i have made several visits to the museum at portici, principally, as you may believe, to view the antiquities dug out of herculaneum and pompeia. the work publishing by government, ornamented with engravings of the chief articles of this curious collection, will, in all probability, be continued for many years, as new articles worthy of the sculptor’s art are daily discovered, and as a vast mine of curiosities is supposed to be concealed in the unopened streets of pompeia. among the ancient paintings, those which ornamented the theatre of herculaneum are more elegant than any that have hitherto been found at pompeia. all those paintings were executed upon the stucco which lined the[169] walls; they have been sawed off with great labour and address, and are now preserved in glass cases; the colours, we are told, were much brighter before they were drawn out of their subterraneous abode, and exposed to the open air; they are, however, still wonderfully lively: the subjects are understood at the first glance by those who are acquainted with the grecian history and mythology. there is a chiron teaching achilles to play on the lyre, ariadne deserted, the judgment of paris, some bacchantes and fauns; the largest piece represents theseus’s victory over the minotaur. it consists of seven or eight figures very well grouped, but a frieze, with a dancing woman, on a black ground, not above ten inches long, is thought the best.
we ought not, however, to judge of the progress which the ancients had made in the art of painting, by the degree of perfection which appears in those pictures.[170] it is not probable that the best paintings of ancient greece or italy were at herculaneum; and, if it could be ascertained that some of the productions of the best matters were there, it would not follow that those which have been discovered are of that class. if a stranger were to enter at random a few houses in london, and see some tolerably good pictures there, he could not with propriety conclude that the best of them were the very best in london. the paintings brought from herculaneum are perfect proofs that the ancients had made that progress in the art, which those pictures indicate; but do not form even a presumption, that they had not made a much greater. it is almost demonstrable that these paintings are not of their best. the same school which formed the sculptor to correctness, would form the painter to equal correctness in his drawings, however deficient he might be in all the other parts of his art. their best statues are correct in their proportions, and elegant[171] in their forms: these paintings are not correct in their proportions, and are comparatively inelegant in their forms.
among the statues, the drunken faun and the mercury are the best. there are some fine bronze busts; the intaglios and cameos, which hitherto have been found either in herculaneum or pompeia, are reckoned but indifferent.
the elegance of form, with the admirable workmanship, of the ornamental furniture and domestic utensils, in silver and other metals; the variety and beauty of the lamps, tripods, and vases; sufficiently testify, if there were no other proofs, the fertile imagination and exquisite execution of the ancient artists. and, had their own poets and historians been quite silent concerning the roman refinements in the art of cookery, and the luxury of their tables; the prodigious variety of culinary instruments, the moulds for jellies, for confections, and pastry, which are collected[172] in this museum, would afford a strong presumption that the great men of our own days have a nearer resemblance to those ancient conquerors of the world, than is generally imagined.
many of the ancient manuscripts found at herculaneum have been carried to madrid; but a great number still remain at portici. great pains have been bestowed, and much ingenuity displayed, in separating and unrolling the sheets, without destroying the writing. this has succeeded in a certain degree; though, in spite of all the skill and attention of those who are employed in this very delicate work, the copiers are obliged to leave many blanks where the letters are obliterated. the manuscripts hitherto unrolled and copied, are in the greek language, and not of a very important nature. as the unrolling those papers must take up a great deal of time, and requires infinite address, it is to be wished that his neapolitan majesty[173] would send one at least to every university in europe, that the abilities of the most ingenious men of every country might be exercised on a subject so universally interesting. the method which should be found to succeed best, might be immediately made known, and applied to the unfolding of the remaining manuscripts. the probability of recovering those works, whose loss the learned have so long lamented, would by this means be greatly increased.
herculaneum and pompeia were destroyed by the same eruption of mount vesuvius, about seventeen hundred years ago. the former was a town of much more magnificence than the other; but it is infinitely more difficult to be cleared of the matter which covers it. sir william hamilton, in his accurate and judicious observations on mount vesuvius, asserts, that there are evident marks that the matter of six eruptions has taken its course[174] over this devoted town, since the great explosion which involved it in the same fate with pompeia. these different eruptions have all happened at considerable distances of time from each other. this appears by the layers of good soil which are found between them. but the matter which immediately covers the town, and with which the theatre, and all the houses hitherto examined, were found filled, is not lava, but a sort of soft stone, composed of pumice and ashes, intermixed with earth. this has saved the pictures, manuscripts, busts, utensils, and other antiquities, which have been recovered out of herculaneum, from utter destruction. for if any of the six succeeding eruptions had happened previous to this, and the red-hot liquid lava, of which they consisted, had flowed into the open city, it would have filled every street, scorched up every combustible substance with intense heat, involving the houses, and all they contained, in one solid rock of lava,[175] undistinguishable, and for ever inseparable, from it. the eruption, which buried the city in cinders, earth, and ashes, has in some measure preserved it from the more destructive effects of the fiery torrents which have overwhelmed it since.
when we consider that the intervals between those eruptions were sufficiently long to allow a soil to be formed upon the hardened lava of each; that a new city has been actually built on the lava of the last eruption; and that the ancient city is from seventy to one hundred feet below the present surface of the earth; we must acknowledge it more surprising that any, than that so few, of its ornaments have been recovered. at the beginning of the present century, any body would have imagined that the busts, statues and pictures of herculaneum had not a much better chance, than the persons they represent, of appearing again, within a few years, upon the surface of this globe.
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the case is different with regard to pompeia. though it was not discovered till about twenty-five years ago, which is forty years almost after the discovery of herculaneum, yet the probability was greatly in favour of its being discovered sooner, for pompeia has felt the effects of a single eruption only; it is not buried above twelve feet below the surface of the ground, and the earth, ashes, cinders, and pumice-stones, with which it is covered, are so light, and so little tenacious, that they might be removed with no great difficulty. if the attention of his neapolitan majesty were not engrossed with more important concerns, he might have the whole town uncovered in a very short space of time; half the lazzaroni of naples could complete the business in one year. hitherto only one street and a few detached buildings are cleared; the street is well paved with the same kind of stone of which the ancient roads[177] are made, narrow causeways are raised a foot and an half on each side for the conveniency of foot passengers. the street itself, to my recollection, is not so broad as the narrowest part of the strand, and is supposed to have been inhabited by tradespeople. the traces of wheels of carriages are to be seen on the pavement; the distance between the traces is less than that between the wheels of a modern post-chaise. i remarked this the more as, on my first viewing the street, i doubted whether there was room for two modern coaches to pass each other. i plainly saw there was sufficient room for two of the ancient chariots, whose wheels were of no greater distance than between the traces on the pavement. the houses are small, and in a very different style from the modern italian houses; for the former give an idea of neatness and conveniency. the stucco on the walls is hard as marble, smooth and beautiful. some of the rooms are ornamented with paintings, mostly[178] single figures, representing some animal; they are tolerably well executed, and on a little water being thrown on them, the colours appear surprisingly fresh.
most of the houses are built on the same plan, and have one small room from the passage, which is conjectured to have been the shop, with a window to the street, and a place which seems to have been contrived for shewing the goods to the greatest advantage. the nature of the traffic carried on at one particular house, is indicated by a figure in alto relievo of a very expressive kind, immediately above the door.
it is to be wished they would cover one of the best houses with a roof, as nearly resembling that which originally belonged to it as they could imagine, with a complete assortment of the antique furniture of the kitchen and each particular room. such a house fitted up with accuracy and judgment, with all its utensils and ornaments[179] properly arranged, would be an object of universal curiosity, and would swell the heart of the antiquarian with veneration and delight. only imagine, my dear sir, what those gentlemen must feel, when they see the venerable habitations of the ancients in their present mournful condition, neglected, despised, abandoned to the peltings of rain, and all the injuries of the weather! those precious walls, which, were it possible to transport them to the various countries of the world, would be bought with avidity, and placed in the gardens of princes! how must the bosoms of all true virtuosos glow with indignation, when they behold the mansions of the ancient romans stripped of their ornaments, dishonoured, and exposed, like a parcel of ragged galley slaves, in the most indecent manner, with hardly any covering to their nakedness; while a little paltry brick house, coming the lord knows how, from a country which men of taste have always despised, has[180] been received with hospitality, dressed in a fine coat of the richest marble, adorned with jewels and precious stones, and treated with every mark of honourable distinction!
in another part of the town of pompeia, there is a rectangular building, with a colonade, towards the court, something in the style of the royal exchange at london, but smaller. this has every appearance of a barrack and guard room; the pillars are of brick, covered with shining stucco, elegantly fluted; the scrawlings and drawings still visible on the walls, are such as we might naturally expect on the walls of a guard room, where soldiers are the designers, and swords the engraving tools. they consist of gladiators fighting, some with each other, some with wild beasts; the games of the circus, as chariot races, wrestling, and the like; a few figures in caricatura, designed probably by some of the soldiers, in ridicule of their companions,[181] or perhaps of their officers; and there are abundance of names inscribed on various parts of the wall, according to the universal custom of the humblest candidates for fame in all ages and countries. it may be safely asserted, that none of those who have endeavoured to transmit their names to posterity in this manner, have succeeded so well as the soldiers of the garrison of pompeia.
at a considerable distance from the barrack, is a building, known by the inscription upon it, for a temple of the goddess isis; there is nothing very magnificent in its appearance; the pillars are of brick stuccoed like those of the guard room. the best paintings, hitherto found at pompeia, are those of this temple; they have been cut out of the walls and removed to portici. it was absolutely necessary to do this with the pictures at herculaneum, because there they could not be seen without the help of torches; but here, where they[182] could be seen by the light of the sun, they would, in my humble opinion, have appeared to more advantage, and have had a better effect in the identical situation in which they were placed by the ancient artist. a few still remain, particularly one, which is considered by travellers as a great curiosity; it is a small view of a villa, with the gardens belonging to it.
there is one house or villa without the walls, on a much larger scale than any of the others. in a large cellar, or vaulted gallery, belonging to this house, there are a number of amphor?, or earthen vessels, arranged along the walls; most of them filled with a kind of red substance, supposed to have been wine. this cellar is sunk about two-thirds below the surface of the ground, and is lighted by small narrow windows. i have called it gallery, because it is about twelve feet in width, and is the whole length of two adjoining sides of the square which the[183] villa forms. it was used not only as a repository for wine, but also as a cool retreat for the family during excessive hot weather. some of this unfortunate family sought shelter in this place from the destructive shower which overwhelmed the town. eight skeletons, four being those of children, were found here; where they must have met a more cruel and lingering death, than that which they shunned. in one room, the body of a man was found; with an ax in the hand; it is probable he had been endeavouring to cut a passage into the open air; he had broken and pierced the wall, but had expired before he could clear away the surrounding rubbish. few skeletons were found in the streets, but a considerable number in the houses. before the decisive shower fell, which smothered the inhabitants of this ill fated city, perhaps such quantities of ashes and cinders were occasionally falling, as frightened, and obliged them to keep within doors.
it is impossible to view those skeletons, and reflect on this dreadful catastrophe, without horror and compassion. we cannot think of the inhabitants of a whole town being destroyed at once, without imagining that their fate has been uncommonly severe. but are not the inhabitants of all the towns then existing, of whom we think without any emotion of pity, as completely dead as those of pompeia? and could we take them one by one, and consider the nature of their deaths, and the circumstances attending that of each individual; some destroyed by painful bodily diseases, some by the torture of the executioner, some bowed to the grave by the weight of accumulated sorrow, and the slow anguish of a broken heart, after having suffered the pangs of dissolution, over and over again, in the death of those they loved, after having beheld the dying agonies of their children; could all this, i say, be appraised, calculated, and compared, the balance of[185] suffering might not be found with the inhabitants of pompeia, but rather with those of the contemporary cities, who, perhaps at that time, as we do now, lamented its severe fate.
