A happy and correct analysis of terms in common use (in which we have already stated that this writer greatly excels) is highly advantageous: but we must observe, on the other hand, that the constant use of the circumlocutory language of analysis renders the page inelegant, irksome, and obscure. The treatise merits great praise for its matter, but its manner we must consider as susceptible of numerous and various amendments :-it is a treatise which, in fine, the superficial will soon throw aside, but which the profound will peruse more than once with renewed, interest. Jo ART. IV. Die Furienmaske, im trauerspiele, &c. i.e. The Masks of the Furies, in the Tragedies and on the Gems and 'Relievos of the antient Greeks. An Archæological Essay. By C. A. BÖTTIGER. 8vo. pp. 145. Weimar. 1801. אן N this elaborate disquisition, the learned author corroborates the assertion of Lessing, that the antient artists never represented the figure of a Fury in the terrific form ascribed to those deities by Eschylus. We are told that this poet, in the third part of his Tetralogy, (admired by the antients under the name of Orestias,) has delivered all that could be gathered from old popular reports clothed in the customary metaphorical language, with tremendous attributes created by his own bold and comprehensive imagination, to represent the terrifying aspect of those avenging deities. The undertaking was grand, and highly worthy of a poet; at whose appearance in the lower world, Aristophanes ordered a black lamb to be slain, which otherwise was went only to be sacrificed to furious hurricanes. The common Athenians scarcely ever presumed to mention these tremendous goddesses by their proper names, denoting them only by the appellation of the venerable deities. This intrepid dramatist, however, in the tragedy which he calls after their milder name, The Eumenides, introduced a company, consisting of not fewer than fifty of these tormenting spirits, as an acting chorus, on the stage; and he excited consternation and horror in the minds of all who were present, by so unusual a spectacle. At the first representation of this tragedy, indeed, several women miscarried, and chil-' dren were frightened to death.-The horrible dresses of these infernal deities contributed greatly to produce these effects." They appeared for the first time with snakes interwoven with their hair; which hideous head-dress has continued to be appropriated to them on the modern theatres. We learn from an antient tradition, that the sovereign public of Athens, fond as they were, in the state of civilization at which they were Hh 4 then then arrived, of whatever could strike the senses by pomp, by prodigious forms, and by powerful impressions, yet found this monstrous and terrific creation rather too strong for their nerves, and therefore passed a law which limited the supernumerary chorus-performers to fifteen. Such disasters, as those occasioned by the first representation of the Eumenides, were thus certainly prevented for the future. Be the case, however, as it may, with this tradition, (which, at least in its more modern dress, is evidently deficient in marks of authenticity); thus much is certain, that the works of the tragic poets, by such an accumulation of the terrible as was rather addressed to the eyes than to the understanding of the spectator, were well calculated, at the first sight, to produce that censure which Aristotle, in his Poetics, pronounces in these terms: "To excite terror by decorations betrays a bad taste, and proves nothing but the prodigality of the theatrical manager." Modern judges of the drama, says M. BÖTTIGER, have not overlooked this passage of Aristotle concerning the graceless chorus of the gracious Eumenides, in criticising our tragedies; and they have uniformly declared, without reserve, their disapprobation of such an abuse of the theatrical apparatus. Nevertheless, some such apologies as have since been made for Shakspeare, may be urged in behalf of the venerable father of the antient tragedy, in regard to this extravagant multiplication of the terrific in decorations and in the apparition of ghosts; partly from the taste of the times in which he lived; and partly from the peculiarities of his genius, which, in its attainment of the sublime, disdained not to call in the aid of outward means. Nay, perhaps, (continues our author,) another way, not often adopted, might be found, by which the terrors and horrors here brought on in such constant succession might have a peculiar reference and mitigation, from the point of time in which the poet first caused this piece to be performed for the particular instruction and edification of his Athenians. The design of this little treatise, the author acquaints us, is to fulfil a promise which he lately made to two of his pupils, who were employed in reading the Eumenides; when the question was naturally started, How the antient tragedians displayed these terrific Fury-masks, and represented them to the gaping audience? In pursuance of this design, he enters into a critical examination of the tragedies of Eschylus, particularly the Eumenides and the Choephori; in which we meet See Eschenberg on Shakspeare, p. 133. Comp. Warton on English poetry, vol. 1. p. 33 : with several curious observations and remarks, the whole evincing a thorough acquaintance with the old dramatist and This various commentators. M. BÖTTIGER is certainly man of genius and learning; and though the subject should be considered as interesting only to the profound scholar or the scientific artist, it is at least very ably treated. He often quotes, with great approbation, the English critics, Stanley, Harris of Salisbury, Twining, Pye, &c.; and we cannot omit what he says of Dryden, nor the quotation from an elegant German translation of his celebrated ode. After having mentioned the Iphigenia of Goethe, (whom he styles the modern Sophocles,) he thus continues: • But rarely do we meet with an instance in which the mythos is employed to so happy and sublime an image as in Dryden's famous Alexander's Feast; where he introduces the slaughtered Greeks in the form of Furies, armed with horrid torches for the burning of Persepolis: "Revenge! revenge! Timotheus cries: See the snakes that they rear, How they hiss in their hair, And the sparkles that flash from their eyes! Each a torch in his hand! These are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain, Behold, how they toss their torches on high, And glittering temples of their hostile gods!" This passage is thus translated by an anonymous correspondent in the Teutsche Mercur, for October 1800: "Rache! rache! ruft der sænger. Die furien treten hervor! Sieh, wie stræubt ihr schlangenhaar Erhobne fackeln gluhen! Der Griechen geister, die im kampf erschlagen Auf weiter haide lagen, Unruhmlich, ohne grab! Sie schwingen die fackeln sie zielen herab, Auf prangender Perser gebäude. " Three Three engravings of theatrical Furies accompany this classical tract, besides a vignette in the title-page. ART. V. Premier Voyage autour du Monde, i. e. The First Voyage round the World, by the Chevalier PIGAFETTA, in the Squadron of Magellan, during the Years 1519, 20, 21, and 22. Accompanied with a Treatise on Navigation by the same Author; and à Notice concerning the Chev. Martin Behaim, with a Description of his Terrestrial Globe. Ornamented with Charts and Figures. 8vo. pp. 480. Paris. 1801. T HIS publication of the narrative of Magalhaens's voyage is a translation from a manuscript which has lately been discovered in the Ambrosian library at Milan. ANTONIO PIGAFETTA, on his return to Spain in the first ship that circumnavigated our globe, presented a journal of his voyage to the Emperor Charles V. Afterward, being at Rome, Pope Clement VII. desired to have a copy of his journal; and the Chevalier says, < I considered it as my duty to satisfy, in the best manner that I possibly could, the will of the holy father.' The pope's request, therefore, produced the narrative, a copy of which is now before us. Whether it differs from the journal delivered to the Emperor, we believe, is not known to the public: but, if he were obliged to compose afresh, it is evident in the performance that he was enabled to do this by the assistance of notes which he had reserved. Besides writing his narrative for the Pope, he sent a copy to Louisa of Savoy, then Regent for her son, Francis I. of France; and he presented another to Phil. de Villiers Lisle-Adam, Grand Master of Rhodes. The dialect, in which PIGAFETTA wrote, was a mixture of Italian, Venetian, and Spanish. A translation into the Italian language, but in some parts abridged, was published at Venice in 1535; and this translation Ramusio inserted, with a few immaterial variations, in his collection of Voyages. It does not appear to be known what has become of the originals presented by PIGAFETTA. In the MS. lately found in the Ambrosian library, the author's dedication to Lisle-Adam is prefixed to the narrative: but whether it be the original, or a copy, the French editor acknowleges to be doubtful. One circumstance is mentioned, which affords some presumption that it is only a copy: viz. in the title, and at the head of the epistle dedicatory, the author's name is written PIGAFETA; at the bottom of the letter, it is spelt PAGAPHETA; and at the end of the treatise on navigation, PIGAPHETTA. Whatever other faults a man may be accustomed to commit in his orthography, he seldom forgets how to spell his own name: though the Tooke the instances of our immortal Shakspeare, and others, are cases. against this remark. The difference between the present publication and the copy inserted in Ramusio, besides the language, is that some stories which appeared incredible (and doubtless were fables) have been omitted in Ramusio: the present copy is likewise in some particulars more circumstantial: but there appear very few variations of consequence in the material circumstances, except such as are occasioned by mistakes at the press, and in one place by a different interpretation of the points of the compass. As the narrative of PIGAFETTA, in a state not very dissimilar to that in which it now appears, has been during some centuries in possession of the public, and has contributed towards every account of the voyage of Magalhaens which has since been written, it would be superfluous to give extracts from the present publication. The Ambrosian MS. is ornamented with twenty-one coloured charts; and, to enable his readers to form an idea of these charts, the present editor has given four of them in his translation. They are very rude, and ill formed: that which represents the Streto Patagonico is more so than could have been expected, making every allowance for the time at which it was executed. The translator's preface gives a short view of the manner in which the trade for spices was conducted in early times, with some geographical remarks on the discoveries made previously to the voyage of Magalhaens. M. Otto is mentioned as the author of a memoir (inserted in the second volume of the Transactions of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia) designed to prove that Columbus was not the discoverer of America, nor Magalhaens of the Southern strait. M. Otto's fame, however, rests more secure on his diplomatic talents that on his geographical researches. The extract from the treatise on navigation shews the manner in which navigators then endeavoured to ascertain the longitude. PIGAFETTA recommends three methods: First, by observing for the latitude of the moon, from which to calculate her longitude, and, by means of a lunar table, thence to determine the time at some fixed meridian. 2dly, By the conjunction of the moon with a star or planet. 3dly, By the variation of the compass. The Notice' concerning Martin Behaim, with the description of his terrestrial globe, is more worth perusal than the preceding treatise. It is composed by M. de Murr, who had access to the papers of the family of Behaim; and it is accompanied by a plate, in which is a representation of part of the terrestrial globe made by Behaim at Nuremberg, in 1492. To this |