water was conveyed in silver pipes; and that the silver coinage was materially debased under the reign of Septimius Severus, though he was complimented with the title of Restitutor Mo ncta M. DE LAUNAY next enters, with some minuteness, into the distinctions of the different kinds of Es, or copper, and its compounds, which were of such extensive use among the antients. The latter knew the art of tempering copper, and forming it into sharp-edged instruments. Brass was particularly destined for lustres, thresholds, the capitals of pillars, monumental plates, the gates of temples, &c. Bronze was chiefly employed by the statuary. Thus Pliny relates that, during the edileship of Marcus Scaurus, three thousand bronze statues adorned a temporary theatre. He likewise asserts that colossal statues of the same composition, and equal to towers in height, were without number. From the same writer, we learn that verdegrease was obtained from copper by the application of vinegar, or of the refuse of the wine-press. A supplementary article is allotted to orichalcum, or aurichalcum, a subject which has excited so much learned disquisition. The present writer states most of the respectable opinions, and alleges as his own that the term was applied to two different substances, the one natural, and the other artificial. The former was not less prized than gems, but whether it were a rich copper ore, or something of a different description, remains to be ascertained. The latter appears to have been either common brass, or pinchbeck. One or two passages in Pliny would even lead us to infer that aurichalcum denoted tin-foil. It seems highly probable that the difference in orthography was origi nally well founded, that orichalcum was at first uniformly applied to the natural, and aurichalcum to the artificial production. Iron and the magnet are treated in the same manner with the preceding article. The refuse of some antient forges is a proof that the Romans were imperfectly acquainted with the extraction of iron from its ore, since the slags are found to contain a very considerable portion of metal. Yet allusions to the working of this metal occur in the books of Moses, Job, &c. and Goguet has collected abundant evidence of the high antiquity of the art. The opinions of Pling, Dioscorides, Falconet, &c. relative to the load-stone, are shortly examined, but the result is unimportant. Plumbum nigrum of Pliny is rendered by common lead, or gas lena; and plumbum, by itself, or accompanied with the epithet album or candidum, is translated tin. The last, we need hardly observe, observe, was also denominated stannum, though Pliny likewise gives this name to the first refuse from melted lead. The Roman naturalist mentions Gaul, Spain, and especially Britain, as affording mines of lead. In the two first-mentioned countries, he says, it was obtained with trouble: " Sed in Britannia summo terræ corio adeo large, ut lex ultro dicatur, ne plus certo modo fiat." The Romans prepared sheet and white lead from this metal, and used it for water pipes, and different sorts of vessels. Tin was chiefly employed as a lining to copper vessels, and in the manufacture of metallic mirrors. The best of these last were made at Brundusium. "Specula quoque ex eo laudatissima, ut diximus, Brundisii temperabantur, donec argenteis uti cœpere." Buffon supposes that the tin used for this purpose was mixed with bismuth: but M. DE LAUNAY properly remarks that Pliny himself asserts that it was mixed with copper:-" Atque ut omnia de speculis peragantur hoc loco, optima apud majores fuerant Brundisina, stanno et ore mixtis.” Many excellent and acute observations will be found in the next section, relative to mercury and minium: but we must be contented to extract the concluding paragraph: It appears, as I have remarked above, that the principal use which the antients made of mercury was in the process of gilding metals. This gilding was not effected, as at present, by amalgamation, or a paste composed of gold and mercury. Grosse, who makes this observation, and who moreover remarks that the antients employed very thick gold leaf in the operation, relates, from Winklemann, that antiquaries have put us in possession of specimens of their skill in this art, which are as fresh and beautiful as if they had just proceeded from the hand of the workman.' Such is a brief sketch of the mineralogy of the antients, as exhibited by a writer who has at least the merit of bringing into a connected series many scattered observations, on a subject little susceptible of distinct elucidation; and of diligently collecting such materials as he found, rather than indulging in conjecture, or contending for theories. The frequency and accuracy of his references greatly add to the usefulness of his labours: but we cannot commend the capricious humour with which he sometimes quotes the entire text,-sometimes only indicates by cyphers the book, chapter, and page,-sometimes gives the original alone,-sometimes the original accompanied with a translation, and sometimes only a translation. We likewise regret that he so seldom applies his knowlege to the explication of passages in the classical writers, and that his style is tame, and remote from elegance. On these accounts, his publication will probably be more frequently consulted than perused. Το To this volume are annexed a comparative table of the an tient and modern mineral nomenclature, a suitable index, and explanatory notes. Muir ART. IV. Le Troubadour, &c. i. e. The Troubadour ;-Occitanic THE HE author dedicates these volumes, in a lively and pathetic mixture of prose and verse, to his mother, who first taught him the language of the Troubadours. With respect to the poems of which he professes to be the editor, we cannot help observing that they come before the public in a very questionable shape. The MSS., he informs us, were transmitted to him by the post from Montpellier, accompanied by a letter, of which the following is an extract : ‹ Sir, Attracted by the celebrity of the Provençal story of Azelais, Montpellier, 21 Fioréal, year 8. and the gentle Aimar, I procured a copy of it, and perused it with the greater pleasure, because I am an enthusiastic admirer of every thing that recalls the productions of my country, and the language in which I have been educated. As an acknowlegement of the genuine satisfaction which I have felt, I forward to your address a copy of certain MSS. which have continued in our possession from time immemorial, and which have been handed down to us from father to son, like a family inheritance. I should certainly have translated and published them myself, if I were conscious of possessing the requisite talents: but, besides being wholly unpractised in writing, I confess that I am as anxious to shun the name of author as others are to seck it. The ease, which charac terizes your translations, convinces me that you will cheerfully undertake this new labour, which promises to be attended with advantage. Notwithstanding the intrinsic merit of the story of Azalais, you will readily perceive that it by no means equals the poems which I send to you. I am convinced that these original productions, skilfully transfused into the French language, might represent the Troubadours of the south, as the poems of Ossian represent the bards of the north. They will convey a more accurate picture of the manners and genius of these fathers of modern poetry, than any thing which has yet appeared. You see, Sir, how highly I prize the present which I tender to your acceptance. I only ask, in return, that you will not disdain it. Two circumstances will, no doubt, excite your curiosity, viz. the name of the author of the MSS., and that of their possessor, who addresses you. In regard to the first, I can only say that my ancestors have, for generations, lived in the district of Gévaudan, where 1 where they held seignorial fees of considerable extent; and that I have heard my grandfather, (certainly instructed by tradition,) affirm that these poems had been bequeathed to them by a celebrated Troubadour, who was born at l'Espérou, a small village on their estate. The original MSS, which I retain, bear no marks that can lead to a discovery of the author's name. They are written on parchment, in the Gothic character, and have only general titles at the beginning of each subject-Allow me to conceal my own name, which it is of no consequence for you to know. As to your address, I easily found it; for though you had not put your name to the translation of the Provençal tale of Azalais, every body here knew that it proceeded from your pen. Your family, who, as I have since been informed, live in the Cevennes, have not chosen to imitate your silence, and your secret has been betrayed. For the rest, permit me to repeat my compliments, &c. 6 RESCONDUT*. Thus scanty is the evidence brought forwards in support of the authenticity of these Occitanic poems. In vain the publisher, in his introduction and preliminary dissertation, descants on the language, poetry, and history of the Provençal bards. His observations, though frequently minute and judicious, are little calculated to remove our doubts respecting the genuineness of his present publication. Whoever is conversant in the existing patois of southern France may imitate the language of the Troubadours, without much fear of detection; and he who coolly avers that his translation of Azaläis was not too bold an imposition' may delude the public with provincial effusions of his own inditing. In fact, M. D'OLIVET now avows himself to be the author of Azaläis, &c.; and are we certain that, in some future work, he may not lay claim to the composition of the Loves of Rose and the Return of Elyz? The length of some of these pieces, the marked similarity of style and manner which pervades them, and which we cannot trace in the scraps preserved by the laborious diligence of St. Pelaye, (the editor's doubts respecting the Letters of Sappho and Phaon,) and occasional allusions to an advanced state of agriculture, all conspire to strengthen our suspicions. We admit, at the same time, that some passages have been inserted in the Court of Love, which seem to have been copied, or at least imitated from undoubted originals: but this Court of Love is evidently a piece of patch-work, which a practised hand might easily tack together, from the vague recitals of Nostradamus, and fragments of the MSS. preserved at Paris. We shall therefore announce these translations as we find them; without, by any means, subscribing to the alleged antiquity of the originals, and without * From reconditus-concealed. admonish admonishing the learned to alter their notions of the poetry of the Troubadours. The first poem, which extends to 130 pages, and is divided into five cantos, is intitled the Loves of Rose and of Ponce de Meyrueis.-Nadal, who had wandered ten years as a pilgrim, and was on the point of arriving at the place of his nativity on the banks of the Tarn, is overtaken by the darkness of the night, and finds himself bewildered among precipices, torrents, and wolves: but Faith, Hope, and Charity, to whose voice he had listened when roaming in the Holy Land, still wait on his footsteps, and conduct him to the castle of Roquedol; once the hospitable dwelling of the brave Herail, but now unjustly held by Raimond, a cruel and avaricious baron, who shut his gate against the benighted pilgrim. Emima, or Faith, intercedes in his behalf with the Virgin Mary, and, after some heavenly machinery is put in motion, conducts Nadal to the house of Ponce de Meyrueis, from whom he experienced a warm and kind reception. In the course of the conversation, it is discovered that Nadal was the faithful squire of Herail; that the fair Rose was betrothed by her father Raimond to Ponce, the son of Herail, but that the lord of Aulas, the only witness of the oaths which had been exchanged between Raimond and Herail, had died; that the baron had seized his property; and that he detained his own daughter in the castle of Roquedol. Ponce swears to be revenged, and Nadal pledges his faith to assist him in the adventure. Meanwhile, at the request of the Virgin Mary, Gabriel conjures up a delightful phantom of the son of Herail to the contemplation of Rose, during her nocturnal visions, and Zoelia performs the like good office for the young knight. The parties, in course, are already quite enamoured of each other. Ponce, perceiving that Raimond not only debarred him from an interview with his daughter, but even denied him admittance into his castle, resolved to enter it under the disguise of a Troubadour; and his trusty Nadal accompanied him in the more humble character of a minstrel. Allured by the promise of magnificent presents, the baron not only granted them permission to enter his castle, but to exercise their respective talents. The sound of the lute, and the beauty of Rose, were powerfully enchanting; the extatic visions were realized; and the lovers were fixed in transport. At length, the son of Herail, inspired by heaven with holy ardour, thus exclaims: "Baron, inquire no longer for the cause of an event of which Providence is the author. Hear me-in one word I will resolve your doubts. Under the mask of a Troubadour, behold the son of the brave Herail, your antient friend.-I, am Ponce de Meyrucis.”— At |