Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

Ch. II.

THROUGH ITALY.

45

in which a skeleton was discovered. There are
niches where various statues of Venus, Priapus,
&c. were found, which with the furniture
marbles, and pictures, were transported to Por-
tici. The whole of this edifice appeared to me
ill-proportioned in form, and poor in materials;
its pillars are brick plastered, and most of its
ornaments are stucco.
Behind this temple on one side is a court sur-
rounded with a portico, supported by sixteen
Doric pillars : from a sort of pulpit on one side,
I should suppose it intended for some public
assembly. Another court follows with a similar
portico, and communicates with the grand por-
tico of the theatre, supported by more than
sixty stone pillars of the same order, that is,
Doric, but in proportion bordering· upon Tuscan.
Near this portico lie several fragments of columns,
of a much larger size and of bolder proportions ;
as the excavations have been carried no farther
on this side, it is difficult to form any conjecture
about their destination; perhaps they belonged
to the temple of Neptune, and may have been
thrown down and laid in their present situation
by the earthquake which nearly destroyed this
city a few years previous to the eruption that
buried it finally. The damage occasioned by
the first disaster was never probably repaired,