of religious despotism, so admirably built up by priestcraft, as if it was destined to live for ever. But, as the poet truly says:

"When nations are to perish in their sins,
Tis in the Church the leprosy begins."

And how striking has been the judgment that laid in the mire the pomp and lustre of a hierarchy which outshone in might and splendour the most powerful empires of the world, and reduced its once haughty Pontiff to the condition in which he now is a mere automaton to be played with, and shifted about by every adventurer in search of a throne, or monarch whose object is to tyrannize over the liberties of mankind; thus heaping a still heavier weight of odium upon the Church of Rome, and its feeble Pope.

CHAPTER XIII.

Visit to the ruins of Adrian's Villa-Remains of the country-house of Horace The Emperor and the Poet-Insalubrity of the country-The Villa d'Este -Tivoli-Inquiry as to the origin of the first inhabitants of Rome-Arrival in the Eternal CityTable-d'hôte-French Revolution-Dangerous excitement at Rome-Tranquillity re-established-Jubilee of the Papal Church-Grand procession.

THE earth builds on the earth magnificent palaces, cities and towns; the earth says to the earth, all shall be mine! How forcibly are we reminded of the truth of this beautiful proverb of the Eastern sage on our route from Palestrina to Tivoli and Rome; district perhaps above every other in the vicinity of

the Eternal City, that abounds with vestiges of the magnificence of a mighty people, whose buildings were chiefly characterised by solidity, as if they were intended to last till the end of time. In some places, towns and cities, with their temples and public edifices, have totally disappeared beneath the ploughshare of the husbandman. Even of the Villa Adriano, that once filled the world with the renown of its splendour, we no longer find the ruins, but the ruins of ruins.

Time, the ruthless destroyer, having made desolate all that the hand of the barbarian hath spared, earth has again asserted her supremacy, by bringing forth vegetation, so rich and luxuriant, that we might fancy we beheld a new-born world. Intermingled with every species of green herb, shrub, and creeping plant, in all their verdant tints and shades, we see the ever

green oak, the wild fig, the sycamore, the plane, and the olive, overshadowing here, and embracing there, in a thousand folds, the mutilated remains of what once adorned the sumptuous

palace of a man, who in his

title of monarch of the world.

day bore the

Familiar with

the effects of nature's every-day progress, we too often slight the cause, and forget Him who feeds the secret fire of life by which the mighty process is maintained, reading to doubting man the heavenly truth-that there lives and works, a soul in all things-and that soul is God!

At no great distance from the Villa Adriano, among other vestiges of the villas of the illustrious Romans, tradition points out the spot where once stood the country-house of Horace, equally forlorn and desolate, the abode of the solitary owl, the bat, and the hissing serpent. And as if nature would not be disturbed during her process of converting ruins into fertile fields, the whole of this district emits exhalations most malignant to the health of any bold intruder who should have the hardihood here to take up his abode.

The Emperor and the Poet. What a subject for a poem ! An emperor, in the pride of his dominion and power, the enlightened friend

and protector of literature and the fine arts, conceived and executed the magnificent design of building a palace deserving to be the residence of a monarch whose empire knew no bounds, and which was to be at the same time a museum of all that was wondrous in art and useful to man; and that nothing should be wanting to render the abode worthy of the Muses and their imperial protector, the surrounding grounds were to be laid out so as to give a microscopic view of all those wonders of nature and art the illustrious traveller himself had seen in the most distant quarters of the globe.

To assist this great Emperor in carrying out and perfecting a project so vast and difficult, every man of taste and genius, of whatever country or nation, was invited to his court. Thus, with the genius of the world and boundless wealth at his command, and at the same time gifted himself with a mind far superior to that of the generality of men, Alps and mountains, rocks and caverns, seas and lakes