1821.] 
the tiles of a roofing, they projected 
over one another. As nothing but the 
shops have yet been cleared away, I 
could not see the apartments occupied 
,by the merchants, and I continued to 
advance towards the forum, and in my 
way thither I saw a fountain of white 
marble, very badly erected, being al¬ 
most in the centre of the street; and 
further on, a kind of raised step, which 
attracted my attention. I had always 
imagined that the Romans did not use 
carriages in their cities; some tracks 
of wheels which I had seen, led me to 
conjecture that I was mistaken, when 
tills step, which being covered with 
rubbish, usually escapes observation, 
convinced me that the Romans did not 
make use of carriages in their cities, 
unless for the transporting of materials. 
The forum, of which nothing but the 
ruins now exist, is the size of market¬ 
places usually found in small towns, 
being of a long square form, and deco¬ 
rated with a colonnade of stuccoed brick. 
On one side appears what was called 
the Basilic, which was ornamented by 
a double range of columns, the bases 
only now remaining : at the extremity 
is a cell six feet high, and from 15 
to 20 feet wide, surmounted by small 
columns formed after a bad taste, nor 
can I imagine why it is said that this 
building was used as an exchange, or a 
place of public assembly. At the other 
extremity of the forum, is a temple, or, 
at least, a cell, dedicated to Jupiter, 
to which you are conducted by a fine 
flight of white marble steps. 
On quitting the temple of Jupiter, 
you pass beneath two arcades, which 
appear to conduct to another quarter of 
the city, where several houses without 
shops are seen, having no windows 
looking on the street, and such appears 
to me to have been their general con¬ 
struction. They had only the ground 
floor, or at most but one story above, 
the traces of which are rarely visible ; 
the centre presented a court surrounded 
by columns, forming a gallery, refresh¬ 
ed by a square fountain, generally of 
marble; all the chambers, usually of 
small dimensions, looked upon a peri¬ 
style, receiving the light through the 
door, or sometimes fiom a window, one 
of which is said to have been found 
that was glazed. Under some of these 
peristyles, decorated by paintings, is 
sometimes seen an elevation in masonry, 
being the couch upon which the inhabi¬ 
tants reclined at meals. The rooms, 
Irom eight to nine feet wide, and ten to 
7 
twelve in height, are painted red,blue, 
or yellow, divided into large squares or 
lozenges, from the centres of which are 
detached figures, freely and elegantly 
designed. The bed-rooms are rendered 
conspicuous by paintings, more naked, 
and displaying more lascivious atti¬ 
tudes, some of which, according to mo¬ 
dern ideas, would be deemed quite in¬ 
decent. The kitchen, in which is an 
oven nearly similar to those constructed 
at present, is decorated by paintings 
applicable to the spot, representing 
game, fish, quarters of meat, &c. &c. 
In almost every dwelling are found two 
serpents, whimsically designed, regard¬ 
ing each other, and which are placed, 
as it is said, in the spot appropriated to 
the worship of iEsculapius. Of all these 
fresco paintings, the best preserved are 
those in red; the most beautiful have 
been taken away with the stucco, three 
or four lines in thickness, in order to 
be placed in the Museum at Portici, 
where they are to be seen framed. 
It seems that if the ancients had no 
belter painters than our great modem 
masters, they had not, at the same time, 
such detestable daubers as ours ; all is 
pourtrayed with ease, indicating a per¬ 
fect knowledge of those masterly 
touches of the pencil which are pro¬ 
ductive of the greatest effect ; they ex¬ 
celled above all in depicting animals, 
in their most natural and respective 
positions. The pavement of the cham¬ 
bers is usually of Mosaic work, well ex¬ 
ecuted, the finest specimens of which 
have been transported to the Portici 
Palace, but I think they have done 
wrong in placing them in the first 
story. This pavement is necessarily 
heavy, and the period will perhaps ar¬ 
rive when these precious remnants of 
antiquity will be buried under tlie ruins 
of the edifice. 
If the dwellings are small, they are, 
generally speaking, very commodious. 
The mills are composed of a conic grey 
stone, very hard, though porous, upon 
which, by means of two wooden arms, 
another double cone was turned; or, to 
express myself more comprehensively, 
a double funnel, in the upper part of 
which the grain was deposited, hiid the 
flour fell, after being pulverised be¬ 
tween tlie surface of the second and the* 
pivot. As for bedsteads, they were 
similar to those now constructed in the 
country, being of iron, and very nar¬ 
row ; all the other articles of furni- 
tureare of bronze, and extremely pon¬ 
derous,—one of the folding chairs, 
which 
Letters from Pompeii. 
