scantlings of the same, but with the natural turf on: so that it is not much inferior in strength to those of stone, though infinitely less expensive; but for use and convenience there is very little difference; and as to beauty, as far as relates to the seats, and what was visible on the inside, our work no doubt was very handsome, and even now is a very pleasant sight. It is observed of most amphitheatres abroad, that they are placed without the cities for wholesomness, and upon elevated ground for benefit of the air, and perflation; a thing much recomended for theatres in Vitruvius; as that of Bourdeaux, 400 paces without the city. Besides, this is very artfully set upon the top of a plain, declining to the north-east; whereby the rays of the sun, falling upon the ground hereabouts, are thrown off to a distance by reflection, and the upper end of the amphitheatre, for the major part of the day, has the sun behind the spectators. When you stand in the centre of the entrance, it opens itself with all the grandeur that can be imagined: the jambs are wore away somewhat, and the plough encroaches on its verge every year, especially the cheeks below: never did I see corn growing, which of itself is an agreeable sight, with so much indignation as in this noble concavity, where once the _gens togata_, and majesty of imperial Rome, used to show itself. The conjugate, or shortest diameter externally, is to the longest as 4 to 5; that of the _area_ within, as 2 to 3: this is the same proportion as of the amphitheatre at Lucca, which is 195 _brachia_ in length, 130 broad: a _brachium_ is about 23½ of our inches: it is 25 high. In ours therefore the two centres upon the transverse diameter, or longest that form it, are 100 feet distant: the ends of the oval are struck with a _radius_ of 60 feet set upon each of those centres. The centres that describe the side-lines are formed by setting off 85 feet on each side the diameter, from the centre of excentricity. Thus from these four centres only the whole is delineated, and that most easily and naturally; whence I suspect Desgodetz, in laying down his plot of the _Coliseum_, has without necessity employed no less than eight centres, which is an operation of great perplexity: but still we except the circle in the middle, which so remarkably distinguishes this from all other works, and which gives so great a beauty to the scheme: this is that artful contrivance supplying the place of portico’s, stair-cases, _vomitoria_, and all the costly work in the grander amphitheatres, for ready conveyance of the spectators in and out to their proper places: it is described from the common centre of the whole, and in the ground-plot is a true circle; but upon the place becomes a walk of eight foot broad, gradually ascending, from the ends upon the long diameter, to its highest elevation in the middle upon the short diameter, where it reaches half-way up the whole series of