aples--Pulcinello--Return to Rome--Tivoli.

I started from Rome on the 26th September; in the same _vettura_ I found an
intelligent young Frenchman of the name of R---- D----, a magistrate in
Corsica, who was travelling in Italy for his amusement. There were besides
a Roman lawyer and not a very bright one by the bye; and a fat woman who
was going to Naples to visit her lover, a Captain in the Austrian service,
a large body of Austrian troops being still at Naples. We issued from Rome
by the _Porta Latina_ and reached Albano (the ancient Alba) sixteen miles
distant at twelve o'clock. We reposed there two hours which gave me an
opportunity of visiting the _Villa Doria_ where there are magnificent
gardens. These gardens form the promenade of the families who come to
Albano to pass the heat of the summer and to avoid the effect of the
exhalations of the marshy country about Rome.

As Albano is situated on an eminence, you have a fine view of the whole
plain of Latium and Rome in perspective. The country of Latium however is
flat, dreary and monotonous; it affords pasture to an immense quantity of
black cattle, such as buffaloes, etc.

Just outside of Albano, on the route to Naples, is a curious ancient
monument called _Il sepolcro degli Orazj e Curiazj._ It is built of brick,
is extremely solid, of singular appearance, from its being a square
monument, flanked at each angle by a tower in the shape of a cone. It is of
an uncouth rustic appearance and must certainly have been built before

_Grecia capia ferum victorem cepit et artes
Intulit agresti Latio....._[93]

and I see no reason against its being the sepulchre of the Horatii and
Curiatii, particularly as it stands so near Alba where the battle was
fought; but be this as it may there is nothing like faith in matters of
antiquity; the sceptic can have little pleasure.

The country on leaving Albano becomes diversified, woody and picturesque.
Near Gensano is the beautiful lake of Nemi, and it is the spot feigned by
the poets as the scene of the amours of Mars and Rhea Silvia. Near Gensano
also is the country residence of the Sovereign Pontiffs called Castel
Gandolfo. La Riccia, the next place we passed thro', is the ancient Aricia,
mentioned in Horace's journey to Brundusium. We arrived in the evening at
Velletri.

Velletri is a large town or rather city situated on a mountain, to which
you ascend by a winding road skirting a beautiful forest. From the terrace