The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

immediately to the left on entering the ambulatory. It is a strictly private apartment, and the bedchamber of the master of the house. The name is taken from the Greek. White walls and dark red dado. A charming little Cupid occupies the centre of each of the three panels, which have a peculiar border to them. The upper part of the wall dividing the Thalamus from the fauces has been thrown open for the better admission of light and air. The decorations of this room are copied from the House of the Dioscuri. On the right hand wall are two pictures of great interest and sprightliness. They are taken from the triclinium or exhedra of the house described by Mr. Falkener, and in his work (p. 64) may be seen rough outlines done from memory.[60] In the original apartment these pictures form side panels to still larger compositions. Cupids and Psyches are the only actors in these scenes; and, in the left-hand picture, a Cupid dances holding an _amphora_ or _diota_ on his left arm. A Cupid seated on the left of the picture plays a lyre, and other Cupids are reclining upon couches, beneath an awning. A statue of a bearded Bacchus appears behind, raised on a round pedestal; holding a _thyrsus_ in his left hand. The corresponding picture has a Psyche dancing in similar company, who recline on a couch beneath a broad-spread awning supported by branches of trees. The statue at the back is a Psyche holding a bow in the left hand. A Cupid playing the flute sits on the left; a reclining figure near him holds a _scyphus_ or drinking cup. The dancing Psyche has four butterfly wings and plays the _crotala_ or castanets; her feet are bare, but she wears bracelets. This picture is engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. xv., tav. 18. Falkener, p. 65. [60] The excessive illiberality of the Neapolitan government can hardly be conceived by those who live in a country where leave to copy and publish is so freely accorded. No one is allowed to draw a monument that has not already been published until after the expiration of three years, at the end of which time the paintings are so often changed by the fading of colours and the obliteration of the details as to render any attempt at copying them hopeless. Falkener, pp. 62 and 65. The ceiling has a circular aperture, necessary for the admission of light and air, which is authorised by the example in the _caldarium_ of the baths at Pompeii (Gell, Pompeiana, vol. i. pl. 31. Zahn, vol. ii. pl. 94.) The doorway breaking irregularly through the panel is not in accordance with modern notions of order and symmetry.