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Sabina.

rather to hold my tongue, lest I should expose myself still more to your raillery and the laughter of your servants; especially as you have no occasion for the secret virtues of this wonderful plant; and as Clio told me, when I came in, you have not a moment to lose on my gossipping."

The crafty Glykerion knew but too well that this address would only inflame the curiosity of Sabina, and that the Roman ladies of distinction were as superstitious, and as easily gave credit to every ridiculous tale, as the lowest of their slaves. On the very day the fleet of Egyptian merchant vessels was unladen, she had brought Sabina some bottles of unadulterated Nile-water, with which the votary of Isis did not fail the same evening to sprinkle the statue of the great goddess in her temple. Nor was she deceived in her expectation.

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Stop a moment," said Sabina, “meanwhile I will have my nails pared. But tell me how does your good friend at Tusculum contrive to give his parsley this admirable curly and frizzled appearance? Does he deal in magic?"

No doubt," replied Glykerion, "he makes use, in planting, of some secret arts, which he takes care not to communicate. So much, however, I know and have witnessed with my own eyes, that after treading down the young shoots with his feet, he every morning draws the garden-roller over his parsley-bed. In short, his parsley is the most beautiful and curly of any in the whole country, and-" Here Glykerion paused, and seemed preparing to depart.

"Go on, go on!" exclaimed Sabina with impatience, "you praised the secret virtues of the plant, and said something about the sacred origin from which it derives its romantic name. Explain yourself, or I shall not buy one leaf of all these herbs, which are much fitter for the collection of a Rhizotomos, than for the toilette of a lady of distinction."

"The secret virtue of this parsley, illustrious Domina," rejoined Glykerion, is that, when chewed, it operates as a powerful sweetener of the breath. For this reason I provide a regular supply

*Sabina every where affects Greek appellatives. She might have employed the Roman word herbarists. What we call hotanists, the Greeks denominated Rizotomous, cutters of roots. By Botanistai, the -Greeks denoted only the labourers who were semployed in weeding.

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of it for little Arbuscula, the dancer, who lives behind the Temple of Peace; and it is asserted, that among all the remedies for a foul breath, prescribed in the works of our Greek masters in the cosmetic art, this is the most natural, the most effectual, and the most harmless. With respect to the cause of its extraordinary name, you, perhaps, recollect reading, in the ancient books, lent you some time ago by the priestess of Isis, a tradition relative to the rebellious smiths of Crete, called Cyclops or Corybantes. They slew one of their comrades, or their third brother, as the fable has it, covered the head of the deceased with a purple cloth, and buried him at the foot of Mount Olympus. The parsley is said to have sprung up immediately from the blood of the sufferer; and for this reason, in the mysteries and orgies of the Corybantes, it has ever been considered as the greatest of crimes to lay a plant of this kind on the sacred table.”,

"I shall take your chaplet of parsley," exclaimed Sabina, with sparkling eyes, and you shall see that in a few days all Rome will wear chaplets of parsley, as did our grandmothers fifty years ago, as we are told by Horace."

The Domina had, in fact, more than one motive for chusing this chaplet. Certain secret indulgences had given her breath, especially at rising in the morn ing, a kind of odor not much more agreeable than that of a fasting Jew. On this account she was accustomed to take the first thing after rising, and sometimes even before she was up, a decoction of aniseed, and some honey boiled in wine. At this very time, while she was engaged with her toilette, she was chewing myrtle pastils to cure an evil, which gave rise to an important question among the lawyers of old, namely, whether a person with offensive breath were to be considered as sick or in health? How welcome then was the chaplet, whose leaves combined such elegance with such salutary

Criton, Trajan's physician, collected and classed in a voluminous work all the prescriptions of the authors who had written on cosmetics. From an old index, it appears that the first book made mention of many remedies for purifying the breath. An offensive breath must, doubtless, have been very common among the Romans; for they had a particular word to express it, namely, fætor, fotere. Parsley was supposed to be an effectual cure for this inconvenience, which Pliny terms cel. maxînie pudendum vitium. 195995 29d 95097.2

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virtues. Isis herself, in a happy hour, sent this excellent remedy to her pious votary.

Spatale now returned, and with great concern announced that the Domina's monkey had found means to introduce himself into her bed chamber, and had broken and destroyed the beautiful wax figures and garlands, suspended beneath the figure of Isis, in two small silver cornucopiæ entwined in each other, probably mistaking these fruits for real apples,nuts, and pears. None appeared to be so distressed at this intelligence as Clio, who had the care of that apartment, and who might certainly be accused, with justice, of some degree of negligence.

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Fortunately Sabina, in whom the visit of Glykerion had awakened pleasing hopes, regarded the emptying of the cornucopiæ as a favourable omen. BlesEged and praised be Isis, the great goddess!" exclaimed she aloud. The goddess pours forth her favours on her handmaid. I vow to present to her three of the fattest geese in our poultry-yard, and to place a silver lamp on her sacred table !"

"The mischief may be very easily repaired," said Glykerion," for in this basket I have some wax fruits of the greatest beauty, such as are sold at Alexandria, at the great festival of Adonis, and as we shall have here in Rome at our Saturnalia next December. It is true your friend Calpurnia had bespoken them of me as a votive gift to her Isis; but you shall have the preference; so take and dedicate them to the benevolent goddess." Before Sabina had time to answer her, the trembling Clio held both her hands, and ridded Glykerion of a commodity for which at that season of the year, she would scarcely have been.

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Glykerion was now dismissed with her slaves with a gracious nod. Clio," said the Domina, "pay the Alexandrian immediately, and without any abatement, what we owe her. But hark, forget not to give her the chaplets left from the last entertainment, and the other things that belong to them."

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For these the sly procuress had long been waiting. Saturninus had pressly enjoined her to bring him some token from Sabina that all was right, and that the private signification of his chaplet had been understood. Clio, obedient to the commands of her mistress, paid Glykerion two hundred cesterces, great part of which was to recompence her secret services. She gave

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her the half-withered chaplet which the Domina had worn at the last entertainment, and had put off on retiring to bed. A fig of Chios, of which Sabina had bitten off a piece, completed the symbolical love-letter. Instead of the fig, she would undoubtedly have sent a loveapple, had it not been too early in season to procure any.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE THIRD SCENE. Wax Fruits and Flowers. THE Greeks were rich in little ornaments in wax: they made great use of this pliable matter which is so easily moulded according to the inclination of the artist. In Greece the art of modelling in wax was brought to high perfection; and without referring to what the ancient writers say on the subject, we may judge of it by analogy. Those artists who, with wax ornaments and figures, formed after the best models, presumed to rival sculp

Crowns used in gallant intrigues.— One of the most marked gallantries of ancient times was for a lady to send to her lover a withered wreath which she had worn. An apple with a piece bitten out of it was usually added to this present; for in all ages the apple has been regarded as a allegory, so frequently employed by artists, messenger of love. On the subject of this see a dissertation comprised in a note on the Prolusio altera de Medea Euripedea cum prisca artis operibus comparata. Lucian speaking of the coquette Chariclea, says — "Sometimes love-letters are sent, sometimes wreaths of flowers half-faded, bitten apples, and other spells employed by coquettes to draw young men into their snares, and to enflame their hearts." Martial alludes to this custom in his distich ad

dressed to Polla:

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Intactas quare mittis mihi, Polla, coronas? A te vexatas malo tenere rosas. arida "Why, Polla, do you send me fresh wreathe? prefer the roses which you yourself have

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withered."

of love. Burmann, in his notes on PetroThese rose texata were the real charm nius, admirably explains the signification of the word rexate.

Of the twenty-nine kinds of figs mentioned by Pliny, those of Chios were most esteemed for their excellent flavour, which, according to Martial, resembled that of the best wine of Campania, Figs were the usual presents among friends. In Julian's works there is an epistle in praise of the figs which he sent to Serapio.

It is well known that the Greeks em

ployed wax for sealing, for encaustic painting, and for the varnish which was put on marble walls and statues. Pliny says · Cera pigmentis traditur ad innumeros mortalium usus.

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tors and statuaries, and who were in cluded in the generic name of image makers, fully availed themselves of the advantages afforded by the facility of moulding the matter which they employed in the imitation of natural objects. One of the causes which enabled the Greeks to attain that degree of perfection in the arts which has inspired the admiration of succeeding ages, was the skill with which they applied each substance to the object for which it was most appropriate. The wax-modellers were aware that their art was confined to the production of little, light articles, playthings, &c.; and that their works would be eagerly purchased if they took natural objects, such as branches of trees, fruit, and flowers for their models. Par ticular circumstances introduced the use of artificial fruits, and there is every reason to presume that these fruits were made of wax. By means of wax, children frequently displayed the first seeds of a talent for the arts; for they scraped off the surface of their wax tablets, which were then used for drawing and writing, and amused themselves by modelling figures of animals and horses, in the absence of their masters.

The festival of Adonis, one of the most solemn festivals of antiquity, was the occasion on which the use of wax ornaments was introduced. The worship of Thammutz, or Adonis as he was called by the Greeks, came from Syria and Phenicia with the worship of Venus, with which it was connected. It was the emblem of dying and reviving nature. This festival fell precisely at the close of winter, when the earth, exhausted and torpid, received the first rays of the sun, and had scarcely begun to feel within her bosom the power of her plastic faculties. The women, in particular, solemnized this festival for several days,

Lucian, speaking of himself, says:— "Even in my earliest infancy, my father observed that I had a taste for sculpture; for as soon as my masters left me, I scraped wax and made oxen, horses, and, Heaven forgive me, even men. This amusement cost me many a box on the ear." Thus we may explain a passage in the Clouds of Aristophanes, where, alluding to the talents of young Philippides, it is said that he knew how to make houses.

↑ M. Wieland adds the words wherever I found it, but they are not in the text, and it is needless to introduce them, since the idea of the wax tablet, which was then used for writing on, immediately occurs to the mind.

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even in the cities of Greece, uttering alternately complaints and acclamations of joy, and indulging in all the freedom which might be expected in the slaves of a harem set at liberty. A sacred custom required that offerings should be made in every house to Adonis, who was compared to a flower too early gathered in the garden of Venus, and too soon withering. These offerings consisted of flower-pots filled with precocious plants, and baskets of fruits of every kind, similar to the custom which is still kept up in Italy, and other southern countries, of making mangers (præsepio) adorned with flowers in honour of Christ and his holy mother. In the season at which this festival was celebrated, even in warm countries, there could be but few fruits and natural productions, such as the religious customs required; art therefore furnished what was denied by nature: and wax fruits, made in such perfection as almost to deceive the eye, supplied the place of natural fruits on these occasions; as also in many other religious ceremonies, where cornucopiæ vases, filled with fruit and garlands of flowers, were required to adorn the altars and gates of the temples. Theocritus has given an animated dramatic picture of the festival of Adonis, as it was celebrated at Alexandria by Arsinoe, the wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus. same passage contains a description of the magnificent bier, or Castrum doloris, on which the body of Adonis was laid; and gives some curious details respecting the ornaments and emblems which surrounded the image of the lover of Venus. There were as many fruits as the trees in our orchards were capable of producing: flowers in silver baskets, golden phials filled with Syrian nard; the birds that soar in the air; creeping animals and verdant foliage, intermingled with the bending fennel," &c.

The

It is surprising, that the most learnedTM commentators of Theocritus have not remarked the difficulty which even the wife of a powerful sovereign' might experience in procuring ripe fruit at this season of the year. But all doubts are at an end, when it is considered that Theocritus most probably alludes to wax fruits; and it is only by this hypothesis that we can explain a proverb which was frequently used by the ancients:""

* M. Dupuis, în his Origine de tous les cultes, points out the resemblances which appear to exist between the Christmas festval and the festival of Adonis.

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a thing with a promising outside, and of which the real value did not corre spond with the external appearance, was said to be a Garden of Adonis.

At Alexandria, in Egypt, which was then the central point of commerce and the arts, wax fruits have been found, presenting exquisite imitations of nature. This wax fruit gave rise to a little anecdote concerning a fact which is said to have taken place in Alexandria, but at a more recent period at the court of Ptolemy Philopater. Several ancient authors relate this story as a remarkable instance of the mania of disputing, so common among philosophers, and it affords a proof of the advantages which a man of wit may take of the hypotheses and doctrine of philosophic sects, to whatever age they may belong.

Sperus, who was born on the banks of the Borysthenes, had studied philosophy at Athens, under Cleanthus the Stoic. He was called to Alexandria by Ptolemy; and, as the philosopher laureat, or court philosopher, he frequently had the honour of being admitted to the royal table, to amuse, by his paradoxes and theories, his Egyptian majesty and his courtiers. The king, and the grandees about him, in spite of the boasted clearness of the stoics, probably found some obscurity in the dissertations of the philosopher, respecting the character of the simple notions from which we deduce our opinions. The stoical school maintained, in opposition to the academy, the reality of the images and ideas which we receive by the impression of the senses, and asserted, that it was not necessary, like the academicians who doubt ed every thing, to regard that impression as a mere illusion, but as a truth existing in the circle of the conception. The stoics carefully made a difference between this manner of being affected and opinion; and observed, with that modesty which in all ages has been a distinctive characteristic of philosophers, that a real stoic did not believe, but admitted a thing. One day, as our philosopher was seated at the king's table, using this privilege of non opinando, and zealously seeking to maintain the principles of his sect, the king directed a slave to serve up some pomegranates, as the heated philosopher seemed to be in want of refreshment. Sperus stretched forth his hand to reach the fruit; but the king stopped him, observing, that the pomegranates were made of wax. "You sec," added he, "that even a philoso

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pher, deceived by the senses, may conceive an erroneous idea!"" I beg pardon," replied Sperus, who at that critical moment preserved all his presence of mind," there is here no question of pomegranates, but of the possibility of mistaking this artificial fruit for real fruit. Between what is and what may be, there is the same relation as between real admission and probability: you see I only wanted an example to render my proposition evident." Such is the anecdote related by Diogenes of Leartius, in the Lives of the Greek Philosophers. Epictetus evidently alludes to this, when he speaks of the necessity of guarding against the illusion of the senses; for the external appearance of a thing is no sufficient reason for supposing that what we see is in reality what we think we see. "You may as well assert," says he, "that a wax apple has the taste and perfume of a real apple." Athenæus relates the same story in his Table Dialogues, with this difference, that instead of wax pomegranates, he introduces chickens intated in the same way. Nemesius, one of the Fathers of the Church, who has written a little theological work on the wonders of God, expressly speaks of wax fruits which were mistaken for natural fruits; and mentions them as an example of an illusion for which the eye is not responsible, but which the intuitive faculty within us must appreciate.

A superficial notion of the encaustic painting of the ancients, and of the mixture of colours with wax, which was the only method of painting at the most flourishing period of the arts, will be sufficient to convince any one of the possibility of laying every variety of vivid colouring on a surface of wax. I am convinced that the ancients did not apply to their artificial fruit a covering of varnish, or any other composition, which is now absolutely necessary to preserve them from dust and stains. For this reason, our modern wax fruit has la glazed appearance which is not to be seen in nature; this destroys the illusion, and is an imperfection, from which the productions of the ancients in this department of art were exempt. We may refer to a passage of the historian, Varro, which Pliny has preserved in his Natural History. Varro relates that he knew a sculptor at Rome, named Posis, who could imitate pears and grapes so perfectly, that the most skilful artist could not, by mere sight, distinguish them from natural fruit. It may, in

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Peace Society-Quærist.

deed, be objected, that in this passage Pliny does not speak of wax models, but of thoreutic, or clay-works:-at least so it would appear, for in this chapter of his works he refers only to objects of the latter class. But Pliny's careless ness as a compiler is well known; aud as it is improbable, for many reasons, that clay fruit could produce such an illusion, we may be allowed to conjecture, that Varro, who makes use of the word plastes, alludes to a modeller of wax, and not to a potter.

I shall conclude this article on wax fruits, by relating what Lampridius says in his Life of Heliogabalus. That odious voluptuary frequently took a delight in making his guests endure the torments of Tantalus. He ordered dishes to be served before them containing perfect imitations in wax of the different kinds of meat which he was himself eating. The guests were obliged to put a good face upon the joke, to wash their hands after every course, (for at that time neither knives nor forks were used, and all food was eaten with the fingers,) and to swallow a large goblet full of water. Even in modern times, at great entertainments, little pasteboard tarts have been introduced to fill up the table, and which, to the eye, perfectly well supply the place of real tarts, though they are far from producing the same effect upon the appetite of the guests.

PEACE SOCIETY.
MR. EDITOR,

I PERFECTLY coincide with your observations (in page 480 of your last Number), on the formation of a "Peace Society," as announced to the public through the medium of "The Worcester Herald," and request permission to add, that the necessity for any measure of this description is happily precluded by the "PEACE SOCIETY" of Aix-la-Chapelle where the future tranquillity of Europe is fully secured and guaranteed by an "Association of Sovereigns," met together for this express purpose; and that any subordinate societies of this

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nature would only serve as plausible pretexts, through which the subjects of a country might be enabled to raise powerful obstacles against any war declared by their rightful monarch-however "just and necessary" such a measure might be-and however much the ultimate happiness and security of his dominions might depend upon the successful issue of it.

Not only, therefore, would one of the chief prerogatives of the crown become obstructed, but the effect of these "Peace Societies" would be to create civil wars; and thus to increase, rather than diminish, the calamities of mankind. At all events, they must be considered as an improper and impolitic interference with the administration of regular governments-with whom alone the important question of peace or war ought ever to be vested.

Bath,
Dec. 10, 1818.

Yours, &c.

E. T. PILGRIM.

QUÆRIST.

MR. EDITOR,

IN answer to the query of "X." in your Magazine for November, permit me to refer him to an old law book, entitled, "FORTESCUE DE LAUDIBUS LEGUM ANGLIÆ," c. 51, p. 124. It is there asserted to be derived from the French of Parois, and is thus explained: "Sed placitantes tunc, i. e. post meridiem, se divertunt ad PAROISUM et alibi con

sultes cum servientibus ad legem et aliis consiliariis," &c.

And Selden, in his notes on Fortescue, defines it to be an afternoon's exercise, or moot, for the instruction of young students, retaining the same name, PAROISIE, as at Oxford. It is also the present day practice of ions of court for students-at-law during termtime to perform their exercises in the SAM. HAWTHORN.

afternoon.

Norfolk.

We have also been favoured with a similar explanation from " An unlettered Yorkshireman."-EDITOR.

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