arcana of traffic, that revelation alone could have made mankind fenfible of their importance. Meekness, like Proteus, affumes every poffible appearance which the intereft of concealment may require; and philofophy alone can trace it, through its multiform shapes, and vanquish its transforming power.' P. 317. Vol. II. That every particular foul defcends totally,' is the doctrine of Proclus in the laft propofition of his theological elements: and here we hoped to have bidden a final adieu to his tranflator. The next page, however, compelled us to obferve how low, in the common fenfe of the words, the foul of a philofopher can defcend. The philofophic foul of Mr. T. has, indeed, defcended fo very low as to honour even us with an Appendix, the purport of which, as it might otherwife remain unknown to the Public, our vanity impels us to ftate. The beginning of the Appendix would afford no bad fpecimen of the general abuse which he deigns to beflow on us. We muit, however, deny ourfelves the pleasure of quoting it, and haften to the fpecific charges brought against us with all the pomp and circumftance of philofophical and critical hoftility. In our Review for Auguft 1788, we mentioned Mr. T.'s tranflation of the Hymns of Orpheus with lefs commendation than he thinks was due to his work, and his Paraphrafe of Plotinus on the Beautiful, with more than he condefcends to accept. In fhort, he will take neither our praife, nor our cenfure, in good part; though he deigns to wate a few of the precious moments dedicated to the restoration of Platonifm, and the demolition of Christianity, in accufing us of malevolence, ignorance, and pride. We have, it feems, malevolently misreprefented Mr. T. by hinting that he was bold, when he was moft inclined to be modeft. We have faid, that, acknowleging the difficulty of tranflating the compound epithets of the Greek language, he feemed to claim the merit of fubduing it. We have faid, that, to elucidate the fenfe of his author, he promifed copious and truly philofophical notes. But it now appears, that he never made, or meant to make, any fuch promife; and that elucida tions, defined in fome meature to fupply the want of that recondite theology, of which the Commentary of Proclus ont Plato's Cratylus is fo full-elucidations, which the lovers of wifdom were called on to accept with gratitude--were neither copious, nor philofophical. In the prefent work, however, Mr. T. feems to think more juftly of his own powers, though his diffidence is of fo new a kind, and his mode of fhewing it fo fingular, that it may be malevolent to afcribe the following paffage to any other principle: This bright light is no other than that of ideas themselves, which, when it is once enkindled, or rather rekindled, in the foul, becomes the general standard and criterion of truth. He who poffèfles this is no longer the flave of opinion, puzzled with doubts, and loft in the uncertainties of conjecture. Here the fountain of evidence is alone to be found. This is the true light, whofe fplendour can alone difpel the darkness of ignorance, and procure for the foul undecaying good, and fubftantial felicity. Of this I am certain, from my own experience, and happy is he who acquires this invaluable treafure. Differt. on the Plat. Doctrine of Ideas, pag. xxv. Note. That fo enlightened a fage fhould difcover the darkness of ignorance in common mortals, might naturally be expected; but that he should stoop to the task of difpelling it, is more than we dared to hope. This, however, he has actually done; and as the ftrictures of a critic who poffeffes the fountain of evidence, and the criterion of truth, must be objects of curiofity, we fhall give fome of them in his own words. Let us now examine the fpecimens of ignorance which thefe Reviewers afford in great abundance; and which as I prefume will appear much to the credit of my tranflation. In the first place I am charged with univerfally tranflating the epithets Ordeos, pinaispac and pans, by the word fanatic, which I have employed in the fenfe of the Latin word, from which it is derived." To which I reply, that the former part of this charge is falfe. For in the Hymn to Minerva puspos is tranflated rage; in the Hymn to Diana, fierce; and in the Hymn to Dionyfius Baffareus, panxo is tranflated furious. The latter part of this affertion is true. For as the word fanatic is immediately derived from the Latin word fanaticus, which according to their own confeflion means numine afflatus, or one infpired by a divine power; and as the great Scaliger, whofe authority is always decifive, conftantly tranflates panes, fanaticus, I made no fcruple of adopting it in my tranflation. That fanatic is never used in a good fenfe by any author of repute may perhaps be true: but I fee no reafon why it thould not be employed according to the meaning of its original, especially as there is no other word in our language fo expredlive of the words to which it correfponds in the Greek. The example of Ariftotle, and the greatest men of antiquity, fufficiently juftifies both the invention of new terms when the poverty of a language requires a fupply, and the adoption of old ones in a different fente, when the difficulty of the fubject demands verbal innovation.' App. P. 439. To all this, we have only occafion to reply, that we never charged Mr. Taylor with univerfally tranflating pievos, 20spor, and Mauixos by the word fanatic-that the authority of Scaliger is nothing to the purpofe, fince Scaliger compofed a * Our words are thefe : • The epithets Φιλενθεος, Φιλοντρος, and po, are all tranflated fanatic, which word Mr. T. feems to have ufed in the fenfe of the Latin word from which it is derived’—and in the note we referei to pages 131, 133, 148, 152, 155, 182, and 183, of Mr. T.'s tranflation, where the reader will find all the words thus tranflated. See Rev. for Aug. 1788, page 139. Latin Latin metaphrafe, and Mr. T. attempted an English translation. —and that, whatever privilege any writer may claim of coining new words, or changing the fenfe of old ones, a believer in the divinity of Dionyfius Baffareus fhould rather have coined a new word to express the fenfe of pixvbeos, than have addreffed him by a title which custom had made opprobrious. We profefs no implicit belief either in the divinity, or the infpiration of Mr. T. yet decency would always forbid our accofting him by the appellation of wifeacre: though by the fame kind of etymological metamorphofis, it might be easily turned into a compliment. Weiffager, undoubtedly means a prophet, in the works of German writers, whofe authority is always decifive; yet wifeacre commonly carries with it a meaning which it would ill become any Englishman to apply to Mr. T. Mr. Taylor ftill regards the parts of his translation, which we objected to, with the affection of a father; and defends them with the confidence of a writer, who poffeffes not only the fource of all true knowlege, but the only ftandard of tafte as well as of truth. He maintains, and who fhall again dare to contradict him?that μενος έφυς αφανων έργων φανερων τε βραβευτης is exadly, though not literally, rendered by ⚫ Of unapparent works thou art alone and this because, on the teftimony of an Orphic verfe preserved means, or that, and, Bacchus and Semele the friends of all'— Mother of arts, impetuous, understood, • Mankind's unconquer'd, endlefs praise is thine, Sepulchral, widely-wand'ring, pow'r divine'are proper translations of and, τεχνων μήτες πολυολβέ, Όρμας ειρα, φιλοι με κακοίς, αγαθοις δε φρόνησις απροσμάχον ευχος έχεσαν Τυμβίλιαν, πολυπλαγκτον, αοίδιμον ανθρωποισιν - yet, from his filence, we dare not infer that he suspects himself either of inelegance or error. We did not imagine that even the ingenuity of Mr. Taylor could have found an occafion of REV. Oct. 1789. Ꮓ triumph triumph in the tranflation of this verfe, to the accuracy of which we prefumed to objec— Ειτ' εν Κύπρῳ, ανασσα, τροφώ στο 'Or if in Cyprus, with thy mother fair' It is literally,' fays he, Or if in Cyprus, O Queen, WITH thy nurse. Fortunately for me, the Metaphrafe of Scaliger agrees with my verfion, Sive in Cupro, matre tua. Perhaps the Reviewers forgot, or perhaps they are ignorant, that a mother and a nurfe are frequently fynonymous terms!' Perhaps, however, to adopt his own language, Mr. T. forgets, or perhaps he is ignorant, that the latter of two fubftantives is sometimes put in appofition with the former, which is actually the case, both in the original verfe of Orpheus, and in the Metaphrafe of Scaliger; Cyprus being the nurfe, or, if he will have it fo, the mother of Venus. Hence the is called Κυπρις, Κυπρογένης, and Κυπρογένεια. Thus Hefiod, Theogon. ver. 199. Αφρογενη τε θεαν, και ευτεφανου Κυθέρειαν Θρέφθη αταρ Κυθέρειαν, ότι προσέκυρσε Κυθήροις, Thus far it was a duty which we owed ourfelves to repel the charges brought against us by Mr. T.-charges which, had we not been apprehenfive that our filence might poffibly, by fome, have been mifconftrued into an acknowlegement of guilt, we fhould most certainly have regarded only with filent contempt. Still, it must be confeffed, Mr. T. has one advantage over uswe mean in the low abuse which, in his Appendix, he has fo liberally bestowed on us. This, however, is an advantage of which we fhall leave him in the unenvied poffeffion: Ou yaş συγκαταβαίνομεν εις αγώνα, εν ᾧ ὁ νικωμένος τε νικωνος επι κρειτίων. ART. XI. The Genera Vermium of Linnæus, Part II. Exemplified by several of the rarest and most elegant Subjects in the Orders of the Teftacea, Lithophyta, and Zoophyta Animalia, accurately drawn from Nature. By James Barbut. With Explanations in English and French. 4to. pp. 90. and 14 Plates. 21. 2s. coloured. 1. 1s. plain. Boards. White, &c. 1788. MRs R. Barbut carries on his defign of elucidating the Linnéan Syftem, with unremitting induftry. The prefent work proceeds no farther than to the end of the Bivalve Shells: fo that although the title feems to promise a more extenfive information, the reader must be apprifed, that there ftill remain to be exemplified, all fuch of the Teftacea, as come under the denomination of Univalve; all the tribes of Lithophyta, and the Zoophyta. We do not give this information to our readers by way of depreciating the work-far from it. We commend Mr. Barbut for the regularity of his proceedings, and his clear. ing his fubject as he advances;-by which means more certain information may be gained. It is furely much better to go on flowly, and with fafety, than by rapid movements to get out of our courfe, or ftumble by the way. The plan of this work, like Mr. Barbut's preceding publications, is to give defcriptions and figures of one or more fpecies of each genus, according to the number of orders under each, which need illuftration. And at the end are added two fynoptic tables; the one, exhibiting the animals which inhabit the feveral fhells; and the other, the generic character of the multivalve and bivalve fhells treated of in this part of the work. The student will be able to ascertain his genera by the help here laid before him, without much difficulty; and let him, while he feels the comfort of the information, praife the attempt to give him at once fo complete and fo cheap a view. In the preface to this volume, Mr. Barbut retails many of the anecdotes which ufually accompany fubjects of this kind. One of which, respecting the eating of muffels, for the good of our countrymen, we will tranfcribe. The pea-crab is at certain feafons a companion and inhabitant with the muffel called by Linnæus mytilus edulis, and commonly fold under the name of lord-a-lee muffels, its abode is under the lip, and care should be taken to lift up the lip and take the crab out, if one fhould be there, it is deemed poisonous and ill confequences have often enfued from this neglect; but in order to guard against the ill confequences attending eating muffels, they fhould be well washed, and if laid a day or two in falt and water, far the better; when they are required to be dreft for table, let them be put into an iron or tin faucepan (by no means into a copper one) throw in with them a filver fpoon, when you apprehend they are fufficiently done, take out the spoon, if it is black throw the muffels away, they then fhould not be eaten; if on the contrary it comes out white as when put in, the muffels may be fafely eaten. It is a query with me, whether or no this obnoxious quality arifes from the poisonous quality of the mud in which muffels are in general found bedded, or from the communication with the pea-crab. I rather am inclined to think it arifes from the former.' We wish we could give Mr. B. our unqualified praife; but we must not keep back our cenfure, when we fee him, in fome of his families, fo induftriously attending Linné through all his pruriency. When Dacofa treated of this fubject, he took care to keep out of fight every thing that could give offence. The late Dr. Solander, himself a Swede, difdained to follow his great mafter, in foibles which nothing could juftify. When Mr. B. was giving us Linné in an English drefs, he should have confidered who were likely to be his readers. Did not Mr. See Rev. vol. xvii. and vol. lxxii. p. 6. Z 2 Pennant's |