Rome ... With ... illustrations. A new edition

Preface

. — ♦ — JT_Tl"f*fei R U L Y Rome is a world : whatever has possessed greatness in ifiil IsP t'ie west — art' rengi°ni history — has left its traces in this city. | Pagan antiquity, the origin of Christianity and of Byzantine civilisation, the struggles and the transformation of the early middle age, the ecclesiastical supremacy of the thirteenth century, the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth — all these epochs had Rome for their centre ; they covered it with their works, and they live again in it in a crowd of monuments. How many considerable States present us, in comparison with the reminiscences accumulated here, with nothing but frao-ments without significance ! In such a collection each author has made his choice ; it struck me that one ought, for once at least, to decide to see all and to study all.

Still, even in a special frame, completeness is rare. As day by day and slowly you pursue the pilgrimage of the wonders of Rome, at each step, in the reminiscences of the inhabitants, in the knowledge of the learned men of the country, in forgotten books, and most of all in personal discoveries, you come upon a series of facts which have not been collected before, and you gradually rectify a multitude of erro neous traditions as to the monuments and works of art. In the midst of the masterpieces that fill the churches and palaces, how many undetected gems ! Among the famous ruins, all through the ancient dwellings of the populous quarters and deserted suburbs, how many remarkable footprints that have hitherto been little remarked ! Even in the sanctuaries whose very names call to them the attention of all, how many explorations have been left only partly accomplished !

Every one has spoken of the Vatican, but its multitudinous collections and the splendid halls raised to contain them have never been the VI Preface. object of a thoroughly complete description. To judge from the works I have consulted, half Rome still awaits its historian : I may hope, then, that long and laborious research will render some service. If the share of personal research ought to be great, what account ought we not to make of the steps forward taken by erudition ! Although surrounded with difficulties and dry details, which too often are the only points that strike the public, this science only aspires to awake the soul of the past ; a new touch, a livelier tint, brought to life ao-ain on the likeness of the vanished ages,— such is the last word of the most special monography. I took singular pleasure in this part of my task.

There will be found in these pages the results of the most recent works on Roman antiquities, on primitive Christianity, on that strange life of the Renaissance, on the lives of painters and their works ; there will be found here not only the restoration, from the last excavations and from epigraphy, of certain regions, of many edifices of the city of consuls, Cæsars, pontiffs, but also the revelation of curiosities, of monuments hardly exhumed yesterday, such as the barrack of the Vigiles of the seventh cohort, the covered portions of underground Rome, the frescoes of the crypt of St. Clement, the imperial edifices of the Palatine, the admirable paintings of the house of Livia. The external aspect of things occupies a considerable place in the emotions which make up a stay at Rome : all travellers have felt this ; but it seems to me that our time has new qualities for feeling and describing.

The taste for precision, the eye for the beautiful and the interesting, while remaining faithful to reality, are carried very far in our time. Here still, to confine oneself to general impressions is to be incomplete ; we have to do for the sites of Rome and the Campagna, so different from all others, what works of art call for ; we have to be patient, curious, thoroughly penetrated with their poetry. How many pictures then offer themselves to our eyes ! The artist finds richer and more varied galleries than those of museums and palaces, and they are no less vivid. The study of monuments and landscapes, that of men and manners, of past and present, mingle incessantly in this book, as they are confused also in the eyes of who ever lives in Rome : you refresh yourself with one after leaving the other ; and then the reader is accustomed to the indefinable charm of the life of Rome, and to those delights which you never forget after having once felt them.

Preface. VII It had to be one of the cares of my work to seek the drawings which should furnish the best commentary on my descriptions. I am indebted to my publishers for leaving me full liberty, for not shrinking from either the number or the expensive perfection of the engravings ; they animate and brighten many pages in which the tongue cannot say all : I could thus reproduce sites and a number of monuments not hitherto published. Eminent artists have given us their assistance, and some their useful advice ; namely, Louis Francais, Therond, Catenacci, H. Clerget, C. Nanteuil, Anastasi, Jules Lefebvre, E. Bayard, A. de Neuville, Hector Leroux, Paquier, Viollet-le-Duc, Paul Baudry — artists who have given evidence of their tact in understand ing and interpreting works of art and Italian nature.

Can I forget in this band him whom an heroic death has snatched from us ? The best studies that Henri Regnault ever designed on wood are devoted to the illustration of this volume. His career, already marked out for glory, was fatally broken ; he was only eight-and-twenty years old when he was killed in the defence of his country. Will people find in his rare pictures, as well as in the sketches collected here, the last relics of an artist so highly gifted, the variety of his imagination, his marvellous suppleness in dealing with all kinds of work, his skill in composing scenes and grouping figures ? What shall I say of the general idea of my book ? You have no concern with Rome, unless you recognise two sentiments in yourself — the love of the beautiful and respect for what is great. Rome is the museum of all ages.

Above erudition, above scrupu lous accuracy and the best conducted researches, what ought to rule here is the love of what Rome has loved ; she has preserved her greatness in the world by the passion she declared for all the expressions of the beautiful. Many are the sects to-day in this religion of art, some simply didactic, others philosophical, historical, or even moral. The reader will see, after experience of them all, that we have not given ourselves slavishly to any of them, having recognised that the genius of the city and its artists was not dissipated in these chimeras, but that it followed surer instincts, which carried it on in the simple search after ideal beauty. When you come to Rome after an attentive study of the whole of Italy— and I had the good fortune to prelude by this necessary initiation,— you perceive that in this city the various schools of a country more fruitful in models than any other all sum themselves up, and that particular theories Preface.

VIII have here necessarily become general. I would fain have known how to explain all that has been exceptional and fertilising in their destiny ; if I had only succeeded in part, this book would still contribute to the progress of the history of art. As for reverence for all that is great, notwithstanding the criticisms that we might make and which escaped nobody, pontifical Rome, which I explored on the eve of an approaching revolution, would have commanded this in the most sceptical person. All of us, historians, artists, worshippers of traditions, had a difficulty in thinking of this city, fallen from its universal character, reduced to the condition of vulgar capitals, become a constitutional, military administrative centre ; Rome seemed too deeply poetical for such a part. It was the reverses of France that brought about this occu pation.

We have not to seek what time will do with this conquest, but we could never find a way of regretting any of our illusions. The Rome that I have depicted is the ancient metropolis, the religious metropolis, the native land of the arts, the sanctuary of incomparable memories, the home of a people who even to this hour are like no other. That city may look with indifferent eye upon our revolutions, upon our politics of a day : its glory, which has already defied so many ruins, will see new ones, but it has not to dread the fainting memory of men ; so long as society stands, Rome will remain a holy city, or rather, as the admiration of the old world used to say with majestic simplicity, it will remain the Urbs — the City of Cities. F. W. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

' PAGE Broccoli. — The Fountain of Trevi. — The Corso. — St. Peter's. — The Pantheon of Agrippa. —The Trastevere. — St. Peter in Montorio. — Overlooking Rome . . i

Chapter II

Forum Romanum. — The Temple of Concord. — Churches and Basilicas. — The Monuments. — St. Paul Extra Muros. — The Coliseum. — The Coliseum at Night . . 18

Chapter III

Sights in the Streets. — The Barberini Gallery. — The Sciarra Gallery. — The Paintings. — The Cenci. — The Castle of St. Angelo. — The Cenci Tragedies. — Beatrice de' Cenci. — Execution of Beatrice de' Cenci. — The Castle Dungeons . . -33

Chapter IV

Roman Remedy for Grief. — St. Francesca Romana. — Temple ot Antoninus and Faustina. — Basilica of Constantine. — The Arch of Septimius Severus. — The Arch of Titus ............... 56

Chapter V

The Baths of Caracalla. — The Basilica of St. Clement. — Antiquity of the Church. — Interiorof St. Clement's. — Fourth Century Frescoes. — The Legend of St. Libertinus. — Ninth Century Frescoes. — Legend of St. Clement. — Tenth Century Frescoes. — Ninth Century Pilasters. — Romance of St. Alexius 69

Chapter XI

The Fa9ade of St. Peter's. — The Building of St. Peter's. — The Nave of St. Peter's.' — St. Peter's Chair. — The Pieta. — The Chapels. — The Sacristies. — The Cupola. — Inside the Bronze Ball. — The Obelisk of Caligula. — High Mass at St. Peter's. — The Procession. — The Benediction. — The Sacramental Prayers . . . .176

Chapter XXVI

The Sixtine Chapel.— The Paintings.— The Ceiling.— The Creation of Man.— The Fall of Man. — The Frescoes.— Raphael's Poem of the Soul.— Raphael's Colour . . PAGE Fountain of the Triton ... 2 Arch of Septimius Severus 3 Fountain of Trevi .... 5 Column of Antoninus .... 6 The Colonnades of St. Peter . . 9 " The Valets of the Cardinals . . . very ceremonious under antiquated liveries." By Henri Regnault 10 The Pantheon of Agrippa . . .11 Temple of Antoninus . . . -13 Fish Market. By Henri Regnault . 14 View of St. Peter in Montorio . .16 Entry of the Forum Romanum by the Via Sacra ; Temple of Venus at Rome ; Santa Francesca Romana ; Arch of Titus ; Campanile of the Capitol, etc 19 Temple of Vespasian and Portico of the Twelve Gods . . . .20 Entablature of the Temple of Concord 21 Remains of the Temple of Castor 22 Column of Phocas 23 Pavement of Julian Basilica and Tabularium 24 St. Paul extra Muros . . . -25 Under the Galleries of the Coliseum 27 The Arena of the Coliseum . . 29 General View of the Coliseum . .31 A Corridor of the Coliseum . . 32 " The scholars . . . with voluminous shovel-hats."

By Henri Regnault 34 On the Pincian. By Henri Regnault 35 The Aurora of Guido Reni in the Rospigliosi Palace . . . .36 La Fornarina of the Barberini Palace, at Rome . . . .38 La Fornarina of the Uffizi, at Florence 39 The Beatrice de' Cenci. By Guido Reni 40 The Violinist of Raphael (Sciarra Palace) 41 Bridge and Castle of St. Angf.lo 45 Banks of the Tiber between Ripetta and the Bridge of St. Angelo . 47 Cloister of St. John Lateran . .51 Woman at the Bridge of St. Angelo. By Henri Regnault . . • 55 | PACE Gate of the Palace of Venice . .57 Pontifical Procession at the Feast of the Madonna. By Henri Regnault 58 Temple of Antoninus and Faustina . 60 The Arches of Peace . . . .

Oi Interior of the Basilica of Constantine 62 Temple of Nerva, Pantani Postern . 63 Forum Transitorium, or Forum of Nerva 65 Arch of Titus 66 Bas-relief of the Arch of Titus . 07 Bas-relief of the Arch of Titus . 68 Caldarium of the Baths of Caracalla 70 Altar of St. Clement's . . .71 Pulpit of the Epistle at St. Clement's 73 Street of St. John Lateran — Side Entry of St. Clement's . . .75 Fxternal Portico of St. Clf.mfnt's . 77 Fragment of a Fresco of the Fourth Century 78 Fragment of a Fresco of the Fourth Century 79 Legend of St. Libertinus : Frfscoes of the Eighth Century . . .80 Assumption of the Virgin : Fresco of the Time of Leo IV. . . .82 Byzantine Madonna : Fresco of the Ninth Century 83 Legend of St. Clement : Episode of Sisinius (Tenth Century) . . 85 Miracle at the Tomb of St. Clement (Tenth Century) . . . .86 St. Blasius Picking a Thorn from the Throat of a Child : Fresco on a Pilaster (Ninth Century) . . 88 Daniel Spared by the Lions : Pilaster of the Ninth Century . . .89 Legend of St. Alexius : Fresco of the Tenth Century . . . .91 The Pauline Fountain . . . .93 The Statue of St. Cecilia.

By Stephen Maderno 94 Portico of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere . . . . . . .95 Young Woman of the Trastevere . 97 Sant' Onofrio 98 Portrait after the Mask of Tasso . 99 Pediment of the Portico of Octavia . PAGH Nest of Houses on the Banks of the Tiber. By Henri Regnault . . 147 View on the Tiber in front of the Cloaca Maxima . . . .150 Frontage of Santa Maria in Ara Cœli 151 The Bambino 152 Interior of the Church of Santa Maria in Ara Cœli . . . 153 Holiday Carriage of the Holy Father — The Equipage of the Bambino 154 Principal Door of the Ara Cœli . 155 Ogival Vaults in Ara Cœli . .156 Island of the Tiber, St. Bartholomew, and the quattro capi bridge . 1 57 Upper Gallery of the Cloister of the Ara Cœli 158 La Porta Settimiana in the Trastevere 159 View of the Villa Pamphili-Doria . 160 Gardens of the Pamphili Villa . . 162 Gardens of the Pamphili Villa . . 163 St. John of the Florentines. — Trasteverine Bank.— Slope of the Janiculum 165 The Father-Manager of the Philippines.

By Henri Regnault . . 167 Porta Maggiore 168 Interior of the Minerva Medica . 169 Arch of Gallienus . . . .170 The Sette Sale 171 Family of Beggars . . . .172 View of St. Peter's and the Vatican . 173 The Piazza of St. Peter at the Great Benediction 174 Under the Portico of St. Peter's (side of the Sacristy) . . . 177 Plan of the Basilica of St. Peter's. 180 Curule Chair, attributed to the Apostle Peter 183 Tomb of Innocent VIII. . . . 185 State Carriage coming from St. Peter's 186 Angels of the Cupola : after Melozzo da Forli 187 Passage under the Portico of St. Peter's 189 Tribuna and Chair of St. P.ter . 191 Obelisk of Caligula and Fountains of the Piazza of St. Peter's . 193 Fan-bearers 194 Old Noble Guard. By A. de Neuville 195 The Pope's Old Swiss Guard. By A. de Neuville 196 The Pope's Bearers.

By A. de Neuville 197 A Benediction from the Loggia by Pope Pius IX 198 Tiara-bearer. By A. de Neuville . 199 Interior of St. Peter's .... 200 Nave of St. Peter's .... 201 Display of the Grand Relics . . 202 A Mace-bearer. By A. de Neuville . 203 The Moses of Michelangelo . . 204 Piazza of San Pietro in Vincoli . 205 Vaulted Passage under the Palace of Lucrezia Borgia . . . 206 Well in the Cloister of San Pietro in Vincoli 207 PAGE Gate of St. Angelo in Pescheria . 102 Courtyard in the Palazzo del Govf_r.no Vecchio, Via della Pescheria . 103 Barber in the Open Air. By Henri Regnault . . ... 104 A Fisherman on the Watch before his Girella. By Henri Regnault 105 Fountain of Bizzaccheri, and Temple of the Sun, or Vesta . . . 106 Santa Maria in Cosmedin . . . 108 House of Rienzi, and Temple of For- TUNA VlRILtS 109 The Market of the Piazza Navona.

By Henri Regnault . . .111 " While the Contadini Drink." By Henri Regnault . . . .112 Piazza Navona and Church of St. Agnes 113 St. Agnes : after the Mosaic of the Choir (Seventh Century) . . 114 St. Agnes extra Muros on the Via nomentana 1 15 Subterranean Galleries and Loculi of the Catacomb of St. Agnes . 117 Subterranean Altar, Tombs, and Chapel in the Cemetery of St. Agnes 118 Valerianus and Cæcilia. Mosaic of the Ninth Century at St. Cæcilia 122 Inscription in the Catacombs . -123 The Children in the Furnace; Prayer; Jonah and the Whale . . .124 Playing at Bowls. By Henri Rignault 125 Paintings of the First Century on a Chapel Vault (Catacombs of Callistus) 126 ponte nomentano 127 Street and Apse of St. John and St. Paul 129 Arch of Dolabella and Gate of the Old Convent of the Trinitarians 130 Romans Playing at Mora.

By Henri Regnault 131 Entry of the Convent of St. John and St. Paul 132 San Stefano Rotondo .... 133 Fragment of Raphael .... 134 Madame Vigee-Lebrun. By Herself 135 Arches of St. John and St. Paul, as seen when descending from the Cœlian 136 One of the Trophies, called of Marius, at the Capitol . . .137 Steps of the Senatorial Palace ; Tarpeian Staircase . . . 139 Junius Brutus ... . . 140 Piazza of the Capitol Gallery of Antiques 141 The Dying Gladiator . . . .141 Faun, after Praxiteles . . .142 The Amazon 143 Me^alina 143 Marius 144 Agrippina, Daughter of Drusus . . 144 Roman Lady, taken for the First Agrippina 145 The Hospital of St. Michael . 146 PAGE Arch of Drusus 208 The Appian Way 209 Mausoleum of Cæcilia Metella . 210 Circus of Romulus Maxentius . .211 Between the Ponte Molle and the Monte Mario 213 Fountain at the Villa of Pope Julius III.

By Henri Regnault . .214 Casino of Julius III 215 St. Peter and St. Paul, by the Bridge of St. Angelo 216 Raphael's Four Sibyls . . . .217 Riario Palace (Cancelleria) . . 218 The Farnese Palace . . . .219 Loggia of the Farnese, from the Bank of the Tiber. By Henri Regnault 220 The Excavated Hercules . . .221 The Spada Pompeius .... 222 Brokers and Bookworms in Open Air. By Henrl Regnault . . . 223 Fountain of the Tortoises . . . 224 Court of the Mattei Palace . . 225 Torch of St. George in Velabro . 226 In the Palace of Caligula . . 227 Porch of Santa Sabino . . . 228 Exhumation of the House of Livia . 230 Ruins on the Palatine . . . 231 Remains of the Public Palace, and Loggia of the Farnese . . 232 Remains of the Public Palace of Domitian 233 Livia's House (Left Wing) . . . 237 Paintings of the Tablinum of Livia 238 Restoration of the Clivus Victoriæ 240 Vaulted Passage between the Palace of Tiberius and the Public Palace 241 Ruins of the Palaces of Tiberius . 242 Remains of the Library of the Public Palace 243 Ruins of the Palatine, towards the Circus Maximus .... 244 View from the Palatine, towards the Cœlian 245 Old Tower of the Palatine, facing the Circus Maximus . . . 246 Staircase in the Palace of Caligula 247 Ancient Procession to the Lateran . 248 Road to Castel-Gandolfo : La Galleria 250 Ariccia and its Viaduct . . -251 Lake of Albano and Pontifical Villa (Evening) 252 At Rocca di Papa.

By Henri Regnault 253 Youthful Shepherdess . . . 254 Oxen of the Roman Campagna. By Henri Regnault .... 255 The Salita of Marino .... 256 The Piazza of St. John Lateran . 257 Trajan's Column and Ulpian Basilica 258 Well of the Sixth Century, in the Cloister of St. John . . . 261 Santa Croce in Gerusalemme . . 262 Portico of St. John Lateran . . 263 Penitents Ascending the Holy Staircase 264 Sophocles 266 PAGE Christ Symbolized in Orpheus . . 267 "A Group Slumbering over a Cradle" 269 Via della Pilotta .... 272 Fountain of the Piazza MonteCavallo 273 Arrival of the Cardinals at the Quirinal Palace. By H. Regnault 274 La Barcaccia and the Steps of La Trinita dei Monti . . . .276 House where Poussin Died . . 277 Perron of the Trinita . . . 278 On the Terrace of the Pincian . 279 La Pascuccia 280 The Emblems of Justice (Raphael's Stanze) 281 Portico of the Villa Medici . . 282 Villa Medici (Garden Front) . . 283 vlale coperto, in the vllla medici . 284 Under the Portico .... 285 On the Terrace of the Medici Gardens 286 View at the back of the Choir, San Lorenzo 288 Basilica and Convent of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura .... 289 Transept and Confessional of San Lorenzo ...... 290 Pulpit of the Gospel, at San Lorenzo 291 Cloister of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura 293 Convent of St. Pudentiana . . 294 St. Prasseda and St. Pudentiana (Catacomb of Priscilla) . . 295 Door of St. Pudentiana . . . 296 Mosaic of St. Pudentiana . . . 297 The Church of St. Cosmus and St. Damianus 298 Door of the Colonna Chapel, at St. Prasseda 300 Santa Maria Maggiore . . .301 Interior of St. Prasseda . . .302 Off to the Carnival .... 304 Piazza del Popolo . . . .305 Awaiting the Illuminations.

By A. de Neuville 306 Race of the Barberi : the Start. By H. Regnault ..... 307 German Masquerading : the March Past. By H. Regnault . . 308 The German Festival : Entering the Grottoes. By H. Regnault . 310 Terraces and Portico at the Villa Albani 312 Gardens of the Villa Albani . .313 Nuptials of Alexander and Roxana .315 Piazza and Porto del Popolo ; Church of Santa Maria . . . .317 Tomb of William Rocca (Sacristy of Santa Maria del Popolo) . .318 Florentine Statues, Bas-relief of the Pisans (Corridor of the Sacristy) . 319 Bernini's Daphne 321 Fountain in the Borghese Gardens . 322 The Borghese Venus . . . .323 Portico of Octavia . . . .324 Ravine: Temple of Hercules, called of the Sibyl 326 A Street at Tivoli . . . .327 " Some Pecorari like Clephts." By Henri Regnaltlt ....

PAGE The Biga 362 Casino of Pius IX 363 Exit from the Pontifical Garden . 364 The Round Hall 365 The Ignudi (Vault of the Sixtine Chapel) 368 Julius II 371 The Prophet Joel (Ceiling of the Sixtine) 372 Delphic Sibyl (Ceiling of the Sixtine) 373 The Creation of Man (from the Roof of the Sixtine) . . -375 The Creation of Woman (from the Roof of the Sixtine) . . . 376 The Fall of Man (from the Roof of the Sixtine) 377 Poetry 378 Theology 379 The First Sin (La Segnatura) . . 381 PAGE Remains of the Villa Adriana . 330 Vatican Library 332 The Throne-room at the Vatican . 333 Porta Angelica— Pontifical Residence in the Vatican . . . 335 The Chiaramonti Gallery . . . 341 Sarcophagus of the Bacchantes . 343 The Braccio Nuovo .... 344 Augustus (Braccio Nuovo) . . . 346 Pio-Clementine Museum . . . 348 The Nile (Braccio Nuovo) . . . 349 Demosthenes (Braccio Nuovo) . . 350 Torso of the Belvedere . . .351 The Perseus of Canova . . . 352 Hall of the Animals (Pio-Clementine Museum) 354 Antique Group (Hall of the Animals) 353 Menander (Pio-Clementine Gallery) 355 Gallery of the Candelabra . .361 ROME

Chapter I

first night in Rome was spent under a roof in the street ]g\w] y of the Ouattro Fontane, which, by the Felice and Sistini P^gLJj roads, comes out on the Pincian, the Tuileries garden of the city of Romulus. On the following morning, I stole away from the house to venture alone into the labyrinth of streets. On my right the straight and hilly street made with its high walls a distant frame for a conical belfry sketched against a grey and rainy sky. I did not know the situation of Santa Maria Maggiore. I was still furthur from suspecting that in these blurred swellings I saw the renowned Quirinal and Viminal hills. The road continued on the left in absolute monotony ; before me in false square, in an ill-kept court, arose a vast building with a tolerably new look about it, and with a portico crowded with soldiers.

The edifice struck me as handsome enough for a barrack ; but recognising it as the famous palace of the Barberini, I thought it too much of a barrack for a palace. On the Piazza Barberini, as you return towards the street, you come upon a fountain of sombre colour, but whose basin is in good proportion with the design that occupies the centre ; four dolphins, whose gaping throats just touch the water, are solidly bound together, forming by their raised tails a base for the arms of the Barberini, and on this is placed, describing a semi-spiral and serving for an upper basin, a large shell, of which the overflow falls away in a shower of pearls. From the midst of this, solidly supported, there rises a vigorous Triton, who blows to the sky in a horn of shell form, from which spirts a thread of water, as shown in the illustration on the next page.

This original and robust conception, which reminded me of B o Rome. Pierre Puget, is the work of Bernini. I did not know it then, and in giving this piece of information I am anticipating : I beg the reader to allow me often to do this, and to complete these first impressions by the further results of my studies, so as thus to avoid returning to the same subject. Turning my back to the piazza, I took a cross street, the Via del Tritone, which begins with shops for the sale of smoked and greasy meat, trattorie that the Germans must frequent, for you see in them a vast quantity of sausages and choppes of beer ; the common people, squatted or leaned against the wall all round the door, proud, idle, sober. FOUNTAIN OF THE TRITON. In this country, where fever is endemic, I do not know if sobriety be an instinct of self-preservation ; at any rate, it is exemplary in all classes, and in truth the quality of the articles of food decidedly encourages so estimable a disposition.

Veal killed too young is bad and scarce ; mutton is stale and hard ; beef has little taste ; fowl is skinny and tough as leather. Game only is of superior quality, and, except partridge, it is common. Close and insufficiently kneaded, the bread is heavy ; the wine, usually tolerable, is carelessly made : it should be excellent. Pastry, made with a mixture of oil and dripping, is repugnant enough to bring one's heart up. Broccoli. arch of septimius severus. For that matter, the humbler folk care little about these culinary elements. This is how they sustain themselves : all the winter they prepare for the public at the street corners in large cauldrons, twice a day, those long, greenish cauliflowers called broccoli, and they are carried home on drainers from shop to shop. They eat also con- B Rome. 4 siderably of large lupins, round and yellow, cooked in water, without butter or dripping.

On the broccoli they put salt and oil with vinegar. Add some olives, some dry figs, cervelas, parched and often rancid, and stalks of fennel ; and for dessert, nuts, pinocchi, the seeds of the pine. In summer, fruits, especially water-melon and the green gourd with purple pulp, of so poor a flavour. Such is pretty nearly the substance of the diet of the people of Rome, if you add a few common pastes. Some muddy streets, without footways ; some mean, arched shops, with narrow doors, such as you see at La Chatre and Dinan ; walls in which the peeling plaster has received a daubing of earth from the splashing of the gutter ; now and then some church with shabby facade in the modern taste, set in among the houses ; much animation and babbling among the people ; all the women ragged, and with hair elaborately dressed, even those who have none, terrible to behold — this is what greets you at every corner.

I there received, for the first time, the distinct impression of the odours or, more poetically speaking, the perfume of Rome ; it is a local exhalation of cabbage or broccoli broth mixed with the raw smell of roots, sulphurous emanations to which one has to become accustomed, for the pavement and the black mud of the streets are impregnated with that essence, which has not become pure in becoming everlasting. Gradually, as I advanced along a narrow street with the air of a kitchen-garden, in which the crowd was thickening, and where leaves of vegetables were all trampled under foot, I perceived a sort of indistinct murmur like that of the waves, which first accompanied and then overwhelmed the noises of the throng, and all at once, at the corner of the street, I was dazzled by sheets of water, which, from a pell-mell of rocks, dominated by a buildin_r covered with statues, tumbled foaming and sparkling on every side, to be engulfed in cavernous holes.