these figures: probably the Scythian god Mars, their idol. No. 11. Chimeras, &c. They have a curious escallop along the neck for a mane, and wings curved like a cartouche. They are lapping water out of vessels, held by two youths kneeling, &c. It is probably the exsiccation of some inundated country, which is thus typified! the chimæra being of astronomical meaning, as well as a volcano, &c. ̧ No. 12. A Female in affliction surrounded by her domestics. This is a very erroneous denomination, Winckelmann having laid it down as a rule, that the subjects of all bas-reliefs are mytholo gical, not historical. She has her foot upon a stool, an ancient mode, occurring at Persepolis, and in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman marbles, as a mode of showing the principal personage, though there are some exceptions. One of the attendants holds a leaf, supposed to be a fan, to drive off flies, &c. See Lambee. Comm. Bibl. Vind. Pierr. Grav. Pal. Roy. i. p. 112. Whether it be a Ceres lamenting Proserpine, or other similar subject, I will not decide. No. 13. Minerva standing by a fragment of Medusa's head. The goddess had just changed her hair into serpents. The Etruscan coeffure is very strongly marked in the hair of Pallas, and the whole bas-relief (as are others in this room) is a fine specimen of the Etruscan style. No. 14. The bearded Bacchus, &c. No. 15. Heads of Minerva and Jupiter. The birth of Minerva from the brain of Jupiter, will occur to mind as well as Minerva crowning Jupiter after be had conquered the Titans, (Diod. ap. Tertull. de Corona, p. 124 ;) but the basrelief is imperfect. No. 16. Building the Argo. Here we see, that the first masts were temporary, and not fixed, as Homer says, passim. No. 17. Venus riding upon a Seahorse. It should be distinctively styled the Marine Venus. See Lippert, Dactylioth. Mill. i. l. 77. Similar occur in Stosch, &c. No. 18. Victory pouring out a libation to Apollo Musagetes. The Victories pouring out libations are generally the finest. There is a famous one in Stosch; another on the Syracusan Medallions; and an equally fine specimen upon four of the best bas-reliefs at the villa Albani. Apollo is completely draped, as were the comedians and musicians. See Ov, Am. . i. el. 8, v. 59. Comific. 1. 4. This drapery is the rar, of Cidli machus, (Hymn. in Apoll. v. 33.) and a female dress. See Hygin. Fab. ix. No. 19. Two Priestesses standing one on each side of a candelabrum. There is no means of knowing priestesses by costume, (Maillot, Costum. i. 277.) and as to raising the robe, like Hope, with one hand, upon imperial coins, it is to be observed, that this gesture is unusual in the Marbles of Hope; (see Boïss, ii. b. 130;) and Hesione lifts her robe, in the same author, and Montfaucon. They are probably Roman matrons. No. 20. Machaon sitting in the Tent of Nestor, wounded; as Il. xi. This is uncertain: the application of bas-reliefs to historical subjects being always suspicious, according to the rule of Winckelmann. Nestor, however, is presumed to occur upon a sardonyx in Stosch, advi sing Patroclus : and subjects from Homer were common. No. 21. Bucchus and a Faun. No. 22. Two Fauns, &c. between them Ampelus, the favourite of Bacchus. The crotala were usual in the Bacchic dance. Beger, &c. have Fauns with crotala. No. 23. Spring and Summer. A dog, jumping up, is the symbol of one season; wheat-ears and poppies, of the other. These symbols do not coincide with the seasons upon the arch of Septimius Severus, or the coins of Caracalla, Commodus, &c. The dog occurs in the Barberini Seasons: but, I should prefer Winter and Summer according to the above authorities. No. 24. Victory sacrificing a Bell before a candelabrum. It should be called Victoria Mithriaca, from resem blance to Mithras. There is a famous gem on this subject in the duke of Devonshire's cabinet, by Sostratus, most of whose works passed there from the collection of baron de Stosch, and this among them. The same subject occurs in marble bas-reliefs at the villas Borghese and Albani, the gallery of S. Ignacius, &c. See Beg. Thes. Brandenb. t. ii. p. 285. No. 25. of Medusa. The Perseus cutting off the head Medusa's head is very flat and broad, and has no snakes. decollation did not ensue till after ber hair was changed: and ugly heads of Medusa are almost entirely confined to the Etruscans. (See D'Ĥancaro, v. 4. pl. 126, &c.) No. 26. Victory sacrificing a Bull, as before, in No. 24. No. No. 29. Repetition of No. 21. No. 30. Bacchus, Fauns, &c. No. 31. Fauns leaning over a vessel of wine, &c. Modern artists should remember, that the tails of Fauns are not continuations of the os sacrum, but parallel with the lips, as in all the Fauns here. No. 32. A Trophy, and Captive secured by a chain to a guard. This was one method of ancient imprisonment. S. Paul alludes to it. See Acts 12, 6. Suet. Domit. 14. n. 7. No. 33. Fauns gathering grapes. No. 34. Paris carrying off Helen in & quadriga. Traces are presumed to be modern; but the present car resembles in form those without poles, (whether forgotten, or omitted, because the cars were drawn by traces?) engraved in Winckelmann's Monum. Antich. n. 184, and Caylus, v. 2. No. 35. Egyptian hieroglyphics. No. 36. Two persons navigating the Nile, &c. &c. This is evidently a Roman imitation of Egyptian works: a fashion which became common about the time of Hadrian. The persons are probably Hadrian, and his favourite Antinous. In this bas-relief is a house in the modern fashion; as there is on the margin of the famous figure of the Tiber. No. 37. Vase, with panther, thyrsus, &c. imperfect. No. 38. The goddess Salus. "Both the hands are wanting; but from the position of the arms, it is apparent, that the figure held a serpent in the right hand, and a patera in the left." Thus the Catalogue: the symbols apply to Hygeia, (see Perier and La Chausse) whom some writers make synonimous 1 with Salus; but others distinguish her from the Salus on coins. No. 39. An Amphora. It is Polyhymnia. See Stosch, Vaill. n. 20. Pembr. Nuznism. p. i. pl. 7. No. 41. Amphora. No. 42. A bas-relief, representing a short naked human figure, with a long thick beard, holding in each hand the stem of a plant. On each side is seated a quadruped, whose head is that of an Elderly man, and whose tail terminates in a flower. From the head-dress and close legs, the human figure is evidently Egyptian, or an imitation. The tail of the quadruped is that of a sphinx. No. 43. Cupids with festoons.* No. 44. A Faun and Bacchante, hold ing between them the infant Bacchus in a winnowing basket. The basket is like the modern. No. 45. 46. Heads of Pan and Satyrs. All the three heads resemble each other. It seems, that an indented nose was considered, by this sculptor at least, an indispensable characteristic of Pans and Satyrs. Now the nose of the Pan and Satyrs on the coins of Antigonus and the Florentine gems, tom. i. pl. 86. n. 5, is Roman, or aquiline, as in most other instances; the whole face being a hegoat's head, humanized. This Pan is according to the features a Silenus, and the Satyrs have at least more of Fauns. No. 47. The Indian Bacchus received as a guest by Icarus. The Indian Bacchus very commonly occurs upon the Farnesian, Herculanean, and Hamiltonian vases, but attention must be paid to the remarks of C. Caylus, Rec. pl. 4. n. 1 and 2, about the similarity of the Indian and Egyptian Bacchus. &c. No. 48. Fauns riding on Panthers, No. 49. A Bull and a Lion. The hind parts of the bull, and the face of the lion, are very badly done.* No. 50. A lighted Candelabrum composed entirely of a flower, on each side a Priestess, holding up her robe. See No. 19. The No. 51. Autumn and Winter. symbols are fruit, the undoubted characteristic of autumn, and game carried by a staff across the shoulder, like the rabbit-sellers in London. The appropriation is proved to be correct by other instances; and La Chausse and Montfaucon (Antiq. expliq. iii, p. 2. b. 4. c. 5.) are probably mistaken in denominating a figure, thus carrying game, a hunter. No. 52. Hygeia or Salus, feeding out of a patera, a serpent turned round the trunk of a tree, from a branch of which are suspended two cast-off skins of the Qu. If it ought not to be Genui with festoons. They are quite common upon sarcophagi; but in Stusch are no less than 300 Loves in different groupes, attitudes, &c. If many were not intended for Genii? no explications being found in mythology. They are probably Taurus and Lao, part of the zodiacal signs, from their running in contrary directions; bas-reliefs of the zodiac being quite common. serpent serpent. These statues are excessively common, because votive, on account of convalescence. No. 53. A Warrior consulting the oracle of Apollo. No. 54. A lighted Candelabrum, on each side of which is a Priestess, holding up her robe, and carrying a patera on her head. I have been unable to find any similar monument. No. 55. Theseus slaying a Centaur. A common subject. See Mus. Florent. ii. pl. 39, n. 1. and Stosch, repeatedly. No. 56, 57, 58, repetitions of 18, 23, 50. No. 59. Fauns treading out grapes in a vine-press. Presses Occur upon the coins of Bostra, in Arabia, and the paintings of Herculanum: but as the Fauns here stand hand in hand, with the knee of the one against that of the other, I am inclined to think that they trod out the juice here. No. 60. A Chariot-race. In this basrelief, we have the bands or thongs wound round the waist, as in the charioteers of Fabretti: it being usual to fasten the reins round the waist to leave the arms at liberty, though there has been some dispute about them. However, these thongs, sometimes passing upon the shoulders, well show the costume of charioteers. In C. Caylus and Maillot, pl. xciii. f. 6, 7, are other specimens of this costume. No 65. Captives in a car, chained, persons holding the ends of the chains. See N.32. No. 65 A head of Jupiter Ammon, resting on a flower. The ends of the fillets with which the head of Jupiter is crowned, are held on each side by a Faun, winged, the figure termina ing below in foliage, which curls in such a manner as to give the figure the appearance of a Triton. In Stosch, is a head of Serapis with the horns of Ammon, and also another head of Serapis with the attributes of Jupiter. Amnon, Apotto, Neptune, and Esculapius, (Gemm t. ii. pl. 30. p. 70.) Serapis and Isis, also occur together. Horus, seated upon the Lotus, occurs in C. Cays, Rec. t. i. p. 32, and Montfaucon, Suppl. t. ii. pl. cxc. Supposing then that his figure is a Jupiter Scrapis, it is necessary to observe, that all figures of Jupiter Serapis are of later ages, and neither of ancient sculpture or Egyptian work. This remark accords with Macrobius, Saturn. l. i. c.7. p. 179,) who says that Serapis was not brought into Egypt, but by the Ptole mies, and that the Egyptians did not introduce his image into the temples. The Fauns have feathered wings, in a cartouche form. The Etruscans only allowed themselves to take liberties with the feet of Fauns, (Pierr. Grav. Pal. Roy. i. p. 255. These bizar figures are very common, but are improperly denominated Fauns: the term should be monsters. They are numerous in Stosch; and it is remarkable that they chiefly lean to imaginary marine animals, as here in the tail of a Triton. Count Cay lus ascribes them (Rec. ii. pl. 90) to the caprice of the artist. No. 67. Fauns gathering grapes. No. 68. Victory standing upon a plant, and supporting the branches with her hands. The figure is commanding and fine, and there is much expression in the face. The drapery highly merits notice. The tree is probably a palm, but this is by no means certain. In Stosch, she stands upon two joined hands, between which rises a wheat-ear. The tree in this bas-relief, is the symbol probably of some country, which by her holding the branches was to derive be nefit from union with the conquerors. No. 69. Repetition of No. 33. No. 70. Victory sacrificing a bull, as before. No. 71. A warrior riding at full speed, and cutting off the head of an amazon, whom he has caught by the hair. Maffei has published a warrior pulling an Amazon from her horse by the hair of the head, the pelta lying on the ground, as a Roman soldier dismounting a Numidian horseman. It is more probably Theseus capturing Antiope, the Amazonian queen: and this is perhaps the same subject. This seizure of Amazons on horseback by the hair, occurs on a vase belonging to the king of Naples, but recently brought to England. See the plate in the Magasin Encyclopedique, Nov. 1809, p. iii. and the Collection de Vases peints, by Maissonneuve, 1.2. pl. 25, 26, 27. It was probably usual. conse. No. 72. Venus borne through the air upon a Swan. This bird was crated to Venus, and both ancient and modern poets mention their office of conveving the mother of the Loves. Boccacio (Geneal. Deor.) is very indelicate upon the subject. It is not however a common representation of Venus. No. 73. Cupid pressing Psyche in the form of a butterfly to his breast. Psyche, in the form of a butterfly, with Cupid fastened 1 fastened to a column, is more common. The butterfly is the well-known symbol of the soul; and here (as weil as in all monuments) it is not merely Psyche, but has also an allegorical meaning. No. 73. Cupid flying with a palmbranch in one hand, and a wreath in the other. I believe it to be a genius. The attitude, &c. resembles a Victory over a triumphal car, with a palm-branch and wreath and probably alluding to a similar occasion. No. 75. A terminal head of the bearded Bacchus. A veil hangs down on each side of the head. The head-dresses of these Indian Bacchuses are often fantastic and singular. See two in Montfaucon, L'Antiq. expliq. i. p. 2. b. 1. c. 18. N observant man will complain of monotony in scenes of nature. Throughout no two weeks of the year is nature seen clad in ornaments of the same hue; but, almost as quickly as the painter can vary the colours on his pallet, while employed in imitating her excellence, does she sport through the intermixtures of light and shade, eliciting a thousand fresh graces from the varieties of each. Virgil has described, with the true pathos and fervor of poetry, the peculiar delicacy of that blush with which the bursting petal first peeps forth, in seeming diffidence at the call of spring. And there is another season as transient as the era noted by Virgil, and as attractive, though I do not recollect it to have been noticed by any poet, and have never seen an attempt at its delineation on the canvas: I mean that period which immediately precedes the fall of the leaf at autumn. I may be fanciful, but I think that I have observed in several successive years, the occurrence of a few days, not many, during which a stilly languor prevailed, as if Nature lamented the havoc and wild uproar which were about to disrobe the forest, and to drive the herd from the short but genial sward of the hill-top, to the secluded shelter of the lowlands. There appears a richness in the melancholy of this short season unspeakably pleasing. All is hushed. No leaf falls, but each seems to tremble on its stalk. Such was the day on which I quitted Streatly, for the purpose of crossing the hills which rise between that village and the ancient Spine of the Romans; and with a view of visiting Silchester, one of the most perfect remains of Roman power in the kingdom. The The village of Streatly lies on the Berkshire edge of the Thames, and the etymology of the name implies the former connexion of the place with_some great thoroughfare, or passage. It was here indeed that the ancient Ickleton Way (for so the Ichnield-street is termed in Berkshire) crossed the Thames. modern village has no great claim on admiration, though its low snug vicarage, the grounds belonging to which are contiguous to the river, interests the spectator, and tempts him to form a little enchanting scene of fancy respecting christian content and village simplicity. This small and irregular hamlet is viewed to considerable advantage from various points of the lofty hill which surmounts it. The sinuous course of the Thames enlivens the scene: on the right reposes that soft and lovely valley noticed in our first Berkshire excursion; to the left a wide and more level expanse unfolds a long catalogue of villages, each half-veiled by an umbrageous coverlet of forest trees; while the rude but picturesque cottages of Streatly, seem to cling for protection to the base of the hill which guards them from the storm. There is scarcely any county in Eng land which contains more vestiges of Roman strength and perseverance, than that through which we are now walking; and yet the conjoined researches of some very laborious antiquaries, have failed to ascertain with punctuality, the situation of the different cities and tracks mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus. Thus, although there were certainly three very considerable Roman towns in Berkshire, the precise situation of only one (Spene, or Spinæ) is ascertained; the the name of another is known, but not the position; and, respecting the third, antiquaries agree as to its situation, but they are totally at a loss concerning its original naine. At any rate, the road by which we are now winding up Streatly hill, is allowed to be a branch of the ancient Ickleton way; and this branch of the original street passes Hampstead Hermitage, and proceeds towards Newbury and Old Sarum. It has been asserted in a very respectable work, that there are two Roman inile-stones to be seen between the vilJages of Streatly and Aldworth. With all the zeal of a man who was anxious to add a mite or more of information to the stock possessed by the antiquaries of his favourite county, did I search after these memorials of Roman thoroughfare. No huntsman ever more vigilantly beat the bush in pursuit of a secreted hare, but never, alas! was huntsman more completely thrown out. My chace was like that described by Sterne, when he sought the tomb of the two lovers; and I was compelled to follow the conduct of a very wise man, when he found it impracticable to satisfy the prevalent desire of the moment: I sat down, The site of the ancient Calleva remains unknown, though some have conjectured Wallingford, and others have confidently supposed Silchester, to present the groundwork of that ruined city. Where great license of conjecture is allowable, perhaps I may be pardoned for noticing it as possible that Calleva stood on a spot now occupied as a farm by a Mr. Child, in the immediate neighbourhood of Streatly. It is certain that the plough frequently turns up fragments of building, apparently Roman, on several parts of this farm; and the relative situation approaches as nearly to an accordance with the distances specified by Antoninus, as does that of Wallingford. In the neighbourhood of Mr. Child's farm, there is a mill called Cleve mill. A fanciful antiquary would almost believe the name of this mill to be a corruption of the word Calleva. I see no reason for disbelieving that a mill may have occupied the same spot for fourteen or fifteen centuries. I know it to be comparatively ancient; for I have seen it specified in a map two hundred and fifty The antiquity of many mills is certainly very great. It was lately proved, in a trial respecting a right of water course, I think, near Epsom, in Surry, that the eise spot now occupied by corn-mill, was used for the same purpose in the reign of Edward the Confessor. years old. pre wiped my brow, and said, with great philosophy, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit!" But when I deviated from the old Rogan way, and entered the blithe woodlands, and strayed along the tran quil soothing vales, where perhaps a Cæsar had trodden before, with more elevated but possibly less pleasing schemes mantling in his fancy, I dis covered a little memorial of humble contentment and affection in recent life, which gratified me at the moment, and which perhaps is more grateful to recollection, than would have been the discovery of a moss-grown Roman fort, or the blood-stained tumulus of shine lofty chieftain of a past day, dignified by posterity with the name of hero. It was a tomb, simple but capacious, erected in the garden of the cottage which they had formerly tenanted, to the memory of a husbandman and his wife, who lie buried beneath its base. The cottage is scclusion itself; thick woods, august hills, and sloping pasture-grounds, are the only objects in view. Yet, so endeared was this sober spot to the feelings of those who had traced all the different stages of life, and various hopes and fears connected with humanity, amid its bowers, that the thought of quitting it, even in death, was Where shall we find the baron so much not supportable. attached to his domain, or the monarch to his palace? Surely the poet had this tomb in view when he said: "There scatter'd oft, the earliest of the year, Regaining the trace of the conquering the parish of Aldworth, formerly the reRomans, the pedestrian speedily enters sidence of the affluent, the hospitable, and the warlike-now the abode of peascarcely afford so marked an idea of a sants only, whose straggling cottages direct neighbourhood, as to induce the traveller to believe that he is arrived at norial rights of this district, and the more the once-flourishing village. The masolid benefits of the lands and appur tenances thereunto belonging, were, for a considerable period, in the possession of the De la Beche family, many mem bers of which lie, with memorable sepulchral konours, in the little church of the village, |