ROME.

THE PONTE SISTO.

The Niobe of nations! there she stands,
Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe;
An empty urn within her wither'd hands,
Whose holy dust was scatter'd long ago:
The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now;
The very sepulchres lie tenantless

Of their heroic dwellers: dost thou flow,
Old Tyber! through a marble wilderness?

Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress.

BYRON.

THE Ponte Sisto was erected during the pontificate of Sixtus IV., from whom it derives its name. The view of this bridge recals to the mind of the traveller the character of one of the most violent and depraved men who ever filled the chair of St. Peter. Profligate, avaricious, and despotic, to supply means for his pleasures he not only exposed to sale the offices of the church, but instituted new ones for the mere purpose of bartering them, and when the indignation of the people was roused by these infamous acts, he established an inquisition of the press in order to stifle the voice of censure. His death is said to have been occasioned by vexation at the prospect of a general peace-" Di grossi conti avrà avuto questo pontefice nel tribunale di Dio," says Muratori.

The following account of the Ponte Sisto and its neigh