In the same valley almost hidden with the luxuriant ivy waving before the entrance, flows the lovely _Fountain of Egeria_, trickling as clear and musical into its pebbly bed as when visited by the enamored successor of Romulus twenty-five centuries ago! The hill above leans upon the single arch of the small temple which embosoms it, and the green soft meadow spreads away from the floor, with the brightest verdure conceivable. We wound around by a half-worn path in descending the hill, and, putting aside the long branches of ivy, entered an antique chamber, sprinkled with quivering spots of sunshine, at the extremity of which, upon a kind of altar, lay the broken and defaced statue of the nymph. The fountain poured from beneath in two streams as clear as crystal. In the sides of the temple were six empty niches, through one of which stole, from a cleft in the wall, a little stream, which wandered from its way. Flowers, pale with growing in the shade, sprang from the edges of the rivulet as it found its way out, the small creepers, dripping with moisture, hung out from between the diamond-shaped stones of the roof, the air was refreshingly cool, and the leafy door at the entrance, seen against the sky, looked of a transparent green, as vivid as emerald. No fancy could create a sweeter spot. The fountain and the inspiration it breathed into Childe Harold are worthy of each other. Just above the fountain, on the crest of a hill, stands a thick grove, supposed to occupy the place of the consecrated wood, in which Numa met the nymph. It is dark with shadow, and full of birds, and might afford a fitting retreat for meditation to another king and lawgiver. The fields about it are so thickly studded with flowers, that you cannot step without crushing them, and the whole neighborhood seems a favorite of nature. The rich banker, Torlonia, has bought this and several other classic spots about Rome--possessions for which he is more to be envied than for his purchased dukedom. All the travelling world assembles at Rome for the ceremonies of the holy week. Naples, Florence, and Pisa, send their hundreds of annual visitors, and the hotels and palaces are crowded with strangers of every nation and rank. It would be difficult to imagine a gayer or busier place than this usually sombre city has become within a few days. LETTER LVIII. PALM SUNDAY--SISTINE CHAPEL--ENTRANCE OF THE POPE--THE CHOIR--THE POPE ON HIS THRONE--PRESENTING THE PALMS--PROCESSION--BISHOP ENGLAND'S LECTURE--HOLY TUESDAY--THE MISERERE--ACCIDENTS IN THE CROWD--TENEBRÆ--THE EMBLEMATIC CANDLES--HOLY THURSDAY--FRESCOES OF MICHAEL ANGELO--"CREATION OF EVE"--"LOT INTOXICATED"--DELPHIC SYBIL--POPE WASHING PILGRIMS' FEET--STRIKING RESEMBLANCE OF ONE TO JUDAS--POPE AND CARDINALS WAITING UPON PILGRIMS AT DINNER.