bars of different forms, and of touching needles for compaffes. In the next chapter the Author fhews the ufe of magnetic inftruments, and gives directions for folving problems relative to the amplitudes and azimuths, for finding the variation of the compass, and the inclination of the needle. In the fourth Part of this treatise, Mr. Cavallo relates a number of magnetical experiments which he has made at different times. He firft defcribes a new fort of fufpenfion for a needle, principally intended for afcertaining small degrees of magnetic attraction. This we have already minutely defcribed in our Review for March 1787, p. 193, when the Author's paper on Magnetifm in the 76th volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions came under notice. The magnetism of brass forms the fubject of the next chapter. This alfo is circumftantially mentioned in the fame article. But the Author has added many more experiments, especially on platina, which fhew that this metal, like brafs, by being hammered, becomes attractable by the magnet, which power it lofes again by being heated. Copper, zinc, a mixture of tin, zinc, and copper, pure filver, pure gold, and a mixture of gold, filver, and copper, had not the leaft action on the magnetic needle. The next two chapters contain fome curious experiments relative to the attraction between the magnet and ferruginous fubftances in their different ftates of exiftence, and fome thoughts concerning the caufe of the variation of the needle. Thefe experiments were the subject of a paper in the last volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions, and were noticed in our Review for November 1787, p. 243. From the foregoing analyfis of the work before us, our Readers will perceive, that the ingenious Author has treated of magnetifm in all its parts; he feems to have collected from former writers whatever was ufeful or curious, and to have added many obfervations that are entirely new. With refpect to the theory of magnetifm, it lies, as we have already intimated, in impenetrable darkness. A few, indeed very few, of its laws have been afcertained; and those which have been discovered, are not yet reduced to a fyftem. The phenomena of magnetifm are, in all probability, many more than have hitherto been obferved; and to this caufe, perhaps, the imperfection of the theory is to be attributed. Experimentalifts will, we hope, continue their enquiries, and by recording facts, and comparing them with each other, endeavour to eftablish a foundation for a rational and fatisfactory fyftem of magnetifm. Could rules be given for calculating the variation of the compafs for any given time and place, one of the greateft obftacles to the improvement of navigation would be removed. ART. ART. II. Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain applied to illuftrate the Hiftory of Families, Manners, Habits, and Arts, at the different Periods from the Norman Conqueft to the feventeenth Century. With introductory Obfervations. Part 1. containing the four first Centuries. Royal Folio. 61. 6s. Boards. Payne and Son. 1786. T O elucidate the hiftory of paft times, to gain acquaintance with thofe who lived before us, to examine their manners, to inveftigate the progrefs of the arts, to enquire into the origin. of useful inventions, and many other purposes to which the tudy of antiquity may be applied, are points which fufficiently evince its utility; and though many, who call themselves antiquaries, have gazed on ancient monuments merely for gratifying their curiofity, or for the fake of conforming to the fashionable rage for fcrutinizing the remains of ancient workmanship, yet many gentlemen, diftinguished for their learning and ingenuity, have lately appeared, who have made the ruft of antiquity fubfervient to the most important purposes, and have thrown confiderable light on the obfcureft pages of hiftory. Among thefe ufeful labourers, who have employed themselves in removing the duft and rubbish with which ancient monuments were obfcured, the Author of this fplendid work claims a diftinguished, if not the firft, place. His name, though it is not prefixed to the work, is Gough,-a gentleman whole fame, as an antiquary, can receive no additional luftre from our praises; by publishing this book he may, without the imputation of arrogance, adopt the words of the poet, Exegi monumentum ære perennius. The work which he prefents to the Public is not a history of England: he profeffes to have neither the object, the plan, nor the method of an hiftorian. Our materials,' fays he, are different, and my plan adopts only what his excludes. Great events, great perfonages, great cha racters, good or bad, are all that he brings upon his itage: "I talk of graves, of worms, of epitaphs, That ferves as paste and covering to our bones!" Mine are fubjects rejected by the hiftorian to the end of each reign, among the prodigies that diftinguish it. Yet is this detail not uninterefting. It is a picture of private, mixed with public life, a fubject in which my countrymen have been anticipated by their neighbours; and if it is here treated without the patr nage of religious or literary, focieties, it wanted not the encouragement of friends, who have left the fcene before the completion of a work, which they fome years fince pointed out, and would have affifted.' Mr. Gough was furnished with a variety of materials for his work, from the obfervations that he made in a series of excurfions undertaken to gratify his curiofity with refpect to national antiquities, U 3 antiquities. In reducing his mifcellaneous notes to order, he found that many interftices wanted to be filled, and numerous deficiencies were to be fupplied by the affiftance of other obfervers. The drynefs of the fubject feemed to require decoration. Hence his plan became more extenfive; and by adding hiftorical anecdotes, pleafing digreffions, the comparison of one age with another, of ancient with modern times, and a variety of pertinent and well-introduced mifcellaneous remarks, the defcription of a monument is rendered an agreeable picture. In the Introduction, the Author enters on a large field of enquiry, viz. the mode of interment, and conftruction of monuments, from the earliest ages, to that which is now practifed in Europe. Barrows he confiders as the most ancient fepulchral monuments in the world, and he begins with defcribing thofe of the Greeks and other contemporary people, where he difplays much reading and great ingenuity. The barrows of our own ifland next engage his attention. He enumerates the feveral difcoveries that have been made on opening them, and a variety of circumftances which lead to determine the time when, and the perfons for whem, they were erected. Barrows, from the accounts here given, continued in ufe to the 12th century. Pillars (sna, cippi) were fometimes contemporary with bar rows. Jacob fet a pillar on Rachel's grave; and inftances of pillars among the Greeks are produced from Paufanias. After defcribing feveral human remains, that have been accidentally difcovered in various parts of the kingdom, without any monument, Mr. Gough proceeds to defcribe the Kilvaen, which was a coffin composed of rough ftones, fet edgeways at the fides and ends, and covered with one or more flat ftones; fometimes the ftones were cemented together fo that the joints were not difcernable, and fometimes they were compofed of baked clay or tiles. Coffins formed of a fingle ftone, hollowed with a chiffel, is an improvement which Mr. Gough attributes to the Romans. Sometimes they were of marble. Some contained two or more bodies, others only one; in which cafe it was not unusual for them to be made to fit the body, with cavities for the reception of the head, arms, and other protuberances. The folid ftone or marble coffin, often curiously wrought, was in ufe among the firft Chriftians in England; who, in all probability, copied the customs of the Romans after thofe conquerors had quitted our island. The Author does not advance thefe and many other affertions, which our limits oblige us to país over unnoticed, without adducing fufficient proofs for their fupport; and indeed his proofs are frequently redundant; which is an uncommon property in antiquaries, many of whom are not fufficiently fufficiently careful to make their evidence keep pace with their affertions. 1 This The leaden coffin comes next under confideration. was also in ufe among the Romans, not only for the reception of the body, but, in many inftances, for the afhes and bones. It was adopted by the Chriftians, and continues in frequent ufe to the prefent time, especially among the more opu lent. Mr. Gough brings inftances to prove, that lead was not the only metal used for coffins. Alexander was buried in a golden coffin by his fucceffor Ptolemy; and glass coffins have been found in England. We with Mr. Gough had exercised his ingenuity in more fully examining the period when the glass coffins were used; he might perhaps have been able to inform us of what kind of glafs they were compofed. The glass manufactory was at a low ebb in England in the time of James I. when Howel was fent to Venice for the purpose of obtaining information concerning the working of glass there. The oldeft inftance of wooden coffins on record among us, is that of King Arthur, who was buried in an entire trunk of oak, hollowed. The monk of Glaftenbury calls it farcophagus ligneus. From the feveral materials in which bodies were anciently depofited, the Author proceeds to take a view of thofe, in which they were wrapt or fhrouded. In the earlier times, he finds them wrapt in leather, fometimes raw, and fometimes pickled with falt. Henry the Firft, 1135, was gafhed and falted, and fewed up in a bull's hide, after his bowels, tongue, heart, eyes, and brains, were taken out. This feems to be the first species of embalming ufed by our forefathers in England, and was rude enough. After leather, cloth of various kinds came into ufe, and in many inftances filk and fatin. The bodies were frequently in full drefs, efpecially thofe of the Kings and ecclefiaftics. Edward the Firft appears to have been the earlieft instance of cering: the operation was afterward performed on feveral royal perfonages. The chandler was the person who made and applied the cere-cloth. Mr. Gough produces numerous inftances of this fpecies of preferving dead bodies, and then proceeds to defcribe the Egyptian manner of embalming, or mummy-making. This is a curious detail. Among many remarkable particulars concerning the methods of embalming, are the following: The corpfe of Alexander the Great was done up in honey. So were Agefipolis and Agefilaus Kings of Sparta; but Plutarch fays, the latter, for want of honey, was done up in wax. The Ptolemies, Anthony and Cleopatra, were all embalmed.' There is a long account of the examination of the body of Childeric King of the Franks, who died in U 4 481, 481, and was buried at Tournay: it is an abftract of a book published by Dr. Chiflet, at the request of the Archduke Leopold, defcribing the appearances of Childeric's remains, which were fcrutinized in May 1653. Mr. Gough's attention is next turned to the confideration of weapons, coins, gerns, utenfils, &c. found in the coffins that have been difcovered in various cemeteries. Of these, there is a long and curious lift, Ecclefiaftics were buried with chalices and patens in their coffins. He defcribes many that have been found in graves, and has given a plate containing 15, of different fizes and fhapes, that have come to his knowledge. It feems to have been a cuftom to bury relics of warious kinds with the dead, especially thofe of faints, and other fuperftitious matters. Mr. Gough produces several inftances where the dying man has given peculiar orders for putting into the coffin thefe fingular things. In this curious lift, we find Dr. Richard Rawlinfon, a famous nonjuror *, of our own times, whofe heart was buried in the chapel of St. John's College, Oxford, and his body in St. Giles's church there, having in his right hand the head of Counsellor Layer, which the Dr. purchafed of Mr. John Pearce, a nonjuring attorney, after it was blown down from Temple Bar. Having amply difcuffed the feveral appendages of interments, the Author gives many inftances of the extraordinary prefervation of bodies in their refpective graves. In illuftrating the different fafhions of fepulchral monuments, he divides them into eight forms. This divifion he has adopted from a learned memoir, written by the late Maurice Johnfon, Efq. founder of the literary fociety at Spalding, before whom it was read, and from whofe minutes, Mr. Gough obtained permiflion to copy it. The first form was prifmatic, and plain on the top; the fecond, prifmatic, but carved on the top: the arts, becoming daily more improved, were applied to the decoration of monuments for eminent perfons, and the plain tomb was ornamented with the effigies of the deceased, lying horizontally on the topftone;-this makes the third form. To the fourth form belong thole tombs which have feftoons or arches over them. The fifth, tombs in chapel burial places. Sixth, inlaid with brass. Seventh, against the walls. Eighth, detached buildings. Thele different forms are peculiarly described, with a view of ascertaining the ftyle of the times, and other ways illuftrating history and biography. Mr. Gough thinks that the fepulchral monuments before the Conquett, are of dubious authority; he fupports his opinions by * If we mistake not, he was diftinguished, by that party, as the titular Bishop of London. many |