“$36 
avood and wholesome taste be gaining 
er ound among ‘the peopte, Iam sorry. to 
say that the old leven has a vast ma= 
jority: yet, 80 aiicult is it to remove the 
prejud: ces either of mental or bodily 
affection. ‘Time will discover whether 
Eeglishmen can be mduced once more 
to prefer genuine beer; which preference 
‘becoming general, ‘all the brewhouses 
Faust at dopt the improved pian;'on the 
contrary, should the old and vicious 
taste predominate, the new houses must 
pocket their oath, abandon their plans, 
gnd contribute to pvison, in order to 
please, the people. All depends upon 
themselves. 
Query as to the authenticity of the 
following :—It stands im my Diary, but 
without the authority, that Sir Edward 
Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, 
married the widow ofa brewer, who had 
employed him professional ly as a lawyer. 
This widow had been a poor Weish ser- 
vant girl, married to the brewer. ~ The 
gssue of her second marriage with Lord 
Clarendon, was the Lady Ann Hyde, 
married 10. James Duke of York, and 
mother of Queen Anne, ‘This fact being 
correct, ne Queen Anne was the 
grand danehter of a poor Welsh girl; a 
tiing by ail means to be told at Hams 
mersmith and Brentford, by way of en- 
€ouragement to those treops of ancient 
- British ladi oe by whose never Keane 
exertions the staple articles of these 
places are transported to their market. 
I claim the honour, Mr. 
being one of your original correspondents, 
and ‘most earnest well-w ishers, 
July 10, 1807. QUI QUONDAM. 
—EE es i 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
LYCEUM OF ANE€IENT LITERA- 
TURE, — No. XI 
SILIUS ITALICUS. 
T is impossible not to reflect on the 
short duration of a true taste in po-- 
etry among the Romans. From the time 
of Lucretius to that of Statius, was no 
more than about one hundred and forty- 
seven years; and if we may ven‘ure’ to 
pronounce so 
but eigiitt poets, Terence, Lucretius, Ca- 
tullus, Virgil, Fiigane. Tibullus, _Proper- 
tius, and Phadrus. These only can be 
called | legitimate models of just thinking 
and fine writing, Succeeding authors, as 
it happens in all countries, ‘resolving to 
be original and new, and to avoid the i im- 
putation of copying, become disturbed 
Lyceum of Ancient Literature-Silius Italicus. 
Editor, of 
rivorous a sentence, we. 
would say, t that the Romans can boast of 
[Dec . ty 
and unnatural—by endeavouring to open 
a new path, they desert simplicity and 
truth. Wearied with common and ob= 
vious beauties, they have recourse te 
remote and artificial decoration. Thus 
tt was chat the age of Demetrius Phale- 
reus succeeded that of Demosthenes, 
and the false glitter of the ceurt of 
Tiberius so soon followed the simplicity 
of that of Augustus. Among the various 
causes, however, that have been assigned 
_why poetry and the arts have more emi 
nently flourished in some ages and na- 
tions, than in others, few have been sa< 
tisfactory and adequate. What solid rea~ 
son can be given why the Romans, who 
so happily imitated the Greeks in many 
respects, could yet never excel in ‘Tra- 
gedy, though so fond of theatrical spec- 
tacles? OP why the Greeks, so fruitful 
in every species of poetry, yet produced 
but one Epic poet? while on the other 
hand, modern Italy can shew two or 
three illustrious Epic writers, yet has ees 
Sophor cles, Euripides, or Menander 3* 
and France, with only one Epepeea, had 
carried. dramatic poetry so high in Cor- 
nelle, Racine, and Molrere. 
Our observation on the early and ra- 
pid degeneracy among the poets of Rome, 
1s no where better exemplified than in 
the author who now demands our cons 
aeration. 
Caius Silias Tralicus, was born in the 
reign of ‘T iberiue, but the year of his 
birth, and the place of his nativity, are 
alike uncertain. His family was noble, 
and it 1s commonly. supposed that he 
dered his ‘surname either fram a town 
in Spain, called Italica, or from Conf~ 
niunrin Italy, which, according to Strabo, 
had the name of Ltalica given to it, du- 
ring the Social War, On his. arrival at 
Rome, he pursued the study and practice 
ot the bar; and by a close imitation of 
Cicero and his manner of pleading, he 
became a celebrated advocate and an 
accomplished orator. Uhs merit and 
character raised him to the highest ho- 
nours, and he obtained the consulate in 
the year of the death of Nero. He was 
pro-consul in Asia under Vespasian, 
where his conduct was honourable to 
himself, and useful to the province which 
he governed. He returned with unble- 
mised credit, and justly acquired opu- 
lence to spend the remainder of his days 
in Ttaly. ~The little that 1 it wiey be ne- 
* Whatever may be the merit of Maffei, 
Alfieri, andGoldoni, they are not sufficiently 
known out of their own country, to form an 
exception to what we have stated above. 
cessary- 
