tions, supposed to be those of persons | estate arranged with taste and farmed descended from the ancient Etruscan with great skill, by one of the most family; but they seem to be mere intruders. The Typhon represented here is a winged figure, with folded arms, the lower extremities terminating in serpents. On the right wall is one of the most remarkable paintings at Tarquinii, a procession of souls with good and evil genii. Mrs. Gray has given a representation of this subject in her work, but it has greatly perished since her drawing was made. The evil genius is black, with his head wreathed with serpents; he holds an enormous hammer in one hand, and the other, which terminates in a claw, is fastened on the shoulder of a youth: a female figure, still bearing marks of great beauty, follows, attended by another evil genius with a serpent twined around his head.

About a mile from Corneto, at the upper. extremity of the valley, is an ancient circular temple, cut out of the solid rock and carved with pilasters and friezes containing figures of griffins. The roads leading from Corneto to Ponte dell' Abadia, the site of Vulci, and to Toscanella, the ancient Tuscania, are practicable only for a very light carriage; so that in this as in many other excursions in the neighbourhood of Rome, the traveller who visits the district on foot or on horseback will be much less impeded than those who are encumbered with a carriage unsuited to the nature of the ground. Those who cannot ride had better provide themselves with a light carriage at Civita Vecchia.

MUSIGNANO.

In proceeding from Corneto to Ponte dell' Abadia, the traveller should pay a visit to this interesting château, the property and favourite residence of Charles Lucien Buonaparte, the Prince of Canino. It is a drive of about four hours from Corneto. The château is a plain and unpretending building, and is not only remarkable for its museum of antiquities found on the site of Vulci, but is interesting as a specimen of an

distinguished men of science of our time. The collection of antiques differs from almost all the others which the stranger will have an opportunity of examining out of Rome, in the Egyptian character of the monuments it contains. Some of the finest vases and bronzes which have yet been discovered in any part of Etruria were formerly in the prince's museum, but he found it necessary to sell them, and they are now to be sought for in the British Museum, in Paris, and in Munich. Musignano was purchased by Lucien Buonaparte in the pontificate of Pius VII. and constitutes, with Canino, the joint principality from which he derives his title as a Roman prince.

PONTE DELL' ABADIA (VULCI), about three hours' drive beyond Musignano. The castle of Ponte dell' Abadia, a fine Gothic fortress of the middle ages, with towers and battlements, forms a picturesque object in the approach. It is situated on the precipitous banks of the Fiora, which is still spanned by the magnificent Etruscan bridge from which it derives its name. It consists of a single arch, about 115 feet in height, and is built of immense masses of tufa without cement, with a channel on one side of it to serve for the passage of an aqueduct. In the steep valley below it is a large cavern filled with stalactites. The fortress is still garrisoned by a few soldiers and custom-house officers, and is one of the frontier-stations on this side of the Papal States. There is no doubt that Ponte dell' Abadia occupies the site of ancient Vulci, a city destroyed by Titus Coruncanus after the fall of Tarquinii, but scarcely any remains are now visible. The most beautiful and elaborate specimens of Etruscan workmanship have been found here, and Micali has shewn that many of its vases are of Greek workmanship, and bear the artists' names, which are visible on the vases of Nola and Campania. On the opposite side of the

valley, immediately in front of the ture to traverse it. The journey occucastle, is the ancient Necropolis. A few miles inland, towards Toscanella, is the village of Canino, remarkable only for the excavations made there by Lucien Buonaparte. Farther north, and within the Tuscan frontier, near Orbetello, is Cosa, the only city of Etruria whose walls are built in the polygonal style which characterises Pelasgic architecture. The walls are more perfectly preserved than those of any other city of ancient Italy, and it is remarkable that the polygonal construction, in this instance, does not denote that high antiquity of which it is the sign in cities of Pelasgic origin; Cosa being a more recent Etruscan city than Cortona, Volterra, Tarquinii, and the other capitals in which the horizontal style is found in its greatest purity. This circumstance has given rise to much conjecture, and some antiquaries are disposed to consider that Cosa was originally a Pelasgic city, which the Etruscans subsequently colonized. It is supposed to have been occupied by the Etruscans as the port of Vulci in later times, it became the seat of a Roman colony planted there to keep the people of Vulci in subjection, after the second memorable overthrow at the lake Vadimon. In order to reach Toscanella, travellers will find it the best way to return to Corneto: on their way they may vary their route by visiting, near the road, at the distance of two miles from Ponte dell' Abadia, the singular tomb called the Cucumella. It consists of a mound of earth, which has been opened and found to contain one circular and one square tower, the whole of which was surrounded by a massive circle of masonry.

TOSCANELLA (TUSCANIA).

Before the traveller undertakes this excursion, he should endeavour to provide himself with introductions to some resident family at Toscanella, for there is no inn of any kind at which he may calculate on accommodation. The road is extremely bad, and nothing but a light carriage of the country can ven

pies from four to five hours, and is more easily performed on horseback than in any other way. Leaving Corneto, the road descends into the valley, winding round the base of the hill on which the town is built. It then enters on a dreary country, which offers no attraction except the pic. turesque turrets and battlemented walls of Toscanella, which burst upon the view almost immediately after we leave Corneto. A large chamber in the rock, near which the road passes between the two towns, supplied many antiquities to the British Museum. The foundation of Tuscania is attributed by some authorities to Ascanius, the son of Æneas, but its early history is involved in the general obscurity which hangs over so many cities of Etruria. The modern name is traced to the beginning of the fourteenth century, when Toscanella, from its commanding position on a hill overlooking the plain, was a place of considerable strength. Nothing can be imagined more picturesque than the appearance of the town, surrounded by its walls and towers, which carry the mind back to the middle ages, when it was one of the strongholds of Francesco Sforza, and sustained many a siege in the eventful struggles of that period. The antiquities of this spot have been thoroughly explored by Signor Campanari, a native, we believe, of Toscanella, who has the credit of being the first labourer in the field of Etruscan art who diffused a knowledge of it in England. Signor Campanari's resi dence is one of the most interesting in the town, and contains some valuable treasures discovered in the recent excavations: a tomb in his garden, built on the exact model of one he had brought to light, is well worth a visit. Opposite the town is the hill of the Tombs, which commands a noble view of the embattled walls of Toscanella, and of the higher hill beyond them crowned by the cathedral of San Pietro, a very interesting edifice in the earliest style of Italian Gothic, and attributed

INDEX.