416 
Laetitis at, fortem miferata, affurgere Tellus 
Juffit, et aeterna luxuriare coma: 
Nunc libertatis Belgarum teftis et index, 
Excuffo domini, fiftor in urbe, jugo, 
Haud invita ferens! Praeftat prae carmine Panis 
Concentu populi liberiore frui. 
Citizen Dolomieu is an prefent em- 
ployed with the completion of a work, 
which promiles to be of confiderable im- 
portance to mineralogy and the {cience of 
antiquities. It is intituled, Lithologie 
Ancienne ; and his plan is to give an ex- 
aét defcription of the different fpecies of 
ftones, which the ancients employed in 
their works of tafte and art. From a fe- 
ven years’ refidence in Italy, of which 
time he fpent a very confiderable part at 
Rome, and his uncommon knowledge in 
mineralogy, he has procured a quantity 
of materials, which, with his own re- 
marks, will be foon laid before the pub- 
te. The celebrated Abbé Vifconti, of 
Rame, in whofe company Dolomieu made 
frequent refearches into the: antiquities 
of that place, has enriched the work with 
many uleful conje€lures: and as it is dif- 
ficult to determine with precifion on fe- 
veral doubtful poimts out of Tialy, the 
2ffiftance which Dolomieu has received, 
added to his own qualifications, is likely 
to bring us nearer to the truth. Accor- 
ding to his opinion, the Apoilo of Bel- 
videre, though a mafter-piece of art, was 
by no means produced at that period when 
feulprure had in Greece arrived at the 
higheft degree of perfeétion.It is, without 
doubt, the work of.a Grecian artift, who_ 
laboured on it out of hisown country, and 
it is of a much later date than that af- 
eribed to it by general opinion. The mar- 
ble is from Carrara, and taken from the 
fame places, inthe mountains Della Lu- 
na, which were worked in the time of 
Auguftus, for the fame purpofe. Vif- 
conti confirms this opinion, of which Do- 
lomieu fpeaks confidently, from an in- 
fpection of the places in the mountains, 
and acomparifon of the ftone with the 
Apollo. 
From an-inquiry into the Egyptian 
works of art, fuppofed to be -cut out of 
Sidte of Public 4 aIrS. eee Great Britain. 
[ June 
Bafaltes, Dolomieu has expofed the ig- 
norance of antiquarians in general, in mi- 
neralogy. The cuftom of Rome has been 
to call every black piece of feulpture * ba- 
faltes,” without any farther enquiry into 
the properties of the ftone. Dolomieu’s 
opinion on the origin of the bafaltes is 
well known, and whether well founded 
or not, he is too well acquainted with the 
fubjeét, not to conviét the Roman Cice- 
roni of innumerable errors. Inthe Mu- 
feo Borgiano, at Peletri, which is par- 
ticularly rich in Egyptian fculpture, and 
from which a tolerable knowledge of 
Egyptian ftones might, according to 
Dolomieu, be obtained, he did not find a 
fingle piece of real bafaltes. Ia Rome, 
he ifaw only one ftatue made of a black 
porous lava, and covered with hierogly- 
phics, and this was in the villa Borghefe. 
A fragment of an Egyptian monument of 
a fimilar {pecies of lava, he received fome 
years back from Alexandria. 
A French tranflation of Stuart's Athe- 
nian antiquities, by Barbré, in three vo- 
lumes folio, is now in the prefs, in Paris. 
The tranflator, who is the fuperintendant- 
of the geographical part of the national 
library, and whofe abilities have been 
proved in the maps for Anacharfis’s tra- 
vels, has enriched his tranflation with va- ~ 
rious remarks, and extracts from the an- 
cients. The beft artifts of -Paris are em- 
ployed under the infpe€tion of Moreau, 
and Dufourny has the care of the archi- 
tectural part. Only five hundred copies’ 
on vellum paper are to be printed. 
Barbié has been employed for fome’ 
years on the topography of Paufanias, but 
waits for quieter times, before he puts 
this work to the prets. 
Dufourny, the celebrated French archi- 
tect, who has {pent feveral yearsin Italy, 
and was employed by the Court of Na- 
ples in rebuilding feveral cities, deftroyed 
in Calabria and Sicily, by the earthquake, 
is preparinga work for the prefs, in which 
he propofes to give very accurate mea- 
furements of the moft ancient remains. of 
architecture, now exifting in Sicily. 

STATE oF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, rn JUNE, 1796. 
GREAT BRITAIN. 
THe prefent parliamentary recefs, like 
an interval of reft to a weary travel- 
ler, affords us an opportunity of taking a 
retrofpective view of our paft labours in 
the political department of the Menthly 
Magazine. ‘ 
At the commencement of the year 
1796, the people of this country were led 
to entertain, not only for their own fafe- 
ty, but forthe fake of fuffering huma- 
nity, the fondeft hopes of an approach- 
ing peace. Thefe hopes were founded 
upon the royal-declaration, made om the 
. 8th 
