2. Adam, Alexander.
ROMAN ANTIQUITIES: / OR, AN / ACCOUNT / OF THE /
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS / OF THE / ROMANS; / RESPECTING
THEIR / GOVERNMENT, MAGISTRACY, LAWS, JUDICIAL
PROCEEDINGS, RELIGION, GAMES, / MILITARY AND
NAVAL AFFAIRS, DRESS, EXERCISE, BATHS, MARRIAGES,
DI- / VORCES, FUNERALS, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES,
COINS, METHOD OF WRITING, / HOUSES, GARDENS, AGRICULTURE,
CARRIAGES, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, &c. &c. / DESIGNED CHIEFLY / TO
ILLUSTRATE THE / LATIN CLASSICS, / BY EXPLAINING
WORDS AND PHRASES, FROM THE RITES AND / CUSTOMS
TO WHICH THEY REFER. / BY ALEXANDER ADAM, LL. D. /
RECTOR OF THE HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. / REVISED,
CORRECTED, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES
AND ADDITIONS, / BY P. WILSON, LL. D. / PROFESSOR OF
LANGUAGES IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE. /
NEW-YORK: /
PRINTED BY WILLIAM A. MERCEIN, NO. 93 GOLD-STREET, / For Kirk &
Mercein, W. B. Gilley, C. Wiley & Co. John Sayre, Scott & Seguine,
John Tie-/bout, L. & F. Lockwood, E. Bliss, Samuel Campbell & Son,
A. T. Goodrich & Co. G. A. / Banks, New-York, and Cushing & Jewett,
and F. Lucas, jun. Baltimore. / Sept. 1819.
8vo. Title page ([i]); preface to first ed. ([iii]-vii); note to 2d ed.
(viii); table of contents ([ix]-xii); (1-16 skipped); text ([17]-548);
Latin index (549-56); index of proper names and things (557-65).
Title page inscribed: `S. A. Elliot's-1829-Bought at the sale of
Mr. Jefferson's library.'
Alexander Adam (1741-1809) was the son of a farmer. He learned
Latin at the parish school, then went to Edinburgh where he attended
lectures at the university and at nineteen became the headmaster of Watson's
Hospital. He later was the tutor to the family of a Mr. Kincaid, and
finally rector of the High School. Lord Cockburn said of him, "He was
born to teach Latin, some Greek, and all virtue."
He was paid £600 for Roman Antiquities, which was first published
in 1791 and subsequently went into several editions, being issued both
in England and in America. Although its architectural passages are
minor, it does treat, in descriptions taken from Roman literature, of libraries
(pp. 492-93), houses (pp. 493-96, 499-503), villas and gardens
(pp. 504-6), and public buildings (pp. 543-47).
A sample description follows:
2. The Pantheon, built by Agrippa, son-in-law to Augustus, and dedicated
to Jupiter Ultor, Plin. xxxvi. 15. or to Mars and Venus, Dio. liii. 27. or, as its
name imports, to all the gods, see p. 309.[1]
repaired by Adrian, Spartian. 19.
consecrated by Pope Boniface IV. to the Virgin Mary, and All Saints, A.D.
607. now called the
Rotunda, from its round figure, said to be 150 feet high,
and of about the same breadth. The roof is curiously vaulted, void spaces being
left here and there for the greater strength. It has no windows, but only
an opening in the top for the admission of light, of about 25 feet diameter.
The walls in the inside are either solid marble or incrusted. The front on the
outside was covered with brazen plates gilt, the top with silver-plates, but
now it is covered with lead. The gate was of brass of extraordinary work and
size. They used to ascend it by twelve steps, but now they go down as many;
the earth around being so much raised by the demolition of houses. [P. 535]
Laid in the University of Virginia's copy is a letter, dated February
24, 1950, from E. Millicent Sowerby:
On June 8, 1821 Jefferson wrote a letter to his kinsman and agent, Captain
Bernard Peyton, and on the polygraph copy retained by himself added a
note:
June 25. wrote to him for Adam's Roman antiquities & Valpy's Gr. grammar,
to come by mail.
Three days later, on June 28 (received by Jefferson at Monticello on
July 2) Peyton wrote from Richmond:
I send herewith, agreeable to your request, Adam's Roman [sic] Antiquities
& Valpy's Greek Grammar, both of which I wish safe to hand.
. . . The book, as you know was lot no. 60 at the sale in 1829.
The originals of the above letter and note are in the Coolidge Collection
in the MHS.
"The book" refers to the specific copy of the book now in the library.
Thus, although the University has Jefferson's own copy of Adam
(see Plate I), acquired in recent years by the McGregor Library, there
is no record that the copy he ordered for it, in the section on "HistoryCivil-Antient"
of the want list, was ever received. Since Jefferson ordered
his copy during June 1821 and his drawings for the Rotunda were approved
by the Board of Visitors on April 2, 1821, the book cannot have
had any influence on the design of the University.[2]
U. Va.
*A1819.A332
M
