The hermitage could not have been large, for it is situated on the very ridge of the hill; but one may easily perceive that it must have been very retired, and that every thing was commodious, though on a small scale. From the

orchard, which was in front of the house, the eye wanders over an immense extent of country. It conveys, in all respects, the idea of a true retreat for a poet, whom little suffices, and who enjoys so much that does not belong to him—“ spatio brevi spem longam reseces."

́After all, it is very easy to be such a philosopher as Horace was. He had a house at Rome, and two country villas, the one at Utica, the other at Tivoli. He quaffed, with his friends, the wine which had been made during the consulate of Tully. His sideboard was covered with plate; and he said to the prime minister of the sovereign, who guided the destinies of the world: "I do not feel the wants of poverty; and if I wish for any thing more, you, Mecenas,

* Closed in a narrow space of far extended hopes.

HORACE.

will not refuse me." Thus situated, a man may very confortably sing of Lalage, crown himself with short-lived lilies, talk of death while he is drinking Falernian, and give his cares to the winds.

I observe that Horace, Virgil, Tibullus, and Livy all died before Augustus, whose fate in this respect was the same as Louis XIV experienced.

Our great prince survived his cotemporaries awhile, and was the last who descended to the grave, as if to be certain that nothing remained behind him.

It will doubtless be a matter of indifference to you if I state the house of Catullus to be at Tivoli above that of Horace, and at present occupied by monks; but you will, perhaps, deem it more remarkable that Ariosto composed his

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'fables comiques”* at the same place in which Horace enjoyed the good things of this world. It has excited surprise that the author of Orlando Furioso, when living in retirement with the cardinal d'Est at Tivoli, should have fixed on

* Boileau.

3

France as the subject of his divine extravaganzas, and France too when in a state of demi-barba

rity, while he had under his eyes the grave re

mains and solemn memorials of the most serious and civilized nation upon earth. In other respects, the Villa d'Est is the only modern one, which has interested me, among the wrecks of proud habitations belonging to so many Emperors and Consuls. This illustrious house of Ferrara has had the singular good fortune of being celebrated by the two greatest poets of its age, and the two men, who possessed the most brilliant genius, to which modern Italy has given birth.

Piacciavi generose Ercolea prole

Ornameno, e splendor del seçol nostro,
Ippolito, etc.

It is the exclamation of a happy man, who returns thanks to the powerful house, which bestows favors on him, and of which he constitutes the delight. Tasso, who was more affecting, conveys in his invocation, the acknowledgments of a grateful but unfortunate man;

Tu magnanimo Alfonso, il qual ritogli, etc.

He, who avails himself of power to assist neglected talent, makes a noble use of it. Ariosto and Hippolyto d'Est have left, in the valleys of Tivoli, a reputation which does not yield, in point of the charm conveyed by it, to that of Horace and Mecenas. But what is become of the protectors and the protected? At the moment that I write this letter, the house of Est is extinct, and its villa fallen into ruins. Such is the history of every thing belonging to this world.

Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens

Uxor.*

I spent almost a whole day at this superb villa. I could not put a period to my admiration of the immense prospect, which I enjoyed from the high ground of the terraces. Below 'me were gardens, stretching to a considerable extent, and displaying great numbers of planetrees and cypresses. Beyond these were the ruins of the house, which once belonged to

* Man must quit his estate, his house, and amiable wife.

Mecenas, on the borders of the Anio. On the opposite hill, which is on the other side of the river, is a wood of ancient olives and among these are the ruins of the villa once occupied by Varus. A little further, to the left, rise the three mountains Monticelli, San Francesco, and Sant Angelo, and between the summits of these three neighbouring mountains appears the azure brow of old Socrate. In the horizon, and at the extremity of the Roman plains, describing a circle by the West and South, may be discerned the heights of Monte Fiascone, Rome, Civita Vecchia, Ostie, the sea, and Frascati, surmounted by the pines of Tusculum. Returning in search of Tivoli towards the East, the entire circumference of this immense prospect is terminated by Mount Ripoli, formerly occupied by the houses of Brutus and Atticus, at the foot of which is the Villa Adriana.

In the midst of this picture the Teverone

Now the Teverone.

†The Varus, who was massacred with the legions in Germany. See the admirable description of Tacitus.