preserved likewise in the same book with his portrait, and is in the following words: "Deo trino et uni opt. max. sacrum, ac æternæ memoriæ nobilissimi, honoratissimi, omnique virtutum et eruditionis genere difficillimis Belgarum temporibus eorundem ordinum nomine which had on it the above inscription, was conveyed to the family-seat at Julians, but too much damaged, in the taking down and the removal, to be again erected. "Mr. Meetkerke is in possession of, among others, a very valuable relic of his ancestors, in a folio MS. of Greek and Latin poetry by Sir Adolphus, with additions by his son Adolphus, who died without issue, and by his son Edward, D. D. of Christ Church, Oxford, professor of Hebrew in that university, and prebendary of Winchester; which MS. the possessor of it may, perhaps, at a future day permit to be published-should prejudice be. now more inclined than it was two centuries ago, to give way to the recommended prosodic doctrine, and to let the character of its author, a restorer of the Greek language rise to the level due to it in the Republic of Letters. "The abovementioned MS, which is in the hand-writing of Dr. Edward Meetkerke, who was left by his ever-to-be-honoured father infans anniculus, and who proved to be the transmitter of his name, contains the monumental inscription, little differing from that copied above from Foppens, but in the being more correct in a few words, as cepisset for suscepit, &c. in its not be ing in any part broken into lines of inscription style, and in giving the hex ameter and pentameter couplets at the end in this manner: "Quid manus armata est? Hostis. Quidnam altera? Amicus Quid Græcæ voces, Εχθροισι Φιλοισι τ' Αδελφος? Vocum harum interpres, Vita, Mekerke, tua est." apud varios Germaniæ ejusque fratrem principem Alençonium, omnibus supradictis honoribus relictis, etiamsi ipsi in sua senectute durum, vel ingentibus pollicitationibus, "Is natos annos 63, menses 6, pridie nonas Oct. anno post natum Messiam 1591, ex hâc periturâ ad perennem vitam emigravit; cùm ex duabus nobilissimis selectissimisque uxoribus, tam virtute quam genere clarissimis, dominâ Jacoba Cervinâ, et dominâ Margarettâ â Lichtervelde, plurimos suscepit utriusque sexûs liberos. Ex quibus moriens sex, ex qualibet uxore videlicet tres, reliquit superstites. Ex priore Balduinum; qui cæso nuper in expugnatione Daventriæ fratre suo primogenito D. Nicolao, militum duce fortissimo, militibus dicti fratris sui, à serenissima Angliæ regina est præfectus. Adolphum, patri cognominem, à fratre in ordine militari secundum: et filiam Annam, uxorem clarissimi viri D. Pauli Knibbii, juriscon. et serenis. Daniæ regis conciliarii. Ex posteriore filium anniculum Edvardum, et duas filias, Elizabetham, tres liberalissimæ indolis et formæ infantes. "Cui placide in Christo humanæ gentis sospitatore ob→ dormienti, hoc meritis ipsius debitum mortale monumentum, tum immortalis amoris et reverentiæ, Petrus ab Heyla, dictus Verhella, Brugensis jurisc. popularis, civis et amicus ejus mœstiss. pos. "Pro symbolo habebat duas dextras inter se junctas, quarum una armata est, altera inermis; quibus tertia e nube superveniens duas priores complectitur; additis his verbis, ad nomen Adolphi alludentibus, ΦΙΛΟΙΣ ΕΧΘΡΟΙΣ ΤΕ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΣ. Et amico frater et hosti. Quid manus armata est? Hostis. Quidnam altera? Amicus. "Nil scribitur totum. Quis hoc mare effundat? Momenta rerum, et quæ argumenta sunt summa, 1797, April. To the above, we subjoin the following brief Account of "Metronariston; or, A new Pleasure Recommended, in a Dissertation upon a Part of Greek and Latin Prosody;" on account of the letter with which it concludes. E.] THIS Curious Dissertation (or Aureus Libellus, as we have seen it styled by a Veteran in Literature), is introduced, in a prefatory letter to Mr. Bryant, by an anonymous writer, who styles himself, "A Disciple of Mekerchus;" and is ornamented with a portrait of that excellent grammarian, acknowledged to be a striking likeness of an original painting preserved in the family. Adolphus Mekerchus, having long resided in this country in a public capacity, becomes entitled to a niche in the Temple of British Worthies. In the miscellaneous pages of our next, therefore, we shall give his portrait and personal history; and of this produc tion of his Disciple shall observe, that it endeavours, with much good sense and great pleasantry, wholly to explode the present long-established doctrines of quantity and accent, and apparently with very great success.-Thus far we had actually proceeded, when we were kindly favoured with the sight of a letter from a gentleman who, by his own learned publications, has fully established the character of being a competent judge of these subjects; and which, though not written for publication, Mr. Knight has kindly permitted us to insert, as a proof of his sentiments on the work-far preferable to any thing farther we could have said. "To William Scott, Esq. of the Inner Temple. "DEAR SIR, "Whitehall, March 9. "I BEG you will express my gratitude to your friend the author for the very valuable Dissertation which you have been so kind as to send me from him, and which I have perused with equal delight and satisfaction. Not having had the advantage of a regular education, I have not had the disadvantage of being instructed by any doctor dedocendus; and have, therefore, always pronounced the Greek and Latin languages in the manner which he recommends; though I did not ever expect to find my pronunciation so ably defended, or imagine that so much learning and ingenuity, employed upon so dry a subject, could be enlivened by so much wit and humour. "To pronounce exactly as the Greeks and Romans did is certainly impossible, because it is impossible that we should know exactly how they did pronounce; but, to sacrifice quantity, which we do understand, to accent, which we do not, has always appeared to me extremely absurd; and still more so, to regulate the accents of a dead language by those of our own. The height and the continuity of tone are certainly, as Foster has observed, wholly distinct, and may therefore be separated in pronunciation; but, nevertheless, as we almost always unite them in speaking our own language, we shall find it difficult to separate them in speaking or reciting any other, without acquiring a foreign twang, which will always have an aukward, and generally a burlesque, effect. "We learn from the ancient Greek scholiasts, that not only the vulgar, but even the most profound critics of the schools of Athens, Alexandria, and Tarsus, differed concerning the right accentuation of several words, wherefore we may safely answer those, who now so confidently explain and recommend the use of accents, merely by reminding them that, inter virtutes grammatici sit, aliquid nescire. "I am, &c. &c. 1797, March. "R. P. KNIGHT." LIX. Character of the Rev. WILLIAM BENWELL, of Trinity College, Oxford. MR. URBAN, Jan. 6, 1797. I MUCH wonder that no one of the numerous friends of the late lamented Mr. Benwell has paid a greater tribute of respect to his memory than what appeared in your Obituary. A character so truly amiable and excellent deserves to be displayed in the brightest colours; nor is it with any idea of doing justice to his merits that I trouble you with this account of him; but in the hope of drawing from some more able pen a fuller and more perfect delineation of his. genius and virtues. Mr. Benwell was brought up under the care of the Rev. Dr. Valpy, at Reading, who still conducts his school with so much credit to himself, and such advantage to his numerous scholars. He entered at Trinity college, Oxford, in the beginning of the year 1783, and soon distinguished himself as an excellent classical scholar, particularly for his Latin. compositions both in prose and verse. These attainments. led him to aspire to the publie honours of the University, and his efforts were crowned with success; first, by gaining the Under-graduate's prize in 1785 for Latin hexameters on "The Siege and Pillage of Rome by Alaric ;" and then the Bachelor's, in the year 1787, by a very elegant essay on "The Superiority of the Moderns over the Antients in Art and Science." Henceforward he was looked up to as one of the ornaments of the University; and, besides his literary accomplishments, he was equally esteemed and admired by his friends for an amiable sweetness and modesty of disposition, for maturity of judgment, and an exquisite purity of general taste. Soon after taking his degree of A. B. he was ordained deacon by the present Bishop of Hereford,* then Bishop of Oxford; and (there being yet no fellowship vacant for him on the foundation of his college,) he retired to the curacy of Sunning, in Berkshire. Here the same unassuming modesty of manners, and purity of character, gained him the love and esteem of his parish, and the general respect of the neighbourhood. But it is in his behaviour to {* Dr. Butler.] |