The result will be best given in the words of an eye-witness, Signor Nibby (one of the Commission of Antiquities and Fine Arts), who thus described the whole to M. Quatremere de Quincy, the biographer of Raffaelle:—"The operations were conducted on such a principle of exact method as to be chargeable with over nicety. After various ineffectual attempts in other directions, we at length began to dig under the altar of the Virgin itself, and taking as a guide the indications furnished by Vasari, we at length came to some masonry of the length of a man's body. The labourers raised the stone with the utmost care, and having dug within for about a foot and a half, came to a void space. You can hardly conceive the enthusiasm of us all, when, by a final effort, the workmen exhibited to our view the remains of a coffin, with an entire skeleton in it, lying thus as originally placed, and thinly covered with damp dust. We saw at once quite clearly that the tomb had never been opened, and it thus became manifest that the skull possessed by the Academy of St. Luke was not that of Raffaelle. Our first care was, by gentle degrees, to remove from the body the dust which covered it, and which we religiously collected, with the purpose of placing it in a new sarcophagus. Amongst it we found, in tolerable preservation, pieces of the coffin, which was made of deal, fragments of a painting which had ornamented the lid, several bits of Tiber clay, formations from the water of the river, which had penetrated into the coffin by infiltration, an iron stelletta, a sort of spur, with which Raffaelle had been decorated by Leo X, several fibulæ, and a number of metal anelli, portions of his dress." These small rings had fastened the shroud; several were retained by the sculptor Fibris, who also took casts of the head and hand, and Camuccini took views of the tomb and its precious contents; from one of these our cut is copied.
On the following day the body was further examined by professional men: the skeleton was found to measure five feet seven inches, the narrowness of the coffin indicated a slender and delicate frame. This accords with the contemporary accounts, which say he was of a refined and delicate constitution; his frame was all spirit; his physical strength so limited that it was a wonder he existed so long as he did. The investigation completed, the body was exhibited to the public from the 20th to the 24th, and then was again placed in a new coffin of lead, and that in a marble sarcophagus presented by the pope, and taken from the antiquities in the Museum of the Vatican. A solemn mass was then announced for the evening of the 18th of October. The Pantheon was then illuminated, as for a funeral; the sarcophagus, with its contents, was placed in exactly the same spot whence the remains had been taken. The presidents of the various academies were present, with the Cavalier Fabris at their head. Each bore a brick, which he inserted in the brickwork with which the sepulchre was walled in. And so the painter awaits "the resurrection of the just," and the fellowship of saints and angels, of which his inspired pencil has given us the highest realisation on earth.
ANTIMONY.
The origin of the use of anti-moine, or antimony, is a remarkable circumstance. Basil Valentin, superior of a college of religionists, having observed that this mineral fattened the pigs, imagined that it would produce the same effect on the holy brotherhood. But the case was seriously different; the unfortunate fathers, who greedily made use of it, died in a short time, and this is the origin of its name, according to the pure French word. In spite of this unfortunate beginning, Paracelsus resolved to bring this mineral into practice; and by mixing it with other preparations make it useful. The Faculty at Paris were on this occasion divided into two parties, the one maintaining that antimony was a poison; the other affirmed that it was an excellent remedy. The dispute became more general, and the Parliament and the College of the Sorbonne interfered in the matter; but sometime afterwards people began to judge rightly concerning this excellent mineral; and its wonderful and salutary effects have occasioned the Faculty to place it among their best medicines.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF MAHOMET.
For the personal appearance and private life of Mahomet, we must rely on the Arabian writers, who dwell with fond and proud satisfaction on the graces and intellectual gifts with which nature had endowed him. He was of a middle stature, of a clear, fair skin, and ruddy complexion. His head and features, though large, were well proportioned; he had a prominent forehead, large dark-brown eyes, an aquiline nose, and a thick bushy beard. His mouth, though rather wide, was handsomely formed, and adorned with teeth white as pearls, the upper row not closely set, but in regular order—which appeared when he smiled, and gave an agreeable expression to his countenance. He had a quick ear, and a fine sonorous voice. His dark eyebrows approached each other without meeting. His hair fell partly in ringlets about his temples, and partly hung down between his shoulders. To prevent whiteness, the supposed effect of Satanic influence, he stained it, as the Arabs often do still, of a shining reddish colour. His frame was muscular and compact—robust rather than corpulent. When he walked, he carried a staff, in imitation of the other prophets, and had a singular affectation of being thought to resemble Abraham. The assertion of the Greeks and Christians, that he was subject to epilepsy, must be ascribed to ignorance or malice.
STIRRUPS.
From every information we have been able to collect, we believe that the appendage of stirrups were not added to saddles before the sixth century. It is said, that previous to the introduction of stirrups, the young and agile used to mount their horses by vaulting upon them, which many did in an expert and graceful manner; of course, practice was essential to this perfection. That this should be afforded, wooden horses were placed in the Campus Martius, where this exercise was performed of mounting or dismounting on either side; first, without, and next with arms. Cavalry had also occasionally a strap of leather, or a metallic projection affixed to their spears, in or upon which the foot being placed, the ascent became more practicable. Respecting the period of this invention, Montfaucon has presumed that the invention must have been subsequent to the use of saddles; however, opposed to this opinion, an ingenious argument has been offered, that it is possible they might have been anterior to that invention; because, it is said, they might have been appended to a girth round the body of the horse. Both Hippocrates and Galen speak of a disease to which the feet and ancles were subject, from long riding, occasioned by suspension of the feet without a resting-place. Suetonius, the Roman, informs us that Germanicus, the father of Caligula, was wont to ride after dinner, to strengthen his ancles, by the action of riding affording the blood freer circulation in the part.
THE GREAT SHOEMADOO PAGODA.