cracked and fell off, so that very few paintings now remain. The form of this amphitheatre is oval, the architecture particularly fine, and a handsome arcade, once embellished with statues, the niches and inscriptions belonging to which still remain, leads down to the principal entrance. This arcade is paved with lava, and the statues it contained were those of C. Cuspius Pansa and his son. The amphitheatre rests upon a circular subterranean corridor of incredible strength, as it supports all the seats. An iron railing seems to have defended the spectators who sat in the first row, and the entrances of the arena appear to have been defended by iron grates. The walls of the podium, when first unburied, displayed beautiful paintings, but, on being exposed to the air, they were destroyed, like those in the arena. Above a flight of steps leading to the upper seats is a basso-relievo, in marble, which represents a charioteer driving over his opponent; and above the seats is a gallery, which was appropriated to female spectators; it encircles the top of the edifice, and commands a magnificent prospect of Vesuvius, Castelamare, the site of Stabiæ, the mouth of the Sarno, and the beautiful bay of Naples; and in the upper part of the circular wall of this gallery are blocks of stone, pierced to receive the poles which supported the awning. The skeletons of eight lions, and one man, supposed to have been their keeper, were, according to report, discovered in this amphitheatre.

Near the northern entrance to the amphitheatre are remains of a building furnished with a triclinium, and therefore supposed to have been the silicernium belonging to the edifice.

By the late excavating there has been found the house of the Faun. A writer remarks: "In 1829, the excavators at Pompeii discovered a house of unusual beauty and size. This house stands in a wide street which extends from the temple of Fortune to the ancient gate leading to Nola, dividing, as it were, Pompeii into two parts. The entrance to the house is on a large scale, and of a noble design-two uncommon circumstances, for the private houses generally are very unambitious. Almost at the threshold the entire perspective of this extensive mansion becomes apparent at the first glance. First, there is a large open atrium, the walls of which are enlivened by brilliant and diversified colors, and the pavements formed of blood-red jasper mixed with oriental and figured alabaster; at the sides of the atrium are various small bedrooms, a hall of audience, and dining-rooms. Beyond is a flower-garden; in the centre was a fountain, with a marble basin beneath to catch the falling waters. Fourand-twenty Ionic columns formed a portico around, and between the gratings, the statues, and the blue and purple curtains which waved in their intervals, other and more extensive colonnades might be perceived. Under the shade and cover of the porticoes are small temples where the household gods were worshipped. Two elegant bronze tripods smoked with perennial odors before the statues of Phœbus, of Concord, and the Graces, which were gathered up in fragments when the place was excavated. The view in the background was bounded by the summit of Mount Vesuvius.

Everything about the mansion remained in the same situation in which it was previous to its destruction. Large quantities of vases and household furniture of every form, of bronze and glass, were collected in every part, and cups, pateræ, and plates of silver, were found laid out on several tables of marble. A fine statue in bronze of a faun, from which the house takes its name, was discovered in the centre of the atrium. The floors of the principal entrance, the dining-room, and the rooms which adjoined it, were paved with mosaics composed of minute pieces of marble, almost all of natural colors, representing in one place a rich festoon of fruit, of flowers, and of scenic masks; in another, the seashore, with fish and shells; again, with ducks, and birds in the claw a cat; a lion darting on his prey forms another subject; and a fifth represents Bacchus upon a panther. The little deity, crowned with ivy, supports a large wine-cup in one hand, and with the other a garland of vineleaves and flowers, which fall and encircle in an elegant manner the neck of the panther. In this chamber were found two large and heavy gold bracelets, two earrings, and seven rings with most beautifully-engraved gems, besides a heap of gold, silver, and bronze coins and medals.

The women's apartments are separated from the other part of the habitation; they stretch along the side of the atrium and the garden. Behind the garden, in a delightful and picturesque situation, there is a dining-hall with a triclinium. The

The ancient Romans took their meals, not seated on chairs, but in a recumbent posture. The triclinium, so frequently alluded to, was the thing they reclined upon when dining and supping.

waters of the Nile, represented in mosaic, seem to run upon the floor between the columns which decorate the entrance to this hall, and present to the guests a view of its banks covered with birds, plants, and foreign animals. Conspicuous among the animals are the hippopotamus (which is now rarely or ever found in that part of the Nile familiarly known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, though in their time it seems to have abounded in Egypt) and the crocodile, as shown in the lower compartments of the illustration, where the black circles mark the position of the pillars. The floor of the dining-hall is covered with a large and spirited picture in mosaic (see engraving), measuring fifteen feet by seven feet eight inches. All that we can safely say on the subject of this picture is, that it represents a batile between Greeks and Persians. Thus much, indeed, is made out by the costume, arms, and countenances of the combatants.

Italian critics, who are apt to lose too much time on these uncertain subjects, and to be too positive in their opinions, seem, however, to have decided that this splendid mosaic must either represent the battle of Platea, in Greece, or the great conflict between Alexander and Darius, at Issus, in Asia. On the supposition of its represent ing the battle of Issus, Signor Bonucci, Professor Quaranta, and others, have proceeded very boldly, and have not only recognised Alexander the Great, but the true portrait of Darius, "which has hitherto been wholly unknown."

Our readers may choose between Issus and Platea; but it is probably neither, and only a fancy battle-piece. There can be no doubt, however, as to the excellence of the mosaic as a work of art, or that it represents a conflict in which the valorous, disciplined Greeks are obtaining a victory over the Persians. The eastern chief, in his war-chariot, drawn by four horses, his charioteer flogging the horses into speed, and the confusion created by this flight are represented with infinite spirit and truth, and tell a very intelligible, though a somewhat general story.

Our readers must be reminded that a few years before Pompeii was buried by the volcano it was very much damaged by an earthquake, and also that the inhabitants of the devoted town were in the act of repairing these damages when the eruption began.

It appears that the mosaic floor now under our consideration was partially ruined by this earthquake, and that, between the earthquake and the eruption, attempts were made to restore it. These restorations are in a very coarse, imperfect style. It is much better to possess this valuable and venerable relic of art, mutilated as it is, than to have it disguised by rifacciamentos. By studying the engraving, our readers will have a very good notion of the composition, and another insight into that ancient world of art which is best calculated to elevate and direct their taste.

Signor Bonucci and others say, that in contemplating the original work, when first discovered and cleaned, they were so much struck with some of the Persian heads, that they thought they had never seen anything so perfect, and that they might stand a comparison with the finest heads of Raphael. They also add, that in the original the colors are at once vivid and harmonious; that the sky has a wonderful transpa rency and appearance of atmosphere in it; and that the figures, both of men and horses, are admirably drawn, and full of life and action.

City Walls.-Pompeii was fortified by double walls built with large pieces of tufo, one wall encompassing the city, the other passing through the centre of a ditch, made to strengthen the fortification; and between these walls is the broad platform of the ancients, which at Pompeii seems to have been twenty feet in breadth. The walls were about twenty feet high, some parts consisting of smooth stones from four to five feet square, and apparently not joined by any cement, though placed with such skill as to resemble one entire mass; while other parts are ill-built, with rough stones of various shapes and sizes, and were, perhaps, hastily piled together after the destructive earthquake of the year 63. Curious characters are engraved on some of those stones. The walls were fortified with low, square towers, and the four gates of the city stood at right angles.

The number of skeletons hitherto found in Pompeii and its suburbs is said to be less than three hundred-a small proportion of its inhabitants, if we may judge from an advertisement found on the outside of a large private house, and importing that it was to be let for five years, together with nine hundred shops, all belonging to the same person; and supposing no mistake to have arisen with respect to the import of this advertisement, how great must have been the trade, and consequent population, of a city where one individual possessed nine hundred shops!

No traveller should neglect an opportunity of visiting Pompeii, which exhibits, even now, one of the most interesting objects in the known world; and when first disentombed, when skeletons were seen in the houses; when lamps, candelabra, glass of various kinds and shapes, ornamental vases, culinary utensils, and even the very bread of the suffocated inhabitants, were discernible; when the temples were filled with statues of heathen deities, and adorned with all the elegant and costly embel lishments of heathen worship, what a speculation must this city have furnished to a thinking mind! and though the greater part of its moveable wealth now enriches the royal Neapolitan museums, still to visit it, even now, is absolutely to live with the ancients. And when we see houses, shops, furniture, implements of husbandry, &c., &c., exactly similar to those of the present day, we are apt to conclude that customs and manners have undergone but little variation for the last two thousand years. The practice of consulting augurs, and that of hiring persons to weep at funerals, are still kept up in the mountainous and secluded parts of Tuscany; and the Tuscan cattle, when destined for slaughter, are frequently adorned with chaplets of flowers, precisely as the ancients used to adorn their victims for sacrifice. The Roman butchers, likewise, still wear the dress, and use the knife, of heathen sacrificing priests. The old Roman custom of not eating but one regular meal a day, and that about the ninth hour of Italy (three o'clock with us), is kept up by many of the Italians; and during the month of May it is common to see peasants dressed, as in former times, like Pan, satyrs, &c. I do not, however, mean to infer, from what I have said, that the modern Greeks and Italians equal the ancients in works of art, there being, in this respect, a considerable difference between the present race and their forefathers.

Although the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum have their attractions, yet by far the most attractive feature around Naples is the world-renowned volcano of Mount Vesuvius. This celebrated volcano is situated on the shores of the bay of Naples, to whose singularity and beauty it adds in a striking degree. A volcanic mountain might be considered as anything but a pleasant neighbor, yet, except when it is in a state of violent eruption, the Neapolitans look upon it without dread. Though Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabia, and other places of less note, lie buried by the lava and other matter thrown out by the volcano, still many beautiful towns and villages flourish around Vesuvius with numerous and happy populations. Some of these places are not only built over ancient interred cities, but have themselves in modern times experienced the violence of the volcano, and been wholly or partially destroyed by vast rivers of lava. This is particularly the case, as already stated, with Torre-delGreco, where the road is deeply cut through a bed of lava, and where other broad beds of the same material (which in some places have encroached far into the sea, forming little volcanic promontories) are found on every side of the town. The inhabitants, however, in their attachment to the spot, have always persisted in building their houses above those that have been buried, thus keeping up, as it were, a strug gle with one of the most fearful powers of nature.

The mountain is little more than four miles from the city of Naples, and, owing to the transparency of the atmosphere, seems even less. It rises quite alone from the plain, declining on one side to the shores of the sea, and on the other toward a chain of the Apennines.

Its base occupies an irregular space, said to be about twelve miles round; it rises conically to the height of somewhat more than three thousand feet, where it termi. nates in two mamillæ or breasts, one of which is called Somme, the other being that of the great crater of the volcano. From its form and entirely isolated situation, it looks like some tumulus or sepulchral barrow, except where broken by some chasms, and covered by courses of the lava, which have not yet had time to acquire a superficies of soil and vegetable matter. Mount Vesuvius is cultivated and inhabited for two thirds of its height. The soil that accumulates over, and is mainly produced by volcanic matter of different natures, is wonderfully firm and admirably adapted for vineyards. Here are produced the far-famed Lachryma Christi (tears of Christ), the Greco, and other wines of superior quality.

The ascent to the mountain, though steep and very rugged, may be performed on mules or asses as far as what is called the Hermitage, a lonely little building on a flat, from which rises the crater or terminating cone of Vesuvius. But hence the remainder of the ascent, which may be about one fourth of the entire height of the mountain, is difficult and fatiguing in the extreme. The outer sides of the acute cone by which you have to climb are nothing but a deep accumulation of cinders, ashes,