general: "The winter is paft." The next is more fpecial, pointing to one confiderable and very difagreeable attendant upon winter, the rain: "The rain is over and gone," Thence he advanceth to the pofitive indications of the fpring, as appearing in the effects produced upon the plants which clothe the fields, and on the winged inhabitants of the grove." The flowers appear on the earth, and "the time of the finging of birds is come." But as though this werefill too general, from mentioning birds and plants, he proceeds to Specify the turtle, perhaps confidered as the emblem of love and con fancy; the figtree and the vine, as the earnest of friendship and feftive joy, felecting that particular with refpect to each, which most ftrongly marks the prefence of the all-reviving fpring. "The voice "of the turtle is heard in our land, the figtree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape perfume the air." The paffage is not more remarkable for the livelinefs, than for the elegance of the picture it exhibits. The examples are all taken from whatever can contribute to regale the fenfes and awaken love. Yet, reverse the order, and the beauty is almoft totally effaced.'

66

In a work in which the subject of verbal criticifm is treated with so much accuracy, we are furprized to meet with feveral phrafes, provincial, inelegant, or incorrect: among which are the following: We have fynonymous words, in the event of a difmiffion, to fupply its place-there hath been access incidentally to difcover-in all the paraphrafes we have had access to be acquainted with-Nor is there ansther [any other] alteration made-I have, upon the matter, affigned the reafon alreadyBulkiness accompanied with motion will fall to be exemplified in the next article.'

Notwithstanding thefe, and fome other incidental flips, we think ourselves authorised to recommend this Work to our readers as a well-written and judicious performance; and we promise ourselves much pleasure in attending the Author thro' the remaining part of his plan, in which he proposes to treat of elegance, animation, and melody, as qualities of ftyle.

SCA

ART. XIII. Milton's Italian Poems tranflated, and addreffed to a Gentleman of Italy. By Dr. Langhorne. 4to. 1 s. Becket. 1776. CARCE any foreign language is at prefent much cultivated in this country except the French: but in the earlier ages of English poetry, Italian literature was the favourite study of our Authors. The fonnet was imported from Italy, and is indeed, from the conftruction of its stanza and frequent recurrence of fimilar terminations, more adapted to the genius of that tongue than of our own. Milton, who was an univerfal fcholar, and deeply skilled in languages, foreign as well as ancient, has not only naturalized the fonnet, but has in a few of thofe compofitions, addreffed to natives of Italy, adopted the

Cc 4

ufe

ufe of their language. Of thefe few Dr. Langhorne has here given us an elegant verfion, which he has judiciously endeavoured to accommodate to the ftyle and manner of the English fonnets of his original. Like him, too, he has penned a poetical epiftle to a gentleman of Italy, from which we have given an extract that will not, we truft, be unpleafing to our Readers: To thee, the child of claffic plains,

The happier hand of Nature gave
Each grace of Fancy's finer ftrains,

Each mufe that mourn'd o'er Maro's grave.
Nor yet the harp that Horace ftrung
With many a charm of eafy art;
Nor yet what fweet Tibullus fung,
When Beauty bound him to her heart;
Nor all that gentle PROVENCE knew,
Where each breeze bore a lover's figh,
When Petrarch's sweet perfuafion drew
The tender woe from Laura's eye.
Nor aught that nobler Science feeks,
What Truth, what Virtue muft avoid,
Nor aught the voice of Nature speaks,
To thee unknown, or unenjoy'd?
O wife beyond each weaker aim,

That weds the foul to this low fphere,
Fond to indulge the feeble frame,

That holds awhile her prifoner here!
Trust me, my friend, that foul furvives
(If e'er had Mufe prophetic fkill)
And when the fated hour arrives,
That all her faculties fhall fill,
Fit for fome nobler frame fhe flies,
Afar to find a fecond birth,
And, flourishing in fairer fkies,
Forfakes her nursery of earth.

Oh there, my Mozzi, to behold

The man that mourn'd his country's wrong

When the poor exile left his fold,

And feebly dragg'd his goat along!

On Plato's hallow'd breast to lean,
And catch that ray of heavenly fire,
Which fmcoth'd a tyrant's fullen mien,!
And bade the cruel thought retire!

Hanc etiam vix Tityre duco,,

VIRG.

And

And oft at eve, if eve can be
Beneath the fource of glory's fmile,
To range Elyfian groves, and fee

That NIGHTLY VISITANT-'ere while,
Who, when he left immortal choirs,
To mix with Milton's kindred foul,
The labours of their golden lyres
Would steal, and whifper whence he stole."
Aufonian Bard, from my fond ear

By feas and mountains fever'd long,
If chance, thefe humble trains to hear,
You leave your more melodious fong,
Whether adventurous, you explore
The wilds of Apenninus' brow,
Or, muling near Loretto's fhore,
Smile piteous on the pilgrim's vow,
The Mufe's gentle offering ftill

Your ear thall win, your love fhall wooe,
And thefe fpring-flowers of Milton fill

The favour'd vales where firit they grew.

The concluding ftanzas refer entirely to a domeftic misfortune of the Author, and are embellished with fome pathetic touches exhibiting the forrow and tenderness of an elegant and feeling mind.

FOREIGN LITERATURE.
(By our CORRESPONDENT s.)

FRANCE.

AVIGNON,
ART. I.

HE careful execution of the following plan, must be a

TH moft defirable object to the learned and the curious in all

nations, viz. that which has been lately formed at Avignon, for publishing, annually, a quarto volume, containing an account of the difcoveries made, during the courfe of the year, in the, respective arts and fciences. The title of this work is, Tableau Philofophique Hiftorique, Litteraire, et Critique des Decouvertes faites dans les Sciences, Arts, et Metiers. The authors propose to begin with the year 1776, and to publifh the first volume in December. This will be preceded by four volumes in quarto (of which one is already publifhed, and the others will appear in a few months,) containing an hiftory of past discoveries, their authors, improvers, &c. This work is to be published by subscription, by Seguin, book feller at Avignon. We propofe to notice it more particularly, in fome future article.

bookfeller

II. Vue fur les Senfations: i. e. A View of Senfations, by the Abbe ROSSIGNOL, Profeffor of Mathematics and Natural Phi

lofophy

lofophy at Milan, 12mo. This piece, which has both Milan and Paris in the title-page, feems to have been printed in the latter of these cities. It is no more than a fample of a more extenfive work, which the author propofes to publifh on this. intricate, yet interefting and important fubject, which has been fo often treated and fo little illuftrated. One of the principal things which the ingenious Abbé has in view, is to prove, in oppofition to the doctrine of one of the first metaphysicians of this age, that the fenfe of touching has not the leaft advantage above the other four, with respect to the evidence it affords to the mind, of the existence of matter, It is against the Abbé Condillac that this is afferted; and the treatife concerning Senfations, by that justly celebrated author, is fmartly criticized. The Abbé Roffignol is an accute reafoner, and feems fo well inured to metaphyfical difcuffions, that we cannot help defiring the speedy publication of his larger work. This larger work will comprehend a general Theory of Senfations; and it is not the only production we are to expect from the prolific pen of this learned Abbé; for we learn, from one of his letters, juft fallan into our hands, that he has eleven different compofitions ready for the prefs; and that he will publish them in a cluster, which is rather overwhelming. Among these productions, the public is allowed to expect a System of Natural Philofophy on new Principles: (this, indeed, excites curiofity), a Treatife of Rectilinear Geometry, applied to the Meafures of all Kinds of Diflances, and several more which fhall be mentioned when they appear.

III. Memoire fur les Parties Conftituantes et les Combinations particulieres de la Farine; i. e. A Memoir concerning the Parts that conflitute the true Nature of Flower, and their particular Combina- · tions; by the Abbé Poncelet, Paris. This ingenious piece has a very peculiar claim to the attention of all thofe, who have at heart the improvement of natural knowledge and rural economy, nay the health and welfare of their fellow-citizens and fellow-creatures; fince no lefs a matter than the staff of life is the subject of the patriotic Abbé's researches. All his experiments and obfervations have for their great object the bettering the bread in the hospitals and armies. With this view he undertook a long series of chemical operations, in order to come at a diftinét knowledge of the true nature of different kinds of meal and flour; these he difcuffes with perfpicuity and precifion, in the first part of the memoir now before us; and in the fecond he lays down the applications, obfervations, and practical conclufions, deducible from his experiments.

IV. Recherches fur la Nature de l'Homme, confideré dans l'Etat de Santé et dans l'Etat de Maladie, &c. i. e. Researches concerning the Nature of Man, confidered both in Health and Sicknefs; by M. FABRE, King's Profeffor in the College of Chirur

2

gery,

&c. &c. In thefe laborious Refearches on a fubject, many gery, of whofe most important fecrets feem inacceffible to human fagacity, M. Fabre follows the path, marked out by the mot illuftrious obfervers of Nature; and after two thousand years of ignorance and errors, difcoveries and difputes, he brings us back to the point of view in which Hippocrates confidered human nature, by acknowledging fenfibility as the first mover, or main fpring, in the animal economy. This fenfibility (according to M. FABRE) is under the direction of a fpiritual and immortal fubftance or foul. The brain, from which the nerves derive their origin, and the fluid, which it is perpetually filtrating, are the primitive and abundant fources of fenfibility. By this principle M. FABRE pretends to get clear of the labyrinth, to remove many difficulties, to explain the procedure of the vital functions, and the circulation of the blood, which in the capillary veffels yields, to all forts of directions, and is not therefore always dependent on the motion of the heart. The author proceeds fiill farther, and employs the principle of fenfibility to account for variety in genius, fagacity, and talent. From hence he draws fome judicious inferences with refpect to education; and he exhorts the inftructors of youth, to wait for, but neither to accelerate nor retard, the moment of fenfibility. All this is entertaining and plaufible; accompanied with curious experiments, agreeably related, and with reflections conveyed in a pleafing ftyle; but after all, we cannot fay that nature seems to have let our author into her fecret.

V. FLORA PARISIENSIS, ou Defcriptions et Figures de toutes les Plantes, qui croiffent aux Environs de Paris, &c. i. e. The PARISIAN FLORA, containing Deferiptions and Cuts of all the Plants that grow in the adjacent Parts of Paris, with their different Names, Claffes, Analogies and Species, arranged according to the fexual Method of Linnæus; alfo their diftin&tive Parts, Properties, and medical Virtues, and the Quantities and Dofes in which they ought to be adminiftered according to the Botanical Demonftrations that are carried on in the King's Garden. By M. BULLIARD. This fplendid work, which is publifhed in nnmbers (one every two months, containing twenty Plates drawn, engraven, and coloured from nature) and twenty defcriptions and explications elegantly printed, will be finished in the course of five years. It is preceded by an Introduction to Botany, which is full of inftruction; and will be terminated by a General Table of French, Latin, and vulgar names, which will enable every one to arrange each plant according to his favourite method. Three numbers are already delivered to the fubscribers, who pay 51 French livres for the first of each year, feven livres each for the four following, and receive the laft gratis.

VI. Oeuvres