488 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1740. 



Having descended down the well, Mr. K. says, the place gives one a per- 

 fect idea of a city destroyed in that manner: for one there sees great quantities 

 of timber, in the forms of beams and rafters, some lying one way, some an- 

 other; some, as they broke in the fall, others entire; these are sticking in the 

 sides of the ways, and are become a perfect charcoal; but those in moist 

 places, and where the water ouses, you may run your hand into, and work like 

 a paste, and they have more the colour of rotten wood. The walls are some 

 tumbled slanting, others crossing them, and many are upright. One sees 

 great quantities of marble, as bits of window-cases and other ornaments, stick- 

 ing out in all parts. There seem to be, in one place, the ruins of some mag- 

 nificent building, which they have dug round; for there appear the bases in 

 white marble of square and round columns, which are all of a size; and, what 

 is surprising, they have not examined whether they have any columns on them, 

 which one stroke of the pick-axe would have done. I scraped away the earth 

 at the side of the base of a pilaster, and found the wall covered with a very 

 beautiful marble, but could not reach to discover what was on the top of it. 

 There are but two columns that appear, one of a red marble, the other of 

 brick covered with stucco, and fluted. In one place there are about 14 steps, 

 which resembled the seats of a theatre. Some of the walls have the plaster 

 remaining, and are painted, the colours still fresh. One sees nothing but pure 

 earth mixed with these ruins; whereas the surface of all that part of the coun- 

 try, quite to the sea, is covered with the cinders of Vesuvius. The buildings 

 were of brick covered with marble; for I found no other sort of stone there, 

 but thin plates of marble of all sorts in great quantity. Neither are there any 

 bases or capitals of large columns; 2 feet diameter is the most. Captain Em- 

 mery brought away a small capital of a pilaster, which is very curious, it being 

 much the same as was used by the Goths in Italy. This makes me think, that 

 they revived the ancient barbarous style, used before the introduction of the 

 Greek for the capital. This is certainly more ancient than the time of the 

 Goths in Italy. It was the only one of the kind we saw there. 



E.rtract of a Letter from Mr. Crispe to Mr. George Knapton, on the same Sub- 

 ject as the two preceaing Papers. Dated Rome, jipril 24, 1740. N° 458, 

 p. 493. 



At Portici I saw some antique paintings, which have lately been tak'en out of 

 the ruins of Herculaneum; two of them, about 12 feet square, with their 

 painted frames or borders round them, are as fresh and perfect as if done yes- 

 terday ; much more so, than some of Raphael's in the Vatican ; and for excel- 



