EIGHTLEY'S EOM 1:\ l' I It

nit:: rellyne fills up a void in 1:"..._' 1:11:,--1 the

:14:cession o'.' At:nut:Ty:: to the ;',,, ' :: (;inuom

commenco,:. tVi' IlaVC strictly sp.....,:!..:- ::.: :1:r y,..ung

Or old, ttlIliough the period tut.1 the t in it

arc of more importance than any ;v111..."1 • .:- aaaa:ii the modern nations begin to appear upon h ..• . !.,,,,,.1 power.

Even the Decline of the Nlicstcra: :1 1:::: ::: (111110N, IllaV eNts".1.1 to too t!"!"‘L'alt at leal,Z,:11 :. L :1,1 have scruples in committing the 1): . 2O. , i'dr. Ni•cultri.cy's execution .... , ss.-+ we think, his prcvi,11- eilbrts in the histor e leaa(i1i:g points or 1;i subj....; are well selected. .. : his narrative lici.o, Cid:. .1.•.1r, :dui contlensed. W.: k ••`• : and his re- tlecti.ms f.:r tin. most part :Ire j...,.... :-_::sh l',;:1,01111.

tiVe I'Li'....::,.',-; I1,1 Ilitll to fa\ .,;:: ., .:,:1.1 v. .. only loleral:1e a L'L a :' essity, and I., s, . ..::::.relty , anti I', ''la:", l'a' Ill..' 1:1'4 :1:al`". ,a'!Ii '

: of fr...! ic.ov, r.,:mait r.oil.•!.. 1:1.1:: II: :: , c

.

litre .!:;:: mnIee inigilt siep. , : \ I- : criti-

: eisni on It: . :.seb: challenge cl,,,,:- in.. si:,..: !: ird it objected.- s.t■s he, "111:11 no s:■ I,: :•... 1: v. ,...:

...!.T ,tible

an :, .:: la,. t . ature to tuld, in N:igour anti anint.tii, al ‘,...,.a,1, ;as. 1 should init shrink from at comparison , '.;',. 1.. . ..sr.t...... S , a1.1:- :lawn ease and , net t',a'a.L. they are generally combined, iv hen r:enins 11,,,, , ..,".1'.n di,:ested its subject : some of the " e.isiest flow" in tlac 1,-.11..aaa.:•....s may be found.

1. ,

s L - s le.

.11

smith. I lie\ er 1,ret.thied to it, 1 \'.-i It condensation: lnit in persi,I,

From both of these jtidgmcms e

smoothness being incompatiOle with l; in Paradise Lost; and numerous examples might be adduced from SHAKSPERE and other writers. Nor do we recognize " per- spicuity," (meaning that high degree of translucency which causes clearness to give pleasure as a quality of itself,) or " vigour," or " animation, as the particular characteristics of Mr. Kt:WI/TEM/ : plainness, sense, and industry are his merits; and we should never have dreamed of endowing him with three of the highest excellen- cies, so far as language is concerned, which the historian can at- tain, and which only GOLDSMITH and Hume have partially reached. There is in Mr. KEIGIITLET'S book one fault, which, though com- mon in all but original historians, has struck us more visibly here— perhaps from the absence of any very comprehensive philosophy : the manners and character of the age are not painted in the nar- rative so as to place the reader among the people described. Hence, though we know the facts to be true, the tyranny and vices of the Roman Emperors seem so monstrous as to be in- credible,—as if human nature itself would have risen against their tshamelessness and their crimes : for their tyranny was not exer- cised merely :against Ilfe and fortune ; their disgraceful vices, as GIBBON has reinarked, WVIT not concealed amid the recesses of the seraglio ; :mod the sul sleets of their cruelty were not ignorant Asiatics, but men versed in all the learning of antiquity, and descended feem zealots of liberty. Front the least indecent of these freaks of unbridled power, we will, however, take a few examples as specimens of Mr. KEIGUTLEL

JESTS OF DOMITIAN.

Like Nero, whom he reseta...ed in some ;miles, Domitian was capricious in his cruelty. When at the shows ivhich follawed his triumph a tempest drain came on, he would not allow :Iry olle tO quit tin: place and seek shelter. Ile bimself also remained; but he Lad several cleaks, and chatTed thsan as they became wet. Ms ny of the speetatora died, in ems:ion:live, of colds aud fevers. To console them, he invited them to aUtibile all through the night. Ile gave the Semite and Knights sta., a curious suiper at the same time. The room in which he received them was made petketly blaek ; the seats were black ; by each stood a monumental pillar with the name of the guest on it, and a sepulehral lamp ; naked slaves blackened to resenilde spec- tres, came in and danced a horrid measure around them, and then each seated himself at the let t iii a guest s the flan:rat-meats wet e then brought in black vessels. All sat yiakiee in silence ; Demitian alone sprke, and his discourse was of di:1th. At lingtis he dismissed them; but at the porch, hotead of their own attcsdants. they found strange ones, with chairs and sedans to convey them to their lieuscs. When they were at home and began to respire lively, word came to each that one was COM from the Emperor : terror returned, but it was cacas.eably iiispelled by finding that the pillar, which was silver, the supper- utensils of valiale materials, and the slave tcho had played the ghost, were arrived as presents from the p.ilace.

I'llEARS OF CALIGULA.

One of the first nets of Ciders, after his resteration to health, wits to put Lis cousin Tiberius to death, under the pretest if his having prayed that he might not recover. Ile ahso feresal his father-in-lew Silanus to terminate his own life because he had not acco:up.tnied hint on his late voyage ; ;wet...tiding that he intended to occupy the co.Vre if any thing ethers:: laid re,.,iiku hi., though Silanus' onlv re;!,d fad liesi.di,like of the sca. A knight laid vowed to tight as a gladiato,•, end :mother pce.son to die, it' Caiussaimk. ! !

recover ; and instead

of re s seding tlam as thee es peeted, Ire t;,:re,1 them to peribrat their vows. *

Ile showed tl:e naturaC ferocity of his diliesition by the delight with which

ire resTardcd masseeres of die amphitheatre, where on one occasion the number of vet:de:teed persaiss win, were to be exposed to the wild ',casts proving shert, he see of ti.: spalators to Ire selzed and cast to them, bavitl previeus!y• cut out their torgu,s to prevent their crying out or reproach- ing bun. Ile neale Miners and his wife Erie ins be their own exceut Mum; and he snit to death EOM hers if r,rso:Is on the charge of having been the enemies °l ids parents ni lii, brethers, pied:wing rigrririst thual the Very papers which he preteneed to have burnt.

AN IMPERIAL PLATER. This oh:se:pious body, Loire vii', sought to avert the dl -'ate of the lora of the Boman world appealing on the stage at the ni,r,:tr:,i;:! Quioqoenoial Cant. s, by offering Mtn the iictory of song and the croan tnt eloyience. But Nero sail that there needed not the posies ma the iatleece or the Senate; that he fearsa net his rive:, as:: relied on the equity of the kilges. Ile there- fore sang en the smite; w lem the people pres:asl hi al to display all his acquirements, lie came forth in the theatre, strietly catirming to all the rules of his arr,--not sitting down when weary, winin:c his Lee in his robe, neither spitting tier blowing his nose, and finally, with landed have and liming his hand, waited in coullterfeit terror fur the sentence of the judges.

THE FINsT AUCTION 01"LHE ENPIRE.

The mutineers on their return to the camp foi.1.1 there Sulpicianus, tire

Prefect csf the city. the lute Emperer's father- in-law, who had been sent thither to try to appuWie the •: ••tinv. The bloody proof which they bore of the empire's being vecant, cseite: c:1:::• it shauht have extinguished his

ambition, and I.e fathw : • s s, for the .::e.eerous prize. Im- mediately some of the s. •... •.-••••:eline the r n ars, cried .ant aloud, that the empire nit. f ,r • :'• ............:.v :1

news react! the (ars of lb - ieed, he. sin as he sat at In !,• nn. . ' •1 dlu2h1..-r ni I va:,itl•-. en,,, and Watched ii t::■• nifn.p. 11 et 1,11, t• rsIlO ol o y bidder