The houses consist generally of one single floor, unless they are very large, and we may easily see, from the plan here described, that there is space enough for the comfort of all the inhabitants, and the enjoyment of the numerous guests. [Sidenote: ANCIENT PAINTINGS.] If we wished to give a description of all the treasures found in those ancient abodes, we might fill volumes, and therefore we will only mention some of the most remarkable features of the recent excavations. One picture has been exhumed at Pompeii, representing the Three Graces, which Raphael, of course, could not possibly have seen, yet the two compositions, although of different dimensions, are precisely the same—in grouping, in form, in expression, and even in charm. Now, not even a sketch of the picture was known until long after the middle of the eighteenth century, while the actual picture is a modern revelation altogether. Another fact was discovered: Raphael, copying a statue, applied the very same process to his painting which had been employed by his predecessors fifteen centuries previously. Within the last few years, forty figures have been redeemed from out these artistic tombs, which were evidently details of an immense composition, intended for the adornment of a theater or banqueting-hall, besides those, pictures of lightly-clad figures, floating through the air, relieved against brown, black, and crimson skies, with masses of carnation-cloud beneath their feet, and gems hanging, so to speak, around them, enveloped in robes of hyacinth, blue, green, and so on, the colors appearing to be laid thickly on vitrified surfaces. It is a wonder to all artists how those colors were laid on, not only as far as the magnificent coloring goes, but even in what way it was done. We find painting in relief on the smoothest surface of white marble; statuary even has been painted in the most masterly way, and we see auburn and blonde hair painted in a way which deceives even the sharpest observer; if we did not know better, we would think that the statue had natural hair,—all the gloss and the true tinge glowing through it is illustrated to absolute perfection. The Neapolitan chemists, of course, are very eager to unravel this secret of their forefathers. Many a piece of painting has been analyzed; many a fragment of painted beauty has been destroyed by acids. However, till now, they did not succeed, and perhaps the art will be for ever a mystery to us.