epistolary talents. All the Letters of Cicero were certainly not intended for the eye of the public, but many most probably were so: The great orator had so fervent a passion for fame, that he was eager to spread every sail, by which a breath of glory could be caught.

The more succinct, but less powerful Pliny, very candidly confesses a similar passion. He takes a pride in the elegance of his Letters "Habeant nostræ quoque literæ aliquid non humile, nec sordidum, nec privatis rebus inclusum." Yet Pliny seems not to have intended, that the world should see such of his Letters, as relate only to the little circumstances of his pri vate and domestic life. He is a gainer however by the perfect knowledge of his character, which these Letters afford, for, in various points of view, he appears interesting and amiable.

Montaigne is uncommonly severe in describing the Letters of Cicero and Pliny, as proofs of their inordinate vanity; but if that pleasant essayist should excite a frown by the severity of his remarks on these favorite authors, he may lead his reader to smile again at the honest vanity, he displays himself, while he is censuring the vanity of the two Roman Consuls; since in the same chapter, he commends his own talents for epistolary composition.

It may be regretted, that in the rich mass of antient Grecian literature, we find no collections of familiar Letters to be compared with those of Cicero and Pliny. Indeed there are hardly any written by men of eminence, and entitled to the name of familiar Letters, if we except a few of Æschines, the

the orator, who seems, in his epistolary talent, to have been the Bolingbroke of Athens. In one of his Letters he relates, with great vivacity, a ludicrous and licentious adventure of a young fellow-traveller, with whom he he visited the plain of Troy as it seems to have been the intention of Eschines, in these travels, to compare the scenery around him with the descriptions of it exhibited by Homer, it may be wished, that this eloquent Athenian (whose command of language was in some points perhaps superior to that of his triumphant rival Demosthenes) had made his intended comparison the subject of another Letter.

Although the Letters of philosophers and rhetoricians to princes, are scarcely to be classed with such epistolary composition, as arises from familiarity and friendship, I am tempted to notice two remarkable Letters included in the works of Plato and Isocrates the first may be fairly considered as a private Letter, since the philosopher entreats his correspondent, the younger Dionysius, to read it repeatedly, and then to burn it. In truth he had abundant reason for such a request, as the Letter contains a singular confession that this admired instructor had never published his own genuine sentiments on some abstruse points of philosophy, but contented himself with delivering the opinions of his master.-Vide Platonis, vol. xI. p, 72-Edit. Biponti.

The Letter of Isocrates, to which I have alluded, is addressed to Alexander of Macedon, during the life of his father Philip it is a brief, benevolent, and graceful compliment, from an illustrious veteran of literature, to a highly promising youth: Vide Isocatis, vol. 1. p. 454.-Edit. Auger.

When we consider the passion for news which animated the Greeks, and the extreme vivacity of their character, it seems rather surprising, that in the remains of antiquity, we find such a small number of early Greek epistles, and so little said by their rhetoricians, concerning the most admired of their epistolary writers. Some information on this subject may however be gleaned from the treatise on elocution, that bears the name of Demetrius Phalaris, from the collections of Stobæus, and the Bibliotheca of Photius.

The learned Abbé Barthelemy, who, in his elaborate and masterly work of many years, Le Voyage du jeune Anacharsis, describes the library of an Athenian, does not represent it (if I remember right) as containing any collection of Letters. Yet probably the libraries of Athens at that period, were not destitute of such an amusing, and instructive branch of literature. The first collector of Letters, if we may rely on the authority of Clemens Alexandrinus and of Tatian, was a Persian princess, who bore the name of Atossa; for the Greek expression used by these authors, seems rather to mean the forming a collection of Letters, than the teaching how Letters should be written, as some of their interpreters have strangely supposed. Who this interesting Atossa really was, although she is called by Bentley, the mother of Xerxes, it would not perhaps be easy to ascertain, as the name belonged to several Asiatic princesses, and Clemens Alexandrinus is supposed by some critics, to have confounded Atossa with Semiramis.

But to return to Grecian Letter-writers! Demetrius

Phalareus, or the rhetorician who assumed his name, celebrates Aristotle for having perfectly conceived the proper idea of a Letter; observing also, that the morals of a man may be discerned in all his compositions, but above all in his Letters.The name of Aristotle reminds me, that the memorable Letter of Philip to that philosopher, on the future education of Alexander, may be regarded as a model of princely politeness.

To become intimately acquainted with the illustrious characters of Greece, in her days of glory, by the aid of their familiar Letters, would afford such a gratification to the lovers of literature, that it is not surprising, if some Letters have been fabricated for the purpose of ascribing them to the splendid names of Themistocles, Euripides, &c.

In the collection of Greek Letters, whose authenticity has been so frequently questioned, there are three of a very interesting nature, ascribed to Theano, the wife, or, as some authors imagine, the daughter of Pythagoras. These Letters are so good, that the accomplished German poet and moralist, Wieland, has translated them into his own language, asserting, that their merit has induced him to believe them genuine; and strongly recommending to the ladies of his country, the laudable sentiments they display. The first Letter contains advice to a mother, on the education of her children; the second, advice to a wife, not to resent too roughly the infidelity of a husband; and the third, to a young married friend, on the management of her female domestics.

The authenticity of the five Letters ascribed to Euripides, is strenuously asserted by Barnes, and as vehemently denied by

Bentley; two laborious and deep searchers into all the reliques of Grecian literature! yet two pedantic scholars, so ungraceful in the use of their own language, that neither of them can be justly supposed competent to decide a doubtful question of this kind, by that perfect delicacy of taste, which is sometimes imagined to constitute a sort of intuitive sagacity, sufficient to detect any literary imposture.

Experience has abundantly shewn, that in questions concerning the authenticity of ancient compositions, " much may be said on both sides," to use the gentle phrase of the benevolent Sir Roger de Coverly; and the Epistles of Phalaris are a memorable example to confirm his remark. Those Epistles afforded an extensive field to the active, and contentious spirit of Bentley, who delighted to display his admirable erudition, and his controversial fortitude, against a host of assailants. They seem to have considered him as the Polypheme of literature, and to have amused themselves in deriding the intemperance of his anger, though they might shudder at his strength. Had not that extraordinary scholar been influenced by a singular passion for such disputes, he would hardly have produced his curious dissertation on the epistles of Phalaris, as the young nobleman, who re-published those epistles, suggested, in his preface, some arguments, that tended to prove them spurious, instead of asserting that they were not so. Bentley prided himself on detecting the imposture. He is believed to have had truth on his side in denying them to be genuine. An admirable judge of such controversies, the late accomplished and amiable Mr. Tyrwhit, represents Bentley crushing his adversaries as with a stroke of