The active mind of Galiani was now engaged in investigating several scientific subjects, particularly connected with antiquities and natural history. He was the first who undertook to form a collection of the volcanic productions of Vesuvius ; and he wrote a learned treatise upon this subject, which, however, was not printed until fifteen years after wards. He presented the manuscript to Pope Be nedict XIV. along with the collection itself, which was arranged in seven boxes, according to the order of the treatise. The collection was placed in the Museum of the Institute of Bologna, where it still remains. In presenting this collection to the Pope, Galiani had written upon one of the boxes :—Beatis sime Pater, fac ut lapides isti panes fant. His ho liness, understanding the hint, gave him the pre bend of Amalfi, worth 400 ducats a•year. In the lifetime of his uncle, whom he lost in 1753, he a behefice of 500 ducats, which con ferred upon him the episcopal dignity, and an other_liming worth 600 ducats. His funeral ora tion, the ' death of his patron, Benedict XIV., who procured him'a high character for eloquence,. inewas one of his works which he him / , self most Galianl Was one of the members of the Academy of Herculaneum, established by King Charles HI. for the purpose of illustrating the remains of' ancient ar4 'discevered among the ruins of that city ; and he flirnished several memoirs, which were inserted in the first volume of that magnificent work, the Anti quities v Herculaneum. With the other academici ans who were engaged in this labour, Galiani enjoyed the royal bounty, in a pension of 250 ducats.
In the month of January 1759, he was appointed Secretary of State, and of the royal household, and, soon afterwards, Secretary to the French embassy ; and he arrived at Paris in the month of June follow ing. Here his reception was exceedingly flattering, and his company was courted in all polite literary societies. The ambassador was the Count Cantilla no, Marquis of Castromonte, a Spanish nobleman, of much indolence and little talent. During the ab sence of the Count, on a six months' journey to Spain, Galiani remained charge d'affaires, was presented to the King 'of France, and enjoyed all the advantag es of his situation. He applied himself with great zeal and assiduity to the acquisition of a correct French style of writing; and about this time, he com menced his learned and ingenious Commentary on Horace,'of which the Abbe Arnaud inserted some extracts in the 5th, 6th, and 7th volumes of his Ga zelle Litteraire for 1765. About the commencement of that year Galiani had set out for Naples, for the purpose of taking the waters of Ischia. Long after his period of leave had expired, he was retained by the government, employed and consulted in seve ral matters of importance, and at length appointed a Member of the Supreme Council of Commerce. With
this new title he returned to Paris ; and about a year afterwards he obtained permission to travel for a few months in England, having been invited to that coun try by the Marquis of Caracciolo, who was then Am bassador from the court of Naples at London. He returned through Holland to Paris, and soon after wards wrote in French his celebrated Dialogues sur le Commerce des Bles ; the style of which is so easy and elegant, that one would never suppose it to be the work of a foreigner. The manuscript was left in the hands of Diderot, and was published in 1770, with the date of London, and without the name of the author. The work excited great attention in France, and the best writers were loud and unani mous in their praise of it. Voltaire wrote to Di derot, who had sent him a copy, in the following terms : " The powers of Plato and Moliere seem to be combined in the composition of this work.
have as yet only read about two-thirds of it; and I expect the denouement of the piece with great im patience.", The same author again praises the work in his Questions sur l'Encyclopedil, in the article Bled ou Ble.
Meanwhile, Galiani had returned to Naples, where, in addition to his office of a Member of the Council of Commerce, he received that of Secretary to the same tribunal. These two situations brought him a revenue of' 1600 ducats. In 1777, he was made one of the ministers of' the junto of the royal domains, who had the charge of every thing connected with the private patrimony of the King; an office which added 200 ducats to his income. His partiality for the writings of Horace inspired him with the idea of a treatise Des instincts ou des gouts waturels et des habitudes de l'homme, ou Principes du droit de la nature et des Bens, tires des Pasies d'Horace ; a work which he left nearly complete, but which has never been published. There is a life of Horace prefixed, much better and more complete than that which is inserted in the works of Algarotti. The project which he entertained, of a dramatic Academy, in duced him to attempt the composition of a comic opera, in a new and singular style. This was The Imaginary Socrates, of which he gave the plan to the poet Lorenzi, who put it into verse, and it was set to music by the celebrated Paisiello. The piece was performed with the greatest success throughout Italy, Germany, and even at St Petersburgh. Galiani himself was passionately fond of music. He sung agreeably, and played well on the harpsichord. His library was select rather than numerous, and particularly rich in good editions of the Greek and Latin classics. He had also a considerable and very valuable cabinet of ancient coins and rare medals, engraved stones, cameos, and a few statues.