was frequently

to fo loud and tumultuous a Way of speaking, and fo ftrained his Voice as not to be able to proceed. To remedy this Excefs, he had an ingenious Servant, by Name Licinius, always attending him with a Pitch-Pipe, or Inftrument to regulate the Voice; who, whenever he heard his Mafter begin to be high, immediately touch⚫ed a foft Note; at which, 'tis faid, Caius would prefently abate and grow calm..

UPON recollecting this Story, I have frequently wondered that this useful Inftrument fhould have been fo long difcontinued; efpecially fince we find that this good Office of Licinius has preferved his Memory for many hundred Years, which, methinks, should have encouraged fome one to have revived it, if not for the publick Good; yet for his own Credit. It may be objected, that our loud Talkers are fo fond of their own Noife, that they would not take it well to be checked by their Servants: But granting this to be true, furely any of their Hearers have a very good Title to play a foft Note in their own • Defence. To be fhort, no Licinius appearing and the Noife encreafing, I was refolved to give this late long Vacation to the Good of my Country; and I have at length, by the Affiftance of an ingenious Artist, who works to the Royal Society) almoft compleated my Defign, and fhall be ready in a fhort Time to furnish the Publick with what Number of thefe Inftruments they pleafe, either to lodge at Cof fee-houses, or carry for their own private Ufe. In the mean Time, I fhall pay that Refpect to feveral Gentlemen, who I know will be in Danger of offend ing againft this Inftrument, to give them Notice of it by private Letters, in which I fhall only write, Ger Licinius.

I should now trouble you no longer, but that I must not conclude without defiring you to accept one of thefe ← Pipes, which Ihall be left for you with Buckley; and

which I hope will be ferviceable to you, fince as you are filent your felf you are most open to the Infults of the Noify.

I am SIR, &c. W. B.

I had almost forgot to inform you, that as an Im provement in this Inftrument, there will be a particular Note, which I call a Hufh-Note; and this is to be made ufe of against a long Story, Swearing, Obsceneness, and the like.

T

N° 229. Thursday, November 22.

A

•Spirat adhuc amor

Vivuntque commiffi calores

Folia fidibus puella.

Hor.

MONG the many famous Pieces of Antiquity which are ftill to be feen at Rome, there is the Trunk of a Statue which has loft the Arms, Legs, and Head; but difcovers fuch an exquifite Workmanfhip in what remains of it, that Michael Angelo declared he had learned his whole Art from it. Indeed he ftudied it fo attentively, that he made most of his Statues, and even his Pictures in that Gufto, to make ufe of the Italian Phrafe; for which Reason this maimed Statue is ftill called Michael Angelo's School.

A Fragment of Sappho, which I defign for the Subject of this Paper, is in as great Reputation among the Poets and Criticks, as the mutilated Figure abovementioned is among the Statuaries and Painters. Several of our Countrymen, and Mr. Dryden in particular, feem very often to have copied after it in their Dramatick Writings, and in their Poems upon

Love.

WHATEVER might have been the Occafion of this Ode, the English Reader will enter into the Beau

ties of it, if he fuppofes it to have been written in the Perfon of a Lover fitting by his Miftrefs. I fhall fet to View three Different Copies of this beautiful Original The firft is a Tranflation by Catullus, the fecond by Monfieur Boileau, and the laft by a Gentleman whofe Tranflation of the Hymn to Venus has been fo defervedly admired.

Ad LESBIAM.

Ille mi par effe deo videtur,
Ille fi fas eft, fuperare divos,
Qui fedens adverfus identidem te,
Spectat, & audit

Dulce ridentem, mifero quod omnis
Eripit fenfus mihi: nam fimul te,
Lesbia adfpexi, nihil eft fuper mî

Quod loquar amens.

Lingua fed torpet. tenuis fub artus
Flamma dimanat, fonitu fuopte
Tinniunt aures. gemina teguntur
Lumina nocte.

MY learned Reader will know very well the Reafon why one of thefe Verfes is printed in Roman Letter; and if he compares this Tranflation with the Original, will find that the three firft Stanza's are rendred almoft Word for Word, and not only with the fame Elegance, but with the fame fhort Turn of Expreflion which is fo remarkable in the Greek, and fo peculiar to the Sapphick Ode. I cannot imagine for what Reafon Madam Dacier has told us, that this Ode of Sappho is preferved entire in Longinus, fince it is manifeft to any one who looks into that Author's Quotation of it, that there must at least have been another Stanza, which is not tranfmitted to us.

THE fecond Translation of this Fragment which I fhall here cite, is that of Monfieur Boileau.

Heureux! qui prés de toi, pour toi feule foûpire:
Qui jouit du plaifir de t'entendre parler:
Qui te voit quelquefois doucement lui foûrire.

Les Dieux, dans fon bonheur, peuvent-ils l'égaler?"

Je

Je fens de veine en veine une fubtile flamme
Courir par tout mon corps, fi-toft que je te vois:
Et dans les doux transports, où s'egare mon ame,
Je ne fçaurois trouver de langue, ni de voix.
Un nuage confus fe répand fur ma vuë,

Je n' entens plus, je tombe en de douces langueurs;
Et pafle, fans haleine, interdite, efperdue,
Un friffon me faifit, je tremble, je me meurs.

THE Reader will fee, that this is rather an Imitation than a Tranflation. The Circumstances do not lie fo thick together, and follow one another with that Vehemence and Emotion as in the Original. In short, Monfieur Boileau has given us all the Poetry, but not all the Paffion of this famous Fragment. Ifhall, in the laft Place, prefent my Reader with the English Tranflation.

'Twas this depriv'd my Soul of Reft,
And rais'd fuch Tumults in my Breaft;
For while I gaz'd, in Transport toft,
My Breath was gone, my voice was loft:

My Bofom glow'd; the fubtle Flame
Ran quick through all my vital Frame;
O'er my dim Eyes a Darkness bung;
My Ears with hollow Murmurs rung.

IV.

In dewy Damps my Limbs were chill'd;
My Blood with gentle Horrors thrill'd;
My feeble Pulfe forgot to play;

I fainted, funk, and dy'd away

INSTEAD of giving any Character of this laft Tranflation, I shall defire my learned Reader to look into the Criticisms which Longinus has made upon the Original. By that means he will know to which of the Translations he ought to give the Preference. I fhall only add, that this Tranflation is written in the very Spirit of Sappho, and as near the Greek as the Genius of our Language will poffibly fuffer.

LONGINUS has obferved, that this Description of Love in Sappho is an exact Copy of Nature, and that alk the Circumftances which follow one another in fuch an hurry of Sentiments, notwithstanding they appear repugnant to each other, are really fuch as happen in the Phrenzies of Love.

I wonder, that not one of the Criticks or Editors through whofe Hands this Ode has paffed, has taken Oc cafion from it to mention a Circumftance related by Plutarch. That Author in the famous Story of Antiochus, who fell in Love with Stratonice, his Mother-inLaw, and (not daring to difcover his Paffion) pretend ed to be confined to his Bed by his Sickness, tells us, that Erafiftratus, the Phyfician, found out the Nature of his Diftemper by thofe Symptoms of Love which he had learnt from Sappho's Writings. Stratonice was in the Room of the Love-fick Prince, when thefe Symptoms difcovered themselves to his Phyfician; and it is probable, that they were not very different from thofe which Sappho here defcribes in a Lover fitting by his Miftrefs. This Story of Antiochus is fo well known, that L need not add the Sequel of it, which has no Relation to my prefent Subject.

Friday,