walls, and strew the path with their falling leaves. We stole a few, and
feel that we have wronged our consciences in not stealing more. In one
part of the grounds we saw a field actually ablaze with scarlet poppies.
There are great lagunas; fountains presided over by naiads, who squirt
their little jets into basins; sunny lawns; a temple, so artificially
ruined that we half believed it a veritable antique; and at its base a
reservoir of water, in which stone swans seemed positively to float;
groves of cypress; balustrades and broad flights of stone stairs,
descending to lower levels of the garden; beauty, peace, sunshine, and
antique repose on every side; and far in the distance the blue hills that
encircle the campagna of Rome. The day was very fine for our purpose;
cheerful, but not too bright, and tempered by a breeze that seemed even a
little too cool when we sat long in the shade. We enjoyed it till three
o'clock. . . . .

At the Capitol there is a sarcophagus with a most beautiful bas-relief of
the discovery of Achilles by Ulysses, in which there is even an
expression of mirth on the faces of many of the spectators. And to-day
at the Albani a sarcophagus was ornamented with the nuptials of Peleus
and Thetis.

Death strides behind every man, to be sure, at more or less distance,
and, sooner or later, enters upon any event of his life; so that, in this
point of view, they might each and all serve for bas-reliefs on a
sarcophagus; but the Romans seem to have treated Death as lightly and
playfully as they could, and tried to cover his dart with flowers,
because they hated it so much.


May 15th.--My wife and I went yesterday to the Sistine Chapel, it being