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most powerful feelings of our nature as we wander through Pompeii.

It is well known that the awful eruption of Vesuvius which overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompeii took place A.D. 79, in the reign of the emperor Titus. The remembrance of these cities had entirely passed away, and their existence was known but as a tale that is told, until, in 1720, the attention of the Prince d'Elbœuf was attracted to the spot by several valuable relics of antiquity which he purchased from workmen employed at Portici in digging a well. His curiosity being excited, he began to excavate, and was ultimately rewarded by the discovery of still more beautiful and rare antiquities, amongst which were several statues. The attention of the government of Naples was aroused by his acquisitions, and he was commanded to desist; the excavations were afterwards carried on by Charles the Third of Naples, and Herculaneum was discovered. The king, being engaged at that time in the erection of a palace at Portici, gladly availed himself of the treasures from the buried city to enrich his royal abode. The discovery of Pompeii was also the result of accident, and did not take place until 1748, when some men at work in the vineyards on the banks of the Sarno, finding several objects of curiosity, were led to make further investigation, and the city was at length revealed.

Herculaneum and Pompeii were overwhelmed and entombed on the same day; their existence was terminated by the same cause and the same agent, an eruption of Vesuvius, which buried Pompeii under a shower of ashes, and obliterated Herculaneum by a flood of lava. The latter lying nearer to Vesuvius, the destructive torrent, pouring down its sides, inundated every corner, and filled every crevice. This has rendered the prosecution of the excavations here difficult and dangerous to the villages built over it; the lava has become as hard as stone, and is consequently worked with great labour. Pompeii, on the contrary, to which the lava did not reach, was overwhelmed by ashes, burning stones, and hot water; these materials being of a lighter nature, lay like a crust over the city, which was easily removed. Thus, while we wandered through the streets of Pompeii in the free open air, gladdened amidst the desolation around by the bright rays of the sun and the cheerful sounds of nature,

we were obliged to grope our way through the dark passages of Herculaneum, realizing to our imaginations the horrors of the living grave it proved to so many of our fellow-creatures.

On reaching Portici, we alighted at a gate, over which was inscribed in large letters, "Scale di Ercolano." With wax tapers in our hands, and attended by a guide, we descended the stairs cut in the lava, and presently reached the level of the ancient city. All was darkness and gloom; and as we threaded the intricate mazes, a feeling of indescribable horror seized me. I endeavoured in vain to comprehend the description the guide gave us; I remember being led round the corridors of the theatre, and seeing the well, in sinking which the city was first discovered; but all else was unintelligible to me, and it was with delight that we quitted Herculaneum, and returned to the open day.

How different was Pompeii! I can never lose the impression made upon my mind as we entered the Street of Tombs. The ancients had a superstitious reverence for every thing touched by the lightning of Jove; it was with a similar feeling of awe that I regarded this city, which seemed to me a sacred spot: death and ruin had swept through its streets, and the silence of desolation now reigned around. Other and mightier cities have fallen by the hand of time, or the sword of barbarians; Rome, Palmyra, Babylon, the glory of them all has passed away. We can trace the causes of their decline, and watch them in their decay as in their rise; but in the dreadful fate of Pompeii there is a deeper and more startling interest. Suddenly, awfully did destruction fall upon it, as a thief in the night, crushing and burying the entire city in a few short hours; in the morning its streets were alive with the crowds eagerly pursuing their pleasure or business, heedless of the coming doom:at night it was a mighty sepulchre ! Death in many cases overtook the unconscious inhabitants in the midst of their employments: here the mason's hammer was arrested in the act of striking the chisel; there the sentinel was struck while at his post of duty; one spot is pointed out where the skeleton of a poor mother was found clasping a baby to her breast, unable to shield her child from the ruin which involved them both. In the shops men were actively engaged in the business of life;

the loaves were found in the baker's oven, the hot drinks stood on the marble counters of the Thermopolium; prisoners were discovered in their solitary cells, while the ministers of justice sat in the courts above. In many cases, men and women, terrified at the approaching torrent, seem to have attempted to escape-some by flight-but whither could they fly? others sought refuge in the subterranean cellars, but even there death met them. The picture is too painful to realize; every where traces of life and activity are visible, but activity suddenly arrested by the touch of death, and you start at the desolation and silence around. The Street of Tombs derives its name from the sepulchral monuments which line it on either side, and at its termination stands the gate of the city. The villa of Diomed, which is situated without the walls on this side of the town, although small, is amongst the best preserved houses.

All the private residences are built on nearly the same plan; they surround a court-yard, or, in the larger, two courts are embraced in one house; in the centre is a reservoir for water, generally of white marble; on this we saw the marks of the cords by which the buckets had been drawn up. The sleeping apartments are of such narrow dimensions as to admit of no furniture but a bed, and many of them have no windows. The reception rooms are larger, but even in the houses of the principal citizens these are small compared with modern drawing and dining rooms. In the cellars of Diomed's villa, under the porticos which surround the garden, seventeen skeletons were found buried in ashes. One female figure had on, when discovered, bracelets, rings, and ornaments of gold; the skeleton mouldered away when exposed to the air, leaving only an impression of the bust in the ashes. Another poor wretch was found grasping bags of money and keys in his hands. What reflections do these pictures call up in the mind!

We now entered the city, and at first could not be persuaded to pass a single door unentered; but our guide, Salvator, soon convinced us that we must confine our attention to the principal objects, as we had much to see, and our time was limited. We had first, however, visited the Thermopolium, or shop in which hot drinks had been sold -the café, as Salvator called it; on the marble counter

were still seen the marks left by the vessels; the oil and wine shop with the till for money; a public mill and bakehouse, where under the oven we saw the beautiful capillaire growing—a strange place in which to find "the plant that loves the water-drop!" Next door to this was a soap manufactory, and a little further on stood a house which we recognised, by the serpent twined round the door-post, as having been inhabited by a disciple of Esculapius.

After lingering amongst the private houses much longer than our guide thought prudent, we at length approached the forum. This is certainly the most beautiful part of Pompeii, yet to me it was less interesting than the narrow street we had just left. The view from the Temple of Jupiter, which stands at one end, raised on a high platform of steps, is singularly fine; it commands a sort of bird'seye view of the city, with its branching streets, rows of fallen columns, ruined houses, gates, and temples; the roofs of all have given way, and every interior is laid open. We saw from this point how little way beneath the surface of the present soil the city lay buried; the vinedressers were busily occupied in pruning their vines just above us.

The basilica, or court of justice, stands in the forum; in the prison beneath it, which we visited, two skeletons were found, with iron fetters upon their limbs—what a fate was theirs! Many of the temples which we now saw -dedicated to Isis, Venus, Mercury, Hercules, and other Pagan deities are beautiful even in their ruin. The two theatres, one devoted to tragedy and the other to comedy, preserve their form and the ranges of seats entire, and on the floor of the latter is an inscription inlaid in letters of bronze. Near this spot we sat down, and, having brought our dinner from Naples, ate it beneath the shade of some vines, preferring this to entering the dirty little locanda. After dinner we crossed the unexcavated part of the city to the Amphitheatre. This is a miniature Coliseum, retaining its perfect oval form, and all the seats, many of which are still covered with marble; the vivarium too remains, and the cages for the wild beasts, in one of which the bones of a lion were discovered. We had now reached the gate at which our carriage awaited us, and, taking leave of our intelligent guide, we left Pompeii with great

regret, but cherishing in our hearts a hope that we might return at some future day.-Taylor.

A BAMBOO FOREST.

EARLY in the morning, therefore, of a beautiful day in the latter end of September, I set out from the bare table-land of Mysore, and proceeded towards the hilly and thickly wooded regions overhanging the Malabar country. When I awoke in my palankeen, I knew not very distinctly where I had got to, for I had been dreaming all night about the monstrous statue at Shrivanabalagol; I sat up, drew the door gently back, and, looking out, found myself in the midst of one of the most curious and magnificent scenes which my eyes had ever beheld. It seemed as if I were travelling among the clustered colums of some enormous and enchanted Gothic cathedral, compared to which the minster at York, or the cathedral at Winchester, would have seemed mere baby-houses. The ground extended on all sides as smooth, and flat, and clear of underwood, as if the whole had been paved with grave-stones. From this level surface rose on every hand, and as far as the eye could penetrate into the forest, immense symmetrical clusters of bamboo, varying in diameter at their base from six feet to twenty or thirty, and even to twice that width, as I ascertained by actual measurement. For about eight or ten feet from the ground, each of these clusters or columns preserved a form nearly cylindrical, after which they began gradually to swell outwards, each bamboo assuming for itself a graceful curve, and rising to the height, some of sixty, some of eighty, and some even of one hundred feet in the air, the extreme end being at times horizontal, or even drooping gently over, like the tips of the feathers in the Prince of Wales's plume. These gorgeous clusters stood at the distance of fifteen or twenty yards from one another, and being totally free from the interruption of brushwood, could be distinguished at a great distance-more than a mile certainly, in every direction, forming, under the influence of an active imagination, naves and transepts, aisles and choirs, such as none but a Gothic architect ever dared to conceive. Over head, the interlacing curves of the

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