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HE Via Appia! what visions of ruined tombs, fragments of sculpture, and of decaying human remains arise in the imagination of the traveler at the very mention of this name! This road was originally one of the most celebrated arteries of communication leading from the great capital of the Roman world. Through this the Roman legions passed to numerous conquests. It afforded communication not only with Southern Italy, but also with Greece and the more remote Eastern possessions of the empire. We read in the book of the Acts that when the apostle Paul visited Rome the brethren came out upon the Appian Way to meet him as far as the Three Taverns. Along the line of this road for the distance of many miles Roman tombs were placed; these were often compactly built, of various styles of architecture, forming a street of sepulchers. Some of these are of immense size, others moderate in their dimensions; a few have been identified by antiquaries; others present shapeless masses of brick and stone, about which are often thrown fragments of sculpture, empty sarcophagi, and blocks of marble. The Appian Way was commenced A. U. C. 442.

VOL. X.-40

WA Y.

We are indebted to the present pontiff for recent excavations, which have laid open to the traveler and archæologist this most interesting road, which was for centuries previous so obscured by the accumulation of soil that it was only distinguishable from the waste of the Campagna by its line of tombs.

Now we are enabled to trace with accuracy portions of the ancient Roman pavement formed of blocks of volcanic lava, so compactly placed as to defy the centuries of time which have rolled over it.

Whatever the Romans did seems to have been done with the firm conviction that theirs was an eternal city. In the newly uncovered pavement the ruts worn by the ancient Roman vehicles can be distinctly traced.

It was on a bright May morning that we passed out the Gate of St. Sebastian to loiter for a day amid the ruins of the Appian Way. So genial was the warmth of the sun, so brightly did it light up the ruined tombs, and so smiling were the wall flowers which peeped out from the broken clefts of the decaying structures, that the charms of nature reacted against the sentiment of gloom which pervade this solemn place.

We stopped for a time at the little church of "Domine quo Vadis." The tradition is that this edifice covers the ground upon which St. Peter in his flight from Rome met our Saviour, to whom he addressed the words "Domine quo Vadis?" To which he replied, "Venio Romam. Iterum Crucifegi." In the center of the church is a marble slab bearing a representation of the feet of the Saviour, which are said to have marked the stone where he stood. The original in black lava is highly treasured in the Basilica of St. Sebastian.

"There is a stern round tower of other days, Firm as a fortress, with its fence of stone Such as an army's baffled strength delays, Standing with half its battlements alone, And with two thousand years of ivy grown, The garland of eternity."

The tomb of Cecilia Metella is one of the most imposing objects of the Appian Way. Standing upon a height, from its circular form and massive construction it arrests the attention at once. The battlements by which it is surmounted show the profanation to which it has been subjected in other ages.

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a brief period, (some ten days only, it is said,) seems to have so inspired him that we may look in vain for descriptions to equal his. Who has ever looked upon Mount Soracte without being overpowered by the magical truthfulness of the exquisite image which it suggests to his mind? He says that Soracte

"From out the plain Heaves like a long-swept wave about to break, And on the curl hangs pausing."

The once splendid mausoleum known as the tomb of Cæcilia Metella was erected B. C. 66. The circular tower is seventy

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ain where Numa held his nightly consultations with his nymph, and which he dedicated to the Muses, in order that they might there hold counsel with Egeria." Livy is the authority for this tradition. Juvenal also mentions his visit to this valley, and complains that "its original simplicity had been destroyed by artificial ornaments."

The ruin is now clothed with a rich garment of ivy, of moss, and trees, which droop over its opening, producing a singularly picturesque effect. It was the custom of the Romans, until within a few years, to repair to this spot on the first Sunday in May to drink the water, which they believed to possess peculiar virtues. The researches of modern antiquaries have had the effect to detract much from the interest of this picturesque ruin.

But the quiet seclusion and picturesque beauty of the place render the traveler unwilling to be convinced of the uncertainty of the tradition. Mr. Hilliard says:

"The legend of Numa is one of the most genuine flowers of poetry that ever started from the hard rock of the Roman mind. It is the symbol of a truth which psychology teaches and history confirms, that periods of solitary self-communion are necessary preparations for the claims and duties of active life; and that he who would influence men permanently and for good must draw alike from the depths of his own spirit, and from the inspiration of a power higher than himself his elements of encouragement and support."

As I left the solitary vale and glanced back upon its picturesque beauty, the words came to my mind, to which I heartily responded:

"Whatsoe'er thy birth, Thou wert a beautiful thought, and softly bodied forth."

The Casal Rotundo is situated at a distance of about six miles from Rome. This immense circular sepulcher is by far the most colossal tomb outside the walls of the city. It was erected by Aurelius Cotta Messalinus to the memory of his father, M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, the orator and friend of Augustus and Horace, who died in the eleventh year of the present era. This was one of the most wealthy and influential of the great senatorian families of Rome. In the sketch, it will be observed, there is not only a house and barn upon it, but an olive grove of some extent. The tomb is three hundred and thirty-six feet in diameter.

The whole was originally covered with a pyramidal roof of travertine slabs.

The ruined Temple of Hercules, upon the Appian Way, is situated about eight miles distant from Rome. It is supposed

to be that dedicated by Domitian to Hercules, and to which Martial alludes in his | epigrams.

FLOWERS.

THEY spring unnoticed and unknown,
Mid rocky wilds they bloom,
They flourish mid the desert lone,
They deck the silent tomb.
They cheer the peasant's lowly cot,
Adorn the monarch's ball,
They fill each quiet, shady spot-
O, who can tell them all!
Some o'er the murm'ring streamlet fling
Their blossoms bright and fair,
And there, in vernal beauty, spring,
Fann'd by the fragrant air.
Some 'neath the ocean's rolling waves
In silent grandeur grow,

Nor heed the storm which o'er them raves,
But still in beauty blow.

Some where the eagle builds her nest,
Where man has never trod,
Where even the chamois dare not rest
Upon the crumbling sod-
Yes, there, even there, wild flow'rets grow
In richest dress array'd,

And o'er the clamorous eaglets, throw
Their light and graceful shade.
Mid mountains of perpetual snow,
By icy girdles bound,
Some render'd doubly beauteous, glow,
And deck the frozen ground.
And mid cold winter's angry storm

The snow-drop rears its head,
And shows its pure, unspotted form
When other flowers have fled.
Some on the breezes of the night

Their grateful odors send;
While others, children of the light,

To day their perfume lend.
Some bloom beneath the torrid zone,
'Neath India's sultry skies:
Mid Iceland's mountains chill and lone,
The forms of others rise.

The stately fern, the golden broom,
The lily, tall and fair—
All these in rich succession bloom,
And scent the summer air.
In secret dell, by murm'ring rill-
In gardens bright and gay-
Within the valley-on the hill-

Flowers cheer our toilsome way!
Flowers image forth the boundless love
God bears his children all,
Which ever droppeth from above
Upon the great and small;
Each blossom that adorns our path,
So joyful and so fair,

Is but a drop of love divine,

That fell and flourish'd there.

PERFUMES.

put in a cloth bag, and placed under a screw press; sometimes laid, without any

HAVE any of the uninitiated ever had bag at all, on the perforated plate through

an idea how perfumes were obtained from flowers? It is to many a mystery, an occult art, a pretty kind of alchemy, a mild witchcraft. There is a rough notion of machines, like miniature wine-presses, where the flowers were squeezed, and bruised, and mangled, and made to give up their perfumes in a rude, masterful manner; though it is puzzling to think how mignonette, or sweet pea, or any other flower which lost its odor when crushed or dead, could be treated thus to any advantage. The mystery, however, is now cleared up. Mr. Septimus Piesse, analytical chemist, has written a book treating of perfumes, their modes of preparation and their manner of combination; and whoever reads it may emerge from ignorance respecting perfumery. It is an old subject. Apollonius, of Herophila, wrote a treatise on perfume. He says:

"The iris is best at Elis, and at Cyzicus; perfume from roses is most excellent at Phasalis, Naples, and Capua; that made from crocuses is in highest perfection at Soli, in Cilicia, and at Rhodes; the essence of spikenard is best at Tanius; the extract of vine leaves at Cyprus, and at Adramyttium; the best perfume from marjoram and from apples comes from Cos; Egypt bears the palm for its essence of Cypirus, and the next best is the Cyprian and Phoenician, and after them comes the Sidonian; the perfume called Panathenaicum is made at Athens; and those called Metopian and Mendesian are prepared with the greatest skill in Egypt. Still the superior excellence of each perfume is owing to the purveyors, and the materials, and the artists, and not to the place

itself."

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which the oil is to run. When all the oil is expressed, it is left standing in a quiet place for some time, to allow it to separate itself from the water which came with it. It is then poured off and strained.

The second method is by distillationa method used for lavender, cloves, seeds, herbs, but not for the rarer flowers, the odors of which are lost by heat; only to be gained, indeed, by loving contact and careful influence. The only notable fact in this process of distillation is that, in France, they apply fire directly to the still; in England, they distill by steam. Excepting for this difference, this mode of chemical manipulation is too well known to need description here. The fire applied directly to the still sometimes gives a burned odor to the distillate, which is not entirely disagreeable in some combinations.

Maceration is the third process. Purified beef or deer suet is placed with purified lard in a clean metal or porcelain pan, a bain Marie, or steam pan. When melted, the flowers required to be used are thrown in and left to remain from twelve to fortyeight hours; the liquid fat is then strained, and fresh flowers are added. This is repeated as often as is necessary; and the pomatum obtained therefrom is known as six, twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four, according to the strength of the odor. For perfumed oil the same process is gone through; fine olive oil only being substituted for lard and suet. The oils made thus are called Huile à la rose, à la fleur d'orange, etc. Orange, rose, and cassie are prepared thus; violet and réséda are begun thus, and finished by infleurage.

This is the daintiest method of all. Enfleurage, or absorption, is very little practiced in England, though uniformly used in France for all the finest odors. Square frames with glass bottoms, called châsses, are spread with a layer of fat about a quarter of an inch thick; then sprinkled abundantly with flowers. They are suffered to remain forty-eight hours, when a fresh supply of the spent and exhausted blossoms is given; which process is repeated over and over again until the pomatum is sufficiently powerfully scented. For perfumed oil, coarse cotton cloths are saturated with fine olive oil, and laid on

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