bour of the lungs. And it gave the greater alarm to those who had a regard for me, that I used to speak without any remission or variation, with the utmost stretch of my voice, and a total agitation of my body. When my friends, therefore, and physicians, advised me to meddle no more with forensick causes, I resolved to run any hazard, rather than quit the hopes of glory, which I had proposed to myself from pleading. But when I considered, that by managing my voice, and changing my way of speaking, I might both avoid all future danger of that kind, and speak with greater ease, I took a resolution of travelling into Asia, merely for an opportunity to correct my manner of speaking. So that after I had been two years at the bar, and acquired some reputation in the forum, I left Rome.

When I came to Athens,I spent six months with Antiochus, the principal and most judicious philosopher of the Old Accademy; and under this able 'master, I renewed those philosophical studies which I had laboriously cultivated, and improved from my earliest youth. At the same time, however, I continued my rhetorical exercises under Demetrius the Syrian, an experienced and reputable master of the art of speaking.

After leaving Athens, I travers ed every part of Asia, where I

was voluntarily attended by the principal orators of the country, with whom I renewed my rhetorical exercises. The chief of them was Menippus of Stratonica, the most eloquent of all the Asiatics : and if to be neither tedious nor impertinent is the characteristick of an attick orator, he may be justly ranked in that class. Dionysius also of Magnesia, Aschilus of Cnidos, and Xenocles of Adramythus, who were esteemed the first rhetoricians of Asia, were continually with me. Not contented with these, I went to Rhodes, and applied myself again to Molo, whom I had heard before at Rome; and who was both an experienced pleader, and a fine writer, and particularly judicious in remarking the faults of his scholars, as well as in his method of teaching and improving them. His principal trouble with me, was to restrain the luxuriancy of a juvenile imagination, always ready to overflow its banks, within its due and pro per channel. Thus, after an excursion of two years, I returned to Italy, not only much improved, but almost changed into a new man. The vehemence of my voice and action was considerably abated; the excessive ardour of my language was corrected; my lungs were strengthened, and my whole constitution confirmed and settled.'

a work of time and exertion. Its beauties are too varied, too great, and too striking, to be passed over in a slight and cursory

manner.

Its

When you ramble out of the populous part of the city, beyond the seven hills, on which Rome originally stood, you find yourself amidst deserted and melancholy fields, strewed here and there with the magnificent remains of Roman edifices. Rome is as singular and unique in its appearance, as it has been in its fate. walls, which are antique and have been preserved in their full extent as they existed in the time of the Cæsars, embraced several miles square, in which scarce an habitable edifice now rears its solitary head. Perhaps some lonely convent, or some splendid and vacant church adds a sort of gloomy variety to the scenery.

You must

not infer from this, that Rome is a dull, or uninteresting city. It is crowded with people in its habitable parts, and motion and splendor are as visible as in any city of the continent. Amidst the deserted fields of ancient Rome strangers often delight to stroll, and scarcely a step is taken but offers some new object to gratify and amuse. Here some temple to the fanciful Gods of the Romans rears its mutilated form; there the vast arches of a magnificent aqueduct astonish -you by their grandeur and extent. On this side, your eye ranges along the immense pile of the palace of the Cæsars; on the other, the huge relicts of some mausoleum, or the more extended ruins of an imperial Thermes, attract your eager attention. The baths of Diocletian, situated about a mile from present population, though still within the walls, were a surprising edifice, of which very considerable relicts are yet to be seen. The present pope, filled with a noble ardour for the fine arts, and will ing, I presume, to repair the losses which Rome has sustained by the

depredations of their good allies, and the protector of catholicism, the emperor of the French, has taken unwearied pains to restore the monuments of antiquity, and either to discover new ones, or the residue of those which have been partly discovered. I shall notice these exertions and discoveries as they occur.

The galley slaves, a numerous corps at Rome, are occupied in digging up the remains of the baths of Diocletian. The foundations of this vast edifice are from 15 to 30 feet below the present surface of the earth. The dancing hall of the emperor Diocletian, which appertained to these baths, was discovered in the time of Michal Angelo, (indeed it had never been covered) and was by that first modern architect converted into a church.

The grandeur, simplicity, and beauty of this fine edifice proves the superiority of ancient artists, and the columns of granite, of a size inconceivable to modern builders, of single blocks of that prodigiously hard stone, justly excite our admiration. These pillars cannot be less than nine feet in circumference, and upwards of thirty feet high. That emperors should have exerted all their power and wealth to bring such monuments as the obelisks from Egypt, one can conceive, though the manner may be incomprehensible; but that they should have incurred the enormous expense of transporting from Egypt these monstrous pillars for every house or edifice of luxury or devotion, is, I confess, to me almost incredible.

This church being one of the largest in Rome, the astronomers have availed themselves of it by drawing a meridian line in it. As we have nothing of the kind in our

country, nor any building which could display one to advantage, I will describe it to you. To form a meridian line, you require a large surface, and a smooth uninterrupt ed one. The churches of Rome having marble floors, and no inter ruption from pews or any other objects, (because the devotion of the people is a secondary consider ation, and is done in a different manner) they are very well adapted to this purpose. The object of the meridian line is to exhibit, on a visible and perceptible scale, the progress of the sun in the ecliptick. You well know the gen eral system, that from the 21st of March,on which day the sun is said to cross the equatorial line, he travels northward according to appearances, and from 21st June he again travels southward till he reaches the equatorial line again, on the first of September, from whence he makes a similar journey towards the south: Excuse this rough sketch to explain the nature of this line.

A straight line is traced across the church, in a diagonal direction to give it greater length, and extending from south to north. A small hole is made near the roof of the building, and so contrived that the rays of the sun shall always enter through it, and strike the floor at noon, or when the sun is in the meridian. As the rays of the sun in winter make a more acute in ternal angle with the surface of the earth, than in summer, it will of course strike a further part of this line, and in midsummer, being nearly perpendicular, or forming a less acute angle, it will of course approach nearer the hole in which it enters. It will thus, you see, change daily, as the sun appears to advance or recede in the eclip tick, and of course you are enaly Vol. IV. No. 8. 3F

led to mark on this line his precise place every day in the year. These marks are accompanied with all the signs of the zodiack, elegantly traced in inlaid marble, and the degrees are marked in the same durable manner. These monuments are honourable to the Italians, and remind us of their wellearned reputation in astronomy. Your literary friends will tell you how much the world owes to the celebrated Galileo, and to the distinguished family of Cassini.

The baths of Titus are more extensive, more perfect, more picturesque, and more useful, than those of Domitian. They are yet in a tolerably entire state. The lower story out of three is almost entire. In them were found many rare curiosities; but the walls of stucco or plaister, still perfect, with antique paintings, whose colours and forms are perfectly visi ble, have been very useful to those who study the beauties of antiqui ty. It is thought that they served as the model for some of the best works of Raphael in the same line. These are, and have been for ages, under the surface of the earth; and by what art the Romans could make their plaister and their colours so durable as to resist the effects of time and humidity, is astonishing to every one.

After all, I can give you but a very imperfect notion of these things in description. Plans and stamps which I shall bring home with me, and one hour's conversation, will do more than pages of laborious description.

The baths of Caracalla were as extensive nearly as the others, and the remains are as respectable, but not so curious. The only thing which the ancient and modern barbarians have left us in these baths to admire, is the extent and solid

All

ity of the Roman edifices. The size and form you can see, and the thickness of the walls, but the ornaments are chiefly gone. their buildings were clothed within and without with marble, stone, or some other beautiful covering, and ornamented with richest statuary. The walls consisted of a surprising thickness of bricks, laid in excellent mortar.

These walls are now in many cases stronger and more beautiful in point of masonry than modern editices. Their grandeur, solidity, and extent, are the objects which strike us most.

What must have been ancient

Rome, when it had standing, at the same time, publick baths that would accommodate at one moment 6000 persons; when its various theatres would contain 500,000 spectators; when 5000 wild beasts, all brought from Africa or Asia, were sacrificed in a single spectacle; when its environs extended from Rome to Otricoli, 40 miles, lined with houses, palaces, and temples!!! What are the awful reflections on its fate, when we find no country, no spot on the habitable globe so deserted, so wretched as the campania of Rome, the seat of so much splendour, of so much human grandeur !

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

THE student of ancient lore will sometimes relax his mind and amuse his leisure with books in this department of literature. It is pleasant to know the relative value of the edition which we own, or to which we have access; and it is useful to ascertain which is, and where may be found, a more accurate and valuable impression. The anecdotes which respect the men and books, which hold a high rank in scientifick estimation, are among the most interesting topicks of a scholar's inquiry. Every, even the most minute particular concerning them arrests eager curiosity, and repays the most diligent attention. Next to the authors, whose labours have instructed and delighted the world, and are destined to retain their reputation while the world lasts, the classick reader feels grateful to the industrious editors and ingenious schol

iasts, who have collated the various copies, and illustrated the genuine text, with indefatigable patience, with learned and critical comments. Who, that has been detained by Homer, and Sophocles, and Xenophon, and Theocritus, and Terence, and Horace, and Virgil, and Cicero, and Longinus, or others of his admired Greek and Roman friends, till the striking of the first, or second, or even third hour of morning, has reminded him that tho' the mind is unconscious of fatigue,the body needs repose; who, that has been often thus delightfully beguiled, (and they who nev er were have yet to taste the choicest fruits, and enjoy the highest gratifications which learning furnishes) but love to read and hear of Clarke, and Stephens, and Hutchinson, and Warton, and BentJey, and Burmann, and Heyne, and Brotier, and Pearce? Who likewise that has known the exquisite

satisfaction, which excellence of typography affords, but thanks and praises the Elzevirs and Aldi, Crispinus, Baskerville, and Bensley? In our country we have experienced this last pleasure but very imperfectly. Publick libraries have hitherto been few, and the institutions to which they have been attached embraced so many objects, and possessed so few resources, that very rarely indeed have they been able to purchase the most valuable and best editions. Some treasures of this sort, from the munificence of individual foreign benefactors, enrich the alcoves of Harvard, but taste has not been much excited, or industry employ. ed, for discovering or describing them. Few probably know, and perhaps not many care, that there are sets of works deposited at Cambridge, of which curious collectors, learned societies, and even royal purchasers would vie for the attainment at almost any price which jewish avarice could demand of princely affluence. Among others, there is a copy of "The Court of the Gentile's by Theophilus Gale," containing the original manuscript of that portion of the work which it was necessary to expunge, in order to obtain an "imprimatur." It is well known, that this learned author was a nonconformist; and as he had discussed with too much freedom some of the ceremonies and observances of the episcopal church, he was refused the patronage of Oxford university, unless he would suppress the obnoxious chapters. They were not however destroyed; and if tradition, and the information of a thorough and elegant scholar, formerly librarian, be correct, we are indebted for them to Mr. Hollis. The writing is very fair; and the topicks of inquiry are curious

and interesting. It would gratify many, if these chapters of a profound and curious work, by an author whose bequest of his large and valuable library to our alma mater has endeared his memory to her sons, might be printed in the Anthology.

Another curiosity of immense worth belongs to this ancient seat of learning. Of the Biblia Polyglotta Waltoni,' a very few copies were impressed on paper of a very large size and superiour quality. Dibdin supposes there are about twelve of this sumptuous publication; and of Castell's Lexicon' (which should always accompany the bible) not more than three in the world. Our college has one entire set, which was a present from the author to lord Clarendon, in 12 vols. imperial folio, of this

editio princeps & optima. The Lexicon in this form is incomplete. There are two copies besides both of Polyglott and Lexion, of common size and quality.

Having mentioned Dibdin's Introduction to rare and valuable editions of the Classicks,' &c. will it be thought invidious to remark, that in a very partial examination and limited occasional consultation of it, many omissions have occurred. For some of these the author and his friends may plead, that the design and limits of the volume exclude an enumeration of the smaller and more inconsiderable editions. But is not this a defect in the design, especially as a mere catalogue, with some discriminating figure or character to designate,which of these common copies were most correct and valuable, would not have greatly swelled the work, and would have been of vast convenience and benefit to a numerous portion of literary men? Most of this class in our