"You are surprised, it seems, that I am so field of my or (if y on like the. appellation better) my Laurens; but you will cease to wonder, when I acquaint you with the beauty of the villa, the of its situa tion, and the extensive prospect of the sea-coast. It is but seventeen miles distant from Rome; so that, having finished my affairs in town. I can pass limy evenings here, with int breaking in upon the business of the day. There are two different roads to it : if you go by that of Laurentum, you must turn off at the f airteenth mile-stone ; if by Ostia, at the eleventh. Both of them are, in some parts, sandy, which makes it somewhat heavy and tedious, if you travel in a carriage, but easy and pleasant to those who ride on Inirse buck. The landscape, on all sides, is extremely diversified, the prospect, in some places, being confined by woods, in others extending over large and beautiffil meadows, where numberless flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, which the severity of the m inter has driven from the mountains, fatten in the vernal warmth of this rich pasturage. My villa is large enough to atlio•l all desirable aceommialations, without being extensive. The porch before it is plain, but not mean, through which you enter into at portico in the form of the letter I), which includes me small but agreeable area. This a very commodious retreat in bad weather, not only as it is enehised with windows, lint particularly as it is shel tered by an extraordinary prOjeetiOn of the roof. From the middle of this portico you pass into an inward court, ex tremely pleasant, mid front thenve into a handsome hall, which runs out towards the sea; so that m hen there is a south-west wind, it is gently washed with the waves, which spend them selves at the foot of it. On every side of this hall, there are either folding-doors, or windows equally large, by which means you have a view from the front and the two sides, as it were, of three different seas : from the back part, you see the middle court, the portico, and the area ; and, by another view, you look through time portico. into the porch, from whence the prospect is terminated by the W0414 IS and !noun lains which are seen at a distance. On the left-hand of this hall, somewhat farther from the sea, lies a large drawinpr room, and beyond that, a second of a smaller size, which has one window to the rising, and another to the setting sun: this has, likewise, a prospect of the sea, but being at at greater distance, is less incommoded by it. The angle which the projection ut' the hall firms with this drawing-room, retains and increases the warmth of the sun ; and hither my retreat in Nu inter to perform their exercises : it is sheltered ti•nn all winds, except those which are generally attended with clouds, so that nothiug can render this place useless, but what, at the same time, destroys the fair weather. Con tiguons to this, is a room forming the segment ola circle, the windows of which are so placed, as to receive the sun the whole. „mil, are a sort of cases, which contain a collection ut such authors whose works call never be read too often. From hence you pass into a bed-chatnber through a passage, which, being boarded, and suspended. as it were, over a stove which runs underneath, tempers the heat which it receives, and conveys it to all parts of this room. The remainder of this side of the house is appropriated to the use of any slaves and freed-men : but most of the apartments, hom ever, are neat enough to receive any of my friends. In the opposite wing, is a room ornamented in a very elegant taste; next to which lies another room. which, though large ffir a parlour, makes but a moderate dining-room ; it is exceed ingly warmed and enlightened, not only by the direct rays of the son, but by their reflection from the sea. Beyond, is a bed-chamber, together with its ante-chamber, the height of which renders it cool in summer ; as its being sheltered on all sides from the winds makes it Warm in winter. To this apartment another of the same sort is joined by one common mall. From thence you enter into the grand and spacious cooling-room, belonging to the bath. from the opposite walls of which, two round bacons project, sufficiently large to swim in. Contiguous to this is the perffiming-room, then the sweating-room, and next to that, the ffirnace VI mveys the heat to the baths : adjoining. are two other little bathing_ rooms, fitted up in an elegant rather than costly manner: annexed to this, is a warm bath of extraordinary workman ship, wherein one may swim, and have 3 prospect. at the same time, of the sea. Not far from hel2ce, stands the tennis court, which lies open to the warmth of the afternoon sun. From thence you ascend a sort of turret, containing two entire apartments below ; as there are the same number above, besides a (lining-room which commands a t ery exten sive prospect of the sea, together with the beautifid villas that stand interspersed upon the coast. At the other end, is a secoud turret, in which is a room that receives the rising and setting sun. Behind this is a large repository, near to which is a gallery of curiosities, and underneath a spacious dining-noun, where the roaring of the sea, even in a storm, is heard but faintly: it looks upon the garden, and the gestatio which surrounds the garden. The gestatio is encompassed with a box-tree hedge. and where that is decayed, with rose mary ; for the box, in those parts which are sheltered by the buildings, preserves its verdure perfectly well ; but where, by an open situation, it lies exposed to the spray of the sea, though at a great distance, it entirely withers. Between the garden and this gestatio runs a shady plantation of vines, the alley of which is so soft. that you may walk bare-foot upon it without any injury. The garden is chiefly planted with fig and mulberry trees, to which this soli is as favourable, as it is averse from all others. In this place is a banqueting room, which, though it stands remote from the sea, enjoys a prospect nothing inferior to that view : two apartments run round the back part of it, the windows whereof look upon the entrance of the villa, and into a very pleasant kitchen ground. From hence an enclosed portico extends, which, by its great length, you might suppose erected for the use of the public. It has a range of windows on each side, but on that looks towards the sea, they are double the number of those next the garden. When the weather is fair and serene, these are all thrown open; but if it blows, those on the side the wind sets are shut, while the others remain un closed without any inconvenience. Before this portico lies a terrace, perfumed with violets, and warmed by the reflection of the sun from the portico, which, as it retains the rays, so it keeps off the north-east wind : and it is as warm on this side as it is cool on the opposite: in the same manner it proves a defence against the southwest; and thus, in short, by means of its several sides, breaks the force of the winds from what point suever they blow. These are some of its winter advantages: they are still more considerable in summer ; tor at that season it throws a shade upon the ter race during all the forenoon, as it defends the gestatio, and that part of the garden which lies contiguous to it, from the afternoon sun, and casts a greater or less shade, as the day either increases or decreases; but the portico itself is then coolest, when the sun is most scorching, that is, when its rays fall directly upon the roof To these its benefits I must not forgot to add, that, by setting open the windows, the western breezes have a flee draught, and, by that means, the enclosed air is prevented from stagnating. On the upper end
of the terrace and portico stands a detached building in the garden, which I call my favourite; and indeed it is particu larly so, having erected it myself. It contains a very warts winter-room, one side of which looks upon the terrace, the other has a view of the sea, and both lie exposed to the sun. Through the tblding-doors you see the opposite cham ber, and from the window is a prospect of the enclosed por tico. On that side next the sea, and opposite to the middle wall, stands a little elegant recess, which, by means of glass doors and a curtain. is either laid into the adjoining room, or separated from it. It contains a couch and two chairs. As you lie upon this couch, from the feet you have a pros pect of the sea ; if you look behind, you see the neigh bouring villas ; and from the head you have a liew of the woods; these three views may he seen either distinctly from SO litany didZirent windows in the room, or blended together in one contused prospect. Adjoining to this is a bed chamber, which neither the voice of the servants, the inur inu•ing of the sea, nor even the roaring of a tempest, can reach ; not lightning nor the day itself can penetrate it, unless ? on open the windows. This prolbund tranquillity is occasioned by a passage, which separates the wall of this chainber from that of the garden; thus, by means of that intervening space, every noise is precluded. Annexed to this is a small stove-room, which, by opening a little win dow, warms the bed-chamber to the degree of heat required. Beyond this lies a chamber and anti-clanuber, \%Itich enjoys the sun, though obliquely indeed, from the time it rises, t ill the afternoon. When I retire to this garden-apartment, I fancy myself a hundred miles from my own house, and take particular pleasure in it at the feast of the Saturnalia, when, by the license of that season of festivity, every other part of my villa resounds with the mirth of my domestics : thus I neither interrupt their diversions, nor they my studies. Among the pleasures and conveniences of this situation, there is one disadvantage, and that is the want of a running stream ; but this defrct is, in a great measure, supplied by wells, or rather I should call them fountains, for they rise very near the surface. And, indeed, the quality of this coast is remarkable; for in what part soevcr you dig, you meet, upon the first turning up of the ground, with a spring of pure water, not in the least salt, though so near the sea. The neighbouring forests aflbrd as abundant supply of fuel ; as every other accommodation of life may be had from Ostia : to a moderate man, indeed, even the next village (between which and my house there is only one villa) would furnish all common necessaries. In that little place there are no less than three public baths ; which is a great conveniency, if it happen that my in unexpeetedly, or make too short a stay to allow time tiur preparing my own. The whole coast is beautifully diversified by the contiguous or detached villas that are spread upon it, which, whether you view them from the sea or the shore, have the appearance of so many different cities. The strand is sometimes, after a long calm, perfectly smooth, thougn, m genera', by the storms driving the waves upon it, it is rough and uneven. i cannot boast that our sea produces any very extraordinary fish ; however, it supplies us with exceeding fine soles and prawns; but as to provisions of other kinds, my villa pretends to excel even inland eountries, particularly in milk ; for hither the cattle come from the meadows in great numbers, in pursuit of shade and water.
"Tell me now, have I not just cause to bestow my time and my alli•etion upon this delightful retreat ? Surely you are too fondly attached to the pleasures of the town, if you do not feel an inclination to take a view of this my favourite villa. I much wish. at least, you were so disposed, that to the many charms with which it abounds, it might have the very considerable addition of your company to recommend it. Farewell." The following observations may tend to illustrate several of the obscure parts, in the foregoing description of Pliny's villa at Laurentimun.
Pliny had no estate round his seat at Laurentinum ; his whole possessions there being included (as he informs us, 13. 4. let. 3.) in the house and garden. It was merely a win ter villa, in which he used to spend some of the cold months, whenever his business admitted of his absence from Rome ; and, for this reason it is, that we find warmth is so much considered in the disposition of the several apartments, &c. And, indeed, he seems to have a principal view to its advan tages as a winter house, throughout the whole description of it.
Scamozzi, in his Architect. Univers. lib. 3. I. has given r. and elevation of this villa. Mons. Felibien has also arinexed a plan -to his translation of this letter ; as our own countryman, the ingenious Mr. Castel, has dune in his rillas of the Ancients illustrated. Rut they ditlinr extremely among themselves as to the disposition of the several parts of this building, and, perhaps, have rather pursued the idea of modern architecture, than that which is traced out in their original ; at least, if the supposition advanced by one of the connnentators upon this epistle be true; who contends that the villas of the ancients were not one uniform pile of build ing contained under the same roof, hut that each apartment termed a distinct and separate member front the rest. The ruins of this villa arc said to have been discovered sonic time about the year 1714, but whether any plan was ever taken of so valuable a remain of antiquity, or the reality of it ascer tained, the translator has not been able to learn.
The Roman magnificence seems to have particularly dis played itself in the article of their baths. Seneca, dating one of his epistles from a villa which once belonged to Scipio Africanus, takes occasion, from thence, to draw a parallel between the simplicity of the earlier ages, and the luxury of his own times in that instance. By the idea lie gives of the latter, they were works of the highest splendour and expense. The \vans were composed of Alexandrine marble, the veins whereof were so artfully managed, as to have the appearance of a regular picture: the edges of the bacons were set round with a most valuable kind of stone, found in Thasius, one of the (Ircek islands, variegated with veins of dillirent colours, interspersed with streaks of gold; the water was conveyed through silver pipes, and fell, by several descents, in beau tiful cascades. The floors were inlaid with precious gems, and an intermixture of statues and colonnades contributed to throw an air of efegance and grandeur upon the whole. Vide Sen. Ep. 66.
"The custom of bathing in hot water was become so habitual to the Romans, in Pliny's time, that they every day practised it before they lay down to eat, for which reason, in the city, the puldie baths were extremely numerous; in -which Vitra vius gives its to understand, there were, fur each sex, three rooms for bathing, one of cold water, one of warm, and one still warmer; and there were cells of three degrees of heat, for sweating: to the thre-mentioned members, were added others th• anointing and bodily exercises. The last thing they did before they entered into the dining-room was to bathe ; what preceded their washing was their exercise in the spheristerium, prior to which it was their custom to anoint themselves. As for their sweating-rooms, though they were, doubtless. in all their baths, we do not find them nsed but upon particular occasions." Castel's Villas of the _indents, p. 3 I.