slation, which we have attempted for the benefit of the country gentlemen and the ladies.

The senate's wonder, ROLLE * of mighty tongue,
Here first his Devonshire unlearn'd when young.

How simple, yet how full, is the expression of this distich! How perfectly does it agree with the notion, which our poet has inculcated, of Mr. ROLLE! He was employed at school not to learn but to unlearn; his whole progress, was, like a crab's, back

ward.

There is a beauty in the Greek which it is impossible to preserve in English; the word which we have translated "unlearned,” is in the imperfect tense: and, in the nicety of that accurate language implies, that the action was begun, but not completed; that Mr. ROLLE made some proficiency in unlearning his Devonshire; but had not effectually accomplished it during his stay at the school.

The other Greek inscription has something more ingenious, from a seeming paradox in the turn of it:

The literal English is "vehement mouth of oratory."

Ούτος ο μηπόλο από τι μαθών προς μήλινος, ώδε

Παις πόλε ΡΩΑΛΙΑΔΗΣ, οσσαπερ οίδ', εμαθεν.

He, who to learning nothing owes,

Here ROLLE, a boy, learn'd all he knows.

By which concluding word " knows," we must certainly understand acquired knowledge only; since Mr. ROLLE has been celebrated by our Poet in the most unequivocal manner, as may be seen in the twelfth number of our Criticisms, for his great natural faculties. The sense of this last Epigram will then be merely, that the Member for Devonshire had no particle of acquired knowledge; but is an avlodidanos, a selftaught scholar, a character so much admired in ancient times. The Latin inscription is as follows:

Hic ferulæ, dextram, hîc, virgis cædenda magistri,
Nuda dedit patiens tergora ROLLIADES.

At non ROLLIADEN domuerunt verbera; non, quæ
Nescio quid gravius præmonuere, minæ,

Ah! quoties illum æqualis mirata corona est

Nec lacrymam in pænis rumpere, nec gemitum! Ah! quoties, cum supplicio jam incumberet, ipsi * ORBILLO cecidit victa labore manus!

* A great flogger of antiquity,

Memini quæ plagosum mihi parvo

Orbilium dictare.

HOR,

I, puer; I, forti tolerando pectore plagas,
Emula ROLLIADE nomina disce sequi.

Here to the ferule ROLLE his hand resign'd,
Here to the rod he bar'd the parts behind;
But him no stripes subdu'd, and him no fear
Of menac'd wrath in future more severe.
How oft the youthful circle wond'ring saw
That pain from him nor tear, nor groan could draw!
How oft, when still unmoved, he long'd to jerk,
The master's wearied hand forsook the work!
Go, boy; and scorning rods, or ferules, aim
By equal worth to rival ROLLE in fame.

The beauty of these lines, we presume, is too obvious to require any comment. We will confidently affirm, that they record as glorious an example of patience as any to be found in all the History of the Flagellants, though the ingenious M. De Lolme has extended the subject into a handsome Quarto.

The Italian inscription is a kind of short dialogue, in which the traveller is introduced, demanding the name of the person to whom the pillar is erected.

A chi si sta questa colonna? Al ROLLE;
Che di parlar apprese in questo loco
Greco e Latino nò, ma Inglese-un poco.

Basta così. Chi non sa il resto, è folle.

This abrupt conclusion we think very fine.

It has however been censured as equivocal. Some critics have urged, that the same turn has, in fact, been applied equally to men greatly famous and greatly infamous; to Johannes Mirandula, and Colonel Chartres: and in the present case, say these cavillers, it may be construed to signify either that the rest is too well known to require repetition, or that there is nothing more to be known. But the great character of Mr. ROLLE will at once remove all ambiguity.

The French inscription was furnished by Mr. ROLLE himself on the day of his election. The idea was first expressed by him in English, and then done into French verse by the Dutch dancing master at Exeter, to

* Mynheer Hoppingen Van Caperagen, who soon after the publication of our first authentic Edition, sent the following letter to Mr. Ridgway :

D'Exeter, ce 18 Avril, 1785.

"Je suis fort etonné, Monsieur, que vous ayez eu la hardiesse d'admettre dans "La Critique de la Rolliade," une accusation contre moi qui n'est nullement fondée, et qui tend à me nuire dans l'esprit de tous les amateurs des beaux arts. Sachez, Monsieur, que je me suis donné la peine de traduire mot à mot la célébré inscription, de mon digne élève et protecteur, Mr. Rolle; que je n'y ai rien ajouté, et que dans le vers où il est question du coche, votre Critique n'auroit dû voir qu'une preuve de l'économie de mon susdit Mécene. Quant aux rimes fémi

Ne pouvoir point parler à mon chien je reproche;
Moi, j'acquis en ces lieux le don de la parole:
Je vais donc, & bien vîte, à Londres par le coche,
Faire entendre au Senat, que je suis un vrai ROLLE.

The par le coche seems to be an addition of the Dancing-master, who was certainly no very great Poet, as appears by his use of feminine rhymes only, without any mixture of masculine an irregularity perfectly inadmissible, as all our polite readers must know, in the nicety of French prosody. We shall subjoin for the entertainment of our readers an inscription in the parish school at Rouen, which was written about a century since on the original ROLLO.

nines que l'auteur me reproche avec tant d'aigreur, je vous dirai qu'il n'y a rien de måle dans l'esprit de Mr. Rolle, et que j'aurois blessé sa delicatesse en m'y prenant autrement; d'ailleurs je me moque des usages, et je ne veux pas que mes vers sautent à clochepied, comme ceux des poëtes François, qui n'entendent rien à la danse. Je ne doute pas que vous approuviez mon sentiment là-dessus, et que vous me fassiez rendre justice sur l'objet de ma plainte: en attendant, je vous prie de croire que je suis, avec le plus vif attachement,

Monsieur, votre très obeissant serviteur,

HOPPINGEN VAN CAPERAGEN."