him a bad man? The Bibaculus of Dr. Bentley is more harmless, but not much better founded. Alpinus or Vivalius, or Bibaculus, why need we trouble ourselves about the name of a poetaster long since, with all his works, forgotten? That here is a fling at a probably then quite new tragedy of that Alpinus, intituled Memnon, and another piece of his poetry, in which appeared a ridiculous description of the Rhine, under the figure of a river-god, is evident from the context. I should read diffingit, and translate it, agreeably to the whole construction, by daubed, because Bentley, with his arguments, has not convinced me, that defingit is the true reading. Horace evidently chuses that word, as he does the equivocal expression, jugulat dum Memnona, for the sake of characterizing Alpinus as a wretched versifier; and we may rely upon it, that he has not dealt too harshly with him.

Judice Turpa.] Spurius Metius Tarpa, the most respectable of the five censors, before whom such poets as composed for the stage, were obliged to read their performances. See Gent. Mag. volume LXXIX. P. 618. This recital was made in the

Temple of the Palatine Apollo, which was built by Augustus not till after the battle of Actium, and therefore when Horace wrote this Satire, was not yet in being. The Temple which the text assigns asthe place of these recitals, must accordingly have been some other.

Of these four poets, Fundanius, Pollio, Varius, and Virgil, each of whom Horace pronounces the first in his separate department at that time, Virgil is the only one that has come down to ours. Horace, and probably Virgil himself, never dreamed when this was written, that the gentle and charming favourite of the rural Camœnæ, was one day to snatch the laurel wreath of the Heroic Muse from the brows of Varius. --- The comic poet Fundanius seems to be the same whom Horace introduces speaking in the 8th Satire of the iid Book. It is curious enough, that Quintilian, in his Recension of the Latin Poets, neither enumerates this Fundanius among the Comic, nor Pollio among the Tragic, nor Varius among the Epic Poels; and, therefore, has by no means confirmed the

products of Grecian Literature still before them. We talk concerning the Margites of Homer, about what are called the Silli of Xenophanes and Timon, which we no longer possess, and therefore are not in a capacity to compare them with the Satires of the Romans, and nevertheless pretend to know more of the matter than Horace and Quintilian !

In versu faciendo.] Facere here means with Horace, not simply to make, but with art and industry to make, elaborate, form, polish, fiuish theuce likewise the phrase above, versiculos magis fuctos.

Arbuscula.] A pantomime actress, who flourished in the latter years of the seventh century of the city of Rome, as she was still acting in the games which were given to the pubfick by the great Pompeius; and Cicero writes of her to his friend

Atticus: Quæris de Arbuscula? valde placuit.

In these three

He

Conviva Tigelli.] lines, I think we have together the chiefs of the cabal, against whom this Satire is particularly levelled, although Horace thought it not advisable to give them a sort of conse quence by such an avowal, Fannius having been brought upon the carpet already in the Fourth Satire. had probably taken amiss the beatus Fannius uliro delatis capsis et imagine; and, by some petulant reply, had brought upon himself the tart ineptus, with which he is here regaled. whom he before called the ape of Demetrius, very likely the same Calvus and Catullus, is by some unjustly confounded with the much later dramatical performer of that namie, whose talents are commended by Quintilian, in the conclusion of have been one of the half-latin Græhis Eleventh Book. He seems to culi, such numbers of whom were then living at Rome in the capacity of private tutors in the fine arts, and were great pretenders to taste and wit. Pantilius, the bug, must have been indeed a wretched wight, seeing he is so scurvily treated by Horace; his profession, according to all ap pearance, was that of a scurra and parasite of Tigellius, who was the soul of this club of arrogant musicians, criticks, and versifiers. At the Fourth Satire, I delivered it as my opinion, that we are forced to admit two

Virgilius, Valgius, and Fuscus Aristius. On the contrary, it merits observation, that the Poet, in this enumeration of those whom he wishes to please, names first his friends in the stricter sense, Mecenas, Virgil, Varius, Fuscus, &c.; and then, ambitione relegata,brings up the rear with his patrons, all viros consulares, prætorios and senutorios, such as Messala, Pollio, Servius, Bibulus, &c. No less striking is it, as somewhat perhaps that equally depended on the Roman etiquette, and on the temper of Mæcenas: that this latter, although after Cæsar Octavianus, and next to Vipsanius Agrippa, was, in fact, the third person in Rome; yet, because he (to speak in the Roman manner) had always remained in the private station, is not placed by Horace (as decency and respect, according to our modern notions, would have required) amongst his high friends and patrons, but between Varius and Virgil; in company indeed with honourable and excellent characters, though mostly of humble pedigree, without any necessity on the part of the Poet to apprehend lest in so doing, he might disoblige the favourite of Cæsar, and the offspring of aboriginal Hetrurian Kings.

Discipularum inter jubeo plorare cathedras. Here is a double ambiguity in the expression. Plorare vos jubeo may, with the utmost propriety, be thus interpreted: As for you, virtuosi, you Demetrius, and you Tigellius, you are at full liberty to go snivelling and yelping, as you like it, to your lady-disciples. It is, however, likewise, agreeably to the Roman phraseology, about equivalent to our Go, and be hanged!

I puer, atque meo citus hæc subscribe libello.] This order to his amanuensis seems, in fact, to imply nothing more than that this Tenth Satire was to complete, what he calls libellum suum, namely, the First Book of his Satires; and that he intended now to publish it in this form; that is, as a collection of his Satires put out by himself, and acknowledged for his, which had hitherto been circulated only in private copies.

END OF THE FIRST BOOK.
Ormond-street.

W. T.

Mr.

Mr. URBAN,

YOUR

Dec. 20. YOUR Correspondent Agricola, p. 434, wishes to infer, that the Clergy are better remunerated in these days, than they were ever intended to be by the nature of their original appointment. Ainong the Jews, he says, one-tenth of the produce was set apart for one-twelfth of the population; but now, one-third of the value of the land goes to maintain one-fortieth part of the community; and all this, he is ready to prove. Now, I confess, I am a little curious to see how he will set about it; for I have very lately seen a book published by the Rev. Mr. Bearblock, on the subject of Tithes, in which it was laid down, from actual calculations, that the Titheowner, so far from receiving onethird, did not, in most instances, receive one-twentieth, and in none the tenth; and, if the Tithe was taken in kind all through the king dom, which, perhaps, is the only fair way of ascertaining its value, the value would, for the most part, be raised 50 per Cent. in order to make it a fair proportional tenth of the annual increase. But, supposing it to be the case, that an equal tenth was originally intended to be levied for the support of the Clergy, it is by no means true, that that body was originally supposed to be in a greater proportion than that of one-fortieth, to the rest of the community for, taking for granted, what I believe also is not the fact, that the Clergy do not comprize more than onefortieth part of the population of these kingdoms, yet their numbers must, in the nature of their institution, be stationary; and it is not probable that any great diminution has taken place in their body, since the dissolution of religious houses; and to that date, when the Church was new-modelled, may most properly be referred the present order and distribution of Tithes. As to the Levites, and their constituting one-twelfth of the people of Israel, if your Correspondent had turned to the Book of Numbers, instead of taking it for granted, that, because that people were distributed into 12 tribes, the distribution must necessarily have been into 12 equal parts, he would have found, that the tribe of Levi, when increased by the fami

:

IN

LAICUS.

Nov. 9.

N answer to your Constant Reader, p. 357, who enquires relative to the qualifications and appointment of Sheriffs, I beg leave to inform him, that the principal, and, perhaps, only indispensable, qualification for that office is, that the party shall have sufficient property within the county, "to auswer to the King and his people." Lists of persous competent to serve, are laid before the Judges on their respective Circuits, by the then Sheriffs; which lists are altered and adjusted by the Judges, as they see fit. Out of these lists, the names of three persons for each County are chosen by the Court of Exche quer, during Michaelmas Term; and of these three, one is pricked (as it is called) by His Majesty in Council, early in the year. Should all the three persons be found unfit, or get then selves excused, another is appointed from the Judges' list; and who, in that case, is called "a Pocket Sheriff."

With regard to the exemptions alluded to by your Correspondent, legally speaking, I know of none; though there is one which has been known to operate in favour of many highly respectable persons; viz. their having served their Counties for many years as active Magistrates. This, it may be said, is rather a qualifica tion than an exemption. As the office, however, is one, though of great dignity and honour, yet often of much difficulty, and always attended with considerable expence and immense responsibility, it is seldom sought for. Persous best fitted for it, are generally glad to escape it; which may be the reason,

why

why such as your Correspondent mentions, have never arrived at it. I know several persons who have been at great pains to avoid it; but not one, who, duly qualified, was ever disappointed in attaining this high office, when it became an object of honourable ambition.

Instances have been known, of the succession of Sheriffs being so contrived, as to keep the Under-Sheriffalty in one channel. This is scandalous; and, I hope, rare. Still more rare, I believe, are instances of Political reasons having any influence in the nomination of Sheriffs. Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

THE

L.

Shadwell, Aug. 22. HE Love of our Country is a feeling that must ever be held in esteem, and venerated; and I persuade myself this amor patriæ is nowhere more deeply felt than in the bosoms of those who have been deprived of her protection, or at distance from home. The story of the Pewter Spoon with London upon it, and its effects on the feelings of Captains Gore and Clark, with their officers at Kamiskatka, is well known to your Readers.

Another truth I will obtrude, that useful lessons are to be found for reflection and improvement to travelers at home, by visiting our Churchyards; and, although I cannot bestow praise on the cemeteries within the Bills of Mortality (but much to the contrary) yet there are those that do credit to the parishes to which they belong; and this conduct secins to be justified by antiquity : for, say some antient heroes, "We will meet thee at the tombs of our fathers."

Simple, and sometimes ludicrous, as we find the "poetic fire" on gravestones, there is much to be learned; and we can smile at some, as the following two will prove (and quoted from memory); the other two lines immediately after, do not fail to inculcate this useful truth, " that afflictions are the lot of man, and that medical aid cannot secure mortals from their doom."

In Fife-shire, North Britain, is to be read as follows:

"Here lieth I, killed by a Sky-
Rocket in my eye, aged Forty."

And the Southern inhabitants of our Isle, not to be, out-done in the pathetic, have in Fareham Churchyard, Hants, the following:

"In Fareham-harbour I was drown'd, And for three days could not be found: At last, with grapples and with care, I was dragg'd up, and buried here." Aud these, with the well-known distich to be found in every direction, of "Affliction sore long time I bore, Physicians were in vain," constitute the ground on which I furnished my preceding reflection.

As some of your Readers may recollect their boyish days at Harrowschool, perhaps the following epitaph in the Church-yard, on two brothers, may also come to their remembrance. "How blest are these brothers, bereft

Of all that could burthen the mind;
How easy, the souls that have left
Their wearisome bodies behind.
Of evil incapable those

Whose relicks with envy I see,
No longer in misery now,

No longer are sinners like me. Thus each is afflicted no more

With sickness, or shaken with pain; The war with their flesh, it is o'er, And never shall vex them again." In Farmingham Church-yard, Kent: "Ye giddy youth, who tread life's flow'ry path,

With serious thought awhile his dust survey, No pompous titles did adorn his birth, But noble virtue, mixt with humble earth. This caution learn, since such the life of

N Dr. Clarke's Travels in Russia, frequent mention is made of an Officer called "the Starosta," who is stated by the author to be "an Officer resembling the antient Bailiff of an English village."

I should be obliged to any of your Readers who will favour us with an account of this latter Officer, his appointment, and duties, and when they ceased. I have now before me a" Patent of Clarke of the Markett, and Bailiff of the Liberties," of a very obscure village, granted to an ancestor of mine, under an Ecclesiastical Corporation, in 1658.

T. S.

Mr.