Puzzolano. This earth is a light porous friable mine- | again with ease be taken up and laid aside. Acr ral, various in colour, and evidently of volcanic origin. When reduced to powder by beating and sifting, and thoroughly mixed with lime, either with or without sand, it forms a mass of great tenacity, which in a short time cements to a stony hardness, not only in the air, but likewise when wholly immersed in water. Cements of various kinds are employed for covering the outer walls of buildings, so as to resemble stone. One of the best, we believe, is Martin's Patent Cement, which is extensively used in England, in imitation of Bath, Portland, and other descriptions of stone. A very excellent plan of cementing for this purpose is to employ good plaster of lime and sand; only two coats to be laid on and finished without stucco, and afterwards well painted. If stucco be dressed on as a third coat, it will scale off. Pavements-Roofing. Pavements are formed of marble, stone, slate, or some kind of artificial compound. Marble, on account of its costliness, is little employed for this purpose in Great Britain; and the floors of lobbies, halls, and also pathways, are more generally formed of slabs of sandstone, bedded on mortar, and neatly joined together. The stone employed for pavements exposed to the atmosphere should be hard, and not liable to scale off by the effects of the weather. Stone inclining to slate forms the most durable pavement, and possesses the great advantage of being impervious to damp. The floors of churches in the Netherlands, and also the common pavements of that country, is of a material of this kind, and we should recommend the use of slate for ground-flooring in all similarly damp countries and situations. Wooden parement.-The idea of paving with pieces of wood, the points of the grain upwards, was propounded in the year 1825, but was not carried into execution till nearly fifteen years later. Two plans have been pressed on public attention; the first is that of Mr Stead. It consists of pieces of wood, each from four to eight inches deep, as cut lengthwise from the timber, and about six inches across, but fashioned round the sides into a hexagonal shape; these are set in rows on a flat basis, and are held together by mutual pressure throughout the mass. This plan, by which individual pieces are apt to sink and form ruts or hollows, is, in our opinion, inferior to that of an ingenious foreigner, Count de Lisle, which is conducted by the Metropolitan Wood-Pavement Company, in London. By this plan, a squared piece of timber is cut diagonally into pieces, rhomboidal in shape, or each the stereotony of a cube. The size is six inches deep by nearly the same in width. The pieces are set on a flat basis, one overlapping the other, and are held together and in their places by pins in the sides. upper surface, grooves are cut at short intera afford indentations for the horses' feet. The when laid in a proper manner, has the appearac. neat oblong pavement. The advantages of wood over stone pavement greater cleanliness, as respects either dust or mat, r less noise, and in some places considerably less ex The only disadvantage, as far as we have ever be.. the over-smoothness of surface, in consequence of horses have a tendency to slip and come down. In. don and various towns in England, the Count de i plan has latterly spread considerably, and is now? rally esteemed. It does not appear likely to com use, however, in places where stone is abundant cost of about 11s. or 12s. per square yard for ♥ blocks may be cheap in London, but would be exc high in Edinburgh and other places, where stone ab Slates.-The thin and trimmed lamine of sixte » the quarries form the handsomest and most 6.7. roofing for all kinds of houses in which a slope is : able or required. The best kinds of this matera. found in Wales, and are now thence imported sea-ports. Tiles, formed of burnt clay, are a r unsightly and less durable kind of roofing, but comparative cheapness causes them to be large'. ployed for at least all common edifices. The tiles are flat and angular, and are held to the r by pegs, the interstices of each row being plast before lapping over the next above it. Those tr the strongest which contain a proportion of iron. Asphalte has lately been adopted to a large s in France and some other countries, both as par and as waterproof roofing for buildings. Aspha asphaltum, is a bituminous mineral, allied in its na to pitch, and is found in the form of rocky mas different parts of the world. The chief quarries in continental Europe are in the Val de Travers,: vince of Neuchatel, the excavations being in the ... range of mountains, which are calcareous in the. ture. An inferior kind is a species of bituminous lasse, which exists in various parts in what mus called lakes, or vast semi-fluid masses. The tru phalte, or asphaltic cement of Neuchatel, is procure! boring and blasting the bituminous rocks, and the being brayed and then melted in large boilers, dir fluid is poured out so as to form conveniently-sized When needed for smearing on roofs, it requires be only melted and spread, and when dry, it re impervious to the weather, neither cracking in w. nor melting in summer. If designed for pavenes. is customary to mix fine river sand with it, which :* it more stability, and a degree of roughness that = unnecessary. It is spread while hot on a propprepared bed, and being rendered smooth on the face, it offers an exceedingly agreeable resistanc the foot, being not so hard as stone, nor so soft as a mud pathway. Wherever stone is expensive, the phaltic pavement may be advantageously emph**. not for streets, but floors of dairies and other out-hous garden-walks, and terraces. Zinc (see article CHEMISTRY), a metal of a light-b tinge, has lately come into use for covering bui and also for forming gutters to carry off the rai ir = roofs. It is much thinner than lead, and being ma in large rolls, it can be laid to any length; its äghta and comparative cheapness render it suitable for t porary edifices, and also for buildings which could support a heavy roof. It does not oxidise or rest exposure, and will last a long period of time if s damaged. When one row has been laid down, all the pieces lean in one direction across the street, the next row being made to lean the contrary way, and so on with all succeeding rows. By means of the pins in the side, each row is fastened close and firmly up to the other, so as to prevent all shifting. If we now examine the principle on which the pressure is sustained by the united blocks, it will be observed that, by means of the overlapping, no single block supports any given pressure that falls upon it, except at a point in the middle ; at other points, the pressure is distributed over at least two blocks-the upper part of one, and lower part of another. The resistance which is therefore given by the mass to all the ordinary kinds of pressure from horses and vehicles, must be much greater than that offered by blocks standing isolated, either with respect to overlapping or pinning. Another very great adNote. In the compilation of the present sheet, besides fr L vantage is the mode of laying down blocks pinned toge-thorities mentioned, we have been indebted to some Inc. ther in masses. It seems that lumps of a yard square, articles in the "Encyclopedia Americana" (Conversata le's or thirty-six blocks, may be put down at once, and that con), and also to "Elements of Technology," by Dr Ja of street could be laid down in three days. In t of after-repairs, or when the streets are to Bigelow. Printed and published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, Edinbur;: CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S NUMBER 94. NEW AND IMPROVED SERIES. PRICE 14d. DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL TERMS. THE extensive use of classical terms and allusions in nodern literature, places a serious stumbling-block in he way of all readers who have not received a reguar scholastic education. Hence, such an explanatory fictionary as that contained in the present sheet, will rove, it is hoped, alike acceptable and useful to a arge section of the public.] ACADEMIA, a pleasant and finely wooded spot in the icinity of Athens, which derived its name from the roprietor Academus, and became renowned as the pot where Plato taught philosophy to his pupils. These vere thence termed Academics; and a familiar appelation, originating in the same source, is bestowed on eats of learning and education at the present day. ACHAIA, a district of the Peloponnesus or Morea, the eople of which held so considerable a station among Le ancient Greeks, that their name was frequently sed to denote the entire population of the country. ACHATES, a follower of Eneas, so faithful and devoted hat his name has become proverbially significant of stancy in friendship, being applied to Sir John the raeme, amongst others, on account of his adherence o Wallace. ACHERON, a gloomy river in the fabulous infernal egions of the classical mythology, imagined by some riters to lie near the south-west extremity of the Euxine or Black Sea. ACHILLES, son of Peleus, king of Thessaly, by the seaoddess Thetis. Educated by Chiron, a learned cenaur (half man, half horse), Achilles is represented as aving become perfect in all the accomplishments of his eroic age, and had just attained the prime of youthful manhood, when the princes of Greece went to war with Troy. Thetis, foreknowing that her son would fall in Lat contest, disguised him as a female to prevent his entering into it, but he was detected, and, not against is will, went with the other chiefs to Troy, where he stinguished himself above all the Greeks by consummate daring and prowess. A quarrel with the leader, Agamemnon, caused him at length to withdraw in disgust from the field; and, in spite of the intreaties of s countrymen, he remained obstinately inactive in his ips, until the death of Patroclus by the hand of Hecor caused him to don the splendid panoply formed for im by the armourer of the gods, and rush to the ene of battle. Many Trojans fell before the infuriated chieftain, and, finally, Hector himself was cast lifeless n the field. In his youthful days, Thetis had rendered her son invulnerable by dipping him in the river tyx; but the tendon of the heel by which she held im (hence called the tendo Achillis) was left uncured, and Paris, the brother of Hector, slew the chief by a wound in that spot, thus fulfilling the decree of fate. Strength, swiftness, and beauty of person, are he leading characteristics assigned to Achilles by the oet Homer; and it is worthy of remark, that speed of foot is one of the most valued qualities of a Greek chief at this day, Marco Bozzaris, a man worthy of the old times, being renowned for this property. ACIS, a son of Faunus, slain by the one-eyed giant Polyphemus, on account of a rivalry between them for the love of the nymph Galatea. The latter changed Acis into a river, yet called the Jaci. Handel produced a fine opera on the subject of Acis and Galatea. ACROCORINTHUS, the citadel rock of Corinth, an eminence of great height and strength. ACTEON, a Boeotian huntsman, who, having accidentally beheld Diana bathing, was changed by the chaste goddess into a stag, and torn to pieces by his own dogs. The "Fate of Actæon" is a phrase expressive of the ruin of a man by his own friends, or from unwittingly becoming cognisant of dangerous secrets. ADONIS, a youth of great beauty beloved by Venus, who, on his being gored to death by a wild boar, converted him into the flower Anemone. Some say, however, that life was granted to him during six months of every year, at the intreaties of Venus. ANKAS, a Trojan prince, son of Anchises and Venus, who, on the fall of Troy, is said to have wandered with a small band to Italy, and to have there laid the foundation of the Roman empire. The Romans were proud of this traditional descent; and Virgil made it the subject of his great national epic. EOLUS, the god of the winds, according to the classical mythology. The " Æolian harp" derives from him its designation. ÆSCHYLUS, a tragic writer of Athens, whose style is peculiarly vehement and sublime. ESCULAPIUS, a personage honoured as the god of medicine, and reputed to be the son of Apollo by a mortal nymph. Exposed in infancy to save his mother's reputation, he fell under the care of Chiron the centaur, and acquired such skill in the healing art as even to recover dead persons from the grave. For this feat, Pluto, the king of the nether realms, persuaded Jupiter to kill him with a thunderbolt. Many temples were erected to Esculapius; and he was generally represented in the form of an old man, with one hand on a staff and the other on a serpent's head. The latter animal is to this day the emblem of medical science; and the name of the supposed divinity is familiarly applied to the art and its professors. Æsop, a native of Phrygia, renowned as a writer of fables. His actual productions are lost; but the Latin fabulists profess to have translated from his original Greek. He is stated to have been deformed in person, and a slave by station. ETNA, the most famous volcanic mountain in the world, situated in Sicily, and rising to a height of more than 11,000 feet above the sea-level. The noise and flame emitted from it led the imaginative ancients to make its interior the workshop of the smith-god Vulcan. Agamemnon, king of Mycene, in the Peloponnesus, and leader of the Greeks in the expedition against Troy. The character given to him by Homer is one of massive grandeur. He was murdered, on his return home, by his wife Clytemnestra and her paramour Egisthus. AGLAIA, one of the three Graces. AGRARIAN LAW.-During the times of the republic, some ambitious men endeavoured to win the favour of the Romans by passing a law for the equal division among them of portions of individual property. Great disturbances followed. The phrase is yet often used to signify arbitrary divisions of individual property among a community. AGRICOLA (CN. JULIUS), a Roman general, who, under various emperors, served with great distinction in Britain, defeating Galgacus, among others, near the Grampian hills. AJAX, son of Telamon, and famous in the war of Troy for his bravery, and vast though unwieldy strength. He became mad, and slew himself, because the arms of the deceased Achilles were not assigned to him. Another Ajax also figured in the same contest. ALCESTIS, wife of Admetus, king of Phere, who voluntarily died for her husband's sake, and was brought again from the regions of the dead by Hercules. ALCIBIADES, an Athenian noble, remarkable for beauty of person and intellectual capacity, and not less notorious for his vices and luxurious effeminacy. He was a pupil of the philosopher Socrates, and owed much to his instructions. After a youth spent for the most in folly, yet folly redeemed in part by generous actions, he entered into the service of the state, and showed eminent talents as a military and naval commander. However, his fickle countrymen, influenced by demagogues, soon found cause of quarrel with him. In his absence, some of his wild frolics were represented as a profanation of the rites of religion, and he was recalled for trial. He did not obey, and his property was confiscated. Boiling with indignation, the high-spirited Alcibiades united himself with Sparta and Persia, the rival and the enemy of Athens. The latter state began then to decline before its adversaries, until Alcibiades relented, and restored its fallen fortunes. But after raising him once more to command, the Athenians anew pulled him down, and Alcibiades took refuge first in Thrace, and afterwards in the Persian possessions in Asia Minor. The viceroy there grew jealous of him, however, and sent assassins to his lodging, who, not daring to meet him hand to hand, basely slew him by projectile weapons as he attempted to escape. Alcibiades was a being of great and varied endowments, but his life proves that he was deficient in that settled rectitude of principle which can alone constitute the perfect statesman and hero. ALECTO, one of the three Furies, daughters of Nox or Night. ALEXANDER, a name borne by several Macedonian princes and others, but rendered chiefly illustrious as the designation of the son of Philip of Macedon by his wife Olympias. Born about 356 B.C., Alexander enjoyed in youth the advantage of the instructions of Aristotle, and showed, at the age of fifteen, the well-developed qualities of a commander and prince. When he succeeded to the throne, he first brought to submission the states around him, and then looked abroad for a wider field wherein to gratify his boundless ambition. Persia was the quarter to which his eyes naturally turned; and after arousing the Greek republics to join him, he marched into Asia. On the banks of the Granicus he defeated the Persian monarch, Darius, and in a second engagement the latter lost his life. Asia Minor, Tyre, Egypt, Media, Syria, and Persia, succumbed in turns to the conquering Macedonian, and he even pushed his victories beyond the Indus. Returning to western Asia, he perished suddenly at Babylon, either through poison or excesses in drinking. The extent of Alexander's conquests has amazed posity: and the marvel has not been lessened by the at his possession of the territories overrun by him was not temporary, but laid the foundation ALEXANDRIA, a city of Egypt, founded by Alexa: the Great, famous for its lighthouse, its learned and its two splendid libraries, successively destr by Augustus Caesar and the Caliph Omar. AMALTHEA, the reputed nurse of the god Ju whom she fed with goat's milk. Some mytholog that she herself was a goat, and her horn s termed the Horn of Plenty. AMAZON.-The Amazons are said to have be tribe of Scythian women, who did not allow ment with them, killed the majority of their male che and trained their female offspring to war, burg their right breasts for the better use of the Whether an imaginary race or not, the word A has become a proverbial designation for a wor masculine habits and temperament. AMMON, a name under which Jupiter was worsh in Egypt. An oasis in the deserts bordering Nile contained a famous temple and oracle of JujAmmon, the ruins of which are still discernible AMPHICTYON, a person who founded a general as for the twelve leading states of Greece, and from such assemblages were permanently called Amponic councils. AMPHION, an individual of semi-divine origin, founded Thebes, in whole or part, and is stated to excelled so much in music as to have moved the s voluntarily to take their places in the structures new city. AMPHITRYON, husband of Alcmena, the mothe Hercules by Jupiter. An expression of Molers play on this subject, "l'Amphitryon où l'on dine," caused a hospitable dinner-giver to get the fa name of an Amphitryon. ANACREON, a bard of Ionia, whose graceful vers devoted to love and wine. ANDROMACHE, wife of Hector and mother of Astu celebrated by Homer for her conjugal affection an mestic virtues. ANDROMEDA, daughter of an Ethiopian king, being chained to a rock, and exposed to a sea-m was rescued from that peril by Perseus, son of I and, by promise, became his wife. ANTEUS, son of the Earth and Sea, a Libyan slain by Hercules. When a man seems to derive vigour from an overthrow, he is compared to A because, at every fall, his mother earth gave that ca fresh strength; and Hercules only foiled him by b him up, and squeezing him to death. ANTINOUS, a friend of Adrian, whose form, as sented by ancient sculptors, has become significat. peculiar description of physical beauty, ANTONIUS (MARCUS), a Roman, who shared for a la the empire of the world with Augustus Caesar. A was a follower of Julius Caesar, and when that leader was slain by Brutus and Cassius, he Augustus Caesar in pursuing the conspiratar 1 death, when the two victors acquired almost trolled dominion. Antony fatally revenged himse the same time, on Cicero, who had always been se ious to him. Being called to the east, he became moured of the beautiful but licentious Cleopatra, a of Egypt, and passed years with her in luxur tivity. Roused by some proceedings of his colleag power, Augustus Caesar, Antony would have ge war, but peace was restored by his marriage with sister of Cesar. He soon left this lady, however, i return to the east, where Cleopatra again threw fetters around him. The consequence was an apenas decisive war between the two lords of the world A ony was vanquished at Actium, and fled to Egypt, where he committed suicide, and was followed in the ame course by Cleopatra. Mark Antony was, in a neasure, a Roman Alcibiades. Elegant in person, and ngaging in manners, an admirable speaker, and distinuished equally for skill and endurance in war, he was it the same time a man of unbounded profligacy, and tained with every species of vice and erime. ANUBIS, an Egyptian idol, represented with the head of a dog. APELLES, a native of the isle of Cos, usually regarded is the greatest of the ancient painters. He followed or a time the fortunes of Alexander. APICIUS, a noted Roman epicure, who expended €800,000 on his appetite, and finally killed himself in ear of want, the £80,000 which still remained to him at the time being insufficient to sustain the proper rate of gourmandising extravagance. APIS, a god of the Egyptians, venerated under the orm of a white bull. APOLLO, the son of Jupiter and Latona, god of the un, music, medicine, and the fine arts. Born in the isle of Delos, he soon after slew the serpent Python, sent y Jupiter's wife to plague Latona, and thus gained for mself the name of the Pythian Archer. A noble ancient statue, existing in Rome, and splendidly decribed by Lord Byron, gives an image of him in this haracter. He is usually pictured as a beardless youth, olding a bow or lyre. Like others of the mythological leities, he is said to have had many amours with the laughters of earth, and even to have dwelt there for ine years as a shepherd, when expelled from heaven by his sire. The chief supplementary names given to im in poetry are, the Delian, Cynthian, Delphic, and Lycian god; and, as sun-god, he is commonly named Phoebus. His principal temples and oracles were at Delphi, Delos, and Claros, the Delphic one being the nost renowned oracle of the earth. A youth of fine form is often styled an Apollo, and the poets allude endlessly to the god as their patron and guardian. AQUARIUS, or the Waterman, the eleventh sign of the vodiac. ARACHNE, a woman of Colophon, so well skilled in needle-work that she challenged competition with Minerva, and being defeated, hanged herself, on which the goddess changed her to a spider. ARCADIA, a pastoral region in the centre of the Peloponnesus, so much distinguished for natural beauty, and for the happy and simple life of its population, that the word has long been used to signify a scene of rural and inartificial enjoyment. ARCHIMEDES, a geometrician of Syracuse, of great abilities. Among his other inventions, he is said to bave discovered a mode of setting fire to ships from a distance by means of burning glass, a feat which Buffon proved to be not impracticable. When his sovereign suspected a tradesman of having used some alloy in making a golden crown, Archimedes was applied to in order to discover the truth. At a loss at first, the philosopher finally ran out of his house towards the palace, crying, Eureka (I have found it), the idea having occurred to him of immersing the crown in a vessel of water, and measuring what quantity of liquid ran over. He was killed at the siege of Syracuse, and, though interred with honour, the spot where he lay remained long unknown, till discovered by Cicero. Archimedes also invented the pumping-screw. A small part only of his writings is now in existence. ARCHIPELAGUS (Archipelago), a name given to any ea studded with islands, as the Grecian or Indian Archipelago. ARCHONS, the ancient title of the chief magistrates of Athens. ARCTURUS, a star near the tail of the Great Bear. AREOPAGITE, the judges of the Areopagus, a seat of justice on a mount near Athens. ARETHUSA, a nymph of Diana's train, changed by her mistress into a Sicilian fount, to preserve her from the pursuit of the Grecian river-god, Alpheus. The | waters of the latter, however, were fabled to pass under the seas to join the fount. ARGO, a famous ship of antiquity, which is said to have carried Jason and a renowned body of Greeks (called the Argonauts) to Colchis, a district on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, in quest of a Golden Fleece, surreptitiously taken from the Greeks. Numerous writers have treated of this subject. By many, the Argo is styled the first ship ever built. ARGUS, a being with a hundred eyes, set by Juno to watch an earthly mistress of Jupiter, and slain by Mercury. A jealous custodian often receives the title of an Argus. ARIADNE, daughter of Minos, king of Crete, who, when the Athenian prince, Theseus, was shut up in the celebrated Cretan labyrinth to be devoured by a monster, gave him a clue of thread by which he extricated himself. The Clue of Ariadne has become a byword. Being cruelly abandoned by Theseus, Ariadne, according to the poets, gained the love of the god Bacchus, and by him was elevated to a place among the constellations. ARIES, the sign of the Ram. ARION, a famous musician, who, when in peril of his life at sea, played so sweetly that some grateful dolphins bore him safely ashore. ARISTIDES, a statesman and warrior of Athens, whose conduct earned for him the title of the Just. He died virtuously poor. ARISTOPHANES, a famous comic satirist of Athens. ARISTOTLE, a Greek philosopher of the first rank, born at Stagyra, in Macedon, and hence called the Stagyrite. After studying under Plato, who valued him so much as to style him the mind of the school, Aristotle opened a seminary of his own, and long taught with great success. From his lecturing to his pupils while walking, they received the name of the Peripatetics. Aristotle also spent ten years as the tutor of Alexander the Great, who said that "Philip had given him life, but Aristotle had taught him to live well." By the aid of this prince, the philosopher was enabled to produce his "History of Animated Nature," describing from collected specimens. He also wrote on Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, Logic, Rhetoric, and Criticism. His canons on the latter subject are yet held in high respect. Compelled to leave Athens, Aristotle died at Chalcis, at the age of sixty-five. His works prove his intellect to have been one of extraordinary acuteness. ARRIA, wife of the Roman Poetus, famous for stabbing herself, and saying, "Oh, Poetus, it is not painful!" when her husband hesitated to free himself in the same manner from his woes. ASCANIUS, son of the Trojan Æneas, and successor to his power in Italy. The young inheritor and hope of a house or party is sometimes designated by this title. ASPASIA, a celebrated courtesan of Athens, mistress and ultimately wife of Pericles, and so eminent for her intellectual accomplishments that even modest women resorted to her to enjoy her instructive converse. ASTREA, the goddess of Justice in the classical mythology. ATALANTA, a princess of the isle of Seyro, of great beauty, and determinedly averse to matrimony. As she excelled in running, she consented to wed him who foiled her in a trial of speed, and defeated all her lovers, until one came forward who was favoured by the goddess of love. From that deity he received three golden apples, and was directed to throw them down at intervals in the race. The stratagem succeeded. Atalanta could not refrain from stopping to pick up the apples, and the lover obtained her hand. But, for subsequent disrespect to Jupiter, the pair were changed into a lion and lioness. The race of Atalanta is often alluded to. ATE, the goddess of Evil. ATHOS, a mountain of Macedonia, which a sculptor proposed to cut into a vast statue of Alexander the Great. ATLAS, a Titan or giant who warred with Jupiter, and was ultimately changed into the mountain, or chain of mountains, of the same name in Africa, which, from their height, were supposed to support the heavens. Hence the frequent allusions to the load of Atias. ATREUS, king of Argos, who, having cause of offence against his brother Thyestes, caused the latter unwittingly to eat the flesh of his own children. The son of Thyestes revenged this deed by slaying Agamemnon, the son of Atreus. The whole history of this family was a subject of horror and frequent allusion among the Greeks. ATROPOS, one of the Fates or Parca, whose task it was to cut the thread of life. ATTICA, a district of Greece, lying south of Boeotia, and west of the Ægean Sea. It was supposed to be so peculiarly favourable to genius, and its dialect to be so pure, that the phrase of "Attic wit" or "salt" became indicative of the highest literary merit, as garrets got the name of "Attics" from writers being too often the inhabitants of such poor places in times not far distant. ATTICUS, an intimate friend of the orator Cicero, and a man pre-eminently distinguished by the superior qualities of his head and heart. AVENTINUS, one of the seven hills on which Rome was built. AVERNUS, a lake of Campania, so unwholesome and putrid that the ancients made it the entrance of the infernal regions. AUGEAS, king of Elis, whose vast stables for oxen and goats were so overrun with filth that it was deemed impossible to cleanse them, until Hercules effected the task by turning a river into them. Difficult cases of purification or reformation are proverbially compared to this feat of cleaning the Augean stables. AUGURS.-The Augurs of Rome were officials who foretold events by sacrifices and divination. AURORA, the goddess of the Morning, usually represented as drawn by two horses in a rose-coloured chariot. She was called sister to the sun and moon, and mother of the winds and stars. AUTOLYCUS, a famous thief of antiquity, whose name is sometimes bestowed on the members of the same craft. BABYLON, the capital of Assyria, a city of vast size in early times, with walls 60,000 paces in circumference, 200 feet high, 50 feet in thickness, and in their circuit 100 brazen gates. Hanging gardens of great extent, the temple of Belus, and an artificial lake 160 miles in circumference, with large canals, were among the other wonders of the place. BACCHANTES, priestesses of Bacchus, who did honour to the god of wine by the most frantic and licentious orgies. BACCHUS, god of wine, son of Jupiter by Semele, who, being a mortal, fell a victim to her vain wish of seeing her lover in all the blaze of his divinity. Jupiter rescued her unborn child from the same fate, and placed him in his own thigh, until grown to infant maturity. Bacchus, in his adult state, underwent many adven tures, according to the poets. He made an expedition to India with his bacchanalian followers, and made an easy conquest of the intermediate nations, teaching them the use of the vine. As Bacchus the conqueror, he is painted as drawn in a chariot by a lion and a tiger; and in other circumstances he is represented as a plump smooth-skinned young man, with a crown of vine and ivy leaves, and a thyrsus or rod in his hand. His common names, besides that mentioned, are Iacchus, Liber, Bromius, Lyaeus, and Evan. The rites in his honour were called Bacchanalia. BAUCIS, a poor old woman of Phrygia, with her spouse Philemon, received Jupiter so kindly that he made their house a splendid temple, and created them its priest and priestess. Allowed to die together at their request, they were converted into trees. Dryden and Swift tell this story in verse. BAVIUS and MEVIUS, two inferior and ma poets in the time of Augustus Caesar, whom have become a by-word for all envy of superBELISARICS, an able general of the Constant litan emperor, Justinian, reduced to beggary old age, and afflicted with blindness. "Dar Belisario" (Give the smallest coin to Belisar usual petition of the fallen soldier, has beca verbial. BELLEROPHON, a son of the king of Ephyre, having committed an act of violence, fled to the of Proetus, king of Argos, where the queen fe with him, and, finding herself slighted, accused 1: her husband. The latter sent Bellerophon to. with sealed letters, desiring that the bearer sa put to death. The Lycian king sent his gues this view, against a monster called the Chimara receiving from Minerva a winged horse called P... Bellerophon overcame the monster; and after trials, ultimately wedded the daughter of the monarch. From this story, all letters unfav. ". to the bearer have been called Letters of Beller BELLONA, sister and charioteer to Mars, the gods BERENICE, a name borne by several Egypta: cesses, one of whom was noted for her beautif which was placed by her in the temple of Venus. I lost, the locks were said by the court-astronoms have been turned into a constellation. BIAS, one of the seven wise men of Greece. BOADICEA (or BONDICEA), queen of the leera tribe of South-Britons, who took up arms to averz outrages of the Romans, but, in spite of her unda conduct in the field, was vanquished by then, poisoned herself. BEOTIA, a district of Greece, now forming ar Livadia, and lying between Phocis and Attics from an idea that the atmosphere of the regi peculiarly thick, the inhabitants gained a reputat stupidity which has yet adhered to their name. Pindar, Plutarch, and others of the brightest ap Greece, were Boeotians. Boōres, a northern constellation near Ursa M BRIAREUS, a famous giant with fifty heads and a : dred hands, son of the Heaven and Earth. BRUTUS (LUCIUS JUNIUS), a noble Roman, who, days of the last king of Rome, feigned himself a to ensure his safety, but threw off the mask, and turned the royal authority, when Lucretia fell a to the brutality of the son of Tarquin. When th of Brutus afterwards conspired to restore the Tar he himself, as consul, was called upon to act as and his high-minded victory over parental feels made his name immortal. BRUTUS (MARCUS J descendant of the preceding, who emulated his and his fame. When the power of Julius Caesar b dangerous to the liberties of Rome, Marcus B: though one of his warmest personal friends, rose him, and united with Cassius and others in sta him in the Capitol. Caesar, as he received the blow, uttered to him who dealt it the memorable "Et tu Brute" (Thou, too, Brutus !) The frie Caesar were avenged at Philippi, where the chie spirators fell; and Plutarch tells that Brutus was warned of the event by the spirit of Caesar, wh peared in his tent, and said, "I will meet thee aga Philippi"-words often used to convey an indicats a coming evil. BUCEPHALUS, a horse tamed by Alexander the Gr in youth, and which became so renowned for bar him in the field of battle as to give a common all spirited animals of its species. BUSIRIS, an Egyptian king, who followed the a2 ing custom of sacrificing strangers. CACUS, a renowned robber of Italy, who, beir: scended from Vulcan, could defend himself by et |