ara, which gives name to a tribe, lay near to the northern Bautisus, and eastward from its fource; on the Olanmuren river, therefore, and probably in Kofhotey. Rhofoche lay much farther eaft in the fame latitude. I know not where to feek it. Paliana and Abragana were both on the banks of the northern Bautifus and in Kofhotey. Togara and Daxata were both in the middle of the province Shienfi, and probably near the Hoa-ho; for all thefe places were in a fouth-eaft line towards the bend of the Bautifus, and towards Sera, the metropolis. Orofana lay near the fource of the fouthern Bautifus, or the Haramuren. Ottorakorra along the course of the fame river near its easterly bend, and to the north of the diftrict to which and to whofe inhabitants it gives its name. Solana was more eastward: I know not where. Sera, the capital, was at fome diftance from the fouth bend of the Bautifus. If Ptolemæus means, by this fouth Tons, the contiguous river Hoa-ho, this Sera can be no other than Singan-fu, which is at some distance from its fouthern evolution-but, if he knew of the bow of the Hoang-ho, it must be placed more eastward at Honan. The firft feems to be more probable, as Ptolemæus appears ignorant of the eastern courfe of the river, and may well have miflaken a part of the Hoa-ho for a continuation of his Bautifus; and alfo as Singan-fu is named as a former metropolis of the north-weft parts of China. Sera was the easternmost resort of the merchants; and beyond it Ptolemæus knows nothing. Hiftorical Account of Sculpture. From Falconer's chronological Iables; beginning with the reign of Solomon, and ending with the Death of Alexander the Great. ALL the ancient writers have agreed in dividing it into two periods, the latter of which begins with the age of Phidias. Strabo afcertains thefe ages very exa&ly, tho' rather foreign to his fubject; for, in defcribing the temples of Ephefus, there are fome which he calls ancient, and in these were şλaía ava antique wooden figures. In the other temples, built, de rog trigor, in after-times, he tranfgreffes from his ufual form, and defcribes three ftatues in particular, which were probably of the age of Phidius and Scopas. Pliny and Paufanias abound in examples of this divifion of the periods. The former, when difcourfing of Myron, fays, "capillum non emendatius feciffe quam rudis antiquisas inftituiffet." This "rudis antiquitas" means what is termed the age of Dædalus and his scholars, who improved but little on the models brought from Egypt. However, as we have fome dates in Pliny, which fix the progreflion of this art with tolerable accuracy, we fhall briefly touch on the hiftory of this period from the earlieft times; though the vague, and nearly fabulous relations, of Dadalus form fome embarrassment in fixing the commencement of this æra. Diodorus Siculus and Paufanias agree in fuppofing there was an artift of that name who worked for Minos in Crete, and built a labyrinth at Gnoffus, of which no veftige was left in the time of Auguftus. Homer, in his 18th Iliad, does mention a Axídaños, who formed formed a dance for Ariadne; but, as he uses the fame word, a few lines after, adjectively, to fignify artificially made, he might mean by the former no more than what the word imports, an ingenious artist. Euftathius interprets Homer as meaning that Daedalus only invented the dance itself, and not that he worked it in either wood, ftone, or metal. The ftatues of Dædalus, mentioned by Paufanius, were all of wood, and refembled, as we may fuppofe, the Egyptian; for Philofiratus fays, that the ftatue of Memnon was formed with the feet joined together, and the arms refting on the feat, after the manner of cutting figures in the age of Dadalus. Such was probably the figure of Minerva in Troy, mentioned in the 6th Iliad, which feems to have been in a fitting pofture. We have no remains of thefe rude ages; but the forms of the Juno of Samos, carved by Smilis of Ægina, faid to be contemporary with Dædalus, and that of the Diana of Ephefus, by the hand of Endæus, or Endyus, a pupil of Daedalus, are preferved on the medals of their refpective cities. These reprefentations gave a very unfavourable idea of the Dædalean age; yet we have no reafon to doubt their authenticity, for the artifts of polished times would never have difgraced their coinage with fuch uncouth figures, had they not been exact refemblances of objects made venerable by fuperftition. Some more of thefe wooden ftatues are described as exifting at Thebes, Lehaden, Delos, and Crete, to the reign of Hadrian. They were nearly deftroyed by age; and yet Paufanius, tired by religious and antiquarian enthufiafin, could find in them fomething divine; but what it was he does not explain. Some other of thefe ftatues were plated with gold, and their faces painted red, viz. two of Bacchus, in the forum of Corinth; which gives us but an indifferent idea of the taste of that period. The Venus of Delos had only a head and arms, with a quadrangular bafis inftead of feet; which fhews that thefe fculptors had improved but little on the rude ages of Greece, when unhewn flones, or at beft cut into a quadrangular form, were the only emblems of their divinities. Yet even these figures, I think, were not introduced into European Greece till after the days of Homer. The name of Dedalus was. we know, given to artifis long after the Athenian Dædalus is fuppofed to have flourished, Paufanias himself mentions one of Sicyon of that name, which he feems to confound with the Dedalus mentioned by Homer. Dipoenus and Scyllus, according to Pliny, were the founders of the fchool of fculpture in Sicyon, and were the firft who were celebrated for carving in marble. They flourished, fays the fame author, in the 50th Olympiad, which is very probable; for at that period, the fiates of Greece were beginning to cultivate their talents, and to lettle a form of government. Paufanius, by a ftrange anachronitm of above 400 years, fays, that Dipenus and Scyllis were the fons of that very Daedalus who lived fo long in Crete. Pliny indeed fays, they were Cretans by birth, but that they fettled at Sicyon. Is it not then more likely that they were inftructed long after by DaHh 3 dalus dalus Sicyonius, and that the identity of names was the fource of the error? However celebrated thefe artifts were for marble sculpture, yet the moft noted performances from their hands were cut in ebenus, a fort of lignum vitæ, with pieces of ivory interfperfed; a practice much improved afterwards. Tectæus and Angelion were the fcholars of Diponus; they carved the Apollo at Delos, and Callon, their pupil, the statue of Minerva Sthenias, in the citadel of Athens, about the 63d Olympiad. The other memorable pupils of this fohool were Theocles and Doriclydas, both Lacedemonians, whofe works were to be feen, as Paufanius informs us, in his time at Elis. The fchool of Chios, formed by Malas about the fame time with that of Sicyon, or probably before, was ftill more noted. Bupalus and Authermus carved well in the 60th Olympiad; fome of whofe works had a place in the palace of Auguftus Cæfar. Yet even in this period we are uncertain whether the Greeks knew the art of cafting ftatues in metal. The oldeft, brafs ftatue known in Greece was one of Jupiter, in the Chalciecos and Laconia, in which the limbs had been feparately formed, and then nailed together; yet this imperfect ellay was afcribed to Learchus, a fcholar of Dipanus, who muft have lived about the 53d or 54th Olympiad. So little was this art known in the fchool of Sicyon, when it was celebrated for marble feulpture. About the 63d Olympiad, we find the name of Rhecus and Theodorus, both of Samos, the fame who built the temple of Juno, in the reign of Polycrates, and practifed the art of cafting statues with fuccefs. Paulus Hence, I think, the fchools of Sicyon and Chios divide this period into two parts. The Dædalean, or barbarous age, ceafes in the 50th Olympiad; the middle age, which gave better forms to the buman figure, but not the laft polith; nor an exact reprefentation of the minuter parts, may be extended to the 83d Olympiad; when the great genius of Phidias broke out at once in full luftre in the Jupiter at Olympia, and the Minerva at Athens. Paufanias has defcribed the former of thefe with great accuracy; and Livy the hiftorian, with a fublimity of expreflion almost equal to the ideas of the artift, points out in a few words, its effect on the beholder. Æmilius, fays that invaluable writer, travelling through Greece, entered the temple to furvey the coloflal fiatue; when Jovem velut præfentem intuens, motus animo eft. It is generally known that this figure was compofed of ivory, and ornamented with gold, a practice of great antiquity in the Eaft; but few confider the difficulty of executing a grand idea with fo minute materials. If any other graces were ftill wanting in fculpture, the kill of Praxiteles and Lyfippus gave those finished touches which produced fublimity in fmall figures without diminithing their elegance. Such was fculpture in the days of Alexander. Some fpecimens of this æra are moft probably even now to be seen at Rome and Florence, viz. the Medicean Venus, the Hercules Farnese, and the Beviderian Apollo. The great to you concerning my taking the feals from the chancellor, of which you muft needs have heard all the paffages, as he would not fuffer it to be done fo privately as I intended it. The truth is, his behaviour and humour was growne fo infupportabe to myfelf, and to all the world elfe, that I could not longer endure it; and it was impoffible for me to live with it, and doe thofe things with the parliament which must be done, or the government will be loft. When I have a better opportunity for it, you fhall know many particulars that have inclined me to this re folution, which already feems to be well liked in the world, and to vifible have given a real and amendment to my affairs. This is an argument too big for a letter; fo I add but this word to it, to affure you, that your former friendfh p to the chancellor thall not doe you any prejudice with me, and that I have not in the leaft degree diminished that value and kindnefs I ever had for you; which I thought fit to fay to you upon this occafion, because it is very poffible malicious people may fuggeft the contrary to you. MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS, From On the Influence of Cold upon the Health of the Inhabitants of London. the Philofophical Tranfactions. THE extraordinary mildness of laft January, compared with the unufual feverity of the January preceding, affords a peculiarly favourable opportunity of obferving the effect of each of these seasons contrafted with each other. For of thefe two fucceffive' winters, one has been the coldest, and the other the warmest, of which any regular account has ever been kept in this country. Nor is this by any means an idle fpeculation, or matter of mere curiofity; for one of the firft fteps towards preferving the health of our fellow-creatures, is to point out the fources from which difeafes are to be apprehended. And what may make the prefent inquiry more particularly ufeful, is that the refult, as I hope clearly to make pear by the following statements, is entirely contrary to the prejudices ufually entertained upon this fubject. ap During faft January, nothing was more common than to hear expreffions of the unfeatonableness of the weather; and fears leaft the want of the ufual degree of cold, fhould be productive of putrid difeafes, and I know not what other caufes of mortality. On the other hand," a bracing cold," and "a clear frost," are familiar in the mouth of every Englishman; and what he is taught to with for, as among the greatest promoters of health and vigour. Whatever deference be due to received opinions, it appears to me however from the ftrongest evidence, that the prejudices of the world are upon this point at least unfounded. The average degrees of heat upon Fahrenheit's thermometer kept in London during the month of January 1795, was 23° in the morning, and 29°.4 in the afternoon. The average in January 1796, was 43.5 in the morning, and 50°.1 in the afternoon. A difference of above twenty degrees! And if we turn our attention from the comparative coldness of thefe months, to the correfponding healthiness of each, collected from the weekly bills of mortality, we shall find the refult no lefs remarkable. For in five weeks between the 31st of December 1794 and the 3d of February 1795, the whole number of burials amounted to 2823; and in an equal period of five weeks between the 30th of December 1795 and the 2d of February 1796, to 1471. So that the excefs of the mortality in January 1795 above that of January 1796, was not less than of 1352 perfons. A number fufficient furely to awa ken |