had no trouble in making out or recognising the two next, which are the last on that side; it is the Emperor Hadrian sitting, and half naked, and, next to him, his wife Sabina. It seems that they are both looking on with pleasure at the triumph of the goddess. I do not believe that before me, any person observed this particularity, which deserves to be remarked." "On the left of Jupiter are five or six figures, of which some have lost the heads; it is probably the circle of the gods, where Jupiter is about to introduce Minerva, and to make her be acknowledged for his daughter. The pediment behind represented, according to the same author, the dispute which Minerva and Neptune had for naming the city, but all the figures are fallen from them, except one head of a sea-horse, which was the usual accompaniment of this god; these figures of the two pediments were not so ancient as the body of the temple built by Pericles, for which there wants no other argument than that of the statue of Hadrian, which is to be seen there, and the marble which is whiter than the rest. All the rest has not been touched The Marquis de Nointel had designs made of the whole, when he went to Athens; his painter worked there for two months, and almost lost his eyes, because he was obliged to draw every thing from below, without a scaffold."-Voyage par Jacob Spon; Lyons, 1678; 2 tom. p. 144.)

Wheler, who travelled with Spon, and published his work at London (four years later) in 1682,

says, "But my companion made me observe the next two figures sitting in the corner to be of the Emperor Hadrian and his Empress Sabina, whom I easily knew to be so, by the many medals and statues I have seen of them." And again, "But the Emperor Hadrian most probably repaired it, and adorned it with those figures at each front. For the whiteness of the marble, and his own statue joined with them, apparently show them to be of a later age than the first, and done by that Emperor's command. Within the portico on high, and on the outside of the cella of the the temple itself, is another border of basso relievo round about it, or at least on the north and south sides, which, without doubt, is as antient as the temple, and of admirable work, but not so high a relievo as the other. Thereon are represented sacrifices, processions, and other ceremonies of the heathens' worship; most of them were designed by the Marquis de Nointel, who employed a painter to do it two months together, and showed them to us when we waited on him at Constantinople."

Another French author, who published three years earlier thanSpon, a work called "Athenes Ancienne & Nouvelle, par le S de la Guilletiere; à Paris, 1675,"—says,

Pericles employed upon the Parthenon the celebrated architects Callicrates and Ictinus. The last, who had more reputation than the former, wrote a description of it in a book, which he

composed on purpose, and which has been lost; and we should probably not now have the op-portunity of admiring the building itself, if the Emperor Hadrian had not preserved it to us, by the repairs which he caused to be done. It is to his care that we owe the few remains of antiquity which are still entire at Athens." In the Antiquities of Athens by Stuart, vol. ii. p. 4, it is said, "Pausanias gives but a transient account of this temple, nor does he say whether Hadrian repaired it, though his statue, and that of the Empress Sabina in the western pediment, have occasioned a doubt whether the sculptures, in both, were not put up by him. Wheler and Spon were of this opinion, and say they were whiter than the rest of the building. The statue of Antinous, now remaining at Rome, may be thought a proof that there were artists in his time capable of executing them, but this whiteness is no proof that they were more modern than the temple, for they might be made of a whiter marble; and the heads of Hadrian and Sabina might be put on two of the ancient figures, which was

no

uncommon practice among the Romans; and if we may give credit to Plutarch, the buildings of Pericles were not in the least impaired by age in his time; therefore this temple could not want any material repairs in the reign of Hadrian.”

With regard to the works of Hadrian at Athens, Spartian says, that he did much for the Athenians; and a little after, on

66

*Folio Edit. Paris, 1620. p. 6.

his second visit to Athens, "going to the East he made his journey through Athens, and dedicated the works which he had begun there and particularly a temple to Olympian Jupiter, and an altar to himself."

The account given by Dion Cassius, is nearly to the same effect, adding that he placed his own statue within the temple of Olympian Jupiter, which he erected.*

He called some other cities after his own name, and directed a part of Athens to be styled Hadrianopolis :† but no mention is made by any ancient author, of his touching or repairing the Parthenon. Pausanias, who wrote in his reign, says, that "the temples which Hadrian either erected from the foundation, or adorned with dedicated gifts and decorations, or whatever donations he made to the cities of the Greeks, and of the Barbarians also, who made application to him, were all recorded at Athens in the temple common to all the gods."‡

It is not unlikely, that a confused recollection of the statue which Hadrian actually placed at Athens, may have led one of the earliest travellers into a mistake, which has been repeated, and countenanced by subsequent writers; but M. Fauvel, who will be quoted presently, speaks as from his own examination and observation, when he mentions the two statues in question; which, it is to be observed, still remain (without their heads) up

*B. 69, c. 16. + Spartian, p. 10. Paus. Att. p. 5. Ed. Xyl.

on

on the pediment of the entrance, and have not been removed by Lord Elgin.

An exact copy of these drawings, by the Marquis de Nointel's painter, is given in M. Barry's works; which are rendered more valuable on account of the destruction of a considerable part of the temple in the Turkish war by the falling of a Venetian bomb, within a short time after the year in which they were made; which, however, must have been prior to the date of 1683, affixed to the plate in Barry's works, (2 vol. p. 163. London, 1809.)

Some notes of M. Fauvel, a painter and antiquarian, who moulded and took casts from the greatest part of the sculptures, and remained fifteen years at Athens, are given with the tracings of these drawings; in which it is said, with regard to these pediments, "These figures were adorned with bronze, at least if we may judge by the head of Sabina, which is one of the two that remain; and which, having fallen, and being much mutilated, was brought to M. Fauvel. The traces are visible of the little cramps which probably fixed the crown to the head. The head of the Emperor Hadrian still exists. Probably this group has been inserted to do honour to that emperor, for it is of a workmanship different from the rest of the sculpture."

Agricultural State of the Kingdom, being the Substance of the Replies to a Circular Letter sent by the Board of Agriculture.

The Board of Agriculture, on

assembling after the Christmas vacation, considered it as an incumbent duty to the Public, to take the necessary measures for ascertaining the real state of the kingdom, in whatever most intimately concerned its Agricultural Resources; and for this purpose, ordered the following Circular Letter and Queries to be immediately dispatched to all their Correspondents:

Sir;-The Board of Agriculture, attentive to those circumstances which concern the Agricultural Interest of the Kingdom, beg your attention to the underwritten Queries; to which they request the earliest possible Reply. The importance of the subject, in the present state of the Kingdom, will without doubt induce you to be carefully accurate in the answers with which you may favour us. I am, Sir, your obedient, and very humble Servant,

J. FANE, Vice-President. (Signed by Order of the Board.) 13th February, 1816.

noting the distress of the farmers, have come to your knowledge, which may not be included under the above queries ?

5. Is the present distress greater on arable, or on grass farms?

6. Have flock-farms suffered equally with others?

7. Does the country in which you reside, suffer from a diminished circulation of paper?

8. What is the state of the labouring poor; and what is the proportion of poor-rates, compared with the years 1811 and

1812?

9. What remedies occur to you, for alleviating these difficulties?

To these queries the Board received 326 letters in reply, from which the following statement has been collected.

First Query.-Occupancy. Three hundred and thirteen replies, describing the state of occupation, have been received, which may be thus arranged: Letters, mentioning farms unoccupied by tenants, being thrown on the landlord's hands.... ... 16S Letters, in which no such

want of occupancy occurs. Letters, in which farms are stated to have been uncultivated for want of being occupied by the landlords,

127

18

313

It is necessary to observe, in relation to the 127 letters, that their not containing the article of occupation by tenants, is not singly to be taken as a sign of prosperity, as a great number of them are amongst those the most descriptive of agricultural dis

tress; and 64 of them also add, that notices have been given to quit; a ci: cumstance marking, in some degree, the progress of the evil.

It may further be remarked, that these letters represent a large quantity of land to be uncultvated.

Second Query.-Notices to Quit

Three hundred and twenty-two replies have been received to this query, which may be thus arranged:

Letters, in which the expres

sion is, many farmers have given notice to quit..... 103 Letters, in which the expressions are, several, or a few, have given notice to quit.. 111 Letters, in which the expres

sion is, all that can, have given notice to quit...... Letters, in which the expression is, none have given notice to quit...

37

71

399

It is scarcely necessary to remark, that until the present period of declension commenced, such an idea, as giving notice to quit a farm, except for the purpose of hiring a better one, may be said to have been almost unknown in the kingdom; and no circumstance can more clearly mark the present degradation of the employment, than these notices to quit.

Third Query.—Reduction of Rent.

There have been 212 returns, specifying the proportionate reduction of rent, and the average of them all is 25 per cent.

It should however be remarked, that

that this applies only to the letters which specify the amount of the reduction many others speak of the same fact, without giving precisely the proportion.

The land rents of the kingdom, according to the returns of the property-tax, have been stated at 34,000,000; if the real fact should exceed this by only two millions, the total will be 36 millions, and the loss of 25 per cent. will give a total of 9,000,000 to landlords alone; but this will by no means, according to the letters received by the Board, be the whole of one year's loss, as the amount of unpaid arrears is stated in many of the letters to be very great indeed, and property not only distrained for rent, but also for taxes.

The distress of the present period will scarcely permit of a doubt, were it proved by no other circumstance than the curious fact which occurs more than once in the correspondence, that the mere occupation of farms, free of all rent, is considered as a benefit, with the Norfolk assertion, that the year's rent of the county will be lost such assertions may not be accurate, but they could not be ventured, if the distress was not very great proved also by twenty advertisements of sales for distress of rent, in that one county.

Fourth Query-General State of Husbandry in the present Period.

By far the greater number of the letters enter into considerable details on the circumstances which denote the present deplorable state of the National Agriculture.Bankruptcies, seizures, executions, imprisonments, and farmers

become parish paupers, are particularly mentioned by many of the correspondents; with great arrears of rent, and in many cases, tithes and poor-rates unpaid; improvements of every kind generally discontinued ; live-stock greatly lessened; tradesmen's bills unpaid; and alarming gangs of poachers and other depredators. These circumstances are generally expressed in language denoting extreme distress, and absolute ruin in a variety of instances.

Fifth and Sixth Queries.—Araple

and Grass Lund, and Flock Farms, compared.

The replies to the fifth query, very generally assert the distress to be much greater on arable than on grass land; but many of them observe, that of late the prices of grass-land produce have so much declined, that the difference promises soon to be but small. In general, it is asserted, that flock farms have suffered much less than others; but they have begun to feel it heavily, yet not equally with arable land.

Seventh Query.-Circulation of Paper.

There is in the replies some difference of opinion upon this point: much mischief is noted from the failure of country banks: many of the correspondents are of opinion, that agriculture suffers much for want of a larger and safer circulation; and not a few complain heavily of the deficiency of paper being so extreme, that they are forced to sell their products under a great depreciation of price, merely from the want of notes to pay for them. The great

ness