can be taken by gun-boats moved The United States ought to have 500 gun-boats, ftationed in different parts of the coaft, each carrying a thirty-two or thirty-fix pounder. Hoftile fhips would not then venture to lie within our waters, were it only for the certainty of being fometimes becalmed. They would then become prizes, and the infulting bullies on the ocean become priioners in our own waters. Having thrus ftated the comparative powers and expenfe of fhips of war and gun-boats, I come to fpeak of fortifications. Fortifications may be comprehended under two general heads. Firft. Fortified towns; that is, towns enclosed within a fortified polygon, of which there are many on the continent of Europe, but not any in England. Secondly. Simple forts and batteries. These are not formed on the regular principles of fortification, that is, they are not formed for the purpose of landing a fiege as a fortined polygon is. They are for the purpofe of obftructing or annoying the progress of an enemy by land or water. Batteries are formidable in defend ing narrow palles by land, fuch as the paffage of a bridge, or of a road Cut through a rough and craggy mountain, that cannot be paffed any where else. But they are not formi dable in defending water-paffes, becaufe a fhip, with a brifk wind and tile running at the rate of ten miles an hour, will be out of the reach of the fire of the battery in fifteen or twenty minutes; and being a fwist moving object all the time, it would be a mere chance that any hot ftruck her. When the object of a flip is that of paffing a battery, for the purpose of attaining or attacking fome other object, it is not customary for the fhip to fire at the battery, left t .fhould difturb her courfe. Three or four men are kept on deck to attend the helm, and the reft, having nothing to do, go below. Duckworth, in paffing the Dardanelles up to Conftantinople, did not fire at the batteries. When batteries, for the defence of water-paffes, can be erected without any great expenfe, and the men not expofed to capture, it may be very proper to have them. They may keep off finall piratical veffels, but they are not to be trufted to for defence. Fortifications give, in general, a delufive idea of protection. All our principal loffes in the revolutionary war were occafioned by truthing to fortifications. Fort Washington, with a garrifon of 2500 men, was taken in less than four hours, and the men prifoners of war. The fame fate had befallen Fort Lee, on the oppofite thore, if general Lee had not moved haftily off, and gained Hackinfack bridge. General Lincoin fortified Charleton, in South Carolina, and himself and his army were made prifoners of war. General Washington began forti fying New York in 1770 General Howe paffed up the caft river, landed his army at Frog's Point, about twenty miles above the city, and marched down upon it; and had not general Wathington ftole filently and fuddenly off on the north river tide of Yok land, himfelf and his army had alfo been prifoners. Truft not to fortifications atherwife than as batteries, that can be abandoned at discretion, The cafe, however, is, that batteries as a water detence against the paffage of fhips cannot do much. Were any given number of guns to be nd an equal number of the fame weight of metal put in gun-boats for e fame purpose, thole in the boats would be more effectual than thofe the battery. put in a battery for that purpose, domeftic utenfils-the multitude of paintings, ftill in their original fplendour-the streets, and even the entire houfes recalled, in the livelieft maner, the ideas of ancient times-and carried back the fpectator, as if by magic, through a lapfe of eighteen centuries. The comparative cafe with which Pompeii was cleared away, induced the Neapoliran government to profecute their researches with some acti The reafon of this is obvions. A attery is ftationary. Its fire is linited to about two miles, and there ts power ceates. But every gun. boar moved by oars is a moveable fortification, that can follow up its fire, and change its place and its poli-vity; but the number of valuable tion as circumtiances may require; and besides this, gun-boats in calms are the fovereigns of hips. As the matter interefts the public, and moft probably will come before congrefs at its next meeting; it the printers in any of the flates, after publishing it in their newfpapers, have a mind to publish it in a pamphlet form, together with my former piece on gun-boats, they have my confent freely. I neither take copy-right nor profit from any thing I publith. THOMAS PAINE. Ruins of Herculaneum and Perpe, HOWEVER interefting the Literature of ancient times must always be, it becomes infinitely more fo the better it is underfood: the discovery of thefe fubterranean cities was therefore hailed by all the learned, as form ing a new era in claffic lore-inamuch as it promifed to throw a new light, not only on the arts and fciences, but alio on the domeftic manners and amufements of the ancient Romans. Of the ancient architecture, 'tis true, much remained-but there was nothing to elucidate the obfcure paffages of many of the claffics, with the exception of Trajan's pillar, which contained, in pretty good prefervation, 1. coftume of the time of the early emperors, and fome few bas reliefs, which related to religious ceremonies; but here, the immenfe quantity of moveables not being fo great as they expected, they returned with new ardour to Herculaneum-where, altho' the labour was much greater, yet it was amply repaid, not only by the number of curiofities difcovered, but alfo by their variety and elegance. The trata covering Pompeii were but twenty feet in depth, and confifted of little more than athes and scoria but the repeated eruptions of melted Java had covered Herculaneum to a depth of eighty feet. To open it, therefore, would have been almoft impoffible-and they were content to ink thafts into the different parts; work, they dug through it, in lateral then, where the ground was eafy to directions, where it could be dons with facility--but always defifted when they came to the folid lava. Many inferiptions were now difcovered; among others, there was one in honour of Vefpafian, from which it appeared that many new edifices had been erected under his aufpices, during the period when the city was repaired, after the great damage which it tuffered from the earthquake in the year 63 of the Chriftian æra;-but the curiofity of the literati was fublequently much awakened, by the workinen picking up fome medals of Domitian, who did not reign_umil fone generations after its final defiretion. Many and various conjectures were formed to explain this feeming myftery, none of which were conclufive, until the appearance of ier excavations excavations induced the cognofcenti a pure glafs, fhaped like China vales to examine the hiftory of thofe times, others with long necks like boules, --when it appeared from Suetonius, and many formed of baked clay, re in his life of Titus, that this benefi- fembling in thape our modern tulip cent emperor had given orders to open glaffes. Many vafes of bronze and Herculaneum, and recover it from its brafs, fhaped like kettle-drums, were ruins;-thefe orders, however, were alfo found, and fupported on tripods; obeyed only in part, when the death fome of thefe had double bottoms, of Titus put a stop to them-fo wor- and were conjectured to have been thy of his virtues, both as an emperor fire-pots, as they have perforated coand a patron of the arts. Yet, as vers, and fmall hollow tubes, probaDomitian fucceeded him, it was ra- bly intended for carrying off the smoke. tionally fuppofed that he had conti- The marble curiofities were extremely nued the research, and had, perhaps, valuable: one of thefe was a table of made fome progrefs in it, when its exquifite workmanship, mounted on extreme difficulty, and apparent im- a high-wrought pedestal, ciegantly poflibility, had induced him to give up fluted in a spiral line, and richly eman undertaking fo arduous. boffed in foliage. The flatues were alfo numerous, reprefenting not only the major, but also the minor deities of the heathen mythology.-All the amateurs of ancient art have been particularly ftruck with one, which reprefents a fleeping faun: he is laying down, and appears to be drunkhis head refling on a goat's skin, in which it was cuftomary in early ages to carry their wines. A very exquifite head has alfo been found, fuppofed to be defigned for Seneca, whilft expiring in the bath-as the artift has reprefented him futfering all the agonies incident to fuch a fituation, and ftrongly marked the countenance with all thofe paffions which would naturally arife. The enigma was now folved-and the learned world congratulated themfelves that thefe attempts had been unfuccefsful, as it preferved thefe precious monuments for the entertainment and inftruction of after ages, and refcued them from the devouring hand of time, and no lefs deftructive grafp of the invading Goths. In one direction, where the labour was eafy, the workmen cleared away feveral houfes, which thewed fome marks of elegance, particularly in the floors, which appear to have been paved with triangular pieces of black and white marble, difpofed alternately, two pieces of each colour joining at the points, and thus forming a fquare. They alfo difcovered many houfchold utentils and inftruments, particularly fome lamps of a fimple elegance, formed of burnt catth-and fome extremely curious, being ornamented with well execured bas reliefs. One of these is of a circular flape, with compartments on each fide, containing a hound juft in the act of feizing a hare; round thefe is an elegant foliage of vine leaves, with Arabefque ornaments, which, for lightness and fanciful arrangement, might ferve as models for the best modern artists.Many lachrimatories have alfo been dug up: fome of thefe are formed of But of all the rarities difcovered amidft thefe auguft remains of ancient arts, the paintings are the most interefling for their variety and elegance, and alfo the most useful for their elucidation of many points of claffic literature, which had been fubjects of debate with the learned for fome centuries. The fpecimens which have been preferved, amount to upwards of 600; thefe have all been carefully taken from the walls, where they had been fixed up in the higheft ftyle of arabefque decoration. As thefe are all by different pencils, and alfo of different ages, it is evident that we muft muft expect great variation in the afte and manner of their execution: Tome of them are defigned in one coour only-moft of them in three or four tints-and a few in a variety of colours, equal to any thing which modern art can boaft. The fubjects which they reprefent are various but they are in general illuftrative of the mythology, as well as the profane hiftory of the Greeks and Romans; they alfo delineate the divinities, bacchanals, the fylvan deities, facrifices and religious proceffions, public and private buildings, theatrical fcenes, landscapes, animals of every fpecies, real or grotesque, fruits, flowers, fieldsports,, naumachia or fea-fights, and all the different trades and occupations of common life-and indeed every thing which, in general, we may believe the Romans to have been acquainted with, at the commencement of the Chriftian æra. By the commentators it is fuppofed the landscapes reprefent the architecture of different ages-and by thus tracing its principles and progrefs, we have afcertained that the ancients were better skilled in the knowledge of optics, and in the rules of perfpective, than had been generally fuppofed. Yet, though the true principles of perspective are to be traced in thefe fpecimens, yet we must acknowledge that the artift has not always paid the fricteft attention to them; nay, we confefs, in the words of a skilful connoiffeur, that they are rather indicated, thanminutely practifed or accurately difplayed. There is a painting in the Neapolitan cabinet, which was cut from the walls of Herculaneum. It is in diftemper, and is a fine fpecimen of the arts about the dawn of the Christian æra. It reprefents a Roman villa, with its accompanying decorations and furrounding fcenery. This paint ing feems, from the magnitude of its external decorations, to be a reprefentation of one of thofe great villas, fo exquifitely defcribed by Pliny, when, in an epiftle to Rufus, he exclaimsHow ftands Comum, that favourite fcene of your's and mine? What becomes of the pleafant villa, the vernal portico, the umbrageous walk, the chryftal fiream fo cheerfully bubbling along its flowery banks, together with the charming lake that ferves at once the purposes of use and ornament ? What have you to tell me of the firm yet foft turf, on which we were wont to exercife together-of the funny bath, the morning faloon, the retired. dining parlour, and all the elegant apartments for repofe both at noon and night-Such were the anxious withes of Pliny (whilst enjoying all the luxury of imperial Rome), for the domeftic comforts of his native villa, fituated on the banks of the modern Lago di Como, in the duchy of Milan; and in this fhort delineation of thefe wifhes, and the familiar queftions he puts to his friend, he has prefented us with a moft animated picture of domestic manners. Several of the ancient claffics have given us flight sketches of the Roman villa and of the moderns, Caftell, in his elegant work on the Villas of the Ancients, has brought together a great mass of useful and of interefting defcription; but ftill there is much of what the ancients wrote which would have been very obfcure, had it not been for the difcovery of a perfect villa, a fhort diftance from the entrance of Pompeii, and which to this day is ftill pretty entire. It is true, indeed, that there are some remains, in the Campagna di Roma, of the villa of Maecenas-of Adrian's villa, on the banks of the Teverone-and of Pompey's, near Baice;-all these, however, were in fuch a flate of ruin as to afford very little fatisfaction to the inquifitive traveller, any farther than the intereft they excited from the remembrance of their poffeffors. --The Romans fhewed great tafle in the choice of fituation for the villa and 1 and those whofe fortunes would per- led into an apartment, furrounding || 1 mit it, had in general two, a fuminer fmall open fquare, in which were and a winter retreat. The fummer planted a few fycamore or plane trees villa was in general fituated so as to with a fountain in the middle. command an extenfive profpect of the where the water gently rifing, and furrounding country-and it was an flowing over the edge of a marble ba interefting object to them to place it fon, preferved a conftant verdure in fo as that the vifitor would find him- the turf, and added much to the cool. self on an elevation, before he was nefs arifing from the fhade. This confcious of having afcended to any apartment was dedicated to the recep heighth. A declivity, fheltered by the tion of moft intimate friends only, Appenines, as elegantly defcribed by and to the luxury of the fiefta, or af Pliny, was a favourite fituation- ternoon's nap, being removed from where, in the hottest days, they might any noife, and thus difpofing the mind be refreshed by the breezes blowing to the fofteft ideas. A fmaller portico, from the mountains, which, however, for the purpose of meditation, led from were divefted of all their strength and this retreat to a small cabinet, whole violence, before they could reach the fides were encrufted with the finct tranquil retreat. The principal front marble, and the ceiling enriched with of the houfe was always to the fouth, painted foliage, and birds intermixed; thus inviting the afternoon fun in here, in one corner, was a fmall foun fummer into a spacious and extended tain, which, dropping its waters thro portico, fupported on pillars, and feveral pipes into a fmall marble vafe. formed with receffes to thelter the produced the most luxurious fenfa company from his meridian beams. tions. This leads into the anti-chamIn front of this portico was a gravel- ber of the bath, whofe windows opened led terrace, embellished with ftatues, upon the terrace, directing the eye to and furrounded by hedges of box and a cafcade, or fome other prominent Jaurel;-from the terrace, an eafy object in the grounds;-next was the flope of verdant turf led down to a undreffing-room, leading to a large fmooth-haven lawn, between rows and gloomy bath-from thence to a of box trees, cut into a thousand fan- larger refervoir, where hot water was taftic forms; and the lawn itself was ready for thofe who wished it-thea helted by a flady walk of evergreens, to one of a temperate degree, open to in fome places formed into arbours, the fun-and, laft of all, a cool brac in others nicely trimmed and opening ing bath, which, renewing the vigour into parterres. Beyond this was a of the bather, tempted him to exercircus of turf, furrounded by hedges, cife in the adjacent tennis-court On hut not fo lofty as to fhut out the the oppofite fide of the villa was a view of the furrounding country room, with folding doors, opening to thus in fome meafure contrafting the the breeze from the Appenines-and eafe of nature with the efforts of her underneath it a grotto, which prefifter art. The interior of the villa ferved a refreshing coolness in the was finished with a degree of luxury hotteft fummer, and opened to the unthought of in more northern climes: hippodrome-a large area, encom at the end of the portico was the din- paffed with plane trees, fo completely ing-room, lofty and fpacious, and mantled with luxuriant ivy, as to form opening on one end of the terrace, fo a verdant wall at all feafons of the as to afford an extentive profpect, and year. Beyond these were the evening looking down on a hippodrome, em- gardens, for fupper parties only, inbofomed in a flirubbery. From the terfperfed with fountains, and having centre of the portico, a retired paffage in the centre a raised marble bason, Sound |