Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-05-30

eo'tOs th't iiesoO hiS SofluuStN Oilndppy.
My complacency was restored few
hours after, on hearing that the won.
der was entirely in the drawing--the
colors having quite changed with time.
bought the engraving Immediately,
which you have seen too often, of
course, to need my commentary.--The
aerial lightness with which he has hung
the figures of the Saviour and the apos-
ties in the air, is a triumph of the pen
Gil over the laws of nature, that seem
to have required the power of the mir
acle itself.
lost myself in coming home, and
following a priests direction 10 the
Corso, came Unexpectedly upon the
"Pantheon," which | recognized at
once. This wonder of architecture has
no questionable beauty. A Ounce would
not need TO be told that it was perfect.
Its Corinthian columns fall on the eye
with that sense of fullness that seems
to answer an instinct of beauty in the
very organ. One feels fault or an
excellence In architecture long before
he can give the feeling name; can
see why, by Childe Harold and others,
this heather temple is called the .'pride
of Rome," though cannot venture on
q description. The laultless interior is
now used as church, and there lie
Annibal Caracci and the divine Ra.
phael--two names worthy of the place,
and the last OF shrine in every bosom
capa bic Of a conception of beauty.
Glorious Raphael! IL there were no
other relic in Rome, one would willing
ly become pilgrim TO his ashes.
With my countryman and friend,
Mr.. Cleveland, | stood in the Roman
forum by the light of clear halfmoon.
The soft silver rays poured in through
the ruined columns of the Temple of
Fortune, and threw our shadows upon
the bases of the tall shafts near the
capital, the remains, believe, of the
temple erected by Augustus to Jupiter
Tonans. Impressive things they are,
even without their name, standing tall
and alone, with their broken capitals
wreathed with ivy, and neither roof
nor wall to support them where they
were placed by hands that have moul-
dered Tor centuries. 1t is difficult to
rally ones senses in such place, and
be awake coldly to the scene. We
stood, as we supposed, in the Rostrum.
The noble arch, still almost perfect, e.
rected by the senate to Septimius Se-
verus, stood up clear and lofty beside
us, the three matchless and lonely col
umns of the supposed temple of Jupiter
Sator threw their shadows across the
| Forum below, the great arch built at
the conquest of Jerusalem to Titus,
was visible in the distance, and above
them ali, on the gentle ascent of the
Palantlne, stood the ruined palace of
the Cesars, the sharp edges of the de-
moished walls breaking up through
vines and ivy, and the mellow moon of
! Italy soitening rock and foliage into
one sllver-edged mass of shadow. 1t
seems as ii the very genius of the pic
turesque had arranged these immortal
ruins. If the heaps of fresh excava-
ton were but overgrown with grass,
no poet nor painter could better image
out the Rome of his dream. 1t surpas-
SEES fancy.
We walked on over fragments of
marble columns turned up from the
mould, and leaving the majestic arches
of the Temple of Peace on our left,
{ passed under the arch OF Titus $50
|, dreaded by the Jews, to the Coliseum.
This too is magnifcently ruined--bro-
. ken in every part, and yet showing
still the brave skeleton Of what it was,
its gigantic and triple walls, half encir-
, cling the silent arena, and its rocky
seats lifting one above the other amid
, weeds and ivy, and darkening the
dens beneath, whence issued gladia-
tors, beasts, and christian martyrs to
f be sacrificed for the amusement of
| Rome. A sentinel paced at the gigan-
, tic archway, capuchin monk, whose
J duty it is to attend the small chapels
| built around the arena, walked up and
| down in his russell cowl and sandals,
the moon broke through the clelts in
, the wall, and the whole place was
) buried in the silence of wilderness.
r | have given you the features of the
: scene--l leave you to people it with
/, your own thoughts. | dare not trust
/ mine to colder medium than poetry.
Y BATTLE OF MARENGO.
1t was on the evening after Monte
!. bello, that general Dessaix, whom Ma
!, poleon considered as~ second only to
! himself IN military genius, arrived at
head quarters. Bonaparte had, as we