_The Vatican._--First court built by Bramante, reviver of architecture in Italy; the appearance too light. The museum is too extensive to detail, and one is so over-powered by the beauties of perfection that there is no leisure for accurate observation, especially the first six times of going. The _Laocoon_ is _terribly_ fine. Some have objected that he appears more occupied by his own sufferings than in those of his children, but the only expression is that of a man writhing in the last agonies of a painful death. It is one of the finest specimens of the Greek school whilst at its best, supposed about Alexander’s time. His pursuits in the East left Greece in peace, and the arts flourished. The _Apollo_ deserves its reputation. It was found at Hadrian’s villa at Antium. _The Nile_ with 16 boys, very fine. _Paris_, with a Phrygian bonnet on, reckoned very like _me_. There is in the gallery at Florence a bust of Livia which is reckoned to bear a most striking resemblance to _me_.[42]... [Sidenote: CARDINAL BERNIS] I dined with the Senator, upon the Capitol, in his palace. He is a Rezzonico, nephew to the late Pope. Papal nepotism is suspicious. He possesses a fine portrait of the late Pope,[43] done by Mengs; it will bear comparison with many of the old pictures. The gold-flowered curtain which forms the background is a _tour-de-force_ to show his skill in making a bad thing _not_ spoil a good one, but it offends the eye, and like most difficult things surprizes without pleasing. I went often to see old Bernis,[44] a veteran in the school of political intrigue and love. He is a phenomenon, for age has not impaired his faculties or misfortune subdued his liveliness. He lodges the Mesdames, aunts of the unfortunate Louis XVI. Madame Victoire[45] is so strikingly like him that it makes one start, and a paralytic affection, keeping her head perpetually moving, fills me with painful sensations. I declined going into any society, that my time might not be too much taken up, but I went occasionally to the Santa Croce’s. Prince Augustus, a pleasing young man, very like the Prince of Wales. Lady Augusta Murray had just ensnared him: she is reported to be with child.[46] The Royalists have got Nantes, it is said. My evening walks were delicious, wandering over the scenes of classical events. _Vatican._--Went to see the pictures. Loggia di Raphaello. History of Old and New Testament, executed by his scholars from his designs. ‘Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt, finely conceived: her whole figure is a dead white,’ which sufficiently tells the story. A _Dutch_ painter would have made her a _pillar of salt_.