Visiting 1 20 (SAFORIGINAL LETTERS From an AMERICAN TRAVELLER IN EUROPE to his friends in this country. MY DEAR FRIEND, SINCE I last wrote you I have made a second visit to Pompeia, in consequence of the discovery of a new room, in which as usual a great variety of articles in use a mong the Romans was found. As the very unfortunate death of the Custos Musai has hitherto prevented, and will probably continue to prevent my seeing the collec tion at Portici, this discovery is very opportune to me, and for the same reason, the description may be interesting to you. Indeed it forms a very tolerable indemnity for the loss of my visit to Portici for as a large proportion of the curiosities in the palaces at that place consisted of pictures cut out of the walls, those found in the new rooms, just opened, are some compensation for the loss, and indeed enable us to form a perfect idea of the whole and the uten sils discovered in the late excavas tions give us a very good idea of those before found, to which we can add the satisfaction of knows ing their authenticity and antiqui, ty, by surprising them (if I may use a law phrase) in the fact as There is one large picture in the house lately excavated, which gives a very excellent example of the degree of perfection to which the ancients had attained in this divine art. It has been observed, ɔ by better judges than I am, that the designs of these pictures are in general inimitable, and that the ablest modern artists could not change a single fold in the draperies to advantage; but the execution and finishing are generally bad. This, however, is by no means extraordinary, as they were the common finishings of their rooms, and stood in the place of our paper hangings. None but emperours could nafford to employ the best artists in the decoration of their rooms. Domi W The subject of the piece which I saw in this newly excavated house, was the story of Acteon; and the moment which the painter had chosen for his pencil, was when the dogs of Diana had just fastened upon the unhappy youth, and when the new-born horns had just started from his brow ; but while he retained in all other re spects the human form. The vo racious fury of the dogs, and the horrour of Acteon at his unex pected and (saving the dignity of Diana) his undeserved fate, are very naturally described. If the ancients did not therefore, in the higher styles of painting, equal the moderns; if Apelles cannot justly claim abrank equal to Raphael, it must be acknowledged, that their house painters most certainly excelled their successors in the same humble but useful sphered sili ein of esiɔsgol to (toiney & entis* en llaw es mooq sit bis ɔa la!** specimens of Vesuvian productions. The tires of the wheels resem. ble ours in form, width, and di Among the articles found in this late excavation, were two very elegant marble tables, in a style of workmanship far superiour to any modern productions of this kind.ameter; they consisted of a single The legs of the tables were of a hoop, as the English ones now gencolour totally different from, and èrally do. The iron boxes and indeed in contrast to the leaf or hoops to the hubs of the wheels, top. The polish and beauty of were precisely the same as they this marble were totally unaffect- now are. The axle-trees were of ed, either by time or the substan- wood, and to the ends of them were ces which had surrounded it. No attached pieces of iron, which went artist could deliver a piece of work on the inferiour side, and extended from his shop in more perfect or through the boxes, and a little beder than these were, except some yond them only. All these little little breaches, which they had sus parts are as perfect as ever, and tained in the overthrow of the shew that we have not only not house. Two perfect iron tires for improved, but have not varied. i wheels, together with all the me- tallick parts of a complete, and probably elegant coach, were also found. Various round and other shaped ornaments of brass, were found, which were attached to the carriage, and which bear a strong resemblance to the plated and brass ornaments which decorate our modern chaises and chariots. There were small chamber lamps, made of earthen ware, precisely resembling those now in use in Europe, and indeed in our own It is strange, considering the › very dry nature of the pumice stone which covered Pompeia, and the perfect and unchanged state of the paintings in fresco, that no piece of wood, in a perfect state, should have been found in this edifice; and indeed as far as I am in-country. There were a very great formed in any of the buildings of number of amphora, or earthen this city. You can only then con- vessels, which the Romans used jecture the form of the implements not only for wine, but oil, wheat, of wood, from the parts which re- and various species of grain. This main of the metals formerly at- is perfectly ascertained, because tached to them. Iron has suffered those various substances, or their more than any metal discovered in remains, were found in them in so Pompeia; this is very natural, unquestionable a shape, as leaves and the causes familiar to chem- no room even for scepticks to ists. The oxyd of iron, formed doubt. Two things have occurred around all the implements of that to me on this subject, which I metal, has drawn in and caused to thought worthy of reflection. The adhere to the body all: the stones one is, that it is extraordinary that and small foreign bodies, which the Romans should either not have came in contact with it, so that known the use of wooden casks, or some process and labour are ne-should have disliked them. The ›cessary to detach them and discover its real formid 1 I have a small piece of iron with its envelope, thus formed, which I I shall send home, with my other megah art of wau ti sainay 19 Jes fact is undoubted, for we find amphora of every size, from a gallon to several hundred, I should suppose, but at least to one hundred ; and in such quantitica, that at Rome, there is a large mountain, or hill, two miles out of the city, which is wholly composed of brok. en pieces of amphora. The other fact worthy of notice is, that most of these earthen vessels were made with so small a bottom, that they cannot stand up without support; and they were obliged either to bury them partially, or to sit them against a wall, to prevent them from falling. It must be remarkFed, however, that the forms are extremely various, as well as their capacity, but they have generally this (what we should consider) defect, which I leave to your wiser heads to explain. : Before the discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeia, much doubt, existed whether the ancients had the art of making glass; but all these difficulties have been cleared up. They certainly not only had the art, but I believe in a very perfect degree. I saw a large bottle of clear glass, with a handle, resembling those which are used for spirit or brandy with us. There :were several small phials, of very nice and difficult workmanship, on : account of their minuteness and singular shape. The glass was very clear, considering that it was extremely dirty, not having been 1 washed since the discovery. The guide,who shewed me these things, a man of some learning, made me remark that there was no mark of the place to which the blow-pipe had been attached, as in our modern manufactures; and yet no appearance of its having been ground or cut, which are the present modes of getting rid of this imperfection. The fact is undoubtedly so, but I leave to the learned to decide, whether they had a different mode of blowing, or whether they cut so nicely, as to give the natural and simple rotundity of blown glass; or whether (which I think most probable) the blow-pipe was attached to the present mouth of the bottle, instead of the bottom. I saw an elegant glass salt celler, filled with what I fancy was the rem. nants of salt; and several pieces of glass, coloured blue, white, and green throughout, which prove that the ancients had that art of colouring glass, which the moderns so highly value. On the whole, my visit to examine these novel discoveries, gave me much gratification; and if the description of part of them shall afford you an half hour's relaxation and pleasure, I shall be happy. Your's, &c.g MISCELLANY. PLAGIARISM may be defined to be the taking and carrying away the literary property of another animo furandi. It seldom happens that those, whose intellectual poverty compels them to such dishonourable conduct, have the the hardihood to appear in publick with such property, without first altering its appearance and defacing I the ear-marks. The addition, or the subtraction of a word, the am plification or the condensation of a passage, and above all, the appropriation of a metaphor to illustrate a new object, are, amongst these classes of men, deemed a sufficient alteration of property to warrant its assumption to themselves. The owner not being able to prove a clear and indefeasible title to the whole, to the critical judge is left the irksome and ungracious task of ascertaining it, and in the division of a shadow, of determining, how much genius of this republick, like that how much to the owner, and of all other republicks, is obnox how much to the literary thief. After the claims of the respective parties have been adjusted and identified, the world is too much fascinated by the golden dreams of avarice to feel any interest in the question, or even to read a report of the case. This evil has been so long felt and endured in the republick of letters, that the citizens of that commonwealth seem now aroused from their lethargy, and disposed to prosecute to final judgment every one so of fending against the peace and dig nity of the state. They raise the hue and cry, and the whole commu nity in mass follow in the pursuit, so that scarce any culprit escapes without punishment. It is because this alarm has been raised to the great annoyance and d detriment of many good and honest citizens, who in consequence thereof have been arrested, tried, and by a verdict of their peers honourably acquitted of the charge, that the writer of the present article has conceived it his duty to state the law on the subject. By the good old laws of said com monwealth it is expressly provided, that no freeman of Parnassus shall be arrested or imprisoned, or disseized of the free customs and liberties of the realm, or outlawed, or exiled, or passed upon, or in any manner destroyed, unless by trial of his peers, or by the laws of the land. Grave and learned commentators on this passage have holden, that according to the letter and spirit of the text, no man's n's lit erary reputation shall be put in jeopardy, without probable cause is first made manifest. They have further holden that all persons so offending are strespassors' ab initio, and liable to pay heavy damages to the party so aggrieved.The ious and peculiarly hostile to spies and informers; a class of men who shake the quiet of the realm by groundless alarms, and whose very subsistence is derived from the number of condemnations they procure, It is therefore proper to apprize the citizens at large, that a number of such have arrived within our borders; the Titus Oateses of literature, who have found divers plots and conspiracies in their own imaginations only. To drop all metaphor,' the most ordinary coincidence of thought, or expression amongst writers, is in our day regarded as plagiarism positive, and the pri ority of their respective publication furnishes the only criterion demanded to ascertain the transgressor. Many make no allowance for inevitable resemblances of two congenial minds, employed on the same subject. To give an example; Mr. Ames, in his eloquent speech in the house of represen tatives on the subject of Mr. Jay's treaty, has the following exquisite ly brilliant and beautiful passage Some would rejoice if Great Britain were sunk into the sea, if the place where liberty and law, and humanity and religion reside, should become a sand bank for the sea-monster to fatten on a space for the storms of the ocean to mingle in conflict -alm Pre1225210 B 2d1up. ym an won, & All dwellings else Flood overwhelm'd, and them with all their pomp Deep under water roll'd; sea covered T Deep ་ བས། Sea without shore; and in their palaces, tion; on the one side the past, on the other side, the future; a ground that, while you yet hear me, is washing from beneath your feet? Addison in one of his Spectators remarks, that in our speculations of eternity, we consider the time, which is present to us, as the middle, which divides the whole line into two equal parts. I For this reason many witty authors com. pare the present time to an isthmus, or narrow neck of land, rising in the midst of an ocean immeasurably diffused on either side of it??... Whether the mind of Mr. Curran, at the time he was speaking, dwelt on the passage cited from Addison, or not, it is unimportant to know; he is free from the charge of plagiarism in either case; the ocean of eternity and the isthmus of existence have,from the frequency of their use, now become common property; it is only the wash ing away of the ground that renders the figure worth the preser. vation. 1 2. I am not to be be deterred by the squibs and crackers, which mischievous literary boys throw in my face, from citing Virgil again. James Thomson, of and belonging to the island of Great-Britain, poet, stands charged with having taken, stolen, and carried away sundry articles of poetical property, belonging to Publius Virgilius Maro, knowing the said articles of right to belong to and the said Maro, with force and arms, and against |