326 



It is a scene which fills the mind with new sensations, impossible to 

 describe, or previously to conceive. 



But the immediate object which caused me to take this retro- 

 spective view, was the Roman villa just mentioned. On entering 

 the portal I fancied myself in one of* the modern mansions of an 

 oriental city, and particularly the durbar which I so long occu- 

 pied in Dhuboy. Like the Asiatic houses, the Pompeian villa 

 consisted of several ranges of apartments, surrounding a large area, 

 with a fountain and garden in the centre; each floor had a ve- 

 randa, or portico overlooking the garden, and shading the rooms, 

 leading also to the closets, baths, and store-rooms similar to those 

 in India: these had been then lately cleared, and discovered the 

 tracery of the flower-beds, and channels from the fountain, all 

 perfect. In the extensive cellars which encircle the area, under 

 the summer apartments, I saw several wine jars, some fixed in the 

 lava, others standing loose against the wall ; many of them con- 

 tained the dried lees of red wine, which even then retained a fra- 

 grant odour. 



In clearing the rubbish from one of these cellars the work- 

 men discovered eight skeletons of the unhappy family crowded 

 together against the door, which opened outwards into the area; 

 and, from the accumulation of lava, could not be pushed forwards: 

 thither these devoted persons had fled for refuge from the burning 

 atmosphere above; some of the females were adorned with brace- 

 lets of gold and jewels; the master of the house stood next 

 the door with one hand on the key, and a purse of gold in the 

 other. 



