prefs, in 1717, in two vaft volumes. It is adorned with a frontespiece, and various head-pieces, from paintings by Sir James Thornhill, and others, engraven by Vander Gutch, de Bofche, &c. The ridiculous mistake is in the running-title to the twentieth chapter of St. Luke; in which Parable of the vineyard' is printed Parable of the vinegar;' and on that account the edition is better known by the name of the Vinegar Bible, than any other. Antiquities in the Mostyn Library. BRONZES. 1. Jis nurfing the infant Orus, a figure fix inches in height. For a description of which fee Montfaucon, vol. ii. chap. 5. pl. 113. fig. 2. FROM THE BATH. 2. A FEMALE figure rifing from the bath, adjusting her hair A FEMALE RISING before a mirror, which fhe holds in her right hand, while the left is employed in arranging her waving treffes. The legs of this beautiful little bronze have been reftored. The rest of the figure is remarkable for its fymmetry and elegance. 3. THE eagle of Jupiter, with extended pinions, retaining the JUPITER'S EAGLE. thunder in its claws. This has been fufpended as a vow at the fhrine of that deity. The fame figure often occurs upon the antient lamps, as will be fhewn hereafter. Montfaucon has given OSIRIS. A PHALLUS. an exact reprefentation of this figure in vol. i. pl. 154. It there forms the principal ornament of a bronze lamp; and over it is this infcription: L. TETIUS ALYPUS. JOVI. D. D. 4. IMAGE of Ofiris, the tutelar deity of the Nile; according to Mr. Bruce, the perfonified representation of the dog-ftar. For an account of this god, fee Montfaucon, tom. ii. chap. 8. 5. THE PHALLUS, certainly intended as a pendant for the ear. With the ancients it was a fymbol of fecundity. Herodotus mentions its having been carried in folemn proceffion at the facrifices of Bacchus. Athenæus fpeaks of one carried in this manner, which was twenty cubits long, and formed entirely of gold. It was moreover adorned with garlands, which were twined round to its vertex, where was a golden ftar, fix cubits in circumference. See Athen. lib. v. c. 5. At Ifernia, a province in the kingdom of the two Sicilies, the women annually celebrate the anniversary of their patron faint, by offering at his fhrine ex voto of wax, reprefenting the male organs of generation, which they ftyle St. Cofmus's toes. Sir W. Hamilton addreffed a letter to the Dilettanti fociety upon this curious circumftance, which he accompanied with different specimens of the ufual offerings! This letter gave birth to a very learned and ingenious effay, by Mr. Knight, on the ancient worship of Priapus, written at the request of the fociety! and partially diftributed for their ufe! In the courfe of this work Mr. с Mr. Knight thus expreffes himself: Whatever the Greeks and Egyptians meant by the fymbol in queftion, it was certainly nothing ludicrous or licentious; of which we need no other proof than its having been carried in folemn proceffion, at the celebration of those mysteries, in which the first principles of their religion, the knowledge of the God of nature, the < FIRST, the SUPREME, the INTELLECTUAL (v. Plut. de Is. & Os.) were preferved from the vulgar fuperftitions, and com'municated under the ftricteft oaths of fecrecy to the initiated; 'who were obliged to purify themselves, prior to their initiation, by abstaining from venery, and all impure food.' I FIND this deteftable worship among the Gentoos in Indoftan. Captain Alexander Hamilton, in his account of the East Indies, i. p. 381, gives the following relation: In all this tract between • Gamgam and Jagarnaut, the visible god in most esteem is Gopalfami, whose temples are decorated with obscene representations of men and women in indecent poftures, alfo of 'demons and caco-demons, whofe fhameful parts are of a prodigious fize, in proportion to their bodies. This filthy image is worshipped by the heathens of both fexes; but 'barren women are his greatest devotees, and bring him the 'beft oblations.' 6. THE HOG-SKIN-A vow to Bacchus.-The custom of preferving wine in hog-fkins is ftill obferved in Spain, and many other parts of the world. The antients retained the form of it in their domestic utenfils, and veffels of libation, long after the ufe of it had been fuperfeded by the more convenient amphora. Montfaucon, iii. part i. tab. 77. 7. AN A HOG-SKIN. PATERA. A SPECULUM. 7. AN inftrument of facrifice, by fome falsely called a patera. Montfaucon has proved that these inftruments, round, flat, having no cavity to contain the liquor, are not patera. Beger fuppofes them to be what Ifidorus calls apophereta, which were used as plates to hold fruit and other viands. Apophereta, a ferendo poma vel aliud, nominata; eft enim plana.' See Montfaucon, tom ii. pl. 63. fig. 2. THE patera were very different from those designed for festive purposes. The latter were rich goblets, or a fpecies of tankard. Montfaucon has, in vol. iii. part 1. p. 146, to p. 149, engraven feveral kinds. Virgil, in defcribing Dido's royal feast, fays, Implevit mero pateram. After the fair queen had made a delicate libation, the pre- Tum Bitiæ dedit increpitans: ille impiger haufit, 8. A SPECULUM, or mirror, of fome metallic fubftance, at this day retaining a polish equal to the first telescope reflector. Bishop Watson, in his Chemical Effays, vol. iii. p. 335, has given a pretty comment on the compofition of thefe fpecula. Copper,' fays the ingenious prelate, communicates a fmell both to gold and filver. The Roman Specula, which they used as looking-glaffes in Pliny's time, were commonly made of filver; but the filver was alloyed with much copper; for we find a cunning waiting maid in Plautus, advifing her mistress to wipe her fingers after having handled a fpeculum, leaft her paramour fhould fufpect her of receiving filver from fome other lover: Ut fpeculum tenuifti, metue ne oleant argentum manus, 9. THE STRIGIL, a crooked inftrument for fcraping the muscles. It was in high request among the Romans. Montfaucon gives the figures of feveral. Among others, he has pourtrayed a man of rank in the bath, while two boys are seen on each side of him, ufing the ftrigil. This inftrument is very common on all the Greek vafes, and is always represented among the ceremonies of the bath. 10. A COMB, exactly refembling thofe now in ufe. This alfo formed a neceffary article among the bathing apparatus. 11. A SMALL fpice-box; of the fame nature as those found at Pompeia. 12. A BRACELET for the arm. These are frequently found in Greek fepulchres; and in the excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeia. 13. AN intaglio ring, beaded round; the work very coarse, and altogether in the Egyptian style. 14. ARM of the Difcobolus, in the act of throwing the difcus. I find the fame fort of fragment mentioned in an old collection of antiquities, engraved at Rome in the year 1610; with this exception, that the latter is of marble: Marmoreum bra<chium N A STRIGIL. А Сомв. BRACELET. RING. ARM OF A Disc OBOLUS. |