The materials for a history of Neath comprise many other memorials of interest to which we are here unable to advert. The ichnography of the town, taken in the reign of Elizabeth, from the original in Lord Dynevor's possession, may well deserve notice, as also the memorials extracted from the contemporary account of the progress of the duke of Beaufort, as Lord President, in 1684, and communicated from the archives at Badminton.
In conclusion, we can only express regret that Mr. Francis should not have been disposed to extend the impression of this interesting little volume to a number of copies, more in accordance with the growing taste and demand for such publications. The days are, we hope, passed, when a provision, limited by the Roxburghe standard, or even extended to fifty copies, as in the present case, can prove adequate to meet the desire to possess any volume of sterling materials connected with matters of national antiquity.
The Church in the Catacombs. A Description of the Primitive Church of Rome, Illustrated by its Sepulchral Remains. By Charles Maitland, D.M. 8vo. pp. 312.
Amongst the innumerable treasures of the Vatican, where the highest works of art in painting and sculpture are, in their respective departments, congregated, a series of inscribed sepulchral slabs, collected together and arranged in a long corridor at the entrance to the museum, many bearing upon them the impress of a rudely incised or sculptured symbol or figure, hardly seem to invite attention. They rather urge the visitor onwards, the more leisurely to view and examine the choicest sculptures of ancient pagan art, the Apollo and the Laocoon, or those wonderful productions of the Renaissance school, the frescoes of Buonaroti, besides a multitude of objects of every style of art and of all ages, with the endless repetition of which the mind and eye are sated and bewildered.
But the simple tablets which fill the Lapidarian Gallery, for such is this corridor called, possess a deeper and more enduring interest than at first sight is readily apparent. They comprise numerous monuments illustrative of the early Christian Church at Rome, memorials of many who sought a refuge from persecution in the subterranean labyrinths beneath or near that city, and who, having suffered much for the faith, at length 'rested in peace,' and were buried in the sepulchral recesses of the catacombs, simply commemorated, as the inscriptions or symbols on the tablets in some way or other indicate, in conjunction with their names, as members of the Christian Church.
The interesting volume Dr. Maitland has published, treats of these remains as bearing upon the history and practices of the early Church at Rome, especially during the third and fourth centuries. Our limits do not allow us to give that full notice which this work deserves, and to the merits of which our cursory extracts are insufficient to do justice. We shall proceed with a few passages we have selected, but we strongly recommend our readers to peruse the work itself.
