Having given fome paffages from this poet, where he fpeaks in the character of a mifanthropist, it is but juftice to exhibit him as a moralist: If the following fragment fuggefts no new ideas upon the fubject of Envy, it will at least serve to convince us that mankind in all ages have thought alike upon that defpicable paffion

"Thou feem'ft to me, young man, not to perceive
"That every thing contains within itself

"The feeds and fources of its own corruption:
"The cankering ruft corrodes the brightest fteel;
"The moth frets out your garment, and the worm
"Eats its flow way into the folid oak;
"But Envy, of all evil things the worst,
"The fame to-day, to-morrow and for ever,
"Saps and confumes the heart, in which it lurks."

In the fragment next enfuing an old man is reproved for the vice of covetoufnefs; there is a delicacy in the manner of it, that well becomes both the age and condition of the fpeaker, for he is a youth, and fon to the character, whom he addreffes: This fragment is extracted from the comedy intitled Dyfcolus (the Churl) which Plautus is faid to have tranflated and performed under its original title; but of this only a few fragments remain in our volume of that poet; probably the father herein addreffed is the perfon who gives name to the comedy

"Weak is the Vanity, that boasts of riches,
"For they are fleeting things; were they not fuch,
"Could they be your's to all fucceeding time,
""Twere wife to let none fhare in the poffeffion :
"But if whate'er you have is held of fortune
"And not of right inherent, why, my father,
"Why with fuch niggard jealoufy engrofs
"What the next hour may ravish from your grasp,

And

"And caft into fome worthlefs favorite's lap?
"Snatch then the fwift occafion while 'tis your's;
"Put this unftable boon to noble uses;

"Fofter the wants of men, impart your wealth "And purchase friends; 'twill be more lafting treasure, “ And, when misfortune comes, your best resource."

There is another fragment of a more comic fort, which is a relique of The Minstrel, pointed at the fame vice

"Ne'er truft me, Phanias, but I thought till now,
"That you rich fellows had the knack of fleeping
"A good found nap, that held you for the night;
"And not like us poor rogues, who tofs and turn,
“Sighing, Ab me! and grumbling at our duns:
"But now I find, in fpite of all your money,
"You reft no better than your needy neighbours,
"And forrow is the common lot of all."

We are indebted to Plutarch for a very refpectable fragment of his favourite poet; he quotes it for the confolatory advice it contains, and addreffes it to Apollonius; I give it to my readers as one of the most valuable specimens of its author.

"If you, O Trophimus, and you alone

"Of all your mother's fons have Nature's charter "For privilege of pleasures uncontroul'd,

"With full exemption from the ftrokes of Fortune, "And that fome god hath ratified the grant,

"You then with caufe may vent your loud reproach, "For he hath broke your charter and betray'd you : "But if you live and breathe the common air "On the fame terms as we do, then I tell you, "And tell it in the tragic poet's words

Of your philofophy you make no ufe, If you give place to accidental evils "The fum of which philofophy is this"You are a man, and therefore Fortune's sport, "This hour exalted and the next abas'd: "You are a man, and, tho' by nature weak,

"By

"By nature arrogant, climbing to heights “That mock your reach and cruth you in the fall: "Nor was the bleffing you have loft the best "Of all life's bleffings, nor is your misfortune "The worft of its afflictions; therefore, Trophimus, "Make it not fuch by overftrain'd complaints, "But to your disappointment fuit your forrow."

The lines in Italics quoted from Shakspeare's Julius Cafar, not only correfpond with the exact meaning of the original, but are alfo appofite as a quotation from a tragic poet, Menander himfelf having applied the words to fome one of the writers of tragedy, probably Euripides.

Amongit the fmaller fragments there are feveral good apothegms, fome brief moral maxims well expreffed, and though not many of thofe witty points, which are fo frequent in Aristophanes, yet there are fome fpecimens of the Vis comica, which have a very ingenious turn of words in their own tongue; but generally fuch paffages elude tranflation. This quaint confeffion from the mouth of an old mifer is of that fort." I own I am rich, "abominably rich; all the world accuses me of "being a very warm old fellow, but not a foul "alive can flander me fo far as to fay I am a happy "one."-The following fcrap once belonged to The Thrafyleon;

"You fay not always wifely, Know thyself! "Know others, oft times is the better maxim."

A ftrong moral truth told with epigrammatic neatnefs itrikes me in this pointed remark—

"Of all bad things, with which Mankind are curft, "Their own bad tempers furely are the worst.”

I could

I could not pafs over a short but touching apoftrophe quoted from the comedy of The Olynthian

"What pity 'tis, when happy Nature rears

"A noble pile, that Fortune fhould o'erthrow it."

I fhall conclude with a fragment of the declamatory fort, not as offering any novelty either in the fentiment or expreffion, but fimply for the fake of contrafting it with other fpecimens

"If you wou'd know of what frail stuff you're made, "Go to the tombs of the illustrious Dead; "There reft the bones of Kings, there Tyrants rot; "There fleep the Rich, the Noble and the Wife ; "There Pride, Ambition, Beauty's faireft form, "All duft alike, compound one common mafs : "Reflect on these, and in them fee yourself."

I now take leave of Menander, the most renowned of the writers of the latter comedy, and if my readers fhall remark, that thefe fragments of a poet fo eminent in his time offer nothing, which has not been faid over and over again by poets of our own, I hope it will ferve to ftrengthen their conviction, that frequently there fhall be a coincidence of fentiment and expreffion between authors without communication; for it will hardly be fuppofed that plagiarisms have been committed upon thefe fragments, and much lefs upon others of more obfcurity, which I have in former papers introduced into our language.

In fhort, I fhould be happy if any thing I have done now or may hereafter do, fhall ferve to miti gate the zeal of critics for detecting their contemporaries in pretended pilferings and mifdemeanours, where the letter of the law may perhaps

appear

appear against them, but the spirit of it, if interpreted with candour, condemns them not. I would call upon them, as Terence did upon his audience, to reflect that men in all ages will think and speak alike.

Nullum eft jam dictum, quod non dictum fit prius :
Quare æquum eft vos cognofcere atque ignofcere,
Quæ veteres factitarunt fi faciunt novi.

N° CXXXIX.

Habent tamen et alii quoque comici, fi cum venia legantur, quædam, quæ poffis decerpere, et præcipue Philemon; qui, ut pravis fui temporis judiciis Menandro fæpe prælatus eft, ita confenfu tamen omnium meruit effe fecundus.

(QUINTIL. LIB. X.)

THERE is not amongst all the Greek dramatic poets a more amiable character than Philemon: He was a Syracufan by Suidas's account, but Strabo fays he was born in Solæ, a city of Cilicia: He was fome years elder than Menander, and no unworthy rival of that poet, though more frequently fuccefsful in his competitions with him than the critics in general feem to think he deserved to be: Of this we can form little or no judgment; they, who had accefs to the works of both authors, had the best materials to decide upon. Apuleius however speaks rather doubtingly in the comparifon, for he fays of Philemon that he was fortaffe