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Mr. SPECTATOR,

• PLUTARCH tells us, that Caius Gracchus, the Roman, was frequently hurried by his paffion into fo loud and tumultuous a way of speaking, and fo ftrained his voice as not to be able to proceed. To remedy this excefs, he had an ingenious fervant, by name Licinius, always attending him with a pitch-pipe, or 'inftrument to regulate the voice; who, whenever he ⚫ heard his mafter begin to be high, immediately touched a soft note; at which, it is faid, Caius would presently 'abate and grow calm.

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Upon recollecting this ftory, I have frequently won⚫dered that this useful instrument fhould have been fo ⚫ long difcontinued; efpecially fince we find that this good office of Licinius has preferved his memory for many hundred years, which, methinks, should have encouraged foine one to have revived it, if not for the public good, yet for his own credit. It may be objected, that our loud talkers are fo fond of their own noife, that they would not take it well to be checked. by their fervants: but granting this to be true, furely any of their hearers have a very good title to play a 'faft note in their own defence. To be fhort, no Licinius appearing, and the noise increasing, I was refolved to give this late long vacation to the good of my country; and I have at length by the affiftance of an ingenious artist, who works to the Royal Society, almoft completed my defign, and fhall be ready in a fhort time to furnish the public with what number of these inftruments they please, either to lodge at coffeehouses, or carry for their own private ufe. In the mean time, I fhall pay that refpect to feveral gentlemen, who I know will be in danger of offending against this inftrument, to give them notice of it by private letters, in which I fhall only write, "Get a Licinius." 'Ifhould now trouble you no longer, but that I muft not conclude without defiring you to accept one of thefe pipes, which shall be left for you with Buckley; and which I hope will be ferviceable to you, fince as you are filent yourself, you are moft open to the infults ⚫ of the noify. • I am, Sir, &c.

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'W. B.'

I had almost forgot to inform you, that as an im⚫provement in this inftrunient, there will be a particular ⚫ note, which I call a hufh-note; and this is to be made ufe of against a long ftory, fwearing, obfceneness, and • the like.'

T.

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AMONG the many famous pieces of antiquity

which are ftill to be seen at Rome, there is the trunk of a ftatue which has loft the arms, legs, and head; but discovers fuch an exquisite workmanship in what remains of it, that Michael Angelo declared he had learned his whole art from it. Indeed he ftudied it fo attentively, that he made most of his ftatues, and even his pictures in that gufto, to make use of the Italian phrafe; for which reafon this maimed ftatue is ftill called Michael Angelo's fchool.

A fragment of Sappho, which I defign for the fubject of this paper, is in as great reputation among the poets and critics, as the mutilated figure above-mentioned is among the ftatuaries and painters. Several of our countrymen, and Mr. Dryden in particular, feem very often to have copied after it in their dramatic writings, and in their poems upon love.

Whatever might have been the occafion of this ode, the English reader will enter into the beauties of it, if he fuppofes it to have been written in the person of a lover fitting by his miftrefs. I fhall fet to view three different copies of this beautiful original: the firft is a tranflation

by Catullus, the fecond by monfieur Boileau, and the laft by a gentleman whofe tranflation of the " Hymn to "Venus" has been fo defervedly admired.

Ad LESBIA M.

"Ille mi par effe Deo videtur,
"Ille, fi fas eft, fuperare divos,
"Qui fedens adverfus identidem te
"Spectat, & audit.

"Dulce ridentem, mifero quod omnis
"Eripit fenfus mihi: nam fimul te,
"Lefbia, adfpexi, nihil eft fuper mt

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Quod loquar amens.

"Lingua fed torpet: tenuis fub artus
"Flamma dimanat, fonitu fuopte
"Tinniunt aures: gemina teguntur
"Lumina nocte.”

My learned reader will know very well the reafon why one of these verses is printed in Roman letter: and if he compares this tranflation with the original, will find that the three first ftanzas are rendered almoft word for word, and not only with the fame elegance, but with the fame fhort turn of expreffion, which is fo remarkable in the Greek, and fo peculiar to the Sapphic ode. I cannot imagine for what reafon madam Dacier has told us, that this ode of Sappho is preferved entire in Longinus, fince it is manifeft to any one who looks into that author's quotation of it, that there muft at least have been another stanza, which is not tranfmitted to us.

The second tranflation of this fragment which I fhall here cite, is that of monsieur Boileau.

"Heureux ! qui prés de toi, pour toi feule foûpire: "Qui jouit du plaifir de t'entendre parler:

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Qui te voit quelquefois doucement lui foúrire. "Les Dieux, dans fan bonheur, peuvent-ils l'égaler ?

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Fe fens de veine en veine une fubtile flamme "Courir par tout mon corps, fi-tôt que te vois : "Et dans les doux transports, où s'egare mon ame, Je ne fçaurois trouver de langue, ni de voix.

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"Un nuage confus fe répand fur ma vuë,

"Je n'entens plus, je tombe en de douces langueurs 5
"Et pâle, fans baleine, interdite éperdue,
"Un friffon me faifit, je tremble, je me meurs."

The reader will fee that this is rather an imitation than a translation. The circumstances do not lie so thick together, and follow one another with that vehemence and emotion as in the original. In fhort, monfieur Boileau has given us all the poetry, but not all the paffion of this famous fragment. I fhall, in the laft place, prefent my reader with the English translation.

I.

"Bleft as th' immortal gods is he,
"The youth who fondly fits by thee,
"And hears and fees thee all the while
"Softly speak and sweetly smile.

II.

""Twas this depriv'd my foul of reft,

"And rais'd fuch tumults in

my

breaft;

"For while I gaz'd, in tranfport toft,

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My breath was gone, my voice was loft:

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My bofom glow'd; the fubtle flame "Ran quick through all my vital frame; "O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung;

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My ears with hollow murmurs rung..

IV..

"In dewy damps my limbs were chill'd;

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My blood with gentle horrors thrill'd;
My feeble pulfe forgot to play;
"I fainted, funk, and dy'd away."

Inftead of giving any character of this laft tranflation, I fhall defire my learned reader to look into the criticifms which Longinus has made upon the original. By that means he will know to which of the translations he ought to give the preference. I fhall only add, that this tranflation is written in the very spirit of Sappho, and as near the Greek as the genius of our language will poffibly fuffer.

Longinus has observed, that this description of love in Sappho is an exact copy of nature, and that all the circumstances which follow one another in such an hurry of fentiments, notwithstanding they appear repugnant to each other, are really fuch as happen in the phrenzies of love.

I wonder that not one of the critics or editors, through whofe hands this ode has paffed, has taken occafion from it to mention a circumftance related by Plutarch. That author in the famous story of Antiochus, who fell in love with Stratonice, his mother-in-law, and not daring to difcover his paffion, pretended to be confined to his bed by fickness, tells us, that Erafiftratus, the phyfician, found out the nature of his diftemper, by thofe fymptoms of love which he had learnt from Sappho's writings. Stratonice was in the room of the love-fick prince, when thefe fymptoms difcovered themfelves to his phyfician; and it is probable, that they were not very different from thofe which Sappho here defcribes in a lover fitting by his mistress. This story of Antiochus is fo well known, that I need not add the sequel of it, which has no relation to my prefent fubject.

C.

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