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Sebenico, the next place which M. CASSAS visited, is more strongly fortified than any town in Dalmatia. Next to Zara, it is desirable as a place of residence; and it is inhabited by many noble families, whose houses are rich and elegant. The cathedral is noticed on account of its singular marble roof. Here a very ludicrous custom still prevails (i. e. in 1782, but many changes have happened since) of choosing at Christmas a king of the city, whose power and dignity exist only fifteen days. This ephemeral monarch was formerly elected from among the respectable inhabitants, but now they decline the honour, and he is selected from the dregs of the people. During his short-lived reign, he is in many respects treated as a sovereign but, after fifteen days, his pomp and homage are at an end; and his Majesty, despoiled of his crown and robes, quits his palace and returns to his hut. While the editor properly ridicules this practice, he sagely hints that it may have its use as a picture of the instability of all human grandeur. Another singular custom is mentioned, which, though the writer modestly refuses to relate it in French, is sufficiently explained in Latin.

In his way to Scardona, M. CASSAS remarked, on a bank between two rivers, some Roman remains; among which were a Mosaic pavement and the ruins of a temple. He directed his visit to this last mentioned place, however, not so much for the sake of antiquities, as to see and take drawings of the cascade of the Kirka, the magnificence of which is only surpassed by the falls of Niagara, and perhaps even these do not exceed it in beauty. Our traveller could not trace this river, on which there are five cascades, to its source: but that which he beheld and designed is the most noble and striking. We cannot give the copper-plates: one exhibiting a distant and the other a nearer view of this series of waterfalls (as it may be called); but we shall transcribe the author's florid description, which may assist our readers to sketch the scene in imagination:

As the narrow valley, through which the Kirka flows, sinks diagonally to the right, the mountains, which hem in the two shores, appear to unite behind the cascade, forming one half circle, to serve as a base to the vast theatre of this hydraulic scene. The tufted shrubs, the willows, and the poplars, embellishing the fore-ground, and shooting up on the banks or terraces which run parallel with the edges of the rocks over which the waters of the cascade are precipitated, prevent the eye from perceiving the course of the river before it reaches the fall; though this is pointed out by the gradation of colours and tints of variegated light, or rather by a species of refulgent vapour which the transparency of the water, reflecting the celestial blue, throws horizontally on the bottom of the mountains.

• Beyond

Beyond the dazzling verdure of these trees and shrubs, grouped with elegance and scattered in profusion on the immense and rugged sloping banks which cross the valley throughout its vast extent, we see enormous hills piled on each other; whose unequal surface, bar. renness, and naked blueness, exhibit a sublime contrast to the vigor. ous and brilliant verdure in the front of the picture. Towards the left of this glacis, and on the most elevated of its rocks, genuine devotion has raised the solitary roof of a small and humble oratory. The aspect of this little chapel is calculated to inspire the heart of a philo. sopher with sentiments of true piety; since this is a place so well calculated for man to adore the God of the universe. The great phæno mena of nature are the first apostles which were appointed to proclaim the divinity.-It was not the hand of man which assisted this river to surmount the rocks that seem to conspire to oppose its current. Art, in order to decorate the garden scene, may unite toge ther the little streams over which the timid Naiads are supposed to preside it may confine them in basons of marble, and pour them over shells of alabaster: but it is God alone who can command this river to force itself through the massy thickness of these trees and bushes, of which the umbrageous front conceals the long chain of rocks so fruitlessly disputing its passage. This immense body of waters seems to come down from the summit of these groves, to roll their light foam on the vaulted roof of this forest, and to spread out their billows, sparkling with light, on the deep curtain of the mysterious woods. On a sudden, they lose themselves, and sink into the dark pro found of this wild dodona. If we direct the eye to the left of this sublime scene, there we see the whole river (as it should seem) disdaining to call back that multitude of streams which had deserted from it, and which, meandering through the immense valley, appear obliquely to furrow the verdant carpet which opposes its course; and collecting its full strength, it descends in all its majesty down the enor mous steps of its savage capitol, leaping from the first to a second, from a second to a third. The moving surface of the stream obtains, also, from the velocity of its fall, a polish that rivals the purest crystal; rounding itself on the angles into long steps, formed by the hand of nature, and resembling at a distance enormous silvered cylinders. Atthe bottom of the first three steps, the reunited tops of some trees, the stems of which are hidden by the masses of objects more nearly drawn together in the fore ground, cut the cascade by a line of verdure extending its whole breadth. As the river approaches, the sheet of water spreads itself still more; a terrace of an horse-shoe form makes its Colossal projection over the abyss below: here the waters lose all restraint, and no more opposition is made to their impetuous course. The immense volume of their unfettered waves embraces the noble extent of the long and massive terrace; the earth trembles at a distance under the pressure of their fall; convulsed with the shock of waters, the air vibrates and groans! Magnificent fall! horrible sound! Our senses are inadequate to its sublimity; the ear suffices not to hear it, the eye wants power to behold, the heart to feel, and the soul to admire.'

Doubling

Doubling the Eastern point of the isle of Bua, M. CASSAS soon came in sight of Spalatre, which is the key of Venetian Dalmatia; and his attention was attracted by the maritime façade of the palace of Dioclesian, as well as by the very noble and picturesque scenery which forms the back ground. As this imperial palace at Spalatro (in Latin Spalatum, corrupted from palatium, so that the place derives its name from the building,) is one of the noblest fragments of antiquity in Europe, and as little more than its outside walls and colonade remain, (the inside being occupied by modern erections,) M. CASSAS, or his editor, undertakes to give an idea of what it was when it was inhabited by Dioclesian. Its shape is that of a parallelogram, 630 feet long by 510 broad, with the principal front towards the sea; adorned with a noble colonade, in good preservation, consisting originally of fifty pillars, of which fortytwo remain. This colonade formed a gallery twenty-five feet broad, running the whole length of the building; and behind this gallery (dans le double), were the apartments chiefly occupied by Dioclesian himself. At each angle of the palace, was a square tower; two of them being four and two only three stories high. A portico or colonade ran along the inside of the walls, facing to the north and the west, only interrupted by the grand entrances, behind which were the stairs leading to the principal lodging rooms, or bed-chambers. On entering the Porta Aurea, a large street presented itself to view, consisting of a vast portico, which led to the peristile of the palace, properly. so called. This street was intersected at right angles, nearly in the middle, by another street, formed in the same manner with pillars, and running from east to west. Thus, if we approached by the Porta Aurea, or golden gate, we should have on the right and on the left two noble piles of buildings, of equal size, but differing in internal distribution. Those on the right were designed for the women, and those on the left for the principal officers in the Emperor's service.-Passing beyond the cross street, we come to a superb colonade, terminated by the steps at the front of the pediment; under the colonade is seen on one side the temple of Esculapius, and on the other that of Jupiter, or more probably of Diana. The portico at the entrance of the Emperor's apartments was supported by four pillars, and led to a circular vestibule, lighted from the top, and decorated with statues. This vestibule again opened into the grand hall of the palace, which measured 95 feet by 75: the roof or cieling supported by six immense pillars on either side. This great hall was styled, by the Romans, the Atrium.

The writer then proceeds to particularize the distri bution of the other parts of this vast palace, and illustrates

his explanations by a ground-plan of the whole : but, as he must have been often guided by conjecture in this undertaking, we shall excuse ourselves from following him farther into the detail. We are not sufficiently acquainted with the private life of the Romans, to arrange the disposition of their apart

ments.

We must omit also the explanations of various inscriptions and bas-reliefs, in order to accompany the voyager to the end of his tour.

M. CASSAS left Spalatro to visit Salone, a place only four miles distant, where Dioclesian was born, and where he resided during the building of his palace. Its present state of ruin and desolation, and especially the confusion in which the sepulchral monuments lie, excite reflections on the dignity of man, and on the immortality of the soul.-Hence we attend him to the great cascade of Cettina, or Titurus; the waters of which, being the issue of a subterraneous river, flow, or rather are dashed from rock to rock, in a country singularly wild, broken, and picturesque, and yield trout which were celebrated in the time of the Romans. This cascade, it is observed, bears no resemblance to that of Scardona, or Kirka, above described. Here every thing is terrific and horrible. The gloominess of the deep channel through which the waters rush along; the blackness of the abyss into which they precipitate themselves; and the sterile nakedness of the enormous rocks piled perpendicularly one on the other, to a most tremendous height; seem to exhibit the remains of a rebellious effort of the Titans against the Gods; and to give an idea, not of the reign of Nature, but of that of Chaos.'

Towards the middle of July, M. CASSAS, fatigued by continued exertions, meditated a return. Having, therefore, gra tified his curiosity at Cettina, and at the fortress of Clissa, he came back to Spalatro; where he remained a few days to rest himself, and to make his acknowlegements for the civilities which he had received from the men of learning and others in that city. On the 24th he embarked on his return to Trieste, and to Venice. He touched again at Pola, and staid there some days, in order to finish his drawings of its antiquities; and on the 10th of August 1782, he and M. Grapin, the ingenious companion of his voyage, arrived at Trieste. In the neighbourhood of this last mentioned city, his active pencil was employed in sketching the romantic chateau of Lueg or Predjama, the castle of Novoscollio, and the Grotto into which the Ruecca precipitates itself. At the end of the month he returned to Venice and to Rome, where he arranged that rich collection of drawings which is here presented to the public.

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It is impossible not to admire the extreme activity of M. CASSAS: who, in so short a space of time, visited so many places, and executed such a number of designs; and while we are disposed to offer every tribute of praise to the indefatigable perseverance of this ingenious artist, we cannot but admire the superb manner in which his labours are exhibited to the world, and acknowlege the abilities of the editor or compiler of the narrative. Sixty plates, most beautifully engraven, enrich the volume: but we have extended this article to so great a length, that we must not farther protract it by an enumeration of the subjects which they exhibit.

We need scarcely remark that the editor has availed himself of the works of Ston and Fortis, since he very ingenuously makes his acknowlegements: but we must observe that he has sufficiently manifested his own erudition and taste; and all who peruse this volume will own themselves greatly indebted to M. CASSAS and him, for so large a share of instruction and entertainment.

ART. II. Traité Théorique et Pratique, &c. i. e. A Theoretical and Practical Treatise on the Culture of the Vine; with the Art. of making Wine, Brandy, Ardent Spirits, and simple and com- . pound Vinegar. By M. CHAPTAL, Minister of the Interior, &c.. the Abbé RoZIER, Member of several Academies, &c. and MM. PARMENTIER and DUSSIEUX; the former, Member of the National Institute; and the latter, of the Agricultural Society of Paris. 2d Edit. 2 Vols. 8vo. Paris. 1801. Imported by De Boffe, London. Price 15s. sewed.

T

HE history of an elegant plant, which, under the direction of man, has contributed to his enjoyment, and more or 1 ss has influenced his character and institutions, cannot fail to interest the generality of readers. In a country, especially,, in which the vine has long formed an object of favourite cul-" ture and of commercial resource, all important information concerning it will naturally be received with eagerness. Among the mass of French onologists, Olivier de Serres and Maupin merited and obtained the suffrages of their countrymen: but it cannot be denied that even the language of the former has become nearly obsolete; and that the latter, though he pointed to much consecrated abuse, and suggested wholesome reforms, attempted to establish positions which experience has proved to be untenable: while neither could avail himself of those lights which may now be derived from the study of chemistry and the physiology of vegetables. Hence, no doubt, the rapidity with which the first edition of the volumes now

before

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