Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/277

BEL last is again divided into epic, dra- matic, lyric, &c. 2. Ornamental Gardening. 3. Elegant Architecture. 4. Music, vocal and instru- mental. 5. The Gymnastic Arts, such as Dancing, Fencing, Riding, &c. 6. The Art of Drawing, which includes Painting, Engraving, Carving on Wood, Basso Relievo, and Mosaic Work. 7. The Art of Printing, the most simple, but the most extensively useful. We cannot, on this occasion, differ in opinion from the Monthly Reviewer, who, in the 79th volume of tiiat work, when analyzing the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, makes the following judicious remarks : The French, beside many other similar institu- tions, have long had their Academy of Sciences, and also that of Belles Lettrcs. The gentlemen addicted to philosophical inquiries, knew die value of the former, and the Me- moirs of the Academy of Inscrip- tions and Belles Lettres form a body of criticism and curious in- vestigation, not equalled by any other polite nation in Europe. We have, indeed, in this country, the Royal Society, and the history of their Philosophical Transactions . Why polite literature has not been thought worthy of some public in- stitution, no good reason can be assigned. The true cause, per- haps, is, that political ferments, party disputes, the violence of fac- tion, and the interesting objects of trade, which naturally engross the thoughts of a great commercial country, may have contributed to make the poets, the historians, and the orators of antiquity, appear too frivolous, and unworthy of at- B E L [247 tendon. Letters, it is true, have been cultivated in England, not- withstanding all discouragements j but it must be allowed, that they would have been cultivated to more advantage by a body of men assembled under the royal patro- nage. The want of such an in- stitution has been always considered as a reproach to this country. Even in the present age, which, to its' honour, has given encouragement to die Ails, and, indeed, has raised them to a degree of unrivalled per- fection, the idea of such an academy has never been started, or, at least, never pursued with effect. It is re- served, it seems, for our fellow- subjects of the north, to take the lead in this important business. BELL-FLOWER, or Campa- nula, L. a genus of plants compre- hending eighty species : of which, however, only nine are indigenous. The following are the principal : 1 . The rotundifolia, or Round- leaved Bell-flower, which grows on heaths, and the borders of fields j with long narrow lanceolated leaves on the stem, but heart or kidney- shaped, and sometimes oval leaves close to the ground ; it produces blue or white flowers, in August and September. See Withering, 241 ; and Curtis, Lond.Jasc. 4. t. 21. — Catde and Sheep browse upon these flowers with avidity ; and they are likewise useful in dye- ing. The milky juice of the white flowers is said to impart a beautiful green colour, by the addition of alum. The juice of the blue flowers alone has been used for painting and writing; and Dambourney as- serts, that with these flowers he dyed wool and cloth of a fine vi- gogne colour, having previously im- mersed them in a properly diluted solution of bismuth. R 4 2. The