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vision. Here were the "Seven Hills," all, or nearly all, in sight, with the Capitol, the Roman and Trajan Forums, the Palace of the Cæsars, the Coliseum, and the Pantheon, all on the east side of the Tiber. The names of the "Seven Hills" were given and the separate locations pointed out in their order-the Aventine, Coelian, Palatine, Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, and Capitoline.

The Church of St. Augustine is noted for the Madonna and Child," a fine piece of sculpture by Andrea Sansovino, before which the credulous Roman Catholic devotees are wont to prostrate themselves in sign of adoration. The figures are "smothered with jewels, votive offerings of those whose prayers the image had heard and answered. All round the image the walls are covered with votive offerings, likewise; some of a similar kind-jewels, watches, valuables of different descriptions." Frederika Bremer relates that long prior to her visit here, the report was spread that one day when a poor woman called upon this image for help it began to speak, and replied, "If I had only something, then I could help thee, but I myself am so poor." This story being circulated, very soon throngs of credulous people, she says, hastened hither to kiss the foot of the Madonna, and to present her with all kinds of gifts. "Candles and lamps burn around, and people pour in, rich and poor, great and small, to kiss, some of them two or three times, the Madonna's foot-a gilt foot, to which the forehead also is devotionally pressed. The marble foot is already worn away with kissing; the Madonna is now rich.” We had seen so much of this kind of devotion that we looked on without any new emotion, either of wonder or surprise.

The 28th ultimo was devoted by our party to sightseeing outside of the city, in the Baths of Caracalla and the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. Our trip took us again on the Appian Way for a short distance. affording us another opportunity to see this exceedingly interesting part of Rome. These Baths take their name from their projector, Caracalla, who began them in the year 212. They were continued by Heliogabalus and finished under Alexander Severus -so our guide-book states. One mile in circumference, they could accommodate sixteen hundred bathers at once. Only a portion of the walls, which are of brick, remain standing, and these are broken and crumbling. Some of the pavements, or ground floors, which are of marble mosaic, are still left, but they are very uneven and more or less covered with sand and dirt. Gibbon states that the walls of the lofty apartments were covered with curious mosaics that imitated the art of the pencil in elegance and design and in the variety of their colors. The nobility and common people alike had access to these baths. "The perpetual stream of hot water," Gibbon continues, "was poured into the capacious basins through so many wide mouths of bright and massy silver; and the meanest Roman could purchase, with a small copper coin, the daily enjoyment of a scene. of pomp and luxury which might excite the envy of the Kings of Asia. From these stately palaces issued forth a swarm of dirty and ragged plebians, without shoes and without mantle; who loitered away whole days in the street or Forum to hear news and to hold disputes; who dissipated, in extravagant gaming, the miserable pittance of their wives and children: and spent the hours of the night in the indulgence of gross vulgar sensuality." In these habits of lux

ury, inertia, and consequent vice, the historian traces the main cause of the decline of the Roman Empire. The ruins of this immense structure, which covered. a space of two million six hundred and twenty-five thousand square yards, do not present the appearance of having been unearthed; yet the books speak of numerous works of art, among them the statues of the "Farnese Bull," "Hercules," and "Flora," which have been "discovered" here; and it is presumed, therefore, that the débris in the interior was composed of the fallen roof and crumbling walls, together with light soil and sand conveyed thither by the winds of centuries.

Our descent into the Catacombs was by a long staircase, or a series of staircases, attended by a guide. We carried lighted tapers in our hands, and were careful not to lose sight of our conductor lest we might never find our way out. We were from twenty to forty feet below the surface-a cultivated field. "The galleries are from two to four feet in width, and vary in height according to the nature of the rock in which they are dug. The walls on both sides are pierced with horizontal niches, like shelves in a bookcase or berths in a steamer, and every niche once contained one or more dead bodies." In some of them we saw human bones. These galleries "cross and recross one another, sometimes at short intervals," on different levels, and it is estimated that in all the Roman Catacombs there are not less than three hundred and fifty miles of them. Here and there they open into small chambers, the walls of which are likewise generally pierced with graves, and in some of which are rude scriptural paintings. One of these chambers is called the Chapel of the Popes, many of the earlier Popes having been buried

in it. We roamed among these ancient sepulchres for half an hour or more, and came out, glad to see daylight once more, at an opening some distance from the one where we entered.

Learning from Miss Foley, whose sculpture studio we visited yesterday, that William and Mary Howitt were stopping at her house, we called on them last evening and were exceedingly gratified with our short interview with them. Mr. Howitt is a gentleman of medium size, with hair entirely white, and an expression of countenance and manner at once attractive and agreeable.. He is over eighty years of age, but still active as a man of sixty-five. Mrs. Howitt, we should judge, is from ten to fifteen years younger. Both in dress and deportment she appeared like an accomplished Quaker lady. Her hair is brown, and with a handsome nose and brilliant eyes, her expression is sweet and winning. For a number of years they have passed their winters in Rome and their summers in the Tyrol. They were gratified to hear us speak of the many friends they have made in the United States by their writings. and mentioning the names of a few of our best authors, they said they had met some of them in Europe. Mrs. Howitt desired to be kindly remembered to "Grace Greenwood," whose acquaintance she said she had the pleasure of making twenty years ago.

Now, having turned our faces homeward, we take our final leave of Rome.

CHAPTER LV.

ENEVA, FEBRUARY 19.-In company still with our friends, Dr. Parker and family, we took our departure from the "Eternal City" at eleven in the forenoon of the first instant, and arrived in Florence at seven in the afternoon, stopping at our old rooms on via Palestro. We left in good time, as we have since learned that a great many travelers were soon prostrated by the Roman fever; nor did some of our party entirely escape from the bad effects of the malaria brought away in our systems. It showed itself in tooth-ache and painful swelling of the gums and in the glands of the face. Another fortnight, now, in Florence enabled us to finish up our sight-seeing there pretty thoroughly, although the weather during most of the time was wet, raw, and disagreeable, inclining us to stay indoors more than we should have done had it been pleasanter. We revisited some of the churches, the Protestant Cemetery, St. Miniato, the Picture Galleries, and other places, in respect to all which we have already written, and notwithstanding the variableness of the weather, we shall always have pleasant recollections of Florence.

A ride of two hours by rail brought us on the 14th to Pisa in time to visit the great Cathedral, Baptistery, and Campo Santo, and to ascend the famous Leaning Tower. Pisa, where we remained over night, is situated on both sides of the Arno, five miles from its mouth, in the Mediterranean. In the thirteenth century it was a city of one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants; but its present number is stated at not exceeding fifty thousand. The Ca

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