SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
8r 
prefs ftrongly on the recolledion the beautiful obfervation of the 
Latin poet. 
' *' VIdi ego, quod fuerat quondam folidiffima tellus 
" EfTe fretum. Vidi fadtas ex aiquore terras, 
" Et procul a pelago conchse jacucre marinse 
" Et vetus inventa eft in montibus anchora fummis." 
" The face of places, and their forms, decay ; ; 
'* And that is foUd earth that once was fea : 
" Seas in their turn, retreating from the fhorc, 
" Make foh'd land what ocean was before ; • • 
" Far from the fhore are fhells of fifties found, , ^ 
" And rufty anchors fix'd on mountain-ground." 
It may be obferved, by the way, that Mr, Dryden. has re- 
verfed the idea of the poet in the firft couplet of his tranflatio-n, 
and continued the fame in his fecond, making only the land to 
gain on the fea, inftead of contrafting it with the oppofite efFed: 
of the fea encroaching on the land. Obferving this to a fon of 
my ingenious and learned friend Do£tor Tytler, a boy of twelve 
years of age, he requefted to have the Latin lines, and imme- 
diately produced the following ftanzas : 
" Turn'd into fea I've feen the earth 
" Diftblved in the wave, 
" And from the fea new hills fpring forth, 
" And their broad backs upheave. 
" And far from ocean's utmoft bounds^ 
" Shells have difcovered been, 
" And on the tops of rifing grounds 
*• Old rufty anchors feen." 
VOL. II. M In 
