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Sandarach, Chryſocolla, [1]Reddle, Ochre, and the Lapis Armenus; but this laſt
- ↑ Reddle, or Red Ochre, is as common and as good in England as the Yellow: it is, like that, generally found itſelf forming Strata, but ſometimes of a glorious Colour and extreme Fineneſs, in Fiſſures of other Matter. I have a Specimen of ſome from the Foreſt of Dean in Glouceſterſhire, very little inferior to the Sort brought from the Iſland of Ormuz in the Perſian Gulph; and ſo much valued and uſed by our Painters under the Name of Indian Red. It is, indeed, ſo like, both in Colour and Quality, that it is uſed for it, as the People employed in taking it up informed me; and ſent to London to be ſold under its Name. On comparing it with ſome of the true Perſian kind, which I had from the Eaſt Indies, I find it of a paler Colour, but of a much finer Texture; and therefore, upon the whole, perhaps not leſs valuable.
Miſunderſtandings of Pliny, occaſioned by Miſtakes in the Copies, have been the Occaſion of ſome very unlucky Errors about the μίλτος of the Greeks; which has been concluded, from what he has been ſuppoſed to have ſaid, to be Cinnabar, which they called alſo Minium. The Paſſage which has given Occaſion to theſe Miſtakes ſtands in moſt Copies thus, Milton vocant Græci Minium, quidam Cinnabari; which ſeems an abſolute Affirmation of this; but is, in
Kingdom is excellent for the Uſe of Painters; and ſome of it finer than any in the World: It is found of two Kinds; the one in great Plenty, conſtituting, in many Places, whole Strata of very conſiderable Thickneſs. This is, the moſt common, but is coarſe, and often mixed with arenaceous and other heterogene Matter in different Quantities. The other Kind is found in the perpendicular Fiſſures of Strata. This is not common, nor to be had in any great Plenty, but is ever of a glorious Colour, and perfectly pure, and crumbles between the Fingers into an impalpable Powder. All the Matter which compoſes it muſt have been extremely fine and ſubtle, or it never could have got into thoſe Places; into which there was no way for it, but through the Pores of the ſolid Strata. I know not whether our Painters are acquainted with this Kind, but it muſt, as Woodward has obſerved, be highly preferable to the common ones for their Uſe, becauſe of its Fineneſs; and it might be had in ſome Quantity on ſearching the proper Places: I remember to have ſeen much of it in different Parts about Mendip Hills in Somerſetſhire, from whence I brought the Specimens in my Poſſeſion.
