much bragged of, appears more in Aristophanes, than in any other author of antiquity that she knows of; but, that what is most to be admired in him, is, that he is always so abso lute a master of the matter he treats of, that, with all the ease imaginable, he finds a way how to make those very things, which at first might appear the most remote from his subject, fall in naturally; and, that, even his most lively, and least expected caprices, seemed but as the natural results of those incidents he had prepared.

She further tells us, that nothing can be more ingenious, than the whole contexture of the comedy called Nubes, and that the chief thing therein, which she most admires, is, that Aristophanes has so well hit the air and humour of Socrates in the ridiculous part; which is done so naturally, that a man would really think he heard Socrates himself speak. She says, she was so much charmed with this piece, that after she had translated it, and had read it two hundred times over, she did not find herself in the least cloyed, which was more than she could say of any other piece besides.

To conclude, Mademoiselle le Fevre speaking of the style of Aristophanes, says, this is as agreeable as his wit. For, besides its purity, force, and sweetness, it has a certain harmony, which sounds so pleasant to the ear, that the very reading him is extremely delightful. At any time, when he has occasion to make use of the common ordinary style, he does it without using any expression that is base and vulgar; and when he has a mind to express himself in the lofty style, in his highest flight he is never obscure in a word, she tells us, no person ever understood how to make use of all the different sorts of style, like Aristophanes. Ann le Fevre's Preface to her French Translation of the two Comedies of Aristophanes.

:

Rimer tells us, that Aristophanes was a man of wonderful zeal for virtue, and the good of his country; that he laid about him with an undaunted resolution, as it were some Christian Martyr, for his Faith and Religion. He plainly ran a muck at all manner of vice whereever he saw it, be it in the greatest philosophers, the greatest poets, the generals, or the ministers of state.

66

وو

The Persian ambassador, who was lieger there, (as formerly the French with us) seeing the town all at his beck, and the government taking aim, turning out, disgracing, im

peaching, banishing, outlawing, and attainting the great men, according as he hinted, or held up the finger; the ambassador, not understanding the Athenian temper, says Rimer, was astonished at the man. And, for all the democracy, no less bold was he with his sovereign, legislative people : representing them, taking bribes, selling their votes, bought off. He tells 'em (as the practice amongst them) that the government had no occasion for men of wit or honesty. The most ignorant, the most impudent, and the greatest rogue, stood fairest always for a place, and the best qualified to be their chief minister. He tells 'em, nothing shall fright him; truth and honesty are on his side; he has the heart of Hercules, will speak what is just and generous, though Cerberus, and all the kennel of hell hounds were loosed upon him. But then (says Rimer) his address was admirable : he would make the truth visible and palpable, and every way sensible to them. The art and the application; his strange fetches, his lucky stars, his odd inventions, the wild turns, returns, and counter-turns (says Rimer) were never matched, nor are ever to be reached again. Rim. Short View of Tragedy, chap. 2, page 22, 23.

Rapin remarks, that Aristophanes is not exact in the contrivance of his fables, and that his fictions are not very probable; that he mocks persons too grossly, and too openly. Socrates, whom he plays upon so eagerly in his comedies, (says Rapin) had a more delicate air of raillery than he; but was not so shameless. It is true, Aristophanes wrote daring the disorder and licentiousness of the old comedy, and that he understood the humour of the Athenian people, who were easily disgusted with the merit of extraordinary persons, whom he set his wit to abuse, that he might please that people. After all, (says Rapin) he often is no otherwise pleasant, than by his buffoonery. That Ragoust, composed of seventy-six syllables in the last scene of his comedy the Ecclesiasousai, would not (says Rapin) go down with us in our age. His language is often obscure, blundered, low, trivial; and his frequent jingling upon words, his contradictions of opposite terms each to other; the hotchpotch of his style, of tragic and comic, of serious and buffoon, of grave and familiar, is unseemly; and his witticisms often, when well examined, prove false. Rap. Reflect. on Aristot. Treatise of Poesie, part 2, sec. xxvi.

ARISTOTLE,

*

many

THE famous philosopher of Stagira, who, besides the n other works he wrote, is said, according to Diogenes Laertius, to have written as many poems, as contain forty-five thousand, three hundred, and thirty verses. But had he never composed any poem, yet certainly that most incomparable piece of his concerning the art of poetry, which by all the world is counted the best model for poets to follow, may well allow him to be ranked amongst the most considerable poets.

He died, according to Calvicius, in the sixty-third year of his age, three hundred and nineteen years before Christ.

I find there are some critics, and among others Petrus Victorius, in his Comment upon Aristotle's Art of Poetry, who think that this piece of Aristotle's was never finished, nor perfected; and, in all probability, the ground of this opinion was, because they did not find that Aristotle had writ any thing concerning comedy, as a late anonymous author has observed in his Bibliograph. curios. Histor. Philolog. &c. page 45. But the learned Gerardus Johannes Vossius, in his De Natura Artis Poeticæ, cap. v. page 28, is of the contrary opinion, viz. that Aristotle had finished and given the last strokes to this most excellent work; and this, says Vossius, may easily be proved by that curious method and admirable concatenation, which he hath observed from first to last.

Lilius Gyraldus tells us, that Aristotle was not only the master and patriarch of philosophy, logic, and rhetoric, but also, that he was greatly skilled in poetry, both in respect of the art, and the composing of verses.

Rimer says, that Aristotle was the very first that antiquity honoured with the name of critic.

It is indeed suspected, that he dealt not always fairly with the philosophers, mis-reciting sometimes, and misinterpreting their opinions. But (says Rimer) I find him not taxed of that injustice to the poets, in whose favour he is so ingenuous, that, to the disadvantage of his own profession, he declares, that tragedy more conduces to the instruction of mankind, than even philosophy itself. And, however Aristotle may be cried down in the schools, and vilified by some modern philosophers,yet, since men have had a taste for good sense, and could discern the beauties of correct writing, he is

preferred in the politest courts of Europe, and by the poets held in great veneration. Not that these can servilely yield to his authority, who, of all men living, affect liberty. The truth is, (says Rimer) what Aristotle writes on this subject are not the dictates of his own majesterial will, or dry deductions of his metaphysics. But the poets were his masters, and what was their practice he reduced to principles. Nor would the modern poets blindly resign to this practice of the ancients, were not the reasons convincing and clear as any demonstration in mathematics. 'Tis only needful that we understand them, for our consent to the truth of them. Rim. Pref. to his Translat. of Rapin's Reflect. on Aristot.of Poesie.

Rapin tells us, that Aristotle's Treatise of Poesie, to speak properly, is nothing else, but nature put in method, and good sense reduced to principles. There is no arriving at perfection but by these rules, and they certainly go astray that take a different course. What faults have not most of the Italian, Spanish, and other poets fallen into, through their ignorance of these principles? And if a poem, (says Rapin) made by these rules, fails of success, the fault lies not in the art, but in the artist; all who have writ of this art, have followed no other idea but that of Aristotle. Rap. Advertism. before his Reflect. on Arist.

The learned anonymous German author, in his Bibliograph. Curios. Histor. Philolog. &c. page 45, calls Aristotle's Art of Poetry a golden fragment, containing most admirable remarks, relating to the rules of true grammar, and the soundest maxims of rhetoric. He adds, that the little which is left concerning tragedy is incomparable, and that one can hardly find among the ancients any thing that is of a better taste.

But, notwithstanding the general vogue that this treatise of Aristotle has had in the world, yet that great critic Julius Scaliger in the epistle to his son Sylvius, before his Poëtica, has different sentiments, for he calls it a lame and imperfect work; and that if it were not for respect to that philosopher, he tells us, he could say a great deal more. But the learned Gerardus Johannes Vossius, in the preface to his Institutiones Poetica, falls upon Scaliger for this opinion, saying, that he can by no means think this treatise of Aristotle so despicable a work; that, for his part, he did not know any

thing writ by the ancients upon this subject that did come up to it; and that such modern writers as have treated of the art of poetry, have still got more or less reputation, in proportion to their observing or not observing that excellent model given by Aristotle.

(To be Resumed.)

CURIOUS CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF VARIOUS NATIONS.

(Resumed from page 265.)

It appears by many passages of the history of the Carthaginians, that their generals deemed it an essential duty to worship the gods ere they began their enterprises, and when they were concluded. Amilcar, the father of Annibal, before he entered Spain, to make war there, offered sacrifices to their gods. His son, following the example of his father, when he was leaving Spain, put in at Cadiz, to discharge a vow which he had made to Hercules, and there, by making fresh vows to the god, he endeavoured to propitiate him in his favour. After the battle of Cannæ, when he sent the happy news of his victory to Carthage, he particularly recommended to the republic to give solemn thanks to the gods for his success.

Polybius has preserved a treaty of peace betwixt Philip, the son of Demetrius, and the Carthaginians, in which is plainly seen the reverence which the latter had for the Creator and their firm persuasion that the gods assisted, and presided over human actions, and more especially over treaties, which were ratified in their names, and in their especial presence. He there mentions five or six orders of divinities, and that enumeration appears rather extraordinary in such a public act as a treaty of peace between two empires. We will transcribe the very terms, which may serve to give some idea of the theology of the Carthaginians :"This treaty was concluded in the presence of Jupiter, of Juno, and of Apollo; in the presence of the Dæmon or Genius of the Carthaginians, of Hercules, and of Iolaus; in the presence of Mars, of Triton, and of Neptune; in the presence of the gods who accompany the army of the Carthaginians, and of the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth; in the presence of the Rivers, the Meadows, and the Waters; in the presence of all the Gods who are the protectors of Carthage."—What