NOTES ON ATHENAEUS. BY GRÆCULUS. No. V. IN submitting these comments to the learned, I by no means pretend, with regard to this work, to " reform it altogether," but merely to point out a few improvements, as they appear to me, passages which evidently labour in error, and by my example to encourage other scholars to add their larger share of erudition in to the entire reformation of the text of Athenæus. Lib. vi. cap. xx. E. p. 270. Kudal σoi Tis-#geoquios, trans lated "tibi nemo similis est," requires a correction most simple and obvious: medis an 'oli. Lib, ii. cap. v. C. p. 43. Και ήμων δε πασα δύναμις εξ ύδατων αρδεται. Read it thus, Εξ ύδατος ήμων πασα δύναμις αρδεται. In this page Eubulus recommends the drinking of water, as the means of improving the imagination and invention, while wine, it is added, obscures our judgment, and makes us imprudent. Opinions differ on this point. It is a matter, however, with respect to which every man seems to think for himself, and few with Eubulus. In Lib, ii, cap. xiv. F. p. 55, it is related that Zeno, the stoic, was, in common, severe and irrascible, but, after taking plenty of wine, his temper became mild and agreeable. Being asked the reason of this change, he said that he resembled lupines, which, not being moistened, are exceedingly bitter, but when well steeped become very sweet. In this page, line 3, for autois read av. Lib. ii. cap. xvi. E. p. 57. It appears that wa signified, amongst the ancient Greeks, the upper part of the house, and that Helen was said to have been produced from an egg, ε wou, merely because she was brought up in the garret. At B. in this page, for a yoga read ayogasas. αγορασαι. Lib. i. cap. xxiv. F. p. 31. Theophrastus says, that in Arca dia there is a wine, which makes men mad and women fruitful. We have wine that often produces effects not very dissimilar. Here for Texvovaas read rɛnvovoœas; and in the Latin fœcundita tem for "sterilitatem." Lib. xiii. p. 557. Here we find this pleasant anecdote of Euripides and Sophocles. Some one saying to Sophocles that Euri pides was a woman-hater,-"Yes," he replied, in his tragedies, but not in bed! Lib. x. p. 451. ENIGMAS. What is that which carries its offspring about with it, and, though dumb, speaks to those it likes, however distant, while any one standing near them shall hear nothing? Here, between Tois Toggw insert na. In the same page. We are two sisters; one produces the other, and she who produces the other is by the other again produced. Lib. x. p. 453. What is that which we teach others, though we all know nothing about it? What is that which is no where and every where ? These I leave, till next month, to the ingenuity of your fair readers, whose blessings have not hitherto, I fear, been very profusely bestowed on my speculations. Lib. i. p. 25, C. I meddled with this passage of Eubulus in my fourth number, and I have now to add that the first line, run, ning Ιχθυν δε πω γ' Ομηρος εσθιον ειρηκε γε I would read, Oct. 10. Ιχθυν δε γ' Όμηρος εσθιον είρηκε το. BOXING, MR. EDITOR, FOR I suppose that is your name, as every one calls you by it, you see I write a very bad hand, and I am, therefore, rather shy, in setting my fist to paper; indeed, until now, I have only been used to make my mark. However, I have ventured to set to; yet you will find me very soon give in, for I am not a long-winded writer. I have no taste for long epistles, although some of your correspondents seem to be gluttons in that way, by which means I think they often close the eyes of your readers. All I want is to see some knock down arguments, to prove, that it is better to decide quarrels by boxing, than by fighting duels. Wellclose Square. DUTCH SAM. COMET. I WISH Some mention to be made of the comet in the Monthly Mirror. Having received a double intimation of it from two astrono mical correspondents yesterday morning, we looked for it in the evening, and found it as soon as the clouds dispersed. It was at 6h. 10' nearly due west, with a mucleus exceedingly brilliant and well defined, and a brilliant distinctly circumscribed train of about 210, turned from the sun, as they uniformly are, and very obliquely southward, making a small angle with the horizon, and nearly a right angle to the zenith. The nucleus appeared as dense and well terminated as that of any of the ordinary planets, of a palish gold colour, as was great part of the train next the comet. At a greater distance it faded off to a silvery whiteness in a most beautiful and delicate gradation of diminished tint. Viewed with an achromatic of DOLLAND, with a power of about 60, and a very large field of view: no pencil can express, by delineation, its exquisite beauty. At near eight, when clear of the twilight, the termination of the train became completely visible. It was then not less than 6 deg. the breadth of the train about 20' or rather more. At 8 h. 20' time, by a common watch uncorrected, it was nearly setting, but still perfectly clear. Nearly from its first-appearance is was exceedingly conspicuous to the naked eye. I have seen nothing to compare to it since the comet of 1769. From the extreme cloudiness and universal haze of the even ing, it was impossible, this night, 6th of October, to ascertain its place, or to be even sure of having seen it. Last night it appeared to make nearly an equilateral triangle, with a Corona and Arcturus, the comet and Arcturus forming the base. It had very little apparent motion. It bore a power of 100, in MATTHEW LOFFT's reflector, extremely well. It had been observed by MR. JOHN MILLS, of Bury St. Ed mond's, the preceding evening; who very obligingly communicated the intelligence. Oct. 7, 1807. CAPEL LOFFT. I I-VOL. II.* ASTRONOMICAL CONJECTURE. MR. EDITOR, THE HE following astronomical conjecture I submit to your decision, The great Sir Isaac Newton conjectured the sun to be a large body, vehemently heated, and the stars likewise; and he observes, large bodies preserve heat the longest, their parts heating one another, and why may not great, dense and fixed bodies, when heated beyond a certain degree, emit light so copiously, as by the emission and reaction thereof, and the reflection and refraction of the rays within the pores, grow continually hotter, till they arrive at such a period of heat as is that of the sun. Their parts may be further preserved from fuming away, not only by their fixity, but by the vast weight and density of the atmosphere incumbent on them strongly compressing them, and condensing the vapours and exhalations arising from them. If this was the case, the sun and stars we may justly suppose must have existed a long time prior to the earth, or at least must have had a given time to have acquired such a degree of heat; but even allowing that to be the case, for which we have no traditional authority, I should conceive, after a certain period, this body of fire must gradually waste, without a proportionable quantity of fuel of some description, It is well known the sun possesses the power of attraction in an eminent degree, and of extracting moisture from the earth, and that that moisture consists of a certain portion of metallic and saline substance, all which is combustible matter. May not the sun imbibe or extract as much of that substance as is necessary to keep it in its present inflammable state? Through a telescope the sun is observed to have apparently dark spots on his surface, differing occasionally in size, and sometimes extremely large. May not those spots be a given quantity of moisture, attracted from the earth, and, after the combustible matter is separated or extracted by the sun, the remaining fluid become so light as to be dispersed by the air through the atmosphere, gradually descending till it falls on other fluid, which in its descent has con→ tracted a given weight, with which it incorporates, still as it were flying through the air, and buoyed up by the atmosphere, till it becomes so heavy, that by its own weight and the attraction of the earth, it falls in rain. If this is the case, the cause of the clouds is easily accounted for, especially when we consider what an inconceptible quantity of moisture must be attracted by the sun, to contain combustible matter sufficient to serve it, as it were, regularly with fuel. CHARLES BERINGTON, junг. Manchester, Aug. 11. REVIEW OF LITERATURE. "If a man will start from the crowd, jump on the literary pedestal, and put himself in the attitude of Apollo, he has no right to complain if his proportions are examined with rigour; if comparisons are drawn to his disadvantage; or if; on being found glaringly defective, he is hooted from a station, which he has so unne cessarily and injudiciously assumed." The Reign of Charlemagne, considered chiefly with Reference to Re ligion, Laws, Literature, and Manners. By Henry Card, A. M. of Pembroke College, Oxford. 8vo. Longman and Co. 1807. MODERN history may be considered of little importance until the time of Charlemagne. Its pages, indeed, are crimsoned with the afflicting accounts of carnage and devastation; but of the amelioration of mankind by the wisdom of political institutions, by the improvement of manners, and the introduction or revival of learning, it affords but few instances. The investment of Charlemagne with the imperial mantle, in the year 800, has been fixed, and we think justly, by a celebrated historian, as the proper era of its commencement. His reign, therefore, from that period, we are warranted in viewing as the basis of our modern annals, and with the state of legislation, manners, religion, and literature throughout his empire we are, even at this remote time, in a certain degree connected. We have, however, to la ment that a subject, abounding in such great and diversified interest, has been either altogether neglected, or but slightly touched upon, for many ages; for, with the lapse of time, it is highly probable that many valuable records and documents have perished. The lustre of the name of Charlemagne is certainly still unfaded, but the sources from which it sprung have unfortunately disappeared, or are but few and scanty. The latter Mr. Card has diligently explored, and none, which enquiry, labour, and perseverance, could reach, have been inaccessible to his pursuits. He has succeeded in executing a work, the want of which must have been long deplored by all who attentively examine the origin and progress of civilization. His diction is at once lively, perspicuous, and energetic, and he frequently embellishes his subject by remarks which evince a profound judgment and a refined taste. Mr. Card has avowedly abstained from entering into the de |