There are two or three younger men in blue jackets and goat-skin breeches; as many women in folded linen head-dresses, and red or blue skirts; and a sprinkling of children of both sexes, in costumes the miniature fac-similes of their elders. All these speedily learn to recognise a visitor who is interested in that especial branch of art which is embodied in models, and at every turn in the street such a one is met by the flash of white teeth, and the gracious sweetness of an Italian smile."--_H. M. B._

"Among what may be called the cubs or minor lions of Rome, there was one that amused me mightily. It is always to be found there; and its den is on the great flight of steps that lead from the Piazza di Spagna to the Church of the Trinita de' Monti. In plainer words, these steps are the great place of resort for the artists'

'Models,' and there they are constantly waiting to be hired. The first time I went up there, I could not conceive why the faces seemed so familiar to me; why they appeared to have beset me, for years, in every possible variety of action and costume; and how it came to pass that they started up before me, in Rome, in the broad day, like so many saddled and bridled nightmares. I soon found that we had made acquaintance, and improved it, for several years, on the walls of various Exhibition Galleries. There is one old gentleman with long white hair, and an immense beard, who, to my knowledge, has gone half-through the catalogues of the Royal Academy. This is the venerable or patriarchal model. He carries a long staff; and every knob and twist in that staff I have seen, faithfully delineated, innumerable times. There is another man in a blue cloak, who always pretends to be asleep in the sun (when there is any), and who, I need not say, is always very wide awake, and very attentive to the disposition of his legs. This is the _dolce far niente_ model. There is another man in a brown cloak, who leans against a wall, with his arms folded in his mantle, and look out of the corners of his eyes, which are just visible beneath his broad slouched hat. This is the assassin model. There is another man, who constantly looks over his own shoulder, and is always going away, but never goes. This is the haughty or scornful model. As to Domestic Happiness, and Holy Families, they should come very cheap, for there are heaps of them, all up the steps; and the cream of the thing is, that they are all the falsest vagabonds in the world, especially made up for the purpose, and having no counterparts in Rome or any other part of the habitable globe."--_Dickens._

"Climb these steps when the sun is setting. From a hundred belfries the bells ring for Ave Maria, and there, across the town, and in a blaze of golden glory, stands the great dome of St. Peter's: and from the terrace of the Villa Medici you can see the whole wonderful view, faintly pencilled Soracte far to your right, and below you and around you the City and the Seven Hills."--_Vera._

The _Barcaccia_, the fountain at the foot of the steps, executed by _Bernini_, is a stone boat commemorating the naumachia of Domitian,--naval battles which took place in an artificial lake surrounded by a kind of theatre, which once occupied the site of this piazza. In front of the _Palazzo di Spagna_ (the residence of the Spanish ambassador), which gives its name to the square, stands a _Column_ of cipollino, supporting a statue of the Virgin, erected by Pius IX. in 1854, in honour of his new dogma of the Immaculate Conception. At the base are figures of Moses, David, Isaiah, and Ezekiel.

The Piazza di Spagna may be considered as the centre of the English quarter, of which the Corso forms the boundary.

"Every winter there is a gay and pleasant English colony in Rome, of course more or less remarkable for rank, fashion, or agreeability, with every varying year. Thrown together every day and night after night, flocking to the same picture-galleries, statue-galleries, Pincian drives, and church functions, the English colonists at Rome perforce become intimate, and in many cases friendly. They have an English library where the various meets for the week are placarded: on such a day the Vatican galleries are open; the next is the feast of Saint so-and-so; on Wednesday there will be music and vespers at the Sistine Chapel; on Thursday the pope will bless the animals--sheep, horses, and what-not; and flocks of English accordingly rush to witness the benediction of droves of donkeys. In a word, the ancient city of the Caesars, the august fanes of the popes, with their splendour and ceremony, are all mapped out and arranged for English diversion."--Thackeray, _The Newcomes._

The Piazza is closed by the _Collegio di Propaganda Fede_, founded in 1622 by Gregory XV., but enlarged by Urban VIII., who built the present edifice from plans of Bernini. Like all the buildings erected by this pope, its chief decorations are the bees of the Barberini. The object of the college is the education of youths of all nations as missionaries.

"The origin of the Propaganda is properly to be sought in an edict of Gregory XIII., by which the direction of eastern missions was confided to a certain number of cardinals, who were commanded to promote the printing of catechisms in the less known tongues. But the institution was not firmly established; it was unprovided with the requisite means, and was by no means comprehensive in its views. It was at the suggestion of the great preacher Girolamo da Narni that the idea was first conceived of extending the above-named institution. At his suggestion, a congregation was established in all due form, and by this body regular meetings were to be held for the guidance and conduct of missions in every part of the world. The first funds were advanced by Gregory; his nephew contributed from his private property; and since this institution was in fact adapted to a want, the pressure of which was then felt, it increased in prosperity and splendour. Who does not know the services performed by the Propaganda for the diffusion of philosophical studies? and not this only;--the institution has generally laboured (in its earliest years most successfully, perhaps) to fulfil its vocation in a liberal and noble spirit."--_Ranke, Hist. of the Popes._

"On y recoit des jeunes gens nes dans les pays ultramontains et orientaux, ou sont les infideles et les heretiques; ils y font leur education religieuse et civile, et retournent dans leur pays comme missionnaires pour propager la loi."--_A. Du Pays._

"Le college du Propaganda Fede, ou l'on engraisse des missionnaires pour donner a manger aux cannibales. C'est, ma foi, un excellent ragout pour eux, que deux peres franciscains a la sauce rousse. Le capucin en daube, se mange aussi comme le renard, quand il a ete gele. Il y a a la Propagande une bibliotheque, une imprimerie fournie de toutes sortes de caracteres des langues orientales, et de petits Chinois qu'on y eleve ainsi que des alouettes chanterelles, pour en attraper d'autres."--_De Brosses._

In January a festival is held here, when speeches are recited by the pupils in all their different languages. The public is admitted by tickets.

The _Via Ripetta_ leaves the Piazza del Popolo on the right. Passing, on the right, a large building belonging to the Academy of St. Luke, we reach, on the right, the Quay of the Ripetta, a pretty architectural construction of Clement XI. in 1707.

Hence, a clumsy ferry-boat gives access to a walk which leads to St.

Peter's (by Porta Angelica) through the fields at the back of S. Angelo.

These fields are of historic interest, being the _Prata Quinctia_ of Cincinnatus.

"L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, the only hope of the Roman people, lived beyond the Tiber, opposite the place where the Navalia are, where he cultivated the four acres of ground which are now called the Quinctian meadows. There the messengers of the senate found him leaning on his spade, either digging a trench or ploughing, but certainly occupied in some field labour. The salutation, 'May it be well with you and the republic,' was given and returned in the usual form, and he was requested to put on his toga to receive a message from the senate. Amazed, and asking if anything was wrong, he desired his wife Racilia to fetch his toga from the cottage, and having wiped off the sweat and dust with which he was covered, he came forward dressed in his toga to the messengers, who saluted him as dictator, and congratulated him."--_Livy_, iii. 26.

The churches on the left of the Ripetta are, first, _SS. Rocco e Martino_, built 1657, by Antonio de Rossi, with a hospital adjoining it.

"The lying-in hospital adjoins the Church of San Rocco. It contains seventy beds, furnished with curtains and screens, so as to separate them effectually. Females are admitted without giving their name, their country, or their condition in life; and such is the delicacy observed in their regard, that they are at liberty to wear a veil, so as to remain unknown even to their attendants, in order to save the honour of their families, and prevent abortion, suicide, or infanticide. Even should death ensue, the deceased remains unknown. The children are conveyed to Santo Spirito; and the mother who wishes to retain her offspring, affixes a distinctive mark, by which it may be recognised and recovered. To remove all disquietude from the minds of those who may enter, the establishment is exempt from all civil, criminal, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and its threshold is never crossed except by persons connected with the establishment."--_Dr.

Donovan._

Then, opposite the quay, _S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni_, built for Sixtus V. by Fontana. It contains, near the altar, a striking figure of St.

Jerome, seated, with a book upon his knees.

We will now follow the Corso, which, in spite of its narrowness and bad side-pavements, is the finest street in Rome. It is greatly to be regretted that this street, which is nearly a mile long, should lead to nothing, instead of ending at the steps of the Capitol, which would have produced a striking effect. It follows the line of the ancient Via Flaminia, and in consequence was once spanned by four triumphal arches--of Marcus Aurelius, Domitian, Claudius, and Gordian--but all these have disappeared. The Corso is perfectly lined with balconies, which, during the carnival, are filled with gay groups of maskers flinging confetti. These balconies are a relic of imperial times, having been invented at Rome, where they were originally called "Mniana,"

from the tribune Mnius, who designed them to accommodate spectators of processions in the streets below.

"The Corso is a street a mile long; a street of shops, and palaces, and private houses, sometimes opening into a broad piazza. There are verandahs and balconies, of all shapes and sizes, to almost every house--not on one story alone, but often to one room or another on every story--put there in general with so little order or regularity, that if, year after year, and season after season, it had rained balconies, hailed balconies, snowed balconies, blown balconies, they could scarcely have come into existence in a more disorderly manner."--_Dickens._

On the left of the Corso is the Augustine Church of _Gesu e Maria_, with a facade by _Rinaldi_. Almost opposite, is the Church of _S. Giacomo degli Incurabili_, by _Carlo Maderno_. It is attached to a surgical hospital for 350 patients. In the adjoining Strada S. Giacomo was the studio of Canova, recognizable by fragments of bas-reliefs engrafted in its walls.

Three streets beyond this (on right) is the _Via de' Pontefici_ (so called from a series of papal portraits, now destroyed, which formerly existed on the walls of one of its houses), where (No. 57R) is the entrance to the remains of the _Mausoleum of Augustus_.

"Hard by the banks of the Tiber, in the grassy meadows where the Roman youths met in athletic and martial exercises, there rose a lofty marble tower with three retiring stages, each of which had its terrace covered with earth and planted with cypresses. These stages were pierced with numerous chambers, destined to receive, row within row, and story upon story, the remains of every member of the imperial family, with many thousands of their slaves and freedmen. In the centre of that massive mound the great founder of the empire was to sleep his last sleep, while his statue was ordained to rise conspicuous on its summit, and satiate its everlasting gaze with the view of his beloved city."--_Merivale._

The first funeral here was that of Marcellus, son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, and first husband of his daughter Julia, who died of malaria at Baiae, B.C. 23.

"Quantos ille virum magnam Mavortis ad urbem Campus aget gemitus! vel quae, Tiberine, videbis Funera, cum tumulum praeterlabere recentem!

Nec puer Iliaca quisquam de gente Latinos In tantum spe tollet avos; nec Romula quondam Ullo se tantum tellus jactabit alumno.

Heu pietas, heu prisca fides, invictaque bello Dextera! non illi se quisquam impune tulisset Obvius armato, seu quum pedes iret in hostem, Seu spumantis equi foderet calcaribus armos.

Heu, miserande puer! si qua fata aspera rumpas, Tu Marcellus eris."

_aeneid_, vi. 873.

The next member of the family buried here was Agrippa, the second husband of Julia, ob. 12 B.C. Then came Octavia, sister of the emperor and widow of Antony, honoured by a public funeral, at which orations were delivered by Augustus himself, and Drusus, son of the empress Livia. Her body was carried to the tomb by Tiberius (afterwards emperor) and Drusus, the two sons of the empress. Drusus (B.C. 9) died in a German campaign by a fall from his horse, and was brought back hither for interment. In A.D. 14 the great Augustus died at Nola, and his body was burnt here on a funeral pile so gigantic, that the widowed Livia, dishevelled and ungirt, with bare feet, attended by the principal Roman senators, had to watch it for five days and nights, before it cooled sufficiently for them to collect the ashes of the emperor. At the moment of its being lighted an eagle was let loose from the summit of the pyre, under which form a senator, named Numerius Atticus, was induced, by a gift from Livia equivalent to 250,000 francs, to swear that he saw the spirit of Augustus fly away to heaven. Then came Germanicus, son of the first Drusus, and nephew of Tiberius, ob. A.D.

19, at Antioch, where he was believed to have been poisoned by Piso and his wife Plancina. Then, in A.D. 23, Drusus, son of Tiberius, poisoned by his wife, Livilla, and her lover, Sejanus: then the empress, Livia, who died A.D. 29, at the age of 86. Agrippina, widow of Germanicus (ob.

A.D. 33), starved to death, and her two sons, Nero and Drusus, also murdered by Tiberius, were long excluded from the family sepulchre, but were eventually brought hither by the youngest brother Caius, afterwards the emperor Caligula. Tiberius, who died A.D. 37, at the villa of Lucullus at Misenum, was brought here for burial. The ashes of Caligula, murdered A.D. 41, and first buried in the Horti Lamiani on the Esquiline, were transferred here by his sisters. In his reign, Antonia, the widow of Drusus, and mother of Germanicus, had died, and her ashes were laid up here. The Emperor Claudius, A.D. 54, murdered by Agrippina; his son, Britannicus, A.D. 55, murdered by Nero; and the Emperor Nerva, A.D. 98, were the latest inmates of the mausoleum.

The last cremation which occurred here was long after the mausoleum had fallen into ruin, when the body of the tribune Rienzi, after having hung for two days at S. Marcello, was ordered to be burnt here by Jugurta and Sciaretta, and was consumed by a vast multitude of Jews (out of flattery to the Colonna, their neighbours at the Ghetto), "in a fire of dry thistles, till it was reduced to ashes, and no fibre of it remained."

There is nothing now remaining to testify to the former magnificence of this building. The area is used in summer as an open-air theatre, where very amusing little plays are very well acted. Among its massive cells a poor washerwoman, known as "Sister Rose," established, some ten years ago, a kind of hospital for aged women (several of them centagenarians), whom she supported entirely by her own exertions, having originally begun by taking care of one old woman, and gradually adding another and another. The English church service was first performed in Rome in the Palazzo Correa, adjoining this building.

Opposite the Via de' Pontefici, the _Via Vittoria_ leaves the Corso. To the Ursuline convent in this street (founded by Camilla Borghese in the seventeenth century) Madame Victoire and Madame Adelaide ("tantes du Roi") fled in the beginning of the great French revolution, and here they died.

_The Church of S. Carlo in Corso_ (on right) is the national church of the Lombards. It is a handsome building with a fine dome. The interior was commenced by _Lunghi_ in 1614, and finished by _Pietro da Cortona_.

It contains no objects of interest, unless a picture of the Apotheosis of S. Carlo Borromeo (the patron of the church), over the high altar, by _Carlo Maratta_, can be called so. The heart of the saint is preserved under the altar.

Just beyond this on the left, the _Via Condotti_--almost lined with jewellers'-shops--branches off to the Piazza di Spagna. The Trinita de'

Monti is seen beyond it. The opposite street, Via Fontanella, leads to St. Peter's, and in five minutes to the magnificent--

_Palazzo Borghese_, begun in 1590 by Cardinal Deza, from designs of Martino Lunghi, and finished by Paul V. (Camillo Borghese, 1605-21), from those of Flaminio Ponzio. The apartments inhabited by the family are handsome, but contain few objects of interest.

"In the reign of Paul V. the Borghese became the wealthiest and most powerful family in Rome. In the year 1612, the church benefices already conferred upon Cardinal Scipione Borghese were computed to secure him an income of 150,000 scudi. The temporal offices were bestowed on Marc-Antonio Borghese, on whom the pope also conferred the principality of Sulmona in Naples, besides giving him rich palaces in Rome and the most beautiful villas in the neighbourhood. He loaded his nephews with presents; we have a list of them through his whole reign down to the year 1620. They are sometimes jewels or vessels of silver, or magnificent furniture, which was taken directly from the stores of the palace and sent to the nephews; at other times carriages, rich arms, as muskets and falconets, were presented to them; but the principal thing was the round sums of hard money. These accounts make it appear that to the year 1620, they had received in ready money 689,627 scudi, 31 baj; in luoghi di monte, 24,600 scudi, according to their nominal value; in places, computing them at the sum their sale would have brought to the treasury, 268,176 scudi; all which amounted, as in the case of the Aldobrandini, to nearly a million.

"Nor did the Borghese neglect to invest their wealth in real property. They acquired eighty estates in the Campagna of Rome; the Roman nobles suffering themselves to be tempted into the sale of their ancient hereditary domain by the large prices paid them, and by the high rate of interest borne by the luoghi di monte, which they purchased with the money thus acquired. In many other parts of the ecclesiastical states, the Borghese also seated themselves, the pope facilitating their doing so by the grant of peculiar privileges. In some places, for example, they received the right of restoring exiles; in others, that of holding a market, or certain exemptions were granted to those who became their vassals. They were freed from various imposts, and even obtained a bull, by virtue of which their possessions were never to be confiscated."--_Ranke, Hist. of the Popes._

"Si l'on peut reprocher a Paul, avec Muratori, ses liberalites envers ses neveux, envers le cardinal Scipion, envers le duc de Sulmone, il est juste d'ajouter que la plupart des membres de cette noble famille rivaliserent avec le pape de magnificence et de generosite. Or, chaque annee, Paul V. distribuait un million d'ecus d'or aux pelerins pauvres et un million et demi aux autres necessiteux. C'est a lui que remonte la fondation de la banque du Saint-Esprit, dont les riches immeubles servirent d'hypotheques aux depots qui lui furent confies. Mais ce fut surtout dans les constructions qu'il entreprit, que Paul V. deploya une royale magnificence."--_Gournerie._

"The Palazzo Borghese is an immense edifice standing round the four sides of a quadrangle; and though the suite of rooms, comprising the picture-gallery, forms an almost interminable vista, they occupy only a part of the ground-floor of one side. We enter from the street into a large court surrounded with a corridor, the arches of which support a second series of arches above. The picture-rooms open from one into another, and have many points of magnificence, being large and lofty, with vaulted ceilings and beautiful frescoes, generally of mythological subjects, in the flat central parts of the vault. The cornices are gilded; the deep embrasures of the windows are panelled with wood-work; the doorways are of polished and variegated marble, or covered with a composition as hard, and seemingly as durable. The whole has a kind of splendid shabbiness thrown over it, like a slight coating of rust; the furniture, at least the damask chairs, being a good deal worn; though there are marble and mosaic tables which may serve to adorn another palace, when this has crumbled away with age."--_Hawthorne._

The Borghese Picture Gallery is the best private collection in Rome, and is open to the public daily from 9 to 2, except on Saturdays and Sundays. The gallery is entered from the side of the palace towards the Piazza Borghese. It contains several gems, which are here marked with an asterisk; noticeable pictures are:--

_1st Room._--Schools of Milan and Perugia.

1. Holy Family: _Sandro Botticelli_.

2. Holy Family: _Lorenzo di Credi_.

3. Holy Family: _Paris Alfani Perugino_.

4. Portrait: _Lorenzo di Credi_.

5. Vanity: _School of Leonardo da Vinci_.

27, 28. Petrarch and Laura.

32. St. Agatha: _School of Leonardo_.