Oameo of Augustus in the Blacas Collection. 405 



dowed severally with the power of curing different diseases by 

 their mere application, and demanded good fees for applying 

 them. We might quote many such curative properties of 

 individual gems, some of which are undignified enough. A 

 fine cameo possessed by the monks of St. Albau's, and pro- 

 bably derived from the ruins of Verulamium, was believed to 

 give ease to women in the pains of childbirth, and was lent on 

 such occasions — no doubt for a consideration. Another very 

 handsome cameo, described by one of the modern writers on 

 this subject, was looked upon with regard as a preservative 

 against rats ! Among a great number of such objects formerly 

 preserved in the treasury of the Cathedral of St. Paul's in 

 London, one, which bore a figure of Andromeda, had the power 

 of raising love between man and woman; one with the figure 

 of a hare was a protective against the devil ; a dog and a lion 

 on the same stone preserved against dropsy; the figure of 

 Orion gave to one of these stones the quality of securing victory 

 in war ; in another the figure of a syren, sculptured in a 

 jacynth, rendered the bearer invisible. 



It was in a great measure out of these mediaeval collections 

 of gems, ecclesiastical or lay, the result of mere accidental 

 finds, that our modern collections have been formed, with the 

 addition of others found in antiquarian excavations of a later 

 date, and they are thus, more or less, of a very miscellaneous 

 character. The dactyliotheca of the Roman age, if collected 

 by a man of taste, would contain nothing but stones of the 

 highest degree of art, and even if he erred in judgment him- 

 self, he could find an adviser who would assist him ; he did 

 not collect his specimens by chance, glad to get all that 

 came to hand, but sought them from the best sources, so that 

 he had probably nothing but what was good. It is different 

 with the modern collector. The cameos and intaglios which 

 are brought to light by ordinary antiquarian excavations are, 

 for the most part, of a very low degree of merit, such as no 

 doubt were possessed by people of the commoner classes. The 

 modern collector has little but these to collect from, and not in 

 such abundance but that he is glad to get all he can, or at best 

 to pick out here and there any one which seems better than the 

 others, and wait for a rare chance of obtaining something of 

 a very superior character. Such is the general character of 

 the contents of most modern cabinets, and especially of such 

 as have been made by private collectors ; and such, no doubt, 

 is the cabinet of intaglios and cameos of the Due de Blacas. 

 It contains a certain number of very fine works of art, among 

 a large quantity of specimens of very ordinary merit. This is 

 especially the case among the intaglios, which may perhaps be 

 said to be the case generally. The stones necessary for the 



