of dishes being placed
round the margin, while the smaller swim about in the form of little
vessels and water-fowl.

"Corresponding to this is a fountain, which is incessantly emptying
and filling; for the water, which it throws up to a great height,
falling back again into it, is returned as fast as it is received, by
means of two openings.

"Fronting the alcove stands a summer-house of exquisite marble, whose
doors project and open into a green enclosure, while from its upper
and lower windows also the eye is presented with a variety of
different verdures. Next to this is a little private closet, which,
though it seems distinct, may be laid into the same room, furnished
with a couch; and notwithstanding it has windows on every side, yet it
enjoys a very agreeable gloominess, by means of a spreading vine,
which climbs to the top and entirely overshades it. Here you may lie
and fancy yourself in a wood, with this difference only, that you are
not exposed to the weather. In this place a fountain also rises, and
instantly disappears. In different quarters are disposed several
marble seats, which serve, as well as the summer-house, as so many
reliefs after one is tired of walking. Near each seat is a little
fountain, and throughout the whole hippodrome several small rills run
murmuring along, wheresoever the hand of art thought proper to conduct
them, watering here and there different spots of verdure, and in their
progress refreshing the whole."

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STORES AND EATING HOUSES.

To notice all the houses excavated at Pompeii, would be wearisome in
the extreme. We intend therefore merely to select some of the most
important, to be described at length, the arrangement of which may
serve, with variations according to place and circumstances, as a type
of the whole. Some, which offer no particularity in their
construction, are remarkable for the beauty of their paintings or
other decorations; and, indeed, it is from the paintings on the walls
that many of the houses have derived their names. Some again are
designated from mosaics or inscriptions on the threshold, from the
trade or profession evidently exercised by the proprietors, or from
some accident, as the presence of distinguished persons at their
excavation--as, for instance, those called the House of the Emperor
Joseph II., del Gran Duca, degli Scienziati, etc. As it is the object
of this work to convey a general notion