Voit. 1V. Complete Tranflation of the Atlantic Hiftory of Platw sig 
avhich are at the fame time fo comprehen- 
five as to include both the idea which any 
word conveys in common with every other 
ef the fame part of fpeech, and that by 
which it is diffinguifbed from all other 
words ; and fo precife as to exclude all 
other ideas which are not cffential to it. 
This plan is fo ingenious, and the illuftra- 
tions of it are fo pertinent, that much be- 
nefit to the language may be anticipated : 
the doétor, however, has brought in a the- 
ological difcuffion, which is totally irrele- 
vant to his fubjeét. ‘¢ The Philanthrope”’ 
is evidently the production of a gentleman 
and a {cholar : it is writren after the man- 
ner of a periodical paper, and embraces a 
variety of fubjects, tonne éted with morals, , 
philofophy, and literature, which are fre- 
quently treated in a new and mafterly 
manner.—* The Reporter” is a periodical 
publication of very confiderable merit : of 
another, enutled * The Friend,’ we can- 
hot {peak in very commendatory terms. 
“* The Inveftigator” is to be continued 
monthly ! this is eafily to be accounted 
for, on the fuppofition that the author 
writes at the full of the moon. The “Frags 
ments, in the manner of Sterne,” are the 
moft fuccefsful imitations of that eccentric 
author that we remember to have feen: 
the characters are remarkably well fup- 
ported, the language is beautiful, and the, 
fentiments are fine. Mr, Dallas’s “& Mif- 
cellanies,” are of inferior merit: the ftory 
on which he founds his tragedy is not 
borrowed, he fays, from Horace Walpole’s 
‘« Myfterions Mother ;’”’ the fimilarity, 
however, is a moft unfortunate memen- 
to; for the language of ‘¢ Lucretia,” if 
poifible, grows ftill tamer than it is, by 
comparing it with the wild and appro- 
priate poeery of Horace Walpole’s mafter- 
Jy performance. A moft valuable work 
has been imported from America, Mr. 
Turnbull's «* Vifit to the Philadelphia 
Prifon.” It appears, that fince the re- 
formation of the criminal law in Pennfyl- 
vania, which inflicts capital punifhment 
but in one fingle cafe, that of cool, deli- 
berate, and artful murder, offences have 
decreafed in the proportion of two-thirds ! 
England, that land of liberty, that feat of 
{cience and of arts, of learning, genius, 
JUSTICE, and PHILANTHROPY, Eng- 
land—has on her black and bloody code, 
more than two hundred crimes which are 
punifhable by death 1} What the effe& has 
been,may be learned from a perufal of Mr. 
Colquhoun’s Treatife on the Police of the 
Metropolis. The imention of America 
brings to our recollection Mr. Ruthten’s 
“* Expoftulatory Letter ro George Wath- 
MontykL Mae, XXVI. 
ington,” &¢e.: this letter is written ina 
correctand plain ftyle, and was fent to Mr. 
Wafhington in a private manner, ftating 
the inconfiftency of that gentleman’s being, 
at the fame time, the firft citizen of a free 
people, and a SLAVEHOLDER. Mr. 
Wathington returned the letter without 
condefcending to reply; a tacit acknows 
ledgment that the teprodch was juft. 
While the Old “ Annual Regifter”’ crawls 
in a lazy pace; and feems tortering to its 
fall, the ** New” ome, in the fulnefs of 
health and the vigour of youth, as the 
years pafs on, walks by their fide with an 
upright and untired ftep. This infpectior 
of the column of Domeftic Literarure; 
we truft, has juftified the affertion with 
which we fet out, that our countrymen 
are continually adding to the ftability of 
the fabric, and improving the elegance 
of its workmanfhip. 
To the Edttor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sra 
A® there is not, perhaps, any thing 
among the writings of the ancients, 
which has more generally attraéted the 
attention of the literati of every age, than 
the Atlantic hiftory of Plato, I perfuade 
myfelf that the following tranflation, 
which includes all that isto be fotind in 
that divine philofopher, on this interefting 
fubject, will be gratefully received by the 
readers of your Magazine of every de~ 
{cription ; and to fome of them it will, 
doubtlefs, be more acceptable than the 
oracles of the Chaldeans. The whole 
cannot fail, indeed, to gratify every des 
{cripten of readers s for no more than one 
fingle paffage, of about zo or 30 lines, has, 
prior to my tranflation of the Ti- 
mus, appeared in any modern fan- 
guage. Much has been faid and writ- 
ten by the moderns, tefpecting the Ar- 
lantic Iftand, without the extent of the 
original fource being fufpefied: that 
fource is now, for the firft time, exhi- 
bited in a popular form. 
That the authenticity of the following 
hiftory fhould have been queftioned by 
many of the moderns, is by no means 
furprifing, if we confider, that it is the 
hiftory of an ifland and peagple, that are 
afferted to haveexifted NINE THOUSAND 
years prior to Solon ; as thiseontradiéts the 
generally-received opinion refpeéting the 

antiqnity of the world. However, as Plato — 
exprefsly affirms, that “it is a relation - 
in every refpec? true *, and as Crantor +; 
the 
St 
* eylamace ye pony edndng. 
TO towrog tov Maralwyes efnynrng Koy 
cw2 Procl. in Tim. p 24. et mox. Mao- 
2 ¥ Tugoue & 

