xxiv PREFACE. 



remember that the road Appius Claudius, the Censor, con- 

 structed, B.C. 312, was not even then the orighial road. 



It must have been by this road that the Romans travelled 

 to and from Pompeii. I have frequently ridden and driven 

 over it when staying in Rome; in fact, if I remember right, 

 the meets of the Roman fox-hounds used often to be held 

 upon this road, the antiquity of which is most astonishing, 

 when we consider that even dating it from the time of Appius 

 Claudius, it is 2,200 years old. It seems, therefore, a sacrilege 

 to indulge in such a modern sport as fox-hunting upon 

 ground which, being classical, should be esteemed as sacred ; 

 but hunting was forbidden on a very different pretext, since 

 Mr. Murray's Guide Book to Rome, published in 1862, says 

 that, " hunting in the Campagna was prohibited in conse- 

 quence of a deputation from certain ladies of the Roman 

 aristocracy to his Holiness the Pope, asking him to forbid 

 the sport, for fear their sons and husbands might break their 

 necks. ^^ If such was the case, it proves beyond doubt that 

 the character of the Roman people has sadly degenerated of 

 late years. Where now is the courage and self-sacrifice of 

 the Roman mother? Such timidity is enough to make the 

 heroes and heroines of ancient Rome, after carefully collecting 

 their ashes and piecing them together, rise from their graves 

 to expostulate with these timid and weak-minded matrons 

 who have thus brought into contempt the character of the 

 Roman citizen. I am told that the jerry builder has now 

 established himself in Rome, and that he is erecting his 

 buildings even in the vicinity of the splendid old palaces, 

 building on the economical and short lasting principle that 

 would even in brick and mortar loving England be con- 

 demned as unfit for human habitation. This is another 

 proof of Rome's degeneration, although in these later days it 

 has become the seat of the constitutional government of 

 United Italy. 



In writing on these subjects I am not forgetful of the fact 

 that very many coachmen of birth and education have 

 no inclination for study of any kind ; that, although ex- 



