The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-07 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

INGRATITUDE.
Mn. EDITOR—There is not one of your
Readers more delighted than myself with. SYM•
MONS'S Translation of Aganwmnon, which ouly
sinks below the original, because the English is
so inferior to the Greek language. The quota-
tions, too, which were taken from it, in your Pa per,
have been selected with taste ; and though, it
were impossible to quote amiss, yet there is one
passage which is so beautiful in both languages,
and comes so home to the heart of every man in
all ages, that I cannot refrain from transcribing
it—for the enjoyment, and, it may be, for the
improvement of those who would, otherwise never
profit by it either in the translation or in the
original, and who may be equal strangers to
Symmons as to rEsehylus, but who must feel the
beauty and justice of the sentiment—happy for
them, if they do not feel it too painfully. It is
part of the celebrated address of the ill-fated
King Agamemnon to the Chorus, just before his
horrible Consort Clytemnestra came upon the
stage,and•it is a pity she was not present to hear
it, as it must have struck a pang even into her
conscience ar4oSouXoc *,and armed with a triple
coat of mail us she was :

How few have that congenial happy spirit
To brook the elevation e'en of friends,
When blest and glorious, without envy's pang:
For envy, like a poison at the heart,
Sits doubly loading the diseased wretch :
First, his own woes, which life has put upon him,
Seem no small ourden, which he scarce can bear ;
Then, when his eyes look outward on the world,
The happiness which smiles at others' gates
Makes him sigh deeper that another's glad.
Well may I say it, for I long have mark'd •
Life's raree.show before me in a mirror
Reflected to my eyes; there I have sat
Musing to mark the shadows as they pass'd,
And saw that those who seem'd my warmest friends
Were, like the twit, but images of shades;
Only Ulysses, who sail'd 'gainst hit will;
Was, when his harness once was on his back
A steady, yokemate, drawing by my side
With all alacrity, fast bound unto me.

Agamemnon, in the midst of his distress, still
had one friend to console him ; and though at the
moment of this address he was not quite sure that
he wns alive,or dead, yet be could reflect with
pleasure upon the friendship which Ulysses had
always shown him, when they were living to-
gether in the midst of all his trials. This was
enough to cheer his spirits, while he mused upon
all his sorrows, and seemed, by anticipation, to

presage the horrible scene which wns so soon
about to close all his sorrows and his joys at once.
But how many unhappy mortals are there wan-
dering in this world, to them another wilderness,
who, like Job, have not so much as one friend
left.—" Once he sat chief, and dwelt as a king
in the army ; but now they that are younger than

E have him in derision, whole fathers he would

have disdained to set with the dogs of his flocks.
Children of fools, yea, children of base men ;
viler than the earth.—But now is he their song
and by.word ; they abhor him, and flee from
him. Upon his right hand rise the youth ; they
push away his feet, mar his path, and set for.
ward his calamity, and leave him a brother to
dragons, and a companion to owls." Such base

ingratitude from those to u horn he naturally looked
for kindness and affection, was the most cruel
stroke of all. All other misfortunes he might

not feel so deeply, because they might be dis-
persed; or at least: the sore pressure diminished
by the force of sympathy, and its sting taken out
entirely. '‘ The Sabeatis fell upon his oxen and
his asses, and slew his servants with the edge of
the sword, and one only escaped to tell him;
fire fell down from. 'leaven and burnt up his
sheep and the shepherds, and again one escaped
to tell him ; the Chaldeans fell upon his camels
and sleW the servants, yet still one escaped to
tell him. Then came a great wind from the wil-
derness and smote the four corners of the house,
when his children and their friends were ban-
queting, and slew them all, except one who still
escaped to tell him. But the last shock. was
more complete and more cruel than all the test :
Ingratitude, more fell than the Sabeuns, the fire,
the Chaldeans, and the tempest, seized on the
hearts of all his friends, and from this plague not
one escaped to tell him." C.
• Some have thought this term to express what I here trans.
late it, with Symmons, while others interpret it " thinking of
her lord," and others again " laying snares for him :" but it
appears to be a two-edged sword in the hands of the skilful
Chorus, who is too cautious to disclose openly his full mean-
ing, and yet cannot help expressing his sentiments, and there-
fore, expresses them in such a manner as the oracles used to
do, ambigu' ()Italy, Inlna double form, so as to take shelter from
the more offensive meaning under the other, or rather speaks in
praise of one whom he could not in his own mind refrain from
condemning. This term, therefore, in his mouth, may mean
both "a man in c00n5.21," and one "laying snares for h. r
lord," which seems to harmonize with the crafty and considerate
policy of the Chorus in other parts of this play, as well as
with the spirit of double entendre, which shews itself in some
other passages, especially in the word x7)64, which is an
expression used both for woe and for wedlock, and which
this tragedian therefore uses iu accommodation to his pur-
pose,—by one word to describe the ill-fated marriage of
Helen ; and he condescends to play upon her name, es Syrn-
mona observes, still harping on the fatality of names.

Fiat.----Thursday !fight, about teu o'cint*, a.
watchmen discovered a tire in the lower part of the boalitl of
Mr. Tyler, a gold-beater, in Bridgewater equate. The In-
mates, with the AliLlitanee of Attie neighbours, AUC ktee)ed
k
getting out thy_ greater part of their forptiure, neighbour
the tire wee
gut under without cluing any onsiderabk daniage.

LrkEitAttY NOTICE.

TCIUg on the CONTINENT, in FRAN(E, SWITZER-
-LAND, and ITALY, in' the YeaiA 1817 and 1810. 4y
Roor.it lioo, Esq.' thor of "Adelaide de Oninuanut,"
and PoeuiB.' •

The author of this tour is a rapid but not au
unobserving traveller. Ile has certainly, to use
the ordinary phrase, made the, most of his time.
his excursions have been various and extensive.
Ile may be said to have taken a bird's eye view
of ruestef
whichtheplacry
places which he has visited, and of
the curiosities
contain, and therefore,
though he does not enter, into an ela borate descrip-
Lion of the chief works of art, or venerable remains
of antiquity, yet he brings them into sufficient
notice to excite the -attention of future tie-
vellers,and his Work may well be reccommeoded
to attention as a Vade Mecum to those who are
inclined to fellow the author's course. 1(y11.
fact, in all the places tha't he visited, nothing
valuable for workmanship or antiquity escaped
his notice. It may be properly observed, that
almost' every place to which he directed his at.
teution, had something worthy of observation,
and 'the Tour will therefore be very, useful to
those who pursue any of his tracks. Before the
titlepr e s e pn at
ignegthere
ei is
laerge
ros
iynt tatog
view ra phi c prin t
approachingre-
Viterbo from the North, well calculated to give
a general idea of the place.

WINCHESTEIt SUAIAIER. ASSIZES.

TIWRSDAY, AIJOUST

EXTRAORDINARY.. OCCURRI7,NCE.-This_ even.
ing, atter leaving the Court, Mr. F. NV'Lt.r.Ams, the Parris-
ter, was violently attacked by a gentleman of the name of Bur-
rage, who struck him once or twice; and when Mr. W. had
placed himself in an attitude of defence, he was surrounded by
many of the other Barristers, who having ordered the man to
be taken into .custody, he was conveyed to the town-clerk's
of ice,' at which place appeared • More Barristers than bad ever
been seen there before, to support their, friend Mr. Williams.
Mr. Burragei when called on for his defence, alleged that Mr.
W. had conducted a cause for him at Dorchester, and which
Mr. B. alleged had been 'lost by Mr. Williams's not calling
some witness, who Mr. B. had wished should have been called.
Mr. B. was committed to the county jail for the night, and will
he tried to-morrow at the City Sessions, which will then be
holden. It is said that Mr. B. had written often to Mr. W.,
and to most, if not all, of the twelve Judges, stating his sup-
posed grievances.
FUIDAY.—ToAay, at the City Sessions, an indictment was
preferred by Mr. Williams, and a true bill having been found,
Mr. Al twcillx,, Mr. Burrage's Attorney, made a very hand-
sonic apology to Mr. W., which Mr. B. afterwards confirmed
• in person, and also called at Mr. Williams's lodgings, but he
not being at home, Mr, B. did not then see him. Mr. B. was
also bound in a 2001. bond to keep the peace two years tolvarda
Mr. Williams..