41.S 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[December, 



in getiii cellajwim /rater E/ecclesvrr/e/." Take this sculpture as a whole, it 

 is one of the most sjilentlid specimens of sepulchral uni in existence. 



No. 13. This is a sepulclual urji of a square form : in the centre of the 

 front is a tablet, on which is the following insci'iption : — 



" Dis manilius 



" Pelire. Philtatse 



" M. Pilius. eucarpus 



" Convgi. B. il. 



" fecit, ct sibi." 

 At each of the four corners is an eagle j the lid resembles a pointed roof; in 

 the centre of the face of the urn is a bust of Pelia Philtata, and at the corners 

 are the usual ornaments of honeysuckle llowcrs. The particular for which 

 this urn is remarkable is a iieculiarity in the lid, which is occasioned by a 

 singular custom of the ancients, aud sometimes practised in honour of the 

 deceased, ^^^len the funeral rites were performed it was the custon at stateil 

 periods to \-isit the ashes of their friends, and to adorn their urns with flowers 

 and garlands, and to offer sacrifices of oil and wine to their manes. In some 

 cases these visits arose from friendship or affection, but the performance of 

 them was often strictly ordered by the will of the deceased, and funds pro- 

 %-ided for it. In this, i'n order that it might with greater convenience be com- 

 phed will), on the top of the lid of the urn a patera is formed, in the bowl of 

 ■which is an opening through which the wine, oil, and ointments were poured 

 upofi the ashes. Propertius says—" Adfert hao unguenta mihi, sertisipie se- 

 pulcbrum ornabit, eustos ad mea hasta sedens." Ovid in mentioning libations 

 to the funeral urn says : — 



" Jam tanien extincto cineri sua dona ferebant, 

 " Compositique nepos btfsta piabat avi." 

 On the left side of the doorway as you enter is a sepulchral urn dedicated by 

 riavia Dada, and by Fortunatu's, a freed man of the Emperor, to the metnory 

 of her deserving husband, aud his most worthy father, Admetus, a superin- 

 tendent of the furniture of the Imperial Palace, and also a freed man. Above 

 this inscription is a has reUef representing the " cffifia feraUs," or funeral 

 feast. Naked to the waist is the figure of Admetus reclining on a couch ; in 

 his left hand he holds a large cup or vessel, and in his right a wreath ; ac- 

 cording to the Eouian custom at feasts, his head is decorated with a garland ; 

 two children naked are sitting at his feet ; behind is a female attendant, who 

 is supporting his body ; the hair of this figure is singularly bound on tlie front 

 of the head in a knot. All these attendants are dwarfish in their proportions, 

 as was frequently the case when inferior persons or slaves were represented 

 on the ancient sculptures. These representations of the funeral feast are 

 curious and interesting : it is impossible for us to enter into the feelings which 

 dictated thetii ; yet the custom of offering the funeral cake and wine at the 

 present day may have derived its origin from it ; we kno\v not in what light 

 the ancients regarded a future existence, Iiut these scfilptures sufficiefitly in- 

 dicate their hopes, though they show the indistinctness of their ideas ; here 

 are the monnied dead, represented as exercising the animal functions of life ; 

 elegances are displayed to please the eye, food and wine to gratify the taste, 

 often music to charm the ear, atid garlands to perfume the air, and to these 

 enjoyments are addcil the presence of their fiiends who are yet in existence ; 

 thus' the living and the dead, the spu-itual and the material worid, are asso- 

 ciated together in one common act ; circumstances are represented in the 

 history of vfhich we can hardly participate or understand, l)ut by which we 

 may perceive that the ancients did cfitertain notions, though inaccurate and 

 ill-defined, of a future state. The urn is ornamented at the top with gariands, 

 which take the shape of volutes, the ends of which terminate in a rose. The 

 pra;fericnlum and patula are scidptured on the sides of the urn. The top has 

 never been separated from the body ; it has a large circular excavation in the 

 middle, about seven inches and a half in diameter. 



On the north side of the room, in the niche, the third as you enter, is an 

 urn different from fuost of the others, aud yen- rarely fuet with, being square, 

 and of an upright shape ; it is enriched by a festoon of laurel leaves. On it 

 is this inscription in fovtr Mnes : — " Vernasire Cycladi. Conivgi optima, vix. 

 ann. xxviii. vitalis, Aug. 1. scrib. cv. B.'' The figures of a man and his wife 

 are represented as standing beneath a portico, the roof or which resembles 

 that of a sepulchral urn ; they are in the act of joining hands ; between them 

 are the letters F. A. P. Lighted torches, placed in an upright position, form 

 the corners of this urn, each side of which is embellished with a la\ucl tree ; 

 a WTCath is placed on the centre of the lid, and a dolphin at each corner. 

 The intetition of the portico on the monument is in allusion to the entrance 

 of the habitation of departed spirits, where the wife must take a long farewell 

 of her partner. Among the Romans in the earlier times of the empire their 

 funeral ceremonies were alwnys performed at night, which was formerly also 

 the custom in this country, and the torches at the corners allude to it ; and 

 even at a later date wlien the funerals took place in the day time, lighted 

 ones always formed part of the accompaniment ; those placed here are of the 

 sort called " ta:die," being the semblance of a nufuber of tine slips tied toge- 

 ther with thongs. The dolphins relate to that superstition of the ancients 

 wliieh supposed that the spirits of the dead were conveyed by them across 

 the seas to the liapjiy abodes of the blessed. Vitalis, who by the inscription 

 erected this moiuunent to the memory of his beloved wife, Yernasia Cyclax, 

 seems to have been a freed man of the Emperor, and a favourite, as he held 

 au oflice similar to that of private secretaiy ; the letters " F. A. P.," between 

 the figures, denote that the tomb was erected by order of the ffidiles. No. 

 6, is a small slab let into the wall, it shows the manner in which the inemorj' 



of the favoured dependents of a family were preserved ; 

 tion — 



on it is this iuscrip- 



SERVILIA 



IRENE. 



ANNIOLENA 



T. F. 



MAXIMA 



Within the wall which it faces are two oUae or circiUar vases of earthenware, 

 somewhat of the shape of the alabaster one near the centre on the south side 

 of the room, in it were deposited the ashes of the two persons whose names 

 are recorded on the slab in front. The lids of these vases alone are visible, 

 which can be taken off, to allow hbations to be poured which the jiious affec- 

 tion of survinng friends might offer to the memory of the departed. Some- 

 times in family tombs four or more excavations were made in each niche, in 

 general they are found sufficiefitly large at the top to allow the urn to be taken 

 out, but occasionally, as in this, they are so constructed at the mouth that 

 the space does not allow of the removal. 



In the centre of the room is a mosaic pavement, which in the year 1805 

 was found on making some repairs under the south-western angle of the Bank 

 of England, about 20 feet west of the westcrmost gate, opening into Lothbury ; 

 it was 11 feet beneath the surface, the design is handsome and well executed, 

 but the workmanship is evidently inferior, and probably that of a native artist. 

 The outer border is composed of pieces of brick. It is not sepidchral, nor is 

 it connected with the other objects here : it endently, from the cross in the 

 centre, was made after the introduction of Christianity into the island. 



On the south side, near the centre compartment of the room, placed on au 

 altar, is a sepulchral urn without either inscription or decoi'ation ; it has 

 handles and a cover, the shape is exceedingly elegant, the material of which 

 it is made is the alabaster of the ancients, which is of a yellowish colour with 

 pinkish stripes ; near it there is auotlier of the shape of a truncated cone, 

 w hich has a cover and veiy small handles ; the stripes on it are more strongly 

 defined ; the colour is the same, as is also the substance of which it is com- 

 posed ; the height of it is 20 inches, the diameter at the top 8^, and at the 

 bottom 12. 



The saloons containing the Elgin and Phigalian marbles have lately, after 

 a variety of trials, been coloured in imitation of rose-colomed Egyptian por- 

 phyry, and the roof of grayish granite ; time may in some degree reduce the 

 luxuriancy and briUiancy of the colour ; at present, perhaps, the rosy warmth 

 which it throws over the apartments somewhat hurts the effect of the sculp- 

 tures. The brown and dark appearance which time has given to these mas- 

 ter-pieces of antiquity is comproiuised by the blooming walls by which they 

 are surrounded and supported, their look of youthful pretention and roseate 

 bloom but badly harmonizes with the severity of age. The monstrosities of 

 Egypt in the adjoining halls would have been more in keeping with that 

 mythias of colour by which their neighbours in a great degree are eclipsed 

 and overwhelmed. 



ON DRY ROT. 



I Has desirous of taking only a partial view of this subject, and of confin- 

 ing my observations to that species of Dry-rot vhicb is common in new 

 buildings ; wilhout encountering what is known by that name, which at one 

 time threatened the extermination of the British Navy, and is by some attri- 

 buted to the Fungi Sporotrichi, but I attempted in vain to make the distinc- 

 tion.* 



The rot which I allude to. might be more properly called the damp-rot, 

 or wet-rot, than the dry-rot, for it appears to arise i'rom coyifitiecl moisture ; 

 and the prevention as well as the cure for it. I believe, may consist in merely 

 giving the confined moisture an opportunity to escape, by the admission of 

 air. 1 do not mean to say that atmospheric air is a specific, by the adminis- 

 tering of which rotton wood can be made sound ; but I do mean to express 

 my belief, that the introduction of air, even in small quantiiies, will effectually 

 arrest the destructive progress of the dry-rot. 



1 will mention two instances now existing of this dry-rot in two new 

 churches, namelv, that of Trinity Church, Oswestry, and the New Church at 

 AberystH ilh. The fonuer is built of rublde-stone oi the neighbourhood, from 

 Sweeney Mountain, which is a free-stone, with a large proportion of mortar ; 

 the latter is built of rubble-stone of that neighbourhood, which is of a slaty 

 quality, with a large proportion also of mortar. In lioth these cases the ends 

 of the" pews are closely fitted with framed panels of deal upon damp walls, 

 good oak floors in the former, and I think in the latter also, and risers of 

 deal under the pew doors. The eftects of this dry-rot have become very con- 

 spicuous in both instances, by an exlensive destruction of the wood work, 

 against the w alls, and under the doors of the pews : upon removing the panels 

 Stc, it was found that a ])arasitic fungus has made extensive ramifications, 

 and the deal is very much decayed, but the oak has as yet sull'ered compara- 

 tively little injury. I believe, that if a perforated plate' containing apertures 

 equal to tliree or four square inches had been inserted in the upper panel, 

 fixed to the wall in each pew, and the like under each door, the mischief 

 would not have happened; and that if these means of ventilation were re- 

 sorted to now, they would stop the progress of the drv-rot. But I do not 

 know any thing more certain to produce the dry-rot tluin what I have just 

 noticed, and eonseqiienlly nothingcould put any expedient for the prevention 

 or cure of the evil to a severer test than to have thus impounded the moisture. 

 A pretty little gothic pattern, weighing three-quarters of a pound, has been 



* The following Fungi are considered as the cause of dry-rot ;— Boletus 

 laehrymans, Merulius lachrymans, Polyporus destructor, and the genus 

 Sprorotrichum. 



