re to have been generally able to think for
himself, that the topicks are obvious, and their application is
different.--But for argument's sake, let the Parody be granted; and "our
Author," says some one, "may be puzzled to prove that there was a Latin
translation of Anacreon at the time Shakespeare wrote his _Timon of
Athens_." This challenge is peculiarly unhappy: for I do not at present
recollect any _other Classick_ (if indeed, with great deference to Mynheer
De Pauw, Anacreon may be numbered amongst them) that was _originally_
published with _two_ Latin translations.

But this is not all. Puttenham in his _Arte of English Poesie_, 1589,
quotes some one of a "reasonable good facilitie in translation, who
finding _certaine_ of Anacreon's Odes very well translated by Ronsard the
French poet--comes our Minion, and translates the same out of French into
English": and his strictures upon him evince the publication. Now this
identical Ode is to be met with in Ronsard! and as his works are in few
hands, I will take the liberty of transcribing it:

La terre les eaux va boivant,
L'arbre la boit par sa racine,
La mer salee boit le vent,
Et le Soleil boit la marine.
Le Soleil est beu de la Lune,
Tout boit soit en haut ou en bas:
Suivant ceste reigle commune,
Pourquoy donc ne boirons-nous pas?--Edit. Fol. p. 507.

I know not whether an observation or two relative to our Author's
acquaintance with Homer be worth our investigation. The ingenious Mrs.
Lenox observes on a passage of _Troilus and Cressida_, where Achilles is
roused to battle by the death of Patroclus, that Shakespeare must _here_
have had the _Iliad_ in view, as "the old Story, which in many places he
hath faithfully copied, is absolutely silent with respect to this
circumstance."

And Mr. Upton is positive that the _sweet oblivious Antidote_, inquired
after by Macbeth, could be nothing but the _Nepenthe_ described in the
_Odyssey_,

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