IN THE

NINETEENTH CENTURY ;

CONTAINING

A COMPLETE ACCOUNT

OF

THE RUINS OF THE ANCIENT CITY, THE REMAINS OF THE MIDDLE AGES,
AND THE MONUMENTS OF MODERN TIMES.

WITH

REMARKS

ON THE FINE ARTS, ON THE STATE of society,
AND ON THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS,
OF THE MODERN ROMANS."

KK

PREFACE.

SOME apology, or rather some explanation, seems now to be necessary, in offering to the public any book of travels whatsoever,

Every part of the known world has of late been so assiduously explored, and so industriously described, that every man ought to be nearly as well acquainted with the remotest regions of the earth as with the boundaries of his native parish; and many persons are actually better informed about any other country than their own. But in describing Rome, which has been already described so often, such an explanation seems to be more imperatively called for ; yet, paradoxical as it may appear, it is the want of a good account of Rome that has induced the Author of these Letters to attempt, in some degree, to supply the deficiency, by their publication, For, among all the manifold descriptions that have appeared, I do not hesitate to say, there is b

VOL. I.