Lages in the vicinity of the capital. Thefe pages are intended and are well calculated to induce future travellers to examine, with greater accuracy and care, the Roman Campagna, where all of us have liftened in fancy to the melody of Virgil, and the foothing blandifhments of Tully's eloquence, where our judgments have been improved by Tacitus and Livy, and our tafte delighted and improved by the fweetness of Övid, or the varied harmony and vigour of Horace. But this volume is not merely calculated to foothe and please the carelefs traveller, it is didactic alfo. The author goes back, fometimes perhaps farther than is neceffary, but always to the remoter periods of the hiftory of the places, which are described, introducing fuch lively representations of ancient manners, as are well calculated to make the reader comprehend the ufes and defigns of the venerable fragments of antiquity which remain. One fpecimen will be fufficient to justify the above commendation, and the opinion, which we without hesitation avow, that this elegant volume deserves a place in every well chofen collection.

"But the period at which the "Campagna" must have been most truly interefting, was when a Cato, a Varro, and others, not lefs diftinguifhed for their love of agriculture than for their military and political talents, inhabited fimple but commodious dwellings, rendering the country around them fertile, and its peasants induttrious: under their protecting care, and in confequence of their beneficial inftitutions and exertions, the Latiam fields affumed that cheerful affect which the benignant climate of Italy fo naturally promotes; the health and morals of their domeftics formed a principal object of their attention; and a contented mind, amidst the placid enjoyments of a vigorous old age, was at once the refult and the reward of their rural occupations.

"With what eloquence is fuch a life defcribed by Cicero, and with how much energy does he recommend the ftudy of agriculture! This study, indeed, appears to have found favour with the Romans molt celebrated for their genius and acquirements. They were not ungrateful for the happiness they enjoyed in the poffeffion of a country fo peculiarly favoured by Providence; and the treatifes which they have left us on this interefting fubject, are no lefs models of purity of diction and elegance of style, than faithful memorials of the ftate of cultivation and local advantages of thefe ftill lovely fceries.

"Columella, defcribing the fituation he would prefer for a villa, fpeaks as follows + :

If fortune would favour my defires, I fhould wish to have · án eftate in a wholesome climate and fruitful country; one part champaign, another hilly, with eafy defcents either to the eaft or fouth fome of the lands cultivated, others wild and woody; not far from the fea, or a navigable river, for the easier exporta tion of the produce of the farm, and for the importation of neceffaries. The champaign below the houfe fhould be converted into grounds for pafturage and tillage, ofiers and reeds; fome of the hills fhould be divested of trees that they might ferve for corn, which, growing better on a foil moderately dry and rich, than on steep grounds, the upper corn-fields fhould have as little declivity as poffible, and ought to resemble thofe on the plain. The other hills should be laid out in olive-grounds and vine. yards, and produce trees neceffary to make props for those fruits, and, if occafion fhould require building, to afford timber and ftone, and also pafture for cattle. Conftant rivulets of water fhould defcend from thence into the meadows, gardens, and ofier grounds, and alfo ferve for the conveniency of the cattle grazing in the fields.'

"Columella is fuppofed to have written these reflections about the 42d year of our æra. Varro, whose works on agriculture and rural economy are ftill extant, was a cotemporary of Cicero, and Cato was his predeceffor: we have, therefore, reason to believe, that what may be collected from their several treatifes, gives us no imperfect idea of an antient VILLA, an appellation given by the Romans to their rural refidences, including whatever was then deemed useful and agreeable.

"Thefe villas were divided into three parts.-Urbana for the mafter and his family, ruftica for the farm and husbandmen, and fructuaria the ftorehouse for corn, wine, and oil.

"The fervants who more immediately attended on their maf ter, and belonged to the villa urbana, were the atrienfes, or what the Italians ftill call the fala, fpeaking of the livery fervants collectively; the valets who, I believe, were ufually freedmen, the fecretary styled notarius; the gardeners for the pleasure grounds called topiarii; and the muficians and comedians, who performed plays, pantomimical dances, or other theatrical compositions for the entertainment of the guests during the repafts.

"This villa urbana, which was alfo denominated pfeudo urbana, and sometimes prætorium, in imitation of the title given to that part of the camp where the prætor or other commander in chief refided, had a periftyle or court furrounded by a portico, at the fartheft extremity of which, oppofite to the gate of entrance, was the atrium or hall, with a portico on each fide looking towards the places of exercife, as bowling-greens, galleries for wreftling, and other fimilar buildings: the baths were also annexed to this part of the building, and were always fituated fo

B

BRIT, CRIT, VOL. XXVIII. JULY, 1806.

as to enjoy the winter's fetting fun. Befides the fitting-rooms, chambers, library, and eating-rooms in this villa, they would often have a triclinium, or eating-room, in the midst of the park, and fometimes a bed-room, for the fake of quiet and retirement.

"In the villa ruftica, or farm-houfe, dwelt the procurator, or land-fteward; the villicus, hind, or chief of the husbandmen; and the villica, housekeeper, under whofe order were the female fervants employed in providing food and cloathing for the family. The aviarius had the care of the poultry; and, in confiderable villas far from any town, they had a chief of the workmen, ergaftularius, with fmiths and carpenters under him.

"The fteward was lodged in apartments over the gateway of the villa ruftica, on one fide of which lived the villicus, and the willica near the fructuaria, or store-rooms. The inferior flaves in one great room, and the fick in an apartment called the vale tudinarium. The lodgings of the freedmen had a fouthern afpect. "Horfes and mules were kept for the use of the master, and affes and oxen for that of the farm.

"Particular care was taken of the geefe, hens, pigeons, peacocks, and other birds, which had all feparate dwellings affigned to them; and not only deer, hates, and every fpecies of game were attended to, but there can fcarcely be named an animal which was not kept by the more opulent Romans at their country refidences. Varro even defcribes the glirarium, or habitation for the dormice. To his works, and to those of Columella and Vitruvius, we refer the reader for more minute particulars.

"The ancient Romans were peculiarly domeftic; unlike the Greeks, who fecluded their wives and children from fociety by confining them within the limits of the gynæcium, where little of their own time was paffed, and none even of their most intimate friends admitted, the inhabitants of Latium fhared their house, their converfation, their cares, and their amufements, with their families. To them, at their return from the forum, they related the events of the city, and the news from the armies; and, with them, they received their friends and relations in the evening at their hofpitable board, or partook of the entertainment reciprocally offered to them. Accompanied by their wife and children they joined in the public feftivities; and public fervice alone divided them from the ties, which nature and affection had combined to form.

"Where fuch a conduct is adopted, the love of rural scenes becomes naturally ftronger. Families, in the country, are more united, and friends received with greater cordiality, than in populous cities, where individuals are fuppofed to be more indepen dent of each other, and where ambition and intereft engross more of their attention.

"The

The frugality of the firft Romans, which never interfered with the duties of hofpitality, made it neceffary (while they wished to preserve the one without injury to the other) that they should avoid the more expenfive luxuries of the capital, look into their own concerns, and live on the produce of their little farms.

"The ftories related of Curius and Cincinnatus are charac teristic of the manners of thofe times, and we find even Horace, the favourite companion of the first and greatest men of an age in which luxury had made a confiderable progrefs, defcribe his way of life in the country, fo as to prove that comfort, not oftentation, and a real attachment to the beauties of nature, were his inducements for paffing fo much of his time there.

"During the laft century of the republic, the principal ora tors, ftatesmen, and generals, availed themfelves of every leifure moment to fly to one of their numerous rural refidences, and for. get, if poffible, the tumult of public affairs in literary occupations and the fociety of their friends. There, alfo, the ambitious formed plans of future greatnefs, the difappointed concealed their feelings from the contemptuous fneers of their fuccessful rivals, and the timid avoided being expofed to the folicitations of contending parties. There, alfo, they could enjoy, with fewer interruptions, the fociety of their families; a cir cumftance which, at all times, appears to have formed much of their happiness. We always find Cicero with Terentia and Tullia: and, even at the critical inftant when Brutus and Caffius were debating at one of their country houses, what should be their conduct after they were obliged to leave Rome on the death of Cæfar, Servilia and their wives were present at the con ference." P. 37.

After giving a general defcription of Latium and its firft inhabitants, the author proceeds to illuftrate those places moft memorable in former times for the colonial establishment of the Romans and moft worthy of curiofity at prefent. Such are the Lake Albano, including Caftel Gandolfo, &c. the Lake of Nemi, including Genfano, Ardea, the towns on the coaft, Ofia, Nettuno, &c. The chapter on the Pontine marshes is curious and interefting; which also may be said of that on the Tufculanum of Lucullus, where the honours of the table were paid to Pompey, Cæfar, Craffus, and Cicero. Tivoli alfo is very agreeably defcribed; indeed it is not our fortune often to meet with a volume where moré information and entertainment are combined. Twenty etchings, by the author, are introduced in the volume. These are flight, but executed with remarkable neatness and precision. A map alfo of the Campagna is prefixed. The work is confidently, and we believe rightly, attributed to a lady already celebrated as a writer, the accomplished Cornelia Knight.

B 2

ART.

ART. III. Effays, Literary, Political, and Economical. In Two Volumes. By John Gardiner, M. D. Fellow of the Royal College of Phyficians, and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, &c. 8vo. About 1100 pp. 16s. Conftable, Edinburgh; Longman and Co., London. 1804.

THESE

HESE effays had not been published three months, when attracted by the table of contents, we fat down to the perufal of them, with the fanguine hope of receiving amusement and instruction ourfelves, as well as of being able to communicate amusement and inftruction to our readers. But alas! hopes are often fallacious. We had not got half through the fift effay, when we threw afide the volumes in difguft, and never again looked into either of them, till by a friend we were lately reminded of our negligence. This is the only apology (we confefs it is not a good one) that truth will permit us to make, for delaying fo long to give fome account of two large volumes, in which the author profeffes to treat of fubjects which are certainly important. Dr. Gardiner, we doubt not, is an eminent phyfician; and the ftudies which are intimately connected with the fcience of phyfic, are fufficient to employ all the time and all the talents which fall to the fhare of ordinary men. It cannot therefore excite furprife that he fhould fometimes trifle, and fometimes reafon abfurdly, when treating of fubjects fo very foreign from his profeffion, as are fome of thofe which are difcuffed in thefe effays. The ftudy or practice of phyfic has little connection with

Conjectures on the the origin of language; -on the different races of men; -on the formation of the minds of children, previous to a literary education;-on the principal causes that promote or retard population, being the circumstances from which the precife degree of power in every ftate may be estimated;" with hiftorical remarks and obfervations on government, and on the caufes which have at all times obftructed its advancement to a free conftitution;" or with "obfervations on the principal caufes which promote or retard the advancement of literature, commerce, and the arts."

The origin of language has employed the attention of fome of the most celebrated philofophers both ancient and modern; but the only question which has hitherto been seriously agitated, is whether language be a human invention, or was communicated by infpiration to the original race of men. No man, before Dr. Gardiner, feems to have entertained a doubt