[ 1 2 7 ] 
authority of Ulpian) fays, were in ufe before the in- 
vention of windows of the lapis fpecularis, or * glafs. 
Ulpian indeed, in the paffage Pitifcus refers to, only 
mentions them as fubhfting together with the f latter : 
but it feems obvious to conclude, that the vela, being 
an invention lefs perfedt and commodious, were prior 
in time to the fpecularia, which are to be regarded as 
a fubfequent improvement of the former. Notwith- 
flanding this, the vela hill continued in queflion, 
even after the introduction of window-fences of hone 
or glafs, and ferved as canopies, or j umbrellas, to 
keep the fun from places expofed to the open air ; as 
the others fecured the inner parts of the houfe from 
cold, &c. 
I took notice || of the natural connection there 
feemed to fubfift between the ufing of plates of glafs 
for adorning the inlide of apartments in antient times, 
and the employing them for introducing light into 
thofe apartments. This obfervation has been fup- 
ported by a letter I received from my learned cor- 
refpondent, xAbbate Venuti, at Rome, dated Decem- 
ber 30, 1759, wherein he informs me, that he had 
lately read, in fome anecdotes of Cardinal Maximi, 
“ That as they were digging among the ruins on 
“ mount Caelius, in the laft century, they found a 
“ room belonging to an antique dwelling-houfe, that 
* Pitifcus, Tit. Specular. 
t Specularia et vela, qua; frigoris caufa et imbrium in dome 
funt. Ibid. 
t Specularia-vela, quae frigoris, vel umbra caufa, in demo funt 
Ulpian apud Le Antich. See thefe vela exhibited, Tavol. vi. 
49. ibid. 
|| Phil. Tranf. Vol. L. Part II. p. 606. 
<C 
had 
