vere reflection of Mr. Barrow on the Chinese; for it seems that the custom is not confined to the Chinese: it is a peculiarity in Eastern manners: it is, perhaps, a fault both of Mr. Barrow, and of Sir George Staunton, that, in their descriptions of Chinese manners, they consider what is really the general practice of the East in the same light, as if it was practised only by the Chinese. Trin. Coll. Camb. Oct. 16, 1811. E. H. BARKER. INSCRIPTION ON A MONUMENTAL URN IN A GROVE AT W************ En virides aras, en hanc quam ponimus urnam ! Tu filî ex manibus respice dona, Pater! Proxima ab umbroso cantet avis nemore; AMICO MEO HYPERCRITICO, J- -GM. D. FABULA PHÆDRIANA. QUÆ do legenda tibi, G—, Idyllia Negas, pro more tuo petulans, quòd sint mea; Prudenter convertisse aliorum carmina : Exprobras denique prædonem, Anglica, Gallica, Esto verum; Quid hoc ad te? Fabulam habeas. Quidam in plateà ambulans, imbrem ut fugeret gravem, Conscendit rhedam quæ vectabat asseclas : Horum unus increpat, " Quid tibi vis, nebulo ? Scisne quod hoc est funus ?" Ille, "Edepol, probè; A. F. T. An Account of an Antique Metal Figure, found at Silchester, in Hampshire; with Remarks on the Dii Penates of the Romans. On a late visit to Silchester, in Hampshire, the Caer Segont of the ancient British, and the Vindonum of the Romans, I purchased of a farmer's laborer several little fragments of Roman antiquity, which he had found at different times on the site of the ancient city. They consist of fragments of small earthen vessels, of a bell, glass of a curiously fluted form, tesseræ of Mosaic pavement, a stone or earthen ornament in the shape of a bead and also a small mutilated figure in iron, which may probably have been an idol. Whether the last mentioned article of curiosity may have been of British or Roman work (for British, as well as Roman coins, have been found at Silchester) I am not able to determine. The remaining portion, which shows that the complete figure must have been of small size, consists of the head of an animal, somewhat resembling a baboon, with two arms that had been placed across. Another part seems to show that it had been a compound figure. Galtruchius says, the Roman Penates were little marmosets, attached to different parts of their houses, which they honored as their protectors.' It is mentioned in Gough's Additions to Camden, that many copper Penates have been found at Silchester. Whether there have been any instances of Penates in iron, discovered in any Roman station in Britain, I have not the means of knowing. It is certain that iron was a material in the formation of more ancient heathen idols, as well as more precious metals; since Belshazzar and his guests, amidst their cups of intemperance, "praised the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." And the prophet Isaiah describes the process of their manufacture, even among the people of Israel, in language designed to convince them of the folly of idolatry. The smith cutteth off a portion of iron; He worketh it in the coals, and with hammers he formeth it; -Lowth, Is. xliv. 12. The heathens seem to have studied as well the variety of the materials of their Gods, as their number and size. "If Rome alone," says the learned author of Hora Solitariæ, "could boast 2 Dan. v. iv. 3 Bishop Lowth remarks, that Horace, though a heathen himself, in a similar way, has in a line or two, given idolatry one of the severest strokes it ever received; Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum; Cùm faber incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum, of her thirty thousand Gods; what might the world have produced, when almost every man carried a God in his pocket, or had a levee of them at least in his house?" Several curious antiquities in iron have been found at this place, such as a ring, with a singular shaped key attached to it, and a small figure of a bird, which are preserved among other articles at the farm-house. An eagle, in steel, supposed to have been a military ensign, has been described by the Society of Antiquaries, in the Archæologia, vol. ix. I have observed in the neighbourhood of Silchester the evidence of iron ore, in the ferruginous quality of a stream of water; which may lead to a conjecture, that the Romans might obtain iron almost upon the spot. Dionysius Halicarnasseus says, the Trojan Penates were of brass, of iron, and Trojan earth.3 As the Romans borrowed the idea of their household Gods from those of the Trojans, brought into Italy by Eneas after the destruction of Troy, they might also adopt the same materials for their fabrication. Iron being a more common and cheaper metal, might be adopted by the poorer class of the people; as those recorded in Scripture history, who "could not afford a costly oblation, chose a piece of wood that will not rot" for an image. A ring of gold was the peculiar privilege of a Roman knight, who was thence denominated eques auratus. Their slaves wore rings of iron, as Pliny informs us, till their manumission, or preferment to some dignity; and may be supposed to have been content with iron Gods. When the Israelites made a God of their ear-rings of gold, they had lately been enriched by the wealth of Egypt. Learned men have endeavoured to trace the etymology of the word Penates; most of whom have derived it from some Latin word in which they have considerably differed. It is a plausible conjecture, that the Teraphim, or images of Laban, which Rachel stole from her father, and elsewhere mentioned in the Scripture history, were the original images, whence different heathen nations borrowed their idea of household Gods. From the circumstances of the history, they seem to have been of small dimensions. If they were of oriental origin, it is most natural to expect the name may be derived from an oriental language. Parkhurst suggests whether it may not be from the Hebrew, faces, that is, of Jehovah; though they are spoken of in the plural number, yet possibly there was but one compound or plural image, like the cherubim in form, but for more private purposes. It is probable they expected help and health from them; whence Avenarius Introd. p. 34. 2 By some mistake, this ring is mentioned in the "Beauties of England," in such a manner as to lead the reader to suppose it is a gold ring. vol. vi, p. 249. 3 De la Ruë, note on Virg. Æn. ii. 717. 4 Dr. Brown's Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Book iv. Chap. iv, 5 Heb. Lex. under 5, 3d. edit, derives the Greek word game, which signifies both to worship and to heal, from the word teraphim.' The word Penates has been considered as only used in the plural. Vossius says that Livy has Penatem; and Priscian acknowledges it was in use among the ancients; which is confirmed by Dionysius Halicarnasseus, who says he had seen Penas in an ancient inscription. The Jewish doctors, however, are generally agreed, that the word Teraphim is not of Hebrew extraction; the LXX translate it sometimes an oracle, and sometimes vain idols; and some commentators affirm the word to be borrowed from the Egyptians, and to import the very same with their Serapis, or Seraphis, by a slight and usual variation of the orthography.3 Though this was the God of the Egyptians, yet he was worshipped in Greece, especially at Athens, and also at Rome, under different names. It is generally believed that the Israelites, having seen this object of idolatrous worship when they were in Egypt, made their calf of gold in imitation of it. There are several Penates, in bronze, in the collection of Sir William Hamilton, in the British Museum. Among the Egyptian deities, some are represented with the heads of baboons. Some of them are said to be of Roman work. Whether any of them bear a resemblance to the figure in my possession, I have not at present an opportunity of ascertaining. The description, which Virgil gives of the Penates, shows that at least some of them were of the lesser class of their idols; hesternumque Larem, parvosque Penates -Æn. viii. 543. Lætus adit; mactat lectas de more bidentes. The Trojan Penates, along with other sacred things, were carried in one of the hands of aged Anchises, when himself was borne on the shoulders of his son Æneas, at the destruction of Troy ; Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu, patriosque Penates. Æn. ii. 717. These remarks shall be closed with some observations, from a letter written by a learned friend on the subject. "Danet (Dict. of Antiq.) says, the Penates were the souls (Genii) of the deceased Gods and heroes. But Bryant, speaking of the Lares (which seem to be the same as the Penates) says, they were so called from Aagva, an ark; as if they were the Genii of the flood, or some of the furniture of Noah's ark, which is hard to believe; though it is supposed that the ancient Teraphim were of this nature. The pedigree of these household Gods appears to me to be as follows: Mankind were always proud of their ancestry, and fond of preserving some memorial of them. Portrait 1 Assemb. Annot. on Gen. xxxi. 19. 2 Johnson's Gram. Comment. p. 189. 3 Bayeri ad J. Seldeni De Diis Syr. Syntag. Addit. p. 189. 4 Tooke's Pantheon, p. 385. 5 Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum, p. 79, 95. painting not being then in fashion as at present, they carved some rude resemblance of the human figure, and when they learned to cast in metal, cast them. It was easy to magnify these heroes into divinities, and the more lazy part of the religious world, instead of travelling to the idol-temple, or the Jewish tabernacle, found it more convenient to stay at home, and pay their respects to the hero Nimrod, or the patriarch Noah. The Hutchinsonians think the Teraphim were an imitation of the Cherubim. Perhaps so. Thus we dress the spirits of the departed with plumed wings and call them angels; and this might be the case with the more modest idolators, who worshipped "the sweet little cherubs that sit up aloft," and called them "their departed ancestors." Basingstoke. J. JEFFERSON. Plan and Specimen of BIBLIA-POLYGLOTTA BRITANNICA or, an Enlarged and Improved Edition of the London Polyglott-Bible; with Castell's Heptaglott Lexicon. THE importance of Polyglott editions of the Scriptures has been felt by the learned, ever since the Revival of Letters. They serve as secure repositories of the most pure copies of the Original Texts and Ancient Versions, which can be formed from all the sources of criticism accessible at the respective periods of their publication : they furnish, in consequence, standard texts, which are followed in smaller editions; and they exhibit the Texts and Versions in such order and connection, as to supply the best means of interpreting the Scriptures. SPAIN took the lead in this work of piety; and published two Polyglott Bibles, the Complutensian and that of Philip the Second, before any other State engaged in this noble design. FRANCE followed, in the Biblia Polyglotta Parisiensia of Le Jay: and at length, the BRITISH Nation, under the care of those indefatigable scholars, Archbishop Usher, Bishop Walton, Dr. Pococke, Dr. Castell, and their associates, presented to the Christian World, in the Biblia Polyglotta, and Lexicon Heptaglotton, the most complete apparatus for the study of the Scriptures ever collected together. This work has continued a monument of the erudition and munificence of the British nation, for one hundred and fifty years; no other State having attempted, since its publication, any improvements on its plan or execution. A new race of scholars, however, has sprung up in this interval; and has opened and freely used new sources of Sacred Criticism. Invaluable copies of the Originals and |