7 722 W Ideas of Luxury-Character of Livy. HAT were the ideas of luxury that the father or good man of the houfe had a mattrafs, or flock bed and fheets, a and wooden spoons into filver or tin; for fo common were all forts of treene velles in old times, that a man should hardly find four pieces pewter (of which one was peradventure a falt) in a good farmer's house. Again, in times paft, men were contented to dwell in houfes builded of fallow,wilor, &c. fo that the ufe of oak was in a manne dedicated wholly unto churches, religios houfes, princes palaces, navigation, At But now willow, &c. are rejected, and thing but oak any where regarded; and yet i fee the change, for when our houfes were builded of willow, then had we oaken tic; || but now that our houses are come to be mat of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a great many altogether ftraw, which is a fore alteration. In thefe, the courage of the owner was a ficient defence to keep the houfe in fafet but now the affurance of the timber mu defend the men from robbing. New have we many chimneys, and yet our te derlins complain of rheums, catarrh and pofes; then had we none but redoles, and our heads did never ach. For a the fmoke in those days was fuppofed to be a fufficient hardening for the timberof the houfe; fo it was reputed a far bett dicine to keep the goodman and his family from the quacks or pofe; wherewith, is then, very few were acquainted. As our pewterers in time paft employer ufe of pewter only upon dithes and p and a few other trifles for fervice; whe now they are grown into fuch exqar cunning, that they can in a manner tate by infufion any form or fashion, cup, difh, falt, bowl, or goblet, which made by the goldfmiths craft, though the very artificial be ever fo curious and forged. In fome places beyond the garnish of good flat Englifs pewter fat, becaufe dishes and platters in Itime began to be made deep, and like bafons, and are indeed more convenient third thing they tell of, is the exchange is efteemed fo precious as the like number canvas and their hardened hides.-The both for fauce and keeping the meat warm) of treene [wooden] platters into pewter, of veffels that are made of fine filver." CHARACTER of LIVY. [From the "History of Rome," a late work, by the author of the History of France) PAD of ADUA might juffly boast the birth an historian, whofe genius, vast as the empire that he has defcribed, has advanced the greatnefs, and which urge the decline of the Roman republic; mind feems to have expanded with the equally commanded the admiration of pof- growth of the fubject; and learning mut terity. Born amidst the tempests of civil ever regret the lofs that has been fustained commotion, Livy revolved with care and by the detruction of the latter and mert difcernment the general caufes which had interefting part of his work; yet the thir ty-five books which have been recovered, fufficiently difplay a mind fublime and penetrating, an eloquence clear and fplendid. Though he wrote in an age of fervitude, he retained the fire of freedom; and his esteem for the chiefs who had fallen in the plains of Pharfalia and Philippi, is preserved in the raillery of Auguftus. That illuftrious hiftorian, faid the emperor, fpeaking of Livy, is the admirer of Pompey; yet the republican principles of Livy did not eftrange from him the favour of the prince, and he was chofen to fuperintend the education of Claudius, the youngest fon of Drufus. The ftupid youth was incapable of availing himself of the talents of his tutor; and the latter, perhaps, foon relinquished the ungrateful duty. Of his perfonal history scarce any thing can be collected; his life, like that of moft learned men, was probably past in ftudious retirement; and the fuppofition is ftrengthened by the immenfe labour of his performance, which is reported to have occupied him twenty years. Four years after the acceffion of Tiberius, and at the advanced age of feventy-fix, he expired in his native city. Two anecdotes however ftill remain, which attest the profound efteem of the ancients and moderns for his genius and memory, and will poffibly not be unacceptable to the reader. In a paffage of Pliny's letters, "Do you "remember," fays he, "to have read "of a certain inhabitant of Cadiz, who "was to ftruck with the illuftrious cha"racter of Livy, that he travelled to "Rome on purpose to fee that great ge"nius; and as foon as he had fatisfied his curiofity, returned home." A veneration ftill more extraordinary was paid to this author by Alphonfo, king of Naples, who fent his ambaffador to the Venetians, in whofe territories the bones of Livy had been lately discovered, to beg a relic of this celebrated hiftorian; he was. indulged with an arm bone; and the prefent is recorded in an infcription preferyed at Padua. CHARACTER of VIRGIL, [From the fame.] was the birth-place of Publius Virgilius Maro; whofe humble parents gained a fcanty fubfiftence from the cultivation of a small farm, and the employment of weaving into baskets the offers which abounded on the banks of the Mincius. The ftudies of their fon were fupported by the liberality of a few generous friends, were commenced at Cremona, and were continued at Milan and Naples. Yet whatever advantages he must have derived from his genius and learning, yielded to his natural inclinations for a rural life; and the future author of the Georgics was content to till in obfcurity the fame acres as had been broken by the plough of his father. In this modeft ftation his talents might probably have been eternally buried, had not the tempeft of military violence, which, after the battle of PhiJippi, fhook Italy, fwept in its courfe the little patrimony of Virgil. Cremona had been rendered peculiarly obnoxious by its attachment to Brutus ; and Mantua might juftly lament its vicinity to Cremona. In the general revolution of property the farm of Virgil was confounded; and he efcaped with difficulty from the fword of Arius, a brutal centurian, who had ufurped his fields and cottage. His complaints were probably preferred to Afinius Pollio in verfe; and that illuftrious Roman, a judge and patron of me rit, recommended the poet to the favour of Auguftus. What had been denied to juftice and humanity was granted to genius; the poet was reinftated in his farm, and was encouraged to purfue his interest in the capital. But the noife and confined air of Rome neither agreed with the temper nor conftitution of Virgil. It was probably beneath the fhade of his paternal trees that he compofed his Eclogues; and in a rural retirement, near Naples, he planned and finished his Georgics. The latter were read to Auguftus foon after his return from Egypt; and even amidst the improvements of modern husbandry, the rules they contain are still allowed to be juft and admirable. It was in the forty-fecond year of his age that he began the immortal work of his Æneid. And though the character of the hero has been confidered by many as an allegorical portrait of Auguftus, yet this opinion has been rejected by a learned foreign profeffor, who has published fome judicious comments on the Roman bard, and who thinks it improbable that a poet of fo excellent a judgment, could have adopted a plan which must neceffari.. ly have cramped and contracted his powers. An anonymous critic, of our own coun try, has with equal fpirit and ingenuity refuted the imputation that Eneas's adventure to the infernal shades was no other than a figurative defcription of Virgil's initiation into the Eleufinian myfteries. To have divulged thofe myfteries would have been confidered by the ancients as a moft daring violation of the laws of honour and religion; nor is it probable that Horace should with abhorrence have banish ed from beneath his roof the wretch who reveals the mysteries of Ceres, when he was confcious that the friend whom he profeffed to love and reverence moft, had incurred the guilt, and must have applied the fentence of indignant infamy. The beautiful verfes on Marcellus form alfo part of the fixth book. When they were read to Octavia she burst into tears, and recompensed the praises of her fon by the prefent of a fum equivalent to eighty pounds sterling for every line. Yet the piety of Octavia is invariably acknowledged; nor would the poet have been fo injudicious as to recite, nor could the princess have been fo weak as to reward a performance, which in the very book that cele brated the virtues of Marcellus, violated the most folemn ties of religion. Twelve years of affiduous application completed the Eneid, but destroyed the conftitution of Virgil. He had destined Q three years to the revifal of this laft and moft arduous of his poetic labours. But in his return from Athens to Rome, be was attacked by a flow and mortal feser; and expired at Brundufium in the fifty. fourth year of his age. Conscious of the imperfect state of the Æneid, in his lat moments he declared his with that it might be committed to the flames; was prevailed upon to retract the capricious refolution; and he confented to tr publication of it, on condition that wh ever lines might appear unequal or un, nifhed, should be expunged, but that now fhould be added; the facred and important office was affigned to two of his frients Tucca and Varius; and was puntually executed under the infpection of Auguftus himself. Though it is chiefly as an epic poet the we are called upon to admire Virgil,) his talents qualified him to excel in every fpecies of poetic compofition. Bet hi thirst for fame was reftrained by the de licacy of his fentiments; he is fuppofed to have declined exercifing his dramatic powers, that he might not obture the glory of his friend Varius; and to hart facrificed to his intimacy with Horace the unrivelled reputation he might have at quired by indulging his Lyric vein. CHARACTER of HORACE. [From the fame.] UINTUS Horatius Flaccus was de fcended from an Equestrian family, of Venufium, and had received his education at Rome. Animated with the love of freedom he joined the camp of Brutus, and was raised to the rank of military tribune. But his courage was not equal to the tumultuous horror of battle; and he has himself acknowledged the difgraceful facility with which in the rout of Philippi he abandoned his fhield. His life was fpated by the victors, but his eftate confifcated; and his dift efs firft roufed him to exert his genius; his verfes introduced him to Maecenas; and by that powerful minifter he was recommended to Auguftus in the memorable and flattering words, "Confider Horace as myfelf." He was foon admitted to a degree of high favour and familiarity with the emperor, who wished to retain him about his perfon in the capacity of private fecretary. But the duties and reftaint of office ill-fuited the indolent and independent difpofition patron Mæl of Horace; and though he declined t offer, he still preferved the favour of th prince. He was re-established in hisp trimonial eftate, and rapidly enriched the imperial liberality; and in his on the banks of the Tiber, and in the neighbourhood of Tarentum was per ted to indulge his inclination for ment, and to blend in amorous feiring the joys of love and wine. It was b with not to outlive his and though the beautiful ode in which he has expreffed it may be more remarkable for its harmony than fincerity, he act ally furvived that minifter only a few days In the fifty-feventh year of his age he was feized with a diftemper fo violent as allow ed him not to make a will; but by a VIIbal difpofition he bequeathed his fortune to Auguftus, from whom he had received it; and by the command of the empero his afhes were depofited near thofe of Maecenas, with whom in life he had been fo strictly united. CHARACTER CHARACTER of OVID. F the dying hours of Horace were I guilded by favour, the half years of Abriz Ovid were darkened by the rigour of Au guftus. An illuftrious extraction, and an eafy fortune, introduced him early to the moft honourable fociety of Rome; and the elegance of his addrefs foon rendered him the favourite of the gay and the fair. His father had defined his abilities to the bar; but the fon was difgufted with the dry and laborious ftudy of the law; and, following his own genius, afcended to fame by a more eafy and flowery path. The Art of Love contains whatever can warm or influence the female mind. But while Ovid was devoted to that paffion, which hit his verfes have fo frequently infpired, his career of pleasure was interrupted by a fentence of perpetual banishment. impenetrable veil has been thrown over the whole tranfaction; nor is it easy to entre conjecture, at the distance of eighteen et centuries, what crime could induce a CE Ап prince, who afpired to the glory of polifh fing the rude, and of protecting the learn ed, to treat with fuch inflexible severity, a fubject whole manners must have acry ed his court, and whofe writings have reflected luftre to his reign. A licentious commerce with the younger Julia, and an improvident difcovery of the amours of Auguftus limfelt, have been variously, and perhaps erroneously, urged. The magnitude of his guilt can only be fuppofed from the duration of his punishment. Six tedious years, confumed on the frozen banks of the Danube, and amidst the fa vage Hordes of Scythia, could not mitigate the anger of the emperor; and his refentment feems to have been bequeathed to his fucceffor. The tender complaints, which could not move to mercy Auguftus, were not likely to affect the ftern and dark mind of Tiberius; and four years after the acceffion of that prince, and on the fame day that Livy expired at Padua, Ovid, in the fixtieth year of his age, breathed his laft on the inhofpitable shores of the Euxine. A Teft for difcovering, in Wine, Metals that are injurious to the Health. TH HE property of liver of felpur and of hepatic gas in precipitating lead of a black colour, has been long known; and that property has been made ufe of to afcertain the goodnefs of wine in the preparation of the liquor probaticus Wurtembergicus. But in trying wines which we fufpect to be adulterated, that proof does more harm than good; becaufe, it precipitates the iron of the fame colour with the pernicious lead; by which means, fome dealers of refpectable characters have been ruined. It was wanting, therefore, to find an agent which would difcover nothing in wine but what was prejudicial to health. This is accomplished by the following teft, which precipitates lead and copper of a black colour, arfenic of an orange colour, &c. but does not precipitate iron, which being innocent, or rather falutary to the human conflitution, gets into a great number of different forts of wine by various accidents. Receipt for the Teft Liquor. Mix equal parts of cyfter thells and crude fulphur reduced to a fine powder, and put the mixture in a crucible. Heat this in a wind furnace, and fuddenly raife the heat till the crucible be expofed to a white heat for fifteen minutes. When the mafs is cool, reduce it to powder, and keep it in a bottle well corked. To make the liquor, put 120 grains of this powder, and 180 grains of cream of tartar, into a ftrong bottle full of common water which has been boiled for an hour and fuffered to cool. Cork the bottle immediately, and shake it from time to time. After having ftood a few hours, pour off what is clear of the liquor into ounce phials, after having previously put into each of of them twenty drops of fpirit of feafalt; and then ftop them well with wax mixed with a little turpentine. One part of this liquor, mixed with three parts of wine adulterated, will difcover, by a very fenfible black precipitate, the fmalleft quantity of lead, copper, &c. but will have no effect on be any iron it may contain. When the precipitation is made, iron may difcovered by faturating the wine remaining, when poured off, with a little falt of tartar, when the liquor becomes inftantly black. Pure wines remain perfectly cle after the addition of this liquor. For the NEW-YORK MAGAZINE. The MISCELLANIST.-No. VII. There are certain faults which prefs too near our self-love to be even perep tible to us. Thoughts on the Manners of the Great. is no paffion that ex. dragged me into his pofes human nature fo much to the fhafts of ridicule as vanity. It is a weakness which more or lefs characterises moft men. Who can lay his hand upon his heart, and fay, "I am free from vanity?" Even the perfon who ridicules it, may be impelled by no other motive than to gratify this very foible; for we frequently difcover vanity in the very act of cenfuring it. Upon confidering the effects of this paffion, although difagreeable, I cannot pronounce it altogether culpable. True, when indulged in an inordinate degree, it renders our conduct prepofterous, and fometimes criminal. It expofes all our weaknesses, throws us off our guard, and renders us tormenting to ourselves and difgufting to all around us. friend, fays he, how glad am I to you! I have finifhed a piece here which I think is admirable in i kind; liften to it while I read. I fit down, he reads an chay upon drunkenness. As foon as he had fnifhed, before I could fay a word, Don't you think, fays he, it is very good? won't it bear publicationI was in a perfect dilemma. Ca dour whifpered to me not to f fer iny words to deviate from y thoughts; and politeness prompte me not to hurt the feelings of ther. Politenefs at laft prevailed, I told him (not, however, in a p fionate exclamation) that I thought was excellent. The advice of He race at this moment ftruck me very forcibly, which is, to flee from t I know a young man, poffeffed of impertinent, which is nothing would but very moderate abilities, who va- than a vain fellow, as you lues himself on a talent for writing. from the plague. I was fick of his Greedy of the public applaufe, with company, and made an effort to deout having the powers to obtain it, part. My effort was fruitless: be be conftantly defeats his own object. feized me by the arm, and faid he Nature has formed him for the com- had not half done with me-Here, mon drudgery of life, but he conceits fays he, producing a bundle of pa he can shine among the great modern pers, is a letter I wrote fome time authors, and even pluck the laurel ago; it has received the approbation from the ancients. Every compofi- of all my learned friends: it is writ tion he writes, however exception- ten with a defign to fhew the advan able, must go to the prefs. The other tages of education, and has a paruday, as I was walking by his door, he cular reference to the fuperior excel Iran out, feized me by the arm, and lence of the alma mater in which |