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Hic victor cæstus artemque repono' Æn. v. 484. are expressions not more applicable to Entellus as a wrestler, than to Virgil as a poet.

It cannot of course be expected, that the Italian has preserved the characteristic majesty and splendour of the Roman bard; but there is a large proportion of good poetry in the composition, and it is certainly a happy imitation of the Virgilian manner. The author deserves much credit for following out the ideas, and maintaining the characters of Virgil. Eneas displays the same paramount regard to the will of the gods, and the same steady serenity of mind with a mixture of generous and benevolent feelings. He beautifully excuses Turnus for his hostility to himself, while he contemplates the charms of Lavinia, whose hand the Rutulian prince had been desirous of obtaining.

Ut vidit, primo aspectu stupefactus inhæsit;

Et secum Turni casus miseratus acerbos,

Qui, haud parvâ spe ductus, ovans in prælia tantos

Civisset motus, durisque arsisset in armis.' 1. 470-473. pp. 62, 63, The old Latinus still dwells upon the marriage of his daughter, with a due regard to omens, and a little compunctious feeling for his conduct to Turnus. The vanquished rival of Æneas is rendered interesting in his overthrow, and several circumstances are introduced to excite compassion for his unhappy fate. When the fierce and unfeeling Drances abuses his memory, the poet takes care to reprobate his indecent insults.

nimium erepti pro funere Turni

Exultans: 1. 330.

The reflexions of Latinus over the dead body of Turnus, are just and pleasing, though rather resembling the copiousness of Lucan, than the concise and comprehensive apostrophe of Virgil.

Quantos humana negotia motus

Alternasque vices miscent! quo turbine fertur
Vita hominum! O fragilis damnosa superbia sceptri!
O furor! O nimium dominandi innata cupido,
Mortales quo cæca vehis? quo gloria tantis
Inflatos transfers animos quæsita periclis ?

Quot tecum insidias, quot mortes, quanta malorum
Magnorum tormenta geris? quot tela, quot enses
Ante oculos (si cernis) habes? heu dulce venenum,
Et mundi lethalis honos! heu tristia regni

Munera, quæ haud parvo constent; & grandia rerum
Pondera, quæ nunquam placidam promittere pacem,
Nec requiem conferre queant! heu sortis acerbæ
Et misera regale decus, magnoque timori
Suppositos regum casus pacique negatos!' l. 143–157.

The scene of Daunus mourning over the remains of his son, so closely resembles the behaviour of Evander on a similar occasion, that it may be called tautology when considered as a part of the Æneid. The poet departs too from nature, in the expressions which he ascribes to the disconsolate father; a fault of which the accurate Virgil is never guilty. After a course of impassioned exclamations, Daunus descends into grave sententious reflexions on the levelling power of death, and the changeful and precarious nature of human affairs. When the first transports of grief are past, it is natural enough for the afflicted to moralize; but while the agony of distress remains in all its intenseness, the sufferer never thinks of drawing general conclusions and forming elaborate sentiments. The heart is exercised at such a time, and not the understanding. If utterance be found, it is only for exhausting and reiterating expressions of sorrow, and exaggerating the value of what is lost.

Maffei has been guilty of another impropriety, in carrying on his relation to the death and apotheosis of Eneas, many years after his settlement in Italy. This is in truth prolongmg the Æneid. It is not beginning at the egg of Castor and Pollux, but it is equally blameable in the other extreme. He ought to have been satisfied with bringing his curious reader to the celebrated wedding.

The person and behaviour of the intended bride, when introduced to Æneas previous to her marriage, a fine occasion for a blaze of poetical fire, are but poorly described. Perhaps the poverty of the passage struck our minds more forcibly, on account of bearing in memory the delightful painting of Statius, when the daughters of Adrastus are brought in before Polynices and Tydeus.

Ibant insignes, vultuque habituque verendo,
Candida purpuream fusæ super ora ruborem,
Dejectæque genas. Tacite subit ille supremus
Virginitatis amor, primæque modestia culpæ
Confundit vultus.
Theb. 11. 230.

Lavinia in so very delicate a conjuncture, has not the grace to blush. The only thing we are told of her is, that she came in with downcast eyes. One is almost tempted to suppose, that the partiality and attentions of Turnus had not been without effect, and that she could, without hypocrisy, mingle her expressions of regret with those of her father and her intended husband, for the death of the Rutulian prince.

The translation of this poem resembles the other compositions of Mrs. Leadbeater: it is void of spirit and elegance. In one place the meaning is mistaken this, however, is not a fault of Mrs. L. but of the gentleman who gave her a lite ral translation.

We cannot close these observations without presenting our readers with a literary curiosity, which we found toward the close of the volume. The title runs thus.

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De iter faciendo

ad

Coalbrook Vallem."

Auctore Ricardo Shackleton.

and the four first lines are these:

Nocte, solicitus, lentus, fessus peragebami
Ad vallem Coalbrook, incomitatus, iter.
Vallem despexi tandem de culmine montis,

Mens & inopino'capta timore fuit: p. 416.

By what prosodiacal license the last syllable in nocte is made long, and the second in inopino, we are not authorised to say. This we certainly may take upon ourselves to assert, that we have never seen such a copy of verses in print before, nor even in manuscript, except among the unfledged and literally nonsensical versifiers in a school.

Art. VII. Communications to the Board of Agriculture; on Subjects relative to the Husbandry and Int rnal Improvement of the Country. Vol. V. Part I. 8vo. pp. 334. Price 12s. bds. Nicol. 1807.

IN this volume of miscellaneous communications to the Board of Agriculture, we observe with pleasure that more care has been taken to select such papers as were worthy to meet the public eye, than in some of the preceding volumes. There are sixteen distinct articles, which we will enumerate in their order, adding a few observations on those which seem to require comment.

I. An Account of the Moss Improvements of John Wilkinson, Esq. of Castlehead in Lancashire. By Sir John Sinclair, Bart. This was a spirited undertaking, by which 500 acres of barren waste have been raised from the value of 2d. per acre (the liberty of pasturing, which was only practicable in frosty weather, had been offered at 1d. per acre) to 30s. and upwards. The worthy Baronet has added an appendix relative to the improvement of some mossy lands of his own in Caithness; with some observations by an experienced farmer in that county on the improvement of similar lands by means of frost.

II. A Plan for improving the growth of tares. By Mr. Thomas Herod, of North Creak, Norfolk.

III. Comparison of the expenses of arable land in 1790 and 1804. This article extends to upwards of 100 pages, and contains a number of useful tables of the comparative rates of labour, tithe, rent, &c. at those two periods. The result ap-.

pears to be, that in England the following average-rise has taken place; on labour 47 per cent, on artisan's work 41, on rent 39, on tithe 484, on rates 89 4, on the cultivation of arable land 38, and on manure 62 per cent; and in Scotland, on labour 56, on artisan's work 65, on rent 73, on rates 69†, and on manure 89 per cent. Hence it is stated that the general average rise in England has been 523, and in Scotland 70 per cent; yet we cannot reconcile this with the opinions pretty generally expressed, from various quarters, by the correspondents of the board, in the extracts from their letters given under the head of additional information on this subject, that the increased expenses which falt on the agriculturist since the year 1790 amount to about one third or 333 per cent. general impression which this article seems adapted to convey is, that the situation of the farmers now is much worse than in 1790: Mr. Robert Hay, in a letter from the district of Mearns in Scotland, candidly avows, and very strongly maintains, a contrary opinion; which is the more remarkable, as it is in opposition to the general tenor of all the papers in this volume, on the relative situation of the agricultural interests of the country.

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IV. An account of the produce of milk and butter from a cow the property of William Cramp of Lewes. An intelligent article, which would be useful in teaching cottagers the most profitable method of keeping a cow; the produce of 1 rood 29 perch of land, with about 300 bushels of grains and half that quantity of bran, being made, under the management here specified, to keep the cow at all times in good condition for the butcher, and to yield a clear profit of 417. 5s. 11d. in one season.

V. On the means of supplying milk for the poor. By J. C. Curwen, Esq. M. P. This memoir deserves the attention of all farmers or graziers who reside near any populous town. Mr. Curwen proves it to be a profitable, as well as a philanthropic plan, in such a vicinity, to unite the business of a milkman to that of a farmer.

VI. An account of the improvement of more than 90 acres of land, lying waste. By Mr. Phillips, of Tyn-y-shos near Oswestry. Though this paper contains nothing remarkable in an agricultural point of view, the following observations are worthy of notice.

The thin soil upon these wastes seems to have been created by the annual decay of portions of the gorse (furze); a plant admirably calcu lated to produce, and afterwards to detain, in spite of rains and storms, the vegetable earth, upon these steep declivities. Around each bush of gorse is always found a heap, more or less high, of excellent soil. And so completely do the prickles of this plant defend the grapes that grow among it from the attacks of sheep, that the earth produced by the suc

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cessive decay of vegetable matter constantly accumulates, and renders land, which a few centuries ago would have been unproductive, proper for the growth of corn. It is impossible to traverse over our mountains without observing how wisely things are contrived by him who provides for us all. The highest mountains of North Wals, where the rock does not every where appear, are clothed with heath. As ages roll by, the soil produced by the annual decay of portions of the heath becomes fit to produce gorse. Where soil has accumulated in sufficient quantities the next protector and fertilizer of the mountains is fern. Wherever this plant flourishes, still richer quantities of vegetable earth are every year added to the surface soil; and the ground is rapidly prepared for the plough.'

VII. Experiments made at the request of the board. By Mr. John Wright.

VIII. Communications on spring wheat. There are six papers on this subject, in consequence of the premiunis offered by the Board for the cultivation of spring wheat. It has often erroneously been supposed, that every kind of winter-wheat which would ripen when sown in February, was spring-wheat. It is however a distinct kind. The general result to be collected from these communications is much in favour of its cultivation; and a good suggestion is made by more than one of these agriculturists, that when the winter-wheat is damaged or destroyed in patches, it would be a simple and easy remedy to sow some spring wheat about Lady-day in the vacant places, and rake it in; as it is sure to be fit to cut with the other wheat, as it cannot be distinguished, when threshed out, and cannot hurt the quality of the crop unless it be intended for seed.

IX. On the mildew in wheat. By Mr. W. Jones of Wellington, Somersetshire.

X. Additional communication on steaming potatoes. By J. C. Curwen, Esq. M. P.

XI. On the culture of carrots. By the Rev. F. Eldridge.

In the year 1800, at Bonvilstone, in Glamorganshire, being in want. of grass for a little Welch cow, and having ten beds of carrots in a new garden, I had the tops of the carrots mowed off, so as not to injure by the scythe the head or crown of the roots this was a very luxuriant food for the cow. The carrot again yielded a fine luxuriant green head, which I treated in the same manner in October. I found when the carrot itself was taken up that it was equally as large and heavy, as a bed which I had reserved from cutting was. The gardener who had been averse to my cutting off the tops, was convinced it had not injured the root; he had an opportunity of hoeing and cleaning of them from weeds better than he could when they had their tops on them. I am therefore convinced by experience, that the agriculturist who grows a quantity of carrots, loses a great quantity of most excellent green fodder for his cattle by not mowing the tops of his carrots off twice within the year.'

XII. On horses and oxen. By Mr. R. Emerson.

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