ROME, NINETEENTH CENTURY. O M E, IN TTTF. NINETEENTH CENTURY; CONTAINING A COMPLETE ACCOUNT OF THE RUINS OF THE ANCIENT CITY, THE REMAINS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, AND THE MONUMENTS OF MODERN TIMES. WITH REMARKS ON THE FINE ARTS, ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY, AND ON THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS, OF THE MODERN ROMANS. IN A SERIES OF LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A RESIDENCE AT ROME, IN THE YEARS 1817 AND 1818. ' C,U>C (Cite to~rC^-^ t4 _T-...IO " t f* H O 'Tis Rome demands our tears, The Mistress of the World, the seat of empire, The nurse of heroes, the delight of gods, That humbled the proud tyrants of the earth, And set the nations free, Rome is no more !" IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. SECOND EDITION. EDINBURGH : Printed by James Ballantync and Company, FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH : AND HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO. LONDON. 1822. PREFACE. SOME apology, pr rather some explanation, seems now to Me necessary,? in offering to the public any book of travels whatsoever. Every part of the known world has of late been so assiduously explored, and so industriously described, that every man ought to be nearly as well acquainted with the remotest regions of the earth as with the boundaries of his native parish ; and many persons are actually better informed about any other country than their own. But in describing Rome, which has been already described so often, such an expla- nation seems to be more imperatively call- ed for ; yet, paradoxical as it may appear, it is the want of a good account of Rome that has induced the Author of these Letters to attempt, in some degree, to supply the de- VOL. i. a VI PREFACE. ficiency, by their publication. For, among all the manifold descriptions that have ap- peared, I do not hesitate to say, there is not one that is entitled even to the praise' of accuracy. There is not one that contains any account of its antiquities, that can sa- tisfy the antiquary any description of its monuments of art, that can interest the man of taste or any general information re- specting its multiplied objects of curiosity and admiration, that can gratify the com- mon inquirer. Every enlightened stranger at Rome feels the utter inefficiency of all the published accounts. He gazes on the splendid works ofantiquity which surround him, lost in doubt as to their name, their date, and their destination, bewildered with vague and contradictory statements, wearied with exchanging one erroneous opinion for another, and unable, amidst the cloud of conjecture, even to ascertain the little that is known with certainty. The common Itineraries, as Forsyth happily ob- " served, are mere valets de place in print," and, withal, so given to lying, that, like the shepherd's boy in the fable, if they do chance to speak truth, they are scarcely believed. There you will find dulness without intel- ligence conjecture in place of fact sur- PREFACE. VII mise advanced as certainty truth pervert- and all ed the lights of history neglected, of the things, great and contemptible, high- est interest, and the merest insignificance, confounded together in equality of notice. You will find more details about the differ- the ent parts of one tawdry church, than of will noblest monuments antiquity ; you be directed to a thousand trifling objects not worth notice, while many of the high- est interest are so passed over, as scarcely to excite attention. The intelligence they give you, when authentic, is seldom inte- resting, and when interesting, is rarely au- thentic. Our English writers, so far as con- cerns Rome, I must put wholly out of the question. None of them have made it their or even their sole, principal theme ; and, ge- nerally speaking, the meagre accounts of it given in English books of travels, seem as if copied from other works, rather than writ- ten from actual observation ; and are little more than a transmission of the errors of their predecessors.* Of the two most popu- * By far the best of the very few recent tours I have read, among the many that have been published, is " of Sketches Italy," a work invaluable as a guide to Italy, and written witli great spirit and talent. Viii PREFACE. lar writers, Eustace is inaccurate, and For- syth inadequate. The former, indeed, might serve as a guide to the churches, if his total ignorance of the arts did not disqualify him even for that, but, in other respects, he will serve to mislead desul- only ; and Forsyth's tory remarks, though so admirably distin- guished by their acumen and originality, give us none of the information we seek, and only lead us to regret, that one so pe- culiarly qualified for the task, should have left it unaccomplished. It is true, that in the absence of other guides, the professed Ciceroni* of Rome are very useful to stran- gers on their first arrival, particularly in ex- hibiting and explaining the most interesting of its attractions, its remains of antiquity. But, although many of them are men of reading and information, the love of truth is unfortunately too often sacrificed to the love of system. Each embraces some fa- vourite theory, and misrepresents facts, and even misquotes authorities, to establish his hypothesis. I do not blame any of these gentlemen because they do not know what cannot be discovered, but because they are * Signore Nibby and Signore Re deservedly enjoy the highest reputation among these gentlemen. PREFACE. IX not honest enough to avow their ignorance. But we quarrel with them as a lame man does with his crutches : we get on badly with them ; but we should do still worse without them, and at first, at least, their assistance will be found of considerable ser- vice. Still they cannot altogether supersede the use of books, more especially as people cannot always carry them about in their pockets. A picture of Rome is, therefore, still a desideratum, but it is one more desirable than easy to supply. The rare and dubious lights that may be thrown upon its antiqui- ties, are scattered through the literature of ages, and must be collected, not only from the works of all the Roman historians and classics, but from the heavy tomes of the Gothic chroniclers; and what are even more dull, and far more voluminous, the wire- spun dissertations of the Italian antiquaries. Among the numerous and ponderous vo- lumes that have been compiled on the an- tiquities of Rome, Nardini's*is the only one * Roma Antica. Forsyth, who recommends Venuti, 1 think, can never have read him ; otherwise, his sound judgment could never have panegyrised a work so dull, X PREFACE. in the least worth studying, and as a book it useful of reference, may prove highly ; but such is its bulk and verbosity, that few will read it at Rome, and fewer still, I will venture to say, after they have left it. Few, indeed, will there find leisure for such un- research the re- inviting ; few, when proud mains ofantiquity, and the unrivalled works of art, call upon the eye and the mind in every direction, will turn from them to pore over musty volumes. With me the case was different. Possess- ed of an unconquerable passion forthe study, nothing was a labour that could tend to elu- it cidate ; my previous pursuits had turned my attention to these subjects; I had leisure, opportunities, and, I will add, industry, that few of my countrymen possessed; and du- ring two years, I availed myself to the ut- most of every means of intelligence, of ac- cess to rare books, of the opinions of the best and so deplorably devoid of intelligence, that from its whatever can be perusal nothing gained ; for, instead of clearing up what was obscure, the author contrives to render what was before clear totally dark, so that the few scattered lights we had possessed are lost in the mists he raises, and we actually end even in greater doubt than we began. PREFACE. XI , informed, and, above all, of the diligent study of history, pursued solely with this view* Sincerely conscious as I am, therefore, of my incompetency to such a task, I would still hope, that diligence and ardour may have compensated in some degree for defi- ciency of powers. My labours were, indeed, pursued solely with a view to the gratifica- tion ofmy own curiosity; and these Letters, which served me as a sort of depository, or register of all I saw and learnt, and were addressed to a friend who was then medi- tating a tour through Italy, were not origi- intended for the con- nally publication ; but sciousness how valuable, on my first arrival at Rome, would have been the information they contained, to myself, the experience of its utility to many of my friends, and the want of any better guide, at last led me to entertain the idea of offering it to the public, though I should never have ventured to have put it into execution, had not my pur- pose been confirmed by the encouragement of those whose judgment cannot admit of doubt, and whose sincerity I never had cause to distrust. Reassured by such approbation, I have Xll PREFACE. ventured to indulge the hope that this work may serve as a guide to those who visit Rome, may recall its remembrance to those who have seen it, and convey to those who have not, some faint picture of that wonder- ful city, which boasts at once the noblest remains of antiquity, and the most faultless masterpieces of art, which, even at the latest period of its decay, possesses more claims to interest than all others in the proudest season of their prosperity, which in every age has stood foremost in the world, which has been the light of the earth in ages past, the guiding star through the long night of ignorance, the fountain of civilization to the whole western world, and which every nation reverences as a com- mon nurse, preceptor, and parent.