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stands unrivalled. This being the case, it ought to be considered a fortunate circumstance for literature, that there does exist one work, your own, possessing a far more extensive circulation, in which its jejune criticisms may be fairly and deservedly exposed.—In the article of the Review, to which I have alluded, the critic betrays a flagrant ignorance of grammar and of grammars, for his knowledge does not appear to extend beyond Dr. Valpy's and the Westminster graminar. So circumscribed an acquaintance with the language may, perhaps, suit the limited sphere of the British Critic; but, in the judgment of the learned, it must infallibly render, him a laughingstock to British critics. Having thus far spoken in general terms, I shall now proceed to particular evidence.

1st. The reviewer observes, that the author of the work "injudiciously retains the old doctrine, and forms the participle [of Latin verbs] from the supine, not the supine from the participle." There is certainly more novelty than wisdom in this remark. The old doctrine as the reviewer terins it, is, I can venture to assert without the fear of contradiction, almost the universal doctrine of the nation. If he had looked a little farther into Dr. Valpy's grammar, which is one of the latest, he would have found that he also is so injudicious as to retain the old doctrine. The new doctrine is evidently productive of confusion, and contrary to analogy.' It confounds the active with the passive voice; for, whatever may be the origin of the supines, the first is commonly acknowledged to be active, and the second, either active or passive, but generally the latter; whereas, the perfect participle, although it may have originally had both an active and a passive signification, is, generally, considered to be passive. The reviewer seems also to forget that the passive voice is itself usually formed from the active; a mode which is certainly consonant with the nature of things, since action is necessa

ness," p. 641, instead of "We would detract neither from his fame nor his usefulness," or "We would not detract either from his fame or his usefulness." A stranger, a more confused, or a more inharmonious sentence than the following, never, I believe, came from the pen of a critic: It is evident enough that the author is not friendly to the church; but for the rest we should suppose that he is indifferent to all sects, and thinks that the best way is for all to proceed at pleasure, regardless of all the rest," p. 635.

rily antecedent to passion, But, accord-
ing to the new plan, a part of the active
voice must be formed from the passive.
Let the British Critic, however, be allow-
ed to state his reasons for the superior
propriety of the new method." John-
son's Grammatical Commentaries might
have shewn the author how few Latin
verbs, comparatively, have ascertained
and exemplified supines; and the West-
minsterGrammar,which he often copies-
[this is not true], might have told him,
that they were more properly to be cou-
sidered as verbal nouns, of only two
cases.

Et verbalia in -um, -u, quæ vulgo dicta su-
pina."

Whether the supine be a verbal noun or not, and whether it do or do not exist so often as the participles usually said to be formed from it, are circumstances of no consequence in regard to the mechanical process of formation, for the convenience of which even an active voice is often supposed, as in forming deponents and commons, the termination o being properly deemed the root of both voices, or the part whence the perfect, supine, and infinitive, and all the other parts, are formed immediately or mediately. It is almost unnecessary to add, since every school-boy knows it, that Latin Dictionaries particularise the present, the preterite, the supine, and the infinitive, for no other reason, than that these are acknowledged as the primary parts of the verb. But, if the supine's being a verbal noun is to be regarded as a reason for not deeming it a primary part, we must, upon the same principle, exclude the infinitive also, which the critic does not seem to know is nothing else but a verbal noun, nomen verbi. Nay, following the reviewer's new doctrine, we must yet go further; we must exclude even his favourite, the perfect participle; for what is this but a verbal noun? It is evident, therefore, that, according to the principles of the British Critic, strictly followed, we shall be compelled to form all the parts from only the present and the preterite; but this is a mode, to which, I am inclined to think, that he will gain but few proselytes. There are, indeed, much uncertainty and obscurity in discussions relative to the origin and nature both of supines and gerunds; and, were we to draw any practical inference from Mr. R. Johnson's limited lists of supines, we should have to exclude, from the paradigms of our grammars, the supines of amo, moneo, and rega,

for

for these I have not been able to find in the Commentaries. But what does the critic mean by the words terminating the preceding quotation ;-"That they were more properly to be considered as verbal nouns?" More properly than what? Neither the critic nor the author has either stated or hinted at any other mode of considering them. Here, therefore, is comparison without comparison. From the reviewer's half-formed insinuation, aded by the line quoted from the Westminster Grammar, it might be supposed that the author had not considered them as verbal nouns; that such a charge is false, any one may discover, who takes the trouble of looking into the work, pp. 70, 238, 239, &c.

The chief, and indeed the only, end in view, in giving rules for the formation of the tenses, is, to enable the scholar to derive from the four radical parts of the verb all the rest of the verb. Now, let me ask the British Critic, what are the four radical parts as given in every dictionary? The present, the preterite, the supine, and the infinitive; and the rules given are to enable the scholar to form all the tenses, &c. from them. This is an easy and a natural procedure. "No, Do, (says the British Critic) this is the old-fashioned way-the supine must be. formed from the participle." In other words, Mr. Editor, he is for teaching the scholar to form the supine, already told him in his dictionary, from the participle, which is not told him at all. The productions of the British Critic abound in examples of the hysteron proteron; but this is one of the finest samples of his dexterity in this way, that he has ever exhibited. Who can refrain from laughing at the idea of forming what is already known, from a thing which is not known?

The second charge made by the reviewer against the author, is, his not acknowledging the taking, from a small grammar by Dr. Valpy, a few verses respecting the gender of nouns. This is truly a foolish objection. Dr. Valpy introduces, in these lines, no new mode of ascertaining the genders. This is only a correction of Lily's rules, which he is, by no means, original in attempting; witness, the Annotations of the Oxford Grammar, Johnson's Commentaries, Dr. Whittenal's Grammar, &c. all of which have anticipated the chief corrections adopted by Dr. Valpy. "But, with respect to compilation," you will allow me also (to use the reviewer's words,)" to

have a word or two more to say." What' is Dr. Valpy's Grammar? Evidently a compilation; a work in which there is not a single page of original matter. Dr. Valpy has himself borrowed, both in prose and verse, without either acknowledgment, or merited censure; indeed, the notes to his syntax, which constitute the best part of the book, are nothing but compilation. That gentleman, I am confident, never intended his grammar to be considered as an original. And, yet, the officious reviewer has the audacity, or the ignorance, to talk of " taking lines from this original." Indeed, it is evident, that the reviewer has particularly selected the name of Dr. Valpy, solely for the purpose of paying him a little attention, or of doing him an act of pretended justice, at the expence of the author. But this he has done in a manner so bungling and impotent, as clearly proves him utterly incapable of gratifying his wishes, either by benefiting an acquaintance, or injuring a stranger. AL. injudicious friend is often the worst of enemies.

The last and not the least foolish charge, is, "the not having specified, in every instance, to whom the world was originally obliged for the information.""To what absurdities will the childish. speculations of the readers of black letter lead us?" Such an antiquarian research for authorities would have been an arduous undertaking, indeed; since the same portions of information may be often found in one hundred different grammars. What grammarian, er. gr. I would ask the reviewer, was the original author of the first concord?-Who the original author of every part was, it would, I suspect, "puzzle even the British Critic to ascertain in every instance; and, if he could effect it, wherein would consist the utility of his labour? The truth is, that most of the topics, usually introduced into Latin Grammars, have long ceased, individually or separately. considered, to be known as personal property; they are generally regarded, chiefly as matters juris communis.

So much for the grave puerilities and the petulant cavils of the British Critic. That the work may have faults and imperfections, the author has ingenuously confessed, at the same time, stating, that he will gratefully avail himself of every judicious suggestion offered for its im provement. But, after the reviewer has (apparently, much against his will) bestowed on it the epithets "learned,"

"laborious,"

& laborious," ,"" elaborate;" after he has declared that " it brings together a large quantity of useful information from a vast variety of sources;" in fine, that "he has not noticed either faults or imperfections in it," after so favourable a character of the work, was it not inconsistently and inconsiderately trifling with the opinion of the public, and degrading himself as a critic, to besprinkle his critique with such fooleries and absurdities as have been exposed in the preceding remarks? It is, unquestionably, a matter both of public and private justice, to hold up such grave trifling to general reprobation. And this can be done by no means more effectual than the respectable channel of the Monthly Magazine. Crouch End, Your's, &c. February 6, 1899.

J. GRANT.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

S I am in the with my new

tween the Sessions House and Prince'sstreet. The intended improvements are proposed to comprehend the whole of this area which exhibits a spacious field for the display of architectural taste and ingenuity.

On the spot of ground between Kingstreet and Palace-yard a square has lately been enclosed, in the centre of which, a statue of a late illustrious statesman is to be placed; and it has been determined that the buildings to be erected west of King-street shall not project beyond a line drawn from the north transept of Westminster Abbey, to the Banquetting House at Whitehall, by which means a grand view will be opened from cach to the other of these nuble edifices, and the breadth of a narrow street encreased to one hundred and twenty feet. Since no erections are to be made on the east side of King-street, a magnificent view of the Abbey will continue to be exhibited at the intersection of Parliament-street and

A edition of Pres's Typographi- Bridge-street. This view, again, will

cal Antiquities," by Herbert, permit me to enquire, through the channel of your Magazine, where the Plates of the work (with the exception of the printers' portraits) are to be found; and whether the owner of them would be disposed to part with them on reasonable terms.

Kensington,

Your's, &c.

Feb. 13, 1809. THO. FROGNALL DIBDIN.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

THE

HE Commissioners for directing the improvements now making in the vicinity of Westminster Abbey, having invited a competition of architects; by offering an honorary compensation for the most appropriate design for the buildings intended to be erected, I take the liberty of offering, through the medium of your widely circulating Miscellany, a few hints which a serious consideration of this important subject has suggested.

It may be necessary to preinise for the information of your readers, who may not lately have visited the spot, that the whole of the dilapidated buildings which obscured Saint Margaret's Church, situate between King-street and Palaceyard have been removed; the buildings also on the west side of King-street, between the Abbey and Great Georgestreet, and those in the Broad Sanctuary, east and west of the new Sessions House, are cleared away; and an Act has been passed for purchasing a plot of ground now covered with buildings, lying be

derive a considerable accession of grandeur from the new stone buildings designed to cover the now-vacant ground, which are to consist, principally, of handsome dwelling houses and of chambers adapted to the constant or occasional residence of persons who may have to attend the Houses of Parliament, or the Courts of Record in Westminster Hall. But in forming a design suitable to this situation, the architect has great difficulties to encounter, occasioned by the irregular outline of the ground itself, and the disadvantageous position of the Sessions House, which though a late erection, was built before the intended improvements had been suggested, and has a situation that was necessarily deter mined by the buildings then in its vicinity.

The fronts of the buildings to be erected on the west side of King-street, be coming conspicuously exposed to view, should be designed in a simple, bold, and dignified style, to prevent their being overpowered by the colossal magnitude of Westminster Abbey. The Court House having windows on all sides, must necessarily be left insulated, which will afford an opportunity of forming a square open towards the Broad Sanctuary. The buildings on the west of King-street, will present a front upwards of two hundred and fifty feet in extent, looking towards Palace-yard. · This should form a straight line, but those in the Broad Sanctuary cast and west of the Court House, should

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form two crescents, the curves of which, uniting with the obliquity of the Courthouse, would give it an appearance of propriety in position, not otherwise perhaps,

to be attained.

Between the court-house, and the buil-
dings which are to remain standing on its
north-side, is a street 35 feet wide. This
street should be continued westward, till
it meet Prince's-street, and again eastward,
to King-street; which, to obviate the im-
propriety of breaking the line of build,
ings in that street, it might enter under an
archway. From this disposition, great ad-
vantages would arise, owing, in a consi-
derable degree, to its airiness, its pre-
senting a long line of front ground for the
erection of dwelling-houses, of various
rates, and its happy conformity with the
buildings, to which it is to unite. The
whole might, without inconvenience, com-
prize twenty large first-rate houses, a large
tavern and hotel; six buildings, contain-
ing eighteen sets of chambers and their
appendages, ten second, nine third rate
houses, and two large stable-yards, and
would present a magnificent elevation,
extending 600 feet in King-street, and
the Broad-sanctuary.
Your's, &c.

Feb. 1809,
Warwick-court, Gray's Inn.

C. A. BUSBY.

For the Monthly Magazine.
THE DILLETANTI TOURIST,
Or LETTERS from an AMATEUR of ART,
in LONDON, to a FRIEND near MAN-

CHESTER.

HAVING been prevented from giving

AVING been prevented from giving

description of the Townley Gallery of Antiquities, in the British Museum, as I promised you, I hasten to resume my pen, and recreate my mind with the amusing task. On entering the first room, on the left hand, where commences the numerical descriptions in the Synopsis, as published by the trustees of the Museum, is a female statue, probably of one of the Muses; both the arms are lost, therefore it is difficult to pronounce what the figure is intended for; the drapery is particularly fine and flowing. There are several fine amphora in this room, some of which are from the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and which I shall pass over without comment, as being more curious for their antiquity, than eminent for beauty. Among the isolated figures, are some terminal heads of the bearded, or Indian Bacchus, of great antiquity, and of early workmanship; for it was only in the infancy of the art, that the ancients MONTHLY MAG. No. 182.

used these terminal figures in their wor ship. They are simply a head, carved or modelled, (as in the present examples) on a square trunk. How might not a warm imagination amuse itself, in supposing the times returned, when the Dionisia, or Bacchic dances were performed around one of these very heads, in all their wanton rites and extravagances, in honour of the eastern god. The basso-relievos are reliques of friezes, pannels, &c. and besides the beauty of their execution, and fancifulness of design, many of them have beautiful borderings of the honey-suckle, and other luxuriant foliage, of infinite use to the architect. Their subjects are various; many of them are duplicates of others. We have Amazons and Griffins combating, Tritons and Cupids riding on dolphins, and many bacchanalian subjects. Bacchantes dancing and playing on an instrument, like a tambourin in the groupe of Bacchus and Cupid, numbered six is a very graceful and elegant figure. Two of these subjects I cannot pass over with out particular mention: they are nearly in alt-relief; and represent in half-length figures, Perseus armed with a battle-axe, and an engagement between one of the Arimaspi and a Griffin. It is repeated in another pannel, but reversed; which occasions the shield in one of them to be on the right arm, and the harpa, or battle-axe, in the left hand, which gives it an aukward appearance. From the boldness of these two subjects, which are joined together, I conjecture them to have been the friezes of a small temple.

The

In this collection, the difficulty is not which to chuse, but which to omit in my description; and I do not know that I should do ample justice to them without enumerating them all, which would too much resemble a dry catalogue. Yet I must not omit No. 11, representing a couple of Chimera lapping water, out of vessels, held to them by two youths, who are attired in Phrygian dresses, and kneeling on one knee. The singular beauty of the contour of these youths is past all praise; I consider them equal to any in the collection; the folds of the drapery, and general form, especially the easy serpentine line of the back and leg, are particularly fine. Here again am I in a dilemma, whether to go on seriatim, or to skip to others of more consequence. The Medusa's head; the female overwhelmed with affliction, and attended by her domestics; and twenty others, are such fine examples of the perfection of the ancients in the plastic arts, that to

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omit

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omit them would be injustice, and to de- the females who are in attendance, if I tail every one, woului make my letters, may judge from their habits, are slaves. volumes. Some most beautiful elucida- I shall make a few more observations, tions of the ancient mythology may be in this room, previous to visiting the found, in the bearded Bacchus, with a next, and hope you will not think me a female Bacchante of exquisite grace; a

tedious chronicler. My attention was head of Minerva, another of Jupiter, un- much taken by a beautiful subject of two commonly majestic. A very fine histo- fauns kneeling, one of them playing on a rical subject, representing Minerva as- tambourin, the other accompanying him sisting the Argonauts to build the famous with small musical instruments, called ship, Argo; the goddess is seated and krotula, that have been sometimes confinishing a sail, which is extended on a founded by critics, with cymbals. Their yard, and is directing the Argonaut, who forms are somewhat alike, except that is attending very attentively to her, the krotala are smaller and played with while another is busied carving the prow only one hand. It is strongly contested of the vessel. This article, (No. 16), is by various writers, of what materials and beautifully tinished, and, from the delicate form the krotala were made; I think from border of honey-suckle blossom, I have the Greek poets,they much resembled the no doubt but that it formed part of the Spanish castagnets. Apollonius, in his lower ornainents of a superb apartment, Argonautics, describes the krotalon of and placed near the eye. The bas-relief Hercules, as of brass made by Vulcan, at of Venus, in the ocean riding on a sea- the request of Minerva,who gave it to him; horse, is a subject the ancients often re- on the other hand, an ancient commentapeated, both in their poetry and sculp- tor on Aristophanes describes them to be ture; I have one nearly resembling it a reed split in two, and so fitted together among my antique gems. In one we as to emit a sound from the touch or stroke see, Victory pouring libations to Apollo of the hand. We have other examples of Musagetes; in another two priestesses, in the form, of the ancient krotalon, in the sacrificing vestments, standing one on tympanum of the temple of Cybele; a staeach side of a candelabrum, which is tue in the engraved Collection, from the lighted for a sacrifice. With one hand, Museum Pio Clementinum, and in the they support the sacred fillets which de- gems in my possession, which have long corate the candelabrum, and with the handles, like the before inentioned comother they raise a small portion of their mentator's description. I am no less derobe, like the figure of Hope, on the coins lighted with Paris carrying off Helen in a of the Roman emperors, who were ex- car, drawn by three horses (No. 34), a tremely partial to this emblem, which bas relief of elegant design, and correct often appears on their coronation medals execution, equal perhaps in these qualities that were struck at the commencement to any in the collection. These cars are of their reign, to signify the hopes of the of great antiquity, and were usually of people from their new sovereign. two or four wheels, and drawn by various

The Roman personification of this di- numbers of horses, from two to twenty, vinity was different from ours; they re- mostly abreast, as may be seen in several present her under the figure of a young Roman sculptures; they named them froin and beautiful female, holding up with one the number of horses that drew them, as hand the bottom of her robe, and a bige, when by two; trigæ; quadrigz, flower in the other. I beg you will not and so on. In Monfaucon, Willemin, and be waggish on the subject, as I shall re- Rochegianni, are to be found many repre. sent any indignity offered to her ladyship, sentations of these ancient cars. whom I have adopted as my tutelar A bas relief of unknown antiquity, deity. The next to this, is one of such (No. 36) representing two persons consequence in proving the knowledge of is navigating the Nile, in a boat, is worHomer among the Romans, that it would thy of notice, from a very important be unpardonable to omit it. It is a sin- fact, that I hope to establish relative gularly well composed historical groupe,

to the date of the invention of the in basso relievo of terra cotta, repre. Corinthian capital. In the foresenting Machaon, after he has been ground is

is an hippopotamus, two wounded; the hero is sitting in the tent of crocodiles, some birds, and several Nestor, who is administering a medicinal plants of the lotus. In the distance are potion to him, as described in the buildings, on the roofs of which are seen eleventh book of the Iliad; the grouping three Ibisses. The whole of this scenery of this fragment of antique art, is uncom- is viewed through two arches, supported monly beautiful, and worthy of remark; by columns, the two extreme, ones of

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