The National Register.
London, England, 1818-02-08 00:00:00

ON THE PRESENT ST.ITE OF ROME;

We have been solicitous to learn from our hien& who have lately
I travelled to :tome, in what st tic the city appears at this time respect.
ing its originel grandeur in buildings, oolonaile , po. tieoes and arches
—and we find that the reprineniations winch we save in prints. are
very ill calculated to :gird use very dear idea of the real appearance.
which those una.sy rcoonls of antiquity now prevent to the eve—for
they are made from drawings of artists and bigenious men, de.
birOU'iartiwesenting the whole in as complete a state a. pablanie.
assisted by their genius and also by due labour, the pa .SCS covered
by earth and many feet buried under ground, and capitals mule out
from one or two mat remain perfeet, and porticoes. es:Thing as it
were, their only support from the angles of flights of 6itllS watch the
student rather studies at a secure distance. Fallen coliimas Slave
been not only disfigured. but purposely mutilated by the auiltlera
of small habitations, stables, and wart waxes, who sought for mate-
rials near at hand, and at as cheap a rate ax pos•ible—theme are freely
affixed to time remnants of some high colonnade wl coon a linutts
or a tataar trod—these seem to base vier, ised ihe mind of ma deers
*nee. of either letters or opulence, no pi imacy desire to preserve any
of these evidcnees of ancient anuals in the sane state a. their on.
ginid compilers relate them; t air la ntlsium raili.r acted ;n uni.on
with the moulierai; elements of fact, by yieldii g to the triump i of
time, the arch et'Titus+the alas of Adrian—me thrum—and the
temple—alike declare bow IA le their modern possessors have ritoerd-
ed their beauty or 'thel • value, :mil whatever may be the vaniy of
their posse:won in the aiiniiraiion tat ilia: celebrated grandeur. t!..ey
can have been actuated by very little zeal for the tin., and fur ars
simplicity of Roman architecture, while the best of thine remains are
di.figured by ir.odarn abutments and adjuncts of the mane t dwell-
ings and materials, and by the duelers reelect of unoi.nerved decay.
Hues of the mutilations has been oceasiooeck by the rapacity or
avarice of travellers to enrich their own collections or those of die
great amber nations ; but these are for the most part b miter' to
busts or sfatucs—:.wlddi is rein the subject of our rresent
they arc, though of infinite value, yet minor to the inionne ye-
extensive buildings in a env. At Rome we find their bi 01.." Issi:es •
tale which chew only the piaet where these eminent proels et spieneiA
genius Once Wonted the capital. it is the shame:el per.• r, on of
great buildings thenp;elves, of which we cannot Im 1p cam
we would readily admit of alteration. in their interior to renuer (kart
carninixlietis for habitations in ibex but their exterior s could
have been seamanly plebes/tad in all their itotaratt glory. givme like
their prototypes et Atheas tlic law of nrehitecture to all ;cam aty
" States once distinguished for military proweas.soinet..a A In>, own .
their ar.ns from lassitude. and arc weary of fruitless car dent. a"—.
the saute remark is upp.Lable to those once eminent as Athens and
Rome, for sailpture and arehitNture, which in the mo..err. lassitude
and luxury. shrink (min the exeirma of repvinng and preserving
what deity: amuni t't an. seal a let:: beauty familiar to their daily
sink: at last into entire dissoltdioa.

Sir James Miiekintosii, M. . late Recorder of B m.
bay, liasbali appointed Profe&or of Law in th ust
Indiu Corege, Lierts, oil the re4ignazi a of E.
Cl•ris, 'al, El
Fr in an offieiA account printed by order of tlm'
Hons.: Conimo s, it appears, ',ere •t p .t:
confin,d i.i ie ,;..o; of Ne .gatc, un ..ntet.e. of
death, 5-1 meet and Women. Their crimes are either
robberies or forgeries, but murder.