rth about five pence English. There are ten _paoli_ to a _scudo Romano_
and ten _bafocchi_ to a _paolo_, The _bafocco_ is a copper coin.

ROME, 12th Sept.

A great number of Germans dine at the _table d'hote_ of Franz's hotel.
Among them I distinguished one day a very intelligent Bavarian Jew. I
proposed to him a walk to the Coliseum the following morning, as
independent of the benefit I derived from his conversation I was curious to
see whether it was true or not that the Jews always avoided walking under
the Arch of Titus, which was erected in commemoration of the capture of
Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, in the reign of Vespasian. On stepping
out of the _Hotel Allemand_, the first thing that met my eye was the
identical beggar described by Kotzebue in his travels in Italy, and he
gives the very same answer now as then to those who give him nothing, viz.,
_Pazienza_.

We crossed the _Piazza di Spagna_, ascended the superb flight of steps of
the _Trinita de' Monti_, where there is a French church called the Church
of St Louis: near it is the _Villa Medici_, which is the seat of the French
Academy of the fine arts at Rome. We then filed along the _Strada Felice_
till we arrived at the church of _Santa Maria maggiore_, a superb edifice,
the third church in Rome in celebrity, and the second in magnificence. An
immense Egyptian Obelisk stands before it. We then, turning a little to the
right, made the best of our way to the Coliseum where we remained nearly
two hours. I had figured to myself the grandest ideas of this stupendous
building, but the aspect of it far exceeded the sketch even of my
imagination. In Egypt I have seen the Pyramids, but even these vast masses
did not make such an impression on me as the Coliseum has done. I am so
unequal to the task of description that I shall not attempt it; I will give
you however its dimensions which my friend the Jew measured. It is an
ellipse of which the transverse axis is 580 feet in length and its
conjugate diameter 480; but it is not so much the length and breadth as the
solidity of this building that strikes the traveller with astonishment. The
arcaded passage or gallery (on the _rez de chaussee_ between the interior
and the exterior wall), which has a vaulted roof over which the seats are
built, is broad enough to admit three carriages abreast: and the walls on
each side of this gallery are at least twenty feet thick. What a
magnificent spectacle it must have be