meos as well as Intaglios, taken from the most celebrated Cabinets in Europe; cast in coloured Pastes, white Enamel and Sulphur, by James Tassie, Modeller; arranged and described by R. E. Raspe*.” "Alciphron's Epistles; in which are described, the Domestic Manners, the Courtesans, and Parasites of Greece. Now first translated from the

Greek," 8vo.

which they are imitated. In surpassing all his predecessors, the labours of this ingenious Artist were much facilitated by the improved state of Chemistry in the present age. His impressions are taken in a hard white enamel, which, like flint, strikes fire with steel, does not shrink in baking, like clay, and admits not of air-bubbles, at the same time that it takes a fine polish, and shews every stroke and touch of the Artist in higher perfection than perhaps any other substance. When the nature and colours of the originals could be ascertained, they are so completely imitated, that many of the pastes in this Collection have been acknowledged, by Connoisseurs, to be scarcely distinguishable from the originals. When the qualities of the original could not be exactly ascertained, the imitation was made in agreeable, and, for the most part, transparent colours. Constant attention was bestowed in preserving the outlines, attributes, and inscriptions." M. Rev. N. S. IV. 177.

* Of Mr. Tassie, and his friend Mr. Raspe, see vol. III. p. 217. ↑ "Alciphron has met with various fate. His Epistles have, by some Criticks, been admired and extolled; by others depreciated unreasonably. Of himself nothing is known with certainty; the very age in which he lived has never been well ascertained; nor even the question, which is most important, relating to it, whether he could have been a copier of Lucian, or a model to him? The Epistles were first published at Rome, in 1499, in a large collection, made by Aldus Manutius, intituled, Epistolæ diversorum Philosophorum. The merit of Alciphron's Epistles certainly consists chiefly to a modern Reader in the natural and easy representation of antient manners, and in a certain simplicity, which is among the principal arguments for supposing the Author more antient than Lucian. They consist of three classes: those that describe rural life under the personages of fishermen and rustics; those that represent the corruptions of the city, written in the character of parasites, with names evidently feigned; and those of the courtesans." G. M. LXII. 161.

For this Translation the Publick were indebted to the Rev. Thomas Monro (of whom see p. 77), and Mr. Beloe (see p. 94), two of Dr. Parr's favourite and highly distinguished scholars.

In a very sensible and modest Preface, the Translators say, "The causes from which the works of particular Authors be

come

"Collections towards a Description of the County of Devon. By Sir William Pole, of Colcombe

come scarce are various and opposite. It happens that, by the harsh sentence of the merciless Critic, one book is condemned to the meanest and most degrading offices, while another finds an asylum in the cabinets of the curious; and is preserved indeed from annihilation, but by the same means secluded from the world. Thus the worthless and the excellent are sometimes involved in the same fortune. The former, worn away in servitude of the lowest kind, dies, and is forgotten; while the latter, confined like a state prisoner, whose worth and dignity are known only to his keeper, is condemned to retirement and solitude, when he is yet able to be useful to the world; and has the mortification to find that he is robbed of his reputation before he is deprived of his existence. By an extraordinary coincidence of opposite fortunes, it has been the lot of Alciphron, in his struggles for fame, to encounter both these difficulties; each of which has, we believe, operated equally to his disadvantage. By the rigorous, and, in our opinion, unjust condemnation of criticism, he has been stigmatized as one little worthy of notice, though he has been at the same time treasured up in the Libraries of Literary Collectors as a valuable acquisition, till, between the censures of the Critics and the fondness of Collectors, scarcely a copy of him can be met with; and in searching after his works the most eager curiosity is generally disappointed. When we offer to the English Reader this Translation of a work to which he can hitherto have had no introduction, and with which few even of those Scholars who have made the profoundest researches into the arcana of Literature, have had the opportunity of cultivating any acquaintance, it is our endeavour, and our hope, that we may be instrumental in removing both these grievances, which have hitherto prevented his mixing with the world; that we may soften the rigours of that criticism whose justice we dispute, and, by preventing that monopoly which is in every article injurious to society, communicate to our countrymena source of amusement which we have found highly gratifying to ourselves.".... Thus far the Translators address the Reader jointly.-Mr. Monro proceeds: "Jortin (whose reputation as a Critic has been equally advanced by the commendations of the learned, and the abuse of pretenders to learning, whose praises have been so well, so justly, and so frequently sung, that it would be impertinent here to repeat them) has passed an opinion upon our Author, which, as it appears inconsistent with his general candour, or his general accuracy, I shall subjoin, and attempt to controvert. In doing this, I am sufficiently aware that it ill becomes me to advance my own opinions with confidence, at a time when I am presuming to censure those of Dr. Jortin as erroneous. My admiration of that great

man

and Shute, Knight (who died A. D. 1635); now

man I consider as more under the government of reason, while I do not allow myself to admit his dogmas without examination, or give him credit for that infallibility to which he, last of all men, would have pretended. I cannot, however, answer for myself, that, had I been so unfortunate as to read his criticism upon Alciphron before I had read the book itself, I should have taken much trouble to search for a work so difficult of access, and represented as so little worthy of perusal. But, as Fortune threw Alciphron in my way before I was acquainted with Jortin's comments upon him, as I read the book, and obtained from it an insight into the customs and manners of the Greeks which will in vain be sought for in any other Greek Author, as I was alternately charmed with the beauty of his language, and the vivacity of his imagination, I am prompted by gratitude to say something in his behalf. With boldness, therefore, and alacrity, I come forward, not to attack Dr. Jortin, but to defend Alciphron-not with the puerile expectation that any praise will be due to me for proving that an eminent Critick may be mistaken, but with an ambition, which my own conscience does not disapprove, to rescue an eminent Author from unmerited contempt, to restore him to notice who has been so long banished from the world, and to open a source of amusement to others which has flowed so liberally upon myself."-After ably combating the objections of Dr. Jortin, Mr. Monro concludes, "I do not hesitate to recommend Alciphron, as an Author who may be interesting to the generality of Readers, and whose work is the produce of an elegant mind and a vigorous imagination. Had he written in verse instead of prose, I am persuaded, the Epistles of Ovid would not have been the first favourites with persons devoted to that class of reading, nor would Catullus have borne the palm for terseness and elegance. Occupied by this opinion, I have ventured to make an attempt, such as it is, toward putting one of his Epistles into a metrical form. This I readily submit to the mercy, or the forbearance, of the Critics; assuring them that I shall chearfully acquiesce in their decision upon my Translation, provided they will allow me to retain the opinion I have formed of my Original.”—Mr. Beloe also, in an advertisement prefixed to Book III. reminds the Reader, that “the Volume is the performance of two persons-that he may not impute any errors he shall from this time discover, to the Editor of the two preceding books, and that he may be able immediately to account for any little variation of manner or of sentiment which may appear in this concluding part of the work. Unfettered by any partiality towards each other, our plan has been, to give our opinions of Alciphron and his works, separately and without reserve, as they were impressed upon our judgments in the performance of our respective portions. The Reader therefore has before him, not the aggregate labours of two men, who,

tra

first printed from the Author's Autograph in the

traversing an unknown region, were fearful to advance a step, the one without the other; but, rather, separate communications given as the result of an excursion, where each, satisfied of the beauty of the country before him, agreed to divide it, because neither had leisure to explore the whole."

I feel peculiar pleasure in being able to subjoin what I believe to be a correct sketch of the Literary Life of my learned and much respected Friend, the Rev. William Beloe. His Father (of whom an honourable anecdote is related in Gent. Mag. vol. LXI. p. 492) was a respectable Tradesman of Norwich. Personally aware of the disadvantages of the want of education, he resolved that his son should in this particular have no cause of complaint. Of his Mother also, see vol. LXXIII. pp. 94, 189.-After receiving the first rudiments at a good school in Norwich, the subject of this Note was placed under the care of the Rev. Matthew Raine, at Hartforth near Richmond, Yorkshire, Father of the late Dr. Raine of the Charter-House, and of Jonathan Raine, Esq. now M. P. for Newport in Cornwall, and an eminent Barrister. After remaining some years with Mr. Raine, under whom he was admirably grounded in the Classics, Mr. Beloe was removed to Stanmore, where he spent about four years under the tuition of Dr. Parr. From this seminary, which has produced so many excellent scholars and accomplished men, he proceeded to Cambridge, and was a Member of Bene't College. In this place he so far distinguished himself, that he obtained the Declamation Prize, and in 1779 was the Senior Member of his College on taking his Degree. Soon after he be came A. B. Dr. Parr was elected to the Head-mastership of Norwich Free School; and Mr. Beloe was invited by his highly eminent instructor to become the Under Master; this he accordingly accepted, and retained the situation about three years. In this interval he married the daughter of William Rix, Esq. Townclerk of London. Whilst in Norfolk, he was Curate of Earlham, in the vicinity of Norwich; which is so far to his honour, that the Patron of the Vicarage promised him the living whenever it should be vacant, and his Successor fulfilled his promise. This was the first preferment Mr. Beloe obtained; and, such as it is, I regret that it should still be necessary for him to retain it. From Norwich he removed to London, where he was elected Master of Emanuel Hospital, Westminster, and continued so for upwards of twenty years. In 1792 he was elected F. S. A. In 1796 the Lord Chancellor Rosslyn presented him to the Rectory of Allhallows, London Wall; and in 1797 the Bishop of Lincoln also made him a Prebendary of his Cathedral. In 1804 he was appointed to be one of the Librarians of the British Museum; which situation he lost, by an act of treachery and fraud on the part of a person admitted to see and examine the Books and Drawings, so audacious and extraordinary, that

Possession of his lineal Descendant Sir John Wil

it will hereafter hardly obtain belief. The tale is pathetically told by Mr. Beloe himself, in the Preface to his first volume of "Anecdotes of Literature;" and to this I refer the Reader for particulars. Whilst at the Museum, the venerable Bishop Porteus, in 1805, appointed him to the Prebend of Pancras ; and from the produce of his preferment, which, however it may sound from its title, is very unimportant in the amount, Mr. Beloe continues to live with respectability at Kensington.-His Works are very numerous; but I shall only specify those which are more known, as having been greatly honoured by public approbation. The first of consequence is the "Translation of Herodotus;" of this book two large Editions have been published. It has been generally admired for the simplicity and elegance of the style; was favourably represented in all the Critical Publications of the day; was commended by L'Archer, the best Greek scholar of France, whose Version of the same Author is the most perfect work of the kind; and is received as a standard book in English Literature. The "Translation of Alciphron's Letters," which soon followed the above, was the joint production of Mr. Beloe and Mr. Monro. The latter portion, with the "Essay on the Parasites of Greece," was by Mr. Beloe. Mr. Beloe's next work of reputation was his "Translation of Aulus Gellius," the very learned and excellent Preface to which was written by Dr. Parr. This production was from its very nature less popular than the Herodotus; but it has silently made its way, and now, I believe, is out of print, and unquestionably should be re-printed. The part which Mr. Beloe took in the British Critic, the difficult and dangerous times in which it was undertaken, the vigour and perseverance with which it was conducted, are things sufficiently known. Mr. Beloe was joint Proprietor with Mr. Archdeacon Nares, and the respectable house of Rivington. The Editorship was entrusted to the judgment, sagacity, learning, and acuteness, of Mr. Nares; in all and each of which qualities that Gentleman has proved himself eminently excellent. Mr. Beloe, in conjunction with Mr. Nares, conducted this work to the end of the 42nd volume, and then resigned it to others. The next work of magnitude in which Mr. Beloe engaged, was "Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books," which he has recently completed in six volumes. This has been very favourably received, but probably does not correspond with the idea which Mr. Beloe himself encouraged, from the situation which he held in its commencement. Productions of minor interest, which exercised Mr. Beloe's earlier labours, were, Translations from the French of Bitaube, Florian, and some part of the Arabian Nights Entertainments; three volumes of Miscellanies, of which parts seem deserving of more notice than they have received; a volume of Poems; Pamphlets; and Sermons. Mr. Beloe has also given his assistance in editing various books of considerable po

pularity