The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-29 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICES.

The Asiatic Journal. November, 1836.

We pass over two or three articles in this journal, in
order that we may draw attention to au ir-teresting and
somewhat novel discussion, respecting " Oriental Trans-
lations." We confess that the title of this article did not
awaken in us much expectation, and we were exceed-
ingly gratified to find more than we looked for. It is a
singular fact, that Rome, in her most accomplished state,
even when she sent her sons to learn philosophy " inter
SJI; as Academi"—on the banks of Ilissus never thought
of transplanting the fruits of Greece into the soil of
Italy. Even Cicero, who seems to have stood alone in
his labour, having " translated into Latin an oration of
Demosthenes and one of 2Eschines," appears to have had
no other object in view than self-discipline and self-in-
struction. But if there was a dearth of translations there
was a large transfusion of Attic spirit. Though Cicero's
style of eloquence was not farmed upon any of the mo-
dels of Greece, it only differed from them because the
occasions which called them forth were unlike. To re-
sist the encroachments of a powerful and victorious ge-
neral, thundering at the citadel, would demand an energy
of expression, a quick succession of impassioned appeals,
an unstudied dignity of manner, which would have been
ill adapted for an insinuating and argumentativeaddress,
to the Conscript Fathers. In poetry, Terence borrow-
ed, if he translated not, much from Menander, and Vir-
gil followed the steps of Theocritus and Homer. We
have been much pleased with the remarks upon the value
of the Septuagint translation of the Holy Scriptures,
made by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, for the benefit
of the Alexandrine Jews. It is an invaluable commen-
tary upon the Hebrew text. But we, really, can hardly
help smiling, at the half Hutchinsonian zeal of some
men to find in the Bible what we think was never in-
tended to exist there—scientific knowledge—and to be
told, that in I. Kings, vii. 23, is contained the " rectifi-
cation of the circle," because it is said, that " the com-
pass of it" (the periphery) is three times its diameter.
This is ludicrously absurd. Poor Archimedes, Van Cue-
len, and the more refined geometricians of modern times,
with their differential and integral calculi, are all antici-
pated by this discovery in the Bible !—just as much, we
think, as Harvey was, in the circulation of the blood by
the dark intimations of it supposed to be contained in
Ecclesiastes, xii. 6. With the concluding observation of
this article we cordially agree ; it expresses a fact esta •
blished by long and multiplied observation, and well
calculated to restrain the sneers of flippant infidelity'—
"the wonderful and intimate connexion between liberal
learning and Christianity ; and how regularly the ad-
vance of tue one has accompanied the spread of the
other."

" Flowers for Poets' Graves" contain many pleasing
pictures, poetically expressed ; but we have failed to traee
any significant characteristic of the sons of song whose
names they are intended to commemorate. We think
their tombs would be confounded, if they were not other-
wise inscribed. The fiery dithyrambics of Pindar—the
heart-touching strains of Tyrtoeus—and the pictorial
Virgil, might have suggested more illustrative emblems
in nature than have been chosen by the author of " Flow-
ell for Poets' Graves." We fear they are not amaran-
thine!

" Major Skinner's Journey Overland to India."—The
selections from this work are not many, but. are well
chosen—they serve to convey a just idea of the contents
of the volume from which they are taken. We quote the
following as a specimen, which will, at the same time,
show that we, in Europe, do not monopolize, entirely,
moral corruptions :—" At a ball in Egypt, at which the
Major was present, he witnessed the following amusing
(we think degrading) ceremony Most of the dancers,
who seemed mere girls, were young mothers, who could
not for any twine be separated from their babes ; instead,
however, of remaining at home, they determined to coin.
bine their pleasure and their duty ; and a procession of
nurses, after a little while, filed through the dancing-
room to an adjoining chamber. I did not quite under-
stand the meaning of this interesting group at first; but
a gentle whine from one of the infants caught the ears of
an old lady, who clumped upon her pattens up to the
seeming girl with whom I was dancing, and in very plain
terms scolded her for suffering her child to starve. ' I
know its voice,' said the old lady, from a thousand.'—
It is not mine, mamma, I am sure,' said my partner;
and I thought a sharp argument would arise between
them on the subject ; when, suddenly, the note was ta.
ken up by all the infants, and the old ladies, jumping off
their seats, bustled about to drive in the young ones,
who, to do them justice, showed no unwillingness ; and
in an instant the dance was abandoned, until, the office
being performed, the mothers returned, and apologising
prettily for what could not be neglected, gave their hands
once more to their partners, and resumed the dance until
the lambs should again call them away by their bleating.' "
How perfect, in Egpyt, must be conjugal bliss ! The
voice of nature stifled for the most senseless, contempti-
ble, and scarcely decent diversion ! We almost agree
Wth Cicero, who says, on his defence of Murwria, " No
man was ever seen to dance, except he was either drunk
or mad."