in general; when they tell us, that all the places where the Jews had their principal fettlements, abounded in grain of the best kind, in excellent fruits, in wines and oils of the firft quality; when they represent the environs of Sephoris, as an admirable country for its fertility; when they commend the mountainous parts of Judea, the gardens round about Jerufalem, fo famous for their figs, the arable grounds of Barcaim and Capharachum, the wines of Karium and Atolim, and the territory of Hebron, which, though ftony, is, according to them, fuperior to the moft fruitful provinces of Egypt for its wines, pafture-grounds, and flocks. The encomiums the Talmudifts bestow upon Bethfan or Scythopolis, on account of the extent of its vineyards, its rich plantations of palm-trees, the beauty of its byffus (or fine flax) and the fine linens that were manufactured there, fuppofing them exaggerated, must have had at leaft fome foundation in truth; and when we confider that it was one of the common proverbs of the Talmudifts, that the land of Ifrael was a paradife, and that Bethfan was its gate, it must be abfurd to imagine, that this paradife was no more than a wretched, barren country, without either fertility or culture.

From the Jewish writers, our Author proceeds to the accounts given of Judea by Pagan authors, and quotes, among others, Galen, Paufanias, Solinus, and Ammianus Marcellinus.Galen travelled in Judea, and examined its productions with the spirit of a naturalift. He commends, as Hippocrates had done before him, the dates of that country, and reprefents them as excellent both for food and medicine. He enlarges on the two valuable productions of the Lake Afphaltites, its bitumen, which he prefers before all others, and its falt, of which he mentions both the excellent quality and the great abundance. He affirms, that the water of that Lake contains more falt than any other fea-water. Experiments, made fome years ago by the Academy of Sciences at Paris, confirm the affertion of Galen, and prove, that each quintal of the water of that Lake yields forty-four pounds fix ounces of falt. This falt, which Galen confidered as more deterfive and falubrious than any other, was ufed, exclufively, in the fecond temple, and muft have been an important branch of commerce for the country.

Paufanias, who lived but a little after Galen, had also travelled into Palestine: it even appears, that he gave a description of that country, compofed in the fame method with his Voyage through Greece. This work has unhappily perifhed in the ruins of time; and the only paffages, relative to Judea, that can be cited from Paufanias, are fome accidental ones, that we find in his description of Greece. He there fpeaks of the Jordan as a fishy river, of the balfam-trees, dates, and other objects that announce fertility, as alfo, of a curious and magnificent tomb APP. REV. Vol. Ixii.

PP

which

which he had feen near Jerufalem. Our Author confines, principally, his attention to what Paufanias fays of the Byfus, which that hiftorian esteems highly, and in order to celebrate the Byffus of Elis, fays, that it was equal in fineness to that of Judea, though it was not fo yellow. Mr. Forster, in his treatife de Byo Antiquorum, thinks, that the Byffus of the ancients was a very fine fort of cotton, and concludes from these words of Paufanias, that this cotton is the Bomba of the isle of Ceylon.

Solinus, who is fuppofed to have copied Pliny, is quoted by our Author, as fpeaking of the beautiful freams of Jordan, of the rich and fmiling plains which it waters, of the lake of Tiberias, which has many beautiful towns fituated on its borders, of the culture of the balfam-trees of Engeddi, and of the famous forefts of Palm trees, whole beauty had neither diminished by the ruins of time, nor by the devastations of war. An hundred and fifty years after Solinus, a ftill more refpectable hiftorian, Ammianus Marcellinus, fpoke in terms equally advantageous of Palestine." It is, fays he, the remoteft of the Syrias: it is 66 very extenfive: it abounds with fertile and well-cultivated "lands: cultis abundans terris et nitidis: there are many warm "fprings in that country, which prove whole fome in various "diforders, and alfo beautiful cities."-Egregias urbes, &c.— Thus, obferves M. Guencè, Pagan Authors of the first note, instead of representing Judea as a miferable country, barren, defert, and poor, fpeak in high terms of its cities, its waters, its foil, and its cultivation.

The Chriftian authors of the period under confideration, fuch as Eufebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Theodoret, and others, fpeak a fimilar language; as alfo Antoninus Martyr, a citizen of Placentia, who, in the fixth century, travelled to Palestine, and compofed an account of his voyage, which is still extant. But this writer is lefs known than Eufebius and Jerome. "The "canton of Nazareth, fays Antoninus, is not inferior to Egypt "in corn and fruits. The territory of that city is not very "extenfive; but it abounds in wine and oil, and excellent "honey." The country about Jericho appeared to him still more fertile. He praises the wine, as a falutary remedy in fevers, the dates, the kidney-beans, whofe cods are sometimes two feet long, and the grapes, that are ripe in the month of May. He faw Mount Tabor, which he reprefents, as furrounded with cities-he obferved, in the neighbourhood of Jerufalem, vineyards, great plantations of fruit-trees, and through the whole country, a confiderable number of hofpitals, monafteries, beautiful edifices, &c. Towards the end of his journey Antoninus paffed through Tyre. He obferves, that the morals in that city were depraved in a high degree, in confequence of the abuse of opulence; that its inhabitants were enriched by filken manufactures

factures and commerce, and lived in luxury, and the effeminate pursuit of pleasure. Now our Author thinks, that the commerce of the Tyrians extended to Paleftine, whofe inhabitants may have purchafed its rich stuffs and fine linens. It is well known by the relations of Jerome and Gregory of Nyffa, that the greatest depravation of morals reigned through Palestine, and the conclufion our Abbé draws from thence is as follows:

"It is not in poor and barren countries that corruption * of manners reigns: licentioufnefs is the daughter of luxury, "and luxury is the offspring of opulence. And from all that "has been obferved, adds he, I conclude, that whether we "confider the hiftory of Judea at that time, or judge by the "teftimonies of contemporary writers, we must be perfuaded "that, during the period under confideration, it was a fruit

ful, rich and populous country. No contemporary author "has fpoken otherwife, or given any description of the Holy "Land, fimilar to thofe digufting ones which we meet with "in fome modern writers,"-who mean by them to ferve a purpose.

Our Author, however, in concluding his work, acknowledges, that the opulence and fertility of Judea may have begun to diminish towards the middle of this period: but he does not think any argument can be drawn from hence, against its having been, at the commencement of this period, in a flourishing ftate; much lefs can any proof be brought from hence, that in preceding periods, under the kings, or under the adminiftration of Mofes, the country of Paleftine was a barren, poor, and uncultivated district. For to fay, Palestine, in the time of St. Jerome, was no longer diftinguished by its fertility and cultivation-therefore, it was uncultivated, barren, and miferable, two, or three, or four, or fifteen centuries before that time, would be a very fallacious way of reafoning.

ART. XVIII.

Differtation contre l'Ufage des Bouillons de Viandes dans les Maladies Febriles.-A Differtation concerning the pernicious Effects of Flesh-Broths in Feverish Diforders. By M. PAUL C. DE LAUDUN, M. D. Paris. 8vo. 1779.

TH

HIS Differtation has long custom and deep-rooted prejudices to conquer; mutton broth, veal broth, and chicken broth, are fuch comfortable things, when the appetite is disordered, and the ftomach is faftidious, and they have fo many old women, befide thofe of the faculty, on their fide, that M. LAUDUN muft not flatter himself, that he fhall be able to vanquish them, when he fallies forth alone into the field of battle. If he maintains, as well he may, both from authority and experience, that animal food in feverish cafes, and broths in particular,

Pp 2

particular, tend to produce a putrid fermentation; the adverfary will tell him, that he has only to fqueeze a Seville orange into the faid broth, in order to correct this pernicious tendency. The apothecaries, more efpecially, whofe profperous commerce in emetics and purgatives is peculiarly promoted by the confequences of animal food and fiefh broths, will take our Author and his light nourishment feverely to tafk; but we believe him to be in the right, notwithstanding all this oppofition.

ART. XIX.

Saggio Hiftorico, &c.-An Historical Effay concerning the Royal Gallery of Florence. By M. JOSEPH BENCIVENNI, Director of that celebrated Collection. Vols. I. and II. 8vo. Florence. $779.

HE gallery of Florence is, undoubtedly, the firft collection of ancient ftatues, balo relievos, pictures, gems, medals, &c. in the world. The immenfe variety of elegant and venerable riches, contained in this gallery, has been the admiration of ages; and were there no other object in that country adapted to attract the attention of men of tafte, this alone would render a voyage to Tufcany fingularly interefting. The defcription of this noble collection, published in eleven volumes in folio, under the title of Mufeo Florentino, is a purchafe too expenfive for perfons of a middling fortune; befides, it is not finished; for, as the merit of the engravings did not answer the expences of the publication and the price of the work, this rendered its fale lefs fuccefsful than might have been expected; but whether it was this circumftance, or the death of Mr. Mouke, a German printer, of great reputation, who was principally concerned in this undertaking, that prevented the continuation of the work, we know not. There is a compendious defcription of the gallery of Florence in 8vo, by Bernard Bianchi; but this is little more than an index, which is fold to ftrangers who go to fee the gallery, and which is far from having the merit of the Hiftorical Effay now under confideration.

It is to the firft branches of the illuftrious Houfe of Medicis, that this magnificent collection owes its exiftence; and as they tranfmitted their tafte and their munificence to their fucceffors, it was ftill farther enriched and improved, in process of time. The hiftory, then, of this gallery, from Cofmo de Medicis, furnamed the Father of the Country, to the prefent time, is the subject of this work and a noble fubject it is, as it comprehends, in reality, the hiftory of the restoration and progrefs of the fine arts in Italy. Whatever advantages M. BENCIVENNI may have had for the execution of this plan, from his fituation at Florence, yet he might have improved and enriched his work with feveral curious anecdotes, and elegant remarks, if a work, printed

printed a few years ago in Holland, under the title of Memoires Genealogiques de la Maifon de Medicis *, had fallen into his hands.

However that may be, M. BENCIVENNI's Effay has more than one kind of merit. It is eafily to be purchased, and it contains good information. Its Author being on the spot, and having the direction of the royal gallery, has the objects before his eyes, and excellent fources of hiftorical inftruction are near at hand.

1

In the first volume, our Author gives an account of the ineftimable collections poffeffed by the House of Medicis, before it arrived at the fovereignty, and which, at this day, enrich feveral cabinets in different parts of Europe. In the fecond, he gives a hiftory of the foundation of the Gallery of Florence, in the year 1581, under the Grand Duke François I, as alfo, of the acquifitions with which it was enriched by the fucceffors of that prince. It contains, at prefent, according to our Author's account, 90 ftatues, 70 bufts of emperors and empreffes, 100 heads of the most celebrated perfonages of antiquity, a multitude of Greek and Latin infcriptions, baffo relievos, and fragments, of which feveral are Tufcan, two collections of bronzes, one ancient, the other modern, 1100 pictures, 850 portraits of illuftrious men, and the portraits of 344 painters, drawn by themselves. There are alfo in this grand collection 162 volumes of exquifite drawings, a great quantity of prints, a confiderable number of excellent pieces of workmanship in wax, ivory, amber, ftones, marquetry, turquoife, tortoife-fhell, mofaic, &c. and above 4000 intaglios and cameos. The medals, of which there is a prodigious variety, are above 14000. The number of modern coins, which have been lately arranged in a geographical order, is alfo confiderable.

The Author propofes giving, in the following volumes, a description of the principal productions of the fine arts contained in this Gallery, with the opinions that have been given of them, respectively, by the moft celebrated connoiffeurs.

Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Medicis. This inftructive, elegant, and entertaining work (which we have this moment before us, bound in three octavo volume:) was never expofed to fale: the title exhibits neither the name of the learned and ingenious Author, nor that of the place where it was printed. We have been, however, informed, that the Author is a native of the Hague, where he fills an honourable employment, and where also his work was printed and diflributed among felca friends.