ILLUSTRAXED and CONFIRMED. 63 



The opening o/Achilles's Monument. 



The XXIft chapter contains a number of pleafirig remarks 

 on the fubjedl of the tumuli to be feen on the fhores of the Hel- 

 lefpont ; and any perfon of fenfibility muft, on the perufal, feel 

 his mind affedted with a foothing, though folemn, fenfation ; and 

 be ready to confefs, that M. Chevalier has there exprefled 

 himfelf in a moil: elegant and interefting manner. Inaccuracies, 

 however, and redundancies, may now and then be perceived, 

 fome of which were pointed out to me by Mr Liston, and they 

 ought to be corredled in- a new edition. 



It appears, in particular, that M. Chevalier had not recei- 

 ved very accurate information i"efpe(!iling what was found in the 

 tomb of Achilles, in confequence of the operation of digging 

 into it, wliich had been performed after his departure from Con- . 

 flantinople, by the diredlion of Count de Choiseul Gouffier, 

 the French AmbafTador. He had been told, that towards the 

 centre of the pile were found " two large ftones leaning at an 

 " angle the one againft the other, and forming a fort of tent,, 

 " under which was difcovered a fmall ftatue of Minerva, feat- 

 " ed in a chariot with four horfes ; and an urn of metal filled 

 " with alhes, charcoal, and human bones ; which urn was encir- 

 " cled in fculpture, with a vine branch, from which were fuf- 

 " pended bunches of grapes done with exquifite art." 



There does not appear to^have been any foundation for the 

 figure of a chariot. There were however fome curioiis reliques 

 found there. Mr Liston faw at Conftantinople the very per- 

 fon who had been employed to condvi<5l the operation of dig- 

 gmg ; and who had retained fome of the fragments in his own 

 euflody, which he offered to difpofe of. It appears from a let- 

 ter, publifhed in a note by Dr D all aw ay, and giving a very 

 particular accotmt of this affair, that this perfon was the Signior 



Solomon 



