ten chiefly during the reigns of Elizabeth and the elder James, when the ftudy of antiquities was in its infancy, they are by no means to be confidered as complete or perfect. They are materials which may affift the ingenious artift in raifing a fuperftructure; but of themfelves they offer little that is conclufive or fatisfactory. The influence of Archbishop Parker, and the zeal of Sir Robert Cotton, laid the foundation of the Antiquarian Society in 1572; and it continued to flourish till the year 1604 t. From the papers of the members, or from tranfcripts of them, Mr. Hearne, in the year 1720, published, at Oxford, a volume under the title, A Collection of curious Difcourfes written by eminent Antiquaries upon several Heads in our English Antiquities. These are republished in the prefent volumes; and for the remaining difcourfes, which are more numerous, and of equal importance, we are indebted to the industry of the Editors. To gratify the curiofity of our more intelligent Readers, we fhall lay before them the titles of the difcourfes which are now first published: • Additional Differtations never before published. Of the Antiquity of Arms in Eng land, by Anonymous. Of the fame, by Mr. Agard. mous. Of the fame, by Jofeph Holland. Of the fame, by Anonymous. Of the fame. Of Epitaphes, by Mr. Camden. Of the fame, by Mr. Holland. Reafon of Motts with Arms of + For an account of its revival and prefent condition, the Reader may confult our Rev. vol. xliii. p. 357, 358. Of Of the fame, by Sir Wm. De thick, Garter. Of the fame, by Sir Francis Leigh. Of the fame, by Abraham Hartwell. Of the Antiquity, Power, Order, Of the fame, by Anonymous. the fame, by Anonymous. Of the fame, by Sir Robert Cotton, Bart. Of the fame, by Mr. Agard. halfea may be fitly enabled in certain Cafes to hold Plea of all Manner of Trefpaffes, as well upon the Cafes as others, albeit, neither Party be of the King's Houthold. Of the Antiquity of the Chriftian Religion in this Island, by Sir Robert Cotton. Of the fame, by Mr. Agard. Of the fame, by Sir William Dethick, Garter Principal King of Arms. Of the fame, by Mr. William Camden. Of the fame, by W. Hakewill. Of the Antiquity, Ufe, and Ceremony of lawful Combats in England, by Sir Robert Cotton, Bart. Of the fame, by Mr. Davies. Of the fame, by Jofeph Holland. The Manner of judicial Proceedings in the Court of Constable and Marshal (or Court Military) touching the Ufe and Bearing of Coats of Arms, obferved and collected out of the Records of the Tower of London. A Defence of the Jurifdiction of the Earl Marshal's Court in the Vacancy of a Conflable; and of his difowning Prohibitions fent thither from other Courts, by way of Letter to the Honourable Sir John Somers, Knt. Attorney General to his Majefty, from Rob. Plott, LL. D. Camera Camera Stellata; or, an Expla- The Antiquity of Barons, by Mr. Of Forests, by Mr. Agard. The Antiquity of the Word Ster- Of Sterling Money, by Mr. Of the fame, by Mr. William Of the fame, by Mr. Broughton. Of the fame, by Anonymous. Of Sterling Money, by Mr. Henry Burchier. Of the fame, by Mr. Michael Heneage. Of the Divifion of Shires, by Mr. Jofeph Holland. A Project touching a Petition to The Antiquity and Etymology of Of Epitaphs, by Mr. Abraham Of Caftles, by Mr. Joseph Hol- Of the Etymology, Dignity, and Of the fame, by Richard Brough ton. Our certain and definitive Topo graphical Dimenfions in England, compared with thofe of the Greeks and Latins, fet down in Order as they arise in Quantity In this enumeration of original pieces, by members of the Antiquarian Society, it may be remarked, that the Editors have included, though not with ftrict propriety, A Tract explaining the Manner of judicial Proceedings in the Court Military, touching the Ufe and Bearing of Coats of Arms: A Defence of the Jurifdiction of the Earl Marshal's Court, by Dr. Plot :' And Mr. Cooke's Treatife on the Unlawfulness and Wickednels of a Duello.' It alfo appears to us that they are to blame for having inferted, in this collection, Sir Henry Spelman's treatife On the Antiquity and Etymology of Terms and Times for Administration of Juftice in England:' because that tract was never read in the Society of Antiquaries; and because it is fufficiently known by having appeared in the edition of that lawyer's English Works,' by Gibfon. ART: C & REV. Nov. 1772. ART. VI. The Baths of the Romans explained and illuftrated. With th: Reftorations of Palladio corrected and improved. To which is prefixed, An Introductory Preface, pointing out the Nature of the Work; and a Differtation on the State of the Arts, during the different Periods of the Roman Empire. By Charles Cameron, Architect. Fol. Imperial Paper. 41. 4 s. in Sheets. 1772. Sold by the Author, at his Houfe in Piccadilly; fold alfo by Robfon, Payne, &c. TH HE fplendor and magnificence of the antient Roman architecture, were no lefs confpicuous in their baths and bagnios than in their temples and palaces. Nor fhall we greatly wonder at this inftance of the grandeur and luxury of those mafters of the world, when we confider, with our Author, to what various purposes of pleasure, as well as convenience, these baths were appropriated under the Roman Emperors.—Mr. Cameron has collected feveral particulars on this head, in his introductory difcourfe; fome of which we apprehend will not be deemed, by our Readers, impertinent. Thefe buildings, fays he, are deservedly reckoned among the moft remarkable of their works; whether we confider their vaft extent, which has given occafion to fome writers to use the moft extravagant expreffions in their praife, or their having been erected in the most flourishing state of the empire, under princes who were prompted by the ambition of out-doing, and by the defire of ingratiating themselves with the people, for whofe ufe they were defigned, by difplaying, in the execution of them, the utmost magnificence. The temples, Mr. Cameron obferves, were confined to religious rites and ceremonies; the theatres, amphitheatres, bafilicas, &c. had each their diftinct and separate province affigned them; but in the baths, fays he, all thefe seem to have been united. Befide the amazing number of chambers, and other neceffary accommodations for the purposes of bathing, they were furnished with fpacious halls and porticos for walking, with exedræ and feats for the meetings of the philofophers.. The most complete libraries in the city were removed hither; and in the great spaces there inclofed, the people were treated with theatrical entertainments, and the fhews of the gladiators. What ftupendous works are thefe! No wonder that Ammianus Marcellinus, when speaking of their vaft extent, was betrayed into the notable hyperbole, taken notice of by Kennet in his Roman Antiquities, viz. that they were built in modum provinciarum. It is to the celebrated Palladio, however, that we are indebted for the most compleat idea which we can form of the principal baths of the Romans; and it is likewife to Palladio that we are primarily indebted for the elegant and magnificent view of them now lying before us.-Take Mr. Cameron's ac knowledgment of this obligation in his own words: • This accurate and diligent obferver of antiquity, fays our Author, appears to have confidered the baths as more particularly worthy his notice: he did not, indeed, live to publifh the work he had prepared relating to them, and which he promised in his book of architecture; but from the defigns he left at his death, which were fortunately recovered, and given to the world by the late Lord Burlington, it appears that he examined them with great care and attention; not only by obferving and meafuring the plans and elevations, fuch as they remain at prefent; but by compleating and reftoring them, in order to fhew what they were formerly. Both thefe points are fo accurately and fully executed, that, as this book is the bafis on which the prefent work is eftablished, fo muft it be to that of any author who may hereafter treat on the fame fübject.' Mr. Cameron adds- This work of Palladio never having received his last corrections, appears under a very imperfect form. What is now offered to the public, is intended to fupply this deficiency: the buildings he has defcribed have been again measured, and the errors which have escaped him corrected. The elevations and fections of the baths, which he has reprefented as in their original and perfect state, are here given, ruined, as they now remain, from accurate drawings made on the fpot, or from the beft defigns of those buildings, as published in the time of Palladio. By comparing therefore, with his restorations, these authorities on which they are founded, the reader will be enabled to judge of the degree of credit which they deferve.' In this view alone, our Author's Work may undoubtedly be confidered as a valuable curiofity. The plates are numerous, the objects delineated on them are noble, and the execution of them is elegant; and when we reflect on the vaft expence of this publication, we are aftonished at not finding in it a lift of fubfcribers: the fashionable, and indeed the prudent, method being, in fuch very large undertakings, to fecure the repayment of the Author's actual disbursements, together with fome confideration for his own labour and ingenuity, by a previous fubfcription. We hope, however, that Mr. Cameron will be no lofer by the confidence he may have placed in the discernment and good afte of the public. Every Reader is, more or lefs, acquainted with the Roman Hiftory; but it is rather the hiftory of the inhabitants of Rome, than of the city itself. In our Author's enquiry into the rife and progrefs of architecture among the Romans, we have a brief sketch of the hiftory and revolutions of the city, following the order of time from the era of the commencement of luxury in that capital, to the declenfion of her empire; in the Сса courfe |