MY DEAR FRIEND,

On a hill, a little without this city, the King has a palace, called Capo de MontÉ, in which there is a museum, and a numerous collection of paintings, the best of which is Titian's celebrated DanaÆ. Nothing can be more beautiful, or expressive of enjoyment, than her face, or more elegantly shaped than her person: but, dared I suppose it possible to improve the design of so perfect a master, I would say, that, for Jupiter's sake, I wish that her knees were less drawn up.

Scidon's Charity is a divine figure, and, if possible, exalts that heavenly virtue.

The Dead Christ, by A. Carraccio; Mary Magdalen, by Giucino; Peter denying Christ, by Morillo; the Virgin Mary, with St. Ann, Jesus, and John the Baptist, by Raphael, are among the best pieces.

The museum contains a complete set of medals in gold, silver and copper, of all the Roman Emperors; a variety of beautiful cameos, antique vases, and a copy of the Farnese Bull.

Our next grand object was to visit the recovered towns of Herculaneum and Pompeia, which, after being buried near seventeen hundred years, were again brought to light by the present King of Spain^[2], whilst he was on the throne of Naples.

These towns were lost in the reign of Titus, by the memorable eruption of Vesuvius, in the year of our Lord 79, when the mountain threw forth such a torrent of stones and lava, that Herculaneum and Stabia were buried near eighty feet deep in ashes, consolidated by liquid fire.

In the revolution of so many ages, the spot they stood upon was entirely forgotten: but, towards the end of the last century, some inscriptions were found, which led to a discovery of their situation; but it was not till the year 1738, that any public excavations were made.

The King met with so much success in his first attempt, that, notwithstanding the expence of digging through sixty or eighty feet of hard stone, he laid open a considerable part of Herculaneum; but the difficulty of removing the rubbish induced his Majesty to fill it up again as he went on, after collecting all the moveables of any consequence. The theatre alone is left open. It is larger than any in England; and the ends of the beams, burnt to coal, are still seen sticking in the walls; but all the ornaments that withstood the eruption are removed to Portici.

No lava having ever gone over the ashes which buried Pompeia, it was much easier cleared. Three divisions are quite open. The first is a small square, which, our Cicerone told us, was the soldiers quarters. There are several small apartments round it; in one of which we saw the skeletons of seventeen poor wretches, who were confined by the ancles in an iron machine. Many other bodies were found, some of them in circumstances which plainly shew that they were endeavouring to escape when the eruption overtook them. Near the barracks, there is a theatre, and a temple of Isis; but, as all their ornaments have been removed, they have now little but their antiquity to make them worth seeing.

But a little farther, two streets, with all their houses, are entirely cleared, and look like a small town, lately abandoned. The streets are just wide enough for two carriages to pass each other; and the ruts worn by the wheels, are still to be seen, as well as names, and several military figures, cut in a rough manner by the soldiers on the walls of their quarters. A path is raised on each side of the street, for foot passengers.

Most of the houses have a terrace at top, in the Italian style; and some of them have baths and stoves to heat the walls. The floors, in general, are paved with mosaic of the common kind; and the sides of the rooms were all ornamented with paintings on the bare plaster, which we call in distemper. Some of them are exceedingly beautiful; but most of the best have been taken away. Among those that remain, the most striking are, Narcissus pining for his own figure; Orpheus and Eurydice; Diana and Endymion; variety of dogs and game; several dishes of fish, fowl and vegetables; a capital helmet; some beautiful landscapes, and light festoons of the most elegant patterns: all as perfect as the day they were painted.

A little without the gates, we saw the burying-place of the Terentian family. It is a small pile, with a tower in the center, with niches for the urns, and several distorted, weeping faces on the walls. In one of the wells in the town, we found several skulls, which were thrown there when the houses were cleared out.

About a quarter of a mile farther, we came to a noble villa, which, from its size, and the furniture found in it, must have belonged to some person of consequence. The lower part is inhabited by some peasants, who cultivate the garden within the court, and who presented us with some of the grapes which it produces. The cellars form three sides of a square, under the terrace in front of the house, each side one hundred and sixty feet long. We were shewn several jars, whose contents were solid, and which, at the time of the eruption, were full of wine.

From hence we drove to Portici, to see the museum, where every thing taken out of Pompeia and Herculaneum is collected. It consists of sixteen rooms, in which the different articles are arranged with very great taste. The floors are paved with mosaic, taken up from the recovered towns, and the walls of the court are lined with inscriptions.

Exclusive of busts and statues, medals, and intaglios, lamps and tripods, innumerable; there is not an article used by the ancients, of which a specimen may not be seen in this museum. We were shewn some Household Gods, and every implement used in worship, or sacrifice, agriculture, and cookery. A kitchen completely furnished, in a style that would do justice to a London Alderman. Several scales, weights, and measures, and different instruments of music and surgery. Some loaves of bread, with the maker's name. Different kinds of shell fruit. Tickets of admission for the theatre, and, what rather lessened our veneration for the ancients, some loaded dice, and a box of rouge. They had mirrors too, which were of brass highly polished, for they had not the art of making glass reflect by quicksilver.

One of the apartments is filled with obscene devices, particularly rings, which were worn by the chastest matrons, as charms against sterility; for the Romans accustomed their women to this kind of objects, just as they did their youth to danger, that they might learn to behold them unmoved. This accounts for the very great number that have been found. Some of them are highly laughable. But the moderns have learned more delicacy; and this apartment is never exposed to the ladies.

The Satyr and She Goat was thought so dangerous a representation, that it was very properly removed to a separate house; and nothing but its exquisite workmanship prevented its being destroyed.

It is much to be lamented that the article which might be of most service to mankind, is the most difficult to be recovered, I mean the ancient books. These were written on scrolls rolled up, and by the heat of the ashes, were burnt into the appearance of charcoal. No pains have been spared to unfold them, but the operation is attended with such immense difficulty, that as yet but four have been brought to light, and these in so mutilated a state, that though the letters which are left are perfect, I fear they can never be of any real use. But this by no means lessens the merit of Padre Piaggi and his pupils. It is miraculous that they have succeeded so well; and their ingenuity and perseverance cannot be too much applauded.

Several of the rooms in the Palace of Portici, which is adjoining to the museum, are lined with the paintings cut out of Pompeia; but though they are reckoned the best, they do not appear to me to equal those that remain on their native walls.

The equestrian statues of Marcus Nonius Balbus, and his son, at the foot of the great staircase, are both remarkably light and elegant. One has the greater pleasure in admiring them, from their being a tribute to virtue, erected after their death by the citizens of Herculaneum, of which they were Pro-consuls.

Portici is about six miles from Naples, at the foot of Vesuvius; the theatre of Herculaneum is a little beyond the Palace, and Pompeia about seven miles farther, all on the great road to Castello Mare. No excavations having been made at Stabia, we did not go there.