M E R 
which appear of modern date, and the reparation of the 
effiefts of fome deftru clive accident in a former war, as 
well as two other arches, in the centre, blown up during 
the late fiege of Badajoz. In fpite of all this, the noble 
ftru&ure retains a moll impofing afpeft from the road 
above, and imprefi'es a ftamp of grandeur upon all the 
circumjacent objefts. See the annexed Plate. 
“ On the north of the town there extend, acrofs an 
immenfe valley, a feries of folid and confiderable frag¬ 
ments of two Aoueducts of majeftic appearance. Thefe 
edifices have loft their integral effeft upon the view of the 
traveller, fince they are here and there interrupted by 
accidental ruins; yet fome of the arches, fupported by 
buttreffes of uncommon ftrength, have refilled to this 
day, and bid fair to hold long againft, the undermining 
aflaults of time. They fhow what induftry and labour 
could do in carrying water, if I may fo lay, between 
heaven and earth, to its deftined place of ufefulnefs, ere 
fpeculation and ingenuity had found the lefs expenfive 
means of conducting that indifpenfable element under 
ground. We have gained confiderably, I mull confefs, 
in accommodation and economy, by burying iron or 
wooden pipes under our feet for the fupply of our houfes ; 
but no one can deny that we have loft a great deal of or¬ 
namental magnificence, in laying afide the old fyllem of 
fupplying water by means of aqueduCls. I remember 
your defcribing to me, after your return from France, 
what an elegant profpeft the Marly aqueduCl prefented 
to you when feen above Lncienne, (the elegant villa of 
the unfortunate madame du Barry,) from the windows 
of fltalmaifon, (the favourite refidence of Bonaparte and 
Jofephine.) Thele ideas crowded upon my mind as I 
contemplated the aquedufts of Merida; and the compa¬ 
nion of ancient with modern events, threw a melancholy 
call upon my thoughts for the reft of the evening. But 
to return to my obfervations. 
“ Here we meet alfo with no inconfiderable remains of 
the Temple of Peace, fome of the marble columns of 
which, with Corinthian capitals beautifully executed, lie 
on the ground. Some of them are almolt entire. The plan 
of the Circus Maximus, fituated alfo on the north of 
the town, may be eafily traced through its whole com- 
pafs by the regular rows of feats Hill in exillence ; but the 
wall, which incloled the whole edifice, has been entirely 
thrown down. The area of this once much-frequented 
place is immenfe, and is laid to have been capable of 
containing more than 30,000 perfons. In the centre, the 
Spina remains : it is railed a few feet above ground to the 
length of about one hundred feet by twelve or fifteen in 
breadth. On this fort of ridge I oblerved circular bafons 
Hill full of water, which our Cicerone told us were baths 
in which the gladiators, wreftlfers, or charioteers, ufed 
to refrelh themfelves, in order to return with renewed 
ftrength to the combat or the games. This I leave for 
your antiquarian knowledge to decide, fince our inftrudlor 
had no other authority for his layings than mere tradi¬ 
tion. The Spina was generally adorned with obelilks, 
ftatues of the gods, and trbphies of the vi£lors; and you 
have not forgotten that, in the middle of that famous 
conftrutlion in the Circus Maximus at Rome, Auguftus 
placed an obelilk brought from Egypt. It was covered 
with hieroglyphical charaflers, and 132 feet high. I could 
difcover here no trace of luch ornaments, although I am 
perfuaded they mull have been there in the bright days 
of Merida. 
“ Not far from the amphitheatre, I found a circular 
building honoured with the title of Naumachia; but, 
confidering its confined extent, I furmifed that it had 
been probably nothing more than a public bath. Ad¬ 
joining to this is the TeieatRe, the feats of which, as 
well as the feveral entrances, vomitories, and ftaircales, 
are ftiil prelerved. This place has in modern times been 
-appropriated to the bull-fights, as if this unfortunate 
•fpot tad been doomed by fome angry gods of the infernal 
IDA. 14? 
abodes ever to exhibit fcenes of blood and wanton bar¬ 
barity. But I will fnatch your mind away from fuch 
revolting ideas, and tell you, that in the centre of the 
town you would have been pleafed to meet with curious 
relics .of the Temple of Diana. Its plan is a parallelo¬ 
gram. The flanks were adorned each with ten fluted 
columns of granite, and the fmaller fagades with fix; in 
all thirty-two, out of which eighteen have had the good 
fortune lo remain Handing. Some have kept their beau¬ 
tiful capitals, and even part of the architrave to which 
they were attached ; the reft are mutilated. The height 
of thele columns is fifty-two feet; but unfortunately 
they are moftly hidden; lome hidalgo of modern times, 
and modern, if not barbarous, feelings, having been per¬ 
mitted to fix his refidence within this once-facred pre- 
cindl, and fullered to make thefe fine Corinthian columns 
the degenerated props of his lath-and-plafter hovel; fo 
that here departed, or at leaft fuperannuated, grandeur, 
becomes the unwilling fupport of mock confequence and 
empty pride—a cafe, alas! too common in every country 
and in every age. 
Of all thefe beautiful remains, I felt a great defire to 
take lketches; but was prevented by a continued rain 
during nearly the whole time that I lpent at Merida. 
The only one I have been able to bring away with me, 
is an outline of the Triumphal Arch of Trajan. (See 
the Plate.) This arch, though now denuded of its ne- 
ceflary ornaments, llill retains fome of thole noble and 
imprefling features which the Romans were fo able to 
bellow upon their public edifices. The places where the 
fculptural decorations were affixed, are ealily dilcernible 
in the maffive Hones; and the bold fvveep of the vault¬ 
ing frame overhead does honour to the architect who 
conceived and executed it. It Hands loftily and majefti- 
cally, not at any gate or entrance into the town, but 
within the town itfelf. Indeed the whole of Merida is 
full of Roman antiquities, which impart to the place a 
fort of awful folemnity, confiderably increafed by a vaft 
number of funeral and other inicriptions, fome of which 
are well prelerved and very fine. Several fragments of 
marble ftatues have been lately found in the excavations 
made in and about the town. 
“ Among thefe curious relics of vanifhed magnificence, 
and at one of the entrances into the city, I have remarked 
a column made up of three or four frufts of others, molt 
exquifitely fculptured with bacchanalians, triumphs, pro- 
ceffions, and fuch fubjefits, either in low or high relief, 
and executed in a mafterly manner. .Above the capital, 
which is of claffical and ftriftly-Corinthian order, Hands 
a fine antique ftatue of a Vellal, I believe; but to which 
the good people of Merida, with the addition of a halo 
of liars around the head, and other chara6leriftic attri¬ 
butes, have given the name of San£ia OUtlla. Thele 
tranftnutations have been common, as you know, in fe¬ 
veral places, but chiefly in Spain and Italy. It is nothing 
lefs than a fort of metempfycholis, by which the numen, 
or godhead, of a Jupiter with a long beard, or Mars with 
a fword, tranfpajfcs infenfibly to a St. Peter or Paul. 
Whenever people are determined to kneel before and 
worffiip a Hone, it does not fignify what it reprefents; or 
whether a Phidias or a Michael Angelo has lhaped it 
into the Olympian god or the chief of the apoftles. Super- 
ftition, hooded and blindfold, fits above in the clouds, 
over the head of the marble deity, and pours down, pro- 
mifcuoufly and indifferently, names, power, influence, 
according to the relpeftive defires of the votaries proftrate 
below at the feet of the venerated image.” 
It appears that this capital of the Romans was the 
centre from which radiated the military roads through 
moll of the provinces of Spain, which may be eafily traced 
by feveral of the mile-ftones now remaining, with their 
correfponding infcriptions; and moll of them Hand even 
now on their pedeftals in tolerable prefer.vation. On the 
road-fide, within the dift&nee of a mile, from the city, are 
-a many 
