- 
"136 
rather furprifing that all thef eminent an- 
tiquaries fhould agree on a very preca- 
rious principle, and take the authenticity 
of the chronicle for granted. Mr. Re- 
bertfon'was the firt whe conceived fome 
rationa] doubts on this fwbjeét, and com- 
municated them to the public, in the 
learned performance we allude to; and 
his doubts aofe from nothing lefs than 
the following important coniderations : 
the chara&ters of the chronicle have no 
certam ‘marks of antiquity; the Greek 
and Roman writers, for a long time after 
the date of this work, complain that they 
had no chronological account of the af- 
fairs of Ancient Greece; fome of the 
fa&s feem to have been taken from au- 
thors of a later date ; and fome para- 
~chronifms appear which we can fearcely 
fuppofe a Greek chronologer; in the 129th 
olympiad, would be liable to commit. 
We again exprefs our opinion, that fuch 
a capital difquifition as this ought to have 
excited the attention of the learned; and 
it appears utterly unaccountable how it 
produced no commen{urate fen{ation. 
Our readers will, perhaps, be equally 
puzzled to account fer the event, when 
ey are informed that the immortal aut 
thor of the Travels of Anacharfis held the 
work in the high<# eftimation. 
Mr. Robertion, conftantly intending to 
promote the education of young people, 
mn 31795 performed a new tranflatior*of 
Teiemachus, with Notes and the Life of 
the Author; a work which he juttly re- 
carded as one of the mojt captivating and 
pirates books that could be put inte e 
ends of y Onag 1 veaders, and which vox 
vm their imagination, improve heir 
tafe, and infpire them with the love of wif- 
dom and virtue. With a fimilar view he 
publ ithed, iff 1798, Az Effay on the Educa- 
on of Young Ladies; and happy it would 
he for fociety, if his ideas upon this im- 
portant tubject fhould be duly practifed, 
He iS perhaps, t the arf who has perceived 
' the inconvenience of paploying too much 
time in learning foreign languages, eipe- 
cially for youne women in common life. 
oon, cannot (fays he) applaud- that. par- 
tiality for the French.tengue, which fo 
much prevails. in this countty. The in- 
termixture of terms, exprefiions: and 
idioms, bor:owed from thence and intre- 
duced into many of our modern publica- 
tions, wall wee a tendency to corrupt the 
Enelifh Jangeage.”’-—Tiefe cox combs in 
2B Oe! are the filly imitators of the late 
Lord Chefterfizld. | La@ly,.in 1799 he 
publiihed An Effay on the Nature of the 
Lughlh Verfe, with Lireéiions for Reading 
Ce he 
Memvirs of the late Rev. Mr. Fofeph Robertfon. [ March 1, 
~ Poetry. He confidered the Engliih verfi< 
fication as fotinded, not on. Greek and 
Roman feet, but on a certain order and 
fucceflion of accented and unaccented 
pee: With this publication, he 
ook a final farewell of the republic of 
paeac 
Mr. Robéertiin’ s health. had lately been 
coniiderably impaired, owing to fome fits 
of apoplexy which attacked him, about 
three years ago. Within the laft twelve= 
month he feemed to have, in fome mea- 
fure, recovered; when, on the eighteenth 
of January lait, he was feized with a vio- 
lent effufion of blood, which occafioned 
his death, on the wwery, next day, in the 
feventy-feventh year of his age. He was 
tall, flout, and. handfome, of a ruddy 
combplexi on, prepofleffing lock, gentle and 
unafluming manners, and exceedingly po- 
lite in. converfation: he.was an accom- 
‘ plifaed moral charaGer in every fenie’ of 
the word. Whothout violently condemn- 
_ing any of the@hbriftian perfuafion, he 
was enthufiaftically devoted to the Church 
of England; and without indulging in 
any illiberal animadverfions. on foreign 
governments, he was duly fenfible of the 
unrivalled advantages and the invaluable 
blefiings of the Britifh Conftitution. As 
to his domeftic virtues, the writer thinks 
he cannot exhibit a more finithed pié¥ure 
‘of them than by Rating what Mrs. Robert- 
fon told him, fome days’ ago: During 
the forty-four years we have lived toge- 
a, never, for afingle night, did he 
defert the domettic fociety, to a 
where fot amufement !”’ 
The literary chara&ter of this very re-_ , 
foectable man would rank high’ eens 
thofe of his contemporaries in the fame 
line, if, as we have already adverted, he 
had concentrated hisideas in one large ‘and 
compact work. ‘Taken, however, asit is, 
it will unqueftionably exhibit a learned 
critic and philologer, and ene of the molt | 
accurate and élegant writers of his age. 
Although he was s endowed with a vigorous 
under#anding 1g, and enriched with an un-_ 
commonly extenfive knowledge, his pre- 
dominant power was memory and his 
favourite ftudy, civil and hterary hif 
tory. In the jaf&t-mentioned branch He 
had, perhaps, no.-fuperior ; and perhaps 
too,. not many among the very profefted 
bibliographers could “rival him in the fei- 
ence ‘of booksy “authers, and prac f 
anecdotes. - - 
Tn the latter part of his life, Mr.-Ro- 
bert fon, regularly once in a week, in- 
duiged in the dociety of .fome cordial 
tricuds, who met at his houfe. The chief 
in- 
Se eee 
= a 
- 
sags, 
