THE BATHS OF TITUS.

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LETTER XXVI.

STATUARY-EXHIBITION AT THE PROPAGANDA-THE QUIRINAL PALACE-THE PANTHEON-CAPITAL-TARPEIAN ROCK--STREETS, THEIR SINGULAR NAMES-THE BARBERINI PALACE-VESPER SERVICE.

Rome.

THE next day was passed in a similar manner, riding from ruin to ruin, and church to church. We visited again the forum, and the many ruined temples that once beautified and adorned it-at the Coliseum, the arch of Titus and of Constantine we remained to study thence to Trajan's column, covered with beautiful bas reliefs, and standing amid the mighty ruins of a temple that formed a part of his forum-then to the palace of the Cæsars, which covers with a mass of ruins and heaps of rubbish the whole of the Palatine Hill-to the baths of Caracalla, showing still beautiful remains of the mosaic that once formed its ceiling and pavement, and where is an immense hall, used by the bathers to swim. At the baths of Titus, some of the frescoes are as fresh and perfect, as if lately done. Here was found the celebrated group of the Laocoon, and the huge granite basin now in the Vatican. Here, too, was the palace of Nero, and the house of Horace and Virgil. But I feel that we see too much and too many things of interest, to enjoy them as we ought. They will prove, however, a sure provision for after reflection.

The next day being Sunday, we went with some friends to a large room, which the English have been allowed to fit up as a place of worship outside the city walls, near the Pis

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THE QUIRINAL PALACE.

azzo del Popolo; and I do not remember to have seen a place of worship, except on an extraordinary occasion, so well filled. After church, we took the road leading to the Pincian Hill near by, where is the public promenade of Rome. It affords a lovely view, a fine promenade, and a good carriage road, and is much frequented, particularly on a Sunday, between the hours of twelve and four. A little farther on, near the place d'Espagne, are the houses once occupied by Poussin, Salvator Rosa, and Claude Lorraine. On the steps descending to the place d'Espagne, were seated a picturesqus group of Calabrian peasants, with their novel costume, and primitive looking bag-pipes, composed of reeds and the skin of a pig.

In the afternoon, Mr. C. with a friend, made use of their tickets of admission to the exhibition at the propaganda. The students were from almost every part of the world, each delivering a short oration in his native tongue-altogether about forty different languages. There was one from Washington, United States, one from China, and also from all the intermediate countries. They returned very well pleased, if not edified.

Another day, we accepted an invitation of some friends to share their permit to see the Quirinal palace, and the pope's private collection of Etruscan antiquities at the Vatican; both which require a special permission. Being the pope's summer residence, it was at this time divested of some of its furniture and garnishing. There was no great degree of splendor-some fine specimens of the arts, such as paintings, bas reliefs, a very pretty chapel for his private devotions, and a profusion of crosses, crucifixes, &c., in the dif ferent apartments. A billiard table in one of the apartments, struck us as singular; but upon inquiry, we were told it was placed there by Napoleon, and had been suffered to remain as a memento of him. Leaving these, we drove to

the Vatican to see the Etruscan antiquities. Many things were similar to a multitude of the same kind we had already visited. The personal ornaments of fine gold, beautifully wrought, were the most novel and curious, and showed the perfection of the art in that early day. An ancient chariot or car interested me, as did the interior of some ancient sepulchres or tombs, with every thing found in them. We were shown also the gardens of the palace, which are extensive, affording from many points fine views; but laid out in that quaint and formal style that is rather outrè and strange, than beautiful. We took leave here of our friends, and after visiting a fountain, a church, and an ancient theatre, drove to the Pantheon, perhaps the most beautiful, and certainly the most perfect monument of ancient Rome, and to me more interesting than any other. It still retains its original form and dimensions, and the finish of the interior remains the same, though robbed of its exterior decorations of gold and bronze. It has no windows, but is lighted by a circular opening in the centre of its dome. The body of the building is circular, supported inside by beautiful columns of precious marble, resting on a pavement rich in porphyry and granite. The whole interior is encrusted with rare and costly marble, and contained originally three rows of niches, the lower intended for statues of the infernal deities, the second for terrestrial heroes, and the higher for the celestial divinities. Its piazza is a market-place, with a pretty fountain, and an obelisk of Egyptian granite, covered with hieroglyphics. The Pantheon serves as a tomb for the remains of Raphael, Annibale Carracci, and some Cardinals of note. "A sanctuary and home of art and piety," a re.

lic of nobler days and nobler arts."

66

The next day we visited the capitol, "despoiled yet perfect," and the collection of paintings and statuary it contains. Here, we find the celebrated dying Gladiator, An

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THE DUNGEON OF ST. PETER.

tinous; a fawn celebrated for its beauty; a Venus, by some thought more beautiful than the Venus di Medici, and the bronze statue of a boy extracting a thorn from his foot; this last is exquisite, so full of truth, beauty and nature. The boy seems so intent, and as you stand regarding him so unsuccessful, that you feel induced to offer him assistance. Here also is the "thunder stricken nurse of Rome," the brazen image of the wolf that suckled the men of iron, Romulus and Remus, and which was struck by lightning when great Cæsar fell. There is an apartment filled with Egypian statues, taken from Adrian's villa; and another called the hall of philosophers, contains busts, not only of the celebrated Greek and Roman philosophers, but of their poets and historians. What a field for the phrenologist is here! What food for the antiquarian amid the "domes of thought, these palaces of the soul." The pictures of this collection are more in number than, and (though some of them are very beautiful and of great reputation,) are unlike those of the Vatican, which, though few, are each the chef d'œuvres of the masters, and celebrated over the world.

From the capitol we went to the Tarpeian rock, the promontory whence the traitor's leap cured all ambition. It is somewhat diminished from the time that the conspirator, Cassius, was thrown from its dizzy height; but still affords depth sufficient to deter one from risking a leap, unless he had a desire to throw off this mortal coil. Near to this is the Mamertine prison, in whose dim, drear light, many illus. trious persons have pined in agony. We were shown the dungeon where St. Peter was confined, and where is still the spring, said to have appeared miraculously in the floor of his prison-house, furnishing water wherewith to baptize his jailer and fellow-prisoner. This closed another day, and we turned towards our temporary home. The house in which we at present live, is in the "street of lobsters."

THE DEVIL AND THE WIND.

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Our breakfast is brought to us through the "mouth of the lion." To get to the restaurant, where we occasionally dine, we go by the "way of the converted." Near by us is the "altar of heaven," the "street of the Saviour," the 66 way of truth," and the "street of the cross," and many others quite as curious, but which I cannot now remember. I intended to have made out a list of some of the streets we daily pass through, their names are so very singular. Besides these, there is a corner they call the " place of the wind," where the Jesuits' college is located. The story goes that the devil and the wind were taking a walk together one day, and when passing the college, the devil said, "wait for me a bit; I have a little business in here." So he went in and never came out again, and the wind has been waiting for him ever since.

The next day, we drove out of the Porta Sebastiana, and stopped first at the mausoleum of the Scipios, which, though it has been stripped of its beautiful sarcophagi, busts, and bas reliefs, still contains numerous tablets with the names of different members of the family, and inscriptions to their memory. We next visited the burial-place of the Cæsars, or as some suppose, only of their freedmen. It is but three years since this last was discovered, and having been left, with its contents, in the state in which it was found, is the most interesting thing of the kind one can visit, as it gives a perfect idea of the manner of the burial, and of preserving the burnt remains of the dead. The vault is frescoed and otherwise embellished, and has shelves and niches fille dwith cinerary urns, containing ashes and bones, with inscriptions and names of differ ent individuals upon them. From this we went to the circus of Romulus, the most perfect remains of a circus exist. ing. Close by it, is the tomb of Cicilia Metalla, a massive, tower-like structure; having been in modern times turreted and fortified, it has quite the appearance of a fortress. We