The subject of the Laocoon is so pathetic, and the execution so admirable, that the group which it presents, is, as the catalogue well observes, a specimen, at once, of composition, art, and feeling. The following is the historical account of this statue: “Il a été trouvé en 1506, sous le pontificat de Julius II, à Rome sur le mont Esquilin, dans les ruines du palais de Titus, contigu à ses thermes. Pline qui en a parlé avec admiration, l’avait vu dans ce même endroit. C’est à cet écrivain que nous devons la connoissance des trois habiles sculpteurs Rhodiens qui l’ont exécuté, ils s’appellaient Agésandre, Polydore, et Athenodore. Agésandre étoit probablement le père des deux autres, ils florissaient au premier siècle de l’ere vulgaire. La groupe est composé de cinq blocs si artistement réunis, que Pline l’a cru d’un seul. Le bras droit du père et deux bras des enfans manquent. Sans doute un jour on les exécutera en marbre. Mais provisionnellement on les a suppliés par des bras moulés sur la groupe en plâtre, restauré par _Gerardon_, qui se voit dans la salle de l’école de peinture.” _TRANSLATION._ “It was found in 1506, under the pontificate of Julius II, at Rome, on the Esquiline mount, in the ruins of the palace of Titus, near his _thermæ_, or hot baths. Pliny, who speaks of this statue with admiration, had seen it in the same place. It is to this writer we are indebted for the knowledge of the three able sculptors of Rhodes, who executed this masterpiece. Their names were, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. It is probable, that the first of these was the father of the other two. They flourished during the first century of the common era. The group consists of five pieces of marble, joined in so workmanlike a manner, that Pliny thought the whole was of one. The right arm of the father, and two of the arms of the children, are wanting. They will, no doubt, be executed hereafter in marble; in the mean time, the deficiency is supplied by arms moulded on the group in plaister of Paris, the work of Gerardon, which is to be seen in the hall of the school of painting.” In taking leave of the gallery of statues, I ought, perhaps, in answer to several inquiries, which have been made me in letters from England, to mention, that the _Hercules Farnese_, and the _Venus de Medici_, are not in the collection. A british officer, lately returned from Egypt by way of Italy, tells me, that both these statues are at present in the island of Sicily. They are in the possession of the king of Naples, who keeps them locked up in cases, and refuses permission, even to his greatest favourites, to see them. Adieu. _POSTSCRIPT._