Proceeding along the Corso, we find an immense building that nobody admires, the Palazzo Doria; nor are the rooms within handsome, but the collection of paintings is very fine. The beauty of the Sciarra Palace is much injured by its admired doorway, which is neither good in itself, nor at all suited to its place. In other respects the general distribution of the building is fine, and the parts are well proportioned. Internally, there is a collection of paintings, not large, at least compared with many others at Rome, but exceedingly beautiful. On the upper floor are two fine apartments, decorated in perhaps rather a _thin_ taste, yet on the whole, very elegant. The last room of the principal suite presents the idea of a frame work of gold covered with drapery. It certainly cannot vie with the magnificence of regular architecture, yet it forms an agreeable, and elegant variety, in a suite where the general character is rather that of grace and lightness, than of solidity. After leaving this we may walk to Monte Citorio, an elevation only of a few feet, which would hardly be observed, unless the name attracted attention. It is said to be produced by the ruins of the Theatre of Statilius Taurus. On the top is a large building called by the same name, containing the courts of justice. The convexity of the front is injurious to its effect. The architect has left, or rather made, some of the window-sills at the extremes of the building, and some other parts, of large irregular masses of stone. I cannot comprehend his motive. In front of this building is the solar obelisk, which Augustus brought from Egypt, and fixed in the Campus Martius as the gnomon of a sundial. It was found buried and broken in 1748, but was not repaired and re-erected till 1789. The height of the obelisk itself is 68 feet, and it is better, because more simply mounted, than most others in Rome; indeed the pedestal seems to be the ancient Roman one, but the moderns could not be contented without adding a little metal at the top. I shall not take you to the Palazzo Ghigi to admire the external architecture, which has little merit except in size, or to see the collections, though there are some fine paintings, and some ancient statues restored by Canova, but to see some of the rooms themselves, which are very handsome. One in particular will be numbered among the handsomest rooms (of small dimensions) in Europe. It is 40 feet 9 inches long, 17 feet 9 inches wide, and about 28 feet high, with pilasters on a continued plinth, and a coved ceiling with arches above. The interpilasters are groined into the cove; the angles, both entering and salient, have bold wreaths of flowers; the mouldings, and ornaments of the centre panels, are white upon a buff ground. With this palace I conclude my letter, having brought you again into the neighbourhood of the Piazza di Spagna. Our next excursion must be to the Trastevere. LETTER XXXII.