11 



applied to Lady Oglander, the proprietress of it, for permission to 

 dig. After some time tliis was very graciously accorded, and there- 

 upon ensued the discoveries Avhich were the subject of the lecture, 

 and which have attracted so much public attention, and are still 

 being pursued with undiminished interest and zeal. The centre of 

 an apartment 51 feet long, was occupied by a mosaic pavement 

 representing Orpheus playing upon his lyre, wearing a Plirygian cap 

 and flowing pallium or cloak ; attracted by his music are quadrupeds 

 and birds. Jfear to the left shoulder is a monkey wearing a red cap, 

 the other animals are a coot, a fox, and a peacock. The attention 

 of the animals appears rivetted upon the player. The remainder of 

 the floor of this long room is covered with black and white tesserae. 

 Underneath is a subway 6ft. Sin. long by 2ft. wide and 3ft. 2in. deep, 

 wliich had been covered with flat slabs of native tertiary limestone, 

 the stones forming it are of various dimensions but are all Sin. 

 thick. This subway has evidently something to do with the heat- 

 ing apparatus for the other apartments subsequently disinterred. 



The most remarkable pavements discovered, however, were 

 those in a chamber 39ft. 6in. long, and of varying 'width, divided 

 by piers in the centre. At the west end the mosaic floor is very 

 nearly square, its dimensions being 13ft. Gin. by 13ft. lOin., and is 

 di-vided into compartments, all edged by a border of the "guilloche" 

 pattern, — a form of tastefid interlacing usual in Roman mosaic 

 work, — in half-inch tesserae of white, black, and red. The central 

 design of this portion of the pavement has been destroyed, but it 

 seems to have contained a little house similar to that in the first 

 pavement found. At the comers are busts representing the four 

 seasons, and in one of them is also the figure of a peacock with 

 flowing tail, pecking at flowers in a vase ; the plumage being 

 worked in many colours. There were doubtless similar figures in 

 the three corresponding comers, but these have been destroyed. 

 Between these were probably mythological subjects, one resembling 

 Perseus and Andromeda alone being preserved. Between the stone 

 piers which divided the apartment into two, and probably supported 

 an arch across which a curtain could be drawn, is a very interesting 

 pavement, in the centre of wliich is a square panel, containing a male 

 seated figure, very slightly draped ; at his left side stands a pUlar, 



