S12 
the fancied acquirement of true wisdom 
znd knowledge, as communicated to him 
by Epicurus. Frem these occasional 
beauties it may be asserted, that had he 
not embraced the philosophy of Epicurus, 
im ivself so little susceptible of poetical in- 
ventioii, he possessed a genius capable of 
the noblest compositions. His poem 
- proves him to have been endowed. with: 
allthe fire, the sublimity and harmony of 
expression, and dignity of style and sen- 
timeut, requisite to adorn the epic. In 
this, the first of poetical studies, it is to 
be lamented that he did not engage, or 
that, in preferring the didactic, he did not 
select a subject more worthy of his 
powers. His qualifications for either task 
are undeniable. 
succinct; strong in hisadmomitions ; nobly 
elevated, and awlully serious ia his exhor- 
tations; gay and florid in his descriptions, 
and in his disputes, although they are upon 
the most dificult and intricate subjects, if 
not always right, he has the appearance 
of right ; he is close, argumentative, and 
convincing. Whenever heis right, which 
3s sometimes the case, he is greatly so: 
his arguments are unanswerable, and the 
cogency and propriety of his applications 
are irresistible. It is therefore with the 
greater coucern that we behold him per- 
petually degrading his fine talents, by em- 
ploying them in the cause of atheisra and 
impiety. 
‘The best editions of Lucretius are, 
Lucretii Opera, Brescia, by Ferrand, with- 
eut date, but about 1472. Editio princeps. 
Lucretii Opera, Veronz, fol. 1486. Dr. 
Harwood states this to be the ecit- princeps. 
Lucretii Opera, Venet. 1495. Edit. se- 
cunda, according to Dr. Harwood. 
Lucretii Opera, Venet, 4te, apud Ald. 
1500. This is one of the rarest and most 
beautiful of the Aldini classics. 
Lucretius, ab O. Giphaaio, 8vo. Ant. 
1565. 
Lucretius, Lambini, 4to. Paris, 1670. 
Faber, 4to. Salmurii, 1662 5 re- 
printed at Camb 1672, 1686. 
Lucretius, Creech, 8vo. Oxon, 1695. This 
isan excellent edition. No one more accurately 
studied, or better understood the system and 
dicti-nof Lucretius. Wakefield (ad Lett. 7) 
considers the merit of Creech, as much 
below the general idea entertained of him. 
Valekenaér has proved him to be the pla- 
giary of Gassendi. 
Lucretius, 4to. Havercamp. L. Bat. 1725. 
This is also an excelient edition, executed 
with great learning and industry. 
Lucretius, L. Bat. 12v0. 1744. | 
Baskerville, 4tu. 1772. 
Wakefield, large fol. This is a 
most superb edit. and from the late accident 
rece 
He is sententious and. 
Window-hoods.to prevent the spreading of Fire. [May 1, 
which has destroyed so many of its copies, is 
now become extremely rare and expensive. 
It is said, however, to be reprinting in Ger- 
many, on a smaller scale. 
EEE 
Lo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N a past number of your Magazine, 
a Correspondent feelingly lamenting 
the frequency and dangers of confla- 
gration, particularly objects to the pre- 
sent system of building windows perpen- 
dicularly over each other, on the account 
of the fire from a window below, often- 
times preventing an unfortunate suf- 
ferer from escapiug from a window above.. 
He would seem to insinuate that it 
would be an improvement in domestic 
architecture to construct them other- 
wise. Now, without taking it mto con- 
sideration, that a breeze of wind, either 
up or down a street, would blow the 
flames laterally to an opening not im- 
mediately above it, and thereby render 
the windows (except when there is no 
wind stirring) equally dangerous in the 
latter as in the former method of con- 
struction ; could any eye bear the dis- 
gusting appearance of a house or row 
of houses, carrying the resemblance of 
the rear fronts of such houses as this me- 
tropolis abound with (for one instance 
Russell-square). occasioned by the stair- 
case windows beginning at the mezza=- — 
rine or half story, and the dwelling- 
room windows at the regular floor or a 
few feet above them, substituted for 
architectural regularity, however unpic- 
turesque straight lines may be deemed? 
I beg leave ,Sir, through the channel of 
your widely circulated Miscellany, to - 
offer to. the public a remedy to this fault 
in construction, for a fault (as your Cor- 
‘respondent observes) it undoubtedly is. 
The proposal is simple, though the ad- 
vantage I hope may he deemed conside- 
rable, and without further preface is as fol- 
lows:—Put over every window a hood 
_of sheet copper, iron, or tin, cither fixed, 
or to let up and down like the external 
sun-blinds that are so often to be met 
with; this, by checking the flames from 
rising hiyher than their bounds, will pre- 
vent the upper windows. from: being 
cracked and the apartments fired there- — 
by, and permit any description of fire-es= 
capes, either the ingenious one proposed 
by Mr. Cooper in your last Number 
but one, or any others, to be affixed over 
them. Even a stiff canvas blind, wonld_ 
for a long while answer the purpose; 
and if the asbestus stone is not a fiction, _ 
; a cloth 
