l the entrance is of this charming city, how
grand the gate, how handsome the drive forward, may all be read here in
a printed book called _Verona illustrata_: but my felicity in finding
the amphitheatre so well preserved, can only be found in my own heart,
which began sensibly to dilate at the seeing an old Roman colisseum kept
so nicely, and repaired so well. It is said that the arena here is
absolutely perfect; and if the galleries are a little deficient, there
can be no dispute concerning the _podium_, or lower seats, which remain
exactly as they were in old times: while I have heard that the building
of the same kind now existing at Nismes, shews the manner of entering
exceeding well; and the great one built by Vespasian has every thing
else: so that an exact idea of the old Circus may be obtained among them
all. That something should always be left to conjecture, is however not
unpleasing; various opinions animate the arguments on both sides, and
bring out fire by collision with the understanding of others engaged in
the same researches.

A bull-feast given here to divert the Emperor as he passed through, must
have excited many pleasing sensations, while the inhabitants sate on
seats once occupied by the masters of the world; and what is more worth
wonder, fate at the feet of a Transalpine _Caesar_, for so the sovereign
of Germany is even now called by his Milanese subjects in common
discourse; and when one looks upon the arms of Austria, a spread eagle,
and recollects that when the Roman empire was divided, the old eagle was
split, one face looking toward the East, the other toward the West, in
token of shared possession, it affects one; and calls up classic imagery
to the mind.

The collection of antiquities belonging to the Philharmonic society is
very respectable; they reminded me of the Arundel marbles at Oxford, and
I said so. "_Oh!_" replied the man who shewed these, "_that collection
was very valuable to be sure, but the bad air, and the smoke of coal
fires in England, have ruined them long ago_." I suspected that my
gentleman talked by rote, and examining the book called _Verona
illustrata_, found the remark there; but that is _malasede_, and a very
ridiculous prejudice. I will confess however, if they please, that our
original treaty between Mardonius and the Persian army, at the end of
which the Greek general Aristides, although himself a Sabian, attested
the fun as witness, in compliance with their re