which a young Painter beftows in the ftudy of the Antiques, is thrown away? Will any one conceive, that it is needless to explain the feveral propofitions of Euclid to young perfons, becaufe Pafcal, when a boy, was capable of folving many geometrical theorems without the affiftance of a Mafter? The Painter requires both the aid of precept and example, and which can no where be obtained in fo great perfection as in Italy. There, fays our Author, almoft every thing catches the eye, and engages the attention of the Artift; Italy being, indeed, all Claffic ground, as Mr. Addifon calls it, to thofe who cultivate the fine arts. There are, it is true, a number of fine pieces of fculpture in France, but there are none of the first class; none of thofe ftatues which may be called preceptive, fuch as those of Apollo, Antinous, Hercules, the Gladiator, the Faun, Venus, &c. There are alfo in France, a much greater number of Paintings by the best Italian Mafters; but it cannot be fuppofed that young Painters can profit fo much by them, as by the works thofe Mafters produced in Italy. It is only in great and public undertakings, executed with all the powers of the Artift, when he endeavours to diftinguifh himself in his own country, furrounded with numerous rivals and competitors, that his works appear in perfection, and are to be ftudied with profit. In like manner it is, that the merit of Architects is to be determined among thofe public monuments, in which, as Vitruvius obferves, the beauties and defects are confpicuous for ever. Thus, for example, Titian fhould be ftudied at St. John, and St. Paul in Venice, and in the celebrated picture of St. Peter the Martyr: Paul Veronefe at St. Zachary and St. George in Venice, and at the Madonna del Monte of Vicenza: Corregio at Parma, and particularly in that admirable piece which the Duke hath ftill preferved in Italy. The Carrachi have displayed the whole force of their genius and talents in the Farnefe gallery, and in Saint Michael in bofco; Dominichino in the feveral churches of Rome; Raphael and Michael Angelo in the Vatican; where thofe two poetical Painters contended with each other for the admiration of the universe. The French, continues Count Algarotti, might very juftly cenfure fuch Italians as should prefume to determine the merit of Le Brun, from the pictures they may have of that Mafter in Italy; referring them, in like manner, to the gallery of the Hotel of Lambert, or to that of Verfailles, painted by that Artist when he laboured in conjunction with Le Sueur, and difputed the palm with Mignard.

With regard to the method of studying the works of foreign Mafters, by means of Prints, and particularly thofe of Raphaeland Titian, our Author obferves that, be they engraved ever fo well, they will not prefent a faithful copy of the picture.

The

The attitudes, indeed, and outlines of the figures, a certain degree of the look and mien of each, with the general compofition of the whole, may be preferved; but what becomes of the vivacity and beauty of the tints, of the pallid caft of the flesh, and, in a word, of the most enchanting part of this art, the magic of colouring? Add to this, that there are but few good Prints of the beft Italian Paintings.

Architects, fays our Author, may feem better capable of profiting by the fubftitute of Prints than Painters are; as their principal business depends on the accuracy of admeasurements. But if we reflect on this fubject, we fhall difcover a vast difference between the reprefentation of an edifice in a print, and an immediate view of the fame building to the eye. It often happens, that if the Architect doth not take in, and properly confider all the effects of the light and fhade of the feveral projections, and particularly in the point of fight from which the ftructure ought to be viewed, thofe things which appear very beautiful in the defign, may be very deformed when put in execution. To this it may be added, that precifion and accuracy are as rarely found as tafte and genius; fo that there are very few performances of this kind which are not very erroneous; and were it otherwise, there are a great number of modern monuments in Italy, of which no good prints have been made. Our Author Specifies a number of thefe that particularly deserve the attention of young Architects; after which he proceeds to offer a fcheme for the improvement of the Academy, by fending detached parties of its Students to the feveral parts of Italy, under a proper Director to each. But as this matter little concerns the English Reader, we here difmifs the subject.

Accurata, e fuccinta Defcrizione Topografica delle Antichità di Roma, &c. In Roma, 1763.

A concife and accurate Topographical Defcription of the Antiquities of Rome. By the late Abbé Venuti. 2 Vols. 4to.

Tis with great concern we learn, from an advertisement

I prefixed to this work, that the illnefs of the learned Author,

which ended in his decease, prevented him from putting the finishing ftroke to fo ufcful a performance; ufeful at least to all thofe who, vifiting Rome, are defirous of improving themfelves as much as poffible, by fo expenfive a voyage. For, it is to be obferved, that the work before us is not calculated fo much for the amufement of profound Antiquarians, as for the informa

tion of thofe giddy Travellers, who, capable as they are of inftruction, generally return from foreign countries as wite as they went. It may be of use to all fuch likewife, even tho' their journey be over; juft as the typographical description of the late Coronation was to a certain German Baron of our acquaintance, who brought his wife and five daughters over from Wr, to be prefent at that magnificent proceffion, but were prevented, for want of a proper Guide to Coronations, from reaching their feats till the evening after the fair. The publication above-mentioned, however, gave them ample comfort, as it answered every purpose of their journey, which was that of having to fay what they had been to fee. In like manner, the Abbé Venuti's Defcription may be of fingular ufe to those who, having been at Rome, are returned without having learnt the proverb Haud Roma in una die conditur; the Author defcribing the ftate of Rome at different periods of time, from the days of Romulus to thofe of Pope Clement XIII.

On the first building this city, it was confined folely to Mount Palatine; foon after which it extended itself to the Capitoline Mount. At this time it had only four gates, one opening toward the Tyber, the other toward Mount Aventine, the third to Mount Celius, and the fourth toward the Campus Martius, near the great street called the Curfus. Such was the limits of Rome in the time of Romulus. The various additions and alterations that have been made fince, are accurately described and related by our Author, in the chronological order in which they fucceeded each other; the relations and defcriptions of the learned Abbé being confirmed by the evidence of the most refpectable authorities ancient and modern.

After having given a very methodical account of the fucceffive augmentations of the limits of the city, the number of its gates, its quarters or regions, together with a defcription of its treets, &c. the Author proceeds to defcribe more particularly the feveral structures and monuments erected in each quarter. Thus, in the first part of his work, he gives a defcription of Mount Palatine, of the Forum Romanum, of the Capitol, of the Forum of Cæfar, of Auguftus, of Nerva, and of Trajan; of the Mounts Quirinal, Viminal, Exquiline, and Celius.In the fecond part, he defcribes the Via Appia, Mount Aventine, the Campus Martius, and the iflands of the Tiber.

Having thus given a general idea of the feveral divifions of Rome, and the edifices contained in each, the Abbé enters into a detail of various minutia, which, however they may please the Antiquarian, will afford as little entertainment to the generality of Readers, as inftruction to the generality of Travellers.

525

The whole is illuftrated with a confiderable number of plates; defcriptive of the feveral antiquities therein mentioned; together with a map or plan of the city, on which are marked both its ancient and modern limits.

Traité fur la Tolerance, a l'Occafion de la Mort de Jean Calas. A Treatise on Toleration, occafioned by the Death of John Calas, executed at Touloufe for the fuppofed Murder of his own Son. Written by Mr. de Voltaire. 8vo. 1763. Imported by Becket and De Hondt.

A

MONG the various productions with which the fertile genius of Mr. Voltaire hath occafionally obliged the public, there is none in which he appears to more advantage, both as a Philofopher and a Patriot, than in the prefent treatise. The zeal with which he has interefted himself in the cause of the unhappy family of the Calas, will, indeed, do him more honour, in the eyes of the humane and virtuous part of mankind, than ten thousand of thofe agreeable jeux d' Efprit which fometimes escape from his pen, and afford a transitory amusement to the volatile and unthinking.

In the first chapter of this treatise, the Author gives a short recital of the very interefting catastrophe that occafioned it; comprising, in about twenty pages, all the effential circumftances relative to the fuicide of the fon, and the condemnation and juftification of the unhappy father.

In the fecond chapter, he expatiates on the feveral abfurd and melancholy confequences of fo unjuft a fentence and execution*.

In

It is to be obferved, that there are in Languedoc four fraternities of Penitents, viz. the White, the Blue, the Grey, and the Black. The brothers of thefe orders wear a long capuche, or cowl, with a woollen mask, in which there are two holes for them to fee through: they are numerous, and of fuch importance, that they wanted to engage the Duke of Fitz-James, Commandant of the province, to become one of their order. This honour, however, he refused them.

These white brothers having gotten the dead body of the fuicide Marc Antony Calas, celebrated a folemn fervice to him, as to a Martyr, and that with greater pomp than ever was known at the like celebration for a real Martyr. This pomp was, nevertheless, extremely terrible. On a magnificent bier was placed a kind of moving fkeleton, to reprefent Marc Antony Calas, holding in one hand a bough of the palmfree, and in the other, the pen with which he should have figned (as was given out) his abjuration from Proteftantifm, and which wrote, is effed, the fentence of death afterwards paffed on the father.

Nothing

In the third, he gives us a fketch of the Reformation of the fixteenth Century, particularly as far as it regarded the kingdom of France.

In

Nothing farther was now wanting than to canonize the unhappy Suicide: the people all looked upon him as a Saint; fome invoked him in their prayers, others went to pray at his tomb; fome requested miracles of him, and others related thofe he was fuppofed to have actually done. A certain Monk wrenched out fome of his teeth, in order to poffefs the durable relicts of fo great a Martyr. A Devotee, that was a little deaf, declared the could now hear the found of bells; and an apoplectic Prieft was cured after having taken a proper emetic. Formal accounts were drawn up of thefe miracles: the Author of this relation is alfo poffeffed of an attestation on oath, that a young man of Toulouse actually went diftracted, on account of his having prayed for feveral nights at the tomb of this new Saint, without being able to obtain of him the miracle he folicited.

Now, feveral of the Magiftrates being of the fraternity of White Penitents, the condemnation and death of John Calas appeared, from this time, infallible. The circumftance, however, which more particularly accelerated his fentence, was the approach of the feftival, which the people of Touloufe annually celebrate in memory of the maffacre of four thousand Huguenots, in the year 1562. This being the Jubilee or fecular year, therefore it was intended to be celebrated with unusual pomp accordingly the preparations which were making for this end throughout the city, inflamed a-new the glowing imaginations of the people. It was publicly faid, the fcaffold on which John Calas ought to be broke on the wheel, would be one of the greatelt embellishments to the festival.

If then, fays our Author, the White Penitents have been the cafe of the execution of an innocent man, of the utter ruin of a whole family, of difperfing them throughout the world, loading them with that opprobrium which ought only to be attached to guilt, but which ever attends on punishment; if the precipitation of thefe White Penitents to celebrate, as a Saint, a poor wretch, whofe body fhould have been dragged through the streets, hath been the cause of breaking alive on the wheel the helpless father of a virtuous family; fuch a misfortune fhould doubtless render them real Penitents to the last hour of their lives: both they and the condemning Judges, ought, indeed, to weep, but not in long white robes, and with afks on their faces to hide their tears their unfeigned repentance fhould be as public and mortifying as their errors have been notorious and fatal.

The very inftitution of thefe Societies, adds Mr. de Voltaire, feems to depend on the zeal which animates the Roman Catholics of Languedoc, against thofe whom they ftigmatize by the name of Huguenos. One would almost think that thefe orders had entered into folemn vos to hate their brethren; for it is certain, we have just religion enough to infpire hatred and perfecution, tho' not fufficient to make us love and ailift each other. How dreadful then must not be the confequences of having theic fraternities governed by fuch Enthufiafts as were formerly