_Capitol._--In the court there are many fragments of statues. A statue of _Julius Cæsar_ in the military dress. A group of a lion devouring a horse; the flesh appears in the act of being drawn by the teeth of the lion from the ribs. The countenance of the horse is deficient; it does not express the anguish he should feel. A beautiful bronze statue of the _Boy picking out the thorn in his foot_; a simple action, very justly expressed. _The Wolf belonging to the Capitol_, which Cicero mentions among the ominous portents as being struck by lightning when the Republic was in danger. The traces are still visible of the lightning upon it. _Hecuba_, very fine, the exact portrait of a withered scold.... A fine collection of pictures. ‘The Sibyll,’ of _Guercino_, the composition is not simple, the drapery clumsy. ‘Fortune,’ by _Guido_, pretty subject, prettily treated, the colouring very feeble. ‘St. Sebastian,’ by the same, and with the same defect; the countenance placid and beautiful. An old witch, by _Salvator Rosa_, which might be mistaken for a portrait of Lady Knight.[47] In all the collections much escapes me, as I am always accompanied by one whose impetuosity compels me to hasten from objects I would willingly contemplate, and whose violence of temper throws me into agitations that prevent me distinguishing the objects when they are before me. Much as I endure now, yet it is infinitely more bearable than formerly; experience and a better knowledge of the world makes me laugh at menaces that used to terrify me out of my senses. These threats have been again and again held out; they follow the slightest difference of opinion between us. The present reigning grievance is the being from home, and my determined love for being abroad. The truth is I suspect some great derangement in his affairs, as his means are not proportioned to his expenses. Lady Palmerston, who abhors him and sees his conduct to me, is remarkable for speaking well, even to a fault, of everybody; she says that there are three people in the world who prove that the common saying of, ‘None are so bad but have some portion of good,’ is not true. The charming trio are Mrs. North, Duchess of Marlborough, and Sir G. Webster. [Sidenote: TIVOLI] I set off alone with old Morrison to see Tivoli. I was to join Ly. Bessborough, etc., there. Saw the ruins of Zenobia’s villa; Adrian’s villa, which must have been the grandest work in his dominions; the Temple of Vesta, which is in the garden of the inn; the cavern of Neptune. In the morning early I set off upon a _somarello_ to see the Cascatelle. The villa of Mæcenas is a picturesque object above them, but the present Pope is doing all to destroy it, as it is to be converted into a gunpowder manufactory. A beautiful group of cypresses in the gardens of Este. I have omitted making notes of _more_ than half the things I saw, Pantheon, Castle of St. Angelo, etc., etc., without end.