this species of magnificence, we may easily judge, when we consider that they had, undoubtedly, both the taste and the materials requisite for it. Their aqueducts, which supplied them with water, even to prodigality, still remain, striding across valleys, penetrating mountains, and sweeping over immense plains, till they meet in the heart of the city. The edifice where they united, and whence they separated to water their destined quarters, was called Castellum ; and if we may judge by that which remains (the Porta Maggiore) was generally a fabric of great solidity and magnificence ; and, as appears from the ruins of one discovered near the church of St. Ignatius, sometimes cased with marble and adorned with marble pillars. The number of these towers anciently, as well as of the towers springing from them, must have been prodigious, as Agrippa alone, if we may believe Pliny, erected one hundred and thirty of the former, and opened one hundred and five of the latter, and adorned them with three hundred brass and marble statues. The modern Romans, though inferior in numbers and opulence to their ancestors, have shown equal taste and spirit in this respect, and deserve a just eulogium, not only for having procured an abundance of water, but for the splendid and truly imperial style, in which it is poured forth for public use in the different quarters of the city. Almost every square has its fountains, and almost every fountain has some peculiarity in its size, form, or situation, to attract attention. The three princi- pal, however, will suffice to give the reader an idea of the variety and of the beauty of such edifices. " The Fontana Felice, in the Piazzi dei Termini, on the Viminal Mount deserves to be mentioned first, because first erected. It is supplied by the Aqua Claudia drawn from the Alban, or rather Tusculan hills, and conveyed to Rome by channels under, and aqueducts above, ground, some of which are ancient, and some modern. It discharges itself through a rock, under an Ionic arcade built of white stone, and faced with marbfe. It is adorned by several gigantic statues, the principal of which represents Moses striking the rock whence the water issues. On the one side, Aaron conducts the Israelites — on the other, Gideon leads his chosen soldiers to the brink of the torrent ; below, four lions, two of marble and two of basalt, ornamented with hieroglyphics, hang over the vast basin, as if in haste to slake their thirst. The restoration of this noble fountain, and the ornaments which grace it, are owing to the spirit of Sixtus Quintus, and it bears the name of Aqua Felice, and is supposed to be now, as anciently, peculiarly wholesome. Nearly opposite, but beyond the Tiber and on the brow of the Janiculum, rises an arcade supported by six pillars of granite. Three torrents rushing from the summit of the hill, tumble through PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 49 the three principal arches of this arcade, and fill an immense marble basin with the purest water. They then roll down the side of the mountain, turn several mills as they descend, and supply numberless reservoirs in the plain along the sides of the river, and even beyond it, in the Campus Martius. The lofty situation of this fountain, renders it a conspicuous object to all the opposite hills. The trees that line its sides, and wave to the eye through its arches, shed an unusual beauty around it ; and the immense basin which it replenishes, gives it the appearance, riot of the contrivance of human ingenuity, but almost the creation of enchantment. " In the Piazza di Trevi, (in Triviis) on a rough and broken rock, rises a palace, adorned with Corinthian pilasters, and supported in the centre by Corinthian pillars. It is ornamented with statues, representing the salubrity and fertilizing powers of the waters ; the beneficent Naiad herself, holds a conspicuous place among them, and seems to behold with complacency, the profusion of her springs. In the middle of the edifice, between the columns, under a rich arch, stands Neptune on his car, in a majestic attitude, as if commanding the rocks to open before, and the waters to swell around, him. Two sea- horses, conducted by two tritoris, drag the chariot of the god, and emerging from the caverns of the rock, shake the brine from their manes ; while the obedient waves burst forth in torrents from all sides, roar down the clefts of the crag, and form a sea around its base. In the heats of summer, they overflow their usual limits, fill the whole marble con- cavity round the fountain, and rise to a level with the square, where, after sunset, the inhabitants of the neighboring streets assemble,