125 



are still to be seen ; which had twenty piers of free- 

 stone, some of which are still standing, a hundred and 

 fifty feet high, sixty in circumference, and distant one 

 from another, a hundred and seventy. I should never 

 end, were I to enumerate all the admirable monuments 

 left us by the ancients: the slight sketch here given 

 of them will more than suffice to answer my pur- 

 pose. As to the ornaments and conveniences of their 

 buildings, among many I^shall mention but one, that 

 of their using glass in their windows, and in the inside 

 of their apartments, just in the same manner as we 

 do. Seneca and Pliny inform us, that they deco- 

 rated their rooms with glasses ; and do not we the 

 same, in the use of mirrors and pier-glasses ? "But 

 what will DOW shock the general prejudice is, 

 that they should know how to glaze their win- 

 dows, so as to enjoy the benefit of light, without 

 being injured by the air ; yet this they did very 

 early. Before they discovered this mannor of apply- 

 ing glass, which is so delightful mid so commodious, 

 the rich made use of transparent stones in- their win- 

 dows, such as the agate, the alabaster, the phengites, 

 the talcum, &c whiist the poor were under the n "ces- 

 Sity of being exposed to all the severities of wind and 

 weather, 



11. If we admire the ancients in those monuments, 

 which remain to us, of the greatness of their undertak* 

 ings, we shall'have no less reason for wonder, in con- 

 templating the dexterity and the skill of their artists 

 in w6rks of a quite different kind. Their works in 

 miniature are well deserving of notice, Archytas, 

 who was contemporary with Plato, is famous in anti- 

 quity for the artful structure of his wooden pigeon, 

 which imitated the flight and motions of a living one, 

 Cicero, according to Pliny's report, saw the whole 

 Iliad of Homer writted in so fine a character, that it 

 could be contained in a nut-shell. And Elian speaks of 

 oneIVIyrmtbides,a Milesian, and of Callicrates,a Lace- 

 demonian; the first oi whom made an ivory chariot^ so 

 G 3 



