There the deep figh thy poet-friend shall mourn,
And pious tears bedew his glowing urn.

The confolatory ode to Virgil on the death of Quintilius, may be mentioned as another fine inftance of the tenderness of friendship. This elegant and ingenious elegy need not be quoted.

The ode on Virgil's failing to Athens, is alfo of the fame kind. The expreffion meae dimidium animae, though very natural in the mouth of Horace, would favour of extravagant bombaft any where else.

But what furpaffes all I have mentioned on this fubject, is the ode to Mecenas when fick, the 17th of the 2d book. It exceeds any thing I have seen, for a lively difplay of tender attachment.

April 6, He had not indeed fworn a falfe oath, for this amiable poet did not furvive his generous friend many days.

The capacity which Horace has shewn for moral and philofophical obfervation in his fatyrs and epistles, raises his character very high; but on these we do not mean to enter. Upon this Upon this pleafing fubject, however, we cannot avoid inferting the following beautiful lines from the 5th fatire of the fl book. Horace, on his journey to Brundufium, meets with his learned friends Plotius, Varius, and Virgil; on this occafion, the idea of enjoying the fingular happiness of being the greatest literary men of their time, is entirely out of view, and is willingly loft in the greater happiness, of confidering themselves as the moft virtuous men. Inftead of faluting them as authors, and complimenting one another on their literary accomplishments, our amiable author lets his heart loose to the raptures of friendship, and the natural expreffions of it, in its highest degree of warmth and purity, cannot be more elegantly described,

Poftera lux oritur multò gratiffima; namque
Plotius et Varius Sinueffae, Virgiliufque
Occurrunt; animae, quales rieque candidiores
Terra tulit; neque queis me fit devinctior alter.
O qui complexus, et gaudia quanta fuerunt!
Nil ego contulerim jucundo fanus amico.

Next rifing morn with double joy we greet,
For Plotius, Varius, Virgil, here we meet :
Pure spirits these; the world no purer knows ;
For none my heart with more affection glows;
How oft did we embrace! Our joys how great!
For fure no bleffing in the power of fate
Can be compar'd in fanity of mind,
To friends of fuch companionable kind.

But Varius was foon obliged to leave them.

Flentibus hic Varius difcedit moestus amicis.

1

The language of Horace deserves the highest praise ; it poffeffes much purity and claffical fimplicity, together with a nervous elegance which is to be found in almost every line of his writings. It is extremely fpirited and vigorous, nicely correct, and at the fame time inimitably graceful and easy. It is nature itfelf drest by the modelt graces.

The greatest admirers of this author, have found fault with him for a want of order and method; a defuitory rambling from one fubje&t to another, without any very obvious reafon. Of this conduct, the Ars Poetica has always been pointed out as a noted example *. The complaint is not furely without foundation, though, as Pope has obferved, his happy negligence charms us more than artificial order and ftudied form. He paffes fometimes to a fubject that is wide of what he first propofed, yet he is always led to the transition by fome natural circumftance, which leads his fancy to a train of fomewhat fimilar ideas. Let us take an example.

In the 3d ode of the 1ft book, Horace, after first expreffing his folicitude for Virgil in his intended voyage to Athens, is naturally enough led to reflect on all the dangers of navigation, from thence alfo to admire the boldness of him, who first dared thefe dangers, and at the same time ventured to counteract providence, which he fuppofes created the ocean, as a barrier to divide one country from another; this fpecies of impiety leads him to mention that of the son of Japetus who stole fire from heaven, and that alfo of Dedalus, who wished to trefpass the laws of man, and attempt his way through the empty air; and laftly that of Herculus, who forced a paffage to hell. He concludes with obferving, that the pride of man knows no bounds; that in our madness we would even afpire to be gods, and provoke Jupiter to deftroy us with his thunderbolts.

* Dr. Hurd's commentary upon the Ars Poctica may perhaps obviate the objections that have been made against it. Edit.

Horace feems originally to propofe no more in this ode, as the title imports, than to address the ship which was to carry his friend, to land him fafe: but he foon allows his fancy to lead him without restraint into the tract mentioned above, which appears to me to have a more pleafing effect, than though he had kept the ftricteft reins. Criticifm may here lift its rod, but Horace will not ceafe to please.

I intended to have taken notice of the beautiful spirit of morality, and even of piety, which reigns in the odes, the many ftriking reflexions on human life, and the many affecting ones on death. But as the paffages in which these occur are well known, and frequently quoted, I will not dwell upon them at prefent.

W. N.

To the Editor of the Bee.

4

On Marine Plants.

SIR,

Ir will perhaps be a matter of fome curiofity to your chemical friends, to hear that from a late analyfis of the alhes of marine plants, we have now reafon to believe, that they, as well as other vegetables, contain one species of alkaline falt only, viz. the vegetable alkali, and that the foffile alkali which appears in them, is owing to the vegetable alkali, (which they contain in common with other plants), decompofing the fea falt they abforb from the fea. These experiments were made by Doctor Pennington of Philadelphia, and as I have not his paper by me, I will give you the refult of them only.

He finds, (after Mr. Bergmarn), that if potash, i. e. the vegetable alkali, be mixed with fea falt, this laft is decompofed, and foffile alkali is evolved.

That there is no peculiar ftructure in marine plants to form fofile alkali, he concludes, becaufe grafs growing on a falt marfh, and burnt, yields a fofile alkali;

but the fame plant on ground far from the fea, invariably yields the vegetable alkali.

And lastly, he traces the vegetable alkali in kelp, by faturating a strong solution of its faline parts with the acid of nitre, from which, when properly evaporated, he obtained, by cryftallization, perfect cryftals of prifmatic nitre, with base of vegetable alkali. His theory and conclufion drawn from this experiment are, that fea plants contain vegetable alkali and fea falt; when they are burnt into kelp, the fea falt is decomposed by the alkali; in other words, kelp confifts of the marine acid of the fea falt combined with the vegetable alkali of the lant, at the fame time the foffile alkali of the fea falt is evolved; but when the acid of nitre is added to the pure folution of the faline parts of the kelp, it attaches itself to the vegetable alkali in preference to the foffile alkali, and there forms the common nitre, at the fame time detaching the marine acid from it, which uniting with the uncombined foffile alkali, regenerates fea falt. This experiment, which is furely an experimentum crucis, has been repeated with fuccefs by an ingenious furgeon of Edinburgh.

This hafty fcroll is only intended to furnish you with materials for a fmall part of your entertaining little work; and I requeft it of you particularly, (if you think it worthy of publication at all), to hand it to your readers in your own words *. I fhall be much pleased to contribute a final mite to fo ufeful a work. Yours,

PHILO CHEMIAE.

*The Editor never wishes to alter the words of his correfpondents, unless when they are evidently improper, or do not convey the meaning intended diftinctly. In these cases, he may fometimes alter a word, but in general, he wishes to preferve the peculiarity of manner in each communication as entire as poffible.