Tower of Capitol best Site for studying Topography of Rome--Resemblance in the Sites of great Cities--Site of Rome--Campagna di Roma--Its Extent and Boundaries--Ancient Fertility and Magnificence--Modern Desolation of Campagna--Approach to Rome from the North--Etruria--Solitariness of this once famous Highway--First Sight of Rome--The Flaminian Way--The Porta del Popolo--The Piazza del Popolo--Its Antiquities--Pincian Hill--General Plan of Rome--The Corso--The Via Ripetta--The Via Babuina--Population--Disproportionate Numbers of Priests--Variety of Ecclesiastical Costumes--Dresses of the various Orders--Their indescribably Filthy Appearance--The ordinary Priest--The Priest's Face--The Beggars--Want of Arrangement in its Edifices--Rome an unrivalled Combination of Grandeur and Dirt. One of my first days in Rome was passed on the top of the tower of the Capitol. It is incomparably the best spot on which to study the topography of the Eternal City, with that of the surrounding region. Here one stands between the living and the dead,--between the city of the Caesars, which lies entombed on the Seven Hills, with the vine, the ivy, and the jessamine mantling its grave, and the city of the Popes, spread out with its cupolas, and towers, and everlasting chimes, on the low flat plain of the Campus Martius. The world has not such another ruin,--so vast, colossal, and magnificent,--as Rome. Let us sketch the features of the scene as they here present themselves.