1803. | 
and I beg leave to fay, that your Corre- 
{pondent has either been misinformed, or 
he has not underftood what I have faid re- 
fpetting Dr. Mafkelyne, when he did me 
the honour of viewing and examining the 
_orrery, previous to its exhibition, at Lei- 
cefter-fields. 
I never afferted, that Dr. Mafkelvne, 
either diredily or indirectly, bad fanctioned 
the fyftem which I am promulgating, but 
that he candidly acknowledged the orrery 
was an ingenious piece of mechanifm, and 
that it would be of infinite fervice to the 
univerfities,by giving the ftudents a proper 
idea of the motion of the heavenly bodies ; 
but be faid he could not fanéction my opinion 
of the earth being in the centre of the uni- 
verfe; he mult Jeave that to be judged of 
by the world at large, and that I mutt 
fight my own battle. 
If you will have the goodnefs to re- 
prefent this in your next Magazine, and 
refér your Correfpondent to the introduc- 
tory-lecture, which I had the honour of 
delivering to a very refpectable audience 
in this place, and which will be publithed 
ina few days, he will fee my remark upon 
at; and you will confer an obligation upon, 
Sir, your’s, &c. W. Parkes. 
Bath, May 10, 1803. 
—— ae 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
ERMIT me, through the medium of 
your Magazine, to afk information, 
I truft for many others of your readers 
alfo, whence arifes the jocofe mockery of 
April-fool, on the firft day of that month? 
And why the 14th of February, the feat 
of St. Valentine, is felected by lovers to 
make known their love, or declare the 
-difpofitions of their hearts, in what are 
commouly termed Valentines ? 
May 10, 1803. Your’s, Xc. 
IGNORANS, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
. SIR, . 
BEG leave, through the medium of 
your moft entertaining and ufeful pub- 
lication, to take notice of a piece of falfe 
-eritici{m, and literary. injultice, which 
‘comes from fo high an authority, that I 
tiiink it fhouid not be paffed over in filence. 
Palle and prejudiced views of living au- 
thors, and their works, do not much fur- 
prize us; there are various reafons which 
‘may produce them; but authors of remote 
antiquity, whofe works have outlived the 
vwreck of time, and fultained the criticifm 
3 
Apollonius Rhedius defended. 
403 
of century after century, ought, furely, to 
find themfelves fecured from the evil {pirit 
of mifreprefentation. Lia 2 
I have been led to this refle€tion, by ob- 
ferving, in the introductory part or notice 
prefixed to that divifion of the fourth vo- 
lume of the Memoirs of the French Na~ 
tional Inftitute, which relates to literature, 
and the fine arts, the following paragraph, 
which I am convinced will appear to you 
to be hazarded without fufficient exami- 
nation or reafon, and to be expref in 
terms by much toodogmatical. ‘¢¢ Citi- 
zen Francis De Neufchateau has likewife 
tranflated into French verfe, fome parts of 
a Latin epic poem, on the Expedition of 
the Argonauts. This work was compofed 
in the reign of the emperor Vefpafian, by 
Valerius Flaccus, the: friend of Martial 
The author lived in poverty, died in 
vouth, and left his poem unfinifhed, 
Quintilian regarded his. premature death, 
as agreat lols; multum in Valeria Flacco 
nuper artifimus. Walerius Flaccus has 
furnifhed fome images to Malherbe, and 
to the great Corneille. His work is far 
fuperior to the Greek poem of Apollonius 
of Rhodes on the fame fubjeét.”* - 
You will readily perceive, that the con- 
cluding part of the paragraph is that of 
which I complain. I fhould be apt to 
fufpeét, that citizen Francis Neufchateau,. 
or the writer of ti, article which I quoted, 
in an exast tranflation, above, whoever he 
was, and who condemns poor Apollonius 
with fo much flippancy, and in fuch a di- 
rectorial tone, is only acquainted with him 
through the intervention of, an interpreter, 
It is to be regretted; that this is too fre- 
quently the cafe with many ingenious 
French writers, whom we often find quot 
ing the Greek ciaflics, in the. degraded 
form of a Latin verfion. I do not mean 
to depreciate Valerius Flaccus; he is a 
writer of fome refvectability, though by 
no means of the higher order, and copies 
the ftyle and verfification of Virgil, with 
confiderable fuccefs; but any-perfon, who 
is capable of comparing the two writers 
in queftion in their original languages, 
will readily fee on which fide the advan- 
tage reils, in point of poetical excellence, 
if he confiders them fucceffively, with a 
reference to all the great points which 
conftitute poetical excellence, 
A minute comparifon of the merits of 
thefe two claflics, might afford much en- 
tertainment to your critical readers; but 
would far exceed the bounds and dimen- 
fions.of.a letter. I fhall content myfelf 
wito obferving, that, as far as the original 
furpafies 
