452 
. The Uatinity of Massatus is respec- 
table, considering the age in which he 
wrote: that his style is sometimes harsh 
and obscure, or his poetry occasionally 
defective in quantity, 1s not surprising. 
‘To censure him for wanting the purity 
and precision of the Augustan age, or 
that of Leo X. were as absurd as to ex- 
pect the earliest dawn to beam with me- 
ridian splendour, He certainly made 
one of the earliest and most vigorous 
efforts to recal the Latin Muses from 
their long exile, and his works deserve 
more attention than they have hitherto 
met with. Warton observes, in his 
History of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 409, 
that the name and writings of Mus- 
satus were hardly known until they were 
brought forward to the public notice in 
the Essay on Pope. As an historiogra- 
pher, his character for fidelity and vera- 
eity, stands very high; and his historical 
books are valuable as furnishing the best 
account of the times and transactions of 
which they treat. He was eminently 
qualified, by the high stations which he 
filled, for an histoman, being present, 
and ‘frequently presiding, in the affairs 
which he relates. Fo his diligence Pe- 
grarch bears testimony, who styles him 
Scarce Tracts, Kes 
[Dee. f, 
“ Rerum satis anxius perquisitor.”. He 
has recorded with freedom and impar- 
tiality, events disfigured or suppressed 
by other historians; and the jealousy of 
the Italians has led them to castrate his 
works, by tearing. out offensive pages, 
so that it is rare to meet with a perfec 
copy ofthem. The only edition of the 
works of Mussatus was printed at Ve. 
nice, 1636, in folio, with notes by Osius’ 
and Pignorius, who, however, both died, 
being infected with the plague, sometime 
before it was published: hence their 
notes are incomplete. His historical 
works, with some additions from MSS. 
with his Latin tragedies, may be found 
in Muratori’s “ Rerum Italicarum Scrip- 
tores.” ant 
Of his poetical works, his tragedies 
perhaps haye most excelleuce. Sardo- 
nius says of them, that they appear to 
him Sophocleum gquiddam spirure. But 
these I leave to a gentleman much more 
able to do justice to them and their au- 
thor than myself; having with pleasure 
observed in your literary notice, that 
Mr. Walker intends to givean account of 
them in his promised work on the revival 
of the Drama in Italy, {.’G, 
SCARCE TRACTS, WITH EXTRACTS AND ANALYSES OF 
~” SCARCE BOOKS. eh 
=e 
Et is proposed in future to devote a few 
Insertion of such Scarce Tracts as are 
Pages of the Monthly Magazine to the 
of an interesting Nature, with the Use 
of which we muy be favoured by our Correspondents; and under the same Head te 
éntroduce also the Analyses of Scarce and Curious Books, p ; 
#y 
& Fumifugium ; or the Inconvenience of 
the Aer and Smoak of London disst- 
ated: together with some Remedies 
humbly proposed. By J. Ey esq. 
1661,” 4to. 
N this invective against the smoke of 
Tondon, Evelyn not only projects to 
purify the city from this domestic enemy, 
peculiar to itself, but with an exuberance 
of fanciful ingenuity, to draw a circle 
round it of an enchanting Elysium. ‘The 
vastness of the present metropolis, he 
seems not ‘with “a prophetic eye” to 
have contemplated. The patriotism of 
his posterity has honourably performed 
their dpties, and the splendour of the 
metropolis has been carried on with a 
civic affection. 
He has a noble paragraph to the ho. 
nour of those who Study the improve- 
ments of acity. ‘ Medails and inscrip- 
tions have heretofore preserved the fame 
of less public benefits; and for the res 
pairing of a dilapidated bridge, a de= 
caied aqueduct, the paving of a way, or 
draining a foggy marsh, their elogies or 
reverses, have outlasted the marbles, 
and been transmitted to futurge ages, 
after so many thousand revolutions.” 
His querulous invective against the 
smoke of London, is minutely entertain- 
ing; and those who, through long use, ima. 
gine they live comfortably beneath this 
shelter of fog, smoke, and dust, will 
scarcely comprehend the dangers of that 
open curtain which wraps them round, 
‘the late Charles Fox used to-say, that 
“a country life was the pleasantest in 
the world, but that it played ‘the very 
devil with the constitution.” There are, 
it would seem, constitutions so vitrate 
by habit, that they can only hang to- 
geshes 
