Many
of the specimens of sculpture displayed in these rooms are fine, but none
of them, I think, possess the highest merit. An Apollo is beautiful; a
group of a fighting Amazon, and her enemies trampled under her horse's
feet, is very impressive; a Faun, copied from that of Praxiteles, and
another, who seems to be dancing, were exceedingly pleasant to look at.
I like these strange, sweet, playful, rustic creatures, . . . . linked so
prettily, without monstrosity, to the lower tribes. . . . . Their
character has never, that I know of, been wrought out in literature; and
something quite good, funny, and philosophical, as well as poetic, might
very likely be educed from them. . . . . The faun is a natural and
delightful link betwixt human and brute life, with something of a divine
character intermingled.
The gallery, as it is called, on the basement floor of the casino, is
sixty feet in length, by perhaps a third as much in breadth, and is
(after all I have seen at the Colonna Palace and elsewhere) a more
magnificent hall than I imagined to be in existence.


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