dom; that nothing but virtue deserves our admiration, and that, without it, there can be no true or rational freedom. He has proved himself a master in the most difficult part of human conduct, that of advising others, which he always does with great sincerity, but without the ap. pearance of premeditation. By this method, the advice had a better effect upon the person who received it, because there was no affectation of superiority in him who gave it. Had this been vi sible, it would only have offended that inherent pride in our nature, which makes every man so unwilling to acknow ledge, or be told of, his faults. For instance, when writing in praise of moderation, he addresses himself to an mobi, tious man, shows him the danger of his darling passion, and the charms of con'tentiment. Thus, without touching his foible, by descending to particulars, he demonstrates to the person addressed the danger of the measures he pursues. The 10th Ode of lib. 2, to Licinius Muræna, is a fine example of this. Muræna was brother-in-law to Mecænas, and, through his interest, could have little doubt of being promoted. But this would not satisfy his restless ambition; nor could the seasonable advice of Horace prevent him from entering into a conspiracy with Fannius and others, which cost him his life-In the 15th of lib. 1, where he represents Nereus as declaring to Paris the deplorable fate of Troy, which will attend his rape of Helen, he warns Antony not to give himself up to the charins of Cleopatra, which must inevitably end in his ruin; and in the preceding Ode, he, by a beautiful alle gory, exhibits to the Romans all the calamities of their civil wars, and exhorts them to peace. Having inclined, as we observed at the close of our last Number, to the Stoic philosophy, towards the latter part of his life, he consequently armed himself with their principles against the fear of death. Thus he describes his wise man as braving adversity, and expecung mortality to put an end to any misfortunes that way befal him. This is done allegorically, under the characters of Pentheus and Bacchus; that is, the wise man will then display the same courage which Bacchus did in his answer to Pentheus, in a tragedy of Euripides.

We shall close this general account by a few remarks upon the difficulty of translating this interesting poet. Ho

race, in his Odes, is the only author who has shown the compass of the Latin. language, in all the variety of composi tion. This renders it a task of considerable difficulty to imitate him, with any degree of ease or elegance. He has a mode of expression peculiar to himself, which sometimes baffles every attempt to convey his meaning into the idiom of any modern language There are few poets of whom versions have been more frequently attempted: no one, perhaps, has had less justice done to him; and it is the more extraordinary, that his lesser Odes, I mean those that treat of humbler subjects, have been uniformly found the most daleult:

witness the 9th of lib. 3, the favourite Ode of Scaliger. Those who will be at the pains to exa mine it, will find its peculiar merit to consist in the delicacy, brevity, and simplicity, of the expressions; the beautiful order of the words, and the harmonious sweetness of the numbers. This little Ode, though of all others, perhaps, the most laboured at, has been the worst executed. Its beautiful and unaffected brevity sets translation, at defiance; and is a model of that perfection of style, which La Bruyere admired, the art of using the one proper expression, which can alone be right.

Creech, who had done ample justice to the philosophic verse of Lucretius, lost all his laurels by his attempt upon Horace. He has also been fatal to the reputation of some others. The version of Francis.is, upon the whole, the best executed: in some parts of the Odes, he is highly Horatian; moral, without being dull; gay and spirited, with propriety; and tender, without being lan guid. Some of the imitations of Duncombe are spirited and elegant; but, in general, he is inferior to Francis,

Quinctilian has said, indeed, that he would not have the whole of Horace interpreted; and be alludes to the Odes, rather than to the Satires. This caution will appear singular, and would, at least, have seemed to be equally applicable to the rest of his works. Creech gives this reason, "which," he says, must be taken from the design and subject matter of the poems. To describe and reform a vicious man, necessarily requires some expressions which an ode cannot want. The paint which an artist uses must be agrecable to the piece which he designs. Satire is to instruct, and that supposes a knowledge and discovery of the crime

best.

Horatius, 4to. Editio Princeps, sine anno, loco,
vel typographi indicio.
8vo. Ferrar. 1474.
fol. Mediol, ditto.

fol. Venet. 1478, 148, 1490.
12mo. apud Ald. 1501.
fol. illustrated by 80 commenta
tors. Basil, 1580. Of this edit.
Dr. Harwood says, "that it con-
tains the observations and remarks
on Horace, which were made by
the great scholars of that iilus-
trious age-the glorious age of the
revival of literature; as well as
the criticisms of the old commen-
tators, Acron, Porphyrion, &c"
4to. Cruquii. L. Bat. 1593.
quius is considered one of the best

Cru

commentators on Horace. Horatii Opera, à Dan. Heinsio, 12mo. Elz. L. Bat. 1629.

1691.

the immaculate edition.

Horace, by Watson, Lat. and Eng. 2 vol.

8vo. Lond.

the discovery, of which these pages treat, is not by any means so ancient as many have imagined. However numerous the admirers of this fragrant Ottur may be in Europe, as in Asia, I wish to pay it thus my public homage.-A verse from Hafiz, the Persian Anacreon, will not be here misplaced:

"Hafiz! vesal-i-gul tulbee bemchu bulbulan, "Jan Kun fedaï Kkak i rab i-baghban i gul.

"O! Hafiz, thou desirest like the Nightingale the presence of the rose ! let thy very soul be a ransom for the earth, where the keeper of the Rose-garden walks!"

In this couplet, he alludes to the loves of the Nightingale and the Rose, which have been celebrated by so many poets of Arabia, Persia, and Turkey.

The word Oftar, or A'thr, used by the Asiatics, to express the essence of roses, is originally Arabic; and signifies an aromatic odour, or perfume in general; it is derived from Attara, or Athura, (to perfume one's-self,) &c. and it seems to have some affinity with another Arabic work, Katara, (to drop, or distil by (he has perfumed, &c.) The Chaldaic drops, &c.) and to the Hebrew Ketr, word Katura expressed eleven kinds of aromatics, which the Jews burned in their sacrifices. (See Schultens's Clavis Dialect: ling Hebr. et Arab; page 296: and Castelli Lexicon Heptaglott, ad Vocem p.). As to the resemblance which Mr. Weston, (in a work which I shall hereafter quote) imagines. he has found between the Arabic word Ottar, and the European odour, I leave it for my readers to determine on the etymo-" logy. I must here remark, that flowers in general, and roses from their peculiar excellence, are termed in Arabic, ward; and in Persian, gul; but the ottar is not to be confounded with the gulab, or rose-water, which is simply the product of roses, distilled with water, according to a process well known to all per umers, both of Europe and Asia; this, indeed, is the previous and indispensable preparation, for obtaining the essence, or ottur; for after a certain quantity of roses has been so distilled, (as Colonel Polier indicates in the first volume of Asiatic Researches,) the rose water is left exposed to the cool air of the night; and on the next day, a very inconsiderable portion of ollar is found congealed on the surface of the rose-water. It may be easily supposed, that the quantity of essence depends much on the quality of

the

the roses; those of Shiraz, Kirman, and Cashmere, are particularly celebrated, as the following quotations will prove. The learned Kampfer, (in his Amani Lates Erotica, page 374,) inforins us, that "the roses of Shiraz yield on disgillation, a thick substance, resembling butter, called attar gul; and this oil is purchased for its weight in gold, and is unequalled in sweetness and fragrance; which shows, that the roses of the territory of Persepolis, are of the hottest nature." The same traveller adds, "that sandal-wood gives additional strength to the perfume" and this observation is confirmed by Colonel Polier, who remarks, however, at the same time, that this addition reduces the value of the essence. The use of sandal-wood succeeds better in the composition of simple rosewater, which according to the ingenious Anquetil du Perron (see his Zendavesta, vol. i. 525, &c.) is styled Sandali gulab, or, if we may so translate it, rose-water of sandal. In the first volume of Linschoten's Voyages, (pp. 125-126) we read, that the sandal-wood itself produces an odoriferous oil,

The roses of Kirman are described, by Olcarius, and other travellers, as wonderfully abundant, and a very delightful water is said to be distilled from them, which forms a considerable branch of comunerce in that country; but those writers have not made any mention of the essence.

The most exquisite roses of Asia, appear to be those of Cashmere; and Mr. Forster, (in Journey from India to Petersburgh, vol. ii. page 15, quarto edition,) says, "I may venture to class in the first rank of vegetable produce, the ose of Cashmere, which, for its brilliancy and delicacy of odour, has long been proverbial in the East; and its essential oil, or otter, is held in universal estimasion." Indeed, long before the publication of Mr. Forster's Travels, we had learned from Monsieur Aaquetil du Perron, that the best species of rose was produced in Cashmere,

Roses are found in great abundance also in Syria, Faiume, and the different provinces of the Barbary states; and an essence is extracted from them, but much inferior to that of Persia, and of Cashmere. One would scarcely imagine that a process, at once so simple, and so universally known throughout the East, and even on the coasts of Western Africa, and which is the result of another process in use, from time immemorial,

cannot be traced back two hundred years.

In this opinion, I dissent very much from many ingenious men; and amongst others from Mr. Weston, who, (in his Specimen of the Conformity of Languages, &c. page 113,) expresses his belief that the ottur, or essence of roses, is the oil with which the Psalmist desires to be anointed, because he styles the oil green.-Psalm xcii. 10.

בלתי בשמן רענן

Delibutus sum in oleo viridi. Nothing can be more vague than this epithet; since many kinds of oil are of that colour, and since the ottar is not always green: besides, it is not certain that the Hebrew epithet p should be understood as expressing any particular colour; and the Septuagint have rendered it by the Greek word wiow, fat; (the English version says, "I shall be anointed with fresh oil.") I shall not here detain my readers by a long digres sion, in which it might he proved that the Hebrews, as well as the Christians, employed only common oil, and not per fumes, in the consecration of their kings.

a

But, in support of my opinion on the recent discovery of the ottar, I shall adduce both negative and positive proofs; and I hope to demonstrate, that it was not known before the year 1021 of the Mohamedan, or 1612 of the Christian, æra; my negative proofs are derived from the silence of Eastern, and of European writers, prior to the epoch abovementioned.

In the works of Hafiz, and of Sadi, we find frequent mention of the gulub, or rose-water; none of the ottar, of essence. Sherifaddin Ali Yezdi, who wrote a His tory of Tamerlane, often describes the perfumes lavishly expended in the entertainments given by that Tartar con queror, and his children; but the histo rian is silent on the subject of the ottar.

The Ayeen Akbery, or Commentary of the Grand Mogul Akber, translated by Mr. Gladwin, of Calcutta, contains a chapter on the regulation of the Imperial Perfumery, in which various preparations of roses are noticed, without any mention of the essence. This work, the Aycen Akbery, was composed in the year of our æra, 1569; and consequently, forty-two years before the date that I have as signed to the discovery of the attar.

As to European travellers, I can venture to affirm, that of those who visited Persia and Hindoostan, and whose marratives prior to the seventeenth century

have been collected by Hackluit, Purchas, De Bry, Melchisedec Thevenot, Bergeron, Churchill, Harris, &c. not one has spoken of the essence of roses: many of them describe the rose-water as a most pleasing perfume, and in terms which prove their ignorance of the other preparation.

But a positive proof of what I have asserted, is derived from the anuals of the Moghul Empire, of which the authors were perhaps witnesses of the facts that they relate.

We shall begin by consulting a History of the Grand Moghuls, written in the Persian language by Mohammed Hashem; an important work, entitled, Tarikh Montekheb lubab, or The authentic Abridgment of Chronicles." This, which is preserved among the manuscripts of the National Library, in Paris, passes rapidly over the reigns of Timur, and bis descendants; and in fact, commences with the account of Baber, who in the year 1526, conquered Hindoostan; and it ends with the year 1677; when Mohammed Shah was on the throne. The discovery of the ottar of roses is twice noticed in this History, and in the most unequivocal manner : first, in a chapter entitled, Marriage of the Princess Nour Jehan, with the Inhabitant of Paradise, (that is, the lately deceased) Jehangir, the Intentions and Discoveries of the Queen of the World, c. This Princess, Nour Jehan, (a title signifying, Light of the Universe,) was the celebrated beauty called also ihr al Ness, (or the Bright Sun of Women.) She inspired the Emperor Jehangir with so violent a passion, that to possess her charms he contrived the assassination of her husband; she even exercised the sovereign power, during the space of six months; and money was coined in her name: but we are not authorized in attributing to her (as is generally done) those rupees which bear the signs of the odiacs for although struck under the reign of Jehangir, they have quite a different origin. This fascinating woman, who employed every art to secure her influence over the monarch of Hindoostan, introduced many innovations in the female dress, and we may say, invented fashions, à circumstance before unknown in Asia; on this subject, the chapter above quoted, contains many carious details: but it will be sufficient to extract one passage, relating to the object which engages our attention. "The Essence of Rose-water which the

Those two quotations agree perfectly with the following passage, from the flistory of Hindostan, compiled in English by Mr. Gladwin, from humerous materials collected with muchi labour and expease, during a residence of twenty-three years in India. "The manner of making the ottar," says this ingenious writer "was at this time discovered by the mother of Nourjehan. The ottar is at essential oil of roses, which floats ma very small quantity on the surface of distilled rose-water, whilst yet warth; and it is collected by mealfs of a little bit of cotton fastened to the end of a stick; It is the most delightful of all perfumes, and in fragrance equals the new-blown rose. The Emperor, as a reward for the invention, bestowed on the lady a necklace of most precious pearls; and the Princess Selima Sultana, (one of the widows of Akbar,) gave it the naine of Ottar Jehangiri."

Thus, have the Eastern authors, în my opinion, cleared up every doubt as to the

epoch, and the author of this discovery; but none of them have indicated the manner in which the discovery was made: this, however, we learn from an European traveller. Manucci, a physician of Venice, during a residence in