1796. ] 
fublimity of invention, as greatly furpaffed 
in grandeur the two preceding poets, as 
the actors in his ftory are fuperior to 
their’s. Satan and Death, thole mighty 
and terrible combatants, preparing to 
engage, are thus reprefented : 
fuch a frown 
Each caft at th’other, as when two black clouds, 
With heav’n’s artillory fraught, come rattling on 
‘Over the Cafpian, then ftand front to front, 
Hovering a fpace, till winds the fignal blow 
To join their dark encounter in mid air. 
Par. L. is. 714. 
——) 



As it was neceffary for the comparifon, 
that the clouds fhould move in oppofite 
dire€tions, he has properly made them 
thunder-clouds, in which fuch a circum- 
ftance is common; befides, that the “ ar- 
tillery’’ with which they are fraught, 
renders their fhock a peculiarly ftriking 
image of battle. 
qe Ak 
[To be continued. | 

For the Moutly Magazine. 
On THE UsE or Icr as a LUXURY BY 
THE ANCIENTS. 
At this feafon the thought naturally oc- 
curs: were ice creams known to the 
ancients? had they the fame, a better, or 
a worfe method, of fecuring in hot wea- 
ther the luxury of cold dainties? Is it 
wife toufe them? Some of your ccrre- 
f{pondents may be inclined to add to the 
following particulars. Athenzus (11D. il, 
«. 21.) has preferved a paflage of Chares, 
who had writtena hiftory of Alexander of 
Macedon, whence we learn, that during 
the fiege of a town (Petra) in India, Alex- 
ander dug thirty moats parallel! to cach 
wther, which he filled with fnow, and 
covered with oak boughs; becaufe, fays 
@hares, in this manner fnow may long 
be preferved. “[ am not aware that any 
other ufe was made by the antients of their 
ftored fnow than to cool liquors for the 
table, which was done by mixture as well 
as by immerfion. Some paffages from the 
Greek poets relative to this practice, oc- 
eur in the third book of Athenzus. Alexis 
_fays, 
3, Kat yiovee trey wivesy meguonevaCopsey. 
_ Euthycles fays, 
2. Tlowroy prev 2ecev ts Yiwy ES wrkwe 
near 

1. We alfo prepare {now fer our drink. 
2: Firft he afks if {now be cheap. 
Uje of Ice by the Ancients. 
And Stratis fays, 
3. Owvoy yar They Bx a Eee 
Arfairo Sep.oys ahha ToAU TH¥cyTLoOY 
Tux o/revoy EV Ta DlEUTL, YLOve (Az /AbypLEVOY 
“Xenophon in his Memoirs of Socrates 
fays, 
4A Iva de Ket NOnwo Wives OtvoUS TE WOAVTEREESS 
mucacnevagn nos TOUS Gscoury ysover TepBevcce 
Ondesge 
And Plutarch in his Sympos (lid. vi. qu. 6.) 
alludes to this cuftom, which was after- 
wards prevalent alfo among the Romans. 
Celfus afcribes to Afclepiades, and Pliny 
(lib. x) to Nero, the invention of it. This 
emperor may merely have introduced 
among the Romans the ufe of chilled 
wines; asthe table fongs of Horace omit 
the praife of this refinement, with which 
Juvenal (fat. V. v. 50.) 
Frigidior Geticis petitur decoéia pruinis. 
And Martial (lib. XIV. ep. 116 and 117) 
Quo tibi decoétz nobile frigus aque. 
Non potare nivem, fed aquam potare frigen- 
Tem 
De nive, commenta eft ingentofa fitis, 
are already familiar. Yer from two paf- 
fages in Seneca it might be fufpeted that 
the invention of Nero was diftinét from 
the mere importation of a Grecian vogue; 
and perhaps really went the length of ori- 
ginating the ufe of zces, as they are now 
compofed. 
Nec nive quidem contenti funt, fed glaciem, 
velut certior 1li ex folido rigor fit, exquirunt ac 
fepe repetitis aquis diluunt. Nat. Queda. lib. IV. 
cap. 13.-Quid tu illam zftivam nivem non 
putas callum adducere jecinoribus ? Epift, ALX. 
ad Lucul. 
Againft the ufe of this gratification 
Fippoerates (Sect. 5. Aphor 17: 24) 
and Galen (Meth. Med. lib. vil. c. 4.) 
have inveighed with menacing bitternefs ; 
and perhaps the {wallowing fuddenly too 
great a quantity of ice may have been at- 
tended with mortal fyncopes. JI fhall, 
hewever, venture, in oppofition to their 
authority, to record one inference from 
individual experience—that for the fore 
laffitude, the fatigued and worn out fen- 

3. None chooies to drink his wine warm, but 
rather fuch as has been put in a well, or mingled 
with fnow. 
4. In order to drink high-prized wines in: 
perfection, you ihould prepare them warm, and 
fleep them in fnow.—The wines alluded to. 
were thickened by boiling toa firupy confift- 
ence, like the Tinto of Alicant ; hot water only 
would incorporate with them eafily ; this mix- 
ture made, it was cooled in {now for beverage at 
table, 
fation 
