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rest,

And with pitiful wailings clings fast to the breast;

For the loved one, the cares of the mother are vain,

She may hide,-through her body her dar. ling is slain."

A herald enters, and gives a character of each of the chiefs, and describes the blazonry on their shields, In this part of the play there are some splendid passages, but, like that already quoted, more fit for narrative than dramatic poetry. This is a fault which Eschylus frequently commits; but we are not to be surprised, that without any example of the drama to guide him, he should not have clearly seen the limits which separate acted from spoken poetry. These descriptions, in which he seems to have taken the shield of Achilles as his model, occupy a most disproportionate length of the play, nearly one half of the whole. The character of Amphiaraus may serve as a specimen. There was in this man, who was a prophet, and who was averse to the expedition, a gentleness of spirit well becoming a minister of religion, and finely opposed to the ferocity of the other chiefs.

"The sixth is Amphiaraus ;-a man
Of sanctity of soul and gentle manners,
Yet in a righteous cause he knows not terror;
The virtuous indignation of his heart

Is uttered in reproaches against Tydeus,
The city's pestilence, the murderer
Who leads the Argives in the path of ruin;
The Fury's herald, the High Priest of death,
The counsellor of mischief to Adrastus;
Thy hapless brother he addresses thus:
Is this a warfare sanctioned by the Gods?
Expect'st thou glory from a war like this?
A traitor to thy country and her Gods.
Oh! canst thou close the spring of nature's
fountains?

Although this city fall beneath thy might,
Will she receive thee as a son again?
I know that in the combat I must die,
Yet will I dare the battle, and I hope
A fate not quite inglorious.' On his shield
There was no blazonry, he chose to be,
Rather than seem, a virtuous man."

Eteocles at last rushes out to battle, meets his brother, and both are slain. The bodies are brought on the stage, and are mourned by Ismene and Antigone, the former of whom was attached to Eteocles, and the latter to Polynices. that the senate of Thebes had ordered Meanwhile they receive information the remains of Eteocles to be interred with all the honours due to his rank; but that the body of Polynices should be cast out unburied, a prey to the dogs, as a traitor to his country. Antigone thus replies to the message : "Go tell the Magistrates of Thebes from me, Though all resist, that I will bury him; When nature bids, no dangers shall deter

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munion;

He shall not be the prey of hungry wolves. No! I will swathe him in fine linen garments, And in my bosom bear him to the grave, And rear for him affection's monument; Tho'a weak woman, and the state oppose me, Yet shall I find the means for this good pur pose."

The "Phonissa," the play next to come under review, is the work of Euripides. It was the glory of Greek tragedy, that in it genius was enlisted under the banners of morality, and Euripides was not only a great poet, but an eminent teacher of moral wisdom. He had from nature a heart of the keenest sensibility-and a rich imagination. In the school of philosophy, he had learned to turn the one into its proper channels, and to prune the other of its unprofitable luxuriance,

and, by a concentration of its energies,
to give it a force and a vigour which
it could not have obtained by any other
training. He took the most exalted
view of the end of poetry, and from
the stores of philosophy he was en-
abled to confer a solidity and a value
on her creations. It was not his aim
merely to yield a momentary delight,
but, through the imagination and the
feelings, to elevate, and refine, and in-
vigorate, the whole nature of man.
But the quality the most prominent
in this great man, is tenderness of
heart; nor did he, like Sophocles, put
a check on his sympathies, that they
might be displayed with the more
effect in some striking situation; where-
ever an object presents itself for their
exercise there is an overflow of them,
and by the communications of genius
he never fails to inspire his readers
with his own sorrows. His verses are
laboured to the most exquisite polish,
and he bestowed so much care on their
composition, that he is said to have
spent three days on the correction of
so many lines. Whether this be liter-
ally true or not, it is certain that he
was his own most severe critic, and
might, in this respect, be imitated with
profit in this scribbling generation, in
which many seem to mistake the fa-
cility of manufacturing feeble lines for
the inspiration of genius. A story,
which has been often told, shews the
extent of his reputation among his
contemporaries. In the unfortunate
expedition of the Athenians against Sy-
racuse, all the prisoners who could re-
peat his verses obtained their liberty.
This is perhaps a more splendid eulo-
gy than ever was bestowed on poet.
In dramatic management, he is less
skilful than Sophocles, and his trage-
dies are often clumsy and disjointed
in their structure, but even in this re-
spect it will soon appear that he was
superior to Eschylus.

In the Phoenisse, Jocasta, the mother of the warring princes, is introduced by Euripides, and acts a distinguished part in the play. She opens the piece by a prologue, in which she explains the causes of the calamities of her family and the quarrels of her sons. Antigone, of whose attachment to her brother we had a proof in the conclusion of the last play, then appears, accompanied by an aged tutor. From the scene they had a full view of the besieging army, and the old

man points out to her the chiefs, and among the rest Polynices, for whom she had eagerly inquired.

"Tutor. See! there he is;-he stands
beyond the tomb

Of Niobe's seven daughters, near Adrastus;
Dost thou not see him?
An. Yes! but indistinctly;
Methinks I see him dimly shadow'd yonder.
Oh! could I journey on that passing cloud,
On the wings of the wind, to my dear bro
ther,

And pour my spirit in a fond embrace.
See! how he shines in coat of golden mail,
Bright as the beaming of the morning sun."

By the mediation of Jocasta, an interview is obtained betwixt her sons, for the purpose of a reconciliation; and Polynices, on his admission into the city, meets her.

"Jo. Oh! my son! do I again behold thee,

and lay

After so many weary days of absence?
Embrace the breasts that gave thee suck,
Thy cheek on mine, and let thy raven locks
Flow on my bosom; art thou come at length
Thus unexpected to a mother's arms?
Do I again enjoy the dear delights
I had with thee ere thou wert banish'd
hence?

Without thee the palace of thy father
Was as a desert to me; thou wert mourned
By all thy friends, by all the citizens;
Then did I shear my hoary locks, and then
Change the gay garments that betoken'd joy
For the dark weeds more fitting for a

mourner.

Po. There is no man that does not love

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I lift the spear and draw the sword against it.

"Tis thine to reconcile thy children;
Deliver me, the city, and thyself,
From the calamities that threaten us.
Eteocles. (Addressing Jocasta.)

I come, but in submission to thy orders; What wouldst thou have, there is no time to lose?

Jo. Truth and justice require delibera-
tion;

Look not so sternly, 'tis no Gorgon's head
That thou beholdest, but thy only brother.
Oh! Polynices, turn a friendly eye
Upon Eteocles.-Be friends, my sons!
Et. Mother, do not deceive thyself, but
know

That I for sovereignty would seek the sky Where the sun rises, aye, and would descend

Into the central caverns of the earth.

Therefore to none will I resign the crown: It is the sword that must decide our quarrels. Shall he be sovereign, and must I be slave? Let him for this bring fire and sword against

me,

Harness his steeds, and fill the plain with chariots,

I will not yield to him the sovereignty."

The dialogue is continued, and is so extremely beautiful, that I regret my limits will not permit me to translate even a part of it.

A scene follows betwixt Eteocles and his uncle Creon, who recommends caution; but the impetuous young man, impatient of restraint, and burning for revenge, delegates to him the care of the government, and hurries out to battle. Creon sends for the soothsayer Tiresias, to consult him respecting the issue of the war; who informs him, that there is no other means of delivering the city from destruction but offering up his son a victim for the general safety. The father refuses, but the generous youth retires, and puts an end to his life. This scene, taken in itself, is good; but as it is little connected with the principal story, it must be condemned

as an excrescence.

After this transaction, Jocasta and Antigone are informed that the battle had ceased, and that Polynices and Eteocles had agreed to decide their differences by a single combat. Jocasta, alarmed by these tidings, hastily quits the stage, with the design of throwing herself betwixt her sons, and preventing this unnatural combat, of which the issue is narrated to Creon by a messenger.

"Mess. (Aside.) How shall I communicate the tidings? VOL. I.

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CARR ROCK STONE BEACON.

THE Carr Rock forms the outer extremity of an almost continuous reef of rocks, which extends about a mile and a half from Fifeness, the eastern point of land in the county of Fife. As this reef forms a turning-point in the course of all northern bound ships to or from the Frith of Forth, and has very often proved fatal to shipping, it was extremely desirable that this dangerous rock might be distinguished, and pointed out to the mariner.

After much labour and expense, the Bell Rock Lighthouse, situate also at the entrance of the Frith of Forth, but at a greater distance from land, was completed in the year 1810; but still the safety of the navigation of the great estuary of the Frith of Forth was incomplete, while the place of the Carr Rock could not be ascertained by the mariner between half flood and half ebb tide, and especially in neap tides, when it hardly appears above water. In the year 1811, the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, with a view to remedy this evil, first ordered one of Waddell's large floating buoys, from their superior and commanding appearance at sea, to be moored off the Carr Rock.

But as ships still continued to be wrecked upon, and in the neighbourhood of, this rock, a permanent beacon, a more conspicuous mark, appeared still to be necessary. Accordingly, in 1812, the Northern Lighthouse Board resolved upon the erection of a stone beacon, and this building has now been in progress during the last five sum

mers.

As the Bell Rock Lighthouse is about twelve miles from the nearest land, and as this great work was erected in the course of four years, our readers will probably be desirous to learn how a building upon the Carr Rock, of much less extent, and not two miles from the shore, should have required a longer period, and be attended with so much difficulty. We are informed by Mr Stevenson, engineer for both works, that this is partly owing to the waters of the ocean being more easily agitated and disturbed when flowing over the shelving rocks bounding the shores, than over those more in the open sea. The chief bar, however, to the operations of the Carr Rock Beacon, is considered to arise

from the smallness of the foundation afforded by the rock, which, as already noticed, forms the communication to seaward of an extensive reef of rocks.

Both the Bell and Carr Rocks are what seamen term half tide rocks, a name which indicates, that they are wholly covered by the sea at half tide. In respect to the elevation of these rocks above low water mark of spring tides, the circumstances of both are very similar, but the surface of the Bell Rock measures about 300 feet in length by 280 feet in breadth, while the greatest extent of the beacon rock at the Carr is only seventy-two feet in length by twenty-three in breadth. The consequence of the smallness of the dimensions of the Carr Rock is the almost total want of shelter for the attending boats on either side, which renders the approach difficult excepting in the finest weather. Another evil consists in its having been found necessary to cut down the rock for a solid foundation, even so low as to be under the tide; it thus became necessary to erect a coffer-dam round the site of the building; this required the pumping of water from the foundation-pit every tide, and thereby subjected the whole operation to many casualties, which were only to be overcome by the resolution and perseverance of those employed in the work, encouraged by the confidence of the Board of Commissioners. The operations have been at length brought to the most flattering prospect of being completed in the course of the present year.

The Carr Rock, as before noticed, is only twenty-three feet in breadth, and the foundation course of the beacon is consequently confined to a diameter of eighteen feet. Its height therefore cannot exceed fifty feet, having an elevation of a circular form, diminishing towards the top to nine feet diameter over walls.

During the three years ending in 1815, the artificers employed at this work were wholly occupied in preparing the foundation or site of the building, which became extremely tedious and difficult, from the lowness of the first course and the accidents to which building apparatus so exposed was liable. The operations could go on only in good weather, and only at the return of spring tides. A whole year's work, under these circum

stances, did not exceed 130 hours working upon the rock, although a premium was allowed to the artificers, over and above their stated wages, for every hour's work they were able to make good upon the rock. After much labour, a site was at length prepared for the building, and two courses of stone were built upon it in 1815; but in the month of September of that year, when in the act of laying a third course, which would have brought the beacon up to the level of low water mark of ordinary spring tides, a dreadful gale occurred, that dispersed the artificers, and wrenched the oaken trenails, used in fixing down the stones till the cement took bond; by which untoward accident, one-half of the stones of the third course were swept away, the building apparatus was destroyed, and the works were stopped for the season. In the following summer of 1816, the damages of the former season having been repaired, the work was got to the height of the high water mark of spring tides, and as the building has withstood all the gales of last winter in this unfinished state, without sustaining the smallest injury, there remains little doubt of its being now successfully completed.

Our readers will observe, from the smallness of the Carr Rock, that it is impossible to erect any building upon it, of sufficient height to be above the reach even of very weighty seas, which would at once be fatal to the effect and apparatus of a lighthouse. The building is therefore to be covered with a large bell, in the form of a cupola; this bell is to be tolled night and day, to warn mariners of impending danger. But as the beacon is too small, and is otherwise quite inadequate for the habitation of a man, it is none of the least interesting parts of this design, to devise how this effect is to be produced, without the regular attendance of a person to wind up the machinery of the bell apparatus. This is provided for in the following manner: In the centre of the building there is a kind of chamber or cavity, into which the tidal waters are admitted, by means of a small conduit or perforation in the walls, and as the tide rises on the exterior of the building, it also rises in the chamber, and elevates a metallic float or tank, which is connected with a rod communicating with the train of machinery to

which the perpendicular rise of the tide gives motion; and in this manner the large bell is tolled. A weight is also at the same time raised, and as the tank or float is elevated to the height of neap tides, to which the train of machinery is calculated, when the tide has flowed to its height, the weight begins to operate by its tendency to descend, and it keeps the machine in motion till the flood returns again to lift the float and raise the weight, or in other words, to wind up the machine. In this manner the bell is to be tolled without intermission.

We shall have much pleasure in attending to the further progress of this curious work, and in giving our readers a detailed account of the application and effect of the machinery, when it comes to be erected in the building. It has already been modelled, and tried upon the small scale for several years, and found to answer in the most satisfactory manner.

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GOLDSMITH. Leyden.

I LEFT Rotterdam the day before yesterday in the treckschuit for Delft, where I arrived in the forenoon of the same day. The morning being wet and hazy, I saw little of the country, but on reaching Delft the atmosphere cleared up, and I obtained a distinct view of the surrounding landscape.

One of the most interesting and picturesque features which I have yet witnessed in the scenery of Holland, is the appearance of the storks on the chimney tops, pruning their feathers, and feeding their callow young. The snowy whiteness of their plumage,

For an illustration of the dangers attending the Carr Rock, we may refer to page 109 of our First Number.

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