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form two crescents, the curves of which, uniting with the obliquity of the Courthouse, would give it an appearance of propriety in position, not otherwise perhaps, to be attained.

Between the court-house, and the buildings which are to remain standing on its north-side, is a street 35 feet wide. This street should be continued westward, till it meet Prince's-street,and again eastward, to King-street; which, to obviate the impropriety of breaking the line of buildings in that street, it might enter under an archway. From this disposition, great advantages would arise, owing, in a considerable degree, to its airiness, its presenting a long line of front ground for the erection of dwelling-houses, of various rates, and its happy conformity with the buildings, to which it is to unite. The whole might, without inconvenience, comprize twenty large first-rate houses, a large tavern and hotel; six buildings, containing eighteen sets of chambers and their appendages, ten second, nine third rate bouses, and two large stable-yards, and would present a magnificent elevation, extending 600 feet in King-street, and the Broad-sanctuary. Your's, &c. Feb. 1809, C. A. BUSBY, Warwick-court, Gray's Inn.

For the Monthly Magazine.
THE DILLETANTI TOURIST,
Or LETTERS from an AMATEUR of ART,
in LONDON, to a FRIEND near MAN-
CHESTER.

HAV

[AVING been prevented from giving you, in my last, such a detailed description of the Townley Gallery of Antiquities, in the British Museum, as I promised you, I hasten to resume my pen, and recreate my mind with the amusing task. On entering the first room, on the left hand, where commences the numerical descriptions in the Synopsis, as published by the trustees of the Museum, is a female statue, probably of one of the Muses; both the arms are lost, therefore it is difficult to pronounce what the figure is intended for; the drapery is particularly fine and flowing. There are several fine amphore in this room, some of which are from the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and which I shall pass over without comment, as being more curious for their antiquity, than eminent for beauty. Ainong the isolated figures, are some terminal heads of the bearded, or Indian Bacchus, of great antiquity, and of early workmanship; for it was only in the intancy of the art, that the ancients MONTHLY MAG, No. 182.

used these terminal figures in their wor ship. They are simply a head, carved or modelled, (as in the present examples) on a square trunk. How might not a warm imagination amuse itself, in supposing the times returned, when the Dionisia, or Bacchic dances were performed around one of these very heads, in all their wanton rites and extravagances, in honour of the eastern god. The basso-relievos are reliques of friezes, pannels, &c. and besides the beauty of their execution, and fancifulness of design, many of them have beautiful borderings of the honey-suckle, and other luxuriant foliage, of infinite use to the architect. Their subjects are various; many of them are duplicates of others. We have Amazons and Griffins combating, Tritons and Cupids riding on dolphins, and many bacchanalian subjects. The Bacchantes dancing and playing on an instrument, like a tambourin in the groupe of Bacchus and Cupid, numbered six is a very graceful and elegant figure. Two of these subjects I cannot pass over without particular mention: they are nearly in alt-relief; and represent in half-length figures, Perseus armed with a battle-axe, and an engagement between one of the Arimaspi and a Griffin. It is repeated in another pannel, but reversed; which occasions the shield in one of them to be on the right arm, and the harpa, or it an aukward appearance. From the battle-axe, in the left hand, which gives boldness of these two subjects, which are joined together, I conjecture them to have been the friezes of a small temple.

In this collection, the difficulty is not which to chuse, but which to omit in my description; and I do not know that I should do ample justice to them without enumerating them all, which would too much resemble a dry catalogue. Yet I must not omit No. 11, representing a couple of Chimera lapping water, out of vessels, held to them by two youths, who are attired in Phrygian dresses, and kneeling on one knee. The singular beauty of the contour of these youths is past all praise; I consider them equal to any in the collection; the folds of the drapery, and general form, especially the easy serpentine line of the back and leg, are particularly fine. Here again am I in a dilemma, whether to go on seriatim, or to skip to others of more consequence. The Medusa's head; the female overwhelmed with affliction, and attended by her domestics; and twenty others, are such fine examples of the perfection of the ancients in the plastic arts, that to

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the females who are in attendance, if I may judge from their habits, are slaves.

I shall make a few more observations, in this room, previous to visiting the next, and hope you will not think me a tedious chronicler. My attention was much taken by a beautiful subj. ct of two fauns kneeling, one of them playing on a tambourin, the other accompanying him with small musical instruments, called krotala, that have been sometimes con founded by critics, with cymbals. Their forms are somewhat alike, except that the krotala are smaller and played with only one hand. It is strongly contested by various writers, of what materials and form the krotala were made; I think from the Greek poets,they much resembled the Spanish castagnets. Apollonius, in his Argonautics, describes the krotalon of Hercules, as of brass made by Vulcan, at the request of Minerva, who gave it to him: on the other hand, an ancient commenta

omit them would be injustice, and to detail every one, would make my letters, volumes. Some most beautiful elucidations of the ancient mythology may be found, in the bearded Bacchus, with a female Bacchante of exquisite grace; a head of Minerva, another of Jupiter, uncommonly majestic. A very fine historical subject, representing Minerva assisting the Argonauts to build the famous ship, Argo; the goddess is seated and finishing a sail, which is extended on a yard, and is directing the Argonaut, who is attending very attentively to her, while another is busied carving the prow of the vessel. This article, (No. 16), is beautifully finished, and, from the delicate border of honey-suckle blossom, I have no doubt but that it formed part of the lower ornaments of a superb apartment, and placed near the eye. The bas-relief of Venus, in the ocean riding on a seahorse, is a subject the ancients often repeated, both in their poetry and sculptor on Aristophanes describes them to be ture; I have one nearly resembling it among my antique gems. In one we see, Victory pouring libations to Apollo Musagetes; in another two priestesses, in sacrificing vestments, standing one on each side of a candelabrum, which is lighted for a sacrifice. With one hand, they support the sacred fillets which decorate the candelabrum, and with the other they raise a small portion of their robe, like the figure of Hope, on the coins of the Roman emperors, who were extremely partial to this emblem, which often appears on their coronation medals that were struck at the commencement of their reign, to signify the hopes of the people from their new sovereign.

The Roman personification of this divinity was different from ours; they represent her under the figure of a young and beautiful female, holding up with one hand the bottom of her robe, and a flower in the other. I beg you will not be waggish on the subject, as I shall resent any indignity offered to her ladyship, whom I have adopted as my tutelar deity. The next to this, is one of such consequence in proving the knowledge of Homer among the Romans, that it would be unpardonable to omit it. It is a singularly well composed historical groupe, in basso relievo of terra cotta, representing Machaon, after he has been wounded; the hero is sitting in the tent of Nestor, who is administering a medicinal potion to him, as described in the eleventh book of the Iliad; the grouping of this fragment of antique art, is uncom monly beautiful, and worthy of remark;

a reed split in two, and so fitted together as to emit a sound from the touch or stroke of the hand. We have other examples of the form, of the ancient krotalon, in the tympanum of the temple of Cybele; a statue in the engraved Collection, from the Museum Pio Clementinam, and in the gems in my possession, which have long handles, like the before-mentioned commentator's description. I am no less delighted with Paris carrying off Helen in a car, drawn by three horses (No. 34), a bas relief of elegant design, and correct execution, equal perhaps in these qualities to any in the collection. These cars are of great antiquity, and were usually of two or four wheels, and drawn by various numbers of horses, from two to twenty, mostly abreast, as may be seen in several Roman sculptures; they named them from the number of horses that drew them, as bige, when by two; trige; quadrige, and so on. In Monfaucon, Willemin, and Rochegianni, are to be found many repre. sentations of these ancient cars.

A bas relief of unknown antiquity, (No. 36) representing two persons is navigating the Nile, in a boat, is wor thy of notice, from a very important fact, that I hope to establish relative to the date of the invention of the Corinthian capital. In the foreground is an hippopotamus, two crocodiles, some birds, and several plants of the lotus. In the distance are buildings, on the roofs of which are seen three Ibisses. The whole of this scenery is viewed through two arches, supported by columns, the two extreme ones of

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which are fluted in wreaths, and all the capitals resemble the Corinthian. I much wish to ascertain the date of this work for the above reason. The singularity of the composition, of No. 42, has no parallel in the room; it is a short naked human figure, with the head of an old man, a long thick beard, and the body of a child; holding in each hand the stem of a plant. On each side of this curious compound figure, is seated a no less curious quadruped, whose head is that of an elderly man, with the breasts of a woman, and body of a sphynx, whose tail terminates in a flower.

There are, in this unrivalled collection, some of the largest statues ever found of terra cotta; one being of the goddess Salus, both the hands of which are wanting, but from the position of the arms,it is apparent, that the figure held a serpent in the right hand, and a patera in the left, and is nearly four feet high. Another of a Muse, resting her left arin upon a pile of writing tablets, placed on a square colu:an. Another of these statues is Thalia, one that is supposed to have been a votive portrait, and another a female crowned with an indented diadem, but the characters are hath unknown to me; the drapery is in a fine style, and the whole delicately executed.

Such are the contents of this room which is filled with terra cottas of exquisite beauty, both for design and execution, and is of itself an excellent academy for the student. On leaving it, we come to the second room, which is devoted to Greek aud Roman sculptures; it is circular and lighted from an elegant dome, and is excellently contrived for a judicious distribation of light. On the left we are greeted with a stupendous colossal head of Minerva Sospita, most admirably characteristic of tire goddess of the dreadful shield.

A funeral urn, at a small distance, beautifully ornamented with equestrian and pedestrian combatants, of high antiquity and rare beauty, presents itself to the admiring spectator; but passing by things of minor worth, a brilliant of anicient art demands attention; it is a statue of a canephora, which the catalogue tells us was anciently made use of as a columo; and asserts, that it was one of the caryatides, which supported the porties of a small temple, dedicated to Bacchus. This is a manifest contradiction, and au error into which many have fallen, besides the author of that part of the ca

Perhaps some of our readers will favor with wissertation on this interesting sub

talogue; it is either a Canephora, or a
Caryatic figure, but cannot be both; if,
as he asserts, it did support the portico
of a temple, I cannot contradict him,
but then it is not a Canephora. This
error has arisen from the resemblance
between these two species of figures, but
their applications were different. Cane-
phora, (as their name imports from xavéwy
a basket, and pige to bear) were young and
noble virgins, who carried a basket on
their heads, on the festivals of Minerva,
and were never degraded to the ignoble
situation of the Caryatides, who always
support heavy and cuhibrous entabla-
tures. Cicero, in his fourth oration
against Verres, refers to some Canephora
of his time, and from the chisel of Po-
lycletes, but does not mention them as
being used for columns, but as deposi-
taries for perfumes and flowers for the
sacrifice, and placed on each side of the
altar. The beautiful figure at Lord
Elgin's, is really a Caryatide, and was
found in such a position by his lordship;
it is also described both by Stuart and Le
Roy, as supporting a cornice. This I
verily believe to be a Canephora, but I
cannot recollect any example of Cane-
phore being applied to the purposes of
columns, except in the portico of a grotto,
in the Villa Albani, at Rome, which are
supposed to be copies from those men-
tioned by Cicero, of Polycletes, and
which owe their degrading situation to
the ignorance of a modern architect, who
took them for Caryatides, and as such
has used them.

In this room are some beautiful candelabra, one of which is of such excellent workinanship, and beautiful design, that it is scarcely excelled by that inestimable relic, the candelabrum of Sir Roger Newdigate in the Ratcliffe library, at Oxford, that has so often been the theme of our admiration. The triangular base of one of them, has three genii, with wings, holding each a part of the armour of Mars, his helmet, his shield, and his sword. Candelabra, or lychauchi, (from aux candle and x that sustains.) were among the greatest luxuries of the ancients. Homer, in his Odyssey, in describing the palace of Alcinous, King of Corcyra, speaks of them as being made of gold; and on many medals of Septimius Severus, and of his sons, are representations of Candelabra as used in the temples of Venus of Paphos. They not only used them as stands for lights, but also as small altars for burning perfumes.

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Among other beauties in these rooms are two fine vases, ornamented all round with bachanalian figures, and handles, spring

ing from the necks of swans; the beauty of design, the elegant voluptuousness of the Bacchantes, and dancing nymphs, are beyond all praise, they are truly beauty personified. I must not forget a statue of a Venus, which is naked to the waist, and covered with drapery from the waist downward. This statue was found in the maritime baths of Claudius, at Ostia. To you, who are not offended at truth, even though it rebels against received opinion, I, who fear not the sound of great names, say, that I have seen a Venus, by Nollekens, superior in beauty to this, which is colossal, and rather clumsy in the extremities; however, I shall not offend the most fastidious admirer of ancient art, and perhaps better strike the balance of merit due to this figure, when I assert, that it is certainly the clumsiest of all ancient Venuses, and very inferior in grace to that called "de Medicis." This is the figure at which the respectable veteran in literature, Mr. Cumberland, (in the tenth number of Mr. Prince Hoare's "Artist," a periodical paper, of which I shall ever regret the conclusion,) has, levelled the shafts of his satire in the following laughable passage. "The living arts (says he, to his friend Hoare) are the proper objects of your contemplation: in the mean time, the nation has erected a noble gallery in the British Museum, wherein to deposit the bones and skeletons of the dead arts, collected by Mr. Townley, and purchased from the public purse. In justice to my country, I will suppose that they are stuck up there for the patriotic purpose of convincing the spectators, that it is high time to dismiss their prejudices, and that it is nothing less than necromancy, and art magic, that should induce them to prefer old lamps to new in short, if any gentleman wants a Venus for his saloon, he may go to the shop of Mr. Nollckens, and not envy flook at the statue and mark the expression) the long-sided lady of Mr. Townley, though the state has built a palace for her reception." I shall leave you to laugh at my quotation, and continue my admiration of such works of ancient art, as deserve it, in spite of all contemners of its beauties, who certes are all Goths, id est for differing from me. Your's, &c. M.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

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pint decanter, wherein I had put about two ounces of Thames water, and placed it during the whole winter over the fireplace, in the same temperature as hyacinths are commonly kept. Before the month of March was expired, they all shewed symptoms of vegetation, with the exception of one acorn, which I had purposely placed in the water, which nearly covered it; this was the first seed to swell and burst, but the last that made a shoot. The tap root of the most forward seed, was about two inches long, when it reached the water, into which it did not directly enter, but grew a short distance on the surface, then immersed in the water to the bottom of the decanter, rose again to the surface, then down again; on its touching the side, it continued to do so, making more than a circle round in search of earth, sometimes rising a little from the bottom.

In April, the germ protruded from the seed, and in a few days the plant emerged, continuing to increase until it produced the foliage and tree in complete health, and apparent vigour; one of which I studiously prevented the tap-root from entering the water, which caused the decay of the tap-root, but exhibited innumerable lateral shoots, making a wonderful struggle to live; and the plant actually existed purely in the vapour, and cherished entirely by it. The seed that was dropped in the water, grew exactly at the same time as some I had set in earth, and occasionally examined as to their progress, and did not seem hastened in their vegetation like those in the vapour, which may arise from the difference of their temperatures. In June, I put the decanter into the open air, still keeping the ground-stopper in, although some atmospheric air communicated, as the wire that suspended them, though very fine, prevented the stopper from being close. The water becoming black, foul, and turbid, I changed it once du ring the summer. Each plant made its Michaelmas shoot, and threw out leaves, and in September the leaves turned off, as in common, and the buds are now set for the spring: to burst them, I purpose separating them, and placing them in good glasses; the acorn is still firmly attached to each plant. Although some few vegetables have been raised without the medium of earth, I do not know that a tree has ever before been produced

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ligneous substance, which if burned becomes an alkali, capable, by galvanic de

composition,

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SIR,

ELIZABETH Miller, a poor women aged forty, and the mother of eight children, one of whom is now at the breast six months old, was attacked about two months previously to her taking the undermentioned medicine, with shortness of breath; she had also a bad appetite, and her legs and face were much swelled. She was attended by a skilful practitioner, and by him was pronounced to be in a dropsy. I saw her myself, and believed her to be so likewise. She took some medicines which the surgeon sent her, but so far from any amendment taking place, she grew daily worse and worse. Three days previously to her taking the undermentioned, the nurse who attended her, declared that she was afraid her legs would burst. She had left off the medicines which were sent her by the surgeon, about ten days, when she was prevailed upon, merely as an experiment, to

Take of bolen tea, five ounces; boiling wa ter, one quart. Let them stand together a quarter of an hour, and then strain off the infusion: the whole of which is to be drunk during the day. The leaves which are left, are all to be eaten by the patient in the course of three days afterwards.

These were the directions given to the patient, and she complied with them The consequence was, that in less than a week, the swelling of her legs and face subsided; the shortness of breath went off, and she has been able for more than a tortnight past, to attend her customary occupation, and all this without any observable increase in the secretions, at least according to the woman's own account. The stomach seemed principally acted upon, as her appetite mended exceedingly fast. It may not be amiss to remark, that she has been subject to the piles for some years past, and from which the has suffered much pain; but during the dropsical state, she suffered no inConvenience from them whatever. They are

now returned again, but by no means so trou blesome as they have been heretofore.

To account for this extraordinary cure, by the bohea tea, is not perhaps very easy: at least if our medical writers be taken for guides. It is well known, however, that tea possesses both the gallic acid, and the astringent prin

ciple, in a considerable degree, and a priori,

there is nothing unreasonable in presuming that it might be a tonic, notwithstanding cus tom and medical men have decided against it.

Lewis says, "that it is in disorders and constitutions where corroborants are most serviceable, that the immoderate use of tea is peculiarly hurtful; in cold indolent habits, cachexies, chloroses, dropsies, and debilities of the nervous system. Mater. Med vol. ii. 428. I think that there is great reason to believe, The term, immoderate, is not here defined, and that the injurious effects of tea are, and always have been, owing to the drinking of large quantities of hot water, rather than to the tea.

The above cure was drawn up in January, 1806, with an intention of communicating it to a medical gentleman, in London, of great respectability, but a variety of other important concerns pressing upon my attention, it has lain by in my desk till this time. Observing an invitation of your correspondent, Common Sense, to communicate what is known concerning Popular Remedies for Diseases, I now send it. Before I conclude, it is my duty to state that the idea of exbibiting bohea tea, in the dropsical case above recited, originated in information derived from the Monthly Magazine, which I think appeared also in the newspa pears. The case, I believe, was that of a women at Farringdon, in Berkshire. I cannot now, from memory, refer to the volume. Huntsbill,

Jan. 20, 1809.

Your's &c. J. JENNINGS.

For the Monthly Magazine. RECEIPT for the CURE of the RHEU * MATISM.

TAKE half an ounce of Turkey rhubarb,

one ounce of gum guiacum, one ditto of nitre, one ditto of sulphur, one ditto of flour of mustard. The whole to be finely pulve rized and well mixed.

A tea spoonful to be taken in a glass of water, on going to rest, every other night, for three nigh's, and afterwards if necessary, half a teaspoonful every night.

Considerable quantities of this medicine have lately been distributed with success among the poor, by ladies of quality in the neighbourhood of Brompton.

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