1809.1 
form two crescents, the curves of which, 
‘uniting with the obliquity of the Court- 
house, would give it anappearance of pro- 
priety in position, not otherwise perhaps, 
to be attained. 
Between the court-house, and the buil- 
dings which ar, to remain standing on its 
north-side, is a street 35 feet wide, This 
street should be continued westward, till 
itmeet Prince’s-street,and again eastward, 
to King-street; which, to obviate the im- 
propriety of breaking the line of build- 
ings in that street, it might enter under an 
archway. From this disposition, great ad- 
vantages would arise, owing, in a consi- 
derable degree, to its airiness, its pre- 
senting a long line of front ground for the 
erection of dwelling-houses, of various 
rates, and its happy conformity with the 
buildings, to which it is to unite, The 
whole might, withoutinconvenience, com- 
prize twenty large first-rate houses, alarge 
tavern and hotel; six buildings, contain- 
ing eighteen sets of chambers and their 
appendages, ten second, nine third rate 
houses, and two large stable-yards, and 
would present a magnificent elevation, 
extending 600 feet in King-street, and 
the Broad-sanctuary. Your’s, &c. 
Feb. 1809, C. A. Buspy. 
Warwick-court, Gray's Inn. 
SE te 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE DILLETANTI TOURIST, 
Or Lerrers from an AMATEUR of ART, 
in LONDON, 10 @ FRIEND ned? MAN- 
CHESTER. 
AVING been prevented from giving 
H you, in my last, such a detailed 
description of the Townley Gallery. of 
Antiquities, in the British Museum, as I 
promised you, I hasten to resume my 
pen, and recreate my mind with the 
amusing task. On entering the first room, 
on the left hand, where commences the 
numerical descriptions in the Synopsis, 
as published by the trustees of the Mu- 
seum, isa female statue, probably-of one 
of the Muses; both the arms are lost, 
therefore it is difficult to pronounce what 
the figure is intended for; the drapery is 
particularly fine and flowing. There are 
several fine amphore in this room, some 
of which are from the collection of Sir 
Hans Sloane, and which I shall pass over 
without comment, as being more curious 
for their antiquity, than eminent for 
beauty. - Ainong the isolated figures, are 
some terminal heads of the bearded, or 
Indian Bacchus, of great antiquity, and 
of early workmanship ; for it was only in 
the infancy of the art, that the ancients 
Moyruix Mac. No. 182. 
The Dilletantt Tourist.—No. Z1l. 
+145 
used these terminal figures in their wor- 
ship. They are simply a head, carved or 
modelled, (as in the present examples) 
on a square truak. How might not a 
warm imagination amuse itself, in sup- 
posing the tames returned, when the Di- 
onisia, or Bacchic dances were per- 
formed around one of these very heads, 
in all their wanton rites and extrava- 
gances, in honour of the eastern god, 
The basso-relievos are reliques of friezes, 
pannels, &c. and besides the beauty of 
their execution, and fancifulness of des 
sign, many of them have beautiful bor- 
derings of the honey-suckle, and other 
luxuriant foliage, of infinite use to the 
architect. Their subjects are various 
many of them are duplicates of others. 
We have Amazons and Griffins combating, 
Tritons and Cupids riding on dolphins, 
and many bacchanalian subjects, The 
Bacchantes dancing and playing on an 
instrument, like atambourin in the groupe 
of Bacchus and Cupid, numbered six isa 
very graceful and elegant figure. Two 
of these subjects I cannot pass over with- 
out particular mention: they are nearly 
in alt-relief; and represent in half-length 
figures, Perseus armed with a battle-axe 
and an engagement between one of the 
Arimaspi and a Griffin. It is repeated 
in another pannel, but reversed; which - 
occasions the shield in one of them to be 
on the right arm, and the harpa, or 
battle-axe, in the left hand, which gives 
it an aukward appearance, From the 
boldness of these two subjects, which are 
joined together, I conjecture them to 
have been the friezes of a small temple. 
In this collection, the difficulty is not 
which to chuse, but which to omit in my 
description; and I do not know that [ 
should do ample justice to them without 
enumerating them ail, which would too 
much resemble a dry catalogue. Yet L 
must not omit No, 11, representing a 
couple of Chimera-lapping water, out of 
vessels, held to them by two youths, who 
are attired in Phrygian dresses, and 
kneeling on one knee. The singular 
beauty of the contour of these youths is 
past all praise; 1 consider them equal to 
any in the collection; the folds of the 
drapery, and general form, especially the 
easy serpentine line of the back and leg, 
are particularly fine. Here aggin am [ 
in a dilemma, whether to go on seriatim, 
or to skip to others of more consequence. 
The Medusa’s head; the female over. 
whelmed with affliction, and attended by 
her domestics; and twenty others, are 
such fine examples of the perfection of 
the ancients in the plastic arts, that to 
U @lnit 
