the kindred of the defunct, who deposited it in a wooden coffin, made of a species of sycamore, called in Egypt Pharaoh's fig-tree. Some few coffins have been found of solid stone; a miniature model of one in marble was to be seen at Belzoni's exhibition, from which he says the body had been taken. The top of the wooden coffin or mummy-chest was carved in the shape of a woman's head, the face being richly painted; the rest of the trunk was adorned with hieroglyphics, and the lower end was broad and flat like a pedestal, on which the coffin was placed erect in the place designed for its reception. The body of Joseph was put in a coffin. Gen. ch. 1. v. 26. The corpse was lastly conveyed down the Nile to its final destination, in a vessel called Baris. The mode just described was the most expensive, and adopted by the rich only; those, however, who were unable or unwilling to go to so great an expense, had recourse to a more simple process. A quantity of cedar-oil and aromatic liquors was injected, by means of a syringe, into the body at the anus; after this it was laid in nitre for seventy days, when the pipe was withdrawn, and the oil, running out, carried with it the paunch and entrails, while the nitre consumed the flesh, leaving nothing but skin and bones. The bodies of the poorer people were filled with a nitrous composition, which had such virtue and efficacy as to consume the intestines. They were afterwards wrapt up in bundles of reed, or branches of the palm-tree. (Herod. lib. ii. c. 87.) The same care was bestowed on the sacred animals, such as the ibis, the dog, the cat, the ape, the scarabæus, the sheep, and in some parts, the crocodile ;3 but more especially, on the sacred apis, or ox, whose festivals were celebrated with great solemnity and rejoicings. What raillery have this superstitious people been exposed to from their sottish veneration for irrational creatures! Herodotus, Vossius. For the Amomus, brought from Syria, was a principal ingredient in the medicaments; it was mixed with spices to make that ointment with which the body was seasoned. 'The catacombs were ransacked by the Persians on the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses, son of the great Cyrus. Herodotus states, that this infuriate prince ordered the body of Amasis, the late king, to be untombed and burnt. Lib. iii. c. 16. 2 Bápis, navigii genus, Suidas: hence is probably derived our English word, bier. 3 Τοῖσι μὲν δὴ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἱροί εἰσι οἱ κροκόδειλοι, τοῖσι δ ̓ οὔ, ἀλλ ̓ ἅτε πολεμίους plinov. Herod. Omne fere genus bestiarum Ægyptii consecrarunt. Cic. de Nat. iii. 39. Diodorus, and Ælian, are consentient in their ridicule of this stupid idolatry. When a house was on fire, the father of a family would be more anxious to rescue his cat from the flames, than to save his wife, his children, or property. (Herod. I. ii. c. 66.) So infatuated were they, that mothers accounted it a blessing (oh, horror!) for their children to be devoured by the ravenous crocodile; they gloried that their offspring became food to that fierce creature. (Ælian. de Nat. Animal. l. 10. c. 21.) Nay, more, in the extremities of famine it is said that this deluded people would rather eat one another than lay violent hands on these disgusting objects of worship. (Diod. lib. i. p. 93.) Juvenal exposes these enormities in nervous and eloquent language: Quis nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens Oppida tota canem venerantur; nemo Dianam. Juv. Sat. xv. 1-13. C. H. NOTICE OF IDYLLIA HEROICA DECEM, Librum Phaleuciorum Unum, partim jam primo partim iterum atque tertio edit Savagius LANDOR. Accedit Quæstiuncula cur Poëta Latini recentiores minus legantur. Pisis, MDCCCxx. No. III. [Continued from No. LII. p. 232.] THE length to which this article has already reached, extending through two numbers of the Journal, renders it necessary for us to confine our notice of Mr. Landor's "Quæstiuncula" within as narrow limits as possible. It is a dissertation on the benefits to be derived from the cultivation of the Latin tongue as the language of literature, and especially of poetry; and on the causes of the neglect which the modern Latin poets have so generally experienced; with a multitude of collateral remarks "de rebus omnibus et quibusdam aliis”—on all matters, philological, critical, and political, which are in any way connected with the above subject. We shall not enter into an examination of the arguments by which Mr. L. supports his hypotheses; still less shall we propound any opinions of our own; as such a discussion, besides transcending our limits, would demand a knowledge of the subject to which we have no pretensions. We shall content ourselves with a brief character of the work, and a selection of some of the most prominent passages. Were we, indeed, to quote all that we think good, we should transcribe nearly the whole essay. There is scarcely a sentence which is not either original, brilliant, or caustic, just in conception, or happy in illustration. The work is indeed rendered more fit for the purposes of quotation by being rather a succession of shining parts, than a systematic whole; so that, although the main subject is seldom lost sight of, yet it is often difficult to discover any arrangement. It resembles nothing so much as one of his friend Southey's excursive articles in the Quarterly Review; there is the same vivacity of manner, the same unhesitating confidence of assertion, and the same proneness to step out of the direct line of the subject for the purpose of introducing an original remark or curious anecdote. The Essay is indeed less valuable for the information it communicates on its ostensible subject, than for the golden sentences and exquisite imagery which drop from the author as it were unconsciously, like the distillations from a spice-tree. His opinions are a singular medley of good sense and eccentricity; the most extravagant paradoxes occur side by side with the profoundest truths: and both are alike promulgated with a reckless daring which almost defies criticism. Yet there is truth even in his wildest errors; nor can we avoid respecting the manly independence with which he tramples on the prejudices of party and system, unfettered by a servile adherence to old opinions, and undazzled by the sophistries and pretensions of false liberality. It is refreshing to meet with a writer who takes so enlarged and commanding a view of all subjects. To him the age in which he lives is only one of many, to each of which he is called to mete its due praise or blame without preference or partiality; and writing, as he does, in a dead language, it seems as if the spirit of an ancient Roman were summoned from the dead to give his judgment on the various questions, literary and political, which agitate these latter times. There is even something of the Roman superbia about him. An irresistible propensity to sarcasm, and a sovereign contempt for every thing sentimental in manner and effeminate in principle, are among his foremost characteristics. His manner is clear, concise, and striking. His Latinity is, as we have said before in speaking of his poems, a mixture of good taste in general and inaccuracy in particulars; some of the sentences appear as if they had been written for an English review; and his sentences are insulated in a manner repugnant to the genius of the Latin language. In spite, however, of all the defects of this anomalous composition, we know no piece of modern Latin prose equally entertaining, and few in any language which contain, in proportion to their extent, so much of valuable matter. After some introductory observations on the wisdom of appointing men of literary acquirements to public stations, and a particular tribute of applause to the present Duke of Weimar for his liberal patronage of the polite arts, the author proceeds to the more immediate subject of his treatise. We pass reluctantly over many pages of admirable writing, to cite the following passage, which we do not give as one of the best, but as a sample of the argument. Duo præclari quidem sed dissimilis ingenii viri, Miltonus et Loccus, in literarum latinarum exercitationem usumque, quod saltem ad poemata scribenda spectat, infensi animum adverterunt. Iis minime nos immorari sinit Miltonus, qui tamen ipse de Hominis Archetypo senarios optime concinnaverit, elegiasque plusquam vernacula facilitate. Loccus autem, qui semel et moleste poematium edidit, "a filio tuo," inquit, "versus cujuscunque generis averruncat Deus! Si parum sit ad rem idoneus, debilem vocem puero cur extorqueas? sin aptior aliquanto fuerit, cave ne in luxum istiusmodi proclivis eat, quem comitatur desidia, paupertas se quitur." At enim latine scribendorum carminum, mea quidem sententia, neque omnibus prohibendus est mos neque omnibus commendandus. Hoc vero certissimum habeo, neminem de Romanorum literis bene omnino meritum esse, aut æque judicare posse, nisi qui sedulo ac diligenter tum oratoribus tum poetis juvenis incubuerit, strenue autem atque enixe in eisdem vir sese exercuerit. Ad poetas quidem et grammaticos, qui critici nunc appellantur, ea res præcipue attinet; restat quod plurium interest. Per totum vitæ spatium puerile quiddam est omnibus, et negotio aut hoc aut illo procurrunt fere omnes Fortunæ rotis obnoxii. Nolimus vili pendere quod vel servet cupidinibus intactos vel periculis ignaros eripiat. Exercitatio multis proderit qui palmam sunt nunquam petituri. Quanquam non est cujusvis ad posteritatem sua scripta mandare, nec studendo, contemplando, ad rem inceptam summas opes auxiliaque copiosissima exquirendo, nec sepositam post decennium, ut jubet poeta, poliendo, tamen ipsi qui semper votis minores erunt, specie lætantur, nisu roborantur, fama denique haudquaquam vulgari aut ignobili potiuntur. Loquitur noster philosophus quasi homines nulli viverent suo contenti, quasi inutilia essent ea studia, vere liberalia, quæ rebus modicis beatos faciunt, quæ neque angustis, si angustis uti contigerit, premi patiuntur. Et quis est qui rerum humanarum miserrimum statum contempletur, exilia, vincula, rei familiaris, ædium, librorum, epistolarum, direptiones, nec velit cogitationes et curas, quatenus fieri potest, in alia mortalium sæcula transferre. Licitum est etiamnum heroum facta describere, dummodo ut exemplaria non commendemus, et prudentis est sese intra leges continere, vel quum suis nodis et sua ipsarum contrac tione rumpantur. Nec nihil est et meritis et occupationibus a vulgo segregari, nec gloriæ plus confert quam felicitati. "Arbores amygdalæ servandæ sunt, inquit Palladius, a pecore, quia si rodantur amarescunt." Poetis fieri expedit uti arboribus amygdalis, hunc enim morbum quam facillime concipiunt. In iisdem raro est parsimonia, prodigiosa est ava ritia, honores autem, ut dicimus, qui quidem nisi in libero rerum publicarum statu vix unquam sine prostrata animi pudicitia comparandi sunt, ab eis eorumque cogitationibus peculiari quodam dei beneficio amoventur. Ingenium vero, eorum præsertim qui latínam poesin colunt, si ad tempora satis antiqua respexerint, in veterem vivendi normam familiaritate optimorum conformantur. Nos quidem eas linguas mortuas nuncupamus quæ solæ sunt nunquam morituræ. Quod cum ita sit, quis eas non curet, non colat, non aliis longe præferat? quis fenestræ vitro aut fragili materia quavis alia contentus esset qui sciret beryllum scalpere? quis labantibus posthaberet æterna? At ingentem pauci nempe famam ab his exercitationibus compararunt. Fateor: ideoque quod hortor, impensius hortarer, nisi res ipsa clarius atque acrius ob eam campi vastitatem ac solitudinem provocaret. Rei autem poeticæ non ita magnus est honos. Honorem quæso noli dicere, dic potius commoditatem, nam paucitas ut sit pretium facit quum et absit omnino omnis utilitas. De gemma, de flore, multi judicare possunt, haudquaquam de poemate, nihilominus poeticæ et apud rudes et apud sapientissimos par atque una semper fuit gloria, pariter enim inde commoti sunt animi, quamvis judicium sit dispari modo exercitatum. Ea vero magni honores non habenda sunt, quæ centum alii homines in orbe terrarum, ut omittam de quo fonte dicere, queant simul obtinere. Viginti sæcula vix tulerunt septem bonos latina poeseos auctores: in eodem spatio temporis duces bello egregii centum extiterunt, mille, si virtutis probandæ locus daretur, extitissent. Ingenium summo duci minus ornatum, minus validum, minus varium, opus est, quam poetæ nec summo neque ad sunmum qui prope accedat. Oculos rejiciamus ad Danubium flumen: a fontibus ad ostia, et centenis fere millibus passuum ab utraque ripa, neminem plane poetam, non dico latinum sed ne barbarum quidem, inveniemus post Ovidium exulem. Est igitur causa, non levis nec simplex, cur ad immortalitatem qui spectant, aut ad morum sanctitudinem, aut ad vitæ quietem e studiis comparandam, velint latine scribere. Lucubrationes adolescentiæ tanquam amicitias haud sponte intermissas revocant, in priorum certaminum area jam ætate matura consedunt, et candidiorem ambitionis speciem ac sæpe honestiorem contuentur. Ibi quæ paulo a pueritia ut nugas derelictas irridebant, minus elato vident postea supercilio, et nugas esse comperiunt quæ se. VOL. XXVII. Cl. JI. NO. LIV. Y |