emulation of the favoured few who possess it, is heightened by its partial distribution: the life of a celebrated man was more glorious in ancient times; but that of an obscure individual is more happy in this modern period.

The predominant passion of the Athenians was amusement: and so much did they addict themselves to this, that they decreed a sentence of death against any person who should propose to employ, even towards the military service of their country, any part of the money appropriated for the public festivals. They were not, like the Romans, inspired with an ardent desire of conquest. They repelled the barbarians indeed; but this they did merely with a view of preserving tneir own superior taste and manners uncontaminated and the highest value they set on liberty was, that it procured them a free and uninterrupted enjoyment of all kinds of pleasures. Neither were they possessed of that abhorrence of tyranny which a certain elevation of soul, and dignity of manners, gave to the Romans. They took no care to secure a permanency in their legislation; they simply wished to lighten it of every fatigue, and lay their chiefs under the necessity of pleasing, and keeping possession of the affections of the people.

All kinds of talents were applauded with rapture by the Athenians and the homage paid to their great men, amounted almost to adoration. Nothing serves as a greater proof of the distrust with which their insatiable love of admiration and propensity to enthusiasm inspired them, than their Ostracism, or law of exile. Nothing was left undone that could create a thirst for glory, or add brilliancy to fame. The tragic authors, before they commenced their career, offered sacrifices on the tomb of Eschylus. Pindar and Sophocles, with their lyres in their hands, appeared at the public spectacles crowned with laurel, and covered with the designation of the oracle.

The art of printing, so favourable to the progress and diffusion of knowledge, is prejudicial to poetry; which may be studied, analysed, and corrected, till much of its native beauty is destroyed by refinement :-whereas the Greeks sung their simple harmony, and received its original impressions accompanied with music, when the heart was exhilarated and expanded by conviviality, which inspired that festivity which men of kindred mind and manners never fail of communicating to each other. Some of the characters of the Grecian poetry may be attributed to the

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manner of its success; their compositions were even read in due form to the public: melancholy and reflection, those solitary occupants of the mind, are little suited to a crowd and the bustle of life.

When men are assembled together, their spirits are exhilarated, and the imagination naturally becomes more susceptible of receiving lively and agreeable impressions; of this truth the poets were sensible, and turned such knowledge to their own advantage. The monotony of the Pindaric hymns, which is so irksome to us, was esteemed quite the reverse at the Grecian festivals. Some airs, which have produced the greatest effect imaginable on the minds of those inhabiting dreary and mountainous countries, were artless, and composed of very few notes. It was, perhaps, the same with the ideas contained in the lyric poetry of the Greeks; for similar imagery, sentiments, and harmony, were certain of drawing the desired applause from the multitude.

The approbation of the Greeks was expressed in much more lively terms than the deliberate commendation of the moderns. A great deal of rivalry must necessarily exist in a country where such great encouragement was given to distin

guished talents; but this competition, in itself, contributed to the advancement of the sciences. The most glorious triumph the Greeks could obtain, excited much less hatred than the limited applause resulting from the niggard hand of modern criticism.

Amongst the ancients, genius was allowed a certain degree of self-approbation; and those who fancied they had any claim to renown, were induced without fear to announce themselves as candidates for fame; the nation was even pleased to witness what they esteemed laudable ambition : but at the present period, superior talents are obliged to assume the disguise of mediocrity, to glide imperceptibly into celebrity, and to steal from men their admiration:-it is important, not only to calm their apprehensions by assuming the greatest humility, but a total indifference to applause must also be affected, if they wish to obtain it. The comprehensive mind is wounded by such restraint; elevated genius requires more latitude properly to expand itself, and is therefore disgusted by being thus cramped; and talents, which might have proved of the utmost consequence to mankind, are often crushed before they are sufficiently understood. It is true, that,

among the Greeks, envy sometimes existed between rival candidates for fame: but in these days it has passed from them to the spectators, and, by one of the most unaccountable caprices that ever affected the mind of man, the bulk of mankind are jealous of the efforts made with an intention of adding to their pleasures, and to secure their approbation.

CHAP. II.

Of the Grecian Tragedies,

Ir is from theatrical productions in particular, that we are enabled to form an accurate idea of the manners, customs, and laws of the country, in which they were composed and represented with success. A dramatic author, to acquire the reward of his merit, must, independently of his literary abilities, be thoroughly acquainted with