French, that day, made more ufe of their fpurs than of their fwords or military weapons: "And fpurring from the fight confefs'd their fear." SHAKESPEARE. He taught men the use of the vine, the cultivation of the earth, and the manner of making honey. Typhæus, or Typhon, was a famous giant, with a hundred heads, like thofe of a ferpent. Flames of devouring fire were darted from his mouth and eyes; and he uttered horrid yells, like the diffonant fhrieks of different animals. He made war againft heaven, and fo alarmed the gods that they fled away, and affumed different fhapes; Jupiter became a ram, Mercury an ibis, Apollo a crow, Diana a cat, Juno a cow, Bacchus a goat, Venus a fifh, &c. &c. When the bold Typhæus Forc'd great Jove from his own heaven to fly, DRYDEN. But at length Jupiter refumed courage, ftruck Typhæus dead with his thunderbolts, and crushed him under Mount Etna, in Sicily; or, according to fome, under the island Inarime, near Campania, a country of Italy, of which Capua was the capital. The plural of eye, from the Scotch eene: it is now obfolete. Typhæus Typhæus roars beneath, by Jove's command, DRYDEN'S VIRGIL. AQUARIUS. It is generally imagined, that Ganymede was changed into this conftellation. He was a beautiful youth of Phrygia, whom Jupiter, in the form of an eagle, carried up into heaven, as he was tending his father's flocks on Mount Ida; and he became the cup-bearer of the gods, inftead of Hebe, the goddefs of youth; who had been difmiffed from this office by Jupiter, because fhe fell down a little diforderly as the was pouring nectar at a grand feftival. PISCES are faid to be the fishes into which Venus and her fon Cupid transformed themfelves, to avoid the fury of Typhæus when he affailed heaven. Venus was one of the most celebrated deities of the ancients. She was the goddess of beauty: the mother of love; the queen of laughter; and the miftrefs of the graces and pleafures. Mythologifts fpeak of more than one Venus; but that which is beft known is faid to have arifen out of the fea, near the island of Cytherea, adjacent to the Morea. This goddefs has a great variety of names; one of which is Anadyomene, rendered immortal by a celebrated painting of Apelles*, fo called; which reprefents APELLES was one of the moft celebrated painters of antiquity, and flourished in the time of Alexander the Great, with whom he was in high favour. His pencil was fo famous for drawing fine lines, that Protogenes difcovered by a fingle reprefents her as iffuing from the bofom of the waves, and wringing her beautiful treffes on her fhoulder. line that Apelles had been at his house. Protogenes was an eminent painter at Rhodes: Apelles failed thither, and went to his houfe with great eagernefs, to fee the works of an artist who was known to him only by name. Protogenes was gone from home; but a female fervant was left watching a large piece of canvafs, which was fitted in a frame for painting. She told Apelles that Protogenes was gone out, and afked him his name, that the might inform her mafter who had inquired for him. "Tell him (fays Apelles) he was inquired for by this "perfon ;"at the fame time taking up a pencil, he drew on the canvass a line of great delicacy. The abfent artist on his return being made acquainted with what had happened, and contemplating the beauty of the performance, immediately pronounced that Apelles had been there, obferving that fo finished a work could be produced by no other perfon. This anecdote gave rise to the following lines by one of our own poets. And Sir, at present, would you please To leave your name ?-Fair maiden, yes- And will you pleafe, fweetheart, faid he, How painters write their name at Co. "Tis thus that painters write their name at Co." is an expreffion which is fometimes used to denote great excellency. Co, Cos, or Coos, the birth-place of Apelles, is an ifland in, the Southern part of the Archipelago, fomewhat North of Rhodes. It is recorded of this inimitable artist, that he was fo attentive to his profeffion, that he never spent a day without employing his pencil, whence the proverb of Nulla dies fine lineâ : Let no day pafs without one ftroke of the pencil. An admirable maxim which fhould be indelibly impreffed on the mind and exemplified in the practice of all who wish to attain excellence in any art or profeffion. The fhoulder. This unrivalled performance was purchafed by Auguftus; and placed, by that monarch, in the temple of Julius Cæfar. It is often ftyled "Venus rifing out of the fea," and was esteemed the most exquifite figure which the pencil could create it is therefore highly extolled by the ancient poets. Ovid has paid it the following elegant compliment: "If fam'd APELLES had not painted thee, "VENUS, thou ne'er had'ft rifen from the fea." And the poet of Sidon, Antipater, who flourished about 80 years B. C. has left us the fubfequent Greek epigram on it: The works of Apelles were all admired; but the most celebrated were, the picture of Alexander in the temple of Diana at Ephefus, and that of Venus emerging from the sea, before noticed, which was efteemed his chef d'œuvre. "Venus rifing from the ocean's wave Is the chief work of the great Coan artist." OVID. So partial was Alexander the Great to Apelles, that he exprefsly forbade any other to paint his likeness. None but Apelles' hand fhall paint my face, HORACE. Lyfippus was a celebrated Greek ftatuary, and chiefly excelled in the hair of the heads, and the proportion of his figures. He was a native, of Sicyon, capital of Sicyonia, near the Bay of Corinth. See Grecia Antiqua, Wilkinson's Atlas Claffica. The most famous fculptor of antiquity was Phidias, an Athenian, and contemporary with the celebrated Pericles. His ftatue of Jupiter Olympus at Elis, in the Peloponnefus, was deemed one of the wonders of the world. He died about 432 years B. C. K4 Graceful Graceful as from her natal fea fhe springs, "No longer we contend whose form's most fair.” Venus is reprefented by poets and painters in the most engaging form and drefs, ufually fmiling, attended by her fon Cupid, or rather Cupids (for there were feveral of them), winged and adorned with quivers, accompanied by Jocus, the god of mirth, all flying round her. She is fometimes defcribed as dancing with the three Graces, Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrofyne, joined with the nymphs; fometimes riding in a chariot drawn by fwans; but the pigeon was her favourite bird. Cupid was a celebrated deity among the ancients; god of love; and love itfelf. His influence is faid to have extended over the heavens, the fea, and the earth: In hell, and earth, and feas, and heav'n above, DRYDEN'S VIRGIL NORTHERN |