THE HOMES OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS.
Tub internal courts were always constructed so that each was surrounded by apartments which, when lighted fron within, prevented the domestic concerns of the family from being overlooked by anyone not included within the walls. From a passage in Piatus, it does not appear that this construction always answered the purpose ; and in Seneca mention is nude of the annoyance to which the neighbours wore subjected from the disordely conduct of those parsons who changed night into day by indulging in the refinement and Lite hours of the age in which ho lived. Jn the Koman hou3Ps, also, there appears to have been, after the Eastern fashion, a remote or inner court for the apirtment? of thu females, accessible only by an out*r court from those of the males, and of the servants. The information conveyed to us in the works of Vitruviu3 has received singular illustration and confirmation within a period less than a century, from the excavations at Pompeii, HercuUneum, and Stabin, cities which were overwhelmed by a tremendous eruption of Vesuwus in a.d. 70, and which contained houses built and inhabited by Romans belonging to the age of Vitmvms. These excavations exhibit curiously paved streets, having the tracks of catiiage wheels marked on them, and houses built of brick and nibble-work, put together with mortar, all tho materials being of very inferior quality, except the interior coating of plaster, to which they appear to have been chiefly iudebted tor their durability. This plaster was composed of lime and pounded marble, a substitute for stucco, and by its use a perfectly smooth and polished surface was obtained, nearly as hard as marble. With this kind of stucco the smallest apartments at Pompeii were found to be lined ; and this lining is painted with various and brilliant colours, and embellished with subjects either in the centre or at equal distances, like panels. Painted imitations of variegated marbles, forming, perhaps, a species of scaghola, also decorate the walls of their houses. Few blocks of real marble are found, except in monuments and pubic buildings; though, in imitation of the wealthy Romans, the Pompeians inserted pieces or slabs of this material in their wall?, and employed art to give them higher tints than those they possessed by nature. They also discovered a method of veining slabs with gold; and loaves of this metal covering beams, walls, and even roofs of th:s houses, were introduced in great profusion. They covered their floors with cement, in which small pieces of mirble or coloured stones were rogulaily embedded iv geometrical forms; and in their best rooms they used mosaic (iulaid work) with ornamental margins, and a device in the centre. The doors of their houses, being formed of wood, have been reduced to charcoal by the burning lava, and of course are found in an incomplete state ; they turned on pivots, and were fastened by bolts which hung upon chains. Bedsteads are found, made both of wood aud # iron, but their beds were made generally of carpets and vests spread upon tho ground. The articles of household furniture and convenience found in these remarkable ruins are utensils of every kind in silver, brass, stone, and' earthenware, with vases of every kind and adapted to every use ; trumpets^ bells, gridirons, colanders, saucepans (some lined with silver), kettles, ladles, moulds for jelly or pastry, urns for keeping water hot on the principle of the modern tea-urn, horn lanterns, spits, and, in fact, every article of kitchen or other furniture used by us, except forks ; chains, bolts, scourges, dice (some said to be loaded) ; a complete toilet, with combs, thimbles, rings, paint, pins, earrings, pearls, &c — Cassell's Popular Educator.
A return issued lately shows that, on the Ist of January, ISS4. in England and Wales, out of a total population of 20,974,<139, there were 586,799 of outdoor relief, being in the ratio of 0.7 and 2.3 respectively to the total population. Tho cost during the puroehial yoar ISB3-84 for in maintenance was £1,992,502, and for outdoor relief £2,517,693 ; the total relief to the poor in the same year 1 eing £8,402,553, or equivalent to 6s, o^d per head of the whole population.
On* the 14th of August the annual fouroared race among the employees of the London daily papers were held. The course was from the Duke's Head at Put noy to the Soap woi ks at Hammersmith. Alter a good race the Daily Nesva won l\y two lengths from the Financial News, the Da»Jy Telegraph being third, the Daily Chronicle fourth, and the Standard fifth.
A 12-year-old boy named Evans wa3 called as a witness iv this town the other day, ami Lawyer Baldwin being in doubt whether ho knew the nature of au oath, asked him if he knew the difference between right and wrong. " Yes, sir," promptly replied the lad ; "it's right to tell the truth and wrong to tell a lie." "Oh, it is, cli?" said the lawyer, evidently somewhat non-plussed. " Well, now, can you tfll me whatbacomea of those who toil a lif? ' " Yes, sir, I can,' said thp little fellow ; " they go to hell." " I don't believe it !" shouted the startled lawyer to th^ court ; "I don'L believe it, but I shan't object to the swearing in of that boy."— Ansonia, Conn., Sentinel.
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Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2239, 13 November 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)
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888THE HOMES OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2239, 13 November 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)
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