1821.] Account of Agrigentum. not be put together by hands of ordinary men. This Temple is said to have been 340 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 120 feet high. The fragments of the columns are enormous, and it is said this Temple stood till the year 1100, but is now in ruins. The fragments, although enormous, do not equal the expectation raised by descriptive authors. There are the remains of several other Temples, and great works. The Temples of Vulcan, Proserpine, Castor and Pollux; and a very remarkable one of Juno, which was enriched by one of the famous pic tures of antiquity, celebrated by many of the antient writers. Zeuxis, being determined to excel every thing that had gone before him, and to form a model of human perfection, prevailed on all the finest women of Agrigentum (who were even ambitious of the honour) to appear na ked before him; of these he chose five for his models, and moulding all the perfections of these beauties into one, he composed the famous Picture of the Goddess; and which was considered as his master-piece, but it was unfortunately burnt when the Carthaginians took Agrigentum: Many of the Citizens retired into this Temple as a place of safety; but as soon as they found the gates attacked by the enemy, they agreed to set fire to it, and chose rather to perish in the flames, than to submit to the power of the conquerors; but neither the destruction of the Temple, nor the loss of their lives, has been so much regretted by posterity as the loss of this picture. The Temple of Esculapius was not less celebrated for a Statue of Apollo; which was also taken from them by the Carthaginians at the same time that the Temple of Juno was burnt, and carried off by the Conquerors. This Statue continued the greatest ornament of Carthage for many years, and was at last restored by Scipio, at the final destruction of that City: it has been supposed, that this Statue was afterwards carried to Rome, the wonder of all ages, known to the world under the name of Apollo Belvidere; and allowed to be the perfection of human art. The ruins of this Temple are still to be seen. The antient walls of the City are 397 mostly cut out of the rock. The catacombs and sepulchres are all very extensive. Polybius mentions one of them as being opposite to the Temple of Hercules, and to have been struck by lightning in his time. It remains almost entire, and answers the description he gives of it, but the inscriptions are so defaced that they cannot be made out. This is the monument of Theron, King of Agrigentum, one of the first Sicilian tyrants. It is of great antiquity, for it is not only mentioned by Diodorus, Polybius, and the later of the antient Historians, but by Herodotus, and Pindar, who dedicated two of his Olympic Odes to him; so that this monument must be more thau 2,000 years old. All the ruins of Agrigentum, and the whole mountain on which it stands, are composed of a concretion of sea shells, run together and cemented by a kind of sand or gravel, and now hard and durable. This stone is nearly white before it is exposed to the air; but in the Temples and other ruins, it is of à light brown colour. The shells found on the summit of the mountain, at least 14 or 1500 feet above the level of the sea, are of the most common kinds, such as cockles, muscles, oysters, &c. When Plato visited Sicily, he was so struck with the luxury of the citizens of Agrigentum, both in their houses and their tables, that a saying of his is still recorded, "that they built as if they were never to die, and eat as if they had not an hour to live." Ælian tells the following story by way of illustration: "after a great feast, where there was a number of young people of the first fashion, they got so much intoxicated that, from their reeling and tumbling one upon the other, they imagined they were at sea in a storm, and began to think themselves in imminent danger; at last they agreed, that the only way to save their lives was to lighten the ship, and with one accord they began to throw the rich furniture out of the windows, to the great amusement of the mob below, and did not stop till they had entirely cleared the house, which, from this exploit was ever afterwards called the triremes, or the ship." At 398 Account of Agrigentum. At the same time that Agrigentum is abused by ancient writers for its drunkenness, it was as much celebrated for its hospitality, and the very elevated situation of this City, where the air is thin and cold, has, perhaps, been one reason why its inhabitants are fonder of wine than their neighbours in the valleys. Fazzello, after railing at the Citizens for drunkenness, adds, "that there was no town in the island so celebrated for its hospitality; many of the nobles had servants placed at the gates of the city to invite all strangers to their houses." Diodorus says the great vessels for holding water were commonly of silver, and the litters and carriages for the most part were of ivory, richly adorned. The Piscina, which was a large pond made at an immense expence, full of fish and water-fowl, and in his time the resort of the inhabitants on their festivals, was even then (in the age of Augustus) going fast to ruin, requiring too great an expence to keep it up. There is not now the smallest vestige of it. But there is still a curious spring of water that throws up a kind of oil on its surface, which the poor people make use of in many diseases. This is supposed to mark out the place of the once celebrated pond which is recorded by Pliny and Solinus to have abounded with oil. Diodorus, speaking of the riches of Agrigentum, mentions one of its Citizens returning victorious from the Olympic games, who entered the City, attended by 300 chariots, each drawn by four white horses, richly caparisoned. These horses were esteemed all over Greece, for their beauty and swiftness; their race is celebrated by many antient writers: "Arduus inde Agragas ostentat maxima longè Moenia, magnanimûm quondam genera [May, point of the Church, behind the great altar, they could hold a conversation in very low whispers. For many years this singularity was little known; and several of the confessing chairs being placed near the great altar, the wags, who were in the secret, used to take their station at the door of the Cathedral, and thus heard distinctly every word that passed be tween the confessor and his penitent; by this means the most secret intrigues were discovered, and every woman in Agrigentum changed either her gallant or her confessor-yet it was the same: at last, the cause was discovered, the chairs were removed, and other precautions taken to prevent the discovery of these sacred mysteries, and a mutual amnesty passed amongst all the offended parties. Agrigentum, like Syracuse, was long subject to the yoke of ty rants. And I shall mention the following as an instance of the cru elty of Phalaris:- Perillus, a goldsmith, by way of paying court to Phalaris the tyrant, made him a present of a brazen bull, of admirable workmanship, hollow within, and so contrived that the voice of a person shut up in it sounded exactly like the bellowing of a real bull. The Artist pointed out to the tyrant what an admirable effect this must produce, were he only to shut up a few criminals in it, and make a fire under them. The tyrant, struck with so horrid an idea, and curious to try the experiment, told the goldsmith that he himself was the only person worthy of animating his bull: that he must have studied the note that made it roar to the greatest advantage, and that it would be unjust to deprive him of any part of his invention. Upon this he ordered the goldsmith to be shut up, and made a great fire around the bull, which immediately began to roar, to the admiration and delight of all Agrigentum. This bull was carried to Carthage after the taking of Agrigentum, and was restored by Scipio. Zeno, the philosopher, came to Agrigentum, and being admitted into the presence of the tyrant, advised him, for his own comfort, as well as that of his subjects, to resign his power, and lead a private life." Pha laris, not relishing these sentiments of philosophy, and suspecting Zeno to 1821.] Singular Custom among the Americans. to be in a conspiracy with some of his subjects, ordered him to be put to death in the presence of the citizens of Agrigentum. Zeno immediately began to reproach them with cowardice and pusillanimity, in submitting tamely to the yoke of so worthless a tyrant; and in a short time raised such a flame, that they defeated the guards, and stoned Phalaris to death. The country round Agrigentum is delightful; the fields are covered with a variety of the finest fruits; oranges, lemons, pomegranates, almonds, pistachio nuts, &c. and a great profit is derived from its valuable sulphur mines. Mr. URBAN, W. R. Philadelphia, March 1. Y wish is occasionally to trans people of these new states; but I am far from being qualified for the purpose, having as yet seen little more than the cities of New York and Philadelphia. I have discovered but few national singularities among them. Their customs and manners are nearly the same with those of England, which they have long been used to copy. For, previous to the revolution, the Americans were from their infancy taught to look up to the English as patterns of perfection in all things. I have observed, however, one custom, which, for aught I know, is peculiar to this country. An account of it may afford considerable amusement to the numerous readers of your respectable Miscellany. When a young couple are about to enter into the matrimonial state, a never-failing article in the marriage treaty is, that the lady shall have and enjoy the free and unmolested exercise of the right of white-washing, with all its ceremonials, privileges, and appurtenances. A young woman would forego the most advantageous connexion, and even disappoint the warmest wish of her heart, rather than resign the invaluable right. You would wonder what this privilege of white-washing is; I will endeavour to give you some idea of the ceremony, as I have seen it performed. There is no season of the year in which the lady may not claim her privilege, if she pleases; but the latter end of May is most generally fixed 399 upon for the purpose. The attentive husband may judge by certain prognostics when the storm is nigh at hand; when the lady is unusually fretful, finds fault with the servants, is discontented with the children, and complains much of the filthiness of every thing about her ;-these are signs which ought not to be neglected; yet they are not decisive, as they sometimes come on and go off again, without producing any further effect. But if, when the husband rises in the morning, he should observe in the yard a wheelbarrow with a quantity of lime in it, or should see certain buckets with lime dissolved in water, there is then no time to be lost; he immediately locks up the apartment or closet where his papers or his private property is kept, and putting the flight; for a husband, however beloved, becomes a perfect nuisance during this season of female rage; his authority is superseded, his commission is suspended, and the very scullion who cleans the brasses in the kitchen, becomes of more consideration and importance than him. He has nothing to do, but to abdicate, and run from an evil which he can neither prevent nor mollify. The husband gone, the ceremony begins. The walls are in a few minutes stripped of their furniture; paintings, prints, and looking-glasses, lie in a huddled heap about the floors; the curtains are torn from the testers, the beds crammed into the windows; chairs and tables, bedsteads and cradles, crowd the yard; and the garden fence bends beneath the weight of carpets, blankets, cloth cloaks, old coats, and ragged breeches. Here may be seen the lumber of the kitchen forming a dark and confused mass: for the fore-ground of the picture, gridirons and frying-pans, rusty shovels and broken tongs, spits and pots, joint-stools and the fractured remains of rush-bottomed chairs ;there, a closet has disgorged its bowels, cracked tumblers, broken wine-glasses, phials of forgotten physick, papers of unknown powders, seeds, and dried herbs, handfuls of old corks, tops of tea-pots, and stoppers of departed decanters ;—from the rag-hole in the garret to the rathole in the cellar, no place escapes unrummaged. It would seem as if the 400 Singular Custom among the Americans. the day of general doom was come, and the utensils of the house were dragged forth to judgment. In this tempest, the words of Lear naturally present themselves, and might, with some alteration, be made strictly applicable : Let the great gods That keep this dreadful pudder o'er our heads, Find out their enemies 'non. Tremble, thou wretch, That has within thee undivulg'd crimes This ceremony completed, and the house thoroughly evacuated, the next operation is to smear the walls and ceilings of every room and closet with brushes dipped in a solution of lime, called white-wash, to pour buckets of water over every floor, and scratch all the partitions and wainscots with rough brushes wet with soap-suds, and dipped in stone-cutters' sand. The windows by no means escape the general deluge. A servant scrambles out upon the pent-house, at the risk of her neck, and with a mug in her hand, and a bucket within reach, she dashes away innumerable gallons of water against the glass panes, to the great annoyance of the passengers in the street. I have been told, that an action at law was once brought against one of these water-nymphs by a person who had a new suit of clothes spoiled by this operation; but, after long argument, it was determined by the whole Court, that the action would not lie, inasmuch as the defendant was in the exercise of a legal right, and not answerable for the consequences; and so the poor gentleman was doubly non-suited; for he lost not only bis suit of clothes, but his suit at law. These smearings and scratchings, washings and dashings, being duly performed, the next ceremonial is to cleanse and replace the distracted furniture. You may have seen a houseraising, or a ship-launch, when all the hands within reach are collected together; recollect, if you can, the hurry, bustle, confusion, and noise, of such a scene, and you will have some idea of this cleaning match. The misfortune is, that the sole object is to make things clean; it matters not how many useful, ornamental, or va [May, luable things are mutilated, or suffer death under the operation; a mahogany chair and carved frame undergo the same discipline; they are to be made clean, at all events, but their preservation is not worthy of atten. tion. For instance, a fine large engraving is laid flat on the floor, smaller prints are piled upon it, and the superincumbent weight cracks the glasses of the lower tier; but it is of no consequence! A valuable picture is placed leaning against the sharp corner of a table; others are made to lean against that, until the pressure of the whole forces the cor ner of the table through the canvas of the first. The frame and glass of a fine print are to be cleaned; the spirit and oil used on this occasion are suffered to leak through and spoil the engraving; no matter, if the glass is clean, and the frame shine, it is sufficient, the rest is not worthy of consideration. An able arithmetician has made an accurate calculation, founded on long experience, and has discovered that the losses and destruction incident to two white-washings, are equal to one removal, and three removals equal to one fire. The cleaning frolic over, matters begin to resume their pristine appearance. The storm abates, and all would be well again; but it is impos sible that so great a convulsion, in so small a community, should not produce any further effects. For two or three weeks after the operation, the family are usually afflicted with sore throats or sore eyes, occasioned by the caustic quality of the lime, or with severe colds, from the exhalation of wet floors, or damp walls. I know a gentleman who was fond of accounting for every thing in a philosophical way. He considers this, which I have called a custom, as a real periodical disease, peculiar to the climate. His train of reasoning is ingenious and whimsical; but I am not at leisure to give you a detail. The result was, that he found the distemper to be incurable; but after much study, he conceived he had discovered a me. thod to divert the evil he could not subdue. For this purpose he caused a small building, about twelve feet square, to be erected in his garden, and furnished with some ordinary chairs and tables, and a few prints of the 1821] Singular Custom among the Americans. the cheapest sort were hung against the wall. His hope was, that when the white-washing frenzy seized the females of his family, they might repair to this apartment, and scrub and smear, and scour, to their hearts' content, and so spend the violence of the disease in this out-post, while he en joyed himself in quiet at bead-quar. ters. But this experiment did not answer bis expectation; it was impossible it should, since a principal part of the qualification consists in the lady's having an uncontrolled right to torment her husband at least once a year, and to turn him out of doors, and take the reins of government into her own hands. There is a much better contrivance than this of the philosopher; which is, to cover the walls of the house with paper; this is generally done; and though it cannot abolish, it at least shortens the period of female dominion. The paper is decorated with flowers of various fancies, and made so ornamental that the women have admitted the fashion without perceiving the design. There is also another alleviation of the husband's distress; he has generally the privilege of a small room or closet for his books and papers, the key of which he is allowed to keep. This is considered as a privileged place, and stands like the land of Goshen amid the plagues of Egypt. But then he must be extremely cautious and ever on his guard. For should he inadvertently go abroad, and leave the key in his door, the housemaid, who is always on the watch for such an opportunity, immediately enters in triumph with buckets, brooms, and brushes, takes possession of the premises, and forthwith puts all his books and papers to rights, to his utter confusion, and sometimes serious detriment. For instance: A gentleman was sued by the executors of a tradesman, on a charge found against him in the deceased's books, to the amount of 301. The defendant was strongly impressed with an idea that he had discharged the debt and taken a receipt; but, as the transaction was of long standing, he knew not where to find the receipt. The suit went on in course, and the time approached when judgment would be obtained against him. GENT. MAG. May, 1821. 401 He then sat seriously down to examine a large bundle of old papers, which he had untied and displayed on a table for that purpose. In the midst of his search, he was suddenly called on business of importance; he forgot to lock the door of his room. The housemaid, who had been long looking out for such an opportunity, immediately entered with the usual implements, and with great alacrity fell to cleaning the room, and putting things to rights. The first object that struck her eye was the confused situation of the papers on the table; these were without delay bundled together like so many dirty knives and forks; but, in the action, a small piece of paper fell unnoticed on the floor, which happened to be the very receipt in question; as it had no very respectable appearance, it was soon after swept out with the common dirt of the room, and carried in a rubbish pan into the yard. The tradesman had neglected to enter the credit in his book; the defendant could find nothing to obviate the charge, and so judgment went against him for the debt and costs. A fortnight after the whole was settled, and the money paid, one of the children found the receipt among the rubbish in the yard. There is also another custom peculiar to the city of Philadelphia, and nearly allied to the former. I mean, that of washing the pavement before the doors every Saturday evening. I at first took this to be a regulation of the police; but on a further inquiry, I find it is a religious rite, preparatory to the Sabbath, and is, I believe, the only religious rite in which the numerous sectaries of this city perfectly agree. The ceremony begins about sun-set, and continues till about ten or eleven at night. It is very difficult for a stranger to walk the streets on those evenings; he runs a continual risk of having a bucket of dirty water thrown against his legs: but a Philadelphian born is so much accustomed to the danger, that he avoids it with surprising dexterity. It is from this circumstance, that a Philadelphian may be known any where by his gait. The streets of New York are paved with rough stones; these indeed are not washed, but the dirt is so thoroughly swept from |