bave induced some of them, at certain times, to keep in hand a larger quantity of grain than they would otherwise have found it convenient to hold. We know, however, that the general stock of grain in the autumn of 1800 was particularly low. Since, therefore, but a small part of the capital of the farmers, whether borrowed or their own, was then vested in grain, the principal share would probably be laid out on their land, and would increase its produce; for unquestionably the value of a crop obtained from a farm depends chiefly on the sum employed in its cultivation and improvement. Country bank notes have thus added to the general supply of grain, and by doing so, have contributed to prevent a rise in its price; they have probably, in this manner, afforded much more than a compensation for anytemporary advance in price to which they may have given occasion, by enabling farmers to keep a larger quantity in hand. The very possession of a large quantity in hand is to be considered as, in general, a benefit rather than a disadvantage; for it is our chief security against scarcity, and consequently also against dearness. To the want of a larger surplus stock at the end of the years 1799 and 1800 is to be ascribed, in a great degree, the subsequent high price of provisions. The tendency, therefore, of country bank paper to increase generally the stock of grain in the hands of the farmer is to be ranked among the advantages of country banks. The tendency to increase it at the particular time of actual scarcity, is to be classed among the evils which they produce; and it is an inconsiderable evil, which is inseparable from a great and extensive good. To those who are disposed to magnify this occasional evil, it may be further observed, that the farmer is enabled to enlarge his stock by the increase of his own as well as of the general wealth, much more, no doubt, than by the share which he obtains of that particular part of the new capital of the kingdom which is created through the substitution of bank notes for gold; only a portion, therefore, of the mischief complained of is to be referred to country bank notes; it is principally to be ascribed to the growing riches and prosperity both of the VOL. I.

farmers and other inhabitants of the country.

"It is no small additional recommendation of the use of our paper, that the public draws a large yearly revenue from the tax imposed on bills and notes. If paper credit did not exist, a sum equal to that which is thus raised must be supplied by taxes either burthening the industry, or paid out of the property of the people. The public has, since the late additional tax, become a very considerable sharer in the profits of the country bankers' business.

"Since, therefore, a paper medium has served the purposes which have been described, and has been, generally speaking, quite as convenient an instrument in settling accounts as the gold which it has displaced, the presumption in favour of its utility seems to be very great; and, if it could be added, that no other effects than those which have as yet been stated have arisen, or are likely to arise from it, the advantage of it would be beyond dispute. To reproach it with being merely a fictitious thing, because it possesses not the intrinsic value of gold, is to quarrel with it on account of that quality which is the very ground of its merit. Its merit consists in the circumstance of its costing almost nothing. By means of a very cheap article the country has been, for some years, transacting its money concerns, in which a very expensive material had previously been employed. If this were the whole question, the substitution of paper for gold would be as much to be approved as the introduction of any other efficacious and very cheap instrument in the place of a dear one. It would stand on the same footing with the substitution, for example, of cast iron for wrought iron or steel; of water carriage for land carriage; of a steam engine for the labour of men and horses; and might claim a high rank among that multitude of ingenious and economical contrivances to be found among us, by the aid of which we have at tained to the present unrivalled state of our manufactures and commerce." p. 167-171.

The author proceeds "to urge some very solid objections against the system of banking in the country." As it is argued at great length, we can only

the funerals of the rich are solemnized, while persons of smaller fortunes are deposited in statues of silver, and the poor in baked clay. Glass is common to all, Ethiopia producing it in such abundance that it is found every where by the inhabitants.

"These passages are attended with some difficulty. From one we are led to believe that the glass with which they covered the dead was common glass, and had been cast, while another, affirming that this glass was found in abundance in Ethiopia, gives us reason to suppose nothing more is meant than transparent stone. Bochard, in his Hierozoicon (part post, l. vi. cap. 16.) will not admit that it was this stone, which, according to him, was not sufficiently abundant to supply the tombs of all the dead. Arrian (1. vi. c. 4.) expressly says, that it is only to be found in a corner of Ethiopia. Bochard, after adducing several reasons, tells us, that by the fossile glass mentioned by the ancients we ought to understand a sort of crystal, which is very common in Ethiopia. I am inclined to think, however, that these kind of collins were of ordinary glass, and that Herodotus and Ctesias have injudiciously confounded it with the transparent stone.

"Pliny, speaking of precious stones, (1. xxxvii. sect. 26.) says, they are well imitated in glass, but like other 'counterfeit gems are sure of detec'tion.'

"Trebellius Pollion (in Gallien.) relates, that a lapidary having sold the empress some glass stones for real jewels, she detected the fraud, and as she wished to be revenged, the emperor Gallienus ordered the lapidary to be exposed to a lion, but contrived secretly, that instead of a lion a capon should be put into the cage. The spectators being surprised at so singular a circumstance, the emperor desired they might be told that it was one imposture punished by another." p. 234-238.

On the subject of the antiquities of Herculaneum is the following account: "The different descriptions of things that have been dug out of the ruins of Herculaneum would furnish matter for numerous heads; but I stop at the manuscripts, conceiving them of the greatest importance. To form of them an accurate idea, conceive a strip of paper of an indefinite length,

"The manuscripts of Herculaneum were found in an apartment of a palace that has not yet been thoroughly cleared. They are of Egyptian paper, and of the colour of charcoal. It was a long time before any mode could be devised of unrolling them, and in this dilemma some of them were cut with a knife longitudinally, as we divide a cylinder in the direction of its axis. This mode of proceeding disclosed the writing to view, but completely destroyed the work. The dif ferent strata of the paper adhered so closely together, that in attempting to separate them they were reduced to ashes, and all that could be obtained was a single column or page of a manuscript that consisted, perhaps, of a hundred.

"Under these circumstances a patient and persevering monk suggested the mode of completely unrolling the paper. He made some attempts, which occupied a considerable portion of time, but in which by degrees he was successful. He goes on with his tedious labour, and in the same manner gradually and slowly succeeds. His plan is this. Having found the beginning of the manuscript, he fastens to the exterior edge some threads of silk, which he winds round so many pegs inserted in a small frame. These pegs he turns with the utmost precaution, and the manuscript is imperceptibly unrolled. Little is to be expected from the first few layers of the paper, which in general are either torn or decayed. Before any pages of a work can be obtained, the manuscript must be unrolled to a certain depth, that is, till the part appears that has suffered no other injury than that of being calcined. When a few columns have been thus unrolled, they are cut off, and pasted on linen. For unfolding one of these manuscripts several months are requisite, and hitherto nothing has been obtained but the last thirty eight columns of a Greek work against music, by one Philodemus, who is mentioned by

Strabo and other ancient writers. * His name and the subject of his work were fortunately at the end of the manuscripts. In the course of these thirty-eight columns a few deficiencies occur; but the writing in general is very legible and fine." p. 245-247. From a dissertation on the antiquities of Rome we extract the following description of their mausoleums.

"Augustus exhorted the senators to contribute to the embellishment of Rome, while his successors hardly left them the liberty of adorning their sepulchres. I shall dwell a little on these edifices, the more fully to display the taste and spirit of the Romans in their monuments. I saw at Pallazzolo, on the lake Albanus, a picture, of which I have no where found an explanation. On the front of a rock, close to the lake, are engraved twelve fasces, a curule chair, a sceptre crowned by an eagle, and at the foot of the rock an inscription which is not legible; while on the upper part several pieces of marble are erected in the form of pyramids, in the same manner as the tomb of Mausolus is represented to us. Adjoining the steps, a narrow passage leads to a room eleven feet two inches long, by nine feet six inches wide: the whole is graven, cut, and dug in the rock. It were superfluous to observe, that this monument belongs to the days of the republic. This is evident from the simplicity of the design and solidity of the work: but we must remark, that its form was borrowed either from the Egyptians or Etruscans; for it was equally common to both these nations, and was adopted by the Romans, not only for the tomb of Cestius which still subsists, but for other sepulchres, which time has destroyed. On some occasions, these pyramids were in the shape of cones, and placed on a square basis: such in reality are those seen by the tomb at the lake Albanus, which erroneous tradition has ascribed to the Curiatii.

"Most of the mausoleums constructed about the time of the first

emperors, that of Cecilia Metella for instance, two miles from Rome, that of the Plautian family near Tivoli, and that of Plancus at Cajeta, seem to partake of this form. They are large round towers, placed on square basements. These towers were sometimes surrounded by a range of columns, a circumstance which leads me to suspect that the celebrated temple of the Sybil, seen at Tivoli, with the following inscription L. GELLIO. L. F., was the tomb of the Gellia family.

"These mausoleums are remark

able for a style of simplicity, which was soon relinquished for that increasing magnificence and luxury, which we have traced in the history of ancient monuments. In Strabo's time, that of Augustus was considered as one of the finest edifices in Rome; that of Adrian, the massy part of which forms the Castle of St. Angelo, was decorated with two rows of pillars, and to that of Severus seven rows had been assigned. In fine Heliogabalus caused a tower to be erected, which was to be decorated with gold and precious stones, whence, in case of surprise, he might throw himself headlong, and this, as he said, that he might die in the bosom of luxury.

"The tombs were placed along the highways which led to Rome. Modern refinement would be shocked at such a custom. The Romans wished by this to be always in the presence of posterity, and to induce their heirs to attend to the preservation of monuments thus exposed to the eyes of the public. Those of the principal families bordered the Appian and Flaminian ways, which were the most frequented outlets from Rome to the provinces; the first leading to the south and the east, the second to the north and the west."

This work is comprized in one 8vo. volume of 408 pages.

LXXIX. POEMS, by MRS. OPIE. With a Plate, designed by Opie, engraved by Reynolds.

Mr. Charles Rofini published, in at Naples, the third book of this work, entitled Is Marins, to which Professor Schutz immediately directed his attention, and in 1795 favoured the world with his observations. These are all the fruits that have yet been reaped from the discovery, almost mi raculous, of so many manuscripts.

HE poems in this duodecimo volume are the following: Sonnet to Winter The Dying Daughter to her Mother-Allen Brooke of Windermere-The Maid of Corinth to her Lover-The Mourner-To the Glow-worm-The Negro Boy's Tale-Lines written at Nor