THE RUINS OF POMPEII.

HE Photograph which we have inserted by way of frontis-
piece to this volume, although embracing some of the more
recent excavations, does not offer any very striking or
remarkable object; but it will convey a good idea of the
general appearance of Pompeii. One of its chief cha-
racteristics is the numerous isolated pillars, arranged in quadrangular form,
which once supported the roof of an atrium or a peristyle that has now
vanished, though its side walls are still erect. These walls are sometimes
entirely bare of stucco, and display, like those in the foreground of the pho-
tograph, the rude materials of which they are constructed; while others, like
those in the middle distance, not only retain their coating of stucco, but also
the designs and ornaments with which it was painted. When these are more
valuable than usual they are protected from the weather by a sort of eaves,
or short projecting roof, being built over them. The distance, with the
modern farm-house and stone-pines, shows parts that have not yet been
excavated; for those rums that now appear so cleanly emptied were once
filled with a cineritious soil, and above them were fields, and crops, and
trees, and habitations. The nature of the material with which they were
filled has not only served to preserve them, but has also rendered the
excavation of them a comparatively easy task. It is an interesting sight to
watch the clearing of one of these houses. As the pickaxe and shovel
loosen with facility the light dry pumice from the surface of the walls, the
pictures with which they are adorned reveal themselves to us in colours
almost as brilliant as when they were first laid on. As the floor is
approached the interest of the process increases; for it is in the last few


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