Take heed lest Boreas play the mocker, And lodge you next the Royal George. To this soon after succeeded the following: MR. EDITOR, Understanding that my last translation of an "Ode of Horace" did not displease the best judges, I have taken the liberty to send you a second attempt, which I submit to your candour. It may seem matter of wonder to you, as it does to me, that neither Quintilian, nor Will Baxter, nor any other hunter of allegories, should find out the real drift of this Ode, which is so very easy to be discovered. The case, in short, is as follows:- Augustus, in the midst of peace and tranquillity, felt, or feigned, an alarm, on account of some books written by persons suspected of an attachment to the party of Cato and Brutus, and recommending republican principles. Now, Horace having been a colonel in Brutus's army, and being rather too free in expressing his religious sentiments, naturally passed for an atheist and a republican. Augustus published an edict to tell his subjects how happy they all were, in spite of the suggestions of malcontents; commanding them to stick close to their old religions; and threatening that whoever was not active in assisting the government should be treated as an enemy to church and state. Upon this occasion Horace read, or affected to read, for I will not take my oath to his sincerity, a recantation. In one part of the Ode he says, "Jupiter, who generally thunders and lightens in cloudy weather, now has driven his chariot through the serene air." This is so plain an emblem of Augustus fulminating his censures in a time of profound tranquillity, that it needs no further comment. Our author refers to this circumstance again, in the fifth Ode of the third Book, Calo tonantem credidimus Jovem regnare; 1794.] IMITATIONS OF HORACE. 195 præsens divus habebitur Augustus: "We have believed that Jupiter reigns thundering from heaven; Augustus shall be esteemed a present god." In another place he expressly calls Augustus Jupiter, Epist. i. 19, 43: Rides, ait, et Jovis auribus ista servas: "You joke," says he, "and reserve your verses for the ear of Jove." For all sovereigns, while they are in power, are compared to the sovereign of the gods, however weak, wicked, or worthless they may be: "Nihil est quod credere de se Non possit, cum laudatur Dîs æqua potestas." I must not forget to add that this edict of the emperor was followed by numerous addresses from large bodies of the men who were once called Romans, allowing the reality of the plots, lamenting the decay of piety, and promising to resist all innovation, and to defend his sacred Cæsarean majesty with their lives and fortunes. HORACE, book i. ode 34. Till now I held free-thinking notions, And flash'd in such a perfect calm, It gave me a religious qualm. Nor me alone; the frightful sound Reach'd to the country's utmost bound, And every river in the nation From concave shores made replication.* * Shakspeare, J. Cæs. act 1. sc. 1. The brutish clods, in shape of cits, I see what pow'r you gods can show, And in his stead exalt the base: Thus Fortune's gifts some lose, some gain, The next specimen was offered as that of an intended translation of Horace, prefaced by some remarks. MR. EDITOR, We have several translations of Horace; but none that I have seen appeared to do the author justice. There is in Horace a grace, a delicacy, a liveliness, a fulness of expression, and a harmony of versification, that at once captivate the ear and the heart. I need not explain to you how far short of these excellences our translators in general have fallen. Having myself studied this poet with uncommon attention, I have, with all my might, endeavoured to preserve these qualities in my version, of which I send you the enclosed Ode as a specimen. If you judge it to have less merit than the partial parent believes, you will still allow it, I hope, to soar above the common flights of modern poetry. It is not heavy as lead, like Mr. ; nor dull as ditchwater, like Anna Matilda; nor mad as a March hare, like our present excellent laureate; nor stupid, but I should never make an end if I went on with my comparisons. If this sample takes, I mean to publish a translation of the whole by subscription; it will be printed on wire-wove paper, and hot-pressed, not to exceed two volumes quarto. A great number of engravings will be added by the most eminent artists. The obscenities will be left out of the common copies, but printed separately for the use of the curious and critical readers. The passages that have an improper political tendency will be carefully omitted; such as, 1794.] IMITATIONS OF HORACE. 197 "Sed magis Pugnas et exactos tyrannos Densum humeris bibit aure vulgus." "The clustering mob is more delighted to hear of battles and the expulsion of tyrants." Or that address to Fortune : "Purpurei metuunt tyranni, Injurioso ne pede proruas Stantem columnam; neu populus frequens Concitet, imperiumque frangat." "Purple tyrants dread thee, O Fortune, lest thou shouldst kick down the standing pillar [of existing circumstances]; lest the thronging populace should summon the loiterers to arms, to arms, and demolish the empire." But these passages, thank God, are very few, and shall be studiously suppressed. Luckily, Horace is full of loyal effusions, which I shall endeavour to render with spirit as well as fidelity. What, for instance, can be more applicable than the following passage to the present holy war? "Diu Latèque victrices catervæ, Consiliis juvenis repressæ, Sensere quid mens rite, quid indoles, Nutrita faustis sub penetralibus, Posset, quid Augusti paternus In pueros animus Nerones." "The armies, so long and so far victorious, were checked by the conduct of a young prince, and became sensible what could be done by a mind and a disposition duly nurtured under an auspicious roof; what could be achieved by the paternal affection of Augustus for the young Neros." The specimen Ode, being of a somewhat gross character, we shall not republish. CHAP. XVII. OCCASION OF THE PUBLICATION OF THE ORGIES OF BACCHUS.". FREND'S PAMPHLET PUBLISHED AT CAMBRIDGE. ·FREND ACCUSED OF IS TRIED IN THE VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, DR. KIPLING BEING PROSECUTOR.—FREND'S DISINGENUOUSNESS. CHARACTER OF DR. KIPLING AS A SCHOLAR. THE CODEX BEZÆ." 66 VERSES ON HIS BAD LATIN. HIS PUBLICATION OF ORGIES OF BACCHUS." MORNING CHRONICLE.". FREND'S TRIAL. EXTRACTS FROM THE OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS OF PORSON TO THE 66 HYMN BY A NEW-MADE PEER."—"MISERIES OF KINGSHIP."—"ON THE DUTIES OF GENTLEMEN-SOLDIERS." WRITTEN BY PORSON IN ONE NIGHT. A HUNDRED EPIGRAMS THE circumstances that occasioned the publication of the "Orgies of Bacchus" in the "Morning Chronicle " deserve some notice. In the year 1793, when the French Revolution was spreading its influence, Mr. William Frend, a fellow and tutor of Jesus College, Cambridge, published a pamphlet entitled "Peace and Union recommended to the Associated Bodies of Republicans and Anti-Republicans." Shortly after its appearance, a deputation of twenty-seven members of the University, afterwards nicknamed "The Cube," two of whom were Dr. Kipling and Dr. Jowett, waited upon the Vice-Chancellor, Isaac Milner, and represented that the pamphlet was written to injure the Church, as it spoke disrespectfully of ecclesiastical ranks and dignities, declared that the Liturgy was far from purity, and pronounced the wor |