No. XIII; or, The Story of the Lost Vestal

This novel was inspired by the discoveries which have brought to light many interesting relics. Amongst these are the statues of the Vestales Maximæ, of which, in spite of the efforts of the lime-burners and stone-cutters of the Middle Ages, who were distinguished for their work of wholesale destruction, thirty-six inscriptions, and fourteen statues, have been discovered. The pedestals on which the statues were placed bear inscriptions, and the names of the Vestales Maximæ whose virtues are recorded. There is one exception—the name is carefully erased—and we can know her of whom so much is said in praise, only as Number Thirteen. An attempt has been made to clothe the memory of this Vestal with some probable, though of course wholly fictitious, incidents; and to assume as a certainty the idea, which has been thrown out as a possibility, that her conversion to Christianity was discovered, and that one in authority desired to leave no trace of her family or her name to future generations.