upon the conduct of the archons who went out of office, and had the prerogative of amending or rescinding the measures that had been approved of by the commons. The power of this court, which might easily have become equal to the college of Ephori at Sparta, might at first have been supposed too extensive, had not experience shown the fatal consequences of the reduction of that power by Pericles. This alloy of aristocracy and democracy certainly gives proof of a deep insight into the nature of republican constitutions; but Solon is not less entitled to praise for his endeavours to place the helm of government in the hands only of the most enlightened and prudent citizens. It must likewise be observed, that the code for private life given by Solon exhibits the genius of a man who regarded polity as subordinate to morals, and not, like Lycurgus, morals as subordinate to polity. SAM. PETITUS, _De Legibus Atticis_, 1635. fol. The best compilation and illustration of the fragments remaining of the Attic law. CHR. BUNSEN, _De jure Atheniensium hereditario, ex Isaeo caeterisque oratoribus Graecis ducto_, Goett. 1812. The law of inheritance was a principal feature in Solon's legislation; the explanation of it requires a profound acquaintance with the constitution, so far as it was connected with government by clans or families. An explanation of the Athenian constitution will be likewise found in the above-mentioned works of Tittmann, Kruse, and Wachsmuth. 15. The legislation of Solon, like all other state reforms, was not followed by the total extinction of party spirit. It was natural that the commons, now free, should wish to try their strength with the aristocratical party, and that, after the defeat of the latter, Pisistratus, who headed the commons, should grasp the rudder of the state without, therefore, necessarily abrogating the constitution of Solon. Modern history has proved with sufficient evidence, that the frame-work of a republic may easily subsist under the rule of an usurper. And would that no republics might fall into the hands of a worse tyrant than Pisistratus!