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14 ANNUAL REGISTER
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|ther died at Brussels, in November, 1704. After finishing his exercises, he entered into the corps of the 'Mousquetaires;' and, in his first campaign in the year 1709, he distinguished himself by his valour, in such a manner, that Louis the fourteenth commended him in the presence of all the court, and rewarded his merit with an ensigncy in the 'Gendarmerie.' In 1711, he commanded a regiment of dragoons, which was called by his own name: and he signalized himself at the head of it in Catalonia. In 1713, he was at the siege of Fribourg, where he was exposed to imminent danger in the bloody attack of the covered way. Had he been disposed to enter into the views of his family, the favour of Madam de Maintenon and his own personal merit could not fail to have raised him to the highest honours; but the peace of Rastade left him in a state of inactivity, ill-suited to his natural temper.
His vivacity carried him soon to travel into Italy; and his curiosity was greatly excited by the wonders of that country; where antiquity is still fruitful, and produces so many objects to improve taste and to excite admiration. The eyes of the count were not yet learned, but they were struck with the sight of so many beauties, and soon became acquainted with them. After a year's absence, he returned to Paris, with so strong a passion for travelling, and for antiquities, as induced him to quit the army. Italy had enlightened has taste; and in that country of the arts he perceived, that he was born to cultivate them.
He had no sooner quitted the service of Louis, than he sought for

| |an opportunity to set out for the Levant. When he arrived at Smyrna, he visited the ruins of Ephesus. From the Levant, he was recalled in February, 1717, by the tenderness of his mother. From that time, he left not France, but to make two excursions to London.
The Countess of Caylus died in the year 1729, aged 56 years. When he had become sedentary, his mind was by no means inactive; he applied himself to music, drawing, and painting. He wrote too, but it was chiefly for the amusement of his friends; he had fire and spirit, but did not aim at correctness or elegance of style. In order to judge of the works of art, he had taste, that instinct superior to study, surer than reasoning, and more rapid than reflection. With one glance of his eye, he was able to discover the defects and the beauties of every piece.
The Academy of painting and sculpture adopted him as an honorary member in the year 1731; and the count, who loved to realize titles, spared, neither his labour, nor his credit, nor his fortune, to instruct, assist, and animate the artists. He wrote the lives of the most celebrated painters and engravers that have done honour to this illustrious academy; and, in order to extend the limits of the art, which seemed to him to move in too narrow a circle, he collected, in three different works, new subjects for the painter, which he had met with in the works of the ancients. It is left to the artists to pronounce upon the utility of these collections, and to determine whether the beautiful images of a Virgil and a Homer are all of 
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For the YEAR 1772.  15
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| them fit to appear upon canvas or in marble.
The zeal of writers, who propose to instruct mankind, is not always disinterested; they pay themselves for their instructions by the reputation they expect to derive from them. Count de Caylus did not despise this noble recompence; but it is also to be observed, that he loved the arts on their own account; a circumstance, which very plainly appears, from many private instances of his generosity to those who were possessed of talents, but were not the favourites of fortune.
Beside the presents, which he made from time to time to the academy of painting and sculpture, he founded an annual prize in it for such of the pupils as should succeed best in drawing, or modelling a head after nature, and in giving the truest expression of the characteristical features of a given passion. He encouraged the study of anatomy and prespective by generous rewards; and, if he had lived longer, he would have executed the design which he had formed of founding a new prize in favour of those who should apply themselves with most success to these two essential branches of the art. 
Such was his passion for antiquity, that he wished to have had it in his power to bring the whole of it to life again, He saw with regret, that the works of the ancient painters, which have been discovered in our times, are effaced and destroyed almost as soon as they are drawn from the subterraneous mansions where they were buried. A fortunate accident furnished him with the means of

| |shewing us the composition and the colouring of the pictures of ancient Rome. The coloured drawings, which the famous Pietro Sante Bartoli had taken there from antique paintings, happened to fall into his hands. He had them engraved, and, before he enriched the King of France's cabinet with them at his own expence. It is, perhaps, the most extraordinary book of antiquities that will ever appear, The whole is painted with a precision and a purity that is inimitable: we see the liveliness and freshness of the colouring that charmed the Caesars. There were only thirty copies published; and there is no reason to expect that there will be any more.  What will, hereafter, be the value of these admirable copies, the faithful monuments of ancient painting, in all its grace and beauty!
Count de Caylus was engaged at the same time in another enterprize, still more honourable for the Roman grandeur, and more interesting to the French nation. In the last age, Dez Godetz, under the auspices of Colbert, published the antiquities of Rome. The work was admired by all Europe, and gave birth to that indefatigable emulation which carried able and ingenious travellers to Spalatra, Balbec, and even to the burning sands of Palmyra, in order to visit the famous ruins of so many magnificent buildings, and to present them to our view. It is this that has made us spectators of the monuments of Athens, that mother of learning, of arts, and of sciences; where, in spite of the injuries of time and barbarism, so many illustrious sculptors and architects |

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