life; and other works worthy of attention. On the ceiling, Jupiter, Juno, and other divinities, are painted in a masterly manner, by Pecheu; and there are several landscapes, by a Mr. Tierce. In the middle of the Egyptian apartment stands a magnificent bath of porphyry, supported by four bronze crocodiles. The pavement of this room consists of ancient and modern mosaic; the ceiling is coved and pannelled, and richly painted, by Conca, representing the actions of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in Egypt, and the seven planets are personified with suitable emblems. The walls are covered and adorned with black and white antique marble, granite, and pierre de touche, judiciously disposed. It contains a fine statue of Juno in porphyry, the head, the hands, and the feet of which, are in white marble; two fortune-tellers, as large as life, in true character and archness; Diana, with drapery representing fine linen; a few Egyptian idols, and some sphinxes as ornaments over the door. The adjoining chamber contains the figure of Silenus, with a young Bacchus in his arms; a Centaur, with a Cupid on his back; two Muses; Cupid and Psyche; and two fine basins of porphyry. The ceiling of the room is painted by Conca, shewing a sacrifice to Silenus and Bacchus. After this, you ascend to the apartments above, where there is an extensive collection of paintings, by Poussin, Tintoretto, Mengs, Titian, and other first-rate masters. One of the rooms is entirely filled with the early works of an English painter, the late Mr. Hamilton. They form a complete history of Paris and Helen, and, in regard to de sign and expression, are entitled to considerable praise; but so much faintness and want of spirit appear in the colouring, as to be very displeasing when viewed after the productions of the old masters. Another chamber is hung with a great quantity of portraits, taken from the most beautiful Roman 'ladies of the day, by Gaetan and Pandovanino; and in a contiguous saloon are many landscapes, executed by a Mr. Hakert, a Prussian painter. The ceilings of these chambers are handsomely painted, and their interiors expensively fitted up, though some of them remain in an unfinished state. After the villas, we will consider the churches, which abound in Rome, and in reference to the interior of many of them, nothing can be conceived more rich and elegant than they are, owing to their marbles and paintings; nevertheless, the architectural composition of their elevations, almost without a single exception, will be found to be the result of a bad and vitiated taste, particularly those that have been erected in more modern times and in order that every professional man may have it in his power to judge for himself in this instance, I have given an etching of the façade of one of them, which will communicate to him a very correct idea of the whole; because the same style and character are preserved in all alike, only allowing for a few trifling alterations, which the fancy of the various architects who designed them may have suggested in the disposition of some of their parts. To speak generally of them-- P Their fronts are encumbered with columns and pilasters, arranged in a tasteless manner; very frequently one mutilated pediment is most absurdly placed within the tympanum of another; beside which, they are either overloaded with statues or deformed by ornaments of a depraved and local description. And, as a completion to the whole, they are broken and disjointed into a fortitude of trivial forms and petty unmeaning parts, to the utter subversion of all simplicity, connection, and grandeur. But what renders it still more inexcusable is, that these reprehensible designs should be executed in the very same city where the celebrated portico of the Pantheon, that of the temple of Antoninus Pius, and other beautiful remains, stand as a public reproach to so flagrant a perversion of all true taste and classic architecture. Indeed, what was said by our own immortal painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, ought never be forgotten; which was to the following import: That true genius is seen as much in singling out and adapting approved examples in the practice of the arts, as in the display of original thoughts or unprecedented invention---and I think we may safely say, more so, unless such new association of ideas should turn out, upon mature investigation, to be equal or superior to what has been done, otherwise it is much better to be an imitator of good things, than an inventor of bad. Among the four ancient and patriarchal churches at Rome, that of St. John Lateran stands first. It was rebuilt by Clement XII. and is extremely |