there is forgivenefs with God for impenitent finners, and a hope that we are forgiven fupplies the place of that effectual calling which was effential to the apoftolical fcheme. I perfuade myself, dear Sir, you will ex- Mr URBAN, Dresden, May 8, 1765. A here from the Abbe Winckleman to Count Bruhl, chamberlain to the King of Poland, upon the discoveries that have been made at Herculaneum, which contains fo many curious particulars, that I cannot forbear fending you fome account of it for the entertainment of the Literati on your fide of the water. The Abbe Winckleman is antiquarian to the Pope, and has acquired great reputation in Italy. His letter was written in the German language, but it is a French tranflation that has been published. It is divided into four parts: The first treats of the places that have been fwallowed up by Mount Vesuvius; the fecond, of the land that has been gained by its eruptions; the third of the difcoveries that have been made, and the manner of fearching the ruins; and the fourth contains fome new remarks on the subject. According to Strabo, Herculaneum was fituated on a neck of land which ran out into the fea, and was expofed o the winds that (wept the coat of Africa; and Mr Winckleman obferves, that being nearly on a level with the fea, the water must have been raised and not the ground funk, as appears by the buildings ftill remaining in their original position. The cities that fuffered a common fate with Herculaneum were Refina, or Retina, Pompeii, and Stabia. It is his opinion that Herculaneum was not buried under the lava, or a torrent of fire, produced by the liqui faction of ftones of various kinds, but that it was firft covered with ashes, and then with water; that he athes C Ꭰ E F G were fo hot as to burn the timber upon the ground into charcoal, and that the city being firft buried in these ashes, and afterwards flooded by an inundation, was at length covered by the lava, which formed a kind of cruft over all, which did not happen either to Pompeii or Stabia, to which the lava did not reach, and which are therefore covered only with a kind of light afhes, fuch as is found under the lava at Herculaneum. As very few dead bodies have been found among the ruins, it is probable that the inhabitants had time to efcape; and as few moveables of value have been found, the whole confifting of fome gold medals, and engraved ftones, it is also probable that they had fufficient time to carry off their effects. By the fubftances dug up at Pompeij it appears to have fuffered by former eruptions of the volcano, for the city that is buried by one eruption feems to have been built upon the burnt earth and fcorea thrown out by another: The streets alfo, as well as thofe of Herculaneum, are paved with large fragments of the lava. It appears by the following infcription that the Romans had dug into the ruins of Herculaneum : SIGNA TRANSLATA EX ABDITIS LOCIS AD CELEBRITATEM THERMARUM SEVERIANARUM AUDENTIUS SEMILIANUS V. C. CON. CAMP. CONSTITUIT DEDICARIQUE PRECEPIT CURANTE T. ANNONIO CRYSANTIOV.P About the meaning of this infcription the learned are not agreed; fome think it relates to the baths of Septimus Severus, others of Alexander Severus, but however this be it proves to a demonflration that the Romans dug at Herculaneum, and that the excavations were afterwards forgotten. The modern difcovery of Herculaneum was occafioned by the finking a well for the Prince d'Elbeuf, at a little distance from his houfe: The work having been carried on to the natural mould, they found, under the ashes of Vefuvius, three large ftatues of women covered with drapery. This difcovery put a stop to the digging, and it was not thought of for more than thirty years. After the King of Spain ob tained the poffeffion of Naples, it was Hit was left to the care of an engineer, undertaken again, but unfortunately who knew nothing about antiquities. In the process of the work the labourers difcovered the theatre, and an an infcription by which it appeared to The fuccefs of the fearch for antiquities in the ruins of Herculaneum, produced fearches of the fame kind at Stabia and Pompeii; but Mr Winckleman confines his account chiefly to the difcoveries at Herculaneum, the principal of which is the theatre. C D This building had 18 rows of feats, each feat being four palms wide, and one palm high. Thefe feats are of earth, and a portico is raised above them, under which there are three other rows of feats; between the lower feats there is a flight of feven steps to accommodate the fpectators in getting to their places, and the lower feat de- E fcribes a femi-circle of fixty-two palms in diameter; whence it follows that the theatre would contain thirty thoufand five hundred perfons, exclufive of thofe in the arena. F The pavement was of yellow antique marble, and the portico, with its cornice of white marble: At the top of the theatre there was a car drawn by four horfes, of bronze, and a figure in the car, of bronze, gilt. This was thrown down and broken by the earthquake, but as all the parts remained, it might eafily have been repaired. So little care, however, was G taken of this curious and valuable piece of antiquity, that they threw it in fragments as they found it, into a cart, and fent it to Naples, where they fhot it, like rubbish, in a corner of the court before the castle. They perceived, however, at length, that fome perfons thought these fragments of value, because they were frequently ftolen: They then determi A palm is three inches, H ned to do honour to what remained, in which they acted with equal tafte and propriety: They melted down the greater part of it, and caft two bufts of the king and queen. Near the theatre was a temple, which is fuppofed to have been dedicated to Hercules: The walls of it were intirely covered with paintings, from which prints have been taken, and are to be found in the first volume of the paintings of Herculaneum. This temple and the theatre ftood in the publick fquare, where the equestrian ftatues of the elder and younger Nonius Balbus were alfo difcovered: At a mall diftance from this place was a villa, or country feat, in which were found many manufcripts, paintings, bufts in bronze, and a fine pavement of African marble. M. Winckleman speaks also of a small temple difcovered at Pompeii, in which there were feveral paintings, and of a villa that was difcovered at Stabia or Greganno. He proceeds to give an account of feveral curiofities, which are preferved in the cabinet at Portici, and which he divides into two claffes. The first confits of utensils, paintings, and fculptures. The fecond of manufcripts. He reckons up more than a thoufand paintings, fome large and fome fmall, the greater part painted in water colours, the reft in fresco, and many of them of exquisite workmanship, and indeed if the paintings on the walls of houfes were worthy the attention of an artift, we may reafonably fuppofe that the pieces intended as furniture were excellent; four pieces were found at Stabia, which are most elaborately finished. But one Guerra, a Venetian painter, of no great abilities, has painted a great number of pieces which he has fraudulently pretended to have been dug up at this place, at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and has fold them to foreigners, that were the dupes of his artifice, at a very high price. Befides the ftatues that have been mentioned already, there is one of the mother of Nonius Balbus; there is a Pallas, fuppofed to be a Grecian antique, an Etrufcan Diana, and a fatyr. Thefe curiofities, which are placed in the vaults of the caftle, are not to be feen without an order from the king: The largelt ftatues in bronze reprefent emperors and empreffes; the rest are figures of women and divinities. A. 1 Among the bus of marble there is an Archimedes, and a very fine Agrippina he elder; Ime of them are known by the names written under them, particularly an Epicurus, an Hermachus, a Zeno, and two Demofthenes, and there are multitudes of pieces lefs confiderable. They are written but on one fide, and in columns about four fingers wide, each column containing from 20 to 40 lines; There is a white space between each column, about a finger's breadth A wide, and the columns have been divis ded by redlines. They have as yet a pened only four of these rolls which, by a very extraordinary chance, have happened to be works of the fame author: This author is Philodemus of Gadara in Syria, The firft MS is a Dif fertation on Mufick, in which the author endeavours to prove that it is hurtful to the morals of the ftate: The fecond is a Treatise on Rhetoric, in which he confiders the influence of eloquence in the adminiftration of government, and takes occafion to examine the political principles of Epicurus and Hermachus: The third contains the first book of Rhetoric as a SciCence, and the fourth is a Treatise on Vice and Virtue. M. Winckleman having given an account of several infcriptions, mentions fome bread that was found in the fe fubterraneous cities, vales of wine, tripods, lamps, ballances which are all of the feel yard kind, hinges B for doors, and many other utenfils, The great variety of things that have been difcovered by digging in these ruins, prove the ancients made no utenfil or convenience in the form which we give them at prefent. The author gives a very particular account of the manufcripts; he defcribes the manner and fituation in which they were difcovered, the fubjects on which they are written, their form and ftate of prefervation, the fhape and fize of the characters, and the method taken to unroll them. When these manufcripts were first difcovered, they were taken for pieces of wood burnt to a coal; many were broken to pieces and thrown among the rubith; but at laft the order in which they were placed excited a more particular attention, and then the characters were discovered. They were found in a mall apartment of the vil la of Herculaneum, rolled up, enclofed in cabinets, and wrapped up in paper of a thicker and ftronger fort than that which was infcribed. They collected them all together, and found that they amounted to one thoufand, the greatest part of which are preserved in the cabinet of Portici. The number that was broken to pieces and thrown among the ruins is confiderable. M. Winckleman in his account of thefe manufcripts, which are written on the Papyrus, or Reed of Egypt, takes occafion to make feveral obfervations upon that plant. F G Moft of thefe MSS are about a palm high, but fome are two, and, others three: They are rolled up, and many of them are about four fingers thick. They form cylinders, therefore, four fingers diameter, and from one to three palms long. The greater part & of them are dry and fhrivelled. They confift of many leaves, very thin, joined together at the ends, and are furnished with a fmall roller, on which they were roiled off as they were read. The firft MS confifts of four columns, and it is to palms long; the fecond is in yo columns, and is long in proportion. The outward leaf of each MS is loft, but fortunately the title, which ought to be at the beginning, is repeated at the end: All the words are written in capital letters, and feparated neither by points nor commas, nor is there any mark to indicate the divifion of a word, when one part of it happens to be at the end of a line, and the reft at the beginning of another. Over fome words there are marks which are now entirely unknown, and the form of the letters is very different from the common idea of the writing of ancient times; the omega, for example, in the middle of great letters, is made thus w. from whence it follows that the custom of mixing it in this manner with capital letters is more ancient than is generally imagined. The characters diftinguifhed by a particular form are A. A E. AM. P. and a. The figma is always round C. Over fome letters there are accents and points, of which the ufe is now totally unknown. As to the ink and pens of the ancients, it is fuppofed that the ink was not fo fluid as ours, and that there was no vitriol in the compofition; their pens were of wood, or reed cut in the fame hape as ours, the nib equally Jong, but without a fit; feveral of thefe pens have been found in the ruins, and fome tablets, covered with a coat of wax. As the manufcripts are unrolled, which is a very tedious and difficult operation, they are copied with the utmott exactnefs: They are very defirous of finding some that are hiftorical, and those that are not written on interefting fubjects are laid by. Fa A ther Anthony Piaggi, a Genoese, who contrived how to unroll them, and is employed to copy them as they are unrolled, propofed to engrave and publish them as the work is carrying on, and he had himself etched one column of the firft manufcript with great accuracy, but the members of the aca- B demy would not fuffer him to proceed because he was a foreigner, and the defign of publishing them feems to be now wholly laid aside. M. Winckleman concludes his letter by a defcription of the manner in which thefe curious remains of antiquity are ranged in the Mufeum allotted for their reception; and he gives a particular defcription of almost every article, by which it appears that he has not only feen them, but examined them with much more attention than thofe by whom former accounts have been written. C D the martyrdom of St Cyprian, who fuffered at Nicomedia under the Emperor Dioclefan, and who ought to be diftinguished from the celebrated bihop of Carthage. Photius gives the plan of this poem in his Bibliotheca, The prefent King of Spain has inAtituted an academy confilting of 15 members, to explain and defcribe the rarities in this collection, and they meet once a week at the Marquis Tanmucci's, the fecretary of state. They prefented to this nobleman, fome time E ago, an explanation of the firit volume of the MSS that had been unrolled, but he found it fo diffuse, and fo loaded with learned impertinence, that he took the trouble of retrenching the fuperfluities himself, and it is to be ho ped that care will be taken for the future more effectually to avail the world of the great expence which his majefty is at to carry on this undertaking. Some Account of a work lately printed at Florence in three Volumes oftavo, entitled Græciæ Ecclefiæ vetera monu F and tells us that it confifted of three books: The two firft are printed in this collection with a Latin version in verfe, written by M. Sarti, who is jointly concerned with Bandini in this work. 3. An homily upon the repentance of Nineveh, attributed to St Chryfoftom, but probably the work of fome other ancient writer. 4. A fermon of Anafafius Sinaïtus, in which there is an history of the dif pute concerning the works and volitions of Jefus Chrift; this is a fequel to two others, which were laft printed in 1615 with the works of St Gregory of Nice. 5. An ancient table of the divifions of the chapters of the octateuch, as it ftood in a fine MS of the tenth century. 6. The form of abjuration of the Albinganes, which is not found in the Eucologia published by Goar, nor any other. 7. Tranflations in Latin verse of fome epigrams of St Gregory Nazianzen, which were publifhed by Muratori in his anecdotes with a verfion in profe. These translations in verse are by M. Salvini, who has corrected many errors in Muratori's edition of the original. 8. A particular account of a MS containing many polemic & historical works of Johan Cantacuzen es against the heretics Palamus, Barlaam, and Acindinus. 9. A poem in praise of the emperor Joban Paleologus, written by one John, a deacon of Conftantinople, whom Montfaucon calls Orefiades, taking the name of the monaftry to which he belonged for the name of the man. menta, Antient Monuments of G pofition of Job, which, except fome 10. An extract of St Chryfoftom's ex the Greek Church.' HIS collection is made from MSS Bandini librarian to his imperial Majefty, and contains the following articles : 1. A letter of the Emperor Juftini. H an against Theodore de Mopjuefies, the letter of iba, and the books of Theodoret against the Catholic Faith. 2. The two first books of the poem written by the Empress Eudoxia upon fragments published with the Daimony of Nicetas upon the fame book by Junius in 1637, has never been printed. 11. A very particular account of a MS containing the treasure of the Or The Albinganes differed very little, if at all from the Melchifedicians, fo called becaut they denied the divinity of fus Chrift, and pretended that he was inferior to Mtkeyjedte: Theodofius the banker was the author of this herty, and forthat reason, those who adopted it were also called Theadchans. thodox Faith, written by Nicetas Chonia- 12. An analysis of the Chriftian topography of Cofmas Indicopieufies, pubfifhed by Montfaucon, with many hif- B torical particulars concerning that author, who wrote many pieces, of which the greater number are loft. 13. A fermon upon St Mary Magdalen, written by Nicephorus Calixtus, furnamed the Thucydides of the church. 14. Another sermon upon the Syni-C caftes I, fuppofed to have been written by St Bafil, but never publifhed. 15. Another table or the divifions of the books of the Old Tefiament, more extenfive than that mentioned above. 16. A (mall treatife of the four rivers of Paradife, in which, among other whimsical fancies, the anonymous D author fuppofes the river Pon to be the Danube. 17. A curious account of a manufcript containing many Afcetic and moral works of S. S. P. P. fome of which have never been published, 18. A short piece in Iambic verfe, in honour of Theodoret, bifhop of Cyr. 19. An account of a MS containing a harmony of the prophets, a work of great importance, which has never been publifhed; it is imputed to the celebrated St Hyppolitus, bishop and martyr, and feveral fragments are here published, which Fabricius has not in Terted in his excellent edition, of the works of that writer. 20. Extracts from another MS containing lives of feveral laints, and fome works of St John Chryfoftome. 21. An analysis of a commentary on the fourteen prayers of St Gregory Nazianzen, extracted from the works of feveral of the fathers, by Bafil the younger of Cefarea, with an epittle dedicatory to Conflantine Porphyrogenatus. This furname was given him because he was born at Coffee a town of Phrygia, which by the writers of the middle ages was called Chona. E F 22. An account of the work of Arfenius, entitled, Violaria Compofitio, which has been printed at Rome, but from a copy not fo correct as the Florentine manufcript; with an epiftle from the author to Leo the Tenth, and an alphabetical lift of all the writers cited in the work. The editor of thefe volumes has enriched his work with many prefatory obfervations and critical notes on the pieces he has published, and the authors by whom they were written. Mr URBAN, L OOKING fome time fince into an octavo book published by W. Derham, F.R.S. the title is, Philofophical Experiments and Obfervations of the late eminent Dr Robert Hooke, &c. at P. 302, I found a very imperfect account of a wheel barometer of Hooke's, the index of which was not confined to one circle, as the common ones are, but pointed to the divifions of a long fpiral line of many revolutions. He is pretty large in its praises, but gives very little light into its mechanism. After fome thinking in what manner it might be done, and confidering the qualities and perfections he attributes to his, I believe I have ftumbled upon the conftruction, and have made one of three revolutions of the fpiral fcale, which performs very well, tho' it might have been made much perfecter if I had chofe to have been at the expence. I have always had a great regard for Hooke's inventions, and thould be glad to have this preferved, by having a place in your Magazine, which otherwife will probably be loft, for I am inclined to think there may be never another in the world, and that it is defcribed no where elfe. If you think the following defcription worth inferting, you are welcome to it. This barometer confifts of a bent tube, open at the lower end, as in the common wheel barometer, and a G poife and counter poife as that hath, one of which (viz. the heavieft) lyes on the furface of the mercury, and the other ferves for the index to point at the divifions of the fpiral fcale; the figure reprefents one of three revolutions, as mine hath; but it is eafy to conceive how the revolutions may AB in be increafed at pleasure. I This name has been given by ecclefiafti. H cal writers to thofe who abufe the principle That to clean confciences all'is c'ean;' and who therefore live promifcucully with women, though unmarried. figure 1. reprefents the tube con. taining the mercury, which, if the ball at the top be pretty large the rife and fall in the end B of this tuhe |