1 ' Glass. Book. le **% 7- 2^ ! SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUKOPE. GEOKGE H? CALVERT, AUTHOR OF "THE GENTLEMAN." FIEST SERIES. A NEW EDITION. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY. 1863. J7 9 /d. — Our first stage to-day in our daily travel over Rome was at the Baths of Caracalla, one of the most emphatic testimonials of Roman magnificence. The ruins, consisting now of little else than the outer and dividing walls, cover several acres. Sixteen hundred persons could bathe at a time. Besides the baths, there were halls for games and for sculpture, and here have been dug up several masterpieces. Here and there a piece of the lofty roof is preserved ; and we ascended to the top of one of the halls, whence there is a good view of a large section of the re- gion of ruins. Except in the Fora and Arches, one sees nowhere columns among the ruins. These, as well as nearly all marble in whatever shape, being too precious to be left to adorn the massive remnants of pagan Rome, have been taken to beautify the churches and palaces of her Christian heir. From the Baths of Caracalla we went along the Appian way, passing the tomb of the Scipios, and under the arch of Drusus, to the tomb of Cecilia Metella, a large massive round tower, the largest monument ever raised to a woman. Thence to the Columbarium or tomb of the household of the 200 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. Caesars. The name is derived from the resem- blance of the structure to a pigeon-house, as well in its general form as in that of the little semicir- cular receptacles for the ashes. In the afternoon we visited among other churches that of Santa Maria Degli Angeli, formerly the Baths of Diocletian, which was adapted to the shape and purpose of a church by Michael Angelo. A grand one it is with its immense pillars of Egyp- tian granite. As, according to Roman Catholic usage, several masses are performed in one morning to as many different congregations, a given number of inhabi- tants would require as Catholics a much smaller number of churches than it would being Protes- tant. But were the whole people of Rome to assemble at worship, at the same hour, in as many churches as would be needed for easy accommo- dation, even then nine tenths of them would be empty. For three or four centuries the population has been at no time more numerous than it is now, and seldom so numerous ; and owing to civil and foreign wars previous to the fifteenth century, and to the seventy years' absence of the Papal Court, it has probably not been greater than at present since the downfall of the Empire. So that there always have been ten times as many churches as are needed. Rome has a population of about one hundred and sixty thousand souls, and counts over SPIRITUAL VITALITY. 201 three hundred churches. With thirty, all her people would have ample room for worship. Had half of the thought, labor, and money, wasted in building, adorning, and preserving the others, been bestowed upon schools and seminaries, there would have been not less religion, and far more mental culture and morality ; and Rome might now be real- ly the intellectual and spiritual capital of the world, instead of being the centre of a decrepid form of Christianity, to which she clings chiefly by the material ties that bind men to an ecclesiastical system which embosoms high places of worldly eminence. The above estimate is not made in a spirit of barren detraction ; it shows into what extravagant abuses of God's best gifts men will run. There is at any rate comfort in the evidence here presented — if such were wanting — of great spiritual vital- ity in human nature. Part of the gross misdirec- tion thereof may be ascribed to the mental dark- ness during many of the first ages of Christian Europe, and part to the selfishness necessarily in- herent in a body constituted like the Roman Cath- olic priesthood. The darkness has been greatly diminished, and individual independence has been sufficiently developed not to abide much longer cor- porate usurpations, civil or ecclesiastical. There may be hope that through this natural fund of spir- ituality, under healthier development and clearer 202 SCENES AND THOUGHTS TN EUROPE. guidance, humanity will go on righting itself more and more, and that under its influence even Rome shall be rejuvenated and cease to be the hoary jug- gler that out of the spiritual wants of man wheedles raiment of gold for her own body and mansions of marble. Drove out to Mount Sacer, and afterwards to the Pincian. Saturday, March 4th. — Rain every day. Among the curiosities we this morning inspected in the library of the Vatican were a collection of cameos and other small antiques dug up in Rome ; several of the bronze plates whereon were inscribed the decrees of the Senate, but of the fallen Senate under the Emperors ; specimens of Giotto and Cimabue ; manuscript of Cicero's Treatise on the Republic, made in the fifth century, and written over by St. Augustine, with a treatise on the Psalms ; manuscript of Petrarch ; illuminated edi- tion of the Divina Commedia ; papyrus. To us as well as to the Pope it is a convenience that St. Peter's and the Vatican are cheek by cheek. On coming out of the library w r e entered the great church to enjoy its beautiful vastness. In the afternoon we went to see Michael An- gelo's colossal statue of Moses in the church of St. Peter in chains, a beautiful church (the interior I mean) with twenty fluted Parian columns. Here are preserved the chains of St. Peter ! The Moses THE MOSES OF MICHAEL ANGELO. 203 is a masterpiece. It justifies the sublime lines of the sonnet it inspired to Zappi : — Questi e Mose" quando scendea del monte, E gran parte del Nume avea nel Volto.* Power and thought are stamped on the brow ; the nose breathes the breath of a concentrated giant ; an intellectual smile sits on the large oriental mouth, which looks apt to utter words of comfort or command ; the long, thick, folded beard be- speaks vigor, and gives grandeur to the counte- nance ; and the eyes, of which, contrary to the usage of high sculpture, the pupils are marked, absolutely sparkle. The figure is seated, with how- ever one foot drawn back as if ready to rise, — an attitude correspondent to the life and fire of the countenance. From this grand work one learns what a mighty soul was in Michael Angelo. In the sacristy is a beautiful head by Guido, rep- resenting Hope, as rapt and still as an angel listen- ing to the music of Heaven. In this church was held under the Emperor Constantine, as says an inscription in it, a council, which condemned Arian and other schismatics, and burnt their books. We next visited St. Martin on the Hill, also constructed with columns from an ancient temple. Through the church we descended into a vault below where had been imperial baths, and afterwards a church of the early Christians before Constantine. Ad- * This is Moses when he came down from the mountain, And had in his countenance a great part of the Deity. 204 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. joining this venerable spot was an opening that led into the catacombs, where the persecuted Chris- tians used to conceal themselves. On slabs in the upper church were inscribed the names of many martyrs whose tombs had been found below ; among tliem those of several popes ! Thence, towards sun- set, we went to the church of the Jesuits, laden, like so many others, with pictures and marbles and sparkling altars, and sepulchral monuments. The grand altar, just finished, cost upwards of one hundred thousand dollars. On one side of the church a thin sallow Jesuit in a dark robe and cap was preaching to about a hundred persons, chiefly of the poorer class. I regretted that I had not come in time to hear more of his sermon, for a purer pronunciation and sweeter voice I never lis- tened to. His elocution, too, was good and his gesticulation graceful, and his matter and manner were naive and unjesuit-like. He told his auditors that what the holy Virgin required of them, espe- cially now during Lent, was to examine their souls, and if they found them spotted with sins to free themselves therefrom by a full confession, and if uot, to betake themselves more and more to the zealous cultivation of the virtues. There was a sincerity, simplicity, and sweetness in the feeling and utterance of this young man, that were most fascinating. When he had finished, he glided away into the recesses of the dim church like an apparition. ST. PETER'S AGAIN. 205 Sunday, March bih. — Today we remitted our labors. Late in the morning I walked up the stair- way of the Trinity of the Mount to the garden of the Villa Medici ; and afterwards to Monte Ca- vallo to behold again the two colossal Greek stat- ues. They must be seen early or late, for at other hours the sky dazzles the sight as you attempt to look up at them. In the afternoon we drove to St. Peter's. Its immensity enlarges at each repeated beholding. It is so light, — the interior I mean, — so illumi- nated, that it looks as though it had been poised from above, and not built upward from an earthly foundation. In one section of it is a series of con- fessionals, dedicated to the various languages of Europe. In each sat a priest ready to listen to and shrive in the tongue inscribed over his portal. Vespers at four. The voices were fine, but the music, not being sacred, was not effective in a church. In music one hears at times cadences of such expression that they seem about to utter a revelation ; and then they fade of a sudden into common melody, as though the earthly medium were incompetent to transmit the heavenly voice. We drove afterward to the Pincian Hill in a cold north wind. Monday, March 6th. — Walked before break- fast to Monte Cavallo. Our first stage after breakfast was to the house of Nero, over which 203 SCLXES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. were built, in part, the Baths of Titus. This is one of the best preserved bits of old Rome. The walls of brick are from three to five feet thick, the rooms nearly forty high. On some of the ceilings and walls are distinct specimens of Arabesque. Thence, to look at the holy staircase of the Lateran, said to be of the house of Pontius Pilate ! No one is per- mitted to mount the stairs except on his knees ; and being of stone, they are kept covered with wood to preserve them from being worn out. In the Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, founded by St. Helen, the mother of Constantine, is preserved the cross of one of the thieves cruci- fied with Jesus ! In the Gallery of the Colonna Palace we saw this morning several fine portraits and a beautiful St. Agnes, by Guido, with that heavenward look he delighted to paint, and painted so well. In the magnificent hall of the palace we were shown the portrait of the Colonna who commanded at Le- panto. In the afternoon we went for the second time to the Vatican. How the most beautiful things teach you to admire them ! Genius, which is by its essence original, embodies its idea, the totality whereof even the most genial sympathy cannot at first take in. By repetition the whole spirit of the creation is imbibed, and only then does the mind receive the full image of what it beholds, learning thus, by a necessary process, GRAND VIEW OF ROME. 207 from beauty itself to appreciate its quality. Thus the Apollo will go on growing into our vision until we can, if not entirely, yet deeply enjoy its inex- haustible beauty. On coming out of the Vatican we walked again into St. Peter's. Are its propor- tions perfect and its colors all in unison, or is it its vastness that tones down all the constituents to harmony ? It fills me always with delight and wonder. Towards sunset we drove to the church of St. Peter, in Montorio, whence, from the terrace, is a sweeping view of Rome. We looked down over the " Eternal City." Directly in front, and east of us about a mile, was the majestic Colossoum. Between us and the Tiber was the camp of Por- senna. To the left, beyond the Tiber, was once the Campus Martius, now the most thickly peopled quarter of modern Rome. An epitome of a large portion of the world's history lay at our feet. There stood the capitol of the Republic, and be- yond, the ruins of the Palace of the Cassars, and all about us were the palaces and churches of their papal heir. Back of the church is the Fontana Paolina, built of stone from the Forum of Nerva, by Pope Paul V., a Borghese. The water gushes out through five apertures in volume enough for a Swiss cascade. Tuesday, March 1th. — We drove out this morn- ing to the Villa Pamphili, the grounds of which, 208 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. having a circumference of four miles, are the most extensive of the Roman villas. Here are stately umbrella-shaped pines. Fields of grass, thickly studded with flowers, verified what had hitherto been to me a poetic fiction. From the top of the house is a wide noble prospect. Returning, we drove through part of the Jews' Quarter to the Square of Navona, the largest in Rome, in ancient times a race-course, now a vegetable market. In the afternoon we went to the Pantheon, the best preserved remnant of ancient Rome, built by Agrippa, the son-in-law of Augustus, as the great hall of the public baths by him established, after- wards converted into a temple to Jupiter, then to all the gods, — whence its name, — and as early as the seventh century consecrated a Christian church, under the name of St. Mary of the Martyrs, by Pope Boniface IV., who buried under the chief altar twenty-eight wagon-loads of relics of the martyrs. The light (and rain) comes in through a wide circle left open at the top of the dome. The pavement is of porphyry. Here Raphael is buried. We drove afterwards to the Villa Borghese, crowded with ancient marble, among which is a long series of busts of Roman emperors in " an- tique red." The heads are nearly all of one type, and denote the energetic, practical character of the Romans. The statue of Pauline, one of the SCULPTURE. 209 treasures of the villa, is the most beautiful work I have seen of Canova. Returning, we saw near the gate some rich Italian faces. Italy reminds one at times of a beautiful Guido Magdalen, her tearful countenance upturned towards heaven, so lovely in her affliction, such subdued passion in her luxurious features, such hope in her lucent eyes. Wednesday, March 8th. — We spent most of the morning in the studios of sculptors, and the afternoon in churches. What a multiplication of the human form in marble ! The churches are peopled with statues brown with age, and in the studios they dazzle you with youthful whiteness. To describe in verse the surface of a man's mind is not to write poetry ; nor is the imitation of the human body the exercise of a fine Art. The sculptor's function is to concentrate in one body the beauty and character of many. When he does this he creates, and until he creates, he is not up to his vocation. Nature is not always beautiful, but at the bottom of all her phenomena is the spirit of beauty.. Her essence is beauty, and this essence the worker with the chisel must extract and then embody, else is he a barren artist. We saw this morning Guido's Aurora. Here is a subject most apt for pictorial representation. The idea has sufficient intensity to irradiate the 210 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. whole body. In few large compositions is there soul enough in the thought to animate the mem- bers ; or if there be fire, there is lack of beauty. Here the idea, the parent of the whole work, is both strong and beautiful, and the execution being correspondent, the effect is complete. Afterwards, in the Minerva Church, we saw a statue of Christ, by Michael Angelo. It wants character and beauty. The subject is not suited to Michael Angelo's genius. Tliursday, March 9th. — We visited this morn- ing the studio of Wolf, a German sculptor of rep- utation. A sweet dancing-girl and a graceful Diana attracted us most. The foreign artists in Italy seem wellnigh to take the lead of the native, owing, probably, to the enjoyment of greater lib- erty, — the Italians being more under the chilling sway of academical rules, and the influence of the by no means pure example of Canova. We walked afterwards in the garden of the Villa Medici, the prison of Galileo during his trial, now the French Academy ; and into its hall of plaster casts, where is a collection of the best antiques. This is going into the highest company. These are genuine aristocrats, choice specimens of manhood and womanhood. With many of them, time and igno- rance have dealt roughly. Some are without arms, others without legs, and some without heads, but still they live. In their mythology, what a ENGLISH PRELATE. 211 poem the ancient Greeks gave birth to and be- queathed to the world. We next went to one of the churches, to hear a sermon from an English Catholic prelate. During Lent, there is daily preaching in many of the churches. Chairs were set for two hundred persons, but there were pres- ent not more than fifty. The preacher was evi- dently a man of intellect, but dry and argumenta- tive. The drift of his discourse was to show that priests are essential to salvation. Men, with all their selfishness, and perhaps through a modification thereof, have ever been prone to give up their affairs in trust to others, the trustees dividing themselves into the three hitherto inevitable classes, the legal, the medical, and the theological. Some even avail themselves to the full of all these helps and substitutes, abandoning the conduct of their worldly possessions to their man of business, their bodies passively to their physician, and their souls as passively to their pas- tor. These languid negatives are of course few. By degrees the axiom is getting to be valued, that, to thrive, whether secularly or spiritually, a man must look to his own interests. People are be- ginning to discern, that health is not a blessing in the gift of doctors, that religion is independent of hierarchies, and that the first preachers of Christianity were quite a different kind of men from most of the latest. Some men are preemi- 212 SCEXES AXD THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. nently endowed to develop and feed the spiritual element of our nature ; and most reverently do I regard and cordially hearken to such wherever I meet with them. As in the preacher before me I perceived no marks of such ins juration, and as there was neither eloquence nor art to give his discourse the attraction of an intellectual enter- tainment, we soon left the church, — a movement which can be effected here without notice. He handled his argument not without skill, and doubt- less the sermon was edifying to most of his audi- tors, their minds having been drilled by him and his colleagues into the habit of acquiescence. The ordinary service was going on at the same time independently in a side-chapel, where a very aged ecclesiastic, in a white satin embroidered robe, was saying mass, which to us, in the outskirts of the English company, was quite audible. He was entirely alone, having no assistant at the altar and not a single worshipper ; until just before he concluded, a bright-faced boy, ten or twelve years of age, came in with a long staff, to put out the tall candle. Ere the venerable father had ceased praying, the little fellow had the extinguisher up, thrusting it now and then half over the flame with playful impatience. The instant the old man had finished, out went the candle, and the boy, taking the large missal in his arms, walked off, looking over towards us for notice, and restraining with THE C0RSIN1 GALLERY. 213 difficulty his steps to the pace of the aged priest, who tottered after him. On leaving the church, we went for the first time to the Borghese Gallery, freely open to stran- gers, and to artists, of whom, in the different rooms, there were several taking copies. Strangers in Rome owe much to the unexampled liberality of the Italian nobles in opening to them the treasures of their palaces and villas. In the afternoon to the Vatican, where again we had a cloudy sky, and were therefore again disap- pointed before the great frescos of Raphael, which, from the darkness of the rooms wherein they are painted, have not light enough even on the sunniest days. On coming out we took our accustomed walk up under the dome of St. Pe- ter's. Friday, March 10th. — We visited this morn- ing the Corsini Gallery, in which is the bound Prometheus of Salvator Rosa, with his fiery stamp upon it. The horror which a lesser genius could excite cannot be subdued by any mastery of art. The keeper of the rooms, with the hostile feeling reciprocated among the inhabitants of the different sections of Italy, remarked, that none but a Nea- politan would choose so bloody a subject. Another remarkable picture in this collection is a head of Christ bound with thorns, by Guercino. The agony, the fortitude, the purity are all there, and 214 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. in the upcast translucent eyes is an infinite depth of feeling, as of mingled expostulation and resig- nation, that recalls vividly the touching words, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It is one of the masterpieces of Rome. At twelve we found ourselves in St. Peter's, to witness the ceremony which takes place every Fri- day during Lent. The Pope, attended by his household and a numerous body of cardinals and other prelates, says prayers successively at several different altars. The Swiss Guard, in the old-time costume with pikes, formed a hollow oblong, within which the Pope and the whole cortege of priests knelt. For the Pope and cardinals a cushion was provided ; the others knelt on the marble pave- ment. The Pope prayed inaudibly, and seemed to do so with heart. The strange uniform of the Guards, the numerous robed priests kneeling be- hind their chief, the gorgeous towering vaults above them, and the sacred silence, made a beautiful scene. In the afternoon we drove to the Villa Mills, built above the ruins of the House of Augustus, on Mount Palatine. Through a door in the gar- den, round which clustered lemons, roses, and oranges, we descended to several of the rooms of Augustus, the floor whereof is about thirty feet below the present surface. From various points in the garden w r e had views of the majestic rem- THE VILLA MILLS. 215 nants of imperial Rome, — the Colosseum, the Baths of Caracalla, the Temple of Peace, part of the Forum, the Temple of Yesta, the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, the tomb of Cicilia Metella, inter- spersed with convents and churches and scattered buildings. Over the wall on the southern side of the villa-grounds you look directly down upon some remains of the Circus Maximus, which occu- pied the valley between the Palatine and Aven- tine Hills, and where took place the rape of the Sabines. It will take a long while for Niebuhr to efface belief in the reality of those early Roman doings. At last we ascended to a terrace built over a spot where had once been a temple of Juno, whence was a prospect of modern Rome with its throng of cupolas. We next mounted the Capitol Hill, to go into the Church Araca^li. Saturday , March lltJi. — We visited this morn- ing the convent of the Sacre Goeur on the Trinita del Monte. This is a sisterhood of French ladies, some of them noble, devoted to the education of the upper classes. The establishment looked the model of neatness. The pupils, who had a uniform dress, rose and courtesied to us as w T e entered the rooms. They looked healthy and happy. The sisters had the manner and tone of well-bred ladies, chastened by seclusion from the rivalries of the world. It is one of the results of Catholic organ- ization and discipline, that, in an institution like 216 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. this, a field of utility is opened to those whom dis- appointment, or distaste for excitement, or a natu- ral proneness to piety, disposes to withdraw from the world. Through the principle of association, the various resources of many are centred upon a high object, and much activity, that would other- wise have lain dormant or have been wasted, is turned to account. From one of the lofty dormi- tories, with its numerous clean white beds, we looked out into a broad garden belonging to the convent, and beyond this to the Ludovisi grounds and villa. Afterwards, at the room of Flatz, a Tyrolese painter, we were charmed with the artist and his works. His subjects are all religious, and are executed with uncommon grace and feeling. A pupil of his, too, Fink, is a young man of prom- ise. There are people with minds so exclusively re- ligious, that religion does not — as is its office — sustain, temper, exalt their being ; it fills, it is their being. When the character is upright and simple, such persons become earnest and calm ; when otherwise, they are officious and sentimental. If their intellect is sensuous, they delight in the im- agery and manipulating ceremonies of the Catholic worship, and then, having of course, by their orig- inal structure, no intellectual breadth or power, they will be liable, under the assaults of a picture-loving MUSIC AT THE SACRE C(EUR. 217 mind and absorbing devotional feeling, to become Romanists even in Rome itself! Sunday, March 12th. — This afternoon we re- turned to the chapel of the Sacre Cceur, to hear the music at the evening benediction. It was a hymn from the sisterhood, accompanied by the organ. The service commenced silently at the altar, round which curled profuse incense, that glowed before the lighted candles like silver dust. The few persons present were kneeling, when the stillness was broken by a gentle gush of sound from the invisible choir up behind us. It came like a heavenly salutation. The soft tones seemed messengers out of the Infinite, that led the spirit up to whence they had come. At the end of each verse a brief response issued from deep male voices at the opposite end of the church, near the altar, sounding like an earthly answer to the heav- enly call. Then again were the ears possessed by the feminine harmony, that poured itself down upon the dim chapel like an unasked blessing. Monday, March 13th. — This morning, at the Spada Palace, we saw the statue of Pompey, which " all the while ran blood " when Caesar fell under the blows of the conspirators in the Capitol. It is a colossal figure, about ten feet in height, of fine character, dignified, vigorous, and life-like. We drove afterwards out to the English burying- ground, where lie the ashes of Shelley, " enriching 218 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. even Rome," as his wife had a right to say. I revere the character, and admire the genius of Shelley, yet I was not moved by the presence of his tomb. Emotion cannot be summoned at will. I have at times, in a holy spot, found myself in a state of utter insensibility, and, instead of turning my eyes inward under its spirit-moving influence, have caught my lips playing with the reminiscence of a jest, as irrepressible as it was impertinent in such a place. For all that, the visit was not bar- ren ; the feeling would come afterwards. In the afternoon, we visited the rooms of Over- beck, the distinguished German painter, a great master in drawing and composition. Like Flatz, his subjects are all scriptural. Very few artists being able to achieve the high- est triumph in execution, which is the transparence and vivid beauty of healthiest life, addict them- selves naturally, in a critical age, to an emulous cultivation of those qualities which through study are more attainable, and then attach to them a kind of importance which they do not deserve. This seems to be the case just now with composition, an element which may shine in a picture unworthy of permanent regard, and which stands related to the genial quality in Art as the narrative does to the poetical in a printed volume. Under genuine inspi- ration, the parts of a work will always, when Art is out of its first rudiments, put themselves together THE PINCIAN HILL. 219 competently to the development of the idea, al- though the artist may not excel in composition ; but from the most skilful combination of the con- stituent parts will never be generated that unfad- ing charm of life and beauty which genius alone can impart, and the production whereof even genius cannot explain. In short, composition is the intel- lectual department of painting, and will be inef- fective until vivified by the fire of feeling. We walked afterwards through the gallery of the Capitol, and then to the Tarpeian rock. Tuesday, March lAtJi. — We commenced the day, which was bright at last, with a walk on the Pincian. Visited in the morning a second time the rooms of the German painter Flatz, and his pupil. We drove afterwards through the sunny air past the Forum and Colosseum out to the grand church of St. John of the Lateran, where, in the court, is the finest obelisk in Rome, brought, like the others, from Egypt, the land of obelisks. It is a single shaft of red granite, more than a hundred feet high. In the afternoon, we walked again on the Pin- cian, amidst a throng of people from all parts of the world, in carriages, on horseback, and on foot. How seldom you meet a fine old countenance ; one that has been enriched by years, that has the au- tumnal mellowness of joyous and benignant sensa- tions. Oftener you see on old shoulders a face corrugated and passion-ploughed, that may be 220 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. likened to a river-bed, which, deserted by the tur- bid spring flood, shows a hard, parched surface, be- strewn with driftwood and unsightly fragments, that tell how high the muddy torrent has revelled. At six, we went to see the Colosseum by moon- light. The wondrous old pile grows more eloquent still at night ; its vastness expands, its majesty grows more majestic ; the dimness of the hour seems congenial to its antiquity. The patches of moonlight glistening among its arches look like half revelations of a thousand mysteries that lie coiled up in its bosom. It has the air of a mystic temple sprung out of the gloom, for a Sibyl to brood in and prophesy. Wednesday, March loth. — This morning, we drove out of the Porta del Pojoolo, the northern gate, a mile and a half just over the bridge of Mole, and returning along the right bank of the Tiber, with the Villa Madama and Monte Mario on the right, we reentered Rome near St. Peter's. Thence, passing through the busiest part of the modern city, we drove between the Palatine and Aventine hills, round the Colosseum, by the three columns that are left of the Forum of Nerva, into the gay Corso, passing thus suddenly, as we do almost every day, from amidst the gigantic brown fragments that silently tell of the might of ancient Rome into the bustle and ostentation of a modern capital. I spent an hour afterwards in Thorwald- ST. PAUL'S. 221 sen's studio, with a still growing enjoyment. Great poems are incarnations of a nation's mind, whence in weaker times it may draw nourishment to help to renew its vigor. The creations of Shakspeare and Milton rear themselves, the steadfast mountains of the mental world of England, up to which the people can at all times ascend to inhale a bracing air. So, too, after-sculptors will be able to refresh themselves at the clear fountain of Thorwaldsen's purity and simplicity. Thursday, March 16th. — We drove out to the new St. Paul's they are building on the site of the old one, more than a mile out of the St. Paul Gate. This church is one of the largest, and the Pope is rebuilding and adorning it in a style of unmatched magnificence. Nations and systems cannot pause in their career. Each must fulfil its destiny. From the bosom of Eternity they are launched forth to perform a given circuit, and long after they have culminated they continue, though under relaxed momentum, to give out sparks of the orig- inal fire, and decline consistently to their end. The Papal State is loaded with a growing debt ; Rome has churches enough for ten times its actual population ; advancing civilization rejects more and more the sensuous as an auxiliary to the spiritual. Yet, at an enormous cost, this church is reerected, dazzling with pillars and marble and gold, capacious to hold tens of thousands, though distant from the 222 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. city in the blighted Campagna ; a token not only that the spirit of Romanism is unchanged, but that it has yet the will and vigor, in the face of material difficulties, and in defiance of civilization, to mani- fest itself in mediaeval pomp and unchristian magni- ficence. On getting back within the walls of the city, we turned into the Via Appia, and stopped at the tomb of the Scipios, down into which I groped with a lighted candle twenty or thirty feet below the present surface, in a labyrinth of low vaults, where I saw several vertical slabs with inscriptions. After dinner we drove to the Villa Mattei, whence there is a fine view southward of the aqueducts and mountains. Late in the afternoon I ascended, in company with Crawford, to the top of the tower of the Capitol. The sky was cloudless, and the unparalleled scene seemed to float in the purple light. Mountain, plain, and city, the eye took in at a sweep. From fifteen to forty miles in more than a semicircle ranged the Apennines, the near- est clusters being the Alban and the Sabine Hills. Contracting the view within these, the eye em- braced the dim Campagna, in the midst of which, right under me, lay the noisy city beside its silent mother. Looking down from such an elevation, the Seven Hills, unless you know well their position, are not traceable ; and most of the ruins, not hav- ing, as when seen from the plain, the relief of the VILLA ALBANI. 223 sky, grow indistinct ; only the Colosseum towers broadly before you, a giant among dwarfs, chal- lenging your wonder always at the colossal gran- deur of Imperial Rome. In the west, St. Peter's broke the line of the horizon. From countless tow- ers, spires, cupolas, columns, obelisks, long shadows fell upon the sea of tiled roof. The turbid Tiber showed itself here and there, winding as of old through the throng. I gazed until, the sun being set, the mountains began to fade, the ruins to be swallowed up in the brown earth, and the whole fascinating scene wore that lifeless look which fol- lows immediately the sinking of the sun below the horizon, the earth seeming suddenly to fall asleep. Friday , March 11th. — Through the high walls that enclose the gardens and villas in Italy, we drove out to the Villa Albani, reputed the richest about Rome in antique sculpture. There is a statue of Tiberius, which makes him shine among several of his imperial colleagues in grace and manly proportions, — a distinction which he proba- bly owes to the superiority of his Artist ; a fragment from the bas-reliefs of the Parthenon at Athens, and other esteemed antiques in half-size and minia- ture, amidst a legion of busts, — among them one of Themistocles, of much character. Unhappily, on these occasions you cannot give yourself up to the pleasure of believing that you gaze on the features of one of the great ancients ; for even the identity 224 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. of the bust is seldom unquestionable, and of course still less so is the likeness. It were a goodly sight to behold an undoubted portrait of Plato, or So- crates, or Brutus. The villa is in a florid style of architecture, and the grounds are laid out in straight walks between walls of evergreen. The day was balmy, and the parterre walls were alive with lizards darting about in the sunshine. We next drove out of the St. John Gate to get a near view of the aqueducts, which have been well likened to giants striding across the Campagna. On reen- tering the Gate, the front of St. John of the Lateran presented itself very grandly. It is purer than the facade of St. Peter's, in which the perpendicular continuity is broken, — a fault almost universal in the fronts of Italian churches. The statues, too, on the St. John, from being colossal and somewhat crowded, have a better effect than statues in that position generally have. In the afternoon we drove and walked in the grounds of the Villa Borghese. The entire circuit is at least two miles, and the grounds are varied both by art and nature. Strangers can hardly be sufficiently grateful to the family that opens to them such a resource. I should have stated, when speaking of the statuary in the villa, that the orig- inal and celebrated Borghese collection of antiques was sold to the Paris Museum, in the reign of Napo- leon, for thirteen millions of francs. The present collection has been made since that period. PALACE OF THE CAESARS. 225 Saturday , March 18th. — This morning we began with the Sciarra Gallery, one of the most choice in the world. In a single room, not more than twenty five feet square, were thirty or forty pictures, estimated to be worth three hundred thou- sand dollars, comprising masterpieces by Titian, Raphael, Guido, Leonardo da Vinci, and others. For the celebrated Modesty and Charity of Leo- nardo, the size of which is hardly four feet by three, the good-humored old keeper told us an English nobleman offered fifty thousand dollars. These marvels of the pencil teach with glowing emphasis that the essence of the Art is beauty. If this be a truism, the crowds of prosaic works one daily passes justify its reiteration. Thence we went to Mount Palatine, to explore the ruins of part of the Palace of the Caesars, adjoining the house of Au- gustus, which we had already seen. Each of his successors for several generations seems to have enlarged the imperial residence, until, under Nero, it spread over the whole of the Palatine and Caalian hills and part of the Esquiline. What we saw to- day covers several acres. The habitable part, of which there are only left fragments of thick brick walls, was built on high arches. The view from the top embraces the greater part of the ancient and modern cities, extending over the Campagna to the mountains. It is now a vegetable garden, and where emperors have dined grows a luxuriant 226 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. crop of artichokes. A bright-looking woman, who was peeling onions, and who plucked for us a bouquet of hyacinths, told us that she paid for it seventy dollars annual rent. From the Palace we drove to the tomb of Augustus, where, among other bones, we saw the half of a skull which the keeper protested was ancient Roman, and was ready to protest to be that of Augustus. In the afternoon we went to the rooms of Maes, a Belgian Artist of talent, and then drove out to the church on Monte Mario, whence the view is very fine. A lad, who had care of the church, told us that in the convent adjoining lived two Domini- can friars, there not being means to support more. Each of them receives five dollars a month, besides twenty cents a day for saying mass, making about eleven dollars a month to each for clothing and food. A man here can keep his body well covered with flesh for ten cents a clay. His meat will be chiefly maccaroni, and his drink water, — a good fare for longevity. Be it as it may, there is no class of people in Italy with fuller skins than the friars. In the evening we saw, at about seven o'clock, the long bright tail of a comet. Sunday, March 19^A. — This morning I heard a sermon at the Church of the Jesuits. The sub- ject was the perfections of Joseph as husband and father, who, the preacher often repeated, had all the realities of the matrimonial union without its A FRENCH JESUIT PREACHER. 227 chief function, and performed all the functions of a father without having the reality. He enforced, happily and with pure feeling, from the example of Joseph, the sanctity of the marriage-tie, and the supreme obligation of duty. It was a practical, animated, sound discourse, which commanded ear- nest attention from his audience, that consisted of the middle and lower classes, and was very nu- merous, filling nearly the whole area of the large church. In the afternoon we went to hear a celebrated French Jesuit preach, at the church called St. Louis of the French. In a discourse of more than an hour, to which a large, educated auditory lis- tened with unwearied attention, the preacher sum- med up with skill and eloquence the chief argu- ments of the Roman Catholic Church against Prot- estantism. In an emphatic and adroit manner he presented the best that can be said in favor of the unity and infallibility of the Roman Church. He laid down that religion could be preserved but by one of three means : either, first, by God making a separate revelation thereof to each individual man ; or, secondly, by his having embodied it in a book, which each was to interpret for himself ; or, thirdly, by instituting a Church to whose guardianship he committed it. After endeavoring to show that the third was the only means consistent with the sim- plicity of the divine government, he went on to set 228 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE'. forth that Christ established one Church, that that Church was, by its nature, origin, and design, in- fallible, — and in a brilliant sophistical passage he attempted to demonstrate the inherent necessity of intolerance towards doctrine, concluding with the position that without such a Church there would be no faith, no religion. What a pitiful piece of work were man if to his fellow-man he owed the very enjoyment of his highest faculty. How ignoble and parasitical must that Jesuit deem his brother-men ! But it is just and inevitable that they who by men have been unduly exalted should look down upon those who have bowed the neck under their yoke. Without any direct knowlege of the fact, it might be in- ferred that no class of men have a lower opinion of mankind than the Romish priesthood. No religion without the Church ! Why, the Roman and all other churches that have ever existed or will ever exist are effects of religion, not its cause, — the creatures of man, not his masters, — and, as such, obsequious ever to his movements ; suck- ing blood when he has been cruel, relentless w T hen he has been intolerant, humane when he has become humanized ; presumptuous towards his in- activity, humble towards his independence ; aristo- cratic in one country, democratic in another, — here upholding slavery, there denouncing it ; always a representative of the temporary condition PRIESTCRAFT. 229 of society. Why were the Catholic priests more openly rapacious and lustful before the Reforma- tion than since ? Why is the priest in Spain differ- ent from the priest in Sweden, or the Catholic priest of the United States more true to his chief vow than his fellow in Italy ? There is but one unity, and that is the universal innateness in man of the religious sentiment. The form wherein it clothes, the creed wherein it embodies itself, de- pend upon civilization, temperament, climate, pol- icy ; and to these the priest inevitably fashions himself. But as effects reflect often back upon their causes, creeds and hierarchies react, with more or less power, upon religion itself ; and it is a symptom of a baleful influence, and of an un- manly passiveness in man, when so degrading a doctrine gets to be part of his creed as that he owes his religion to his priest. To learn what priestcraft is we need not, how- ever, go so far as Catholic Italy, although there its deformity is the most revolting in Christendom. Some very unequivocal exhibitions of it may be seen among the Protestant isms of our country, notwithstanding that the mass of our population is in mental freedom and strength raised above that of Europe, and that comparatively, through the severance of Church and State, we enjoy relig- ious liberty. Priesthood, performing a necessary part in human societies, is, like the other institu- 230 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. tions for the furtherance of man's estate, subject under all forms and circumstances to corruptions. The benefits resulting from a priesthood, like the benefits resulting from a magistracy, are purely those of organization. In the earlier stages of culture, or when humanity is partially developed, priests form a distinct authorized power, which, being men, it is of course their tendency to abuse. As society through individual culture develops itself, this organization becomes more and more merged in the general social one. Priests are first dropped by the State and then by individuals, and the religious element, reincorporated as it were into the whole nature, receives its cultivation along with the other nobler sentiments of man. Rituals and hierarchies are but the forms through which for a time it suits religion to express and cherish herself; they are transient, only religion is peren- nial. Forms, in their healthiest state, waste some- what of the substance they are designed to set forth. At their birth, they are tainted with insin- cerity ; when mature, they grow hypocritical ; and in their old age they get to be barefaced false- hoods, and then they die. In religion, as in poli- tics, and in all things, man becomes weak in pro- portion as he surrenders himself to the power or guidance of others. This surrender is totally dif- ferent from helpful cooperation, as well as from reciprocal subordination according to inborn supe- riorities. THORWALDSEN'S ST. JOHN. 231 Monday, March 20th. — At Thorwaldsen's stu- dio I stood again long before the St. John preach- ing in the Wilderness. This is a group of twelve parts, ranged in a line declining on either side from the central figure, to suit its destination, which is the tympanum of a church in Copenhagen. St. John, in his left hand a cross, which serves him as a staff, and his right raised towards heaven, stands in the centre, with a countenance mild and earnest, his look and attitude well expressing the solemnity of the tidings he proclaims. The first figure on his right is a man, apparently about thirty, with the left foot on a high stone, and one elbow on his knee, his chin resting in his hand. His fixed look is not turned up as if to catch the falling words of the speaker, but is outward as though his mind were busy with something that had gone before. Next to him is a group of two figures : the first a turbaned man of middle age, with hands crossed at his waist, in the simplest erect attitude of deep attention, his closely draped light body in the most perfect repose, while his bearded countenance is intent upon that of St. John with the animated expression of one accus- tomed to thought, and whose mind is now deeply wrought upon by the words he hears. Behind him, and gently resting on his shoulder, is a beard- less youth, like the elder one before him, who may be his father, attentive but passive. The third fig- 232 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. ure is a mother, half kneeling, behind her a boy seven or eight years of age, with chin on his hands that are crossed on her right shoulder. The fourth, an old man seated, with long beard and turban, — a tranquil venerable figure. The fifth, and last to the right of St. John, is a youth recumbent, sup- porting his upturned head with his left arm. The first figure on the left of St. John is a boy about fifteen, looking up into his face with half- open mouth and a' beaming expression, as if the words he was listening to had unlocked his soul. Next to him is a middle-aged priest, with both hands before his breast resting on a staff. His countenance is strong and rugged, and his brows are knit as if his mind were in a state of resist- ance to what he heard. The third figure is a hun- ter. He looks melted by the preacher, and has an aspect of devout acquiescence. By a band he holds a fine dog, upon which is fixed the attention of — the fourth group, two bright children, a boy and girl of nine and eight, their faces alive with childish pleasure. Behind them, the fifth figure, is a female seated, their mother apparently, who is restraining before her a third younger child. The sixth and last figure is a shepherd, recumbent, with open mouth and joyful look. This subject is peculiarly fitted to sculpture, from the union of perfect bodily repose with men- tal animation. The conception, which is the hap- WAX HEAD OF TASSA. 233 piest possible for such a group ; the ease, life, correctness, and grace of the figures ; the con- trasts in their postures, ages, conditions, sex, ex- pression ; the calm power evident in the fertility and purity of the invention ; the excellence of the execution ; the distribution of the parts, and the vivid character of each figure, make this work one of the noblest of modern sculpture. In the afternoon we went through the Gallery of the Vatican. From an unnecessary and ungra- cious arrangement, in order to see the pictures, you are obliged to walk nearly the whole length of the range of galleries in the two stories, a dis- tance of more than a mile, so that you are fatigued when you come in front of the pictures, where, moreover, there are no seats. We went after- wards to the church of St. Onofrio, not far from St. Peter's. Here I saw a representation in wax of the head of Tasso, from a mask taken after death. Were there any doubt as to the genuine- ness of this head, the cranium were almost suffi- cient to dispel it, being just such a one as is fitted to the shoulders of an excitable poet. The monks keep it in their library. Another treasure they possess is a Madonna and child in fresco, by Leonardo da Vinci, which, notwithstanding the injury of time, breathes forth the inspiration im- parted to it by that wonderful genius. Neither this, nor the mask of Tasso, both being in the con- 234 SCEXES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. vent to which the church is attached, can be seen by women, except through special permission from the Pope. Below in the church is Tasso's tomb. Tuesday, March 21st. — At the rooms of Vel- lati, an Italian painter of landscapes and hunting- pieces, we saw this morning the Magdalen of Cor- reggio, recently brought to light, Yellati having discovered it under another picture which had been painted over it, and which he bought for fifteen dollars. With great labor, by means of the point of a needle, the upper painting was removed with- out injuring the gem beneath it. Its size is about fifteen inches by twelve, and the price asked for it is five thousand pounds sterling ; but its value cannot be counted in money. It is the duplicate of the celebrated picture at Dresden. In the same rooms was a fine landscape by Rembrandt. In the Piazza del Popolo is a meagre exhibi- tion of pictures, the best painters always drawing amateurs to their private rooms. We went after- wards to the Farnesian Gardens, which are entered from the Forum, to see remains of the palaces of Nero and Caligula and of the House of Augustus. We groped down into the Baths of Li via. We walked through the Forum to the Colosseum, and afterwards in the Borghese Gardens. Wednesday, March 22d. — This morning we saw the Cenci again. What a gift of genius, to repro- duce such a face in all its tremulous life ! With a THE MOSES OF MICHAEL ANGELO. 235 deep, awful, innocent look, it seems to peer into your soul and pray you for sympathy. Doubt has been thrown upon its genuineness. If it be a creation and not a portrait, it is the more wonder- ful. Its character is so perfectly in unison with the mysterious heart-rending story of Beatrice Cenci, that, had it been discovered long years after her tragic end and without any clue to its origin, it might and probably would have been appropriated to her. We drove afterwards to the church of St. Peter in Chains, to see for the second time the Moses of Michael Angelo. I observed to-day, that, with the instinct of genius, (in the heads of the antique the ear is further forward,) he has placed the ear far back, which heightens the intellectual character of the head. In gazing at this powerful statue again, I felt that in Art it is only beauty that ensures constancy. The Moses is grand and imposing ; but one does not look for- ward to a third visit with that anticipation of grow- ing enjoyment with which one goes back to the Apollo or the Laocoon. Liberate the Laocoon from the constraints of force and pain, and it would stand before you a body preeminent for beauty and justness of proportion. On the other hand, sup- pose the body a common one, and the work sinks to a revolting mimicry of corporeal suffering. One who resides long in Rome is liable to be sucked back into the past. Behind him is an 236 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. ocean of movement and thought, out of which rise countless fragments and monuments, that daily tempt him to exploration. A man might here lean his whole being against antiquity and find it a life- long support. The present becomes but a starting- point whence he would set out on voyages into the past. Walked out at the Porta Pia. Thursday, March 23d. — This morning we went to the Villa Negroni, the neglected grounds of which are in great part occupied by a vegetable garden. The sun was just enough veiled by thin clouds to make walking agreeable, and although the villa is far within the walls, we strolled for half an hour over twenty or thirty acres of artichokes, onions, and peas, enjoying a wide sweep of the mountains. We then went to see Cardinal Fesch's gallery, containing altogether twenty thousand pic- tures. Exempt from the officious promptings of a cicerone, we lounged from room to room, choosing for ourselves, and appealing to the voluminous cat- alogue to back our vision or resolve doubts. After one has obtained, by familiarity with galleries, some knowledge of the best masters, it is delight- ful to be let loose in this way upon a new collec- tion. This one is celebrated for Flemish and Dutch pictures. Great part of the afternoon we passed among the statues of the Vatican. The Perseus looks as if Canova had studied the antique more than nature. ART AND NATURE. 237 The one sole mistress in Art being Nature, all that the artist can gain from the works of others is the best mode of seizing the spirit of the one common model, of compassing her beauties, so that he shall be able to reproduce what shall be at once ideal and natural. Not to imitate their forms, but to extract from them how their authors imitated the best of Nature so truly, should be the aim of the young sculptor in scanning the Apollo or Laocoon. If he can make the wondrous work before him reveal the process of the worker, then he can profit by the example. If he cannot, then he has not the innate gifts of a high artist. But this process of the great masters he will not only fail to detect, by copying the forms that have come from human hands, but by such servility (for it is servility, be the model Phidias himself) he weakens his original powers, and gradually disables himself from stand- ing up face to face before his living mistress. To the young sculptor, the antique should be an armory where he can fortify his native powers for the loving conflict he has to wage with vigorous beaming Nature. In the Perseus, it is apparent the free play of the artist's mind was under check. You behold the result of fine powers in partial ser- vitude. Nevertheless, both it and the boxers beside it are noble works. I went next to the Capitol, whence, after gazing at the Gladiator, and examining the busts of Brutus and Caesar, I walked 238 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. down into the Forum about the base of the Capitol, among piles of broken columns. Friday, March 24th. — This morning I paced St. Peter's to get for myself its dimensions. Walking without effort, I counted two hundred and sixty steps as the length of the great nave, thirty- seven as its width, and one hundred and eighty as that of the transept. I counted twenty-six altars. Its statues, mostly of 'gigantic size, and its mosaic pictures, I did not undertake to count. It is reputed to have cost about fifty millions of dol- lars. Do not painting and sculpture require for their excellence a predominance of the sensuous over the meditative ? The Catholic religion, the parent, or, at least, the foster-mother of modern painting, appeals largely to the senses ; and the Grecian mythology, the nurse of ancient sculpture, still more so. The present tendency is towards the spiritual and rational ; and the foremost people of Europe, the English, possessing the richest written poetry in the world, is poor in the plastic Arts. The great features of the German, English, and American mind, are deep religious and moral emotions, the fruits of whose alliance with reason are far-reaching ideas and wide-embracing princi- ples, which sway the thoughts and acts of men, but which can be but faintly represented in bodily THE MINERVA CHURCH. 239 This sounds well enough, but great modern names refute it. Your fair looking edifice of logic proves but a house of paper before the breath of great facts. Saturday, March 25th. — We went to look at the continuation of Cardinal Fesch's collection of pictures in a neighboring palace ; but all the best are in the first, which we saw a few days since. The keeper unlocked a large room, in which pic- tures were piled away in solid masses one against the other. I noted No. 16,059 on one of them. Fourteen hundred dollars a year rent is paid for the rooms the whole collection occupies. — We then went to the Minerva Church to witness a re- ligious ceremony, in which the Pope is carried on the shoulders of his attendants. We got into the church in time to have a good view of him seated in a rich throne-like chair, which rose just above the dense crowd, borne rocking along, as on a dis- turbed sea of human heads. Carried on either side of him were two large fans of peacock's feath- ers, which might be called the sails of the golden vessel. We afterwards walked in the Gregorian Gardens, a public walk near the Colosseum, be- tween the Caelian and Palatine Hills. — In the afternoon we drove out to see the Torlonia Villa. Canova's statuary wants what may be called the under movement, which Thorwaldsen's has, and which is by no means given by pronouncing the 240 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. muscles, but by a union of sympathy for vital forms with clean firm manipulation. In Powers this union is more intimate than in any modern sculptor that I have seen. Sunday, March 2Qth. — We walked this morn- ing on the Pincian Hill, and in the afternoon drove three miles out of the Porta Pia to a Roman ruin, whence there is a fine view of the mountains and over the Campagna all round. Behind us was Rome, and stretching out from it over the plain towards the mountains were the aqueducts. In Italy, the past is a load chained to the feet of the present. The people drags after it, like a corpse, the thought, feeling, act, of by-gone gen- erations. Tradition comes down, like the current, through a narrow strait, behind which is an ocean. Here, more than in most parts of old Europe, the health-giving transformations go on languidly ; the old is not consumed to give place to the hourly created new. The dead and effete is in the way of the quick and refreshing. Hence, languor and irregularity in the currents of life, causing in the body politic obstructions and stoppages, and all sorts of social, religious, and political dyspepsias, congestions, rheumatisms, constipations. Monday, March 21th.. — Returned with re- newed enjoyment to Thorwaldsen's studio. Natu- ralness and ease are his characteristics. He has not a very high ideal of beauty, and seems to avoid FRASCATL 241 the nude, which is the severest test of the artist. Thence we went to the Church of St. Lorenzo, in Lucina, where a fine voice was singing. To strive, by such factitious ceremonies as those of the Romish worship, to symbolize the divine, is a degradation of the holy that is in us. It is sum- moning the solemn spirits of the soul to take part in a fantastic pageant of the senses. — We walked afterwards in the Gregorian Gardens, and on the ruins of the Palace of the Caesars. Thence to look once more at the marvels of the Sciarra Gal- lery. — In the afternoon, on coming out of Craw- ford's studio, we drove over the river to St. Peter's. Tuesday ) March 2St7i. — We set out at nine for Frascati. Three miles from the St. John's Gate we passed under an aqueduct, still used, and near the erect ruins of another. The Campagna, with- out trees or enclosures, and almost without houses, is much less level than it looks from the heights in Rome. We passed several shepherds with their flocks, and parties of peasants ploughing with large, long-horned, long-legged, meek, white oxen. The plough had one upright handle, and by this the men supported their weight on it, for the purpose of turning up a deeper furrow of the dark soil. As we drew near to Frascati, the Alban mountains, which from Rome present themselves in a compact cluster, broke up into separate peaks, the hillsides covered with olive-trees, which looked darker and 242 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. more leafy than I ever saw them, and villas with their wooded grounds shining out distinctly. From Frascati, which is not half-way up the range of mountains, you have a clear view of Koine, twelve miles distant, and of the Mediterranean. Immedi- ately after arriving, we set out for Tusculuin, which lies almost two miles higher up, near the summit of one of the peaks. Before we got half-way, rain began to fall, and the sky was entirely over- cast when we reached the ruins, consisting of an amphitheatre and part of the walls of the ancient city of Tusculum. Descending, we were glad to take shelter in Cicero's house, which is on the other side of the ridge. What is left of it, is six or eight deep arched rooms in a row, without direct communication with one another, and all pointing south on a passage-way or portico. My imagina- tion refused to bring Cicero before me otherwise than as looking out from his arches impatiently on a rainy clay. In a hard shower we descended to the tavern, and after dinner drove rapidly back to Rome. Wednesday, March 29th. — What is called the bust of young Augustus, in the Vatican, is much like Napoleon when he was General. We walked round the Rotunda, where are the Perseus of Ca- nova, the Antinous, the Laocoon, and the Apollo. What a company! and what a privilege it is to behold them. We drove afterwards to the Colos- SUNSET FROM THE PINCIAN. 243 seum, and for the first time ascended among the arches. Its vastness and massive grandeur never cease to astonish me. In the afternoon, when we had looked at the pictures in the Academy of St. Luc, we drove to the Pincian Hill at five. The whole heaven was strewn with fragments of a thunder-storm. Through them the hue of the sky was unusually brilliant, and along the clear western horizon of a pearly green. Standing at the northern extremity of the hill, we had, to the south, the maze of pinnacles, cupolas, towers, columns, obelisks, that strike up out of the wide expanse of mellow building ; to the right, the sun and St. Peter's ; and, to the left, a rural view into the grounds of the Borghese Villa, where, over a clump of lofty pines, lay the darkest remnants of the storm, seemingly resting on their broad flat summits. The gorgeous scene grew richer each moment that we gazed, till the whole city and its fleecy canopy glowed in purple. We walked slowly towards the great stairway, and paused on its top as the sun was sinking below the horizon. It was an Italian sunset after a storm, with Rome for the foreground. As, after returning to our lodging, I sat in the bland twilight, full of the feeling produced by such a spectacle, in such a spot and atmosphere, from the ante-room came the sound of a harp from fin- gers that were moved by the soul for music, which 244 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. is almost as common here as speech. After play- ing two sweet airs, it ceased : it had come unbidden and unannounced, and so it went. This was wanted to complete the day, although before it began I did not feel the want of anything. There are rare moments of heaven on earth, which, but for our perversity, might be frequent hours, and sanctify and lighten each day, so full is Nature of gifts and blessings, were the heart kept open to them. But we close our hearts with pride and ambition, and all kinds of greeds and selfishness, and try to be content with postponing Heaven to beyond the grave. Thursday, March SOth. — We visited this morn- ing the Hospital of St. Michael, an immense estab- lishment for the support and instruction of orphans, and an asylum for aged poor. It is divided into four compartments : for aged men, of whom there are now one hundred and twenty-five ; for aged women, one hundred and twenty-five ; for boys, two hundred and twenty ; and for girls, two hun- dred and seventy-five ; making altogether seven hundred and forty-five, as the present number of its inmates. We saw a woman one hundred and three years old, with health and faculties good. The boys are taught trades, and the liberal arts, and are entitled to the half of the product of their work, which is laid up for them, and serves as a capital to start with when they leave the institution HOSPITAL OF ST. MICHAEL. 245 at the age of twenty ; besides which, each one receives, on quitting, thirty dollars for the same purpose. The girls weave and work with the needle, and, if they marry, receive one hundred dollars dower, and two hundred if they go into a convent. They, as well as the boys, are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and vocal music. The superintendent, who was throughout exceedingly obliging and affable, let us hear several pieces of music, admirably executed by a number of the boys. The income of this institution, from foundations made chiefly by former popes, is twenty-eight thousand dollars, to which is added upwards of five thousand paid by some of those admitted into its walls, or by their patrons. The arrangements and administration seem to be judicious. Order, indus- try, and contentment were visible in all the com- partments. It is a noble institution, which does honor to Rome. In the afternoon we visited the Villa Ludovisi, in olden time the garden of Sallust. Among sev- eral fine antique statues, that have been dug up in the grounds, is a magnificent colossal head of Juno. I afterwards walked home from the Colosseum, in the warm spring air, taking a look on the way at the Moses of Michael Angelo. Friday, March 31s£. — Through narrow lanes, enclosed by high garden- walls, we walked this 246 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. morning on Mount Aventine. In the afternoon we drove out to the grotto and grove of Egeria. At the grotto, where is the fountain, they pretend to show the stump of a column of the original por- tico, and the trunk of a statue of Numa Porapilius, in whose day there were neither porticos nor stat- ues. From this spot there is a fine view towards Frascati and the hills. On the way, we stopped at a church without the walls, where a friar showed a marble slab, indented with two footprints, which he said were made by Jesus Christ when he quitted St. Peter, to whom he appeared to rebuke St. Peter for deserting his post at Rome. The impressions are rudely cut, and the toes of the feet are all nearly square, but they nevertheless probably keep the poor friar and some of his brethren in food and fuel the year round. The ancient sculptors had an advantage over the modern, in the profusion of poetical subjects ; for every deity of their prolific mythology is poetical, that is, unites in itself all the perfections of a class, and stands as the ideal representative or symbol of wants, desires, or ideas. The modern artist is tasked to find individuals that have a generic char- acter or significance. The defect in sacred sub- jects is, that they must be. draped, and thus do not admit of the highest achievement in sculpture : which is, to exhibit the human body in its fullest beauty of form and expression. BENEATH THE DOME OF ST. PETERS. 247 Saturday, April 1st. — In the morning we vis- ited the rooms of Mr. Rosseter and Mr. Terry, two young American painters of promise, and walked about the Colosseum. After taking a last look at the beautiful resplendent St. Michael of Guido in the Chapel of the Capuchins, we drove to see the drawing of the lottery, which takes place every Saturday at noon in the Square of Monte Citorio. From a balcony, where priests presided, the numbers were drawn to the sound of music, the Square well covered with people, mostly of the working-classes. In the afternoon, after taking another look at Vallati's Correggio, we walked on the Pincian Hill. Sunday, April 2d. — It is four o'clock in the afternoon. Seated against the huge base of a pilaster, beneath the dome of St. Peter's, I have taken out my pencil to note down what is passing around me. In front, near by, directly under the cupola, in the centre of the church, is the great altar, beneath which in the vaults is the tomb of St. Peter. The steps that lead down to it are enclosed by a marble balustrade, round which burn unceasingly a row of brazen lamps. At this altar service is performed only by the Pope himself or a cardinal. Round these lights is a favorite spot for worshippers ; there is now kneeling a circle of various classes. People are walking, lounging, or chatting, or gazing at monuments and pictures. 248 SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. Across the great nave, nearly opposite to me, is a little crowd about St. Peter's statue, kissing one after the other his bronze toe. Yonder is a knot of soldiers. A group of three, the middle one a priest, is passing me in lively chat. A few yards to my left, another priest is on his knees ; his lips move rapidly ; nor are his eyes idle, nor his nose, which he occupies with snuff. Here come a couple of unkempt artisans, laughing. Yonder, a white poodle is rolling himself on the marble floor, and a black cur is trotting up to interrogate him. From under one of the great arches is issuing a proces- sion of boys, young acolytes. They crowd up to St. Peter's statue, kiss the toe, pass on, kneel for a few moments before the illuminated sanctuary, and then disappear in the distance. Not far off stand three priests in animated talk. Across the transept, shines down obliquely through a lofty arch an immense band of illuminated dust, denot- ing the height of a western window. I raise my eyes towards the dome ; the gigantic mosaic fig- ures on its rich concave are dwarfed like fir-trees on a mountain. Half-way down the great nave, people are standing or kneeling a little closer, for service is going on in one of the side-altars, and vespers are about to be sung in a chapel opposite. Many hundreds of visitors and worshippers, mingled together, are in the church, but merely dot thinly the area whereon tens of thousands might stand at ease. FAREWELL TO THE VATICAN. 249 Monday, April 3d. — Mounted in the morning to the roof and to the top of the dome of St. Peter's. What a pulpit whence to preach a ser- mon on the lusts of power and gold ! In the afternoon we took farewell in the Vatican of the Apollo and his inspired companions. In the evening we went to hear an improvisatrice, Madame Taddei. When it is considered that this class of performers study for years their business, and that the Italian language runs so readily into verse, the performance loses its wonder. More- over, the imagination has such scope, that they can and do spin off a subject very loosely. Wednesday, April 5t7i, 1843. — We left Rome at ten in the forenoon. The day was fine, and our faces were turned homeward, whence, across the sea, blew a fresh breeze as we approached Civita Vecchia. THE END.