If there be any portrait of Lucretius, it is a profile on a sard, published by Mr. Munro in his famous edition of the poet.  The letters LVCR are inscribed on the stone, and appear to be contemporary with the gem.  This, at least, is the opinion of Mr. A. S. Murray, of the late Mr. C. W. King, Braun, and Muller.  On the other hand, Bernouilli ("Rom.  Icon.” i. 247) regards this, and apparently most other Roman gems with inscriptions, as “apocryphal.”  The ring, which was in the Nott collection, is now in my possession.  If Lucretius were the rather pedantic and sharp-nosed Roman of the gem, his wife had little reason for the jealousy which took so deplorable a form.  Cold this Lucretius may have been, volatile—­never! {11}

FOOTNOTES

{1} This was written during the lifetime of Mr. Arnold and Mr. Browning.

{2} Since this was written, Mr. Bridges has made his lyrics accessible in “Shorter Poems.” (G.  Bell and Sons:  1890)

{3} Macmillans.

{4} Reynolds was, perhaps, a little irreverent.  He anticipated Wordsworth’s “Peter Bell” by a premature parody, “Peter Bell the First.”

{5} Appendix on Reynolds’s “Peter Bell.”

{6} “Aucassin and Nicolette” has now been edited, annotated, and equipped with a translation by Mr. F. W. Bourdillon (Kegan Paul & Trench, 1887).

{7} Edinburgh, 1862.

{8} The Elzevir piracy was rather earlier.

{9} Pindar, perhaps, in one of his fragments, suggested that pretty Cum regnat Rosa.

{10} See next letter.

{11} Mr. Munro calls the stone “a black agate,” and does not mention its provenance.  The engraving in his book does no justice to the portrait.  There is another gem representing Lucretius in the Vatican:  of old it belonged to Leo X. The two gems are in all respects similar.  A seal with this head, or one very like it, belonged to Evelyn, the friend of Mr. Pepys.