218 
rail-way as upon a good road of gravel or stone; 
still, however, the same objection exists on the 
score of expedition. Rail-ways and their carriages 
are not calculated for rapidity of movement; the 
smallest obstruction would throw a carriage off the 
rail, if it went with any considerable velocity, and 
the rails themselves, as at present laid, would fly 
up, or break, by any lateral pressure, or strain 
from the rapidly revolving wheels; to render iron 
rails, therefore, sufficiently strong and stable in 
their foundations to support carriages that should 
travel rapidly, would increase their present cost, at 
the least calculation, four or five fold. It is, there- 
fore, obvious, that upon the score of celerity there 
is scarcely any preference between towing a barge 
upon a canal, and drawing a carriage upon a rail- 
way. The original cost of the canal may be ten 
times that of a rail-way (which is perhaps a fair 
general average) ; but the expense of horses’ labour 
in towing the barge being only one-tenth that of 
drawing a carriage upon a rail-way, brings the two 
modes of conveyance to nearly the same point of 
costs, and of course to the same profit to the pro- 
prietors.” 
And as for locomotive engines, it seems 
that though Stephenson’s have the advan- 
tage of all yet constructed, the greatest 
velocity-at which they can be driven is 
three miles and a quarter per hour. Those 
that are to travel at the rate of from ten to 
twenty, exist at present only in newspaper 
paragraphs and prospectuses. |—Eprr. 
= 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Antique Vase found in the Bed of the 
Severn. |With a Plate.] 
S your very useful and widely-cir- 
culated Magazine is, I believe, 
open to antiquarian as well as. other 
subjects, I am induced to send you a 
description of an Antique Metallic Vase, 
which was found in the bed of the River 
Severn, in July last. 
The diameter of this circular vase is 
ten inches and a quarter; its internal 
depth is thirteen-sixteenths; and the 
thickness of the composition of which 
it is made, and which bears a great re- 
semblance to bell-metal, is one-eighth of 
an inch. 
Its internal area is divided into seven 
circular compartments, between which 
are triangular figures, each representing 
the head of a female, with wings :— 
these fill up the whole, and form it into 
one circle. 
The centre division contains figures 
representing the story of Scylla, and the 
King of Megara. In the periphery is 
circumscribed the Latin, Scilla metens 
crinem mercatur crimine. The literal 
translation of which would, I think, be— 
“ Scjlla cutting his hair, purchases it by 
crime.” The story runs thus :—Scylla, 
who was a daughter of Nisus, King of 
Megara, and who became enamoured of 
Minos, as that monarch besieged her 
Antique Vase found in the Bed of the River Severn. 
[April 1, 
father’s capital,—in order to make him 
sensible of her passion, informed him, 
that she would deliver Megara into his 
hands, if he promised to marry her. 
Minos to this gave his consent: and, as 
the prosperity of Megara depended upon 
a golden hair which existed on the heat 
of Nisus, Scylla cut it off as her father 
was asleep, and from that moment the 
sallies of the Megareans were unsuc- 
cessful. Scylla was, however, disap- 
pointed in her expectations, and Minos 
treated her with such contempt and 
ridicule, that she threw herself from a 
tower into the sea; or, according to 
other accounts, she was changed into a 
lark by the gods, and her father into a 
hawk.—Ovip, Trist. ii., v.393; Pavu- 
SANIAS, ll., c. 34, 
In the first of the circumscribing 
circles is represented, Ganymede being 
carried away by a flying eagle ; and in the 
second, he is offering a cup of nectar to 
the feasting gods. The circumscriptions 
of these two, and which are hexameter 
lines, run thus:— Armiger ‘ecce Jovis 
Ganumede sustulit alis— Porrigat. ut 
ciatos dis convivalibus apto. (aptos). 
Which, being literally translated, would 
be read—* Behold! the armour-bearer 
of Jupiter has carried away Ganymede 
on its wings,—that he might offer 
cups fit for feasting gods.” Gany- 
mede, a beautiful youth of Phrygia, son 
of Tros, and brother of Ilus and Asgsari- 
cus, was taken up to heaven by Jupiter, 
as he was hunting, or rather tending his 
father’s flock, on Mount Ida,—and he 
became the cup-bearer of the gods.— 
Homer’s Irian, xx., v. 23] ; Pausanias, 
v., c. 24, 
In the two next peripheral circles is 
represented the story of Orpheus, and 
his wife Eurydice. The hexameters 
are—Legibus inferni motis—Proserpina 
reddi—Eurydicen jussit sed eam mors 
atra reduxit. “ Violating the laws of 
the infernal regions—Proserpine com- 
manded Eurydice to be restored, but 
dark Death carried her back.” 
[The story of Eurydice being so familiar, 
we have not deemed it necessary to insert 
it. Those readers who are so disposed, 
may consult Virc. GEon. iv., ver. 475, &c.; 
Pausantas, ix., c. 30; or the Translations 
of Dryden, Wharton, Ring, &c.] 
The remaining two compartments 
contain figures characteristic of the 
goodness of Ceres, the goddess of corn; 
and which is thus described, in their 
circumferences: — Mater larga Ceres 
miserata fame pereuntes—Triptolemi ma- 
nibus commisit seminis usus—which may 
be 
