THE - 
MONTHLY 
No. 7 
r* 
MAGAZINE. 
APRIL‘ 1, 1801. 
TOURS eT CRS 
(No. 5.08 Von tra 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
oT SERS 
HE following paflage of the Paradife 
| Regained appears embarrafled by a 
confiderable difficulty : 
To whom the Son of God unmov’d reply’d: 
Nor doth this grandeur and majeftic fhow 
Of luxury, though call’d magnificence, 
More than of arms before, allure mine eye, 
Much lefs my mind; though thou fhould’ft 
add to tell 
Their fumptuous gluttonies and gorgeous 
feafts Be 
On citron tables or Atlantic ftone. 
Book iv. ver. Tog 
What is Atlantic fone? Bithop Newton 
finds no account at all of it: and no fuch 
ftone, I fufpe&t, was in ufe among the an- 
cients. Mr. Dunfter obferves thus: — 
«¢ Milton, I apprehend, ‘did not mean to 
celebrate any marble under the name of 
Atlantic flone. Indeed it does not appear, 
that the Romans ever ufed marble for ta- 
bles. Atlantic mut, therefore, have a re- 
ference to this citron wood, (mentioned in 
a paffage quoted from Cicero againft Ver- 
res, orat. iv. feé&t. 17.) which is faid to 
have grown no where but upon Mount 
Atlas. It might, perhaps, be called 4t- 
lantic flone from its marble-like appear- 
ance, being curioufly veined and fpotted.”” 
In my opinion, nothing can exceed the 
improbability and aukwardnefs of this fo- 
lution. Could we allow fuch a poetical 
metamorphotis of «wood into fone, a tau- 
tology is imputed to this noble genius, 
which is unworthy of the meaneft poctaf- 
ter: 
On citron tables or Atlantic ftone: 
i.e. on citron tables or citron tables. A 
{mall alteration would render the verie, on 
this conception of the phrafe, fupportable, 
perhaps, but nothing more: 
On citron tables of Atlantic ftone. 
In oppofition to Mr. Dunfter, I ftrongly 
fufpet that marble tables were in ule a- 
mong the ancients; but I have no books 
with me to juftify a more pofitive affer- 
tion. That marble was much employed 
in their convivial equipage, in the way of 
fide boards, and other pertinent furniture, 
is certain: and may be collected from a 
paffage in Horace: 
Mowrreiuy Mac, No, 71 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
Cena’ miniftratur pueris tribus 3 et lapis albus 
Pocula cum cyatho duo fuftinet. 
Sat. i. 6. 116. 
However, till a more fatisfactory explana- 
tion of this paflace be fupplied, I thall 
take the liberty of attributing the vdiffia 
culty either to a milapprehenfion of the 
amanuenfis, to whom the poet dictated, or 
to one of thofe typographical mifreprefen- 
tations, which we experience every day, 
fometimes from the negligence, and fome- 
times from the officioufnels, of the prin- 
ters: in fhort, I am inclined to furmife, 
that Milton intended to give, 
On citron tables or Basantic ftene: 
but fhall willingly fee my conjecture fuc- 
ceeded by an adequate explanation of the 
prefent reading, or a more fuccefsful emen- 
dation of it. 
GILBERT WAKEFIELD. 
Dorchefter Gaol, March 8, 1801. 
} a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. - 
SIR, 
HE analytical reviewer of Mr. Sothe- 
“| 
by’s;Tranflation of Wieland’s Obe- _ 
ron (fee the Analytical Review, vol. xxvii. 
p- 283.) has noticed, that when Sir Huon, 
in the third canto, flips the magic ring, 
which imparted invulnerability to him 
who poffefled it, from the finger of the 
giant Angulaffer—-he keeps it himfelf! 
The reviewer proceeds to obferve, that 
«if Sir Huon’s courage had not been al- 
ready eftablifhed, he would have derived 
but little credit from the prefent combat : 
as it is (fays he) we cannot feel very anxi~ 
ous about his future fafety, till, in the 
buftle at the Caliph’s banquet (Canto v. 
ftan. 4.1,), he preients the ring—not, in- 
deed, to its owner Oberon, but to the 
princefs Rezia, in pledge of his betrothed 
fidelity.” ' 
But the ring extends its power beyond 
= 
the perfon of the poffeffor; and of this the » 
reviewer feems fenfible; for, fays he, *¢ its 
magic influence, even whilft on Rezia’s 
finger, operates in preferving her lover. 
(Stan. 32, &c.).”” Ifhis obfervation is a 
jut one, then, that we can feel but little 
interefted about the fafety of Sir Huon, fo 
long as this magic ring throws over him, 
as it were, the mantle of invulnerability, 
nna 2 eng 
