has given us a noble defcription of a warrior making his appearance under a Lion's skin.

tegmen torquens immane Leonis

Terribili impexum fetâ, cum dentibus albis
Indutus capiti, fic regia tecta fubibat.
Horridus, Herculeoque humeros indutus amictu.
Virg. Æn. Lib. 7.

Like Hercules himself his fon appears,
In favage pomp: a Lion's hide he wears;
About his fhoulders hangs the fhaggy fkin,
The teeth, and gaping jaws feverely grin.
Thus like the God his father, homely dreft,
He ftrides into the hall, a horrid gueft!

Mr. Dryden.

Since you have mentioned the drefs of your Standard-bearer, fays Cynthio, I cannot forbear remarking that of Claudius, which was the ufual Roman habit. One may fee in this Medal, as well as in any antique Statues, that the old Romans had their necks and arms bare, and as much expofed to view as our hands and faces are at prefent. Before I had made this remark, I have fometimes wondered to fee the Roman Poets, in their defcriptions of a beautiful man, fo often mentioning the Turn of his Neck and Arms, that in our modern dreffes lie out of fight, and are covered under part of the clothing. Not to trouble you with many quotations, Horace fpeaks of both thefe parts of the body in the beginning of an Ode, that in my opinion may be reckoned among the fineft of his book, for the naturalnefs of the thought, and the beauty of the expreflion.

Dum

Dum tu, Lydia, Telephi
Cervicem rofeam, et cerea Telephi
Laudas brachia, væ meum
Fervens difficili bile tumet jecur.

When Telephus his youthful charms,
His rofy neck, and winding arms,
With endless rapture you recite,
And in that pleasing name delight;
My heart, inflam'd by jealous heats,
With numberlefs refentments beats;
From my pale cheek the colour flies,
And all the Man within me dies.

It was probably this particular in the Roman habit that gave Virgil the thought in the following verfe, where Romulis, among other reproaches that he makes the Trojans for their foftnefs and effeminacy, upbraids them with the Make of their Funica's that had fleeves to them, and did not leave the arms naked and expofed to the weather like that of the Romans.

Et tunica manicas, et habent ridimicula mitræ.

Virgil lets us know in another place, that the Italians preferved their old language and habits, notwithstanding the Trojans became their Mafters, and that the Trojans themselves quitted the drefs of their own country for that of Italy. This he tells us was the effect of a prayer that Juno made to Jupiter.

Illud te, nulla fati quod lege tenetur,
Pro Latio obteftor majeftate tuorum :
Cum jam connubiis pacem felicibus (efto ;)

Com

Component, cum jam leges et foedera jungent;
Ne vetus indigenas nomen mutare Latinos,
Neu Troas fieri jubeas, Teucrofque vocari;
Aut vocem mutare viros, aut vertere veftes.
Sit Latium, fint Albani per fæcula reges:
Sit Romana potens Italâ virtute propago:
Occidit, occideritque finas cum nomine Troja.
Æn. Lib. 12.

This let me beg (and this no Fates withstand)
Both for myself and for your father's land,
That when the nuptial bed fhall bind the peace,
(Which I, fince you ordain, confent to blefs)
The laws of either nation be the fame ;
But let the Latins ftill retain their name:
Speak the fame language which they spoke before,
Wear the fame habits, which their Grandfires

wore.

Call them not Trojans: perish the renown
And name of Troy with that detefted town.
Latium be Latium ftill: let Alba reign,
And Rome's immortal Majefty remain.

Mr. Dryden.

By the way, I have often admired at Virgil for reprefenting his June with fuch an impotent kind of revenge as what is the fubject of this fpeech. You may be fure, fays Eugenius, that Virgil knew very well this was a trifling kind of request for the Queen of the Gods to make, as. we may find by Jupiter's way of accepting it..

Olli fubridens hominum rerumque repertor:
Et germana Jovis, Saturnique altera proles:
Irarum tantos volvis fub pectore fluctus ?

Verum age, et inceptum fruftra fubmitte furorem.

Do,

Do, quod vis; et me victufque volenfque remitto. Sermonem Aufonii patrium morefque tenebunt. Utque eft, nomen erit: commixti corpore tantùm Subfident Teucri: morem ritufque facrorum Adjiciam, faciamque omnes uno ore Latinos, &c. Æn. Lib. 12.

Then thus the Founder of mankind replies,
(Unruffled was his front, ferene his eyes,)
Can Saturn's iffue, and Heav'n's other Heir,
Such endless anger in her bofom bear?
Be mistress, and your full defires obtain ;
But quench the choler you foment in vain.
From ancient blood th' Aufonian people sprung,
Shall keep their name, their habit, and their
tongue.

The Trojans to their customs shall be try'd,
I will myself their common rites provide;
The natives fhall command, the foreigners
fubfide:

All fhall be Latium; Troy without a name :
And her loft fons forget from whence they came.
Mr. Dryden.

I am apt to think Virgil had a further view in this request of Juno than what his Commentators have discovered in it. He knew very well that his Eneid was founded in a very doubtful story, and that Æneas's coming into Italy was not univerfally received among the Romans themselves. He knew too that a main objection to this story was the great difference of Cuftoms, Language and Habits among the Romans and Trojans. To obviate therefore fo ftrong an objection, he makes this difference to arife from the forecast and præ-determination of the Gods themselves.

Bu t

But pray, what is the name of the Lady in the next. Medal? Methinks. fhe is, very particular in her Quoiffure..

It is the emblem of Fruitfulness,

FIG. 9 fays Philander, and was defigned as a compliment to Julia the wife of Septimius Severus, who had the fame. number of children as you fee on this Cain. Her head is crowned with towers in allufion to Cybele the mother of the Gods, and for the fame reason that Kingil compares the city of Rome to her.,

Felix prola virum, qualis Berecynthia maten
Invebitur curru Phrygias turrita per urbes,
Lata Deum partu-
Virg. Æn. lib. 6..

High as the mother of the Gods in place,
And proud, like her, of an immortal race.
Then when in pomp fhe makes a Phrygian round,
With golden turrets on her temples crownidi.
Mr.. Dryden.

The Vine iffuing out of the Urn speaks the fame fenfe as that in the Pfalmift. Thy wife Shall be as the fruitful vine on the walls of thy house The four Stars, overhead, and the fame number on the Globe, reprefent the four children There is a Medallion of Romulus and Remus fucking the wolf, with a Star over each of their heads, as we find the Latin Poets speaking of the children of Princes under the fame metaphor.

Utque tui faciunt fidus juvenile nepotes,,
Per tua perque fui facta parentis eant.
Óv. de Trift. Lib. 2. El. 1.

-Tu