stolen from the library of St. Mark, at Venice, 5. Mars, of Pentelican marble. 6. Two Roman busts, male and female, stolen from the Museum of the Vatican. 7. Lucius Caninius, of Parian marble, taken from Fontainbleau. 8. The bust of the second Brutus, of Pentelican marble, stolen from the Museum of the Capitol. 9. Urania sitting on a rock of Parnassus, of Parian marble, stolen as above. 10. A bust in bronzé of the first Brutus, stolen as above. 11. A Roman Sacrificer, stolen from the Museum of the Vatican. 12. Statue of Augustus, stolen from Venice. 13. A Priestess of Isis, of Parian marble, stolen from the Museum of the Capitol. 14. A Roman Matron, of Grechetto marble, taken from Versailles. 15. A wounded Warrior, stolen from the Museum of the Capitol. 16. Another Roman Matron, of Parian marble, taken from Versailles. 17. Melpomene, of Parian marble. 18. Antinous, of marble of Luni, stolen from the Museum of the Capitol. 19. Venus at the bath, of Parian marble, 20. Euterpe, of Parian marble.

IV. THE HALL OF LAOCOON is embellished with four beautiful columns of verde anticho, taken from the Mausoleum, erected after the designs of Bullant, of the famous constable Anne of Montmorency; they are from a single massive block of the richest quality, three metres and a half in height, and forty-three centimetres di

* Above 10 feet.

ameter.

ameter.

In this hall are twenty-one figures, 1. Jason, of Pentelican marble, from Versailles. 2. Lucius Verus, the associate of Marcus Aurelius in the Empire, of Tunisian marble, stolen from the palace of the Duke of Modena. 3. Bust of Commodus, of Pentelican marble, stolen as above. 4. An Hermes, representing Tragedy, of Pentelican marble, stolen from the Museum of the Vatican. 5. Its companion, representing comedy, stolen as above. 6. Bust of Antinous, of Parian marble. 7. Head of Menelaus, discovered at Pantanello, by Hamilton, the English painter, stolen from the Vatican.

8. Adonis, of Grechetto marble, stolen as above. 9. The glory and master-piece of sculpture, and wonder of the world, THE GROUPE OF LAOCOON, executed by Agisander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. The right arm of the father, and two arms of the sons, are unfortunately missing; but all the rest is entire, and displays at once, the perfection of sentiment, plan, and composition. It surpasses all comment, and therefore I shall leave my favourite poet to speak for me.

At last her utmost master-piece she found,
That Maro fir'd; the miserable sire,

Wrapt with his sons in fate's severest grasp.

The serpents, twisting round, their stringent folds
Inextricable tie. Such passions here,

Such agonies, such bitterness of pain,

Seems so to tremble thro' the tortur'd stone,

VOL. II.

H

That

That the touch'd heart engrosses all the view.
Almost unmark'd the best proportions pass,
That ever Greece beheld; and seen alone,
On the rapt eye th' imperious passions seize:
The father's double pangs, both for himself
And sons convuls'd; to Heaven his rueful look,
Imploring aid, and half-accusing cast;
His fell despair with indignation mixt,
As the strong-curling monsters from his side
His full-extended fury cannot tear.

More tender touch'd, with varied art, his sons
All the soft rage of younger passions show.
In a boy's helpless fate one sinks oppress'd;
While, yet unpierc'd, the frighted other tries
His foot to steal out of the horrid twine.

The ecclesiastical state was swindled out of this precious relick of antiquity, by the treaty of Tolentino, where a Corsican adventurer, acting as a conquering General, and as the Plenipotentiary of the French Republic, held in his hand a sabre reeking with blood, and dictated his own terms to the minister of a feeble and defenceless potentate. The delegates of the National Institute, with fastidious modesty, served as aides-de-camp of the former, in this unhallowed progress of rapine and peculation, in this abominable and barbarous violation of the received laws of nations, and of humanity. 10. A Thrower of the Disk, at rest, of Pentelican marble, stolen as above. 11. Bust of Apollo, of Pentelican marble, stolen from the Museum of the Capitol. 12. Statue of

an

an Amazon, in the attitude of drawing her bow, of Parian marble, stolen from the Museum of the

Vatican. 13. Bacchus, known by the name of the Capitoline Ariadne, of Pentelican marble, stolen from the Museum of the Capitol. 14. Colossal statue of a Triton, of Parian marble, discovered by our countryman Hamilton, in the neighbourhood of Puzzoli in the bay of Naples, given by him to Pope Ganganelli, and stolen from the Vatican Museum by General Bonaparte and the National Institute. 15. A small statue of Bacchus, of Pentelican marble. 16. The Vatican Paris, but now Parisian Priest of Mithra, of Pentelican marble, stolen from the Vatican Museum. 17. Colossal bust of Jupiter, stolen as above. 18. Bust of Minerva, ditto. 19. The beautiful groupe of Meleager, ditto, ditto. Esculapius, of Pentelican marble. of the disk in the act of casting it, stolen from the Vatican Museum. 22. Statue of Minerva, the head of Pentelican, but the body of Parian marble, from Versailles. 23. A bronze bust of the elder Drusus. 24. A bronze head of Tiberius. 25. A bronze head of Claudius, crowned with laurel. 26. Colossal bust of Antinous, stolen from the Vatican Museum. 27. A colossal head of Adrian, of Pentelican marble, stolen as above. 28. Caracalla, of Pentelican marble. 29. Bust of Galba, of Pentelican marble, stolen from the Villa Albani,

2

20. Bust of 21. A player

354628B

Albani. 30. Bust of Clodius Albinus, of Pentelican marble, ditto, ditto.

V. THE HALL OF APOLLO is ornamented with four superb pillars of oriental red granite, each of which is four metres and one decimetre in height, by forty-five centimetres diameter. The pavement of the hall is laid out in large compartments of rare and beautiful marble, and in its centre stands a large octagonal table of oriental red granite. It contains thirty-seven subjects, namely, 1. Statue of Mercury, called the Belvidere Antinous, of fine Parian marble, and one of the most perfect remains of antiquity. The harmony that prevails in every part of this figure induced Poussin to prefer it to all others, for the proportions of the human body; stolen from the Belvidere of the Vatican. 2. The throne of Saturn in bas-relief. 3. Apollo, the destroyer of Lizards, of Grechetto marble. 4. A small Mercury, of marble of Luni. 5. The Trojan Venus, of Greek marble, from Versailles. 6. A small Statue of Mars, of marble of Luni. 7. An infant Apollo naked, the back of Parian marble. S. Urania restored by Girardon, from Versailles. 9. A Delphic Apollo, from Ecouen. 10. A Tripod of Apollo, found in 1775 by our Hamilton, amidst the ruins of Ostia, and stolen from the Vatican, where it had been deposited by Pius VI. 11. Antinous standing. 12. Statue of Isis, the body of Parian, the head of Pentelican marble, stolen 凄 from