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and it being carnival time, to give the ladies Tome diverfion, 

 tliL-y took thcmlVlvos to the reciting of verfeB, fonncts, 

 fpecciies, and comedies, firft, r.v temporf, and aftcnvards 

 prenieditatedly ; which gave tiiem the denomination of BiU'i 

 hiimori. After fome experience, coming more and more into 

 the talle of thefe exercifes, they refolved to form an academy 

 of Belles 1. Hires: and changed the title of Belli Humor't ior 

 that of HumorijU ; choofing for their device a cloud, which, 

 after being formed of ihe lalinC exhalations of the fca, re- 

 turns in a gentle fweet lliower, with the motto from Lucre- 

 tius, redil agmine Jiilei. 



AcADRMY o/"^nWy waseftabliflied at Rome in 1690, for 

 reviving tlie ftudy of poetr)', and the belles lellres ; and com- 

 prehends mod of the politer wits in Italy, of both fexes ; 

 many princes, cardinals, and other erckriallics : to avoid all 

 difputes among whom, about pre-eminence, it is wifely pro- 

 vided, that all appear maflced, after t!ie manner of (hepherds of 

 Arcadia. Witliin ten years from its firil eilablilbnient, the 

 number o( ylciidemi/ls amounted to 600. They hold aflemblies 

 feven times a year,in a mead or grove ; or in the gardens of fonic 

 nobleman of dillinftion. Six of thefe meetings are employed 

 in the recitation of poems, and vcrfcs of the ylraidi reliduig 

 at Rome, wlio read their own compofitions : except ladies 

 and cardinals, who are allowed to make ufe of other (liep- 

 lierds for this office. The feventh meeting is fet apart for 

 the compofitions of foreign, or abfent members ; in which 

 there is more entertainment than in all the reft ; becaufe the 

 pieces produced here are written in all the different ftyles 

 and dialects of Italy. The go\-ernment of this academy is 

 wholly democratical, allowing of no prince or proteClor, 

 but only a cujlos, who rcprefents the whole fociety, chofen 

 each olympiad, that is, evei-y four years ; with a power of 

 electing twelve others yearly, to affift him in the admini- 

 llration. Under thefe are two fuhcujlodes, one vicar or 

 frociijlos, and four deputies or fuperintendants, annually 

 chofen. There are five ways of elefting members ; the firft 

 called acclamaUon, ufed when fovereign princes, cardinals, 

 and ambafikdors of kings, dcfire to be admitted ; in which 

 cafe the votes are given viva voce ; the fecond, aninimerntion, 

 introduced in favour of ladies and academical colonies ; 

 where the votes are taken privately : the third, reprefciitatlon, 

 tftablilbed in favour of colleges and univerfities, where the 

 young gentry are bred ; who have each a privilege of re- 

 commending one, or two members, privately to be ballotted 

 for : the fourth, furrogatwn, whereby new lliepherds are 

 fubrtituted in the room of thofe dead, or expelled: the laft, 

 (iijl'inal'ion, v hereby, when there is no vacancy of members, 

 perfons of poetical merit have tlie title Arcml'i conferred 

 on them, till fuch time as a vacancy fhall happen. All the 

 members of this body at their admilfion, affume new pafto- 

 ral names, in imitation of thofe of the ancient Arcadians. 

 The academy has divers colonies of Arcad'i eftablidied in 

 other cities in Italy, all regulated after the fame manner. 



AcADF-MV, Roynl vA Ca(?n, was eftablifhed by letters pa- 

 tent in 1 705 ; it had its rife fifty years earlier in private 

 conferences, held firft in the houfe of M. de Brieux. M. 

 de Segrais retiring to this city, to fpend the reft of his 

 days, reftored and gave new hiftre to their meetings. In 

 1707, M. Foucault, intendant of the generality of Caen, 

 procured the king's letters patent for erecting them into a 

 perpetual academy, of which IM. Foucault was to be pro- 

 tector for the time, and the choice afterwards left to the 

 members, the number of whom was fixed to thirty, and 

 the choice of them, for this time, left to M. Foucault. 

 liefide the thirty, leave is given to add fome fupernumerary 

 members, not exceeding fix, from the ecclcfiaftical commu- 

 nities in that city. 



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An afTembly of men of letters was formed at Lyons, 

 which merely wimted letters patent to conftitute a royal 

 academy, interior to few in France. It coniifted of twenty 

 academirts, with a direftor at their head, and a fecretary 

 who is perpetual. F. Lombard, a Jefuit, one of the mem. 

 bers here read a learned diffcrtation on infinity. 



Theie is an Academy of Belles Lettres, Hiftory, and An- 

 tiquities at Stockholm, the Memoirs of which are publifhed 

 in the Swediih language. 



Academies, Chirurgical ; as that firft inftitutedat Paiij 

 in 1 73 1, and finally eftablilhed by letters patent from the 

 king in 1748 ; the members of which are not only to pub- 

 liflt their own and correfpondents' obfervations and im- 

 provements, but to give an account of all that is publiflied 

 in furo-ery, and to compofe a complete hiftoiy of this art, 

 by their extrafts from all the authors, ancient and modern, 

 who have wrote on it. A queftion in furgeiy is to be pro- 

 pofed by the academy yearly ; and a prize of a gold medal 

 of five hundred livres value to be given to him who furnifhes 

 the moll fatisfaftory anfwer. 



Academy ofSiirgery was inftituted fome years agoat Vien- 

 na by the emperor, under the direction of the celebrated Brara- 

 billa. It had at firlt only two profeffbrs, who had the 

 charge of inftrutting 130 young men, of whom thirty had 

 been furgeons in the army. But the number both of 

 teachers and pupils has been much increafed. They are pro- 

 vided with a large edifice in Vienna, which affords habita- 

 tion for the teachers and ftudents, and alfo for pregnant 

 women, and patients for clinical lectures, and new arts. 

 They have alfo a medical libraiy, a complete fet of chirur- 

 gical inilruments, an apparatus for experiments in natural 

 philofophy, a colleftion of fpecimens in natural hiitory, a 

 number of anatomical and pathological preparations, and a 

 variety of other ufeful articles. Adjoining to the build- 

 ing, there is alfo a good botanical garden. Three prize- 

 medals, of the value of forty florins each, are annually be- 

 ftowed on the ftudents who return the beft anfwers to the 

 queftions propofed in the preceding year. 



Academies, Cofmographical ; as that of the Argonauts 

 at Venice, inftituted at the folicitation of F. Coronelli, for 

 the improvement of Geography. The deiign of the acade- 

 mia cofmographica is to procure exact maps, geographical, 

 topographical, hydrographical, and ichnographical, of the 

 celeftial as well as terreltrial globe, and the feveral regions 

 and parts thereof, together w'ith geographical, hiftorical, 

 and aftronomical defciiptions : in order to which, the feve- 

 ral members oblige themfelves, by their fubicription, to take 

 one or more copies of each piece, publiihed under the di- 

 rection of the academy ; and to advance the money or part 

 of it, in order to defray the charge of publication. To 

 this end, three focieties were fettled at Venice, Paris, and 

 Rome : the firft under F. Moro, provincial of the Mino- 

 rites of Hungary ; the fecond under the abbot Laurence 

 au Rue Payenne au Marais ; the third, under F. Ant. 

 Baldigiani, Jefuit, profcfTor of Mathematics in the Roman 

 college ; to whom thofe addrefs themfelves, who are willing 

 to engage in this defign. The number of members in the 

 feveral countries of Europe has been confiderable ; their de- 

 vice is the terraqueous globe, with the motto, plus ultra. 

 At the expence of this academy, all the globes, maps, and 

 geographical writings of F. Coronelli have been publiihed. 



Academy of Dancing. One of this kind was inftituted 

 by Louis XIV. with extraordinary privileges. 



Academies, Ecckfiajlical ; as that at Bologna, inftituted 

 in 1687, and employed in the examination of tlic doCtrine, 

 difcipline, and hiftory of each age of the church. 



Academies, Iljhrlial ; as the Royal A^adsmy of Fori w 



S"'J* 



