Notices respecting New Books. 235 



" The spoliations which are daily committed at Pompeia are 

 tnilv afflicting. It would seem as if the mania of destruction 

 was added to the effects of an insane admiration, so as to leave 

 nothin.2; behind. Wicked and foolish persons are in the habit 

 of breaking altars and columns, and defacing ornaments. Pre- 

 tended amateurs, ridiculously zealous, profit by the absence or 

 inattention of tiie guardians, and even sometimes display their 

 foliy and cupidity by trying to remove bronze letters, or to de- 

 tach portions of Mosaic work. As iv is, these Mosaics are spoiled 

 bv having the dust scraped off with which they are covered in 

 winter, to show them to the curious. The finest paintmgs are 

 defaced by incautiouslv washing them with a view to make their 

 colours appear richer. But what shall I say of the odious mania 

 with whicli some travellers are seized, of writing their names 

 with a pointed instrument, not omitting the place of their birth, 

 and the dav of their mischievous visit to Pompeia ! It is even 

 fortunate tJiat they do not always add the names of their sweet- 

 hearts ! In regarding this sad mixture of names of all nations, 

 we may suppose we are reading the registry of the grand as- 

 sembly in Pand3emoniu\n, or of the general meeting which is to 

 take place in the valley of Jehosaphat. It is painful to reflect 

 that the names which disfigure tlie beautiful coloured stuccoes, 

 the finest paintings, and the most elegant arabesques, do not be- 

 long to the lower classes of society, whose want of education 

 might excuse them. We find, on the contrary, the names of a 

 great number of persons very well known in the world, well 

 educated, and of distinguished rank. I have collected a long 

 list, and if I should publish it I should be accused of a want of 

 decorum : I should be doing nothing more, however, than con- 

 tributing to introduce these aspbcnid a little sooner to the tem- 

 ple ofglorv, and giving them a little more of that celebrity which 

 they desire. Woidd it not be possible, for instance, to prohibit 

 all entrance into the houses and other buildings of Pompeia, to 

 those who are not attended by a guardian, leaving the streets 

 only free of access ? Why not inflict, severe penalties upon those 

 who touch these monuments with profane hands ? A large fine 

 ought to be imposed on those who carve their names on the 

 stucco or stone ; nay, I could wish that the exaction of the fine 

 and the name of the transgressor should be publicly announced 

 in the Neapohtan Moniteiir. I could wish also that they would.., 

 allix to the article the following verse of Martial : 



" j\()mii);i stulloriim stdiptr in iiuenia loguutiir." 

 " The names of fools are always to be found on the walls/ 



Mr. T. F. Forster has in the press a work entitled Flora Ton- 

 Irigiensis ; or, A Catalogue of Phuits grown in the Neighbour- 

 hood of Tunbridgc Wells. 



