tranflations which prove the poffibility of uniting the different. qualities of fidelity and elegance. Among thefe we venture to place the prefent work, in which we have an accurate and faithful, and at the fame time fufficiently elegant tranflation of two pieces of Cicero, which have never before appeared in Englifh. That our readers may judge how far our idea of the merit of this translation is just, according to our usual method in works of this kind, we shall give them the following paffage both in the original and the translation: it is extracted from the Orator.

Tertius eft ille amplus, copiofus, gravis, ornatus, in quo profecto vis maxima eft. Hic eft enim cujus ornatum dicendi, et copiam admirata gentes, eloquentiam in civitatibus plurimum valere paffæ funt: fed banc eloquentiam quæ curfu magno fonituque ferretur, quam fufpicerent omnes, quam admirarentur, quam fe affequi poffe diffiderent. Hujus eloquentia eft tractare animos, bajus omni modo permovere: bac modo perfringit; modo irrepit in fenfus; inferit novas opiniones, evellit infitas. Sed multum intereft inter hoc dicendi genus, et fuperiora. Qui in illo fubtili et acuto elaboravit, ut callidè, argutèque diceret, nec quidquam altius cogitaret: hoc uno perfecto, magnus orator eft, fi non maximus: minimeque in lubrico verfabitur, et fi femel conftiterit, nunquam cadet. Medius ille autem, quem modicum et temperatum voco, fi modò fuum illud fatis inftruxerit; non extimefcit ancipites dicendi incer

This is the man

The third character is the extenfive-the copious-the majestic orator, who poffeffes the powers of elocution in their full extent. whofe enchanting and diffufive language is fo much admired by liftening nations, that they have tamely fuffered eloquence to rule the world. But an eloquence whofe courfe is rapid and fonorous! an eloquence which every one gazes at, and admires, and defpairs to equal! This is the eloquence that bends and fways the paffions! this is the eloquence that alarms or fooths them at her pleasure! This is the eloquence that fometimes tears up all before it like a whirlwind; and, at other times, fteals imperceptibly upon the fenfes, and probes to the bottom of the heart! the eloquence which ingrafts opinions that are new, and eradicates the old; but yet is widely different from the two characters of speaking He who exerts beforementioned. himself in the fimple and accurate character, and fpeaks neatly and smartly without aiming any higher!

he, by this alone, if carried to perfection, becomes a great, if not the greateft of orators; nor does he walk upon flippery ground, fo that if he has but learned to tread firm, he is in no danger of falling. Also the middle kind of orator, who is diftinguifhed by his equability, provided he only draws up his forces to advantage, fears not the perilous and doubtful hazards of a public harangue; and, though fometimes he may not fucceed to his wifhes, yet he

is

incertofque cafus etiam, fi quando minus fuccedet, ut fæpe fit, magnum tamen periculum non adibit: altè enim cadere non poteft. At vero hic nofter, quem principem ponimus, gravis, acer, ardens, fi ad hoc unum eft natus, aut in hoc folo fe exercet, aut huic generi ftudet uni, nec fuam copiam cum illis duobus generibus temperavit, maxime eft contemnendus. Ille enim fummiffus, quod acutè et veteratorie dicit, fapiens jam; medius, fuavis; hic autem copiofillimus, fi nihil eft aliud, vix fatis fanus videri folet. Qui enim nibil poteft tranquillè, nibil leniter, nihil partitè, definitè, diftinè, facetè dicere (præfertim cum caufa partim tota fint eo modo, parti maliqua ex parte tractanda) fi is non præparatis auribus inflammare rem cepit; furere apud fanos, et quafi inter fobrios bacchari vinolentus videtur. Tenemus igitur, Brute, quem quærimus; fed animo: nam manu fi prebendiffem, ne ipfe quidem fua tanta eloquentia mihi perfuafiffet, ut fe dimitterem. Sed inventus profecto eft ille eloquens, quem numquam vidit Antonius. Quis eft igitur is? Completar brevi, differam pluribas. Is enim eft eloquens, qui et bumilia fubtiliter, et magna graviter, et mediocria temperate, poteft dicere. Nemo is, inquies, unquam fuit. Ne

is never expofed to an abfolute defeat; for as he never foars, his fall must be inconfiderable. But the orator, whom we regard as the prince of his profeffion, the nervous, the fierce,the flaming orator, if he is born for this alone, and only practises and applies himfelf to this, without tempering his copioufnefs with the two inferior, characters of eloquence, is of all others the most contemptible. For the plain and fimple orator, as fpeaking acutely and expertly, has an appearance of wisdom and good fense; and the middle kind of orator is fufficiently recommended by his fweetnefs:-but the copious and diffufive fpeaker, if he has no other qualification, will fcarcely appear to be in his fenfes. For he who can fay nothing calmly,-nothing gently, nothing methodically-nothing clearly, diftinctly, or humorously (though a number of caufes fhould be fo managed throughout, and others in one or more of their parts); he, moreover, who proceeds to amplify and exaggerate without preparing the attention of his audience, will appear to rave before men of underftanding, and to vapour like a perfon intoxicated, before the fober and fedate. Thus then, my Brutus, we have at last discovered the finished orator we are seeking for: but we have caught him in imagination only ;-for if I could have feized him with my hands, not all his eloquence fhould perfuade me to release him. We have at length, however, difcovered the eloquent fpeaker, whom Antonius never faw. But who, then, is he?-I will comprize his character in a few words, and afterwards unfold it more at large. He then is an ⚫orator indeed! who can speak upon trivial fubjects with fimplicity and art, upon weighty ones with energy and pathos, and upon thofe of middling import with calmness and moderation. You will tell me, perhaps, that such a speaker has never existed.

Be

Hi fuerit. Ego enim quod defiderem, non quid viderim, difputo: redeoque ad illam Platonis, de qua dixeram, rei formam et fpeciem; quam etfi

non cernimus, tamen animo tenere

poffumus. Non enim eloquentem quæro, neque quidquam mortale et caducum, fed illud ipfum, cujus qui fit compos, fit eloquens: quod nihil eft aliud nifi eloquentia ipfa, quam nullis, nift mentis oculis videre poffu

พ.

E it fo:-for I am now difcourfing not upon what I have feen, but upon what I could wish to fee; and must therefore recur to that primary femblance or ideal form of Plato which [ have mentioned before, and which, though it cannot be feen with our bodily eyes, may be comprehended by the powers of imagination. For I am not seeking after a living orator, or after any thing which is mortal and perishing, but after that which confers a right to the title of eloquent; in other words, I am feeking after Eloquence herself, who can be difcerned only by the eye of the mind.

The firft of the pieces here tranflated contains a few short but masterly sketches of all the speakers who had flourished in Greece or Rome from the earliest periods to the time of Cicero: the second contains a critical delineation of what this great master of oratory efteemed the most finished eloquence or ftyle of fpeaking. Tranflations, executed in the fame manner, of Cicero's other valuable remains on this fubject, particularly his books De Oratore,-Inventione,-Topicis,-and Partitione Oratoria, could not fail of being acceptable to the Public.

ART. III. Elements of Conchology, or an Introduction to the Knowledge of Shells. By Emanuel Mendez da Cofta, Member of the Academia Cæfar. Imper. Nat. Curiof. Plinius IV. and of the Botanic Society of Florence. With Seven Plates, containing Figures of every Genus of Shells. 8vo. 7 s. 6d. Boards. White.

1776.

N

Ature has never left herself without witness, but appears to have referved a peculiar priesthood for the maintenance of her worship, and the fupport of her glory. She has had her apoftles amongst Jews and Gentiles, from Saint Aristotle, and Saint Pliny, to Saint Linnæus, and Saint Da Cofta. These are her high priests, who have been admitted behind the veil, and made acquainted with her myfteries, For our parts, we pay all due reverence and respect to their office; and whether the investigation of a plant, a butterfly, or a fhell be their object, we are ftill fenfible, that fuch purfuits have a tendency to difplay the great wisdom of the Creator, and to cultivate a right

and rational devotion.

An undevout naturalift would be a character the most prepofterous; and we are perfuaded that an infidel, of such studies, never exifted. When Pliny had been contemplating certain

phænomena

phænomena in the natural world, he concludes with the following reflection: Quibus in rebus quid poffit aliud afferre caufæ mortalium quifpiam, quam diffufæ per omne naturæ, fubinde aliter, aliterque numen erumpens; i. e. thefe appearances cannot finally be refolved into any thing but the agency of providence.

Led by this religious attachment to Nature, her votaries have fet toil and danger at defiance; have paffed the howling wildernefs and the horrid deep; pervaded the inhofpitable defarts of Ethiopia, and the more inhofpitable waters that invest her fhores.

The purfuit of that particular branch of natural science, which forms the fubject of the work before us, is attended withmany difficult and difcouraging circumftances. To ranfack the dark chambers of the ocean to obtain the fhining panoply of its inhabitants, is neither eafy in the procefs, nor profitable in the end. The foffilift who toils in fearch of a gem, may frequently find his intereft in concert with his curiofity; but the conchologift, who rifques the horrors of the Mofambic and Magellanic feas in queft of a shell, can have no other object than the paffionate purfuit of Nature, through the variety, yet confiftency, of her fyftematic operations.

Thefe operations, indeed, are wonderful, replete with the most aftonishing beauty and design. What an elegant conformity of tints and lines, what beautiful corufcations of light darting through the finest compofition of fhade, have we seen in fome fhells!-Could we forbear, on fuch an occafion, to exclaim in unpremeditated verse,

Qui fuerint autem tractus, quae fidera coli;

Tales fi formas antra, finufque tenent?

In confequence of the difficulties attending the pursuit of this ftudy, we find that it has been cultivated only fince the latter part of the laft century. About the year 1681, a work was printed at Rome, with the following title: Ricreazione dell' Occhio, e della Mente, nell' Offervazione delle Chiocciole; i. e. Amufements for the Eye and the Mind, in the Obfervation of Shells. This is the firft profeffed work on the fubject. It was afterwards tranflated into Latin, but the edition is fcarce. The Author, Buonanni, gives us a feries of figures of the several fpecies of fhells, to the number of 450 in the Italian edition, and of 550 in the Latin edition; they are most of them tolerably well engraved, but faulty in that the fhells are reverfed by the inaccuracy of the engraver. He accompanies each with its particular description but the defcriptions are not good, being too concife and uninftructive; he befides gives feveral philofophical chapters on the origin, nature, forms, colours, properties, and other curious particulars of teftaceous animals.

The next is Lifteri Hiftoria Conchyliorum, publifhed in folio, at! different times, from 1685 to 1692. It is an excellent work, and I

do not hesitate to pronounce it the very beft, though the fecond on the fubject, that ever was printed.

This work, which confifts entirely of engravings, has the following faults, that render the copies more or less perfect. First, no two copies are found to be exactly alike, it is fubject to fo many variations. The plates about 1767 (in the most perfect copies) are augmented or diminished, mifplaced or corrected, at different times, according to the fancy or fubfequent discoveries made by the author; it is therefore very difficult to quote the work in fuch a manner as to be quite anfwerable to other copies. The engravings are very elegant and accurate, and were done by his two daughters, Sufanna and Anne. In regard to descriptions there are none, but what the fynonyms infer, which are generally very good. The native countries of a few are also added, but the greater part are mere engravings without any name: and though the many divifions of the history into books, parts, fections, and chapters, feem very puzzling and confufed, yet an accurate obferver will find, that they are proper and neceffary to the methodical arrangement, and the minute and nice difpofition of fhells Dr. Lifter propofed.

This difference in the feveral copies has induced a French author, Mr. Davila, in his Cabinet, vol. iii. p. 231, to give a collation of his copy with that in the king of France's library, from M. de Bure, who in the fecond volume of his Bibliographie Inftructive, has alfo many pertinent obfervations of the different times of taking off the plates: by the account M. de Bure gives, it appears that the French king's copy is a very perfect one, and was prefented to that Royal Library by Dr. Lifter himself.

I have alfo collated fome copies of this work, and found them all to difagree: the most perfect copy in London is faid to be in the library of the College of Phyficians.

Some foreign naturalifts have been pleased to call Lifter's Hif tory a dry and fterile work, alluding to its having no defcriptions, but only fynonyms, though in all other refpects they extol it greatly? M. D'Argenville, however, in his Conchology, has taken great pains to difparage Lifter's work, and hesitates not to affert that no Author has thrown fo much confufion on the hif tory of thells as Lifter.' It is of confequence to the fcience to remove this prejudice; accordingly our Author has taken the tafk upon himself.

I will be bold enough to affert, fays he, that Lifteri Hiftoria Conchyliorum is a most afeful work, as perfect as any other fince publifhed, and of great confequence to those who make the natural hiftory of shells their study..

There was published in 1770, another edition of this excellent work, in large folio, by the Rev. William Huddesford, of Trinity College, Oxford, and Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. I with Î could add more, than that the Public is indebted to the late learned editor for the republication, as Lifter's work is become fo fcarce; but the indexes and other additions are very trivial, and there are alfo estors and inaccuracies in it which do no honour to Lifter's mory.

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