1807.] 
The dying Poet then bequeathed his 
writings to them, upon condition that 
nothing should be added, and that every 
unfinished verse should remain as ft was. 
He was, it is thought, principally moved 
bythe consideration that Augustus would 
never suffer so’ valuable: a work to be 
destroyed. But the Emperor was no 
otherways concerned in the preservation 
of the Poem, than the Author’s desisting 
from his resolution on being told that its 
execution would probably be forbidden. 
There isan Epigram extant, composed by 
Apollinaris the Grammarian, upon the 
order given by Virgil to burn the Atneid; 
and as it consists only of a single distich, 
may be inserted here,— 
Infelix alio cecidit prope Pergamon igne, 
Et pene est aJio T'roja cremata rogo. 
Dryden speaks of Virgil “as a grave, 
succinct, and majestic writer; one, ‘ who 
weighed not only every thought, bat 
every word and syllable; who was al- 
ways aiming to crowd his sense into 
as narrow a compass as possible; for 
which reason he is so figurative, as to 
require a grammar apart to construe 
him, His verse is every where sounding 
the very thing in your ears, whose sense 
it bears; yet the numbers are perpetually 
varied to increase the delight of the 
reader, so that_the same sounds are never 
repeated twice together. But though he 
is smooth, where smoothness is required, 
yet he is so far from affecting it, that he 
seems rather to disdain it; for he fre- 
guently makes use of synaleephas, and 
concludes his.sense in the middle of his 
verse. He is every where above the 
conceit of epigrammatic wit, and gross ’ 
hyperboles. He maintains majesty in 
the midst of plainness; he shines, but 
glares not, and is stately, without ambi- 
tion; which is the vice of Lucan. Mar- 
tial, says of him, that hé could have ex- 
celled Varrus in tragedy, and Horace in 
lyric poetry.” This last assertion may 
be justly doubted. The peculiar quali- 
ties of Virgil’s poetry are sweetness, ma- 
Jesty, and uniformity of style. His 
character was that of dignified and calm 
severity. In the serious and measured 
Qde, he might have equalled, if not sur- 
passed, Horace; for it is observable of 
the latter, that, though always interesting 
and pleasing, he is rarely great. Virgil 
would have failed in that easy unlaboured 
diction, flowing imagery ant variable 
style, which please us so much in the 
poet of Venusium. It is even doubtful 
whether he would have succeeded better 
Speediest Method of killing £els. 
445 
in tragedy. The character of Dido, in- 
deed, as an exquisite mixture of pathetic 
tenderness and passionate declamation, 
is highly dramatic. But love is only one 
of the passions which tragedy’ person- 
ifies; and although there be in the Aeneid 
many solemn and interesting passages, 
it has nothing that can induce us to be~ 
heve, that Virgil would have pourtrayed 
the more violent passions of the mind 
with equal energy and truth. 
The genuine and undisputed works of 
Virgil, are, ten Eclogues, or Bucolics; 
four books of Georgics; and the ineid, 
consisting of twelve books. From the 
arrangement which we have adopted, 
the /fneid alone.can at present be con=. 
sidered. The Eclogues will come with 
more propriety under the head of, Pas- 
toral Poetry ; and the Georgics, under that 
of Didactic Poetry.—( Vo be continued.) 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HAVE long felt ‘horror at the prac- 
tice of skmuing eels alive, and am 
happy to be able to answer the question 
in the Monthly Magazine for November, 
(viz.) what is the speediest method of 
killing eels? 
tt may be instantly done by piercing 
the spinal marrow close to the back part 
of the skull, with a point, 
Being in the habit of angling, T unt- 
formly kiil the fish as soon as caught, by 
the above method, and find it succeed 
with eels, as well as other fish. My pen- 
knife is the instrument J use for the pure. 
pose. When properly done, all motion, 
immediately ceases. 
Nailsworth, Dec. 1805, Lo 
{ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, ; 
R. Robertson, in his admirable Dis« 
# sertauon on the Natives of South 
America,has observed,that the inhabitants 
of New Holland are the iowest and most 
degraded species of men on the face of 
the earth; and that a philosophical ex 
amination of their character 1s wanted 
to complete the history of man. Nu- 
merous recent accounts from thatcountry, 
have all tended to confirm the opimion of 
this profound historian. The last pub- 
lication, by Mr. Turnbull, on the subject, 
also confirms this fact; but at the same 
time mentions a circumstance indica- 
tive, asthe author imagines, of intellectual 
quickness, and apparently contradictory 
to the received notion of their extreme 
and mmvincible ignorance; I mean, their 
astonishing 
