6 
Letters from Pompeii. 
nunziata,you enter a fine valley situated 
between the lengthened slope of Vesu¬ 
vius, and other mountains skirting the 
sea ; and upon their declivity is Castella- 
mare, near to Stabiae, where Pliny, the 
naturalist, was stifled and buried under 
the ashes of the famous eruption, which 
took place in the 79th year of our aera. 
He commanded the Roman forces at 
the Cape of Misenum, which forms the 
other extremity of the gulf of Naples. 
Upon the appearance of the phenomenon 
be embarked, came to Castellamare, and 
advanced towards Vesuvius. He could 
not have been in a worse situation ; for 
the aperture in the mountain and the 
north-west wind directed the lava and 
smoke to that side, and he perished the 
victim of liis love for the sciences. I 
was aware of my approach to Pompeii, 
and bent my regard around in order to 
observe it, when a mass of earth heaped 
together, and forming a slope, led me 
to conjecture such to be the spot which 
covers the remains of that unfortunate 
city. I quitted the carriage, and 
mounting the acclivity, beheld the ves¬ 
tiges of columns and the remnants of 
monuments, which are rescued by de¬ 
grees from the oblivion wherewith the 
ashes had covered them, presenting 
to the view the appearance of our burial 
grounds, if we suppose the marble with 
which they are decorated, not so new, 
and less brilliant in appearance. In a 
short time we arrived at the portal, 
where we found the Ciceroni , and a 
guard house occupied by veteran sol¬ 
diers. The garden is surrounded by a 
colonnade of brick, stuccoed and paint¬ 
ed red, producing a good effect, where 
several inscriptions are found, indicat¬ 
ing that it was formerly the barrack oc¬ 
cupied by soldiery. It is difficult to 
obtain permission to make drawings in 
Pompeii, but which I had obtained 
from Mr. C. M., the artist employed by 
Prince Leopold. This title of painter 
to the Prince, together with some gra¬ 
tuities, ensured me the consideration 
of the guardians of the place; and I 
soon promenaded in those streets, and 
upon that very pavement which had 
been trodden by the Romans eighteen 
hundred .years ago. 
On quitting the barrack of the mili¬ 
tary, you behold the ancient theatre to 
the right, forming a half circle, sur¬ 
mounted by tiers of seats, and sur¬ 
rounded by a wall which supports the 
pillars, whereto was attached the cloth 
which entirely covered the theatre. 
The seats are formed of lava ; the lower 
[Aug. I, 
ones less elevated, but broader than the 
others, being covered with marble. It 
is conjectured, though I do not join in 
such opinion, that they were formerly 
all decorated in this manner, but af¬ 
terwards divested of their marble orna¬ 
ments ; and what leads me to conjecture 
otherwise is, that the tiers of lava are 
evidently worn in parts. The orchestra 
is semicircular, and very small, and 
the stage is not more than eight or ten 
feet in depth. The theatre contains a 
species of longitudinal chizelled canal, 
the use of which I cannot comprehend. 
The populace entered the buiidiug 
through two corridors, one above, and 
the other almost level with the orches¬ 
tra ; ami over the door is an inscription 
preserving the name of the Consul under 
whom this monument was erected. If 
this theatre presents something novel to 
the modern eye, it has nothing tending 
to excite that degree of admiration 
which we are so frequently obliged to 
accord to the Romans. From hence 
you pass into a small street about 20 # 
feet wide, conducting to the forum, 
which is paved with large blocks of 
stones of no regular form, but carefully 
chosen, so as not to leave open spaces; 
but whenever such happen to occur, 
the apertures are filled up with lead. 
The whole length of the street is skirted 
on either side with flag-stones, the 
pathway being three feet wide, divided 
at equal distances by square pilasters, 
covered with white, red, or blue stucco, 
upon which are painted objects indi¬ 
cating the profession of the inhabitants 
together with their names, in irregular 
letters, in black or red. At the door 
of a milk seller, for instance, a she goat 
was sculptured in the stone ; the shops 
contained counters formed of brick, 
wherein are still to be seen the vases 
which contained the milk, wine, oil, 
and other liquids, and to the left of the 
vendor’s-place are small marble steps, 
whereon were probably deposited the 
glasses or measures. I was a consider¬ 
able time occupied in ascertaining how 
the doors were closed; grooves which 
I perceived in the pavement and around 
the angle of the pilasters, led me into 
an error, as I thence pictured to myself 
some species of hinge ; but a door, al¬ 
most calcinated, and still preserving its 
primitive form, which I found among 
the ashes, convinced me that the pilas¬ 
ters were cased with wood-work, which 
entered these grooves, and that the pan- 
nels slid, similar to those used in 
Paris for closing up shops; and like 
the 
