it seems equally certain that the cavern was at least the occasional home of this powerful carnivore, which dragged into his domicile the remains of his brute contemporaries, or made a meal by gnawing the scattered remnants of the human feast. As man, however, could not have shared his home with so undesirable a fellow-lodger, it seems probable that the latter resided there only whilst the former was absent; and when it is remembered that in a climate such as the British a savage population must be necessarily sparse, it will be seen to be not unlikely that hunting expeditions frequently took man considerable distances, and for protracted periods, from his home.

That the cave-earth accumulated gradually and slowly may be inferred from the facts that traces of this alternate tenaucy, large blocks of limestone, and films of stalagmite encrusting stones and bones, or cementing them into a firm concrete, occur at all levels and in all parts of the chamber.

Much of the red earth forming the staple of the cavern deposit may be, perhaps, the earthy residuum of the impure limestone of the district, and especially of the interstratified shale, the calcareous matter having been removed by the action of acidulated water; and a portion of this may have been derived from the interior of the cave itself. It is obvious, however, that at least parts of the deposit were introduced from without, since it contains no inconsiderable amount of material which the cavern hill could not supply, such as pebbles of Devonian grit-probably from an adjacent and loftier hill-quartz, flint, granite, and other Dartmoor rocks, and crystalline schists from the southern angle of the county.

It cannot be supposed that these pebbles were selected by man, as many of them are much too small to serve any useful purpose.

Since there are no open fissures in the roof of the cavern, the materials from the exterior must have been introduced through the lateral entrances, and in all probability by the action of water,—an hypothesis in harmony with the facts that the surface of the deposit is everywhere below the level of the top of the openings, and that some of the bones are rolled.

It may be concluded, too, from the absence of a stratified arrangement of the materials, that the transporting agent was neither the sea nor an engulfed permanent stream, but in all probability an occasional land-flood, which, when the bottom of the valley was but little below the level of the base of the entrances, from time to time entered the cavern. That the sea did not introduce the deposit may be inferred also from its containing no trace of marine organisms.

The acceptance of the foregoing hypothesis renders it necessary to suppose that since the era of the deposit the adjacent valley has been deepened at least 60 feet, either by the excavation of a corresponding amount of hard semi-crystalline limestone, or by the re-excavation of a pre-existent valley which had been filled up with gravel. The hypothesis of excavation is somewhat appalling from the enormous chronological demand which it necessitates, whilst that of re-excava

tion, though perfectly compatible with the most extended antiquity, renders it possible to compress the change of surface-configuration within such moderate time-limits as other related phenomena may require.

It is well known that the valleys of the Bovey and Teign-but a few miles from the cavern-not only existed, but were deeper than at present in early Tertiary times; that at their confluence a lacustrine formation, upwards of 50 fathoms in thickness, was deposited in the Lower Miocene period; that long subsequently a thick accumulation of gravel, consisting mainly of fragments of granite and flint, covered it unconformably, and extended very far beyond it; that denudation has everywhere swept off large portions of this gravel; that on it there lies, on Bovey Heathfield, a white clay containing Betula nana, and other plants betokening a very cold, perhaps a glacial climate; that similar gravels fill pockets and fissures in the limestone of the Torbay district, and reach the height of nearly 300 feet; that from the Teign eastward, all the Devonshire valleys are partially occupied with gravel extending from their lowest level to the summits of the hills which bound them, and have certainly been twice excavated-primarily before, secondarily and less completely, after the gravel period, all the old valleys being re-opened, but not deepened, and no new ones cut, even in comparatively soft Triassic sandstone; that the valley bounding the cavern hill, and on the slopes of which the cavern entrances are situated, was certainly upwards of 200 feet deep prior to the introduction of the cave deposit; and that since that time no appreciable effect has been wrought in the slopes of the cavern hill above the " entrances," since the perforations at their level, drilled by marine lithodomi prior to the era of the cave-earth, instead of being effaced by denudation, are still of considerable depth ;-facts, all of them, harmonizing with the hypothesis of secondary, rather than of primary excavation. The former, moreover, accounts for the presence of the pebbles of distant derivation mixed up with the cavern deposit.

It is occasionally argued that, in consequence of their greater specific gravity, the flint implements may have sunk through a pulpy deposit to a lower level than they would have occupied otherwise, and thus were mixed up with the bones of animals of earlier times. This rejoinder is effectually rebutted by the fact that very large masses of limestone, as well as the flints, occur at all levels, having no other support than that afforded by the deposit. Moreover, the crushed bones lying immediately beneath these masses show that the deposit was compact, unyielding, and capable of offering a firm resistance to even heavy falling bodies.

It has been asserted that the statement of the inosculation of human industrial remains with the bones of extinct animals was accepted by geologists with a haste, and, indeed, an eagerness but little comporting with the gravity of the subject, or with the spirit of philosophy. In reply, it cannot be necessary to do more than to state briefly the history of the Kent's Cavern explorations. But for the strong hand

of scientific authority Mr. McEnery would have published at once his discoveries made forty years since. Mr. Godwin-Austen's paper, in 1840, experienced an undeserved neglect; and in 1847, the Geological Society of London, in the three lines they devoted to Mr. Vivian's paper, declined to do more than to state that during the researches of the committee of the Torquay Natural History Society, "the bones of various extinct species of animals were found in several situations." The statement "that relics of human art were found beneath the unbroken floor of stalagmite" was entirely ignored; and this in a journal which, on its wrapper, announces "that the authors alone are responsible for the facts and opinions contained in their respective papers."

The recent researches in the cavern show that the interrogative objection, "Where are the bones of the implement-makers?" proves nothing, or proves too much. It is true that the committee have not found human remains amongst the implements and the bones of extinct mammals below the stalagmitic floor; but it is also true that they have not been more successful in the black mould above. Pottery, implements and ornaments in metal, bone, and stone, the remnants of man's fires, and the relics of his feasts are numerous, and betoken the lapse of at least two millenniums; but here, as well as below, the only evidences of his existence are the results of his handiwork. No vestige of his osseous system has been met with.

[W. P.]

WEEKLY EVENING MEETING,

Friday, March 2, 1866.

GEORGE SCHARF, Esq. F.S.A.

SECRETARY AND KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY,

On Portraiture: its Fallacies and Curiosities as connected with

English History.

It will scarcely be necessary to enter into details respecting the origin and earliest applications of portraiture. The pages of Pliny, Herodotus, Ælian, and Plutarch afford numerous examples; and for the more modern periods of art, we have but to turn to Vasari, Van Mander, Houbraken, and Ridolfi, to find abundant historical records in continuation. The taste for collecting portraits of eminent persons appears to have prevailed in very early times. Varro, the contemporary of Cicero, compiled an album or collection of 700 biographies, extending from the period of Homer and Hesiod to his own day. These were accompanied by portraits of the respective persons, which he seems to have possessed some peculiar means of reproducing and multiplying at will.

Even at these early times, we learn from Pliny that, when some desirable portrait was not to be met with, artists were already in the habit of composing ideal features to supply the deficiency.

In comparatively recent times the system adopted by Varro was pursued by Paulus Jovius, Bishop of Nocera, who flourished at the beginning of the sixteenth century. He was born in 1483, the same year with Raphael, Rabelais, and Martin Luther. He also formed a large collection of portraits of the most illustrious men of all periods, which he combined with biographical notices, under the denomination of a Musæum. These were afterwards published with woodcut illustrations, having pithy epigramatic sentences under each, in imitation of the system adopted by Pomponius Atticus, the Roman collector. This volume is well known as the 'Elogia of Paulus Jovius,' and deserves especial notice for the spirit and character with which the woodcut portraits have been executed.

This curious collection first suggested to Vasari the commencement of his invaluable volumes, Lives of the Italian Painters,' which were intended originally to illustrate the portraits he had collected, and in which now, clever as they undoubtedly are, the woodcut illustrations hold a very subordinate position. The book was first published in 1550, and a second edition appeared at Florence in 1568. Vasari executed for the Grand-Duke, his patron, an extensive series of actual portraits of the great men who flourished in the time of Cosimo Vecchio, to serve as decorations for the ducal palace at Florence.

The taste of Varro, Jovius, and Vasari, was followed in England by the illustrious John Evelyn, Lord Chancellor Clarendon, and Secretary Pepys, and it is to their exertions that we are indebted for the preservation of many interesting facts relating to portraiture, and for a knowledge of the subjects of some of the finest paintings of that class.

The letters written by John Evelyn. in 1667, to his friend Lord Clarendon, and published in his correspondence, are well worthy of consideration by all who are interested in comparing the portraits of eminent men. Even as late as August, 1689, we find him earnestly pursuing this theme, and communicating valuable advice on the subject to his friend Pepys, whose extensive collections were eventually deposited at Magdalen College, Cambridge.

Unless implicit reliance can be placed on the authenticity of the likeness, a portrait becomes worthless. The soundness of claims to genuineness may be tested and authenticated in various ways; but especially by reference to pictures preserved in family mansions, historical descriptions, and by a comparison with contemporary engravings of the best class, bearing inscriptions which afford both names and dates of the persons represented and of the artist also who painted the likeness. The value of inscriptions upon paintings, medals, and seals, has been instanced in numerous cases by John Evelyn, Visconti, and various writers upon the history of art. The lineaments of a face do not always correspond with the idea that may be formed from the

known actions of an individual, and, consequently, in the absence of some inscription to convey the necessary information, many interesting countenances would be in danger of being passed by unnoticed.

A remarkable instance of this may be cited in a well-known tetradrachma, probably struck at Alexandria 33 B.C., bearing on one side a profile of Cleopatra and Marc Antony on the other. Neither of these faces in the least degree accords with the notion that we have formed of their personal appearance, and yet the legend in Greek characters around them precludes the possibility even of uncertainty. Again, the same profiles are repeated on Roman coins, with the inscriptions in the Latin language.-(Visconti, Icon. Grecque, tom. 3, tav. xv. nos. 5, 6.) It is only too frequently that the artist employs written characters to record his own name exclusively; omitting at the same time to convey that of the person represented. Of this omission, both in painting and sculpture, ancient and modern, John Evelyn, in his 'Sculptura,' very justly complains.

Inscriptions and coats of arms also frequently occur upon painted portraits; these, it need hardly be stated, when genuine, are of the greatest possible service.

But it is not always that they can be relied upon. As the artist himself must necessarily have delayed introducing them till the picture was completely finished, they rarely appear as if thoroughly incorporated or harmonized with the rest of the colours. This circumstance has been particularly favourable to the addition by subsequent fabricators of dates, combined with armorial bearings, and promoted the forgery of some recognisable signatures upon them.

There are, however, safe and sure tests by which these frauds may be detected. Genuine old colour, that has remained on a panel or canvas for centuries, acquires a surprising degree of hardness, sufficient at least to resist the application of solvents that would disturb and carry away upon the slightest touch a considerable body of modern or comparatively new paint. I have myself seen masses of colour swept off from a picture by similar applications, revealing immediately the genuine old painting beneath, and in all its original purity.

The ingenious manner in which names and dates have been tampered with, would form an amusing although not very creditable chapter in the history of art. Engravings also are liable to a similar amount of alteration. Occasionally, when the demand for a portrait has unexpectedly ceased, the engraver has found it expedient to alter the head to that of some more popular person, leaving the rest of the plate untouched, and, by at the same time changing the title below, to derive advantage from the sudden production of an apparent novelty. Many plates thus altered are well known. A harmless instance may here be cited in Elstracke's early portrait of Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, where, in accordance with the taste of the day, the artist had represented him as resting his hand on a skull. This failing to take with the public, induced the engraver to change the