LETTER L 364 LETTER LI 384 LETTER LII 394 LETTER LIII 430 LETTER LIV 449 INDEX 473 FOOTNOTES [Illustration] MEMOIRS OF THE Baron de POLLNITZ. In SEVERAL LETTERS to Mr. _L. C. D. S._ LETTER XXVIII. _SIR_, _Rome, July 30, 1730._ Thus am I at length arrived at the famous City of ROME, that City which has been so long the Mistress of the World, and is still the Metropolis of _Europe_: But don’t expect I should give you a perfect Description of it, because that would require a Man better skilled in Architecture than I am. I shall only mention such things as to me appeared to be the most beautiful, or those which I thought the Reverse, and which yet the Ostentation of the _Italians_ cries up for the Wonders of the World. I shall make it my Business, to give you an Account of Things animate, much rather than those which are inanimate; the latter having been so well described, that all I could say to you upon that Head would be but a Repetition of what you have read a thousand times over. ROME is certainly one of the finest Cities in the World; but it is not now That ROME of which we read such pompous Accounts, it having scarce any Remains left of what it was in ancient Days. Notwithstanding this, it must be owned, that it has matchless and stately Structures. Nothing is equal to its Churches, its Fountains, and some of its Palaces. At one’s first Entrance thro’ the Gate _del Popoli_, a Foreigner cannot but be struck with Admiration, when he looks right before him, which methought resembled the grand Decoration of a Theatre; but when I cast my Eyes to the Right and Left, the Scene was quite different: I believed I was entring into a Village. This is a Riddle, which I will now endeavour to explain to you. When I looked strait before me, I immediately perceiv’d a Square of a triangular Form, at one Point whereof stands the Gate _del Popoli_, through which I entered, facing three very long Streets drawn to a Point, in the Shape of a Goose-foot. These Streets are separated by two Churches, the Fronts whereof are magnificent, and of regular Architecture. In the middle of the Square there’s a stately Obelisk, or Spire, of oriental Granate, which, according to the Inscription on the Pedestal, was raised by Pope _Sixtus_ V. At the foot of this Pyramid, on the Town-side, there’s a Fountain. All this together makes the Square a Beauty, and seemed to be worthy of ROME: What follows appear’d to me to have the Air of a Village. The first Thing one perceives at the Left-hand of the Square, is a Church consecrated to Our Lady, the Architecture of which is very plain; and on