taining a careful estimate of all the Parlia mentary parties and interests, the state of Ireland, the Catholic question, and the whole business of the Session, &c. Attic Fragments. By the Author of the "Modern Athens." Among the collection of two hundred Arabic, Persian, and Turkish MSS., which have been purchased of M. Rousseau, French Consul-general, and Charge des Affaires at Tripoli, by the Emperor of Russia, for 15,000 francs, are some which will supply deficiencies in the most interesting periods of modern history. There is the History of the Arabs in Spain, by Ahmed Almagari; the Bark Yainani, or History of the Conquest of Arabia Felix by the Ŏthmans; an Arabic translation of the History of the Jews; and a History of the Sultan Noureddin; but of which Noureddin we cannot state. Certain we are, that the Emperor has made a most valuable acquisition for the Asiatic Museum of St. Petersburgh. At Mr. Evans's sale, on the 20th and 21st of July, the celebrated Mazarine Bible, printed on vellum, was purchased by Mr. Perkins, the opulent brewer, for 480 guineas. The Duke of Sussex bought the Latin Bible, in 2 vols. without date, place, or name of the printer, but undoubtedly from the press of Ulric Zell, for 44 guineas; likewise the Latin Bible printed at Nuremberg, by Frisner et Sensenschmin, 1475, for 48 pounds. Mr. Thorpe purchased the excessively rare Latin Bible, in 2 vols. without signatures, date, place, or name of the printer, but certainly one of the earliest and noblest productions of the press of Metellin, and printed before 1466, for 180 guineas. Mr. Thorpe also bought the original drawings by Francis Grose, most of which have been engraved for the Antiquities, for 100 guineas. The Musée Francais, in 4 vols. folio, was bought by Arch, the bookseller, for 1264. The first edition of Martial, in folio, produced 14l. 10s. The first edition of Plutarch, in 2 vols. without date, brought 211. Mr. Heber gave 9l. 12s. for Plinii Historia Naturalis, 1472. A collection of the documents chiefly relative to the Abbey of Culross, one of the most ancient Abbeys in Scotland, was bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps, for 40l. 19s. The four days' sale amounted to between two and three thousand pounds. LONDON UNIVERSITY. There is every prospect of this Institution being soon established and brought into active operation. Its principal object is to bring the means of a complete scientific and literary education home to the inhabitants of the metropolis, who may thus be enabled to educate their sons at a moderate expense, and under their own immediate superintenUnder existing circumstances a dence. [Aug young man cannot be maintained and in- rules of this establishment will be submitted SINGLE BLOCKS OF STONE. The enormous columns of granite destined for the portico of the new church now building in the Place d'Isacc, at St. Petersburgh, are 1825.] Literature and Science. are very remarkable. In order to form a 7. COMPARATIVE HEIGHTS OF THE HIGHEST Pyramid of Gizeh in Egypt Steeples of the Cathedral at Cologne Steeple of the Cathedral at Antwerp 543 501 431 476 486 452 442 431 426 422 395 384 382 Cupola of St. Peter's at Rome 357 356 356 347 345 328 814 · 295 Cupola of the Jesuit's Church at Paris 314 202 The weight of diamonds is estimated in carats, 150 of which are equal to one ounce troy. The average price of rough diamonds is about 21. per carat. According to this scale, a wrought diamond, 3 carats, is worth 721., and one of 100 carats 80,0001. The largest diamond probably ever heard of is one mentioned by Tavernier, who saw it in the possession of the Great Mogul. It was about as big as a hen's egg, and weighed 163 900 carats in the rough. The largest dia mond ever brought to Europe is one now in the possession of the Sovereign of Russia. It weighs 195 carats, and was long employed as the eye of a Braminical idol. A French soldier discovered the value of the gem; and changed his religion, worshipping at the altar of the god, that he might deprive him of his splendid eye. At length he succeeded in substituting a piece of glass for the diamond, and again became a good Christian! After passing through several hands, the Empress Catherine at length fixed it in the possession of the Russian Crown, giving for it 90,000l., and a perpetual annuity of 1000%. It is cut in the rose form, and is the size of a pigeon's egg. One of the most beautiful is the Pitt diamond, which is a brilliant, and weighs rather more than 136 carats; it was brought from India by Governor Pitt, and purchased by the Duke of Orleans, who placed it in the Crown of France, where it still remains. (See p. 106.) The celebrated Pigot diamond is now in the possession of Messrs. Rundell and Bridge. GIGANTIC ORGANIC REMAINS. We lately mentioned (says the New York Evening Post of July 15) that the bones of a nondescript animal, of an immense size, and larger than any bones that have hitherto been noticed by naturalists, had been discovered about twenty miles from New Orleans, in the alluvial ground formed by the Mississippi river and the lakes, and but a short distance from the sea. It now appears, that these gigantic remains had been disinterred by a Mr. W. Schofield, of New Orleans, who spent about a year in this arduous undertaking. A fragment of a cranium is stated to measure twenty-two feet in length; in its broadest part four feet high, and perhaps nine inches thick; and it is said to weigh 1,200lbs. The largest extremity of this bone is thought evidently to answer to the human scapula; it tapers off to a point, and retains a flatness to the termination. From these facts it is inferred, that this bone constituted a fin, or fender. One of its edges, from alternate exposures to the tide and atmosphere, has become spongy or porous, but, generally, it is in a perfect state of ossification. A large groove or canal presents itself in the superior portion of this bone, upon the sides of which considerable quantities of ambergris may be collected, which appears to have suffered little or no decomposition or changes by age. It burns with a beautiful bright flame, and emits an odoriferous smell while burning; it is of a greasy consistence, similar to adipocere. It is evident that there was a corresponding fin, or fender. The animal, therefore, must have been fifty feet in breadth from one extremity of a fin to the other, allowing for wear and tear, as well as a disproportionate width of the back to 164 Antiquarian Researches. to the length of the fins. There are several of the dorsal vertebræ, and one of the lumbar, and a bone answering to the cocygis in our anatomy. The vertebræ are sound, and corresponding in size to the largest bone; the protuberances of the vertebræ are three feet in extent; they lead to the supposition that the animal had considerable protuberances on the back; the [Aug. body of each vertebræ is at least twenty inches in diameter, and as many in length; the tube or calibre for containing the spinal marrow is six inches in diameter; some of the arterial and nervous indentations, or courses, are yet visible. There is a bone similar to our os calcis, one foot in length, and eight inches in diameter. ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES. An Essay on the Composition of the Ancient The ancient painted vases chiefly dug up in many districts of Lower Italy, have excited much interest among the learned, and the admirers of ancient art. While the elegance and diversity of their forms, together with the singularity and boldness of their figures, delight the eye of the beholder, the variety of design and subject in the paintings with which they are decorated, equally conduce to the illustration of mythology, history, and ancient art. The investigation of these paintings has already contributed in no small degree to improve our knowledge of antiquity; nor has the imitation of the forms of those vases been less a source of profit as applied to the art of pottery. The famous Wedgwood ware owes its celebrity as much to the successful imitation of the forms of those vases as to the excellence of its material. In like manner, the beautiful ornaments observed upon these vases, have, in our times, been transferred to the subjects of many other arts; and have been employed for the decoration of buildings, rooms, furniture, articles of dress, and other works of luxury, insomuch that antique forms have become so common in modern art, that their origin has been nearly forgotten. Although ancient art has, in this manner, made its way into the shops of potters and other artificers, and even into our drawing-rooms, yet the scientific study of technology, and the history of the mechanical and chemical arts, have hitherto been little advanced by the investigation of those ancient vases. In the writings of the ancients we scarcely find any passages in which positive mention is made of them; and noue in so far as I know, where their composition is spoken of. This point, therefore, can only be ascertained by an accurate examination of the vases themselves. During a journey which I made last year through Italy, I had opportunities of examining the splendid collections of those vases which adorn the museums of Florence, Rome, and Naples. The piea From the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for April 1825. sure derived from this investigation was much augmented by some observations which it suggested to me regarding their composition. The little that I have learned with regard to this subject, either during my journey, or from subsequent observation and experiments, I shall endeavour to expose in the following essay. Sect. 1. Of the vases, commonly called Etruscan, in general.-We shall confine ourselves to the vases commonly called Etruscan, although the greater part of them are not of Etruscan, but of Grecian origin. The celebrated Winkelmann was the first who refuted the opinion chiefly supported by Gorius and Buonarotti, that these painted vases of pottery-ware had been manufactured in ancient Etruriat. But although it cannot be denied that the greatest quantity of vases has been dug up in those parts of Italy and Sicily, which were formerly inhabited by the Greeks, nor that the style of their paintings and their inscriptions sufficiently demonstrate their Grecian origin; yet it is probable, that the art of fabricating painted vessels of earthen-ware was not confined to that portion of Italy, but also extended to other districts, since, in many places remote from it, vases of the same general description have been dug up, which, however, possess so much diversity of character, with regard to their forms and paintings, as to induce the inference, that they had not been transmitted to those parts by commerce. Nor was this art confined to ancient Italy alone, but was also practised in Greece, and thence made its way into some of the neighbouring districts of Pontus §. The painted vases found in these countries are essentially the same as those discovered in Italy. The vases found in different parts and situations of Italy, differ more or less from each other, both with respect to the quality of their material, and to the workmanship and style of painting; the cause of which difference is to be sought for in the different natural qualities of the materials, or in a different degree of perfection in the art. + Geschichte der Kunst, p. 193 et seq. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv.-Walpole's Memoirs, 2d edit.-Antiq. of Athens, p. 322.-Ritter's Vorhalle Europäischer Volkergeschichten von Herodotus, p. 232. § Ritter, as above, p. 231. For For the art of forming vases of potteryware, and of ornamenting them with paintings, may not only have existed in various degrees of perfection in different places at the same time, but the state of this art had also, without doubt, been very different at different periods. And not only have earthen vases of very different degrees of fineness been manufactured at the same time and in the same places, but also plain vases, without any paintings, in all other essential respects agreeing with the painted ones, and destined for the same general purposes. Of the painted earthen vases, dug up in different parts of Italy, those found in Lower Italy and Sicily are the finest. The best of all, however, are those found at Nola, both in respect to the excellence of their materials, and the elegance of their forms, together with the beauty of the paintings and the lustre of their varnish-like coating. Many of them are so perfectly preserved, that you might imagine them newly made. Next to the Nola vases, are those of Locria and Agrigentum. Many vases have also been found near Pæstum, the ancient Capua (now S. Maria di Capua), Sancta Agatha Sothorum, Trebbia, Aversa, Avella, Tarentum, and in some other places of Apulia, and of the Neapolitan province named Abrazo, the greatest number of which are remarkable for their beauty. Of late years, vases have also been dug up in the vicinity of the cities of Angi and Pomarico in Calabria. The largest and best collection of vases found in these and other places of Lower Italy and Sicily, arranged most elegantly and in the best order, is preserved in the Royal Museum of Naples; this collection has, of late, been much enlarged by the purchase of the extensive one made at Ñola, belonging to the family of Vicenzio. Of the private collections at Naples, the most remarkable is that of the Archbishop of Tarentum, which is preserved at his seat near Portici, elegantly adorned with choicest works of ancient and modern art; and what renders this collection still more deserving of attention is, that it is illustrated by a a learned description drawn up by its accomplished proprietor himself. A great number of vases, dug up in Lower Italy, have also been deposited in the Vatican Library at Rome, and the public Museum of Florence. In the middle part of Italy painted vases have been found much more rarely. In some places of ancient Etruria, as for example, near Vollena and the cities of Chinsi, Viterbo, and Corneto, a few were formerly dug up, some of which are preserved in the Florentine Museum†. The true Etruscan Millingen, Peintures ant. et ined. de Vases Grecs, p. vii. + Flea ad Winkelmannum, t. i. p. 215.Meyer in Boettiger's work, entitled, Griech 165 vases may be distinguished from others by the inferior quality of their materials, by the dulness of their coating, but especially by the greater rudeness of their forms and painting, as well as by certain characters of the representations peculiar to the ancient Etruscan art. These differences may be very clearly seen in the Florentine Collection, where authentic Etruscan vases are placed in the same apartment with others of Grecian origin. In the great collection at Naples, I was shown only a single mutilated true Etruscan vase. No vestiges of ancient painted vases have, in so far as I know, been found in Italy to the North of the Appenines. Those which are preserved in the Museum of Bononia, Turin, and other cities of Northern Italy, have migrated into those parts from southern Italy. It is not my design, in this treatise, to institute any inquiry into the periods at which these vases were manufactured, not only because investigations have already been made with respect to this point by many authors of great learning, but especially also because the settlement of it would involve an examination, entirely foreign to my views, of the various inscriptions observed on those vases, as well as of the subjects and characters of the paintings. It is undoubtedly more easy to discover the period up to which these vases may have been fabricated, than the time at which the art, commonly considered as of Grecian invention, but assuredly possessed of claims to a much higher antiquity †, took its origin. It seems not improbable, that the latest period at which these vases were manufactured in Italy, was the time of the civil wars. The Roman vases, of latter periods, dug up in many parts of Italy, as at Nola, Pompeii, and Rome, have a very different character. They have no paintings, but are frequently ornamented with raised figures, and usually have a red coating; characters which are also observed in the Roman vases dug up in some parts of Germany and France. To a later period also belongs the vases dug up in great quantity near Aretium, so far down as the time of Vasarius §, many of which are preserved in the Florentine MuThese vases have a red or blackish coating, and, in other respects, are of similar composition with the oldest Etruscan vases || seum. ische Vasengemalge, i. ii. p. 5, 20.-Peintures de vases antiques vulgairement appellés Etrusques, gravées par A. Clener; accomp. d'Explications par A. L. Millin, 1808, vol. i. p. 6, note 34. Lanzi de vasi antichi dipuiti, volgarmente chiamati Etruschi. Dissertazioni tre, p. 23. Ritter, i. cit. p. 230. Il Ibid. p. 37. with which they are sometimes confounded. It seems not improbable, that they belong to the Aretine vases, so highly esteemed in ancient times, which have been praised by Martial, and taken notice of by Pliny and Isidorus, although it is difficult to arrive at any certainty with regard to this point+. The painted earthen vessels of Grecian origin, which have been found in Lower Italy, seem to be of different ages. According to the opinion of the celebrated Millingen, and some other antiquaries, an opinion which seems to be well grounded, the vases commonly, but incorrectly, called Egyptian, whose paintings are of a dusky red colour upon a yellow ground, in which condition some vases have also been dug up'in Greece, are the most ancient §. The vases, commonly called Sicilian, which have black paintings upon a reddish yellow ground, are, according to the same opinion, less ancient, but more so than the vases with reddish yellow figures and ornaments upon a black ground, which are the most common of all. This opinion has indeed been lately opposed by the celebrated Rossi, who has shown the vases with black figures to be of the same age with the rest: his arguments, however, do not seem to invalidate the former opinion**. Many vases, either having no paintings at all, or, instead of figures, having other singular ornaments, have been dug up, both along with painted vases and by themselves, not only in Lower Italy, but also in ancient Etruria, which have either the natural colour of burned clay, or a black coating, or have been manufactured of clay evidently mixed with some black matter. The ornaments upon the black vases are very frequently of a white colour, sometimes yellow or red. Not only the forms, but also the colours of the black coating and ornaments, as well as the other circumstances, correspond with those which are observed in vases adorned with more perfect and more complex paintings; from which it may be supposed that these rude and less elegant vases are of the same age and manufacture with those more beautiful productions of art, which, without doubt, were more highly esteemed in ancient, as they are in modern times. The vases dug up in Lower Italy are found in Grecian sepulchres more or less * Lib. xiv. Ep. 98. Hist. Nat. Lib. xxxv. cap. 12. § Mezer in Boetlinger's work, Griechische Vasengemälde, 1. 2. Mengen, Peintures Antiques de Vases Grecs, p. iv. v. Ibid. Third letter addressed to M. Mil lingen by the Chev. Rossi. [Aug. concealed beneath the surface of the ground, and constructed of stone in a rectangular form, placed near the remains of the dead body, and sometimes also suspended upon the walls; as is clearly shewn by the excellent representations delineated by Knipius, added to Teischbein's plates of vases, as well as by the accurately executed models exposed in the royal collection of vases at Naples. Many vases are often found in the same sepulchre, of various sizes and qualities. Some of these sepulchres which are small, and constructed of rough stones, usually contain a smaller number of a coarse kind. In other sepulchres of larger size, constructed of hewn stones, and covered over with slabs like the roof of a house, some of which I have seen before the gates of the ancient Pæstum, vases of superior quality are found in greater number*. Sometimes they occur in their original position, and in a perfect state of preservation; at other times, however, they are crushed and destroyed. Some of them have retained in a surprising degree their polish and original colours; others, especially those dug up in moist places, are slightly incrusted with a white calcareous substance, easily soluble in acids, which has probably been precipitated upon them from the water that had penetrated through the walls of the sepulchre. This preservation of vases, constructed at so remote a period, of such frail materials, and with so thin a coating, is a subject of much interest, and not less than the perfection of the art as practised by the ancients, invites to the investigation of their mode of formstion. We shall endeavour to distribute the most ancient earthenware vases, whether Greek or Etruscan, according to their mode of composition, into classes, for the purpose of obtaining a more distinct perception of their varieties. We shall place in the first class those vases in which the colour of the clay is natural, without glaze, or other coating or painting. Of this kind are some vases which were dug up at Cuma, as well as near S Agatha Sothorum, along with others of a black colourt. In the second class, we shall place those in which the natural colour of the clay is somewhat heightened by their having a very thin glaze or coating. To the third class belong those vases which have been manufactured of clay intermixed with black matter. These vases are found, either simple, that is, without ornaments, either impressed or in relief; or they are painted with a white or yellowish Hamilton in Boettiger's Work, cited above, 1. 1. p. 34. + Sul metodo degli Antichi nel dipingere i vasi. Due Lettere del Canonico Andrea **Gottingische gelehrte Auzeign, 1820, de Jorio al. Sig. Cav. M. Galdi, p. 4. p. 739. Jorio, loc. cit. p. 8. colour. |