and this was given as a reafon why the doctor would have no more to fay upon the fubje&t. For he [Chubb] could not bear that the BISHOP OF SALISBURY (whom he means by that very great man) fhould talk fo of him, and be the caufe that he could not go on wrangling with Dr. Stebbing: befides, he is the doctor's great friend and benefactor, "and confequently no better than himself. Hence all his virulence again the Trial of the Witnesses, &c., though indeed what he here fays in his own juftification fhows but too plainly that the bishop had reafon to accuse him of pera fonal reflections, and to advise the doctor upon this account to' drop the difpute." (Treatife on Miracles, p. 438.) Mr. Le Moine then goes on to vindicate the Trial of the Witneffes against the frivolous objections brought forward by Chubb, and -repeatedly mentions the bishop as the author of that piece. I am, your obedient fervant, J. W. We are obliged to our Correfpondent for this information. The publication mentioned by Crito, has vanifhed; and the publisher's name being unknown, is not recoverable. The Letter of our friend E. W. will appear next Month. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. Mr. Kidd's edition of Dawes's Mifcellanea Critica is in great forwardness at the prefs.. We hear that Herman has published the Lexicon of Photius at Leipfic, from a foreign tranfcript. It will be curious to compare his edition with the Cambridge MS. or with the admirable tranfcript of Porfon. The Rev. Theoph. Abauzit is preparing for the prefs, an edition of the Common Prayer Bock, in French, in which the Gofpels, Epifles, and Pfalms are taken from the Verfion published at Geneva in 1805, by the Paftors and Profeffors of that place. A co fiderable part of Mr. Beloe's fifth volume of Anecdotes of Literature is now printed. M. Bertrand de Molleville is printing in English, an Abridgement of the Hiftory of England, in the manner of Henault. It will be in three volumés octavo; and he will afterwards publifh one volume of Chronological Tables, for the ufe of Schools. A Miffionary's account of Ton-kin and Cochin China, will foon be published here in French, under the fuperintendence of a French Gentleman, of known abilities. Since printing our account of the Alexandrian School, in the prefent number, p. 66, we have obferved, that it is now avowed by Mr. Jerningham, and has reached a third edition. The critique upon it will show that it is but little entitled to fuch a diftinction: for which it is probably in-. debted to the fpirit of party. Our account had been acci dentally delayed. THE BRITISH CRITIC, For AUGUST, 1810. Ρᾷσον γὰρ ἐσι τῶν ὄντων τὸ μέμψασθαι τὸν πλησίον· ἀχρήσως τὲ καὶ πενῶς γινόμενον, ἂν μὴ προς τινα διόρθωσιν ἡ φυλακὴν ἀναφέρηται τῶν ὁμοίων. PLUT. DE AUD. Nothing is more eafy than to find fault with others, but it is vain and useless, unless it tend to the correction or prevention of fimilar errors. ART. 1. Herculanenfia; or Archeological and Philological Differtations, containing a Manuscript found among the Ruins of Herculaneum; and dedicated (by Permiffion) to bis Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. Royal 4to. 214 pp. 3 Plates. 11. 11s. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1810. IFTEEN years have now elapfed fince we hailed the arrival of the firft Herculanean volume, the fragment of Philodemus on Mufic, edited by the learned Carlo Rofini*. Within that period we have been occafionally amufed with tumours of what was doing, or intended to be done, but till now nothing more has appeared before the public. Great therefore are the obligations of the literary world to SirWilliam Drummond and Mr. Walpole, the editors and authors of the present volume, for obtaining leave to publish * See an account of that volume in the Brit. Crit. for June 1795, Vol. V. p. 682. H BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXVI. AUGUST, 1810. a fpecimen a fpecimen of a second manufcript, and for accompanying it with their learned and interefting differtations. But if the thanks of the public are juftly due to thefe gentlemen, for labouring in thofe departments of liter ture to which they are attached, how much greater is our debt of gratitude to his Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales, by whole judicious interference, and well-directed liberality, the progrefs of the whole undertaking was carried to the point at which it was thought proper to the further affift. ance of the legislature. "It was not," say these editors in their dedication, " until large fums had been expended by your Royal Highnefs, and the fuccefs of the execution had juftified the boldness of the plan, that pecuniary affiftance was requested and obtained from Parliament." A liberal attention to the interefts of found and claffical literature will always, we truft, be applauded by the British Empire, and fupported by the efforts of its government. It is faid by Mr. Walpole that the copies of Herculanean MSS. procured by the exertions, and now in the poffeffion of his Royal Highnefs, (though claimed as the property of his Sicilian Majefty,) amount to more than eighty; but it is much to be regretted that the original papyri from which they had been taken were, by fome inadvertence, left at Naples; and are therefore either destroyed, or poffeffed by the French. Under thefe circumftances we muft depend very much upon the accuracy of the academicians of Portici, and of Mr. Hayter, under whofe fuperintendence the transcripts were made; and we learn with pleasure, from undoubted authority, that they were extremely fcrupulous in meafuring the vacant fpaces which required to be fupplied; and that they inferted no letters or words but fuch as would exactly fill up the chafms, according to the proportions of the original letters. If we fuppofe this rule exactly attended to, as certainly it ought to be, as the only method of reftoring the original words of the author, we shall have a moft inflexible canon of criticifm for fubftituting other words, in the place of thofe fupplied by the academicians; fince no word or words can poffibly be admitted but fuch as confift of exactly the fame number of letters, without any spaces or divifions between the words *. In the published Philodemus, the fupplied letters were diftinguifhed by being printed in red. In the prefent fragment, though they are not fo clearly marked, we are to be * Thefe MSS. are all in capitals, without any diftinction between the words, p. 108. lieve, on the faith of the reftorers, that the proper number of letters is always fapplied. An equally ftrong canon is, that when letters are given as actually exifting in the MS., they are not to be cut out or changed, for the fake of an imagined emendation, or of introducing a word more intelligible to the critic. Under thefe reftrictions, it is fair to endeavour whether we cannot be more fortunate than the academicians, in restoring the original text; but if these rules are difregarded, our labour muft evidently be vain *. Sir W. Drummond and Mr. Walpole do not feem to have attempted any further emendations; they appear to have thought themfelves pledged to fhow what had been done, with respect to this manufcript, not what they could do, except in the way of collateral illuftration: and in this they have been very fuccefsful. But before we proceed to explain the contents of their volume, we will lay before our readers their ftatement of what has been done fince the publication of the Philodemus. After deferibing, in fpirited and elegant terms, the high expectations of the learned on the difcovery of the MSS. at Herculaneum, and the proportionable difappointmen which was felt at the dulnefs of the Epicurean tract on Mufic, which feems to have difcouraged the academicians of Portici from proceeding, they thus take up the hiftory. "Things were in this ftate, when his Royal Highnels the Prince of Wales proposed to the Neapolitan Government to defray the expences of unrolling, decyphering, and publishing the manufcripts. This offer was accepted by the Court of Naples; and it was confequently judged neceffary by his Royal Highness to select a proper perfon to fuperintend the undertaking. The reputation of Mr. Hayter, as a claffical scholar, juftified his appointment to the place which the munificence of the Prince, and his taste for litera. ture had created. This gentleman arrived at Naples in the beginning of the year 1802, and was nominated one of the directors for the developement of the manufcripts. "During a period of feveral years, the workmen continued to open a great number of the papyri. Many indeed, of thefe frail fubftances were destroyed, and had crumbled into duft, under the touch of the operator. "When the French invaded the kingdom of Naples, in the year 1806, Mr. Hayter was compelled to retire to Sicily. It is certainly to be deeply regretted that all the papyri were left behind. Upon the causes of this fingular neglect we do not wish In fome of the corrections, propofed by a very learned and ingenious critic in the Quarterly Review, attention has not been paid to these points; as will be shown hereafter. to offer any opinion, the more especially as very oppofite accounts have been given by the two parties to whom blame has been im puted. The writer of this preface knows with certainty, that when he arrived at Palermo in 1806, on his fecond miffion to his Sicilian Majefty, he found that all the papyri had been left at Naples, and that the copies of thofe which had been unrolled were in the poffeffion of the Sicilian Government. How this happened, it would now be fruitlefs to enquire. The English Minifter made feveral applications to the Court of Palermo to have the copies restored, but without fuccefs, until the month of August, 1807. It was pretended that, according to the original agree ment, the MSS. fhould be published in the place where his Sicilian Majefty refided; that feveral Neapolitans had affifted in correcting, fupplying, and tranflating them; that his Sicilian Majefy had never refigned his right to the poffeffion either of the origi nals, or of the copies: and that, as a proof of his right being fully recognized, the copies had been depofited by Mr. Hayter himself, in the Royal Museum at Palermo. It was, however, finally agreed, that the MSS. fhould be given up pro tempore to Mr. Drummond, who immediately replaced them in the hands of Mr. Hayter. In the fpace of about a year, during which period they remained in the hands of the latter, a fac-fimile of part of one of the copies was engraved, and fome different forms of Greek characters as found in thefe fragments, were printed under his direction. "From fome circumftances, which took place in the fummer of 1808, and to which we have no pleasure in alluding, a new arrangement became indifpenfable. Mr. Drummond propofed to the Sicilian Government, that the copies fhould be fent to London, where they might be published with advantages, which could not be obtained a Palermo. His propofal was acceded to, and they have been accordingly tranfmitted to England. The manner in which their publication will be conducted, will of courfe depend upon the determination of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in whofe hands they have been depofited; but it may be prefumed that the Republic of letters will not have to lament, that these interefting fragments are to be brought to light under the aufpices of a Prince, who has always fhown himself to be the protector of learning and the arts. We venture not to affert, but we believe, that the MSS. will be fubmitted to the infpection of a felect num. ber of learned men, and will be edited under their care, with their annotations and tranflations." P. x. With refpect to their own work, they fay but few words. "The authors have had no other view in giving it to the world, than to call the attention of the English public to fome fub-. jects, which the perufal of the MSS., and the ancient state and fituation |