comfortless apartment, which not even a pile of blazing wood can warm, I ask if this can indeed be Italy? It was only yesterday that, basking in the sunshine, we felt the heat oppressive; and now we experience the cold of a northern winter. How trying would such a rapid change of climate be to an invalid sent from England, and its many comfortable substitutes for a genial atmosphere, to seek the benefit of a milder climate! Few under such circumstances could escape the baleful influence of Radicofani.

On our route hither, we passed through Buon Convento, as wretched a place as the deed committed in it; and which has bequeathed its name to posterity. I refer to the poisoning of the Emperor Henry VII. through the medium of the Sacrament, administered by a Dominican friar. The reflections to which a crime of so dark a dye gives rise, are rendered still more gloomy by the view of the wild and sterile aspect of the scene where it occurred; and this savage aspect pervades nearly the whole route from Buon Convento to Radifocani, which looks as if created to be the abode of banditti.

Between Radicofani and Rome, the Lake Bol

seno and the fine woods that surround it, were the only attraction. This beautiful lake is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient Volscinium. Some of the forests that bordered the road, were cut down by order of Napoleon, to dislodge the hordes of banditti which infested them; and the trees, now stripped of their leafy honours, lie scattered around. We noticed a cavern cut in a steep rock, between which and the road, a narrow but thick wood intervened. Two apertures, forming a door and window, had been ingeniously formed in the rock; and this rude cavern served as the abode of a band of brigands whose ferocity rendered a journey on this road an undertaking of no little danger.

At Orvieto, celebrated for the wine to which it gives its name, we were surrounded by not less than half a dozen persons with flasks of it which they loudly and repeatedly pressed us to purchase; while a troop of mendicants, as loudly vociferated their appeals to our charity, in all the varied tones of supplication; one party urging the beneficial effect of their wine on the stomach, and the other the effect to be derived to the soul from charity.

At Montefiascone, also celebrated for its vintage, VOL. II.

M

similar entreaties to buy assailed us; and our courier, who was addressed as "eccellenza," was offered, in our presence, the bribe of a couple of bottles, if he would recommend us to purchase some. Viterbo seen from a distance, has an imposing effect. When we entered it, a funeral procession was passing, which presented to our eyes a singular spectacle. The streets through which the funeral advanced, were lined with monks of all the different religious orders. Grey, blue, black, and white penitents marched slowly along, all wearing cowls, through which holes were cut for the eyes; and a vast number of men and boys dressed in white, with similarly perforated cowls, were placed at intervals, each troop bearing a banner of his order, and a badge on his arm. Every individual carried either a human skull or bone in one hand, and a lighted serge in the other. The grotesque and disgusting appearance of these bearers of the frail remnants of mortality was striking; and the quantity of sculls and bones conveyed the impression that a whole cemetery had been rifled to furnish them. The face of the dead was exposed, and completed the fearful picture.

ROME, 5th.-The first view of the Eternal City, burst on us from the hill above Baccano, and notwithstanding a pre-determination not to indulge in the enthusiasm peculiar to female travellers, I confess it made my heart beat quicker, and I was forced to suppress the expressions of delight that rose to my lips. The clear bright atmosphere, lending to all beneath it a portion of its beauty, with the cupola of St. Peter's shining in the distant horizon, formed a picture never to be forgotten; and the flat and deserted Campagna, spreading far around, added to, instead of diminishing, its sublimity. Until we reached the Ponte Molle, I saw nothing that indicated the approach to a great city. All was silence and solitude; and the few clumps of shrubs, that occasionally skirted the road, seemed to us as untenanted by birds, as the country around was by people. The Tiber, as seen at the Ponte Molle, agreeably surprised me; for instead of being a narrow and turbid stream, as I had been taught to expect, it showed itself as a bold and rapid river, somewhat yellow in its tint it is true, but nevertheless a considerable river, and not a stream.

No sooner had we passed the Porta del Popola,

than the contrast between the nearly deserted country we had so lately traversed, and the crowded street we had entered, became striking. It was evening, and the Corso was filled with carriages, occupied by gaily-dressed ladies, and by cavaliers, who caracolled their horses past them. Many of the cavalcade had proceeded nearly to the Porta del Popola to gaze on the dusty equipages; attracted by the clacking of the whips of the postilions, and that of our courier. There was something discordant to my feeling, in the gaiety of the scene. It was not thus that I wished my first impression of Rome to be taken: I had pictured to myself silent and deserted streets, through which only a few priests were to be seen pacing along, or the rumbling carriage of a cardinal, conveying his eminence to his habitual soirée. Strange, that the Eternal City, its imposing ruins, and magnificent St. Peters, should have so little influence over the minds of the gay throng I saw, that they flocked to the Corso as eagerly as if they were inhabitants of Paris seeking their accustomed evening drive in the Champs Elysées, or Bois de Boulogne. I wonder how long a residence at Rome would be requisite