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FROM MY PORT-FOLIO.

A TRIPLET OF SIMILITUDES,

IN

(Communicated.) I.

N act 4. fcene I. of "Measure for Meafure," Shakspeare has inferted the first stanza of a very beautiful fonnet, which Mr. Malone has published entire in "The Paffionate Pilgrim." (See Malone's Shakspeare, vol. x. p. 340.) The fonnet is well known, but it takes little room, and had better be tranfcribed for the more eafy comparison of it with fome lyric lines of Gallus, a poet of the Auguftan age.

Take, oh take thofe lips away,

That fo fweetly were forfworn;
And thofe eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn
But my kiffes bring again,
Seals of love, but feal'd in vain.
Hide, oh, hide thofe hills of fnow,
Which thy frozen bofom bears,
On whofe tops the pinks that grow

Are of thofe that April wears :
But firft fet my poor heart free,
Bound in thofe icy chains by thee.

In an edition of Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, and the fragments of Gallus, published at Venice about two hundred years ago, in 1553, are the following lines, to which is prefixed this caution: "Sequens Lyricum quia à plerifque Cor. Gallo attribuitur, bic adijcere libuit,"

Lidia bella puella, candida,

Quæ bene fuperas lac, et lilium,
Albamq; fimul rofam rubidam,
Aut expolitum ebur Indicum.
Pande puella, pande capillulos
Flavos, lucentes ut aurum nitidum.
Pande puella collum candidum,
Productum bene candidis humeris.
Pande puella ftellatos oculos,
Flexaq; fuper nigra cilia.
Pande puella genas rofeas,
Perfufas rubro purpuræ Tyriæ.
Porrige labra, labra corrallina,
Da columbatim mitia bafia:
Sugis amentis partem animi :
Cor mihi penetrant hæc tua bafia.
Quid mihi fugis vivum fanguinem?
Conde papillas, conde gemipomas,
Compreffo lacte quæ modò pullulant.
Sinus expanfa profert cinnama :
Vndique furgunt ex te deliciæ.
Conde papillas, quæ me fauciant

Candore, et luvu nivei pectoris,
Sæva non cernis quod ego langueo?
Sic me deftituis iam femimortuum ?

II.

When Milton wrote the morning hymn of Adam and Eve, (fee" Paradife Loft," book v. line 153,) beginning, "Thefe are thy glorious works, &c." he seems to have had in view that fublime canticle in the morning fervice of the church of England, beginning with, "O all ye works of the Lord, blefs ye the Lord: praise him and magnify him for ever." Any one who will take the trouble of comparing the paffages will be ftruck with their fimilitude,

III..

The figns of love which Mrs, Bar, bauld has enumerated in her beautiful little fong, "Come here, fond youth, whoe'er thou be," &c. if they are not an imitation of Shakespeare, at least very ftrongly remind us of the dialogue between Silvius, Phebe, Rofalind, and Orlando, in act 5, fcene II. of "As you like it." The paffage begins, "Good fhepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love."

KING JAMES THE SIXTH'S COUNTERBLAST TO TOBACCO, (Communicated.)

THE ufe of TOBACCO had been introduced into England, I think by Sir Walter Raleigh, not long before James's acceffion to the English throne. James hating Raleigh, and probably difliking the fmell of TOBACCO, refolved to write this herb out of fashion, fince he could not otherwife perfuade his courtiers to forbear the use of it. For this end he composed that precious morfel of wifdom and eloquence, his coUNTER

BLAST TO TOBACCO.

In this treatise he inveighs against TOBACCO; as having been borrowed from a favage people, from whoin had been alfo caught the infection of an obscene and peculiarly loathfome difeafe; as tending rather to dry and heat the brain in a degree prejudicial to health, than merely, as was fuppofed, to evaporate its excefs of moisture; as owing its general reception merely to the caprice of fashion, and to the weakness of those filly-minded people who are ever apt to think any thing good that is new and ftrange; as never having effected any cures of disease, that could be undeniably afcribed to it alone; as being an article of vain luxury, the ufe of which was pernicious to manly virtue, as being in

From my Port Folio.

its ufe utterly inconfiftent with all decency and cleanliness.

There is fomething ludicrous and ftrangely incongruous in the idea of a great monarch publishing a philippic against fo trivial a thing as TOBACCO. But James's intentions were, in this inftance, certainly good; and his arguments are far from bad. Where he only mufters prejudice againft prejudice, the king's prejudices appear to be more nearly allied to found reason than thofe which he ftrives to explode. The truth is, that TOBACCO had been fuddenly received into exceffive and univerfal ufe, with fuch a fond afcription to it, of imaginary virtues, as could not but difguft the wife; and that James, although probably wrong in denying all virtues to this herb, was certainly right in opposing the notion of its being an incomparable panacea. His majesty's ftyle is, in this little piece, fufficiently correct, lively, and flowing: there is a vein of good fenfe, wit, and eloquence, which runs through the whole; but, there is, likewife---to ufe a miner's term---a gangue of abfurdities and James feems, as it were, in every fentence, to fay to his readers, "How wonderfully wife and condefcending I be!"

He incidentally introduces fome curious facts, and feveral diverting expreffions. He relates that it was common for young ladies to entertain their lovers with a pipe of TOBACCO. Some gentlemen of his court, he tells us, were accustomed to waite no lefs than three or four hundred pounds a year, upon this fingle luxury. He fays too, that it was uled as a powerful aphrodifiac. He particularly deplores the cafe of delicate, obolefome, clean - complexioned wives, whofe hufbands were not ashamed to pollute them with the perpetual, flinking torment of TOBACCO-fmoke. The concluding fentence of this difcourfe, is certainly a laughable one. The ufe of TOBACCO, fays he, is---" a custom loathfome to the eye, bateful to the nofe, barmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black finking fume thereof, neareft refembling the borrid Stygian fmoke of the pit that is bottomlefs 1"

A BIBLICAL FRAGMENT.

AMONG the literary curiosities of

the day, may be placed the difcovery of a fragment of the first book of Maccabees, which does not appear in the rabbinic translation, and which is now only found in fome Jewish book of pray

129

ers. PROFESSOR LICHTENSTEIN, of Hamburgh, pointed it out to Mr. HER. BERT CROFT, who, unfortunately for English literature, is, with his dictionary, at that place. I fhall transcribe the paffage in queftion, for the fake of an obfervation which it will produce.

"And Antiochus faid to his generals, do you not know, and are you not informed, that the people of the Jews, which are in Jerufalem amongst us,--they do not fear our religion, nor obferve our customs, nor approach to them; and they neglect the laws of the king, for to obferve their own laws. They alfo wait for the time of the extirpation of kings, governors, and lieutenants; they fay, hous long shall our king reign over us? For we will reign, ourselves, over the fea and the continent, and the whole world shall be given in our hands.

"It would not be reafonable for the king to allow that fuch men and principles fhould be spread over the furface of the earth. Now, let us go and attack them, and destroy the conftitution, which they have given to themselves, the fabbath, and the new months, and the circumci fion---"

This paffage is, no doubt, at the prefent moment, of a very striking nature, and the application is obvious, as defcriptive of the French nation, and their ambitious projects. A learned friend is almoft inclined to call it a prophecy. But, without the flightest suspicion of its authenticity, (fince indeed it comes on the beft authority) there is nothing but what is most natural, in the fentiment. The ancient Hebrews were always republicans, and the genius of their conftitution was the pureft democracy. Even when they once called fo loudly for a king, it was confidered by their prophets as a proof of their reftlefs and intractable cha racter. But it is not for this reflection that I have pointed out this curious fragment.

What I have to obferve, is this. We have of late been frequently furprised by fimilar extracts; and the very fentiments, even of obfcure individuals, have been quoted, as of "the prophetic ftrain." The truth will, however, be fimply this. Society, like Nature herfelf, has certain ftages: and men in parallel fituations, must

evidently act and think alike. The cir

cle of human events is not vast; and in its rotatory motion it must happen, that the fame point will, again and again, be uppermoft. That femblance of novelty, which the face of things wears to the

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bulk of mankind, is nothing but a femblance; what we act, we have acted; what we think, we have thought. I will boldly affert, that, probably, even the wildeft conceptions of a vifionary mind may, find either the fame, or a fimilar folly, in the former periods; and fo much indeed do men think and act alike, in the parallel ftages of the human mind, that I even fufpect (if one madman has not the fame kind of imagination as another) a council of lunatics would probably be more unanimous than a council of fages. And, to illuftrate my general obfervation, fhould we turn over the publications which appeared fome time before and after our own happy revolution, moft of thofe works will appear as books written for the emergencies of the prefent day. I have just looked into two tragedies of Southerne, "The Siege of Capua," and "The Spartan Dame." They contain fituations, fentiments, and reflections, which may greatly inftruct us at the prefent momentous period; a period which haraffes the human mind more than it extends its capacity, and, while it inflames the paffions, clouds the intellect.

TH

BLUE BEARD.

HIS celebrated perfonage, who has during our childhood fo frequently alarmed us in a dark night, and particularly the young ladies, is now exhibited with great terror and advantage, in our new drama, founded on the French piece of Barbe-bleue. It is poffible that fome of his numerous fpectators may defire to know fomething relative to his "birth, life, and education." Our English compounder of this piece has made him a bafhas; taking up, no doubt, the popular idea, that the murderer of feven wives moft undoubtedly have been a Turk. A learned foreigner, however, informs me, that the original Blue-beard was the Marquis De Laval, Marthal of France, and defcended from one of its moft illuftrious families.

This Marthal was of a very fingular character. Mezeray has given a very fatisfactory account of him; but the reader will be fatisfied by the notices which he may find in the Nouveau Dictionnaire Hiflorique. Laval was a general of

pieties and debaucheries. His revenues were princely; his prodigalities might have made an emperor a bankrupt. Whereever he went, he had in his fuite a feraglio; a company of theatrical performers; a band of musicians; a focietyof forcerers; a good number of cooks; packs of dogs of various kinds: and more than two hundred led horfes. Mezeray adds, that he encouraged and maintained forcerers and enchanters to difcover hidden treasures, and corrupted young perfons of both fexes, that he might attach them to him, and afterwards killed them, for the fake of their blood, which was neceffary to form his charms and incantations. Such horrid exceffes are credible, when we recollect the age of ignorance and barbarity in which they were practiced. At length De Laval was brought to the fcaffold, for a ftate crime; the others were probably never noticed! His confeffion at his death is remarkable: he acknowledged that "all his exceffes were derived from his wretched education."

T

POETICAL MEMORY.

I would doubtlefs be a happy acqui

fition to most delicate and elegant minds, who are apt to feel in this life too many irritations, to store their memory with fine verfes, fo as to have them at will, and to turn away the fenfation of actual difguft, while they exalt their tafte. It would be like the ingenious invention of the celebrated Mr. De Luc, who always carries about him fome fugar, to put in his mouth when he finds himself inclined to anger.

The following anecdote will fhew the utility of a poetical memory. Averani was a lover of fine verfes, and when he walked alone he recited them aloud, with a fenfation of pleasure that was visible in his face. One day, hearing a very tedious and prolix fpeech, as he appeared extremely fatisfied, and even attentive, one of his friends was furprized at this, till coining near him, he perceived he was rehearsing fome verfes from Homer!

OPINION CONCERNING THE GREAT,

BY ONE WHO KNEW THEM.
HE Duke de Noailles told the infa-

great intrepidity, and diftinguished him-y would not forget, that his entrance into the council had made the great men of the Dubois replied, kingdom quit it. "Since I have known what thofe are who are called the Great, I find them fo little, that I fhall never put this day in the lift of my triumphs.”.

felf in chafing back the English when they invaded France, in the reign of our Edward III. The fervices he rendered his country might have immortalized his name, had he not for ever blotted his glory oy the most terrible murders, im

VARK

MR:

VARIETIES,

LITERARY and PHILOSOPHICAL;

Including Notices of Works in Hand, Domestic and Foreign.
Authentic Communications for this Article will always be thankfully received.

JR. TOOKE's Life of the late Emprefs of Ruffia, will fhortly make its appearance in three volumes, embellifhed with portraits.

A Tour in Switzerland, from the brilliant pen of Mifs H. M. Williams, will be published early in March.

The much expected edition of the Works and Letters of the late Earl of Orford, and Captain G. VANCOUVER'S Voyage round the World, are in confiderable forwardness.

A new edition of Mr. SOUTHEY'S "Joan of Arc," is in the prefs. This work has undergone very confiderable alterations; the additional notes will be numerous, and an analyfis of the poem Chapelain is to be prefixed. The ninth book, greatly enlarged, will be published feparately, under the title of "The Vision of the Maid of Orleans."

A new and elegant edition, with confiderable improvements, of "The Seafide,' a poem in familiar epiftles, from Mr. SIMKIN SLENDER WIT, fummerifing at Ramfgate, to his dear mother in town, will make its appearance in a few days.

The first part, containing the firft ten numbers of a fplendid "Hiftorical Atlas of England," on an entire new plan, by Mr. ANDREWS, Geographer of Piccadilly, will make its appearance in a few The pofthumous works, in profe and days. This work does great credit to verfe, of the late JOHN MACLAURIN, the inventor; and the letter prefs which Lord DREGHORN, long an eminent adaccompanies it, containing accounts of vocate at the Scottish bar, and in the latthe rivers, mines, mineral waters, fish- ter part of his life, a diftinguished memeries, &c. and of the civil, military, ec- ber of the Supreme Civil Court of Scotclefiaftical, naval, biographical, com- land, are now in the prefs at Edinburgh, mercial and parliamentary hiftory of Eng-and will be published within a few months, land, ancient and modern, forms a magnificent fpecimen of English typography.

Mr. ANDREWS alfo propofes to publifh, in the course of next month, a "Geographical Atlas of England," upon a fimilar, though lefs extenfive, plan than the above, for the illuftration of the Hiftory of England, and for the improvement of youth.

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A tranflation by Mr. JOHN GIFFORD, of CAMILLE JORDAN's Addrefs to his Conftituents on his late Profcription, will fhortly make its appearance.

Mr. MURPHY is about to publish a tragedy on a very interefting fubject, but which, from the prefent ftate of the drama, he does not think it prudent to bring out on the ftage. He is also engaged on his long-expected "Life of Samuel Foote. Dr. BISSET will speedily publish a Life of Mr. Burke.

Mr. COTTLE, of Briftol, is about to publish a moral and defcriptive poem, called "Malvern Hill."

The fermons of the late Mr. JARDINE, are nearly ready for delivery.

Mr. LLOYD and Mr. LAMB are about to publish two volumes of mifcellaneous pieces, to be entitled "Blank, Verfe."

A volume of Letters from the late Rev. Sir JAMES STONEHOUSE, Bart. to the Rev. Mr. STEDMAN, of Shrewsbury, is preparing for the prefs.

in two volumes, 8vo. An Ode to War, belonging to this collection, is fpoken of as difplaying fome very noble strokes of the picturefque, the terrible, and the true fublime.

Mr. MALCOLM LAING is expected to publish in the courfe of the prefent year,

The History of Scotland, during the feventeenth Century." Little doubt is entertained, but this work will, in elabaratenefs of fearch, in ardent patriotism of fentiment, in the adaptation of history to illuftrate and confirm popular opinions in philofophy, greatly excel that portion of Mr. HERON'S Hiftory of Scotland, which relates to the fame period.

Mr. JOHN HOME, whofe tragedy of Douglas is ftill the pride of the British drama, is underftood to have been for many years engaged in the compofition of

a"

Hiftory of the Rebellion of 1745." Motives of perfonal delicacy, it is feared, will difpofe him to decline publishing this valuable work in his own life-time, but rather to leave it at his death, fo that it may be delivered by pofthumous publication, as a valuable legacy to pofterity.

Mr. ANDREW DALZIEL, the able profeflor of Greek language and literature in the University of Edinburgh, is expected fhortly to fend to the prefs, "A Selec tion of Latin Poetry," compofed by eminent ftatefmen, in the end of the fixteenth,

and

132

Literary and Philofophical News.

and in the first part of the feventeenth century; which will ferve as a facred monument of the genius and claffical erudition of the Scots; and will evince, that in the powers of Latin compofition, they were, in the æra here specified, inferior to the Italians alone, and greatly fuperior to the French, to the English, to the Poles, to the Germans, and the Dutch.

At a late meeting of the HIGHLAND SOCIETY, fome communications were made from a fub-committee, which reprefent confiderable progrefs to have been made in the endeavour finally to ascertain the truth in that interefting literary queftion, concerning the authenticity of the poems afcribed to Offian the fon of Fingal. The following Table indicates the new Geographical Diftribution of the Ligurian (Genoefe) Republic, including the departments, capital towns, population, and the number of deputies that each department returns to the Legiflative Body. Departments. 1 Genoa,

2 Delle Palme, 3 Capo-Verde,

4 Maremola,

5 Latimbro,

6 Catufi,

7 Palcevera,

8 Lemo,

9 Eaft Ligurian,

10 Weft,

11 Bifagno,

12 Golfo Tigulio,

13 Entella,

14 Vafa,

Capitals. Population. D.
Genoa, 81205 13
San-remo, 83647 6
Diano, 40120 6
Pietra, 40659 6
Safona
37767 6
Valtri,
39736

15 Golfa dellaSpezia, Spezia,

26800

402 10

of the removal of the cinnamon and clove trees to the Ifle of France; &c. &c.

The Brunonian fyftem, which has met with fo much oppofition in the native country of its author, has found profelytes in feveral parts of Europe. A German phyfician, WEIKARD, publifhed some time ago, "An Examination of a more fimple System of Medicine, or the Illustration and Confirmation of the Medicinal Doctrine of Brown.” This work has been tranflated into the Italian language, and enriched with notes, by Profeffor FRANK, of the University of Pavia; and from this Italian edition a French one is preparing by LEVEILLE, member of the Medical Society of Paris.

On the ift of December laft, the Director General of Public Inftruction in Paris diftributed the prizes among the fuccefsful candidates, pupils of the National fchool of painting and fculpture. Real talents, developed by a conftant and laborious application, were crowned at this interesting ceremony.

The great confumption of foap, which of courfe is attended with a proportionate confumption of oil, renders the manufacture of woollen cloths very expensive. 6 Several attempts have therefore been made Rivarola, 33698 5 to difpenfe with this ingredient, by subGavi, 4 ftituting pot afhes in its ftead: but the Rochetta, 25820 4 ftrong alkaline properties of the latter Ottone, 25280 4 St.Martino, 40390 never fail to corrode the cloth, and render 6 Rappallo, 40430 6 it unferviceable. To remedy this inconChiavani, 40570 6 venience, M. CHAPTAL has made exGivanto, 40153 6 periments of a very ingenious procefs, by 6 faturating the alkaline liquid wool, previous to its application to the manufacture of cloths. After lixiviating the afhes, he faturates the water, and lets it evaporate to a certain degree. He then throws into his lixivium pieces of cloth and wool, taking care to ftir the compofition, till the rags are completely diffolved. An adequate proportion of wool is fuperadded, till the corrofive qualities of the liquid are perfectly abforbed; when it may be used without the smallest inconvenience or danger. It communicates an excellent glofs to the cloth, renders it completely fupple, and in every refpect answers all the purposes of common foap. It is neceffary to obferve, that the cloth in the first inftance ac-. quires a very strong and difagreeable finell, which, however, vanishes on its being bleached. And, fecondly, the indifcriminate ufe of pieces of cloth of various colours, in faturating the lixivium, communicates a dufky tinge to the cloth,

636485 90 Profeffor OLIVARIUS, of Kiel, continues to publish the periodical work which we before announced.---One of the valuable articles in the laft Number, on the liberty of the prefs in Denmark, proves, that under the Danish Government, defpotical as it is, the moft delicate fubjects can be handled with impunity.

The complete works of P. POIVRE, intendant of the Ifles of France and Bourbon, have been recently published in Paris, in one octavo volume. This volume contains the life of POIVRE; his "Foyage d'une Philofophe;" information relative to the agriculture of the above colonies; extract of a voyage to the Phi lippine iflands; miffion to the Molucca iflands; extract of a voyage from Sonnerat to India and China; letter relative to the Indian method of dying; account

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