A letter from the learned Father Jacquier, professor of mathematics in the college of Sapienza at Rome, concerning the supposed Egyptian Bust at Turin. [See Vol. V. page 148.]

TH

HEY hand about at Rome an anonymous pamphlet, which feems defigned to renew the literary war that was lately carried on in this city, and at Paris, in relation to the famous Buft, fuppofed to be Egyptian, which is to be feen in the cabinet of antiquities of the king of Sardinia.

On the breaft and forehead of that figure feveral characters are vifible, which fome antiquaries have fuppofed to be Egyptian. Mr. Needham having compared them with the characters of a Chinese dictionary in the Vatican, perceived a striking resemblance between the two. He drew from this refemblance an argument in favour of the opinion of the learned Monfieur de Guignes, concerning the origin of the Egyptians, Phenicians, and Chinese, (or rather concerning the defcent of the latter from the former) and pronounced without hesitation that the Buft was Egyptian.

The pamphlet now before me confifts of feveral letters, in which the fentiment of Mr. Needham is refuted with the greatest warmth ; and the anonymous author of it goes fo far as to affert that the characters of the Chinese dictionary have been changed and falfified.

May I be allowed to make a few reflections upon this literary con teft, of which I myself have been one of the more immediate fpectators, and which really appears to me little elfe than a scene of fhuffling and wrangling? There are two things that must be carefully diftinguished from each other in this debate, namely, that' which has been proved by ocular demonftration, and that which is deftitute of all proof, which is utterly uncertain, perhaps falfe. As to the firft, I myself was twice prefent when the characters in queftion were compared and confronted, and I could not obferve any fenfible difference between thofe of the Buft, and thofe of the Dictionary. It is true, that at our fecond meeting, feveral of the characters in the dictionary appeared blacker than they had formerly done; but it is alfo certain that the Chinese librarian had only drawn his pen lightly over these characters to render them more diftinct, without changing, in the least, their form. To demonftrate that this was really the cafe, it is fufficient to obferve, that the characters that were thus retouched, are frequently repeated in other parts of the dictionary, where, though they have not been touched at all, they bear the very fame form. This declaration I have been obliged to make from a regard to truth, in relation to the firft point in this debate, in which the accuracy and probity of Mr. Needham are particularly interested.

With refpect to the conclufion that Mr. Needham draws from this conformity between the characters of the Buft and those of the Dictionary, viz. that the Chinese language and characters refembled formerly, nay perhaps were the very fame, with thofe of the Egyptians, I acknowledge that I cannot fee its evidence; nay it appears to me to be manifeftly groundlefs. For let the origin of this Buft be what it will, (which, by-the-by, is not at all believed Egyptian) and fuppofing even that the characters it contains be really Egyptian, no conclufion can be drawn from thence with respect to their fignification. It may very eafily be conceived that the Chinese language, which comprehends fuch a prodigious multitude of characters, may have feveral which refemble the letters made ufe of in the oriental languages, and ftill more the Egyptian hieroglyphics, without fignifying the fame thing that is expreffed by these letters and hieroglyphics. The following fact will fully explain my meaning: I fent to Mr. Needham an exact copy of an Egyptian infcription of confiderable length, which is to be feen in the houfe of Monfieur de Breteuil, ambaffador from the Order of Malta, at Rome. Mr. Needham confulted feveral Chinese dictionaries without being able to find any one of the letters contained in this infcription; and even had he found a few, he could not reafonably have drawn any conclufion from thence in favour of this hpyothefis, confidering the abundance and richness of these languages, and the number of characters of which 1 they are compofed. The adverfaries of Mr. Needham, in this lite

rary conteft, ought therefore to grant the fact related by this learned gentleman, as this fact is ftrictly true, and confine their attacks to this hypothefis, in order to fhew that the proof he draws from this fact of the fameness of language between the Chinese and Egyptians, and of the defcent of the former from the latter, is lame and unfatisfactory. However this famous queftion may be decided, the difcoveries and labours of Monfieur de Guignes on' this fubject cannot be too much ap plauded; and it must be always acknowledged, that the work publifhed at Rome about three years ago by Mr. Needham, in relation to this matter, is far from difcovering that depth of erudition and that inventive genius, that appear in the researches of the learned academician now mentioned.

Description of Syracuse, Palermo, and Enna: from M. D'Orville's Sicula.

HE magnificent and famous.

THE

city of Syracufe, which contained within its walls four others, was fo deftroyed by the Saracens in the IXth century that few traces remain of its ancient grandeur. The defcription which our ingenious traveller has given of it, is by no means the leaft curious or least laboured part of his book. One has a fenfible pleasure in accompanying him; firft, into thofe vatt quarries, which, like thofe of the mountain of St. Peter near Maeftrict, take up almost all the ground under the city of Arcadina; after that, into thofe magnificent and terrible quarries which the cruelties

of

of Dionyfius the tyrant have immortalized; and by Tacha, the fecond quarter, to the fteep mountain Epipolæ, where that barbarous prince caused the famous prifon of Latomiæ to be built. This able critic next difcourfes on the Hexapylon of Syracufe, and proves that it was a long edifice built on the causeway which joins Acradina to the ifle of Ortygia, and where by fix fucceffive gates they paffed from one of those parts of the city to the other he would place the caftle of Euryalus on the top of that rock, which is now called the Belvedere. Defcending with him from Euryalus into the plain on the south-fide, we find the fource of the fountain Cyane, the marsh Temenites, the river Anapus, and not far from thence, the ruins of the beautiful temple of Jupiter Olympus. Returning af terwards into that quarter of Syracuse which is called Naples, or the New City, our author makes us obferve, among other things, the remains of a theatre and an amphitheatre near each other, with fome quarries, which, like the foregoing, after having furnished materials for buildings, have been converted into fepulchres, or appropriated to other ufes. There it is that one fees the famous prifon which even now retains the name of Dionyfius's ear, because, it is faid, that the tyrant had fixed there fome fecret pipes, by means of which, on placing his ear at an hole, he heard every thing that the prifoners faid of him; a vulgar fa

ble, whofe origin was never gueffed. The quarry in question was open in the form of an ear; this is all the mystery. The fourth quarter of Syracufe was the island of Ortygia, which an edifice with fix gates feparates from Arcadina: two fuperb temples were there to be feen, dedicated to Minerva and Diana.

What remains of the for- '. mer is at this time dedicated to St. Mary of the Column. We must not forget that Ortygia had two harbours, the largeft, which was on the eaft, was almost 12,000 paces in circumference. Very near this harbour, on the left, flows the famous fountain of Arethufa*, formerly nearer to the small harbour, as the learned Cluverius has demonftrated. It is at prefent almost reduced to nothing:

After doubling the cape of mount Gerbino, we again fee trees, and by degrees a fruitful country, as one approaches to Palermo, formerly Panormus. This capital at a distance makes no grand appear, ance, because it lies in a bottom; but the farther one advances, the more delightful is the afpect, efpecially on the fea-fide. A large ftreet, which leads from the beach, croffes all the city like a rope : this ftreet is cut in the center by another, which forms there a fquare which is called I quatre Cantoni, and which is fuperbly furnished with magnificent fountains, adorned with beautiful ftatues. In ge neral, Palermo is decorated with a multitude of churches, convents, and other buildings, which give it a

fuperiority

fuperiority over all the cities of Sicily, and equal it to those most admired in Italy; but the modern has there abforbed the antique. As to infcriptions, fcarce any ancient remains are to be found here.

Our author nevertheless describes a fepulchral ftone, on which is to be feen the figure of a woman, who has all the air of an Egyptian, without our being able to fay that fhe is one; for it feems undeniable that the people of Panormus and their neighbours had adopted the funeral ceremonies that were obferved in Egypt. Not long ago a fepulchral grotto was discovered in the territory of Solus, where were found, among a number of vafes and utenfils, many idols, made entirely in the Egyptian tafte. Of all this M. D'Orville gives exact representations.

A fight which struck him extremely was the fubterraneous vault of the capuchins near the harbour of Palermo. On entering it, one inftantly fees with horror above 1000 dead bodies dried up and fixed either to the walls or in the niches of that dreadful cemetery. All these skeletons are clothed in grey, like the fathers of the convent; though they admit the dead of all ranks, as well those who are ambitious of that honour, as those to whom it becomes a difgrace. The attitudes of the latter are various, like the punishments of which they were worthy. Here is a figure, which, crowned with thorns, feems to have been torn in pieces by them. There is another which bends under the weight of an enormous crofs. Others have a rope round the neck; one thinks one can read in their countenances

the torments which they have fuffered. But what makes an admittance after death into this frightful fociety fo defirable, is the reputation of the fanctity of thefe good fathers, and their readiness to perform miraculous cures, of which our author had the fatisfaction to fee the farce. Befides, many of these spectres begin to be thought prodigies; and, upon the whole, great pains are taken to make the devout multitude believe, that the prefervation of thefe carcaffes is itself a miracle much fuperior to the powers of nature and of art. It is nevertheless well known, that in many fubterraneous places, the nature of the ground alone, by means of fome precautions, effects this pretendid prodigy; witnefs the caverns of Tholouse and of Cremona, and efpecially those of the capu chins of St. Ephraim at Naples. M. D'Orville had been there, and he informs us, that inftead of drying them (as they do) and preparing their fkeletons with lime, the capuchins of Palermo are contented with hanging for a year in fome little caves inacceffable to the air, the corpfes of those who are destined to the honour of figuring in this grand affembly, which reprefents the dominions of death and the fhades.

Paffing by the lake Pergus, one of the most beautiful places in the world, M. D'Orville arrived at Ensa, now called Caftro Giovani : it is a ftrong and fpacious city, built on an eminence in the center of the ifland, where it commands a moft delightful and moft fertile terri tory. There it is that Gelon dedicated to Ceres that grand and superb temple of which the ancients have faid fo much, but which probably was never finished. From

the

the places where it stood one difcovers an immenfe country as far as the citadel of Montreal, which is but four miles from Palermo. To the weft of Enna is a place called by diftinction Il Monte, or the mountain ; the inhabitants refort thither to worship fome faint, I know not whom, with a devotion fo fervent, that when our travellers arrived there, they were forced to faft, finding nobody at home; M. D'Orville therefore in his refentment forgot the name of the faint, who was too much worshipped for the welfare of his ftomach; a fatal forgetfulness, for one fhould have been glad to know under whofe aufpices one of the most famous places in hiftory now is; the place at which the king of hell iffued forth, feized Proferpina, and carried her into his doleful dominions. It probably belongs to the Francifcans, with whom our author paffed the night. If they had entertained him better, he would not have forgotten their tutelary god.

the powerful and moft ancient city of Tarquinii once ftood; though at prefent it is only one continued field of corn. On the fouth-eaft fide of it runs the ridge of an hill, which unites it to Corneto. This ridge is at least three or four miles in length, and almoft entirely covered by feveral hundreds of artificial hillocks, which are called by the inhabitants, Monti Rossi. About 12 of thefe hillocks have at different times been opened; and in every one of them have been found feveral fubterraneous apartments, cut out of the folid rock. These apartments are of various forms and dimenfions: fome confist of a large outer room, and a fmall one within; others of a small room at the firft entrance, and a large one within; others are fupported by a column of the folid rock left in the center, with openings on every part, from 20 to 30 feet. The entrance to them all is by a door of about 5 feet in height, by two feet and an half in breadth. Some of thefe have no light but from the door, while others feem to have had a fmall light from above, through an hole of a pyramidical form. Many of thefe apartments have an elevated part that runs all round the wall, being a part of the rock left for that purpofe. The moveables found in thefe apartments confift chiefly in Etrufcan vafes of various forms;` in fome indeed have been found fome plain facrophagi of ftone with bones in them. whole of thefe apartments are stuccoed, and ornamented in various manners: fome indeed are plain : but others, particularly three, are richly adorned, having a double row of Etrufcan infcriptions running round the upper part of the

1

The

walls