1800.] Mr. Good on the Meffias of Klopftok.— Farming Society; $3 
Englihh verfion, he learns the chara@ter of 
Judas I(¢thariot, and immediately deter- 
mines upon his feduction. The apoftate 
difciple is at this time afleep in the vicinity, 
and Satan approaches him with the trea- 
cherous and malicious vifion that ftamps 
his final perdition. 
Alfo naht fich die peft in mitternachtlicher 
ftunde ; 
Schlummernden ftadten, Es liegt auf ihren 
verbreiteten fligeln 
An den mauren der Tod, und haucht verder- 
bende diinfte, &c. 
So towards the wearied city, as it fleeps, 
In dead of night the peft malignant creeps. 
Death marks the vapour with triumphant 
wings, 
And o’er its walls the floating mifchief flings, 
Heealefs the crowd {till flumbers: ftill the 
lage 
O'er the pale lamp purfues his favourite page ; 
And converfe ftiill, and themes of import 
high, 
Friendihip, the foul, and worlds man yet muft 
try, 
Chear’d with the temperate glafs that flows 
between, 
Detain the circle o’er th’ umbrageous green. 
Ah! fhort liv’d joys! already, with the day, 
Springs the dread reign of death and dire dif- 
may, 
Ot fighs and fufferings. Wild, with wring- 
ing hands, 
The bride, now widowed, o’er the bridegroom 
ftands : 
Robb’d of her babes, the childlefs mother’s 
moan 
Curfes alike their birth-day, and her own: 
And the dull fexton, faint, with {wimming 
brain, 
Drops down the grave where others fhould have 
lain. 
High from the ftorm th’ avengeful angel, now, 
Defcends abrupt with deep revolving brow: 
Broad round he looks, and nought, where’er 
he turns, 
But filence, death, and deferts drear, difcerns ; 
Penfive he paufes, ’mid the tombs that rife, 
And o’er tle wreck, the righteous judgment 
fighs, 
Every one acquainted with Lucretius 
will inftantaneoufly mark the refemblance 
between the commencement of this fearful 
delineation and the verfes of the Roman 
bard that immediately precede his inimita- 
ble picture of the Plague of Athens: De 
Rer. Nat. vi. 1117. 
Ubi fe celum, quod nobis forte ve- 
nenum, 
Conmovet, atgue aér inimicus ferpere ceepit 5 
Ut nebula ac nubes paullatim repit, Bc. 
But this is but a fingle imitation ont of 
multitudes that are perpetually recurring 
in the fame poem, | 
2 \ 
It is by no means improbable, that the 
original of the fixteenth line of this latter 
paffage has an allufion to the Iliad of Ho- 
mer, I. go; at Jeaft a fimilar idea occurs 
in this part of the fpecch of Heétor to his 
brother Paris. 
AND? Operes 4? ayovos T Enevat, ayaprog 
Tv aarorcc9at. 
In the elegant but diffufe verfion of Mr. 
Pope. 
Oh, hadft thou died when firft thou faw’ft 
the light, 
Or died at leaft before thy nuptial rite. 
It would be unfair, however, to fuppofe 
that every parallelifm of this kind muf 
neceflarily be a copy from the writer who 
firft exhibits the idea upon paper. 
Guildjord-ffreet, JoHn Mason Goon, 
July 10, 1800. 
— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SiR, . 
ERMIT me, through the medium of 
your uleful Magazine, to recommend 
a new Society, which has lately been forme | 
ed under the nameof the Farming Society. 
Having regularly attended: the meetings 
which have been held in London, I beg 
leave to ftate the principal objects with a 
view to which the fociety has been intti- 
tuted. 
The main objet is to inveftigate, by 
experiments, the mioft approved principles, 
and the moft fuccelsful practice of agricul- 
ture, and to difleminate the knowledge 
thus acquired as wide as poffible. At 
any time, I conceive, fuch a defign fhould 
be efteemed as praifeworthy ; but furely 
the prefent crifis, fo peculiarly awful, when 
our poor are crying for bread, and famine 
ftares us in the face, loudly calls on the 
public te fupport fo patriotic a plan. 
The planting of wafte grounds has alfo 
been propofed, when the capital of the fo- 
ciety will admit of more extenfive engage- 
ments. | 
The fhares are fixed at sol. each; and 
in order to render thefe transferable, ap- 
plication has been made to his Majefty for 
a charter, which is already in forwardnefs. 
The capital now confifts of 30,000]. and 
the number of fubfcribers about 270, of 
which about 40 are members of the two 
houles of Parliament. Among the fub. 
feribers are many who have paid confider- 
able attention to practical agriculture, and 
it is generally confidered as neceflary to 
the fuccefs of the infticution, that gentie- 
men of this defcription fhould take the 
lead in the arrangement and management 
of its affairs. For my own part, I con- 
Ba fider 
e 
