by these valorous
champions of good order and good policy, it is considered that the
road is now more open and safe than it has been for some time, and if
nothing new happens to alarm us, we set off on Friday next.

I visited to-day the baths of Dioclesian, and the noble church which
Michel Angelo has constructed upon, and out of, their gigantic ruins.
It has all that grand simplicity, that _entireness_ which
characterizes his works: it contains, too, some admirable pictures. On
leaving the church, I saw on each side of the door, the monuments of
Salvator Rosa and Carlo Maratti--what a contrast do they exhibit in
their genius, in their works, in their characters, in their
countenances, in their lives! Near this church (the Santa Maria dei
Angeli) is the superb fountain of the Acqua Felice, the first view of
which rather disappointed me. I had been told that it represented
Moses striking the rock,--a magnificent idea for a fountain! but the
execution falls short of the conception. The water, instead of gushing
from the rock, is poured out from the mouths of two prodigious lions
of basalt, brought, I believe, from Upper Egypt: they seem misplaced
here. A little beyond the Ponta Pia is the Campo Scelerato, where the
Vestals were interred alive. We afterwards drove to the Santi Apostoli
to see the tomb of the excellent Ganganelli, by Canova. Then to Sant'
Ignazio, to see the famous ceiling painted in perspective by the
jesuit Pozzo. The effect is certainly marvellous, making the interior
appear to the eye, at least twice the height it really is; but though
the illusion pleased me as a work of art, I thought the trickery
unnecessary and misplaced. At the magnificent church of the Gesuiti
(where there are two entire columns of giallo antico) I saw a list of
relics for which the church is celebrated, and whose efficacy and
sanctity were vouched for by a very respectable catalogue of miracles.
Among these relics there are a few worth mentioning for their oddity,
viz. one of the Virgin's _shifts_, three of her hairs, and the skirt
of Joseph's coat.

* * * * *

31.--We spent nearly the whole day in the gallery of the Vatican, and
in the Pauline and Sistine chapels.

_February 1st, at Valletri._--I left Rome this morning exceedingly
depressed: Madame de Stael may well call travelling _un triste
plaisir_. My depression did not arise from the feeling that I left
behind me any thing or any person