that might have surrounded it. In the time of Leland, it was inhabited by John Wynn up Robert.

Pennant's Tours in Wales, Vol. II. p. 42. octavo edition. 1816.

MR. EDITOR,

PERMIT me to offer my tribute of approval of the principles and talents of your highly interesting miscellany; you have adopted a line of conduct which must succeed, and obtain for you, from every true-born Englishman, his gratitude and admiration. A publication like the New Monthly Magazine had long been wanted-there was a necessity for the exercise of intellect to stem the torrent of abusive disloyalty, which burst forth from the jacobinical pages of your now superannuated cotemporary. The triumph of constitutional feeling has been complete, and your Magazine stands, like a beacon, to guide and direct the people from the stumbling BLOCKS, which their enemies have placed in the way. But, sir, it is not on political grounds solely that I take the liberty of giving you my "hearty commendation:" you have elicited those sparks of information which

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enlighten the progress of the march of mind; and by diversifying your pages give them a general interest. Your ilfustration of some existing antiquities has given me great pleasure; and I shall not be disinclined to assist you a little in the same way, if you may think my contributions acceptable. There is a relic near Chester, which has not hitherto received the notice it deserves, an account of which, therefore, I now send you :

On the south side of the bridge over the Dee in that city, is a field in which, by the report of tradition, stood the palace of King Edgar, and from which, on the authority of some of the ancient writers, we are told that ambitious prince was rowed by eight tributary kings to the monastery of St. John, on the opposite bank of the river. On a rock in the centre of the field, past which ran the via publica of the Romans, is a curious piece of ancient sculpture, supposed to represent the goddess Minerva with her bird (the owl) and altar. The following sketch of it is accurately copied from an engraving, introduced into a recent History of Cheshire,* in an account of it, which is very correct :-

Some persons have expressed a doubt whether this really is a memento of the Roman era. For my own part, I think it need not be questioned. It is certain it was in existence in 1140, when Malmsbury wrote; it is also noticed by Hoveden, temp. 1192; and by the Saxon Chronicle, Polychronicon, Selden, Camden, &c. The figure is in the military garb, and closely adjoins a large excavation in the rock. The author of the History of Cheshire, to which I have before adverted, observes, "It would be difficult to account for the origin of this very

ancient relic. Before the present bridge was built, however, there was a ferry, from what is familiarly called the Hole in the Wall, across the river to Edgar's field, where the great Roman road into Venedotia, or North Wales, from Chester, commenced. Is it unlikely that the "cave" was made to receive the pious offerings of passengers for the goddess's protection on their journey?" Although the stone on which the sculpture is made is of a very perishable nature, the whole

Quarto edition, now publishing.

416

is yet distinct, and tolerably entire and this may be owing to a coat or two of paint which it has received.

Before I close this communication I will shortly notice a custom, certainly remarkable, and which was adopted in the feudal ages, for summoning the tenantry of the Hundred of Eddisbury, in this county. A perforated wooden ball was carried from village to village, on sight of which the retainers of the Earl, his barons, and their knights, were bound to give their immediate service according to their respective tenures. Walter Scott introduces the Burning Cross for the like purpose in the district of Breadalbane, at the sight of which, he who failed to appear suffered the extremities of fire and sword. So late as the civil war of 1745-6, the Fiery Cross made its circuit, and on one occasion passed through a tract of 32 miles in three hours!" That admirable poet thus verifies the custom in the mouth of Brian :

"When flits this cross from man to man, Vich Alpine's summons to his clan, Burst be the ear that fails to heed,

Palsied the foot that shuns to speed!

[From the German of Böttiger.]

[We have long had the honour to number Mr. Böttinger among our correspondents, and we cannot better introduce his Sabina to the notice of our readers, than by prefixing a brief memoir of the distinguished writer.]

Mr. CHAS. AUGUSTUS BÖTTIGER, of Dresden, Counsellor of the Court of his Majesty the King of Saxony, is confessedly the first Archæologist in Germany, or indeed in Europe; at least, we know of no one competent to contend with him for the first rank in that interesting science, by which the learning and the arts of antiquity are illustrated. His numerous writings are universally esteemed; he is mentioned in terms of the highest eulogium in most of the recent editions of the Classics, as well as in all the works on mythology, antiquities, the drama and the fine arts, that have lately appeared on the Continent. His Erklärungen der Griechischen Vaşengemälde; Ideen zur Archæologie der Mahlerey; Archæologische Achrenlese; Abhandlung über die Furienmaske; Andeutungen, Sa

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bina, (of which two editions and a French translation have appeared); Anmerkungen zu W. Hamilton's Memorandum über die Elginischen Marmors; Aldobrandinische Hochzeit; short Latin Essays

:

on the Ancient Theatre; numerous detached pieces in the Teutschen Merkur, the Attischen Museum, the Morgenblatt, and other periodical publications, contain such a fund of valuable observations on antiquity, art and literature, that were the author to collect and publish them together, he would doubtless render an important service to the learned world. His Noten zu auserlesenen Oden des Horaz; his different treatises in Latin, on Herodotus, &c.; his Darstellungen des Ifslädischen Spiels; Erklärungen der vornehmsten Scenen von Schillers Schauspielen, in the Minerva; Anmerkungen zu den Reisen der Frau von der Recke, &c. are also highly esteemed works. Mr. Bottiger has long maintained an extensive correspondence with the most distinguished literary characters in Europe for, besides his knowledge of the ancient languages, he speaks and writes several modern tongues with remarkable facility. His lectures delivered at Dresden on Archæology and the Fine Arts, have always been numerously attended, and many of our readers who may have visited that city, will doubtless recollect them with pleasure. The celebrated antiquarian Millin, lately deceased, was an intimate friend of Mr. Bottiger, to whom he dedicated his Orestende. During his residence in Weimar, Bottiger lived on the most intimate footing with the great poet Wieland, by whom he was highly esteemed. Mr. Bottiger is moreover a man of the noblest principles, an affectionate husband, a kind father, and in all his relations with society truly amiable; his company is much sought after, on account of his extensive information and peculiar conversational talents. Among his many estimable qualities, readiness to oblige and disinterested attachment to his friends are not the least remarkable; he is ever ready by recommendations, or by the sacrifice of his own time; indeed, in every way, by word and by deed to serve others, even those with whom he has been previously unacquainted. Unfortunately his goodness has been in many instances so far abused, as to rob him of the hours he devotes to his valuable studies. It is a matter of regret that Mr. Bottiger is but indifferently remunerated, notwithstanding

his high attainments; for his excellence is not yet duly appreciated in Saxony; his yearly salary, calculated at the very utmost, does not exceed 2001. sterling. As his taste for literature induces him to purchase a vast number of books, as he has a family to support, and must moreover live in a style corresponding with his rank, he is under the necessity of augmenting his income by writing for monthly publications and newspapers. Yet he never complains, for he is warmly attached to his country, and particularly to Dresden. The good old King of Saxony has not a more faithful and affectionate subject than Böttiger, as is evident from the admirable Latin Ode, which he produced last September, in honour of the Royal Jubilee, as well as the speech which he delivered in the presence of several thousand auditors. It is well known with what zeal he has, during late years, exerted himself to relieve the distress which the ravages of war have occasioned throughout his native country. Since Böttiger's residence in Dresden, that city has acquired an augmented celebrity in learning; he has diffused a degree of literary zeal, and a taste for philosophy and art hitherto unknown there. What could not such a man perform, were he released from the anxiety of providing for the immediate wants of a family? Surely such an Archeologist would be a valuable acquisition to England. He would prove a learned and eloquent commentator of the Elgin Marbles, and the other treasures of art in the British Museum! and the many valuable monuments of ancient and modern art in the country residences of the English nobility (which are at present but indifferently known) if described by a man of Böttiger's learning, would prove to astonished Europe the riches which our island possesses. SABINA; OR MORNING SCENES AT THE TOILETTE OF A ROMAN LADY OF FASHION.

SCENE I.

Restaurations

Sabina passes from her Bed-chamber into her Dressing-room Scaphion brings the Asses' Milk-Phiale the Paint-Stimmi the Black Dye for the Eye-brows and Eye-lashes--Mastiche the Teeth.

WE hear much of the extravagant and costly dresses of the Roman ladies of that age when all the riches of a plundered world were collected in the imperial city; when the whole earth was ruled by the proud Romans, and they by their still prouder wives. Our readers NEW MONTHLY MAG. NO. 59.

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will, we doubt not, consider a peep into the morning and toilette hours of a lady of that period, as likely to furnish as much amusement as the perusal of a heroic romance relating to our tilting and tournaying forefathers, or a tale of ghosts and goblins in Mrs. Radcliffe's style.

A whole host of female slaves, each having her own particular department in the great work of the toilette, attended on the nod of the DOMINA,-for by that name was she called by her domestics, as well as by her lovers and dependants. That great painter of manners, Lucian, has given us a true and lively description of the levée of one of these ladies, which we shall begin with translating.

Could any one see this fair creature," he says, "at the moment when she rises from her sleep, he might naturally enough fancy himself to be in the presence of a monkey or baboon-according to all authorities a bad omen to begin the day with. Thus she takes especial care to be invisible to all male eyes at this hour." Now she takes her seat amidst a circle of officious old hags and dainty waitingdamsels, whose skill and dexterity are all zealously engaged to call from their grave the dead charms of their mistress. The room has the appearance of a milliner's shop. Every slave has her own department at the toilette: one bears a silver wash-hand-basin, another a silver ewer, others hold up as many looking-glasses and boxes as the apartment will admit of; and in all these, nothing but deceit, treachery, and falsehoodin one, teeth and gums-in another, eye-lashes and eye-brows, and such like. But the most, both of art and time, are devoted to the hair. Some ladies who take a fancy to convert their natural black locks into white and yellow, besmear them all over with pomatums, and then expose them to the scorching rays of the noontide sun;-others are content to keep them of their natural colour; but they lavish the whole substance of their husbands upon them, so that all the perfumes of Arabia Felix breathe from their tresses. Lotions are kept boiling on the fire to crimp and twist what nature has made smooth and sleek. The hair of one must be brought down from the head, and taught to lie close to the eye-brows, lest the Cupids should have too much play-ground on the forehead; but behind, the locks float over the shoulders in bundles of vanity."

Our DOMINA, whom we shall call SABINA, without injury to all other VOL. X. зн

ladies, Roman or not Roman, who may have borne the same name, at first rising in the morning is any thing but lovely. Perhaps Lucian's simile of the she-baboon may not be amiss. According to the custom of the age, she had placed on her face over-night, a plaster of bread soaked in asses' milk. The inventor of this embrocation, by means of which the skin was rendered very soft and white, was the illustrious Poppæa, the wife of Nero, and it had preserved her name. During the night, part of the beautyplaster had been sucked into, and part of it had dried upon her face; so that Sabina's physiognomy resembles, in the morning, a wall with ill-mixed and bursting plaster-and so indeed the great satirist, Juvenal, has described it.

"Interea fœda aspectu ridendaque multo Pane tumet facies. Tandem aperit vultum, et tectoria prima reponit,

Incipit agnosci."

If we consider that, in addition to all this, our DOMINA, on retiring to rest, had laid aside with her dress several not unimportant items of the "human face divine," such as the eye-brows, the teeth, the hair, &c. and that therefore she probably bore much more likeness to the death's head over which Hamlet moralizes, than to the living model of the Venus of Praxiteles; we shall, perhaps, be forced to admit, that Lucian's comparison of the monkey, if not the most gallant that might have been selected, was certainly the most piquant and just. Before Sabina enters what is properly called the dressing-room, her own body damsel, the much-teased Smaragdis, has already performed certain little services about her person, the signal for which, from these lazy lords and ladies of the world, was merely a crack of the fingers. At last she appears in the dressingroom, where her arrival has been for hours expected by a crowd of slaves and attendants. Her first nod is to the slave that watches the door, (the Janitrix, as she is called,) and then she enquires after the billet-doux, bills, letters, messages, milliners, &c. that may have arrived before she quitted her bed-chamber.

Scarcely has the Domina entered the numerous circle of her damsels and tirewomen, ere each, with the zeal of rivalry, proceeds to her task. Ancient historians inform us, that among the Egyptians, each part of the human body had its peculiar physician, so that the ear-doctor, the eye doctor, the tooth-doctor, the clyster-doctor, the foot-doctor-each had

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his own little unapproachable division of the general victim to deal with as it might please his fancy; here, too, the surface of Sabina is portioned out among a vast variety of petty governors. Every bit of the polished, painted, pranked body, thanks a different artist for its ornament. The slaves are arranged into troops and sub-divisions like a legion.

The first file consists of the painters, the layers on of white and red, the stainers of the eye-brows, and the scrubbers of the teeth. The whole materials made use of by this class, were combined under the general Greek term of Cos metic-for the rage of the Roman ladies was in these days to call every thing by Greek names, exactly as it has been the rage of German ladies, in our own times, to call every thing by French. From the lover down to the tooth-brush, every thing had its endearing appellation in Greek. The maids employed in this great department were called kosmeta. The first who commences operations is Scaphion,who,with a bason of luke-warm asses' milk, washes from the face the nocturnal incrustation of bread. This mass was called zarawλazμa, and the soaps and essences which were applied after its removal, YμATA.

The ointments and colours, and the whole apparatus wherewith (as Hamlet says) they disguise God's handy-work, were contaired in two caskets of ivory and crystal, which in these days formed the chief ornaments of the female toilette, and were known by the Greek name Narthekia. Our fair readers may be excused for wishing to have a glimpse of the interior of these repositories; but let our gentlemen take warning from the fate of "Peeping Tom of Coventry." We may, however, mention, that with the exception of the ancient and saturnian white lead, which was then quite as fashionable as it is now, the greater part of the ancient paints were derived from the comparatively innocent animal and vegetable kingdoms.

While the busy Phiale is engaged in laying on the paint, a third slave, whose nom-de-toilette is Stimmi, prepares a little pot with pounded black lead (appropriately called fuligo) and water. In one hand she holds a very delicate pencil or needle for laying on this tincture; for in those days the Greek and Roman ladies universally made use of methods for increasing the lustre and depth of their eye-lashes and eye brows, similar to the surmé still employed for the same purposes by the Oriental fair. The com