the celebrated Greek tragic poet, the son of Sophilus an Athenian, was born at Colonn, and educated with great attention. Superior vigour and address in the exercises of the palestra, and skill in music, were the great accomplishments of young men in the states of Greece. In these, Sophocles excelled; nor was he less distinguished by the beauty of his person. He was also instructed in the noblest of all sciences, civil polity and religion: from the first of these he derived an unshaken love of his country, which he served in some embassies, and in high military command with Pericles; from the latter he was impressed with a pious reverence for the gods, manifested by the inviolable integrity of his life. But his studies were early devoted to the tragic muse; the spirit of Echylus lent a fire to his genius, and excited that noble emulation which led him to contend with, and sometimes to bear away the prize from, his great master. He wrote 43 tragedies, of which 7 only have escaped the ravages of time: and having testified his love of his country by refusing to leave it, though invited by many kings; and having enjoyed the uninterrupted esteem and affection of his fellow citizens, which neither the gallant actions and sublime genius of Echylus, nor the tender spirit and philosophic virtue of Euripides, could secure to them, he died in the 91st year of his age, about 406 years before Christ. The burial-place of his ancestors was at Decelia, which the Lacedaemonians had at that time seized and fortified; but Lygander, the Spartan chief, permitted the Athenians to inter their deceased poet; and they paid him all the honours due to his love of his country, integrity of life, and high poetic excellence. Echylus had at once seized the highest post of honour in the field of poetry, the true sublime; to that eminence his claim could not be disputed. Sophocles had a noble elevation of mind, but tempered with so fine a taste, and so chastened a judgment, that he never passed the bounds of propriety. Under his conduct the tragic muse appeared with the chaste dignity of some noble matron at a religious solemnity; harmony is in her voice, and grace in all her motions. From him the theatre received some additional embellishments; and the drama the introduction of a third speaker, which made it more active and interesting: but his distinguished excellence is in the judicious disposition of the fable, and so nice a connection and dependence of the parts on each other, that they all agree to make the event not only probable, but even necessary. This is peculiarly admirable in his "Oedipus King of Thebes;" and in this important point he is far superior to every other dramatic writer.

The ingratitude of the children of Sophocles is well known. They wished to become immediate masters of their father's possessions; and therefore tired of his long life, they accused him before the Areopagus of infancy. The only defence the poet made was to read his tragedy of Oedipus at Colonus, which he had lately finished; and then he asked his judges, whether the author of such a performance could be taxed with infancy! The father upon this was acquitted, and the children returned home covered with shame and confusion. The seven tragedies of Sophocles which still remain, together with the Greek Scholia which accompany them, have been translated into Latin by Johnson, and into English by Dr Franklin and Mr Potter.