celled them that they regarded them as barbarians. Some say that
Etruria was the true birth-place of the Arch; it was doubtless from them
that the Romans learned its use. Tarquinius Priscus conquered the
Etrurians, and he it was who first introduced and employed the Arch in
the construction of the cloacae, or sewers of Rome. The _cloaca maxima_,
or principal branch, received numerous other branches between the
Capitoline, Palatine, and Quirinal hills. It is formed of three
consecutive rows of large stones piled above each other without cement,
and has stood nearly 2,500 years, surviving without injury the
earthquakes and other convulsions that have thrown down temples,
palaces, and churches of the superincumbent city. From the time of
Tarquin, the Arch was in general use among the Romans in the
construction of aqueducts, public edifices, bridges, &c. The Chinese
understood the use of the Arch in the most remote times, and in such
perfection as to enable them to bridge large streams with a single span.
Mr. Layard has shown that the Ninevites knew its use at least 3000 years
ago; he not only discovered a vaulted chamber, but that "arched
gate-ways are continually represented in the bas-reliefs." Diodorus
Siculus relates that the tunnel from the Euphrates at Babylon, ascribed
to Semiramis, was vaulted. There are vaults under the site of the temple
at Jerusalem, which are generally considered as ancient as that edifice,
but some think them to have been of more recent construction, as they
suppose the Jews were ignorant of the Arch; but it is evident that it
was well known in the neighboring countries before the Jewish exile, and
at least seven or eight centuries before the time of Herod. It seems
highly probable, that the Arch was discovered by several nations in very
remote times.

ANTIQUITIES OF HERCULANEUM, POMPEII, AND STABIAE.

The city of Herculaneum, distant about 11,000 paces from Naples, was so
completely buried by a stream of lava and a shower of ashes from the
first known eruption of Vesuvius, during the reign of Titus, A. D. 79,
that its site was unknown for many ages. The neighboring city of
Pompeii, on the river Sarno, one of the most populous and flourishing
towns on the coast, as well as Stabiae, Oplontia, and Teglanum,
experienced the same fate. Earlier excavations had already been
forgotten, when three female figures, (now in the Dresden Gallery) were
discovered while some workmen were digging a well fo