Pwticukrly. of the LETl'RR.IlTMA. 1-5 » 



There feems, however, to be no good reafon either for ap- 

 plauding or condemning the found of this letter in the extreme, 

 PafTages have been already quoted from Euripides and Cicero, 

 which, if read with attention, mufl convince every one, that 

 its frequent recurrence is difagreeable to the ear, though that 

 circumftance feems to have efcaped the notice of the authors 

 themfelves in compofing thofe fentences. But Milton has, 

 with manifeft defign, availed himfelf of the difcQrdant found 

 produced by fuch a repetition, and that with powerful effed, in 

 the following verfes, where Satan, when defcribed as having 

 arrived at Pandsemonium, and in a boafting manner related his 

 fuccefs againft Man, is received by his infernal audience with a. 

 general hifs. 



So 



poets of ignorance who defpife thfs letter, he puts the queftion,^ " Hiave not I now faid 

 '"enough, liipsius, about the fondneTs at»d .nefpeft which, th^.anqients had for this let- 

 '•'iter? — Yes, quite enough." , , .. ' 



This Dialpgue betwixt Lipsius and Mur?tus, is dedicated to the renowned Sir Philip 

 Sidney. The fcene is laid on theQuirinal, in a garden ibelonging to the fplendid Hippo- 

 tifTDS of Eftp, tlie patron of MuRErus. Lipsius reprejents. himfelf as a young rnan on 

 his travels at Rome, poffeffing an ardent defire of linowledge. Having paida vifit at 

 the apartments occupied by Muretus in the houfe of his patron, he was fhewed into the 

 garden, where he found that accompliflied fcholar fo deeply engaged in reading, as for. 

 ibme time to pay no attention to the approach of the rtranger. The book he had in his 

 hand happened to be a work of LipsidS: hitnftlf, entitled. Vtifiir, whiph h^d been lately 

 publilhed at Antwerp. A pleaCng defcriptigp of this, interview is given by Lipsius in 

 the commencement of the Dialogue, " Cubkulum ejus cum pulfaffern" SiC. They af- 

 terwards enter upon the proper fubjeft of the piece, in which Muretus is reprefented as 

 the principal fpeaker. But the (lyle, in point of elegance, is far inferior to what 

 Muretus would have really made ule of. The work indeed is confcfledly the compofi- 

 tion of Lipsius, whofe Latinity, though he was one of the ableft critics of the fixteenth 

 eentury, has with juftice been cenfured. His merit was fuch, however, that even his ftyle 

 procured a numerous tribe, of imitators, But no modern writer of Latin has furpafled 

 the elegance of Muretds. His orations in particular, in pomt^ of eafe and fluency of 

 espreffion, may perhaps even vie with thofe of Cicero. It myft give every. I'cholar 

 pleai'ure to hear, that the celebrated Rhhnkenius of Leyden, is at prefent engaged in 

 preparing for the prefs a new and complete edition of the works "of Muretds. " 11 faut 

 " (fays Bayle) bien aimer les mauvais modeles quand on eft capable de pr^ferer le 

 " ftyle de Lipse a celui de Paul Manuce, ou a celui de iVJuR.e.T ; un ftyle qui va par 

 " fauts, et par bonds, herifle de pointes et d'ellipfes, a un ftyle biefl U4 e.t, cqulant, et qui 

 " develope toute la penfee." Di3. Artie. Lipse, ^ot. [L.} 



