general obfervation, and their caufes may be traced from obvious antecedent occurrences; but the peaceful revolutions of literature are conduced by imperceptible gradations, and the change can be difcerned only by thofe who are endowed with delicate conceptions. The viciffitudes of literary excellence form a fubject equally curious and inftructive; not only as they afford an ample profpe&t of the labours of genius, but as they likewise serve to difcover the caufes, by which they are more immediately influenced.

Signior Denina begins his hiftory with the dawnings of literature among the ancients, and, after tracing its progrefs through the celebrated writers of Greece, he relates the causes of its declenfion in that country, which, with Cicero and Quintilian, he fixes to the time of Demetrius Phalereus.

• Demetrius Phalereus, a man no wife inferior to the moft applauded orators before him, finding that the proper path of eloquence was now trite, and the palm of noble fimplicity and natural grandeur already carried off, refolved to be the first or only follower of a new fpecies of rhetoric, rather than by imitating his predeceffors always to remain in obfcurity. He addicted himself, therefore, to a figurative, flowery, polite, but foft and effeminate ftyle, which, by its novelty, univerfally pleased, and in him, indeed, animated by the force and vivacity of fuperior genius, had fome merit, but the herd of imitators quickly funk into the utmost languor, and extinguished every fpark of folid eloquence. Thofe who pretend that this corruption fprung from the diffolution of popular government, betray their ignorance of the track in which literature ever uniformly walks. Such reafoning might have fome weight indeed, if we spoke of that eloquence alone which reigns in the affemblies of the people, to which emulation, jealoufy, and the fpirit of party, add an inconceivable fire and vigour. Examples of this may be seen in the oration of Demofthenes in defence of Ctesiphon, in those of Cicero for the recovery of his houfe, and in defence of Milo, and in the Philipics of both these orators. But a good citizen will rever with the advancement of that eloquence, which can only flourish in revolutions, civil wars, and the downfal of government; and it is certain, that true oratory may appear in a thousand fhapes which have little, if any, dependance upon political fyftems. But in the time of Demetrius none of the other branches of literature retained their former luftre. Compared with Homer and Pindar, Aratus and Apollonius Rhodius, how groveling and languid! Archimedes and Euclid, although cannot be put in competition with Plato; and the more useful they are in the sciences and ma

the fathers of mathematics,

Laftly, let this new formed fociety imitate the primitive Chriftians, and modern Quakers, in attending to the temporal welfare of the members of the fociety; particularly in encouraging industry, discountenancing idleness and profligacy, and effectually relieving the induftrious and helpless poor: for this purpose let collections be made, as in the primitive times, and among the modern Methodists, much more frequently than is ufually among us; for by this means greater fums are raised with lefs difficulty. If it be thought proper, let an inftitution of later ages be adopted, and stewards of the public funds be appointed, who, in their general rules of diftribution, shall be governed by the votes of the people.

• Such, my brethren, is the conftitution, order, and difcipline, that I could wish, but defpair ever to fee established in Christian churches. Were I a member of fuch a church, I fhould rejoice in its privileges, and I should dread its cenfures.'

As many objections, no doubt, might be made to this scheme of church difcipline, our author confiders such as he thinks of any weight, and more diftinaly points out fome of the advantages which he fuppofes would attend it.

The concluding fection contains fome additional confiderations, as motives to the establishment of ecclefiaftical difcipline.

VIII. Leonidas. A Poem. 2 Vols. 8vo. 6s. Cadell.

AS

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S the author of this excellent poem hath made confiderable additions to it, and improved it in this fifth edition; and as it hath not been read fo much as it deferved, fince its novelty was worn out, we may, without impropriety, give it our particular attention.

If in this criticifin any fentiments, or expreffions fhould come from us, which may feem derogatory to the character of Homer, we here offer a precaution, to guard them against mifinterpretation.

The best criterions of productions in the fine arts, are the genuine feelings, and the improved taste of mankind; not early examples, and dogmatical laws. Liberal fcholars judge of Homer himself by the former tefts; while mechanical pedants eftimate him by the latter. Yet we fhould be loth to fhow irreverence to the fame of the father of poetry. We are ready to allow, what it would be impertinence in us to deny, that Homer's greatnefs has never been excelled; that to be poffeffed of it in the age in which he lived was aftonishing, and convinces us, that in whatever period he had flourished, he would have been the firft of his cotemporary poets; and that

his faults, or rather his excrefcences, and luxuriance, are not to be imputed to his penetrating and comprehenfive mind, but to the rudeness of his times. It is weak and ridiculous to commend, or imitate, a fentiment or fimile, merely becaufe it was written by Homer: but it is equally weak and abfurd, to incur the literary infamy of Perrault, by endeavouring to perfuade the world that Homer was but an ordinary man; and that the emotions which the reading of his poems have raised for three thousand years, have been excited without a caufe.

After this preliminary homage to the reputation of Homer, if in the fequel of this article we venture to discriminate between what is inconfiderately admired, and what deferves to be admired, we fhall not fear the imputation of temerity and prefumption.

The

The fubject of Mr. Glover's poem is the famous expedition of Leonidas to the ftraits of Thermopyle, to oppofe the entrance of the numerous armies of Xerxes, by that paffage into Greece. When the Afiatic monarch was making warlike preparations against Greece, the Lacedæmonians fent meffengers to the oracle of Delphi to inquire the event of the war. anfwer of the oracle was, that unless a king defcended from Hercules fhould die, Lacedæmon would be deftroyed. Leonidas, a king of Sparta, and a defcendant of Hercules, on hearing this decree of the gods, offered, without hefitation, to die for his country. He marches forth at the head of three hundred of the choice troops of Sparta; in his way to Thermopylæ, he is joined by forces from the different countries of Greece; and, on his arrival there, his army amounted to about eighteen thousand men. With this number, he is to check the irruption of at least two millions of Perfians. In the repeated engagements betwixt the two armies, the Barbarians are repulsed with great flaughter. The Greeks, however, with many obftinate encounters, and prodigies of valour, are at length much diminished. The small remaining number, with Leonidas at their head, make their last stand for Greece, and facrifice their lives to liberty. They fink down in honourable death, overwhelmed with multitudes, and exhaufted by the efforts of their own courage. Leonidas falls the last of the Grecian commanders, not the victim of one arm, but expiring by the wounds of many.

This is the ground-work of this beautiful and animated poem. The genius of Mr. Glover is adequate to his noble fubject. The preparatives to this famous expedition, the domeftic scenes which might be fuppofed to precede it, are juftly imagined, and elegantly and pathetically defcribed. His au

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gult

Be that as it may, it is impoffible to find a teftimony of greater authority, or, in my opinion, a more probable reason, for the fudden change of the Roman literature, than that of Velleius Paterculus, who lived at that time, that is, at the beginning of the reign of Tiberius. This hiftorian not only fhews by his own laboured periods and refinement, unlike the bold and noble fimplicity of Cæfar and Salluft, but likewise expressly declares, that in his time literature was already vifibly on the decline. Hence he takes occafion to confider why both in Rome and Athens the fine arts, after attaining the highest perfection, had fo fuddenly decayed; and gives a reafon which, in my opinion, ought to have been adopted by all who have fince written on that fubject. But fome of thefe, particularly the Abbé Dubos, employing themfelves in maintaining the influence of phyfical caufes on literary revolutions, frequently negle& every thing that does not correfpond with their particular fyftem. "Emulation," fays Paterculus, is the nurse of genius; fometimes envy, fometimes admiration, fpurs us on, whilft that which is eagerly followed by all, naturally arrives at perfection. How difficult is it to ftop at any height! Whatever no longer advances, muft inevitably retreat. As at firft we glowed with the ambition of furpaffing or equalling those we imagined our fuperiors, fo when our hopes are blafted our ardour cools, and we give over the purfuit of what we defpair to overtake. Hence we leave the beaten track for paths hitherto unexplored, where novelty may raife us from obfcurity, and immortalife our name."

• During and after the reign of Tiberius the itch of refinement in ftyle increafed to an immoderate degree, both in profe and verfe. Some even boafted that their periods were fo finooth they might be fung and danced to. In fine, an univerfal affectation of conceit, and pomp of ftyle, prevailed in every species of compofition; and the Romans in general were already disgusted with the fimplicity of the ancients.'

The author is particularly copious in tracing the progrefs of learning on its revival in Italy, and he furnishes many judicious remarks on the writer's of that country. He has alfo beftowed diftin&t chapters on he revolutions of literature in Spain, France, Germany, and Britain. His knowledge of our literature is extenfive, as a foreigner, though he' feems to be less acquainted with the merits of English writers, than of thofe with whofe languages, we may naturally fuppofe him to be more converfant.

Upon the whole, Signior Denina difcovers a claffical tafte in criticisin, and the Revolutions he exhibits prefents us with the invariable obfervation, that the corruption of literature is

per

Mr. Glover, too, when he enumerates the killed and wounded, interfperfes the detail with affecting imagery more than Homer. When a warrior is flain in Leonidas, the poet generally informs us of fome important circumftance of his hiftory. Of this information, Homer is very fparing though he is very minute in relating the various wounds by which his heroes are fent to the Stygian fhades. His account of flaughter may be amufing to anatomifts, but they are difagreeable and painful to a reader who is merely a man of imagination and tafte.

Let not an invidious and malignant critic tax us with rafhaefs and prefumption, for comparing fome parts of the Iliad and of Leonidas. Excellence in writing is not confined to the Greek language, nor to the page of Homer.

Mr. Glover has made a moft happy choice of a general subject, and of a hero. The defence of Greece at Thermopyla is one of the most memorable events, and Leonidas one of the moft illuftrious characters in hiftory. The brutal wrath of the fon of Peleus,, and its effects, cannot come in competition with those noble objects. Nor is our attention so, much attracted by the piety of Æneas, and the founding of a colony, as by them.

The judgment likewife of the epic poet deserves to be highly praised, when he chufes a fubject likely to captivate the affections of the nation to which his work is principally addreffed. The exploits of Leonidas, and his countrymen, for the cause of liberty, though admired by Europe, are certainly with peculiar propriety held forth to the view of England, the freeft country in the world.

We must not forget to take notice of the epifodes in Leonidas, which are extremely beautiful and fentimental, full of fine defcription, and elevated morality.

This poem contains a great variety of fimilies, not one of which, perhaps, is exceptionable. They are pertinent to the objects to which they are applied, and they are painted with flowing colours, and warm expreffion.

The verfification of Leonidas is harmonious; but it is to be wifhed, that its harmony had been more varied. A writer of an epic poem fhould particularly endeavour to acquire a wide compafs of poetical modulation. For the tedium, which the reading of ten or twenty thousand metrical lines is apt to bring upon a reader, feems to be one of the caufes why that fpecies of compofition is extremely difficult.

The speeches in Leonidas have great merit; they are not too prolix; we never with to be at the end of them; they are characteristick of the fpeakers; they kindle in the heart of him who reads them the flame of patriotism and virtue.

It