t Mr, Foshrookc*s Remarks on the Tcwnley Statues, [Aug. I, 
pf ivy. Specimens of green basalt are 
more rare than those of tilack, and it 
was peculiarly admired for working upon, 
by Egyptian and Greek artists.' In later 
tunes it was used for the imitation of 
Egyptian works, and Canopuses in par¬ 
ticular. From the excellence of the 
busts which remain, there is reason to 
think that none but the most able artists 
worked upon basalt. (^Winckthnann.') 
Pliny (33. 2.) mentions silver baths for 
women ; and the luxury used in this 
respect is scarcely conceivable by the 
moderns. 
No. 82. A terminal head of Libera, 
Ovid says in his Fasti, that Bacchus gave 
the name of Libera to Ariadne ; Cicero 
makes her the same as Proserpine. The 
heads both of Liber and Libera occur 
upon the coins of the Cassia family ; but 
the real meaning ef these two deities is 
only to be found in an indecent passage 
of Varro, given by Augustine de Civit. 
Dei. 1. 6. c. 9. The head of Libera has 
no other especial attribute but the crown 
of vine-leaves : hence a perpetual confu¬ 
sion of her with Ariadne. 
No. 83. A colossal head of AntinauSj 
in the character of Bacchus y being crowned 
with a wreath of ivy. Poets were crowned 
witb ivy (see Ror. and Jlrg. Fa'L 7) ; 
and there are many uses of it not now 
understood, as that of its being so often 
put iu the hands of numerous figures. 
Tlie first colossal head of Ancinous is 
that of the Vi.'ia Mandragone, of such 
marvellous beauty, that, next to the Bei- 
videre Apollo, and the Laocoon, Winc- 
kelinann classes it with the most precious 
relics of antiquity. There are numerous 
other busts, and his poitra.its are the 
most common of any in antiquity. 
No. Si. A small domestic fountain 
• «r' 
used for sacred purposes. 
No. 85. A bust of Minerva. 
No. 8d. An upright narrow piece of 
marble, ornamented with branches of the 
olive and the pine. 
This concludes the collection wliich 
does honour to the nation. The absurd 
prejudice, which, in this country has 
limited archcEology to topography, the 
black letter, and antiquities only of the 
middle age, will then, it is hoped, be 
lessened. Swift, Pope, and a junta of 
wits, who were men of more genius than 
political vvrsdom, excluded from the 
scale of sciences honourable to the mind, 
almost every study but ethics, poetry, 
and the clarsics. The studies wliich ap¬ 
ply CO the wants and elegances of exist- 
l 
ence are however wisely considered by 
the present age; and who would hold 
the finest poetry ever written to be of 
equal value with the invention of the 
steam-engine. Taste and the arts have 
so intimate a connection with commerce 
in rendering goods more marketable and 
pleasing, that, by consequence, the 
maintenance of the population is con¬ 
siderably aided in an indirect way, by 
collections of this and every kind, re- 
lative to the formation of pure taste. 
Sculpture seems, to the honour of the 
nation, never to have been here in a de¬ 
graded state. Church-yard w-ork is 
to be found in Greek and Roman ages; 
but it is not generally known, that iii 
Dunburv Church, Essex, are or were 
two cross-legged figures of the 12'h cen¬ 
tury, in wood only, which for spirit and 
execution are admirable. Several figures 
in Westminster Abbey, 8:c. a:e very fine- 
The catalogue upon which tiie above 
remarks, professedly marie not to inter¬ 
fere with Mr. Dallaway's, have been 
made is only “ a compendious synopsis 
intended for persons who take the 
usual cursory view’ of tl>e Museum." 
The leai'iied officers have therefoie no 
concern with any mistakes in it. Tiiey 
promise scientific catalogues,^ hut to 
them, and to every wiiter upon ancient 
statuary (even Winckelmann hitnself), 
ought to be extended the fullest li¬ 
berality, if the writers evidently appear 
persons not ignorant of the subject. 
“There exist,” says Mongez, “many 
ancient marbles, &:c. which cannot be 
explained in asatisfactory manner, either 
because they proceed from the bizar 
imagination of the arsist, or becaii'e the 
facts and traditions to which they refer 
are utterly forgotten. Tl.e signification 
of many symbolic figures was lort even 
among the ancient Greeks themselves. 
Pausanias confesses that he did not know 
what v\as the meaning of the pome¬ 
granate and strobilus of a fir, placed in 
the hand ofTlieoguetes, and surely Pau- 
sanias must have much more knowledge 
upon this subject than any modern.” 
Winckelmann, the Sir Isaac Newton of 
the science, lays it down as a sine qua 
nony that explications are to be sought 
only in mythology and in Homer, con¬ 
cerning basso relievos -and groups, yet 
th.’s limitation is so narrov\' as to be re¬ 
pulsive to probability, however true in 
* I am under much obligatwa to the 
French Encyclopitdia. 
tlie 
