LETTER XXX.
SIR,Rome, Dec. 5, 1730.
Tho’ I am heartily weary of entertaining you with Palaces, yet I can’t forbear giving you some Account of the Palace of the Prince Borghese. There’s an admirable Court-yard, and the Buildings round it are of an elegant and agreeable Contrivance. They are two Rows of Arches, one above the other, supported by ninety-six Columns of Granate, which form Corridors or Galleries, so that one may walk all round under Shelter. The Summer Apartment,
which is level with the Court, is fit to lodge a Monarch. ’Tis adorned with the choicest Paintings, and several of the Rooms have the Pleasure of Fountains in them always playing into Basons of Porphyry, or other precious Stones, of which one is a complete Piece of Work of massy Silver. The Furniture is not answerable to all this Magnificence, it being all as old as the Time of Paul V. who was of the Borghese Family, and tho’ no more than an Advocate at first, rais’d his Family from the mean State it was in at Sienna.
The Eldest of this Family has a Revenue of one hundred and sixteen thousand Crowns, and as he lives, is in no manner of Danger of becoming a Bankrupt. There is not a Family in Rome for which St. Peter has done more than this. The Prince’s Palace in the City is, as I have told you, a stately Building. There are fine Stables belonging to it, and there’s a second Palace fronting the first, which serves in common for the Domestics. Almost all the Houses of that Ward, which is one of the most populous in Rome, belong to this Prince, who has also several magnificent Country Houses, particularly that of Mondragone, near Frescati, built by Pope Paul V. and the Garden near the Gate Pinciano, made by Cardinal Scipio Borghese, one of that Pope’s Nephews. Before the Art of Gardening was introduc’d into Germany and France, the Gardens of Italy were reckon’d the finest in the World; but now-a-days ’tis otherwise, and unless (as is partly observ’d before) a Man is an Italian, and never pass’d the Alps, he will look with Contempt upon all the Gardens which the Romans call wonderful, charming, and astonishing. Nevertheless, I wou’d not have you think that I find no Beauty at all in their Gardens; I admire the continual Verdure of their Holyoaks, Firs, Pines and Laurels,
of which the Walks are form’d, tho’ they are gloomy and melancholy. I am amaz’d at the Magnificence of those who made those Gardens, and am pleas’d to find by what they have done, that they had the Taste of Noblemen, and that indeed they have not come short of the most excellent Works in their Time. But then I am sorry to see how little Care their Nephews take of these Things, how they suffer them to run to Ruin, and how little they know to make a good Use of the Estates left them by Providence. Thanks to the Foundations of Paul V. and Cardinal Scipio, the Houses and Gardens of the Prince Borghese are kept in better Order than those of the other Roman Nobility; yet for all this, they are not near so neat, and so well trimm’d, as the Gardens of France, Holland, and the Ultramontane Countries.
Mondragone stands upon an Eminence, and fronts the City. ’Tis a large Building, after the Model of the Palace of Monte-cavallo. The Apartments are spacious, but very sorrily furnish’d. The House at the Vineyard Pinciano is only magnificent on Account of the rare Sculptures with which ’tis adorn’d. ’Tis almost intirely cover’d on the Outside with stately Basso-relievos, of antique Marble, among which, ’tis a Pleasure to see Curtius on Horseback, throwing himself and Horse headlong into the Gulph, to deliver his Country from the Pestilence. The Statue of Belisarius, in the Attitude of a poor Man begging Alms, is so well made, that it raises Compassion. The Apartments, tho’ very ill furnish’d, are adorn’d with fine Pictures and Statues: Among the latter, you wou’d admire David holding his Sling, cut in Marble by Signior Bernini; the Groupe representing Daphne beginning to be metamorphos’d into a Laurel, at the Nick of Time
when the God of Day is going to embrace her; the ancient Statue of Seneca expiring in the Bath, which is of antique black Marble, representing the Philosopher up to the Middle of his Legs in a Cistern, or Vessel of African Stone, of modern Workmanship; the famous Statue of the Gladiator in a fighting Posture, the Work of Agasias the Ephesian, as the Greek Inscription denotes, which is at the Foot of the Statue; and in fine, the fair Hermaphrodite lying on a Matrass, all of Marble, of curious Workmanship. ’Tis said that this Statue was discover’d under the Foundations of the Front of the Church of Our Lady of Victoria, at the Time that Cardinal Scipio Borghese caus’d it to be erected; and really ’tis so curious a Piece, that it wou’d have been pity it had not been found, and brought again to Light. Were I to tell you of all the other Statues of the Prince Borghese, I shou’d never have done; for no King in the World has so many, or so fine; and he may boast of being the Owner of a Treasure that is inestimable.