of all the philofophy on earth will have paffions and appetites, which therefore muft be confidered like bad weather, rigorous feafons, fcorching heats and other natural evils, that cannot be avoided, but must be provided againft. There can be no doubt but a fost funny climate, undeformed by freezing colds or burning heats would be much preferable to unkind changes and troublefome extremes, where the happy inhabitant embowered with ever verdant trees amid the finging of birds and fanning of gentle zephyrs might pafs his eafy hours in calm content and indolence. Yet fince a perfon who actually lies abroad in the open air muft bear heats and colds, froft, dews or rains and feveral other hardfhips, it would be thought no very wife courage for a man to ftand out against wind and weather, declaiming in rapture on the wonders of nature, the beauteous objects of vilion, and the charms of the verdant feafon, with now and then a hearty curfe against fnows and ftorms. Ambition is as natural and unavoidable an evil as heat or cold, and when we cannot fhun an infufferable evil we must provide against its bad effects. Civil fociety was particularly calculated to guard against the invafion of ambition, and there cannot be a greater abfurdity than a conftitution that invites this fiend of the human breaft to talk abroad and disturb mankind. I believe it will always be found a fact that wherever popular ftates are, there ambition will ravage and confound fociety. Before I quit this admirable tragedy I muft do juftice to the great author as a poet, and own that he has lavished abundance of art and genius on it to recommend a popular government, as indeed he has done through feveral of his works. His Cato deplores virtue and his country's liberties as if they were infeparable, and calls his imperial Rome the nurfe of heroes and delight of gods: whereas the virtues of the Romans were no more in his time or rather were centered in himfelf, and the republic he fought for was in general compofed of as abandoned, profligate a race as ever drew breath, of which his fmall party, his caufe and fortunes were an inconteftible evidence.' Leaving Cefar and Cato to adjuft, as they can, between themselves, their refpective pretenfions to precedency of patriotifm, we fhall take leave of our Author with a remark, en pafant, on his attempt to prove, in his firft letter, that the dicontents which have difturbed the British empire, at different times, during the two laft centuries, were occafioned by the influence of republican principles on the people.'-History will not fupport the Author in the maintenance of this propofition. It was the tyranny of the Stuart-kings which drove the people of this country (who feem naturally fond of monarchy) to feek refuge under the banners of a COMMONWEALTH, which, as thy had recently feen, had, afforded effectual shelter to the opprefled oppreffed Hollanders.-In a word, this writer will do well to reflect, that we are indebted to thofe very difcontents' which he fo warmly reprobates, for the glorious REVOLUTION; an event which fecured to us the poffeffion of every thing that is valuable and dear to us, as BRITONS, FREEMEN, and PROTESTANTS;-that DISCONTENT, under the rod of oppreffion, is the palladium of our liberty; and that in the moment when we become abject and base enough to grow eafy under the burden of defpotifm, we may be certain that the yoke will then be too effectually rivetted on our necks, to be eafily fhaken off: and, indeed, we should deferve to wear it, as the just reward of our defpicable tamenefs and pufillanimity. ART. VII. A poetical Epifle to an eminent Painter. 4to. IF Payne, &c. 1778. G. 3 5. [F it is delightful to behold the harmony fubfifting between the Sifter Arts, it is not lefs fo to fee their profeflors acting in favour of each other. Poetry and Painting, indeed, congenial in their nature, must have a reciprocal charm for the artift; and the effect of it has generally been found, except in natures that are unpropitious to the mutual feelings of the heart, and lost even to the common interests of civility. It is feldom but in characters otherwife abandoned, that this moral defection from nature is to be found. We wonder not to behold a Churchill falling upon the age and perfonal infirmities of an Hogarth, as proper objects of his fcurrilous rhimes; but it would ftrike us both with wonder and with grief to fee men of gentler natures, -a Thomfon or a Mafon,-injurious to the profeffors of a Sifter Art. This poet, however (and he deferves the name) is a warm and candid friend to the liberal profeffion which is the object of his verse. His fhort introduction is elegant and harmonious: Bleft be the hour, when fav'ring gales restore The travelled artist to his native fhore! His mind enlighten'd, and his fancy fraught Whofe magic beauty charm'd, with fpell fublime, The following verfes on Portrait Painting, with the anecdote of the maid of Corinth, are very beautiful and animated : Think not, my friend, with fupercilious air, I rank the portrait as beneath thy care. T 4 That 1 By William Hayley, Styp That youth and emulation ftill may gaze, The ftory of the maid of Corinth may be found in Pliny, lib. xxxv. and in Athenagoras, with this additional circumftance, that the lover, while his outlines were taken, is defcribed to have been asleep.' After a few reflections, our Poet turns his ideas to the painters of ancient Greece: ་ Thy tragic pencil, Ariftides, caught Each varied feeling, and each tender thought. While moral virtue fan&tified thy art, And paffion gave it empire o'er the heart.' We quote the above lines for the fake of introducing the following anecdote, as given by our Author: The city of Thebes had the honour of giving birth to this cele brated artist. He was the firft, according to Pliny, who expreffed Character and Paffion, the Human Mind, and its feveral emotions; but he was not remarkable for foftnefs of colouring. "His most celebrated picture was of an infant (on the taking of a town) at the mother's breaft, who is wounded and expiring. The fenfations of the mother were clearly marked, and her fear left the child, upon failure of the milk, fhould fuck her blood. Alexander the Great, continues the fame author, took this picture with him to Pella." 6 • It x at the breast of the mother, who is Lis It is highly probable, according to the conjecture of Junius (in his learned treatife de Picturâ Veterum) that the following beautiful epigram of Æmilianus was written on this exquifite picture: Ελκε, ταλαν, παρα μητρος ὃν εκ ετι μαζίν αμελξεις Ελκυσον ὑσάλιον ναμα κατά φθίμενης. Η δη γαρ ξιφέεσσι λιποπνους" αλλα τα μητρος 'It is not ill tranflated into Latin by Grotius: Suge, mifer, nunquam quæ pofthac pocula fuges; Infantem novit pafcere matris amor. But this is far inferior, and fo perhaps is the original itself to the very elegant English verfion of it, which Mr. Webb has given us in his ingenious and animated "Inquiry into the Beauties of Painting." Suck, little wretch, while yet thy mother lives, Suck the laft drop her fainting bofom gives! She dies: her tenderness furvives her breath, And her fond love is provident in death. Webb, Dialogue 7. p. 161. The verses on the characters of the Italian painters are both harmonious and just : Oh! lovely Painting! long thy cheering light The furious rage of Anarchy effac'd Each hallow'd character thy hand had trac'd, At length from this long trance thy spirit rofe, Inflam'd by Genius with fublimeft rage, The mighty HOMER of the pencil blaz'd. Tate, Fancy, Judgment, all on RAPHAEL fmil'd, Of Grandeur and of Grace the darling child: Truth, paffion, character, his conflant aim, Th' enchanting painter rules the willing heart, And shines the finish'd VIRGIL of his art. The daring JULIO, though by RAPHAEL train'd, Though Though rival ardour his ambition fir'd, More richly warm the glowing TITIAN knew Soft as CATULLUS, fweet CORREGGIO play'd Oh! generous ITALY, thy genial earth E'en public Tafte, by no determin'd rule, Though prouder VENICE would ufurp that praife, Thefe |