We have no actual proof that he was ever there, and yet the great
number of places associated with his name and made sacred to his memory
seem to point strongly to such a supposition. Yet it may be only the
religious deceit of the priesthood, who thus couple persons and things
with places, and insert monstrous legends and traditions for their own
mercenary ends, and, considering the immense number of extraordinary
relics, it is very evident that Mr. Shapira has had many predecessors
in the art of manufacturing antiquities.

One of the most pleasing features of Rome is its numerous beautiful
fountains, generally to be found in the piazzas, sometimes surrounded by
fine architectural and sculptural groupings. It seems as if the great
men of every age in this city "have found no better way of immortalizing
their memories than by the shifting, indestructible, ever-new,
ever-changing upgush and downfall of water. They have written their
names in that unstable element, and proved it a more durable record than
brass or marble."

The Fontana dell' Aqua Felice, near the baths of Diocletian, has a fine
statue of Moses striking the rock, by Prospero da Brescia, who is said
to have died of mortification at the ridicule excited by the figure of
the great lawgiver, in which a slight uncouthness is certainly
perceptible. The figures of Aaron and Gideon have been added to the
group by other artists. This fountain was celebrated by Tasso under the
name of the Fontana di Termini. The Fontana Paulina on the summit of the
Janiculum, near Porto S. Pancrazio, is like a triple triumphal arch. The
Fontana di Trevi, situated near the Palazzo Poli, is the most famous in
Rome. Its clear, sparkling water comes through the subterranean
aqueducts from far beyond the city walls. The design of the fountain is
by some sculptor of the Bernini school, and represents Neptune with his
attendant tritons, Health and Abundance. "It is as magnificent a piece
of work as ever human skill contrived. At the foot of the palatial
facade is strewn, with careful art and ordered irregularity, a broad and
broken heap of massive rock, looking as if it might have lain there
since the deluge. Over a central precipice falls the water in a
semicircular cascade, and from a hundred crevices on all sides silvery
jets gush up, and streams spout out of the mouths and nostrils of stone
monsters, and fall in glistening drops; while other rivulets, that have
run wild, come leaping