MERGE TO GYRENE. 
525 
We must observe, with respect to the passages which we have sup- 
posed to have been used as entrances to the theatre, that they were 
boards. The truth of which will be manifest, if we observe those who sing to the harp ; 
who, whenever they wish to sing in a higher tone, turn themselves to the leaves of the 
scene ; from which they receive the assistance of corresponding sounds. But when 
theatres are not sonorous, in consequence of their being built with solid materials, such 
as stone or marble, whether wrought or unhewn, it then becomes necessary to have 
recourse to the expedient just explained. Many skilful architects, who have built 
theatres in small towns, have, in order to lessen the expense, adopted vases of pottery 
instead of brass, of the same pitch ; and, by arranging them according to these principles 
have produced the most useful effects.” 
We may remark on this subject, that it has hitherto been doubted, by persons well 
qualified to judge of architectural details, whether the practice alluded to by Vitruvius 
in the foregoing passage, was ever really adopted by the ancients for the purpose which 
he mentions. Mr. Wilkins has noticed a passage in Pliny, which alludes to a mode of 
building peculiar to the walls of theatres ; in the construction of which, hollow vessels 
of earthenware were immured, and whenever it was required to prolong the vibrations, 
or to increase the powers of the voice, the orchestra was strewn with sand or saw-dust, 
by which means, the voice being directed to the body of the house, the sounds were 
carried along the walls so long as there was no impediment to obstruct their course ; 
whereas, in the walls of other edifices, the interior space between the two faces of the 
wall was filled in with rubble. “ In describing this mode of building,” continues Mr. 
Wilkins, “ Pliny might have had our author in view ; whose mention of vases received 
a degree of confirmation from the fact, that earthern vessels were sometimes inserted in 
the masonry of ancient buildings. An instance in which this practice has been adopted, 
occurs in the Circus of Caracalla. Vases are there found regularly distributed in the 
stone work above the crown of the arches, which were constructed for the purpose of 
giving a proper degree of elevation to the seats of the spectators. The object of their 
introduction seems to be the diminution of weight. Vitruvius confesses (Mr. Wilkins 
adds) that there was no theatre at Rome which had vases for such a purpose ; although 
he states them to have been in use in the provinces of Italy, and in most of the cities of 
Greece. It is certain, however, that in the various theatres which have fallen within our 
observation, no provision has been made for the reception of vases, in the situation which 
Vitruvius assigns to them.” 
Since the publication of Mr. Wilkins’s Vitruvius, the researches of Mr. William Bankes 
