which arifes from his fometimes leaving a fubject in which he had made fome progress, and his reconfidering and difcuffing it at a future period. ART. III. Hiftoire de Academie Royale des Infcriptions et Belles Lettres, &c. The Hiftory of the Royal Academy of Infcriptions and Belles Lettras, from the Year 1764 to the Year 1766 inclufive. Vols. 34, 35continued. I N our laft Appendix we gave an account of a few articles contained in the historical part of the thirty-fourth volume of this work; the other articles, in this department, none of which are very interefting, are upon the following fubjects, viz. the refpect which the Romans entertained for religion--the true extent and figure of the Lacus Afphaltites, or Dead Sea, by M. D'Anville-the neceffity of citations in works of erudition, and the manner in which the ancients introduced their quotations, by M. Burigny-on Marius Bishop of Avranches, author of the moft ancient chronicle of France, by the Baron Zur-Laubenon the two laft French tranflations of Virgil, viz. that by Abbè des Fontaines, and that published by Defaint and Saillant in 1751-on the Abbè de Foy's Notice des Diplomes, by the Ba ron Zur-Lauben. The hiftorical part of the thirty-fourth volume is followed by the Eloges of Count D'Argenfon, Count Caylus, and M. Le Beau, jun. all of them curious and entertaining: but as the character of Count Caylus is known to almost all who either are, or pretend to be, judges of the fine arts, it cannot fail of proving agreeable to our Readers to learn fome of the principal circumftances of his life. We fhall therefore prefent them with the fubftance of what is contained in his Eloge. Count Caylus was defcended from a very ancient and noble family; he was born at Paris in October 1692. The Count, his father, was particularly attentive to his fon's health, in his earliest years, and did every thing in his power to make his conftitution hardy and robuft; in which he perfectly fucceeded. The Countefs, his mother, who was nearly related to Madam Maintenon, and whofe amiable qualities rendered her the orna ment of the court, was at great pains to improve his underftanding and his heart; and no perfon was better qualified for fuch a task. She infpired her fon with the love of truth, juftice, and generofity, and with the nicest fentiments of honour. The amiable qualities and talents of the mother appeared in the fon, but they appeared with a bold and military air: in his natural temper and difpofition he was gay and fprightly, had a tafte for pleasure, a strong paffion for independence, and an invincible averfion averfion to the fervitude of a court, though unalterably attached to the perfon of his Prince. After finishing his exercifes, he entered into the corps of the Mufquetaires, and in his firft campaign, in the year 1709, he diftinguished himself, by his valour, in such a manner, that the King commended him in the pretence of all the court, and rewarded his merit with an enfigncy in the Gendarmerie. In 1;11 he commanded a regiment of dragoons, which was called by his own name; and he fignalized himself at the head of it in Catalonia. In 1713 he was at the fiege of Fribourg, where he was exposed to imminent danger in the bloody attack of the covered way. Had he been dispofed to enter into the views of his family, the favour of Madam Maintenon, and his own perfonal merit, could not fail to have raised him to the highest honours; but the peace of Raftadt left him in a state of inacti vity, ill fuited to his natural vivacity. He travelled into Italy, and his curiofity was much excited by the wonders of that country, where antiquity, though bu ried, is ftill fruitful, and rifes fometimes from her tomb, to give birth to artists, and, by a happy imitation, to produce new models. The eyes of the Count were not yet learned, but they were ftruck with the fight of fo many beauties, and foon became acquainted with them. After a year's abfence, he returned to Paris, with fo ftrong a paffion for travelling, and for antiquities, as induced him to quit the army. About eight months after, he fet out for the Levant. When he arrived at Smyrna, he availed himself of a few days delay, and vifited the ruins of Ephefus. It was in vain that the dangers attending a journey of this kind were represented to him. The formidable Caracayali had put himself at the head of a troop of robbers, and spread confternation over all Natolia. But our Adventurer was fuperior to fear; and bethought himself of a ftratagem which fucceeded. Having procured a mean garb, and taking nothing with him that could attract attention, or tempt any robber, he put himself under the protection of two of Caracayali's band, who had come to Smyrna. He made an agreement with them; but they were to have no money till they returned. As they had an intereft in protecting and taking care of him, never were guides more faithful. They introduced him, with his interpreter, to their chief, who received him very gracioufly, and even affifted him in gratifying his curiofity. The chief informed him that, at no great diftance, there were ruins worthy of being vifited, and accommodated him with a pair of fine Arabian horfes. The Count was not long in finding these ruins they were thofe of Colophon. He was particu larly ftruck with the remains of a theatre, the feats of which being fcooped out of a hill that looks towards the fea, the spec tator, tator, befide the pleasure of the representation, enjoyed a delightful profpect The next day he examined the fite of the an-. cient Ephefus. I fhall fay nothing of the condition in which he found this city, and the famous temple of Diana; he has given an account of them himself in one of his memoirs, from which I fhall beg leave to quote one paffage only. The fight of the ruins of Ephefus, and of the pillars which the Turks have cut, iawed, disfigured, and placed in their hou es and mofques, without any order or regularity, produced the fame effect upon my mind, fays he, as the greatest number of the modern explanations of ancient monuments would produce upon the mind of a fenfible inhabitant of ancient Greece, were he to come to life again.— But, in my opinion, the cottages of the Turks, fo wretchedly built with the finest ornaments of ancient architecture, afford a more striking reprefentation of those compofitions, both in verfe and profe, in which the rich inventions of the ancients are mutilated, difplaced, and disfigured by an aukward and abfurd imitation. He paffed the ftreights of the Dardanelles, to indulge himself with a view of those plains, which make so rich and beautiful an appearance in Homer's poems. He did not expect to meet with any veftiges of ancient Ilium; but he flattered himfelf with the hopes of walking on the banks of the Xanthus and the Simois: these rivers, however, had difappeared. The vallies of Mount ida, drenched with the blood of fo many heroes, were now a dreary wafte, scarce affording nourishment to a few puny oaks, whofe branches crept upon the ground, and died almost as soon as they appeared. Here he put an end to his researches in the Levant. The tenderness of a mother, who was conftantly foliciting his return, checked his curiofity, and he returned to his native country in February 1717. When he had finished his travels, and became fedentary, his mind was no lefs active, for he applied himself to mufic, drawing, and painting. He wrote too, but it was only for the amufement of his friends; he had fire and fpirit, but did not aim at correctness or elegance of fty e. In order to judge of the works of art, he had that taste, that inftinct fuperior to ftudy, furer than reafoning, and more rapid than reflection; his first coup d'œil fuldom betrayed him, and he feized, at one glance, the beauties and defects of every piece. In 1731, he was received into the Roval Academy of painting and fculpture, as an Honoraire-Amateur. Count Caylus, who loved to realize titles, fpared neither his labour, nor his credit, nor his fortune, to inftruct, affift, and animate the artists. He wrote the lives of the most celebrated painters and engravers that have done honour to this illuitrious Academy; and in order "to extend the limits of the art, which feemed to him to move in too narrow a circle, he collected, in three different works, new fubjects for the painter, which he had met with in the works of the Antients. I leave it to the artifts to pronounce upon the utility of thefe collections, and to determine whether the beau tiful images of a Virgil and a Homer are all of them fit to appear upon canvas or in marble. The zeal of writers, who propofe to inftruct mankind, is not always difinterested; they pay themselves for their inftructions by the reputation which they expect to derive from them. Count Caylus did not defpife this noble recompence, but he loved the arts on their own account, as plainly appeared from the many private inftances of his generofity to those who were poffeffed of talents, but were not the favourites of fortune: he even searched for fuch in those retreats where indigence kept them in obfcurity. He anticipated their wants, for he had few himself; the whole of his luxury confifted in his liberality. Though his income was much inferior to his rank, he was rich for the artifts; and when, towards the close of his life, his fortune was increased by that of his uncle, the Duke de Caylus, he added nothing to his expence, had no new wants, but employed the whole of his fortune for the benefit of literature and the arts: in a word, he was but their steward, and his generofity was only equalled by that of feveral artifts who acknowledged their 'obligations to him. Befide the prefents which he made, from time to time, to the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, he founded an annual prize in it for fuch of the pupils as fhould fucceed best in drawing, or modeling a head after nature, and in giving the trueft expreffion of the characteristical features of a given paffion. He encouraged the ftudy of anatomy and perfpective by handfome rewards; and if he had lived longer, he would have executed the defign which he had formed of founding a new prize in favour of those who fhould apply themselves with most success to these two essential branches of the art. Such was his paffion for antiquity, that he wifhed to have had it in his power to bring the whole of it to life again. He faw, with regret, that the works of the antient painters, which have been difcovered in our times, are effaced and deftroyed almost as soon as they are drawn from the fubterraneous manfions where they were buried. A happy chance furnished him with the means of fhewing us the compofition and the colouring of the pictures of antient Rome. The coloured drawings, which the famous Pietro-Sante-Bartoli had taken at Rome, from aatique paintings, happened to fall into his hands. He had them engraved, and before he enriched the King's cabinet with them, gave an edition of them at his own expence. It is perhaps the 8 moft moft extraordinary book of antiquities that will ever appear. The whole is painted with a precifion and a purity that is inimitable; we fee the liveliness and freshness of colouring that charmed the eyes of the Cæfars. There were only thirty copies published; and there is no reason to expect that there will ever be any more. What will, hereafter, be the value of thefe admirable copies, the faithful monuments of ancient painting, in all its grace and beauty! Count Caylus was engaged, at the fame time, in another enterprize, ftill more honourable for the Roman grandeur, and more interefting to the French nation. In the laft age Des Godetz, under the aufpices of Colbert, publifhed the Antiquities of Rome*. The work was admired by all Europe, and those nations that are moft jealous of our glory, fhewed the opinion they entertained of its merit by their attempts to imitate it. This gave birth to that indefatigable emulation, which, in our days, carried able and ingenious travellers to Spalatro, Balbec, and even to the burning fands of Palmyra, in order to vifit the famous ruins of fo many magnificent buildings, and to prefent them to our view. It is this that has made us fpectators of the monuments of Athens, that mother of learning, of arts, and of fciences; where, in fpite of the injuries of time and barbarifm, fo many illuftrious fculptors and architects ftill live in the ruins of their edifices, in like manner as fo many incomparable authors ftill breathe in the valuable fragments that remain of their writings. The fame Colbert had formed the defign of engraving the Roman antiquities that are ftill to be feen in our fouthern provinces. By his orders, Mignard, the architect, had made drawings of them, which Count Caylus had the good fortune to recover. He refolved to finifh the work projected by Colbert, and to dedicate it to the memory of that great minifter; and fo much had he this glorious enterprize at heart, that he was employed in it during his laft illness, and recommended it warmly to M. Mariette. The project will be faithfully executed. Almoft all the plates are already engraved; and if no unforeseen obftruction arifes, the work will be finifhed with a precifion and beauty that will leave no advantage to foreign nations. An able architect is now upon the fpot, employed by M. Mariette in meafuring thofe edifices which efcaped former refearches, and in verifying the drawings of Mignard. The confidence which all Europe placed in the knowledge and taste of Count Caylus, has contributed to decorate and embellifh it. The powers of the North have more than once * See a tranflation of this work into English, in Review, vol. xlvi. p. 140. APP. Rev. Vol. xlvi. N n confulted |