CHAP. XII.

MODERN ROME.

ITS POPULATION STREETS-SQUARES 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, Modern 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 number of inhabitants by twenty, or even thirty thousand. The streets

are well built and well paved, narrower, in general, than those in London, and wider 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 extremely hard, and in a climate so dry may equal stone in solidity and duration. Hence its general use in Italy, and its reputation even among the ancients, who employed it not only in ordinary 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 era, though more probably erected, or rather rebuilt, in the Augustan age. To us, stucco, however excellent in its kind, seems only a bad imitation 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 attract the attention of the traveller.

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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 fountains (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 obelisk; from its hollow sides rushes a perpetual stream. These three fountains are so managed during the heats of August, as to inundate 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 brilliant 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 several handsome buildings, but particularly by the noble flight of marble steps that ascends from it to the obelisk, church, and square, Della 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 beautiful. Its principal ornament is the Curia Innocenziana, a palace erected by Innocent XII. for the accommodation of the

courts of justice, and the offices belonging to them. Its magnitude, 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 Heliopolis; it is covered, where not damaged, with hieroglyphics, executed with uncommon neatness, and was employed by Augustus as a gnomon, to an immense dial formed by his direction, in the Campus Martius. 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 we 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 surpasses the powers of modern art, though apparently so much

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 enlarge it. However, if there were no more, more than one-half have been restored, ás ten now stand in different squares of the city. Another, which has been too much shattered in its fall, for reerection, 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 Imperial 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 obelisks 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 the 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 abovementioned 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 elevation of at least one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the pavement. The monument in London surpasses the obelisks