Fair Italy, the Riviera and Monte Carlo

are the Mighty fallen!"-The sculpture-gallery of the Capitol-The Dying Gladiator-The Venus-Hawthorne's Marb

t inspired us as we neared the "Eternal City." It was not only cold and dark, but foggy; and we could see very little; conjecture, however, was busy as we caught, through an occasional gleam of light, the shadows of outlying mo

nsigned ourselves to the guidance of one, and drove away. However, we soon found that Rome was Imperial in her charges. The first hotel wanted from ten to twelve francs for a bedroom per night, the second likewise. Ultimately we were safely housed about midnight in the Hotel de la

ana. It is surrounded by so-called "English gardens," beautifully decorat

, we felt the dream of many

guide-book. A plan of Rome may always be obtained at one's hotel, and it is well to study the streets, etc., and arrange one's campaign of sight-seeing. A good way is to begin by visiting the nearest objects of interest, which c

thoroughfares are the Strada del Babbuina, ending in the Piazza di Spagna; and the Strada di Ripetta, leading to the Tiber. Most of the streets converge into the Piazza di Venezia, where is situated the tramway station, from which omnibuses run to all parts of the town. This corner of the city is usually known as

d guide is worth securing, and saves much time, trouble, and expense, besides giving most valuable information sometimes. On the first day, we were lucky enough to pick up one of the right sort, with a toga, cloak, and Roman profil

was so strong that I had to take off my hat and cling to the parapet. But how interesting was the panorama that met my gaze! Right over the Eternal City beneath me, and far away beyond the plains around it, lay that great range of bare mountains over which, in the day of her distress, poured Rome's Gothic enemies, in wild and overwhelming hordes. Wasted and enfeebled by the constant drain ma

country! cit

9

the heart mus

f dead empire

breasts thei

es and sufferan

ear the owl, a

broken thrones

es are evil

ur feet as frag

nations! the

crownless, in h

within her wi

st was scatte

tomb contains

pulchres li

ic dwellers;

rough a marbl

llow waves, and m

ristian, time, wa

the seven-hill

lories star b

eep barbarian

limb'd the capi

r went down, no

s! who shall

ragments cast

, or is,' where al

lofty cit

ndred triumph

de the dagger'

s sword in bea

y's voice, and

tured page! bu

ction; all

th, for never

her eye she bore

broken outline of some palace of the great C?sars. Immediately beneath us lay the mighty Coliseum, the Forum, and other monuments of Rome's ancient grandeur and departed glory. Away to the north-west, across the muddy, silent Tiber, lay decaying papal Rome, crested by the dome of St. Pete

buildings of the modern Capitol were designed by Michael Angelo, and form three sides of a square. In the centre stands the noble equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. The open side faces the modern part of Rome. The

ture on his manly brow, while in the intensely expressive face you catch glimpses of that lifetime which is passing across his memory in the space of a moment-thoughts of the wife and little ones in that far-away home to which he will never return. It is a fine subject, exquisitely conceived and executed, and worthily described in Byron's two immortal stanzas. Upstairs, in a small rotunda-shaped temple, enshrined in a niche in the wall, we saw that most beautiful conception of womanhood, known as the Venus of the Capitol. She appears as though suddenly disturbed while taking her bath, and the expression of frighten

irst moulded,

mbs, more lovel

m, till marbl

ade familiar to us by so many gifted writers, that I need but to mention their names to conjure them in all their beauty to the eye of the intelligent reader, who instantly recalls to mind some beautiful passage in poetry or prose, to which any words I could pen would be superfluous. "All men are poets

f the Infant Jesus. The legend runs, that an angel appeared in the porch of the church at midnight, and, ringing the bell, flew back to heaven, leaving the image of the Sacred Babe to the care of the church, just as a poor child is dropped at the door of a foundling hospital. The doll is literally covered with jewellery, and diamond-rings, and other gems and trinkets, sewn into its dress, the offerings of its misguided devotees. It is said that t

that are told, and one hardly knows whether to treat with pity or contempt the ig

icating by narrow stone steps; but it is said the poor prisoners were dropped from the one to the other through a hole or trap-door. They were confined below until sentenced to death, when they were brought up the steps to the dungeon above, where they were executed, and their bodies thrown out for the satisfaction of the people thronging the Forum. There is a dint in the st

ong day, watching the gradual disentombment of the beautiful columns, statuary, and other long-buried mementoes of Rome's past greatness-and, as her foundations were laid bare, rebuilding and repeopling, according to my own ideal fancies, this great temple of eloquence. "What men have crossed the shadows of these very columns! What thoughts that have moved the world were born beneath them!" S

the governing wisdom of her imperishable laws, and is still benefited by the inspiring example of her noble men and virtuous women. But the true "Eternal City" must be looked for elsewhere tha

without external windows. What there was, however, usually came from above, as the courts were open; and also by radiation, the large marble tanks in these courts being filled with water, on which the descending light smote, and was dispersed

into stone sockets, and a platform suspended on a level with the dens, from which the wild beasts were let into the arena. And here the gladiators fought, and the Christians and criminals were torn to pieces, to make sport for the countless multitude sitting, crowded tier upon tier around, while the blue heavens looked down on the inhuman and bloody sight, and the poor martyr Christians, fearlessly awaiting their doom, sighed upwards, "How long? how long?" We could also see the trap-doors from whence buffoons were hoisted on to the stage. To trace all this was inte

s, and faintly illumined it with starlight instead of the broad glow of moonshine." Be this as it may, the noble stanzas are all too well known to bear further quotation. The reader may p

ys that fifte

for ten yea

is amph

ho

it is! The que

1

se of Rome! I

n of twice five

ath half rent

our palaces

odden under

r's bank; yet

its fair bos

nstellations

ove it like a

Rome, but not

rose our Tus

petals. When thi

ousand petals

in their Th

roaring popu

press and the

see the gl

sweetness to a

eath our fee

artyrs; and the

tnesses agai

e was the pai

walls about u

aken by earthquak

been battered

, that held the

ed from them; bu

they had been

olid rock, a

tions of the

and wild fl

, and the birds

ined arches,

of beauty to