I shall follow up the above anecdote, with an account of another occurrence of the same nature, that took place about this time. A French ship of war having put into Civita Vecchia, the captain, with his surgeon and another officer, engaged a carriage to take them to Rome; at one o’clock they stopped to dine at a small village, and set off again at three; soon after this they all fell into a sleep, from which they were roused by four peasant-like fellows, armed with muskets, who made them get out of the coach, and lie on the ground upon their faces, one man standing sentry over each officer, while the fourth plundered the carriage; while this was proceeding, the captain ventured to propose to his companions, in French, which the banditti did not understand, that each should spring up, at a signal, and seize his guard by surprise, expressing his belief that he could overpower his man before the one from the coach could get to assist him, in which case he should be ready for his reception; the proposal was acceded to; the word given, and the attack made; after a severe struggle they succeeded in disarming the whole four, who scampered off, the Frenchmen firing after them in their retreat, and wounding one of them; they then entered Rome with the captured muskets in triumph. On the following day, after delivering letters and arranging some private business, I visited Monte Cavallo, so named from two colossal statues representing Castor and Pollux, each holding a horse. The figures of these gods are remarkably fine antiques, the one supposed to be the production of Phidias, the other of Praxiteles, and once adorned Athens. The horses are very inferior, and of modern workmanship. Afterward I returned to dinner at my hotel, and had the pleasure of meeting there Count K⸺, whom I had known at Nice. Two English ladies also dined to-day at our table d’hôte; and some American naval officers belonging to the Peacock sloop, who had been cruizing off the coast of Barbary; these gentlemen, from the similarity of their uniform, were, by some of the English, mistaken for British officers. As I proposed to spend at least a month in Rome, and found the bustle of an hotel unpleasant, Dr. Clark did me the favour to procure me comfortable lodgings in the Piazza di Spagnia, and within a very short distance of his own residence. I cannot too strongly acknowledge the kindness of this gentleman and his lady, during my residence in this city. On Wednesday, the fourth of April, I began, in company with two friends, to examine the remains of antiquity which abound in this city. We first directed our steps to Trajan’s pillar, in our way to which we passed a parade of his holiness’s soldiers; they were fine bodied men, but their state of discipline evidenced the degeneracy of the warriors of modern Rome.