When seen and sketched by the writer, not a ship or boat lay on the noble bay, and there was scarcely a sign of life on the land. Cicero's tomb (if tradition may be trusted) is one of the large square masses of brick-work, overgrown with ivy, which stand near the road beyond the hotel; for on his way to Gaeta was the great Roman orator assassinated, by command of the treacherous Octavius. An old Latin itinerary of Italy gives several pages to the history and description of Gaeta, which was considered an almost impregnable fortress two centuries ago, being a peninsula connected with the mainland only by a fortified bridge, and having many forts and batteries. We translate the following account of Gaeta with abridgments, from a celebrated work, "The History of Naples from 1734 to 1835," by General Pietro Colleta: The first walls of this city were raised by the Trojans, according to ancient tradition; and Æneas named it after his nurse, Caieta, who was buried there. It soon increased and was extended. Alfonzo, of Aragon, erected a castle; Charles V. inclosed the city with fortified walls, and succeeding kings added new defensive works. In 1734, it was besieged by the Spaniards, and was then almost as it is now. It is situated on a promontory, at the end of a low isthmus of the Tirrenian sea, the descent to which is very abrupt. The isthmus extends, in a narrow plain, to the mountains of Castellona and Itri. On the summit of Gaeta is the very ancient tower of Orlando. The walls of the fortress follow the declivities of the ground, and present bastions, curtains and angles defending every point, modern science being brought into use, as far as the nature of the ground would permit. On the land side is a second inclosure within the first, with two fosses, two covered ways, and several parade grounds. The citadel is called the Castle of Alfonzo. The Duke of Liria besieged the place with 16,000 Spaniards, well provided with ships of war, arms, machines and supplies, when it was defended by 1,000 Germans and 500 Neapolitans of the battalion formed by the Duke of Montaleone. Trenches were soon opened, and approaches made, by covered ways, toward the wall, while several cannon and mortar batteries were raised, to batter the citadel, and reply to the guns of the fortress. The Duke of Montemar and Charles V. joined the besiegers, pressed the siege, and, after some delay, the place was surrendered, after small loss on both sides. Only Capua then remained bearing the standard of Cæsar; the Count de Traun commanding the Germans, and Count Marsillac the Spaniards, who had been, as on previous occasions, friends, enemies, and prisoners to one another, often disappointed by ill-fortune, but always with benevolent hearts. The preceding facts we have abridged from the first volume of Colleta's history.