ed with tolerable care and delicacy, will employ eight artifts for the space of two years. The ftuds of the several colours lie ready before the artist in cases, as the letters are • laid before the compositors in a printing-house; and fuch is their accuracy in imitating the finest ftrokes of the pencil, that the only apparent difference betwixt the original painting and such a copy, is, that the latter has a much finer luftre and the colours are more vivid, All the altar-pieces in St. Peter's church are to be done in mofaic work; feveral popes, in imitation of Innocent XII, having left proper funds, by will, for that purpofe, which, by private legacies that are daily given, are continually augmenting. Under Benedict XIII. only three altar-pieces were executed in mosaic; the cathedral at Benevento being the favourite object of his ❝ munificence. The cutting of the glass after fufion is performed on the top of St. Peter's church, and the work or the arranging and fixing of the ftuds is carried on in an edifice for that pur• pose behind the church. The ftuds used in the old mosaic works are very large, and often covered either with filver or gold. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, at the fame time that Giovanni Cimabue a Florentine (who was • born in 1240, and died in the year 1300) had begun the re* ftoration of painting by his improvements in defign, Andrea Taffi, his countryman, brought the mosaic work into greater vogue; having learned the art from Apollonius a Greek, ' who had given admirable specimens of his skill at St. Mark's church at Venice: he likewife taught him the method of enamelling, and especially of preparing gems and vitreous compofitions for mofaic work. This curious art has been greatly improved during these laft two centuries, as may be seen by the coarse works of the • old small cupola's in St. Peter's, where the studs are made of burnt clay, and varnished with several colours on the surface only; but they are gradually taken away to make room for the finer work of later times. The modern mofaic must be alfo diftinguished from the Florentine work, which confifts of sparks and gems and small pieces of the finest marble, fet together in imitation of • birds, birds, flowers, &c. as a cabinet-maker inlays a table or cabinet with variety of figures in wood of different colours; hence it is called Pietre pretiofe commeffe." The famous Rotonda or Pantheon is thus defcribed by our author. The Rotonda, fo called from its figure, has withstood the injuries of time beyond any structure of ancient Rome. It feems ftrange that neither this remarkable temple, M. Aurelius's pillar, Adrian's Mausoleum, nor Severus's Septizonium, are to be met with on any ancient Roman medal, This ⚫ edifice was firft dedicated by M. Agrippa to Jupiter Ulter, or the avenger, and afterwards to all the deities, celestial, terreftial, and infernal; hence it was called Pantheon. Some • authors affirm, that the roof was at firft covered with filver, which they say was stripped off by the foldiery in tumultuous times; and that its moft valuable ftatues and other ornaments were carried away by Conftantius to Conftantinople. However, in the time of pope Urban VIII, there ftill remained a vast quantity of brafs about it; but that pope had it melted down for the fuperb altar in the cathedral of St. • Peter; and fome pieces of cannon for the caftle of St. Angelo. How he came to fpare the large bronze gates, which are eighteen feet four inches broad and thirty-fix feet high, is fomething extraordinaay, as he had a fair pretence for removing them on account of their difproportion to the building; they being, in all appearance, at firft defigned for fome other edifice. On this occafion Pafquin obferved, • Quod non fecerunt Barbari Romæ, fecit Barbarini, “That "Barbarini dealt worfe with Rome than ever the Barbarians "did.". Over the door within this edifice is the following • infcription: "Pantheon, "Edificium toto terrarum orbe "Ab Agrippa Augufti genero "Impie Jovi, ceterifque mendacibus Diis, "Vrbanus VIII. Pont. Max. • Binis "Binis ad campani æris ufum "Et nova contignatione munivit "The Pantheon, a ftructure celebrated throughout the "whole world, firft profanely dedicated to Jupiter and all the ❝false gods, by Agrippa, fon-in-law to the emperor Augustus, "and afterwards pioufly confecrated to the mother of God, " and the holy Chriftian martyrs, by pope Boniface IIII. is now "adorned with two towers, &c. at the expence of pope Ur❝ ban VIII. in the year of Christ 1632, and the ninth of his " pontificate." ⚫ The nitches ftill remaining fhew, that this temple formerly 'contained the ftatues of the gods; and from Pliny, lib. ix. c. 35. it appears, that the ftatue of Venus, in the Pantheon, • had a pair of ear-rings made of the pearls that Cleopatra had fpared at her extravagant entertainment with Mark Anthony. It was an impracticable thing to build a temple that could contain all the gods worshipped by the Romans, as they were several thousands in number; but temples dedi'cated to more than one god were called Pantheons. On the right-hand, before the entrance of the Rotonda (which is its • present name) according to Dio, lib. xxxv. ftood an image • of Auguftus, and on the left that of Agrippa. The outfide is entirely of Tivoli free-ftone, and within it is incrufted ⚫ with marble. The roof of the Pantheon is a round dome, without pil<lars or windows, the diameter of which is 72 common paces: 'this agrees with 144 feet, or 218 palmi, as it is computed by others. Some reckon the diameter within to be 132 ⚫ feet, exclufive of the wall, which is eighteen feet thick: this ⚫ diameter, however, exceeds the height, which is ascended by a ftair-cafe of 190 fteps. This church, though it has no windows, but only a round aperture 37 in diameter in • the center of the dome, is very light in every part. The • pavement is made of large fquare ftones and porphyry, floping all round towards the center, where the rain water falling down through the aperture at the top of the dome, is conveyed away by a proper drain, covered with a stone full of holes.' We We have lately been inform'd, by an article from Rome in the public papers, that this ancient and noble ftructure is fallen in, our quotation of this paffage may therefore seem more neceffary, at this juncture, as the Pantheon may probably never be feen again as described by Mr. Keysler. Under Raphael's bufto in the Rotonda are the following lines: "Ut videant Pofteriores decus & venuftatem, "In tumulo fpirantem ex marmore vultum "Tam eximii Viri memoriam veneratus, "P. Anno MDCLXXIV. "That pofterity may not be ftrangers to the comely and grateful mien of Raphael d'Urbino, the prince of painters, "whose skill and divine genius they fo much admire in his "works; and that a perpetual pattern of and incitement to "virtue might be here exhibited, Carlo Maratti, who revered "the memory of fo great a man, fet up this resemblance of him in breathing marble, in the year 1674." The palaces in Rome are defcribed by Mr. Keyfler in alphabetical order, that the traveller who carries the book with him, (and he cannot carry one more useful) may the more readily recur to any of them. The following anecdotes, felected from feveral parts of this volume, may, perhaps, not be unentertaining to our readers, There is fomething very pretty in the compliment paid to Innocent XII. in one of the apartments of the Curia Innocenziana, or court of justice, on the ground-floor of which is this infcription: "Doft thou wonder, ftranger, at this magnificent habitation of Aftræa? Know, that it has a much nobler dwel* ling, the fovereign's heart." There is no better money (Jays Keyfler) both for weight and standard, than the papal coins; but I was particularly pleafed with the moral hints in the legends of the Paoli and Half-Paoli. As for example: • Qui dat pauperi non indigebit. He that giveth to the poor • fhall never want. In fudore vultus tui. In the fweat of thy brows. • Non Cor apponite. Set not thy heart upon it. • Non concupifces argentum. Covet not money. Delicta operit charitas. Charity covers a multitude of fins. "Da ne noceat. Give, left it should prove hurtful to thee. • Si affluant nolite cor apponere. If they abound, set not thy heart upon them. Confervatæ pereunt. They perish with keeping. Da & accipe. Give, that thou mayft receive. Inopiæ fit fupplementum. Let it be a relief to indigence. Elevat Pauperem. It exalts the low. Date & dabitur. Give, and it fhall be given unto you. • Prudentia pretiofior eft argento. Prudence is more valuable ⚫ than filver. • Solatium miferis. The folace of the afflicted. Nocet minùs. Satis ad nocendum. It hurts less. Sufficient < to do hurt. "The Benedetti Villa, near the Porta di S. Pancratio, was built by the Abbé Elpidio Benedetti, agent for the crown of • France. In this Villa, both the infide and outside of these ⚫ walls are covered with proverbs and moral fentences. In the • first gallery, even with the ground floor, are the pictures of • French and Italian ladies, namely, the countefs Laura Marefchotti, Mefdames Colonna, Montefpan, and Valiere: how◄ever, the inscriptions in this gallery are all pointed against the fair-fex. Of thefe the following may ferve as a spe• cimen : "La |