Orthodox people,-I mean people of all sorts of orthodoxies (except mine) are fond of attributing bad exits to the heterodox,-nay, even of throwing their death-beds at the heads of one another. I wish they would be content with copying the smooth decency of departures like this, and let their animosities die as well.

CARLONE.

LONGUS.

WHENEVER the Ancients were about to commence any important undertaking, they were extremely attentive to the omens which preceded it; and if any disagreeable sight, or any painful sound, obtruded itself, they desisted from their attempts, and waited for a more propitious opportunity.

Plutarch tells us, that on one occasion the election of the Consuls at Rome was set aside, because some rats had been heard to squeak during the time of polling. Now, although a rat is an odious animal, this seems to be going a little too far; for, if that principle were introduced into our law of Parliament, and if all returns were to be set aside, whenever a rat had taken a part in the election, it is quite clear that no Representatives would ever be duly chosen, and that we should linger out a wretched state of untaxed existence, in a most deplorable destitution of distress-warrants, and utterly abandoned by excisemen and collectors.

But happily there is no reason to apprehend that we shall ever be given up to such a frightful solitude, this delicacy of the Romans being only a piece of religious superstition, and we are now, as is sufficiently obvious, quite free from superstitions of every kind.

It may be worth while, notwithstanding, to consider how far the attention paid by the Ancients to omens is worthy of imitation, not on superstitious grounds, for in this age any revival of superstition must be quite hopeless, but be

cause in all things first impressions are of no small importance: to some men they are every thing; to all men, they are much.

As for example, in the study of Greek, who can say that his zeal is not somewhat abated by the recollection of what were his feelings when he was first introduced to what is called a great Grecian? He had been doubtless often told, that of all studies this is the most important: "Above all things, Greek!" had often been inculcated, and he naturally expected to see in such a character somewhat of the original brightness of what, he had been assured, was above all things bright.

And what did he see? A great Grecian. A voluminous wig clotted with powder and pomatum, surmounting a pimpled and greasy face, which expressed all that is disgusting in grossness, sullen in tyranny, and despicable in servile meanness; whilst it hung brooding over a rusty black coat and waistcoat, of a more barbarous structure than is commonly deemed consistent even with those barbarian vestments, the apparel of a stomach strutting out with the bold projection of an Alderman's, but wanting that generous sweep of flowing outline;-to say nothing of the wide buckled shoes, the grey stockings, and the breeches begrimed with snuff.

And when he tarried with the Grecian, and found him vulgar in mind, brutal in manners; for ever wallowing in the base sensualities of inordinate eating; always muzzy in a middle state, with too little temperance to keep sober, and with too little spirit to get drunk outright;-when he found that he was a man, who never touched upon the substantial beauties of the language, but dwelt in the quantities of doubtful vowels, in the diversities of unsettled dialects, and in the various readings of unimportant words:

and that even this was not for the purpose of teaching, but in order to insnare; that he might at any moment find a pretext to cut his victim to shreds with the rod, and thus appease the malignity of his mind and the crudities of his stomach; -since it is under a Government so truly paternal that the first impressions are received, the wonder is, not that so little relish for this language in general remains, but that it is ever any thing else than an object of abhorrence ;-it almost seems as if it was in revenge for our sufferings in this branch of education, that we are so nearly unanimous in endeavouring to retain under the legitimate sway of the Turks the descendents of the great Grecians, the prototypes of those, by whose hands we smarted in the days of our boyhood.

Be this as it may, we are too apt to forget that we owe to Greece the invention of all things; of all that is great, of all that is good, of all that is lovely, of all that is agreeable; and, amongst other agreeable things, of novels.

The first Greek novel was written in the time of Alexander the Great; it has perished, and all we know of it is, that it was of the marvellous cast. This was followed by several of what may be called the French school, of a warm complexion; they are now no more, and all that remains besides their names is the tradition that, like some others of that school, they were a little too warm.

Then sprung up a great crop of erotic or amatory writers, who flourished, as is conjectured, in the fifth century of the Christian æra; of whose works some have been published, some have been lost, and others still remain in MSS. in public libraries. 66 Seges eroticorum, seculi quinti, partim edita, partim deperdita, partim e bibliothecis adhuc expromenda.” The prince of these is Longus, who has deservedly gained the title of" Suavissimus," the sweetest of writers; he is a more