especially within an hour or two of sunset, the gardens are much more
populous, and the seats, except when the sun falls full upon them, are
hard to come by. Ladies arrive in carriages, splendidly dressed;
children are abundant, much impeded in their frolics, and rendered stiff
and stately by the finery which they wear; English gentlemen and
Americans with their wives and families; the flower of the Roman
population, too, both male and female, mostly dressed with great nicety;
but a large intermixture of artists, shabbily picturesque; and other
persons, not of the first stamp. A French band, comprising a great many
brass instruments, by and by begins to play; and what with music,
sunshine, a delightful atmosphere, flowers, grass, well-kept pathways,
bordered with box-hedges, pines, cypresses, horse-chestnuts, flowering
shrubs, and all manner of cultivated beauty, the scene is a very lively
and agreeable one. The fine equipages that drive round and round through
the carriage-paths are another noticeable item. The Roman aristocracy
are magnificent in their aspect, driving abroad with beautiful horses,
and footmen in rich liveries, sometimes as many as three behind and one
sitting by the coachman.


May 1st.--This morning, I wandered for the thousandth time through some
of the narrow intricacies of Rome, stepping here and there into a church.
I do not know the name of the first one, nor had it anything that in Rome
could be called remarkable, though, till I came here, I was not aware
that any such churches existed,--a marble pavement in variegated
compartments, a series of shrines and chapels round the whole floor, each
with its own adornment of sculpture and pictures, its own altar with tall
wax tapers before it, some of which were burning; a great picture over
the high altar, the whole interior of the church ranged round with
pillars and pilasters, and lined, every inch of it, with rich yellow