Europe. The fame is obferved of them in the North American ftates. They do not, however, remain longer than till the approaching of the fpring, when they again retire northward to the arctic regions to breed. A few, indeed, drop fhort, and perform that office by the way, for they are known to breed in fome of the Hebrides, the Orkney, Shetland, and other folitary ifles; but these are hardly worth notice: the great bodies of them are met with in the large rivers and lakes near Hudfon's Bay, and thofe of Kamtfchatka, Lapland, and Iceland. They are faid to return to the latter place in flocks of about a hundred at a time in the fpring, and alfo to pour in upon that ifland from the north, in nearly the fame manner, on their way fouthward in the autumn. The young, which are bred there, remain throughout the first year; and in Auguft, when they are in moult, and unable to fly, the natives taking advantage of this, fhoot, kill them with clubs, and hunt them down with dogs, by which they are cafily caught. The flesh is highly efteemed by them as a delicious food, as are alfo the eggs, which are gathered in the fpring. The Icelanders, Kamtfchatdales, and other natives of the northern world, drefs their skins with the down on, few them together, and make them into garments of various kinds : the northern American Indians do the fame, and fometimes weave the down as barbers weave the cawls for wigs, and then manu. facture it into ornamental dreffes for the women of rank, while the larger feathers are formed into caps and plumes to decorate the heads of their chiefs and warriors. They alfo gather the feathers and down in large quantities, and barter or fell them to

the inhabitants of more civilized nations.

"Buffon is of opinion that the tame fwan has been derived originally from the wild fpecies; other naturalifts entertain a contrary opinion, which they form chiefly on the difference between them in the fingular conformation of the windpipe. Willoughby fays, The windpipe of the wild fwan, after a ftrange and wonderful manner, enters the breaft-bone in a cavity prepared for it, and is therein reflected, and after its egrefs at the divarication is contracted into a narrow compafs by a broad and bony cartilage, then being divided into two branches, goes on to the lungs thefe branches, before they enter the lungs, are dilated, and, as it were, fwollen out into two cavities.' Dr. Heyfham corroborates the above, and adds, that the wild fwan, in this particular, differs not only from the tame fwan, but alfo from every other bird. The only obfervable external difference between the two fpecies is in the markings of the bill, (which are figured in the fubjoined head) and in the wild fwan's being of lefs bulk than the mute or tame kind.

:

"Much has been faid, in ancient times, of the finging of the fwan, and many beautiful and poetical defcriptions have been given of its dying fong. No fiction of natural hiftory, no fable of antiquity, was ever more celebrated, oftener repeated, or

better.

better received it occupied the foft and lively imagination of the Greeks; poets, orators, and even philofophers, adopted it as a truth too pleafing to be doubted.' The dull infipid truth," however, is very different from fuch amiable and affecting fables, for the voice of the fwan, fingly, is fhrill, piercing, and harsh, not unlike the found of a clarionet when blown by a novice in mufic. It is, however, afferted by thofe who have heard the united and varied voices of a numerous affemblage of them, that they produce a more harmonious effect, particularly when foftened by the murmur of the waters.

"At the fetting in of frofty weather, the wild fwans are faid to affociate in prodigious multitudes, and thus united, to use every effort to prevent the water from freezing this they accomplish by the continual ftir kept up amongst them; and by conftantly dashing it with their extended wings, they are enabled to remain, as long as it fuits their convenience, in fome favourite part of a lake or river which abounds with their food.

The fwan is very properly entitled the peaceful Monarch of the Lake: confcious of his fuperior ftrength, he fears no enemy, nor fuffers any bird, however powerful, to moleft him; neither does he prey upon any one. His vigorous wing is as a fhield against the attacks even of the eagle, and the blows from it are faid to be fo powerful as to ftun or kill the fierceft of his foes. The wolf or the fox may furprife him in the dark, but their efforts are vain in the day. His food confifts of the graffes and weeds, and the feeds and roots of plants which grow on the margins of the water, and of the myriads of infects which skim over, or float on its furface; alfo occafionally of the flimy inhabitants within its bofom.

"The female makes her neft of the withered leaves and stalks of reeds and rushes, and lays commonly fix or feven thick-fhelled white eggs fhe is faid to fit upon them fix weeks before they are hatched. Both male and female are very attentive to their Vol. II. young, and will fuffer no enemy to approach them.” P. 276.

We could expatiate, with great amufement to ourselves, and poffibly to our readers alfo, on the very ingenious devices, which are frequently made the fubjects of vignettes or tail-pieces: fubjects of common and familiar life, fuch as have not been touched by other artifts, but full of characteristic truth, and frequently of original humour. But the inftances are fo numerous, that the difcuffion would carry us much too far: and as they are not, in general, allufive to the fubjects of the book, they are rather pleafing fpecimens of the artist's ingenuity, than a proper or neceffary appendage to a work on natural hiftory.

ART:

ART. X. Storia dell' Accademia degli Arcadi, inflituita in Roma l'Anno 1690, per la Coltivazione delle Scienze delle Lettere umane e della Poefia fcritta da Gio. Mario Crefcimbeni, Primo Cuftode Generale. Publicata l'Anno 1712, d'Ordina della Medefima Adunanza. 12mo. 196 pp.

7s. 6d. ART. XI. L'Arte Poetica Italiana, in cinque Canti, da Benedetto Menzini. 12mo. 141 pp. 5s.

ART. XII. Bacco in Tofcana, ditirambo di Francefco Redi, con Note brevi Scelte dell' Autore. 12mo. 30 pp.

5s.

ART. XIII. La Rivolutione Francefe, Vifione alla Dantefca, in Quattro Canti da Vincenzo Monti l'Anno 1793 12mo. 96 pp. All fold by Beckett, in Pall Mall, and printed by Bulmer. 1804.

THE

HESE four works appeared together early in the fummer of last year, and in addition to fimilar works which we have formerly noticed, evince the perfevering zeal of the elegant and learned editor, Mr. Mathias, for the cultivation of the delightful language of Italy. On the first mentioned of thefe volumes there is little to be faid. It contains Crefcimbeni's hiftory of the Arcadi, taken from his general history of Italian poetry, without additional illuftration, excepting a defcription of a theatre of the Arcadi, built in 1726, written and published by the Abbate Vettorio Giovardi, in 1727. Few of our readers can require to be told, that the Arcadi are a learned fociety in Italy, established in 1690, for the exprefs purpose of encouraging the progrefs of fcience, and literature, and tafte. "Per maggiormente coltivare lo ftudio delle fcienze, e rifvegliare in buona parte d' Italia il buon gufto nelle lettere umane, ed in particolare nella poefia volgare.' This elegant club was firft eftablished in Rome, but foon fent out branches, under the name of Colonies, into every principal city of Italy. The members take two names of a Grecian form, on being admitted into the fociety, and confider themfelves as Arcadian fhepherds. Mr. Mathias is defervedly enrolled in this fociety, and his Arcadian appellation is Eubante Tirinzio +. The Colonies abovementioned have

each

* See Brit. Crit. Vol. XXI. p. 32, and XXII. p. 413. This has been a ridiculous fnare to a would-be wit of the

prefent

each a device and a motto; and the collection of thefe, copied from Crefcimbeni, and very neatly cut in wood, occupies this little volume from page 96 to the end.

2. We proceed in the fecond place to the Art of Italian Poetry, by Menzini. This poet, who died in 1704, at the age of 59, has hitherto been little known in England. The prefent very neat edition of his Arte Poetica, will not only ferve to diffuse new general precepts of the art, but will, in feveral particulars, open more exactly the refinements of Italian poetry. The character of the author, and of the prefent work, may properly be given in the words of Mr. Mathias, from his dedicatory epifle to Mr. Montagu.

"A i nomi illuftri di Ariftotele, di Orazio, di Vida, e di Boileau, che con tanta gloria e vantaggio della Repubblica letteraria fi fono efercitati in quefta materia, vuole anche aggiugnere il fuo l'erudito e leggiadro Menzini, dalle Mufe Greche (a mio parere) più ch' alcun altro Poeta Tofcano allattato e nudrito.

"Chiunque leggerà quefto ben regolato è giudiziofo componimento, fentirà come fi poffa imparare la purità della lingua, la novità delle figure, la vaghezza di belliffime favole, la gentilezza e nobiltà de' penfieri, e la maestà ed armonia dell' elocuzione, con tutti quei pregi e vezzi che vengono dalla scola Anacreontica e Chiabrerefca.' P. vi.

,,

This character of Menzini we have given in the words of the editor, to do juftice to his skill in writing Italian: the opinion given by a countryman of the poet, in the short life here printed, we fhall tranflate for the benefit of mere English readers. It is to this effect:

"Though, in the works of Menzini, we do not fee the fulf rays of a fublime philofophy, yet there are not wanting brilliant gleams, which fufficiently prove the author to be verfed in fciences and languages. But, as to the praife derivable from the Mufes, whether in his bold dithyrambics, he gives new effect or existence to great and founding words; whether he blows the Epic trump, and exalts the noble deeds of heroes to the skies; or whether, finally, like the bee, feeking the flowery thyme, and wandering through the woods and fields, he makes the hills re found with his ruitic notes, Menzini is ever worthy of the contested crown of Apollo.”

prefent day, who calls Eubante Tirinzio the watchword of the fociety; and therefore, feeing no fignature, affects to confider the date, in Roman letters, as ftanding for the writer's name. Flim Flams, vol. i. p. 95.

This

This profe is, perhaps, fomewhat too poetical, though we have quieted it a little in our tranflation, but it gives a ftrong teftimony to the merit of the poet. Menzini was a member of the Arcadi, by the names of Euganio Libade; and an indefatigable promoter of the fuccefs of that inflitution. In the life here prefixed, we find a few more works attributed to him; namely, fome Poems publifhed in 1680, his Paradifo Terreftre, in three Cantos, his Academia Tufculana, in imitation of the Arcadia of Sannazaro, and a few fmaller works. Where his Eulogift, above quoted, found him founding the Epic trumpet we do not know. His Art of Poetry is faid, on the fame authority, to have been the fruit of two months only of leifure; and, if fo, is a very extraordinary performance. It is divided into five Cantos, the fubjects of which are chiefly these.

Canto I. The difficulty of fucceeding in Poetry; neceffary qualifications; exact knowledge of Italian ftyle, and idiom; readinefs of rhyming; and a facility of verfification, not languid, but dignified and well fupported. Rife and improvements of the Tufcan dialects. Neceffity of attending to criticifins, and correcting with care, to render compofitions durable.

Canto II. The Fathers of Italian Heroic Verfe, Ariofta and Taffo. Comparison of them. Coherence, clearness, and expreffion of character neceffary. Obfcenity to be avoided. Tragedy, examples of, in Italian. End of Tragedy and Comedy. Degeneracy of modern Comedy. That Verfe is neceffary to make Comedy complete.

Canto III. Dithyrambic Poetry. Its difficulties: may be adapted to amorous fubjects. Satire, its origin, and different fpecies. Elegy, fometimes elevated above its ufual flyle. Paftoral Poetry, various kinds fpecified. Style adapted to familiar and facetious compofitions.

Canto IV. Sacred Poetry, not fufficiently inveftigated. Its difficulties and their caufes. Vain attempts to imitate Pindar. The Tufcan Ode preferred, in fome particulars, to the Greek and Latin. Blank Verfe convenient in didactic writing. The Sonnet, the hazard of attempting it: the few that are perfect.

Canto V. On the Sublime. It is rather a gift of nature, than attainable by art. Definition and origin of it. Enthufafm defined. The Value of a found Judgment. Harmony of various kinds.

Conclufion.

The value placed by the Italians upon the Sonnet, a quaint invention of their own poets, will be clearly underflood from the following ftanzas:

:

"Quefto