Ancient Monument difcovered at Rheims in Champaigne. 107 MR. URBAN, THE HE following defcription of an ancient monument, difcovered at Rheims in Champaigne, will probably coincide with the plan of your ufeful publication. Under the church fteeple of the parish of St. Martin is a mausoleum, 20 feet beneath the level of the earth, which is 15 feet and a half long, 8 in breadth, and 10 and a half high, into which you defcend by a ftone ftair-cafe 20 steps (fee plate II. A), in which is a grave or rather vault (B), built with ftone, 8 feet fquare, and 8 deep, where are yet to be found a great quantity of human bones. The whole infide of this maufoleum is ornamented with paintings in frefco, done over tile. They confift of two pictures of 6 feet 3 inches in height, bordered round with bands of the fame colour. On the firft of thefe pictures (fig. 1.) are three figures, which, by their attire, fize, and appearance, feem to be a father, and his fon and daughter. The father (No. 1) is 3 feet 4 inches; the fon (No. 2) 3 feet; and the daughter (No. 3) 2 feet. The drefs of the father and fon are alike; it differs but little from that which was worn by the Romans in Italy; though not fo long, and open on the fides, fastened at top and bottom with two buckles of a circular form, fuch as are engraved in Bergérus and in Pere Montfaucon. The daughter is decorated with ear-rings and necklace, her robe clofe, and exactly as it was worn by the Roman ladies, and of which Plutarch makes mention in his Life of Lycurgus." The fecond picture (fig. 2.) reprefents a man carrying a kind of bed, and another, half defaced, holding out the hand towards an altar, on which the fire is kindled ready for the facrifice. Above thefe figures are fufpended garlands of flowers (aa, fig. 1. & 2) and on the fides are two birds (bb) refting on urns; there are alfo flowers reprefented as growing out of boxes; but the whole of that is almoft totally defaced. On the cieling of the vault are roles painted in frefco, in compartments, in the Mofaic ftyle. On the fide oppofite the first picture (fig. 1.) is a niche C, arched, I foot 10 inches broad, 2 feet 10 inches high, and a foot and a half deep. There is a niche in each of the other fides, not quite fo deep; the 3 niches are equally decorated with flowers. On the fame fide of the principal niche is contrived an air-hole (E) about 2 feet fquare, decorated likewife with flowers. This monument is one of thofe maufo leums which the ancients called bypogées, that is to fay, fubterraneous; they were large enough likewife for the retreat of the living, for it was in one of thefe bypogées that the Ephefian lady (fo famous for her tenderness, levity, and ficklenefs,) had refolved to termis nate her days. They generally placed the tombs at a little diftance from the city, on the road fide, to invite travellers to pay homage to the manes and memory of the deceafed. This maufoleum was likewife placed in the country by the fide of the great road, which Saint Remi in his will calls via Cæfarea; and which, according to Bergier, is in a ftraight line from the gate Bazée, to the place where there is an old stone gate, called the Porte St. Nicaife, They generally employed fculptors, and fometimes painters, to preferve in thefe maufoleums the portraits or figures of thofe for whom they were built. The 3 figures that are drawn in the first picture of this maufoleum, are, undoubtedly, the 3 perfons to whofe memory the monument was erected. The picture of the perfon clofe to the altar (fig. 2.) refembles exactly an antique marble graved by Boiffard, which mo nument was erected by a lady called Cypris, to the memory of her fon and little grandfon, as we are informed by the infcription. The foffée (fig. 2.) that the man carries on his fhoulders, is evidently a kind of litter that they called lectica, which ferved to carry the body to the funeral pile, and this man is one of those they called vefpillanes, or jandapelones, whofe functions were to carry thofe couches. The ornaments which accompany these figures refemble thofe which are in the mautoleums in Italy; and we find, by the report of Bartoli, fome peacocks, urns, or flowers, were in the painting de la vigne Corfini, before they were defaced by the air. The number and the form of the three niches refemble perfectly thofe niches in the ancient tombs in which they placed the urns which contained the athes of the bodies that had been burnt; therefore, it is probable that the three niches had been deftined to preferve the afhes of the three figures painted in the first picture (fig. 1); the principal one therefore was for the father, and the two others for his fon and daughter. Their freed-men, or flaves, were, according to appearance, interred . 108 Ancient Monument difcovered at Rheims in Champaigne interred in the grave (B), where there are ftill fome of the bones. At Rome they burnt the bodies of the freed flaves, and their afhes were alfo preferved in urns, in particular niches, in the fame mausoleum with their masters: the infcriptions which accompany these monuments do not permit us to make the leaft doubt of it. As to the common flaves, their bodies were not burnt, but were buried without the city of Rome in a field which they called efquilies. Here is one circumftance which particularly diftinguishes this maufoleum from thofe of Italy, which is, the freed-men, or flaves, were interred in the grave B, although the bodies of their mafters had been burnt; fo, if thefe were the flaves, they were buried in this manner in common with their mafters but both the one or other of these customs were contrary to what was practifed in the capital. They gave freedom fometimes to the flaves, on condition of their being at the charge of keeping the lamps burning in the mausoleums. The air-hole (E) appears to have been contrived to let out the fmoke of the lamps which burnt by the fide of the father's niche, and of the others oppofite: but, neverthelefs, it cannot be traced where any lamps had been hung, or any appearance of fmoke. The air-hole, however, was of ufe, to carry off the vapours arifing from the corrupted exhalations of the dead bodies. Although this maufoleum is at prefent under the tower of St. Martin, yet there is no doubt but it was built at first in the country, and perhaps was in the garden joining to the maufoleum, in the fame manner as that de la vigne Corfini. There is no in fcription in this monument by which we can precifely learn the time it was built; but it feems to have been fome time in the three first centuries of the Chriftian æra. It might have been before the conqueft over the Belgique Gauls by the Romans; the drels is entirely different from thofe of the Belges, and painting had never been cultivated among those people: and it could not be later than the fourth century, fince Macrobe, who lived in the beginning of the 5th, affures us, that the custom of burning the dead bodies had been for a long time totally abolished. It must be obferved, however, that this monument must have exifted long before the time of Macrobe; for, although the paintings are not near fo fine as fome of the an cient painting, fuch as are to be seen in la vigne Corfini, or thofe au Palais Barberini; which, acccording to the Abbé Dubos, many connoiffeurs have taken for the works of Raphael or Correggio; nevertheless, the figures are well defigned, and one may eafily perceive fome veftiges of the taste of the ancients. As the fine arts always flourished infinitely more in the capital than in the diftant provinces, and painting was also in a flourishing state at Rome about the time that this maufoleum was built, which was moft probable before the year 260; fince it is certain, and it is proved by the Abbé Dubois, that, from the time of Galien, until the revival of the fine arts in the thirteenth century, the art of drawing had been entirely extinct in Italy: when they built the church of St. Martin over this maufoleum, they certainly well knew it; but they fpared it out of attention and refpect, and fuffered no injury to be done to it, unless they removed the urns which were in the niches. In 1738 it was discovered by chance, and its paintings and ornaments, which Time had refpected and preferved for more than fifteen centuries, were then greatly damaged by the multitude of perfons who flocked to fee this monument before the magiftrates had taken proper mcafures for its prefervation. However, much as it has been disfigured, they are ftill deemed by 'the curious as objects well worthy of their attention. One fees at Rome many paintings in frefco of the ancient Romans; there are fome likewife in the ruins of the ancient Capone, and in fome other parts of Italy: but, out of Italy, and in all the immenfe extent of countries which have been fubjected to the Roman empire, we know of no other but this maufoleum. They are certainly not fufficiently beautiful to merit the admiration of the lovers of the fine arts; but they are too ancient not to be held precious by all those who are admirers of antiquity. Yours, &c. PH. THICKNESSE. MR. URBAN, CAN from the best authority affure all thofe who fuffer from the gout, that Sir John Duntze, bart. of Exeter, and fcarce any man has fuffered more from the diforder, has been under a courfe of hemlock and aconite pills, the fame which cfcred the cure of Abbe Man (top vol. LV. p. 978), for near a whole Letters from the Prince of Ligne to Mr. Thickneffe. whole year, and that they had the defired Letters from the Prince of LIGNE to PHILIP THICKNESSE, Esq. I. On receiving a Prefent of the very Piftols which John Duke of Marlborough wore in his Saddle when be rode boftile before the Walls of Bruffels. [From the French.] AM fo penetrated with gratitude 109 But the Prince of Aremberg, whom you mention fo unworthily in your ma licious letter, will in no means be pleafed. Of this I give you warning; it will not make you be pleafed with it. Spare a refpectable nobleman of whom you dare fpeak ill. You will teach me nothing, not even good manners. I never make any vifits, nor enter into altercation with any one. This is my laft letter. I am your very humble and very obedient fervant, "THE PRINCE OF LIGNE." MR. URBAN, Feb. 10. ROM the univerfal efteem your and joy, Sir, that, while I am going Mifcellany has acquired, I am in to exprefs both of them, I cannot but affure you, that, if the Pope had given me St. Peter's keys, and even thofe of Paradife, they would not have pleafed me fo much. May the piftols of that great man render me as ferviceable to England! May I find, before I die, a Hockstedt! I have found in you a friend, as I could not have received a greater proof of friendship. You have infpired me with the fame, and also with admiration. Be convinced of the diftinguished regard with which I have the honour to be, Sir, your moft humble and moft obedient fervant, "THE PRINCE OF LIGNE. "I will never part with my dear pif tols." N. B. Yet this prince afterwards declined getting Mr. Thickneffe a key to open the park-gate oppofite to his houfe, though he had given what he thought more valuable than the keys of the gates of Paradife. II. On defiring bis Highness to permit bim to publish bis Letters, "I give you leave, Sir, to publish my two letters, on condition that you add this third. All the pistols and piftoles in the world should not make me return thofe of the Duke of Marlborogh. I had efteem for you to accept them; I ftill have efteem enough for you to keep them. I told you that if I met with the fword of Prince Eugene, I would fend it to you, that we might be on a par. It would have been better for you to have dealt frankly with me. Will you accept of a prefent of another kind? I fhall readily oblige you. Send me your account of the Low Countries t; it will divert me. One of these does not appear. EDIT. + "A Year's Tour into the Pais Bas." duced to fend you the following extracts CINCINNATUS. I. From General Washington. "Our courfe of husbandry in most of the American States is not only exceedingly unprofitable, but fo deftructive to our lands, that it is my earnest wish to engage a thorough-bred English farmer, from a part of England where husbandry is beft underflood, and most advantageoufly practifed, to take the care and charge of a plantation, fay of ten labourers; or, to be more explicit, of a farm of about 250 acres of arable land, to be ftocked with a competent number of ploughs, black cattle, sheep, and hogs. I mean, by a knowing farmer, one who understands the best courfe of crops, how to plough, to fow, to mow, trench, drain, hedge and ditch, and who (Midas-like) can convert every thing he touches into manure, as the first tranfmutation towards gold. I don't mean to put you to the trouble of actually engaging one at prefent; but thall be obliged to you for making enquiry, and communicating the refult to me, as it is now too late for the enfuing year. Thefe enquiries, you will readily perceive, are pointed to a farmer of the middle clafs, which would probably beft antwer my purpofe; but, if you could conveniently extend your enquiries further, permit me to fk if one of a higher rank could be had and upon what terms? I mean for a steward. It may not be amifs to obferve, that I have difcontinued the growth of tobacco, and that it is my in tention 110 Original Letters of Gen. Washington and Mrs. Macaulay. tention to raife as little Indian corn as may be, as I am defirous of entering on as complete a courfe of hufbandry as is practifed in the best farming counties in England. I, however, enquire for a man of the latter defcription with little hopes of fuccefs; firft, because I believe one who is completely fit for my purpofe would be above my price, as I do not abound in money; and, fecondly, becaufe I entertain an idea, that an English fteward is not fo much a farmer as he is an attorney or accomptant: in this, however, I may be mistaken. In a word, if you could meet with a man of one or both these descriptions, in whom you could abfolutely confide, and could af certain his or their terms, leaving me at liberty to accede to them or not within a reasonable time for the interchange of letters, I fhall be happy to hear from you as foon as convenient. A man in the character of steward, if fingle, and his appearance equal to it, would live in the house with me, and be at my table. The common farmer would be on the farm, which would be intrusted to his care." II. From Mrs. Macaulay. "You know, in all human focieties, there are many things to blame, if there are many to praife; but all which I fhall fay upon the whole is, that I found the ftate of things as well, or perhaps better, than a philofopher would have expected. "My journey to Virginia, though very fatiguing, and even injurious to my health, I can fcarcely repent; for I found that Fame had not exaggerated the private or the public qualities of that modern Coloffus of human virtue, General Washington. I have brought away a parcel of....... feeds for your fervice, which he has collected for a new plantation which he is making. "I left New-York the middle of July laft, arrived at L'Orient in the French packet the middle of Auguft, and have been fettled a fortnight at Aix en Provence. I intend to spend the winter here, and early in the fpring to proceed to England, taking the round-about Joute of Nice, Geneva, with fome part of Flanders and Holland. "You will be furprifed at the extent of the tour, when I tell you that travelling is as paintul and unpleasant to me as it is pleafurable to others: but it convinces me that there is very little ufeful knowledge to be gained from the defcriptions prefented to us in all the vari ous books of travels; and it furnishes MR. URBAN, HE following is an original letter gentleman well known in the literary world. It was occafioned by a conver fation concerning the character and conduct of Queen Elizabeth; and contains, in my opinion, the best state of the argument in favour of the moral and intellectual excellence of the female fex that I have ever feen. I am not at liberty to mention names: if I were, thofe of the parties would reflect no fmall degree of respect on this epiftle; did I not think it, on other accounts, for the greatness of the fentiments, and the unaffected energy of the language, entitled to a place among thofe valuable relics of genius and literature which you have been the means of preferving. Yours, &c. "MY GOOD FRIEND, "Shall I confefs to you, that, on reflecting upon the converfation of latt night relative to the abilities and conduc of Queen Elizabeth, I was much furprized at one pofition advanced by you; "that if there was upon record one inftance where the female mind approached towards the fuperiority of the manly character, it was to be found in her." Shall I conclude from this affertion, that your opinions of the natural equality fubfifting between the two fexes, with refped to mental endowments, is changed? or have I hitherto been mistaken in believing that fuch were your fentiments? "Now, leaving Elizabeth out of the difpute, whom, if duplicity, treachery, and tyranny, be virtues amongst men, I allow to have poffeffed the true manly character; I beg to be informed in what the boafted fuperiority of your fex confifts? Greater, or equal bodily ftrength, we of this age and country will not difpute with you, nor that, in confequence of this endowment, you have attained to be our rulers and legiflators; to fix what value you please upon those purfuits in which you have chofen to engage, and to ftamp with degradation thofe offices and employments which you have affigned to us. I will neither infist upon your croffing the Atlantic to obferve amongft the Efquimaux women, whofe natural robuftnets is equal to that of the men, and whofe contempt of danger is, perhaps, Moral and intellectual Excellence of the Fair Sex. perhaps, fuperior to that of the hardieft European-nor will I enumerate the names of thofe illuftrious women, in our fection of the globe, who have rivalled you in every branch of fcience and literature. I wish to call your attention, not to particular inftances, but to mankind in general; and then to afk you whether thofe qualities which nature, education, and cuftom, have allotted to women, are, in the eye of unprejudiced reafon, lefs useful, or lefs virtuous, than thofe which the men have appropriated to themselves? If they are not, where is the inferiority of women; in what refpect are they lefs honourable; and, in what confifts your vaunted greatnefs? Is it in bodily ftrength? there we allow your fuperiority. Is it in boldnefs and Courage there too we difclaim all pretenfions. Is it in all thofe arts which meliorate, improve, and embellish life? there we rife fuperior. Is it in real virtue? pardon me for faying we cannot there allow you an equality. The truth is, we are both imperfect beings; and Plato, in his beautiful fable, compliments us, perhaps, too highly, when he fuppofes the beft qualities of both fexes conjomed would make a perfect creature. We have each our peculiar excellences; we have each our peculiar defects; we have each our peculiar allotments. We pretend not to the glory of deftroying the human race, nordelighting in the fields of carnage and flaughter; nor do we afpire to the merit of negotiating felfish and illiberal fyf. tems of policy, or forming plans for the defolation and conqueft of neighbouring empires. In the acquifitions of fcience, we confess that your fuperior advantages of, education, and favourable circumftances for improvement, raise you above us; yet, when we allow this, we must affert, that our natural rights, and our natural abilities, are quite equal to yours. To your coporeal ftrength, we oppofe our natural gentleness; to your boldness in encountering difficulties, our forti tude in fuftaining them; and, to your fuperior advantages of education, our docility, our vivacity, and, in general, our taste and delicacy. Take then all the fuperiority which you have to boast of; your strength, which enables you to traverfe oceans, and to endure the rigours of the mott inclement fkies, in the purfuits of ambition or avarice. Take thofe mental acquirements in which nature formed us to excel; and, in which, in defiance of every difcouragement and difficulty that a contined or perverted education places in our way, many of our fex have rifen to deferved eminence. Take your boafted learning, which too frequently enflates you with arrogance, or depreffes you with the weight of faftidiousness. Take your ungoverned paffions, your power to rule, and your licence to commit evil without reftraint. Take too all the demi-men of ancient or modern story, whofe names are recorded in earthly annals, and range on your fide Semiramis, Boadicea, Queen Elizabeth, and Catharine II. Give to us the credit of thofe millions of virtuous women whose names are written in Heaven.-Grant to us our patience under affliction-our fortitude, I had almost faid our magnanimity, in fuffering our gentleness-our tenderness-our fubdued, or well-regu lated paffions-and our virtuous conduct. Allow us thefe, and we can feel no inferiority. Our departments in the world are indeed different, but, if well fulfilled, equally great and refpectable. We have an equal claim to the honours and happiness of this life, and fhall be equal partakers in that which is to come. I shall only add to fo fermonical a conclufion, the affurance, that I am, your Manfhip's fincere friend, E. T, Mr. URBAN, Notting. Dec. 15. As it is for the intereft of philofophy, and the advancement of fcience, to difcriminate caufes, when, from a fimi. larity of effects, they have been confound. ed by the ignorance of fuperficial inquirers, the following account of a grand, and, in thefe parts, unufual phænomenon, will not, I believe, need any apology: the effects produced by it are fo remarkable, that it must give pleasure to your philofophical readers, to be acquainted with the facts; though reported by perfons totally unacquainted with the fubject. Nov. 1. The fky was clear in the morning, but the preceding day had been overcaft, and fome claps of thunder were heard, at a distance, in the evening. About 11 o'clock A.M. it overcaft again, and rained heavily, by intervals, all the afternoon, the wind S. W. and calm. At 4 in the afternoon a water-fpout was oùferved, by a perfon at fome diftance, proceeding from an apparently de le cloud, about two furlongs to the fouth of the river, |