The northern tribune. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1847-1855, 1848-05-12
from the Christian Mirror.
MR.. PALMER'S SKETCHES.
M XTTT
No. XIII

4ppToocb 10 Ron,e-e,1f jtatstdsn1-he Ca'rpGy''d
Sites Of the ancient and + che modern city
the 7i5er-o1jectS Of interest-,frsfrte.c Of Old
Ron,e-the Forum and adjacent dpldiys-
Coliseum entheos-C dpitol;rc HiN-Masse-
5un,S-the Sa5boh-S. Petsr's- ~orsh,ppes's
and music s#. .-. s.#... p.
On Friday, the 18th Of June, we found our
selves comfortably settled in the Hotel dan
gleterre at Rome On landing at Civita Vec
CHA from the steamer the preceding evening.
we had engaged a carriage 20 take our party
Immediately on, SO that we might lose no time;
and riding all night, we entered the Eternal
City little after sunrise, passing along almost
under the shadow of St. Peters just after we
were within the gate. 1t is not easy to de.
scribe the feelings with which the traveller
catches his first glimrs of the place of which
every scholar loves to dream, and to which al
most every one eherishes some sort of hope
that he shall make pilgrimage until all the
hopes of earth grow dim. We were for some
time looking out in eager expectation and
when at last a sudden turn brought us out
from behind hill and wished for vision burst
upon us, we all at once exclaimed in kind of
extasy-" There II is!-there Is 81. Peters!
THERE Is RoHE'' .-. z.. ..r u.s.. I'll.
On such an occasion there is certainly good
ground for some enthusiasm. Except Jerusa-
lem, this Holy City, there is no spot ON the
face of the whole earth which has so many
and such interesting relations to the civilized
world. The seat Of the most vast and power-
full and enduring of ancient empires, OF a
literature which If less original than that of
Greece was at least equally polished and more
ample, of schools of Philosophy and art. and
of a gigantic spiritual pewer which in its
palmiest days looked down on the authority OF
kings, Rome is at once the surviving repre-
sentative of long gone scntures, the foun-
tain of modern civilization and the exponent
of principles which have for ages powerfully
affected all the interests Of mankind. And
the classical scholar, and even the ordinary
reader of history, cannot think of the name,
without finding the shades of innumerable
men of old renown called up, by association
with it, from the shadowy past, and gliding
phantom like in long array before the mind,
while at the same time he is kindled at the
thought of the incalculable riches of its
treasures Of history, antiquities and modern
art. The difficulty of describing particularly
the objects seen at Rome, lies in the fact that
there are SO many things which claim the at
tention of visitor and one is obliged to be
content with q brief and general sketch, I'M
less he is disposed TO write volume.
The Campagna di Romo-or large tract ct
comparatively level country in the midst OF
which the city Of the Caesars stands. has often
been described 1t is sometimes spoken OF as
a plain 1t is not a plain, however, but
gently undulating tract whose elevations are
all of similar height. In the early summer
when covered with green grass, 1t is not with
out its pleasant views, and ride across 1t
under brilliant sun and sky is by no means
L. 81, fafsn nc
dry and withered, the cattle are driven to the
fresher pastures among the Appenlnes. 1t is
more or less infected with malarie, and has
the desolatc, dreary aspect. which has been
attributed to it so often. The unhealthiness
of the Campaena, we we're assured, has been
very much exaggerated, and there is no doubt
that little Yankee enterprises. in the way OF
agriculture would make its surface as luXuri-
ant and its breezes as saluhrious as ever. and
cover it, as of old, with thriving towns and
villages.
If two equal circles be supposed ia inter
sect each other to the extent OF about one
third of their diameters, their relative posi-
tons will be very nearly that of the sites OF
Ancient and Modern Rome. The Modern
| CITY lies to the Northward of the Ancient
covering what was formerly the Campus Mar
thus, and including within It three OF the
Seven Hills, viz the Quirinal, the NImnal
and the Esquiline, along with the greater part
of the Capitoline. The Iiber,. entering the
Modern City toward the Northeast, takes
South westerly direction, passing through inc
| Modern, but leaving the Ancient on its south.
ern OF left bank. The Tiber is very raplo
and very muddy stream-as yellow at
the Poets have described it. One OF oui
party swan over it and back Just to show that
the exploit in performing which Cassius says
that Caesar tired vast no great undertaking
after all. Besides the modern bridges, there
are remains of two or three Of the ancient
ones. of which one il said to be the bridge o
Horatius Coolies. To this general view o
the topography Of the place may be added
summary statement of the fields OF ohserva
ton and study which it offers to the visitor