When we reflect, that sixteen hundred years have elapsed since the destruction of this city[275], an interval which has been marked by numerous revolutions, both in the political and mental state of Europe, a high degree of interest must be experienced in contemplating the venerable remains, recovered from the subterraneous city of Herculaneum. Pliny, the younger, in his letters, brings the Romans, their occupations, manners, and customs, before us. He pictures in feeling terms the death of his uncle, who perished in the same eruption as the city we now describe; and that event is brought to our immediate notice by those very things which it was the means of preserving. Among these we see the various articles which administered to the necessities and the pleasures of the inhabitants, the emblems of their religious sentiments, and the very manners and customs of domestic life. These curiosities consist not only of statues, busts, altars, inscriptions, and other ornamental appendages of Grecian opulence and luxury; but also comprehend an entire assortment of the domestic, musical, and surgical instruments; tripods of elegant form and exquisite execution; lamps in endless variety; vases and basins of noble dimensions; chandeliers of the most beautiful shapes, looking-glasses of polished metal; coloured glass, so hard, clear, and well stained, as to appear like emeralds, sapphires, and other precious stones; a kitchen completely fitted up with copper pans lined with silver, kettles, cisterns for heating water, and every utensil necessary for culinary purposes; also specimens of various sorts of combustibles, retaining their form though burnt to a cinder. By an inscription, too, we learn that Herculaneum contained no less than nine hundred houses of entertainment, such as we call taverns. Articles of glass, artificial gems, vases, tripods, candelabra, lamps, urns, dice, and dice-boxes; various articles of dress and ornaments; surgical instruments, weights and measures, carpenters' and masons' tools; but no musical instruments except the sistrum, cymbals, and flutes of bone and ivory. Fragments of columns of various coloured marble and beautiful mosaic pavements were also found disseminated among the ruins; and numerous sacrificial implements, such as pateræ, tripods, cups, and vases, were recovered in excellent preservation, and even some of the knives with which the victims are conjectured to have been slaughtered.