[Illustration: STANDING LAMP.] [Illustration: ANCIENT LAMPS.] The date of oil-lamps in Greece can not be stated with accuracy; they were known at the time of Aristophanes. They were made of terra-cotta or metal, and their construction resembles those used by the Romans. They are mostly closed semi-globes with two openings, one, in the centre, to pour the oil in, the other in the nose-shaped prolongation destined to receive the wick. Amongst the small numbers of Greek lamps preserved to us we have chosen a few of the most graceful specimens, one of them showing the ordinary form of the lamp. Some are made of clay, the latter being painted in various colors. The Athenians also used lanterns made of transparent horn, and lit up with oil-lamps. They were carried at night in the streets like the torches. Sparks, carefully preserved under the ashes, served both Greeks and Romans to light the fire. The ancients had, however, a lighting apparatus consisting of two pieces of wood, of which the one was driven into the other, like a gimlet, the friction effecting a flame. According to Theophrast, the wood of nut or chestnut trees was generally used for the purpose. The street running from the Temple of Fortune to the Forum, called the Street of the Forum, in Pompeii, and forming a continuation of that of Mercury, has furnished an unusually rich harvest of various utensils. A long list of these is given by Sir W. Gell, according to which there were found no less than two hundred and fifty small bottles of inferior glass, with numerous other articles of the same material, which it would be tedious to particularize. A marble statue of a laughing faun, two bronze figures of Mercury, the one three inches and the other four inches high, and a statue of a female nine inches high, were also found, together with many bronze lamps and stands. We may add vases, basins with handles, pateræ, bells, elastic springs, hinges, buckles for harness, a lock, an inkstand, and a strigil; gold ear-rings and a silver spoon; an oval cauldron, a saucepan, a mould for pastry, and a weight of alabaster used in spinning, with its ivory axis remaining. The catalogue finishes with a leaden weight, forty-nine lamps of common clay ornamented with masks and animals, forty-five lamps for two wicks, three boxes with a slit to keep money in, in one of which were found thirteen coins of Titus, Vespasian, and Domitian. Among the most curious things discovered, were seven glazed plates found packed in straw. There were also seventeen unvarnished vases of terra-cotta and seven clay dishes, and a large pestle and mortar. The scales and steelyard which we have given are said to have been found at the same time. On the beam of the steelyard are Roman numerals from X. to XXXX.; a V was placed for division between each X.; smaller divisions are also marked. The inscription is IMP. VESP. AVG. IIX. T. IMP. AVG. F. VI. C. EXACTA. IN. CAPITO.