30 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



a boy of seventeen his mind leapt out with, very remark- 

 able force to meet whatever he saw that was wonderful 

 in nature or great in history. That one so keenly 

 appreciated day at Pompeii as a lesson in Roman manners 

 and customs was to an eye observant as his worth several 

 winters poring over Roman antiquities. And on one 

 more or less familiar with the Roman poets the days he 

 wandered over the Sabine hills and Vale of Horace, or 

 visited first the tomb, then the birthplace of Virgil, 

 impressed the spirit of their poetry more powerfully 

 than several sessions in the best taught Latin class in 

 any University would have done. Nor was he, as his 

 journals show, less open to impressions from the 

 mediaeval and modern aspect of Italy. On the home- 

 ward route there are some very characteristic entries. 



* MANTUA, June 9th. 



'The town has a fine appearance on entrance, yet 

 nothing which can exactly satisfy the poet or gratify the 

 curious traveller full of recollections of the master mind 

 who immortalized his birthplace, " Mantua me genuit." 

 I regretted that I overlooked visiting the ancient head of 

 Virgil, fondly cherished as original, which has been 

 restored by the French, and is here preserved. With 

 regard to the place of his birth, universal tradition has 

 assigned it to the modern Pictole, and Dante, who from 

 his early date ought to have been well informed, counte- 

 nances this opinion. But Eustace is disposed from a con- 

 sideration of localities to give the honour to Vallagio. In 

 such a state of uncertainty as to what concerns the great 

 man, we find little which can be called tangible to rouse 



' O 



our recollections. The most pleasing way of supplying 

 them is by the perusal of his works, that monument 

 which will endure as long as any work of human fancy, 

 or while a spark of civilization remains to be cultivated. 

 I, who have lately perused his works and recited his last 

 verses over the moss-grown ruins of his tomb, now over 

 his favourite plains and among his hallowed groves, 



