Retrofpes? of Domsftic Literature.—Cloffical Literature. 601. 
the market-crofs at Cheddar; are the mott 
con{picuous.’ 
in this clafs alf> we fhall place ** Lasa- 
beth Palace, illuffrated by a Series of 
Views, reprefenting its moft interefting 
Aatiquities, in Buildings, Portraits, Stain- 
ed Glafs, Sc.” by Meflis BraYLey 
and HERBERT; a publicarion which bas 
rot often been turpaffed in elerance. A 
concife account of the palace, hiltorica] 
and defcriptive, accompanies the plates, 
abridged from the bel materials, with ad- 
ditional information, The piates, in co- 
lours, are executed in a better ityle than 
ufual, 
CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 
The cltimsto our notice under the head 
of claific literature are to comparatively 
Tew, that, in fome inftances, we may be 
fairly pardoned fhould we allow them to 
occupy an extended portion of our retro- 
foc&. The “ Tranflations trom the Greck 
Alatholegy, with Tales and Mifcellaneous 
Poems,” are undoubtedly entitled to an 
early notice. In every effential the tran 
lator has endeavoured to adhere to his 
originals; generally referving to himfelf 
the power of illuiirating a Grecian cuftom 
by an Englifh one analogous to it, and of 
fubfituting our proper names on almoft 
every occafion, ** The term “pigram,”? 
he obferves, ¢* which literally fignifies an 
infeription, was fir appropriatea to thofe 
fhort fentences which were infcribed on 
offerings made in temples. It was after- 
waras transferred to the infcription on the 
teinple-gate, thence to other edifices, and 
the ita'ucs of gods and herces, aod men 
whether liviog or dead; and the term re- 
mained whether the infcription was jn 
verfe or profe. Such was that very anri- 
ent one on the tomb of Cyrus. 2 avdpwore, 
eyw Kupog, o tyv apxny Tors Lleprcais zIn- 
cajevic ner Tyg Aoing BassAeus: pen ey 
Pbovnrns Te pyypwaros. The brevity 
of thele infcripons, which reodered 
it fo ealy to imprefs on the memory any 
particularevent, or any illuftrious name, 
foon 1ecommended them for other pur. 
poles. The lawgiver adopted them to 
convey a moral precept, and the lover to 
exprels a tencer fentiment, and hence, in 
procefs of tima, almoit every little poem 
wiich concNely prefented one difiinét idea, 
or purtved one general argument, acquir- 
ed the title of epigram.”’. Meleager, the 
Syrian, who flourithed under the laft of 
the Seleucid, firft collected the numerous 
fragments ot Greece, which were in:ruft- 
ed, before his time, to the memory of 
men, engraven‘on marbles, or dilperfed 
as fugitive pieces. Deprived of the ad. 
~Monruty Mac. N». 145. 
vantages enjoyed by his predeceffor, Phi- 
lip of Theflalonica continued the work 
after an intervalof an 150 years. Buty 
adds the tranflater, we mutt here no more 
expeét to meet with thole vivid flowers 
that adorned the former wreath ; perfection 
isno Jonger to be found. ‘She Sapphos 
and Anacreons of the day were adinivers 
and imitators of their predecefiors, but 
bore no nearer refemblance to them than 
the Pieudo-Hercules, in one of Menan- 
der’s plays, to the real hero of antiquity. 
During the filent lapfe, he continues, of 
more than 500 years, the lyre of Greece 
hung filent and unitrung ; and when Aga 
thias, in the fixth century, attempred to 
give it found, a feeble tinkling was re- 
turned to the touch before it lay mute for 
evers This colleftor raked together the 
loofe mifcellanies and {cattered fragments 
of his time; and knew that by his exer- 
tions he was bequeathing and perpetuate 
ing to fucceeding ages the figure of his 
ountry, entfeebled, helplefs, exhaulted, 
and nearly funk into dotage. Conflanti- 
nus Cephalus, in the tenth century, con- 
tributed to their prefervation ; and Maxi. 
mus Planudes, a monk of the fourteenth, - 
was the la(t colle€&tor of them. To the 
taftelefs and imperfect abridgement of the 
laft author, the {cholars of Europe were 
referred till the feventeenth century, when 
Claude de Saumaife, difcovering that 
Planudes had been unfaithful in the of- 
fice he had undertaken, put together that 
colleétion, which, though unpublifhed, 
has ever fince been known by the name of 
Salmafian, and cenftantly referred to by 
jucceeding commentators. 
Such is the hiftory of the Anthologia. 
~The other works from which the materi- 
als for thefe tranflations have been prin- 
cipally felected, are thofe of Athenzus, 
Stobzeus, Menander, and Philemon. ‘The 
tranflations themfelves are executed beth 
with tafte and elegance: here and there, 
perhaps, a rigid critic may find a harfh 
jine; but in general they are ditinguifhed 
by a harmony of language which bears 
no taint refemblance of their originals. 
The two following may ferve as {peci- 
mens: 
&< Prom Sappho.——To an Illiterate Woman, 
«6 Unknown, unheeded, fhalt thou die, 
And no memorial fhall proclaim, 
That once beneath the upper fky 
Thoa had’ft a being anda name. 
«* For neverto the Mufe’s bowers 
Did’ft thou with glowing heart repair, 
Nor ever intertwine the flowers 
That Fancy ftrews unnumber’d there. 
4h beom'é 
