of a splendid panorama of palaces rising on all sides, magnified and seen to more advantage through the long perspective arches, forming hexagonal radii, including the two running transversely through the building. So far as my observation extends, this plan has the merit of perfect originality, and the unity of idea in such a maze of splendour produces a very happy effect.

It

The stair-way can hardly be surpassed in grandeur. springs from the central arch, and ascends by a flight of marble steps, perhaps thirty feet in breadth, to the first story, where there is a spacious landing; and thence two other flights, of nearly the same width, rise laterally on each side of the former to the second floor. In an alcove opposite the foot, stands a colossal Hercules, a copy of the one in the Studii at Naples; while the head of the steps is guarded by two beautiful lions in marble. The upper flights are enriched with balustrades and Ionic columns of the richest materials and the most exquisite workmanship.

As a

Entering the labyrinth of apartments, we first visited the Chapel, which is a compound of splendour and meanness. The walls are surrounded by colonnades of Corinthian pillars supporting the galleries. Some of these are said to be from the temple of Jupiter Serapis at Pozzuoli. contrast to this richness of columns, the High Altar is of painted stucco, without a fragment of marble or precious stone in its tawdry ornaments. The theatre is splendidly finished, having three tiers of boxes, making about forty in all, with a throne in front, for the king, little inferior in its decorations to the royal seat in San Carlo. On extraordinary occasions, his Majesty takes with him to Caserta a company of players from Naples.

The cicerone led us through an extricable suite of vacant rooms, which looked all alike, and in which the points of compass were easily lost. The floors are painted red and varnished, like those of all the other regal palaces. There is a scanty show of furniture and tapestry; and the frescoed ceilings are not very remarkable either for design or execution.

The gardens, fountains, and cascades in the rear of the Palace, are all in horrible taste. Such nudity and poverty of grounds were never seen in connexion with so much architectural splendour. A lawn more fit for a farm-yard, than for the park of one of the finest edifices in Europe, spreads

back of the northern façade. A scanty coat of foliage; a few shorn trees and shrubs, bordering straight paths; parterres of flowers fantastically cut into the shape of baskets, disgust the visitant at every step. In the centre of the grounds is a large square fish-pond, substantially walled up, and guarded by a heavy balustrade. Not a leaf, nor an aquatic plant shades the finny tribes from the influence of a broiling sun.

Again entering our coach, we set out for the Aqueduct, at the distance of four or five miles. The road runs along the base of a high range of hills, crowned with the ruins of old fortresses and towns. It passes several pretty villages, and is bordered at intervals with pyramids of moderate elevation, surmounted by vases. Winding round under the cliffs of one of the mountains, the traveller sees the Aqueduct stretching across a deep, retired, rural vale half a mile or more in width. This stupendous work, which reminds one of the similar structures of the Romans, is two hundred feet in height, consisting of triple rows of arches, stretching from hill to hill, and presenting a view of much grandeur. It is substantially constructed of yellowish stone; wide enough at top for the passage of a coach, and guarded by balustrades. The king has ridden across it in his chariot. It bears a striking resemblance to a work of the same kind at Montpellier, in the south of France, described in one of my former letters.

We climbed the rugged ascent, to the eastern end of it, and examined its arches, opening longitudinally through two of its stories, in lengthened perspective. The conduit is five feet deep, and eight or ten feet from the top. At the point, where the water enters, the stream is so rapid, that its roar may be heard at the depth of several feet below the surface. Half a mile farther on, the current descends from the hill in an open canal. It is rapid, clear, and cold; sufficiently copious to turn several grist-mills before entering the aqueduct. It comes from Beneventum, twenty miles to the north-east. After crossing the valley, it runs along the ridge of mountains, in one place through a tunnel two miles in length, and the rest of the way near the surface, till it bursts from the brow of the hill, in the rear of the palace at Caserta. Thence it is carried to Naples, making a distance in all of about forty miles.

We followed the track of the king's coach, across the top, and descended on the other side. The view into the secluded vale, winding up among the mountains, is extensive, rich, and

beautiful. This aqueduct wss constructed in the term of seven years, by Charles III. to supply his palace at Caserta with fountains and fish-ponds. Two long Latin inscriptions on the arches, give a history of the undertaking. Who that has examined this work, constructed for more than half of the way through a rough, mountainous country, and by a nation without enterprise or energy, can doubt the practicability of supplying New-York with water from the Bronx or the Croton ! Either of these streams might be brought to the city for one half the sum, which has here been expended.

Having accomplished all the objects of our visit, we returned to Caserta; and after parting with the friend, who had been with us almost daily during our residence at Naples, and who had done so much to render our tour both agreeable and instructive, the rest of our party set out for Capua, with feelings not a little saddened by such an incident. Just at twilight, a glance was obtained of the ruins of the old city of Capua, rising in dark masses from a plain, on the right of the road, and overgrown with luxuriant foliage. Half an hour more brought us to the centre of the modern town, scarcely less a ruin, where we were compelled to take lodgings for the night, amidst beggars, bed-bugs, and fleas, the latter of which became more active and sanguinary, as the summer campaign opened. The swarms of these animals, multiplied partly by the warmth of the climate, partly by the ruinous condition of the houses, and still more by a want of neatness in the inhabitants, form a serious drawback upon the comfort and pleasure of the traveller.

It was rather an act of mercy on the part of the vetturino, to arouse his passengers at an earlier hour than the old Carthaginian used to muster his troops, and to hurry us away from Capua with all possible despatch. The weather was intensely hot and our progress slow; but the charms of the country, now dressed in summer pride, together with books and conversation, rendered our leisurely retreat over a road once travelled far from tedious. We reached the charming villa of Cicero, at Mola di Gaeta, on the second night from Naples ; and the third day brought us to Terracina, where it was necessary to take lodgings, much against our inclinations, amidst beggars and banditti. In recrossing the Pontine Marshes, a grand thunder-storm was witnessed. The dark cloud, with well defined borders, rolled along the ridge of Apennines

to the east, enveloping one village after another, about which the bolts fell in rapid succession, and the road trembled with the reverberations from the hills. At 11 o'clock, we again reached the Half-way House. A dejeuné consisting of a dirty omelet, a bit of coarse bread, and a glass of sour wine, was served up on a wooden bench, in a room profusely ornamented with frescos in charcoal. This inn is supposed to stand upon the site of the Three Taverns, alluded to in the Acts of the Apostles, where Paul met his friends in journeying to Rome. In the vestibule of the ruinous chapel, mentioned in a former letter, a Latin inscription states, that the temple and its refectory were built by the Pope, to commemorate the scriptural incidents, and preserve the footsteps of the great Apostle of the Gentiles. The fourth night-after leaving Naples brought us to the Alban Mount, where good accommodations were obtained at the Villa di Londra. On the following morning, our trunks were forwarded to Rome, while we lingered a day or two to examine this interesting region. In the pretty little white village, on the brow of the Alban Mount, there is a coffee-house, called the Caffè Americano, out of compliment to our country. Could the old Romans awake from the sleep of the tomb, and read the sign, how would they be puzzled with the name, and what would be their astonishment to learn, that it designated a Republic, proud as their own at the zenith of its glory, situated in a land beyond the waste of the Atlantic, unknown to the world for a thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire!

At the door of this coffee-house and along the streets were seen the descendants of the Alban Fathers, playing at Mora, the national game of the lower classes throughout Italy. The women of Albano are beautiful, in comparison with the same classes in the Neapolitan dominions. They do up their hair in a peculiar manner, with massive silver skewers eight or ten inches in length. Red bodices, tightly laced, preserve an original beauty of form, even among the peasantry.

SKETCH OF MONTE ALBANO-SHORES OF THE ALBAN LAKE-EXCURSION TO LAKE NEMI-POMPEY'S PRISON--MUSEUM OF

ANTIQUITIES--GROTTO-FERRATA--FRASCATI-RUINS OF TUSCULUM-MODERN PALACES-RETURN TO ROME.

June, 1826.-The morning after our arrival at Albano, we procured a suite of donkeys, and commenced an examination of the hill, under the guidance of a local cicerone. A shower overtook us soon after leaving the hotel, and compelled us to take shelter under a grove of ilex upon the declivity, commanding a full view of the Campagna di Roma, which was chequered with sunshine and shade. In the distance, the eye could distinctly mark the foam of the sea, breaking upon the solitary shore. Beneath us rose the tomb of Ascanius, and several other old towers peeped out from the rich foliage, which covers the hills, rendering it highly picturesque. As the rain intermitted, we rode to the woody borders of the Alban Lake, slumbering in a deep, circular crater, more than a hundred feet below the bank. The shores are rural, but lonely and silent. Here a relapse of the shower increased to such a degree of violence, as to drive us into a Franciscan Convent, the monks of which permitted our donkeys to enter the cloisters. These monastic institutions, situated in a healthy region, are appropriated to the purposes of education; and on our way up the acclivity, we met a long procession of Roman boys, in their black tunics, and dressed with remarkable neatness.

The storm assumed an aspect of much grandeur, and heavy peals of thunder reverberating among the hills were peculiarly suited to the character of the Alban Mount, which was sacred to Jove. Fortunately our covert afforded a prospect of many of the interesting objects in the vicinity. The Convent stands upon the high shore of the lake. Before it rise fourteen little shrines, intended to represent the various stages of the crucifixion. Several monasteries are in sight, crowning romantic eminences, and the sound of the bells mingling with the storm had a strong effect upon the mind.