in a rapid and animated narrative, to trace the hiftory of each in its progrefs through a rude and an improved ftate of fociety. His reprefentation of the epic poetry of early ages is like that of other critics. It is fublime, harfh, unconnected, extravagant, and unequal by degrees it affumes more elegance and method; and at length, when the beauties of natural expreffion are exhaufted, and the public ear becomes familiar with wonders, and difgufted with imitation, it finks, through the defire of novelty, into pointed expreffion, and correct, but ordinary fentiments. From this ftage, Mr Millar alleges, the tranfition is eafy to profe fictions and novels, which are more easily adapted to the occurrences of modern life; and, by pretending to humbler excellences, are lefs apt to become ridiculous. This is the natural progrefs and order of things, when a nation runs its career by an internal impulfe, and produces, itfelf, the models upon which it is continually attempting to improve. In modern Europe, however, the first steps were a little inverted: the writings of the Greeks and Romans became the fubject of early imitation; and the childish taste of thofe ages was more captivated by the wild and fantaftic efforts of their declining genius, than by the purer exertions of their earlier days. The gradual refinement of tafte corrected this error; and the poetry of Europe grew fimple, as well as regular, before it began to die away before the paflion for novelty, and the increafing faftidiousness of a more enlightened public. In reality, we are very much inclined to agree with Mr Millar, that, in the prefent ftate of fociety in France and England, it is much to be doubted, whether a long epic poem, however excellent in its way, would be greatly relifhed by the generality of the people. The judgement and reafoning faculties of men have been improved lately, perhaps in fome degree at the expence of their poetical fenfibility; and, in a work of any length, we rather believe that the general tafte would require fomething that came nearer the language and incidents of real life, than the metaphors, and majefty, and machinery of an epic compofition. Poetry was certainly meant for amufement; and yet, among those who read for amusement, the worft of Mr Lane's novels is perufed with greater avidity than the finest paffages of Milton.

That part of the effay which treats of dramatic poetry, is written with uncommon fpirit and facility. In tragedy, he obferves, the great difficulty has always been, for the poet to forget himself, and fpeak uniformly in the character of his imaginary perfons. This difficulty has been greatly increased in thofe countries that have not adopted blank verfe, by the importance affigned to correct verfification, and the confequent introduc

tion of a new standard of excellence. Even in those countries, however, the evil has at length been felt; and the profe dramas of Mercier and Arnaud feem evidently intended to restore to the French stage the language of nature and feeling, and to reduce the mere beauties of compofition to their proper fubordinate ftation. In Germany, where they have begun in this way, the procefs will probably be reverfed. In difcourfing of comedy, Mr Millar attempts to adjust the long difputed boundaries of wit and humour by this obvious diftinction ;-that humour is the talent of exhibiting contrafts and incongruities in human character and conduct; while wit is the talent of exhibiting fuch contrafts in objects that have no dependence on the behaviour of mankind. Although this defcription be very far from accurate, its incorrectnefs does not prevent Mr Millar from obferving, with perfect propriety, that the introduction of refined manners has a tendency to diminish our relish for humour, and to increase our admiration of wit. The first part of this progrefs is delineated by Mr Millar with fo much fpirit and characteristic method, that we shall beg leave to lay it before our readers in his own words:

• In Turkey, and in fome other eastern countries, the contrast between a tall and fhort man is thought to be a reasonable cause of laughter; and a dwarf is, therefore, a neceffary appendage in the retinue of princes.

Among our forefathers in Europe, the behaviour of a mere idiot was viewed in a fimilar light; and a perfon in those unfortunate circum ftances was commonly kept, by men of wealth, as an object of ridicule. When people became too polite to laugh at a real idiot, they fubftituted in his place an artificial one with a motley coat, and with a cap and bells, to imitate the behaviour of a fimpleton, but with occafional ftrokes of shrewdnefs and fagacity. This perfonage afforded entertainment, by appearing, according to the proverb, more knave than fool; and became at laft a profeffed jefter, upon whom the family in which he lived, and their guests, were accustomed to exercife their talents; but who, at the fame time, like the clown of a pantomime, could shew, by his occafional fallies, that he was himself no mean performer in the fcene.

• Perfons of education, however, becoming gradually more expert in this kind of diverfion, began to undervalue the ftudied jokes of thefe pretended fools, and endeavoured to improve the entertainment by jesting with one another, and by affuming, upon occafion, any sort of character which might contribute to the mirth of the company. The practice of mafquerading, which came to be univerfal through a great part of Europe, arofe from this prevailing disposition, and gave individuals a better opportunity of exercifing their talents, by enabling them to ufe more freedom with each other, and to appear unexpectedly in a M 2

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variety of fituations. Such was the style of amusement, which, having prevailed in that period of European manners defcribed by Shakespeare, makes a confpicuous figure in the comic works of that author. As fashion is apt to produce fantastical imitation, it appears that the folly of individuals led them, in thofe times, to affume or counterfeit those humours in real life; an affectation which had become fo general, as to fall under the notice of the flage, and to produce a ridicule of the cheating humour, the bragging humour, the melancholy humour, the quarrelling humour-exhibited by Shakespeare and Johnfon, in the characters of Nym, of Piftol, of Mafter Stephen, or Mafter Matthew, and the Angry Boy.

The higher advances of civilization and refinement, contributed not only to explode thofe ludicrous paftimes which had been the delight of a former age, but even to weaken the propensity to every fpecies of hu morous exhibition. Although humour be commonly productive of more merriment than wit, it feldom procures to the poffeffor the fame degree of refpect. To fhew in a strong light the follies, the defects, and the improprieties of mankind, they must be exhibited with peculiar colouring. To excite ftrong ridicule, the picture muft be changed; and the features, though like, must be exaggerated. The man who, in conversation, aims at the display of this talent, must endeavour to reprefent, with peculiar heightening, the tone, the afpect, the gefture, the deportment of the perfon whom he ridicules. To paint folly, he muft for the time appear foolish. To exhibit oddity and abfurdity, he must himself become odd and abfurd. There is, in this attempt, fomething low and buffoonifh; and a degree of that meanness, which appeared in the perfon thus expofed, is likely, by a natural affociation, to remain with his reprefentative. The latter is beheld in the light of a player, who degrades himself for our entertainment, and whom nothing but the higheft excellence in his profeffion can fave from our contempt. Vol. IV. p. 354-358.

The great exuberance of humour in the productions of Englifh writers, Mr Millar thinks, is to be afcribed principally to the great variety of profeffions and occupations which exift in this country among perfons that are admitted into the fame circles of fociety. Our humour, however, he is of opinion, is declining with the general improvement of our manners; and he is afraid that our ferious application to bufinefs and politics will prevent us from compenfating that lofs by a proportionate improvement in wit.

Such is the fubftance of the volumes that are to carry down to pofterity the reputation of a man, from whofe converfation no one ever retired without information and delight, and in whom the faculties of juft reafoning and animated difcuffion feemed at all times unimpaired and alert. The publication, we have already noticed, is fcarcely equal to our expectations; but it has merits which

will always be unattainable by ordinary minds: it takes a firm grafp of the fubject, and conducts the investigation with a degree of perfpicuity that is never overshaded, and a fagacity that is but rarely deceived. In the political part, all the fentiments that are liable to be difputed, are delivered openly, firmly, and calmly; and those who do not agree with the author, can neither complain of equivocation, nor plead his example for being angry. When we confider that the fubftance of this work was originally delivered by Mr Millar in a series of academical lectures, we fhall easily be able to account for another peculiarity in its character. Every thing is delivered with ftudied perfpicuity, and a fort of elementary fimplicity. The general truth and theory is clearly and boldly afferted; and the difficulties and detail of the fubject are fometimes paffed over very flightly. To those who are already proficients in the study, this may not be altogether fatisfactory; but, by the general reader, it will be felt as a great relief: and there are few indeed, even among those who have entered profoundly into the fubject, who will not feel their knowledge rendered more manageable, and their conceptions more luminous, by the perufal of Mr Millar's fpeculations.

ART. XIV. Athenai Naucratite Deipnofophiftarum libri quindecim: ex optimis codicibus nunc primum collatis emendavit ac fupplevit, nova Latina verfione et animadverfionibus cum Is. Cafauboni aliorumque tum fuis illuftravit, commodifque indicibus inftruxit Johannes Schweighaufer Argentoratenfis, Inflituti Scientiar. et Art. populi Gallo-franc. focius, An tiquar. Literar. in Schola Argent. Prof. Argentorati, ex Typographia Societatis Bipontinæ. Anno ix. (1801.)

THE

HERE are few compilations from which the moderns have derived fo much of their knowledge of the private life of the ancient Greeks, as from the Deipnofophifts of Athenæus. It may not be fuperfluous to inform fome of our readers, that the profeffed object of the writer was to detail to his contemporaries the convivial antiquities of their ancestors, and that he has chofen to convey his information in the form of a dialogue, as the most convenient and amufing. The fable, or plan of the work, is as follows: A confiderable number of learned men, among whom we find the celebrated Galen, affemble at the table of Larenfius, a liberal and wealthy Roman, where they bestow as large a portion of erudition on every part of their entertainment, as the memory or common-place book of the author could fupply. So much of the business of human life is connected, mediately or immediately, with eating and drinking, that it does

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not require any great share of ingenuity to introduce into a work of fo mifcellaneous a nature, much useful and curious information, which, at first fight, does not appear to be very clofely connected with the fcience of cookery. Accordingly,' fays the author of the Epitome, we find difquifitions on fifh of every fort, together with pot-herbs and poultry; not to mention hiftorians, poets and philofophers; likewife a great variety of musical inftruments, witty fayings and drinking veffels; royal magnificence, fhips of prodigious magnitude, and many other articles,' too tedious to mention.' Although this kind of converfation bears no very strong refemblance to the dying fpeculations of Socrates on the immortality of the foul, our author has felected the Phædo of Plato for his prototype, and has borrowed the beginning of that dialogue, with no alteration, except the fubftitution of the names of Timocrates and Athenæus to those of Echecrates and Phædo. A ftrong objection to the dramatic form which the work affumes, arifes from the impoflibility of collecting the productions of all the different seasons at one banquet. The author feems to fuppofe that an aftonished fishmonger might exclaim, in the words of Theocritus, 'Aλλà Tà μin θέρεος, τὰ δὲ γίγνεται ἐν χειμῶνι. The lofs of the two frft books renders us unable to judge how far he was able to palliate this palpable abfurdity. The most valuable part of the work is the large quantity of quotations which it prefents from authors whose writings no longer exift. The Athenian comic poets afforded an ample store of materials, and Athenæus feems to have been by no means fparing in the ufe of them. Many of the extracts from their works, which he has inferted in his own, are highly interefting; and the mafs is fo confiderable, as far to exceed in bulk all that can be collected from every other Greek or Latin writer. The number of theatrical pieces which he appears to have confulted, was probably not lefs than two thousand. The middle comedy alone furnished him with eight hundred,

Of the author of this work, which has derived fo great a pertion of additional value from the general wreck which has deprived us of the treasures of the ancients, nothing is known, cx cept a few particulars which he has inferted curforily in his work. He was a native of Naucratis, a city of Egypt, to which, in the time of its original kings, the approach of foreigners was restricted in the fame manner as to Nangafaki in the modern empire of Japan. He declares himself to have been a little pofterior to the poet Oppian; and, as that writer dedicates his Halieutics to the emperor Caracalla, the age of Athenæus may be fixed at the beginning of the third century of the Christian æra. His compilation immediately became the prey of other compil

ers