up St. James's-street, produces a stylish effect, provided the steed and rider have a certain air with them. But even this should scarcely be thought of by any one out of the life-guards; nor should the pace be attempted, except in the particular streets I have mentioned.

I propose to begin this second stage of our journey very quietly; in order that, if in the course of it we should be called upon for any extraordinary exertion, we may not be unprepared for the exigency.With this view, and moreover, because I am ambitious that the 66 prose on horse-back," which I am writing, should resemble, as much as possible, my ideal of its elder sister, poetry, in one particular-viz. that its different parts should flow out of, and produce each other, like waves of the sea-the creative power of the writer being exhibited in the first paragraph alone, that being the prolific parent of all the rest-with this view, I say, and not daunted by the hitherto uncontroverted maxim, that ex nihilo nihil fit, I shall repeat a story which a friend of mine relates of a cockney. My friend happened to be in an inn-yard in a town about ten miles from London on a fine Sunday, when a person entered, answering to the following description: he wore a blue coat, black silk waistcoat, and white duck trowsers, which had been riding as well as their master, and had arrived at the top of a pair of short vilainton boots, to which were buckled a pair of plated spurs. He came into the yard at a jog-trot, on a large lumbering grey mare; with the double bridle gathered altogether in his left hand-a long horse-whip in his right, his legs and knees nearly hiding the stirrup leathers-and his feet at right angles with the sides of the horse. When he reached the top of the yard, the following dialogue ensued:

COCKNEY. (While in the act of descending rather than dismounting.) -"Ostler!"

OSTLER. "Yes, sir!"

C. Put my horse in-doors; and give him a feed of oats."

O." A feed of corn, sir?-Yes, sir.-How much would you like him to have, sir?

C. (With a ludicrous mixture of he

C. "I say, give him the usual quantity."

O. (With a wicked smile lurking about the corners of his mouth, and his eye cast up to my friend.)—" Perhaps you'd like him to have a bushel, sir!"

C. (Impatiently)—" Yes! yes!to be sure. I tell you, give him the usual quantity."

A cockney and a highwayman offer, of all contrasts in nature, perhaps, the most violent. It is probably on this very account that the one has suggested to me the other. -And, according to my beforenamed ideal of perfect prose writing, this is just as it should be. I would have my article move on a regular and everlasting principle of progression,-each paragraph being the natural child of that which precedes it, and the natural parent of that which follows it;-to the end that the whole may go on to increase and multiply, from generation to generation, ad infinitum: that is, to the infinite emolument and satisfaction of the writer, the infinite amusement and edification of the reader, and the infinite credit and comfort of the editor;—who will thus be sure of a constant supply of crack articles, without being obliged to write them himself.

In promulgating, for the first time, this novel principle, relative to the art of writing-(for I must insist that, however old it may be in practice, it is perfectly new in theory)

I cannot help expressing a hope that, as the world will receive all the solid benefit of this discovery, it will, at least, give the empty credit of it to me alone. It came to me unsought and unexpected, as I was sitting one evening reading Montaigne, and thinking of nothing less; and I feel that it was given to me for the use of authors and booksellers in particular, and of mankind in general. I therefore make it known accordingly; and, having thus eased my conscience, I turn to a more congenial part of my subject.

The story which I have been induced to relate of the cockney, naturally suggests to me the subject of

Highway-robbery, as connected with Riding on horse-back.

And here I at once perceive that my steed begins to feel that his feet have got upon the turf again. I'm afraid I must not give him his head, lest he should bolt, and become unmanageable. If no one but myself were concerned, I should certainly run the risk; for I should not be afraid of losing my seat. But as, in writing for an "interesting miscellany" of this kind, it is prudent, and even necessary, to have the fear of the Editor before one's eyes,--I had, perhaps, better let my steed feel the curb a little. I shall take leave, however, to do it gently; and at the same time pat him on the neck, just to show him that I'm not angry at his letting me know what he would do if he might.

Nice observers may probably have remarked, that there has been a lamentable falling-off, of late years, in the profession of a Highway-robber. It has become a merely vulgar calling; with little to recommend it but the circumstance of its being followed in the open air.-In the days of Turpin, Abershaw, and Duval, it might be regarded as an equestrian exercise performed by moon-light; and, like other liberal professions, requiring, at least, the habits and education of a gentleman, in order to succeed in it with any thing like distinction or effect. But now-a-days the profession of a Highway-robber is one of mere calculation -mere profit and loss,—and, as such, can hardly be worth following at all: for, besides being much more precarious, it is, generally speaking, very little more respectable, than that of a stock-jobber, a pettifogger, or a quack-doctor. To what can this fatal change be attributed, but to the fact of its professors having left off practising on horse-back?Here the sympathetic reader will pardon me, if I indulge myself by dwelling, for a moment, on the foregoing subject; and if I confess that the lamentable state of things which I have described, and the causes which have conduced to bring it about, have furnished me with a perpetual source of profound reflections, of sweet and bitter fancies,

and of

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for

tears.

I feel that I was born an age too late. To have been stopped by Jerry Abershaw on Hounslow-heath, was an event for a man to tell his grandchildren of, when he had forgotten every thing beside. To have been present when Turpin kicked his shoes off at Tyburn, just as he was about to be executed, was something worth living for. To me, the spot is classical ground to this day. To have had the honour of taking a mug of ale with sixteen-stringed Jack-(as a relation of mine once did at Mrs. Fletcher's--the Royal Waggon, at Barnet

where he used to go and sit in the open tap-room, and enjoy the otium cum dignitate, like any other gentleman)-entitles a man to hold up his head in the presence of princes for ever after! But I dare not trust myself with this subject any longer at present. I may perhaps return to it at some future period. In the mean time, let the reader bear with me for a moment, while I fancy myself Turpin, and exclaim

Oh now, for ever, Farewell the tranquil moon, farewell the

heath,

The spirit-stirring chaise, the ear-piercing shriek,

The royal proclamation, and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of highway robbery!

And, oh, you Bow-street runners, whose rude throats

Of clamorous hue-and-cry made counterfeit,

Farewell!-Dick Turpin's occupation's gone!

Happily, we have something like an equivalent for this disastrous change, in the fact of another of the liberal professions-that of the soldier-having assisted, by means of Horsemanship, in advancing, instead of retarding, the march of intellectual civilization. It is true, that formerly, a mere red coat was a passport to any society. A pair of colours made the possessor a match for the youngest daughter of a poor lord; a lieutenant in a marching regiment

THE celebrated and indefatigable superintendant of the Ambrosian Library at Milan, published about two years since, a work of the utmost interest to the admirers of classical literature and art, entitled, "Iliadis Fragmenta Antiquissima, cum Picturis, item Scholia Vetera ad Odysseam; edente Angelo Maio, Ambrosiani Collegii Doctore, &c. Mediol. Regiis Typis, MDCCCXIX." It forms a thick folio volume, illustrated by fifty-eight outline engravings, and a specimen of the original manuscript; together with a fragment in uncial letters, and short critical observations. In the second division of the work are contained the Scholia on the Odyssey, collected from various Codices in the Ambrosian Library..

It is not our intention in this article to notice the literary part of the volume, but to confine our attention to the embellishments alone: for the sake, however, of its connexion with our present purpose, and on account of its general interest, we shall select, from the Introduction to the work, some remarks relative to the origin, condition, &c. of the Codex itself, and likewise the paintings which it contains.

After some observations of a general nature, the author informs us as to the manner in which the Ambrosian Library became enriched with so many manuscript treasures. Cardinal Frederigo Borromeo, who spared neither pains nor expence in order to form in Milan a permanent seat of the liberal arts and sciences, caused manuscripts to be collected from every part of the world. For not merely Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Spain were explored to this end by literary men, but Greece was likewise carefully ransacked; so that manuscripts found their way to Milan from Corcyra, Cephalonia, Zacynthus, Crete, Chios, Macedonia, and Epirus. Byzantium, the coasts of Asia, Syria, and Palestine-nay, even Babylon and Africa were obliged to contribute to this collection; and hence it is that the Ambrosian Library possesses such

an abundant treasure of Oriental manuscripts.

But the greatest accession which it received arose from the stores of the Pinelli Library, formed at Padua by Giovanni Vincenzio Pinelli, between the years 1558 and 1601.

The history of this celebrated collection may be briefly told: immediately after the death of its founder it was plundered of many hundred manuscripts, partly by treacherous individuals, and partly by the anxiety of the Venetian senate, from whose archives Pinelli had amassed considerable stores. The remainder of the collection was sent by sea to Naples, where Pinelli's heirs resided; one of the three vessels aboard which they were freighted, was foundered in the voyage; and out of the thirty-three cases which it. contained, only twenty-two were rescued from the waves. Thus reduced in bulk, the collection remained at Naples, until the whole was purchased of Pinelli's heirs by Cardinal Borromeo, and by him removed to Milan.

Among these manuscripts was the Codex of Homer. It is a quarto volume of not quite sixty vellum leaves; on the obverse of each of which is a painting of some subject from the Iliad; and on the reverse, which is lined with a paper manufactured from cotton, are some arguments of the rhapsodies, and Scholia. The editor asserts confidently, that this Codex was originally much larger, and contained the entire Iliad, and many more paintings; but that, in consequence of the unwieldy bulk of the volume, the poem was cut out, and merely the embellishments suffered to remain; so that now no more remains of the former than what happened to be written on the backs of the paintings. These latter, and such parts of the manuscript as are written in the ancient square character, are referred by the editor to the fourth or fifth century; but the more recent portion, namely, that on the paper pasted on the vellum to the thirteenth. Considerable difficulty attended the preparing these

ill-preserved and frail fragments for publication: care and perseverance, however, accomplished this desirable object. It was necessary, first of all, to detach the paper from the vellum, (which was done without injury,) and to collate the Scholia; then the fragments of the poem itself were obliged to be transcribed, and the various readings carefully attended to; lastly, the paintings remained to be copied; which, notwithstanding the difficulties, arising from their mutilated condition, had been done with the greatest exactitude and success, by a very competent artist, named Emanuel Schott: who has executed them in outline, on precisely the same scale as the originals.

Before he proceeds to the description of these illustrations, the editor notices the riches of the Ambrosian Library in larger paintings and drawings of celebrated masters; which, although not relevant to our present purpose, is exceedingly interesting.

The paintings which serve as embellishments to the Codex cannot be extolled very highly, as accurate or beautiful representations; one may perceive in them the decline of the art; at the same time, they bear the evident stamp and impress of high antiquity. Their execution is very simple the outline is first traced with a pale ink, after which the colours are laid on with a pencil-these are cinnabar, white-lead, red-ochre, ultramarine, purple, green, hyacinth, violet, glass-green, yellow, and dark-brown.* The cinnabar is used very unsparingly. In many instances the figures are only partially or incompletely coloured; and the accessories are but very superficially treated. Corrections are occasionally to be detected, for in such places the colours have been laid one above the other. The editor does not inform us very explicitly in what manner the originals are shadowed, whether forcibly or not; but he commends the union and transition of

the colours; as he does likewise the general correctness of the proportions. The artist has delineated gods and heroes in an ample style: but he had not always adhered to consistency, for the same personage appears sometimes with, and sometimes without a beard, and not always in the same costume. It is to be regretted, that we are not more fully informed as to the colouring, and mechanical execution, of the original designs; for as to the drawing, the outlines themselves supply us with all that is necessary on that head. He does not assert that these copies are in every respect similar to the originals; but he advises us to regard these Homeric paintings as equal to those in the Vatican Virgil, which are of about the same date.

-After this we are informed minutely of the manner in which the gods, priests, heroes, &c. are represented in these Homeric pictures. This does not admit of abridgement; and were we to enter into the details it would carry us too far; we, therefore, the rather proceed to an examination of the plates themselves.

Both the drawing and the costume remind us of the later Roman æra: the Grecian and Trojan heroes are represented in the Roman military dress, except that the latter generally wear the Phrygian bonnet, and the former helmets. Achilles is almost uniformly represented as half naked; Ulysses with a seaman's bonnet and tunic. As to the female figures, they are all dressed. The usual characteristics of ancient art are to be recognized in the divinities, who are distinguished from the other characters by a nimbus round the head. With regard to the drawing, it is to be observed, that the proportions are rather short, and the heads somewhat too large.

There is, however, neither stiffness nor dryness in the figures; but they are certainly very defective, in whatever regards motion and attitude.