les foibles rejetons des végétaux qui étayèrent leur enfance. Tel eff l'impofant fpectacle que préfente la végétation dans ces lieux où l'art n'a point encore altéré la nature." T. I. p. 151–153. De la țige.”

GERMANY.

ART. 60. Anxiou Nauxpatitov Ativopis-Athenæi Naucratite Deipnofophifta..... emendavit ac edidit Joannes Schweighaeufer. Tom. I. Argentorati, 1801. Animadverfiones in Athenæum, &c. &t. Tom. I.

In a Preface, replete with interefting refearches, Mr. Schw. informs his readers of whatever has been related by the ancients concerning his author, of the aids which he has himself had in this undertaking, and of what had been done by former editors of Athenæus. He con feffes that the work appears to him to have been ill-conceived, and that this immenfe compilation, in which fo many heterogeneous matters are heaped together, without any judgment or order, owes all its value to the lofs of the authors of whofe works fragments are preserved in it. It is not known who was the author of the abridgment, or at what time he lived; and it is without fufficient ground that it has by fome been attributed to Hermolaus, of Byzantium; but, whoever be may have been, the new editor thinks favourably of him.

Mr. Schw. then proceeds to fpeak of the editions of the text of Athenæus; as of that of Aldus, the first of all, published at Venice, in 1441, in the title of which, the editor, Mufurus, boatts of having corrected many thousand faults in the text, and of having reduced the verfes, which he had found written in the form of profe, to their proper meafures; a furth proof of the temerity of these first editors, who ought to be the more fufpected, in proportion as they were more learned. Mr. Schw. agrees with Cafaubon, that this edition is very inaccurate, and altogether unworthy of thofe who had the care of it. At the fame time, he acknowledges the erudition of Mufurus, who has certainly restored many paffages that had been corrupted in the manufcripts. The fecond edition appeared at Bafil in 1535, which is little more than a re-impreffion of that of Venice, with additional errors, though not fo despicable, as it had been represented by Cafau bon, who has, however, too often followed it.

After these two editions, Athenæus was tranflated, first by Natalis Comes, who fupplied from MSS. confiderable deficiencies in the 15th book; and afterwards, in 1583, much better by Dalechamp, to whom Cafauban has, in the opinion of the prefent editor, not done juftice. In the laft place was published, in 1597, the edition of Cafaubon, the only one printed under his immediate infpection; which was followed three years afterwards by his great Commentary, than which no work can be more generally known, or more frequently cited by the learned.

Mr. Schw. then gives an account of the affiftance which he has received from those writers who have not ex profeffo treated of his author, but who have occafionally corrected, or thrown light upon, different paffages of the work.

What adds greatly to the value of this new edition is, that Mr. Schw. has collated for it two excellent MSS. one of which was almost for

gotten,

gotten, while the other feems not to have been known till the prefent time. The former which, however, does not appear to be older than the middle of the 14th century, contains the whole of the Abridgment, with fome inedited fragments; and the latter, which the editor believes to belong to the 10th century, and which was brought from Venice to Paris, he fhows, from fatisfactory proofs, to have been the original from which all the MSS. of Athenæus, that now exift, were drawn. He has likewife availed himfelt of the various readings collected from a MS. in the National Library, by the celebrated Mr. Brunck, and of fome obfervations on the author, communicated by him; as alfo of others, by Mr. Coray and Mr. Dutheil.

The prefent volume comprifes the three first books, partly from the Abbreviator, and partly from Atheneus himself. The Commentary on the two first books only forms a feparate volume, and is chiefly employed in difcuffing the merit of the various readings, on which Mr. Schw. decides with the greatest caution; as he likewife very rarely receives into the text the conjectures of Cafaubon, or of other critics, however probable they may appear: very great improvements have also been made in the Latin Tranflation. Magaf. Encyclop.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received a moft candid and handfome Letter, from Mr. Daniel Wakefield, on the fubject of the charge of plagiarifm, alledged againft him in our laft number, p. 358. In this Letter, he affures and convinces us, that the omiffion of a due acknowledgment of the fource from which that paffage had been taken was perfectly unintentional and accidental. We are happy to make every proper acknowledgment to a writer of fo much merit; and fhall be very glad to hear further from him, at his leifure, on the fubject mentioned in the clofe of his Letter.

We return our fincere thanks to 7. P. of Worcester, for his obliging and learned communication, though the infertion of it would not be compatible with the plan of our work. It has happened alfo, by fome accident, that the Notes only have reached us, and not the Tranflation itself. We are ready to return his kind Letters, on being informed where to fend them.

Philalethes has favoured us with Strictures and Conjectures on the Explanations of the word Cherubim, which, though creditable to him for their ingenuity, ought to appear rather in a mifcellany, like the Gentleman's Magazine, than in a Review.

If the refpectable Society to which A. Z. alludes had the fmallest idea of fuch a tendency in any of their proceedings as he attributes to them, they would, we doubt not, be as averfe to the profecution, as we should to the commendation,

of

of them. But it ftrikes us very differently, though we do not think it neceffary to explain the reafons for our opinion. We acknowledge the repeated expreffions of polite attention from Mr. S. Butler, the fubject of whofe laft Letter fhall receive a very early notice.

For an account of the Negotiant Univerfel, fuch as we thought it expedient to give, Mr. K. may turn to our eigh teenth volume,

Of Spelling Books, and fuch very infantine introductions to literature, we do not think it neceflary for us to be very parti cular in giving any opinion: which is now alfo the lefs necellary, as there is a refpectable work, entitled the Guardian of Education, appropriated to the examination of the juvenile library. This anfwer, we truft, will fatisfy Mr. Robinfon, who might have made his obfervations without annexing invidious comparilons.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

The extended edition of Shakespeare, from the papers of the late Mr. Steevens, and fuperintended by Mr. Reed, is fo far advanced at the prefs, that we understand it will be ready for publication early in the fpring.

The fecond edition of Mr. Beloe's tranflation of Herodotus gone to prefs.

Mr. William Gifford has made confiderable progress towards a new edition of the works of Mafinger.

The Rev. Mr. Warton, of Blandford, has agreed to undertake an edition of Dryden's Poems, founded on the papers of the late Dr. Warton, whofe remarks, on a large part of Derick's edition, had been for fome time completed.

Mr. Warton alfo has it in contemplation, to publifh a felection from the Correfpondence of his Father, and Uncle, with many of their contemporaries diftinguifhed, for literature and talents. They had been chiefly felected for the prefs by Dr. Warton himfelf.

The Abbé Aubry is printing an improved and greatly augmented edition of his Oxonii Dux Poeticus, which we formerly noticed with commendation.

We learn, with picafure, that our fuggeftion (vol. xviii. p. 56) refpecting Dr. Boyce's Anthems, has not been totally ineffectual, and that two of them are to be publifhed by Mr. Afhley at Christmas; the fecond of which will contain the beautiful duett, beginning, "Here fhall foft charity repair," in which Meffrs. Harrifon and Bartleman have received fo much applaufe.

THE

BRITISH CRITIC,

For DECEMBER, 1802.

"Ufe every man after his defert, and who fhall 'fcape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity: the lefs they deferve, the more merit is in your bounty." SHAKESP.

ART. 1. Hiftory of the British Expedition to Egypt; to which is fubjoined, a Sketch of the prefent State of that Country, and its Means of Defence. Illuftrated with Maps, and a Portrait of Sir Ralph Abercrombie. By Robert Thomas Wilfon, Lieutenant-Colonel of Cavalry in his Britannic Majefty's Service, and Knight of the Imperial Military Order of Maria Therefa. 4to. 11. 11s. 6d. Egerton. 1802.

IT is with the trueft patriotic pride and heart-felt fatisfaction,

that we undertake the pleafing labour of giving an account of a work, which erects fo noble a monument to British glory. The laurels won by our gallant foldiers in Egypt muft flourish, as long as it is in the power of human ability to perpetuate the efforts of hunan valour; and to this victorious army of our countrymen we may confidently fay,

In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbræ
Luftrabunt convexa, polus dum fidera pascet,

Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudefque manebunt.

This narrative is given to the world by an officer of great reputation, who was prefent at all the fcenes he fo forcibly defcribes; and who appears, in every particular, well quali

Rr

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XX. DEC. 1802.

fied

fied for the talk he has undertaken. He commences, in the plain but energetic language of a foldier, by informing the reader of the progrefs of the Expedition from before Cadiz to the Bay of Marmorice. Here the forces remained from February to March, when they proceeded off Alexandria, with a determination to make good their landing. A remarkable fact is related at p. 12. A French frigate, unexpectedly finding herfelf in the midst of the British fleet, fo completely difguifed herfelf, and fo promptly anfwered the various fignals, that the never attracted the fmalleft fufpicion, and got fafe into Alexandria. The circumftance of the landing, in the highest degree honourable to British courage and British difcipline, we have already reprefented in the language of Mr. Baldwin, who was alfo a fpectator, and whole fervices are acknowledged by Colonel Wilfon. It is faid, by many adequate judges of military affairs, that this incident of the landing of the British troops no lefs reflects upon the enemy, than it redounds to the glory of our countrymen. The difadvantages on our fide were fo manifeft and fo great, that even an inferior number of troops might have prevented the difembarkation from being effected. The different actions, between the English and the French, from the 8th to the glorious 21ft of March, are next told, with equal perspicuity and fpirit; but this fplendid victory feems to call forth all the writer's powers; and proud and happy are we, to have it here recorded in his own emphatic words.

"On the memorable 21st of March the army as ufual was under arms at three o'clock in the morning; all was quiet till half paft three o'clock, when the report of a mufquet was heard at the extremity of the left. Inftantly afterwards a cannon fired, fcattered mufquetry fucceeded, and then two more guns. For a moment attention was directed to that quarter. All were convinced that a general attack was com mencing, but it was immediately evident that the firing was too feeble on the left to believe that to be the point of the enemy's ferious object. Indeed this was the univerfal fentiment; and General Moore, who as general officer of the night, on the firft alarm proceeded to the left, was fo impreffed with this idea, that he turned back to the right.

"For a few minutes all was ftill; but it was the awful fufpenfe of anxious expectation, not of apprehenfion. Every eye was painfully extended forwards through the gloomy mift of the atmosphere, and the ears trained to catch the fmalleft found. Occafionally the eastern horizon was anxioufly regarded; but though the grey of the morning was perceptible, it feemed reluctantly to break. On a fudden loud fhouts were heard in front of the right, which fully certified the enemy's intention, a roar of mufquetry immediately fucceeded, and the action there became general.

"The enemy, covered by the unequal furface of the ground, had advanced unperceived as far as the videttes, and continued to prefs on