philosopher approximate to that constitution, which, long after Rome had ceased to exist as the capital of the world, was to rise an unrivalled monument of the aggregate wisdom of Britain! Statuo esse optime constitutam rempubli• cam, quæ ex tribus generibus illis, regali, optimo, et populari confusa modice, nec puniendo irritet animum immanem ac ferum, nec omnia præter mittendo, licentia cives deteriores reddat.' After the four capital poems that we have just noticed, a fifth may be brought forward, which, in its kind, approaches much nearer to perfection than any of the preceding; I allude to the stanzas On the Death of Mr. Robert Levet, the constant companion of Johnson at his morning's meal, for near forty years. This reThis reserved but most amiable man was a practitioner in physic among the lower orders of people in London; his fees were very small, but his business so extensive, that his walk was frequently from Hounsditch to Marylebone; he lived, however, in.great obscurity, though perpetually and conscientiously employed in mitigating the sorrows of poverty and disease. The stanzas on this man of great but humble utility are beyond all praise. The wonderful powers of Johnson were never shewn to greater advantage than on this occasion, where the subject, from its obscurity and mediocrity, seemed to bid defiance to poetical efforts; it is, in fact, warm from the heart, and is the only poem from the pen of Johnson that has been bathed with tears. Would to God, that on every medical man who attends the poor, the following encomiums could be justly passed! Well tried through many a varying year, Of ev'ry friendless name the friend. The pow'r of art without the show. groan, And lonely Want retired to die. How boldly painted, how exquisitely pathetic, as a description of the sufferings of human life, is this last stanza! I am acquainted with nothing superior to it in the productions of the moral muse. Of the residue of the English -the Queen of Night, To the English poetry of Johnson, may now be added, a very beautiful translation of some noble lines from the Medea of Euripides. It has escaped all the editors of his works, and was very lately introduced to the world in a volume of considerable merit, entituled "Translations from the Greek An "thology, with Tales and Miscellaneous Poems." A parody, indeed, by our author upon this passage of the Grecian poet was published by Mrs Piozzi in her "Anecdotes," but it is of little value, while the following version has preserved all the elegance and pathos of the original. Med. Eurip. v. 190. The rites deriv'd from ancient days, But ne'er the lute nor lyre applied, Where Hate sits musing to betray, Of this exquisite morsel of Euripides Dr. Joseph Warton has likewise attempted an imitation, which possesses, in a striking degree, the tender sentiment of the tragedian, clothed in versification of the sweetest melody. I shall transcribe it for the gratification of my readers, and in order that they may compare it with the more literal copy of Johnson. Queen of ev'ry moving measure, HISTORY OF ABYSSINIA. [From Mr. SALT's Dissertation inserted in Lord VALENTIA's Voyager and Travels.] they are extremely proud, and which generally was the first word they addressed to us on our entering the country, accompanying it by laying hold of a blue silk string round their necks, which is with them the indisputable proof of their being entitled to the appellation. In their books they are styled Ethiopians, sons of Ethiopia, Agazi, and Axomians; by a similar name to which (Axomites) they were alone designated among the Romans. Many authors, particularly Ludolf, a writer who has entered very deeply into their history, have supposed them to have passed over from Arabia; but to this there are many objections, for I do not recollect any instance of a nation having sent back settlers to its mother country; yet we have an account in Procopius, of a band of the Axomites, on invading Arabia, having been so pleased with it, that they gave up their own country, and continued there. It appears more probable from the general tenor of their history, that they were refugees from Egypt, who conquered, and mingled with, the aborigines of the country; else, from what source could they derive their veneration for the Nile, of the consequence of which, in Abyssinia, they could form noidea? Whence their style of building, so totally different from any in Arabia? Or their written character which is as essentially different from that of the ancient Cusic? The Greek or Ethiopic written from the left to right, the Cusic from right to left; the former having each cha racter distinct and square in its form, and the latter chiefly consisted of curves running wildly into each other. Even the very form of their government, which always appears to have been monarchical, points out Egypt, rather than Arabia, for their origin. But as this is a point of considerable importance, it may not be uninteresting to enter a little deeper into the discussion. In the earliest records of history, we find the Ethiopians represented as a very numerous and powerful people; their importance, however, progressively declined, as Egypt advanced in consequence; for as the population of that country increased, it naturally extended its conquests in the direction of the Nile, compelling the Ethiopians to retire towards the South. Merce seems to have been the point at which their progress was stopped; yet, beyond this, bands from Egypt afterwards emigrated and settled themselves among the Ethiopians: of one of these flights we have an account in Herodotus, who mentions that it consisted of two hundred and forty thousand in number; that they were called, as a nation, Asmack, or Askam; that they fled from Psammitieus six hundred and thirty years before the time of that historian, and went as far beyond Meroe as that place is from Elephantine. These people are considered by Dr. Vincent to be the same as those described by Strabo, under the name of Sebritoe, or Sembritoe (Advenæ), who inhabited all the country above Meroe, and extended across the mountains nearly to the Red Sea. They are also described, more accurately perhaps, by Pliny under the names of Semberritoe and Asachie, on the mountains. These I consider, with Dr. Vincent, to be no other than the Axomites, or as they term themselves in their most ancient books, Agazi. The Abyssinians, in their modern books, lay claim to great antiquity, as being descended from Ham. They also boast that one of their queens, named Magueda, was the Queen of the South, who visited Solomon, by whom she had a son named Menilech, from whom their present kings are lineally de-. scended. The only thing like evidence evidence on this subject, depends on the authenticity of a series of chronicles, said to have been kept regularly by the priests at the ancient city of Axum. The authority of these has, however, been with reason disputed, as it is scarcely possible that they should have been preserved, considering the wars in which the country has continually been engaged. Besides, the evidence of the Axum inscription seems decisive against them, as a king certainly would not call himself son of Mars, who prided himself on his descent from Solomon. It seems, on the whole, probable, that this idea was borrowed from their dependents, the Homerites, and was assumed long after the introduction of Christianity. Whatever their religion may have been in early times, they do not appear to have been exclusively attached to it, since, when the Romans succeeded to the trade of the Red Sea, they found the Axomites, as they were then called ready to receive, together with their merchandize, the worship of their gods. This is proved by the inscription I found at Axum, where the sovereign of the country styles himself the son of the God, the invincible Mars, even if we do not refer to the second Adulitic, which if allowed to have been erected by an Abyssinian king, would be still more satisfactory. It is only about one or two centuries after the commencement of the Christian æra, that the Abyssinian history begins to emerge from obscurity. A very close commercial connection was then formed with the country by the traders from Egypt, as appears in the Periplûs, and the Greek language became so common in the country, that it was used by the king of Abyssinia to commemorate his exploits even so far in the interior as Axum, which also most strongly corroborates the knowledge of Greek attributed by the. Periplûs to Zoskalis. This connection with Egypt seems to have added greatly to their power and consequence in the Red Sea: for in the first information we have of them, we find them confined to the western coast, and the trade chiefly in the hands of Arabians but in a few centuries afterwards, we perceive they became masters of the greater part of the Arabian coast, and appointed viceroys over the Homerites, who, after conquering the Sabeans, had in their turn become subject to the King of Axum. To effect this, however, required a long period of time; and might never have taken place, had not a peculiar series of external and favourable circumstances, concurred to farther their progress. After the Phoenicians had ceased to be a maritime power, Egypt had occupied the Red Sea with her fleets, and had engrossed all the valuable productions of India and the east of Africa: but she was content to hold this monopoly in conjunction with the Arabians, who, from time immemorial, had been joint possessors of the trade. When the dynasty of the Prolemies had been overthrown and Egypt had become a province of the Roman Empire, the Romans succeeded of course to this trade: but the genius of that people was ill-formed for commerce; and the very nature of their government was such, as to render their power of short duration in this part of the world; for so long only could they hope to hold it, as they followed the line marked out to them by their predecessors. On the con- formed a very powerful nation, trary, instead of adding strength to which was enabled to assume a the union that ought to have sub- consequence in the Red Sea, that sisted between them and the Ara- the then possessors of the trade bians, their desire of conquest led were unequal to oppose. Of these them to take possession of their sea facts we have information also in ports, and even to send an army the Adulitic and Axum inscriptions, into the heart of their country. In and in the Periplûs, written, I conthis expedition, however, they ceive, after the time of Pliny, who, effected nothing of consequence, except Strabo, was the first to nobut were harassed, baffled, and tice this rising nation; the latter driven back with disgrace. The writer having only remarked, in remoteness, too, of their seat of his account of the Ethiopians, that government, was in itself alone" as yet none of the Ethiopians had sufficient to prevent a long continuance even of their influence here; for the viceroys of Egypt were more likely to think of enriching themselves, than of benefiting the Egyptian traders: besides that the Empire itself was hastening fast to its end. These circumstances, added to the supineness and indolence of the, Arabians, made an opening for the neighbouring powers, too advantageous to be long neglected; and accordingly we find, that it was shortly afterwards laid hold of, and by a nation which, until the Christian æra, had been known only by vague report. These were the very Egyptian tribes, which, mingling with the ancient inhabitants of the country, had extended their conquests eastward, and had established their power at Axum, under a feudal sovereignty; a government which, more than all others, is likely to attach the neighbouring tribes to its interest, since it does not require any change in their general system of policy, to enable them to become an integral part of the state. From Axum, their conquests soon extended to the Red Sea and here, finding friends in the inhabitants of the city of Adulis (which had also been built by refugees from Egypt), they together "interfered with the commerce of "the Red Sea." From the date of the Adulitic inscription, their power became supreme in this part of the world; and they formed a maritime barrier between the Rcmans and the Persians, which in duced the former to conciliate them by repeated embassies, and annual presents, the magnificence of which strongly points out the consequence that they held in the scale of eastern politics, which consequence conti nued, in some degree, until a considerable time after the rise of the Arabians under Mahomet As idolatry declined among the Romans, by the same channel that the worship of Mars had been întroduced, the true religion of Christ, found its way into Abyssinia, and at length was happily established as the religion of the country, about the year 330, in the reign of Abreha, or, as he was called by the Romans, Aeizana, (who had at this time taken his brother Abybeha, or Saeizana, to share in the empire). The persons to whom the intro duction of Christianity is attributed, are Frumentius and Edesius, ac cording to the account given by Rufinius, who declares that he had it from Ædesius himself, who also returned from Abyssinia, and was made Bishop of Tyre: but he spoke of it as in India, which occasioned much |