Various, that the mind of desultory man, studious of change and pleased with novelty, may be indulged-Cowp. (Continued from Vol. 4, p. 403.) AMONG the number of advantages, which the Asiatick poets possess over us, we ought to place, in the most considerable rank, the veneration the Orientals have for poetry, and the pleasure they take in it. By this, the least talent is cultivated, and those who possess some sparks of genius, far from suffering it to be extinguished, endeavour to render themselves famous in an art so respected. The Arabs are such lovers of poetry, and so persuaded of its power and effects, that they give it the name of Lawful Magick. The celebrated Abu Temam says, in one of his odes, "The fine sentiments expressed in prose, are like pearls and precious stones strewed at random, but when they are bound together in verse they become bracelets and ornaments for the diadems of kings." This elegant allusion is preserved. among the Persians, and with them to string pearls is a common expression to signify composing verses. The Turks are no less smitten with this divine art, as we may judge by the following translation of one of their famous poets. "The rocks themselves make known by their tender echoes That they are charmed by the voice of poeThe tulips and roses bloom try; At the melodious song of the nightingale. poetry." We have already observed, that the fecundity of the Imagination, and the fire of the Genius of the Oriental Poets, ought to be partly attributed to the beauty and fertility of the regions which they inhabit. This opinion is confirmed by a Grecian poet, in the first book of Anthology, where he says, the poetical faculties are refreshed and renovated by the Spring, as the verdure of the plants, the enamel of the flowers, and the song of the night с ingale. Milton, in speaking of him- fusion of beautiful images, as in the self, uses this expression Fallor? an et nobis redeunt in carmina vires, Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adest. We may apply to the Asiatick Na tions what Waller said of the Summer Isles: The gentle Spring, that but salutes us here, Inhabits there, and courts them all the year. And how should not these people, with the perpetual spectacle of such beautiful objects, an air always pure and serene, be rich in ingenious and striking inventions, in lively and agreeable expressions, in beautiful and pleasing images, in descriptions animated with the most brilliant colours, how should they not preserve the fire of their genius in the same degree of fervour, and in the same splendour? The images taken from Nature are one of the principal ornaments of poetry: we may convince ourselves of this truth in the Sacred Books, where the verdure of Mount Carmel, the height of that of Lebanon, and the wines of Engaddi, and the dew of Hermon, furnish the most lively metaphors, and the most agreeable comparisons. Thus the spices of Yemen, the perfumes of Khoten, embellish the Arabian poems, and vary their images. Besides, they have in the East a number of plants and animals, which in our climates we do not find, except in the gardens of the curious and in the royal collections: such as shrubs, from which distil balsam, and precious gums:animals from whom are obtained musk and civet: antelopes whose large and brilliant eyes enter so often into the allusions and comparisons of the Asiatick poets. It is useless to speak of the Palm tree, although it is, while in flower, the most beautiful object in the vegetable world; and of many other rare gifts of Nature, which have given to Arabia the name of The Happy. If then, the observation of Hermogenes be just, when he says, that every thing which pleases the senses, produces the beautiful in description, we Oriental Poems. It will not, perhaps, examples of this subject, which, at be foreign to the purpose to give three the same time will show the different shades of taste in the Arabian, the Persian, and the Turkish. Roudhata radhaha ennedi fegadat Leha min ezzohor angem zehero Yancher fihà eidi errabii lena Thouban min elwachi halaha elketero Caima shakka min shakaikha-Alei rebaha motaref kheddero Thom tabadda cainha hedekon Agefanha min demaiha homero. A garden sparkling with dew, whose flow. Upon which the spring had spread a silken ers resemble the brilliant stars, cloak bordered with shining drops of rain, Its hillocks were adorned with anemonies, which composed for them robes of a rich tissue; The buds of these flowers appeared like the eyes of a beautiful maiden, grown red by weeping. The last verse is undoubtedly defective, as giving a displeasing idea, in lieu of an agreeable image, which the poet ought rather to have presented. Gulistáni tchu gulzári giuvani The garden was like the bowers of youth; The roses were refreshed by the waters of the fountain of life; The warblings of the nightingale inspired pleasure; And the odoriferous Zephyrs spread around Shokufe ostiné olmich direm rize. Each fountain raised its spoutings like those of the sources of life; The brilliancy of the Tulips caused each border to sparkle; The light breezes of the morning discovered the forehead of the roses; The breath of the Zephyrs sucked the dewdrops upon the eyes of the Narcissus, The agitated Shrubs formed a light and lively dance, And strewed the earth with their gilded buds. We easily see that these beauties of cannot find any where so great a pro-expression are naturally allied to those of the objects which they describe, | Demetrius Phalerius, in his elegant treatise upon Style says, that what renders the verse of Sappho so full of sweetness and delicacy, is the choice of images, which it presents, that all the most lovely things in Nature are embraced in it. Indeed, we find nothing in these poems but descriptions of gardens, banquets, loves and graces, nightingales and doves, fountains and meadows, flowers and fruits. Her language then takes the charms of the objects of which she speaks: it even follows the movements of it: thus, when she represents an undisturbed Spring, murmuring among the branches of the trees, of which the zephyrs agitate the leaves, and invite to the charms of a sweet slumber, her verses glide slower than the stream which she describes. Those who agree to the justness of this remark will not be astonished, that the Oriental Poets surpass, in beauty of diction, and in strength of images, all the authours of Europe, except the Lyrical Poets among the Greeks, Horace among the Latins, and Marino among the Italians. With regard to the images of Horrour, as well as every other object which produces the sublime, we cannot find any more striking than those of the poets who inhabit the Deserts and Mountains of Arabia, because they are constantly surrounded by black forests and horrible precipices, steep rocks, and frightful solitudes. This assertion will be sufficiently proved by the following verses of Omaia, the son of Abou Agez, in which the poet has assembled all that is most terrible and frightful in nature. I pass upon the summit of steep rocks, I continue my course, while my companions I advance, although the darkness be like a And the traveller, whom the night surpri- a camel, which resembles a young ostrich flying toward the humid plain; I hasten him forward, and he throws himself aside, like the bird Katha, and his last steps surpass his first course in rapidity; He darts himself upon the pointed rocks, whose crags appear like as many sharp javelins fixed in a hard and barren mountain. (To be continued.) CLASSICAL LEARNING. (Continued from page 5.) gination is not among the least advantages that may be derived from a careful perusal of the classick authours. The talent of description possessed by their poets, and the accuracy with which they describe the objects of sense, are great helps, to the youthful mind in this respect. The boldness of of great men, the majesty and power of their their thoughts in describing the characters deities, their elevated notions of human nature, their conceptions of heroick virtue, their contempt of Indolence and Meanness, and the high value which they put upon the talents and virtues of the mind, are great helps thought, which is more important and conto dignity of sentiment and elevation of ducive to propriety of conduct than is generally imagined. The improvement of the power of ima The power of taste, and a sense of proprimuch improved by a thorough acquaintance ety in speech and action, may likewise be with the classicks. For this most of them were chiefly remarkable, and their writings, abstracting from the nature of the subject, have recommended themselves to succeeding ages, by their natural qualities of perspi cuity, brevity, propriety and dignity, and the natural expression of the passions and feelings of men. As models of just composition, allowing for the difference of the times wherein they lived, the classicks will be allowed by all that know them, to possess a high degree of merit. Having had the advantage of us, of being first acquainted with the objects of nature, they have given such descriptions of them in their works as succeeding ages may strive to imitate, but cannot hope to exceed the writings of the ancients were all mere trifles, men would have some pretence to talk at this rate, but when we consider that they contain the maxims of ancient wisdom, and the most useful lessons for common life, as well as the best models of regular and elegant composition, fit for forming the taste of youth, we ought not to reckon the time lost that is employed studying them. Besides, the Philosophy of Language, the rules of just Criticism, the figures of speech, and the difference of style employed by different authours, cannot be more successfully learned than by the perusal of ancient authours. Nor are the faculties of the mind which are employed in abstract studies, unemployed in the study of Grammar and Criticism; a correct taste and an acute judg. ment are absolutely necessary to elucidate the sense of an authour, especially in a fo But as the ancients had a great thirst after knowledge, their works will be found to contain the elements of various Sciences, so far as they were understood in their times. Some of the sanguine admirers of Virgil have asserted, that if all the sciences were lost, they might be found in his works. The like compliment has been paid to Homer. His description of the cave of the nymphs in the Odyssey has been thought to contain mysteries of natural knowledge, and has been honoured by Porphyry with a learned dissertation, and the knowledge of human nature displayed in both his celebrated poems, entitles him to the appellation of the first of Philoso-reign language. Memory serves only to rephers, as well as the first of Poets. Virgil in the song of Silenus, has delivered the principles of the Epicurean Philosophy, and in his sixth Eneid those of the Platon, and the Song of Jopas, shows that he was acquainted with the principles of Ancient Astronomy. The moral sentences with which all the works of the Classick Poets abound, make them justly valuable to all the friends of Virtue and Mankind. Upon the whole, if a classical education is not equally profitable to all that receive it, the fault must be in themselves, or in those who have the care of conducting their studies. There are some, who from natural incapacity, incurable negligence and want of ambition, spend their youthful years without profit, but every student of tolerable capacity, and due application will derive the same profit from them that is expected from polite and intelligent company or the conversation of our superiours. His knowledge will be inlarged, his taste, judgment, and knowledge of men and things improved, he will be enriched with excellent maxims of morals, and his mind will be elevated by the converse and example of the most dignified of the human species, and whether he is to pass his life in abstract studies, or the ordinary arts of life, he will have a source of pleasure unknown to others, and by the studies of his youth, he will be enabled to adorn any station of life in which he may be placed. On the Usefulness of a Classical Education, as ་་ ་འན. tain what we have learned by attentive ob. scrvation, as taste and judgment for discern. ing what is great, beautiful, and excellent. The history and manners of those countries where Philosophy chiefly flourished, are certainly not to be neglected by those who wish to be acquainted with ph and one must have studied the ancients to little purpose indeed, who is unacquainted with the manners and history of the Greeks and Romans. To hear them utter their native sentiments in their own language, to attend them in their solemn publick deliberations, to behold them in the field, to trace them in the arts of peace, and follow them to their private retirements, transports us, so to speak, into antiquity, and gives us an opportunity of imbibing the spirit of those great men with whom we converse, and the most distinguished of these were admirers of phi. losophy, and studied it as far as their circumstances permitted. The greatest men were always lovers of knowledge, and even those who had not been taught letters themselves, had learned men about them, from whose conversation they hoped to retrieve in some measure, what they had lost by the negligence of their youthful years. Nor is the study of the Classicks only use. ful for understanding the history and condi tion of past times, as without it even the works of modern Literature would be almost unintelligible. These are full of allusions to the Classicks or quotations from them, and the unlettered reader must lose much of the pleasure, and no little of the profit that is to be found in modern authours, by being incapable of considering the thoughts of his authour, in that connexion with the dictates of ancient wisdom in which the authour himself conceived them. Moreover, as Philosophy is nothing else but the use of human reason, applied to the study of nature and life, most of the ancient authours may be considered as Philosophers in their kind. Even the poets, beside the display of genius and fancy which their works exhibit, may be considered as faithful describers and exact painters of human nature. So far only are they deserving of praise as they paint nature faithfully, and they exhibit, in lively action, all those operations of the human mind, which the Philosopher traces more coldly, without elevating the imagination, or interesting the passions, as the poets endeavour to do. And it is on this account that Horace affirms, that Homer taught the principles of morals in a more perfect and satisfying manher than Chrysippus or Crantor. As all the parts of nature are indifferently the objects of Philosophy in general, and moral Science in particular is conversant with human nature, its powers and operations, every exertion of the human mind, on whatever subject, is pregnant with instruction to the attentive and philosophick reader, and every exertion of his faculties which he is led to make in contemplating the structure of language, elucidating the sense of authours, or investigating the canon of Criticism, serves as a prelude or preparation for more abstract studies. Those minds which have not been previously exercised, are unfit for the study of Philosophy, and incapable of comprehending its utility and importance, as well as of entering into those abstract speculations with which it presents us. Plato admitted none to study under him who were not versant in Geometry. And certainly those exercises and that attention of mind which mathematical studies require, contribute much to exact observation, accurate conception, and just reasoning, which are all so necessary in the study of Philosophy. To distinguish the dictates of nature from vulgar prejudices, to consider exactly the agreement and disagreement of our ideas, and to accustom ourselves to just and legitimate reasoning, are excellent preparations for the study of human nature. But as in mathematicks, so in Philosophy, some principles must be assumed without demonstration, to enable us to demonstrate others from them, a good taste and sound judgment are necessary to discover and distinguish those radical principles and maxims which need no demonstration, from those which need to be demonstrated, by their connexion with these. Some have even been spoiled by reasoning, and have impertinently called for demonstration of principles to which it did not apply, and which no demonstration could render more evident or certain than they are alrea dy. This errour, though arising from a defect of common sense and discernment is justly chargeable on many modern Philosophers, who not knowing where to stop, have foolishly imagined, that we are obliged to render a reason for our natural perceptions of those original truths which nature has made us capable discerning intuitively, that by their means we might be led to the knowledge of others. But surely nothing can be more unphilosophick, than to call in question the fundamental principles of all Philosophy, and to appear ignorant that the operation of reasoning no less requires certain axioms or fixed points on which we may rest than legal and just inference for deducing secondary truths from these principles. What would these Philosophers have to reply, if they were required to give a reason why they assented to just and regular demonstra(To be continued.) tion? LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. For The Port Folio. Messrs. Wright, Goodenow, and Stockwell, a very respectable society of booksellers in the flourishing village of Troy, in the northern division of the state of New-York, have lately published the elegant epistles of the late Lord LYTTLETON the younger, only son of the venerable George Lord Lyttleton, and Chief Justice in Eyre, &c. This is the first American edition, and the Editors, with great pro Priety, have prefixed a brief biography of the authour, including an account of some extraordinary circumstances attending his death. As this little volume, the execution of which is highly creditable to the proprietors, is or ought to be, in the hands of every admirer of genius and eloquence, and, as from the strong passions, admirable talents, and eccentrick humour of their authour, he has always excited an uncommon share of attention, every anecdote respecting him is caught up with avidity. It must be confessed, that the materials of his Biography are meagre. But our friend, the American editor, has arranged them to advantage, and perhaps it would be difficult, on either side the Atlantick, to exhibit a full length portrait of this matchless nobleman. A few traits, not very elaborately drawn, we have lately seen in a virtuoso collection, and here they are preserved. The name of this personage is seldom mentioned but with pity, or contempt; yet there seems to prevail only a confused or indistinct idea, either of his qualifications, or failings. The only son of an amiable and beloved |