particular branch of agriculture. The multiplication of trees ornamental and useful in most countries, would be particularly so in the Campagna, where wood only is wanting to complete the picture, and shelter at the same time the capital and inland tracts from the exhalations of the marshes along the coast *. The malaria or unwholesomeness of the Campagna is supposed to commence with the great heats or dog-days, and lasts till the autumnal rains precipitate the noxious vapors, refresh the earth, and purify the atmosphere. During this period of time, that is during the space of two months, the country is deserted, and except the delightful retreats of Tivoli and the Alban Mount placed by their elevation above the reach of infection, every villa, casino, and even abbey and convent is deserted. So strong is the prejudice of the Romans in this respect, that it is considered as dangerous and almost mortal to sleep out of the walls, though perhaps not twenty yards from the very gates of the city . It is certainly reasonable to allow that the natives of a country are the best judges of its climate, and it is prudent and right that strangers should follow their advice and example in guarding against its inconveniencies; yet it is impossible not to suspect that there is on this occasion a considerable degree of groundless apprehension. In fact, if a cold is taken in a rural excursion during the hot months, it is attributed to the malaria. Every fever, and indeed every indisposition caught by travellers who pass the Pomptine marshes, or the Campagna during the summer months, is ascribed to the influence of the air; while such disorders might very naturally be supposed to arise from heat and fatigue, causes sufficiently active to produce fatal distempers in any climate. The conclusion which I am inclined to draw from these observations is, that the Campagna di Roma may, from very obvious causes, be in some places and at certain seasons unhealthy; that active cultivation, draining, extensive plantations, and, above all, an increase of population, might in a great degree remedy this insalubrity; but, that it is unjust and uncandid to attribute to the Popes an evil which the ancient Romans either did not or could not remove, though they might command and combine for that purpose all the skill, and all the riches of the universe*. In fine, if there be any difference between ancient and modern Rome in point of healthiness, I am inclined to think that the latter must have the advantage, as the site of the modern city is considerably raised by the ruins, * The appearance of the few peasants that inhabited the Campagna is frightful and disgusting; bloated bellies, distorted features, dark yellow complexion, livid eyes and lips, in short, all the symptoms of dropsy, jaundice, and ague, seem united in their persons. But though I am far from maintaining that the qualities of the air have no share in the production of these deformities, yet I am inclined to attribute them in some degree also to bad water and bad diet. The first of these causes produces similar appearances in several mountainous countries, particularly in Switzerland, and the latter disposes the constitution to receive with tenfold effect the action of the air, and the impression of noxious exhalations. and consequently the inundations of the Tiber are less frequent and less mischievous, and the quantity of stagnant water much diminished. In fact, whatever the air of Rome may be for infants and youth, it is now considered as peculiarly favorable to riper age, and said to be as anciently highly conducive to longevity. CHAP. V. DEPARTURE FROM ROME-CHARACTER OF THE ROMANS AT length the day fixed for our departure approached, and on the second of August we made a last visit to the Forum, the Coliseum, the Pantheon, and the Capitol. We once more hailed the genius of Rome in the colonnade of St. Peter, and retired after sunset to the gardens of the Villa Medici on the Pincian Mount (Collis Hortulorum.) There we seated ourselves under a cluster of pines and poplars that hung waving over the ancient walls of the city, and as we enjoyed the freshness of the evening air, reflected upon the glorious objects we had seen, and the many happy hours we had passed in this grand Capital of the civilized world, the seat of taste, literature, and magnificence. We were now about to take our leave for ever probably, of these noble scenes, and felt, and who would not have felt? no inconsiderable degree of regret at the reflection, that we now beheld the towers of Rome vanishing in darkness for the last time! It is indeed impossible to leave this city without emotion; so many claims has it to our attention; so many holds upon our best passions. As the traveller paces along her streets, spacious, silent, and majestic, he feels the irresistible genius of the place working in his soul, his memory teems with recollections, and his heart swells with patriotism and magnanimity; two virtues that seem to spring from the very soil, and flow spontaneously from the climate-so generally do they pervade every period of Roman history. While the great republic, the parent of so many heroes rises before him, he looks around like Camillus at the hills-the plain-the river-for ever consecrated by their fame, and raises his eyes with reverence to the sky that seemed to inspire their virtues. In truth, no national character ever appeared so exalted, rose with such an accumulation of honor from so many trials, or retained its hard-earned glory for so long a period, as that of the Romans. Nulla unquam respublica nec major, nec sanctior, nec bonis exemplis ditior fuit, says Titus Livius *, and the assertion was not the effusion of national vanity, for the Romans were too great to be vain, but the result of well-grounded conviction. That deep sense of religion which distinguished the republic from every other state, and was according to Cicero one of the sources of its grandeur; that benevolence which taught them to respect human nature in their enemies, at a time when to slaughter or at best enslave the conquered, was deemed even by the Greeks themselves the right of the victor; that strict attention to justice and the law of nations in proclaiming and carrying on war; that contempt or rather defiance of danger and calm perseverance in spite of difficulties and obstacles; that disinterestedness and neglect of all personal indulgence, and above |