plainly appear not to be a thought lent him, but really his own. It is plain that by murex, lutus, fandyx the poet means fome colours, as purple, yellow, fcarlet, without confidering the materials they were naturally made of; for it is nonfenfe to fuppofe that the real blood of the murex, or purple-fifh, fhould come upon a ram's fleece in pratis; and therefore it is the fame thing, in the poet's defign, whether fandyx be a plant or a mineral. The paffage ought to be read thus, with the change of one letter: Ipfe fed in pratis aries jam fuave rubenti Murice, jam croceo mutabit vellera luto: Sponte fua fandyx NASCENTES veftiet agnos. In this reading every-thing is juft and beautiful, and worthy of Virgil. After that time, fays the poet, there will be no need of dying wool with beautiful colours. Why fo? The fheep fhall have their fleeces dyed naturally and fpontaneoufly, fome of one colour, fome of another. Those that were already in being, and had white fleeces before, fhall change them in pratis ; but all the Lambs, that shall be generated afterwards, fhall, Nafcentes, at their very birth, appear beautifully dyed.-The miracle will be conftant and univerfal. None will doubt of the truth of this correction, (Nafcentes for Pafcentes, who confider that other verfe of Virgil, Georg. III, 390, about lambs, which, Nafcentes, take a colour from their fires: Nigra fubeft udo tantum cui lingua palato, Ejice, ne maculis infufcet vellera pullis NASCENTUM. Illum autem, quamvis aries fit candidus ipfe, Now that the emendation is found, it will be wondered that the great Pliny, and feventeen ages after him, could be content with the vulgar reading, and not be able to do right to the author; but it is to be obferved, that the common copies of Virgil were very early abused by transcribers, as it frequently appears from what we read in Aulus Gellius, who lived but a little while after Pliny, in the reign of Adrian. Of the Origin of RINGS, their Matter and Ufes; and of the fuppofed Virtue of the rareft Stones which are usually fet in them. Tufes, together with the fuppofed vir HE origin of rings, their matter and tue of the precious ftones fet in them, seem to afford a fubject fo well deferving of notice from the curious, that no apology need be made for difcourfing on them. According to the accounts of the Heathen mythology, Prometheus, who in the first times had discovered a great number of fecrets, having been delivered from the chains by which he was fastened to mount Caucafus, for ftealing fire from heaven, in memory or acknowledgment of the favour he had received from Jupiter, made himself of one of those chains a ring, in whofe collet he reprefented the figure of the rock where he had been detained; or rather, as Pliny fays, fet in it a bit of the fame rock, and put it on his finger.-This was the firit ring and the first stone. But we otherwife learn that the ufe of rings is very ancient, and that the Egyprians were the first inventors of them; which feems confirmed by the perfon of Jofeph, who, as we read in Genefis, chap. XLI, for having interpreted Pharaoh's dream, received not only his liberty, but was rewarded with this Prince's ring, a collar of gold, and the fuperintendency of Egypt. Jofephus, in the third book of the Jewifh Antiquities, fays that the Ifraelites had the use of them after their paffing the Red Sea; because Mofes, at his return from Mount Sinai, found that they had forged the golden calf from their wives rings. The fame Mofes (which was upwards of 400 years before the war of Troy) permitted the Priests he had established the use of gold rings, enriched with precious stones. The High-prieft wore upon his ephod, which was a kind of camail, rich rings that ferved him as clasps; and between two of these clafps a large emerald was fet, and engraved with myfterious names. The ring he wore on his finger was of ineftimable value and celeftial virtue. Had not Aaron, the High-prieft of the Hebrews, a ring on his finger, whereof the diamond, by its virtue, operated prodigious things? For it changed its vivid luftre into a dark colour, when the Hebrews were to be punished by death for their fins : When they were to fall by the fword, it appeared of a blood colour: If they were innocent, it sparkled as usual. It is obfervable that the ancient Hebrews ufed rings in the time even of the war of Troy. Queen Jezabel, to deftroy Naboth, as it is related in the third book of Kings, made use of the ring of Ahab, King of the Ifraelites, her husband, to feal the counterfeit letters that ordered the death of that unfortunate man. Did not Judah, as it is mentioned in the XXXVIIIth chapter of Genefis, abuse his daughter-in-law, Thamar, who had disguised herself, by giving her his ring and bracelets as a pledge of the faith he had promised her ? Though the great Homer is filent in regard to rings, both in his Iliad and Odyf. fey, they were, notwithstanding, used in the time of the Greeks and Trojans; and it is from them several other nations receiyed them. The Lacedemonians, as related by Alexander ab Alexandro, pursuant to the ordinances of their King Lycurgus, had only iron rings, defpifing thofe of gold; either that their King was willing thereby to retrench luxury, or not to permit the ufe of them. The ring was reputed by fome nations a fymbol of liberality, esteem, and friendship, particularly among the Perfians, none being allowed to wear any, except given to thei from the hand of the King himself. This is what may be alfo remarked in the perfon of Apollonius Thyaneus, who, as a token of fingular efteem and great liberality, received one of furprising virtue from the great Jarchas, the Prince of the Gymnofophifts, who were the ancient Priefts of the Indies, and dwelt in forefts, as our bards and druids, where they applied themfelves to the study of wisdom, and to the fpeculation of the heaven and ftars. 1 his Philofopher, by the means of that ring, learned every day the greatest fecrets in nature. Though the ring found by Gyges, fhepherd to the King of Lydia, has more of fable than truth in it, it will not however be amifs to relate what is faid concerning it by Herodotus, Coelius after Plato, and Cicero, in the third book of his Offices. This Gyges, after a great flood of water, paffed into a very deep cavity in the earth, where having found, in the belly of a bra zen horse with a large aperture in it, a human body of enormous fize, he pulled from off one of the fingers a ring of furprifing virtue; for the ftone in the collet rendered him who wore it invifible, when the collet was turned towards the palm of the hand, fo that the party could fee, without being seen, all manner of perfons and things. Gyges, having made trial of this efficacy, bethought himself that it would be a means to facilitate his afcending the throne of Lydia; for, gaining the Queen by it, he fucceeded in his defign, having killed Candaules, her husband. The dead body this ring belonged to, was that of an ancient Brachman, who in his time was the chief of all. The rings of the ancients often ferved for feals:-Alexander the Great, after the defeat and death of Darius, used his ring for fealing the letters he fent into Afia, and his own for those he sent to Europe. It is also remarkable that the greatest perfonages wore fome ftones in the collet of their rings, which could not but be esteemed for rarities, either that they were natural in regard to the figures they reprefented, or were engraved. The first who adopted the ufe of rings, in Egypt, had in them the figures of their gods, or other hieroglyphics. Seleucus, as Alexander fays, had a fatal ring, with the figure of an anchor in the collet. This mark became natural to his pofterity; for his defcendants had it impreffed on the thigh at their birth. Jofephus makes mention, that Arius, a King of the Lacedemonians, had in his ring the figure of an eagle holding a dragon between his talons; and that this figure was natural. Clearchus, a Greek Captain, in the fervice of Cyrus, as Plutarch relates, had in the ftone of his ring a Diana naturally expreffed, dancing with her nymphs, and fo distinctly as if art had contributed to the formation of the figures. At his death he made a prefent of this ring to Ctefias of Gnidus. It was a talifman. The Cyrenians gave to Battus, the founder of their city, as a token of their gratitude, a ring, on the tone of which was engraved a kind of herb, called fylph, held to be the rarest and most precious of all. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, wore a ring, reputed ineftimable on account of its agate, which naturally reprefented an Apollo, hoiding his lyre, and feated in the midft of the Mules, fo accurately diftinguished as if the whole had been defignedly difpofed, though in effect it was nothing more than an agreeable lufus of nature. This King having been conquered by the Romans, they kept his ring in the temple of Concord, as the moft precious thing they had belonging to him. It was thought that this ring was a talifman. Pompey the Great had a lion engraved on his ring, holding a fword. Sylla, on his, had the image of Jugurtha, King of Numidia, because he triumphed over him. Scipio Africanus was reprefented in his fon's ring. Pliny the Younger, and Proconful, wore engraved on his ring a car drawn by four horfes. The difciples of Epicurus, in veneration, and as a happy omen, had the figure of their master engraved on their rings. Mithiidates, who carried poifon in the collet of his ring, to have power over his life when he pleased, could not effect his defires, as having, fince his early youth, accustomB ed ed his body to antidotes; fo that he was obliged to have himfelf killed by a Gaul. But what must be faid of the ring of Po lycrates, King of the ifle of Samos, which had an invaluable emerald fet in it? This King having been, during his whole life, favoured by fortune, was willing to make a visible trial of it, by throwing this ring into the fea; but, by a very furprifing incident, he was fo fortunate as to find the fame ring in the belly of a large fim, that was the next day ferved at his table: To what muft this be attributed, the Prince's good fortune, or the virtue of the ftone in the ring, fome ftones being supposed to have very particular virtues? This happened in the two hundred and thirtieth year fince the foundation of Rome; and this ring was repofited in the royal treasure, in the temple of Concord, with that of Pyrrhus.-It was reputed a talifman. As foon as the ufe of rings was brought from Greece into Italy, the Romans did not wear them at the fame time of gold, but only of iron. It does not appear that Romulus had introduced or authorised their ufe after the foundation of Rome; for we only find them on the fingers of the ftatues of Numa Pompilius and Servius Tullus, the Kings his fucceffors. However, it may be remarked in Florus, that, even in that time, rings and bracelets were pretty common among the Sabines; because the virgin Tarpeja, one of the Veftals, being gone to draw water for the facrifice, betrayed one of the gates of the Capitol to Tatius, King of the Sabines, and demanded as a recompence the rings, or bracelets, the foldiers wore on their left hands; but they, pretending he had afked their bucklers, crushed her to death between them, and entered the city, thus acquitting themselves of their promise. It was customary at Rome for the bridegroom to fend to the bride, before marriage, a ring of iron, without either flone or collet, to denote how lafting their union ought to be, and the frugality they were to obferve together; but luxury herein foon gained ground, and there was a neceffity of moderating it. Caius Marius did not wear one of gold till his third confulfhip; and Tiberius, as Suetonius fays, made fome regulation in the authority of wearing rings; for, befides the liberty of birth, he required a confiderable revenue, both on the father and grandfather's fide. The Roman Knights were diftinguished from the Senators by their gold rings; and it was customary, as a mark of honour, to prefent Ambassadors with them when they received orders from the Senate to go to for reign nations. It was afterwards a fign of liberty, at Rome, to wear a gold ring; because the freedman was deemed a perfon of free birth, when he received the right and privilege of the ring, whereby alfo he could be admitted to dignities and public charges, and at last take the title of Knight.. In the time of the war between Carthage and Rome, Hannibal, as a token of the fignal victory he had gained over the Roman army, which was intirely defeated în the battle of Cannæ, fent to Carthage three bufhels of rings, taken from off the fingers of the Nobles and Roman Knights, who were flain on the field of battle.—This is mentioned by Juvenal and Florus. The fame Carthaginians rewarded their foldiers, according to the number of their expeditions, with feveral rings, which the Romans did with crowns. The Romans were accustomed to lay afide their gold rings, and wear only iron ones, in funerals and other melancholy accidents. Though the first inhabitants of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and the ancient Gauls, were accustomed to wear their rings on the middle finger, ufe at last prevailed, among all nations, to place them on the finger next to the little one of the left hand, which thence has got the name of annulary, or ring-finger; because, as Ma crobius in his Saturnalia, Appion in his Egyptiacs, and after him Gellius, fay, that there is a fmall nerve, according to the opi, nion of the Egyptians, which proceeds from the heart to this finger. Some think that the precious stones in rings, in order to act with greater virtue on the perfons that wear them, ought to touch the finger, that is, that the collet ought to be pierced through in the bottom. Now we may proceed to animadvert on the fuppofed virtues of the rareft ftones, that are usually fet in rings. The diamond has been always esteemed, by the ancients, the rareft ftone, and the most precious of all, either for its hardness, its fine brilliancy, its water, or its virtues. It is victorious over fire, and refifts alfo the hardeft things. The finest come from Bifnaga and Decam, provinces of the EaftIndies: The fea of Tanjam, in Malacca, furnishes very good; as does likewife Arabia Folix. Rueus affures, that the diamond ingenders another; and that a great Princefs of the family of the Luxemburgs had two hereditary ones, that produced, in a certain time, others; which is eafily obferved when they are near ingendering others. others.This is alfo related by Boetius. The virtue attributed to this ftone is against poison, panic terrors, the plague, wakefulness, preftiges, and inchantments: It calms anger, and foments love between man and wife, and is therefore called the ftone of reconciliation. Some afcribe to it the virtue of talifmans, when under a favourable conftitution of the aspect of the heavens, and under the planet of Mars; the figure of the god Mars, or of Hercules furmounting the Hydra, is engraved on it; for he who wears it is always affured of victory, how numerous foever his enemies may be. Such a pernicious quality is notwithftanding attributed to diamond powder, that it cannot be corrected, either by reafon of its being extremely cold, or corrofive; and it is faid the great phyfician and chy mift, Theophraftus Paracelfus, was poifoned by it. As heat may tarnish the luftre and fire of a diamond, Wolphangus and Andrew Baccius are of opinion, that at night, before going to bed, it ought to be taken off the finger, and laid on fome marble, or in fome cool place. The fymbol of the diamond is conftancy, fortitude, innocence, and other heroic virtues. The carbuncle is fo rare and precious a ftone, that it is very hard to be found. Some have faid that it is not in nature, but they are greatly mistaken, it being certain, that it has been, and is still found. Garcias ab Horto, a phyfician to the Viceroy of the Indies, writes, that he himself faw carbuncles in that Prince's poffeffion, whofe fplendor was fo prodigious, that they feemed like fo many blazing coals, which glowed in the midst of darkness. Lewis Vertoman, a Roman, relates that the King of Pegu, ufually wore one of fo large a fize, and fo lively and brisk a luftre, that whoever looked at this King in the darkeft night, faw him fhine, as if furrounded by the rays of the fun. If therefore nature produces ftones of this quality, that fparkle with so much luftre in the night, and dillipate its obfcurity, thefe ftones must be carbuncles; and it is this fire that muft diftinguish them from other precious ones. If the fame nature has given fo great a refplendency to a little worm, which in fummer time conquers by its luftre the darknefs of the night, and illuminates the cbjects about it, why fhould not a body, more falid, more purified, and on which nature might have worked during feveral ages, have the fame fire with more brilliancy, being a more finished work, and whofe nerit, except in point of life, farpaffes that of the glow worm. Ælian relates in his Hiftory of Animals, that a young ftork, having been cured of a broken thigh by a woman of Tarentum, in gratitude for her care, had let fall into her lap a precious carbuncle, which shined in the night as a burning candle. Hence it is manifeft, that dragons only carry them about them, to give themfelves light; and that they do not grow out of their heads, because birds know how to diftinguith them from other stones, and to find them in the places where they grow. The carbuncle is of different kinds and fexes. Its nature is to emit a corufcant fire, which fhines brighter, the greater the obfcurity is. It alfo contains drops of gold, like fo many ftars within. These are the rareft carbuncles, and they come from Ethiopia. The Chaldeans had fo great a veneration for this ftone, that they used it in their ceremonies. It is ftill remarkable that the carbuncle cannot be counterfeited. Its fuppofed virtues are, to refift fire, to stop defluxions of the eyes, to divert dreams and nocturnal illufions, and to serve as an antidote against corrupt and peftilential air. The ruby differs much from the carbuncle, though fome place no diftinction between them. It is diaphanous, and variegated with little fpots of azure in the mid of its purple colour. The lefs azure it has, the more beautiful and noble it is. The beft are from the ifle of Ceilan, and the river Pegu. That which the Emperor Rodolphus 11. had, was as big as a hen's egg, and valued at fixty thousand ducats. The virtues afcribed to it are for refifting poifon, preferving from the plague, banishing forrow, repreffing luxury, and averting ill thoughts. If it changes colour, it portends impending misfortunes; but it refumes its former colour as foon as they are over. The amethyst is in great efteem for its excellencies, and therefore ranked among the mc precious ftones. The best are from the Eaft-Indies, though Germany and Bohemia furnith pretty good. The more deep and less transparent their violet-colour is, the greater efteem they are in. This Stone is called amethyst from its colour, and because it hinders drunkennefs; for, being applied to the navel, it attracts and diffipares the fumes of wine. It alfo is faid to divert ill thoughts, to make the mind joyful, and to acquire for the bearer the favour of Princes. The Roman Ladies were very fond of this ftone. The hyacinth is of the number of rare ftones, and fuch of them as are reputed the mott beautiful, have the glow of flames of fire, and emulate the colour of fcarlet, or natural vermilion. The oriental are the B 2 most moft noble. Their principal ufe formerly was against the plague, being hung to the neck. They were alfo thought to fortify the heart, to fecure from the effects of light ning, and to augment riches, honour, prudence, and wisdom. The emerald is the most perfect, beautiful, and fprightly among precious ftones. The moft confiderable come from the Indies, Perfia, and Peru. The reputed virtues of this tone are to prevent epileptic fits; and, if the diforder is fo violent as not to be conquered by it, it breaks. If bound to the thigh of a woman with child, it haftens delivery. The powder of it being drank, ftops the dyfentery and all fluxes of blood, and remedies the bites of venomous animals. The opal, of which there are four forts, challenges an eminent rank among precious ftones, because it partakes of the beauty of all the others, and cannot be counterfeited. It has a little of the fire of the car. buncle, the purple of the amethyft, the green of the emerald, and an agreeable mixture of blue, yellow, black, and white; and this beauty arifes from the mutual reflection of the colours, as we fee in the rain-bow. The finest are from the Indies. The virtues attributed to the opal are for recreating the fpirits of the heart, preferv. ing against contagious air, hindering faint ing fits and malign affections. Nonius, a Roman Senator, had one valued at twenty thousand fefterces, and he would rather be banished his country, and deprived of his poft, than give it to Mark Anthony, who had a great defile for it. We fhall finish this difcourfe by the pantarbe, of which Philoftrates, in the Life of Apollonius, relates wonderful effects. This ftone is incomparable, both in beauty and virtue; for it has fo piercing a luftre, and fo brisk a fire, that like the carbuncle it lights up day in the midft of darkness; but what is moft admired, is that this light is a fpirit accompanied by fuch effect, that it infinuates and diffufes itself in the earth, to attract infenfibly the other ftones round about it, and, even as far as this virtue extends, fo far it has ftrength, and all these ftones refemble a clufter of bees, furrounding their King. But, left fo rich a treasure might be made of little account, nature has not only concealed it in the most occult bowels of the earth, but even given it a particular faculty of escaping the hands of the fearcher, unless great precaution is used. Some call it the loadftone of gold, because it attracts that metal. It grows in that part of the Indies, where gold is ingendered, and, by the point of the decuffation of the lines, this ftone is capable of difcovering the veins of this metal in the places where it is formed. Heliodorus, in his History of Theagenes and Caricles, fays, that it preferves from fire thofe that carry it about them, and that Caricles was preserved by it, notwithstanding the fury and vengeance. of Arface, Queen of Ethiopia; and it was held to be one of the first talifmans Theagenes was poffeffed of in Egypt. An Efay on the SUBLIME in WRITING. As S nothing is more capable of infpiring folid delight than the profpect of nature, with a tacit joy contemplating herself in her works; and as admiration increafes by discovering her paintings inimitable by human art; fo, with a work of genius, we perceive in it with pleasure all the lively adumbrations of noble fancy, and our emotions of the fame pleasure become the more inraptured by an intimate perfuafion, that, the contrivances of art vindicating but a fmall fhare, or being induftriously concealed, the whole holds forth a perfect image of what is inconteftably divine, unattainable by all whofe minds are not lifted up by a like energic fpirit. Hence, though all perfons indifferently cannot find that refource for the fublime in their own thoughts, cannot work themselves into airs of fuch mafterly grandeur; for there is a vaft difference in minds, as well as in bodies, tho' the fubftances be fimilar: Yet, all hearkening to the voice of nature, and following univerfally her fuggeftions, may be efteemed connoiffeurs of the admirable in writing, which is nothing else than Nature herself unfolding and displaying her moft ineftimable treasures. Conducted by this light, which is always unerring, we shall easily take a clofe view of the perfections and imperfections of an author, and set a diftinguishing mark upon the true and falfe fublime; upon what warms, and affects the heart with movements not to be refifted, and what, I may fay, but languidly flourifhes an impreffion. Man, as a rational animal, has deeply ingrafted in him the principles of grandeur, and, as a neceffary confequence of this innate grandeur, his thirft after glory muft be very confiderable. It is not furprising therefore, if he conceives that whatever has a tendency to inhance his pride and felf-love, muft fill him with a notion of pre-eminence, and inspire him with a hankering defire both for its profecution, and promotion. Should his ftation of |