86 GARDENS OF THE OUIRINAL, AND SOME STREET FOUNTAINS IN ROME. 
Benedict XIII. In February, 1730, a mass of marble for the statues was landed at Ripa 
Grande, and Domenica Fontana and other sculptors were at work upon them. In October, 
1732, they began to pull down the old fountain, and the Vatican archives are full of notes 
of progress and payments. What was meant to be the last sum was assigned in 
1735 for the central crown, but a little later another fifteen thousand crowns were given 
for the final decorations. Niccola Salvi died, old and paralysed, before the work was 
finished, which was not until 1762. It seems probable that he unearthed and modified the 
design of the great sei-cento artist, but we cannot credit him with an originality and 
decorative feeling which he displayed in nothing else. The design is, indeed, to some extent 
spoilt by alteration, for Prince Doria’s sketch is far more spirited. The god of the ocean is 
more majestic, the horses are more wild and graceful, and the existing fountain group looks 
cold and mannered bv contrast. It is curious that public opinion, without troubling itself to 
enquire, has always attributed the fountain to Bernini. 
Memoirs of the time relate how fond Alfieri the poet was of Trevi, and how he would come 
there at daybreak on a summer morning from his house near Diocletian's baths and sit on one 
of the low benches fashioned out of the rock, close to the water’s edge, and stay there dreaming 
and listening to the water, till the noise and bustle of the waking town drove him away. I low 
many people have stopped to drink of the water, half mocking at, half believing in, the 
superstition that says it will bring them back to Rome providing they cast a coin into the waters ? 
It is a spell that has little force in these days of easy travel, when a run to Italy for a few weeks 
is a thing of yearly occurrence. It was different in the days when it was one of the great 
events of a lifetime, and when comparatively few could hope to make the long and costly 
journey a second time. F. M- P 
'I'he Acqua Paula on the Janiculum is a fine architectural lountain facade whose sobriety is 
in marked contrast with many of the later works of the Renaissance period. It was constructed 
under Paul V in 1613 by Giovanni Fontana. The large scale assists in producing its imposing 
effect. 
The Quattro Fontana. —The old engraving reproduced shows a characteristic piece of street 
planning. The intersection of the Via Quattro Fontana and the Via del Quirinale provides a 
setting for four fountains planned on the canted corners. This idea has been the basis of many 
modern developments. A. i. B. 
