4A8 
- Hs baths-were used the first. week of - 
June following, they are now cailed the 
Old Bath, and the public house, which 
he built, is now known by the name of 
the Bath Hotel. Since that period seve- 
ral new sets of hot and cold baths, exten- 
sive hotels, with neat and elegant houses, 
have been erected. 
Broadgate, Coventry, 
24th April, 1809. 
a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
LYCZUM OF ANCIENT LITERA- 
TURE.—No. XXII.) 
OF THE EARLY LYRICK POETS OF GREECE. 
Wy N a former paper, we traced the ori- 
gin of the Ode, the manner in which 
it was composed and performed among 
the ancients, and the effect it commonly 
had upon the people in the early ages, 
In a brief enumeration of those who led 
the way in this branch of poetry, we 
discard all speculative enquiry as to the 
_ age which gave them birth, and ‘shall 
Youn’s, &c. 
W. Goopman. 
content ourselves with giving that ac-- 
count of them, which has hitherto been 
generally followed.. Te consider each 
separately and at length, would extend 
this division infinitely beyond the limits 
we have assigned to others; and che lit- 
tle novelty which materials so scanty and 
so contradictory would produce, renders 
it the more necessary to compress the 
obscure scanty lyricks into one number. 
Linus has the honour to be reckoned 
the first man in poetic story; though 
Pausanias* affirms that he either never 
composed any verses, or that none of 
his pieces ever descended to posterity. 
But according to. Diodorus Siculust, he 
wrote, in the Pelasgian tongue, the Acts 
of the first Bacchus, and other fabulous 
“pieces. From this, it is not improbable, 
that there were two of this name, both 
celebrated for music- and for poetry: 
and Suidas and Eusebius seem to be of 
this opinion. But their stories are so 
confounded, that it is impossible to dis- 
tinguish the adventures of one from 
those of the other.- Scaliger}, indeed, 
acknowledges but one Linus, and repre- 
hends Eusebius for dividing him into 
two. . He was either of Chalcis, or of 
“Thebes, the son of Apollo by Terpsi- 
chore; or, according to other accounts, 
the son of Mercury, or of Amphimarns, 
by Urania. If ina pedigree so doubt- 
ful we may chuse for ourselves, Mercury 
#* Beotic, p: 585. 
- +-Lib. 3. p. 140. ‘ 
. J In Euseb. ad Num.DXCVIL. 
Lyceum of Ancient Literature.—No.X er [June 1}, 
seems to have a preferable claim to Am- 
phlimarus, or Apollo; for Linus is the 
supposed father of lyrick poetry. He 
is also recorded gs the instructor of Her- 
cules in jetters; but if the elder Orpheus 
was also his disciple, he must have been 
of too early an age to have been contem- 
porary with Hercules, for Orpheus is 
placed eleven ages before the siege of 
Troy. Hercules may have been instract- 
ed by the Theban Linus, who was consi- 
derably junior to this of Chaleis. Linus 
of Thebes was the son of the poet Eu- 
molpus, and imparted to Greece the 
knowledge of the globes. He also, be- 
fore the time of Hesiod, composed a 
poem in which he gives the genealogy of 
the deities, though it is supposed to have 
differed from the theogony of Hesiod. 
He appears to have paid dearly for the 
honour of being the preceptor of Ler- 
cules, who. knocked his brains out with 
the harp, upon which he was awkwardly 
attempting to play; though others state 
him to have teen killed by Apollo, for 
daring to contend with him in music and 
verse.. His fate seems to have occa- 
sioned great sorrow among the ancient 
Grecians, and introdaced the custom of 
bewailing his death every year on Mount 
Helicon ; where, before the usual sacri- 
fices were offered to the Muses, verses 
were usually sung in bis praise. To this 
custom Homer alludes. wie 
Toto Sey pecoort mais popeeslyt Atytin 
“Imecsey xOderds Alvov Sumd xarty dece 
Artlanty pwva. TA. 18. 589. 
Here a fair youth his tunefulivory strung, 
While his soft voice unhappy Linus sung. 
For thongh Aivag is rendered chorda 
in this place by most trauslators, yet acs 
cording to Pausanias,* we are to under- 
stand it of Linus the poet. But the 
propriety of the interpretation is doubted 
by Clarke.t 4 
Next follows the celebrated name of 
Orpheus, whose story is so remarkably 
interesting in Virgil; but of this name 
again, grammarians reckon no fewer than 
five epic poets. Their histories are in- 
volved in iable, and their distinctions, of 
course, uncertain and obscure, , The 
Thracian Orpheus, who is the elder of 
the name, is said to have been the disci- 
ple of Linus, and to have lived eleven 
ages before the Trojan war. The mys- 
terious rites of Ceres and Bacchus are 
supposed to have originated with him; 
* Lib. IX. cap. 29. 
_ F See Note to V. 570. 
but. 
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