304 TOUR THROUGH ITALY. [1804. 



Indeed all Pompeii and Herculaneum are thus sur- 

 veyed in the very best manner. Every portable thing 

 being brought away, every portion of the palace is 

 devoted to this superb purpose. The floors are all 

 made of ancient mosaic disposed exactly as found. 

 You find it in every form : small bits, two, three, or 

 four inches ; large pieces, figures, and blocks. In one 

 room are manuscripts unrolled, like burnt cylinders. 

 All sorts of antiques. All the cameos are still at 

 Palermo. 



Nov. 4. Set out from Naples on my way back to 

 Eome. 



Nov. 5. Left Capua, passed Terracina, and arrived 

 at Yeletri on the 6th. 



Nov. 7. Set off from Veletri after chocolate, and 

 arrived after dark at Albano, where breakfasted at a 

 Trattoria. The best bread imaginable, made in half- 

 pound rolls, each costing four bajocchi. On leaving 

 this finely-situated town, had a splendid view on 

 one side the sea, in front the great plain of the Cam- 

 pagna, stretching before us all the way to Rome, 

 which looked to be at no great distance. The town, 

 domes, palaces, and ruins, backed by the distant 

 Apennines, had the finest effect possible. The whole 

 plain covered with endless remains of aqueducts at 

 every step a ruin. Along the road, tombs and tem- 

 ples of all forms, then a ridge of earth, beyond which, 

 aqueducts as far as the eye can reach. Last of all, 

 Rome itself, as the ruins thicken. We enter by St 

 John Lateran, a beautiful piece of architecture, but 



