shire, who also had an under lease which it has been known as the Cla- Mr. URBAN, Louth, Feb. 15. having accidentally called at the White Swan at Stockwell, I saw in the parlour, what I suppose to be the very picture to which he alludes. It was an oil painting, composed of characters dressed in the costume of thetime of Queen Elizabeth. In the centre was a lady sitting with a gentleman reclining his head on her lap, apparently sleeping; on the right three persons were approaching from an antient building in the back ground; and on the left was a gentleman who appeared to be the first speaker in the following colloquy, which was inscribed in letters of an old character underneath, and which I have now I letter from Mr. Banks, in answer copied from a memorandum hastily made at the time. The words omitted Who yon three bee, if you them knowe, to another of your Correspondents, respecting the antient barony of Zouche of Harringworth. Mr. Banks, I find, has stated in his valuable publication, that "the descendants of the last Lord Zouche, in the line of Tate, are illegitimate," and for proof of their illegitimacy he refers to my letter on the subject, (Gent. Mag. Vol. LXXI. p. 402) in which I have shewn, from the most respectable authorities, that there is very great reason to conclude that Zouche Tate was illegitimate. Vol. LXXVIII, p. 506, Mr. Banks says respecting the Tate family, "had F. T. ever travelled the counties of Buckingham and Northampton, he might have heard a current report which concurs with what, he states, If the Epitaph on the Rev. In mean to insinuate." What is the report to which Mr. Banks alludes? It should seem from the letter of your Correspondent, W-ds-r (Vol. LXIX. p. 1013) that there is no issue from Mary, second daughter and coheir of the last Lord Zouche. Exclusive of the descendants of the last Lord Zouche, canany of your Correspondents inform me whether there is any issue from George Lord Zouche, who died in the year 1560, or from Richard Lord Zouche, whose sister, Catherine, married Francis Uvedale of Horton, Dorsetshire, second son of Sir William Uvedale, of More Crichel, in that county. Yours, &c. R. U. And all sonnes to my husband that-- -Shew me in how this may be." N.. Mr. URBAN, Berwick, March 5. BSERVING that the Translator Percival Stockdale (see your last vo- "Sacred to the memory of the Reverend PERCIVAL STOCKDALE, whose remains rest here interred. In eloquence he was agreeable and impressive; ardent and fervent in the promotion of learning; in conversation pleasant and acute; strenuous and bold also in the vindication of truth; to the hypocrite a bitter, a determined foe; his imagination was vivid and quick; his mind independent, disdaining servility equally to all; to his parents his affection was warm and constant; and in the cultivation of letters elegantly and actively his life past away: even to him no small praise is due, for the classical productions of his pen. But, alas! age, at length, without disease, weakened and exhausted his vigorous mind. Stop, traveller! and be wail the miseries of man! the frailties of our nature pardon and forget. Farewell." Mr. Medea and the other tragedies: yet Mr. UREAN, Liverpool, Feb. 5. PERMIT me, through the me- suppose it away, and a dismember dium of your Magazine, to offer a few remarks on the Phoenissæ of Euripides, as lately edited by Mr. Burges. Your Readers, who have perused this edition, must have observed its principal features: which are a bold departure from several received and well-authenticated readings, and an innovation in some of the choral songs hitherto considered monostrophics; but in Mr. B's edition fashioned into strophes and antistrophes. I am not about to dispute the purity of diction which may exist in some of Mr. B's alterations; some of them may seem more intelligible than the received text: but I shall attempt to shew that, to make room for unwarranted conjecture, phrases and words have been expunged, which are not so unworthy Euripides, as Mr. B. appears to consider them. We may ramble in the devious wilds of conjecture, and perchance approach the excellence and catch the spirit of this admirable Tragedian, but, at the same time, we must not lose sight of venerable authorities before us; we must reject the illusions of fancy, and search for the fragments of the Poet's mind, sparkling here and there among the dusty heaps of timeworn manuscripts and scholia; this I humbly conceive is a surer clue to purity of text. Thus we may, as it were, raise him from the shades, arrayed in all the splendour of his appropriate diction." But to proceed. First let us notice verse 145; Σπονδὰς ὅτ ̓ ἦλθον σῷ κασιγνήτῳ φέρων. We observe the same words precede in verse 95: Mr. B. wonders this has escaped the notice of former editors and the celebrated Porson himself. Valckenaer, how ever, does appear to suspect the verse as an interpolation. But this is not the only repetition that occurs in Euripides; and if we dismiss the verse in question, what must be the fate of many in his ment of the context directly shows the violence committed. Thus we see in the verse before, Σημεῖ ̓ ἰδὼν ΤΟΤ ̓ ἀσπίδων ἐγνώρισα then, 66 Σπονδὰς ΟΤ ̓ ἦλθον σῶ κασιγνήτω φέρων. so, if we take away the former verse, TOT' loses its correlative OT'; hence it is very plain that the Poet wrote both the verses, or neither! To save the former, Mr. 1 B. proposes to read ród for Tór': this, however, completely mars the sense. He has no objection to Tór signifying olim," "formerly," But, unfortunately for him, Jocasta in the prologue intimates this messenger to be lately on his return from the Argive camp. Verse 81, Ἥξειν δ' ὁ πεμφθείς φησιν αὐτὸν ἄγγελος. Let us then exclude Tór; but I want the authority; for though two MSS. furnish us with ἐπεγνώρισα, yet Mr. B's doidwy i (a great liberty taken with the common reading) rests on no authority whatever. The mutilated writings of the Antients are not to be supplied by hardy transpositions of entire words, without the least regard to manuscripts; but they often are by a slight change in the letters of a word, or in the connexion of one word with another. Many of the manuscripts being written in capitals, and the words close together, copyists may have committed many and great blunders by the annexion to a word of a letter belonging to the next. We will now endeavour to protect the Poet from the charge of useless repetition. The scene, which is supposed to be in Thebes, beautifully exhibits to us Antigoné in conversation, on the roof of the palace, with her tutor, who had been to Argos as ambassador between her rival brothers. Not far from the walls of the city are the encampments of the enemy, and in verse 104, Κινούμενου Πελασγικὸν Η Στράτευμα is a picture before our eyes. But, before Antigoné ascends the roof, the tutor thus addresses her: v. 93. πάντα δ ̓ ἐξειδὼς φράσω “Α τ ̓ εἶδον εἰσήκουσα τ ̓ ̓Αργείων πάρα. Soon after she asks many questions, and wonders how he has acquired so exact a knowledge of the leaders and their insignia. But, as she knew that he was lately arrived from Argos, and he had told her that he would relate every thing he had seen or heard there, she ought to have concluded that there he obtained the knowledge. However, as she appears to have forgotten this, and, in verse 141, asks him son, lead me to conclude that the verse was really written by Euripides. We are now come to verse 183 and following, which Mr. B. has transformed into strophe and antistrophe. I object to the innovation. First. Because anomoeostrophics, such as those in question have ever been considered, abound in the tragedies of this Poet, and are almost peculiar to him. We may discover in them the finest specimens of dramatic skill and the tender aos for which Euripides is remarkable. Antigoné interrupts the subject of conversation, and Σὺ δὲ ὦ γέρον πῶς αἰσθάνῃ σαφῶς τάδε; breaks out in an incoherent aposwhat could he reply more proper trophe to the Moon: this affection Είναι Σημεῖ” ἰδὼν κ.τ.λ.the unneces- is depicted in measures almost unsary line which Mr. B. thinks should controuled; and how much more be expunged! Here, by-the-bye, it naturally than it would appear in may be noted that the Latin version the stiff regularity of strophe and of this passage, as we have it in the antistrophe? Secondly; because editions of Barnes and Beck, does the best judges of Greek Tragedy not appear to give the true meaning have left these verses untouched. of the original: it seems to refer Among the Antients, Hephæstion TÓTE to ¡yrúgion; whereas I conceive and other eminent writers acknowit should be referred to id in the ledge them, and they are supported following order. ¡dav TÓTE (TA) onμtix (at least they are not rejected), by ἀσπίδων ὅτε ἦλθον φέρων σπονδάς σῷ donidur ŏTε for Pégur Corda's later scholars; Canter, Barnes, Valcκασιγνήτῳ, ἐγνώρισα : (onia) kenaer, Beck, and Porson, our coπροσδεδορκώς οἶδα τους ὡπλισμένους, lumn of Grecian literature. Thirdly; Having seen the figures on and what I consider most especially their shields at the time when I objectionable, is the bisection of a carried to your brother the pledge period; and this Mr. B. is obliged of truce, I recognize them; which to submit to in the formation of his having closely observed, I know the strophe and antistrophe. Thus, warriors who bear them." before the sense is complete, the strophe is made to end at xuño❤ Pyyos-But both strophe and antistrophe ever close with the period. And this is a rule so scrupulously regarded, that I question whether Mr. Burges can produce me a single instance in Euripides, or in any other Greek tragedian, of a period thus divided. The actions accompanying the strophe and the antistrophe were distinct, so of course. was the sentiment. Fourthly; these parts were almost always allotted to the Chorus, either entirely, or in dialogue with the other actors: and for five hundred instances of this, scarce any are to be found As to the garrulity of the tutor, being unusual in the old men of Euripides, I must remark that the repetition is imposed by the forgetfulness of Antigoné, which is extremely natural in the supposed troubled state of her mind: this, together with what we term a useless repetition, might, by appropriate tone and action, have been so expressed to his Athenian audience, as to have excited an opinion of the poet's merit in this passage, far different to that entertained by Valckenaer and Mr. Burges. These considerations, with the authorities of Barnes, Brunck, Beck, and Por - where where the Chorus are excluded. They were also sung with dances or extensive procession; but Antigoné (to whom Mr. B. would assign them) is represented on the roof of a palace!! Having stated my principal objections, I beg leave, Mr. Urban, to lay before your Readers the verses as they have been hitherto received, and the order in which Mr. B. has edited them. Beck's Edition. αελίου σεληναία*, ως ατρεμέα * κέντρα καὶ σώφρονα πώλοις μεταφέρων ιθύνει. exceedingly proper and descriptive, from the very appearance of that luminary: for, in a clear sky, a bright effulgence seems to surround his disk, which surely may be expressed by the epithet λιπαροζώνος, bright-girdled" or "bright-encircled." Now in the moon we see 'nothing that resembles the (v. The common reading xevosónunλov eyyos, without a single manuscript authority, is distorted to xuxhov xevoofiyyous, because in Phaeth. fr. 10, Euripides uses the latter in allusion to the sun! But Piyyos, "light," is applicable to both the sun and moon; and as to xgoros, let us hear our Poet, El. 54. † Ὦ νὺξ μέλαινα χρυσέων άστρων τρέφε. Mr. Burges has altered and trans- Thus, Mr. Urban, it is evident the posed as under: Antigone. Στροφη Ε. -ελίου θύγατες σελάνα και σώφρονα κέντρα πώλοις Mr. Burges, we may observe, has not only changed the metre but the sense. λιπαροζών altered from λιπαροζώνου is made to refer to σελάνα, The alteration is supported by the opinion of Brunck and a quotation from Theocritus, Idyll. 2. 165, xaige Etλnvaía Aragóxgos. Mr. B. has not, however, the aid of a single manuscript, nor has he shown us the impropriety of the common reading. λιπαρός “ bright,” and ζώνη a zone, girdle, or belt, are common, and applied both to the masculine gender and the feminine: for the former see Lucianus quo. His. scrib. 19. 27. Ed. Hems. and Homerus. II. B. 44. λιπαρο ζώνου, as relating to the sun, I think, is proved to be epithet xeuros, and of course xevστόφεγγος, is allowable in speaking of sun, moon, or stars!! Duyarg, σεληναία, and χρυσεόκυκλον φέγγος, may all be referred to their possessive dixiou to describe the moon's borrowed light; which being that of the sun, justifies a community of epithets. I read the verses in the following order: Juyaleg, Xguosónunλos φίγγος αελίου λιπαροζώνου, σεληναία, ὡς ἀτρεμία καὶ σώφρονα κέντρα μεταφέρων πώλοις ιθύνει (understand αὐτους). I leave these comments to the con sideration of your candid Readers, and, fearing I may become tedious, conclude for the present. JAMES WEETMAN. Postscript.-I had almost omitted to make mention of the metre of the last noted six verses or lines: and, certainly, as they are now arranged, it is difficult to say to what class they properly belong. But I consider them as commata or hemistichs, and conceive that they ought to be scanned and written in three instead of six lines. Thus : * Beck reads sehdvd, and args in another edition, and which appear to suit the metre much better. ✦ Homer in his Hymn to the Moon has “xgurtov amo dhipavou.”. The τες The two former evidently belong to the άuvágτnta described by Hephæstion; see Gaisford's excellent edition, pp. 84 and 88. The first colon or hemistich is dactylic ephthemeris; the remaining colon is the τροχαϊκον ἡμιολιν. The third verse is the "Ionicus a majore" trimeter and a syllable; see p. 63 line 10 of the same author; and if we may by the συνεκφώνησις contract μεταφέρων το μεταφ' ων the verse will be exactly the same as the one quoted by Hephaestion himself. I make the re in Jiyang long, because it closes the "colon," and contract lov in dɛxíoʊ into one long syllable with Hephæstion's authority, grounded on the natural tendency of the organs of speech; as one can scarcely avoid pronouncing the letters as a monosyllable: viz. "yoo."-In this innovation I may appear to subject myself to the charge which I urge against Mr. Burges; but you will perceive, Mr. Urban, that I do not in the least change the ordo verborum: the lines as they commonly appear, I repeat, are unsusceptible of classification; and as, when disposed in three verses, we recognize exactly similar in the respectable author before mentioned, I trust I shall not be considered presumptuous in suggesting the alteration. J. W. Mr. URBAN, Quinton, Feb. 4. EAGERLY, according to custom, looking over the contents of your Magazine for December last, p. 505, I dropped upou the birthplace of my favourite Shenstone, and glad I am that there is a semblance of it preserved. If Mr. Parkes, or any other gentleman, would supply you with a view of the House and Grounds at the Leasowes about the time of Mr. Shenstone's death, it would certainly be very desirable to preserve a representation of so remarkable a place, as left by such an able improver of nature. - Modest and worthy Shenstone! I knew him well. Amiable in his manners, will ing to communicate, he was the friend of merit and the fosterer of genius. I well remember when a youth, that I showed him some Verses I had written on the Leasowes, which, although they have little to recommend them, I will introduce, to show rhyming adventurer, and likewise the the willingness he had to assist a facility with which he wrote. With a pencil he immediately annexed the eight last lines, and returned me the verses. Verses written at The Leasowes, May 19, 1759. How soothing are those fragrant shades, And hills that smile around. And ev'ry anguish cure. The woes with which 1 pine, Or soothe a pang like mine? For FANNY's eyes alone; Inscription on a Cenotaph intended to be erected in the Church at PRESTON, Northamptonshire. (See p. 174.) "Reader, within these consecrated walls this marble Tablet (with tribute that is due) is inscribed to the Memory of JAMES NEWMAN NEWMAN, esq. of the Royal Navy, Captain of his Majesty's ship "Hero," of seventy-four guns, wrecked on the 24th of December, 1811, upon the Haak Sands, off the Texel Island, and every soul on board perished!! He was the son of Charles Newman, esq. of Preston-Deanry, in the county of Northampton, and of Esther his wife, who was niece of the late Sir John Langham, bart. of the same county. He has left an aged father to lament the loss of a beloved son in the prime of life; an af fectionate wife to bewail the death of an excellent husband; and his country to regret as they regard the loss of a good and gallant officer. 'Non omnis moriar: multaque pars mei Vitabit Libitinam,” Mr. |
