High o'er his back th' infulting billow rides, There is harmony, and lively colouring, in the foregoing defcription; but thofe who have been prefent at a ftag hunting, at this most romantic place, affure us, that it is not in the power of pen, or pencil, to do juftice to the wonderful and delightful fcene. There is no poffibility of painting the enchanting founds that are heard, on fuch occafions; the repercuffive echo and clangor of the French-horns, mingled with the cry of the hounds, and the fhouts of the sportsmen all reverberated from the rocks and mountains, in a manner that at once astonishes the fpectator, and fills him with rapture unknown before, and utterly inexpreffible! ART. VIII. Genuine Letters from a Gentleman to a young Lady his Pupil. Calculated to form the Tape, regulate the Judgment, and improve the Morals. Written fome Years fince. Now first revised and published with Notes and Illuftrations, by Thomas Hull, of the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6 s. fewed. Bell. 1772. HESE Letters are publifhed with a view to their being T ufeful in the education of young people of both fexes; and they are in many refpe&s well calculated to answer that laudable intention. They breathe a ftrain of the pureft morality, and, while they tend to form the heart to virtue, they open the undertanding, and improve the tafte. It were to be wift ed however, that the Editor had omitted a number of frivo'ou communications, which ferve only to fwell them into a fuperfluous lize, and that he had given an higher polish to their fle and manner. Their Author appears to be a man of good fenfe and probity, and in every refpect well qualified to act in the capacity of tutor. The following Letter on Allegory and Fable will afford no unfavourable fpecimen of the merit of the whole : Allegory is faid to be a string of metaphors; but I think this defcription defective; for unless that feries of metaphors depends on fome one particular point, it is either a faulty alle gory, gory, or, rather, no allegory at all. To explain what I mean, I will quote a paffage from Shakespeare's Hamlet: “Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to fuffer This has been much cenfured as a faulty allegory, because the writer flies from one allufion to another, from flings to taking up of arms-against what?—a fea-and then oppofmg a fea, &c. Now if Shakespeare meant this for an allegory, it is doubtless very faulty; but I verily believe that was not his meaning. I am of opinion that he only took the first strong metaphor which came into his head, to exprefs himfelf forcibly and pathetically, and then another, and another, as the fubject rofe upon them, but had no idea of making them connected with, or dependent on each other. I will not venture to affirm I am right, but I am certain that one of the most judicious and correct authors that ever wrote comedy, does the felf-fame thing; I mean Terence. He makes one of his characters fay, "I am walled about with fo many and fo great difficulties, that I cannot swim out." 6 This, you fee, is liable to the very fame exception with the former, the metaphor not being continued in the fame kind; but I believe neither author had even the most diftant notion of an allegory. In the Paffion of Biblis, in Ovid's Metamorphofis, you have a perfect allegory drawn from fea-faring: "I fhould have watch'd whence the black ftorm might rife, Ere I had trufted the unfaithful skies; Now on the rolling billows I am tost, And with extended fails on the blind fhelves am loft.” Here you fee the images are perfect and uniform. I will quote another from Prior's Henry and Emma, which is very beautiful; "Did I but purpofe to embark with thee On the fmooth furface of a fummer's fea; But would forfake the ship and make for shore, Here also you find the allegory finely purfued throughout; yet not fo fcrupulously, as not to depart a little from it in the fourth line, "And fortune's favour fills, &c." From allegory there is an easy tranfition to little proverbial fayings, and to fables, which are but allegories worked up into a ftory. Our Saviour's parables are of this kind, exactly in character, Q4 character, and obvious to every understanding. Æfop, it is true, takes the liberty to make birds and beafts fpeak, but, barring that, he always adheres to character. There ought to be a moral couched in all fables, or to no purpose are they spoke or written. Comparisons, proverbial fpeeches, parables, and fables, may be easily converted, the one into the other. Sometimes the moral is expreffed, fometimes understood. By fome writers it is fet in front, as by Fontaine; by fome, at the end, as by Afop; and occafionally it is placed in the middle of the work. Thofe moral fentences which we find fo frequently interfperfed in Homer, Virgil, Milton, &c. before, in the middle, or at the clofe of fome interefting narration, are entirely in the nature of morals to a fable. I fall throw a little illuftration on thefe points, particuJarly relative to proverbial fentences and phrafes, and then releafe my dear fcholar. We have a proverb in Scotland, "Cocks are free of horfe-corn;" meaning to imply that people are liberal or profufe of what belongs to another. Again, we have, "Ule a cat to the churn, and fhe will call it cuftom;" fignifying, if you accufiom your fervants, or other folks, to make frequent ule of what is yours, they will think, at last, that they have acquired a right to it. How eally now may thefe be changed into a comparifon! for inftance, "As a cat that has been allowed," &c. As a cock, that fits in a manger," &c.—or into a fable, as, “A widow had a favourite cat, whom the indulged," and to on. Thefe fimple examples clearly fhew how clofely the figures are allied. A fable or story may be either true or falfe, it matters not which, to that a moral accompanies it, and flows naturally from it. Here follows a quotation from Spenfer, where a fable, comparison, and moral, are finely wrought up together, "As when a weary traveller, that strays By muddy shore of broad fev'n-mouthed Nile, Which, in falfe grief hiding his harmful guile, In the foregoing part of this Letter, I obferved that fop, though he makes his feigned perfons, that is, his birds and beafts, converfe and reafon, yet he always preferves character. One minute's patience more, while I illuftrate this. His firit fable affords me the means. "A dog, with a piece of meat in his mouth, looking into a pool of water, imagines he there fees another dog, with a piece of meat in his mouth; he fnatches at that, and thereby lofes his own." This is all very natural to a dog, and a plain moral is to be deduced; namely, that we give up certainty for hope, when we greedily grafp at having too much. The reverfe of this rule of preferving character is Dryden's ́ fable of the Hind and Panther. He has wholly departed from it. His Hind and Panther fet forth at firft in kind, I allow; but in the fequel, he makes them reafon and difpute about Fathers and Councils, the Church, and the Pope, School-divinity, Infallibility, and the Lord knows what. He then introduces a whole flock of birds, and characterizes them all as men. The Buzzard was the famous Dr. Burnet, who was Bishop of Salisbury. 6 Dryden has been juftly cenfured for this inconfiftency; for fay the critics, in fupport of their accufation, "Suppofe a colonel of horse had thrown up his regiment in foolish hope of getting a higher command, and was difappointed," Æfop's fable might aptly be applied to him; but it would be abfurd to fay, "The dog feeing another dog in the water, with a piece of meat in his mouth, dropped the piece in his own mouth, and fnatched at the other, and fo loft his regiment of horse." This were to confound the allufion with the ftory alluded to, the moral with the fable. I queftion whether I need trouble you with the catachrefis or no; however I will be brief. Catachrefis is the abufe or over-ftraining a figure. One fpecies of it is, when, through the want of proper, we ufe improper terms; for example, a glass-inkhorn, or a fiver fmcothingiron. Parricide is properly the murderer of one's father, but in default of better powers of expreffion, we apply the name to one who has murdered, either his mother, brother, or fifter. Longinus cenfures fome writer for calling a hillock a wart. Quintilian has given many inftances of this, and even from Virgil; fome of them very beautiful; but when the image is beautiful, I think it cannot with propriety be called a catachrefis. Blackwell pronounces the following paflage from Milton to be fuch; "Down thither prone in flight He fpeeds, and through the vast ætherial ky • This This is when he defcribes the defcent from heaven of the arch-angel Raphael. I am not of his opinion; the idea is fupremely fublime, but not overstrained. • Statius, defcribing a general filence and quiet, fays, "The weary mountains nodded their heads; And the feas refted or flept, leaning against the fhore." I forgot to mention the 29th ode of Horace, in his third book; it is finely imitated by Dryden; there he begins with Fortune as a goddess, then allegorizes her into a bird, and laftly runs into another long allegory of failing in a ftorm.' In concluding our short notice of this publication, we cannot but express our regret, that there are fo few elementary books of any confiderable value in our language. While the avenues to knowledge continue fo obfcure, and embarraffed, one might conclude that men of capacity and difcernment were afhamed to afcertain and mark the fteps which have conducted them to fcience. Art. IX. A Sentimental Journey through Greece. In a Series of Letters, written from Conflantinople; by M. De Guys of the Academy of Marfeilles, to M. Bourlat de Montredon, at Paris. Tranilated from the French. 12mo. 3 Vols. 75. 6 d. fewed. Cadell. 1772. T is by enquiries into the climate, the religion, the government, the morality, and the cuftoms of nations, that we are enabled to form an adequate idea of their genius and fpirit. Speculations of this kind are of the very highest importance; and no people in the ancient or modern world, prefent to our obfervation fuch a multitude of interefting particulars, as the Greeks. But, though M. De Guys has been fortunate in the choice of his fubject, he has not, in general, been fuccefsful in treating it. His claffical knowledge is, indeed, confiderable; and a long refidence at Conftantinople, under the protection of the king of France, allowed him frequent opportu nities of making excurfions into Greece. The most extenfive erudition, however, joined to a fituation, the most favourable for turning it to advantage, are but a poor compenfation for the want of philofophy, and acutenefs of mind. A writer may collect facts without knowing their value; he may entertain by his vivacity, while he wants ability to reafon, and he may be various in his matter, without poffeffing the talent of arrangeSuch we fhould conceive is the Author of the Literary' Journey ment. So he intitles his work; and not a fentimental Journey. The English title has no propriety; and muit be therefore confidered, though |