Phanium of Menander, the Opora of Alexis, and the Clepsydra of Eubulus were all dramas deriving their names from celebrated courtezans or hetæræ; and fragments enough of these comedies remain, exclusive of the translations of Plautus and Terence, to show in what spirit they were generally written.

The obscurity from which the hetæræ frequently sprang, formed a convenient topic of reproach for those whose faculty of observation did not extend far beyond mere exterior. The angry lover, who remembered in the Phrynë, whose wealth enabled her to offer to rebuild the walls of Thebes, the same Phryne who in earlier days had earned a livelihood by a very humble employment, did not want an organ for expressing his disdainful reminiscences on the stage

Wretch that I am,

She had my love, when a mere caper-gatherer,
And fortune's smiles as yet were wanting to her.
I never pinch'd nor spar'd in my expenses,
Yet now-doors closely barr'd are all the recompence'
That waits on former bounties ill bestow'd !*

The reverses which persons of this profession were naturally apt to make to themselves, formed a more just topic of ridicule and the linest which commemorated the downfal of the once select and opulent Lais, coarse as they are, were, no doubt, in every body's mouth.

Alas for Lais!
A slut, a wine-bibber-her only care
Is to supply the cravings of the day,
To eat and drink-to masticate and tipple.
The eagle and herself are fittest parallels.
In the first prime and lustlihood of youth,
The mountain king ne'er quits his royal eyrie,

But lamb, or straggling sheep, or earth-couch'd hare,
Caught in his grip, repays the fierce descent:

But when old age hath sapp'd his mettle's vigour,
He sits upon the temple tops, forlorn,

In all the squalid wretchedness of famine,
And merely serves to point an augur's tale.
Just such another prodigy is Lais!

Full teeming coffers swell'd her pride of youth:
Her person, ever fresh and new, your satrap
Was more accessible than she ;-but now,
That life is flagging at the goal, and like
An unstrung lute, her limbs are out of tune,
She is become so lavish of her presence,
That being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
They surfeit at the sight.

Athenæus, p. 567.

+ Idem, P.

570.

She

She's grown companion to the common streets

Want her who will, a stater, a three-obol piece,lala to

Or a mere draught of wine brings her to hand!

Nay place a silver stiver in your palm,

And, shocking tameness! she will stoop forthwith

To pick it out.

As the line was not very nicely drawn between the mere courtezan and the hetæra, it will also be readily believed, that the same aberrations took place in the one, which the loss of honour is invariably found to produce in the other; and that the charges of mercenariness, extravagance, jealousy, deception, faithlessness, want of honesty, &c. could with the most perfect justice be ascribed to both. From numerous passages of ancient authors, substantiating the whole of these charges, we shall select one which is more particularly directed against the common want of principle in these females.

Would to heaven,' writes Petale to Simalion, that one of my profession could support her establishment upon tears! I might then live in splendour; for you have an inexhaustible fountain, and they are wonderfully at the service of your friends. But, alas! we must have other accompaniments, money, dress, equipage, attendants: all these a person like me must have, or farewell to her trade. I have no little paternal estate in Myrrhinus, nor any share in the public mines: my whole support depends upon what I can wring from silly hair-brain'd boys. One whole year I have devoted to poverty and you: during that time not a single box of perfume has crossed my eyes, and my head is perfectly dry; as for the old tatter'd Tarentine mantle-s'death!— I feel my cheeks burn whenever I exhibit in it. . . . . What! have you no such thing as a drinking cup at home? Is your mother without jewels, has your father no little bills or bonds, on which you can lay your hands ?-Happy Philotes! you were born under more fortunate stars! you have a lover indeed in Menecleides! not a day but he brings you a present -no tears, it is true, but something infinitely better. My lot is differently cast. I have a mourner for a gallant and not a lover; one who considers me as a corpse in prospectu; and sends me chaplets and roses accordingly, and then forsooth tells me he has spent the whole night in tears. I have but two little words: if you have any thing to bring me, come; but-observe-no tears; if otherwise,-be your own tormentor, and not mine.'

We take leave of a subject, which is beginning to be not very attractive, with a fragment, (Athen. p. 558.) whose vehemence of indiguation will probably excite a smile. The writer had either been unfortunate in his connexions; or, he had the grace to feel that mothers, who discharge the first of all duties, and mistresses of families, who discharge by no means the last, deserved an occa

❤ Epist. Alciphronis, lib, i. ep. 36.

sional triumph over those, who often were neither mothers nor mistresses of families, and who in Athens, as elsewhere, must occasionally have made the ties of consanguinity both painful and odious.

'Away, away, with these same female friends!

He whose embraces have encircled one,
Will own a monster has been in his arms ;-
Fell as a dragon is, fire-spouting like
Chimæra, like the rapid ocean-portent,
Three-headed and dog-snouted!-

Harpies are less obscene in touch than they:
The tigress robb'd of her first whelps, more merciful:
Asps, Scorpions, Vipers, amphisbenæ dire,

Cerastes, Ellops, Dipsas, all in one!

But come, let's pass them in review before us,
And see how close the parallels will hold.

And first for Plangon: where in the scale place her?
E'en rank her with the beast whose breath is flame.
Like her she deals combustion round; and foreigners
By scores have perish'd in her conflagrations.
One only 'scaped the fair incendiary,

And that by virtue of his nimble steed.

He pack'd his baggage and turn'd tail upon her.-
Have commerce with Sinope, and you'll find
That Lerna's monster was no tale; for like
The hydra she can multiply her members,
And fair Gnathæna is the present offshoot:
Her morning charms for beauties in the wane
Compensate-but-the dupe pays doubly for't.
There's Nanno too :-Nanno and Scylla's pool
Bear close similitude: two swains have made
Already shipwreck in that gulph; a third
Had shar'd their fortunes, but the wiser boy
Plied well his oars and boldly stood to sea-ward.
If Nanno's Scylla, Phryne is Charybdis :
Woe to the wretch who comes within her tide!
Engulph'd in whelming waves, both bark and mariner
Are suck'd into th' abyss of quick perdition!
And what's Theano? bald, and bare, and peel'd

With whom but close-pluck'd Sirens ranks she? woman
In face and voice; but in her feet-a blackbird.
But why enlarge my nomenclature? Sphinx is
A common name for all on her enigma
Is moulded all their speech:-love, fealty,
Affection, these are terms drop clear enough
From them, but at their heels comes a request,
Wrapt up in tortuous phrase of nice perplexity.

(Mimics.)-"A four-foot couch perchance would grace their

chamber!

Their needs forsooth require a chair-three footed,
Or, for the nonce, two-footed-'twould content them."
He that is vers'd in points and tricks, like Edipus,
Hears, and escapes perchance with purse uninjur'd;
The easy fool gapes, gazes, and hey! presto!
Both purse and person's gone!'

ART. X.-1. The Importance of the Cape of Good Hope, as a Colony to Great Britain, independently of the Advantages it possesses as a Military and Naval Station, and the Key to our Territorial Possessions in India. By Richard Barnard Fisher, Esq. The Third Edition, with Additions. 1819.

2. Considerations on the Means of affording Profitable Employment to the redundant Population of Great Britain and Ireland, through the Medium of an improved and correct System of Colonization in the British Territories in Southern Africa. 1819.

3. Hints on Emigration to the Cape of Good Hope. By William J. Burchell, Esq. 1819.

4. The Cape of Good Hope Calendar, and Agriculturist's Guide; containing a correct Account of all the Public Offices, Military Forces, and other Establishments in that Colony. Together with a brief Description of its Soil, Agriculture, and Commerce. Intended for the Use of those Persons who may become Settlers. As compiled by G. Ross, Superintendent of the Government Press in that Settlement. Illustrated with a correct Map of the Colony. 1819.

5. An Account of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, with a Fiew to the Information of Emigrants. And an Appendix, containing the Offers of Government to Persons disposed to

settle there. 1819.

6. A Guide to the Cape of Good Hope, describing its Geographical Situation, Climate, &c. 1819.

7. The Emigrant's Guide to the Cape of Good Hope, containing a Description of the Climate, Soil, and Productions of the Colony, from the latest and most authentic Sources of Information-with Directions to Emigrants in general. To which are added, a fuli Account of the Meeting at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, &c. By John Wilson. 1819.

8. Journal of a Fisit to South Africa in 1815 and 1816, with some Account of the Missionary Settlements of the United Brethren near the Cape of Good Hope. By the Rev. C. J. Latrobe. London. 1818.

IT will not be necessary, for our present purpose, to take up the time of our readers in discussing the cause of that distress which, for some time past, has been pressing hard on certain

classes

classes of the labouring and manufacturing poor; it is enough to know that it exists;-and more than enough to apprehend, from the result of the active and anxious inquiries of men competent to the task, that the country does not, and cannot, under any circumstances, command the means of regular and permanent employment for its increased and increasing population. This important fact was only not sooner discovered, or, more strictly speaking, not sooner felt, on account of the peculiar circumstances of the war in which we were engaged—a war, novel in its character and unparalleled in its duration. That war having ceased, and with it the factitious provision by which multitudes had been supported, it quickly became manifest, that the supply of labour was greater than the demand; and that a large portion of the population, more particularly that part of it which was connected with the army and navy, to the amount of several hundred thousands, (Mr. Colquhoun says two millions,) being thrown back upon the public, must necessarily remain unemployed, and become a burden to the rest of the community.

In referring to past times and to the history of other countries, it will be found that, whenever population began to press severely against the means of subsistence, the remedy resorted to was emigration;-not by single families, but in whole hordes like the northern Tartars, or whole legions like the Romans; their invariable policy being to cast their swarms when the hive was full. China and Japan are, perhaps, the only exceptions from this practice. Of the latter country we know but little; but enough is known of the former to deter any civilized society from following its example in this respect; or from submitting, if possible to avoid it, to that last and most dreadful of its resources, famine, by which whole provinces are laid waste, and the population brought down to the level of subsistence.

If it should appear, then, that all other measures are little better than palliatives of the evil, wholly inadequate to afford any permanent relief, the only material point to be settled would be that of the direction into which the tide of emigration should be turned. The decision became the more urgent when it appeared that ship after ship was regorging on our shores loads of disappointed emigrants who, after fleeing to what they fondly imagined a land of liberty and plenty, but which, on their arrival, they found to be the abode of beggary, bondage, and disease, were returned, stripped of every thing, to swell the surplus population, and to increase the number of unprofitable consumers. That our own colonies claimed the preference could admit of no doubt; and among those which, on every account, might be considered as most eligible, there could be no hesitation in making choice of that which, from

the