Qua vero in medio tantæ pars maxima pompæ, Sanctum insigne, micant crescentis cornua Lunæ. Infelix! quicunque istis se ignarus arenis Ergo omnis properanda via est; nec si obvia forte Prodat se, tenui prorumpens gurgite lympha, Arboribus circum, et muscoso cespite cincta; Non tamen hic, licet herba virens invitet, et amnis Purus aqua, et gelidæ texant umbracula palmæ, Ullam audent trahere ante moram, confinia Mecca Quam demum optata attigerint, metamque laborum. Hinc primum ut turres, et sole micantia Mecca Culmina, delubrique vident fastigia summi; Solvunt se in lacrymas omnes, et quos sibi quisque Intus habet scelerum stimulos, culpæque nefandæ, Jam tacita sub mente dolent, vestesque nitentes Protenus, externæque adeo decora omnia formæ Projiciunt, et membra nigro velantur amictu. Tum pura purgantur aqua, et, de more, fluentem Cæsariem ferro minuunt; deinde agmine facto Incedunt; passim audiri suspiria ab imo Ducta sinu, et tunsis resonantia pectora palmis. Jamque adeo intrarunt urbem, temploque propinquant. Quinquaginta aditus illi, centumque columnæ Ex solido stant ære, illas argentea circum Volvitur, et nodis ambit capita alta catena. Tum rutila fulvo dependent lampades auro. Ipsa autem, tanta quanquam septa undique mole, Parva ipsa, et simplex, et nullo splendida luxu, Stat sacrata domus; sed quæ sibi nomen Abrami Vindicat, auctoremque Deum : nec sanctior ulla Relligio est, Mahumeda, tuis, nec quam magis isti In votum metuunt conceptis poscere verbis, Ambiguaque fide, et perjura fallere lingua. Ergo ubi jam admissam excepit vasta area turbam, Dilectam venerantur humum, et ferventia figunt Oscula parietibus: tum summi in culmine tecti Obducunt nigros, solennia dona, tapetas. Ipse olim quales, antiqua ex urbe Damasci Misit Omar, quales, dum res et fata sinebant, Pollentes opibus Pharii misere tyranni, Inclyta progenies Fatimæ ; nunc maximus ista Tum passim sternuntur humi, et ter voce vocantes Hæc adeo, hæc turpes tangentia præmia sensus Participem, humano commistum corpore Numen, Ex ÆDE CHRISTI, 1789. G. CANNING. So the struck eagle stretch'd upon the plain And wing'd the shaft that quiver'd in his heart, Idem Latine redditum. SAUCIUS haud aliter campo prostratus aperto, Ipse suam pennam, quam gesserat ipse sub armo, Ultima vitaï exhausit stillantia corde. R. TREVELYAN, A.M. On Epistolary Formulas and Dedications. THE same principle, which has established laws for our conduct and behaviour, seems to have prescribed forms for our correspondence. Fallacy, as the schoolmen have decreed, lies in universals, for which reason we invariably find that regulations are not immutable; because, although instituted with a view to general circumstances, there are peculiar ones in which their futility is apparent. Aristotle, while discoursing on the Predicaments, lays it down as a fixed principle, that doubts may be reasonably entertained of particulars:' one topic appears replete with anomalies, and as such, fit for investigation and reproof,I mean the formulas of epistolary intercourse, viz. superscriptions, commencements, and conclusions; the three distinguishing parts of a letter, which, although varying with times and manners, remain essentially unaltered: the fourth part, or letter itself, being more immediately subject to contingencies, must be dismissed, as a subject to which no invariable rules can be assigned. The three sable Graces, Law, Physic, and Divinity, have severally established forms for their votaries. Conveyances and wills retain their original shape, because it is the legal one, and their validity would be questionable were any other employed: a prescription always did, and always will, consist of certain talismanic characters, backed by a signature: and a sermon must be composed of text and comment, or its nature is materially changed. This is perfectly in character, because the circumstances which prescribe those forms are invariable: a deed of gift is the same to all intents and purposes, as when wax and parchment first became symbols of security; a prescription of Latham or Marcet does not differ from one of Mead or Freind; and a sermon, whether intitled a lecture or exhortation, is employed to the same effect in a modern mahogany pulpit, as in the open conventicles of the Druids, or the more secret ones of the Magi. But Epistles have undergone alterations, and that they are yet capable of improvement may easily be shown. No one can object to the retaining of distinct forms for friend and foe, for the distant and the familiar; but it is the application of these forms which must appear reprehensible. I have often felt, in perusing the letters of the dead, a most insuperable disgust at the terms in which they are couched, when compared with their real contents. One man shall address another with the accustomed "Dear Sir," and subscribe himself "Your humble servant," or some other modification of profession, while he invites "his former friend and future foe" to an exchange of bullets, drawing the flimsy mask of Honor over his blushes. Let the galled jade wince,-fools may rail against criticism and "A man may rail in generals for a week, Ask for particulars, he cannot speak."-Oxford Spy. |