[Aug, 1, 
6 «' L iierary and Philosophical Intelligence, 
was thought to be confined to six miles, 
were on a sudden carried away by the 
torrent, and with their crev\5 entirely 
lost. 
HOLLAND. 
The Dutch booksellers, printers, type¬ 
founders, and press-makers, are by a 
lace decree, published at Amsterdam, to 
have their names and residence registered. 
GERMANY. 
A remarkable literary prodigy is now 
at the University of Gottingen, in the 
pei-son of a boy, ten years and a half old, 
who understands the languages, history, 
geography, and literature, ancient and 
modern, and who, at the age of eight 
years, possessed, besides his mother- 
longue, Greek, Latin, French, English, 
and Italian, to such a degree of perfec¬ 
tion, that he could not only translate 
currently the Eneid of Virgil, and the 
Iliad of Homer, but could, beside, speak, 
with an astonishing facility, all the living 
languages just mentioned. 
Hertz Hamburgh, a learned Jew, 
has composed, by command of the Em¬ 
peror Francis, a book of Morals pecu- 
liarly appropriated to the Jewish nation, 
and in this work the maxims of sound 
philosophy are supported by passages 
from the Old Testament. 
ITALY. 
Tlie ancient city of Veii, as is known, 
was taken by the Romans, in the year of 
Rome 360; it was repeopled, and after¬ 
wards embellished by the emperors. M. 
Giurgi, an agriculturist, and owner of 
the soil, having discovered in February 
last, at twelve feet deep in the earth, a 
r.umber of columns, employed thirty 
w'orkmen to prosecute bis researches. 
He has lately found the most beautiful 
statue of Tiberius known ; of heroic size, 
sitting: the head resembles the medals 
perfectly ; and is sublime both in exe¬ 
cution and expression : the arms, the 
knees, the hair, the drapery, are excel¬ 
lent. It is of Greek marble, and the 
work of a Greek artist. A fine bust, 
supposed to be of Lepidus; a Phrygian 
slave, a caryatidof'; a beautiful head of 
Flora; tl>c lower part of a figure of a 
priestess, the drapery in the highest 
Style; other fragments, an immense do- 
lium, many capitals of columns, &c. 
were found at the same time. ' 
It has been said that Carlo Maratti 
was the last Roman painter, hut this 
fact will be now denied, as it is reserved 
for the Chevalier \’incenzo Cammucini 
to wipe away such a reproach from his 
itauve country. He began to distinguish 
himself by grand sketches and copies ia 
oil, of the works of Raphael, particularly 
the Descent to the Tomb of Christy which 
is in the Borghese palace. But it is the 
picture of the Murder of Virginia^ which 
has obtained for him the reputation of a 
composer, a designer, and a painter, 
capable of the greatest undertakings. A 
noble distribution, great expression and 
variety in the characters, the alternation 
of hte and repose, the play of the pas¬ 
sions, in addition to a strong impression 
produced by the subject, all combined to 
constitute the merits of a picture, by 
which Cammucini has acquired the repu¬ 
tation of a great painter. Encouraged 
by the success of Ins work, he has com¬ 
menced another, entitled “The Death of 
Cagsar,’' serving as a companion to th^ 
former, and, as some think, will surpass 
it. His first work was an altar-piece, re¬ 
presenting St. Thomas. 
FRAXCE. 
On the loth of May, at half past eight 
o’clock in the evening, a luminous meteor 
w as seen at Paris: the sky was serene 
and the atmosphere was very calm. 
This meteor, which appeared to be at a 
considerable height, lasted several mi¬ 
nutes. It balanced itself in all direc¬ 
tions in the air, and at length exploded, 
without any report or detonation. No¬ 
thing more than a smoke of vapour was 
perceived, which afterwards lormed a 
cloud. It was seen also at Augsburgh, 
at 37 minutes past 8 o’clock in the even¬ 
ing, at which time an indistinct noise was 
heard, which issued from a small black 
cloud, thick, globe-shaped, about half 
the diameter of the moon, and westward 
of a large stormy cloud. This globe 
divided itself at the height of an anjile of 
7 degrees 40 minutes; and was instantly 
follovyed by a luminous zig-zag in a south¬ 
erly direction : another zig-zajj still larger 
succeeded to the former, and pointing 
vertically, then shifted rapidly to the 
north under an angle of 2 degrees SO 
minutes; but the light of this was paler 
than that of the former: it again resumed 
a vertical direction; and returned to the 
southward under an angle of 2 degrees, 
but very obscure. A black vapour 
seemed to issue from the globe and to 
lose itself in the atmosphere. This me¬ 
teor was seen at 8 hours 37 min., and 
was visible to the naked eye till S hours 
51 min.: with an achromatic telescope it 
was discernible to 8 hours 54 min. 44 
seconds. The apparent height of this 
globe when It separated into parts w.as 
13 degrees 55 min.; when it had lost its 
form 
