the other old Romans--by Jove! I almost fancied myself at school
again----

'Armis vitrumque canter,'

as old Virgil or somebody else says. So now let's have a little ecarte
to put it all out of our heads:--for my brains have turned round like
a windmill, by Jove! ever since I was on the top of that cursed
steeple on the capitol," etc., etc.

I make a resolution to myself every morning before breakfast, that I
will be prepared with a decent stock of good-nature and forbearance,
and not laugh at my friend L.'s absurdities; but in vain are my
amiable intentions: his blunders and his follies surpass all
anticipation, as they defy all powers of gravity. I console myself
with the conviction that such is his slowness of perception, he does
not see that he is the _butt_ of every party; and such his obtuseness
of feeling, that if he did see it, he would not mind it; but he is the
heir to twenty-five thousand a year, and therefore, as R. said, he can
afford to be laughed at.

We "dispatched," as L. says, a good deal to-day, though I did not
"work quite so hard" as the rest of the party: in fact, I was obliged
to return home from fatigue, after having visited the Doria and
Sciarra Palaces (the last for the second time), and the church of San
Pietro in Vincoli.

The Doria Palace contains the largest collection of pictures in Rome:
but they are in a dirty and neglected condition, and many of the best
are hung in the worst possible light: added to this there is such a
number of bad and indifferent pictures, that one ought to visit the
Doria Gallery half a dozen times merely to select those on which a
cultivated taste would dwell with pleasure. Leonardo da Vinci's
portrait of Joanna of Naples, is considered one of the most valuable
pictures in the collection. It exhibits the same cast of countenance
which prevails through all his female heads, a sort of sentimental
simpering affectation which is very disagreeable, and not at all
consistent with the character of Joanna. I was much more delighted by
some magnificent portraits by Titian and Rubens; and by a copy of the
famous antique picture, the Nozze Aldobrandini, executed in a kindred
spirit by the classic pencil of Poussin.

The collection at the Sciarra Palace is small but very select. The
pictures are hung with judgment, and well taken care of. The Magdalen,
which is considered one of Guido's masterpieces, charmed me most: the
countenance is heavenly; though full of e