as it must be very inconvenient and disagreeable to those
who go to church below, to be exposed to the rain in wet weather, which
must also render it very damp and unwholesome. I visited it several
times, and each time it looked more and more gloomy and sepulchral.

The magnificence of the Romans was not so conspicuous in their temples,
as in their theatres, amphitheatres, circusses, naumachia, aqueducts,
triumphal arches, porticoes, basilicae, but especially their thermae,
or bathing-places. A great number of their temples were small and
inconsiderable; not one of them was comparable either for size or
magnificence, to the modern church of St. Peter of the Vatican. The
famous temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was neither half so long, nor half
so broad: it was but two hundred feet in length, and one hundred and
eighty-five in breadth; whereas the length of St. Peter's extends to
six hundred and thirty-eight feet, and the breadth to above five
hundred. It is very near twice as large as the temple of Jupiter
Olympius in Greece, which was counted one of the seven wonders of the
world. But I shall take another opportunity to explain myself further
on the antiquities of this city; a subject, upon which I am disposed to
be (perhaps impertinently) circumstantial. When I begin to run riot,
you should cheek me with the freedom of a friend. The most distant hint
will be sufficient to,--Dear Sir, Yours assuredly.

LETTER XXXII

NICE, March 10, 1765.

DEAR SIR,--The Colossaeum or amphitheatre built by Flavius Vespasian,
is the most stupendous work of the kind which antiquity can produce.
Near one half of the external circuit still remains, consisting of four
tire of arcades, adorned with columns of four orders, Doric, Ionic,
Corinthian, and Composite. The height and extent of it may be guessed
from the number of spectators it contained, amounting to one hundred
thousand; and yet, according to Fontana's mensuration, it could not
contain above thirty-four thousand persons sitting, allowing a foot and
an half for each person: for the circuit of the whole building did not
exceed one thousand five hundred and sixty feet. The amphitheatre at
Verona is one thousand two hundred and ninety feet in circumference;
and that of Nismes, one thousand and eighty. The Colossaeum was built
by Vespasian, who employed thirty thousand Jewish slaves in the work;
but finished and dedicated by his son Titus, who, on the first day of
its being opened