| Citation |
NYEP(D.751.006
4 Feb 1751:11,12,21 (298)
[In a description of the early discoveries at Herculaneum:].
. . however, there is now another entrance made in a
theatre, where you desend 78 steps, and as you descend it
brings you to the seats of the theatre, which, from the
first to the area, are 33 in number; at the bottom you enter
into narrow passes, which have been cleared, where you
discover parts of houses slated, pillars broken, statues,
pedistals, &c. . . [3/4 column, other sights]
The theatre must have been a fine one, as it is all
incrusted with marble, which is carried off as fast as they
remove the earth before it; and the stucco with which the
walls are covered is exceeding beautiful; the part they were
at work upon must have been a stupendous building, and seems
without doubt to have been an amphitheatre by the
circumference of the walls and large steps; . . . [6 lines]
The theatre seems not be bigger than those of ours in
London; the scene is curiously painted with grotesque work
in stucco. As they make their way thro' the buildings by
these narrow passes, you find much confusion of bricks,
mortar, tiles, marble cornices and frizes . . . [1 column]
It was in and about the theatre most of the statues and
pictures were found.
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