seven hills, and her glorious Campagna, with such
a mountain-wall! But let us mark the old gate. It was here that the
struggle betwixt the French and the Romans took place in 1849. The wall
is here of brick,--very old, and of great breadth; and if struck with a
cannon ball, it would crumble into dust by inches, but not fall in
masses: hence the difficulty which the French found of breaching it. The
towers of the gate are dismantled, and the top of the wall for some
thirty yards is of new brick; but, with these exceptions, no other
traces remain of the bloody conflict which restored the Pope to his
throne. Of old, when Dagon fell, and the human head rolled in one
direction and the fishy tail lay in another, "they took Dagon," we are
told, and, fastening together the dissevered parts, "they set him in his
place again." Idol worshippers are the same in all ages. Oftener than
once has the Dagon of the Seven Hills fallen; the crown has rolled in
one direction; the "palms of his hands" have been seen in another; and
only the sacerdotal stump has remained; but the kings of Europe have
taken Dagon, and, by the help of bayonets, have "set him in his place
again;" and, having set up _him_ who could not set up himself, have
worshipped him as the prop of their own power. What I had come hither to
see especially was the graves of those who had fallen. On the left of
the road, outside the gate, I found a grassy plateau, of some half-dozen
acres, slightly furrowed, but bearing no such indications as I expected
to find of such carnage as had here taken place. A Roman youth was
sauntering on the spot; and, making up to him, I asked him to be so good
as show me where they had buried the Frenchmen. "Come along," said he,
"and I will show you the French." We crossed the plateau in the
direction of a vineyard, which was enclosed with a stone-wall. The gate
was open, and we entered. Stooping down, the youth laid hold on a
whitish-looking nodule, of about the size of one's fist, and, holding it
out to me, said, "that, Signor, is part of a Frenchman." I thought at
first the lad was befooling me; but on examining the substance, I found
that it was animal matter calcined, and had indeed formed part of a
human being. The vineyard for acres and acres was strewn with similar
masses. I now saw where the French were buried. The siege took place in
the heat of summer; and every evening, when the battle was over, the
dead were gathered in heaps, and bur