NAPLES, _June_ 14, 1740, N.S.
Dear West,--One hates writing descriptions that are to be found in every
book of travels; but we have seen something to-day that I am sure you
never read of, and perhaps never heard of. Have you ever heard of a
subterraneous town? a whole Roman town, with all its edifices, remaining
under ground? Don't fancy the inhabitants buried it there to save it
from the Goths: they were buried with it themselves; which is a caution
we are not told that they ever took. You remember in Titus's time there
were several cities destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius, attended with
an earthquake. Well, this was one of them, not very considerable, and
then called Herculaneum. Above it has since been built Portici, about
three miles from Naples, where the King has a villa. This underground
city is perhaps one of the noblest curiosities that ever has been
discovered. It was found out by chance, about a year and half ago. They
began digging, they found statues; they dug further, they found more.
Since that they have made a very considerable progress, and find
continually. You may walk the compass of a mile; but by the misfortune
of the modern town being overhead, they are obliged to proceed with
great caution, lest they destroy both one and t'other. By this occasion
the path is very narrow, just wide enough and high enough for one man to
walk upright. They have hollowed, as they found it easiest to work, and
have carried their streets not exactly where were the ancient ones, but
sometimes before houses, sometimes through them. You would imagine that
all the fabrics were crushed together; on the contrary, except some
columns, they have found all the edifices standing upright in their
proper situation. There is one inside of a temple quite perfect, with
the middle arch, two columns, and two pilasters. It is built of brick
plastered over, and painted with architecture: almost all the insides of
the houses are in the same manner; and, what is very particular, the
general ground of all the painting is red. Besides this temple, they
make out very plainly an amphitheatre: the stairs, of white marble, and
the seats are very perfect; the inside was painted in the same colour
with the private houses, and great part cased with white marble. They
have found among other things some fine statues, some human bones, some
rice, medals, and a few paintings extremely fine. These latter are
preferred to all the ancient paintings that have ever been discovered.
We have not seen them yet, as they are kept in the King's apartment,
whither all these curiosities are transplanted; and 'tis difficult to
see them--but we shall. I forgot to tell you, that in several places the
beams of the houses remain, but burnt to charcoal; so little damaged
that they retain visibly the grain of the wood, but upon touching
crumble to ashes. What is remarkable, there are no other marks or
appearance of fire, but what are visible on these beams.
There might certainly be collected great light from this reservoir of
antiquities, if a man of learning had the inspection of it; if he
directed the working, and would make a journal of the discoveries. But I
believe there is no judicious choice made of directors. There is nothing
of the kind known in the world; I mean a Roman city entire of that age,
and that has not been corrupted with modern repairs. Besides
scrutinising this very carefully, I should be inclined to search for
the remains of the other towns that were partners with this in the
general ruin.[1] 'Tis certainly an advantage to the learned world, that
this has been laid up so long. Most of the discoveries in Rome were made
in a barbarous age, where they only ransacked the ruins in quest of
treasure, and had no regard to the form and being of the building; or to
any circumstances that might give light into its use and history. I
shall finish this long account with a passage which Gray has observed in
Statius, and which directly pictures out this latent city:--
Haec ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabam
Littoribus, fractas ubi Vestius egerit iras,
Aemula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis.
Mira fides! credetne virûm ventura propago,
Cum segetes iterum, cum jam haec deserta virebunt,
Infra urbes populosque premi?
SYLV. lib. iv. epist. 4.
Adieu, my dear West! and believe me yours ever.
[Footnote 1: It was known from the account of Pliny that other towns had
been destroyed by the same eruption as Herculaneum, and eight years
after the date of this letter some fresh excavations led to the
discovery of Pompeii. Matthews, in his "Diary of an Invalid," describes
both, and his account explains why Pompeii, though the smaller town,
presents more attractions to the scholar or the antiquarian. "On our way
home we explored Herculaneum, which scarcely repays the labour. This
town is filled up with lava, and with a cement caused by the large
mixture of water with the shower of earth and ashes which destroyed it;
and it is choked up as completely as if molten lead had been poured into
it. Besides, it is forty feet below the surface, and another town is now
built over it.... Pompeii, on the contrary, was destroyed by a shower of
cinders in which there was a much less quantity of water. It lay for
centuries only twelve feet below the surface, and, these cinders being
easily removed, the town has been again restored to the light of day"
(vol. i. p. 254).]
_DANGER OF MALARIA--ROMAN CATHOLIC RELICS--"ADMIRAL HOSIER'S
GHOST"--CONTEST FOR THE POPEDOM._