already covers one of her legs, and the other, extended as in the act of running, is just taking root. The air of Apollo contrasts admirably with that of Daphne: he seems to pant for breath, and while he stretches forth his hand to stop the object of his pursuit, as if shocked at the change which is taking place, he appears half inclined to withdraw it.

The Judgment of Paris, the Fall of Phaëton, the story of Acis and Galatea, that of Paris and Helen, and other frescos, adorn the ceilings. There are also a few landscapes by More, Both, and Labruzzi, scattered through the rooms.

The prince has lately been endeavouring to repair the loss of his statues, and in one of the rooms may be seen an infinity of heads, arms, and legs, all waiting to be annexed to their respective trunks.

VILLA ALBANI." Deep learning," observes Forsyth, " is generally the grave of taste; but the learning which is engaged in Greek and Roman antiquities, as it embraces all that is beautiful in art, rather refines and reHere is a villa of ex

gulates our perceptions of beauty. quisite design, planned by a profound antiquary. Here Cardinal Alexander Albani, having spent his life in collecting ancient sculpture, formed such porticos and such saloons to receive it, as an old Roman would have done*;

* "Deinde porticus in D litteræ similitudinem circumactæ— ante porticum, xystus concisus in plurimas species, distinctusque buxo. Inter has, marmoreo labro aqua exundat.-Cavato lapide

-porticos where the statues stood free on the pavement between columns proportioned to their stature; saloons which were not stocked, but embellished with families of allied statues, and seemed full without a crowd."

This villa was plundered of all its costly marbles by the French revolutionary forces, in pitiful revenge for the resistance which its possessor had opposed to their unprincipled aggression. It is said that no less than two hundred and ninety-four pieces of ancient sculpture had been conveyed by these marauders to the banks of the Tiber, ready to be shipped for Paris. Some of them, were, however, ransomed at the time, others have since been brought back; and the Villa Albani still boasts a larger and finer assemblage of ancient sculpture, than, perhaps, any other private collection in the world.

In the vestibule stand a variety of imperial busts and statues, together with several admired Caryatides*.

suscipitur, gracili marmore continetur, et ita occulta temperatur, ut impleat nec redundet." Such were the objects which this villa seems to have copied from Pliny's.

* Male figures, as we learn from Vitruvius, when placed as columns, were denominated Telamones or Atlantes. According to the same writer, female figures, when used for the same purpose, were styled Caryatides; and the following is the way in which he accounts for the term. At the time of the Persian invasion, Carya, a city of Peloponnesus, took part with the enemy; after whose expulsion, the Greeks destroyed the city, and put all the male inhabitants to the sword. The women, though reduced to slavery, were forced to retain the robes and ornaments of matrons, as a memorial of their infamy. From this circumstance, architects took to representing female figures in the act of supporting great burdens; in order that

Among the curiosities of the rooms may be seen a Canopus in basalt, supposed to be a Roman imitation of the Serapis, worshipped in the form of a jar-a Diana Multimammia—a singular relievo of Diogenes in an amphora —and an Apollo Sauroctonos, according to Winckelmann, that identical work of Praxiteles recorded by Pliny, and certainly one of the finest bronze statues that has come down to us. It was found entire on the Aventine Hill, but the trunk of the tree and the lizard are wanting.

Among the beautiful relievos of this villa, the most beautiful is the Antinoüs, now placed over the mantelpiece of one of the smaller apartments. It is only a halflength; and the face, which is seen nearly in profile, is strongly marked with that pensive, downcast expression peculiar to the Antinous. This relic is supposed to have formed part of a relievo representing the apotheosis of Antinous: the head is encircled with a wreath of flowers: the right hand sustains the drapery; and the left, in which the restorer has placed a garland, may, it is thought, have held the reins. "As fresh as if it had but just come from the sculptor's hands, this work," (says Winckelmann, whose history of art, projected during his residence in this very villa, continually brings its treasures into view), "next to the Apollo and the Laocoön, is perhaps the most beautiful monument of antiquity that time has transmitted to us."

Of this splendid collection-for besides the statues

the name and the posture might transmit the story of Carya to the latest posterity.-Vitruv. l. vi. 10, and 1. i. 1.

and relievos, there are also vases of exquisite workmanship, together with mosaics, and cameos, and columns of the rarest marbles-a great proportion belonged to Hadrian's Tiburtine Villa-a mine which the researches and thefts of ages have not yet exhausted.

A Parnassus by Mengs, on one of the ceilings of the Villa Albani, ranks, in the opinion of Lanzi, among the three most successful efforts of that artist to be seen at Rome.

VILLA LODOVISI.-This extensive villa, situated within the city walls, is said to include a part of Sallust's gardens, as well as the spot from whence, according to the fiction, Romulus ascended into heaven. It consists of three casinos, filled with antiques; but the most attractive objects are the two groups, of which connoisseurs have hardly yet been able to determine the subjects. The first, which, according to the inscription, is the work of Menelaus, a Grecian sculptor, has been variously denominated the Phædra and Hippolytus, the Electra and Orestes, and the Papirius and his Mother; the other is more generally styled the Pætus and Arria.

In the Papirius and his Mother-for the popular name is Roman, although the sculptor's is Greek"the Papirius," says Forsyth, "affords great play to the fancy of critics. In this expressive figure, they find all the ingenuousness of a sprightly boy, blended with a cunning assumed for the occasion: they see secrecy concealed under open manners, and a titter lurking under affected seriousness. But the ancient artists seldom

aimed at mixed passion*; they knew practically the limited powers of art; they were content to bring forth one strong sentiment, and left to us the amusement of analyzing that one into fifty."

In the group called Pætus and Arria, the ferocity of the male figure is hardly consistent with the character of Pætus. Winckelmann thinks him the guard who slew both Canace and himself; but Forsyth is of opinion that he looks still too fierce for so sentimental a cut-throat. Where there is so much room for conjecture, every antiquary has a right to advance his own hypothesis. Accordingly, we are told by Fea that the group probably represents the Theban Hæmon, who killed himself in despair while sustaining in his arms Antigone, of whom he was passionately enamoured, and whom Creon, his father, had caused to be put to death:

Quid? Non Antigones tumulo Bootius Hæmon

Conruit ipse suo saucius ense latus;

Et sua cum miseræ permiscuit ossa puellæ,

Quâ sine Thebanam noluit ire domum?-PROP. 1. ii. 335.

On the ceiling of another casino is the Aurora of Guercino. This work, which is detailed into compartments, may, compared with Guido's Aurora, be charac

Euphranor's statue of Paris is said by Pliny to have expressed three characters at once- "Judex dearum, amator Helenæ, et tamen Achillis interfector." But Pliny is a bad authority in the history, and no authority at all in the criticism, of the fine arts. On this point a late statuary flatly contradicts him, and declares the thing to be impossible.-Forsyth.