ART. I. Herculanensia; or Archeological and Philological Dissertations: containing a Manuscript found among the Ruins of Herculaneum; and dedicated, by permission, to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. 4to. pp. 214. 3 Plates. London. Cadell and Davies. 1810.
HE publication of this highly interesting volume must ever be
literature. One only of the eight hundred manuscripts, found almost fifty years ago, at Herculaneum, has hitherto been printed; the remainder has been lost to the world till the present day, when we are informed that no less than-eighty volumes have been rendered legible, by persons employed under the munificent patronage of the Prince of Wales. We are confident, that every lover of elegant literature in these kingdoms must feel the exertions of His Royal Highness, on this occasion, as a personal tie of gratitude, giving additional force to those sentiments of duty and respect which he is bound to entertain for the heir to the crown of the empire: and that so marked a demonstration of an enlightened zeal for the cultivation of learning, exhibited to the world under many difficulties, and in a distant country, cannot but add another ray of glory to the lustre of the British character.
The Herculanensia are the joint production of the Right Ho nourable William Drummond and Mr. Robert Walpole. We most willingly bear testimony to the profound erudition and extensive knowledge which they have displayed in their dissertations t and we thank them most sincerely, Sir W. Drummond in particular, for their co-operation, in promoting the great work of rescuing these remains from oblivion. We shall proceed to give some account of the steps which have been taken for this purpose, at different times, in the words of our authors.
In the midst of a brilliant court, surrounded with all the embar rassments of greatness, obliged to live rather for the many than for the few, and apparently abstracted from the graver cares of litera