several of the blocks are seen, large and wellcut, the letters F C s, which, as yet, the archæologists here cannot explain. Great difficulty was encountered in consequence of the hole continually filling with water, and preventing the work going on; but a steam-engine was procured to work the pumps, which are now plied night and day. On opening the "ark," it was found to contain a magnificent gilt bronze statue of a youthful Hercules, fourteen feet high, but lying on his back, or, as the Romans graphically describe it, "panza per aria."

In art, this statue equals the finest that ever Greece produced, and the careful manner in which it has been hidden and the means taken to protect it, argue that its value was known and appreciated. I suspect it must have been hidden in the fourth century to prevent its being carried off to Byzantium by the son of Constantine, who made off with everything he could lay his hands on in the shape of works of art, to enrich and adorn the city which thenceforward was to bear their imperial name. It is interesting to know that the coins found in and about the statue were those of Domitian, Decius, and Maximinius, commonly styled the Herculean. There were likewise coins of the lower empire.

Over the gilding, which is very thick and bright (and the patina of which is still perfect), is a rough calcareous incrustation, which must be carefully removed before the beauty of the statue can be thoroughly enjoyed. It was found imbedded in marble chips, such as form the sweepings of a sculptor's studio, and also wedged in by masses of architectural fragments. Inside the figure was found a very pretty little female head sculptured in Parian marble. The back hair is gathered up in a net, much in the style as worn by ladies in the present day, and which fashion prevailed from the time of Heliogabalus down to Constantine, as we see by referring to other statues and busts. The period of art to which this little bust belongs is that of Constantine, and therefore inferior. Other relics may yet be found in the statue, which is far from empty.

On the first indications of this discovery, much speculation arose as to whether it were equestrian or not, and whether it might not prove to be a portrait statue of Pompey the Great, since the place where they are excavating is on the site of Pompey's Theatre, which was the first ever made of stone in Rome: and that its size was considerable is known from the fact that it accommodated twenty thousand spectators. These speculations as to what it is are now pretty well at rest, as the statue speaks for itself; at the same time, as there is a deal of that incrustation above mentioned adhering to the features, there are some who insist that it is a portrait of Domitian represented as Hercules. It has been raised to within ten feet of the surface, and men are busy exploring, in the hope of finding one of the feet, which is missing. The club has come up in three pieces, and the lion's skin, which has hung over the shoulder (similar to that of the Theban Hercules in the Vatican), and which has evidently been cast separately, is especially interesting to us moderns, as showing the mode in which the ancients executed their work of casting.

Hercules being the tutelary deity of Pompey

the Great, it was natural that his image should be chosen to adorn the building he erected. As a work of art, this statue is far superior to that found in the Forum Boarium, which is also gilt bronze, and is now in the capitol. It has evidently been executed by artists in the time of the empire, and stood in the Temple of Hercules in the Forum. The beautiful marble statue of Hercules bearing Telephus, which adorns the "Pio Clementino" in the Vatican, was found in the Campo dei Fiori and placed where it now stands by Julius the Second. It should be remembered that the noblest fragment of antiquity existing was presented by that same pontiff to the Vati can; it is a portion of a Hercules, and if I am not mistaken, I have seen a drawing by Flaxman, in which he restores it from an ancient gem representing Hercules and Hebe. This fragment was also found in the Campo dei Fiori (Pompey's Theatre); and is known as the Torso of the Belvidere.-Correspondence of the Athenæum

The Source of the Nile-Explorations of Speke, Burton, and Livingstone.-On November 14th the Royal Geographical Society recommenced its meetings in London for the season, Sir Roderick Murchison presiding.

Captain Burton read a paper "On the Present State of Knowledge Respecting the Source of the Nile," in which he called in question many of the statements and inferences that had been made by Captain Speke. He denied, in the first instance, the existence of so large a lake as the Victoria Nyanza where Captain Speke had described it to be, and consequently he disputed that the Nile took its source from that lake. He assigned several reasons for disbelieving that there was such a lake. He asserted that the level of the lake was not sufficiently high for the source of so large a river, and from the testimony of the Arabs, a road passed through what was said to be the centre of the lake. Another reason why he thought the Nyanza could not be the source of the Nile was that the periods of the alleged greatest elevation of the water did not correspond with the overflow of that river. The word Nyanza is applied by the African tribes to any body of water, Nyaza and Nyanza being indifferently used with the same signification. The Mountains of the Moon, which were laid down in some of Captain Speke's early maps, had, he said, really no existence, or at least there was no range of mountains of such a magnitude as had been described. The lunar mountains were represented to be of the form of a horseshoe, and to inclose the north end of the Lake Tanganeika, some of the mountains being said to be ten thousand feet high. He did not deny that there were some hills in that direction, but they were not continuous, and Captain Burton contended that from the north of that lake a river flows into other lakes to the northward, and finally into the Nile; the Lake Tanganeika, situated much further to the northwest, being the source from which the chief waters of the Nile are derived. He denied, however, that that or any river took its source from a lake, the real sources of the Nile being the rivers that fed the lake from which the stream issues. Captain Burton said he was far from wishing to detract from the great merit which was due to Captain Speke as an intelligent and adventurous explorer, but he thought

that it was desirable that further explorations should be made to settle the question of the sources of the Nile, which he considered had not yet been determined. He inclined to think that a lake situated to the northeast of the reputed Victoria Nyanza is the source of the White Nile, and the Assnara, which flows from it, was mistaken by Captain Speke for a tributary, when it is, in fact, the main stream.

Dr. Livingstone confirmed some of Captain Burton's views respecting Lake Tanganeika. He said when travelling to the westward of that lake he saw several rivers flowing toward it from a high plateau upward of two thousand feet high. He agreed with Captain Burton as to the general signification of the word Nyanza, and he said he had intended to call the Lake Nyaza by that name, but finding that the latter term had been used, he did not wish to change it. The north of Lake Nyaza had not been explored, owing to the borders being in possession of hostile tribes; but Dr. Livingstone considered it not improbable that a river flowed from it into the more northern lakes. He was of opinion that the Nile originated from several lakes in that part of Africa, and that it could not be traced to any one source.

Mr. Galton defended the statements of Captain Speke, and contended that the objection to the Lake Nyanza being the source of the Nile, founded on its low level, was removed by the knowledge of the fact that the instrument with which the level was taken was very imperfect, and could not be depended on.

ART.

The Hyde Park sculptures for the national Prince Consort Memorial have been determined upon. Baron Marochetti is to execute the statue of the Prince; and the four principal groups, symbolizing the four quarters of the world, have been intrusted to the following sculptors: Europe, to Mr. P. Macdowell, R.A.; Asia, to Mr. J. H. Foley, R.A; Africa, to Mr. W. Theed; America, to Mr. J. Bell. Four lesser groups, emblematic of Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, and Mechanics, will be executed by Mr. W. C. Marshall, R.A., Mr. J. Thorneycroft, Mr. H. Weeks, R.A., and Mr. J. Lawrer. Mr. II. H. Armstead and Mr. J. Phillips will execute the bas-reliefs.

We have received from Mr. Mitchell a proof impression of M. A. Graefle's half-length portrait of her Majesty, engraved by Mr. W. Holl. The Queen is seated by the side of a bust of his late Royal Highness the Prince Consort, placed at her left hand upon a table. The portrait represents her Majesty as she now appears in the privacy of her domestic life, and is dedicated to their Royal Highnesses the Princesses. Of the portraits of the Queen this is likely to be the most popular.

Messrs. Colnaghi, Scott, & Co. have forwarded to us an engraver's proof of the full-length portrait of H. R. H. the Princess Beatrice, painted by Louchert, the court-painter of Berlin, and engraved by George Zobel-a very clever picture, most charmingly engraved, and sure to be a favorite Christmas and New Year's gift. They also send a three-quarter-length portrait of the late Duke of Newcastle, from Sir J. Watson Gordon's picture by the same engraver.

The Journal de l Imprimerie mentions the death of M. Achille Lefèvre, the celebrated engraver, whose engravings of the chief pictures of Raphael and Correggio_are everywhere held in great estimation.-The Reader.

A New Way of Printing.-The description of a very rapid process for reproducing pencil drawings has been going the round of the Russian journals. The process will be particularly useful in campaigns, where it is often desirable to have a number of copies of a hasty pencil sketch. Some time ago M. Villani-Villanis remarked that if a sheet of paper on which a plan or any drawing or writing has been executed with pencil be moistened with acidulated water, and afterwards inked, the pencil marks alone will take the ink, and the whole drawing may then be transferred to metal or stone. Captain Sytenko, of the Russian Artillery, director of the Photographic Service of the Staff at St. Petersburg, has introduced very ingenious modifications into this process, and contrived a portable military press, which, as already hinted, may be extremely useful in campaigus. It does not take more than ten minutes to effect the transfer of the drawing upon a zinc plate or lithographic stone.

The

Coleridge's Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. This portrait of S. T. Coleridge, painted by the American artist Washington Allston, was considered by Wordsworth and other friends of the poet the most satisfactory likeness that ever was painted of him. An engraving was executed from this picture by Mr. Samuel Cousins a few years ago. The portrait was painted at Bristol, in 1814, for Mr. Joshua Wade, when Coleridge was in the forty-second year of his age. artist's own testimony, given in a letter to Professor Henry Reed, of Philadelphia, is deserving of consideration. He says; So far as I can judge my own production, the likeness is a true one: but it is Coleridge in repose; and, though not unstirred by the perpetual ground-swell of his ever-working intellect, and shadowing forth something of the deep philosopher, it is not Coleridge in his highest mood-the poetic state. When in that state, no face I ever saw was like to his; it seemed almost spirit made visible, without a shadow of the visible upon it. Could I have then fixed it on canvas! But it was beyond the reach of my art." Washington Allston died June 9th, 1843, and was buried by torchlight in the cemetery of Mount Auburn, Boston.

Mr. Warren de la Rue, by dint of enlarging and photographing his original image of the moon, has produced an admirable picture of our satellite, three feet in diameter, which is interesting alike to art and science. Especially as an aid towards further examination of the moon's surface, is it valuable; for, by means of it, an astronomer can study not only the actual appearance, but can establish points for future comparison, using this great photograph as the test of changes which may yet occur in the moon. There is reason to believe that changes are taking place, and it is satisfactory that a means for verifying them should now be available.

Pompeii in 1864.-A very elaborate topographical plan of Pompeii has been published this year by the Italian government. By its assistance, and that of a pocket compass, an explorer may, it is said, easily find his way through the now lengthy