Half-yearly Retrofpe? of Britifh Literature, 
tranflations of Dryden and Brewfter are 
each a formidable rival to Mr. Drum- 
MOND, who, notwitnitanding he has oc-_ - 
cafionally weakened the ienfe of his 
author, like both his predeceflors, by a 
dilated verfion, has, on the whole, exe- 
cuted his tafk with fuch tafte and {pirit 
as to merit the thanks of every claffical 
reader. An anonymous author has pub- 
lifhed in two ogtavo volumes, with claffi- 
cal.notes and a revifion of the Latin 
text, a tranilation of ‘* The Poems of 
Catulius.’? It has the barren merit of 
mediocrity, and is highly cenfurable as 
containing all the beattly and difgufting 
indecencies. of the original. Mr. Bur- 
LER has publifhed, with the addition of 
a few fhort notes, the poem of ‘* Marcus 
Mufurus, prefixed to the Aldine and 
two Bafil editions of Plato: this is fuc- 
ceeded by I{aac Cafaubon’s Sapphic ode 
to the memory of Jofeph Scaliger. In 
the fame finall volume are included Poe- 
mata et Exercitationes utriufque lingua, 
by the editor of the volume: thefe ori- 
ginal compofitions are nine in number ; 
among them are Garrick’s beautiful 
fong, “ Thou foft-flowing Avon,” in 
Greek hexameter; Beattie’s ‘* Hermit,” 
and Milton’s feventh Sonnet, in Latin 
hexameter and pentameter. The learned 
editor of this work announces that he has 
been appointed by the Univerlity of 
Cambridge to publith a new edition of 
LE fchylus. ‘The laborious Mr. BRYANT 
has given us the fentiments of Philo 
Judzeus concerning the Acyos, or ** Word 
of God.” Numerous paflages are pro- 
duced from that learned Jew, to which 
are added citations from the Fathers, as 
teftimonials for the truth of the doctrine 
of the Trinity. Notwithftanding the 
general orthodoxy of this gentleman, one 
or two tenets in this curious perform- 
ance favour fomewhat of herefy. The 
Rev. Mr. Rayner has tranflated into 
Eneglifh ‘* The Commeniary of Huerocles 
upon the golden Verfes of the Pythagoreans.”’ 
To this work, which is accompanied 
with notes and illuftrations, he has added 
a tranflation of the ‘** Characters of 
Theophrafius;°’ a philofopher. to whom 
we are indebted for the prefervation of 
“« Arifioile’s Works,’ which have lately 
been tranflated in a ftyle of fuperior ele- 
gance and accuracy by a gentleman, well 
known in the literary world, Dr. GiL- 
LIES, to whofe ‘ Hiftory of Ancient 
Greece”’ the prefent ‘* Englith Ariftotle’’ 
is intended as a companion and a counter- 
part. ‘This work is illuitrated by intro- 
ductions and notes; it contains a critigal 
495 
hiftory of the life of Ariftotle, and a new. 
analytis of his {peculative works. 
From Claflical Literature we proceed 
to notice the few works which have ap- 
peared in the departments of 
PHILOLOGY and CRITICISM. 
Mr. Horne Tooke has given to the 
public the firft volume of an edition, yery 
much enlarged, of that ineftimable work, 
<< The Diverpfions of Purley; whereing 
‘¢ by a fingle flath of light, he has un- 
folded the whole theory of language, 
which had fo long lain buried beneath 
the learned lumber of the fchools.”’ This 
volume, the firft of three, contains the 
whole of that which had long fince been 
publifhed, together with replies—not the 
moft courteous indeed—to feveral op- 
ponents of his fyftem. Mr. Tooke, 
with the utmoft iclicity of application, 
illuftrates many parts of his theory by 
references to political characters now in 
exiftence, fome of whom he has ftourged 
with a fcorpion lafh. Iwo feparate at- 
tempts have lately been made, the one 
by a Frenchman, the other by a German, 
to teach the fcience and intreduce the 
practice of. ** Pafigrapiy.’ The idea of 
forming fome mode of expreffion, intelli. 
gible in any language without tranfla- 
tion, is not indeed new, but it has never 
been fo fuccefsfully acted upon as on the 
prefent occalions. The ground-work of 
the {cience muf evidently be the adoption 
of fome arbitrary figns, analogous to the 
characters of chemiftry, the cyphers of 
arithmetic, and the notes of mufic, which 
are intelligble <“¢ from Peterfburg to 
Malta, from Madrid to Peru, from Lon-. 
don to Paris, to Philadelphia, or the Ifle 
of Bourbon.”’ It is obvioufly improper 
for us te enlarge on the fubject ia 1 
place. 
NATURAL HISTORY Gnd PHILOSOPHY. 
Mr. RAsHLEIGH’s ‘“*. Specimens of” 
Britijb Minerals” are executed in a-ma- 
fterly manner. “The fubjects of repre- 
fentation are, principally, varieties of 
tin and copper ore, feleéted from the 
cabinet of the author, whofe rich and 
very elegant colieftion at Menabilly, in 
the county of Cornwall, is well known 
to the mineralogical traveller. A few 
iron ores are delineated, fome fluors, 
gypfum, and different forms of pyrites. 
The plates of this f{plendid work are 
finifhed with great fidelity, and the co- 
louring which adorns them: is remark- 
ably delicate and difcriminative: to each 
article a general defcription is annexed. 
An anonymous author has entered into 
“A critical Examination. of Lavoificr’s 
Elements 
