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courteous style, she desired him to open his eyes, get out of bed, and take the log which he would find burning on his hearth, and set to work upon it, and he would find an image to his mind. Becerra awoke overjoyed, and lost no time in following the advice which had been given him. He found the log and quenched it; it was a convenient piece of timber, and from it he completed a figure to the entire satisfaction of Isabella. The monks received the miraculous image with joy; it was erected on the high altar of the convent in Valladolid, with all proper ceremonials fitting the solemnity; it was habited in the weeds of Queen Joanna, widow of Philip the Handsome, and remains, not indeed a monument of Becerra's art, (for no part of that is to be seen,) but of his patience; and proves that, however eminent might be his talents for sculpture, if it had not been for his faculty of dreaming, he would have made a shameful wreck of his fame.

ANCIENT MAP OF ROME.

THE Ichnography of Rome, in the fine collection of antiquities in the palazzo Farnese* was found in the temple of Romulus and Remus, which is now dedicated to St. Cosmo and Damiano, who are also two brothers; though incomplete, it is one of the most useful remains of antiquity. The names of

* It now belongs to the noble collection in the capitol.

the particular buildings and places are marked upon it, as well as the outlines of the buildings themselves; and it is so large, that the Horrea Lolliana (for instance,) are a foot and a half long; which may serve as a scale to measure any other buildings or places in it. It is published in Grævius's Thesaurus.

THE PORTLAND VASE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

THIS splendid monument of the fine arts at a very remote period, the celebrated Barberini, or Portland Vase, was for more than two centuries the principal ornament of the Barberini Palace. It was purchased for Sir William Hamilton, about thirty years ago, by the Duchess of Portland, for a thousand guineas; since which period, it has been generally known by the name of the Portland Vase. It was found about the middle of the sixteenth century, two miles and a half from Rome, in the road leading to Frascot. At the time of its discovery, it was inclosed in a marble sarcophagus, within a sepulchre chamber, under the mount called Monte del Grano. This superb specimen of Greek art, was patriotically deposited in the British Museum, in 1810, by his Grace the Duke of Portland, upon condition, that it should always be open to the inspection of artists and of the public in general.

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The material of which the Vase is formed, is glass; the figures, which are executed in relief, are of a beautiful opaque white; and the ground, which is in perfect harmony with the figures, is of a dark transparent blue. The height of the Vase is ten inches, and the diameter six; in its make it is not quite perpendicular; a misfortune which doubtless befel it in cooling from the hands of the glass-blower, the materials being too precious to allow of its being laid aside for that reason; or perhaps the art had not arrived at such a degree of perfection as to allow of extreme nicety. The figures are of most exquisite workmanship, in basrelief. Mr. Wedgwood was of opinion, from many circumstances, that the figures had been made by cutting away the external crust of white opaque glass, in which manner the finest cameos have been produced; and that it must have been the labour of a great many years.

There have been many opinions and conjectures concerning the figures on this celebrated Vase as well as to the period when it was made. Some antiquaries have placed its production many centuries before the Christian era, as sculpture was on the decline in the time of Alexander the Great.

Mr. Wedgwood, who made several beautiful copies of this wonderful production of art, has well observed, that it does not seem probable that the Portland Vase was purposely made for the ashes

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of any particular deceased; because many years must have been necessary to execute it. “Hence,” says Dr. Darwin, "it may be concluded, that the subject of its embellishments is not private history, but of a general nature. This subject (continues the learned doctor) appears to me to be well chosen, and the story to be finely told; and that it represents what, in ancient times, engaged the attention of philosophers, poets and heroes; I mean a part of the Eleusinian mysteries."

These mysteries were invented in Egypt, were afterwards transferred to Greece, and flourished more particularly at Athens, which was at the same time the seat of the Fine Arts. They consisted of scenic exhibitions, representing and inculcating the expectation of a future life after death, and on this account, were encouraged by the government insomuch, that the Athenian laws punished a discovery of their secrets with death; now as these were emblematic exhibitions, they must have been as well adapted to the purpose of sculpture as of poetry; and what subject could have been imagined so sublime for the ornaments of a funereal urn, as the mortality of all things, and their resuscitation? "Where could the designer be supplied with emblems for this purpose, before the Christian era, but from the Eleusinian mysteries ?"

The use of the Vase was certainly sepulchral, and the sculptures may be believed to be symbo

lical of Death on one side of the Vase, and Immortality on the other. The sculpture on the bottom of the Vase is emblematic of Silence; and is thus alluded to by Dr. Darwin, in his "Economy of Vegetation."

"Beneath, in sacred robes the Priestess dress'd,
The coif close hooded, and the fluttering vest,
With pointed finger guides the initiate youth,
Unweaves the many-coloured veil of Truth,
Drives the profane from Mystery's bolted door,
And Silence guards the Eleusinian lore."

DOMENICHINO'S CARICATURES.

AT the period when Domenichino was in Naples, he was visited by his biographer Passeri, then an obscure youth, engaged to assist in the repairs of the pictures in the Cardinal's chapel. "When we arrived at Frescati," says Passeri in his simple style, "Domenichino received me with much courtesy, and hearing that I took a singular delight in the belles lettres, it increased his kindness to me. I remember that I gazed on this man as though he were an angel. I remained there to the end of September, occupied in restoring the chapel of Saint Sebastian, which had been ruined by the damp. Sometimes Domenichino would join us, singing delightfully to recreate himself as well as he could. When night set in, we returned to our apartment; while he most frequently remained in his own, occupied in drawing, and permitting none

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