1809.] 
Mosaic is 2 corruption of, and should 
more properly be called, Musaick paving 
or painting, not as being invented by 
Moses, of which we have no. authority, 
but being solely used and appropriated for 
those small and elegant temples, or apart- 
ments, termed, by the ancients, Muse- 
ums, as being consecrated to the Muses: 
The finest specimens of Musaic pav- 
ing in England are in the British Mu- 
seum, and, I believe, at the East In- 
dia House; the former found in exca- 
vating for the foundation of the Bank of 
England, and presented, by the Governor 
and Company of that opulent establish- 
ment, to our National Museum; and 
the jatter found in Leadenhail-street, an 
engraving of wlich is published. There 
were also some fine ones discovered at 
Bath. ~Musaic work, doubtless, ori- 
ginated in the East, and is either the type, 
or the follower, of .their rich carpets. 
From the orientals the Romans acquired 
the art, and executed some _ consi- 
derable works in this style. In the cu- 
pola of St. Peter, in theVatican at Rome, 
are executed in Musaic, four of the fa- 
thers of the church, after paintings by 
Lanfranc, Sacchi, Romanelli, and Pel- 
legrini. Amony the other clebrated pic- 
tures, that have been copied in musaic, 
are the Martyrdom of St. Petronillo, after 
Guercino, in the same church; and the 
Sacrament of St. Jerome, by Domeni- 
chino, in the church of St. Girolamo della 
Carita at Rome, the original of which ts 
in the Napoleon Museum at Paris.— 
Many of the finest pictures of Ratfaelle 
have been thus copied.;, and in the 
Borghesian palace at Rome are six fine 
musaics, representing Orpheus, surround- 
ed by animals, aud supposed to be 
composed of above nine thousand pieces. 
The musaics, that are in the palace of 
the Grand Duke at Florence, are reckon- 
ed the finest in the world. 
Sir Christopher Wren wished the paint- 
ings in the dome of St. Paul’s to have 
been thus executed; but he was over- 
ruled. Had he succeeded, we should 
not, at this very early day after their 
execution, have been lamenting their de- 
struction, which is fast approaching: 
they are now falling off, and, in a few 
years, it is probabie (if no preventives 
are adopted), not a vestige of them will 
be left behind. Your’s, &c. 
19, College-hill, JAMES ELMES, 
Queen-street, Cheapside, Aug, 4. 
P.S. Your Cotrespondent F. page 425 
vol. 26, for December last (1808), says, (after 
exposing several absurdities in Origny’s Dic- 
Grignion’s. Rules for drawing Caricatures. 
377 
tionaire des Origines), that ‘¢ honest Bailey, 
under the word Gregorian thinks not of the 
Pontiff, with the chant and calendar, but of 
one Mr. Gregory, a barber, in the Strand ;* 
I wish to know from him, in what edition of 
Bailey itis to be found, for it is not in mine, 
which is the 25th, 17835 but it does con= 
tain the absurd definition of thunder, that 
F. mentions, as ‘*a noise known by per- 
sons. not deaf,’? with the information, 
that thunder is ‘*a bright flame!!! 
rising suddenly, moving with great violence 
through the air, and commonly ending with a 
loud noise or rattling.” 
= 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, : 
ie the hasty sketch, which in January 
last L sent you, of the Memoirs of 
Mr. C. Grignion, I promised, if it came 
to hand, to add tothem his Rules fon 
executing Caricaturas, in the execution 
of which he had considerable success. 
The term is altogether Italian-; for cari- 
catura means literally the charge of a 
gun, (certa quantita di munizione che st 
metta nell ’archibuso 0 altro, ) says Al- 
tieri; but we take it in the sense, I be- 
lieve, of a thing overcharged.—He says, 
“ Tt is best to begin, by making a harsh 
likeness of the person, without-attempt- 
ing the absolute caricature, and, inthis 
likeness, the principal attention must be 
paid to the true relative proportions of 
the face. . 
‘¢ A remarkably long face should be 
made still longer, and if any constituent, 
part in a face is long in proportion to the 
other features, this part should be in- 
creased, and the other parts (or, at least, 
that-which is connected with it) dimi. 
nished: if the face is remarkably sinooth, 
it should be perfectly polished in the ca- 
rieature; if rugged, it should be increased 
to rock-work ; fatness, leanness, &c. 
should all be treated on the same. prin- 
ciples. In the expression, a similar me- 
thod should be observed ; if the subject 
usually looks grave, his caricature should 
have astill more solemn aspect; if cun- 
ning, simple, &e. the same rule should 
be attended to; in consequence, those 
subjects that have not any remarkablé 
disproportions, or in whose faces the ex- 
pression is not uniform, bat in some de- 
gree divided between ditterent passions, 
are as dificult to caricature, as it would 
be to obtain a striking and favourable 
likeness of them; indeed, the caricature 
of such persons can only be ke them in 
those moments, when that passion — pre= 
dominates; which was the abject of the 
cericaturist. 
