opened. It is very large, and built in the form of a dome. In the centre is a beautiful font, and around the margin an inscription, of which I regret that my haste led to an incorrect copy. Several other discoveries have also been made: the one I allude to stands near the Pantheon.

But there are several other circumstances, for which nothing but this sudden, this instantaneous obstruction of life can account. In a villa, (supposed, by the way, to be Cicero's,) having a cellar beneath, were found a number of large amphoræ, and about twenty skeletons. Into this vault the unhappy creatures had rushed on ascertaining, by some means which we cannot now understand, that the torrent had overtaken them. Here they must have been suffocated, and hence the preservation of their bones. There is a house on the left-hand as you proceed from the residence of the guide, at the most distant point from the theatres; upon the threshold of which appears, in Mosaic, the word "SALVE." Before this house were discovered several skeletons, one of them held a lamp in its bony fingers, and all of them something, perhaps some article of household

use what but the suddenness of the storm could have produced so singular a position? The heat of the ashes would here be less; for there would probably be a freer passage for the air, while the distance from the source of the eruption is greater. In the state I have mentioned, numbers of skeletons were dug up -the greater part standing, and in the very posture in which they had expired.

But of all, curious as they are, that most deserving attention, in my mind, is the Amphitheatre of Pompeii. It is in admirable repair, and capable of containing upwards of thirty thousand spectators. It has a wonderfully imposing appearance, and cannot fail most sensibly to affect the mind. Mr. Hamilton, our ambassador at Naples, informed me, that he has frequently seen tears gush from the eyes of those who have regarded this magnificent spectacle of desolation for the first time—and I am not surprized at it. This immense structure was once peopled with eager and ardent life; on this very arena the dying gladiator "breathed his sullen soul away;"

and here the Retiarii foiled or succumbed before the arts of their desperate antagonists.

of

Barbarous as these sports were, they are iden tified with the national character; and standing on the loftiest point of the amphitheatre, who can look down without emotion upon the spot where such savage contests for life and death were carried on-where the blood of the captive was inhumanly poured forth to satiety upon the thirsty sand; and where pleasure lighted even the female eye, (strange power custom!) as the victor received the plaudits of the assembled multitude? And who can gaze upon the vacant and broken seats before him, nor turn to the appalling shout, which, in the moment of victory, thirty thousand voices raised to heaven? voices which were soon to sink down into the tremulous whisper of despair, and which long ago have ceased their murmur! What a contrast does the picture present-the sinewy arm then waved in acclamation is now an impalpable powder, or, at most, a carious bone! The haughty brow is humbled, and the stately form then enfolded in the toga, hath neither existence nor a name!

These reflections, however common, and however tame, powerfully impress themselves on the mind. To withhold them were almost

like suspending the respiration, they rise spontaneously with the breath, and demand articulation. But I hasten to quit a place around which I have perhaps lingered too long, but which I quit with the greatest reluctance. This was not however the case with my companions, and may not be with my readers; one of the former protested that he had seen much better ruins in England, all ruins were alike, and he knew very well what was to be seen here-but then to have been at Naples without saying that he had seen Pompeii was intolerable—to be unable to tell his friends that he had seen a place which all the world sees, was not to be thought of. He therefore posts to Pompeii— posts through it-eats and drinks, and returns. And this, I firmly believe, comprized the whole of his information on the subject.

"Estuat ingens

Imo in corde pudor, mixtoque insania luctu."

We returned somewhat late in the evening to Naples, and I hastened to make preparations for accompanying his excellency, the English ambassador, to a rout at Lady Drummond's. The rooms were crowded, and her

NAPLES-ROUT AT LADY DRUMMOND'S.

57

ladyship played the obliging hostess à merveilles. Out of four hundred visitors not more than sixty were English, and the majority of the males were naval and military officers, who sparkled in all the magnificence of stars and embroidery. There was a general who figured away at the age of a hundred, and considerably resembled, it seemed to me, our late excellent sovereign; his name I have forgot. Many beautiful Neapolitan women were present, among whom the Princess Tercazi, in my humble opinion, far exceeded the rest: she has a very sweetly expressive face,

"A pleasant smiling cheek, a speaking eye,
A brow for love to banquet royally,”—

and a good deal of that naïveté of manner which is so engaging to foreigners. Of her private character I have nothing to say, for I know nothing, save that she is nineteen years of age and has five children! Proh Jupiter!

Amongst the number of pretty nothings which were uttered this evening, I overheard a French lady compliment a gentleman upon the of his good looks, which, it seems, had been "dérangés" by a late illness; "Ah!"

recovery