and Roman antiques, that a good judge can fearce diftinguish them from originals. The feries of the modern medals of European nations are abfolutely complete, and those of each nation kept diftinct.

Amongst the natural curiofities preferved in the chambers, one of the most remarkable is a petrified child, the hiftory whereof has been given us at large by Bartholine. Licetus, and other authors. This child was cut out of the mother's belly at Sens in Champagne, in the year 1582, after having lain there between twenty and thirty years; and that it is a human foetus, and not artificial, is evident beyond all difpute. Its head, fhoulders, and belly, are of a whitifh colour, and very much resemble alabafter; the back and loins are somewhat brown and harder; but from the hips downwards it is of a red colour, and as hard as perfect ftone can be, exactly refembling the hard fort of ftones generated in the bladder. This fœtus, after it was taken from the mother, was firft carried to Paris, where it was fold to a jeweller of Venice, who happened to be there, for about twenty pounds fterling; of whom it was afterwards purchafed by Frederick the third, king of Denmak, for fixty pounds,

and added to this collection.

In one of the chambers are to be feen two elephants teeth, each weighing a hundred and fifty pounds, which were dug out of a ftone quarry in Saxony.

Here is alfo an egg laid by a woman, about the fize of a common pullet's egg, which Olaus Wormius tells us was fent him by very good hands, and the truth of the fact confirmed by people of credit. The woman, he fays, brought forth

two eggs, with the ufual child-birth pains; but the neighbours, who were called in to her affistance, broke the firft, wherein the found a yolk and a white, as in that of a hen.

We likewife fee here an unicorn's horn, as it is called, white as ivory, and fpirally twisted. This, however, is not the horn of any land animal, but belongs to a kind of fish called a Narval.

In this fine collection there are feveral large pieces of filver ore, dug out of the mines of Norway in 1666, one of which weighs five hundred and fixty pounds, and is valued at five thousand crowns. Another piece, fomewhat lefs, is valued at more than three thoufand; both being fo rich, that they are reckoned to contain at leaft three parts filver. They are compofed of a whitish ftone, the cracks or cavities whereof feem to be filled with pure virgin filver, which in fome places lies in broad flat plates, aud in others like pieces of fine filver lace: but what is most admired in thefe pieces of ore are the threads or branches of filver, which fhoot out an inch or two beyond the furface of the ftone, appearing in the form of fmall fhrubs or bushes; and feveral other ramifications of this kind are to be feen among the filver ores preferved in this Mufeum.

Here we alfo find feveral large pieces of amber, fome weighing forty or fifty ounces; which, upon opening the ditches about Copenhagen, when they fortified the city, were found flicking to the fides of old trees that were buried there, like the gum on the plumbtrees in our gardens.

In the fame chamber are a great 03 many

many large branches of white and red coral, and one of back; likewife a pair of ftg's horns growing out of a piece of wood in a surprising

manner.

Here is a human thigh-bone, three feet three inches long, as meafured by Dr. Cliver hinfelf; and two very large fcollop-fhells, holding about three gallons each, and weighing two hundred and twentyfour pounds a-piece. Thefe were brought from the East Indies; and it is faid the fish they belong to is of fuch strength, that if a man happens to get his arm or leg between the fhells when they are open, it claps them together fo forcibly as to cut the limb clear off.

A piece of marble is preferved in this collection, which the Lutherans reckon a very valuable curiofity, the natural veins of the ftone running in fuch a manner as to reprefent the exact figure of a crucifix. Some indeed have fufpected the reprefentation to have been by art; but upon the niceft examination it appears to be entirely the work of

nature.

Amongst the artificial curiofities, there is a keleton made of ivory, two feet fix inches high, in imitation of a human one; and it is fo nicely formed and put together, that one might eafily take it for a natural skeleton.

There are likewife two crucifixes of ivory, and the whole hiftory of our Saviour's paffion beautifully expreffed in a piece of carved work.

A fmall man of war in ivory, with filver guns, is a curiofity much admired; as is alfo a watch made of ivory, with all its wheels and move.

ments.

Befides these there are many other curiofities in ivory, ebony,

box, amber, and other materials, which are kept for the fake of ele. gant workmanship; and we are told there is a common cherry. ftone, on the furface of which are engraved two hundred and twenty heads, but their finallnefs makes them appear imperfect and confufed.

In this royal repository we find fix golden fepulchral urns, which were difcovered in the island of Funen in 1685, by a peasant, as he was ploughing his land, and contained each of them fome ashes of a greyish colour. The largeft of them weighs two ounces and a half, and the other two ounces and a dram. They are very thin, and each has three rings of gold about its neck, with feveral circles carved upon the outfide of the urn, having one common centre. This difcovery confirms the account given us by Olaus Wormius and other writers, that it was an ancient cuftom among the northern nations to burn their dead, and then bury their collected afhes in golden urns.

There is another fepulchral urn of cryftal, of a conical figure, which has alfo a gold ring about it, and was found near Bergen in Norway.

There are likewife in this collection feveral veffels of different fizes, fome of glafs and others of earth, which are called Lachrymal urns, or Lachrymatories, being ufed by the ancient Romans to catch the tears

of weeping friends, which were af. terwards mixed with the ashes of the deceafed.

We shall conclude our account of this celebrated Mufeum with a defcription of the Danish and Oldenburg horns, two curiofities which are much admired. The Danish

Danish horn is of pure gold, weighs a hundred and two ounces and a half, is two feet nine inches long, and holds about two quarts of wine measure. This horn was accidentally difcovered in the year 1639, by a country girl, in the diocefe of Rypen in Jutland; and is undoubtedly a piece of great antiquity, by the figures carved on the outfide, which feem to be hieroglyphics, devils, hobgoblins, &c. Perhaps fome of thefe figures were defigned to reprefent their deities, and the horn was probably ufed in facrifices, as amongst the ancient Affyrians and other nations, who upon fuch folemnities made a great noife with horns and trumpets, and used them to drink out of at their folemn entertainments.

The Oldenburg horn is of pure filver, gilt with gold, weighs about four pounds, and is curiously enamelled with green and purple colours. The Danish antiquaries tell many fabulous stories of this horn, which are not worth repeating; and as to what they fay of its being given to Otho, earl of Oldenburg, in the year 982, it is plain it cannot be of that date, for the figures and characters on the outfide are modern; which, however, with the enamelling and other ornaments, are of excellent workmanship, and make it a very fine and valuable curiofity.

The extraordinary Hiftory of Bianca, a Venetian Lady; from M. de la Lande's Voyage d'un François en Italie, fait dans les Années 1765 1766.

ABOUT the end of the fif

century, Thomas Buopaventuri, a young man of Flo

rence, of a creditable family, but without fortune, went to live with a merchant of the fame country, who had fettled at Venice: the merchant's houfe was over-againft the back-door of one that belonged to a noble Venetian, whofe name was Barthelemi Capello. In the houfe of Capello there was a young lady of great beauty, whofe name was Bianca. She was watched with great circumfpection, but Buonaventuri frequently faw her at the window: he had not the leaft hope of a nearer interview, yet, by a natural, and almoft neceffary impulfe, he did all that could be done in fuch circumftances to amufe her, and exprefs the paffion with which fhe had infpired him: he was young and amiable, fhe very foon ceafed to be indifferent; and, after long negociation, the particulars of which are not related, the lovers found means to accomplish their wishes. Bianca went every night, after the family were retired and afleep, to the chamber of Buonaventuri in the merchant's houfe, by means of the little back-door, which he left a-jar, and by which fhe returned before day, without being feen by any body.

After this had continued fome time, custom made her lefs cautious, and one night the ftaid with her lover till the morning was farther advanced than ufual: it happened that a baker's boy, who, according to the cuftom of the country, was taking bread from a neighbouring houfe, to carry it to the oven, perceived the little back-door, by which Bianca had come out, to be a-jar, and fuppofing it to have been left open by accident, fhut it.

The young lady came a few minutes afterwards, and found it faft; in the confternation and dif 04

trefs

ftrefs which this accident produced, the returned to the houfe fhe had juft quitted, and knocking foftly at the door, was let in by her lover, to whom the related what had happened. Gratitude and love inRantly determined him to facrifice every thing to her fafety, and he immediately quitted his tuation, and retired with the lady to the houfe of another Florentine, where they remained hidden, with the utmost care and precaution, till they found an opportunity of efcaping to Florence.

At Florence he had a little houfe in Via larga, near St. Mark's, and over-against a convent of nuns of the order of St. Catherine. To this little dwelling he retired, fays our author, with his wife, and lived fome time in great privacy, for fear the republic of Venice fhould, at the folicitations of Capello, caufe him to be purfued.

Francis-Maria, the great duke of Tufcany, at this time, was a native of France, the fon of Cofmo the firft, and father of Mary de Medicis he had married Jane of Auftria, daughter of the emperor Ferdinand, widow of the king of Hungary he was a princefs of high eftimation; but being at this time paft her youth, the duke neg. letted her for other women. One of the officers of his court was the confidant of his pleafures, who had a wife not lefs zealous to render herfelf ufeful than himself.

The arrival of the fair Venetian was known in Florence, and the rumour of her adventure, and her beauty, excited a frong defire in the duke to fee her, to which the great privacy of her life contributed not a little. He ufed every day to walk before the houfe to

which he had retired, and, as the had no amufement but looking out of the window, it was not long be. fore his curiofity was gratified; fhe was indeed half veiled, but he faw enough to judge of her beauty, of which he became violently ena moured.

His confidant, perceiving his paffion to be unfurmountable, began to concert meafures for the gratification of it; and engaged his wife to afft in the project: the misfortunes which Bianca had already fuffered, and thofe to which fhe was ftill expofed, gave this good woman a pretence to infinuate that fhe had fomething of importance to communicate to her, and for that purpofe invited her to dinner. Buonaventuri was fome time in fufpenfe whether he should fuffer Bianca to accept the invitation; but the rank of the lady, and the need in which he flood of protection, at length got the better of his caution and doubts. Bianca was received with the most flattering kindnefs and attention; fhe was prevailed upon to relate the ftory of her diftrefs, and was heard with an appearance of the most tender concern; obliging offers were made her, and preffed with fo generous a friendship, that he could not refufe to accept of fome prefents from the lady.

The duke, informed of the fuccefs of the firft vifit, hoped that he might be prefent at the fecond. Another invitation was immediately fent to Bianca; and, after new marks of esteem and regard, new pity of her misfortunes, and new praifes of her beauty, he was afked if he had no defire to make her court to the grand duke, who, on his part, was impatient to become acquainted