1801.] Thomfon’s Obligations to Sophonifba— Richardfin’s E fay on Lear. 989 
To the Editor of the Monibly Magazine. 
SIR, 
R. WALKER has, I think, clear- 
V! ly proved Thomfon’s obligations 
to the Sophonifba of Triffino, Hiy?. Mem. 
on Ital.Trag. Append. n. (2). Had it fallen 
within that gentleman’s plan, he might 
have alfo fhewn his obligations to Aiichylus 
and Seneca. In his Agamemnon, he is 
abundantly indebted to both, particularly 
to the latter, whom he has fervilely copied. 
_ His Egiftus is as fatiguingly tedious as the 
Egittus of Seneca; but the ravings of his 
Caffandra do not exhibit any of thofe 
marks of divine infpiration, which, in the 
noble tragedy of /E{chylus, occafionally 
raile the lovely prophetefs above humanity. 
Inftead of the fine, but irrelevant, de(crip- 
tion of a ftorm in Seneca’s tragedy, Thom- 
fon has given us a defcription equally 
beautiful, and equally mifplaced, of a de- 
fert ifland. Is it then to be wondered at, 
that this tragedy ftrugeled with difficulty 
through the firft night ? 
But, if Thomfon had obligations to the 
‘continental ftages, the ftage of modern 
Italy is not lefs obliged to him. Vide 
Hifi. Mem: on Ital. Trag. p. 270, note (u). 
- The tragedy of Zelinda, which gained the 
laurel-crown in Parma, 1772, is faid to be 
a clofe imitation of Tancred and Sigif- 
munda. ' 
Having mentioned the laurel-crown, 
permit me to afk, whether the newly cre-- 
ated King of Etruria be the Spanifh Prince 
who initituted that noble mode of encou- 
_ raging the exertions of the Italian Tragic- 
Mule? 
If the tragedy of Valfei, ofia l’Eroe 
Scbzzefe, merits the praife beftowed on it 
in the work alluded to above, p. 270, 
271, is it not extraordinary, that it has 
not found a tranflator amongft fome of 
the men of genius who now adorn Scot- 
land. 
Can any of your Correfpondents inform 
me, who was the author of an Effay on the 
Life and Chara&er of Petrarch, which ap- 
peared in 1784? Or, what was the fate of 
Huygin’s Tranflation ef Dante? What 
.was his motive for deftroying the printed 
copies of his tranflation of Ariofto? 
Perth, Sept. 4, 1801. Z.R, 
; a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
9 SIR, - f 
N reading, the other day, Profeffor 
Richardion’s very elegant and inge- 
nious Effay on the Charaéer of Lear, 1 
was furprifed to find, in the account Qt 
_ Montruuy Mac, No. 79 
the aflaffination of Aleflandro de’ Medici, 
fome extraordinary mifreprefentations . ot 
hiftoric faéts, which could only be occa- 
fioned by the learned Profeffor’s writing 
from memory. In order to afford Mr. 
Richardfon an opportunity of correcting 
thofe errors in a future edition of his Ef. 
fay, J fhall take the liberty to ftate the fats 
towhich I allude. ‘+ Lorenzo de’ Medici 
wifhed to enjoy pre-eminence; but his 
brother Alexander, the reigning, Prince, 
&c.”” Now Lorenzo, or Lofenzino de 
Medici was the fon of Pietro Francifco 
dé Medici and Maria Salviati; and Alexa 
ander was the fuppofed natural fon of Lo- 
renzo Duke of Urbino ; they could not 
therefore be brothers—Vide Mem. of the 
Houfe of Medici, vol. it. p. 176 and 4.43: 
Yet our elegant Effayift falls again into the 
fame error. Having mentioned Lorenzi- 
no’s motive for the affaffination, he pro- 
ceeds, ‘© Thus prompted, and thus un- 
guarded, he perpetrates the death of his 
brother.’ He then adds, in a ftrain of 
glowing eloquence, ‘* He feels his blood 
ftreaming ; hears him groaning in the 
agonies of death; beholds. him convulled 
in the pangs of departing life: a new fet 
of feelings arife ; the delicate accomplifhed 
courtier, who could meditate atrocious in- 
jury, cannot, without being afhamed, wit- 
nefs the bloody object; he remains mo- 
tionlefs ; irrefolute, appalled at the deed ;’ 
and, in this ftate of amazement, neither 
profecutes his defign, zor thinks of efcaping. 
Thus, without ftrugele or oppofition, be is 
Jeixed, and punifhed as he deferves.”” Now 
let us hear the Hiftorian, ‘* No fooner 
was the deed done (fays Dr. Robertfon) 
than, ftanding aftonifhed, and ftruck with 
horror at its atrocity he forgot ina mo- 
ment all the motives which induced him 
to commit it; and, inftead of roufing the 
people to recover their liberty, by pub- 
lifhing the death of the tyrant—inflead of 
taking any ftep towards opening his own 
way to the dignity now vacant, he locked 
the door of the apartnient, and, like a man 
bereaved of reafon and prefence of mind, 
fied, with the utmoft precipitation, out of- 
the Florentine territories.” Reign of Ch. V. 
vol. it. p. 94.  Inftead of immediately 
meeting the punifhment he deferved, it 
was nearly ten years after Alexander’s 
murder, that he was aflaffinated,in his turn, 
at Venice, by two of the late Duke’s 
guards. Ait, of the Hoije of Medici, vol. ii. 
p- 420. Mr. Richardfon has, I am fure, 
too much liberality of mind to expe& I 
fhould offer an apology for the liberty I am 
taking with him; I fhajl therefore only 
a add, 
