148 Excavations among the Ruins of Pompeii. 
through the top, and a square. burying-place was found, 
which contained two coffins made of the finest marble of 
Paris, and lying along side each other. opening them, 
the well preserved bodies of a man and a woman appeared, 
which must have lain there nearly two thousand. years, as 
the inscription in Greek characters on the marble an- 
nounced that they were the bodies of a Grecian prince and 
his wife, who in former ages had formed a settlement on 
these coasts, beyond the pillars of Hercules. These anti- 
quated remains of frail mortality were committed to their. 
parent dust ; but the coffins, which are of the most exquisite 
workmanship, were shown for the gratification of the cu- 
tious. The French Government having heard of this dis=_ 
covery offered 20,000 franks (5000/. sterling) to its pos- 
sessor, intending to remove the marble sarcophagi to the» 
Imperial Museum; but he refused the sum. 
“The excavations among the ruins of Pompeii continue 
fo be prosecuted with much industry, and a great number of 
workmen have been constantly employed withifi the last 12 
months. On the 21st of November last several skeletons 
were found of.inhabitants who had endeavoued to escape, 
perhaps after having ineffectually tried various ways of ex- 
tricating themselves, for the ashes around them were tem - 
feet deep ; some. of them had gold rings on their fingers, 
one of which resembles a serpent coiled up, and several 
had ear-rings with two pendents terminated by a pearl, 
There are similar sets of ear-rings in the cabinet of the 
Bibliotheque Impériale: they were found in an excavation 
made by order of General Championnet. It would seem 
as if all these skeletons belonged to one family: the bones 
of an infant so small that it could scarcely have seen the 
light, or perhaps it was still unborn, induce a belief that 
in this family there was an unfortunate mother who was 
flying with her child from the effects of the eruption. A 
slave seems to have been charged with the family treasure 
contained in a cloth folded several times around it: the 
external-surface is calcined, but the interior bands are still 
entire. Its contents were a Shi 300 pieces of silver coin, 
and eight of gold. _ 
Pompeii affords a mine which will long supply ample 
funds of instruction and, amusement to the learned. It i is 
intended to clear away the rubbish from around the walls 
in the first instance ; and when these are well defined, the 
different streets and squares will be traced, and the houses 
and buildings more easily examined: the excavations sage 
the 
