, which soon happened, took care to drop the few pauls
into his palm at the next squeeze. On the instant the gate opened.

But alas! I was in a worse plight than ever. There was no commissario to
be had at that hour. I was in total darkness; not a door was open; nor
was there an individual in the street; and, recollecting the reputation
Rome had of late acquired for midnight assassinations, I began to grow a
little apprehensive. After wandering about for some time, I lighted on a
French sentry, who obligingly led me to a caffe hard by, which is kept
open all night. There I found a young German, an artist evidently, who,
having finished his coffee, politely volunteered to conduct me to the
Hotel d'Angleterre.

CHAPTER XXI.

MODERN ROME.

Tower of Capitol best Site for studying Topography of
Rome--Resemblance in the Sites of great Cities--Site of
Rome--Campagna di Roma--Its Extent and Boundaries--Ancient
Fertility and Magnificence--Modern Desolation of Campagna--Approach
to Rome from the North--Etruria--Solitariness of this once famous
Highway--First Sight of Rome--The Flaminian Way--The Porta del
Popolo--The Piazza del Popolo--Its Antiquities--Pincian
Hill--General Plan of Rome--The Corso--The Via Ripetta--The Via
Babuina--Population--Disproportionate Numbers of Priests--Variety
of Ecclesiastical Costumes--Dresses of the various Orders--Their
indescribably Filthy Appearance--The ordinary Priest--The Priest's
Face--The Beggars--Want of Arrangement in its Edifices--Rome an
unrivalled Combination of Grandeur and Dirt.

One of my first days in Rome was passed on the top of the tower of the
Capitol. It is incomparably the best spot on which to study the
topography of the Eternal City, with that of the surrounding region.
Here one stands between the living and the dead,--between the city of
the Caesars, which lies entombed on the Seven Hills, with the vine, the
ivy, and the jessamine mantling its grave, and the city of the Popes,
spread out with its cupolas, and towers, and everlasting chimes, on the
low flat plain of the Campus Martius. The world has not such another
ruin,--so vast, colossal, and magnificent,--as Rome. Let us sketch the
features of the scene as they here present themselves.

There would appear to be a law determining the _site_, as well as the
_character_, of great events. It has often been remarked, that there is
a resemblance be