254 
been difcovered 2>—No, fignore (faid he) 
the manufcripts | have all been afiayed * 
and there is not one that promifes to be 
a work of any note. —Though I have 
mot met with any Engl: ‘{hman, who-has 
obrained the like account, I think its 
eruth cannot be reafonably queftioned.— 
The heeper could have no intereft in de- 
preciating the value of the articles he 
exhibited; nor is it credible, that the 
court of Naples would negleét to aicer- 
tain the fubjeét of cach manufeript, by 
unrolling a fufficient {pecimen, while be- 
fiowing confiderable Giens of money, and 
ela of time, upon works altogether 
wwe of the public attention. 
As foon as the ingenuity of a Cala- 
brian monk had invented a method of 
unfolding thefe manuferipts +, which are 
oe to a fubftance lefs tenacious of 
1ts parts than tinder, his machine was 
put in motion, Wirth in credible pains, 
one of the rolls was extended, and co- 
picd: able Grecians were employed to 
collate the copy with the original ; types 
were cat, to give a fac-fimile-or the an- 
crent writing ; insa fecond column, it 
was printed in the ufual Greek charac- ‘ 
ters, with all the drazus fille: ap by con 
ieture, in diferent-coloured ink ;‘and 
an elaborate Latin tranilatida was added 
tnathird. After the prefs had groan- 
ed, for a number of years, with this 
Jong and laborious birth, what did it 
bring forth ?—a dull, and infignificant 
treatife, by Philademus, the Epicurean ; 
whofe fate has been truly fingular. He 
would-have been dead, to all intents and 
purpoles, feventeen centuries ago, if 
feventeen cent ago he had not been 
one 
2 
rie 
buried—<= haben fua fata tbelli > 
Mufic is the fubje& of this ee its 
tendeney, to prove, that “a concord of 
fweet founds ”’ is prejudicial to-fociety ! 
‘The next, a cafereines on moral du- 
ties, turned eut of equal merit: two 

ethers, on rhetoric, followed, fit for the 


* Sco tutti Pati guffati, were the words of 
the keeper. 
+ The manvicript is laid upona tabie, be- 
tween two pillars, fupporting a wheel and axle. 
A number of threads depend from the axle, and 
awe attached to the back of the manufcript, after 
it has been previoufly firengthened by {mall 
{quares or gold-beater’s ikin, glued over every 
part of. the roll that is vifible. The whee! is 
then caudioufly turned ; the outfide of the roll 
is drawn up with the threads, and a frefh part 
expofed to :he fame epcrazion. 
{ xhe author is aware, that fome epigrams 
ef Philodemus were extant, before the diico- 
very | of Herculaneum, 
Mufewm of Portiei. 
[April, 
fame fhelf: the Gfth, on which they were 
employed, when I was at Naples, is faid 
to bea little better, or, in correéter lan- 
guage, a little lefs bad, than the other 
four. A profeffed antiquarian, lately re- 
turned to England, after a refidence of 
many years in that city, reports, that 
three more are fince unrolled, and that, 
as weil as the former five, they are writ- 
ten by Philodemus, and worthy of his 
pen. . 
As the regular fucceffion of this av- 
thor’s = after the firft dull fpeci- 
men, can hardly be the effe&t of felec- 
tion, nor of the original arrangement of 
the library, after the difturbance it muft 
have fuftered in its removal from the fub- 
terraneous city to the Mufeum, we might 
almoit conjecture, the whole Bak hin~ 
dred rolls to be the writings of the indi- 
vidual Greek, at whofe houfe they were 
diicovered. Such a fertility, incredible 
as it ey Be bei not be without 
example. At the legate’s palace, at Bo- 
loena, are 187 volumes im folio, and 200 
begs, of various fizes, full of loofe theets, 
the works of a fingle man, the celebrated 
4 Aldrovan dus. 
The copyift, whom { found employed 
at Porticl, was a painter, and worked 
with the inftrument of his art, inftead 
of apen. He furprifed me, by confeff- 
ing a total ignorance of the language, 
and even of the char: acters, which were 
the fubjeét of his imitation. I was told, 
indeed, that no error could efcape the ac- 
curacy of his pencil, and the care of the 
collation ; and that it had been impofiible 
S procure perfons for the tafk, wha 
combined a knowledge of the Greek, 
with he talent required. Both copyitts 
and unfolders are injudicioufly paid by 
the month, ard, confequently, confume 
much of their ume in doing nothing, 
while Gme is bufily employed in con- 
fuming the manufcripts, under feveral 
of which, I could perceive fragments’ 
that had lately deferted the main body. 
No good antiquarian will, however, com- 
plain of this delay, foes it adds to their 
age, the only thing, which, according 
to the keeper, makes them of any 
worth. 
Unfortunately, his account is but toa 
well confi firmed, by the inadequate refult 
ot forty years’ i bour ; which 1s well cal- 
culated to cool the ardent expectations fo 
long entertained by the literati of Eu- 
rope, in regard to this famous library. 
‘Another idea which travellers have, 
from ignorance, impreffed upon the pub- 
lic mind, is tii more certainly delufive s 
2 we 
