Litchfield enquirer., 1833-11-28
From First ImpressiOns of Europe.
RELICS OF PoMPEII.

full description of it would tire even an
antiquary. 1t is one of those things land
there are many in Europe,) that fortunate
" compel travel. You must come abroad
to get ailsidea it.
The first day buried myself among the
cnriosiies found in Pompeii. Alter walk
ing through the chambers andstreet where
they were found, came 20 them naturally
with All intense interest. had visited
diSentOmbed city, buried for seventeen CEN
luries-had troddcn in their wheel tracks
had wandered through their dining rooms,
their chambers, their baths, their theatres,
their market places. And here were gath
cred in one place, their pictures, their stat
ues, their cooking utensils, their orna-
ments, the very food as it was found on
their tables l am puzzled, in looking over
my notebook, to know what to mention.
The catalogue fills a printed volume.
A curious corner in one of tue cases was
that containing the articles found ON the
toilet of the wealthiest P6mpeian's wife,
Here were pots of rouge, ivory pins, neck
laces, ear rings, bracelets, small silver mir
rors, combs, ear pickers, etc. In the next
case were two loaves of bread, found in a
bakers oven and stamped with his name.
Two large cases Of precious gems, canoes
and intaglios of all descriptions, stand in
the centre Of this room, among which, by
the way, the most exquisitely done are two
which one cannot look at without blush.
Another case is filled with eatables, found
upon the table-eggs, fish bones, honey
comb, grain, fruits, etc. In the repository
for ancient glass are several cinerary urns,
in which the ashes of the dead are perfect
ly preserved; and numerous small glass
lachrymatories, in which the tears of the
survivors were deposited in the tombs.
The brazen furniture of Pompeii, the
lamps particularly, are Of the most beauti-
ful models. Trees, to which the lamps
were suspended like fruit, vines, statues
holding them in their hands, and numerous
other contrvances were among them, ex-
ceeding far in beauty any similar furniture
Of our time. 1t appears that tho ancients
did not know the use ofthe fork, as every
other article of table service except this has
been found here. #@
To conceive the interest attached to the
| thousand things in this museum, one must
imagine modern city, Boston for exam
pie, completely buried by an unexpected
and terrific convulson Of nature. Its in
habitants mostly escape, but from various
| causes leave their city entomhed, and in a
hundred years the grass grows over it, aud
its very locality is forgotten. Near two
thousand years elapse, and then peasant,
digging in the field, strikes upon its ruins,
and it is unearlhed just as it stands as this
moment, with all its utensils, books, pic
lures, houses and streets, in untouched pre-
servation. What subject for speculation !!
What food for curiosity What living
and breathing chapter Of history were this !!
Far more interesting is Pompeii. For the
age in which it flourishcd and the charac-
tiers who trod its streets are among the most
remarkable in history. The brazen lamp,
shown to me as curiosity, was lit every
evening in the time of Christ. The hand
some chambers through which ! wandered
a day or two ago, and from which was
brought this antique chair, were the home
of Sallust, and doubtless had been honored
by the visits Of Cicero, whose villa, half ex-
cavated, is near by. and by all the poets
and scholars and statesmen of his time.-
One might speculate endlessly thus And
it is that which makes these lands of for
gotten empires SO delightful to the traveller.
His mind is fed by the very air. lie needs
no amusements, no company, no books, ex-
cept the history of the place. The spot is
peopled, wherever he may stray, and the
common necessaries of life seem to pluck
him from far-reaching dream, in which
he had summoned back receding ages, and
was communing face to face, with philosO-
pliers and poets and emperors, like magi-
clan before his mirror. Pompeii and Her.
| culaneum seem to me visions. cannot
shake myself and wake TO their reality
My mind refuses to 60 back so far. Seven
teen hundred years.
I followed the cieerone on, listening to
his astonishing enumeration, and looking at
every thing as be pointed to it, in kind Of
stnpor. One has but certain capacity
We may be ever astonished. Still he went
on in the same everyday tune, talking as
indiferentiy Of this and that surprising an
tiquity as pedIar of his two-penny wares.
We went from the bronzes TO the hall Of The
papyri-thence to the hall Of the frescoes,
and beautiful they were. Their very NUM-
Der makes them understandable. The next
moraing we devoted to the stdtuary-and
of this, il knew where TO begin, should
like to say word or two.
E;rst s.f al rotnes the Rail-; fum:Iu-