76 PORTLAND VASE. careless execution in the cast. In the original, and in this drawing, the garment is seen clinging to the side of the portal through which the ghost has passed. Man parts reluctantly from his mortal body, and leaves it in the grave-the dark portal through which he must pass to the eternal world. You see the ghost is received and supported by a female figure, the emblem of Immortal Life. As the inverted torch is the emblem of death, so the serpent is the emblem of immortality. I believe this originated from the circumstance of the serpent casting its skin every year, which was thought, by the ancients, to be a fit emblem of renewed youth. The other figure represents Pluto, the god of the infernal regions: he is distinguished by having one foot buried in the earth, to denote the subterraneous situation of his dominions. The position of Immortal Life shows that she is intending to lead the ghost to Pluto. The winged boy is the representation of PORTLAND VASE. 77 Divine Love: he flies before the descending spirit, lights him with his torch, and looks back, as if inviting or encouraging him to proceed. I have not noticed the trees which ornament both sides of the urn; the first may be an elm, which Virgil mentions as shading the entrance of the infernal regions. Those in the second compartment are probably intended to give an idea of the groves of Elysium, the abode of departed spirits. There is still another emblem which you have not seen. Lift up the vase, and you will find, on the bottom of it, a veiled figure, supposed to represent the priestess of Ceres, in whose temple the Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated. She is about to put her finger on her lips, as if to enforce the injunction of secrecy, which was imposed on all who witnessed those mysteries.* The urn from which this plaster-cast is copied, was purchased by the duke of Portland from * Rollin, ib. Darwin's Botanic Garden, note xxii. 78 PORTLAND VASE. its Italian possessor, for one thousand guineas. Hence it is usually, in this country, called the Portland Vase. As it is quite impossible for you to form any conception of its delicate workmanship from so rude an imitation, I wish you to examine this Roman cameo, in which white, opaque figures are raised on a dark ground. They appear to have been wrought in the same manner as the sculpture on the Portland Vase, by cutting away the opaque white surface, leaving only so much of it as was necessary to form the desired figures. From this cameo you may obtain a very good idea of the extreme delicacy and beauty of that specimen of ancient art, which was inclosed in the tomb of Alexander Severus. The body of the vase is made of a dark-blue glass; the figures appear to have been exquisitely cut in a white, opaque glass, which seems to have incrusted the lower part of the vase. All this being removed, except where needed for the design, the emblematic figures appear in relief; that is, raised upon the dark-blue ground. PORTLAND VASE. 79 79 A work of this kind must have required the labour of many years:-the artist, and the date of his performance are both alike unknown; and the mysteries he so elegantly represented, have lost their terrors since the true doctrine of immortal life has been revealed in the Gospel. I could say much to you on the transparency of glass, which has, in a variety of ways, contributed to the extension of our knowledge and happiness; but it is too late to enter on the subject this evening: I will therefore conclude with Dr. Darwin's poetical description of the "mystic urn" we have just examined. Here, by fallen columns and disjoined arcades, Sinks the fair shade of MORTAL LIFE, and dies: With smiles assuasive LOVE DIVINE invites, |