position above the valley of the Albegna, and is surrounded by fortifications of the 15th century. The present city, however, only covers a small part of the ancient area, of which fragments of the walls, of polygonal masonry, may still be seen. Near the Porta Romana, by which the Via Clodia passed through the town to Rome, is a curious mass of travertine in which steps have been cut to the top, where are three graves or sarcophagi sunk in the level summit.

The Necropolis of Saturnia is 10 miles distant from the city, on the opposite bank of the Albegna, at the spot called by the people Pian di Palma. The tombs here, for which the native appellation is not sepolcri or grotte, but depositi, differ from all others in Etruria, being more like the cromlechs of Cornwall, and are supposed to be the work of the Aborigines, to whom Dionysius attributes the foundation of Saturnia.

Leaving Viterbo by the Porta Romana, above which S. Rosa holding her crucifix guards the city, we cross the great plain of Etruria, once crowded with populous cities, but now deserted and desolate. As we ascend the Ciminian Hills on the other side, the view looking back is deeply interesting and historic.

'With what pride must an Etruscan have regarded this scene two thousand five hundred years since! The numerous cities in the plain were so many trophies of the power and civilization of his nation. There stood Volsinii, renowned for her wealth and arts, on the shores of her crater-lake-there Tuscania reared her towers in the west-there Vulci shone out from the plain, and Cosa from the mountain-and there Tarquinii, chief of all, asserted her metropolitan supremacy from her cliff-bound heights. Nearer still, his eye must have rested on city after city, some in the plain, and others at the foot of the slope beneath him ; while the mountains in the horizon must have carried his thoughts to the glories of Clusium, Perusia, Cortona, Vetulonia, Volaterrae, and other cities of the great Etruscan Confederation. How changed is now the scene! Save Tuscania, which still retains her site, all within view are now desolate. Tarquinii has left scarce a vestige of her greatness on the grass-grown heights she once occupied ; the very site of Volsinii is forgotten; silence has long reigned in the crumbling theatre of Ferentum : the plough yearly furrows the bosom of Vulci; the fox, the owl, and

the bat, are the sole tenants of the vaults within the ruined walls of Cosa; and of the rest, the greater part have neither building, habitant, nor name -- nothing but the sepulchres around them to prove they ever had an existence.'-Dennis's Cities of Etruria.'

6

Near a little ruined chapel, about 2 miles before reaching Ronciglione, a rough stony road branches off to the left, and soon descends abruptly through chestnut-woods, and then through deep clefts cut in the tufa and overhung by shrubs and flowers, every winding a picture, to Caprarola. The wonderful position of the place bursts at once upon those who emerge from the rocky way. Its grand, tremendous palace stands backed by chestnut woods, which fade

into rocky hills, and it looks down from a high-terraced platform upon the little golden-roofed town beneath, and then out upon the whole glorious rainbow-tinted view, in which lion-like Soracte, couching over the plain, is the most conspicuous feature. In the buildings every line is noble, every architectural idea stupendous. Their design does not embrace only the palace itself, but is carried round the whole platform of the hill-side in a series of buildings, ending in a huge convent and church, built by Odoardo Farnese. S. Carlo Borromeo, the great patron of idle almsgiving, came hither to see it when it was completed, and complained that so much money had not been given

to the poor instead. 'I have let them have it all little by little,' said Alessandro Farnese, but I have made them earn it by the sweat of their brows.'

'Cardinal Farnese would have everything in his Palace of Caprarola arranged after the designs and invention of Jacopo Barozzi, the architect Vignola. Nor was the judgment of the prelate in selecting so good an architect less remarkable than his greatness of mind in constructing so noble and magnificent an edifice, which is not indeed in a position to be much enjoyed by the public, being in a remote and solitary district, but is nevertheless admirably placed for one who desires to escape for a time from the toils and vexations of cities.

'The edifice has the form of a pentagon; it is divided into four parts, exclusive of the principal front, wherein is the great door; behind which is a loggia eighty palms long by forty broad, and at one end of the same is a spiral staircase, the steps of which are ten palms in width, while the space in the centre, which gives light to the whole, is of twenty palms. This spiral stair ascends from the ground to the third or uppermost floor, it is supported on double columns, and adorned with rich and varied cornices at the lower end we have the Doric Order, which is followed successively by the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite, all richly decorated with balustrades, niches, and other fanciful ornaments which render it very graceful and beautiful.'— Vasari.

:

'Vignola's great work is the palace of Caprarola. The plan is unique, or nearly so, being a pentagon, enclosing a circular court. Each of the five sides measures 130 feet on plan, and the court is 65 feet in diameter, while the three stories are each about 30 feet in height, so that its dimensions are very considerable, and certainly quite sufficiently so for palatial purposes. The object of adopting the form here used, was to give it a fortified or castellated appearance, as all citadels of that age were pentagons, and this palace is accordingly furnished with small sham bastions at each angle, which are supposed to suggest that idea of defensibility. Above the terrace formed by these bastions and their curtains, the palace rises in two grand stories of " Orders," the lower arcaded in the centre, the upper including the stories of windows. This last is certainly a defect, but in spite of this, the whole is so well designed, the angles are so bold, and the details are so elegant, that it is one of the finest palaces in Italy, and we may admire the ingenuity of the architect the more, because the pentagonal form is singularly unfavourable to architectural effect externally, or to commodious arrangements inside, and the site also is such that from most points it looks too high for its other dimensions. But all these defects have been overcome in a manner that makes us regret that its architect was not more employed on the great works of his day.'-Fergusson.

There is an aspect of strength and imperviousness to

time in the huge rock-like bastions upon which the palace stands. As it has five sides, from every view of it you have an angle, and the effect is very singular. When you ascend the balustraded terraces and cross the bridge you are admitted to an open circular court, whence a magnificent staircase, a cordonia, leads to the upper chambers, decorated by the three brothers Zuccaro, by Tempesta, and Vignola, with pictures chiefly relating to the power and importance of the Farnese, uninteresting perhaps elsewhere, but here, where all is suggestive of them, most striking and curious. In the great hall are a fountain and a grotto, like those in the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, yet roofed in and not too large in this vast chamber. 96,000 lbs. of lead, comprising the works of this and many other fountains, were sold in the last century by a dishonest steward, who also took advantage of the constant absence of the owners to make away with all the old furniture and tapestries. The walls of the hall have frescoes of the towns which belonged to the Farnese-Parma, Piacenza, Castro, Vignola, Scarpellino, Capo-di-Monte, Canina, Ronciglione, Fabrica, Isola, and Caprarola. The chapel has windows of ancient stained glass, and between them frescoes of the Apostles, with S. Gregory, S. Stephen, and S. Laurence. The design of the elaborate ceiling is curiously repeated in the pavement. The next hall is all Farnese history. The marriage of Orazio Farnese is represented (1652) with Diana, daughter of Henry II. of France,' and that of Ottavio, with a daughter of Charles V.2 Pietro and Raniero Farnese are made captains-general of the Florentines. Then Alessandro and

In this picture, besides the portraits of Diana and Orazio, there are those of Queen Catherine de' Medici; of Margaret the King s sister; of the King of Navarre ; the Constable; the Dukes of Guise and Nemours; the Prince de Condé, Admiral of France; and the younger Cardinal of Lorraine; with those of another Guise who had not then been made a Cardinal; of the Signor Piero Strozzi; of Madame de Montpensier; and of Mademoiselle de Rohan.

2 In the centre is Pope Paul III. The picture also contains portraits of Cardinal Farnese the younger; Cardinal di Carpi; the Duke Pier Luigi; Messer Durante ; Eurialo da Cingoli; Giovanni Riccio of Montepulciano; the Bishop of Como; the Signora Livia Colonna; Claudia Mancina; Settimia; and Donna Maria de Mendoza.

Ottavio Farnese are seen accompanying Charles V. on a campaign against the Lutherans; and the three Zuccari carrying a canopy over Charles V., who is riding with Francis I. on one side, and Cardinal Farnese on the other. Paul III., who took such unbounded care of his family, is shown appointing Pietro Farnese commander of the Papal army, and Orazio governor of Rome.2 Ranutio Farnese is receiving the golden rose from his uncle. And there are many scenes from the life of the great Pope himself—how he presided at the Council of Trent; how he made peace between Francis I. and Charles V.; and how Charles kissed his feet on his return from Africa; how he gave the lucky hat to four cardinals who afterwards all became popes. We see one of these again, Julius II., when he is receiving the city of Parma from Ottavio and Alessandro, the kneeling nephews of his predecessor, and restoring it to them. There is also a portrait of Henry II. of France—' conservator familiae Farnesiae.' All these pictures are described at the utmost length by Vasari. Many other rooms are very interesting the private study and bedroom of the Cardinal with his secret staircase for escape; the room, covered with huge maps like the gallery at the Vatican, and with the wonderful fresco of the 'Móra ;' the room with the frescoes of the appearances of S. Michael the Archangel to Gregory the Great at Rome, and to the shepherds of Monte Gargano; and then all the family are represented again and again, and their attendants, down to the dwarfs, who are painted as if they were just coming in at imaginary doorways.

Are we really in Arcadia, when the old steward opens

Here are portraits of the Pope; Pier Luigi Farnese; the Chamberlain; the Duke Ottavio ; Orazio, Cardinal of Capua; Simonetta; Jacobaccio; San Jacopo; Ferrara; the Signor Ranuccio Farne e, who was then a youth; Giovio; Molza, and Marcello Cervini, who was afterwards Pope; the Marquis of Marignano ; the Signor Giovan Battista Castaldo; Alessandro Vitelli; and the Signor Giovan Battista Savelli.

2 Here also are numerous portraits, including the Cardinal Jean Belley, Archbishop of Paris; with Visco, Morone, Badia Sfondrato, Ardinghelli, and Cristofano Madruzio, the prince-bishop of Trent.