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height; the roof being a plain semicircular vault of small sized rag-stones; and its east end is also semicircular. It is divided into two unequal parts, like nave and choir, by a plain semicircular and very massive arch, of which the soffit stones are small and rough, badly joined, and without a regular key-stone, or any appearance of stucco or the opus reticulatum so frequent in true Roman temples. This arch springs from square projecting abaci on great square pillars, about 8 feet high, which are made up of Roman bricks and small rag stones. A bench of large slab-stones is at tached to all the walls except where it is interrupted by the division pillars, the altar, and the entrance at the centre of the western end. This entrance is a narrow, lofty, semicircular arch, communicating with the stair abovementioned, and was apparently the original access to this subterranean church. On the north and south sides -near the west end, inarched in the thickness of the walls, are the tombs, rude table monuments or altars, of the two first Archbishops of Rouen, St. Mellon and St. Avitien; and probably their bones still moulder underneath, for these arches were piously blocked up during the period of Calvinistic outrage, and re-opened to the -faithful, A.D. 1723. The altar is of one rough stone, about eight feet in length, and covered with the dust of many years, as are also the figures of the Virgin and Child, and other rude embellishments of this hermitage-like chapel. The only light admitted to this crypt is through a small window at its eastern end, above the altar, which, although much mutilated, was once semicircularly headed and straight sided. So dark, however, must have been this chapel, that artificial light was absolutely necessary for the performance of its services, and possibly, from this necessity arose, in some degree, the practice of employing lights in almost every ceremony of the Roman Catholic religion.

Saint Vandrille is a little village situated in a valley about a league from Caudebec. The church is of that early Saxo-Norman style which has been lately called, from its similarity to that of many ancient Christian churches in the holy city, Romanesque.

It consists of a nave and chancel,. with north and south ailes, a short north and south transept, and a low square tower at their intersection. The prin cipal external ancient features of this building, are the plain flat chancel buttresses terminating in a plain parapet, supported by a series of blocksthe semicircular apsis of the south transept, and its large horizontal torus at the base of its window, which is semicircularly headed with an archi volt, embellished by the nail-head moulding. The windows of the chancel and of the west end are semicircularly headed, those of the chancel being the most spacious. The former door - way was also semicircularly arched; but the present entrance, and the eastern window, and the other windows, are innovations of the fourteenth century, and the buttresses of the ailes are in the various forms and situations which the upholding of the fabric has, from time to time, made necessary.

The principal internal features of the church at St. Vandrille, are strongly tinctured with a Roman origin, considering that it must still be deemed a Gothic structure. The columns of the nave are cylindrical and of classical proportions, being slenderer than those of a subsequent era, although some antiquaries have estimated the antiquity of Gothic columns in the direct ratio of their comparative diameters with their height. The bases of these columns have the claw ornament so characteristic of their style. The capitals closely resemble the Ionic order, except that their volutes are much smaller, and their abacuses shallower, but they have a well-marked neck and astragal of Roman form. The columns of the tower are lower than the others, and support pointed arches; but all the other arches are semicircular, and have their several soffits adorned with square sunk pannels, in each of which are five rosettes. The columns of the chancel are similar to those of the nave; but they have also, upon their chancel side or aspect, three shafts attached, which run up higher than the Ionic capitals, and support the transverse and diagonal ribs of the chancel vaulting, which are embellished at their intersections with bosses of small human heads, and lambs.

The south transept is in similar style to the nave and chancel ; but the northern transept has pointed arches springing from slender shafts attached to the wall, and from brackets of a Roman form which are adorned with ara besques. The font is probably coeval with the Church, and stands upon one stout central column, and eight surrounding slender shafts.

The ruined abbey of Fontenelle is close to the parish church just described. It has been despoiled long since for the erection of a palace of the Archbishops of Rouen, which was partially destroyed at the Revolution, and is now a cotton manufactory. Much of its splendour yet remains, and its history has been published by M. Langlois, of Rouen, whose talents as a draughtsman are equal to his learning and discrimination as an antiquary. PLANTAGENET.

QUÆSTIONES VENUSINÆ.

No. V.

IN the Review department of the Gentleman's Magazine for June, pp. 637-8, the late edition of Professor -Anthon's Horace from Doering's text printed in this country, has afforded -to the Reviewer, J. M., opportunity to start his own idea for the restoration of what he terms a corrupt passage in Horace; and he calls on the author of Horatius Restitutus to pronounce his judgment on the passage. so restored.

The old reading stood thus, 1 E. xvi. 39, 40.

Falsus honor juvat, et mendax infamia terret,

· Quem nisi mendosum et mendacem? As early as in the year 1578, Cruquius, on the authority of MSS. scrupled not to substitute medicandum in the text instead of mendacem, supplying at the same time a clear and sufficient exposition of the advantage of sense afforded by the new reading over the old.

In 1701, our own Baxter was the first editor who followed Cruquius in adopting medicandum. The following is a very good sample of his better style of criticism.

"Mendosum et Mendacem cacozelón est Horatio indignum: quare non dubitavimus cum Cruquii MSS. et veteri interprete medicandum in suam sedem

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reducere. Medicandum, h. e. non sar num. Vet. Schol. Egentem scilicet Helleboro."

In 1711, Dr. Bentley, that "first critic whom a scholar would wish to consult in adjusting the text of Horace,' came out with his memorable edition; and if I were set to justify the splendid character here quoted of him from Dr Parr, I don't know that a more decisive proof could by specimen be given of his critical superiority than in his note on this very passage. His masterly talent is devoted to the defence against Torrentius' and the complete illustration of the reading medicandum. The demonstration is to my mind as solid as it is luminous.

First of all then, let. J. M. be advised to bestow another perusal on that powerful note, and with increased attention too; before he again speaks of the passage in the reading approved by Cruquius, Baxter, Bentley, Cuningham, and Gesner, as "" most corrupt," and one "that has defied the learning and ingenuity of all the commentators."

Secondly, as an improvement on the old lection, mendosum et mendacem, had we nothing else from any quarter proposed, J. M. might take the compliment due to his ingenuity for a very plausible emendation in ventosum et mendacem; that is, so far as ventosum might contribute to abate the cacozelon by Baxter justly condemned.

But thirdly, J. M. must not forget, that he proceeds per saltum over some sixty years of interval or more, if from the meaning of a term like ventosus in Seneca he would pass back at once, and assume the similar acceptation for it when proposed ex ingenio in Horace.

That poet has himself used the word ventosus four several times: let us see in what usage..

In its literal sense, 4 C. iv. 45-6, mare ventosum, wind-tost, liable with every wind to change its state.

To the metaphorical sense, 1 E. xix. 37, ventosa plebis, fickle and changeTully may seem to have preluded in able as if it shifted with every wind, the well known passage Pro Murenâ, (Quod enim fretum...... tot motus, tantas, tam varias habere putatis agitationes fluctuum, quantas perturba

*C the first letter of Carmina.

tiones et quantos astus habet ratio comitiorum?) as well as by the phrase popularis aura, which, like many other phrases belonging to civil life, Horace had in common with Cicero.

Again, we find the epithet in a similar application, 2 E. i. 177, ventoso Gloria curru, where the fickleness of such Glory is by an easy metonymy attributed to her car.

But Horace, in the notion of fickle, humorous, capricious, has also applied the term personally to himself. 1 E. viii. 12, Romæ Tibur amem, ventosus, Tibure Romam.

Now I assert that none of these acceptations will suit that meaning of ventosus, combined with mendax in Seneca, for which J. M. ex emendatione would into the text of Horace introduce it; inasmuch as the use of ventosus so combined is to mark the specific character of the braggard alone, comprehending no other whatsoever. Ventosus as a personal attribute in the sense of loud, noisy, boastful, is elsewhere unknown to Horace; and in the passage before us, it is a general, not a specific character, that is demanded by the context.

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Let the reader therefore judge, from the sentence of Seneca here more fully quoted, how little relevant the quotation of J. M. can be considered to any purpose of illustrating Horace. Fugere itaque debebit [iracundus] omnes, quos irritaturos iracundiam sciet. Qui sunt, inquis, isti? Multi ex variis causis idem facturi; offendet te superbus contemptu, dives contumeliâ, petulans injuriâ, lividus malignitate, pugnax contentione, ventosus et mendax vanitate. Non feres a suspicioso timeri, a pertinace vinci, a delicato fastidiri," &c. &c. Senecæ de Irâ, 1. iii. c. viii. ex ed. J. Fr. Gro. novii. Elzevir, 1649, V. i. pp. 65, 66, 16th June. H. R.

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however, many who regard the Portraits on Medals as the least instructive, and, disdaining the effigy of the Emperor, turn to the reverse, which records his victories, his vanity, or his munificence.

Upon these designs we have many learned commentaries, whilst the ob verses have been frequently neglected by numismatic writers, although collections of portraits have been highly valued in all civilized countries, even by those who were not attached to antiquarian studies.

Some early authors give indifferent representations of the heads on the coins of those Emperors of whom they furnish biographical notices, but scarcely ever make any remarks on the features exhibited. It will, however, be found that the countenance of the despot, as delineated on his medals, ge. nerally accords with the descriptions furnished by the ancient historians. Visconti, in his " Iconographie Romaine," (a work which, unfortunately for the antiquary, he did not live to complete,) has devoted some chapters to the portraits found on consulàr coins; but his attributions appear to me to be sometimes fanciful; for instance, he tells us that the head on the remarkable coins of the Gens Memmia, recording the celebration of the first Cerialia, is that of Romulus; but there does not appear to exist any sufficient authority for such an hypothesis. The same writer attributes to the founder of Rome the head on a

coin or rather medalet, of probably the time of the Antonines. It bears a bearded head crowned with waterweeds, and is doubtless intended for that of a river god-perhaps for the Tiber. On the coins of Roman families, we have, however, several portraits of updoubted authenticity, although some of them are so rude as to leave a

suspicion as to their being very accurate likenesses. Of these the head of Tatius Sabinus and the Consul Postumius may be cited as examples; but the heads of Ancus and of Numa may be considered accurate portraits of the Roman monarchs. The Denarii of Pompey bear a portrait which agrees with the description of Plutarch; though on some of them the features are very clumsily, and indeed grotesquely executed; but these may have been the performance

of unskilful moneyers in the Spanish colonies. On those of better fabric the portrait is good, the hair rises on the forehead as described by the his torian, who says it curled naturally, and there is in the countenance an expression which accords with our received notions of this great man.

Of the portrait of Lepidus, which is found on his denarii, little can be said, except that it is badly executed, but still highly characteristic, being very inex pressive and unintelligent. His treat ment by Cæsar's successor, and his tamely submitting to such treatment, excites our surprise, after reading that He formed one of the Triumvirate with Augustus and Antony; but, per haps, the subtle policy of the former discovered the advantage of having în his interest one who was so readily moulded to his will.

The account which Suetonius gives of Julius Cæsar is verified by his medals, which represent him without beard, bald, with an arched neck, and with a wreath of laurel round his head; a portrait which it would be impossible to confound with any other. The personal beauty of Cæsar has been extolled by the ancient his torians. Among others, Vellius Pa terculus describes him as "forma om nium civium excellentissimus;" but there is nothing in the portraits of the Dictator which have come down to us, to warrant such extravagant praises.

The next portrait is that of Augustus, the boyish countenance of Octavius being destitute of expression, and unworthy of notice as a likeness. The large brass coins of this Emperor, with the head of Julius Cæsar on the reverse, bear a portrait answering in every respect to the description of Suetonius, who tells us that Augustus was very careless with his hair, frequently permitting several persons to cut it at the same time, while he read or wrote; and sometimes clipped, at others, shaved his beard. The portrait on the coin in question has ragged hair, and an untrimmed beard. But the heads on his denarii differ materially from those just described. We learn from the same author, that Augustus piqued himself upon his fancied likeness to Apollo; and it would appear from these coins, that flattery took advantage of this abomi

nable vanity. On the denarii he is always represented without beard, and with a cast of countenance more res sembling that of an ideal portrait than of a living personage.

We find what may be considered authentic portraits on the well-executed coins of Tiberius. Suetonius says, that the hair of this tyrant grew down his neck Capillo pone occipitium submissiore," and on his coins this is particularly observable ; indeed, the historian speaks of it as a peculiarity in the Cæsar family.

Many coins of Caligula bear very noble portraits, utterly at variance with the account of Suetonius, who says that his countenance was unpre possessing, and that he endeavoured to render it. frightful. Here flattery was again upon the alert; but nume rous coins of this Emperor in middle brass bear a portrait of a very different description: the nose is turned up, and there is an expression in the fea tures at once forbidding and malig→ nant.

There is little variation in the heads on the coins of Claudius. The contemplation of the portrait of this Emperor by the physiognomist or phrenologist, would throw either into raptures. The expression of the face is vacant and unintellectual; and the head would be said by phrenologists to want energy. Two busts of Claudius in the Musée Royal at Paris are remarkable for the same want of intellectual expression.

Many of the coins of Nero, struck when he was Cæsar, have a youthful head, in which may be traced a strong likeness to his predecessor. It would be difficult to ascertain if this was in consequence of the prince's then personal resemblance to Claudius, or whether the artists employed in the Roman mint were desirous of paying him a compliment by giving him the features of the Emperor. Small brass coins of Nero, struck in some of the Greek cities, bear very well executed portraits of him when Cæsar; and in these may be traced the same resemblance to Claudius. It is, however, on the coins of Nero struck during his reign, that we find a portrait answering to the description of that given by Suetonius. This author says that Nero at one time followed the effemi

nate fashion of having his hair cut in rings "Comam semper in gradus formatum." This style of hair-dressing is, however, not observable on his Latin coins; but on those of colonial fabric struck at Corinth before his accession to the empire, we have a portrait with the hair cut in that

manner.

The countenance of Galba is minutely described by the biographer of the Cæsars, who observes that his forehead was bald and that his nose was hooked, traits most distinctly marked in the portraits on his money. A bust of this Emperor, preserved in the Musée Royal, may be recognized by its resemblance to that impressed on his coins.

Suetonius remarks, that the countenance and person of Otho did not indicate the resolution with which he performed in the last scene of his struggle for the empire. He was a man of effeminate habits and appearance, says the historian; beardless, and bald; the first he encouraged in his youth, the latter he concealed by wearing a peruke. The portraits on his Latin coins agree with this description, and are of a totally different character to those of the other Casars. The peruke, with which he is always represented, appears to have been formed in circles, a mark of effenancy and dandyism in those days.

Vitellius follows; and it would be difficult to find a bust so characteristic as that which his coins bear. The huge face, small head, short neck, and bloated features, are expressive of the sensuality and cruelty which marked the brief reign of the imperial glutton. Few persons can be unacquainted with the strongly marked counte'nance of Vespasian, whose features were well calculated for representation in profile. The coarse joke of a jester on his peculiarity of visage is preserved by Suetonius, but will not bear repetition here. His coins testify the neral accuracy of the historian.

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The portraits on the coins of Titus, and on those of Domitian, when he succeeded to the empire, resemble that of their father; but it is somewhat remarkable, that later coins of Domitian have a bust of much nobler character, with a long and graceful neck. Suetonius says that his person was

comely. He says the same of Titus, whom, however, he describes as somewhat short of stature and inclined to corpulency, while Domitian, on the contrary, was tall and stately. This discrepancy in the portraits of Domitian may be attributed to the desire of the artists of the period to represent him as like as possible to his brother, a prince whose virtues had endeared him to the people. This was a description of flattery very frequently practised in the Roman mint; but Domitian, we are told, was exceedingly vain of his personal appearance; and it is probable that this depraved Emperor preferred stamping on his coins a portrait of more graceful appearance than that which his subjects had perhaps learned to regard with veneration, on account of its resemblance to one whose amiable qualities appeared to advantage, in an age when the rapine, sensuality, and cruelty of the Roman Emperors had, from their frequency, ceased to excite the disgust and horror of their subjects.

Should the foregoing brief remarks on the imagines of "the Twelve Cæsars," prove at all interesting to your numerous readers, I shall, at a future opportunity, proceed to a review of the portraits on the coins of their

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