egible by the light of _flambeaux_.

To return to the Museum at Portici, we were then shewn into a room
containing curious _morceaux_ of antiquity discovered at Pompeii: a tripod
in bronze and various other articles of the same metal; tables, various
lamps in bronze, resembling exactly those used in Hindostan, wooden pens,
dice, grains of corn quite black and scorched, a skeleton of a woman with
the ashes incrusted round it (the form of her breast is seen on the crust
of ashes; golden armlets were found on her which were shewn to us), steel
mirrors, combs, utensils for culinary purposes, such as _casseroles_,
frying pans, spoons, forks, pestles and mortars, instruments of sacrifice,
weights and measures, coins, a _carcan_ or _stock_, &c.

In the upper rooms are to be seen the paintings and _fresques_ found in the
same place. The paintings are poor things, and in their landscapes the
Romans seem to have had little more idea of perspective than the Chinese;
but the _fresques_ are beautiful: the female figures belonging thereto are
delineated with the utmost grace and delicacy. They consist of subjects
chiefly from the mythology. I noticed the following in particular, viz.,
Chiron teaching the young Achilles to draw the bow; the discovery of
Orestes; Theseus and the Minotaur (he has just slain the Minotaur and a boy
is in the act of kissing his hand as if to thank him for his deliverance;
the Minotaur is here represented as a monster with the body of a man and
the head of a bull); a Centaur carrying off a nymph; a car drawn by a
parrot and driven by a cricket: a woman offering to another little Loves
for sale (she is pulling out the little Cupids from a basket and holding
them by their wings as if they were fowls); a beautiful female figure
seated on a monster something like the Chimaera of the ancients and holding
a cup before the monster's mouth (emblematical of Hope nourishing a
Chimaera). The arabesques taken from Pompeii and preserved here are very
beautiful. Here also are two statues found in Pompeii: the one representing
a drunken Faun, the other a sitting Mercury. We met two Polish ladies here,
who were amusing themselves in copying the _fresques_. We returned to
Naples at five o'clock, and dined at the _Villa di Napoli_. In the evening
we went to the _Teatro de' Fiorentini_. The piece performed was Pamela or
_La virtu premiata,_ which I understand is quite a stock piece in Italy. It
is written by Goldoni. It was ve