The Guard

Desolation in the vicinity of Rome.—Miss Sedgwick, the American traveler, presents us, on approaching the 'Eternal City' with the following vivid picture of the desolation which surrounds it:

"Our last posts were through the dreary wastes that encompass Rome. The Campagna is not, as I had ignorantly supposed, a level, but presents an undulating surface without morasses or stagnant water, or any thing that indicates unwholesomeness except in its utter desertion. The grass looks rich and rank, as if it sprung from a virgin soil, and its tints are glowing even at this season. There are scattered here and there large flocks of sheep, with lean, haggard and half clothed shepherds, dogs—and there are herds of oxen of a very large and beautiful species, and with horns as beautiful as antlers. But, with these exceptions there is no life. From the summits of the hills, and these are considerable hills, the eye stretches over a wide reach of country, extending miles in every direction, and here and there an old barrack-like dwelling, a crumbling tower, a shrine, or a crucifix, but no cheerful habitations no curling smoke, no domestic sounds—nothing that indicates human life and country contents.' It is one vast desolation, a fit surrounding for the tomb of nations! As we caught the view of St. Peter's, and the domes and spires of the 360 churches of Rome, it seemed as if life were still beating at the heart of the body doomed to die first at the extremities."