1810.) Enquiry into the Discovery of the Essence of Roses. 
while Odes are made only to instruct and 
to please, and therefore every thing that 
offends in them is unpardonable, i 
To enumerate the various editions of 
Horace wonld more than all the columns 
we have already occupicd. We can 
therefore select only a few even of the 
best. 
Horatius, 4to. Editio Princeps, sine anno, loco, 
vel typographi indicio. 
8vo. Ferrar. 1474. 
fol. Mediol. ditto. 
fol. Venet. 1478, 1483, 1490. 
12mo. apud Ald. 1501. 
fol. iliustrated by 80 commenta- 
tors. Basil, 1580. - Of this edit. 
Dr. Harwood says, ‘¢ that it con- 
tains the observations and remarks 
on Horace, which were made by 
the great scholars of that illus- 
trious age—the glorious age of the 
revival “of literature; as well as 
the criticisms of the old commen- 
tators, Acron, Porphyrion, &c.”? 
4to. Cruguii. L. Bat. 1593. Cru- 
quius is considered one of the best 
commentators on Horace. 
Horatit Opera, a Dan, Heinsio, 12mo. Elz. 
L. Bat. 1629. 
in usum Delphini, 4to. Paris, 
1691. 
Horatius, cum notis variorum, 8vo. Lug. 
Bat. 1653, 1658, 63, €8, TOs 
The first of these is the et 
4 Bentley, 4to. Cantab. 1741. 
Amster. 1713, 1728. 
Baxter, 8vo. Lond. 170i, 1795. 
Gesneri, Lips. 1752, 1779. 
Qservationibus Zew- 
nii, 8vo. Lips. 1788-1802. 
Horatii Opera, 12mo. Glasg. 1744, called 
the immaculate edition. 
Horace, by Watson, »Lat. and Eng. 2 vol. 
8vo. Lond. 
by Francis, with the orig. : text. 
4 vol. 12mo. 1747. 4to. 1749. 
The edition by the late Gilb. Wakefield, is 
executed with uncommon accuracy and ele- 
gance. 
—_—— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ENQUIRIES tzto the Discovery of the 
ESSENCE Of ROSEs ; translated from the 
RECHERCHES SUR LA DECOUVERTE DE 
L’ESSENCE DE ROSE, of MONSIEUR 
LANGLES, MEMBER of ihe MATIOWAL 
INSUATUTE, KEEPER Of the ORIENTAL 
MANuscripts, &c. &c. 
PROM the title of this little aa 
might appear, that I incur the re- 
proach of having devoted my time to 
frivotous researches , but my object has 
_ been to correct an ‘error very frequent 
_ Bong Ovientalists; and-to prove that 
13 
the discovery, of which these pages treat, 
is not by any means sO ancient as many 
have imagined. However numerous the 
admirers of this fragrant -Ollar may be 
in Europe, as in Asia, I wish to pay it 
thus my public homage.—A verse trom 
Hufiz, the Persian’ Anacreon, will not be 
here misplaced: - 
St Hafiz ! qvesal-i-gul tulbce hemchu bulbulan, 
“Fan Kun fedat Kbak i-rah-i-baghbana i-gul. 
**Q! Hafiz, thou desirest like the Night- 
ingale the presence of the rose! let tay very 
soul bea ransom for the earth, where the 
keeper of the Rose-garden walks 
In this couplet, he alludes to the loves 
of the Nightingale and the Rose, which 
have been celebrated by so many poets 
of Arabia, Persia, and Turkey. 
The word Gftar, or A’thr, used by the 
Asiatics, to express the essence of roses, 
is originally Arabic; and signifies an 
aromatic odour,. or perfume in general 
it is derived from Allara, or A’thara, (to 
perfume one’s-self,) Q&c. and it seems to 
have some afiinity with another Arabic 
work, Katara, (to drop, or distil by 
drops, &c.) and to the Hebrew Hele 
(he has perfuined, &c.) The Chaldaic 
word Katura expressed eleven kinds of 
aromatics, which the~ Jews burned in 
their sacrifices. (See Schultens’s Clavis 
Dialect: ling Hebr. et Arab; page 296: 
and Casfelii Lexicon Heptaglott, ad 
vocem op.) As to the resembiance 
which Mr. Weston, (in-a work which L 
shall hereafter quote) imagines ne has 
found between the Arabic word Oiter, 
and the European odour, I leave it for 
my readers to determine ou the etymo- 
logy. I must bere remark, that flowers 
mm general, and roses from their peculiar 
excellence, are termed in Arabic, ward ;. 
and in Persian, gui; bat the offar is not 
to be confounded with the gulab, or 
rose-water, which is simply the product 
of roses, distilled with water, according 
io a process well known tovall perfumers, 
both of Europe and Asia ; this, indeed, 
is the previous, and indispensable pre- 
paration for obtaining the essence, or 
ottur; for after a certain quantity of 
roses has been so distilled, (as Colonel 
Polier indicates in the first volume of 
Asiatic Researches,) the rose-water is 
left exposed to the cool air of the mght; 
and on the next day, a very inconsider- 
‘able portion of offar is found congealed 
on the surface of the rose.warer. Lt may 
be easily supposed, that the quantity Of 
essence depends much on the quality of 
Lie 
