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CLASSICAL Literature.

The translation is judiciously distributed into lines corresponding to the verses of the original. Few of our readers can need to be told that the original is in poetry, though it may often be difficult to ascertain the kind of metre, and the laws by which it is regulated. In proving, however, the point, as to the metrical form of the original, there has, we believe, been little adduced except from modern writers. The testimony, therefore, of an ancient, and one of all others best qualified to decide on the question, may be very acceptable; and we give it in the words of the Father of ecclesiastical history. Ο Δαυΐδης ὡδὰς εἰς τὸν Θεὸν και ὕμνους συνέταξε, μέτρου ποικίλου τοὺς μὲν γὰρ τριμέτρους, τοὺς δὲ πενταμέτρους ἐποίησε. Joseph. p. 319, 38, Ed. Hudson.

But to proceed to particulars. In the 7th Psalm, ver. 14, Dr. F. and Mr. S. well render-" Behold he conceiveth

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iniquity,—And travaileth with mischief,-And bringeth forth delusion." On which they remark that here is described the progress of the wickedness of the wicked man, and in metaphors similar to those employed in other parts of Scripture." And they aptly cite Job, xv. 35, and James, i. 15. We would add, that this passage of the Psalms, and that of Job, seem to have been in the mind of Philo Jud. 7, in a beautiful passage (p. 147, E.) cited by Pott on the place of James. The finest passages, however, in which this figure predominates, are three adduced by Dr. Bloomfield in his Recensio Synoptica in loco; namely, Plato Epist. 3, Leonidas ap. Brunck, Anal. 2, 190, and (instar omnium) Eschyl. Pers. 826:—Ὕβρις γὰρ ἐξανθοῦσα ἐκάρπωσε στάχυν "Ατης, ὅθεν πάγ κλαυτον ἐξαμᾷ θέρος.

On Thucyd. III., 45, Dr. Bloomfield adds another illustration of the passage of James, observing that "hence may be found the true key to the understanding of a most sublime but obscure passage of Æschyl. Agam. 772-9, where Κότος, Θράσος, and Ara are personifed as sons of Ὕβρις, and

where, for Kórov, Dr. Bloomfield conjectures Kópov. We would add Diog. Laert. (of Epicurus) Kodivwv Tv ἀπὸ τοῦ στόματος Καύχησιν τῶν σopιOTIKOV. See also Zonaræ Hist. T. 11. 21, 745 (of Julian).

We will now proceed to lay before our readers an entire Psalm, and it will be that noble one the 19th :

[Jan.

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"2. Day after day it poureth forth instruction,-And night after night it pointeth out knowledge.

"3. They have neither speech nor language, They have not an audible voice;

4. Yet their lesson goeth forth throughout the earth,-And their eloquence unto the extremities of the world !—In them He hath placed a pavilion for the sun,

"5. And he is like a bridegroom issuing from his uuptial chamber,-Like a strong man who delighteth to run his course.

"6. His going forth is from one end of end of them;-So that there is nothing hidthe heavens, And his circuit unto the other

den from his heat.

"7. The law of Jehovah is perfect, reviving the spirits;—The revealed will of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.

"8. The statutes of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart ;-The precepts of Jehovah are clean, giving light unto the eyes.

"9. The religion of Jehovah is pure, enduring for ever;-The judgments of Jehovah are true, all of them are righteous ;

"10. They are more to be desired than gold, even much fine gold;-And sweeter than honey, even the droppings of the honey-combs.

11. By them, moreover, is Thy servant enlightened;—In keeping them there is great

reward.

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1831.]

The Greek Sapphic Ode.

most ingeniously, and, we think, justly, said to be a friendly salutation addressed to those who came to partake of the sacrificial feast.

Our narrow limits permit us not to lay the 40th Psalm (so strikingly prophetic of the Messiah) before our readers. Though we in general approve of the custom of the present translators in changing harsh Hebraisms into more intelligible correspondent idioms of our own language, yet there are a few cases in which, by the rules which they have themselves so judiciously laid down in their preface, no change need have been made. Of course this applies in a still stronger degree where the Hebraism contains any emphasis. On one or other of these grounds the change ventured on at Ps. xlii. 2, “I am athirst for God," instead of “ My soul is athirst for God," is ill judged. There is surely an intensity of sense expressed by this use of WD, which was felt and beautifully expressed by Cowper in his Task, where, describing the sailor returning from long traversing the ocean, and approaching land, he represents, "his very soul athirst for nature in her green array." So in a noble passage of Æschines Socrat. Axioch. 5—ἡ ψυχὴ τὸν οὐρανὸν ποθεῖ, καὶ ξύμφυλον αιθέρα καὶ (even) διψᾷ, τῆς ἐκεῖσε διαίτης καὶ χορείας ὀριγνωμένη.

On Ps. xliii. 7, there is the following interesting remark. "The deeps on either side of him are described as agitated by torrents of water descending into them in the form of water-spouts, and the roarings of these last are poetically represented as the voices of the angry seas calling upon each other to join in overwhelming him."

The version in ver. 1, of the 45th Psalm, "My heart is overflowing with a goodly theme," is greatly preferable to that of our two authorized translations, the framers of which, as well as the antient interpreters, mistake the ratio metaphora. The literal sense is" boiling up with," which is illustrated by Herodo. vii. 46—ǹ veórηs ἐπέθεσε, ὥστε ἀποῤῥίψαι ἕπεα ἐs &c. So in a passage cited by Matthiæ, Gr. Gr. § 425-éπe¿eïv Tivi, to be warm upon any subject.

On Ps. xlix. 14, "The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning," we have the following instructive note :

"In the morning: i. e. of the resurrec

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tion. The doctrine of a resurrection, as collected from this and other passages of the earlier Jewish scriptures, appears to be, that the just and upright, the true worbe taken to Him, and thus triumph over the shippers of Jehovah, should, after death, wicked, who would for ever continue to dwell light. This resurrection is poetically dein the grave, and would not again 'see the scribed in Ps. xvii. 15, as an awaking from sleep; and, here, as a morning succeeding to the night of deatlı.”

We

The last verse of this Psalm is obversion of the present translators is as scure, and variously rendered. The follows: "Man in honour, but without understanding, May be compared have sometimes thought it might be unto the beasts which perish. rendered, "A man in honour, and who shall not understand [true wisthe beasts are they cut off [and come dom] has been [thus] compared. Like to an end]."

And here we must, for the present, close our remarks on the important work before us; but we shall feel it our duty to resume them on the earliest opportunity at greater length.

(To be continued.)

Mr. URBAN,

Jan. 4.

the masterly judgment pronounced by I WAS very much delighted with duction to the Study of the Greek Mr. H. N. Coleridge, in his "Introstyle and dialect of the Sapphic Odes, Classic Poets," (p. 7, note,) on the which have been so long elaborated for Sir William Browne's prize at Cambridge; and I cannot but hope that the appeal to the Greek Professor and to the Vice Chancellor in the last Gent. Mag. p. 513, may be attended even yet with some practical good effect.

I may well be forgiven for taking a more than common interest in the subject, when reference is made to my own labours on this curious and somewhat difficult question. In the "Classical Journal,' "Nos. ix. and xiii. (1812 and 1813,) there was inserted a regular Essay of mine on the Composition of the Greek Sapphic Ode, under the five following heads.

1. The scansion of the Sapphic verse, as to the feet composing it.

2. The structure of it, in the arrangement and division of words.

3. The prosody, to determine the long and short of single syllables.

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CLASSICAL LITERATURE.

4. The style, and sort of words, of which the language should consist.

5. The dialect, or forms, flexions, &c. in the words admitted. Again, at a later period, in Nos. xxiii. and xxxvi. (1815 and 1818), my attention was drawn by particular circumstances to the Prosody of Greek verse as connected with dialect, &c.: and in the latter of the two articles alluded to (pp. 375, 6,) I ventured to propose a general law for the composition of that ode, arising out of a criticism on Mr. Hall's prize Poem; which may now, perhaps, Mr. Urban, be submitted to your academical readers with better chance of successful attention.

"In settling the dialect, or forms and flexions of Greek words, which the modern Sapphic ode may most properly exhibit, we have to encounter much diversity of practice, and find very little to guide us in any principles hitherto laid down. Mr. Hall, like most of his predecessors, oscillates betwixt the Æolic of Sappho and the late Doric of Theocritus,- -a strange mixture of ages as can well be imagined.

"Wherever some determinate rule is wanting, inconsistency and discord must naturally follow. And it is not therefore at present imputed as any fault to Mr. H. that in the course of twenty-six stanzas many points of etymology and accent occur, which cannot be reduced to any one system, and which can just as little be reconciled to each other.

"Let us once more attempt to decide this question in a practical way, and to lay down a clear and consistent line for the guidance of young scholars in writing the Greek Sapphic

stanza.

"1. Grant that the text of SAPPHO's few reliques has received from the critical acumen and depth of Mr. Blomfield its most elaborate and perhaps final castigation. Yet surely, even now, no modest man would undertake, for the labour of a life-time, to write on a new subject, six and twenty stanzas, exactly and purely after the manner of Sappho! One might defy any man living to do it, and to demonstrate it rightly done. The thing is impossible and it palpably is so, from the want of materials for imitation in the archetype.

:

(Jan.

"2. If a distinct and complete model then be required, on which a Greek ode in the Æolic dialect may be attempted with any chance of success; the only Eolian poet yet extant presents his lyric treasures, in sufficient abundance and variety for the purpose.

"PINDAR, in the most brilliant age of Greece, enjoyed unexampled celebrity; marked indeed with a dialectic character of his own, yet not provincial and rude, but elegant at once and popular-from Thebes to Athens, and from Syracuse to Cyrene.

"3. But why should not a third sect arise, discarding the study of Pindar as arduous or unnecessary, and the model of Sappho as quite impracticable? A general pattern might easily be found in the collective manner and matter of the Choral odes of the three Greek Tragedians. Nothing of the kind perhaps has yet been attempted or avowed: though in the simplicity of its style and dialect (from the slight use of a few Doric forms which the Tragics allow) such a composition could hardly fail of succeeding. At any rate, that plan would effectually banish the chaos of dialect and style, which now so disagreeably prevails. All would then be of a piece; and we should not be offended by Pindar conflicting with Theocritus, or by Sappho jostling with Menander, in the very same verse.

"Here, it may be said, are two rules proposed, clear enough, each of them, and consistent, to be sure; but much too strict and narrow for the young scholar to observe, who in school or in college is called upon to write the Greek Sapphic stanza.

"Some indulgence may seem fairly due to so candid a plea: and he who makes the plea honestly, will not be condemned, if in any exercise where the muse of Pindar predominates, he harmoniously introduce the diction of the Tragic ode, or with the matter and manner of the Tragic ode consistently unite the style and the dialect of Pindar.

"Only, at all events, in this advanced and advancing period of Greek literature, let the Prolusiones Academice have a steady bearing to some age, to some character, to some plan. The great, the only rational object, proposed in these prizes of our University, is to encourage the cultiva

1831.]

Removal of the Screen at York Minster.

tion of classical taste along with ex-
actness of critical knowledge. And
how far that object can be effected by
a long Poem which is allowed to
blend in one mass almost any thing
and every thing, from Theocritus to
Homer, it must be left to older and
higher Heads to determine."
Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

R.S.Y.

was

YOUR learned correspondent Mr. Barker, in his account of the game of "Micatio Digitorum," which practised by the ancient Romans and Greeks, and by the modern Italians and Chinese, has omitted to state the instance of a similar pastime practised at this day among English youth, derived probably from the above. Though it is not very common, I have seen it pursued occasionally in schools after the manner I am about to describe. When two lads agree upon playing, the one mounts the back of the other, the latter generally resting his elbows on a bench, or some such supporter, while his hands cover his face and eyes. The one who is mounted holding up a number of fingers cries out— Butt, butt, how many fingers do I hold up?" If the under boy guesses

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wrong, six we will say, when there are eight held up, the other repeating the following formula, is obliged immediately to change the number of them-"six you say and eight there are; butt, butt, how many fingers do I hold up?" While the under one continues to guess wrong, the process is repeated until he hits upon the right number, when they both change places, and the other party becomes butt" in his turn. This game, it would seem, then, depends entirely upon the degree of confidence which the parties mutually place in each other's integrity;—whatever may have taken place in that respect among the Romans, whether according to the commentator on Cicero, and perhaps even Adams himself, they are supposed to have played their game occasionally in the dark, or whether, according to Mr. Barker, they never did. That the game I mention is in some manner allied to the Italian, if not derived from it, is rendered pretty evident, I think, from the coincidence of some words made use of with those of Forcellinus, as quoted by Mr. B. “quod nos Longobardi dicimus fare, o givocare, o BUTT are al tocco." Yours, &c.

T. GRIMES.

PROPOSED REMOVAL OF THE SCREEN AT YORK MINSTER.

THE meeting at York to decide the question of the removal of the organ Screen took place on the 28th of December; and notwithstanding all the ingenuity of the party opposed to good taste and the arrangement of antiquity, the advocates for its preservation in its ancient proportions and situation defeated their scheme, as at the former meeting in July; but to turn victory into a defeat, if possible, the prince of modern innovators advanced suddenly with a list of 623 proxies, collected, as Mr. Morritt observed," from the last place in the world from which he should expect to look for a decision on Gothic architecture-the stand at Doncaster!" Ladies canvassed their partners at a ball; a vote to deface the Minster was the result of a bet made at Doncaster

as to the issue of that meeting;" and clergymen canvassed for votes in their respective parishes. These proxies outnumbered the above meeting, which consisted of 211, and which was called to decide the question. The unfairness of the removalists in this case is very strongly evinced. At the meeting in July Mr. Scott, a staunch advocate for the preservation of the Screen, produced two proxies, which the Dean, and afterwards GENT. MAG. January, 1831.

the Archbishop as chairman, refused to receive; but, at the last meeting, Mr. Vernon, finding himself in a minority, brings forward 623 proxies, thus attempting to quash the proceedings of the day; and after a discussion of six hours, tacitly admitting that the question was already settled before the chairman took the chair, by the overwhelming majority of proxies. Surely then, after so protracted a discussion, and after their own decision against proxies, it was rather too bad to contend for the admission of written opinions, obtained by means not the most likely to obtain the seuse of the subscribers on a question of taste.*

At the meeting in York, in July, of 200 persons present, about twenty or thirty only voted for the measure; of fifty-eight letters read, fifty were for the Screen remaining as it now stands! The friends of antiquity, and of the Minster as it was, felt consoled and comforted that this was finally settled, and settled it certainly ought to have been to all intents and purposes; but, a few weeks after, to their great astonishment and grief, this matter

*Yorkshire Gazette.

36

Removal of the Screen at York Minster.

destroying them, what would become of the
great pillars of the lantern tower themselves?
which were all of different shapes and di-
mensions; or of the leaning columns in the
transept, crushed by the superincumbent
weight? or of the leaning tower at Pisa?
or the Assinelli at Bologna? (Applause.)
But there was another reason for pulling it
down. Mr. Smirke says,
"that a large
proportion of its enrichments are the work
of a plasterer now living." Why not men-
tion the name of this plasterer? Bernas-
coni, a most ingenious artist, who had within
the last ten years erected an ornamental Altar
Screen in Westminster Abbey of this same
plaster, under the direction of Benjamin
Wyatt; he believed there was also one in St.
George's Chapel, Windsor. "My brother,"
said the Rev. Speaker, "did introduce plaster
into the organ Screen, and he lived to see
his error.
No sooner did he see it than he
repented of it; and sincerely lamented that
which the poverty of the Minster funds
compelled him to do. If the meeting, then,
saw the error of removing the Screen, which
he hoped they would, let them imitate him,
not in what he did amiss, but in acknow-
ledging that they were wrong; and de-
pend upon it," added the Rev. Gent. much
affected, "if you never did more harm to
the Minster than Dean Markham did, it
will still continue to stand unrivalled among
the cathedrals of Europe." (Cheers.) Νο
one, he presumed, would deny that the pre-
sent Screen was built for the spot where it
now stood; and that the architect built it
in proportion to the situation it occupied.
The Screen, being 23 feet six inches high,
was in the proportion of about one-eighth
to the height of the tower, which was near
200 feet high now, when brought east-
ward to the first column in the choir, its
proportion would be about one-fourth to
the height of the canopy, which was not
100 feet high. This was, he supposed, one
of Mr. Smirke's substantial restorations;
any thing more contrary to architectural
rules he could not conceive. (Applause.) If
it was an innovation, in its day, to place the
Screen against the great pillars, it surely
must be equally an innovation now to place
it against a column in the choir, for which
it was never intended. (Applause.) The
argument, "that the pillars concealed by
the Screen were constructed with a view to
be seen on every side, and that their shafts

and moulded bases were worked down to the

level of the pavement," proved nothing. The same thing would be found in different parts of the Minster tabernacle-work itself; and was also recently found to be the case in removing an old screen in the cathedral at Norwich. It was a curious thing that, in all remarks that had been made in favour of the removal of the Screen, not one word had been said of its appearance when viewed from the east end; but the great pillars of

[Jan.

the lantern had been extolled, and every thing most beautiful in the Minster must give way to the setting them off to the greater advantage. No person admired that part of the fabric more than himself; but he must contend that it was not the finest part of the cathedral. (Hear.) The choir unquestionably had the pre-eminence, and had always been considered as the finest choir in Europe by all persons of taste in this as well as in all other countries. (Applause.) It surprised him too, to see the composure with which the removal of the altar Screen was contemplated; as if that were not, in itself, a glaring innovation. That was deemed too trivial even to mention, as the removal of it one arch further east, was considered nothing; it made not the slightest difference to the eye; as they had before been told that the diminishing the choir 30 feet in 220, would never be perceived. Supposing, however, that, as Mr. Smirke said, no one would miss 30 feet in 220, that is one arch out of nine, they surely would be able to detect the taking away of one arch out of three, between the altar Screen and the east window; if not, it showed him what he had always thought, how incompetent the generality of people were to form correct opinions from looking at a plan. He would contend that it was the present situation of the altar Screen which gave magnificence and grandeur to the whole choir. It was not the space between the altar and organ Screen which gave the grand effect, but the whole length from the organ Screen to the east window; that noble waste of room, that disregard of space between the altar Screen and the east window which was so striking, and which constituted that sublime effect which was so imposing.

The Reverend Mr. Landon, of Aberford, followed in a speech expressive of his utter contempt of the original design of the Minster, and he called the Screen an "incumbrance which disgraced the finest part of the Minster,"-the same Screen which immediately after the fire was spoken of with admiration, and its escape from injury regarded with unfeigned and universal delight.

Rich. Bethell, Esq. then moved, "That the plan of Mr. Smirke for the removal of the organ Screen be adopted."

Mr. Fawkes seconded the resolution.

Mr. Scott moved as an amendment, that "It is the opinion of this meeting that the decision of the meeting held in this place on the 29th of July last, was, and ought to be final."

Mr. Stapyllon was for the alteration, and made a long speech, in which he invoked disapprobation. He was frequently interrupted by coughing, and other symptoms of impatience and censure.

Lord Morpeth asserted that it had been proved that "the position of the Screen was

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