nals once met with an unavoidable death, is almost wholly filled with ruins and with houses. He who should now be

thrown from it would at most risk a broken leg.

On the brow of the hill, the Via Sacra extends; and the road by which the high-priests, who were to perform the sacrifice, ascended to the Capitol is now covered with sand. The remains of the ancient ramparts, designed to prevent the sand from falling down, are still discoverable. It has, however, hid the beautiful ruins of the temple built by Augustus, and dedicated to Jupiter Fulminator, of which we discover only the extremity, remarkable for the richness of the entablature and of the capitals. On the other side we perceive, among the elevated and tufted trees, the magnificent ruins of the Temple of Concord; eight columns of marble with their entablature. This temple was built by Camillus, then dictator, to consecrate the return of peace which he had happily re-established among the people after a sedition. It was here that the first men of Rome assembled, to deliberate on the affairs of the republic, and when solemn occasions called them to the Forum. It was here that Cicero pronounced his invectives against Catiline.'

In this

The ninth chapter is on the manners of Rome, the faults of its administration, its pasquinades, the feebleness of the government, and the exhausted state of its resources. The tenth relates to the catholic religion, and its splendid festivals, contrasted with the unhappy state of the Jews at Rome. chapter is an account of the canonization of a most filthy disgusting beggar, and of the conduct of the priests on this occasion-a conduct most shocking to humanity; but, where the honour of religion is concerned, the priests of Rome are not men., Is is singular that the catastrophe is related with a 'not' before the verb, as if, at Paris, it was dangerous to speak against the priesthood as well as at Rome.

The ignorance, the absurdity, and the infamy, of the Cicerones are described in the eleventh chapter; and the subsequent relate to the country in the vicinity of Rome. Our author travels over the Via Appia, now the Via Pia, since the Pontine Marshes are in part drained-an enterprise of considerable utility, though, from the bad management of those entrusted with the work, highly unpopular, and the source of great misery to the workmen from the unhealthiness of the soil, and to the Romans in consequence of the heavy taxes occasioned by the labour. The Appian way, covered with mud, reeds, &c. is again cleared; its injuries repaired, and bridges constructed. where it is intersected by the canals. It cannot, however, be concealed, that the part drained often extends but a little way on each side of the road, and that the confines of the corn and rushes are only at a short distance. It is, indeed, uncertain

whether this work can be accomplished; for, strange to say! it is not yet known whether the Pontine Marshes be not below the level of the sea. The author pretty plainly insinuates, that the ignorance of the pope, and the knavery of the superintendants, have delayed, and indeed frustrated, the work.

Our author next reaches Naples by way of Terracina, the Valley of Fondi, and Capua: the contrast is striking.

Let us, at last, leave the Pontine Marshes; let us enter the delicious environs of Terracina. What a contrast! Rendered gloomy so long by an aspect of nature poor and desolate, we arrive suddenly in a country where vegetation freely displays all her force and all her variety. A whole day was employed in traversing a gloomy and deserted valley. My senses were fatigued, injured by each object that struck them; the heat and the insects perpetually tortured me; and it was in the freshness of the evening air, by a road bordered with flowering shrubs, where the myrtle, the rosemary, and the laurel, intertwining, formed a natural fence, that I found myself half a league from Terracina.'

'See Naples and die!' say the inhabitants of this city to their visitors. Our author thinks that it is better to live, and enjoy the pleasures of this delightful country; this morsel of heaven fallen upon earth' (un pezzo di cielo caduto in terra), to use another of their proverbial expressions. Indeed Naples, Vesuvius, and the country around, are described with our author's most glowing pencil: but the ground has been often beaten; and, though the originality of M. Meyer's remarks might lead us to copy further, yet, as we hope to see this tour in an English dress, we must not be tempted to intrude on other claimants by extending our article beyond its just limits. Let us select, however, a part of his description of the prospect from the terrace of the convent of the Chartreux.

To complete the beauty of the scene, imagine a horizon not obscured by a single cloud, not veiled by the slightest vapour. In no country of the world has the atmosphere so great serenity; in no region does the sun, either at its rise or setting, dart rays more pure. Here nature is always beautiful and majestic; whether the star of day, rising from the burning east, overtop the pyramid of Vesuvius, and enlighten at once the city, the uniform surface of the sea, the promontories, and islands, whose proud rocks rise from its bosom; or, in the moment of his setting, gild this magnificent theatre with a milder radiance; or that the moon spread her silver light over this sublime and interesting scene. But how imposing and terrible it becomes, when tempests raise the waves of the Gulph, and when bursts of thunder are a thousand times repeated by the

echo of its rocks; or when, in an obscure night, Vesuvius projects towards the heavens his torrents of fire, whose gloomy light is reflected by the sea; when his summit, surrounded by a thick smoke, darts his lightnings in every direction, and the floods of burning lava spread over his hollowed sides. Poets! where are the words-painters! where are the colours-which can trace a representation of such wonders?'

In the midst of scenes like these, the torpid Chartreux is lost in the contemplation of his own woes, or silent in obedience to his vows. How happy are you,' said M. Meyer, in thus inhabiting the most delicious country in the universe!' Breaking his silence, and gently raising his shoulders - Yes,' said he, coolly, all our visitors tell me so. To them it is a terrestrial paradise but we-we do not perceive any thing (ma noi altri pon sentiamo niente.)'

We think no one can even peruse descriptions like these without sensation, unless as torpid as a Chartreux. It is with difficulty we can tear ourselves from the work: but we have reached our boundary, and it must be done.

ART. X. Annales de l'Imprimerie des Alde, ou Histoire des trois Manuce, et de leurs Editions. Par nt. Aug. Renouard. Paris. 1803.

Annals of the Aldine Press, or a History of the three Manucii, and their Editions, &c. 2 Vols. 8vo. Imported by Payne and Mackinlay.

THE author of these volumes, a Parisian bookseller, has rendered, by this publication, due honour to the subjects of his work, as well as an acceptable service to men of letters.

From the invention of printing to the present day, none who have practised the art can be considered as ranking higher than the first Aldus, and Paul his son. From an enthusiastic admiration of the best writings of Greece and Rome, they sacrificed the advantages of reputation and fortune to extricate them from the chaos into which the barbarism of eight hundred years had plunged them; and, not content with rescuing them from destruction, devoted themselves to multiply them, under various forms, for the purpose of rendering them universally useful. For the printing of scholastic treatises, or works of jurisprudence and mysticism, which at that time occupied almost every press, and filled every library, ordinary attainments and moderate abilities sufficed; but to break from the beaten track, and surmount the impediments inseparable from the first publication of ancient authors, and especially the Grecian, required more than common instruction, and all the activity of superior genius,

joined to a perseverance that nothing could withstand. Many a scholar, since the revival of letters, has acquired celebrity from the revision of one or a few volumes which have come down more or less altered; but these men are the only ones whose enumeration of editions, printed and corrected by themselves, comprehends a complete list of almost all the great works of ancient learning.

Amidst the perpetual labours and incessant attentions requisite during the long years of difficult and erudite editions which every month and week came forth from their press, these two indefatigable men found leisure themselves to cultivate letters; and have left more than one work which attested, at the time, their profound learning, and still enjoy the esteem they deserved.

In respect to the elder Aldus, and Paul Manucius his son, it should ever be remembered that they are to be considered in three distinct points of view; viz. as at the head of the literati of their time, as accomplished printers, and learned editors. The two last qualities have been often confounded; and often, adds M. Renouard, are printers praised or blamed for what belonged to their editors, not to them. The elder Aldus and his son not only united in themselves these different qualifications, but possessed likewise the talent, which is scarcely less valuable, of distinguishing merit, and thence appropriating the co-operation of persons best qualified to aid their exertions.

Of Paul Manucius it is observed, that, from constantly reading the works of Cicero, he acquired such purity and elegance of style as will cause his letters and prefaces to be always admired. His Commentaries on Cicero are in every one's hands who wishes to consult with advantage the father of eloquence; and his Treatises of Antiquity are separately less read, only because later productions contain them.

As to Aldus Manucius, the son of Paul, and last of this respectable family, M. Renouard confesses, that, were it not from his inheriting the Aldine offices, it might not have been remembered he had ever been a printer: but, though difference of taste gave his studies a different bent, his numerous writings -notwithstanding they were inferior to his father's and grandfather's-sufficiently prove his industry and learning, and justify, to a certain point, the commendations bestowed on him by many to whom his merits were known.

The history of these three learned printers, although so often mentioned, having been hitherto but incompletely written, M. Renouard,-who certainly is well qualified,-has undertaken, in these volumes, to record it. With this view, his researches have been directed to every quarter whence information could be drawn; and the result is, that he has presented to the public a very elegant, accurate, and interesting work.

The notice on the life of the three Manucii, M. Renouard informs us, would have been more extended-for it consists of only 133 pages-but that he judged the details relating to their books would be more advantageously placed under the respective articles in the chronological catalogue to which they particularly referred; and, we doubt not, every reader of his work will concur in this decision.

As portraits of these eminent men ought not to be omitted in this monument to their fame, that of the elder Aldus has been engraved from the wood-cut given by his grandson in the title of several editions in folio about 1580; and, from the characteristic features of the print, there cannot be a question concerning the resemblance. The head of Paul Manucius is given from an oval engraving in copper on the back of the title of one of the volumes of Cicero, in folio, of the years 1582-1583. These portraits are not less exactly than exquisitely engraved by the best artist in France, AUGUSTIN SAINT-AUBIN. That of Aldus the younger, which is of less importance, is, like his grandfather's, from a wood-cut presented by himself in the title of some of his editions. Of this, as also of the different devices in the Aldine editions, an excellent copy is given from the hand of the late BEUGNET, one of the best engravers in wood the art can boast of, and who, on this occasion, has evidently exerted all his skill to represent with exactness the original.

After having stated his difficulties and accuracy his undertaking required, M. Renouard thus closes his preface :

'Je conserve l'espoir qu'au moins pour le petit nombre de ceux qui prennent intérêt à tout ce qui concerne l'histoire littéraire, mes veilles ne seront point entièrement perdues, que par ceux-là au moins mon livre ne sera point jugé labor irritus et incassus: et c'est à quoi je borne mes désirs. Passionné pour l'art de la typographie, pour tous les travaux qui tendent à conserver et à multiplier les productions du génie, je n'ai pu ré-sister au désir d'élever ce monument à la gloire des imprimeurs les plus habiles qui furent jamais; et voyant du loin toute l'étendue de la carrière qu'ils ont parcourue d'une manière si brillante, y entrant moi-même, sinon comme imprimeur, au moins comme libraire, et donnant aux livres que je publie quelques soins d'éditeur, j'éprouve une satisfaction bien vive à payer mon tribut de reconnoissance et de vénération pour ces modèles qui, s'ils ne me laissent aucun espoir d'arriver jusqu'à eux, me tracent au moins la route que je dois suivre, et rapellent continuellement à ma pensée les devoirs qui me sont imposés.'

Of these two volumes, it will be requisite to observe that the former, and by much the larger, consists of the annals of