The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-05-31

When King BOMBA, OF Naples, was IN the flower
of his strength and dominion-before there We're
threats of Muratist conspracies and before disease
and pain had taught him the bitter and, let us
hope, the profitable lesson of his human insgnf-
cance--he had grand and most delightful fashion
of welcoming his prncely visiters. On one of
those bright, glorious days, which only shine ON
Naples, His Majesty and Court would give the
royal guest attendance at Pompeii, where, in their
presence, an excavation would be made among
the ruins of the buried city, and some beautiful
and curious relics of the times of PLINY and TITUs,
would be restored to the sunlight, after eighteen
hundred years of darkness. 1t were not easy to
conceive an occupation more full of high enjoyment
for the eye, the intellect and fancy than that of
seeking, successfully, in the bosom of the earth,
for the still living memorials of a luxurious age
and graceful and artistic civilization, kept undim-
med and perfect by the very agencies which had
hidden them from sight for centuries. To be pre-
sent upon one such an occasion, was certainly
privilege which might have reconciled even a re-
publican to being, for the nonce king or prince
of the blood royal
What the despot of Naples did, so often, for his
pride and pleasure, other and better men have
done and doing, in far less accessible fields for
the love of art and history, or under the inspra-
ton of high scholarship. An enterprising German
professor, or n French Sarant, thinks nothing of
an expedition into the bowels of the Egyptian land,
in search after the deep foundations Of some awful
structure, which may have frightened MOSES as he
lay among the bulrushes Home from Nineveh,
comes IAYARD or BoTTA, with exhumed drove
of winged bulls, such as, for aught we know, may
have furnished sport TO the mighty hunter NMRoD,
while it was yet doubtful whether they were birds
of the air or beasts of the field. The 'tnameless
"coumn, with the buried base" which BYRON
found more eloquent than FULLY, has long since
disclosed lis name and told its story. Amid the
mighty ruins in the wild centre of our own con-
tnent, enthusiastic and patient explorers have
measured the gigantic footprints of a race and a
history, over which immemoria forests have
grown-hiding them in darkness, for the most part
still. 1t is well that such things should be- 1t is
well that the soil should be upturned for some
thing besides corn and wine, or gold and gems
and villainous saltpetre. Down in its recesses lie
the forgotten and yet simple solutions of many
great doubt and awful mystery. Forty fathom
deep in it, perchance, is many Rosetta stone
wherein is written, legibly, the key to the HERO
glyphlcS and the problems of centuries-the index
to misinerpreted providences and Thread dispen-
satlons, without number. The men who lived
among those ages, did their part, when they left
enduring memorials behind them. 1t is for us,
who have come after them, to search for their re-
cords till we find them.
VI
Inc suggestion of these grave thoughts, we are
peased 10 say is not altogether in itself so grave
we were led to the subject by the news which the
foreign journals bring us of the discovery, near
Rome, of statue of VENUS which seems 10 have
overwhelmed the artist-world there with delight
ana admiration. The Cdrdlire GulDI-"that in
"deiatigable excavator,' as the eter-writers call
hm-has been exploring, for some time the con-
Jectural site of Villu of AUGUSTUS, near the Poya
Portesi, and his labors have heen rewarded bv the
exhumation of some exquisite specimens of Grecan
art. Chief among them is the statue to which we
nave Notwithstanding the VENUS de MED1c1 so
closely, as to have been taken at first for the orig
nal, or a reproduction of that famous work. Int
reputed to furnish in some particulars still more
beautiful and unexceptionabe model The new
found Goddess is five feet two inches in height
taller therefore, by two inches, than her MEDCEAN
sister, and perfect altogether in form and limb ex-
cept that her immortal fingers seem to have been
lost, in the excitement of revisiing the gmpses of
the day. The arms and hands of the statue at
Florence are modern and defective, as is well
known, and its features are so wanting TO some
eyes in dignity and beauty, as to have rendered it
a matter of controversy whether the head is not
modern also. In both of these particulars the
VENUS di GuIDI is said TO be beyond criticism, so
Florentine Tribune has disputed, till now, with
the VENUS of MILO in the Louvre, seems to be, for
the present. in allegiance, But let that question be
settled as it may-the energy and taste of the Ro-
man Cdcal'ere have connected his name forever
with wonder of art. Throngs of pilgrims, in
carriages and on foot, have crowded the way to
the shrine of his Goddess, from the day that it was
opened to worshippers, and all the notablities of
rank and art in the Eternal City have FASTENED TO
render their homage. What abiding place she will
ultimately choose, have chosen for her. is vet to
be determined. Large sums, of money are said to
have been offered to the Capoliere for his treasure
and to have been promptly refused Whether still
heavier inducements may not weigh down his de-
yotion, remains 10 be seen-but in any event, it is
quite clear, that the ''dggngs'' of Rome are at
least profitable those of Pixies Peak. besides
being trifie more noble and more pleasant.
-----.--