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But very diftinct from the talent or feeling laft mentioned, is the power of reading with precifion, and collating with accuracy, a variety of ancient MSS. and on the degree of fuccefs with which this difficult task has been performed, must ultimately depend the characteristic value of the prefent edition above others: the correction of the author's text, by these means, being particularly promifed in the title-page and Preface. Now as this is in itself a work of care and labour, so is also much time required, and not a little patience, to follow an editor through this part of his business, and examine how far he is entitled to that faith which the public ought to be able to repofe in a collator, if it is to derive a real benefit from his exertions. This tafk, difficult as it is, we have, after fome time, been enabled to perform, with refpect to three of the MSS. employed by Mr. W. and we are now prepared to lay before the public the refult of our enquiries; by which it will appear that, with every allowance made for a labour in which the acuteft eye will fometimes be deceived, and the most determined fagacity will fometimes remit its attention, Mr. W. cannot receive the palm of a skilful or fcrupuloufly accurate collator. Of the MSS. which this editor had actually feen, the number amounts only to five, which are these :

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1. A MS. belonging to the public Library at Cambridge,
defignated in this edition by the Greek letter n.
2. A MS. belonging to Edward Poore, Efq. of no great
value or antiquity, referred to by o.

3, 4, 5. Three Harleian MSS. preferved in the British Museum, refpectively called, in this edition, a. n. 2.

The two first of these have not been thin our reach; but the three latter, being in a place acceffible to London students, have been diligently examined by us, for the exprefs purpose of afcertaining how far this elegant edition is worthy of faith in its report of the authorities on which it refts. It will not certainly be expected that, for the fake of this critical experiment, we should have gone through the complete task of an editor, and collated the three MSS. throughout. We have contented ourfelves with examining, by way of fpecimen, the 250 first lines of the work, and afterwards, to obviate any cavil, another paffage, taken at hazard from the third book. This kind of examination, though not very amusing to the general reader, is the only fair method of appreciating the most important merits of the edition,

The three MSS. in the British Mufeum, which Mr. Wakefield has diftinguished by the Greek letters A. I. and E. are in the Harleian Catalogue numbered 2694. 2612. 2554.

Kk 2

Lib.

Lib. I. v. 16. 17. The first of these verfes Mr. W. has inclofed in brackets, as fpurious; in the fecond, he has publifhed quo quamque, after other editors, and added this note: 17. P. B. et a. pro quo quamque dant quocunque: fruftra. But the fame reading, without any variation, is found in A. II. 2. which he does not notice.

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39. corpore: & pectore, fays Mr. W. True; but in the margin is written, in the fame hand, vel pectore*.

43. neque: L. M. II. nec: et ordinem exhibent verborum A. II. meis faltem auribus jucundiorem :

Poffumus æquo animo; Memmii neque clara propago,

A. reads Memmi nec, and II. mentini nec. 2. nec Memmi.

67. Graius: V. ed. B. A. 11. 2. gnarus: frustra.

2. has vel graius in the margin,

69. Tertium nec omittit II.

So does 2. in the text, but adds it in the margin. 71. Mr. W. has published,

Inritât animi virtutem, effringere ut arta;

and adds this note: Hanc conftitutionem verlûs, quam ex auctoritate librorum dederim, proprium acumen ingenii prius expediverat. Verborum ordinem præbent G. B. L. M. A. È. E. folus E. conjecturam firmat, effringere fcribens pro confringere; quam tamen neceffariam reddidit codicum modo memoratorum ratio. In P. v. ed. A. II. E. ordo eft verborum, Irritât virtutem animi: . irritant.

The third fentence of this note forgets the fecond. If A. . . and other MSS. give the order of words which Mr. W. has preferred, that is to fay, Irritât animi virtutem, how can the fame A. n. 2. give this other order, Irritât virtutem animi? Our collation furnishes the following account of the MSS. and we can fully affert its correctnefs, if the printer does but well and duly perform his part.

A. Irritat animi virtute: effrigere et arca

n. Irritat tute äi conngere ut arca

2. Irritat ai virtute effiige ut arЯa

The two points over the e, in effringere, refer the reader to the margin, in which is written cöfrīgè.

In the fequel of the note, and in three fets of Addenda, Mr. W. pours forth an army of examples, to prove the frequent ufe of the word effringere. Nonius, in the word cupiret, X. 16. quotes the paffage with perfringere, which, though much rarer than effringere, is good Latin. According therefore to the critical canon, which directs the more recondite

* Obferve, that ol, with a little dash across the 1, or af [for aliter] or t for either vel or aliter, are the general forerunners of various readings. Sometimes vel, alit, aliter, are prefixed at full length.

reading

reading to be preferred, perfringere would ftand a good chance. of fuccefs. But this canon has too often, and especially of late years, been pufhed beyond all meafure and modefty..

Prifcianus vulgatis confentit" (X. p. 879, 15) fays Mr. W. but there Aldus gives effringere. Towards the end of the note Mr. W. fays, Porro, pro ut, A. et ; et in verfu fequente cuperet G. B. L. caperet П.

Here is an error, either of the editor or printer, for neither I. nor any one of the Museum MSS. gives caperet. In a. it is plainly cupiret; in I. and 2. as plainly aperiret. It appears then that Mr. W. in his affertions concerning thefe three MSS. has been oftener in the wrong than in the right.

V. 74. Pro mania, 2. lumina;" fays Mr. W. But that MS. adds in the margin, vel mania.

V. 75. Mr. W. fets down 2. as having omnem for omne.

He

ought to have added П. and in v. 78, to his authorities for quantum, E.

V. 85. ad is inferted alfo in A. but marked with points, to fignify that it ought to be cancelled. In the next verse a. has Iphianaffo, I. Iphianafo, fo that Mr. W. is not quite accurate. Prifcian has Iphianaffaï.

V. 104. for quæres A. gives as a various reading quires. For defcifcere . has difciffere. ·

V. 108. II.. has certum for certam.

V. 123. permaneant was at firit written in A. but the second a condemned by a point.

V. 124. pallantia in

V. 131. cum primum 11.

V. 132. conftat A. but e is written over a, and a marked with a point.

V. 144. aut for et is in A. and 147, neceffeft in one word. V. 153. Quam multa II. though to a careleis obferver the a may eafily feem an o.

V. 156. Verfus 156. 157. 158. defunt in 11." fays Mr. W. V. 156 is not omitted in II. but only 157. 158. The verfes follow in this order: 154. 155. 159. 156. 100. In the 159th verfe, Mr. W. has noticed that П. gives divinum for divom; but he should alfo have remarked, that it gives quocunque tor quo quæque. In E. divum has a mark referring to the margin, and in the margin is written numine. It is probable that in the MS. from which 2. was transcribed, the copier meant to mark fine numine divum for a various reading. But Mr. W. roundly fays," in 2. ita fcribitur: Et quo quæque modo fiant fine numine divûm :" which is not quite exact.

V. 171. and 180. horas E.

5

V. 183,

V. 183. A. has plainly qua, not qua, as Mr. W. fays; n. ħas

qua.

V. 193. certi, and 197 patis II.

V. 205. gignidis II.

V. 206.

Pro de, habet I. e." П. has clearly de. A. has indeed e nihilo, but adds jam.

V. 207. rebus quoque create П.

V. 211." in terris: ponit poft rerum п." No fuch thing. The copier had omitted those two words; he wrote them in the margin, and referred them by two fmall lines" to their proper place in the text.

V. 216. Of the three Harleian MSS. Mr. W. only quotes П. for quæque, but A. and E. alfo give the fame reading. The very fame thing has happened with refpect to Quod in v. 222. V. 224. Atque intus E.

V. 225. " exitium: E. exitum." But E. has in the margin,

Alii exitium.

V. 227. pereunt A.

66

V. 229. In his vocibus non exhibent d geminatam G. L. M. B. II. E." Neither does A.

V. 234. confumpti A. with a small space left. In v. 236. the fame MS. has confiftet, and a written over e.

V. 238.

"Verfum fic repræfentant A. et E. Haud igitur posse ad nihilum, puto, quæque reverti :" True; but E. has the common reading in the margin.

V.241. "6 nexu. Sic Vind. A. n. 2. qui habet nexum in margine cœteri, nexus, vel nexas."

the text; E. nexu in the margin.

П. and . have nexus in

V. 248. A. has pretestura, and x written over s: 2. has protexet cura in the text, and pro textura in the margin.

V. 249. Aut igitur П.

We fhall here take our leave of this part of our collation, for fear of furfeiting our readers with the fe critical dainties. To Mr. Wakefield, we are perfuaded, we need make no apology. He will doubtlefs be fo far from being cloyed with this fample, that it will only have whetted the edge of his appetite. Indeed we have been thus copious, chiefly in obedience to his withes in the Preface, nugatores criticis ex abundante demereri tupientes. It may be objected, that we have acted unfairly, in taking our fpecimen from the beginning of the book, and that we ought rather to have compared thefe MSS. with Mr. W.'s notes, at a part of the work where he might, by habit and experience, be reasonably prefumed to have improved in the art of collation. We, therefore have compared from lib. iii. v.855 to the end, and we have not found the errors, whether of

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omiffion or commiffion, fenfibly diminished. We fhall give two or three examples to justify our affertion.

Lib. III. 881. Mr. W. cites A. n. 2. for a instead of an. But an is most clearly the reading of a. In v. 882. Mr. W. attributes cui to П. but that MS. has cum, written fhortly thus, cu, as is ufual in MSS. Upon this verfe Lambin has quoted from Athenæus bávaros ábávaros, loco tamen, fays Mr. W. non indicato, et nobifmetipfis haud in promtu eft. Lambin again cites it, from the 8th book of Athenæus, in a note on Horace, Carm. III. 9, 15. but ftill inaccurately. As the paffage is very faulty in the old editions, and not quite correct in Cafaubon's, we fhall quote the whole, as given from a MS. by Muretus. Var. Lect. XIX. 3. Alexis apud Athenæum VIII. p. 336. C.

Πῖνε, παίζε, θνητὸς ὁ βίος· ὀλιγος οὐπὶ γῆς χρόνος

Ο θάνατος δ ̓ ἀθάνατός ἐστιν, ἢν ἅπαξ τις ἀποθάνῃ.
Mortalem vitam mors cum immortalis ademit.

Lib. III. 649. Bentley, in a note on Phædrus, I. 31, 13. reads,
Corpore relliquo pugnam cædefque petiffit.

V. 1006. Mr. W. conjectures, Quem volucris lacerat. This very reading, totidem apicibus, is in II. This is therefore an error of omiflion. V. 1068. E: ita conjeceram legendum, et ita fcribitur in Vind. L. M. o. n. cæteri libri, ut evulgari folet, habent Et.quoque nofcere: P. II. cognofcere; ut communes editi." All the three Harleian MSS. with one accord give E; two of them, П. and 2. quoque nofcere. This therefore is an error of commiffion.

In thus examining the prefent Edition of Lucretius, we feel a ftrong confidence, that we fhall not be fufpected of being actuated by any refentment against a perfon, who must himfelf feel the chief evils of a reftlefs, impatient, intolerant mind. We think it indeed moft lamentable, that a man, whole proper occupations are ftudy and polite literature, fhould be fo little able to command himself, as to fall into extravagances of political conduct, injurious ultimately to himfelf and family. Too many inftances of this fpirit appear, completely out of their place, in this Edition of Lucretius; in the form of political verfes, allufions to the glories of France, and afpirations after fimilar changes here, with prophetic intimations of their approach. In fuch a farrago, abuse of us and our work, as fupporting all that Mr. W. wishes to fee overthrown, is virtually the highest compliment; and though we owe no gratitude to the intentions of the author, we cannot but approve the tendency of his conduct towards us.

We fee, however, in his pages, not the flightest tincture of that character which he has, very early in his Preface, teftowed

pon

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