MODE I. MARBLE. 387 



STRUCTURE I. GRANULAR. 



In general the ancient and finest marbles belong 

 ) this description; though an ancient white or 

 rey, called palombino by the Italians, and that of 



roconnesus, not to mention a few others, are of 

 fine earthy grain, almost compact. 



The first attention is due to the Egyptian mo- Egyptian, 

 numents, as from that country the arts passed 

 into Greece, and subsequently into Europe. The 

 marble statues and fragments described by Wad 

 are very small, from 10 to 20 inches in height, 

 and present the following colours; milk-white, 

 the same with venular silver-white mica, greyish 

 white, passing to blue, and yellowish white. The 

 chief Egyptian monuments are in granite and 

 basalt. 



But in the Museum at Paris, and other princely 

 collections, there are many Egyptian statues, and 

 other monuments, in the rosso antico, the ancient Rosso an tico, 

 red, the peculiar marble of Upper Egypt, or of 

 Ethiopia, for the cataracts were anciently reputed 

 to divide these countries ; and Syene was esteemed 

 the last town of Egypt, on the very confines of 

 Ethiopia. 



It seems evident, though it has escaped all the 

 critics, antiquaries, and mineralogists, that the 

 superb rosso antico, which, in the grand statues 



2 c -2 



