Page images
PDF
EPUB

Nay, more, the vowels are repeatedly reckoned not only the 'Ain Gadis of Rowlands and Palmer, | Shire. with the guttural h.

"Ho hittez on the eventyde and on the ark sittez."

(The Deluge.) The sound I admit to be very slight, and so difficult to appreciate by a purely mental effort that whenever we wish to recall a vowel sound to mind without giving it utterance we can scarcely avoid associating with it an initial h, and find it a relief to actually utter the sound with the faint guttural which is really, as I surmise, prefixed to it in pronunciation, but which we have not been trained to conceive in the mind.

The existence and necessity of such a consonant as this would reduce vowels to the same

position as consonants, in so far as the latter
cannot be pronounced alone, and give us
practically syllabaries instead of alphabets.
C. E. WILSON.

SCIENCE NOTES. PROF. TYNDALL will begin a course of six lectures at the Royal Institution, on "The Older Electricity, its Phenomena and Investigators," on Thursday next (February 28), illustrated with experiments; and Capt. Abney will begin a course of six lectures on Photographic Action, considered as the Work of Radiation," on Saturday (March 1). Prof. Hughes will give a discourse on Theory of Magnetism," on Friday next (February 29), illustrated with experiments.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

A NEW number of the Transactions of the Cumberland Association has recently appeared under the able editorship of Mr. J. G. Goodchild. Extending to upwards of 250 pages, it forms a small volume in itself. Among the papers of local interest we may single out as of exceptional value one on "Water Supply in the Carlisle Basin," by Mr. T. V. Holmes, who was formerly engaged on the geological survey of the neighbouring country. Mr. Fisher Crosthwaite has an interesting essay on "German Miners at Keswick ;" and Mr. Goodchild, the editor, contributes not only a paper on "Local Minerals," but also a very appreciative memoir of the late Prof. Harkness. A new feature in this useful publication is the introduction of a section devoted to "Local Scientific Notes."

PHILOLOGY NOTES.

THE next volume of the Leipziger Studien (vol. vi.) will contain Prof. Lipsius' reply to Prof. Weil's claim (Revue de Philologie, vi., 1 foll.) for Demosthenes as the author of the first speech against Aristogeiton, and especially against Weil's assertion, "l'auteur de notre plaidoyer se montre bien informé des institutions politiques et judiciaires d'Athènes.' Lipsius gives a long array of instances where the author of the speech shows himself wrong on points of law.

[ocr errors]

To the Revue critique of February 11 M. Michel Bréal contributes an article on the progress that has been made recently in the decipherment of Etruscan, reviewing the latest publications of Deecke, Pauli, and Bugge. It appears that Deecke claims to be able to read the leaden tablet of Magliano-by the light, of course, of Latin; and that Pauli has come back

to the opinion that Etruscan belongs to the Indo-European family, but connected with Slav and Lithuanian rather than with the Italic group. Bugge's theories are treated with much respect.

Other objects excavated at the expense

but the still more abundant rushing water-head of the late J. H. Parker, and given by him to the
of 'Ain el-Qadairât, has given his personal Ashmolean Museum, were not exhibited owing to
explorations the setting of a scholarly and his lamented death.
Mr. Harrison thought that
beautiful volume lucidly arranged and firmly
written, with phototypes of rare excellence, good
maps, and the special advantage of well-
developed index-apparatus.
He has truly
estimated the historical and geographical value
of Kadesh-Barnea, and well vindicated the older
view of the route of the Israelites.

MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES.
NEW SHAKSPERE SOCIETY.-(Friday, Feb. 8.)
F. J. FURNIVALL, Esq., Director, in the Chair.-
Miss Grace Latham read a paper on "Ophelia."
She was interesting for her pathetic fate. Evidently
quite young, and having lost her mother, she was
brought up, and her character was formed, by her
father. He, with his mean astuteness, his estimate
of a child shown in his charge to Reynaldo, his
sense of a daughter's "duty and obedience," had
her watched, did not trust her, kept her under stern
control. When does he show any sign or word of a
real father's love to her? She became reserved and
lived alone; she had no girl friend, as Hamlet
had Horatio. Hamlet finds her solitary, not with
her father like Desdemona. The Court society in
which she moved was bad; the Queen bad too.
Etiquette checked girlish spontaneity, prevented
Ophelia giving way to the impulses of her heart.
Laertes's and Polonius's warnings to her against
her royal lover can have been no new theme. She
is cautious; will not give her love till Hamlet has
given his. She has no one to trust. Her father
is to her "my lord," and her duty is to obey him.
Only in her account of Hamlet's visit to her does
she show herself naturally, in her short pathetic
sayings, her fears that he is mad for love of her.
She could not speak to him; she lacked the passion
that could lift her into self-sacrifice for him. Her
fault was more that of her upbringing than her-
self. Then came the positive blots on her char-
acter, of giving up her lover's letters, letting them
be handed out, and spies set on him, herself an
accomplice in it. In her second interview with
Hamlet she bears meekly his reproaches and in-
sults, and laments his outward form more than his
inward moral nature. Hers was a young girl's
romantic love, capable of being put into fine words.
She hears the plan to send Hamlet to England, and
does not warn him of it, though in the play-scene
she turns aside his talk which might betray him,
and fences off his coarse speeches. Timid, solitary,
self-centred, rejected by her lover, brooding on
her thoughts, she hears of her father's murder, and
her mind gives way. In her madness she shows
her love for her father more than that for Hamlet;
and her father's warnings haunt her, the tricks in
the world, woman's frailty and man's faithlessness.
As madness brings out all those things which folk,
when sane, avoid, so references to unchastity occur
in Ophelia's mad talk. But all her actions show
her to have been pure; and Shakspere could never
have meant to throw her into the mud at last. She
had the passive virtues of obedience and gentleness,
but no active ones; endurance, no courage; cling-
ing affection, not energetic love; obedience, no
judgment. She was one-sided, unbalanced,
worldly minded; what Polonius made her. In the
course of the paper Miss Latham contrasted Ophelia
with Perdita and Miranda.-A long and animated
discussion followed, for a report of which space
fails us. The paper will be printed forthwith.-
Mr. Shaw's paper on "Troilus and Cressida" was
put off till February 29.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.-(Tuesday, Feb. 12.) JOHN EVANS, ESQ., V.-P., in the Chair.-Mr. Park Harrison exhibited some remains found last year in Castlefield, Wheatley, by Mr. E. Gale, the occupier of the land. The skulls were of two types, and belonged to subjects who had been interred for the most part in a flexed or contracted Kadesh-Barnea. By H. Clay Trumbull. position, but some at full length. The objects (New York: Scribner.) This is a truly note-associated with the skulls were also diverse. worthy book, and will at once command the Among those lent by Mr. Gale were an unusually long and narrow spear-head, and the boss of a attention of all Biblical scholars. Dr. Trumbull, target with rivets ornamented with tinned studs, who happily succeeded at some risk in finding such as have been found elsewhere in Oxford

the remains at Wheatley dated from the time of Thames. Dr. Garson is preparing a description of the extension of the kingdom of Meroia to the the cranial peculiarities of the skulls.-Mr. Worthington G. Smith exhibited two skulls of the Bronze age from a tumulus at Whitby.-Mr. Henry Prigg exhibited two Palaeolithic implements and a frag ment of a human skull from Bury St. Edmunds. -Mr. R. Morton Middleton exhibited some human bones from Morton, near Stockton.-Mr. John T. Young read a paper on some Palaeolithic fishing implements from the Stoke Newington and Clapton gravels. He also exhibited a large collection been manufactured for use as fish-hooks, gorges, of flints of various sizes, which he considered had and sinkers. Some of them showed evident traces of human workmanship, and the paper gave rise to read a paper on "Traces of Commerce in Prean animated discussion.-Miss A. W. Buckland historic Times," in which she urged that the similarity of three cups of gold discovered one in Cornwall, another at Mycenae, and the third in the necropolis of old Tarquinii might be taken as evidence of the existence of commercial relations between Etruria and Ancient Britain.-A paper was read on "A Human Skull found near Southport" by Dr. G. B. Barron.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.-(Thursday, Feb. 14) A. W. FRANKS, ESQ., V.-P., in the Chair.-The Secretary read a letter from Mr. J. H. Middleton describing the excavations now being carried on on the site of the temple of Vesta in the Forum at Rome. Several statues of Vestal virgins, evidently portraits, have been found, with inscriptions on the pedestals. Their probable date is about the second century A.D.

Some of the figures are attired in sacrificial vestments. Domestic articles of various kinds were also discovered, and among these a glass jar containing 830 Anglo-Saxon coins from Alfred to Edmund, silver coins of Limoges and Ratisbon, and a gold coin of the Eastern empire. -Mr. St. John Hope exhibited an iron statuette of St. Sebastian, of the sixteenth century, bought at Nottingham.-Mr. Petherick exhibited a broadside issued on the occasion of the discovery of the plot to assassinate William III. at Turnham Green, with wood-cuts of the King's coach and the conspirators in ambush, their execution, and other scenes.

FINE ART.

GREAT SALE of PICTURES, at reduced prices (Engravings, Chrome, and Oleographs), handsomely framed. Everyone about to purchase pictures should pay a visit. Very suitable for wedding and Christmas presents. GEO. REES, 115, Strand, near Waterloo-bridge.

THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT ROME.
The Via Sacra. By J. H. Parker. Second
Edition. (Parker.)

Architectural History of Rome. By A. Shad-
well. Second Edition. (Parker.)
The City of Rome. By T. H. Dyer. Second
Edition. (Bell.)

Early and Imperial Rome.

By Hodder M.

Westropp. (Elliot Stock.) THIS Second edition of Mr. Parker's Via Sacra was prepared and published at a time when the author was already suffering from the continued ill-health which ended only with his death, and which had prevented him from seeing with his own eyes the last results of those systematic excavations in which he had taken so deep an interest, and for the prosecution of which he had done so much. The book was thus written at a disadvantage, the effects of which are, indeed, apparent throughout. For the rest, the present volume displays in an eminent degree both the merits and demerits of Mr. Parker's work as a student of Roman archaeology. His minute acquaintance with the ancient monuments, his architectural learning and insight, and, above all, his unbounded enthusiasm for his subject are as conspicuous

as ever.

On the other hand, we have still the old defects to regret. Ancient authorities are handled in a provokingly unscholarly way, the exact nature of the problem to be solved is too often misunderstood, and the tone is frequently more dogmatic than could be wished. And so long as English archaeologists are left without scientific training, and no provision is made for well-organised and well-directed investigation, so long will a vast amount of individual zeal, enterprise, and ability continue to be at least partially wasted.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In dealing with Mr. Parker's book, we shall confine ourselves to a brief criticism of the most important novelty it contains-viz., the theory which the author now puts forward as to the route followed by the Sacra Via during the earlier part of its course, from the "caput at the Sacellum Streniae to the point at which it begins to descend the Clivus Sacer towards the Forum. This route is justly described by Mr. Shadwell" as entirely new and unexpected; but we are unable to accept it so undoubtingly as he appears to do. In the first place, we are told that "it has been ascertained by excavations made there in 1882 that the caput Viae Sacrae was on the highest part of the Velia, as might naturally have been expected." Why this should have been expected, when the only passage which mentions the caput points rather to the western slope of the Carinae, is not so clear. Mr. Parker, however, appears to think that "caput" means "summit"-a view which farther obliges him to interpret the "summa Sacra Via," which he places at a lower level than the "caput," as referring only to the "higher," and not the "highest" part of the road (pp. 20, 47). Here, however, "on the caput Viae Sacrae, on the highest part of the Velia, at the back of the Basilica of Constantine," the site of the Sacellum Streniae has, we are told, been discovered; and here, therefore, we have the starting-point of the famous road, and of the procession which, on January 1, passed along it to the Arx (not, as Mr. Parker more than once says, to the " Regia "-Pref., P., pp. 47, 48). It is disappointing, after this, to find that all that has really been found is a very ancient pavement of concrete" (p. 45), "which has evidently been used for a small circular or hexagonal temple" (p. 47), and that only the most inadequate reasons are assigned for the identification of these remains with those of the Sacellum Streniae. Sacella were plentiful in Rome, and we do not gather that there is anything in the remains themselves which supports Mr. Parker's theory about them. Varro does, indeed, mention a "Ceroliesis" in proximity to the Sacellum Streniae, t he gives no support to Mr. Parker's ntification of this with the top of the Telia (p. 20). The suggestion on p. 46 that the "Sacellum Larum seems to be the same as the Sacellum Streniae" of Tacitus only makes matters worse, for the "Sacellum Larum" was apparently on "the summa Sacra Via" near the arch of Titus, where also (and Lot, as Mr. Parker says, "on the caput Viae Sacrae," p. 46) Solinus places the residence of Ancus Martius. This new view of the point from which the Sacra Via started involves, natually, a new view also of its subsequent course. Descending from the highest point of the Velia, the road, according to Mr. Parker, followed the ne of the modern Via del Colosseo, along the de of the Velia facing the Esquiline; then, Finding round the end of the Velia nearest the Clian, it turned to the north, and, keeping close nder the side of the Velia opposite the Palatine, passed, between the portico of Nero on the right and S. Francesca Romana on the left, out in to the Clivus Sacer in front of the Basilica of Constantine (Pref., p. v., pp. 20, 22, 44); here it joined (p. 20) "another branch" from the arch of Titus. In proof of this "entirely

[ocr errors]

new and unexpected" route, we are told that the "original pavement has been found in several places; one of these is in what is now called the Via del Colosseo" (Pref., p. vii.); another piece, we presume, is that laid bare between S. Francesca Romana and the portico of Nero (p. 20, pl. xxx.). But, unless we accept Mr. Parker's identification of the nameless foundations on the top of the Velia with the Sacellum Streniae, there is no reason for supposing these fragments of ancient roadways to be parts of the true Sacra Via; and, until that identification is more satisfactorily made out, it is impossible to accept a theory which finds no support, to say the least of it, in the literary evidence on the question. Only one or two points more need now be noticed; the first is an apparent inconsistency. By the summa Sacra Via," Mr. Parker understands the level platform on which stand the arch of Titus and the church of S. Francesca Romana (p. 44). According to him, the "main line of the sacred road" passed along the north-east side of the platform, and did not, therefore, pass under the arch of Titus, which stands on the south-west; but, on p. 49, the arch of Titus is mentioned as one of the arches on the line of the New Year's Day procession. Secondly, Mr. Parker leaves us in complete uncertainty as to the position he would assign to the "regis domus," which marked the end of the first stage of the Sacra Via, and which is generally placed near the arch of Titus. Thirdly and lastly, the "regionary catalogue," on the importance of which, as indicating the course of the Sacra Via, he rightly lays stress, seems to imply that it passed near the Meta Sudans, which, on Mr. Parker's theory, it certainly did not.

We should not have devoted so much space to the ungracious task of fault-finding but for the fact that this somewhat fanciful theory is put forward by Mr. Parker himself as if it were already established beyond the possibility of doubt, and that his faithful disciple, Mr. Shadwell, restates it as an acknowledged discovery in a still more dogmatic fashion.

Mr. Shadwell's small volume is, as he says, little else than Mr. Parker condensed. The style is easy and clear, and we have not noticed of the book, as has been implied, is that any very serious blunders in detail. The defect theories on disputed points, accepted by the author, are stated as positively as ascertained facts, and that no references are given. We hope, too, that in any subsequent edition Mr. Shadwell will omit from his Preface his rather foolish remarks about the "learned Germans."

this new edition of his City of Rome, Dr. Dyer In the "topographical remarks" prefixed to passes judgment upon the results of the recent excavations. On the vexed question of the site adheres tenaciously to the view that this temple of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus he still stood on the north-east and not on the southwest summit of the Capitoline hill. This is not the place for a full discussion of the point; but we may remark that Dr. Dyer scarcely seems to us to rate at its proper value the evidence in favour of the south-west site supplied by the excavations made in and near the Caffarelli Palace. These have revealed the existence of substructions so extensive and so massive as to recall at once the "insanae substructiones Capitolii" mentioned by Pliny; and, moreover, we believe that no remains of the kind have been discovered on the rival north-east height of Ara Celi. Until more complete investigations are made, the exact area and shape of these substructions must remain doubtful, and Jordan is, no doubt, prematurely dogmatic in treating as he does of the measurements. But even if he is wrong in these, the fact of the substructions remains as a most tangible and important piece of evidence. A second criticism

[ocr errors]

which occurs to us is that Dr. Dyer makes rather too much of the ambiguity which certainly exists in the use by ancient writers of the term Capitolium. Passages can, no doubt, be produced, though chiefly, as Preller pointed out, from late writers, in which " Capitolium means the whole Capitoline Hill. But Dr. Dyer forces this ambiguity into his service in somewhat too free a fashion. Wherever it would tell against his theory to take the term in its proper and technical sense, as applying to the Temple of Jupiter and the area in front of it, he insists that the term is used in its wider meaning. For instance, some nine or ten temples are described as being "in Capitolio." In the case of most of these, Dr. Dyer takes the phrase to mean that they were near the Capitoline temple-i.e., according to his view, on the north-east summit; but three of them, he is obliged to allow, were on the south-west height, and in their case "in Capitolio" is taken simply to mean "on the Capitoline Hill," though why there should be precision in one case and not in the other he does not say. We must remember, too, as a presumption in favour of the precise interpretation of the term being the right one; that, though the term arx is, like "Capitolium," used of the whole hill, the phrase in arce is only used of the two temples which unquestionably stood in the arx proper, as distinct from those which stood "in Capitolio.” With reference to the two marble screens ("plutei ") discovered in 1872, and now set up in the Forum near the column of Phocas, Dr. Dyer propounds an explanation which seems to us, in one respect at any rate, extremely doubtful. The emperor represented upon the reliefs has been variously called Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius. But," says Dr. Dyer,

66

[ocr errors]

66

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

"he cannot possibly have been one of the three emperors last named, for the eastern relief shows the temples of Concord and Saturn on the Clivus, and between them an arch of the Tabularium. Now this interval was filled up before the time of Trajan by Domitian's temple of Vespasian, which would have hidden the Tabularium. Palpable evidence like this in marble is worth more than all inferences from texts, however ingenious

But the evidence is surely not so palpable as it they may be." seems, for the two temples are more commonly supposed to be those of Vespasian and Saturn, or, according to Marucchi, Saturn and Ops, and the arch to be that of Tiberius, or, as Marucchi thinks, an arch connecting the temples of the twin deities above mentioned. It is, moreover,

and the alternative explanation suggested by difficult not to see in the western relief a Dr. Dyer is far from satisfactory. Our author and Lanciani, which places the curia and closes his topographical remarks by a vigorous onslaught upon the theory advanced by Jordan comitium where S. Adriano now stands; and he succeeds, we think, in pointing out real objections to it. But, so far as the question turns on the position of the "rostra," he omits to notice that his opponents identify the "platform of large square stones on the edge of the Forum, not with the "rostra" of the days of Gracchus, which they place more to the north-east, but with the "rostra" set up by

reference to the institution of the alimentations,

Caesar.

[ocr errors]

ropp's We cannot help doubting whether Mr. West66 promenade lectures" lishing. They are not full, accurate, or scientific were worth pubenough for the serious archaeologist, and they use as a tourist's guide-book. Mr. Westropp are too desultory and unmethodical to be of much possesses a tolerable topographical acquaintance with ancient sites and monuments, and some knowledge of architecture; but that is all. A very few instances will be enough to show that

[ocr errors]

and the pathetic. Mr. R. M'Gregor, one of
the more recently elected Associates of the
Academy, exhibits works of uncommon number
and excellence. In his most important picture,
"The Blind Pedlar," a subject possessing the
artist's accustomed charm of harmonious though
low-toned and restricted colour, the figures
approach the size of life-a scale uncommon in
his works. Several of the younger painters
exhibit this year very gratifying signs of pro-
gress. "Between the Dances" is an excellent
ball-room scene by Mr. C. M. Hardie, with more
of unity and less of distracting detail than char-
acterised his studio-subject of last exhibition.
In "Though Cruel Fate should bid us Part,"
Mr. J. M. Brown gives us an interesting picture
of rustic life-a pair of lovers beside a village
stile; and in "The Strawberry Harvest" of
Mr. T. A. Brown we have vivid force of colour
and sunlight, while Mr. R. Noble's "Guisards"
repeats with finer draughtsmanship his pre-
viously treated motif of an effect of warm light
shed over the details and inmates of a cottage
interior.

he has not that familiarity with Roman history
and antiquities which is necessary for a proper
treatment of his subject. We are told on p. 84
that the Forum was the place where "the
yearly consuls were elected." On p. 89 the
comitia tributa are described as an assembly of
the thirty tribes." The account of the Iapygians
and Etruscans on p. 11 is a good specimen
of the superficial and inaccurate summaries
in which Mr. Westropp too often indulges, and
which he usually ekes out, as here, by copious
extracts from a miscellaneous collection of
modern writers of very various degrees of merit.
""
Tzetes, on p. 132, is probably a slip for
Tzetzes; but the preceding statement, that "in
the Sabine dialect the p and q were convertible,'
is characteristically loose. It is rather startling
to read on p. 88 that the name "cloaca " is a
misnomer, though (and this is what is meant)
it is true that the modern equivalent, "sewer,'
is so.
Mr. Westropp is happier in the topo-
graphical and architectural parts of his book
than when he is summarising or criticising
ancient history, but he occasionally goes wrong
even here. His language on p. 96 will lead
uninstructed readers to believe that the
columna rostrata "now in the Capitol" is the
original "erected in honour of Duilius." On
p. 121 he repeats Mr. Parker's erroneous state-time,
ment that the New Year's procession ended at
the Regia; and, lastly, his interpretation on
p. 97 of Horace's "ventum erat ad Vestae" will
scarcely meet with much favour.

H. F. PELHAM.

THE EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL
SCOTTISH ACADEMY.

[ocr errors]

WHILE the directors of the Glasgow Institute, whose exhibition we reviewed last week, aim at presenting the public year by year with a collection of both British and foreign paintings, the annual displays of the Royal Scottish Academy are more distinctly and exclusively composed of Scottish work, and represent with much completeness the present state of Art in North Britain. As usual, however, the present exhibition is indebted for some of its most attractive features to London artists-Scotchmen many of them, and others English painters who are honorary members of the Scottish Academy.

Very notable among the landscapes of the
Academy are the productions of Mr. W. D.
M'Kay and Mr. J. Lawton Wingate. The
former sends mainly transcripts of the spring-
full of clear lighting and sweet cool
colour. Mr. Wingate, in a small canvas, attains
a vivid splendour in his sunset clouds, while his
more quietly coloured stack-yard subject, en-
titled "The Orra' Corner," strikes us as the
most tender and perfectly finished picture that
we have yet seen from his brush. From Mr.
J. C. Noble we have varied landscape work;
and the art of Mr. D. Murray ranges from the
dramatic sweep of rosy storm-cloud in "Hay-
making in the Scottish Fens" to the painting
of perfect calm in sea and sky which he gives
us in "Gathering for the Tow Out-Tarbert.'
Among the portraits we have to note the
grim, stark force of Mr. Herkomer's "Archi-
bald Forbes," the excellent heads of "Professor
Blackie" and of "The Artist" by Mr. Geo.
Reid, a very refined likeness of "Hercles Scott,
Esq.," by Mr. J. H. Lorimer, and Mr. Jas.
Irvine's delicate half-length of "Mrs. David
Halley."

In the water-colour room are Mr. W. E.
Lockhart's powerful Pompeian subjects and his
very important interior of Siena Cathedral,
Mr. Herkomer's likeness of Mr. Ruskin, some
delicate work by Mr. J. Douglas and Mr. T.
Scott, and a brilliant subject with blossoming
fruit-trees by Mr. J. D. Adam. The sculpture
includes the "Sabina of Mr. W. Calder
Marshall and Mr. D. W. Stevenson's model for
his statue of Burns.
J. M. GRAY.

[ocr errors]

could not imagine that anything similar could
have been made in Greece proper at so late a
time as the Persian wars. Herodotus tells us
nothing whatever regarding the burial of the
fallen Athenians. Thucydides (ii. 34) says
that those who fell in the Persian wars were
interred in the public burial-place situated in
the most beautiful suburb of Athens; "except
those who had fallen at Marathon, because
their bravery was considered so exalted that
they were buried on the spot."
This is con-
firmed by Pausanias (i., xxix., 4), who writes:-
"There is also [on the Academy road] a tomb for
all the Athenians whose fate has been to be slain
in the battles at sea and on land, with the er
ception of those who had fought at Marathon;
because these have for their bravery their tombs
on the battle-field."

In another passage (i., xxxii., 3) the same
author speaks, however, of one tomb of the
Athenians:-

"In the plain [of Marathon] is a tomb of the Athenians; on it stand columns, on which are engraved the names of the fallen with a statement of the clan to which each of them belonged; another tomb is for the Plataeans and Boeotians and one for the slaves, because slaves fought there for the first time."

66

But in all this there is not a word that the
tomb of the Athenians was larger or of another
nature than the two others. Curiously enough,
some modern authors have endeavoured to show
the identity of the tomb of the 192 Athenians
with the hillock through its present name pés,
which word, according to Conrad Bursian
(Geographie von Griechenland, i. 338), signi-
fies a sepulchre." But owpós never occurs
with that signification in the classics, and is
not found so in any lexicon.
Col. Leake
(Travels in Northern Greece, ii. 431, foot-note)
rightly translates owpós by "heap," but he
thinks it probable that copós, "coffin," was
originally the same word applied to a tumulus
heaped over the dead. Zopós may indeed have
originated from owpós, and Passow's Lexicon
admits it, but we have no proof that copes was
ever used to designate a tomb.

Col. Leake (op. cit.) says that his servant
collected at the foot of the Marathonian hillock
a large number of arrow-heads of black silex,
and he believes that these belonged to the
Persians, who discharged them on the Greeks.
And yet these very arrow-heads, of which I
found in 1870 a specimen on the hillock, first
raised the suspicion in my mind that it could
not be the tomb of the Athenians, but must
belong to a remote antiquity, for such a rudely
made arrow-head I had hardly ever seen
More-
among the antiquities of the Stone age.
over, it was not of black silex, but of obsidian.
My suspicion was strengthened by a fragment

Among the London artists who contribute are Messrs. Millais, Tadema, Oakes, Orchardson, Pettie, Archer, Herkomer, and T. Graham, represented by works like the "James II. and Duke of Monmouth" of Mr. Pettie and the J. C. Hook" of Mr. Millais, which are already familiar to the London art public. But both of these last-named artists include in their contributions a hitherto unexhibited painting, EXPLORATION OF THE TUMULUS AT of a knife of obsidian which I found at the

[ocr errors]

the former, showing his spirited little subject,
"The Young Laird" rabbiting with his shock-
haired village attendant, and
"The
Con-
valescent," a sweet and pathetic child-picture
by Mr. Millais, which dates from 1875, coming
from the collection of Mr. Macdonald, of

Aberdeen.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Among the more important figure-pictures by local artists are the two comparatively early interiors by the President, Sir Fettes Douglas, representing respectively subjects from the "" and from 66 'Antiquary' Hudibras, and characterised by the painter's usual exquisite finish of detail. In "His Old Flag," Mr. Herdman renders with excellent feeling and truth of varied expression a scene in a village church with an old one-armed veteran and his daughter contemplating the colours under which he has served in the past; while Mr. R. Gibb, in Schoolmates," gives a companion battle-piece Comrades" of six years ago, and in his "Oberon and the Mermaid" Sir Noel Paton

66

to his "

combines the elements of both the humorous

MARATHON.

Athens: Feb. 12, 1884.

IN the Plain of Marathon there stands,
about one thousand yards from the shore, an
artificial conical hillock eleven mètres high and
185 mètres in circumference, heaped up from
the clay and sand of the plain, and vulgarly
called owpós. It is in shape very like the so-
called "Heroic Tumuli" on the Plain of Troy,
and it has in modern times been universally con-
sidered to be the tomb of the 192 Athenians who
fell in the glorious battle against the Persians
in 490 B.C. But I have always felt sceptical
in this respect; first, because we have no
authority in the classical authors that so large
a tumulus was erected for the Athenian heroes;
secondly, because all the thirteen heroic tumuli
which I explored in the Plain of Troy (see Ilios,
pp. 656-69; Troja, pp. 242-63) belong to a
much remoter antiquity (except, of course, the
tumuli erected by the Emperors Hadrian and
Caracalla in honour of Ajax and Festus: see
Ilios, pp. 652, 653, and 658-65), and I

I

foot of the hillock; and it became almost a certainty after my exploration of the thirteen heroic tombs in the Plain of Troy, all of which turned out to be cenotaphs of a remote antiquity. Nevertheless, in the interest of learning wished to investigate the matter closely, and solicited, therefore, from the Greek Ministry permission to make an archaeological exploration of the hillock. This was forthwith granted. I made the exploration with the assistance of Mrs. Schliemann and in company with the ephor, Dr. Philios, who attended on the part of the Greek Government.

and broad, and dug it down vertically to a I sunk a shaft from the top four mètres long depth of about two mètres below the level of the plain, and opened simultaneously on the east side a trench, two to four mètres broad, in the slope of the hillock, and on a level with the plain. I also sunk in this trench a shaft two mètres long and broad, which, however, soon one mètre deep below the level of the plain. In filled with water, so that I could make it only

both excavations the result was the same; the earth consisted alternately of clay and sand, the objects of human industry of very archaic pottery, wheel-made or hand-made, which was for the most part thoroughly baked, but in many instances the baking had been only very superficial. The bulk of the pottery is like the Trojan, well polished, has been dipped before baking in a solution of wellcleaned clay, and has therefore on one side, often on both sides, a lustrous dark yellow colour. Many fragments have only on the inside a monochrome yellow colour, and on the outside an ornamentation of alternate black and brown stripes with diffused borders; others have a lustrous black colour on the inside, and a dark brown on the outside; others are on both sides lustrous black; others have on a yellow dead colour an ornamentation of parallel red stripes, with diffused borders; others are on the inside lustrous black with a red border, and are on the outside, on a yellow dead ground, ornamented with alternate black and red parallel stripes with diffused borders; others are on the inside lustrous brown, and have on the outside, on a yellow dead colour, vertical dark-red parallel stripes, among which are circles and some very rudely represented flowers. I also found a fragment with parallel black stripes, between two of which may be seen a shapeless ornamentation, which, at first sight, might be mistaken for written characters. All this pottery has such an archaic appearance that it would not have surprised me at all had I found it among the most ancient pottery in the royal tombs at Mycenae. But I also found a very small fragment of a lustrous black glazed archaic vase, which removes us again from the age of the Mycenacan tombs, and brings us back to the ninth century B.C.* For the rest, I found nothing which could possibly claim a later date. On the contrary, the large number of knives of obsidian which occur, and of which I found no trace in the royal tombs of Mycenae, seem to point to a much higher antiquity than those; and the same may be said of the very rude arrow-heads of obsidian, of which many specimens were gathered. As an interesting find, I may further mention the fragment of a vase of Egyptian porcelain. I found no trace of human skeletons or of a funeral, neither charcoal nor ashes, and only some half-a-dozen very small bones, probably of animals, which lay dispersed at various depths.

Consequently, my exploration has proved that the artificial hillock of Marathon is a mere cenotaph, which belongs most probably to the ninth century B.C.; and the theory which identifies it with the Polyandrion of the 192 Athenians must now fall for ever to the ground. But I see no reason why this hillock may not once have been used for the erection of trophies, because I found in it, immediately below the surface, a fragment of a well-wrought polished marble slab, which may have belonged to the base of some monument.

HENRY SCHLIEMANN.

committed

: THE DESTRUCTION AND PRESERVATION OF EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS. RUMOURS of wholesale ravages among the tombs and ruins of Upper Egypt are constantly finding their way to London and Paris, and are confirmed by the few travellers who write this winter from the Nile. These are not the mere ordinary ravages comnitted by mischievous tourists and dealers, and by the Arabs whose plunder supplies the "anteekah-market." They are operations of

My reasons for claiming such an antiquity for similar glazed black archaic pottery I have explained in Troja, pp. 249, 250.

of the Royal Institute of Painters in WaterColours; while the title of honorary president has been conferred upon Mr. Haghe, as a mark of the esteem felt by the members for his long and valuable services.

THE forthcoming number of the Magazine of Art will contain an article by Prof. Sobkô, of the Imperial Library, St. Petersburg, on the Russian painter Verestchagin, illustrated with a portrait of the artist and full-page engravings of two of his finest paintings, "The Victors and "The Vanquished."

[ocr errors]

M. O. RAYET has been appointed Professor of Archaeology at the Bibliothèque nationale, in the place of the late François Lenormant.

wholesale demolition carried on for the most part, it is to be feared, by petty local officials, and sanctioned by the Mudirs and governors of the districts in which they take place. Limestone for building purposes and limestone for the kiln is taken wherever it can be most easily procured. Where the mountain range lies far from the river, the nearest ruins are laid under contribution. Where the cliffs overhang the Nile, as at Gebel Aboofayda, Gebel Sheyhk Hereedee, and Gebel Tookh, the tunnelled tombs with which those precipices are terraced are blasted, smashed, and shot down by hundreds of tons daily, while the transport barges wait below to be laden with the debris. Prof. Maspero is, however, by this time at Luxor, and his presence on the river will probably arrest these spoliations-at all events for the time. It is understood that he hastened his departure this season in order to interpose at certain places while there was yet time to save monuments of priceless historical value. Already, during his brief three years of office, Prof. Maspero has done more to establish a body of archaeological police in the valley of the Nile than Mariette, with all his zeal and energy, and with all the good-will and good help of M. de Blignières, ever found means to do. He has made it as much his aim to preserve as to discover, and he has each year scrupulously set aside for this purpose a certain proportion of the small sum placed at his disposal. The excavations go on more slowly in consequence; but what is discovered is at all events either taken care of upon the spot or transported to Boolak. To this end, M. Maspero has organised a staff of six inspectors of monuments, chosen from retired military officers, with a subordinate staff of twenty-seven local guardians. localities especially under charge of these inspectors are the Pyramids, Abydos, Denderah, Thebes, and Edfoo. Three more are urgently" needed in order to extend the service at least as far as Philae to the southward, and to the intermediate points of interest between Thebes and Cairo, as Tel-el-Amarna, Minich, BeniHassan, &c., &c.

The

M. Maspero has also founded a school of native archaeology, in which intelligent young Egyptians of the better class are not only taught French, English, and Italian, but are put through a course of ancient Egyptian history, and given a superficial acquaintance with hieroglyphs. Thus trained to distinguish between the ancient art of different epochs, and enabled to read royal cartouches and the like, these youths will make excellent overseers of excavations. M. Maspero hopes much from the intelligence and usefulness of his Egyptian students. Native overseers of a humbler kind are already employed wherever works of excavation are in progress. These Reis (captains) engage and pay the labourers, superintend the daily work, and are answerable for the safety of the objects discovered. Their pay is seventyfive francs per month. They are very faithful, honest, and devoted, and are often no contemptible archaeologists in their way.

M. Maspero, in his recent very interesting communication on this subject to the Académie des Inscriptions, stated that the fellaheen were fast discovering that it was more to their own than to destroy them for purposes of sale. profit to preserve the monuments of antiquity When this conviction becomes general, we may hope that at least one out of the many perils to which the monuments of Egypt are exposed will

be at an end.

AMELIA B. EDWARDS.

NOTES ON ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY. CONSEQUENT on the resignation of Mr. Louis Haghe, Mr. J. D. Linton has been elected president, and Mr. J. H. Mole vice-president,

THE French Commission des Monuments historiques has just prepared its list of work for the coming year. Out of a total grant of 1,500,000 frs. (£60,000) which it receives from the State, 170,000 frs. (£6,800) is appropriated to new undertakings. The most important of the "restaurations" to be taken in hand are the tower of Clovis at Paris, the old fortifications of La Rochelle, the belfry of Comines (Nord), the tower of Pernes (Vaucluse), and the churches of Caudebec, of Saint-Maclou at Pointoise, and of Saint-Victor at Marseilles. A considerable sum will be devoted to excavations in Algeria, with the object of discovering the praetorium of Lambessa and the temple of Tebessa.

A TREASURE-TROVE of twenty-five vessels of solid silver, of the Roman period, was recently dug up by a peasant at Montcornet, near Laon, in France.

THE STAGE.

"PERIL" AND "A LESSON" AT THE HAYMARKET.

[ocr errors]

PERIL," which has just been revived at the Haymarket, is an adaptation of one of the funniest comedies of Sardou. The original is "Nos Intimes," a Paris Vaudeville success of nearly a quarter of a century ago. The history of the adaptations of "Nos Intimes" in England goes back to a remoter moment than some of our contemporaries have remembered. "Friends and Foes,' one of the adaptations of it, and undoubtedly the first, was produced not "after," but many years before, the performance of "Nos Intimes" by a French company in England. That performance took place in 1871, if our memory serves us; and in it M. Parade, M. Brindeau, and the accomplished comedian then styled by courtesy "Mdlle." Fargueil took part. This was at the St. James's Theatre. But at the very same theatre, eight years or so before, "Friends and Foes" had already been introduced. The part of the heroine, the young married woman who is a little in love with a youthful and too romantic guest, was deemed suited to the style of Miss Herbert, then perhaps the most eminent of the "leading ladies" who addressed themselves to modern comedy; and Miss Herbert was so skilled and so graceful that nothing became her very badly. But a further story, and a curious one, belongs to this production. We do not vouch quite absolutely for its truth, but we believe it to be accurate in its essentials. then a young girl playing a small part at the The tale is to the effect that Miss Kate Terry, St. James's Theatre, was upon to assume Miss Herbert's role in her suddenly called temporary absence, and that, being so called upon, she was equal to the opportunity; she "took occasion by the hand" and made a memorable success which was the beginning of her great fortunes. However this may be, 'Nos Intimes," in a somewhat different form, was played by Mrs. Kendal many years later; and now it is Mrs. Bernard Beere who assumes

[ocr errors]

the part with which the serious interest mainly lies. Mrs. Bernard Beere, like Mrs. Kendal, is a woman of originality, a woman of initiative, a thorough student of character and of stage effect; but, in so far as her methods are derived from predecessors or contemporaries, they are derived rather from those of the French stage than from those of the English. She accepts "Peril" rather more as a drame than as a comedy. The new title, we quite allow, justifies her in doing so; but then to go a little farther-the new title would have suited the original French piece at all events better than the English adaptation, which for the most part skilfully avoids those suggestions which offend the typical English mind, and in reality relies a good deal upon comic sketches of character. With the spirit of such sketches -of which something that is not quite the counterpart exists in the original French, a satire upon the unwelcome tame cats" that presume on the hospitality of a generous country gentleman-the serious element of the piece is not perhaps quite in keeping. The true ring is somehow wanting to it. Mrs. Kendal managed all this with a lighter art. She was less intense; not less suitable. Nevertheless, Mrs. Bernard Beere's performance is, in itself, admirable. Mr. Conway plays the lover. The part can in no case be an agreeable one, for, to be plain, it is that of a youth too much overtaken by physical passion. Mr. Conway, however, conducts the business of the scene with as much discretion as the occasion permits. Mr. Bancroft, in the old days, used to play the husband whose suspicions were but slowly aroused. He has resigned that part to Mr. Forbes Robertson, who acts it with a measure of emotionalism in itself quite permissible, and interesting to boot, as being so widely different from the method of M. Parade and Mr. Bancroft. Mr. Bancroft now plays the Doctor-Brindeau's

MUSIC.

absurd stuff." Beyond the fact that the movement is cleverly and effectively written for the CRYSTAL PALACE CONCERT, ETC. solo instrument, there is nothing whatever in it AFTER a somewhat long interval, the concerts to attract or interest the musician. M. de at the Palace were resumed last Saturday after- Munck also displayed his skill in solos by noon. The programme commenced with the Chopin and Dunkler. The other novelty was overture to Oberon," magnificently played the Ballet divertissement or Fête populaire by the band, under Mr. Manns' direction. from Saint-Saëns' Opera, "Henry VIII.” There were two novelties. The first was Mr. In the various sections Scotch and English A. C. Mackenzie's ballad for orchestra, "La music is introduced; and, with pleasing orches belle Dame sans Merci," written for the Phil-tration, this Ballet is no doubt effective-at any harmonic Society, and performed at one of its rate on the stage. To speak of it, however, we concerts last spring. In noticing the work must wait for another opportunity, for this then, we expressed an opinion that it would novelty was placed, as is the custom here, at improve on further acquaintance, and such we the end of a long programme. Mdme. Carlotta now find to be the case. It is really an inter- Patti was the vocalist, and she was heard to esting specimen of orchestral music, and only advantage in the barcarolle, "Sul Mare,” and so far programme-music that the composer a Spanish song. names Keats' ballad as the source from whence he derived his inspiration. We meet with touches of Schumann and Wagner, unmistakable, yet not unpleasant; due deference is shown to classical form; and the work, being neither a servile copy of the past nor a wild, rhapsodical effusion after the manner of much that is written nowadays, seems worthy to count among the things that make for the advantage of English musical art at the present time. The orchestration is particularly delicate and effective. The overture was well performed, but the reception given to it was not very enthusiastic. M. de Munck made his first appearance at the Crystal Palace, and played the first movement of Romberg's ninth Concerto for Violoncello. The player has a good, though not powerful, tone; his style is excellent, and he handles the bow deftly. We should feel disposed to ask M. de Munck the same question which Romberg addressed to Spohr after hearing him lead one of Beethoven's early Quartetts -viz., how he (M. de Munck) could play "such

We were pleased to see that Mr. Stanford's Pianoforte Sonata was played for the second time at the Popular Concerts last Saturday. On Monday evening the programme commenced with Beethoven's Quartett in F (op. 59, No. 3). Mdme. Norman-Neruda led this fine work with remarkable power and feeling; there was perhaps a little lack of energy in the first two movements, but the wonderful adagio and original finale were rendered to perfection. Mdme. Néruda also gave as solos an adagio of Spohr's movement and the Paganini "Moto Continuo," eliciting the usual applause and demand for an encore. Mdlle. Marie Krebs was the pianist, and she played Chopin's Ballade in A flat, but her rendering of this poetical piece was not happy. She was more successful with Bach's Gavotte in G minor, which she selected for an encore, and also in the pianoforte part of Mendelssohn's C minor Trio, which concluded the programme. Miss Carlotta Elliot sang songs by Schubert and Franz, accompanied by Mr. H. C. Deacon. J. S. SHEDLOCK.

part, if we remember aright. The Doctor is a MESSRS. MACMILLAN & CO.'S NEW BOOKS.

near relation of those many doctors and wise
passive men of the world invented or depicted
by the younger Dumas. Without doing very

much, he is extremely useful. Without having THE
need of tolerance for himself, he is tolerant
of others. Without personal experience, he has
known how to profit by the experience of the
rest of the world. Mr. Bancroft acts this
gentleman with a bright bonhomie that is both
fitting and novel. Perhaps Mr. Brookfield and
Mr. Bishop are the only remaining actors who
demand notice. Both are character-actors of
marked individuality. One of them appears in
the part once acted, we believe, by Ravel.
These gentlemen help much to entertain us.
To ask whether the eccentric characters they
are invited to assume are such as we might
really meet, were "to enquire too curiously."
They are entertaining; and the end may justify

the means.

Before the main piece of the evening there is played an adaptation of "Lolotte." It is called "A Lesson." Sir John Duncan is a Scottish merchant whose young wife has a taste for private theatricals. She is coached for them by an actress, one Kate Reeve. Kate Reeve's methods of tuition-as Mrs. Bancroft, who plays the part, conceives them-are very amusing, and later in the piece her experiences

LORD TENNYSON'S NEW BOOK.
CUP:

and THE FALCON.

By ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, POET LAUREATE.
Fcap. 8vo, 5s.

A NEW NOVEL BY GEORGE FLEMING.

VESTIGIA

: a Novel.

By GEORGE FLEMING,

Author of "A Nile Novel," "Mirage," "The Head of Medusa," &c. 2 vols., Globe 8vo, 12s.

THE

[blocks in formation]

A STATISTICAL AND HISTORICAL ANNUAL OF THE STATES OF THE CIVILISED WORLD, FOR THE YEAR 1884. Edited by J. SCOTT KELTIE. Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. "As indispensable as 'Bradshaw.'"-Times.

[blocks in formation]

become for a moment more intense. She dis- The English Ellustrated Magazine.

covers her husband making love to the lady whom she has been teaching; but all ends happily-not to say farcically. Next in importance to Mrs. Bancroft's part must be reckoned Miss Calhoun's. The young American actress plays Lady Duncan with grace and ease, and a sense of comedy. But a greater air of naturalness would have attended upon the piece if its scene had not been shifted from French to British ground. The misguided impulsiveness of Kate Reeve's husband passes the limits of belief.

CONTENTS FOR MARCH.

1. "MRS. HARTLEY, with her CHILD as a YOUTH- | 5. SHAKESPEARE in the MIDDLE TEMPLE. By FUL BACCHANAL." After SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. (Frontispiece.)

2. MEETING in WINTER: a Poem. By WILLIAM

4. AN

MORRIS.

6.

7.

Rev. ALFRED AINGER. With Illustrations by
C. O. Murray.

JULIA. (Conclusion.) By WALTER BESANT.
FABLES from AESOP. "The Kid and the Wolf."
Translated by ALFRED CALDECOTT. M.A. With
Illustrations by Randolph Caldecott.

3. SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. By J. CoмYNS CARR.
With numerous Illustrations.
UNSENTIMENTAL JOURNEY through 8. THE ARMOURER'S PRENTICES.
CORNWALL. (To be continued.) By the AUTHOR
of "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." With Illus-
trations by C. Napier Hemy.

Single Numbers, 6d.; by post, 8d.

Chaps. XII..

XIII., XIV. (To be continued.) By CHARLOTTE

M. YONGE.

ORNAMENTS, INITIAL LETTERS, &c. Yearly Subscription, post-free, 7s. 6d.

LONDON: MACMILLAN & СО.

« PreviousContinue »