of them into France; as if the law of nations drew a circle of security round these precious reliques of antiquity? As if the conquerors did not display before the eyes of Europe a more cultivated taste than if they had contented themselves with the plunder of Italian coffers? And as if the French had not actually followed the example of the Romans themselves, who adorned their capital with the spoils of Greece, of Syracuse, of Carthage, and, in short, with those of every city which submitted to their arms? From a fact incidentally mentioned by Kotzebue, in his notice of the gallery, we may suspect that the Florentines will not grieve long for the loss of their statues: Venus of Belvedere formerly held an apple in her hand, but when Venus of Medicis went on her late pilgrimage, it was wished to commemorate her by breaking off two arms of this Venus, and substituting two new ones with the bend of the Medicean. It now makes a droll appearance.' In such estimation is a supposed work of Phidias held at Florence! This reminds one of an anecdote recorded of Mummius, who, when he had conquered Corinth, and stripped the city of all its choicest specimens of art, threatened the soldiers who conveyed them to Rome, that if they broke any they should be compelled to replace them with others! Who does not regret that the Venus of Belvedere did not find an asylum against this violation by unholy hands, in company with her Medicean sister, at the Louvre ?

NAPLES. Kotzebue's forte is in denneating living manners; he catches a few striking traits of character, and illustrates them with little descriptions and anecdotes. Like all other travellers in Italy, he seems to imagine that none of his readers can possibly know any thing about Roman antiquities: the number of superfluous pages devoted to architectural remains, which have been described a hundred and a hundred times before, makes a large proportion of these volumes tiresome in the extreme. For the relief of our readers we shall pass these over, and advise Kotzebue's readers to do the same: in describing the museum at Portici, which contains an assemblage of those works of art which have been recovered from the subterranean cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Kotzebue has given an interesting account of the progress which is making (under the munificent patronage of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales), in the developement of ancient manuscripts.

"The most remarkable objects in the mu

seum at Portici, are the manuscripts found in two chambers of a house at Herculaneum. Though they have been so frequently derect idea of them. They resemble cudgels scribed, they must be seen to furnish a correduced to the state of a cinder, and in part petrified; are black and chesnut brown; lie in many glass cases; and unfortunately are so, decayed, that under every one of them a quantity of dust and crumbs is to be perceived. Being rolled up together in the manner of the ancients, and perhaps also gradually damaged by the moisture penetrating through the ashes, cypher a syllable of them. But for the init appears almost impracticable ever to dedustry and talent of man nothing i impossible, and his curiosity impels him to the most ingenious inventions.

"The machine by which the manuscripts are unrolled, is of such a nature that I despair of describing it clearly. It resembles, yet only in the exterior, a bookbinder's frame on which he usually sews his books. The mann script rests on some cotton in the bow of two ribbands; with one end fastened above in cords, exactly like the curtain of a theatre. Goldbeater's-skin is then laid on with the white of an egg in very small stripes, by means of a pencil, in order to give something to hold by. To this skin silk threads are fastened; round the peg, in the same manner as the which, together with the ribband, wind above string of a violin. When the workman has, with the skin, laid hold of however small a part of the manuscript; and, by means of a sharp pencil, has loosened the first leaf as much as possible; he turns the peg with the greatest precaution, and is happy if he succeeds so far as to unroll a quarter of an inch: upon it which he begins the operation afresh. must not, however, be imagined that this quarter of an inch, which was undone with such infinite difficulty, remains a connected whole. Not at all: it rather resembles a piece of tinder that is full of holes.

"After the workman has gained thus much of the flimsy leaf, he carries it, with his breath held in, to a table, and gives it to the copyists. These men inust be very expert in distranscribing, but drawing: for they copy the tinguishing the letters. Their task is not only whole leaf, with all its vacancies, in the carefullest manner; after which a man of learning tries to supply the parts that are wanting. These supplements are, of course, very arbitrary. There is scarcely a line in which some letters or words are not wanting; often whole lines, or whole periods, must be filled up. What a wide field for conjecture! What is thus supplied is written in red ink, between the black; we may therefore instantly perceive at first sight, how much belongs to the origi nal, and how much has been added. It is said that the manuscripts are also to be printed: in that case I anticipate how the linguists of Europe will employ themselves in cavilling, been thus made, or substituting others in their each in his way, at the supplies which have

room.

"The endless trouble which the whole

must occasion, may be conceived. It was some time ago nearly laid aside, as every thing else is here; but the Prince of Wales has taken it upon himself, and defrays the expences without giving offence to the royal sportsman of Naples. Eleven young persons unfold the manuscripts, two others copy them, and a meritorious and zealous Englishman named Hayter, has the direction of the whole. He assured me that the persons employed began to work with greater skill and expedition than some years ago. He by no means despairs of decyphering all the six hundred manuscripts still extant; and does not doubt of finding a Menander and an Ennius, as he flatters himself with having already found a Polybius, in his work. The very day before I visited the museum, he had discovered an unknown author, named Colotos.

"His business requires a philosophical temper. As the name of the author is always put on the last page, he cannot know whose work it is till that leaf is unrolled. Seven Latin authors have fallen into Mr. Hayter's hands; but unfortunately all in such a state that it was not possible to open them whole. He complained the more of this, as there appeared to be among them a work of Livy's; at least, it was certainly an historical work written in his style, and began with a speech in which much was said of a family of Acilius. Unfortunately no more could be made of it. Mr. Hayter lamented that the first person to whom the manuscripts had been entrusted (a Spaniard named Albuquerque) had thrown them all together; for he himself thought that they might have been of various merit in the different chambers in which they were placed.

"At present five writers have been discovered: Philodemus, of whom the most works

have been found, and among others a treatise on the vices which border on virtues-certainly a very copious subject, if it has been discussed with ability; Epicurus; Phædrus; Demetrius Phalereus; and now Colotos. Mr. Hayter is not perfectly satised with finding nothing but philosophical works; yet he says that even in these many historical notices yet unknown are interspersed. There is, for example, a treatise on anger, containing an instance in which Bacchus punished Cadimus for indulging that passion; a circumstance of which we were never before informed. All travellers interested for the sciences, will catch (as I did) with eagerness every word from the mouth of the meritorious Hayter, and join with me in wishing him health. He is fully possessed of every other requisite qualification.

"In a fresh conversation with Mr. Hayter, I have learnt that the manuscript of Colotos lately found contains a refutation of Plato's treatise on friendship. Mr. Hayter has also traced the name of Colotos in Plutarch; who has written against him, as he has against Plato. Thus it was the same with the ancient philosophers as with those of our times.

"A new and important discovery has been made within these few days. The writings of Epicurus have hitherto been found only in

detached parts, but now they have been met with all together. This manuscript is in the best state of preservation, and Hayter will now be able to rectify his own former supplements by the original. It must be extremely interesting for an intelligent man, to be able to ascertain in such a case whether he has properly supplied the sense.-A hundred and thirty manuscripts are either actually unrolled, or unrolling."

It is impossible to be at Naples without visiting Vesuvius: Kotzebue had the good fortune to witness the eruption which took place on the night of Nov. 22, 1804, and he has described it with much less dramatic sentimentality and parade than we expected. There had been no formidable indications of an eruption since the year 1794, when fourteen lives were lost, and many families were ruined by the desolation, until in the early part of this year (1804). Three earthquakes were felt at Somma on May 22d; on the 31st of July the water had visibly diminished in the rivers and cisterns of the neighbourhood; on the 11th of August Vesuvius begun to bellow, and on the thirteenth a stream of lava, accompanied with flames and stones, burst forth from a new-formed gulph. Since that period, Vesuvius had not been at rest, and an approaching eruption was apprehended, which took place Nov. 22. No mischief of much consideration re

sulted, except to the character and person of St. Januarius, whose image, when the lava threatened to overwhelm the vineyards, was, as usual, carried in procession in Torre del Greco, and placed before the lava; immediately the people began to kneel before his saintship, and pray that he would be so good as to stop the progress of the flood-the flood rolled on! The saint was placed a little farther back; prayers and prostrations were repeated with cncreased vehemence and devotionbut the flood rolled on! At length the people, finding that Januarius was utterly inexorable, began to abuse him; they called him an old rascal, hypocrite, and every other name which indiguation prompted. From words they actually came to blows, and the sides of Saint Januarius were villainously belaboured, particularly by an old woman, who had no mercy upon him. The fact however was, that St. Januarius had previously lost credit among the Neapolitans by condescending to let some of his blood liquefy in the presence of the French; on this occasion they called him a jacobin, and it is even said that a criminal prosecution was commenced against St. Anthony has him for the offence. profited by the disgrace of his rival, and

merits with a degree of freedom and confidence which somewhat startles modest men. At the name of Canova he is all on fire; the burst of his enthusiasm is perfectly dramatic. The workshop of Canova is the richest in Rome, and, notwithstanding that the manufacturers of just proportion' shrug their shoulders, he is asserted to be the greatest sculptor that has existed since the days of Phidias. His statue of a Venus, covering herself with a light robe, bears some resemblance, in point of proportion, to the Medicean Venus: our enthusiast says that, in this respect, Canova's statue is far superior, and cannot be charged with that confoundedly stiff position of the arms which the other appears to have learned of a dancing master! It is a lucky thing for the Belvedere Apollo that he chanced to be at the Louvre. St. Peter's church fares no better with this second Smelfungus: Smollet compares the pantheon to a huge cock-pit, and Kotzebue the church of St. Peter to a handsome woman of the seventeenth century, who has taken all possible care to counteract her charms by a hoop-petticoat and a preposterous head dress. He is inconsistent, however, in his comparison, for he allows the lady to be handsome, but he denies St. Peter's to be elegant or imposing; more than a dozen popes, and several dozen architects, have been busy at the building, mending, ornamenting, and spoiling it; but all their endeavours at producing a grand effect have proved abortive!'

The population at Rome does not exceed one hundred and twenty thousand souls, and as the city numbers very nearly three hundred churches, chapels, &c. there is ample room for the exercise of devotion. It is represented as being a most grievous custom to bury the dead bodies within the churches, and, from the scarcity of wood, it is the horrible practice to inter them without a coffin; they are thrown headlong into the vault on a heap, and the mouth of it is merely closed with a loose stone. The putrid stench which arises from this dreadful custom is, of necessity, offensive and deleterious in the

extreme.

The following account of the chambers of the dead is curious:

"I went into the church of the capuchins, to see a painting of Guido representing the archangel Michael holding one of the devils by a chain. My pleasure was greatly interrupted by the capuchins assembled here. A

lay-brother, the valet of cardinal Beruis, had just died, leaving a considerable property. The monks, after having put the body into a capouche and carried it hither, stood now round the bier, with a number of ridiculous

ceremonies.

"My guide having mentioned the burialplace of the capuchins as something very extraordinary, this raised my curiosity. Yet I never thought of meeting with a scene like that which struck me there. I shall never forget the impression which it made on me. The reader must expect neither church-yard, nor vault, nor cellar, nor cavern. In a lower story of the convent, not quite under ground, there is a range of arched chambers, with several windows looking into the garden of the convent, and all opened. I never breathed a purer air than here; and certainly I was in need of it, for the aspect was of itself sufficiently oppressive. A passage running down close under the windows, is allotted for the living that may wander here; and is separated by a small balustrade from the lower vaults, the quiet regions of death. Every arched room beyond this balustrade appears like a grotto; and each is laid out with human bones, and provided with niches. In every one of these niches we discover a dead capuchin, dressed in his capouche, and with a long beard; for the dead bodies buried here The best-preserved are placed in these niches. do not suffer putrefaction, but only dry up. On each of the skinny carcases there is a ticket, bearing the naine, and the hour of death, of its possessor.

"The apartments for this purpose are very small, yet harbour hundreds of such tenants. They lie here till they are dried up; when they are brought to light again, in order to yield sheir former spaces to their successors. A small plain black cross marks every grave. The ceiling is ornamented with arabesks consisting of human bones. A pretty large cross is composed entirely of the small bones under the throat. Several girandoles with long branches, and lamps of different sizes, all hang down. Sconces of the same composition decorate the passage running along these places.

"These chambers are all set out in ditlerent styles. One was decorated with skulls only, another with hip-bones, and so on. We raised the capouche of one of the corpses, and discovered underneath it a skin very much like yellow parchment. Each of them carries a light in its hand, and every girandole and sconce is provided in the same manner; which must have a strange and soleum effect at night. No foreigner should neglect to visit these last retreats of humanity, where thousands of his fellow-creatures peacefully dwell near or above each other. The emperor Joseph has been herc; and I wish every prince who visits Rome would do the same.

"From the fourth grotto a door opens into a small chapel, where mass for the dead is said. It is laid out like the other rooms, but with a more sparing hand. The reflections

of the stranger are here interrupted by the discovery of some very indifferent sonnets on the frailty of human life, inscribed on the walls. "On leaving the chambers of the dead, we may cast a look on some fine paintings by Peter of Cortona and Dominichino Lanfranco in the church, to dispel our gloom; and may view the altar containing the remains of JustiHus, a saint who is reported to have been at once a christian martyr and a philosopher."

The manners of the modern Romans cannot be supposed to differ materially from those of the Neapolitans. Gaming is equally prevalent, and the age of miracles is not gone, although the disgrace of St. Januarius might reasonably have been suspected to have staggered the firmness of credulity. A miracle was performed on the 21st March, in the year 1803, attested by the nun who was the subject of it, the superior of the convent and all the sisters, the confessor and two learned physicians, whose medical skill in the restoration of the patient was of no avail; at length her disorder was cured through the benevolent intercession of the Madonna. The priests of the church of this devout nun's benefactress have not failed to turn the miracle to their advantage. The orthodox believers thronged thither in crowds; for three days a triduo was celebrated, and on the third, his holiness Pius VII., attended by twenty-one cardi

nals, was pleased to visit the church, and to impart his benediction!

When a foreigner, says Kotzebue, returns to Rome, after visiting Naples, he will be more than ever struck with the stillness and solitude of the streets. 'Rome seems as if it had been depopulated by a plague: but it is only the effect of the pestilential dominion of the priests. The city contains one hundred and twenty convents for monks, and fifty-one nunneries. Rome is less filthy than Naples, nor is beggary carried to so impudent and offensive an excess: the wearing of offensive weapons is also prohibited here, but not so strictly as at Naples. Fatal stabs with knives are still frequently given in quarrels, for the Romans, although they esteem it a vice to steal, do not regard murder as a crime. Pius VI. suppressed many Sanctuaries, but the police of the Spanish Place is under the jurisdiction of the Spanish ambassador, and the assassin may here bid defiance to the ministers of justice.

From Rome Kotzebue returns to Berlin, taking in his way Bologna, Modena, Mantua, Verona, Vienna, Prague, and Dresden. His remarks are in the same style of freedom and vanity: he is often amusing and very communicative-but altogether we have had enough of his company and conversation.

BY the preface to this book, to which the name of Joseph Skinner is signed, it appears that several volumes of a periodical work, printed at Lima, entitled El Mercurio Peruano (the Peruvian Mercury), which were richly stored with intellectual treasures, strayed from their destination, and fell into the hands of the editor. In plain English, Mr. Skinner found these volumes on board a Spanish prize. From these, and from various authentic sources, the present state of Peru has been compiled. In particular, D. Pedro d'Oribe y Vargas, a learned naturalist, resident in London at the time when the book was published, is mentioned as having answered the queries relative to certain phenomena of climate in Peru, his native country. On board the same prize, a bird's-eye view was found of the festival in the great square of Lima, ANN. REV. Vol. IV.

on the accession of his present catholic majesty Carlos to the throne, and from this the prints have been taken, representing the dresses of the different inhabitants. A map of Peru should have been added, and might easily have been given, as the splendid Spanish map of their American possessions has been copied in London.

The volume begins with an unnecessary and uncandid depreciation of the old historians of Peru, because they did not soar to the contemplation of man in his moral and physical relations. Credulous they undoubtedly were, and so much the better; for whatever may be thought of the old question concerning superstition and atheism, it is better that historians and travellers should believe too much, than too little; it is better that they should repeat exaggerations or falsehoods, than suppress

I