Star.
London, England, 1827-08-31 00:00:00

BIBLIOTHECA PARRIANA.

A very cursory view of this catalogue is sufficient to
convince any scholar of the great value of Dr. Pate's
classical history. Its magnitude was equal to its
'cute; for it contained most of the earliest printed co-
pies of Greek and Latin authors, and nearly all the most
valuable editions which have since been produced of
them by the successive labours of -modern commenta-
tors. The collection of annotations upon Aristotle
alone occupies six pages in the catalogue jp. 140446),
and seems to have been very highly prized by its learned
proprietor. He has left a note on " Twining's Trans-
lations of the Poetics," which, if the merits of that work
were not already known, would give it a flattering
introduction indeed to the approbation of the public.
He says that he values this work, on account of its be-
ing the gift of the editor, whom he is proud and happy
to call his friesod, because he is one of the best scholars
now living, and one of the best men that ever liied.
His notes, he.says, p. 223, are'very learned ; and, con-
sidrod as a translation of a Greek osiginal, his work, is
not surpassed by any translation in the English lan-
guage. The Doctor repeats this opinion in a note,
which he has inserted p. 328, upon " Sydenhana's Ge-
neral View of the Writings of 'Plato." After stating,
that no man understood Plato better than Mr. Syden-1
ham and Mr. Gray, he adds-0 Among the best trans.'
lations in the English language, I reckon Twining's
translation of " Aristotle's Poetics,":Sydenham's trans-
lation of the " Dialogues of Plato," and Hampton's
translation of Polybius." To this lamer work, he adds,
in another place, that Dr. Johnsort contributed the pre-
face.

There is a numerous collection of the different edi-
t;ons of Homer, to which we refer the curious reader.
At p. 224, the Doctor is guilty of a slight mistake, in
calling Chapman's translation the oldest EnAnds trans-
lation of Homer. Chapman printed his translation of
the first sect a books of the Iliad in 1596 ; 15 books
more in 1600 ; the remainder in 1604; and the Oiyssey
in 1614. Now the Iliad was is done into English," from
a n etrical French version, by Arthur Hall, Esq. M.P.
and published at London in 1581, by Ralph Newberrie.
It is " done" in the lumbering Alexandrine metre of
Sternhold and Hopkins, and was begun in 1563, under
the advice and encouragement of Mr. Roger Ascham,
whom the translator designates 44 climater acquaint-
ance of Homer." We should doubt much, whether
Ascham advised him to use the measure which he adopt-
ed ; for in criticising Golding's translation of " Ovid's
Metam, rphoses," he finds fault with it, and styles it a
barbarous and rude rhyming, which makes the poet{
morel ke a Gothian than a Grecian in the handling of
his verse." It is strange that all our early translators,
•Pheier, Fleming, Turberville, and others, should have
adopted this measure, which has now become almost
ridiculous from the Puritanical associations which we
camel with it.
"Ihailogelidelaiimes Ns him esarrae emb& 0•11,•11111MOIMMIAllabia

acquainted. Charles Lloyd of Binelashme publhised aaswynswady
In 11117,a trandatioa of the 94th Book of the Iliad. Dr. Parr, in
admitting that he revised the vendettas, calls the author or it a
very worthy and eradiate translator. Considering that a poet was
the subject on which Mr. Lloyd operated, we should deem this
faint praise from a friend like Dr. Parr to be highly damnatory.

. - .
The mention of the same of Lloyd naiads as de note at p. 401,
which conveys this very concise aad eurasedlouy intelligence :
" The writer of Junius was Mr. Lloyd, Secretary to Geo. Grenville,
and brother to Philip Lloyd, Dean of Norwich. This will soe day or
other be generally acknowledged." Yes, on the same day that there
is no longer any doubt u to who was the exuadoner of Charles I.
or wbo was the man in the boo stash; but not VI then.
To return, however, to Homer; at p. 51114 we have the following
note attached to " Sponce's Essay on Pope's Odyssey "
" Mr. Spence told my friend Langton, that his strictures, with
the exception of two, felt only upon thee* parts of the Odyssey,
which were translated, not by Mr. Pope, but by Mr. Tickell and
Ms other coadjutors ; sod Mr. Spence, with his usual ineenueumas
and acuteness, added, that 4 after the most minute attentlos to
Pope's verses, in his translation of the Died and Odyssey, he be-
lieved himself to have found there every beautiful expressioa la the
language of Foglia' poetry.'—S. P."
To another copy of Homer, p. 175, the following note is attached,
which is no lees creditable to the master whom it praises than to
the pupil by whom it was dictated The gift of the Rev. Cary
Sumner, S.T.P. bead master of Harrow School, to Samuel Parr,
1771. Dr. Sumner deservedly possessed the confidence of his
sehulus, and the respect of his literary companions. He had elegant
manners, various erudition, and most exquisite taste. He was the
instructor of my boyhood, anal the guide of my youth ; and during
the 58 years that have elapsed since his death, I have often thought
of Mm and often spoken of him as " eseassaus quatal. sof s_te, candid-
lames KITS flag rani eve east slatiacsior KIM rare, Hat-11
ton, Oct. 21, 1810." _
_ . _ .

At p.. 105 we have some annotations, which would have made
the blood boil in the bosom of Parr's " fearless friend" Parson.—
Every &NAG' scholar knows the atrabilious feelings with which
this Oreek of England regarded Hermann the Greek of Germany.
He sneered at his philology, laughed outright at his metrical canons,
and almost denied to him the possession of any talent. The two
Greek iambics, containing a tribrach in every plate but the last,
which Porson wrote to convince Hermann that he was wrong In
saying that such a line could not be constructed, win be bag re-
membered for their pungency by those who are conversant In such
matters. We shall merely quote, as a contrast to Dr. Parr's opi-
nion, the imitation of an epigram of PhosyUa.ts, which Porson
made in derision of his great antagonist—for such, though he was
unequal to compete with Person, he must beyond all question be
_

a The Germans in Greek
Are sadly to seek—
Not five in five score,
But ninety-five more:
Bacepting sae Hermann,
And he's& d-4 German."

It is an old saying that " a live ass is better than a dead lion,"
and therefore our surprise is diminished at finding even Dr. Parr
talking sneeringly about " Porson and his tribe," p. 38a, and then
lauding up Hermann, p. 210, as a peerless editor, to the skies.—
Besides, Hermann had before styled Parr, at p. 305," intelligent/5.
shuns harum literarum arbiter."

" My hero," says the Doctor, " is Hermann. He is not only a
scholar, but a philosopher of the highest order ; and he smiles pro.
bably as I die, at the petty criticisms of puny sebullasts Richard
Poison a puny scholiast !) who, in fact, do nor understand what it
written by this great critic."
This is, indeed, a flight of rhetoric. The Lord of Antispasta and
King of Ductimlacs exalted into a hero! Nothing can match it
save Dr. Burney 's absurdity is first styling Richard Bendy, Rich-
, aril Dawes, Ricbard Person, and others " magnanimi heroes,"
and then apnea ophiaing them as 4r vus Moores Itttardi." Surely
Dr. Parr mum have stolen this expression trout his friend's tents-
' own un the metres of jscbylus.
The friendship of Dr. Parr with Sir W. Jones is known to all
' the world. At p. 4i5 we find that the Doctor assisted bis pre.
eminently learned schoolfellow and friend in his translation of the
isierches of Twiny Ile says that be carefully examined the trans-

laden tli out, and had before him ail the dont the Greek ora-
eats at H. urephens. At p. 441 we haw. an anecdote regarding
Ur Wilikna, which is highly corians and, considering the martin
from wig* it comes, may be deemed trustworthy.
" Ages' (Sir W.) Dialogue between a Farmer and a Country
Gentlealin, on the principles of government, mitten bye Member
of the Society fee Constitutional Information-478e.
" • meat able dialogue, published without his name, by Sir W.
skiff" He told me he wrote it after a conversation, in which he
andedained, and Vergennes denied, that the first principles of go-
vernment could be made intelligible to plain lUiterate readers.—
Dr. • •• • who was present, doubted. Jones wrote the dialogue
In French. They met. Vergennes yielded; •• • • decided.
Jones, on his return, translated the book, and it was. published
without animadversion by the Constitutional Society. His brother-
kidder, the Dean of St. Asaph, procured a Welch translation ; then
moo the prosecition from Fitsmautice, the righteous and rival
inagkerate of the Dean. All this I beard when talking at his
Ambers in the•Tempis, with Jones, on the Monday after he had
'peen knighted, and the prosecution against the Dean commenced.
The preface, Sir W. Jones told me, was written by Bishop Ship-
ley.—S. P."
-Ylpot.were. we believe, more prosecutioss than on. instituted,
and mere Individual, than one imprisoned, for the paladiation of
thle treatise. &range to say. the author not only escapee scot
Om, line was loaded with dignities and honours. One cannot retest
midis circumstance without calling to mind the oftaquMed lines
ed Juvenal—
• it Comenietunt cadent &verso trinrins fate;
• • Ille crucem sceleris pretium talk, hie diadems." ,
'AmOngthe curiosities in this part of the catalogue ,is a translation
of tint Gemics of Virgil into Greek 'hexameters, executed by a
Russian, and published at &. Petersbotgls• We subjoin the title
of it—" Virgilil Georgici Grieco carmine heroic° expense nothique
Ultimata, studio ac labors Bugenii de Belga:is: folio.—Petxop.
1706." The following Is an extract from a long MS. note dictated
by Dr. Parr:
" The dedication contains seventy-six lines, and is addressed to
Prince Potemkin, The metre of the seventh line is irregular, and
Weed unintelligible. Strange improprieties of this kind occur la
other parts of the poem, where the verses are sometimes too long,
and samcdoes too short. (Here follow examples.) To the text
ire enhjoloo l yery copious notes in Greek, the matter of which is
sesMlleas 1118 W all, mythological sod critical. • They abound
liPilh=lM from authors both ancient and modern, panics-
ilea a work could be as little expected from such a quarter as a
Insertion of Dolan into Latin verse from a ilitghhader, or into
Drank verse front an Englishman ; and yet both these tasks have
been perfumed, as we learn front two entries In p. SOO " Oasiaai
Dat thula Grace residita a Gabel's° Herbert, Loodini, 19011" and
" Ossiani Phiagaleis Poems Belem •Latine oonversom, ab A.
Macdonald, Edinb. 1820." To this latter work Dr. Parr has at-
tached the following, note : " Fingal translated into good Latin
heroics, by Alexander Macdonald, with an acute and elegant Latin
preface, in which Macdonald endeavours to vindicate the anthen.
deity of Ossian's poems against the objection of Michael Laing."
Dr. Parr appears to have been convinced by those objections of the
spuriousness of the poems attributed to (Wan ; for at page 52Che
tort. I read this book (Milan's Poems) when a boy, and was our
mowed of it. Wheo at College, I again read Oral= with increased
delight : I now, although convinced of the imposture, find pleasure
be reading Macpherson.
The mention of one literary forgery leads not unnaturally to the
'mention of another. It Is well known that, when Chatterton first
published the poems of Rowley, several persons of considerable
name in the republic of letters stood up for their authenticity, among
whom Mr. Bryant and Dean Mille. were most eminent. In a
note upon Dean Miller's publication, we have the following opinion
el Dr. Johnson, given as to the merits of the defence which those
two learned Oentienten respectively nude foe the pseudo.Bowley—
" Mr. Bryan's is a machine a/ bulk and complioatien. to In
pats with mush materials, elaborately polished . and egoderaely as‘
nosed, buy taken altogether, it Is onseecoosildly ended to the
=l:sel lifting even a feather from the ground. The Dan's
is larger and mere unwieldy, being constructed of antiqua-
rian lumber—as it was made without skill, it moves without pro-
gress, and has strong propensity to sink the object it was designed
to raise." At p. 522, we meet with Ireland's great and isigte&rot
reelterf• called " Miscellaneous Papers and Legal lostronsents
under the band and seal of William Shakspeare. The Doctor
thus dismisses this pleadenymous garbage—" I ant alma' nelonsed
to Mien this worthless and infamously trickish book. It is Mil to
include the tragedy of King Lear, and a fragment of HaMlit.-.
Ireland told a lie when he imputed toes, the words which-Amiga
Wharton toed on the very roaming I ceded on Ireland, emdmitt
leaned to admit the possibility of geoubseness in his perm-
my subsequent conversation I told him my change of opinion; hut.
I thought it not worth while to dispute in print with a denoted
impoeter.—S.P."
It has often appeared to us that a goad history of literary foia
series, and of the controversies which they have excited, would be
r most amusing work. Though the researches which the exectedele.
of such a task would require might lead to no very useful end 100
practical point of view, yet they might be serviceable in dellossisig.
the history of the human mind, and in tracing the variations eillO'
public taste. Such frauds are, many of them, of high satigdiy.,
—One or two books of the Iliad are known to be no more thei
duction of Homer, than the shield of Hercules is that of
or the life of Homer k that of Herodotns. The letters of Itai.l
Fides are admitted to be as spurious as those attributed to naiades
asd are supposed to have been forged by the same set of sophists.
The Chi, ar,d Cubes of Virgil labour under similar torpfeiens, al
do many of the epistles and some of the orations of Ciceros At they
restoration of letters several frauds of this nature were attempted.
Leo Baptist' Alberti published, in 1425, a comedy entitled " PM-
lodoxus," which he distributed among his friends as the work of
Lepidus, an ancient Roman poet. The literati of that day were
deceived by it, and Lepidus for a while took his rank with Plautus
and Terence. In the succeeding century, Aldos Manutius, tbe
younger, printed that comedy, and gravely confessed in his proem%
his ignorance of its author, Lepidus, the Roman poet. About the
same time Muretns palmed some verses of his own upon &allies,
as the verses of Teepee. Scaliger, believing then, to be genuhuly
praised them to the skies. Muretus, wishing to appropriate to
himself the applause which bad been bestowed on Trabea, ac-
knowledged the deceit of which he had been guilty, and thus turned
Scaliger into a mortal and inveterate foe. • Annius,of Viterbo, pro-
duced a spurious edition of the works of Sanconniathe, Viterbo,
and Berosus—a forgery which for some time remained undlacce.l
vered. Sigoolus published a treatise of his own de Chiasafatinse as
a treatise ot Deere ; many were deceived by the counterfeit, Iwo
Lipsius discovered it. Ater only reading ten lines, he threw it
away, exclaiming, " Vab—non eat Ckernals." agonies aftwilards
acknowledged the fraud. A monk of Italy, not above toe psis
ago, fabricated a fifth book of Cicero'e-0 De Naiad Decienner.r.
bet it was too clumsy a production to deceive the asset unleiongdj
for be not only made Cicero quote the odes at Harm da AM'
quantities, but also represented him as having a
sacred weeder/drat!:
science of all the most mysteries of the Catholic
In all these cases the feelings which animated the fields mast
have been, in some degree, similar to those which led Alclhiades to.
intrigue with the Queen of Spr.rta, not so mach from love to her
person as from the morbid desire of :enjoying in secret the know-
ledge that the future Kings of Sparta were to be his descendants.
Other feelings instigated those who drew up and distributed the
Ikon Basilike, as the production of Charles I. Such, too, was tho
Case with reg:rd to many of the speeches attributed to the leaders
of the Long Parliament, which Lord Clarendon unblushingly owns
in his Memoirs, that he was a long time in the habit of forging
and disseminating for the use of his Royal Masters. The PolieW
Testaments of the Cardinals Bets and Richelieu were :forged.%
France for similar purposes. These anecdotes are merely introdu-
ced for the purpose of marking the points to which the writer et
such a history as we have mentioned would have to direct his atom.
don. There is another class of literary forgeries, of which the hie.
tory would perhaps, be still more amusing: for instance, the oil*
at such stories as Mrs. Veal's Ghost. That is the best authenticated
ghessarary on record ; and yet it is a mere fiction, written fora'
wager, and used by accident to fill up a very serious work en de.
' union. • Musa says, that Burke's " Vindication of Natural So-
ciety" owes its exigence to • similar cause. It was avowedly
written in imitation of the style of Lord Bolingbroke, and passed
for a long time, as Burke bet that it would, for the production of
I that nobleman. After the bet was acknowledged to be won, Mr.
Burke claimed the pamphlet as one of his composition ; and it is
now published as such in every edition of his works.
(re be coalmual.)

FRENCH PAPERS.

snow Tar °Starr/ DR num% AUGUST 29.
ODESSA, AUGOIT S.
We have news from Constantinople to the Sd of this
mouth. The result of the conferences at London res-
pecting the pacification of Greece rendered the Porte
very uneasy, though the certainty that the Courts of
Vienna and Berlin did not take any part in them had
produced a fironrable impression on the Divan. People
were, however, convinced that the Porte would lit
things come to the last extremity. The Courts of St.
Petersburgh, London, and Pais had not yet caused the
latiourtais to be presented, with the indication of a period
of SO days, according to the treaty; and as the ratifica-
tion of the three Sovereigns an indispensable, it could
hardly be presenteebefore the end of the month.
The Count Cap 6 crlstria,"Who is going to Greece, ie
said, at St. Petenburgh, to hive with him to the valor
of five millions of rubles.

PARIS, Am. se.
Letters from New Orleans say that the Bloss,a4
captain Richy (the Blossom, Captain Beechy), sent b)r
the English Government on a scientific voyage, had
touched at San Francisco in New California, and bad
sailed again to prosecute his voyage.

• PROW TUE CONSTITUTIONWEL.
LEGHORN, Alva. 16.
EXTRACT 3.110 M A PRIVATE LETTER.
We have received a letter, dated Corfu, August 4,
which announces a signal victory gained by the Greeks
over their enemy in the Peloponnents. Ibrahim Pasha,
after the defeat which he experienced at Megaspeleon
and Calavrita, wished to conduct his troops against the
Acro-Corinth. Having assembled all his forces, he
marched in person at the head of the Arabs. The Greeks
met him before the townof Vostizza, and forced him to
return with the loss of a great number of soldiers.
Another letter from the Island of Zante contains the
following passage:
48 Lord Cochrane, after having burnt the Egyptian
brig before Alexandria, and carried terror into the ene-
my's territory, has returned to Poros. Yesterday morn-
ing a little frigate of 36 guns, and a galley of the
Turkish fleet, passed off oar island to proceed to Patras.
On a sudden Lord Cochrane appeared near Strophes,
with the Hellas and the Soter brig. Towards noon we
heard a brisk cannonade, and in the evening we had
intelligence of a naval battle. Early this morning the
Hellas and the Soter approached the island, the latter
having in tow the enemy's frigate, on whose mast the
Greek standard was flying. The Turkish crew wee
compelled to =reader, after a resistance of 10 minutes.
The frigate has suffered in its rigging from the guns of
the Hellas. the Greek sailors were repairing the da-
mage. The vessels approached ao near our port, that
we could distinguish the men with the telescope. The
Turkish galley was captured • without sustaining any
injury. The Greek vessels proceeded towards Cbiareoza,
to anchor and to arm the galley for to-morrow morning.",

LISBON, Aaiun Is.
We learn from Chaves, that the Hand standards
which the Spaniards have Ault from Braganca, are at.
pected • there, and a fete is in preparation to receive
them. A letter has been received at Chaves, written
by Viscount Montalegre to his brother-in-law the Abbe
of St. Valise, in which the former describes the dreadful
state of misery he is in, and begs pecuniary assistance,
to defray the expense of a journey which he intends to
make to France. He also complains bitterly of the bad
treatment which he received in, Spain, and to which he
can no longer submit. Letters from Lamego, dated the
10th, speak of a mob having assembled near the village
of Pontello, and compelled all passengers to shout viva:
in favour of the Marquis of Chaves, and cry " Death
to Don Pedro and the Constitutioa!*
Sub-Lieutenant Soeiro proceeded to the spot at the
head of a detachment, which put the seditious to Bien.
One man was taken, and put into prison at Lamego.
An English brig-of-war brought dispatches to the
British Admiral two days ago. Immediately after,
three small English ships of war sailed. It is supposed
that they are to cruise out at sea, as a squadron of ob-
servation ; for at the same time orders were given to
add to the ordinary signals of the maritime. telegraph
on the tower, particular signals for notifying the ap-
proach of a Brazilian squadron.
The circular or manifesto addressed by Count de
Ponte to foreign Courts, continues to be severely cen-
sured. The inhabitants of this capital are grievously
offended at it. The protest made at Madrid, on the
catastrophe of Jut,' 7, 182'2, by the diplomatic body,
spoke with more delicacy and moderation of the inha-
bitants of the Spanish capital, than Salvador de Ponte
has done of those of the capital of his own country. It
is reported that Count de Villa Flor is to be sent on au
extraordinary mission to the province of Minh°. It is
alleged that this mission has for its object to paralyse
the authority of General Stubbs, who is feared."
The following Decree of the Emperor Don Pedro is
of some interest, because it was ploadulgated at the re-
•quest of the Princess Regent, and has not been executed
because Sir W. A'Court Apposed it.

DICRIL

" In virtue of the request made to me by the Infanta Donna
Isabella, my sister, who is worthy of my esteem and my predUee •
Lion ; considering the indispensible necessity which she has point'd
out of having a Secretary to her Cabinet, and authorising by my
royal approbation the confidence she has always repovrd in the
Counsellor Bernardo Red trAbrantes y Castro, I think fit to ap-
point him Secretary of her Cabinet. The above-gamed Infanta,
Regent of the kingdom of Portugal and Algarve, will carry tides
measure into execution.

m Palace sat Rio Janeiro, Jan. 28. 1827.
(Signed by Ms Majesty)

FRANCISCO i3OIIES DB SILVA."
There is a report that the Cabinet of Madrid intends
to make the Spanish army approach the frontiers of
Portugal, to support Don Miguel, sent by Austria.
Notwithstanding the repeated solicitatioi s rf the
Bishop of Algarve:, Minister of Justice, to be allowed

.‘ •
to quit office, hitherth hirresignitibr s•tietn at.'
cepted. The GaieWitutiolhief oriesterday says,
that it has at lent clepted.l.bot this is not true;
for be 4W busineis in NI office to-day. False reports
hatai404b44404014440V General Saldanha. Some
say be was summoned to the Council held on the 11th,
to open letters addressed to him by the gmperor ;
others, that he is going to London, by order of the In-
fante, to carry a letter to -the Cabinet of St. James's ;
but both are false. He lives at Oelras ; and though
be was in Lisbon on the night of the 11th, he returned
the next day to Oeiras. The public are ignorant what
seas done in the Council held on the 11th, but there is
so doubt that nothing was decided, for General Caula
has been ordered from Estressadura to, attend the
Council, whence it appears that nothing will be resolved
on without all the Counsellors being present.

' In consequence of the pablicatien of Don Pedro's
Decrees, and the tone taken by the Liberal Journals, the
books-Ilers who sell them have been summoned before
the Magistrates of their respective quarters, and asked
who edites these ['ape; s, who supplies them with money,
&c. the object of which is to intimidates as the Govern-
ment has at• the same time enjoined the Censors to be
more severe. The Chroniste, a weekly Journal, bas
been stopped. The zeal with which it has always sup-
ported the opinion that the Regency was a delegation
Item the Emperor, has excited against the editors the
'hatred of those who nosy regulate the Government, and
bas caused the severe orders given to the Censors.
We hear from Lamego of the 10th, that three days
!before. a number of the inhabitants of the village 'of
Portello made their appearance on the high road be-
tween Lamego and Douro, and forced all the passers by
to cry with them " Long live the Marquis of Chaves,
and Dsu Emmanuel !' " Death to Don Pedro ; down
with the Constitution I" A Lieutenant Soeiro, with a
few troops, immediately put them to flight, though one
was taken and carried to Lamego.

=TRACT ANOTHRR PRIYATZ LZTTICR, SANIZ DATIL
A report prevails that the English troops are to eva-
cuate Portugal, and the manner in which the adminis-
tration of the British army is disposing of the materiel
of war gives some countenance to this report. However
this may be, it is not supposed that the English will
evacuate the two posts they occupy at the entrance of
the Tagus, and which command the river. Pretexts will
also be found for leaving a guard for the lt•gent.

VIENNA, Auctorr
PIitIVATZ LETTERS.—We heir from J issy that horses
ire to be provided for transporting some artillery des-
tined for the fortresses On the right bank of the Danube,
such as Galaez and Widdin, which is one of the most
important of that part of the Ottoman Empire. It is
also said, that the fortress of Bosnia is to be reinforced
with a detachment of troops and exercised in the Euro•
pean manner.