in this plate, and the subject of various conjectures to learned antiquaries. Visconti regarded as the Nile, a bearded figure holding a cornucopia, the symbol of his fertilizing power: a recumbent female leaning on a sphinx is Isis, personifying Egypt; and a figure stepping forward in the centre of the composition, he supposed to be Horus, or the Sun, who presided over the annual increase of the river Nile. But Mr. Millingen, judging from the general character, the costume, and want of any symbolical attribute, is induced to regard this figure, not as a divinity, but the portrait of some celebrated historical personage. He is represented as arriving in Egypt and received by the tutelary divinities of that country. Bianchini supposed this subject to be the apotheosis of Alexander, the great benefactor of Egypt, where divine honors were paid to his memory: Maffei discovered in it Ptolemy Auletes and his family; and Barthelemy believed it to represent Ceres, Triptolemus, and Bacchus. But some might regard the principal figure as Hadrian, who was distinguished by his munificence to Egypt, where a temple was dedicated to him at Alexandria : the costume, also, is rather Roman than Greek.

Plate xvIII. (No. 1.) the fragment of a terra-cotta lamp, represents Perseus and Andromeda; the hero, armed with Pluto's helmet and the winged sandals of Mercury, holds up the Gorgonian head, probably against Phineus, who attempting to prevent his marriage with Andromeda, is turned into stone at sight of the fatal spell. This fragment serves to elucidate an ancient painting found in Herculaneum (See Pitture d' Ercolano, tom. iii. 12.) never hitherto explained. No 2, (of the same Plate XVIII.) from a fragment of Roman pottery, exhibits Paris and Enone (for the names are inscribed) conversing familiarly; rocks, trees, and a rustic edifice indicate Mount Ida, where the scene is placed. In the fore-ground is a recumbent figure, the Scamander or the Cebrenus, father of Enone. Oxen drinking in its stream, allude to the pastoral occupations of Paris. Plates XIX. and xx. represent circular bas-reliefs of terra-cotta, which seem intended solely for ornaments, to be suspended from the walls of houses or temples, to adorn funeral piles, or used at ceremonies in honor of the dead; an opinion rendered probable by the circumstances of their having been found in tombs. Two of these medallions exhibit female heads with hair fancifully and elegantly attired. Cupids and a dove indicate Venus. No. 2 is a head of Medusa, with serpents twined round her neck and surrounded by conical appendages intended to represent the scales of the ægis. These

medallions were anciently painted of various colors, still visible in many parts: the ground and faces were white; the hair and ornaments red; the wings and flowers blue. The general effect must have been lively and pleasing; and though designed for temporary purposes, they display the same principles of taste and elegance that distinguish the more elevated productions of Grecian art.

Having concluded our notice of the Ancient Monuments illustrated and explained by Mr. Millingen, we now proceed to state (from two pages prefixed to the latter part) his reasons for contracting within the limits of ten numbers, this work which he originally designed to extend as far as sixteen; and in which it was his object to make known various ancient remains, presenting subjects interesting to history and mythology. Of such remains, England perhaps contains a greater number, accumulated within two centuries, than any other country in Europe, Italy excepted. Still foreigners complain, that treasures from which literature might derive considerable advantage, are so little known. Dispersed in various and distant parts of this country, they can only be visited at a great expense, and access to them is not always obtained without difficulty. "Though fully aware that all previous attempts of the kind in this country, except directed by Literary Societies or men of great rank and opulence, had failed, the author hoped, that since the acquisition of the sculptures of Phidias, the formation of a National Gallery, and the appearance of a reviving taste, he should have met with more encouragement. In that expectation, however, he has been disappointed; and owing to the small number of subscribers, he is compelled to contract the limits of the work. He has been obliged, in particular, to renounce his intention of making known what is most remarkable in this country, from the difficulty of obtaining access to some collections, and the high prices required by artists. III health has been an additional motive to prevent him from continuing the undertaking. From the disregard entertained in this country for archæological pursuits, and indeed for the fine arts themselves, unless when subservient to the gratification of vanity, it is unlikely that a similar undertaking can ever be attempted by any individual. No booksellers will engage in it at their risk and if an author ventures to publish for his own account, an express or implied combination exists among them to counteract his views. Of the merit of the explanations proposed in the present work, it does not suit the author to speak; but he confidently asserts, that no other publication of

the same size contains an equal proportion of Ancient Monuments of the highest interest both to art and science; and though he is not perfectly satisfied with several of the engravings, yet, in general, in point of fidelity, they rival the most costly productions executed under circumstances far more auspicious. He is convinced that his work will be of service to artists, and to those who take a real interest in the advancement of the arts. The manner in which it has been received on the continent, affords him, in some measure, a compensation for the unfavorable reception it has experienced in his own country. Being in a language not generally understood, its circulation could not be very extensive; but had it been in a language more familiar, he doubts not, from the experience he has acquired on former occasions, that sufficient encouragement would have been afforded to enable him to accomplish his object. Antiquarian researches are a frequent subject of ridicule to pretended wits, ignorant of their nature and object. It is not here the place to show the utility of Archæology: it is sufficiently known; and professors have been appointed to teach it in almost every university on the continent. As Addison, a great admirer of antiquity, has justly observed, 'mankind is too apt to think that every thing which is laughed at with any mixture of wit, is ridiculous in itself; but ridicule is not the test of truth; and when directed against objects that are great and respectable, is ultimately injurious to those only who, from a want of solid arguments, have recourse to such means.""

Here we close this splendid and interesting volume, which is very appropriately dedicated to the late British Minister at the court of Naples, "William Hamilton, Esq., author of Ægyptiaca, so eminently distinguished by his constant endeavors to promote in Great Britain the literature and the fine arts, to which ancient Greece is indebted for its chief and lasting glory." We sincerely trust, that, in a country where the merits of archæological studies are more justly appreciated than in England, the restoration of Mr. Millingen's health may enable him to continue those researches, for which he is qualified in so conspicuous a degree, by his learning and ingenuity.

No. XVI. [Continued from No. LXVIII.]
Notes on Thucydides.

I. lib. I. 1, init. Θουκυδίδης Αθηναῖος ξυνέγραψε τὸν πόλεμον Πελοποννησίων καὶ ̓Αθηναίων, &c. ἐλπίσας μέγαν τε ἔσεσθαι καὶ ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων—. That τῶν προγεγενημένων lere signifies "those which happened before it," not "before the present time," (which might be a date posterior to the war,) is evident, if proof were necessary, from the similar passage in the 50th chapter, ναυμαχία γὰρ αὕτη "Ελλησι πρὸς Ἕλληνας νεῶν πλήθει μεγίστη δὴ τῶν πρὸ ἑαυτῆς γεγένηται. Substituting the past for the future, we have here the counterpart of those lines of Milton so often cited as an instance of ultra-Græcism in phraseology: Adam the goodliest man of men since born

His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve. (Unless, indeed, as we are a little inclined to suspect, the idiomatic usage of the genitive in the above passage of Thucydides is not really identical with what Lindley Murray and Co. call the English genitive, namely, the substantive with of.) Mr. Edgeworth, in his Essay on Irish Bulls, quotes the lines of Milton, among others, as an example of the Milesian trope, adding, "Yet Addison, who notices these blunders, calls them only little blemishes."-"He does so," rejoins another speaker in the dialogue; and he quotes Horace, who tells us we should impute such venial errors to a pardonable inadvertency." We have not the original of Addison at hand; but neither he nor Mr. Edgeworth (we speak it without any feeling of disrespect towards either) were critical scholars, and, therefore, it is very possible that the former, as was evidently the case with the latter, was not aware of the classical origin of the construction in question. In the same work, Mr. Edgeworth quotes another passage of Milton,

And through the palpable obscure find out
His uncouth way,-

as involving a contradiction if literally taken, but justified by the license of poetry. It is plain, however, that the critic here understands palpable in its modern and popular sense of "obvious," "glaringly evident," and supposes that "palpable obscure" can only mean a darkness which is an object of sight. Even were it so, we doubt whether there would be any selfcontradiction. But "palpable obscure" is nothing else than

the Scripture expression of "a darkness which might be felt ;" an expression, the poetic beauty of which was not likely to be overlooked by one so familiar, not only with the matter, but with the phraseology of Scripture, as Milton. We have noticed this as one among a thousand instances of the manner in which Milton is misunderstood by readers in general.

II. ibid. Κίνησις γὰρ αὕτη μεγίστη δὴ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐγένετο — Literally, (the reader will pardon the uncouthness) "This commotion took place among the Greeks, the greatest that had ever taken place among them." According to our idiom this would be, κίνησις γὰρ αὕτη μεγίστη ἦν ἢ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐγένετο. This explanation will serve to illustrate many other constructions in Thucydides. Thus cap. 23, init. τῶν δὲ πρότερον ἔργων μέγιστον ἐπράχθη τὸ Μηδικόν, καὶ τοῦτο ὅμως δυεῖν, ναυμαχίαιν καὶ πεζομαχίαιν ταχεῖαν τὴν κρίσιν ἔσχεν, twice in one sentence. vii. 82, παρέδοσαν οἱ πάντες σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἑξακισχίλιοι.

4 with the superlative is generally used on similar occasions in Thucydides, where the writer means to describe any thing as existing in a degree before unprecedented. Thus cap. 50, of the second sea-fight between the Corinthians and the Corcyraans, ναυμαχία γὰρ αὕτη Ελλησι πρὸς Ἕλληνας νεῶν πλήθει μεγίστη δὴ τῶν πρὸ ἑαυτῆς γεγένηται. 74, of the reception of Themistocles at Lacedamon, καὶ αὐτὸν διὰ τοῦτο ὑμεῖς δὴ μάλιστα ἐτιμήσατε ἄνδρα ξένον τῶν ὡς ὑμᾶς ἐλθόντων. V. 60, of the army collected by the Lacedænonians in the vale of Nemea, στρατόπεδον γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο κάλλιστον ̔Ελληνικὸν τῶν μέχρι τοῦδε ξυνῆλθεν, as vii. 56, of the two armies before Syracuse, ἔθνη γὰρ πλεῖστα δὴ ἐπὶ μίαν πόλιν ταύτην ξυνῆλθεν. In vi. 31, of the embarkation of the Athenian armament for Sicily, the construction is somewhat varied: παρασκευὴ γὰρ αὕτη πρώτη ἐκπλεύσασα μιᾶς πόλεως δυνάμει Ελληνικῇ πολυτελεστάτη δὴ καὶ εὐπρεπεστάτη τῶν εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ἐγένετο. Sometimes, though rarely, d is omitted; we cannot at this moment refer to an instance.

III. ibid. τὰ γὰρ πρὸ αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ ἔτι παλαιότερα, σαφῶς μὲν εὑρεῖν διὰ χρόνου πλῆθος ἀδύνατα ἦν, ἐκ δὲ τεκμηρίων, &c. There is certainly a difficulty in this passage,-to our conceptions at least. Τὰ πρὸ αὐτῶν must necessarily include the wars with Persia, whatever else it implies ; and how could it be said of these, σαφώς εὑρεῖν διὰ χρόνου πλῆθος ἀδύνατα ἦν ? Unless, indeed, the greater facilities for transmitting information from one age to another, which now exist, have rendered us less sensible of the disadvantages of earlier times in this particular, and the comparatively imperfect communication which existed between a generation and those