epithet employed in p. 21. nesh + Acacias. The preliminary dissertation is much to the purpose: but the notes are oftener learned than elegant; loaded with supernumerary reference, but scanty in valuable information. Mr. Fosbrooke, however, has altogether taken much pains with his subject, and his performance will both please and instruct. Tay. ** We have received from Mr. F. the correction of a variety of errors, which had escaped his revision of the work, and emendations which he has since found reason for adopting. Both the Greeks and Jews supposed the soul conveyed to its place of destination by spirits. Plat. Dial. Oxf. ed. 2, 8vo. p. 287. Whitby's Paraph. V. 1, pp. 381, 399-' + Used, if we mistake not, by the common people, in some parts of England, for tender, or too delicate to endure cold, &c. ART. ART. V. The Commentary of Hierocles upon the Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans; now First translated into English from an accurate Edition of the Greek Original, published in London, in the Year 1742, by the learned Dr. Warren, accompanied with Notes and Illustrations, by William Rayner, A. B. Vicar of Calthorpe. 8vo. pp. 150. 4s. sewed. Printed at Norwich; sold by Longman in London. 1797. H IEROCLES taught Platonism at Alexandria about the middle of the fifth century. Of his seven books on Providence and Destiny, some account has been preserved by Photius: but his Commentary on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras has alone descended to us entire. From Dr. Warren's edition of this work, printed at Cambridge in 1709, the present translator appears to have derived assistance. The satirical author of Vaurien has not hesitated to class an attachment to Platonism among the symptoms of literary lunacy, and has rendered it scarcely decent to treat with gravity, or deference, the multiplying productions of this once extensive sect. Yet there continue to be men of no inferior intellect, who listen with complacence to its bewildering jargon, and cling with confidence to its exalting promises. The Girondist Valadi endeavoured to naturalize in France this classical superstition; and we have repeatedly had occasion to notice symptoms of its progress +, in the catalogue of our domestic literature. It would be harsh to treat with unqualified ridicule a system of opinion, to which even Saint John was not wholly averse: yet the offuscation of reason which it accomplished in the antient world is a sufficient excuse for some warmth of hostility. Of its occasional contagiousness in modern times, M. Boivin's Memoir (IIId vol. of the Academy of Inscriptions) affords ample proof; and we may yet see disinterred from the dust of libraries, Pletho's Reply to the Reasons of Scholarius, and the Attack of Apostolius on Gaza and Bes sarion. We do not pretend to have much fault to find with this translation. To us, the original is sufficiently unintelligible to account for the frequent obscurity of the version. We shall, therefore, at once introduce the author to "weave fine cobwebs" for the amusement of our readers: *See Review, September 1797, p. 33. † Rev. vol. xiv. p. 248. xvii. p. 153. and xviii. p. 51. 1 LECTURE IV. "Next the terrestrial princes, reverence them Human souls, graced with the knowledge of truth, and embel lished with virtue, the poet calls demons, or princes, as beings who are knowing and intelligent. Now to distinguish these from the demons, or angels, who are such by nature, and who form the middle kind of rationals, he calls the former terrestrial, as who incline to live here, to enter into bodies of clay, and to dwell on earth; and in calling them demons, he differences them from bad and ignorant men, who, as being void of knowledge, cannot be said to be either good or wise; as, by adding the epithet terrestrial, he separates them from the kinds that are always knowing, and who are not natured to dwell on earth, nor to live in frames of clay; and hence the title of terrestrial prince suits no other creatures than one who, being a man by nature, is, by habit, become a demon, or angel. This third kind is, with strict propriety, called terrestrial, in that it is the ultimate kind of rationals, and is inclined to a terrene life; for the first kind is celestial, and the second atherial. All men then being in this view terrestrial rationals, but not all demons, or wise; connecting the two terms, the poet calls wise men terrestrial princes: for as all men are not wise, so neither are all who are wise men; the gods and heroes being both wise and good. Hence we are directed to hold such men in honour as are now ranked with the divine kinds, as the peers of angels and illustrious heroes; but the poet does not teach that any evil kind of demons are to be honoured; it being wholly unmeet that one who loves God, and understands his own value, should honour creatures that are now below him. Nay more, he is not to honour men next the celestials, unless they are become like them, and are associated with the divine choir. What then is the respect to be paid to these? The poem tells you, that we are to pay them legal honours, or such honours as the law ordains; in other words, we are to learn and obey those precepts which they have left behind them to that end; to observe their instructions as so many laws, and to walk in that path of life which they, in passing through it, did not think much to impart to us; but, as an ever-during and paternal inheritance, labouring to preserve them for their posterity, they committed to writing, for the common benefit, the elements of virtue and the rules of truth; to attend to which, and to live accordingly, is to pay them a more real respect, than if we should immolate to them the most costly sacrifices, or place upon their tombs the greatest dainties. The above is a statement of the honour to be paid to our superiors; beginning with God the creator, proceeding on through the celestial and ætherial kinds, and ending with that to be paid to good men : but since a very high regard is, moreover, to be shown to relatives, as to our parents and those next of kin to us, who, though they may not be absolutely good, we are yet absolutely to honour, for the rela tion sake.' The |