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1S Letters of an American Traveller in France. [March 1, 
“Laftly, what inclines us not to rank 
thefe infcriptions with fuch as are Chrif- 
tian, is, among other things, their parti- 
cular confecration—diis manibus, et fub 
afcia. A Chbriftian {culptor would not 
have expreficd himfelf. thus.  Befides, 
thefe two lait words were a formula em- 
ployed in the fepulchral monuments of the 
Gauls. The learned have diiputed much 
to afcertain the fenfe of it. We conceive 
the afcia to have been an inftrument 
which derved to fquare the ftenes. We 
find fome reprefented on cippz, difcovered 
in Guyenne, and engraved in a colleétion 
intitled— Difertations on ancient. Monu- 
ments found at Bourdeaux, publifhed in 
1754, by the learned Abbé Vénuti.. This 
author proves. irrefragably, that the 
phrafe, fub afcia dedicavit, fignifies that 
the tomb was conlecrated on its coming 
out of the ha:ds of the workman who 
made it. “This. confecration was an 2& 
of the Pagan religion, accompanied with 
many ceremonies. which ranked tombs 
among facred things, and which placed 
them out of the routine of ordinary trafhe, 
according to the Roman law. Before 
their dedication, thefe works were not re- 
puted religious, according to Quintilian. 
‘They.couid not, therefore, ufe too much 
hatte in performing the folemnity; and 
the eager anxiety that was manifefted in 
acquitting themfelves of this duty, was 
commendable, and merited a public an- 
nouncement of it by the formula /ub 
aftia dedicavit. 
The fepulchral ftones that we defcribe 
haye been found upfet, one upon ancther. 
The crefcent, feulptured on-one of them 
(which in thefe latter times was the 
{cutcheon of Bourdeaux), at the fame time 
that it was not placed there without in- 
tention, does not appear to defignate any 
thing relative to that city. Bourdeaux 
had no coat of arms, when the Romans 
ruled there ; and the fymbol which then 
iftinguifhed that city was a lion, accord- 
ing to Gibelin, or a ram, according to. 
Alciat. .This crefcent feems to indicate, 
that the monument which contains it had 
been confecrated to Diana, as being the 
tomb cf awoman. If it had been thie 
emblem of the Valerian family, or of the 
place of its crigin, would it not rather 
have been fculptured on the temb of the 
hufband, who was.the chief of it? 
There is reafon to prefume, that thefe 
cippit. belonged to the Temple of Diana, 
which ftaod on the’ place -Semape, clofe 
by the {pot where they.were found, as we 
fiad it explained in our Aaéiquités. Borde- 
laifes—Antiquities of Bourdeaux: At 
the time of the irruptions of the Goths, 
of the Saracens, or of the Normans, 
at Bourdeaux, this temple muft ap- 
parently have been deftroyed. The ru- 
ins. of it rolled into the ancient foffés 
of that city, which feparated the fpot 
whereon that edifice was conftruéted, 
from the palace or cdateau del Ombricre. 
The Dukes of. Aquitaine, when they 
erected this chateau in the year 910, moft 
probably availed themfelves of the mate- 
rials which were found on that fide, to 
ferve for foundations of the walls. It was 
only, therefore, by demolifhing them, that 
thefe fepulchral ftones could be difcovered. 
Their fubterranean interment could alone 
have preferved them from the outrages 
that the fcythe of Time, or the hand of 
men, have perpetrated on fo many other 
monuments which decorated that city 3 
which Aufonius, the moft illuftrious of its’ 
citizens, and the moft illuftrious of its’ 
panegyrilts, called :— ae 
Nitentem infignemque viris ct turribus altis, 
—— a 
For the Monthly Magazine. _— 
ORIGINAL LETTERS Of awa AMERICAN 
TRAVELLER, fo his FRIEND #-LON- 
DON, containing a CIRCUMSTANTIAL 
ACCOUNT of a late TOUR from BOUR- 
DEAUX f0 PARIS. continued. . 
Bourdeaux, Sune 23, 1798. 
ik my laft, I gave you an account of 
fome of the melancholy occurrenceswhich 
took place during the revolution ; I have 
now to defcribe fome of. thofe republican . 
inftitutions, by which the Direétory ex- 
pect to make amends to the people for all 
the evils which accompanied this great 
political event. I this day witnefled one 
of their public fétes, called the fete of 
agriculture, which is celebrated on this 
day, as being the firft of their month of 
Meffidor, orthe harveft-month. The name 
of Mefidar applied to this month fhews 
that the ufual harveit-month of France is 
from the 23d of June to the 23d cf July, 
which isearlier, I believe, by a tull month 
than the harveft in Engiand. ‘This fete 
confifted of municipal cfficers. adorned 
with tri-coloured fcarfs, marching in a 
proceffion, in the centre of which was a 
chaiiot drawn by oxen. In this chariot, 
which was covered and decorated- with 
green boughs, twifted together to forma 
fhace, were feated four old farmers, haying 
ears of corn in their hats,,. This procef- 
fion was attended by the military of — 
Bourdeaux (of which thre are not more 
than 500 in this large city). 
