266 
But the cuftom of reprefenting the type 
and power of a country under the form of 
an horned animal, is not peculiar to Ma~- 
cedon: Perfia. was reprefented by a ram. 
The King of Perfia when at the head of 
his army, wore a ram’s head made of 
gold and fet with precious ftones, inftead 
of adiadem. 
The relation of thefe emblems to Ma- 
cedon and Perfia is ftrongly confirmed by , 
the vifion mentioned in the eighth chapter 
of the prophet Daniel, which, while it 
explains the fpecimens of antiquity pro- 
duced by Mr. C. receives itielf in return 
no inconfderable fhare of illuftration. 
Nothing certainly is more applicable .to 
the overthrow of the joint empire of the 
Medes and Perfians by Alexander the 
Great, than this vifion in the Book of 
Daniel and its fubfequent explanation; 
nor at the fame time can better authority 
be required for the true meaning of the 
fingle-horned goat, than may be derived 
from the {ame authority. 
It is remarkable, fays Mr. C., that the 
goat which accompanies this paper js a 
fhe-yoat; but that mentioned by Daniel 
was a male. The variation is of little 
moment. The figure was probably exe- 
cuted in the reign of Alexander the Great, 
when Maced» nhad reached its higheft pitch 
of fplendourj; for at no time can it be faid 
that the country was more produétive 
either in arts or learning, or that its em- 
pire was. more extenfive. Such a period, 
then, in the hiftory of Macedon might 
not have been unfitly reprefented by a 
female goat. 
' Of the ufe to which it was originally 
applied nothing can be fatd with certainty, 
though it was probably fixed toa military 
fiandard, after the manner of the Roman 
eagle; this fuppofition is fupported by 
what is related of Caranus, who ordered 
goats to be carried before the ftandards of 
his army. 
Monthly Retrofpedt of the Fine Arts. 
with blank commiffions from the fame 
Monarch, to Colonel Thomas Veel, to 
raife troops for his fervice. The copy of 
the letter is as follows: 
Antwerp, March 4, 1658. 
*¢ IT am glad you refolve {peedily to vifitt 
your frinds in England. I hope you will 
finde the conjunéture favorable to-your de- 
fignes. I can add nothing to what I have fayd 
at.large to you, yett I thinke it not amifle 
that you be able to fhew your frindes, under 
my hande, that I am very defirous to receave 
afliftance from them, and that I fhall be fo farre 
from remembering any thing that hath been 
heartofore done by any of them to their pre- 
judice, that you may,undertake, I fhall re- 
ward them for any fervice they fhal] do me, 
and I wiil make it good. You know to 
whom to repayre for further information and 
inftruction, ‘¢ Tam, 
6s Yr affectionate frinde 
«© CHyarres R.” 
Two of the blank commiffions are dated 
Bruges, November 24 and 27, 16565 
and the others at Bruxelles, the 14th and 
15th of May 1659. Thefe papers came 
into Mr. Veel’s hands as heir and executor 
to his father in 1723; and they appear to 
have been tranfmitted from father to fon 
through four generations, and to have been 
preferved by them with their moft valuable 
papers ever fince the time when they ceafed 
to be of any further ufe, probably from 
being deemed an honourable teftimony to 
Colonel Veel, and proof of the confidence 
placed in him by King Charles and his 
Minifters at. Antwerp. A fhort hiftory of 
the Colonel is annexed te thefe papers. 
Francis Douce, Esq. during the late 
fcarcity, laid before the Society copies of 
an original communication from Queen 
Elizabeth concerning the {carcity of grain ; 
and of a letter from her Majefty’s Privy 
Council to the Sheriff and Juftices of the 
county of Norfolk, on the fame fubject. 
The tormer was given at the Queen’s p2- 
Jace of Weftminfter, January 20, 15655 
and the latter 1s dated at the court at 
Greenwich, Augult 3, 1596. 
MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF THE FINE ARTS. 
(Communications and the Loan of all nevus Prints are requefied.) 
An Account and Explanation of the Paintings 
‘and other Ornaments, difcovered in Auguft, 
1800, and till lately exifiing on the Walls of 
the prefent Houfe of Commons, by Fobn Sidney 
Hawkins, Efg. F. A. S. the plates engraven 
by Mr. Fobn Thomas Smith of Newman- 
freet. 
TN a former Retrofpe@ we mentioned 
that in enlarging the Houf of Com. 
. , E 
mons, it was difcovered that the walls of 
the building had been originally painted 
with a variety of hiftorical’ and other 
fubjeéts. Mr. Smith obtained permiffion 
to copy them, for which purpofe he took - 
in fubf{criptions for a publication of prints, 
with defcriptions, for which he has al- 
ready been honoured with the names of 
many highly diltinguifhed eminent charac- 
ters, 
