have lately been fent to London; and we have been favoured with a fight, and likewife with the following account of them, in a letter to one of our corps, from the very ingenious gentleman in whofe poffeffion they remain : Dear Sir, March 17, 1780. The best account I can give you of the fpecimens of antiquity from the Mofquito Shore, which you have examined with fome degree of admiration, and enquired after with anxiety, will be very imperfect; and I have only to lament, that I have it not in my power to gratify your curiofity more fully. The fpecimens, in my poffeffion, were brought over by a very intelligent gentleman, who, by a long refidence upon the Shore, had acquired the language of the natives, and had frequently traverfed the folitary regions between the Spanish and our fettlements. Being of an inquifitive difpofition, he had the curiofity to make an excurfion into the country, as far as seventy or eighty miles; and, guided by the natives, he found, on digging the earth, a number of curious remains of antiquity, molt of them too maffive to be removed; and, amongst the reft, a prodigious quantity of pieces of earthen ware, many of them like the mafks of the ancients, with fome entire bufts, which his Indian conductors informed him, were the likenesses of chiefs, or other eminent perfons, and had been buried with them, as was the custom in those parts. It is evident, that the natives of this country muft formerly have had many arts amongst them which are now only known to have exifted, from tradition, and from the fpecimens still scattered in the remote uninhabited parts: but no precife information can, I fear, be now obtained of their antiquity, (which is, probably, very remote, indeed!) as the prefent race of Indians have not the leait knowledge of the art of making fuch utenfils, &c. or of forming a certain compofition, likewife found in many parts of the country, fo extremely hard that no tool can make an impreffion on it. This is all I have been able to collect on the fubject, and have only to add, that I am, yours, &c. D. B. We have examined fome of the fpecimens above mentioned, refembling the mafks of the ancients,' and are fatisfied that they are ornaments broken from earthen veffels, perhaps urns, &c. and we particularly noticed, that fome of the figures of human faces were tatowed, in the manner of the New-Zealanders, &c. defcribed in Cook's Voyages. One of them had, alfo, the bridge of the nofe perforated; probably for the infertion of the skewer. Vid. the account of thele wooden nofe-jewels, or artificial whiskers, given in the fame Voyages. The hard compofition, mentioned by our Correfpondent, is, probably, not a compofition, but a natural granite. The The defcription of a Roman bath, difcovered at Dover, is written by the Rev. Mr. Lyon. The remains are found under the weft end of the parifh-church of St. Mary, and feem indeed to be very curious. Mr. Lyon has employed great attention and exactness in delineating them, both in the letter and in the print annexed to it. He gives an account of the Hypocauftum, the Sudatorium, the Balneum, the Tepidarium, the Frigidarium, &c. From a few letters on one of the titles, he infers, that this was a public work, for the common ufe of the Legio Britannia, and raised about the year 365 or 366. This gentleman adds fome obfervations on the venerable octagon tower in Dover castle, and is inclined to conclude, that we may date the foundation of this weather-beaten ftructure between the years of Chrift 42 and 49. In the following article, Mr. Benjamin Bartlet appropriates to their respective owners, the epifcopal coins of Durham, and the monaftic coins of Reading, minted during the reigns of Edward I. II. and III. In the third volume of this work, Bishop Lyttelton had given fome account of the fuppofed horns, in the cathedral of Carlisle, which he thought were the teeth of fome very large fea fish, though, at the fame time, he apprehended them to be the title by which the prior and convent held fome lands or tythes granted by Henry I. The Rev. Mr. Cole, we think, now proves, that the bishop must have been mistaken in the latter fuppofition, and that the horn given by the King muft have been of ivory; and is now loft. Mr. Cole adds a defcription, with an engraving, of a curious Roman fibula, found by a peafant in the year 1770, at no great diftance from Rome; and he also offers fome remarks on a charter horn, which he faw in the library at Utkington, lately belonging to Sir John Crew, in the parish of Torporley, Cheshire. Mr. Pegge confiders, as a matter of fome difficulty to account for, the appearance of fo many conventual original feals, remembering, he says, in what manner thefe matrices were anciently difpofed of; as by paffing in fucceffion from one perfon or officer to another, by being demanded by the ordinary on the deaths of abbots and priors, &c. and laftly, directed to be broken to pieces on thofe events. To account for this, Mr. Pegge fuppofes, that thefe official feals might be often changed or altered; that frequently the direction of giving them up. might not be properly regarded; that when they were thus delivered, they were far from being always deftroyed, &c. And thefe reasons may be fufficient; but it does not appear to be a very interesting fubject. We are fomewhat more amufed by • Vid. Rev. vol. liii. p. 414. T 4 Obferva Obfervations on an ancient building at Warnford, in the county of Southampton, in a letter from Henry Penruddocke Wyndham, Efq; who thinks, it is aftonishing that these large remains of a building, erected, as he apprehends, before the year 700, and not very diftant from a well frequented turnpike road, fhould not have been more particularly regarded. Thefe ruins, of which we have three good engravings, are fituated in the gardens of the Earl of Clanricarde. The erection is vulgarly called King John's houfe; but by what fatality, fays Mr. Wyndham, fo many ancient edifices came to be attributed to King John, and to bear his name, I am more difpofed to wonder at, than to attempt to inveftigate. The remains, particularly four columns, rather stately, fhew that it has been a building of fome note. Mr. Wyndham fuppofes it to have been a church, and endeavours, by feveral ingenious arguments, to prove that it was erected by Wilfrid, archbishop of York, between the years 679 and 685. An ancient pig of lead, lately difcovered at Cromford, in Derbyshire, affords the ingenious Mr. Pegge an opportunity for feveral fenfible and learned obfervations. The weight of this block is faid to be 126 lb. The infcription which it bears, indicates that it was smelted in the time of the Emperor Adrian. The Rev. Mr. Drake, to confirm his opinion concerning the origin of the English language, prefents us, in the fortieth number of this work, with a comparifon of many other paffages in the Gothic verfion of the Gofpel, and our prefent tranflation. The Gothic word gripun (to gripe, feize, or compel), leads Mr. Drake to take notice of the term Griffin, a beaft, fays he, better known to the heralds than the naturalifts. It has been fuppofed that, as the Byzantine Greeks are often called Griffones, by the writers of the middle age, the Griffin, in heraldry, was intended to fignify a Greek, under the figure of an eastern monfter this gentleman confiders this as no fatisfactory etymology: I am, he adds, rather inclined to think, that as this imaginary animal was formed of a lion and eagle, both of a rapacious nature, it was originally termed grypin or gryppin, which afterwards came by an eafy alteration of pronunciation, to be founded Gryffin. He thinks, he can difcern this monfter pictured in an old ballad under the name of Grype. A famous penny, with the name of Rodbertus, has occafioned fome debate among English antiquaries. It had been affigned to Duke Robert, eldeft fon of William the Conqueror. In an article of the laft volume of Archaeologia, Mr. Colebrooke contended, and laboured to prove, that it really belongs to Robert, Earl of Gloucefter, a natural fon of Henry I. Mr. Pegge, Vid. Rev. vol. lvii. p. 264, in a long differtation, honeftly endeavours to restore it to the Conqueror. He examines with care Mr. Colebrooke's arguments, and while he answers them, takes notice of other miftakes in regard to nummulary affairs. After thefe animadverfions, he concludes his memoir, by applauding the account Mr. Colebrooke has given of the method they formerly took in making their dyes *. The time when clocks were first made, is a curious fubject of enquiry, and is here purfued by the Hon. Daines Barrington. He obferves, that Dante is the firft author who mentions an orologio which ftruck the hour. Earlier inftances of horologia, mentioned in different treatifes, might be produced; but as the word is indeterminate, fignifying a dial or a clock, he confiders Dante as the highest authority to which ftriking clocks can decifively be traced. Dante died in 1321; and it is concluded, that thefe measurers of time could not have been very uncommon in Italy, at the latter end of the thirteenth century. But their use was not confined to Italy at this period; for we had, Mr. Barrington remarks, one of these artifts in England, precifely about the fame time, who furnished the famous clockhoufe, near Westminster-Hall, with a clock to be heard by the courts of law, out of a fine imposed on the Chief Juftice of the King's-Bench, in the fixteenth year of Edward I. or A. D. 1288. This gentleman farther produces a proof, that not only clocks but watches were made in the beginning of the fourteenth century. Seven or eight years ago, he tells us, fome labourers were employed at Bruce-Castle, in Fife-fhire, where they found a watch, together with fome coin, both of which they difpofed of to a fhopkeeper of St. Andrews, who fent the watch to his brother in London, confidering it as a curious piece of antiqui ty. The outer cafe is of filver, raised, in rather a handfome pattern, over a ground of blue enamel, and Mr. Barrington thinks he can distinguish a cypher of R. B. at each corner of the enchased work. On the dial-plate is written, Robertus B. Rex Scotorum, and over it is a convex transparent horn, instead of the glaffes we ufe at prefent. Robert Bruce, to whom this watch may, without much doubt, be referred, began his reign. in 1305, and died in 1328. 6 A furvey of Nonfuch Houfe and Park cum pertinentiis, A. D. 1650, is taken from the original in the Augmentation Office. It is a curiofity, as giving us a view of the ftate of this place at that time, which was percell of the poffeffions & joynture lands of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I.' But it will not properly admit of extracts or farther account, only we may obferve, that the furveyors fay that the materials of the faid man. Vid. Rev. vol. lvii. p. 265. fion fion-houfe, and other buildings, fhould they be taken down, are worth, exclufive of the charge of taking down the fame, the fum of 7020 1. This volume concludes by a fhort fupplement to the Prefident's Article, giving an account of fome antiquities found near the Tower of London. This fupplement prefents us with a pretty engraving of an elegant little crown, of the fineft gold, having four ftrawberry leaves placed on the fillet, in each of which are set three small pearls, with an emerald in the center; round the center are placed eight fmall pearls, four rough rubies, and four emeralds, a ruby under the center of each leaf, and an emerald under each intermediate point. It is fuppofed to have been intended to adorn the head of a small statue of the Virgin Mary, or fome other faint which had been placed in an oratory, or private chapel. We have thus laid before our Readers a brief account of the feveral papers of which this volume confifts. The book will afford fome agreeable entertainment, and much information, for those who have any tafte for ftudies of this kind;-studies which certainly merit the regard of all who do not think an acquaintance with The Hiftory of the Rife and Progress of Human Societies an useless attainment. ART. III. Conclufion of our Account of the Bishop of London's ' ISAIAH. See Review for March, 1779. Ο UR learned Prelate's description of the nature and different kinds of Hebrew poetry is fo curious, and, at the fame time, fo new to the generality of our Readers, that we have thought ourselves amply juftified in affigning three Articles to that fubject. Having, however, already afforded so much room to this important publication, our account of the remainder of it muft neceffarily be fhortened. In the latter part of the Preliminary Differtation, the Bishop points out the first and principal business of a tranflator, which is, to give the plain, literal, and grammatical fenfe of his author; the obvious meaning of his words, phrases, and fentences. Whatever indulgence may be allowed him in other refpects, the want of fidelity admits of no excufe, and is intitled to no indulgence. It being then a tranflator's indifpenfable duty faithfully and religiously to exprefs the fenfe of his author, he ought to take great care that he proceed upon just principles of criticifm, in a rational method of interpretation; and that the copy from which he tranflates be accurate and perfect in itfelf, or corrected as carefully as poffible by the beft authorities, and on the cleareft refult of critical inquiry. Among |