a 
* 
ly 
Wier 
at 
; 
-1808.] Mr. Elmes, on the State of the Fine Arts in France. 231 , 
ever of the manners of an age. The 
Phallus was a common representation 
in the most refined periods of Greece 
and Rome, though Propertius (L. il. ad, 
eandem) reproves that shameless inde- 
licacy, even in the fair sex, of which 
Boissard, (Antiq. Romanar. iii. pl. 75,) 
has engraved a striking specimen, In 
the Glossurium Miro Barbarum of 
Rigaltius, some initial letters, p. 47, 
refer to the most detestable species of 
libidinous indulgence; and in the fron- 
tispiece of the Portiforiwn secundum 
usum Sarum, printed by Grafton in 1540, 
are naked females with the nudities mar- 
ked! This in a prayer-book ! Coarseness 
or refinement of this kind may mark 
individuals or particular classes of society; 
but it is contrary to experience to say, 
that they exhibit the manners of an age. 
Tt would be full as well however to dis- 
_ pense with Adam and Eve on signs, 
which inight be easily done, by the ma- 
gistrates refusing to license the houses 
with such a distinction, 
_ Ishould not have published this, had 
IT thought any explanation had been 
. before given; according to my knowledge 
it is a desideratum. F, DF. 
: 
Lo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
T appears from the public papers, that 
several persons have lately exposed 
their wives for sale, with a halter, in 
Smithfield market; I shall esteem ita 
favour if any of your correspondents can 
inform me, through the medium of your 
excellent miscellany, of the origin of that 
‘absurd custom, on the illegality of which, 
—. Ithink there can be but one opinion, 
Toddington, Your's, &c. 
July 27, 1308. “te iach Je 
Lo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
URING the present state of sus- 
pension from every species of in- 
formation from our continental neigh- 
_bours, unexampled in modern history; 
every glimpse through the haze of insu~ 
lated restriction ts yoraciously caught at; 
and transactions, however trifling in 
+ themselves, are now worthy of detail. 
hrough the means of a friend, some very 
bate accounts of the principal institutions 
for the encouragement of the fine arts in 
Paris, liave reached mec, and from the 
fame source I amin coustaut expectation 
& 
of some valuable papers and essays on 
art lately introduced to the scavans of 
Paris, as well as some curiovs “ on dits,” 
and transactions of the principal bodies 
of artists in that city, which shall not fail 
from time to time to be communicated 
by me to the public, through your valu- 
able pages. Therefore, in pursuance of 
this plan, I have selected from a minute 
aud elaborately detailed account of that 
celebrated society, the NATIONAL INSTI- 
TUTE OF SCIENCES, LETTERS, and arts, 
such parts as relate to the class of the 
fine arts, with such other preliminary in- 
formation relative to the other classes, 
as will best serve to explain this. 
This institution embraces and belongs 
to the whole French empire, itis stationed 
at Paris, and is destined (so says their 
programme) to improve and perfect the 
arts and sciences by uninterrupted re- 
searches through their whole circle, by 
the publication of discourses on every 
subject connected with them, by corre- 
spondence with learned natives and fo- 
reign societies, and by every means that 
may tend to forward these important 
views, They are also to forward in obe- 
dience to the laws and declarations of 
their government such scientific and li-- 
terary works that have for their object 
general utility,'and the glory of France. 
It is divided into four classes, viz. 
First Class.—Physics aud _the mathe- 
matics, 
Second ditto.—The French literature 
and language. 
Third ditto.—History and ancient lie 
terature. 
Fourth ditto, —The fine arts. 
_The first class is divided into eleven 
divisions, these divisions are composed 
and divided in the following manner. 
Mathematical Sciences.—Geometry, six 
members; mechanics, six; astronomy, sixs 
geography and navigation, three; physics 
in yeneral, six. 
_Physicel—Chemistry, six members ; 
mineralogy,six; botany, six; rural econe- 
mics and the veterinary art, six; anatomy 
and zoology, six; physics and surgery 
six. ‘This class nominates, (subject to 
the Emperor’s approbation,) two perpe- 
tual secretaries,one for the mathematical 
and the other for the physical sciences, 
The perpetual secretaries are to be an 
counted only as general members of the 
class, but aot of any division, 
The first class are. perinitted to elect 
six of its members into the other classes 
af the Institute; it can also nominate 9’ 
hundred 
