to revive and
emulate the labors of antiquity. Prostrate obelisks were raised from
the ground and erected in the most conspicuous places; of the eleven
aqueducts of the Caesars and consuls, three were restored; the
artificial rivers were conducted over a long series of old, or of new
arches, to discharge into marble basins a flood of salubrious and
refreshing waters: and the spectator, impatient to ascend the steps of
St. Peter's, is detained by a column of Egyptian granite, which rises
between two lofty and perpetual fountains to the height of one hundred
and twenty feet. The map, the description, the monuments of ancient
Rome have been elucidated by the diligence of the antiquarian and the
student; and the footsteps of heroes, the relics, not of superstition
but of empire, are devoutly visited by a new race of pilgrims from the
remote and once savage countries of the North.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 64: From the "Memoirs."]

[Footnote 65: She has now an even greater title to remembrance, as the
mother of Madame de Staeel.]

[Footnote 66: From the "Memoirs."]

[Footnote 67: From "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."]

[Footnote 68: Palmyra, of which only imposing ruins of the Roman
period now remain, was situated on an oasis in a desert east of Syria.
Its foundation is ascribed to Solomon. Palmyra had commercial
importance as a center of the caravan trade of the East.]

[Footnote 69: A city of Mesopotamia, on the Tigris, twenty miles
south-east of Babylon.]

[Footnote 70: The Greek philosopher, author of the famous essay "On
Sublimity," who was Zenobia's counselor and the instructor of her
children.]

[Footnote 71: From "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Alaric
was king of the West Goths. He died in the year Rome was sacked, and
was buried with vast treasure in the bed of the river Busento.]

[Footnote 72: From Chapter 50 of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire." Hosein was a grandson of Mohammed, founder of the faith that
bears his name.]

[Footnote 73: Babylonia.]

[Footnote 74: The Roman emperor still retained the title of Caesar.]

[Footnote 75: Chosroes is better known in our day as Phusrau, one of
the kings of Persia.]

[Footnote 76: The reputed founder of the Mohammedan sect called
Yezidis.]

[Footnote 77: From the final chapter of "The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire."]

[Footnote 78: A Tuscan author and antiquarian, born in 1381, died in
1495; at one time secretary