"I hate to see a man with graceless step 'Tis the soft varnish spread o'er polish'd life. And who that has a liberal mind, would e'er Neglect to cultivate exterior grace ?" "Eschylus was the inventor of those flowing robes which were adopted by the priests, and those who carried the torches at the public sacrifices; as well as the action and attitudes which are practised by the Chorus. Indeed, according to Chamelion, he formed the chorus, without the assistance of any master in the art of dancing; he prescribed its movements, and in fact took upon himself the whole conduct and management of his pieces." "Telesis or Telestes, the balletmaster, ορχητοδιδασκαλος, invented various modes of dancing; his action was so expressive, that his hands fully explained his intentions. Aristocles writes that he was so skilled in this pantomimic art, that when he represented the seven chiefs before Thebes in a dance, such was the delusion of the spectators, that they forgot they were only beholding a comic exhibi tion.' the early genius of that admired writer. Alexis lived to a great age, and we have the authority of Plutarch for saying, that the vigour of his faculties was preserved to the last. Suides says he was the author of no less than 245 dramas, the titles of 113 are still upon record. . I believe that, among the ancients, recitation was usually accompanied with a kind of dance or measured motion. The French translator, M. Lefebure de Vill trune, renders this passage thus,“ Apollon, prends ta lyre, et joue nous un air agréable, en marchant avec grace sur le point du pied." None but a Frenchman could thus render καλα και υψι βίβας. One would imagine that the passage had been translated by a French ballet-master describing the Apollo of the French opera. Compare the following passage from the Il. b. 18, l. 570. Παῖς φόρμιγγι λιγεί η Ιμερον κιθαριζε Λινον δύπο καλόν αείδε, Απαλόη φωνή τοι δε ρησσοντες ομαρτή Μολπη τιυγμῶτε, ποσι σκαιρονίες εποντο. Which Pope thus translates : "To these a youth awakes the warbling strings, Whose tender lay the fate of Linus sings; Moving with slow and graceful step.” "Eumelus, or Aretinus of Corinth, makes Jupiter himself a dancer, Great Jove himself, the sire of Gods and men, Danc'd in the full assembly." "Theophrastus affirms, that Andro of Catania in Sicily, was the first who introduced the movement of the body to the sound of the flute, for which reason, the ancients called dancing σικελίζειν.” "After some short remarks on the dog-days, the guests are invited to drink." Then follows an explanation of certain words, which I pass over as neither important nor entertaining. "The use of the bath was particularly grateful to the ancients, they frequently bathed in the sea to strengthen and invigorate their nerves. It appears that they were not unacquainted with the effect of the shower bath. "There is another mode of refreshing the body after fatigue; to pour water over it. They pour," says Homer, the grateful fluid over the head and shoulders." "The old and the young were men of gallantry, according to Homer, as Phenix and Nestor. Menelaus was the only one who had not a mistress,* he would have outraged common decency by such an irregularity, as the war was undertaken to recover the wife that had been stolen from him." In measur'd dance behind him move thetrain, Tune soft the voice, and answer to the strain." • What sympathy would have been excited for the injuries of Menelaus if he had kept a mistress? The ground of the action of adultery, as a civil suit is the loss of the wife's society, and if he had consoled himself with a courtezan, what reparation could he have demanded from the compassion or associated resentment of others? Homer has, in this observance, shewn his correct know Sicily for cheese, A sudden transition is made to the subject of wine. Old wine is preferred to new, both for health and pleasure; it assists digestion, and being softened by age, passes more freely. It is an excellent restorative, makes good blood, red and flowing, and, above all, it produces quiet and sound sleep." "Galen, speaking of the wines of Italy, says, that Falernian is not fit to drink under ten years ;* from ten to twenty it is excellent; as it grows older, it affects the head and nerves. There are two sorts, the sharp and the sweet. If the vintage takes place when the south wind begins to blow, it is sweet and luscious, and the colour black, otherwise it is pale and sharp.” "Of the Alban wine there are likewise two sorts, the soft and the sharp ; they begin to drink it at fifteen years old; that of Sorrento not under twenty-five years. As it partakes but little of the oily principle, and is moreover a tart wine, it grows ripe slowly; but when it is of good age no wine is more salubrious. The wine of Rhegio is more oily than that of Sorrento, and is therefore good at fifteen years. Wine of Privernum is thinner than that of Rhegio, and does not so soon affect the head; it may be drank at the same age. The Formian is similar to that of Privernum, though somewhat more oily and sooner ripe.' Many other sorts of wine are mentioned, with their qualities. "The poet Antiphanes enumerates what each place was famous for. Elis for cooks, Corinth for carpets, Sicyon for fish, Athens for perfumes, Boeotia for eels." "Hermippus,* amongst other things, mentions, Η Ρόδος αςαφίδας τε και ισχαδας ηδυονείρες Raisins from Rhodes, and well-dried luscious figs, Inspiring gentle and sweet dreams." 66 'Antiphanes speaks thus of Thasian wine: 66 Nothing so much provokes the appetite, And crowns of various flowers; where these The gentle Venus takes delight to dwell, "Archestratus,† who wrote concerning banquets, has the following lines: "Jove, the preserver, having once gone round Your moist locks scented, and your temples twin'd With chaplets of white flowers; your goblets fill With gen'rous rich old wine, tawny with age, The salt sea beats incessant; better far To wine from Lesbos; give but this to me, ledge of human nature, and the remark of Athenæus does credit to his judgment and his morality. * Galen distinguishes the best of the Sabine wine by the name of nobile vinum, ευγένης Σαβίνος.—Barry on Wines, p. 129. Cicero, at an entertainment given by Damasippus, was pressed by him to drink some of his Falernian wine, which he particularly recommended for being forty years old. After having only lightly tasted it, he replied, "bene aetatem fert." This, however, shewed more politeness to his host, than approbation of his wine; a compliment of this kind is often agreeably made to an old man. -Barry on Wines, p. 118. VOL. IV. * Hermippus was a one-eyed comedian, contemporary with Euripides; he is said, by Suidas, to have written forty fables, several of which are noticed by Athenæus and Pollux. He was an enemy to Pericles (against whom he wrote anapastics), and to Aspasia, who was not only a mistress of eloquence and general learning, but eminent also in poetry. +Archestratus, a Syracusian, or according to some, a Geloan, the disciple of Terpsion. He is said to have written a poem in commendation of good eating. 3 G the Mendæan as provoking a diuretic of quieting a ferocious spirit; re of propensity in the very gods;* of, because the persons who others thus, "I love the soft and light Magnesian wine, The cask, a soft delicious perfume fills Phanias of Eresus writes, that the Mendæans sprinkled their vines with elaterium range, the juice of the wild cucumber, which gave the wine a laxative quality." "Themistocles received from the Persian king, Lampsacus to provide him with wine, Magnesia bread, Myonte fish, Porcopis and Palæscepsis for wearing apparel and carpets, upon condition that he clothed himself after the fashion of the Persians; and that he might not be tempted to resume the Grecian dress, he granted him the privilege of wearing the habits peculiar to the princes of the blood royal." "Bacchus was worshipped at Lampsacus, under the name of Priapus, as he was also called Thriambus and Dithyrambus." "According to Eparchides, Pramnian wine comes from the island of Icarus; it has neither sweetness nor body, but is sharp, dry, and stimulating. Aristophanes says, it was no favourite with the Athenians." usually drank this wine were of a quiet and sociable disposition." "Theophrastus, in his history of plants, says, that in the neighbourhood of Heria, a town in Arcadia, wine was made which rendered the men fools, and the women prolific." The text of Theophrastus, 1. 9. c. 20. gives a very contrary meaning, as he uses the word arixoras, barren. "Theophrastus says, that the wine used by the Thasians in their prytaneum was wonderfully agreeable. It was made by throwing into the vessel containing the pure wine, a certain quantity of flour, well kneaded with honey, which gave it an agreeable odour, and the flour a sweet and luscious flavour. The same writer adds, that if you mix harsh wine that has no smell, with another sort that is rich, racy, and fragrant, as wine of Heraclea with that of Erythræ, the result will be a salubrious liquor, which retains the softness of the one, and the stomachic qualities of the other." "Mnesitheus of Athens, says, that red wine of a deep colour is the most nourishing; the white is light and diuretic; the pale or straw-coloured wine is dry, but favourable to digestion." "Wine which has a certain proportion of sea water mixed with it, does not intoxicate, but it has a purgative and griping quality, and produces flatulency, yet it is friendly to digestion. Such are the wines of Myndus and Halicarnassus. For which reason, the Cynic Menippus gives to the city of Myndus the epithet of "Didymus says, that the Pramnian wine was called so after a vine of that name; others say, that it is derived us, where the people drink brine." from gave, permanens, for its "Chian wine is digestive, nourishdurable quality; and again, a Ting, produces good blood, and contrigauve, a leniendo, from its quality butes to health, from the excellent ingredients of which it is composed.”* • During the consulship of Opimius, the vintage all over Italy was so remarkable, that the wine then produced (vinum opimianum) was greatly valued beyond that of any other year upon record. In the time of the elder Pliny, nearly two centuries after, there existed wine of this celebrated vintage, which, through age, had acquired the consistency of honey. It was kept for the purpose of flavouring other wines, and sold at the extravagant price of about four pounds sterling per ounce. Vid. Pliny, Nat. Hist. 1. 14, 4. cum not. Harduin-Cic. de Clas Orator. 83.-Martial, 1. I. 27 1. 2. 40. "There are famous vineyards on the banks of the Nile, throughout the whole of its course; but the wine they produce differs both in taste and cofour. That which comes from the neighbourhood of Antylla, near Alexandria, is preferred; the revenue of which, the ancient kings of Egypt, and after them the kings of Persia, • Addison alludes to this in the Specta tor, No 295. settled by way of jointure on their wives, to find them in girdles." "Socrates, in Plato's Alcibiades, says, he was informed by one who had travelled through Persia, that as he passed over a great tract of land, and inquired what the name of the place was, they told him it was the queen's girdle; to which he adds, that another wide field, which lay by it, was called the queen's veil; and that in the same manner there was a large portion of ground set aside for every part of her majesty's dress." Theopompus of Chios relates a notable trick that used to be performed annually before the people at Elis, about a mile from Olympia, at the feasts of Bacchus,-" They take three brazen empty vessels, and seal them carefully in the presence of the strangers who are there assembled. The next day the seals are taken off with the same ceremony, and the vessels are found full of wine.' "Dion, the academic philosopher, charges the Egyptians with being great drinkers, and fond of wine to excess. He tells us, that in Egypt, in order to accommodate the people who would not purchase wine, a beverage was made of barley, of which they were so fond, that on drinking it they sung, danced, and made a thousand antics, similar to persons intoxicated with wine." 66 Aristotle, according to Athenæus, makes the following very curious remark: They who were intoxicated with wine,' he says, 'fell forward,— they who were in the same state, after drinking the liquor made of barley (or ale), fell backwards. Because, with too much wine the head grows heavy, with ale they become faint and drowsy.'" A curious reason is given to prove that the Egyptians were fond of wine. "It was an established rule with them to eat boiled cabbage before any other food, to prepare themselves for hard drinking; many, for the same purpose, swallowed the seeds of the cabbage. It has been observed, that the wine produced from those vineyards where cabbages are likewise planted, is flat and vapid." On this subject, the poet Alexis has the following passage: "Yesterday You drank too much, and what the conse quence? A heavy head to-day,—this must be cured By a strict fast; and let some friend provide A store of well boil'd cabbage." Eubulus on the same subject.* "Wife bring the cabbage; that, I think, will cure This heaviness which so affects my head, If the good proverb holds.". Anaxandrides thus:† "If first you bathe, then make a hearty meal Of cabbage, you will ease the heavy weight, And dissipate the clouds, that so obscure Your aching brain.". "Amphis offers another remedy as more efficacious."+ of drunkenness, and clear the aching head, "Nothing so soon will dissipate the fumes This drives, at once, all fancies from the As some immediate unforeseen disaster; brain * Eubulus, a comic poet, flourished in the 101st Olympiad. He was a writer, says Suidas, between the middle and new comedy. He was the author of 24 comedies, whereof his "Nutrices," Clepsydra, and Cercopes, are cited by Athenæus. + Anaxandrides, a comic poet of Rhodes, or, as some say, of Colophon. He flourished in the second year of the 101st Olympiad, as Suidas and the author of the Olympiads testify; he is cited by Aristotle in his Rhetoric and Ethics; of the 65 comedies he wrote (in ten whereof he is said to have been victor), his Odysseus is chiefly commended by Athenæus. Amphis, a Greek comic poet of Athens, the son of Amphicratis. He was, says Laertis, contemporary with Plato, who was sometimes the subject of his comic wit. Besides his comedies, he wrote other pieces which are now lost. the French army, and the corps of French savans, were unable to effectthe removal of the colossal head of an Egyptian statue, improperly called Memnon, from Thebes to Alexandria, of the enormous weight of nearly twelve tons; and which has been safely lodged in the British museum, as a present to that institution, from Mr Salt, and the late lamented traveller, Mr Buckhardt. seven years, mixed so much with the Arabs on the shores of the Nile, that he is better acquainted with the Arabic language than his own. The following is the account he gives of the operations attending the removal of the misnamed Head of Memnon. For the execution of this object, after a special agreement with Mr Salt and Mr Buckhardt, Belzoni and his servant left Boulac, on the 14th June 1816, on their way to Thebes. At Erranoun, they met with an Englishman, Mr Brine, established there, who has undertaken to refine the sugar, and make rum from it, At without any difficulty; and his rum is Some account of this arduous enterprize, with many other labours and discoveries of Belzoni, has been given to the public in the Quarterly Review, but not with those minute details, which, in matters relat-"which," says Curtis, "he has done ing to discovery, must always be interesting. I may, however, perhaps be able, in some measure, to supply this deficiency, if not so amply or so ably as might be wished, at least through an authentic source. The little narrative, from which I shall give you a few extracts, is written with great simplicity, and, I have not the smallest doubt, with perfect accuracy. It was drawn up, at the request of a friend, by an Irish servant of Belzoni, who, some eight years ago, when a boy, engaged in his service at Edinburgh, and has been with him ever since in all his journeys, and assisted him in all his excavations in Egypt and Nubia, with the exception of his last visit to the latter country, where he accompanied Mr Belzoni in a peregrination through the Holy Land. Here he fell in with Mr Legh, and returned with him to Constantinople with the view of rejoining Belzoni in Egypt; but on hearing in this city a rumour of the death of Belzoni (which, it has since been supposed, alluded to that of Mr Buckhardt), he attended Mr Legh to England; but finding, on his arrival, that the report was in all probability unfounded, he now waits only for an opportunity of rejoining his old master in Egypt. Being wholly illiterate, I have taken the liberty of correcting his orthography, but have strictly preserved his phraseology. His ideas are clearly and distinctly expressed, and his knowledge of the geography of the Nile, the ruined cities and temples on its banks, and the antiquities which have been discovered in them, is more correct and comprehensive than could possibly be expected from one wholly uneducated, The fact is, that Curtis (for that is his name) has, for the last mels on the other side for to carry the things "Mr B. asked him if he could get cato the Memnonium, which he told him he could, and have all that he wanted there; so, on receiving this information, he crossed to the other side of the Nile to Gorna, (qu. Carnac ?) and sent to the sheikh for four camels to carry the timber, and some donkeys to carry our beds. We had some difficulty on account of its being rhamadan; but however he sent us the camels and the donkeys, and we got our things over. The next morning Mr B. called the carpenter and me, and gave in the plan of the car for to transport the head, which is now in the British Museum; we got to work, and the next morning Mr B. and the janissary, with the interpreter, went to Hermonta, to the cashief, for to give him had from the pasha, which he received with the firman, and to shew him the orders he great attention, and after he read them, he said, "allah rayi," which means, “with his head," and asked Mr B. what time he want ed the men. He told him the next morning; which he told Mr B. he would do all in his power to get as many men as possible. So Mr B. returned to Gorna; and the next morning our car and rollers were finished; and at five o'clock came the cashief and his brother, and about twenty Albanese soldiers on horseback, driving the poor Arabs before them like a flock of sheep. As soon as they arrived, Mr B. made some tickets and distributed to the men who were to work; on doing this, he ordered us to bring the car, |