outer walls. Suspended across this fire, and
resting with each end upon an embrasure in
the walls, were placed spits, on which the
meat was roasted. Not far from this "Magic
Stove," one observes various kinds of scales,
for the purpose of weighing articles of domestic
consumption, very similar in form to those
now in use in the shops. The weights generally
represent the head of a divinity, or of
some great personage. Scattered about in
different parts of the room, the eye of the
housewife may detect saucepans of different
forms and sizes, wine-strainers, frying-pans,
and moulds for pastry, of various designs.
The great novelty about most of these utensils
is, that there is nothing new about them;
and the remark which has been applied to
everything under the sun, may, with equal
propriety, be extended to all that lies under
the kitchen fire.

The room following next to this room, and
forming a portion of the same gallery, is very
rich in lamps. The shape of an ancient lamp
is familiar enough. A notion of the form
most in use may be conveyed by the idea of
an ordinary butter-boat covered in, with a
round hole for the wick, and a larger aperture
for pouring in the oil. Here are lamps of
various materials, but principally of bronze
and terra cotta. The ingenuity which has
been displayed in their construction is very
great, and the workmanship inimitable. In
some, the handles are formed by the figures
of satyrs and fauns, or of lions, bulls, horses,
and other animals; in others, invention is
carried to a higher point, and a naked boy
holds the lamp itself, suspended by a chain.
One of the most splendid, in point of execution,
is that on which a Cupid is sculptured
astride on a dolphin. Some of these lamps
were hung by chains; but the greater number
rested on stands, of which a variety of specimens
are to be seen around us.

But what is that instrument to which the
guide, or guardian, or keeper, in a jargon of
bad French, interspersed with snatches of
English, calls my attention? As I live, it
is a pair of stocks. He tells me that they
were found in the barracks or soldiers' quarter
at Pompeii, with the skeletons of four wretches
confined in them. Think what a death! To
blaspheme, to cry, to rave for help, and to be
answered by nought but the roaring of the
mountain; to watch the ashes pouring down
in showers—coming onward—onward—
onward—and then—the end!

Pause for a moment, and contemplate in
this glass case the skull of the sentinel who
was found, faithful to his post, at the gates of
Pompeii. Why should that skull be here ?
Were not others discovered—skulls of men
who perished grasping money-bags, or hidden
away with their jewels in cellars, or gorging
themselves at the dinner-table, and, probably,
too drunk to fly ? Why should not the bones
of this poor fellow be reverently committed to
the soil which he guarded so well, with a
monument over them, and an inscription
testifying that it was to the memory of an
unknown hero? Smaller men have slept for
ages undisturbed beneath their marble
mausoleums; pilgrims have bowed in reverence
before the tombs of those who might more
easily have been spared.

Here are compartments containing surgical
instruments. To any one conversant with the
subject, an interesting study will be presented
by the Speculum Vulvœ, of which a Frenchman,
if I remember rightly, was believed to be the
inventor, until the discovery of this one was
made in the course of the excavations. Here
are lancets, needles, pincers, files; instruments
for extracting splinters from fractured joints;
others for performing the operation of
trepanning; others, again, which seemingly
constitute a cupping apparatus. Further on are
the compartments devoted to articles of the
toilet, among which the visitor will not fail
to notice a multitude of mirrors. They do
not resemble our own, but are of metal—
for the most part silver—small in size,
and with a handle so as to be easily
carried about. You will be amused to be
told that it was a privilege of lovers to hold
up these mirrors before their mistresses at
their toilet, and may perhaps think that your
mistress has no need of any one to perform
that office for her. Talking of mirrors, brings
us to the subject of glass, and I have only just
time to give you a curious instance of the
additions which have been made to our
knowledge of the ancients, by the discovery of
Herculaneum and Pompeii. Little more than
seventy years ago, Gibbon, the learned
historian of the Decline and Fall, wrote that
the Romans, with all their luxury and refinement,
were not even acquainted with the use
of glass windows. At the time when this
sentence was written, I believe that there
was not a classical scholar of any note in
England who would not have been found
ready to express the same opinion. I believe
that if a candidate for the Chancellor's Medal
at Cambridge had written "Yes," in reply to
the question, "Were the Romans acquainted
with the use of glass windows ?" he would
have lost a mark. The point has since been
set at rest by the discovery of a lattice
containing panes, at Pompeii.

Probably, at this point, and just as you are
beginning to take an intense interest in all
that you see, the guide will tell you that the
hour for closing the museum has arrived.
And yet there is the compartment containing
bed-fixings, the compartment of agricultural
implements, those of arms and armour, writing
materials, locksmiths' tools, and many others,
yet to be examined. Not to speak of the
cabinets of Mosaics, and Rolls of Papyrus, the
Galleries of Sculpture, the Library, the Etruscan
Vases, Mediæval Curiosities, and I know
not what wonders besides. To take the most
cursory survey of all these objects, would be
the work of many days.