Huc veniet Mesela meus, cui dulcia poma

Delia feledtis detrahet arboribus :
Et tantum vererata virum, bunc sedula rutet,

Huic paret, atque epulas ipfa miniftra gerat.
Stanhope shall come and grace his humble friend,

Delia shall wonder at her noble guest,
With blushing awe the riper fruit commend,
And for her husband's patron cull the best.

HAMMOND'S Elegies. Nothing can equal the respect which Tibullus had for Mellala. He reprefents him as the greatest man of his time:

Te, Mifala, canam, quanquam me cognita virtus
Terret, ut infirmæ requcani fubfiftere vires.

The fong be thine, tho' fear pursues the fong,

My feebler voice may do thy virtpes wrong. « Horace in one of his odes, tells us that Mestala came to dine with him, and that excellent wine, and philosophical converfation made their entertainment extremely agreeable.

Defcende, Corvino jubent,

Promere languidiora vina ;
Non ille, quanquam Socraticis madet
Sermonibus, së negliget horridus.

To-day Messala deigns to dine;
Oyield, my cak, thy mellowest wine!
Tho' fage in mind, of manners free,

He joins philosophy with thee. There is a humorous double meaning in the word made, which, however, we cannot preserve in the translation.

• It is to the Socratical conversations which were supported at those agreeable entertainments, that Horace alludes in the fatire wherein he mentions the subjects of the discourse which passed at his table.

Ergo
Sermo oritur, non de villis, domibufve alienis,
Nec malé, recne Lepos faltet ; fed quod magis ad nos
Pertinet, et nefcire malum eft, agitamus, utrumine
Divitiis homines, an sint virtute beati,
Quidve ad amicitias, usus ne&tumve trabat nos,
Et qua fit natura boni, fummumque quid ejus,

No trivial topics close the focial meal,
No Pretor's villa, and no dancer's heel.
To nobler objects our attentions go,
To know, what folly only fails to know,
The art to live-that lait and greatest art,
And all the homefelt business of the heart.
If wealth or virtue happicr days produce;
If friendship springs of moral right or use;
Of good the nature and the truth explore,
The first perfection feek, and, found, adore.

If the poem called Ciris was really written by Virgil, which Seneca, and many able critics (amongst the rest Joleph Scaliger) bave supposed, but which we verily believe was not, Virgil too muft have been among Messala's friends, for che poem is addressed to him.

« Mellala directed the studies of young Ovid; so the poet · himself tells us in an epiftle addressed to Meffalinus the son of that great man:

Nec fuus eff genitor nos inficiatus Amicos,

Hortator fudii, caufaque, faxque mei.
It is the same Meflalinus whom Ovid elsewhere calls

Pieridum lumen prafidi urque fori. • Pliny speaks of him as an epicure, who had invented ragous, and died a fingular death. He applied lough-leaches. And, instead of dropping off when they had fucked their fill, their heads stuck in the wound. This brought on an inflammation, whereof he died.'

• It must be mortifying to that idea of immortality, with which Authors Aatter themselves, to consider that the works of such a man as Meffala, which were admired in his time, are now totally lost.

• He employed his pen on history. We learn from Plutarch, in the life of Brutus, that he had written a 'narrative of the battle of Philippi, and of the last moments of Caffius and Brutus. Pliny cites those books which Meffala had written De Familiis. In Quintilian we find that he had written a Differtation on the Alphabet, and he gives us an extract of what he had said on the letter S.

• But what he was principally famous for was his eloquence. We have already mentioned some of those encomiums he had acquired; but the fuffrages of three men, whofe decision was a law, must be added.

• We shall firft introduce that of Cicero, who must be al. lowed to have been the ableft judge in this matter. In a letter to Brutus he thus speaks of Meffala, and certainly no finer elogium could poflibly be passed upon him :

Cave enim exiAimes, Brute, (quamvis non neceffe eft ea me ad te quc tibi nota funt, fcribere) sed tamen tantam omnium laudum exccha lentiam non quro preterire. Cave putes, trobitate, conftantia, cura, ludio reipublicæ quidquam illi eljê simile. Ut, el quentia, qua

mirabiliter excellit, vix in & locum ad laudandum habere video atur ; quanquam in hac ipfa Sapientia plus apparet: ita graui judicio, multaque arte fe exercuit in verifimo genere dicendi.

i The elder Seneca speaks of him as one of the chastest wris ters of the age :

Fuit autem Messala exaclisimi ingenii in omnes quidem ftudiorum partes; latini utique fermonis obfervator diligentiJinys,

· Seneca,

• Seneca, the philosopher, calls him virum differtiffimum.

The last years of Meffala exhibit a melancholy initance of
that misery which is annexed to the condition of humanity.
This celebrated man, who was universally esteemed one of the
greatest geniuses of his time, had the misfortune to lose bis
understanding and memory, two years before he died; and he,
who was once the most eloquent man in Rome, could not put
two words together. This account we have in the chronicle of
Eusebius. Pliny adds, that he had even forgot his name. An
ulcer came upon him at laft, which made him take the resolu.
tion to end his days by refusing to eat. He died in the seventy
fecond year of his age.

This little memoir must be very acceptable to men of tafle
and genius, who enjoy the labours, and love the characters, of
the claflical ages.

The memoirs of literature contained in these volumes fall
be attended to in our next Appendix.

WE

To our READERS.
E take a pleasure in announcing to our philosophical

Readers the completion of a curious work in 2 vols. 4to.
On the Barometer and Thermometer, and on the Nature and Pro-
perties of the dir in general, written by M. J. A. De Luc, 2
citizen of Geneva; which has been at the press these eight
years past, and is now entirely printed of. Some account of
the Author's design was given by M. de la Lande in the Can-
noisance des Mouvemens celestes for the year 1765; and still more
lately, in the Journal des Sçavans for the month of February 1771.
It has been thus long detained in the printer's hands, from a
very laudable desire in the Author, to give his work all posible
perfection; and particularly those advantages which it might
derive from new experiments, and the refications suggested by
them; as well as from the hints and observations of his philo-
fophical friends, to whom he had communicated the discoveries
he had made during the prosecution of this undertaking.

In a prospectus publifhed by the Author, and from which we
derive the foregoing intelligence, the great outlines are given
of the improvements which he has made in the construction of
the barometer and thermometer, particularly in correcting the
defects of these instruments; to which is added a general view

of the result of his enquiries concerning the various modifica-
- tions of the atmosphere. We Mall postpone however, any fur-

ther observations on the subject, till we have seen the work
itself; with regard to which it is neceffary to observe, that it
is only to be had by subscription; no more than 600 copies
being cast off, not one of which is to be delivered till nearly
the incire number has been subscribed for.

To the REMARKABLE PASSAGES in this

VOLUME.
N. B. To find any particular Book, or Pamphlet, see, she

Table of Contents, préfixed to the volume.
For the remarkable Pasages in the Foreign Articles, see the
Second Alphabet of this Index, in the latter Part of the Sheet.

cay, 262.

t

A.

orders of, ib. Philosophical BstemIOUSNES8, wonderful - transactions publilhed by, 355. observed by a miller at Billerie fcriptural doctrine, 191.

ANIMALS, mercy and tenderness -ActemAD Ul DowLA, his excel. towards them recommended from lent character, 453.

the pulpit, 491. AGRICULTURE, in what respects ANTILL, Mr. his remarks on the

to be made highly advantageous culture of the vine in America, to-commerce, 8. How far 343. His fober advice to his likely to be benefited by inland children, ib. Canals,. 87. Harmonization of, ArchITECTURE, of the Romans, with manufactures, commerce, grandeur and decline of, 372. &c. 188.

BEHMEN, Jacob, specimen of his CLARK, Mr, his paper on the ad: wonderful reveries, 400.

vantages of Tallow ploughing, Bengal, revolutions in that coun

94 try, 355 Ruinous ftate of,

Dr. his obf. on the Artb. under the Engl!th Eatt-India ritis anomala, 18. ¿ Company, 356. Extent of, Coller, Dr. his account of the

and valt number of inhabitants, hydatids, discharged by cough. 357.' Plan for restoring it to its ing, 265.

former prosperity, 358. Colica pictonum, fymptoms and BENG-SBED oil, inanufacture o, cure of chat dreadful disorder,

in Pennsylvania, recommended, 258. 345.

COLOxies, British, obf. on the BLADDER, urinary, . disorders in- present state of, 201. Staple

cident to, 1858 See also Ls. commodities of, ib. NavigaVINGSTONE.

tion of, 202, · On the proposed BLOW-PIPE, chat instrument re- new settlements on the Ohio, commended to the travelling mi- &c. 206.

Useful regulations, neralogift. 460.

relating to our trade with the BOTANY, fexual system of, ex- colonies recommended, 211..

plained, 270 ; remarkable ex- COMBATs, in London streets, res periment to ascertain the reality mark on by a foreigner, 107. of, 272. Do&trine of, not un- Comet, that which appeared in

known to the ancients, ib. the summer of 1770, two 26BREAST, account of a singular dis- counts of, 340, 341. order of, 257.

account of that which apo BRIDGES, those built across the peared in Jan. 1771.

Thames, in London, censured, Comets, fingular theory relating 168.

to the use of, 338. Broek, village of, described, 61. COMMERCE, freedom of, reflections BRUSSELS, Mort descript. of, 62.

on, 416.

COMMON-SENSE, curious remarks C.

on, 47

True idea of aícerANALS, navigable, their great

ted, 39

of, 32

lity, 84.

state and history of, 39-42. CARROTS, remark on the notion CONSTITUTION, ancient, of the

of transplanting them, 23. Engeith goveroment, invcftigaCARTER, Dr. his account of a lock'd jaw, 256.

Cooper, Mr. his encomium on CATACHR ESIS, critical illustration

Dr. Akenride, 429. of, 221.

COPENHAGEN, fhort description CHAPPE, Abté, Ari&tures on his

journey through Siberia, 470. Cows, instances of negligent and Choisi, a palace of the French erroneous treatment of them, 22. King, described, 64.

CURRANT wine, American receipt CHRISTIANITY a gloomy

for making, 345. scheme, 161. Strongly recom• mended as bearing the contrary

D. ing objections against, 231.

not