'Palazzo Chigi is a very considerable edifice, and was purchased by that family, with the surrounding estate, during the reign of Alexander the VIIth, towards the end of the 17th century. This Pope, remarkable for his disputes with Lewis the XIVth, was the son of a banker named Chigi, who amassed immense wealth and purchased great estates both in the Roman dominions and in Tuscany, whence, he originally came. In the chapel is a sketch, on marble, of St. Joseph and the infant Saviour, by Bernini, executed in black and red as a drawing: there is much expression in the countenances. This artist, whose performances, as an architect and sculptor, would have been excellent had he felt the dignified charms of simplicity, was a great favourite with Alexander the VIIth, who is said to have delighted in finery to such a degree, that his morning gowns were fastened by diamond buttons. In a small cabinet is a collection of medals, and also many portraits in miniature of the Chigi family. One of the lesser rooms contains an assemblage of pictures, representing the Roman beauties of the reign of Alexander the VIIth. It appears to have been the general fashion throughout Europe, in those times, to form similar collections. The courtiers of Lewis the XIVth, and Charles the IId, imitated their masters; and in all these galleries of portraits, that of Hortensia Mazarini is to be observed: "She through the world (as Waller sings) had run Neither is she forgotten here among her countrywomen. This palace has in it sufficient room to lodge three or four princely families. It commands a fine view of the park and neighbouring hills. The Prince has a Casino at a little distance, which also is seen from the house.' Our antiquarian readers will be entertained by the following extract: 'The Crater of Nemi is only four miles in circumference, near the surface of the lake; but it opens to a much wider extent on its elevated banks, where the vestiges of ancient buildings clearly prove how well it was formerly inhabited; more particularly to the south and south-west. Julius Cæsar had here a villa which he pulled down, and rebuilt at an immense expence: and the emperor Claudius, considering this spot as a theatre formed by nature for a Naumachia, had often naval combats performed on the lake, while the banks were crowded with spectators. His successors followed his example; and the vessel found at the bottom of this lake in the fifteenth century, (some remains of which are still to be seen under water on a clear day,) was probably belonging to these Naumachias. Pope Pius the IId, Eneas Silvius Piccolomini, gives an account of this vessel, which we shall literally translate from his Commentaries, written about the year fourteen hundred and sixty-one, a work truly interesting, instructive, and entertaining, which not only gives a just idea of the important events of his reign, but also describes the places to which he and his court retired for health and recreation, with the simplicity simplicity of manner and classical taste of a scholar enjoying his vacation. To an English reader, the early part of these Commentaries is peculiarly gratifying, as he relates his journey through Great Britain with sufficient minuteness. 66 Many things prove that this was one of the favourite residences of the Romans, but particularly the vessel, which in our times was found sunk at the bottom of the lake, about twelve ells under water; Cardinal Prospero Colonna, having sent for sailors from Genoa, who had no difficulty in working under water, attempted to raise it, and drew up a broken part, which gave an idea of the form and manner of building The hulk was composed of larch wood three fingers thick; the outer part daubed over with bitumen, and over this was added a silken stuff of a saffron or reddish colour, with sheets of lead, so well fixed down with brazen nails, the heads of which were gilded and close together, that no water could enter: the inner part, that no fire might consume it, was, after a layer of bitumen, covered with an incrustation made of a mixture of iron and clay, such as our geniuses do not understand, and that of an equal thickness to the wood within; so that it was clear the vessel was safe from fire; and the keel and body, divided into their different parts, appeared compacted in the same manner: the length not less than 20 cubits, and the breadth in ' proportion. They think there was a house built on the vessel, such as we have seen on the Po, belonging to Borsi of Ferrara, or that on the Mincio of Lewis of Mantua, and such as the Princes Electora use on the Rhine. Those who dived to the bottom of the lake said they saw an iron or copper chest, and an earthen hydria (vessel for holding water,) the cover of which was of gilt bronze. This they supposed to be a work of Tiberius Cæsar, as they found many leaden pipes, on which his name was written in capital letters." De Marchi also gives a long account of this vessel, which he calls the bark of Trajan, and says it was a hundred and forty yards in length, seventy in breadth, and sixteen in height, supposing it to have been sunk for building. He wrote in the year fifteen hundred and thirty-five, and speaks of beautiful enamelled pavements found by the divers, and many other curious circumstances. The author draws a character of the late Pius 6th, which his sad eventful history induces us to wish had been more reconcileable to strict truth: but his prosecutions of the heirs of the Lepri family, and the application of their great wealth to his own nephew, present a reverse of the medal which is here struck in honour of him. It may suffice to add that no place of antient or modern celebrity, within the confines of that part of the late Papal territory which was called Latium, is here passed without some remarks, interesting to those who either have visited or may visit Italy. The etchings by the author are twenty in number. They are of that description, and deserve that praise, which are usually allotted allotted by a professed artist to the works of an amateur : "clever things."-We understand that we are indebted for this work to a Lady, who has before committed her literary reputation to public judgment. ART. IV. Remarks, critical, conjectural, and explanatory, upon the Plays of Shakspeare; resulting from a Collation of the early Copies with that of Johnson and Steevens, edited by Isaac Reed, Esq., together with some valuable Extracts from the MSS. of the late Right Hon. John, Lord Chedworth. Dedicated to Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq. By E.H. Seymour. z Vols. 8vo. 11. Is. Boards. Lackington and Co. A s many of our readers, after having seen an edition of Shakspeare swelled into one-and-twenty large volumes, may feel surprized at being presented with this farther supply of notes, we shall in justice to Mr. Seymour allow him to give his reasons for publishing them; merely observing that, in this separate form, they are not so liable to the great objection of adding to the bulk and expence of a work which is already heavy and enormous. Mr. Seymour remarks that After the labours of so many acute and judicious men as, during almost a century past, have successively applied their talents to rectify and explain the works of Shakspeare, it might reasonably be supposed, that little room was left for further observation: that an authentic, or, at least, an approved text was firmly established; that all inaccuracies were repaired or noted; that the viciousness of interpolation, and the ignorance or idleness of transcribers and reciters were no longer to be confounded with the effusions of the poet, and that every passage which had languished in the trammels of obscurity, was at length either redeemed to illustration, or abandoned finally to impervious darkness; but a review of the plays, as they have been presented to the public by the last editor, will shew that such expectations remain, even yet, unfulfilled. It is true, indeed, the circumstances attending our great dramatist and his productions must ever leave questionable the authority even of the best copies, for, excep ting A Midsummer Night's Dream, we shall not, perhaps, find a single play that is not evidently corrupted; and there exists no other rule whereby we can distinguish the genuine from the spurious parts, but that internal evidence which critical discernment may be able to extract from a patient and minute examination of the earliest copies, the consciousness of a peculiar and predominating style, and the sagacious perception of an original design, howsoever adulterated or deranged by innovation or unskilfulness. On this ground, possibly, a rational hypothesis of purity may be erected, whenever there shall come forth a combination of talents and industry sufficient for the task: this, however, is a latitude of critiREV. SEPT. 1806. D cism, cism, to which no editor, as yet, has extended his enquiry; they have all been satisfied with delivering the text of each drama as they found it, with preference occasionally to the readings of different impressions; and if the choice they made be deemed judicious, so much of their undertaking has been performed: but with regard to those anomalies in which the measure, construction, and sense, are often vitiated, they appear to have been strangely negligent; and, sometimes, more strangely mistaken the want of meaning can never be excused; the disregard of syntax is no less reprehensible, and every poetic ear must be offended by metrical dissonance." The object of the present design, we are told, is first to point out some readings, in the early quartos, which seem preferable to those adopted by the last editor; secondly, to substitute order for derangement, by dismissing from the text all such words as have intruded to disturb the metre, without any benefit to the sense, as well as to restore others that have been omitted, to the detriment of both in the third place, to expose the grammatical anomalies of what kind soever they are: and lastly, to attempt an exposition of many passages, occult or dubious, which appear to have been, by the commentators, either overlooked or misinterpreted." Having premised thus much, we shall proceed immediately to some exemplification of the notes.-On a most notable change introduced into the text of Shakspeare by Mr. M. Mason, we have these observations: "First Part of King Henry IV. Act. I. Sc. L. "No more the thirsty Erinnys of this soil Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood.” Those who are not too much frightened by this monstrous personage, which Mr. M. Mason has conjured up from the infernal shades, to usurp a station in the text here, and whose terrible right Mr. Steevens has commanded us to acknowledge, will very readily, I believe, be satisfied with the plain sense of the common reading: "No more the thirsty entrance of this soil," &c. i. e. "No more the gaping fissures-the lips-of this parched or thirsty soil shall be bedaubed with native blood." The personification, indeed, is a little harsh, but the very same thought is to be found in our poet's nineteenth sonnet : "Deuouring time, blunt thou the lyon's pawes, And make the earth deuoure her own sweet brood." "No more the thirsty Erinnys of this soil "Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood.” I have seldom been so surprised, as when, in the edition of 1793 I saw Erinnys advanced into the text, in the place where I used to read entrance: I could hardly persuade myself that it was not "the very error of my eyes." This appears to me as bold an emendation as I ever met with, and to be outdone by no achievement of Bentley or Warburton. Mr. Steevens, fully aware that this reading would not not be generally acquiesced in, seems desirous of deterring opposition, by hurling defiance in the teeth of all who should dare to object to its reception. I confess myself obnoxious to all the censure which is denounced against those timid critics who cannot approve this "gallant effort" of Mr. M. Mason, though sanctioned by the deliberate approbation of Dr. Farmer. Why Shakspeare was less likely to be obscure in the fifth line of a play, than in any other, I do not perceive, and wish that Mr. Steevens had informed us. The passage, as it stands, is certainly difficult; but I incline to think it is rightly explained by Mr. Malone, with whom I agree that her lips refers to soil, and not to peace. I prefer damp to daub: damb is the reading of the folios of 1632 and 1664 :—the p being reversed, (a common error in printing) damp becomes damb. LORD CHEDWORTH".' We meet with the following note on a passage in Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 7. "Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek; hath been That tears shall drown the wind." Pity in its most amiable and affecting form, like a naked new-born infant, or a cherubim mounted on the invisible couriers of the divine will, (not the winds, as Dr. Johnson would have it,) shall blow, i. e. taint ard tumify with horror, in the eyes of all the world, this execrable deed; insomuch that the ambient wind shall be allayed and overcome by a universal shower of tears.' Again; "The sightless couriers of the air" are not winds, as Dr. Johnson supposes, but invisible posters of the divine will; that fly unperceived by sense, and unconnected with matter. If winds were meant as the supporters of the babe, the infant would be left in a very perilous predicament, for he must soon be unhorsed by the drowning of the wind.' This is indeed a very strained and unnatural explanation of a passage which scarcely merits any comment; and it may be Upon the concluding part of this note of my Lord Chedworth's, I insert an observation of the printer's, with the blunt propriety of which I am sure his lordship himself would have been highly diverted "Lord Chedworth has fallen into a curious mistake: the p being reversed, damp becomes damd, and not damb. Stick to your last, my lord! Printer." |