76 SPRINGS, RIVERS, CANALS, LAKES, 



only spare bed-room he had to offer me, and between the books 

 and the bed you might set a chair, but not turn it) a set of Chaupy's 

 essays upon the antiquities of the place, which upon the spot were 

 interesting and particularly satisfactory, as they tended to confirm all 

 the reasons above stated, concerning the identity of the spot. 



During my stay with the arch-priest, I made several pilgrimages 

 to the most interesting spots in the neighbourhood, particularly to 

 the ruins of the restored Temple of Vacuna, which are now only 

 known to be such by the inscription before mentioned to have been 

 dug up there. 



As Horace says nothing more of the temple than that it was hi a 

 ruinous state, and that he wrote behind it. I had little more to 

 interest my imagination than to form to myself the landscape, such 

 as it probably presented itself to him at the time of writing, and 

 hope in some degree to communicate my idea of it to you by the 

 help of a rough sketch which I made upon thespot. 



Upon this excursion I was unexpectedly attended by two lads of 

 the village, whcbe curiosity appeared to be so strongly excited con- 

 cerning me, that I could not find in my heart to send them away J 

 particularly as from their sprightly naivete I could scarcely help fan* 

 eying them to be the lineal descendants of the vernce procaces (frolic 

 liiuds) whose sallies appear to have afforded pleasure even to the 

 mind of Horace. Upon our return we were overtaken by a smart 

 shower, which obliged us to take shelter in a hermitage near the 

 chapel of Madonna delle Case. The hermit was (as usual) an 

 ecclesiastic ; aud upon my putting some questions to him respecting 

 the salubrity of the situation, answered, we take gt reverendissima 

 cura della salute]*') (a most reverend care of our health :) This 

 reminded me so forcibly of Falstaff's advice to the Lord Chief 

 Justice, that I could not refrain from a smile, which I fear he thought 

 heretically sarcastic, as he immediately added, (crossing himself 

 very devoutly) " cioe primo della salute deli'anima, e poi di quella 

 dt I corpo," that is, " first of the soul's health, and afterwards that of 

 the body," , 



My visit to Fonte-bello, the source of the Digentia, that tumbles 

 down a rocky gill of the mountain Lucretilis, pleased me exceed- 

 ingly. I seemed to have found the original of the picture Horace 

 has given us in the 13th Ode of Book 3, to the Fountain of 

 Blaudusiae. 



A regard for the_truth obliges me to confess, that it has been 



