bridge of Caligula, the admirable Piscina, and all those palaces, built in the sea, of which Horace speaks, well deserve that any one should stop a moment. Virgil has fixed or found in these places the beautiful fictions of his sixth Eneid. It was from hence that he wrote to Augustus these modest words, the only lines of prose, I believe, written by this great man, which have reached us : Ego vero frequentes a te litteras accipio. De Enea quidem meo, si mehercule jam dignum auribus haberem tuis, libenter mitterem ; sed tanta inchoata res est, ut pene vitio mentis tantum opus ingressus mihi videar; cum præsertim, ut scis, alia quoque studia ad id opus multoque potiora impertiar:

My pilgrimage to the tomb of Scipio Africanus is one of those from which I derived the highest satisfaction, though I failed in attaining the object, for which I undertook it. I had been told that the mausoleum of this famous Roman

* This fragment occurs in the Saturnalia of Macrobius, but I cannot point out the book, having no immediate means of reference. I believe, however, that it is the first.

still existed, and that even the word patria was distinguishable on it, being all that remained of the inscription, which was asserted to have been carved upon it.

Ungrateful land, thou shalt not have my bones!"

I went to Patria, the ancient Liternum, but did not find the tomb.* I wandered, however, through the ruins of the house, which the greatest and most amiable men inhabited during his exile. I saw in imagination the conqueror of Hannibal walking on the sea-coast opposite to that of Carthage, and consoling himself for the injustice of Rome by the charms of friendship, and the consciousness of rectitude.

* I was not only told that this tomb was in existence ; but I have read the circumstances above mentioned in some travels, though I do not recollect by whom they were written. I doubt these statements, however, for the following

reasons:

Ist. It appears to me that Scipio, in spite of his just complaints against Rome, loved his country too much to have wished that such an inscription should be recorded on his tomb. It is contrary to all we know of the genius of the

ancients.

As to the modern Romans, Duclos appears to have been sarcastic when he calls them the Italians of Rome. I am of opinion that there is

2dly. The inscription spoken of, is almost literally conceived in the terms of imprecation which Livy puts into the mouth of Scipio when he left Rome. May not this have

given rise to the error?

3dly. Plutarch mentions that in the neighbourhood of Gaieta a bronze urn was found in a marble tomb, where the ashes of Scipio would most probably have been deposited, and that it bore an inscription very different to the one now under discussion.

The ancient Literuum, having the name Patria, this may have given birth to the report that the word Patria was the only remaining one of the inscription upon the tomb. Would it not, in fact, be a very singular coincidence that the town should be called Patria, and that the same word should also be found in this solitary state upon the monument of Scipio-unless indeed we suppose the one to have been taken from the other?

It is possible, nevertheless, that authors, with whom I am unacquainted, may have spoken of this inscription in a way which leaves no doubt. I grant that there is even an expression in Plutarch, apparently favourable to the opinion I am combatting. A man of great merit, and who is the dearer to me because he is very unfortunate, visited Patria much about the same time that I did. We have

still

among them the materials, requisite towards the formation of no common people. When the Italians are closely examined, great sense, courage, patience, genius, and deep traces of their ancient manners are to be discovered in them, with a kind of superior air, and some noble customs, which still partake of royalty. Before

often conversed together about this celebrated place; but I am not quite sure whether he said that he had seen the tomb or the word (which would solve the difficulty) or whether he only grounded his arguments on popular tradition. For my own part I never found the tomb itself, but merely saw the ruins of the villa, which are of no great consequence,

Plutarch mentions some one to have stated that the tomb of Scipio was near Rome; but they evidently confounded the tomb of the Scipios with that of Scipio Africanus. Livy affirms that the latter was at Liternum, and that it was surmounted by a statue, which a tempest had thrown down; adding that he himself had seen the statue. We know too from Seneca, Cicero, and Pliny, that the other tomb, namely the family vault of the Scipios, was actually in existence at one of the gates of Rome. It has been discovered during the pontificate of Pius VI, and the inscriptions, appertaining to it, were conveyed to the museum of the Vatican. Among the names of the members, composing the family of Scipio, which appear upon this monument of their consequence, that of Africanus is wanting.

you condemn this opinion, which may appear to you singular, you must hear my reasons for it, and at present I have not time to send them.

What a number of observations I have to make upon Italian literature! Do you know that I never saw Count Alfieri but once in my life, and can you guess in what situation? I saw him put into his coffin. I was told that he was scarcely at all altered. His countenance appeared to me noble and grave; but death had doubtless imparted some additional degree of severity to it. The coffin being rather too short, a person bent his head over his breast, which caused a most disagreeable motion on the part of the body. Through the kindness of one who was very dear to Alfieri, and the politeness of a gentleman at Florence, who was also the Count's friend, I am in possession of some curious particulars as to the posthumous works, life and opinions of this celebrated man. Most of the public papers in France have given vague and mutilated accounts of the subject. Till I am able to communicate these particulars, I send you the epitaph which Alfieri made for his noble