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with apparent unconcern. When the artificial horizon was arranged, the sultan and all his attendants had a peep at the sun, and my breach of etiquette seemed entirely forgotten.'

Sockatoo formed the utmost limit of the expedition. The result was published in 1826, under the title of Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824, by Major Denham, Captain Clapperton, and the late Dr Oudney. Clapperton resumed his travels in 1825, and completed a journey across the continent of Africa from Tripoli to Benin, accompanied by Captain Pearce, a naval surgeon, a draughtsman, and Richard Lander, a young man who volunteered to accompany him as a confidential servant. They landed at Badagry, in the Bight of Benin; but death soon cut off all but Clapperton and Lander. They pursued their course, and visited Boussa, the scene of Mungo Park's death. They proceeded to Sockatoo after an interesting journey, with the view of soliciting permission from the sultan to visit Timbuctoo and Bornou. In this Clapperton was unsuccessful; and being seized with dysentery, he died in the arms of his faithful servant on the 13th of April 1827. Lander was allowed to return, and in 1830 he published an account of Captain Clapperton's last expedition. The unfortunate traveller was at the time of his death in his 39th year.

Clapperton made valuable additions to our knowledge of the interior of Africa. The limit of Lieutenant Lyon's journey southward across the desert was in latitude 24 degrees, while Major Denham, in his expedition to Mandara, reached latitude 9 degrees 15 minutes, thus adding 14 degrees, or 900 miles, to the extent explored by Europeans. Hornemann, it is true, had previously crossed the desert, and had proceeded as far southwards as Nyffe, in latitude 10 degrees; but no account was ever received of his journey. Park in his first expedition reached Silla, in longitude 1 degree 34 minutes west, a distance of 1100 miles from the mouth of the Gambia. Denham and Clapperton, on the other hand, from the east side of Lake Tshad in longitude 17 degrees, to Sockatoo in longitude 5 degrees, explored a distance of 700 miles from east to west in the heart of Africa; a line of only 400 miles remaining unknown between Silla and Sockatoo. But the second journey of Captain Clapperton added tenfold value to these discoveries. He had the good fortune to detect the shortest and most easy road to the populous countries of the interior; and he could boast of being the first who had completed an itinerary across the continent of Africa from Tripoli to Benin.'*

RICHARD LANDER.

The honour of discovering and finally determining the course of the Niger was left to RICHARD LANDER. Under the auspices of government, Lander and his brother left England in January 1830, and arrived at Badagry on the 19th of March. From Boussa they sailed down the Niger, and ultimately entered the Atlantic by the river Nun, one of the branches from the Niger. They returned from their triumphant expedition in June 1831, and published an account of their travels in three small volumes, for which Mr Murray, the eminent bookseller, is said to have given a thousand guineas! Richard Lander was induced to embark in another expedition to Africa-a commercial speculation fitted out by some Liverpool merchants, which proved an utter failure. A party of natives attacked the ad

* History of Maritime and Inland Discovery.

venturers on the river Niger, and Lander was wounded by a musket ball. He arrived at Fernando Po, but died from the effects of his wound on the 16th of February 1834, aged thirty-one. A narrative of this unfortunate expedition was published in 1837, in two volumes, by Mr Macgregor Laird and Mr Oldfield, surviving officers of the expedition.

BOWDICH, CAMPBELL, AND BURCHELL.

Of Western Africa, interesting accounts are given in the Mission to Ashantee, 1819, by MR BOWDICH; and of Southern Africa, in the Travels of MR CAMPBELL, a missionary, 1822; and in Travels in Southern Africa, 1822, by MR BURCHELL. Campbell was the first to penetrate beyond Lattakoo, the capital of the Boshuana tribe of the Matchapins. He made two missions to Africa, one in 1813, and a second in 1820, both being undertaken under the auspices of the Missionary Society. He founded a Christian establishment at Lattakoo, but the natives evinced little disposition to embrace the pure faith, so different from their sensual and superstitious rites. Until Mr Bowdich's mission to Ashantee, that powerful kingdom and its capital, Coomassie (a city of 100,000 souls), although not nine days' journey from the English settlements on the coast, were known only by name, and very few persons in England had ever formed the faintest idea of the barbaric pomp and magnificence, or of the state, strength, and political condition of the Ashantee nation.

J. L. BURCKHARDT-J. B. BELZONI.

Among the numerous victims of African discovery are two eminent travellers-Burckhardt and Belzoni. JOHN LUDWIG BURCKHARDT (1785-1817) was a native of Switzerland, who visited England, and was engaged by the African Association. He proceeded to Aleppo in 1809, and resided two years in that city, personating the character of a Mussulman doctor of laws, and acquiring a perfect knowledge of the language and customs of the East. He visited Palmyra, Damascus, and Lebanon; stopped some time at Cairo, and made a pilgrimage to Mecca, crossing the Nubian desert by the route taken by 1 Bruce. He returned to Cairo, and was preparing to depart thence in a caravan for Fezzan, in the north of Africa, when he was cut off by a fever. His journals, letters, and memoranda, were all preserved, and are very valuable. He was an accurate observer of men and manners, and his works throw much light on the geography and moral condition of the countries he visited. They were published at intervals from 1819 to 1830. JOHN BAPTIST BELZONI was a native of Padua, in Italy, who came to England in 1803. He was a man of immense stature and muscular strength, capable of enduring the greatest fatigue. From 1815 to 1819 he was engaged in exploring the antiquities of Egypt. Works on this subject had previously appearedThe Egyptiaca of Hamilton, 1809; Mr Legh's Narrative of a Journey in Egypt, 1816; Captain Light's Travels, 1818; and Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey, &c. by Mr R. Walpole, 1817. Mr Legh's account of the antiquities of Nubia-the region situated on the upper part of the Nile--had attracted much attention. While the temples of Egypt are edifices raised above ground, those of Nubia are excavated rocks, and some almost of mountain magnitude have been hewn into temples and chiseled into sculpture. Mr Legh was the first adventurer in this career. Belzoni acted as assistant to Mr Salt (the British consul at Egypt) in

rative :

[The Ruins at Thebes.]

exploring the Egyptian pyramids and ancient tombs. Egyptians would make the entrance into such an imSome of these remains of art were eminently rich mense and superb excavation just under a torrent of and splendid, and one which he discovered near water; but I had strong reasons to suppose that there Thebes, containing a sarcophagus of the finest was a tomb in that place, from indications I had preOriental alabaster, minutely sculptured with hun-viously observed in my search of other sepulchres. dreds of figures, he brought with him to Britain, The Arabs, who were accustomed to dig, were all of and it is now in the British Museum. In 1820 he opinion that nothing was to be found there; but I published A Narrative of Operations and Recent persisted in carrying on the work; and on the evenDiscoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, &c. in Egypt ing of the following day we perceived the part of the and Nubia, which shows how much may be done rock that had been hewn and cut away. On the 18th, by the labour and unremitting exertions of one in- early in the morning, the task was resumed; and dividual. Belzoni's success in Egypt, his great bodily about noon, the workmen reached the opening, which strength, and his adventurous spirit, inspired him was eighteen feet below the surface of the ground. with the hope of achieving discoveries in Africa. When there was room enough for me to creep through He sailed to the coast of Guinea, with the intention a passage that the earth had left under the ceiling of of travelling to Timbuctoo, but died at Benin of the first corridor, I perceived immediately, by the an attack of dysentery on the 3d of December 1823. painting on the roof, and by the hieroglyphics in We subjoin a few passages from Belzoni's nar- basso-relievo, that I had at length reached the entrance of a large and magnificent tomb. I hastily passed along this corridor, and came to a staircase 23 feet long, at the foot of which I entered another gallery 37 feet 3 inches long, where my progress was suddenly arrested by a large pit 30 feet deep and 14 feet by 12 feet 3 inches wide. On the other side, and in front of me, I observed a small aperture 2 feet wide and 2 feet 6 inches high, and at the bottom of the pit a quantity of rubbish. A rope fastened to a piece of wood, that was laid across the passage against the projections which formed a kind of doorway, appeared to have been used formerly for descending into the pit; and from the small aperture on the opposite side hung another which reached the bottom, no doubt for the purpose of ascending. The wood, and the rope fastened to it, crumbled to dust on being touched. At the bottom of the pit were several pieces of wood placed against the side of it, so as to assist the person who was to ascend by means of the rope into the aperture. It was not till the following day that we contrived to make a bridge of two beams, and crossed the pit, when we discovered the little aperture to be an opening forced through a wall, that had entirely closed what we afterwards found to be the entrance into magnificent halls and corridors beyond. The ancient Egyptians had closely shut it up, plastered the wall over, and painted it like the rest of the sides of the pit, so that, but for the aperture, it would have been impossible to suppose that there was any further proceeding. Any one would have concluded that the tomb ended with the pit. Besides, the pit served the purpose of receiving the rain-water which might occasionally fall in the mountain, and thus kept out the damp from the inner part of the tomb. We passed through the small aperture, and then made the full discovery of the whole sepulchre.

On the 22d, we saw for the first time the ruins of great Thebes, and landed at Luxor. Here I beg the reader to observe, that but very imperfect ideas can be formed of the extensive ruins of Thebes, even from the accounts of the most skilful and accurate travellers. It is absolutely impossible to imagine the scene displayed, without seeing it. The most sublime ideas that can be formed from the most magnificent specimens of our present architecture, would give a very incorrect picture of these ruins; for such is the difference not only in magnitude, but in form, proportion, and construction, that even the pencil can convey but a faint idea of the whole. It appeared to me like entering a city of giants, who, after a long conflict, were all destroyed, leaving the ruins of their various temples as the only proofs of their former existence. The temple of Luxor presents to the traveller at once one of the most splendid groups of Egyptian grandeur. The extensive propylæon, with the two obelisks, and colossal statues in the front; the thick groups of enor mous columns; the variety of apartments, and the sanctuary it contains; the beautiful ornaments which adorn every part of the walls and columns, described by Mr Hamilton; cause in the astonished traveller an oblivion of all that he has seen before. If his attention be attracted to the north side of Thebes by the towering remains that project a great height above the wood of palm-trees, he will gradually enter that forest-like assemblage of ruins of temples, columns, obelisks, colossi, sphinxes, portals, and an endless number of other astonishing objects, that will convince him at once of the impossibility of a description. On the west side of the Nile, still the traveller finds himself among wonders. The temples of Gournou, Memnonium, and Medinet Aboo, attest the extent of the great city on this side. The unrivalled colossal figures in the plains of Thebes, the number of tombs excavated in the rocks, those in the great valley of the kings, with their paintings, sculptures, mummies, sarcophagi, figures, &c. are all objects worthy of the admiration of the traveller, who will not fail to wonder how a nation which was once so great as to erect these stupendous edifices, could so far fall into oblivion that even their language and writing are totally un-part were four wooden figures standing erect, four feet known to us.

[Opening a Tomb at Thebes.]

On the 16th of October 1817, I set a number of fellahs, or labouring Arabs, to work, and caused the earth to be opened at the foot of a steep hill, and under the bed of a torrent, which, when it rains, pours a great quantity of water over the spot in which they were digging. No one could imagine that the ancient

An inspection of the model will exhibit the numerous galleries and halls through which we wandered; and the vivid colours and extraordinary figures on the walls and ceilings, which everywhere met our view, will convey an idea of the astonishment we must have felt at every step. In one apartment we found the carcase of a bull embalmed; and also scattered in various places wooden figures of mummies covered with asphaltum to preserve them. In some of the rooms were lying about statues of fine earth, baked, coloured blue, and strongly varnished; in another

high, with a circular hollow inside, as if intended to contain a roll of papyrus. The sarcophagus of Oriental alabaster was found in the centre of the hall, to which I gave the name of the saloon, without a cover, which had been removed and broken; and the body that had once occupied this superb coffin had been carried away. We were not, therefore, the first who had profanely entered this mysterious mansion of the dead, though there is no doubt it had remained undisturbed since the time of the invasion of the Persians.

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The architectural ruins and monuments on the been conscious that the uneasiness they experienced banks of the Nile are stupendous relics of former was a result of their own sensibility. Others have ages. They reach back to the period when Thebes acknowledged ideas widely different, excited by every poured her heroes through a hundred gates, and wonderful circumstance of character and of situation Greece and Rome were the desert abodes of barba--ideas of duration, almost endless; of power, inconrians. From the tops of the Pyramids,' said Napo- ceivable; of majesty, supreme; of solitude, most awful; leon to his soldiers on the eve of battle, the shades of grandeur, of desolation, and of repose. of forty centuries look down upon you.' Learning and research have unveiled part of the mystery of these august memorials. Men like Belzoni have penetrated into the vast sepulchres, and unearthed the huge sculpture; and scholars like Young and Champollion, by discovering the hieroglyphic writing of the ancient Egyptians, have been able to ascertain their object and history. The best English books on Egypt are, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, by J. G. WILKINSON, 1837; and An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, by EDWARD W. LANE, 1836.

DR E. D. CLARKE.

One of the most original and interesting of modern travellers was the late REV. DR EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE (1769-1822), a fellow of Jesus college, Cambridge, and the first professor of mineralogy in that university. In 1799 Dr Clarke set off with Mr Malthus, and some other college friends, on a journey among the northern nations. He travelled for three years and a half, visiting the south of Russia, part of Asia, Turkey, Egypt, and Palestine. The first volume of his travels appeared in 1810, and included Russia, Tartary, and Turkey. The second, which became more popular, was issued in 1812, and included Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land; and three other volumes appeared at intervals before 1819. The sixth volume was published after his death, part being contributed by Mr Walpole,

author of travels in the Levant. Dr Clarke received from his publishers the large sum of £7000 for his collection of travels. Their success was immediate and extensive. As an honest and accomplished writer, careful in his facts, clear and polished in his style, and comprehensive in his knowledge and observation, Dr Clarke has not been excelled by any general European traveller.

[Description of the Pyramids.]

We were roused as soon as the sun dawned by Antony, our faithful Greek servant and interpreter, with the intelligence that the pyramids were in view. We hastened from the cabin ; and never will the impression made by their appearance be obliterated. By reflecting the sun's rays, they appear as white as snow, and of such surprising magnitude, that nothing we had previously conceived in our imagination had prepared us for the spectacle we beheld. The sight instantly convinced us that no power of description, no delineation, can convey ideas adequate to the effect produced in viewing these stupendous monuments. The formality of their construction is lost in their prodigious magnitude; the mind, elevated by wonder, feels at once the force of an axiom, which, however disputed, experience confirms-that in vastness, whatsoever be its nature, there dwells sublimity. Another proof of their indescribable power is, that no one ever approached them under other emotions than those of terror, which is another principal source of the sublime. In certain instances of irritable feeling, this impression of awe and fear has been so great as to cause pain rather than pleasure; hence, perhaps, have originated descriptions of the pyramids which represent them as deformed and gloomy masses, without taste or beauty. Persons who have derived no satisfaction from the contemplation of them, may not have

Upon the 23d of August 1802 we set out for the pyramids, the inundation enabling us to approach within less than a mile of the larger pyramid in our djerm.* Messrs Hammer and Hamilton accompanied us. We arrived at Djiza at daybreak, and called upon some English officers, who wished to join our party upon this occasion. From Djiza our approach to the pyramids was through a swampy country, by means of a narrow canal, which, however, was deep enough; and we arrived without any obstacle at nine o'clock at the bottom of a sandy slope leading up to the principal pyramid. Some Bedouin Arabs, who had assembled to receive us upon our landing, were much amused by the eagerness excited in our whole party to prove who should first set his foot upon the With what summit of this artificial mountain. amazement did we survey the vast surface that was presented to us when we arrived at this stupendous monument, which seemed to reach the clouds. Here and there appeared some Arab guides upon the immense masses above us, like so many pigmies, waiting to show the way to the summit. Now and then we thought we heard voices, and listened; but it was the wind in powerful gusts sweeping the immense ranges of stone. Already some of our party had begun the ascent, and were pausing at the tremendous depth which they saw below. One of our military companions, after having surmounted the most difficult part of the undertaking, became giddy in consequence of looking down from the elevation he had attained; and Arab to assist him in effecting his descent. The rest being compelled to abandon the project, he hired an of us, more accustomed to the business of climbing heights, with many a halt for respiration, and many an exclamation of wonder, pursued our way towards the summit. The mode of ascent has been frequently described; and yet, from the questions which are often proposed to travellers, it does not appear to be generally understood. The reader may imagine himself to be upon a staircase, every step of which, to a man of middle stature, is nearly breast high, and the breadth of each step is equal to its height, consequently the footing is secure; and although a retrospect in going up be sometimes fearful to persons unaccustomed to look down from any considerable elevation, yet there is little danger of falling. In some places, indeed, where the stones are decayed, caution may be required, and an Arab guide is always necessary to avoid a total interruption; but, upon the whole, the means of ascent are such that almost every one may accomplish it. Our progress was impeded by other causes.

We carried with us a few instruments, such as our boat compass, a thermometer, a telescope, &c.; these could not be trusted in the hands of the At length we reached the topmost tier, to the great Arabs, and they were liable to be broken every instant. delight and satisfaction of all the party. Here we found a platform thirty-two feet square, consisting of nine large stones, each of which might weigh about a ton, although they are much inferior in size to some of the stones used in the construction of this pyramid. Travellers of all ages, and of various Some are nations, have here inscribed their names. written in Greek, many in French, a few in Arabic, one or two in English, and others in Latin. We were as desirous as our predecessors to leave a memorial of our arrival; it seemed to be a tribute of thankfulness due for the success of our undertaking; and pre

*Boat of the Nile.

1

sently every one of our party was seen busied in adding the inscription of his name.

Upon this area, which looks like a point when seen from Cairo or from the Nile, it is extraordinary that none of those numerous hermits fixed their abode who retired to the tops of columns and to almost inaccessible solitudes upon the pinnacles of the highest rocks. It offers a much more convenient and secure retreat than was selected by an ascetic, who pitched his residence upon the architrave of a temple in the vicinity of Athens. The heat, according to Fahrenheit's thermometer at the time of our coming, did not exceed 84 degrees; and the same temperature continued during the time we remained, a strong wind blowing from the north-west. The view from this eminence amply fulfilled our expectations; nor do the accounts which have been given of it, as it appears at this season of the year, exaggerate the novelty and grandeur of the sight. All the region towards Cairo and the Delta resembled a sea covered with innumerable islands. Forests of palm-trees were seen standing in the water, the inundation spreading over the land where they stood, so as to give them an appearance of growing in the flood. To the north, as far as the eye could reach, nothing could be discerned but a watery surface thus diversified by plantations and by villages. To the south we saw the pyramids of Saccára; and upon the east of these, smaller monuments of the same kind nearer to the Nile. An appearance of ruins might indeed be traced the whole way from the pyramids of Djiza to those of Saccára, as if they had been once connected, so as to constitute one vast cemetery. Beyond the pyramids of Saccára we could perceive the distant mountains of the Said; and upon an eminence near the Libyan side of the Nile, appeared a monastery of considerable size. Towards the west and southwest, the eye ranged over the great Libyan Desert, extending to the utmost verge of the horizon, without a single object to interrupt the dreary horror of the landscape, except dark floating spots caused by the shadows of passing clouds upon the sand.

Upon the south-east side is the gigantic statue of the Sphinx, the most colossal piece of sculpture which remains of all the works executed by the ancients. The French have uncovered all the pedestal of this statue, and all the cumbent or leonine parts of the figure; these were before entirely concealed by sand. Instead, however, of answering the expectations raised concerning the work upon which it was supposed to rest, the pedestal proves to be a wretched substructure of brickwork and small pieces of stone put together, like the most insignificant piece of modern masonry, and wholly out of character both with respect to the prodigious labour bestowed upon the statue itself, and the gigantic appearance of the surrounding objects. Beyond the Sphinx we distinctly discerned amidst the sandy waste the remains and vestiges of a magnificent building, perhaps the Serapeum.

of much smaller dimensions than the second, appears beyond the Sphinx to the south-west; and there are three others, one of which is nearly buried in the sand, between the large pyramid and this statue to the south-east.

CLASSIC TRAVELLERS-FORSYTH, EUSTACE, &c.

The classic countries of Greece and Italy have been described by various travellers-scholars, poets, painters, architects, and antiquaries. The celebrated Travels of Anacharsis, by Barthelemy, were published in 1788, and shortly afterwards translated into English. This excellent work (of which the hero is as interesting as any character in romance) excited a general enthusiasm with respect to the memorable soil and history of Greece. Dr Clarke's travels further stimulated inquiry, and Byron's Childe Harold drew attention to the natural beauty and magnificence of Grecian scenery and ancient art. MR (now SIR) JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE, the fellowtraveller of Lord Byron, published an account of his Journey through Albania; and DR HOLLAND, in 1815, gave to the world his interesting Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, and Macedonia. A voluminous and able work, in two quarto volumes, was published in 1819 by MR EDWARD DODWELL, entitled A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece. SIR WILLIAM GELL, in 1823, gave an account of a Journey to the Morea. An artist, MR H. W. WILLIAMS, also published Travels in Greece and Italy, enriched with valuable remarks on the ancient works of art. In 1837 a young scholar, EDWARD GIFFARD, published a Visit to the Ionian Islands, Athens, and the Morea. DR CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH (now head-master of Harrow school) issued in 1839 a work entitled Athens and Attica, finely illustrated, and devoted chiefly to classical investigations. The latest work on Greece is by a Scottish gentleman, WILLIAM MURE, Esq. of Caldwell, who spent two months in the spring of 1838 in visiting Greece and the Ionian Islands. His illustrations of Greek poetry and scenery are marked by good sense and discrimination.

Lord Byron also extended his kindling power and energy to Italy; but previous to this time a masterhand had described its ruins and antiquities. A valuable work, which has now become a standard authority, was in 1812 published under the modest title of Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in the years. 1802 and 1803, by JOSEPH FORSYTH, Esq. Mr Forsyth (17631815) was a native of Elgin, in the county of Moray, and conducted a classical seminary at NewingtonButts, near London, for many years. On his return from a tour in Italy, he was arrested at Turin in 1803, in consequence of Napoleon's harsh and unjust order to detain all British subjects travelling in his dominions. After several years of detention, he prepared the notes he had made in Italy, and published them in England as a means of enlisting the sympathies of Napoleon and the leading members of the National Institute in his behalf. This last effort for freedom failed, and the author always regretted that he had made it. Mr Forsyth was at length released on the downfall of Napoleon in 1814. The Remarks' thus hastily prepared for a special purpose, could hardly have been improved if expanded into regular dissertations and essays. They are vigorous and acute, evincing keen observation and original thinking, as well as the perfect knowledge of the scholar and the critic. Some detached sentences from Forsyth will show his peculiar and picturesque style. First, of the author's

Immediately beneath our view, upon the eastern and western side, we saw so many tombs that we were unable to count them, some being half buried in the sand, others rising considerably above it. All these are of an oblong form, with sides sloping like the roofs of European houses. A plan of their situation and appearance is given in Pocock's Travels. The second pyramid, standing to the south-west, has the remains of a covering near its vertex, as of a plating of stone which had once invested all its four sides. Some persons, deceived by the external hue of this covering, have believed it to be of marble; but its white appearance is owing to a partial decomposition affecting the surface only. Not a single fragment of marble can be found anywhere near this pyramid. It is surrounded by a paved court, having walls on the outside, and places as for doors or portals in the walls; also an advanced work or portico. A third pyramid, | journey to Rome:

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A colossal taste gave rise to the Coliseum. Here, indeed, gigantic dimensions were necessary; for though hundreds could enter at once, and fifty thousand find seats, the space was still insufficient for Rome, and the crowd for the morning games began at midnight. Vespasian and Titus, as if presaging their own deaths, hurried the building, and left several marks of their precipitancy behind. In the upper walls they have inserted stones which had evidently been dressed for a different purpose. Some of the arcades are grossly unequal; no moulding preserves the same level and form round the whole ellipse, and every order is full of license. The Doric has no triglyphs nor metopes, and its arch is too low for its columns; the Ionic repeats the entablature of the Doric; the third order is but a rough cast of the Corinthian, and its foliage the thickest water-plants; the fourth seems a mere repetition of the third in pilasters; and 'the whole is crowned by a heavy Attic. Happily for the Coliseum, the shape necessary to an amphitheatre has given it a stability of construction sufficient to resist fires, and earthquakes, and lightnings, and sieges. Its elliptical form was the hoop which bound and held it entire till barbarians rent that consolidating ring; popes widened the breach; and time, not unassisted, continues the work of dilapidation. At this moment the hermitage is threatened with a dreadful crash, and a generation not very remote must be content, I apprehend, with the picture of this stupendous monument. Of the interior elevation, two slopes, by some called meniana, are already demolished; the arena, the podium, are interred. No member runs entire round the whole ellipse; but every member made such a circuit, and re-appears so often, that plans, sections, and elevations of the original work are drawn with the precision of a modern fabric. When the whole amphitheatre was entire, a child might comprehend its design in a moment, and go direct to his place without straying in the porticos, for each arcade bears its number engraved, and opposite to every fourth arcade was a staircase. This multiplicity of wide, straight, and separate passages, proves the attention which the ancients paid to the safe discharge of a crowd; it finely illustrates the precept of Vitruvius, and exposes the perplexity of some modern theatres. Every nation has undergone its revolution of vices; and as cruelty is not the present vice of ours, we can all humanely execrate the purpose of amphitheatres, now that they lie in ruins. Moralists may tell us that the truly brave are never cruel; but this monument says 'No.' Here sat the conquerors of the world, coolly to enjoy the tortures and death of men who had never offended them. Two aqueducts were scarcely sufficient to wash off the human blood which

* The poet Rogers has sketched the same joyous scene of Italian life

'Many a canzonet
Comes through the leaves, the vines in light festoons
From tree to tree, the trees in avenues,
And every avenue a covered walk

Hung with black clusters. 'Tis enough to make
The sad man merry, the benevolent one
Melt into tears, so general is the joy.'

a few hours' sport shed in this imperial shambles. Twice in one day came the senators and matrons of Rome to the butchery; a virgin always gave the signal for slaughter; and when glutted with bloodshed, those ladies sat down in the wet and streaming arena to a luxurious supper! Such reflections check our regret for its ruin. As it now stands, the Coliseum is a striking image of Rome itself-decayed, vacant, serious, yet grand-half-gray and half-green-erect on one side and fallen on the other, with consecrated ground in its bosom inhabited by a beadsman; visited by every caste; for moralists, antiquaries, painters, architects, devotees, all meet here to meditate, to examine, to draw, to measure, and to pray. In contemplating antiquities,' says Livy,' the mind itself becomes antique.' It contracts from such objects a venerable rust, which I prefer to the polish and the point of those wits who have lately profaned this august ruin with ridicule.

In the year following the publication of Forsyth's original and valuable work, appeared A Classical Tour in Italy, in two large volumes, by JOHN CHETWODE EUSTACE, an English Catholic priest, who had travelled in Italy in the capacity of tutor. Though pleasantly written, Eustace's work is one of no authority. Sir John Cam Hobhouse (who furnished | the notes to the fourth canto of Lord Byron's Childe Harold, and afterwards published a volume of Historical Illustrations to the same poem) characterises || Eustace as one of the most inaccurate and unsatisfactory writers that have in our times attained a temporary reputation.' Mr Eustace died at Naples in 1815. Letters from the North of Italy, addressed to Mr Hallam the historian, by W. STEWART ROSE, '| Esq. in two volumes, 1819, are partly descriptive and partly critical; and though somewhat affected in style, form an amusing miscellany. A Tour through the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples, by the HoN. R. KEPPEL CRAVEN (1821), is more of an itinerary than a work of reflection, but is plainly and pleasingly written. The Diary of an Invalid, by HENRY MATHEWS (1820), and Rome in the Nine- || teenth Century (1820), by MISS WALDIE, are both interesting works: the first is lively and picturesque in style, and was well received by the public. In 1821 LADY MORGAN published a work entitled Italy, containing pictures of Italian society and manners, drawn with more vivacity and point than delicacy. Observations on Italy, by MR JOHN BELL (1825), and a

Description of the Antiquities of Rome, by DR BURTON (1828), are works of accuracy and research. Illustrations of the Passes of the Alps, by W. BROCKEDON (1828-9), unite the effects of the artist's pencil with the information of the observant topographer. MR BECKFORD, author of the romance of Vathek,' had in early life written Sketches of Italy, Spain, and Portugal. After remaining unpublished for more than forty years, two volumes of these graphic and picturesque delineations were given to the world in 1834. Time has altered some of the objects described by the accomplished traveller, but his work abounds in passages of permanent interest, and of finished and beautiful composition. Every season adds to the number of works on Italy and the other parts of the continent.

[Funeral Ceremony at Rome.]

[From Mathews's Diary of an Invalid.'] One day, in my way home, I met a funeral cere mony. A crucifix hung with black, followed by a train of priests, with lighted tapers in their hands, headed the procession. Then came a troop of figures dressed in white robes, with their faces covered with masks of the same materials. The bier followed, on

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