THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE, AND LONDON REVIEW. FOR APRIL 1803. GEORGE ROMNEY. E prefent our Readers with a next Magazine, to lay before the Public W portrait of this diftinguished an authentic MEMOIR of this excellent Artift, whofe efforts have done fo much credit to the arts, and whofe works, inferior to none of the prefent day, the more they are examined, will be confirmed in the celebrity they have already obtained. We hope, in our Painter, drawn up from original sources of information, by a friend who was well acquainted with him, and whose abilities are too well known to require, an eulogium. With bim brave Telamon his plans purfu'd, But not till he full many a rock had thrown, He in life's warfare mult a novice be, We are told, that the preceding line, Ηρακλέος ὀλβίαν προς αυλάς, was introduced merely to exprefs a periphrafis of Thebes. It feems to have been confidered as a íentence that might have been ipared, as an ornament out of place. Withdraw it, and lament the chatm: for it will be indeed hiatus valdè deflendus. The poem is conducted with fuch felicity of art, and confiftency of defign, that its parts, of whatsoever materials they are compofed, coalefce and affimilate. We here learn that Hercules and his friend, who .were vanquished in the onfet, were ultimately victorious. Such, we read, is the viciffitude of human things. To do and to endure is the brave man's portion. Thus are the poet's moral maxims adapted to the place, time, and occafion. They are ingrafted upon the stock, and -incorporate with the story. In the web, thus artificially woven, to use our poet's allufion, every thread is conducted to its appropriate place, and coloured to advantage. The tints are fo blended, as to harmonize with each other, and with the whole. But the whole, fay fome, is a maze without a plan; a labyrinth, whofe clew, like the threads of the goffimar, is invifible. We feem to have formed our opinion of the Theban bard, rather from fuch of his works as have perifhed, than from fuch as remain. We here find him energetic and elegant; correct and cautious; rapid, but not raving; foaring, but not out of fight. We find not here numeri lege foluti. Here rent, through the daring dithyrambics. are no new words, rolling, like a tor Thefe were among the odes, which Horace pronounced inimitable. Virgil, whofe cuftom it was to fetch his clusters from a foreign vintage, has felected for imitation Pindar's defcription of mount Etna. It forms a part of one of thefe gymnaftic odes. Pindar's fublime defcription truth and nature predominate; in Virgil's, effort and art are most confpicuous, The Mantuan poet has in fome of his defcriptions furpaffed his originals. Here diis alitèr vifum eft. In Y. LIST OF THE GREEK MSS. WHICH HAVE BEEN BROUGHT BY MR. CLARKE, OF JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, FROM PATMOS, NAXOS, AND OTHER PARTS OF GREECE, AND FROM CONSTANTINOPLE. 13. Very ancient Copy of the Evange- 15. A Work of Philes, of Animals. Of the Plato, which Professor Porfon calls a Monument of Literature, it may be obferved, that it is the oldeft Copies of the Gospels, in Capitals, of Greek Manufcript in the World, with very ancient date. From Mount Athos. 1. The Orations of Demofthenes. 2. The Works of ten Athenian Orators, fome of which not hitherto known. From Conftantinople. 1. The Works of Dionyfius the Areopagite, with a curious and learned Commentary, written on vellum, in folio. 2. Complete Copy of the Gofpels, written in the 8th Century. an express date. Dorville (on Chariton, p. 49, 50.) had in his poffeffion a Manufcript of Euclid. written in the tions (Paleographia, p. 42.) having preceding year; and Montfaucon menfeen a Greek MS. fix years older; but thefe have now difappeared. The Profeffor has been long occupied in copying, with infinite labour, the Scholia; and has difcovered, by that means, paffages from Greek Plays, and from Poets, that were loft. He is still employed in these researches. ORIGINAL LETTER OF MISS TALBOT, A TWELVE MONTHago, dear Mr I left a letter and a parcel for you; for who thought of your running away into Ireland? At length I hear you are returning; but as I fuppofe your wandering stars will not lead you towards Oxfordshire, and our kind planets will probably keep us there feveral months, there is no likelihood of our meeting till after Christmas. I muft, therefore, leave you fome explanation of my parcel.-In the first place, I must remind you of what I dare fay you have forgot, that I am confiderably in your debt. It may be necessary too, perhaps, to put you in mind that, when laft I faw you, you were mightily engaged in forming a pyramid of books, the bafis of which, you told me, was feveral volumes of philofophy. You must know there is another fort of books which I think a much better foundation of fuch a building; and, not having heard you mention Sermons, I have fent you a fet of Archbishop Sharpe's, who is one of my favourites. It may be a ftupid fort of tafte; but to ame the fcience of the heart is often more engaging than that of the head; at least, when one is in bad fpirits (as I know you are too often), there is nothing that fo eafily leads me back to cheerfulness as a plain, good-humoured Sermon. It not only turns off one's mind from whatever is at prefent uneaty to it, but it gives one the molt rational grounds for happiness. To read fuch a bock, is to talk with an agreeable friend of the most interesting fubjects. If you are for more fublime fpeculations, more elegance of thought and language, Mr. Addifon's little book is as charming a companion as I know for a morning's or an evening's walk. Adieu - I with you all happiness; and hope. when I come to town, I thail find you fettled again in a good deal of bufinefs, very attentive to it, and free from all melancholy reveries. Had I been a fine, ingenious Lady, I might have fent you a pretty motto ring, or fome genteel remembrance; but, fuch as I am. do not laugh at me; and believe me to be, very fincerely, Your much obliged and faithful humble fervant, C. TALBOT. VIEW OF THE ORIGINAL HALL OF THE HONOURABLE EAST INDIA This claufe of referve was owing to the difpleafure that the Commons had lately fhewn on account of a grant, the novelty of which might poffibly offend them. The Queen had returned to the Houfe, and had spoken, on this occafion, in a manner worthy to ferve as a leffon to all Sovereigns: "GENTLEMEN," faid he, to the Members of the Houfe commiffioned to return her thanks, "I am extremely fenfible of your attachment, and of the care you have taken to give me an authentic teftimony of it. This affection for my perfon had determined you to apprize me of a fault I had inadvertently fallen into from ignorance, but in which my will had no fhare. If your vigilance had not difcovered to me the mifchiefs which my mistake might have produced, what pain fhould I not have felt, who have nothing dearer to me than the affection and prefervation of my people? May my hand fuddenly wither! May my heart be ftruck at once with a deadly blow ! before I fhall ever grant particular privileges that my fubjects may have reafon to complain of. The fplendour of the throne has not fo far dazzled my eyes, that I fhould prefer the abufe of an unbounded authority to the ufe of a power exercised by juftice. The brilliancy of royalty blinds only thofe Princes who are ignorant of the duties that the crown impofes. I dare believe that I shall not be ranked among fuch Monarchs. fuppreffed, on Government's giving two years' notice to its Members. The Company's title was, "The Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading to the Eaft Indies;" and Alderman Thomas Smythe was the first prefiding Governor. The members immediately raised 72,000l. but not in one joint ftock, or common capital, as in fucceeding times, there having been no joint stock in this Company till the year 1613. Early in 1601 they fent out their firft fleet for India, under the command of Commodore J. Lancaster, confifting of one ship of 600, one of 300, two of 200, and one of 130 tons (as victualler to the whole), carrying 480 men, and 27,000l. in money and goods; the remainder of the 72,000l. which had been raised being entirely expended in the purchase of the ships, and in artillery, ammunition, provifions, &c.-The following year they arrived at the port of Acheen, which was at that time a celebrated mart. Previous to Lancaster's arrival, intelligence had been received of the victories gained by the English over the Spaniards at fea; and this intelligence procured him a very diftinguished reception. The King behaved to him in the fame manner as if he had been his equal; he ordered that his own wives, richly habited, fhould play, in his prefence, feveral airs for dancing on a variety of instruments. This favour was followed by all the com. pliances that could be wished for, to facilitate the establishment of a fafe and advantageous commerce. The English Commodore was received at Bantam in the fame manner as at the place where he first landed; and a fhip which he had difpatched to the Molucca Ilands brought him a confiderable cargo of cloves and nutmegs. With thefe valuable fpices, and the pepper that he took in at Java and Sumatra, he failed homewards, and arrived in the Downs in September 1603, bringing letters and prefents from the kings of Acheen and Bantam to Queen Elizabeth, who, how ever, did not live to receive them, her death having taken place on the 24th of March preceding. This early fuccefs determined the Company to form fettlements in India; but not without the confent of the natives. Their expeditions thither were nothing more than the enterprizes of humane and fair traders. They made themselves beloved; but they gained nothing by this good impreffion, except a few factories, and were in no condition to fuftain the oppofition of their rivals, the Dutch and Portuguese, who were very formidable, being poffeffed of large provinces, well-fortified places, and excellent harbours. Their fecond feet, confifting of four fhips, was fept out in 1604, under Sir Henry Middleton, who returned in 1606, having had the misfortune to lofe one of his ships at fea. It is not our prefent purpose to go into a detailed hiftory of the English trade to India. We hall, therefore, be brief in the conclufion of this ar ticle. Although the fifteen years' exclusive trade, granted by the charter of Elizabeth to the East India Company, was not to expire till 1615, King James, on the 31st of May 1609, was prevailed on to grant the Company a renewal, which rendered it perpetual. The Company were fo encouraged by this new grant, that they built the largest merchantfhip that England ever had till within thefe few years pat. It was of upwards of 1000 tons burden, named The Trade's Increase, and, with three others, made the fixth voyage to India. In the year 1620 the Company obtained leave of the King of Golconda to fettle at Madras-Patan, on the coaft of Coromandel, where they were permitted to build the Fort called St. George, which place has ever fince been. the Company's general factory for the trade of the Eait. In 1637 King Charles erected a fepa Monarchs. I know that I hold not the fceptre for my own proper advantage, and that I am entirely devoted to fociety, which has put its confidence in me. It is my happinefs to fee that the State has hitherto profpered under my government; and that my fubjects are worthy that I should yield up my crown and my life for their fakes. Impute not to me the improper meatures I may be engaged in, nor the irregularities which may be committed under the fanétion of my name. You know that the Minifters of Princes are too often guided by private interests; that truth feldom reaches the ears of Kings; and that, obliged as they are, from the multiplicity of affairs they are laden with, to fix their attention on those which are of the greatest importance, it is impoffible they should see every thing with their own eyes.` |