mand. The entertainment will be thus heightened and varied, and good sense and decorum derive new lustre from good humour. We would, indeed, restrain that excessive and rude mirth which originates in levity and folly, and becomes what is called buffoonery; but far be it from us to banish that' sprightliness which naturally results from the gaiety of innocence. Joy, while we are blessed with health and ease, and what the stoics call EUROIA, or the well flowing of the stream of life, is gratitude and obedience.

No. CXXVI.

On the Style of Xenophon and Plato.

WRITERS, who have displayed any of that uniform peculiarity in their style which renders it easily imitable, however popular they may become at their first appearance by gratifying the passion for novelty, are by no means the most perfect writers; but are to be classed with those artists of the pencil, whom the painters distinguish by the appellation of Mannerists. Simplicity of diction, as it is one of the most engaging beauties, is also one of the most difficult to imitate. It exhibits no prominency of feature, but displays one whole, properly embellished with a thousand little graces, no one of which obtrudes itself in such a manner as to destroy the appearance of perfect symmetry. In this species of excellence Xenophon is confessedly a model. He has been called the Attic Muse and the Attic Bee. It has been said, that the Muses would express themselves in his language, that his style is sweeter than honey, that the

Graces themselves appear to have assisted in its formation; but though all this power is justly due, yet it would be difficult to point out any one beauty which recurs so often in the same form, as to characterize his composition.

But the numerous writers who have imitated the Rambler, or the Adventurer, are discovered in their affectation, before the reader has perused a single page. The very peculiar manner of those excellent performances has been easily imitated by inferior writers, and more easily caricatured. Addison is simple and natural, and, consequently, has not often been mimicked with equal success. Indeed, the

nearer we approach to the manner of Addison, the more agreeable is our style; but, I believe, none ever admired the style of the Rambler, but in the hands of its original author. The satirical writer of Lexiphanes easily rendered it ridiculous; and though, in some of Aikin's prosaic pieces, there is a very serious and good imitation of it, yet we are rather disposed to smile than admire. Affectation always borders on burlesque; but a manner which derives its graces from nature, cannot be rendered ridiculous. The style of Xenophon, like the philosopher whom he records, is proof against the sportive and malignant buffoonery of an Aristophanes.

It is however certain, that every beauty cannot be combined under one form. If the style of Xenophon displays grace, ease, and sweetness; it is deficient in magnificence, in weight, in authority, and in dignity. But it should be remembered, that the Venus of Medici is not to be censured, because it wants the nerves and muscles of the Farnesian Hercules. It appears to me, however, that though some of the most popular writers of England yield to Xenophon in the softer graces, they greatly

Rambler, of the Adventurer, and some of their imitators, will be found to possess a superiority in this respect, on a fair comparison. Indeed, if there were more singularities and deviations from simplicity than are to be found in those volumes, their excellent sense and fine morality ought to exalt their authors to a degree of honour, far superior to any which can be derived from a skill in composition.

According to the opinions of the best judges, ancient and modern, the greatest master of the beauties of style whom the world ever saw, was the divine Plato. The ancients hesitated not to assert, in the zeal of their admiration, that if Jupiter were to speak in the language of Greece, he would infallibly express himself in the diction of Plato. He possessed the art of combining severity with grace, and sweetness with grandeur; and to him we owe a similar combination, in the great orator and philosopher of Rome, who formed his style on the model of Plato ; and has given us a resemblance scarcely less exact than that of the bust to its mould, or of the waxen seal to the sculptured gem.

The introductions to the dialogues of Cicero are always peculiarly beautiful; so also are those of Plato. It is agreeable to call to mind the sweet spot which Plato represents as the scene where the dialogues passed, in language no less delightful than the scene itself.

The river Ilissus glided over the pebbles in a clear stream, but so shallow that you might have walked through it without any great inconvenience. At a small distance rose a tall plane tree, spreading its broad foliage to a considerable distance, and flourishing in all the mature luxuriance of summer beauty. At the root of the tree issued a spring, dedicated to Achelous and the Nymphs, and remarkable for its cool and limpid water. The softest herbage

rendered perpetual by the refreshing moisture of the spring, as it flowed down a gentle declivity. A sweet and cooling breeze generally breathed along the shade, and great numbers of Cicada, taking shelter from the sun, resorted to the coverts, and made an agreeable kind of natural music with their little notes, which seldom ceased. Plato adds several other agreeable heightenings of the scene, in which moral and philosophical beauty was to emulate the beauties of nature. The language of Plato adds charms to the whole, as variegated colours illuminate and embellish the plain sketches of the chalk or penciled outline.

It is no wonder that philosophy, recommended by such graces as these, was found to render her votaries enamoured. Virtue and public spirit can scarcely ever want their admirers and followers, when they are decorated in a manner which sets off their own loveliness to the greatest advantage. It is to be lamented, for the sake of virtue, that Lord Shaftesbury was a sceptic. His style was a fine imitation of Plato, and displays such beauties as might conceal the ugliness of a deformed system. Mr. Harris has also exhibited the Platonic graces in high perfection; and I cannot help considering it as a mark of defective taste that he is not more popular. His style appears to be one of the most elegant, classical, and judiciously ornamented among all the English writers of the present century. They who have raised their taste so as to perceive his beauties, will consider the style of many writers, whom they once admired, as comparatively barbarous. He who never tasted the pineapple, the peach, and the nectarine, may probably suppose that he enjoys the most exquisite flavour of the fruit garden while he is feasting on a pippin; as he, who never partook of the pippin, may devour a crab, and admire it as a delicacy.

sian, has discovered many and great faults in the style of Plato. He seems to think the epithets too poetical, the metaphors too bold, the matter too allegorical. Pompey the Great disputed the point with him; and there is a curious letter extant on the subject, from the critic to the statesman. It is, indeed, obvious to remark, that though Plato would not admit Homer into his republic, he has admitted many of his beauties into his style; and has often written with an enthusiastic warmth, which they, who have not partaken of the afflatus to which he somewhere pretended, cannot entirely approve. A cold critic, like Dionysius, would naturally be disgusted with it; but we cannot listen to his censures of a noble genius, who snatched graces beyond the reach of art; whom Pompey approved, and whom Tully almost idolized. When specimens of perfect composition were to be pointed out, the choice has fallen on the Georgics of Virgil, and the Menexenus of Plato.

If

Both Xenophon and Plato display, what is more valuable than all verbal elegance, a fine system of morality, which long shone forth in the world as a light unequaled, till the sun of Revelation arose. Xenophon's Memoirs were divested of a few superfluities and a few absurdities, I should not fear to assert that they approach very nearly to the Gospel, in the exhibition of instructive lessons, and a sublime, yet encouraging, example of all human excellence: for, with respect to the calumnies advanced against Socrates, they undoubtedly originated from the father of lies. And those writers are to be esteemed the enemies to human virtue and happiness, who employ their ingenuity in detracting from illustrious and established reputation.