On the right of this stands the ruins of Roma Vec chia, which consistof numerous ruined brick buildings, without roofs, but very lofty, one of which, with three large windows in front, and three niches within, may have been the Basilica. In another place are two ranges of covered arches, supporting a vaulted and stuccoed roof, which may have been a reservoir of water.
Having thus endeavoured to give a brief description of the remains of ancient Rome, we shall now proceed to describe the modern city, including the buildings of the dark and of the middle ages.
The streets of Rome are in general narrow, gloomy, irregular, and dirty, being narrower than those of London, and wider than those of Paris. They have seldom any foot pavement. They are often very long and strait, and sometimes terminating in a church, a fountain, or an obelisk. Three of the present streets diverge from the Piazza del Popolo, near the Pantheon Gate, viz. the Corso, the Strada del Barbe rino, and the Strada de Ripetta. The Corso, so called from being the race course, was anciently the Via La ta, extends a mile in length, in a direct line from the above piazza, to the base of the Capitoline bill, but though it is lined with churches, and palaces, and handsome edifices, its general effect is far from good. Among the other good streets are the Strada Giulia, the Strada della Langara, the Strada. Felice, the Strada. Maggiore, and the Strada Pia.
The houses of Rome are partly of stone and partly of brick, and are frequently plastered or stuccoed as at Vienna. Marble is not common.
Eustace informs us that modern Rome contains 46 squares, 5 monumental pillars, 10 obelisks, 13 foun tains, 22 mausoleums, 150 palaces, and 346 churches.
The area in front of St. Peter's may be ranked among the squares of Rome. It is large, and of an oval shape, encircled with a fine colonnade by Berni ni. In the middle stand two elegant fountains, and the Egyptian obelisk already described. The Piazza Navona, on the side of the Circus Agonalis, is adorned by the handsome church of St. Agnes, and many ele gant houses. It is of an oblong shape, and its principal ornament is the fountain in its centre, erected by I3er nini. It consists of a circular basin, 73 feet in diame ter, containing a mass of artificial rock, to which are chained four river gods, and which supports the Egyptian obelisk brought from the circus of Caracalla. Each of these gods sends out his own stream, which, after falling down the rock, loses itself in the ocean of the basin. In a cavern in the rock is a lion and a horse. The fountain is contrived so as to overflow an nually. The Piazza d'Espagna, so called from its con taining the palace of the embassy, is adorned with a fountain, and several handsome buildings, but chiefly by the noble flight of marble steps that lead from it to the obelisk, church, and square of Della Trinita di Monti, which extends along the brow of the Pincian hill, and commands a fine view of Rome, Monte Mario, and the Janiculum. The Piazza of Monte Citorio,
which is very beautiful, is ornamented with the Curia Innocenziana, or palace erected by Innocent XII. for courts of justice. The Piazzo de Campo Marzio is small, and is to a great degree covered with buildings. The Piazza de Monte Cavallo, which stands on the Quirinal hill, is one of the finest in Rome, and contains the two marble horses already mentioned. We have already spoken of the Roman Forum, and of the small square of the Intermontium. The principal obelisks of Rome, as objects of antiquity, have already been noticed.
Among the fountains of modern Rome which are particularly admired by strangers, are the Fontana Felice, the Fontana Paolina, and the Fontana di Trevi. The Fontana Felice, in the Piazza del Termini, on the Viminal hill, is supplied by the Aqua Claudia. It dis charges itself through a rock under an Ionic arcade of white stone, cased with marble. Among its gigantic statues are Moses striking the rock, Aaron conducting the Israelites, Gideon leading his soldiers to the tor rent, and below are four lions, two of marble, and two of basalt. This fountain was restored by Sextus V.
The Fontana Paolina, situated in a deep evergreen shade, stands on the brow of the Janiculum. It con sists of an arcade, supported by six pillars of granite. Here torrents from the summit of the hill rush through the three principal arches into an immense marble ba sin, whose surface is agitated like the waves of a lake by their concussion. The waters then roll down the sides of the mountain, turn several mills as they de scend, and supply numerous reservoirs below. The lofty situation of the fountain commands one of the finest views of Rome, and the plain of the Cam pagna, bounded only by the ridge of the Apennines. " The trees," says Eustace, '' that line its sides and wave to the eye, through its arches, shed an unusual beauty around it ; and the immense basin which it reple nishes, gives it the appearance, not of the contrivance of human ingenuity, but almost the creation of en chantment." The fountain of Trevi, in the Piazza di Trevi, is the finest in Rome, and probably the most magnificent in the world. On a huge rough and broken rock, rises a palace adorned with Corinthian pilasters, and support ed in the centre by vast Corinthian pillars. It is ornamented with statues. In the middle of the edi fice, between the columns, -under a rich arch, stands Neptune in his car, in a majestic attitude. Two sea horses, led by two tritons, drag his chariot, and "emerging from the caverns of the rock, shake the trees from their roots, while the obedient waves burst forth in torrents on all sides, roar down the clefts of the crag, and form a sea around its base." The basin is of white marble, and the enclosure around it is flagged and lined with the same stone. A flight of white marble steps leads down to the basin.