The defcription of a Roman bath, discovered at Dover, is written by the Rev. Mr. Lyon. The remains are found under the weft end of the parifh-church of St. Mary, and feem indeed to be very curious. Mr. Lyon has employed great attention and exactness in delineating them, both in the letter and in the print annexed to it. He gives an account of the Hypocauftum, the Sudatorium, the Balneum, the Tepidarium, the Frigidarium, &c. From a few letters on one of the titles, he infers, that this was a public work, for the common ufe of the Legio Britannia, and raifed about the year 365 or 366. This gentleman adds fome obfervations on the venerable octagon tower in Dover castle, and is inclined to conclude, that we may date the foundation of this weather-beaten ftructure between the years of Chrift 42 and 49: In the following article, Mr. Benjamin Bartlet appropriates to their respective owners, the epifcopal coins of Durham, and the monaftic coins of Reading, minted during the reigns of Edward I. II. and III. In the third volume of this work, Bishop Lyttelton had given fome account of the fuppofed horns, in the cathedral of Carlisle, which he thought were the teeth of fome very large fea fish, though, at the fame time, he apprehended them to be the title by which the prior and convent held fome lands or tythes granted by Henry I. The Rev. Mr. Cole, we think, now proves, that the bishop must have been mistaken in the latter fuppofition, and that the horn given by the King muft have been of ivory; and is now loft. Mr. Cole adds a defcription, with an engraving, of a curious Roman fibula, found by a peafant in the year 1770, at no great diftance from Rome; and he alfo offers fome remarks on a charter horn, which he faw in the library at Utkington, lately belonging to Sir John Crew, in the parish of Torporley, Chefhire. Mr. Pegge confiders, as a matter of fome difficulty to account for, the appearance of fo many conventual original feals, remembering, he fays, in what manner thefe matrices were anciently difpofed of; as by paffing in fucceffion from one perfon or officer to another, by being demanded by the ordinary on the deaths of abbots and priors, &c. and laftly, directed to be broken to pieces on thofe events. To account for this, Mr. Pegge fuppofes, that thefe official feals might be often changed or altered; that frequently the direction of giving them up might not be properly regarded; that when they were thus delivered, they were far from being always deftroyed, &c. And these reasons may be fufficient; but it does not appear to be a very interefting fubject. We are fomewhat more amused by • Vid. Rev. vol. liii. p. 414. T 4 Obferva Obfervations on an ancient building at Warnford, in the county of Southampton, in a letter from Henry Penruddocke Wyndham, Efq; who thinks, it is aftonishing that these large remains of a building, erected, as he apprehends, before the year 700, and not very diftant from a well frequented turnpike road, fhould not have been more particularly regarded. Thefe ruins, of which we have three good engravings, are fituated in the gardens of the Earl of Clanricarde. The erection is vulgarly called King John's houfe; but by what fatality, fays Mr. Wyndham, fo many ancient edifices came to be attributed to King John, and to bear his name, I am more difposed to wonder at, than to attempt to inveftigate. The remains, particularly four columns, rather ftately, fhew that it has been a building of fome note. Mr. Wyndham supposes it to have been a church, and endeavours, by feveral ingenious arguments, to prove that it was erected by Wilfrid, archbishop of York, between the years 679 and 685. An ancient pig of lead, lately difcovered at Cromford, in Derbyshire, affords the ingenious Mr. Pegge an opportunity for feveral fenfible and learned obfervations. The weight of this block is faid to be 126 lb. The infcription hich it bears, indicates that it was fmelted in the time of the Emperor Adrian. The Rev. Mr. Drake, to confirm his opinion concerning the origin of the English language, prefents us, in the fortieth number of this work, with a comparifon of many other paffages in the Gothic verfion of the Gofpel, and our prefent tranflation. The Gothic word gripun (to gripe, feize, or compel), leads Mr. Drake to take notice of the term Griffin, a beast, says he, better known to the heralds than the naturalifts. It has been fuppofed that, as the Byzantine Greeks are often called Griffones, by the writers of the middle age, the Griffin, in heraldry, was intended to fignify a Greck, under the figure of an eastern monfter this gentleman confiuers this as no fatisfactory etymology: I am, he adds, rather inclined to think, that as this imaginary animal was formed of a lion and eagle, both of a rapacious nature, it was originally termed grypin or gryppin, which afterwards came by an eafy alteration of pronunciation, to be founded Gryffin. He thinks, he can difcern this monster pictured in an old ballad under the name of Grype. A famous penny, with the name of Rodbertus, has occafioned fome debate among English antiquaries. It had been affigned to Duke Robert, eldest fon of William the Conqueror. In an article of the laft volume of Archaeologia, Mr. Colebrooke contended, and laboured to prove, that it really belongs to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, a natural fon of Henry I.* Mr. Pegge, Vid. Rev. vol. lvii. p. 264. in a long differtation, honeftly endeavours to reftore it to the Conqueror. He examines with care Mr. Colebrooke's arguments, and while he answers them, takes notice of other miftakes in regard to nummulary affairs. After these animadverfions, he concludes his memoir, by applauding the account Mr. Colebrooke has given of the method they formerly took in making their dyes *. The time when clocks were firft made, is a curious fubject of enquiry, and is here purfued by the Hon. Daines Barrington. He obferves, that Dante is the first author who mentions an orologio which ftruck the hour. Earlier inftances of horologia, mentioned in different treatifes, might be produced; but as the word is indeterminate, fignifying a dial or a clock, he confiders Dante as the highest authority to which ftriking clocks can decifively be traced. Dante died in 1321; and it is concluded, that these measurers of time could not have been very uncommon in Italy, at the latter end of the thirteenth century, But their ufe was not confined to Italy at this period; for we had, Mr. Barrington remarks, one of thefe artifts in England, precifely about the fame time, who furnished the famous clockhoufe, near Westminster-Hall, with a clock to be heard by the courts of law, out of a fine impofed on the Chief Justice of the King's-Bench, in the fixteenth year of Edward I. or A. D. 1288. This gentleman farther produces a proof, that not only clocks but watches were made in the beginning of the fourteenth century. Seven or eight years ago, he tells us, fome labourers were employed at Bruce-Caftle, in Fife-fhire, where they found a watch, together with fome coin, both of which they difpofed of to a fhopkeeper of St. Andrews, who fent the watch to his brother in London, confidering it as a curious piece of antiquity. The outer cafe is of filver, raised, in rather a handsome pattern, over a ground of blue enamel, and Mr. Barrington thinks he can diftinguifh a cypher of R. B. at each corner of the enchafed work. On the dial-plate is written, Robertus B. Rex Scotorum, and over it is a convex transparent horn, instead of the glaffes we ufe at prefent. Robert Bruce, to whom this watch may, without much doubt, be referred, began his reign. in 1305, and died in 1328. A furvey of Nonfuch House and Park cum pertinentiis, A.D. 1650, is taken from the original in the Augmentation Office. It is a curiofity, as giving us a view of the state of this place at that time, which was percell of the poffeffions & joynture lands of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I.' But it will not properly admit of extracts or farther account, only we may obferve, that the furveyors say that the materials of the faid man. Vid. Rev. vol. lvii. p. 265. fion-house, and other buildings, fhould they be taken down, are worth, exclufive of the charge of taking down the fame, the fum of 7020 1. This volume concludes by a fhort fupplement to the Prefi dent's Article, giving an account of fome antiquities found near the Tower of London. This fupplement prefents us with a pretty engraving of an elegant little crown, of the finest gold, having four ftrawberry leaves placed on the fillet, in each of which are fet three fmall pearls, with an emerald in the center; round the center are placed eight fmall pearls, four rough rubies, and four emeralds, a ruby under the center of each leaf, and an emerald under each intermediate point. It is fuppofed to have been intended to adorn the head of a small ftatue of the Virgin Mary, or some other faint which had been placed in an oratory, or private chapel. We have thus laid before our Readers a brief account of the feveral papers of which this volume confifts. The book will afford fome agreeable entertainment, and much information, for those who have any tafte for ftudies of this kind ;-ftudies which certainly merit the regard of all who do not think an acquaintance with The Hiftory of the Rife and Progress of Human Societies an ufelefs attainment. ART. III. Conclufion of our Account of the Bishop of London's ISAIAH.' See Review for March, 1779. O UR learned Prelate's description of the nature and different kinds of Hebrew poetry is fo curious, and, at the fame time, fo new to the generality of our Readers, that we have thought ourselves amply juftified in affigning three Articles to that fubject. Having, however, already afforded fo much room to this important publication, our account of the remainder of it muft neceffarily be shortened. In the latter part of the Preliminary Differtation, the Bishop points out the first and principal business of a translator, which is, to give the plain, literal, and grammatical fenfe of his author; the obvious meaning of his words, phrafes, and fentences. Whatever indulgence may be allowed him in other refpects, the want of fidelity admits of no excufe, and is intitled to no indulgence. It being then a tranflator's indifpenfable duty faithfully and religioufly to exprefs the fenfe of his author, he ought to take great care that he proceed upon juft principles of criticifm, in a rational method of interpretation; and that the copy from which he tranflates be accurate and perfect in itfelf, or corrected as carefully as poffible by the best authorities, and on the cleareft refult of critical inquiry. Among Among other obftructions to the right interpretation of the fcriptures of the Old Teftament, a progrefs in the ftudy of these writings hath been greatly impeded by prejudice, and an illfounded opinion of the authority of the Jews, both as interpreters and confervators of them. Here Dr. Lowth takes occafion to condemn the fervile regard that hath been paid to the Maforetic punctuation, which is in effect no more than an interpretation of the Hebrew text made by the Jews of late ages, probably not earlier than the eighth century; and which may be confidered as their tranflation of the Old Teftament. Another prejudice, which has ftood in the way, and obftructed our progrefs in the true understanding of the Old Teftament, is the notion that has prevailed of the great care and skill of the Jews in preserving the text, and tranfmitting it down to the present times, pure and intirely free from all mistakes as it came from the hands of the authors. In oppofition to this opinion, the Bishop confiders the fources of the variations in the ancient copies; and with regard to the real condition of the prefent Hebrew text, concludes it to be fuch, as from the nature of the thing, the antiquity of the writings them felves, and the want of due care, or critical skill, might in all reafon have been expected. The mistakes are frequent, and of various kinds; of letters, words, and fentences; by variation, omiffion, tranfpofition; fuch as often injure the beauty and elegance, embarrass the construction, alter or obfcure the fenfe, and fometimes render it quite unintelligible. If it be objected that fo large a conceffion tends to invali date the authority of fcripture, our ingenious Writer thinks that this is a vain and groundlefs apprehenfion. Cafual errors, fays he, may blemish parts, but do not destroy, or much alter the whole. If the Iliad or the Eneid had come down to us with more errors in all the copies than are to be found in the wort Manufcript now extant of either; without doubt many particular paffages would have loft much of their beauty, in many the fenfe would have been greatly injured, in fome rendered wholly unintelligible; but the plan of the Poem in the whole and in its parts, the Fable, the Mythology, the Machinery, the Characters, the great conflituent parts, would still have been visible and apparent, without having fuffered any effential diminution of their greatnefs. Of all the precious remains of antiquity, perhaps Ariftotle's Treatise on Poetry is come down to us as much injured by time as any as it has been greatly mutilated in the whole, fome confiderable members of it being lost; fo the parts remaining have fuffered in proportion, and many paffages are rendered very obfcure, probably by the imperfection and frequent mittakes of the copies now extant. Yet, notwithstanding thefe difadvantages, this treatife, fo much injured by time and fo mutilated, till continues to be the great Code of Cri ticifm; the fundamental principles of which are plainly deducible from it: we ftill have recourfe to it for the rules and laws of Epic and |