be very unjust. The writer of the prefent article, though fenfible of Mr. Hoole's fuperiority, has lately read the whole of Fairfax, not merely without difguft, but with pleasure. The perfpicuity and harniony of his verfification are indeed extraordinary, confidering the time in which he wrote; and in this refpect he ranks nearly with Spenfer. Nothing but a fine fancy and an elegant mind could have enabled him, in that period, to have made fuch advances toward perfection. tic thus fpeaks: He had the povers of gen us and tancy, and broke through that fervile cultom of tranflation which prevailed in his time. His liberal elegance rendered his vertions more agreeable than the drynefs of Johnfon, and the dull fidelity of Sandys and May; and he would have tranflated Tail with fuccefs, had he not unhappily cho en a fpecies of verification which was ill adapted to the English language. Mr. Hoole, in affig.ing the reafons for his giving a new version of Taffo's Jerufalem delivered,' has expreffed himself as Since the fe remarks were written, follows: I may be told, indeed, that we have had the pleasure of finding there is an English tranflation of him that Mr. Hume's fentiments are not already, and therefore that an apo- very different from our own. Fairlogy is neceffary for a new one. To fax,' fays that hiftorian, has tranflated this I aufwer, that the only complete Taffo with an elegance and eafe, and tranflation is that of Fairfax, which at the fame time with an exactness, is in flanzas that cannot be read with which for that age are furprifing. pleasure by the generality of thofe Each line in the original is faithfully who have a tale for English poetry: rendered by a correfpondent line in of which no other proof is neceffary the tranflation. Harrington's tranthan that it a pears fcarcely to have flation of Ariofto is not likewife withbeen read at all. It is not only unout its merit. It is to be regretted, plefant, but ir fome, i fuch a degree that thefe poets fhould have imitated as to furmount curiofity, and more the Italiars in their ftanza, which has thai counterbalance all the beauty of a prolixity and uniformity in it that expreffion and fentiment, which is to difpleafes in long performances. They be found in that work. I do not had otherwife, as well as Spenfer, flatter myfelf that I have excelled contributed much to the polishing and Fairfax, except in my measure and refining of English verfification.' Maverfification; and, even of thefe, the ny, if not most of our readers, have principal recommendation is, that feen a fpecimen of Fairfax's measure they are more modern, and better at the end of Dr. Johnson's life of adapted to the ear of all readers of Waller. Engih poetry, except of the very few who have acquired a taste for the phrafes and cadences of those times, when our verfe, if not our language, was in its rudimen s.' It was not neceifary to the justification of Mr. Hoole's new vernon, that he should pafs fo fevere a cenfure on Fairfax's meafure. To fay that it is not only unpleasant, but irkfome, in fuch a degree as to furmount curiosity, and more than counterbalance all the beauty of expreffion which is to be found in the work,' appears to us to Mr. Fai fax's poetical exertions did not end with his tranflation of Tasso. He wrote the hiftory of Edward the Black Prince, and a number of eclogues. No part of the history of Edward the Black Prince has, we believe, ever been laid before the public; which is the rather to be regretted as it might hence have more diftinctly been difcerned what were our poet's powers of original invention. The eclogues were compofed in the firft year of the reign of king James, and, after their being finished, lay neglect Monthly Review, vol. XXXI, page 106. ed Salfa verecundo verba lepore loqui; Ulla nec in toto prurit lafcivia libro, Pagina non minus et quam tibi vita proba.' Chafte is thy mufe as is a veftal nun, And thy Apollo fpotlefs as the fun; No wanton thought betray'd by word or look, As blameless is thy life as is thy book." But the book itself, and Dr. Field's encomium, perished in the fire, when the banqueting-houfe, at Whitehall was burnt, and with it part of the duke of Richmond's lodgings. Mr. William Fairfax, however, our author's fon, recovered the eclogues out of his father's loofe papers. Thefe eclogues were twelve in number, and were composed on important fubjects, relating to the manners, characters, and incidents of the times. They were pointed with many fine ftrokes of fatire; dignified with wholefome leffons of morality and policy to thofe of the highest rank; and fome modeft hints were given even to majefty itfelf. With refpect to poetry, they were entitled to high commendation; and the learning they contained was fo various and extenfive, that, according to the evidence of his fon, who wrote large annotations on each, no man's reading befide the author's own was fufficient to explain his references effectually. The fourth ec logue was printed, by Mrs. Cooper, in The Mufes Library,' publifhed in 1737. It is fomewhat extraordinary that the whole of them should never have appeared in print. If they are ftill in being, it might not, perhaps, be an unacceptable fervice to give them to the public. None of Fairfax's writings in profe have ever been published. They molt of them related to the controverfy of religion with the church of Rome, and are reprefented as having afforded fignal proofs of his learning and judg ment. The perfon with whom the controverfy was carried on was one John Dorrell, a Romish priest of no ordinary fame, at that time a prifoner in the Caftle of York. Between him and Mr. Fairfax a variety of letters paffed, relative to the most distinguithed tenets of popery. A copy of our author's Treatife on Dæmonology is in the poffeffion of Ifaac Reed, efq. It is entitled, A Difcourfe of Witchcraft, as it was acted in the family of Mr, Edward Fairfax, of Fuyittone, in the county of York, in the year 1621.' Fairfax left feveral children, fons and daughters. William, his eldest fon, before mentioned, was a fcholar, and of the fame temper with his father, but more cynical. He tranflated Diogenes Laertius out of Greek into English. This gentleman was grammatical tutor to Mr. Stanley, the celebrated author of the Hiftory of Philofophy. It is afferted by Mrs. Cooper, that the greatest part of that work, as well as the notes on Euripides, truly belonged to Mr. William Fairfax, though his modesty and friendship declined the reputation of them. To fuch vague affertions little regard, we apprehend, is to be paid. it was not Euripides, but fchylus, that was publifhed by Mr. Stanley. An Account of fome remarkable IMPROVEMENT in AGRICULTURE, in Scotland. As I confider a Fufbandman as one of the most useful Characters, I have evr read, with particular Pleafure, the Accoun ́s of fuccefful Improvements undertaken and completed by Gentlemen on their own Eftes, especially, when they bave not only terminated in the greatest Advantages to themselves, but have augmented cofiderably the Competence and Comfort of their Tenants. Twe Inftances of this Kind I extra&t from Sir John Sinclair's Statitical Account of Scotland, and am perfuaded that you cannot present to your Readers a more pleafing nor a more interesting Article. I am, Sir, &c. HE firft inftance alluded to above and was communicated to the patriotic baronet by the Rev. Mr. Clawfon of the parish of Dalziel in Lancashire. It is as follows, in his own words: The late Archibald Hamilton, efq. the father of the prefent proprietor, enjoyed the eftate during the courfe of a long life. His father had begun to plant a little, and this branch of cultivation he profecuted for a good part of his life, with great judgment and perfeverance, planting all kind of trees known in this country, adapt ing each to its proper fituation and exposure, and covering and adorning a country which before was fterile and naked, with extenfive forefts. His fuccefs was equal to his attention. His plantations were extended to 150 acres of foreft trees, which are the admiration of all who have feen them; to which his fucceffor has added about ten acres more, beautifying the country, and fheltering the neighbouring fields from the cutting blafts, by which alone the fertility of many of them is greatly increafed. He had the good Lortune to live to fee trees, which he had planted after he appeared as a lawyer at the bar, grown to twelve feet in girth. He pleafed himself with having the furniture of his dining-room made of his own wood. And for feveral years fince his death, more timber of his planting has been fold in one year, than the value of the yearly rent of the eftate, when he COLUMELLA. entered into the poffeffion of it; and to want room to expand their branches. He was no less attentive to the orchard than to the foreft. Upon floping banks by the fides of brooks, &c. he planted apple, pear, and plumb trees, from time to time, to the extent of twenty acres; and for a long time paft, fince thefe have grown up, the fruit has been fold, in good years, from col. to 1571. Of all thefe twenty acres, not fix were worth fixpence an acre, except for planting forest trees; but from the variety of expofures which thofe orchards enjoy, and the tall forefts which embofom them, fo many of them are fecured from the injury of blights and mildews, as always to ensure a crop of fruit, if there be fruit any where in the country. Nor was he lefs fuccefsful in promoting improvement in agriculture, by cherishing and prompting the induftry of his tenants. He convinced them, by the whole of his conduct, that he took an intereft in their welfare. He and his family made themfelves intimately acquainted with their condition, were ever ready to hear their tale, to take part in their trouble, or to rejoice in their profperity. If any of his husbandinen were borne down with the preffure of incidental misfortunes, he raised them again by his bounty and forbearance, never difmifling any of them who were willing to continue in their poffeffions; but, but, at the end of ever leafe, preferring them or their poflerity to a new one, at a reasonable rent; and this has been fo uniformly the practice of his family, that there are tenants who can reckon their ancestors in the poffeffion of the fame farm, previous to the period at which this family became proprietors. He inclofed the fields with hedges, and sheltered them with planting. He abolished the feudal cultom of exacting carriages and other fervices from his tenants; and, in fhort, did every thing to turn their attention folely to the cultivation of their own farms. Under tais mild and benevolent treatment, the peafantry, finding their induitry tended as much to their own and their pof. terity's permanent advantage, as to that of an indulgent landlord, profited by every lefion and example. They began to fummer fallow their fieids, to ftreight their crooked ridges, to carry lime, and make compofts; and the benevolent spirit of their landlord fpreading among them, every one is ready to affift his neighbour on all emergencies. And thus has the value of the eftate rifen to nearly five times the yearly rent, which it yielded when the fame gentleman firit fucceeded to it; and at the fame time the condition of the tenants, with their moderate farms, and plain manner of life, is perhaps as happy as any to be met with.' This parish is indebted to its late propritor for at.other impor ant improvement. All along the highways, he gave leafes and feus of foots of little value, for building. On thefe there are now upward of fifty handfome cottages erected, filled with industrious inhabitants, having neat lit tle kitchen gardens around them; by which he not only improved and beautified his own eftate, but fet an example, which has fince been followed by others.' The fecond inftance was communicated to fir John Sinclair, by the Rev. Mr. Johnlton, of the parish of Montquhitter, in Aberdeenthire, in the following account of Jofeph Cumine, efq. late of Auchry : Nature had endowed Mr. Cumine with an active and vigorous mind. Cool, fagacious, penetrating, he connected a found judgment and correct tafte, with unfhaken resolution and unwearied application. Slow, but fure in planning, he was prompt and ardent in executing his defigns. When he affumed the management of his estate, in 1739, it yielded 150l. fterling of rent, of which he could only call 6ol. his own. The heath extended to the back of his house: in front, an exhaufted mofs and a morafs, fed by the water of Auchry, offended the eye: and the whole of his farm, deftitute of a garden, confifted of a few acres dignified with the title of Place Croft. He gradually banished the heath ;-reduced the river to a regular channel; converted the morafs, when drained, into a neat garden and inclofures;-and, at various times, took from the adjoining lands 200 acres, which he converted into an elegant farm, inclofed and fubdivided; where the ufeful and the pleafant, blended by the hand of a mater, command the refpect of the critic, and excite the delight of the traveller. He accompanied his other improvements by a fuperior breed of cattle, whereof, by judicious management, he greatly encreased the fize and the value. As his eftate was extremely well accommodated with mofs, he gradually fubdivided large farms. He frictly prohibited the abfurd practice of paring and burning the mofly foils: he made tracts, to improve by water thofe fields that could be commanded by it: he bound his tenants to drive annually from quarries, feven Scotch miles diftant, a prefcribed quantity of limestone, which he taught them to break, burn, and apply: he obliged them to fow a certain proportion of their land with turnip, flax, and grafs feeds: he encouraged them to rear their own cattle, inftead of watting their money in buying expenfive fets: he he frequently walked or rode through his eftate, freely converfing with his tenants, rousing them to industry by motives fuited to their refpective tempers, and particularly diftinguifhing the fagacious and active: and, by the united energy of popular virtues and folid fenfe, he triumphed over every oppofition from foil, climate, and prejudice, gradually introducing the principles of rational farming, and laying the foundation of progretive improvement. Obferving that his tenants were frequently at a lofs for a market, he determined to establish a permanent one on his own estate. For this purpofe, he planned a regular village, contiguous to the church, upon the moorith part of a farm, which in the whole yielded only 111. a year. For a while, he felt in filence the fneers of his neighbours, who reprobated this fcheme as wild and impracticable; but thefe temporary fneers foon gave way to lafting efteem. He prevailed on a few to take feus: he affitted the induftrious with money;-obtained premiums for the manufacturer ;-de cided every difference by his arbitration,-and animated all to their utmoft exertion by his countenance and counfel. Settlers annually flocked to Cumineftown, (the name affigned to the chief of the clan) and the village, built of freellone, foon affumed a flourishing appearance. In connection with fome neighbouring gentlemen, he efablished in his village a linen manufacture; and though, for particular reafons, the fcheme was dropt, yet, by introducing the fpinning of linen yarn, and fixing the refidence of fome capable weavers, its confe quences continue to operate for the public good. In fhort, a feries of fenfible management fixed upon Monquhitter feventy-five feus, occupied by a fet of honest, industrious, and active feuars and their tenants, who, instead of 111. fterling, the original rent, produced him annually from 120l. to 150l. a year. Mr. Cumire, during life, was an object of general efteem; and, at his death, had the pleasure of leaving to his heirs an annual revenue of more than 6ool. OBSERVATIONS on a celebrated Paffage in SHAKSPEARE. THERE is a fingle word in the celebrated paffage in the Tempeft, infcribed on the monument of Shakspeare, in Westminster Abbey, which has afforded much scope for critical conjecture. Profpero iays: ancient writers for a body of clouds Thefe our actors, And, like the bafelefs fabric of this vifion, laces, The folemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, fhall diffolve; And, like this infubftantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind.' A& IV. Sc. I. On this word Mr. Malone's opinion has been very different. In his first explanation he thus expreffes himfelf: Rack is generally ufed by our · That which is now a horse, even with a thought The rack diflimns.' But no inftance has yet been produced, where it fignifies a fingie mall fleeting cloud, in which fenfe only it can be figuratively applied here. I incline, therefore, to fir Thomas Hanmer's emendation, though I have not diflurbed the text.' This emendation was, by reading track instead of rack, which may be supported by the following paffage in the firft fcene of Timon of Athens: But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on, Leaving no traît behind.” |