LESSONS IN ARCHITECTURE. 



ill 



LESSONS IN ARCHITECTURE. XV 1 1 1 



l-i:i V A IK HOUSES. 



HOMEH, in hu " Odyusey," informs u that the hoiuet u. 

 ilio pahir, 'A ,.i :ui. i. nt Greooo were coiwtxuotod of wood ; and 

 among others ho purtioularly describes that of Ulysses, at Ithaca. 

 that tho private houses of tho early Roman* wen 

 small, and that tho doom were left uuulonod daring the principal 

 meal. As wealth and luxury increased, the size of theb houses 

 became HO great aa to accommodate, in no very extraordinary 

 casea, no less than four hundred slaves under a single roof. The 

 height of private houses at Borne was restricted by tho Emperor 

 > seventy feet ; but the irregularity of tho city bo- 

 oame HO great, that in OHO sense its conflagration by Noro turned 

 out u public good. For, being passionately fond of building, 

 this mode way for his an-hitccturol plans, and rendered Borne 

 a regular and splendid city. Notwithstanding these 

 improvements, there was a great want of conveniences in the 

 private architecture of the Romans. There was a general ab- 

 sence of chimneys and of windows ; and the only light received 

 in tho rooms was through an aperture formed in or over the 

 door. In these respects, therefore, they were little removed 

 from tho rude cottages of tho poor still to be seen in the remote 

 parts of our own country. One reason for the neglect of com- 

 fort in their private dwellings was, that they were not a do- 

 i< 1 people ; they lived in public and for the public, and 

 their society was to be found in tho Forum and public porticoes. 

 A military people are sure to bo thus circumstanced ; and France, 

 at least in Paris since tho first revolution, has presented a simi- 

 lar spectacle to the observer. Her inhabitants live in cafes, and 

 in clubs or societies, but not at homo. 



The arrangement of ancient houses greatly differed from the 

 modern in the formation of their internal courts. These were 

 usually constructed so that each was surrounded by apartments 

 which, when lighted from within, prevented the domestic con- 

 cerns of the family from being overlooked by any one not 

 included within the walls. From a passage in Plautns, it does 

 not appear that this construction always answered the purpose ; 

 and in Seneca mention is made of the annoyance to which the 

 neighbours were subject from tho disorderly conduct of those 

 persons who changed night into day by indulging in the false 

 refinement and late hours of the age in which he lived. In 

 the Roman houses, also, there appears to have been, after the 

 Eastern fashion, a remote or inner court for the apartments of 

 the females, accessible only by an outer court for those of the 

 males, and of the servants. Tho information conveyed to us in 

 tho works of Vitruvius has received singular illustration and 

 confirmation within a period less than a century, from the exca- 

 vations at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia, cities which were 

 overwhelmed by a tremendous eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, 

 and which contained houses built and inhabited by Romans 

 belonging to the age of Vitruvins. These excavations exhibit 

 curiously paved streets, having the tracks of carriage- wheels 

 marked on them, and houses built of brick and rubble-work put 

 together with mortar, all tho materials being of very inferior 

 quality, except the interior coating of plaster, to which they 

 appear to have been chiefly indebted for their durability. This 

 plaster was composed of lime and pounded marble, a substitute 

 for stucco, and by its use a perfectly smooth and polished sur- 

 face was obtained, nearly as hard as marble. With this kind of 

 stucco the smallest apartments at Pompeii are found to be 

 lined; and this lining is painted with various and brilliant 

 ^colours, and embellished with subjects either in the centre or at 

 equal distances, like panels. Painted imitations of variegated 

 marbles, forming, perhaps, a species of scagliola, also decorate 

 the walls of their houses. Few blocks of real marble are found, 

 except in monuments and public buildings ; though, in imitation 

 of tho wealthy Romans, the Pompeians inserted pieces or slabs 

 of this material in their walls, and employed art to give them 

 higher tints than those they possessed by nature. They also 

 discovered a method of reining slabs with gold ; and leaves of 

 this metal covering the beams, walls, and even roofs of the 

 houses, were introduced in great profusion. They covered their 

 floors with cement, in which small pieces of marble or coloured 

 stones were regularly embedded in geometrical forms ; and in 

 their best rooms they used mosaic (inlaid work) with ornamented 

 margins and a device in tho centre. Tho doors of their houses, 

 being formed of wood, have been reduced to charcoal by tho 



burning lava, and of ooorse are found ia an incomplete state j 

 they turned on pivoU, aad were fiwteued by bolt* whiob bane 

 upon chain*. Bedsteads are found, made both of wood and 

 iron ; but their bods were mad* generally of oarpeU and vU, 

 spread upon the ground. The article of household furniture 

 and convenience found in these rssnsrlrshln rain* an utensil* of 

 every kind in nilvur, brass, atone, and earthenware, with vases 

 of every aizo and adapted to every UM; trumpets, bells, (rid* 

 irons, colander*, sanonpans (some lined with ilver), kettles, 

 ladles, moolds for jelly or pastry, urns for keeping water hot on 

 the principle of the modern tea-urn, born-lanterns, spiU, and, 

 in fact, every article of kitchen or other furniture used by as, 

 except forks; chains, bolts, scourges, dice (some said to be 

 loaded) ; a complete toilet, with combs, thimbles, rings, paint, 

 pins, earrings, pearls, etc. Bat for more enlarged details, we 

 muat refer to the work of Sir William Oell and J. P. Uandy, 

 entitled " Pompeiana," in which there is given a detailed **f 

 of the excavated houses of Pompeii. 



The excavated towns above mentioned being small, furnished 

 specimens chiefly of bouses inhabited by Romans of the middle 

 and lower classes. At Borne itself, the excavations of the villa 

 Negroni have made us acquainted with the nature of purely 

 Boman houses, and of the higher class. To this may be added 

 the following description, by himself, of the winter residence of 

 Pliny the Younger, at Lanrentinum, situated at the distance of 

 seventeen miles from Rome, which gives us a more 

 cept^u of the villa of a wealthy nobleman of that city: 



" My villa is large enough to afford all desirable 

 tion without being extensive. The porch before it is plain, bat 

 not mean, through which you enter a portico in the form of the 

 letter D, which includes a small but agreeable area. This 

 affords a very commodious retreat in bad weather, not only aa 

 it is enclosed with windows, but particularly as it is sheltered 

 by an extraordinary projection of roof. From the middle of 

 this portico you pass into an inward court, extremely pleasant, 

 and thence into a handsome hall, which runs out towards the 

 sea. On every side of this hall there are either folding-doors 

 or windows equally large, by which means yon have a view 

 from tho front and the two sides, as it were, of three different 

 seas ; from the back you see the middle of the court, the portico, 

 and area ; and by another view you look through the portico 

 into tho porch, whence the prospect is terminated by the wood* 

 and mountains which are seen at a distance. On the left-hand 

 side of this hall, somewhat farther from the sea, lies a largo 

 drawing-room, and beyond that a second of a smaller size, which 

 has one window to the rising and another to the setting son. 

 The angle which the projection forms with this drawing-room 

 retains and increases the warmth of the sun ; and hither my 

 family retreat in winter to perform their exercises. Contiguous 

 to this is a room forming the segment of a circle, the windows 

 of which are so placed as to receive the ann the whole day; in 

 the walls are contained a set of cases, which hold a collection of 

 such authors whose works can never be read too often. Thence 

 you pass into a bed-chamber through a passage which, being 

 boarded, and suspended over a store which runs underneath, 

 tempers the heat, which it receives and conveys to all parts of 

 this room. The remainder of this side of the house is appro- 

 priated to the use of my slaves and f reedmen ; but most of tho 

 apartments are neat enough to receive any of my friends. In 

 the opposite wing is a room ornamented in a very elegant taste ; 

 next to which lies another room, which, though Urge for a 

 parlour, makes but a moderate dining-room. Beyond is a bed- 

 chamber, together with its ante-chamber, the height of which 

 renders it cool in summer, as its being sheltered on all side* 

 from the winds makes it warm in winter. To this apartment 

 another of the same sort is joined by a common wall. From 

 thence you enter into the grand and spacious cooling-room be- 

 longing to the bath, from the opposite walls of which two round 

 basins project, sufficiently huge to swim in. Contiguous to this 

 is tho perf uming-room, then the sweating-room, and next to that 

 the furnace which conveys the heat to the baths. Adjoining 

 are the two little bathing-rooms, fitted up in an elegant rather 

 than a costly manner. At the other end is a second turret, in 

 which is a room that receives the rising and setting sun. Behind 

 this is a largo repository, near to which is a gallery of curiosi- 

 ties, and underneath is a spacious dining-room. It looks upon 

 the garden and the ride which surrounds the garden. Between 

 the garden and this ride is a banqueting-room. Two apart. 



