nutes," said Oswald. "What remembrance of past ages
can produce such welcome recollections as this spot, which brings to
mind the day when first I saw you." "I know not whether I deceive
myself," replied Corinne; "but it seems to me that we become more dear
to one another in admiring together those monuments which speak to the
soul by true grandeur. The edifices of Rome are neither cold nor dumb,
they have been conceived by genius, and consecrated by memorable events.
Perhaps, Oswald, it is even necessary that we should be enamoured of
such a character as yours, in order to derive such pleasure from feeling
with you all that is noble and fine in the universe." "Yes," replied
Lord Nelville; "but in beholding you, and listening to your
observations, I feel no want of other wonders." Corinne thanked him in a
bewitching smile.

On their way to St Peter's they stopped before the castle of St Angelo.
"There," said Corinne, "is one of those edifices whose exterior is most
original; this is the tomb of Adrian, which, changed into a fortress by
the Goths, bears the double character of its first and second
destination. Built for the dead, an impenetrable enclosure surrounds it;
and, nevertheless, the living have added something hostile to it by the
external fortifications, which form a contrast with the silence and
noble inutility of a funereal monument. On the top is seen an angel of
bronze with a naked sword[7], and in the interior the most cruel prisons
are contrived. Every event of Roman history, from Adrian to our time, is
connected with this monument. It was here that Belisarius defended
himself against the Goths, and, almost as barbarous as they who attacked
him, threw at his enemy the beautiful statues that adorned the interior
of the edifice[8]. Crescentius, Arnault de Brescia, Nicolas Rienzi,
those friends of Roman liberty who so often mistook memories for hopes,
defended themselves for a long time in this imperial tomb. I love these
stones which are connected with so many illustrious facts. I love this
luxury of the master of the world--a magnificent tomb. There is
something great in the man who, possessing every enjoyment, every
terrestrial pomp, is not dismayed from making preparations for his death
a long time before hand. Moral ideas and disinterested sentiments fill
the soul when it in a manner breaks through the boundaries of mortality.

"It is from here that we ought to perceive St Peter's. The pillars
before i