arms have been established by the government. The latter is conducted with most spirit, but both are occasionally paralysed by the want of money. The old church of the Residencia, which formerly belonged to the Jesuits, is used for the foundery. In September 1815, there lay in the first court of the manufactury of small arms, a mass of native iron, brought from a vast plain in the province of Tucuman, where there is a great quantity more, lying as this lay, on the surface of the ground. It might weigh about twenty-five hundred weight. I was astonished to see them cutting it, having heated a part, as easily as any other piece of hammered iron, this being malleable by nature. I also saw where it had been cut cold by a chissel. The superintendant Don Esteban de Luca, a Creole of superior intelligence, had ordered a pair of pistols to be made from it for the government, as a sample of American manufacture from American production. Water from the river is carried about the town in carts, and sold by men whose business it is; at first it is muddy, but when settled, excellent. The well water is brackish and unpleasant to drink; it contains lime, as may be found by trying it with oxalic acid. This is probably from the tosca, as neither limestone nor chalk are found at any depth. The most abundant animals are originally from imported stock; horses, oxen, sheep, and dogs. Horses are extremely abundant and cheap, from four to ten dollars is the common price of one, yet a Chilian horse, which is a superior animal, sells for three or four hundred. They are so common, that a beggar on horseback, who rides about asking alms, is no uncommon sight. Our proverbs will not all apply in this country. The horses are small and of no particular cast. In England they would be thought nothing of; rough heels, large carcases, white legs and faces, are not thought blemishes. There are, however, excellent horses amongst them, mostly pacers; they are generally sure-footed, and capable of enduring fatigue, and without the vices of kicking or biting. The tail is always kept long and flowing, which is both natural and graceful; very few are ever shod, and those chiefly on the fore feet. The Creoles are excellent horsemen, they sit firm and upright, and never rise in the saddle. They have excellent bridles differing from the English make, and a kind of saddle well. adapted to the country. They use small stirrups, so that the foot cannot enter far. This form is much safer, and with a little practice, pleasanter than the large Engish stirrup. The saddle consists of a frame shaped the same before and behind, this is placed over a rug, and upon it are put other rugs and skins, which at night in the country form a bed, the frame serving for a pillow. The whole is called a recado, an English saddle silla. The common food of horses is green lucerne, sold in small bundles. Oats are not grown except a few for seed and to cut green, and no hay is made, as there is green food all the year. The horses used in carts about the town, draw from the girth, a most barbarous method. The carts, both for horses and oxen, are of the rudest construc tion, and have not a single particle of iron about them. The arms of the axle are horizontal, and the wheels upright, lofty, and cylindrical. Much may be said, and much has been written in England in favour of this construction. Mules are numerous, and are used for the few coaches seen in the town, and to work in mills. Black cattle, as is well known, are more abundant than in any other part of the world. They are a fine breed, all horned, large, and handsome, are excellent meat, and for draught. Cows give but a small quantity of milk. Milk, however, is tolerably cheap, like beef; it is sold by the eye, so much for a rial, according to the judgment of the vender. It is sold by dirty boys, who carry it through the streets on horseback. Butter is very bad and dear, being about 1s. 9d. sterling per pound. Their cheese too, is miserable, but some from Chili is of an excellent quality. Oxen work by pairs, a strong beam of wood, about six feet long, lies one end on the head of each, and is fastened by straps round the bottom of their horns. From the middle of this beam is the draught, and here sits the driver with his goad. They are not made to draw a great weight, and, as well as the draught horses, are very ill managed. The oxen killed for the market come from the estancias, or farms, in herds of of from one to three hundred. They are wild and dangerous, except to a man on horseback, and are driven by means of a few tame oxen in front. About six hundred oxen are killed daily for the use of the city. They are killed on large open grounds, are never knocked down, but drawn to the carts, and thrown down with the laso by peons, or labourers on horseback, and their throats instantly cut. Immense quantities of hogs are fed by picking the flesh off the heads, necks, feet, &c. and the offal. The carcase of an excellent ox may be bought in the market at about five dollars. Sheep are numerous, but the mutton is ordinary, and the fleece not of the finest quality. The carcase is sold at from one to two rials, that is 74d. and Is. 3d. sterling; it commonly weighs about twenty-six pounds. No veal is eaten, except occasionally a cow with calf is killed, when the fœtus, disgusting as it may appear, is sold as a delicacy. It is called hijo de vaca or nonato, that is, unborn. Buenos Ayres probably contains more dogs than any other place on earth; it costs nothing to keep them, as they feed on the meat that is continually thrown into the streets. They are of all kinds and sizes. There is a breed which has no hair, nor any thing upon their skin, which is black. In the country, at a distance from the town, are herds of wild dogs, which are dangerous to one who travels alone. Of wild animals, tigers are found within a few leagues of the town, lions at a considerable distance. In the small coppices are found deer, and a kind of wild hog, which has on its back a bag containing a particular fluid, this being taken out they are excellent eating. A kind of guinea-pig, the colour of a rat, is common, as is the biscaccia, an her bivorous animal of the rabbit kind. Hares are not found near the town, but in Patagonia are extremely abundant. Three species of the armadillo are found, the mataco, mulita, and peludo; the two latter abound, and are brought to market for sale, during the winter. In taste they resemble a sucking-pig. There are foxes and weasels; a species of the latter called the zorillo, is remarkable for the offensive liquor it ejects on its pursuers, which is its only means of defence; it has a beautiful black and white fur. I knew an Englishman who was in pursuit of one, MONTHLY MAG. No. 357. The and was putting his hat over it to stop it, when it threw on him a liquor of such an abominable smell as to render his clothes useless for the future. nerves, however, of the Indians are not fine enough to be affected by this, as they catch the animal and wear its skin. Rats and mice are, from the quantity of beef which is thrown away, in im. mense abundance. Common poultry is not cheaper, nor more abundant than in England. (To be continued.) For the Monthly Magazine. MR. LAMB'S CATULLUS. than Catullus. The latter class, indeed, who have borrowed his ideas both with and without acknowledgment, includes many of the first poets of our own and other countries, and are extremely numerous. No complete translation of his works, however, has hitherto been executed with such success in England, as to attract that share of public admiration, which the beauty and genius of the original, if transferred into our language, so well merit. A complete translation of the works of this poet into English, appeared, it is true, so lately as 1795, which, although it professed to give "the whole of Catulus without reserve, and in some way to translate all his indecencies," has never gained any considerable reputation. The field, therefore, may be considered to have been open for higher attempts, and the poetical world would have had to express their gratitude to Mr. Lamb, if he had executed his labours, so as to have naturalised one of the liveliest and sweetest of the old Roman poets - -a task, however, which we fear those who are capable of appreciating the beauties of the original, will imagine he has failed to perform. It is, indeed, a very arduous attempt to transfer the grace and elegance of classical ideas, with any degree of success, into another language. Unfortu nately, too, for Mr. Lamb, Catullus is a writer who has had the good fortune to attract the admiration of many of our first poets, who have occasionally employed all their skill in exquisite imitations, E imitations, or in versions of some of his single poems. To those who are acquainted with the verses of this kind, which are to be found in the works of such men as Pope, Cowley, Parnell, and Langhorne, the translations of Mr. Lamb must necessarily appear a little "stale and unprofitable ;" and, indeed, it is impossible, in the perusal of them, to avoid instituting such a comparison. In one instance Mr. Lamb seems to have. been aware how much he must suffer by such parallel instances, and he has forborne to translate Catullus's version of Sappho's Ode, which displays all its original fire and beauty in the splendid translation by Ambrose Phillips. But the same objection, more or less, applied to the whole volume of these poems, and it would perhaps have been more prudent in Mr. Lamb to have entered some lists where he was secure of meeting less formidable competitors. The present is not an age which will be tamely content with mediocrity, and the man who will venture into the poetical market, ought to be pretty well assured of the good quality of his merchandize before he exposes it to sale. Poets, and good poets too, are no longer therare avis in terris, which they were, during the latter half of the eighteenth century; and the competition for excellence seems to become almost every day more vigorous, while young aspirants are continually rising up to dispute the palm of excellence with their inas ters. Catullus is a poet who furnishes a few supernumerary difficulties to a translator at the present day. The more correct moral feeling of modern times, would never permit a complete version of many of those objectionable passages in which he abounds. This portion of his task Mr. Lamb has executed with considerable judgment, and we need not fear that our delicacy may be wounded in perusing the pages of his translation. It will be necessary, before we give any extracts from Catullus, to notice the introductory poem, which is prefixed to the volume, and which seems to be intended as a sort of excuse for a grave lawyer, as Mr. Lamb professes himself, indulging in pursuits of so light a nature as this. The names of Lord Mansfield and Sir William Blackstone are, however, perhaps sufficient to sanctify the practice, and our translator might surely have rested secure under the shield of those names. readers, we shall now give Mr. Lamb's translation of it. ON THE DEATH OF THE SPARROW. Mourn all ye loves and graces; mourn, away. Her very eyes she priz'd not so, For he was fond, and knew my fair, Well as young girls their mothers know, Flew to her breast and nestled there. When fluttering round from place to place, He gaily chirp'd to her alone; He now that gloomy path must trace, Whence Fate permits return to none. Accursed shades o'er hell that lower, O be my curses on you heard; Ye, that all pretty things devour, Have torn from me my pretty bird. O evil deed! O Sparrow dead! O what a wretch, if thou canst see My fair one's eyes with weeping red, And know how much she grieves for thee! Unbar the door, the gates unfold! Come, gentle bride-the warning day We will not blame thy bashful fears, Then come, sweet bride! and bless thy spouse, And sanction love by nuptial vows. This translation is certainly superior to the rest of the volumes, some parts of which bear all the marks of schoolexercises about them. The version of ACME AND SEPTIMIUS. This translation is sufficiently accurate, but there is very little poetical Acme and Septimius is tolerably good. ease or beauty about it. It has been imitated perhaps more frequently than any other of Catullus's poems. There are said to be thirty imitations of it in Greek, Latin, French, and Italian, to which Mr. Lamb refers in a note, in which he also mentions the English translations of it. The version of the famous Epithalamium on the Marriage of Manlius and Julia, is, we think, as favourable a specimen as any of Mr. Lamb's talents, and we shall therefore transcribe a few passages from it. O thou, Urania's Heaven-born son, Around thy brow the chaplet bind, Arouse thee on this happy day; Septimius said, and fondly prest, Love, before who utter'd still Then Acme gently bent her head, Love, before who uttered still imitations, or in versions of some of his single poems. To those who are acquainted with the verses of this kind, which are to be found in the works of such men as Pope, Cowley, Parnell, and Langhorne, the translations of Mr. Lamb must necessarily appear a little "stale and unprofitable ;" and, indeed, it is impossible, in the perusal of them, to avoid instituting such a comparison. In one instance Mr. Lamb seems to have been aware how much he must suffer by such parallel instances, and he has forborne to translate Catullus's version of Sappho's Ode, which displays all its original fire and beauty in the splendid translation by Ambrose Phillips. But the same objection, more or less, applied to the whole volume of these poems, and it would perhaps have been more prudent in Mr. Lamb to have entered some lists where he was secure of meeting less formidable competitors. The present is not an age which will be tamely content with mediocrity, and the man who will venture into the poetical market, ought to be pretty well assured of the good quality of his merchandize before he exposes it to sale. Poets, and good poets too, are no longer the rare avis in terris, which they were, during the latter half of the eighteenth century; and the competition for excellence seems to become almost every day more vigorous, while young aspirants are continually rising up to dispute the palm of excellence with their inas ters. Catullus is a poet who furnishes a few supernumerary difficulties to a translator at the present day. The more correct moral feeling of modern times, would never permit a complete version of many of those objectionable passages in which he abounds. This portion of his task Mr. Lamb has executed with considerable judgment, and we need not fear that our delicacy may be wounded in perusing the pages of his translation. It will be necessary, before we give any extracts from Catullus, to notice the introductory poem, which is prefixed to the volume, and which seems to be intended as a sort of excuse for a grave lawyer, as Mr. Lamb professes himself, indulging in pursuits of so light a nature as this. The names of Lord Mansfield and Sir William Blackstone are, however, perhaps sufficient to sanctify the practice, and our translator might surely have rested secure under the shield of those names. This poem, which is entitled' Reflexions before Publication,' is written in a light style, but certainly bears too many marks of a pen which has been accustomed to the turns and clap-traps of prologues. The poetry is not by any means of a high order. The following are some passages from it: The pleasing task which oft a calm has lent To lull disease and soften discontent, The quarto, smiling with a fairer page, And Coke and Burn, that guide to all conditions, In full array of twenty-five editions. chime Of false, illogical, unprofitable rhyme? Shall e'er inaccurate phrase, or hasty slip, Thus boasts our lore an ever full increase; Away with verse then As the poem on the death of Lesbia's Sparrow is one which, in some shape or another, must be known to all our readers, |