100 
Letters from Pompeii. 
[Sept. J 
INTERIOR OF A TOMB AT POMPEII. 
Tombs, the ancients having in the en¬ 
virons of their cities a road bearing 
that denomination, upon either side of 
which the monuments were ranged. 
They are of all forms, and in the centre 
ot the ruins produce a most picturesque 
effect. These tombs, for the most part 
of white marble, are much easier de¬ 
signed than described ; the interior of 
one is preserved, the entrance being 
only closed by a rail-work ; the cham¬ 
ber, of five feet square, is covered by a 
ceiling rather concave, and at the ex¬ 
tremity is placed an urn. which was'pro- 
bably that of the chief of the family ; it 
is accompanied by two lamps, placed 
lower, and on the other sides are smaller 
urns. The unaffected inscriptions de¬ 
corating these tombs uniformly testify 
the respect of the children, and the at¬ 
tachment of their parents. At the en¬ 
trance of some is found a very spacious 
seat, forming a half circle, which 
served for travellers to repose them¬ 
selves, one of which is covered over. 
Not far from the gate is a lengthened 
arcade, which supported a granary, in 
front of a mansion called the Inn, 
wherein were found numerous skele¬ 
tons of horses, mules, and the remnants 
of carriages. Still descending the 
street, in the direction of Mount Vesu¬ 
vius, the last edifice to the left is de¬ 
nominated the Villa; it is spacious, 
and joined by a garden, ornamented 
with a portico and an immense basin ; 
this was the first discovered in 1755. 
It is said that when the eruption 
took place, torrents of stoney mud, 
vomited from the volcano, inundated 
Pompeii, a circumstance very difficult 
to comprehend, because this city did 
not stand upon the declivity of Vesu¬ 
vius, but upon a little hill: the reason 
alleged is, that this gravel is placed in 
horizontal strata. Still lower in the 
Villa is found, between Vesuvius and 
Pompeii, a small clear limpid brook, 
the current of which, supposing this 
opinion to be correct, was perhaps 
turned. Is it not more probable that, 
at the first shock of the eruption, this 
gravel was hurled from the crater ?— 
that the ashes which covered it, hav¬ 
ing since become impregnated with 
water, have penetrated it with black 
particles, which are now taken for 
mud, and that the weight of these very 
ashes has, little by little, impressed it 
with the forms of horizontal strata ? 
What should justly astonish us is, that 
Pompeii, only covered with ashes a few 
feet deep, should have so long continued 
undiscovered. 
Re-entering the limits of the city, 
and advancing upon the soil which 
covers the houses, you traverse vine¬ 
yards, and after some hundred paces 
arrive at the amphitheatre, which is en¬ 
tirely cleared away, but not remarkable 
either for size or workmanship, better 
preserved than that of Rome, and in no 
respect 
