Taorminian citizens at
this moment issue from under its arch, in their way down, and
guessing what we are, offer some indifferent coins which do not suit
us, but enable us to enter into conversation. We demand and obtain a
_cicerone_, of whom we are glad to get rid after three hours'
infliction of his stupidity and endurance of his ignorance, without
acquiring one idea, Greek, Roman, Norman, or Saracen, out of all his
erudition. After going through the whole tour with such a fellow for
a Hermes, we come at last upon the far-famed theatre, where we did
not want him. Here, however, a very intelligent attendant, supported
by the king of Naples on a suitable pension of five baiocchi a-day,
takes us out of the hands of the Philistine, and with a plan of the
ground to aid us, proceeds to give an intelligible, and, as appears
to us, a true explanation of the different parts of the huge
construction, in the area of which we stand delighted. He directed
our attention to a large arched tunnel, under and at right angles to
the pulpita, and we did not want direction to the thirty-six niches
placed at equal distances all round the ellipse, and just over the
lowest range of the CUNEI. All niches were, no doubt, for statues;
but these might also have been, it pleases some to suppose, for the
reverberation of applause; and they quote something about
_"Resonantia Vasa"_ from Macrobius, adding, that such niches were
once probably lined with brass. Of bolder speculatists, some believe
the _kennel_ to have been made with a similar intention. Others hold
that it may have been a concealed way for introducing lions and
tigers to the arena! Now, what if it were a _drain_ for the waters,
which, in bad weather, soon collect to a formidable height in such a
situation? Whether for voice, or wild beasts, or drainage, or none of
these objects, there it is. As to the first, we cannot help being
sceptical. Did it ever occur to an audience to wish the noise they
make _greater_, and contrive expedients for _making it so?_

We are here high up amidst the mountains, where, we are to remember,
as the ancients came not to spend, like ourselves, an idle hour, but
to consume most of the day, _shelter_ would be wanted. Two large
lateral spaces, or as it were, side chambers, have received this
destination at the hands of the antiquary, and have been supposed
lobbies for foul weather or for shade at noon. We were made to notice
by our guide, what we should else