I 642 EUSTACE (John Chetwode) A Tour through Italy, Exhibiting a View of its Scenery, 
 its Antiquities, and its Monuments ; Particularly as they are Objects of Classical 
 Interest and Elucidation : With an Account of the Present State of its Cities and 
 Towns : and Occasional Observations on the Recent Spoliations of the French, first 
 EDITION, with 10 plates and a folding engraved map, 2 vols., 4to, contemporary blind- 
 stamped calf, gilt, gilt bordered sides enclosing gilt crest, gilt backs, joints ii>eak, 1813 
 
 Brunut II, 1113. Graesse II. 527 : "This book acquired for its author a sudden and a wide 
 
 reputation. His acquaintance was sought by almost all persons in this country distinguished bv 
 „ ., „ pp_ ,j^ 
 
 Vankor talents" — D.N.B. 
 
^'^5i:^^>22.^r2?^ <^y^if-^:Tz:..e^-r^^ ,/^«=fc_e_«_ 
 
TOUR THROUGH ITALY, 
 
 EXHIBlTrNG A VIEW OF ITS 
 
 SCENERY, ITS ANTIQUITIES, AND ITS MONUMENTS, 
 
 PARTICULARLY AS THEY ARE OBJECTS OF 
 
 CLASSICAL 
 
 INTEREST AND ELUCIDATION: 
 
 , WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 PRESENT STATE OF ITS CITIES AND TOWNS ; 
 
 AND OCCASIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON 
 
 THE RECENT SPOLIATIONS OF THE FRENCH. 
 
 REV. JOHN CHETWODE EUSTACE. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Haec est Italia diis sacra, hae gentes ejus, hsec oppida populorum. 
 
 Plin. Nat. Hist. in. 20. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. MAWMAN, 39, LUDGATE-STREET. 
 
 1813. 
 
RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 JOHN LORD BROWNLOW, 
 
 LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY OF LINCOLN, 
 
 Sfc. Sfc. 8i-c. 
 
 THIS WORK 
 
 IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS MANY VIRTUES, 
 JS .4jy JCKJVOfFLEDGMEJVT OF HIS COJVST^JVT KIJVDJVBSS, 
 
 AND AT THE SAME TIME, 
 
 AS A MONUMENT OF AN INSTRUCTIVE AND PLEASANT TOUR, 
 BY HIS lordship's 
 
 FELLOW-TRAVELLER, 
 
 MOST SINCERE FRIEND, 
 
 JOHN CHETWODE EUSTACE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Author presents the following pages to the Public with 
 diffidence. He is aware that the very title of a Tour through 
 Italy is sufficient in itself to raise expectation, which he has 
 learned from the fate of similar compositions, is more fre- 
 quently disappointed than satisfied. To avoid as much as 
 possible this inconvenience, he thinks it necessary to state 
 precisely the nature and object of the present work, that the 
 reader may enter upon its perusal with some previous knowledge 
 of its contents. 
 
 The Preliminary Discourse is intended chiefly for the infor- 
 mation of youthful and inexperiericed travellers, and points 
 out the qualities and accomplishments requisite to enable them 
 to derive, from an Italian Tour its full advantages. The Reader 
 then comes to the Tour itself. 
 
 The epithet Classical sufficiently points out its peculiar 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 character, which is to trace the resemblance between Modern 
 and Ancient Italy, and to take for guides and companions in 
 the beginning of the nineteenth century, the writers that pre- 
 ceded or adorned the first. Conformably to that character, 
 the Author may be allowed to dwell with complacency on the 
 incidents of ancient history, to admit every poetical recollection, 
 and to claim indulgence, if in describing objects so often 
 alluded to by the Latin H^riters, he should frequently borrow 
 their expressions ; 
 
 Materiae scripto conveniente suae*. 
 
 Citations, in fact, which notwitlistanding the example of 
 Cicero, and the precept of Quintilianf-, some severe critics are 
 disposed to proscribe, may here be introduced or even lavished, 
 without censure ; they rise spontaneously from the soil we 
 tread, and constitute one of its distinguishing beauties. 
 
 In Modern History, he may perhaps be considered as some- 
 times too short, but it must be remembered that Modern 
 History is not Classical, and can claim admission only as an 
 illustration. As for the forms of government established in 
 
 * Ovid, Trist. 1. v. i. 
 
 + Quintil. lib. i. cap. v. Edit. Rollins. 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 many provinces by the present French rulers, they are generally 
 passed over in silence and contempt, as shifting scenes or rather 
 mere Jiguranti in the political drama, destined to occupy the 
 attention for a time, and to disappear when the principal cha- 
 racter shows himself upon the stage. 
 
 Of the state of painting and sculpture, though these arts 
 reflect so much lustre on Italy, little is said ; an acknowledg- 
 ment which may surprize and disappoint many readers. But, 
 on the one hand, to give a long catalogue of pictures and 
 statues, without explanatory observations, appeared absurd; 
 and on the other, to execute such a work in a becoming man- 
 ner requires leisure, technical information, and the pen of a 
 professed artist, perhaps of a Reynolds. The subject is there- 
 fore touched incidentally only; but as it is extensive and amusing, 
 and atfords scope to the display of skill, taste and erudition 
 united, it will, it is to be hoped, ere long attract the attention of 
 some writer capable of doing it justice. 
 
 As to the Style — in the first place some, perhaps many 
 expressions, and occasionally whole sentences, may have been 
 inadvertently repeated ; a defect great without doubt, but 
 pardonable because almost unavoidable in descriptive compo- 
 sition. JfJio, in truth, can paint like Nature, or who vari/ his 
 colouring with all the tints of Italian scenery, lighted by Italian 
 VOL. I. b 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 skies ? If Lucretius has repeated at length two of the most 
 beautiful passages in his poem *, the Author may claim indulg- 
 ence, if in describing the perpetual recurrence of similar objects, 
 he has been betrayed into similar language. 
 
 In Proper Names, he has ventured frequently to use the 
 ancient appellation if not irrecoverably lost in the modern. 
 Thus, he sometimes introduces the Benacus, Liris, and Athesis, 
 instead of the Lago di Gardn, Garigliano and Adige, because 
 the former names are still familiar to the learned ear and by 
 no means unknown even to the peasantry. The same may be 
 said of the Aruo, the Tiber, and several other rivers, and may be 
 extended to many cities and mountains. He has, as much as 
 possible, attempted to discard the French termination in Italian 
 names, and laments that he cannot carry consistency so far 
 as to apply it to antiquity, and rejecting the semi-barbarous 
 appellations with which the French have misnamed some 
 of the most illustrious ancients, restore to Horace, and 
 Virgil, all their Roman majesty-j-. But this general reforma- 
 tion must be left to more able and more popular writers, or 
 rather perhaps recommended to the learned gentlemen who 
 
 * Lib. I. V. 925.— Lib. iv. v. 
 
 f Titus Livius owes the recovery of his Roman appellation to the Bishop of 
 Llandaff. — Apologi/ for the Bible. 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 preside over the Universities and the great Schools, and to the 
 Critics who direct the pubhc taste in Reviews, and have of late 
 exercised no small influence over custom itself. 
 
 We now come to objects of greater moment, and here the 
 Author must, however reluctantly, obtrude himself on the atten- 
 tion of the Reader. Religion, Politics, and Literature, are the 
 three great objects that employ every mind raised by education 
 above the level of the labourer or the mechanic; upon them, 
 every thinking man must have a decided opinion, and that 
 opinion must occasionally influence his conduct, conversation, 
 and writings. Sincere and undisguised in the belief and pro- 
 fession of the Roman Catholic Religion, the Author affects not 
 to conceal, because he is not ashamed of its influence. However 
 unpopular it may be, he is convinced that its evil report is not 
 the result of any inherent defect, but the natural consequence 
 of polemic animosity, of the exaggerations of friends, of the 
 misconceptions of enemies. Yes! he must acknowledge that the 
 affecting lessons, the holy examples, and the majestic rites of the 
 Catholic Church, made an early impression on his mind ; and 
 neither time nor experience, neither reading nor conversation, nor 
 much travelling, have weakened that impression, or diminished 
 his veneration. Yet with this affectionate attachment to the 
 ancient Faith, he presumes not to arraign those who support 
 other systems. Persuaded that their claims to mercy as well as 
 his own, depend upon Sincerity and Charity, he leaves them 
 
 b2 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 and himself to the disposal of the common Father of All, 
 who, we may humbly hope, will treat our errors and our defects 
 with more indulgence than mortals usually shew to each other. 
 In truth, Reconciliation and Union are the objects of his warmest 
 wishes, of his most fervent prayers : they occupy his thoughts, 
 they employ his pen; and if a stone shall happen to mark the 
 spot where his remains are to repose, that stone shall speak of 
 Peace and Reconciliation. 
 
 We come next to Politics, a subject of a very delicate hature, 
 where difference of opinion, like disagreement in Religion, has 
 given occasion to many rancorous and interminable contests: 
 and here, expressions apparently favourable to republicanism, 
 or perhaps the general tendency of his principles to the cause "of 
 freedom, may incline some of his readers to suspect him of an ex- 
 cessive and unconstitutional attachment to that form of govern- 
 ment. Without doubt. Liberty, the source of so many virtues, the 
 mother of so many arts, the spring of public and private happiness, 
 of the glory and the greatness of nations, is and ever will be the 
 idol of liberal and manly minds, and that system which is most 
 favourable to its development must necessarily obtain their appro- 
 bation. But fortunately they need not have recourse to fine-spun 
 theories for the principles, or look to past ages or distant coun- 
 tries for the- practice of a free, and, Avhat may justly be called, a 
 republican government. The Constitution of England actually 
 comprises the excellencies of all the ancient commonwealths. 
 
PREFACE. xiii 
 
 together with the advantages of the best forms of monarchy; 
 though Hable, as all hum.an institutions are, to abuse and 
 decay, yet like the works of Providence, it contains in itself the 
 means of correction and the seeds of renovation. Such a system 
 was considered as one of unattainable perfection by Cicero, and 
 by Tacitus pronounced, a vision fair but transient. A scheme of 
 pohcy that enchanted the sages of antiquity may surely content 
 the patriot and the philosopher of modern days, and the only 
 wish of both must be, that, in spite of courtly encroachment and 
 of popular frenzy, it may last for ever. 
 
 In Literature, if the Author differs from those who have 
 preceded him in the same Tour, if he censures the opinions of 
 a.ny oiher traveller or writer, he hopes he has expressed the 
 reasons of his dissent with the tenderness and the attention due 
 to their feelings and reputation. 
 
 On the merits of the French language and literature he 
 differs from many, but he is open to conviction even on this 
 subject, and only requests the Reader to weigh with impartiality 
 the reasons which he produces against both, and the more so, 
 as the question is of greater impojtance than may perhaps be 
 imagined ; for, to the wide circulation of French authors may be 
 attributed many of the evils under which Europe now labours. 
 This observation naturally leads to the following. If ever he in- 
 dulges in harsh and acrimonious language, it is when speaking of 
 
xiv PREFACE. 
 
 the French, their principles, and measures; and on this subject 
 he acknowledges that his expressions, if they correspond with 
 his feelings, must be strong, because his abhorrence of that go- 
 vernment and its whole system is deep and unqualified. 
 Neither the patriot who recollects the vindictive spirit with 
 which the Ruler of France carries on hostilities against Great 
 Britain, the only bulwark of Europe, and the asylum of the 
 Independence of Nations, because he knows where Freedom 
 makes her last stand, 
 
 Libertas ultima mundi 
 Quo steterit ferienda loco, 
 
 Lucan vii. 
 
 nor the philosopher who considers the wide wasting war Avhich 
 the French government has been so long carrying on against the 
 liberties and happiness of mankind, will probably condemn the 
 author's feelings as intemperate, or require any apology for 
 the harshness of his expressions. As long as religion and lite- 
 rature, civilization and independence are objects of estimation 
 among men, so long must revolutionary France be beheld with 
 horror and with detestation. 
 
 It now only remains to inform the reader, that the Tour 
 sketched out in the following pages was undertaken in com- 
 pany with Philip Roche, Esq. a young gentleman of fortune, 
 who, while he spared no expence to render it instructive, con- 
 
PRErACE. XV 
 
 tributed much to its pleasures by his gentle manners, and by 
 his many mild and benevolent virtues; virtues which, as it was 
 hoped, would have extended their influence through a long and 
 prosperous life, and contributed to the happiness, not of his fa- 
 mily only, but of an extensive circle of fiiends and acquaintance. 
 But these hopes were vain, and the Author is destined to 
 pay this unavailing tribute to the memory of his friend and 
 companion. 
 
 The two gentlemen who, with the Author and his fellow tra- 
 veller, formed the party often alluded to in the following pages, 
 were the Honourable Mr. Cust, now Lord Brownlow, and 
 Robert Rushbroke, of Rushbroke Hall, Esq. The infor- 
 mation, the constant politeness, and good humour of the 
 former, with the liveliness, the mirth, and the accomplishments 
 of the latter, heightened the pleasures of the journey, and, by 
 supplying a continual fund of incident and conversation, ren- 
 dered even Italy itself more delightful. To Lord Brownlow, 
 the Author must acknowledge another obligation, as he is in- 
 debted to his Lordship for several useful observations during the 
 course of this work, and particularly for the details of the ex- 
 cursion to the island of Ischia, and the account of the solitudes 
 of Camaldoli and of Alvernia. 
 
 The publication of these volumes has been delayed by fre- 
 quent avocations, and particularly by a more extensive and 
 
xvi PREFACE. 
 
 scarcely less interesting excursion to parts of Dalmatia, the 
 Western Coasts of Greece, the Ionian Islands, to Sicily, Malta, 
 Sec. &c. The details of this latter Tour may, perhaps, be pre- 
 sented to the public if the following pages shall seem to meet 
 its approbation. 
 
 Great Chesterford, Essex, 
 Sept. 14, 1812. 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Jam mens praetrepidans avet vagari 
 Jam laeti studio pedes vigescunt 
 O dukes comitum valete coetus 
 Long^ quos simul a domo profectos 
 Diverse varias via reportant. 
 
 Catul. XLiv. 
 
 The degree of preparation necessary for travelling de- 
 pends upon the motives which induce us to travel. He who 
 goes from home merely to change the scene and to seek for 
 novelty ; who makes amusement his sole object, and has no 
 other view but to fill up a few months that must otherwise 
 remain unemployed, has no need of mental preparation for his 
 excursion. A convenient post-chaise, a good letter of credit, 
 and a well-furnished trunk are all that such a loiterer can 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
xviii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 possibly wish for; for occupation he will have recourse to inns, 
 to coftee-houses, and to theatres, with their appurtenances, 
 which cannot fail to supply him with incidents, anecdote, and 
 pastime in abundance. But he who believes with Cicero that 
 it becomes a man of a liberal and active mind to visit 
 countries ennobled by the birth and the residence of the 
 Great; who, Avith the same Roman, finds himself disposed by 
 the contemplation of such scenes to virtuous and honourable 
 pursuits; he who, like Titus Quintius employing the first days 
 of leisure after his glorious achievements in visiting the cele- 
 brated monuments of Greece, embraces the earliest opportunity 
 of visiting the classic regions of Ital}'', such a traveller Avill 
 easily comprehend the necessity of providing before-hand the 
 information necessary to enable him to traverse the country Avith- 
 out constant difficulty, doubt, and inquiry. And indeed, if 
 there be a Tour in which such preparation is more peculiarly 
 necessary than in any other, it is that which I allude to: as 
 Italy owes more to history than even to nature; and he 
 who visits it merely with his eyes open to its embellishments, 
 and his mind intent on observation, though he may see much 
 and learn much also, will 3^et, with all his curiosity and dili- 
 gence, discover one-half only of its beauties. Even those 
 travellers who have made some efforts to qualify themselves 
 by previous application, will find many occasions to regret 
 that they have not extended their researches still farther, and 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xix 
 
 that they have not, by a longer course of preparation, added to 
 their means both of amusement and of instruction *. It may, 
 therefore, be considered as an appropriate, if not as a ne- 
 cessary, introduction to an account of Italy, to point out to 
 the reader such branches of information as are either indis- 
 pensable or highly advantageous to a traveller visiting that 
 country; after which I mean to add a few reflections and 
 cautions, with a view either to prevent inconveniencies or to 
 remove prejudices. 
 
 CLASSICAL KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 I. As these pages are addressed solely to persons of 
 a liberal education, it is almost needless to recommend the 
 Latin Poets and Historians. Virgil and Horace, Cicero and 
 Livy, ought to be the inseparable companions of all tra- 
 vellers ; they should occupy a corner in every carriage. 
 
 * Vous ne sauriez eroire, sai/s the Abbe Bartheletni to the Comte De Caj/Ius, 
 Combien mon voyage (en Italie) ma humilie; j'ai vu tant de choses que j'ignorois, 
 et que j'ignore encore, qu'il m'a paru fou de se savoir gre de quelques connois- 
 sances -superficielles. — L,ettre xxi. 
 
 Yet the author of Anacharsis was one of the most learned and judicious anti- 
 quaries in France. 
 
 c 2 
 
XX PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 and be called forth in every interval of leisure to relieve 
 the fatigue and to heighten the pleasure of the journey. 
 Familiar acquaintance or rather bosom intimacy with the 
 ancients is evidently the first and most essential accomplish- 
 ment of a classical traveller. But there is a class of Poets 
 Avho, though nearly allied in language, sentiments, and country, 
 to the ancients, are yet in general little known; I mean the 
 modern Latin poets, Vida, Sannazarius, Fracastorius, Flami- 
 nius, Politian, &c.* who laboured so successfully to restore the 
 pure taste of antiquity. 
 
 Boileau and the French critics affected to despise these authorsf-. 
 
 * Pope printed, or rather, I believe, reprinted with additions, a collection of 
 poems from these authors in two volumes duodecimo. The Clarendon press gave 
 the public a superb specimen of typographical elegance, in an edition of Vida, ia 
 three volumes octavo, in the years 22, 23, 24, of the last century. 
 
 + The contempt which the French critics generally shew for modern Latin 
 poetry may, perhaps, arise from a consciousness of their own deficiency in this re- 
 spect. Vaniere, Raphi, an<3 SantetiU, lire the only Latin poets, if I recoiiect well, 
 of any consideration that France has produced, and though they are not without 
 some merit, yet they betray in the effort with which they advance and in 
 the very art which they display, somewhat of the Intent barbarian. Even in 
 Latin prose the French do not seem to have succeeded better. There is always 
 an appearance of study and constraint in their style, very different from the easy, 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxi 
 
 and, for what reason it is difficult to discover, undervalued their 
 Jatinitj. But men of equal discernment, Atterburj', Pope, and 
 Johnson, entertained a very different opinion of their merit, and 
 not only read but sometimes borrowed from them. Every body 
 is acquainted with the beautiful compliment which the British 
 poet pays to Vida, and through him indirectly to his fellow 
 bards, whose united rays lighted up the glories of the second 
 Augustan age ; and every reader not blinded by prejudice must 
 admit the propriety of this poetical tribute, and acknowledge, 
 that not Vida only but several of his contemporaries tread 
 in the footsteps of their illustrious countrymen Virgil and 
 Horace; not unfrequently catch a spark of their inspiration, 
 and often speak their language with the grace and facility which 
 distinguish native Romans. Upon the present occasion I mean 
 to recommend, in particular, only such passages in their works 
 as have an immediate connection with Italy, and are calculated 
 
 unaffected flow of Italian authors. The latter only have either preserved or 
 recovered the certa vox Romani generis, urbisque propria, in qua nihil qffeitdi, 
 nihil clisplicere, nihil animadverli possil, nihil sonure, aut olere peregrinmn. — 
 (Cicero de Or.) 
 
 Hence Mr. Roscoo has reason to mention these poets with parti.olity, under 
 the fluttering but meriied appellation of the rivals of Vijgil aiid Horace. 
 
xxii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 to give an additional interest to any part of its history, scenery, 
 or antiquities. In these passages, where the subject calls forth 
 their energies, they glow with the fire of enthusiasm, and in 
 numbers not unworthy the fathers of Roman verse, pure, ma- 
 jestic, or pathetic, celebrate the grandeur, describe the beauties, 
 or lament the misfortunes of their country. 
 
 ITALIAN LANGUAGE. 
 
 II. It is evident that he who wishes to become acquainted 
 with the manners, or to enjoy the society of the inhabitants of 
 any country, must previously Ifearn their language; it is not 
 therefore my intention, at present, merely to recommend, what 
 indeed no traveller entirely neglects, the study of Italian, but 
 to enforce the necessity of commencing it at a much earlier 
 period, and of continuing it for a much longer space of time than 
 is now customary. He who enters Italy with an intention of ap- 
 plying to its language particularly, must make a longerfesidence 
 there than our countrymen usually do, or he will find too many 
 external calls upon his attention and curiosity to allow him to 
 devote his time to cabinet studies. Information there, is to be 
 gathered, not from sedentary application, but from active research 
 and observation. One day is devoted to the contemplation of 
 churches or ruins, the nextis passed in the examination of pictures, 
 a third is dedicated to a groupe of ancient statues, and a fourth 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxiii 
 
 and a fifth are agreeably spent in the galleries or the gardens of 
 a villa; then excursions are to be made to spots consecrated by 
 history or by song, to Horace's Sabine farm or to Virgil's tomb, 
 to Tibur or Tiiscuhan, to Fesole or Vallombrosa. In these de- 
 lightful and instructive occupations, days, weeks, and months 
 glide away with imperceptible rapidity, and the few leisure 
 hours that may chance to occur at intervals are scarcely suffi- 
 cient to give the diligent traveller time to collect his remarks and 
 to embody his recollections. Let him, therefore, who wishes to 
 visit Italy with full satisfaction and advantage acquire, if pos- 
 sible, such an acquaintance with its language, previous to his 
 journey, that nothing may be wanting to complete his command 
 of it but practice and conversation. He that travelkth into a 
 iountrij before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to 
 school and not to travel, says Bacon. 
 
 ITALIAN HISTORY. 
 
 III. The next object which claims the attention of the 
 traveller is the Historic of the different Revolutions of Itahj, not 
 only before, but during the decline and after the fall of the 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 The republican part of Roman history is considered 
 as purely classical, and as such is presupposed in the first 
 
xxiv PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 paragraph. The hves or the reigns of the first Emperors are 
 contained in Suetonius, Tacitus, and Herodian, whose curious 
 and amusing volumes must of course be perused with attention, 
 ■while the Scriptores Historice Augusta will not be neglected. 
 The Abate Denina's History of the Revolutions of Italy, a 
 work in great estimation, gives a very full and satisfactory 
 view of the whole subject, including both ancient and mo- 
 dern times. To these historical works we may add, Cluve- 
 rius's Italia, containing as many passages from ancient au- 
 thors, geographical remarks, and disquisitions, and of course 
 as much solid information as will satisfy the curiosity of the 
 keenest enquirer. 
 
 MEDALS. 
 
 IV. Though I do not mean to turn young travellers into 
 profound antiquaries, yet I would have them at least skim 
 over all the regions of ancient learning. No spot in this ex- 
 tensive territory is either dreary or unproductive. Medals 
 are intimately connected with the history and with the manners, 
 the arts and even the taste of the ancients. 
 
 . . . . And faithful to their charge of fame 
 Through climes and ages bear each form and name. 
 In one short view, subjected to our eye, 
 Gods, emp'rors, heroes, sages, beauties, lie. 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxv 
 
 They merit therefore considerable attention. Addison's 
 Dialogues, written with the usual felicity of that graceful 
 author, deserve to be recommended as a very proper introduc- 
 tion to this amusing branch of ancient knowledge. These 
 dialogues have also, independently of their scientific merit, a 
 very strong claim to the attention of the classical traveller, 
 from the numberless extracts from the ancients, and particularly 
 the poets, introduced with art, and frequently illustrated with 
 elegance. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 V. As Italy possesses some of the most perfect monuments 
 of antiquity now remaining, the Res antiques laudis et artis, as 
 well as the most splendid productions of modern genius in Ar- 
 chitecture, Sculpture, and Painting, it is absolutely necessary 
 to acquire a general knowledge of the principles of these three 
 great arts. 
 
 With regard to Architecture, Dean Aldrich's Elements, 
 translated by Mr. Smyth of New College, is a very clear and 
 concise treatise on the general principles, proportions, and 
 terms of this art, and may be recommended as a good work of 
 the kind for the use of beginners. The five orders, according 
 VOL. I. d 
 
xxvi PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 to Palladio's system, are explained in a little treatise, and 
 illustrated in a set of neat engravings by CyprianL* Sca- 
 mozzi's Lives of the principal Architects, preceded by a dis- 
 sertation on the art in general, is an useful and very entertaining 
 work. 
 
 But the man who wishes to have accurate ideas and com- 
 prehensive notions on this subject, must not content himself 
 with these nor indeed with any modern compositions. He 
 must have recourse to the ancients — inveiitas qui vitam exco- 
 liiere per artes — and in their writings and monuments study 
 the best models and the fairest specimens of architectural 
 beauty. Rollings short treatise, in his Appendix to his Ancient 
 History, enriched. with several citations and classical references, 
 may serve as an introduction. It is not perhaps aluays accu- 
 rate, because written before an exact survey of several ancient 
 monuments had been made, or at least published, but it is per- 
 spicuous and interesting, and like all the works of that excel- 
 lent author, admirably calculated to awaken curiosity in the 
 youthful mind. Stuart's Athens, a work of surprising exact- 
 ness, presents to the eye, in one vast groupe, a collection 
 of the noblest specimens of Grecian art and of Attic taste now 
 
 Koma 1801. 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxvii 
 
 existing*. In fact, iu these matchless edifices, erected during 
 the most flourishing period of Grecian architecture, the 
 reader will discover the genuine proportions of the original 
 Doric, the first and favourite order of the Grecian architects ; 
 an order either slightly mentioned or totall}' omitted by modern 
 artists, though it is supposed, at least as employed in the Par- 
 thenon and temple of Theseus, to unite above all others, orna- 
 ment with simplicity and beauty with solidity. Vitruvius, must 
 be perused with attention, with the assistance of the Italian 
 translation and notes, to remove such difficulties as must inva- 
 riably occur Avithout some explanation -f-. 
 
 Many works of greater length and more detail might 
 be recommended, but the few alluded to are sufficient, not 
 indeed to perfect an architect, but to form the taste of a 
 young traveller. Besides, when the first principles are once 
 known and the original proportions well understood, an at- 
 tentive observer may improve his taste by comparing the best 
 
 * Mr. Wilkin's magnificent work, entitled, Magna Grecia, is, in execution, 
 accuracy, and interest, equal to any of the kind, and cannot be too strongly re- 
 commended. 
 
 t Vitruvio del Galiani, Neapoli. 
 
 d2 
 
xxviii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 models of Greek and Roman, of ancient and modern, archi- 
 tecture *. 
 
 SCULPTURE. 
 
 VI. We come in the next place to Sculpture. Some ac- 
 quaintance with anatomy is a desirable preliminary to the 
 knowledge of this art; a gentleman therefore who wishes to 
 form correct notions of the statues, which he must necessarily 
 
 * No art deserves more attention than Architecture, because no art is so 
 often called into action, tends so much to the embellishment or contributes 
 more to the reputation of a country. It ought, therefore, at all events to 
 occupy some portion of time in a liberal education. Had such a method 
 of instruction as that which is here recommended been adopted a century ago, 
 the streets of London, Oxford, and Cambridge, would not present so many 
 shapeless buildings, all raised at an enormous expence, as if designed for 
 eternal monuments of the opulence and of the bad taste of the British nation. 
 We should not see such a multitude of absurd edifices under the names of 
 temples, ruins, &c. disgrace the scenery of England so much admired by 
 foreigners. In short, instead of allowing architects to pursue novelty at the ex- 
 pence of taste, and seek for reputation by adaptations and pretended improve- 
 ments of their own invention, a method which has never yet succeeded, their 
 employers would oblige them to adhere strictly to the ancients, and by adopting 
 their forms and proportions to adorn England with the noblest edifices of Greece 
 and of Italy. 
 
 4 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxix 
 
 examine during his travels, would do well to attend a few 
 courses previous to his departure from the University. The best 
 method of acquiring a correct and natural taste in sculpture is, 
 without doubt, to inspect frequently the masterpieces of the art, 
 to compare them with each other, and to converse occasionally 
 with the best informed artists. 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 VII. Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, and Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nold's well known discourses, together with much observation 
 and frequent conversation with persons well versed in this en- 
 chanting art, may enable young travellers to distinguish the 
 different schools, to observe the characteristic excellence of each 
 great master, the peculiar beauty of every celebrated piece, and 
 give them, if not the enidifos oculos, the discriminating eye of 
 the professed artist, at least the liberal satisfaction of the judi- 
 cious admirer. 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 VIII. As Italy is acknowledged to be the first country in the 
 Avorld for Music, both with regard to composition and execu- 
 tion, something perhaps may be expected on that subject also. 
 But, much as we may value music, yet I think that young tra- 
 vellers ought rather to be cautioned against its allurements 
 
XXX PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 than exposed to their dangerous influence by preparatory 
 lessons. 
 
 Music in Italy has lost its strength and its dignity ; it is 
 little calculated either to kindle patriotism or to inspire devo- 
 tion; it does not call forth the energies of the mind, or even 
 touch the strings of melancholy. It tends rather by its effe- 
 minacy to bring dangerous passions into action, and like the 
 allegorical stream of antiquity to unman those who allow them- 
 selves to be hurried down its treacherous current. Plato would 
 have forbidden such music, and banished its professors from his 
 republic ; at all events it neither wants nor deserves much en- 
 couragement, and we may at least be allowed to caution the 
 youthful traveller against a taste that too often leads to low and 
 dishonourable connections. 
 
 IX. I have now pointed out the preparatory knowledge 
 which I think absolutely necessary to all travellers who wish to 
 derive from their Italian Tour, their full share of information 
 and amusement. I will next proceed, according to my plan, 
 to point out such dispositions, as will contribute very materially 
 to this object, by removing prejudices, and leaving the mind 
 fully open to the impressions of experience and observation. 
 
 All the dispositions alluded to, are included in one short 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxxi 
 
 but comprehensive expression, an unprejudiced mind. This ex- 
 cellent quality is the result of time and observation, of docility 
 and benevolence. It does not require that we should be indiffer- 
 ent to the prosperity of our own country or blind to its 
 pre-eminence ; but, that we should shew some indulgence to the 
 errors, and some compassion for the sufferings of less favoured 
 nations. Far be it from me, to wish to repress that spirit of 
 patriotism Avhich forms one of the noblest features of the na- 
 tional chai'acter, and still farther every idea of encouraging the 
 unfeeling sect, who conceal general indifference, under the affec- 
 tation of philanthropy, and sacrifice the feelings of the patiiot, 
 to the pretended benevolence of the philosopher. 
 
 But attachment to our own country, and partiality to its 
 reputation, neither dispose nor authorize us to despise those 
 nations, which having been once tumbled from the pinnacle 
 of Glory, are held by a series of disastrous revolutions and irre- 
 sistible circumstances in a state of dependance and of conse- 
 quent degradation. On the contrary, the numberless evils and 
 abuses which result from slavery and opjircssion, cannot but 
 excite sentiments of compassion and of sympathy. Scipio, when 
 he beheld the flames of Carthage ascending to the skies, ex- 
 claimed witli a prophetic application to Rome then triumphant. 
 
 Eu |U.£i/ yap roSi tA^y, xara (ppivcc, xai y.ccroi 9uu.o» 
 
 Iliad VI. 447— S. 
 
xxxii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Yet come it will, the day decreed by Fates, 
 How my heart trembles, while my tongue relates ! 
 The day when Thou, imperial Troy ! must bend 
 And see thy warriors fall, thy glories end. 
 
 Iliad VI. 
 
 Empire, like the sun, has hitherto rolled westward : when 
 we contemplate the dominions of Great Britain, and its wide- 
 extended power, we may without presumption imagine that it 
 now hovers over Great Britain; but it is still on the wing; 
 and whether it be destined to retrace its steps to the East, 
 or to continue its flight to Transatlantic regions, the days of 
 England's glory have their number, and the period of her de- 
 cline will at length arrive. The inhabitants of these islands 
 may, like the sons of Greece and Italy, lie prostrate at the feet 
 of a victorious enemy, and claim his compassion as a tribute due 
 to the greatness of their ancestors. Let us therefore extend our 
 sympathy to the now enslaved offspring of our predecessors 
 in the career of glory, of the former lords of human kind 
 — te7'rce dominantis alumni. 
 
 In fine, let us contemplate the different forms of wor- 
 ship which prevail in different parts of Christendom, not with 
 the acrimonious contempt of a narrow minded sectary, but 
 with the compassionate indulgence of a mild and humble 
 Christian. Let it be remembered that Englishmen are re- 
 proached by foreigners with intolerance, and that it becomes 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxxiii 
 
 tliem to keep up the national reputation of candour and of good 
 sense, by conciliatory and forbearing conduct. I do not 
 mean to recommend either compliance with practices which 
 they condemn, or indiiFerence for that form of Christianity 
 which they have adopted ; but surely every candid and con- 
 sistent Protestant will admit, that Christianity is excellent in 
 all her forms ; that all Christian Establishments receive the same 
 primitive creeds, believe the same mysteries, and admit the 
 same moral obligations; that it becomes a benevolent and 
 charitable mind to consider rather in what they agree, than in 
 what they differ; especially as the former is so much, and the 
 latter comparatively so little; that while the spirit of Christi- 
 anity is like its divine author, immutable, its external form may 
 change with the age and the climate, and, as public opinion and 
 authority shall direct, assume or resign the pomp and circum- 
 stance of worship ; that ceremonies, in themselves unmeaning, 
 signify just as much as those who employ them attach to them, 
 and that Catholic as well as Protestant nations may be allowed 
 to adopt in religion as well as in civil life, such forms and 
 rites as may seem calculated to ensure order and respect ; that 
 whether the service be read in the language and according to 
 the simple forms of the Church of England, under the Gothic 
 vaults of York or of Canterbury; or whether it be chanted in 
 Greek and Latin, M'ith all the splendour of the Roman ritual 
 under the golden dome of the Vatican ; it is always and every 
 VOL. I. e 
 
xxxiv PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 where, the same voice of truth, the same gospel of salvation : in 
 fine, that all Christians are marked on their entrance into life, with 
 the same seal of salvation ; that all hope to receive at the 
 eucharistic table the same pledge of redemption, and that all 
 resign their souls in death to the same merciful Father, with 
 humble hopes of forgiveness through the same gracious Re- 
 deemer. That there should be such an universal agreement in 
 these great and interesting articles must be a subject of consola- 
 tion, and of pious acknowledgment to every benevolent mind. 
 
 But I fear that Charity itself can scarce look for a greater 
 unanimity. An agreement in all the details and consequences 
 drawn by arguments from first principles, is not to be expected 
 in our present state, so chequered with light and shade, where 
 knowledge is dealt out so unequally, and where the opinions of 
 even good and wise men are so biassed by education, by habit, and 
 by prejudice. But if we have not knowledge enough to coincide 
 in speculation, we may at least have charity enough to agree 
 in practice, by treating each other's opinions with tenderness ; 
 and, in all our differences and discussions, keeping in view 
 that beautiful maxim inculcated by a very learned, a very 
 zealous, and a very benevolent Father, In necessariis Unitas, in 
 dubiis libertas, in omnibus Caritas. 
 
 X. It is usual to take with us as guides on our journey cer- 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxxr 
 
 tain works written for tlie purpose, or travels through the same, 
 and Addison's travels are generally recommended, and indeed 
 his known taste and character, together with the avowed pur- 
 }X)se of his journey, might have justified the expectation of a 
 finished performance. But though Addison had naturally an 
 enlarged mind, humane feelings, and a fancy teeming witli 
 classical imagery, yet prejudice had narrowed his extensive 
 views, religious acrimony had soured his temper, and party 
 spirit had repressed his imagination. He gave therefore to 
 one half of the nation, what he owed to the whole; he considered 
 principally how he might support one party and annoy the 
 other; and ran over great j^art of Europe, particularly Italy, not 
 so much a Classic as a Whig traveller. Hence in his eyes coun- 
 tries appeared fertile and happy, or barren and miserable, not 
 as nature formed them, but as they were connected with France 
 or with Austria, as their religion was Protestant or Catholic. 
 Hence, he dwells with at least as much complacency on the 
 little miserable details of German and Itahan superstition, as on 
 the interesting remams of Roman grandeur, and fills with the 
 dreams of bigotry and the censures of intolerance, those pages 
 which ought to have been devoted to the effusions of classical 
 enthusiasm, and strewed with the tlowers of ancient poesy*. 
 
 * Vide seven pages devoted to St. Anthony's Sermon to the Fish, in Italian and 
 English. 
 
 e2 
 
xxxvi PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Prejudice or malevolence, in ordinary writers, excites neither 
 surprize nor regret; the ignorance or the folly of mediocrity can 
 claim nothing more than contempt ; but the errors and the de- 
 fects of the wise and of the good awaken more serious emotions; 
 and while we justly lament the weakness of human nature 
 we are cautioned by such examples against the indulgence of 
 passions, which could imbitter the benevolence, and pervert the 
 good sense, of the mild, the judicious Addison. Succeeding tra- 
 vellers have improved on this author's defects, and loaded their 
 pao-es with misrepresentation and invective ; while, within the 
 last ten years, some tourists have employed their journals as 
 vehicles of revolutionary madness, and instead of the laiides 
 Italics and the fortia facta patrum have given the public elabo- 
 rate panegyrics on the French generals, and accounts of their 
 achievements as exaggerated as their own dispatches. 
 
 To conclude this topic, an attentive traveller, after having 
 acquired the preparatory knowledge recommended in the pre- 
 ceding pages, may safely rely on his own diligence, aided by the 
 observations of the intelligent inhabitants, and by the maps and 
 guides to be procured in every great town. Books, though ne- 
 cessary, are an incumbrance which never fails to increase as we 
 advance; we ought therefore to confine ourselves to the classics, 
 if possible, and even then we shall find our library sufficiently 
 numerous and bulky. 
 
rRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxxvii 
 
 XL Maps form an indispensable part of a traveller's furni- 
 ture. At setting out, two will be sufficient: one of Ancient, one 
 of Modern Italy. Of the former D'Amilles is the best; of the 
 latter, an excellent one, extremely beautiful in the execution, 
 and upon a scale large enough for information Avithout being 
 burthensomc, has been published at Florence, by MoUni, which 
 may probably be had in London. As the traveller advances, 
 he must enrich his collection, and procure in its principal town, 
 the map of each province or division. At Milan, he Avill find 
 separate maps of the lakes and various regions of the Milanese. 
 At Mantua, a beautiful, correct, but I believe scarce map, of 
 that city and its vicinity, should be enquired for. At Bologna 
 may be had the excellent maps of the Roman territory by 
 Father Boscovich. At Rome may be purchased a map of the 
 patrimony of St. Peter, and one of Latium. These I recom- 
 mend, as they give the ancient and modern names of each town 
 and territory, and at the same time mark the ancient roads, aque- 
 ducts, and ruins. The great and beautiful map of Rome must 
 not be neglected, thovigh if it should be deemed too expensive 
 and bulk}^ there are two others of a smaller and more conve- 
 nient size. The best map of the kingdom of Naples is in four 
 sheets, well printed, and said to be very accurate, by Zannoni, 
 There are moreover, three maps of Naples and its neighbour- 
 hood, of the bay and its islands, of exquisite beauty in execution 
 
xxxviii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 and ornament. These of course every traveller of taste will 
 purchase*. 
 
 ROUTE. 
 
 XII. We are now to speak of the time requisite to make a 
 full and complete Tour of Italy, as well as of the season best 
 adapted to the commencement of such a tour. A year, I think, 
 is the shortest space that ought to be allotted, and a year and a 
 half or even two years might be well devoted to this useful and 
 amusing part of our travels. The want of leisure is the only 
 objection that can be made to this arrangement, but it is an 
 objection seldom well grounded, as youth in general from nine- 
 teen to three or four-and-twenty, have more time than business, 
 and seem much more frequently at a loss for occupation than 
 for leisure. Occupation, necessary at all seasons, but particu- 
 larly in youth, should be furnished, and no occupation can 
 suit that age when the mind is restless and the body active, 
 better than travelling. Moreover, every man of observation 
 
 * Maps on the same scale, and of the same beauty, of all the provinces of the 
 Neapolitan territory, have, I believe, been since published. 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xxxix 
 
 who has merely made a cursory visit to Ital}^, will find that 
 a first view of that country has merely qualified him to 
 make a second visit with more advantage, and will perhaps feel 
 the cravings of unsatisfied curiosity, the visendi studium, at a 
 time when travelling may be inconsistent with the cares and 
 the duties of life. It is more prudent, therefore, to profit of the 
 first opportunity, and by then allotting a sufficient portion of 
 time to the tour, gratify himself with a full and perfect view for 
 ever. Supposing therefore that a year and a half is to be de- 
 voted to this part of the journey, I advise the traveller to 
 pass the Alps early in the autumn, thus to avoid the incon- 
 venience of travelling in winter or cold weather, an inconve- 
 nience always felt on the Continent, where ready fires, warm 
 rooms, doors and windows that exclude the air, are seldom 
 found. His route to the Alps may be as follows. He may first 
 proceed to Brussels, thence to Liege, Spa, Aix-la-Chapelk, Cq- 
 logne. Bonne, and along the banks of the Rhine to CohlentZy 
 Mentz, and Strasburg; there cross the Rhine to Manheim, tra- 
 verse the Palatinate, the territories of Wittenberg, Bavaria, and 
 Saltzburg, enter the defiles of the Tyrol or Rhetian Alps, and 
 passing through Inspruck and Trent turn to Bassano and to 
 Maestre, whence he may send his carriage by land to Padua, 
 and embark for Venice. From Venice he may go by water up 
 the Brenta to Padua, where he may establish his head quarters. 
 
xl PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 and y'ls'it Arcquay the Monti Eiiganei, and thence pass onwards to 
 Ferrara and Bologna; then follow the Via Emilia to Forli, thence 
 proceed to Kavenna and Himini, make an excursion to San 
 Marino, and advance forward to Ancona, whence he may A'isit 
 Osimo. He will then continue his journey by Loretio and Ma- 
 cerata to Tolentino; thence over the Apennines to Foligno, Spoleto, 
 and Terni, and so follow the direct road through Civita Castel- 
 lana to Rome. 
 
 I suppose that a traveller passes the Alps in September ; 
 of course he should reach Rome by the end of November. I 
 calculate ten or fifteen days delay on account of the autumnal 
 rains; for it is advisable by all means to stop at some large 
 town during that period of inundation. These autumnal rains 
 take place sometimes in September, though they frequently 
 fall at a later period. At all events, I would by no means 
 advise a traveller to pass the Apennines, or visit any territory 
 supposed to lie under the influence of the malaria, till these 
 salubrious showers have purified the air and allayed the noxious 
 vapours that hover over the Pontine marshes, the Campagna di 
 Roma, and some other low tracts, during the latter weeks of 
 summer and the beginning of autumn : the air of Venice itself 
 is supposed by many persons not to be quite exempt from this 
 inconvenience. 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xli 
 
 The traveller will devote the month of December to the 
 first contemplation of Rome, and the consideration of its most 
 striking beauties. He Mali then do well to proceed to Naples, 
 where the months of January, February, and (if Easter be in 
 April) of March, will be delightfully employed in visiting the 
 numberless beauties that lie in that neighbourhood, and along 
 the atoried shores of Magna Grecia. At all events, the traveller 
 must so time his return as to be at Rome the week before Easter, 
 in order to be present at the ceremonies that are performed in 
 the Sixtine Chapel, and in St, Peter's, before and during that 
 festival. 
 
 The months of April, May, and June will not appear long 
 when passed in a leisurely survey of the remains of ancient 
 magnificence and the study of the great models of mo- 
 dern art, and when enlivened by frequent excursions to Tibur, 
 Ostia, Antium, Mount Soracte, Frceneste, and the Sabine moun- 
 tains. The Alban Mount, with all its tumuli and luci, may be 
 reserved for the hot months of July and August; there he may 
 easily establish himself in some villa, whose cool retreats will 
 afford him shade and refreshment during the oppressive heats of 
 the season. 
 
 In the course of September, or rather when the autumnal 
 rains have fallen, it will be time to turn towards Florence. The 
 VOL. I. f 
 
xlii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 first object which should claim the attention of the traveller in 
 the neighbourhood of this city is Vallombrosa, because its ele- 
 vated situation renders it difficult of access at an early period of 
 autumn. The first opportunity therefore must be embraced, 
 and the excursion, if the weather be favourable, continued to 
 Camaldoli and La Vernia, two other celebrated and highly 
 romantic solitudes. The winter may be divided very agreeably 
 between Florence and the other Tuscan cities. 
 
 In the beginning of February the traveller may pass the 
 Apennines to Mode?ia, Partna, Placentia, Lodi, Cremona, Man- 
 tua, and Verona, allowing four days or a week to each town 
 and its neighbourhood. From Verona he will visit Peschiera 
 and the Lago di Garda (Benacns); thence direct his course 
 by Brescia and Bergamo to Milan. From Milan he will 
 make the celebrated lakes Corno and Maggiore objects of atten- 
 tion, and thence shape his course by Vercelli, and Tortona, to 
 Genoa. He will then take the road of the maritime Alps by 
 Savona to Nice, after which he will turn inland to Turin. Mount 
 Cenis, the termination of his Italian Tour, then rises before him 
 in distant perspective. 
 
 If, while at Naples, he find it safe or practicable 
 to penetrate into the southern provinces of Calabria and 
 ■Apidia, he will not neglect the opportunity; and, with the 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xliii 
 
 addition of that excursion, by following the road which I 
 have traced out, he will have seen every town of note, and 
 indeed every remarkable plain, hill, or mountain in Ital}', 
 and become intimately acquainted with the numberless beau- 
 ties and curiosities of that most interesting country. But if 
 he should not have so much time at his disposal, he may re- 
 trench the first part of the tour, proceed direct to Switzerland, 
 pass the Alps by Mount St. Got hard or Sempione, and descend- 
 ing directly to Domo D'Ossola visit the lakes, and proceed from 
 Como to Milan, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Venice, and 
 returning again by Padua and Vicenza turn to Mantua, Pia- 
 cenza, Parma, Modena, Bologna, along the Adriatic as above. 
 He will moreover abridge the time devoted to Naples and 
 Rome, pass the summer in Tuscany, go by sea from Leghorn or 
 Carrara to Genoa, and pass thence by the Bocchetta direct to 
 Turin. The visit to the lakes ought to be so timed as to avoid 
 the equinoctial winds, extremely dangerous, because very sud- 
 den and very boisterous; so that it is not uncommon in these 
 seasons to see the lakes pass, in the short space of half an 
 hour, from a state of perfect calm to the most tremendous 
 agitation. 
 
 XIII. The great roads in Italy are good, the posts well 
 furnished with horses, and robberies not common ; travelling is 
 therefore, in general, safe and expeditious. The principal, and 
 
 f9 
 
xliv PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 indeed almost the only inconveniencies, arise from the equinoc- 
 tial rains and the summer heats. The influence of both is felt 
 over all Italy : that of the former is particularly inconvenient 
 and even sometimes dangerous, especially in the northern pro- 
 vinces and along the eastern coast. The immense number of 
 considerable rivers, such as the Tanaro, the Tesmo, the Bormida, 
 the Adda, &c. that pour their tributary waters into the Po, while 
 with it they contribute so largely to the luxuriancy and beauty 
 of the plains through which they glide, yet, when sv/elled with 
 continued rains, like it they overflow their banks and inundate 
 the level surface of the surrounding country. On these occasions 
 the roads are covered with mud, the fords rendered impassable, 
 bridges not unfrequently swept away, and communication be- 
 tween different towns and provinces entirely suspended. Nor 
 do these inundations always subside as soon as might be ex- 
 pected fiom the general heat and dryness of the climate; their 
 pernicious effects are sometimes felt for months afterwards, and 
 I recollect to have myself observed in March 1803, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Mantua, or rather about ten miles lower down, 
 between the Mmcio and the Po, vast sheets of water, and whole 
 fields immerged, the effects of an inundation some months 
 before. Virgil, whose farm bordered upon the Mincius, seems 
 to have had a particular apprehension of the consequences of 
 inundations, if we may judge from the accurate details which he 
 gives of the signs of approaching rain, and the picture which 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xlv 
 
 he draws of their disastrous consequences, Tlie traveller 
 therefore, who may be surprized by these periodical showers, if 
 in compliance with the advice given above, he establish himself 
 in the first commodious inn, will not find such accidental delays 
 either useless or unpleasant. 
 
 But to return to the principal object of this paragraph. 
 Though the sun in Italy have, even in the cooler seasons, a suffi- 
 cient degree of warmth to incommode a foreigner, yet the heat 
 can scarcely be considered as an obstacle to travelling, except 
 in the months of July and August; then indeed it is intense, 
 and it is considered imprudent to expose oneself to the beams 
 of the sun for any time; though Englishmen frequently seem 
 insensible of the danger, and brave alike the rigours of a 
 Russian winter and the heats of an Italian or even of an Egyp- 
 tian summer. Fevers and untimely deaths are sometimes the 
 consequences of this rashness, and more than one traveller has 
 had reason to regret his imprudence. To avoid these dangers, 
 persons who are obliged to travel during the hot months gene- 
 rally proceed by night, and repose during the sultry hours of 
 the day. By this method, without doubt, they guard suffi- 
 ciently against the inconveniences and dangers of the weather, 
 but at the same time they sacrifice one of the principal objects, 
 the scenery of the country; and this sacrifice in Italy can, irL 
 
xlvi PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 my opinion, be compensated by no advantages. The best me- 
 thod, therefore, is to set out a full hour before sun-rise, to stop 
 at ten, and repose till four, then travel till eight at the latesti 
 by this arrangement of time the traveller will enjoy the prospect 
 of the country, the freshness of the morning, and the cool- 
 ness of the evening, and devote to rest those hours only 
 which heat renders unfit for any purpose of excursion or of 
 enjoyment. 
 
 ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 A few words upon the inns and accommodations in Italy 
 will be sufficient. An English traveller must, the very instant 
 he embarks for the Continent, resign many of the comforts and 
 conveniencies which he enjoys at home, and which he does not 
 sufficiently prize, because he is seldom in the way of learning 
 their value by privation. Great will be his disappointment if, 
 on his arrival, he expects a warm room, a newspaper, and a 
 well stored larder. These advantages are common enough at 
 home, but they are not to be found in any inn on the Continent, 
 not even Dessennes at Calais or the Maison Rouge at Frankfort. 
 But the principal and most offensive defect abroad is the 
 want of cleanliness, a defect in a greater or lesser degree com- 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xlvii 
 
 inon to all parts of the Continent. In Italy, to which these 
 observations are confined, the little country inns are dirty, but 
 the greater inns, particular in Rome, Najjles, Florence, and 
 Venice, are good, and in general the linen is clean, and the beds 
 are excellent. As tor diet, in country towns, the traveller will 
 find plenty of provisions, though seldom prepared according to 
 his taste. But, " ilfaut hien," says Mr. De la Lande, " racheter 
 par quelque chose les agremens de I'ltalic." 
 
 This representation of Italian accommodations, which it 
 is hoped, will be found on experience tolerably accurate, is 
 not on the whole discouraging, and our traveller rnay com- 
 mence his journey without the apprehension of any verif 
 serious or distressing inconvenience. In fact, he who can 
 content himself with plain food and a good bed, will find 
 abundant compensation for the absence of the supernumerai'y 
 pleasures of accommodation, in the indulgence of rational 
 curiosity, and the acquisition of elegant knowledge. The 
 classical reader will console himself in the assurance, that 
 accommodations in the worst Italian inns at present, are far 
 better than what they seem to have been in Horace's time, if at 
 least, we may be allowed to form conjectures about the state of 
 inns in general from that of Beneventum in particular. 
 
 The inconvenience of which the poet complains at Trevicu$ 
 
xlviii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 is at present very general at the inns botli of Fiance and Italy, 
 where the shivering traveller finds himself, if he happens to 
 ti'avel in cold weather, like Horace, often ushered into a damp 
 room, and placed before a newly lighted fire, diffusing a half 
 smothered flame, lacrimoso non sine fumo. 
 
 OBJECTS OF ATTENTION. 
 
 XIV. It may not be deemed superfluous to enumerate the 
 principal objects which deserve a traveller's attention, and to 
 point out, at the same time, the best method of satisfying his 
 curiosity. The manners, customs, and opinions, together with 
 the diflferent lights which religion, government, and climate 
 throw upon the characters of nations and individuals, without 
 doubt, claim our first attention. To converse with the na- 
 tives of the country, to frequent public assemblies and 
 courts, and, on the other hand, to take an occasional range 
 in the humble walks of life, is the proper method of ac- 
 quiring this useful information. The introduction to the 
 higher class in Italy is not very difficult; they meet in evening- 
 parties, either at particular houses, where such assembhes are 
 called conversazzioni ; or at the casino, a sort of fashionable club 
 established in most towns in Italy. A good letter of introduc- 
 tion to any person of rank will open all such assemblies to a 
 stranger. But the traveller, who really wishes to know the 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xlix 
 
 manners of the Italian gentry, must endeavour to penetrate into 
 the interior of society, and form acquaintance with some of the 
 principal characters in each town, particularly if there be any 
 among them of literary reputation. Nor would this be a difficult 
 task, if we went to Italy better versed in its language; and if we 
 devoted more time to the cultivation of our acquaintance there. 
 This private society, if it be select, and I recommend no other, 
 .is, I think for very obvious reasons, far preferable to larger 
 circles. 
 
 But, while speaking of society, I think it necessary to 
 make an observation, the propriety of which must strike every 
 reader, because it is founded upon the change which has taken 
 place in the higher classes on the continent during the last ten 
 years. The court of Versailles was formerly considered the most 
 pohshed court in the world, and the state of society in the higher 
 classes at Paris, as well as at Rome and Turin, Avas supposed 
 to have reached a very high degree of refinement. The princi- 
 pal object of travelling then was to acquire, in such accom- 
 plished society, that ease and those graces which constitute the 
 perfection of good breeding, and were seldom, it was then 
 fancied, to be discovered in the manners of a home-bred English- 
 man. How far this opinion was true it is not my intention to 
 .examine, but it was very generally admitted, and in conse- 
 quence no young man of rank was deemed qualified to make an 
 
 VOL. I. g 
 
1 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 advantageous entrance into the world till, by a considerable resi- 
 dence in the capitals mentioned above, he had worn off some- 
 what of the native roughness of the Briton. But the case is 
 very different at present. The French Revolution has been as 
 fatal to the manners as to the morals of nations; it has cor- 
 rupted the one and hrutalized the other. It is not to society 
 in such a state that he is to look for improvement, nor indeed 
 is such improvement either the sole or the principal motive 
 of travelling at present, nor is it necessary to wander over 
 the Continent in quest of accomplishments. London, that 
 has long been the first city in Europe for population, extent, 
 and opulence, is now also confessedly the first in point of 
 society, and the Capital of the polite and fashionable, as it has 
 long been of the commercial world. The first class of its so- 
 ciety, the most numerous of that description that has ever 
 been united in any great city, comprehends all the advantages of 
 title, of fortune, and of information. I do not hereby mean 
 to depreciate continental society or represent it as useless, but I 
 wish to point out to the reader the change that has taken place, 
 and caution him against expecting from foreign society, in its 
 present state, those superior advantages which were formerly 
 supposed to be derived from it. 
 
 This subject naturally leads us to a question which, I be- 
 lieve, is generally solved rather from habit and prejudice thaa 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. li 
 
 reason. Are we, as Bacon says, " to sequester ourselves 
 from the company of our countrymen" while abroad, or may 
 we be allowed sometimes to associate with them? The answer 
 to this question should be drawn from principles of general 
 or rather durable utility. The object of all our travels, studies, 
 and pursuits is, or at least ought to be, permanent advantage. 
 We do not, doubtless, travel to France or to Italy to see 
 Englishmen, but yet we travel for improvement and for amuse- 
 ment; and whatever society contributes to either, ought to be 
 cultivated with an assiduity proportioned to its advantages. 
 The traveller, therefore, ought by all means to procure an in- 
 troduction to all the fashionable societies of the great towns and 
 Capitals through which he may pass ; and at the same time he 
 may become acquainted with such English gentlemen as may 
 chance to be in the same place. Such an acquaintance super- 
 induces no obligation ; it may be cultivated or dropt at pleasure ; 
 but the trial ought to be made ; and if experience may be cre- 
 dited, the reader may be assured, that casual acquaintance not 
 unfrequently ripens into settled and permanent friendship. 
 Continental connections in general are of a very different nature; 
 however agreeable they are contracted only for the occasion, 
 and cannot be supposed, in general, strong enough to resist the 
 influence of absence. Besides, why should we voluntarily reject 
 one of the greatest advantages of travelling, an opportunity of 
 selectinp- friends, and forming strong and durable attachments ; 
 
 g2 
 
lii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE, 
 
 for, as Ovid observes in some beautiful lines, there is not a 
 stronger bond than that which is formed by a participation of 
 the accidents and of the vicissitudes of a long and eveuiiul 
 journey *. 
 
 * Te duce, magnificas Asiae perspeximus Urbes : 
 
 Trinacris est oculis, te duce, nota meis. 
 
 Vidimus Etnaea ccelum splendescere flamma ; 
 
 Suppositus monte quam vomit ore gigas : 
 Hennaeosque lacus, et olentia stagna Palici, 
 
 Quaque suis Cyanen miscet Anapus aquis 
 
 Et quota pars haec sunt rerum, quas vidimus ambo, 
 
 Te mihi jucundas efficiente vias ! 
 Seu rate caeruleas picta sulcavimus undas : 
 
 Esseda nos agili sive tulere rota. 
 ScEpe brevis nobis vicibus via visa loquendi; 
 Pluraque, si numeres, verba fuere gradu. 
 Soepe dies sermone minor fuit; inque loquendum 
 
 Tarda per cestivos defuit hora dies. 
 Est aliquid casus, pariter timuisse marines ; 
 Junctaque ad aequoreos vota tulisse Deos : 
 Haec tlbi si subeant (absim licet) omnibus horjs 
 Ante tuos oculos, ut modo visus, ero. 
 
 Ovid. Ep. ex Ponto, lib. ii. x. 21. seq. 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. liii 
 
 SCENERY. 
 
 The general face of the country, so conspicuously beautiful 
 all over Italy, merits from this circumstance alone peculiar 
 attention, and when to its picturesque features we add those 
 charms, less real but more enchanting, which Fancy sheds 
 over its scenery, we give it an irresistible interest that 
 awakens all the feelings of the classic youth. Our early studies, 
 as Gibbon justly observes, allow us to sympathize in the feel- 
 ings of a Roman, and one might almost indeed say of every 
 school boy not insensible to the sweets of his first studies, that 
 he becomes in feeling and sentiments, perhaps even in language, 
 a Roman, and is more familiar with the heroes and the sages of 
 antiquity than with the worthies of his own country. It is not 
 then wonderful, that when in a riper age he visits that country and 
 beholds those very scenes which he has imaged to himself so long 
 before, he should feel an uncommon glow of enthusiasm, and 
 in the moment of enchantment add some imaginary to their 
 many real charms. Besides, the scenery of Italy is truly clas- 
 sical; I mean, it is such as described by poets and historians. 
 Earthquakes, the only species of revolution that can perma- 
 nently alter the great features of nature, however common they 
 may be there, have, if we except a few places in the neighbour^ 
 
liv PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 hood of Naples, and some distant parts of the coasts of Cala- 
 hria, made in the whole but little alteration. Even wars, inva- 
 sions, and the devastation of eighteen centuries have not yet eradi- 
 cated those local ornaments that arise either from the tendencj 
 of the soil or from the persevering attention of the inhabitants. 
 The Sylaris is still shaded with groves and thickets; the rose of 
 Poestum, though neglected, still blooms twice a year, to waste its 
 sweetness in the desert air; while Mount Aiburnus still glories in 
 the ilex and in the never-fading verdure of his lofty forests. 
 
 But not to anticipate various observations that will occur, 
 each in its proper place, one advantage, at all events, the face of 
 nature possesses in Italy, which is, that it seldom or never disap- 
 points the traveller, or falls short of his expectations, however high 
 they may have been previously raised ; on the contrary, if I may 
 form any opinion of the sentiments of foreigners in general by 
 my own and by those of my fellow travellers, the lakes, the vale 
 of the Clitumnus, the fall of the Anio, the banks of the Nar, the 
 waters of Tibttr, the groves of Albano, and the plains, the hills, the 
 coasts, the bays of Campania Felix, not only equal but even 
 surpass the descriptions of the poets, and the bright pictures of 
 youthful imagination. 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 RUINS. 
 
 The same observation cannot be applied to ruins, which, 
 however interesting they may be, seldom answer expectation. 
 In fact, when we read or hear of Roman ruins we figure to our- 
 selves a vast scene of broken columns, shattered cornices, muti- 
 lated statues, hanging arches, and interrupted colonnades. Such 
 a magnificent scene of desolation may indeed be seen at Pa stum, 
 Agrigenfum, and Selinus; and such also is occasionally presented 
 on the Seven Hills, in the majestic remains of the ancient City. 
 But these grand objects are rare; for, if to the exceptions just 
 mentioned, we add the temple of Tivoli, the amphitheatre and 
 gates of Verona, and two or three triumphal -arches, we shall find 
 little more than tottering walls and vast masses of brick. In fact, 
 ruins, till the revival of taste in the fifteenth century, were consi- 
 dered as quarries furnishing materials to those who chose to em- 
 ploy them; and unfortunately many did employ them with little 
 or no regard to their ancient fame, their costly workmanship, or 
 their fair proportions. When Belisarius turned the tomb of 
 Adrian into a fortress, he paid little attention to the masterpieces 
 of sculpture that adorned its circumference, and it is said that, on 
 that occasion, the sleeping Faun pleaded in vain the beauty of 
 his limbs and the grace of his attitude. Whatever obstructed the 
 machinery was tumbled to the ground, whatever was fit for de= 
 
hi PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 fence was worked into the rampart. In short, first war, then con- 
 venience, and lastly, Taste itself directed by self-love destroyed 
 or defaced the works of ancient art, and either left no marks of 
 their existence behind, or reduced them to a mere shattered 
 skeleton. The traveller, thei'efore, must not be sanguine in his 
 expectations of satisfaction from the first appearance of ruins, 
 in general, but content himself with the certainty of finding, 
 amid numberless uninteresting masses that bear that name, some 
 few beautiful specimens of Roman taste, as well as some awful 
 monuments of Roman magnificence. 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 Modern edifices next claim our attention, and among them 
 the principal are churches, particularly cathedrals. Many of 
 the latter are indeed very noble piles, and either externally or 
 internally present striking instances of architectural beauty. 
 Even where there is no display of architecture, there is ge- 
 nerally a richness of materials, a profusion of marble, and 
 not unfrequently a luxuriancy of sculpture and painting that 
 delights and surprizes the transalpine spectator. There is also in 
 every cathedral a chapel of the Holy Sacrament, which is almost 
 universally of exquisite workmanship and of splendid decora- 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. Ivii 
 
 tions. Some indeed are perfect masterpieces of proportion, 
 symmetry, and elegance. 
 
 I have hinted above, that few churches present an exterior 
 and interior equally finished i in reality one-half of the great 
 churches in Italy are left in a very imperfect state with regard 
 to the outside; the fact is singular, but the reason obvious. At 
 the restoration of the arts, a sudden enthusiasm seized all Italy ; 
 princes, bishops, noblemen, entered the lists of taste Avith 
 ardour, each longed to signalize himself and immortalize his 
 name by some superb fabric, and rival cathedrals, palaces, and 
 villas rose on all sides. But their means were not always adequate 
 to their srand undertakings. Some edifices were finished, some 
 entirely neglected, and many have been continued with slow, par- 
 simonious patience down to the present period. The nobility of 
 Vicenza are said to feel even at present the consequences of 
 their forefathers' magnificence, and the Palladian decorations of 
 their city are still supposed to prey on their finances. 
 
 However, the propensity of the nation is irresistible, for 
 though public and private property has been exhausted by the 
 French invasion, yet the enemy were scarcely withdrawn Avhen, 
 with laudable spirit, exertions were instantly made in many 
 places to repair some of the edifices which those modem Van- 
 dals had damaged, and to supply the place of some of the 
 VOL. I. h 
 
Iviii PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE, 
 
 masterpieces which they had carried away. Churches, on the 
 whole, are very interesting, as there are few that do not present 
 some object worthy the attention of the traveller. With re- 
 spect to palaces, I must venture to say that, in general, they 
 are deficient in strict architectural beauty, as few, I fear, are 
 to be found even in Italy, where, in some point or other, 
 the architect has not sacrificed the symmetry and proportion 
 of the Orders to caprice and vanity. But if it be possible 
 to overlook a defect so material, it must be acknowledged, that 
 the marbles, statues, and paintings that generally adorn the 
 spacious apartments, oftentimes compensate the caprice that 
 deforms the exterior of these edifices. In fine, with regard to 
 buildings, we may generalize and apply to Italy the observa- 
 tion which was originally made on Rome, that no country 
 presents so many specimens both of good and of bad archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 Of museums, galleries of paintings and statues, public 
 libraries, &c. I need only say that they exist in almost every 
 town in Italy, and open an ample field to the exercise of obser- 
 vation and curiosity. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 To conclude, let me recommend the traveller, with due at- 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. lix 
 
 tention to his health and fortune, to spare neither pains nor 
 expence, to acquire every previous information, and to explore, 
 when travelling, every recess and visit every object, without 
 relying too much on the representations of others: as the 
 common guides are lazy and interested, Cicerones are often 
 ignorant, and writers as often wrong, through want of opportu- 
 nity, of knowledge or of exertion, and not unfrequently from 
 too great an attachment to their own systems. 
 
 CAUTION. 
 
 But one final observation, I wish to impress strongly on the 
 mind of the youthful traveller, as its object is intimately con- 
 nected with his present repose and with his future happiness. 
 Moral improvement is or ought to be, the end of all our pursuits 
 and of all our exertions. Knowledge, without it, is the amuse- 
 ment of an idle moment, and the great and splendid exhibitions 
 which nature and genius present to our contemplation are merely 
 the shifting scenery of an evening drama — delightful but momen- 
 tary. Let him therefore look continually to this most important 
 attainment, and whiJe he endeavours every day to increase his 
 store of knowledge, let him exert himself with still gi'eater 
 assiduity to add to the number of his virtues, fit, ni 
 
 h 2 
 
Ix PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Nations, like individuals, have their characteristic qualities, 
 and present to the eye of a candid observer, each in its turn, 
 much to be imitated, and something to be avoided. Tlicse 
 qualities of the mind, like the features of the face, are more 
 prominent and conspicuous in southern countries, and in these 
 countries perhaps the traveller may stand in more need of vigi- 
 lance and circumspection to guard him against the treachery of 
 his own passions, and the snares of external seduction. Miserable 
 indeed will he be, if he shall use the liberty of a traveller as the 
 means of vicious indulgence, abandon himself to tlie delicious 
 immorality (for so it has been termed) of some luxurious Capital, 
 and forgetful of what he owes to himself, to his friends, and to 
 his country, drop one by one as he advances, the virtues of his 
 education and of his native land, and pick up in their stead the 
 follies and vices of every climate which he may traverse. 
 When such a wanderer has left his innocence and perhaps his 
 health at Naples; when he has resigned his faith and his prin- 
 ciples at Paris; he will find the loss of such inestimable blessings 
 poorly repaid, by the languages which he may have learned, the 
 antiques which he may have purchased, and the accomplishments 
 which he may have acquired in his journey. Such acquirements 
 may furnish a pleasing pastime; they may fill the vacant intervals 
 of an useful life; they may even set off to advantage nobler endow- 
 ments and higher qualifications : but they can never give the 
 
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. Ixi 
 
 credit and the confidence that accompany sound principles, nor 
 can they bestow, or replace the mind's calm mmhine and the 
 heartfelt joy, at once the effect and the reward of virtue. These 
 are the real, the permanent, I might almost add, the only 
 blessings of life. He who possesses them can want but little 
 more, and he who has forfeited them, whatever his fortune may 
 be, is poor indeed. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Departure from Vienna — Munich — Saltzburg — Salt Mines — Defile of 
 the Alps — Inspruch — Ascent of the Brenner — Summit of the Alps 
 — Descent — Brixen — Bolsano — Trent. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Departure from Vienna for Munich 2 
 
 Arrive at the foot of the Alps ; their interesting appearance ib. 
 
 Salt2burg ; the cathedral '^ 
 
 The most striking object in Saltzburg 4 
 
 The Unterberg mountain ; a popular legend respecting 5 
 
 Salt mines at Halleim ; a nuptial feast 6 
 
 Mode of descending into the salt mines described 7 
 
 Picturesque exit from the mines • 8 
 
 Leave Saltzburg ® 
 
 Reichenhall 'b. 
 
 Winter scene in a defile of the Alps 10 
 
 St. John 11 
 
 Roads through the Alps *^- 
 
 Passage of the Cimbri over the Rhetian Alps 12 
 
 Inspruck 13 
 
 Death of Emperor Francis I. anecdote of; inscription on his monument 14 
 
 The vale of Inspruck described 1^ 
 
 The castle of Ambras ; its chivalrous decorations ib. 
 
 A majestic mountain ; compared with Mount Blanc J6 
 
 Steeps of the Brenner ; dreary ascent of 17 
 
 Summit of the Alps *''• 
 
 Source of the river Atagis '•'• 
 
 Descent down the Alps through Marck and MiddlewJild 18 
 
Ixiv CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Present security of travellers in the Rhetian Alps, owing to the benign 
 
 influence of Christianity 18 
 
 Bressinone or Brixen 20 
 
 Chitisa, or Clausen ; a picturesque defile 21 
 
 Bolsano , 22 
 
 Arrival at Trent ib. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Trent — Council of Trent — Castello Delia Pietra — Roveredo — Slavini 
 di Marco — Ala — Chitisa — Verona — its Antiquities and History. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Trent ; its situation and buildings 23 
 
 Council of Trent, objects of, reflections on 24 
 
 The road from Trent ; the fortress of Castello della Pietra 26 
 
 Roveredo ; an inscription on the marriage of the Princess of Parma .... 27 
 
 Visible change in taste, &c. as you approach Italy ib. 
 
 The tract of Slavini di Marco 28 
 
 Ala, the geographical boundary of Italy 29 
 
 The fortress of Chiusa ib. 
 
 A dreadful pass into the plains of Italy ib. 
 
 Verona ; its beautiful site and vicinity 30 
 
 Its amphitheatre, description of 31 
 
 Farces and pantomimes performed in the amphitheatre by the French ... 32 
 
 Attachment of the Veronese to their ancient monuments 33 
 
 Ancient gates at Verona ib. 
 
 Modern town of Verona ; its public edifices 35 
 
 Men of genius and learning born and educated at Verona 36 
 
 Division and ravages of Verona by the French , 37 
 
 Prospects from the amphitheatre of Verona , 40 
 
 CHAP. HI. 
 
 Vicentia — Buildings — Olympic Academy and Theatre — Style ofPalladio 
 — Church of Monte Berico — Cimhri — Sette Communi — Padua — its 
 Antiqtiity, History, Literature, and University. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Vicentia or Vicenza; its circumference ; inhabitants and revolutions. ... 44 
 Architectural taste and magnificence in the public buildings 45 
 
CONTENTS. Ixv 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Olympic theatre and academy ; public exhibitions by 46 
 
 Palaces erected by Palladio 47 
 
 Palladio, his taste and genius 50 
 
 Villas round Vicenza < 52 
 
 Church of Monte Berico ib. 
 
 Political pbenouienon ib. 
 
 Vicenza to Padua 54 
 
 Antiquities and history of Padua ib. 
 
 Abbey of St. Giustina 56 
 
 Tomb of Antony of Padua 57 
 
 Tiie town-hall ; bust of Livy ; veneration shewn for that author 58 
 
 University ; its ancient celebrity ; its present state 60 
 
 Acafiemies 63 
 
 Poetical encomium on Padua by Naugerius ib. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The Brenta— Venice— its Blagnijicence, Power, Degeneracy, and Fall 
 — Return to Padua — the Environs of that City — the Pons Aponus — 
 Colles Euganei — Arquato — Villa and Tomb of Petrarcha — Obser- 
 vations on his Character. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Embark on the Brenta ; its banks described 65 
 
 Venice 67 
 
 Its origin, maturity, and declension ib. 
 
 Church of St. Mark 69 
 
 How St. Mark became the patron saint of Venice 71 
 
 Ducal palace 72 
 
 The Rial to 73 
 
 The Arsenal >•>. 
 
 Churches in Venice 75 
 
 Reflections on the extinction of Venetian liberty 76 
 
 Degeneracy of the nobles 79 
 
 State of society in Venice 80 
 
 Residence in Venice soon becomes tedious ib. 
 
 Leave Venice ib. 
 
 Return to Padua 81 
 
 Soottisayers in the Colli Euganei 83 
 
 Villa of Petrarcha at Arqudto 84 
 
 VOL. I. i 
 
Ixvi CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Place of his interment 86 
 
 Remarks upon Iiis character 87 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Visit to the Lago di Garda, or Benacus—the River Mincius — the 
 Promontory/ of Sirmio — Desensano — Storm on the Lake — Paradi- 
 sino — Batiks of the Mincius — Mantua — Pietole — Excursion to the 
 Pa — Honours paid to Virgil — Virgiliano. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Set out for the Lago di Garda or Benacus 91 
 
 Embark on the Lake at Peschiera 92 
 
 Peninsula of Sirmione >b. 
 
 Residence of Catullus 93 
 
 Desensano 94 
 
 A storm ib. 
 
 Principal features of the lake 95 
 
 A second visit to Sirmione QQ 
 
 Villa of Signor Albertini 98 
 
 The Benacus and the neighbouring country, celebrated by Fracastorius, 
 
 Naugerius, &c 99 
 
 The classic banks of the Mincius explored and described ib. 
 
 Grand view from the Castle of Valleggio 101 
 
 Virgil's farm not far from Vallegio 105 
 
 Mantua 108 
 
 Evening service in the cathedral on the festival of St. Anselmo 109 
 
 Historical sketch of Mantua 110 
 
 Celebrated bust of Virgil carried off by the French Ill 
 
 Mantuans not unmindful of their great countrymen 113 
 
 Leave Mantua ib. 
 
 Lines addressed to Mantua by Flaminius 114 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Cremona — River Addua — Placentia — the Trebia — Parma — Reggio — 
 Modena — its Library, and celebrated Librarians — 3Iiiratori — 
 Tiraboschi. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Cremona ; its history 11^ 
 
CONTENTS. Ixvii 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Cremona : its cathedral • 116 
 
 The poet Villa 117 
 
 The river Adda US 
 
 Placentia ; its history 119 
 
 Celebrated battles on the banks of the Trebia 120 
 
 The Via Emilia 122 
 
 Town of Velleia, overwhelmed by the fall of a mountain ; circumstances 
 
 respecting 'b- 
 
 Parma described 124 
 
 Masterpieces of Correggio, once the glory of Parma 125 
 
 Men of talents patronized by the Dukes of Parma 126 
 
 Reggio, the country of Ariosto 127 
 
 Modena 128 
 
 Princes of the house of Este, celebrated by Tasso and Ariosto 129 
 
 Cardinal Sadoleti ; his character ib. 
 
 Muratori and Tiraboschi, librarians to tha Duke of Modena 131 
 
 Tassoni, the author of Secchia Rapita ib. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Bologna — its University — Acadeviies — Imola — Faventia — Forli — For- 
 limpopoli — Cesen a — Rubicon — St . Marino — Rimini . 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Via Emilia, from Modena to Bologna, suggests interesting recollections. . 133 
 
 Island where the Triumvirs met '"• 
 
 Bologna, sketch of its history 1''* 
 
 Cathedral of Bologna 1^* 
 
 Church of St. Petronius •''• 
 
 La Madonna di S. Luca, a church raised by voluntary contributions.. . . 136 
 
 Devotion of the Bolognese to the Blessed Virgin 'b- 
 
 Influence of the Alps and Apennines on the climate of the adjacent 
 
 country *"' ' 
 
 Palaces of Bologna '"• 
 
 Best paintings of the celebrated Albano, at Bologna ib- 
 
 Clementine Academy "^• 
 
 The description, origin, uses, and income of that institution 138 
 
 The University of Bologna 140 
 
 Present number of students ''*, 
 
 i2 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Academies of the Inquieti and tlie Oziosi 141 
 
 Fountain in the great square of Bologna ib. 
 
 Imola, the see of the present Pope before his elevation 142 
 
 The academy of the Industriosi ib. 
 
 Faenza ib. 
 
 Present few traces of its ancient pine groves 143 
 
 Forli, Forum Livii ib. 
 
 Academy of the Filargyri ib. 
 
 Forlimpopoli ib. 
 
 Arrive at Cesena ib. 
 
 No eminence to impede the traveller till he reaches Ancona 143 
 
 Beautiful aud characteristic scenery 144 
 
 Cesena, site of 145 
 
 Birth-place of the late Pope Pius VI ib. 
 
 A stream called the Pisatello, supposed to be the Rubicon. ib. 
 
 Ancient obelisk on its northern bank destroyed by the French, i ib. 
 
 The Pisatello described ; diversity of opinions respecting its ancient name, 
 
 and the site of the Rubicon 14G 
 
 The Adriatic seen a few miles from Cesena 148 
 
 St. Marino ib. 
 
 Saviguano 149 
 
 Rimini ib. 
 
 Bridge over the ancient Ariminus, the Marecchia ib. 
 
 Triumphal arch of Augustus ib. 
 
 Port of Rimini 150 
 
 Historical sketch of Rimini ib. 
 
 CHAP. VII*. 
 
 Cattolica — Pesaro — Fano — the Metaurus and Monte Asdrubale — Sene- 
 gaglia — Ancona, its Harbor and triumphal Arch — Loretto, and the 
 Santa Cam — Tollentino — Ponte della Trave. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Pass the river Ansa ; the scenery continues the same to Ancona 152 
 
 Cattolica ib. 
 
 River Concha ib. 
 
 Town of Pesaro 153 
 
 Noble bridge over the Foglia -. ib. 
 
CONTENTS. Ixix 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Fano; one of its gates a triumphal arch • 153 
 
 At Fano the Via Flaminia turns towards the Apennines 154 
 
 The Metaro described ; its character by the ancients ib. 
 
 A decisive victory obtained over Hannibal on its banks ib. 
 
 Scene of that action , 156 
 
 Senegaglia, on the banks of tiie Negola 156 
 
 Ancona; its origin, pleasant situation, port, ancient mole, modern mole, 
 
 cathedral 157 
 
 Country from Ancona to Loretto 162 
 
 Loretto described ib. 
 
 Recanati 167 
 
 Delicious plain watered by the Pptenza ib. 
 
 Macerata , 168 
 
 Tollentino ; its situation on the banks of the Chieiiti ib. 
 
 Enter the defiles of the Apennines ib. 
 
 Picturesque site of Beleforte, an old fortress 169 
 
 Ponte de lu Trave. »'»;!<.>t»"5 'b. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Passarie of the Apennines — Foligno — Improvisatore — the Clifumnus, its 
 Temple and Vale — Spoleto — Monte Somnia — Terni — Falls of the 
 Velino — Addison's Opinion refuted — the Nar — Narni — the Tiber — 
 OtricoU — Civita Castellana — 3Iontes Cimini — Nepi Campagna — 
 Baccano — First View of Rome. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Sera Valle, with the adjacent landscape 171 
 
 Attempt of Hannibal to pass tiie Apennines 173 
 
 Ridge of the Apennines described by Lucan ib. 
 
 Appropriate passages from Petronius Arbiter, Silius Italicus, Virgil 174 
 
 Declivity of Colfiorito ib. 
 
 Curious grotto 175 
 
 An improvisatore 176 
 
 Foligno, delightfully situated ib. 
 
 Le Vene 177 
 
 One of the sources of the Clitumnus; described by the younger Pliny. . ib. 
 
 Passages in the poets suggested by the Clitumnus 179 
 
 Spoleto; the town formerly attacked by Hannibal lao 
 
Ixx CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The cathedral of Spoleto, the ancient castle, an aqueduct 181 
 
 Monte Soaima 182 
 
 Terni, the Interamna of the Romans ib. 
 
 Celebrated cascade called the Caduta delle Marmore, with the picturesque 
 
 scenery described ^ 183 
 
 Beautiful vale traversed by the Nera or Nar 188 
 
 Ancient colony of Narni ib. 
 
 Celebrated bridge of Augustus ib. 
 
 Romantic situation of the town of Narni ib. 
 
 The town, &c. described by Claudiau 189 
 
 The Tiber first beheld a few miles from Otricoli 190 
 
 Otricoli ib. 
 
 Cross the Tiber, arrive at Civita Castellana i 191 
 
 Town of Nepi ib. 
 
 Dreary solitudes of the Canipagna di Roma 192 
 
 Posthouse of Baccano 193 
 
 The pinnacle of St. Peter's appears on the heights above Baccano ib. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Reflections — Rome — St. Peter^s — the Capitol. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Reflections suggested and interesting emotions excited by the first view 
 
 of Rome 194 
 
 The sentiments which the sight of Rome and of Jerusalem awaken in the 
 
 mind 201 
 
 Cross the Tiber by the Ponte Molle 202 
 
 Hasten to St. Peter's ib. 
 
 Renewed visit to St. Peter's 203 
 
 Ascend the Capitol ; general view of the ancient and modern Rome, with 
 
 the surrounding country ib. 
 
 The Capitoline hill, as described by Virgil 207 
 
 The ancient Capitol particularly described 208 
 
 The present state of and buildings on the Capitoline mount 212 
 
CONTENTS. Ixxi 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 The Roman Forum — Coliseum — Palatine Mount — Aventine — Tomb of 
 C. Cestius — Ccelian — Saburra — Esquiline — Baths of Titus — Mi- 
 nerva Medica — Palace of Moscenas — Viminal — Quirinal — Baths of 
 Dioclesian. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Roman forum as it was in ancient times 216 
 
 Thp present and deserted appearance of the forum 217 
 
 The coliseum ; perfect in the thirteenth century ; causes of its dilapi- 
 dation 218 
 
 Arch of Constantine 220 
 
 Palatine Mount, present state of 221 
 
 Reoiains of the imperial palace ib. 
 
 An immense hall discovered in the last century ; its ancient embellish- 
 ments carried away by the Farnese family ib. 
 
 Passages in Virgil relative of the Palatine Mount 223 
 
 Aventine Mount ; ancient edifices on ib. 
 
 Tomb of Caius Cestius 224 
 
 Baths of Caracalia described 226 
 
 Ccelian Mount ; church of St. Stepbano, an ancient temple 227 
 
 Baths of Titus 228 
 
 Temple of Minerva Medica 230 
 
 Palace of Ma;cenas on the Esquiline, where Nero contemplated the 
 
 burning of Rome 2S1 
 
 The baths of Dioclesian ; a convent of Cartijusinns 232 
 
 Apotheosus of Romulus, related by Livy and Ovid ; temple dedicated to 
 
 him 233 
 
 Temple of the Sun ib. 
 
 Monte Pincio 234 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Campus Martius — its Edifices — Mausoleum of Aufjustus — Pantheon — 
 Columna Trajana — Bridges — Circus — Causes of the Destruction of 
 ancient Edijices. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Campus Martius ; its ancient state ; gradually covered with magnificent 
 
 edifices 235 
 
Ixxii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Pantheon ; contrast between its present and its past state 236 
 
 The two pillars of Antoninus and Trajan 237 
 
 Bridges formerly over the Tiber ib. 
 
 Causes of the total destruction of ancient edifices in Rome ; the true 
 
 assigned ^ 238 
 
 Numerous remains of ancient magnificence supposed to be still left 
 
 amidst the ruins; or buried under the edifices of the modern city 252 
 Ruins proved from the elevation of the ground over the whole extent of 
 
 the city ib. 
 
 The pavement of the Forum fourteen feet under its present level 253 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 MODERN ROME. 
 
 Its Population — Streets — Squares — Fountains — Tombs — Palaces. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Modern exhibits many features of ancient Rome 255 
 
 Population of modern Rome ib. 
 
 The streets ; the houses, &c. of modern Rome 256 
 
 Squares, the principal described 257 
 
 Obelisk described 258 
 
 The most remarkable obelisks in Rome 259 
 
 Fountains 260 
 
 Modern Rome supplied . with a. profusion of excellent water by three 
 
 ancient aqueducts ib. 
 
 Copious supply of water in ancient Rome 261 
 
 Numerous fountains in modern Rome, the principal described ib. 
 
 Tombs 264 
 
 Few persons buried in the jcity in ancient times ib. 
 
 Under the emperor's tombs allowed to illustrious persons in the Campus 
 
 Martins 265 
 
 Sepulchre of Augustus ib. 
 
 The mausoleum erected by the Emperor Adrian, called Moles Adriani, 
 
 at present Castel S. Angelo 266 
 
 Septironium of Severus 268 
 
 The palaces of modern Rome 270 
 
 The Doria palace 273 
 
 The Palazzo Ruspoli ih. 
 
CONTENTS. ixxiii 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Orsini Palace 074 
 
 The Palazzo Giustiniani jij^ 
 
 The Palazzo Altieri jb. 
 
 The Corsini Palace, once the residence of Christina Queen of Sweden; 
 the garden presents a complete view of Rome ; celebrated by 
 
 Martial ib. 
 
 The Villa Farnesiana , 275 
 
 The Palazzo Farnese ib. 
 
 The Palazzo Costaguti , , 276 
 
 The Palazzo Borghese ib. 
 
 The celebrated statue of Pompey iu the Palazzo Spada ; its singular 
 
 history , 27T 
 
 The Palazzo Barberini 278 
 
 The Palazzo Colonna ib. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Pontifical Palaces: the Lateran — the Quirinal — the Vatican. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Palace of the Lateran 280 
 
 The Quirinal Palace ; remarkable for an Egyptian obelisk, and for two 
 
 beautiful statues of colossal size it. 
 
 The Vatican hill 282 
 
 The Vatican, when begun ; its immense extent. 283 
 
 The walls adorned by Rafikello and Michael Angelo; the furniture 
 
 plain 284 
 
 The Scala Regia ; the Sala Regia ib. 
 
 The Cappella Paolini 285 
 
 The Cappella Sistina, exhibiting the famous " Last Judgment," of Michael 
 
 Angelo ; remarks on that picture 286 
 
 The Galleries of Raffaello 288 
 
 Remarks on the representation by Raifaello of the Eternal Father 289 
 
 The Camere di Raffaello; the fine paintings on the walls impaired by 
 
 fires lighted in the middle of each room by the soldiers of 
 
 Charles V 291 
 
 The paintings in the different halls ib. 
 
 These apartments the school of painters , , , 292 
 
 VOL. I. k 
 
Ixxiv CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 To which of the performances of Raflfaello in these apartments the prefer- 
 ence shewn ib. 
 
 The Library of the Vatican described; the number of books, and MSS; 
 
 spoliations of the French 294 
 
 The Museum Pio-Clementinuni ; begun by Clement XIV.; continued and 
 enlarged by Pius VI.; the grand collection of antiques, &c. in its 
 various apartments; the masterpieces removed by the sacrilejiious 
 
 ravage of the French 296 
 
 The apartment called II Gabinetto 298 
 
 The hall or temple of the Muses 299 
 
 The Sala Rotonda; mosaic pavement; a vast vase of porphyry ib. 
 
 The Sala a Croce Greca ; a beautiful sarcophagus 300 
 
 . The Galleria de' Candelabri ib. 
 
 The Galleria de' Quadri 301 
 
 The Abate Winkelman 303 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Churches — General Observations — St. Clement's — aS'.^. Peter in Vinculis 
 — St. Martin and St. Sylvester — St. Laurence — St. John Lateran: 
 with St. Paul afid other Patriarchal ChureJies. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Unrivalled magnificence of the Roman Churches 304 
 
 Churches erected in the time of Constantine 305 
 
 Some tempks, many basilicas converted into churches ib. 
 
 Decline and restoration of architecture perceptible in the churches 306 
 
 Few churches in Rome not objects of curiosity 309 
 
 The church of St. Clement the most ancient in Rome 310 
 
 S. Pietro in Vinculi, erected about the year 420 311 
 
 The church of S. Martino and S. Silvestro 312 
 
 The church of St. Andrea in Monte Cavallo, peculiarly beautiful 313 
 
 St. Cecilia in Trastevere; fine statue of the saint 314 
 
 S. Pietro in Montorio; the painting of the Transfiguration by Raffatllo, 
 
 supposed to be the first in the universe ; stolen by the French . . . 315 
 
 Admired chapel by Bramante ibi 
 
 The ancient church of Santa Maria in Trastevere 316 
 
 S. Grisogouo ib. 
 
CONTENTS. Ixxv 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 S. Giovanni e Paolo , 316 
 
 The, church erected by Gregory the Great; plundered by the Polish 
 
 legion 317 
 
 Burial place of Tasso ib. 
 
 Tomb erected to Tasso by the Cardinal Bevilacqua 318 
 
 Church of S. Sebastiano erected by Constantine; the principal entrance 
 
 into the catacombs ih. 
 
 The ancient temple of Vesta converted into the church of Mad<Hina del 
 
 Sole 320 
 
 The church of Santa Maria Egiziaca; the ancient temple of Fortuna 
 
 Virilis 321 
 
 The church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda in the Forum ; on the ruins of the 
 
 temple of Antoninus and Faustina ib. 
 
 The Pantheon described; the most noble specimen of Roman art; its 
 
 admirable proportions ; the temple supposed to be erected before 
 
 its portico; the changes it has undergone; when converted into a 
 
 church ; not well calculated for that purpose 324 
 
 Basilica of S. Lorenzo ; interesting by its antiquity. Hymns of Pru- 
 
 dentius and of Vida on the martyrdom of S. Laurence 327 
 
 Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the noblest churches in the world 329 
 
 Church of St. John, Lateran ; rich in decorations ; the beautiful Corsini 
 
 chapel 332 
 
 The Baptistery of St. John Lateran 336 
 
 View from the principal portico of St. John Lateran 337 
 
 The Basilica di Santa Croce „ . ib. 
 
 The Basilica of St. Paul; its ancient magnificence; its dilapidated state; 
 
 its noble collection of pillars 388 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 The Basilica Vaticana, or St. Peter s. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Basilica of St. Peter; sketch of its history ; the French had employed 
 a company of Jews to estimate and purchase the gold, &c. of the 
 inside, as well as the copper that covers the vaults and dome. . . , 342 
 
 St. Peter's particularly described 345 
 
 The Sacre Grotte, or remains of the ancient church built by Constantine; 
 
 k 2 
 
Ixxvi CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 awfiil impressions made on the mind in these dormitories of the 
 
 dead 351 
 
 The Sacristy of St. Peter's 353 
 
 Gentle ascent to the roof; objects seen from the platform ib. 
 
 The wonderful construction of the dome contemplated from the plat- 
 form 354 
 
 Critical remarks on the colonnade ; the front and nave of St. Peter's .... 366 
 
 Statues admitted into St. Peter's ; observations on 357 
 
 Pictures or Mosaic decorations 359 
 
 Concluding remarks ou the Basilica Vaticana 361 
 
 St. Peter's compared with St. Paul's in London ib. 
 
 Church of St. Genevieve at Paris 363 
 
 Cathedral of Florence 364 
 
 Santa Sophia of Coustautinople 365 
 
 The temple of Jerusalem contrasted with St. Peter's 366 
 
 No Pagan temple rivalled the extent and magnificence of St. Peter's, . . . 368 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 Original Form of Churches — Pontifical Service — Papal Benediction — 
 Ceremonies in the Holy Week — Observations. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Churches of the early Christians; not in the form of a cross; when that 
 
 form introduced 370 
 
 Screens or partitions between the chancels of churches and the nave con- 
 demned 371 
 
 Ornaments of the altar , 373 
 
 Religious ceremonial in St. Peter's ib. 
 
 The daily service of St. Peter's 374 
 
 Diviue Service celebrated by the Pope, on solemn days, described 376 
 
 The Pope's benediction yj^ 
 
 The chant or music used by the Papal choir of ancient origin ; since 
 
 vitiated by bad taste i[>. 
 
 No musical instrument but the organ admitted into St. Peter's; only voices 
 
 employed in general 33^ 
 
 Grand spect.icle in St. Peter's on the night of Good Friday 332 
 
 Skill of the Romans in public exhibitions 333 
 
 Desertion of the High Altar at St. Peter's except on solemn festivals; 
 
 remarks on the revival of primitive forms 334 
 
CONTENTS. ixxvii 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 AdJilioiial elucidations of the worship, vestments, and ceremonies of the 
 
 Catholic Church 387 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 Villas — the Tiber — the Blcmsoleum of Cecilia Metella — Egerian Grotto 
 and Fountain — Church of St. Constantia — Mons Sacer. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Rural embellishments of Ancient Rome 391 
 
 The gardens of Sallust; the palace in, when consumed; the discovery 
 
 of a temple to Venus ib. 
 
 The gardens of Lucullus 392 
 
 Villas of Modem Rome; local felicities of ib. 
 
 The Orti Farnesi; former ornaments, present neglect 394 
 
 The Villa Spada ib. 
 
 Villa Matthei ib. 
 
 Villa Negroni; the garden intersected by the Agger Tarquinii ib. 
 
 The Villa Aldobrandini 395 
 
 The Villa Ludovizi, its walks ; view of the Campagna from its summer- 
 house ; the admirable Aurora of Guercino ib. 
 
 Gardens of the Villa Medici 39g 
 
 The Orti Barberini ib. 
 
 The Bosco Parrhasio; the place of meeting of the Arcadian Academy. . . 396 
 Gardens and villas in the suburbs and neighbourhood of the city; the 
 
 magnificent Villa Pamfili or Belrespiro 397 
 
 Noble view from the Villa Mellioi on the Monte Mario, anciently Clivus 
 
 Ciunae 398 
 
 The Villa Madama 399 
 
 Villa Albani ; devastated by the French ib. 
 
 Villa Borghese, the first of the Roman villas ; its extensive gardens ; a 
 
 favourite place of resort with the Romans 400 
 
 Banks of the Tiber ; their classic charm 403 
 
 The Circus; remains of; description of its ancient arrangement, games 
 
 and regulations 405 
 
 The mausoleum of Cecilia Metella ; curious cicumstance respecti'i/ the 
 
 fo-. ation 406 
 
 The grotto and fountain of the Nymph Egeria 408 
 
 The church of St, Urban ; an ancient temple 4;j9 
 
Ixxviii CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The ancient church of St. Agnes 410 
 
 The church of St. Constantia ib. 
 
 The Mons Sacer 411 
 
 The Ponte Salaro ; historical associations 412 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Tibur — Horace s Villa. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Excursion to TivoH ; shrine of St. Laurence, lines of Vida on 413 
 
 Ponte Mamoio over the Teverone 414 
 
 The streamlet called Solfatara, and the lake with tha oracle of Faunus ; 
 
 described by Virgil ib. 
 
 The Villa of Adrian ; view from; its ancient magnificence 416 
 
 Tivoli ; its site ; the town ; and local attractions, particularly the falls 
 
 of the Anio, the grotto of the Naiad, and temple of Vesta 417 
 
 Supposed villa of Horace 421 
 
 Tiburtine retreat of Catullus ; villa of Munatius Plancus 423 
 
 The Cascatelli, or lesser cascades ; their picturesque beauties ib. 
 
 Temple of Minerva Medica 42.5 
 
 The villa of Mecsenas ; its remains ib. 
 
 Beauties of Tibur, described by Horace 427 
 
 Vico Varo 428 
 
 Claudian aqueduct over the Anio ib. 
 
 Mandela ; the Licenza, anciently the Digentia 429 
 
 The village of Rocca Giovane on the site of the Fanum Vacunae 430 
 
 Mount Lucretilis described ib. 
 
 Horace's villa; only traces of ; its situation ; objects in its vicinity cor- 
 responding with the description of Horace 431 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 The AUmn Mount and Lake — Tuscidum and Cicero's Villa — Aricia, 
 and the Grove and Temple of Diana — the Lake of Nemi, and 
 Palace of Trajan — Antium — Forests and Plains of Laurentum — 
 Ostia — Mouth of the Tiber. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Excursion to the Alban Mount 435 
 
CONTENTS. Ixxix 
 
 PAGE^ 
 
 Theatre of the combat between tbe Horatii and Curiatii 435 
 
 Tbc town of Albano; scene of the last six Books of the Iliad; the Alban 
 
 lake, delightful walks round 437 
 
 Grotta Ferrata ; the Tusculan villa of Cicero described 438 
 
 No remains of Cicero's villa ; the plane tree still loves the soil 441 
 
 The town of Tusculum ; its ruins 442 
 
 Town of Trescati 443 
 
 The town of La Riccia, anciently Aricia 444 
 
 The town of Gensano ; the lake of Nemi ; a temple of Diana 445 
 
 The priest of Diana ; how obtained his office 446 
 
 Fountain of Egeria at Nemi, mentioned by Ovid ; singular palace of 
 
 Trajan in the lake of Nemi 447 
 
 Temple of Jupiter Latiaris ; interesting views from 449 
 
 Autium, the capital of the Volsci ; its port ; the temple of Fortune men- 
 tioned by Horace ; its present state 451 
 
 Astura, an island formerly belonging to Cicero ; temple erected to his 
 
 daughter Tullia 452 
 
 Ostia; classical recollections ; the present town ; the ruins of the old ... ib. 
 Laurentum ; Prattica, the old Lavinium ; Ardea; the Laurentia Syiva. . . 456 
 The Emperor Commodus retires to Laurentum 457 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 Journey to Naples — Valletri — Pomptine Marshes — Feronia — Terracina^ 
 
 Anxur — Fondi and its Lake — Mount Ccecubus — Gaifta — Cicero'' s 
 Villa and Tomb — Liris — Mount Massicus — Fulernus Ager — Naples. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Set out for Naples ; a storm ; 458 
 
 The ancient town of Velletri 459 
 
 Torre de tre Ponti, formerly Tripiintium; Forum Appii 460 
 
 Commeucemeut of the Pomptine Marshes ; an excellent road through 
 
 them ; crossed by the Ufcus and the Amasenus ib. 
 
 Conjecture respecting the Pomptine marshes ; ancient state of; succes- 
 sive attempts to drain; finally accomplished by Pope Pius VL 
 
 in 1788 ib. 
 
 The difference between former attempts- to drain the Pomptine marshes 
 
 and that under Pope Pius VL 466 
 
Ixxx CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Description of the Pomptine marshes when crossed by the Author 466 
 
 Cora, Sezza (Setia), Piperno (Privernum) 467 
 
 Sridge over the Amasenus 408 
 
 Scenery near the Amasenus, similar to that described by Virgil ib. 
 
 Fountain of Feronia 469 
 
 Old and new town of Terraciua ib. 
 
 The ancient Anxur ; picturesque site of Terracina 470 
 
 Promontory of Circe seen from Terracina 471 
 
 Passo di Portella, boundary of the Roman and Neapolitan territories .... 472 
 
 Lacus Fundauus ib. 
 
 Fondi on the Via Appia ib. 
 
 Itri 473 
 
 Mount Caecubus, Prochyta, Formiae, now Mola 474 
 
 Gaieta ; the harbour described by Homer 475 
 
 Formian villa of Cicero and tomb 476 
 
 Remains of an aqueduct to Miaturnae ; ruins of Bliuturnae ; its marshes.. 478 
 
 Enter Campania ; the river Liris 479 
 
 Mount Massicus ; Monte Ofellio ; Suessa Aurunca 480 
 
 Froncolisi ; the Falernus Ager; remarks on the wines of Italy in ancient 
 
 and modern times 481 
 
 Arrival at Naples ; view from an inn on the sea shore 485 
 
 CHAP. XXL 
 
 Naples — its History — Public Buildings — Churches — Hospitals — State 
 of Literature at Naples. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Naples ; sketch of its history 487 
 
 Present state of Naples 490 
 
 The Cathedral of Naples 491 
 
 The Church of the Santi Apostoli 492 
 
 Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, erected by Pontanus 493 
 
 The tomb of the poet Marini 494 
 
 Three beautiful statues in the Sepulchral Chapel of the family San 
 
 Severo ib. 
 
 The church Del Parto ; erected on the Villa Mergyllina of Sannazarius ; 
 
 the tomb of that poet ; his epitaph by Bembo 495 
 
 Charitable establishments at Naples ; the two principal hospitals 499 
 
CONTENTS. Ixxxi 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Remarks on tbe burial of the dead in churches, &c 500 
 
 Benevolent custom in the Neapolitan hospil.ils 504 
 
 Coustrvatorii, or schools for poor children of both sexes ; Naples the 
 
 grcht school of music '■"• 
 
 Charitable confraternities 505 
 
 Palaces at Najjlcs 5<*7 
 
 Noble collection of statues in the Studii, or University ; Lib) ary of the 
 
 Stiidii 508 
 
 The literati of Naples ; their number and excellence ; Italian writers and 
 
 lileriif lire contrasted ivith the French ib. 
 
 Local attractions of Naples 511 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 VirgiVs Tomb — Grotto of PosiUpo — Lnrio D'Aynano — Grotto del Cane 
 
 — Astroni — Nisida — Pozzuolo Cicero's Academia and Cuman 
 
 Villa. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The celebrated Farnesian bull in the royal garden at Naples 513 
 
 A visit to Virgil's tomb ; difterent accounts and conjectures respecting. . . 514 
 
 Grotto of Posilipo 520 
 
 Vircil's tomb, the retreat of assassins 521 
 
 The picturesque locality of the tomb 521 
 
 Excursion to tbe Lago d'Aguano ; singular grotto described 522 
 
 Villa of Lucullus near the Lago d'Agnano 524 
 
 The Grotto del Cane ; its pernicious exhalations 525 
 
 Astroni, once the crater of a volcano, now a forest 526 
 
 Isli.nd of Nisida ib. 
 
 ENcursion to Puteoli ; tlie scenery on the way ib. 
 
 Local advantages of Puteoli (Pozzuolo), as a sea-port; ancient splendor 
 
 of Puteoli 527 
 
 Remains of the temple of Jupiter Serypis, and of tbe \Dole at Puteoli. . . 529 
 Cicero's villa called Puteolanum, and Academia 531 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
Ixxxii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 Partus Julius-^Lacus Iflicrinus — Avernus, Observations on its original 
 State — Bay and Castle of Baiee^Porf of 3Iisenus — 3Iare Morto — 
 Elysian Fields — Promontory and Town of Misenus — Solfutara — 
 Liternum, Scipio's Retreat — Cnmee — Grotto of the Sybil. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Lanteriui di Porto Giulio ; remains of a mole belonging to a harbour 
 
 undertaken by Agrippa in the Lucrine lake 533 
 
 The Lucrine lake, now a muddy pool ; a conical mountain in Uie 
 
 centre &34 
 
 The lake Avernus described; opinions of the ancients respecting ib. 
 
 Subterraneous gallery ; called Grotto della Sibilla ; other subterraneous 
 Galleries; cavern corresponding with that described by Virgil ; 
 
 remarks on subterraneous abodes 538 
 
 The bay of Baife lined with ruins ; the taste of the Romans for building 
 
 in the waters exemplified 542 
 
 Baths called Terme di Nerone ib. 
 
 Temple of Venus 543 
 
 Castle of Baiae 544 
 
 Edifice called the tomb of Agrippina ib. 
 
 Cento Camerelle 546 
 
 Piscina Mirabile described, conjecture respecting ib. 
 
 The port of Misenus 547 
 
 •Mare Morto ib. 
 
 Description of the Elysian Fields, Campi E,!isi, embellislied by Virgil .... 548 
 Promontory of Misenus ; ruins on ; villas of the ancients in the neigh- 
 bourhood 549 
 
 Solfatara ; scenery of copied by Milton and other poets , 551 
 
 Excursion to Cumae 553 
 
 Liternum, the residence of Scipio Africanus ; his villa remaining in the 
 
 time of Seneca ib. 
 
 Cavern, called the Grotto of the Sybil 554 
 
 Ancient and present state of Cumse 556 
 
CONTENTS. Ixxxiii 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Bay and Castle of Procida — Evening Hymn — Beautiful View, Obser- 
 vations — the Island of Vivara — Ischia — its Blountains, Eruptions, 
 Appearance, and Population — Nisida — Vesuvius. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Procida ; its locality ; the bay ; the castle ; the setting sua viewed from ; 
 
 an evening scene 559 
 
 An evening hymn 561 
 
 A beautiful morning view from the castle of Procida; the charms of 
 
 landscape heightened by historical and other associations. Ex- 
 
 empliticatious of the remark ib. 
 
 Island of Vivara 569 
 
 The island of Ischia ; the town ; tiie mountain, its eruptions 570 
 
 Epopeus, now Epomes ; cultivation, towns, local attractions 571 
 
 Nisida, once the retreat of Brutus 574 
 
 Visit to Vesuvius ; the topography of the mountain ; present state of the 
 
 crater; prospect from the summit; eruptions of the mountain. . . ib. 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 Herculaueum — Papyri — Torre del Greco — Pompeii j its Theatres, 
 Temple, Porticos, and Villa, general Appearance and Effect — Excur- 
 cursion to the Aqueduct, and Palace of Caserta. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Portici ; under it the city of Herculaneum at the depth of seventy feet ; 
 
 accidental discovery of; excavations by the Prince D'Elbeuf 582 
 
 Palace erected by the Neapolitan government on the site of Hercula- 
 neum ; subsequent excavations of Herculaneum ; ancient trea- 
 sures extracted from 583 
 
 Manuscripts discovered at Herculaneum ; mode of unrolling ; the process 
 
 superintended by Mr. Hayter 584 
 
 Excursion to Pompeii 686 
 
 Torre del Greco ; effects of the last eruption of Vesuvius on 587 
 
 Palus Porapeiana 589 
 
 The quarters of a Roman legion described ib. 
 
 Tw ancient theatres ib. 
 
Ixxxiv CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Temple of Isis; other remains of the ancient town 590 
 
 Portico 591 
 
 A villa, the most curious object yet discovered at Pompeii 592 
 
 General description of llie houses at Pompeii 593 
 
 Destruction of Pompeii ; manner in which it took place; circumstances 
 
 respeciing 594 
 
 Deep interest excited by the view of Pompeii 599 
 
 Ancient town of Acerra 600 
 
 Valley of Maddaloni ; an immense bridge in; part of the celebrated 
 
 aqueduct of Caserta 601 
 
 The palace of Caserta described ; and criticised; and observations on 
 
 other palaces 602 
 
ARCHIVE 
 
 iJinit 
 
 fHI TlTe Getty 
 
 fo [({out/map 
 
 not digitized 
 
A CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM VIENNA— MUNICH — SALTZBUHG — SALT MINES- 
 DEFILE OF THE ALPS— INSPRUCK— ASCENT OP THE BRENNER 
 
 SUaiMIT OF THE ALPS DESCENT BRIXEN BOLSANO 
 
 TRENT. '^ 
 
 Some travellers, having set out from England during the 
 summer of 1801, met at Vienna the following autumn; and 
 finding that their views and tastes coincided, agreed to make the 
 tour of Italy together. Although eager to commence their 
 journey, and reach its confines, they Avere detained by the 
 charms of the Austrian capital, which, since the manners of 
 Paris have been barbarized by the Revolution, has become the 
 seat of politeness, and the school of refinement. An account 
 of the state of society, as well as a description of the city itself, 
 would be both entertaining and instructive ; but, as Italy is the 
 grand object of these volumes, the reader will probably be as 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 impatient as the travellers themselves, and dispense with details, 
 which, however amusing elsewhere, would here only retard them 
 in their progress towards that classic region. We shall, there- 
 fore, reserve the description of this city, as well as that of Munich 
 and the intermediate country, for our German tour, and only 
 inform the reader, that on Thursday, January the twenty-eighth, 
 1802, Ave withdrew from the attractions of Vienna, and com- 
 menced our journey, which we continued through deep snow, 
 with little interruption, till we reached Munich, where we 
 arrived late at night on the following Monday. We devoted 
 four days to the inspection of this capital, and the usual cere- 
 monies of presentation at court; and in justice to the Elector 
 I must add, that by his affability and condescension, he con- 
 verted this formality, in general dull and tiresome, into a very 
 pleasing interview. 
 
 On Friday the fifth of February, we set out from Munich at 
 eleven o'clock at night. At break of day the Alps, just 
 reddened by the beams of the morning, and mingling with the 
 clouds, presented to our eyes a new and interesting object, and 
 continued to attract our attention during the day, by shifting 
 their situation with the Avindings of the road, and changing their 
 tints with every shadow that flitted over them. We entered 
 3alt?;burg late in the evening. 
 
 We are now at the foot of the Alps ; and considering our- 
 selves as treading classical ground, we may be allowed to ex- 
 patiate more at large on the surrounding scenery. The moun- 
 tains, now rising immediately before us, were represented by 
 the ancients as an insuperable rampart raised by nature to 
 separate Italy from the less favoured regions of the north, and 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 3 
 
 to protect lier beauties and her treasures from the assault 
 of barbarian invaders.* Though this natural barrier has long- 
 ceased to answer that object, because one or other of the 
 petty powers possessing the defiles has usually been in the 
 interests of the common enemies, yet it is well calculated for 
 such a purpose ; and may, in times more favourable to Italy, 
 be rendered a frontier far more impenetrable than the triple 
 range of fortresses, which guarded the northern boundaries of 
 France, and on a late occasion saved that country from invasion 
 and ruin. These defiles, according to the same authors, were 
 opened with incredible labour by the early inhabitants of Italy, 
 and may be regarded as so many avenues leading to the garden 
 of Europe. Saltzburg, a subalpine city, is placed, as if to 
 guard the entrance into the grand defile, which traverses the 
 Rhetian Alps ; and it may be considered, for that reason, as 
 forming one of the outposts of Italy. The cathedral is built of 
 fine stone, and has two towers in front. It is said to be one of 
 the earliest specimens of Italian architecture in Germany, and 
 is fashioned internally on the Roman model ; that is, with the 
 choir behind the altar, and a canopy over the latter, supported 
 by four marble pillars, an exact copy, as our guide pretended, 
 of a similar ornament in St. Peter's ; yet, with all these supposed 
 advantages, this church is neither large nor beautiful, and has 
 little to boast of besides its solidity. 
 
 There are two palaces belonging to the Prince Bishop. In 
 one there are several very fine rooms, in the other a spacious 
 and most magnificent gallery. But the most striking object 
 
 * Herodian, II. 39, viii. 2. 
 B 2 
 
4 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 that Saltzburg presents, is a very noble gateway cut through 
 the soUd rock, which rises perpendicuhirly to a considerable 
 elevation, is crowned with tall and spreading elms, and forms a 
 natural rampart equally strong and beautiful. Through this 
 mass of stone a passage has been opened, three hundred feet in 
 length, thirty in height, and twenty four in breadth. The in- 
 scription, in honour of the bishop who executed this noble 
 work, is neat and appropriate — Te saxa loquuntur. This grotto 
 opens on a little square, the principal ornament of which is an 
 equestrian statue of St. Sigismund, in dress, attitude, and form, 
 extremely classical. 
 
 The situation of this city is, however, its principal beauty and 
 advantage ; in a valley watered by the Salza, open only to the 
 north, and enclosed on the other sides by hills and mountains of 
 various forms and magnitude. Upon one of these hills, imme- 
 diately contiguous to the town, stands the citadel, an edifice 
 large and roomy, but ill supplied, ill furnished, and ill sup- 
 ported. The bishops of Saltzburg indeed, like all the petty 
 princes of Germany, rely more upon the watchfulness and 
 jealousy of the greater powers, than upon their own strength, 
 for defence and independence. But, however neglected the 
 citadel may be, its situation is very bold and commanding. 
 Behind it, on the eminence, is a beautiful walk ; and from an 
 oak near this walk, expands a most romantic view, extending 
 over fertile vales, deep dells, rocks and crags, hills and moun- 
 tains. The descent from this lofty site is worked in the rock, 
 and formed into regular flights of steps. It brought us undeif 
 the wall to the gate which I have already described. 
 
 Among the mountains in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 6 
 
 town, the Unterberg is the most conspicuous. Rough, craggy, 
 and wooded, it seems to frown upon the city and vale below; 
 and by its shaggy mass, and dark sullen appearance, forcibly 
 attracts the attention. Popular tradition, which seldom fails to 
 select appropriate scenery for its Avayward tales, has converted 
 the Unterberg into a place of confinement for certain perturbed 
 spirits, or rather made it the haunt of a club of infernal sports- 
 men. Confined to the bowels of the mountain during the day, 
 and perhaps doomed there to undergo certain unknown chastise- 
 ments, these hapless spirits are said to fill the cavern Avith groans 
 and shrieks, and yells so loud, as to pierce the surface of the 
 earth, and not unfrequently to reach the ear of the lonely Avood- 
 man. But at night the dungeon is opened, the imprisoned 
 spirits are at liberty, and the Avoods, that overhang the steep 
 broAvs of the mountain, echo with the sound of an infernal 
 trumpet, the barking of hellish dogs, and shouts too deep and 
 loud to proceed from mortal organs. Tradition does not say, 
 that the sportsmen haA'e ever condescended to shew themselves 
 to any human being; but it is reported, that at midnight, flames 
 of a blueish tint and various sizes have been seen traversing the 
 forests of the Unterberg Avitli the velocity of lightning ; and these 
 flames the people have turned into hounds and horses, huntsmen 
 and beast, all of fire. Some conjecture, that the chief of these 
 restless sportsm.en is one of the former bishops, Avho, like many 
 of his German brethren, in ages not very remote, was accustomed 
 to pass in the chace the hours and days Avhich he ought to have 
 devoted to the duties of his station. Others pretend, that it Avas 
 a Count, or, what Avas nearly the same thing in certain periods of 
 German history, a robber, Avho had built a castle amid the fast', 
 nesses of the Unterberg, and used to employ his days in pursuing 
 and arresting travellers, ravaging the fields and vallies beloAV, 
 
CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and compelling all the country round to pay him tribute. It 
 would be difficult to decide the question, as the bishop and the 
 Count seem both to have a fair claim to the manorial honours of 
 the Unterberg: we shall therefore wave the discussion of this 
 knotty point ; and the more readily, as the invisible horn has now 
 ceased to sound, the infernal pack no longer disturb the silence 
 of the Unterberg, and the spirits of the chace have either 
 fulfilled the days of their punishment, or are sent to sport in 
 solitudes less liable to observation. The Unterberg, however, is 
 not the only mountain in Germany supposed to be the haunt of 
 infernal hunters. 
 
 The salt mines at Halleim, about four miles from Saltzburg, are 
 deservedly celebrated. The entrance is near the summit of a 
 mountain, and the ascent, though over a good road, long and 
 tedious. Near the summit is a village with a handsome church. 
 Seeing a crowd assembled round the door of a public house, we 
 were informed, that they were celebrating a jubilee, on the fiftieth 
 anniversary of the marriage of an old couple, and, at the same 
 time, the wedding of a grandson. As soon as we were observed, 
 we were immediately invited in, and treated with cake, wine, 
 and beer. The dance was going on merrily, and some of our 
 party joined in it, con spirito; a circumstance which seemed to 
 give much satisfaction. The persons of the younger damsels 
 were not uncomely, nor Avere their countenances Avithout ex- 
 pression : but their dress was such as would have disfigured far 
 more perfect forms, and turned beauty itself into deformity. 
 To enliven the dance, they now and then clapped their hands, 
 and uttered a shriek very grating to ears unaccustomed to the 
 tones of Alpine merriment. We departed, pleased with the 
 novelty of the scene, and still more with the hospitality of the 
 good people. 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 7 
 
 At length we reached the summit, and entered the mines by 
 a long subterranean gallery, which terminated in the mouth of 
 the first descent. We there accoutred ourselves in miners' 
 dresses, and shd down five hundred feet, in a manner perfectly 
 safe and commodious. It is managed thus. The shaft may be 
 about four feet broad, and about five high, worked above into 
 the form of an arch. The line may diverge about thirty feet in 
 the hundred from the perpendicular. The space in the middle 
 is hollowed and worked into steps. On each side of these steps 
 at about a foot distance, runs a pole like the side of a ladder. 
 On these poles a miner reclines with his feet extended, so that 
 the poles pass under his knees and under his arms. A traveller 
 places himself behind him in the same posture, but so close, as 
 to rest the inside of his knees on the miner's shoulders. The 
 others follow the example, and form a line, in such a manner, 
 that the one above always rests gently on the shoulders of the 
 one below. Another miner generally goes in the middle, and a 
 third closes the rear. The first miner regulates the motion, and 
 if he finds it necessary to check or stop it entirely, he needs only 
 to put his foot backward, and touch one of the steps behind. The 
 miners carry torches made of the fir tree. When the line is 
 formed, upon a signal given, the miner undermost lets the ropes 
 loose, (for two ropes run parallel with the poles, and nearly 
 touch them), and glides down with great rapidity. We suddenly 
 found ourselves in an immense hall, lighted up with a prodi- 
 gious number of candles. This hall was very long and broad, 
 but extremely low, and as the cieling Avas flat, unsupported 
 either by pillars or props, and apparently of very cmmbling 
 materials, it was natural to feel some apprehension of its giving 
 way. The miners, however, tranquillized us, by assuring us 
 that such accidents never happened, however probable they 
 
8 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 might appear. The sides Avere adorned here and there with 
 basso rehevos of different bishops, rudely worked in the earth or 
 rock. The lights, as I said above, were numerous; but instead 
 of being reflected from a great Variety of spars and shining 
 minerals, which a traveller might naturally expect to find in a 
 salt mine, the blaze falls sullen and dead from the walls, and 
 serves only to shew the thickness of the surrounding gloom. 
 From this hall we passed into a gallery, and thence descended, 
 ill the same manner as before, into a second, a third, and a 
 fourth, of nearly the same form and dimensions. These halls are 
 used for the following purpose : the salt is worked from the 
 sides and cieling ; then water is let in, and kept confined for 
 some time, after which it is drained away and the salt remains 
 deposited on the floor. 
 
 We quitted the mine with as much facility as we entered. We 
 were placed astride a long bench ; one miner moved before to 
 guide, two others were placed behind to push this bench down a 
 gently inclined plane. After some minutes of rapid motion, av'c 
 perceived the appearance of a star, which gradually increased 
 upon us, till we were launched once more into full day. The exit 
 is as picturesque as the entrance is gloomy. It opens under a 
 cliff", clad with brambles growing out of its crevices, and over- 
 hung with pines and firs, clinging to the sides, and bending from 
 the brows of the precipice. On one side, a torrent bursting from 
 the cragg, tumbles from steep to steep, till it engulphs itself in a 
 deep shaded dell; and on the other, far below, stretches the 
 town of Halleim, with its white houses and spire. On our exit, 
 the miners presented each of us with a little box, containing 
 specimens of salt. They were very beautiful in colour and 
 shape, but are not easily preserved, as they crumble into dust 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 9 
 
 by the motion of the carriage, and are dissolved by the least 
 humidity. On the whole, our visit to the mines of Halleim was 
 a very pleasant, and not unimproving excursion. 
 
 Our stay at Saltzburg was much enlivened by the hospitality of 
 Prince J. Schwartzenburgh, a canon of the cathedral, to whom the 
 Princess of Schwartzenburgh had obligingly recommended us. 
 This young nobleman entertained us with great splendour, pointed 
 out to us the most interesting objects, introduced us to tlie best 
 company at his dinners, concerts, and suppers, and rendered the 
 place so agreeable, that we fixed the day of our departure with no 
 small reluctance. We must ever retain a grateful recollection of 
 his attention and kindness. 
 
 February the 10th. About nine in the morning we set off from 
 Saltzburg. A thick fog hung over the surrounding scenery. We 
 could only perceive that the road ran over a plain, naked in ge- 
 neral, but occasionally ornamented with villages, whose graceful 
 spires at intervals attracted our attention. After having crossed 
 the plain, wc reached the skirts of a vast mountain, presenting 
 at first, a black indistinct mass, which cast a dark shade on the 
 fog that enveloped it, and then just displayed its fir-clad summit 
 so far above the mist, that it appeared to hang in the air, and to 
 belong to some other region. 
 
 Reichenhall is a well-built little town, or rather village, re- 
 markable for its salt works, and in a prosperous condition. 
 We were now at the very foot of the Alps, and entered their 
 defiles at a place called Unkin, about one mile from Reich- 
 enhall. The road first sweeps along the base of a noble emi- 
 nence covered with firs ; a church spire rises on the side of a hill ; 
 and on the summit of the same hill stands a castle in ruins. 
 Proceeding, on wards wc come to the foot of the precipice, which 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
10 CLAS.S1CAL TOUR 
 
 with its castle oveihaugs the road in tremendous majesty. We 
 then enter a dell, a sudden turn of which presents on one 
 side a vast mountain clad with firs ; while on the other the preci- 
 pice, girded with a zone of forest trees, increases in height 
 and grandeur, and, swrmounted with the old rampart Avails, looks 
 like the battlemented dwelling of a race of giants. In front, an 
 immense mass, covered with a hundred woods; and half wrapped 
 in fogs and clouds, obstructs the view, and forms an awful 
 foreground to the picture. Still continuing to ascend, we wind 
 along the dell, with a torrent murmuring by the road side, and all 
 around mountains in various shapeless forms, increasing in height, 
 shagginess, and horror. 
 
 The scene was here truly tremendous. The defile is very narrow, 
 leaving space only for the road and the torrent. The mountains 
 rise on each side so nearly perpendicular, that the vast forests 
 oTOwing on their sides cast a dismal shade over the road, and 
 loaded as they were with a weight of snow, seemed ready to fall, 
 and bury the traveller as he passed below. Now and then, a 
 chasm broke the uniformit}^ of this gloomy scenery, and pre- 
 sented an object less dark, but equally terrific — a torrent arrested 
 in its fall by the frost, hanging from the brow of a crag in solid 
 masses, and terminating in immense pointed icicles. The least 
 of these icicles, if detached from the sheet above, Avould have 
 crushed the whole party; and, when contemplated thus suspended 
 over our head^,jamjam lapsiira cadentiqiie adsimilh, could not fail 
 to excite some emotions of terror. Whenever the mountains re- 
 ceded and sloped backwards, they only enabled us to discover 
 forests rising above each other, and swelling into new regions, till 
 they concealed their extent and elevation in the clouds. The 
 snow lay deep on the road, and on the approach of night 
 began to fall again in great quantities. We moved slowly on ; 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 11 
 
 and when night set in, with all the darkness of the season, 
 our situation appeared such as might have discouraged even 
 experienced travellers. In fact, after some hours' exertion, and 
 very little progress, our drivers were seriously alarmed, and en- 
 treated us to allow them to return with their horses, before the 
 depth of the snow, which was every moment increasing, should 
 render the roads impassable. They promised to come to our 
 assistance early in the morning, with a sufficient number of per- 
 sons to remove the snow, and enable us to proceed. This pro- 
 posal, as may be supposed, was rejected, and the drivers were, 
 partly by representations, and partly by threats, induced to 
 remain. All the horses were put alternately to each carriage, 
 whilst we proceeded on foot, and with no small difficulty at 
 length reached the post house, Avhere we took sledges, and con- 
 tinued our journey at the rate of ten miles an hour, - 
 
 We reached St. John at a late hour. A neat collegiate 
 church is the only remarkable object in this little town. 
 
 February 11th. The scenery this day did not appear so 
 grand and awful as on the preceding ; whether this part of the 
 defile be more open, or whether our eyes were more accus- 
 tomed to its gloomy magnificence I know not ; but I believe the 
 former to be the case, as the road gradually ascends, and conse- 
 quently the elevation of the mountains apparently diminishes ; 
 whereas, while at the bottom of the defile, we beheld the whole 
 mass of the Alps in full elevation above us. I need not, I suppose, 
 caution even the untravelled reader against a mistake, into which 
 some have fallen, that any of the passages through the Alps crosses 
 the ridges, or even approaches the summits of these mountains. 
 The various roads traversing the Alps are conducted through as 
 many defiles, and were probably traced out by the paths, that 
 
 c 2 
 
12 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 have served from time immemorial as means of communication 
 between the fertile valleys that lie interspersed up and down the 
 windings of this immense chain. These defiles are always water- 
 ed, and were perhaps formed, by streams incessantly gliding down 
 from the eternal snows that mantle the highest regions : these 
 streams, increasing as they descend, work their way between the 
 rocks, and continue for ever opening and enlarging their channels. 
 Such is the Inn that now bordered our road, and such is the Salza 
 still nearer the plains of Bavaria. When therefore it is asked, 
 Avho first crossed the Alps, or opened such a particular passage over 
 these mountains, the question means only, what general or what 
 army first forced a way through this immense barrier, or made 
 such a particular track or path practicable ? Of these tracks, that 
 which we are now pursuing seems to have been one of the most an- 
 cient and most frequented. The first people who passed it in a body 
 were probably the Gauls ; that race ever restless, wandering, and 
 ferocious, who have so often since forced the mighty rampart, 
 which nature raised to protect the fertile provinces of Italy 
 from the rapacity of northern invaders. Of a tribe of this 
 people, Livy sa3s, * that in the consulship of Spurius 
 Posthumius Albinus, and Quintus Marcus Philippus, that is, 
 in the year of Rome 566, they passed the Alps by roads till 
 then undiscovered, and entering Italy, turned towards Aquileia. 
 Upon this occasion, contrary to their usual practice, they came 
 in small numbers, and rather in the character of suppliants than 
 enemies. But the most remarkable army that ever crossed these 
 mountains was that of the Cimbri, who in less than a century 
 after the above mentioned period, climbed the Rhctian Alps, 
 and rushed like a torrent down the Tridentine defile. The first 
 successes and final destruction of this horde of savages are well 
 
 * L. xxxix. 22. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 13 
 
 known. At length Augustus, irritated by the lawless and plun- 
 dering spirit of some of the Rhetian tribes, sent a Roman army 
 into their territory under Drusus, who in a very short space of 
 time entirely broke the spirit of the mountaineers, brought their 
 country into perfect subjection, and opened a commodious com- 
 munication through the whole range of Alps that bears their 
 name. This expedition is celebrated by Horace, and forms the 
 subject of one of his most spirited productions.* Ever since this 
 event, this road has been frccjuented, and always considered as the 
 best and safest passage from the Transalpine regions to Italy. 
 
 As we had set out late, darkness fell upon us before we had made 
 any very considerable progress, and deprived us of the view of 
 the celebrated vale of Inspruck. We travelled nearly the whole 
 night, and entered that city about four o'clock in the morning. 
 
 Inspruck is the capital of the Tyrol, a large Alpine province 
 of the Austrian empire, and as it was once the residence of a 
 sovereign prince, is still the seat of government, and has fre- 
 quently been visited by the emperors. It possesses some noble 
 edifices, more remarkable however, as is usual in Germany, 
 for magnitude than for beauty. The style of architecture, 
 therefore, both of the palace and the churches, is, as may be 
 expected, below criticism ; and, when I mention the great hall 
 in the palace, I point out to the traveller almost the only building 
 that deserves his notice. To this I will add another object, that 
 has a claim upon his attention far superior to any that can be 
 derived from mere architectural beauty. It is a little chapel, 
 erected upon a very melancholy and interesting occasion. It is 
 well known that the Emperor Francis the First, husband to the 
 
 * L. iv. 4. 
 
14 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 celebrated Maria Teresa, died suddenly at Inspruck. He was 
 going to the Opera, and while walking through the passage 
 from the palace to the theatre, he fell down, and instantly ex- 
 pired. He was conveyed to the nearest room, which happened 
 to be that of a servant, and there laid upon a miserable bed. 
 Attempts were made to bleed him, but to no purpose ; and it is 
 stated, that for a considerable time the body remained with 
 the blood trickling slowly from the arm, unnoticed, and 
 unattended by a servant of any description. The Em- 
 press, who loved him with unusual tenderness, shortly after 
 raised an altar on the very spot where he fell, and, clearing the 
 space around, erected over it a chapel. Both the chapel and 
 the altar are, though plain, extremely beautiful, and a pleasing 
 monument both of the affection and taste of the illustrious 
 widow. This princess, then in the full bloom of youth and 
 beauty, and the first sovereign in Europe in title and territorial 
 possessions, continued ever after to wear mourning ; and to some 
 subsequent matrimonial overtures, is said to have replied in the 
 animated lines of Virgil, 
 
 Ille, meos primus qui me sibi junxit amores, 
 Abstulit, ille liabeat secum servetque sepulcro ! 
 
 The inscription runs as follows, and breathes more grief than elegance. 
 
 D: O: M. 
 
 Memoriae eternae fati, quo 
 
 Princeps optimus 
 
 Throni decus 
 
 Populi Deliciae 
 
 Franciscus D: G: Rom: Imp: Aug: 
 
 Germ: & Jerus Rex 
 
 M: D: Het: Loth et Bur: D. 
 
 XVIII Aug: MDCCLXV 
 
 Vitas hie loci et nobis ereptus 
 
 Monumentum posteritati positum — 
 
THROUGH ITALY. U 
 
 I shall sa}' nothing of the magnificent cenotaph of the Emperor 
 Maximilian in the church of the Franciscans, with its sculp- 
 tured pannels and bronze statues, nor of the humble cells of the 
 Archduke of the same name in the convent of the Capuchins, but 
 proceed to a much nobler object than either, the vale of Inspruck. 
 This vale is perhaps the most extensive and most beautiful of 
 all that lie in the Northern recesses of the Alps. It is about 
 thirty miles in length, and, where widest, as in the neighbourhood 
 of Inspruck, about six in breadth. It is watered by the Innj 
 anciently the CEnus, which glides through it, intersecting it nearly 
 in the middle, and bestowing freshness and fertility as it winds 
 along. The fields that border it are in high cultivation, finely 
 adorned with every sj^ecies of forest trees, enlivened Avith towns 
 and villages, and occasionally graced with the ruins of a castle, 
 frowning in shattered majesty from the summit of a precipice. 
 Large woods line the skirts and clothe the sides of the neigh- 
 bouring mountains, and, with the ragged misshapen rocks that 
 swell above them, form a frame worthy of a picture so exten- 
 sive and beautiful. In the southern extremity of this vale, 
 stands Inspruck ; and behind it rises a long ridge, forming part 
 of the craggy pinnacles of the Brenner, one of the loftiest moun- 
 tains of the Tyrolian Alps. 
 
 About five miles North of Inspruck is the town of Hall, fa- 
 mous for its salt works ; and about four miles on the opposite 
 side, on a bold eminence, stands embosomed in trees, the castle of 
 Ambras. This edifice is of very ancient date, and its size, form, 
 and furniture are Avell adapted to its anticjuity. Its exterior is 
 dignified with turrets, spires, and battlements ; and its large halls 
 are hung with spears, shields, and helmets, and lined with the 
 forms of hostile knights, mounted upon their palfreys, with 
 visors down and spears couched, as if ready to rush forward in 
 
16 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 battle. The smaller apartments are fitted up with less attention 
 to Gothic propriety than to utility, and contain various natural 
 curiosities, intermingled with gems, medals, and pictures. 
 
 Though at Inspruck we had made a considerable progress 
 in the defile, yet Ave had not risen in elevation so much as might 
 be imagined ; for that city is said to be no more than fifteen 
 hundred feet above the level of the sea. But, about three miles 
 further, the road suddenly turns, and the traveller begins in rea- 
 lity to work up the steep. The road is well contrived to lessen 
 the labour of ascent, winding gently up the mountains, and afford- 
 ing everywhere perfect security, though generally skirting the 
 edge of a precipice. It presents some striking objects, such as the 
 Abbey of Willtean, anciently Villi tenum, the castle of Sonenberg, 
 and, through a break to the west, a transient view of a most 
 majestic mountain, rising from the midst of the surrounding gla- 
 ciers, and lifting its pointed summit to the skies. Its craggy sides 
 are sheathed in ice, and its brow is whitened with eternal snows.* 
 Its height is supposed to be nearly equal to that of Mount 
 Blanc, though in grandeur, the mountain of Savoy yields to 
 that of the Tyrol ; because the former heaves itself gradually 
 from the plain, and conducts the eye, by three dift'erent stages 
 to its summit, whilst the latter shoots up at once without sup- 
 port or gradation, and terminates in a point that seems to 
 pierce the heavens. 
 
 The ascent still continued steep and Avithout intermission to 
 Steinach ; and the cold, Avhich hitherto had not much incom- 
 moded us, except at night, became more intense. The scenery 
 
 * This mountain bears, I believe, the very barbarous appellation of Boch Kegel. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 17 
 
 jyrew more dreary, gradually assuming all the bleak appcai'ances 
 of Alpine winter. The last mentioned place, though situated 
 amidst the pinnacles of the Rhetian Alps, is yet not the 
 highest point of elevation; and the travell(T has still to labour 
 up the tremendous steeps of the Brenner. As he advances, 
 piercing blasts blowing around the bare ridges and summits 
 that gleam with ice, stinted half-frozen firs appearing here 
 and there along the road, cottages almost buried under a weight " 
 of snow, all announce the regions where winter reigns undis- 
 turbed ; and the Alps here display all their ancient and unchange- 
 able horrors. " Nives ccelo prope immisfce, tcda informia im- 
 
 *' posita rupibus, pecora,jumentaqitetorridafrigore^ homines intonsi 
 " et inadti, animalia, hiammaquc omnia rigentia gelu."* 
 
 The summit, or rather the highest region of the mountain 
 which the road traverses, is crowned Avith immense crags and 
 -precipices, enclosing a sort of plain or valley: This plain was 
 bleak and dreary when Ave passed through it, because buried 
 in deep snoAV, and darkened by fogs and mists, and the shades of 
 the approaching evening: yet it possesses one feature, Avhich in 
 summer must give it some degree of animation, beauty, and even 
 of fertility ; I mean the source of the river Atagis, Avhich, burst- 
 ing from the side of a shattered rock, tumbles in a noble cascade 
 to the plain. We had just before passed the fountain head of the 
 river Sill, Avhich takes a northward course, and runs doAvn the de- 
 file that leads to Inspruck, so that Ave noAv stood on the confines of 
 the north, our faces being turned toAvards Italy, and the genial 
 regions of the south. At the post Ave once more entered sledges, 
 
 * Liv. XXI. 
 VOL. I. D 
 
18 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and with great satisfaction began to descend, a vast mass of 
 mountain hanging over us on the left, and the Atagis, now called 
 the Adige, tumbling from steep to steep on our right. Night 
 soon enveloped us, and we pursued our way with great rapidity 
 down the declivity through Marck and Middlewald, and at 
 length entered the episcopal city of Brixen, or Bressinone. 
 
 We had now passed the Avildest retreats and most savage 
 scenery of the Alps, once the impenetrable abode of fierce 
 tribes of barbarians, and the haunt of associated robbers, who 
 plundered with the numbers, spirit, and discipline of armies. 
 The Roman legions were not unfrequently impeded in their 
 progress, and more than once stripped of their baggage by these 
 desperate mountaineers. The expedition of Drusus, before 
 alluded to, seems to have reduced the Alpine tribes, at least the 
 Vindelici and the Rhceti, so far to subjection, as to insure a 
 safe and easy passage through their territories for many succeed- 
 ing ages. The incursions, invasions, and consequent anarchy, 
 that preceded and followed the dissolution of the Roman em- 
 pire, naturally revived the fierceness of the mountain tribes, 
 and renewed the disorders of earlier periods. But these dis- 
 orders yielded in their turn to the increasing influence of Chris- 
 tianity and the authority of the clergy ; two causes, which, for- 
 tunately for Europe, worked with increasing extent and energy, 
 and successfully counteracted the prodigious efforts of ferocity, 
 barbarism, and ignorance during the middle ages. So effective 
 was their operation, that the Rhetians, from the most savage, 
 became the most gentle of mountain tribes, and have for a long 
 succession of ages continued to distinguish themselves by their 
 innocence, simplicity and benevolence : and few travellers have, 
 I believe, traversed the Rhetian Alps, without having witnessed 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 19 
 
 some instances of these amiable viitues. It is indeed fortunate, 
 that religion has penetrated these fastnesses, impervious to hu- 
 man power, and spread her influence over solitudes where human 
 laws are of no avail ; that where precaution is impossible, and 
 resistance useless, she spreads her invisible /Egis over the travel- 
 ler, and conducts him, secure under her protection, through all 
 the dangers of the Avay. In fact, while rapidly skimming the 
 edge of a precipice, or winding cautiously along under the 
 loose masses of an impending cliff, he trembles to think that a 
 single touch might bur}' him under a crag precipitated from 
 above, or the start of a horse, purposely alarmed, hurl him into 
 the abyss below, and give the ruffian a safe opportunity of 
 preying upon his plunder. When in such situations the tra- 
 veller reflects upon his security, and recollects that these moun- 
 tains, so savage, and so well adapted to the purposes of mur- 
 derers and banditti, have not in the memory of man, been 
 stained by human blood, he ought to do justice to the cause, and 
 gratefully acknowledge the beneficent influence of religion. 
 
 Impressed with these reflections, he will behold with indulg- 
 ence, perhaps even with interest, the crosses which frequently 
 mark the brow of a precipice, and the little chapels hollowed 
 out of the rock where the road is narrowest : he will consider 
 them as so many pledges of security, and rest assured, that 
 as long as the pious mountaineer continues to adore the* Good 
 
 * Pastor bonus, Mater dolorosa ; such are tlie titles often inscribed over those rus- 
 tic temples; sometimes a whole sentence is subjoined, as, Pastor bonus qui animam 
 suamdatpro ovibus suis. Under a crucifix on the brow of a tremendous crag-, I 
 observed some lines taken from the Dies Ira:, a funeral hymn, which, though 
 
 d2 
 
20 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Shepherd, and to beg the prayers of the affikted Mother, he will 
 never cease to befriend the tra\^eller, nor to discharge the duties 
 of hospitality. If French principles should unfortunately pass 
 from the courts and cities in the plains, to the recesses of these 
 mountains, the murderer may shortly aim his rifle, from behind 
 the ruins of the cross, and the nightly banditti lurk, in expecta- 
 tion of their prey, under the roof of the forsaken chapel. But 
 to proceed; 
 
 Bressinone, in German Brixen, presents nothing very remark- 
 able to the attention of the traveller. Its cathedral is neither 
 large nor beautiful; and its claim to antiquity is rather dubious, 
 as the name of Brixentes, found in ancient authors, belongs not 
 so much to the town, as to the inhabitants of the surrounding 
 country. I need scarcely inform the reader, that the Brixia, 
 alluded to by Catullus, is now Brescia, a well known and 
 flourishing city in the plain below, between the lake Benacus 
 and Cremona. 
 
 Brixia Chinaea supposita specula ; 
 
 Flavus quam moUi percurrit flumine Mela, 
 
 Brixia, Veronae raater amata meas*. 
 
 The River Mela, described in these verses as a yellow and 
 
 disfigured by rhyme, was justly admired by Johnson and Lord IJoscommon for 
 its pathos and sublimity. — The lines were, 
 
 Recordare Jesu pie 
 
 Quod sum causa tua? viae — 
 
 Quaerens me sedisti lassus 
 
 Redimisti crucera passus 
 
 Tantus labor non sit cassus. 
 » Catull. LXV.32. 34. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 21 
 
 smooth flowing stream, and represented by A^irgil as meander- 
 ino- through cidtivated valleys still retains its ancient name and 
 character, and runs near the last mentioned town. 
 
 The descent from the little plain of Bressinone is not so steep 
 as the road which leads to it. On a hill not far from Chiusa 
 stands the abbey of Sabiona, the only remains of the ancient 
 Sabina : Thus bearing its former name, with little variation. 
 Chiusa, or Clausen, once Clusium, takes its name, as other towns 
 of similar appellations, from its situation; as the plain, in 
 which it stands, is terminated by a tremendous defile, whose 
 rocky sides jut out so far and rise so high, as almost to hide the 
 face of heaven : while the river, contracted into a torrent, or 
 rather a continual cascade, rolls in thunder from steep to steep, 
 hurrying shattered fragments of rock down its eddy, and filling 
 the dell with uproar. The numberless chapels hewn out of the 
 rock on the road, answer the double purposes of devotion and 
 security, protecting the traveller against the sudden bursts of 
 storm in summer, and the still more sudden and destructive 
 masses of snow that roll from the mountains towards the termi- 
 nation of winter. The road which leads to this dell, runs along 
 the edge of a most tremendous precipice, and is so near to 
 it, that from the carriage, the eye without pei:ceiving the 
 parapet, looks all at once into the abyss below, and it is 
 scarcely possible not to draw back with involuntary terror. 
 The defile to which the road leads, seems yawning as if ready 
 to swallow up the traveller, and, closing over him as he ad- 
 vances, has less the appearance of a road in the land of the 
 living, than of a descent to the infernal regions. A heavy 
 snow, falling as we passed, added to the natural gloom of the 
 scene, and made it truly terrific. 
 
22 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 We entered Bolsano late. The name of this town is convert- 
 ed by the Germans into the barbarous appellation of Bcitzen. 
 It is a commercial and busy place. Its situation, at the 
 opening of several valleys, and near the confluence of three 
 rivers, is advantageous ; its neighbourhood well cultivated and 
 romantic. It contains, however, no remarkable object. A little 
 below Bolsano the Atagis flows into the Athesis ; rivers, which 
 from the resemblance of their names, are frequently confounded ; 
 especially as they now go under the same appellation, and are 
 called the Adige, sometimes the Adese. The former name may 
 be derived from either of the ancient titles ; the latter can come 
 from the Athesis only. This river takes its rise near a little 
 town called Burg, not far from Cluras and Tiroli, anciently 
 Tirioli, whence the territory takes its modern name, and after 
 traversing the valley of Venosta, joins the Atagis at Bolsano. 
 
 From Bolsano the road presents nothing peculiarly interesting 
 as Alpine scenery. Some castles, however, finely situated, pro- 
 ject into the valleys of Sole and Anania ; Monte Cerno and 
 Monte Mendala are objects grand and beautiful. We left the 
 village of Mezzo Tedesco, and entered that on the opposite 
 side of the river called Mezzo Lombardo, with pleasure. Salurno 
 interested us by its antiquity, of Avhich its name is a memorial, 
 ^ight had already closed upon us, when we entered Trent. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 23 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 TRENT — COUNCIL OF TRENT — CASTELLO BELLA PIETRA — ROVE- 
 REDO — SLAVINI DI MARCO — ALA — CHIUSA — VERONA — ITS ANTI- 
 aUITIES AND HISTORY. 
 
 X RENT is the seat of an archbishop. Its ancient name was 
 Tridentum, and the tribes and Alps in its vicinity were not un- 
 frequently called Tridentini. It is seated in a small but beauti- 
 ful valley, exposed, however, from its elevation, to intense cold in 
 winter, and from the reflection of the surrounding mountains, to 
 heat as intense in sunnner. When we passed, (February the 
 sixteenth) the ground was still covered with snow, and the frost, 
 notwithstanding the influence of the sun, very severe. The 
 town is well built, and boasts some palaces. That of the 
 prince bishop contains some very noble apartments, but it had 
 been plundered and disfigured by the French in their late inva- 
 sion. The cathedral is Gothic, and not remarkable either for its 
 beauty or magnitude. Its organ is admired, though supposed 
 to be inferior to that of the church Santa Maria Maooiore, in 
 the same city. 
 
 But Trent owes its fame neither to its situation nor its edifices, 
 but to the celebrated council held within its walls about the 
 
24 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 middle of the sixteenth century*. It was opened in the cathe- 
 dral, but generally held its sessions in the church of Santa 
 Maria Maggiore, where a picture still exists, representing the 
 council sitting in full assembly. The most conspicuous figures 
 are supposed to be portraits taken from the life. This assembly 
 sat, with various interruptions, under three successive pontilTs, 
 during the space of eighteen years. It was convoked by Paul 
 the Third, and consisted of cardinals, archbishops, bishops, 
 abbots, chiefs of religious orders, representatives of the univer- 
 sities, and ambassadors from the Emperor, Kings of France, 
 Spain, Portugal, &c. republics of Venice, Genoa, cantons of 
 Switzerland, German Electors, &c. These ambassadors were 
 called Oratores, and were accompanied each by a certain number 
 of lawyers and divines, selected by their respective sovereigns. 
 The whiole number of persons comprising the general assem- 
 'bires of the council, amounted to one thousandf . The business 
 of the council was prepared in committees, and definitively set- 
 "tled ill the general assemblies. The bull of convocation, issued 
 lay Paul the Third, is a master-piece of its kind. The style of 
 the a>cts of the council is pure and dignified, and the dissertations 
 and observations that precede the canons, cannot be perused, 
 even by an impartial and pious protestant, without instruction 
 and edification. One of the great objects of the council was 
 the restoration of peace and unity among Christians. In 
 "this respect it failed: animosity prevailed over charity : consci- 
 ous of authority on one side, rage of innovation on the other, 
 would submit to no concession. The other object of the council 
 
 * One thousand five hundred and forty-two. 
 
 t Gibbon says of the council of Constance, that the number and weight of civil 
 and ecclesiastical members might seem to constitute the states general of Europe; 
 a remark equally applicable to the council of Trent. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 25 
 
 v/as, the reformation of the church. Here its efforts were at- 
 tended, if not Avith total, at least with very general success, and 
 must receive the approbation of every impartial reader. Many of 
 its regulations have been adopted by the civil authority, even in 
 Protestant countries; such, for instance, as those relating to ma- 
 trimony; and their utility, where admitted, has been felt and 
 acknowledged. Intrigue, without doubt, was not inactive at 
 Trent; and where so many persons of such rank and weight, so 
 many diplomatic agents from almost all the countries and cor- 
 porate bodies in Christendom, were brought together, it must 
 have been frequently and strongly exerted. Yet with such an 
 obstacle in its way, the Council drew up a set of articles clear 
 and concise, comprehending all the principal points then in 
 debate, and fixing the faith of the Catholic with logical 
 precision. 
 
 After having thus represented the council in a favourable light, 
 I must now, reluctantly, I confess, turn to the charges advanced 
 against it; the first of which is the influence supposed to have 
 been exercised over it by the Roman court ; an influence which, 
 after all, seems to have been confined to subjects connected with 
 the temporal interests and the interior concerns of that court, 
 and never extended either to the deliberations or the final 
 decrees of the Council. In the second place, many a benevo- 
 lent man, many a true friend of the peace and union of the 
 Christian body, has deplored the degree of precision, with which 
 the articles in debate were defined, and a line drawn between the 
 contending parties, — to separate them perhaps for ever! Real 
 union, indeed at that time of delirious contest, was not to be 
 hoped for; but some latitude allowed to the wanderings of the 
 human mind, a greater scope given to interpretation, and a 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
2G CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 respectful silence recommended to the disputants on subjects 
 too mysterious to be explained, and too awful to be bandied 
 about in scholastic disputation, might, perhaps, at a more fa- 
 vourable season, have soothed animosity, and disposed all tem- 
 perate persons to terms of accommodation. Remote, however, 
 as we now are froin that aera of discord, and strangers to the 
 passions which then influenced mankind, it might seem to 
 border upon temerity and injustice, were we to censure the pro- 
 ceedings of an assembly, which combined the benevolence, the 
 sanctity, and the moderation of the Cardinals Pole and Sadoleti, 
 Contareni and Seripando. 
 
 February 18th. From Trent the road continues to run through 
 a narrow valley, watered by the Adige (or Athesis), and covered 
 with vines conducted over trellis work, or winding from tree to 
 tree in garlands. High mountains rise on either side, and the 
 snaw, though occasionally deep, was yet sensibly diminished. 
 After the first stage, the snow appeared only on the mountains, 
 Avhile in the valley we enjoyed some share of the genial influence 
 of an Italian sun. The number of neat villages seemed to 
 increase on both banks of the river; though in all, the ravages 
 of war and that wanton rage for mischief which, upon all occa- 
 sions, distinguishes an invading army, were but too discernible. 
 Cottages destroyed, houses burnt or damaged, and churches disfi- 
 gured, forced themselves too frequently upon the attention of the 
 traveller, and excited emotions of pity and abhorrence. A for- 
 tress, covering the brow of a steep hill, rises, on the left, at some 
 distance from the road, and forms too conspicuous an object to 
 pass unnoticed. Its ancient name was, according to Cluverius, 
 Verrucca Castellum; it is now called Castello della Pietra, from 
 its site. It was taken and re-taken twice by the French 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 2? 
 
 and Austrians during the last war, though its situation might 
 induce a traveller to consider it impregnable. 
 
 Roveredo, anciently Roboretum, the second stage from Trent, 
 is a neat little town in the defiles of the Alps, situated, geogra- 
 phically speaking, in the German territory, but in language, 
 manners, and appearance, Italian. The entrance on the side of 
 Trent looks well, though the main street is narrow. An inscripr^ 
 tion over the gate, relative to the marriage and passage of the 
 Princess of Parma, pleased me much, as it affords a specimen 
 of the good taste of this little town. 
 
 Isabellae 
 
 Philippi Borb. Parmas ducis 
 
 Josepho Austriae duci nuptae 
 
 Viennani proficiscenti 
 
 Felix sit iter 
 
 Faustusque thalamus 
 
 Roboretanis gaudentibus. 
 
 In fact, as you approach Italy, you may perceive a visible 
 improvement not only in the climate of the country, but 
 also in the taste of its inhabitants ; the churches and public 
 buildings assume a better form ; the shape and ornaments 
 of their portals, doors and windows are more graceful, and 
 their epitaphs and inscriptions, which, as Addison justly ob- 
 serves, are a certain criterion of public taste, breathe a more 
 classical spirit. Roveredo is situated in the beautiful valley of 
 Lagarina, has distinguished itself in the literary world, and has 
 long possessed an academy, whose members have been neither 
 inactive nor inglorious. 
 
 E 2 
 
28 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 The descent (for from Steinach, or rather a few miles south of 
 that village, three stages before Brixen, we had begun to descend) 
 becomes more rapid between Roveredo and Ala ; the river which 
 glided gently through the valley of Trent, assumes the roughness 
 of a torrent ; the defiles become narrower ; and the mountains 
 break into rocks and precipices, which occasionally approach 
 the road, sometimes rise perpendicular from it, and now and 
 then hang over it in terrible majesty.* Ala is an insignificant 
 little town, in no respect remarkable, except as forming the geo- 
 graphical boundary of Italy. The same appearances continue 
 for some time, till at length the mountains gradually sink into 
 
 * Amid these wilds the traveller cannot fail to notice a vast tract called the 
 Slavini di Marco, covered with fragments of rock torn from the sides of the 
 neighbouring mountains by an earthquake, or perhaps by their own unsup- 
 ported weight, and hurled down into the plains below. They spread over the 
 whole valley, and in some places contract the road to a very narrow space. A few 
 firs and cypresses scattered in the intervals, or sometimes rising out of the crevices 
 of the rocks, cast a partial and melancholy shade amid the surrounding nakedness 
 and desolation. This scene of ruin seems to have made a deep impression upon 
 the wild imagination of Dante, as he has introduced it into the twelt\h canto of 
 the Inferno, in order to give the reader an adequate idea of one of his infernal 
 ramparts. 
 
 Era lo loco ove a scender la riva 
 Venimrao, Alpestro e per quel ch' iv' er' anco, 
 Tal, ch' ogni vista ne sarebbe schiva. 
 QuaFe quella ruina che nel fianco 
 De qua da Trento I'Adice percosse, 
 O per tremuoto o per sostegno manco> 
 Che da ciina del monte onde si mosse, 
 Al piano e si la roccia discoscesa, 
 Ch' alcuna via darebbe a chi su fosse 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 29 
 
 hills ; the hills diminish in height and number, and at last leave 
 an open space beyond the river on the right. In front, however, 
 a round hill presents itself at a little distance, Avhich, as you 
 approach swells in bulk, and opening, just leaves room sufficient 
 for the road, and the river on the right, between two vast per- 
 pendicular walls of solid rock, that tower to a prodigious height, 
 and cast a most terrific gloom over the narrow strait that divides 
 them. As the road leads along a precipice, hanging over tlie 
 river, without any parapet, several countrymen, who live at the 
 entrance of the defile, crowd round the carriage to support it in 
 the most dangerous parts of the ascent and descent. A fortifi- 
 cation,* ruined by the French in the late war, formerly defended 
 this dreadful pass, and must have rendered it impregnable. But 
 French gold, 
 
 PeiTumpere amat saxa, potentius 
 Ictu fulmineo. 
 
 In the middle of the defile a cleft in the rock on the left gives 
 vent to a torrent that rushes down the crag, and sometimes 
 sweeps away a part of the road in its passage. After winding- 
 through the defile for about half an hour, we tiu'ned, and suddenly 
 found ourselves on the plains of Italy. 
 
 * The fortress alluded to is called Chiusa, and said to liave been originally' built 
 by the Romans ; and though frequently destroyed during the wars and various 
 invasions of Italy, yet it was as constantly repaired in more peaceable times. It 
 must be acknowledged that Nature could not have erected a more impregnable 
 rampart to Italy than the Alps, nor opened a more magnificent avenue than the 
 long defile of the Tyrol. 
 
30 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 A traveller, upon his entrance into Italy, longs impatiently to 
 discover some remains of ancient magnificence, or some speci- 
 men of modern taste, and fortunately finds much to gratify his 
 curiosity in Verona, the first town that receives him upon his 
 descent from the Rhetian Alps. 
 
 Verona is beautifully situated on the Adige, partly on the de- 
 clivity of a hill, which forms the last swell of the Alps, and 
 partly on the skirts of an immense plain, extending from these 
 mountains to the Apennines. The hills behind are adorned with 
 villas and gardens, where the graceful cypress and tall poplar 
 predominate over the bushy ilex and spreading bay-tree. 
 
 The plains before the city are streaked with rows of mul- 
 berry trees, and shaded with vines climbing from branch to 
 branch, and spreading in garlands from tree to tree. The devas- 
 tation of war had not a little disfigured this scenery, by stripping 
 several villas, levelling many a grove, and rooting up whole rows 
 of vines and mulberry trees. But the hand of industry had 
 already begun to repair these ravages, and to restore to the 
 neighbouring hills and fields their beauty and fertility. The 
 interior of the town is worthy of its situation. It is divided 
 into two unequal parts by the Adige, which sweeps through it 
 in a bold curve, and forms a peninsula, within which the 
 whole of the ancient, and the greater part of the modern city, 
 is enclosed. The river is wide and rapid, the streets, as in 
 almost all continental towns, are narrower than our's, but long, 
 strait, well built, and frequently presenting in the form of 
 the doors, and windows, and in the ornaments of their cases, 
 fine proportions, and beautiful workmanship. But besides 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 31 
 
 these advantages which Verona enjoys in common with many 
 other towns, it can boast of possessing one of the noblest monu- 
 ments of Roman magnificence now existing ; 1 mean its amphi- 
 theatre, inferior in size, but equal in materials and solidity to 
 the Coliseum. Almost immediately upon our arrival, we hast- 
 ened to this celebrated monument, and passed the greater part 
 of the morning in climbing its seafs and ranging over its spaci- 
 ous arena. The external circumference, forming the ornamen- 
 tal part, has been destroyed long ago ; with the exception of one 
 piece of wall, containing three stories of four arches, rising 
 to the height of more than eighty feet. The pilasters and de- 
 corations of the outside were Tuscan, an order well adapted by 
 its solidity and massiveness to such vast fabrics. Forty-five 
 ranges of seats, rising from the arena to the top of the second 
 story of outward arches, remain entire, with the different 
 vomitoria, and their respective staircases and galleries of com- 
 munication. The Avhole is formed of vast blocks of marble, 
 and presents such a mass of compact solidity, as might have 
 defied the influence of time, had not its powers been aided by 
 the more active operations of barbarian destruction. The 
 arena is not, as in Addison's time, filled up and level with the 
 first row of seats, but a few feet lower ; though still somewhat 
 higher than it was in its original state. As it is not my inten- 
 tion to give an architectural account of this celebrated edifice, 
 I shall merely inform the reader, in order to give him a general 
 idea of its vastness, that tiie outward circumference is 1290 
 feet, the length of the arena 218, and its breadth 129 : the seats 
 are capable of containing 22,000 spectators. At either end is a 
 great gate, and over each a modern balustrade with an inscrip- 
 tion, informing the traveller, that two exhibitions of a very dif- 
 ferent nature took place in the amphitheatre some years ago.. 
 
32 CLASSICAL TOUH 
 
 The one was a bull-baiting, exhibited in honour of the Emperor 
 Joseph, then at Verona, by the governor and people ; the seats 
 were crowded, as may be imagined, on this occasion ; and a Ro- 
 man Emperor was once more hailed in a Roman amphitheatre 
 with the titles of Cesar and Augustus, by spectators who pre- 
 tend and almost deserve to be Romans. The other exhibition, 
 though of a very different nature, was perhaps equally inte- 
 resting : the late Pope in his German excursion passed through 
 Verona, and was requested by the magistrates to give the 
 people an opportunity of testifying in public their veneration 
 for his sacred person. He accordingly appeared in the am- 
 phitheatre, selected on account of its capacity as the properest 
 place, and when the shouts of acclaim had subsided, pour- 
 ed forth his benediction on the prostrate multitude collected 
 from all the neighbouring provinces to receive it. The classi- 
 cal spectator would have amused himself with the singular con- 
 trast, which this ceremony must have presented, to the shows and 
 pomps exhibited in the same place in ancient times. A multi- 
 tude in both cases equally numerous, but then assembled for 
 purposes of cruel and bloody amusements, now collected by mo- 
 tives of piety and brotherhood : then all noise, agitation, and 
 uproar ; now all silence and tranquil expectation : then all eyes 
 fixed on the arena, or perhaps on the Emperor; an arena crowded 
 with human victims ; an Emperor, Gallienus for instance, frown- 
 ing on his trembling slaves ; now all looks rivetted on the venera- 
 ble person of a Christian Pontiff, who, with eyes and hands uplifted 
 to heaven, implored for the prostrate crowd peace and happiness. 
 
 The French applied the amphitheatre to a very different pur- 
 pose. Shortly after their entrance into Verona, they erected a 
 wooden theatre near one of the grand portals above mentioned. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. m 
 
 and caused several farces and pantomimes to be acted in it for 
 the amusement of the army. The sheds and scaffolding that com- 
 posed this miserable edifice were standing in the year 1802, and 
 looked as if intended by the builder for a satire upon the taste 
 of the Great Nation, that could disfigure so noble an arena. 
 The Veronese beheld this characteristic absurdity with indig- 
 nation ; and compared the French, not without reason, to the 
 Huns and Lombards. In reality, the inhabitants of Verona 
 have always distinguished themselves by an unusual attachment 
 to their ancient monuments, and have endeavoured, as well as the 
 misery of the times, and the general impoverishment of Italy 
 would allow them, to preserve and repair their public buildings. 
 From an early period in the thirteenth century (1228), we find 
 that there were sums appropriated to the reparation of the am- 
 phitheatre; and that afterwards public orders were issued for 
 its preservation and ornament, and respectable citizens appointed 
 to enforce them. This latter custom continued till the French 
 invasion, and two persons, entitled Fresidenti alia arena, 
 were intrusted with its inspection and guardianship. Such 
 zeal and attention, to which the world owes the preservation of 
 one of the noblest monuments of antiquity, are highly credit- 
 able to the taste and public spirit of the Veronese, and afford 
 an honourable proof that they not only boast of Roman 
 extraction, but retain some features of the Roman cha- 
 racter. 
 
 But the amphitheatre is not the only monument of antiquity 
 that distinguishes Verona. In the middle of a street, called the 
 Corso, stands a gate inscribed with the name of Gallienus, on 
 account of his having rebuilt the city walls. It consists of two 
 gateways, according to the ancient custom, one for those who 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
S4 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 enter, the other for those who go out : each gateway is orna- 
 mented with Corinthian half pillars, supporting a light pediment ; 
 above are two stories, with six small arched windows each. The 
 Avhole is of marble, and does not seem to have suffered any detriment 
 from time or violence. The gate, though not without beauty 
 in its size, proportions, and materials, yet, by its supernu- 
 •merary ornaments proves, that at its erection, the taste for pure 
 simple architecture was on the decline. The remains of another 
 gate, of a similar though purer form, may be seen in tlie ViaLeoni, 
 where it stands as a front to an insignificant house ; and within 
 that house, a few feet behind the first gate ia the upper story, 
 there exist some beautiful remnants of the Doric ornaments of 
 the inner front of the gate : remnants much admired by modern 
 architects, and said to present one of the best specimens of that 
 order to be found in Italy, This double gate is supposed to 
 have been the entrance into the Forum Judiciale, and ought to 
 be cleared, if possible, of the miserable pile that encumbers it, 
 and buries its beauty. From the first-mentioned gate, which 
 formed the principal entrance into the town, as appears from 
 some remains of the wall or rampart, which ran on each side of 
 it, and was repaired by Gallienus, we may conclude that Verona 
 was anciently of no great extent, as it was confined to the space 
 that lies between this wall and the river. This observation, ap- 
 parently improbable, considering that Verona was an ancient 
 Roman colony, the native country or the residence of many illus- 
 trious persons mentioned by historians and celebrated by poets, 
 is founded on the authority of Silius and Servius ; if indeed the 
 descriptions of the former can, hke Homer's, be considered 
 as geographical authority*. However, it may be presumed, 
 
 * Athesis Veronae circumflua. Sil. VIII. Athesis Venetiae fluvius est Veronum 
 eivitatem ambians. Servius in Virg. VIIL 
 
THROUGH ITALY. U- 
 
 that the suburbs of tlve town extended into the neighbouring 
 plain; a conjecture favoured by the situation of the amphi- 
 theatre, which, though standing at some distance from the 
 ancient gate, was probably erected in or near some populous 
 quarter. At all events, the inodern Verofta is of much greater 
 magnitude, and spreading into the plain to a considerable 
 distance beyond the old wall on the One side, and on the 
 other covering the opposite banks of the river, encloses the an- 
 cient town as its centre, and occupies a spacious area of about 
 five miles in circumference. Many parts of it, particularly the 
 square called Piazza della Bra, near the amphitheatre, are airy 
 and splendid. Some of its palaces, and several of its churches, 
 merit particular attention: among the latter, tbe beautiful 
 chapel of St. Bernardino, in the church of the Franciscan Friars, 
 and St. Zeno*, with its painted cloister and vast vase of por- 
 phyry, may perhaps claim the jjrecedency. 
 
 Among public edifices, the Gran-Guardia and the Museo 
 Lapidario are the most conspicuous : the portico of the latter is 
 Ionic : its court, surrounded with a gallery of light Doric, con- 
 tains a vast collection of antiquities -f- of various kinds, such a» 
 altars, tombs, sepulchral vases, inscriptions, &c. formed and ar- 
 ranged principally by the celebrated Maftei, a nobleman whose 
 
 * This church suifereJ considerably from the brutality of the French sd*efy, 
 some of whom annised themselves, as might have done the Huns of Attila, or the 
 Goths of Radagaisus, in breaking porphyry pillars and vases, ransacking tombs, 
 and disfiguring paintings. 
 
 + The FrencH visited this collection, and carried off some of the wwst valnoMe 
 articles. 
 
 F 2 
 
86 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 learning and taste (two qualities not always united) reflect great 
 honour on Italy, and particularly on Verona, the place of his 
 birth and his usual residence. 
 
 The garden of the Giusti family is still shewn to travellers, 
 though it has little to recommend it to attention except its former 
 celebrity, and some wild Avalks winding along the side of a de- 
 clivity, remarkable as being the last steep in the immense descent 
 from the Alps to the plain. From the highest terrace of this 
 garden there is a beavitiful and extensive prospect of the town ; 
 the hills and the Alps on one side, and on the other of plains, 
 spreading wide, and losing their fading tints in the southern 
 horizon. This is in reality one of the best spots for viewing 
 Verona, and as such may be considered worthy of the attention 
 of travellers, together with the hills that rise behind the town, 
 particularly that on which formerly stood the Castello di San 
 Pietro, now in ruins. 
 
 Few towns have contributed more largely to the reputation of 
 Roman literature, or have been more fertile in the production of 
 genius, taste, and knowledge, than Verona. Catullus and Macer, 
 supposed to be introduced by Virgil into his Eclogues under the 
 pastoral name of Mopsus ; Cornehus Nepos and Pomponius Se- 
 cundus ; Vitmvius, and Pliny the Elder, form a constellation of 
 luminaries of the first magnitude, and shed a distinguishing lustre 
 on the place of their birth and early education. A succession 
 of writers followed ; and though feeble tapers in comparison of 
 their predecessors, yet cast a transient gleam as they passed on ; 
 and not only preserved the light of science from being utterly 
 extinguished during the middle centuries, but contributed to re- 
 vive its glories at a later and more fortunate period. In this 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 37 
 
 revival, at the commencement of the fifteenth century, Verona 
 had some share : Guarini, a Veronese, returning from Constanti- 
 nople, restored the study of Greek some time before the arrival of 
 Chrysoloras, and the other learned Constantinopolitan fugitives. 
 He was succeeded by a long line of eminent men, among whom 
 we may distinguish Domitius Calderini, who, with Laurentius 
 Valla and Politian, received the honourable appellation of Trium- 
 virs of Literature ; Scaliger and Panvinius ; and in fine Fracasto- 
 rius the poet, the naturalist and astronomer. In modern times, Ve- 
 rona still preserves her reputation in taste and science ; and the 
 names of Bianchini and Scipio Maffei may be considered as 
 proofs of her present, and pledges of her future literary glory. 
 The history of Verona is various and interesting. Situated as it 
 is at the foot of the Alps, and at the southern opening of the grand 
 defile forming the most ancient and regular communication 
 through Rhetia, between Italy and Germany, it is exposed to the 
 first fury of the northern invaders, and has always been the first 
 object of their attacks. It resisted with various success ; sometimes 
 it was treated with lenity, and sometimes Avith cruelty. Like 
 the other Italian towns, it submitted sooner or later to the pre- 
 vailing power, and bore successively the yoke of the Heruli, the 
 Goths, the Greeks, the Lombards, and the Italian and German 
 emperors. During this long period of invasion, anarchy, and 
 devastation, Verona seems to have enjoyed a better fate, or, to 
 speak more correctly, to have suffered less than most other Italian 
 cities. Many of the sovereigns, who reigned during this interval 
 from Theodoric to Frederic the Second, either allured by the 
 beauty, or struck by the importance of its situation, made Ve- 
 rona their occasional residence; and frequently paid much atten- 
 tion to its accommodation, strength, and ornament. In the 
 
«$» CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 twelfth century, Verona, together with many other Itahan cities, 
 shook off the yoke of foreign barbarians ; erected itself into an 
 independent republic; and, as conquest frequently attends liberty, 
 became the capital of a very considerable territory. In this 
 state of freedom and consequence Verona, remained till the com- 
 mencement of the fifteenth century ; when, seduced by the influ- 
 ence, allured by the glory, or awed by the greatness of Venice, 
 she submitted to the genius of her powerful neighbour. How- 
 ever, this voluntary dependance was rather a state of tranquillity, 
 than of servitude or degradation. The Venetians respected the 
 laws and customs of the Veronese, and consulted the beauty 
 and prosperity of their city ; so that the change might be 
 considered as the union of bordering territories, not the sub- 
 jection of a separate state ; and tlie sway of the Venetians was 
 regarded rather as the superiority of countrymen, than the 
 usurpation of foreigners. At length, during the revolutionary 
 war, the French invaded Italy ; and, after a long and bloody 
 contest, remaining masters of the Venetian territory, employed 
 it to purchase peace, and made over the greatest part to the 
 emperor. Upon this occasion the territory of Verona was di- 
 vided, and the city itself torn asunder; the Adige, was de- 
 clared to be the boundary of the two states, the territory and 
 part of the town was consigned to the Austrians, while the greater 
 part was annexed to the new-created Italian republic. This 
 dismemberment (if the expression may be allowed) is considered 
 by the Veronese as the greatest disaster their town has ever suf- 
 fered; and the French are detested as the most cruel of the 
 many barbarous tribes that have invaded their devoted country. 
 They look upon themselves as victims of a partition-treaty 
 between two« rival powers, agreeing only in one point — the sub- 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 39 
 
 jugation and oppression of Italy ; both these powers they hate 
 as transalpines and barbarians ; (for the latter term is applied by 
 the modern, as well as the ancient Italians, to all foreign or 
 hostile nations), but the French most, as aggressors, who have 
 added treachery and insult to invasion and plunder. The Italian 
 republic they regard as the handmaid and creature of France, 
 with a pompous name, designed only to dupe the populace, and 
 palliate the odium of tyrannical measures and oppressive tax- 
 ation. They consider its duration as uncertain as the existence, 
 and its administration as irregular as the caprice of its founder ; 
 like the French republic, it is in their eyes a phantom, which 
 appeared yesterday, and may vanish to-morrow : doubtful there- 
 fore of its permanency, but convinced that while it exists it will 
 be a mere instrument of oppression in the hands of an enemy, 
 they behold its operations with distrust, and hear its name 
 with contempt and indignation. Hence the inactivity and so- 
 litude that pervade the streets of the Italian, or rather French, 
 that is the greater part of the town, and announce the ap- 
 prehension and despair of its inhabitants, their attachment to 
 their old, and hatred to their nevv government. The Austrians 
 they do not and cannot love: they are barbarians and invaders; 
 and though the emperor be a just and even benevolent sove- 
 reign, yet bi^ right over them is that of the sword only ; and 
 though he may be tyrannorum mitissimus, yet in the eyes of every 
 Italian patriot, still he is, as well as Buonaparte, a tyrant and 
 an usurper: since however, they are doomed to be slaves, of 
 the two they prefer the former. The Austrian government is 
 mild and equitable ; it proceeds on fixed principles, and moves 
 on in the straight and beaten track ; it is, and so is the French 
 repubUc, liable to the reverses of war ; but it is exempt, and so 
 
40 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 is not the French repubUc, from internal change and unexpected 
 revolution. Hence they submit with something like resig- 
 nation, to the imperial sway ; and hence some life and activity, 
 some share of confidence, and some appearance of business, 
 enliven the Austrian quarter of Verona. It is indeed highly 
 probable, that if the present precarious state of things lasts 
 for any time, the ancient city will be almost deserted, and 
 all the population of Verona pass to the Austrian territory. Not 
 to speak therefore of the money raised, of the pictures, statues, 
 and antiquities carried off by the French, Verona has suffered 
 more, in a political sense, in the last convulsive war, than per- 
 haps any city, Venice excepted, that lay within its range of 
 devastation. Not content with dividing and enslaving it for the 
 present, the French seem determined to prevent it from ever 
 again becoming a place of importance ; and have accordingly 
 levelled its fortifications, and destroyed the walls of its castle, 
 formerly a fortress of some strength from its ramparts and 
 commanding position. The top and sides of the hill are now 
 covered with its ruins ; and the emperor is, I believe, obliged 
 hy an article in the treaty, not to rebuild them at any future 
 period. Such was the state of Verona in the year 1802. 
 
 Our last visit, as our first, was to the amphitheatre : we passed 
 some hours, as before, in a very delightftil manner, sometimes 
 reclining on the middle seats, and admiring the capaciousness, 
 the magnitude, and the durability of the vast edifice ; at other 
 times seated on the upper range, contemplating the noble pros- 
 pect expanded before us, the town under our eyes, verdant plains 
 spreading on one side, and on the other the Alps rising in craggy 
 majesty, and bearing on their ridges the miited snows of four 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 41 
 
 thousand winters; while an Hesperian sun shone in full bright- 
 ness over our heads, and southern gales breathed all the warmth 
 and all the fragrance of spring around us. Prospects so grand 
 and beautiful, must excite very pleasing emotions at all times, 
 and such vernal breezes may well be supposed to " vispire de- 
 light mid joy able to drive oil sadness." But the pleasure which 
 we felt on the occasion, was not a little enhanced by the con- 
 trast between our present and late situation. We had just de- 
 scended from the mountains of the Tirol, where our view had 
 long been confined to a deep and narrow defile : our eye now 
 ranged at liberty over an immense extent of scenery, rich, mag- 
 nificent, and sublime. We had just escaped from the rigors 
 of winter: and were now basking in the beams of a summer sun. 
 We still stood on the very verge of frost, and beheld whole re- 
 gions of snow rising full before us ; but vernal warmth, vegeta- 
 tion, and verdure, enveloped us on all sides. In such circum- 
 stances, when for the first time the traveller beholds the beauties 
 of an Italian prospect expanded before him, and feels the genial 
 influence of an Italian sun around him, he may be allowed to 
 indulge a momentary enthusiasm, and hail Italy in the language 
 of Virgil. 
 
 Sed neque Medorum sj'lva?, ditissima terra, 
 
 Nee pulclier Ganges, atque auro turbidus Hermus 
 
 Laudibus Italic certent ; non Bactra neque Indi, 
 
 Totaque thuriferis Paiichaia pinguis arenis 
 
 Hie gravldae fruges et Bacchi Massicus humor 
 
 Implevere ; tenent oleae armentaque laeta 
 
 Hie ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus ffistas .... 
 Adde tot egrcgias urbes operumque laborem 
 Tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis 
 
 Fluminaque antiques subterlabentia muros 
 
 / Salve magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus 
 
 Magna virum ! Georg-. u. 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
42 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 In the whole, we visited few places with more satisfaction, and 
 left few with more regret, than Verona; whether as the first 
 Itahan city on our road, it happened, by its appearance and 
 monuments very novel to a transalpine traveller, particularly 
 to engage our attention, or whether it really possesses many 
 means of exciting interest, I know not ; but as we departed, 
 we felt ourselves inclined to address it in the words of one of 
 its poets. 
 
 " Verona, qui te viderit, 
 " Et noil amarit protinus, 
 
 " Amore perditissimo, 
 " Is, credo, se ipsum non atnat, 
 " Caretque amandi sensibus, 
 
 " Et odit omnes gratias."* 
 
 COTTA. 
 
 If a traveller has any time to spare, (and he who wishes to 
 travel with benefit to himself, ought always to have some days 
 at his disposal) he may spend it with advantage at Verona, 
 as his head-quarters, and take an opportunity of visiting Monte 
 Bolca, about eighteen, and Valle Ronca, about fifteen miles 
 distant; where the lovers of the picturesque Avill find some 
 beautiful scenery, and the mineralogist some remarkable spe- 
 cimens of various stones, earths, petrifactions, incrustations, ba- 
 saltic pillars, &;c. Among similar curiosities, we may rank 
 the Ponte Veia, a natural arch of considerable sweep and bold- 
 ness. 
 
 * The best guide is the Compendio della Verona, in four vei^ thin, or two 
 ordinary small octaTO volumes, with prints. It is an abridgment of a larger 
 work, entitled " Verona lUustrata," hy the celebrated Maffei. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 43 
 
 The wines of Verona were formerly famous, as appears from 
 Virgil's apostrophe. 
 
 " et quo te carmine dicam 
 *' Rhtetica ? nee cellis ideo contende Falernis." 
 
 But their reputation at present is very low, as, indeed, is that 
 of almost all the wines produced on the northern side of the 
 Apennines. 
 
 G 2 
 
44 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 VICENTIA. — BUILDINGS — OLYMPIC ACADEMY AND THEATRE — STYLB 
 OF PAliLADIO — CHURCH OF MONTE BEXICO — CIMBRI — SETTK 
 COMMUNI — PADUA — ITS ANTIttUITY, HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND 
 UNIVERSITY. 
 
 X HE distance from Verona to Vicentia is three posts and a 
 half; the road runs over a plain, highly cultivated, and beau- 
 tifully shaded with vines and mulberries. When I say a plain, 
 I do not mean that the face of the country is a dead insipid flat, 
 but only that it is not hilly. However, near Monte Bello, bold 
 hills rise on either side, and present in their windings, or on their 
 summits, villages, towns, and castles. 
 
 Vincentia (Vicetia) Vicenza is a town as ancient as Verona, 
 large and populous ; its circumference is of three miles, and the 
 number of its inhabitants is said to amount to 30,000. It has 
 passed through the same revolutions as its neighbour Verona, 
 but seems to have suflFei'ed more from their consequences. In 
 fact, it was burnt by the Emperor Frederic the Second, while 
 at war with the Pope, on account of its attachment to the latter, 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 45 
 
 and cannot consequently be supposed to exhibit any remnant* 
 of its Roman glory. 
 
 But the want of ancient monuments is supplied in a great 
 degree by numberless master-pieces of modern genius. Palladio 
 was a native of this city, and seems to have employed with com- 
 placency all the power of his art in the embellishment of his 
 country. Hence the taste and magnificence that reign in most 
 of the public buildings, and in many of the private houses. 
 Among the former we may distinguish the Town House, called 
 very significantly Pallazzo della ragione, that is, the Palace of 
 Public Reason, or opinion, where justice is administered, and 
 the business of the city transacted — the Palazsjo del Capitanio, 
 or residence of the Podesta, or principal magistrate, so called 
 from potestas,* a title sometimes given by the Romans to persons 
 charged with the highest functions in provincial towns — the 
 gate of the Campus Martins, a triumphal arch, solid and 
 well proportioned — and, above all, the celebrated Olympic 
 Theatre, erected at the expense of a well-known academy 
 bearing that pompous title. This edifice is raised upon the plan 
 of ancient theatres, and bears a great resemblance to those of 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii. The permanent and immoveable 
 scenery, the ranges of seats rising above each other, the situation 
 of the orchestra in the podium, and the colonnade that crowns 
 the upper range, are all faithful representations of antiquity. 
 The scene consists of a magnificent gate, supported by a double 
 row of pillars, with niches and statues : it has one large and two 
 
 * An Fidenarum Gabiorumque esse potestas.— Juv. x. 100. 
 
46 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 smaller entrances opening into as many principal streets, deco- 
 rated with temples, palaces and public edifices of various 
 descriptions formed of solid materials, and disposed according to 
 the rules of perspective, so as to assume somewhat more than the 
 mere theatrical appearance of reality. The sides are a continua- 
 tion of the same plan, and have also each one entrance, giving 
 into its respective street ; thus there are five entrances, through 
 which the actors pass and repass to and from the stage. The 
 orchestra occupies the centre, or that part which we call the pit, 
 thence rise the seats, forming the side of an ellipsis, and above 
 them the gallery, composed of a range of Corinthian pillars, with 
 their full entablature surmounted by a balustrade and adorned 
 with statues of marble. An air of simplicity, lightness and beauty 
 reigns over the whole edifice, and delights the ordinary observer, 
 while in the opinion of connoisseurs it entitles the Teatro 
 Olimpico to the appellation of the master-piece of Palladio. But 
 honorable as it is to the taste and talents of its architect, it reflects 
 equal, perhaps greater, lustre on the Society, at whose expense, 
 and for whose purposes it Avas erected. The Olympic Academy 
 was instituted at Vicenza so early as the year 1555, by a set of 
 g'entlemen, for the encouragement and propagation of polite 
 literature. Public exhibitions were among the means employed 
 by the Society to attain that object ; and several attempts were 
 made to accommodate various buildings, to their purpose ; but 
 finding none perfectly suitable to their design, they at length 
 came to the public spirited resolution of erecting a theatre ; 
 and that its form might correspond with its destination, no less 
 than with the classic spirit of the actors that were to tread its 
 stage, they commissioned Palladio to raise it on the ancient model. 
 The inscription over the stage points out its object. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 47 
 
 Virtuti ac Genio, Olympicorum Acaderoia 
 Theatruin hoc a Fundamentis erexit 
 Anno 1584. Palladio Architecto. 
 
 The spirit of ancient genius seemed to revive, and the spectator 
 might have imagined himself at Athens, when the members of 
 the Society acted the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, 
 with all possible attention to the dresses and manners of the age 
 and country, surrounded M'ith the scenery and amidst the 
 statues of the gods and heroes, of antiquity. Such an institution 
 was highly honorable to Italy in general, and to Vicenza in 
 particular, at a period when the Transalpine nations were Just 
 emerging from ignorance, and opening their eyes to the rising 
 brightness of taste and science. The Olympic Academy still 
 exists, and is composed now, as it was formerly, of the most 
 respectable citizens, and of many learned foreigners ; though 
 I am sorry to add, that the Theatre has long lamented the 
 absence of the tragic muse, having been devoted for many years, 
 solely to the assemblies of the Academy, or perhaps resounded 
 with the occasional merriment of a ball or a masquerade. More- 
 over, since the French invasion, the theatre seems to have suffered 
 from the negligence or the poverty of the proprietors, owing 
 partly to the heavy contributions laid on the town, and partly to 
 that listlessness and depression of spirits which generally accom- 
 pany national disasters. But when this storm shall have blown 
 over, the national genius Avill probably revive and return with 
 redoubled ardor to its favourite pursuits. 
 
 There are said to be about twenty palaces, which were erected 
 by Palladio, some of which are of unusual magnificence, and con- 
 tribute in the whole to give Vicenza an appearance of splendor 
 and beauty not common even in Italy. In materials and magni- 
 
48 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 tude they are inferior perhaps to the palaces of Genoa, but in style 
 of architecture and external beauty far superior. Palladio in fact 
 had a particular talent in applying the orders and ornaments of 
 architecture to the decorations of private edifices. Unlike the 
 ancients, who seem to have contented themselves with employing 
 its grandeur in temples, porticos, and public buildings, he intro- 
 duced it into common life, and communicated its elegant form 
 to private edifices and ordinary dwellings. I do not mean to 
 assert that the houses and villas of the ancients were entirely 
 devoid of architectural ornaments. Horace speaks of the 
 columns that decorated the palaces of the rich Romans of his 
 time. 
 
 Nempe, inter varias nutritur Sylva Columnas. Epict. lib. i . 10. 
 
 Non trabes Hjmettiffi 
 
 Premunt columnas ultima recisas 
 
 Africa. 
 
 Tu secanda marmoia, &c. Hor. ii. 18. 
 
 Pillars had been introduced long before, as Crassus, the orator, 
 was humorously styled Venus Palatina, on account of six pillars 
 of Hymettian marble, which ornamented his house on the Palatine 
 Mount. We learn also, from the same author, that Mamurra, 
 a Roman knight, who had acquired great riches in the service of 
 Julius Caesar, entirely incrusted his house on Mount Celius with 
 marble, and adorned it with columns of the richest species of 
 the same materials. Cicero speaks of a Greek architect whom 
 he employed, and complains of his ignorance or inattention in 
 raising his pillars as he had placed them, neither perpendicular, 
 nor opposite to each other. Aliquando, says Cicero, perpendi- 
 culo et lined discet iiti.-f 
 
 * Plin. XXXVI. cap. 3. + Ad Quint: Fratrem. IIL v. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 49 
 
 This surely is a strange compliment to a Greek artist. The 
 pillars here alluded to seem to have supported the portico of his 
 villa at Arpinum. Suetonius also, to give his reader an idea of 
 the moderation of Augustus, observes, that the pillars of his house 
 on the Palatine Mount were of Alban stone, not marble. But I 
 am inclined to believe that such ornaments were confined to the 
 most celebrated palaces, or perhaps employed only in the interior 
 courts and surrounding porticos : if they had been common on the 
 exterior we should have discovered some ti-aces of them in the 
 ruins of different villas, or at least in the fronts of the houses of 
 Pompeii ; and yet, though I cannot assert that there are none, 
 I do not recollect to have observed in the streets of the latter city 
 the slightest vestige of architectural ornaments on private edifices. 
 To these external decorations of architecture, the cities of Italy, 
 and indeed most modern toAvns of any consideration, owe a great 
 part of their beauty ; and may glory, not perhaps without reason, 
 in surpassing the towns of antiquity in general appearance. I feel 
 some regret in being obliged to acknowledge, that the metropolis 
 of the British empire, though the first city in Europe, and I sup- 
 pose in the world, for neatness, convenience and cleanliness, is yet 
 inferior in architectural embellishment to most capitals. This 
 defect, without doubt, is owing in a great degree, to the nature of 
 the materials of wljich it is formed, as brick is ill calculated to 
 receive the graceful forms of an Ionic volute, or a Corinthian 
 acanthus, while the dampness of the climate seems to preclude 
 the possibility of applying stucco to the external parts with 
 permanent advantage. But some blame may justly be attributed 
 to architects, Avho either know not, or neglect the rules of 
 proportion and the models of antiquity ; and in edifices, where 
 no expense has been spared, often display splendid instances of 
 tasteless contrivance and grotesque ingenuity. But, it is to be 
 
 VOL, I, H 
 
50 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 hoped, that the industry and taste of the British nation will, ere 
 long, triumph over this double obstacle, inspire artists with 
 genius, teach even brick to emulate marble, and give to the seat 
 of government and capital of so mighty an empire a becoming 
 share of beauty and magnificence. Augustus found Rome of 
 brick, and in his last moments boasted that he left it of marble. 
 May not London hope at length to see its Augustus ? 
 
 As Palladio was a native of Vicenza, it may be proper 
 to say something of that celebrated architect, while Ave are em- 
 ployed in admiring the many superb structures, with which 
 he ornamented his country. Of all modern architects, Palladio 
 seems to have had the best taste, the most correct ideas, and the 
 greatest influence over his contemporaries and posterity. Some 
 may have had more boldness and genius, others more favourable 
 opportunities of displaying their talents ; and such, in both re- 
 spects, was the felicity of the two grand architects of St. Peter's, 
 Bramante and Michael Angelo : but Palladio has the exclusive 
 glory of having first collected, from the writings and monuments 
 of the ancients, a canon of symmetry and proportion, and re- 
 duced architecture, under all its forms, to a regular and com- 
 plete system. I am aware that many parts of that system have 
 been severely criticized ; that his pedestals, for instance, are by 
 many considered as heavy, his half pillars as little, and his 
 decorations as luxuriant : yet it must be remembered, that these 
 real or merely nominal defects are authorized by the prac- 
 tice of the ancients; and that it is not fair to blame, in a modem 
 edifice, that which is admired in the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, 
 or in the Triumphal Arch of Trajan. But supposing this cri- 
 ticism well founded, every candid spectator will admit, that there 
 are in all the edifices, erected under the direction, or on theimme- 
 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 51 
 
 (Jiate plans of Palladio, a simplicity and beauty, a symmetry and 
 majesty, that abundantly compensate petty defects, and fulfil 
 all the ends of architecture, by producing greatness of manner 
 and unity of design. 1 know not whether my opinion, in this 
 respect, may agree with that of professed artists ; but of all the 
 grand fabrics, which I have had an opportunity of contem- 
 plating after St. Peter's and the Pantheon, the two master-pieces, 
 one of ancient, the other of modern architecture, I own I was 
 most delighted with the abbey church of St. George at Venice, 
 and that of St. Justina at Padua. Addison represents the latter 
 as the most luminous and disencumbered building that he had 
 ever seen ; though, for my part, I should be inclined to give the 
 preference to the former, which he passes over in silence : but be 
 the superiority where it may, both these superb edifices display 
 the characteristic features of Palladian architecture to the 
 highest advantage, and in a manner not often witnessed, even in 
 Italy, blend simplicity with ornament, extent with proportion, 
 and combination with unity. St. Justina was, if I be not mis- 
 taken, erected on the plan of Palladio, though after his death ; 
 some defects consequently occur in the execution, Avhich ought 
 not to be attributed to that illustrious architect, particularly as 
 these defects are lost in the admirable symmetry and proportion 
 of the Avhole ; perfections owing exclusively to the genius that 
 conceived and arranged the original model. On the whole, Pal- 
 ladio maybe considered as the Vitruvius of modern architecture; 
 and it has been very properly recommended to persons who wish 
 to make a proficiency in that art, to pass some time at Vicenza, 
 Padua, and Venice, in order to study the many monuments of 
 Palladian skill that abound in these cities. 
 
 The splendor of Vicenza is not confined to its walls, but ex- 
 
 H 2 
 
52 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 tends to the country for some distance round, where private 
 or pubhc munificence has erected several villas and magni- 
 ficent edifices. Among the fiDrmer, we may rank the villa of 
 the Marchesi, called the Rotunda, an exquisite fabric of Pal- 
 ladio, and among the latter the triumphal arch, the staircase, 
 and portico that lead to the church on Monte Berico. The 
 arch is said by some to be the work of Palladio, in imitation 
 of that of Trajan at Ancona; and is like it, light and airy. 
 The staircase is remarkable for its vast height, consisting of 
 near two hundred steps, with thirt^'-five resting places, all of 
 stone, reaching from the town to the summit of the hill. The 
 portico is a noble gallery, leading in the same manner from the 
 town to the church, and intended to shade and shelter the per- 
 sons who visit the sanctuary, in which it terminates ; and as its 
 length is more than a mile, its materials stone, and its form not 
 inelegant, it strikes the spectator as a very magnificent instance 
 of public taste. The church is seen to most advantage at a 
 distance ; as, on a nearer approach, it appears overloaded with 
 ornaments. It is of fine stone, of the Corinthian order, in the 
 form of a Greek cross, with a dome in the centre ; but wants in 
 all its decorations, both internal and external, the proportions 
 and simplicity of Palladio. The view from the windows of the 
 convent annexed to the church, is extensive and beautiful. 
 
 It may be here the proper place to mention a political 
 phenomenon, of a very extraordinary nature, which, few tra- 
 vellers have, I believe, noticed. The Cimbri and Teutones, 
 two tribes from the northern Chersonesus, invaded Italy, as 
 it is well known, in the year of Rome 640, and were defeat- 
 ed, and almost extirpated by Marius, in the neighbourhood 
 of Verona. The few who escaped from the vengeance of the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 53 
 
 conquerors took refuge in the neighbouring mountains, and 
 as they remained unmolested, formed a Httle colony, which either 
 from its poverty, its insignificance, or its retired position, has 
 escaped the notice, or perhaps excited the contempt of the 
 various parties, that have disputed the possession of Italy for 
 nearly two thousand years. They form altogether seven parishes, 
 and are therefore called the Sette commune ; they retain the tra- 
 dition of their origin, and though surrounded by Italians still pre- 
 serve their Teutonic languao-e. The late Kins; of Denmark visited 
 this singular colony, discoursed with them in Danish, and found 
 their idiom perfectly intelligible. Though we felt no inclination 
 to visit them, (for a classic traveller cannot be supposed to be 
 very partial to barbarian establishments in Italy, however 
 ancient their date,) yet, we were struck with the circumstance, 
 and beheld their distant villages nested in the Alps, as they were 
 pointed out to us from A'icenza, with some interest. The reader 
 will hear with more satisfaction that a Roman colony still remains 
 on the borders of Transylvania, and that it retains the Latin 
 language nearly unmixed, and glories in its illustrious origin. 
 Hence, when any of its members enlists in the imperial service, 
 and according to custom is asked his country and origin, his 
 answer is always, " Romanus sum."* 
 
 * In mezzo alia colta Europa, says Lanzi, vivon tuttora popolazioni di lin- 
 guaggi non estesi ; nelle montagne di Viccnza vive il Celtico di Barbari chi vi si 
 annidarano ai tempi di Mario; nella Valakia il Latino di presidi che vi mise Tra- 
 jano ; in qualche parte di Elvezia il Romans di Franzesi antichi. Saggio di 
 lingua Etrusca Epilogo, &c. Vol. i. parte seconda. 
 
 (There are several works for the information of travellers with regard to the 
 curiosities of this town, among others I recommend " Descrizzione dclla Archil- 
 tetlure,'' 2 vols. Avith prints.) 
 
54 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 The hills, called the CoUes Berici, in the neighbourhood of 
 Vicenza, present some natural grottos, of great extent, and of 
 surprizing A^ariety. Monsieur de la Lande speaks of a little 
 temple of the form of the Pantheon, which he represents as a 
 master-piece of the kind ; if it be such, I regret that we had not 
 an opportunity of visiting it, though not above twenty miles 
 from Vicenza. Bassano, seven leagues to the north, merits a 
 visit without doubt, if the traveller has time at his disposal. 
 
 From Vicenza to Padua is eighteen miles. About three miles 
 from the former is a bridge over a stream, a branch of the 
 Meduacus, now Bacchiglione, erected by Palladio, which will 
 not fail to attract the attention of the curious traveller. 
 
 Late in the evening we entered Urbem Patavi Sedesque Teu- 
 crorum, and reflected Avith some exultation that Ave stood, as it 
 were, on the confines of Greek and Latin literature, in a city 
 that derives its origin from a catastrophe celebrated in itself or its 
 consequences, by the tAvo greatest poets of antiquity. Few cities 
 can boast of an origin so ancient and so honorable, and not 
 many can pretend to have enjoyed for so long a period so much 
 glory and prosperity as Padua. We learn from Tacitus that it 
 was accustomed to celebrate the antiquity of its origin and the 
 name of its founder in annual games, said to have been insti- 
 tuted by that hero. Livy informs us, that a Naumachia, exhibited 
 annually on one of the rivers that Avater the toAvn, perpetuated the 
 memory of a signal victory obtained by the Paduans long 
 before* their union Avith Rome, over a Lacedemonian fleet. 
 
 * See Tacit: Annal. lib. xvi. c. 21. Liv. book x. c. 2. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. d5 
 
 commanded by Cleonymus. They are also said to have not 
 unfrequently assisted the Romans, and contributed in no small 
 degree to their victories, particularly over the Gauls, the common 
 enemy of both states, while an immense population furnished 
 them with the means of giving effect to their measures, by 
 sending powerful armies into the field. Padua afterwards sub- 
 mitted to the genius of Rome, but submitted Avith dignity, 
 and was accordingly treated not as a conquered but an allied 
 republic. She was admitted at an early period to all the privi- 
 leges and honors of the great capital, and shared, it seems, not 
 only the franchises but even the riches of Rome, as she could 
 count at one period five hundred Roman knights among her 
 citizens, and drew by her manufactures, from the emporium of 
 the world, no small share of the tribute of the provinces. After 
 having shared the glory of Rome, Padua partook of her disasters ; 
 was, like her, assaulted and plundered by Alaric and Attila; 
 like her, half unpeopled by the flight of her dismayed inhabi- 
 tants, and obliged to bend under the yoke of a succession of 
 barbarian invaders. After the expulsion of the Goths, Rome 
 recovered her independence ; not so Padua, which was subject 
 successively to the Lombards, the Franks, and the Germans. 
 During this long period of disastrous vicissitude, Padua some- 
 times enjoyed the favor and sometimes felt the fury of its way- 
 ward tyrants. At length it shook off the yoke, and Avith its 
 sister states, Verona, Vicenza, Ferrara and Mantua, experienced 
 the advantages and disadvantages of republicanism, occasionally 
 blessed with the full enjoyment of freedom, and occasionally, Avith 
 all its forms, smarting under the rod of a poAverful usurper.* At 
 
 * In the fourteenth century Padua owned the sway of the Carrara family ; 
 Pandolfo di Carrara was the friend of Petrarcha. This family and their rivals in 
 
56 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 length, in the fifteenth century, Padua united itself lo the Venetian 
 territory, and under the influence of its own laws acknowledged 
 the supreme authority of that republic. The consideration that 
 Venice was founded by citizens of Padua, who flying from the 
 ravaging armies of Alaric and Attila took refuge in the solitary 
 isles of the Adriatic, might perhaps have lightened the yoke of 
 submission, or facilitated the arrangements of union. 
 
 As fire and sword, aided by earthquakes and pestilence, have 
 been employed more than once during so many ages of convul- 
 sion, in the destruction of this city, Ave are not to expect many 
 monuments of the Roman colony, within its walls, or to wonder 
 so much at its decline as at its existence. However it is still a 
 great, and in many respects a beautiful city, as its circumference 
 is near seven miles, its population about forty thousand persons, 
 and, notwithstanding the general narrowness of its streets, many 
 of its buildings, both public and private, are truly magnificent. 
 
 The abbey of St. Giustina deserves particular attention. Its 
 church, planned by Palladio, and built by Andrea Riccio ; its 
 library, hall or refectory, and cloister are all in the highest style 
 of architecture.* The piazza before it, called Prato della Valle, 
 
 power and place, the Scaligeri were among the many patrons and supporters of 
 literature that graced Italy in that and the succeeding centiiry. 
 * Dimensions of the Church of St. Giustina. 
 
 The length 500 feet. 
 
 Breadth 140 
 
 The transept - - 330 
 
 Height 120 
 
 The central dome (there are several) 265 
 The pavement is laid out in compartments of white and red marble, its various 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 57 
 
 is perhaps one of the largest and noblest in Europe. The 
 cathedral, though not remarkable for its architecture, still deserves 
 to be ranked among buildings of eminence, and contains several 
 objects worthy of notice. The church, denominated II Santo, a 
 title given by way of eminence to St. Antony of Padua, though 
 the most frequented, is not by any means the most beautiful ; it 
 is of Gothic architecture, great magnitude, and was, before 
 the late French invasion, enriched with a valuable treasury. 
 That treasury, consisting of church plate, gold and silver can- 
 dlesticks to a vast amount, was seized and carried off by the 
 French ; but the most remarkable object still remains — the 
 tomb of the Saint, adorned with fine marbles and most ex- 
 quisite sculpture. In Addison's days, ointments, it seems, 
 distilled from the body, celestial perfumes breathed around the 
 shrine, and a thousand devout catholics were seen pressing their 
 lips against the cold marble, while votive tablets, hung over and 
 disfigured the altar. When we visited the Santo, the source of 
 ointment had long been dried, the perfumes were evaporated, 
 the crouds of votaries had disappeared, and nothing remained to 
 certify the veracity of our illustrious traveller but a few petty 
 pictures, hung on one side of the monument. But the excel- 
 lency of the sculpture makes amends for the wretchedness of the 
 painting, and small must the taste of that man be, who derives no 
 satisfaction from the examination of the marble pannels that line 
 the chapel. Each pannel represents some miraculous event of 
 
 altars with their decorations of beautiful marble. The whole is kept in a style of 
 neatness and repair that gives it the appearance of a church just finished. The 
 outside was never completed. 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
S8 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the Saint's life ; and however strange or chimerical the subject 
 may be, yet the skill of the artist finds means of making it interest- 
 ing. The rich materials and ornaments of the altar and shrine, 
 the bronze candelabra and lamps, Avill not escape the attentive 
 observer. On the whole, though the style of architecture is bad, 
 yet this church, from its size and furniture, deserves considera- 
 tion. 
 
 II Salone, or the town-hall, remarkable for its vast magni- 
 tude,* contains a monument in honor of Livy, with an ancient 
 bust. This author, as is well known, was a native of Padua, and 
 is supposed to have retained in his style some of the provincial 
 peculiarities of his country,-f perceptible indeed only to the 
 refined critics of the Augustan era. The Italian towns in general, 
 are not apt to forget such of their natives as have distinguished 
 themselves in ancient or modern story, and Padua, amongst 
 others, is not wanting in the honors which she pays to the 
 memory of her illustrious citizen. The inscription under the 
 bust of the historian is not remarkable for its beauty. The last 
 line expresses at least the generosity of the Paduans, who, if their 
 means were adequate to their classic zeal, would liave converted 
 the marble statue into one of gold. 
 
 Hoc totus stares aureus ipse loco ! 
 They shew a house which they pretend to have belonged to him, 
 
 * It is three hundred and twelve feet in length, one hundred and eight in 
 breadth, and one hundred and eight in height, and consequently the largest hall in 
 Europe. 
 
 + Pollio, says Quintilian, reprehendit in Livio pativinitatem. L. i. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 59 
 
 and, whether it was built upon the spot which traditionary report 
 represented as the site of the historian's dwelhng, or whether it 
 was erected on the ruin of some ancient edifice that bore a name 
 resembhnghis ; or whether, in short, some inscription, favorable 
 to such an opinion, may have been found in or near it, I could 
 not discover ; but every object connected in the most distant 
 manner with so eminent an author, inspires interest and claims 
 some attention. I need not observe, that the pretended tomb of 
 Antenor, though it recals to mind the antiquity of the city, and 
 at the same time some very beautiful verses,* is a monument of 
 some prince of the middle ages, discovered in 1274. 
 
 Padua was famous in ancient times for its Avoollen manufac- 
 tures, celebrated in prose by Strabo and in verse by Martial. It 
 still retains much of its reputation in this respect, and its wool, 
 and woollen articles, are considered as the best in Italy. But the 
 principal glory of Padua arises from its literary pursuits, and an 
 ancient and well directed propensity to liberal science. The 
 prince of Roman history — perhaps, if we consider the extent of his 
 plan, and the masterly manner in which he has executed it, we 
 may add, the first of historians — was not only born, but, as 
 
 * Antenor potuit mediis elapsus Achivis, 
 Illyricos penetrare sinus atque intima tutus 
 Regna Liburnoruin et fontein superare Timavi ; 
 Unde per ora noveni magnocum murniure montis 
 It mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti. 
 Hie taraen ille urbem Patavi, sedesque locavit 
 Teucrorum et genti nonien dedit, armaque fixit 
 Troia; nunc plaetda compostus pace quiescit. 
 
 J^NBIO i, 
 
 I 3 
 
60 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 we may fairly conjecture from the local peculiarities of language, 
 which adhered to him during life, was educated at Padua. 
 Silius Italiciis, among the various chieftains whom he introduces, 
 represents Pedianus, the leader of the Euganeans and Paduans, 
 (the Apono gaudens popiilus) as equally excelling in the arts of 
 war and peace, and dear alike to Mars and to the Muses. As the 
 verses are composed in the best style of Silius and likely to please 
 the reader, I insert them. 
 
 Polydamenteus juvenis Pedianus in arniis 
 
 Bella agitabat atrox, Trojanaque semina et ortiUS, 
 
 Atque Antenorea sese de stirpe ferebat. 
 
 Haudlevior generis fama, sacroque TimaTO 
 
 Gloria et Euganeis dilectuin nomen in oris. 
 
 Huic pater Eridanus, Venetaeque ex ordine gentes, 
 
 Atque Apono gaudens populus, sen bella cieret, 
 
 Seu Musas placidus, doctasque silentia vita 
 
 Mallet et Aonio plectro mussque labores 
 
 Non ulluni dixere parem ; nee notior alter 
 
 Gradivojuvenis, nee Phoebo notior alter. xii. 215. 
 
 The love of knowledge, the partiality to learned ease here 
 alluded to, was probably attributed to the Chief, because in some 
 degree characteristic of the people — so much at least we should 
 infer from a similar passage in Homer or Virgil. During the 
 various revolutions that followed the fall and dismemberment of 
 the Roman empire, Padua, in the intervals of repose that 
 followed each successive shock, endeavoured to repair the shat- 
 tered temple of the Muses, and revive the sacred fire of know- 
 ledge. Some success always attended these laudable exertions, 
 and a beam of science occasionally broke through the gloom of 
 war and barbarism. At length, the university was founded about 
 the end of the eleventh century, and its foundation was to Padua 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 61 
 
 the commencement of an era of glory and prosperity. Its fame 
 soon spread over Europe, and attracted to its schools prodigious 
 numbers of students from all, even the most remote countries ; 
 while the reputation of its professors was so great, and their 
 place so honorable, that even nobles, at a time when nobles were 
 considered as beings of a more elevated nature, were ambitious 
 to be enrolled in their number. Eighteen thousand students are 
 said to have crowded the schools during ages; and amidst the 
 multitude were seen, not Italians and Dalmatians, Greek and 
 Latin Christians only, but even Turks, Persians and Arabians, are 
 said to have travelled from their distant countries to improve 
 their knowledge of medicine and botany, by the lectures of the 
 learned Paduans. The catalogue of the students of this univer- 
 sity is rich in numbers and illustrious names. Petrarcha, Galileo, 
 and Christopher Columbus applied here, each to his favorite art, 
 and in classics, astronomy and navigation, collected the materials 
 that were to form their future fame and fortune. But universi- 
 ties, like empires, have their eras of prosperity and their periods 
 of decline ; science, as commerce, often abandons its favorite 
 seat; and those very arts of medicine and anatomy which 
 flourished for so many centuries in Salerno and Padua, have long 
 since migrated to the North, and seem to have fixed their 
 temporary residence at Gottingen and Edinburgh. Of eighteen 
 thousand students six hundred only remain, a number which, 
 thinly scattered over the benches, is barely sufficient to shew 
 the deserted state of the once crowded schools of Padua. This 
 diminution of numbers is not to be attributed either to the 
 ignorance or the negligence of the professors : to the defects of 
 the system of instruction, or to the want of means of improve- 
 ment. The lecturers are men of zeal and abilities ; the plan of 
 studies is the result of long and successful experience; and 
 
62 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 libraries, collections, and cabinets of every kind are numerous 
 and magnificent. Moreover, encouragement is not wanting, 
 as the places of professors are both lucrative and honorable, 
 and the directors, till the late disastrous revolution, were three 
 Venetian senators. The decrease of numbers, therefore, at 
 Padua, and in other ancient universities, is to be attributed 
 to the establishment of similar institutions in other countries, 
 and the general multiplication of the means of knowledge over 
 the Christian world. Knowledge is now fortunately placed 
 within the reach of almost every village — the most abstruse 
 science may be learned in the most remote corners — colleges 
 and seminaries have been planted and flourish even in the 
 polar circles ; and youth in almost every coimtry, may enjoy 
 that, which an eloquent ancient considers as one of the greatest 
 blessings of early life — home education.^ 
 
 The architecture of the schools or university is admired and, 
 I believe, said to be of Palladio — the observatory, the botanical 
 garden in particular, the cabinet of natural philosophy, contain- 
 ing a peculiarly curious collection of fossils, the hall of mid- 
 wifry, and indeed most of the dependencies of the University, 
 are grand in their kind, well furnished and well supported. An 
 agricultural lecture is, I believe, peculiar to Padua, and conse- 
 quently very honorable to it ; especially as so large a space as 
 fifteen acres is allotted to the professor for experiments. It is sin- 
 gular that no such lecture exists in any British university, when we 
 consider the bent of the national character to a rural hfe, and the 
 
 * Ubi enim aut jacnndius morarentor quam in patriA ? a«t podicius continerentnr 
 quam sub oculis parentum ? aut miuore sumptu quam domi ? iv. £p. xiii. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 63 
 
 great encouragement and countenance given by the higher 
 classes, and indeed by the nation at large, to every species of 
 agricultural improvement. 
 
 Besides the university, there are in Padua, for the propagation 
 of taste and literature, several academies, some of which were 
 opened so early as in the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 At that time the love of knowledge and classical distinction 
 seems to have been the predominant passion of the Italians, who 
 were then like the ancient Greeks — 
 
 Praeter laudem aullius anrari. 
 
 Others have been established in the last century, particularly 
 the Academy of Sciences, founded by the senate of Venice. Most 
 of these institutions are supported with spirit, not only by the 
 clergy, but moreover by the gentry of Padua, who seem to take 
 an honorable pride in the literary reputation of their city. 
 
 The following beautiful lines of Naugerius, a poet of Leo's 
 golden days, contain a fine, though concise encomium, on Padua, 
 and may be considered as an abridgment of its history, even to 
 the present period, when war has again ravaged its vicinity, and 
 disfigured its edifices. 
 
 Urbs, quam vetusto vetus ab Ilio 
 Post fata Troum tristia, post graves 
 Tot patriae exhaustos iniquo 
 Tempore, tot pelago labores, 
 Ducente demum Pallade, qua rapax 
 Cultos per agros Medoacus fluit, 
 Diis fretus Antenor secundia 
 Condidit, Euganeis in oris. 
 5 
 
m CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Tu nuper & flos, & dccus urbium, 
 Quascumque tellus Itala continet: 
 Magnas tot artes, tot virorum 
 Ingenia, & studia una alebas. 
 
 Te, septicornis Danubii accola, 
 Te fulva potant flumina qui Tagi, 
 Longeque semoti Britanni 
 Cultutn animi ad capiendum adibant. 
 
 At nunc, acerbi heu saeva necessitas 
 Fati, severas ut pateris vices : 
 Ut te ipse vastatam vel liosti 
 Conspicio miserandam iniquo. 
 
 Quid culta tot pomaria conquerar ? 
 Tot pulchra flaraniis hausta suburbia J 
 Quid glande deturbata ahena 
 Moenia ? 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 65 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 THE BRENTA — VENICE — ITS MAGNIFICENCE, POWER, DEGENE- 
 RACY, AND PAt,L — RETURN TO PADUA — THE ENVIRONS OF 
 THAT CITY — THE PONS APONUS — COLLES EUGANEI — ARQUATO 
 — VILLA AND TOMB OP PETRARCHA — OBSERVATIONS ON HIS 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 VVE deferred the consideration of the neighbourhood of Padua, 
 till our return from Venice, whither we hastened in order to 
 enjoy the few remaining days of the expiring carnival. We 
 accordingly embarked on the Brenta about ten o'clock in the 
 morning, February the twenty-first, in a convenient barge drawn 
 by horses, and glided rather slowly down the river. The 
 country through-which it flows is a dead flat, but highly culti- 
 vated, well wooded, and extremely populous. The banks are 
 lined with villages, or rather little towns, and decorated with 
 several handsome palaces and gardens. Among these, that of 
 Giovanelle at Noventa, two miles from Padua ; that of Pisani, 
 at Stra ; of Trona, at Dolo ; that of Bembo, at Mira, and about 
 ten miles farth'jr, that of Foscari, of the architecture of Palladio, 
 merit particular attention. These celebrated banks have, 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
66 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 without doubt, a rich, ahvely, and sometimes a magnificent ap- 
 pearance, but their splendor and beauty have been much exag- 
 gerated or are much faded, and an Enghshman accustomed to 
 the Thames, and the villas that grace its banks at Richmond 
 and Twickenham, will discover little to excite his admiration 
 as he descends the canal of the Brenta. About five o'clock we 
 arrived at Fusina, on the shore of the Lagune,* opposite Venice. 
 This city instantly fixed all our attention. It was then faintly 
 illuminated by the rays of the setting sun, and rising from the 
 waters with its numberless domes and towers, attended, if I may 
 be allowed the expression, by several lesser islands, each crowned 
 with its spires and pinnacles, presented the appearance of a vast 
 city, seated on the very bosom of the ocean. We embarked, 
 and gliding over the Lagune, whose surface unruffled by the 
 slightest breeze, was as smooth as the most polished glass, 
 touched at the island of St. Georgio, half way, that is two miles 
 from the main land on one side, and from Venice on the 
 other, and then entering the city, rowed up the grand canal, and 
 passed under the Rialto; admiring as we advanced, the various 
 architecture and vast edifices that line its sides. 
 
 * The Lagune are the shallows that border the whole coast, and extend round 
 Venice ; their depth, between the city and the main land, is from three to six 
 feet in general. These shallows are occasioned by the vast quantities of sand 
 carried down by the many rivers that descend from the Alps and fall into the 
 Adriatic, all along its western shores. Ravenna, which lies much lower down, 
 anciently stood like Venice in the midst of waters; it is now surrounded with 
 sand, as Venice will probably be ere long, if it should continue subject to the 
 Austrian government. The republic expended considerable sums in cleansing 
 the canals that intersect and surround the city, removing obstacles and keeping up 
 the depth of waters, so necessary for the security of the capital. The interest of 
 a foreign sovereign is to lay it open to attack. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 67 
 
 Venice cannot boast of a very ancient origin, nor has it any- 
 direct connection with Roman story and classical recollections ; 
 yet I doubt much, whether any town in Italy, not even except- 
 ing Rome itself, contains so much genuine Roman blood ; as 
 none has, certainly, so long preserved the true spirit of the 
 ancient Romans. Founded by the inhabitants of Aqnilcia, 
 Padua and other Roman colonies bordering on the xVdriatic, 
 joined probably by several from the interior provinces, it 
 escaped the all-wasting sword of Alaric and Attila ; first eluded, 
 then defied the power of succeeding invaders, and never saw a 
 barbarian army within its walls till the fatal epoch of 1797. 
 Its foundation dates from the year 42 1 ; the succession of 
 Doges or Dukes from the year 697- Its name is derived from 
 the Veneti, a people that inhabited all the neighbouring coasts, 
 and appropriated as it has been, from a very early period to it, 
 is a sufficient monument of the origin and numbers of its 
 founders, and first inhabitants. Its government was at first 
 popular ; as the power and riches of the State increased, the 
 influence of the nobles augmented ; at intervals, the Doges 
 acquired and abused the sovereignty ; till at length, after six 
 centuries of struggles, the aristocratic party prevailed, limited 
 the power of the Doge, excluded the people, and confined to their 
 own body all the authority and exercise of government. 
 
 As Venice may justly be considered a Roman colony, so it 
 bore for many centuries a striking resemblance to the great 
 parent Republic. The same spirit of liberty, the same patriot 
 passion, the same firmness, and the same wisdom that charac- 
 terized and ennobled the ancient Romans, seemed to revive 
 in the Venetians, and pervade every member of their rising 
 
 k2 
 
68 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 state. That profound respect for religion also, which formed so 
 distinguished a feature in the character of the former,* was 
 equally conspicuous in the latter, but more permanent and 
 effectual, because directed to a better object, and regulated by 
 superior information. The same success in a just proportion ac- 
 companied the same virtues ; and we behold Venice, from dirt 
 and seor-weed, rise into magnificence and fame, extend its sway 
 over the neighbouring coasts, wrest towns, islands, and whole 
 provinces from mighty potentates, carry its arms into Asia and 
 Africa, and struggle, often successfully, with the collected force 
 of vast empires. As its greatness rested on solid foundations, so 
 was it permanent ; and Venice may boast of a duration seldom 
 allowed to human associations, whether kingdoms or common- 
 wealths, thirteen complete centuries of fame, prosperity and in- 
 dependence. It is not wonderful therefore that this republic 
 should have been honored with the appellation of another 
 Rome, considered as the buhvark and pride of Italy, and cele- 
 brated by orators and poets as the second fated seat of independ- 
 ence and empire. 
 
 Una Italum regina, altae pulcherrima Romae, 
 
 j^mula, quae terris, quae dominaris aquis ! 
 Tu tibi vel reges cives facis ; O decus ! O lux 
 
 Ausonis, per quam libera turba sumus ; 
 Per quam barbaries nobis non imperat, et Sol 
 
 Exoriens nostro clarius orbe micat ! 
 
 Act. Syn. Sannaz. lib. iii. Eleg. I, 93. 
 
 The appearance of Venice is not unworthy of its glorious 
 
 * Et si conferre volumus nostra cum externis, coeteris rebus aut pares aut etiam 
 inferiores reperiemur ; Religione, id est, cultu Deoruni, multo superiores. — De 
 Nat. Dear. ii. 3. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 69 
 
 destinies. Its churches, palaces, and public buildings of every 
 description, and sometimes even its private edifices, have in 
 their size, materials and decorations, a certain air of magnifi- 
 cence, truly Roman. The style of architecture is not always 
 either pure or pleasing, but conformable to the taste that pre- 
 vailed in the different ages when each edifice was erected. 
 Hence, the attentive observer may discover the history of archi- 
 tecture in the streets of Venice, and trace its gradation from the 
 solid masses and round arches, the only remains of the ancient 
 grand style in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, 
 through the fanciful forms and grotesque embellishments of 
 the middle ages, to its revival and re-establishment in these 
 latter times. 
 
 The church of St. Mark, with its accompaniments, its tower, 
 its square, its hbrary, and its palace, from its celebrity alone 
 deserves the traveller's first visit. The tower has neither grace 
 in its form, nor beauty in its materials. Its only merit is its 
 height, which, though not extraordinary in itself, yet from the 
 flatness of the surrounding scenery, gives the spectator a very 
 clear and advantageous view of the city and its port and 
 shipping, with the neighbouring coasts, and all their windings. 
 The famous Piazza de S. Marco, surrounded with arcades, is 
 more remarkable for its being the well known scene of Venetian 
 mirth, conversation and intrigue, than for its size or symmetry. 
 It is inferior, in both respects, to many squares in many great 
 cities ; yet as one side is the work of Palladio, and the whole of 
 fine marble, its appearance is grand and striking. The church 
 of St. Mark, the great patron of the city and republic, occupies 
 one end of this square, and terminates it with a sort of gloomy 
 barbaric magnificence. In fact, the five domes that swell from 
 
70 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 its roof, and the paltry decorations that cover and encumber its 
 porticos, give it externally the appearance of an eastern pagoda, 
 while formed within on the plan of the Greek churches ; and like 
 them, adorned with clumsy mosaics, it is dark, heavy, and 
 sepulchral. This church is extremely ancient, it was begun in 
 the year 829, and after a fire, rebuilt in the year 976. It was 
 ornamented with mosaics and marble in 1071. The form of 
 this ancient fabric, evidently of eastern origin, may perhaps 
 throw some light on the rise of the style called gothic. Its 
 architects, it is related, were ordered by the Republic to spare no 
 expence, and to erect an edifice superior in size and splendor 
 to any then existing. They took Santa Sophia for their model, 
 and seem to have imitated its form, its donies, and its bad taste. 
 But if riches can compensate the want of taste, and the absence of 
 beauty, the church of St. Mark possesses a sufficient share to supply 
 the deficiency, as it is ornamented with the spoils of Constanti- 
 nople, and displays a profusion of the finest marbles, of alabasters, 
 onyx, emerald, and all the splendid jewellery of the East. The 
 celebrated bronze horses stood on the portico facing the piazza. 
 These horses are supposed to be the work of Lysippus ; they 
 ornamented successively different triumphal arches at Rome, were 
 transported by Constantine to his new city, and conveyed thence 
 by the Venetians, when they took and plundered it in the year 
 1206. They were erected on marble pedestals above the portico 
 of St. Mark, where they stood nearly six hundred years, a 
 trophy of the power of the republic, till they were removed 
 to Paris in the year 1797, and placed on stone pedestals behind 
 the palace of the Thuilleries, where they remain a monument of 
 French treachery and injustice. 
 
 As it is not my intention to give a minute description of 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 71 
 
 the ornaments or riches of the church of St. Mark, I shall 
 only observe, that they merit much attention ; and that to dis- 
 cover the value of the internal decorations, a very minute 
 inspection is often rendered necessary by the gloominess of the 
 place. 
 
 The reader may perhaps wish to know how and when St. 
 Mark, whose life and evangelical writings seem to have no con- 
 nection with the Venetian history, acquired such consideration 
 in the city of Venice, as t(j become its patron Saint, and give 
 his name to the most splendid and celebrated of its churches. 
 The following account may possibly satisfy his curiosity. In 
 the year eight hundred and twenty-nine, two Venetian mer- 
 chants of the names of Bono and Rustico, then at Alexandria, 
 contrived, either by bribery or stratagem, to purloin the body of 
 St. Mark, at that time in the possession of the Mussulmen, and 
 convey it to Venice. On its arrival, it was transported to the 
 Ducal palace, and deposited by the then Doge in his own 
 chapel. St. Mark was shortly after declared the patron and 
 protector of the republic; and the lion Avhich, in the mystic vision 
 of Ezekiel, is supposed to represent this evangelist, was em- 
 blazoned on its standards, and elevated on its towers. The 
 church of St. Mark was erected immediately after this event, 
 and the saint has ever since retained his honors. But the 
 reader will learn with surprise, that notwithstanding these 
 honors, the body of the evangelist Avas in a very short space of 
 time either lost, or privately sold, by a tribune of the name of 
 Carozo, who usurped the dukedom; and to support himself 
 against the legitimate Doge, is supposed to have plundered the 
 treasury, and alienated some of the most valuable articles. Since 
 that period, the existence of the body of St. Mark has never been 
 
 5 
 
72 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 publicly ascertained, though the Venetians firmly maintain 
 that it is still in their possession. The place, however, where 
 the sacred deposit lies, is acknowledged to be an undivulged 
 secret, or perhaps, in less cautious language, to be utterly un- 
 known. 
 
 The Piazetta, opening from St. Mark's to the sea in front, and 
 lined on one side with the ducal palace, on the other with the 
 public library, with its two superb pillars of granite standing 
 insulated in the centre, is a scene at once grand, airy, and from 
 the concourse of people that frequent it, animated. Close to 
 St. Mark's stands the ducal palace, the seat of the Venetian go- 
 vernment, where the senate and the different councils of state, 
 assembled each in their respective halls. This antique fabric is 
 in the Gothic or rather Saracenic style, of vast extent, great 
 solidity, and venerable appearance. Some of its apartments are 
 spacious and lofty, and some of its halls of a magnitude truly 
 noble. They are all adorned with paintings by the first masters 
 of the Venetian school ; and Titian, Paolo Veronese, and Tin- 
 toretto, have exerted all their powers, and displayed all the 
 charms of their art to adorn the senate-house, and perpetuate 
 the glories of the republic. The subjects of the pictures are 
 taken either from the Scripture or the history of Venice ; so 
 that the nobles, when assembled, had always before their eyes 
 incentives to virtue and examples of patriotism. Tablets with 
 inscriptions were suspended over the tribunals of the magistrates, 
 pointing out either their duties in particular, or those of the 
 nobility in general. The style is often diffusive, but the senti- 
 ments are always just. The following, which is inserted in a 
 picture over the Doge's seat, in one of the council chambers, 
 may serve as a specimen. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 73 
 
 " Qui patriae pericula suo periculo expellunt, hi sapientes putandi sunt, cum et 
 euni quem tlebent licniorem reipub. reddunt, et pro inultis perire malunt quam 
 cum multis. Etenim, vehementer est iniquum vitam, quam a natura acceptam 
 propter patriam conservaverimus, natura?, cum cogat, reddere, patriae, cum roget, 
 lion dare. Sapientes igitur ffistimandi sunt, qui nullum pro salute patriae pericu- 
 lum vitant. Hoc vinculum est hujus dignitatis qua fruimur in repub. hoc fun- 
 damentum libertatis. Hie fons equitatis ; mens et animus et consilium et sen- 
 tentia civitatis posita est in legibus. Ut corpora nostra sine mente, sic civitas sine 
 lege. Legum rainistri magistratus. Legum interpretes judices. Legum deniq. 
 idcircd omnes servi sumus, ut liberi esse possimus." 
 
 It would have been happy for the state, if the nobles had been 
 animated by these principles previous to the French invasion. 
 
 The courts and staircases are decorated with antique statues; 
 marble and bronze shine on every side, and the whole edifice 
 corresponds in every respect with the dignity of its destination. 
 
 The celebrated Rialto is a single, but very bold arch, thrown 
 over the Gran-Canale; and though striking from its elevation, 
 span and solidity, yet sinks almost into insignificance when com- 
 pared with the beautiful bridge Delia Trinita, at Florence, or 
 with the superb, and far more extensive structures of Blackfriars' 
 and Westminster. 
 
 The arsenal, occupying an entire island, and thus fortified, not 
 only by its ramparts, but by the surrounding sea, is spacious, 
 commodious, and even magnificent. Before the gate stands a 
 vast pillar on either side, and two immense lions of granite, 
 which fomierly adorned the Piraeus of Athens. They are 
 attended by two others of a smaller size, all, as the inscrip- 
 tion informs us, " Triumphali manii e Pirao direpta." The stair- 
 case in the principal building is of white marble. The halls^ 
 
 VOL. I. 1 
 
74 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 large, lofty, and commodious ; one of the principal is decorated 
 with a beautiful statue by Canova, representing Fame crowning 
 the late Admiral Emo, the Pompey of Venice, the last of her 
 heroes. In short, nothing is wanting to make this celebrated 
 arsenal perhaps the first in Europe; excepting that for which all 
 arsenals are built, stores and shipping; and these the French in 
 their late invasion, either plundered or destroyed. So far their 
 rapacity, howsoever odious, had an object and pretext ; but it 
 is difficult to conceive any motive, excepting an innate propen- 
 sity to mischief, Avhich could have prompted them to disfigure 
 the buildings and statues, to break the marble stairs, by rolling 
 cannon balls down them, and to dismantle the Bucentaur, the 
 famous state galley of the republic. Highwaymen have been 
 known to spare or restore a seal, a ring, a trinket, to indulge the 
 whim or the feelings of the owner ; and robbers and house- 
 breakers refrain from damaging furniture Avhich they cannot 
 carry away ; in the same manner the French might have re- 
 spected the above-mentioned monument of a gallant man, and 
 not disfigured it, to force a paltry gold pencil from the hand of a 
 figure of Fame : they might have spared a gaudy state pageant, 
 whose antique magnificence had for ages delighted the eyes, and 
 soothed the pride of the Venetian commonalty. Yet such is 
 the peculiar cast of this people, whose armies at Venice, in 
 every town in Italy, and indeed in almost every country they 
 Have over-run, have uniformly added insult to rapacity; and 
 wounded the feelings, while they plundered the property, of the 
 miserable inhabitants. 
 
 But no public edifice does so much credit to the state, as the 
 noble rampart erected on the Lido di Palestrina, to protect the 
 city and port against the swell and storms of the Adriatic. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 75 
 
 This vast pile, formed of blocks of Istrian stone, resembling- 
 marble, runs along the shore for the space of nineteen miles, 
 connects various little islands and towns with each other, and if 
 completed, would excel in utility, solidity, extent, and perhaps 
 beauty, the Piraeus, the mole of Antium and Ancona, and all 
 other similar works of either Greeks or Romans. 
 
 Of the churches in Venice, it may be observed in general^ 
 that, as some of them have been built by Palladio, and many 
 raised on models designed by him, they are of a better style in 
 architecture ; and also, on account of the riches and religious 
 temper of the Republic, adorned with more magnificence than 
 those of any other town in Italy, if we except the matchless 
 splendors of Rome. I need not add, that the talents of the first 
 Venetian artists have been exerted, to adorn them with sculp- 
 tures and paintings. Of these churches that De Salute, that 
 De Redemptore, two votive temples, erected by the Republic 
 on the cessation of two dreadful pestilences, and that of St. 
 Georgio Maggiore, are very noble ; the latter in particular, an 
 exquisite work of Palladio, with some few defects, but number- 
 less beauties. The church of the Dominican fi'iars, SS. Gio- 
 vanni e Paolo, is gothic; and remarkable for a chapel of the 
 Blessed Virgin, fined with marble, divided into pannels, contain- 
 ing each a piece of gospel history, represented in beautiful 
 basso relievo. But the peculiar and characteristic ornaments of 
 this church are the statues, erected by the republic to many of 
 its worthies, and the superb mausoleums of several heroes and 
 doges. The materials are always the finest marbles, and the or- 
 naments frequently of the best taste. The descriptions as 
 pompous as the tombs themselves, carry us back to the heroic 
 ages of the republic ; and in lofty and classical language, relate 
 
76 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the glorious achievements of the doges and warriors of ancient 
 times. The appellations of Creticus, Africanus, Asiaticus, grace 
 the tombs of the most honorable chieftains, and seem to revive 
 and emulate the triumphs and the titles of consular Rome. The 
 conclusion of one of these epitaphs deserves to be recorded ; it 
 is the last admonition Avhich the dying hero addresses to his 
 countrymen. " Vosjustitiam et concordiam, rpio scmpitcrimm hoc 
 sit hnperiimi, conservate." 
 
 Next to the churches we may rank the Scuolc, or the 
 chapels and halls of certain confraternities, such as that of St. 
 Roch, St. Mark, and that of the Mercatanti ; all of noble pro- 
 portions and rich furniture, and all adorned with paintings 
 relative to their respective denominations, by the best masters. 
 
 But Avhy enlarge on the beauty, the magnificence, the glories 
 of Venice? or why describe its palaces, its churches, its monu- 
 ments? That Liberty which raised these pompous edifices 
 in a swampy marsh, and opened such scenes of grandeur in the 
 middle of a pool, is now no more ! That bold independence 
 which filled a few lonely islands, the abode of sea-mews and cor- 
 morants, with population and commerce, is bowed into slavery ; 
 and the republic of Venice, with all its bright series of triumphs, 
 is now an empty name. The city, with its walls and towers, and 
 streets, still remains, but the spirit that animated the mass is 
 tied. Jacet ingens littore triincus. 
 
 It is unnecessary, therefore, at present, to enlarge upon the 
 former government of Venice ; suffice it to say, that it is now 
 a petty province of the Austrian empire, and that of all its 
 former territories, the Seven Islands only, once considered as 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 77 
 
 a very insignificant part of the Venetian dominions, enjoy a 
 nominal and precarious independence. The unjust and cruel 
 deed of destroying a republic, weak and inoffensive, yet respect- 
 able from its former fame, belongs to Bonaparte; but the causes 
 that led to it must be sought for in the bosom of the republic 
 itself. Had the same virtues which fostered the infant common- 
 wealth still flourished ; had the courage which urged it so often 
 to unequal contest with the then mighty power of the Ottomans, 
 continued to inspire its sons ; had the spirit and the wisdom that 
 directed its councils during the famous league of Cambray, influ- 
 enced its decisions in 1797, it might still have stood, and in de- 
 fiance of the treachery, and the power of France, have preserved, 
 if not all its territories, at least its honor and independence. But 
 those virtues, that spirit, that wisdom, were now no more ; they 
 blazed out for the last time in the war of the Morea,"* and 
 even the last spark died away Avith the gallant Emo. Luxury 
 had corrupted every mind, and unbraced every sinew. Plea- 
 sure had long been the only object of pursuit; the idol to whom 
 the indolent Venetians sacrificed their time, their fortune, their 
 talents. To attend the doge on days of ceremony, and act their 
 part in public pageantry ; or perhaps, point out in the senate the 
 best mode of complimenting some powerful court, orofkecpino- 
 or patching up an inglorious peace with the piratical powers of 
 Africa, was the only business of the nobility. To accompany 
 their chosen ladies, to while away the niglit at their casinos, 
 and slumber away the day in their palaces, was their usual, 
 their favourite employment. Hence Venice, for so many ages 
 the seat of independence, of commerce, of wisdom, and of enter- 
 prise, gradually sunk from her eminence, and at length became 
 
 * A. D. 1718. 
 
78 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the foul abode of efteminacy, Avantonness, and debauchery. Her 
 arsenal, where so many storms once fermented, and whence so 
 many thunderbolts had been levelled at the aspiring head of the 
 Turk, resigning its Avarlike furniture, became a scene of ban- 
 quetting; and instead of resounding to the stroke of the anvil, 
 reechoed to the dance and the concert.* In short, this once 
 proud and potent republic, like some of the degenerate Emperors 
 of Rome, seemed to prefer the glories of the theatre to those 
 of the field, and willingly rested its modern claim to consi- 
 deration, on the pre-eminent exhibitions of its well-known 
 carnival .f- 
 
 From a people so degraded, so lost to bold and manly senti- 
 ments, no generous exertions, no daring enterprize is to be ex- 
 pected in the hour of danger. It is their policy to temporize, to 
 weigh chances, to flatter the great contending powers, and their 
 fate must be to sink under the weight of the victorious. Such 
 
 * Several noble halls in the arsenal had been for a long time appropriated to 
 the entertainment of royal guests, and strangers of very great distinction. 
 
 t " In fatti, un cei'to Egoismo sempre fatale alle repubbliche, un reflessibile raf- 
 fredamento di quel zelo patrio che tanto distinse gli aristocratici dei passati 
 secoli, una falsa clemenza nei tribunali, onde rimanevano i delitti senza il castigo 
 delle Leggi prescritto, una certa facilita di propalare i secreti del Senato, sorpassata 
 con indolenza dagT inquisitori dello stato, una non curanza delle cose sacre e 
 religiose, un immoderato spirito di passatempi, una scandalosa impudenza nelle 
 donne, un libertinaggio posato per cosi dire in trionfo negli nomini erano fra gli 
 altri disordini che dorainavano in una parte di Patrizi, e di Cittadini d'ogni condi- 
 zione si in Venezia, che nello Stato. Ne fanno fede gl' interni sconvolginienti 
 degli anni 1762 e 1780, e la Loggia de Liberi Muratori scoperta nel 1785, in 
 che alcuni rispettabili soggetti avevano ingresso : Queste furono le cagioni est- 
 rinseche, che disponevano I'edificioad un imminente pericolo di croUare." — Such is 
 the acknowledgment of a Venetian author. Raccolla, vol. i.p. 16. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 79 
 
 Avas the destiny of Venice. After having first insulted, and then 
 courted the French republic, it at length, Avith all the means of 
 defence in its hands, resigned itself to treacherous friendship ; 
 and sent a thousand boats, to transport the armies of France 
 from the main land over the Lagune, into the very heart of the 
 city. The English commodore in the Adriatic, protested against 
 such madness, and offered to defend the city with his own ships 
 — in vain ! The people, Avho are always the last to lose a sense of 
 national honor, expressed their readiness to stand forth and 
 defend their country — in vain ! The nobles trembled for their 
 Italian estates; and in the empty hope of saving their income, 
 betrayed their country, and submitted to plunder, slavery, and 
 indelible disgrace. Not one arm was raised, not one sword was 
 drawn, and Venice fell, self-betrayed, and therefore unpitied. 
 Her enemies punished her pusillanimity, by pillaging her public 
 and her private treasures, defacing her edifices, strip])ing her ar- 
 senal, carrying away her trophies, and then handing her over as 
 a contemptible prize, to a foreign despot. A tremendous lesson 
 to rich and effeminate nations to rouse them to exertion, and 
 to prove, if such proof were wanting, that independence must 
 be preserved, as it can only be obtained, by the sword ; that 
 money may purchase arms, but not freedom : that submission, ever 
 excites contempt; and that determined, heroic resistance, even 
 should it fail, challenges and obtains consideration and honor. 
 
 Non tamen ignavae 
 Percipient gentes quam sit non ardua virtus 
 Servitium fugisse manu .... 
 Ignorantque datos, ne quisquam serviat, enses. Lucan. 
 
 The population of Venice, previous to the late revolution, 
 amounted to about one hundred and fifty thousand souls ; it is 
 supposed, since that event, to have decreased considerably, and 
 
 3 
 
80 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 will probably, if the present order of things should unfortunately 
 last, continue to diminish, till, deserted like Sienna and Pisa, 
 this city shall become a superb solitude, whose lonely grandeur 
 will remind the traveller, that Venice was once great, and in- 
 dependent. 
 
 The state of society in Venice seems to be upon a more en- 
 larged scale than formerly; the casinos indeed continue still to be 
 the places of resort, of card-parties and suppers ; but various 
 houses are open to strangers ; and balls and concerts, and club 
 dinners given frequently; to all which introduction is not dith- 
 cult. The carnival was distinguished by plays in the day, and 
 masked balls at night ; the illumination of the theatre on such 
 nights is very beautiful. One species of theatrical amusement at 
 this season is singular. It is a regular farce, carried on at 
 all hours ; so that the idle part of the community may, if they 
 please, pass all the twenty-four hours in the play-house, fall 
 asleep, and awake, go out and come in, and still find the play 
 going on with its usual spirit. In such pieces, the actors seem to 
 be obliged to have recourse to their own ingenuity for the dia- 
 logue, which, however, seldom flags for want of materials ; such 
 is their natural talent for repartee and buffoonery. 
 
 A person accustomed to the rides, the walks, the activity of 
 ordinary towns, soon groAVS tired of the confinement of Venice, 
 and of the dull, indolent, see-saw motion of Gondolas. He 
 longs to expatiate in fields, and range at large through the 
 streets, without the encumbrance of a boat and a retinue of 
 Gondolieri. We therefore left Venice on the sixth of March, 
 without much regret, and embarking at the inn door, proceeded 
 towards Fusina. As we rowed over the Lagune, we prevailed 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 81 
 
 upon our gondolier! to sing, according to an ancient custom, men- 
 tioned, I think, by Addison, some stanzas of Tasso; but however 
 beautiful the poetry might be, we thought the tune and execu- 
 tion no ways superior to that of a common ballad in the streets 
 of London. This classical mode of singing verses alternately, 
 the remains of the ancient pastoral,* so long preserved in Italy, 
 has been much on the decline in Venice since the French 
 invasion, which has damped the ardor of the people, and almost 
 extinguished their natural mirth and vivacity. From Fusina we 
 ascended the Brenta in the same manner as we had descended 
 it, and arrived late at Padua. 
 
 The next morning, after a second visit to the most remarkable 
 edifices, such as St. Justina, the Santo, the Cathedral, the 
 Salone, we turned our thoughts to the neighbouring country, 
 and considered what objects it presented to our curiosity. The 
 warm fountains and baths of Aponus, now called Apono, lie 
 about four miles from Padua. They were frequented by the 
 ancient Romans under the Emperors, and have been celebrated 
 by Claudian, and the Gothic king Theodoric, in long and 
 elaborate descriptions in verse and prose.-j- These writers attri- 
 bute to them many strange and wonderful effects ; however, 
 making all due allowances for poetical exaggeration, the waters 
 are in many cases of great advantage. 
 
 * Alternis dicetis, amant alterna Camenae. Virgil. 
 
 + The principal effects are described in tfie following verses. Claudian ad- 
 dresses himself to the fountain : 
 
 Felices, proprium qui te meruere coloni, 
 Fas quibus est Aponon juris habere sui ; 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
82 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 About seven miles southward of Padua, rises the ridge of hills 
 called the Colli Euganei, still retaining the name of one of the 
 earliest tribes that peopled the Paduan territory. These moun- 
 tains, for so they might justly be termed, if the enormous 
 swell of the neighbouring Alps did not in appearance diminish 
 their elevation, were formerly, it seems, inhabited by a race of 
 soothsayers, who vied with the Tuscans in the art of looking 
 into futurity. One of these seers, according to Lucan, beheld 
 the battle of Pharsalia while seated on his native hill, and des- 
 cribed to his astonished auditors, all the vicissitudes of that 
 bloody contest*, on the very morning on which it took place. 
 
 Aulus Gellius relates the same story, but attributes it to a 
 priest of the name of Cornelius, a citizen of Padua, without 
 mentioning, as he frequently does, the author from whom he 
 derived the tale. But, whether it was a Paduan priest or an 
 Euganean soothsayer who was gifted with this extraordinary 
 power of vision, it proves at least that claims to the faculty 
 
 Non illis terrena lues, corrupta nee Austri 
 
 Flamina nee sievo Sirius igne nocet .... 
 Quod si forte malus membris exuberat humor 
 
 Languida vel nimio viscera felle virent ; 
 Non venas reserant, nee vulnere vulnera sanant, 
 
 Pocula nee tristi gramine mista bibunt : 
 Amissum lymphis reparant impune vigorem, 
 
 Pacaturque, a;gro luxuriante, dolor. Eidi/l. Apon. 
 
 * Euganeo, si vera fides memorantibus, Augur 
 CoUe sedens, Aponus terris ubi fumifer exit, 
 Atque Antenorei dispergitur unda Timavi, 
 Venit summa dies, geritur, res maxima, dixit, 
 Impia concurrunt Pompeii et Caesaris arma. Luc. vii. 192. 
 
 (The poet's geography is not very accurate.) 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 83 
 
 termed second sight, are not confined to modern times, or to 
 the northern regions of Great Britain.* 
 
 In one of the recesses of these mountains stands the village of 
 Arquato, distinguished by the residence of Petrai'cha, during the 
 latter years of his Hfe, and by his death, which took place in the 
 year 1374. He was buried in the church-yard of the same 
 village, and a monument was erected in his honor. This mo- 
 nument, and his villa, have been preserved by the people 
 with religious care, and continue even now to attract a number 
 of literary visitants of all countries, who, as they pass through 
 Padua, fail not to pay their respects to the manes of Petrarcha. 
 The road to Arquato, as far as Monte Selice, runs along a canal, 
 over a very flat and a very fertile country, bearing a strong re- 
 semblance to some of the finest parts of the Netherlands. Villas 
 and large villages lie thick around, and the scene on every 
 side gives the traveller an idea of plenty and population. To 
 relieve the flatness of the country immediately around, the 
 Colli Euganei rise in various forms in the front, and Monte 
 Selice (or Silicis), in particular, strikes the eye by its lofty conical 
 form. About eight miles from Padua, on the banks of the 
 canal, stands the castle of the Obizzi, an ancient and illustrious 
 family of Padua. This edifice is pretty much in the style of the 
 old castles of romance. Lofty rooms, long galleries, winding 
 staircases, and dark passages, fit it admirably for the purposes of 
 a novelist, and render it equally proper for the abode of a great 
 baron, the receptacle of a baud of robbers, the scene of nightly 
 murders, or the solitary walk of ghosts and spectres. But the 
 
 * Aul. Gell. lib. xv. 18. 
 M 2 
 
84 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 predominant taste of the country has fitted it up in a style well 
 calculated to dispel these gloomy, transalpine illusions, and cure 
 the spectator's mind of its Gothic terrors. The apartments are 
 adorned with paintings, some of which are in fresco, on the walls, 
 representing the glories and achievements of the Obizzian heroes 
 in days of old, and others on canvas, being originals or copies of 
 great masters. The galleries, and one in particular of very 
 considerable length, are filled Avith Roman antiquities, altars, 
 vases, armour, inscriptions, pillars, &c. On the whole, the castle 
 is very curious, and ought to be made the object of a particular 
 visit, as an incidental hour is not sufficient for an examination 
 in detail of the various curiosities it contains. 
 
 A little beyond the village of Cataio, we turned off from the high 
 
 road, and quitting our carriage on account of the swampiness of 
 
 the country, walked or rowed along through lines of willows, or 
 
 over tracts of marshy land, for two or three miles, till we began 
 
 to ascend the mountain. Arquato is prettily situated on the 
 
 northern side of a high hill, Avith a valley beloAv it, winding 
 
 through the Euganean ridge. It is not a very large, but a neat 
 
 village. Petrarcha's villa is at the extremity farthest from 
 
 Padua. It consists of two floors. The first is used for farming 
 
 purposes, as it is annexed to a farmer's house. The second 
 
 story contains five rooms, three of which are large, and two 
 
 closets ; the middle room seems to have been used as a reception 
 
 room or hall ; that on the right is a kitchen ; that on the left 
 
 has two closets, one of which might have been a study, the 
 
 other a bed-chamber. Its fire-place is high, and its pastes fuli- 
 
 gine nigri. To the chief Avindow is a balcony ; the view thence 
 
 tOAvards the opening of the valley on the side, and in the front, 
 
 toAvards two lofty conical hills, one of Avhich is topped Avith 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 85 
 
 a convent, is calm and pleasing. The only decoration of the 
 apartments is a deep border of grotesque painting, running as a 
 cornice under the ceiling ; an old smoaky picture over the fire- 
 place in the kitchen, said by the good people to be an original 
 by Michael Angelo, and a table and chair, all apparently, the 
 picture not excepted, as old as the house itself. On the table is a 
 large book, an Album, containing the names, and sometimes the 
 sentiments, of various visitants. The following verses are in- 
 scribed in the first page ; they are addressed to the traveller. 
 
 Tu che devoto al sagro albergo arrivi 
 
 Ove s'aggira ancor I'ombra immortale 
 
 Di chi un di vi depose il corpo frale, 
 La Patria, il nome, il sensi tuoi qui scrive. 
 
 The walls are covered Avith names, compliments, and verses. 
 Behind the house is a garden, with a small lodge for the 
 gardener, and the ruins of a tower covered with ivy. A narrow 
 walk leads through it, and continues along the side of the 
 hill, under the shade of olive trees; a solitary laurel* still lingers 
 beside the path, and recals to mind, at once, both the poet and 
 the lover. The hill ascends steep from the garden, and winding 
 round, closes the vale and the prospect. Its broken sides are 
 well cultivated, interspersed with olives and cottages. It was 
 already evening when avc arrived. After having examined 
 the house, we walked for some time in the garden ; a thousand 
 violets perfumed the air; the nightingale Avas occasionally 
 heard, as if making its first essay ; and, excepting his evening 
 song, " most musical, most melancholy," all Avas still and silent 
 around. The place and the scenery seemed so well described 
 
 * It is necessary to remark here, once for all, that the Italian laurel is the ba^' 
 tree, the laurus of the ancients. 
 
86 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 in the following beautiful lines, that it was impossible not to 
 recollect and apply them, though probably intended by the 
 poet for another region. 
 
 Qui non palazzi, non teatro, o loggia, 
 
 Ma'n lor vece un abete, un faggio, un pine, 
 
 Tra I'erba verde, e'l bel monte vicino 
 
 Onde se scende poetando e poggia, 
 
 Levan di terra al ciel nostro intelletto. 
 
 El rosignuol che dolcemente all' ombra 
 
 Tutte le notti si lamenta e piagne. Son. x. 
 
 The garden is entirely neglected, but the house is kept in 
 good repair, a circumstance which cannot but reflect much 
 honor on the spirit of the proprietor and inhabitants of the 
 village, when it is considered that more than four hundred years 
 have now elapsed since the death of Petrarcha, and that many 
 a destructive war has raged in tlie country, and many a wasting 
 army passed over it since that event. His body lies interred 
 in the church-yard of the village in a large stone sarcophagus, 
 raised on four low pillars, and surmounted with a bust. As we 
 stood and contemplated the tomb by the pale light of the moon, 
 we indulged the caprice of the moment, and twining a branch of 
 laurel into the form of a crown, placed it on the head of the bust, 
 and hailed the manes of the Tuscan poet in the words of his 
 admirer. 
 
 Dell pioggia, o vento rio non faccia scorno 
 
 All' ossa pie ; sol porti giati odori 
 
 L'aura che'l ciel suol far puro e sereno. 
 
 Lascin le ninfe ogni lor antro ameno 
 
 E raccolte in corona al sasso intorno, 
 
 Liete ti cantin lodi e spargan fiori ! Aless. Piceolomini. 
 
 Several of the inhabitants who had gathered round us, during 
 this singular ceremony, seemed not a little pleased with the 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 87 
 
 whim, and cheered us with repeated viva's as we passed through 
 the vilhige, and descended the hill. Though overturned by the 
 blunder of the drivers, and for some time suspended over the 
 canal with imminent danger of being precipitated into it, yet 
 as the night was bright and warm, and all the party in high 
 spirits, the excursion was extremely pleasant. 
 
 Few names seem to have been so fondly cherished by con- 
 temporaries, or treated with so much partiality by posterity, as 
 that of Petrarcha. This distinction he owes not so much to his 
 talents, or even to his virtues, as to the many amiable and en- 
 gaging qualities which accompanied them, and set them off to the 
 greatest advantage. As an orator, an historian, and a poet, he 
 had even in his own time many rivals, perhaps in Boccaccio an 
 equal, and in Dante, undoubtedly a superior. But in pleasing 
 manners, generous feelings, warm attachment, and all the grace- 
 ful, all the attractive accomplishments of life, he seems to have 
 surpassed every public character of his time, and to have en- 
 gaged universal and unqualified admiration. Gibbon asserts 
 that the literary reputation of Petrarcha must rest entirely on 
 his Latin works, and insinuates that his sonnets are tritles ; that 
 his passion was, in his own opinion, and in that of his contem- 
 poraries, criminal ; and that Laura, the mother of ten children, 
 could have possessed few of the charms ascribed to her by the 
 poet. Though I have no particular inclination to enter the lists 
 as champion of the lady's charms, yet I may venture to observe, 
 that a matron who died at the age of forty or forty-two, may 
 possibly have been very beautiful at the age of nineteen or 
 twenty, when the poet first beheld her; that female beauty 
 sometimes survives forty, however fatal that age may be to it in 
 general ; that it is less liable to fade when it consists more in 
 
88 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 expression than in color and freshness; and, in fine, that though 
 Laura, if we may beheve her lover, possessed both species of 
 beauty, yet she excelled in the former. 
 
 Le crespe chiome d'or puro lucente 
 
 E'l lampeggiar dell angelico riso .... II Parte. Sonn. 24. 
 
 Le perle in ch' [amor] frange ed affrena 
 
 Dolci paiole I Parte. Sonn. 184. 
 
 Are perishable charms without doubt, and liable to very rapid 
 decay. But, 
 
 Leggiadria singolare e pellegrina ; 
 
 E'l cantar che nell aniina si sente : 
 
 L' andar celeste, e'l vago spirto ardente : 
 
 Begli occhi che i cor fanno smalti : 
 
 Col dir pien d' intelletti, dolci ed alti: 
 
 E'l bel tacere, e quei santi costumi 1 I Parte. Sonn. 178. 
 
 These are charms which emanate directly from the mind, and 
 seem almost to enjoy some portion of its pure and imperishable 
 nature. Laura, therefore, may still be allowed to retain her 
 honors, and continue to rank among the celebrated beauties of 
 ancient times, oltra le belle bella.^ 
 
 As to the poet's passion, it was undoubtedly misplaced, 
 excessive, and highly reprehensible; but his contemporaries 
 do not seem to have considered it in that light, especially 
 as it never broke out in any guilty deed, or even indeco- 
 rous expression. The author of his life, Beccadelli, a man 
 of unblemished morals and reputation, and an archbishop, de- 
 
 * Vol. ii. Son. xxi. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 89 
 
 clares that Petrarcha's attachment was innocent in itself, and 
 beneficial in its consequences, as it called forth the powers 
 of the poet's genius, and contributed in a high degree to the 
 perfection of his language, and the honor of his countr3^ Pe- 
 trarcha himself condemns, and applauds, his own passion, al- 
 ternately ; representing it sometimes as having preserved him 
 from the indulgence of low grovelling appetites, and urged 
 him to the pursuit of honorable fame* ; and at other times 
 lamenting it as a guilty weakness, to which he sacrificed his time, 
 and devoted talents destined for nobler objccts.-f- But, notwith- 
 standing the severity of this self-censure, he continued either to 
 compose or correct the strains that love inspired, not only for 
 several years after the death of its object, but even to the near 
 approach of his own : a circumstance which, considering the 
 religious turn of his mind, particularly in his latter days, proves 
 that he attached no criminality to the passion itself, since he 
 could indulge himself so freely in its recollection. 
 
 As to the sonnets of Petrarcha, in the eyes of a moralist they are 
 trifles, and so are the elegies of Propertius and Tibullus, and all 
 the numerous poems, both ancient and modern, that treat the 
 same airy and unsubstantial subject; but trinkets may derive value 
 from their materials and workmanship, and even love songs may 
 acquire both importance and interest from their language and 
 sentiments. Genius communicates its own dignity to every sub- 
 ject that it chooses to handle; it can give weight to insignificance, 
 and make even an amorous ditty the vehicle of awful truths 
 and useful lessons. This observation is more applicable per- 
 haps to Petrarcha than to any other poet. Equal, I had almost 
 
 * Parte II. Canz. vii. + Son. Lxxxvi. 
 
 VOL. I. >i^ 
 
90 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 said superior, in felicity of expression, and harmony of language, 
 to his Roman predecessors, he rises far above them in delicacy 
 of thought, and dignity of sentiment. He borrows no embel- 
 lishments from the fictions of mythology, and indulges himself 
 in no pastoral tales, no far-fetched allusions. The spirit of 
 religion, which strongly influenced his mind, in all the vicissi- 
 tudes of life, not unfrequently gives his passion something of 
 the solemnity of devotion, and inspires the holy strains that 
 chant 
 
 Quanto piu vale 
 Sempiterna bellezza che raortale. 
 
 This peculiar turn of thought, that pervades the poems of 
 Petrarcha, and raises them so much above all other similar com- 
 positions, is noticed by his biographer as a distinction highly 
 honourable to the Tuscan muse, le quali, ha mostro, come alta- 
 mente e sant anient e possono cantar d' amove. It is not wonderful 
 therefore, that the poet himself should have rested, in a great 
 measure, his hopes of fame on his Italian poems, and persisted in 
 correcting and repolishing them with so much assiduity ; or 
 that posterity should have confirmed the author's judgment, 
 and continued ever since to set a high value on these short, but 
 highly labored productions. While his Latin poems, histories, 
 and moral dissertations, slumber undisturbed on the shelf, his 
 Rim^ will sometimes amuse the leisure of the youthful reader, 
 and now and then, perhaps, attract the attention of the philoso- 
 pher, who will often find in them, intermingled with the frivolous 
 graces of the subject, sublime sentiments, expressed in language 
 the most harmonious. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 91 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 VISIT TO THE I.AGO DI GARDA, OR BENACUS — ^THE RIVER MIN- 
 CIUS — THE PROMONTORY OF SIRMIO — DESENSANO — STORM ON 
 
 THE LAKE — PARADISINO — BANKS OF THE MINCIUS — MANTUA 
 
 PIETOLE — EXCURSION TO THE PO — HONOURS PAID TO VIRGII, 
 VIRGILilANO. 
 
 J\ EXT day we took leave of Padua, returned through Vi- 
 centia to Verona, and having passed the following day there, on 
 the ensuing morning, (March 13), we set out for the Lago di 
 Garda (the Benacus), celebrated by Virgil as one of the noblest 
 ornaments of Italy. Its principal promontory, Sirmio, has been 
 commemorated by Catullus, as his favorite residence. We 
 reached Peschiera, a fortress on the southern extremity of the 
 lake, at about half past two. The distance is about eighteen 
 miles, over an excellent road, generally descending, and always 
 passing through corn fields, striped with vines, with some swells 
 at a distance crowned with villages, and churches, and seats ; 
 while the Alps formed a vast line to the north. Traces of 
 hostility, as I before observed, are indeed too visible in the 
 neighbourhood of Verona, where several severe skirmishes, and 
 one decisive battle, took place during the late war. The vine- 
 
 N 2 
 
93 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 yards and mulberry trees, of course, were torn up or cut down 
 by the armies as they passed along. However, I observed with 
 satisfaction, that the peasants were busily employed in replant- 
 ing them. At Peschiera, the lake terminates in the river Mincio, 
 which flows through the town, broad, deep, and clear as crystal, 
 though almost as rapid as a mountain torrent. The traveller, 
 when he beholds this river, the name of which is so familiar and 
 so pleasing to a classic ear, will recal to mind the passages in 
 which Virgil describes its banks and appearances. We contem- 
 plated it for some time from the bridge, and then went out of the 
 town, and embarking without the gate, glided over the surface of 
 the lake, so smooth and clear, that we could distinguish the bot- 
 tom at the depth of twenty or five-and-twenty feet. The weather, 
 though only the thirteenth of March, was as warm, and the sun 
 as bright, as on a summer's day in England ; though some 
 clouds hung on the summits of the mountains, and a certain 
 haziness dimmed their sides. The borders of the lake towards 
 the south, though rather flat, yet rise sufficiently to display to 
 advantage the towns, villages, and seats, with the olives, corn- 
 fields, and vineyards that adorn them ; and when lighted up by 
 a bright sunshine, present a very exhilarating prospect. The 
 shores, as they advance northward, assume a bolder aspect, and 
 exhibit all the varieties of Alpine scenery. Rocky promon- 
 tories, precipices, lofty hills, and towering mountains, in all 
 their grotesque, broken, and shapeless appearances, rise in suc- 
 cession one above another; while the declining sun, playing 
 upon the snow that capped their summits, tinged them with 
 various hues, and at length spread over them a thin veil of 
 purple. 
 
 The peninsula of Sirmione, and the bolder promontory of 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 93 
 
 Minerbo, the former about seven, the latter about fourteen 
 miles distant, appeared to great advantage from Peschiera, and 
 grew upon the sight as we advanced. Sirmione appears as 
 an island; so low and so narrow is the bank that unites it to the 
 main land. Its entrance is defended, and indeed totally covered 
 by an old castle, with its battlements and high antique tower in 
 the centre, in the form of a Gothic fortification. The promon- 
 tory spreads behind the town, and rises into a hill entirely 
 covered with olives ; this hill may be said to have two summits, 
 as there is a gentle descent between them. On the nearest is a 
 church and hermitage, plundered by the French, and now un- 
 inhabited and neglected. On the farthest, in the midst of an 
 olive grove, stand the walls of an old building, said to be a 
 Roman bath, and near it is a vault called the grotto of Catullus. 
 The extremity of this promontory is covered with arched ways, 
 towers, and subterranean passages, supposed by the inhabitants 
 to be Roman, but bearing, in fact, a strong resemblance to 
 Gothic ruins. At all events, Catullus undoubtedly inhabited this 
 spot, and preferred it, at a certain period, to every other region. 
 He has expressed his attachment to it in some beautifid lines. 
 
 Peninsularum Sirmio, insularumque 
 
 Ocelle, quascunque in liquentibus stagnis 
 
 Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus : 
 
 Quam te libenter, quamque lastus inviso. Catull. 32. 
 
 He could not, in fact, have chosen a more delightful retreat. 
 In the centre of a magnificent lake, surrounded with scenery of 
 the greatest variety and majesty, apparently secluded from the 
 world, yet beholding from his garden the villas of his Veronese 
 friends, he might have enjoyed alternately the pleasures of retire- 
 ment and society; and daily, without the sacrifice of all his 
 
94 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 connections, Avhich Horace* seemed inclined to make, in a mo- 
 ment ot" despondency, beheld the grandeur and agitation of 
 the ocean, without its terrors and immensity. Besides, the 
 soil is fertile and its surface varied ; sometimes shelvius in a 
 gentle declivity, at other times breaking in craggy magnificence, 
 and thus furnishing every requisite for delightful walks and luxu- 
 rious baths ; while the views vary at every step, presenting rich 
 coasts or barren mountains, sometimes confined to the cultivated 
 scenes of the neighbouring shore, and at other times bewildered 
 and lost in the windings of the lake, and the recesses of the Alps. 
 In short, more convenience and more beauty are seldom united ; 
 and such a peninsula is, as Catullus enthusiastically observes, 
 scarcely to be matched in all the wide range of the world of 
 waters. We left Sirmione after sunset; and, lighted by the moon, 
 glided smoothly over the lake to Desensano, four miles distant, 
 w^here, about eight, we stepped from the boat into a very 
 good inn. 
 
 So far the lake appeared very diiferent from the description 
 which Virgil has given in one expressive line, as his masterly 
 manner is, of its stormy character. Befoi'e we retired to rest, 
 about midnight, from our windows, we observed the lake calm 
 and unruffled. About three in the morning I was roused from 
 sleep by the door and windows bursting open at once, and the 
 wind roaring round the room. I started up, and looking 
 out, observed by the light of the moon, the lake in the most 
 dreadful agitation, and the waves, dashing against the walls 
 of the inn, and resembling the swellings of the ocean, more than 
 the petty agitation of inland waters. Shortly after, the landlord 
 
 * Lib. I. Ep. XI. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 95 
 
 entered my room with a lantern, closed the outward shutters, 
 expressed some apprehensions, but at the same time assured me, 
 that their houses were built to resist such sudden tempests as 
 occasionally blcAv from the Alps, and that I might repose 
 with confidence under a roof, which had resisted full many a 
 storm as terrible as that which occasioned our present alarm. 
 Next morning, the lake, so tranquil and serene the evening be- 
 fore, presented a surface covered with foam, and swelling into 
 mountain billows, that burst in breakers every instant at the 
 very door of the inn, and covered the whole house with spray. 
 Virgil's description now seemed nature itself, and, taken from 
 the very scene actually under our eyes, it was impossible not 
 to exclaim, 
 
 Teque 
 Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens, Benace, maiino. Gear. ii. 160. 
 
 After breakfast (March 14, Sunday), I walked up the road to 
 Brescia, and from a high hill viewed the lake, its coasts, penin- 
 sulas and promontories. The peninsula of Sirmione forms the 
 most striking object, as running between Peschiera and De- 
 sensano ; it divides the first and widest part of the lake into 
 two nearly equal spaces, and on account of the lowness and 
 narrowness of the passage to it, appears like a beautiful and well 
 wooded island. The next striking feature of the lake is the bold 
 promontory of Minerbo, or rather of San Pietro, and the Isola 
 dei Venti. Behind this promontory and island, lies the river 
 of Salo, supposed to be one of the most picturesque parts of 
 the lake. Nearly opposite to San Pietro, stands the town of 
 Garda, (founded in the middle ages), which now gives its name 
 to the lake, while anciently, the lake gave its name to tlie sur- 
 
96 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 rounding territory, called Ager Benacensis,* whose inhabitants 
 assembled for public purposes at Tusculanum. This town still 
 exists under its ancient appellation, near Salo. The remaining 
 part of the lake is concealed among the mountains, and 
 placed beyond the observation of one who stands in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Desensano. The waters of the lake are of the 
 finest sea gi-een; its depth is unequal ; in the narrow parts, from 
 ten to forty, in the wider, from one hundred to three hun- 
 dred feet. The Benacus is fed by several Alpine streams, and 
 particularly the Sarca, a river that still bears its Roman name : 
 its only outlet is the Mincius. Hence this stream is sup- 
 plied with a perpetual flow of waters, and never rises or falls 
 more than a few inches, while other rivers are oftentimes almost 
 dried up in warm seasons, and swelled in wet months into an 
 inundation. 
 
 On the fifteenth we left Desensano, and passing through 
 Rigoltela, alighted at the turn towards the peninsula, and visited 
 Sirmione once more. We ranged, as before, over the whole 
 promontory, and examined its coasts, its productions, and its 
 i-uins more minutely. The eastern and western sides are formed 
 principally of steep, craggy rocks, that sometimes rise into a 
 wall, and at other times descend in regular gradations to the 
 
 * Many geographers suppose, and pretend to ground their suppositions upon 
 ancient monuments, that the name of Benacus belonged not to a town, but to 
 the lake itself only, and that the surrounding country was called Age}- Benacensis, 
 and the inhabitants, Benacenses. The lake is now known among the people 
 of the country, as much by the appellation of Lago de Benaco, as that of Lago di 
 Garda. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 97 
 
 the water. The northern extremity is a grassy declivity. A 
 vast mass of solid rock seems to form the basis of the promon- 
 tory. It borders it on all sides, and shelving by degrees, ex- 
 tends to a considerable distance visible, though under water, 
 and losing itself almost imperceptibly in the deep. The views 
 on all sides, excepting the south, are such an interinixture of 
 level and mountainous, cultivated and barren, as cannot fail to 
 interest even by its contrast ; while from the northern point you 
 discover the utmost borders of the lake, though their distance, 
 which is about thirty-five miles, and the dark shade of the super- 
 incumbent mountains, involve them in dimness and obscurity. 
 The produce of the hill consists principally of olive trees, plants 
 evergreen indeed, but neither lofty nor luxuriant in foliage, nor 
 of consequence well calculated to answer the purposes of orna- 
 ment, shade, or shelter. They are, however, productive, and the 
 inhabitants are so sensible of their value, that they contrive to 
 plant them on the sides, and even in the clefts of the rocks, and 
 sometimes raise walls to prop them when in a situation too per- 
 pendicular, or of a form too spreading and extensive for the 
 trunk. This instance of exertion, and indeed many others, 
 which I may introduce occasionally hereafter, together with the 
 highly cultivated appearance of the country, have effectually 
 removed some of our prejudices, and convinced us, notwith^ 
 standing the partial and hasty representations of certain travel- 
 lers, that the Italians are a very laborious people, and that if 
 they do not enjoy all the advantages attached by Providence to 
 industry, the fault is to be attributed, not to them, but to their 
 landlords and governors. But though olives be the principal 
 produce of the peninsula, yet vines and corn are by no means 
 excluded : on the contrary, vineyards occupy a considerable 
 part of the first hill, particularly towards the west, where, border-. 
 VOL. I. o 
 
98 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 ing on the town and lake, a beautiful vineyard rises, enclosed 
 with large laurels ; and corn fills the spaces between the olive rows, 
 and covers the peninsula with verdure from shore to shore. A 
 large garden occupies the first hill immediately over the town, 
 and contains, among other plants, some beautiful cypresses, 
 favorite tree? in ajl Italian gardens, both ancient and modern. 
 
 After having Avandered up and down these classic retreats, an,4 
 read Catullus on the ruins of his residence; having observed 
 again and again all the beautiful points of view that rose 
 around us, we were reminded by the setting sun of the necessity 
 of retiring; and withdrew, reluctantly indeed, but with the satis- 
 faction of having seen the Benacus under all its forms of calm- 
 ness, agitation, and returning tranquillity. We walked along its 
 banks by the light of the moon, to Peschiera, six miles, and 
 thence one more to Paradisino, a country seat belonging to Sig, 
 All:)erto Albertini, our banker at Verona. The house is in 
 a lovely country, yet so situated as to enjoy none of its advan^ 
 tages; for though it stands on the banks of the Mincio, and 
 within a mile of the lake, yet it commands a view of neither. 
 Its furniture is very inditFerent, and the walks around, the prin- 
 cipal of which, opposite the house, consists of a double XQvf 
 of cypresses, seem to promise neither shade nor shelter. To 
 account for this deficiency, it would perhaps be sufficient 
 ^o observe, that, the Italians, in general, h^ve very little 
 taste in furnishiiig a house, or \n laying out grounds to ad- 
 vantage ; but in justice to the proprietor of Paradisino, I 
 must add, that tlie French ha4 plundered the house, and c«t; 
 down the greatest part of the wood that surrounded it, sq 
 that its nakedness must, in some degree, be ascribed to the 
 general cause of all th? miseries of Itaiy, the destroying spirit o:C 
 the French army. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 99 
 
 Before we take a last leave of the Benacus and its borders, 
 Verona and its vicinity, I must inform the reader that the lake, 
 with all its streams and surrounding hills, and, indeed, the whole 
 circumjacent country, has been rendered truly classical by 
 having been made the scene or subject of many beautiful com- 
 positions in the second Augustan age of Italy. Fracastorius^ 
 Naugerius, CastiUo, have invoked the Ni/mphdB Be7}aci(Ies ; and 
 Bembo has given the appellation of the Lake to one of his most 
 correct and most pleasing Latin poeins. The mountains and 
 hills on its borders have been converted into the Arcadia of 
 Italy, and peopled with a race of shepherds, that almost rival in 
 song the Grecian swains once soli cdntare periti, and far surpass 
 them in innocence and piety. But of all the strains in which 
 these scenes are celebrated, the most affecting are those ad- 
 dressed by Fracastorius to his departed friend Flaminius, whd 
 was himself one of the most tuneful natives of this happy 
 region. 
 
 Te miserum ante diem, crudeli funere, Marce 
 
 Antoni ! aetatis primo sub flore cadentem 
 
 Vidimus extremft positum Benacide rip.l, 
 
 Quam media inter saxa sonans Sarca abluit unda. 
 
 Te ripae flevere Athesis, te voce vocare 
 
 Auditae per noctem umbrae manesque Catulli, 
 
 Et patrios mulcere nova dulcedine lucos. Si/pk, fib, i. 
 
 Next morning we sent our carriages towards Mantua, and 
 determined to proceed on foot, in order to explore the secret 
 beauties of the Mincius, and to trace its classic banks, hitherto 
 untrodden by the foot of any British traveller. We took one 
 of Sig. Albertini's men, an honest looking peasant, for our guide, 
 and descending the little hill on which Paradisino stands, ad- 
 vanced towards the banks of the river. These banks consist of 
 
 o 2 
 
100 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 fine little broken hills, covered with vineyards and mulberry 
 trees, interspersed Avith corn-fields and downs, with a rill occa- 
 sionally tumbling through a large chasm on the left. On the 
 same side, on the highest part of the bank, stands the village of 
 Salionche, and on leaving this village you have a fine view 
 over the river, between two swells, of the fortress of Ponte, at 
 about two miles distance, backed by the Alps. Before you, on 
 a hill, rises the old castle of Mosembano, with its two towers and 
 long battlemented ramparts. Beyond it a fine swell, crowned 
 with a few solitary cypresses, attracts the attention, merely, I 
 believe, by its apparent loneliness. Mosembano stands high on 
 the right bank, and as you approach, increases to your view, 
 presenting a handsome church, and a fine old castle. Opposite 
 Mosembano, on the left, a fertile plain extends for the space of 
 a mile, to a range of well wooded hills, adorned with a tower 
 on the middle eminence called Monte Velto, and terminat- 
 ing in the very picturesque hill and castle of Valeggio. A 
 little beyond Mosembano, the scenery improves considerably; 
 broken hills, increasing in magnitude, approach the river : trees, 
 more frequent and more majestic, adorn their sides ; the Mincius, 
 spreading as it winds along, assumes the appearance of a mag- 
 nificent river, while the castle of Valeggio on the hill, and the 
 fortified bridge of Borghetto, in the valley, form a very singular 
 and striking termination. The side of a high hill, on the left, is 
 crowned with the house and garden of the Marquis Maffei, a 
 name well known in literature. Borghetto is situated in a very 
 beautiful valley : a high road runs across and is flanked with a 
 wall on each side, strengthened with towers, and defended by 
 three castles, one at each end, and one in the middle, forming a 
 bridge over the river. On the top of a steep hill, rising imme- 
 diately from the bridge or fortified road, stands the romantic 
 
THROUGH ITALY. loi 
 
 castle of Valeggio. In its centre rises a lofty tower, which the 
 Austrians were employed in repairing and raising, till the mo- 
 ment of their final retreat. The whole is now neglected, and 
 will undoubtedly, if the present system remains in force much 
 longer, become a heap of ruins, A little beyond the castle, 
 from its highest rampart, we enjoyed one of the most delicious 
 views imaginable. To the south extended a plain almost inter- 
 minable, Avatered by the Mincius, covered with corn-fields, 
 divided by mulberry trees and vines, intersected by various 
 roads, and dotted with villas, villages, and towns. Among the 
 latter, Mantua, at the distance of about fifteen miles, made the 
 most conspicuous figure. To the east, rose the hills of Vicentia, 
 and the more distant mountains of Arqua, amongst which the 
 peaked forms of Monte Selice, and Monte Ferro, were, even though 
 so remote, yet very remarkable. Westward, and immedia- 
 ately under the eye, lay the delightful valley of Borghetto, with 
 its little town, its castle, its fortified bridge, and all its towers 
 and battlements. An amphitheatre of hills partly encloses the 
 valley with a rampart of woods and villages, and through its 
 middle rolls the sea-green Mincius, tumbling in foam over two 
 or three slight rocky layers. To the north, the churches and 
 castles of Mosembano and Ponte, crown their respective hills, 
 while the Alps, forming a vast semicircular sweep from east 
 to west, close the prospect with a broken line of blue rocks, 
 snowy masses, and cloud-capt pinnacles. We here caught, for 
 the first time, an indistinct view of the very distant Apennines, 
 running from west to south, and observed with surprise, that 
 they were still, like the neighbouring Alps, covered with snow. 
 We descended from the rampart, and following the hill to its 
 southern extremity, saw the Mincius rushing from the defile be- 
 tween two eminences, (one of which, on the right, is called the 
 
 5 
 
102 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Volta Mantuana), and then sweeping along a wood, till it loses 
 itself in the distant level. As the day advanced, and the river did 
 not promise any picturesque scenery during its progress over the 
 flat country, we mounted our carriages in the town of Borghetto, 
 and drove to Mantua, over a most fertile, well wooded, highly 
 cultivated, and well peopled plain. We entered the fortress about 
 six o'clock on the 17th of March.* 
 
 The day after our arrival we crossed the lower lake, and 
 visited the village of Pietole, anciently supposed by some to be 
 Andes, where Virgil is said to have been born. It is about three 
 miles distant from Mantua, on the banks of the Mincius, " tardis 
 ubi flexibus errat Ingens," and consists of several neat cottages, 
 good farm houses, and a handsome village church. About half 
 a mile southward on the road, and near the river, stands a large 
 farm, with two extensive gardens, and offices well walled in, 
 formerly belonging to the Imperial government, which granted 
 it to a Mantuan citizen. Count Giberti, to defray the inte- 
 rest of the money which he had advanced for public pur- 
 poses. This farm is called Virgiliana, and is said to have 
 belonged to the poet himself. The country around it and 
 Pietole, is extremely flat, but fertile, well wooded, and highly 
 cultivated. 
 
 On the 19th (Friday), we took a boat and descended the 
 Mincius, to the place where it falls into the Po, about twelve 
 
 * I thought it necessary to enter into very minute details in describing the 
 banks of the Mincius, as they are very little known, notwithstanding the poe- 
 tical fame of the river. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 103 
 
 miles below Mantua. The country through which it flows is 
 so low, tliat the river is generally embanked like a canal, 
 and cannot be supposed to exhibit any picturesque views ; 
 especially as the fields around were still, in consequence of 
 the late inundation, in many places covered with water. 
 However, many trees, great fertility, and high cultivation, 
 give it all the beauty it is capable of receiving; wliile 
 several neat cottages adorn the banks, and as the weather 
 was extremely fine, appeared, when we passed, to much ad- 
 vantage. At the beautiful village of Governolo, the Mincius 
 makes a sudden bend, and shortly after loses itself in the Po. 
 The breadth of this latter river, and the vast mass of waters 
 which it rolled along, gave it a very magnificent appearance, 
 and entitle it to the pompous appellation of Fluviorum Rex; 
 if, as Addison justly observes, its pre-eminence be confined 
 to the rivers of Italy. Though inferior to the Rhine or Danube 
 in the extent of country it waters, it certainly surpasses the 
 former, and equals the latter, at least at Vienna, in its immense 
 surface. Its waters, very different from the azure colour of the 
 Mincius, were Oiick and yellow with mud ; its banks are low, 
 and the country around flat, hence its frequent and extensive 
 inundations. Its borders are lined with trees and villages, and 
 pleasing, though by no means picturesque. As the Po is a 
 truly classic river, we walked for some time on its banks with 
 great satisfViction, and recalled to mind various passages in 
 Virgil, Ovid, Vida, in which its name occurs. We then re- 
 turned to Governolo, and as we passed through, visited and 
 admired its beautiful church, which, unfortunately, owing to the 
 misery of the inhabitants, occasioned by the French invasion, 
 has never been fitted up and furnished for divine service. We 
 
104 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 were then drawn up the river by our boatmen, and arrived at 
 IMantua about five. The classical reader vi'ill naturally suppose, 
 that while we ranged along the banks of the Mincius, or glided 
 down its stream, we frequently recurred to Virgil, and endea- 
 voured to apply his descriptions to the borders of his favorite 
 river, and the scenery of his native fields. In fact, we perused 
 his pastorals and Georgics during our tour, and after having 
 examined and applied them to the face of the country, as it 
 now appears, have been led to the following conclusions. 
 
 Virgil composed his Eclogues, in order to enrich his language 
 with a species of poetry till then unknown in Latin, and that he 
 might succeed the better, he took Theocritus, the Prince of Pas- 
 toral Poets, for his model. With little regard to originality, he 
 pretended to no more than the honor of being the first Roman 
 who imitated the Sicilian bard. 
 
 Prima Syracosio dignata est ludere versu 
 
 Nostra, nee erubuit sjlvas habitare Thalia. Eel. vi. 
 
 And made no difficulty of borrowing the sentiments, images, 
 and even descriptions of his master. We Me not therefore, 
 generally speaking, to look into Virgil's /pastorals for delinea- 
 tions of Mantuan scenery, nor expect io find in them many 
 unmixt and peculiar allusions to thf Mincius and its borders. 
 His object was to copy the original not to give a new picture of 
 his own composition. I have said generally, because in two 
 pastorals, the first and the ninth, the poet treats professedly of 
 that river, Mantua, and the neighbouring country ; and in the 
 seventh, though the names are Greek, the two contending shep- 
 herds, Arcadians, and the scene, we must suppose, Grecian also, 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 105 
 
 yet, by an inaccuracy, not unusual in pastoral compositions, 
 he introduces the Mincius, with its characteristic reeds and its 
 verdant banks. 
 
 Hie virides tenera prjetexit arundine ripas, 
 Mincius. 
 
 In the two former the poet certainly means to describe some 
 of the features of his own little possession, and by these features it 
 is evident, that it lay at the foot, or in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of the hills, not far from Valleggio, near which town 
 they begin to subside, and gradually lose themselves in the im- 
 mense plain of Mantua. 
 
 Qua se subducere coUes, 
 Incipiunt, moUique jugum demittere clivo. Ed. ix. 7 — 16. 
 
 On no other part of the banks of the Mincius, are to be disco- 
 vered either the " bare rocks," that disfigured the farm of Tityrus, 
 or the " towering crag" that shaded the pruner, as he sung, or 
 the " vine-clad grotto," Avhere the shepherd reclined, or the 
 " bushy cliff," whence " the browsing goats seemed as if suspend- 
 ed," or " the lofty mountains," which, in the evening, cast their 
 " protracted shadows" over the plain. The " spreading beech" 
 indeed, and " aerial elm," still delight in the soil, and adorn the 
 banks of the Mincius, in all its Avindings. From these observations 
 may be inferred, the impropriety of fixing Virgil's farm at Pietole, 
 or Virgiliana, in theimmediatevicinity of Mantua, while the poet 
 represents it as at the distance of at least some miles, or a walk, 
 deemed long even for active young shepherds : 
 
 Cantantes, licet usque, minus via Icedet, eamus. ix. 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
106 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Of the tomb of Bianor we at present know nothing ; but as 
 sepulchral monuments, unless formed of valuable materials, or 
 standing in the immediate neighbourhood of cities, have gene- 
 rally, been respected, or at least neglected, I have no doubt 
 but that some vestiges of it might be discovered by a diligent 
 investigator, on or near some of the roads leading from the hills 
 to Mantua. 
 
 The observation which I have just made, that Virgil's pas- 
 torals ought, in general, to be considered, not as pictures of real 
 scenery, or as conveying his own feelings and sentiments, but as 
 mere liisus poetici, composed in imitation of Theocritus, leads 
 me to another, which, though unconnected with the Mincius, 
 will, I hope, recommend itself by its object, which is to rescue 
 the memory of the first and purest of poets, from a very odious 
 and ill-founded suspicion. Every critical reader knows, that the 
 subject of the second pastoral, though it has exposed Virgil to 
 the charge alluded to, is taken from Theocritus, and that many 
 images, sentiments, and even expressions, are copied literally, 
 and almost verbatim, from the Sicilian poet. This circum- 
 stance, alone, is sufficient to clear the writer, from the suspicion 
 of any personal application ; especially when we recollect, the 
 contempt with which he elsewhere speaks of a character to whom 
 he attributes such a propensity, and whom he seems to have 
 introduced for the express purpose of branding him with in- 
 famy.* The truth is, that he who judges of the morality of the 
 Latin poets, from a few detached passages in their works, must 
 form a very unfair estimate of their character ; and impute to 
 
 * Tu quoque, L. x. 325. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 107 
 
 them criminal habits, of which they were not probably capa- 
 ble. Pliny, the younger, to excuse himself for having composed 
 some sportive verses, pleads the example of Cicero,* and cites a 
 passage from Catullus,f- importing, that however blameless the 
 manners of the poet should be, his verses may be playful, and 
 even lascivious. Ovid adopts the same idea, and holds it forth 
 as a justification of liis own wanton compositions..]: 
 
 The modern Italians have imitated the ancients in this re- 
 spect, and some of the most classical writers of the sixteenth 
 century, though eminent for the unblemished innocence of their 
 lives, have, in moments of poetical playfulness, employed ex- 
 pressions, which, if literally understood, may be censured as 
 licentious. I admit that the reasoning of Pliny is by no means 
 satisfactory, and that the rule laid down by Catullus is both ab- 
 surd and immoral, and I most readily pass condemnation on 
 every loose and indecent expression, in whatsoever composition 
 it may be found. But as the ancients seem to have adopted 
 this rule, and acted upon it, I contend that it authorizes us to 
 acquit Virgil of the odious charge brought against him, by some 
 systematical grammarians, and ignorant commentators, especially 
 
 * Plin. Lib. V. Ep. 3. 
 
 + Scimus alioqui hujus opusculi illam esse verissimam legem quam Catullus, 
 expressit. 
 
 Nam castum esse decet pium poetam 
 
 Ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est : 
 
 Qui tunc denique habent salem & leporem, 
 
 Si sunt molliculi & parum pudici. Pliti. Lib. w. Ep. 14. 
 
 i Crede mihi mores distant a carmine nostri, 
 Vita verecunda est, Musa jocosa fuit. 
 
 p2 
 
108 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 as it is supported by mere traditional tales and conjectural 
 anecdotes.* 
 
 Above and below Mantua, the Mincius spreads into two 
 lakes, called the Lago di Sopra, and the Lago di Infra; the 
 space between, the breadth of which entitles it to a similar ap- 
 pellation, is called the Lago Mezzo. Virgil alludes to this vast 
 expanse, when, in the third Georgic, he promises to erect a 
 temple to Augustus, near Mantua. 
 
 Et viridi in canipo templum de marmore ponam 
 Propter aquam, tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat 
 Mincius SGeor.xui. 
 
 The banks of the Mincio, above Mantua, are rather higher 
 and a little more picturesque, particularly on the right side of 
 the river, near the Cremona road, than below the town ; several 
 large farms rise on its borders, and its reeds wave over them, 
 as usual in forests. 
 
 Mantua is a large city, with spacious streets, and some fine 
 edifices. Its cathedral, built nearly upon the same plan as Santa 
 Maria Maggiore, at Rome, is a very regular and beautiful edifice. 
 The nave consists of a double row of Corinthian pillars, sup- 
 porting, not arches, but an architrave and cornice, with a range 
 of windows above, and niches in the intervals between them. 
 Another row of pillars, of the same order, on either side, 
 forms a double aisle. The choir consists of a semicircular recess 
 behind the altar. Between the choir and the nave rises a very 
 noble dome, decorated with pilasters and fine paintings. The 
 
 * See Pope's Letter to Swift on Gay's death; letter lxv. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 109 
 
 transept, on the left, terminates in the chapel of the Holy Sa- 
 crament, an hexagon, with a recess for the altar, surmounted 
 with a dome, adorned with paintings and arabesques, in the 
 best style, presenting, in the whole, an exquisite specimen of 
 Mantuan taste. 
 
 The day after our arrival happened to be the festival of St. 
 Anselmo, patron of Mantua. At evening service, about six 
 o'clock, the cathedral was illuminated in the finest manner ima- 
 ginable. Double rows of lustres lighted up the nave ; the aisles 
 and arcades had as many clusters of torches, as there Avere 
 arches and pillars; while a thousand chandeliers, suspended 
 from the dome, shed a blaze of light on the choir and altar. 
 
 The music might have been deemed heavenly, had it not 
 been rather too theatrical, and, like all Italian church music, 
 performed with violins ; however, the organ sometimes inter- 
 posed, with all its solemnity, and some bursts in chorus were 
 truly celestial. The venerable old bishop presided in full pon- 
 tific majesty; the crowded congregation were silent, orderly, 
 and pious, and the scene, though perhaps too glaring and stage- 
 like for English taste, yet, on the whole, was splendid, and 
 even awful. The statue of the Saint, Avas as large as life, and 
 formerly of massive silver, but the French conceiving that 
 one of wood was sufficient for all the purposes of exhibition, 
 converted the silver to other uses. The next, and I believe, 
 the only remaining church worth particular attention, is that of 
 St. Andrew. It is also a Latin cross, without aisles, with 
 a dome in the section. It contains some fine pictures, and is 
 painted all over, in a very beautiful manner. Several other 
 churches, and many public buildings, such as the Corte, with its 
 
110 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 halls ; the Palazzo della Giustitia ; that of Gonzaga ; that in 
 the suburbs, called the Palazzo de T. on account of its form, 
 with its apartments ; together with several private mansions, 
 merit attention. In fact, Giulio Romano, an architect and 
 painter of the first eminence, and a disciple of Raphael, devoted 
 his time and superior talents to the embellishment of Mantua, 
 and adorned it with many a magnificent pile, and many a noble 
 painting. The house of this celebrated artist is shown to 
 strangers, and as it was erected by himself, it certainly deserves 
 to be visited. The taste of Giulio, in architecture, seems to have 
 been manly and bold ; he was fond of strength and majesty, but 
 sometimes inclined to encumber his edifices with too much 
 mass, and too many ornaments. 
 
 Mantua can boast an antiquity superior even to that of Rome, 
 and is represented by her native poet, not without some historical 
 truth, as existing so early as the time of Eneas. 
 
 Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris 
 
 Fatidicae Mantus et Tusci filius amnis : 
 
 Qui muros, matrisque dedit tibi, Mantua, nomen, 
 
 Mantua dives avis. Mneid. x. 198. 
 
 Mantua shared the prosperity of Rome, underwent her dis- 
 asters, felt all the vicissitudes of the middle ages, and emerged 
 thence, like the other great Italian cities, into liberty and inde- 
 pendence. At length it became subject to one of its own power-, 
 fill families, and acknowledged the Gonzagas as Dukes and 
 Sovereigns. This form of government remained for near two hun- 
 dred years, when the last Duke, taking up arms against the 
 Austrian interest, was driven from his states, and died in exile, 
 at Padua, in 1708. Mantua, while free, and even under the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. Ill 
 
 dominion of her own dukes, enjoyed no small share of riches and 
 prosperity. Her walls were supposed to contain about fifty 
 thousand inhabitants. She was often engaged in wars with the 
 neighboviring states, and had her full proportion of victory 
 and honor. The arts and sciences flourished in her temtories, 
 and numberless palaces adorned her streets, her squares, and 
 her suburbs. But this golden age closed at the Austrian in- 
 vasion. The city was plundered, several of its antiquities 
 carried off or defaced, and its independence finally sacrificed to 
 Austrian ambition. In the late war, it had the misfortune of 
 undergoing twice the horrors of a siege, and is now annexed to 
 the Italian republic, to share its nominal independence and real 
 slavery. It must in justice be OAvned, that the arts and sciences 
 had not been neglected by the Austrian government. An Impe- 
 rial academy was erected, a noble palace devoted to its meetings, 
 and a fine assemblage of antiquities, collected in its galleries. 
 The inscription over its entrance is as folloAvs : 
 
 INGREDERE. IIOSPES. ET. MIRARE. 
 
 QVM. GRAECORUM. ET. ROMANORUM. 
 
 ANTIQUI. AEVI. MONUMENTA. 
 
 CVM. PRINCIPIS. TUM. CIVIVM. MUNERE. 
 
 IN. HOC. MUSEO. CONLECTA. 
 
 SPECTANDA. TIBI. EXHIBET. 
 
 VIRGILII. PATRIA. 
 
 The most interesting object in this collection, Avas the well- 
 known bust of Virgil, which, as may be easily supposed, the Man- 
 tuans always point out to strangers, Avith peculiar complacency. 
 It seems, that at the end of the fourteenth century, a statue of 
 Virgil stood on an elevated pedestal, in the Piazza dclle Erbe, 
 when Carlo Malatesta, one of the brutal chieftains of the times, 
 ignorant of every art but that of Avar, and knoAving, probably, 
 
112 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 nothing of Virgil but his name, in one of his triumphal pro- 
 cessions, ordered it to be thrown down, and cast into the 
 lake. The reason for this act of sacrilegious violence, is charac- 
 teristic both of the hero and of the times. " The honor of a 
 statue belongs," said he " to Saints only, and ought not to be 
 profaned by being comnmnicated to scribblers and buffoons." 
 The bust in question, is supposed to be the head of this very 
 statue, and as such, it was crowned with ivy by the Duke Ves- 
 pasian, and erected in the principal hall of his palace, about the 
 year 1580. The ivy, which was real, and only covered %vith a 
 fine varnish, to preserve it the longer, on being touched, many 
 years after, fell into dust ; but the bust survived the plunder of 
 the ducal palace, on the entrance of the Austrians, and was 
 placed in the academical gallery, where it remained till the 
 year 1797- The French no sooner became masters of Mantua, 
 than they began to pillage its gallery, and pilfer its most valua- 
 ble articles. Among them was the bust of Virgil, which they 
 cai'ried off, notwithstanding the intreaties of the Mantuans, 
 while, with cruel mockery, they celebrated civic feasts in honor 
 of the poet, and erected plaster busts in the place of his marble 
 statues. Such is the taste of this nation, such the honors it pays 
 to the ancients ! * 
 
 * We were present at one of these exhibitions. In the middle of the great 
 square was erected an ill-proportioned pillar, about ten feet high. On it was 
 placed a plaster bust of Virgil. Four lesser pillars, supporting four other 
 plaster busts, joined by garlands, formed a sort of square enclosure. Virgil's 
 bust was crowned with laurel, and from it hung gailands, extending to the 
 other four. These garlands or festoons, instead of hanging loose and waving 
 gracefully in the air, were drawn tight, and consequently, as motionless as ropes. 
 Around this ridiculous pageant, the French troops drew up and paraded. The 
 inhabitants seemed purposely to keep aloof. 
 
THROUGH ITALY; 113 
 
 The circumstances which I have just related, prove, at least, 
 that the Mantuans have never been indifferent to the memory 
 of their celebrated countryman, as some travellers have pre- 
 tended ; and that they have not been wanting in the erec- 
 tion of becoming monuments to his honor, as often, and in 
 as magnificent a manner, as the vicissitudes of the times would 
 allow. Even during all the rage and tempest of the late 
 war, while contending armies hovered round their walls, and 
 the roar of artillery resounded in their ears, they had planned 
 a public garden at Pietole, and laid out a considerable 
 piece of ground in walks and groves, in the centre of which a 
 temple was to rise, and a statue to be erected, in honor of the 
 immortal Poet. Thus they would have accomplished the grand 
 design so finely unfolded in the third Georgic, adorned the 
 classic Mincius with a fabric becoming its fame, and bestowed, 
 with more propriety, on the acknowledged virtue's of their coun- 
 tryman, the honors which he intended, with a flattery, pardon- 
 able, because the result of gratitude, for the very equivocal merit 
 of Augustus. But die second siege of Mantua put an end 
 to this project; the gates were thrown down, the enclosures 
 torn up, the plantations destroyed, and the whole scene of rural 
 beauty, and poetical illusion, stained with blood, and abandoned 
 to devastation. 
 
 On the twenty-third of March, we took leave of Mantua, ex- 
 tremely well pleased with the general appearance of the town, 
 and convinced, that it is far more flourishing at present, than it 
 seems to have been in ancient days. In extent it is consider- 
 able, not insignificant in population, and in magnificence equal 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
114 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 to most cities; circumstances, which place it far above the 
 epithet of par'va, applied to it by Martial. 
 
 Tantum magna suo debet Verona Catullo 
 Quantum parva suo Mantua Virgilio.* 
 
 The road to Cremona, for some miles, borders on the Mincio, 
 and runs close to its reedy banks, as long as it forms the Lago 
 de Sopra, that is, till it turns northward, as it comes down 
 from the hills of Borghetto. As the road is formed on the 
 ancient Via Posthmnia, it is strait and even, runs through 
 several pretty villages, or rather little towns, and traverses a 
 tract of country, intersected by various streams, and luxuriantly 
 fertile. 
 
 * The following pretty lines, addressed to Mantua, in the days of its greatest 
 glory, are not inapplicable to it, even in its present humiliation and distress : 
 Felix Mantua, civitatum ocelle, 
 Quain Mars Palladi certat usque & usque 
 Claram reddere gentibus, probisque 
 Ornare ingeniis virorum, & armis ! 
 Te frugum facilis, potensque rerum 
 Tellus, te celebrem facit virente 
 Qui ripa, calamisque flexuosus 
 Leni fluniine Mincius susurrat, 
 Et qui te lacus intrat, advenisque 
 Dites niercibus invehit carinas. 
 Quid palatia culta, quid deorum 
 Templa, quid memorem vias, & urbis 
 Moles nubibus arduis propinquas ? 
 Pax secura loco, quiesque nullis 
 Turbata exsiliis, fiequensfjue rerum 
 Semper copia, & artium bonarum. 
 Felix Mantua, centiesque felix, 
 Tantis Mantua dotibus beata. — M. Ant. Fhtmin. Car, Lib. i. 30. 
 
rH ROUGH ITALY. Ha 
 
 CHAP Vl. 
 
 CREMONA — RIVER ADDUA — PLACENTIA — THK TREBIA — PARMA — 
 REGGIO — MODENA — ITS LIBRARY, AND CELEBRATED LIBRARI- 
 ANS — MURATORI — TIRABOSCHI. 
 
 Cremona is rendered interesting to the classic reader, by 
 the well-known verse of Virgil, 
 
 Mantua vae miserae nimlum vicina Cremonae. Echg. ix. 28. 
 
 And the accurate observation of Tacitus. Hujic exitum Cre- 
 mona habuit bellis externis intacta, civilibus infelix. In 
 
 fact, these few words contain the whole history of this city, 
 which, founded by one of the Celtic tribes that occupied the 
 northern parts of Italy, was colonized and fortified by the 
 Romans, about the commencement of the second Punic war, as 
 a rampart against the approaching attack of Hannibal. The 
 strength of its Avails, or the courage of its inhabitants, preserved 
 it from the fury of this formidable invader, and it went on 
 increasing in numbers, size, and opulence, till by its attachment 
 to the cause of the senate, and of liberty, it drew down upon 
 itself the vengeance of the Triumvirs, and incurred forfeiture 
 
 q2 
 
lip CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and confiscation * Its fidelity to Vitellius, or its mistaken 
 prudence, calculating on the supposed superiority of his in- 
 terest, exposed it to the rage of Vespasian's partisans, who 
 besieged, took, plundered, and reduced it to a heap of ashes. 
 Shortly after it rose from its ruins ; but rose to experience the 
 disasters of war and revolutiou, and share the long and pain- 
 ful agonies of the expiring empire. However, it survived 
 all its reverses, and after having been the prey of Goths and 
 Lombards, French and Germans; after having enjoyed a pre- 
 carious liberty, and then borne the light yoke of the sovereigns 
 of Milan ; it is, for the present, annexed to that sickly abortion 
 of French influence, misnamed the Italian Republic. 
 
 Cremona is a large and well-built city, adorned with many 
 noble edifices, and advantageously situated on the northern bank 
 of the Po. Its cathedral, of Gothic, or rather mixed architecture, 
 was begun in the year 1107, and continued, at difl'erent periods, 
 but not completely finished, till the fourteenth century. Its front is 
 lined with white and red marble, and highly ornamented, though 
 in a singular and fanciful style. It contains several beautiful 
 altars and fine paintings. One chapel in particular merits 
 attention. It is that which is set apart for the preservation of 
 the relics of the primitive martyrs. Its decorations are simple 
 and chaste, its colors soft and pleasing. The ashes of the " sainted 
 dead" repose in urns and sarcophagi, placed in niches in the 
 wall, regularly disposed on each side of the chapel, after the 
 manner of the ancient Roman sepulchres. It is small, but its 
 proportions, form, and furniture, are so appropriate and well 
 
 * The consequences of this confiscation reached the Mantuan territorj', and 
 occasioned, as is well known, the flight and the successive fame of Virgil. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 117 
 
 combined, that they produce a very beautiful and perfect whole. 
 The Baptistery, which, according to the ancient manner still 
 preserved in many of the great towns of Italy, is a separate 
 building near the cathedral, contains in the centre a font of 
 curious form and workmanship, cut out of one immense block of 
 party-coloured marble. The tower is of great height and sin- 
 gular architecture. The view from it is extensive, taking in 
 the town with its streets; the roads that cross the coimtry in 
 strait lines, in various directions ; the Po, winding along almost 
 close to the walls, and intersecting the immense plains of the 
 Milanese ; the Alps to the north, and the Apennines to the 
 south-west, both covered with snow, and occasionally half 
 veiled with passing clouds. Such was the prospect we beheld 
 from the top of the Torazzo. The public palace, for so the 
 town-hall is, not improperly, called in Italy, and most of the 
 churches, but particularly that of St. Pietro al Po, are worthy 
 the attention of the traveller ; since, with several objects which 
 correct taste must blame, they contain many which it will 
 admire. 
 
 Cremona has produced her proportion of genius and talent, 
 both in ancient and modern times, but among all her sons, 
 none have contributed more to her reputation than Marcus 
 Hieronymus Vida, the first poet of the second Augustan age 
 of Roman literature, and sometimes not undeservedly styled, by 
 his admirers, the Christian Virgil. Every reader is acquainted 
 with the poetical tribute which Pope has paid to his memory, 
 in his Essay on Criticism ; and all, Avho peruse Vida's works, 
 will acknowledge that the compliment is not misplaced. But 
 literary excellence was neither the sole, nor the principal, merit 
 of Vida: piety and purity of morals, unsullied even by suspi- 
 
118 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 cion, graced his early years, and a zealous discharge of ever}- 
 episcopal duty employed him from the middle to the close of 
 life. He was buried in his cathedral at Alba ; and a cenotaph 
 is said to have been erected to his honor, in the cathedral at 
 Cremona ; though we used much research and enquiry in vain 
 endeavours to discover it. I shall conclude this account of 
 Cremona, with some verses, taken from a hymn of this poet, 
 which, with the passage of Tacitus inserted above, will suffice 
 to give the reader some notion both of the history and territory 
 of Cremona. The verses are addressed to our Blessed Saviour, 
 and express a Christian sentiment in the purest language of Hea- 
 then poetry. 
 
 Turn veri, Graium obliti mendacia, vales 
 
 Funera per gentes referent tua, carmine verso, 
 
 Atque tuis omnes resonabunt laudil)us urbes. 
 
 Prffisertira laetam Italia; felicis ad oram, 
 
 Addua ubi vagus, et muscoso Serius amne 
 
 Purior electro tortoque simillimus angui ; 
 
 Qua rex fluviorum Eridanus se turbidus infert, 
 
 Maenia turrigerae stringens male tuta Cremonae, 
 
 Ut sibi jam tectis vix temperet unda caducis. — Christiados vi. 885 — 890. 
 
 If the reader wishes to see the history of Cremona, the beau- 
 ties of its district, and the achievements and talents of its inha- 
 bitants, set off in the most splendid colors of partial eloquence, 
 he may read the pleadings or Actiones tres, attributed to this 
 author, and supposed to have been pronounced before com- 
 petent judges, at Milan, on a question of precedency, between 
 Cremona and Pavia. 
 
 From Cremona, to the fortress of Pizzighitone, are two 
 short stages. We there passed the Adda, a very noble river, on 
 a flying bridge. This river is represented, by Claudian, as re- 
 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 119 
 
 markable for the cerulean tints of its waves, and is united to the 
 Tesino, in a very pretty verse. 
 
 Cella lavant pulcher Ticinus et Addua visu 
 Ccerulus. 
 
 The country continues populous and fertile, but displays more 
 forest wood. Castiglione, with various little towns and villages, 
 appears rich and beautiful. Thence the roads were deep and 
 bad, owing to the late inundations. Towards sunset, we arrived 
 at the Po, and passing it on a flying bridge, entered Placentia, 
 March 23d. This city, as well as Cremona, was built and 
 colonized by the Romans, about two hundred and eighteen 
 years before Christ, and, not long after, served as an asylum ta 
 the Roman army, when defeated by Hannibal, at the Trebia. 
 It was afterwards assaulted by that Carthaginian, but in vain ; 
 and like Cremona, was destined to suffer more from the mad- 
 ness of citizens, than from the fury of invaders. More fortunate, 
 however, than the latter, though attacked by a party of 
 Vitellians, it resisted with success, and in the bloody contest, 
 had only to lament the loss of its amphitheatre, remarkable, it 
 seems, for its capaciousness and architecture. This edifice, 
 like that of Verona, stood without the walls, and Avas of course 
 exposed to the fury of the assailants. It seems to have been 
 principally of wood, as it was consumed by fire, a circumstance 
 which, in our ideas, must take away much of its pretended 
 spleudor : but, whatever were its materials, its extent was, at 
 that time, unequalled ; and it stood, the pride of Placentia, and 
 the envy of the neighbouring cities. It was set on fire when 
 Caecina assaulted the town, either by chance, which is more 
 probable, or perhaps, as the Placentians suspected, by the 
 malice of some incendiaries, who took advantage of the confu- 
 
120 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 sion of the contest, and was reduced to ashes. It perished, 
 however, at a fortunate period, and with all its glory around it ■, 
 for, had it survived only a few years, its fame would have been 
 eclipsed by the splendor and magnificence of the gigantic 
 Coliseum. 
 
 Placentia, after having frequently changed masters, was an- 
 nexed to Parma, and remained so till the expulsion of the late 
 duke, when, with the whole of its territory, it was occupied by 
 the French. It is a large and well-built city. Its cathedral 
 is Saxon : the town-house, with some other public buildings in 
 the great square, Gothic. Several churches, particularly that of 
 St. Agostino, are of fine Roman architecture, and some adorned 
 with paintings of great celebrity. The great square is orna- 
 mented with two brass equestrian statues ; one of the celebrated 
 Alexander Farnese, the other, of his brother Ranuccio : they 
 are much admired, particularly the former, for attitude, anima- 
 tion, and drapery. Many of the convents, some of which are now 
 suppressed, seem to have been magnificent. 
 
 The neighbourhood of Placentia is, perhaps, more interesting 
 than the town itself, as it has been the theatre of many bloody en- 
 gagements. The first, and most remarkable, occurred shortly after 
 the foundation of the city, about three miles from it, and its scene 
 lies on the banks of the Trebia. We visited the spot, with Livy 
 as our guide, and I need not add, that we found his description 
 extremely accurate. It must, indeed, be observed, in justice to 
 the great writers of antiquity, that their pictures so resemble the 
 objects they are intended to represent, that a traveller might ima- 
 gine they had always been sketched on the spot itself, and in the 
 very heat of action. The banks, though low, are yet sufficiently 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 121 
 
 elevated, in a military sense, not indeed at the very confluence 
 of the two rivers, the Po and the Trebia ; but a Httle higher up 
 the latter, where the battle took place, the stream is wide enough 
 to form a line of defence, and yet, shallow enough to be in many 
 places fordable. Its sides, particularly on the right as you 
 ascend the stream, where Mago lay in ambush, are still covered 
 with reeds and brush- wood. After these observations merely 
 applying the present scenery to the historian's description, the 
 reader need but open Livy, and lie will become a spectator of 
 the action, so bloody and disastrous to the Romans. But the 
 banks of the Trebia have been the theatre of more contests 
 than one, nor is the last-mentioned, thovigh the most illustrious, 
 without doubt, either the most bloody or the most decisive. 
 It is well known that a memorable battle Ijetween the French 
 and the Russians, under the command of Marshal Suwarrqw, 
 was fought on the same spot, the banks of the Trebia, and at- 
 tended with more important consequences. It is said to have 
 lasted two days, and to have been supported with the utmost 
 obstinacy on both sides. The Russians, who advanced with 
 their usual firmness and impetuosity, were tlirice driven back in 
 dismay : at length the Marshal, with the looks and voice of a 
 Fury, led them on to a fourth attack, when they rushed into the 
 bed of the river, and with honible shouts and screams, fell once 
 more upon the enemy. Resistance was now overpowered : the 
 French fled in confusion ; the banks were strewed with bodies, 
 and the fields covered with fugitives. The consequence of this 
 victory was the immediate deliverance of Italy, from the in- 
 solence and rapacity of the French armies ; a deliverance which, 
 instead of being a mere interval of repose, would perhaps have 
 been the commencement of a long era of tranquillity, had the 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
122 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 same spirit continued to animate the annies, and the same 
 union prevailed in the cabinets of the confederates. But this 
 battle, however bloody and important, will pass, unnoticed, 
 in the long register of contests between different tribes of in- 
 vading barbarians ; perhaps the very names of the generals may 
 sink into oblivion, with the leaders of the Goths and Vandals, 
 of the Huns and the Lombards : wliile the " Battle of Trebia" 
 will live for ever in the pages of Livy, the names of Hannibal 
 and Mago, of Scipio and Sempronius, recorded both by the 
 historian and the poet, will continue to delight the youthful 
 reader, and a thousand generations contemplate with emotion : 
 
 Cannas et Trebiam ante oculos, Thrasimenaque busta. 
 
 Sil. ltd. lib. XI. 345. 
 
 From Placentia we proceeded to Parma, on the Via Emilia. 
 This road was made by Marcus Emilius Lepidus, about one 
 hundred and eighty-seven years before the Christian era, has 
 been kept in good repair, and is still excellent. We crossed 
 over several rivers, and passed through some pretty towns. 
 These rivers generally retain their ancient name, with little varia- 
 tion, and descending from the Apennines, fall into the neigh- 
 bouring Po. The principal are the Chiavenna, the Ongina, the 
 Stivona, and the Taro. Among the towns, Fiorenzuala, anciently 
 Florentiala, and S. Donnino, deserve most attention. At or 
 near the latter, formerly Fidentiola, Sylla defeated the Marian 
 general, Carbo, and dispersed, or utterly destroyed, his army. 
 About twelve miles to the south of Fiorenzuala, once stood the 
 town of Velleia, ruined by the sudden fall of part of the neigh- 
 bouring mountain, as is supposed, about the end of the fourth 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 123 
 
 century. Several excavations were made amongst the ruins, 
 in 1760, and the four following years; but the difHculty of 
 penetrating through the vast masses of rock that cover the town, 
 was so great, that the work was suspended, and, I believe, never 
 since renewed. This want of spirit, or of perseverance, is 
 much to be regretted, as few enterprises promise so fairly, or 
 seem so likely to reward the labour. The dreadful catastrophe 
 is supposed to have been sudden, and the inhabitants, with 
 their furniture and property, buried in one tremendous crash : 
 it is, therefore, highly probable, that more medals, coins, and 
 books, may be found here than in Herculaneum, where gradual 
 ruin gave the inhabitants time to remove their most precious 
 and portable effects. Besides, the latter town, with Pompeii 
 and the various cities that studded the Neapolitan coast, were 
 Greek colonies, and appear to have paid but little attention to 
 Latin literature ; while Velleia was entirely Roman, and some 
 of its citizens must have possessed tolerable collections of Latin 
 authors. It would not, therefore, be unreasonable to expect, if 
 the excavations were pushed on with vigor and discernment, 
 the discovery of some, if not of several, Latin manuscripts. 
 But such undertakings require opulence and leisure, and are not 
 to be expected in the present impoverished and distracted state 
 of Italy. 
 
 The country, as the traveller advances, improves in beauty, 
 and, if not in fertility, for that seems scarcely possible, at least 
 in the neatness and order of cultivation. The Apennines, ad- 
 vancing at every step, present their bold forms to vary the dul- 
 ness of the plain; hedges, and neat enclosures, mark the 
 different farms ; elms, in long rows, garlanded with vines, sepa- 
 
124 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 rate the fields; and villages, each with a magnificent church, 
 enliven the road at every mile. 
 
 Parma stands on a river of the same name : it was founded 
 by the Etrurians, taken by a tribe of Gauls, called the Boii, 
 and, at length, colonized by the Romans. It is said to have 
 suffered much from the licentious cruelty of Antony, and its 
 sufferings, on this occasion, are pathetically deplored and im- 
 mortalized by Cicero, in his fouijteenth Phihppic, the last tri- 
 bute which he paid to Rome and to liberty. During the 
 disastrous period that elapsed between the reigns of Theodosius 
 and Charlemagne, it was taken and retaken by the Goths and 
 Romans, the Lombards and Greek Exarchs, till it was given by 
 Charlemagne to the Holy See; and, after a succession of ages 
 and changes, at length bestowed by Paul III. on his son Ottavio 
 Farnese. In this family it remained till its extinction, in the 
 middle of the last century, when it passed to a Prince of Spain ; 
 and, on the death of the last Duke, was taken possession of by 
 the French, and is now pining away under the influence of their 
 iron domination. This city is large, populous, airy and clean, 
 though it cannot boast of any very striking or regular building. 
 The cathedral is Saxon, but lined in the interior with Roman 
 architecture; its dome is much admired for the beautiful painting 
 with which it was adorned by Correggio. The baptistery is an 
 octagon, in the same style as the cathedral, cased with marble, 
 and ornamented with various arches and galleries. The Steccata 
 is the most regular church in Parma; it is in the form of a 
 Greek cross, and not without beauty. The church of the Capu- 
 chins is remarkable only for being the burial place of the cele- 
 brated Alexander Farnese, who, in consequence of his own di- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 12$ 
 
 rections, lies interred, distinguished from the vulgar dead only by 
 the Ibllowiug epitaph. 
 
 D. O. M. 
 
 Alexander Farnesius 
 
 Belgis devictis 
 
 Francisque obsidione levatis 
 
 Ut humili hoc loco ejus cadaver deponeretur 
 
 Mandavit. 4 Non: Decenib: mdxcii. 
 
 The palace is large, but irregular; the library well furnished : it 
 contains the Academia de Belle Arti, in which there is a noble 
 hall, adorned with excellent paintings, and several ancient 
 statues, found in the ruins of Vclleia. In this hall, the Prince 
 used, during the happier ^era of Parma, to preside over the 
 assembled academicians, and distribute prizes in the Tarious arts. 
 In the same palace is the celebrated theatre, magnificent in its 
 size, its proportions, its form, and its decorations. It is modelled 
 on the ancient plan, like the Olympic theatre at Vicentia, and 
 like it, but on a greater scale, adorned with pillars, colonnades, 
 and statues. Unfortunately, either in consequence of the 
 many revolutions of late years, or on account of the difficulty 
 of tilling, and the expence of repairing, furnishing, and light- 
 ing up such a vast edifice ; this theatre, perhaps altogether the 
 noblest in the world, has been so long and so much neglected, 
 that it will, probably, soon sink into a heap of ruins, and re- 
 main only in the plans of artists, and in the descriptions of tra- 
 vellers. But the principal ornament of Parma, and its pride 
 and glory, were the numberless masterpieces of Correggio, with 
 which its chm'ches, its palaces, and puMic halls were once 
 adorned. This celebrated artist, born in a village near Modena, 
 and of course not far from Parma, has spread the charms and 
 
 5 
 
126 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 enchantments of his pencil over all the great towns that bordered 
 on the place of his nativity, and seems to have exerted his won- 
 derful powers, in a particular manner, for the decoration of this 
 city. Parmeggiani and Lanfranco, two other painters of high re- 
 putation, were natives of Parma, and contributed not a little to 
 the embellishment of its churches and palaces ; so that no city in 
 Italy, if we except Rome, presented more attraction to the 
 artist, or furnished more delightful entertainment to the traveller 
 of taste. But, alas ! such were the decorations and the glory of 
 Parma. The French, though in peace with the sovereign of 
 this unfortunate city, in their late wide-wasting progress, en- 
 tered its walls, raised heavy contributions on its inhabitants, 
 and stripped it of its best and most valuable ornaments — its 
 unrivalled paintings. Many, without doubt, still remain, be- 
 cause painted on walls and cielings, and therefore attached to 
 the spot ; but the masterpieces are gone, and the indignant 
 Parmensians can only show the traveller the place where they 
 once were. 
 
 The arts and sciences were by no means neglected in Parma. 
 An universit}^ two academies, schools of painting, &c. announce 
 the application, and a long catalogue of great names might be 
 produced to prove the success, of the Parmensians in every lite- 
 rary pursuit. The Dukes have, for many years past, assumed 
 the character of Maecenas, and by their judicious encourage- 
 ment attracted men of talents, from other countries, to their 
 territories. Among these latter, we may rank the Abbate Fru- 
 goni, a Genoese, and. the Abb^ Condillac, a Frenchman ; the 
 former, a poet of great reputation, and next in fame to Mcta- 
 stasio; the latter, preceptor to the Prince, and author of a well- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 127 
 
 known " Course of Education." The royal press of Parma, 
 established in the year 1765, is Avell known : it is conducted by 
 Bodoni, and has produced several beautiful editions, Gn^ek, 
 Latin, and Italian, together with various works in the Oriental 
 languages. 
 
 The public walk on the ramparts is extremely pleasing. The 
 country round well wooded, and the town and territory of 
 Parma, on the whole, seemed to have been in a flourishing state 
 till the entrance of the French army. Since that fatal period, its 
 prosperity has been on the decline, its government unsettled, its 
 inhabitants impoverished and discontented. The contributions 
 raised by the French amounted to five millions of French livres: 
 a sum enormous for so small a territory, and equalling two years 
 of its regular income. 
 
 Petrarcha resided some years at Parma, or in its neighbour- 
 hood, and seems to have been delighted with the beauty of the 
 country, the generous spirit of its princes, and the open manly 
 manners of its inhabitants. To the honor of their descendants, 
 it may be added, that notwithstanding the lapse of ages, the 
 change of government, and the galling pressure of recent revo- 
 lutions, these qualities are said to be still perceptible. 
 
 Two stages from Parma the traveller arrives at Forum Lepidi 
 Iiegium,no\v called Reggio, an ancient Roman colony, destroyed 
 by Alaric, and rebuilt by Charlemagne. The cathedral, the 
 church of S. Prospero, and that of the Augustin-friars, together 
 with the Town-house, and the Porta Nuova, are considered as 
 deserving some attention. It possesses no antiquities. How- 
 
128 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 ever, the traveller will visit it with some respect, as the country 
 of Ariosto ; tlie copious, the fantastic Ariosto ! 
 
 Two more posts brought us to Modena (Mutina), lately the 
 capital of a dukedom, now a dependence on the will of Bona- 
 parte. Though an ancient Roman colony, called by Cicero, 
 " firmissima et splendidissima Colonia," it presents no traces of 
 antiquity; in fact, it has been the scene of so many bloody 
 contests, has been so often destroyed, and has so often risen 
 from its ruins, that not only no vestige of its former splendor 
 remains at present, but it is even uncertain whether it occupies 
 the same site as the ancient city. But, whatever might have 
 been its strength and magnificence in ancient times, they have 
 been, probably, far surpassed by its present, I should rather 
 have saiS its late, prosperity. It is a well built town, its streets 
 are Avide, and several of its public edifices, of a noble appearance. 
 Its cathedral is Gothic, and, like most of its churches, rather 
 inferior to the expectation naturally excited by the general fea- 
 tures of the town. The ducal palace is of vast size; and though 
 built in a German, tliat is, in a heavy and fanciful style of arclii- 
 tecture, is, on the whole, rather magnificent. It contains several 
 handsome apartments, and, what still more merits the attention 
 of travellers, a gallery of paintings, a noble library, and a nu- 
 merous and curious collection of sketches, by the first masters, 
 of prints, of medals, and of Cameos.* 
 
 The arts and sciences, particularly the latter, have long 
 
 * This latter collection has either been removed or plundered by the French. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 139 
 
 flourished at Modena, under the fostering care of its Princes of 
 the house of Este, a family so much and so justly celebrated 
 by Tasso and Ariosto, for its generous feelings and noble muni- 
 ficence. " Tu Magnanimo Alfonso," says the former to a Prince 
 of this line, his patron, 
 
 Tu Magnanimo Alfonso, il qual ritogli 
 Al fliror di fortuna, e guidi in porto 
 Me peregrine errante, e fra gli scogli 
 E fra I'onde agitato e quasi assorto; 
 Queste mie carte in lieta fronte accogli 
 Che quasi in voto a te sacrate i' porto. 
 
 Gierus. Lib. Canto i. 4. 
 
 The latter, in a less poetical, but equally grateful style, ex- 
 presses his obligations to the same family, and enlarges upon its 
 heroical qualities and future prospects of glory.* Under 
 such encouragement, it is not wonderful that genius should 
 bloom and flourish, and that men of learning should flock 
 from all quarters, to enjoy the advantages of such liberal 
 patronage. 
 
 Among the illustrious personages who have done honor to 
 Modena, by their virtues and talents, one of the earliest, and if 
 the good qualities of the heart give double lustre to the brilliant 
 endowments of the head, one of the greatest is Cardinal Sado- 
 leti. This eminent prelate rose to notice in the fostering era of 
 Leo the Tenth, became intimately connected with the most 
 conspicuous characters of that period, and shone himself, with 
 
 * See Orlando Furioso, Canto i. 3, 4. 
 VOL. I. S 
 
130 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 no small lustre, in the midst of its brightest luminaries. In the 
 turbulent pontificates that succeeded the era of Leo, when the 
 animosities, kindled by the Reformation, blazed out with un- 
 quenchable fury, and every bosom glowed with a rage, almost 
 infernal, against the opponents of his own creed, this worthy 
 bishop preserved the native candor of his soul, and the charac- 
 teristic mildness of his sacred office. Above passion and re- 
 sentment, he treated the supporters of the new opinions with 
 paternal tenderness, and while he condemned their creed, 
 he cherished, and whenever an opportunity occurred, protected 
 their persons. " Fond to spread friendships, and to cover 
 hates," he made it the business of his life, to diffuse his OAvn 
 spirit, a spirit of charity, peace, and indulgence, into all around 
 him ; and while he zealously endeavoured to clear up the sub- 
 jects in debate, and to remove misapprehensions, he still more 
 strenuously exerted himself to calm the rage of contest, and to 
 infuse a milder temper into the disputants. Even in these days 
 of tranquil discussion, when a general spirit of toleration seems 
 to have gradually diffused itself over the Christian world, such 
 a conciliating character, if placed in an elevated station, Avould 
 engage our esteem and reverence ; but at the era of the Refor- 
 mation, that age of division and madness, such gentleness, 
 moderation, and candor, were godlike qualities indeed. 
 
 The works of Sadoleti, consisting principally of letters, ad- 
 dressed to the most conspicuous persons of the age, are still 
 extant; and as they are drawn up in a pure and elegant style, 
 and frequently treat of subjects of great interest and import- 
 ance, they are equally anmsing and instructive, and are calcu- 
 lated to give a very favorable idea of the taste, the knowledge. 
 and the piety of the author. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 131 
 
 From the time of Sadoleti, that is, from the middle of the 
 sixteenth century, down to the present period, a regular succes- 
 sion of men, eminent for their talents and learning, either 
 natives of its territory, or attracted to its walls by the liberal 
 patronage of its princes, has continued to adorn Modena, and 
 support its literary reputation. Instead of giving a long and 
 dry catalogue of names, I will mention only two authors ; but 
 these of a reputation, great enough to throw a lustre on any city. 
 One is the Abbate Muratori, an Ex-Jesuit, the Duke's libra- 
 rian, perhaps the most learned antiquary, the most inquisitive, 
 and, at the same time, the most impartial historian, that the 
 last century has produced. His works consist of nearly 
 fifty volumes in folio; of these, his Annali D'ltalia, are per- 
 haps the most instructive and the most entertaining. The 
 other is the Abbate Tiraboschi, Ex-Jesuit and librarian, as his 
 predecessor Muratori, and like him eminent for his profound 
 knowledge of history and antiquities. His principal work is 
 a history of Italian literature, entitled Italia Literaria, in six- 
 teen volumes, a work replete with erudition, seasoned with 
 curious anecdote, and enriched with much judicious and 
 amusing; criticism. 
 
 In justice to the muses of Modena, I must add the name 
 of the playful Tassoni, who, in his Secchia Rapita, gave 
 Boileau and Pope, the hint and the model of the Lutrin, 
 and the Rape of the Lock, taught them to trifle with the 
 splendor of poetry without degrading it, and enabled them, 
 even on frivolous subjects, to display the ease, the pliancy, 
 and the perfection of their respective languages. The im- 
 portant " Bucket," celebrated in this poem, was carried off from 
 a well in one of the streets of Bologna, by a party of Mo- 
 
 s 2 
 
132 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 denese troops, during a petty war between these neighbour- 
 ing cities, and has ever since been most carefully preserved, 
 as an invaluable trophy, in a vault under the great tower at 
 Modena. 
 
 The naturalist may find some occupation in the territory 
 of Modena, by investigating the nature of its wells, sup- 
 plied by perennial sources, uninfluenced by the state of 
 the atmosphere, as well as by inspecting its petrifactions and 
 mineral fountains. 
 
 The Campi Macri, celebrated in opposition to their name, for 
 their fertility, and the excellent pasturage which they afforded to 
 a famous breed of cattle, were the plains which lie between 
 Parma and Modena, and extend beyond the latter city towards 
 Bologna. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 133 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 BOLOGNA ITS UNIVERSITY ACADEMIES IMOLA — FAVENTIA — 
 
 FORLI FORLIMPOPOLI CESENA RUBICON ST. MARINO 
 
 RIMINI. 
 
 The classic traveller, as he rolls along the Via Emilia, from 
 Modena to Bologna, amidst scenes of the neatest cultivation and 
 most luxuriant fertility, will recollect that the very fields which 
 spread around him, the very country which he is traversing, was 
 the bloody theatre of the last unavailing efforts of Roman 
 liberty. The interview of the Triumvirs took place in an island 
 formed by the Rhenus, at a little distance from Bologna.* As 
 the river is small, and the island observable only on examination, 
 the traveller generally passes without being aware of the circum- 
 stance. The stream still retains its ancient name, and is called 
 the Rheno. 
 
 From Modena to Bologna, the distance is three stages, about 
 twenty-four miles : about six miles from the former town is Fort 
 Urbano, erected by Urban VIII. to mark and defend the en- 
 trance into the ecclesiastical state. Bologna (Bononia Felsinia,) 
 was a Roman colony, though it retains few or no traces of its 
 
 * This island is two miles from Bologna, three miles long, and one broad ; it 
 contains two villages, St. Viola, to the south ; St. Giovanni, to the north. 
 
 5 
 
134 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 antiquity, and is a rich, populous, extensive, and most flourish- 
 ing city. Its history, like that of the preceding towns, is con- 
 tained in a few words. First, great and prosperous under its 
 founders, then in the succeeding revolutions of the empire, 
 pillaged, destroyed, and rebuilt; sometimes enslaved, and 
 sometimes free, it underwent and survived all the vicissitudes of 
 the barbarous ages. At last, after various contests with the 
 neighbouring states, and with their own tyrants, the inhabitants 
 of Bologna made a voluntary submission to Pope Nicolas III. 
 in 1278, and afterwards to John XXII. in 1327, which they 
 have frequently renewed since, at different periods. But in this 
 voluntary submission, the Bolognese did not mean so much to 
 acknowledge the Pope as their direct sovereign, as to put their 
 city under his protection as liege lord : hence, they cautiously 
 retained the management of their finances, the election of their 
 magistrates, and the administration of their laws ; that is to 
 say, the essential forms of a republic, and only employed the 
 name and authority of the Pontiff to repress the ambition of 
 powerful and factious citizens, or to awe the hostility of their 
 neighbours, the Dukes of Modena, and of their rivals, the Ve- 
 netians. Hence, they always resisted every encroachment on 
 their privileges, and not unfrequently, expelled the papal legates, 
 when inclined to overstrain the prerogatives of their office. 
 This guarded and conditional dependence, produced at Bologna 
 all the advantages that accompany liberty ; industry, commerce, 
 plenty, population, knowledge, and refinement. The French, 
 in their late invasion, found, but did not leave, the Bolognese in 
 possession of these blessings. They deprived their city of its 
 freedom and independence, separated it from the Roman state, 
 and annexed it to the Italian Republic, to share with it, in ap- 
 pearance, the empty name of a Commonwealth, and, to bear, in 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 135 
 
 reality, the oppressive yoke of an avaricious and insulting tyrant. 
 Mr. Burke, speaking of this event, saj^s, " The Pontiff has seen 
 his free, fertile, and happy city and state of Bologna, the cradle 
 of regenerated law, the seat of sciences and of arts, the 
 chosen spot of plenty and delight ; — converted into a Jacobin, 
 ferocious republic, dependent on the homicides of France." 
 
 The streets in Bologna are narrow, and the exterior of the 
 public buildings by no means proportioned to the fame and 
 opulence of the city. The cathedral is a modern edifice, of 
 Roman architecture, but in a bad style ; the inside is light, and 
 though it did not appear so to me, is considered by several con- 
 noisseurs, as beautiful. One altar, erected by the late bishop, 
 of the finest marbles, chastest decorations, and best proportions, 
 cannot fail to attract the eye of the observer ; it is exquisite in 
 its kind, and appeared to us almost the only object in the cathe- 
 dral worthy of attention. 
 
 The church of St. Petronius is considered as the principal 
 church. It is Gothic, of great extent and antiquity, and though not 
 beautiful, is celebrated as well for several grand ceremonies, which 
 have been performed in it, such as the coronation of Charles V, 
 by Clement VII. as for the meridian of the famous astronomer 
 Cassini, traced on its pavement. It was built about the years 
 440 or 450, but rebuilt in a very different style in 1390, and 
 seems still to remain, in a great degree, unfinished. The pre- 
 late, its founder first, and now its patron, flourished in the reign 
 of Theodosius, and was a man of great activity and general 
 benevolence. He enlarged the extent of the city, adorned it 
 with several public buildings, procured it the favor and largesses 
 of the Emperor, and by his long and unremitting exertions to 
 
136 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 promote its welfare, seems to have a just claim to the gratitude 
 and veneration of its inhabitants. S. Salvador, S. Paolo, and, 
 above all, La Madonna di S. Luca, deserve a particular visit. 
 This latter church stands on a high hill, about five miles from 
 Bologna. It is in the form of a Greek cross, of the Co- 
 rinthian order, and crowned with a dome. As the people of 
 Bologna have a peculiar devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and 
 crowds flock from all quarters to visit this her sanctuary, for 
 their accommodation, in all seasons and in all weather, a por- 
 tico has been carried from the gates of the city up the hill 
 to the very entrance of the temple, or rather to the square 
 before it. This immense building was raised by the voluntary 
 contributions of persons of every class in Bologna : the richer 
 erected one or more arches, according to their means ; the mid- 
 dling classes gave their pecuniary aid in proportion; and the 
 poorest insisted on contributing their labor to the grand under- 
 taking. It is in reality a most noble monument of public piety, 
 and alone sufficient to prove that the spirit and magnificence of 
 the ancient Romans still animate the modern Italians, and may, 
 in a fortunate combination of circumstances, once more blaze 
 out in all their pristine glory. The church is of a fine and well 
 proportioned form, rich in marbles, but overloaded, as we 
 imagined, with ornaments. It is needless to add, that from such 
 an elevation the view is beautiful, lost on one side in the wind- 
 ings of the neighbouring Appenuines, and extending on the 
 other over a plain of immense extent, and unparalleled popula- 
 tion and fertility. One circumstance struck us particularly, 
 while on the hill. It was the end of March, the sky was clear, 
 and the weather warm, nearly as it may be on a bright day 
 in England in the month of May, so warm, in short, as to ren- 
 der the shade not only pleasing, but desirable ; yet, in various 
 
THROUGH ITALY. la? 
 
 parts of the hill, and near the church, the snow lay deep, and in 
 vast masses, still likely to resist, for some time, the increasing 
 warmth of the season ; so great is the influence of such moun- 
 tains as the Alps and Apennines, on the climate of the adjacent 
 countries. 
 
 The two brick towers, Degli Asinelli and Dei Garisendi, are 
 deformed monuments of a barbarous age, and remarkable only^ 
 for their unmeaning elevation, and dangerous deviation from 
 the perpendicular. Bologna is decorated with many palaces of 
 vast extent, and some few of noble architecture. Among the 
 latter is the Palazzo Ranuzzi, said to be of Palladio; also those of 
 Lambertini, Orsi, Bentivogli, Malvezzi, Campeggi, Pepoli, Leg- 
 nani, &c. These palaces, and indeed almost all the churches, 
 and public buildings in Bologna, are ornamented with a profu- 
 sion of paintings, by the first Italian masters, Guido, Guercini, 
 the Carracci, Caravaggio, Giordano, and particularly Albano. 
 Of the latter painter it has been said, that the Loves seem to have 
 mixed his colors, and the Graces to have fashioned his forms; 
 such is the soft glow of his tints, such the ease and beauty of 
 his groupes and figures ! The greater number, and the best of 
 this celebrated artist's compositions are to be seen at Bologna, 
 and may furnish the admirer of painting Avith many an hour's, or 
 rather, many a day's entertainment. In fact, no city has given 
 more encouragement to painting, or contributed more to its 
 perfection, than Bologna; no one has produced a greater num- 
 ber of illustrious painters, or enjoyed a higher reputation in the 
 art, than its well known school. To perpetuate the skill and 
 the honors of this school, an academy has been established, 
 under the title of the Clementine Academy, with a sufficient 
 number of eminent professors to direct, and medals and pre- 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
138 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 miums, to animate and reward the zeal of the young artists. 
 Pubhc instructions are given gratis, models furnished, accommo- 
 dations supplied, and every possible encouragement afforded to 
 attract scholars, and enable them to develope and perfect their 
 talents. This excellent institution, so well calculated to pre- 
 serve the repuiMtion of the school of Bologna, originated in the 
 beginning of the last century, and has already produced several 
 artists of reputation ; among whom we may rank its first pre- 
 sident, Carlo Cignani. The halls and apartments of this aca- 
 demy are very spacious, and form part of the palace be- 
 longing to the Instituto di Bologna. This latter establish- 
 ment, one of the most magnificent of the kind in Italy, or 
 perhaps in the Avorld, occupies an immense and very noble 
 edifice, where the various arts and sciences have their respec- 
 tive halls, decorated in a grand style, and furnished with ap- 
 propriate apparatus. In this palace sits the Academy of 
 Sciences, of high reputation in the republic of letters, and a 
 singular monument of that enthusiasm for knowledge, which has 
 always formed a distinctive feature in the Italian character. 
 It owes its origin, in the seventeenth century, to a noble youth 
 of the name of Eustachio Manfredi, who, at the early age of 
 sixteen, formed a literary society, and collected at certain stated 
 assemblies in his own house, all the men of taste and talents in 
 Bologna. The spirit of the founder has never abandoned the 
 academy, which still continues to enrich the learned world with 
 its productions, and support the fame and glory of its origin. 
 In the same palace, are a library, containing at least one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand volumes, open to the public six days in 
 the week ; an observatory, furnished with an excellent astrono- 
 mical apparatus ; a vast chemical laboratory ; a cabinet of 
 natural history ; an experimental cabinet, with all kinds of 
 
THROUGH ITALY, 139 
 
 instruments for ph3^sical operations ; two halls of architecture, 
 one for the civil, the other for the military branches of this 
 art ; a marine hall ; a gallery of antiquities ; another of statues, 
 and a third of paintings ; a hall of anatomy and midwifery, cele- 
 brated for a remarkable collection of wax figures, representing 
 the female form in all the stages, and in all the incidents of par- 
 turition. In fine, a chapel for the use of the united members of 
 the institute. Almost all these halls and apartments are adorned 
 with pictures and paintings in fresco, on the walls and ceilings, 
 and form, one of the most magnificent abodes ever consecrated to 
 the arts and sciences. I have already observed, that regular 
 instructions are given to young painters, in the hall of the 
 academy; I must here add, that professors attend and deliver 
 lectures gratis, at stated periods, to all students, on the different 
 arts, in their respective halls. 
 
 Bologna owes this superb establishment to one of its citizens. 
 General Count Marsigli, who, after having passed many years in 
 the Imperial service, returned to his country, and devoted the re- 
 mainder of his days, his talents, and his fortune, to the pro- 
 pagation of the arts and sciences, in its bosom. He bestowed 
 upon the city his valuable collections of every kind, and by his 
 exertions formed a society of men of the first talents and repu- 
 tation, in each art and science, which assumed the name of the 
 Instituto di Bologna. To lodge this society, and receive the 
 above-mentioned collections, the city purchased the Palazzo 
 Cellesi, and had it fitted up in its present style, at the same 
 time grand and commodious. This arrangement took place 
 in the year 1714. Since that period the Instituto has been en- 
 riched by the donations of several illustrious persons, and par- 
 ticularly of Benedict XIV. a pontiff of an enlightened and 
 
 t2 
 
140 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 capacious mind, who loved and encouraged the sciences, in all 
 parts of the Roman state, but particularly at Bologna, his 
 native city. An Englishman, accustomed to the rich en- 
 dowments of his own country, will hear with astonishment, that 
 this grand establishment, so well furnished with all the materials 
 of science, and so well supplied with professsors of the first 
 abilities and reputation, does not possess an annual income of 
 seven hundred pounds a year; and his surprize will increase, 
 when it is added, that the want of a larger income has hitherto 
 been abundantly supplied by the zeal and indefatigable assiduity 
 of the governors and professors. 
 
 From the Instituto we naturally pass to the University, the 
 glory of Bologna, and equal, if not, as the Bolognese pretend, 
 superior in antiquity, and once in reputation, to the most cele- 
 brated academies in Europe. The honors, titles, and privileges, 
 conferred upon it by kings and emperors, by synods and 
 pontiffs, the deference paid to its opinions, and the reverence 
 that waited upon its graduates, prove the high estimation in 
 which it Avas once held ; and the names of Gratian and Aldro- 
 vandus, of Malpighi and Guglielmini, of Ferres and Cassini, 
 are alone sufficient to shew that this high estimation was 
 not unmerited. The Scuole publiche, or halls of the Uni- 
 versity, form a very noble building; seventy professors are 
 employed, and the endowments are veiy considerable. The 
 number of students, however, is not adequate to the fame and 
 splendor of such an establishment, as it scarce amounts to five 
 hundred, w^hile anciently it exceeded twice as many thousands. 
 The decrease here, as at Padua, is to be ascribed to the 
 multiplication of similar establishments in all Christian coun- 
 tries. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 141 
 
 Besides the Instituto and the University, two Academies of 
 less lustre and celebrity watch over the interests of literature, 
 and endeavour to extend the empire of the Muses. They are 
 entitled, by a playful opposition, the Inquieti and the Oziosi, and 
 abandoning the higher regions of science to the speculations of 
 their brethren of the two great seminaries of learning, love to range 
 through the fields of fancy, and amuse themselves in collecting 
 its flowers. The j^outh, whom I mentioned above, as founder 
 of the Academy of Sciences, Eustachio Manfredi, did honor 
 to these societies, by his poetical eftusions, and is ranked for 
 tenderness and delicacy, among the first Italian poets, in light 
 airy compositions. Zanotti, Scarselli, Roberti, and Sanseverino, 
 have acquired considerable reputation in the same line. In 
 short, the two grand features of the Bolognese character, are 
 formed by the two most honorable passions that can animate 
 the human soul — the love of Knowledge, and the love of 
 Liberty ; passions which predominate through the whole series 
 of their history, and are justly expressed on their standard, 
 where " Libertas" blazes in golden letters in the centre, while 
 *' Bononia docet" waves in embroidery down the borders. 
 
 The fountain in the great square is much celebrated, but more, 
 I think, than it deserves. The statues are good, particularly 
 that of Neptune; but the figiues are crowded into a space too 
 small for such a group, and Neptune, " the earth-shaking god," 
 armed with that trident which, " vastas aperit syrtes et tem- 
 perat aequor," seems employed to little purpose, in superintend- 
 ing a few nymphs and dolphins, squirting mere threads of water 
 from their breasts and nostrils. The god should have stood upon 
 a rock, a river should have burst from under his feet, and the 
 mermaids and dolphins, instead of being perched on the narrow 
 
 5 
 
142 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 cornice of his pedestal, should have appeared sporting in the 
 waves. Such should be the attitude, and such the accompani- 
 ments of the God of the Ocean ; and such is the Fontana di Trevi, 
 at Rome. 
 
 On the thirtieth of March, we set out from Bologna, and still 
 rolling along the Via Emilia, through a beautiful country, arrived 
 about two o'clock at Imola, twenty miles from Bologna. This 
 neat little town stands on or near the site of Forum Cornelii, 
 ruined in the wars between the Greek emperors and the Longo- 
 bardi. It was the See of the present Pope, before his elevation 
 to the pontifical throne. It contains little worth notice: its 
 Corinthian cathedral was never finished without, nor com- 
 pletely furnished within, and of course scarce deserves a visit. 
 Imola has its academy, called the Industriosi, and can boast of 
 several men of eminence in literature, particularly poets ; among 
 these, Zappi and Zampieri, especially the former, are much 
 esteemed for a certain graceful refinement, and delicacy of sen- 
 timent and expression. Imola, though situated in the com- 
 mencement of the great plain of Milan, derives from the neigh- 
 bouring Apennines a considerable portion of the beauty of 
 mountainous landscape, of which Monte Batailla, seen from the 
 ramparts, westward, presents a striking instance. The river that 
 bathes its walls, has changed its classical name Vatrenus, into 
 the more sonorous appellation of Santerno. 
 
 From Imola to Faenza, (Faventia), is about ten miles. This 
 ancient town is spacious and well built; its great square, with a 
 fine range of porticos on either side, and a Corinthian church, 
 belonging to the Dominicans, deserve attention. Its cathedral 
 is Gothic, and not remarkable. We could discover, in the vici- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 143 
 
 mty of this city, few traces of the pine-groves, which seem an- 
 ciently to have formed one of the most conspicuous features of 
 its territory. 
 
 Undique sellers 
 Arva coronantem nutrire Faventia pinum. Sil. viii. 
 
 Nine miles from Faenza, beyond the river Montone, an- 
 ciently the Utens, stands Forli, Forum Livii, a long, well- 
 built town, with a very spacious and handsome square. The 
 cathedral, not remarkable in itself, contains a very beautiful 
 chapel, lined with the finest marbles, adorned with paint- 
 ings, and surmounted with a well proportioned dome. This 
 chapel bears the title of Virgine del Fuoco. The taber- 
 nacle, in the chapel of the sacrament, is the work of Michael 
 Angelo. The Benedictine Abbey of St. Mercuriale, is a grand 
 edifice, and deserves attention on account of its antiquity. Forli 
 has an academy, under the title of the Filargyri, and has pro- 
 duced several men of literary merit; among others, the Abbate 
 Pellegrino Gaudenzi, who might be styled the Italian Klopstock, 
 if the laws of euphony would allow names, of such opposite 
 sound, to be brought into contact. 
 
 From Forli to Forlimpopoli, is four miles. This latter town, 
 anciently Forum Popilii, is small but neat. Hence to Cesena, 
 the distance is seven miles. We arrrived there late in the evening. 
 
 In leaving Bologna we turned our backs upon the fertile and 
 most extensive plains of Milan, and began gradually to ap- 
 proach the Adriatic on one side, and the Apennines on the other. 
 The road, however, still continues to give the traveller all the 
 advantages of the plain, as scarce an eminence rises to retard his 
 course, before he reaches Ancona, while he enjoys all the beau- 
 
144 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 ties of a mountainous country, in the hills on the right, that 
 sometimes advance, and sometimes retire, varying their forms 
 and the landscape almost at every step. Mountains crowned 
 with towers, castles, or towns, a striking feature of Italian, and 
 particularly of Apenninc scenery, had often attracted our atten- 
 tion during our progress, and increasing upon us from Faen^a, 
 in number, boldness, and beauty, repeatedly forced on our re- 
 collection, Virgil's descriptive verse, 
 
 Tot congesta manu piceruptis oppida saxis. Geo. Lib. ii. 156. 
 
 I may add, that numberless rivers, rushing from the mountains, 
 intersect the plain, and bathing the time-worn walls of many an 
 ancient town, seemed to exhibit the original of the following line, 
 
 Fluminaque antiques subterlabentia muros. 157. 
 
 These streams, it is true, are mere rills, as most rivers are in 
 southern countries, during the heats of summer, and may easily 
 deceive the superficial traveller, who, passing their dry channels 
 in that season, may very naturally suppose that their sources 
 have failed, and that the streams themselves exist only in descrip- 
 tion. To this mistaken notion we perhaps owe the poetical 
 fiction of Lucan, representing Caesar as stepping over the un- 
 noticed Xanthus, 
 
 Inscius in sicco serpentem pulvere rivuin 
 
 Transierat, qui Xanthus erat. Lib. ix. 274-5. 
 
 As well as the longer and more beautiful effusion of Addison's 
 muse.* But when swelled by the rains in autumn, or the melting 
 
 * Letter to Lord Halifax. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 145 
 
 snows in spring, these apparently petty rills cover their broad 
 channels, fill their banks, and swell into considerable rivers. 
 
 Cesena retains its ancient name, unaltered by time or bar- 
 barism. It is a little clean town, beautifully situate at the 
 foot of a ridge of fine hills, covered with villas and convents ; the 
 eminence immediately over the town is croM'ned with a romantic 
 old castle. Its cathedral scarcely deserves notice, but its 
 ancient bridge, of three vast arches, merits attention. The late 
 Pope, Pius VI. was born at Cesena, and with all the partiality 
 of a native, adorned it with various edifices, and dignified it 
 with several privileges. His countrymen, in grateful acknow- 
 ledgment, erected a bronze statue over the gate of the Town- 
 hall, representing him in the usual attitude of Popes, that is, as 
 giving his benediction. The inscription is, " Civi optimo," a 
 style perfectly Roman, when applied to the sovereign, and used 
 only in the early periods of the monarchy, while the bold spirit 
 of republican equality still breathed in a few surviving Romans. 
 The soil around the town is fertile, and was anciently remark- 
 able, as the hilly regions of Italy generally were, for excellent 
 wines ; such, at least, was the opinion of Pliny. Whether the 
 vines have degenerated, or their culture is neglected ; or whether 
 the defect was in our palates, I know not ; but the wines of 
 Cesena appeared to us indift'erent. 
 
 About two miles from Cesena flows a stream, called the 
 Pisatello, supposed to be the ancient Rubicon. There stood on 
 its northern bank an obelisk, with the decree of the senate and 
 Roman people, inscribed on its pedestal, and two other inscrip- 
 tions on its sides. The French destroyed this obelisk. The 
 slabs that formed the pedestal lay half buried in a farm- 
 
 VOL. I. u 
 
146 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 yard, about a hundred paces from the road, where we dug them 
 up, and placed them against the trunk of a ti'ee. 
 
 The Pisatello, like most other mountain streams, is very 
 shallow in dry weather ; but its banks are, in some places, high, 
 and in others, its channel is wide, so that it might occasionally 
 present a mass of waters, considerable enough to embarrass an 
 army in its passage. Its sides are shaded with poplars, and 
 present a pretty, solitary scene. But it must be observed, that 
 notwithstanding the abovementioned inscriptions, which are 
 generally acknoAvledged to be spurious, the name and honors 
 of this streamlet are disputed, and that the inhabitants of both 
 Savignano, and Rimini, boldly maintain that their respective 
 rivers have a better title, than the Pisatello, to the classical 
 appellation of the Rubicon, and to the veneration of the tra- 
 veller. I must add, what the reader will be not a little surprized 
 to hear, that the learned are nearly as much divided about 
 the modern as about the ancient name of this rivulet. To un- 
 derstand the difficulties of this question, he must be informed, 
 that between Cesena and Savignano, the Via Emilia is inter- 
 sected by three streams ; the first is about two miles from 
 Cesena; the second, five; and the third, eight. The first is 
 commonly, I believe, called, and certainly marked in the most 
 correct maps, such as that of the learned Jesuits Maire and 
 Boscovick, Pisatello ; the second, Rugonc, Rugosa, Rigosa, or 
 Urgone; the third is called Borco, and bathes the walls of 
 Savignano. These three rills, ere they fall into the neighbour- 
 ing Adriatic, unite and form a considerable river, called the 
 Fiumecino. In opposition to most Italian writers, Cluverius 
 maintains, (and it is difficult to question the accuracy of so 
 attentive and indefatigable an investigator), that the former is 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY, 147 
 
 called llugoue, that this appellation is evidently a corruption 
 of Rubicone, and that the second is, properly speaking, the 
 Pisatello. However we must assert, upon the authority, not of 
 maps only, or of books, but of the innkeeper and the drivers, an 
 authority equally, and perhaps more decisive on such a ques- 
 tion, that the common name of the first stream is now the Pisa- 
 tello, and that of the second the Rugone. But notwithstanding 
 the difference of names, it is still evident, that the stream now 
 called Pisatello, is a branch only of the Rubicon ; and equally 
 so, that the river which Cassar passed, was not the Pisatello, or 
 the Rugone, but that which is formed by the three streams 
 united, and is now called the Fiumecino. To prove this cir- 
 cumstance, it is only necessary to observe, that Caesar marched 
 from Ravenna to Rimini, by the direct road, (for, as he was in 
 haste, we cannot suppose that he deviated from it), that is, not 
 by the Via Emilia, but by that which runs along the sea shore, 
 and is called the Lower Road : to this we may add, that the 
 distance of the Fiumecino at present, from Ravenna on one 
 side, and from Rimini on the other, agrees with the distance 
 ascribed to the Rubicon, from the same towns in the ancient 
 itineraries. Moreover, it is highly probable, or as the above- 
 mentioned learned geographer maintains, nearly certain, that the 
 ancient Via Emilia, instead of passing the three streams, turned 
 to the sea, and crossed the Rubicon over a bridge, at the point 
 where the rivers unite, and which is therefore called, in the 
 itineraries, " ad Confiuenteis." In fact, Rimini, by the present 
 road, is only eighteen very short, that is, sixteen ancient miles, 
 while it Avas formerly twenty, from Cesena; the difference evi- 
 dently implies a turn in the road, Avhich could be no other than 
 that leading from Cesena to the bridge, " ad Confiuenteis." 
 
148 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 There were, then, two passages over the Rubicon anciently, the 
 one by the Via Emiha, over a bridge, " ad Contluenteis;" the 
 other, about a mile lower down, or nearer the sea, on the direct 
 road from Ravenna to Rimini. This then was the passage, and 
 this is the celebrated spot, where Caesar stood, and absorbed in 
 thought, suspended for a moment his own fortunes, the fate of 
 Rome, and the destinies of mankind ; here appeared the warlike 
 phantom, commissioned by the furies, to steel the bosom of 
 the relenting chief, and hurry him on to the work of destruction ; 
 and here too, arose the Genius of Rome, the awful form of the 
 mighty parent, to restrain the fury of her rebel son, and arrest 
 the blow levelled at justice and at liberty. Here Caesar passed, 
 and cast the die, that decided the fate, not of Rome only, of 
 her consuls, her senates, and her armies, but of nations and em- 
 pires, kingdoms and republics, that then slept in embryo in the 
 bosom of futurity. 
 
 In crossing the Rubicon, the traveller passes from Cisalpine 
 Gaul into Italy, properly so called, and enters the territory of 
 the Umbri, that is, Umbria. This province, though it retains 
 its general name, is divided into various arbitrary parts, such as 
 the Legazione d'Urbino, Marca d'Ancona, &c. of which, as of 
 most similar partitions, I shall take little or no notice ; because 
 they are mere transient distinctions, adapted to the particular ad- 
 ministration of each district, and varying with every accidental 
 change in the system of government. A few miles from Cesena 
 we came within sight of the Adriatic on the left, while on the 
 right the mountains increase in height and in magnificence. On 
 the summit of one that rose in full view before us, covered with 
 snow and shining with ice, rose the town of S. Marino, bosomed 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 149 
 
 in the regions of winter, and half lost in the clouds. The genius 
 of Liberty alone could have founded, and supported a Republic, 
 in such a situation ! 
 
 Savignano on the Borco is a large handsome town, but, I 
 believe, contains nothing remarkable. Thence to Rimini, and, 
 indeed, to Ancona, the road runs along the coast of the 
 Adriatic, presenting such scenery as the sea on one side, and on 
 the other the Apennines, or rather their attendant mountains 
 must naturally furnish. About four miles from Savignano, Ave 
 passed the Luso (anciently Plusa), and six miles further, crossing 
 the ancient Ariminus, now the INlarecchia, entered (Ariminum) 
 Rimini. The bridge, over which we passed, is of marble, and 
 in the best style of Roman architecture, erected in the times of 
 Augustus and Tiberius Cajsar, and inscribed with their names. 
 It consists of five arches with niches for statues between, and a 
 regular cornice surmounting both arches and niches. Its soli- 
 dity, boldness and beauty, as well as the date of its erection, 
 have led* many connoisseurs to conclude, that it is the Avork 
 of Vitruvius. The gate on the opposite side, under which 
 the traveller passes on his way to Pesaro, is a triumphal arch 
 of Augustus, of the best materials and noblest form. The 
 order is Corinthian, but in some respects peculiar. The barba- 
 rous taste of the middle ages crowned this monument of Roman 
 grandeur with a Gothic battlement, a deformit}' Avhich is still 
 allowed to exist, " in media luce Italia?," in such an age and in 
 such a country. The town is large and well built. In the prin- 
 cipal square is a fountain, and a statue of Paul V., changed into 
 that of St. Gaudentius by the French, who, upon this occasion, 
 seem, I know not how, to have forgotten their usual propensity 
 to destruction. The cathedral had been turned by them into 
 
150 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 a military hospital, and so much disfigured as to be rendered 
 unfit for public worship. The church of the Dominican Friars 
 was, therefore, used for the purposes of cathedral service. 
 That of St. Francis, adorned with a profusion of marble, de- 
 serves notice, particularly as it is supposed to be the last in 
 Italy, if we except however the cathedral of Milan, into which 
 Gothic forms and ornaments have been admitted. In fact, it 
 was built in the year 1450, a period when the latter style began 
 to give way to the restored proportions of Roman architecture. 
 However, this attempt to resume the graces of antiquity does 
 not seem to have succeeded, as the orders are ill propor- 
 tioned, and the whole edifice clumsy and whimsical. Several 
 other churches and some palaces are worthy the attention 
 of the traveller. The port of Rimini is much obstructed by 
 the sands, swept along by the river in its descent from the 
 neighbouring mountains; and though much labour has been 
 employed, and money expended, in order to keep it clear, yet 
 it admits only small vessels at present; an inconvenience inci- 
 dental to all ports, formed by mountain torrents, when they fall 
 into the sea near their sources, and before they have time 
 to deposit the gravelly particles with which they are neces- 
 sarily encumbered. Some fragments of marble linings and piers 
 remain to attest the ancient magnificence of this port. 
 
 Of the history of Rimini it can only be said, that after 
 having suffered in common with all the other cities in Itah^, 
 the ravages of the first barbarian invaders, and bowed its 
 neck for some years under the Gothic sceptre, it was re- 
 stored to the empire by Belisai-ius, and at the fall of the 
 Exarcliate was annexed once more to the Roman teiritory, 
 in the eighth century. Since that period, though occasion- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 151 
 
 ally distracted by factions, and sometimes enslaved by its 
 own citizens, it has never entirely dissolved the tie that 
 binds it to the parent city, nor refused to pay legal sub- 
 mission to its pontiffs. But the most remarkable event in 
 the records of Rimini is, without doubt, that which first re- 
 gistered its name in the page of history, and still gives it a 
 claim upon the attention of the traveller. Rimini was the 
 first town that beheld Caesar in arms against his country. 
 After having harangued his troops on the banks of the Ru- 
 bicon, and made the last appeal from the laws to the sword, 
 he rushed forward with his usual rapidity, and at daybreak 
 appeared, suiTounded Avith his cohorts, in the forum at Ri- 
 mini. The untimely sound of the trumpet, the alarm and con- 
 fusion of the inhabitants, the threatening aspect of Ceesar, are 
 circumstances which the historian discreetly leaves to the imagi- 
 nation of his readers; while the poet finds in them the materials 
 of sublime description : 
 
 Constitit ut capto jussus deponere miles 
 Signa foro, stridor lituuni, clangorque tubarum 
 Non pia concinuit cum rauco classica cornu. 
 Rupta quies populi, stratisque excita juventus 
 
 Diripiunt sacris affixa penatibus arma 
 
 Ut notae fulsere aquila?, Romanaque sigria, 
 Et celsus medio conspectus in agmine Cajsar, 
 DirJguere metu, gelidos pavor alligat artus. 
 
 Luc. 1.—236, Sfc. 
 
152 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 CATTOUCA — PESARO — FANO — THE METAITRUS AND MONTE AS- 
 SRUBALE — SENEGAGLIA — ANCONA, ITS HARBOR AND TRIUM- 
 PHAL ARCH — LORETTO, AND THE SANTA CASA — TOLLENTINO — 
 PONTE DELLA TRAVE. 
 
 V-/LOSE to Rimini we passed the river Ansa or Aprusa. 
 Thence to Ancona, the scenery continues the same ; the Adria- 
 tic on the left; on the right, fine fertile hills, covered with 
 buildings, and rising gradually in height, till they swell into the 
 ridge of the Apennines, about fifteen miles south-west. Among 
 the hills, S. Marino presents to the eye, a perpendicular precipice 
 of tremendous height, and craggy aspect, and long continues to 
 form a most majestic and conspicuous feature of the landscape. 
 The first stage is Cattolica, a title given to this place, be- 
 cause it became the asylum of the orthodox prelates, who re- 
 ceded from the council held at Rimini, when they found that 
 the Arian faction seemed likely to prevail. Such at least is 
 the import of an inscription in the principal church, a neat 
 edifice, with a high Gothic tower opposite. The river Concha, 
 which flows a few miles from Cattolica, on the road to Rimini, 
 
THROUGH ITALY. T53 
 
 is supposed, by Cluverius, to be the " Crustumium rapax" of 
 Lucan. About ten miles from Cattolica, is Pesaro, (Pesaurus,) 
 a large, clean, airy town, with a handsome square, ornamented 
 by a noble fountain, and formerly by a marble statue of Urban 
 VIII. lately destroyed by the French. Most of the churches 
 are remarkable for their paintings, and some for their archi- 
 tecture. Among the latter are S. Giovanni, La Misericor- 
 dia, and S. Carolo. Several palaces have the same claim to 
 attention. On the whole, few towns have a handsomer or more 
 prepossessing appearance than Pesaro. The bridge over the 
 Foglia, anciently the Pesaurus, is a very noble edifice, and 
 though not ancient, worthy of being so. 
 
 About seven miles further is Fano, Fanum (Fortunae), a well- 
 built, and very handsome town. One of the gates of Fano is a 
 triumphal arch of Augustus ; a gallery or portico of five arcades 
 was built over it, at a later period, that is, under Constantino ; 
 the whole is, or was, Corinthian. It was considerably defaced, 
 and the upper story destroyed, by the artillery, in a contest be- 
 tween this town and Julius II. Several pillars still lie, as they 
 seem to have fallen, on the platform above the arch. On the 
 three different cornices, there are three inscriptions. The 
 churches at Fano are not inferior to those at Pesaro. The 
 theatre was a noble and commodious edifice, but has been 
 so long neglected, that it has at present much the appearance 
 of a ruin.* 
 
 * The forum of Fanura was planned and built by Vitruvlus. Would it be im- 
 possible to discover some traces of so extensive an edifice ? None are now ob- 
 servable. Vit.L.v.C. I. 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
154 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 The Via Flaminia here turns from the sea towards the Apen- 
 nines, and runs along the banks of the Metaurus, now called 
 the Metaro, or shorter, the Metro. This river, a streamlet in 
 dry weather, must, if we may judge by its wide-extended 
 bed, and the long bridge thrown over it, forms in rainy seasons 
 a vast sheet of water. Its western banks are covered with 
 wood, and increase in height and declivity as they retire from 
 the sea. To the east, opens a plain, bounded by gentle emi- 
 nences, and contracting in breadth as it runs southward, where 
 the hills line the banks of the river. The Adriatic occupies the 
 north, and to the south rise the Apennines in irregular forms, 
 interrupted only by the steep dell, through which the river 
 forces its passage. The character of boisterous rapidity, given 
 by the poets to this stream, agrees with it only while rushing 
 from the Apennines, or confined within the defiles that line the 
 base of these mountains. 
 
 Veloxque Metaurus. Lucan ii. 495. 
 
 Cavis venientes montibus Umbri, 
 Hos iEsis, Sapisque lavant, rapidasque sonanti 
 Vertice contorquens undas per saxa Metaurus. Sil. vui. 447. 
 
 The banks of this river, as is well known, were the theatre of 
 one of the most glorious and most decisive victories ever ob- 
 tained by the Romans, a victory which saved Rome, by de- 
 priving Hannibal of his long expected reinforcements, and 
 anticipated the fall of Carthage, by cutting off at one stroke 
 the strength of her armies and the flower of her rising ge- 
 neration. 
 
 The description which Livy has given of this action is ani- 
 mated and circumstantial; and though the learned seem to 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 155 
 
 doubt whether it be possible to ascertain the spot on which it 
 took place, may, I think, enable us to guess at it with some 
 probability. According to Livy, both armies were encamped 
 on or near the Sena, about four miles westward of Senogaglia, or 
 to use Livy's words, " Ad Senam castra consulis erant, et quin- 
 gentos inde passus Asdrubal aberat." Asdrubal began his re- 
 treat, " prima vigilia," that is, about an hour after sunset ; and 
 after having wandered in the dark for some time, reached the 
 Metaurus, about eight miles from the Sena, and there halted 
 till break of day, when following the banks from the sea 
 towards the mountain, in order to discover some place fordable, 
 he Avas overtaken and attacked by the Romans. The battle 
 commenced at an early hour, for, after various manoeuvres and 
 a most bloody contest, it was only mid-day when victory de- 
 cided in favour of the Romans. " Et jam diei medium erat, 
 sitisque et calor hiantes, caedendos capiundosque (hostes) affatim 
 prsebebat."* Now when we consider these circumstances united, 
 that is, that the nights were short, as it was summer, that after 
 having marched eight miles, the Carthaginian army bewildered 
 themselves in the windings of the banks, " per tortuosi amnis 
 sinus flexusque errorem volvens," that they halted and were 
 overtaken early in the morning, we shall conclude, that they had 
 not marched more than eighteen miles fi'om Sena, or, in other 
 words, that they had not reached the mountains, and of course 
 that the battle took place in the plain, but nearer the mountains 
 than the sea. Moreover, the left wing of the Carthaginian 
 army, formed chiefly of Gauls, was covered by a hill. Round 
 this hill, when the Consul Claudius had attacked the enemy in 
 
 * T. Liv. Lib. xxvii. 48. 
 X 2 
 
156 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the rear, Avas the principal slaughter, and it is highly probable 
 that the fall of the Carthaginian general ennobled this spot, and 
 dignified it with the appellation of Monte Asdrubale. We may 
 therefore, I think, conclude, without much danger of wandering 
 widely from the truth, that the round hill which still bears that 
 name, and rises south of theMetaurus, about three miles from Fos- 
 sombrone on the road to Forli, was the scene of this memorable 
 action. It is about eighteen miles, by the Via Flaminia, from 
 Fano, and about fourteen from the Sena, on Avhich both armies 
 were encamped the day before. In fine, a battle, in which, as 
 on this occasion, a hundred thousand combatants are engaged, 
 covers a great extent of country, and spreads over all the neigh- 
 bouring region ; so that the banks of the river, for many a mile, 
 witnessed the rout of the Carthaginians, and the poetical pre- 
 diction was fully accomplished, 
 
 Multa quoque Asdrubalis fulgebit strage Metaurus. 
 Two hours brought us to the river Negola (Misus), 
 
 Quo Sena relictum 
 populis traxit per saecula i 
 
 Gallornm a populis traxit per saecula nomen ! 
 
 for on its banks stands Senegaglia, Avhich took its name from 
 the Galli Senones, though colonized by the Romans after the 
 destruction of that race. Senegaglia is a very well built, airy, and 
 apparently flourishing town. The cathedral, of the Corinthian 
 order, was lately rebuilt, and its high altar adorned with a most 
 beautiful tabernacle, by the present bishop. Cardinal Onorati, who 
 has the reputation of a man of taste and public spirit. Unfor- 
 tunately for the town, his means of indulging the useful propen- 
 sities, which naturally follow two such endowments, have been 
 completely annihilated by the rapacity of the French, and all 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 157 
 
 improvements, since the fatal period of their arrival, totally 
 suspended. The distance from this town to Ancona is twenty- 
 four computed, twenty real miles. A little beyond Casa Fras- 
 cata, at the Bocca de Fiumecino, we passed the Esino, the 
 Roman Aesis, entei'ed Picenum, and arrived late at Ancona. 
 
 Ancona retains its ancient name, supposed to be derived from 
 its reclining posture, and no small share of its ancient prospe- 
 rity, as, Venice excepted, it is still the most populous and the 
 most trading town on the shores of the Adriatic. Most of the 
 towns we have hitherto mentioned were founded by various Gallic 
 tribes. Ancona boasts a nobler origin. It was built by a band 
 of Syracusan patriots, Avho, to avoid the insolence and lawless 
 sway of Dionysius the tyrant, abandoned their country and 
 settled on this coast, about four hundred years before Christ. 
 It was anciently remarkable for a celebrated temple of Venus, 
 and, like Paphos and Cythera, was supposed to be one of the fa- 
 vorite resorts of the Goddess of Love and Beauty.* In reality, 
 it would be difficult to find a situation more conformable to the 
 temper of the " Queen of smiles and sports," or better adapted 
 to health and enjoyment than Ancona. Seated on the side of a 
 hill, forming a semicircular bay, sheltered by its summit from 
 the exhalations of the south, covered by a bold promontory 
 from the blasts of the north, and open only to the breezes of 
 the west, and the gales that wanton on the unruffled bosom of 
 the waters, which bathe its feet, surrounded by fields of inex- 
 haustible fertility, Ancona seems formed for the abode of mirth 
 and luxury. Hence it has been remarked by travellers, that 
 
 * Ante doraum Veneris quam Dorica sustinet Ancon. Juv. iv. S9. 
 
 5 
 
158 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the inhabitants of Ancona, and its territory, are of a more 
 beautiful form and fairer color than their countrymen in gene- 
 ral ; and though several invidious reasons have been given to ac- 
 count for this flattering distinction, I must add, that their 
 morals are acknowledged to be pure, and the conduct of the 
 females unimpeachable. 
 
 The Romans, aware of the advantages of this port, made 
 it their principal naval station in the Adriatic; built a magnifi- 
 cent mole to cover the harbour, and adorned it with a triumphal 
 arch. This useful and splendid work Avas undertaken and 
 finished by Trajan, and to him the triumphal arch is dedicated. 
 It is still entire, though stripped of its supernumerary orna- 
 ments ; the order is Corinthian ; the materials, Parian marble ; 
 the form light, and the whole is considered as the best, though 
 not the most splendid, nor the most massive, model, that re- 
 mains of similar edifices. It was ornamented with statues, busts, 
 and probably, inferior decorations of bronze ; but of these, as I 
 hinted above, it has been long since stripped, by the avarice 
 of barbarian invaders, or perhaps of ignorant and degenerate 
 Italians. In fact, from the first taking of Rome by Alaric, 
 that is, from the total fall of the arts, to their restoration, it was 
 certain ruin to an ancient edifice to retain, or to be supposed 
 to retain, any ornament, or even any stay of metal. Not 
 the internal decorations only were torn off, but the a ery nails 
 pulled out, and not unfrequently stones displaced, and columns 
 overturned, to seek for bronze or iron. Of this species of sacri- 
 legious plunder we find numberless instances, not only in the 
 edifice now under our consideration, but in various remains of 
 antiquit}', and particularly in the Pantheon and Coliseum. 
 Nor will this conduct appear Avonderful in men, either by birth 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 159 
 
 or by habits, and grovelling passions, barbarians ; when in our 
 own times, and almost before our own eyes, persons of rank and 
 education have not hesitated to disfigure the most ancient, and 
 the most venerable monuments of Grecian architecture, to tear 
 the Avorks of Phidias and Praxiteles from their original position, 
 and demolish fabrics, which time, war, and barbarism had re- 
 spected during twenty centuries. The French, whose rapacity 
 the voice of Europe has so loudly and so justly censured, did not 
 incur the guilt of dismantling ancient edifices ; they spared the 
 walls, and contented themselves with statues and paintings, and 
 even these they have collected and arranged in halls and galle- 
 ries, for the inspection of travellers of all nations ; while, if 
 report does not deceive us, ow plunderers have ransacked the 
 temples of Greece, to sell their booty to the highest bidder, or at 
 best, to piece the walls of some obscvu'e old mansion, Avith frag- 
 ments of Parian marble, and Attic sculpture. 
 
 To return to the arch, it has only one gateway, is orna- 
 mented with four half columns on each front, one at each 
 side of the gateway, and one at each angle. The marble, 
 particularly in the front, towards the sea, retains its shining 
 white; the capitals of the pillars have suffered much, and 
 lost the prominent parts of the acanthus ; however, on the 
 whole, this arch may be considered in high preservation. The 
 greatest part of the mole still remains, a solid, compact wall, 
 formed of huge stones bound together by iron, and rising to 
 a considerable height above the level of the sea. Close to 
 it, but much lower, is the modern mole, adorned in like 
 manner Avith a triumphal arch of the Tuscan order, in itself 
 not beautiful, and Avhen compared with the Corinthian arch 
 that stands almost immediately over it, extremely cumber- 
 
160 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 some. The architect was Vanvitelh, a name of some repute in 
 the architectural annals of the last century; and if we ma}^ 
 judge from the solidity of the new mole, the elevation of the 
 light-house that terminates it, and the admirable arrangement of 
 the Lazaretto, he seems to have merited the celebrity which he 
 enjoyed. It is difficult, however, to conceive what motives 
 could have induced him to place an arch, of so mixed a compo- 
 sition, and so heavy a form, so near to the simple and airy edifice 
 of Trajan, unless it were to display their opposite qualities by the 
 contrast, and of course degrade and vilify his own workmanship. 
 But all modern architects, not excepting the great names of Mi- 
 chael Angelo, Bramante, and Palladio, have had the fever of inno- 
 vation, and more than ten centuries of unsuccessful experiments 
 have not been sufficient to awaken a spirit of diffidence, and in- 
 duce them to suspect that, in deviating from the models of anti- 
 quity, they have abandoned the rules of symmetry; and, in erect- 
 ing edifices on their own peculiar plans, have only transmitted 
 their bad taste, in stone and marble monuments, to posterity. 
 
 The cathedral of Ancona is a very ancient, but a low, dark 
 edifice. It contains nothing within, and exhibits nothing with- 
 out, to fix attention. Its situation, however, compensates, 
 in a great degree, its architectural defects. Placed near 
 the point of the Cumerian promontory, elevated far above 
 the town and the harbour, it commands a most magnificent 
 view, extending along the sea coast to Pesaro and Fano on 
 theTiorth, bounded on the west by the snow-crowned Apen- 
 nines,, while on the east it wanders over the Adriatic, and, 
 in clear weather, rests on the distant hills of Dalmatia. We 
 lingered on this delightful spot with much satisfaction, and 
 while our eyes feasted on the varied prospect expanded before 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 161 
 
 us, we enjoyed, though it was only the second of April, the 
 freshness of the gale, that sprang occasionally from the sea, and 
 fanned us as we ascended the summit of the promontory, and 
 the tops of the neighbouring mountains. There are, however, 
 several churches that merit observation, particularly the Agos- 
 tiniani, and the Giesu (of Vanvitelli), as also the Palazzo della 
 Communita, or Town-hall, and the Palazzo dei Mercanti, or 
 Merchant's-hall. The Popes have not been wanting in their at- 
 tention to the prosperity of Ancona. They have made it a free 
 port, allowed liberty of conscience to persons of all religions, 
 improved the harbour, and opened a new and very noble ap- 
 proach on the land side. However, in commerce, activity, and 
 population, Ancona is still inferior to Leghorn, owing probably, 
 to the situation of the latter, on the western coast of Italy, in 
 the heart of the Mediterranean, and open, of course, to the 
 commerce of France, Spain, Africa, and the Mediterranean 
 islands ; while the former, on the Adriatic, a sea comparatively 
 unfrequented, faces Dalmatia, a country little known in the 
 commercial world, and little given to mercantile speculation 
 and activity. The general appearance of Ancona, though beau- 
 tiful at a distance, is, within, dark and gloomy, in consequence 
 of the narrowness of the streets, and want of squares and 
 great public buildings. Ancona, and its neighbouring towns 
 and coasts, are celebrated in the following lines of Silius 
 Italicus : 
 
 Hie & quos pascunt scopulosae rura Nunianze, 
 Et quislitoreaE fumant altaria Cupras, 
 Quique Truentinas servant cum flumine turres 
 Cernere erat : clypeata procul sub sole corusco 
 Agmina, sanguinea vi))rant ia nubila luce. 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
162 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Stat fucare colus nee Sidone vilior Ancon, 
 
 Murice nee Lib^co. Statque humectata Vomano 
 
 Adria, & inclemens hirsuti signifer Ascli. Sil. ItaL viii. 430. 438, 
 
 Numana is now Humana; Cupra, Le Grotte. Truentium, 
 on the banks of the Tronto, otherwise unknown at present. 
 The river still bears its ancient name, Vomano, or Aschi, 
 As col i. 
 
 The distance from Ancona to Loretto, is about fourteen 
 miles ; the road hilly, the country in the highest degree fertile, 
 and the views on every side extremely beautiful. Camurano, 
 the inteniiediate stage, stands on a high hill, and has a small 
 but handsome church. Loretto also is situate on a very bold 
 and commanding eminence. This town is modern, and owes its 
 existence to the Santissima Casa, and its splendor to the zeal or 
 the policy of Sixtus Quintus. It is large, well built, populous, 
 and, notwithstanding its elevated site, well supplied by an 
 aqueduct with Avater. It is surrounded with a rampart, and 
 from that rampart, commands a varied and most delightful 
 prospect on all sides. To the north rise Osimo, the Auximum 
 of the ancients, and Camurano, each on a lofty hill ; also close 
 to the sea, an abbey, perched on the summit of Monte Gomero. 
 On the south, Monte Santo anciently Sacrata, and Macerata; 
 to the west, Recanati, and Monte Fiore, with the Apennines 
 rising, broken, white and craggy, behind ; while to the east, be- 
 tween two hills, the Adriatic spreads its blue expanse, and 
 brightening as it retires from the shore, vanishes gradually in the 
 white fleecy clouds that border the horizon. 
 
 Every reader is acquainted with the legendary history of the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 163 
 
 Santissima Casa, or most holy house ; that it was the very house 
 which the \^irgin Mother, with the infant Saviour and St. 
 Joseph, inhabited at Nazareth; that it was transported by an- 
 gels from Palestine, when that country was totally abandoned 
 to the infidels, and placed, first in Dalmatia, and afterwards on 
 the opposite shore in Italy, close to the sea side, whence, in con- 
 sequence of a quarrel between two brothers, the proprietors of 
 the ground, it Avas removed, and finally fixed, on its present 
 site. This wonderful event is said to have taken place in the 
 year 1294, and is attested by the ocular evidence of some Dal- 
 matian peasants, the testimony of the two quarrelsome brothers, 
 and, I believe, the declaration of a good old lady of the name 
 of Laureta. Some had seen it in Dalmatia, others beheld it 
 hovering in the air, and many had faund it in the morning on a 
 spot, which they knew to have been vacant the evening before. 
 Such is, at least in general, the account given at Loretto, circulat- 
 ed all over Italy, piously admitted by many holy persons, and not 
 a little encouraged by the Popes. I need not say, however, that 
 many men of reflection in Italy, and indeed within the precincts 
 of Loretto itself, consider this wonderful story as an idle tale, or, 
 at best, a pious dream, conceived by a heated imagination, and 
 circulated among an ignorant race of peasants and fishermen. 
 They suppose the holy house to have been a cottage or building 
 long buried in a pathless forest, and unnoticed in a country 
 turned almost into a desert by a succession of civil wars, inva- 
 sions, and revolutions, during the space of ten or twelve centu- 
 ries. A dream, an accidental coincidence of circumstances 
 might have led one or more persons to the discovery of this long- 
 forgotten edifice, and such an incident working on minds heated 
 by solitude and enthusiasm, might easily have produced the 
 
 i-2 
 
164 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 conviction, and propagated the belief of the wonderful tale. 
 But be the origin of the holy house what it may, the eftect of 
 artifice or of credulity, it gradually attracted the attention, first 
 of the country round, then of Italy at large, and at length of the 
 whole christian world. The miracle was everywhere heard with 
 joy and admiration, and everywhere welcomed with implicit un- 
 suspecting faith. Princes and prelates, rich and poor, hastened 
 with pious alacrity to venerate the terrestrial abode of the incar- 
 nate Word, and implore the present aid and intiuence of his 
 Virgin Mother. Gifts and votive offerings accumulated; a mag- 
 nificent church was erected; gold, silver, and diamonds blazed 
 round every altar, and heaps of treasures loaded the shelves of 
 the sacristy ; various edifices rose around the new temple, and 
 Loretto became, as it still remains, a large and populous city. 
 The church was planned by Bramante, and is a very noble 
 structure, in the form of a cross, with a dome over the point of 
 intersection. Under this dome is the Santa Casa, a building 
 about thirty feet long and fourteen high, vaulted, of stone, rough 
 and rather uneven. It is difficult to discover the original color 
 of the stone, as it is blackened by the smoke of the numberless 
 lamps continually burning, but it is said to be of a reddish grey; 
 the interior is divided by a silver rail into two parts, of unequal 
 dimensions. In the largest is an altar; in the less, which is con- 
 sidered as peculiarly holy, is a cedar image of the blessed Virgin, 
 placed over the chimney-piece. The exterior is covered with a 
 marble casing, ornamented with Corinthian pilasters and sculp- 
 tured pannels, representing various incidents of Gospel History. 
 The font, the Mosaics over several altars, the bronze gates both 
 of the church and of the Santa Casa, and several paintings 
 in the chapels are admired by connoisseurs, and of course 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 165 
 
 should not pass unnoticed. The square before the church, 
 formed principally of the apostolical palace the residence of the 
 bishop, the canons and the penitentiaries, is in a very grand 
 style of architecture. The treasury was formerly a subject of 
 admiration and astonishment to all travellers, who seemed to at- 
 tempt but in vain to describe, not the gold and silver only, but 
 the gems and the diamonds that glittered on every vase, and 
 dazzled the eyes with their splendor. Long catalogues were 
 produced of the names of Emperors, Kings, Potentates and 
 Republics, who had contributed to augment this immense accu- 
 mulation of wealth with additional offerings, and some surprise 
 was expressed, that the Turk or some hardy pirate, tempted by 
 the greatness of the booty, and the facility of the conquest, did 
 not assault the town, and endeavour to enrich himself with the 
 plunder. But such was the supposed sanctity of the place, such 
 the religious awe that surrounded it, that even the Turks them- 
 selves beheld it with veneration, and the inhabitants reposed 
 with confidence under the tutelar care of the Virgin Patroness. 
 Once, indeed, the infidels made a bold attempt to assault the 
 sanctuary of Loretto; but, like the Gauls under Brennus, pre- 
 suming to attack the temple of Delphi, were repulsed by tre- 
 mendous storms, and struck with supernatural blindness. Lo- 
 retto, in fact, in later times, as Delphi in days of old, 
 was surrounded with an invisible rampart, which no mortal 
 arm could force, and no malignant dnemon even ventvu'e to 
 assail, repressed both by superior power, " Motique vcrendd 
 Maj estate loci." 
 
 But Loretto has now shared the fate of Delphi ; its sa- 
 cred bounds have been violated, its sanctuary forced, and its 
 
166 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 stores of treasure seized, and dispersed by the daring hands of 
 its late invaders. No vestige now remains of this celebrated 
 collection of every thing that was valuable ; rows of empty 
 shelves, and numberless cases, only enable the treasurer to en- 
 large on its immensity, and curse the banditti that plundered it. 
 " Galli," said he, " semper rapaces, crudeles, barbarorum om- 
 nium Italis infestissimi :" he added, in a style of compliment to 
 the English, " Angli, justi, moderati, continentes." I hope our 
 countrymen %vill endeavour to verify the- compliment, by their 
 conduct towards the degraded Greeks, and oppressed Italians ! 
 But though we condemned the sacrilegious rapine of the French, 
 we could not share the deep regret of the good father. Trea- 
 sures buried in the sacristies of churches, are as useless, as if 
 still slumbering in their native mines ; and though they may 
 contribute to the splendor of an altar, or the celebrity of a con- 
 vent, can be considered only as withheld from the purposes for 
 which Providence designed them, and drawbacks upon that in- 
 dustry which they are made to encourage. The altar ought 
 certainly to be provided with a sufficient quantity of plate for 
 the decency, and even the splendor of divine service: such was the 
 opinion of the christian church even in the second century ; but 
 it is the duty of government not to allow it to accumulate, and 
 it is much to be lamented, that the immense wealth deposited 
 in the churches in Italy, had not been employed, as anciently 
 was the custom, in times of public distress, for public relief. 
 " Ad divos adeunto cast^ : pietatem adhibento : opes amo- 
 vento."* 
 
 * Cic. de Legibus, ii. 8. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 167 
 
 The church of Loretto is a magnificent estabhshnient. It 
 consists of twenty prebendaries or resident canons : twenty 
 chaplains or minor canons ; and twenty penitentiaries, to hear 
 the confessions of the pilgrims, and administer to them advice 
 and spiritual consolation. These penitentiaries are selected 
 from various countries, that every pilgrim may find a director, 
 who can discourse with him in his own language. The number 
 of pilgrims seems at present to be very small ; indeed they have 
 long ceased to be of any advantage to the town, as they are 
 generally of the lowest class, beg their bread on the road, and 
 are supported at the expence of the church, while at Loretto. 
 We visited the fathers, and were treated by them with much, 
 tenderness and cordiality. 
 
 The traveller would do well, while liis head quarters are at 
 Loretto, to visit Osimo, Humana, Monte Santo, and as much 
 of the coast and country southward, as possible. These places 
 are all of ancient fame, and the whole region around is both 
 beautiful and classical. 
 
 From Loretto the road turns direct to Rome, passes under a 
 noble gateway, descends the hill of Loretto, with an aqueduct 
 running on the left, then rising, traveises Recanati, a neat but 
 deserted episcopal toAvn ; and again descending, winds through 
 a delicious plain, watered by the Potenza, adorned with all 
 the beauty of cultivation, and all the exuberance of fertility, 
 producing corn and beans, clover and flax, vines and mulberries, 
 in profusion ; and when we passed through it, all lighted up and 
 exhilarated by the beams of a vernal evening sun. A little 
 beyond the post Sambucheto, and on the banks of the river, lie 
 
 5 
 
168 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the ruins of an amphitheatre, or rather of a town, supposed, by 
 some antiquaries, to have been Reciua; though others conclude, 
 from the distance of fourteen miles, marked by the itineraries, 
 between Auximum and Recina, that the latter stood on or near 
 the site of the modern JViacerata, that is, about two miles and a 
 half farther on. Macerata is an episcopal see, a town of some 
 population, activity, and even magnificence. It is situated on a 
 high hill, and commands an extensive view of the lovely coun- 
 try we had traversed, terminating in the distant Adriatic. The 
 cate is a sort of modern triumphal arch, not remarkable 
 either for materials or proportion. The same beautiful 
 .scenery continues to delight the traveller, till he reaches 
 Tollentino. 
 
 This town, an episcopal see, and very ancient, contains 
 tiothing remarkable. Its principal church is dedicated to St. 
 Nicolas, a native saint, and of course in high veneration. The 
 bust of a celebrated philosopher of the fifteenth century, Phi- 
 lelphus, is placed over the entrance of the Town-hall, a cir- 
 cumstance, which I mention merely as an instance of the respect 
 which the Italians are wont to shew to the memory of their 
 great men of every description. The gate towards Loretto 
 is double, of Gothic architecture, and of singular form. The 
 situation of the town is extremely pleasing, on a gentle emi- 
 nence on the banks of the Chienti, in a fertile plain, lined on 
 either side with wooded hills. A little beyond Tollentino we 
 began to enter the defiles of the Apennines ; the hills closing 
 and swelling into mountains, the river roughening into a torrent, 
 and the rocks breaking here and thei'e into huge precipices. 
 The road runs along the sides of the hills, with the Chienti rolling 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 169 
 
 below on the left. A little beyond Beleforte, a view opens over 
 the precipice towards a bridge, and presents a landscape of 
 very bold features. Beleforte is an old fortress perched on the 
 side of a rock in a very menacing situation, and well calculated 
 to command the defile. A village on the opposite side of 
 the river adds not a little to its picturesque appearance. The 
 grandeur of the scenery increased as Ave advanced; beyond 
 the stage Valcimara, the mountains are naked, rocky and wild 
 for some miles, till, on a sudden, they assume a milder aspect, 
 sink in height, clothe their sides with sylvan scenery, and pre- 
 sent on their wooded summits, churches, castles, and ruins, the 
 usual ornaments of Italian mountains. The landscape conti- 
 nued to improve in softness and in milder beauty till we ar- 
 rived at Ponte de la Trave, so called from a bridge over the 
 Chienti. Here, though we had travelled two stages or eighteen 
 miles only, and it was still early, we determined to remain 
 during the night; partly from a just apprehension of danger 
 in passing the steep and lonely fastnesses of Seravalle in the 
 dark, and partly from an unwillingness to traverse the majestic 
 solitudes of the Apennines, when incapable of enjoying the 
 prospect. The inn, it is true, was indifferent, but the sur- 
 rounding scenery extremely pleasing. The river rolling ra- 
 pidly along close to the road, a convent seated in the middle 
 of a vineyard, groves waving on the sides of the hills, the fields 
 painted with the lively green of vernal vegetation, fruit-trees 
 in full blossom on all sides, farm-houses interspersed in 
 the groves and meadows, and broken crags surmounted with 
 churches and towers in distant perspective, formed on the 
 whole a scene, rich, varied, tranquil, and exhilarating. One 
 would imagine that Addison, who travelled this road, had 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
170 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 this delicious valley in view, when, in imitation of Virgil, he 
 exclaims, 
 
 Bear me, some God, to Baiae's gentle seats, 
 
 Or cover me in Umbria's green retreats ; 
 
 Where western gales eternally reside. 
 
 And all the seasons, lavish all their pride : 
 
 Blossoms and fruits and flowers together rise. 
 
 And the whole year in gay confusion lies. — Letter from Itali/. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. m 
 
 CHAP. VII J. 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE APENNINES — FOLIGNO — IMPROVISATORE THE 
 
 CLITUMNUS, ITS TEMPLE AND VALE — SPOLETO — MONTE SOMMA 
 — TERNI — PALLS OF THE VELINO — ADDISON'S OPINION RE- 
 FUTED THE NAR NARNI THE TIBER OTRICOLI — CFVITA 
 
 CASTELLANA — MONTES CIMINI — ^^NEPI CAMPAGNA — BACCANO — 
 FIRST VIEW OF ROME. 
 
 Jb ROM Ponte de Trave, tlie road runs for some time over a 
 country, enclosed, cultivated, and wooded, with much variety; 
 hoAvever, the scenery gradually roughens as you advance to- 
 wards the summit; the mountains swell and close upon you, 
 assume a savage aspect, and though on the banks of the 
 river, which still attends you and winds through the defile, 
 yet the scenery is rocky, naked, and barren. Sera Valle is 
 in a deep dell, where the river rolls tumbling along, shaded by 
 oaks, poplars, and vines. A rocky mountain rises immediately 
 to the west of the town. From its foot, close to the road, 
 through various crevices, gushes a vast source of the purest 
 water, which may justly be considered as one of the heads of 
 the Potentia. On the steep side of the hill stands an old ruined 
 Gothic castle, whose fortifications, in difl^erent compartments, 
 
 z2 
 
172 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 run down to the road side. In the nearest, is a hole in a vault, 
 formed over a large and deep spring. This rocky mountain 
 appears to be a vast reservoir of Avatcrs, as a little higher up, 
 towards the summit, about one hundred yards from the first 
 source of the river Potentia, another bursts out at the bot- 
 tom of a cavern, finely shaded with bushes, shrubs, and fruit 
 trees. A little farther on, you enter a plain, spreading in the 
 midst of the Apennines, whose summits rise in various shapes 
 around, and form a majestic amphitheatre. It is not, however, 
 to be understood, that the summits to which I allude, are the 
 highest points of the whole ridge ; this is not true, as the pin- 
 nacles of the Apennines are covered with snow, almost all the 
 year, while the mountains, which we passed over, only exhibited 
 a few detached sheets of snow, and were, in general, green. I 
 mean, therefore, that above Seravalle, you reach the highest 
 point of the mountains that intersect the Via Flaminia, and the 
 road from Ancona to Rome. On the sides of the mountains 
 you see villages and cottages, the greatest part of which look 
 bleak and miserable, and in the midst of the plain, graze nu- 
 merous flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle. There is, however, 
 an appearance of loneliness about the place, that excites in 
 the traveller's mind, ideas of danger, which are considerably 
 increased by accounts of murders and robberies said to have 
 been committed in this remote region. While we Avere 
 gliding over this elevated plain, with silence and dreariness 
 around us, I began to reflect on the descriptions which the 
 ancient poets have left us of the Apennines, a ridge of moun- 
 tains which the Romans beheld with fondness and veneration, 
 as contributing so much both to the beauty and security of 
 their country. In reality, they had reason to thank Providence 
 for having placed such a tremendous barrier between them and 
 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 173 
 
 their victorious enemy, after the disastrous engagement on the 
 banks of the Trebia. The attempt of Hannibal to pass the 
 Apennines, is eloquently described by Livy :* upon that occa- 
 sion one would suppose that the Genius of Rome, enveloped 
 in tempests, and armed with thunder, had stood on the summit 
 to arrest the invader : — " Tum ver6 ingenti sono ccelum strepere 
 et inter horrendos fragores micare ignes/' After repeated, but 
 useless exertions, Hannibal returned to the plain, and Rome 
 had time to arm her youth, and call forth all her energies, to 
 meet the approaching tempest. 
 
 Lucan, in his description of these mountains, indulges, as 
 usual, his vein of hyperbolical exaggeration ; but as he is accu- 
 rate in his representation of the bearing of this immense ridge, 
 and the rivers that roll from its sides, it may not be amiss to 
 insert his lines. 
 
 Mons inter geminas medius se porrigit undas 
 Inferni, superique maris: collesque coercent. 
 Hinc Tyrrhena vado frangentes jequora Pisae, 
 lUinc Dalmaticis obnoxia fluctibus Ancon. 
 Fontibus hie vastis immensos concipit amnes, 
 Fluminaque in gemini spargit divortia ponti, &c. 
 
 Lucan ii. 400. 
 
 This poet delighted in details, and loved to display his knoAV- 
 ledge, whether connected with his subject or not. Others have 
 been more correct, and have selected such particular features 
 only as suited the circumstance. Thus Petronius Arbiter alludes 
 
 * See Livy, xxi. 58. 
 
174 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 merely to height, as an extensive view only was requisite for 
 the Fury, whom he represents as perched upon its summit. 
 
 Haec ut Cocyti tenebra^i, & Tartara liquit, 
 Aha petit gradiens iuga nobilis Apennini, 
 Unde omnes terras, atque omnia littora posset 
 Adspicere, ac toto fluitantes orbe cateruas. 
 
 Silius Italicus enlarges upon the deep expanse of driven snow, 
 and the vast sheets of solid ice, which, when Hannibal attempted 
 the passage, buried the forests, and wrapped up the pinnacles 
 of the Apennines in impenetrable winter. 
 
 Horrebat glacie saxa inter lubrica, sumnio 
 Piniferum coelo niiscens caput, Apenninus. 
 Condiderat nix alta trabes et vertice celso 
 Canus apex structa suvgebat ad astra pruina. 
 
 Sil. ltd. IX. 741. 
 
 In fine, Virgil, Avhose masterly hand generally gives a perfect 
 picture in a single line, to close one of his noblest comparisons 
 with the grandest image, presents the Apennine in all its glory, 
 with its evergreen forests waving on its sides, and a veil of snow 
 thrown over its majestic summit. 
 
 Quantus Athos aut quantus Eryx, aut ipse, coruscis 
 
 Cum fremit ilicibus, quantus, gaudetque nivali 
 
 Vertice se attollens pater Apenninus ad auras. Vir. xii. 701. 
 
 Quitting this plain you Avind along the mountain with a lake 
 on your right, and passing an eminence, begin to descend the 
 declivity of Colfiorito, represented as more dangerous than it 
 really is, because, though the precipice be steep and abrupt, 
 yet the road is good, and winding along the side of the hill 
 descends on an easy slope. Through the deep dell that borders 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 173 
 
 the road, a streamlet murmurs along, and gradually increasins; 
 becomes a river, which, in the plain belo\y, falls into the Cli- 
 tumnus. The little post of Casenouve forms the first stage of 
 the descent, which continues with little or no intermission to the 
 neighbourhood of Foligno. About three miles from this town 
 the mountains open and give the traveller a delightful view 
 through the deep wooded defile into the adjoining vale, a view 
 which, when we passed, was considerably improved by the splen- 
 did coloring of the evening sun. At the village, situate in the 
 dell below amid woods and rocks, the river pent up between the 
 closing crag, works its Avay through several little chasms, and 
 tumbles in seven or eight cascades down the steep through tufts 
 of box and ilex, amidst houses and fragments of rocks inter- 
 mingled, into the plain below, where turning two or three mills 
 as it passes, it hurries along to join the neighbouring Clitumnus. 
 1 should advise the traveller to alight, order his carriage to wait 
 for him at the foot of the hill, and going down to the village, 
 visit a very curious grotto, formed by the waters while confined 
 within the caverns of the mountain. It is entirely uader ground, 
 may be about five-and-twenty feet high, is hollowed into several 
 little niches supported by stalactite pillars, and ornamented on 
 all sides with natural fretwork. He may then pass through the 
 rows of olive trees that cover the opposite rocks, observe the 
 singular situation of the village between two mountains, one of 
 naked rock, the other covered with brush-wood ; examine, as 
 he descends, the picturesque effect of the several hills, bursting 
 through masses of wall and verdure, and then he may follow the 
 road that runs along the foot of the hill, and mount his carriage 
 within a mile of Foligno. 
 
 While at supper we were amused by the appearance of an 
 
176 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Improvisatore, who, after having sung an ode of his own com- 
 position in honor of England, poured forth his unpremeditated 
 verse with great harmony of tones, strength of voice, and ra- 
 pidity of utterance. He asked for a subject, and we gf '.'3 the 
 prosperity of Italy, Vi^hich he enlarged upon with soaie en- 
 thusiasm, asking emphatically at the conclusion of each stanza, 
 how Italy, open as it was to two barbarous nations, such as 
 the French and Germans, could ever expect pros* erity? His 
 extemporary effusions generally ended in the praises of Eng- 
 land; and, after some bumpers and a suitable present, he retired 
 with much apparent satisfaction. These characters, in their 
 wandering habits, precarious mode of living, and interested 
 exertions, so much like the bards of ancient days, have, it is 
 said, decreased in number since the French invasion, owing 
 partly to the depression of the national spirit, and partly to the 
 poverty of their former patrons, and the absence of wealthy 
 foreigners. The exhibition was perfectly new to us, and while 
 we enjoyed it, we could not but agree that such an ease and ver- 
 satility of talent, might, if properly managed, be directed to 
 very great and very useful purposes. 
 
 Foligno, the ancient Fulginia, though a large, is yet a very 
 indifferent town. Its cathedral, unfinished without, is neat 
 within, of handsome Ionic, if I recollect well, and contains two 
 pretty side altars. In reality, there are few Italian churches 
 which do not present something interesting to an attentive tra- 
 veller, so generally is taste diffused over this classic country. 
 But the situation of Foligno compensates all its internal de- 
 fects. At the foot of the Apennines, in a delightful plain, that 
 winds between the mountains, extending ten miles in breadth and 
 about forty in length, adorned with rows of vines, corn fields. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 177 
 
 and villages, it enjoys the breezes and mild scenery of the moun- 
 tains with the luxuriance and warmth of the valley. This, its 
 site, is alluded to by Silius. 
 
 patuloque jacens sine moenibus arvo 
 
 Fulginia. Sil. viii. 
 
 Besides, about three miles distant, rises Bevagna, the ancient 
 Mevania ; and through the same valley the Clitumnus rolls hi^ 
 " sacred streams," and glories in the beauty and fertility of his 
 banks. At Foligno, the traveller from Loretto again re-enters 
 the Via Flaminia. 
 
 The first stage from Foligno terminates at a place called 
 Le Vene. Almost close to the post-house, on the northern side, 
 rises, on a steep bank, an ancient temple; and a little to the 
 south of it, from various narrow vents or veins, gushes out a 
 most plentiful stream of clear, limpid water, forming one of the 
 sources of the Clitumnus. From these sources the place takes 
 its name, and the temple on the bank was once sacred to the 
 river-god, under the appellation of Jupiter Clitumnus. The 
 younger Pliny has given a lively and accurate description of 
 this fountain, which the classical reader will prefer, no doubt, 
 to the best modern picture. 
 
 C. Plinius Romano Sue. S. 
 
 " Vidistine aliquando, Clitumnum fontem? Si nonduin (et puto nonduni, 
 alioqui naiTasses mihi) vide : quern ego, poenitet tarditatis, proxime vidi. Modi- 
 cus coUis assurgit, antiqua cupressu neraorosus et opacus: hunc subter fons exit, 
 et exprimitur pluribus venis, sed imparibus, eluctatusque facit gurgitein, qui 
 lato greniio patescit puriis et vitreus, at numerare jactas stipes et reluceiites cal- 
 culos possis. Inde, non loci devexitate, sed ipsa sui copiil et quasi pondere impel- 
 iitur. Fons adhuc, et jam amplissimum flumen atque etiam navium patiens, quas 
 VOL. I. A A 
 
178 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 obvias quoque et contrario nisu in diversa tendentes, transmlttit et perfert : adeo 
 validus ut ilia qua properat, ipse tanquam per solum planum remis non adjuve- 
 tur: idem aegerrime remis contisque superetur adversus. Jucundum utrumque 
 per jocum ludumque fluitantibus, ut flexerint cursum, laborem ocio, ocium labore 
 variare. Ripae fraxino multa, multa populo vestiuntur : quas perspicuus amnis, 
 velut mersas viridi imagine annumerat. Rigor aquae certaverit nivibus, nee 
 color cedit. Adjacet templum priscum et religiosum. Stat Clitumnus ipse amic- 
 tus, ornatusque praetexta. Praesens numen atque etiam fatidicum, indicant ser- 
 ies. Sparsa sunt circa sacella complura, totidemque Dei simulacra : sua cuique 
 veneratio, suum numen: quibusdam vero etiam fontes. Nam pneter ilium, quasi 
 parentem caeterorum, sunt minores capite discreti ; sed flumini miscentur, quod 
 ponte transmittitur. Is terminus sacri profanique. In superiore paite navigare 
 tantum, infra etiam natare concessum. Balineum Hispellates, quibus ilium locum 
 Divus Augustus dono dedit, publice praebent et hospitium. Nee desunt vUlae, quae 
 secutae fluminis amffinitatem, margini insistunt. In summa, nihil erit, ex quo 
 non capias voluptatem. Nam studebis quoque, et leges multa multorum omnibus 
 columnis, omnibus parietibus inscripta, quibus fons ille Deusque celebratur. 
 Plura laudabis, nonnuUa ridebis, quanquam tu vero, qu^ tua humanitas, nulla 
 ridebis. Vale." C. Plin. Lib. viii. Episi.S, 
 
 Some changes have, ho\s'ever, taken place, not indeed in the 
 great features of nature, but in those ornamental parts which 
 are under the influence of cultivation. The ancient cypresses 
 that shaded the hill, the ash and the poplar that hung over the 
 river, have fallen long since, and have been replaced by mul- 
 berries, vines, and olives, less beautiful but more productive. 
 The sacred grove has not been spared, the little chapels have 
 disappeared, and the statue of the god has yielded its place to 
 the triumphant cross. This circumstance is rather fortunate, as 
 to it the temple owes its preservation. This temple consists of 
 the cella and a Corinthian portico, supported by four pillars and 
 two pilasters; the pilasters are fluted ; two of the pillars are in- 
 dented with two spiral lines winding round, and two ornamented 
 with a light sculpture, representing the scales of fish. The inscrip- 
 tion on the frieze is singular, " Deus angelorum, qui fecit resurrec- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 179 
 
 tionem." Underneath is a vault or crypta: the entrance is on 
 the side as the portico hangs over the river; the walls are solid, 
 the proportions beautiful, and the whole worthy the Romans, to 
 whom it is ascribed. I am, however, inclined to think, that the 
 portico has been altered or repaired since the construction of the 
 temple, as it is more ornamented than the general form of the 
 edifice would induce us to expect. Besides, the capitals of the 
 pilasters differ from those of the pillars, a circumstance very un- 
 usual in Roman architecture. It is not improbable, that this 
 temple suffered considerably before it was converted into a 
 christian church, and that when repaired for that purpose, the 
 ancient pillars, perhaps thrown into the river, might have been 
 replaced by columns from the ruins of the various other fanes, 
 which, as Pliny informs us, were intei'spersed up and down the 
 sacred grove, around the residence of the principal divinity. 
 The Clitumnus still retains its ancient name, and recalls to the 
 traveller's recollection many a pleasing passage in the poets, 
 connecting the beauty of the scenery about him with the pomps 
 of a triumph, and transporting him from the tranquil banks of 
 the rural stream to the crowds of the forum, and the majestic 
 temples of the Capitol. 
 
 Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges et maxima taurus 
 
 Victima, sa;pe tuo perfusi flumine sacro, 
 
 Romanos ad templa Deum duxere triumphos. Vir. Geo. ii. 146. 
 
 Propertius confines his softer muse to the beauty of the 
 scenery, and seems to repose with complacency on the shaded 
 bank, 
 
 Qua formosa suo Clitumnus flumina luco 
 
 Integit et niveos abluit undaboves. Lib. ii. 17. 
 
180 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Though white herds are still seen wandering over the rich 
 plain, watered by this river, yet a very small portion of it is 
 employed in pasturage. Its exuberant fertility is better calcu- 
 lated for tillage, and every year sees it successively covered with 
 wheat, grapes, mulberries, and olives. From Le Vene to Spoleto, 
 is about nine miles. 
 
 The ancient town of Spoletum is situated on the side and 
 summit of a hill. It is well-known that Hannibal attacked 
 this town, immediately after the defeat of the Romans at 
 Thrasimcnus, and the inhabitants still glory in having repulsed 
 the Carthaginian general, flushed as he was with conquest, and 
 certain of success. An ancient gate commemorates this event, 
 so honorable to the people of Spoleto, in an inscription on the 
 great arch. 
 
 I have observed, as I have already hinted, with great satisfac- 
 tion, not only in Spoleto, but in many Italian towns, particularly 
 such as were founded by Roman colonies, a vivid recollection of 
 the glory of their ancestors. Notwithstanding the lapse of so 
 many ages, notwithstanding so many cruel and destructive in- 
 vasions ; though insulted and plundered, and almost enslaved, 
 the Italians remember with generous pride, that the Romans 
 were their ancestors, and cherish the records of their glorious 
 achievements as an inheritance of honor, a birth-right to 
 fame. Unhappy race ! it is the only possession which their 
 invaders cannot wrest from them — " Maneant meliora ne- 
 potes !" Two other gates seem, by their form and materials, 
 to have some claim to antiquity. Some vast masses of stone, 
 forming the piers of a bridge, the ruins of a theatre, and of a 
 temple said to be dedicated to Concord, (though the latter 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 181 
 
 scarce exhibit enough to constitute even a ruin,) as being 
 Roman, deserve a passing look. The cathedral, in a command- 
 ing situation, presents a front of five Gothic arches, supported 
 bj Grecian pillars, and \vithin, consists of a Latin cross, ^nth a 
 double range of pillars, of neat and pleasing architecture. The 
 order is Corinthian. The tAv^o side altars are uncommonly 
 beautiful. Two vast candelabra, near the high altar, deserve 
 attention. The view from the terrace of the cathedral is very 
 extensive and beautiful. Near it, a very fine fountain of an 
 elegant form, pours out, though near the summit of a high hill, a 
 torrent of the purest water. The Roman pontifts, it must be 
 acknowledged, have, in this respect, retained the sound maxim 
 of antiquity, and endeavoured to unite the useful and the 
 agreeable. Never have I seen waters employed to more ad- 
 vantage, or poured forth in greater abundance than in the Ro- 
 man territories. It is sometimes draAvn from distant sources, 
 sometimes collected from various springs, gathered into one 
 channel, and always devoted to public purposes. 
 
 The castle is a monument of barbarous antiquity, built by 
 Theodoric, destroyed during the Gothic war, and repaired by 
 Narses, the rival and successor of Belisarius. It is a vast stone 
 building, surrounded by a stone rampart, standing on a high 
 hill that overlooks the town, but as it is commanded by another 
 hill still higher, it loses at present much of its utility in case of 
 an attack. Behind the castle, a celebrated aqueduct, supported 
 by arches of an astonishing elevation, runs across a deep dell, 
 and by a bridge, unites the town with the noble hill that rises 
 behind it, called Monte Luco. This latter is covered with 
 evergreen oaks, and adorned by the white cells of a tribe of 
 
182 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 hermits, established on its shaded sides. These hermits are of a 
 very different description from most others who bear the name. 
 They are not bound by vows, nor teased with httle petty observ- 
 ances ; and notwithstanding this kind of independence, they are 
 said to lead very pure and exemplary lives. The aqueduct is 
 Roman, but said to have been repaired by the Goths. The 
 town of Spoleto is, in general, well-built, and though occasion- 
 ally damaged by earthquakes, as we were informed by various 
 inscriptions on the public buildings, yet it possesses many noble 
 edifices, and beautiful palaces. 
 
 The road from Spoleto is bordered by a stream on the left, 
 
 and wooded hills on the right. About two miles from the town 
 
 we began to ascend the Somma. The road is excellent, and 
 
 winds up the steep, without presenting any thing particularly 
 
 interesting, till you reach the summit, whence you enjoy a 
 
 delightful and extensive view over Spoleto, and its plain, or the 
 
 vale of Clitumnus on one side, and on the other towards Terni, 
 
 and the plains of the Nar. Monte Somma is supposed to have 
 
 taken its name from a temple of Jupiter Summanus placed on its 
 
 summit, is near five thousand feet high, fertile, shaded with the 
 
 olive, ilex, and forest trees ; well cultivated, and enlivened with 
 
 several little towns. The descent is long and rapid, and extends 
 
 to the stage next to Terni. This ancient town, the Interamna of 
 
 the Romans, retains no traces of its former splendor, if it ever 
 
 was splendid, though it may boast of some tolerable palaces, 
 
 and what is superior to all palaces, a charming situation. The 
 
 ruins of the amphitheatre in the episcopal garden, consist of 
 
 one deep dark vault, and scarce merit a visit. Over the gate is 
 
 an inscription, informing the traveller that this colony gave 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 183 
 
 birth to Tacitus the historian, Tacitus and Florian, the em- 
 perors ; few country towns can boast of three such natives. The 
 principal glory of Terni, and indeed one of the noblest objects 
 of the kind in the universe, is the celebrated cascade in its neio-h- 
 bourhood, called the " Caduta delle Marmore." 
 
 To enjoy all the beauties of this magnificent fall, it will be 
 proper first to take a view of it from the side of the hill, beyond 
 the Nar. The way to it runs through the valley along the 
 Nar, sometimes overshaded by the superincumbent mountain, 
 with its groves of pine, ilex, and beech, rustling above, and at 
 every turn exhibiting new scenery of rocks, Avoods, and waters. 
 At length you climb the steep shaggy sides of the hill, and from 
 a natural platfonn, behold the cascade opposite. This point 
 enables you to see, Avith much advantage, the second fall, when 
 the river, bursting from the bason into which it was first preci- 
 pitated, tumbles over a ridge of broken rocks, in various sheets, 
 half veiled in spray and foam. Hence are taken most of the 
 views hitherto published, and when we visited it, Ave found tAvo 
 Roman artists employed on the spot. If the contemplation of 
 this scene, for ever shifting to the eye, should be found tiresome, 
 the remainder of the day may be spent very agreeably in travers- 
 ing the surrounding woods, and exploring the vale of the Nar and 
 its enclosing mountains. The second day must be devoted to the 
 examination of the cascade from above, and the excursion com- 
 menced from the earliest dawn. Mules, or one horse chairs, are 
 commonly hired, though, if the Aveather be cool, and the traveller 
 a good Avalker, it may easily be performed on foot. 
 
 The upper road to the Caduta crosses a plain, varied with 
 
184 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 olives, vines, and corn-fields, and climbs the mountain through a 
 defile, Avhose sides are clad with vines below, and with box 
 and ilex above. Through the dell, the Nar, "sulfurea albus 
 aqu^," of a wheyish colour, tumbles foaming along his rocky 
 channel. In the centre of the defile rises an insulated emi- 
 nence, topped with the ruins of the village of Papignia, destroyed 
 by the French. 
 
 Ascending still higher, you come to an angle, where the 
 road is worked through the rock, and forming a very elevated 
 terrace, gives you a view of Terni and its plain; the dell 
 below, with the Nar ; the mountains around, with their woods ; 
 and the Velino itself, at a considerable distance, just bursting from 
 the shade, and throwing itself down the steep. The road still con- 
 tinues along the precipice, then crosses a small plain bounded by 
 high mountains, when, you quit it and follow a pathway that brings 
 you to a shed, placed on the point of a hill just opposite to the 
 cascade, and so near to it, that you are occasionally covered with 
 its spray. Here we sat down, and observed the magnificent 
 phenomenon at leisure. At a little distance beyond the cascade, 
 rise two hills of a fine swelling form, covered with groves of ilex. 
 The Velino passes near one of these hills, and suddenly tumbling 
 over a ridge of broken rock, rushes headlong down in one 
 vast sheet, and in three streamlets. The precipice is of brown 
 rock, whose sides ai'e smooth and naked, forming a semicircle, 
 crowned with Avood on the right, and on the left rising steep, and 
 feathered with evergreens. On the one side, it ascends in 
 broken ridges, and on the other sinks gradually away, and sub- 
 sides in a narrow valley, through which the Nar glides gently 
 along, while the Velino, after its fall, rolls through the dell in 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 185 
 
 boisterous agitation. Its artificial bed is strait, but before it 
 reaches it, it wanders through a fertile plain, spread between the 
 mountains, extending to the lake Pie de Lugo. This beautiful 
 expanse of water, about a mile in breadth, fills the defile, and 
 meanders between the mountains for some miles. The waj to 
 it from the fall, is by a path winding along the foot of the 
 mountain, and leading to a cottage, where you may take a boat, 
 and cross to a* bold promontory opposite. There, seated in the 
 shade, you may enjoy the view of the waters, the bordering moun- 
 tains, the towns perched on their sides, the village Pie de Lugo, 
 and rising behind it, the old castle of Labro, whose dismantled 
 towers crown a regular hill, while its shattered walls run in 
 long lines down the declivit3\ We were here entertained with 
 an echo, the most articulate, the most retentive, and the most 
 musical I ever heard, repeating even a whole verse of a song, in a 
 softer and more plaintive tone indeed, but with surprising pre- 
 cision and distinctness. We sat for some time on the point of the 
 promontory, partly to enjo}^ the view, and partly to listen to the 
 strains of this invisible songstress, and then crossed the lake 
 to the village, noAv called Pie di Luco, or " ad Pedes Luci." 
 This name is probably derived from a grove which formerly 
 covered the hill, and was sacred to Velinia, the goddess who 
 presided over the " Lacus Velinus." Around and above the 
 lake are the " Rosea rura Velini," so celebrated for their 
 dews and fertility, and always so interesting for their variety 
 and beauty. We would willingly have followed the banks of 
 the Velino, up to its source, and visited Reate, noAv Rieti, with 
 its vale of Tempe, alluded to by Cicero; but the day was on the 
 decline, and it would have been imprudent to have allowed 
 ourselves to be benighted, either amid the solitudes of the moun- 
 roL. I. B B 
 
186 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 tain, or on its declivity. We therefore returned, again visited 
 the cascade, ranged through a variety of natural grottos and 
 caverns, formed in its neighbourhood by the water, before the 
 present spacious bed was opened to receive it ; and descending 
 the hill, hastened toTerni.* 
 
 After having minutely examined the scenery of this superb 
 waterfall, I cannot but wonder that Addison should have selected 
 it as a proper gulph to receive the Fury Alecto, and transmit 
 her to the infernal regions. The wood-crowned bason of rock 
 that receives the Velinus; the silver sheet of water descending 
 from above ; the white spray that rises below, and conceals the 
 secrets of the abyss ; the Iris that plays over the Avatery cavern, 
 and covers it Avith a party-colored blaze, are all features of 
 uncommon beauty, and better adapted to the watery palaces of 
 the Naiads of the neighbouring rivers, 
 
 Centura quae sjlvas, centum quae flumina servant. Vir: Geo. iv. 383. 
 
 Addison's conjecture is founded upon one particular expres- 
 sion, " Est locus Italiae medio," and two verses in Virgil's 
 description : 
 
 Urget utrimque latus nemoris, medioque fragosus 
 
 Dat sonitura saxis el torto vertice torrens. ^n. Lib. vi i. 366. 
 
 * The first artificial vent of the Velinus on record was made by the consul 
 Curius Dentatus, but it did not fully answer the purpose. The Velinus still 
 continued to inundate the vale of Reate, and occasioned, in Cicero's time, several 
 legal contests between the inhabitants of that city and those of Interamna, who 
 opposed its full discharge into the Nar. The present bed was opened, or at 
 least enlarged, by the late Pope Pius the Sixth, and gives the river a free passage 
 down the steep. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 187 
 
 But the first expression may merely imply that Amsanctus was 
 at a distance from the coasts, and extremities of Ital3' ; and the 
 description contained in the verses may be applied to any wood, 
 and to the roar and agitation of any torrent ; while, if intended 
 to represent the thunder of the falling Velinus, they convey, 
 what ^'irgil's descriptions are seldom supposed to do, a very 
 faint idea of their object. 
 
 Besides, in opposition to these critical conjectures, we have 
 the positive authority of the ancients, and particularly of 
 Cicero and Livy, who inform us, in plain terms, that the 
 vale or lake of Amsanctus was in the territories of the Hirpiui, 
 which lay on and along the Apennines, to the south of 
 Beneventum, and about twenty-five or thirty miles east of 
 Naples.* In that territory, not far from Friento, a lake even 
 now bears the name of Ansanto, and emits a vapor, or rather 
 throws up in the middle a torrent of sulphur, " torto vertice," 
 and if we may credit travellers, agrees in every respect with 
 Virgil's description.f- However, I cannot close these remarks 
 better, than by inserting the verses of Virgil, which actually 
 allude to the river in question, and to the neighbouring Nar, 
 as they give the characteristic features in the usual grand manner 
 of the poet. The Fury, says Virgil, 
 
 Tartarean! intendit vocem : qua protinus omne 
 
 Contremuit nemus, et sylvae intonuere profiinda?. 
 
 Audiit et Triviae longe lacus, audiit amnis 
 
 Sulfurea Nar albus aqua, fontesque Velini. AUn. vii. 514. 
 
 The Nar, now called the Nera, is the southern boundary of 
 
 * Cic. De Div. i . + See Swinburne. 
 
 B b2 
 
188 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Umbria, and traverses, in its way to Narni, about nine mile^ 
 distant, a vale of most delightful appearance. The Apennine, 
 but in its mildest form, " coruscis iUcibus fremens," bounds 
 this plain; the milky Nar intersects it, and fertility, equal 
 to that of the neighbouring vale of Clitumnus, compressed 
 into a smaller space, and of course placed more immediately 
 within the reach of observation, adorns it on all sides with 
 vegetation and beauty; so that it resembles a noble and ex- 
 tensive park, the appendage of some princely palace, laid 
 out and cultivated to please the eye, and amuse the fancy. 
 The ancient Roman colony of Narni stands on the summit 
 of a very high and steep hill, whose sides are clothed with 
 olives, and whose base is washed by the Nar. At the foot 
 of the hill we alighted, in order to visit the celebrated bridge of 
 Auo-ustus. This noble row of arches, thrown over the stream and 
 
 o 
 
 the defile in which it rolls, to open a communication between the 
 two mountains, and facilitate the approach to the town, was formed 
 of vast blocks of white stone, fitted together without cement. Of 
 this pile, all the piers, and one arch, still remain ; the other arches 
 are fallen, and their fall seems to have been occasioned by the 
 sinking of the middle pier: otherwise a fabric of so much 
 solidity and strength, must have been capable of resisting the 
 influence of time and weather. The views towards the bridge, 
 on the high road, and the plain on one side; and on the other, 
 through the remaining arch, along the river, are unusually 
 picturesque and pleasing. We proceeded through this dell 
 along the Nar, tumbling and nmrmuring over its rocky channel, 
 and then, with some difficulty, worked our way through the 
 olives and evergreens that line the steep, up to the town. We 
 were particularly struck with its romantic appearance. , Its 
 walls and towers spread along the uneven summit, sometimes 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 189 
 
 concealed in groves of cypress, ilex, and laurel, and sometimes 
 emerging from the shade, and rising above their waving tops ; 
 delightful views of the vales, towns, rivers, and mountains, open- 
 ing here and there unexpectedly on the eye; a certain loneliness 
 and silence, even in the streets ; the consequence and sad me- 
 morial of ages of revolution, disaster, and suffering, are all fea- 
 tures pleasing and impressive. Few towns have suffered more 
 than Narni, but its greatest wounds were inflicted by the hands, 
 not of Goths or Vandals, of barbarians and foreigners, but of 
 Italians, or at least of an army in the pay of an Italian govern- 
 ment, of Venice itself, Avhich at that time gloried in the title of 
 the second Rome, the bulwark and pillar of Italian liberty and 
 security. It is probable that this army was composed of mer- 
 cenaries, banditti, and foreigners, and, like that of Charles V. 
 which they were hastening to join, fit solely for the purposes of 
 plunder, sacrilege, and devastation. But, of whatever descrip- 
 tion of men these troops were composed, they acted under the 
 authority of the Venetians, Avhen they destroyed Narni, and 
 butchered its defenceless inhabitants. The site of this town, its 
 extensive views, its dell, and the river, are happily described in 
 the following lines of Claudian : 
 
 Celsa dehinc patulum prospectans Narnia campum 
 
 Regali calcatur equo, rarique coloris 
 
 Non procul amnis adest urbi, qui nominis auctor, 
 
 Ilice sub densa sylvis arctatus opacis 
 
 Inter utrumque jugum, tortis anfractibus albet. 
 
 De Sext. Cons. Hon. 
 
 From Narni the road runs through the defile, along the 
 middle of the declivity, till, suddenly, the opposite mountain 
 
190 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 seems to burst asunder, and opens through its shaggy sides an 
 extensive view over the plain of the Tiber, terminating in the 
 mountains of Viterbo. Here we left the defile and the Nar, 
 but continued to enjoy mountain and forest scenery for some 
 miles, till descending the last declivity, a few miles from 
 Otricoli, for the first time, in the midst of a spacious and 
 verdant plain, we beheld, clear and distinct, glittering in the 
 beams of the sun, and winding along in silent dignity — the 
 Tiber* 
 
 Otricoli, the post town, stands on the side of a hill, about 
 two miles from the ancient Ocriculi, whence it takes its name. 
 The remains of the latter lie spread in the plain below, along 
 the banks of the Tiber, and present a considerable heap of 
 fragments, in which the vestiges of a theatre perhaps, and a 
 few porticos may be perceived, while the principal features of 
 the town are lost, and buried in a mass of undistinguishable ruin. 
 We had now not only traversed the Apennines, but extricated 
 ourselves from the various labyrinths and defiles that Avind along 
 the immense base of these mountains. 
 
 The windings of the Tiber below Otricoli, have been alluded 
 
 Qufji^fti tUppeiT))? TTorxfj-Hy (3a(riX£UT«To; oiWuv, 
 0Uji*|3pi{ o; ifAepTW «7roT£jixK£rai a,vSi)(x Pw^»> 
 
 Pu/AYIV TlfHriEirrai/, SjlAWV y.iyXV OIKOV OiVXHTUV 
 
 MjiTi/ia; TTXirxuv iroXiuv, clipvitou iSt^Aov. 
 
 Dionys. Perieget.35i. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 191 
 
 to by Ariosto, who seems to have beheld one particular spot, a 
 sort of peninsula, formed by the meanderings of the stream, 
 with partialit}' ; but either his muse has shed supernumerary 
 beauties around it, or the shades that adorned the banks in 
 his time, have disappeared, as it now presents a green but naked 
 surface, almost encircled by the waves. 
 
 Ecco vede un pratel d' ombre coperto 
 
 Che si d' un alto fiuiue si ghirlanda 
 
 Che lascia a pena un breve spazio aperto, 
 
 Dove I'acqua si torce ad altra banda, 
 
 Un simil luogo con girevol onda 
 
 Sott' Otricoli '1 Tevere circonda. Canto xiT.38. 
 
 We crossed the Tiber by the Pontc Felice, changed horses at 
 Borghetto, and arrived, when dark, at Civita Castellana. 
 
 From Civita Castellana we passed over a tract of forest 
 country, enjoying beautiful views of the Montes Cimini, with 
 their towns, villas, and villages to the right, and an occasional 
 glimpse of Soracte to the left, and having passed the river 
 Falisco, which anciently gave its name to the people and terri- 
 tory of the Falisci, came to Nepi, a small, but very ancient 
 episcopal town, whose cathedral, built on the site of a temple, 
 was consecrated, if we may believe an inscription over one of 
 the doors, by the blood of the townsmen, in the early period of 
 the year 150. Another inscription may record, with more cer- 
 tainty, though perhaps posterity may be as httle inclined to 
 credit it, that the same pile was deluged with the blood of its 
 clergy, and almost entirely destroyed by the French army in 
 the year 1798. Thence we proceeded to Monte Rosi. 
 
 The inhabitants of all this territory, who derived their names 
 
192 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 from its towns, some of which still remain, are enumerated in 
 the following lines of Silius : 
 
 His mixti Nepesina cohors, asquique Falisci, 
 
 Quique tuos, Flavina, focos ; Sabatia quique 
 
 Stagna tenent, Ciminique lacum ; qui Sutria tecta 
 
 Haud procul, & sacrum Phoebo Soracte frequentant. Lib. viii. 
 
 Many authors suppose that the road hence, or rather from 
 Ponte Fehce, was lined by a succession of magnificent edifices 
 obelisks and palaces, adorned with statues, and conducted 
 under triumphal arches, to the gates of the imperial city. Clau- 
 dian indeed, seems to encourage this supposition, in the Avell- 
 known lines, 
 
 Inde salutato libatis Tibride nympliis, 
 
 Excipiunt arcus, operosaque seniita, vastis 
 
 Molibus, et quicquid tantae praeiniUitur Urbi. — De Sexl. Cons. Hon. 
 
 If this description be accurate, it is singular that no trace 
 ghould now remain of all these splendid monuments. No 
 mounds nor remnants of walls, no mouldering heaps of ruins, 
 scarce even a solitary tomb, has survived the general wreck. 
 On the contrary, beyond Nepi, or rather beyond Monte Rosi 
 the next stage, the Campagna di Roma begins to expand its 
 dreary solitudes ; and naked hills, and swampy plains rise, and 
 sink by turns, without presenting a single object worth attention. 
 It must not, however, be supposed, that no vegetation decorates 
 these dreary wilds. On the contrary, verdure, but seldom in- 
 terrupted, occasional corn fields, and numerous herds and flocks, 
 communicate some degree of animation to these regions, other- 
 wise so desolate : but descending from mountains, the natural 
 seat of barrenness, where still we witnessed rural beauty and 
 high cultivation, to a plain in the neighbourhood of a populous 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 193 
 
 city, where we might naturally expect the perfection of garden- 
 ing and all the bustle of life, we were struck with the wide 
 waste that spreads around, and wondered what might be the 
 cause that deprived so extensive a tract of its inhabitants. But 
 neatness and population announce the neighbourhood of every 
 common town; they are the usual accompaniments of capitals, 
 and excite no interest. The solitude that encircles the fallen Me- 
 tropolis of the Avorld, is singular and grand ; it becomes its 
 majesty ; it awakens a sentiment of awe and melancholy, and 
 may perhaps after all, be more consonant both to the character 
 of the city, and to the feelings of the traveller, than more lively 
 and exhilarating scenery. 
 
 Baccano, a solitary post-house, bearing the name of an ancient 
 town, stands in a little valley, surrounded on all sides with hills, 
 forming a verdant amphitheatre that wants nothing but trees to 
 be extremely beautiful. About four miles on the right is the 
 lake Sabatinus, now Bracciano. 
 
 On the heights above Baccano the postillions stopped, and 
 pointing to a pinnacle that appeared between two hills, ex- 
 claimed, — " Roma !" — That pinnacle was the cross of St. Peter's. 
 —The " ETERNAL CITY" now rose before us ! 
 
 VOL. I. C C 
 
194 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 REFLECTIONS — ROME — ST. PETER S — THE CAPITOL. 
 
 A.S the traveller advances over the dreary wilds of the Cam- 
 pagna, where not one object occurs to awaken his attention, he 
 has time to recover from the surprise and agitation, which 
 the first view of Rome seldom fails to excite, in liberal and 
 ingenuous minds. He may naturally be supposed to enquire 
 into the cause of these emotions, and at first he may be in- 
 clined to attribute them solely to the influence of early habits, 
 and ascribe the feelings of the man, to the warm imagination 
 of the school-boy. Without doubt, the name of Rome echoes 
 in our ears firom our infancy; our lisping tongues are tuned to 
 her language; and our first and most delightful years are 
 passed among her orators, poets, and historians. We are 
 taught betimes to take a deep interest in her fortunes, and to 
 adopt her cause, as that of our own country, with spirit and 
 passion. Such impressions, made at such an age, are in- 
 delible, and it must be admitted, are likely to influence our 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 195 
 
 feelings and opinions during life.* But the prejudices, instilled 
 into the mind of the boy, and strengthened by the studies of 
 youth, are neither the sole nor even the principal causes of our 
 veneration for Rome. The Mistress of the World claims our 
 respect and affection, on grounds which the Christian and the 
 philosopher must admit with grateful acknowledgment. Be- 
 sides her ancient origin and venerable fame, besides her mighty 
 achievements and vast empire, her heroes and her saints, besides 
 the majesty of her language, and the charms of her literature, 
 " Habe ante oculos hanc esse terram quee nobis miseritjura, 
 quae leges dederit."-f- 
 
 Rome has been in the hands of Providence, the instru- 
 ment of communicating to Europe, and to a consider- 
 able portion of the globe, the three greatest blessings of 
 which human nature is susceptible — Civilization, Science, and 
 Religion. The system of Roman government seems to have 
 been peculiarly adapted to the attainment of this great end, 
 and the extension of its empire ordained by Heaven for its 
 full accomplishment. The despotism of the Eastern mo- 
 narchies kept all prostrate on the ground in abject slavery ; the 
 
 * We may applj to every youth, of liberal education, the beautiful lines addres- 
 sed by Claudian to Honorius : 
 
 Hinc tibi concreta radice tenacius haesit, 
 
 Et penitus totis inolevit Roma medullis, 
 
 Dilectaeque urbis tenero conceptus ab ungue 
 
 Tecum crevit amor. Com, yi. 
 
 t Plin. Lib. vni. 24. 
 
 c c 2 
 
196 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 narrow policy of the Gi*eek republics confined the blessings 
 of hberty within their own precincts : Rome, with more en- 
 larged and more generous sentiments, considering the con- 
 quered countries as so many nurseries of citizens, gradually 
 extended her rights and privileges to their capitals, enrolled 
 their natives in her legions, and admitted their nobles into 
 her senate. Thus her subjects, as they improved in civilization, 
 advanced also in honors, and approached every day nearer to 
 the manners and the virtues of their masters, till every pro- 
 vince became another Italy, every city another Rome. With 
 her laws and franchises, she communicated to them her arts and 
 sciences : wherever the Roman eagles penetrated, schools were 
 opened, and public teachers pensioned. Aqueducts, bridges, 
 temples, and theatres were raised in almost every town; and all 
 the powers of architecture, sculpture, and painting, were em- 
 ployed to decorate the capitals of the most distant provinces. 
 Roads, the remains of which surprize us even at this day, were 
 carried from the Roman Forum, the centre of this vast empire, 
 to its utmost extremities, and all the tribes and nations that 
 composed it were linked together, not only by the same laws 
 and the same government, but by all the facilities of commo- 
 dious intercourse, and frequent communication.* Compare the 
 state of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, when covered with number- 
 less cities, and flourishing in all the arts of peace, under the 
 protection of Rome, with their forests, their swamps, and the 
 sordid huts of half-naked savages, scattered thinly over their 
 
 * " Licpftt dicere," says Lipsius, with great truth, <' divino munere Romanes 
 datos ad quidquid rude expoliendum, ad quidquid infectum faciendum, et loca 
 hominesque elegantia et artibus passim exornandos." 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 197 
 
 wastes previous to their subjugation, and you will be enabled to 
 appreciate the blessings which they owed to Rome. 
 
 Haec est, in gremium victos quae sola recepit, 
 
 Humanumque genus communi nomine fovit, 
 
 Matris non dominae ritu ; civesque vocavit 
 
 Quos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua revinxit. 
 
 Armorum legumque parens; quae fundit in omnes 
 
 Imperium, primique dedil incunabula j uris .... 
 
 Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omnes 
 
 Quod veluti patriis regionibus utitur hospes ... 
 
 Quod cuncti gens una sumus. Claudian, 
 
 Rome, in thus civilizing and polishing mankind, had pre- 
 pared them for the reception of that divine religion, which alone 
 can give to human nature its full and adequate perfection ; and 
 she completed her godlike work, when the world, influenced by 
 her instructions and example, became Christian. Thus she 
 became the metropolis of the world, by a new and more vener- 
 able title, and assumed, in a more august and sacred sense, the 
 appellation of the " Holy City," the " Light of Nations," the 
 " Parent of Mankind."* Afterwards, when in the course of the 
 
 * A classical bishop of the fifth century, who endeavoured to communicate the 
 charms of poetiy to the metaphysical discussions of a refined theology, saw this 
 new empire, then gradually rising on the increasing ruins of the old, and ex- 
 pressed its extent and greatness in language not inelegant. 
 
 Sedes Roma Petri, quae Pastoralis honoris 
 
 Facta caput Mundo, quicquid iion possidet armis, 
 
 Religione te net. St. Prosper. 
 
 Leo the Great, standing over the tomb of St. Peter and St. Paul, on their 
 festival, addresses the Roman people in language equally elevated : 
 
 " Isti sunt viri per quostibi evangelium Christi, Roma! resplenduit! .... 
 
 5 
 
198 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 two succeeding ages, she was stript of her Imperial honors, and 
 beheld her provinces invaded, and all the glorious scene of culti- 
 vation, peace, and improvement, ravaged by successive hordes 
 of barbarians, she again renewed her benevolent exertions, and 
 sent out not consuls and armies to conquer, but apostles and 
 teachers, to reclaim the savage tribes which had wasted her 
 empire. By them she bore the light of heaven into the dark 
 recesses of idolatry, and displaying in this better cause all the 
 magnanimity, wisdom, and perseverance, which marked her 
 former career, she triumphed, and in spite of ignorance and 
 barbarism again spread Christianity over the West. 
 
 Nor is it to be objected, that the religion of Rome was 
 erroneous, or that she blinded and enslaved her converts. 
 The religion which Rome taught was Christianity. With it 
 the convert received in the scriptures the records of truth ; 
 and in the sacraments, the means of sanctification ; in the 
 creeds the rule of faith, and in the commandments the code 
 of morality. In these are comprised all the belief and all the 
 practices of a Christian, and to communicate these to a nation, 
 is to open to it the sources of life and happiness. But whatever 
 may be the opinions of my reader in this respect, he must 
 admit, that the Latin muses, which had followed the Roman 
 eagles in their victorious flight, now accompanied her humble mis- 
 sionaries in their expeditions of charity ; and with them penetrated 
 the swamps of Batavia, the forests of Germany, and the moun- 
 
 Isti sunt qui te ad banc gloriam provexerunt ut gens sancta populus electus, 
 civitas sacerdotalis ac regia per sacram beati Petri sedem caput orbis effecta, 
 latius pvesideres religione divina; quam dominatione terrena." 
 
 Serm. in Nat. App. Petri et PawU. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 199 
 
 tains of Caledonia. Schools, that vied in learning and celebrity 
 with the famed seminaries of the south, rose in these benio-hted 
 regions, and diftused the beams of science over the vast tracts 
 of the north, even to the polar circles. Thus the predictions of 
 the Roman poets were fulfilled, though in a manner very differ- 
 ent from their conceptions ; and their immortal compositions 
 were rehearsed in the remote islands of the Hebrides, and in the 
 once impenetrable forests of Scandinavia.* 
 
 At the same time the Arts followed the traces of the muse, and 
 the untutored savages saw with surprise temples of stone rise in 
 their sacred groves, and instead of interwoven boughs, arches 
 of rock spread into a roof over their heads. The figure of 
 the Redeemer, till then unknown, seemed to breathe on 
 canvass to their eyes; the venerable forms of the apostles in 
 Parian marble, replaced the grim uncouth statues of their idols ; 
 and music, surpassing in sweetness the strains of their bards, 
 announced to them the mercies of that God whom they were 
 summoned to adore. It was not wonderful that they should 
 eagerly embrace a religion adorned with so many graces, and 
 accompanied by so many blessings. Thus Europe, finally 
 settled in the profession of Christianity, and once more enlight- 
 ened by the beams of science, was indebted to the exertions of 
 Rome for both these blessings. 
 
 But the obligation did not end here, as the work of civiliza- 
 
 * " Visam Britannos hospitibus feros, 
 " Et laetum equino sanguine Concanum, 
 '' Visam pharetratos Gelonos, 
 " Et Scythicum inviolatus aiunem." Hor. lib. iii. i^ 
 
200 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 tion Was Hot yet finished. The northern tribes, long settled in 
 the invaded provinces, had indeed become Christians, but still 
 remained in many respects barbarians. Hasty and intem- 
 perate, they indulged the caprice or the vengeance of the 
 moment, knew no law but that of the sword, and would submit 
 to ho decision but to that of arms. Here again we behold the 
 genius of Rome interposing her authority as a shield between 
 ferocity and weakness, appealing from the sword to reason, from 
 private combat to public justice, from the will of the judge and 
 the uncertain rules of custom, to the clear prescriptions of her 
 own written code. This grand plan of civilization, though im- 
 peded, and delayed by the brutality j and the obstinacy, of the 
 barbarous ages, was at length carried into execution, and the 
 Roman laAV adopted by almost all the European states, as the 
 general code of the civilized world. Rome therefore may still 
 be said to rule nations, not indeed with the rod of power, but 
 with the sceptre of justice, and still be supposed to exercise 
 the commission so sublimely expressed by the Poet, of presiding 
 over the world, and regulating the destinies of mankind.* Thus 
 Rome has retained by her wisdom and benevolence, that 
 ascendancy which she first acquired by her courage and magna- 
 nimity : and by the pre-eminence which she has enjoyed in 
 every period of her history, realized the fictitious declaration 
 of her founder, " Ita nuncia Romanis, Coelestes ita velle, ut 
 mea Roma caput orbis terrarum sit."t " Urbs urbium— tem- 
 
 * Tu regere imperio populos Romane memento 
 Hae tibi erunt artes ! pacis imponere morem 
 Partefe subjectis et debellare superbos. Virgil Mn. 6. 
 
 + Tit. Liv. I. 16. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 201 
 
 plum aequitatis — portus omnium gentium," are titles fondly be- 
 stowed upon her in the days of her Imperial glory ; and she may 
 assume them without arrogance, even in her decline. Her 
 matchless magnificence, so far superior to that of every other 
 capital — the laws which have emanated from her as from their 
 source — and the encouragement which she has at all times given 
 to men of talents and virtue from every country, still give her 
 an unquestionable right to these lofty appellations.* 
 
 To conclude, in the whole Universe, there are only two cities in- 
 teresting alike to every member of the great Christian common- 
 wealth, to every citizen of the civilized world, whatever may be 
 his tribe or nation — Rome and Jerusalem. The former calls up 
 every classic recollection, the latter awakens every sentiment of 
 devotion ; the one brings before our eyes all the splendors of 
 
 * " NuUi sit ingrata Roma," says Cassiodorus, in the sixth centuiy, " ilia 
 eloquentias facunda mater, iUud virtutum omnium latissimum teniplum." 
 
 " Aliis alia patria est; Roma communis omnium literatorum et patria, et 
 altrix, et evectiix," says the Cardinal of St. George to Erasmus, in the sixteenth 
 century. " Quidloquor," says the latter, " de Romii, communi omnium gentium 
 parente." 
 
 The benefits derived from the Roman government are tolerably well expressed 
 in the following lines of Rutilius : 
 
 Fecisti patriam diversis gentibus unam 
 
 Profuit injustis te dominante capi ; 
 Dumque offers victis proprii consortia juris 
 
 Urbem fecisti quod prius Orbis erat. Lib. ii. 
 
 "Numine Deum electa," says Pliny, "quffi ccelum ipsum clarius faceret, sparsa 
 «ongregaret imperia, ritueque moUiret, et tot populorum discordes ferasque lin- 
 guas, sermonis commercio conti'aheret ad colloquia, et humanitatcm homini daret; 
 breviterque una cunctarum gentium in toto orbe, patria tieret. III. cap. v. 
 
 VOL. I. D D 
 
•202 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the present world; the other, all the glories of the world to 
 come. By a singular dispensation of Providence, the names and 
 influence of these two illustrious capitals are combined in the 
 same grand dispensation ; and as Jerusalem was ordained to 
 receive, Rome was destined to propagate " the light that leads to 
 heaven." The cross which Jerusalem erected on Mount Calvary, 
 Rome fixed on the diadem of emperors, and the prophetic 
 songs of Mount Sion, have resounded from the seven hills, to 
 the extremities of the universe. — How natural then the emotion 
 which the traveller feels, when he first beholds the distant 
 domes of a city, of such figure in the History of the Universe, 
 of such weight in the destinies of mankind, so familiar to 
 the imagination of the child, so interesting to the feelings of 
 the man ! 
 
 While occupied in these reflections, we passed Monte Mario, 
 and beheld the city gradually opening to our view : turrets 
 and cupolas succeeded each other, with long lines of pa- 
 laces between, till the dome of the Vatican, lifting its ma- 
 jestic form far above the rest, fixed the eye, and closed the 
 scene with becoming grandeur. We crossed the Tiber by 
 the Ponte Molle, (Pons Milvius), and proceeding on the Via 
 Flaminia through the suburb, entered the Porta del Popolo, 
 admired the beautiful square that receives the traveller on 
 his entrance, and drove to the Piazza d'Espagna. Alight- 
 ing, we instantly hastened to St. Peter's, traversed its superb 
 court, contemplated in silence its obelisk, its fountains, its 
 colonnade, walked up its lengthening nave, and before its altar, 
 oiFered up our grateful acknowledgments in " the noblest 
 temple that human skill ever raised to the honor of the 
 Creator." 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 203 
 
 Next morning we renewed our visit to St. Peter's, and ex- 
 amined it more in detail : the preceding day it had been some- 
 what veiled b}'^ the dimness of the evening, it was now lighted 
 up, by the splendors of the morning sun. The rich marbles that 
 compose its pavement and line its walls, the paintings that 
 adorn its cupolas, the bronze that enriches its altars and rail- 
 ings, the gilding that lines the pannels of its vault, the mosaics 
 that rise one above the other in brilliant succession up its 
 dome, shone forth in all their varied colors. Its nave, its 
 aisles, its transepts, expanded their vistas, and hailed the spec- 
 tator wheresoever he turned, Avith a long succession of splendid 
 objects, and beautiful arrangement ; in short, the whole of this 
 most majestic fabric, opened itself at once to the sight, and filled 
 the eye and the imagination with magnitude, proportion, riches, 
 and grandeur. 
 
 From St. Peter's we hastened to the Capitol, and ascend- 
 ing the tower, seated ourselves under the shade of its pinna- 
 cle, and fixed our eyes on the view, beneath and around us — 
 That view was no other than ancient and modern Rome. 
 Behind us, the modern town lay extended over the Campus 
 Martius, and spreading along the banks of the Tiber, formed a 
 curve round the base of the Capitol. Before us, scattered in vast 
 black shapeless masses, over the seven hills, and through the 
 intervening vallies, arose the ruins of the ancient city. They 
 stood desolate, amidst solitude and silence, with groves of 
 funereal cypress waving over them ; the awful monuments, not 
 of individuals, but of generations ; not of men, but of empires. 
 
 A distant view of iEgina and of Megara, of the Piraeus and of 
 Corinth, melted the soul of an ancient Roman, for a while 
 
 D D 2 
 
204 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 suspended his private sorrows, and absorbed his sense of per- 
 sonal affliction, in a more expansive and generous compas- 
 sion for the fate of cities and of states * Wliat then must 
 be the emotions of the traveller, who beholds, extended in 
 disordered heaps before him, the disjointed " carcase of fallen 
 Rome," once the abode of the gods, the grand receptacle 
 of nations, " the common asylum of mankind." The con- 
 templation was indeed awful and impressive. Immediately 
 under our eyes, and at the foot of the Capitol, lay the 
 Forum, lined with solitary columns, and commencing and ter- 
 minating in a triumphal arch. Be3"ond and just before us, 
 rose the Palatine Mount, encumbered with the substructions of 
 the Imperial Palace, and of the Temple of Apollo, and still 
 farther on, ascended the Celian Mount, with the Temple of 
 Faunus on its summit. On the right was the Aventine, spotted 
 with heaps of stone, swelling amidst its lonely vineyards. To 
 the left the Esquiline, with its scattered tombs and tottering 
 aqueducts, and in the same line the Viminal and Quirinal, ter- 
 minating in the once magnificent Baths of Diocletian. The 
 Baths of Antoninus, the Temple of Minerva, and many a 
 venerable fabric, bearing on its shattered form the traces 
 of the iron hand of destruction, as Avell as the furrows of 
 age, lay scattered up and down the vast field ; while the superb 
 
 * " Ex Asia rediens, cum ab ^gina Megaram versus navigarem, ccppi 
 regiones circumcirca prospiceie. Post ine erat yEgina, ante Megara, dextia 
 Pirceus, sinistra Corinthus ; quae oppida quodam tempore florentissima fuerunt, 
 nunc prostrata ac diruta, ante oculos jacent. Coepi egoraet mecum sic cogitare. 
 Hem! nos homunculi indignamur, si quis nostrum interiit, aut occisus est, 
 4[uorum vita brevior esse debet, cum uno loco tot oppidum cadavera projecta 
 jaceant?" — Cic. ad Fam. Lib. iv. Ep. 5. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 205 
 
 temples of St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore, and Santa 
 Croce, arose with their pointed obelisks, majestic but solitary 
 monuments, amidst the extensive waste of time and desolation. 
 The ancient walls, a vast circumference, formed a frame of 
 venerable aspect, well adapted to this picture of ruin, this 
 cemetery of ages, " Romani bustum populi." 
 
 Beyond, the eye ranged over the storied plain of Latium, 
 now the deserted Campagna, and rested on the i\lban Mount, 
 which rose before us to the south, shelving downwards on 
 the west towards Antium and the Tyrrhene sea, and on the 
 east towards the Latin Vale. Here, it presents Tusculum 
 in white lines on its declivity ; there, it exhibits the long 
 ridge that overhangs its lake, once the site of Alba Longa, 
 and towering boldly in the centre, with a hundred towns and 
 villas on its sides, it terminates in a point, once crowned with 
 the triumphal temple of Jupiter Latialis. Turning east- 
 ward we beheld the Tibui'tine hills, with Tibur reclining on 
 their side ; and behind, still more to the east, the Sabine moun- 
 tains enclosed by the Apennines, which at the varying dist- 
 ance of from forty to sixt}^ miles swept round to the east and 
 north, forming an immense and bold boundary of snow. The 
 Montes Cimini and several lesser hills, diverging from the 
 great parent ridge, the Pater Apenninus, continue the chain till 
 it nearly reaches the sea and forms a perfect theatre. Mount 
 Soracte, thirty miles to the north, lifts his head, an insulated and 
 therefore striking feature. While the Tiber, enriched by num- 
 berless rivers and streamlets, intersects the immense plain ; and 
 bathing the temples and palaces of Rome, rolls like the Po a 
 current imexhausted even during the scorching heats of summer. 
 The tract now expanded before us was the country of the 
 
206 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Etrurians, Veientes, Rutuli, Falisci, Latins, Sabines, Volsci, 
 iEqui, and Hernici, and of course the scene of the wars and 
 exertions, of the victories and triumphs of infant Rome, during 
 a period of nearly four hundred years of her history ; an interest- 
 ing period, when she possessed and exercised every generous 
 virtue — and estabhshed on the basis of justice, wisdom, and for- 
 titude, the foundations of her future empire. 
 
 As the traveller looks towards the regions once inhabited by 
 these well-known tribes, many an illustrious name, and many a 
 noble achievement, must rise in his memory, reviving at the 
 same time the recollection of early studies and boyish amuse- 
 ments, and blending the friendships of 3'^outh with the memo- 
 rials of ancient greatness. The day was cloudless, the beams of 
 the sun played over the landscape; hues of light blue, inter- 
 mingled with dark shades, deepening as they retired, chequered 
 the mountains. A line of shining snow marked the distant 
 Apennines, and a vault of the purest and brightest azure covered 
 the glorious scene ! We passed a long and delightful morning 
 in its contemplation. 
 
 The following day was employed in wandering over the city at 
 large, and taking a cursory view of some of its principal streets, 
 squares, buildings, and monuments. This we did to satisfy the 
 first cravings of curiosity, intending to proceed at our leisure to 
 the examination of each object in detail. I think it necessary to 
 repeat here, what I declared in the preliminary discourse, 
 that it is not my intention to give a particular account of 
 ruins, churches, buildings, statues, or pictures, &c. This 
 belongs rather to guides and Ciceroni, and may be found in 
 numberless works written professedly for the information of 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 207 
 
 travellers on such heads. My wish is to lay before the reader 
 an account of the observations which we made, and the classical 
 recollections ^hich occurred to us, while we traced the remains 
 of ancient grandeur. We began this examination by visiting 
 in order the seven hills. We then proceeded to the Vatican 
 and Pincian mounts, ranged over the Campus Martins, and 
 along the banks of the Tiber; then wandered through the villas, 
 both within and without the city; and finally explored the 
 churches, monuments, tombs, hills, and fields, in its imme- 
 diate neighbourhood. This method I recommend as being 
 more easy and more natural than the usual mode of visiting 
 the cit}', according to its " Rioni," (regiones) or allotting a 
 certain portion of it to each day; by which mode the tra- 
 veller is obliged to pass rapidly from ancient monuments to 
 modern edifices ; from palaces to churches ; from galleries to 
 gardens; and thus to load his mind with a heap of unconnected 
 ideas and crude observations. By the former process we keep 
 each object distinct, and take it in a separate view ; we first 
 contemplate ancient, then visit modern Rome, and pass from 
 the palaces of the profane, to the temples of the sacred city. 
 
 ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 THE CAPITOL. 
 
 After having thus gratified ourselves with a general and some 
 select views, and formed a tolerably accurate idea of the most 
 striking features of Rome, Ave proceeded, on the fourth day, 
 through the Via Lata, now II Corso, that is, through " streets of 
 palaces and Avalks of state," to the Capitoline Hill. Every 
 school-boy has read with delight Virgil's short, but splendid 
 description of this hill, then a silvan scene of dark forest and 
 
208 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 craggy rock, though destined one day to become the seat of 
 regal opulence and universal empire. 
 
 Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem, et Capitolia ducit, 
 Aurea nunc, olim sylvestribus horrida dumis. 
 Jam turn Relligio pavidos terrebat agrestes 
 Dira loci : Jam turn sylvam saxumque tremebant. 
 Hoc nemus, hunc, inquit, frondoso vertice collem, 
 (Quis Deus, incertum est) habitat Deus. Arcades ipsura 
 Credunt se vidisse Jovem : cum saspe nigrantem 
 iEgida concuteret dextri, nimbosque cieret. 
 
 JEndd. VIII. 
 
 Every circumstance that could dignify and consecrate the 
 spot, and prepare it for its grand destiny, is here collected by 
 the poet, and gradually expanded with wonderful art, while a 
 certain awful obscurity hangs over the whole, and augments the 
 magnitude of the object thus dimly presented to the fancy. The 
 traveller, however sensible he may suppose himself to have been 
 of the beauties of this description before, imagines that he feels 
 its full force for the first time, as he ascends the acclivity of 
 the Capitoline Mount. 
 
 The Capitol was anciently both a fortress and a sanctuary A 
 fortress surrounded with precipices, bidding defiance to all the 
 means of attack employed in ancient times ; a sanctuary, 
 crowded with altars and temples, the repository of the fatal 
 oracles, the seat of the tutelar deities of the empire. Ro- 
 mulus began the grand work, by erecting the temple of 
 Jupiter Feretrius ; Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and 
 Tarquinius Superbus continued, and the Consul Horatius 
 PulviUus, a few years after the expulsion of the kings, com- 
 pleted it, with a solidity and magnificence, says Tacitus, 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 209 
 
 which the riches of succeeding ages might adorn, but could not 
 increase. It was burnt during the civil wars between Marius 
 and Sylla, and rebuilt shortly after ; but again destroyed by fire 
 in the dreadful contest that took place in the very Foruni itself, 
 and on the sides of the Capitoline Mount, between the partisans 
 of Vitellius and Vespasian.* This event Tacitus laments, 
 with the spirit and indignation of a Roman, as the greatest 
 disaster that had ever befallen the city.-f- And, indeed, if we 
 consider that the public archives, and of course the most 
 valuable records of its history, were deposited there, we must 
 allow that the catastrophe was peculiarly unfortunate, not to 
 Rome only, but to the world at large. However, the Capitol 
 rose once more from its ashes, with redoubled splendor, and 
 received from the munificence of Vespasian, and his son 
 Domitian, its last and most glorious embellishments. The 
 edifices in site and destination, were probably nearly the same 
 as before the conflagration, but more attention was paid to sym- 
 metry, to costliness, and, above all, to grandeur and magnifi- 
 cence. The northern entrance led, under a triumphal arch, to the 
 centre of the hill, and to the sacred grove, the asylum opened by 
 Romulus, and almost the cradle of Roman power. To the 
 right, on the eastern summit of the hill, stood the temple of 
 
 * A. D.69. 
 
 + Id facinus post conditam Urbein luctuosissimutn fsedissimumque populo 
 Romano accidit : nuUo externo hoste, propitiis, si per mores nostros liceret, dels, 
 sedem Jovis optimi, maxiiui, auspicatd a majoribus, pignus imperii, conditam, 
 quam non Porsena dedita Urbe. neque Galli capta, temerare potuissent, furore 
 Principum exscindi ! 
 
 VOL. I. E R 
 
210 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Jupiter Feretrius. To the left, on the western summit, was 
 that of Jupiter Gustos : near each of these temples, were the 
 fanes of inferior Divinities, that of Fortune, and that of Fides, 
 alluded to by Cicero. In the midst, to crown the pyramid, 
 formed by such an assemblage of majestic edifices, and at the 
 same time to afford a becoming residence for the guardian of 
 the empire, the father of gods and men, rose the temple of 
 Jupiter Capitolinus on a hundred steps, supported by a thou- 
 sand pillars, adorned with all the refinements of art, and blazing 
 with the plunder of the universe. In the centre of the temple, 
 with Juno on his left, and Minerva, on his right side, the 
 Thunderer sat on a throne of gold, grasping the lightning in one 
 hand, and in the other, wielding the sceptre of the universe. 
 Hither the consuls were conducted by the senate, to assume the 
 military dress, and implore the favor of the gods before they 
 marched to battle. Hither the victorious generals used to 
 repair in triumph, to suspend the spoils of conquered nations, 
 present captive monarchs, and offer up hecatombs to Tarpeian 
 Jove. Here, in cases of danger and distress, the senate was 
 assembled, and the magistrates convened to deliberate in the 
 presence, and under the immediate influence of the tutelar 
 gods of Rome. Here the laws were exhibited to public in- 
 spection, as if under the sanction of the divinity ; and here also, 
 deposited, as if intrusted to his guardian care. Hither Cicero 
 turned his hands and eyes, when he closed his first oration 
 against Catiline, with that noble address to Jupiter, presiding 
 in the Capitol over the destinies of the empire, and dooming 
 its enemies to destruction. 
 
 In the midst of these magnificent structures, of this wonder- 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 211 
 
 fill display of art and opulence, stood for ages, the humble 
 straw-roofed palace of Romulus, a monument of primitive 
 simplicity, dear and venerable in the eyes of the Romans.* 
 This Cottage, it may easily be supposed, vanished in the 
 first conflagration. But not the cottage only, the tem- 
 ples, the towers, the palaces also, that once surrounded it, 
 have disappeared. Of all the ancient glory of the Capi- 
 tol, nothing now remains but the solid tbuudation, and -f- 
 vast substructions raised on the rock, " Capitoli immobile 
 saxum." 
 
 Not only is the Capitol fallen, but its very name, expres- 
 sive of dominion, and once fondly considered as an omen of 
 
 * Mars speaks in Ovid, as follows : 
 
 Qu£B fuerit nostri si qusris regia nati ; 
 
 Adspice de canna straminibusque dorauin. 
 In stipula placidi carpebat munera somni : 
 
 Et tamen ex illo venit in astra toro. 
 
 Ovid Fast. Lib. in. ». 183. 
 
 Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo. 
 
 Vir. Mn. Lib. vni. v. 654. 
 
 + These walls on one side form the stables of the Senator, and on the other a 
 dark gloomy chapel, said to have been originally the Tullianum in which Cati- 
 line's associates were put to death. The criminal was let down into this dun- 
 geon by a hole in the vault, as there was anciently no other entrance ; the mo- 
 dern door was opened through the side wall, when the place was converted into a 
 chapel, in honor of St. Peter, who is supposed to have been confined in it. Not- 
 withstanding the change, it has still a most appalling appearance. 
 
 E E 2 
 
212 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 empire, is now almost lost in the semi-barbarous appellation of 
 Campidoglio. 
 
 At present the Capitoline mount is covered with buildings, 
 far inferior, without doubt, to the imperial edifices above de- 
 scribed, but yet of grand proportions, and vast magnitude. The 
 northern, still the principal entrance, is an easy ascent, adorned 
 with a marble balustrade commencing below, with two immense 
 lionesses of Egyptian porphyry, pouring a torrent of water into 
 spacious basons of marble, and terminated above by statues of 
 Castor and Pollux, each holding his horse. Here you enter the 
 square, in the centre of Avhich stands the well-known equestrian 
 statue of Marcus Aurelius. In front, and on each side, are 
 three extensive buildings, erected by Michael Angelo. The 
 edifice before you, of bold elevation, adorned with Corinthian 
 pilasters, and a lofty tower, is the palace of the senator. A 
 double flight of marble steps leads to its portal. In the centre 
 of this staircase stands the genius of Rome, like Minerva, 
 armed with the ^gis, and leaning on her spear. A foun- 
 tain bursts forth at her feet. On her right, the Tiber; on her 
 left, the Nile lay reclined, each on its urn. The French 
 (latrones Italiae,) have carried off the two latter statues, with 
 some other ornaments of the Capitoline square. In the palace 
 of the Senator, and in that of the Conservatori, are several halls 
 and apartments, magnificent in their size and decorations. It 
 is to be observed, that the Capitol is the palace of the Roman 
 people, the seat of their power, and the residence of their ma- 
 gistrates. The statues and other antiques, placed here by the 
 Popes, are dedicated in the names of the donors to the Roman 
 people, and the inscriptions in general run in the ancient style. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 213 
 
 One in the palace of the Conservatori pleased me much: " S. P. 
 Q. R. majoium suorum praestantiam ut animo sic re quantum 
 licuit, imitatus, deformatum injuria temporum capitolium resti- 
 tuit; anno post urbem conditam 2320/' Nor is it unworthy of 
 its destination; as the beauty of its architecture, the magni- 
 tude of its apartments, the excellence of its paintings, and the 
 prodigious number of statues and antiques with which it is 
 decorated, give it a splendor unequalled in any other capital, 
 and only eclipsed even in Rome itself by the recollection 
 of its former greatness. The Museum Capitolinum contains 
 in several large rooms a most splendid collection of busts, 
 statues, sarcophagi, &c. bestowed by ditFerent Popes and illus- 
 trious personages on this magnificent cabinet, devoted to the 
 use of the Roman people, or rather of the literary and cui-ious 
 of all nations. One of the most interesting objects in this col- 
 lection is an ancient plan of Rome cut in marble, once the 
 pavement of a temple in the Forum, and thence transferred to 
 the Capitol, where it lines the walls of one of the grand stair- 
 cases of the Museum. But unfortunately it is not entire ; if it 
 were, we should have had a most perfect plan of ancient Rome, 
 the streets, forums, temples, &c. being marked out in the most 
 distinct manner. There are, moreover, in the palace of the 
 Conservatori, galleries of paintings and halls appropriated to 
 the use of young artists, where lectures are given, and drawings 
 taken from life; premiums are also bestowed publicly in the 
 grand hall in the Senator's palace. In short, the Capitol is 
 now consecrated, not to the tutelar gods of Rome, but to 
 her arts, to the remains of her grandeur, to the manuments of 
 her genius, and, I may add, to her titles, now the mere sem- 
 blance of her ancient liberty. It is pity that the highe&t 
 
214 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and most conspicuous part of the Capitoline Mount should 
 be occupied by a building so tasteless and deformed as the 
 church and convent of Ara Coeli. The ascent from the plain 
 below, by an hundred and twenty-four marble steps, deserves 
 a better termination than its miserable portal, and the various 
 ancient pillars of Egyptian granite, that adorn the nave of the 
 church and the portico of the cloisters, furnish a sufficient quan- 
 tity of the best materials for the erection and decoration of a 
 very noble edifice. 
 
 Anciently there were two ways from the Capitol to the 
 Forum ; both parted from the neighbourhood of the Tabularium, 
 and diverging as they descended, terminated each in a trium- 
 phal arch ; that of Tiberius to the west, that of Severus to the 
 east. Of these arches the latter only remains. The descent at 
 present is a steep, and irregular path, winding down the de- 
 clivity from the senator's stables, without any regular termina- 
 tion. The traveller, as he descends, stops to contemplate the 
 three Corinthian pillars, with their frieze and cornice, that rise 
 above the ruins, and preserve the memory, of the temple of Jupiter 
 Tonans, erected by Augustus, as a monument of his preserva- 
 tion from a thunderbolt that fell near him. A little lower down, 
 on the right, stands the portico of the temple of Concord, built 
 by Camillus, consisting of eight porphyry pillars, with capitals 
 and entablature of irregular Ionic. To account for this irregu- 
 larity, it is to be remembered, that the edifices on the sides of 
 the hill, shared the fate of the Capitol, in the contest which took 
 place between the parties of Vespasian and Viteliius, and were 
 rebuilt shortly after by Titus and Domitian, (and afterwards 
 by Constantine). Hence the word " restitutum" in the inscrip- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 215 
 
 tion, and hence the want of regularity in some parts of the 
 buildings, which, being monuments of republican Rome, did 
 not perhaps enjoy the favor of the emperors. The triumphal 
 arch of Septimus Severus, is nearly half buried in the 
 ground. 
 
216 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 THE ROMAN FORUM — COLISEUM — PALATINE MOUNT — AVENTINE 
 
 TOMB OF C. CESTIUS CCELIAN SABURRA ESQUILINE 
 
 BATHS OF TITUS — MINERVA MEDICA — PALACE OF MtECENAS — 
 VIMINAL — aUIRINAL — BATHS OF DIOCLESIAN. 
 
 The Roman Forum now lay extended before us, a scene, in 
 the ages of Roman greatness, of unparalleled splendor and mag- 
 nificence. It was bordered on both sides with temples, and 
 lined with statues. It terminated in triumphal arches, and was 
 bounded here by the Palatine hill, with the Imperial residence 
 glittering on its summit, and there by the Capitol with its 
 ascending ranges of porticos and temples. Thus it presented 
 one of the richest exhibitions that eyes could behold, or human 
 ingenuity invent. In the midst of these superb monuments, 
 the memorials of their greatness, and the trophies of their fathers, 
 the Roman people assembled to exercise their sovereign power, 
 and to decide the fates of heroes, kings, and nations. 
 
 Nor did the contemplation of such glorious objects fail to 
 produce a corresponding effect. Manlius, as long as he could 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 217 
 
 extend his arm, and fix the attention of the people on the 
 Capitol, which he had saved, suspended his fatal sentence.* 
 Caius Gracchus melted the hearts of his audience, when in 
 the moment of distress he pointed to the Capitol, and asked, 
 with all the emphasis of despair, whether he could expect to 
 find an asylum in that sanctuary, whose pavement still streamed 
 with the blood of his brother. Scipio Africanus, when accused 
 by an envious faction, and obliged to appear before the people 
 as a criminal, instead of answering the charge, turned to the 
 Capitol, and invited the assembly to accompany him to the 
 temple of Jupiter, and give thanks to the gods for the defeat of 
 Hannibal and the Carthaginians .-f- Such, in fact, was the in- 
 fluence of locality, and such the awe, interest, and even emotion, 
 inspired by the surrounding edifices. Hence the frequent refer- 
 ences that we find in the Roman historians and orators, to 
 the Capitol, the Forum, the temples of the gods ; and hence 
 those noble addresses to the deities themselves, as present in 
 their respective sanctuaries, and Avatching over the interests of 
 their favored city, " Ita praesentes his temporibus opem et 
 auxilium nobis tulerunt, ut eos pene oculis videre possimus."J 
 But the o-lories of the Forum are now fled for ever; its temples 
 are fallen, its sanctuaries have crumbled into dust, its colon- 
 nades encumber its pavements now buried under their remains. 
 The walls of the Rostra stripped of their ornaments, and 
 doomed to eternal silence; a few shattered porticos; and here 
 and there an insulated column standing in the midst of broken 
 shafts, vast fragments of marble capitals and cornices, heaped 
 
 * Liv. VI. SO. t Liv. xxsviii. 51. | Cat. iii. 8. 
 
 VOL. I. y V 
 
218 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 together in masses, rise to remind the melancholy traveller, that 
 the lonely field he now traverses, was once the Roman Forum. 
 A fountain fills a marble basin in the middle, the same possi- 
 bly to which Propertius alludes, when speaking of the Forum 
 in the time of Tatius he says, 
 
 Murus erant montes, ubi nunc est Curia septa, 
 Bellicus ex illo fonte bibebat equus.* Lib. iv. 4. 
 
 A little farther on commences a double range of trees, that 
 leads along the Via Sacra, by the temples of Antoninus, and of 
 Peace, to the arch of Titus. A herdsman, seated on a pedestal 
 while his oxen were drinking at the fountain, and a few pas- 
 sengers moving at a distance in different directions, were the 
 only living beings that disturbed the silence and solitude which 
 reigned around. Thus the place seemed restored to its original 
 wildness, as described by Virgil,'f' and abandoned once more to 
 flocks and herds of cattle. So far, in fact, have the modern 
 Romans forgotten the theatre of the glory and imperial power 
 of their ancestors, as to degrade it into a common market 
 for cattle, and sink its name, illustrated by every page of 
 Roman history, into the contemptible appellation of Campo 
 Vaccino. 
 
 Proceeding along the Via Sacra, and passing under the 
 
 * As this fountain is near the three pillars, which have occasioned so much dis- 
 cussion, we may draw a presumptive argument from these verses, that they formed 
 part of the Cui"ia. 
 
 + passimque armenta videbant 
 
 Romanoque foro et lautis mugire carinis. ^n. viii. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 219 
 
 arch of Titus, on turning a little to the left, we beheld the 
 amphitheatre of Vespasian and Titus, now called the Coli- 
 seum. Never did human art present to the eye a fabric so well 
 calculated, by its size and form, to surprize and delight. Let the 
 spectator first place himself to the north, and contemplate 
 that side which depredation, barbarism, and ages have spared, 
 he will behold with admiration its wonderful extent, well 
 proportioned stories and flying lines, that retire and vanish 
 without break or interruption. Next let him turn to the south, 
 and examine those stupendous arches, which, stripped as they 
 are of their external decorations, still astonish us by their solidity 
 and duration. Then let him enter, range through the lofty 
 arcades, and ascending the vaulted seats, consider the vast 
 mass of ruin that surrounds him, insulated walls, immense stones 
 suspended in the air, arches covered with weeds and shrubs, 
 vaults opening upon other ruins ; in short above, below, and 
 around, one vast collection of magnificence and devastation, 
 of grandeur and decay.* 
 
 Need I inform the reader that this stupendous fabric, 
 
 " Which on its public shews unpeopled Rome, 
 " And held uncrowded nations in its womb," 
 
 * Martial prefers, perhaps with justice, this amphitheatre to all the prodigies of 
 architecture known in his time. 
 
 Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis : 
 
 Assiduus jactet nee Babylona labor ; 
 
 Aere nee vacuo pendentia Mausolea 
 
 Laudibus immodicis Cares in astra ferant. 
 Omnis Cajsareo cedat labor amphitheatro 
 
 Unum pro cunctis fama loquatur opus. De Spect. 
 
 FF 2 
 
220 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 was erected by the above-mentioned emperors, out of part only 
 of the materials, and on a portion of the site, of Nero's golden 
 house, which had been demolished by order of Vespasian, as too 
 sumptuous even for a Roman Emperor. The Coliseum, owing 
 to the solidity of its materials, survived the era of barbarism, 
 and was so perfect in the thirteenth century, that games were 
 exhibited in it, not for the amusement of the Romans only, but 
 of all the nobility of Italy. The destruction of this wonderful 
 fabric is to be ascribed to causes, more active in general in the 
 erection, than in the demolition of magnificent buildings — 
 to Taste and Vanity. When Rome began to revive, and archi- 
 tecture arose from its ruins, every rich and powerful citizen 
 wished to have, not a commodious dwelling merely, but a 
 palace. The Coliseum was an immense quarry at hand ; the com- 
 mon people stole, the grandees obtained permission to carry off 
 its materials, till the interior was dismantled, and the exterior 
 half stripped of its ornaments. It is difficult to say where this 
 system of depredation, so sacrilegious in the opinion of the anti- 
 quary, would have stopped, had not Benedict XIV. a pontiff 
 of great judgment, erected a cross in the centre of the arena, 
 and declared the place sacred, out of respect to the blood of the 
 many martyrs who were butchered there during the persecutions. 
 This declaration, if issued two or three centuries ago, would have 
 preserved the Coliseum entire ; it can now only protect its re- 
 mains, and transmit them, in their present state, to posterity. 
 
 We next returned to the Meta Sudans, and passed under the 
 arch of Constantine. I need not give a description of this 
 species of edifice, so well known to the classic reader ; it will 
 suffice to say, that the arch of Constantine is the only one that 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 221 
 
 remains entire, with its pillars, statues, and basso relievos, all of 
 the most beautiful marble, and some of exquisite Avorkmanship. 
 They were taken from the arch of Trajan, which, it seems, was 
 stripped, or probably demolished, by order of the senate, for 
 that purpose. It is singular that they did not consider that the 
 achievements of Trajan and his conquests in Dacia, could have 
 no connection with the exertions of Constantine in Britain, 
 and his victory over the tyrant Maxentius. But taste was 
 then on the dechne, and propriety of ornament not always 
 consulted. 
 
 We then ascended the Palatine Mount, after winding for 
 some time round it, in order to examine its bearinos. This 
 hill, the nursery of infant Rome; and finally the residence 
 of Imperial grandeur, presents now two solitary villas and 
 a convent, with their deserted gardens and vineyards. Its 
 numerous temples, its palaces, its porticos and its libraries, 
 once the glory of Rome, and the admiration of the universe, 
 are now mere heaps of ruins, so shapeless and scattered, 
 that the anticjuary and architect, are at a loss to discover 
 their site, their plans and their elevation. Of that wing of 
 the Imperial palace, which looked to the west, and on the 
 Circus Maximus, some apartments remain vaulted, and of 
 fine proportions, but so deeply buried in ruins, as to be 
 now subterranean. A hall of immense size was discovered 
 about the beginning of the last century, concealed under the 
 ruins of its own massive roof. The pillars of Verde antico 
 that supported its vaults, the statues that ornamented its 
 niches, and the rich marbles that formed its pavement, were 
 found buried in rubbish; and were immediately carried away 
 by the Farnese family, the proprietors of the soil, to adorn 
 
222 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 their palaces, and furnish their galleries. This hall is now 
 cleared of its encumbrances, and presents to the eye a vast 
 length of naked wall, and an area covered with weeds. As we 
 stood contemplating its extent and proportions, a fox started from 
 an aperture, once a window, at one end, and crossing the open 
 space, scrambled up the ruins at the other, and then disappeared 
 in the rubbish. This scene of desolation reminded me of Ossian's 
 beautiful description. " The thistle shook there its lonely- 
 head ; the moss whistled to the gale ; the fox looked out from 
 the windows, the rank grass waved round his head," and 
 almost seemed the accomplishment of that awful prediction : 
 " There the wild beasts of the desert shall lodge, and howling 
 monsters shall fill the houses ; and wolves shall howl to one 
 another in their palaces, and dragons in their voluptuous 
 paviUons."* The classic traveller as he ranges through the 
 groves, which now shade the Palatine Mountj-f- will recollect 
 
 * Lowthe's Isaiah, xiii. v. 21, 22. 
 
 + Let the reader now contrast this mass of ruin, with the splendors of the 
 Palatine in Claudian's time, 
 
 Ecce Palatino crevit reverentia monti, 
 Non alium certe decuit rectoribus orbis 
 Esse larem, nuUoque niagis se colle potestas 
 iEstiniat, & summi sentit fastigia juris 
 AttoUens apicem subjectis regia rostris 
 Tot circum delubra videt, tantisque Deorum 
 Cingitur excubiis, juvat infra tecta Tonantis 
 Cernere Tarpeia pendentes rupe Gigantes, 
 Caslatasque fores, mediisque volantia signa 
 Nubibus, & densum stipantibus asthera templis, 
 jEraque vestitis numerosa puppe columnis 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 223 
 
 the various passages in which Vii-gil alludes to this hill, a 
 scene of so much splendor in his days, but now nearly re- 
 duced to its original simplicity and loneliness. He will, hke 
 .^neas, contemplate the interesting spot with delight, and 
 review like him, though with very different feelings, the vestiges 
 of heroes of old, " virum monumenta priormn." 
 
 Cum muros arcemque procul, ac rara domorum 
 Tecta vident ; quae nunc Roraana potentia coelo 
 /Equavit : turn res inopes Evandrus habebat. J5w. viii. 98. 
 
 Miratur, facilesque oculos fert omnia circum 
 
 ^neas, capiturque locis : et singula laetus 
 
 Exquirit, auditque virum monumenta priorum. 310. 
 
 From the Palatine we passed to the Aventine Mount, well- 
 known for the unpropitious augury of Remus, and at an earlier 
 period, for the residence of Cacus, and the victory of Hercules, 
 both so well described by Virgil, 
 
 Ter totum fervidus ira 
 
 Lustrat Aventini montem, &c. Mn. vni. 230. 
 
 Here also stood the temple of Diana, erected in the joint 
 names of all the Latin tribes, in imitation of the celebrated 
 temple of that goddess at Ephesus, said to have been built at 
 
 Consita, subnixasque jugis immanibus sedes, 
 Naturam cumulante manu ; spoliisque micantes 
 Innumeros arcus, acies stupet igne metalli, 
 £t circumfuso trepidans obtunditur auro. 
 
 De Cons. Honor, vi. 
 
224 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the common expence of the cities of Asia. The erection of the 
 temple of Diana at Rome, by the Latins, in the reign of Ser- 
 vius Tullius, that is, at a time when the Latins were inde- 
 pendent, and had frequently disputed with the Romans for 
 pre-eminence, was considered as a tacit renunciation of their 
 pretensions, and an acknowledgment that Rome was the centre 
 and capital of the Latin nation at large. The sacrifice of a 
 celebrated ox in this temple, by a Roman, instead of a Sabine, 
 was supposed to have decided the destiny of Rome, and to 
 have fixed the seat of universal empire on its hills.* Of this 
 temple, once so magnificent and so celebrated, no traces remain, 
 not even a base, a fallen pillar, or a shattered wall, to ascertain 
 its situation, or furnish the antiquary with grounds for probable 
 conjecture. The same may be said of the temple of Juno, of 
 that of the Dea Bona, and the numberless other stately edifices 
 that rose on this hill. Some parts indeed are so deserted and 
 lonely, and encumbered with ruins, as to answer the descrip- 
 tion Virgil gives of it, when pointed out by Evander to his 
 Trojan guest. 
 
 Jam primum saxis suspensam hanc aspice rupem : 
 
 Disjectae procul ut moles, desertaque raontis 
 
 Stat domus, et scopuli ingentem traxere ruinam. ^n. viii. 190. 
 
 The west side of the Aventine looks down on the Tiber, and 
 on the fields called Prati del Popolo Romano. These meadows 
 are planted with mulberry trees, and adorned by the pyramidal 
 tomb of Caius Cestius. This ancient monument remains entire, 
 
 The story is related by Livy, i. 45. and by Valerius Maximus, vn. 3. 
 
THROUGH ITALr. 225 
 
 an advantage which it owes partly to its form, well calculated 
 to resist the influence of weather, and partly to its situation, a* 
 it is joined to the walls of the city, and forms part of the forti- 
 fication. It stands on a basis, about ninety feet square, and 
 rises about a hundred and twenty in height. It is formed, or at 
 least encrusted, Avith large blocks of white marble : a door in the 
 basis opens into a gallery terminating in a small room, orna- 
 mented with paintings on the stucco, in regular compartments. 
 In this chamber of the dead, once stood a sarcophagus, that con- 
 tained the remains of Cestius. At each corner on the outside there 
 was a pillar, once surmounted with a statue: two of these remain, 
 or rather, were restored, but without the ornament that crowned 
 them anciently. It is probable that this edifice stands on an 
 elevation of some steps, but the earth is too much raised to 
 allow us to discover them at present. Its form, in the whole, is 
 graceful, and its appearance very picturesque: supported on 
 either side by the ancient walls of Rome with their towers and 
 galleries venerable in decay, half shaded by a few scattered 
 trees, and looking down upon a hundred humbler tombs, in- 
 terspersed in the neighbouring grove, it rises in lonely pomp, 
 and seems to preside over these fields of silence and mortality. 
 When we first visited this solitary spot, a flock of sheep was dis- 
 persed through the grove, nibbling the grass over the graves ; the 
 tombs rose around in various forms of sepulchral stones, urns, 
 and .sarcophagi, some standing in good repair, others fallen arid 
 mouldering, half buried in the high grass that waved over them ; 
 the monument of Cestius stood on the back ground, in per- 
 spective, and formed the principal feature of the picture ; and 
 a painter, seated on a tomb-stone, was employed in taking a 
 view of the scene. None but foreigners, excluded by their 
 religion from the cemeteries of the country, are deposited here. 
 
 VOL. I. G G 
 
226 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and of these foreigners several were English. The far greater 
 part had been cut off in their prime, by unexpected disease or 
 fatal accident. What a scene for a traveller! far remote from 
 home, and liable to similar disasters. 
 
 Turning from these fields of death, these " lugentes campi," 
 and repassing the Aventine hill, we came to the baths of An- 
 toninus Caracalla, that occupy part of its declivity, and a con- 
 siderable portion of the plain between it, Mons Coeliolus, and 
 Mons Coelius. No monument of ancient architecture is calcu- 
 lated to inspire such an exalted idea of Roman magnificence, as 
 the ruins of their therm?e or baths. Many remain in a greater 
 or less degree of preservation ; such as those of Titus, Diocle- 
 tian, and Caracalla. To give the untravelled reader some 
 notion of these prodigious piles, I will confine my observations 
 to the latter, as the greatest in extent, and as the best pre- 
 served ; for though it be entirely stript of its pillars, statues, 
 and ornaments, both internal and external, yet its walls still 
 stand, and its constituent parts and principal apartments are 
 evidently distinguishable. The length of the thermoe was one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty feet, its breadth, one thou- 
 sand four hundred and seventy-six. At each end were tAVO 
 temples, one to Apollo, and another to Esculapius, as the 
 " Genii tutelares" of a place sacred to the improvement of the 
 mind, and the care of the body. The two other temples were 
 dedicated to the two protecting divinities of the Antonine 
 family, Hercules and Bacchus. In the principal building were, 
 in the first place, a grand circular vestibule, with four halls on 
 each side, for cold, tepid, v/arm, and steam baths ; in the centre 
 was an immense square, for exercise, when the weather was un- 
 favourable to it iAthe open air; beyond it, a great ball, where 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 227 
 
 sixteen hundred marble seats were placed for the convenience 
 of the bathers ; at each end of this hall, were libraries. 
 This building terminated on both sides in a court surrounded 
 with porticos, with an odeum for music, and in the middle a 
 capacious bason for swimming. Round this edifice were walks 
 shaded by rows of trees, particularly the plane; and in its 
 front extended a gymnasium, for running, wrestling, <Scc. in fine 
 weather. The M'hole was bounded by a vast portico, opening 
 into exedraj or spacious halls, where the poets declaimed, and 
 philosophers gave their lectures to their auditors. This immense 
 febric was adorned within and without with pillars, stucco work, 
 paintings, and statues. The stucco and painting, though faintly 
 indeed, are yet in many places perceptible. Pillars have been 
 dug up, and some still remain amidst the ruins ; while the Far- 
 nesian bull, and the famous Hercules, found in one of these 
 halls, announce the nmltiplicity and beauty of the statues which 
 once adorned the thermae of Caracalla. The flues and reservoirs 
 for water still remain. The height of the pile was proportioned 
 to its extent, and still appears very considerable, even though the 
 ground be raised at least twelve feet above its ancient level. It 
 is now changed into gardens and vineyards : its high massive 
 ^va\h form separations, and its lini}^ ruins, spread over the sur- 
 face, burn the soil, and check its natural fertility. 
 
 From these thermae we crossed the Vallis Coelimontana, and 
 ascended the Coelian Mount. Many shapeless ruins are strewed 
 over the surface of this hill, that bewilder antiquaries in a maze 
 of conjectures. One object only merits particular attention, 
 and that is the church of S. Stephano in rotondo, so called from 
 its circular form, admitted by all to be an ancient temple, 
 though there is much doubt as to the name of its tutelar god. 
 
 G G 3 
 
«28 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Some suppose it to have been dedicated to the Emperor 
 Claudius, a leaden divinity, not likely either to awe or delight 
 his votaries ; while others conceive it to have been the sanctuary 
 of the most sportive of the rural powers, of Faunus, " Nyni- 
 pharum fugientum amator." On this conjecture the imagina- 
 tion reposes Avith complacency. Its circular walls are supported 
 by a double range of Ionic pillars of granite, to the number of 
 sixty, and it derives from such an assemblage of columns, a cer- 
 tain air of grandeur, though in other respects it is much disfigured, 
 and at present much neglected. This latter circumstance seems 
 extraordinary, as it is one of the most ancient churches in Rome, 
 having been consecrated as such by Pope Simplicius, in the year 
 468 ; aud as it gives title to a Cardinal deacon, a privilege 
 which generally secures to a church endowed with it, the atten- 
 tion and munificent partiality of the titular prelate. 
 
 Descending the Ccelian hill, we crossed the Sabrura, the 
 abode of the great and opulent Romans, now two long streets 
 lined with dead walls, and covered with a few straggling houses 
 and solitary convents. Proceeding over the Esquiline Mount 
 we stopped at the baths of Titus, an edifice once of unusual ex- 
 tent and magnificence, though on a smaller scale than the 
 Thermae of Caracalla. Part of the theatre, of one of the tem- 
 ples, and of one of the great halls, still remains above, and 
 many vaults, long galleries, and spacious ruins imder ground. 
 Some of these subterraneous apartments were curiously painted, 
 and such is the firmness and consistency of the colours, that 
 notwithstanding the dampness of the place, the lapse of so 
 many ages, and the earth which has filled the vaults for so long 
 a time, they still retain much of their original freshness. Many 
 of the figures are scratched on the plaster, and supposed to have 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 229 
 
 been so originall}' to imitate basso relievo ; but upon a close ex- 
 amination the little nails, which fastened the gold, silver, or bronze 
 that covered these tigures, are perceptible, and seem to prove 
 that they were all originally coated over in a similar manner. 
 Many of the paintings are arabesques; a fanciful style of orna- 
 ment, observed and reprobated as unnatural and ill-proportioned 
 by Vitruvius, but revived and imitated by Raifael, Titus's baths 
 are, as I have observed before, inferior in extent to those of 
 Caracalla and Diocletian ; but, erected at a period when the arts 
 still preserved their primeval perfection, they must have surpassed 
 all later edifices of the kind in symmetry, decoration, and furni- 
 ture. Every person of taste must therefore lament, that they are 
 not cleared and opened : the famous groupe of Laocoon was found 
 in an excavation made there not many years ago, and several 
 pillars of granite, alabaster, and porphyry have since been 
 discovered in various partial researches. What precious rem- 
 nants of ancient taste and magnificence might we find, if all 
 the streets of this subterraneous city (for so these thernias may 
 be called) were opened, and its recesses explored ! At present 
 the curious visitor walks over heaps of rubbish so high as almost 
 to touch the vault, so uneven as to require all his attention at 
 every step; and whilst he examines the painted walls by the faint 
 glare of a taper, he is soon obliged by the closeness of the air to 
 retire, and content himself with a few cursory observations. To 
 these baths belong the Sette Sale, seven halls, or vast vaulted 
 rooms of one hundred feet in length by fifteen in breadth and 
 twenty in depth, intended originally as reservoirs to supply the 
 baths, and occasionally the Coliseum with water, when naval 
 engagements were represented. 
 
 Besides the baths of Titus several other vaulted subterraneous 
 
230 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 apartments, halls, and galleries, ornamented in the same style 
 and with the same magnificence, have been discovered at dif- 
 ferent times on the same hill. They are supposed to have been 
 parts of the same Thermae, or perhaps belonging to some of the 
 many palaces that were once crowded together in this neighbour- 
 hood. Towards the extremity of the Esquiline, and not far from 
 the Porta Maggiore, in a vineyard, stands a ruined edifice, called 
 the Temple of Minerva Medica, though it is supposed by some 
 to have been a bath. Its form, circular without, is a polygon 
 within; its arched roof swells into a bold dome; in its sides are 
 nine niches for so many statues : the entrance occupies the place 
 of the tenth. Many beautiful statues were found in the grounds 
 that border it, among others that of Minerva with a ser- 
 pent, an emblem of ^sculapius, twined round her legs, a cir- 
 cmnstance that occasioned the conjecture that this structure 
 was a temple of that goddess. It seems to have been sur- 
 rounded with a portico, cased Avith marble, and highly de- 
 corated. Nothing now remains but the walls, the vaulted roof 
 in some places shattered, and, in the whole, a mass that daily 
 threatens ruin. In the same vineyard are various subterranean 
 vaulted apartments, some more, some less ornamented, the re- 
 ceptacles of the dead of various families, whose ashes, consigned 
 to little earthen-ware urns, remain in their places, inscribed with 
 a name and an exclamation of sorrow. Indeed, anciently, a 
 considerable part of the Esquiline was devoted to the plebeian 
 dead, whose bodies were sometimes burnt here, and sometimes, 
 I believe, thrown into ditches or graves uncovered : a circum- 
 stance to which Horace seems to allude, when he represents it as 
 the resort of beasts and birds of prey, 
 
 Insepulta membra di&erant lupi 
 Et £squilina: alites. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 231 
 
 To remove such funereal objects, and to purify the air, Augustus 
 made a present of the giound, so employed, to Meecenas, who 
 covered it with gardens and groves, and erected on its summit 
 a palace. The elevation of this edifice and its extensive views are 
 alluded to by the same poet, when pressing his friend to descend 
 from his pompous residence and visit his humble roof, he says. 
 
 • Eripe te morae ; 
 
 Ne semper udum Tibur et ^Esulse 
 
 Declive contempleris arvum, et 
 
 Telegoni jura parricidal. 
 
 Fastidiosam desere copiam, et 
 
 Molem propinquam nubibus arduis : 
 
 Omitte mirari beat® 
 
 Futnum et opes strepitumque Romae. Carm. ill. 29. 
 
 From the top of this palace, or from a tower in the garden, 
 Nero contemplated and enjoyed the dreadful spectacle of Rome 
 in flames.* The precise site of this palace and its towers, and 
 of the gardens surrounding, has never been ascertained in a sa- 
 tisfactory manner; statues and paintings have, indeed, been dis- 
 covered in profusion in various parts of this hill, but number- 
 less were the temples and palaces that rose on all sides, and to 
 which such ornaments belonged it would be difficult to deter- 
 mine. Near the palace of his patron, Maecenas, Virgil is said 
 to have had a house; but the retired temper of this poet, and 
 his fondness for a country life, seem to render extremely im- 
 probable a report which, I believe, rests solely on the authority 
 of Donatus. 
 
 From the Esquiline hill we passed to that elevated site, which, 
 as it advances westward, branches into the Viminal and Quiri= 
 
 * SuetoBius. Nero, 38^ 
 
232 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 nal hills. On it stands one of the grandest remains of ancient 
 splendor, a considerable portion of the baths of Diocletian, now 
 converted into a convent of Carthusians. The principal hall is 
 the church, and though four of the side recesses are tilled up, 
 and the two middle ones somewhat altered; though its pavement 
 has been raised about six feet to remove the dampness, and of 
 com'se its proportions have been changed, 3^et it retains its 
 length, its pillars, its cross-ribbed vault, and much of its origi- 
 nal grandeur. It was paved and encrusted with the finest mar- 
 ble by Benedict XIV. who carried into execution the plan drawn 
 up originally by Michael Angelo, when it was first changed into 
 a church. It is supported by eight pillars forty feet in height and 
 five in diameter, each of one vast piece of gi-anite. The raising 
 of the pavement,, by taking six feet from the height of these 
 pillars, has destroyed their proportion, and given them a very 
 massive appearance. The length of the hall is three hundred 
 and fifty feet, its breadth eighty, and its height ninety-six. 
 Notwithstanding its magnificence, the mixture of Corinthian 
 and composite capitals shews how much the genuine taste of 
 architecture was on the decline in the time of Diocletian. The 
 vestibulum or entrance into this church is a beautiful rotunda, con- 
 secrated by the monuments of Carlo Maratti and Salvator Rosa. 
 The cloister of this convent deserves attention : it forms a large 
 square, supported by a hundred pillars. In the centre, four 
 towering cypresses shade a fountain that pours a perpetual sup- 
 ply of the purest waters into an immense marble bason, and 
 forms a scene of delicious freshness and antique rural luxury. 
 
 The Viminal hill has no remnant of ancient magnificence to 
 arrest the traveller in his progress to the Quirinal, once adorned 
 with the temple of Quirinus, whence it derived its name. Livy 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 233 
 
 and Ovid both relate the Apotheosis of Romulus ; the historian 
 in his sublime manner — the poet in his usual, easy, gracefxil 
 style. " Romulus," says Proculus, in the former, "parens urbis 
 hujus, prima hodierna luce coelo repente delapsus, se mihi ob- 
 vium dedit. Quum perfusus horrore venerabundusque astitissem 
 petens precibus ut contra intueri fas esset. Abi, inquit, nuncia 
 Romanis, coelestes ita velle ut mea Roma caput orbis terrarum 
 sit; proinde rem militarem colant, sciantque, et ita posteris 
 tradant, nuUas opes humanas armis Romanis resistere posse. 
 Haec, inquit, locutus, sublimis abiit."* 
 
 Pulcher et humano major, trabeaque decorus 
 
 Romulus in media visus adesse via .... 
 Thura ferant, placentque novum pia turba Quirinum 
 
 Et patrias artes, militiamque colant 
 
 Templa Deo fiuiit. CoUis quoque dictus ab illo : 
 
 Et referunt certi sacra paterna dies. Ovid Fast. lib. ii. 507. 
 
 We may easily suppose that a temple dedicated to the founder 
 and tutelar divinity of Rome, nmst have been a structure of 
 unusual magniticence, and we find, accordingly, that a noble 
 flight of marble steps conducted to its portal, and that it was 
 supported by seventy-six lofty columns. It stood on the brow 
 of the hill that looks towards the A' iminal, and in such a site, 
 and with such a colonnade, it must have made a most majestic 
 and splendid appearance. But, on the opposite side, and com- 
 manding the Campus Martins, rose the temple of the Sun, 
 erected by Aurelian ; and if we may judge by the accounts given 
 of it, almost equal in grandeur and decorations to the palace of 
 this deity, described by Ovid, " sublimibus alta columnis." In 
 fact, the pillars that supported its portal must have been, if we 
 
 * Liv. 1. 16. 
 VOL. I. H n 
 
284 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 may judge by a fragment remaining in the Colonna garden, 
 near seventy feet in height ; and as they Avere, with the whole of 
 their entablature, of the whitest marble, and the richest order (the 
 Corinthian) they must have exhibited a most dazzling spectacle, 
 worthy of the glory of " the far beaming god of day/' But not 
 a trace of either of these edifices remains ; their massive pillars 
 have long since fallen, and the only remnant of the latter is a 
 block of white marble, and a part of the entablature ; and of 
 the former, the flight of marble steps that now leads to the 
 church of Ara Coeli, in the Capitol. 
 
 From the Quirinal we passed to the Monte Pincio, anciently 
 without the city, and called " Collis hortulorum ;" because 
 covered then, as now, with villas and suburban gardens. Pompey, 
 Sallust, and at a later period, the Emperors, possessed and de- 
 lighted in the rural airy reti'eat of this hill ; high and command- 
 ing extensive views on all sides. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 235 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 CAMPUS MARTIUS — ITS EDIFICES — MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS — 
 
 PANTHEON — COEUMNA TRAJANA — BRIDGES CIRCUS CAUSES 
 
 OF THE DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT EDIFICES. 
 
 -T ROM the hills we descended to the Campus Martius, in the 
 early ages of the Republic an open field devoted to military 
 exercises, and well calculated for that purpose by its level 
 grassy surface, and the neighbourhood of the river winding along 
 its border. In process of time some edifices of public utility 
 were erected upon it, but their number was small during the 
 Republic; while under the Emperors they were increased to 
 such a degree, that the Campus Martius became another city, 
 composed of theatres, porticos, baths, and temples. These 
 edifices were not only magnificent in themselves, but surrounded 
 with groves and walks, and arranged with a due regard to per- 
 spective beauty. Such is the idea which we must naturally form 
 of buildings erected by Consuls and Emperors, each endeavour- 
 ing to rival or surpass his predecessor in magnificence; and such 
 is the description which Strabo gives of the Campus in his time ; 
 that is, nearly in the time of its greatest glory. This superb 
 theatre of glorious edifices, when beheld from the Janiculum, 
 
 HH 2 
 
236 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 bordered in front by the Tiber, and closed behind by the 
 Capitol, the Viminal, the Quirinal, and the Pincian hills, with 
 temples, palaces, and gardens lining their sides, and swelling 
 from their summits, must have formed a picture of astonishing 
 beauty, splendor and variety, and have justified the proud ap- 
 pellation so often bestowed on Rome, " of the temple and abode 
 of the Gods." But of all the pompous fabrics that formed this 
 assemblage of wonders, how few remain ! and of the remaining few, 
 how small the number of those which retain any features of their 
 ancient majesty ! Among these latter, can hardly be reck- 
 oned Augustus's tomb, the vast vaults and substructions of 
 which indeed exist, but its pyramidal form and pillars are 
 no more ; or Marcellus's theatre, half buried under the super- 
 structure raised upon its vaulted galleries; or the portico of 
 Octavia, lost with its surviving arch and a few shattered pillars 
 in the Pescheria. Of such surviving edifices the principal in- 
 deed is the Pantheon itself 
 
 The Pantheon it is true retains its majestic portico, and 
 presents its graceful dome uninjured : the pavement laid by 
 Agrippa and trodden by Augustus, still forms its floor; the 
 cornpai'tments and fluted pillars of the richest marble that 
 originally lined its walls, still adorn its inward circumference; 
 the deep tints that age has thrown over it only contribute to 
 raise its dignity and augment our veneration ; and the traveller 
 enters its portal, through which twice twenty generations have 
 floAved in succession, with a mixture of awe and religious vene- 
 ration. Yet the Pantheon itself has been shorn of its beams, 
 and looks eclipsetl through the disastrous twilight of eighteen 
 centuries. Where is now its proud elevation, and the flight of 
 steps that conducted to its threshold ? Where the marbles that 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 237 
 
 clothed, or the handmaid edifices that concealed its brick 
 exterior? Where the statues that graced its cornice? The 
 bronze that blazed on its dome, that vaulted its portico, and 
 formed its sculptured doors; and where the silver that lined the 
 compartments of its roof within, and dazzled the spectator with 
 its brightness ? The rapacity of Genseric began, the avarice of 
 succeeding barbarians, continued to strip it of these splendid 
 decorations ; and time, by levelling many a noble structure in its 
 neighbourhood, has raised the pavement and deprived it of all 
 the advantages of situation. 
 
 The two celebrated pillars of Antoninus and Trajan stand 
 each in its square, but they also have lost several feet of their 
 original elevation ; and the colonnade or portico that enclosed 
 the latter, supposed to be the noblest structure of the kind ever 
 erected, has long since sunk in the dust, and its ruins probably 
 lie buried under the foundations of the neighbouring houses. 
 
 Seven bridges, formerly conducted over the Tiber to the 
 Janiculum and Vatican Mount: of these the most remark- 
 able were the fii"st, the Pons Elius; and the last, the Pons 
 Sublicius : the former, erected by Adrian, opened a grand 
 communication from the Campus Martins to his mausoleum. 
 It remains under the appellation of Ponte S. Angelo; the 
 statues that adorned its balustrade disappeared at an early 
 period, and have since been replaced by statues of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul, and of several angels, executed by eminent 
 masters, and considered beautiful. The ancient statues were 
 probably thrown into the Tiber, and may at some future period 
 emerge from its channel. The Pons Sublicius lay much lower, 
 and formed a passage from the Aventine Mount to the Janicu- 
 lum. Though consecrated by its antiquity, for it was the first 
 
238 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 bridge built at Rome, and still more by the heroic exertions of 
 Horatius Codes, it has long since fallen, and only some slight 
 traces of foundations or abutments remain on the Ripa 
 Grande, to mark the spot Avhere it once stood. Two others, 
 the Pons Triumphalis and Pons Senatorius, have shared the 
 same fate. 
 
 The reader will probably expect an account of the various 
 theatres and circusses that rose in all quarters of the city, and 
 furnished almost perpetual occupation to the degenerate Ro- 
 mans of later times, who confined their ambition to the pittance 
 of bread and public amusement of the day; and he will feel 
 some disappointment when he learns, that scarce a trace remains 
 of such immense structures, that in general their very founda- 
 tions have vanished, and that the Circus Maximus itself, though 
 capable of containing half the population of Rome within its 
 vast embrace, is erased from the surface of the earth, and has 
 left no vestige of its existence, excepting the hollow scooped out 
 in the Aventine valley for its foundations. 
 
 It may be asked how the edifices just alluded to, and a 
 thousand others equally calculated to resist the depredations of 
 time and the usual means of artificial destruction, should 
 have thus sunk into utter annihilation. One might be tempted 
 to adopt the language of poetry, and answer with Pope, 
 
 Some felt the silent stroke of mould'ring age, 
 
 Some hostile fury, some religious rage. 
 
 Barbarian blindness, Christian zeal conspire, 
 
 And Papal piety, and Gothic fire. Epistle to Addison. 
 
 These verses it may seem contain a very comprehensive 
 scale of destruction; five causes, sufficient to compass and 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 239 
 
 explain the widest range of devastation, and annihilate the 
 most solid fabrics that human skill can erect, even the 
 pyramids themselves. Yet upon impartial examination, we 
 shall find that the fury of enemies, and the zeal of Chris- 
 tians, the piety of Popes, and the fires kindled by the Goths, 
 have not been the sole, or even the principal agents in the 
 Avork of devastation ; and that other causes less observable, 
 because slower, but equally effectual in their operations, have 
 produced the wide extended scene of ruin which we have just 
 traversed. To begin therefore with the first cause, hostile 
 fury : it is to be recollected that the barbarians who took and 
 sacked Rome, such as Alaric and Genseric, had plunder and 
 profit not destruction, in view; and that they waiTed with the 
 power and the opulence not with the taste and the edifices of the 
 Romans. Gold and silver, brass and precious stones, cloth 
 and articles of apparel, with furniture of every sort, were the 
 objects of their rapacity : the persons also of the unfortunate 
 Romans whom they could either sell or employ as slaves, were 
 considered a valuable part of their booty ; in collecting thtv 
 former and securing the latter, their attention was fully oc- 
 cupied, nor had they leisure, supposing that they had the in- 
 clination, during the short space of time they occupied the 
 city, (confined to six days the first, and fourteen the second time 
 the city was taken), to demolish, or even very materially dis- 
 figure the solidity of the public edifices. The massive roof of 
 the Capitol formed of brass and it seems lined with gold, and 
 the bronze covering and sculptured portals of the Pantheon, were 
 torn from their respective temples by Genseric ; but the edifices 
 themselves were spared, and the latter still remains, to shew how 
 little damage its essential form suffered in the disaster. 
 
240 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 As for the destructive effects of Gothic fire, they seem to 
 have been confined to a few palaces and private houses ; 
 and so partial was the mischief, that only one edifice of any 
 note, the palace of Sallust, is mentioned as having been con- 
 sumed on this occasion. Religious rage or Christian zeal, two 
 expressions meaning, I fancy, the same thing, are frequently 
 introduced by authors of a certain mode of thinking, as agents 
 unusually active in the work of destruction ; while Papal piety 
 is represented as the presiding demon, who directed their 
 operations, and quickened their natural activity. The fact, 
 however, is otherwise ; we do not find that any one temple in 
 Rome was destroyed by the Christians, either tumultuously or 
 legally ; that is, by Imperial orders ; on the contrary, such was 
 the respect which the Christian Emperors paid even to the 
 prejudices of the Romans, that idols, when proscribed in the 
 provinces, were still tolerated in the capital, and allowed to 
 occupy their rich shrines, and sit enthroned in their deserted 
 temples. In the pillage of Rome by the Goths and Vandals, 
 these statues, when of precious materials, such as gold, silver, or 
 brass, were not spared; but the shrine only, or perhaps the 
 furniture and decorations of the temple, of similar materials, and 
 of course equally calculated to attract the hand of rapacity, 
 were violated, Avhile the edifices themselves, without I believe 
 one exception, were respected. The influence of Papal piety 
 was employed to preserve these buildings, and if possible to 
 consecrate them to the pure mysteries of Christian adoration ; 
 and to it we owe the few temples that have survived the 
 general ruin, such as the temple of Vesta, that of Faunus, that of 
 Fortuna Virilis, and last, though first in estimation and grandeur, 
 the Pantheon itself. 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 241 
 
 Having thus rejected as fabulous or inefficient the causes 
 produced by the poet, and admitted by ignorance and prejudice 
 with httle or no examination, it is necessary and not difficult 
 to substitute in their place, the real agents that effected the de- 
 gradation, and finally the destruction of the noblest city that 
 the world had ever beheld. 
 
 Under the auspicious government of Trajan, the empire 
 of Rome had reached the utmost extent of its destined limits ; 
 and Rome herself had attained the full perfection of her beauty, 
 and the highest degree of her magnificence. During -the vir- 
 tuous administration of the Antonines, this state of prosperity 
 and glory continued unaltered ; that is during the space of 
 nearly a century, till the tyranny of Commodus revived the 
 memory and the disasters of the reigns of Caligula, Nero, and 
 Domitian, and ended like them, in assassination, civil war, and 
 revolution. From the portentous era of the death of Pertinax, 
 Rome ceased to be the fixed and habitual residence of her Em- 
 perors, who were generally employed in the field, either in 
 repressing rebellious usurpers, or on the frontiers, in repelling 
 foreign enemies. Still they occasionally returned to celebrate 
 festive games, to receive the homage of the Senate and Roman 
 people, or perhaps to ascend in triumph to the Capitol, and 
 worship the tutelar deities of the empire. From the accession 
 of Diocletian, these visits became less frequent, and while the 
 Mistress of the world was neglected by her half-barbarian Em- 
 perors, the handmaid cities of the provinces, Thessalonica, 
 Nicomedia, Antioch, Milan, Ravenna, and Paris, enjoyed the 
 honor and the advantages of their residence. Though Rome 
 was still the acknowledged capital of the world, and though her 
 
 VOL. I. II 
 
242 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 population and her riches were unbounded, yet the arts, no 
 longer encouraged or employed by the sovereign, languished. 
 Taste was on the decline, and the great masterpieces (edi- 
 fices statues paintings) that adorned the city, monuments of 
 the genius and magnificence of happier periods, were passed by 
 unnoticed, and gradually neglected. We cannot suppose that a 
 people who had lost their taste and spirit, or that Emperors, 
 occupied in remote provinces, with the intrigues of competition, 
 or the dangers of war, were disposed to furnish the sums requi- 
 site to repair and maintain buildings, which they scarcely knew, 
 or probably beheld with indifference. We may therefore fairly 
 conclude, that at the beginning of the reign of Constantine, some, 
 perhaps several, public edifices must have suftered from neglect ; 
 and when we behold the triumphal arch of Trajan destroyed by 
 order of the senate, to furnish materials for the erection of a 
 similar trophy in honor of the former Emperor, we may fairly 
 infer, that such edifices were considered as scarcely worth pre- 
 servation, and that they were indebted for their duration to their 
 own solidity. Among the causes of ruin we ma}^ therefore 
 safely rank, the indifference and neglect of government ; nay, we 
 have even some reason to suspect that the Emperors not only 
 neglected the reparation, but sometimes hastened the fall of 
 public structures. Each sovereign Avas ambitious of distin- 
 guishing his reign by some magnificent fabric, by erecting baths 
 or a circus, a portico or a forum ; but it is to be feared that they 
 were not always delicate as to the places whence the materials 
 were taken, and sometimes stripped the monuments of their 
 predecessors of their ornaments, in order to employ them in 
 the decoration of their new edifices. Certain it is that some 
 Emperors, while they were adding to the splendor of the city 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 243 
 
 on one side, made no difficulty of plundering it on the other. 
 Moreover, as the number of Christians increased the temples 
 became deserted, and Christian princes ; though not obliged by 
 their religion to destroy, did not perhaps consider themselves 
 as authorized in conscience to repair the sanctuaries of idola- 
 trous worship. 
 
 When Rome ceased to be free, and lost even the forms of 
 republican liberty, the forum (the seat of popular delibera- 
 tions) became useless, and the five or six superb squares that 
 bore that appellation, were turned into so many lonely walks. 
 The various curias (the superb palaces of the senate) so necessary 
 in the days of Roman freedom, when almost the whole of the 
 civilized world Avas governed by the wisdom of that venerable 
 body, stood silent and unfrequented under the later Emperors, 
 Avhen public deliberation was a mere form, and the senate itself 
 an empty shadow. The basilicae indeed (the halls where the 
 magistrates sat to administer justice) might still collect a crowd, 
 and challenge attention ; but as the population of the city 
 decreased, their numbers appeared too great, and the Emperors 
 seemed to embrace with readiness every opportunity of turning 
 them to other purposes. These three sorts of edifices may be 
 supposed, therefore, to have fallen into decay, at an early 
 period, and have mouldered imperceptibly into dust, even 
 though no active power was employed to hasten their dissolu- 
 tion. Of the several curiae, not one has escaped destruction, 
 and the classic reader will learn with regret, that time has 
 swept away the very vestiges of these celebrated seats of 
 liberty, wisdom, and public dignity. Some few temples remain 
 which, after they had long been abandoned both by their 
 
 ii2 
 
244 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 deities and their votaries, are indebted for their existence to 
 " Christian zeal and Papal piety," which saved them from 
 complete ruin by turning them into churches. We may lament 
 that more of these beautiful edifices were not destined to partake 
 of this advantage, and particularly that the magnificent temple 
 of Jupiter Capitolinus was not of the number ; especial] y as it 
 survived the taking of the city, and stood, as to its walls, un- 
 impaired in the time of Theodoric. 
 
 But in the first place, the Christians do not seem to have 
 taken possession of any temple, at least in Rome, where the 
 Emperors treated the ancient religion of the empire with pecu- 
 liar delicacy, till the total downfal of idolatry, and the complete 
 change of public opinion ; that is, till many of these fabrics had 
 fallen into irreparable decay and become incapable of restora- 
 tion. In the next place, the forms of pagan temples in general, 
 and particularly of such as were built (and these formed the far 
 greater number) on a smaller scale, were extremely ill adapted 
 to the purposes of Christian worship. Narrow oblong edifices, 
 frequently dark and lighted only from the entrance, they seem 
 to have been constructed merely as sanctuaries to receive the 
 statues of their respective gods, while the multitude of adorers 
 filled the porticos, or crowded the colonnades without, and 
 waited till the trumpets announced the moment of sacrifice, or 
 the priest proclaimed the oracles of the god. The external 
 ornaments, and the vast extent of porticos and galleries that 
 surrounded the principal temples, and not the capacity of the 
 interior, constituted their magnificence. The Adyta or Pene- 
 tralia, seem mostly to have been on a contracted scale, and though 
 well calculated for a chapel or oratory for a small assembly, are 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 245 
 
 too confined for a parish church, and the accommodation of a 
 large congregation. The Basihcae, on the contrary, presented 
 every convenience and seemed as if expressly erected for the 
 purposes of a Christian assembly. The aisles on either side 
 seemed formed to receive and screen the women ; the vast area 
 in the middle furnished a spacious range for the men ; the 
 apsis or semicircular retreat, raised on a flight of steps at the 
 end, gave the bishop and his presbyters an elevated and honor- 
 able station, while the sacred table, surrounded with youth and 
 innocence, stood between the clergy and the people, a splendid 
 and conspicuous object. Hence several of these edifices, which 
 depended entirely on the will of the sovereign, and might 
 without offence or injustice be devoted to such purposes as he 
 judged most expedient, were at an early period opened for the 
 reception of the Christians, and consecrated to the celebration 
 of the holy mysteries. Thus, in the time of Constantine, the Ba- 
 silica Lateranensis was converted into a church and dedicated 
 to the Saviour, while the Basilica Vaticana became another 
 Christian temple under the well-known appellation of St. 
 Peter's. It follows of course, that the temples Avould in general, 
 be permitted to crumble away insensibly into ruin, as useless 
 and unappropriated edifices, while many of the Basilicee would 
 be repaired with diligence, and not unfrequently enriched with 
 the pillars and marbles of the fallen fanes in their neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 The neglect of the Emperors was followed by indifference in 
 the city magistrates, and contempt among the people, who 
 made no difficulty of stealing from the public edifices the mate- 
 rials requisite for the erection, or ornament of their private 
 
246 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 houses ; a disorder which rose to such a pitch as to require the 
 interference of pubhc authority more than once, in order to 
 prevent the total dilapidation of some of the finest monuments 
 of Roman greatness. This interference however, only took 
 place during the short reign of one Emperor, whose virtues 
 struggled in vain against the misfortunes of the time and the 
 destinies of the falling empire. I allude to Majorian, whose pa- 
 triotic edict on this subject is cited with becoming applause by 
 Gibbon, and proves that the magistrates themselves connived at 
 the abuse, and were perhaps too frequently the transgressors. To 
 the neglect of the sovereign therefore we may add the indiffer- 
 ence of the magistrates, and the interested pilferings of the peo- 
 ple, a second and powerful agent of destruction. However, 
 notwithstanding these disadvantages Rome retained much of 
 her imperial grandeur, even after the nominal fall of her empire, 
 and still challenged the respect and admiration of nations, even 
 when subjected to the sway of barbarian princes. In fact 
 Odoacer and his victorious rival Theodoric, during a long and 
 prosperous reign watched with jealous care over the beauty of 
 the city, and not only endeavoured to preserve Avhat it retained, 
 but to restore what it had lost of its ancient splendor. Their 
 attempts merited praise and acknowledgment, but the effect was 
 temporary, and withheld but could not avert the stroke which 
 fate already levelled at the monuments of Rome. When the 
 evil genius of Italy prompted Justinian to re-annex it as a pro- 
 vince to the empire, of which it had formerly been the head; and 
 Belisarius took possession of the capital with a force sufficient 
 to garrison, but not to protect it fully against the enemy, Rome 
 Avas turned into a fortress, her amphitheatres, mausoleums, and 
 surviving temples were converted into strong holds, and their splen- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 247 
 
 did furniture and costly decorations employed, as they present- 
 ed themselves, for means of defence or annoyance. In the course 
 of this most destructive war, Rome was five times taken, many of 
 her edifices were demolished, not by the hostile rage of the Goths, 
 but by the military prudence of Belisarius ; her streets were un- 
 peopled by the sword and by pestilence, the titles of her magis- 
 trates suppressed, her senate dispersed, and her honors finally 
 levelled with the dust. The Exarchs who succeeded Narses in 
 the government of Italy, were more attentive to their own inte- 
 rests than to the prosperity of the country; and residing at 
 Ravenna then an almost impregnable fortress, abandoned Rome 
 to her own resources, and her edifices to the care of the citizens, 
 or rather to their own solidity. The misery and humiliation of 
 Rome lasted near three hundred years ; that is, from the invasion 
 of Italy, or rather the taking of Rome by Belisarius in the year 
 536, to the coronation of Charlemagne in 800. 
 
 During the disastrous interval which elapsed between these 
 eras, Rome was oppressed by the Exarchs, threatened by the 
 Lombards, wasted by pestilence, and visited at once by all the 
 plagues employed to chastise guilty nations. The few sur- 
 viving Romans who remained to lament the ruin of their coun- 
 try, and like spectres glide about its abandoned streets, now 
 turned into the sepulchres of the inhabitants, had too much 
 employment in finding the means of supporting their miserable 
 existence to think of repairing or maintaining the vast edifices 
 raised in prosperous times. During so many ages of war and 
 despair, of public and private dejection, how extensive must 
 have been the ravages of desolation! how many pillars must 
 have fallen from their bases ! how many temples sunk under their 
 own weight! how many lofty fabrics subsided in the dust! Even 
 
248 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 after these ages of war, when Rome became the head of a new 
 empire, and the kings and princes of the western world hstened 
 with respect to the oracles of her Pontiff; when some share of 
 opulence probably accompanied her reviving dignity, and Em- 
 perors and sovereigns hastened to enrich her sanctuaries with 
 their gifts, — yet no re-animating ray visited the pompous ruins 
 spread over her hills, where the taste and spirit of her an- 
 cestors still slumbered undisturbed, and temples, curiae, and 
 forums, whose names and destination had long been forgotten, 
 were left tottering in decay, or extended in heaps on the earth. 
 A transient gleam of prosperity is not sufficient; a long season 
 of tranquillity and encouragement is requisite to call forth and 
 mature the varied powers of the mind that produce taste and 
 enterprize. But Rome Avas far from enjoying this tranquillity ; 
 threatened sometimes by the Greeks, and sometimes by the Sa- 
 racens ; alternately oppressed by her barbarian Emperors, and 
 disturbed by her factious nobles; and at last convulsed by the 
 unnatural contests between her Emperors and her Pontiffs, she 
 assumed by turns the appearance of a fortress besieged or 
 taken; her edifices, sacred and profane, ancient and modern, 
 were demolished Avithout distinction, and her streets and churches 
 were strewed with the bodies of her inhabitants. 
 
 To these bloody divisions succeeded the absence of the Popes, 
 and their very impolitic residence at Avignon, at a distance from 
 the seat of their spiritual authority and temporal dominion, 
 which in the mean time Avas abandoned to the intrigues of a do- 
 mineering nobility, and the insurrections of a factious populace. 
 During this period, the reign of anarchy, the fcAv monuments of 
 antiquity that remained Avere turned into forts and castles, and 
 disfigured with towers and Gothic battlements; the country Avas 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 249 
 
 overrun with banditti, and the city itself convulsed and defiled 
 with perpetual scenes of violence and bloodshed. At length the 
 Pontitl" returned to his See; and after some struggles a regular 
 government was established. Sixtus Quintus, a wise but arbitrary 
 prince, suppressed anarchy : the arts began to revive, architec- 
 ture was restored, a Leo rose, and Rome, even ancient Rome, 
 might have expected the restoration of her magnificence and 
 the return of her Augustan glory. But such an expectation 
 would have been ill-founded ; the restoration of the arts itself, 
 while it contributed to the splendor of modern Rome, was the 
 last blow that fate gave to the magnificence of the ancient city. 
 While new temples and new palaces arose, the remains of an- 
 cient edifices disappeared ; and posterity still laments that the 
 Perizonium was demolished, the Coliseum deformed, and the 
 Pantheon plundered, to supply materials or ornaments for the 
 Parnesian and Barbarini palaces, and the new Basilica of St. 
 Peter. With regard to the latter, the man of taste and the lover 
 of antiquity, as Gibbon justly observes, will, perhaps, pardon 
 the theft; as it contributed to the triumph of modern genius, 
 and the decoration of the noblest edifice that human art has 
 ever erected. But to plunder the venerable monuments of Im- 
 perial greatness, in order to deck the mansions of two upstart 
 families, was a sacrilege; and, as such, justly reprobated by the 
 satirical lampoons of the indignant Romans. 
 
 We have now, I think, enumerated the principal causes of 
 the destruction of Rome, very different from those assigned by 
 the poet; and if to the neglect of Emperors, the indifference of 
 magistrates, the rapacity of individuals, the rage of contesting 
 factions, and the empoverishment of the city, we add, the silent 
 stroke of inoiddeving Time, we shall have the list of destruction cpm- 
 
 VOL, I. K K 
 
250 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 plete. The few edifices that still survive, owe their existence either 
 to the protecting hand of religion that warded off, or to their own 
 solidity which defied, the blow levelled at their majestic forms 
 by age or indifference. Some instances of the former have 
 already been given; of the latter, besides the tombs of Cestius 
 and Metella, the columns of Trajan and Antoninus stand most 
 magnificent examples. These superb columns are of the same 
 materials, the finest white marble, of nearly the same height, 
 about one hundred and twenty feet, and of the same decora- 
 tions; a series of sculpture, winding in a spiral line from 
 the base to the capital, representing the wars and triumphs of 
 the two Emperors. They formerly supported each a colossal 
 statue of Trajan and Antoninus ; these have long since disap- 
 peared, while St. Peter and St. Paul have been substituted in 
 their stead, though very improperly, as the bloody scenes and 
 profane sacrifices pourtrayed on the shafts beneath, are ill- 
 adapted to the character and pacific virtues of these Apostles. 
 However, notwithstanding the impropriety of the situation, the 
 picturesque effect is the same, especially as the modern statues 
 are probably of the same size, and if we may judge by medals, 
 placed in the same attitude as the ancient. 
 
 To the question which I have here attempted to answer, one 
 more may be added. It may be asked, what is now become 
 of the rich materials, the bronze, the marbles employed in the 
 statues, pillars, and decorations, of this vast scene of grandeur? 
 The bronze has always been an object of plunder, or of theft, 
 and of course equally coveted by the rapacious barbarians, and 
 the impoverished Romans. It was, therefore, diligently sought 
 for, and consequently soon disappeared. Besides, though em- 
 ployed with profusion, and even with prodigality, yet its sum 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 251 
 
 total was definite and easily exhaustible, particularly when every 
 research was made to discov(!r, and every method used to obtain 
 it. The quantity of granite and marble that decorated ancient 
 Rome is almost incalculable. If we may be allowed to judge 
 by the marble plan which I have alluded to more than 
 once, we should be inclined to imagine that its streets Avere 
 lined with porticos, and formed an endless succession of colon- 
 nades. The shafts of the pillars w ere generally formed of one 
 single piece or block, whatsoever their height might have been, 
 an advantage equally calculated to secure them against the 
 influence of time, and the attacks of wanton destruction. Of 
 statues, if we may believe the elder Pliny, the number was 
 equal to that of inhabitants, and seems, in fact, to have been 
 sufficient not only to fill the temples, basilicae, and curiae, but 
 to crowd the streets, and almost people the porticos and public 
 walks. These statues, when of marble, fortunately for their 
 duration, were beheld by all parties with indifference; and when 
 not immediately within the verge of warlike operations, allowed 
 to stand undisturbed on their pedestals, or fall unsupported and 
 forgotten into the mass of rubbish around them. That this was 
 the case we may conclude, from the places where several beau- 
 tiful statues were found, such as the baths of Titus and Cara- 
 calla, where they stood for ages exposed to depredation, and 
 were only concealed in latter times by the fall of the buildino-s 
 around them. The pillars met with a different fate; some were 
 conveyed by the Exarchs to Ravenna, others transported by 
 Cliailemagne beyond the Alps, and thousands have been em- 
 ployed in the churches and palaces of the modern city. In 
 reality, ancient Rome has been for twelve centuries a quarry 
 ever open and never exhausted ; and the stranger, as he wanders 
 through the streets of the modern city, is astonished to see, 
 
 K K 2 
 
252 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 sometimes thrown neglected into corners, and often collected 
 round the shops, or in the yards of stone-cutters, shafts, capi- 
 tals, parts of broken cornices, and, in short, blocks of the 
 finest marbles, all dug out of the ruins in the neighbourhood. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding the waste and havoc of these materials, 
 made in the manner I have described, and by the causes I have 
 enumerated, I am inclined to think that the far greater portion 
 still remains buried amidst the ruins, or entombed under the 
 edifices of the modern city. The columns carried away to 
 ornament other cities, bear a small proportion to the numbers 
 left behind, and of these latter, the number employed in the 
 decorations of buildings now existing, will appear a very shght 
 deduction fi'om the remains of ancient magnificence, when we 
 consider that the great churches at Rome,* that is, all the 
 buildings where there is any display of pillars or marbles, were 
 erected in the days of Roman glory, before the invasion of Italy, 
 and the wars of the Goths. Their ornaments, therefore, were 
 not drawn from the ruins of ancient Rome : they are monuments 
 of its glory, but have not shared its plunder. 
 
 The elevation of the ground over the whole extent of the city, 
 amounting in general, to the height of from fourteen to twenty 
 feet, and the many little hills, which have risen in various parts 
 of the Campus Martins, especially on the sites of theatres and 
 baths, and other extensive buildings, sufiiciently shew what a 
 mass of ruin lies extended below. In fact, few excavations have 
 been made in this artificial soil, without terminating in some 
 
 * St. Peter's excepted. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 253 
 
 interesting discovery; and it has frequently happened, that in 
 sinking a well, or opening the foundations of a private house, 
 the masons have been stopped by the interposing bulk of a 
 pillar or an obelisk. One of the latter was discovered thrice, 
 and as often buried again in rubbish, before it was raised by 
 Benedict XIV. The pavement of the Forum is well known to 
 exist about fourteen feet under the present level, and several of 
 the thermee remain still unopened. The portico of Trajan lies 
 near twenty feet under the foundations of churches and con- 
 vents. What treasures of art may not be contained in these 
 mines, hitherto unexplored ! What beautiful forms of sculp- 
 ture and architecture may still slumber in this immense ceme- 
 tery of ancient magnificence ! Should the Roman government, 
 when the present convulsions shall have subsided into tran- 
 quillity, acquire energy and means adequate to such an under- 
 taking, it may perhaps turn its attention to an object so worthy 
 of it, and the classic traveller may entertain the fond hope, that 
 the veil which has so long concealed the beauties of the ancient 
 city, may be, in part, removed, and some grand features of 
 Roman magnificence once more exposed to view. At least the 
 materials of many a noble structure may reappear, many a 
 long fallen column he taught again to seek the skies, and man v 
 a god, and many a hero, emerge from darkness, once more 
 ascend their lofty pedestals, and challenge the admiration 
 of future generations. But Avhen these pleasing hopes mav be 
 realized, it is difficult to determine. Rome and all Italy crouch 
 under the iron sway of the First Consul ; how he intends to 
 model her various governments, and on whom he may hereafter 
 bestow her coronets, crowns, and Uaras, is a seciet confined to 
 his own bosom : in the mean time, public confidence languishes, 
 every grand undertaking is suspended, and it would be absurd to 
 
254 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 squander away expence and labour in recovering statues and 
 marbles, which may be instantly ordered to Paris, to grace the 
 palace of the Tuilleries, or enrich the galleries of the Louvre. 
 The genius of the ancient city must still brood in darkness over 
 her ruins, and wait the happy day, if such a day be ever destined 
 to shine on Italy, when the invaders may be once more driven 
 beyond the Alps, all barbarian influence be removed, and 
 the talents and abilities of the country left to act with all their 
 native energy.* 
 
 * A medal was found not long ago, I think near the Capitol, with the form of a 
 hero ctowned With ladrel, extending a Sword, with the inscription, " Adseftori 
 Libertatis," on one side, and Rome seated, with the inscription, " Roma resurges," 
 on the reverse. May Italy ere long have cause to strike a similar medal. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 255 
 
 CHAP. Xli. 
 
 MODERN ROME. 
 
 ITS POPULATION — ^STREETS — SaUARES— FOUNTAINS — ^TOMBS — 
 PALACES. 
 
 The modern city, as the reader must have already observed, 
 possesses many features of ancient Rome. The same roads 
 lead to her gates from the extremities of Italy — the same 
 aqueducts pour the same streams into her fountains — the same 
 great churches that received the masters of the world under the 
 Flavian and Theodosian lines, are still open to their descendants 
 — and the same venerable walls that enclosed so many temples 
 and palaces, in the reign of Aurelian, still lift their antique towers 
 around the same circumference. Within this circumference, Mo- 
 dern Rome lies extended, principally on the plain, and scattered 
 thinly over the hills, bordered by villas, gardens, and vineyards. 
 Its population amounted to one hundred and eighty, or perhaps, 
 two hundred thousand souls previous to the French invasion, which, 
 by empoverishing the country, and severing from the capital one 
 of its richest provinces, is said to have diminished the uuiuber of 
 inhabitants by twenty, or even thirty thousand. The streets 
 
256 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 are well built and well paved, narrower, in general, than those 
 in London, and Avider than those in Paris ; but as the houses are 
 not too high, they are light and airy, often very long and 
 straight, and not unfrequently terminating with an obelisk, a 
 fountain, or a church. Such are the three streets which diverge 
 from the Porta, or rather Piazza del Popolo ; the Corso, anciently 
 the Via Lata, terminating at the foot of the Capitol ; the Strada 
 del Babuino, ending in the Piazza de Espagna, and the Strada 
 de Ripetta, anciently the Via Populi, leading to the Tiber, not 
 to speak of the Strada Giulia, Strada della Longara, and 
 many others. 
 
 The houses are of stone, but plastered, as at Vienna, Berlin, 
 and other transalpine cities; the plaster, or rather stucco, is ex- 
 tremely hard, and in a climate so dry may equal stone in soli- 
 dity and duration. Hence its general use in Italy, and its reputa- 
 tion even among the ancients, who employed it not only in ordi- 
 nary buildings, but even sometimes in porticos and temples, as 
 we find in the temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome, supposed by 
 many to be a remnant of the Republican iera, though more 
 probably erected, or rather rebuilt, in the Augustan age. To 
 us, stucco, however excellent in its kind, seems only a bad imi- 
 tation of stone, and conveys an idea of poverty incompatible 
 with grandeur or beauty. Before I enter into details, I shall 
 premise, in order to give the reader a general idea of Modern 
 Rome, that it contains forty-six squares, five monumental pillars, 
 ten obelisks, thirteen fountains, twenty-two mausoleums, one 
 hundred and fifty palaces, and three hundred and forty-six 
 churches ! Of these objects most have some peculiar feature, 
 some appropriate beauty, to ;ittract the attention of the 
 traveller.. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 257 
 
 SQUARES. 
 
 Of the squares, the most remarkable for its extent, is the Piazzo 
 Navona, which gradually rose on the ruins of the Circus Agonalis. 
 It is adorned by the handsome church of S. Agnes, and refreshed 
 by three fountains, decorated with statues. One of these foun- 
 tains (that in the middle of the square) is much admired. It was 
 designed and erected by Bernini : four figures, representing four 
 rivers, recline on a vast rock ; on its top stands an Egyptian obe- 
 lisk ; from its hollow sides rushes a perpetual stream. These three 
 fountains are so managed during the heats of August, as to inun- 
 date the whole square on Saturdays and Sundays, and afford a 
 new and refreshing exhibition to the Roman gentry, who parade 
 along in their carriages, and to the common people, who collect 
 around in crowds, to behold the briUiant and enlivening scene. 
 
 The Piazza d'Espagna, so called, from the palace of the Spanish 
 embassy, is large, supplied by a fountain, and adorned with seve- 
 ral handsome buildings, but particularly by the noble flight of 
 marble steps that ascends from it to the obelisk, church, and 
 square, Delia Trinita di' Monti. From the balustrade that ter- 
 minates this staircase above, and borders the latter square, and 
 indeed from the square itself, which runs along the brow of the 
 Pincian hill, there opens a delightful view of Rome, Monte 
 Mario, and the Janiculum. 
 
 Of the Piazza Colonna I have already spoken ; that of Monte 
 Citorio communicates with it. This square is extremely beau- 
 tiful. Its principal ornament is the Curia Innocenziana, a 
 palace erected by Innocent XII. for the accommodation of the 
 
 VOL. I. L L 
 
258 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 courts of justice, and the offices belonging to them. Its magni- 
 tude, materials, and architecture, are equally admired. 
 
 OBELISKS. 
 
 Opposite the grand entrance of the Curia, stands an Egyptian 
 obelisk, remarkable for its antiquity, its workmanship, and its 
 destination. It is said to have been erected by Sesostris at Helio- 
 polis; it is covered, where not damaged, with hieroglyphics, exe- 
 cuted with uncommon neatness, and was employed by Augustus 
 as a gnomon, to an immense dial formed by his direction, in 
 the Campus Martins. After having been overturned, shattered, 
 and buried in the ruins, it was discovered repeatedly, and as 
 often neglected and forgotten, till Benedict XIV. rescued it 
 from oblivion, and the late Pope, Pius VI. repaired and placed 
 it in its present situation. It is the third obelisk which that 
 pontiff had the satisfaction of re-erecting, to the great ornament 
 and glory of the city. In fact, these obelisks are peculiar to 
 Rome, and seem to form ornaments singularly appropriate, as 
 they connect its present beauty with its ancient power and 
 magnificence. When Ave recollect that their antiquity precedes 
 the origin of regular history, and disappears in the obscurity of 
 the fabulous ages, that they are of Egyptian workmanship, the 
 trophies, and perhaps the records of her ancient monarchs, we 
 cannot but" look upon them as so many acknowledgments and 
 testimonials of her submission and homage, to the mistress of 
 the Universe. When we are informed, that whatever their 
 elevation or magnitude may be, they are of one solid block of 
 granite, and yet have been transported over many hundred 
 miles of land or sea, we are astonished at the combination of 
 skill and boldness, that marks such an undertaking, and sur- 
 passes the powers of modern art, though apparently so much 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 259 
 
 improved in mechanical operations. It is then particularly 
 incumbent on the sovereign to preserve and to recover as many 
 as possible of these illustrious monuments of Egyptian skill and 
 Roman majesty. How many obelisks adorned the city in 
 ancient times, it would be difficult to determine. Some confine 
 the number to sixteen ; I should be inclined to enlaree it. 
 Ho^vever, if there were no more, more than one-half have been 
 restored, as ten now stand in different squares of the city. 
 Another, which has been too much shattered in its fall, for re- 
 erection, was employed in the reparation of that which stands 
 in the Piazza del Monte Citorio. It is probable that others 
 may hereafter be discovered in the neighbourhood of an Im- 
 perial sepulchre, or amidst the ruins of a circus ; in the 
 decoration of which edifices they seem to have been principally 
 employed. The most remarkable of the obehsks are, that in 
 the Piazza del Popolo, that in the centre of the colonnade of 
 S. Peter's, and that which stands in the square of St. John. 
 The one before S. Peter's stood in the circus of Nero, that is, 
 a few hundred paces from its present site, and was removed 
 from (he side to the front of the church, by Sixtus Quintus. It 
 is a single piece of granite, about eighty feet in length, and with 
 its pedestal, and the cross that tops it, rises to the height of an 
 hundred and thirty-six feet. The two others anciently adorned 
 the Circus Maximus, and were thence transported by the above- 
 mentioned spirited pontiff to their present situations. That in 
 the Piazza del Popolo is ninety feet in height, including its 
 cross and pedestal. That erected near St. John Lateran is the 
 highest of the obelisks, and including the ornaments of the 
 fountain, on which, as on a pedestal, it reposes, it has an eleva- 
 tion of at least one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the 
 pavement. The monument in London surpasses the obelisks 
 
 L l2 
 
260 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 in elevation, but its shaft is not a single pifice, nor is it of 
 Egyptian granite, nor is it inscribed with hieroglyphics. 
 
 FOUNTAINS. 
 
 From the obelisks we pass to the fountains, because they arc 
 generally employed in the decoration of the same squares, and 
 sometimes united, as in the Piazza Navona, and at St. John 
 Lateran, to set each other off to more advantage. Three only 
 of the ancient aqueducts now remain to supply modern Rome, 
 and yet such is the quantity they convey, and so pure the 
 sources whence they derive it, that no city can boast of such 
 a profusion of clear and salubrious water. Artificial fountains, 
 in general, are little better than ornamented pumps, which some- 
 times squirt out a scanty thread of water, and sometimes distil 
 only a few drops into a muddy bason below. Those on a 
 greater scale, now and then, throw up a column, or pour a 
 torrent, as occasion may require, on certain state days, or for 
 the amusement of some distinguished personage; and then sub- 
 side till a fresh supply enables them to renew the exhibition. 
 Such are, in general, the fountains and cascades that adorn 
 public walks and palace gardens, and such the so much cele- 
 brated water-works cf St. Cloud, Marli, and Versailles, inven- 
 tions which can be considered only as pretty play things, cal- 
 culated, like a theatrical decoration, to act an occasional part, 
 and furnish a momentary amusement, but too insignificant to be 
 introduced into the resorts of the public, or the walks of princes, 
 where Ave have reason to expect solid magnificence, founded 
 on nature and reality. How far the ancient Romans carried 
 this species of magnificence, we may easily judge, when we 
 consider that they had, undoubtedly, both the taste and the 
 materials requisite for it. Their aqueducts, which supplied 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 261 
 
 them with water, even to prodigahty, still remain striding across 
 vallies, penetrating mountains, and sweeping over immense 
 plains, till they meet in the heart of the city. The edifice where 
 they united, and whence they separated to Avater their destined 
 quarters, was called Castellum, and if we may judge by that 
 which remains, the Porta Maggiore, was generally a fabric of 
 great solidity and magnificence, and, as appears from the ruins of 
 one discovered near the church of St. Ignatius, sometimes cased 
 with marble, and adorned with marble pillars. The number of 
 these towers anciently, as well as of the fountains springing from 
 them, must have been prodigious, as Agrippa alone, if we may 
 believe Pliny,* erected one hundred and thirty of the former, 
 and opened one hundred and five of the latter, and adorned 
 them with three hundred brass or marble statues. Strabo says, 
 that such a quantity of water was introduced into the city, that 
 whole rivers seemed to flow through the streets and down the 
 sewers, so that every house had its pipes and cisterns, suflScient 
 to furnish a copious and perpetual supply. The modern Ro- 
 mans, though inferior in numbers and opulence to their 
 ancestors, have shewn equal taste and spirit in this respect, and 
 deserve a just eulogium, not only for having procured an abund- 
 ance of water, but for the splendid and truly Imperial style in 
 which it is poured forth for public use in the different quarters 
 of the city. Almost every square has its fountains, and almost 
 every fountain has some particularity in its size, form, or 
 situation, to attract attention. The three principal, however, 
 will suffice to give the reader an idea of the variety and beauty 
 of such edifices, especially as I have already described one or 
 
 * Lib. XXXVI, 16. 
 
262 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 two, and ma}' hereafter call his attention to others, too intimately 
 connected with the objects around them, to be taken as de- 
 tached pieces. 
 
 The Fon tana Felice, in the Piazzedei Termini on the Virminal 
 Mount, deserves to be mentioned first, because first erected. 
 It is supplied by the Aqua Claudia, drawn from the Alban or 
 rather Tusculan hills, and conveyed to Rome by channels under, 
 and aqueducts above ground ; some of which are ancient, some 
 modern. It discharges itself through a rock under an Ionic 
 arcade, built of white stone, and cased with marble. It is 
 adorned by several gigantic statues, the principal of which re- 
 presents Moses striking the rock, whence the water issues. On 
 the one side, Aaron conducts the Israelites ; on the other, Gideon 
 leads his chosen soldiers to the brink of the torrent: below, four 
 lions, two of marble and two of basaltes, ornamented with 
 hieroglyphics, hang over the vast bason as if in haste to slake 
 their thirst. The restoration of this noble fomitain, and the or- 
 naments which grace it, are owing to the spirit of Sixtus Quin- 
 tus, and now it bears the name of Aqua Felice, and is supposed 
 to be, as anciently, peculiarly wholesome. 
 
 Nearly opposite, but beyond the Tiber, and on the brow of 
 the Janiculum, rises an arcade supported by six pillars of gra- 
 nite. Three torrents, rushing from the summit of the hill, tum- 
 ble through the three principal arches of this arcade, and fill an 
 immense marble bason with the purest water. They then roll 
 down the side of the mountain, turn several mills as they de- 
 scend, and supply numberless reservoirs in the plain, along the 
 sides of the river, and even beyond it, in the Campus Martius. 
 The lofty situation of this fountain renders it a conspicuous ob- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 263 
 
 ject to all the opposite hills. The trees that line its sides, and 
 wave to the eye through its arches, shed an unusual beauty 
 around it; and the immense bason which it replenishes gives it 
 the appearance, not of the contrivance of human ingenuity, 
 but almost the creation of enchantment. 
 
 In the Piazza di Trevi (in Triviis) on a rough, vast, and 
 broken rock, rises a palace, adorned with Corinthian pilasters, 
 and supported in the centre by vast Corinthian pillars. It is 
 ornamented with statues, representing the salubrity and fertiliz- 
 ing powers of the waters, while the beneficent Naiad herself 
 holds a conspicuous place among them, and seems to behold 
 with complacency the profusion and glory of her springs. In 
 the middle of the edifice, between the columns, under a rich 
 arch stands Neptune on his car, in a majestic attitude, as if 
 commanding the rocks to open before, and the waters to swell 
 around him. Two sea-horses, conducted by two Tritons, drao- 
 the chariot of the god, and, emerging ti-om the caverns of the 
 rock, shake the brine from their manes, while the obedient Avaves 
 burst forth in torrents on all sides, roar down the clefts of the 
 crag, and form a sea around its base. In the heats of summer 
 they overflow their usual limits, fill the whole marble concavity 
 round the fountain, and rise to a level with the square, where, 
 after sun-set, the inhabitants of the neighbouring streets assem- 
 ble to enjoy the united freshness of the waters and the evening. 
 Such is the celebrated Fontana di Trevi, the noblest work of the 
 kind in Rome, and probably the most magnificent fountain in 
 the universe. The bason itself is of white marble, and the vast 
 enclosure around it is flagged and lined with marble of the same 
 color, A flight of steps of white marble leads doAvn to this 
 bason; and to prevent accidents, a chain, supported by large 
 
264 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 blocks of granite, encloses the exterior border. I know that the 
 architectural part of the Fontana di Trevi, and indeed of the 
 Aqua Paola and Aqua Felice, has been severely criticized, and, 
 in candor, I must acknowledge, that the criticism is in many 
 respects well founded : for instance, it must be allowed that the 
 elegance and lightness of the Corinthian or Ionic is ill-adapted to 
 the simplicity of a fountain, where Doric would be more appro- 
 priate, because plainer and more solid. It will be admitted also, 
 that these edifices are broken and subdivided into too many little 
 parts, a process in architecture, as in painting and poetry, dia- 
 metrically opposite to greatness and sublimity. In fine, it can- 
 not be denied, that the superstructure is in all three too massive 
 for the order, and too much encumbered with coats of arms and 
 other supernumerary decorations. Yet, notwithstanding these 
 faults, and they are not inconsiderable, while the spectator sits 
 on the marble border of the bason, and contemplates the eleva- 
 tion of the columns, the magnitude of the edifices, the richness 
 of the materials, the workmanship of the statues, and, above 
 all, the deluge of waters poured round him, the defects are lost 
 in the beauties, and criticism subsides in admiration. 
 
 TOMBS. 
 In ancient times the bodies of the deceased were deposited 
 without the walls, generally along the most frequented roads, 
 where their tombs arose at intervals and under various forms, 
 shaded by cypresses and other funereal plants, and exhibited on 
 both sides a long and melancholy border of sorrow and mor- 
 tality. Few persons were allowed the honor of being buried in 
 the city or Campus Martins, and of the few tombs raised within 
 its space during the republic, one only remains in a narrow 
 street, the Macello di Corvi, near the Capitoline hill. It is of a 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 265 
 
 solid but simple form, and inscribed with the name of Caius 
 Publicius Bibulus, and as the only one of that name mention- 
 ed in history, is distinguished by no brilliant achievement, but 
 only represented as a popular tribune, it is difficult to discover 
 the reason of the honorable exception. Under the Emperors, 
 certain illustrious persons were allowed tombs in the Campus 
 Martins, or its neighbourhood, and these monumental edifices 
 at length swelled into superb mausoleums, and became some of 
 the most majestic ornaments of the city. Of these the two 
 principal were the sepulchres of Augustus and of Adrian, and 
 although both belong to the ruins of ancient Rome, and have 
 already been alluded to, yet as they still form, even in their 
 shattered and disfigured state, two very conspicuous features in 
 the modern city, the reader may expect a more detailed 
 description. 
 
 The best, and indeed the only ancient account of the former 
 monument, denominated by way of eminence the Mausoleum, is 
 given by Strabo, who represents it as a pendent garden, raised on 
 lofty arches of white stone, planted with evergreen shrubs, and 
 terminating in a point crowned with the statue of Augustus. 
 ' In the vault beneath, lay the remains of the Emperor and his 
 family ; at the entrance stood two Egyptian obelisks ; around 
 arose an extensive grove cut into Avalks and alleys. Of this 
 monument, the two inner walls, which supported the whole 
 mass, with the vast vaults under which reposed the imperial 
 ashes still remain ; a work of great size, solidity, and eleva- 
 tion. Hence it is seen at a considerable distance, and con- 
 tinues still a grand and most striking object. The platform on 
 the top was for a considerable time, employed as a garden, and 
 
 VOL. I. M M 
 
266 CLASSICAL TOUia 
 
 covered, as originally, with shrubs and tlowers. It is now con- 
 verted into a sort of amphitheatre, and surrounded with seats 
 and benches, where the spectators may enjoy in safety the 
 favorite amusement of bull-baiting. We attended at this ex- 
 hibition, in which not dogs only, but men act as assailants, and 
 we thought it, although conducted with as much precaution and 
 even humanity as it is susceptible of, too dangerous to amuse 
 persons not accustomed to contemplate hair-breadth escapes. 
 This edifice owes its preservation to its solidity. It has been 
 stripped of its marble casing, of its pilasters, and its internal 
 and external decorations ; it has been at the disposal of num- 
 berless individuals, and is still I believe private property. 
 Such a monument, after having escaped so many chances of 
 ruin, ought not to be neglected. Government should purchase 
 it, should disengage it from the petty buildings that crowd 
 around it and conceal its form and magnitude; should case it 
 anew with Tiburtine stone, and devote it under some form or 
 other to public utility. Thus, some portion of its former splendor 
 might be restored, and its future existence secured, as far as 
 human foresight can extend its influence. 
 
 The Emperor Adrian, who delighted in architecture and magni- 
 ficence, determined to rival, or more probably to surpass, the 
 splendor of Augustus's tomb, and erected a mausoleum which 
 from its size and solidity was called Moles Adriani. As the 
 Campus Martius was already crowded with tombs, temples, and 
 theatres, he selected for its site a spot on the opposite bank of 
 the river, at the foot of the Vatican Mount; where on avast 
 quadrangular platform of solid stone, he raised a lofty circular 
 edifice, surrounded by a Corinthian portico, supported by forty- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 267 
 
 eight pillars of a beautiful kind of white marble tinged with 
 purple. The tholus or continuation of the inner wall, formed 
 a second story above, adorned with Ionic pilasters ; a dome 
 surmounted by a cone of brass crowned the whole fabric, and 
 gave to it the appearance of a vast and most majestic temple. 
 To increase its splendor, four statues occupied the four corners of 
 the platform, forty-eight adorned the portico and occupied the 
 intervals between the columns ; an equal number rose above the 
 entablature, and a proportional series occupied the niches of 
 the second story between the pilasters. It is superfluous to 
 observe that the whole fabric was cased with marble, or that 
 the statues were the works of the best masters ; and it is al- 
 most unnecessary to add, that this monument was considered 
 as the noblest sepulchral edifice ever erected, and one of the 
 proudest ornaments of Rome, even when she shone in all her 
 imperial magnificence. Yet the date of its glory was transitory ; 
 its matchless beauty claimed in vain the attention of absent 
 Emperors ; the genius of Adrian, the manes of the virtuous 
 Antonini, names so dear to the Roman world, pleaded in vain 
 for its preservation. The hand of time daily defaced its orna- 
 ments, the zeal of Honorius stripped it of its pillars, and the 
 military skill of Belisarius turned it into a temporary fortress. 
 The necessity of such a protection became, from this period, 
 daily more visible. Threatened first by the Lombards, then by 
 the German Emperors, and in the progress of time by its own 
 lawless nobles, the government saw the necessity of securing a 
 permanent post, and found none more defensible b}^ situation 
 and by structure than the Moles Adriani, which commands the 
 river, and from its internal solidity might defy all the ancient 
 means of assault. The parts therefore that remain, are such as 
 
 M M 3 
 
668 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 were adapted to this purpose ; that is, part of its basement or 
 platform, and almost the whole of the central circular buildings 
 though stripped of its marbles, its pillars, its statues, and its 
 cone. The marbles disappeared at an early era, having been 
 employed in other buildings, or converted into lime and used as 
 mortar. The pillars were transported to St. PauFs, without the 
 gates, and still adorn its nave ; the statues, despised in a bar- 
 barous age, were tumbled to the ground, wedged into the wall, 
 or hurled as missile weapons against the assailants. Some few 
 have been discovered in the neighbourhood ; the greater part 
 may possibly still lie buried amidst the ruins. The brazen cone 
 or pine-apple stands in a garden, enclosed in one of the squares 
 of the Vatican palace; and the sarcophagus, in which the 
 ashes of Adrian were deposited, is said to be one of the two now 
 placed in the Corsini chapel of St. John Lateran. In the 
 course of time various bastions, ramparts, and outworks, have 
 been added to the original building, several houses for soldiers, 
 provisions, magazines, &c. are raised around, and some very 
 considerable edifices containing spacious apartments, erected 
 in the solid mass of the sepulchre itself. It takes its present 
 name, Castel S. Angelo, from its destination (for it is in fact 
 the citadel of Rome) and from a bronze statue of an angel stand- 
 ing with extended wings, on its summit. 
 
 While speaking of these superb monuments of ancient magni- 
 ficence, it is impossible not to mention the Septizonium of Seve- 
 rus, and regret its destruction, as it had survived the disasters 
 of Rome, and suffered less during the barbarous ages than most 
 other public edifices. It stood at the foot of the Palatine Mount, 
 Hear the Clivus Scauri, that is opposite Mount Celius, and the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 269 
 
 spot where now stands the convent of St. Gregory. It was 
 built in the form of a pyramid and consisted of seven porticos 
 or temples, supported by various pillars of the finest marbles, 
 rising one above the other and towering to a prodigious eleva- 
 tion. Three stories remained entire at so late a period as the 
 reign of Sixtus Quintus, who ordered the pillars to be conveyed 
 to St. Peter's, which he was then building, and the remaining 
 part of the structure to be demolished. It would be unjust and 
 ungrateful to accuse a Pope, to whom the world owes the dome 
 of St. Peter's, of want of taste ; or to suspect a sovereign, to 
 whom modern Rome is indebted for half her beauty, of indif- 
 ference to her antiquities : yet we cannot but lament the loss of 
 the Septizonium, which . had resisted the agency of so many 
 destructive causes, and which, whether entire or in ruins, must 
 have presented a most astonishing display of architectural gran- 
 deur. But, alas ! all the monuments of Roman magnificence, 
 all the remains of Grecian taste, so dear to the artist, the histo- 
 rian, the antiquary, all depend on the will of an arbitrary sove- 
 reign, and that will is influenced too often by interest or vanity, 
 by a nephew, or a sycophant. Is a new palace to be erected 
 for the reception of an upstart family ? The Coliseum is stripped 
 to furnish materials. Does a foreign minister wish to adorn the 
 bleak walls of a northern castle with antiques ? The temples of 
 Theseus or Minerva must be dismantled, and the works of Phi- 
 dias or Praxiteles torn from the shattered frieze. That a 
 decrepit uncle, wrapped up in the religious duties of his 
 age and station, should listen to the suggestions of an inter- 
 ested nephew is natural, and that an oriental despot should un- 
 dervalue the master-pieces of Grecian art is to be expected, 
 though in both cases the consequences of such weakness are 
 much to be lamented ; but that the minister of a nation, famed 
 5 
 
270 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 for its knowledge of the language, and its veneration for the 
 monuments of ancient Greece, should have been the prompter and 
 the instrument of these destructions is almost incredible. Such 
 rapacity is a crime against all ages and all generations ; it de- 
 prives the past of the trophies of their genius and the title deeds 
 of their fame ; the present, of the strongest inducements to ex- 
 ertion, the noblest exhibitions that curiosity can contemplate; 
 the future, of the master-pieces of art, the models of imitation. 
 To guard against the repetition of such depFedations is the wish 
 of every man of genius, the duty of every man in power, and 
 the common interest of every civilized nation. 
 
 But to return. — Of the tomb of Cestius 1 have already spoken, 
 and of some without the walls I may speak hereafter. At pre- 
 sent we shall pass from the tombs of the ancient heroes of Rome 
 to the palaces of her modern nobles, which now rise thick 
 around them on all sides, and almost eclipse their faded 
 splendor. 
 
 In the first place, the reader must observe, that the appella- 
 tion of palace in Rome, and indeed in all the towns in Italy, is 
 taken in a much more extensive sense than that in Avhich we are 
 accustomed to employ it, and is applied not only to the resi- 
 dence of the sovereign, but to the mansions of the rich and the 
 noble of every description. It follows that many edifices bear 
 this name, which, in the eyes of an Englishman, would scarcely 
 seem to deserve it, and of course we may infer, that matiy 
 among the palaces of Rome do not perhaps merit the trouble of 
 a visit, and much less the honor of a description. I will venture 
 to add, that the far greatest part of these mansions are less remark- 
 able for their external architecture, than for their size and inte- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 271 
 
 rior decorations ; a remark, which I think applicable in particu- 
 lar to the pontifical palaces of the Quirinal, (Monte Cavallo) and 
 the Vatican. The external walls of these palaces are plastered, 
 while the window and door cases with the angles and cornices 
 only, appear to be of stone, Even the ornaments of the most 
 splendid, such as the Barberini, Odescalchi, and Farnesi, are 
 confined to pilasters or half pillars ; a mode of decoration, rich 
 indeed and pleasing to the eye, but inferior in grandeur to the 
 detached column and pillared portico. Ornament, it is true, 
 must be subservient to utility, and in streets where space is 
 wanting, the open gallery and spacious colonnade must be re- 
 signed, and their place supplied by decorations more compact, 
 although less stately. However the extent and elevation of the 
 principal palaces may, perhaps, be considered a compensation 
 for the absence of grand architectural ornaments, as they un- 
 doubtedly give them a most princely and magnificent appearance. 
 At all events the spacious courts and porticos within, the vast 
 halls and lofty apartments with the pillars, the marbles, the 
 statues, and the paintings that furnish and adorn them in such 
 profusion, place the Roman palaces on a level, or rather raise 
 them far above the royal residences of the most powerful princes 
 beyond the Alps. 
 
 Some of our English travellers complain of a want of neat- 
 ness and general cleanliness in these palaces. This com- 
 plaint may probably be well founded, but it is applicable to 
 most of the palaces on the continent as well as to those in 
 Italy; and we may range far and wide, I believe, before we 
 discover that minute and perpetual attention to cleanliness in 
 every apartment, and every article of furniture, which prevails 
 in every mansion in England, fiom ,the palace to the cottage, 
 and forms such a distinguishing feature of the national character. 
 
272 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 In this respect however the Romans are not inferior to the in- 
 habitants of Paris or Vienna, nor can a traveller, without 
 fastidious delicacy, find any very just cause of complaint. It 
 has been again objected to Roman palaces, that their magni- 
 ficence is confined to the state apartments, while the remaining 
 rooms, even those inhabited by the family itself, remain unfur- 
 nished, neglected, and comfortless. To this it may be answered, 
 that the words furniture and comfort convey a very different 
 meaning in northern and southern climates : in the former, the 
 object is to retain heat ; in the latter, to exclude it : the pre- 
 cautions taken for the one are diametrically contrary to those 
 employed for the other; and the carpeted floor, the soft sofa, the 
 well closed door, and the blazing fire, so essential to the comfort 
 of an Englishman, excite ideas of heat and oppression in the 
 mind of an Italian, who delights in brick or marble floors, cold 
 seats, windows, and doors, that permit a circulation of air; and 
 chimnies formed rather to ventilate than to warm the apartment. 
 Damask tapestry, hangings, paintings, and statues are it is 
 true confined in Italy, as in most other countries, to the state 
 rooms ; but the other parts of their houses did not appear to me 
 neglected ; and I think I have seen in the third or fourth stories 
 of the Braschi and Borghese palaces, ranges of apartments, 
 fitted up in a manner which even an Englishman would call neat 
 and almost elegant. Moreover, several palaces are inhabited 
 by families once opulent, but now reduced, and consequently 
 unequal to the expence of keeping such vast edifices in repair, 
 and of supporting the magnificence of many princely apartments. 
 The French invasion has considerably increased the number of 
 such distressed families, and occasioned the degradation of 
 many a noble mansion. The neglected and ruinous appearances 
 occasioned by such causes we may lament, but cannot censure. 
 To this cause of dilapidation we may add another, perhaps more 
 
THROUGH ITALY. ^n 
 
 effectual, and that is, the absence and total indifference of the 
 proprietors. It is a misfortune that some of the most superb 
 palaces and villas in Rome belong to families, now raised to 
 sovereign power. Thus the Palazzo Farnese is the property of 
 the King of Naples; that of Medici, of the Grand Duke of 
 Tuscany. Both these edifices have accordingly been plundered 
 of all their valuable ornaments, their marbles, their statues, their 
 paintings ; were abandoned to the care of a few half-starved ser- 
 vants, and are now scarcely preserved from falling into ruin. 
 The furniture of the Mediccan palace or villa was conveyed to 
 Florence, that of the Farnesian to Naples ; and they form in 
 both places the principal ornaments of the respective collections. 
 From the latter were taken the Hercules, and the celebrated 
 groupe called the Toro Farnese ; from the former, the Venus of 
 Medicis, I need mention no more. It is not my intention, nor 
 is it conformable to my general plan to describe in detail, the 
 beauties of every palace. To point out the principal features of 
 a few of the most celebrated edifices of this kind, will be fully 
 sufficient. 
 
 The Doria palace in the Corso presents three vast fronts; 
 contains a spacious court adorned with a public portico all 
 around. The staircase is supported by eight pillars of oriental 
 granite, and conducts to a magnificent galleiy that occupies the 
 four sides of the square court, and with several adjoining apart- 
 ments, is filled with pictures of the highest estimation. 
 
 The Palazzo Ruspoli is remarkable for its staircase, supposed 
 to be the noblest in Rome. It consists of tour flights, of thirty 
 steps each; each step consists of a single piece of marble near 
 ten feet long and more than two broad : it is adorned with 
 
 VOL. I. N N 
 
274 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 antique statues, and the walls of two noble galleries, to which it 
 conducts, are covered with pictures. 
 
 The Orsini palace owes the elevation which renders it re- 
 markable to the theatre of Marcellus, on whose foundation stones 
 and collected ruins it rises as on a lofty eminence. 
 
 The Palazzo Giustiniani stands on Nero's baths, and is 
 adorned with a profusion of statues and columns extracted from 
 their ruins. This collection, once reported to contain above 
 fifteen hundred antique figures, has I fear been much dimi- 
 nished since the commencement of the revolutionary war. 
 
 The Palazzo Altieri is a detached edifice forming a square, 
 and presenting four fronts all set off Avith architectural decora- 
 tions. Two courts, a handsome portico, and several noble 
 apartments, glowing with the rich tints of Claude Lorrain, em- 
 bellish the interior. 
 
 The fantastic architecture of the palace of Ciciapord, in which 
 Julio Romano seems to have allowed his talent to amuse itself in 
 singularity, may deserve a transient visit. 
 
 The residence of Christina Queen of Sweden, has given an 
 additional lustre to the Corsini palace, remarkable in itself for 
 its magnitude, furniture, gardens, and superb librar}'. The 
 library with the vast collection of prints annexed to it, is said 
 to have once contained nem' four hundred thousand tolunies. 
 The garden runs along and almost reaches the summit of the 
 Janiculum. Both the library and the garden are open to the 
 public who may range through the apartments of the one, and 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 275 
 
 as they wander over the other, enjoy a complete view of Rome 
 extended over the opposite hills ; a view as classical as it is beau- 
 tiful, because remarked and celebrated in classic times. 
 
 Juli jugera pauca Martialis, 
 
 Hortis Hesperidum beatiora, 
 
 Longo Janiculi jugo recumbunt. 
 
 Lati coUibus imminent recessus ; 
 
 Et planus modico tumore vertex 
 
 Coelo perfruitur sereniore : 
 
 Et, curvas nebula tegente valles. 
 
 Solus luce nitet peculiaii : 
 
 Puris leniter admoventur astris 
 
 Celsae culmina delicata villae. 
 
 Hinc septem dominos videre montes, 
 
 Et totam licet aestimare Romam. Martial, lib. ii. ep. XLii. 
 
 Opposite is one of the Farnesian palaces which, though in 
 the middle of the Strada Lungara, is sometimes called Villa 
 Farnesiana. It has in reality something of the appearance of 
 a villa, as its gardens are extensive and border the banks of the 
 Tiber. The interior, though unfurnished and neglected (it 
 belongs to the King of Naples) yet still interests, and will con- 
 tinue to attract the curious traveller, till the splendid scenes 
 which the genius of Raffaello has shed on the walls and cielings 
 shall vanish, and the Loves and Graces that now smile and 
 sport on all sides, melt away and lose their airy forms in the 
 damp vapors that too often brood around them. 
 
 From the villa we naturally pass to the Palazzo Farnese 
 This edifice occupies one side of a handsome square, adorned 
 with two fountains. It was planned, and its construction 
 directed by the best architects, and principally by Michael 
 Angelo : its apartments were painted by the first artists, and 
 
 NN 2 
 
276 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 chiefly by Domenichino and Annibal Caracci. It is of im- 
 mense size and elevation, and on tlie whole is considered as the 
 noblest palace in Rome. Twelve massive pillars of Egyptian 
 granite support the vestibule; three ranges of arcades rise 
 one above the other round a spacious court, and suites of 
 noble apartments open at each door and follow each other 
 in endless succession. The traveller contemplates so much mag- 
 nificence with surprize ; and delight but he learns with regret that 
 it is founded upon wanton depredation: the Farnesian palace 
 shines with the plundered fragments of the Coliseum. 
 
 The Palazzo Costaguti, indifferent in every other respect, 
 has the walls of its apartments adorned by the hands of the first 
 masters; Albano, Domenichino, Guercino, &c. have all dis- 
 played their matchless powers in its decorations, and thus given 
 it a reputation to which its size and architecture could never 
 have raised it. Some share in a similar advantage, added to a 
 vast magnitude, distinguishes the Palazzo Mattel. 
 
 The Palazzo Borghese is a superb edifice remarkable for its 
 extent, its porticos, its granite columns, its long suite of apart- 
 ments, its paintings and antiques ; and still more distinguished 
 by a certain well-supported magnificence, that pervades every 
 part, and gives the whole mansion, from the ground floor to the 
 attic, an appearance of neatness, order, and opulence. It may 
 be added with justice, that the illustrious family to which the 
 palace belongs has been long and deservedly celebrated for 
 taste and magnificence, directed by order and regularity. — 
 " Maneant ea fata Nepotes!" 
 
 In an antichamber of the Palazzo Spada, stands the cele- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 277 
 
 brated statue of Pompey ; at the foot of Avhich Caesai* is sup- 
 posed to have fallen. The history of this statue deserves to be 
 inserted. It Avas first placed, during Pompey 's life, in the 
 senate house which he had erected ; and when that edifice was 
 shut up, it was raised by order of Augustus, on a double arch or 
 gateway of marble, opposite the grand entrance of Pompey's 
 theatre. It was thrown down or fell during the convulsion of 
 the Gothic wars, and for many ages it lay buried in the ruins. 
 It was at length discovered, I believe about the beginning of 
 the seventeenth century, in a partition wall between two 
 houses. After some altercation, the proprietors of the two 
 houses agreed to cut the statue asunder, and divide the marble ; 
 when fortunately the Cardinal de Spada heard the circumstance, 
 and by a timely purchase, prevented the accomplishment of the 
 barbarous agreement, and the destruction of one of the most in- 
 teresting remnants of Roman antiquity. 
 
 Another danger awaited this statue, at a much later period, 
 and from an unexpected quarter. While the French occupied 
 Rome in the years 1798-99? &c. they erected in the centre of 
 the Coliseum, a temporary theatre, where they acted various 
 republican pieces for the amusement of the army, and the im- 
 provement, I fancy, of such Romans as might be disposed to 
 fraternize with them and adopt their principles. Voltaire's 
 Brutus, as may easily be imagined, was a favorite tragedy; and 
 in order to give it more effect, it was resolved to transport the 
 very statue of Pompey, at the feet of which the dictator had 
 fallen, to the Coliseum, and erect it on the stage. The colossal 
 size of the statue, and its extended arm, rendered it difficult to 
 displace it; the arm was therefore sawed off, for the conveyance, 
 and put on again at the Coliseum; and on the second re- 
 5 
 
278 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 moval of the statue, again taken off", and again replaced at the 
 Palazzo de Spada. So friendly to Pompey, was the republican 
 enthusiasm of the French! So favorable to the arts and antiqui- 
 ties of Rome, their Love of Liberty! 
 
 The Palazzo Barberini, besides its paintings, its statues, and its 
 vast extent, possesses a noble library, which on certain days in 
 every week is open to the public ; a species of patriotic mag- 
 nificence, which compensates whatsoever architectural defects 
 critics may discover in the exterior of this palace. 
 
 I shall conclude this enumeration of palaces, with the Palazzo 
 Colonna, the residence of one of the most ancient and most dis- 
 tinguished families in Rome, ennobled by its heroic achievements, 
 and immortalized by the friendship and the verses of Petrarcha. 
 
 Gloriosa Colonna, in cui s'appoggia 
 Nostra speranza, e'l gran nome Latino, 
 Ch' ancor non torfe dal vero camino 
 L' ira di Giove per ventosa pioggia. 
 
 Sonetto X. * 
 
 The exterior of this mansion is indifferent ; but its extent, its 
 vast court, its gardens, and its furniture, are worthy the rank 
 and dignity of its proprietor. Its library is spacious and well 
 
 * The present Prince Colonna merits the title and supports the character of an 
 old Roman Senator. He raised and maintained a regiment against the invaders 
 of his country ; and when obliged to yield, he submitted with dignity, without 
 descending to any mean compliance. Though almost ruined by the exactions of 
 the French, and the subsequent injustice of the Neapolitan Government, and 
 obliged to sell, not only his pictures, but even the utensils of his kitchen, he yet 
 had the public spirit to present the Pope with a superb carriage and six horses, to 
 enable him to enter Rome with becoming dignity. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 279 
 
 filled, its staircase lined with statues, and its apartments filled 
 with paintings by the first masters; but its principal and charac- 
 teristic feature is its hall or rather gallery, a most magnificent 
 apartment of more than two hundred and twenty feet in length, 
 and forty in breadth, supported by Corinthian pillars and pilas- 
 ters of beautiful yellow marble (giallo antico), and adorned on 
 the sides and vaulted ceiling with paintings and gildings inter- 
 mingled ; so that it presents on the whole, a scene of splendor 
 and beauty seldom equalled even in Italy.* 
 
 * Of the Roman palaces, many of which have been erected by the nephews or 
 relations of different Popes, Gibbon speaks with admiration, but severe censure. 
 " They are," says he, (ch. 71), " the most costly monuments of elegance and ser- 
 vitude; the perfect arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture have been prosti- 
 tuted in their service, and their galleries and gardens are decorated with the most 
 precious works of antiquity, which taste or vanity has prompted them to collect." 
 The judgment of the historian seems, on this occasion, as indeed on a. few others, 
 to be biassed by the prejudices of the philosophist. To raise and enrich favorites, 
 whatever may be their recommendation to the notice of the sovereign, at the ex- 
 pence of the country is criminal, but unfortunately too common in all govern- 
 ments ; in ours, free and republican as it is, as well as in others conducted on 
 more arbitrary and selfish principles. Whether these favourites be the bastards of 
 kings or the nephews of popes, is a matter of little consequence to the public ; 
 for though in the latter the scandal be less, yet the inconvenience and the ex- 
 pence are the same; in point of dignity, the former have no superiority to claim, 
 and as for talents the nephews of different pontiffs may, I believe, enter the lists 
 against most royal favorites without having auy reason to blush at the comparison. 
 
280 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 PONTIFICAL PALACES: THE LATE KAN — THE QUIRINAL — THi; 
 VATICAN. 
 
 We now proceed to the three pontifical palaces. The La- 
 teran stands close to the patriai'chal church of that nanje, and 
 was appointed for the residence of the Bi>hops of Rome, at the 
 same time as the adjoining Basilica was converted into a church 
 by Constantine.* It had fallen into ruin, and was rebuilt by 
 Sixtus Quintus. A part only is now reserved for the accom- 
 modation of the pontiff', when he comes to perform service at 
 St. John's. The main body of the building was turned into 
 an hospital for the reception of two hundred and fifty orplians, 
 by Innocent XI. It presents three fronts of great extent and 
 simplicity, and strikes the eye by its magnitude and elevation. 
 
 The Quirinal palace (Monte Cavallo), is become, from the 
 
 * Juvenal mentions egregius Lateranorum cedes, as surrounded bj the bloody 
 cohorts of Nero, who put the proprietor to death, confiscated his estates, and 
 seized his palace. It continued at the disposal of the Emperors till the reign of 
 Constantine. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 281 
 
 loftiness and salubrity of its situation, the ordinary, or at least 
 the summer residence of the Roman pontiff. Its exterior 
 presents two long fronts plain and unadorned ; the court within 
 is about three hundred and fifty feet long and near two hun- 
 dred wide. A broad and lofty portico runs along it on every 
 side and terminates in a grand staircase, conducting to the 
 papal apartments, to the gallery and the chapel, all on a grand 
 scale, and adorned with fine paintings. In the furniture and 
 other decorations the style is simple and uniform, and such as 
 seems to become the grave, unostentatious character of a chris- 
 tian prelate. The adjoining gardens are spacious, refreshed 
 by several fountains, and shaded by groves of laurel, pine, 
 ilex, and forest trees. In the recesses, arbours and alleys, 
 formed by these trees, are statues, urns, and other antique orna- 
 ments, placed with much judgment, and producing a very pic- 
 turesque effect. In other respects the gardens are in the same 
 st3'le as the edifice, and exhibit magnificence only in their 
 extent. The square before, or rather on the side of this palace, 
 is remarkable for an Egyptian obelisk, erected in it by the late 
 Pope, and still more so for two statues, representing each a 
 horse held by a young man, which stand on each side of the 
 obelisk, and give the hill the appellation of Monte Cavallo. 
 They are of colossal size and exquisite beauty ; are supposed to 
 represent Castor and Pollux, although the inscription says, 
 Alexander and Bucephalus, and acknowledged to be the works 
 of some great Grecian master. They were transported by Con- 
 stantine from Alexandria, and erected in his baths which stood 
 in the neighbourhood; and from thence they were conveyed by 
 order of Sixtus Quintus to their present situation. The erection 
 of the obelisk between these groupes has been censured by some 
 as taking from their effect and oppressing them by its mass: but 
 as it is admitted that they were made not to stand insulated but 
 VOL. I. o o 
 
282 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 probably to adorn the side or angle of some edifice, perhaps a 
 
 mausoleum, and even, as appears from the roughness of their 
 
 back parts, to touch the wall, and seem as if springing from it, 
 
 their connection with the obelisk must be considered as an im- | 
 
 provement and an approximation to their original attitudes and 
 
 accompaniments. 
 
 The Vatican hill retains its ancient appellation, and gives 
 it to the palace and church which adorn its summit and 
 declivity. Whether this appellation took its origin from the 
 influence of some local divinity, which was supposed to mani- 
 fest itself in omens and predictions, more frequently on this 
 spot than elsewhere, as Aulus Gellius imagines ; or whether as 
 Varro, whom he quotes, asserts, the god himself takes his title 
 from the first efforts of the infant voice at articulation, over 
 which it seems he presided, is a matter of little importance ; from 
 which we pass to the recollection of the pleasing imagery of 
 Horace, so well known to our early years : 
 
 Ut paterni 
 
 Fluminis ripae, simul et jocosa 
 Redderet laudes tibi Vaticani 
 
 Montis imago. Od. xx. Kb. i. 
 
 But I know not whether these sportive ideas have not, in the 
 minds of most of my readers, given way to impressions less pleas- 
 ing; and whether the accents of the echo have not been drowned 
 in the thunders of the Vatican, that have rolled through so 
 many ages and resounded so long and so tremendously in every 
 English ear. But be that as it may, the Vatican has long 
 ceased to be the forge of spiritual lightnings, the grand arsenal 
 of ecclesiastical weapons, 
 
 " Sacri armamentaria coeli," 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 283 
 
 and ages have now elapsed since the roar of its thunders has 
 disturbed the repose of the universe, or perplexed monarchs 
 fearful of change. The Vatican is now the peaceful theatre of 
 some of the most majestic ceremonies of the pontifical court ; 
 it is the repository of the records of ancient science, and the 
 temple of the arts of Greece and Rome. Under these three 
 heads, it commands the attention of every traveller of curiosity, 
 taste, and information. The exterior, as I have already hinted 
 when speaking of palaces in general, does not present any 
 grand display of architectural magnificence, nor even of uni- 
 formity and symmetrical arrangement: a circumstance easily ac- 
 counted for, when we consider that the Vatican was erected by 
 different architects at different ei'as, and for very different pur- 
 poses, and that it is rather an assemblage of palaces than one 
 regular palace. It was begun about the end of the fifth, or the 
 beginning of the sixth century, and rebuilt, increased, repaired, 
 and altered by various pontiffs, from that period down to the 
 latter years of the reign of the late Pope, Avhen the French in- 
 vasion put an end, for some time at least, to all improvements. 
 All the great architects, whom Rome has produced, were, in 
 their days, employed in some part or other of this edifice, and 
 Bramante, Raflaello, Fontana, Maderno, and Bernini, succes- 
 sively displayed their talents in its augmentation or improve- 
 ment. Its extent is immense, and covers a space of twelve 
 hundred feet in length and a thousand in breadth. Its ele- 
 vation is proportionate, and the number of apartments it con- 
 tains almost incredible. Galleries and porticos sweep around, 
 and through it, in all directions, and open an easy access 
 to every quarter. Its halls and saloons are all on a great 
 scale, and by their magnitude and loftiness alone give an 
 idea of magnificence truly Roman. The walls are neither 
 
 o o 2 
 
284 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 wainscotted nor hung AA'ith tapestry : they are adorned, or ra- 
 ther animated by the genius of RafFaello and Michael Angelo. 
 The furniture is plain, and ought to be so: finery would be 
 misplaced in the Vatican, and sink into insignificance in the 
 midst of the great, the vast, the sublime, which are the predo- 
 rninating features, or rather, the very genii of the place. The 
 grand entrance is from the portico of St. Peter's, by the Scala 
 Regia, the most superb staircase perhaps in the world, consisting 
 of four flights of marble, steps, adorned with a double row of 
 marble Ionic pillars. This staircase springs from the equestrian 
 statue of Constantine, which terminates the portico on one side; 
 and whether seen thence, or viewed from the gallery, leading 
 on the same side to the colonnade, forms a perspective of singular 
 beauty and grandeur. 
 
 The Scala Regia conducts to theSala Regia or regal hall, a room 
 of great length and elevation which communicates by six large 
 folding doors with as many other apartments. The space over 
 the doors, and the interval between, are occupied by pictures in 
 fresco representing various events, considered as honourable or 
 advantageous to the Roman see. Though all these pieces are 
 the works of great masters, yet one only is considered as pecu- 
 liarly beautiful; and that is the triumphal entrance of Gregory 
 XI. into Rome, after the long absence of the pontiffs from the 
 capital duVing their residence at Avignon. This composition is 
 by Vasari, and may perhaps be considered as his master-piece. 
 The battle of Lepanto, in which the united fleet of the Italian 
 powers, under the command of Don John of Austria and the 
 auspices of Pius V. defeated the Turks, and utterly broke their 
 naval power, till then so terrible to Europe, is justly ranked 
 among the most glorious achievements of the Roman pontiffs, 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 285 
 
 and forms a most appropriate ornament to the Sala Regia. 
 Unfortunately the skill of the artist was not equal to the subject, 
 and the grandeur and life of the action is lost in undistinguish>- 
 able confusion below, and above in wild allegorical representa- 
 tions. The massacre of St. Bartholomew, if the memory of such 
 an atrocious and most horrible event must be preserved, would 
 be better placed at Paris where it was perpetrated, than at 
 Rome; and in the palace of the Louvre, where it was planned,' 
 
 than in the Vatican. . I'.r'fF 
 
 9 ■ 
 
 Occidat ilia dies aevo, nee postera credant 
 
 Sfficula: nos certe taceamus, et obruta multa 
 ' Nocte tegi nostrae patiamur crimina gentis. 
 
 - _ ■ '\li 
 
 This was the patriotic and benevolent wish of a worthy Frencfe 
 magistrate (the chancellor L'Hopital), and in this wish every hu- 
 mane heart will readily join. The humiliation of the Emperors 
 Henry IV. and Frederic Barbarossa, ought not to be ranked 
 among the trophies of the Holy See. It reflects more disgrace 
 on the insolent and domineering pontiffs, who exacted such marks 
 of submission, than on the degraded sovereigns who found them- 
 selves obliged to give them. At all events, it does not become 
 the common father of christians to rejoice in the humiliation of 
 his sons, or to blazon the walls of his palace with the monuments 
 of their weakness or condescension. 
 
 At one end of the Sala Regia is the Cappella Paolina, so 
 called, because rebuilt by Paul III. The altar is supported by 
 porphyry pillars, and bears a tabernacle of rock crystal: the 
 walls are adorned Avith various paintings, filling the spaces be- 
 tween the Corinthian pilasters. The whole however though 
 rich and magnificent, looks dark a.nd cumbersome. 
 
286 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Towards the other end of the hall, on the left, a door opens 
 into the Cappella Sistina built by Sextus IV. and celebrated for 
 its paintings in fresco by Michael Angelo and his scholars. 
 These paintings, which cover the walls and vaulted cielings, are 
 its only ornaments. The famous " Last Judgment" of Michael 
 Angelo, occupies one end entirely. Its beauties and defects are 
 well known, and may be comprized in one short observation : 
 that its merit consists more in the separate figures than in the 
 arrangement or effect of the whole. The upper part glows with 
 brightness, angels, and glory: on the right, ascend the elect; 
 on the left, the wicked blasted with lightning tumble in con- 
 fiised groupes into the flaming abyss. The Judge stands in the 
 upper part, supported on the clouds and arrayed in the splendor 
 of heaven : he is in the act of uttering the dreadful sentence. 
 Go, ye accursed into everlasting fire; his arms are uplifted, 
 Ijis countenance burns with indignation, and his eyes flash light- 
 ning. Such is the Messiah in Milton, when he puts forth his 
 terrors and hurls his bolts against the rebel angels ; and so is 
 he described by an eloquent French orator, when he exercises 
 his judgments on sinners at the last tremendous day. Similar re- 
 presentations, either in prose or verse, in language or in paint- 
 ing, are sublime and affecting ; but I know not, whether they be 
 suitable to the calm, the tranquil, the majestic character of the 
 awful Person who is to judge the world in truth and injustice. 
 Nothing in fact is so difficult as to pourtray the features, atti- 
 tudes and gestures of the Word incarnate. He was not without 
 feeling, but he was above passion. Joy and sorrow, pain and 
 pleasure, could reach his soul, for he was man, but they could not 
 cloud its serenity or shake its fortitude, for he was God. Bene- 
 volence brought him from heaven, it was therefore his prevailing 
 sentiment, and may be supposed to influence his countenance and 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 287 
 
 shed over his features a perpetual expression of benignity. To 
 obey or to suspend the laws of nature was to him equally easy ; a 
 miracle cost him no effort, and excited in him no surprize. To 
 submit or to command, to suffer or to triumph, to live or to 
 die, were alike welcome in their turns, as the result of reason 
 and obedience. To do the will of his Father was the object of 
 his mission, and every step that led to its accomplishment, 
 whether easy or arduous, was to him the same. What poet 
 shall dare to describe such a character? What painter presume 
 to trace its divine semblance? No wonder then that the greatest 
 masters should have failed in the bold attempt ; and that even 
 Michael Angelo by transferring, hke Homer, the passions of 
 the man to the divinity, should have degraded the awful object, 
 and presented to the spectator the form, not of a God, but of an 
 irritated and vindictive monarch ? If Michael Angelo has failed 
 we can scarcely hope that other painters can succeed; and ac- 
 cordingly we find few, very few representations of the Saviour, 
 on which the eye or the imagination can rest with satisfaction. 
 The divine infants of Carlo Dolce are, it must be acknowledged, 
 beings of a superior nature that seem to breathe the airs and 
 enjoy at once the innocence and the bloom of paradise ; and his 
 Saviow of the World, in the act of consecrating the bread and 
 win'e, is a most divine figure, every feature of whose seraphic 
 face speaks compassion and mercy. 
 
 Love without end, and without measure, grace. 
 
 Milton in. 142. 
 
 But love and mercy are not the only attributes of this sacred 
 Personage : justice and hohness accompany his steps, and cast 
 an awful majesty as a veil around him, and these grand accom- 
 paniments of the Godhead are sought for in vain, in the mild, 
 the soft, I had almost said, the effeminate figures of Carlo 
 
288 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Dolce. Four, I think, I have seen of a happier touch, and more 
 elevated description. One is in the King of Prussia's gallery in 
 Sans Souci, at Potsdam, and represents Christ in the act of 
 raising Lazarus; and three in the Palazzo Justiniani, at Rome, 
 In one, Christ restores life to the son of the widow at Naim ; 
 in another, he multiphes the loaves for the crowd in the desert ; 
 in the third, he gives sight to a blind man. The three last, I 
 think, by Annibal Carracci. In all these noble paintings, warm 
 benevolence, compassion, and power unconscious of exertion, 
 mark the features and attitudes of the incarnate God, and give 
 at least a distant and feeble glimpse of his majestic demeanor. : 
 
 »'''But to proceed. Opposite the Cappella Sistina,a folding door 
 opens into the Sala Ducale, remarkable only for its size and sim- 
 plicity. Hence we pass to the Loggie di Raffaello, a series of 
 open galleries, in three stories, lining the three sides of the court 
 of St. Damasus. These are called the galleries of Rat- 
 faello, because painted by that great master, or by his scholars 
 under his direction. The first gallery in the middle story is the 
 only one executed by Raffaello himself, or to speak more 
 correctly, partly by him and partly by his scholars under his 
 inspection, and not unfrequently retouched and corrected by 
 his hand. In the thirteen arcades that compose this wing of the 
 gallery, is represented the History of the Old and part of the New 
 Testament; beginning with the Ci-eation, and concluding with 
 the Last Supper. The plan, the arrangement, the ornaments of 
 these celebrated pieces, are in general great and beautiful ; the 
 fancy and expression oftentimes rise to the grand and even to 
 the siiblime. Some critics have ventured to find fault with the 
 execution in detail, and the coloring has been censured fre- 
 quently. The first compartment represents the Eternal Father, 
 with afms and feet expanded, darting into chaos, and reducing 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 28» 
 
 its distracted elements into order, merely by his motion. This 
 representation is much admired, particularly by French con- 
 noisseurs, and if we may credit tradition, astonished Michael 
 Angelo himself, who is said to have accused Raffaello of having 
 borrowed the figure of the Eternal from the Sistine chapel ; from 
 this chapel the latter artist was then excluded by the express di- 
 rection of the former, who, it seems, feared either his criticism or 
 genius. The figure of the Eternal thus represented, may be 
 poetical and sublime, even as the Jupiter of Homer, but (si 
 verbo audacia detur) it excites no admiration, and deserves 
 little praise. In fact, if it be difficult to represent the Son of 
 God who " became man" and " dwelt amongst us," without 
 impairing the dignity of his sacred person, and degrading 
 his majestic form, what means can the painter employ, what 
 art can he call into play, to pourtray with becoming magni- 
 ficence the Eternal himself, the model of beauty, the grand 
 archetype of perfection, " who dwelleth in light inaccessdble, 
 whom no mortal hath seen or can see ?" 
 
 It is true that the prophet Daniel has introduced the Al- 
 mighty in a visible form, and under the emphatical appellation 
 of the " Ancient of days" ventured, with the guidance of the 
 heavenly spirit, to trace a mysterious and obscure sketch of the 
 Eternal. " While I beheld," says the prophet, " thrones were 
 placed : then the Ancient of days took his seat : his garment 
 was shining as snow : the hair of his head as the purest wool. 
 His throne was raging tlames : his wheels, consuming fire. A 
 torrent blazing and impetuous rolled before him : thousands of 
 thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten 
 thousand waited in his presence. He sat as judge and the 
 
 VOL. I. p p 
 
290 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 books were opened." In this description, one only circum- 
 stance connected with the person of the divinity is mentioned. 
 The prophet seems to refrain with reverential awe from such 
 a subject, and expatiating on the garments, the throne, the 
 ministering spirits, leaves the indescribahle form to the imagina- 
 tion, or rather to the religious terror of the reader. Painters 
 and poets would do well to imitate this holy discretion, and to 
 refrain from all attempts to embody the Eternal mind, which by 
 confining the omnipotent energies of pure spirit within a human 
 form, disfigure the original of all that is lovely in the heavens 
 and on the earth, by marking it with the perishable features of 
 human decrepitude. Besides, in the picture now before us, it 
 is not the Wo7'd of the Creator tliat composes the disorder 
 of chaos. No ; his hands and feet are employed to separate the 
 warring elements and confine them within their respective bound- 
 aries. This is an idea bordering upon the burlesque and per- 
 fectly unworthy the lofty conceptions of Rafiaello. How differ- 
 ent the sentiment conveyed in the sublime language of the 
 scripture. No effort, no action even, was requisite. Chaos 
 stood ready to obey his will, and nature arose at his word. 
 " He said, let Light Be, and Light Was ! — He spake and they 
 were made : he commanded, and they were created." 
 
 To the encomiums passed in general on the decorations of 
 these galleries, I need not add that the intermediate orna- 
 mehts, such as the basso relievos which are supposed to be 
 antiques taken from the halls of the different thermae, and the 
 arabesques which separate and grace the different compart- 
 ments, are much and justly admired. From one of the galleries 
 a door opens into the Caraere de Raffaello. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 291 
 
 The Camere di RafFaello are a range of halls, totally unfur- 
 nished and uninhabited. As the Avails from the floor are 
 covered with figures, furniture could only conceal their beau- 
 ties ; and the busy hands of inhabitants, it is feared, might 
 damage the delicate tints or nicer features of some of these in- 
 valuable compositions. They are therefore accessible only to 
 the visits of the traveller and the labors of the artist, and 
 are thus consecrated as a temple to the genius of painting and 
 the spirit of Raftaello. They have not however passed over 
 three centuries without losing some portion of their original 
 lustre, and paying tribute to the supreme decree that dooms 
 man and his works to decay and to death. But their degrada- 
 tion is not to be attributed to their innate frailty, or to the 
 unavoidable depredations of time, but to folly and perversity, or 
 rather to ignorance and stupidity. When the army of the 
 Emperor Charles V. took and plundered Rome, a guard was 
 established in these very halls, and fires were lighted in the 
 middle of each room for their accommodation. The conse- 
 quences of this deed, so characteristic of the barbarian horde of 
 the German Emperor, are sufficient to account for the faded 
 tints and obscure shades of many of these celebrated pieces, 
 without the influence of dampness, which cannot be supposed 
 to exist on a site so elevated, and in so dry a climate; or to the 
 guilt of negligence, so incompatible with that love of the arts, 
 and that princely encouragement of genius which has so long 
 been the predominant spirit of the Roman government. 
 
 Two antichambers, large and painted by great masters, lead to 
 the first hall called the Sala di Costantino, because adorned with 
 the grand achievements of that christian hero : and thence to the 
 second Camera, where the story of Heliodorus from the Macca- 
 
 pp 2 
 
292 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 bees, the interview of Pope Leo and Attila, the miracle of Bol- 
 sena, and above all, the deliverance of St. Peter from prison, at- 
 tract and charm the eye. Then follow the third Camera, with the 
 School of the Philosophers, the Debate on the Holy Sacrament, 
 the Judgment of Solomon, and Parnassus with its groves of 
 bays, Apollo, the Muses, and the poets Avhom they inspired : 
 and the fourth, with the Incendio del Borgo, the victory of 
 Pope Leo over the Saracens at Ostia, and the coronation of Char- 
 lemagne. All these are the work of Raffaello; all master-pieces in 
 their respective kinds ; standards of good taste and grand exe- 
 cution, and considered as the models of perfection. They pre- 
 sent all the difterent species of painting, all the varied combina- 
 tions of light and shade, all the singularities of attitude, all the 
 secrets of anatomy ; in short, all the difficulties and all the 
 triumphs of the art. Hence these apartments are considered as 
 the great school of painters, who flock from all parts to contem- 
 plate and to imitate the wonders of the pencil of Raffaello, and 
 catch, if possible, in this sanctuary of his genius, some spark of 
 his creative soul, some portion of his magic talent. It may 
 perhaps be asked, to which of these celebrated performances the 
 preference is given. The answer is difficult : for although these 
 paintings have been so long the subject of consideration, and 
 their merits so fully and so accurately understood and defined, 
 yet the masters of the art have not yet been able to fix their 
 relative excellence, or pronounce on their respective superiority. 
 Each in fact has some peculiar beauty, some characteristic 
 charm, which gives it a partial advantage, but cannot entitle it 
 to a general preference. Besides, each nation has its propen- 
 sities and every profession its bias, which imperceptibly in- 
 fluence their taste, even in the arts, and decide their opinions 
 perhaps in painting itself. Those who love to contemplate a 
 
 1 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 293 
 
 crowd of figures, all animated by strong emotions and en- 
 gaged in the tumult without being lost in the conftision of 
 some grand event ; and those who delight in forms strained by 
 some unexpected exertion and features distorted by some 
 sudden and imperious passion, will dwell with complacency, 
 like the German, on the victory of Constantine, or like the 
 Frenchman, on the conflagration of the Borgo. The Englishman 
 Avho delights in the calmer expression, and the tranquil scenes 
 of still life, stands in silence before the school of Athens, en- 
 joys the easy and dignified attitudes and the expressive but 
 serene countenances of the different philosophers. The Italian, 
 accustomed to the wonders of art and habituated from his 
 infancy to early discrimination, admires the two aerial youths 
 that pursue Heliodorus, and glide over the pavement without 
 seeming to touch its surface; dwells with rapture on the angelic 
 form that watches St. Peter and sheds a celestial light, a beam 
 of paradise, over the gloom of the dungeon — but, like the Eng- 
 lishman, he rests finally on the architectural perspective, the 
 varied but orderly groupes, the majestic figures, and all the 
 combined excellencies of the matchless School. Yet not- 
 withstanding the acknowledged superiority of this piece, the 
 theologian will turn with reverence to the awful assemblage 
 of divine and human beings, the union of holiness and learn- 
 ing in the saints of the Old and the doctors of the New 
 Testament; in short, of glory above and dignity below that 
 fill the picture opposite, and give a just representation of the sub- 
 lime objects of his profession. The poet, on the other hand, led 
 by classical instinct, fixes his looks on the haunts of his fancy, 
 feeds his eyes with the beauties of Parnassus, contemplates the 
 immortal bloom of Apollo and the Muses, and " holds high 
 converse with the illustrious dead." " Phccbo digna lociiti" 
 
294 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 The traveller, while occupied in examining the transcendent 
 beauties of the grand compositions, of which I have been speak- 
 ing, is apt to pass over unnoticed the lesser ornaments that cover 
 the vaults and fill up the intervals between the greater pieces 
 and the floor or arch. Yet many of these, and particularly the 
 basso relievos and medallions of the three first apartments by 
 Caravaggio, representing rural scenes and historical subjects, are 
 of exquisite beauty, and claim alike the attention of the artist 
 and of the spectator. To conclude my remarks, the Camere 
 di Raffaello, like all works of superior excellence, display their 
 beauties gradually, and improve on examination, in propor- 
 tion to the frequency of our visits and the minuteness of our 
 inspection. 
 
 After having traversed the court of St. Damasus, and its 
 adjoining halls and chapels, which may be considered as the 
 state apartments of the Vatican, the traveller passes to that part 
 of the palace which is called the Belvidere from its elevation 
 and prospect, and proceeding along an immeasurable gallery 
 comes to an iron door on the left that opens into the library of 
 the Vatican. A large apartment for the two keepers, the secre- 
 taries, or rather the interpreters, seven in number, who can 
 speak the principal languages of Europe and who attend for the 
 convenience of learned foreigners; a double gallery of two hun- 
 dred and twenty feet long opening into another of eight hun- 
 dred, with various rooms, cabinets, and apartments annexed, 
 form the receptacle of this noble collection. These galleries and 
 apartments are all vaulted and all painted with different effect, 
 because by painters of different eras and talents. The paintings 
 have all some reference to literature, sacred or prophane, and 
 take in a vast scope of history and mythology. The books are 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 295 
 
 kept in cases ; and in the Vatican the traveller seeks in vain for 
 that pompous display of volumes, which he may have seen and 
 admired in other libraries. Their number has never been accu- 
 rately stated, some confine it to two hundred thousand, others 
 raise it to four hundred thousand, and many swell it to a million. 
 The mean is probablj"^ the most accurate. But the superiority 
 of this library arises, not from the quantity of printed books, 
 but the multitude of its manuscripts which are said to amount 
 to more than fifty thousand. Some of these manuscripts of 
 the highest antiquity, such as that of Virgil of the fifth cen- 
 tury, a Greek Bible of the sixth, a Terence of the same date, 
 &c. &c. Avere taken by the French and sent to Paris. The 
 origin of this library is attributed by some to Pope Hilarius in 
 the fifth century ; but although it is probable, that long before 
 that period, the Roman church must have possessed a consider- 
 able stock of books for the use of its clergy, 3'et the Popes may 
 be supposed to have been too much occupied with the dan- 
 gers and the difficulties of the times, to have had leisure or 
 means necessary for the formation of libraries. However, that 
 several volumes had been collected at an early period seems 
 certain, as it is equally so, that Pope Zacharias augmented their 
 number very considerably about the middle of the eighth cen- 
 tury. Nicholas V. established the library in the Vatican and 
 enlarged the collection, while Calixtus III. is said to have en- 
 riched it Avith many volumes saved from the libraries of Con- 
 stantinople at the taking of that city. From this period, it con- 
 tinued in a regular progression, receiving almost ever year vast 
 additions, sometimes even of whole libraries (as those of the 
 Elector Palatine, of the Dukes of Urbino, of Queen Christina) 
 owing not only to the favor of the pontiff and various princes, 
 but to the well directed zeal of its librarians; many of whom 
 5 
 
296 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 have been men, both of eminent talents, and of high rank 
 and extensive influence. The French invasion, which brought 
 with it so many evils, and like a blast from hell checked the 
 prosperity of Italy in every branch, and in every province, not 
 only put a stop to the increase of the Vatican library, but by 
 plundering it of some of its most valuable manuscripts, lowered 
 its reputation, and undid at once the labor and exertion of 
 ages. The galleries of the library open into various apartments 
 filled with antiques, medals, cameos, &c. One in particular is 
 consecrated to the monuments of christian antiquity, and con- 
 tains a singular and unparalleled collection of instruments of 
 torture employed in the first persecutions ; as also the dyptics or 
 registers of communion of the great churches, monumental in- 
 scriptions, &c. a collection highly interesting to the ecclesiastical 
 historian and enlightened christian. 
 
 The grand gallery which leads to the library terminates in the 
 museum Pio-Clementinum. Clement XIV. has the merit of 
 having first conceived the idea of this museum and began to 
 put it in execution. The late Pope Pius VI. continued it on a 
 much larger scale and gave it its present extent and magnifi- 
 cence. It consists of several apartments, galleries, halls, and 
 temples, some lined with marble, others paved with ancient 
 mosaics, and all filled with statues, vases, candelabra, tombs, 
 and altars. The size and proportion of these apartments, their 
 rich materials and furniture, the well managed light poured in 
 upon them, and the multiplicity of admirable antiques collected 
 in them and disposed in the most judicious and striking arrange- 
 ment, fill the mind of the spectator with astonishment and de- 
 light, and form the most magnificent and grand combination 
 that perhaps has been ever beheld or can almost be imagined 
 
 I 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 297 
 
 Never were the divinities of Greece and Rome honored with 
 nobler temples, never did they stand oa richer pedestals ; never 
 were more glorious domes spread ovei" their heads, or brighter 
 pavements extended at their feet. Seated each in a shrine 
 of bronze or marble, they seemed to look down on a 
 crowd of votaries and to challenge once more the homage of 
 the universe; while kings and emperors, heroes a,nd philoso- 
 phers, drawn up in ranks before or around them, increased 
 their state and formed a majestic and becoming retinue. To 
 augment their number, excavations were daily made gjid gene- 
 rally attended with success ; and many a statue buried for ages 
 under heaps of ruins,, or Jost in the obscurity of some unfre- 
 quented desert, was rescued from the gloom of obhvion and 
 restored to the curiosity and admiration of the public. But the 
 joy of discovery was short, and the triumph of taste transitory ! 
 The French who in every invasion have been (he scourge of 
 Italy and have rivalled or rather surpassed the rapacity of the 
 Goths and Vandals, laid their sacrilegious hands on the un- 
 paralleled collection of the Vatican, tore its master-pieces 
 from their pedestals, and dragging them from their temples of 
 marble, transported them to Paris and consigned them to the 
 -dull, sullen halls, or rather stables, of the Louvre. But on this 
 subject I may perhaps enlarge hereafter. At present, 1 shall 
 proceed to point out some of the most remarkable among the 
 various apartments that constitute the Museum Pio Clemen- 
 tinum. 
 
 Three anti-chambers called, from their forms or the statues 
 that occupy them, II Vestibolo Quadrato, II Vcstibolo Hotondo, 
 and La Camera di Baccho, conduct the traveller to a court of 
 more than a hundred feet square, with a portico supported by 
 
 VOL. I. Q Q 
 
298 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 granite pillars and decorated by numberless pieces of antiquity. 
 Need I observe that the principal among these were once the 
 Apollo of Belvidere, the Laocoon, and the Antinous ; or that 
 the celebrated Torso once adorned one of the anti-chambers? 
 They are now at Paris, and their absence is not so much 
 supplied as rendered remarkable by the casts that now occupy 
 theii* places. 
 
 Next to this court is the Sala clegli Animali, a noble gallery 
 so called, because furnished with ancient statues of various 
 animals. This hall opens at one end into the Galleria delle 
 Statue, lined on both sides with exquisite statues both of 
 Greek and Roman sculpture, and terminated by three apart- 
 ments called the Sfanze delle Buste. The busts are placed 
 on tables or stands of ancient Avorkmanship, and generally 
 of the most beautiful and curious marble. Towards the op- 
 posite end of the gallery is an apartment called II Gabinetto, 
 adorned with all the charms that the united arts of paint- 
 ing, sculpture, and architecture could bestow upon it. Eight 
 pillars of alabaster support its roof; its floor is formed of an 
 ancient mosaic of the brightest colours, representing theatrical 
 exhibitions and rural scenery; its ceiling is painted and dis- 
 plays alternately historical events and mythological fables. 
 The spaces between the columns are filled each with a statue, 
 and the walls incrusted with ancient basso relievos formed into 
 pannels, and placed in symmetrical arrangement. Diiferent 
 antique seats, some of which are formed of blocks of porphyry, 
 and supported by feet of gilt brass, are ranged along the 
 sides. 
 
 An open gallery forms a communication between this cabinet 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 299 
 
 and the Stanze dellc Buste on one side, while on the other, a 
 small antichamber opens into the Sala degli AnimaU. Hence 
 through a noble pillared vestibule you enter the hall, or rather 
 the Temple of the Muses; an octagon supported by sixteen 
 pillars of Carrara marble with ancient capitals, paved with an- 
 cient mosaics in various compartments, representing actors and 
 theatrical exhibitions, separated and bordered by mosaic. The 
 vault above, and the great divisions of the sides, are adorned with 
 paintings of Apollo, the Muses, Homer and various Poets, Mi- 
 nerva, Genii, and other figures adapted to the general destina- 
 tion of the place. In the circumference below I'ose Apollo, Mne- 
 mosyne, and the Muses in the most conspicuous stations, and on 
 elevated and highly wrought ancient pedestals. The sages, 
 principal poets, and most celebrated orators of Greece stood in 
 order around, as waiting on the divinities who had inspired 
 them and dictated their immortal strains : — a noble assembly, 
 that might have honoured the laurelled pinnacles of Parnassus, 
 and not disgraced even the cloud-capt summits of Olympus. But 
 this assembly is now dispersed. The Muses have been forced 
 from the light and splendor of the Vatican, and are now im- 
 mured in a sepulchral hall, where a single window sheds through 
 a massive wall, a few scanty beams on their gloomy niches. 
 
 Next to the Stayize delle Muse, is the Sala Hotonda, a 
 lofty dome supported by ten columns of Carrara marble, 
 lighted from above and paved with the largest piece of 
 ancient mosaic yet discovered. In the middle is an immense 
 vase of porphyry of more than fifty feet in circumference: 
 around are colossal statues and busts resting on half pillars 
 of porphyry of vast magnitude. In fact, as this hall is ap- 
 propriated to colossal statues, all its forms and ornaments 
 
 Q q2 
 
800 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 partake in some degree of their gigantic proportions. From 
 this Rotonda, which is considered as the noblest hall in 
 the Museum, a ricli portal conducts into the Sala a Croce 
 Greca, supported by columns, paved with ancient mosaic, fur- 
 nisTied with statues and lined with basso relievos. One ob- 
 ject here naturally attracts attention. It is a vast sarco- 
 phagus, formed with its lid of one block of red porphyry, 
 beautifully ornamented in basso relievo with little infant Cu- 
 pids employed in the vintage, and bordered with tendrils and 
 arabesques. It once contained the ashes of Constantia the 
 daughter of Constantine the Great, and stood for ages in her 
 mausoleum near the church of St. Agnes, Avithout the Porta 
 Pia or Nomcntana, and was lately transported thence to the 
 Museum. If it really contained the remains of this princess, 
 it is difficult to conceive what motive could induce the Pope 
 to consent to the removal of the body, and thus seem to authorize 
 such a violation of the rights of the dead. This removal took 
 place under Alexander IV. who converted the mausoleum into 
 a church, and ordered the body of the Princess to be deposited, 
 as that of a saint, under the altar; a motive which without doubt 
 removes all imputation of guilt from the deed, though it would 
 have been more prudent, as well as more respectful, to allow 
 the body to remain undisturbed in the tomb to which it had 
 been consigned by the hands of a father. 
 
 This latter hall opens on a double staircase, raised on twenty- 
 two pillars of red and white granite: its steps are marble, its 
 balustrade bronze. The middle flight conducts down to the 
 Vatican library : the two other lead to the Galleria de Con- 
 ddabri, a long gallery divided into six compartments, separated 
 from each other by columns of rich marbles. The furni- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 301 
 
 lure of this gallery consists in various Candelabra of different 
 kinds, all of exquisite workmanship and of the finest marbles, so 
 numerous as to have given its peculiar denomination. With 
 these are intermingled vases, columns, Egyptian figures, tablets, 
 tombs, tripods, and statues, which may have been discovered 
 since the other apartments were filled, or could not perhaps be 
 placed to advantage in any of the other classes. 
 
 At the end of this long suite of apartments, a door opens 
 into the Galleria de Quadri, containing a collection of pic- 
 tm-es by the principal masters of the different Italian schools. 
 Though several of these pieces have a considerable degree of 
 merit, yet they are inferior to a thousand others in Rome, and 
 can excite little or no interest in the mind of a spectator who 
 has just passed through such a series of temples, and has been 
 feasting his eyes with the most perfect specimens of ancient 
 sculpture. To this disadvantage, another may be added, arising 
 from the immediate neighbourhood of the unequalled perform- 
 ances of Raffaello, before Avhich most other compositions, how- 
 ever great their merit or extensive their fame, lose their splendor 
 and sink into obscurity. However, a gallery of pictures, 
 though certainly not necessary in the Vatican, may yet produce 
 a good effect, as under the patronage and active encouragement 
 of government, it may gradually vmite on one spot, the fine 
 specimens now dispersed over Italy, and by bringing the rival 
 powers of the two sister arts of painting and sculpture into 
 contact, concentrate their influence, and eventually promote 
 their perfection. 
 
 As the traveller returns from these galleries, he finds on the 
 left, before he descends the abovementioned staircase, a circular 
 
302 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 temple of marble, supported by Corinthian pillars and covered 
 with a dome. In the centre, on a large pedestal, stands an 
 antique chariot with two horses in bronze. This temple though 
 on a smaller scale yet fi'om its materials, form and proportions, 
 appeared to me one of the most beautiful apartments of the 
 Museum, and cannot fail to excite admiration. 
 
 Such is in part the celebrated Museum Pio Clemejitinum, 
 which in the extent, multiplicity, and beautiful disposition 
 of its apartments, far surpasses every edifice of the kind, 
 eclipses the splendor of the gallery of Florence, once its 
 rival, and scorns a comparison with the Parisian Museum, 
 whose gloomy recesses have been decorated with its plunder. 
 The design of this Museum was first formed, as I have already 
 observed, and the court, portico, and gallery allotted to it, and 
 fitted up in part, by Pope Ganganelli (Clement XIV.) ; but the 
 design was enlarged, and all the other halls and apartments 
 were erected and furnished by Pius VI. the late pontiff. It 
 would therefore be unbecoming, and indeed ungrateful, to turn 
 from the Vatican, without paying a just tribute of praise to the 
 memory of these princes, Avho in times of distress, when their 
 income was gradually diminishing, found means to erect such a 
 magnificent temple to taste, to the genius of antiquity, and to 
 ihe loveliest and most engaging of the arts. They deserve to 
 have their statues erected at the grand entrance of the Museum, 
 and the lovers of the Arts would readily agree in the propriety 
 of inscribing on the pedestal, 
 
 " Quique sui memores, alios fecere merendo." 
 
 In this account of the V^atican I have purposely avoided 
 details, and confined my observations to a few of the prin- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 303 
 
 cipal and most prominent features, as my intention is not to 
 give a full description of this celebrated palace, which would, 
 in fact, form a separate volume ; but merely to awaken the 
 curiosity and attention of the traveller. Of the pictures and 
 statues I may perhaps speak hereafter. At present I shall 
 content myself with referring to the well-known work of the 
 Abate Winkelman, who speaks on the subject of statues with 
 the learning of an antiquary, the penetration of an artist, and 
 the rapture of a poet. 
 
S04 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. XIV 
 
 CHURCHES — GENERAL OBSERVATIONS — ST. CLEMENT S — ST. PETER 
 IN VINCULIS — ST. MARTIN AND ST. SYLVESTER — ST. LAURENCE 
 — ST. JOHN LATERAN : WITH ST. PAUL AND OTHER PATRI- 
 ARCHAL CHURCHES. 
 
 -T ROM the palaces we naturally pass to the churehes, which 
 form the peculiar glory of modern Rome, as the temples seem 
 to have been the principal ornaments of the ancient city. On 
 this subject, as on the preceding article, I think it best to begin 
 by a few general observations, the more necessary as the topic 
 is of great extent and much interest ; for while the palaces of 
 Venice and Genoa have been compared, and the latter not un- 
 frequently preferred to those of Rome, the superior splendor and 
 magnificence of her churches stand unrivalled and undisputed ; 
 and, in this respect, it is acknowledged that still, 
 
 Verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes, 
 Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi. 
 
 Addison observes, " that the christian antiquities are so em- 
 broiled in fable and leoend, that one receives but little satisfac- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 305 
 
 tion from searching into them." The portion of satisfaction to 
 be derived from such researches, depends upon the taste and 
 views of the person who makes them ; for as to fable and legend, 
 I fancy there is a sufficient stock in heathen, as well as in 
 christian antiquity to puzzle and embroil an ordinary enquirer. 
 However, notwithstanding the obscurity which ages and revo- 
 lutions, ignorance or folly, may have thrown over both these 
 species of antiquity, the traveller as he wanders over the vene- 
 rable regions of this Avonderful city, so long the seat of Empire 
 and Religion, will find a sufficient number of monuments, both 
 sacred and profane, to edify as well as to delight an unpre- 
 judiced mind, ilmong the former, the churches without doubt 
 occupy the first rank, as some few of them were erected in the 
 era of Constantine, and many may ascribe their origin to the 
 zeal of that Emperor himself, or to that of his sons and their 
 immediate successors. In these edifices, the constituent and 
 essential parts remain the same as they were at the period of 
 erection, and even the more solid and permanent ornaments 
 still stand unaltered in their respective places. From them 
 therefore we may learn with some certainty, the form of Christian 
 churches in the early ages, the position of the altar, of the episco- 
 pal chair, and ofthe seats of the clergy, together with the arrange- 
 ment and furniture of the chancel and choir. Moreover some of 
 these churches had been temples, and many were basilicae or 
 courts destined to public meetings, and may therefore contribute 
 not a little to give us clearer ideas of the size and proportions 
 of such buildings, particularly of the latter, and of the order 
 observed in the assemblies held in them. We may perhaps 
 from them be able to make some conjectures relative to the 
 forms early established in Christian churches, and to judge 
 how far the ancients may have thought proper to transfer the 
 rules observed in civil assemblies to religious congregations. 
 
 VOL. I. R R 
 
806 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 In the next place, in the churches principally Ave may trace the 
 decline and restoration of architecture, and discover thence 
 which branches of that art were neglected, and which culti- 
 vate_d during the barbarous ages. These edifices in fact were 
 almost the only objects attended to and respected during that 
 long period, and as most of the new were erected on the plans 
 of the old, they became the vehicles, if I may be allowed the 
 expression, by which some of the best principles of Roman 
 architecture were transmitted to us. In reality it has been 
 justly observed, that while the symmetry, the proportion, the 
 very constitutent forms of the Greek and Roman orders Avere 
 abandoned and apparently forgotten ; yet the solidity, the 
 magnitude, and what is more remarkable, the greatness of man- 
 ner so much admired in the interior of ancient buildings, were 
 retained and still appear in many churches, erected in the 
 darkest intervals of the middle ages. From such fabrics we 
 may therefore infer, that magnificence and grandeur long 
 survived the fall of taste, and that some features of the Roman 
 character still continued to manifest themselves in the works 
 of their descendants, in spite of the prevalency of foreign 
 ignorance and transalpine barbarism. 
 
 This observation relative to internal magnificence leads 
 to another Avhich must have struck every traveller, Avhich 
 is, that the outward form and embellishments arc, in many 
 Roman churches, far inferior to the inward appearances. 
 Whether the ancients themselves did not always pay equal 
 attention to the outside, or whether like the modern Italians, 
 they sometimes deferred the execution of the whole plan for 
 Avant of money or materials ; or Avhether the hand of time 
 or the more destructive hand of Avar has torn aAvay the 
 marble that covered these edifices, it must be OAvned that 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 307 
 
 the outside of the Pantheon and Diocletian's baths by no 
 means corresponds with their internal magnificence. In suc- 
 ceeding ages the disproportion became more striking, and 
 nothing can be more contemptible than the external shew of 
 some of the noblest basilicae ; as that of St. Paul's for instance, 
 of St. Laurence and also that of St. Sebastian, which exhibits more 
 the appearance of a neglected barn than of a patriarchal church. 
 The same remark might have been applied to Santa Maria 
 Maggiore till the reign of Benedict XIV. who cased it with 
 Tiburtine stone, adorned it with a portico or a colonnade in 
 front, and gave it an exterior of some dignity, though not 
 perfect nor altogether worthy of its truly grand and splendid 
 interior. 
 
 Moreover, while the traveller expects, and not without 
 reason, to find some specimens of the best taste and purest 
 style of architecture among the Roman churches, he must not 
 be surprized if he should frequently meet with instances of the 
 very reverse in both respects, and have reason too often to lament 
 that the finest materials have been thrown away in the con- 
 struction of shapeless and deformed edifices. To explain this 
 singular combination of good and bad taste, the reader has 
 only to recollect, that in Rome as in other great cities, different 
 fashions have prevailed at difterent periods, and that architects, 
 even when above the ignorance or the prejudices of their Age, 
 have yet been obliged to submit to them and conform to the 
 caprice of their employers. Besides, architects in modern times 
 have been too prone to indulge the fond hope of excelling the 
 ancients, by deviating from their footsteps, and discovering some 
 new proportion, some form of beauty unknown to them, by 
 varying the outlines and trying the effects of endless combina- 
 
 R R 2 
 
308 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 tions. Now in no city have architects been more encouraged 
 and employed than in Rome, and in no city have they in- 
 dulged their fondness for originality, with more freedom and 
 more effect, to the great depravation of taste and perversion 
 of the sound principles of ancient architecture. Few have been 
 entirely exempt from this weakness, but none have abandoned 
 themselves to its influence more entirely than Borromini, who, 
 although a man of genius, talent and information, has yet filled 
 Rome with some of the most deformed buildings that ever 
 disgraced the streets of a capital. Such deviations from the 
 principles of the ancients must appear extraordinary every 
 where, and particularly at Rome, where so many superb monu- 
 ments remain to attract the attention of the artist, and fix his 
 taste, while they excite his admiration. In fact while the portico 
 of the Pantheon stands preserved, it would seem by the genius 
 of architecture, as a model for the imitation of future genera- 
 tions ; while it meets the architect in every morning Avalk, and 
 challenges his homage as he passes, it must appear extraordinary 
 indeed that he should abandon its simple yet majestic form, 
 to substitute in its stead a confused and heavy mass of rich 
 materials, which may astonish, but can never please even the 
 rudest observer. Surely the double or triple range of co- 
 lumns, the uninterrupted entablature, the regular pediment 
 unbroken and unencumbered, delight the eye more by their 
 uniform grandeur, than pillars crowded into groupes, cornices 
 sharpened into angles, and pediments twisted into curves and 
 flourishes, which break one grand into many petty objects, and 
 can neither fix the sight nor arrest the attention. Yet, while 
 the former, exemplified in the Pantheon, is coldly admired and 
 neglected, the latter is become the prevailing style in ecclesias- 
 tical architecture at Rome, and of consequence over all Italy. 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 309 
 
 Again, churches like most places of public resort, have their 
 day of favor and of fashion, when they are much frequented, 
 and of course repaired and decorated with care and magni- 
 ficence. Not unfrequently some cardinal or rich prelate, or 
 perhaps the reigning pontiff himself, may conceive a particular 
 attachment to some church or other, and in that case we may 
 conclude, that all the powers of art will be employed in repair- 
 ing, adorning, and furnishing the favored edifice. But this 
 sunshine of popularity may pass away, and many a noble pile 
 has been abandoned for ages to the care of an impoverished 
 Chapter, an absent incumbent, or a parish thinned by emigra- 
 tion. In such circumstances only so much attention is paid to 
 the edifice, as is necessary to protect it against the inclemency 
 of the weather or the injuries of time, and this care is generally 
 confined to the exterior, while the interior is abandoned to 
 solitude, dampness and decay. Unfortunately, some of the 
 most ancient and venerable churches in Rome are in this latter 
 situation ; whether it be that they stand in quarters once popu- 
 lous but now deserted, or that churches erected in modern 
 times or dedicated to modern saints, engross a greater share of 
 public attention, I know not; but those of St. Paul, St. Laurence, 
 St. Stephen, St. Agnes, and even the Pantheon itself, the glory 
 of Rome and the boast of architecture, owe little or nothing to 
 modern munificence. 
 
 But notwithstanding these disadvantages and defects there 
 are few, very few churches in Rome, Avhich do not present 
 either in their size or their proportions, their architecture 
 or their materials, their external or internal decorations, some- 
 thing that deserves the attention of the traveller and excites 
 his just admiration. He therefoi'e who delights in halls of an 
 immense size and exact proportion, in lengthening colonnades 
 
310 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and vast pillars of one solid block of porphyry, of granite, of 
 Parian or Egyptian marble; in pavements that glow with all 
 the tints of the rainbow, and roofs that blaze with brass or 
 gold ; in canvas warm as life itself, and statues ready to descend 
 from the tombs on which they recline; will range round the 
 churches of Rome, and find in them an inexhaustible source o-f 
 instructive and rational amusement, such as no modern capital 
 can furnish, and such as might be equalled or surpassed by the 
 glories of ancient Rome alone. I shall now proceed to some 
 particular churches, and, without pretending to enter into very 
 minute details, mention only such circumstances as seem calcu- 
 lated to excite peculiar interest. 
 
 The Church of St. Clement, in the great street that leads to St. 
 John Lateran, is the most ancient church in Rome. It was built 
 on the site, and was probably at first one of the great apartments 
 of the house of the holy bishop, whose name it bears. It is men- 
 tioned as ancient by authors of the fourth century (St. Jerome, 
 Pope Zozimus, &c.) and is justly considered as one of the best 
 "models that now exist of the original form of christian churches. 
 It has frequently been repaired and decorated, but always Avith 
 a religious respect for its primitive shape and fashion. In fi'ont 
 of it is a court Avith galleries, supported by eighteen granite 
 pillars and paved Avith pieces of shattered marbles, among 
 Avhich I observed several fragments of beautiful Verde antico. 
 The portico of the church is formed of four columns of the same 
 materials as the pillars of the gallery, and its interior divided into a 
 nave and aisles by twenty pillars of various marbles. The choir 
 commences about the centre of the nave, and extends to the steps 
 of the sanctuary ; there are tAvo pulpits, called anciently Am- 
 bones, one on each side of the choir. A flight of steps leads to the 
 sanctuary or chancel, Avhich is terminated by a semicircle, in 
 
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THROUGH ITALY. 811 
 
 the middle of which stands the episcopal chair, and on each side 
 of it two marble ranges of seats border the wall for the accommo- 
 dation of the priests ; the inferior clergy with the singers oc- 
 cupied the choir. In front of the episcopal throne, and be- 
 tween it and the choir, just above the steps of the sanctuary, 
 rises the altar unencumbered by screens and conspicuous on all 
 sides. The aisles terminated in two semicircles, now used as 
 chapels called anciently Exedree or Cellae, and appropriated to 
 private devotion in prayer or meditation. Such is the form of 
 St. Clement's, which, though not originally a basilica, is evidently 
 modelled upon such buildings ; as may be seen not only by the 
 description given of them by Vitruvius, but also by several 
 other churches in Rome which having actually been basilicae, 
 still retain their original form with slight modifications. The 
 same form has been retained or imitated in all the great Roman 
 churches, and indeed in almost all the cathedral and abbey 
 churches in Italy ; a form, without doubt, far better calculated 
 both for the beauty of perspective and the convenience of public 
 worship, than the arrangement of Gothic fabrics, divided by 
 screens, insvilated by partitions, and terminating in gloomy 
 chapels.* 
 
 S. Pietro in Vincoli, so called from the chains with which St, 
 Peter Avas bound both in Rome and at Jerusalem, now pre- 
 served, as is believed, under the altar, was erected about the 
 
 * I recommend to my readers tlie account of ancient churches and their orna- 
 ments, given by the judicious and learned Fleurj. The work, which contains it, is 
 entitled Les Moeurs des Chretiens^ and contains many curious details and interest- 
 ing observations. The perusal of it will give the traveller a very accurate notion 
 of the subject at large, and enable him, not only to comprehend what he finds 
 written upon it, but also to pronounce with some precision on the form and orna- 
 ments of such churches as he may hereafter visit. (See chapters 35, et aec^.) 
 
312 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 year 420, and after frequent reparations presents now to the eye 
 a noble hall, supported by twenty Doric pillars of Parian marble, 
 open on all sides, adorned with some beautiful tombs, and ter- 
 minating in a semicircle behind the altar. It is pity that the 
 taste of the age in which this edifice was erected should have 
 been perpetuated through so many successive reparations, and 
 the arches carried from pillar to pillar still suffered to appear ; 
 while an entablature, like that of St. Maria Maggiore, would 
 have concealed the defect and rendered the order perfect. The 
 pillars are too thin for Doric proportions, and too far from each 
 other; very different in this respect from the Doric models still 
 remaining at Athens. But the proportions apphed by the an- 
 cient Romans to this order, rendered it in fact a distinct order, and 
 made it almost an invention of their own. Among the monu- 
 ments the traveller will not fail to observe a sarcophagus of black 
 marble and exquisite form, on the left hand ; and on the right, 
 the tomb of Julius II. indifferent in itself, but ennobled by the 
 celebrated figure of Moses, supposed to be the master-piece of 
 Michael Angelo, and one of the most beautiful statues in the 
 world.* 
 
 Not far from S. Pietro in Vincoli, is the church of S. Martino 
 and S. Silvestro, formed out of part of the ruins of the neigh- 
 bouring baths of Titus, and, as far as regards the Crypta or sub- 
 terraneous church, as ancient as the times of St. Sylvester and 
 Constantine the Great. It has, as will easily be imagined, un- 
 dergone various repairs, and is at present one of the most beau- 
 
 * The ode or sonnet of Zappi, inspired by the contemplation of this wonderful 
 statue, is well known, and may be found in Roscoe's late excellent work, the 
 Life of Leo the Tenth, witli a very accurate translation. 
 

 
 I- 
 
 I' 
 
 ':jl 
 
 '&" IIHIHIBIWE' 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 313 
 
 tiful edifices in Rome. It is supported by Corinthian columns 
 of the finest marbles, bearing, not arches but an entablature, 
 irregular indeed as to ornament, but of great and pleasing 
 effect. The walls of the aisles are adorned with paintings 
 by the two Poussins, and much admired by connoisseurs. 
 The tribuna or sanctuary is raised several steps above the body 
 of the church: the high altar which stands immediately above 
 the steps is of the most beautiful form and richest materials. 
 The paintings on the walls and roof are coloured in the 
 brightest yet softest tints imaginable, and seem to shed over the 
 whole church a celestial lustre. Under the altar a door opens 
 upon a marble staircase, leading to a subterraneous chapel lined 
 with stucco, nearly resembling marble and adorned with nume- 
 rous pillars in a veiy pleasing style of architecture. Thence a 
 door opens into the ancient church, which from the increase of 
 the ruins around is now become almost subterranean : it is a large 
 vaulted hall, once paved with mosaic, and seems from the 
 remains well furnished with marble and paintings ; now the re- 
 ceptacle of damp unwholesome vapors, that tinge the walls and 
 hover about the solitary tombs. A few purple hats with their 
 rich tassels, the insignia of the dignity of Cardinal, suspended 
 from the vaults, and tarnished with time and humidity, cast a 
 feeble unavailing ray of splendor on the monuments of their de- 
 parted possessors. The spectator, cautioned by the chillness of 
 the place not to prolong his stay, contents himself with casting 
 a transient glance on the sullen scenery, and returns to the 
 splendid exhibition of the temj^le above. 
 
 The church of St. Andrea in Monte Cavallo by Bernini is, 
 though so small as to deserve the name of chapel only, so highly 
 finished and richly decorated within that I should recommend 
 
 VOL. I. s s 
 
314 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 it to the attention of the traveller as peculiarly beautiful. It 
 was formerly with the annexed convent the property of the 
 Jesuits, who seldom wanted either the means or the inclination 
 to impart splendor and magnificence to their establishments. 
 Unfortunately, they have often displayed more riches than taste, 
 and given their churches the gaudy decorations and dazzling 
 glare of a theatre, instead of adhering to the golden rule in reli- 
 gious architecture, that of disposing the best materials in the 
 simplest order. The neglect of this maxim renders the great 
 church of the Jesuits (the Giesii) though confessedly one of the 
 richest, yet in my opinion one of the ugliest, because one of the 
 most glaring in Rome. 
 
 St. Cecilia in Trastevere has great antiquity and much magni- 
 ficence to recommend it. It is supposed to have been the 
 house of that virgin martyr, and they shew a bath annexed to 
 it in which they pretend that she was beheaded. Over the 
 tomb is a fine statue, exactly representing the attitude and the 
 drapery of the body as it was discovered in the tomb in the 
 3-^631 821, such at least is the purport of the inscription. The 
 saint is represented as reclining on her side, her garments spread 
 in easy folds around her, and her neck and head covered with a 
 veil of so delicate a texture as to allow the spectator almost to 
 discover the outlines of the countenance. The posture and 
 drapery are natural as well as graceful, and the whole form 
 wrought with such exquisite art that we seem to behold the mar- 
 tyred virgin, not locked in the slumbers of death, but awaiting 
 in the repose of innocence the call of the morning. A court 
 and portico, according to the ancient custom, lead to this 
 church, and pillars of fine marble divide and adorn it; 
 but it labors under the defect alluded to above, and like 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 315 
 
 many other churches is encumbered Avith its oavu magni- 
 ficence. 
 
 S. Pietro in Montorio or Monte Aureo, a very ancient church, 
 was once remarkable for its sculpture and paintings, furnished 
 by the first masters in these two branches; but many of the 
 former have been broken or displaced, and some of the latter 
 carried off by the French during the late predatory invasion. 
 Among the paintings is the famous Transfiguration, generally 
 supposed to be the first painting in the universe. It was 
 said to have been in a bad light in its original situation, but it 
 must be recollected that Ratfaello designed it for that very light ; 
 besides, I know not whether the French are likely to place it 
 in a better.* 
 
 In the middle of the little square, formed by the cloister of 
 the convent belonging to the church of St. Pietro in Montorio, 
 is a chapel in the form of an ancient temple ; round, supported 
 by sixteen pillars and crowned m ith a dome. It is the work of 
 Bramante and much admired. It would methinks have been 
 more beautiful, if the architect had copied the Greek models, 
 or adopted the proportions of the temple of Tivoli of a 
 similar form. Besides, the lantern that crowns the dome, or 
 rather terminates the cella, is by much too large for the edifice, 
 
 * When I was at Paris in the year 1802, it had been withdrawn from the 
 gallery, and was intended, as was believed, for the chapel of one of the first 
 consul's palaces. If in that of Versailles the light be not too strong, the Transfi- 
 guration may appear to advantage, as the architecture and decorations of the 
 chapel, the best I have seen beyond the Alps, are not perhaps altogether unwor- 
 thy of contributing to display the beauties of such a masterpiece. 
 
 s s 2 
 
316 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and seems to crush it by its weight. Yet the colonnade, such 
 is the effect of pillars, gives this little temple, Avith all its defects, 
 an antique and noble appearance.* 
 
 Santa Maria in Trastevere or Basilica Calixti is a very an- 
 cient church, supposed to have been originally built by Pope 
 Cahxtus about the year 220. It was rebuilt by Julius I. 
 in the year 340, and has since undergone various repairs and 
 received of course many improvements. Its bold portico and 
 its nave are supported by ancient pillars, some of red, some of 
 black granite, all of different orders and different dimensions ; 
 the entablature also is composed of the shattered remains of 
 various ancient cornices ; and indeed the whole edifice seems an 
 extraordinary assemblage of orders, proportions, and materials. 
 However, it exhibits a certain greatness of manner in the 
 whole, that never fails to cover defects in the detail, and its 
 general appearance is bold and majestic. Its vault and chapel 
 are adorned with several beautiful paintings by Dominichino 
 and other great masters. The square before this church is 
 watered by a handsome fountain, perhaps the most ancient in 
 Rome, as it was opened by Adrian I. about the year 790, and 
 restored and ornamented by Clement XII. 
 
 S- Grisogono, a very ancient church ascribed originally to 
 Constantino, is remarkable for the numerous columns of granite, 
 porphyry and alabaster that support its nave and choir. 
 
 S. Giovamn e Paolo, is equally ancient and still more splen- 
 didly furnished with pillars and ancient ornaments. 
 
 * This edifice is introduced into the Cartoon that represents St. Paul preach- 
 ing at Athens, and is given with considerable accuracy. 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 317 
 
 S. Gregorio Magno is remarkable because erected by the 
 celebrated pontiff whose name it bears, on the very site of his 
 own house, the residence of the Anician family. The church 
 with the convent adjoining, was by its founder dedicated 
 under the title of St. Andrew, a title Avhich was gradually lost 
 and replaced by that of St. Gregory. This fabric has under- 
 gone several changes, and though rich in materials has, from the 
 bad taste witli which those changes ha\e been conducted, but little 
 claim to our admiration. There are three chapels within the pre- 
 cincts of the convent, or rather annexed to the church, one of Avhich 
 is ennobled by the rival exertions of Guido and Dominichino, 
 who have here brought their productions into contact, and left 
 the delighted connoisseur to admire, and if he dare, to decide 
 the pre-eminence. As these paintings are on the walls of the 
 chapel they remain ; but every article that could possibly be 
 removed from the church and its dependent chapels, were carried 
 off by the Polish legion, which, during the French invasion was 
 stationed in the convent. So far indeed did this regular banditti 
 carry their love of plunder, as to tear away the iron bars in- 
 serted in the walls of the church and cloisters, to strengthen 
 them and counteract the action of the vaults ; so that it was 
 considered as dangerous to walk in them, as their fall was daily 
 expected. 
 
 The elassica} reader would not pardon a traveller who 
 should pass over in silence the church where the ashes of Tasso 
 repose. This poet, the next in rank and in fame, to Virgil, 
 died in the convent of St. Onofrio, was buried without pomp, 
 and lay for many years among the vulgar dead, without a 
 monument or even an inscription over his remains. Few poets 
 have received monumental honors immediately on their demise. 
 
;^18 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Their fame has seldom taken its full range, or seldom sur- 
 mounted the difficulties which envy throws in its way during 
 their lifetime; to pay due homage to their genius, and give 
 to their memory all that man can give to the illustrious dead, 
 sepulchral distinction, is generally the task of an impartial and 
 grateful posterity. Upon this occasion however it was neither 
 envy nor indifference, but friendship alone that deprived the 
 Italian poet of the honors due to his merit. Immediately after 
 his death, the fathers of the convent of St. Onofrio, and many 
 persons of distinction, particularly the celebrated Manso, the 
 friend and panegyrist of Milton, pressed forward with generous 
 emulation to execute the honorable work : but the Cardinal 
 Cinthio Medici, the patron of the poet in his latter days, con- 
 sidered the erection of a becoming monument as a duty and 
 an honor peculiarly appropriated to himself, and though he 
 found himself obliged to defer the discharge of the friendly 
 office year after year, yet he never could be induced to allow any 
 other person to fulfil it in his stead. Death however deprived 
 him of the honor of erecting a tomb to Tasso; and to the 
 Cardinal Bevilacqua alone, is the public indebted for the present 
 monument, rather decent than magnificent, with a short inscrip- 
 tion. Every English traveller who feels the sublimity of Milton, 
 and knows how much the British bard owes to the Tuscan poet, 
 will hasten to the church of St. Onofrio, and at the tomb of Tor- 
 quato Tasso, hail the muse that inspired their rival strains. 
 
 Che di caduchi allori 
 Non circonda la fronte in Helicona ; 
 Ma su ne Cielo infia i beati chori 
 Ha di stelle immortali aurea corona ! 
 
 S. Sebastiano, a church erected by Constantine in memory 
 
yni.i. i::un 
 
 MTLI^'A. 'Of v^7 sSMJiAsSTIAIX,, 
 
 iKB.Thi: riiiiit lirus nwrk the, uddiVcns or liitrr Unu:'. 
 
 A'fti/rricu\ 
 
 V CluTpdJ'enti-anL-f uuu r/u- Carueay cr' CnKi- 
 the^ Cata&imifs. 
 D TestibuJe 
 
 J.tiiuL-m : rul>li.\-hed bv J .MatfiTuui 31itn'h l .jtiis. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 319 
 
 of the celebrated martyr Avhose name it bears, lias a handsome 
 portico and contains some good pictures and paintings. It is 
 however more remarkable for being the principal entrance into 
 the catacombs which lie in its neighbourhood. The catacombs 
 are subterranean streets or galleries, fjoni four to eight feet in 
 height, from two to five in breadth, extending to an innnense 
 and almost unknown length, and branching out into various 
 walks. The confusion occasioned by the intersection of these 
 galleries resembles that of a labyrinth, and renders it difficult, 
 and without great precaution, dangerous to penetrate far into 
 their recesses. The catacombs were originally excavated, in 
 order to find that earth or sand called at present puzzolana, 
 and supposed to form the best and most lasting cement. They 
 followed the direction of the vein of sand, and were abandoned 
 when that was exhausted, and ^oftentimes totally foi'gotten. 
 Such lone, unfrequented caverns afforded a most commodious 
 retreat to the christians, during the persecutions of the three 
 first centuries. In them therefore they held their assemblies, 
 celebrated the holy mysteries, and deposited the remains of their 
 martyred brethren. For the latter purpose they employed 
 niches in the sides of the wall, placed there the body with a 
 vial filled Avith the blood of the martyr, or perhaj^s some of the 
 instruments of his execution, and closed up the mouth of the 
 niche Avith thin bricks or tiles. Sometimes the name was 
 inscribed Avith a Avord or two importing the belief and hopes of 
 the deceased ; at other times a cross or the initials of the titles of 
 our Saviour interAvoven, Avere the only marks employed to certify 
 that the body enclosed belonged to a christian. Several bodies 
 have been found without any inscription, mark or indication of 
 name or profession. Such may have belonged to pagans, as it is 
 highly probable that these cavities Avere used as burial places, 
 
320 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 before as well as during the age of persecutions. It is im- 
 possible to range over these vast repositories of the dead, these 
 walks of liorror and desolation, without sentiments of awe, 
 veneration, and almost of terror. We seemed on entering to 
 descend into the regions of the departed, wrapped up in the 
 impenetrable gloom of the grave. 
 
 Marcentes intus tenebrae, pallensque sub antris, 
 
 Longa nocte situs quo 
 
 Non metuunt emittere manes. 
 
 Independent of these imaginary terrors, the damp air and fetid 
 exhalations warn the curious traveller to abridge his stay and 
 hasten to the precincts of day. 
 
 Tlie church of Madonna del Sole is the ancient temple of 
 Vesta, stripped of its Avhole entablature, curtailed of its full 
 height by the raising of the ground which covers the lower 
 part of the pillars, and disfigured by a most preposterous and 
 ugl}'^ roof. The cell and pillars of white marble remain, but the 
 latter are almost lost in a wall drawn from column to column, 
 and filling up the whole intermediate space. It is much to be 
 lamented that when this edifice was fitted up for a church, it 
 wa5 not restored to its original form and beauty, which might 
 have been done ^vith less expence and difficulty, than were 
 necessary to erect the wall mid raise the roof which I have just 
 censured. It is indeed highly probable that the materials re- 
 quisite for such a restoration, that is, the fragments of the 
 frieze, architrave, and cornice, might be found round the bases 
 of the pillars, as they may form part of the mass of ruins which 
 has raised the present so much above the level of the ancient 
 pavement. But this singular want of taste appears, if possible, 
 more conspicuous in two other instances. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 821 
 
 The temple of FortunaVirilis,* now the church oi' Santa Maria 
 Egiziaca, is one of the few monuments that still remain of the 
 era of the Roman republic. It is of the Ionic order and its 
 proportions and form are justly admired. Its portico was origi- 
 nally supported by four pillars, and its sides adorned with twice 
 as many half columns. It was converted into a church in the 
 ninth centui-y and long retained a considerable share of its 
 primitive beauty. When it was reduced to its present degraded 
 state I cannot precisely determine, but I believe about the middle 
 of the seventeenth century. It is said to have been, when re- 
 paired, in a ruinous state : but if that were the case, yet it was less 
 difficult to preserve than to alter its principal features. The latter 
 however has been done. The wall that separated the Cella from 
 the Vestibula, was removed and rebuilt between the pillars of the 
 portico, and windows were opened between the half columns on 
 one of the sides. By these means a small space was added 
 and more light was given to the interior, but the proportions 
 and beauty not a little impaired. 
 
 S. Lorenzo in Miranda. The name of this church, placed 
 as it is in the Forum, and situated amidst a most wonder- 
 ful display of Roman grandeur, is alone a sufficient re- 
 commendation to the attention of the traveller; but this 
 recommendation acquires double weight when we learn that 
 it stands on the ruins of the temple of Antoninus and Fau- 
 stina. Of the temple, the portico excepting the pediment 
 and part of the walls, remain. The order is Corinthian ; and 
 the whole might have been restored without difficulty to its 
 
 * There are doubts as to the leal appellation of this temple, but all agree in 
 its antiquity. 
 
 VOL. I. T T 
 
322 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 original form. But instead of following this process, almost 
 forced upon the architect by the state of the ruin, he has erected 
 a frontispiece behind the pillars of proportions, size, and order 
 totally different; of two stories, so contrived, that the cornice 
 of the first does not reach even the capitals of the pillars before 
 it, while the second rises far above them, and exhibits on high, 
 as if in triumph over good taste, its barbarous twisted pedi- 
 ment. Such instances of ignorance or stupidity, such preposter- 
 ous and mis-shapen edifices, would surprize us even at Constan- 
 tinople, where almost every monument of ancient magnificence 
 has long since perished, and every recollection of ancient taste 
 is obliterated; but in Rome, where so many superb models 
 still present themselves to our consideration, where all the arts 
 and particularly architecture, are honored and cultivated with 
 so much success, we behold them witii astonishment and almost 
 with horror. But neither censure, nor experience, nor disap- 
 pointment can deter vain and inconsiderate architects from 
 fruitless attempts to improve upon the works of the ancients, or 
 cure them of their partiality to capricious combinations that 
 have hithterto invariably terminated in deformity. Torriani, for 
 he I believe was the maso7i who built the modern part of the 
 church of St. Lorenzo in Miranda, probably imagined that his 
 new frontispiece, with its two contracted stories, its petty 
 pilasters, and its grotesque entablature, would fix the attention 
 of the public at once, and totally eclipse the simple majesty of 
 the colonnade before it. Vain hopes ! The stately portico of 
 Antoninus still attracts every eye, and challenges universal ad- 
 miration; while the modern addition is condemned as often as 
 noticed, and ranked among the monuments of a tasteless and 
 semi-barbarous age. 
 
 It is not my intention at present to describe the churches with- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 323 
 
 out the walls, and of several within, which bear the names or are 
 supposed to be foimed of the ruins of ancient temples, I shall 
 say but little, as they do not exhibit the least vestige of anti- 
 quity. Such is Airi Cali^ on the Capitoline hill, supposed by 
 many authors to occupy the site of the temple of Jupiter Capi- 
 tolinus: such also is Santa Maria sopra Minerva^ reported to 
 have been formerly the temple of that goddess; neither of 
 which have a particular claim, unless their titles be considered 
 as such, to our attention.* We shall now, therefore, proceed to 
 the greater churches, under Avhich appellation I include the 
 Pantheon and the Seven Patriarchal Basilica, so called, because 
 they are the cathedrals of the sovereign pontiff, avIio officiates 
 in them on certain festivals, and reserves the high altar entirely 
 to himself. These seven churches are, <S;. Laurence (without 
 the walls), St. Sebastian, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Maggiore, 
 or the Basilica Liberiana, St. Paul (without the walls), St. John 
 Lateran or the Basilica Lateranensis, St. Peter or the Basilica 
 Vaticana. These temples, though not of equal, are all of great 
 antiquity, and if we except St. Sebastian, of great magnificence. 
 But to begin with the Pantheon. 
 
 The square of the Pantheon, or Piazza delta Rotonda is 
 adorned with a founttin and an obelisk, and terminated by 
 the portico of Agrippa. This noble colonnade consists of a 
 
 * The traveller should visit the churches that belong to particular nations and 
 orders, and are considered as their respective mother churches; because not only 
 the French, Spaniards, Germans, but the Greeks, Armenians, Cophts or Egyp- 
 tians, and even the East Indians and Chinese have their colleges and churches. 
 The same may be said of all the religious orders. Several interesting particu- 
 larities that indicate the character of these nations and bodies, may be observed in 
 their respective establishments. v 
 
 T T 2 
 
224 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 double range of Corinthian pillars of red granite. Between 
 the middle columns, which are a little farther removed from 
 each other than the rest, a passage opens to the brazen portals 
 which, as thej unfold, expose to view a circular hall of inmiense 
 extent, crowned with a lofty dome, and lighted solely from above. 
 It is paved and lined with marble. Its cornice of white marble is 
 supported by sixteen columns and as many pilasters ot'Giallo an- 
 tico : in the circumference there are eight niches, and between 
 these niches are eight altars adorned each with two pillars of less 
 size, but the same materials. The niches were anciently occupied 
 by statues of the great deities ; the intermediate altars served as 
 pedestals for the inferior powers. The proportions of this 
 temple are admirable for the effect intended to be produced, 
 its height being equal to its diameter, and its dome not an 
 oval, but an exact hemisphere. Such is the Pantheon, the 
 most noble and perfect specimen of Roman art and mag- 
 nificence that time has spared, or the ancients could have 
 wished to transmit to posterity. It has served in fact as 
 a lesson and a model to succeeding generations, and to it Con- 
 stantinople is indebted for Santa Sophia, and to it Rome or 
 rather the Universe owes the unrivalled dome of the Vatican. I 
 need not inform my reader that the body of th^ Pantheon is 
 supposed by many antiquaries to be of wpublican architecture, 
 and of course more ancient than the portico Avhich, as its in- 
 scription imports, was erected by Agrippa about thirty years 
 before the Christian era. But whether the temple was built 
 at the same time, or perhaps one hundred years before its 
 portico, is a matter of little conse([uence, as it is on' the whole 
 the most ancient edifice that now remains in a state of ftill and 
 almost perfect preservation. It has, it is true, undergone various 
 changes from pillage and reparations, but these changes have 
 been confined entirely to the decorations. It was first altered 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 325 
 
 by Doiiiitian and afterwards repaired by Severus. The pillars, 
 pilasters, and marble lining remain nearly as they were placed 
 by the latter. It was plundered of part of its bronze orna- 
 ments, among which some authors rank its brazen doors, by 
 Genseric, the Vandal monarch of Africa, and afterwards more 
 completely stripped of all its metal decorations by Constantine, 
 the grandson of Heraclius, in the seventh century. This 
 semi-barbarian Emperor is represented by indignant antiquaries 
 as the greatest scourge that ever visited Rome, and is said to 
 have committed more excesses, and done more mischief to the 
 city during a short stay of seven days, than the Goths or 
 Vandals during their repeated hostile approaches or long estab- 
 lished dominion. 
 
 It was converted into a church by Pope Boniface IV. 
 about the year. 609, and has since that period attracted thp 
 attention and enjoyed the patronage of various pontiffs. But, 
 though much has been done for the support and embellishment 
 of this edifice, yet much is still wanting in ordei" to restore 
 to it all its glory. The pavement should be repaired, the mar- 
 ble lining of the attic replaced, and above all, the pannels of 
 the dome gilt or ^dged with bronze. The want of some such 
 decoration gives it a white, naked appearance, very opposite 
 to the mellow tints of the various marbles that cast so rich 
 a glow over the lower part. Yet, let not the traveller com- 
 plain, if even in this magnificent monument he shall find 
 that his expectations surpass the reality, and that his fancy 
 has thrown around the Pantheon an imaginary splendor. 
 He must not expect to find in it the freshness of youth. 
 Years pass not in vain over man or his works ; they may some- 
 times spare proportion and symmetry, but beauty and grace, 
 whether in the marble portico or the human form, soon yield 
 
32G CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 to their touch and vanish. Twenty ages have now rolled 
 over the Pantheon, and if they have not crushed its dome in 
 their passage, they have at least imprinted their traces in 
 sullen grandeur on its walls ; they have left to it all its primeval 
 proportions, but they have gradually stript it of its ornaments, 
 its leaves of acanthus and its glossy colors. Perhaps these 
 marks of antiquity and this venerable tint which time alone can 
 shed over edifices, rather increase than diminish its majesty 
 by adding to its justly admired form that which no architect 
 can bestow, the charms of recollection, and the united interest 
 of age and disaster. 
 
 Though the Pantheon probably owes its preservation to the 
 circumstance of its having been converted into a church, yet I 
 know not whether it be altogether well calculated for that pur- 
 pose. A circular hall, if consecrated to the offices of religion, 
 requires that the altar should be in the centre, a position 
 which it cannot occupy in the Pantheon, owing to the aperture 
 perpendicularly over it. In fact a round temple is not, even 
 when arranged to the best advantage, nearly so suitable or com- 
 modious for a christian assembly as the Basilica, with its corres- 
 ponding aisles, raised chancel, and semicircular termination.* 
 Leaving therefore to the Pantheon its principal character of a 
 temple, I would set it apart as a mausoleum, sacred to the 
 memory and remains of persons peculiarly distinguished by 
 great talents and splendid public virtues ; of that class in short 
 whom Virgil places in Elysium and ranks among demigods and 
 heroes. In the centre might arise, on a lofty pedestal of steps, 
 an altar of black marble, destined solely for the service of the 
 
 * See ground plots of the principal Basilicae converted into churches, at the end 
 <jf this volume. 
 
)A>SIILirA of S? LA^WMlETTrK 
 
 yjB The taitU I.i/if.^- /riM-A- tlu- nMiBons of latfr U/iir. 
 
 . « 
 
 ■•"■ —^' 
 
 t 6 « » » * I 
 
 Ji r fi- n- ti c f s 
 
 A Bis?w/>A' T?tivfii 
 
 BB Seats- iV'Hir Jir.rh/,7:,- 
 
 r Jltarovfrthf r.mO ,'/' X! L,i 
 
 D Die Chim- 
 
 E E ^libones urJ^iili'iLf 
 
 ¥ TlirX.ifr 
 
 H llie VtJIi'lmh 
 
 Un,l,m:TiM.sh„l h J..\Lu,„„„iJI:arlu.jeLt. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 327 
 
 dead, supporting a cross of alabaster, half veiled in brazen 
 drapery. At the corners of the altar four antique candelabra 
 might pour a stream of solemn light on the funereal scene 
 around. The monuments might occupy the niches, line the 
 wall, and, when numerous, rise in circles around the centre. 
 However, as the number of distinguished personages who deserve 
 the honor of a public funeral is small, a length of time would 
 elapse, perhaps many centuries, before the niches would be 
 filled, or the pavement encumbered with sarcophagi. The 
 arrangement here described is only an extension of that which 
 has actually taken place, as the Pantheon contains at present 
 the tombs or rather the busts of several distinguished charac- 
 ters, among Avhich are the celebrated antiquary Winckelman, 
 Metastasio, Mengs, Poussin, Hannibal, Carraci, and RafFaello 
 himself. Two musicians also, Corelli and Sacchini, have been 
 admitted to the honors of the Pantheon.* 
 
 On the Via Tihurtina, at a small distance from the gate once 
 of the same name, now more frequently called Forta di S. 
 Lorenzo, stands the Basilica of that martyr, erected over his 
 tomb by Constantine. Though frequently repaired and altered 
 since, yet its original form and most of its original decorations 
 still remain. A portico, as is usual in all the ancient Basilicce, 
 leads to its entrance ; is supported and divided by four-and- 
 twenty pillars of granite; the choir occupies the upper part 
 of the nave in the ancient manner, as in St. Clements. The 
 ambones or two pulpits stand on either side of the entrance to 
 the choir, close to the pillars ; they are very large and all 
 
 * The dedication of this church on the first of November, in the j^ear 830, gave 
 •ccasion to the institution of the festival of All Saints. 
 
328 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 inlaid with marble. From the choir a flight of steps leads 
 to the sanctuary, paved Avith mosaic and adorned by a double 
 story, each of twelve pillars of rich marble and Corinthian 
 form. Of the lower range of pillars part only appears above, 
 as it descends through an open space left for that purpose, far 
 below the pavement. Four other columns adorn the wall that 
 runs some feet behind the sanctuary, as four more of porphyry 
 support the canopy over the altar. The seats of the sanctuary 
 are of marble, as is the chair of the pontiff, a very ancient 
 episcopal throne. Under the altar is the Confession or tomb 
 of St. Laurence, where his body reposes, as is related, Avith 
 that of St. Stephen, the first martyr; it is beautifully inlaid 
 and incrusted with the most precious marble. 
 
 This church, though unfrequented on account of its situation, 
 is yet rendered highly interesting by its antiquity, its form, and its 
 Jliaterials, and by a certain lonely majesty which seems to brood 
 over it, and fills the mind with awe and reverence. Prudentius 
 has described the martyrdom of St. Laurence in a long hymn, 
 in which among many negligencies there are several beauties ; 
 and the celebrated Vida has treated the same subject with the de- 
 votion of a saint, and the enthusiasm of a poet. Several of his 
 images, sentiments and allusions as well as his language through- 
 out, are truly classical, and while I recommend the two hymns 
 of this author to the perusal of the reader, I cannot refuse myself 
 tlie pleasure of inserting one passage from the first, not only 
 on account of its exquisite beauty, but on account of its con- 
 nection with the scenery of Rome, and the ground which we are 
 now treading. 
 
 In it the saint, when sensible or rather certain of his ap_ 
 proaching fate, is represented as hanging occasionally over the 
 
rolJ.F. 3-g 
 
 ©r S'¥^ MAIRIA MA(BGI®]R.IE, 
 
 MM. Tile niuir Xi/u.t iiinrk Iju nililuums ofLuei- times 
 
 
 Jieferences 
 
 B Seats of ffie Clejyy 
 
 C IheJtltar 
 
 D nieMive- 
 
 HThejtiks 
 
 F TheBapiisOy 
 
 & Veslibuk 
 
 L'lulm .riMish.;! h,.l.M,„ini,in V.urh 1 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 329 
 
 Tiber, and turning with melancholy recollection towards his 
 native land and the haunt of his youth. 
 
 Si quando tamen in ripa subsistit ama;ni 
 Tybridis, aspectans auras, ccelique profunda, 
 Solis ad occasuni versus, Non te amplius, inquit, 
 Aspiciam, dives regnis,* Hispania opimis, 
 Nee vos, O patriae fluvii, carique parentes, 
 Qui spem forte mei reditus agitatis inanem. 
 Tuque, O T_ybri ! vale ! colles salvete Latini ! 
 Quos colui heroum tumuli, sacrataque busta! 
 
 In another passage the last sensations and feelings of the 
 martyr are described in a style highly animated and affecting.* 
 The concluding verses of the same hymn express at once the 
 piety and the patriotism of its author.-f 
 
 From the Porta Tiburtina, a long and straight street or rather 
 road, leads almost in a direct line to the Basilica Liberiana,% or 
 church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which derives its former 
 appellation from Pope Liberius, in whose time it was erected ; 
 its latter, from its size and magnificence, as being the first that 
 bears the appellation of the Blessed Virgin. It is said to have 
 been founded about the year 350, and has undergone many 
 repairs and alterations since that period. It is one of the 
 noblest churches in the world, and well deserves an epithet of 
 distinction. It stands by itself on the highest ssvell of the 
 
 * St. Laurence was a native of Spain. + V. 245. 
 
 \ In the portico of this church there is a large antique sarcophagus, on which is 
 sculptured an ancient marriage ; on another which stands behind the sanctuary is 
 a vintage. They are both admired for the beauty of the workmanship. The 
 fields round St. Lorenzo were called anciently the Campus Veranus. 
 VOL. I. V V 
 
330 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Esquiline hill, in the midst of two great squares, which terminate 
 two streets of near two miles in length. To these squares, the 
 Basilica presents two fronts of modern architecture and different 
 decorations. The principal front consists of a double colon- 
 nade, one over the other, the lower Ionic, the upper Corin- 
 thian;* before it, on a lofty pedestal rises a Corinthian pillar, 
 supporting a brazen image of the Blessed Virgin. On the 
 other side, a bold semicircular front adorned with pilasters and 
 crowned with two domes, fills the eye and raises the expectation. 
 Before it, on a pedestal of more than twenty feet in height, 
 stands an Egyptian obelisk, of a single piece of granite of 
 sixty, terminating in a cross of bronze. These accompani- 
 ments on each side, give the Basilica an air of unusual gran- 
 deur, and it must be allowed that the interior is by no means 
 unworthy of this external magnificence. 
 
 The principal entrance is, as usual in all the ancient churches, 
 through a portico ; this portico is supported by eight pillars of 
 granite, and adorned with corresponding marble pilasters. The 
 traveller on his entrance is instantly struck with the two magni- 
 ficent colonnades that line the nave and separate it from the 
 aisles. They are supported each by more than twenty pillars, 
 of which eighteen on each side are of white marble. The order 
 is Ionic with its regular entablature, the elevation of the pillars 
 is thirty feet, the length of the colonnade about two hundred 
 and fifty. The sanctuary forms a semicircle behind the altar. 
 The altar is a large slab of marble, covering an ancient sarco- 
 
 * This front, notwithstanding the noble pillars of granite that support it, is 
 justly censured for want of simplicity. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 331 
 
 phagus of porphyry, in which the body of the founder formerly 
 reposed. It is overshadowed by a canopy of bronze, supported 
 by four lofty Corinthian pillars of porphyry This canopy, 
 thought perhaps of too great a magnitude for its situation, as it 
 nearly touches the roof, is the most beautiful and best propor- 
 tioned ornament of the kind which I ever beheld. The side 
 walls supported by the pillars, are divided hy pilasters, between 
 which are alternately Avindows and mosaics; the pavement is 
 variegated, and the ceiling divided into square pannels, doubly 
 gilt and rich in the extreme. There is no transept, but instead of 
 it two noble chapels open on either side. The one on the right 
 as you advance from the great entrance towards the altar, was 
 built by Sixtus Quintus, and contains his tomb. It would be 
 considered as rich and beautiful, were it not infinitely surpassed 
 in both these respects by the opposite chapel belonging to the 
 Borghese family, erected by Paul V. Both these chapels are 
 adorned with domes and decorated with nearly the same archi- 
 tectural ornaments. But in the latter, the spectator is astonished 
 at the profusion with which not bronze and marble only, but 
 lapis lazuli, jasper, and the more precious stones are employed 
 on all sides, so that the walls seem to blaze around, and almost 
 dazzle the eyes with their lustre. He may perhaps feel himself 
 inclined to wish that those splendid materials had been em- 
 ployed with more economy, and conceive that a judicious 
 arrangement might have produced a better effect with less 
 prodigality. These two chapels, whatever their magnificence or 
 peculiar beauty may be, have prejudiced the external appear- 
 ance of the church, and occasioned the only material deformity 
 which even the eye of a critic can discover. I mean the break 
 occasioned by the arcades formed on both sides, to serve as 
 entrances to these two oratories. The colonnade, so beautiful 
 
 V V 2 
 
332 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 even in its present state, would have been matchless were it 
 not interrupted by these misplaced arches, which after all do 
 not produce the effect intended by giving a grand entrance into 
 these chapels, as the view is obstructed by the arch of the aisles, 
 and by the intervention of the brazen portals. But be the 
 defects what they may, I know not whether any architectural 
 exhibition surpasses or even equals the Basilica Liberiana. 
 The simplicity of the plan, the correctness of the execution, the 
 richness of the materials and the decorations of the parts, the 
 length of the colonnades and the elevation of the canopy, form 
 altogether one of the noblest and most pleasing exhibitions that 
 the eye can behold. As we advance along the ample nave, 
 we are rather pleased than astonished with the scenery around 
 us ; we easily familiarize ourselves with the calm grandeur of 
 the place, and at the end retire with an impression, not of awe, 
 but delight and tranquillity. 
 
 From the Basilica Liberiana, a long and wide street leads to 
 the Basilica Lateranansis, or of St. John. This church is the 
 regular cathedral of the bishop of Rome, and as such assumes 
 the priority of all others, and the pompous title of the Parent 
 and Mother of all Churches, " Ecclesiarum Urbis et Orbis 
 Mater et Caput." It was founded by Constantine, but burnt, 
 ruined, rebuilt, and frequently since repaired. Its magnitude 
 corresponds with its rank and antiquity, and the richness of its 
 decorations are equal to both. The Basilica, like that of Santa 
 Maria Maggiore, has two porticos. That which presents itself 
 to the traveller coming from the latter church, consists of a 
 double gallery one above the other, adorned with pilasters ; the 
 lower range Doric, the higher Corinthian. On the square before 
 this portico rises a noble obelisk, the most elevated of its kind. 
 
 5 
 
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THROUGH ITALY. 333 
 
 From its pedestal bursts an abundant stream, that supplies all the 
 neighbouring streets with water. The principal portico faces the 
 south ; it consists of four lofty columns and six pilasters. The order 
 is composite ; the attic is adorned with a balustrade, and that 
 balustrade with statues. A double order is introduced in the 
 intervals and behind this frontispiece, to support the gallery 
 destined to receive the pontiff, when he gives his solemn bene- 
 diction ; though it is formed of very beautiful pillars, yet it 
 breaks the symmetry and weakens the effect of the whole. 
 Other defects have been observed in this front, and the height 
 of the pedestals, the heavy attic with its balustrade, and the 
 colossal statues that encumber it, have been frequently and 
 justly criticised. Yet with all these defects it presents a very 
 noble and majestic appearance. 
 
 The vestibulum is a long and lofty gallery. It is paved 
 and adorned with various marbles. Five doors open from it 
 into the church, the body of which is divided into a nave 
 and two aisles, on each side. The nave is intersected by a 
 transept, and terminated as is usual by a semicircular sanc- 
 tuary. There are no rails nor partitions ; all is open, and a 
 few steps form the only division between the clergy and the 
 people : thus the size and proportions of this noble hall appear 
 to the best advantage. Its decorations are rich in the extreme, 
 and scattered with profusion, but unfortunately with little taste. 
 The nave was renewed or repaired by Borromini, and is dis- 
 figured by endless breaks and curves, as Avell as overloaded 
 with cumbersome masses. 
 
 The church was anciently supported by more than three 
 hundred antique pillars, and had the same plan of decoration 
 
334 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 been adopted in its reparation, as was afterwards employed at 
 Santa Maria Maggiore, it would probably have exhibited the 
 grandest display of pillared scenery ever beheld. But the 
 architect it seems had an antipathy to pillars ; he walled them 
 up in the buttresses, and adorned the buttresses with groups of 
 pilasters : he raised the windows, and in order to crown them 
 with pediments, broke the architrave and frieze, and even re- 
 moved the cornice : he made niches for statues and topped 
 them with crowns and pediments of every contorted form ; in 
 short, he has broken every straight line in the edifice, and filled 
 it with semi-circles, spirals and triangles. The roof formed of 
 wood, though adorned with gilding in profusion, yet from too 
 many and dissimilar compartments appears heavy and confused. 
 The altar is small and covered with a Gothic sort of tower, said 
 to be very rich, but certainly very ugly. The statues of the 
 twelve apostles that occupy the niches on each side of the 
 nave, with their graceful pillars of Verde antico are much ad- 
 mired. There are several columns also that merit particular at- 
 tention ; among these we may rank the antique bronze fluted 
 pillars that support the canopy over the altar in the chapel 
 of the Santissimo Sacramento. Some suppose that these 
 pillars belonged to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus; others 
 fancy that they were brought from the temple of Jerusalem : 
 be these conjectures as they ma}^ the columns are extremely 
 beautiful. 
 
 The various chapels of this church deserve attention, either 
 for theii" form or their embellishments ; but the Corsini chapel 
 is entitled to particular consideration, and may be regarded 
 as one of the most perfect buildings of the kind existing. 
 Inferior perliaps in size, and more so in splendor to the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 335 
 
 Borghese chapel, it has more simplicity in its form and 
 more purity in its decoration. This chapel is in the form of a 
 Greek Cross. The entrance occupies the lower, the altar the 
 upper part : a superb mausoleum terminates each end of the 
 transept : the rail that separates the chapel from the aisle of 
 the church is of gilt brass : the pavement is the finest marlile ; 
 the walls are incrusted with alabaster and jasper, and adorned 
 with basso relievos ; six pillars adorn the recesses, the two on 
 each side of the altar are Verde antico ; the four others are 
 porphyry, their bases and capitals are burnished bronze. The 
 picture over the altar is a mosaic, the original by Guido. The 
 tombs with their statues are much admired, particularly that of 
 Clement XII. the Corsini pontiff, whose body reposes in a 
 large and finely proportioned antique sarcophagus of porphyry.* 
 Four corresponding niches are occupied by as many statues, 
 representing the Cardinal virtues, and over each niche is an 
 appropriate basso relievo. The dome that canopies this chapel, 
 in itself airy and well lighted, receives an additional lustre from 
 its golden pannels, and sheds a soft but rich glow on the marble 
 scenery beneath it. In the whole, though the Corsini chapel 
 has not escaped criticism, yet it struck me as the most beautiful 
 edifice of the kind ; splendid without gaudiness, the valuable 
 materials that form its pavement, line its walls and adorn its 
 vaults, are so disposed as to mix together their varied hues into 
 soft and delicate tints ; while the size and symmetry of its form 
 
 * This sarcophagus was taken from the portico of the Pantheon, and is supposed 
 by some antiquaries to have contained the ashes of Agrippa. 
 
336 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 enable the eye to contain it with ease, and contemplate its 
 unity, its proportions, and its ornaments without effort.* 
 
 The Baptistery of St, John Lateran, which according to the 
 custom of the early ages still observed in almost all the cathe- 
 drals of Italy, though near, is yet detached from the church, is 
 called S. Giovanni ifi Fonte, and is the most ancient of the kind 
 in the Christian world. It was erected by Constantine, and is 
 at the same time a monument of the magnificence of that Em- 
 peror and the bad taste of the age. A small portico leads into an 
 octagonal edifice, in the centre of which there is a large bason 
 about three feet deep, lined and paved with marble. This 
 bason is of the same form as the building itself, and at its 
 corners stand eight beautiful pillars, which support eight others 
 of white marble, and these latter bear an attic crowned with 
 a dome. These pillars, with their entablature, were probably 
 taken from various buildings, as they differ in order, size, and 
 proportion. The attic is painted in fresco, as is the gallery 
 around the pillars below; the former represents several Gos- 
 pel histories, the latter some of the principal events of the 
 reign of Constantine. The modern font, a large vase of green 
 basaltes, stands in the centre of the bason, raised on some steps 
 of marble. Anciently the bason itself was the font into which 
 the Catechumen descended by the four steps which still remain 
 for that purpose. There are two chapels ; one on each side of 
 
 * This edifice might be recommended as an excellent model for a domestic or 
 college chapel, or a mausoleum. Some critics have ventured to censure its archi- 
 tecture as too tame, and deficient in boldness and relievo. Its size is not, I 
 believe, susceptible of more ; the defect, if it exist, is scarcely perceptible. 
 
Vol. i.r :;:',-, 
 
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THROUGH ITALY. 837 
 
 the Baptistery, formerly destined for the instruction and accom- 
 modation of the catechumens. In this chapel only, and only 
 upon the eves of Easter and Pentecost, was public baptism 
 administered anciently in Rome; many magnificent ceremonies, 
 which occupied the whole night, accompanied this solemnity, 
 and rendered it more delightful to the fervent christians of that 
 period than the most brilliant exhibitions of the day. 
 
 The view from the steps of the principal portico of St. John 
 Lateran is extensive and interesting. It presents a grove 
 before : on one side the venerable walls of the city ; the lofty 
 arches of an aqueduct on the other; the church of Santa Croce 
 in front, and beyond it the desolate Campagna bounded by the 
 Alban Mount tinged with blue and purple, and checkered with 
 woods, towns and villages. 
 
 A Avide and strait road leads through the solitary grove which 
 I have just mentioned, to the Basilica di Santa Croce, in 
 Gierusaletnme, another patriarchal church erected by Constan- 
 tine on the ruins of a temple of Venus and Cupid destroyed 
 by his orders. Tliis church derives its name from some pieces 
 of the holy cross, and a quantity of earth taken from Mount 
 Calvary, and deposited in it by St. Helena, Constan tine's mother. 
 It is remarkable only for its antique shape, and the eight noble 
 columns of granite that support its nave. Its front is modern, 
 of rich materials, but of very indifferent architecture. The 
 semicircular vault of the sanctuary is adorned with paintings in 
 fresco, which, though very defective in the essential parts, yet 
 charm the eye by the beauty of some of the figures and the 
 exquisite fi-eshness of the coloring. The lonely situation of this 
 antique Basilica, amidst groves, gardens and vineyards, and the 
 
 VOL. I. XX 
 
338 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 number of mouldering monuments and tottering arches that 
 surround it, give it a solemn and affecting appearance. 
 
 The patriarchal Basilica of St. Paul, called S. Paolo fuori 
 delle Mura, at some distance from the Porta Ostiensis, is one 
 of the grandest temples erected by the first Christian Emperor. 
 It was finished by Theodosius and his son Honorius, and after- 
 wards when shattered by earthquakes and time, it was repaired 
 first by Leo III. and again after a long interval by Sixtus Quintus. 
 Such was the respect Avhich the public entertained for this church, 
 and so great the crowds that flocked to it, that the Emperors 
 above-mentioned thought it necessary (if we may believe Proco- 
 pius) to build a portico from the gate to the Basilica, a distance of 
 near a mile. The magnificence of this portico seems to have 
 equalled the most celebrated works of the ancient Romans, as it 
 was supported by marble pillars and covered Avith gilt copper. 
 But whatsoever may have been its former glory, it has long since 
 yielded to the depredations of age or barbarism, and sunk into 
 dust without leaving even a trace to ascertain its former exist- 
 ence. The road is now unfrequented, and the church itself 
 with the adjoining abbey, belonging to the Benedictine monks, 
 almost abandoned during the summer months on account of the 
 real or imaginary unwholesomeness of the air. 
 
 The exterior of this edifice, like that of the Pantheon, being 
 of ancient brick, looks dismal and ruinous. The portico is 
 supported by t>velve pillars, and forms a gallery or vestibulum 
 lofty and spacious. The principal door is of bronze; the nave 
 and dovible aisles are supported by four ranges of Corinthian 
 pillars, amounting in all to the number of eighty. Of these 
 columns, four-and-twenty of that beautiful marble called pavo- 
 
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THROUGH ITALY. 339 
 
 nazzo, (because -white tinged with a dehcate purple) and the 
 most exquisite workmanship and proportions, were taken from 
 the tomb of Adrian (Castel S. Angelo.) The transept or rather 
 the walls and arches of the sanctuary rest upon ten other columns, 
 and thirty more are employed in the decoration of the tomb of 
 the Apostle and of the altars. These pillars are in general of 
 porphyry, and the four that support the central arches are of 
 vast magnitude. Two flights of marble steps lead from the nave 
 to the sanctuary : the pavement of this latter part is of fine mar- 
 ble; that of the former of shattered fragments of ancient 
 tombs marked with inscriptions. The altar stands under a 
 canopy terminated by an awkward Gothic pyramid ; the cir- 
 cumference of the sanctuary is adorned with some very ancient 
 mosaics. The walls of the nave and center rest on arches car- 
 ried from pillar to pillar; those of the nave are high and covered 
 with faded paintings. The length of the chmxh is about three 
 hundred feet, its breadth about one hundred and fifty, and from 
 its magnitude, proportions and materials, undoubtedly furnishes 
 all the means requisite if properly managed, of rendering it one 
 of the most noble, and perhaps one of the most beautiful 
 churches in the universe. As it is, it presents a very exact copy 
 of its ancient state, for it seems to have suffered considerable 
 damage almost as soon as finished from the wars, alarms and 
 devastations that commenced in the reign of Honorius, and 
 continued during several successive centuries. Although many 
 popes, and particularly Sixtus Quintus and Benedict XIV. 
 have repaired or ornamented this venerable fabric, yet it still 
 retains an unfinished, forlorn and almost ruinous appearance. 
 The pavement is, as has been observed above, made up of 
 broken remnants, the ancient pictures that adorned the walls 
 are nearly eflfeced by damp vapors; the beams and rafters of the 
 
 X X 2 
 
340 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 roof form the only covering of the body of the church, and 
 the whole Basilica, excepting the sanctuary, presents the aspect 
 of a neglected and melancholy monument. Tiie Benedictine 
 monks are, in all countries where the Order exists but particu- 
 larly in Italy, both rich and public spirited, and it is a subject 
 of surprise, scandal and just reproach, that while so many 
 superb edifices have been erected by them in difl'erent towns 
 and countries, one of the most ancient and celebrated temples 
 in the Christian world should even in the Capital itself, and 
 under the eye of the pontiff, be allowed to moulder away and 
 sink almost unnoticed into ruin. The expences requisite for 
 the reparation and embellishment of such an edifice would be 
 great without doubt, but to an opulent and religious society, 
 money when employed for such a purpose cannot be an object 
 of consideration, especially as the work might be carried on 
 gradually and with all due regard to economy.* 
 
 * The roof is much admired for its mechanism and revered for its antiquity; 
 but however curious or venerable it may be in these respects, it forms, as all 
 mere carpentry must form, a very dull and unappropriate ceiling to a marble 
 temple. The beams were originally lined with gold, and indeed the whole 
 edifice most splendidly decorated as we are assured by Prudentius who visited it 
 in its first glory. 
 
 Regia pompa loci est, princeps bonus has sacravit arces 
 
 Lusitque magnis ambitum talentis. 
 Bracteolas trabibus sublevit, ut omnis aurulenta 
 
 Lux esset intus, ceu jubar sub ortu. 
 Subdidit et Parias fulvis laquearibus columnas, 
 
 Distinguit illic quas quaternus ordo : 
 Turn Camyros hyalo insigni varie cucurrit arcus, 
 
 Sic prata vernis floribus renident. 
 
 PassiQ Beat. Apoit^ 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 341 
 
 The arches from pillar to pillar introduced by the bad taste 
 of the age of Diocletian, might be covered as in Santa Maria 
 Maggiore by a regular entablature, and as in all the other Basi- 
 licae, the floor flagged and the walls lined with marble. The 
 paintings might then be restored with perfect security, and the 
 work of reparation finished by removing the present Gothic 
 obelisk that encumbers the tomb of the Apostle, and employing 
 the beautiful columns that now seem to groan under its weight, 
 in supporting a light and well-proportioned canopy. I have 
 already said that »S'. Paolo might be made one of the most beau- 
 tiful churches in the universe, and the changes here pointed out 
 would, I think, accomplish that object, and give it all the splen- 
 dor of which it is susceptible. In fact, it already exhibits the 
 noblest collection of pillars now known, and if these were set off 
 to advantage by an appropriate cornice and corresponding de- 
 corations around, its colonnades would form a scene inferior in 
 extent indeed, but I conceive equal if not superior in regular 
 architectural beauty even to the magnificent arcades of the 
 Vatican. 
 
342 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 THE BASILICA VATICANA, OU ST. PETERS. 
 
 X O the Vatican we shall now turn and close our account of 
 Roman churches, by a faint and imperfect description of some 
 of the glories of this unrivalled fabric, the boast of modern 
 skill and trophy of the united arts of painting, sculpture and 
 architecture. The Basilica of St. Peter was the first and 
 noblest religious edifice erected by Constantine. It stood on part 
 of the circus of Nero, and was supposed to occupy a spot conse- 
 crated by the blood of numberless martyrs exposed or slaughtered 
 in that place of public amusement by order of the tyrant. But 
 its principal and exclusive advantage was the possession of the 
 body of St. Peter, a circumstance which raised it in credit and 
 consideration above the Basilica Lateranensis, dignified its 
 threshold with the honorable appellation of the Limina Apos- 
 tolorum, and secured to it the first place in the affection and 
 reverence of the Christian Avorld. Not only monks and bishops 
 but princes and emperors visited its sanctuary with devotion, 
 and even kissed as they approached, the marble steps that led 
 to its portal. Nor was this reverence confined to the orthodox 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 343 
 
 monarchs who sat on the throne of the founder; it extended to 
 barbarians and more than once converted a cruel invader into 
 a supphant votary. The A^andal Genseric Avhose heart seldom 
 felt emotions of mercy, while he plundered every house and 
 temple with unrelenting fury, spared the treasures deposited under 
 the roof of the Vatican Basilica, and even allowed the plate of 
 the churches to be carried in solemn pomp to its inviolable 
 altars. Totila, who in a moment of vengeance had sworn that 
 he would bury the glor^^ and memory of Rome in its ashes, 
 listened to the admonitions of the pontiff, and resigned his fury 
 at the tomb of the Apostles. 
 
 Every age as it passed over the Vatican seemed to add to its 
 holiness and its dignity ; and the coronation of an Emperor or 
 the installation of a Pope, the deposition of the remains of a 
 prince or the enshrinemcnt of the reliques of a saint, appeared 
 as so many tributes paid to its supereminence, and gave it so 
 many new claims to the veneration of the Christian world. At 
 length however, after eleven centuries of glory, the walls of 
 the ancient Basilica began to give way, and symptoms of ap- 
 proaching ruin were become so visible about the year 1450, 
 that Nicolas V. conceived the project of taking down the old 
 church and erecting in its stead a new and more extensive 
 structure. However, though the work was begun, yet it was 
 carried on with feebleness and uncertainty during more than 
 half a century, till Julius II. ascended the papal throne and 
 resumed the great undertaking with that spirit and decision 
 which distinguished all the measures of his active pontificate. 
 Great princes generally find or create the talents requisite for 
 their purposes, and Julius discovered in Bramante an architect 
 
 5 
 
344 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 capable of" comprehending and executing his grandest concep- 
 tions. A plan was piesented and approved. The walls of the 
 ancient Basilica were taken down, and on the eighteenth of 
 April 1508, the foundation stone of one of the vast pillars that 
 support the dome was laid bj Julius with all the pomp and 
 ceremony that became such an interesting occurrence. From 
 that period the work, though carried on with ardor and per- 
 severance yet continued during the space of one hundred years 
 to ocx^upy the attention and absorb the income of eighteen 
 pontiffs. I might have augmented this number by the addition 
 of the names of Urban VIII. Alexander VII. and their suc- 
 cessors down to Benedict XIII. who all contributed to the 
 erection, embellishment and completion of the superb colon- 
 nade that opens before the church, and adds so much to its ma- 
 jesty. The popes who have since followed have not been entirely 
 inactive, but have endeavoured each according to his ability to 
 acquire a share in the glory and duration of this edifice by some 
 decoration or improvement. In fine, the late Pius VI. built the 
 sacristy, and by this necessary appendage, which had till then 
 been wanting, may be considered as having accomplished the 
 grand undertaking, and given the Basilica Vaticana its full 
 perfection. 
 
 On the whole it would not be exaggeration to assert, that nearly 
 three hundred years elapsed and five and thirty pontiffs reigned 
 from the period of the commencement, to that of the termina- 
 tion of this stupendous fabric. The most celebrated architects 
 of modern times had an opportunity of displaying their talents 
 and immortalizing their names in the prosecution of the work, 
 and Bramante, Raffaello, San Gallo, Michael Angelo, Vignola, 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 345 
 
 Carlo Maderno and Bernini, not to speak of others of less repu- 
 tation, labored successively in its promotion or consummation. 
 To calculate the expense with any great precision would be 
 difficult, but from the best information that has been collected 
 on the subject we may venture to state, that however enormous 
 the sum may appear, the expenditure must have amounted 
 to at least twelve millions sterling; and when we consider 
 that the marbles, bronze, and other valuable materials em- 
 ployed in its decoration are not only not plentiful, but scarcely 
 known out of Rome, we may add that it would require three 
 times as much to raise a similar edifice in any other capi- 
 tal. From the latter observation we may infer that if a con- 
 vulsion of nature, or what is still more to be dreaded, an 
 explosion of human malignity should shatter or destroy this 
 admirable fabric, many ages must elapse and numberless gene- 
 rations pass away before means could be collected or talents 
 found to restore it, or to erect another of equal magnificence. 
 What then will be the astonishment or rather the horror of my 
 reader, when I inform him that this unrivalled temple, the 
 triumph and master-piece of modern skill, the noblest specimen 
 of the genius and the powers of man, was during the late French 
 invasion made an object of rapacious speculation, and doomed 
 to eventual but certain ruin. Yet such is the fact. When the 
 exhausted income of the state and the plunder of all the public 
 establishments were found unequal to the avarice of the generals, 
 and the increasing wants of the soldiers, the French committee 
 turned its attention to St. Peter's, and employed a company of 
 Jews to estimate and purchase the gold, silver and bronze that 
 adorn the inside of the edifice, as well as the copper that 
 covers the vaults and dome on the outside. The interior orna- 
 
 VOL. I. Y y 
 
346 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 inents might perhaps have been removed without any essential 
 or irreparable damage to the body of the fabric, but to strip 
 it of its external covering Avas to expose it to the injuries of the 
 weather, and to devote it to certain destruction : especially as the 
 papal government when restored had not the means of repairing 
 the mischief. But Providence interposed and the hand of the 
 Omnipotent was extended to protect his temple. Before the 
 work of sacrilege and barbarism could be commenced, the 
 French army alarmed by the approach of the allies retired with 
 precipitation, and St. Peter's stands ! After this historical detail 
 we may proceed on our way to the Vatican. 
 
 From the bridge and Castel de St. Angela, a wide street 
 conducts in a direct line to a square, and that square presents 
 at once the court or portico and part of the Basilica.* When 
 the spectator approaches the entrance of this court, he views 
 four ranges of lofty pillars, sweeping off to the right and left in 
 a bold semicircle. In the centre of the area formed by this 
 immense colonnade -f an Egyptian obelisk of one solid piece of 
 granite ascends to the height of one hundred and thirty feet ; 
 
 * The late pope had some thoughts of widening this street and giving 
 it throughout an expansion equal to the entrance of the portico, so that the colon- 
 nade, fountains, obelisk and church would thus burst at once upon the eye of the 
 spectator, when he turned from the bridge. Thougli the approach to St. Peter's 
 is already sufficiently noble, yet this alteration would without doubt have added 
 much to its magnificence. The invasion of the French and the consequent dis- 
 tressing events, suspended the execution of this and many similar plans of 
 improvement. 
 
 + This coloDuade with its entabktuce, balustrade and statnee, is seventy feet 
 in height. 
 
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THROUGH ITALY. 847 
 
 two perpetual fountains, one on each side, play in the air, and 
 fall in sheets round the immense basons of porphyry that re- 
 ceive them. Before him, raised on three successive flights of 
 marble steps extending four hundred feet in length, and towering 
 to the elevation of one hundred and eighty, he beholds the ma- 
 jestic front of the Basilica itself. This front is supported by 
 a single row of Corinthian pillars and pilasters, and adorned 
 with an attic, a balustrade, and thirteen colossal statues. 
 Far behind and above it rises the matchless Dome, the justly 
 celebrated wonder of Rome and of the world. The colon- 
 nade of coupled pillars that surround and strengthen its vast 
 base, the graceful attic that surmounts this colonnade, the 
 bold and expansive swell of the dome itself, and the pyramid 
 seated on a cluster of columns and bearing the ball and cross 
 to the skies, all perfect in their kind form the most magnificent 
 and singular exhibition that the human eye perhaps ever con- 
 templated. Two less cupolas, one on each side, partake of 
 the state and add not a little to the majesty of the principal 
 dome. 
 
 The interior corresponds perfectly with the grandeur of the 
 exterior, and fully answers the expectations, however great, 
 which such an approach must naturally have raised.* Five 
 lofty portals open into the portico or vestibulum, a gallery 
 
 * Ad Basilicse Vaticanae vestibulum subsistiinus ; neque, audemus tam divinaa 
 iabricaB majestatem rudi calamo violare. Sunt enim nonnulla, quae nullo melius 
 modo, quam stupore et silentio laudantur, says the learned Mabillon: Iter 
 Italicum. 
 
 "" I saw St. Peter's," sajs Graj, " and was struck dumb with astoDishment." 
 
 T T 2 
 
348 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 in dimensions and decorations equal to the most spacious 
 cathedrals. In fact it is four hundred feet in length, seventy in 
 height and fifty in breadth, paved with variegated marble, 
 covered with a gilt vault adorned with pillars, pilasteis, mosaic 
 and basso relievos, and terminated at both ends by equestrian 
 statues, one of Constantine, the other of Charlemagne. A foun- 
 tain at each extremity supplies a stream sufficient to keep a 
 reservoir always full, in order to carry off every unseemly ob- 
 ject, and perpetually refresh and purify the air and pave- 
 ment. Opposite the five portals of the vestibule are the five 
 doors of the church; three are adorned with pillars of the 
 finest marble ; that in the middle has valves of bronze. As 
 you enter you behold the most extensive hall ever con- 
 structed by human art, expanded in magnificent perspective 
 before you; advancing up the nave you are delighted with 
 the beauty of the variegated marble under your feet, and the 
 splendor of the golden vault over your head. The lofty 
 Corinthian pilasters with their bold entablature, the interme- 
 diate niches with their statues, the arches that communicate 
 with the isles, and the graceful figures that recline on the 
 curves of those arches charm your eye in succession as you pass 
 along. But how great your astonishment when you reach the 
 foot of the altar and standing in the centre of the church, con- 
 template the four superb vistas that open around you : and then 
 raise your eyes to the dome, at the prodigious elevation of four 
 hundred feet, extended like a firmament over your head, and 
 presenting in glowing mosaic the companies of the just, the 
 choirs of celestial spirits, and the whole hierarchy of heaven 
 arrayed in the presence of the Eternal, whose " throne high 
 raised above all height" crowns the awful scene. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 349 
 
 When 3'^ou have feasted your eye with the grandeur of this 
 unparalleled exhibition in the whole, you Avill turn to the parts, 
 the ornaments and the furniture, Avhich you will find perfectly 
 corresponding with the magnificent form of the temple itself. 
 Around the dome rise four other cupolas, small indeed when 
 compared to its stupendous magnitude, but of great boldness 
 when considered separately: six more, three on either side, 
 cover the different divisions of the isles, and six more of 
 greater dimensions canopy as many chapels, or to speak more 
 properly as many churches. All these inferior cupolas are like 
 the grand dome itself, lined with beautiful mosaics. In fact, 
 many of the master-pieces of painting which formerly graced 
 this edifice, have been removed and replaced by mosaics which 
 retain all the tints and beauties of the originals impi'essed on 
 a more solid and durable substance. The aisles and altars 
 are adorned with numberless antique pillars, that border the 
 church all around and form a secondary and subservient 
 order. The variegated walls are in many places ornamented 
 with festoons, Avreaths, angels, tiaras, crosses, and medallions 
 representing the effigies of different pontifl's. These decorations 
 are of the most beautiful and rarest species of marble, and often 
 of excellent workmanship. Various monuments rise in differ- 
 ent parts of the church, but in their size and accompaniments 
 so much attention has been paid to general as well as local 
 effect, that they appear rather as parts of the original plan 
 than posterior additions. Some of these are much admired for 
 their groupes and exquisite sculpture, and form very con- 
 spicuo\is features in the ornamental part of this superb- 
 temple. 
 
 The high altar stands under the dome, and thus as it is the 
 
350 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 raost important so it becomes the most striking object. Ln 
 order to add to its relief and give it all its majesty, according 
 to the ancient custom still retained in the patriarchal churches 
 at Rome, and in most of the cathedrals in Italy, a lofty canopy 
 rises above it and forms an intermediate break or repose for the 
 eye between it and the immensity of the dome above. The 
 form, materials and magnitude of this noble decoration are 
 equally astonishing. Below the steps of the altar and of course 
 some distance from it, at the corners on four massive pedestals, 
 rise four twisted pillars fifty feet in height, and support an 
 entablature which bears the canopy itself topped with a cross. 
 The Avhole soars to the elevation of one hundred and thirty-two 
 feet from the pavement, and excepting the pedestals is of 
 Corinthian brass! the most lofty and massive work of that or 
 of any other metal now known in the universe. But this 
 brazen edifice, for so it may be called, notwithstanding itsi 
 magnitude, is so disposed as not to obstruct the view by 
 concealing the chancel and veiling the Cathedral or Chair 
 of St. Peter. This ornament is also of bronze, and consists 
 of a group of four gigantic figures, representing the four 
 principal Doctors of the Greek and Latin churches, support- 
 ing the patriarchal chair of St. Peter. The chair is a lofty 
 throne elevated to the height of seventy feet from the pavement; 
 a circular window tinged with yellow throws from above a 
 mild splendor around it, so that the whole not unfitly represents 
 the pre-eminence of the apostolic See, and is acknowledged to 
 form a most becoming and majestic termination to the first of 
 Christian temples. When I have added that every part and 
 every ornament is kept in the most perfect repair, that the 
 most exact neatness and cleanliness is observable on all sides, 
 and that the windows are so managed as to throw over the 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. S61 
 
 whole a light, clear and distinct, yet soft and gentle, I shall 
 leave the reader to imagine what an impression the contemplation 
 of an edifice so glorious must make on the mind of a youthful 
 or enthusiastic traveller. 
 
 Under the high altar of St. Peter's is the tomb of that 
 apostle, formerly called the Confession of St. Peter, an ap- 
 pellation which it has communicated to the altar and its ca- 
 nopy. The descent to it is before, that is to the west of 
 the altar, where a large open space leaves room for a double 
 flight of steps and an area before two brass folding doors 
 that admit into a vault, whose grated floor is perpendicular 
 over the tomb. The rails that surround this space above 
 are adorned with one hundred and twelve bronze cornucopiae, 
 which serve as supporters to as many silver lamps that burn 
 perpetually in honor of the Apostle. The staircase with its 
 balustrade, the pavement of the little area and the walls around 
 are all lined with alabaster, lapis lazuli, verde aiUico and other 
 kinds of the most beautiful marble. The pavement of the 
 area is upon a level with the Sacre grotte, though the regular 
 entrance into those subterraneous recesses is under one of the 
 great pillars that support the dome. 
 
 The Sacre grotte are the remains of the ancient church 
 built by Constantine, the pavement of which was respected 
 and preserved with all possible care during the demolition 
 of the old and the construction of the new Basilica. They 
 consist of several long winding galleries extending in various 
 directions under the present building. They are venerable for 
 their antiquity and contents, and if Addison never visited 
 
852 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Westminster abbey, or trod its gloomy cloisters without strong 
 impressions of religious awe, I may be pardoned when I ac- 
 knowledge that I felt myself penetrated with holy terror, while 
 conducted by a priest in his surplice wdth a lighted torch in 
 his hand, I ranged through these dormitories of the dead, 
 lined with the urns of emperors and pontiffs, and almost paved 
 with the remains of saints and martyrs. The intrepid Otho, 
 the turbulent Alexander, and the polished Christina, lie 
 mouldering near the hallowed ashes of the apostles Peter and 
 Paul, of the holy pontiffs Linus, Silvester and Adrian. The 
 low vault closes over their porphyry tombs, and silence and 
 darkness brood uninterrupted around them. My awe increased 
 as I approached the monument of the apostles themselves. 
 Others may behold the mausoleum of an emperor or a consul, 
 a poet or an orator, with enthusiasm ; for jny part, I contem- 
 plated the sepulchre of these christian heroes with heart-felt 
 veneration. What, if a bold achievement, an useful invention, 
 a well-fought battle or a well-told tale can entitle a man to 
 the admiration of posterity, and shed a blaze of glory over 
 his remains, surely, the courage, the constancy, the cruel suf- 
 ferings, the triumphant death of these holy champions, must 
 excite our admiration and our gi'atitude, ennoble the spot where 
 their relics repose, and sanctify the very dust that imbibed 
 their sacred blood. They enlightened the world by their doc- 
 trine, they reformed it by their example, they devoted their 
 lives to the propagation of truth, and they sealed their 
 testimony with their blood. They are therefore the patriots of 
 the world at large, the common benefactors of mankind, and 
 in the truest and noblest sense, heroes and conquerors. How 
 natural then for a christian not only to cherish their names 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 353 
 
 but to extend his grateful veneration to their ashes and their 
 monuments. 
 
 Supcrba sordent Cassares cadavera 
 
 Queis urbs litabat inipii cultus ferax : 
 
 Apostolorum gloriatur ossibus 
 
 Fixamque adorat collibus suis crucem. 
 
 Nunc, O cruore purpiirata nobili 
 
 Novisque felix Roma conditoribus 
 
 Horum tropasis aucta quaiito verius 
 
 Regina fulges orbe toto civitas ! ! Brer. Par. 
 
 The A^estry or sacristy of St. Peter's is a most magnificent 
 edifice, connected with the church by a long gallery and adorned 
 with numberless pillars, statues, paintings and mosaics. It is in 
 reality a large and spacious church, covered with a dome in the 
 centre, and surrounded with Aarious chapels, recesses and apart- 
 ments adapted to the devotion and accommodation of the 
 pontift", the dean of St. Peter's, and the members of its chapter. 
 It was erected by the orders of the late Pope Pius VI. 
 at an immense expense, and though in many respects liable 
 to criticism in point of taste, yet is on the whole entitled to 
 admiration. 
 
 Fj-om the lower part of the Basilica we pass to the roof by 
 a well lighted staircase, winding round with an ascent so gentle 
 that beasts of burthen go up without inconvenience. When you 
 reach the platform of the roof you are astonished with the 
 number of cupolas and domes and pinnacles that rise around 
 you, with the galleries that spread on all sides, and the many 
 apartments and staircases that appear in every quarter. Crowds 
 of workmen are to be seen passing and repassing in every 
 
 VOL. I. z z 
 
354 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 direction, and the whole has rather the form of a town than 
 that of the roof of an edifice. Here the traveller has an 
 opportunity of examining closely and minutely the wonder- 
 ful construction of the dome, and discovering the amazing 
 skill and precision with which every part has been planned 
 and executed. The vast square platform of stone on which 
 it reposes as on the unshaken basis of a rock ; the lofty co- 
 lonnade that rises on this platform, and by its re-action and 
 resistance counteracts as a continued buttress, the horizontal 
 pressure of the double dome which it surrounds; that double 
 dome itself all of solid stone, of such prodigious swell and cir- 
 cumference; the lantern M'hich like a lofty temple sits on its 
 towering summit; these are objects which must excite the astonish- 
 ment of every spectator, but can be perfectly understood and 
 properly described by none but by a skilful architect thoroughly 
 acquainted with the difficulties and the resources of his art.* 
 The access to every part and the ascent even to the inside of 
 the ball, is perfectly safe and even commodious. Those 
 who wish to reach the cross on the outside, as some bold ad- 
 venturers are said to have done, are exposed to considerable 
 
 * The dome of St. Paul's is not calculated to give a just idea of that 
 of St. Peter's. The inner dome of the former is of brick, and in shape not 
 very unlike the conical form of a glass house; the dome to which the edifice 
 owes all its external grandeur is a mere wooden roof raised over the other at 
 a considerable distance, and covered with copper which conceals the poverty of 
 its materials. Both the domes of the latter are of stone, they run up a con- 
 siderable way together, and when they separate merely leave room enough for 
 a narrow staircase between them, so that the traveller as he ascends touches both 
 the domes with his elbows. They unite again at the top and conjointly support 
 the weight of the lantern. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 355 
 
 danger without attaining any advantage to justify their rash- 
 
 ness. 
 
 After having thus examined the upper parts, the interior and 
 the subterraneous apartments of this edifice, the traveller will 
 range round the outside and take a view of the external walls 
 and termination. A large open space surrounds it, and affords 
 room enough even for perspective. The order of the portico 
 with its attic is carried in pilasters round the outside of the 
 church, and gives it all the greatness and majesty that result from 
 unbroken unity. The only defect is the clusters of half or quarter 
 pilasters, Avith their imperfect capitals and angular entablature 
 crowded together in the corners. There are architects I know 
 who consider these groupes as ornamental or at least as neces- 
 sary, and of course as not incurring the appellation of defects. 
 But, without discussing the principles of the art, they cer- 
 tainly offer too many angles, and consequently too many 
 breaks to the sight, and may justly be termed, if not defects, at 
 least deformities. 
 
 I have thus presented a general picture of this celebrated 
 edifice, and dwelt with complacency on its unrivalled beauties. 
 
 * Some of the midshipmen of the Medusa frigate performed this feat with their 
 usual spirit and agility. But this is not surprising in young tais. 
 
 " Prodiga gens ultro lucis animeeque capaces 
 Mortis !" 
 
 Mr. de la Lande talks of a French lady who some years before scrambled up the 
 inclined ladder, mounted the ball and leaned on the cross, and did all this 
 " avec une souplesse et une grace inconcevable." I hope no English lady will ever 
 affect such inconceivable grace. 
 
 Z Z 2 
 
356 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 I may now be allowed to examine it with the e3'e of a critic 
 and venture to point out those parts which may be deemed 
 liable to censure, or at least capable of improvement. To begin 
 with the colonnade. Every spectator of taste while he contem- 
 plates and admires this most extensive and magnificent scene of 
 pillars, regrets that Bernini, influenced without doubt by the 
 love of novelty, so fatal to the beauty of edifices and the repu- 
 tation of architects, instead of a simple and perfect order, should 
 have employed a composite of his own invention. Surely the 
 pure Doric of the Parthenon, the Ionic of the temple of Fortuna 
 Virilis, and the Corinthian of the Pantheon might have been 
 adopted with more propriety and effect, than a fanciful com- 
 bination of irregular Doric pillars and an Ionic entablature. 
 To this defect Bernini has added another, by introducing too 
 many pilasters, or to speak more properly massive piles, that 
 break the line unnecessarily and increase the apparent weight 
 without augmenting the solidity of the building. 
 
 The front of St. Peter's has been censured as having more of 
 the appearance of a palace than of a church ; it is pierced with 
 so many windows, divided into so many parts, and supported by 
 so many half pillars and pilasters. This deformit}'^ which is 
 common to all the patriarchal churches in Rome, is in a great 
 degree owing to the necessity which architects are under of 
 providing a gallery for the ceremon}^ of papal benediction, and 
 thus dividing the intercolumniation into arches and apartments. 
 What a pity that such an extensive and magnificent front 
 should be sacrificed to such an insignificant motive; especially 
 as the ceremony in question might be performed with equal 
 if not more effect from the grand entrance of the church itself. 
 It is indeed much to be lamented that the original designs of 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 357 
 
 Braniaiite and Michael Angclo were not executed, and the 
 portico of St. Peter's built, on the plan of that of the Pan- 
 theon; a plan that united simplicity with grandeur and would 
 have given to the ^^atican beauty and majesty unblemished 
 and unparalleled. But it is the fate of great architects to be 
 counteracted by ignorant employers, and not unfrequently 
 obliged to sacrifice their sublime conceptions to the bad taste, 
 the prejudice or the obstinacy of their contemporaries. The 
 architect of St. Paul's shared the fate of that of St. Peter's, and 
 had the mortification to see his bold and masterly designs tamed 
 and disfigured by dulncss and parsimony. The inscription on 
 the frieze ought I think to be corrected as below the dignity 
 and destination of such a temple, erected by the common father 
 of all christians, in their name and at their expense. Thus 
 instead of " In honorem principis Apostolorum Faulus Borghesius 
 Ilo?nanus," it should read, " Deo opthno maximo in honorem prin- 
 cipis Apostolorum Ecclesia CathoUca ;" an inscription more worthy 
 a temple which may justly be considered as the common pro- 
 perty of the christian world. 
 
 In traversing the nave one is tempted to wish, notwithstand- 
 ing the beauty of the arcades, that pillars had been employed 
 in their stead, a support more graceful as well as more majestic. 
 In fact, what a superb colonnade would two such long and lofty 
 rows of pillars have formed? how much above all modern mag- 
 nificence? and even how superior to the proudest monument that 
 remains of ancient grandeur? 
 
 It has been justly observed, that no statues ought to have been 
 admitted into St. Peter's but such as represent the most distin- 
 guished benefactors of the christian church, whose services have 
 
358 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 been generally felt, and whose names are held in universal 
 veneration; such as the apostles, the principal martyrs, the 
 doctors of the first ages, and the most celebrated bishops. The 
 forms of these ancient worthies, these, " our fathers and masters 
 in the faith," so well entitled to the most honorable places in 
 every christian temple, might have occupied the niches of the 
 nave and the transept with much dignity, and would have been 
 contemplated by every spectator of feeling and religion with in- 
 terest and reverence. But though these holy personages arc not 
 excluded, yet many a conspicuous niche is occupied by a saint 
 of dubious origin or obscure name, whose existence may be 
 questioned by many, and is unknown to most, and whose vir- 
 tues at the best had but a local and temporary, that is a very 
 confined and very transient, influence. Thus of the four most 
 remarkable niches in the whole church, of those which are 
 formed in the vast piles that support the dome and which of 
 course face the altar, two are filled by two saints whose very 
 names exist only in a legendary tale, I mean St. Veronica and 
 St. Longinus ; and a third is appropriated to St. Helen, the 
 mother of Constantine the Great, who, though a princess of 
 great virtue and eminent piety, might stand with more propriety 
 in the porch near the statue of her son. 
 
 As for the founders of religious orders, such as St. Dominic, 
 St. Francis, St. Ignatius, St. Bruno, &c. my difterent readers 
 Avill entertain very different opinions, according as they may ap- 
 prove or disapprove of such institutions. Some will think them 
 worthy of the highest honor they can enjoy upon earth, a statue 
 in the Vatican; others will conceive that they might be stationed 
 without disrespect in the porch or colonnade ; and without pre- 
 tending to derogate from the merit of these extraordinary per- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 359 
 
 sonages I am inclined to favour this opinion. In reality, the 
 statues of men of tried and acknowledo;ed virtue and learning 
 might guard the approaches and grace the porticos of the august 
 temple; but the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs 
 alone should be admitted into the interior; they should line the 
 sanctuary, and form an awful assembly round the throne of the 
 victim Lamb. Statues so placed might edify the enlightened 
 catholic, and could not displease the sensible protestant. The — 
 doves, tiaras, medallions, &c. Avith which the sides of the ar- 
 cades are incrusted, have been censured by many as ornaments 
 too insignificant for the magnitude, and too gaudy for the so- 
 lemnity of the place. I know not whether this criticism may 
 not be well founded; yet they give a variety and richness to the 
 picture, so that the eye excuses while the judgment points out 
 the defect. 
 
 The pictures, or rather the mosaics which have been substi- 
 tuted in the place of the original pictures, may be objected to 
 on the same ground as the statues, as many of them represent 
 persons and events totally unconnected with the sacred records, 
 and sometimes not to be met with even in the annals of authen- 
 tic history. The candid and judicious Erasmus would have the 
 subjects of all the pictures exhibited in churches taken exclu- 
 sively from the holy scriptures, while the histories of saints, when 
 authentic, he thinks might furnish decorations for porticos, 
 halls, and cloisters. It is a pity that this opinion, so conform- 
 able to good taste and sound piety, has not been adopted and 
 followed as a general rule in the embellishment of churches, as 
 it would have banished from the sacred place many useless, some 
 absurd, and a few profane representations. I do not pretend to 
 hint that any of the mosaics above alluded to merit such severe 
 
 5 
 
360 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 epithets, but the christian when he enters St. Peter's, the most 
 magnificait edifice eve?- devoted to the purposes of religion, may 
 justl}' expect to find dehneated on its Avails the whole history of 
 his faith from the opening to the closing of the inspired volumes ; 
 to see pourtrayed in succession, as he advances, the mysterious 
 transactions, the figures, the predictions, the allusions of the 
 Old Avith the corresponding events, the realities, the accom- 
 plishments, the coincidences of the New Testament; to discover 
 the threats and promises, the discourses and parables, of his 
 divine master embodied in living colors before him, and thus -as 
 he casts his eyes around to contemplate in this noble tem- 
 ple a faithful transcript of the Holy Book, speaking to his eyes 
 in the most brilliant and impressive characters, combining and 
 displaying in one glorious prospect before him the past and the 
 future, the dispensations and the designs of Providence, in 
 short, all that is grand and terrible, and all that is mild and en- 
 gaging in his religion. These or similar expectations will not 
 certainly be entire!}' disappointed, as the mosaic decorations of 
 the numberless cupolas and chapels are in general selected and 
 applied with wonderful judgment and felicity, but I regret that 
 such excellent choice and anangement do not prevail throughout 
 the whole fabric, that an intermixture of representations, if not 
 fabulous at least controvertible, should break the succession of 
 scripture events; and while they add nothing to the incompara- 
 ble beauty of the edifice take much away from the purity and 
 correctness of its decorations. Such are the defects, real or 
 imaginary, which critical observers have discovered in this 
 wonderful pile, defects which confined to ornamental or ac- 
 cessary parts leave the grandeur and magnificence of the whole 
 undiminished, and only prove that the proudest works of man 
 are stamped with his characteristic imperfection. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 361 
 
 To conclude — In magnitude, elevation, opulence, and beaut}^, 
 the church of St. Peter has no rival, and bears no comparison : 
 in neatness, cleanliness, and convenience, so necessary to the 
 advantageous display of magnificence, if any where equalled, it 
 can no where be surpassed. It is cool in summer, and in winter 
 dry and warm: its portals are ever o])en, and every visitant 
 whether attracted by devotion or curiosity may range over it 
 at leisure, and without being molested or even noticed, either 
 contemplate its beauties or pour out his prayers before its altars. 
 Thus the Basilica Vaticana unites the perfection of art with the 
 heauty of holiness, and may justly claim the affection and rever- 
 ence of the traveller, both as the temple of taste and the 
 sanctuary of religion. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The only church which has been compared with St. Peter's is 
 St. Paul's in London. If the latter be, as in nmny respects it 
 is, the second church in the world, yet it is far inferior to the 
 former, and cannot without absurdity be put upon a parallel 
 Avith it, as the impartial traveller who has examined both will 
 readily acknowledge. In fact, the size, proportions, and ma- 
 terials of the two edifices when put in opposition, shew at one 
 view how ill-founded such a comparison must be. 
 
 ST. Peter's. st. Paul's. 
 
 Length . . . 700 feet 500 feet. 
 
 Transept . . . 500 250 
 
 Height . . . 440 340 
 
 Breadth of the nave 90 m 
 
 Height of the nave 154 120 
 
 The Portland stone of which St. Paul's is built though in 
 VOL. I. 3 a 
 
362 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 itself of a very beautiful color, is yet inferior in appearance to 
 the Travertino of St. Peter's, especially as the latter retains its 
 rich yellow glow uninjured, while the delicate white of the former 
 is in most parts of the cathedral turned into a sooty black. The 
 cold dark stone Avails, the naked vaults, the faded paintings of 
 the dome of St. Paul's chill the spectator, and almost extin- 
 guish all sense of beauty and all emotions of admiration. The 
 marble linings, the gilded arches, the splendid mosaics that em- 
 blazon St. Peter's naturally dilate the mind, and awaken senti- 
 ments of wonder and delight. 
 
 The fronts of both these churches are disfigured by too many 
 divisions, which by breaking one large mass into many small 
 parts destroy all greatness of manner, and impair in no small 
 degree the general grandeur and effect. Which of the two fronts 
 is most deficient in this respect it is difficult to determine; on 
 the defects of the Vatican I have expatiated above; those of 
 St. Paul's are the double gallery, the coupled pillars, and the 
 composite cornice. The colonnade that surrounds the dome of 
 St. Paul's, though liable in its form, proportions, capitals, &c. 
 to much criticism, is yet the noblest ornament of the edifice, and 
 considered by many as superior in appearance to the coupled 
 columns that occupy a similar situation in St. Peter's. It hap- 
 pens however unfortunately, that the decoration which contri- 
 butes so much to the majesty of the exterior should take away 
 from the beauty of the interior, and by masking the windows 
 deprive the dome of the light requisite to shew off its concavity 
 to advantage. Yet, be the defects of St. Paul's even greater 
 and more numerous than I have stated, it is on the whole a 
 most extensive and stately edifice: it fixes the eye of the spec- 
 tator as he passes by, and challenges his admiration : and even 
 
THROUGH ITALY. SbS 
 
 as next to the Vatican, though longo proximum intervallo, it 
 claims superiority over all transalpine churches, and furnishes a 
 just subject of national pride and exultation. I take this op- 
 portunity of expressing the public indignation at the manner in 
 which this cathedral is kept, the dirt collected on the pavement 
 and on the statues, the penurious spirit, that while it leaves 
 the decoration of the dome to rot and peel off through damp and 
 negligence, stations guards at the doors to tax tlie curiosity of 
 strangers. 
 
 The church of St. Genevieve at Paris was expected to surpass 
 St. Paul's and rival St. Peter's, as the best French architects were 
 employed, and many years were consumed in forming the plan 
 and preparing the materials. But the expectations of the Parisian 
 public had been raised too high, and were totally disappointed, 
 when this edifice which was to have eclipsed the most splendid 
 fabrics of modern times, and put French architecture upon a 
 level with that of Greece and Rome, was cleared of the scaffolding 
 and exhibited to public view. Some of the defects attributed 
 to the two great churches above-mentioned have been avoided, 
 particularly in the portico which is built upon the model of that 
 of the Pantheon, but very different from it in effect, as it wants 
 boldness, mass and elevation. The inside is in the shape of a 
 Greek cross crowned with a dome in the centre. This figure is 
 by many deemed the most perfect, because it expands better to 
 to tlie eye, and enables the spectator to take in its different parts 
 at one view. However, this advantage is wanting in St. Gene- 
 vieve owing to the protrusion of the walls that support the dome, 
 which protrusion, by detaching the parts from the centre, 
 breaks the unity of design, and gives the nave, choir, and 
 
 3a 2 
 
364 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 transept, the appearance of so many great halls opening into a 
 common area, rather than that of the component members of one 
 great edifice. Besides, there are too many subdivisions, especially 
 over the cornice, where apparently to support the great vault num- 
 berless little arches arise in forms so airy and unsubstantial as al- 
 most to border on arabesque. To these and other minute de- 
 fects which we pass over we must add one of a much more 
 important description, that is want of solidity ; a defect so 
 extensively felt in the year 1802, as to excite serious apprehen- 
 sions and suspend, at least for a time, the works necessary for 
 completing the building. When the traveller peruses the in- 
 scription that still remains on the frieze, Aux grands hommes 
 la Patrie reconiioissaiife, and recollects that the country here 
 meant Avas the bloody faction of the jacobins, and the Great 
 men alluded to Avere the villains who prepared, or the fiends Avho 
 accomplished the revolution, Voltaire and Rousseau, Mirabeau 
 and Marat, he will not regret that a church thus profaned and 
 turned into a Pandaniionium should tumble to the ground, and 
 crush in its fall the impure carcases that are still allowed to 
 putrefy in its vaults. 
 
 After all, in materials, in boldness of conception and in skill of 
 execution, the cathedral of Florence is perhaps the edifice that 
 borders nearest upon St. Peter's. It is also cased with marble, 
 of the same form, and covered with a lofty dome of solid 
 stone, and of such admirable construction, as to have furnished, if 
 we may believe some authors, the idea and model of that of the 
 Vatican. It was mdeed finished long before the latter was 
 begun, and was justly considered during the fifteenth century as 
 the noblest edifice of the kind in the world. But in beauty, in 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 365 
 
 symmetiy, and in graceful architecture, it is far inferior not to St. 
 Peter's only, but to numberless churches in Italy, and particu- 
 larly in Rome, Venice and Padua. 
 
 Santa Sophia of Constantinople may be considered as form- 
 ing a link between ancient and modern architecture. It is 
 true that in pure and correct taste, the boast of the eastern 
 capital has little in common with either, yet it was erect- 
 ed by a Roman Emperor, and may be considered as the 
 last effort of the art exerted under the influence of Roman 
 greatness. Justinian, the founder of this church is said to 
 have been so proud of his work, that he thanked God in the 
 exultation of his heart, for having enabled him to raise a tem- 
 ple more magnificent than that of Solomon, and for transcend- 
 ing in splendor all the fanes of the Gentile divinities.* This 
 celebrated edifice although stripped of its christian ornaments 
 and degraded into a Turkish Mosque, still retains its original 
 form and essential architectural features. The elevation of the 
 dome is one hundred and eighty feet, the length of the church 
 is two hundred and sixty nine, and its breadth two hundred and 
 forty-three. These dimensions bear no proportion, I will not 
 say to the Vatican, but to several other churches. The ma- 
 terials and ornaments seem indeed to have been splendid, but 
 the want of taste in their application and arrangement, must 
 have considerably diminished their effect. Before we leave 
 Constantinople, Avhither Ave have been transported by our 
 subject, we may be allowed to express a wish and even a hope, 
 that the present generation may behold the cross restored to its 
 ancient pre-eminence, the savage superstition of Mahomet 
 
 * Gibbon XL. 
 
366 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 banished from the verge of Christendom, and Santa Sophia re- 
 stored to the pure worship of the Eternal Wisdom to whom it 
 was originall}' dedicated. 
 
 The temple of Jerusalem as rebuilt by Herod, was without 
 doubt one of the noblest edifices which the world has ever 
 beheld. Tlie Romans themselves, though accustomed to the won- 
 ders of the imperial city, viewed it with astonishment, and Titus 
 resolved to exempt its stately fabric from the general sentence of 
 devastation. But man cannot save when God devotes to ruin; 
 and Titus and Julian were the reluctant instruments employed 
 by Providence, in fulfilling to the letter that dreadful prediction, 
 a stone shall not be left upon a stone. 
 
 Although the account given by Josephus* be obscure, and evi- 
 dently influenced by the national and professional feelings of the 
 writer, yet we may learn from it a suflicient number of circum- 
 stances to ascertain, not indeed the precise form but the general 
 grandeur of the edifice. According to this author, the plat- 
 form on which it stood was a square of a stadium, or about six 
 hundred and twenty feet in every direction ; this platform 
 was raised on immense substructions enclosing Mount Moria 
 on all sides ; the court which surrounded the temple was 
 adorned with a triple portico, each portico six hundred and 
 twenty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifty high, excepting the 
 middle portico, which with the same length had double the 
 breadth and elevation of the other two ; in fine, the front of 
 the temple itself resembled a magnificent palace. From this 
 
 Ant. Jud. lib. xv. cap. 11.— De Bello Judaico, lib. v. cap. 5. 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 867 
 
 statement we may conclude, that the substruction and colon- 
 nades were the principal and most striking features of this 
 fabric. The former were of great elevation* as they rose from 
 the bottom of the valley, and of prodigious solidity, as they were 
 formed of blocks of stone sixty feet long, nine thick, and 
 ten broad f-. The latter were supported by one hundred and 
 sixty-two pillars, forty-five feet in height, between four and five 
 in diameter, fluted Corinthian, and each of one single block of 
 white marble. Of the rich furniture of the temple, of its gates, 
 some of which Avere bronze, and some covered with plates of 
 gold and of its ornaments in general, I make no mention, as its 
 architectural beauty and magnitude are the only objects of my 
 present observations. Now the whole extent of the platform on 
 which the temple stood, with all its surrounding porticos, is 
 scarcely equal to the space covered by the church of St. Peter's 
 itself, and inferior to the circular part alone of the portico be- 
 fore it, which is seven hundred and seventy feet in its greatest, 
 and six hundred in its least diameter. It is supported by two 
 hundred and eighty pillars, forty-five feet high, and with its enta- 
 blature and statues it rises to the elevation of seventy. Thus in 
 extent, height, and number of columns it surpasses the Jewish 
 portico, which enclosed the temple and all its edifices. Now if 
 we consider that this colonnade is a part only of the portico of 
 St. Peter's, and if Ave add to it the galleries that connect it with the 
 
 * Four hundred and fifty feet. 
 
 + To these astonishing masses allusion seems to be made in the two first verses 
 of the thirteenth chapter of St. Mark. " And as he was going out of the temple, 
 one of his disciples said unto him, Master, look what stones and what buildings! 
 And Jesus answering said; Beholdest thou these great buildings? there shall not 
 be left stone upon stone that shall not be destroyed," 
 
368 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 church, and enclose a space of three hundred and thirty feet by 
 three hundred and eighty, and if to this vast field of archi- 
 tectural grandeur we superadd the fountains and the pyramids, 
 y\c shall find that the appendages to the temple of Jerusalem 
 must yield in greatness to those of the Roman Basilica. As to 
 the front of the temple itself, and its similitude to that of a 
 palace; in this respect St. Peter's unfortunately resembles it 
 too much ; but iii extent it far exceeds it, as the former was 
 scarcely one hundred and sixty feet in length, while the latter 
 is four hundred*. 
 
 Among pagan temples not one can be put in competition with 
 the Vatican for grandeur and magnitude. The two most famous 
 were the temple of Diana at Ephesus, and that of Jupiter Ca- 
 pitolinus. Pliny the Elder has given us the dimensions of the 
 former-j-. According to him it was four hundred and twenty-five 
 feet in length and two hundred and twenty in breadth ; it was sup- 
 ported by one hundred and twenty-seven pillars, sixty feet high, 
 the elevation of the edifice to the top of the pediment was of 
 course eighty feet. The number of columns, without doubt of 
 the richest materials, as each was the present of a king, and also 
 disposed in the best order, must have produced a very noble 
 effect, but this edifice was in all its dimensions far inferior to 
 the Roman Basilica. 
 
 * The learned reader will perceive that in the elevation of the pillars, I have 
 followed not perhaps the verj words of Josephus, which are evidently incorrect, 
 but the regular proportion of the Corinthian order, which was a constant and 
 almost invariable standard, at least in the reign of Herod, when it was the pre* 
 vailing and favorite order. 
 
 V Lib. XXXVI. cap. 14. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 369 
 
 The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was nearly a square of two 
 hundred feet, with a triple row of pillars in front, that is, to- 
 wards the Forum, and a double row on the sides. Here again, 
 notwithstanding the splendor of such an assemblage of columns 
 rising on such a site, the dimensions will admit of no compari- 
 son*. In fact, every edifice, whether in existence or on record 
 only, of whatsoever denomination, falls far short, in some respect 
 or other, of the Basilica Vaticana, the grand temple of the 
 Christian church ; to render which as worthy as possible of its 
 high destination human ingenuity seems to have strained its 
 powers, and art to have exhausted its resources. 
 
 * The temple of Olympic Jupiter, at Agrigentum, the ruins of which still 
 remain, was certainly on a gigantic scale but inferior in dimensions to the temple 
 of Ephesus, and consequently not comparable to the Vatican. (See Swinburne on 
 this temple.) — I quote this traveller with pleasure, because nij own observations 
 enable me to bear testimony to his accuracy. 
 
 VOL. 1 3 B 
 
370 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 ORIGINAl. FORM OF CHURCHES — PONTIFICAL SERVICE — PAPAL 
 BENEDICTION CEREMONIES IN THE HOLY WEEK OBSER- 
 VATIONS. 
 
 XHE Basilicce which I have described, excepting St. Peter's, 
 are the most ancient now existing, and erected as they Avere in 
 the earhest ages of Christianity, give us a clear and precise idea 
 of the notions of the Christians of that period with regard to 
 the form and arrangement of churches. In the first place, as 
 not one of these churches bears any resemblance to a cross, we 
 may conclude that Mr. Gibbon was mistaken, when he attri- 
 buted to the first christians a partiality to that figure in the 
 construction of their oratories, and an unwillingness to convert 
 pagan temples into churches, because not erected in that form. 
 Many temples from their narrow limits were, as I have already 
 remarked, totally incapable of holding a christian congi-egation. 
 Several of greater magnitude were actually converted into 
 churches, and are to this day used as such; and if Constantine 
 could in prudence, at a time when the Roman senate was still 
 pagan, have offered the splendid seat of pagan worship to the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 371 
 
 bishop of Rome, the offer would have been readily accepted, and 
 the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, though not in the form of a 
 cross, Avould like the Pantheon have been sanctified by Christian 
 rites, and might probably still remain a noble monument of an- 
 cient magnificence. It is difficult to determine at what precise 
 period the figure of the cross was introduced, but it seems to 
 have been about the end of the fifth century, as the church of St. 
 Sophia, erected in the sixth, is in that form ; but, whenever in- 
 troduced, its adoption need not be regretted, as it very happily 
 combines variety with unity, and beauty Avith convenience. 
 
 We cannot pass the same encomium upon those partitions, 
 called screens, which divide the chancel from the nave, and by 
 concealing the most ornamented part of the church from the 
 view, and veiling the principal object, the altar, break the per- 
 spective, deprive the edifice of a proper termination, and ap- 
 parently reduce its dimensions to half its real magnitude. When 
 and why these screens were introduced it may be difficult to de- 
 termine, but as they are only found in Saxon and Gothic churches 
 we may suppose that they are coeval with those buildings, and 
 were from the beginning considered as constituent parts of them. 
 Their utility is not very perceptible. Some suppose them neces- 
 sary in northern climates, in order to shelter the congregation 
 from the cold winds that penetrate and chill the open parts of such 
 vast edifices as cathedrals ; but this reason, which may appear sa- 
 tisfactory when confined to countries in which the congregation is 
 seldom so numerous as to fill the choir of a cathedral, is totally 
 inapplicable to places where service is attended by the populace, 
 and where the congregations are regularly sufficient to crowd every 
 part of the church, not excepting even the aisles and transepts. 
 I am therefore inclined to suspect, that the propensity of the 
 
 3b2 
 
372 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 northern nations to mystic allusions, and perhaps a wish to increase 
 the reverence due to the altar, by removing it to a greater distance 
 from the laity, might have suggested the idea of a screen to the 
 architects of the middle ages. There is, it must be admitted, 
 something very impressive in the distant view of a Gothic 
 altar, seen from the arched entrance of the choir, through 
 a long and double line of clergy in surplice, faintly lighted by 
 the beams that drop from the painted windows above, or by 
 the lamps and tapers that gleam around, encircled by minister- 
 ing priests, and half lost in clouds of incense; there is, I say, 
 something in such solemn scenery that seizes the imagination, 
 and excites emotions of awe and religious melancholy. But 
 although these dispositions are good and suitable to the place 
 and occasion, yet the means employed to produce them, the dim 
 perspective, and the artificial gloom border upon theatrical illu- 
 sion, and seem better adapted to the sullen superstition of the 
 Druids than to the plain and majestic forms of Christian worship. 
 How ditl'erent the eifects of arrangement in a Roman Basilica, 
 where, in a semicircle behind the altar the bishop and his 
 clergy form a venerable tribunal, the people before, ranged ac- 
 cording to sex and age, exhibit an orderly multitude, and the 
 altar itself in the middle displays in full light the sacred volume 
 and the emblems of redemption ? An assembl}^ thus combining 
 simplicity, order and dignity, naturally elevates the soul, and in- 
 spires sentiments not of terror but of admiration, not of fictitious 
 but of real solid devotion. It recals to mind the glorious vision 
 of the Revelations*, and almost brings before our eyes the elders 
 sitting clothed in white, the kwips burning before the throne, the 
 
 Chap. iv. V. VII. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 373 
 
 lamb standing as if slain, and the nndtitudes which no man could 
 number. 
 
 How far the altar ought to be ornamented is a question which 
 has been debated with much warmth since the reformation. The 
 Latins, Greeks, and even the Lutherans are accustomed to adorn 
 it with more or less splendor or gaudiness, according to their taste 
 and opulence. The church of England, when not overawed by 
 the clamors of the sectaries that assail her on all sides, is inclined 
 to favor this practice; Avhile the calvinistic school of Geneva, 
 hostile to every thing that delights the eye or flatters the feelings 
 of a polished mind, have either cast the table of the Lord 
 out of the church, or stripped it of all its decent accompani- 
 ments, and abandoned it in a corner to dust and cobwebs. But 
 whatever a man's opinion may be upon this subject, he must be 
 very morose indeed if he find much to blame in the Roman altars; 
 I mean those of the Basilicoe; which unencumbered with taber- 
 nacles, reliquaries, statues or flower-pots, support a cross and six 
 candlesticks; furniture which is sufficient without doubt for all 
 the purposes of solemnity, and yet may be endured even by a 
 puritan. The other ornaments, or rather superfluities which 
 are too often observed to load the altars of catholic churches, 
 owe their introduction to the fond devotion of nuns or nun-like 
 friars, and may be tolerated in their conventual oratories, as 
 the tojs and playthings of that harmless race, but never allowed 
 to disfigure the simplicity of parochial churches and cathedrals. 
 
 After having thus given a general account of St. Peter's, 
 and endeavoured to sketch out its extent and beauty, I may 
 be expected to describe the magnificent ceremonies of which 
 it is the theatre, and picture to the reader the po7np and cir- 
 
874 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 cumstance of public worship^ grand in all cathedrals, but pe- 
 culiarly majestic in this first and noblest of christian temples. 
 In fact, the same unwearied attention which has regulated the 
 most minute details of the architecture and decorations, ex- 
 tends itself to every part of divine service, and takes in even 
 all the minutias of ritual observance. The ancient Romans 
 loved parade and public shews, and introduced processions, 
 rich habits, and stately ceremonies into all the branches of 
 public administration, whether civil, military, or religious. 
 This taste so natural and so useful, because calculated, while 
 it feasts the eye and the imagination, to cover the naked- 
 ness and littleness of man, and clothe the individual with 
 the dignity and grandeur of the aggregate body, was infused 
 into Christianity as soon as Christianity became the religion of 
 the empire, and with it has been transmitted unaltered to the 
 moderns. When therefore a traveller enters a Roman church 
 he must consider himself as transported back to ancient times, 
 and expect to hear the language, and see the habits, and the 
 stately manners of the Romans of the four first centuries. 
 Some may, perhaps, find fault with the ceremonies, and others 
 feel some surprize at the dresses, but not to speak of the claim 
 which their antiquity has to veneration, they both possess a 
 grace and dignity that not unfrequently command the respect 
 and admiration even of the most indifterent. 
 
 The daily service of St. Peter's is performed in a large and 
 noble chapel, that might perhaps, without impropriety, be dig- 
 nified with the appellation of a church, by a choir consisting of 
 an arch-priest, thirty-eight prebendaries, fifty minor canons or 
 chaplains, besides clerks, choristers and beadles. The grand 
 altar under the dome is reserved for the use of the pontiff, who 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 375 
 
 on such occasions is always attended by the college of cardi- 
 nals with their chaplains, the prelates attached to the court, and 
 the papal choir or musicians, who form Avhat is called the 
 pontifl's chapel, or capella impale. As there is no regular 
 chancel in St. Peter's, a temporary one is fitted up for such oc- 
 casions behind the altar, of a semicircular form covered with 
 purple and adorned with rich drapery. In the middle raised 
 on several steps stands the pontifical chair. The seats of the 
 cardinals and prelates form a curve on each side. I must 
 here observe, that the seat of the bishop in the ancient and 
 patriarchal churches at Rome is raised very little above those 
 of the clergy. That the bishops sometimes sat on a more ele- 
 vated chair even at a very early period is clear from a canon of 
 the fourth council of Carthage*, Avhich expressly orders that 
 bishops in the church and in the assemblies of the clergy should 
 enjoy that distinction; but that it was not a general custom is 
 equally evident from the practice of St. Martin, and the offence 
 which the introduction of it into Gaul gave to Sulpicius Severus. 
 " In ecclesia," says this historian, speaking of St. Martin, "nemo 
 unquam ilium sedere conspexit; sicut quemdam nuper (testor 
 Dominum) non sine meo pudore vidi, sublimi solio quasi regio 
 tribunali, celsa sede residentemj." However, in spite of the 
 example of St. Martin and the censure of his disciple, the epis- 
 copal chair still continued to rise till it acquired the name, 
 the elevation and more than the usual splendor of a throne. It 
 does not indeed seem to have reached its full magnificence till 
 the middle of the last century, when it appears to have arrived 
 
 * An. 3d0. t De Virt. B. Martini Dial. 11. 
 
376 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 at its aclime, not in Rome, as the reader may naturally imagine, 
 but in the cathedral of Durham, where the lord bishop sits en- 
 throned in far more than papal eminence, and looks down upon 
 the choir, tho congregation, the altar, and the pulpit. 
 
 AVhen the pope celebrates divine service, as on Easter Sun- 
 day, Christmas Day, Whit Sunda}^ St. Peter and St. Paul, &c. 
 the great or middle doors of the church are thrown open at ten, 
 and the procession, formed of all the persons mentioned above, 
 preceded by a beadle carrying the papal cross, and two others 
 bearing lighted torches, enters and advances slowly in two long 
 lines between two ranks of soldiers up the nave. This majestic 
 procession is closed by the pontiff himself, seated in a chair 
 of state supported by twenty valets, half concealed in the dra- 
 pery that falls in loose folds from the throne; he is crowned 
 with his tiara, and bestows his benediction on the crowds that 
 kneel on all sides as he is borne along. When arrived at 
 the foot of the altar he descends, resigns his tiara, kneels, 
 and assuming the common mitre seats himself in the episcopal 
 chair on the right side of the altar, and joins in the psalms 
 and prayers that precede the solemn service. Towards the 
 conclusion of these preparatory devotions his immediate attend- 
 ants form a circle around him, clothe him in his pontifical 
 robes, and place the tiara on his head : after which, accompa- 
 nied by two deacons and two sub-deacons, he advances to 
 the foot of the altar, and bowing reverently makes the usual 
 confession. He then proceeds in great pomp through the chancel 
 and ascends the pontifical thi'one, while the choir sing the Iiv- 
 troitus or psalm of entrance, the Kyrie Eleison and Gloria in ex- 
 celsis, when the pontiff lays aside his tiara and after having saluted 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 377 
 
 the congregation in the usual form, the Lord he xrith you, reads 
 the collect in an elevated tone of voice, with a degree of in- 
 flection just sufficient to distinguish it from an ordinary lecture. 
 The epistle is then read, first in Latin then in Greek ; and 
 after it some select verses from the psalms, intermingled with 
 Alleluias, are sung to elevate the mind and prepare it for the 
 gospel. The pontiff then rises, gives his benediction to the two 
 deacons that kneel at his feet with the book of the gospels, and 
 resigning his tiara, stands while the gospel is sung in Latin and 
 in Greek; after which he commences the Nicenc creed Avhich 
 is continued in music bj the choir. When the creed and the 
 psalm that follows it are over, he descends from his throne, 
 and approaching the altar with the same attendants and the 
 same pomp as in the commencement of the service, he receives 
 and offers up the usual oblations, fumes the altar with frankin- 
 cense from a golden censer, and then washes his hands ; a 
 ceremony implying purity of mind and body. lie then turns 
 to the people, and in an humble and affectionate address 
 begs their prayers; and shortly after commences that sublime 
 form of adoration and praise called the preface, because it 
 is an introduction to the most solemn part of the liturgy, and 
 chaunts it in a tone supposed to be borrowed from the ancient 
 tragic declamation and very noble and impressive. The last words, 
 " Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of armies," &c. are uttered in 
 a posture of profound adoration, and sung by the choir in notes 
 of deep and solemn intonation. All music then ceases, all 
 sounds are hushed, and an awful silence reigns around, while in 
 a low tone the pontiff recites that most ancient and venerable 
 invocation which precedes, accompanies and follows the con- 
 secration, and concludes with great propriety in tlie Lord's 
 Prayer, chaunted with a few emphatical inflections. 
 VOL. I. 3 c 
 
378 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Shortly after the conckision of" this prayer, the pontiff salutes 
 the people in the ancient form, " May the peace of the Lord 
 be always with you," and returns to his throne, while the choir 
 sing thrice the devout address to the Saviour, taken from the 
 gospel, " Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, 
 have mercy upon us." When he is seated, the two deacons 
 bring the holy sacrament, which he first reveres humbly on his 
 knees, and then receives in a sitting posture*: the anthem after 
 communion is sung, a collect follows, and the deacon dismisses 
 the assembly. 
 
 The pope then offers up his devotions on his knees at the foot 
 of the altar, and borne along in the same state as when he en- 
 tered, passes down the nave of the church, and ascends by 
 the Scala Regia to the grand gallery in the middle of the 
 front of St. Peter's. His immediate attendants surround his 
 person, the rest of the procession draws up on each side. The 
 immense area and colonnade before the church are lined with 
 troops and crowded with thousands of spectators. All eyes 
 are fixed on the gallery, the chaunt of the choir is heard at 
 a distance, the blaze of numberless torches plays round the 
 columns and the pontiff appt^ars elevated on his chair of state 
 under the middle arch. Instantly the whole multitude below 
 
 * This is tlie only instance that exists, I believe, in the whole catholic 
 church of receiving the holy sacrament silling,- it is a remnant of the pri- 
 mitive custom, but as that custom was suppressed at a very early period, 
 perhaps even in the apostolic age itself, I see no reason for retaining it in 
 one solitary occasion. Benedict XIII. could never be prevailed upon to con- 
 form to it, but always remained standing at the altar, according to the usual 
 practice. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 379 
 
 fall on their knees, the canons from St. Angelo give a ge- 
 neral discharge, while rising slowly from his throne, he lifts 
 his hands to heaven, stretches forth his arm, and thrice 
 gives his benediction to the crowd, to the city and to all 
 mankind ; a solemn pause follows, another discharge is heard, 
 the crowd rises, and the pomp gradually disappears. This ce- 
 remony is without doubt very grand, and considered by most 
 travellers as a noble and becoming conclusion to the majestic 
 service that precedes it. In fact every thing concurs to render 
 it interesting ; the venerable character of the pontiff himself, the 
 first bishop of the christian church, issuing from the sanctuary 
 of the noblest temple in the universe, bearing the holiness ol' 
 the mysteries, which he has just participated, imprinted on his 
 countenance, oifering up his supplication in behalf of his flock, 
 his subjects, his brethren, his fellow creatures, to the Father of 
 all, through the Saviour and Mediator of all. Surely such a 
 scene is both edifying and impressive. 
 
 The chaunt or music used by the papal choir, and indeed in 
 most catholic cathedrals and abbey churches is, excepting in 
 some instances, ancient. Gregory the Great, whom I men- 
 tioned above, collected it into a body and gave it the form 
 in which it now appears, though not the author of it. The 
 chaunt of the psalms is simple and affecting, composed of Lydian, 
 Phrygian, and other Greek and Roman tunes, without many notes, 
 but with a sufficient inflection to render them soft and plaintive or 
 bold and animating. St. Augustin, who was a good judge of 
 music, I'epresents himself as melted into tears by the psalms as then 
 sung in the church of Milan under the direction of St. Ambrose, 
 and seems to apprehend that the emotions produced by such 
 harmonious airs might be too tender for the vigorous and manly 
 
 3c 2 
 
380 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 spirit of christian devotion*. As the transition from song to or- 
 dinary reading is flat and insipid, it cannot but take off much of 
 tlie effect of the lecture ; and moreover, as the common tone of 
 voice is inadequate to the purposes of divine service in a large 
 church, the ancients introduced a few modulations into the 
 prayers and lectures just sufficient to raise and support the voice, 
 to extend its reach and soften its cadences. These were taken 
 from the different species of Roman declamations, and vary 
 in number and solemnity according to the importance and 
 nature of the lecture. In the lessons and epistles, the interroga- 
 tions, exclamations, and periods only are marked by a corre- 
 sponding rise or fall: the gospel has its variations more nu- 
 merous and more dignified: the preface is rich in full melo- 
 dious and solemn swells borrowed, as it is supposed, from 
 the stately accents of Roman tragedy. The psalms, or, to use 
 an expression more appropriate, the anthems, that commence 
 the service, precede the gospel, usher in the offertory and follow 
 the communion, together with the Gloria in excelsis and creed, 
 were set to more complicated and more laboured notes, but 
 yet with all due regard to the sanctity of the place, the import 
 of the words and the capacity of the hearers who wfere accus- 
 tomed to join the song and accompany the choir. 
 
 This ancient music, which has long been known by the name 
 of the Gregorian chaunt, so well adapted to the gravity of divine 
 service, has been much disfigured in the process of time by the 
 bad taste of the middle and the false refinements of the latter 
 ages. The first encumbered it with an endless succession of dull 
 unmeaning notes, dragging their slow length along, and burthen- 
 
 * Confess, lib. ix. cap. 6. 7. lib. x. cap. 33. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 381 
 
 ing the ear with a dead weight of sound ; the other infected it 
 Avith the melting airs, the labored execution, the effeminate graces 
 of the orchestra, useless, to say the least, even in the theatre, but 
 profane and almost sacrilegious in the church. Some care seems 
 to have been taken to avoid these defects in the papal choir. The 
 general st3de and spirit of the ancient and primitive music have 
 been retained, and some modern compositions of known and ac- 
 knowledged merit, introduced on stated days and in certain cir- 
 cumstances. Of musical instruments, the organ only is admitted 
 into St. Peter's, or rather into the papal chapel, and even that not 
 always : voices only are employed in general, and as those voices 
 are numerous, perfect in their kind, and in thorough unison with 
 each other, and as the singers themselves are concealed from 
 view, the effect is enchanting, and brings to mind The celestial 
 voices in full harmonic nianher joined, that sometimes reached the 
 ears of our first parents in Paradise, and lifted their thoughts to 
 heaven. 
 
 Of all the Roman ceremonies the pontifical service at St. 
 Peter's is, Avithout doubt, the most majestic, and if we add to it 
 the procession on Corpus Christi, in which the pope bears the 
 holy sacrament in solemn pomp along the colonnade, then hung 
 according to the ancient fashion with tapestry and graced with 
 garlands, we shall have mentioned the two most splendid exhibi- 
 tions perhaps to be seen in the Universe. But besides these 
 there are others, particularly tluring the last week of Lent, 
 which cannot fail to excite attention and interest. The proces- 
 sion with psalms, and the affecting chaunt of the Passion on 
 Sunday; the evening service called Tenehrce in the Sixtine 
 Chapel on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; the morning 
 service on the two latter days, particularly the Mandatum, so 
 
 I 
 
882 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 called from the first word of the anthem sung while the pope 
 washes the feet of thirteen pilgrims, &c. are all rites which it is. 
 difficult to behold without edification and perhaps emotion. 
 
 I must not pass over the well known exhibition that takes place 
 in St. Peter's on the night of Good Friday, when the hundred 
 lamps that burn over the tomb of the apostle are extinguished, 
 and a stupendous cross of light appears suspended from the dome, 
 between the altar and the nave, shedding over the whole edifice a 
 soft lustre delightful to the eye and highly favorable to picturesque 
 representations. This exhibition is supposed to have originated 
 in the sublime imagination of Michael Angelo, and he who be- 
 holds it will acknowledge that it is not unworthy of the inven- 
 tor. The magnitude of the cross hanging as if self-supported, 
 and like a vast meteor streaming in the air-, the blaze that 
 it pours forth; the mixture of light and shade cast on the 
 pillars, arches, statues and altars; the crowd of spectators 
 placed in all the different attitudes of curiosity, wonder and 
 devotion; the processions with their banners and crosses 
 gliding successively in silence along the nave and kneeling 
 around the altar; the penitents of all nations and dresses col- 
 lected in groupes near the confessionals of their respective lan- 
 guages; a cardinal occasionally advancing through the crowd, 
 and as he kneels humbly bending his head to the pavement; in 
 fine, the pontiflf himself, without pomp or pageantry, prostrate 
 before the altar, offering up his adorations in silence, form a 
 scene singularly striking by a happy mixture of tranquillity and 
 animation, darkness and light, simplicity and majesty. 
 
 All these ceremonies of the Roman church are set off" by 
 every concomitant circumstance that can contribute to their 
 
 4 
 
THROUGH ITALY. :383 
 
 splendor or magnificence. As indeed no people are better ac- 
 quainted with the mode of conducting and managing public ex- 
 hibitions than the Romans, they are performed with the utmost 
 precision and dignity, Avith every attention to the eftects of per- 
 spective, and to all the graces of drapery. Every person knows 
 his place and the part he has to act in the solemnity: the dresses 
 are adapted to the situation as well as rank of the Avearers, who, 
 whether they be sitting, standing or moving, contrive that they 
 should fall into easy and majestic folds. The persons themselves 
 are the pope, the cardinals, the chief magistrates of the city, the 
 principal officers of state, and various prelates, presidents, and 
 judges of the principal tribunals, all men either of high birth or 
 great talents, and venerable for their age, their virtues, or their 
 dignity. The theatres moreover, (if such an expression may be 
 applied to such an object) in which these sacred pomps are exhi- 
 bited, are either the vast and lofty halls of the Vatican palace, 
 adorned with all the Avonders of painting; or else the church of 
 St. Peter, whose immense area, while it affords ample room for the 
 ceremony itself, can contain countless multitudes of spectators 
 without press or disorder. If therefore, as Warburton observes, 
 " it be difficult to attend at a high mass performed by a good 
 choir in any great church without sentiments of awe, if not of 
 devotion," it is not surprising that the same sacred service per- 
 formed by such persons, with such accompaniments, and amid 
 such scenes of grandeur and holiness, should impress the same 
 sentiments with double force and effect. 
 
 These pompous offices at the Vatican only take place on the 
 great festivals of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, to which 
 Ave may add St. Peter's day, and perhaps one or two more occa- 
 sional solemnities. On the other Sundays, and during the far 
 
 X 
 
384 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 greater part of the year, the altar stands a grand but neglected 
 object, and the dome rises in silent majest}', unaccustomed to 
 re-echo idth the xoice of exultation and the notes of praise. The- 
 service of the cathedral is performed in a distant chapel, and 
 private masses, it is true, are said at the different altars around, 
 but the great body of the church seems deserted by its ministers, 
 and like Sion of old, to complain that none cometh to the solemnity. 
 It may, perhaps, be a matter of just surprise to every thinking 
 observer, that in the three noblest cathedrals in the universe, the 
 service of the church should be performed, not in the regular 
 choir, but in a side chapel, and that the pope should prefer the 
 secrecy of his own oratory to the grand and majestic scenery of 
 such noble temples. The pious Christian, as he ranges over these 
 glorious fabrics, longs to see the genuine forms of the primitive 
 church revived, and the spacious area filled Avith a crowded but 
 orderly congregation ; the men on the right, the women on the 
 left, the youth drawn up on each side of the altar; the choir in 
 double rows before it, with a pulpit for the readers on each 
 side; behind it, the pontiff surrounded by his clergy, performing 
 himself every Sunday the solemn duties of his station, pre- 
 siding in person over the assembly, instructing his flock, like 
 the Leos and the Gregorys of ancient times, with his own 
 voice, and with his own hands administering to them the 
 bread of life and the cup of salvation. Such was a christian con- 
 gregation during the early ages, and such the regularity of an- 
 cient times. How grand Avould such an assembly nov/ be in 
 a temple like the ^'^atican ! How awful, and how affecting such 
 a spectacle! How like an assembly of the blessed, and how 
 conformable to the sublime description of the Revelations ! — 
 Barbarism, ignorance, and indifference have long since disturbed 
 this admirable order, and in most places nearly erased its recol- 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 385 
 
 lection; but the Roman pontiff, and lie only, possesses influence 
 suflicient to restore it, and to spread it over the Christian world. 
 If in reviving this part of primitive discipline he would also ex- 
 ercise the power which the Council of Trent has entrusted to him, 
 and admit, as I have hinted above, the laity to the cup, (so solemn 
 and impressive a part of the sacred rite,) and at the same time 
 communicate to every nation the comfort of singing the praises 
 of God in their own language, he would render to the church 
 of Christ a most important and ever memorable service*. 
 
 I would not be understood as meaning by this latter observation 
 to censure the use of ancient idioms in the liturgy, or recommend 
 ill toto the introduction of modern dialects. The two great ancient 
 languages which contain not only the principles and models of 
 science and literature, but what is still more valuable, the very 
 title-deeds and proofs of divine revelation, owe their existence to 
 the liturgies of the Greek and Latin churches, and however widely 
 diffused they may appear to be at present, it is difficult to say 
 whether in the course of countless ages perhaps still to come, they 
 may not again be indebted to the same means for their continua- 
 tion. A deadly blow is now actually aimed at them by the 
 pride or the policy of the French government ; and extensive 
 as the influence of that government is, it may succeed in its 
 barbaric attempt, unless counteracted by the still more exten- 
 sive and almost universal influence of the Catholic church. It is 
 not my intention to interfere with the controversial part of this 
 question, " Dii meliora piis" but I own I should be sorry to 
 see the divine dialect of Plato, and of St. Paul, the full, the 
 
 * Cone. Trid. Sess. xxii. 
 VOL. I. 3d 
 
386 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 majestic tone of Cicero and St. Leo entirely banished from the 
 altars, and replaced by the meaner sounds of Romaic, or even 
 the more musical accents of Italian*. Nothing can be more 
 delightful to the ear, and if I may judge from my own feelings, 
 more impressive than the Latin service when chaunted in a full 
 choir, supported, not by the organ only, but by the united voices 
 of a crowded congregation, raised from every corner and re- 
 echoed from every vault of an immense cathedral. With all the 
 respect, therefore, due to the prescriptive pre-eminence of the 
 two sacred dialects, hallowed by the writings of the Apostles, 
 Fathers, and primitive martyrs, I may venture to recommend 
 the use of modern languages at certain parts of the service, 
 and the introduction of lectures and hymns adapted to the par- 
 ticular objects of the liturgy, when the officiating priest is occu- 
 pied in silent adoration, and the ordinary chaunt of the choir 
 is suspended. Such is, in fact, the practice all over catholic 
 Germany, and throughout the vast extent of the Austrian do- 
 minions, where, if the traveller enters into any parochial church 
 during service, he finds it filled with a numerous congregation 
 all joining in chorus with a zeal and ardor truly edifying. I was 
 peculiarly struck with the good effects of this custom in the 
 churches of Bohemia, where the people are remarkable for a just 
 and musical ear, and sing with admirable precision ; but still 
 more so in the cathedral of Vienna, where the voices of some 
 thousands chaunting in full unison the celebrated hymn, " Holy, 
 holy, holy," cannot fail to elevate the mind, and inflame the coldest 
 heart with devotion. This practice, sanctioned by the authority 
 
 * If, as a well known proverb says, Spanish is from its gravity \\ ell adapted to 
 prayer, how much better is the dignity of Latin calculated for that solemn 
 duty? 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 387 
 
 of so considerable a portion of the catholic church, has many 
 good effects, as it contribules to the comfort and edification 
 of the people, who always delight in hymns and spiritual songs; 
 amuses the ear with melody and attaches the hearers to the holy 
 sentiments and doctrines which it conveys, and may thus act as a 
 preservative from the infidelity of the times, not only by securing 
 their assent, but by engaging their affections, on the side of reli- 
 gion. In fine, it tends to consecrate all languages to the praise 
 of the Father Almighty, and to the propagation of the gospel of 
 his adorable Son. " Nihil sublimius," says Leo the Great, in an 
 ancient preface for Whit-Sunday, " collatum Ecclesiae tuas ex- 
 ordiis, quam ut evangelii tui pra^conia Unguis omnium, creden- 
 tium ora loquerentur, . . . et vocum varietas edificationi Ecclesi- 
 asticae non difficultatem faceret, sed augeret potius unitatera." 
 
 Before I close this chapter, I think it necessary to make a 
 few additional remarks for the information of my readers in ge- 
 neral, little accustomed to the scenes described, and perhaps 
 totally unacquainted with many of the subjects alluded to. To 
 such the following particulars may not be unacceptable. The 
 Mass is the communion service, or consecration and administra- 
 tion of the holy sacrament. High mass is the same service, ac- 
 companied by all the ceremonies which custom and authority 
 have annexed to its celebration. These ceremonies are in gene- 
 ral very ancient, and may be traced as far back as the third cen- 
 tury. The language is that which prevailed at the period of the 
 introduction of Christianity; the dresses are nearly of the same 
 era. The surplice, called in Latin alba, was probably borrowed 
 from the linen ephod worn by the Levites in their functions 
 under the old law. The other vestments are Roman. The Stola^ 
 called originally Orarium or Siuhiriimi, was a long stripe of 
 
 3d 2 
 
388 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 linen worn round the neck by persons of distinction, and parti- 
 cularly magistrates or public speakers; it was intended, as its 
 primitive name imports, for the same purposes as a handker- 
 chief. The Manipulus or Mappula was a handkerchief to replace 
 the Stola, when the latter in process of time had become an or- 
 nament only. The upper vestment, called Casibulum or Planeta, 
 was originally a garment of a circular form, with an opening in 
 the centre for the head, so that, when put on, it hung down to 
 the ground on all sides, and entirely covered the body. It was 
 raised when the action of the arms was necessary, and sometimes 
 tied up with ribbands and tassels ; it is peculiarly appropriated 
 to the bishop or priest who officiates at the altar, and is used at 
 mass only. On other occasions, the bishop or priest who pre- 
 sides wears the Cope, the ancient Toga, bordered on each side by 
 the Latus Clavus. This robe is the ordinary dress of the Pope 
 in church, and on occasions of ceremony. The Dalmaiica and 
 Tunica are the distinctive dresses of the deacon and subdeacon. 
 These garments, which naturally derive grace and beauty from 
 their form and drapery, are ennobled by their antiquity, and 
 sanctified by their appropriation to the altar. They combine 
 decency and majesty, they distinguish the public man from 
 the individual, and like the robes of kings and magistrates gar- 
 nish the exercise of office, and teach the minister to respect him- 
 self, and both the minister and the people to reverence the sacred 
 charge of public function. 
 
 The use of torches and of incense is supposed to have been 
 introduced into the church in the fourth century; it originated 
 in the cast, but soon became general: it was founded on figu- 
 rative reasons. The former were borne before the Book of the 
 Gospels, and reminded the faithful of the light diffused over the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 389 
 
 universe by the promulgation of the sacred volume, and of that 
 tnie light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world*. 
 The latter had been expressly commanded in the Old Law, and 
 Avas considered in the New as a fit accompaniment to be of- 
 fered with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar before the 
 throne-]: 
 
 The most solemn part of the service is recited in a low tone, 
 audible only to those who surround the altar, a circumstance 
 which surprizes protestants, and has frequently been censured 
 with severity. However, this custom is almost coeval with the 
 liturgy itself, and seems to have commenced almost immediately 
 after the apostolic age. It was in all probability a measure of 
 precaution. One of the most sacred rites of Christianity, that 
 of Baptism, had been exposed to public ridicule on the stage, 
 and to prevent the recurrence of a similar profanation, in a more 
 awful institution, it was thought prudent to confine the know- 
 ledge of the Eucharistic prayer to the clerical order. When a 
 custom is once established reasons are never wanting to justify 
 its continuance, and the secrecy which the fear of profanation 
 rendered necessary in times of persecution was continued from 
 motives of respect in the days of Christian prosperity. Every 
 person acquainted with ecclesiastical antiquity knows with what 
 extreme delicacy the Fathers of the fourth century speak of the 
 mysteries, and of course Avill not Avonder that the Roman church, 
 which glories in its adherence to antiquity, should continue the 
 same practice. Besides, it is considered as more conformable to 
 the nature of the mysterious institution, and more favorable to 
 
 * St. John, I. + Rev. viii. 
 
:i90 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the indulgence of devotion, both in the priest and congregation, 
 than the most emphatic and solemn recitation. Impressed with 
 this idea, the Greeks have fixnn time immemorial drawn cur- 
 tains, and in later ages raised a screen before the altar, that 
 conceals the priest from public view, and environs him as the 
 High Priest of old when he entered the Holy of Holies, with 
 the awful solitude of the sanctuary*. 
 
 To conclude — The rites which I have described are pure and 
 holy; they inspire sentiments of order and decency; they de- 
 tach the mind from the ordinary pursuits of life, and by raising 
 it above its ordinary level, qualify it to appear with due 
 humility and recollection before the Throne of the Lamb, — the 
 Mercy Seat of Jehovah! 
 
 * The laity at present lose nothing by this silence, as they have the form of con- 
 secration, and indeed the whole service translated in their prayer-books. 
 
THROUGH ITAL\. 391 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 VILLAS — THE TIBER — THE MAUSOLEUM OF CECILIA METELLA — - 
 
 EGERIAN GROTTO AND FOUNTAIN CHURCH OF ST. CONSTAN- 
 
 TIA — MONS SACER. 
 
 X HE various villas that encircle Modern Rome form one of its 
 characteristic beauties, as well as one of the principal features 
 of its resemblance to the ancient city, which seems to have been 
 environed with gardens, and almost studded with groves and 
 shady retirements. Thus, Julius Caesar had a spacious garden 
 on the banks of the Tiber, at the foot of the Janiculum, which 
 he bequeathed to the Roman people: Maecenas enclosed and 
 converted into a pleasure ground, a considerable part of the 
 Esquiline Hill, which before had been the common burial place 
 of the lower classes, and the resort of thieves and vagabonds; an 
 alteration which Horace mentions with complacency in his eighth 
 satire. To these we may add the Horti LucuUiani and Serviliani, 
 incidentally mentioned by Tacitus, and particularly the cele- 
 brated retreat of the historian Sallust, adorned with so much 
 magnificence and luxury that it became the favorite resort of 
 successive Emperors. This garden occupied, it seems, the extre- 
 
392 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 niities of the Viminal and Pincian Hill, and enclosed in its vast 
 precincts, a palace, a temple and a circus. The palace was 
 consumed by fire on the fatal night when Alaric entered the 
 city; the temple of singular beauty, sacred to Venus (Veneri 
 Felici Sacrum) was discovered about the middle of the sixteenth 
 century, and destroyed for the sale of the materials: of the 
 circus little remains but masses of walls that merely indicate its 
 site, while statues and marbles found occasionally continue ta 
 furnish proofs of its magnificence. 
 
 The gardens of Lucullus are supposed to have bordered on 
 those of Sallust, and with several other delicious retreats, which 
 covered the summit and brow of the Pincian Mount, gave it its 
 ancient appellation of Collis Hortulorum. To the intermingled 
 graces of town and country that adorned these fashionable man- 
 sions of the rich and luxurious Romans, Horace alludes when» 
 addressing Fuseus Aristus, he saj's, 
 
 Nempe inter varias nutritur sylva columnas — 
 as, in the verse immediately following, 
 
 Laudaturque doraus longos quae prospicit agros. Hor. Ep. i. 10. 
 
 he evidently hints at the extensive views which might be en- 
 joyed from the lofty apartments, erected expressly for the pur- 
 pose of commanding a wide range of country. 
 
 The villas of Modern Rome often occupy the same ground, 
 share some portion of the splendor, and enjoy all the picturesque 
 advantages of the gardens of the ancient city. In point of per- 
 spective beauty Rome has, indeed, at all times possessed pecu- 
 liar felicities. It covers a considerable extent of country, en- 
 closes several hills within its ramparts, and affords a great va- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 893 
 
 riety of views, sometimes confined to its interior and some- 
 times extending to the surrounding country and the distant 
 mountains. It is true that the ancient Roman might contem- 
 plate from his garden, towering in near or distant perspective, 
 one or more of those stupendous edifices which adorned the city, 
 and attracted the admiration of the universe ; but I know not 
 whether in the melancholy spectacle of the same majestic 
 edifices now scattered on the ground overgrown Avith cypresses, 
 the modem villa does not exhibit a sight more awful and 
 more aifecting. If the travellei* wishes to be convinced of the 
 truth of this remark, let him fi'om the terrace of the Villa Bor- 
 ghese fix his eyes on the dome of St. Peter's expanded in all its 
 splendor and all its perfection before him, and then let him 
 ascend the Palatine Mount, and from the cypress gioves of the 
 Villa Farnesiana look down upon the shattered mass of the 
 Coliseum spread beneath him in broken pomp, half covered with 
 weeds and brambles. 
 
 O champs de I'ltalie, O campagnes de Rome 
 Ou dans tout son orgueil git le neant de rhomme ! 
 C'est la que des aspects fameux par de grands noms, 
 Plains de grands souvenirs, et de hautes lecons, 
 Vous offrent ces objets, tresors des paysages 
 Voyez de toutes parts comment le cours des ages 
 Dispersant, dechirant de precieux lambeaux, 
 Jetant temple sur temple, et tombeaux sur tomheaux 
 ■ De Rome etale au loin la mine immortelle; 
 Ces portiques, ces arcs, ou la pierre fidele 
 Garde du peuple roi les exploits eclatants : 
 Leur masse indestructible a fatigu<; le temps. 
 Des fleuves suspendus ici mugissoit I'onde ; 
 Sous ces portes passoient les depouilles du monde ; 
 Par tout confusement daiis la poussiere epars, 
 Les thermes, les palais, les tombeaux des Cesars ! 
 
 Abbe de Lille, Jardin. Cliant. rv. 
 VOL. I. 3 E 
 
394 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 No villa presents a greater number of the local felicities, immor- 
 tal ruins, divine remains, big zcith grand recollections and awful in- 
 struction, so well described in these verses as the Orti Farnesi. The 
 gardens cover the greater part of the Palatine Mount, and spread 
 over the vast substructions and scattered vestiges of the imperial 
 palace. They front the Capitol, command the Forum, and 
 look down upon the neighbouring Coliseum, thus exhibiting in 
 different points of view, and successively, the noblest remains of 
 Roman magnificence now existing. They were formerly culti- 
 vated with care, and adorned with a great variety of antique 
 vases, busts, and statues; but having unfortunately fallen by inhe- 
 ritance to the royal family of Naples, the ancient ornaments 
 have been transported to that capital, and the place, notwith- 
 standing its exquisite beauties, has been almost entirely neglected. 
 
 The Villa Spada or Brunati (for these villas change their names 
 with their proprietors) occupies, on a much smaller scale, a part 
 of the Palatine Hill and imperial palace, and enjoys some of the 
 advantages of the Orti Farnesiani. The ruins of the palace cover 
 the greater part of it, and on one side look down on the valley 
 that separates the Palatine from the Aventine Mount ; from a 
 gallery, formed in a recess still remaining, the Emperor might 
 behold the games of the Circus Maximus, which occupied the 
 greater part of that valley. 
 
 On the summit of Mount Celius stands the Villa Mattheiy 
 once famous for the beauty and number of its antiques, and 
 thouoh, like the Orti Far7iesi, forsaken and neglected, still interest- 
 ing for its groves, its verdure, its prospects, and its solitudes. 
 
 Villa Negroni, once the favorite retreat of Sixtus Quintus» 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 395 
 
 encloses an immense space of gromid on the Esquiline and 
 Viminal Hills, covered with superb groves, and opening upon 
 various beautiful prospects. It contains two handsome and spa- 
 cious buildings. Its numerous antiquities have been removed. 
 The celebrated Agger Tarquinii or rampart raised b>^ Tarquinius 
 Priscus intersects this garden, and claims the attention due to 
 its age and origin. 
 
 The Villa Aldobrandini is small and ill-furnished, but cele- 
 brated for one remarkable object the Nozze Aldobrandine, an 
 ancient painting, which represents, as eveiy reader knows, the 
 nuptial ceremony in graceful figures, easy drapery, and charm- 
 ing groupes. 
 
 The Villa Lndoviti is a part only of the gardens of Sallust, 
 and as it stands on the sunmiit of the Pincian Hill it neces- 
 sarily commands some very beautiful prospects. Its exten- 
 sive and delicious walks are shaded with ilex, cypress, and bay, 
 of the noblest growth and most luxuriant foliao-e, and the whole 
 is enclosed in a great degree by the venerable walls of the 
 city. The elevated Casino or summer-house in the centre aftbrds 
 from its battlements an extensive view of the Campagna, and 
 the mountains that form its boundaries, particularly of those of 
 Albano and Sabina. On a ceiling in this Casino is the Aurora 
 of Guercino, much admired by all connoisseurs, and by those 
 of the French school preferred to that of Guido. It certainly has 
 more contrast, and more bustle; but what can equal the grace, 
 the freshness, the celestial glory of that matchless performance, 
 which combines in one splendid vision all the beautiful features 
 and accompaniments ascribed to the Morning by the poets ; 
 
 .3e 2 
 
896 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Homer and Virgil seem to have presided over the work, and 
 Ovid and Tasso given the picture its finishing touches. 
 
 The Strada Pinciana separates this villa fi'om the gardens of 
 the Villa Medici, once the residence of the cardinal of that 
 family, and from its lofty situation, superb collection of statues, 
 pillars, and marbles, as well as from the beauty of its gardens, 
 well entitled to the attention and favor of those patrons of the 
 arts. But it has the misfortune to belong now to a sovereign; 
 its antiquities have therefore been transported to his capital, Flo- 
 rence; its noble apartments are neglected, and its gardens alone 
 remain the resort and the delight of every serious traveller. 
 
 The Orti Barherini rises to the south of the court of St. Peter's, 
 and while it commands from its terrace a full view of one side 
 of the colonnade, it presents to the eye of those who are coming 
 towards the Vatican a beautiful back ground for the other side, 
 and spreads its pines and cypresses in such a manner as to form 
 in appearance a pendent garden hanging over the pillars and 
 shading the statues. 
 
 The gardens belonging to the Corsini palace have acquired 
 some celebrity from the meetings of the Academy of the Qui- 
 rini. A similar circumstance throws a still greater lustre 
 over the Bosco Parrhasio, a rural theatre where the Arcadians 
 meet to hear and examine the poetical effusions of their asso- 
 ciates. The Arcadian Academy is known to be one of the 
 principal literary societies in Rome, instituted towards the end 
 of the seventeenth century for the promotion of classical know- 
 iedge, and composed of some of the first scholars in that Ca- 
 
 5 
 
. THROUGH ITALY. 397 
 
 pital and indeed in all Europe*. One of its principal ob- 
 jects was to correct the bad taste then prevalent, and turn 
 the attention of youth from the glare, conceit, and over re- 
 finements of false, to the ease, and unaffected graces of true 
 wit. They took their name from a people celebrated for the 
 simplicity of their manners ; and as the love of rural scenery is 
 inseparable from true taste, they chose a grove for the place of 
 their assembly and gave it the name of Parrhasian. The Bosco 
 ^avriw&io is situated on the side of the Janiculum. 
 
 All these gardens and villas, hitherto mentioned, are within 
 the ancient walls of the city, and may be considered as consti- 
 tuent parts of it, contributing much to its beauty, its coolness, 
 and its magnificence: but besides these, many others lie in the 
 suburbs and neighbourhood, and give the immediate environs of 
 Rome an uncommon share of amenity and interest. To begin 
 by the Porta S. Ptmcrasio, that nearest the Janiculum, anciently 
 the Porta Aurelia; proceeding along the Via Aurelia about a 
 mile from the gate we arrive at the Villa Pamjili or Belrespiro. 
 This country seat, which now belongs to the Prince Doria, is 
 supposed to occupy the same ground as the gardens of the Em- 
 peror Galba, and is remarkable for its edifices, its waters, its 
 woods, its antiquities of every description, its great extent, and 
 its general magnificence. It is moreover well supported both 
 with regard to the house, the ornamental buildings, and the 
 gardens. The disposition and arrangement of the plantations, 
 as well as the form and destination of the water, are stiff and 
 formal, according to the obsolete mode of French gardening-f ; 
 
 * The French have degraded this academy by the absurd appellation of the 
 (oreades, which some English translators have wisely converted into arches. 
 
 + I might with greater propriety have said Italian gardening, as the French, ia 
 
S98 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 yet the growth and luxuriancy of the one, and the extent and 
 profusion of tlie other, ahnost hide the defect and catch and 
 delight the eye, in spite of unnatural art and misplaced sym- 
 metry. 
 
 One of the most conspicuous objects in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of Rome is the Monte Mario, anciently Chvus Cinnai, 
 a bold eminence lying about a mile north-west from the Porta- 
 Angelica, clothed with vineyards and crowned with groves of 
 cypress and poplar. On its summit rises the Villa Mellini, re- 
 markable for the noble view that lies expanded under its terrace. 
 The Tiber intersecting the city and winding through rich mea- 
 dows, and watering among others, the Prata Quintia and Praia 
 Mutia, fields still bearing in their names the trophies of Roman 
 virtue and Roman heroism. The Pons Milvius with its tower, and 
 the plains consecrated by the victory of Constantino; the Vatican 
 palace with its courts and gardens ; the Basilica of St. Peter 
 with its portico, its obelisk, and its fountains; the Campus Mar' 
 tilts covered with the churches, squares and palaces of the mo- 
 dern city; the seven hills strewed with the ruins of the ancient; 
 the walls with their towers and galleries ; the desert Campagna, 
 Mount Soracte rising apparently in the centre; and the semicir- 
 cular sweep of mountains tinged with blue or purple, now bright 
 with the sun, now dark in the shade, and generally gleaming with 
 snow. Such is the varied and magnificent scene spread before 
 the traveller, while reposing on the shaded terrace of the Villa 
 MeUini. 
 
 this respect as in most others, only copied the Italians. The latter again imitated 
 their ancestors. — See Plinj/'s well-known Description of his Latirentin and Tuscan 
 villas. Lib. ii. Ep. 17. v. Ep. 6. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 399 
 
 The same prospect may be enjoyed, but with less advantage, 
 from the Villa Madama, which hes further on the side of the hill 
 towards Fonte Milvio. In the gardens of this villa is a rural 
 theatre, formed by the natural winding of a little dell, and 
 shaded by a whole forest of beautiful evergreens. In the golden 
 days of the Medici (for this villa was erected, and its gardens 
 laid out, by a cardinal of that family), this sylvan scene was 
 crowded by the polished Romans of the times, assembled 
 to listen to the compositions of rival poets, and decide the 
 priority of contesting orators. After this literary exhibition 
 the spectators were regaled in lofty halls, planned by Rajfaello 
 and painted by Giulio Homano, with all the delicacies of the 
 orchard, and all the charms of nuisic and conversation. But 
 these days are now no more; the Medicean line is extinct; and 
 ancient fame and surviving beauty, and the architecture of Haf- 
 faello and the pencil of Giulio plead in vain in behalf of this 
 superb villa. It belongs to the King of Naples, and is, as it has 
 long been, entirely neglected. 
 
 On the opposite side of the city, a little way from the Porta 
 Salara, stands the Villa Albani, till lately one of the best sup- 
 ported and best furnished seats in the neighbourhood of Rome, 
 or indeed in Europe. The palace is magniticent, and was 
 adorned as were the gardens with a considerable and chosen col- 
 lection of antiquities, to the number nearly, it is said, of eight 
 hundred. To these may be added two hundred and sixty pillars 
 of granite, porphyry, and marble, which supported and adorned 
 the villa and the galleries, a species of grandeur that exists only 
 in Rome and its vicinity. But the Alban villa has been stript of 
 all its ornaments. The cardinal Albani, its proprietor, had the 
 misfortune to incur the displeasure of the French, by the zeal and 
 
100 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 activity with "which he opposed the intrigues of their agents 
 previous to the invasion of the ecclesiastical states, and was 
 punished on their entrance into the city by the pillage and de- 
 vastation of his palaces and gardens. 
 
 We shall now proceed to the Villa Borghese, or t^illa Pin- 
 ciana, (so called from the proximity of the FoHa Pinciana, now 
 shut up,) which, from the space it occupies, (supposed to 
 be about four miles in circumference,) its noble vistas, frequent 
 fountains, ornamental buildings, superb palace, and almost in- 
 numerable antiquities, is justly considered as the first of the 
 Roman villas, and worthy of being put into competition with thft 
 splendid retreats of Sallust or of LucuUus. It stands upon 
 a continuation of the Pincian Hill, at a little distance ft-om 
 the walls of the city, about half a mile from the Porta ¥]h- 
 minia or del Popolo. It covers the brow of the hill, and 
 from the terrace has a noble view of the city, and of the Vati- 
 can. The gardens are laid out with some regard both for the 
 new and for the old system; for though symmetry prevails in 
 general, and long alleys appear intersecting each other, lined 
 with statues and refreshed by cascades, yet here and there a 
 winding path allures you into a wilderness formed of plants, 
 abandoned to their native luxuriancy, and watered by streamlets 
 murmurino; through their own artless channels. The oniamental 
 buildings are, as usually happens to such edifices, deficient in 
 correctness and purity of architecture. The temple of Diana is 
 encumbered with too many ornaments. The Ionic temple in 
 the little island is indeed graceful, but rather too liarrow for its 
 elevation, a defect increased by the statues placed upon the pe- 
 diment. One of these ornamental buildings contains a consider- 
 able collection of statues, &c. found on the site of Gabii "(foT 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 401 
 
 ruins there are none), the territory of which now belongs to this 
 family. The Casino or palace itself is of great extent, but 
 though erected on the plans and under the inspection of the 
 principal architects of the age, and though built of the finest 
 stone, yet it neither astonishes nor pleases. The reason of this 
 failure of eifect is evident ; the ornaments are so numerous and 
 the parts so subdivided, as to distract the eye and to leave no 
 ix)om for any one predominant impression. The basso relievos, 
 and statues, scattered with such prodigality over the exterior 
 of this Casino, are sufficient, if disposed with judgment and 
 eft'ect, to adorn the three largest palaces in Europe. The interior 
 consists of several large saloons and apartments, and a gallery, 
 all of Avhich, particularly the latter, are lined and inlaid with 
 the richest marbles, and supported by the noblest pillars, inter- 
 mingled with bronze and gilding, and adorned with the best 
 specimens of ancient art in sculpture and in painting. Such in- 
 deed is the value of this collection, and such the splendor of the 
 apartments in which it is displayed, that no sovereign in Europe 
 can boast of so rich a gallery or of a residence so truly imperial. 
 This villa with its valuable collection and furniture escaped un- 
 damaged during the French invasion, owing to the appai'cnt 
 partiality which one of the princes of the family is supposed to 
 have manifested towards the republican system.* 
 
 Its gardens are always open to the public, who, in a Latin 
 inscription by no means inelegant, are welcomed or rather in- 
 vited to the free enjoyment of all the beauties of the place, and 
 
 * This prince has since married a sister of Bonaparte, and made over to him 
 his unparalleled collection; he has in return, obtained his contempt. 
 VOL. I. 3 P 
 
40^ CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 at the same time intreated to spare the shnilis and tlowers, and 
 respect the more valuable ornaments, the urns, statues and 
 marbles. The Romans accordingly profit by the invitation, 
 and resort in crowds to the Villa Borghcse, particularly on 
 Sundays, when the walks present a very lively and varied-^ 
 scene, composed of persons of all descriptions and ranks, moving 
 in all directions through the groves and alleys, or reposing in 
 groupes in the temples or near the fountains. This liberal mode 
 of indulging the public in free access to palaces and gardens, 
 and thus sharing with them, in some degree, the advantages and 
 pleasures of luxury, a mode so common in Italy, merits much 
 praise^ and may be recommended as an example that deserves to 
 be imitated by the proprietors of parks and pleasure grounds, 
 particularly in the neighbourhood of great towns and cities. 
 
 The reader will perceive that, out of the many villas that adorn 
 Rome and its vicinity, I have selected a few only, as fully suffi- 
 cient to give him a satisfactory idea of the nature and decora- 
 tions of these celebrated suburban retirements. In fact, howso- 
 ever they may differ in extent and magnificence, their principal 
 features are nearly the same; the same with regard to artificial 
 ornaments as well as natural graces. Some ancient remains are 
 to be found in all, and several in most, and they are all adorned 
 with the same evergreens, and present upon a greater or less 
 scale the same Italian and ancient scenery. They are in general, 
 it is true, much neglected, but for that reason the more rural. 
 The plants now abandoned to their native forms cover the walks 
 with a luxuriant sliade, break the long straight vistas by their 
 fantastic branches, and turn the alleys and quincunxes into 
 devious paths and tangled thickets. They furnish a delight- 
 ful variety of rides and walks; and, as they are interspersed 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 403 
 
 throughout the ancient city and round its suburbs, they give the 
 traveller, fatigued with his researches, or oppressed with the 
 summer heats, a frequent opportunity of reposing himself on 
 the margin of a fountain under the classical shade of the ilex, 
 the pine, and the poplar. 
 
 Qua pinus ingens, albaque populus 
 Unibram liospitalem consociare amant 
 Ramis, et obliquo laborat 
 Lympha fugax trepidare rivo. 
 
 Hor. 
 
 From the villas we pass by a very natural transition to the 
 grand or beautiful objects that lie in the neighbourhood of 
 the city, and within the compass of a walk from its gates. To 
 specify all these objects would be an undertaking too extensive 
 for the bounds of the present work; I shall therefore confine 
 myself to a few only, and point out to the reader such excursions 
 as appear most interesting. 
 
 The banks of the Tiber cannot fail to attract the frequent 
 steps of the classic traveller; the Tiber, Deo gi^atissimtis amms, 
 a river more distinguished in the history of mankind than the 
 Nile or the Thames, the Rhine or the Danube. Hence some 
 travellers measuring its mass of waters by its bulk of fame, 
 and finding its appearance inferior to their preconceptions, 
 have represented it as a mere rill, a petty and insignificant 
 streamlet. However, though far inferior in breadth to all the 
 great rivers, yet, as it is generally from a few miles above Rome 
 to the sea about three hundred feet wide upon an average, it 
 cannot with justice be considered as a contemptible rill. Above 
 and a little below the city it runs through groves and gardens, 
 and waters the villas and suburban retreats of the richer 
 
 3p 2 
 
404 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Romans ; but. beyond Ponte Molle it rolls through a long tract 
 of fertile plains and grassy hills, all, however, naked, uncul- 
 tivated and deserted. Yet these very banks, now all silence and 
 solitude, were once, like those of the Thames, covered with life, 
 activity, and rural beauty, lined with villages, and not unfre- 
 quently decorated with palaces. " Pluribus prope solus," says 
 Pliny, " quam ceteri in omnibus terris amnes, accolitur, aspici- 
 turque villis."* Such was the glory of the Tiber, not only in 
 the golden days of Augustus and Trajan, but even in the ii'on 
 age of Valentinian and Honorius, after Italy had long been the 
 seat of civil war, and more than once the theatre of barbarian 
 fury and Gothic devastation. f Below the city, when it has 
 passed the Villa Malliana, once the seat of Leo and the Latia 
 muses, it falls again into a wilderness, and 
 
 tlirough the desert plain 
 
 Winds its waste stores, and sullen sweeps along-. 
 
 Thomson s Libertj/, p. 1. 
 
 The li-aveiler may commence his next excursion from the 
 Capitol, and crossing part of the Forum, turn towards the Pala- 
 tine Mount. On his left, he will notice the solid wall of the 
 Rostra, the temple of Romulus raised on the spot where the 
 twin brothers were exposed, and a spring, called by some anti- 
 quaries the fountain of Juturna, bursting from a deep cleft in the 
 rock: on his right he will observe the Cloaca Maxima with its 
 
 * Lib. III. 5. 
 
 t " The Gaul," savs Claudian, " may erect new mansions on tlie banks of the 
 Rhine." 
 
 et sffivum gentibus amnem 
 
 Tibridis in morem domibus prievelet amoenis. 
 
 De Laud. Stilich. ii. 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 405 
 
 solid arches, a stupendous work of Tarquinius Priscus. He will 
 next pass under the arch of Janus, cross a corner of the Forum 
 Boarium, and turning to the left advance along the Palatine 
 on one side, and the Circus Maxinius on the other. He then 
 enters the street that leads \vith a gentle sweep between the 
 Clivus Scauri and Mount Celius on the left, and on the right the 
 Thermal ^intonini and Mount ^Ivcntint^ to the Porta Capcna. 
 As he proceeds on the Via Appia he will pass the ancient Basi- 
 lica of St. Sebastian, and shortly after come to the circus of 
 Caracalla. 
 
 This circus, about two miles from the gates of Rome, pre- 
 sents such remnants of its ancient walls as enable us to form 
 a clear notion of the different parts and arrangements of a circus. 
 A considerable portion of the exterior, and in many places the 
 vault that supported the seats, remain. The foundation of the two 
 obelisks that terminated the spina (a sort of separation that ran 
 lengthways through the circus) and formed the goals, still exists. 
 Near the principal goal on one side, behind the benches, stands 
 a sort of tower where the judges sat. One of the extremities 
 supported a gallery which contained a band of musicians, and 
 is flanked by two towers, whence the signal for starting was 
 given. Its length is one thousand six hundred and two feet, its 
 breadth two hundred and sixty: the length of the spina is nine 
 hundred and twenty-two. The distance from the career or end 
 •whence they started to the first meta or goal was five hundred 
 and fifty feet. There were seven ranges of seats, which contained 
 about twenty-seven thousand spectators. As jostling and every 
 exertion of skill, strength or cunning were allowed, the cha- 
 riots were occasionally overturned, and as the drivers had the 
 reins tied round their bodies, several melancholy accidents took 
 
4G6 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 place. To remove the bodies of charioteers bruised or killed in 
 such exertions, a large gate was open in the side of the circus 
 near the first meta, where such accidents were likeliest to take 
 place on account of the narrowness of the space; and this pre- 
 caution was necessary, as the ancients deemed it a most por- 
 tentous omen to go through a gate defiled by the passage of a 
 dead body. On the end opposite the career was a triumphal 
 arch or grand gate, through which the victorious charioteer drove 
 amidst the shouts and acclamations of the spectators. There 
 were originally four sets of drivers, named from the colors which 
 they wore, Alhati, Riissati, Prasmi, and Veneti. To these four 
 Domitian added two more, Aurei and Purpurei^. Each color 
 drove five rounds with fresh horses. There are stables, there- 
 fore, close to the circus; and in the centre of these stables a cir- 
 cular fabric of at least seventy-two feet diameter, with an open 
 space around, enclosed by a high wall. This building was pro- 
 bably a riding school, and is supposed to have been crowned 
 with a temple. Indeed, such is the solidity of the walls and 
 vault that they seem calculated to support a higher edifice than 
 the mere roof; and such, at the same time, was the magnificence 
 of the Romans, that they seldom left a public edifice without a 
 becoming termination: besides, some very beautiful blocks of 
 marble, forming part of a Corinthian cornice with other frag- 
 ments found on the spot, authorize this conjecture, and give it a 
 great degree of probability. 
 
 A little beyond the circus of Caracalla, and in full view from 
 it, rises the mausoleum of Cecilia Metella, a beautiful circular 
 edifice, built by Crassus in honor of that Roman matron his wife, 
 
 * Suet. Domit. 7. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 407 
 
 and daughter to Quintus Metellus Creticus. It is of consider- 
 able height and great thickness : in the centre is a hollow space, 
 reaching, from the pavement to the top of the building. In this 
 concavity was deposited the body in a marble sarcophagus, 
 which in the time of Paul III. was removed to the court of the 
 Farnesian palace. The solidity and simplicity of this monument 
 are worthy of the repubhcan era in which it was erected, and 
 have enabled it to resist and survive the lapse and incidents of 
 two thousand years. 
 
 At the lawless period when the Roman nobles defied the 
 feeble authority of the Popes, and the shadowy privileges of the 
 people, and passed their days in perpetual warfare with eack 
 other, the family of the Gaietani turned this sepulchre into a,:. 
 fortress, and erected the battlements that still disfigure its^ 
 summit. A celebrated antiquary attributes to the architectural- 
 formation of this edifice, the singular effect of re-echoing clearly 
 and distinctly such words as were uttered within a certain 
 distance of its circumference, so that at the funeral of Metella 
 the cries and lamentations of the attendants were repeated so 
 often, and in such soft and plaintive accents, that the spirits of 
 the dead, and even the infernal divinities themselves, seemed 
 to partake the general sorrow, and to murmur back the sighs 
 and groans of the mourners. As this invention, if not real, is 
 at least- poetical, and does some credit to the author, it is but 
 fair to present it to the reader in his own words. " Quodque 
 in eo maxime mirandum est, artificio tam singular! composita 
 est ea moles, ut Echo loquentium voces septies et octies dis- 
 tincte et articulate rcferat; ut in exequiis et funere quod Cre- 
 ticus uxori solemniter celebrabat, cjulatus plorantium multiplica- 
 rctur in immensum, non secus ac si Dii Manes et omnes infero- 
 
408 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 rum anima; fatum Caeciliae illius commiserati ex imo terrae con- 
 tinuis plangerent ploratibus, suunique dolorem testarentur com- 
 niunem, quem lacrymis viventium conjunctum esse vellent*/' — 
 Contiguous to this mausoleum rise the remains of ramparts, 
 houses, and churches erected in the middle ages, and presenting 
 in their actual state a melancholy scene of utter desolation. 
 
 The traveller on his return may traverse the circus of Cara- 
 calla, now a luxuriant meadow, pass under its time-worn gate, 
 and crossing the road, descend into a pleasant dell where he 
 will find a grotto and a fountain with a few trees scattered 
 around them. The grotto is covered with a solid arch and 
 lined with walls. The niches on both sides were probably oc- 
 cupied in ancient times by the divinities of the place ; over the 
 fountain a statue rather disfigured by time appears in a reclin- 
 ino- posture. Various evergreen shrubs hang over the fountain, 
 play around the statue, and wind and flourish through the grotto 
 and over its entrance. The statue represents the Nymph 
 Eo-eria, and the grotto, the fountain and the grove that once 
 shaded it were consecrated by Numa, to the same nymph and 
 to the muses. " Lucus erat," says Livius, " quera medium ex 
 opaco specu fons perenni rigabat aqua, quo quia se persa?pe 
 Numa sine arbitris, velut ad congressum deae, inferebat, Camoenis 
 eum lucum sacravit ; quod earum ibi consilia cum conjuge sua 
 Egeria essent." f A streamlet, pure, limpid and wholesome 
 flows from the fountain and waters the little valley. Juvenal 
 complains of the marble ornaments and artificial decorations 
 of this fountain, and wishes that it had been abandoned to 
 
 * Boissard. + I. 21, 
 
 I 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 409 
 
 its ancient simplicity, to its grassy margin and its native rock.* 
 His wishes are now nearly accomplished ; the vault indeed 
 remains, but the marble lining, the pillars, the statues have dis- 
 appeared and probably lie buried under the mud that covers 
 the pavement of the grotto. The mendicant crowd that fre- 
 quented the grove in that poet's days are also vanished, and 
 the solitude of the place is as deep and undisturbed as when 
 it was the nightly resort of the Roman legislator. 
 
 Conjuge qui fellx nympha ducibusque Gamaenis 
 
 Sacrifices docuit ritus ; gentemque feroci 
 
 Assuetam bello, pacis traduxit ad artes. Ovid Met, 
 
 On the brow of the hill that borders the Egerian valley on 
 the south stands the little church of St. Urban, formerly a 
 temple of Bacchus, or, as it is with more appearance of truth, 
 denominated by others, the temple of the Muses, looking down 
 upon the valley and groves sacred to these goddesses. As the 
 portico was taken in to enlarge the cella and adapt it better for 
 the purposes of a church, the four marble pillars of fluted 
 Corinthian are now incased in the wall. A little further on is a 
 brick temple, small indeed but well proportioned and adorned 
 with pilasters and a regular cornice of the same materials. 
 Antiquarians differ with regard to its appellation. Some sup- 
 
 * In vallein Egeriae descendimus et speluncas 
 Dissimiles veris. Quanto praestantius esset 
 Numen aquae, viridi si margine clauderet undas 
 Herba, nee ingenuum violarent marmora tophum ? Juv. ill. 
 
 The metamorphosis of Egeria into a fountain, so prettily related by Ovid, 
 took place in the vale of Aricia. 
 
 Nam conjux urbe relicta 
 Vallk Aricinae densis latet abdita sylvis. 
 VOL. I. 3 G 
 
4\0 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 pose it to be sacred to the God Rediculus, who prompted Han- 
 nibal, when encamped there, to return and withdraw from the 
 city. But as Hannibal was encamped, not on this but on the 
 opposite side of the city, beyond the Anio and three miles 
 from the Porta Collina, and as Livy makes no mention of any 
 such terliple, this opinion seems to be ill-grounded. Others 
 suppose it to be the temple erected to Fortuna Muliebris on the 
 retreat of Coriolanus. Such a temple was indeed erected and 
 perhaps on this spot, though Coriolanus was not encamped here, 
 but three or four miles further from the city at the Tossse Cluiliae. 
 At all events, a temple erected by public authority, even in that 
 age of simplicity, would probably have been built not of brick, 
 but of stone, so that after all it may possibly have been one of 
 the many sepulchres which bordered the Via Latina, and almost 
 covered the space between it and the Via Appia*. The traveller 
 then turns again towards the Via Appia, recrosses the river Almo, 
 (luhriciis Almo), and re-enters by the Porta Capena. 
 
 Upon another day the traveller may go out by the Porta 
 Nomentana, (now Pia,) and proceeding about a mile, visit the 
 church of St. Agnes, remarkable for its antiquity, (it having been 
 erected by Constantine,) for the double row of marble pillars, 
 one above the other, that support its roof, and for the porphyry 
 and alabaster columns which adorn its altar and its tabernacle. 
 Its form is the same as that of other churches of the same era. 
 
 Near this edifice stands the church of St. Constantia, for- 
 
 Experior quid concedatur in illos 
 Quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina. Juv. Sat. i. 
 
 Cui per mediani nolis occunere noctem 
 Clivosae veheris dum per monuraenta Latinse. Sat. v. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 4U 
 
 merly her mausoleum, and supposed to have been at a still 
 earlier period, a temple of Bacchus. It is of a circular form, 
 supported by a row of coupled columns and crowned with a 
 dome. Behind the pillars runs a gallery, the vaulted roof of which 
 is incrusted with ancient mosaics, representing little genii playing 
 with clusters of grapes, amidst the winding tendrils of the vine. 
 The tomb of the saint, (who Avas the daughter of Constantine), a 
 vast porphyry vase, ornamented with various figm'es, once stood 
 in a large niche directly opposite the door, but as the body had 
 been deposited many years ago under the altar, the sarco- 
 phagus was transported to the museum of the Vatican. 
 
 About two miles farther, the traveller will find the Ponte 
 Lamentano, anciently Pons Nomentanus, a bridge over the 
 Anio, and a little beyond it, he may ascend the Mons Sacer, 
 twice dignified by the retreat, and temperate but determined re- 
 sistance, of an oppressed and generous people. This hill although 
 of no great elevation is steep and in the form of a rampart*, 
 towards the river, and runs along decreasing as it advances 
 towards the Poiite Salaro. It is now a lonely eminence, covered 
 with luxuriant grass, but destitute of shade, ornament, or me- 
 morial. Yet few places seem better entitled to distinction, as 
 few incidents are recorded in history more honorable to the Ro- 
 man people than the transactions which took place on the Mons 
 Sacer, Avhere they displayed in such a conspicuous manner the 
 three grand virtues that constitute the Roman character — firm- 
 ness, moderation and magnanimity. 
 
 This form it probably owes to the occasion ; 
 
 Valloj fossaque communitis castris. Liv. lib. ii. 32. 
 
 3 G 2 
 
412 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 About two miles northward of the Pons Nomentanus is the 
 Pons Salarius, Ponte Salaro, remarkable for the well known 
 combat between Manlius Torquatus and the gigantic Gaul, as 
 also for the neighbouring encampment of Hannibal, when he 
 approached the city, and by threatening Rome itself hoped to 
 terrify the Consuls and induce them to raise the siege of Capua. 
 The traveller may then return by the Via Salaria and re-enter 
 the city by the gate of the same name. 
 
 Besides these walks, as it is not my intention to specify all, it 
 will be sufficient to observe that every gate possesses its attrac- 
 tions, presenting on the roads and paths which it opens to the 
 steps of the traveller, its views of rural beauty or its remains of 
 ancient grandeur ; its churches sanctified by the memory of the 
 good, its fields consecrated by the struggles of the brave, and its 
 sepulchres ennobled by the ashes of the great. Wheresoever he 
 directs his observation he finds himself surrounded by the wonders 
 of modern art, and the monuments of ancient splendor ; so that 
 his eye is gratified by noble exhibitions, and his mind elevated by 
 grand and awful recollections. A certain inexpressible solem- 
 nity peculiar to the place reigns all around : the genius of Rome 
 and the spirits of the illustrious dead seem to hover over the 
 ruins, to guard the walls, and to superintend the destinies of the 
 Eternal City. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 4ia 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 TIBUR — HORACE S VILLA. 
 
 .A-FTER having past five deliglitful weeks in a first and rapid 
 survey of the ancient ruins and modern magnificence of Rome, 
 "vve turned our attention to the neighbouring country, and 
 hastened to visit some of the classical retreats of the Sabine 
 and Alban mountains. Accordingly on Thursday the thirteenth 
 of May, we made an excursion to Tkoli, the ancient Tibur, 
 proceeding along the Via Tiburtina, again visited the ancient 
 patriarchal Basilica of St. Laurence, about one mile from the 
 gate. This is not the only church that bears the title of 
 St. Laurence, as there are three others at least in Rome 
 that enjoy it also; but it is the most ancient, and at the same 
 time has the honor of possessing the martyr's remains. As I 
 approached his shrine with reverence I recollected the beautiful, 
 lines of Vida. 
 
 Adveniet lustris mundo labentibus aetas, 
 Quum domus jEnece prasstans Romana propago 
 Insonti juveni flaiiiniis extrema sequuto 
 Centura aras, centum magnis penetralia templiV 
 Eriget et tumulo divinum iniponet honorem. 
 
114 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 About two miles further on, we passed the Ponte Mamolo^ 
 over the Anio or Teteroiie. This bridge is said to have been 
 built by Maniuiea, mother ot" Alexander Severus. The Cam- 
 pagna, extending thence to the mountains of Sabina, is rather 
 flat, but fertile and covered either with rich grass or promising 
 corn. Woods surrounding distant villas or farms appeared here 
 and there covering the summits of little hills. 
 
 About eight miles from the above-mentioned bridge we crossed 
 the little green streamlet, called from its strong sulphureous ex- 
 halations the Solfatara. The lake or pool from which it I'ises is 
 about a short mile from the road, somewhat less than a mile in 
 circumference, and near two hundred feet deep. Its waters are of 
 an iron gi'e}^ and its surface frequently spotted with a bituminous 
 matter, which mixing with weeds and vegetable substances gra- 
 dually coagulates, and forms what may be called a floating island. 
 There were ten or twelve of these little green masses when we vi- 
 sited the lake, and being carried by the wind to the side, they 
 remained united and motionless till we separated and set some of 
 them afloat. As they continually increase in number, so they 
 gradually diminish the surface of the lake, and will probably in 
 time cover it over entirely. It was formerly nmch larger than it 
 is at present, and used occasionally to overflow the neighbouring 
 plains; to prevent this inconvenience the httle canal which inter- 
 sects the road was cut by the orders of the Cardinal d'Este, to give 
 an outlet to the increasing waters and carry them to the Anio. This 
 lake was in high repute among the ancients, and much frequented 
 on account of the oracle of Faunus, whose temple stood on its 
 bank surrounded by a sacred grove. Hence Virgil, who consecrates 
 the usages established in his time by referring them to remote 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 415 
 
 antiquity, or by ascribing their origin to the interference of the 
 gods, represents Latinus as consulting the oracle of Faunus on 
 this spot, and receiving during the night a mysterious answer. 
 The sulphureous exhalations of the lake, the celebrity of the 
 temple, and the singular method of consulting the oracle, are all 
 finely described in these lines. 
 
 At rex sollicitus monstris, oracula Fauni 
 Fatidici gpnitoris adit, luccsque sub alta 
 Consulit Albuneii, neruoruni quae maxuma sacro 
 Fonte sonat saevumque exhalat opaca mephitim. 
 Hinc Italae gentes, omnisque iEnotria tellus, 
 In dubiis responsa petunt. Hue dona sacerdos 
 Quum tulit, et caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti 
 Pellibus incubuit stratis, somnosque petivit ; 
 Multa niodis simulacra videt volitantia miris, 
 Et varias audit voces, fruiturque Deoruni 
 CoUoquio, atque imis Acheronta adfatur Avernis. 
 
 Mneid. vii. 81. 
 
 At present the oracle is forgotten, the sacred grove whence the 
 voices issued has been long rooted up, and the very situation of 
 the temple itself is a matter of mere conjecture. Bituminous 
 exhalations indeed still impregnate the air to a considerable dis- 
 tance, and the lake exists though its extent is much diminished. 
 In fact, the surface of the surrounding fields is an incrustation 
 gradually formed over the water, and the hollow sound which it 
 yields to the tread of horses evidently betrays the existence of 
 an abyss beneath. The Fonte Lugano, a bridge over the Anio, 
 presents itself about a mile and a half farther on. This bridge is 
 said to have taken its name from the Lucanians, who Avere here 
 defeated by the Romans ; it is remarkable for a tomb of the 
 Plautian family, a round tower built of large blocks of Tibur- 
 
416 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 tine stone, resembling the sepulchre of Cecilia Metella, both in 
 its original form and its subsequent appropriation. It was em- 
 ployed as a military station during the middle ages, and sur- 
 mounted by a battlement; a circumstance barbarous in point of 
 taste, yet not to be regretted at present, as it preserved the re- 
 mains of these two monuments. 
 
 About two miles farther, a road turns off to the villa of 
 Adrian. This imperial residence stood on a hill, with the ex- 
 tensive vale of Latium on one side, and a little deep glade 
 called Tempe on the other. It commanded a delightful view 
 of the Sabine mountains with Tibur here, and there a prospect 
 of the Alban hills with their towers and forests ; behind, the 
 vale lost itself in distant mountains ; in front appeared Rome 
 itself, extended over its seven hills, and reflecting from all its 
 palaces the beams of an evening sun. The sides of the hill are 
 every where rather steep, and the rock itself aided a little by art 
 forms an excellent barrier, enclosing a long narrow space of at least 
 seven miles in circumference. As we are assured by an ancient 
 author, that Adrian, after having travelled over the whole em- 
 pire, determined to collect around him on this spot the most 
 remarkable edifices that lay dispersed over the Roman world, 
 the reader will no longer wonder at the number of buildings 
 constituting this villa, nor feel any unusual astonishment in pe- 
 rusing a catalogue embracing the following objects : the impe- 
 rial palace ; quarters for the legionary soldiers, cavalry and infan- 
 try, and others for the invalids; three theatres; a naumachia; a 
 hippodrome ; temples of Apollo and the Muses, of Diana, of 
 Venus, of Sera pis; halls and habitations for the different 
 sects of philosophers; a library; a Paecile, resembling that at 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 417 
 
 Athens; and porticos almost without number, together with va- 
 rious edifices, the names and objects of which are now undiscover- 
 able. Statues, columns, and marbles of the ranrst kinds, have 
 been, and are continually, discovered when excavations are made 
 amidst the ruins of these amazing fabrics; while briars and 
 brambles fill their halls and stuccoed apartments, and a mixed 
 confusion of orchards and gardens, forest and fruit trees, vine- 
 yards and corn waving over them, present a strange and me- 
 lancholy contrast. 
 
 Returning to the road, we began and continued for some time 
 to ascend the high hill on which Tivoli stands, passing through 
 groves of olives till we reached the summit, when after having 
 examined the noble site of the house of the Jesuits, and the Villa 
 de Santa Croce, we entered Tivoli. This town, the Tibur of the 
 ancients, boasts of high antiquity and what is much better, still 
 possesses a considerable population, amounting, it is said, to ten 
 thousand inhabitants. The town itself is not handsome, though 
 it contains some very fine houses and stands in a delightful situa- 
 tion, sheltered on one side by Monte Catili, and a semicircular 
 range of Sabine mountains, and commanding on the other an 
 extensive view over the Campagna, bounded by the sea, Rome, 
 Mount Soracte and the pj'ramidal hills of Monticelli, and 
 Monte Rotonda the ancient Eretum. But the pride and orna- 
 ment of Tivoli are still as anciently the fall and meanderings of 
 the Anio, now Teverone. This river, having meandered from its 
 source through the vales of Sabina, glides gently through Tivoli 
 till coming to the brink of a rock it precipitates itself in one mass 
 down the steep, and then boiling for an instant in its narrow 
 channel rushes headlong through a chasm in the rock into the 
 caverns below. 
 
 VOL. I. ■ 3 H 
 
418 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 The first fall may be seen from the windows of the inn or 
 from the temple ; but appears to the greatest advantage from 
 the bridge thrown over the narrow channel a little below it. 
 From this bridge also you may look down into the shattered 
 rock, and observe far beneath the writhings and agitation of the 
 stream, struggling through its rocky prison. To view the 
 second fall or descent into the cavern, we went down through a 
 garden by a winding path into the narrow dell, through which 
 the river flows after the cascade, and placing ourselves in front 
 of the cavern beheld the Anio in two immense sheets tumbling 
 through two different apertures, shaking the mountain in its 
 fall, and filling all the cavities around with spray and uproar. 
 Though the rock rises to the height of two hvmdred feet in a 
 narrow semicircular form, clothed on one side with shrubs and 
 foliage, yet a sufficient light breaks upon the cavern to shew its 
 pendent rocks, agitated waters and craggy borders. Such is the 
 iresidence of the Naiad, such the Domus Albunecs r^sonaiitis, the 
 pen^^ntia pumice tecta. 
 
 About an huindj-ed paces from the grotto, a natural bridge, 
 ^nied by the wate? working through the rock, enables, the 
 spectator to pass the river, and take another vi«w of the 
 easeade, less distinct with regard to the cavern but more ea- 
 iaiged, as it iftcludes a greater portion of the superiocumbeBfe 
 lock in fVont, with the shagged banks on both sides. The rock 
 imnaediatcly above and on the left is perpendicular and crowned 
 ^ith hokiises, while from an aperture in its side at a considerable 
 height gushes a rill, too small to add either by its sound or 
 i^e to the magnificence of the scenery. 
 
 The bank on the opposite side is steep and shaggy, bat 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 419 
 
 leaves room for little gardens and vineyards. On its summit 
 stands the celebrated temple commonly called of the Sybil, 
 though by many antiquaries supposed to belong to Vesta. This 
 beautiful pile is so well known that it is almost unnecessary to 
 inform the reader that it is circular (as all the temples of Vesta), 
 of the Corinthian order, built in the reign of Augustus, and ad- 
 mired not for its size but its proportions and situation. It stands 
 in the back court of the inn, cx|X)sed to the weather Avithout any 
 roof or covering, but its own solidity seems to be a sufficient pro- 
 tection. Of its eighteen pillars ten only remain with their enta^ 
 blature. An English nobleman, well known in Italy for his num- 
 berless purchases, is reported to have offered a considerable sum 
 to the innkeeper on whose property it stands, for this ruin, with 
 an intention of transporting it to England, to be re-erected in 
 his park. The proposal, it is said, Avas accepted, but fortu- 
 nately, before the work of devastation was begun, a prohi- 
 bition was issued by government, grounded upon a declara- 
 tion that ruins are public property, and of course not to be 
 defaced or removed without express permission, which as 
 it tended to strip the country of the monuments of its ancient 
 glory, and consequently of its most valuable ornaments, the 
 government could not and would not give. This attempt to 
 transplant the temple of Vesta from Italy to England may per- 
 haps do honor to the late Lord Bristol's patriotism or to his 
 magnificence, but it cannot be considered as an indication of 
 either taste or judgment. 
 
 The temple of Tivoli derives, it is true, much intrinsic merit 
 from its size and proportions, but it is not architectural merit 
 alone which gives it its principal interest. Placed on the verge 
 of a rocky bank, it is suspended over the praceps Anio, and the 
 
 3 11 2 
 
420 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 echoing abode of the Naiads, it has beheld Augustus and Mecenas, 
 Virgil and Horace, repose under its columns, has survived the 
 empire and even the language of its founders ; and after eighteen 
 hundred years of storms, tempests, revolutions, and barbarism, it 
 still exhibits its fair proportioned form to the eye of the travel- 
 ler, and claims at once his applause and his veneration. 
 
 Near the temple of Vesta stand the remains of another tem- 
 ple, supposed to be that of the Sybil, consisting of four pillars, 
 and now forming a part of the wall of the parish church of St. 
 George. Besides these scarce any other vestige remains of an- 
 cient Tibur, though considering its antiquity, its population, and 
 its salubrity, it must have possessed a considerable share of mag- 
 nificence. But if its artificial ornaments have perished, and if 
 its temples and its villas have long since crumbled into dust, the 
 unalterable graces which nature has conferred upon it still re- 
 main, and its orchards, its gardens, and its cool recesses bloom 
 and flourish in unfading beauty. If Horace, who so often and 
 so fondly celebrates the charms of Tibur, were to revive, he would 
 still find the grove, the irriguous garden, the ever-varying rill, 
 the genial soil, in short, all the well known features of his be- 
 loved retreat. To enjoy this delicious scenery to advantage, the 
 traveller must cross the bridge and follow the road which runs at 
 the foot of the classic Monte Catillo, and winds along the banks 
 of the Anio, rolling after its fall through the valley in a deep dell. 
 As he advances, he will have on his left the steep banks covered 
 with trees, shrubs, and gardens ; and on his right, the bold but 
 varying swells of the hills, shaded with groves of olives. These 
 sunny declivities were anciently interspersed with splendid villas, 
 the favorite abodes of the most luxurious and most refined Ro- 
 mans. They are now replaced by two solitary convents, lifting each 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 421 
 
 its white tower above the dark green mass of oHves. Their site, 
 often conjecturdl or traditionary, is sometimes marked by some 
 scanty vestiges of ruin, and now and then by the more probable 
 resemblance of a name. Thus several subterraneous apartments 
 and galleries near St. Antonio are supposed to be the remains 
 of the seat of Vopiscus, celebrated by Statius. That of Pro- 
 per ti us 
 
 Candida qua geminas ostendunt culmina turres 
 Et cadit in patulos lympha Aniena lacus 
 
 is supposed to have stood on the site of the other convent St. An- 
 gelo, while the villa of Quintilius Varus, or rather its founda- 
 tions, still retain the kindred appellation of Quintiliolo. But the 
 house of Vopiscus, as must appear evident to any reader who 
 thinks proper to consult the poet alluded to, must have been in 
 the dell, and have actually hung over the river, as it occupied 
 both the banks and saw its surrounding shades reflected from 
 the surface of the water.* 
 
 The fond attachment of Horace to Tibur, united to the testi- 
 mony of Suetonius, has induced many antiquaries to imagine, 
 that at some period or other of his life he possessed a little villa 
 in its neighbourhood, and tradition accordingly ennobles a few 
 
 * Nemora alta citatis 
 
 Incubuere vadis, Mlax responsat imago 
 Frondibus, et longas eadem fugit unda per umbras 
 
 liittus utrumque domi : nee te mitissimus amnis 
 
 Dividit, alternas servant praetoria ripas, 
 
 Non externa sibi, fluviumve obstare queruntur. 
 
 Statius Sy/. I. 3. 
 
422 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 scattered fragments of walls and arches with the interesting ap- 
 pellation of Horace's villa. The site is indeed worthy the poet, 
 where, defended by a semicircular range of wooded mountains 
 from every cold blustering wind, he might look down on the 
 playful windings of the Anio below, discover numerous riils 
 gleaming through the thickets as they glided down the opposite 
 bank, enjoy a full view of the splendid mansion of his friend 
 Maecenas rising directly before him, and catch a distant per- 
 spective of Aurea Roma, of the golden towers of the Capitol 
 soarino- majestic on its distant mount. But whatever the poet's 
 wishes might be, it is not probable that his moderate income would 
 permit him to enjoy such a luxurious residence in a place so 
 much frequented, and consequentl}^ so very expensive ; and 
 indeed the very manner in Avhich those wishes are expressed 
 seems to imply but slight hopes of ever being able to realize them. 
 " Tibur, ^'C. sit — idinam — Unde si — Parcfe prohibent imquce." 
 If Horace actually possessed a villa there, the wish was unne- 
 cessary, as the event lay in his own power. The authority of 
 Suetonius seems indeed positive, but it is possible that the same 
 place may be alluded to under the double appellation of his Sa- 
 bine or Tiburtine seat*. Horace, it is true, often represents him- 
 self as meditating his compositions while he wandered along the 
 plains and through the groves of Tibur; 
 
 * That villas in the vicinitj' of Tibur sometimes took their name from the town, 
 and sometimes from the territory, is evident from Catullus. 
 
 O Funde noster, seu Sabine, seu Tibur 
 Nam te esse Tiburtem autumant quibus non est 
 Cordi Catullum laedere ; at quibus cordi est 
 Quovis Sabiniim pignore esse contendunt. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 423 
 
 Circa uemus^ uvidique 
 
 Tiburis vipas operosa parvus 
 
 Carniina fingo. 
 
 But as he was probably a frequent companioa of Maecenas in his 
 excursions to his villa at Tibitr, he may in those lines allude to 
 his solitary rambles and poetical reveries. Catullus, a Roman 
 knight, had fortune sufficient to indulge himself in such an ex- 
 pensive I'esidence, and accordingly speaks with iBuch compla- 
 cency of liis Tiburtine retreat, which, on account of its proximity 
 to the town, he calls suburbana. Munatius Pkmcus also pos- 
 sessed a villa at Tibur, apparently of great beauty. To this the 
 poet alludes in that ode* where, in enlarging oin the charms of 
 the place, he recommends indirectly and with much delicacy to 
 his friend, who in a moment of disgrace and despondency was 
 meditating a voluntary exile, his dehghtful seat at Tibur, as a: 
 retirement far preferable to Rhodes and Mitylene, in those times 
 much frequented by disaffected or banished Romans. 
 
 But to abandon these aerial channs, spread indeed like flitting 
 shades over every grove and every meadow, but perceptible only 
 to the eye of classic imagination, let us turn to the visible beau*- 
 ties that line our walk and appear in new forms at every turning. 
 As the traveller, following the bend of the hill, comes to the 
 side of the road opposite to the town, he catches first a side 
 glimpse, and sliortly after a full view of the Cascatelli, or lesser 
 cascades, inferior in mass and grandeur, but equal in beauty to 
 the great felt in the town. They are formed by a branch of the 
 Anioy turned off from the main body of the river, before it 
 ifeaches the precipice, for the usts of the inhabitants, and after 
 
 * Caum- Lib. v. Od. 7. 
 
424 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 it has crossed the town bursting from a wood on the summit of 
 the hill, and then tumbling from its brow in one great and seve- 
 ral lesser streams, first down one and then another declivity, 
 through thickets and brambles, spangled with dew drops or 
 lighted up with a rainbow. The elevation and mass of these 
 cascades, the colors and broken masses of the rocks down which 
 they tumble, the shrubs, plants and brambles that hang over the 
 channel and sometimes bathe themselves in the current, the river 
 below fretting through a narrow pass under a natural arch 
 covered at the top with olives, the vines that wave around it, 
 the bold bendings and easy sweeps of the surrounding moun- 
 tains, and the towers of the town rising on the top of the hill 
 beyond the cascade, with the ruins of Maecenas's villa on its 
 shelving side a little farther on, form one of the most delicious 
 pictures for softness and beauty, M-ildness and animation, that 
 can be imagined. The traveller is usually conducted by his 
 guide to a sort of natural stage, formed by the rock projecting 
 boldly over the river, just opposite the cascade. Here he may 
 seat himself on the grass under the shade of a tufted olive-tree, 
 enjoy at leisure the delightful sight, nor wonder that Horace, 
 when surrounded by such scenery, should feel the full influence 
 of inspiration. 
 
 QuiE Tibur aquae fertile praefluunt 
 
 Et spissae nemorum coniEB 
 
 Fingent ^Eolio carmine nobilem. iv Od. 3. 
 
 However, a side view is considered as the best, because it aug- 
 ments the apparent mass of waters, and this we enjoyed as we 
 continued our walk along the road ; while before us the opening 
 valley exhibited a distant perspective over the Campagna to the 
 seven hills and the towers of Rome, and the Mediterranean 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 425 
 
 closing or rather bordering the picture with a gleam of purple. 
 We passed Quintiliolo, and the pond once probably the re- 
 ceptacle of those favorite fish which, as Cicero sarcastically 
 observes, seem to have occupied so much of the time and 
 thoughts of their indolent proprietors. At the foot of the hill 
 in a meadow, called Campo Limpido, near the road, springs a 
 fountain which some travellers have thought proper to dig- 
 nify with the appellation of Bandusia ; but though its source 
 be abundant, its waters pure, and its appearance picturesque, 
 yet it is far remote from the classical fountain of that denomina- 
 tion. After having passed the bridge and ascended part of the de- 
 clivity towards the town, we entered a field in order to visit a cir- 
 cular edifice of brick with a vaulted roof, resembling, though of 
 a smaller size, the temple of Minerva Medica, supposed by 
 some to be tiie Fanum Tussis, by others a sepulchre ; the situa- 
 tion seems more appropriate to the latter, the form better calcu- 
 lated for the former. It has several niches for statues, is of ex- 
 cellent proportions, and though stripped long since of all its or- 
 naments, is yet in good preservation.* 
 
 Meceenas's villa stands at the extremity of the town on the 
 brow of the hill, and hangs over several streamlets which fall 
 down the steep. It commands a noble view of the Anio and its 
 vale beneatii, the hills of Albano and MonticeUi, the Campagna, 
 and Rome itself rising on the borders of the horizon. It still 
 presents several traces of its former magnificence, such as a 
 triple row of arches, seventeen below and fourteen above, form- 
 
 * Some antiquaries are of opinion, that it was a bath; but its situation on a 
 declivity and at a distance from the town seems unfavorable to such a destination. 
 
 VOL, I. 3 I 
 
426 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 ing a suite of apartments spacious enough foi' all the purposes 
 of private luxury. The active Cardinal Rufto during the reign of 
 the late pontiff turned it into a foundery, after having stripped 
 the walls and roof of the ivy, and effaced the venerable marks of 
 ruin which the hand of time had shed over them. A branch 
 of the river pours through the arched gallery and vaulted cellars, 
 and shaking the edifice as it passes along rushes in several sheets 
 down the declivity. The ancient magnificence of this villa is 
 probably equalled by that of the modern Villa Estense, erected 
 by a Cardinal of that name in the sixteenth century, in a lofty 
 situation, surrounded with terraces, water-falls, groves of cedars, 
 cypresses, and orange trees, and adorned with statues, vases 
 and marbles. The gardens are laid out in the old style, and 
 not conformable to our ideas of rural beauty, and the whole is 
 in a most lamentable state of decay. Very different was its 
 condition when described by Strada, who lays the scene of two 
 of his Prolusions in its gardens. There are in the town or im- 
 mediate neighbourhood of Tivoli, other villas of great extent and 
 some magnificence, enjoying in proportion similar advantages of 
 situation and prospect, and perhaps no spot in the universe 
 affords more of either; but unfortunately the modern Romans, 
 like the Italians and the continental nations in general, are not 
 partial to country residence. They may enjoy the description, 
 or commend the representation of rural scenes and occupations 
 in books and pictures, but they feel not the beauties of nature, 
 and cannot relish the calm, the solitary charms of a country 
 life. Hence the delicious retreats of Tibur, and the rival beau- 
 ties of the Alban Mount, scenes that delighted the philosopher 
 and enchanted the poet in ancient days, are now beheld with 
 indifference, and perhaps honored once a year, during the Villeg- 
 giatura, with a short, and impatient visit. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 427 
 
 Englishmen who are generally educated in the country, and 
 are attached by all the ties of custom and inclination to rural 
 scenery, may appreciate the beauties of Tibur, and do justice 
 to the description of the poet. While they behold the hills, the 
 woods, the streams, 
 
 Et pijcceps Anio, et Tiburni lucus, et uda 
 Mobilibus poraaria rivis. 1 Od. 6. 
 
 which so often inspired the Roman Lyrist; they may conceive 
 his enthusiasm, and did not a better sentiment suppress the wish, 
 might like him exclaim, 
 
 Tibur Argeo positum colono, 
 Sit meae sedes utinam senectae 
 Sit modus lasso maris et viarum 
 Militiaeque. 
 
 May 15th. We lose about three in the morning, and although 
 the weather appeared rather lowering, mounted at four, and 
 forming a party of nine proceeded on our road towards the Sa- 
 bine mountains, to visit Horace's villa. 
 
 The Via Valeria is, without doubt, the shortest road to Vico 
 Varo, but we took one which, though very bad and somewhat 
 longer, gave us an opportunity of seeing more of the country. 
 Winding along the hills we saw the river meandering beneath 
 us through a beautiful dell, and forming a variety of pleasino- 
 scenes, especially near a spot where the ruins of two aque- 
 ducts throw their arches over the road, and form a sort of frame 
 for the towers of Tivoli, and its neighbouring mountains, about 
 a mile and a half distant. An artist who was in company with 
 
 3 I 2 
 
428 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 us took a sketch on the spot, and has since made a very fine 
 drawing of it. The aqueducts frequently re-appeared during the 
 course of the day, sometimes rising hke masses of brown rock 
 on the hills, and sometimes sweeping in a succession of lofty 
 arches over the plains. The face of the country, here wooded 
 and there naked, but always bold and in general very fertile, was 
 pleasing. Its most striking features were a ruined castle on the 
 bank of the river, distant towns lodged in the high recesses of 
 the mountains, particularly St. Polo far on the left, and Castel 
 Madama just opposite. The latter is said to be extremely 
 healthy on account of its airy situation; it affords a fine view 
 of the valley, the river, and the mountains, with their various 
 hamlets. From the side of the hill we looked down upon 
 Vico Varo, whose churches and walls of white stone appeared 
 to much advantage. This town nearly retains its ancient name, 
 and is the Varice mentioned by Horace, and the principal muni- 
 cipality, where, it seems, representatives from the circumjacent 
 villages used to meet. 
 
 Quinque bonos solitum Variam demittere patres. 
 
 Lib. I. Epist. 14. 
 
 It stands on a hill close to the Anio, has considerable remains 
 of its wall, composed of vast stones, like those employed in the 
 Coliseum, and though not large must have been opulent, if we 
 may judge from such a magnificent rampart. 
 
 From Vico Varo we proceeded along the river side about two 
 miles, to a bridge remarkable for the remains of a lofty arch form- 
 ed to conduct the Claudian aqueduct over the Anio. Only a 
 small part of the arch is standing, while the channel opened 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 429 
 
 through the rock on the opposite side near a mill, is still perfect. 
 The banks here are extremely bold, particularly on the northern 
 side of the river, where they rise to a great elevation, and seem to 
 hang over the mill and stream below. The rock is hollowed out by 
 nature into a variety of grottos, said to have been for some time 
 the retreat of St. Benedict, the patriarch of the western monks. 
 On the top of the rock stands the Franciscan convent of St. Co- 
 siraato, a neat and convenient building with a very clean church. 
 Hither we repaired, in order to take shelter from a very heavy 
 shower, and were received by the good fathers with cor- 
 diality, and treated in a very hospitable and polite manner. 
 About one o'clock we sallied forth, and returning back some 
 little way, took a path leading directly northward. I must ob- 
 serve, that from the convent, and indeed some little time before 
 you reach it, you discover towards the north two villages beau- 
 tifully situated on the summit of a woody and well-cultivated hill, 
 supported by a range of mountains behind; one of these villages 
 is called Canta Lupo, the other Bardela. The latter is Mandela, 
 which on account of its high situation Horace represents as 
 suffering much from the effects of the cold. 
 
 Rugosus frigore pagus. 
 
 As we advanced we found ourselves in a fine valley, with 
 beautiful hills rising close on our left, while on our right in the 
 midst of fertile meadovvs, bounded on the opposite side by the 
 hill of Mandela, and a ridge of successive mountains glided the 
 Licenza, anciently the Digentia, the favorite stream of Horace. 
 
 Me quoties reficit gelidus Digentia rivus. 
 
 Its bed is wide, stony, and shallow in summer. We had not 
 5 
 
430 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 proceeded far when to the left, on the brow of a craggy steep, 
 we perceived the Fanum Vacunae*, whence the poet dated one 
 of his philosophic epistles ; it was almost in ruins in his time, 
 and probably sunk under the pressure of age not long after; a 
 village has risen upon its site, and assumed the name of Rocca 
 Giovane. Near the path which leads up to this village issues a 
 spring, called by some writers, the fountain of Bandusia. The 
 road then ran at the foot of Mount Lucretilis, and a more beau- 
 tiful mountain has rarely been discovered by a traveller or 
 celebrated by a poet. It rises in a gentle but irregular swell, 
 forming several hills of different shapes as it ascends, and lead- 
 ing the eye through various easy gradations to its summit. 
 Rocks and precipices frequently break its lines, and open 
 various caverns and grottos in its sides, and on its declivities. 
 Its lower regions are divided into corn fields and vineyards, 
 groves of olives and of chestnuts interspersed with forest trees 
 thrown negligently about, sometimes single, sometimes in clumps, 
 and now and then in woods ; its upper parts are heathy pasture, 
 and in many places covered with brambles, shrubs and forests. 
 Herds may be seen ranging through the meadows, and flocks 
 of goats spread over the wilds and browsing on the precipices. 
 Arcadia itself could scarcely have exhibited more beautiful 
 scenes, or opened more delightful recesses ; so that Lucretilis, 
 
 * Hoc tibi dictabam post templum putre Vacuna. 
 
 V'acuna was the Minerva or perhaps the Victory of the Sabines. The temple 
 here alluded to, or one to Victoiy on the same site was repaired by Vespasian, 
 This goddess had another temple or at least a grove near Reate and the Velinus. 
 Plin. lib. III. cap. 12. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 431 
 
 without being indebted to poetical exaggeration for the coin- 
 pHment, might easily be supposed to have attracted the atten- 
 tion of the rural divinities, and allured them to its delicious 
 wildernesses.* 
 
 About a mile and a half beyond the road which leads to Rocca 
 Giovane, we turned up a pathway, and crossing a vineyard 
 found ourselves on the spot where Horace's villa js supposed to. 
 have stood. A part of a wall rising in the middle of bram- 
 bles, and some mosaic pavements, are the only traces that now 
 remain of the poet's mansion. It was probably remarkable 
 neither for its size nor its decorations -j-; neatness and convenience 
 it must have possessed. Mundceque parvo sub lave Cocnce. Its 
 situation is certainly extremely beautiful. Placed in a little plain 
 or valley in the windings of Mount Lucretilis it is sheltered on 
 the north side by hills rising gradually but very boldly ; while 
 towards the south a long hillock, covered with a grove, protects 
 it from the scorching blasts of that quarter. Being open to the 
 east and west it gives a full view of Rocca Giovane, formerly 
 Fanum Vacunae on one side; on the other, two towns, the 
 nearest of which is Digentia, the farthest Civitella, perched each 
 on the pointed summit of a hill present themselves to view; 
 below and forming a sort of basis to these eminences, Ustica 
 
 * Velox amaenum sKpe Lucretilem 
 Mutat Lyceo Faiinus, et igneam 
 Defendit aestatem capellis 
 Usque ineis pluriosque ventos. 
 
 + Non ebur, neque aureum 
 
 Mea renidet in dorao lacunar.' 
 
432 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 speckled with olives, and spangled with little shining rocks 
 stretches its recumbent form*' . 
 
 Behind the house a path, leading through a grove of olives and 
 rows of vines, conducts to an abundant rill descending from 
 Fonte hello (perhaps anciently the Bandusia) a fountain in the 
 higher regions of the mountain. It is collected in its fall from 
 an artificial cascade into a sort of bason, whence it escapes, 
 pours down the hill and glides through the valley, under the 
 name of Digentia, now Licenza. This rill, if I may judge by its 
 freshness, still possesses the good qualities Horace ascribed to it 
 some centuries ago, and still seems to flow so cool and so clear, 
 
 Ut nee 
 
 Frigidior Thracam nee purior ambiat Hebrus. 
 
 I must indeed here observe, that the whole tract of country 
 which we have just traversed corresponds in every particular 
 with the description Avhich Horace gave of it two thousand 
 3'ears ago. Not only the grand and characteristic features -t' — 
 the continued chain of mountains — the shady valley — the blinding 
 dell — the abundant fountain — the savage rocks — features which a 
 
 * Utcunque dulci, Tyndari, fistula 
 Valles et UsticcB cuhantis 
 ZiCEvia personuere saxa. Lib. i. Od. 17. 
 
 + Continui montes nisi dissocientur opaea 
 
 Valle 
 
 Hie in reducta valle caniculce 
 Vitabis aestus .... 
 Fons etiam rivo dare nomen idoneus .... 
 
 , inhospita tesqua . . 
 
 Ruris amaeni 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 43S 
 
 general convulsion of nature only can totally efface, not those 
 alone remain, but the less and more perishable beauties — the 
 little rills — the moss-lined stones — the frequent groves — the arbutus 
 half-concealed in the thickets — the occasional pwe — -the oak and 
 the ilex suspended over the grotto — these meet the traveller at 
 every turn, and rise around him as so many monuments of the 
 judgment and the accuracy of the poet*. 
 
 * Rivos et mnsco circumlita saxa, nemusqne 
 Impune tutum per nemus arbutos 
 Quasrunt latentes — 
 
 Quid si rubicunda benigne 
 Corna vepres et pruna feriint, si quercus et ilex 
 Multa fruge pecus, niuUa dominum jiivat umbra — 
 Inirainens villce pinus . . . 
 
 Cavis impositum ilicem 
 Saxis .... 
 
 Cluverius concludes that Horace had a view of Mount Soracte from his 
 Sabine villa, because he commences an ode with the words, 
 
 Vides ut alta stet nive candidum 
 Soracte. 
 
 But this is not the case, as Mount Lucretilis interposes in that direction and ob- 
 structs all view, excepting that of its own varied ridge. The ode alluded to was 
 probably composed at Rome, as the amusements which Horace recommends in the 
 last stanza but one, were peculiar to the city, nunc et campus et arce^, &c. The 
 learned geograplier also insists upon Ustica's being a valley, on account of the 
 epithet cubantis, which he maintains could not be ascribed to a hill. Most of 
 my readers will probably think otherwise, and conceive that such an epithet is 
 applicable to hills only, and this opinion is confirmed by the name which a hill in 
 the neighbourhood of Mount Lucretilis still bears. Its form is long and rises 
 gradually, as that of a person leaning on his elbow : its snrface is marked by a 
 number of white smooth stones; and it is always pointed out as the Ustica 
 alluded to by Horace. 
 
 VOL. r. 3 K 
 
434 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 . We were less fortunate in this our poetical pilgrimage than 
 usual, as a heavy rain began about tAvelve o'clock in the 
 day, and accompanied by strong gusts of Avind continued poiu*- 
 ing in an incessant torrent till twelve at night. It soon pene- 
 trated our clothes; the slowness of our mules gave it full time to 
 operate, so that notwithstanding our classical enthusiasm and a 
 few occasional bursts of merriment we trudged along the Via 
 Valeria, wet and benighted, till Ave reached Tivoli about ten 
 o'clock. Thus we learned by experience, that Horace had 
 some reason to thank the rural divinities for protecting his flocks 
 from the inclemencies of the mountains, and the rainy windSy 
 whose effects he seems to have felt and dreaded. The wind con- 
 tinued high and chill during the whole of the following day 
 (Sunday). On Monday the weather resumed its usual sere- 
 nity, and we returned to Rome. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 4S5 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 THE ALBAN MOUNT AND LAKE — TUSCULUM AND CICERO S VILLA 
 — ARICIA, AND THE GROVE AND TEMPLE OP DIANA — THE LAKE 
 OF NEMI, AND PALACE OF TRAJAN — ANTIUM — FORESTS AND 
 PLAINS OF LAURENTUM — OSTIA — MOUTH OF THE TIBER. 
 
 The Alban Mount, ^\iiich forms such a conspicuous and ma- 
 jestic feature of Roman landscape, and presents itself so often 
 to the reader's notice in Roman history and literature next at- 
 tracted our attention and furnished an object for a second excur- 
 sion. The road to it is the Via Appia, which begins at the Porta 
 Capena, crosses the Almone (lubricus Almo) flowing near the 
 walls, and as it traverses the Campagna presents aqueducts and 
 sepulchres that border its sides with ruins. 
 
 Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris. 
 
 The Fossa Cluillia, 
 
 Horatioiurn qua viret sacer campus. 
 
 The theatre of the combat between the Horatii and Curiatii, 
 lies between five and six miles from the gate on the right. 
 
 3 K 2 
 
436 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Several tombs stand on the side of the hillock that borders 
 these fields, but no one in particular is pointed out as be- 
 longing to the unhappy champions. Their monuments however 
 existed in Livy's time *, and as their forms and materials were 
 probably veiy plain and very solid, they must have remained 
 for many ages after, and may be some of the many mounds 
 that still stand in clusters about the very place where they fell. 
 The multiplicity of the tombs that line the road is so great, that 
 when entire, and surrounded as several undoubtedly anciently 
 were with cypresses and ornamental enclosures, they must 
 almost have touched each other, and formed a funereal street. 
 This circumstance aftbrds a strong argument, that the environs 
 of the city, at least on this side, could not have been so thickly 
 inhabited as is usually imagined. Besides Cicero, in one of his 
 Epistles, alludes to the danger of being robbed in broad day on 
 the road to Albano-f-, a circumstance Avhich implies solitude, 
 and gives the plain extending at the foot of the Alban Mount, 
 a reputation similar to that attached not long ago to the preda- 
 tory districts of Blackheath or Hounslow. 
 
 On the side of the hill, on or near the site of the ancient Bo- 
 villae, stands a tavern, the very same if we may credit tradition 
 into Avhich Clodius retired when wounded, and from which he 
 was afterwards dragged by Milo's attendants. Near the gate of 
 Albano on the side of the road rises an ancient tomb, the se- 
 pulchre (as it is called by the people) of Ascanius; but in the 
 opinion of antiquaries that of Clodius himself. It is entirely 
 stripped of its ornaments and external coating, and has no 
 other claim to the traveller's attention than its antiquity. 
 
 « Lib. I. 25. +Ad. Att.Tii.9. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 437 
 
 Tlie town of Albano consists almost totally of one long street, in 
 general well built and airy ; but its chief advantage is its lofty situa- 
 tion, and its principal ornament the beautiful country houses and 
 walks that surround it on all sides. The principal villa belongs to 
 a Roman Duke, and occupies part of the site of Pompey's Alba- 
 num, and its gardens laid out in the best modem style wind de- 
 lightfully amidst the ruins. Its views open on the sea coast, and 
 command the Avhole of that classic ground which Virgil has 
 made the scene of the last six books of the Eneid ; the seven 
 hills and the humble capital of Evander, the mouth of the Tiber 
 where Eneas landed, Laurentum with its surrounding forests, the 
 lake of Turnus, the Vada Sacra Numici, and all the Rutilian terri- 
 tory. A fine road shaded Avith double rows of ilex leads from Al- 
 bano to Castel Gandolfo and the Alban Lake. This well-known 
 lake is seven miles in circumference, and surrounded with a high 
 shelving shore, which is covered with gardens and orchards. The 
 immediate borders of the lake are lined with trees that bathe their 
 branches in its waters. It is clear as crystal, in some places said 
 to be almost unfathomable, and supposed to be contained in the 
 crater of an extinguished volcano. An emissarius or outlet was 
 formed at so early a period as the year of Rome 358, to prevent 
 the sudden and mischievous swells of the lake which had then 
 recently occasioned considerable alarm. The immediate occa- 
 sion of this undertaking was a command of the Delphic oracle. 
 The work still remains a singular instance of the industry and 
 superstition of the Romans. It is bored through the body of 
 the mountain or rather through the solid rock, and runs some- 
 what more than a mile under-ground : going out of the lake it 
 first passes through a court or apartment formed of huge masses 
 of Tiburtine stone, shaded above by a large and spreading ilex. 
 It then enters the narrow channel which diminishes in height as 
 
 5 
 
438 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 it advances, but in all places leaves room for tlie purposes oi* 
 repairing and cleansing*. 
 
 On the highest, that is, the southern bank of the lake, stood 
 Alba Longa, a city known only in Roman story, for not a 
 vestige of it remains, dighified while it stood by its contest with 
 infant Rome, and when it fell, by the short but eloquent de- 
 scription which Livy gives of its destruction -j-. Nothing can be 
 more delightful than the walks around the lake, sometimes ap- 
 proaching the edge of the steep banks and looking down upon the 
 glassy surface extended below, and at other times traversing the 
 thickets and woods that rise all around, and refresh the traveller 
 as he passes under their vast contiguity of shade. Another finely 
 shaded alley, partly through woods, leads to Marino, a very 
 pretty town : the approach to it with the rocky dell, the foun- 
 tain in the midst, the town on the eminence above, the woods 
 below, and on the side of the road, might furnish an excellent 
 subject for a landscape:!:. 
 
 The same alley continues to Grotta Ferrata, once the fa- 
 vorite villa of Cicero, and now an abbey of Greek monks. 
 It stands on one of the Tumuli or beautiful hills grouped 
 together in the Alban Mount. It is bounded on the south 
 
 * Vide Liv. L. v. c. 16. Cic. De Div. lib. i. 44. Val. Max. cap. vi. This work 
 was finished in less than a year. The Emperor Claudius began a similar emissa- 
 rius to let out the waters of the Lacus Fucinus, and employed in it thirty thousand 
 men for eleven years. 
 
 + Lib. 1.29. 
 
 X The fountain is supposed to be the source of the Aqua Ferentina, and Marino 
 the Caput Aquae Ferentinae, so often mentioned in Roman history. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 459 
 
 by a deep dell, with a streamlet that falls from the rock, 
 and turning a mill meanders through the recess and dis- 
 appears in its Avindings : this stream, now the Marana, was an- 
 ciently called Aqua Crabra, and is alluded to by Cicero. East- 
 ward rises a lofty eminence once crowned with Tusculum : west- 
 ward the view descends, and passing over the Campagna fixes 
 on Rome and the distant mountains beyond it: on the south, a 
 gentle swell presents a succession of vineyards and orchards, 
 and behind it, towers the summit of the Alban Mount, once 
 croAvned with the temple of Jupiter Latiaris. Thus Cicero from 
 his portico enjoyed the noblest and most interesting view that 
 could be imagined, to a Roman and a Consul. 
 
 The temple of the tutelary divinity of the empire, the seat of 
 victory and of triumph, and the theatre of his glorious labors, 
 the capital of the world. 
 
 Rerum pulcherrima Roma ! 
 
 That Cicero's Tusculum was extensive, highly finished, and 
 richly adorned with columns, marbles, and statues, there can 
 be no doubt, as he had both the desire and the means of fittins: 
 it up according to his own taste and the luxury of the times. 
 That all his villas were remarkable for their beauty Ave may learn 
 from one of his epistles, Avhere he calls them the brightest orna- 
 ments or rather the very eyes of Italy, and it is highly probable 
 that Tusculum surpassed them all in magnificence, as it Avas his 
 favorite retreat, OAving to its proximity to Rome, Avhich enabled 
 him to enjoy the leisure and liberty of solitude Avithout removing 
 to too great a distance from the business and engagements of the 
 city. Moreover, this villa had belonged to Sylla the Dictator, 
 who was not inclined to spare any expense in its embellishments, 
 
440 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and it had been purchased by Cicero at an enormous price, and by 
 him enlarged and furnished with additional ornaments. Among 
 the statues we find, that his library was adorned with those of 
 the muses, and his academy with an hermathena; as he expresses 
 a particular partiality for pictures we may conclude that such 
 decorations were not wanting. Annexed to it were a lyceum, a 
 portico, a gymnasium, a palaestra, a library, and an academy 
 for literary discourses and philosophical declamations ; thick 
 groves surrounded it, and afforded the orator and his learned 
 friends a cooler and more rural retreat during the heats of sum- 
 mer. The scenes of several of his philosophical dialogues, as 
 for instance, of that De Divinatione, and of his Tusculan 
 Questions, are laid, as every reader knows, on this classic spot, 
 and their recollection connected with the memory of our early 
 years naturally increases the interest and reverence with which 
 we tread this sacred ground*. 
 
 Rura nem usque sacrum dilectaque jugera musis. 
 
 * I am well aware that some antiquaries of reputation maintain that Cicero's 
 villa was seated on the very ridg;e of the mountain, and ground their opinion not 
 only on some Roman bricks inscribed with his name, found in that site, but on 
 the positive statement of an old commentator on Horace. But in the first place, 
 in the plunder of Cicero's villa, which took place in consequence of his exile, the 
 bricks and materials might have been carried off as well as the trees and plants 
 themselves ; and in the second place the name and age of the commentator, as 
 well as the sources of his information are all unknown, and consequently his 
 authority cannot be very great. The statues which I have mentioned above of 
 the muses and the hermathena, were found at Grotta FeiTata, though the dis- 
 covery of those statues, or of any others, can afford but little strength to an 
 opinion, as such articles seldom remain very long in the same place, and are so 
 easily transferable. The principal argument in favor of the common opinion 
 is the constant tradition of the country down to the beginning of the eleventli 
 century, when as it is related by contemporary writers St. Nilus erected his mo- 
 nastery on the ruins of Cicero's Tusadanum. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 441 
 
 The reader will probably expect a description of the ruins of 
 this villa, which Dr. Middleton and Mr. Melmoth represent as 
 still existing ; but in opposition to such respectable authorities, 
 I am sorry to observe, that not even a trace of such ruins is now 
 discoverable. The principal, perhaps the whole of the build- 
 ings, still stood at the end of the tenth century, when St. Nilus 
 a Greek monk from Calabria fixed himself on the spot, and 
 after having demolished what remained of the villa erected on 
 its site, and probably with its materials, his monastery, which 
 in process of time became a rich abbey, and as it was first 
 founded, so it is still inhabited by Greek monks of the order of 
 St. Basil. At each end of the portico is fixed in the wall a frag- 
 ment of basso relievo; one represents a philosopher sitting with 
 a scroll in his hand, in a thinking posture; in the other, are four 
 figures supporting the feet of a fifth of a colossal size, supposed 
 to represent Ajax. These, with the beautiful pillars that support 
 the church, are the only remnants of the decorations and furni- 
 ture of the ancient villa. Conjiciant, says an inscription, qti(E et 
 quanta fuerint *. 
 
 The plane tree, which Cicero in the person of Scaevola notices 
 with so much complacency in the introduction to the first book 
 De Oratore, still seems to love the soil, and blooms and flourishes 
 in peculiar perfection all around f-. One in particular, bending 
 
 * The church contains little remarkuble excepting the chapel of St. Nilus, 
 painted by Dominichino in a masterly style. The wall is separated into compart- 
 ments, and in each compartment is represented one of the principal actions of the 
 patron saint. The Demoniac boy near the altar, and St. Nilus praying near the 
 end of the chapel, are supposed to be the two best. 
 
 t Me haec tua platanus admonuit, quae non minus ad opacandum hunc locum 
 patulis est diffusa rarais, quam ilia cujus umbrara secutus est Socrates, quae mihi 
 VOL. I. 3 r. 
 
442 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 over an abundant fountain, spreads such a luxuriancj of foliage, 
 and forms a shade so thick and impenetrable as would have jus- 
 tified Plato's partiality and Scaevola's encomiums. 
 
 From Grotta Ferrata we proceeded to the hills that hang 
 over Frescati, the summit of which was once crowned with 
 Tusculum, whose elevation and edifices of white stone made 
 it a beautiful and striking object in Roman landscape*, and 
 communicated its name to all the rural retreats, and there were 
 many, in its neighbourhood. This town survived the hostilities of 
 the barbarians, and was doomed to fall in a civil contest by the 
 hands of the Romans themselves, about the year 1190. Its ruins 
 remain scattered in long lines of wall, and of shattered arches 
 intermingled with shrubs and bushes over the summit and along 
 the sides of the mountain. The view is extensive in every 
 direction, but particularly interesting towards the north-east, 
 where appear immediately under the eye Monte Catone and the 
 Praia Porcia, once the property of Cato, whose family name 
 they still bear ; farther on, the Lake Regillus, well known for the 
 apparition of Castor and Pollux ; a little towards the south, 
 Mount Algidus, and the whole Latin vale extended below ; Pre- 
 neste seated on a lofty eminence ; and Tibur embosomed in the 
 distant mountains. 
 
 Tidetur non tam ipsa aquula, quae describitur quam Platonis oratione crevisse, 
 De Orat. i. 7. 
 
 The scene of these Dialogues is laid in Crassus's Tusculan villa, the 8ame, if I 
 mistake not, which was afterwards Sylla's and then Cicero's. 
 
 * Superni villa candens Tusculi. 
 Horace here appropriates to the villa of his friend a quality, which it possessed 
 in common with the town, and all the great buildings in the same situation. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 443 
 
 The modern town of Frescati stands on the side of the hill, 
 much lower down than the ancient city, but yet in an elevated 
 and airy situation. It is surrounded with villas, many of which 
 are of great beauty and magnificence. Its interior contains 
 nothing remarkable. 
 
 The next day we bent our course southward. The first object 
 that struck us out of the gate was the ancient tomb, called by 
 the people the sepulchre of the Horatii and Curiatii. This mo- 
 nument is of great magnitude, and of a bold and striking form. 
 It was originally adorned with five obelisks; of which two only 
 remain. A variety of shrubs grow from its crevices, wave in gar- 
 lands round its shattered pyramids,and hang in long Avreaths to the 
 ground. The melancholy interest which such an appearance 
 awakens will be increased, when the traveller learns that the ve- 
 nerable pile before him may possibly cover the remains of Cneius 
 Pompeius, nohile nee vidum fatis caput*. I say possibly, and am 
 willing to adopt this opinion, which is not without authority, 
 yet if it really were true, as Plutarch relates, that Cornelia had 
 her husband's ashes conveyed to Italy, and deposited in his 
 Alban villa, (which it is to be recollected had been seized by 
 Antony) how are we to explain the indignant complaint of 
 Lucan. 
 
 Tu quoque cum sano dederas jam templa tyranno, 
 
 Nondum Pompeii cineres, O Roma, petisti 
 
 Exul adhuc jacet umbra ducis ! Lib. vill. 8S5. 
 
 We may at least infer, that no such event had taken place 
 before Lucan's time, or that it was then unknown, and of course 
 
 * Lucaa VII. 
 3l 2 
 
444 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 that no mausoleum had been raised on the occasion. If there- 
 fore this monument be in honor of that celebrated Roman, it 
 must have been a mere cenotaph erected at a later period. 
 
 About a mile farther on at the end of a finely shaded avenue 
 stands Aricia, where Horace passed the first night of his 
 journey to Brundusium. 
 
 Egressuni magna me excepit Aricia Roma 
 Hospitio modico .... 
 
 Whatever mode of travelling the poet employed, whether he 
 walked, rode, or drove, he could not have fatigued himself with 
 the length of his stages, as that of the first day was only fourteen 
 miles, and those of the following days very nearly in the same 
 proportion. He has reason, therefore, to use the word repi7nus. 
 But of this classic tour more perhaps hereafter. 
 
 The application of the modern article, and a consequent mis- 
 take in the spelling very common in the beginning of Italian 
 names, has changed the ancient appellation of this little town into 
 La Riccia. It is extremely well built, and pretty, particularly 
 about the square, adorned with a handsome church on one side, 
 and on the other with a palace or rather a villa. It stands on 
 the summit of a hill, and is surrounded with groves and gardens. 
 Of the ancient town, situated at the foot of the same hill in the 
 valley, there remain only some few arches, a circular edifice once 
 perhaps a temple, and a few scattered substructions. The im- 
 mense foundations of the Via Appia, formed of vast blocks of 
 stone, rising from the old town up the side of the hill, in ge- 
 Reral about twenty-four feet in breadth and sometimes almost 
 sixty feet in elevation, are perhaps one of the most striking 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 445 
 
 monuments that now remain of Roman enterprize and work- 
 manship. This ascent was called CHvus Virbii*, from Hippo- 
 lytus, who assumed that name when restored to hfe by Diana. 
 
 At Trivia Hippolitum secretis alma recondlt 
 
 Sedibus et nvmphae Egeriae, nemorique relegat ; 
 
 Solus ubi in sylvis Italis ignobllis aevum 
 
 Exigeret, versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset. Virgil Mn. vii. 
 
 About a mile farther, on an eminence stands a church, called 
 Madonna di Galloro, a very picturesque object at a little dist- 
 ance ; and two miles thence rises the town of Gensano, beauti- 
 ful in its regular streets, its woody environs, and the neighbour- 
 ing lake of Nemi. This lake derives its modern name from the 
 Nemiis Diana that shaded its banks : like that of Albano it oc- 
 cupies a deep hollow in the mountain, but it is much inferior to it 
 in extent, and fills only apart of the amphitheatre formed by the 
 crater. The remaining part with the high banks is covered Avith 
 gardens and orchards well fenced and thickly planted, forming an 
 enchanting scene of fertility and cultivation. The castle and the 
 town of Nemi stand on the eastern side, on a high rock hanging 
 over the water. The upper terrace of the Capucins gives the 
 best view. Opposite to it lies Gensano stretched along a wooded 
 bank, shelving gently to the verge of the lake; behind rises 
 IMonte Giove (Mons Jovis), and beyond extend the plains and 
 woods that border the sea shore: towards the south-east rises the 
 Monte Artemisio, derived as every reader knows, from Diana, 
 whose temple anciently formed a conspicuous feature in the 
 scenery and history of this territory. Diana was a divinity of 
 
 * This place is alluded to bj Juvenal and Persius as famous for beggars, full as 
 common and as troublesome in ancient as in modern Italy. 
 5 
 
446 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 a mixed character, more inclined however to cruelty than to ten- 
 derness; and though she delighted principally in the slaughter 
 of wild beasts, yet she now and then betrayed a latent partiality 
 for human victims. Hence, though Roman manners would not 
 allow the goddess to indulge her taste freely, yet she contrived 
 by the mode estabhshed in the appointment of her priests to 
 catch an occasional repast. That mode was singular. The 
 priest was always a fugitive, perhaps an outlaw or a crimi- 
 nal ; he obtained the honor by attacking and slaying his pre- 
 decessor, and kept it by the same tenure, that is, till another 
 ruffian stronger or more active dispossessed him in the san»e 
 manner. 
 
 Regna tenent raanibusque fortes, pedibusque fiigaces 
 £t pent exemplo postmodo quisque suo. 
 
 Ovid. Fast. in. 
 
 This priest enjoyed the title of Rex Nemorensis and always 
 appeared in public brandishing a drawn sword, in order to 
 repel a sudden attack. Yet such a cruel goddess and such a 
 bloody priest, seem ill placed in a scene so soft and so lovely, 
 destined by nature for the abode of health and pleasure, the 
 haunt of Fauns and Dryads, with all the sportive band of rural 
 divinities. 
 
 The fable of the restoration of Hippolytus and his conceal- 
 ment in this forest, is much better adapted to its scenery : 
 
 Vallis AricintE sylva procinctus opaca 
 
 Est lacus antiqua religione sacer, 
 Hie latet HippoJytus, furiis direptus equorum. Owd, 
 
 From the base of the rock on which the town of Nemi stands, 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 447 
 
 gushes the fountain of Egeria* (for this nymph had a fountain 
 and a grove here as well as at Rome) alluded to by Ovid in the 
 following verses : 
 
 Defluit incerto lapidosus murmure rivus 
 
 Soepe sed exiguis haustibus inde bibes 
 Egeria est qune pisebet aquas, Dea grata Camaenis 
 
 lUa Numce conjux, consiliumque fuit. 
 
 Ovid. Fast. III. V. 268. 
 
 The fountain is abundant and is one of the sources of the lake. 
 The woods still remain and give the whole scene an inexpressi- 
 ble freshness and beauty in the eye of a traveller fainting under 
 the heat of July, and panting for the coolness of the forest. 
 The Roman Emperors delighted as may naturally be supposed 
 in this delicious spot, and Trajan in particular, who erected in 
 the centre of the lake a palace, for it can scarce be called a ship, 
 of very singular form and construction. This edifice was more 
 than five hundred feet in length, about two hundred and seventy 
 in breadth, and sixty in height, or perhaps more correctly in 
 depth. It was built of the most solid wood fastened with brass and 
 iron nails, and covered with plates of lead which were double in 
 places exposed to the action of the water. Within, it was lined 
 and paved with marble, or a composition resembling marble, its 
 ceilings supported by beams of brass, and the whole adorned 
 and fitted up in a style truly imperial. It was supplied by pipes 
 
 * I need not remind the reader of the transformation of the Njmph into this 
 very fountain, and Ovid's pretty account of it, 
 
 Montisque jacens radicibus imis 
 Liquitur in lacrumas — donee pietate dolentis 
 Mota soror Phcebi, gelidum de corpore fontem 
 Fecit et aeternas artua tenuavit in undas, Ovid, Met. 
 
448 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 with abundance of the purest water from the fountain of Egeria, 
 not only for the use of the table but even for the ornament of 
 the courts and apartments. This wonderful vessel was 
 moored in the centre of the lake, which thus encircled it 
 like a Avide ' moat round a Gothic, I might almost say an en- 
 chanted castle; and to prevent the swelHng of the water an 
 outlet was opened through the mountain like that of the Alban 
 Lake, of less magnificence indeed, but greater length. On the 
 borders of the lake various walks were traced out, and alleys 
 opened, not only as beautiful accompaniments to the edifice, 
 but as accommodations for the curious who might flock to see 
 such a singularly splendid exhibition. When this watery palace 
 sunk Ave know not, but it is probable that it was neglected, and 
 had disappeared before the invasion of the barbarians, as may 
 be conjectured from the quantity of brass that remained in it 
 according to the account of Marchi, a learned and ingenious 
 Roman, who in the year 1535 descended in a diving machine, 
 and made such observations as enabled him to give a long and 
 accurate description, from whence the particulars stated above 
 have been extracted*. It is much to be lamented, that 
 some method has not been taken to raise this singular fabric, 
 as it would probably contribute from its structure and furniture to 
 give us a much greater insight into the state of the arts at that 
 period than any remnant of antiquity Avhich has hitherto been 
 discovered. The traveller returning may wind through the de- 
 lightful woods that flourish between the two lakes and enter 
 Alhano by the abbey of S. Paolo, or rather by the fine avenue 
 of Castle Gandolfo. 
 
 * See Broutier's Tacitus, Supp. App. and Notes on Trajan. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 4^0 
 
 On the following day we ascended the highest pinnacle of the 
 Alban Mount. The road which we took (for there are several) 
 leads along the Alban Lake, and climbs up the declivity to a 
 little town or rather village, called Rocca del Papa. Above that 
 village extends a plain called Campo d'Amiiba/e, because that 
 General is said, I know not upon what authority, to have been 
 encamped there for some days. The hollow sweep formed in 
 the mountain beyond this plain has given it its modern appella- 
 tion of Moiite Cavo. Above this plain we proceeded throuo-h 
 the woods that clothe the upper region of the mountain, the 
 ^^ AlbaiH tumuli atqiie luci," and sometimes on the ancient pave- 
 ment of the Via Triumphalis that led to its summit. From 
 this grove came the Voice that conimanded the continuation of 
 the Alban rites, and on this summit stood the temple of Jupiter 
 Latiaris, where all the Latin tribes with the Romans at their 
 head used to assemble once a year, and offer common sacrifice 
 to the tutelar Deity of the nation. Hither the Roman generals 
 were wont to repair at the head of their armies after a triumph, 
 and in the midst of military pomp and splendor present their 
 grateful acknowledgment to the Latin Jupiter. To this temple 
 Cicero turned his eyes and raised his hand, when he burst forth in 
 that noble apostrophe, " Tuque ex tuo edito Monte Latiaris 
 Sancte Jupiter cujus ille lacus nemora finesque," Sec. We may 
 safely conclude, that a temple of such repute and such import- 
 ance must have been magnificent, and accordingly we find that 
 Augustus appointed a regular corps of troops to guard it and 
 its treasures. The effect of this superb edifice raised on such a 
 lofty pedestal, and towering above the sacred groves, must have 
 been unusually grand, not only in the towns and villages at the 
 foot of the mountain but in Rome itself, and over all the sur- 
 rounding country. The view, as may be supposed, is exten- 
 
 VOL. I. 3 m 
 
4501 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 sive and varied, taking in the two lakes with all the towns around 
 them, and in the various recesses of the mountain, the hills and 
 town of Tusculum, Mount Algidus, the Alban Vale, the Cam- 
 pagna bordered by distant mountains, with Soracte rising in 
 solitary dignity on one side, and Rome reposing in pomp on her 
 seven hills in the centre; the sea coast with Ostia, Antium, Netr 
 tuno; the woods and plains that border the coast ; and the island 
 of Pontia, (remarkable under the first Emperors as the prison 
 of many illustrious exiles) like a mist rising out of the waters. 
 
 But the most interesting object by far in this prospect is 
 the truly classic plain expanded immediately below, the 
 theatre of the last six books of the Eneid, and once adorned 
 ■with Ardea, Lavinium, and Laurentum. The forest in which 
 A^^ir^il laid the scene of the achievements and fall of the two 
 youthful heroes Euryalus and Nisus; the Tiber winding through 
 the plain, and the groves that shade its banks and delighted the 
 Trojan hero on his arrival; all these are displayed clear and 
 distinct beaeath the traveller while seated on the substructions 
 of the temple, he may consider them at leisure, and if he 
 pleases, compare tbeiu with the description of the poet. 
 The Albau) Mount is, in fact, in the Eneid what Mount Ida 
 is in the Iliad, the commanding station Avhence the superin- 
 tending divinities contemplated the armies, the city, the camp, 
 and all the motions and vicissitudes of the war. 
 
 At Juno ex summo qui nunc Albanus habetur 
 (Tunc neque nomen erat neque honos aut gloria raonti) 
 Prospiciens turaulo, campuin spectabat et ambas 
 Laurentum Troiimque acies, urbemque LatLni. 
 
 ^n. XII. 133. 
 
 Of tlie temple nothing remains but parts of the foundations, 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 453 
 
 and they are too insignificant to enable the observer to fomi 
 any conjecture of the extent or form of the superstracture. 
 The ground is now occupied by a church and convent, re- 
 markable for nothing but its situation; but it is highly 
 probable that some remains of the temple, some pillars or frag- 
 ments of pillars, of friezes and cornices might with very little 
 trouble be discovered, and the capital of one pillar would be 
 sufficient to fix the elevation of the whole structure. 
 
 The air on the Alban and Tuscivlan hills is always pure and 
 wholesome, the soil is extremely fertile, and in some places, re- 
 markable now as anciently for excellent wine. The best mom 
 bears the name, as it grows in the neighbourhood, of Gensaiw, 
 anciently Ci/nthianum. 
 
 As Alhano is not above ten miles distant from the coast, wetodk 
 an opportunity of making an excursion thither and visiting An- 
 ^H/TW, the capital of the Volsci, often mentioned in Roman annals. 
 The road to it runs along the Alban hills, then over the Campagna, 
 and through a forest bordering the sea coast for many miles. It 
 contains some very fine oaks, though the far greater part were 
 cut down and sold to the French some time before the revolution. 
 The fall of so much wood, though at the distance of thirty 
 miles from Rome, is said to have afl:ected the air of that city so 
 far, as to render some of the hills formerly remarkably salubri- 
 ous, now subject to agues and fevers, by exposing them to the 
 winds that blow from the marshes on the shore. The wood 
 consists of young oak, ilex, myrtle, and box, and is pecu- 
 liarly refreshing, not from its shade only but by the perfumes 
 that exhale on all sides from its odoriferous shrubs. This plea- 
 sure however is considerably diminished by the apprehension of 
 
 3m 2 
 
452 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 robbers, an apprehension not altogether ill-grounded, as all the 
 criminals who escape from Rome and its neighbourhood betake 
 themselves to this forest, and lurk for years in its recesses. Its 
 extent is great, as with little interruption it runs along the coast 
 sometimes five, sometimes ten miles in breadth, from the mouth 
 of the Tiber to Circe's promontory. The ground it covers is 
 low and sometimes swampy. 
 
 Antium was once a considerable port, improved, augmented, 
 and embellished by Nero, and much resorted to by the higher 
 classes of the Romans who adorned it with many magnificent 
 villas; it was however more remarkable for the Temple of For- 
 tune alluded to by Horace, and for a long time in high celebrity*. 
 Of this temple, and of the structures raised by Nero, no- 
 thing now remains but subterraneous arches and vast founda- 
 tions. The port has been repaired and fortified by some of the 
 late pontiffs, but though capable of admitting large vessels it is 
 totally unfrequented'}-. A few straggling houses alone remain of 
 the town, though some handsome villas shew that the beauty 
 and coolness of the situation deserve more attention and a 
 better fate. In fact, Antium, situated on the point of a little 
 promontory, sheltered by woods behind and washed by the 
 sea before, and commanding an extensive view of the 
 Roman coast to Ostia and the mouth of the Tiber on 
 one side, and to Astura, and Circe's promontory on the other, 
 might attract the eye of a man of taste and opulence. Astura 
 is an island and promontory about six miles by sea from Ari- 
 tiiim; it once belonged to Cicero, and seems to have been a 
 
 * O Diva gratum quae regis Antium. Lib. i. Od. 
 
 t The town of Nettuno, near Antium, seems to be the remains of its ancient port 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 46ii 
 
 favorite retreat; he hastened to it from his Tusculan villa with 
 his brother on receiving intelHgence of the pi'oscription, and 
 sailed from it to his Formian. He passed a considerable part 
 of his time here while mourning the death of his daughter 
 Tullia, and seems to have fixed upon it as the site of the temple 
 which he had resolved to erect to her memory. " Est hie," says 
 he, " ciuidem locus amaenus et in mari ipso, qui et Antio et 
 Circseis aspici possit*," and expresses a wish to secure that mo- 
 nument of his parental tenderness against the consequences of a 
 change of proprietors, and the vicissitudes of all succeeding 
 ages. Fond wishes! vain precautions! Wherever the intended 
 temple may have been erected, it has long since disappeared, with- 
 out leaving a single vestige behind to enable even the inquisitive 
 traveller to trace its existence. Some doubt indeed, may be en- 
 tertained about its erection, though as Cicero had seen and ap- 
 proved a plan, and even authorized Atticus to enter into an 
 agreement with a Chian artist for the pillars, it is highly proba- 
 ble that it was erected, and if we may judge from the expression 
 above quoted, at Astura, where, I have no doubt, some remains 
 might if properly sought for be discovered. 
 
 The next day we again amused ourselves in ranging through 
 the groves that overshadow the ruins of Pompey's villa, and the 
 woods that border the lakes and flourish in the middle regions of 
 the mountain. 
 
 A few days after our return to Rome we determined to visit 
 Ostia, once the port of that capital and great mart of the Mediter- 
 ranean. It is fifteen miles from it; the road at first runs through 
 
 * Ad. Atts. XH. 19. 
 
454 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 two ridges of hills, and afterwards over a fertile plain bounded 
 by the same ridges, and forming a sort of wide verdant amphi- 
 theatre intersected by the Tiber. The face of the country the 
 whole way is fertile and green, and varied by several gentle 
 swells but deficient in wood, and consequently in beauty. The 
 sea coast, however, even at the distance of four or five miles is 
 bordered with a wood of ilex and various shiiibs intermixed 
 with large trees and entangled with underwood, forming a forest 
 which lies, poetically speaking, near the spot where the unfortu- 
 nate Euryalus bewildered himself; it accuratol}^ answers the 
 description of it given by Virgil. 
 
 Sylva fiiit late duruis atque ilice nigra 
 
 Horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes 
 
 Rara per occultos lucebat semita calks. Lib, ix. 381. 
 
 I have said poetically speaking, as it Avill appear to the most 
 negligent reader that the poet did not mean to adhere to the 
 letter in his topographical descriptions, otherwise we shall be re- 
 duced to the necessity of supposing that in the space of a few 
 minutes, or at the utmost of an hour, N^isus left his friend not far 
 from the camp on the banks of the Tiber, reached the Alban 
 hill and lake fifteen miles off, and returned back again. In this 
 forest are several large shallow pools whose stagnant waters are 
 supposed to infect the air, and contribute not a little to its un- 
 wliolcsomeness. The Tiber is rapid and muddy ; its banks 
 are shaded with a variety of shrubs and flowery plants, and are 
 perhaps beautiful enough to justify the description of Virgil. 
 
 Atque hie iEneas ingentem ex sequore lucum 
 
 Prospicit. Hunc inter fluvio Tiberinus amaeno 
 
 Vorticibus rapidis et imilta flavus arena 
 
 In mare prorumpit. Varias circumque supraque 
 
 Adsuetae ripis volucres, et fluminis alveo 
 
 yEthera mulcebant cantu, lucoque volabant. jEn, vii. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 455 
 
 The stream though divided into branches is yet considerable. 
 The southern branch into which iEneas entered is not navigable*. 
 The lai-gest is called Fiumechio: on its northern bank stands 
 'Porto^ the ancient Fortus Romaniis, projected by Julius Caesar, 
 begun by Augustus, tinished by Claudius, and repaired by 
 Trajan. To form a solid foundation for part of the mole Clau- 
 dius ordered the ship or raft constructed under his predecessor 
 Caligula, in order to convey the Vatican obelisk from Egypt to 
 Rome, to be sunk. Such was its vast bulk, that it occupied 
 nearly one side of the port. Of this port scarce a trace remains: 
 the town is insignificant, though a bishopric. The island formed 
 by the two branches of the river was called Insula Sacra. 
 
 The present town of Ostia is a miserable fortified vihage, con- 
 taining scarcely fifty sickly inhabitants. Such is the badness of 
 the air, real or supposed, that none but malefactors and ban- 
 ditti will inhabit it. The ancient town lay nearer the sea, as 
 appears by the inside or brick walls of some temples, vaults of 
 baths, mosaics, &c. Excavations have been made, and statues, 
 pillars, and the most precious marbles found in abundance, and 
 many more will probably be discovered if the excavations be con- 
 tinued. One of the party, while looking for pieces of marble 
 amidst the heaps of rubbish, found a small Torso of the Venus of 
 Medieis, about four inches in length. It was white and fresh as if 
 just come fiom the hands of the artist. This town was anciently 
 of considerable size and importance. It seems to have been 
 three or four miles in circumference, and the residence of opu- 
 lence and luxury, if we may judge by the number of temples 
 
 * Laevus inaccessis fluvius vitatur arenis 
 
 Hospitis yEneae gloria sola manet. Rutil. 
 
456 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and aqueducts (one of which lines the road from Rome) and 
 by the rich materials found among its ruins. 
 
 From the account which I have given of the country border- 
 ing on the coast, it will be found to present nearly the same 
 features as in the time of Pliny, who thus describes the view 
 along the road that crossed it, in one of his letters : — " Varia 
 hinc et inde fades. Nam modo occurentibiis sylvis via coarctatur^ 
 modo latissmis pratis diffunditiir et patescit : multi greges ovium, 
 mult a ibi equorum houmque armenta*." This appearance of the 
 country extends all along the coast, and even over the Pomptine 
 marshes. 
 
 Laurenttim, the superb capital, 
 
 turres et tecta Latini 
 
 Ardua, 
 
 stood on the coast about six miles from Ostia, on the spot now 
 occupied by a village or rather a solitary tower, called Paterno. 
 No vestiges remain of its former magnificence, excepting an 
 aqueduct, a circumstance not surprising, as it probably owed 
 all that magnificence to the imagination of the poet. A little 
 higher up and nearer the Alban hills rises Prattica, the old 
 Lavinium. Between these towns tlows, from the Lacus Tumi, a 
 streamlet that still bears the hero's name, and is called Pivo di 
 Torno. Ardea the capital of the Rutilians is still farther on, on 
 the banks of the Nu7nicus. The forest around was called the 
 Laurentia Sylva, as also Laurentia Palus, from the many pools 
 interspersed about it, as I have already remarked, and then as 
 
 * 2 Epist. IT. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 457 
 
 now the resort of swine, though that breed seems considerably 
 diniinished. 
 
 Ac veluti ille canuin niorsu de montibus altis 
 Actus aper, raultos Vesulus quein pinifer annos 
 Defendit, multosque palus Laurentia s^lva 
 Pastus arundineit. jEn. x. 
 
 The whole of this coast, now so lonely and abandoned, was 
 anciently covered with seats resembling villages or rather little 
 towns, forming an almost uninterrupted line along the shore, and 
 covering it with life, animation and beauty. " Litius ornant va~ 
 rietate gratissima, nunc continual nunc intermissa tecta villarum 
 qua prcestant multarum urhium faciem" says Pliny in the letter 
 already cited. It seems even to have been considered as healthy, 
 for Herodian informs us that, during the plague which ravaged 
 Rome and the empire under Commodus, the Emperor retired to 
 Laurentum, as the sea air perfumed by the odor of the numer- 
 ous laurels that flourished along the coast was considered as a 
 powerful antidote against the eflFects of the pestilential vapors*. 
 
 * Herodian, lib. i. 36. 
 
 VOL. r. ^ N 
 
458 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 JOURNEY TO NAPLES — VEELETRI — POMPTINE MARSHES — FERONIA 
 
 — -TERRACINA, ANXUR FONDI AND ITS LAKE MOUNT CiECU- 
 
 BUS-^ — GAIETA CICERO's VILLA AND TOMB LIRIS MOUNT 
 
 MASSICUS FALERNUS AGER NAPLES. 
 
 Shortly after our return from the coast we prepared for our 
 journey to Naples, and set out accordingly on Friday the twenty- 
 seventh of May, about three o'clock in the afternoon. The clouds 
 had been gathering the whole morning, and we had scarcely 
 time to pass the Porta Capcna, when the storm burst over us with 
 tremendous fury; it was the first we had experienced in Italy, 
 and remarkable for the livid glare of the lightning, and the sudden 
 and rapid peals of thunder resembling the explosion of artillery. 
 The re-echo from the mountains round, gradually losing itself in 
 the Apennines, added much to the grand effect. On the Cam- 
 pagna there was no shelter; our drivers therefore only hastened 
 their pace, and whirled us along with amazing rapidity. However 
 the storm was as short ns it was violent; it had diminished when 
 we reached the stage called the Torre de Mezzavia, anciently Ad 
 Mediam, and after changing horses we drove on to Albono. From 
 Alhano the road winds at present, or at least Avinded when Ave 
 passed it, round the beautiful little valley of Aricia, formed by 
 some of the lower ramifications of the Alban Mount, and presented 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 459 
 
 on the left a fine view of Albano, Jricia, Galaura, Monte Giove, 
 Gensano, all gilded by the rays of the sun, just then bursting 
 from the skirts of the storm and taking his farewell sweet. 
 These glowing tints were set off to great advantage by the dark 
 back ground formed by the groves and evergreen forests that 
 clothe the higher regions of the mountain. Night shortly after 
 closed upon us, and deprived us of several interesting views 
 which we might have enjoyed from the lofty situation of the 
 road, which still continued to run along the side of the hill. 
 Among other objects we lost on our left the view of Lavinia, an- 
 ciently Lanuvium, so often mentioned by Cicero as connected 
 with Milo*, and alluded to by Horace as infested by wolves -j-. 
 
 We arrived about twelve o'clock at Velletri, an ancient town 
 of the Volsci, that still retains its former name and consideration. 
 It became a Roman colony at a very eaily period, and was the 
 seat of the Octavian family and the birth-place of Augustus. 
 Though it contains some considerable edifices, particularly 
 palaces, yet it appears ill built and gloomy. Its situation, how- 
 ever, is very fine. Placed on the southern extremity of the 
 Alban hills, it commands on one side, over a deep valley, a 
 view of Cora and the Volscian mountains ; and on the other, 
 of a fertile plain, late the Pomptine marshes, bounded by the 
 sea and Circe's promontory. The country through the two next 
 stages is extremely green and fertile, presenting rich meadows 
 adorned with forest scenery, whose mild beauties form a striking 
 contrast with the harsh features of the bordering mountains. The 
 
 * Cic. Pro. Mil. 
 
 + ab agTO 
 
 Rava decurrens lupa Lanuvino. Lib. iii. 27. 
 
 3 N 2 
 
460 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 village of Cisterna, probably on the site of the Tres Tahema, is 
 lively and pleasing. At Torre de tre Ponti, the ancient Tripun- 
 tium, several milliary stones, columns, &c. dug up on the Appian 
 road when repaired by the late Pope, will attract the attention 
 of the traveller. Near it stood Formn Appii, built at the time 
 the road was made, and inhabited by innkeepers and the boat- 
 men who plied on the canal that crossed the marshes*. 
 
 Here commence the famous Pomptine marshes, and at the same 
 time the excellent road formed through them on the substructions 
 of the Appian by the same pontiff". This road runs on an exact 
 level, and in a strait line for thirty miles. It is bordered on 
 both sides by a canal, and shaded by double rows of elms and 
 poplars. It is crossed by two rivers, the Ufens and the ylma- 
 semis, which still retain their ancient appellations, and remind 
 the traveller of some beautiful descriptions, and particularly of 
 the affecting adventure of Metabus, so well told by Virgil. 
 
 The FomptiiKS Paludes derive their appellation from Pome- 
 tium, a considerable town of the Vohci. Though this city was 
 so opulent as to enable Tarquin to build the Capitol with its 
 plunder, yet it had totally disappeared even before the time of 
 Pliny. It is difficult to discover the precise date of the origin of 
 these marshes. Homer, and after him Virgil, represent the abode 
 of Circe as an island, and Pliny alluding to Homer quotes this 
 opinion, and confirms it by the testimony of Theophrastus, who, 
 in the year of Rome 440, gives this island a circumference of 
 eighty stadia or about ten miles. It is not improbable that this 
 vast plain, even now so little raised above the level of the sea, 
 
 * Differtum pautis, cauponibus atque malignis. Hor, 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 461 
 
 may, like the territory of Rave/ma on the eastern coast, have once 
 been covered by the waves. Whatever may have been its state 
 in fabulous times, the same Pliny relates, on the authority of a 
 more ancient Latin writer, that at an early period of the Roman 
 republic, the tract of country afterwards included in the marshes 
 contained thirty-three cities, all of which gradually disappeared 
 before the ravages of war, or the still more destructive induence 
 of the increasing fens. These fens are occasioned by the quantity 
 of water carried into the plain by numberless streams that rise at 
 the foot of the neighbouring mountains, and for want of sufficient 
 declivity creep sluggishly over the level space, and sometimes stag- 
 nate in pools, or lose themselves in the sands. The principal of 
 these streams are, the Astura, the 'Nymfa, the Teppia, the Aqua 
 Puzza, in the upper; and the Amasenus and Ufeiis in the lower 
 marshes*. The pools or lakes line the coast, and extend from the 
 neighbourhood of the mouth of the Astura to the promontory of 
 Circe. The flat and swampy tract spread from these lakes to 
 the foot of the Volscian mountains, and covered an extent of eight 
 miles in breadth and thirty in length, with mud and infection. 
 The loss of so much fertile and valuable land, and the exhala- 
 tions arising from such a vast tract of swamp, carried, not un<- 
 frequently to the Capital itself by the southerly winds, must have 
 attracted the attention of a people so active and industrious as 
 the ancient Romans. Appius Claudius, about three hundred 
 years before the Christian era, when employed in carrying his 
 celebrated road across these marshes, made the first attempt to 
 drain them, and his example was, at long intervals, followed by 
 various consuls, emperors, and kings, down to the Gothic Theo- 
 
 * Qua Saturae jacet atra palus, gelidusque pel^'imas 
 
 Quxrit iter valles, atque in mare conditur Ufens. Virg. JEn. vii. 
 
462 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 doric inclusively. The wars that followed the death of this 
 prince, the devastation of Italy, and the weakness and unset- 
 tled state of the Roman government, withdrew its attention from 
 cultivation, and left the waters of the Paludes to their natural 
 operation. The Popes, however, when their sovereignty Avas 
 established and their attention no longer distracted by the pira- 
 tical visits of distant or the inroads of neighbouring barbarians, 
 turned their thoughts to the amelioration of the inundated terri- 
 tory; and we find accordingly that from Boniface VIII. down 
 to the late pontiff Pius VI. no less than fifteen Popes have at- 
 tempted this grand undertaking. Most of these efforts were 
 attended with partial, none with full success. Whether the 
 failure is to be ascribed to the deficiency of the means employed 
 at the beginning, or the neglect of repairs and want of continual 
 attention afterwards, it is difficult to determine ; though from 
 the skill and opulence of the Romans it is more natural to at- 
 tribute the defect either to the nature of the evil in itself irre- 
 mediable, or to the distracting circumstances of the intervening 
 times. 
 
 Of the methods employed by Appius, and afterwards by the 
 Consul Cethegus, we know little, though not the road only but 
 the traces of certain channels dug to draw the water from it, 
 and mounds raised to protect it from sudden swells of water, are 
 traditionally ascribed to the former. Julius Caesar is said to 
 have revolved in his mighty mind a design worthy of himself, of 
 turning the course of the Tiber from Ostia, and carrying it 
 through the Pomptine territory and marshes to the sea at Terra- 
 cina. This grand project which existed only in the mind of the 
 Dictator perished with him, and gave way to the more moderate 
 but more practicable plan of Augustus, who endeavoured to 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 463 
 
 carry otf the superfluous waters bj opening a canal all along 
 the Via Appia from Forum Appii to the grove of Feronia. It 
 was customary to embark on this canal at night time, as 
 Strabo relates and Horace practised *, because the a- apors that 
 arise from these swamps are less noxious during the coolness of 
 the night than in the heat of the day. JNIany of the inconveni- 
 eiicies of the marshes still continued to be felt, as appears from 
 Horace's complaints -f-, and the epithet applied by Lucan to the 
 Via Appia. 
 
 Et qua Pomptinas Via dividit Uda paludes. L. iii. 
 
 However the canal opened by Augustus still remains, and is 
 called the Cavata. The luxury and improvident policy of the 
 immediate successors of Augustus, and the civil wars that raged 
 under Galba, Otho, Vitcllius and Vespasian, diverted their at- 
 tention from works of peace and improvement ; so that the 
 marshes had again increased and the waters swelled, so as to 
 render the Via Appia nearly impassable:]:. At length Nerva re- 
 sumed the task, and his glorious successor Trajan cai'ried it on 
 during ten years and with so much activity that the whole extent 
 
 * Horace embarked in the evening, and arrived at Feronia about ten o'clock 
 next morning ; having travelled about seven-and-twenty miles in sixteen hours. 
 The muleteer seems to have been as slow and as sleepy as modern German drivers. 
 t Aqua . . teterrima . . . 
 
 mali culices, ranaeque palustres. 
 I Silius Italicus, who flourished in this interval, appears to have given an accu- 
 rate description of them as they were in his time, though he is speaking of the 
 age of Hannibal — 
 
 Et quos pestifera Pomptini uligine campi; 
 
 Qua Saturae nebulosa palus restagnat, et atro 
 
 Liventes csBno per squalida turbidus arva 
 
 Cogit aqaas Ufens atqtie infidt aquora limo. SiU Jtal. lib. viii. 
 
464 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 of country from Treponti to Terracina was drained, and the Via 
 Appia completely restored in the third consulate of that Em- 
 peror. This event is commemorated in three inscriptions, one of 
 which may be seen on a marble slab at the village of Tiepotiti ; 
 another more explicit was found near the forty-second mile stone 
 on the Via Appia ; and the third exists on a stone in one of the 
 angles of the wall of the cathedral at Terracina. During the 
 convulsions of the following centuries the marshes were again 
 overflowed, and again drained by Cecilius Decius in the reign of 
 Theodoric. The commencement of this work is announced in 
 an epistle drawn up in the declamatory style of the times, and 
 addressed by the Gothic prince to the senate. Its success is 
 acknowledged in another to Decius, containing a grant of the 
 lands drained by him free from taxes for ever. 
 
 Of the different popes who have revived this useful enterprise, 
 Boniface II., Martin V., and Sixtus Quintus carried it on with 
 a vigor adequate to its importance, and a magnificence worthy 
 of the ancient Romans. But the short reigns of these benevo- 
 lent and enterprising sovereigns did not permit them to accom- 
 plish their grand designs, and their successors of less genius or 
 less activity contented themselves with issuing briefs and impos- 
 ing obligations on the communities and proprietors to support 
 and repair the drains. The glory of finally terminating this 
 grand undertaking, so often attempted and so often frustrated, 
 was reserved for the late pontiff Pius VI. who immediately on 
 his elevation to the papal throne turned his attention to the 
 Pomptine marshes. The level was taken with precision, the 
 depth of the different canals and outlets sounded, the de- 
 gree of declivity in the beds of the rivers ascertained, and 
 at length the work begun in the year 1778. It was carried 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 469 
 
 on with incredible ardor and vast expense for the space of 
 ten years, and at length crowned with complete success and 
 closed in the year 1788. The impartial reader will readily 
 acknowledge that much praise is due to the pontiff Avho, in 
 spite of every difficulty, and many occurred not only from the 
 nature of the work, but from the petty interests, intrigues, and 
 manoeuvres of the parties concerned, had the courage to com- 
 mence, and the perseverance to complete, an undertaking of 
 such magnitude. The unproductive marsh forced to hear the 
 plough and maintain the neighbouring cities, the river restrained 
 from inundations and taught a better course, are considered by 
 Horace* as the most glorious of Augustus's achievements, and 
 with reason, if glory be the result of utility. Yet Augustus had 
 the immense resources of the Roman empire at his command ; 
 he had idle legions to employ instead of laborers, and his suc- 
 cess was partial only and temporary. In truth the draining of 
 the Pomptine marshes is one of the most useful as well as most 
 difficult works ever executed, and reflects more lustre on the 
 reign of Pius VI. than the dome of the Vatican, all gloiious a* 
 it is, can confer on the memory of Sixtus Quintus-f. 
 
 I have said that the success was complete ; it is however un- 
 derstood that the canals of communication be kept open, and 
 
 * Art. Poet. 64. 
 
 + It is fortunate for the Pope, and indeed for catholics in general, that there is 
 such clear and frequent mention of the Pomptine marshes in ancient authors ; 
 otherwise these destructive swamps would undoubtedly have been attributed by 
 such travellers as Burnet, Addison, Misson, &c. to the genius of the papal govern- 
 ment, and the nature of the catholic religion, to indolence, superstition, igno- 
 rance, &c. 
 
 VOL. I. 3 
 
466 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the beds of the streams cleared*. The difference between the 
 latter and all preceding attempts is this ; on former occasions 
 the level was not taken in all parts with sufficient accu- 
 racy, and of course the declivity necessary for the flow of the 
 waters not every where equally secured. This essential defect 
 has been carefully guarded against on the late occasion, and the 
 emissarii or great drains so conducted as to insure a constant 
 current. The principal fault at present is said to be in the distri- 
 bution of the land drained, the greater part of which having 
 been purchased by the Camera Apostolica was given over to 
 the Duke of Braschi. The Roman noblemen have never been 
 remarkable for their attention to agriculture, and the duke con- 
 tent probably with the present profit is not likely to lay out 
 much in repairs, particularly in times so distressing as the pre- 
 sent. Had the land been divided into lesser portions, and given 
 to industrious families, it might have been cultivated better, and 
 the drains cleansed and pi'eserved with more attention. The 
 government indeed ought to have charged itself with that con- 
 cern, but in governments where the people have no influence, 
 public interests are seldom attended to, with zeal, constancy, 
 and effect. 
 
 When we crossed the Pomptine marshes, fine crops of corn 
 covered the country on our left, and seemed to wave to the very 
 foot of the mountains ; Avhile on the right numerous herds of 
 cattle and horses grazed in extensive and luxuriant pastures. 
 Nor indeed is the reader to imagine, that when the marshes were 
 in their worst state they presented in every direction a dreary and 
 
 * It is reported that since the last French invasion these necessary precautions 
 have been neglected, and that the waters begin to stasuate again. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 167 
 
 forbidding aspect to the traveller or sportsman who ranged over 
 them. On the side towards the sea they are covered with ex- 
 tensive forests, that enclose and shade the lakes which border the 
 coasts. These forests extend with little interruption from Ostia 
 to the promontory of Circe, and consist of oak, ilex, Isay, 
 and numberless flowering shrubs. To the north, rises Monte 
 Albano with all its tumuli, and all the towns and cities glitter- 
 ing on their summits. To the south, towers the promontory of 
 Circe on one side, and the shining rock of Anxur on the other ; 
 while the Volscian mountains, sweeping from north to south in 
 a bold semicircle, close the view to the east. On their sides 
 the traveller beholds Cora, Sezza, Piperno, like aerial palaces 
 shining in contrast with the brown rugged rock that supports 
 them. These towns are all ancient, and nearly retain their an- 
 cient names. The walls and two Doric temples still attest the 
 magnificence of Cora. Setia is characteristically described in 
 the well known lines of Martial, which point out at once both 
 its situation and principal advantage. 
 
 Quae paludes delicata Pomptinas 
 Ex arce clivi spectat uva Setini. 
 
 The town is still as anciently little, but it no longer pos- 
 sesses the delicate and wholesome wines which it anciently 
 boasted ; for although vineyards still cover the hills around and 
 spread even over the plains below, yet the grape is supposed to 
 have lost much of its flavor. Piperno is the Priverni antiqua urhs 
 of Virgil, whence the father of Camilla was expelled. The road 
 from Rome to Naples passed through these towns before the late 
 restoration of the Via Appia, and the draining of the marshes. 
 
 To continue our route. The post-house called Mesa was the 
 
 3o 2 
 
468 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 ancient Admedias Pcditdcs. At the extremity of the marshes we 
 crossed the Amascnus, now united with the Ufens, and falUng 
 with it into the canal on the right. Tlie bridge is handsome 
 and graced with an inscription, in a very classical style, relative 
 to the change made in the bed of the former river. It runs 
 as follows : 
 
 Qua leni resonans prius susurro 
 Molli flumine sese agebat Oufens 
 Nunc rapax Amasenus it lubens : et 
 Vias dedidicisse ait priores 
 Ut Sexto gereret Piojubenti 
 Moreno, neu sibi ut ante jure possit 
 Viator male dicere aut colonus. 
 
 The Amasenus is indeed here a deep and rapid stream, and was 
 when we passed it clear, though it carried with it such a mass of 
 water from the marshes. The scenery around the bridge is 
 wooded, cool, and was to us particularly refreshing. The stream 
 was full and rapid as when Metabus reached its banks. 
 
 Ecce fugjp medio summis Amasenus abundans 
 
 Spumabat ripis, tantis se nubibus imber 
 
 Ruperat. Virgil JEn. x i . 
 
 The woods and thickets around seem to present the same scenery 
 as anciently, and correspond well with the rest of the history, the 
 solitary education and half-savage life of Camilla. We were 
 now about to emerge from these marshes, the only of the kind 
 ever dignified by classic celebrity. They have at length laid aside 
 their horrors, and appeared to us clothed with harvest, and 
 likely again to become what they were in the early ages of the 
 Roman republic, the granary of Latium. Livy relates that the 
 E-omans under the apprehension of scarcity had recourse to the 
 Pomptine territory for corn. Now the hilly part of that terri- 
 tory produced much wine indeed, but little corn; the latter 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 469 
 
 must therefore have grown in the plains which have since become 
 the mai'shes*. Thej still retain their forests, the haunt now as 
 anciently of wild boars, of stags, and sometimes of robbers -f-; and 
 their numerous streams, the resort of various kinds of excellent 
 fish; hence they are still much frequented by fishermen, and 
 indeed by sportsmen of all descriptions. 
 
 Between two and three miles from Terracina, a few paces 
 from the road, a little ancient bridge crosses a streamlet J issuing 
 from the fountain of Feronia. 
 
 Viridi gaudens Feronia luco. Virgil, vii. 800. 
 
 Tlie grove in which this goddess was supposed to delight has 
 long since fallen ; one only solitary ilex hangs over the fountain. 
 The temple has sunk into the dust, not even a stone remains ! 
 Yet she had a better title to the veneration of the benevo- 
 lent than all the other goddesses united. She delighted in free- 
 dom, and took deserving slaves under her protection. They re- 
 ceived their liberty by being seated on a certain chair in her 
 temple, inscribed with these words, Bene meriti servi sedeant : 
 siirgant liberi^. The rocky eminence of Ana ur now rose full be- 
 fore us, seemed to advance towards the sea, and as we approached 
 presented to our view a variety of steep cliffs. On the side of 
 one of these craggy hills stands the old town of Terracina look- 
 ing towards the marshes (prona in palndes) : the new town de- 
 scends gradually towards the beach and lines the shore; it Avas 
 considerably augmented by the late Pope, who built a palace. 
 
 * Liv. IV. 25. + Juvenal, Sat. Jii. 
 
 % The streamlet is mentioned by Horace : 
 
 Ova manusqiie tua lavimus Feronia Ijmpha. 
 \ See Servius, quoted hy (Jiuveriusj iOJl. 
 
470 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and resided here during the spring and autumn, in order to urge 
 on b}^ his presence his favorite undertaking. On the ridge of 
 the mountain stood the ancient Anxur, and on the summit im- 
 mediately over the sea, rose the temple of Jupiter, on a conspi- 
 cuous and commanding site, whence he was supposed to preside 
 over all the circumjacent country*, and regulate the destiny of 
 its inhabitants. On this pinnacle still remain two vast squares, 
 consisting each of a number of arches, and forming probably 
 the substruction of the temple of Jupiter and that of Apollo. 
 The colonnades of these two temples, the color of the rock which 
 supported them, and the lofty walls and towers of the city which 
 enclosed them and crowned the cliff, gave Anxur the splendor 
 and majesty so often alluded to by the poets. 
 
 Impositum saxis late candentibus Anxur. Hor. 
 
 Superbus Anxur. Mart. 
 
 Arcesque superbi Anxuris. Statius. 
 
 The situation of Terracina reclining on the side of the moun- 
 tain, and stretched along the shore, is very picturesque; its 
 long lines of white edifices, and particularly the facade of the 
 Pope's palace, give it a general appearance of magnificence. 
 However, it possesses few objects of curiosity. The cathedral is 
 a dark and dismal pile; it contains some antique pillars and 
 monuments, and sufli'ered much from the French. Some slight 
 traces of the ancient port, repaired by Antoninus, are still visi- 
 ble. This town seems to have been risiiig rapidly into consider- 
 ation by its increasing commerce, till the late invasion of the 
 French checked its growth and threw it back uito insignificance; 
 
 * Queis Jupiter Anxurus arvis 
 Praesidet .... 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 471 
 
 and indeed few places seem better calculated for bathing and 
 public resort than Terracina; its beach is flat, its sands level and 
 solid, the sea tranquil, a river bathes its walls, and the scenery 
 around is rich, bold, and variegated. Hence, in ancient times, 
 it was a place much frequented during the summer, and noticed 
 and celebrated by the poets. 
 
 O Nemus, O fontes, solidumque madentis arense 
 
 Littus, et sequoreis splendidus Anxur aquis; 
 Et lion unius spectator lectulus undae 
 
 Qui videt hinc puppes fluniinis, inde maris. 
 
 Martial, Lib. x. 
 
 Martial elsewhere alludes to the salubrity of the place, and its 
 Avaters; as when speaking of several delightful retreats along the 
 same coast he mentions the two points that close on each side 
 the bay of Terracina. 
 
 Seu placet Eneia nutrix, seu filia solis, 
 
 Sive salutiferis candidus Anxur aquis. Lib. v. 
 
 If the traveller can spare a day he may hire a boat, and sail 
 along the coast to the promontory of Circe, which forms so 
 conspicuous a feature in his prospect and appears from Terracina, 
 as Homer and Virgil poetically describe it, a real island. As he 
 ranges over its lofty cliffs he will recollect the splendid fictions 
 of the one, and the harmonious lines of the other. He may tra- 
 verse the unfrequented groves, but instead of the palace of Circe 
 he Avill discover the lonely village of Santa Felicita, a few soli- 
 tary towers hanging over the sea, and perhaps some faint 
 traces of the ancient Circeia, covered with bushes and overgrown 
 with shrubs. Nearly opposite Terracina and the promontory of 
 Circe, but visible only from the hills, lie a cluster of islands, 
 the principal of which, Ponza now, anciently Pontia, was little 
 
473 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 noticed under the republic, but ennobled under the Caesars by 
 the exile and death of several illustrious victims of imperial 
 tyranny. 
 
 rive or six miles from Tcrracina at the foot of a high hill, in 
 a defile with the rock on one side and the sea on the other, called 
 Tasso di Portella, stands a tower Avith a gate, forming the bar- 
 rier between the Roman and Neapolitan territories. It is called 
 Torre del Epitoffio, and is occupied by a few Neapolitan troops, 
 the commander of which examines the passports. We had now 
 entered the territory of the Aurunci or Ausonians, a people who 
 under the latter appellation gave their name to all Italy. Their 
 territory however was not extensive, nor was their power ever 
 great. A little beyond the tower, the mountains seem to recede, 
 the country opens and gradually expands into the fertile valley 
 of Fondi. The Via Appia intersects it nearly in the middle. On 
 the right between the road and the sea we beheld a fine expanse 
 of water, the Lacus Fundanus or Amyclamis*, formed by several 
 streams Avhich, falling from the mountains, cross the plain and 
 empty themselves in its bosom. Its borders, towards the road, 
 are covered with myrtle, poplars, luxuriant shrubs and flowers. 
 Such was also its ancient dress -j-. It is separated from the sea by 
 a forest ; and indeed the Avhole vale is beautifully adorned with 
 orange and citron trees, interspersed with cypress and poplars. 
 
 Fondi is a little town, consisting of one street on the Via 
 Appia which is here in its ancient form, that is, composed 
 of large flags, fitted together with wonderful art, although in 
 
 Still Logo di Fondi, + Pliny ^civ. 6, 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 473 
 
 Uieir natural shape, and without cement. With regard to the 
 appearance of the town* I must observe, that two circumstances 
 iiiust necessarily give ahnost all southern towns a gloomy ap- 
 pearance; in the first place, the streets are generally narrow: 
 and in the second, the windows are seldom glazed. These de- 
 formities, for such they are in our eyes, are the natural conse- 
 quences of the climate, and prevailed in ancient as well as in 
 modern Italy and Greece. Even in Rome itself, new modelled 
 and improved by Augustus, the streets were narrow, and remained 
 so till the city was rebuilt by Nero after the conflagration -f-. 
 The wines of this territory, and indeed of this coast, were 
 anciently in high repute, and still enjoy some reputation. 
 
 The mountain which the traveller beholds in front as he is goinff 
 out of Fo7idi, or rather a little to the right, is Mount Ccecuhiia. 
 I must observe that the exhalations which arise from the lake, 
 and from the marshes which it occasions when it overflows, still 
 continue as in ancient times to render the fertile vale of Fondi un- 
 healthy. At a little distance from it we began to ascend the hills, 
 (Fo7'micmi Colics,) the ramifications of Mowit Ca:cttbus, and found 
 the country improve, if possible in beauty, as we advanced wind- 
 ing up the steep. The castle of Iti-i is when seen at a distance 
 picturesque, and a mausoleum near it remarkable. The town 
 itself is ugly, and its name unknown to antiquity. When we had 
 
 * The most remarkable event perhaps in the history of Fondi is an assault 
 made upon it by a Turkish force, for the purpose of carrying off its Countess, 
 Julia di Gonzaga, the most beautiful princess of her age. The town was taken 
 by surprise, and plundered ; but the reader will learn with pleasure that the 
 Lady escaped. 
 
 + Tac. Anual. xv. 43. 
 VOL. I. 3 P 
 
474 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 reached the siinnnit of the hills that continue to rise beyond 
 Itri, we were entertained with the new and magnificent views, 
 that opened upon us at every turn, of the town and bay of 
 Gxdeta and its bounding pi'omontories. The ground we trod 
 is truly classic. We were descending Mount CcBCuhus^ one 
 of the Formion hills 'celebrated by Horace; beneath lay Mola 
 di Gaieta, once Formic, the seat of the Lsestrygons and the 
 theatre of one of the greatest disasters of Ulysses. Before us, 
 over the bay at a considerable distance, rose Prochyta, and 
 towering 
 
 Inarime, Jovis imperils iniposta T_yphaeo. En. ix. 
 
 On our right stood the mausoleum of Munatius Plancus, 
 Horace's friend, and beyond it ascended the bold promontory 
 intrusted with the fame and the ashes of Caieta. 
 
 Et nunc servat honos sedem tuus, ossaque nomen 
 Hesperia in magna, si qua est ea gloria, signal. 
 
 En. vxi. 
 
 We continued to roll over the broad flags of the Via Appia^ 
 and descending a steep from Costellone entered Mola (Formice'^) 
 in the evening. The town is in itself little and insignificant, but 
 it derives interest, if not grandeur, from its beautiful site, 
 poetical scenery, and classic recollections. It consists of one 
 street, formed by the Via Appia on the sea side, at the foot of a 
 range of broken picturesque hills and mountains, covered with 
 corn, vines, and olive-trees, and topped with rocks, churches 
 
 * Close to the road on both sides were scattered the ruins of the Formian villa, 
 and of the mausoleum of Cicero. 
 
THROUGH ITLAY. 475 
 
 and lowers. The waters that stream from these hills unite and 
 gush forth in a fountain close to the town. This fountain is 
 said to be i\\e fair flowing Artacia described by Homer; if so, 
 we may conclude that the town of the Lcestnjgons lay a little 
 higher on the hills, as the daughter of Antiphates is de- 
 scribed as coming down from it*. The most conspicuous 
 and striking object from the town of Mola is the fortress 
 of Gaieta, crowning the rocky promontory of the same name 
 with its white ramparts, and presenting to the eye, one above 
 the other, its stages of angles and batteries. The town itself is 
 spread along the shore, and extends nearly from the centre of 
 the bay to the point of the promontory. The harbor so well 
 described by Homer is that of Gaieta, and whoever ranges over 
 it will find all the features painted by the poet — the towering 
 rocks, the prominent shores, the narrow entrance, and the hol- 
 low port. It is about four miles by land and two by water from 
 Mola. There is some difficulty in procuring admittance, as it is 
 a fortress, and not aware of this circumstance we presented our- 
 selves at the gate without our passports ; but after a few obser- 
 vations, we were as Englishmen allowed to enter, conducted to 
 the governor then at church, received very politely, and per- 
 mitted to visit every part of the fortress without further cere- 
 mony. The cathedral, though not large nor highly decorated, 
 is well proportioned, well lighted, and by the elevation of the 
 choir admirably calculated for public worship. The font is a 
 fine antique vase of white marble, with basso relievos, represent- 
 ing Athamas, Ino with a child in her arms, and a groupe of 
 Bacchantes. The sculptor was an Athenian; but such a vase 
 
 * Odyss. X. 107. 
 3 p 2 
 
476 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 is better calculated for a gallery of antiques than for the place 
 where it now stands. Opposite the great portal of the cathe- 
 dral rises an antique column, marked with the names of the 
 Winds in Greek and Latin. The streets of the town are neatly 
 built and well paved, its general appearance is lively within and 
 without and extremely picturesque. I have already said that 
 the fortress crowns the point or head of the promontory, or ra- 
 ther peninsula of Gaieta. On the narrow neck that unites it 
 to the main-land, but on a bold eminence, stands the tomb of 
 Munatius Plancus. It is round like that of Adrian, like it 
 stripped of its marble casing, and turned into a battlemented 
 tower, called, one might suppose from the romantic hero of 
 Ariosto, Torre d'Orlando. 
 
 But neither the mausoleum of Plancus, nor the towers of 
 Gaieta, neither the wondrous tales of Homer, nor the majestic 
 Yerses of Virgil, shed so much glor^^ and interest on these coasts 
 as the Formian villa and tomb of Cicero. That Cicero had 
 a villa here, and that it lay about a mile from the shore, history 
 informs us; and at that very distance on the left of the road the 
 attentive traveller will observe the remains of ancient walls scat- 
 tered over the fields, and half covered with vines, olives and 
 hedo-es. These shapeless heaps tradition points to as the ruins of 
 Cicero's Formian villa. Again, history assures us, that he was 
 overtaken and beheaded in the Avalks of a grove that lay be- 
 tween his villa and the sea. On the opposite side of the road 
 rises, stripped of its decorations and indeed of its very shape, a 
 sort of obelisk in two stories, and this disfigured pile the same 
 tradition reveres as his mausoleum, raised on the very spot where 
 he was butchered, and where his faithful attendants immedi- 
 ately interred his headless trunk. Lower down and near tlie 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 477 
 
 sea, or rather hanging over its waves, are shewn several vaults 
 and galleries which are supposed to have been part of the Villa 
 Inferior, as that which I have described above was called Villa 
 Superior. It is a pity that excavations are not made (and with 
 what success might they not be made all along this interesting 
 coast!) to give curiosity some chance of acquiring greater evi- 
 dence. Of the fute of Cicero's remains we know nothing, as 
 history is silent with regard to his obsequies and sepulchre. It 
 does not seem proljablc that during Antony's life, the most 
 zealous friend would have dared to erect a monument to the me- 
 mory of his most active and deadly enemy; and after that Tri- 
 umvir's death, Augustus seems to have concealed his sentiments, 
 if favorable to Cicero, with so much care and success that his 
 very nephews did not venture to read that illustrious Roman's 
 Works in his presence. Before the death of Augustus the per- 
 sonal and affectionate interest inspired by affinity or friendship 
 had probably subsided, and few survived that Emperor who 
 could possibly have enjoyed the happiness of an intimate and 
 familiar acquaintance with Cicero, and fewer still could have 
 had any particular and urgent motive to step forward from the 
 crowd, and pay the long neglected honors to his memory. But 
 notwithstanding these reasons and the silence of history on 
 the subject, yet as his son escaped the proscription, and when 
 the rage of civil war had given way to the tranquil domina- 
 tion of Augustus, he was restored to his country and his rank, it is 
 possible that he may have raised a monument to the memory of 
 a father so atfectionate to him, and so illustrious in the eyes of 
 the public. As long therefore as popular belief or tradition, 
 however uncertain, attaches the name of Cicero to these luins, 
 and as long as even credulity can believe that the one Has been 
 his residence and the other his tomb, so long will every traveller 
 
478 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 who values liberty and reveres genius visit them Avith interest, 
 and hang over them, though nearly reduced to a heap of rubbish, 
 with delight. I cannot turn from this subject without observing, 
 that many authors have related, but that Plutarch alone has 
 painted, the last tragical scene of Cicero's life. 
 
 About twelve o'clock, too late indeed for the distance we had 
 to go, we set out from Mola. The road runs over a fine 
 plain, bordered on the left by distant mountains, and on the 
 right by the sea, from which it sometimes though not far 
 recedes, and sometimes it approaches. About three miles 
 from the Liris (Garigliano) an aqueduct, erected to convey 
 water to MintuivicE, passes the road, it is now in ruins; but the 
 remaining arches, at least a hundred, lofty and solid, give 
 a melancholy magnificence to the plain which they seem to 
 liestride. 
 
 On the banks of the Liris and to the right of the 
 road extend the ruins of Minturna, spread over a consi- 
 derable space of ground, exhibiting vast substructions, arches, 
 gateways, and shattered walls, now utterly forsaken by hu- 
 man inhabitants, and abandoned to owls, foxes, and serpents. 
 Many beautiful shafts, bases and capitals of marble have 
 been found here and on the banks of the river, and more 
 might possibly be discovered if the ruins were removed. The 
 delay occasioned by the ferry afibrds the traveller time enough 
 to range over the site and remains of MinturniB. This city is 
 four miles from the sea, the space between was covered by the 
 sacred gxoves of the nymph Marica, the mother of Latinus, and 
 by some called the Latian Venus, and by the well-known marshes, 
 which, though they infected the air with noxious exhalations, 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY, 479 
 
 have yet acquired classic celebrity from the adventure of Marius. 
 Plappy had it been for Rome and for humanity if the swamp 
 had swallowed up for ever the withered carcase and vengeful 
 heart of that ruthless chief These marshes have lost something 
 of their ancient malignity, and are become a rich cultivated 
 plain. A tower stands on the bank to defend the passage over 
 the river; its first story or lower part is ancient, and built with 
 great solidity and beautiful proportion. The Liris forms the 
 southern border of Latium, and separates it from Campania; 
 as we glided slowly over its surface we endeavoured in vain to 
 conjecture the origin of its modern name*. May it not possibly 
 be formed from its original appellation Glanis, joined to its Ro- 
 man name Liris, with an Italian termination, thus GlaniUriano, 
 afterwards altered in the Italian manner for euphony into Ga- 
 nUiriano, and finally Gariliano? Having crossed the river we 
 entered Campania-f, and as Ave drove over the plain beyond had 
 a full view of the Liris, a wide and noble river winding under 
 the shadow of poplars through a lovely vale, and then gliding 
 gently towards the sea. The river still retains its characteristic 
 silence and tranquillity, Avhile the regions through Avhich it flows 
 
 * The reader who delights in classical appellations will learn with pleasure, 
 that this river still bears its ancient name till it passes the city of Sora. That the 
 Fibrenus (still so called) falls into it a little below that city, and continues to en- 
 circle the little island in which Cicero lays the scene of the second dialogue De 
 Legibus, and describes with so much eloquence. I must add, that Arpinum also 
 in the vicinity of the Fibrenus, still retains its name, ennobled by the birth of that 
 most illustrious Roman. 
 
 + Hinc felix ilia Campania est. Ah lioc sinu incipiunt vitiferi colles, et temu- 
 lentia nobilis succo per omnes terras inclyto, atque ut veteres dixere, summum 
 Liberi patris cum Cererecertamen. — C. Plin. Nat. Hist. iii. 5. 
 
180 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 still enjoy the beauty and fertility which distinguished them of 
 old. These are, the UmhroscE: Regna Marica, the 
 
 llura quae Liris quieta 
 
 Mordet aqua taciturn us amnis. 
 
 Some rugged mountains appeared at a distance, but they only 
 served as a magnificent frame to set off by contrast the rich 
 scenery that adorned the hills and plains that border the stream. 
 Though the ground rises gradually from the Litis to the next 
 stage, yet the space between is called fiom its comparative flat- 
 ness the Plain of Sessa, and few indeed are the plains that can 
 vie with it in beauty and fertility. In front or a little to the 
 right rises a bold and lofty mountain, extending on that side to 
 the sea; it is Mount Massicus, once so famous for its wines, and 
 still retains its ancient name*. On the left falling a little back- 
 wards to the north is Monte Ofellio, and on the side swells 
 Monte Aurunco, still perpetuating in its original name the me- 
 mory of a very ancient people. On its side, covered with its 
 forests behind, and before open to the beauties of the valley 
 and to the breezes of the sea, is seated Sessa, once Suessa 
 Aurunca. The whole scene is finely diversified by oaks rising 
 sometimes single, and sometimes in clumps in the middle of 
 corn-fields or vineyards ; woods girding the sides of the hills and 
 waving on their summits; large villages Avith their towers 
 shining in the middle of orchards and thickets, forming alto- 
 gether a view unusually rich and delightful. Beyond St. 
 Agatha the country becomes more hilly and is shaded with 
 
 * Cluverius mistakes when he sajs, it is called Motidragone, which is the name 
 of a village or fortress at its base near the sea. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 481 
 
 thicker and larger woods. A romantic dell with a streamlet 
 tumbling through it, forms a pretty diversity in the view. 
 
 We were now engaged in the defiles of Mount Massictis, 
 which communicate with those of the CalUcula, a mountain 
 covered with forests and crowned Avith Calvi, the ancient Cales. 
 From these defiles we emerged by a road cut through the rock 
 above Francolisi, and as we looked down beheld the plains of 
 Campania spread before us, bordered by the Apennines with 
 the craggy point of Ischia towering to the sky on one side, and 
 in the centre Vesuvius, calmly lifting his double summit wreathed 
 with smoke. Evening now far advanced, shed a purple tint 
 over the sides and summits of the mountains, that gave at 
 once a softness and richness to the picture, and contrasted 
 finely with the darkness of the plains below, and the light 
 colors of a few thin clouds flitting above. 
 
 From Francolisi we traversed the Fakrnus Ager, which is the 
 tract enclosed between the sea. Mount Massicus and CalUcula^ 
 and the river Vulturnus ; a territory so much celebrated by the 
 ancient poets, and so well known to the classical reader for its 
 delicious wines. It has often been asked why Italy does not 
 now produce wines so excellent, and in such variety as an- 
 ciently ; and it has been as often answered either that the 
 climate has changed, or that the cultivation of the grape has 
 been neglected, and the vines allowed to degenerate for Avant of 
 skill and attention. As for the first of these reasons, we find 
 nothing in ancient authors that can furnish the least reason to 
 suppose that any such revolution has happened. The produc- 
 tions of the soil are the same, and appear at the same stated 
 periods ; the seasons correspond exactly with the descriptions 
 
 VOL. I. 3 Q 
 
482 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 of tlie poets ; the air is in general genial and serene, though 
 chilled occasionally (at least in many provinces) with hard 
 wintry frosts, and sometimes disturbed by sudden unseasonable 
 storms fu" as grand and as mischievous as that described by 
 Virgil * Neglect and ignorance are reasons more plausible, 
 but will not perhaps on examination be found much more satis- 
 factory. Arts essential to the existence of man, when once 
 known are never forgotten, and articles so necessary as bread 
 and wine cannot possibly be entirely neglected. The science 
 of tillage passes from father to son, and cannot be oblite- 
 rated unless the whole mass of population in a country be at 
 once destroyed, and a link struck out of the chain of human 
 generations. Moreover the mode of gathering and press- 
 ing the grape ; of boiling and storing the wine is nearly the 
 same now as anciently. Besides from the reasons given above 
 it would follow, that the culture of the vine was lost all over 
 Italy, Greece, and Sicily, and that the vine itself had degene- 
 rated in all the countries that lie south of the Alps, howsoever 
 favored in other respects by nature. In fact very few of the 
 numberless wines produced in these auspicious climates are 
 palatable to an English or a French traveller, who is apt to 
 find in them either a lusciousness or a raciness, or an inexpress- 
 ible something that disgusts him, and is not always removed 
 even by familiarity. Nor ought this circumstance to surprize 
 us. Accustomed from our infancy to hear the wines of Italy 
 and Greece extolled to the skies by the ancient poets, we 
 expect to find them singularly delicious while we forget that the 
 goodness of wine depends upon taste, and that our taste has 
 been formed, I had nearly said vitiated, by wines of a flavor 
 
 * Georg. I. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 483 
 
 Vesy different from that of the classic grape. If the Italian wines 
 therefore are not in so much repute now as they were formerly, 
 it is to be attributed not so much to the degeneracy of the vine, 
 as to the change of taste not only in Transalpine countries but 
 even in Italy itself The modern Italians are extremely sober; 
 they drink wine as Englishmen drink small beer, not to flatter the 
 palate but to quench the thirst; provided it be neither new, flat, 
 nor unwholesome, it answers their purpose, and they re([uire from 
 it nothing more. Very little attention is therefore paid in the cul- 
 tivation of the vine, to the quality or perfection, but merely to 
 the quantity of the produce. Not so the ancients : they were 
 fond of convivial enjoyments : they loved wine, and considered 
 it not only as a gratification to the palate, but as a means of 
 intellectual enjoyment, and a vehicle of conversation. To 
 heighten its flavor therefore, to bring it to full maturity by age, 
 in short, to improve it by every method imaginable, was with 
 them an object of primary importance; nor can it occasion sur- 
 prize that in circumstances so favorable, the vine should flourish. 
 Yet with all this encouragement the two most celebrated wines in 
 Italy, the Cajcuban and the Falernian, had lost much of their ex- 
 cellency and reputation in Pliny's time; the former in conse- 
 quence of a canal drawn across the vale of Amyclae by the Em- 
 peror Nero, and the latter from its very celebrity, which occa- 
 sioned so great a demand, that the cultivators unable to resist 
 the temptation, turned their attention from the quality to the 
 quantity. This cause of decline is indeed considered as com- 
 mon to both these species of wine; but in the former it was 
 only an accessary, in the latter a principal agent. 
 
 The canal alluded to, was one of the extravagant whims of 
 Nero, who had resolved to open an inland communication 
 
 3q 2 
 
484 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 between Ostia and the Lake Avermis, by a navigable canal which 
 might afford all the pleasures, without an}' of the inconveniences 
 of a voyage in the usual manner. This work was begun but 
 never finished, and it is probable that the Lago Fundano or 
 Amydano, which was to have formed part of the projected 
 canal, was lengthened and extended across the little plain to the 
 very foot of Mount CcEcubus; thus depriving the flats of a con- 
 siderable part of that moisture which perhaps caused their 
 fertility. The Ceecuban wine so much celebrated was produced, 
 according to Pliny, in the poplar groves that rose in the marshes 
 on the bay of Amyclae. That same author gives a long list of 
 Italian wines, all good though of very different degrees of ex- 
 cellence, and I have no doubt that modern Italy, if the cultiva- 
 tion of the vine had the same encouragement now as anciently, 
 would furnish a catalogue equal to it both in excellence and va- 
 riety. As it is not intended to expand a few cursory remarks into 
 a dissertation, it may finally be observed that several of the 
 wines celebrated in ancient times still retain, at least, some share 
 of their ancient reputation. Thus a wine produced in the very 
 extremity of the Adriatic Gulph, on the banks of the Timavus*, 
 and in the vicinity of Aquileia^ is still in as great request at 
 Trieste as it was formerly in Rome ; as also is the Rheti(m wine so 
 much extolled by Virgil at Felice and Verona. The wines of i?/«a 
 and Florence are even now much esteemed all over the north 
 of Italy, as are those of the Alban Mounts including Frescati 
 and Gensano, in Rome. The vines that flourish on the sides and 
 around the base of Vesuvius still continue to furnish a rich and 
 
 * This wine was called Puciniim. The place now bears the name of Castel 
 Duino, and corresponds with the description given of it by Pliny, saxeo colle, 
 maritimo ajjiatu. — Lib. xiv. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 485 
 
 delicious wine, well known to all travellers, and to most readers 
 under the ajjpcllation of Lacryma Christi. To conclude, 
 Horace has comprised with his usual neatness the four principal 
 wines of Italy, all the produce of the coast which Ave have just 
 traversed, in the following stanza: 
 
 Caecubum et prelo doniitam Caleno 
 Tu bibes iivam, mea nee Falernae 
 Temperant vites, neque Forniiani 
 Pocula colles. i. 20. 
 
 Before we art'ived at Capua night had set in, but it was night 
 in all its charms; bright, serene, and odoriferous. The only 
 object that could then strike our eyes or excite our curiosity was 
 the hiciola, a bright insect, many of which were flying about in 
 every direction like sparks of fire, casting a vivid light around 
 them, and seeming to threaten the waving corn over which they 
 flitted with a conflagration. 
 
 AVe entered Naples at a late hour, and drove to the Graii 
 Bretagaa, an excellent inn on the sea shore, and close to the 
 royal garden. Few scenes surpass in beauty that which burst 
 full upon me when I awoke next morning. In front and under 
 my windows, the bay of Naples spread its azure surface smooth 
 as glass, while a thousand boats glided in difFtaiunt directions 
 over its shining bosom : on the right, the town extended along 
 the semicircular shore, and PosUipo rose close behind it, with 
 churches and villas, vineyards and pines scattered in confusion 
 along its sides and on its ridge, till, sloping as it advanced the 
 bold hill terminated in a craggy promontory. On the left at 
 the end of a walk that forms the quay and skirts the se^, the 
 Castel del Uoio standiiig on an insulated rock caught tlie eye for 
 
486 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 a moment; while beyond it over a vast expanse of water a rugged 
 line of mountains stretched forward, and softening its features 
 as it projected, presented towns, villages, and convents, lodged 
 amidst its forests and precipices, and at length terminated in 
 the cape of Minerva now of Surrentum. Opposite and full in 
 front rose the island ofCaprece with its white cliffs and ridgy sum- 
 mit, placed as a barrier to check the tempest and protect the in- 
 terior of the bay from its fury. This scene illuminated by a sun 
 that never shines so bright on the less favored regions beyond the 
 Alps is justly considered, as the most splendid and beautiful ex- 
 hibition which nature perhaps presents to the hXmian eye, and 
 cannot but excite in the spectator, when beheld for the first 
 time, emotions of delight and admiration, that border on en- 
 thusiasm.* Nor are the charms of recollection that are capable 
 of improving even the loveliest features of nature here wanting 
 to complete the enchantment. Naples and its coasts have never 
 been, it is true, the theatre of heroic achievements, or the stage of 
 grand and unusual incidents; but they have been the residence 
 of the great and the wise; they have aided the meditations of 
 the sage and awakened the raptures of the poet; and as long as 
 the Latin muses continue to instruct mankind, so long will tra- 
 vellers visit with delight the academy of Cicero, the tomb of 
 Virgil, and the, birth-place of Tasso. 
 
 * The bay of Leucadia, bounded by the bold coasts of that island on one side, 
 and o( Acarnania on the other, and interspersed with the Teleboides Insulce rising 
 in every shape imaginable around, is, 1 think, more beautiful; but it is now a 
 desert, peopled only by recollections ! 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 4S7 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 NAPLES ITS HISTORY PUBLIC BUILDINGS CHURCHES 
 
 HOSPITALS STATE OF LITERATURE AT NAPLES. 
 
 JNAPLES occupies the site of both PalcspoUs and- Ne a polls 
 in ancient times, though it inherits the name of the latter. It 
 is of Grecian origin, and is first mentioned by Livj as having 
 in conjunction with Pal(spolis joined the Samnites in a confede- 
 racy against the Romans*. Faleepalis was taken two years after 
 and Naples must have shared its fate. The latter seems indeed to 
 have been of little consideration at that time, though it continued 
 to increase rapidly, and in the course of not many years eclipsed 
 the splendor, usurped the territory and gradually obliterated the 
 very name of the former. It seems to have attached itself closely 
 to the Roman interest in little more than a century from the 
 abovementioned period, and to have acquired under the protec- 
 tion of the Roman republic no small degree of prosperity and 
 importance. It remained faithful to its allies even after the 
 carnage of Cannce and the revolt of the Campanians, and such 
 was the strength of its ramparts that Hannibal himself shrunk 
 
 * An. U. C. 427. 
 
488 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 from the difficulties of an attack*. The generous offer wliich 
 they had previously made to the Roman senate must naturally 
 inspire a very favorable idea of the opulence, and which is infi- 
 nitely more honorable, of the magnanimity of this city f-. This 
 attachment to the Roman cause excited the resentment of the 
 Carthagenian, who ravaged the Neapolitan territory with more 
 than his usual ferocity. 
 
 From this period little or no mention is made of Naples for 
 a long series of years, during which it seems to have enjoyed in 
 undisturbed tranquillity its original laws and language, and all 
 the advantages of its fertile soil, and unrivalled situation. 
 Its coasts during this interval became the winter retreat of the 
 luxurious Romans, and there were few among the illustrious 
 characters which distinguished the fall of the republic and the 
 birth of the monarchy, who had not a villa on its shores or 
 amid the romantic recesses of its mountains. The presence of 
 Horace, Virgil, and his imitator Silius Italicus, and their fond 
 attachment to its delightful scenery were lasting and honorable 
 distinctions ; while the foul indulgencies of Tiberius, and the 
 wild and cruel freaks of Caligula were its scandal and its 
 scourge. The first recorded eruption of VesuviiisX interrupted 
 its enjoyments and wasted its coasts, and the civil wars and 
 barbaric incursions that succeeded each other so rapidly during 
 the ensuing centuries, involved it in the general calamities of 
 Italy and the empire. However it seems to have suffered less 
 than most other cities during this disastrous era, as it retained 
 longer its legitimate sovereign, the Emperor of Constantinople, 
 
 * Liv. xxin. 1. +xxn. 32. ^A. D.79. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 489 
 
 and with him its language and many of its ancient laws, and 
 by his power or rather by the veneration still attached to his 
 name, was not unfrequently protected from the ravages and 
 insults of contending barbarians.* 
 
 When the eastern empire sunk into a state of irretrievable 
 weakness and insignificance, Naples was tlureatened, harassed and 
 plundered successively by the Lombards, the Saracens and the 
 Normans, who in their turn became the prey of the Germans, the 
 French and the Spaniards. The latter at length remained its 
 acknowledged masters, governed it for many years by viceroys^ 
 and at length gave it a king in the person of the present sovereign 
 Charles IV. Of all these different tribes many traces maj 
 be discovered in the language, manners and appearance of its 
 inhabitants. Its original language, Greek, remained th« 
 prevailing dialect long after its submission to the power of 
 Rome, as appears from various circumstances, but particularly 
 from that of Greek manuscripts only being discovered at Hei'~ 
 culaneum. It may indeed be doubted whether pure Latin erer 
 was the vulgar language at Naples ; but at present there are 
 more Greek words intermingled with the common dialect than 
 are to be found in any other part of Italy. French pronuncia- 
 tion has communicated some share of its infection, and Saracenic 
 left considerable alloy behind. No vestiges remain of tlie ancient 
 beauty or magnificence of this city. Its temples, its theatres, 
 its basilica; have been levelled by eartliquakes, or destroyed by 
 barbarians. Its modern edifices, whether churches or palaces, 
 
 * It was taken by the Goths under Theodoiic, but retaken and restored to the 
 Grecian empire by Belisarius. It seems to have been attached to its Gothic rulers, 
 and when assailed by the Roman general made a vigorous but useless resistance. 
 VOL. I. 3 R 
 
490 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 are less remarkable for their taste than for thfir magnitude and 
 riches. It is however highly probable that Naples is at pre*- 
 sent more opulent, more populous, and in every respect more 
 flourishing than she has ever before been even in the most 
 brilliant periods of her history. 
 
 Naples seated in the bosom of a capacious haven, spreads her 
 greatness and her population along its shore, and covers its 
 shelving coasts and bordering mountains witli her villas, her gar- 
 dens and her retreats. Containing Avithin her own walls more than 
 four hundred thousand inhabitants, she sees one hundred thousand 
 more enliven her suburbs, that stretch in a magnificent and 
 most extensive sweep from Portici to the promontory of 
 Misenum, and fill a spacious line of sixteen miles along the shore 
 with life and activity. In size and number of inhabitants she 
 ranks as the third city in Europe, and from her situation and 
 superb show may justly be considered as the Queen of the 
 Mediterranean.* The internal ap[>earance of Naples is in 
 general pleasing ; the edifices are lofty and solid ; the streets 
 as wide as in any continental city; the Strada Toledo is a 
 mile in length, and with the quay which is very extensive and 
 well-built forms the grand and distinguishing features of the 
 city. In fact the Chiaia, with the royal garden, Mergyllina 
 and Sia. Lucia, which spread along the coast for so consider- 
 able a space, and present such an immense line of lofty edi- 
 fices, are sufficient to give an appearance of grandeur to any 
 city. As for architectural magnificence Naples possesses a 
 
 * It is impossible not to smile in perusing Thompson's description of the lone- 
 liness and devastation of this very coast, once, as he represents it, swarming with 
 inhabitants, now turned into a desert. But some allowance must be made even for 
 exaggeration when the subject is so intoxicating as liberty. — See Liberty, i. 280, 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 491 
 
 very small share, as the prevaihng taste, if a series of absurd 
 fashions deserve that appellation, has always been bad. Mo- 
 resco, Spanish and bad Roman, corrupted and intermingled 
 together destroy all appearance of unity and symmetry, and 
 form a monstrous jumble of discordance. The magnificence 
 therefore of the churches and palaces consist first in their mag- 
 nitude, and then in paintings, marbles and decorations in 
 general, which however are seldom disposed with taste or judg- 
 ment, and when best disposed are scattered around with a pro- 
 fusion that destroys their effect. 
 
 To describe the public edifices of Naples would be to com- 
 pose a guide. I shall therefore content myself with a tew ob- 
 servations on some remarkable objects in them or connected 
 with them. Several churches are supposed to occupy the sites 
 of ancient temples, the names and memory of which have been 
 preserved by this circumstance. Thus the cathedral is said 
 to stand on the substructions of a temple of Apollo; that 
 of the Santi Apostoli rises on the ruins of a temple of Mer- 
 cury. <SY. Maria Maggiore was originally a temple of Diana, 
 erected over the temple of Antinous, &c. Of these churches 
 some are adorned with the pillars and marbles of the temples 
 to which they have succeeded. Thus the cathedral is sup- 
 ported by more than a hundred columns of granite, which 
 belonged to the edifice over which it is erected, as did the 
 forty or more pillars that decorated the treasury, or rather the 
 chapel of St. Januarius. The church itself was built by an 
 Angevin prince, and when shattered or rather destroyed by 
 earthquakes, rebuilt by a Spanish sovereign. It is Gothic, but 
 strangely disfigured by ornaments and reparations in different 
 styles. In the subterraneous chapel under the choir is depo- 
 
 3 R 2 
 
492 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 sited the body of St. Jamiariiis. His supposed blood is kept 
 in a vial in the Tesoro, and is considered as the most valuable 
 of its deposits, and indeed the glory and ornament of the ca- 
 thedral and of the city itself Into the truth of this supposition 
 little inquiry is made; the fact is supposed to guarantee itself, 
 and in this respect the Neapolitans seem to have adopted the 
 maxim of the ancient Germans, " sanctius ac reverentius de 
 Diis credere quam scire*." The blood of St. Stephen in the 
 church of St. Gaudioso belonging to the Benedictine Nuns, is 
 said to liquify in the same manner, but only once a-year on the 
 festival of the martyr. 
 
 The Santi ApostoU is in its origin perhaps the most ancient 
 church in Naples, and was, if we may credit tradition, erected by 
 Constantine upon the ruins of a temple of Mercury; it has how- 
 ever been rebuilt partially more than once, and finally with great 
 magnificence. The church of St. Paul occupies the site of a 
 temple of Castor and Pollux ; the front of this temple, consist- 
 ing of eight Corinthian pillars, was destroyed by the earth- 
 quake of 1688. Two only Avere restored, and now form part of 
 the frontispiece of the church. The interior is spacious, well 
 proportioned, and finely incrusted with marble. The chancel 
 is very extensive, and all supported by antique pillars; it is sup- 
 posed to stand over the theatre where Nero first disgraced him- 
 self by appearing as a public singer: some vestiges of this 
 theatre may still be traced by an observing antiquary. The 
 church of St. Filippo Neri is remarkable for the number of an- 
 cient pillars that support its triple roAv of aisles on both sides 
 of the nave. St. Lorenzo, belonging to a convent founded by 
 
 * T.nc. Germanic, xxx. iv. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 493 
 
 Charles of Anjou, is a monument of the hatred which French 
 princes have at all times borne to liberty and popular represen- 
 tation. It stands on the site of the Basilica Augusta, a noble 
 and magnificent hall, which at the period of their first entrance 
 into Naples was the place of public assembly where the senate 
 and people of Naples met in council. Charles suppressed the 
 assemblies, demolished the hall, and in the year 1266 erected the 
 church Avhich now occupies its place. The establishment of a 
 free and just government would have been a work more agreeable 
 to the Avill,and more conformable to the attributes, of the common 
 Father of all, than the erection of a temple on the ruins of 
 public property, and in defiance of justice. Of all the Neapo- 
 litan churches, that De Spmto Santo in the Strada Toledo is 
 the most Avorthy of notice in my opinion, because the purest and 
 simplest in architecture. The exterior is indifferent, or rather 
 never finished, or at least decorated. The interior is large, well- 
 proportioned, adorned with Corinthian pilasters, and a regular 
 entablature and cornice. It is well lighted, perhaps indeed too 
 much so, on account of the whiteness of its walls and vault. It 
 is not howcA^er entirely exempt from the usual defect, a super- 
 abundance of ornaments, and it wants a softer and mellower 
 color to please the eye. 
 
 The chapel of St. John the Evangelist was erected by the cele- 
 brated Pontanus, and is remarkable for the Latin sentences, 
 moral and political, engraved on marble near its entrance and 
 on its front. They are misplaced, and ostentatious though solid, 
 and in language not inelegant. The epitaph composed by Pon- 
 tanus himself has the merit of originality, but his best and most 
 durable epitaph is the tribute paid to him by Sannazarius*. 
 
 * Elcff. I. 9. 
 
494 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 In the cloister of the canons, regularly attached to the paro- 
 chial church of St. Agnelio, stands the tomb of the poet Marini 
 ornamented Avith a bronze statue ; the whole erected at the re- 
 quest of the celebrated Manso, the friend of Tasso and of Milton, 
 who left by will a sum of money to defray the expense. 
 
 The sepulchral chapel of the family San Severe deserves to 
 be mentioned, not so much on account of its architecture, or 
 even decorations, or the order with which the monuments are 
 disposed (though all these are worthy of notice) as on account 
 of three particular statues, two of which display the patient 
 skill, the third the genius of the sculptor. The first is a repre- 
 sentation of Modesty (Pudor) covered from head to foot with a 
 veil ; but so delicate, so apparently transparent is the veil, that 
 through its texture the spectator fancies he can trace not only 
 the general outlines of the figure but the very features and ex- 
 pression of the countenance. Mons. De Lelande observes, that 
 the ancients never veiled the whole countenance of their statues, 
 and seems to hint that the art of making the form appear as 
 it were through the foldings is a modern improvement. How- 
 ever there are antique statues even to the north of the Alps in 
 Avhich the same eft'ect is visible, and every scholar who has 
 visited the gallery at Dresden will immediately recollect some 
 female figures. Vestals I think, where the knee, the arm, the 
 breast, appears as if visible through the beautiful drapery thrown 
 over them. It must however be acknowledged, that in the 
 art of producing this illusion the moderns equal the ancients; 
 and of their skill in this respect no better instances can be 
 produced than the above-mentioned statue, a most beautiful 
 one of St. Cecilia in Rome, and a third in the chapel which I 
 am now describing. It represents our Saviour extended in the 
 sepulchre, it is covered like the preceding with a veil, and like 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 495 
 
 it exhibits the form which it infolds, with ail its features majestic 
 and almost divine even in death. This is, indeed, an exquisite 
 piece of workmanship; it displays not only as much art and pa- 
 tience as that of Modesty, but the very soul, the genius, the sub- 
 lime conceptions of the sculptor. It is generally attributed to 
 Corradini, as is the latter, and suffices alone to establish his re- 
 putation, and rank him among the first of artists. But the Neapo- 
 litans who are a little jealous of the merit of strangers, ascribed 
 it and the two others to Ginseppe San Martino their country- 
 man, whom they represent as the best sculptor of the times. 
 The attention of strangers is generally directed to another statue 
 or groupe in the same chapel, representing a man entangled in 
 a net and endeavoring with the aid of a genius to disengage 
 himself. It is called II Disinganafo, and is supposed to repre- 
 sent under this allegorical symbol the conversion of one of the 
 princes of the family to which the chapel belongs. The allegory 
 is forced, and the execution of the work shews only the patience 
 and nicety with which the sculptor managed the chissel. 
 
 To this catalogue one church more must be added, though it 
 is in many respects inferior to most in Naples, in size, materials 
 and decorations. But it has a more powerful claim to our at- 
 tention than either marble or architecture can give it; it has the 
 genius of Sannazarius to recommend it, and its name is inter- 
 woven with the title of one of the most beautiful poems which 
 have ajipeared in the Latin language, since the revival of letters. 
 The church is called from the poem Del Furto; it was erected, 
 with the little convent annexed to it, on the site of his favorite 
 Villa Mergyllina, and endowed by the poet. It took its name 
 from the quarter in which it stood, still called Mergyllina, occu- 
 pying the brow and side of a hill that slopes gently to the bay. 
 
496 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Its situation is delicious, and the view from it as extensive as 
 varied, and as beautiful as the eye of a poet in fine phrenzy rolling 
 can contemplate. Its value was moreover enhanced by the 
 dignity of the donor, and in the eyes of the poet, without doubt, 
 the smiles of the royal patron added new lustre to the native beau- 
 ties of the scenery. He accordingly frequently alludes to liis be- 
 loved retreat of Mergyllina in his different poems, and devotes 
 one entii-e ode to its charms*. This villa was destroyed by the 
 Prince of Orange, who commanded the garrison during the cele- 
 brated siege of Naples by the French. Whether this act of destruc- 
 tion was necessary or not, it is impossible for us to determine, but 
 it is not probable that it was, or could be intended as a personal 
 injury. However the indignant poet resented it as such, and 
 conceived an unrelenting hatred towards that general. On the 
 ruins of the villa the church of which we now speak was erected, 
 and dedicated Virgini parienti or De Partu. It is neither 
 large, nor remarkable for its architecture or ornaments. The 
 sole object of curiosity in it is the tomb of the founder, adorned 
 with statues and basso relievos, representing the subject of his 
 poems ; the materials are rich, and the execution good, but the 
 figures representing pagan divinities, satyrs, and nymphs, are 
 ornaments ill-adapted to the tomb of a christian poet, and 
 
 * Rupis O sacrae, pelagique custos 
 
 Villa nympharum donius, et propinquae 
 Doridos, regum decus una quondam 
 Deliciaeque 
 
 Tu mihi solos nemorum recessus 
 Das, et haerentes per opaca laurus 
 Saxa; tu fontes Aganippidumque 
 Antra recludis ! 
 
THROUGH ITAIiY. 497 
 
 strangely misplaced in a christian church. It is impossible 
 howevei" not to smile at the awkward attempt of the good 
 fathers to remedy this incongruity, by inscribing the name of 
 David under the statue of Apollo, and that of Judith under 
 Minerva. The epitaph was composed by Bembo. 
 
 Da sacro cineri flores. Hie ille Maroni 
 Sincerus musa proximus ut tumulo. 
 
 In one of the little chapels there is a picture of St. Michael 
 trampling on Satan. It is observable, that the latter is repre- 
 sented with the face of a beautifid female, and the reason given 
 is whimsical enough. The countenance of the devil is a picture 
 of a very beautiful lady, who unfortunately fell in love with 
 Diomedes CaraiFa, Bishop of Ariano, who, to shew his abhor-^ 
 rence of her sacrilegious passion, when fitting up this chapel for 
 his mausoleum, ordered the painter to degrade her into the in- 
 fernal spirit, and place her prostrate under the spear of the arch- 
 angel. For the satisfaction of the ladies, I must add, that this 
 ungallant prelate has not been canonized. A Last Supper in 
 another chapel is supposed to be a master-piece, though the 
 name of the painter is not known. 
 
 I must observe, in closing these few cursory observations on 
 the churches of Naples, that notwithstanding the bad taste which 
 prevails very generally in the architecture and decorations of 
 these edifices, the traveller will find in most of them something 
 that merits observation. In paintings in particular the Neapo- 
 litan churches are very rich, and there are few among them that 
 cannot boast of one or more exquisite specimens of this art. 
 
 But if the churches do no credit to the taste of the Neapo- 
 VOL. I. 3 s 
 
498 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 litans, the hospitals reflect much honor on their charity. These 
 estabhshnients are very numerous, and adapted to every species 
 of distress to which man is subject in mind or body. Many of 
 them arc richly endowed, and all clean, well attended and 
 ■well regulated. One circumstance almost peculiar to Italian 
 hospitals and charitable foundations, contributes essentially to 
 their splendor and prosperity : it is, that they are not only 
 attended by persons who devote themselves entirely and without 
 any interested views to the relief of suffering humanity, but 
 that they are governed and inspected not nominally, but 
 really, by persons of the first rank and education, who manage 
 the interests of the establishments with a prudence and assiduity 
 Avhich they seldom perhaps display in their own domestic economy. 
 Besides to almost every hospital is attached one and sometimes 
 more confraternities, or pious associations, formed for the pur- 
 pose of relieving some particular species of distress, or averting 
 or remedying some evil. These confraternities though founded 
 upon the basis of equality, and of course open to all ranks, 
 generally contain a very considerable proportion of noble per- 
 sons, who make it a point to fulfil the duties of the association 
 Avith an exactness as honorable to themselves, as it is exemplary 
 and beneficial to the public. These persons visit the respective 
 hospitals almost daily, inquire into the situation and circum- 
 stances of every patient, and oftentimes attend on them per- 
 sonall}^ and render them the most humble services. They 
 perform these duties in disguise, and generally in the dress 
 or uniform worn by the confraternity, for the express pur- 
 pose of diverting public attention from the individuals, and 
 fixing it on the object only of the association. Instead of de- 
 scription which would be here misplaced, I shall insert a few 
 observations. ' 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 409 
 
 Of charitable foundations in Naples, the number is above sixty. 
 Of these seven are hospitals properly so called ; thirty at least 
 are conservatories or receptacles for helpless orphans, foundlings, 
 &c. ; five are banks for the relief of such industrious poor as are 
 distressed by the occasional want of small sums of money : 
 the others are either schools or confraternities. The incomes of 
 most of these establishments, particularly of the hospitals, arfe 
 in general very considerable, but seldom equal to the expen- 
 diture. The annual deficiency, how great soever it may be, is 
 abundantl}'^ supplied by donations, most of which come from 
 unknown benefactors. 
 
 The two principal hospitals are that called Degli Inciirahili, 
 which notwithstanding its title is open to sick persons of all 
 descriptions, and constantly relieves more than eighteen hun- 
 dred; and thatofDe//« Sma. Annunziatu, which is immensely 
 rich, and destined to receive foundlings, penitent females, &c. 
 and said sometimes to harbour two thousand. To each belong 
 in the first place a villa, and in the second a cemetery. The 
 villa of the first is situated at Torre del Greco, and is destined 
 for the benefit of convalescents, and such as labor under dis- 
 tempers that require free air and exercise. A similar rural 
 retreat ought to belong to every great hospital established in 
 large cities, where half the distempers to which the poorer 
 class are liable, arise from constant confinement, and the want 
 of pure air. The cemetery is in a different way, of at least 
 equal advantage to public health. It was apprehended, and 
 not without reason, that so many bodies as must be carried 
 out from an hospital, especially in unhealthy seasons, might 
 if deposited in any church or church-3'ard within the city, 
 infect the air and produce or propagate contagious diseases. 
 
500 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 To prevent such eA'ils, the sum of forty-eight thousand five 
 hundred ducats, raised by voknitary contribution was laid out 
 in purchasing and fitting up for the purpose a field about 
 lialf a mile from the walls of the city, on a rising ground. 
 A little neat church is annexed to it, with apartments for 
 the officiating clergy and the persons attached to the service of 
 the cemetery, and the road that winds up the hill to it is 
 lined with cypresses. The burial ground is divided into three 
 hundred and sixty-six large and deep vaults, one of which 
 is opened ever}^ day in the year, and the bodies to be interred 
 deposited in order. These vaults are covered with flags of lava 
 that fit exactl}^ and completely close every aperture. The 
 bodies are carried out at night time, bv persons appointed for 
 the purpose, and every precaution ta .en to prevent even the 
 slightest chance of infection. All is done gratis and the ex- 
 penses requisite supplied by public charity. It is to be regret- 
 ted that this method of burying the dead has not been adopted 
 in every hospital and parish in Naples, and indeed in every 
 town and city not in Italy only but all over Europe. It is really 
 lamentable that a practice so disgusting, not to saj.^ so pernici- 
 ous as tlmt of heaping up putrid carcases in churches where the 
 air is necessarily cpnfined, and in church-yards in cities, where 
 it cannot have a very free circulation, should be so long and so 
 obstinately retained. It would be difficult to discover one 
 single argument drawn either from the principles of religion or 
 the dictates of reason in its favor, while its inconveniences and 
 mischiefs are visible and almost tangible. 
 
 In the early ages of Christianity the honor of being deposited 
 in the church was reserved to martyrs, and the Emperor Con- 
 stantine himself only requested to be allowed to lie in the porch 
 
 5 
 
 I 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 501 
 
 of the Basilica of the apostles, which he himself had erected in 
 Constantinople. Hence the eloquent Chrjsostom when speak- 
 ing of the triumph of Christianity, exultingly observes, that 
 the Caesars subdued by the humble fishermen whom they had 
 persecuted, now appeared as suppliants before them, and 
 gloried in occupying the place of porters at the doors of their 
 sepulchres. Bishops and priests distinguished by their learn- 
 ing, zeal and sanctity, were gradually permitted to share the 
 honors of the martyrs, and to repose with them in the sanc- 
 tuary itself. A pious wish to be <leposited in the neighbour- 
 hood of such holy persons, and to rest under the shadow of 
 the altars among some, and an absurd love of distinction 
 even beyond the grave among others, to which may be added, 
 I fear, the avarice of the clergy, who by making such a 
 distinction expensive, rendered it enviable, by degrees broke 
 through all the wholesome restrictions of anticjuity, and at 
 length converted the noblest of public edifices, the Basilicas, 
 the temples of the Eternal, the seats of holiness and purity, into 
 so many dormitories of the dead, receptacles of putridity and 
 rendered them vast infected charnel houses. 
 
 Notwithstanding the decrees of synods and the representa- 
 tions of the Faculty, notwithstanding the dictates of reason and 
 the interests of health, this abuse went on increasing and con- 
 tinued for ages in force and fashion. The first attempt I be^ 
 lieve to check or rather to remove it entirely, was made by the 
 Emperor Joseph, who prohibited by edict the interment of bodies 
 not in churches only, but even in towns and their suburbs. 
 This edict still prevails in the Low Countries, and if I mistake 
 not in the Austrian territories in general, though certain offen- 
 sive clauses gave at first, it is said, considerable scandal. 
 
rm CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and suspended for some time its full effect. The Emperor 
 Avho in his zeal for reformation, often forgot that opinion will 
 not ahvaj's bend even to power, conceived it seems that the 
 sooner the carcase is reduced to dust the better, and there- 
 fore proscribed the use of coffins, as calculated to prolong 
 the state of putrefaction and ordered lime to be strewed over 
 the corpse to accelerate its dissolution. This regulation gave, 
 as may be supposed, very general offence, not only because 
 unusual and contrary to the natural feelings, or which is nearly 
 the same thing, to the universal practice of mankind, but 
 because very opposite in appearance to that tenderness and 
 respect even for the ruins of the human form, which if not 
 enforced by the precepts, has at all times been inspired by the 
 genius of Christianity. Not perhaps Avithout reason. That 
 divine religion is ever intent on the grand object of raising, 
 aggrandizing and perfecting our nature; while it teaches us to 
 consider ourselves as destined to act in a much higher and 
 more glorious sphere than our present state, it naturally prompts 
 us to look with some degree of veneration even on our bodies, 
 which though doomed to death and putrefaction, shall yet one 
 day shake off the dust of the tomb, and though corruptible put 
 on incorruption, and though inortal put on immortaliti/. The offen- 
 sive clause was therefore very wisely suppressed, and the useful 
 and laudable provisions of the decree carried very generally 
 into execution. 
 
 Some regulation of the same kind was I think made in 
 Trance, but not so extensive. To bury in churches Avas prohi- 
 bited, but vaults were allowed, provided they did not open into 
 the church, or into any covered court or building. This was a 
 partial remedy to the evil, but still better than none, and it 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 503 
 
 cannot but appear surprising that the example of two such 
 preponderant Powers as France and Austria should not have 
 been more generally imitated. It is still more astonishing that 
 in a country governed by public reason and guided by public 
 interest as England is (excepting in a few instances when 
 the influence of the court or the spirit of party may acci- 
 dentally bias the legislature) no attempts have been made to 
 put an end to a practice so absurd and prejudicial ; especially 
 as this practice is more evidently dangerous in protestant than 
 in catholic countries, as in the former churches in general are 
 onl}' opened for a few hours on one day in the week; while 
 in the latter they are never shut, and have the additional ad- 
 vantage of being fumigated with incense and sprinkled Avith 
 holy water*. It cannot but appear strange that a people 
 so dull and unenlightened as the Turks should in this re- 
 spect show more sense and even more taste than nations in 
 every other respect their superiors. Their cemeteries are in 
 general out of the precincts of their cities, most commonly on a 
 rising ground, and always planted with cedars, cypresses, and 
 odoriferous shrubs, whose deep verdure and graceful forms 
 bending to every breeze give a melancholy beauty to the place, 
 and excite sentiments very congenial to its destination. I have 
 seen some christian cemeteries (as at Brusselles for instance) 
 situate and laid out in the same advantageous and picturesque 
 manner, with some additional precautions in the division so 
 as to preclude the possibility of heaping bodies on each other 
 or crowding them indecently together in a small space. But 
 even this arrangement is open to improvements, and it is to 
 
 * As holy water has always a considerable quantity of salt mixed with it, its 
 effect when sprinkled about a church or room must be salubrious. 
 
504 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 be hoped that such improvements will ere long be made by the 
 wisdom of a British legislature. 
 
 To return to om* subject. One remark more upon the 
 Neapolitan hospitals and I drop the subject. When a patient 
 has recovered his health and strength and is about to return to 
 his usual occupations, he receives from the establishment a sum 
 of money sufficient to compensate for the loss of time and 
 labor unavoidable during his illness ; a most benevolent custom 
 and highly worthy of imitation. A long illness or dangerous 
 accident deprives a poor laborer or artisan so long of his ordi- 
 nary wages, and throws him so far back in his little economy, 
 that he cannot without great difficulty recover himself and regain 
 a state of comfort. From this inconvenience the small sum 
 granted by the charity of the hospital relieves him, and restores 
 him to his trade in health, strength and spirits. 
 
 The Conservatorii are schools opened for poor children of 
 both sexes, where they are educated, fed, and taught some handi- 
 craft or other. Some are in the nature of working houses and 
 employ a prodigious number of indigent persons of both sexes 
 in separate buildings, while others are devoted entirely to 
 children educated principally for music. These latter institu- 
 tions have produced some or rather most of the gi-eat per- 
 formers and masters of the art, who have figured in the 
 churches or on the stages of the different capitals of Europe 
 for the last hundred years. Paesielli, CaffarcUi, and Pergolese 
 were formed in these seminaries. And indeed Naples is to 
 Italy, what Italy is to the world at large, the great school of 
 music, where that fascinating art is cultivated with the greatest 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 505 
 
 ardor; an ardor oftentimes carried to an extreme and productive 
 of consequences highly mischievous and degrading to hu- 
 manity. It is true that the castration of boys is rigorously pro- 
 hibited by the laws both of church and state ; but as long as 
 the fashionable classes in London and Paris think proper to 
 encourage and reward by enormous wages such performers, so 
 long venal parents in Naples will find means to evade the laws, 
 and still continue to sacrifice their unfortunate children to the 
 hopes or rather the certainty of profit. But this practice is 
 on the decline even here, and in justice to the Neapolitans I 
 must observe, that if we may believe them, the operation al- 
 luded to, is not permitted ; nor indeed ever practised in their 
 schools, but that unhappy children in that condition, when sent 
 from other places are not excluded. 
 
 Of the numberless confraternities I shall only specify such as 
 have some unusual and very singular object : such is that whose 
 motto is Succurre Miseris, the members of which make it their 
 duty to visit condemned criminals, prepare them for death, ac- 
 company them to execution, and give them a decent burial. 
 They carry their charitable attentions still farther, and provide 
 for the widows and children of these unhappy wretches. This 
 society was originally composed of some of the first nobility of 
 the city, but the tyrant Philip, influenced it seems by motives 
 of political suspicion, forbad the nobles to enter into such asso- 
 ciations, and in particular, confined the one we are speaking of 
 to the clergy. 
 
 The congregation De S. Ivone consists of lawyers, who under- 
 take to plead the causes of the poor gratis, and furnish all the 
 expences necessary to carry their suits through the courts with 
 
 VOL. I. 3 T 
 
506 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 effect. To be entitled to the assistance and support of this 
 association, no recommendation or introduction is required ; the 
 person applying has only to prove his poverty, and give in a full 
 and fair statement of his case. 
 
 Congregazioiie clella Croce, composed principally of nobi- 
 lity to relieve the poor, and imprisoned, and particularly ta 
 bury the bodies of such distressed and forsaken persons Avhen 
 dead. 
 
 The congregation Delia Sta. Trinita del PeUeo-rmi is destined, 
 as its name imports, more particularly for the relief of strangers, 
 and is composed of persons of all classes, who meet in its 
 assemblies and fulfil its duties without distinction. It is govern- 
 ed by five persons, one of whom presides, and is generally a 
 prelate or high officer of state; the others are a nobleman, a 
 citizen, a lawyer, and an artisan. All the members attend the 
 hospital in rotation, each for a week, during which they receive 
 strangers, wash their feet, attend them at table, and serve them 
 Avith the humility and with more than the assiduity of menials. 
 
 The congregation of Nobles for the relief of the bashful 
 poor. The object of this association is to discover and re- 
 lieve such industrious persons as are reduced to poverty by 
 misfortune, and have too much spirit, or too much modesty, 
 to solicit public assistance. The members of this association, it 
 is said, discharge its benevolent duties with a zeal, a sagacity, 
 and what is still more necessary for the accomplishment of their 
 object, Avith a delicacy and kindness truly admirable. All these 
 confraternities have halls, churches, and hospitals, more or less 
 grand and extensive as their object may lequire, or their means 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY- 507 
 
 allow. I need not enlarge further upon this subject, as the insti- 
 tutions already mentioned are sufficient to give the readers an 
 idea of these confraternities, and to shew at tlie same time the 
 extent and activity of Neapolitan benevolence. Much has been 
 said, and, though exaggerations are not uncommon on this sub- 
 ject, much more may be said against the voluptuousness and de- 
 bauchery of the inhabitants of this city; yet it must at the 
 same time be confessed, that in the first and most useful of 
 virtues, the grand characteristic quality of the Christian, 
 Charity, she surpasses many and yields to no city in the 
 universe*. 
 
 Of the royal palaces, and those of the nobility, the same 
 may be said as of the churches ; that the style of archi- 
 tecture is not pure, nor of course majestic; that they are 
 in general too much encumbered with ornaments, though in 
 many the apartments are on a grand scale, and ornamented 
 with many fme paintings. In the garden of one, the Palazzo 
 Berrio, is a groupe representing Venus and Adonis by Canova 
 of exquisite workmanship and beauty. The collection of pic- 
 tures formerl}^ at the Capo di Monte had been removed on the 
 approach of the French, and not replaced. This edifice is a 
 
 * Even in the very respect in which Naples is supposed to be most deficient, I 
 mean in regard to chastity, there are instances of attention to morality not to be 
 equalled in any transalpine capital. For instance, there are more retreats open 
 to repentant females, and more means employed to secure the innocence of girls 
 exposed to the dangers of seduction by their age, their poverty, or by the loss, 
 the neglect, or the wickedness of their parents, than are to be found in London, 
 Paris, Vienna and Petersburgh united. Of this latter description there are four 
 hundred educated in one conservatorio, and not only educated, but when fit for 
 aaarriage, portioned out according to their talents. 
 
 3t 2 
 
508 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 royal palace of great extent, and in a delightful situation, com- 
 manding a fine view of the town, and the bay with all its islands 
 and surrounding scenery. It was never finished, and is not in- 
 habited. Its vast apartments were employed as picture galle- 
 ries, and the collection is numerous and rich in master-pieces. 
 But as the access to this palace is inconvenient on account of its 
 elevation, it is the intention of government to transport the 
 whole to the Studii or University, a very spacious edifice, 
 where is already a noble collection of statues. Among these the 
 celebrated Hercules by Glycon, is the most remarkable. All 
 these statues and monuments once adorned the Farnesian palace 
 in Rome, and were transported thence by the king of Naples, 
 who succeeded to the rich inheritance of the Farnesian family. 
 The library of the Studii contains more than fifty thousand vo- 
 lumes, and some valuable manuscripts. Neither this library 
 nor the collection of statues suffered much fi'om the rapacity of 
 the French during their late invasion. This establishment is 
 planned on a vast scale, and intended to contain all the royal 
 museums and libraries, and to comprise all the instruments and 
 apparatus of all the arts and sciences. In fact, Naples is very 
 Avell supplied with all the means of instruction as far as depends 
 upon public estabhshments. It has four public libraries, the 
 University which 1 have just mentioned, and six colleges, be- 
 sides schools and conservatorii beyond number. The advantages 
 arising from so many literary establishments are accordingly very 
 perceptible, and the number of learned men produced by Naples 
 is equal perhaps to that of any city of the same popula- 
 tion. Some Neapolitan authors carry their pretensions so far 
 as to place the number and merit of their writers upon a level 
 with those of Paris, and from the list of publications which 
 they produce, an impartial man Avould find it difficult to decide; 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 509 
 
 against them. Their Parisian rivals object, that even the names 
 of their authors, not to saj their Avorks, have scarcely passed 
 the Alps, and are not known beyond the narrow circle of aca- 
 demicians even in Italy, while the names of Voltaire Mormon- 
 iel, &c. are celebrated in every capital of Europe, and their 
 works perused in every circle. To this observation the Neapoli- 
 tans reply, that the superior fame of French authors is owing to 
 the prevalence of the French language, and that that prevalence 
 is certainly not to be ascribed either to its intrinsic merit, 
 or to the superior excellence of its literature, but to the pre- 
 ponderance of French power. Thus, say they, French dress 
 has been generally adopted at courts, and Avas during a con- 
 siderable part of the last century the dress of Europe, but no- 
 body surely can be so absurd as to pretend that it owed its univer- 
 sality either to its gracefulness or its convenience. The literature 
 therefore like the fashions of France, was recommended first 
 by power and afterwards by custom ; and when avc add to 
 the merits of the former a great deal of intrigue, of trick 
 and of noise, we shall discover the real causes of its ill- 
 acquired superiority. In truth. Frenchmen of every de- 
 scription are never Avanting in the praises of every thing 
 French, and Avhatever their differences in other respects may 
 be, all agree in asserting their national pretensions to univer- 
 sal superiority. The Italians are more modest, because they 
 have more solidity ; they Avrite to please their OAvn taste and 
 that of those Avho choose to read them ; they employ no 
 journals to puff off their compositions, send no emissaries to 
 spread their fame over distant countries, and pay no agents 
 in foreign courts. They leave their language and their works 
 to their own intrinsic merit, and rest their claim to gtory 
 
510 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 on the undisputed excellence of their predecessors. As for 
 the present reputation of French hterature, our Neapolitans 
 consider it as the fashion of the day, the dehrium of the times, 
 and doubt not, that it will ere long subside in contempt and in- 
 difference. Such indeed has been the fate of that absurd 
 fondness for French dress which disgraced our ancestors ; and 
 as we now smile at their want of taste in giving the prefer- 
 ence to garments so stiff, graceless and unnatural ; so our de- 
 scendants may possibly contemplate with equal ridicule and 
 surprize, the preposterous partiality which the present age has 
 shewn to the frippery and tinsel of French literature. In justice 
 to the Neapolitans it must be admitted, that the progress of 
 French literature has been considerably advanced by the spirit ' 
 and intrigues of the philosophic party. The French language was 
 the medium by which they were to disseminate their opinions; 
 no expence therefore was spared, no exertion wanting to extend 
 its use and influence. Teachers were hired and sent to the most 
 distant towns, to disseminate its principles and facilitate its ac- 
 quisition. Attempts w^ere made to undermine, at least secretly 
 to lessen the respect paid to the ancient languages, particularly 
 Latin ; and the Gallic idiom with its lumber of auxiliaries, its nasal 
 dissonance, and truncated syllables was compared, nay almost 
 preferred to the simplicity, harmony and fulness of that divine 
 dialect. But independent of language, the Neapolitans cer- 
 tainly have the advantage in point of science and of ancient 
 literature, particularly Greek, a language much neglected in 
 France, and indeed in most continental universities*. 
 
 * The writer happened to be present in a large party when the conversation 
 turning upon modern literature, a discussion arose between two persons about tlie 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 511 
 
 But whatever may be our opinion of the claims of our Nea- 
 poUtan literati to precedence on this occasion, we must acknow- 
 ledge, that there exist in this capital a vast mass of information, 
 a great activity of mind and a wonderful aptitude, fostered by 
 the serenity of the climate, to excellence in every branch of 
 science and composition. 
 
 Few cities stand in less need of architectural magnificence 
 or internal attractions than Naples ; had it even fewer arti- 
 ficial recommendations, it would still be a most desirable re- 
 sidence. So beautiful is its neighbourhood ! so delicious it 
 climate! Before it spreads the sea with its bays, promontories 
 and islands ; behind it rise mountains and rocks in every 
 fantastic form, and always clothed with verdure; on each side 
 
 comparative merit of Italian and French literature. One, a gentleman of very ge- 
 neral information and a traveller, well acquainted with the scenery and antiquities 
 of Italy, expressed however great contempt for its literature, and seemed astonished 
 that his opponent could even think of putting it in competition with the master- 
 pieces with which the French language abounded. This brought on a comparison 
 of poets, historians, essayists, &c. &'c. in which the Italians must always have the 
 advantage both in numbers and excellence. Some months after the two dispu- 
 tants happened accidentally to meet again, when the same subject being sliohtly 
 hinted, it appeared that the champion for French literature had entirely changed 
 his opinion. The truth, it seems, was that he had devoted his time and attention 
 to the French language, and had imbibed among that vain people a contempt for 
 their more learned and more modest neighbours. He had never heard the 
 names, nor even suspected the existence of three-fourths of the Italian writers, 
 and was surprized when he turned his attention that way to find a mine so rich 
 and inexhaustible. The situation of this gentleman is perlmps that of many 
 readers well acquainted with French writers, but total strangers to the Italian, 
 Yet these latter have been, as Voltaire very candidly acknowledges, their masters, 
 and have imparted to them that share of taste, science, and refinement, in which 
 they glory, and vainly affect to equal their teachers. 
 
512 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 swell hills and hillocks covered with groves, and gardens, and 
 orchards blooming with fruits and flowers. Every morning 
 a gale springing from the sea brings vigor and coolness with 
 it, and tempers the greatest heats of summer with its freshness. 
 Every evening a breeze blowing from the hills and sweeping all 
 the perfumes of the country before it, fills the nightly atmosphere 
 with fragrance. 
 
 It is not surprising therefore that to such a country and such 
 a climate the appellation of Felix should have been so often 
 given ; that its sweets should be supposed to have enervated an 
 army of barbarians ; that the Romans covered its coasts with 
 their villas, and that so many poets should have made the deli- 
 cious Parthenope their theme and their retreat. 
 
 Nunc molles urbi ritus atque hospita musis 
 Otia, et exemptum curis gravioribus cevum 
 Sireiuini dedit una,suum et memorabile nomen 
 Parthenope .... Sil. Ital, Lib, xii. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 5t3 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Virgil's tomb — grotto of posilipo — lago d'agnano — grotto 
 
 DEL CANE ASTRONI NISIDA POZZUOLO — CICERO's ACADE- 
 
 MIA AND CUMAN VILLA. 
 
 U NDER our windows, and bordering on the beach is the 
 royal garden, laid out in parterres, and walks shaded by rows of 
 orange trees. In the middle stands the Toro Faniese, the cele- 
 brated Farnesian bull, a groupe representing Amphion and 
 Zethus binding Dirce to the horns of a bull. It was discovered in 
 the midst of a heap of rubbish in one of the halls of the baths of 
 Caracalla at Rome, first deposited in the Farnesian palace, and 
 thence transported to Naples. The bull is considered as the 
 finest sculptured quadruped in existence; the other figures are 
 modern. This garden has not the luxuriance of shade that pro- 
 mises coolness during the sultry hours of the day, but in the 
 evening it affords a delicious retreat to the traveller who, as 
 he reclines over the waves that bathe the terrace wall, enjoys at 
 once their freshness and murmurs. 
 
 Proceeding westward along the Chiaia and keeping towards 
 the beach, we came to the quarter called MergylUna. To 
 ascend the hill of Posilipo over Avhose sides this quarter spreads, 
 we turned to the right, and followed a street winding as a 
 
 VOL. I. 3 t; 
 
514 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 staircase up the steep, and terminating at a garden gate. Having 
 entered, we pursued a path through a vineyard and descending 
 a httle, came to a small square building, flat-roofed, placed on a 
 sort of platform on the brow of a precipice on one side, and 
 on the other sheltered by a super-incumbent rock. An aged 
 ilex, spreading from the sides of the rock, and bending over the 
 edifice covers the roof with its ever verdant foliage. Num- 
 berless shrubs spring around, and interwoven with ivy clothe the 
 walls and hang in festoons over the precipice. The edifice 
 before us was an ancient tomb — the tomb of Virgil! We 
 entered; a vaulted cell and two modern windows alone pre- 
 sent themselves to view : the poet's name is the only ornament 
 of the place. No sarcophagus, no urn, and even no inscrip- 
 tion to feed the devotion of the classical pilgrim. The epi- 
 taph which though not genuine is yet ancient, was inscribed 
 by the order of the Duke of Fescolangiano, then proprietor of 
 the place, on a marble slab placed in the side of the rock op- 
 posite the entrance of the tomb, where it still remains. Every 
 body is acquainted with it — 
 
 Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc 
 Parthenope, cecini pascua, rura, duces. 
 
 An Italian author, I think Pietro de Steffano, assures us 
 that he himself had seen about the year 1526, the urn supposed 
 to contain the poet's ashes, standing in the middle of the se- 
 pulchre supported by nine little marble pillars, with the inscrip- 
 tion just quoted, on the frieze. He adds, that Robert of Anjou 
 apprehensive lest such a precious relic should be carried olf or 
 destroyed during the wars then raging in the kingdom, took the 
 urn aiid pillars from the tomb and deposited them in the Castel 
 Nicovo. This exti^eme precaution had an eflfeet very different 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 515 
 
 iTom that intended, and occasioned the loss it was meant to pre- 
 vent; for notwithstanding the most laborious search and frequent 
 enquiries made by the orders of Alphonso of Arragon, they were 
 never more discovered *. 
 
 The story is related in a different manner by Alplionsiis He- 
 redia, Bishop of Ariano. According to this author, the urn, the 
 pillars, and some little statues that adorned the sepulchre Avere 
 presented by the Neapolitan government to the Cardinal of 
 Mantua, who proceeding homewards by sea, was taken ill and 
 died at Genoa. Of the urn and pillars no further mention is 
 made. Perhaps indeed they never existed ; their number and 
 their size seem inconsistent with the plain and simple style pre- 
 valent in the time of Augustus; besides, if they had been the 
 original ornaments of the place they could scarce have survived 
 so many centuries of war and devastation, or escaped the rage of 
 so many barbarous invaders, indifferent to the glory, and fre- 
 quaitly unacquainted even with the very name of Virgil. 
 
 But there are authors who go still farther, and venture to 
 assert, that the tomb of which we are now speaking, is not the 
 sepulchre of Virgil. Of this number are the classic Addison 
 and the laborious and accurate Cluverius. The authority of two 
 such eminent persons, without doubt, carries great weight with 
 it, but that weight is upon this occasion considerably lessened 
 by the Aveakness of the arguments on Avhich their opinion is 
 grounded. These arguments may be found in Cluveriiis, as 
 
 * One Eugenio, an author of 1625, informs us, upon what authority I know 
 not, that a stone was found in a neighboring villa, inscribed with these words : 
 Siste viator pauca legito, 
 Hie Maro situs est. 
 3 u 2 
 
516 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Addison merely expresses his opinion without entering into any 
 discussion. They are drawn, from a few verses of Statius, which 
 I cite the more willingly as they describe the surrounding scenery*. 
 
 En egomet somnum et geniale secutus 
 Littus, ubi Ausonio se condidit hospita portu 
 Parthenope, tenues ignavo pollice chordas 
 Pulso, Maroneique sedens in margine templi 
 Sumo animum, et magni turaulis adcanto magistri. 
 
 And farther on, 
 
 Hoc ego Chalcldicis, ad te, Marcelle sonabam 
 
 Littoribus, fractas ubi Vesbius egerit iras, 
 
 jlCmula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis. Stat. S_i/L lib. iv. 4. 
 
 According to the geographer, Statius here asserts, that Virgil's 
 tomb stood on the beach, and at the foot of Vesuvius. He who 
 follows the shore, says Cluverius, cannot be supposed to ascend 
 the hills, and yet by following the shore, Statius arrives at the tem- 
 ple (or tomb of Mai'o), and reclines within its precincts. Again, 
 the poet, when within the verge itself of the temple of Maro, 
 says that he wrote there, " iibi Vesbius egerit iras," &c. therefore 
 Virgil's tomb must have been at the foot of Vesuvius. In the 
 first place, the word secutus is here taken in a figurative sense, 
 as is evident from the word sonmum, and means following the ge- 
 nius, or in other words yielding to the influence of the coast. 
 This mode of reasoning, drawn from the strict sense or rather 
 sound of the Avords, is barel}' admissible even in logical and me- 
 taphysical discussions ; it is not certainly conformable to the la- 
 titude allowed in ordinary description, whether in conversation 
 or writing; much less is it applicable to the boldness of poetical 
 composition. The expressions alluded to seem evidently to 
 
 * Syl. IV. Carm. quart. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 517 
 
 describe the general features of the country, and not the parti- 
 cular spot where stood the tomb of Virgil. Besides, the word 
 littus does not mean the beach only, but extends to the imme- 
 diate neighborhood of the sea; now the road to Virgil's tomb 
 runs actually along the beach, and though it turns from it in 
 ascending the hills, yet it is always within sight of it, and in fact 
 never deviates half a quarter of a mile from it, even when it 
 terminates in the sepulchre itself. Now, in following such a 
 road a poet may literally say, that he traverses the beach, and 
 always remains on the shore itself. Surely a sepulchre, standing 
 upon an eminence a quarter of a mile from the sea, and looking 
 down upon it, may be said to be upon the coast. 
 
 The argument drawn from the neighborhood of Vesuvius has 
 less foundation than even the explanation given to the word 
 littus; the conjunction nbi is very different from the preposition 
 sub, which the geographer substitutes as synonimous; as the latter 
 marks an immediate vicinity and almost contiguity, while the 
 former, unless restricted by an additional word or circumstance, 
 merely implies a general neighborhood, as in the same country 
 or district. Thus, Sub tegmine fagi — Forte sub arguta — Hinc 
 alta sub rupe, &c. — are instances of the one, while the following 
 verse sufficiently points out the sense given to the other. 
 
 Ad terram Hesperiam venies ubi Lydius arva 
 
 Inter opinia virum leni fluit agraine Tybris. ii. 781. 
 
 The poet therefore here alludes to the general and most striking- 
 features of the country, and not to the particular site of Virgil's 
 tomb, as must appear evident to any reader, who peruses the 
 passage above cited with a mind unbiassed by previous opinions; 
 especially as Statins positively says, that he was on the hills when 
 at Virgil's tomb, magni tumulis adcanto magistri. 
 
518 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 As for the two epigrams of Martial, quoted by Cluverius, they 
 only seem to insinuate that Silius Italicus was proprietor both 
 of the tomb of Virgil and the villa of Cicero, a circumstance 
 very immaterial to the present discussion, but rather favorable 
 than contrary to the common opinion ; for we know that Cicero's 
 villa lay on the same side of Naples as Posihpo, and as Virgil's 
 tomb belonged to the same master as the villa, it may be sup- 
 posed that they were not very distant from each other. In iine, 
 ia opposition to these arguments, or rather conjectures founded 
 upon the vague expressions of a single poet (a poet often censured 
 for his obscui'ity), we have the constant and uninterrupted tra- 
 dition of the country supported by the authority of a numerous 
 host of learned and ingenious antiquaries; and upon such 
 grounds we may still continue to cherish the conviction, that 
 we have visited the tomb of Virgil, and hailed his sacred shade 
 mi the spot Avhere his ashes long reposed*. 
 
 The laurel which was once said to have sprung up at its base, 
 and covered it with its luxuriant branches, now flourishes only 
 in the verses of youthful bards, or in the descriptions of early 
 travellers ; myrtle, ivy and ilex, all plants equally agi'eeable to 
 
 * The reader will observe, that in this discussion, neither the testimony of Do- 
 natus, nor that of St. Jerom in the Chronicle of Eusebius, has been produced, 
 as the life of Virgil, bearing the name of that grammarian, is generally rejected 
 as spurious, and the chronicle is considered at best as suspicious, and the passage 
 alluding to Virgil supposed to be an interpolation. The learned German editor 
 of Virgil, Heyne, accuses the monks of this double imposition, and represents 
 them as employing all their accustometl machinery of magic and miracles to raise 
 and emblazon the fame of the Roman poet. Alas ! the charge is too complimen- 
 tary. The poor monks, I fear, employed very little of their time or talents upon 
 either the works or the reputation of Virgil. They perhaps transcribed him as 
 they found him ; the rest was probably the invention of the grammarians of the 
 fifth and sixth centuries, with some additions and improvements by those of the 
 fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteeHth. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 519 
 
 the genius of the place, and the subjects of the poet, now perform 
 the office of tlie long-withered bays, and encircle the tomb with 
 verdure and perfume. 
 
 The sepulchre of Virgil, it may be imagined, must have 
 long remained an object of interest and veneration, especially 
 as his works had excited universal admiration even in his life- 
 time, and were very soon after his death put into the hands of 
 children, and made a part of the rudiments of early education *. 
 Yet Martial declares that it had been neglected in his time, and 
 that Silius Italicus alone restored its long forgotten honors. 
 
 Jam prope, desertos cineres, et sancta Maronis 
 Nuraina qui coleret, pauper et unus erat. 
 
 Silius Andiiio tandem succurrit agello, 
 Silius et vatem, non minor ipse, colitt. 
 
 Lib. IX. 49. 
 
 This negligence in an age of so much refinement can- 
 not but appear astonishing, even though we recollect that 
 the same age had been terrified by the cruelties of four suc- 
 cessive tyrants, and distracted by two most destructive wars 
 raging in the very heart of Italy. Our surprize however may 
 cease when we recollect, that in the present most polished 
 and enlightened century, in less than' sixty years after Pope's 
 death, at a time when his works were in the hands of every 
 child, and had been translated into every language, his house 
 
 * Quint. 1. 5. 
 
 + This honorable testimony to the judgment and taste of Silius is confirmed by 
 Pliny, " Virgilii (imaginem venerabatur) ante omnes, cujus natalem religiosius 
 quam suam celebrabat Neapoli maxime, ubi monumentum ejus adire, ut templum 
 solebat. Lib. iii. Ep. 7. — The custom of honoring Virgil's birth-day does not 
 seem to have been peculiar to this poet, as Martial alludes to it more than once, 
 if I do not mistake. 
 
520 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 was levelled with the ground, his grotto defaced, the trees 
 planted by his own hand rooted up, and his whole retreat, the 
 seat of genius and the British muse, ravaged and stript of the 
 very ornaments which endeared them to the public, because they 
 were the creation of the poet's fancy, and still seemed to bear 
 the impression of his mind. Houses and gardens, grottos and 
 sepulchres, are, it is true, the most perishable of monuments, 
 and the Hero and the Poet must finally rest their hopes of fame 
 on their virtues and their talents, the sole memorial (eve peren- 
 niiis, supei'ior to time and barbarism. Yet the longer even such 
 frail monuments as the former are preserved the better ; the at- 
 tention paid to their conservation is a tribute to genius, and a 
 honorable proof of the prevalence of taste and information in 
 a country*. 
 
 The reader will learn with regret that Virgil's tomb, conse- 
 
 * Ah ! si dans vos travaux est toujours respecte 
 Le lieu par un grand homme autrefois habite, 
 Conibien doit I'etre un sol embelli par lui meme ! 
 
 Dans ses sites fameux c'est leur maitre qu'on aime 
 
 Loin done I'audacieux, qui pour le corriger, 
 
 Profane un lieu celebre en voulant le changer 
 
 Le grand homme au tombeau se plaint de cet outrage 
 
 Et les ans seuls ont droit d'embellir son ouvrage : 
 
 Gardez done d'attenter a ces lieux reveres ; 
 
 Leur debris sont divins, leurs defauts sont sacres. 
 
 Conservez leurs enclos, leurs jardins, leurs murailles; .... 
 
 Tel j'ai vu ce Twickenham, dont Pope est createur 
 
 Le gout le defendit d'un art profanateur 
 
 Et ses maitres nouveaux reverant sa memoire 
 
 Dans I'cEuvre de ses niairs ont respecte sa gloire. 
 
 Ciel! avec quel transport j'ai visite ce lieu 
 
 Dont Mendip est le maitre, et dont Pope est le dieu ! 
 
 Abbe De Lille, Jardins, in. 
 This passage will; I suppose, be expunged in the next edition. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 521 
 
 crated as it ouoht to be to genius and meditation, is sometimes 
 converted into the retreat of assassins, or tlie lurking place of 
 Sbirri. Such at least it was the last time we visited it, when 
 wandering ihat way about sun-set, we found it filled with 
 armed men. We were surprized on both sides, and on our's 
 not very agreeably at the unexpected rencounter ; so lonely the 
 place and so threatening the aspects of these strangers. Their 
 manners however were courteous; and on inquiry we were 
 informed that they were Sbirri, and then lying in wait for a 
 murderer, who was supposed to make that spot his nightly 
 asylum. It Avould be unjust to accuse the Neapolitans of cul- 
 pable indifference towards this or any other monument of anti- 
 quity; but it is incumbent on the proprietor or the public, to 
 secure them against such profanation. On the whole, few 
 places are in themselves more picturesque, and from the recol- 
 lection inseparably interwoven with it, no spot is more interesting 
 than the tomb of Virgil. 
 
 Tune sacrum felix aluisti, Terra, Maronem? 
 
 Tune pio celas ossa beata sinu ? 
 Anne etiara, ut fama est, Vatis placidissima aaspe 
 
 Inter odoratum cernitur umbra nemus? 
 
 Flaminius. 
 
 In truth, the hill or mountain of Posilipo* on which the sepul- 
 chre stands is beautiful in the extreme, and is justly honored with 
 its appellation, for no scene is better calculated to banish me- 
 lancholy and exhilarate the mind. 
 
 * It took its name from a villa of Vedius PoUio, erected in the time of Augustus, 
 and called Pausilypum, from the effect which its beauty was supposed to produce 
 in suspending sorrow and anxiety. 
 
 VOL. I. 3 X 
 
522 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 On the second of June after dinner we made an excursion to 
 the Lago d'Agnano : the road is along the Cliiaia, and the Strada 
 Fuzziiolana (Via Puteclana) through the grotto of the same 
 name. Doubt and obscurity hang over the origin and author 
 of tliis celebrated excavation : some have ascribed it to Lucul- 
 lus, who indeetl opened a communication between his fish ponds 
 and the sea, but differing widely both in form and direction 
 from the grotto. Strabo attributes it to Cocceius, who is sup- 
 posed by a learned Italian (Pontanus) to be the same Avho Avas 
 appointed to superintend the Roman aqueducts, and was in 
 high repute for his skill in that species of architecture. It is 
 probable, that it was originally opened as a quarry, like many 
 similar excavations in its immediate neighborhood, and under 
 the very same mountain, and when considerably advanced it 
 might have been continued and completed by public authority, 
 as a road well calculated to facilitate the communication be- 
 tween Naples and the towns that lay eastward on one side, and 
 Puteoli, Baia?, and Cumaj on the other. It was at first, and 
 seems long to have remained, a dark, dusty and inconvenient 
 passage. " Nihil," says Seneca, " illo carcere longius," nihil 
 illis faucibus obscurius, quae nobis prsestant, non ut per tene- 
 bras videamus, sed utipsas;" that is, in the language of Mil- 
 ton, it rendered darkness lisible. Great allowance must be 
 made for the turgid style of this declaimer, as Strabo^ a plain 
 unaffected author, prior to Seneca, does not speak of these 
 inconveniencies. However, we may fairly suppose it to have 
 been at that time both gloomy and narrow, as it owes its pre- 
 sent breadth and elevation to modern labor, Alphonsus I. 
 began, and Charles V. completed its improvement, and con- 
 verted it into a wide and convenient passage. Its length is 
 nearly three quarters of a mile, its breadth is about twenty-four 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 523 
 
 feet, its height is unequal, as the entrance at each end is extremely 
 lofty to admit the light, while the vault lowers as it advances 
 towards the middle, where it is about twenty-five feet from the 
 ground. It is paved with large flags of lava, and in many places 
 lined, and I believe, vaulted with stone-work. During the da}', 
 two circular apertures bored through the mountain admit a dim 
 glinmiering of light from above; and at night a lamp burn- 
 ing before an image of the blessed Virgin placed in a recess in 
 the middle, casts a feeble gleam over the gloomiest part of the 
 passage. Such, however, is the obscurity towards evening that 
 nobody ventures to go through it without a torch, and even with 
 a torch one feels a sort of joy on escaping from these subterra- 
 neous horrors. This grotto is, on the whole, a very singular and 
 striking object ; and the approach to it on both sides between 
 two vast walls of solid rock, and its lofty entrances like the gates 
 into the regions of the dead, and the shrubs and tufts of wild 
 flowers that wave in loose festoons from the top of the precipice 
 as if to soften the terrors of the chasm beneath, form altogether a 
 most picturesque and extraordinary combination. 
 
 No prospect can be, more truly Elysian than that which 
 presented itself, when we had emerged from the grotto and 
 passed the little suburb beyond it. The road runs in a 
 strait line to the sea through a valley formed by two 
 branches of Monte Posilipo. On both sides rise groves of pop- 
 lars and mulberry-trees united by vines, interwoven in thick 
 clustering garlands, suspended over rich harvests of wheat and 
 maize all waving to the sea breeze. On the right a road 
 turns off and leads through a dell to the Lago d'Agnano. A 
 hill on one side, and a mountain on the other, shaded with 
 poplars, give freshness and verdure to the walk. The lake, 
 
 3x 2 
 
524 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 though it is a fine expanse of water of a circular form, about two 
 miles in circumference, yet derives its greatest beauty from 
 the "verdure that borders its margin, and the noble hills that rise 
 around it and crown its bason. As there is no mention made of 
 this lake among the ancients, we may be allowed to suppose that 
 it is an artificial hollow, and perhaps the celebrated fish pond 
 sunk by Lucullus. His villa stood in the neighborhood or 
 rather close to the lake, and the communication which he opened 
 between his ponds and the sea is still discernible. The situation 
 corresponds with the account, and the extent is 'by no means 
 too considerable, as Pliny the Elder assures us, that the ponds 
 were more expensive than the villa itself, and must consequently 
 have been of vast magnitude*. The silence of the ancients 
 with regard to this lake is not, it must be acknowledged, a suf- 
 ficent proof that it was originally a fish-pond; it may have been 
 produced since by natural causes, and in a countrj' so agitated 
 by the working of subterraneous fires, such changes may be sup- 
 posed, without improbability, to have occurred. But if such a 
 phenomenon had taken place, it would have been recorded, like 
 the origin of Motif c Nuovo, in the annals or at least the tradi- 
 tions of the times. Now, no mention is made, no memorial oc- 
 curs, of any such revolution ; while of the pond of Lucullus, so 
 often alluded to by the ancients, not the least trace is to be 
 found, if we except the vestiges of its communication with the 
 sea. It is not therefore unreasonable to conjecture, that the 
 lake of 7\gnano may be the pond of Lucullus, as it occu- 
 pies nearly the same site, and in magnitude corresponds Avith 
 the grandeur and opulence of that luxurious Roman. 
 
 IX. 54. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 525 
 
 As the traveller advances he finds on his right, a few paces 
 from the borders of the lake, the Grotto del Cane, a small aperture 
 in the side of the mountain, remarkable for a deadly vapor tJiat 
 rises from its bottom, and for the perpetual experiment of its 
 efficacy on dogs. If we may credit Cluverius, the force of this 
 exhalation has not been felt by dogs only, but sometimes tried 
 with a result more destructive upon Turkish captives, and con- 
 demned criminals. Sometimes however it is said to have failed 
 on the human species. The effect seems to vary perhaps with the 
 weather and season, and perhaps with the working of the subter- 
 raneous ingredients from which it rises. It existed in the same 
 neighborhood and perhaps in the same place in ancient times, 
 and is alluded to by the elder Pliny, and the spots that emit it 
 called by him in his lofty manner Char onece scrohes^, mid spira^ula 
 Ditis. Turning to the left the traveller will observe an edifice in 
 tended for the purpose of vapor baths ; the vapor rises hot from the 
 earth, and when confined to a room, very soon throws the person 
 exposed to its action into a violent perspiration. It is supposed 
 to be of peculiar efficacy in rheumatic and gouty complaints. 
 The air in the vicinity of this lake is considered as extremely in- 
 salubrious during the heats of summer, but this dangerous quality 
 is ascribed not so much to the nature of the place itself, or to the 
 exhalations that arise from the soil, as to the stench occasioned by 
 the quantity of flax put into the water to steep at that season; a 
 circumstance that will astonish the reader not a little, as it is 
 natural to suppose that the government would prohibit a practice 
 which even in cold countries is oti'ensive, and in hot cHmates 
 must be pestilential. 
 
 Plin. II. 93. 
 
526 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 From the baths we proceeded between two rows of trees, 
 for some time along the margin of the lake, and then up a steep 
 hill to Astro7ii, once the crater of a volcano, now a royal chace 
 or forest. The sides and bottom of this vast orifice are covered 
 with large trees, and form a scene very refreshing and beautiful. 
 The circumference above may be about two miles and a half, 
 and the descent a quarter of a mile. It is enclosed by a stone 
 wall, and strictly speaking reserved for royal amusement. It is 
 said to be Avell stocked with game of every kind. These objects 
 furnished entertainment for a long and delightful afternoon : we 
 returned by the same road, and entered Naples in the dusk of 
 the evening. 
 
 On the third of June we set out on an excursion to Puteoli, 
 Baiae, &c. We took the same road as in our last excursion, but in- 
 stead of turning off to Agnano continued to the shore. When 
 we arrived there another view opened upon us, varied, rich, and 
 beautiful ; on our left, the rocky promontory of Posilipo, and 
 the little island of Nisida rising steep from the waves; on our 
 right, the road run along steep precipices formed of lava, and 
 terminated in Pozzuolo. Before us, appeared in succession the high 
 coast and castle of BaicE, the promontory of Misemis, and the 
 peak of Inarime (Ischia). This union of islands, promontories, 
 rocks or castles forms the enchanting bay of Pozzuolo. The 
 point of the promontory of Posilipo is naturally broken, and 
 wrought into various bays, islands, and caverns, and these again 
 are hollowed by art into grottos, baths, and recesses, forming a 
 scene singular, grotesque, and resembling the work of enchant- 
 ment. Hence the Neapolitans call it the Scuola di Virgilio, and 
 ascribe it to the magical powers of the poet. We may with 
 more probability attribute it in part to Vedius Pollio, whose villa 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 527 
 
 so famed for its ponds stood on the hill behind at a little distance, 
 and to Augustus who inherited it after the death of Pollio. 
 Lucullus may have had his share in the work, as well as num- 
 berless other Romans of equal opulence, who successively inha- 
 bited this delicious coast. 
 
 The island of iSHsida, that lies at a little distance from the 
 promontor\% was anciently Nesis, and is represented as enveloped 
 in noxious steams, and emitting pestilential exhalations. 
 
 Nesis 
 
 Emittit stygium nebulosis aera saxis. 
 
 Antraque lethiferi rabiem Tjphonis anhelant. Liican vi. 
 
 Its situation and modern appearance, however, are such as to give 
 an idea of coolness and salubrity, and accordingly it enjoys a bet- 
 ter reputation, and is at present made the seat of the Lazaretto. 
 
 Thence proceeding along the coast Ave entered Pozzuolo, an- 
 ciently Puteoli, a town of Greek origin, and first called Dicceai^- 
 chia. It was erected by the inhabitants of Cumae as a sea-port, 
 and is by some supposed to have derived its original appellation 
 from the excellence of its government, an advantage which few 
 colonies have ever enjoyed, and few new founded cities can 
 pretend to. However, it owes its present name, and indeed its 
 fame and prosperity to the Romans, who about two centuries 
 before the Christian era fortified it, and made it the empo- 
 rium of the commerce of the east. Its situation as a sea-port 
 is indeed unrivalled. It stands on a point that juts out a little 
 into the sea, nearly in the centre of a fine bay, called from it 
 Puteolano or Piizzokmo. Its pi'ominence forms a natural port, 
 if a port can be Avanting in a bay so well covered by the sur- 
 rounding coasts, and divided into so many creeks and harbors. 
 
528 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 It is easy to guess what the animation and splendor of this 
 city must have been at the time when the riches of the east were 
 poured into its bosom, and its chmate, baths, and beauty, 
 allured the most opulent Romans to its vicinity. Commerce has 
 Ions; since forsaken it; the attraction of its climate and its si- 
 tuation still remain, but operate very feebly on the feelings of a 
 people little given to rural enjoyments. Its population, which 
 formerly spread over the neighboring hills, and covered them 
 Avith public and private edifices, is now confined to the little 
 prominent point which formed the ancient port; and all the 
 magnificence of antiquity has either been undermined by time, 
 demolished by barbarism, or levelled in the dust by earthquakes. 
 Vestiges however remain, shapeless indeed and deformed, but 
 numerous and vast enough to give some idea of the extent and 
 grandeur of Puteoli. In the square stands a beautiful marble 
 pedestal with basso relievos on its pannels, representing the four- 
 teen cities of Asia Minor, which had been destroyed by an 
 earthquake and rebuilt by Tiberius. It supported a statue of 
 that emperor, erected by the same cities as a monument of their 
 gratitude. Each city is represented by a figure bearing in its 
 hand some characteristic emblem. The cathedral is supposed to 
 stand on the ruins of a temple, and is undoubtedly built in a 
 great degree of ancient materials, as appears by the vast blocks 
 of marble which in many places form its walls. 
 
 On the hill behind the town are the remains of an amphi- 
 theatre, called after that at Rome the Coliseum ; it was of con- 
 siderable magnitude, but not comparable to that whose name it 
 assumes. The gates and a large portion of the vaults and under 
 apartments remain. One of these apartments, or rather dun- 
 geons, in which St. Januarius, the patron of Naples, is said to 
 have* been confined, is now turned into a damp and gloomy 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 529 
 
 chapel — the arena is a garden : vines, fig-trees, and pomegra- 
 nates have gradually crept up the circumference, and now cover 
 the steps and wave over the ruins — a melancholy yet pleasing 
 picture! Close to the amphitheatre are other vast fragments, 
 probably of the baths that stood in this neighborhood. 
 
 But the most striking monuments of Puteoii are the remains of 
 the temple of Jupiter Serapis, and those of the mole that formed 
 the port ; the former stands in the precincts of the town, partly in 
 a garden and partly in the barracks, but surrounded and almost 
 concealed by petty uninteresting buildings. The form of this edi- 
 fice was nearly square, of about one hundred and thirty feet in 
 length, and somewhat less in breadtli. It was enclosed in a court 
 divided into small apartments, several of which still exist. Of 
 the four columns of the portico three are standing, the fourth 
 lies extended on the pavement ; they are O'f marble, forty feet 
 high, and Corinthian; the ceil in the centre was round, and 
 its roof supported by sixteen pillars; the pedestals remain; 
 the shafts were transported to the palace of Caserta, and form, 
 I believe, the beautiful colonnade of the chapel. The marble 
 pavement of the court is nearly entire, but covered With nlud 
 and stagnant water. The vapors that rise from this infected 
 pool diu-ing the heats of summer are not unfrequently fatal to 
 the soldiers in the neighboring barracks. Yet a few laborers 
 could remove the mud in one day, and a pump might carry off 
 the Avater! Some beautiful statues have been found buried in 
 the earth or under the ruins, and many fine fragments of capitals, 
 cornices, and sculptured friezes still remain scattered around 
 in the midst of dirt and rubbish. 
 
 The Mole was a work of inferior beauty, but of far gi'eater 
 
 VOL. I. 3 Y 
 
530 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 difficulty; several of its piles still stand unshaken : they are sunk 
 in deep water, and once supported arches, parts of which remain 
 suspended in shattered grandeur over the waves. This method 
 of forming a mole like a bridge of arches instead of solid wall 
 is much cheaper, and equally useful, and deserves to be imitated 
 in similar works. When this vast mass was first erected, or by 
 whom, it is difficult to determine. Seneca speaks of a mole 
 under the name of pilee*, and Strabo mentions walls carried out 
 into the sea to enable ships of burden to unload with conveni- 
 ence. But whoever first built it, we know from an inscription 
 at Pozzuolo, that Antoninus repaired it when damaged or thrown 
 down by the fury of the waves. Its solidity and durability is 
 owing, in a great degree, to the quality of the cement, made of 
 Pozzolano sand, which hardens under water, and acquires the 
 strength and consistency of marble. These arches bear at present 
 the name of Caligula, and are supposed by the people at Pozzuolo 
 to be the remains of the bridge which that prince, in one of his 
 fits of phrensy, threw over the bay from Putcoli to Baia or 
 Baulis. But the learned reader need not be informed, that 
 Caligula's bridge was like that of Xerxes, whom he intended 
 to imitate, a temporary bridge erected upon boats, formed 
 principally of wood, and carried from the extremity of the mole 
 to the opposite coast. In length, solidity, and decoration, it 
 probably surpassed its model, as it did also in extravagance 
 and inutility -j-. 
 
 * Ep. 77, 
 
 + Suet. Caligula, 19; and for a fuller description of the bridge, and the exhi- 
 bitions displaced upon it, see Dio. i.vni. and Brotier's Tacitits, Supplement vni 
 AnnaL cum Nolis.. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 531 
 
 On the road that leads alon^ the coast from Pozzuolo to the 
 Liicrme lake stood Cicero's villa, called by him Puteolanum and 
 Acadcmia. Pliny relates that it was on the shore, and adorned 
 with a grove, and a portico, which seems to have been remarkable 
 for its beauty ; he adds, that Cicero erected here a monument, and 
 that shortly after his death a fountain of warm water, very 
 wholesome for the eyes, burst forth, and gave occasion to an 
 epigram, which the philosopher quotes with applause.* The 
 portico is fallen, the groves are withered, the fountain dried up, 
 and not a vestige of the Academic retreat left behind to mark 
 its situation. The verses remain, and perpetuate at once the 
 glory of the orator, the fame of the fountain, the beauty of the 
 villa, and what is more honorable than all united, the gratitude 
 of the writer Laurea Tullius, Cicero's freed-man. 
 
 It appears from various passages in Cicero's letters that 
 he had two villas on this coast, the one which I have just 
 mentioned, on the shore; the other, on the hills beyond the 
 Lucrine lake, called the Cumanum, as lying towards that city, 
 and nearer to it than to Puteoli. Perhaps the latter was a 
 mere lodge or summer-house, of course on a much smaller 
 scale. Of these villas one stood on the hills, and commanded 
 the Campi Phlegrm, the bay of Puteoli with its islands Misenus 
 and Baia ; the other on the beach enjoyed the breezes and mur- 
 murs of the sea, so delightful to a contemplative mind ; Cicero 
 knew not which of the two he preferred, but complained that 
 the crowd of visitors that interrupted his leisure in these retreats 
 contributed not a little to counterbalance their attractions. 
 Cicero's Academics do not, however, take their name from his 
 
 * Plin. XXXI. Cap. 3. 
 3 T 2 
 
532 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Acadcmia, but from the subject itself; as the dialogue which the 
 first book relates took place at the villa of Varro, somewhere in 
 the neighborhood, and within the distance of a Avalk. The 
 , scene of the two first books, De Finibus, is laid in the Cuman 
 villa. The dialogue De Fato took place in the Academia. The 
 spot, the subject, the speakers both fated to perish in so short a 
 time during the contest which they both foresaw, and endea- 
 voured in vain to avert, were circumstances which give a peculiar 
 interest to this dialogue, and increase our regret that it has not 
 reached us in a less mutilated state. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 533 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 PORTUS JULIUS LACUS LUCRINUS AVERNUS, OBSERVATIONS ON 
 
 ITS ORIGINAL STATE — BAY AND CASTLE OP BAI^ — PORT OF 
 MISENUS — MARE MORTO — ELYSIAN FIELDS — PROMONTORY AND 
 TOWN OP 5IISENUS — SOLFATARA — LITERNUM, SCIPIO'S RETREAT 
 — CUM^— GROTTO OF THE SYBIL. 
 
 XT is usual to take a boat at Pozzuolo, and row across the bay to 
 the Lucrine lake. Passing near the shore our guide shewed us 
 the remains of a mole, Avhich is still called Lanterna di Porto Giulio, 
 and is the only monument of the walls or substructions erected by 
 Agrippa to form a harbor in the Lucrine lake, and of the name 
 which it received when finished. I need not observe, that both Ho- 
 race and Virgil have celebrated this magnificent undertaking, the 
 one turning it as if incidentally mentioned into a delicate com- 
 pliment; the other describing it in all the splendor of poetry, as 
 one of the distinguishing features of Italy. This Avork, on the 
 one side, opened a communication between the lakes Avernus 
 and Lucrinus ; and on the other, seems to have enclosed a cer- 
 tain space of the bay itself to add to the last-mentioned lake 
 and form it into a capacious harbor. Before this undertaking, 
 the Lucrinus was protected by a mole of such antiquity that 
 it was attributed to Hercules. It bordered on the beach, and 
 formed a road as well as a mole. Of the Lucrine lake a small 
 
534 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 part only remains, now a muddy pool half covered with reeds 
 and bull-rushes. The centre, though remarkable for its depth, 
 was in one short night changed into a conical mountain*. The 
 mountain is a vast mass of cinders, black and barren, and is called 
 Monte Nuovo. The pool, however diminished in its size and ap- 
 pearance, still retains the name and honors of the Lucrine lake. 
 
 We landed on its banks, and following a path that winded 
 through a vineyard came to the borders of the lake Avernus. This 
 lake is a circular sheet of water, of about a mile and a half in cir- 
 cumference, and of immense depth; surrounded with ground 
 on one side low, on the other high but not steep, cultivated 
 all around, but not much wooded, a scene on the whole, 
 light, airy, and exhilarating. How unlike the abodes of 
 the Cimmerians, the darkened lake, the gloomy forests, the 
 blasts exhaled from the infernal regions, the funereal cypress, 
 the feeble screams, the flitting ghosts — Does Avernus then 
 owe all its horrors to poetical fiction? or is the face of na- 
 ture entirely altered since the time of Homer? To both these 
 causes much is to be attributed. The Greeks in Homer's time 
 knew but little of Italy, and what little they knew bordered 
 greatly on the marvellous. They had heard perhaps of its nu- 
 merous islands, its rocky coasts, and above all, of its volcanos 
 possibly at an earlier period very numerous and destructive in 
 their eruptions. Some exaggerated account of the wonders of 
 the Campi Phlegrai had reached their ears, and while their 
 sulphureous vapors and agitated surface seemed to them to an- 
 nounce the vicinity of hell, their caverns could not but appear 
 as so many avenues to that region of horror. Such an opinion, 
 however absurd it may appear to us, is still very natural. A 
 
 * An. 1538. 
 
 » 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 5S& 
 
 volcano is the most tremendous phenomenon presented to the 
 eyes of mortals. All the agitation of earthquakes, all the crash 
 of thunder, all the horrors of darkness, all the blaze of lightning, 
 and all the rage of conflagration, are united and armed with 
 tenfold terror in an eruption. Its appearance and effects seem 
 not to announce the arm of the Almighty extended from heaven 
 to chastise and correct at the same time, but resemble the rage 
 of demons broke loose from their prison, armed with the flames 
 of hell to disfigure nature and ravage the creation. Hence in 
 an age far more refined, and among a well-informed people, 
 there were found several who, at the first celebrated eruption of 
 Vesuvius*, imagined that the whole frame of nature was in the 
 act of dissolution, and that both gods and men were about to 
 perish in one common ruin -f. Even in modern times, Avhen en- 
 lightened by the rays of the gospel, and better acquainted with 
 the destiny of man both here and hereafter, the common people 
 feel a propensity to suppose that a volcano is a sort of inlet into 
 hell, through which demons move to and fro when commissioned 
 to execute the decrees of divine justice. No wonder therefore that 
 the Greeks, ignorant and half barbarous as they then were, should 
 have believed, or that poets should have feigned, that a region 
 of which such terrific tales were told, was the vestibule of hell, 
 atrijamia Ditis. To this we may add, that the Avernus, which 
 probably occupies the crater of an extinguished volcano, might 
 at that period and long after, merely cover the lower part of the 
 abyss, while the steep rocky banks towering to a prodigious ele- 
 vation above it, were shaded with shrubs, and its orifice almost 
 closed with a whole forest of trees hanging over the precipice 
 and increasing its gloom. At the same time, in a place so im- 
 
 » An, 79, t Plin. Jun. lib. vi. Ep. 20, 
 
53G CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 pregnated with fire, it is probable that various sulphureous 
 steams rising from the bottom or bursting from the sides of the 
 cavern, might fill the vast hollow, and undisturbed by the 
 action of the air brood in pestilential clouds over its surface. 
 Such may have been the original state of the lake Avernus, cor- 
 responding sufficiently with the description given by the poets,, 
 and when accompanied by the supernumerary horrors which the, 
 superstition of the times threw around it, an object in a very 
 high degree, awful and terrific. Afterwards, the Avater may have 
 increased (and in the neighborhood of the Lucrine lake, and so 
 near the sea it may easily be supposed to increase) and approached 
 ncE^rer the margin ; at the same time, the woods may have been 
 diminished by the growing population of the towns of Cumte, 
 Pliteoli, and Misemis^ ajid of course the Avernus must have gra- 
 dually lost n3,iric.h Qf its horrors and, its malignity. The impression 
 however had been made, temples had been built, priests esta:- 
 blished, and, the worship of the infernal deities, religio dira loci, 
 still continued to attract crowds to the banks of the Avernus. 
 The fashion was prevalent enough even in Hannibal's time to 
 aftord that cra,fty Carthaginian an opportunity of reconnoitring 
 the ramparts of Puteoli, under pretext of offering sacrifice on 
 the banks of Avernus*. 
 
 At length in the reign of Augustus the formation of the Portus 
 
 * Ti;t. Liv. XXIV. 12. 
 
 Speaking of this visit Silius says, 
 
 Turn tristi nemore, atque umbris nigrantibus horrens 
 Et formidatus volucri, lethale vomebat 
 Suffuso virus caelo, Stygiaque per iirbes 
 
 Riclligioue sacer savum retinebat honorem 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 537 
 
 Julius dispelled the few horrors that continued to brood 
 over the infernal lake ; the sacred groves that still shaded its 
 banks and hung over its margin Avere cut down ; the barrier that 
 separated it from the Lucrinus was removed, and not only the 
 waters of the latter but the waves of the neighboring sea were 
 admitted into the stagnant gulph of Avernus. This enterprize 
 however was contemplated with some awe and apprehension, 
 and the agitation of the waters, occasioned probably by the 
 descent of those of the former lake into the lower bason of the 
 latter, was magnified into a tempest, and ascribed to the anger 
 of the infernal divinities. The statue of one shewed by a profuse 
 sweat either its fear or its indignation ; that of another leaped, 
 it was said, from its pedestal, and recourse was had as usual to 
 sacrifices, in order to appease the irritated Manes. In the 
 mean time, the port was finished ; the Avernus was stripped of 
 its infernal horrors, and ever after ranked among ordinary lakes. 
 
 Stagna inter celebrem nunc mitia. Sil. Ilal. 
 
 On the southern bank stands a large and lofty octagonal 
 edifice, with niches in the walls, and with halls adjoining. 
 It is vaulted, and of brick, and is supposed by some to be 
 the temple of Proserpine, by others, that of the Avernus itself, 
 whose statue, as appears from the circumstance mentioned above, 
 stood in the immediate vicinity of the lake. This building was 
 probably incrusted with marble, and decorated with pillars; it is 
 now surrounded by a vineyard, and pleases the eye by its mag- 
 nitude, site, and proportions. It would not be difficult 
 to repair it, if the government or proprietors were dis- 
 posed so to do. Many antiquaries imagine it to have been a 
 bath, but though its form be well adapted to such an object, 
 
 VOL. r. 3 ^ 
 
538 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 we do not find that the watei"s of the Avernus were employed 
 for that purpose. 
 
 On the opposite side of the lake, under a steep overhung with 
 shrubs and brambles, is the opening of a subterraneous gallery, 
 called by the guides, and indeed by the people, the Grotto delta 
 Sibilla. The first gallery runs under the Monte Grillo, and its 
 direction is towards Baias, but it opens into another on the 
 right tending towards Cuma; after some progress in this se- 
 cond passage we came to a piece of water now called the bath 
 of the Sybil, and were transported over it on the backs of our 
 guides. On the opposite side the ground rises rapidly, and all 
 further progress is precluded by heaps of ruin. The situation 
 and appearance of this cavern correspond exactly with the 
 description of Virgil, and are sufficient to authorize us in sup- 
 posing it to be the same to which he alludes, if he had any real 
 object in view, and not merely a general imitation of Homer. 
 
 Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immanis hiatu 
 
 Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro, nemorumque tenebris. Lib. vi. 
 
 It probably branched out into several other galleries, and may 
 have communicated with many large caverns, as well as with the 
 various vales and lakes that lie so thick on this peninsula, and once 
 perhaps formed the whole scenery of the infernal regions, so 
 beautifully colored by Virgil. In this case, tlie stream which we 
 passed might possibly have represented the Acheron; and in- 
 deed the black surface of the water; the feeble glimmering of 
 the torches, and their red smouldering flames half lost in their 
 own smoke and in the vapors of the place; the craggy 
 vaults closing over us and losing themselves in darkness; the 
 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 599 
 
 squalid forms of our guides and attendants, appearing and dis- 
 appearing Avith their torches, as they carried us over one by one, 
 all seemed well adapted to infernal scenery, and appropriate ap- 
 pendages of the entrance into the regions of the dead. 
 
 Per speluncas, saxis gtructas asperis, pendentibus, 
 
 Maximis; ubi rigida constat crassa caligo inferum. Enn. ap. Cic. Tusc. 
 
 Homer places the Cimmerians in these subterraneous abodes, 
 
 Hspi Jtai iiKpiXv x£>c«Aiif*|W.£i/oi' ovii ttot xvtou; 
 
 HfAiof ipai^uu iTrtSipunott duTivia-fri]/, 
 
 OmS oTroTOcy (rT£iYU(n irpog oCpa-uon iffrifoivrx, 
 
 OuS' OTXV otif/ tTTi youav air ovptavo^fV TrforpXTrnTXi' 
 
 AXX ETTt vD^ oXoji riTXTOn SuKoitri (Sporora-j. Odt/ss, XI. 
 
 This description notwithstanding its poetical splendor, may 
 possibly be grounded on reality.* We may easily conceive 
 that in an early and half-savage state of society, men might 
 have preferred caverns so large and commodious to such 
 hovels as they were then capable of erecting ; and there are 
 many instances on record of human beings in considerable 
 numbers inhabiting such receptacles. Not to speak of the 
 barbarous inhabitants of the north, nor of some of the semi- 
 barbarians of the south, who have chosen to live under 
 
 * Pliny places the city of the Cimmerians on the banks of the Avernus, and 
 Festus represents them as a real people who inhabited deep and gloomy dells. 
 Cimmerii dicuntur homines, qui frigoribus occupatas terras incolunt, quales 
 fuerunt inter Baias et Ciimas, in ea regione in qua convallis satis eminenti jugo 
 circumdata est, quae neque matutino neque vespertine tempore sole contegitur. 
 Such cold and sunless vallies are common enough in Wales and Scotland, but we 
 are rather surprized to find them discovered by this grammarian in the neighbor- 
 hood of Naples. 
 
 3z 2 
 
540 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 ground: even the polished Romans themselves seem sometimes 
 to have preferred grottos to their palaces*, as we may collect from 
 an expression of Seneca -j^; and from the account which Strabo 
 gives of a place on or near the road from Rome to Naples, 
 called Spelunca. This place is now by corruption turned into 
 Sperlonga, and lies at the foot of Mount Ccecubua, on the pro- 
 montory near the southern extremity of the Lacus Fundamis, 
 about sixteen miles from Terrucina. Of the many caverns here 
 situate, and according to Strabo, containing magnificent and 
 sumptuous villas, no trace remains. Tacitus speaks of an acci- 
 dent which happened, and the danger to Avhich Tiberius was 
 exposed while dining in one of them|.. 
 
 In Malta near the Citta Vecchia are still shewn the vestiges of a 
 subterraneous city, for the extent of the galleries and the regularity 
 of the streets almost entitle the place to this appellation. The 
 rock is not only cut into spacious passages, but hollowed out 
 into separate houses with their different apartments, and seems 
 to have been capable of containing a very considerable number 
 of families. Such an abode must without doubt have been 
 gloomy; but in a country like Malta, where the heat is intense, 
 and the reflection from the chalky soil painful; where there is 
 little verdure and still less shade, gloom and coolness under 
 ground are perhaps preferable to glare and heat above. 
 
 * Of these summer groitos some specimens may be seen on the borders of the 
 lake of Albano. 
 
 + The expression of Seneca alluded to, "e.r quo depressius cestivos specus 
 fodtrint. — Cons, ad Helviam, ix. 
 
 X Annal. Lib. iv. 69. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. o41 
 
 The Cimmerians seem to have been given to the worship of the 
 infernal deities, and to have acted as priests and interpreters of 
 the oracle established in the centre of their subterraneous abode. 
 This superstition was probably of a very lucrative nature, and 
 accordingly survived the fall of those who first established it, and 
 seems to have continued, though gradually declining, almost down 
 to the time of the C<esars. No country is better adapted to the 
 practice of such a system of imposition, or more favorable to 
 the illusions by which it is carried on. Deep caverns, the extent 
 and outlets of which were known only to the priests who inha- 
 bited them ; subterraneous waters, sometimes collected in cold 
 stagnant pools, and at other times boiling up in hot fountains; 
 hollow sounds, sulphureous vapors, and sudden flames, the na- 
 tural effects of fire, always active though not always visible 
 in this volcanic region, are circumstances Avonderfully calcu- 
 lated to work strongly upon the imagination, and aid the ope- 
 rations of necromantic art. However, about the era of Au- 
 gustus, the light of science had penetrated even these recesses, 
 and banished thence the priests, the oracle, and all the phan- 
 toms they had conjured up, and the grotto of Avernus, for- 
 merly the haunt of the dead, was turned to the advantage 
 of the living, and converted by Cocceius into a subterra- 
 neous communication between Puteoli and Cuma. How long 
 this passage remained open, or whether obstructed by time 
 or by volcanic convulsions, it is not easy to conjecture; to 
 re-open it would be an operation probably of no great difficulty, 
 though of considerable expence, an evil perhaps of too great a 
 magnitude to be counterbalanced by the gratification which it 
 might afford to public curiosity.* 
 
 * The lake of Averniis with the neighboring Lucrinus are like that of 
 
642 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 We returned by the same path as we came, leaving the Liu 
 crinus on our right, and Monte Niiovo rising on our left, and 
 crossing the mole of Hercules reimbarked, and proceeded along 
 the coast to Baia. The bay of Baia is a semicircular recess 
 just opposite the harbor of Poz.zuolo, and about three miles 
 distant from it. It is lined Avith ruins, the remains of the villas 
 and baths of the ancient Romans; some advance a consider- 
 able way out, and though now under the waves are easily 
 distinguishable in fine weather. The taste for building in the 
 waters and encroaching on the sea, to which Horace alludes, 
 is exemplified in a very striking manner all along this coast*. 
 The first object that attracts the attention, and is pointed out by 
 the guides, are the baths called the Terme di Nerone. This Em- 
 peror had here a magnificent villa, and had projected or, as 
 SuetcHiiust says, commenced a reservoir in which he intended to 
 collect all the hot waters that spring up at or near BaitB. This 
 edifice was to have extended from Misenus to the lake Avernus» 
 a distance of three miles and a half in a direct line, and more 
 than four including the windings of the coast; it was to have 
 been lined with porticos and roofed. However, there is no par- 
 ticular reason (unless we admit the traditionary appellation of 
 the place to be such) for supposing that the baths in question 
 belonged to this work, or formed any part of the villa of Nero. 
 
 Agnaao, infected in the hot months by the flax deposited in them, an evil which 
 calls loudly for the interference of the government. 
 
 * Marisque Baiis obstrepentis urges 
 Summovere littora, 
 Parum locuples continente ripa. 
 
 Carm. ii. 18. 
 
 t Suet. Nero, 31. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 548 
 
 This villa was at or near Baulis. Tiie baths we are now contem- 
 plating, consist of several galleries worked through the rock, and 
 terminating in a fountain of boiling water. The vapor that 
 arises from this fountain fills the whole cavern and is so 
 hot and oppressive as to render the approach difficult to per- 
 sons not accustomed to the effects of steam. The guides how- 
 ever run to it to fetch some of its water. These galleries are 
 high, and wide enough to allow two persons to pass without 
 inconvenience. There are also some apartments cut out of the 
 solid stone for the accommodation of bathers. These mineral 
 waters seem to pervade the whole region; they ooze through 
 the rocks, work their way under the sands, and heat them even 
 to a considerable distance from the shore. They liavc beea 
 known, and their utility has been experienced for more than two 
 thousand yeai's — they were never probably more neglected than 
 they are at present — no care is taken to collect them, mo build- 
 ings have been erected for the accommodation of visitants. The 
 ^Neapolitans behold with indifference all the beauties and all 
 the treasures of their coasts. 
 
 Varia circum oblectamina vitae 
 Vaporiferas, blandissima littora, Baias. Stathts Si/h. iii. 
 
 From the Thermee we advanced to a little projection of the 
 shore, on which stands an edifice octagonal outside, but Avithin 
 circular, called at present Tempio di Venere. Behind this edifice 
 are a range of apartments called the Camere di Venere ; they are 
 ornamented with basso relievos in stucco, which are said to have 
 some merit in point of execution, but are of too obscene a nature to 
 admit examination. Venus had a temple on this coast, and it was 
 so placed between the Lucrine lake and Baiae as to take its name 
 occasionally from either, as indeed the bay itself iii which it 
 
544 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 stood was sometimes called Baianus and sometimes Lucrinus*. 
 We have no data to enable us to ascertain the precise spot on 
 which this edifice stood, but we may confidently aver that no 
 site could be better adapted to it than that assigned by popular 
 tradition. Venus presided over this coast and all its bays, its 
 baths, its fountains, and its lakes; she had deserted Paphosaiid 
 Cythera, and settled with all her train of loves and sports, on 
 the delicious shore of Baice. A sky for ever serene, seas never 
 ruffled, perpetual spring and eternal verdure, may be supposed 
 to have allured the goddess to her new abode; but her present 
 influence appeared in the general manners and amusements of 
 the place, — in scenes of revelry, bacchanalian songs, wanton 
 groupes and effeminate music. " Videre ebrios per littora 
 errantes, et commessationes navigantium et symphoniarum can- 
 tibus perstrepentes lacus et alia, quae velut soluta legibus luxuria 
 non tan turn peccat, sed publicat, quid necesse est-f." 
 
 No situation is more appropriate to the temple of this pre- 
 siding divinity than this little promontory, Avhose jutting point 
 commands the whole bay, with all its scenery of hills, towns, 
 lakes, and villas. 
 
 Litus beats aureum Veneris ! 
 
 Baiae superbae blanda dona naturae. Martial. 
 
 * I must here observe, that Cluverius upon this as upon another occasion 
 which I noticed above, seems to take the expression of poetry in the strict accep- 
 tation of geographical prose. He must have perceived that Baice, Cumw, Lucri- 
 nus, and Avernus extend their appellation far beyond their natural limits, and 
 sometimes include the whole vicinity. He himself observes, that the springs of 
 Baim were once called Aqua Cumanae, and quotes Lucretius to prove it. 
 
 + Seneca, Epist. li. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 545 
 
 At a little distance from the temple of Venus rises another cir- 
 cular edifice, vaulted and lighted from above like the Pantheon, 
 and still further on, another nearly similar; this latter is called 
 the temple of Diana, as the former is termed the temple of 
 Mercury ; the traces of conduits for conveying water to all 
 their apartments, and their situation on a coast where baths 
 were probably in more estimation and request than temples, 
 furnish a very plausible pretext to the supposition of their being 
 Thermce. Their shattered forms, shaded here and there with 
 shrubs and flowers, rising on the margin of the sea on a coast so 
 beautiful yet so solitary, produce a fine and uncommon effect. 
 
 Advancing southward we passed under the castle of Baiae*, a 
 fortress on the brow of a rocky precipice, rising to a consider- 
 able elevation above the sea, and forming the point of a little 
 promontory. Its appearance at a distance is rather splendid 
 and majestic, owing to its size and the rich color of the stone of 
 which it is built. 
 
 Somewhat more than a quarter of a mile beyond Baice, there 
 rises almost on the beach, a semicircular building, with a gallery 
 within, adorned with basso relievos in stucco ; popular tradition 
 ennobles this edifice with the appellation of the tomb of Agrip- 
 pina. The reader may recollect that that empress, after having 
 escaped the fate intended for her at sea on her return from BaitB, 
 was conveyed to her own villa on the Lucrine lake, and shortly 
 after murdered there: she was burned privately, and her tomb. 
 
 * Baice is said to derive its name from one of the companions of Ulysses. 
 
 Sedes Ithacesia Baii. Sil'ms, 
 
 VOL. I. 4 A 
 
546 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 which was erected after the death of Nero in the neighborhood, 
 and on the hill near the road to Misenus, corresponded rather 
 with her misfortunes than with her rank*. Baiis indeed was 
 not only the seat of voluptuousness, but sometimes also the 
 theatre of cruelty, two vices intimately allied, and not unfre- 
 quently most notoriously displayed in places whence the smiling 
 features of nature might seem to have banished at least the 
 latter. The murder of a parent, the barbarous termination of 
 the feast of Caracalla, and the secret executions of the island of 
 Caprece, only shew what a monster man becomes when his power 
 is equal to his malignity. The supposed tomb of Agrippina 
 may possibly be a part, perhaps the theatre of the villa of 
 BauliSf which once belonged to Hortensius, and was afterwards 
 the favorite resort of some of the Emperors, and upon this 
 occasion the scene of the last interview between Nero and his 
 mother. 
 
 Under the little promontory of Batdis are the Cento Camerelky 
 a number of grottos, opening in front to the sea, commu- 
 nicating with each other within, and branching out into several 
 long galleries that form a sort of labyrinth. Their object is 
 not known; they may have been mere substructions support- 
 ing some edifice, or perhaps reservoirs of fresh water. Ascending 
 the hill from hence, we came to the Piscina Mirahile, a sub- 
 terranean edifice, vaulted, and divided by four rows of arcades. 
 
 * Tac. Ann. xiv. 4, 5, 6, and 7. — There is something grand and awful in the 
 sound of the trumpet heard on the neighboring hills ; and the nightly lamenta- 
 tions supposed to issue from the tomb of Agrippina. (Cap. 10.) Nero fled— 
 Obversabatur maris illius et litorum gravis aspectus. 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 547 
 
 Its date, author, and destination, are equally unknown. Some 
 antiquaries suppose it to have been a fish-pond, as its present 
 appellation imports, belonging to one of the great villas that 
 rose on this eminence, perhaps to that of LucuUus, who is said 
 to have spared no expense in the erection of such receptacles. 
 Others imagine that it was intended as a cistern of fresh 
 water for the supply of the fleet, while it lay in the port of Mi- 
 senus, situated innnediately under the hill on which the Piscina 
 Mirabife stands. If I might be allowed to add one conjecture 
 more to the preceding I should be tempted to ask, whether this 
 artificial cavern, and many similar works in the same direction, 
 may not be parts of that vast reservoir (to which I have already 
 alluded) planned and commenced by Nero, but never finished. 
 Its magnitude, proportions, and elevation, are all on a gi"and 
 scale, and announce the opulence and magnificence of its 
 author; while its vaults and arcades correspond precisely with 
 the account given of that Emperor's projected edifice — " Incho- 
 abat," says Suetonius, " piscinam a Miseno ad Avernum lacum, 
 contedam, porticibus conclusam, quo quidcjuid totis Baiis cahda- 
 runi esset, converteretur*. 
 
 At the foot of the hill on which we stood, the port of Misenus 
 expands inwards, and protected by high lands on either side forms 
 not a very capacious but a tranquil haven. It was made, by 
 Augustus, the principal station of the Roman fleet in the Medi- 
 terranean, and by its central and commanding situation is ex- 
 tremely well calculated for every naval object. It is separated at 
 its extremity by a narrow neck of land from the Mare morto; 
 through this neck a canal, over Avhich there is a bridge, opens a 
 
 » Nero, 31. 
 4a2 
 
S48 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 communication between the two basons, which anciently may 
 probably have formed parts of the same port. On the side op- 
 posite this canal to the west, another bed of sand protects the 
 Mare morto from the incursions of the sea, while the lofty pro- 
 montory of Misenus on the south, and the mountains called of 
 Trocida and of Selvaggi on the north, cover it from every rougher 
 breeze. 
 
 Along its shores under the shelter of these hills lay extended 
 the Elysian fields, Campi Elisi! They are shaded by mulberries 
 and poplars, garlanded by festoons of vines, fanned by sea 
 breezes from the south, refreshed by the waves of the Mare 
 morto that eat into the shore and form numberless creeks and 
 recesses, and their lonely paths are lined on all sides by tombs 
 intermingled with cypresses. Such a scene, by its secluded 
 beauty, its silence, and its tranquillity might attract the living ; 
 yet it seems to have been at all times abandoned to the dead, 
 and from the sepulchres that adorn it, and the undisturbed re- 
 pose that seems to reign over it, it resembles a region secluded 
 from the intrusion of mortals and placed above the influence of 
 human vicissitude and agitation ! 
 
 Semota a nostris rebus sejunctaque longe. Luc. i. 59. 
 
 The solitude of the place, its destination, and the recollection of 
 Virgil's description, diffuse a certain melancholy over the mind, 
 and dispose it imperceptibly to reflection and musing. Such are 
 the Elysian fields, a name that sounds so harmoniously to the ears 
 of the classic youth, and opens so many enchanting scenes to 
 his imagination. He will be disappointed in reading the descrip- 
 tion, and little less so in contemplating the reality. In the 
 splendor of a Neapolitan firmament he will seek in vain for that 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 549 
 
 purple light so delightful to his boyish fancy, and on the sandy 
 beach of the Mare morto he will discover no traces of the crystal 
 Eridanus ; he will look to no purpose for meadows ever green, 
 rills always full, and banks and hillocks of downy moss. The 
 truth is, Virgil improves and embellishes whatever he touches; 
 kindled by the contemplation of nature his genius rises above 
 her, and gives to her features, charms and beauties of his own 
 creation. The hills, the groves, the paths, he copied from the 
 scenery now before us ; but he waters them with purer streams, 
 calls up unfading flowers to grace them, and lights them with a 
 new sun and milder constellations. 
 
 We turned with regret from a spot so celebrated, and came 
 to the rocky promontory of Misenus. It is hollowed into 
 vast grots and caverns, intended anciently perhaps for 
 baths, and perhaps for docks for ship-building. The town, 
 it is supposed, stood on the summit of the promontory ; 
 its site is marked by masses of ruin, and the vestiges of a 
 theatre; unless with some antiquaries we choose to consider 
 these scattered heaps as the remains of one or other of the 
 villas so numerous in the immediate neighborhood of Mi- 
 senus. The principal and most extensive of these seats was 
 that of Lucullus, afterwards occupied by Tiberius. Phaedrus 
 informs us that it was situate on the very pinnacle of the 
 hill, as it not only commanded the adjacent coasts but ex- 
 tended its view to the seas of Sicily*. This villa with its gar- 
 
 * Caesar Tiberias, quum petens Neapolim 
 In Misenensem villain venisset suatn 
 QusB monte summo posita LucuUi manu 
 Prospectat Siculum et prospicit Tuscum mare. 
 
 II. Fab. V. 
 
550 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 dens and porticos must have occupied a considerable space, 
 and left but little room for the town, which of course must 
 have been situated lower down and probably on the sea shore. 
 That such indeed was its real site, we may inter in opposition 
 to the common opinion, from Pliny the younger, who says 
 that the house which he and his mother inhabited, was se- 
 parated by a small court from the sea. " Residimus in area 
 domtis, quae mare a tectis modico spatio dividebat*." The hill 
 that forms the point of the promontory is steep and lofty. It 
 does not appear to me to bear, as is frequently represented, any 
 appearance of a mausoleum, nor can I believe that Virgil had 
 any such imaginar}' resemblance in view ; he probably adopted 
 a popular tradition, when he placed the tomb of Misenus on its 
 base-f. 
 
 Monte sub aerio qui nunc Misenus ab illo 
 Dicitur, aeternumque tenet per StEculas nomen. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable, that most of the points and promon- 
 tories represented by the Roman poet as monuments of great 
 personages or illustrious events still retain their ancient appella- 
 tions, while so many other titles and names, in many respects 
 more important, have gradually yielded to modern substitutions 
 and sunk into oblivion. Is this difference to be ascribed to the 
 influence of poetr}', and have the latter perished because not 
 recorded in verse ? " Carent quia vate sacro." 
 
 * VI. 20. 
 
 + Solinus, Mela, and Strabo ascribe this appellation to the same origin as 
 Virgil, and as they were nearly contemporaries with that poet, they cannot be 
 supposed to have adopted one of bis poetical fictions as an historical anecdote. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 5-31 
 
 As the evening approached we re-embarked, and crossing the 
 bay landed at Pozzuolo, and thence proceeded to the Solfatara, 
 Avhich Hes about a mile north-east of the town. This appella- 
 tion, Solfatara, is a corruption of Sulphurata, and given to an 
 oval plain, extending on an eminence, but surrounded on all 
 sides by an elevated border resembling a rampart. The shat- 
 tered hills that form this rampart are impregnated Avith sulphur, 
 and heated by a subterranean fire. They are destitute of all 
 verdure and all appearances of vegetation. The plain below 
 is a pale yellow surface of sulphureous marie, thrown like a 
 vault over an abyss of fire. Its heat almost scorches the 
 feet of those who pass over it, and the workings of the furnace 
 beneath are heard distinctly through it. A stamp or the rolling 
 of a stone over it rebellows in hollow murmurs, weakening 
 as they descend till they lose themselves in the vastness of 
 the abyss below. Sulphureous exhalations rise from the cre- 
 vices ; and from an orifice at one of the extremities a thick va- 
 por by day, and a pale blue flame by night, burst forth with a 
 murmuring sound and great impetuosity. This ever burning 
 plain is supposed to have been anciently called the Forum Vulcani. 
 It is described in a poetical but accurate manner by Petronius 
 Arbiter, and very appropriately made the scene of a tremendous 
 apparition of Pluto. 
 
 Est locus excise penitus demersus hiatu 
 Parthenopen inter, magnseque Dicarchidos arva 
 Cocytia perfusus aqua, nam spiritus extra 
 Qui furit efFusus, funesto spargitur aestu. 
 Non haec autumno tellus viret, aut alit herbas 
 Cespite laetus ager : non verno persona cantu 
 Mollia discordi strepitu virgulta loquuntur; 
 Sed chaos et nigra squallentia pumice saxa 
 (iaudent, ferali circumtumulata cupressu. 
 
062 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Has Inter sedes, Ditis pater cxtiilit ora 
 Bustormn flammis et cana sparsa favilla. 
 
 The tombs and the cypresses to which the poet alludes bordered 
 the road that leads from Puteoli to Naples, as also that called the 
 Via Campana, now Stracla di Campagna,vf\\\ch enclose the Solfa- 
 tara between them, and are at no great distance from its southern 
 and western extremities. Milton seems to have taken some 
 features of his infernal regions from this repository of fire and 
 sulphur. The drean/ plain — the seat of desolation — the land 
 that burned ziith solid, as the lake with liquid, fire — the singed 
 hottoyn all involved with stench and smoke — the uneasy steps over the 
 burning marie — the fiery deluge fed with ever burning sulphur^ 
 compose when united a picture poetical and sublime indeed, but 
 not inaccurate, of the Solfatara. The truth is that all the great 
 poets, from the days of Virgil down to the present period, have 
 borrowed some of their imagery from the scenery which we have 
 this day visited, and graced their poems Avith its beauties, or 
 raised them with its sublimity. Every reader knows that Silius 
 Italicus has described most of them, and particularly the latter, 
 Avith studied and indeed blameable minuteness; that Martial 
 alludes to them with rapture, and that Statins devotes the most 
 pleasing of his poems to their charms. Dante has borrowed some 
 of the horrors of his Inferno from their fires and agitations, and 
 Tasso spread their freshness, their verdure, and their serenity over 
 the enchanted gardens of his Armida. 
 
 Acque stagnant!, mobili cristalli, 
 Fior vari et varie piante, herbe diverse, 
 Apriche coUinette, ombrose valli, 
 Selve, e spelunche in una vista offerse. 
 
 Canto XVI. 9. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 555 
 
 Some days after, we made an excursion to Cuma. The road 
 leads first to Pozzuolo, and thence ascending the hills passes by 
 the site of Cicero's Academic villa, runs at the foot of Mount 
 Gaurus on the right, then crosses the mountains that command the 
 Avernus on the left, and traversing the site of the ancient forest 
 that surrounded that lake, terminates at the Arco felice. This 
 ancient mass is a sort of lofty wall, with a gateway through it, 
 supposed by some to be one of the gates of Cuma, and by 
 others the remains of the temple of Apollo. The view, which to 
 the south commands all the scenery described in our last excur- 
 sion, fixes the attention however on an object of no great beauty, 
 a white tower to the north-west, standing on the flat shore, about 
 four miles and a half distant, near a lake and almost surrounded 
 with a forest. That tower stands on the site of the ancient 
 Litermim ; the neighboring lake is the Liternma palus and the 
 forest the GalUnaria Pinus. The situation of Liternum is neither 
 beautiful nor healthy, but its name is ennobled by the residence 
 of Scipio Africanus, who passed there the latter years of his life, 
 a voluntary exile, in obscurity, rural labor, and philosophical 
 studies. Whether he was buried at Liternum or not, was a sub- 
 ject of doubt even in Livy's time ; however, either a tomb or 
 cenotaph was erected to him there, and a stone on which the 
 word Patria is still legible, is supposed to have contained part of 
 the inscription*, " Ingrata patria," &c. and gives to the modern 
 tower the appellation of Torre di Patria. His villa still remained 
 in the time of Seneca, and seems to have been built with great 
 solidity, and surrounded like a gothic castle with a wall and 
 towers. A rampart was indeed necessary, as it stood on the 
 confines of the GalUnaria Pinus, a forest, at one time the abode, 
 
 * Liv. XXXVIII. 53. 
 VOL. I. 4 B 
 
554 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 and at all times, the occasional resort of banditti*. Valerius 
 Maximus relates an anecdote which shews both the necessity of 
 the rampart, and the veneration shewn to the person of the 
 great Africanus-f-. The same author mentions his death as having 
 taken place at Litermim, and cites his well-known epitaph. 
 Perhaps his ashes were first interred at his villa, and afterwards 
 conveyed to the family sepulchre in Rome, on the Via Capena, 
 where a sarcophagus was found a few years ago inscribed with his 
 name. Phny the elder speaks of some olive trees, and of a very 
 flourishing myrtle planted by Scipio Africanus as still existing at 
 Litcrnum in his time:!.. The Torre di Patria may not only occupy 
 the site, but possibly be built of the materials of Scipio's villa. 
 
 As we proceeded we were shewn a temple, dedicated, it is 
 said, to the giants whom Hercules defeated on the neighboring 
 Campi ThlegrcBi. The size of this temple does not correspond 
 with its title. Continuing to advance towards the sea, we came 
 to a high craggy rock near the shore. On the top of the pre- 
 cipice stands the castle, erected in the middle ages on the ruins 
 of an ancient fortress. In the side of this rock are two great 
 chasms; in one, there are several steps leading upwards; the 
 other tends downwards, was formerly lined with brick, and seems 
 to have opened into several galleries. This cavern is now called 
 
 * As Seneca's description is curious, it may not be improper to insert the 
 passage. " Vidi villam structam lapide quadrato ; murum circumdatum sylva 
 — turreis quoque in propugnaculum vIIIee utrimque subrectas; cisternam aedificiis, 
 ac viridibus subditam, quae sulficere in usum vel exercitus posset : balneoluin 
 angustum, tenebricosura, ex consuetudine antiqua," &c. — Se7i. Epist. Lxxxvi. 
 
 + See Val. Mar. ii. 10.— Lib. v. 3. 
 
 X XVI. 44. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 555 
 
 the Grotto of the Sybil, and is probably part of that celebrated 
 cavern. The grotto existed in all its splendor in the year one 
 hundred and five of the Christian era, and is described by Justin 
 the Martyr, an author of that period, and represented by him 
 as an immense cavity cut out of the solid rock, large as a Basi- 
 lica, highly polished, and adorned with a recess or sanctuary in 
 which the Sybil, seated on a lofty tribunal or throne, uttered 
 her oracles*. It may have been stript of its ornaments, dis- 
 figured, and perhaps materially damaged in the reign of Con- 
 stantine, when the greater temples, and more peculiar seats of 
 Pagan superstition, were demolished as objects likely to encou- 
 rage and foster the ancient delusions. However, though despoiled 
 and neglected, the cavern still remained entire, till the fatal and 
 most destructive war carried on by Justinian against the Goths ; 
 when Narses, the imperial general, in order to undermine the 
 ramparts of the fortress erected on the summit of the rock, or- 
 dered his engineers to work through the roof of the cavern be- 
 neath, and thus brought down the wall, towers, and even gates 
 of the fortress into the cavity, which in part destroyed, and in 
 part filled it with rubbish f. The grotto, as I have already ob- 
 served, branched out into various subterranean galleries, alluded 
 to by Virgil under the appellation of approaches and portals, 
 which furnished the Sybil with the means of forming those tre- 
 mendous sounds, that in the moment of inspiration issued from 
 the depths of the cavern X- Gf these conmiunications two only 
 
 * Vide Just, in Paranetica apud, Cluv. 1112. 
 + Vide Agathias Hist. i. apud Cluv. 
 
 1^ Excisum Euboic;e latus ingens rupis in antrum 
 Quo lati ducunt aditus centum, ostia centum 
 
 Unde ruunt totidem voces, responsa Sibvlla\ Eneid, vi. 42. 4i. 
 4b 2 
 
568 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 are now visible; all the others, with the body and recesses or 
 sanctuary of the temple, are filled with the ruins of the roof, 
 the lining, and the walls. Excavations might here be made to 
 advantage; the very materials, where sea carriage is at hand, are 
 doubtless sufficient to pay the expense, and the discoveries might 
 be interesting beyond expression. I must again repeat it, if 
 Warburton's conjecture can be admitted, and the Eleusinian 
 mysteries contained such scenes as those described in the sixth 
 book of the Eneid, no region can be better calculated for 
 the exhibition than that which we are now treading. In a 
 country, where rocks are hollowed by nature into grottos and 
 caverns; where there are several deep dells, and hidden recesses, 
 as Astroni now, and once perhaps Avernus; where various lakes 
 lie concealed in the depths of forests and in the cavities of 
 mountains ; where fires and waters are ever working, under 
 all their possible forms; where the land sometimes stretches 
 out into the sea, and at other times the sea winds itseJf into 
 the very bosom of the land ; in such a country, particularly when 
 thinly inhabited as in the early ages, how easy would it be to 
 open secret communications, and conduct the adept through 
 successive scenes of wonder now buried in darkness, and now 
 gleaming with light, here infected with sulphureous exhalations, 
 and there refreshed with gales of perfume, sometimes exhibiting 
 the horrors of Tartarus, and at other times displaying the delights 
 of Elysium.'* 
 
 CutTKB was founded at a very early period by a colony of 
 Greeks from Chalaism Eiihm and from Ciim<B in Eolis ; as it 
 was the first Grecian establishment in Italy in point of time, so 
 it was considered for many ages as the first also in power, opu- 
 lence, and population. Its overfloAving prosperity spread over 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 557 
 
 the neighboring coasts, and first PnteoU, and afterwards Naples, 
 owed their origin to the energy and enterprize of its inhabitants- 
 Its situation was favorable to commeixe and general communi- 
 cation, and its oracle, its sybil, and its temple, attracted vota- 
 ries and visitants. As the Roman power extended that of Cutna 
 dechued, till without contest or warfare the city gradually 
 adopted the interests, and its inhabitants were honored with the 
 the title of Roman citizens. The principal cause, however, of 
 the decay of CumcB was the well-founded partiahty of the Ro- 
 mans to the neighboring coasts of Haice, Puteoli, and Naples, 
 so superior in beauty and salubrity to the flat, marshy vicinity of 
 the former city. Though Juvenal's* expression may imply 
 only a comparative desertion and emptiness, yet the decline 
 of Cum<e was so rapid, that in the sixth century it appears to 
 have been reduced to a mere fortress seated on the rock, which 
 formed indeed a military position, but could not be denominated 
 a city. Its name however still remained, and we find it men- 
 tioned in the thirteenth century as the resort of robbers, rebels, 
 and banditti, whose depredations at length provoked the ven- 
 geance of the neighboring cities, and occasioned its total de- 
 struction. Now, the once opulent and populous CumcB is a solitary 
 wood; its once busy streets are now silent alleys; its only inha- 
 bitants are stags and wild boars. Here and there a range of broad 
 smooth stones remind the sportsman of its pavement, and some 
 mouldering walls overgrown with vines and myrtles are the only 
 vestiges of its existence. 
 
 Tot decora, artificumque manus, tot nota sepulchra 
 Totque pios cineres una ruina premit 
 
 Et querimur, cito si nostrs data tenipora vitse 
 Diftagiunt? urbes mors violenta rapit! 
 
 * Vacuis . . . Cumis. Juvenal ill > 
 
558 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Nee tu semper eris, quae septem amplecteris arces : 
 
 Nee tu quae mediis aemula surgis aquis 
 Et te (quis putet hoc?) altrix mea, durus avator 
 
 Vertet; et Urbs, dicet, hcEC quoque clara fuit. 
 
 Sannaz. Eleg. Lib. n. 9. 
 
 The forest which covers Cuma is a royal chace, extends far 
 beyond the Hmits of that city, and borders the lake of Fusaro, 
 the ancient Acherusia palus, lying to the south towards Misenus. 
 This lake is a long and shallow sheet of water. It answers 
 very exactly the description of it given by Strabo, wlio calls it a 
 muddy irruption of the sea, and differs as widely from the splendid 
 picture of Lycophron, who represents it, 
 
 It has a small island with a castle, and terminates in a pool 
 called L'Acqua Morta. We proceeded along its banks to BaicB, 
 ranged once more over the delicious scenery in its vicinity, and 
 embarking bent our course to Procida. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 559 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 BAY AND CASTLE OF PROCIDA EVENING HYMN BEAUTIFUI, 
 
 VIEW, OBSERVATIONS THE ISLAND OF VIVARA ISCHIA 
 
 ITS MOUNTAINS, EKUPTIONS, APPEARANCE, AND POPULATION 
 — NISIDA — VESUVIUS. 
 
 XxS M'e passed the bay of Misenus we observed the fine ap- 
 pearance of that promontory ; it is separated by the harbor, and 
 Mare morto with the flat shore beyond, from the neck of land 
 which it terminates, and thus fonns an insulated eminence, re- 
 markable for its shape, its boldness, and its aerial elevation. 
 After having doubled the cape, we crossed the strait which flows 
 between it and the island of Proch^ta. Here I landed, while 
 my companions pursued their course to the island of Ischial about 
 four miles further. Procida is about two miles from the continent: 
 its shore, towards the west, is comparatively low, but it swells 
 gradually towards the east, and terminates in a bold promon- 
 tory, the summit of which is crowned with the castle or royal 
 palace. The prominence of this point on one side, and the 
 Pimta del Vomero about a mile from it to the south, form 
 
SCQ CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 a little bay. The promontory is sufficiently lofty to entitle 
 the island, of which it is the most conspicuous feature, to 
 the epithet alta*, which Virgil gives it, as the rocks which 
 line its eastern and southern coast justify the word aspera 
 employed by Statius-f. Besides the harbor which I have de- 
 scribed, there are on the same coast several nooks and creeks, 
 which afford shelter to fishing boats and small vessels, and con- 
 tribute much to the variety and romantic beauty that eminently 
 characterize this and the neighboring islands and shores. There 
 is no regular inn, I believe, in the town, but strangers are re- 
 ceived and very well treated in the castle. This edifice is large 
 and very roomy, though almost unfinished; it has a small garden 
 to the west and north, surrounded by a wall that borders the 
 brow of the precipice. A trellice supporting thick spreading 
 vines covers this wall, and shades the walk along it, while 
 large windows open at intervals, and enable the eye to 
 range over the view that lies expanded beneath. At one 
 of these windows I seated myself, and enjoyed the glorious 
 exhibition of the setting sun, which then hung in appearance 
 over the distant island of Pandataria, and cast a purple gleam 
 on all the promontories of Gaieta, and the hills of Formi<e. The 
 purple tints, as the sun descended into the waves, brightened 
 into golden streaks, then softened into purple again, and gra- 
 dually deepening into blue, at length melted away in darkness. 
 The moon rose soon after ; a table was placed before me covered 
 ■with figs, apricots, and peaches. The man and woman who 
 took care of the palace, a young couple, the husband strong 
 and comely, the vvife handsome, seated themselves opposite to 
 
 » IX. 715. + Sylva. n. 2. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 561 
 
 me; their son, a smart lively boy, served at table. After a 
 little conversation, the man took his guitar and accompanied his 
 wife while she sung the evening hymn, in a sweet voice and 
 with great earnestness. Occasionally the man and boy joined 
 in chorus, and while they sung, the eyes of all three wete 
 sometimes raised to heaven and sometimes fixed on each other, 
 with a mixed expression of piety, affection, and gratitude. I own, 
 I never was present at an act of family devotion more simple or 
 more graceful. It seemed to harmonize with the beauty of the 
 country, and the temperature of the air, and breathed at once the 
 mnocence and the joy of Paradise. Shortly after similar little 
 concerts rose from the town below, and from different parts of 
 the island, and continued at intervals for an hour or more, 
 sometimes swelling upon the ear, and sometimes dying away in 
 distance, and mingling with the murmurs of the sea. One would 
 almost imagine that Milton, who had visited all this coast, had 
 these concerts in mind when he speaks of 
 
 Celestial voices to the midnight air 
 Sole or responsive each to other's note 
 Singing their great Creator 
 
 Next morning I was awakened earlier than usual by the rays of 
 the sun shining full into my room, and getting up I placed myself 
 in the balcony to enjoy the air and the prospect. Misenus and 
 BauB rose before me ; the Elysian fields and the groves of Cum<B 
 extended between them in full view still fresh with dew, and 
 bright with the beams of the new risen sun. No scene perhaps 
 surpasses that which is now under my eye in natural beauties, 
 and few equal it in those embellishments which the action of the 
 human mind superadds to the graces of nature. These intel- 
 lectual charms are the most impressive, and even the most per- 
 
 VOL. I. 4 c 
 
662 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 nianent; without them, the exhibitions of the material world be- 
 come an empty pageant, that pleases the eye for a moment and 
 passes away, leaving perhaps a slight recollection, but producing 
 no improvement. Hence, although Germany, and other more 
 northern countries, frequently display scenes both grand and 
 beautiful, yet, if I may judge of the feelings of other travellers 
 by my own, they are passed over in haste, and viewed with 
 indifference. Even the gigantic features of America, its in- 
 terminable forests, and its mountains that touch the skies, 
 its sea-like lakes, and its volcanos that seem to thunder in 
 another world, may excite wonder, but can awaken little inte- 
 rest, and certainly inspire no enthusiasm. Their effect is con- 
 fined to the spot which they cover, and to the very hour which 
 rolls over them ; they have no connection with other regions, no 
 retrospect to other times. They stand vast masses, grand but 
 silent monuments, in the midst of boundless solitudes, unenli- 
 vened by industry and unadorned by genius. But, if a Plato 
 or a Pythagoras had visited their recesses in pursuit of know- 
 ledge; if a Homer or a Virgil had peopled them with ideal 
 tribes, Avith heroes or with phantoms; if the useful ambition 
 of an Alexander or a Caesar had carried war and civilization to 
 their borders; if a courageous people had made a last and 
 successful stand against invasion in their fastnesses; then indeed 
 they would assume dignity and importance; then they would 
 excite interest, and acquire a title to the attention of travellers. 
 
 Tuncsylvae, tunc antra loqui, tunc vivere fontes, 
 
 Turn sacer horror aquis, adytisque eftunditur echo 
 
 Clarior, et doctse spirant praesagia rupes. Claud, vi. Com. Slil. 
 
 Nature has shed over the coast before us some of its terrors, 
 and many of its beauties. Homer either visited it, or heard ac- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 563 
 
 ooufits of it, when probably the former were predominant, and 
 represented it accordingly as the boundaries of the living world, 
 and the confines of the infernal regions; the groves of Pro- 
 serpina, according to him, spread over the sullen beach, and 
 covered it with a thick but barren shade. 
 
 EvS' ocxrr] T£ xd^iKx, Jiai xXirix IlfpirE^oi'firjf. 
 M«x(!«ti T cciyiipot Kat irion uXtCixxpiroi. 
 
 Odyss. X. 509. 
 
 Virgil beheld it at a time when beauty was its prevalent feature, 
 and though he Avas obliged to adopt the mythology of his pre- 
 decessor, yet he qualifies its horrors, by confining the infernal 
 gloom to the precincts of Avernus ; while he improves upon it 
 at the same time, by conducting his hero through the regions of 
 the dead, and opening scenes grand, novel, and in the highest 
 degree delightful. Thus, while the foundation was laid b}^ the 
 Greek, the elegant superstructure was raised by the Latin poet. 
 The heroes, the appellations, the topography, are principally 
 Homer's ; but the graces, the decorations, the enchantment, 
 belong to Virgil. The former is content with evoking the dead, 
 and throwing an awful horror over the whole coast ; the latter 
 fixes on particular spots, and attaches to each some pleasing or 
 instructive recollection. Thus to yon promontory he consigns 
 the name and the glory of Mis€7ms, 
 
 quo non praestantior alter 
 
 iEre clere viros, Martemque accendere cantu. 
 
 Into yonder grove on the borders of Avernus, which Homer 
 had filled Avith phantoms, the nations of the dead, Virgil intro- 
 
 4c2 
 
^64 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 duces? the doves of Venus, and brightens its gloom with the 
 vision of the golden bough. 
 
 Species auri frondentis opaca 
 Ilice 
 
 The adventures of Dsedalus were perhaps Homer's, but the 
 temple with its sculptured walls, and the vain efforts of the 
 father to represent the son's fate are characteristic embellish- 
 ments of Virgil. 
 
 Bis conatus erat casus ef&ngere in aure 
 Bis patriae cecidere manus. 
 
 He also converted the cavern in yonder rock rising on the 
 level shore, into the abode of the Sybil ; he made its vaults echo 
 with the voice of futurity, and peopled its recesses with genera- 
 tions yet unknown to the sun. The Elysian fields, one of the 
 most dehghtful fictions of antiquity, if that may be called a 
 fiction which is founded on truth, belong almost exclusively to 
 Virgil, He at least gave substance and locality to a notion 
 before him vague, indefinite, and shadowy. He shed on yonder 
 groves that cover the hills and border the sea, a purer, a softer 
 radiance*, and introduced into them the immortal spirits of the 
 good made happy. 
 
 Hie manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi: 
 Quique sacerdotes casti dum vita manebat: 
 
 Quique pii vates et Phsebo digna locuti 
 
 Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo. Lib, vi. 
 
 . . . lumine vestit 
 Purpureo 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 565 
 
 In short, not a wood, a lake, a promontory, appears on the 
 coast before me, that has not been distinguished by some illus- 
 trious name, or embellished by some splendid fiction. In con- 
 templating a prospect thus adorned by nature, and thus en» 
 nobled by genius ; the theatre of the most sublime and most in- 
 structive fables that the human mind ever invented, we may be 
 allowed, as we bewilder ourselves in the mazes of classical illu- 
 sion, to indulge a momentary enthusiasm. 
 
 Audire et videor pios 
 Errare per lucos, amaenae 
 Quos et aqu£E subeunt, et aurae. Hor. 
 
 But the scenes before me owe not their graces and their 
 mterest to poetry only ; history has had its share in the de- 
 coration and renown of tliis favored region. On the summit of 
 that promontory (Misenm) rose the villa of Marius. Lucullus 
 succeeded to it, and spread around it the amenity and beauty 
 which distinguished his character. On the slope of the hill be- 
 yond the harbor and looking towards Pnzztiolo stood the villa of 
 Bmilis, Avhere Cicero and Hortensius used to meet and exercise 
 their rival powers. On the eminence above it, rose the retreat 
 of Caesar, lofty in its site, but in the vicinity of Baits, thus 
 suited to the temper of that chief, high and imperious, but 
 yet open to all the charms of literature, and all the allurements 
 of pleasure. Yonder in the curve of the bay and almost on 
 the beach was Cicero's Academy, sacred as its name implies, to 
 meditation and philosophical research. Around in different 
 directions, but all within the compass of four miles, were the 
 villas of Pompey, Varro, and Lucullus; of Pompey, once the 
 first of Roman citizens in power and moderation; of Lucullus, 
 famed alike for his talents, his learning, and his luxury ; and of 
 
566 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Varro, renowned for his deep erudition and thorough insight hi to 
 the laws, the hterature, and the antiquities of his country. What 
 spot in the universe, Rome alone excepted, evei' united so much 
 power, so much genius, so much greatness ! Bai(e indeed at that 
 time was the resort, or rather the very temple of Wisdom and 
 the Muses; whither the masters of the world retired, not to 
 dissolve their energies in effeminacy, but to unbend their minds 
 in literary inquiries and refined conversation. Luxury appeared, 
 without doubt, but in her most appropriate form and character, 
 as the handmaid of taste, to minister at the tables, and season 
 the repasts, where Caesar and Cicero, Pompey and Lucullus, 
 Varro and Hortensius, enjoyed the feast of reason. Shortly 
 after this era of greatness and glory, the sun of liberty set for 
 ever on the Roman world ; but it cast a parting beam, which 
 still continued to brighten the hemisphere. Augustus himself 
 felt its influence ; he had been educated in the principles, and 
 inured to the manly and independent manners of a free Roman; 
 he observed the forms and retained the simplicity of ancient 
 times, and gloried in the plainness and even in the appellation 
 of a citizen ; he may therefore be considered as a republican 
 prince. In the modesty of this character, he frequented the 
 coasts of Baice, and conducted in his train improvement, 
 opulence, and festivity, Agrippa and Mecsenas, Virgil and 
 Horace. One of the most pleasing scenes of this Emperor's 
 life, and well calculated to close a career once so active, with 
 tranquillity, took place in the bay of Puteoli*. 
 
 The spirit of the republic seems to have expired with Augus- 
 
 * Suetonius, Aug. 98. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 567 
 
 tus: under his successor Rome was destined to taste the bitters of 
 despotism, and during the following reigns, to drain the cup to 
 the dregs. Then Baiee became the receptacle of profligacy and 
 eileminacy*, of lust and cruelty, as far beyond the bounds of 
 nature as the power of the imperial monsters was above human 
 control. The beauties of nature were tarnished by the foulness 
 of vice, and the viiluous man turned away from scenes which he 
 could not behold without disgust and horror. Silius, Martial, 
 Statins, courted the INIuse in vain on that shore which had in- 
 spired the strains of Virgil. They attempted to celebrate the 
 beauties of Baia;, but the subject was degraded, and their strains 
 were forced and inharmonious f. Ba/« and its retreats, defiled 
 by obscenity, and stained with blood, were doomed to de- 
 vastation ; and earthquakes, war and pestilence were employed in 
 succession to waste its fields, and depopulate its shores. Its 
 pompous villas were gradually levelled in the dust; its wanton 
 
 * Diversoiium vitiorum esse cieperunt. Seneca Ep. lv. 
 
 t With all due respect to the partial opinion of the admirers of Silius, Martial, 
 and Statins, the compositions of these authors are the offspring of study and exer- 
 tion, and though in different proportions, yet always in some degree, strained 
 harsh, and obscure. They have been praised, it is true, but principally, I be- 
 lieve, by their editors and annotators. Pliny, indeed, speaks with kindness and 
 partiality of Martial, but his praise seems dictated less by his taste than his gra- 
 titude, and that his opinion of Martial's poetical powers was not very high, may 
 be suspected from the equivocal expression with which he closes his eulogium. 
 " At non erunt.ceterna quce scripsit ! non erunt fortasse : ille tamen scripsit, tan- 
 quam futura" In fact, Naples is more indebted to a single modern poet, than to 
 the three ancients abovementioned united. I allude to Sannazarius, who has 
 celebrated the scenery of his country in a strain, pure, graceful and Virgilian, and 
 interwoven all the characteristic features of the Bay with the subject of his 
 eclogues and elegies. 
 
das CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 alcoves swallowed up in the sea; its salubrious waters were turned 
 into pools of infection; and its gales that once breathed health 
 and perfume, now wafted poison and death. The towns for- 
 saken by the inhabitants, gradually sunk to ruin, and the most 
 delicious region the sun beholds in his course, is now a desert, 
 and seems destined to expiate in ages of silence and desolation 
 the crimes of the last degenerate Romans*. 
 
 The morning was now far advanced, and I turned towards 
 the west to view the island, which is highly cultivated, thickly 
 inhabited, and presents to a spectator beholding it from the 
 castle a most delightful grove of mulberries, poplars, and vines, 
 with domes, and clusters of white houses intermingled. Juve- 
 nal -f* seems to allude to it as a solitary retreat in his time; 
 it does not merit that appellation at present; in truth, it resem- 
 bles a large town interspersed with orchards, gardens, and public 
 walks. 
 
 The views which have been described above are not the only 
 prospects which the castle affords; it extends its perspective 
 over Naples, the lower part excepted, which is covered by 
 
 * The present unwholesomeness of Baiw and its bay, if real, must be ascribed 
 partly to the same cause as that of the lakes Agnano and Avcrno, and partly to 
 the streams and sources once collected on the hills behind it in aqueducts and re- 
 servoirs, now spreading and oozing down the declivities, and settling in the hol- 
 lows below. In a warm climate all stagnant water becomes putrid during the hot 
 months. This inconvenience might easily be remedied, and will, without doubt, 
 when the government becomes more active, and the taste of the Neapolitan-gentry 
 more rural. 
 
 + Juv. HI. 5, 6. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 56^ 
 
 the prominency of Pausilypus, includes Vesuvius, Stahia, Sur' 
 rentum, and terminates in the island of Capreee. It is perhaps 
 one of the finest points of view, as it looks down on the bay of 
 Puieoli, which is the most delicious part of the crater*. 
 
 Close under the southern point of Prochyta rises another 
 little island, now called Vivara. Whether this island has been 
 detached from Prochyta by some subterraneous convulsion, or 
 whether it existed in ancient times, and be that which Ovid 
 mentions under the appellation of 
 
 Pithecusae habitantutn nomine diets, 
 
 I leave the learned reader to determine. I shall content myself 
 with observing, that it ansAvers the description given by the poet, 
 and swells into a little barren hill in the centre -f-. The fact is, 
 that the names of these islands have been applied in a very con- 
 fused and indiscriminate manner by many of the ancients, and 
 an attempt to reconcile their differences would employ more 
 time and attention than the subject deserves; especially as 
 every material circumstance connected with their history, situa- 
 tion, and features is sufficiently ascertained, notwithstanding 
 such verbal difficulties, and perhaps poetical mistakes or mis- 
 representations. 
 
 While I thus indulged myself in solitude and repose in the 
 castle of Prochyta, my fellow travellers were employed in ex- 
 
 * The bay of Naples is often called the Crater, 
 
 + ... sterilique locatas 
 
 Colle Pithecusas .... Met, %i\.90. 
 
 VOL.1. 4d 
 
570 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 ploring the neighboring island of Ischia, anciently Arime, Inarhne^ 
 and Mnaria, and perhaps sometimes Pitheciisce. As it is only 
 about two miles distant from the southern extremity of Frochijta, 
 and as it is distinguished by a very bold and lofty mountain, its 
 scenery, owing to the extreme clearness of the air, was brought 
 as it were under my eye, and appeared as distinct as similar 
 objects in northern climates at the distance of half a mile. The 
 following particulars, may suffice to give the reader a tolerable 
 notion of this island. 
 
 The town of Ischia, from which the modern name is derived, 
 stands in a little bay opposite the island of Vivara, above 
 two miles from the nearest point of Trochyta. This bay is de- 
 fended by a castle seated on a high rock, which communicates 
 with the above by an isthmus of sand. Ischia or Inarime was 
 famed in ancient times for its eruptions, and all the varied 
 and dreadful phenomena that accompany the constant action 
 of subterraneous fires. Besides the ordinary effects of volcanic 
 fermentation, earthquakes, torrents of lava rolling down the de- 
 clivities, or showers of ashes and cindei^s overwhelming the 
 country, historians talk of flames rising suddenly from the cracks 
 and fissures of the earth, and spreading like a conflagration 
 over the whole surface of the island; of hot water bursting 
 out from unknown sources, and rolling through the fields with 
 all the fury and mischief of a torrent; of mountains suddenly 
 sinking into the abyss below, and as suddenly shooting up again 
 increased in bulk and elevation; of vast masses of land detached 
 from the shore and hurled into the sea, and again heaved up 
 by the waters and thrown back on tlie shore*. With such tre- 
 
 * Strabo, lib. v. Plin. lib. u. cap. 89. Jul. Obs. Sub de Prod. 
 
THROUGH ITAIX 571 
 
 mendous events on record before them, it is no wonder that the 
 poets should have placed Typhseus himself under this island, 
 and ascribed its convulsive throws to the agitations of that giant 
 writhing under his tortures. 
 
 The principal feature of Ischia is the mountain anciently 
 named Epopeus, now tor euphony softened into Epomeo, but 
 more generally called by the people Monte San Nicolo. To 
 visit this mountain was our first business ; therefore the next 
 morning, about four o'clock, we mounted our mules and 
 begun the ascent : the road is extremely steep and craggy, and 
 at length with much exertion we reached the summit, but found 
 it so enveloped in clouds, that one of the grand objects of our 
 excursion, the extensive view which is said to comprehend 
 almost half the southern coast of Italy, was nearly lost to us. 
 However, our loss in this respect was compensated by the local 
 knowledge of the country, which our progress up and round the 
 mountain enabled us to acquire. The sinnmit is formed of a 
 sort of grey or whitish lava, in the midst of which tire form of 
 the crater is easily distinguishable. Two hermits and a soldier 
 inhabit this solitary spot, and occupy apartments cut out of the 
 solid rock. This mountain, and indeed the whole island, is evi- 
 dently of volcanic origin, and formed of lava, tufo, and pumice 
 stone. No eruption however has taken place since the year 
 1302, when the convulsions that shook the mountain were so 
 violent, and the rivers of burning fluid that poured down 
 its sides so extensive, and so destructive, that the towns 
 and villages were all levelled with the ground or consumed, 
 most of the inhabitants perished, and the few survivors were 
 driven in terror from their homes. Since this tremendous explo- 
 sion the island has enjoyed a state of tranquillity, and all ap- 
 
 4 D 2 
 
572 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 prehension of similar visitations seems removed. The subterra- 
 neous fire however is not extinguished, and the number of hot 
 fountains that spring up in different places still attest its 
 existence and activity. The surface of Ischia is very beauti- 
 fully varied by vineyards, gardens, groves of chestnut, and vil- 
 lages. It is intersected by numberless steep and narrow dells, 
 shaded by forest trees, intermingled with aloes, myrtles, and 
 other odoriferous shrubs, that shoot out of the fissures of the 
 rocks, and wave over their summits. The soil is fertile, and pe- 
 culiarly favorable to vines ; hence the wine of Ischia is plentiful, 
 and held in considerable estimation; it is lodged in caverns 
 worked out of the rocks, and formed into very capacious and 
 cool cellars, a method of keeping wine practised not only here 
 and in some other parts of Italy, but in Austria, and various 
 transalpine wine countries; it has many advantages, and im- 
 plies a great degree of honesty and mutual confidence among 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 Besides Ischia, there are nine towns and several villages; one of 
 the former, Forioy is as large as the capital itself, and I believe 
 more populous. Panza is on the southern side of the isle, and near 
 it, on an insulated and conical rock, stands a fortress. Casamicio 
 is placed nearly on the summit of Mount Epomeo; these towns 
 have all one or two large churches, as many convents, and ge- 
 nerally some medicinal waters, or hot baths, or sands, within 
 their confines. The island of Ischia is extremely well peopled, 
 and highly cultivated; and as its beauty, its waters, and the cool- 
 ness and salubrity of its air, attract a considerable number of 
 visitants to it in summer time, it may be considered as very pro- 
 sperous and flourishing. Its coasts present a great variety of 
 romantic scenery, as they are in general bold and craggy, in- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 573 
 
 dented with little bays, jutting out in points, and lined with shape- 
 less rocks which have been torn in moments of convulsion from the 
 shore, or hurled from the precipices above. Such is Inarime, at 
 present the centre of rural beauty and fertility, the resort of health 
 and pleasure, very different from the shattered mountain tumbled 
 in ancient days by Jupiter on the giant monster *, for ever re- 
 sounding with his groans, and inflamed by his burning breath f. 
 
 On our return we touched at Procida, and again re-embarking 
 crossed the bay of Pozzuolo. The port that once engrossed the 
 commerce of the East, and was accustomed to behold the Ro- 
 man navy riding on its bosom, was all solitude and silence ; not 
 one vessel, not even a boat was seen to ply in its forsaken waters. 
 The Julian mole, Lucrinoque addita dmistraX no longer repel 
 the indignanf waves — the royal structure which was numbered 
 among the wonders of Italy, has scarcely left a trace of its 
 existence ; and the moral of the poet is literally exemplified in 
 the very instance which he selected for its illustration. 
 
 Debemur morti nos nostraque ; sive receptus 
 Terra. Neptunus classes aquilonibus arcet 
 Regis opus .... 
 
 Hor. D. Arte Poetica^ 
 
 * Quae turbine nigro 
 
 Fumantem premit lapetum, flaramasque rebelli 
 Oreejectantem. Sil. Lib. xn. 149. 
 
 + Isckia is about eighteen mDes in circumference, and may contain about 
 seventy square miles ; the number of its inhabitants amounts to four-and-twenty 
 thousand. It belongs to the king, and brings him a considerable income, arising 
 principally fiom a tax on its wines. 
 
 X Virgil Georgic. II. 
 
m CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 We passed under Nisida, rising as a theatre from the sea; 
 its lower part is covered with buildings, the upper is crowned 
 as anciently with wood. 
 
 Sylvaque qua fixam pelago Nesida coronat. Stat. 
 
 It was once the rural retreat of Brutus, and frequently 
 honored with Cicero's presence when on a visit to his friend. 
 On doubling the promontory of Posilipo, we beheld the bay 
 with boats without number, skimming over its smooth surface, 
 and Naples extended along the coast in all its glory full before 
 us. The immense line of white edifices stretched along the 
 beach, and spread over the hills behind ; the bold but verdant 
 coasts on either side, glittering with towns, villages, convents, and 
 villas; and Mount Vesuvius raising its scorched summit almost 
 in the centre, form a picture of singular beauty, and render this 
 view from the sea preferable to every other, because it alone 
 combines all the characteristic features of this matchless prospect. 
 We landed at sun-set, and sat down to dinner with our windows 
 open full on the bay, the colors of which were gradually fading 
 away and softening into the dim tints of twilight. 
 
 We now turned our attention to Vesuvius, and resolved to 
 visit that mountain without delay, and the more so as the in- 
 creasing heat of the weather might, in a short time, render such 
 an excursion extremely inconvenient. Therefore, leaving Naples 
 about three o'clock next morning, we reached Portici where guides 
 with mules had been previously engaged to meet us at four, 
 and instantly began the ascent. Vesuvius rises in a gentle swell 
 from the shore; tlie first part or base of the mountain is covered 
 with towns on all sides, such as Portici, Torre del Greco, Torre 
 del Annonciata, on the sea coast; and Ottaiano, Somrfia, Massa, 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 575 
 
 &e. on the inland side. These are all large towns, and with 
 the villages and villas that encircle them, and extend over the 
 second region of the mountain, may be said, without exaggera- 
 tion, to cover the lower parts of it with fertility, beauty, and 
 population. The upper tract is a scene of perfect devasta- 
 tion, furrowed on all sides with rivers of lava extended in wide 
 black lines over the surface. This region may be said to terrni^ 
 nate at the Atrio dei Cavalli so called, because the traveller is 
 obliged to dismount and leave his horse there till his return, 
 as the summit of the mountain must be ascended on foot. 
 This part has the shape of a truncated cone; it is formed 
 almost entirely of ashes, and is extremely difficult of ascent, 
 as it yields under the pressure of the foot, so that one step 
 out of three may be considered as lost. The guides how- 
 ever afford every assistance, and by means of a leathern strap 
 thrown over tlieir shoulders ease the traveller not a little in his 
 exertions. It is advisable to proceed slowly and rest at inter- 
 vals, as the fatigue otherwise is sufficient to try even strong and 
 youthful constitutions. 
 
 When we reached the summit we found ourselves on a narrow 
 ledge of burnt earth or cinders, with the crater of the volcano 
 open beneath us. This orifice in its present form, for it varies 
 at almost every eruption, is about a mile and a half in circum- 
 ference, and may be about three hundred and fifty feet in depth; 
 its eastern border is considerably higher than the western. Its sides 
 are formed of ashes and cinders, with some rocks and masses 
 of lava intermingled, and shelve in a steep declivity, enclosing 
 at the bottom a flat space of about three quarters of a mile in 
 circumference. We descended some way, but observing that 
 the least motion or noise brought vast quantities of ashes and 
 
*7e CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 stones rolling together down the sides, and being called back b y 
 our guides, who assured us that we could not in safety go lower 
 or even remain in our station, we reascended. We were near 
 enough to the bottom however to observe, that it seemed to be 
 a sort of crust of brown burnt earth, and that a little on one 
 side there were three orifices like funnels, from whence ascended 
 a vapor so thin as to be scarcely perceptible. Such was the state 
 of the crater in the year 1802. We reached the summit a little 
 before seven, and as we had ascended under the shade of the 
 mountain we had yet felt no inconvenience from the heat ; while 
 on the top we were refreshed by a strong wind blowing from the 
 east, and profiting of so favorable a circumstance we sat down on 
 the highest point of the cone to enjoy the prospect. Vesuvius 
 is about three thousand six hundred feet in height, and of course 
 does not rank among the greater mountains; but its situation is 
 so advantageous, that the scene which it unfolds to the eye 
 probably surpasses that displayed from any other eminence. 
 The prospect includes Naples, with its bay, its islands, and its 
 bordering promontories; the whole of that delicious region justly 
 denominated the Catnpania Felice, with its numberless towns 
 and town-like villages. It loses itself in the immensity of the 
 sea on one side, and on the other is bordered by the Apennines, 
 forming a semicircular frame of various tints and bold outline. 
 I own I do not admire views taken from very elevated points ; 
 they indeed give a very good geographical idea of the face of a 
 country, but they destroy all the illusions of rural beauty, re- 
 duce hills and vales to the same level, and confound all the 
 graceful swells and hollows of an undulated country in one dull 
 flat surface. 
 
 The most interesting object seen from the summit of Vesuvius 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 577. 
 
 is the mountain itself, torn to pieces by a series of convulsions, and 
 strewed with its own ruins. Vesuvius may be said to have two 
 summits; the cone which I have described, and a ridge separated 
 from it by a deep valley, called Monte Somnia from a town that 
 stands on its side. The distance between these two summits Is 
 in a strait line, nearly three thousand feet. The ridge on the 
 side towards the cone presents a steep rugged barren precipice; 
 on the other side, it shelves gently towards the plain, and is 
 covered with verdure and villages. The valley or deep dell that 
 winds between these eminences is a desolate hollow, formed en- 
 tirely of calcined stones, cinders, and ashes, and resembles a vast 
 subterraneous forge, the rocky roof of which has given way, and 
 admitted light from above. Hence it is conjectured, that it is part 
 of the interior of the mountain, as the ridge that borders it, or the 
 Monte Soimua, is the remnant of the exterior, or original surface 
 so much celebrated for its beauty and fertility, previous to the 
 eruption of the year 79 of the Christian era. It is indeed pro- 
 bable, that the throws and convulsions of the mountain in that 
 first tremendous explosion may iiave totally shattered its upper 
 parts, while the vast ejection of ashes, cinders, ignited stones, 
 and melted minerals, must have left a large void in its centre. 
 One entire side of the mountain seems to have been consumed, 
 pr scattered around on this occasion, while the other remains in 
 Monte Somma. The cavity thus formed was filled up in part by 
 the matter ejected in subsequent eruptions, and gradually raised 
 into the present cone, which however varies its shape with every 
 new agitation, and increases or diminishes, according to the quan- 
 tity of materials thrown out by the mountain. Even in the last 
 eruption*, it lost a considerable share of its elevation, as thb 
 
 **- ■-.■■■■■ 1^ ■ . 1 ■ ■ .,■ — .. I ■■ ■- " ' "' ' ' ■ ' " ■ 
 
 * An. 1794. 
 vol.. 1. 4e 
 
578 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 greater part of it, after having been raised and kept suspended 
 in the air for some minutes, sunk into the crater and almost 
 filled its cavity. The fire raging in the gulph below having thus 
 lost its vent, burst through the flank of the mountain, and 
 poured out a torrent of lava that, as it rolled down the dechvity, 
 swept all before it, and in its way to the sea destroyed the greater 
 part of Torre del Greco. 
 
 It is not my intention to describe the phenomena of Vesuvius, 
 or to relate the details of its eruptions, which have been very nu- 
 merous since the first recorded in history in the reign of Titus, 
 so well described by Pliny the younger * in two well known 
 epistles to Tacitus. I shall only observe that although this 
 eruption be the first of which we have an account, yet Vesuvius 
 had all the features of a volcano, and particularly the traces of 
 a crater from time immemorial. Strabo speaks of it as being 
 hollow^ed out into caverns, and having the appearances of 
 being preyed upon by internal fires ; and Florus relates a stra- 
 tagem employed by a Roman oflScer, who, he says, conducted a 
 body of men through the cavities and subterraneous passages of 
 that mofmtain-j-. These vestiges however neither disfigured its 
 form nor checked its fertility ; and it is represented as a scene of 
 
 * Pliny VI. 16. 20. 
 
 + Silius Italicus, who probably witaessed the grand eruption, seems io have been 
 induced by the previous appearances of Vesuvius to indulge himself in a poetical 
 fiction, and represent it as portending the carnage of CanncE by a tremendous 
 explosion — 
 
 ^tneos quoque contorquens e cautibus ignes 
 Vesbius intonuit, scopulisque in nubila jactis 
 Phlegraeus tetigit trepidantia sidera vertex. Lib. viii. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 579 
 
 beauty and abundance, covered with villas and enlivened by 
 population*, when the eruption burst forth with more sudden- 
 ness and more fury than any similar catastrophe on record. The 
 darkness, the flames, the agitation, the uproar, that accompa- 
 nied this explosion, and extended its devastation and its terror so 
 widely, might naturally excite among many of the degenerate 
 and epicurean Romans that frequented the Campanian coasts, thff 
 opinion that the period of universal destruction was arrived, and 
 that the atoms which formed the world were about to dissolve 
 their fortuitous combination, and plunge the universe once more 
 into chaos. 
 
 The last eruption took place in 1794; the ashes, cinders, 
 and even water, thrown from the mountain did considerable 
 damage to the towns of Sommu, Ottaiano, and all the circum- 
 jacent region; but the principal mischief was, as usual, occa- 
 sioned by the lava, rivers of which, as I have already related, 
 poured down the southern side of the mountain. These and seve- 
 ral other torrents of similar matter, but earlier date, are seen from 
 the summit, and niay be traced from their source through the 
 whole of their progress, which generally terminates in the sea. 
 They are narrow at first, but expand as they advance, and appear 
 
 * Hie est pampinus viridis modo Vesvius urabris: 
 Presseiat hie madidos nobilis uva lacus. 
 Haec juga, quam Nysae colles plus Baeehus amavit 
 
 Hoc nuper Satjri monte dedere chores. 
 Hffic Veneris sedes, Laeedaemone gratior illi : 
 
 Hie locus Hereuleo nomine clarus erat. 
 Cunetajacent flammis et tristi mersa flavilla: 
 Nee Superi vellent hoc licuisse sibi! 
 
 3IarLLib. i». 
 4e 2 
 
•580 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Jike so many tracks of rich black mould just turned up by the 
 plough. When their destructive effects are considered, one is 
 surprized to see villas placed in their windings, vineyards waving 
 over their borders, and towns rising in the very middle of 
 their channeh. In truth, ravaged, and tortured as the vici- 
 nity of Vesuvius has been for so many ages, it must appear 
 singular, that it has not been abandoned by its inhabitants, 
 and consigned to the genius of fire and desolation as his own 
 peculiar territory. But sucli is the richness of the soil, and so 
 slight the damages occasioned by the volcano, when compared to 
 the produce of the lands fertilized by its ashes; so delightful is the 
 situation, and of its numerous inhabitants so small the number 
 that suffer by its agitations, that the evil when divested of its 
 terrific appearances seems an ordinary calamity, not exceeding 
 in mischief the accidents of fire and inundation so common in 
 northern countries. The alarm is indeed great on the approach 
 of an eruption, because it is usually preceded by earthquakes; 
 but when once the fermenting matter finds vent, the general 
 danger is considered as over, and tire progress of the phenomena 
 becomes an object of mere curiosity to all, excepting to the 
 cultivators of the lands which the lava actually rolls over, or 
 seems hkely to ravage in its progress. 
 
 We descended the cone or upper part of the mountain with 
 great ease and rapidity, as the ashes yielding to the tread pre- 
 vented slipping, and enabled us to hasten our pace without 
 danger. From the Atvio dei CavalU we proceeded towards a 
 bed of lava ejected in the last eruption, and found its appear- 
 ance very different from that which we had observed from the 
 summit. From thence it resembled long stripes of new ploughed 
 laud ; here it was like the surface of a dark muddy stream con- 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 581 
 
 vulsed by a hurricane, and frozen in a state of agitation ; present- 
 ing rough broken masses rolhng over each other, with a huge 
 fragment rising above the rest here and there, hke a vast wave 
 distorted by the tempest and congealed in its fall. The exterior 
 parts of this once liquid torrent of fire are cold, but the sand 
 produced by the friction and crumbling of the interior parts, 
 although it is now eight years since the eruption, is still too 
 hot to hold in the hand, as is indeed the earth itself under, or in 
 immediate contact with these once glowing masses. We con- 
 tinued our descent, and again reached Portici about eleven 
 o'clock*. 
 
 * Notwithstanding the encomium of Martial, the summit of Vesuvius is repre- 
 sented by Strabo, that is sometime before the eruption of 79, as flat and totally 
 barren. It is reported that in the intervals of some of the eruptions its summit, 
 and even the hollow of the crater, was covered with verdure and forest frees, as 
 Astroni, a long extinguished volcano, is at present. The number of eruptions, 
 including that of 1794, is said to be about thirty-one ; it is not probable that in 
 all these eruptions more than fifteen thousand persons perished, while in one 
 eruption of Etna three times that number were buried under the ruins of one 
 town only, Catanea. 
 
582 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 HERCULANEUM PAPYRI TORRE DEL GRECO POMPEII; ITS 
 
 THEATRES, TEMPLE, PORTICOS, AND VILLA, GENERAL APPEAR- 
 ANCE AND EFFECT EXCURSION TO THE AaUEDUCT, AND 
 
 PALACE OF CASERTA. 
 
 JrORTICI is a small town about six miles from Naples, 
 on the sea shore, and at the foot of Vesuvius; its principal 
 ornament is a royal palace. Under this town and palace lies 
 buried, at the depth of seventy feet under accumulated beds 
 of lava, the city of Herculaneion, the first victim of the fires of 
 Vesuvius. Its name and catastrophe were too well recorded to 
 be forgotten ; but its site, though marked out by the ancients 
 witli tolerable precision, was a subject of debate among the 
 learned, till an accident determined the controversy. A peasant 
 sinking a well in his garden found several fragments of 
 marble. The Prince D'Elbeuf, being informed of the circum- 
 stance, purchased tl;e spot, and continuing the excavations 
 discovered various statues, pillars, and even a whole temple 
 of the finest marble, adorned with statues. The Neapolitan 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 583 
 
 government then interposed, and suspended all further excava- 
 tions for the space of twenty years, at which time, instead of 
 satisfying the pubhc curiosity and doing itself immortal honor by 
 purchasing the village and buildings above, and laying open the 
 whole city below it, bought the ground, but with characteiistic 
 stupidity resolved to cover it with a palace. The excavations 
 were indeed continued occasionally but negligently, and rather 
 for the purpose of profit than liberal curiosity. PIoAvever, a ba- 
 silica, two temples, and a theatre were successively discovered 
 and stripped of their numerous pillars and statues. Streets were 
 observed, paved, and tlagged on the sides, and private houses, 
 and even monuments explored. A prodigious number of statues 
 of bronze of different sizes, pillars of marble and alabaster, 
 and paintings and mosaics, many entire and in high pre- 
 servation, others fractured aad damaged, have been drawn 
 from the edifices of this subterraneous city, and give a high 
 idea of its opulence: to these we may add every species of 
 ornaments used in dress, of weapons, and armor, of kitchen 
 utensils and domestic furniture, of agricultural and chirurgical 
 instruments. More treasures, without doubt, might be extracted 
 from this long forgotten and neglected mine of antiquity, but 
 the almost inconceivable indifference of the Spanish court, and 
 the indolence with which the excavations have been carried on, 
 as well as the manner, which is more influenced by a regard for 
 the safety ol the lieavy useless palace above, than by any consi- 
 derations of curiosity and interest in the city below, have 
 hitherto in spite of public eagerness checked or rather suspended 
 the undertaking. At {)resent, the theatre is the only part open 
 to inspection ; the descent is by a long flighi of stairs wide and 
 convenient, but the darkness below is too deep to be dispelled 
 by the feeble glare ot a few torches ; and some of the seats fos 
 
584 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 the spectators, and the front of the stage, are the only objects 
 distinguishable. The other excavations are filled up, as the 
 method is to open one only at a time, always filling that 
 which is abandoned, with the rubbish drawn from that which is 
 newly opened. 
 
 Emerging from this gloomy cavern we turned to the palace, 
 and proceeded directly to the repository of the numberless 
 articles collected in Herculaneum and Pompeii. Unfortunately 
 the furniture of these apartments, which had all been packed 
 up and carried to Palermo on the approach of the French, 
 either had not arrived, or had not been unpacked; we had 
 therefore the mortification to find the numerous cases empty, 
 and were obliged to content ourselves with the inspection 
 of some pictures in the rooms below, and some pavements in 
 those above. Of the former, the subjects are generally taken 
 from mythology ; some however are fantastic landscapes, and 
 others arabesque decorations ; the design is bold and graceful, 
 but the execution oftentimes indifferent; hence they are supposed 
 to be copies of celebrated pictures taken by ordinary painters. 
 The pavements of the upper rooms are ancient, and some of 
 uncommon beauty, formed of marble of the most brilliant 
 colors, and arranged with exquisite taste and effect. 
 
 But of all the articles of this collection however curious, and 
 of all the treasures drawn from Herculcuieum however valuable, 
 the most curious and most valuable are, without doubt, the 
 manuscripts there discovered. Of these a considerable niun- 
 ber dissolved into dust as soon as exposed to the air, while 
 others though scorched or rather burnt resist the action of that 
 element. The number of the latter may, I believe, be about 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 585 
 
 eighteen hundred. As a very small part of Herculaneiim has 
 hitherto been explored it is highly probable, that if a general 
 excavation were made, ten times the number of manuscripts above- 
 mentioned might be discovered, and among them perhaps, or 
 rather very probabl}^ some of the first works of antiquity, the loss 
 of which has been so long lamented. The destruction of the palace 
 of Portici, and of the village of Resina, would without doubt be 
 abundantly compensated by the recovery of the Decads of 
 and books wanting in Tacitus, or of the treatise of Cicero 
 De Gloria, or his Dialogues De Repiiblicd, that grand repository 
 of all the political wisdom of the ancients. The first manu- 
 scripts unfolded were Greek, and as Herculaneiiin was known to 
 be a Greek city, it was presumed that the whole collection 
 might be in that language; but several Latin works have been 
 found since, and there is every reason to believe that in a city ,so 
 rich, and inhabited by so many wealthy Romans, there must 
 have been considerable libraries both public and private, and of 
 course, complete collections of Roman authors. 
 
 The mode of unrolling these manuscripts was invented by 
 a priest of the congregation of the Somaschi (a body of 
 clergy who devote themselves entirely to the education of youth), 
 but as the government of Naples, though it employed him and 
 an assistant whom he instructed in the process, did not however 
 give much encouragement to the undertaking, the work lan- 
 guished, and the manuscripts long remained a neglected treasure. 
 At leno'th, the Prince of Wales, with a munificence that does equal 
 honor to his taste and his pubhc spirit, undertook to defray the 
 expences, and selected a person, not only qualified for the task 
 by his deep and extensive information, but peculiarly adapted 
 
 VOL. I. 4 F 
 
686 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 to it by his zeal and perseverance. The gentleman alluded 
 to is Mr. Hayter, a clergyman of the Church of England, 
 who is now established at Portici, and superintends the process 
 of unfolding the papyri with indefatigable assiduity. Never in- 
 deed were vigilance and patience more necessary, as the method 
 employed requires the most delicate touch, and the most unre- 
 mitting attention. One hasty gesture may spoil a whole 
 volume, and the most important and most laborious task of 
 the superintendent is to prevent such accidents by repressing 
 the eagerness of the workmen. To this tediousness, inse- 
 parable from the very nature of the operation itself, and to 
 the difficulty of procuring steady workmen in a country where 
 ardor and impetuosity are the predominant features of the na- 
 tional character, must be attributed the slow and almost imper- 
 ceptible progress of this undertaking. It is indeed melancholy 
 to reflect, that supposing the work to be carried on with the 
 same zeal and on the same principles as at present, centuries 
 must elapse before the manuscripts now in hand can be un- 
 rolled, and their contents given to the public. To which we 
 tnay add, that such is the extreme frailty of the papyri them- 
 selves, that with iall the care, and precaution, imaginable, not 
 One probably can escape mutilation, and pass through the 
 process without some detriment, or rather without material de- 
 falcation. 
 
 The fate of Hercuhneum naturally reminds us of Pmipeiiy 
 which was destined to perish by the same disastrous catastrophe 
 in the first century, and to arise again from its tomb in the 
 eighteenth. We accordingly made an excursion to this town on 
 Monday the 7th of June. It is about fourteen miles i'rom 
 3 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 587 
 
 Naples, on the road to Nocera. From Naples to Torre del Greco 
 the high way is almost a street, so close are the villas, villages, 
 and towns to each other. As the road runs along the coast, 
 and at the foot of Vesuvius, every break gives on one side a 
 view of the bay, on the other of the mountain. 
 
 Torre del Greco still presents in its shattered houses, half 
 buried churches, and streets almost choked up with lava, a me^ 
 lancholy instance of the ravages of the last eruption. The depth 
 of the destructive torrent is in some places five-and-twenty feet; 
 so that the entrance into several houses is now in the second story, 
 and into one church, through the great window over the western 
 door. Some edifices were entirely destroyed; others were sur- 
 rounded, incrusted and filled with lava, and may perhaps give a 
 very accurate idea of the state of Herculaneiim at the time of 
 its destruction. Tlie inhabitants, after having seen their town 
 in part levelled with the ground or swallowed up in the fierj 
 deluge, and in part shaken and disjointed, would have been ex- 
 cusable if they had transferred the wreck of their property to 
 some other less obnoxious quarter. But the disasters to which 
 their country is exposed seem rather to increase than dimi- 
 nish their attachment, and when we passed, a new city was 
 already rising upon the ruins of the former. A French traveller, 
 who noticed this persevering spirit some years ago, attri- 
 butes it to the blindness and folly of the human race, and very 
 ingeniously, and at the same time much to the credit of his 
 species, compares them to ants which never fail to repair their 
 nests how often soever they may be ravaged and crumbled to 
 pieces. Addison observed near a century ago, tliat even in 
 his time the principal object of some French writers seemed to 
 
 4f 2 
 
588 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 be to degrade and vilify human nature: and since that period 
 whole sv/arms of declaimers and sophists have risen in succes- 
 sion to provoke and justify a more extensive application of the 
 remark. The English nation, much to its credit, differs in 
 this respect, as indeed in many others, very widely from its 
 rival neighbors, and is united with the wise, the good, the great 
 of all ages and countries in a glorious confederacy, to support 
 the dignity and grandeur of our common nature. In opposition 
 therefore to the sagacious president, we may venture to praise the 
 inhabitants of Torre del Greco, and consider their perseverance 
 which, undismayed by the most tremendous disastei's, still pur- 
 sues its object, as a sublime sentiment that indicates the greatness 
 of man, and displays at once his courage and his resources. 
 Camillus preferred a cottage, amid the ruins of Rome still 
 smoking after the Gallic conflagration, to the palaces of Veil; 
 and the natives of this town prefer their countiy, though on the 
 verge of a fiery abyss, to a secure but foreign mansion. We ap- 
 plaud the patriotism of the former; why should we not praise 
 the spirit of the latter* } 
 
 The town of Torre del Greco was supposed by Cluverius to 
 occupy the site of Hercidaneiim, because the distances nearly 
 corresponded, and inscriptions have been found that seem to 
 corroborate this conjecture. In fact, making allowances for the 
 extent of the ancient town, there is little more than three 
 quarters of a mile difference, so that its name and jurisdic- 
 tion extended probably much farther. Hence the Salince, which 
 
 * Adeo nihil tenet soltim patriae, nee haec terra quam matrem appellamus; sect 
 io superfici^, tignisque caritas nobis patrije pendet.^ — Tit^Liv. Lib. v. 
 
 5 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 589 
 
 lay on the coast further on, and probably near if not beyond 
 Torre d'Annonciata, were called Heradanenses. The road to 
 this last-mentioned town crosses various beds of lava, poured 
 out at different periods : it is notwithstanding tliis circumstance 
 bordered with houses and villas, and enlivened by perpetual 
 crowds and agitation. Beyond Torre d'Annonciata the road 
 turns a little from the sea, and crosses the ancient Palus 
 Pompeiana, once perhaps a marsh, now a rich plain, raised and 
 fertilized by the very ashes which buried the unfortunate Pom- 
 peii. We stopped at a farm-house in appearance, and alighting 
 in the court found ourselves in the quarters of a legion of 
 Roman soldiers : the destination and date of this edifice, its form 
 and coloring, the names and jests of the soldiers scribbled on 
 the Avails, fresh as if written yesterday, are objects sutficiently 
 curious to interest without the aid of architecture, of which this 
 building cannot boast; it is an oblong square, with a portico on 
 all sides, supported by Doric pillars of brick plastered over and 
 painted alternately red and yellow, with the exception of the 
 two in the middle of each side Avhich are blue; behind are nu- 
 merous apartments about fourteen feet square. Immediately 
 behind the barracks are two theatres, one small and supposed 
 to have been covered, the other large; both these edifices Avere 
 lined with marble, beautifully paved, and in every respect highly 
 finished. The pavement of the arena of the smaller theatre is 
 entire, and engraved on it, in a line parallel Avith the stage, are 
 the folIoAving words in large brass letters : — 
 
 M. Oculatius, M. F. Verus IlVir pro ludis. 
 
 In Other respects these theatres are exactly of the same form as 
 the Teatro Olimpico of Palladia at Verona : having like it a nar- 
 
590 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 row proscenium, and three entrances, (one large, the other two 
 less,) to the stage from the scenery behind. In the larger of 
 these fabrics the seats rest on the side of a hill, above which 
 was a colonnade or portico communicating with a public walk 
 or rather forming a part of a forum. The side of a hill was in- 
 deed peculiarly favorable to the arrangements of an ancient 
 theatre, and seems to have been frequently chosen for the pur- 
 pose. These theatres when discovered were nearly entire ; they 
 have since been stripped of their decorations, but still retain all 
 their great characteristic features. 
 
 The temple of Isis is behind the little theatre, and occu- 
 pies an angle formed by two streets. It consists of a small 
 court supported by Doric pillars, on one end of which is the 
 cella raised on several steps; to this cella there are two doors, one 
 in front opening on the court, the other on the side: in the 
 back of the cella is a piece of brick-work nearly breast high, 
 running from side to side, and leaning against the wall; it is 
 hollow and arched, and open at each end with steps conduct- 
 ing to it. This circumstance has induced the Ciceroni to repre- 
 sent it as a lurking place for the priests, who, they say, gave 
 answers from thence in the name of the idol that stood above ; 
 and it has thus afforded the profound president De Paty an op- 
 portunity of declaiming against priestcraft; while a female tra- 
 veller with all the piety and tenderness of her sex laments the 
 fate of the jjoor deluded votaries. It is a pity that so much elo- 
 quence and so much compassion should be thrown away, but 
 so they have been upon the present occasion. In the first place, 
 it does not appear that oracles were ever given at Pompeii^ as 
 this was a privilege reserved to the ancient and more renowned 
 
I'HROUGH ITALY. 591 
 
 temples ; in the second place, oracles had ceased every where long 
 before this temple or edicula (for it scarce deserves the former 
 appellation) was erected ; thirdly, these entrances are too public, 
 and the whole contrivance too gross to dupe the dullest peasant, 
 much less the polished inhabitants of Pompeii. There is close to 
 the Cella, a room in which a skeleton was discovered. There 
 are niches where various statues of Venus, Priapus, &c. were 
 found, which with the furniture, marbles, and pictures, were 
 transported to Portici. The whole of this edifice appeared to 
 me ill-proportioned in form, and poor in materials ; its pillars are 
 brick plastered, and most of its ornaments are stucco. 
 
 Behind this temple on one side is a court surrounded with a 
 portico, supported by sixteen Doric pillars; from a sort of pul- 
 pit on one side, I should suppose it intended for some public 
 assembly. Another court follows with a similar portico, and 
 communicates with the grand portico of the theatre, supported 
 by more than sixty stone pillars of the same order, that is, 
 Doric, but in proportion bordering upon Tuscan. Near this 
 portico lie several fragments of columns, of a much larger size 
 and of bolder proportions; as the excavations have been car- 
 ried no farther on this side, it is difficult to form any conjec- 
 ture about their destination ; perhaps they belonged to the tem- 
 ple of Neptune, and may have been thrown down and laid in 
 their present situation by the earthquake which nearly destroyed 
 this city a few years previous to the eruption that buried it 
 finally. The damage occasioned by the first disaster was never 
 probably repaired, and seems to account for the apparent want 
 of architectural magnificence in a city, equal perhaps in size 
 and population to Herculanfum, and complimented by Seneca 
 
592 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 with the addition of " celehrem Campaniee urbem." The street 
 which runs from the neighborhood of the soldiers' quarters to the 
 gate is narrow, that is, only about thirteen feet wide, formed like 
 the Via Appia at Itri, and other places where it remains entire, 
 of large stones fitted to each other in their original form, with- 
 out being cut or broken for the purpose. There are on each 
 side parapets raised about two feet above the middle, and about 
 three feet wide. The pavement is furrowed by two deep ruts, 
 which shew evidently that the carriages always kept the same 
 line, and that the wheels were about four feet asunder; of 
 course they must have all moved in the same direction, and had 
 regular hours for coming and going, as there is not room for 
 two, and even if there were, stone posts placed at intervals 
 would oblige them to return to the track. The houses on either 
 side stand close to each other, seem to have been shops of differ- 
 ent kinds, were of the same elevation, and nearly the same 
 size, all paved, and painted much in the same manner. In 
 one of these buildings Avere found several unfinished statues, 
 that announce the work-shop of a statuary. In another, the 
 word Salve, engraved in large characters on the threshold in 
 Mosaic, indicate, it may be supposed, the readiness of a pub- 
 lican to welcome his guests. In one, the amphorae, which con- 
 tained wine, still remain ; and on the marble slab that ser\ ed as 
 a shop-board are the marks of cups or glasses. The gate has 
 one large central and two less openings on the side, with para- 
 pets of the same breadth as the street; without, but close to it, 
 are semicircular recesses with stone seats, and beyond a tomb and 
 a pahmibarium or receptacle of cinerary urns. 
 
 The most perfect and most curious object that has been yet 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 593 
 
 discovered is a villa at a little distance from the town. It con- 
 sists of three courts ; in the first and largest is a pond, and in 
 the centre an edicula or little temple; there are numerous apart- 
 ments of every description paved in Mosaic, colored and adorned 
 with various paintings on the walls, all in a very beautiful style. 
 The baths in this villa seem to have been the principal object of 
 luxurious indulgence, and are laid out with a refinement of art and 
 contrivance that can receive few or no improvements from all our 
 modern inventions. In the cellars under the portico of the great 
 court, were discovered several female skeletons in a row with their 
 backs against the wall : the ashes which had gradually worked their 
 way into every corner, had hardened into a solidness, which 
 when removed was found in some places imprest with the form 
 of the bosom, and even retaining part of the garment. At the 
 door of the same court were found two other skeletons, one with 
 a key, the other with a purse grasped in its hand. This villa 
 is said to have belonged to Arrius ; the name of Arrius has no 
 charm in its sound ! what traveller while visiting it would not 
 wish to persuade himself that he was ranging over the apart- 
 ments of Cicei'o's Pompciamnn. It stood in the neighborhood 
 of this town, and possihhj on this very spot. It was a favorite 
 retreat, and much frequented by Cicero and his friends Atticus 
 Hortensius, Sulpicius, &c. From it, he sailed to Greece, in 
 order to join Pompey, after having declined the dubious offer of 
 the three cohorts stationed at Pompeii. At all events, if the exr 
 cavations were carried on Avith spirit, and on a large scale, there 
 is no doubt but that Cicero's villa would be found, and probably 
 some inscription, statue, or other circuriistance, recording the 
 name of the most illustrious of its proprietors. 
 
 The houses are on a small scale, generally of one, sometime? 
 VOL. I. 4 o 
 
594 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 of two stories; the principal apartments are always behind, 
 enclosing a court Avith a portico round it, and a marble 
 cistern in the middle; two had glass windows, in the others 
 shutters only were used — the pavements are all mosaic, and 
 the walls are stained with mild colors — the decorations are basso 
 relievos in stucco, and paintings in medallions. Marble seems 
 to have been common. On the whole, Pompeii, in all the cir- 
 cumstances which I have mentioned, bears a strong resemblance 
 to modern Italian towns, with this only difference, that in point 
 of general appearance the latter have, I think, the advantage. 
 It must however be remembered, that Pompeii had already been 
 damaged by an earthquake *, that the roofs and upper parts 
 of the houses have been borne down by the weight of ashes and 
 pumice stones upon them ; and in short, that, as not more than 
 a quarter of the town has been hitherto explored, buildings of 
 greater magnificence may still remain buried. 
 
 It is generally supposed, that the destruction of this city was 
 sudden and unexpected, and it is even recorded that the people 
 were surprised and overwhelmed at once by the volcanic shower 
 while in the theatre -f-. But this opinion seems ill-founded ; the 
 number of skeletons discovered in Pompeii does not amount to 
 sixty, and supposing it to have been ten times that number, it 
 ■would still be very inconsiderable when compared to the extent 
 and population of the city. It may perhaps be doubted, whether 
 Pompeii was ever fully restored and repeopled after the earth- 
 
 * Motu terrac celebre Campaniae oppidum, 
 
 Pompeii corruit. Tac. Am. xv. 22. 
 
 + Dio ixvJ. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 595 
 
 quake of sixty-three; but it certainly was repaired in part, and 
 inhabited by a very considerable body of citizens, as must ap- 
 pear from the state in which the houses and apartments are at 
 this day, that is, painted and ornamented not only with neat- 
 ness, but even with elegance. As for the circumstan'^e of the 
 inhabitants, of either Herculaneiim or Pompeii, being surprised 
 while in the theatre, it is so palpable an absurdity, that it is 
 difficult to conceive how the historian above-mentioned could 
 relate it with so much gravity. It may be questioned whether 
 even one skeleton was found in or near the theatres at either 
 place. The first agitation, and the threatening aspect of the 
 mountain, must have banished mirth and amusement far from its 
 borders, and filled every heart with awe, expectation, and terror. 
 While the earth was rocking under their feet, and the mountain 
 bellowing over their heads; while the country was deluged with 
 liquid fire, and the whole atmosphere was loaded with ashes and 
 sulphur, the people of the towns immediately within the range of 
 destruction could not have been so frantic as to sit down quietly 
 to theatrical exhibitions. In fact, symptoms of the approach- 
 ing explosion had manifested themselves in numbers and manner 
 sufficiently terrific to alarm the strongest minds, particularly 
 when not accustomed to volcanic phenomena. Not to speak 
 of the previous earthquakes mentioned by Pliny*, because 
 not uncommon on that coast, Dio relates that the sum- 
 mit of the mountain was thronged with spectres, who some- 
 times moved along its brows, and sometimes raising them- 
 selves from the ground, flitted through the air in hideous and gi- 
 gantic shapes. This appearance was probably occasioned by the 
 
 * Ep. Lib. VI. 20. 
 4g 2 
 
596 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 vapors working through the crevices of the earth, and rising and 
 expanding as they escaped from confinement; an appearance, 
 which a superstitious and terrified populace might easily meta- 
 morphose into fiends and furies. Plin}^ in the same epistle, 
 describes the cloud rising from Vesuvius in the form of a pine, 
 observed at Misenus about the seventh hour of the day, or one 
 o'clock post meridiem. The elder Pliny embarked shortl}"^ after, 
 (the younger, who remained at Misemis, seems from his own ac- 
 count to have been deficient either in spirit or curiosity on this 
 occasion, so well calculated to call forth both.)* As the wind 
 was fair he must have reached the coast of Hcrculancum or 
 Pompeii about four o'clock. 
 
 As he approached, the shallowness of the sea, occasioned per- 
 haps by the agitation and swell of the earth under (not certainly 
 by the ruins of the mountain, as his nephew expresses it) obliged 
 him to change his course, and turn to Stabiee. Stabia stood on 
 or near the site of Castell a Mare, which still bears its name, at 
 least in ecclesiastical proceedings and records, and is about three 
 miles from Pompeii. Here he found his friend prepared for the 
 event, with vessels ready and his baggage on board; in fact, the 
 alarm had been general long before, for we find that a message 
 from Retina, (now Remia) a naval station at the very foot of 
 Vesuvius, had reached him before he set out from Misemis. He 
 converses with his friend, goes to supper, and retires to rest. In 
 
 * Jubet Liburnicam aptari : mihi, si venire una vellem, facit copiam. Re-> 
 spondi studere me malle ; et forte ipse quod scriberem, dederat. PUn. Ep. vi. 16. 
 What lesson could books afford equal to that which nature was then exhibiting? 
 We find him afterwards making extracts from Livy, in circumstances still more 
 astonishing ! 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 597 
 
 the mean time the mountain appears on fire, probably from the 
 eruption of the lava ; and ashes and pumice stones, which had 
 begun to fall some hours before, now showered down in such 
 quantities as almost to fill the adjoining court. This shower, 
 which seems to have continued all night and during part of the 
 morning, (jam dies alibi, illic nox omnibus noctibiis nigrior densior- 
 que) was probably that which overwhelmed Pompeii, as it ceased 
 shortly after, and with it the agitations of the mountain. This 
 indeed appears from the circumstance of the body of the natu- 
 ralist having been found on the third day after, on the spot 
 where he had fallen, not covered, as must have been the case 
 had the fall of ashes and pumice stones continued even one hour 
 after his death. 
 
 Tompeii, as has been already observed, is only three miles from 
 Stabice, but on the very side itself of Vesuvius, and only about five 
 miles from its crater. The bed of ashes was in some places scarce 
 three feet in depth, so that it must appear wonderful that the toAvn 
 had not been discovered long before the middle of the last century, 
 or rather that the ashes were not removed, and the city restored im- 
 mediately after its catastrophe. We may therefore conclude, that 
 the far greater part of the inhabitants of Pompeii had time to 
 escape, and that those whose skeletons remain were either de- 
 crepid slaves, or criminals in a state of confinement. Of the 
 latter, indeed, some were found in chains, and as for the former, 
 when Ave consider the immense number employed in Roman 
 villas, we shall wonder that so few have been hitherto discovered. 
 However it must be admitted, that during the course of the 
 eruption, and taking in the whole range of its devastations, many 
 persons perished, and among them some of distinction, as may 
 
 3 
 
5D8 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 be collected not only from Dio but from Suetonius*, who relates 
 that Titus, then Emperor, devoted the property of those who 
 lost their lives on that occasion and had no heirs, to the relief 
 of the survivors -j-. Though the catastrophe took place within 
 the space of twelve or twenty hours at the utmost, yet time 
 was found to remove most portable articles of value, such as 
 plate, silver, and gold ornaments, &c. as very little of this descrip- 
 tion has been discovered. The furniture which remains is to 
 moderns of equal perhaps of greater value, as it is better calcu- 
 lated to give a clear and accurate idea of Roman manners, as far 
 as they are connected with such objects. 
 
 It has been often regretted, that the pictures, furniture, and 
 even skeletons should have been removed, and not rather left and 
 carefully preserved in the very places and attitudes where they 
 were originally discovered. Without doubt, if articles so easily 
 damaged, or stolen, could with any prudence have been left in 
 their respective places, it would have heightened the charm, and 
 contributed in a much greater degree to the satisfaction of the 
 spectator. Pictures, statues, and pillars, or other decorations can 
 never produce the same effect, or excite the same interest, when 
 ranged methodically in a gallery at Portici or Naples, as they 
 would when occupying the very spot and standing in the very 
 
 * Suet. Titus. 8. 
 
 + The greatest number of suflFerers was probably in the villas, where the pro- 
 prietors themselves might very naturally have loitered too long, as they were 
 there secure from the effects of the earthquake, and the slaves might be detained 
 even to the last moment. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 58® 
 
 point of view for which they were originally destined. But inde- 
 pendent even of this advantage, and stripped as it is of almost all 
 its moveable ornaments, Pompeii possesses a secret poAver that 
 captivates and fixes, I had almost said, melts the soul. In other 
 times and in other places, one single edifice, a temple, a theatre, 
 a tomb, that had escaped the wreck of ages would have en- 
 chanted lis ; nay, an arch, the remnant of a wall, even one 
 solitary column was beheld with veneration; but to discover a 
 single ancient house, the abode of a Roman in his privacy, 
 the scene of his domestic hours, was an object of fond but 
 hopeless longing. Here, not a temple, nor a theatre, nor a 
 column, nor a house, but a whole city rises before us untouched, 
 unaltered, the very same as it was eighteen hundred years ago, 
 when inhabited by Romans. We range through the same 
 streets, tread the very same pavement, behold the same walls, 
 enter the same doors, and repose in the same apartments. We 
 are surrounded by the same objects, and out of the same windows 
 contemplate the same scenery. AVhile you are wandering through 
 the abandoned rooms you may, without any great effort of ima- 
 gination, expect to meet some of the former inhabitants, or per- 
 haps the master of the house himself, and almost feel like in- 
 truders who dread the appearance of any of the family. In the 
 streets you are afraid of turning a corner lest you should jostle 
 a passenger ; and on entering a house, the least sound startles, 
 as if the proprietor was coming out of the back apartments. 
 The traveller may long indulge the illusion, for not a voice is 
 heard, not even the sound of a foot to disturb the loneliness of 
 the place, or interrupt his reflections. All around is silence, 
 not the silence of solitude and repose, but of death and 
 devastation, the silence of a great city without one single 
 inhabitant. 
 
 5 
 
600 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent. ^n. ti. 
 
 Immediately above the buildings, the ground rises, not into a 
 clifF casting gloom, as the sides of a grave, on the hollow below, 
 but as a gentle swell formed by nature to shelter the houses at 
 its base. It is clothed with corn, poplars, mulberries, and 
 vines in their most luxuriant graces, waving from tree to tree, 
 still covering the greater part of the city with vegetation, and 
 forming with the dark brown masses half buried below, a singu- 
 lar and most affecting contrast. This scene of a city, raised 
 as it were from the grave, where it had lain forgotten dur- 
 ing the long night of eighteen centuries, when once beheld 
 must remain for ever pictured on the imagination, and whenever 
 it presents itself to the fancy, it comes, like the recollection of 
 an awftil apparition, accompanied by thoughts and emotions 
 solemn and melancholy. 
 
 Among the modern works that adorn the territory or rather 
 the vicinity of Naples, the two noblest are the aqueduct and 
 palace of Caserta. Both lie north of Naples; the former is 
 farthest, the road is over a delicious plain to Acerra, a very an- 
 cient town, remarkable however for nothing but its attachment 
 to the Romans, even after the battle of Can?i(e, and in the pre- 
 sence of Hannibal*. Some miles farther we passed Sessola, 
 
 + Livy xxiii. 17. It is perhaps better known for the fertility of its soil ex- 
 tolled by VirgU, or rather for the harmony of the verses which terminates in its 
 name. 
 
 Talem dives arat Capua et vicina Vesevo 
 
 Orajugo, et vacuis Clanius non aequus Acerris. Gcorg. ii. 
 
 The inhabitants seem to have secured themselves by embankments against the 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 601 
 
 now a village, once Suessula a city, noticed frequently in Livy 
 for a Roman camp long stationary on the hills above it : we 
 shortly after skirted Maddaloni, and entered the valley to 
 which it gives its name. This valley is formed by Mount Ti- 
 fata on one side, and on the other by Monte Gazzano, which is 
 in fact a branch of the former. It is long and deep; its sides 
 are rugged, and its appearance is wild and solitary. In the 
 midst of this lonely dell the traveller is surprized to behold 
 an immense bridge formed of a triple row of lofty arches, 
 crossing with gigantic strides from one side to the other. This 
 bridge forms part of the celebrated aqueduct of Caserta; it 
 is near two thousand feet in length, and two hundred in height, 
 and conveys a whole river of the purest water across the 
 valley. The stream itself is collected in the neighborhood 
 of Mount Tahurnus, and carried sometimes through mountains, 
 and sometimes over vallies to the palace; but though the work 
 may in many places have been more difficult, it is no where more 
 magnificent than in this valley. In length, elevation, and 
 effect it surpasses all similar edifices of modern construction, and 
 may indeed vie with some of the noblest Roman monuments. 
 The first row consists of nineteen arches, the second of twenty- 
 seven, and the third of forty-three. The stream is about four 
 feet wide, and three and a half deep. From a reservoir on the 
 top of Gazzano it is precipitated down the declivity to the plain, 
 where collected in a long strait canal it loses its rapidity and 
 
 mischievous swells of the Clanius (now C/iiag)7o, and sometimes Laguo) alluded 
 to in the last line. 
 
 VOL. I. 4 n 
 
602 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 beauty, and assumes the appearance of an old-fashioned stag- 
 nant pool*. 
 
 From the hill we descended along the side of the aqueduct 
 to the gardens, extensive and regular, and if we except a part 
 ia the English style, uninteresting. We then entered the 
 palace, one of the noblest edifices of the kind in Europe for 
 magnitude and elevation. It is a vast quadrangle, near eight 
 hundred feet in length, six hundred in breadth, and in height, 
 one hundred and twenty. It is divided into four great courts ; 
 a portico, supported by a hundred pillars, and wide enough 
 fpi: carriages to pass, extends from the grand entrance to the 
 opposite side. An octagonal hall in the centre of the edifice 
 opens on the portico and at the same time on the courts, 
 and the principal staircase. The staircase is about twenty 
 feet wide, consists of at least one hundred steps, each of 
 one piece of marble, and ends in an octagon vestibule sup- 
 ported by twenty-four marble pillars. From these pillars 
 rise arcades, which cover the entrances into the grand apai't- 
 ments ; that opposite the staircase is the chapel, which is 
 
 * The arches of the upper row in this aqueduct are the highest, and those of 
 the Uiider the lowest, an arrangement contrary to ancient practice, and certainly 
 not pleasing to the eye ; but whether it may be considered as a defect or not, I 
 ■will not presume to determine. It is to be regretted that an edifice of such mag- 
 nitude and solidity is of brick with a sort of pumice stone intermingled ; it ought 
 to iiave l>een coated with marble in the Roman manner. The difference which it 
 might have made in the expense could not have been a matter of importance in 
 a countiy where marble is so common. The architect was Vanvitelli, a man of 
 great, and, as may well be supposed, of merited reputation. The inscriptions 
 on the middle arch under wnich the road goes are long, and as usual pompous, 
 and therefore misplaced. Such a work requires no eulogium. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 603 
 
 well proportioned and highly decorated. Its form is ancient, 
 terminating in a semicircular recess, for the altar. The royal 
 gallery is over the entrance and in front of the altar ; it is 
 on the same level as the side galleries, and with them 
 forms a most beautiful colonnade, supported by four-and- 
 twenty pillars of the finest marble. This chapel is on the 
 same plan as that of Versailles, but in size, proportion, ma- 
 terials, and ornaments far superior, and may be considered, 
 when united with the staircase, as the noblest part of the 
 palace. 
 
 The other apartments do not seem to correspond with it 
 in grandeur; and of the whole edifice of Caserta, it may be 
 said, that notwithstanding the advantages of magnitude and 
 regularity, it is deficient in effect, because it wants great- 
 ness of manner. The whole is on a great scale, and so 
 ought the component parts to have been, but the reverse 
 is the case. Though the building be more than a hundred 
 feet in height, yet the columns that adorn the front are not 
 more than fifty. Again, the length of the front is near 
 eight hundred feet, the colonnade therefore that adorns it 
 ought to have been extremely prominent; on the contrary, 
 it has very little relief, and indeed scarcely seems to project 
 from the wall behind it. The interior portico is six hun- 
 dred feet in length, yet the pillars that support it are not 
 twenty in height; it has therefore the appearance of a long low- 
 gallery. Whether these defects are to be ascribed to the in- 
 terference of the king himself (Don Carlos of Spain) who is 
 supposed to have given the general plan, and may be sus- 
 pected of having sometimes entered into the details of execu- 
 tion ; or whether they result from the original design, we know 
 
 4h 2 
 
604 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 not, but they certainly lessen the efiect, and deprive this palace 
 of the grandeur to which its materials, situation, and magni- 
 tude entitle it. 
 
 I mean not by ihese observations to disparage the worl^, or 
 lower the reputation of the architect. The fame of Vanvitelli is 
 above the reach of censure; as long as the aqueduct of Mad- 
 daloni stands, so long will his name be placed with that of 
 Michael Angelo and of Bramante ; and as long as the stranger 
 ascends by the marble staircase of Caserta to its marble chapel, 
 so long will it be numbered among the first palaces in Europe. 
 I only lament that the former either did not or could not realize 
 his own sublime conceptions ; and that the latter, with all the 
 advantages which it possesses, was not carried one degree nearer 
 to perfection. 
 
 The observations which I have ventured to make on Caserta, 
 might be extended to almost all the palaces Mhich I have 
 had an opportunity of visiting. The imperial residences, whether 
 at Vienna, Inspruck, or Prague, have not the least claim to archi- 
 tectural ornament, at least externally ; and it is to the exterior 
 that my observations are at present confined. The palaces of 
 the Tuilieries and Versailles are of a difttrent description, and 
 cannot be said to want ornament, or even synmietry, but tlie 
 style varies so often, and the scene is so perpetually changing 
 on the eye, that proportions are constantly counteracting each 
 other, and no part produces its full effect. Thus, the front of 
 the Tiiil/tries consists of five parts ; a lofty pavillion in the 
 centre, two long low buildings on each side, and again a lofty 
 pavillion at each end. The central pavillion consists of three 
 stories adorned with pillars, the wings of two, the pavillions at 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 605 
 
 each *itl of one story and a most enormous attic. The deco- 
 ratio'S of the two latter are Corinthian pilasters, massive, bold, 
 and najestic; and had the same style been continued throuo-h- 
 cut he whole length, the effect would have been truly noble; 
 butas it is, the greatness of manner so conspicuous in these two 
 menbers, only makes the two orders of the Avings and the three 
 of the centre appear mean and diminutive. The Louvre, at 
 last the front which faces the river, is simple and manly. The 
 clebrated colonnade, which forms the principal front, is with 
 nany defects, certainly beautiful. 
 
 Versailles may be said to have two fi-onts ; one facing the road, 
 the other looking on the garden ; the former consists of several 
 courts opening into each other and contracting as they recede 
 from the gate, so that angle succeeds angle, and roof sinks 
 behind roof. The /ac«^/e towards the garden presents a consider- 
 able length, but the order Mhich decorates it is petty; more- 
 over the wings fall back and by breaking the line, destroy the 
 unity of the view. Thus, are these huge edifices, notwithstanding 
 their magnitude, reduced by the puny proportions of their com- 
 ponent parts to vast heaps of littleness. 
 
 The King of Prussia can boast of a palace which, though infe- 
 lior to all the above-mentioned edifices in extent, is yet in sfi/le 
 siperior. It is in the vicinity of Potsdaj/i, and called tlie Red Pa- 
 lme, from the color of the stone of which it is in part built: its 
 front is simple, formed of few members, and decorated with a bold 
 Connthian portico. Frederic the Great was fond of the arts; he 
 seemed ambitious of giving both his capital and his residence as 
 much architectural splendor as possible, and to a certain degree, 
 
606 CLASSICAL TOUR 
 
 he has succeeded, as few cities present so much pillared scqery 
 as Berlin and Potsdam. Unfortunately, either he has not al-ays 
 followed the best models, or his architects have as usual deviiiod 
 from ancient proportions. Hence the columns are genenll^y 
 too thin, and the pediments too high, and hence also those per- 
 petual interruptions of the line, and those zigzags and flourisles 
 so unnatural in stone and marble, and yet so frequent in m>- 
 dern decorations. To these defects we may add another scarceb 
 less reprehensible ; these porticos and colonnades are frequently 
 like a theatrical decoration, mere deceptions ; so that the specta- 
 tor, when he has admired a noble front and enters the portal 
 with the expectation of seeing a church or a hall of correspond- 
 ing grandeur, is surprized to find himself sometimes in a petty 
 meeting-house, and sometimes in a narrow dirty passage. How- 
 ever, the Brandenburgh Gate, which is an imperfect imitation 
 of the Fropylceum, has a noble appearance, and may perhaps 
 be considered as the most faultless piece of architecture iii 
 Germany *. 
 
 The country palace of Willelmeshohe in the neighborhood of 
 Hesse, erected by the present Landgrave, has an Ionic co- 
 lonnade of considerable boldness and beauty, and is compar- 
 able if not superior in manner to most royal residences. The 
 palace of Laken, erected by the Archduchess Christina and 
 
 * The French have since carried off the bronze quadriga with the figure of 
 Victory, which surmounted the pediment of tl.is gate. I know not whether defied 
 and challenged as they had been by the Couit of Berlin, they were not ju?cifiable 
 in this act of plunder. Victojy of course follows the "victor. 
 
THROUGH ITALY. 607 
 
 th^ Duke Albert, has one fine feature, a beautiful colonnade 
 and dome. 
 
 It has been observed, tliat there is not in England a single 
 royal palace fit for the residence of the sovereign of so great 
 and opulent a nation. AVith the exception of the feudal man- 
 sion of Windsor, Avhich derives not a little grundeur from its site 
 and magnitude, and more majesty from its antiquity and con- 
 nexion with the history and the literature of England, than 
 the noblest architecture could give it'; with this single exception, 
 the remark may be just. But whence comes this deficiency? 
 it cannot be said that the Kings of England have wanted either 
 the inclination or the means of building, as scarce a reign has 
 passed that has not seen a new palace, castle, box, cottage, pa- 
 villion, or nameless and shapeless something arise for the royal 
 accommodation. Nor can it fairly be objected, that the King of 
 England cannot, like other sovereigns, draw at pleasure upon the 
 treasury. Till the Revolution the monarch could command what 
 portion of the public income he tliought j:)ropcr, and since that 
 period, sovereigns do not appear to have been too economical, or 
 parliaments very parsimonious. The fact is, that the King of 
 England possesses as many royal residences as any prince in Eu- 
 rope, and that as much money lias been expended upon them 
 here as in any other countr}'^, but at the same time it is to be re- 
 membered, that taste has been v/anting in the designs, and eco- 
 nomy in the expenditure. However, if the royal mansions be 
 deficient in grandeur, the defect is abundantly compensated by 
 the splendor and princely state of the villas and country-houses of 
 the nobility and gentry. Here indeed England outshines all the 
 countries in the world, and far eclipses the glories even of Italy. 
 
608 CLASSICAL TOUR, &c. 
 
 The palaces that rise in the most distant provinces, the colon- 
 nades, and porticos that grace them, and all the temple-like magni- 
 ficence that surrounds them, give a stranger the idea of so many 
 imperial abodes, and present scenes of architecture superior 
 to all modern exhibitions, and inferior only to the splendor 
 of ancient Rome! 
 
 END OF VOL. 1. 
 
 Ji G* JUAMRDi SKINNER STREET, LONDON. 
 
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