The Sun.
London, England, 1824-06-30 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICE.

The AGAMEMNON of ASCIIYLUS. Translated by
—JOHN SYMAIONS, Esq. A. M. late Student of Christ
Church. (Continued.)

Under the pressure of business, of another cha-
racter, we have been compelled to forego, for a
longer time than has been agreeable to us, our
observations on this superior work ; and now, as
soon as we are at liberty, we hasten to resume
them, with the conviction that they will, be as ac-
ceptable to our readers as they are gratifying to
ourselves.

We commenced •• our extracts from Mr. SY*.
moNs's pages, with the. opening speech of the
drama, not for its relative excellence, but because
it was the first offered to us, and because it con-
stituted that point of the action from which its
seqUells deduced. On the first appearance of
the fires, which were to announce -the capture of
Troy, the watchman hurries with the important
intelligence to Clytemnestra ; and she imme-
diately orders the temples to be opened, and the
altarS to be kindled ; thus proclaiming to the ci-
tizens. of her capital the arrival of prosperous
tidings, and calling upon them to unite in a
general rejoicing. In the meantime, im-
mediately on the departure of the.. watchman,
the chorus, consisting of the elders of the
city, make their entry .on the stage ; and
amid their reflexions on the long. continuance
of the war ; the omens which had signalized its
commencement ; the predictions of CALCHAS, and
the sad sacrifice at Aulis of the Royal Virgin,,
IPHIGENIA. They express surprise at the re-
joicings, which were prevailing throughout the
city, under Me command and by the example of
the QUEEN. On her advancing to them, they
question .her,.with much respect, as to the cause
of what had excited their surprise ; and she
answers them by saying, that the city of Priam
was taken. In the short dialogue -which ensues,
the Chorus inquired on what evidence CLYTEM.
NESTRA asserted this important: fact, and at what
time the memorable. event had -happened. To
this she replies, that she spoke on the most cer-
tain authority, and that the hostile city was
taken on the precedingnight. Their surprise is
now raised to its height, and they very naturally
exclaim—

Kau 71; -rob' kocoir av aryEXv.Nl4axtic ;
" But how ? messenger could come so fast;"

The QuEEN's explanation of the wonder imme-
diately follows ; and we shall extract her speech
on the occasion, as exhibiting a very strong burst
of poetry, supremely brilliant in the original,
and scarcely of inferior splendour in Mr. S's.
translation.

"Twas Vulcan: sending forth the blazing light

From Ida's grove, and thence along-the-way
Hither the estafette of fire ran quick:

Fire kindled fire, and beacon spoke. to beacon,
Ida to Lenltios, and the Ifcrnman ridge

Next Athos, craggy mountain, Jove's own steep,
Took the great torch held out by Vulcan's isle.

Standing sublime, the seas to overcast,

Shone the great strength of the transmitted lamp;
And the bright heraldry of burning pines

Shone with a light all golden like the sun
Rising at midnight on Macistus' watchtower :
Nor did Macistus not bestir him soon,
Oppress'd with sleep, regardless of his watch ;
But kindled fires, and sent the beacon blaze
To distance far beyond Euripus' flood,
To watchmen mounted on Alessapian hills;
They answer'd blazing, and pais'd on the news.
The grey heath burning on the mountain top.
And now the fiery, unobscured lamp,
At distance far shot o'er Asopus' plain ;
And up the steep soft rising, like the moon,
Stood spangling bright upon Cithreron's hill.
There rose, to give it conduct on 'the road,
Another meeting fire ; nor did the watch
Slaep at the coming of the stranger light,
But burnt a greater blaze than those before :
Thence o'er the lake Gorgopis stoop'd the light,
And to the mount of lEgiplancton came,
And bad the watch shine forth, nor scant the blaze.
They burning high with might unquenchable,
Send up the waving beard of fire aloft,
Mighty and huge, so as to cast its blaze
Beyond the glaring promontory steep
Athwart the gulf Saronic all on fire;
Thence stoop'd the light, andreach'd our neighbour watchtow'r,
Arachne's summit; and from thence, derived
Here to the Atrida3's palace, comes this light
From the long lineage of the Idrean fire.
Such is the course of the lamp bearing games,
When torches run in solemn festivals
One from another, in succession fill'd,
And the last runner and the first is victor.
Such are my,proofs, and such the signal news,
Sent by my consort from the plains of Troy.

To different passages of this speech are ap-
pended some very learned and important Notes.
But of these we must postpone the notice, till
we can find leisure for the resumption of our in-
teresting subject.

M. FLATTERS, the sculptor of the bust of
GRETRY, at the Theatre Feydean, has just re-
ceived from London the mask taken from the
face of Lord Bynox, at the moment of his death,
at Missolonghi, on the 19th of April last. This
celebrated sculptor will execute a bust of that
illOstrious poet from this model, and intends'
going to England to execute that of Sir WALTER
SCOTT, which has been alSo demanded of him.—
(Paris Paper.) _ _

A greater number of houses and warehouses
are now in the progress of building in Liverpool
than at any period within reeollectiou.

FOR THE SUN.

ON SINGULARITY.

Mit. EDlTOR—Although there are many het--
.sons, that aini at singularity, yet in its nature it.
is far from pleasing, and is pretty universally
condemned. Every, one is more or less depend-
ent upon the established laws of society, frotn•
which it cannot depart, without exposing himself
to the disapprobation. of even those that may feel
amused by his eccentricity. The love. of Singu-.
laxity originates, indeed, in
.pride or in vanity;
and is more . commonly. the mimic of ignorance
and of presumption, than of any real superiority
of mental endowments or acquirements. But
even the man of avowed merit or learning rather
detracts from his merit, than he adds to it, by
the wilfully _neglecting of the common forms oU
society. Accustomed to live more in the solitude
of his study than in the busy haunts of life, he
naturally contracts a certain degree of awkward-
ness and of abstraction, which he should endea-
vour to overcome. The world is, indeed inclined
to punish, and perhaps with too much severity,
the errors of the persons who imagine that their
knowledge of important matters . is sufficient to
compensate for their ignorance of those of a more
trilling nature. This is not the case, nor should
it be so. Society is a sort of republic, in which
all the citizens roust be, or rather must appear to
be, pretty nearly upon an equal footing. Every'
superiority must be carefully concealed, or be
exhibited only under such a form as that it can
alarm none of those by whom it may be perceiv-
ed. lience the opinions, the customs, and the
practices of the many, must be respected-by the
few ; -for, however repugnant they may be to the
notions of the latter, as they have met with the
approbation of the greater portion of their fel-
low men, and constitute, as it. were, the funda-
mental laws of society, they cannot be openly
violated without exposing whoever does violate
them to well merited censure. In short, the
man who expects that his fellow men should al-
low him to set established customs at defiance,
and exacts for his own actions and notions a
deference he is not disposed to pay to those of
others, may be tolerated, but he must not hope-
ever to be sincerely and fully approved.
In whatever manner a man differs from other
men, he must, of necessity, be regarded by thews.
as better or as worse. If the former, he may
gain admiration, but he will scarcely obtain love,
and few, if any, men can sincerely wish to please
by. inferiority. Whatever outward approbation
may be given to singularity., it is but very seldom'
that it fails being regarded without something of
reprehension. . !n, persons devoid of intellectual
powers, it is most readily and generally con-
demned, whilst in those possessed of superior
abilities and attainments, it is regarded as a cloud
which dims a lustre which our eyes could not
otherwise be capable of supporting.
But if singularity he thus reprehensible in per-.
sons of superior abilities, how much more so must
it not be in those that are placed on a level with
the generality of mankind ? There is something
certainly greatly like presumption' in any one
concluding his merit to be such, that it may
either require, or justify, singularity. Pride,
which reigns more or less in every human breast,
will not tamely suffer_ one who has no claims
whatever to superiority to break..the rules which
society has established. with the common consent of
all men, and to which:all men, consequently, bow
down with perfect submission. It is evident, indeed,
that any violation of established forms implies a
contempt for general opinion -and of common
censure, and an arrogant appeal from general laws
to private judgment, which, while it arouses the
pride of all men and excites their disgust, exposes
him who thus differs from others, without posses-
sing any the least advantage over them, to the
galling shafts of ridicule, and to the datiger of
being hooted back into the common path, from
which he ought never to have departed.
There are, however, some instances in which
it is noble, and glorious, and praiseworthy, to
stand alone, and openly to brave the common
opinion. In such eases a fixed and immoveable
determination not to be led astray by the ex-
amples of others, is the mark of a laudable forth
tude, and well merits the praises of all that are
good and virtuous. Thus, to be religious amongst
Infidels, to be sober amongst those that are ad.
dieted to drinking, to be studious. amongst the
idle, or virtuous amongst the profligate,--are so
many proofs of a mind superior to the blame of
men, or to the tyranny of custom and of example,
and capable of braving ridicule and persecution-.
in the cause of virtue.

A. P.

DEATH HY FIGHTING.--Information was yes-
terday given to the Sitting Magistrate at Mary.
lebone Office., Mr. G RIFFITHS, by Mr. Nonni, a
surgeon, of-Gloucester-place, of the death of a
young man in consequence of injuries received in
a pitched battle fought by him on Sunday last,
with a man of the name of Fish, residing in Salis-
bury Mews, New-road. The cause of the bactie
was not stated ; but it appeared that they fought
in Quebec-fields, and that the battle was'very
stubbornly contested.. The friends of the de-
ceased had given no notice to the Coroner of the
melancholy occurrence, but had intended, with-
out inquiry being instituted, to bury the body.—
This intention was however frustrated by the
Magistrate, who ordered the burying to be de-
ferred till an inquisition had been taken on the
bOdy ; and also gave directions for the appre-
hension of me to abide its
result. Fish in the meantime