1. The Apistopistus' of Macarius (Canon L'Heureux), with Appendix by Chiflet, 1610; an excellent and rational work for so early a period, treating exclusively of Gnostic gems, with a profusion of admirably engraved plates of the intagli. It contains everything that can be discovered in ancient writers relative to this mysterious subject, and is much more intelligible than Matter's Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme,' which treats upon the same class of representations, although he appears to have borrowed largely from Macarius. The plates of the intagli are very correct, and though so early may be reckoned among the best of the kind, having been drawn from the originals by Jacques Werde, a military engineer and a clever draughtsman, with a taste for antique art.

2. Mariette's 'Pierres Gravées' is a description of the best gems in the French Collection. The Introduction contains a large amount of useful information with respect to gems and the processes of the glyptic art, together with a clear and complete summary of all that is known about the most eminent gem-engravers of all countries who have flourished since the Revival. Mariette, however, does not appear to have possessed much practical acquaintance with gems themselves, and often makes many assertions that cannot be substantiated; but in spite of this defect, his book is the best manual that I have met with. Another recommendation of the book is the great number of plates of gems contained in it, which however are too much in the loose and flowing style of the last century (published 1750) to give a very accurate idea of the originals.

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3. Winckelmann's Catalogue of Stosch's Gems' is doubtless the best work on the subject ever written, as far as the plan allows; for in addition to a most learned and interesting elucidation of the subjects of the intagli, he incidentally gives

much information relative to the science itself, so that the work is not a dry catalogue, but rather a series of dissertations on matters relating to art, history, and antiquities. It is of the utmost value to the collector of gems, in consequence of its containing so extensive a series of subjects, Stosch having admitted into his collection not merely antique pastes, but also modern ones of all the celebrated intagli existing in other cabinets, to make his list of representations as complete as possible. Hence any uncommon design that may occur on a gem will be likely to find an explanation in Winckelmann's description of something analogous amongst the endless varieties brought together by Stosch.

4. Mawe On the Diamond' gives brief but very clear descriptions of the various kinds of precious stones in use at the present day.5

5. Caylus' 'Recueil d'Antiquités' is valuable for the numerous engravings it gives of antique rings in all metals, very accurately represented by the pencil of that enthusiastic antiquary himself. But the camei and intagli, of which he presents many plates, are somewhat roughly executed, and his explanations of them often erroneous; but yet, from the great variety of subjects described, they are still of considerable value. Many of his drawings of gems are of great interest, as representing stones still preserved at the time he was writing (1758) on the old plate and jewellery of the sacristy of Troyes Cathedral.

6. Lessing's Antiquarische Briefe' contain a series of disquisitions on various branches of the glyptic art, full of in

A very unpretending old - fashioned book, Bingley's Useful Knowledge,' gives in its third volume

the best popular description of stones and minerals of any that have ever come in my way.

formation conveyed in a most amusing and piquant style, in the form of criticisms on a work on gems published by an unlucky pretender, Dr. Klotz, whose ignorance he playfully exposes, displaying at the same time his own knowledge. More may be learnt from these letters, by the student of this science, than from any author I have met with, always excepting Winckelmann, who however deals more with the subjects of the gems, whilst Lessing treats more of the technical portion of the art, so that the two combined form a complete manual for the amateur. As might be expected in a German author, Lessing displays now and then some very odd crotchets, apparently recommended to him by their very absurdity, as for instance when he derives the name Cameo from gemma onychina, and a few similar flights of imagination.

7. The Catalogue des Artistes de l'Antiquité,' by the Count de Clarac (1848), contains, in the Introduction, a very good sketch of the history of the art, as well as useful remarks upon the mechanical processes employed in it. His list of artists' names is of great value, as he gives a minute description of the gems bearing their signatures, and specifies the collections in which they at present exist, thus supplying a safeguard against copies.

8. Raspe, Catalogue des Impreintes des Pierres Gravées.' After Stosch's death in 1757, Tassie, a London gem-engraver, obtained all his sulphur casts, and from these made sets of glass pastes. These are in truth very poor, both in colour and in finish, and bear but little resemblance to real stones. The total number of antique and modern amounts to 15,833. They are catalogued and described by Raspe, whose remarks are usually very sound and of great utility to a collector; and the arrangement of his matter is very convenient for reference. The plates are however so badly executed and incorrect,

being taken from the pastes and not from the original, as to be entirely useless."

9. Millin Sur l'Etude des Pierres Gravées' is little more than the skeleton of a manual, very well planned, but not carried out in any single department, having evidently been composed in great haste. The object of the present Treatise has been to supply flesh to the bones of Millin's skeleton, the outline of which I have in great measure kept in view in the arrangement of the preceding articles.

Instruments of the ancient Engravers, p. 107.

In the earliest attempts to engrave figures upon stones to be used as seals we may conclude from the common analogy of such processes that the tools first employed were the splinters of flint. or Obsidian of which all their other cutting implements were formed, and which continued, long after the use of metal had become general, to furnish the cheaper and easily-lost class of articles, such as arrow-heads, &c. The words of Herodotus describing those of the Ethiopians in Xerxes' army are, "arrows headed with a stone brought to a point, the same sort by means of which they engrave their seals." Now, inasmuch as every art known to this barbarous people must have been introduced among them from their neighbours the Egyptians, and all remains both small and great in Ethiopia plainly discover an Egyptian origin, their signets, likewise, could hardly have differed from those of their instructors in all the arts, as innumerable specimens sufficiently prove. Hence we may conclude that all the scarabs so plentiful in Steaschists, Syenite, and other soft stones, were worked out by means of flint-flakes fashioned into rude graving tools and mounted in handles, as the diamondsplinters subsequently were. In addition to this instrument the softness of the stones worked upon would allow the engravings to be executed by means of a narrow bronze chisel, which an examination of the cutting of the intaglio will often indicate as the sole tool employed, the lines and hollows having evidently