was strong of hand, and light of foot, and stout of heart, and he drove the Volscians to the furthest side of the town, and all was clear behind him, so that the Romans came in after him without any trouble and took the city. Then all men said, 'Caius and none else has won Corioli,' and Cominius the general said, 'Let him be called after the name of the city.' So they called him Caius Marcius Coriolanus."Arnold's Hist. of Rome.

The farm-house on Monte Giove now stands desolate amongst its vineyards, and there are no remains of the ancient city above-ground. It is supposed that the present name of the hill commemorates a temple of Jupiter which may have remained to later times, for the Romans usually spared the temples of the cities they destroyed. In imperial times the town had quite disappeared.

"There was a time when Tibur and Præneste, our summer retreats, were the objects of hostile vows in the Capitol, when we dreaded the shades of the Arician groves, when we could triumph without a blush over the nameless villages of the Sabines and Latins, and even Corioli could afford a title not unworthy of a victorious general."-Florus, temp. Hadrian.)

In returning to Albano (from Civita Lavinia) we pass through the triple avenue of elms called the Olmata, planted in 1643 by Giuliano Cesarini, as an approach to his palace of Genzano. Then, on the left, we pass the handsome Church of La Madonna del Galloro, beneath which the substructions which raised the Via Appia above the level of the plain, deserve observation.

CHAPTER IV.

FRASCATI, TUSCULUM, AND COLONNA.

(Trains leave Rome at 11.30 and 12.5, returning at 5.40 and 6.18. This gives time for a pleasant sight of Frascati, and for a ride or walk to Tusculum and the Villa Mondragone, or to Tusculum and Grotta Ferrata. There is an excellent small inn at Frascati-the Albergo di Londra-very clean and comfortable. Donkeys cost 5 francs for the whole day, or 2 francs for the half day; but a distinct agreement must be made.)

IT

T is only half-an-hour by rail to Frascati, and the change is so complete and reviving, that it is strange more sojourners at Rome do not take advantage of it. Only one excursion to Frascati is generally made during a Roman winter, which gives little time where there is so much to be

seen.

Even the railway journey is most delightful and characteristic. The train runs close to the aqueducts, the Paoline first, and then the ruined Claudian. As we pass outside the Porta Furba, the artificial sepulchral mound, called Monte de Grano, is seen on the left, and then the vast ruins called Sette Basse, belonging to a suburban villa of imperial date,* and, as the light streams through their ruined windows,

The carriage-road to Frascati passes close to both of these, and then by the beautiful stone-pines on the farm of Torre Nuova belonging to Prince Borghese, where archeologists place Papinia, the villa of Attilius Regulus.

VOL. I.

7

forming a beautiful foreground to the delicate distances of mountain and plain.

As we approach nearer, Colonna is seen on the left upon its knoll, then Monte Porzio, and beneath it the site of the Lake Regillus. When the lights and shadows are favourable, the difference between the two craters of this volcanic chain of hills now becomes strikingly evident.

"The Alban hills form a totally distinct group, consisting of two principal extinct volcanic craters, somewhat resembling in their relation to each other the great Neapolitan craters of Vesuvius and Somma. One of them lies within the embrace of the other, just as Vesuvius lies half enclosed by Monte Somma. The walls of the outer Alban crater are of peperino, while those of the inner are basaltic. Both are broken away on the northern side towards Grotta Ferrata and Marino, but on the southern side they are tolerably perfect.

"The outer crescent-shaped crater beginning from Frascati extends to Monte Porzio and Rocca Priora, and then curves round by Monte Algido, Monte Ariano, and Monte Artemisio. The inner crescent includes the height of Monte Cavo, and surrounds the flat meadows known by the name of Campo d'Annibale. Besides these two principal craters, the ages of which are probably as distinct as those of Vesuvius and Somma, there are traces of at least four others to be found in the lakes of Castel Gandolfo, commonly called the Alban lake, and of Nemi, and in the two small cliff-encircled valleys of the Vallis Aricina and, Larghetto."-Burn, The Roman Campagna.

The effect of the Campagna here, as everywhere, is quite different upon different minds. The French almost always find it as depressing as the English do captivating and exhilarating.

"Frascati est à six lieues de Rome, sur les monts Tusculans, petite chaîne volcanique qui fait partie du système des montagnes du Latium. C'est encore la Campagne de Rome, mais c'est la fin de l'horrible désert qui environne la capitale du monde catholique. Ici la terre cesse d'être inculte et la fièvre s'arrête. Il faut monter pendant une demi-heure, au pas des chevaux, pour atteindre la ligne d'air pur qui circule au-dessus de la région empestée de la plaine immense; mais cet air pur est moins dû à l'élévation du sol qu'à la culture de la terre et a l'écoulement des

eaux, car Tivoli, plus haut perché du double que Frascati, n'est l'abri de l'influence maudite.

"Aux approches de ces petites montagnes, quand on a laissé derrière soi les longs aqueducs ruinés et trois ou quatre lieues de terrains ondulés, sans caractère et sans étendue pour le regard, on traverse de nouveau une partie de la plaine dont le nivellement absolu présente enfin un aspect particulier assez grandiose. C'est un lac de pâle verdure qui s'étend sur la gauche jusqu'au pied du massif du mont Gennaro. Au baisser du soleil, quand l'herbe fine et maigre de ce gigantesque pâturage est un peu échauffée par l'or du couchant et nuancée par les ombres portées des montagnes, le sentiment de la grandeur se révèle. Les petits accidents perdus dans ce cadre immense, les troupeaux et les chiens, seuls bergers qui, en de certaines parties de la steppe, osent braver la malaria toute la journée, se dessinent et s'enlèvent en couleur avec une netteté comparable à celle des objets lointains sur la mer. Au fond de cette nappe de verdure, si unie que l'on a peine à se rendre compte de son étendue, la base des montagnes semble nager dans une brume mouvante, tandis que leurs sommets se dressent immobiles et nets dans le ciel."-George Sand, La Daniella.

Beyond Ciampino, the railroad ascends out of the Campagna into the land of corn and olives. Masses of pink nectarine and almond-trees bloom in spring amid the green. On the right, we pass the great ruined castle of Borghetto, which belonged to the Savellis in the 10th century. At the station, an open omnibus with awnings (fare, 50 centesimi), and carriages, are waiting to save travellers the mile of steep ascent to the town. Here, passing near the Villa Sora, once the residence of Gregory XIII. (1752-85), and skirting the wall of the Villa Torlonia, we are set down in the noisy little piazza before the cathedral, and are at once surrounded by donkey boys vociferating upon the merits of their respective animals.

The cathedral (S. Pietro) only dates from 1700, but we must enter it to visit the monument (near the door), which Cardinal York put up to his brother Prince Charles Edward, who died Jan. 31, 1788. It is inscribed :—

"Hic situs est Carolus Odoardus cui Pater Jacobus III. Rex Angliæ, Scotia, Franciæ, Hiberniæ, Primus Natorum, paterni Juris et regiæ dignitatis successor et hæres, qui domicilio sibi Romæ delecto Comes Albaniensis dictus est.

"Vixit Annos LVII. et mensem; decessit in pace, pridie Kal. Feb. Anno MDCCLXXXVII."

There is an older cathedral, Duomo Vecchio, now called SS. Sebastiano e Rocco, chiefly of the 14th century, and near it a fountain erected in 1480 by Cardinal d'Estouteville, the French Ambassador. The streets are dirty and ugly; but the little town is important as being the centre of the villas which give Frascati all its charm. Most of these date only from the 17th century, and, with the exception of the Villa Mondragone, the buildings are seldom remarkable, but they are situated amid glorious groves of old trees, often relics of a natural forest, and amid these are grand old fountains and water-falls, which, though artificial, have been long since adopted by Nature as her own, while from the terraces the views over the Campagna are of ever-varying loveliness. In many of these villas, far too large for any single occupants, vast airy suites of apartments may be hired for the summer villeggiatura, and, though scantily furnished, are a delightful retreat during the hot season.

"At Frascati and Albano there are good lodgings to be had. Noble old villas may be hired on the Alban slopes for a small rent, with gardens going to ruin, but beautifully picturesque-old fountains and water-works painted with moss, and decorated with maiden hair, vines, and flowers-shady groves where nightingales sing all the day-avenues of lopped ilexes that, standing on either side like great chandeliers, weave together their branches overhead into a dense roof—and long paths of tall, polished laurel, where you may walk in shadow at morning and evening. The air here is not, however, 'above suspicion;' and one must be careful at night-fall lest the fever prowling round the damp alleys seize you as its prey. The views from these villas are truly exquisite. Before you lies the undulating plain of the Campagna, with every