Herald of the times, and Rhode Islander. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1846-1849, 1847-06-03
3WhOIe No. SS4.
Selected Gales.
LOST ARTS.
~>~~~,~~~~~~~~~>~<

'Ours is an extraordinary age Our
age, its wonders and Improvements, are
the standing theme. They are like the
man whom Coleridge mentions as taking
of his ha, with respect when speaking Of
himself. The age vaunts much Of ~ a
achievements in science and literature
and yet in these very Loasis have been
outdone ages since, by nations now pass
ed away. Every new development Of
science, every new research throwing
| light upon the hits ofthe sncients, prove
them to have been in possession of many
now entirely lost, aud that they perform
ed wonders which we do not equal, but
cannot even perceive how they were per-
formed. Even on the hitherto accounted
neV world, like Robinson Crusoe on his
island, wo have discovered in the RUNE
OF Central America, the foot prints Of
nation long sunk into oblivion. These
traces show, that they, too, like the peo.
pie Of The East, were IN possession of
arts now lost. These arts can be con
sidered under four divisions Glass, Cob
ors, Metals, aud then miscellaneous ar
ticles and facts.
II Ist. GLAss-Ihis was for loog time
believed To be modern invention -
Within fifty years, four quarto volumes
wero written in Italy TO prove,-in oppo-
sition to the assertion Of Plmy, that the
article was unknown TO the ancients, and
on the very day that these volumes were
published, a warehouse was opened iD
Pompeii, filled with cut, wrought, ,pressed,
| ulu l.c lam ,l,.l I'll
perfect than are now manufactured. -
There is glass found too, among the re-
mains Of Central America. ln the mU-
seam of Florence, have seen piece OF
glass, which was long supposed TO be u
gem, an inch squire by a quarter Of an
inch thick, on which was represented
birds which could be seen equally welt
on both sides, and their plumage So per-
feet that the microscope shows ia il no
fault or want Of finish; and though il is
apparently "A mosaic, it is impossible TO
detect where or how it is put togeiher.--
The art OF making them SO is not now
known, and we cannot even imagine how
il could be done. Piny tells OF a drink
ing glass which could be folded up so az
to occupy small space, and which was
destroyed, and its construction kept secret
by its inventor, because his monaich
would not offer him what he considered
sufficient sum for its invention. The
moderns, with all their arts, cannot equal
the beautiful stained glass Of the middle
ages, inferior as this was to that Of Egypt.
/ CoLoRs these ibe ancients Ger
tainly far surpassed the moderns. Sir
Humphrey Davy made many efforts to
analyze the celebrated Tyrian purple of
the East 4; but these efforts were wi,h0ue
success. lie declared he could not dis
cover Of what it was composed. The
Naples yellow, too, though less known,
was much used, and the art Of making 1t
is now entirely gone The Tyriam Prc-
pie is the color Of many houses Of Pom
peii, and they look as fresh as If Just
painted. The colors of Titan are ~.
vivid and beautiful as when first laid oW
by the artist, while those of Sir Joshua
Reynolds already look chalky and dead.
And Sir Joshua himself confessed, after
making i, n study of his life, that he had
never been able to discover how Raphael
and the other great artists had been able
to preserve the brig gbtness and beauty Of
their paintings. But if we marvel at
these artists, three centuries back, what
shall we say to those paintings found IN
the tombs OF Egypt, more than two thou-
sand years old, and yet kept fresh and
bright, though buried for that time be-
meath the ground in the damp, dark caves
OF the East. The very wife OF Solomon
Is found here, Just as che was painted OH
the eve of her departure from her fathers
home, to share the throne OF Judea, and
not only is the color Of her garments pre-
served, but the bloom is st i'll on her
cheeks aud lips, and the lustrc in her
eye even as IL was then. There are
paintings too, as far back rs the time oF
Moses u portrait supposed to bo of
.Nco, the king, who drove the lsraoh'es
into the Red Sea and even the coIors
Of this are perfectly preserved.
H METALs-Of the use Of these, tho
scriptures make very early mention. In
the days Of Moses, gold is spoken NJ de-
put, and sometimes kept in liquid state {;
while il is beyond our art to reduce Il to
n powder. The corners ol The stones ut
the Pyramids are so sharp rs TO break the
skin Of the hand when passed over them,
and 80 hard as to resist the sharpest steel
The French found great difficulty in
carving two lines upon the obel,sk now
in La Place Concord yet the ancienls
had covered all the facadcs with 6gures.
According TO history, they had sn at,
now host, Of making copper (ene Of the
soliest Of all metsls) hardsr Than Steel,
aud it was of this they made their tools
The lameus Delhi Blades, as It is we'll
known, are unrivalled. They would cut
off the he ads Of row Of hob.na,ls, placed
one ailer the other, without dulling their
edge and were yet SO pliablo that the
point could be made TO touch the handle