which we found to consist of a wall faced with blocks of marble, and reaching nearly across it in the opposite direction, our guide, in spite of all our entreaty, determined to ascend. We could learn nothing of the mode by which the water finds entrance; most likely by some underground course, and obtains egress in a similar manner. We at length reached the staircase, and, much against our will, were compelled to leave this wonderful cistern, which we would gladly still further have explored."

THE AMPHITHEATRE OF VERONA.

MODERN Italy abounds in relics of antiquity-memorials, more or less entire, of a time when she was mistress of the world. Now, oppressed by foreign intruders, and degraded by native superstition, her children seek for consolation by turning to the glories of their ancestors, and thirst for the time when their beautiful country may again take her proper station amidst the nations of Europe. The Roman, as he treads the ruins of the Forum, listens in fancy to the eloquence of Cicero; he paces the gigantic round of the Coliseum, and its now ruined and deserted walls appear to his fervid imagination crowded with the myriads eager to

witness the contests of wild beasts, or the dying struggles of

the gladiator.

The lively Neapolitan descends to the buried remains of Herculaneum and Pompeii, where are brought visibly before him the domestic manners of his ancestors: he sees the preparations for the meal that was never tasted; he visits the dungeon of the prisoner whose doom was pronounced by no mortal judge; and his thoughtless levity is for a while sobered by the thought that the fires of Vesuvius are yet unquenched, and that his own bright city may one day share the fate of those before him, and like them, after centuries of burial, be restored to the wonder and curiosity of some later age.

The glory of Verona is its amphitheatre, which is one of the most striking relics of the grandeur of the ancient Romans. The time of its erection cannot be accurately ascertained, as there is no inscription remaining on its walls to guide the decision of the antiquary; nor has it been referred to by any classical writer whose works have