of a human face on the ceiling of one of the lobbies. This theatre appears to have been lined with Parian marble, and built about the same time with that at Verona, after the designs of Numisius.

POMPEII. The road to Pompeii lies through Portici, Torre-del-Greco, and Torredel-Annunziata, in the way to the first of which, is the Ponte Maddalena, under whose arches passes the Sebeto, anciently Sebethus. The commencement of this drive exhibits gardens and vineyards of the most luxuriant description; but, near Torre-del-Greco, almost the whole country has been laid waste by streams of lava, which, during the summer of 1794, destroyed that town and its vicinity. Vesuvius

had for some time ceased to vomit fire and smoke as usual, a circumstance that generally presages mischief: and late in the evening of Thursday, June 12, the inhabitants were alarmed by a sudden and violent shock of an earthquake, which was thrice repeated, continuing each time about three minutes and as many seconds. This first calamity produced a general consternation, insomuch that the people fled from their houses into their gardens, and thence to the seaside, where they passed the night in dreadful alarm. Next morning, processions of men, women, and children, were seen barefooted in the streets of Naples, proceeding to the cathedral, to implore the protection of St. Gennaro. From Thursday till Sunday the weather was tempestuous, the air hot, loaded with vapors, and, at intervals, suddenly darkened for some minutes, during which period there were several slight shocks of an earthquake, attended by a rumbling sound, like distant thunder. On Sunday evening, the inhabitants were again alarmed by a noise so violent that it resembled a continual discharge of cannon-when, in a moment, burst forth a volcano, not in the crater on the summit of Vesuvius, but toward the middle of the mountain on the western side. The explosion made every edifice tremble in Torre-del-Greco, which is only five horizontal miles from this new volcano, at whose mouth issued a column of smoke, that continually mounted and increased in magnitude, till it formed itself into the shape of an immense pine. This column was sometimes clearly distinguished, and at others obscured by ashes: it continued augmenting rapidly in circumference, till at length it: began to decline downward, when, from the quantity of dense matter which composed the column being much heavier than the air, the former, of course, fell to the ground. Torrents of flaming lava, of a portentous magnitude, now poured down the mountain, principally in two directions: one stream, of about a mile in breadth, bending its destructive course toward Torre-del-Greco, a town said to contain eighteen thou sand persons, the other taking the direction of Resina; while several small rivulets of liquid fire were observed in divers places. Torre-del-Greco soon fell a prey to the lava, which, in its progress, desolated the whole hill leading down from Vesuvius, sweeping away every house, so that the terrified inhabitants were compelled to aban don their all, and take refuge in Naples. At length, the lava, after three hours' devastation, ran into the sea, on whose banks, for one third of a square mile, it raised

itself a bed from fifteen to twenty Neapolitan palmi (about twenty or twenty-five feet) above the level of the water, and as much, if not more, above the level of the streets of Torre-del-Greco. The reflection from this torrent of lava illuminated the whole city of Naples, and filled the inhabitants with dread; while the other torrent, which flowed toward Resina, on arriving at the gate, divided itself into three streams: one running between the gate and the Convent de' Padri Francescani; the second to the piazza; and the third to the Convent del Carmine, near Torre-del-Annunziata. Wher ever the lava ran, it covered the country with a crust from twenty to thirty palmi deep in and about Resina it left, for a short time, some few isolated buildings, viz., the Palazzo-Brancaccia, the Chiesa de' Marinari, and the Convent de' Francescani; but these soon caught fire: and five women, with one old man, after vainly ringing the church and convent bells for assistance, saved themselves by flight. The Palazzo-Caracciolo now fell a prey to the flames, as did every other building in the neighborhood of Resina, till the whole surrounding plain exhibited one vast sheet of lava. The town of Torre-del-Greco, likewise, was completely buried, some few tops of the loftiest buildings excepted, while every part of the country through which the lava ran became a desert-the trees being thrown down, the houses razed, and the ground for many miles distant covered with cinders and ashes, which last lay about one finger deep in Naples. On the 16th of June, the air was so dense, as nearly to obscure the mountain; but next day the fire made itself new channels, which circumstance might probably be the preservation of several fine buildings near Resina.

We can not dismiss this subject without mentioning an extraordinary circumstance which occurred at Pienza, near Siena, just before the destruction of Torre-del-Greco. Professor Santi, of Pisa, resided at Pienza when this circumstance happened, and to him we are obliged for the following particulars, which may serve to rescue many ancient historians from the reproach of credulity :

On the 16th of June, a dark and dense cloud was discovered at a great height above the horizon, coming from the southeast, that is, in the direction of Vesuvius, which may be about two hundred horizontal miles distant from Pienza. At this height the cloud was heard to issue tones like the discharge of several batteries of cannon; it then burst into flames, at which moment fell a shower of stones for seven or eight miles round, while the cloud gradually vanished. These stones are volcanic, being composed of gray lava, resembling what is found on Vesuvius; and Mr. Santi, who took infinite pains to investigate this phenomenon, felt confident that the cloud rose from Vesuvius, which was at that moment disgorging fires whose force and effects can not be calculated: it could not have arisen from Radicofani, because, though this mountain is one continued mass of volcanic rocks, which bespeak it the offspring of subterranean fire, and though it has been sometimes visited by dreadful earthquakes, still neither history nor even tradition records that it ejected flames, smoke, or vapor, at any period whatsoever.

The approach from Torre-del-Annunziata to Pompeii is through the suburb anciently called Pagus Augustus Felix, and built on each side of the Via-Appia, which, from the commencement of this suburb to the Herculaneum-gate, is flanked by a double row of tombs.

Pompeii appears to have been populous and handsome. It was situated near the mouth of the Sarnus (now called Sarno), and the walls which surrounded the city were above three miles in circumference, and are supposed to have been originally washed by the sea, though now about one mile distant from its margin. Pompeii was buried under ashes and pumice-stones, and at the same time deluged with boiling water, during the year 79, and accidentally discovered by some peasants in 1750, while they were employed in cultivating a vineyard near the Sarno. The excava tion of Herculaneum was attended with much more expense than that of Pompeii, because the ashes and pumice-stones which entombed the latter were not above fif teen feet deep, and so easy was it to remove them, that the Pompeians who survived the eruption of the year 79, evidently disinterred and took away a large portion of their moveable wealth; though, generally speaking, they seem to have made no efforts toward repairing the mischief done to their houses-an extraordinary circumstance, as the roofs only were destroyed. The most interesting parts, hitherto restored to light, of this ill-fated city, have been disinterred by the French, who uncovered its walls, amphitheatre, forum-civile, basilic, and adjoining temples, together with the double row of mausolea, on the outside of the Herculaneum

gate. Still, however, several streets remain buried, but excavations are going on daily.

The streets are straight, and paved with lava, having on each side a raised footway, usually composed of pozzolana and small pieces of brick or marble. The ViaAppia (which traverses the town and extends to Brundusium) is broad, but the other streets are narrow: carriage-wheels have worn traces in their pavement, and, judging from these traces, it appears that the distance between the wheels of ancient carriages was not four feet. The houses hitherto excavated are, generally speaking, small; most of them, however, were evidently the habitations of shopkeepers: but those few which belonged to persons of a higher class were usually adorned with a vestibule, supported by columns of brick, each house possessing an open quadrangle, with a supply of water for domestic purposes in its centre; and on the sides of the quadrangle, and behind it, were baths and dressing-rooms, sitting-rooms, bedchambers, the chapel which contained the lares, the kitchen, larder, wine-cellar, &c., none of which appear to have had much light, except what the quadrangle afforded, there being toward the streets no windows. The walls of every room are composed of tufo and lava, stuccoed, painted, and polished, but the paintings in the large houses are seldom superior in merit to those in the shops; perhaps, however, the ancient mode of painting houses, like that now practised in Italy, was with machines called stampi, which enable the common house-painter to execute almost any figure or pattern upon fresco-walls. The ceilings are arched, the roofs flat, and but few houses have two stories. The windows, like those in Herculaneum, appear to have been provided with wooden shutters, and some of them were furnished with glass, which seems to have been thick and not transparent, while others are supposed to have been glazed either with horn or talc. Every apartment is paved with mosaics; and on the outside of the houses, written with red paint, are the names of the inhabitants, with their occupations, including magistrates and other persons of rank; so that if the stucco on which these names were written had been well preserved, we should at the present moment have known to whom each house in Pompeii origi nally belonged. All the private houses are numbered; and on the exterior walls of public edifices are proclamations, advertisements, and notices, with respect to festivals, gladiatorial shows, &c. The public edifices were spacious and elegant, and the

whole town was watered by the Sarno, which seems to have been carried through it by means of subterranean canals.

We will now mention the objects best worth notice, as they lie contiguous to each other :

Villa of Diomedes.-The first building disentombed at Pompeii was this villa, the skeleton of whose master, Marcus Arrius Diomedes, was found here, with a key in one hand, and gold ornaments and coins in the other. Behind him was found another skeleton, probably that of his servant, with vases of silver and bronze; and in three subterranean corridors, which appear to have been used as cellars, seventeen skeletons were discovered, one of which, adorned with gold ornaments, is conjectured to have been the mistress of the villa, and the others her family. On the groundfloor are several rooms nearly in their original state, as are the garden and the cellars, the first of which is surrounded with colonnades, and has a pergola and a reservoir for water in its centre; the latter, wherein the seventeen skeletons were found, contain wine-jars, filled with and cemented to the walls by ashes. The upper story exhibits paintings, mosaic pavements, hot and cold baths, with furnaces for heating water. Part of the ancient roof of this villa is likewise preserved; and, on the opposite side of the Via-Appia, are the tombs of the family of Diomedes.

Semicircular roofed Seat.-On the left side of the Via-Appia is a deep recess, decorated with stucco ornaments: it seems to have been a covered seat for foot-passengers; and here were found the skeletons of a mother with her infant in her arms, and two other children near her. Three gold rings (one being in the form of a serpent), and two pairs of ear-rings enriched with fine pearls, were found among these skeletons. Opposite to this semicircular seat, and at a small distance from the ViaAppia, are ruins of a villa supposed to have belonged to Cicero.

Semicircular Seat, not roofed.-On the back of the seat is the following inscription, in capital letters, as, indeed, are all the inscriptions at Pompeii: "MAMMIE P. F. SACERDOTI PVBLICAE LOCVS SEPVLTVRAE DATVS DECVRIONVM DECRETO." Behind the seat stands the tomb of Mammia, which appears to have been handsomely built and elegantly ornamented. Further on, near the Herculaneum-gate, is another semicircular bench; and to the left of the Via-Appia, on the outside of the gate, is a path leading to a sally-port, by the steps of which it is easy to ascend to the top of the ramparts.

Herculaneum-Gate.-There were four entrances to Pompeii, namely: the Herculaneum-gate; the Sarno, or Sea-gate; the Isiac-gate (so called because near the temple of Isis); and the Nola-gate: all of which entrances were apparently devoid of architectural decorations, and composed of bricks stuccoed. The Herculaneum-gate is divided into three parts: the middle division, through which passes the Via-Appia, is supposed to have been for carriages, and one of the side-entrances for foot-passengers coming into the city, while the other was appropriated to foot-passengers going out of it. The Via-Appia is about twelve feet wide, and composed of large volcanic stones of various shapes and sizes, fixed deep into a particularly strong cement. The footways on either side of this street are between two and three feet in width. Post-House. This is the first building on the right, within the gate and as Augustus established posts, or what was tantamount, on all the consular roads, making Pompeii one of the stations, this building probably was a post-house; several pieces of iron, shaped like the tire of wheels, were found here.

In a house on the opposite side of the way are a triclinium, and some paintings which merit notice. One of these is a picture representing a female employed in making a copy of the bearded Bacchus. She is dressed in a light-green tunic, without sleeves, over which she wears a dark-red mantle. Beside her is a small box,