Engelbach, Lewis: Naples and the Campagna Felice: in a series of letters, addressed to a friend in England, in 1802 (London: by R. Ackermann, 1815)

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siderably lower than the level of the sea, which latter, there-
fore, must have risen greatly since its destruction. The ,
former extent and importance of this town may be judged
of by the size of its beautiful theatre and forum; and if you
are inclined to give to an inscription found there in red
chalk on a wall, the same serious interpretation as some
Neapolitan antiquarians, and even Winckelmann, have
done, you will allow that a place which boasted of nine
hundred taverns or public houses, could not but have been
of considerable magnitude. But here is the inscription :
In praediis Julia Sp. F. Felicis locantur balneum venerium
et nongentum tabernoe. perguloe, coenacula ex idibus Aug.
primis in idus Aug. sextas annos continuos quinque s. q. d.
I. e. n. c. A. Suettium verum. Aed,
Now, I confess, were I to see on a dead wall in London
an advertisement to the same effect, i. e. To be let, situated
on the estate of Miss Julia Felix, daughter of Sp. Felix, Esq.
a balneum venerium, as also nine hundred gin-shops or
eating-houses, fyc. $c. I should be inclined to take the whole
for a joke or pasquil passed by some wag upon poor Miss
Juliet. But supposing all were in good earnest, no infer-
ence on the size of Herculaneum is warrantable from the
inscription : the estate of Julia need not to have been in
the town where it is advertised; it might, for ought we
know, be situated on the other side of the Po.—How-
ever, use your own judgment on this important point; only,
if I have missed the mark in my antiquarian illustration,
consider, it is my maiden essay in this line ’
Pompeji
is about seven miles from Herculaneum in a south-east di-
rection, a very little to the left of the great road from Naples
to Salerno. Its trade, according to Strabo, was considera-
k ble;