t is ascended
by a flight of steps, which extends the length of the base in front.
The walls of the building are of a fine white stone, and are admirably
constructed.

The edifice has thirty fluted columns, with Corinthian capitals
beautifully sculptured, on which rests the architrave, with frieze and
cornice. This last is ornamented with sculpture; and the frieze, with
foliage finely executed.

The entrance is by a portico, open on three sides, and supported by two
columns, included in the thirty already named, of which six form the
front, and extend to the fourth, when commences the wall of the
building, in which the other columns are half imbedded, being united in
the building with its architrave. The fronton, which is over the
portico, has no ornament in the centre; neither has the frieze nor
architrave: but some holes mark where the bronze letters of an
inscription were once inserted.

This inscription has been conjectured, by the ingenious mode of placing
on paper the exact dimensions of the holes which formerly contained the
letters of it, and is now said to be as follows:--

C. CAESARI AUGUSTI. F. COS. L. CAESARI AUGUSTI F. COS.
DESIGNATO PRINCIPIBUS JUVENTUTES.

But as more holes are found than would be filled by these letters, the
conclusion does not seem to me to be justified.

At the far end of the portico is the door of entrance, the only opening
by which light is admitted to the building. It is very lofty, and on
each side is a pilaster; beneath the cornice are two long cut stones,
which advance like a kind of architrave, pierced by a square hole of
above twelve inches, supposed to have been intended to support a bronze
door.

The original destination of this beautiful edifice still furnishes a
subject for discussion among the antiquaries; some asserting it to have
been erected by the Emperor Adrian in honour of Plotina, while others
maintain it to have been a forum.

At present, it is used as a museum for the antiquities discovered at
Nismes, and contains some admirable specimens. Among these are a torso
in marble of a Roman knight, in a cuirass, and another colossal torso,
with a charming little draped statue seated in a curule chair, and
holding a cornucopia in the left hand; a cinerary monument, enriched
with bassi-relievi, representing a human sacrifice; a bronze head of
Apollo, much injured; and a Janus.

A funereal monument found in the neighbourhood of Nismes in 1824,
offers