R O M 



442 



RO M 



Romf. 



Modern 

 Palaces. 



upper stories are occupied by twenty different families, 

 and the duke and dutchess live in a corner of it. 



The great families, however, of Dona, Borghese, and 

 Colonna, are sufficiently wealthy to support their here- 

 ditary dignity ; and their palaces are filled with their 

 own families or dependants. We are told, however, 

 that butter is sold regularly at the Doria palace every 

 week. All the ancient palaces have in the entrance 

 hall a state crimson canopy, where the prince sits on 

 a throne, to hear the complaints and redress the griev- 

 ances of his vassals. 



The Doria palace has three vast fronts ; the staircase, 

 supported by pillars of oriental granite, conducts to a 

 magnificent gallery, occupying the four sides of a square 

 court, and containing one of the largest and the best 

 collection of paintings in Italy. 



The Colonna palace has the finest gallery, and the 

 best collection of pictures in Rome. The exterior of 

 the building is of indifferent architecture. The library 

 is spacious and well filled, and its great gallery, more 

 than 220 feet long, and 40 broad, is supported by Cor- 

 inthian pillars and pilasters of beautiful yellow marble, 

 and adorned on the sides and vaulted ceilings with 

 paintings and gildings intermingled. 



A part of the paintings and curiosities of the Palaz- 

 zo Barberini have been sole!, from the poverty of the 

 family. Another part of them at the Lucanni palace 

 form a very select collection. 



The Palazzo Borghese, one of the largest and hand- 

 somest in Rome, is now inhabited by Paolina, the sister 

 of Bonaparte and the wife of the prince Borghese, who 

 lives constantly at Florence. The edifice is superb, 

 and remarkable for its extent, its porticos, its granite 

 columns, and its paintings and statues. 



The other leading palaces in Rome are the P. Rus- 

 poli, remarkable for its staircase; the P. Orsini, found- 

 ed on the theatre of Marcellus ; the P. Giustiniani, 

 standing near Nero's baths, and adorned with the sta- 

 tues and columns extracted from them ; the P. Altieri, 

 adorned with the pictures of Claude Lorraine; the P. 

 Corsini, once the residence of Christina, queen of Swe- 

 den, remarkable for its fine library and collection of 

 prints ; the P. Farnese, of immense size and elevation, 

 and considered by some as the finest in Rome ; the P. 

 Falconieri, the residence of Cardinal Fesch ; the P. 

 Spada, containing the celebrated statue of Pompey, at 

 the foot of which Ceesar fell. 



Among the curiosities which delight strangers at 

 Rome, there are two exhibitions which require to be 

 noticed, viz. the exhibition of the luminous cross in St. 

 Peter's on the night of Good Friday, and the illumina- 

 tion of the dome of St. Peter's with the fire works 

 which are displayed at the annivei-sary of the festival 

 Thedis lay ^ ^' P eter - n tne night of Good Friday the 100 

 of the hum- l am P s ; tnat Durn over the tomb of the apostle, are ex- 

 tinguished, and a stupendous cross of light appears, sus- 

 pended from the dome between the altar and the nave. 

 This exhibition is said to have been invented by Mi- 

 chael Angelo. " The magnitude of the cross," says 

 Eustace, " hanging as if self-supported, and like a vast 



Rome, 



Home 



de I'lsle. 



nous cross. 



meteor streaming in theair the blaze thatit pours forth 

 the mixture of light and shade cast on the pillars, arches, 

 statues and altars the crowd of spectators placed in all 

 the different attitudes of curiosity , wonder, and de vot ion 

 the processions with their banners and crosses gliding 

 successively along the nave, and kneeling aiound the al- 

 tar, the penitents of all nations and dresses collected in 

 groups near the confessional of their respective langua- 

 ges; a cardinal occasionally advancing through the crowd, 

 and as he kneels, humbly bending his head to the pave- 

 ment ; in fine, the pontiff himself, without pomp or 

 pageantry, prostrate before the altar, offering up his 

 Adorations in silence, forms a scene singularly striking, 

 by a happy mixture of tranquillity and animation, 

 darkness and light, simplicity and majesty." The il- 

 lumination of St. Peter and the Girandola, and fire- tionofSt. 

 works from the castle of St. Angelo, which mark the Peter's, 

 festival of St. Peter, are allowed by all classes of spec- 

 tators to be one of the grandest sights that the eye can 

 witness. " The whole of this immense church," says the 

 author of Rome in the Nineteenth Century, tf its columns, 

 capitols, cornices, and pediments, the beautiful swell 

 of the lofty dome towering into heaven, the ribs con- 

 verging to one point at top, surmounted by the lantern 

 of the church and crowned by the cross, all were de- 

 signed in lines of fire, and the vast sweep of the circling 

 colonnades in every rib, line, mould, cornice, and co- 

 lumn, were resplendent in the same beautiful light. 

 While we were gazing on it, suddenly a bell chimed, 

 and the cross of fire at the top waved a brilliant light 

 as if wielded by some celestial hand, and instantly 

 10,000 globes and stars of vivid fire seemed to roll 

 spontaneously along the building as if by magic, and 

 self-kindled, it blazed in a moment into a dazzling flood 

 of glory. Viewed from the Querita de Monti it seemed 

 to be an enchanted palace hung in air, and called up 

 by the wand of some invisible spirit. The fireworks 

 from the castle of St. Angelo commenced by a tremen- 

 dous explosion, that represented the raging eruption of 

 a volcano. Red sheets of fire seemed to blaze upwards 

 into the glowing heavens, and then to pour down their 

 liquid streams upon the earth. Hundreds of immense 

 wheels turned round, letting fall thousands of hissing 

 dragons, and scorpions, and fiery snakes. Fountains and 

 jets of fire threw up their blazing cascades into the 

 skies, and the whole ended in a tremendous burst of 

 fire, that, while it lasted, almost seemed to threaten 

 conflagration to the world." The expence of the illu- 

 mination is 1000 crowns when repeated on two succes- 

 sive evenings, and 700 when exhibited once. Eighty 

 men are employed in the instantaneous illumination of 

 the lamps. 



The population of Rome, in the spring of 1821, a- Population, 

 mounted to 135,171 souls, and at the same season in 

 1822 it amounted to 136,085, being an increase of 914 

 persons. 



For the preceding description of modern Rome, we 

 have been indebted principally to Eustace's Tour 

 through Italy, Lond. 1813, vol. i. ; and to Rome in the 

 Nineteenth Century, Edin. 1820. 



Rome 

 de I'lsle. 



R O M 



ROME' DE L'ISLE, JOHN BAPTIST Louis, a cele- 

 brated French crystallogipher, was born at Gray, in 

 Franche-Comte, in 1736'. At a very early period of 

 his life he went to India, as secretary to a corps of engi- 

 neers. The period of his return is not known, but in 

 1757 he went a second time to the east, was taken pri- 

 soner at Pondicherry, and finally returned to Europe 



R O M 



in 1764, after a captivity of five years endurance. In Rome 

 176'6 he published a *' Letter to M. Bertrand, on Fresh de I'lsle. 

 Water Polypes," in which he considered the polypus ^^^y-* 

 as a tube for the reception of an infinity of small isolat- 

 ed animals. Having begun the study of natural histo- 

 ry, along with Le Sage, he directed his particular atten- 

 tion to mineralogy. His first work was a Catalogue 



