seems to have been avoided in the summer villa; between the windows were recesses containing the library, so enlivening of a winter's day.

The bed chamber was the next apartment, heated by stoves underneath, and joining to the baths, which, as we have seen, consisted of a suite of apartments for each sort of bathing, all of which were sufficiently large to enable the bather to swim, and in these the greatest magnificence was displayed: the walls were formed of the richest marble, the ridges of the bason ornamented with the most precious stones, the floors inlaid with the most costly mosaic; whilst the colonnades, interspersed with statues, and lofty painted ceilings, presented ideas of great sublimity.

Pliny tells us that he had in his Laurentinum, a chamber adjoining his baths, where, as he describes it, neither the voices of his servants, nor the murmurs of the sea, nor even the roaring of a tempest, could reach; not the most vivid lightning, nor day itself, could penetrate, unless the windows were opened; "in short," adds he, "it is a Sanctuin Sanctorum from every thing that can annoy or disturb the student."

This extreme silence was, he says, preserved by means of double walls, with a wide passage between, and which also afforded a facility of warming the bed-chamber by means of stoves;

beyond all this was an anti-chamber, which, opening into the garden, afforded the master a separate entrance, free from the noise and bustle of the house, particularly at the feast of the Saturnalia, when the slaves and servants were as noisy as they chose.

At the villa of Laurentinum the charms of a good neighbourhood and society, says Pliny, were not wanting, and the surrounding forests afforded him a good supply of fuel. Every convenience of life might be found at Ostia, and had from thence, or indeed to a moderate man the adjacent village would supply every necessary, particularly as in it there were three public baths. The whole coast, indeed, was a chain of villas, which, viewed from the sea, had a most enchanting effect; the sea supplied them with excellent soles and prawns, and for provisions of every kind his villa excelled even the more inland countries, particularly in the article of milk, as the cows came in great numbers from the meadows in the search of shade and water. Such was the villa of the elegant Pliny; but we see that he describes one on a smaller scale, which he wishes to purchase for his friend, Tranquillus, and which he describes thus, it be sufficient to relieve the mind and divert the eye, where he may saunter round his grounds, traverse his single walk, grow familiar with his

"let

small vineyard, and even count his little plantations, and where he might employ his idle, as well as his studious, hours, whilst literature was not only his business but his amusement.

Herculaneum was situated on a point of land, stretching into the gulph of Naples, about two miles distant from the city, nearly where the modern towns of Portici and Resina, and the royal palace, which separates both, now stand. The neck of land, on which it formerly stood, and which is now no more, formed a small harbor; hence the appellation of Herculis Porticum, sometimes given to Herculaneum, and hence, probably, the modern name of Portici ; the latter, indeed, it is said, is absolutely above some of the excavations of Herculaneum, and the just fear of endangering the safety of Portici, by undermining it, is stated as one of the principal reasons that greater progress has not been made in the Herculaneum discoveries; for we have evidently still much to explore; it might, perhaps, be carrying classic zeal too far to risk the existence of a flourishing modern town for the sake of exploring one already in ruins, at the depth of sixty feet and upwards below the other. This apparent submersion, and total change in the face of the country, may naturally be attributed to the repeated accumulation of ashes, sand, and other volcanic matter, thrown

out from Mount Vesuvius. But not only does Herculaneum lie so much below the present sur face of the land, as it is said to be considerably lower than the level of the sea, which latter has risen greatly since its destruction. The former extent and importance of this town may be estimated by the size of its beautiful theatre and forum; and a place which could contain nine hundred taverns, or public-houses, could not but have been of considerable magnitude.

It is said that Pompeii is about seven miles from Herculaneum, in a south-east direction, a very little to the left of the great road from Naples to Palermo. Its trade, according to Strabo, was considerable; the inland commodi ties received from Nola, Nocera, and other places, in that district, were there exchanged for trans-marine goods, brought up the river

Sarno.

Of the port, however, which it is said to have possessed, no trace remains: its distance from the sea is at present upwards of a mile, owing probably to volcanic additions of territory, not to the retiring of the sea, which is reported rather to have advanced than to have receded in those regions.

Perhaps, too, the sea, may at all times have been as far off as it is represented at present; and what Strabo calls a port, may very likely

have been a basin, or wet dock, formed by the Sarno, similar to the fine basin at Bruges. But whatever may have been the trade of Pompeii, it appears, that from its remains there is little doubt but that both in size and importance it greatly surpassed Herculaneum.

Pompeii had two theatres, and its barrack's prove it to have been a military station; and the length of the streets, as well as the superior elegance of the houses, together with the variety of fine specimens of plastic arts, sufficiently prove its former extent and opulence': it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in the civil wars of Sylla. The streets of Pompeii are paved with lava; and lava, as well as other volcanic materials, are intermixed in the walls of many of the houses; nay, the latter, it is said, are built on volcanic soil.

The burning ashes, which Vesuvius emitted, were carried over, not only the neighbouring country, but also to the shores of Libya and Syria. From that period the eruptions have been frequent, and there now exists an authentic account of twenty-nine of those frightful erup

tions.

The perpendicular height of this mountain. is estimated at 3780 feet, and it constantly appears smoking, and sometimes throws up ashes and flames." The first eruption of it