ARCHITECTURE. 
doors is feen the cubiculum, from the windows the crypto- 
porticus; on the tide next the fea, and oppofite the wall, 
a very elegant zotheca (a clofet or fmall room) recedes, 
to which a cubiculum is either added, or feparated by 
means of glazed windows and curtains. Here are con¬ 
tained two chairs and a bed, from the foot of which you 
have a profpe£t of the fea ; from the back, of the neigh¬ 
bouring villas; and from the head, of the woods : each 
window giving a particular profpefl, which may be feen 
either together or leparately. Adjoining is a cubiculum 
for night and lleep ; for here neither the noile of fervants, 
the murmurs of the fea, the roaring of tempefts, the glare 
of lightning, nor even the light of day, is perceived till 
the windows are opened, but all is profound lilence, which 
is caufed and preferved by an andron, (an open court or 
fpace,) which is between the wall of the cubiculum and 
that of the garden, fo that all noife is drowned by the 
void fpace between. Clofe to the cubiculum is a fmall 
hypocauftum, ((love,) the heat from which, by a fmall 
window, may be regulated at pleafure. Thence a procte- 
ton and cubiculum extend into the fun, where it is en¬ 
joyed, though obliquely, from its rife till after mid-day. 
“ When retired to thefe apartments 1 feem ablent from 
my villa; 1 receive great delight here, particularly in the 
time of the Saturnalia, when the other parts of the villa, 
by the accuftomed freedom allowed at thofe times, refound 
with feftive clamours; for here I neither obftrudt the di- 
verjjons of my fervants, nor they my ftudy. Thefe con¬ 
veniences, thefe pleafures, are deficient in falling water, 
yet near the ftirface are wells, or rather fprings, &c.” 
Plinii, Epift. lib. 2, epijl. 17. 
This copious defcription conveys a pretty accurate idea 
of the extent of a Roman villa, their numerous apartments, 
and various and multiplied conveniences. In the defcrip¬ 
tion of Tufcum, by the fame Pliny, which merits to be 
called in modern language a manlion more than a villa, 
being furrounded by an extenlive domain, and dilfant from 
Rome one hundred and fifty miles; here apartments more 
numerous and of greater elegance are defcribed; and the 
garden or pleafure grounds were more abundantly accom¬ 
modated with extenlive buildings and conveniences; nor 
were thefe two villas all which were pofleffed by the con- 
ful; for he writes to a friend, “ I prefer my villa of Tuf¬ 
cum to thofe of Tufculum, Tybur, and Praenefte.” Thefe 
three, as well as I.aurentinum, were in the vicinity of 
Rome. On the borders of Lake Larium, his native place, 
now called Lake Como, on the confines of Switzerland, 
he mentions (in Epift. 7, lib. 9.) having feveral feats, two 
of which afforded him particular delight ; and, from their 
folemir and gay fituations, he called one tragedy, the other 
comedy; from one, out of the bed-chamber, almofl from 
the bed, you might angle in the lake below. 
Of neither of thefe villas are there any remains. What 
has been traced of the Tyburtine villa of Adrian, accord¬ 
ing to the plans publifhed by Piranifi, fhew it to have been 
of an amazing extent : here was, each upon a grand fcale, 
an hippodrome, a naumachia, a theatre, a palasftra, a 
nympiiEeum, a caltle for a guard, with a temple to Mars, 
a pifeina, a bibliotheca, a ftadium, a vefiibulum of various 
apartments, being the entrance to the baths, fiadium, &c. 
&c. baths, a pretorium, a pinacotheca, an hofpitalium for 
vifitors, a canopum, an academia, an odeum and theatre, 
a lyceum, a palace for the emperor, with many other 
buildings; each of which were accommodated with various 
apartments, fitted up in a ftyle of elegance and grandeur 
fcarcely credible : this truly princely palace occupied a 
l'pace of ground about twelve hundred yards in length. 
The villa of Mecaenas, in the neighbourhood of Tivoli, 
was alfo on a grand fcale, and not lefs elegant. 
We do not find, in any of the ancient authors, that the 
deferiptions of thefe villas, either Greek or Roman, are 
given fo definite as to authorize any one particular difpo- 
(ition, and no other. Vitruvius only mentions the general 
afpefls and connections of the different apartments ; but 
every different villa may have varied in its particular dif- 
tribution, according as the lituation, nature of the ground, 
or other circumftances, might render proper or necelfary. 
The mode of diftribution, conformable to the general de¬ 
feriptions of Vitruvius, Pliny, &c. is delineated in the 
annexed Plate of the plan and elevation of a Roman villa, 
of which the following is an explanation : 
A, Periftylium. B, Atrium. C, Porticos. D, Ambu¬ 
latory and xyftus. E, Crypto-porticus. F, Veftibulum. 
G, Cav;edium. H, Oeci. I, Library. K, Pinacotheca. 
L, Cyzicene cecus. M, Triclinium. N, Cubiculi. O, Die- 
tae, or different fets of apartments. P, Porticus. QGfath- 
ing apartments. R, Gymnafium, and rooms appertaining 
to the fame. S, Pratum or lawn. T, Gardens. 
Of GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
Though the remains of the noble edifices of ancient 
Greece and Rome have been meafured and delineated with 
the greatell accuracy, by architects of the highefl eminence 
in their profefiion, yet we find very few who have directed 
their enquiry towards the principles of that ftyle of build¬ 
ing called Gothic. This neglect may, in foir.e meafure, be 
attributed to a prejudice ariling from a miftaken notion of 
its having originated with a tribe of barbarians, from whom 
nothing good or excellent could be expeCted. Tims, ge¬ 
neral exprefiions, ill defined, often impofe on the under- 
ftanding, and lead to conclufions which have no foundation 
in truth. The fenfe commonly attached to the word bar¬ 
barian, implies almoft every thing that degrades the hu¬ 
man character; and therefore when we read that the migh¬ 
ty empire of Rome was defolated and laid wafte by the 
Goths, and other barbarous nations, we conceive them to 
have been a wild and favage people, without order, difei- 
pline, or government, ignorant of the arts of civil life, 
and unexercifed in every tiling but cruelty and rapine. It 
fhould, however, be recolleCted, that the Greeks and Ro¬ 
mans called all nations barbarians who were not under 
their own government; and that the primitive fenfe of the 
word implied no more than an alien or foreigner. Agreea¬ 
bly to this fenfe, we are told by Mr. Gibbon, that Alaric, 
king of the Goths, though a barbarian, befieging Rome, 
“ was a Chriftian, and a foldier, the leader of adilciplined 
army, who underftood the laws of war, and who refpeCted 
the fanCtity of treaties.” When he was upon the point of 
breaking into the city, he harangued his foldiers, and told 
them, that all the wealth in Rome was theirs, and there¬ 
fore he gave them full liberty to f'eize it; but he ItriCtly 
enjoined them to fhed the blood of none but fuch as they 
fhould find inarms; and, above all, to fpare thofe who 
fhould take refuge in the holy places, efpecially in the 
churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, which he named be- 
caufe they were molt fpacious, and capable of affording 
an afylum to great numbers of people. Accordingly, not 
the lead injury was offered to thofe who fled to the church¬ 
es, and the Goths themfelves conveyed thither, as to places 
of fafety, fuch as they were defirous fhould be fpared. 
The idol temples, and many flatues of the gods that had 
been preferved by fome^of the Chriftian emperors, as ex¬ 
cellent pieces of art, were on this occalion deftroyed, ei¬ 
ther by the Goths, who, though moftly Arians, werene- 
verthelefs zealous ChrLftians; or by a dreadful ftorm of 
thunder and lightning, which fell at the fame time on the 
city, as if it had been fent on purpofe to complete with 
them the deftruftion of idolatry, and abolifh the fmall re¬ 
mains of pagan fuperftition. 
The Goths were a northern nation, the original inha¬ 
bitants of Scandinavia, famed in the military art for being 
regardlefs of death, and inured to all the extremities of 
cold, hunger, and fatigue. Though rigidly abftemioiis 
themfelves, they were celebrated for their hofpitality and 
kindnefs to ftra-ngers, even before they embraced the 
Chriftian religion. It is even faid, that from their being 
eminently good, they were called Goths, by the neighbour¬ 
ing nations; that name, according to Grotius, and other 
learned writers, being derived from the German word go- 
ten, which fignifiesgtW. They encouraged, fays Dio, the 
