S66 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 119h 



destroyed in the town. The walls 

 of the sepulchre, at the outside ot 

 the city, are sculptured with ancient 

 masks. 



Some ruins in the neighbourhood 

 exhibit a specimen of an ancient 

 villa with the whole plan of the 

 house, its out-houses, ani its gar- 

 den, which is about, perhaps, half 

 an acre, and divided into compart- 

 ments, in one of which was a pond. 

 The walls of the rooms retain some 

 delicate painting. The cellars still 

 contain Amphorae, with wine, en- 

 crusted by ashes to a solid substar.ce. 

 In the cellars of this villa the skele- 

 tons of some unhap])y sufferers were 

 found, who had fled there for shel- 

 ter from the shower of ashes which 

 buried the district. 



At Hsrculaneum the remains of 

 a theatre still may be seen, mth its 

 seats, its orchestra, and several de- 

 partments, all much more btiow 

 the surface of the ground than are 

 the ruins of Pompeii. The ruins of 

 Stabia have been so little cleared, 

 that we were told it was not woiih 

 while to visit them. 



If afterwards we turn to Poi tici, 

 we find a display of every a: tide 

 which can illustrate the private and 

 domestic ■^•:onomy of th: ancients. 

 In one museum is c'lected almost .ill 

 the furniture useful and ornamental 

 of a Roman house. The Icctiit r- 

 nia, the side-board, the culinary 

 Utensils, and even the eatables are 

 preserved. The weights and scales 

 and steelyards are scarce excelled 

 bv modern irrprovemf^nts. The 

 caledavia with heaters r.rst sug- 

 gested the idea of tea-urns. The 

 implements of .Tgriculture. which 

 rcscmbli' those used in our own 

 time, prove that necessity always 

 operates by the most simple contri- 

 vances, and suggests aearly the 



same means. The tops, and difFe-* 

 rent representations of ancient 

 am"semeiiT,s, pr; ve che ai tiquity of 

 many game;, a; well as do th.e lines 

 ot fiorace, that speak of ri' ag on 

 sticks, and playm^ at odd and even. 

 The tciitrt and its ..rnture U;.fold 

 the decorations of fern,, iastp. The 

 chirurgical instrume ' ere are not 

 sufficient in numb* to illustrate 

 much of the state o* ' urgery at the 

 time wlien they were used. Among 

 the musical lu-^trumt-nts is an un- 

 conm.on trumpet, which Dr. Bur- 

 ney conceives to be the ancient 

 clangor tubarum. The altars and 

 the sacritica! vessels exhibit the pa- 

 rade of Paganism. The lachryma- 

 tories and air lets of indecent su- 

 perstition expose the artificial and 

 credulous fellies of the people. 



The painlings, which fill rooms, 

 sometiif^cs engage our admiration 

 by the display of elegant figures and 

 desci-iptior.s, of Bacchanals and 

 I'auns dniicing on the tight rope, 

 of Chiron teaching Achilles, of 

 Dido -'^'ndoned of the victory of 

 Theseus over the Minotaur, of 

 Ge-vi with their attributes. These, 

 bt^-.ig *"uun.i on the walls of private 

 houses, demonstrate the high per- 

 fection to which the art of paint* 

 ing was advanced, while the filthy 

 representations which painting and 

 SLiilpture sometimes exhibit, ar^ue 

 t!:;' coaisene-s and corruption of 

 ancient tast", and disgust us with 

 the idea of a people, among whom 

 superstition consecrated unnatural 

 ceujunctici and female delicacy 

 was not sliockod by the most un» 

 chaste ornaments. He that see* 

 them cannot but marvel much at 

 the affected r-finement of some 

 modern advocates 6f natural reli- 

 gion, who pretend to extract from 

 the emblems of a loose and popular 



credulity. 



