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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29658-8.txt b/29658-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51aa844 --- /dev/null +++ b/29658-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11068 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Italy, the Magic Land, by Lilian Whiting + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Italy, the Magic Land + +Author: Lilian Whiting + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29658] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emanuela Piasentini and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: _Temple, Taormina_] + + + + + ITALY + + THE MAGIC LAND + + BY + + LILIAN WHITING + + AUTHOR OF "THE FLORENCE OF LANDOR," "THE LAND OF + ENCHANTMENT," "THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL," ETC. + + + "And, under many a yellow star, + We dropped into the Magic Land!" + + + _Illustrated from Photographs_ + + BOSTON + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 1907 + + + + +_Copyright, 1907_, + +BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + +_All rights reserved_ + +Published November, 1907 + +THE GRIFFITH-STILLINGS PRESS, BOSTON, U.S.A. + + + + + TO + ELLA + + (MRS. FRANKLIN SIMMONS) + + WHOSE EARTHLY FORM REPOSES IN THE BEAUTIFUL ROMAN CEMETERY, + WHERE POETIC ASSOCIATIONS WITH KEATS AND SHELLEY HAUNT + THE AIR,--UNDER THE SCULPTURED "ANGEL OF THE RESURRECTION," + WITH ITS MAJESTIC SYMBOLISM OF THE + TRIUMPH OF IMMORTALITY,--BUT WHOSE RADIANT + PRESENCE STILL TRANSFIGURES THE LIFE THAT + HELD HER IN IMMORTAL DEVOTION,-- + THESE PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, + + WITH THE UNFORGETTING LOVE OF + + LILIAN WHITING. + +ROME, ITALY, May Days, 1907. + + + + + "_Nor Life is ever lord of Death, + And Love can never lose its own._" + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +That Florence, the "Flower City," receives only a passing allusion in +this record of various impressions that gleam and glow through the days +after several visits to the Magic Land, is due to the fact that in a +previous volume by the writer--one entitled "The Florence of +Landor"--the lovely Tuscan town with its art, its ineffable beauty, and +its choice social life, formed the subject matter of that volume. Any +attempt to portray Florence in the present book would savor only of the +repetition of loves and enthusiasms already recorded in the previous +work in which Walter Savage Landor formed the central figure. For that +reason no mention of Florence, beyond some mere allusion, is attempted +in these pages, which only aim to present certain fragmentary +impressions of various sojourns in Italy, refracted through the prism of +memory. Whatever inconveniences or discomfort attend the traveller +swiftly fade, and leave to him only the precious heritage of resplendent +sunset skies, of poetic association, of artistic beauty. In spirit he is +again lingering through long afternoons in St. Peter's till the golden +light through the far windows of the tribune is merged into the dusk of +twilight in which the vast monumental groups gleam wraith-like. Again +he is ascending the magnificent _Scala Regia_, and lingering in the +Raphael Stanze, or in the wonderful sculpture galleries of the Vatican, +or sauntering in the sunshine on the Palatine. In memory he is again +spellbound by ancient and mediæval art. In the line of modern sculpture +the work of Franklin Simmons in Rome is a feature of Italy that haunts +the imagination. No lover of beauty would willingly miss his great +studios in the Via San Nicolo da Tolentino, with their wealth of ideal +creations that contribute new interest to the most divine of all the +arts. + + "The world of art is an ideal world,-- + The world I love, and that I fain would live in; + So speak to me of artists and of art, + Of all the painters, sculptors, and musicians + That now illustrate Rome." + +The mystic charm of the pilgrimage to Assisi; the romance that reflects +itself in the violet seas and flaming splendors of the sky on the shores +of Ischia and Capri; the buried treasures of Amalfi; the magnetic +impressiveness of the Eternal City,--all these enter into life as new +forces to build and shape the future into undreamed-of destinies. + + L. W. + + THE BRUNSWICK, BOSTON, + October Days, 1907. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + I THE PERIOD OF MODERN ART IN ROME 3 + + II SOCIAL LIFE IN THE ETERNAL CITY 127 + + III DAY-DREAMS IN NAPLES, AMALFI, AND CAPRI 227 + + IV A PAGE DE CONTI FROM ISCHIA 281 + + V VOICES OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 341 + + VI THE GLORY OF A VENETIAN JUNE 389 + + VII THE MAGIC LAND 423 + + INDEX 459 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Temple, Taormina _Frontispiece in Photogravure_ + + Angel, Church of San Andrea delle Fratte, Rome _Page_ 12 + + Detail from the Stuart Monument, St. Peter's, Rome " 24 + + Tomb of Clement XIII, St. Peter's, Rome " 32 + + "The Genius of Death," Detail from the Tomb + of Clement XIII, St. Peter's, Rome " 43 + + "La Fortuna," Accadémia di San Luca, Rome " 47 + + Spanish Steps, Piazza Trinità dei Monti, Rome " 72 + + Tomb of Pio Nono, San Lorenzo (Fuori le Mura) Rome " 75 + + "The Dance of the Pleiades" " 92 + + "Grief and History," Detail from Naval Monument, + Washington " 105 + + "The Genius of Progress Leading the Nations" " 108 + + "Mother of Moses" " 112 + + "Valley Forge" " 116 + + La Pieta, St. Peter's, Rome " 120 + + Villa Medici, Rome " 134 + + Entrance to Villa Pamphilia-Doria, Rome " 159 + + Statue of Christ, Ancient Church of San Martina, Rome " 193 + + Castel San Angelo and St. Peter's, Rome " 204 + + Porta San Paola, Pyramid of Caius Cestius, Rome " 216 + + Castel Sant'Elmo, Naples " 231 + + Ancient Temple, Baiæ " 241 + + Ischia, from the Sea " 282 + + La Rocca, Ischia " 294 + + Castello di Alfonso, Ischia " 306 + + Detail from "Parnassus," Raphael Stanze, Palazzo + Vaticano, Rome " 311 + + Vittoria Colonna, Galleria Buonarroti, Florence " 320 + + San Francescan Convent-Church, Assisi " 346 + + St. Francis d'Assisi, The Duomo, Assisi " 366 + + Santa Chiara, The Duomo, Assisi " 375 + + Baiæ and Ischia, from Camaldoli " 382 + + Ruins of the Greek Theatre, Taormina, Sicily " 429 + + Ponte Vecchio, Florence " 434 + + Campo Santo, Genoa " 453 + + + + + "_Rest we content if whispers from the stars + In wafting of the incalculable wind + Come blown at midnight through our prison-bars._" + + + + +THE MAGIC LAND + + _By woodland belt, by ocean bar, + The full south breeze our forehead fanned; + And, under many a yellow star, + We dropped into the Magic Land._ + + * * * * * + + _We heard, far-off, the siren's song; + We caught the gleam of sea-maids' hair; + The glimmering isles and rocks among + We moved through sparkling purple air._ + + _Then Morning rose, and smote from far + Her elfin harps o'er land and sea; + And woodland belt, and ocean bar + To one sweet note sighed--"Italy!"_ + + OWEN MEREDITH. + + + + +ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND + + + + +I + +THE PERIOD OF MODERN ART IN ROME + + But ah, that spring should vanish with the Rose! + That youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close? + The nightingale that in the branches sang, + Oh, where and whither flown again,--who knows? + + OMAR KHAYYAM. + + +ROME, as the picturesque city of the Popes in the middle years of the +nineteenth century, was resplendent in local color. It was the Rome of +sunny winters; the Rome of gay excursions over that haunted sea of the +Campagna to pictorial points in the Alban and Sabine hills; the Rome of +young artist life, which organized impromptu festas with Arcadian +freedom, and utilized the shadow or the shelter of ruined temples or +tombs in which to spread its picnic lunches and bring the glow of +simple, friendly intercourse into the romantic lights of the poetic, +historic, or tragic past. There were splendid Catholic processions and +ceremonials that seemed organized as a part of the stage scenery that +ensconced itself, also, with the nonchalance of easy possession, in the +vast salons of historic palaces where tapestried walls and richly +painted ceilings, arched high overhead, with statues dimly seen in +niches here and there, and the bust of some crowned Antoninus, or +radiant Juno, gleaming from a shadowy corner, all made up the +_mise-en-scène_ of familiar evenings. There were lingering hours in the +gardens of the Villa Medici into whose shades one strolled by that +beguiling path along the parapet on Monte Pincio, through the beautiful +grove with its walks and fountains. The old ilex bosquet, with its +tangled growth and air of complete seclusion, had its spell of +fascination. Then, as now, the elevated temple, at the end of the main +path, seemed the haunt of gods and muses. In all the incidental, as well +as the ceremonial social meeting and mingling, art and religion were the +general themes of discussion. This idyllic life-- + + "Comprehending, too, the soul's + And all the high necessities of art"-- + +has left its impress on the air as well as its record on many a page of +the poet and the romancist. The names that made memorable those +wonderful days touch chords of association that still vibrate in the +life of the hour. For the most part the artists and their associates +have gone their way--not into a Silent Land, a land of shadows and +vague, wandering ghosts--but into that realm wherein is the "life more +abundant," of more intense energy and of nobler achievement; the realm +in which every aspiration of earth enlarges its conception and every +inspiration is exalted and endowed with new purpose; the realm where, as +Browning says,-- + + "Power comes in full play." + +The poet's vision recognizes the truth:-- + + "I know there shall dawn a day, + --Is it here on homely earth? + Is it yonder, worlds away, + Where the strange and new have birth, + That Power comes in full play?" + +The names of sculptor, painter, and poet throng back, imaged in that +retrospective mirror which reflects a vista of the past, rich in ideal +creation. Beautiful forms emerge from the marble; pictorial scenes glow +from the canvas; song and story and happy, historic days are in the +very air. To Italy, land of romance and song, all the artists came +trooping, and + + "Under many a yellow Star" + +they dropped into the Magic Land. If the wraiths of the centuries long +since dead walked the streets, they were quite welcome to revisit the +glimpses of the moon and contribute their mystery to the general +artistic effectiveness of the Seven-hilled City. All this group of +American idealists, from Allston and Page to Crawford, Story, Randolph +Rogers, Vedder, Simmons, and to the latest comer of all, Charles Walter +Stetson, recognized something of the artist's native air in this Mecca +of their pilgrimage. + +It was, indeed, quite natural, on account of the stupendous work of +Michael Angelo and the unrivalled museums of the Vatican, that Rome +should have become pre-eminently the artistic centre of the nineteenth +century and should have attracted students and lovers of art from all +parts of the world. The immortal works of the two great periods, the +Greek and the Renaissance,--the art that was forever great because it +was the outgrowth of profound religious conviction,--were enshrined in +the churches and the galleries of Rome. The leading countries of Europe +sent here their aspiring students and established permanent academies +for their residence. Germany, France, and England were thus represented. +Thorwaldsen came as a pensioner from the Academy of Fine Arts in +Copenhagen; and it was during his life, and that of the noble Canova, +that Rome began to be recognized as the modern world-centre of art. Was +it not a natural sequence that the early painters and sculptors who came +to study under the stimulating influences of the great masterpieces of +the past should linger on in the city whose very air became to them the +breath of inspiring suggestion? Where but in Rome would have come to +Crawford the vision of his "Orpheus" and of his noble Beethoven? or to +Story his "Libyan Sibyl," and that exquisite group, "Into the Silent +Land"? or to Vedder his marvellous creations of "The Fates Gathering in +the Stars," the "Cumæan Sibyl," or the "Dance of the Pleiades"? to +Simmons his triumphant "Angel of the Resurrection," and "The Genius of +Progress Leading the Nations"? or to Stetson that ineffable vision of +"The Child," and that wonderful group called "Music"? whose coloring +Titian or Giorgione might well mistake for their own. + +Under the Pontifical _régime_ the general character of Rome was mediæval +and religious. The perpetual festas of the church made the streets +constantly picturesque with their processions of monks, and friars, and +priests, and these wonderful blendings of color and scenic effect +stimulated the artistic sense. The expenses of living in Rome were then +only a fraction of what the cost is at the present time; and as the city +was the resort of the wealthy and cultured few, the artists were +surrounded by the stimulus of critical appreciation and of patronage. +Their work, their dreams, were the theme of literary discussion, and +focussed the attention of the polite world. Their studios were among the +important interests to every visitor in the Eternal City. In those days +the traveller did not land with his touring car at Naples, make "the +run" to Rome in a record that distanced any possibilities of railroad +trains, pass two or three days in motoring about the city and its +environs, seeing the exterior of everything in a dissolving view and the +interior of nothing,--as within this time, at least, he must flash on +in his touring car to Florence. On the contrary, the traveller proceeded +to Rome with serious deliberation, and with a more realizing sense of +undertaking a journey than Walter Wellman experiences in attempting to +fly in his aero-car to the North Pole and send his observations across +the polar seas by wireless telegraphy. The visitor went to Rome for a +winter, for a year, and gave himself up to leisurely impressions. Rome +was an atmosphere, not a spectacle, and it was to be entered with the +lofty and reverent appreciation of the poet's power and the artist's +vision. + +In Rome, Thomas Cole painted some of his best pictures; and in Rome or +Florence wrought a long list of painters and sculptors. Whether in the +Eternal City or in the Flower City, their environment was alike +Italy--the environment of the Magic Land. Among the more prominent of +all these devotees of Beauty several nationalities were represented. +Each might have said of his purpose, in the words of William Watson:-- + + "I follow Beauty; of her train am I, + Beauty, whose voice is earth and sea and air; + Who serveth, and her hands for all things ply; + Who reigneth, and her throne is everywhere." + +Among these artists there flash upon memory the names of Vanderlyn, +Benjamin West, Allston, Rauch, Ange, Veit, Tenerani, Overbeck, Schadow, +Horace Vernet, Thorwaldsen, John Gibson, Hiram Powers, Crawford, Page, +Clark Mills, Randolph Rogers, William Rinehart, Launt Thompson, Horatio +and Richard Greenough, Thomas Ball, Anne Whitney, Larkin G. Mead, Paul +Akers, William Wetmore Story, Harriet Hosmer, J. Rollin Tilton, and, +later, Elihu Vedder, Moses Ezekiel, Franklin Simmons, Augustus St. +Gaudens, and Charles Walter Stetson, the name of Mr. Stetson linking the +long and interesting procession with the immediate life of to-day. Of +these later artists Story, Miss Hosmer, Ezekiel, Vedder, Simmons, and +Stetson are identified with Rome as being either their permanent or +their prolonged residence. Mr. St. Gaudens was a transient student, +returning to his own country to pursue his work; and of two young +sculptors, Hendrick Christian Anderson and C. Percival Dietsch, time has +not yet developed their powers beyond an experimental stage of brilliant +promise. + + [Illustration: ANGEL, CHURCH OF SAN ANDREA DELLE FRATTE, ROME + Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini + _Page 32_] + +The Rome of the artists of clay and canvas was also the Rome of the +poets and romancists, of authors in all lines of literary achievement. +How the names of the procession of visitors and sojourners in the +Eternal City, from Milton, Goethe, and Mme. de Staël to Henry James, +Marion Crawford, Richard Bagot, and Grace Ellery Channing (Mrs. Charles +Walter Stetson), gleam from that resplendent panorama of the modern past +of Rome! Like the words in electric fire that flash out of the darkness +in city streets at night, there shine the names of Shelley and of Keats; +of Gladstone, on whom in one memorable summer day, while strolling in +Italian sunshine, there fell a vision of the sacredness and the +significance of life and its infinite responsibility in the fulfilment +of lofty purposes. What charming associations these guests and +sojourners have left behind! Hawthorne, embodying in immortal romance +the spirit of the scenic greatness of the Eternal City; Margaret Fuller, +Marchesa d'Ossoli, allying herself in marriage with the country she +loved, and living in Rome those troubled, mysterious years that were to +close the earthly chapter of her life; Robert and Elizabeth Browning, +the wedded poets, who sang of love and Italy; Harriet Beecher Stowe, +finding on the enchanted Italian shores the material which she wove +with such irresistible attraction into the romance of "Agnes of +Sorrento;" Longfellow, with his poet's vision, transmuting every vista +and impression into some exquisite lyric; Lowell, bringing his +philosophic as well as his poetic insight to penetrate the untold +meaning of Rome; Thomas William Parsons, making the country of Dante +fairly his own; Thackeray, with his brilliant interpretation of the +_comédie humaine_; Emerson, who, oblivious of all the glories of art or +the joys of nature, absorbed himself in writing transcendental letters +to his eccentric, but high-souled aunt, Mary Moody Emerson; Ruskin, +translating Italian art to Italy herself; Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe and +his poet wife, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in the first flush of their bridal +happiness, when Mrs. Howe's impassioned love for the Seven-hilled City +inspired many a lyric that mirrors the Roman atmosphere of that day; +Kate Field, with a young girl's glad enthusiasm over the marvellous +loveliness of a Maytime in Rome, and her devotion to those great +histrionic artists, Ristori and Salvini; George Stillman Hillard, +leaving to literature the rich legacy of his "Six Months in +Italy,"--a work that to this day holds precedence as a clear and +comprehensive presentation of the scenic beauty, the notable monumental +and architectural art, and the general life and resources of this land +of painter and poet. Other names, too, throng upon memory--that of +William Dean Howells, painting Italian life in his "Venetian Days," and +charming all the literary world by his choice art; and among later work, +the interesting interpretations of Rome and of social life in Rome, by +Marion Crawford, Henry James, and Richard Bagot,--in chronicle, in +romance, or in biographical record. During the last quarter of the +nineteenth century, indeed, the visitors to Rome--authors, artists, +travellers of easy leisure--defy any numerical record. Mrs. Louise +Chandler Moulton, poet, romancist, and delightful _raconteur_ as well, +has recorded some charming impressions of her various sojourns in Rome +both in her "Random Rambles" and in "Lazy Tours." Of the Palatine Hill +we find her saying:-- + + "Sometimes we go to the Palace of the Cæsars, and look off upon the + heights where the snow lingers and the warm light rests, making + them shine like the Delectable Mountains. Nearer at hand are the + almond trees, in flower, or the orange trees, bright at once with + their white, sweet blossoms and their golden fruit." + +Mrs. Moulton writes of the "stately dwellers" in Rome whom time cannot +change; and to whom, whenever she returns, she makes her first visit; +some of whom are in the mighty palace of the Vatican and some of whom +dwell in state in the Capitol. + + "The beautiful Antoninus still wears his crown of lotus in Villa + Albani and the Juno whom Goethe worshipped reigns forever at the + Ludovisi," she writes; "I can never put in words the pleasure I + find in these immortals." Mrs. Moulton loved to wander in the Villa + Borghese "before the place is thronged with the beauty and fashion + of Rome as it is in the late afternoon. I do not wonder that Miriam + and Donatello could forget their fate in these enchanted glades," + she wrote, "and dance as the sunbeams danced with the shadows. + Sometimes I seem to see them where the sun sifts through the young + green leaves, and her beauty--her human, deep-souled beauty--and + his fantastic grace are the only things here that cannot change. + + "The walls will crumble; the busts of kings and heroes and poets + will lose their contours, the lovely Roman ladies also grow old and + fade, and vanish from sight and from memory; but still these two, + hopeless yet happy, will dance in these wild glades immortally + beyond the reach of the effacing years." + +The visit to Rome of the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks--later the Bishop of +Massachusetts--is immortalized in the most lifelike portrait bust of the +great preacher ever modelled; a bust in which the genius of the +sculptor, Franklin Simmons, found one of its noblest expressions, and +has perpetuated, with masterly power, the energy of thought, at once +profound and intense, in the countenance of Bishop Brooks. These, and +many another whom the gods have loved and dowered with gifts, rise +before any retrospective glance over the comparatively recent past of +Rome. Bishop Brooks passed there the Holy Week of one Lenten season, +and of the Miserere in the Sistine Chapel he wrote that it was certainly +the most wonderful music to which he had ever listened; and he added:-- + + "The Miserere in the Sistine, the Benediction from the balcony, the + solemn moment of the elevation of the Host on Easter, and the + illumination of St. Peter's, these all seem to reach very + remarkably the great ideal of the central religious commemoration + of Christendom." + +It was in the winter of 1828 that Mr. Longfellow first visited Rome, +which "is announced," he wrote, "by Nero's tomb," and he quotes Dupaty's +lines:-- + + "Quoi! c'est là Rome? quoi! + C'est le tombeau de Neron qui l'annonce." + +Mr. Longfellow expressed his love for the Eternal City, and in a +personal letter[1] he said:-- + + "I have been so delighted with Rome that I have extended my + residence much beyond my original intention. There is so much in + the city to delay the stranger; the villages in the environs are so + beautiful, and there is such a quiet and stillness about everything + that, were it in my power, I should be induced to remain the whole + year round. You can imagine nothing equal to the ruins of Rome. The + Forum and the Coliseum are beyond all I had ever fancied them; and + the ruined temples and the mouldering aqueducts which are scattered + over the Campagna; I do not believe there is a finer view in the + world than that from the eastern gate of the city, embracing the + Campagna, with its ruined aqueducts diverging in long broken + arcades, and terminated by the sweep of the Albanian hills, + sprinkled with their white villages, and celebrated in song and + story! But the great charm of the scene springs from association; + and though everything in Italy is really picturesque, yet strip the + country of its historic recollections,--think merely of what it is, + and not of what it has been,--and you will find the dream to be + fading away. + + "You would be shocked at the misery of the people, especially in + the Pope's dominions: but their element seems to be in rags and + misery; and with the ceremonials of their religion and the holidays + of the church, which average nearly three a week, they are + poor--and lazy and happy. I mean, happy in their way." + +In a later visit the poet was domiciled in an hotel on the Piazza +Barberini, where the wonderful view included then the entire city "to +where St. Peter's dome darkens against the sunset." Of this visit his +brother, Rev. Samuel Longfellow, writes:-- + + "Here Mr. Longfellow became for the season the centre of the group + of American visitors and resident artists, whose well-known names + need not be recounted. Here he made, also, acquaintances among the + Italians,--especially the Duke of Sermoneta, the Dantean scholar, + and Monsignore Nardi, of the papal court. The Pope himself he did + not visit. An interesting acquaintance was that made with the Abbé + Liszt, who was spending the winter in Rome, having rooms in the + abandoned Convent of Santa Francesca, in the Forum. Calling there + one evening, in company with Mr. Healy the artist, the inner door + of the apartment was opened to them by Liszt himself, holding high + in his hand a candle which illuminated his fine face. The picture + was so striking that Mr. Longfellow begged his companion to put it + upon canvas,--which he did; and the painting now hangs in the + library of Craigie House. At a morning visit, Liszt delighted the + party with a performance upon his Chickering pianoforte. + + "To see Rome, as all travellers know, is a work for many months; + and it was pursued with tolerable diligence. But Mr. Longfellow was + never a good sight-seer. He was impatient of lingering in picture + galleries, churches, or ruins. He saw quickly the essential points, + and soon tired of any minuter examination." + +But long, indeed, before nineteenth-century artists and authors laid +siege to the Eternal City, in the far-away years of 1638, Milton visited +Rome, and there still remains the tablet, on the wall of the _casa_ in +the Via delle Quattro Fontane in which he stayed, a tablet bearing an +inscription giving the date of his visit; as, also, in Via Machella, +there is an inscription marking the place where Scott lived during his +visit to Rome. Goethe made his memorable tour to Italy in 1786--fourteen +years before the dawn of the nineteenth century--and wrote: "I feel the +greatest longing to read Tacitus in Rome;" and again (an observation +with which every visitor to the Eternal City will sympathize) he +noted:-- + + "It grows more and more difficult for me to render an account of my + residence in Rome, for as we always find the sea deeper the further + we go, so it is with me in observation of this city.... Wherever we + go and wherever we stand, we see about us a finished + picture,--forms of every kind and style; palaces and ruins; gardens + and wastes; the distant and the near houses; triumphal arches and + columns,--often all so close together that they might be sketched + on a single sheet. One should have a thousand points of steel with + which to write, and what can a single pen do? and then in the + evening one is weary and exhausted with the day of seeing and + admiring. Here one reads history from within outward." + +Chateaubriand, who in his earliest youth had visited America as the +guest of Washington, passed the winter of 1803-4 in Rome, and his +pictorial transcriptions of the city and its environs are among the most +exquisite things in literary record. As, for instance, this description +of a sunset from Monte Mario:-- + + "I was never weary of seeing, from the Villa Borghese, the sun go + down behind the cypresses of Monte Mario, and the pines of the + Villa Pamphili planted by Le Notre. I have stood upon the Ponte + Molle to enjoy the sublime spectacle of the close of day. The + summits of the Sabine hills appeared of lapis lazuli and pale gold, + while their bases and sides were bathed in vapors of violet or + purple. Sometimes lovely clouds, like fairy cars, borne along by + the evening wind with inimitable grace, recall the mythological + tales of the descent of the deities of Olympus. Sometimes old Rome + seems to have spread all over the west the purple of her consuls + and her Cæsars, beneath the last steps of the god of day. This rich + decoration does not vanish so quickly as in our climate. When we + think the hues are about to disappear they revive on some other + point of the horizon; one twilight follows another and the magic of + sunset is prolonged." + +It was in the same year that Mme. de Staël visited Rome and recorded, in +her glowing romance, "Corinne," the impressions she received. In the +spring of 1817 Lord Byron found in Rome the inspiration that he +transmitted into that wonderful line in "Childe Harold":-- + + "The Niobe of Nations! There she stands." + +It was two years later that Shelley passed the spring in the +Seven-hilled City, retiring to Leghorn later, to write his tragedy of +"The Cenci." + +In Rome the visitor follows Michael Angelo and Raphael through the +various churches and museums. The celebrated sibyls of Raphael are in +the Santa Maria della Pace; his "Isaiah" is in San Agostino and his +"Entombment" in the Casino of the Villa Borghese. While the sublime work +of Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel is always one of the first +things in Rome to which the traveller goes to study that incomparable +work portraying the Creation--the Prophets and the Sibyls, the Angels +and the Genii, that record the impassioned power of the master--yet all +footsteps turn quickly, too, to the church called San Pietro in Vincoli, +near the house in which Lucrezia Borgia lived, in which is the colossal +Moses of Michael Angelo. As it stands, it fails to convey the first +design of the great sculptor. Originally intended for the tomb of Pope +Julius II, the plan included a massive block of marble (some forty by +twenty feet) surmounted by a cornice and having its niches, its columns, +and its statues, of which the Moses was to have been one. It would then +have been judged relatively to the entire group, while now it is seen +alone, and thus out of the proportions that were in the mind of the +artist. The entire conception, indeed, was to unite sculpture and +architecture into one splendid combination. "Thus the statue of Moses +was meant to have been raised considerably above the eye of the +spectator," writes Mr. Hillard, "and to have been a single object in a +colossal structure of architecture and sculpture, which would have had a +foreground and a background, and been crowned with a mass at once +dome-like and pyramidal. Torn, as it is, from its proper place; divorced +from its proportionate companionship; stuck against the wall of a +church; and brought face to face with the observer,--what wonder that so +many of those who see it turn away with no other impressions than those +of caricature and exaggeration!" + +Mr. Hillard adds:-- + + "But who that can appreciate the sublime in art will fail to bow + down before it as embodied in this wonderful statue? The majestic + character of the head, the prodigious muscles of the chest and + arms, and the beard that flows like a torrent to the waist, + represent a being of more than mortal port and power, speaking with + the authority, and frowning with the sanctions of incarnate law. + The drapery of the lower part of the figure is inferior to the + anatomy of the upper part. Remarkable as the execution of the + statue is, the expression is yet more so; for notwithstanding its + colossal proportions, its prominent characteristic is the + embodiment of intellectual power. It is the great leader and + lawgiver of his people that we see, whose voice was command, and + whose outstretched arm sustained a nation's infant steps. He looks + as if he might control the energies of nature as well as shape the + mould in which the character of his people should be formed. That + any one should stand before this statue in a scoffing mood is to me + perfectly inexplicable. My own emotions were more nearly akin to + absolute bodily fear. At an irreverent word, I should have expected + the brow to contract into a darker frown, and the marble lips to + unclose in rebuke." + + [Illustration: DETAIL FROM STUART MONUMENT, ST. PETER'S, ROME + Antonio Canova + _Page 33_] + +William Watson condenses his impressions of this majestic sculpture in +the following quatrain.-- + + "The captain's might, and mystery of the seer-- + Remoteness of Jehovah's colloquist, + Nearness of man's heaven-advocate--are here: + Alone Mount Nebo's harsh foreshadow is miss'd." + +The impressive group of sculptures and buildings on the +Campidoglio--where once the shrine of Jupiter Capitolinus stood--owes +its present picturesque scheme largely to Michael Angelo. The +fascination of the long flights of steps leading from the Piazza +Aracöeli to the Capitoline, where the ancient bronze equestrian statue +of Marcus Aurelius forever keeps guard, is indescribable. The historic +statues of Castor and Pollux mark the portals; on either hand there are +seen the Muses of ancient sculpture, the Palazzo Senatoriale and the +Palazzo dei Conservatori. There is in the entire world no more classic +ground than is found in this impressive grouping of art and +architecture. + +The genius of Raphael has recorded itself in those brilliant and +imperishable works that enthrall the student of art in the Raphael +stanze in the Vatican. He was imbued with the spirit of Greek art, and +while Titian is a greater colorist, while Correggio, Botticelli, +Perugino, and other artists that could be named equal or exceed Raphael +in certain lines, yet as the interpreter of the profoundest thought, and +for his philosophic grasp and his power to endow his conceptions with +the most brilliant animation, he stands alone. The religious exaltation +of "The Transfiguration" reveals the supreme degree of the divine genius +of Raphael. That this painting was the last work of his life, that it +was placed above his body as it lay in state, and was carried in his +funeral procession, invests it with peculiar interest. + +As a draftsman Raphael was second only to Michael Angelo, with whom he +must forever share the immortality of fame. The Academy in Venice holds +some of his choicest drawings, and in the Venetian sketch-book in the +National Gallery in London are many of his small pictures, including +that of the "Knight's Dream." + +It was in the autumn of 1508, when Raphael was in his twenty-fifth year, +that he was called to Rome in the service of the Pope. The Pontiff at +this time was Pope Julius II, whose successor was Leo X, and under their +pontificates (from 1508 to 1520) Raphael produced these masterpieces +which stand unrivalled in the world save by the creations of Michael +Angelo in the Capella Sistina. The celebrated "Four Sibyls" of Raphael +are not, however, in the stanze of the Vatican, but in the Church of San +Maria della Pace. In the Palazzo Vaticano these four wonderful stanze +entrance the visitor; the Stanza della Signatura, the Stanza d'Eliodoro, +the Stanza dell'Incendio and the Sala di Constantino. + +For the decoration of these stanze several painters from Umbria had been +summoned,--Perugino, Sodoma, Signorelli, and others; but when Raphael +had produced the "Disputa" in the Sala della Signatura, Pope Julius II +recognized the work as so transcendent that he ordered the other artists +to cease and even had some of their paintings obliterated that there +might be more space for the exercise of Raphael's genius. In the +"Disputa" are glorified the highest expressions of the human +intellect--the domain portrayed being that of Theology, Philosophy, +Poetry, and Justice. The splendor of this creation transcends all +attempts of interpretation in language. Against a background of gold +mosaic are portrayed these typical figures enthroned on clouds where +genii flit to and fro bearing tablets with inscriptions. Theology holds +in the left hand a book, while the other points to the vision of angels; +Poetry, laurel-crowned, is seen seated on a throne with books and lyre; +Philosophy wears a diadem, and Justice, with her balance and her sword, +is also crowned. The title of this marvellous work is misleading. Its +message is not that of disputation but of beatitude. At the altar are +grouped the congregation; the mystic spell of heavenly enthusiasm +enfolds the scene as an atmosphere, as above the heavens open and the +glorified Christ, surrounded by the saints who have kept the faith, is +disclosed to the devotees kneeling below, while a choir of listening +angels bend over them from the distant clouds in the background. + +Under Poetry are grouped Apollo and the Muses, and the figures of Homer, +Dante and Virgil, of Petrarcha, Anacreon and Sappho, of Pindar and of +Horace are recognized. The great scholars seen in the Philosophy include +Plato and Aristotle, while in the groups under Justice, Moses and Solon +are seen. + +"Raphael seems to have never known despair," remarked Franklin Simmons +of the work of this divine genius. "His paintings reveal no struggle, +but seem to have been produced without effort, as if brought into +existence by an enchanter's wand." + +No observation could more vividly interpret the wonderful effect +produced on the student by Raphael, and he cannot but recall the truth +expressed in these lines of Festus:-- + + "All aspiration is a toil; + But inspiration cometh from above + And is no labor." + +The inspiration of Raphael was of the noblest order. His genius, his +kindling enthusiasm, his ecstasy of religious devotion, have left an +imperishable heritage to art. By his transcendent gifts he represents +the highest manifestation of the art of painting in the Renaissance. For +the true note in art lies in spiritual perception. Not so brilliant a +colorist as Titian, he was more the interpreter of the extension of +human activity into that realm of the life more abundant, and with his +extraordinary facility of execution he united exquisite refinement and +unerring sense of beauty and the masterly power in composition that +fairly created for the spectator the visions that his soul beheld. "I +say to you," said Mr. Bryce recently in a press interview,--"I say to +you, each oncoming tide of life requires and needs men of lofty thought +who shall dream for it, sing for it, who shall gather up its tendencies, +formulate its ideals and voice its spirit." One of those men of lofty +thought who thus dream for the ages was Raphael, and his power and glory +have left an ineffaceable impress upon human life. He was the divinely +appointed messenger of beauty, and he was never disobedient to the +heavenly vision. + + "Time hath no tide but must abide + The servant of Thy will; + Tide hath no time, for to Thy rhyme + The ranging stars stand still." + +The decline of art after Michael Angelo and Raphael was marked. The very +splendor and power of their creations, instead of inspiring those who +immediately followed them, produced almost the inertia of despair. In +the reverence and awe and admiration with which these transcendent +masterpieces were approached any power to originate seemed futile by +contrast. Imitation rather than creation became the method adopted, +resulting in an increased poverty of design and feeble execution. The +art of the sixteenth century deteriorated rapidly till the baroco style +was in evidence. One reason, too, for the decline was in that art was no +longer so exclusively dedicated to the high service of religion, but +aimed, instead, to please and to procure patrons, and thus were all +worthy standards lowered to pernicious levels. + +A sculptor who left his impress upon the sixteenth-century art was +Lorenzo Bernini, a Neapolitan (born in 1598) who died in Rome in 1685. +The work of Bernini has a certain fascination and airy touch that, while +it sometimes degenerates into the merely fantastic and even into tawdry +and puerile affectations, has at its best a refinement and grace that +lend to his sculptures an enduring charm, as seen in his "Apollo and +Daphne" (a work executed in his eighteenth year) which is now in the +Casino of the Villa Borghese. Bernini's name is perpetuated in the +colossal statues on the colonnade of St. Peter's, the great bronze +angels with their draperies streaming to the winds on the Ponte San +Angelo, and in the vast fountain in the Piazza Navona. In the court of +the Palazzo Bernini is one of the most interesting of his works--a +colossal figure, allegorical in significance, illustrating "Truth +Brought to Light by Time." One of the most important works of +Bernini--now placed in the Museo Nazionale--is the group of "Pluto and +Proserpine." + + [Illustration: TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, ST. PETER'S, ROME + Antonio Canova + _Page 42_] + +The influence that was to reform and regenerate the art of sculpture in +the sixteenth century came with the great and good Canova, with which +was united that of Flaxman and of Thorwaldsen. The heavenly messengers +are always sent and appear at the time they are most needed. Neither +Truth nor Art is ever left without a witness. + + "God sends his teachers unto every age, + To every clime, and every race of men, + With revelations fitted to their growth + And shape of mind; nor gives the realm of truth + Into the selfish rule of one sole race." + +Canova's genius and services were widely recognized. In 1719 he was made +a Senator; he was ennobled with the title of Marchese of Ischia and +granted a yearly allowance of three thousand scudi; and his noble and +generous enthusiasms, not less than his genius, have left their record +on life as well as on art. When he died (in Venice, Oct. 3, 1822) his +work included fifty-nine statues, fourteen groups, twenty-two monuments, +and fifty-four busts. The statue of Pius V and the tomb of Clement XIII +are his greatest works, and the latter is perhaps even increasingly +held as a masterpiece of the ages. + +Canova, warned by the fatal influence of imitation in art in the +sixteenth century, frequently counselled his pupils against copying his +own style and constantly urged them to study from the Greeks. He advised +them to visit frequently the studios of other artists, "and especially," +he would add, "the studios of Thorwaldsen, who is a very great artist." + +In the early part of the nineteenth century contemporary sculpture in +Rome was led by the three great artists,--Canova, Thorwaldsen, and +Gibson. In 1829 Gibson had the honor of being elected a member of the +Accadémia di San Luca in place of the sculptor Massimiliano, who had +then just died. Cammuccini, the historical painter, proposed Gibson, and +with the ardent assistance of Thorwaldsen he was elected resident +Academician of merit. "Like Canova, Thorwaldsen was most generous to +young artists," says Gibson of the great Danish master, "and he freely +visited all who required his advice. I profited greatly by the knowledge +which this splendid sculptor had of his art. On every occasion when I +was modelling a new work he came to me, and corrected whatever he +thought amiss. I also often went to his studio and contemplated his +glorious works, always in the noblest style, full of pure and severe +simplicity. His studio was a safe school for the young, and was the +resort of artists and lovers of art from all nations. The old man's +person can never be forgotten by those who saw him. Tall and strong,--he +never lost a tooth in his life,--he was most venerable looking. His kind +countenance was marked with hard thinking, his eyes were gray, and his +white locks lay upon his broad shoulders. At great assemblies his breast +was covered with orders." + +Thorwaldsen (born in Copenhagen, Nov. 19, 1770) went to Rome in +1797--sent by the government of Denmark as a pensioner. It is said that, +in his enthusiasm for Rome, Thorwaldsen dated his birth from the hour he +entered the Eternal City. "Before that day," he exclaimed, "I existed; I +did not live." For nearly fifty years--until his death in 1844--he lived +and worked in Rome, occupying at one time the studio in Via Babuino that +had formerly been that of Flaxman. + +John Gibson, who went to Rome in 1817,--twenty years after Thorwaldsen +first arrived,--had the good fortune to be for five years a pupil of +Canova, whose death in 1822 terminated this inestimable privilege. The +elevation of purpose that characterized the young English student made +his progress and development a matter of peculiar interest to the +master. Gibson, also, bears his testimony to the stimulus of the Roman +environment. "Rome above all other cities," he says, "has a peculiar +influence upon and charm for the real student; he feels himself in the +very university of art, where it is the one thing talked about and +thought about. Constantly did I feel the presence of this influence. +Every morning I rose with the sun, my soul gladdened by a new day of a +happy and delightful pursuit; and as I walked to my breakfast at the +Caffè Greco and watched with new pleasure the tops of the churches and +palaces gilt by the morning sun, I was inspired with a sense of daily +renovated youth, and fresh enthusiasm, and returned joyfully to the +combat, to the invigorating strife with the difficulties of art. Nor did +the worm of envy creep round my heart whenever I saw a beautiful idea +skilfully executed by any of my young rivals, but constantly spurred on +by the talent around me I returned to my studio with fresh resolution." + +Again to a friend Gibson writes:-- + + "I renewed my visits to the Vatican, refreshing my spirits in that + Pantheon of the gods, demigods, and heroes of Hellas.... In the art + of sculpture the Greeks were gods.... In the Vatican we go from + statue to statue, from fragment to fragment, like the bee from + flower to flower." + +These five years in which Canova, Thorwaldsen, and Gibson lived and +wrought together--although the youngest of this trio was still in his +student life--form a definite period in the history of modern art in +Rome. The dreams, the enthusiasm, the devotion to ideal beauty which +characterized their work left its impress and its vitality of +influence--a mystic power ready to incarnate itself again through the +facility of expression of the artists yet to come. To the young men +whose steps were turned toward Rome in these early years of the century +just passed, how great was the privilege of coming into close range of +the influence of such artists as these; to study their methods; to hear +the expression of their views on art in familiar meeting and +conversation! These artists were closely in touch with that "lovely and +faithful dream which came with Italian Renaissance in the works of +Pisani, Mino di Fiesole, Donatello, Michael Angelo, and Giovanni da +Bologna--all who caught the spirit of Greek art." Artistic truth was the +keynote of the hour, and it is this truth which is the basis of the +highest conception of life. + + "Art's a service,--mark: + A silver key is given to thy clasp + And thou shalt stand unwearied night and day, + And fix it in the hard, slow-turning wards + To open, so that intermediate door + Betwixt the different planes of sensuous form + And form insensuous, that inferior men + May learn to feel on still through these to those, + And bless thy ministration. The world waits for help." + +In their true relation art and ethics meet in their ministry to +humanity, for only in their union can they best serve man. All the +nobler culture has its responsibility in service. "Many a man has a +blind notion of stewardship about his property, but very few have it +about their knowledge," said Bishop Phillips Brooks, and he added: "One +grows tired of seeing cultivated people with all their culture cursed by +selfishness." To the true idealist--as distinct from the mere +emotionalist with æsthetic tastes--selfishness is an impossible prison. +The only spiritual freedom lies in the perpetual sharing of the fuller +life. The gift shared is the gift doubled. Art is the spiritual glory of +life; the supreme manifestation, the very influence of spiritual +achievement. Mr. Stillman, discussing the revival of art, has +questioned: "Does the world want art any longer? Has it, in the present +state of human progress, any place which will justify devotion to it?" + +He questions as to whether man is still + + "Apparelled in celestial light," + +or whether he has lost "the glory and the freshness" of his dreams. + + "No one can admit," continues Mr. Stillman, "that the human + intellect is weaker than it was five or twenty centuries ago; but + it is certain that if we take the pains to study what was done five + centuries ago in painting, or twenty centuries ago in sculpture, + and compare it with the best work of to-day, we shall find the + latter trivial and 'prentice work compared with the ordinary work + of men whose names are lost in the lustre of a school. + + "Then, little men inspired by the Zeitgeist, painted greatly; now, + our great men fail to reach the technical achievement of the little + men of them. There is only one living painter who can treat a + portrait as a Venetian artist of 1550 A.D. would have done it, and + how differently in the mastery of his material! If we go to the + work of wider range, the Campo Santo of Pisa, the Stanze, the + Sistine Chapel, the distance becomes an abyss; the simplest + fragment of a Greek statue of 450 B.C. shows us that the best + sculpture of this century, even the French, is only a happy + child-work, not even to be put in sight of Donatello or Michael + Angelo. The reason is simple, and already indicated. The early men + grew up in a system in which the power of expression was taught + from childhood; they acquired method as the musician does now, and + the tendency of the opinion of their time was to keep them in the + good method." + +Is this not too narrow and sweeping a judgment? The art of portraiture +certainly did not die with the Venetian painters of 1550, however great +their work; and if there be but "one living painter" who can treat +portrait art like the early Venetians, there are scores of artists who +achieve signal success by other methods of treatment. + +At all events, these three men, Canova, Thorwaldsen, and Gibson, worked +with the conviction that art is service. With Victor Hugo, Canova could +have said: "Genius is not made for genius; it is made for men.... Let +him have wings for the infinite provided he has feet for the earth, and +that, after having been seen flying, he is seen walking. After he has +been seen an archangel, let him be still more a brother.... To be the +servant of God in the march of progress--such is the law which regulates +the growth of genius." + +They worked and taught by this creed. Thorwaldsen, on first arriving in +Rome, wandered for three years, it is said, among the statues of gods +and heroes, like a man in a dream. The atmosphere of the earlier day +when Titian was employed by the king of Portugal and Raphael by the Pope +to create works of great public importance still lingered and exerted +over Thorwaldsen, and over all artists susceptible to its subtle +influence, a peculiar spell. Its power was revealed in his subsequent +works--the "Christ;" the sculptured groups for tombs in St. Peter's and +in other churches; the poetic reliefs symbolizing "Day" and "Night;" +"Ganymede Watering the Eagle;" the "Three Graces," "Hebe," and many +others. + +Among Canova's works his immortal masterpiece is the monumental memorial +group for the tomb of Pope Clement XIII in St. Peter's. The Pope is +represented as kneeling in prayer. The modelling of the entire figure is +instinct with expression. The fine and beautiful hands express reverence +and trust. The countenance is pervaded with that peace only known to the +soul that is in complete harmony with the divine power. The Holy Father +has taken the tiara from his head and it lies before him on the +cushion on which he kneels. Although the entire portrayal of the figure +reveals that devotion expressed in the solemn and searching words of the +church service, "And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, +ourselves, our souls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy, and living +sacrifice unto thee,"--although it is the very utmost rendering of the +soul to God, it is yet the deliberate, the joyful, the living acceptance +of divine love and no mere trance of ecstasy. No more wonderful figure +in all the range of sculpture has been created than the Clement XIII of +Canova. + + [Illustration: "THE GENIUS OF DEATH," + DETAIL FROM TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, + ST. PETER'S, ROME + Antonio Canova + _Page 43_] + +The group is completed by two symbolic figures representing Religion and +Death. The former is personified as a female figure holding a cross; the +latter sits with his torch reversed. Grief, but not hopeless and +despairing sorrow, is portrayed; it is the grief companioned by faith +which ever sees + + "The stars shine through the cypress trees." + +The base of the monument represents a chapel guarded by lions. +Pistolesi, the great Italian authority on the sculpture of St. Peter's +and the Vatican galleries, notes that the lions typify the firmness and +the force and the courage, "_la fortezza dell'anima_," that so signally +characterized Clement XIII. There is probably no sacred monument in the +realm of all modern art which can equal this creation in its delicacy, +its lofty beauty, and the noble message that it conveys. + +The oldest art school, the Accadémia di San Luca, founded in 1507 by +Sixtus, when he called to Rome all the leading artists of Europe to +assist in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel, is an organization that +magically links the present with the days of Canova, Thorwaldsen, and +Gibson, as it linked them, also, with the remote and historic past. The +father of the present custodian of the Academy knew Thorwaldsen well. +The grandfather of the gifted Italian sculptor, Tadolini (who has +recently completed the tomb for Pope Leo XIII, placed in the Basilica of +San Giovanni Laterano), modelled the bust of Thorwaldsen, and in one +gallery hangs the great Danish sculptor's portrait, painted by himself. +The first director of San Luca was Federigo Zuccaro. In the early years +of the nineteenth century this Academy was a vital centre of art life, +and it is still a school that draws students, although the visitor who +does not loiter and linger in his Rome may fail to know of this most +alluring place. The San Luca is in the Via Bonella, one of the old, +dark, narrow, and gloomy streets of the oldest part of Rome,--a short +street of hardly more than two blocks, running between the Via +Alessandra and the Forum. Hawthorne vividly pictures all this old Rome +when he speaks of the "narrow, crooked, intricate streets, so +uncomfortably paved with little squares of lava that to tread over them +is a penitential pilgrimage; so indescribably ugly, moreover; so cold, +so alley-like, into which the sun never falls and where a chill wind +forces its deadly breath into our lungs; the immense seven-storied, +yellow-washed hovels, or call them palaces, where all that is dreary in +domestic life seems magnified and multiplied; those staircases which +ascend from a ground floor of cook shops and cobblers' stalls, stables +and regiments of cavalry, to a middle region of princes, cardinals, and +ambassadors, and an upper tier of artists just beneath the unattainable +sky: ... in which the visitor becomes sick at heart of Italian +trickery, which has uprooted whatever faith in man's integrity had till +then endured;" the city "crushed down in spirit by the desolation of her +ruin and the hopelessness of her future;" one recalls these words when +passing through the unspeakable gloom and horror and desolation and +squalor of ancient Rome. In these surroundings one's cab stops at "No. +44," and ringing the bell the door is open, whether by super-normal +agency or by some invisible terrestrial manipulation one is unable to +determine; but in the semi-darkness of the narrow hall he discerns +before him a flight of steep stairs, and, as no other vista opens, he +reasons that, by the law of exclusion, this must be the appointed way. +Along the wall are seen, here and there, some antique casts from +Trajan's Column, and reliefs from Canova and Thorwaldsen. The galleries +above hold only a small and a comparatively unimportant collection of +pictures. There are marines from Vernet and Claude Lorraine; a "Venus +Crowned by the Graces" from Rubens; Giulio Romano's copy of Raphael's +"Galatea,"--the original of which (in the Villa Farnesina) represents +Galatea surrounded by Nymphs, Cupids, and Tritons, being carried in a +shell across the sea. There is a Cupid, and also the "Fortuna" of Guido +Reni,--the latter a figure of ineffable grace floating in the air. One +of Raphael's early works representing "St. Luke Painting the Madonna" is +here. There are several works by Titian, but these have less than would +be expected of the glory usually associated with his name; and a Vandyke +representing the Virgin and Child, with two angels playing, the one on a +lute, the other on the violin. + + [Illustration: "LA FORTUNA," ACCADÉMIA DI SAN LUCA, ROME + Guido Reni + _Page 47_] + +One salon filled with portraits of artists is especially interesting, +and that of Thorwaldsen is so feminine in its costume and the parting of +the hair, that it is almost inevitably mistaken for that of a woman. +Guido's graceful "Fortuna" is represented as a female figure flying +through the air, her long hair streaming in the wind, and the picture +recalls to one the Greek legend of Opportunity, as told by Kainos. The +legend runs:-- + + "'Of what town is thy sculptor?' + + "'Of Lukzon.' + + "'What is his name?' + + "'Lysippos.' + + "'And thine?' + + "'Opportunity, controller of all things.' + + "'But why standest thou on tiptoe?' + + "'I am always running.' + + "'Why, then, hast thou wings on both feet?' + + "'I fly like the wind.' + + "'But wherefore bearest thou a razor in thy right hand?' + + "'As a sign to men that I am sharper than any steel.' + + "'And why wearest thou thy hair long in front?' + + "'That I may be seized by him who approaches me.' + + "'By Zeus! And thou art bald behind?' + + "'Because once I have passed with my winged feet no one may seize + me then.'" + +From one landing, on the steep narrow staircase of San Luca, opens the +Biblioteca Sarti, an art library of some fifteen thousand volumes. The +sculpture gallery is now closed and can only be entered by special +permission. This is the more to be regretted as it contains the +principal collections in Rome of the original casts of the works of +Thorwaldsen and Canova. + +The latter-day artists who have been setting up their Lares and Penates +in Rome at various periods during the early and into the later years of +the nineteenth century have found the Eternal City in strong contrast +with its twentieth-century aspects, however it may have differed from +the Rome of the Popes. The earlier American artists to seek the +Seven-hilled City were painters; and Allston, Copley, and Stuart had +already distinguished themselves in pictorial art before America had +produced any sculptor who could read his title clear to fame. It is to +Hiram Powers (born in Vermont in 1805) that America must look as her +first sculptor, chronologically considered, closely followed by Thomas +Crawford, who was but eight years his junior, and by Horatio Greenough, +who was also born in the same year as Powers, and who preceded him in +Italy, but whose work has less artistic value. Mr. Greenough has left a +colossal (if not an artistic) monument to his gifts in stately shaft +marking Bunker Hill which he designed. Problematic in their claim to +artistic excellence as are his "Washington"--a seated figure in the +grounds of the Capitol in Washington--and his group in relief called +"The Rescue" in the portico of the Capitol, his name lives by his +personality as a man of liberal culture and noble character, if not by +his actual rank in art. First of the American group in Italy, he was +followed by Powers, who sought the ineffable beauty and enchantment of +Florence in 1837. Horatio Greenough died in comparatively early life, +leaving perhaps the most interesting of his works in a relief (purchased +by Professor George Ticknor, the distinguished historian of Spain) +"representing in touching beauty and expression a sculptor in an +attitude of dejection and discouragement before his work, while a hand +from above pours oil into his dying lamp, an allegory illustrative of +the struggles of genius and the relief which timely patronage may extend +to it." + +Mr. Powers passed his entire life in Florence. His work attracted great +attention and inspired ardent appreciation. In portrait busts Powers was +especially successful; and his "Greek Slave," his "Fisher Boy," "Il +Penseroso," and "Proserpine" impressed the art-loving public of the time +as marked by strong artistic power and as entitled to permanent rank in +sculpture. + +Mr. Crawford died young; but his name lives in the majestic bronze +statue of "Beethoven" which is in the beautiful white and gold interior +of Symphony Hall, in Boston; and his "Orpheus" and some other works +claim high appreciation. Writing of Crawford, Mr. Hillard said:-- + + "Crawford's career was distinguished by energy, resolution, and + self-reliance. While yet a youth, he formed the determination to + make himself an artist; and with this view went to Rome--alone, + unfriended, and unknown--and there began a life of toil and + renunciation; resisting the approaches alike of indolence and + despondency. His strength of character and force of will would have + earned distinction for powers inferior to his. Nothing was given to + self-indulgence; nothing to vague dreams; nothing to unmanly + despair. He did not wait for the work that he would have, but + labored cheerfully upon that which he could have. Success came + gradually, but surely; and his powers as surely proved themselves + to be more than equal to the demand made upon them." + +On the death of Mr. Crawford, Thomas William Parsons wrote a memorial +poem in which this stanza occurs:-- + + "O Rome! what memories awake, + When Crawford's name is said, + Of days and friends for whose dear sake + That path of Hades unto me + Will have no more of dread + Than his own Orpheus felt, seeking Eurydice! + O Crawford! husband, father, brother + Are in that name, that little word! + Let me no more my sorrow smother; + Grief stirs me, and I must be stirred." + +Thomas Ball, who went in early manhood to Florence, where he remained +until when nearly at the age of fourscore he returned to his native +land, still continues, at the age of eighty-five, to pursue the art he +loves. He has created works, as his equestrian statue of "Washington" in +the Public Gardens and his "Lincoln Freeing the Slave" in Park Square, +both in Boston; his great Washington Memorial group in Methuen, +Massachusetts; his "Christ Blessing Little Children," and many other +historic and ideal sculptures, that seem endowed with his beautiful and +winning spirit as well as with his rare gifts. Larkin G. Mead chose +Florence rather than Rome for his home and work. His noble "River God," +placed at the head of the Mississippi near St. Paul, as well as other +interesting creations, link his name with that of his native land. +Randolph Rogers, a man of genius; Rinehart, Paul Akers, and Thompson all +died before the full maturity of their powers; Akers at the early age of +thirty-six, leaving, as his bride of a year, the poet, Elizabeth Akers +Allen, who, under the _nom de plume_ of "Florence Percy," has endeared +herself to all lovers of lyric art. In a monograph on Paul Akers, +written after his death, the writer says of his studio in Rome:-- + + "Linked with this studio is Hawthorne's tale of 'The Marble Faun,' + as Kenyon's studio was none other than Paul Akers's. Though + Hawthorne in his romance saw fit to lay the scene in the rooms once + occupied by Canova, it was in the Via del Crecie that he wove the + thread of his Italian romance. + + "Paul Akers's growing reputation and increase of work ere long made + it necessary for him to seek a more commodious studio, and he took + rooms once occupied by the famous Canova. Here he had made under + his supervision copies in marble of many of the famous works of the + Vatican and the Capitol. The largest collection of these was a + commission from Mr. Edward King of Newport, and among them were + busts of Ariadne, Demosthenes, and Cicero, and a facsimile of the + 'Dying Gladiator' which Mr. King presented to the Redwood Library + of Newport. + + * * * * * + + "During his first winter in Rome he was permitted by the + authorities to make a cast of a mutilated bust of Cicero which had + long lain in the Vatican. A critic writing from Rome in 1857 says + of this bust of Cicero: 'Mr. Akers obtained permission to take a + cast from it; he then restored the eye, brow, and ears, and + modelled a neck and bust for it in accordance with the temperament + shown by the nervous and rather thin face. He has succeeded + admirably. It is the very head of the Vatican, yet without the + scars of envious time, and sits gracefully on human shoulders, + instead of being rolled awkwardly back upon a shelf.' This bust is + unlike the portrait which so long passed for Cicero's, but has been + identified by means of a medal which was struck by the Magnesians + in honor of the great orator during his consulate, and is now the + authorized portrait of Cicero. The finest of Paul Akers's creations + executed during his stay in Rome are 'St. Elizabeth of Hungary,' + which represents the princess at the moment the roses have fallen + to the ground; 'Una and the Lion,' an illustration of the line in + Spenser's 'Faerie Queene,'-- + + 'Still while she slept he kept both watch and ward;' + + the head of Milton and the 'Pearl Diver.' The 'Pearl Diver,' now + owned by the city of Portland, represents a youth stretched upon a + sea-worn rock and wrapped in eternal sleep. The arms are thrown + above the head, and about the waist is a net containing + pearl-bearing shells for which he has risked his life. There is no + trace of suffering; all is subdued to beauty. It is death + represented as the ancients conceived it, the act of the + torch-reverting god. This youth, who has lost his life at the + moment when all that for which he had dared was within his grasp, + suggests Paul Akers's own untimely death on the eve of his + triumph." + +It was from his Roman studio that Mr. Akers wrote to a friend:-- + + "Yesterday Browning called. He looked a long time at my Milton, and + said it was Milton, the man-angel. He praised the wealth of hair + which I had given the head, and then said that Mrs. Browning had a + lock of Milton's hair, the only one now in existence. This was + given her by Leigh Hunt, just before his death, who had the records + proving it to be genuine. The hair was, he said, like mine. He + invited me to visit him in Florence, where he would show me the + first edition of Milton's poems, marked to indicate the peculiar + accent which the poet sometimes adopted, a knowledge of which makes + clear somewhat that otherwise seems discordant. Milton was so great + a musician that there could have been no fault in sound in his + compositions. He looked over my books; said my edition of Shelley + was one which he had corrected for the press, not from a knowledge + of the original MS., but from his internal evidence that so it must + have been; said Poe was a wonderful man; spoke of Tennyson in the + warmest terms. Took up a copy of his own poems published in the + United States, and remarked that it was better than the English + edition, yet had some awful blunders, and wished me to allow him to + correct a copy for me. My head of the 'Drowned Girl' caught his eye + and interested him. I told him that I had thought of Hood's 'Bridge + of Sighs.' He then said that Hood wrote that on his deathbed, and + read it to him before any one else had seen it. Hood was doubtful + whether it was worth publishing. To-morrow Mrs. Browning is to + come; she has been quite ill since she came to Rome, and I have + seen her but once. I derive much comfort from the friendship of + Charlotte Cushman. She has just gone from here. She has frequent + breakfast parties; I have attended but one. Mr. and Mrs. James T. + Fields, Wild, the painter, and myself were the guests. Fields I + like much." + +The first works of Mr. Akers were two portrait busts, of Longfellow and +of Samuel Appleton. Of his bust of Milton, Hawthorne in the "Marble +Faun" has said:-- + + "In another style, there was the grand, calm head of Milton, not + copied from any one bust or picture, yet more authentic than any + of them, because all known representations of the poet had been + profoundly studied and solved in the artist's mind. The bust over + the tomb in Greyfriar's Church, the original miniatures and + pictures wherever to be found, had mingled each its special truth + in this one work--wherein likewise by long perusal and deep love of + 'Paradise Lost,' the 'Comus,' the 'Lycidas,' and 'L'Allegro,' the + sculptor had succeeded even better than he knew in spiritualizing + his marble with the poet's mighty genius. And this was a great + thing to have achieved, such a length of time after the dry bones + and dust of Milton were like those of any other dead man." + +Richard Greenough and the painter, Mr. Haseltine, were prominent figures +among the early American group of the nineteenth-century artists in +Rome. There came Emma Stebbins, who modelled a fine portrait bust of +Charlotte Cushman; and Anne Whitney, whose statues of Samuel Adams and +of Leif Ericson adorn public grounds in Boston; whose life-size statue +of Harriet Martineau is the possession of Wellesley College; and whose +"Chaldean Astronomer," "Lotus-Eater," and "Roma"--a figure personifying +the Rome of Pio Nono--reveal her power in ideal creation. + +The name of Harriet Hosmer stands out in brilliant pre-eminence among +those of all women who have followed the plastic art. Her infinite charm +of personality seems to impart itself to her work, and she has the gift +to make friends as well as to call forms out of clay--the success of +friendship being one even more permanently satisfying. In her early life +as a girl hardly more than twenty, she sought Rome, living with art as +her chaperon. Her versatility, her picturesque individuality, and her +imaginative power all combined to win sympathetic recognition. Gibson, +whose guidance was particularly well adapted to develop her gifts, +received her into his own studio and took a deep interest in her work. +It was during the period of her early efforts that Hawthorne was in +Rome, and she is graphically depicted in his notebooks in her boyish cap +at work in the clay. Gibson was an artist, _con amore_, and Miss +Hosmer's joyous abandon to her art captivated his sympathy. "In my art +what do I find?" he questioned; "happiness; love which does not depress +me; difficulties which I do not fear; resolution which never abates; +flights which carry me above the ground; ambition which tramples no one +down." Master and pupil were akin in their unwearied devotion to art. Of +Gibson, whose absence of mind regarding all the details of life made him +almost helpless in travel and affairs, Miss Hosmer used gleefully to say +that he "was a god in his studio, but God help him out of it!" This +glancing sprite of a girl, frightening her friends by her daring and +venturous horseback riding; gravitating by instinct to offer some +generous, tender aid to the sick, the destitute, or the helpless; the +life and light of gay dinners and of social evenings; working from six +in the morning till night in her studio, "with an absence of +pretension," says Mrs. Browning, "and simplicity of manners which accord +rather with the childish dimples in her rosy cheeks than with her broad +forehead and high aims," had the magic gift that merged her visitors and +patrons into enthusiastic friends; and Mrs. Browning has chronicled the +pretty scene when Lady Marion Alford, the daughter of the Earl of +Northumberland, knelt before the girl artist and slipped on her finger +a ring--a precious ruby set with diamonds--as a token of her devotion. +Reading Miss Hosmer's life still further backward, the reader is +transported, as if on some magic carpet, to St. Louis, in the United +States, where a noble and lofty man, Hon. Wayman Crow,--a generous +friend, a liberal patron of the arts, a man of the most refined tastes +and culture, whose great qualities were always used in high +service,--first aided Miss Hosmer to the preliminary studies in her art, +and whose accomplished and lovely daughters (now Mrs. Lucien Carr of +Boston, Mrs. Edwin Cushman of Newport and Rome, and Mrs. Emmons of +Leamington, England) were as a trio of sisters to the young artist. And +"the flowing conditions of life" bear on this lifelong friendship until +a fair young girl, Élise (the daughter of Mrs. Emmons), catches up this +sweet tie and as an accomplished and lovely young woman in Roman +society, when these "flowing conditions" had come down even into the +season of 1906-7, Miss Emmons cherished the fame of Harriet Hosmer and +enjoyed the privilege of a constant correspondence with the +distinguished artist. So the past links itself again with the present; +and who can tell where any story in life begins or ends in the constant +evolutionary progress? + +Miss Hosmer's work attracted wide attention. Her majestic statue of +"Zenobia;" the winsome "Puck;" the impressive statue of "Beatrice +Cenci," representing her as she lay in her cell in Castel San Angelo the +night before her execution,--these and other works of hers are of an +interesting character and will hold their permanent rank in sculpture. + +Were all the muses present at the christening of William Wetmore +Story--sculptor, musician, poet and painter, jurist and man of letters, +and the friend whose social relationships made life a thing of beauty-- + + "To winds and waterfalls, + And autumn's sunlit festivals, + To music and to music's thoughts + Inextricably bound"? + +Mr. Story made his first visit to Italy in 1847; not at that time with +any fixed purpose of exchanging his profession of the law for art. He +loved literature, and his grace and ease in expression had already +manifested his literary talent; he had an inclination toward +modelling--it could hardly, at this time, have been called by a stronger +name--and curiously enough with him the usual conditions were reversed +and he received a commission for a statue of his father, Judge Story, +before he had made any definite turning toward the art of sculpture. A +young man of versatile gifts and accomplished scholarship, sculpture was +to him one among the many attractive forms of art rather than the +supreme attraction; and it was the stimulus of the given work that +determined him as a sculptor, rather than his determination to be a +sculptor that determined the work. Among the goddesses of life Destiny +must, perhaps, be allowed a place. At all events, after Mr. Story's +initial glance at Italy, he sought Rome again a year later, and this +time it was his choice for life, however unrevealed to his eye were the +resplendent years that lay before him. He had fallen under the spell of +the Magic Land. In a letter to Lowell, Mr. Story had questioned how he +should ever endure again "the restraint and bondage of Boston." It was +the picturesque Rome of the Popes that he first knew. The years of +1848-49 were those of revolutionary activities in Italy. Pio Nono, one +of the most saintly and beloved of the Popes,--whose mortal form now +rests in that richly decorated chapel in old San Lorenzo, _fuori le +mura_, on the site of the church that Constantine founded on the burial +place of St. Lawrence,--made his flight to Gaeta and the Roman republic +was established. It was a dramatic scene when Pio Nono returned (April +12, 1850), entering Rome by the Porta San Giovanni. The scene from this +gate was then, as now, one of the most impressive in the Eternal City. + +It was in this vast Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano that Pio Nono +entered that April day, leaving his carriage and walking alone to the +altar, where he knelt in devotion. A splendid procession awaited without +to accompany the Holy Father to the Papal Palace. The superb state +carriages conveyed princes and foreign ambassadors and great nobles. +From the Piazza San Giovanni to St. Peter's every house was illuminated, +and the populace cheered and waved until the very air vibrated with +sound and color. These were the days when the methods of government were +a visible spectacle, a drama, making the life in Rome a daily +illuminated missal. + +The Storys, on their return to Italy, located themselves for a time in +Florence, where they met the Brownings, and that lifelong friendship +between the poet and the sculptor was initiated. In these happy +Florentine days Mr. Story worked in his studio while his wife read to +him the life of Keats, then just issued, written by Monckton Milnes, +later Lord Houghton. But the "flowing conditions" soon bore them onward +to Rome, where they settled themselves in the Via Porta Pinciana, and +met the Crawfords, who were domiciled in the Villa Negroni. In these +Roman days, too, appeared Mr. Cropsey, of poetic landscape fame, and +here, too, was Margaret Fuller. Mazzini was then a leading figure in the +Chamber of Deputies,--"the prophet not only of modern Italy, but of the +modern world." He found Italy "utilitarian and materialistic, permeated +by French ideas, and weakened by her reliance on French initiative. He +was filled with hope that Italy might not only achieve her own unity, +but might once more accomplish, as she had in the Rome of the Cæsars and +the Rome of the Church, the unity of the Western world. 'On my side I +believe,' he says, 'that the great problem of the day was a religious +problem, to which all other questions were but secondary.'" He was +asserting that "we cannot relate ourselves to the Divine, but through +collective humanity. It is not by isolated duty (which indeed the +conditions of modern life render more and more impossible), nor by +contemplation of mere Power as displayed in the material world, that we +can develop our nature. It is rather by mingling with the universal +life, and by carrying on the evolution of the never-ending work." + +The studios of Mr. Crawford in those days were in the Piazza delle +Terme, near the Baths of Diocletian. William Page, the painter, was +domiciled on the slope of the Quirinal where he painted a portrait of +Charlotte Cushman which Mrs. Browning described as "a miracle"; one of +Mrs. Crawford; the head of Mrs. Story, which he insisted upon presenting +to her husband; and a magnificent portrait of Browning which the artist +presented to Mrs. Browning. "Both of us," wrote Robert Browning of this +gift, "would have fain escaped being the subjects of such princely +generosity; but there was no withstanding his delicacy and +noble-mindedness." Mrs. Jameson was much in Rome in the early years of +the 1850-60 decade, living in the old port by the Tiber nearly opposite +to the new and splendid building of the law courts. Near the Tarpeian +Rock Frederika Bremer had perched, in a tiny room of which she took all +the frugal care, even to washing the blue cups and plates when she +invited the Hawthornes to a tea of a simplicity that suggested, indeed, +the utmost degree of "light" housekeeping. Thomas Buchanan Read was one +of the hosts and guests of this social group, and it was at a dinner he +gave that Hawthorne met Gibson, whose conversational talents were +evidently (upon that occasion) chiefly employed in contemning the +pre-Raphaelite school of painters and emphasizing the need of sculptors +to discover and to follow the principles of the Greeks,--"a fair +doctrine, but one which Mr. Gibson fails to practise," observes +Hawthorne. The Brownings were variously bestowed in Rome through +succeeding winters,--in the Bocca di Leone, in the Via del Tritone and +elsewhere. Mrs. Browning, as her "Casa Guida Windows" and many other +poems attest, took always the deepest interest in Italian politics. +American and English friends come and go, but the little group of +residents and the more permanent sojourners, as the Hawthornes and the +Brownings, continue their daily variations on life in the social dinners +and teas, the excursions and the sight-seeing of the wonderful city. + +Only the magician could "call up the vanished past again" and summon +into an undeniable materialization those charming figures to come forth +out of the shadowy air of the rich, historic past, and stand before us +in the full light of contemporary attention. Not alone this group of +choice persons, but the environment of their time, the very atmosphere, +are demanded of this necromancy. The figure of Adelaide Kemble (Mrs. +Sartoris) is one of these, and the tradition still survives of a concert +given in the splendid, spacious hall of the Palazzo Colonna where she +was the prima donna of the occasion. There were also musicals at the +house of Mrs. Sartoris, where the guests met her famous sister, Fanny +Kemble. Mrs. Browning was fond of both the sisters, and said of them +that their social brilliancy was their least distinction. She found +them both "noble and sympathetic," and her "dear Mr. Page" and "Hatty" +(Miss Hosmer) "an immense favorite with us both," she said of her +husband and herself; these and the Storys made up the special circle for +the Brownings in Rome. "The Sartoris house has the best society in +Rome," writes Mrs. Browning to Miss Mitford, "and exquisite music, of +course. We met Lockhart there and my husband sees a good deal of him.... +A little society," she says, "is good for soul and body, and on the +Continent it is easy to get a handful of society without paying too dear +for it. This is an advantage of Continental life." + +Mrs. Browning greatly admired the work of Mr. Page, whose portraits she +found "like Titian's." But the tinted statues of Gibson seemed to her +inartistic. His famous painted Venus she called "pretty," but only as a +wax doll might be, not as a work of genuine art. Then Thackeray and his +two daughters came; Miss Anne (now known to the world of literature as +Anne Thackeray Ritchie) was a special favorite with Mrs. Browning. + +Coming to Rome at one time from Florence in midwinter, the Brownings +found that the Storys had taken an apartment for them (in the Via Bocca +di Leone), and they arrived to find lighted fires and lamps. Their +journey had included a week's visit at Assisi, studying the rich art of +Cimabue and Giotto in the church of the great Franciscan monastery. Mrs. +Browning visited studios in Rome and found that of Mr. Crawford more +interesting to her than Mr. Gibson's, but no artist is "as near" to her, +as she herself says, as Mr. Page. The Storys left the Porta Pinciana to +live at No. 93 in the Piazza di Spagna, and in the same house with the +Brownings, in the Bocca di Leone, Mr. Page had his apartment. To Lowell, +Mr. Story wrote of the Brownings:-- + + "The Brownings and we became great friends in Florence, and, of + course, we could not become friends without liking each other. He, + Emelyn says, is like you. He is of my size, but slighter, with + straight black hair, small eyes, a smooth face, and manner nervous + and rapid. He has great vivacity, but not the least humor; some + sarcasm, considerable critical faculty, and very great frankness + and friendliness of manner and mind. Mrs. Browning will sit buried + up in a large easy-chair listening and talking very quietly and + pleasantly. Very unaffected is she.... I have hundreds of statues + in my head, but they are in the future tense. Powers I knew very + well in Florence. He is a man of great mechanical talent and + natural strength of perception, but with no poetry in his + composition, and I think no creative power.... I have been to hear + Allegri's 'Miserere' in the Sistine Chapel, with the awful and + mighty figures of Michael Angelo looking down from the ceiling; to + hear Guglielmi's 'Miserere' in St. Peter's, while the gloom of + evening was gathering in the lofty aisles and shrouding the + frescoed domes, was a deeply affecting and solemnly beautiful + experience. Never can one forget the plaintive wailing of the + voices that seemed to implore pity and pardon." + +It was in 1856 that the Storys located themselves in Palazzo Barberini, +which Bernini designed and which was built "out of the quarry of the +Coliseum" by Urban VIII. It is one of the wonderful old palaces of +Rome,--this mass of Barberini courts, gardens, terraces, and vast +apartments, with the interminable winding stairs, where on one landing +Thorwaldsen's lion lies before the great doors decorated with the arms +of Popes and princes. Here the old Cardinal Barberini lived his stormy +life; here are the gallery and the library,--the latter stored with +infinite treasures of ancient documents, old maps whose portrayal of the +earth bears little resemblance to the present, and famous manuscripts +and volumes in old vellum, some fifty thousand in all. In the Barberini +gallery are a few noted works,--Raphael's "Fornarina," Guido's "Beatrice +Cenci," a "Holy Family" by Andrea del Sarto, and others. + + [Illustration: SPANISH STEPS, PIAZZA TRINITÀ DEI MONTI, ROME + _Page 72_] + +The Via delle Quattro Fontane, on which the Palazzo Barberini stands, +might well be known as the street of the wonderful vista. One strolls +down it to the Via Sistina and to Piazza Trinità de' Monti at the head +of the Spanish steps (the Scala di Spagna), pausing for the loveliness +of the view. Across the city rises the opposite height of Monte Mario, +and to the left the Janiculum, now crowned with the magnificent +equestrian statue of Garibaldi, which is in evidence from almost every +part of Rome. As far as the eye can see the Campagna stretches away, +infinite as the sea--a very Campagna Mystica. The luminous air, the +faint, misty blue of the distance, the deep purple shadows on the hills, +make up a landscape of color. At the foot of the Spanish steps the +flower venders spread out their wares,--great bunches of the +flame-colored roses peculiar to Italy, the fragrant white hyacinths, +golden jonquils, baskets of violets, and masses of lilies of the valley. + +On many a night of brilliant moonlit glory the artistic sojourners in +Rome lingered on the parapet of the Pincian Hill watching the moonlight +flood the Eternal City until churches and palaces seemed to swim in a +sea of silver. Or in the morning, when the rose-red of dawn was aglow, +there seemed to hover over the city that wraith of mist whose secret +Claude Lorraine surprises in his landscapes. These dawn visions of +mysterious, incredible beauty are a part of the very identity of Rome. + +There were mornings when the Hawthornes with Mrs. Jameson or some other +friend would drive out to the old San Lorenzo (_fuori le mura_), the +church founded by Constantine in 330 on the site where the body of St. +Lawrence was buried. At various periods the church was enlarged and +finally, as recently as in 1864, Pio Nono had great improvements made +under the architect Vespignani. In the piazza in front was placed an +immense column of red granite, some sixty feet high, with the statue of +St. Lawrence, a standing figure, at the top. It is most impressive. The +colonnade at the entrance of the church is decorated with frescoes and +contains two immense sarcophagi, whose sides are beautifully sculptured +with reliefs. The roof is supported by six Ionic columns. Entering the +church one finds an interior of three aisles divided by colossal columns +of Oriental granite. In the middle aisle, on both sides the galleries, +are fresco paintings illustrating the martyrdom of St. Lawrence and of +St. Stephen, one series on the right and the other on the left. One of +these paintings, especially, of the life of St. Lawrence, is strangely +haunting to the imagination. It represents the youthful, slender figure, +nude, save for slight drapery, laid on the gridiron while the fire is +being kindled under it and the fagots shovelled in. The physical +shrinking of the flesh--of every nerve--from the torture, the spiritual +strength and invincible energy of the countenance, are wonderfully +depicted. The great aisle was painted by order of Pius IX by Cesare +Fracassini; in it are two pulpits of marble. A double staircase of +marble conducts to that part of the Basilica of Constantine which by +Honorius III was converted into the presbytery. It is decorated at the +upper end by twelve columns of violet marble which rise from the level +of the primitive basilica beneath. At the end is the ancient pontifical +seat, adorned with mosaic and precious marbles. The papal altar is under +a canopy in the Byzantine style. The pavement of this presbytery is +worthy of particular attention. Descending to the confessional which is +under the high altar the tomb of the martyred saints, Lawrence, Stephen, +and Justin, is found. + + [Illustration: TOMB OF PIO NONO, SAN LORENZO (FUORI LE MURA), ROME + _Page 75_] + +It was the request of Pio Nono that his mortal body should rest here, +where it is placed in a simple tomb, according to his own instructions; +but the chapel is very rich in decoration which was paid for by money +sent from all parts of the world. + +The chapel walls are entirely encrusted in mother-of-pearl, gilt bronze, +and beautiful marbles. The mosaic paintings are formed of gold and +precious stones of fabulous value. This interior is perhaps the richest +in the world in its decoration. San Lorenzo is a patriarchal church, and +one of the seven pilgrimage churches of Rome. Near San Lorenzo is the +Campo Verano, a cemetery containing many beautiful memorial sculptures. + +In those days, half a century ago, the entrance most often used by +visitors to Rome was through the Via Flaminia and the Porta del Popolo, +opening on the Piazza del Popolo, rather the most picturesque and +impressive place in all Rome. On the left is the Pincian Hill (Monte +Pincio), with its rich terraces, balustrades, its beautiful porticos +filled with statuary, its groves of cypress and ilex trees; a classic +vision rising on the sight and enchanting the imagination. On the side +opposite the Porta three roads diverge in fan shape--the Via Babuino, +the Corso, and the Ripetta, with the "twin churches" side by side; one +between the Babuino and the Corso, the other between the Corso and the +Ripetta. + +The Corso (which was the ancient Flaminian Way) runs straight to the +Piazza Venezia at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. This Piazza del +Popolo was widened and decorated by Pius VII. It is formed by two +semicircles, adorned with fountains and statues, and terminated by four +symmetrical edifices. In the semicircles are colossal groups in marble, +and a road opposite the Pincio leads to the Ponte Margherita and the +Prati di Castello. + +The obelisk in the centre of the piazza was brought to Rome from +Heliopolis by Cæsar Augustus and originally stood in the Circus Maximus. +It was erected here by Pope Sixtus V, and it is nearly a hundred feet in +height. It is formed of red granite, and while it has been broken in +three places, the hieroglyphics are still legible. This obelisk was +first erected in Egypt as a part of the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, +in a period preceding that of Rameses II. After the battle of Actium, +Augustus transported it to Rome, and it was first placed in the Circus +Maximus, but during the reign of Valentinian it fell from its pedestal +and lay buried in the earth, until in the sixteenth century Pope Sixtus +V had it placed in the centre of the Piazza del Popolo, and consecrated +it to the cross. The two inscriptions are on opposite sides. One thus +reads:-- + + "The Emperor Cæsar, son of the divine Cæsar Augustus, Sovereign + Pontiff, twelve times Emperor, eleven times Consul, fourteen times + Tribune, having conquered Egypt, consecrated this gift to the Sun." + +The other inscription is as follows:-- + + "Sixtus V, Sovereign Pontiff, excavated, transported, and restored + this obelisk, sacrilegiously consecrated to the Sun by the great + Augustus, in the great Circus, where it lay in ruins, and dedicated + it to the cross triumphant in the fourth year of his pontificate." + +The Church of Santa Maria del Popolo is built into the very wall of +Monte Pincio on the site of Nero's tomb. It dates back to 1099, and +consists of three naves and several chapels. In the first chapel is a +"Nativity" by Pinturicchio, who also painted the lunettes. Another +chapel belongs to the Cibo family, and is rich in marbles and adorned +with sixteen columns of Sicilian jasper. The "Conception" is by Maratta, +the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" by Morandi, and the "St. Catherine" by +Volterra. The "Visitation" was sculptured by Bernini in 1679. The third +chapel is painted by Pinturicchio (1513), and the fourth has an +interesting bas-relief of the fifteenth century. The picture of the +Virgin, on the high altar, is one of those attributed to St. Luke; the +paintings on the vault of the choir are by Pinturicchio. The two marble +monuments are, from their perfection of design and execution, reckoned +among the best modern works. They are by Cantucci da S. Savino. In the +chapel following is an "Assumption" by Annibale Carracci; the side +pictures are by Caravaggio. The last chapel but one in the small nave is +the Chigi chapel, and is one of the most celebrated in Rome. + +Raphael gave the designs for the dome, the paintings of the frieze, and +the altar picture. This latter was begun by Del Piombo and finished by +Salviati. The statue of Daniel is by Bernini. The front of the altar and +the statues of Jonah and Elijah were done by Lorenzetto (1541), from +designs by Raphael. Outside this chapel is the monument of Princess +Odescalchi Chigi (1771), by Paolo Posi. The stained windows of the choir +belong to the fourteenth century, and in the sacristy and the vestibule +are monuments also of the fourteenth century and of the fifteenth. +Luther resided in the convent attached to this church when he was in +Rome. + +There is a legend that a large walnut tree grew on the site of Nero's +tomb in whose branches innumerable crows had their home, and that they +devastated all that part of Rome. An appeal was made to the Virgin, who +declared that the crows were demons who kept watch over the ashes of +Nero, and ordered the tree to be cut down and burned, the ashes being +scattered to the air, and that, on the spot, a church should be built to +her honor. This was accomplished, and the crows no more troubled the +Eternal City. + +The gardens of Lucullus were on the Monte Pincio. The view of the +terraced hillside from the Piazza del Popolo is one of the most +impressive in Rome. + +The Hawthornes left Rome in 1859; and the death of Mrs. Browning in June +of 1861 left the little circle of the Roman winters irreparably broken. +"Returning to Rome," wrote Story to Charles Eliot Norton, "I have not +one single intimate ... no one with whom I can walk any of the higher +ranges of art and philosophy." Mr. Story had modelled the busts of both +Mr. and Mrs. Browning during their sojourns in Rome; in 1853 Harriet +Hosmer had made the cast of the "clasped hands" of the poets, the model +having since been cast in bronze; Mr. Page had, as already noted, +painted a portrait of Robert Browning; and Mr. Leighton (afterward Sir +Frederick) had made a beautiful portrait sketch of Mrs. Browning. In +later years all these memorials, with other paintings or plastic +sketches of the wedded poets, were grouped in Mr. Barrett Browning's +palace in Venice. + +At this time Mr. Story had completed his "Cleopatra," which Hawthorne +had embalmed in literary mention in "The Marble Faun;" and beside his +"Judith," "Sappho," and other lesser works, he had achieved one of his +finest successes in the "Libyan Sibyl." Both the "Cleopatra" and the +"Sibyl" became famous. Whether they would produce so strong an effect at +the present stage of twentieth-century life is a problem, but one that +need not press for solution. Mr. Story was singularly fortunate in +certain conditions that grouped themselves about his life and combined +to establish his fame. These conditions, of course, were largely the +outer reflection of inner qualities, as our conditions are apt to be; +still, the "lack of favoring gales" not infrequently foredooms some +gallant bark to a disastrous course. + + "Man is his own star.... + + * * * * * + + Our acts, our angels, are, for good or ill, + Our fatal shadows that walk by us still," + +it is true; yet has not Edith Thomas embodied something of that +overruling destiny that every thoughtful observer must discern in life +in these lines?-- + + "You may blame the wind or no, + But it ever hath been so-- + Something bravest of its kind + Leads a frustrate life and blind, + For the lack of favoring gales + Blowing blithe on other sails." + +Only occasionally have we + + "... the time, and the place, + And the loved one all together." + +Mr. Story's nature was eminently sympathetic with the other arts; he was +himself almost as much a literary man as he was a sculptor; he was the +friend and companion of literary men, and to the fact that art in the +middle years of the nineteenth century was far more a literary topic +than a matter of critical scrutiny, Mr. Story owed an incalculable +degree of his fame. He was an extremely interesting figure with his +social grace, his liberal culture, and his versatile gifts. His life was +centred in choice and refined associations. If not dowered with lofty +and immortal original genius, he had a singular combination of talent, +of fastidious taste, and of the intellectual appreciation that enabled +him to select interesting ideal subjects to portray in the plastic art. +These appealed to the special interest of his literary friends and were +widely discussed in the press and periodicals of the day. It is a +_bonmot_ of contemporary studio life that Hawthorne rather than Story +created the "Cleopatra," and one ingenious spirit suggests that as Mr. +Story put nothing of expression or significance into his statues, the +beholder could read into them anything he pleased; finding an empty +mould, so to speak, into which to pour whatever image or embodiment he +might conjure up from the infinite realm of imagination. One of the +latest of these contemporary critics declares that "Story declined +appreciably, year by year, falling away from his own standard; haunted +to the point of obsession by visions of mournful female figures, +generally seated, wrapped in gloom. It seems strange," this critic +continues, "that so active a mind should dream of nothing but brooding, +sinister souls, of bodies bowed in grief, or tense with rage. Never +once, apparently, did there come to him a vision of buoyancy and grace; +of a beauty that one could love; of good cheer and joy of very living; +always these unwholesome creatures born of that belated Byronic +romanticism." + +This criticism, while it has as little appreciation of Mr. Story's +exquisite culture and of the taste and refinement of his art as the +general rush of the motor car and telephonic conversational life of the +first decade of the twentieth century has of the thoughtful, the poetic, +the leisurely atmosphere of Mr. Story's time, is yet not without a keen +flashlight of truth. Painting had its reactionary crisis from the +pre-Raphaelite ideals and the _intransigeants_ have had their own +conflicts in which they survived, or disappeared, according to the +degree of artistic vitality within. Sculpture and literature must also +meet the series of tests to which the onward progress of life persists +in subjecting them, and those who are submerged and perish can only +encourage the survivors as did the Greeks, as sung by Theocritus:-- + + "A shipwrecked sailor, buried on this coast, + Bids you set sail. + Full many a gallant ship, when we were lost, + Weathered the gale." + +"As we refine, our checks grow finer," said Emerson. As life becomes +more elaborate and ambitious, the critical tests increase. Contemporary +fame can be created for the artist by favorable contemporary comment; +but it rests with himself, after all; it rests in the abiding +significance of his work--or the lack of it--as to whether this fame is +perpetuated. That of Mr. Story does not hold within itself all the +qualities that insure the appreciation of the present day. It is, as the +critic of the hour expresses himself, "too literary,"--too largely a +question of classic titles which appealed to the mid-nineteenth-century +authors whose judgment of art the twentieth century finds particularly +amusing. Henry James has somewhere held up to ridicule the early Beacon +Hill Boston for its impassioned devotion to the "attenuated outlines" of +Flaxman's art. But the work of Story will survive all transient +variations of opinion, even of the present realistic age; for is not +true realism, after all, to be found in the eternal ideals of truth, +grace, dignity, refinement, significance, and beauty? These qualities +have a message to convey; and no one can study with sympathetic +appreciation any sculpture of William Wetmore Story without feeling that +the work has something to say; that it is not a mere reproduction of +some form, but is, rather, an idea impersonated, and therefore it has +life, it has significance. The criticism of the immediate hour is not +necessarily infallible because it is contemporary. What does William +Watson say? + + "A deft musician does the breeze become + Whenever an Æolian harp it finds; + Hornpipe and hurdy-gurdy both are dumb + Unto the most musicianly of winds." + +It is an irretrievable loss if, in the passion for the _vita nuova_, a +generation, or a century, shall substitute for the Æolian harp the mere +hornpipe and hurdy-gurdy of the hour. In another of his keenly critical +quatrains William Watson embodies this signal truth:-- + + "His rhymes the poet flings at all men's feet, + And whoso will may trample on his rhymes. + Should Time let die a song that's pure and sweet, + The singer's loss were more than matched by Time's." + +Art is progressive, and the present is always the "heir of all the ages" +preceding; but it cannot be affirmed that it invariably makes the best +use of its rich inheritance. + +There are latter-day sculptors who excel in certain excellences that +Story lacked; still, it would not be his loss, but our own, if we fail +in a due recognition of that in his art which may appeal to the +imagination; for, whatever the enthusiasms of other cults may be, there +are qualities of beauty, strength, and profound significance in the art +of Story that must insure their permanent recognition. Still, it remains +true that Mr. Story owes his fame in an incalculable degree to the +friendly pens of Hawthorne and others of his immediate circle,--Lowell, +Motley, Charles Eliot Norton, Thackeray, Browning,--friends who, +according to the latest standards of art criticism, were not unqualified +nor absolute judges of art, but who were in sympathy with ideal +expression and recognized this as embodied in the statues of Story. + +Browning wrote to the London _Times_ an article on Mr. Story's work, in +which he conjured up most of the superlative phrases of commendation +that the limits of the English language allow to praise his work, none +of whose marshalled force was too poor to do him reverence. The +versatile gifts of Story's personality drew around him friends whose +influence was potent and, indeed, authoritative in their time. + +Still, any analysis of these conditions brings the searcher back to the +primary truth that without the gifts and grace to attract about him an +eminent circle of choice spirits he could not have enjoyed this potent +aid and inspiration; and thus, that + + "Man is his own star," + +is an assertion that life, as well as poetry, justifies. In the full +blaze of this fundamental truth, it is, not unfrequently, the +mysterious spiritual tragedy of life that many an one as fine of fibre +and with lofty ideals + + "Leads a frustrate life and blind, + For the lack of favoring gales + Blowing blithe on other sails." + +Mr. Story was himself of too fine an order not to divine this truth. +With what unrivalled power and pathos has he expressed it in his +poem--one far too little known--the "Io Victis":-- + + "I sing the song of the Conquered, who fell in the Battle of + Life,-- + The hymn of the wounded, the beaten, who died overwhelmed + in the strife; + Not the jubilant song of the victors, for whom the resounding + acclaim + Of nations was lifted in chorus, whose brows wore the chaplet + of fame, + But the hymn of the low and the humble, the weary, the + broken in heart, + + * * * * * + + Whose youth bore no flower on its branches, whose hopes + burned in ashes away, + From whose hands slipped the prize they had grasped at, who stood + at the dying of day + With the wreck of their life all around them...." + +In this poem Mr. Story touched the highest note of his life,--as poet, +sculptor, painter, or writer of prose; in no other form of expression +has he equalled the sublimity of sentiment in these lines:-- + + "... I stand on the field of defeat, + In the shadow, with those who are fallen, and wounded, and + dying, and there + + * * * * * + + Hold the hand that is helpless, and whisper, 'They only the + victory win + Who have fought the good fight, and have vanquished the + demon that tempts us within; + Who have held to their faith unseduced by the prize that the + world holds on high; + Who have dared for a high cause to suffer, resist, fight,--if + need be, to die.'" + +Such a poem must have its own immortality in lyric literature. + +For a period of forty years the home of the Storys in Palazzo Barberini +was a noted centre of the most charming social life. Mr. Story's +literary work--in his contributions of essays and poems to the _Atlantic +Monthly_; in his published works, the "Roba di Roma," "Conversations in +a Studio," his collected "Poems," and others--gave him a not transitory +rank in literature which rivals, if it does not exceed, his rank in +art. + +Meantime other artists were to take up their permanent abode in the +Seven-hilled City,--Elihu Vedder in 1866; Franklin Simmons two years +later; Waldo and Julian Story, the two sons of William Wetmore Story, +though claiming Rome as their home, are American by parentage and +ancestry; and Mr. Waldo Story succeeds his father in pursuing the art of +sculpture in the beautiful studios in the Via San Martino built by the +elder Story. In 1902 Charles Walter Stetson, with his gifted wife, known +to the contemporary literary world by her maiden name, Grace Ellery +Channing, set up their household gods and lighted their altar fires in +the city by the Tiber, ready, it may be, to exclaim with Ovid:-- + + "Four times happy is he, and times without number is happy, + Who the city of Rome uninterdicted enjoys." + + [Illustration: "THE DANCE OF THE PLEIADES" + Elihu Vedder + _Page 92_] + +If art is a corner of the universe seen through a temperament, the +temperament of Mr. Vedder must offer an enthralling study, for it seems +to be a lens whose power of refraction defies prophecy because it deals +with the incalculable forces. His art concerns itself little with the +æsthetic, but is chiefly the art of the intellect and the imagination. +All manner of symbols and analogies; the laws of the universe that +prevail beyond the stars; the celestial figures; the undreamed +significance in prophecy or in destiny; omens, signs, and wonders; the +world forces, advancing stealthily in the shadows of a dusky twilight; +the Fates, under brilliant skies, gathering in the stars; oracles and +supernatural coincidences that lurk in undreamed-of days; the Pleiades +dancing in a light that never was on sea or land; unknown Shapes that +meet outside space and time and question each other's identity; the dead +that come forth from their graves and glide, silent and spectral, +through a crowd, unseen by any one; the prayer of the celestial powers +poured forth in the utter solitude of the vast desert,--it is these that +are the realm of Vedder's art, and what has the normal world of portrait +and landscape to do with such art as this? Can it only be relegated to a +class, an order, of its own, and considered as being--Vedderesque? It +seems to stand alone and unparalleled. In his work lies the +transfiguration of all mystery. Vedder never paints nature, in the +sense of landscapes, and yet one often feels that he has the key to the +very creation of nature; that he has supped with gods and surprised the +secrets of the stars. Do the winds whisper to him?-- + + "The Muse can knit + What is past, what is done, + With the web that's just begun." + +How can he find the design to phrase his thought--this painter of ideas? + + "Can blaze be done in cochineal, + Or noon in mazarin?" + +Whatever the Roman environment may have done for Allston, Page, and +Story, there is no question but that to Vedder it has been as his soul's +native air. For him the sirens sing again on the coast; the sorceress +works her spell; the Cumæan Sibyl again flies, wraithlike, over the +plain, clasping her rejected leaves of destiny which Tarquin in his +blindness has refused to buy. The Rome that lies buried under the ages +rises for Vedder. His art cannot be catalogued under any known division +of portrait, landscape, marine, or genre, but it is simply--the art of +Vedder. It stands alone and absolutely unrivalled. The pictorial +creations of Vedder are as wholly without precedent or comparison as if +they were the sole pictorial treasures of the world. The visitor may +care for them, or not care, according to his own ability to comprehend +and to recognize the inscrutable genius there manifested; but in either +case he will find nowhere else, in either ancient or contemporary art, +any parallel to these works. + +One could well fancy that to any interrogation of his conceptions the +artist might reply:-- + + "I am seeker of the stone, + Living gem of Solomon. + But what is land, or what is wave, + To me, who only jewels crave? + + * * * * * + + I'm all-knowing, yet unknowing; + Stand not, pause not in my going." + +In the rich, weird realm of Omar Khayyam's Persian poem, the Rubaiyat, +Mr. Vedder found the opportunity of his life for translating its thought +into strange, mystic symbolism. Never were artist and poet so blended +in one as in Vedder's wonderful illustrations for this poem. It has +nothing in common with what we ordinarily call an illustrated work. It +is a great treasure of art for all the ages. It is a very fount of +inspiration for painter and poet. An exquisite sonnet suggested by "The +Angel of the Darker Cup" is the following by Louise Chandler Moulton:-- + + "She bends her lovely head to taste thy draught, + O thou stern Angel of the Darker Cup! + With thee to-night in the dim shades to sup, + Where all they be who from that cup have quaffed. + She had been glad in her own loveliness, and laughed + At Life's strong enemies who lie in wait; + Had kept with golden youth her queenly state, + All unafraid of Sorrow's threat'ning shaft. + + "Then human Grief found out her human heart, + And she was fain to go where pain is dumb; + So Thou wert welcome, Angel dread to see, + And she fares onward with thee, willingly, + To dwell where no man loves, no lovers part,-- + Thus Grief that is, makes welcome Death to come." + +The sonnet, the stanza, and the pictorial interpretation all form one +beautiful trio in poetic and graphic art. + +Writing of Mr. Vedder, Mr. W. C. Brownell speaks of the personal force +in a picture and says that with Vedder this personal force is +imagination,--"the imagination of a man whose natural expression is +pictorial, but who is a man as well as a painter; who has lived as well +as painted, who has speculated, pondered, and felt much.... It is this," +he continues, "that places Vedder in the front rank of the imaginative +painters of the day." Of Mr. Vedder's painting called "The Enemy Sowing +Tares," Mr. Brownell writes:-- + + "... Here you note a dozen phases of significance. The theme is + unconventional; the man has become the archenemy; the night is + weird and awe-inspiring; the tares represent the foe of the + church--money; they are sown at the foot of the cross--the symbol + of the church.... Mr. Vedder has not passed his life in Rome for + nothing. His attitude is in harmony with the spirit of the Sistine + and the Stanze." + +One of the interesting and mystical works of Vedder is "The Soul between +Doubt and Faith,"--three heads, that of the Soul hooded and draped, +looking before her with eyes that seem to discern things not seen by +mortals; the sinister face of Doubt at the left, the serene, inspiring +countenance of Faith at the right. It is a magical picture to have +before one with its profoundly significant message. The works of Mr. +Vedder will grow more priceless as the years pass by. They are pictures +for the ages. + +In Mr. Ezekiel, another American artist whose almost lifelong home has +been in Rome, is a sculptor whose touch and technique have won +recognition. In a recumbent figure of Christ is seen one of the best +examples of his art. It is pervaded by the classic influences in which +he has lived. The studios of Mr. Ezekiel, in the ruins of the old Baths +of Caracalla, are very picturesque and his salon, with its music, its +wealth of books including many rare and beautiful copies, and its old +pictures and bric-a-brac, is one of the fascinating interiors of the +Eternal City. + +The visitor who is privileged to see the Story studios in the Via San +Martino finds Mr. Waldo Story occupying these spacious rooms where the +flash of a fountain in the court, a view of the garden, green-walled by +vines, with flowers and shrubs and broken statues, make the place +alluring to dreamer and poet. In these rooms may be seen many of the +elder Story's finest statues in cast or marble, the "Libyan Sibyl," +"Nemesis," "Sappho," the "Christ," "Into the Silent Land," and others, +with many portrait busts, among which are those of Browning, Shelley, +Keats, Theodore Parker, Mrs. Browning, Marchesa Peruzzi de Medici (Edith +Story), John Lothrop Motley, one of Story's nearer friends, and Lord +Houghton. + +In the work of Mr. Waldo Story one admirable portrait bust is of Cecil +Rhodes. A decorative work, a fountain for the Rothschild country estate +in England, is charmingly designed as a Galatea (in bronze), standing in +a marble shell that is drawn by Nereids and attended by Cupids. The +happy blending of marble and bronze gives to this work a pleasing +variety of color. Another decorative design is that of "Nymphs Drinking +at the Fountain of Love." These studios are among the most interesting +in Rome. + +It was in 1868 that Franklin Simmons, then a young artist from Maine, +turned to Rome as his artistic Mecca. Since then the Eternal City has +always been his home, but his frequent and prolonged sojourns in America +have kept him closely in touch with its national life. Mr. Simmons is +the idealist who translates his vision into the actuality of the hour +and who also exalts this actuality of the hour to the universality of +the vision. In the creation of portrait busts and of the statues and +monumental memorials of great men he infuses into them the indefinable +quality of extended relation which relegates his work to the realm of +the universal and, therefore, to the immortality of art, rather than +restricting it to the temporal locality. Louis Gorse observes that it is +not the absence of faults that constitutes a masterpiece, but that it is +flame, it is life, it is emotion, it is sincerity. Under the touch of +Mr. Simmons the personal accent speaks; to his creative power flame and +life respond, and to no sculptor is the truth so admirably stated by M. +Gorse more applicable. + +Mr. Simmons has been singularly fortunate in a wide American +recognition, having received a liberal share of the more important +commissions for great public works of sculpture. The splendid statue, +_al fresco_, of the poet Longfellow for his native city, Portland, was +appropriately the work of Mr. Simmons as a native of the same state; the +portrait statues of General Grant, Gov. William King, Roger Williams, +and Francis H. Pierrepont, all in Statuary Hall in the Capitol in +Washington; the portrait busts of Grant, Sheridan, Porter, Hooker, +Thomas, and other heroes of the Civil War; the colossal group of the +Naval Monument at the head of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington,--are +all among the works of Mr. Simmons. + +Like all artists who, like the poet, are born and not made, Mr. Simmons +gave evidence of his artistic bent in his early childhood. After +graduating from Bates College he modelled a bust of its president, and a +little later, going to Washington (in the winter of 1865-66), many of +the noted men of the time gave him sittings, and in a series of portrait +busts his genius impressed itself by its dignity of conception and an +unusual power of sympathetic interpretation. He modelled the bust of +Grant while he was the General's guest in camp, taking advantage of +whatever spare minutes General Grant could give for sittings in the +midst of his pressing responsibilities; and it is perhaps due to this +unusually intimate intercourse with the great hero, and the _rapport_, +not difficult of establishment, between two men whose natures were akin +in a certain noble sincerity and lofty devotion to the purest ideals, +that Mr. Simmons owes the power with which he has absolutely interpreted +the essential characteristics of General Grant in that immortal portrait +statue in the Capitol. + +Washington is, indeed, the place to especially study the earlier work of +Franklin Simmons. An important one is the Logan memorial,--an equestrian +statue which is considered the finest work in sculpture in the capital, +and which is the only statue in the United States in which both the +group and the pedestal are of bronze. The visitor in Washington who +should be ignorant of the relative rank of the great men commemorated by +the equestrian memorial monuments of the city might be justified in +believing that General Logan was the most important man of his time, if +he judged from the relative greatness of his statue. When Congress +decided upon this group, Mr. Simmons was requested to prepare a model. +This proving eminently acceptable, Mr. Simmons found himself, quite to +his own surprise, fairly launched on this arduous work, involving years +of intense concentration and labor. For this monumental work was to be +not merely that of the brave and gallant military leader,--a single idea +embodied, as in those of Generals Scott, Sheridan, Thomas, and +others,--but it was to be a permanent interpretation of the +soldier-statesman, mounted on his battle-horse; it was to be, in the +comprehensive grasp of Mr. Simmons, the vital representation of the +complex life and individuality of General Logan and, even more, it must +reflect and suggest the complex spirit of his age. In this martial +figure was thus embodied a manifold and mysterious relation, as one of +the potent leaders and directive powers in an age of tumultuous +activities; an age of strife and carnage, whose goal was peace; of +adverse conditions and reactions, whose manifest outcome was yet +prosperity and national greatness and splendid moral triumph. All these +must be suggested in the atmosphere, so to speak, of the artist's work; +and no sculptor who was not also an American--not merely by ancestry and +activity, but one in mind and heart only; one who was an intense +patriot and identified with national ideas--could ever have produced +such a work as that of the Logan monument. So unrivalled does it stand, +unique among all the equestrian art of this country, that it enchants +the art student and lover with its indefinable spell. When this colossal +work was cast in bronze, in Rome, the event was considered important. +The king and the Royal family visited the studio of Mr. Simmons to see +the great group, and so powerfully did its excellence appeal to King +Umberto that he knighted Mr. Simmons, making him Cavaliere of the Crown +of Italy. Nor was Mr. Simmons the prophet who was not without honor save +in his own country, for his _alma mater_ gave him the degree of M.A. in +1867; Colby College honored him with the Master's degree in 1885, and in +1888 Bowdoin bestowed upon this eminent Maine artist the same degree. In +1892 Mr. Simmons married the Baroness von Jeinsen, a brilliant and +beautiful woman who, though a lady of foreign title, was an American by +birth. An accomplished musician, a critical lover of art, and the most +delightful of hostesses and friends, Mrs. Simmons drew around her a +remarkable circle of charming people and made their home in the Palazzo +Tamagno a notable centre of social life. No woman in the American colony +of the Seven-hilled City was ever more beloved; and it was frequently +noted by guests at her weekly receptions that Mrs. Simmons was as +solicitous for the enjoyment of the most unknown stranger as for those +of rank and title who frequented her house. Her grace and loveliness +were fully equalled by her graciousness and that charm of personality +peculiarly her own. Her death in Rome, on Christmas of 1905, left a +vacant place, indeed, in many a home which had been gladdened by her +radiant presence. One of the most beautiful works of Mr. Simmons is a +portrait of his wife in bas-relief, representing her standing just at +the opening of parted curtains, as if she were about to step behind and +vanish. It is a very poetic conception. A bust of Mrs. Simmons, also, in +his studio, is fairly a speaking likeness of this beautiful and +distinguished woman. It is over her grave in the Protestant cemetery +that Mr. Simmons has placed one of his noblest ideal statues, "The Angel +of the Resurrection,"--a memorial monument that is one of the art +features of Rome to the visitor in the Eternal City. + + [Illustration: "GRIEF AND HISTORY," DETAIL FROM NAVAL MONUMENT, + WASHINGTON + Franklin Simmons + _Page 105_] + +The brilliant and impressive Naval Monument, or Monument of Peace, as it +is known in Washington, placed at the foot of Capitol Hill on +Pennsylvania Avenue, is eloquent with the power of heroic suggestion +that Mr. Simmons has imparted to it. The work breathes that exaltation +of final triumph that follows temporary defeat. Those who died that the +nation might live, are seen in the perpetual illumination of +immortality. Not only has Mr. Simmons here perpetuated the suffering, +the sacrifices of the Civil War, but that sublime and eternal truth of +victory after defeat, of peace and serene exaltation after conflict, and +the triumph of life after death, are all immortally embodied in this +group crowned with those impressive and haunting figures, "Grief" and +"History," which are considered as among the most classically beautiful +and significant in the range of modern sculpture. + +In the early winter of 1907 Mr. Simmons was invited by the American +Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, to send +for Dorchester House, London, three busts of distinguished +Americans,--those of Alexander Hamilton, Chief Justice Chase, and Hon. +James G. Blaine, which Mr. Reid, in visiting the Roman studios of Mr. +Simmons, had seen and greatly admired. The Ambassador observed that he +"would like a few Americans, as well as so many Roman Emperors," about +him. + +These portrait busts all reveal an amazing force and mastery of work. +The fine sculptural effect of the Hamilton and the wonderful blending of +subtle delicacy of touch and vigor of treatment with which the nobility +of character is expressed, mark this bust as something exceptional in +portrait art. It has a matchless dignity and serene poise. The bust of +Chief Justice Chase is a faithful and speaking reproduction of the very +presence of its subject, instinct with vitality; and the fire and force +and brilliancy of the bust of Hon. James G. Blaine fairly sweeps the +visitor off his feet. The modelling is done with an apparent +instantaneousness of power that is the highest realization of creative +art. It is the magnetic Blaine, the impassioned and eloquent statesman, +that rises before the gazer. + +Mr. Simmons has long been a commanding figure in plastic art. No +American sculptor abroad has, perhaps, received so many important public +commissions as have been given to him. He has created nearly a score of +memorial groups; he has modelled over one hundred portrait busts and +statues. His industry has kept step with his genius. The latest success +of Mr. Simmons in the line of monumental art is the statue (in bronze) +of Alexander Hamilton, which was unveiled at Paterson, N. J., in May of +1907. The splendidly poised figure, the dignity, the serene strength and +yet the intense energy of the expression and of the entire pose are a +revelation in the art of the portrait statue. + +It is not, however, true that Mr. Simmons has ever resigned himself to +the necessity of producing portrait and memorial sculpture exclusively. +In the realm of the purely ideal Mr. Simmons finds his most felicitous +field for creative work. A bas-relief entitled "The Genius of Progress +Leading the Nations," with all its splendid fire and action, the _motif_ +being that of the spirits Life and Light beating down and driving out +the spirits of darkness and evil; "The Angel of the Resurrection," with +its glad, triumphant assertion of the power of the immortal life; the +poetry and sacredness of maternity as typified in the "Mother of Moses;" +the statues of the "Galatea" and the "Medusa," and other ideal +creations, indicate "the vision and the faculty divine" of Mr. Simmons. +To a very great degree his art is that which the French describe as the +grand manner, and to this is added a spiritual quality, a power of +radiating the intellectual purpose, the profounder thought and the +aspiration of the subject represented. + + [Illustration: "MOTHER OF MOSES" + Franklin Simmons + _Page 108_] + +One of the most charming of these ideal works is a statue of "Penelope," +represented seated in the chair, her rich robe falling in graceful +folds, and the little Greek fillet binding her hair. The face bears a +meditative expression, into which has entered a hint of pathos and +wistfulness in the dawning wonder as to whether, after all, Ulysses will +return. The classic beauty of the pose; the exquisite modelling of the +bust and arms and hands, every curve and contour so ideally lovely; the +distinction of the figure in its noble and refined patrician elegance, +are combined to render this work one that well deserves immortality in +art, and to rank as a masterpiece in modern sculpture. + + [Illustration: "THE GENIUS OF PROGRESS LEADING THE NATIONS" + Franklin Simmons + _Page 107_] + +Another of his ideal figures, "The Promised Land," is a work of great +spiritual exaltation and beauty. An Israelite woman has just arrived at +the point when before her vision gleams the "Promised Land"; the face +tells its own story of all she has passed through,--the trials, the +sadness, the obstacles to be overcome; but now she sees the fulfilment +of her hopes and dreams. It is a most interesting creation, and one in +which is portrayed the artist's spiritual insight and susceptibility to +poetic exaltation. To one visitor to Mr. Simmons's studio this statue +suggested the following lines:-- + + Fair on her sight it gleams,--the Promised Land! + The rose of dawn sifts through the azure air, + And all her weariness and toil and care + Vanish, as if from her some tender hand + Lifted the burden, and transformed the hour + To this undreamed-of sense of joy and power! + The rapture and the ecstasy divine + Are deep realities that only wait + Their hour to dawn, nor ever rise too late + To draw the soul to its immortal shrine. + + O Sculptor! thy great gift has shaped this clay, + To image the profoundest truth, and stand + As witness of the spirit power that may + Achieve the vision of the Promised Land! + + [Illustration: "VALLEY FORGE" + Franklin Simmons + _Page 110_] + +In a statuette in bronze called "Valley Forge," Mr. Simmons has fairly +incarnated the entire spirit of the Revolutionary period in that +mysterious way recognized only in its result; all that unparalleled +epoch of tragic intensity and sublime triumph lives again in this work. +The fidelity to a lofty ideal which essentially characterizes Mr. +Simmons is as unswerving as that of Merlin, who followed "The Gleam." + + "Great the Master + And sweet the Magic + When over the valley + In early summers, + Over the mountain, + On human faces, + And all around me + Moving to melody, + Floated the Gleam." + +This American sculptor who, in his early youth, sought the artistic +atmosphere of Rome as the environment most stimulating to his dawning +power, who accepted with unfailing courage the incidental privations of +art life in a foreign land more renowned for beauty than for comfort, +who + + "... never turned his back, but marched breast forward, + Never doubted clouds would break," + +has expressed his message in many purely ideal works,--the message that +the true artist must always give to the world and that leads humanity to +the crowning truth of life, that of the ceaseless progress of the soul +in its immortality. + +For the brief and significant assertion of the apostle condenses the +most profound truth of life when he says:-- + + "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is + life and peace." + +In these words are imaged the supreme purpose of all the experiences of +the life on earth; and to the artist whose works bear this lofty message +of the triumph of spirituality, his reward shall appear, not in the +praise of men, but in the effect on character that his efforts have +aided to exalt; in the train of nobler influences that his work shall +perpetually inspire and create. + +Mr. Simmons has always found Rome potent in fascination. One may not +want to go to St. Peter's every day, but one knows it is there, and +there is some inexplicable satisfaction in being where it is possible to +easily enter this impressive interior. One may not go near the Forum +for a month, or even a season, but the knowledge that one may find it +and the wonderful Palatine Hill any hour of any day is a perpetual +delight. The Vatican galleries, with their great masterpieces; the +Sistine Chapel, the stately, splendid impressiveness of San Giovanni +Laterano; the wanderings in Villa Borghese, and the picturesque climbing +of the Spanish steps, even all the inconveniences and deprivations, +become a part of the story of Rome which the artist absorbs and loves. + +The studios of Mr. Simmons in the Via San Nicolo da Tolentino are a +centre of artistic resort, and his personal life is one of distinction +amid the picturesque beauty and enchantment of the Eternal City. + +For many years (until the death of Mrs. Simmons in 1905) the sculptor +and his wife had their home in the beautiful Palazzo Tamagno in the Via +Agostino Depretis, where one of those spacious apartments of twenty to +thirty rooms, only to be found in a Roman palace, was made by them a +brilliant centre of social life. Mrs. Simmons was herself a musical +artist, with impassioned devotion to music; and her rare personal charm +and distinction of presence drew around her a most interesting +circle. Her receptions were for many years a noted feature of Roman +society. The social life in Rome is very brilliant, interesting, and +fascinating. The sight-seeing is a kind of attendant atmosphere,--the +perpetual environment offering, but not intruding itself. People come to +Rome for reasons quite disconnected with the Golden House of Nero or the +latest archæological discoveries in the Forum. The present, rather than +the past, calls to them, and the present, too, is resplendent and +alluring. + +Of the foreign painters in Rome, Charles Walter Stetson, whose work +recalls the glory of the old Italian masters, is especially +distinguished for his genius as a colorist. No visitor in Rome can +afford to miss the studio of one of the most imaginative of modern +artists. A wonderful picture still in process is a genre work with +several figures, called "Music." An idyllic scene of a festa amid the +ilex trees--with the Italian sky and the golden sunshine pervading a +luminous atmosphere, while the joyous abandon of the dancers appeals to +all who love Italy--is one of the many beautiful pictorial scenes of Mr. +Stetson which enchant the eye and haunt the imagination. Another +picture is called "Beggars,"--a name that illy suggests its splendor. +There is the façade of a church to which a long flight of steps leads +up, a procession of cardinals and friars in their rich robes, while at +one side the groups of beggars shrink into the darkness. It is an +impressive commentary upon life. + +For a long period, through the early and middle years of the nineteenth +century, Rome held her place as the world centre of modern artistic +activity. Great works of poetic and ideal sculpture elevated the general +public taste to a high degree of appreciation. The standards were not +ingeniously adjusted to mere spectacular methods whose sole appeal was +to the crude fancy of possible patrons. Art held her absolute and +inviolate ideals, and the spirit of her votaries might well have been +interpreted in Mrs. Browning's words:-- + + "I, who love my art, + Would never wish it lower to suit my stature." + +The tone of public appreciation is raised to a high quality only when +the artist refuses to sell his soul for a mess of pottage. He may, to +be sure, need the pottage, but the price is too great. Rather will he +find his attitude expressed in these wonderful lines:-- + + "I can live + At least my soul's life without alms from men. + And if it be in heaven instead of earth, + Let heaven look to it--I am not afraid." + +All art that has within itself true vitality must ever be the leader and +the creator of the popular taste; only when it falls into decadence does +it become the servile follower. + +It is a serious question as to the degree in which the art of to-day +keeps faith with the eternal ideals. The great expositions of the past +quarter of a century, while they have contributed immeasurably to the +popularization of art and to the familiarization of the public with the +work of individual painters and sculptors, have yet, in many ways, been +a demoralizing influence in their insidious temptation to produce +pictures or plastic art calculated to arrest immediate attention, thus +putting a premium on the spectacular, the sensational, on that which +makes the most immediate and direct appeal to the senses. The work +becomes fairly a personal document wrought with perhaps an almost +amazing finesse, but utterly failing in power to inspire joyous +sensibility to beauty or to impart to the gazer that glow of radiant +energy which lofty art invariably communicates to all who respond to its +infinite exaltation. + +All great art is inspired by religious ideals. Painting and sculpture +give to these a presence. Under their creative power are these ideals +manifested. To embody them in living form becomes the absolute +responsibility of the artist. In Greece all the fortunate conditions to +produce great art were curiously combined and pre-eminently supported by +the conjunction of events and by the prevailing sentiment of the time. +The artist drew his inspiration from the most exalted conception of life +embodied in gods rather than in men. Art, too, was an affair of the +state. It was the supreme interest and held national importance. The +temple was erected to form an inclosure for the statue, rather than that +the statue was created as an adornment for the temple. The greatest +gifts were consecrated to the service of art, and under these +stimulating influences it is little wonder that artistic creation +achieved that vital potency which has thrilled all succeeding +centuries and has communicated to them something of the divine air of +that remote period. With the Renaissance in Italy art culminated in the +immortal work of Raphael and Michael Angelo. In the Sistine Chapel, +where that sublime grouping of prophets and sibyls speaks of the very +miracle of art in their impassioned fire and glow; where the figures, +the pose, the draperies are so grandly noble and infused with dignity +and presence,--the very atmosphere is vocal with the language of the +spirit and the expressions of religious reverence. These marvellous +shapes of grandeur and sublime intimations carry the soul into a +conscious communion with the divine. In these stupendous works Michael +Angelo has given to all the ages the message of the highest exaltation +of art. In the technique, in the marvellous dignity of the sentiment, in +the depth of the feeling involved, in the grace and power of the +composition, these works embody the artistic possibilities of painting. + +Are such works as those of Canova and Thorwaldsen no longer created? + +Can it be that art is no longer of national importance? In our own +country vast appropriations are made for internal improvements of all +kinds, while art that kindles and re-enforces life is almost ignored. +Our government--the government of the richest country in the +world--appropriated $200,000 for a memorial monument to General Grant to +be placed in Washington, while Italy--whose resources are so slender in +comparison--appropriates seven million dollars--thirty-five times the +amount--for her great monument to Victor Emmanuel which is now being +erected in Rome to stand near the Capitol and the Palace of the +Quirinale. Great art has always been closely associated with great +devotion to religious ideals. The artist was the servant of the Lord, +and it was his supreme purpose to embody the aspirations of the age and +render his works a full and complete symbol of those true realities of +life which have their being in the spiritual universe rather than in the +changing temporal world of the outer universe. The so-called realism of +the day is based on a false interpretation. "The things that are seen +are temporal, while the things that are not seen are eternal." True +realism is in spiritual qualities, not in physical attributes. True +realism is found in such works as Canova's sublime group, where the +figures of Religion and of Death forever impress all who stand before +this magnificent monument; it is found in Thorwaldsen's "Christ;" in +Franklin Simmons's "Angel of the Resurrection,"--in such works as those +that have a language for the soul, rather than in a "Saturnalia." + +Again, another fatal rock on which art must inevitably make shipwreck is +the theory that it is good to perpetuate ugliness, in either painting or +in sculpture. The permanent reality of life is beauty. So far as any +person or object departs from this enduring reality, so far it is the +result of distortion and deformity, and these, being the temporary, the +accidental, the deficient, should not be perpetuated in ideal creation. +It is an Apollo who embodies the permanent ideal of manhood--not a +cripple or a hunchback. Still further: art should not only refuse to +embody the defective, which is a mere negative; it should not only give +form to the utmost perfection it beholds in nature or in humanity, but +beyond this the responsibility is upon the artist to penetrate into +loftier realms, to catch the vision not revealed to mortals. The artist +is, by virtue of his high calling, a co-worker with God. An English wit +has declared that life copies art rather than that art copies life. In +this he expresses a truth rather than a merely clever epigram. It is the +artist's business to lead, not to follow. Only as he leads does he +fulfil his divinely appointed destiny. "I maintain that life is not a +form of energy," writes Sir Oliver Lodge; "that it is not included in +our present physical categories; that its explanation is still to be +sought. And it appears to me to belong to a separate order of existence, +which interacts with this material frame of things, and while here +exerts guidance and control on the energy which already here exists; for +although they alter the quantity of energy no whit, and though they +merely utilize available energy like any other machine, live things are +able to direct inorganic terrestrial energy along new and special paths, +so as to achieve results without which such living agency could not have +occurred." Does it for an instant seem that a great scientist's +theoretical speculations of the laws of the universe and of organic life +have no connection with the province of art? On the contrary. Truly does +Balzac exclaim: "Is not God the whole of science, the all of love, +the source of poetry?" The artist is he who enters into the divine +realm; who discerns the divine creations as the true ideals of humanity, +and who interprets to the world the sublime significance of the divine +thought. Shall such an artist degrade his power by portraying +ugliness--the mere defects of negations and distortions? Shall he +degrade life by calling these the realities? + + [Illustration: "LA PIETA," ST. PETER'S, ROME + Michael Angelo + _Page 117_] + +The painter or sculptor who holds that it is as truly art to represent +distortion and repulsiveness as it is to represent beauty is as false to +his high calling as would be the poet who should insist that doggerel +and mere commonplace truisms expressed in rhyme are poetry. Compare, for +example, two statues, Cecioni's "_La Madre_," in which a woman's utter +lack of personal attraction is so complete as to make her fairly +repulsive to the gazer, and the "Mother of Moses," by Franklin Simmons, +in which the mystic beauty, the very ideal of maternity, is embodied. +Which of these statues is calculated to uplift and to exalt all who come +near? This marvellously beautiful creation of Mr. Simmons shows a woman +of exquisite delicacy and loveliness sitting, slightly bending forward, +holding her baby to her breast. The modelling of the draped figure with +the bare arms and neck revealing the tender curves, the yielding +delicacy of the flesh and that inscrutable light upon the beautiful +countenance, whose expression suggests that she is looking far into the +future of the infant whom she holds in her arms, are a wonderful +portrayal of the mystery and the sacredness of motherhood. The one +statue degrades maternity; the other ennobles and exalts. The one +embodies a pernicious and a false ideal; the other embodies the ideal +that must appeal to all that is noble and divine in human life, and it +thus ministers to moral progress by its contribution to the elevation of +the social tone. For indeed, life follows art. It is art that exerts +this powerful influence upon life which it may lead to loftier heights +or drag down to the moral abyss. The artist is not merely the portrayer +of existing types; he is the inspirer of those ideal types which human +life should recognize as its pattern, its model to be followed and +ultimately achieved. The world needs ideal and poetic art to minister to +the attainment of the true social life and to the full and complete +expression of man himself. + +Do not the visions of Fra Angelico and Botticelli still inspire the +artist of to-day with the absolute realization of all the deep +significance of the past? + + "Is there never a retroscope mirror, + In the realms and corners of space, + That can give us a glimpse of the battle, + And the soldiers face to face?" + +Religion and art are inseparably united. In its true significance +religion takes precedence of all else in that its influence is felt in +every department and in every direction and expression of man's +activity. It is the inexhaustible fountain of that lofty energy which +communicates itself to every channel that carries inspiration to life +and to art. Religion is the influence that redeems the mere shallow, +surface presentation,--the petty trick to capture popularity, and holds +art true to its real purpose. The glory of the mediæval art of Italy +owed its greatness to religion. Cimabue and Giotto were directly +inspired by that spring of a diviner life given to Italy and later to +the world of that "sweet saint," Francis of Assisi. In an age of cruelty +and terror he brought the new message that man is dear to God; that the +soul is ceaselessly joyful; that man, created in the divine image, is a +part of the divine life, and that only when he lives in this response +and recognition does he truly live at all. In this restatement of the +truth that Jesus came to proclaim, St. Francis opened the way for a +revival of art, and opened the gates of that infinite and divine energy +which has immortally recorded itself for all ages in the "Divina +Comedia" of Dante. The irresistible wave of power which resulted from +that liberating of thought, feeling, and emotion by the work of St. +Francis expressed itself in the sublimest poem of all the ages, and in +that glorious triumph of art that is still the treasure and the source +of artistic inspiration. + +It is only when the world is lifted out of the limitations of the +material by a period of great art that humanity is brought into close +and inspiring relation with the living Christ. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + + + + + _Men and women make the world, + As head and heart make human life._ + + MRS. BROWNING. + + * * * * * + + _Alas, our memories may retrace + Each circumstance of time and place; + Season and scene come back again, + And outward things unchanged remain; + The rest we cannot reinstate, + Ourselves we cannot re-create, + Nor set our souls to the same key + Of the remembered harmony._ + + LONGFELLOW. + + + + + _And as, after the lapse of a thousand years, you stand upon that + hallowed spot, the yellow Tiber flowing sluggishly beneath you, the + ruins of the Eternal City all around you speaking of fallen + greatness, the mighty Basilica of St. Peter rising before you like + some modern tower of Babel that would monopolize the road to + heaven, the eye rests upon the figure of the Archangel sheathing + his glittering sword upon the summit of the Castle of St. Angelo, + and the heart asks, Why should that be a legend? Why should that be + a projection of a morbid and devout imagination? Why should it not + have been the clairvoyance of supernatural ecstasy opening the + world of spirits? It was no unreality when the angel of God, with + his sword drawn in his hand, withstood the prophet Balaam. It was + no morbid imagination when the angel of God smote with the edge of + the sword the first-born of the land of Egypt. It was no imposture + when the shining hosts of the army of the Almighty smote the + Assyrians. It was no deception when Gabriel, the King's messenger + from the court of heaven, was sent to comfort Daniel by the river + Hiddekel; or when he announced to the maiden, whom all generations + have called blessed, that she was to be the mother of the Divine + Redeemer.... The written Word from first to last is full of the + holy angels. It begins with angels, it ends with angels._ + + THE VENERABLE ARCHDEACON WILBERFORCE, + Westminster Abbey. + + + + +II + +SOCIAL LIFE IN THE ETERNAL CITY + + And others came,--Desires and Adorations, + Winged Persuasions and Veiled Destinies! + + SHELLEY. + + In what ethereal dances! + By what eternal streams! + + POE. + + +Social life in Rome is no misnomer. From the most stately and beautiful +ceremonials of balls at the court of the Quirinale, in ducal palaces, or +at the embassies; of dinners whose every detail suggests stage pictures +in their magnificence, to the simple afternoon tea, where conversation +and music enchant the hours; the morning call _en tête-à-tête_, and the +morning stroll, or the late afternoon drive,--a season in Rome +prefigures itself, by the necromancy of retrospective vision, as a +resplendent panorama of pictorial scenes. There rise before one those +mornings, all gold and azure, of loitering over the stone parapet on +Monte Pincio, gazing down on the city in her most alluring mood. The +new bridge that is to connect the Pincio with the Villa Borghese is a +picturesque feature in its unfinished state; but the vision traverses +the deep ravine and revels in the scene of the Borghese grounds carpeted +with flowers. Its picturesque slopes under the great trees, with a view +of Michael Angelo's dome in the near distance, are the resort of morning +strollers, who find that lovely picture of Charles Walter Stetson's--a +stretch of landscape under the ilex trees, the scarlet gowns of the +divinity students giving vivid accents of color here and there--fairly +reproduced in nature before their vision. One should never be in haste +as the bewildering beauty of the Roman spring weaves its emerald +fantasies on grass and trees, and touches into magical bloom the scarlet +poppies that flame over all the meadows, and caress roses and hyacinths +and lilies of the valley into delicate bloom and floating fragrance +until the Eternal City is no more Rome, but Arcady, instead--one should +never be in haste to toss his penny into the _Fontane de Trevi_. Yet in +another way it may work for him an immediate spell that defies all other +necromancy. Judiciously thrown in, on the very eve of departure, it is +the conjurer that insures his return; but at any time prior to this it +may even weave the irresistible enchantment that falls upon him and may +prevent his leaving at all. Nor can he summon up the moral courage to +regret even the missing of all other engagements, and the failure to +keep faith with his plans. For in the May days Rome falls upon him anew, +like a revelation, and he is ready to confess that he has never seen her +who sees her not in her springtime loveliness. The Italian winter by no +means lives up to its reputation. It is not the chill of any one special +day that discourages one from any further effort to continue in this +vale of tears, but the cold that has, apparently, the chill and dampness +and cold of all those two thousand and two hundred and sixty winters +that have gone before which concentrate themselves in the atmosphere. +One could presumably endure with some degree of courage, if not +equanimity, the chill in the air of any _one_ winter; but when all the +chill and cold that has ever existed in more than the two thousand +winters of the past concentrates itself in the winter, say, of 1906-7, +why, patience ceases to be a virtue although one that the sojourner in +Rome is particularly called upon to practise if he fares forth to visit +churches and galleries in the winter. + +Torrents of rain pour down, rivalling the cloud-bursts of Arizona. +Virgil's cave of the winds apparently lets loose its sharpest blasts. +Tramontana and sirocco alternate, and each is more unendurable than the +other. + +The encircling mountains are white with snow. The streets are a sea of +mud, for they are paved with small stones, and except in the new Villa +Ludovisi quarter and along the Via Nazionale and a few other of the +newer thoroughfares there are no sidewalks, the foot passengers (in all +old Rome) pressing close to the wall to avoid the dangerously near +proximity of carts and cabs. This rough pavement makes all driving hard +and walking difficult. The Roman lady, indeed, does not walk; and the +visitors who cannot forego the joy of daily promenades enter into the +feelings of that nation which is said to take its pleasures sadly. But +spring works a transformation scene. The air is filled with the most +transparent shining haze; the sky lacks little of that intense, melting +blue that characterizes the ineffable beauty of the skies in Arizona; +and ruins and fragments and strange relics--ghosts of the historic +past--are all enshrined in trailing green and riotous blossoms. To drive +on the terraced roads of Monte Mario with all Rome and the emerald-green +Campagna before one; through the romantic "Lovers' Lane," walled in by +roses and myrtle; to enjoy the local life, full of gayety and +brilliancy, is to know Rome in her most gracious aspects. One goes for +strolls in the old Colonna Gardens, where still remain the ruins of the +Temple of the Sun and of the Baths of Constantine. The terraces offer +lovely views over the city. The old palace is occupied by the present +Prince Colonna, and it is not unfrequently the scene of most elaborate +and gorgeous receptions where the traditional Roman splendor is to be +found. A series of arched bridges over the narrow street of the Via +della Pilotta connect the Gardens with the Colonna Palace in the Piazza +San Apostoli. Very fine old sarcophagi are half buried in trailing vines +on the slope of the hill, dark with magnificent cypress trees. The +Colonna Gardens are a very dream of the past, in their ruins of old +temples, their shattered statues, their strange old tablets and +inscriptions, and their grand view of the Capitol. + +In one's retrospective vision of a Roman season all the inconveniences +and discomforts of the winter disappear, leaving only the beauty and the +enjoyment to be "developed," as the photographer would say, on the +sensitive plate of memory. + +No one really knows Rome until he has watched the transcendent +loveliness of spring investing every nook and corner of the Eternal +City. The picturesque Spanish steps are a very garden of fragrance, the +lower steps of the terraced flight being taken possession of by the +flower venders who display their wares,--masses of white lilac, +flame-colored roses, rose and purple hyacinths and baskets of violets +and carnations. Did all this fragrance and beauty send up its incense to +Keats as he lay in the house adjoining, with the musical plash of +Bernini's fountain under his window? It is pleasant to know that by the +appreciation of American and English authors, the movement effectively +directed by Robert Underwood Johnson, this house consecrated to a poet's +memory has been purchased to be a permanent memorial to Keats and to +Shelley. A library of their works will be arranged in it; and portraits, +busts, and all mementos that can be collected of these poets will render +this memorial one of the beautiful features of Rome. + +From the flower venders and the circulating libraries in the Piazza di +Spagna that allure one in the morning, from the fascinating glitter of +the little Via Condotti which is, in its way, the rue de la Paix of +Rome, one leisurely climbs the steps to where the great obelisk looms up +in front of the Convent Church of the Trinità di Monti and on, across +the Piazza di Trinità, toward the Pincian, one wanders along the brow of +the hill surmounted by the low stone parapet. The view is a dream of +beauty. Over the valley lies Monte Mario, crowned with the Villa Madama, +silhouetted against the blue Roman sky; and the commanding dome of St. +Peter's, the splendid new white marble buildings of the Law Courts, the +domes of other churches, all make up a picturesque panorama, while on +the Janiculum the great equestrian statue of Garibaldi can be descried. +Strolling on, one turns into the gardens of the Villa Medici, the +French Academy of Art, in which the present director, the great Carolus +Duran, is domiciled and in which twenty-four students--of painting, +sculpture, music, and architecture--are maintained at the expense of the +French government for several years, the twenty four being chosen from +those who have given signal proof of their ability. The Villa Medici +has, perhaps, a more beautiful site than any other building in Rome. +Facing the west, with the Janiculum and Monte Mario forever before it, +while below lies the Piazza di Spagna and the Piazza del Popolo, and all +the changing splendors of the sunset sky as a perpetual picture gallery, +the situation is, indeed, magnificent. It is still conceivable, however, +that Monsieur Carolus Duran must have many quarters of an hour when he +longs for the brilliancy and the movement and the stimulus of his Paris. +The gardens of the Villa Medici are large, but they are laid out with +narrow paths bordered with box, forming a wall as impervious as if of +stone, and dark and damp by the shade of foliage. These walks are paved +with gravel, and are always damp. These formal rectangles and alleys are +utterly shut in, so that in any one part one can see only the two +dense green walls of box that inclose him and the glimpse of sky +overhead,--not precisely a cheering promenade. This is the Italian idea +of a garden. Much broken sculpture, weather-stained and defective, is +placed all along the way, and the perpetual Roman fountain is always +gushing somewhere. + + [Illustration: VILLA MEDICI, ROME + _Page 134_] + +Another phase of the Roman season may rise before one in the stately +beauty of any old historic palace, where the hostess, all grace and +sweetness, receives her guests in the apartment in which Galileo had +been confined when imprisoned in Rome. The approach to this _piano +nobile_ was up a flight of easily graded marble stairs, where in +frequent niches stood old statues. The large windows in the corridor on +the landing were curtained with pale yellow, thus creating a golden +light to fall on the old sculptured marbles. One salon was decorated +with Flaxman's drawings on the wall, in their classical outlines. From a +steep, dark stone stairway, down which one descended (at the imminent +risk of a broken neck in the darkness and from the irregular stairs +rudely carved in the stone), one emerged on a landing, where a little +door opened into the balcony of the chapel, a curious, gloomy place, +with tombs and altar and shrine, and some very poor old paintings. One's +progress to it recalled the lines from Poe's "Ulalume":-- + + "By a route, obscure and lonely, + Haunted by ill angels only." + +Then, sitting in one of the richly decorated salons at afternoon tea in +this same old palace one day, while an accomplished harpist was +discoursing delicate music from its vibrating chords, flights of birds +kept passing a window, making a scene like that of a Wagner opera. The +groups present, largely of the Roman nobility, the titled aristocracy, +resembling so closely some of the old portraits in the palazzo that it +was easy to recognize that they were all one people, descendants of the +same race. + +Many of the guests looked, indeed, as if they had stepped from out the +sumptuously carved frames on the wall. At these pretty festas one meets +much of the resident Roman world. The guests assembled seem to be +speaking in all the romance languages. There are Russian and Spanish as +well as Italian, French, German, and English at these alluring teas. +All the salons of the spacious apartments are thrown open, and the men +in their picturesque court dress or military costume, and the women and +girls in dainty gowns, make up an alluring scene. The salons are richly +furnished and abound in works of art, old pictures, inlaid cabinets, +carvings, rich vases, busts, and statuettes. The library, with its +wealth of books; the music room; the salon for dancing; the supper room, +and the quiet rooms where groups gather before the blazing open fires, +grateful in these lofty rooms whose temperature suggests the frozen +circles of Dante,--all make up a delightful picture. One meets the most +varying individualities. A Russian lady of title may confide her +conviction that her country is ruined, and that she never desires to +return to it. Italy is the country that attracts not only political +refugees from other European countries, but many who are out of sympathy +with conditions elsewhere and who find the cosmopolitan society and the +varied interests of this land of sunshine their most enjoyable +environment. + +One pleasant feature of a Roman winter is that of the usual course of +lectures given by Professor Lanciani. The celebrated archæologist is a +man of special personal charm, and his conversation, as well as his +public lectures, is full of interest and value. The lectures are given +under the auspices of the Società Archeologica, and a special subject +recently discussed was the celebration to be held in 1911 in Rome. One +project for this celebration includes the plan to lay out a carriage +road around the Forum and the Palatine, and also around the Baths of +Titus and of Caracalla, extending the drive to all those places included +between the Appian and the Latin Way, the Villa Celimontana and the +Circus Maximus. + +Professor Lanciani discussed the artistic history of Rome and the +different appearances the city took on in different periods; the +regulation plan drawn up by Julius Cæsar and accepted and carried out by +Augustus, by which one-fifth of the total area of the city was reserved +for public parks. In the third century of the empire the city was +inclosed by parks and crossed from end to end by delightful portico +gardens, where valuable works of art were collected. During the period +of the Renaissance there were the famous villas and the Cesarini Park +on the slopes of the Esquiline, and after regretting the many +unnecessary acts of vandalism committed since 1870 in Rome, Professor +Lanciani suggested that a complete reconstruction of the Baths of +Caracalla should be made, to serve in 1911 as the Exhibition Building. +He believed no artistic difficulties would present themselves, as in the +fifteenth century different architects took plaster casts of the +decorations of the statues and of every detail of the Baths. The +archæological exhibition would be arranged in the two large halls, +another hall would be for concerts, another for lectures, the others for +different congresses to be held. + +In this way Rome would inaugurate for 1911 the Mediæval Museum in Castel +Sant'Angelo, the mediæval collections in the Torre degli Anguillara, and +the grand archæological exhibition in the reconstructed Baths of +Caracalla. + +Italian women are by no means behind the age in their organizations to +aid in social progress. The most important one in Italy is that of the +leading women of the nobility and aristocracy, called "The Society for +Women's Work," which holds annual meetings, over which Lady Aberdeen, +the president of the International Council, and the Contessa Spalletti, +the president of the National Council of Italy, preside. Many of the +prominent women of the Italian nobility are taking active part in the +larger outlook for women; and in this movement Margherita, _la Regina +Madre_, leads the way, supported by a large following of the titled +nobility. + +"Margherita holds the hearts of the people," remarked Cora, Contessa di +Brazzá Savorgnan, at a brilliant little dinner one night, and no +expression could more admirably represent the feeling of the nation +toward the Queen Mother. + +Queen Elena as the reigning sovereign has, of course, her exclusive +royal prerogatives, and she has youth and initiative and precedence; but +Margherita is a most attractive woman, with learning and accomplishments +galore, and she has an art of conversation that allures and fascinates +visiting foreigners of learning and wit, as well as of rank. Roman +society is not large numerically, and the same people are constantly +meeting and consolidating their many points of contact and interest. +Social life in these Italian cities is the supreme occupation of the +residents, and one must concede that in proportion as one meets the same +people constantly does society gain in dramatic interest. With each +person who is in any sense an individual the play of life begins. It +gains in dramatic sequence as it proceeds. The Eternal City is a +wonderful scenic setting for the human drama. + +Local gossip suggests perceptible rivalry between the stately palace of +the King and the pink palace on the hill, in which Margherita holds her +state with not less ceremony than that observed at the Court of the +Quirinale. It is a beautiful thing for a country to have in it a woman +of high position, of leisure and of culture, who is so admirably fitted +to be the friend of the people as is Margherita. She is a connoisseur in +art; she has a most intelligent interest in science; she is a critical +lover of literature; she is a wise and judicious and deeply sympathetic +leader in all philanthropic work and purposes. One can hardly visit +painter or poet or artist in any line, or school, institute, or +association, but that he hears of the personal sympathy and +encouragement bestowed by this noble and beautiful Italian Queen,--the +_Regina Madre_. + +Practically there are, indeed, two courts in Rome; that of the Palazzo +Margherita seeming to quite rival that held at the Palazzo Quirinale. +The palace of the Queen Mother is an imposing three-story structure of +pink-hued marble, with beautiful gardens and terraces, and adjoining it, +in the palace grounds, is a marble villa, used for the entertainment of +royal guests. This palace has been the residence of Margherita when in +Rome since the tragic death of King Umberto, in 1900. It is in the +Ludovisi quarter, and stands on the very site of the Gardens of Sallust. +The Queen Mother receives noted visitors constantly, and entertains +visiting royalties and members of the aristocracy. No great man of +science, literature, and art visits Rome without seeking a presentation +to the liberal-minded and accomplished _Regina Madre_, who is one of the +most winning and attractive of all the royal women of Europe. + +It has become quite a feature in introducing young girls to present them +first in private audience to Margherita, and then later to Queen Elena +at the Court of the Quirinale. Surely no girl could be given a lovelier +idea of womanhood than that embodied in the Dowager Queen. When the poet +Carducci died in the early months of 1907, Margherita sent beautiful +messages of consolation to his family, and, later, to his home city of +Bologna she sent the following letter:-- + + "I announce that I make a free gift to the city of Bologna of the + house where Giosuè Carducci passed the last years of his life, and + the library he collected there. + + "Bologna, that showed such affectionate hospitality for Giosuè + Carducci for so many years, and surrounded him with so much + devotion, will know, I feel sure, how to carefully preserve this + remembrance of the greatest poet of modern Italy. + + MARGHERITA." + +The Syndic replied in a letter hardly less fine in its expression of +Bologna's appreciation, and with assurances that the name of the first +Queen of Italy will in future be forever associated with Italy's +greatest modern poet. + +The Regio Palazzo del Quirinale is near the Capitol, in the older part +of the city, and only a small part of this is shown to visitors when +the King and Queen are in residence. The Sala Regia may be seen, the +chapel in which are preserved a large number of the wreaths and the +addresses sent from all parts of the civilized world on the occasion of +the death of Victor Emmanuel II, and a suite of reception rooms, the +throne room with many historic portraits, the Sala des Ambassadeurs, and +the audience chamber, containing Thorwaldsen's "Triumphal Procession of +Alexander the Great," a gift from Napoleon I. In the small chapel of the +Annunciation is an altar piece by Guido Reni. + +To artists the Queen Mother is most generously kind. One of the younger +Italian sculptors, Turillo Sindoni, Cavaliere of the Crown of Italy, +whose latest creation is a very beautiful statue of St. Agnes, has his +studios in the Via del Babuino, and to especially favored visitors he +sometimes exhibits a beautiful letter that he received from Margherita, +who purchased two of his statues. With the letter expressing her warm +appreciation of his art was an exquisite gift of jewelled sleeve-links. + +Notwithstanding the fascinating lectures of Professor Lanciani and the +valuable and interesting work in the Forum that is being accomplished +under the efficient directorship of Commendatore Boni, yet all the roads +that traditionally lead to Rome do not converge to the palace on the +Palatine. Modern Rome is only mildly archæological, and while it takes +occasional recognition of the ancient monuments, and drives to the crypt +of old St. Agnes, to the tomb of Cecilia Metella, and may manage a +descent into the catacomb of St. Calixtus, it is far more actively +interested in its dancing and dining and driving. As a scenic background +for festivities Rome is a success, and as one comes into social touch +with the titled nobility, and the resident life, by birth or adoption, +one finds a city of infinite human interest and picturesque +possibilities. + +Between the "Whites" (the loyal followers of the Palazzo Quirinale and +the King) and the "Blacks" (the devoted followers of the Palazzo +Vaticano and the Pope) a great gulf is fixed over which no one may +cross. + +Pope Pius X is wonderfully accessible, considering the great +responsibilities and duties he has on him, and his generous goodness, +his gracious tact and the beauty of his spirit endear him to all, +Catholic or Protestant alike, for every one recognizes in him the +Christian gentleman, whose ideals of gentleness and inspiring +helpfulness impress themselves on all who are so fortunate as to meet +him. + +The most impressive ceremonial receptions of the "Blacks" are those +given at the Spanish Embassy in the Piazza di Spagna. At the Embassy or +in the private palace of any Roman noble which a Cardinal honors by +accepting an invitation, he is received according to a most picturesque +old Roman custom. At the foot of the stairs two servants bearing lighted +torches meet his Eminence, and, making a profound obeisance, escort him +to the portals of the grand reception salon and await, in the corridor, +his return. On his departure they escort him in the same way down the +staircase. + +In the College of Cardinals and among the many interesting +individualities of the Vatican, the most marked figure is that of the +Cardinal Secretary of State, Merry del Val. He occupies the Borgia +apartments, which are hung with tapestry and ornamented with the most +unique and valuable articles _de vertu_,--wonderful vases, inlaid +cabinets, old tapestries, paintings, statues, busts, and ivories. These +Borgia apartments are one of the most interesting features of the +Palazzo Vaticano, and may be seen now and then by special permission +when the Cardinal secretary is out, or when he may be pleased to retire +into his more private salons in the apartment while the others are +shown. Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val is an impressive personality, whose +life seems strangely determined by destiny. His father was an _attaché_ +of the Spanish embassy to the Court of St. James when the future +Cardinal was born in 1865. In 1904, at the early age of thirty-nine, he +was advanced from the soutane violet of the bishop to the mantelletta +scarlet of the cardinal, and after the accession of the present Pope, +Pius X, he was appointed to the highest office in the Vatican, that of +Secretary of State, the Pope paying him the high tribute because of his +"devotion to work, his capability and absolute self-negation." + +Cardinal Merry del Val has had a wonderful training of experience and +circumstances. At the early age of twenty-two he was a member of the +papal embassy commissioned to the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. He +was also appointed a member of the embassy from the Vatican to attend +the funeral of Emperor William I; and at the jubilee of Francis Joseph, +Emperor of Austria, Cardinal (then Bishop) Merry del Val was the sole +and accredited representative of the Holy See, as he was also at the +coronation of King Edward. The Spanish Cardinal is the special trusted +counsellor of the royal family of Spain. + +In Rome, Cardinal Merry del Val is an impressive figure. He is always +attended by his _gentiluomo_, who is gorgeously arrayed in knee +breeches, military hat and sword. This gentleman in waiting walks behind +him on a promenade, sits in his carriage and stands near him in all +religious ceremonies. His equipage is well known in the Eternal City,--a +stately black carriage drawn by two massive black horses with luxurious +flowing manes. + +It is freely prophesied in Rome that the Cardinal secretary is destined +to yet exchange the mantelletta scarlet for the zucchetta white, when +Pius X shall have gone the way of all his predecessors in the papal +chair. He is the Cardinal especially favored by Austria and Spain. +Although the conflict with France was at first ascribed to Cardinal +Merry del Val, he has of late been completely exonerated from blame, +even by the French prelates and clergy. + +Cardinal Merry del Val represents the most advanced and progressive +thought of the day. He is an enthusiastic admirer of Marconi and the +marvels of wireless telegraphy; he is an advocate of telephonic service, +electric motors, electric lights, and of phonographs and typewriters for +the Vatican service. He is a great linguist, speaking English, French, +and German as well as Spanish, which is his native tongue, and Italian, +which has become second nature. He is a good Greek scholar and a +profound Latin scholar, and he speaks the ancient Latin with the fluency +and the force of the modern languages. He is, indeed, a remarkable +twentieth-century personality and one who has apparently a very +interesting life yet to come in his future. + +At the Villa Pamphilia Doria, built by a former Prince Doria, the +largest villa in the Roman environs and the finest now remaining, the +Cardinal enjoys his game of golf, of which he is very fond. The Doria +family rendered the villa magnificent in every respect. Besides the +spacious avenues, woods, fountains, a lake, and cascades, are various +edifices, among which is one in the form of a triumphal arch, decorated +with ancient statues; the casino of the villa in which are preserved +some ancient marbles and several pictures; the beautiful circular +chapel, adorned with eight columns of marble and other stately +ornaments. There is a monument erected by the present Prince Doria to +the memory of the French soldiers who were killed there during the siege +of 1849. From the terrace of the palace there is a magnificent view of +the environs of Rome, as far as the sea. In consequence of excavations, +some columbaria, sepulchres, inscriptions, and other relics have been +found, which have attracted much attention from archæologists. + +It is near these grounds that the "Arcadians" still hold their _al +fresco_ meetings. The society dates back to 1690, and the first _custos_ +(whose duty was to open and close the meetings) was Crescimbeni. The +"Arcadians" organized themselves to protest against the degeneracy of +Italian poetry that marked the seventeenth century. To keep their +meetings a secret from the populace the "Arcadians" held their meetings +in an open garden on the slope below San Pietro in Montorio,--a terrace +still known as "Bosco Parrasio degli Arcadi." + +One of the enchanting views in Rome is from the Piazza San Giovanni. One +looks far away past the Coliseum in its ruined grandeur and the _casa_ +where Lucrezia Borgia lived, and in the near distance is the colossal +pile of San Giovanni di Laterano, its beautiful and impressive façade +crowned with the statues of the apostles silhouetted against the western +sky. In the piazza formed by the church, the museums, and the Baptistery +of San Giovanni and the Scala Santa is one of the most remarkable +obelisks in Rome, ninety-nine feet in height, formed of red granite and +carved with hieroglyphics. This shaft is placed on a pedestal which +makes it in all some 115 feet in height. It was placed in 1568 by Sixtus +V. The museums of the San Giovanni are the "Museo Sacro" and the "Museo +Profano,"--the latter founded by Pope Gregory XVI, and very rich in +sculptures and mosaics. The "Museo Sacro" was founded by Pio Nono, and +is rich in the antiquities of the Christian era. Within San Giovanni +the visitor finds himself in a vast interior divided by columns of +verd-antique into three aisles, each of which is as wide as, and far +longer than, the interior of an ordinary church. Statues fill the +niches, and the chapels and confessionals are all beautifully decorated. +The Corsini Chapel is the richest and was executed by order of Clement +XII, in honor of St. Andrew Corsini, who is represented in a rich mosaic +painting copied from Guido. Two sculptured figures, "Innocence" and +"Penitence," stand before the altar, and above is a relief depicting St. +Andrew protecting the Florentine army at the battle of Anghiari. + +The tomb of Pope Clement XII (who himself belonged to the Corsini family +and who was an uncle of Cardinal Corsini) is in a niche between two +columns of porphyry, and there is a bronze statue of the Pope. On the +opposite side is a statue of Cardinal Corsini, and in the crypt below +are tombs of the Corsini family. On the altar--always lighted--is a +"Pieta" by Bernini, of which the face of the Christ is very beautiful. + +Near the centre of the Basilica is a rich tabernacle of precious stones, +defined by four columns of _verde antico_, and it is said that the +heads of St. Peter and St. Paul are preserved here. The table upon which +Christ celebrated the Last Supper is placed here, above the altar of the +Holy Sacrament, a sacred relic that thrills the visitors. In one chapel +is a curious and grotesque group of sculpture,--a skeleton holding up a +medallion portrait, while an angel with outstretched wings hovers over +it. + +San Giovanni has the reputation of being absolutely the coldest church +in all Rome, which--it is needless to remark--means a great deal, for +they all in winter have the temperature of the arctic regions. In all +these great churches there is never any heat; no apparatus for heating +has ever been introduced, and the twentieth century finds them just as +cold as they were in the centuries of a thousand years ago. This +colossal Basilica is considered the most important church in the world, +as it is the cathedral of the Pontiff. It was founded in the third +century by Constantine, destroyed by fire in 1308, and rebuilt by Pope +Clement V, and every succeeding Pope has added to it. The façade is of +travertine, with four gigantic columns and six pilasters, and the +cornice is decorated with colossal figures of Jesus and a number of the +saints. There are five balconies, the middle one being always used for +papal benedictions. In the portico is the colossal statue of Constantine +the Great. Within the columns are of _verde antico_; the ceiling was +designed by Michael Angelo; the interior is very rich in sculpture, and +there are some fine paintings and the chapels are most beautiful, one of +them containing a tabernacle comprised wholly of precious stones. Above +the altar of the Holy Sacrament the table upon which Christ celebrated +the Last Supper with the disciples is preserved. It is wonderful to look +upon this most sacred and significant relic. + +It is in this church that the tomb of Leo XIII has been constructed by +the eminent Italian sculptor, Tadolini, opposite the tomb of Innocent +III. The work was completed in the spring of 1907, the design being a +life-size portrait statue of the Pope with two figures, one on either +side, representing the church and the workman-pilgrim, forming part of +the group. This is one of the most memorable monuments of all Rome, and +the tomb of the great Leo XIII will form a new shrine for Christian +pilgrimage. + +Included in the group of structures that form the great Basilica of San +Giovanni is the Scala Santa, which offers a strange picture whenever one +approaches it. These twenty-eight marble steps that belonged to Pilate's +house in Jerusalem are said to have been once trodden by Jesus and may +be ascended only on one's knees. At no hour of the day can one visit the +Scala Santa without finding the most motley and incongruous throng thus +ascending, pausing on each step for meditation and prayer. These stairs +were transported from Jerusalem to Rome under the auspices of St. +Helena, the Empress, about 326 A.D., and in 1589 they were placed by +Pope Sixtus V in this portico built for them with a chapel at the top of +the stairs called the "Sancta Sanctorum," formerly the private chapel of +the Popes. In this sanctuary is preserved a wonderful portrait of the +Saviour, painted on wood, which is said to have been partly the work of +St. Luke but finished by unseen hands. The legend runs that St. Luke +prepared to undertake the work by three days' fasting and prayer, and +that, having drawn it in outline, the painting was done by angelic +ministry, the colors being filled in by invisible hands. In ancient +times--the custom being abolished by Pius V in 1566--this picture was +borne through Rome on the Feast of the Assumption and the bearer halted +with it in the Forum, when the "Kyrie Eleison" would be chanted by +hundreds of voices. + +Myth and legend invest every turn and footfall of the Eternal City, and +there are few that are not founded on what the church has always called +supernatural manifestations, but which the new age is learning to +recognize as occurrences under natural law. + +The story of Luther's ascent of the Scala Santa is thus told:-- + + "Brother Martin Luther went to accomplish the ascent of the Scala + Santa--the Holy Staircase--which once, they say, formed part of + Pilate's house. He slowly mounted step after step of the hard + stone, worn into hollows by the knees of penitents and pilgrims. + Patiently he crept halfway up the staircase, when he suddenly stood + erect, lifted his face heavenward, and in another moment turned + and walked slowly down again. + + "He said that as he was toiling up a voice as if from heaven spoke + to him and said, 'The just shall live by faith.' He awoke as if + from a nightmare, restored to himself. He dared not creep up + another step; but rising from his knees he stood upright like a man + suddenly loosed from bonds and fetters, and with the firm step of a + free man he descended the staircase and walked from the place." + +The entire legendary as well as sacred history is almost made up of +instances of the interpenetration of the two worlds; the response of +those in the spiritual world to the needs of those in the natural world. +Pope Paschal recorded that he fell asleep in his chair at St. Peter's +(somewhere about 8.20 A.M.) with a prayer on his lips that he might find +the burial place of St. Cecilia, and in his dream she appeared to him +and showed him the spot where her body lay, in the catacombs of +Calixtus. The next day he went to the spot and found all as had been +revealed to him. The miraculous preservation of St. Agnes is familiar to +all students of legendary art. Throughout all Rome, shrine and niche +and sculpture, picture, monument, arch and column, speak perpetually of +some interposition of unseen forces with events and circumstances in +this part of life. The Eternal City in its rich and poetic symbolism is +one great object lesson of the interblending of the two worlds, the +natural and the spiritual. The first stage regarding all this marvellous +panorama was entire and unquestioning acceptance; the succeeding stage +was doubt, disbelief; the third, into which we are now entering, is that +of an enlightened understanding and a growing knowledge and grasp of the +laws under which these special interpositions and interventions occur. + +For that "according to thy faith be it unto thee," is as true now in the +twentieth century as it was in the first. The one central truth that is +the very foundation of all religious philosophy is the continuity of +life and the persistence of intercourse and communion, spirit to spirit, +across the gulf we call death. The evidences of this truth have been +always in the world. The earliest records of the Bible are replete with +them. The gospels of the New Testament record an unbroken succession +of occurrences and of testimony to this interpenetration of life in the +Unseen with that in the Seen. Secular history is full of its narrations +of instances of clairvoyance, clairaudience, and of communications in a +variety of ways; and the sacred and legendary art of Rome, largely +founded on story and myth and legend, when seen in the light of +latter-day science is judged anew, and the literal truth of much that +has before been considered purely legendary is revealed and realized. +One reads new meanings into Rome when testing it by this consciousness. +It is a city of spiritual symbolism. It is a great object lesson +extending over all the centuries. Making due allowance for the +distortion and exaggeration of ages of testimony, there yet remains a +residuum indisputable. The Past and the Present both teem with record +and incident and experience proving that life is twofold, even now and +here; that all the motives and acts of the life which we see are +variously incited, modified, strengthened, or annulled by those in the +realm of the Unseen. + + [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO VILLA PAMPHILIA-DORIA, ROME + _Page 159_] + +The intelligent recognition of this truth changes the entire conduct of +life. It entirely alters the point of view. It extends the horizon line +infinitely. Instead of conceiving of life as a whole, as comprised +between the cradle and the grave, it will be regarded in its larger and +truer scope as a series of experiences and achievements, infinite in +length and in their possibilities and unbroken by the change we call +death. This will impart to humanity a new motor spring in that greater +hope which puts man in a working mood, which makes him believe in the +value of that which he undertakes, which encourages him to press on amid +all difficulties and against all obstacles. Increasing hope, all +activity is proportionately increased. It was an event of incalculable +importance to the progress of humanity when the swift communication by +cable was established between America and Europe. It is one of +infinitely greater importance to establish the truth and enlarge the +possibility of direct communication with the world of higher forces and +larger attainment and scope than our own. This communication exists and +has always existed, but it has been regarded as myth and legend and +phenomenon rather than as a fact of nature whose laws were to be +ascertained and understood. It must be made clear as an absolute +scientific demonstration that the change of form by the process we call +death does not put an end to intelligent and rational intercourse, but +that, indeed, instead of setting up a barrier, it removes barriers and +renders mutual comprehension far clearer and more direct than before. +This realization alters the entire perspective of life, and is the new +Glad Tidings of great joy. + +It is something of all this that the Eternal City suggests to one as he +makes his pilgrimages to shrine and cloister and chapel and Basilica. +The mighty Past is eloquent with a thousand voices, and they blend into +a choral harmony of promise and prophecy for the nobler future of +humanity. + +At the foot of the Scala Santa, on either side, are statues of Christ +and Judas, and of Christ and Pilate, very interesting groups by +Jacometti, and there is also a kneeling statue of Pio Nono. + +The statue of Judas is considered one of the most notable of the late +modern Italian sculpture. + +The Rome of to-day is in strange contrast even to the city that Page and +Hawthorne knew, in the comparatively recent past; and the Rome of the +ancients is traced only in the churches and the ruins. It is a _mot_ +that one hears every language spoken in Rome, except the Italian! So +largely has the Seven-hilled City become the pleasure ground of foreign +residents. The contrast between the ordinary breakfast-table talk in +Rome and in--Boston, for instance, or Washington, is amusing. In the +Puritan capital it usually includes the topic of weather predictions and +the news in the morning paper, with whatever other of local or personal +matters of interest. In Washington, where the very actors and the events +that make the nation's history are fairly before one's eyes, the +breakfast-table conversation is apt to turn on matters that have not yet +got into the papers,--the evening session of the previous night, +perhaps, when too long prolonged under the vast dome to admit of its +having been noted in the morning press. But in Rome the breakfast-table +talk is apt to be of the new excavations just taken from the bed of the +Tiber; the question as to whether the head of St. Paul could have +touched (at the tragic scene of his execution) at three places so far +apart as the tri-fontanes; or a discussion of the marvellous freshness +of the mosaics in the interior of the Palace of the Cæsars; or, again, +of the last night's balls or dinners, and matters most frankly +_mondaine_, and of contemporary life. + +The American Embassy, whose location depends on the individual choice of +the Ambassador of the time, is now in the old Palazzo del Drago on the +corner of the Via Venti Settembre and the Via delle Quattro Fontane. The +street floor, like all the old palaces, is not used for living purposes. +The portiere, the guards, the corridors, and approaches to the +staircases monopolize this space. The piano nobile is the residence of +the beautiful and lovely Principessa d'Antuni, the youthful widow of the +Principe who was himself a grandson of Marie Christine, the Queen of +Spain. The young Princess who was married to him at the age of +seventeen, ten years ago, is left with three little children, of whom +the only daughter bears the name of her great-grandmother, the Spanish +Queen. Perfectly at home in all the romance languages, an accomplished +musician, a thinker, a scholar, a student, a lovely figure in life, a +beautiful and sympathetic friend is the Princess d'Antuni. She is "of a +simplicity," as they say in Italy, investing the dignity of her rank +with indescribable grace and sweetness. The two long flights of stairs +that lead up to the secundo piano in the Palazzo del Drago--the floor +occupied by the American Embassy--have at least a hundred steps to each +staircase, yet so broad and easy of ascent as hardly to fatigue one. +These flights are carpeted in glowing red, while along the wall are +niches in each of which stands an old statue, making the ascent of the +guest seem a classic progress. + +The Palazzo del Drago has an elevator, but elevator service in Rome is a +thing apart, something considered quite too good for human nature's +daily food, and the slight power is far too little to permit any number +of people to be accommodated, so on any ceremonial occasion the elevator +is closed and the guests walk up the two long flights. The total lack of +any mastery of mechanical conditions in Italy is very curious. + +The grand ball given at the American Embassy just before Ash Wednesday +in the winter of 1907 was a very pretty affair. Up the rose-red carpeted +stairs the guests walked, the statues looking silently on, but +apparently there was no Galatea to step down from her niche and join the +happy throng. In the antechamber each guest was asked to write his name +in the large autograph books kept for that purpose, and then, passing +on, was received by the Ambassador and Ambassadress in the first of the +splendid series of salons thrown open for the occasion. At this time it +was Mr. and Mrs. Henry White who represented the United States, and won +the hearts of all Rome as well, and assisted by their charming daughter, +Miss Muriel White, they made this ball an affair to leave its lovely +pictures in memory. The scenic setting of an old Roman palace captivates +the stranger. It may not impress him as especially comfortable, but it +is certainly picturesque, and who would not prefer--at least for the +"one night only" of the traditional _prima donna_ announcements--the +pictorially picturesque and magnificent to the merely comfortable? The +lofty ceilings, painted by artists who have long since vanished from +mortal sight, make it impossible to attain the temperature that the +American regards as essential to his terrestrial well-being, and as the +only sources of heat were the open fireplaces the guests hovered around +these and their radii of comfortable warmth were limited. In one salon +there was one especially beautiful effect of a great jar of white lilacs +placed before a vast mirror at sufficient distance to give the mirror +reflection an individuality as a thing apart, and the effect was that of +a very garden of paradise. The music was fascinating, the decorations +all in good taste, and the occasion was most brilliant,--_très +charmante_ indeed. The American ambassadress was ablaze with her famous +diamonds, her corsage being literally covered with them, and her +coiffure adorned with a coronet, but the temperature soon forced the +ambassadress to partially eclipse her splendor with the little ermine +shoulder cape that is an indispensable article for evening dress in +Rome. The temperature does not admit the possibility of _décolleté_ +gowns without some protection, when these resplendent glittering robes +that seem woven of the stars are worn. Among the more distinguished +guests, aside from the _corps diplomatique_ and the titled nobility of +Rome and visiting foreigners, were M. Carolus Duran, the celebrated +portrait artist of Paris, and among other interesting people were Miss +Elise Emmons of Leamington, England, a grand-niece of Charlotte Cushman. +M. Carolus Duran was very magnificent, his breast covered with jewelled +orders and decorations from the various societies, academies, and +governments that have honored him. He is a short man and has grown quite +stout, but he carries himself with inimitable grace and dignity, and in +his luminous eyes one still surprises that far-away look which Sargent +so wonderfully caught in his portrait of the great French artist, +painted in his earlier life. + +The number of spacious salons with their easy-chairs and sofas enabled +all guests who desired to ensconce themselves luxuriously to do so, and +watch the glittering scene. The supper room and the salon for dancing +were not more alluring than the salons wherein one could study this +brilliant throng of diplomates, titled nobility, distinguished artists, +social celebrities, and those who were, in various ways, each _persona +grata_ in Rome. Among those at this particular festivity were the +American novelist, Frank Hamilton Spearman, with Mrs. Spearman. In late +American fiction Mr. Spearman has made for himself a distinctive place +as the novelist whose artistic eye has discerned the romance in the new +phases of life created by the extensive systems of mountain railroading, +and the great irrigation schemes of the far West, which have not only +opened up new territory, but have called into evidence new combinations +of the qualities most potent in human life,--love, sacrifice, heroism, +devotion to duty, and tragedy and comedy as well. In his novels, "The +Daughter of a Magnate" and "Whispering Smith," in such vivid and +delightful short stories as "The Ghost at Point of Rocks," which +appeared in _Scribner's Magazine_ for August of 1907, Mr. Spearman has +dramatized the pathos, the wit, the vast and marvellous spirit of +enterprise, the desolation of isolated regions, the all-pervading +potency and one may almost say intimacy of modern life made possible by +the Arabian Nights' dream of wireless telegraphy, "soaring" cars, +long-distance telephoning, and lightning express train service in cars +that climb the mountains beyond the clouds, or dash through tunnels with +ten thousand feet of mountains above them. Mr. Spearman is the novelist +_par excellence_ of this intense _vie modernité_. + +On Washington's Birthday, again, the stately salons of the American +Embassy in the old Palazzo del Drago were well filled from four to six +with an assemblage which expressed its patriotism and devotion to +Washington by appearing in its most faultless raiment and in an apparent +appreciation of the refreshment tables, from which cake and ices, tea +and various other delicacies, were served. + +The informal weekly receptions at the Embassy are always delightful, and +the dinners and ceremonial entertainments are given with that faultless +grace which characterizes the American ambassadress. + +The American consulate is always a charming centre in Rome, and in the +present residence of Consul-General and Mrs. De Castro, who have +domiciled themselves on a lofty floor of a palace in the Via Venti +Settembre, commanding beautiful views that make a picture of every +window, the consulate is one of the favorite social centres for +Americans and other nationalities as well, who enjoy the charming +welcome of Mrs. De Castro. + +Professor and Mrs. Jesse Benedict Carter, in their lovely home in the +Via Gregoriana, add another to the pleasant American centres in the +Eternal City, Professor Carter having succeeded Professor Norton as the +principal of the American Classical School. + +Mrs. Elihu Vedder, assisted by her accomplished daughter, Miss Anita +Vedder, has a pretty fashion of receiving weekly in Mr. Vedder's studio +in the Via Flaminia, and these Saturday receptions at the Vedders' are a +feature of social life in Rome which are greatly sought. The +distinguished artist reserves these afternoons for leisurely +conversation, and pictures and sketches are enjoyed the more that they +may be enjoyed in the presence of their creator. Miss Vedder has called +to life again the almost lost art of tapestry, and her productions of +wonderful beauty are considered as among the most desirable in modern +decorative art. Among these tapestries are "The Lover's Song," "Salome +Dancing before Herod," "The Annunciation," "The Legend of the Unicorn," +"The Lovers' Picnic," and "The Lovers." The tapestries were painted in +Rome and in the Vedder villa, _Torre Quattro Venti_ on Capri, where the +artist and his wife and daughter pass their summers. The established +English Church has two chapels in Rome, one the Holy Trinity, of which +Rev. Dr. Baldwin is the rector, and the other English chapel in Via del +Babuino has for its chaplain Rev. Dr. Nutcombe Oxenham, whose ministry +is one of the most helpful factors in Rome. Dr. and Mrs. Oxenham occupy +a charming apartment in the Piazza del Popolo, the most picturesque +piazza in Rome, with the terraced Pincion hillside crowned by the Villa +di Medici on one side, and the "twin churches" on another; and the +beautiful salon of Mrs. Oxenham, with its wealth of books and classic +engravings and gems of pictures, is one of the homelike interiors in +Rome. Mr. and Mrs. Oxenham receive on Wednesdays, and an hour with them +and their guests is always a privileged one. + +The work of this church, largely through the active co-operation of Mrs. +Oxenham, extends into wide charities which are without discrimination as +to sect or race,--the only consideration being the human need to be met +in the name of Him whose care and love are for each and all. + +Among the delightful hostesses of Rome is the American wife of Cavaliere +Cortesi, an Italian man of letters, and in their apartment, in one of +the notable palaces in the Corso, some of the most brilliant musicals +and receptions are given, the "All'Illustrissima Signora" being assisted +in the informal serving of tea by the two little fairy daughters, +Annunziata and Elizabetta, whose childish loveliness lingers with the +_habitués_ of this pleasant home. + +In the Palazzo Senni, in the old part of Rome, looking out on Castel San +Angelo and the Ponte d'Angelo, across to the dome of St. Peter's, the +Listers had their home; and though Mrs. Lister, one of the most +distinguished English ladies of Rome, has gone on into the fairer world +beyond, her daughter, Miss Roma Lister, sustains the charming +hospitalities for which her mother was famous. Her salons on the piano +nobile of the palace are rich in souvenirs and rare objects of art. Mrs. +Lister, who was of a noted English house, was evidently a favorite with +Queen Victoria and the royal family; and her marriage gifts included two +drawings by the Queen, both autographed, and a crayon portrait of the +Empress Frederick with autographic inscription to Mrs. Lister. Another +personal gift was a portrait of Cardinal Newman, with his autograph. A +bust of Lady Paget of Florence, the widow of Sir Augustus Paget, +formerly the English Ambassador to Italy, is another of the interesting +treasures which include, indeed, gifts and offerings from a large number +of those eminent in state, in art, in literature, or in the church. The +gracious hospitality of Miss Lister is dispensed to groups of +cosmopolitan guests, and her dinners and other entertainments are among +the most brilliant in Rome. + +The Eternal City is not as hospitable to various phases of modern +thought as is Florence, in which Theosophy, Christian Science, and +psychic investigation flourish with rapidly increasing ardor; but Rome +has a Theosophical Society, among whose leaders is the Baroness +Rosenkrans, the mother of the distinguished young Danish novelist, and +the aunt of Miss Roma Lister. The society has its rooms in the very +heart of old Rome, and holds weekly meetings, often with an English +lecturer as the speaker of the hour. A Theosophical library, in both +English and Italian, is easily accessible, and the meetings are +conducted in either language as it chances at the time. The accession of +Annie Besant to the presidency of the Theosophical Society, succeeding +Colonel Olcott, whose death occurred early in 1907, was most +satisfactory to the Roman members. Mrs. Besant is one of the most +remarkable women of the day. She is in no sense allied with any fads +or freaks; she is essentially a woman of scholarship and poise, of +genuine grasp of significant thought and of brilliant eloquence. +Theosophy, rightly interpreted, is in no sense antagonistic, but, +rather, supplemental to Christianity. It offers the intellectual +explanation--the details, so to speak--of the great spiritual truths of +the Bible. + +Rome seems fairly on its way to become an English-speaking city, so +numerous are the Americans and English who throng to Rome in the winter. + +There are now at least a dozen large new hotels on the scale of the best +modern hotels in New York and Paris, beside the multitude of the older +ones which are comfortable and retain all their popularity; yet this +increase in accommodation does not equal the increase in demand. In +February the tide of travel sets in toward Rome, and from that date +until after Easter every nook and niche are filled to overflowing. The +demand for apartments in Rome is greater than the supply, although the +city is being constantly extended and new buildings are rapidly being +erected. It would seem as if, with the present increasingly large number +of Americans and English, it might be an admirable financial enterprise +for capitalists to come and build comfortable modern apartment hotels. +There seems to be no adequate reason why, in this age, people should be +compelled to live in these gloomy, dreary, cold, old stone palaces, +without elevator service and with no adequate heating, lighting, and +running-water facilities. There would seem to be no conceivable reason +why these conveniences should not be at hand in Rome as well as in New +York. As for the climate, with warm houses to live in, it would be +charmingly comfortable, for the deadly cold is not in the temperature +out of doors, but only in the interiors. One is warm in the sunshine in +the streets, when he is fairly frozen in the house. Mentioning this, +however, with wonder that some enterprising American did not begin such +building operations, a friend who has lived for sixteen years in Rome +replied that the Italians would never permit it; that no foreigner is +allowed to come in here and initiate business operations. And the +Italians continue building after the old and clumsy fashion of five +hundred years ago. + +Italy has a curiously pervasive and general suspicion of any latter-day +comfort. The new apartment houses of from four to seven stories are +largely without any elevator; if there is one it usually only ascends +about halfway, and it is so clumsy and slow in its methods, so poorly +supported by power, that half the time it does not run at all. The +streets of Rome are paved with rough stones; the sidewalks are very +narrow; the lighting is inadequate. Bathrooms are rare and insufficient +in number, and all interior lighting and heating arrangements lack much +that is desirable according to American ideas of comfort. + +Still the Eternal City is so impressive in and of itself that sunshine +or storm, comfort or the reverse, can hardly affect one's intensity of +joy and wonder and mysterious, unanalyzable rapture in it. The +twentieth-century Rome is a very different affair from the Rome on which +Hawthorne entered one dark, cold, stormy winter night more than half a +century ago. In the best modern hotels one may be as comfortable as he +likes, with all the fascinations of life added besides. No wonder that +Rome is one of the great winter centres, with some of the most +interesting people in the world always to be found under the spell of +its enchantment. + +The Rome of to-day is a curious mixture of ruins and of modern buildings +which are neither modern nor mediæval in their structure, but many of +which combine the most picturesque features of the latter with the +latest beauty of French and American architectural art. The classic +buildings are now largely in unpleasant surroundings; as, for instance, +the Pantheon, which is surrounded by a fish market, with unspeakable +odors and other repulsive features. "But the portico, with its sixteen +Corinthian columns, is forever majestic; the interior, a vast circular +cell surmounted by a dome through which alone it is lighted, there being +no windows in the walls, is massive and grim, but the magical +illumination, the eye constantly revealing the sky above, gives it +wonderful beauty. Over the outer portals is the inscription of its +erection by Agrippa twenty-seven years before Christ, so it has stood +for nearly two thousand years. Colossal statues of Augustus and Agrippa +fill niches. In diameter the interior of the Pantheon is one hundred and +thirty-two feet, and it is the same in height, which insures the +singularly harmonious proportions. The tribune of the High-Altar is cut +in the thickness of the wall in the form of a semicircle, and is +ornamented, like the door, with four pilasters and two columns of violet +marble. The six chapels are also cut in the wall and ornamented by two +columns and two pilasters. The columns and the pilasters support the +beautiful cornice of white marble; the frieze is of porphyry, and goes +round the whole temple. Above this order there is a species of attic +with fourteen niches, and the great cornice from which rises the +majestic dome. Eight other niches are between the chapels, and these are +also with a pediment supported by two Corinthian columns. They are now +converted into altars. In this temple are buried several artists, among +whom are Raphael, Giovanni da Udine, Baldassare Peruzzi, and Annibale +Carracci. Raphael is buried beneath the base of the statue called la +Madonna del Sasso, sculptured by Lorenzetti. This church is, however, +without paintings or sculptures of much interest. Victor Emmanuel was +entombed here on the 20th of January, 1878, and King Umberto on the 9th +of August, 1900." One of the imposing ceremonies of Rome is that always +celebrated in the Pantheon on March 14, in memory of King Umberto Primo. + +A grand catafalque, surmounted by the royal crown, and surrounded by +tall candelabra with wax candles, is erected in the centre of the +temple, draped with black velvet and gold lace, and lighted with +electric lamps. The mass is for a chorus of voices only. All the civil +and military authorities, the state dignitaries, and the _corps +diplomatique_ to the court of Italy are present. The troops, in full +dress uniform, file in the Piazza of the Collegio Romano, Via Piè di +Marmo, and the Piazza della Minerva, enclosing thus a large square in +the Piazza del Pantheon. The spectacle is one of the most imposing of +all Roman ceremonies. + +The King, and Queen Elena, and the Dowager Queen Margherita, accompanied +by their respective civil and military households, assist at the requiem +mass celebrated in the Pantheon, and at a commemoration service, on the +same day, in the Royal Chapel of the Sudario, where also assemble the +ladies and gentlemen of the Order of the Annunziata. + +On the same morning the feast of St. Gregory, Pope and Doctor of the +church, is celebrated at his church on the Cælian Hill. He was born of a +noble family, and was Prefect of Rome in 573. Pope Pelagius II made him +regionary deacon of Rome, and sent him as legate to Constantinople in +578, where he remained till the death of Pelagius, when he was elected +Pope (590). He introduced the Gregorian chant. His first great act was +to send St. Augustine to convert the Saxons of England to the Christian +faith. An inscription in the Church of San Gregorio Magno states that +St. Augustine was educated in the abbey which was erected on the site of +the present church by Gregory, and that many early archbishops of York +and Canterbury were also educated there. It was on the steps of this +church that Augustine and his forty monks took leave of Gregory, when +setting out for England. He died in 604, after a pontificate of thirteen +years and six months. He was buried in the portico of the Vatican +Basilica, and his body lies under the altar dedicated to him in this +same church. His church, on the Cælian Hill, was built on the site of +the monastery founded by him. In the chapel of the triclinium, near the +church, the table on which he served the poor is shown. Near the church +also is seen his cell, where his marble chair and one of his arms are +exhibited. + +During the Lenten season of 1907 one of the privileges of Rome was to +hear the sermons of Monsignor Vaughn, in the English Catholic Church of +San Silvestre. Monsignor Vaughn is the private chaplain of the Pope. His +discourses attracted increasing throngs of both Catholic and Protestant +hearers. This celebrated prelate is a brother of the late English +Cardinal. He is a man of great distinction of presence, of beautiful +voice and fascination of manner. One discourse had for its theme the +joys of the life that is to come. The spiritual body, he said, has many +qualities not pertaining to the physical body. It is immured from all +disease and accidents; it is subtle and can pass through any substance +which is (apparently) solid to us, as, for instance, when Jesus appeared +in the midst of his disciples, "the doors being shut." It is not a clog +on the soul, continued Monsignor Vaughn; the spiritual body is the +vehicle of the soul and can waft its way through the air; it can walk +the air as the physical body walks the earth. It is not--as is the +physical body--the prison of the soul, but the companion of the soul. +This is all a very enlightened presentation of spiritual truth, and it +is little wonder that such preaching attracts large congregations. Holy +Week in Rome bears little resemblance now to that of the past. The Pope +is not visible in any of the ceremonials in any of the churches; and the +impressiveness of former Catholic ceremonials is greatly lessened. +Indeed, with the passing of the temporal power of the Pope, the +picturesqueness of Rome largely vanished. + +Not, assuredly, from any lack of reverence for the colossal cathedral of +St. Peter's is that Basilica a resort for Sunday afternoons; it suggests +a social reunion, where every one goes, listens as he will to the music +of the Papal choir in the Chapel of the Sacrament, and strolls about the +vast interior where the promenade of the multitude does not yet disturb +in the least the vesper service in the chapel. Here one meets +everybody; the general news of the day is exchanged; greeting and +salutation and pleasant little conversational interludes mark the +afternoon, while the sun sinks behind the splendid pile of the Palazzo +Vaticano, and the golden light through the window of the tribune fades +into dusk. Can one ever lose out of memory the indescribable charm of +this leisurely sauntering, in social enjoyment, in the wonderful +interior of St. Peter's? + +In the way of the regulation sight-seeing the visitor to Rome compasses +most of his duty in this respect on his initial sojourn and goes the +rounds that no one ever need dream of repeating. Once for all the +visitor to Rome goes down into the Catacombs; makes his appallingly hard +journey over Castel San Angelo, into its cells and dungeons, and to the +colossal salon in which is Hadrian's tomb; once for a lifetime he climbs +St. Peter's dome; drives out to old St. Agnes and descends into the +crypt; visits the Church of the Capucines and beholds the ghastly +spectacle of the monks' skulls; drives in the Appian Way; visits the +Palace of the Cæsars, the Baths of Caracalla--a mass of ruins; the +Forum; the Temples of Vesta and Isis; the Coliseum, and the classic old +Pantheon. These form a kind of skeleton for the regulation sight-seeing +of the Eternal City; things which, once done, are checked off with the +feeling that the entire duty of the tourist has been fulfilled, and +that, henceforth in Rome, there is laid up for him the crown of +enjoyment, if not rejoicing; that he may go again and again to study the +marvellous treasures of the Vatican galleries, the masterpieces of art +in the Raphael stanze in the Vatican, the interesting pictures and +sculpture in the many rich churches and galleries. The deadly chill of +most of these galleries and churches in the winter is beyond words to +describe. It is as if the gloom and chill and darkness of a thousand +centuries were there concentrated. + +One of the regulation places for the devout sight-seer, who feels +responsible to his conscience for improving his privileges, is the Museo +Nazionale, or the Tiberine Museum, a large proportion of whose treasures +have been excavated in making the new embankments of the Tiber. It is +located on the site of the Baths of Diocletian, the great ruins of which +surround it in the most uncanny way. Built around a large court, the +salons of the museum are entered from the inner cloisters. In the centre +of the court is a fountain, and around it are antique fragments of +statues, columns, and statuettes found in many places. The famous +Ludovisi collection of antique statuary is now permanently placed in +this museum,--a collection that includes the "Ludovisi Mars;" +"Hercules," with a cornucopia; the "Hermes of Theseus," the "Discobolus +Hermes;" the "Venus of Gnidus" as copied by Praxiteles; the "Dying +Medusa;" the "Ludovisi Juno," which Winckelmann declares to be the +finest head of Juno extant, a Greek work of the fourth century; a "Cupid +and Psyche;" the two "Muses of Astronomy" and of "Epic Poetry," "Urania +and Calliope;" "an Antoninus;" the largest sarcophagus known; a "Tragic +Mask" (colossal) in rosso antico; a bust of "Marcus Aurelius" in bronze, +and many other priceless works. + +The splendor of scenic setting for art in the magnificent salons of the +Casino Borghese has never been surpassed. They are, perhaps, the most +impressive of any Roman interior, with lofty, splendidly decorated +ceilings and walls, where recess and niche hold priceless sculptures. +The splendor of these salons, indeed, quite exceeds description. In the +principal one is a group on one wall--a colossal relief--representing +Marcus Curtius plunging into the gulf in the Forum. There are busts of +the twelve Cæsars; there are busts of all the Roman Emperors, with +alabaster draperies, placed on pedestals of red granite. There are +Bernini's "Apollo and Daphne;" Canova's celebrated statue of Princess +Pauline Borghese (the sister of Napoleon I); Bernini's "David" and +"Æneas and Anchises;" Thorwaldsen's "Faun;" "Diana," "Isis," "Juno," and +many other celebrated classic statues. All the great paintings which +were formerly in the Palazzo Borghese--over six hundred in all--are now +in this casino. The great work in this collection is Raphael's +"Entombment of Christ," painted in his twenty-fourth year. Titian's +"Divine and Human Love;" Raphael's portrait of "Cæsar Borgia;" +Correggio's "Danaë;" Domenichino's "Cumæan Sibyl" and "Diana;" Peruzzi's +"Venus Leaving the Bath;" Van Dyck's "Crucifixion;" Titian's "Venus and +Cupid;" and "Annunciation," by Paul Veronese; Vasari's "Lucrezia +Borgia;" Botticelli's "Holy Family and Angels;" Van Dyck's "Entombment;" +Carlo Dolce's "Mater Dolorosa," and Sassoferrato's "Three Ages of Man" +are among the great masterpieces in this museum. + +The Villa Borghese (by which is meant the park) is some three miles in +extent, and was laid out some two hundred years ago by Cardinal +Borghese. As recently as 1902 it was purchased by the government for +three million francs, and its official name is now "Villa Comunale +Umberto Primo." These grounds contain fountains, antique statues, +tablets, small temples and many inscriptions, with statues of Æsculapius +and Apollo, and an Egyptian gateway. They are open all day to every one +freely and are one of the great attractions of Rome. + +The great palaces of Rome are of later date than those of Florence. +There are some eighty principal ones, of which the Palazzos Veneziano, +Farnese, Doria, Barberini, Colonna, and the Rospigliosi (containing +Guido's famous "Aurora") are the most important. The Farnesina Palace +contains some of the most interesting pictures in Rome, and the +traditions of the residence of Agostino Chigi, during the pontificate +of Leo X, are still found in Rome,--traditions of the lavish +magnificence of the entertainments given here to the Pope and the +Cardinals. + +The Monte Pincio is the famous drive of Roman society, and the promenade +around the brow of the hill offers one of the most enchanting views of +the world. Near the Trinità di Monti stands the historic Villa Medici, +the French Academy of which the great Carolus Duran is now the director. +The view across the valley in which lies the Piazza di Spagna, the river +to St. Peter's, from the Villa Medici, is one of the finest in Rome. + +The architecture of the garden façade is attributed to Michael Angelo. +These gardens have a circuit of more than a mile, laid out in the formal +rectangles and densely bordered walks of the Italian custom. All manner +of old fragments of sculpture are scattered through them,--a torso, a +broken bust, a ruined statue, an old and partly broken fountain,--and +entablatures and reliefs are seen in the walls on every hand. No sound +of the city ever penetrates into this dense foliage which secludes the +gardens of the famous Villa Medici. + +One of the features of Roman life is the fashionable drive on Monte +Pincio in the late afternoons. An hour or two before sunset the terrace +of the Piazza Trinità di Monti begins to be thronged with pedestrians, +who lean over the marble balustrade, gazing at the incomparable pictured +panorama where the vast dome of St. Peter's, the dense pines of the +Villa Pamphilia-Doria on the Janiculum, and the dark cypress groves on +Monte Mario loom up against the golden western sky. + +Compared with the extensive parks of modern cities the Monte Pincio +would prefigure itself as a drive for fairies alone. It comprises a few +acres only, thickly decorated with trees and shrubbery, with a casino +for the orchestra that plays every afternoon, and a circular carriage +drive so limited in extent that the same carriage comes in view every +few minutes. + +The Eternal City has had so many birthdays that one would fancy them to +have become negligible; but it was announced on April 21 of 1907 that +the date was a special anniversary, and she took on aspects of +festivity. The municipal palaces and museums were hung with tapestries, +flags were flying from the Capitol, the municipal guards were all in +full dress uniform and the municipal orchestra played in the Piazza +Colonna. The historic bell began ringing at eight in the morning in +peals that were well calculated to call the Cæsars from their tombs and +which might, indeed, have been mistaken for the final trumpet calls of +Gabriel. But the Romans take their pleasures rather sadly and +sternly,--not like the light-hearted Florentines in song and laughter, +or with the joyous abandon of the Neapolitans,--so there was no special +manifestation on the part of the populace, and the day, cold, gloomy, +and cheerless, did not inspire gayety. + +When the Republic of Rome was established (on Feb. 9, 1849) a +provisional government was appointed. In March of that year Mazzini +proposed that the assembly should appoint a Committee of War, and it was +decided to send troops to Piedmont. Later a triumvirate, consisting of +Mazzini, Saffi, and Armellini, was formed, but disaster was near. In +April the French troops landed at Cività Vecchia, and the Italians +prepared to defend their country from the control of Louis Napoleon. +Mazzini is said to have been "the life and the soul" of this defence. +But the Republic was doomed, and when it had fallen the Pope returned, +only under the protection of the French. But the French Empire, too, was +doomed to fall; and when Garibaldi transferred his successes to Victor +Emmanuel, the monarchy was consolidated by the union of Rome with Italy, +and the present "Via Venti Settembre" in Rome--the street named to +commemorate that 20th of September, 1870, on which the Italian troops +entered the city and the Papal reign ended--perpetuates the story of +those eventful days. "Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, and Garibaldi have been +designated, along with Mazzini, as the founders of the modern Italy," +said Dr. William Clarke, "but a broad line divides Mazzini from the +others." Dr. Clarke sees between Cavour and Mazzini "the everlasting +conflict between the idealist and the man of the world. The former," he +continues, "stands by the intellect and the conscience; the latter by +the limitations of actual fact and the practical difficulties of the +case," and Dr. Clarke notes further:-- + + "It was pre-eminently Mazzini who gave to Italy the breath of a new + life, who taught her people constancy in devotion to an ideal + good. Prophets are rarely successful in their own day, and so it + has been with the prophet of modern Italy. The making of Italy has + not proceeded in the way he hoped it would; for the Italians, who + are an eminently subtle and diplomatic people, have apparently + thought it best to bend to the hard facts by which they have been + surrounded. But if, as Emerson teaches, facts are fluid to thought, + we may believe that the ideas of Mazzini will yet prevail in the + nation of his birth, and that he may yet be regarded as the + spiritual father of the future Italian commonwealth. For of him, if + of any modern man, we may say that he + + 'Saw distant gates of Eden gleam, + And did not dream it was a dream.'" + + [Illustration: STATUE OF CHRIST, ANCIENT CHURCH OF SAN MARTINA, ROME + _From the Artist's Original Cast_ + Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen + _Page 193_] + +Between the period of the establishment of the Roman Republic in 1849 +and the consummation of United Italy in 1870 the years were rich to the +artist, whatever they may have been to philosopher and patriot. The way +for the painter and the sculptor seems to have been a flowery and a +pictorial one,--a very _via buona fortuna_, through a golden, +artistic atmosphere. The perpetual excursions may lead the serious +spectator to wonder where working hours come in, but, at all events, +those days are rich in color. Friends grouped together by the unerring +law of elective affinities loitered in galleries and churches. San +Martina, near the Mamertine prisons, was a point of interest because of +Thorwaldsen's bequest to it of the original cast of his beautiful statue +of "Christ" which is in Copenhagen. This is, perhaps, the finest work +ever conceived by the Danish sculptor, and is one that no visitor of +to-day can behold unmoved. Both Canova and Bernini are also represented +in this church,--the former by a statue of "Religion" and the latter by +a bust of Pietro da Cortona. Beneath the present Church of San Martina +is the ancient one containing the shrine of the martyr, under a superb +bronze altar. Of this church, Mrs. Jameson says in her "Sacred and +Legendary Art":-- + + "At the foot of the Capitoline Hill, on the left hand as we descend + from the Ara Coeli into the Forum, there stood in very ancient + times a small chapel, dedicated to St. Martina, a Roman virgin. The + veneration paid to her was of very early date, and the Roman people + were accustomed to assemble there on the first day of the year. + This observance was, however, confined to the people, and was not + very general till 1634, an era which connects her in rather an + interesting manner with the history of art. In this year, as they + were about to repair her chapel, they discovered, walled into the + foundations, a sarcophagus of terra cotta, in which was the body of + a young female, whose severed head reposed in a separate casket. + These remains were very naturally supposed to be those of the saint + who had been so long venerated on that spot. The discovery was + hailed with the utmost exultation, not by the people only, but by + those who led the minds and consciences of the people. The Pope + himself, Urban VIII, composed hymns in her praise; and Cardinal + Francesco Barberini undertook to rebuild her church." + +The painter, Pietro da Cortona, entered into this feeling and at his own +expense built the chapel and painted for its altar piece the picture +representing the saint in triumph, while the temple in which she has +gone to sacrifice falls in ruins from a raging tempest. + +In any stray ramble in Rome the sojourner might chance, at any moment, +upon obelisk, a pedestal or inscription linked with the great names of +the historic past. Hawthorne has recorded how, by mere chance, he turned +from the Via delle Quattro Fontane into the Via Quirinale and was thus +lured on to an obelisk and a fountain on the pedestal of which on one +side was the inscription, "Opus Phidias," and on the other, "Opus +Praxiteles," and he exclaims:-- + + "What a city is this, when one may stumble, by mere chance--at a + street corner as it were--on the works of two such sculptors! I do + not know the authority," he continues, "on which these statues + (Castor and Pollux I presume) are attributed to Phidias and + Praxiteles; but they impressed me as noble and godlike, and I feel + inclined to take them for what they purport to be." + +While the Papal ceremonies are neither so frequent nor so magnificent as +in former days, still any hotel guest in Rome is liable, any morning, +on coming down to the _salle-à-manger_ for coffee, to find every woman +(who is taking her Rome seriously) arrayed in a black robe with a black +lace veil on her head. One would fancy they were all a procession of +nuns, about to retire from the world into the strict seclusion of the +cloister. But it is nothing so momentous. It is only that every lady, +with the devotion to spectacles which every visitor in Rome feels, as a +matter of course, has secured the pink ticket entitling her to admission +to the Vatican Palace to see the "passage" of the Pope, as he makes his +way, attended by the Cardinals of the Sacred College, to the Sistine +Chapel where his Holiness "creates" new Cardinals. Although rumored that +the spectacle will be a gorgeous one, that the Pope will be carried +aloft preceded by the silver trumpeters and attended by the Cardinals +and the ambassadors and other dignitaries in the full dress of their +ceremonial costumes and their orders, the reality is less impressive. +Some feminine enthusiasts fare forth at the heroic hour of eight, +although the procession is not announced to pass until a quarter after +ten (which in Italy should be translated as a quarter after eleven, at +the earliest, if not after twelve, which would be the more probable), in +order to secure good standing room. For everybody is to stand--of +course, comfort being a thing conspicuous only by its absence in Italy! +Those of us too well aware by the experiences of previous visits to +Italy that no Italian function was ever on time, from the starting of a +railway train to the crowning of a king, only betake ourselves to the +glories of the Palazzo Vaticano at the hour named, and we have then--as +one's prophetic soul or his commonplace memory warned him--to wait more +than an hour wedged into a dense crowd of all nationalities, none of +whom seem at this particular juncture, at least, to be at all +overburdened with good manners. And what went they out for to seek? +Instead of an impressive spectacle--a thing to remember for a +lifetime--one merely sees Pius X walking, surrounded by his Cardinals in +a group,--not a procession,--he alone in the centre with his mitre on +his head,--the whole scene hardly lasting over a minute, and as his +Holiness is not as tall as most of his Cardinals, he is almost hidden +from view. It had been rumored that the Pope was to be borne aloft in +the Papal chair, preceded by the traditional white fan and the silver +trumpets; but the present Pope is temperamentally inclined to minimize +all the ceremonials investing his sacred office. + +Yet there is always a thrill in entering the Vatican. To ascend that +splendid _Scala Regia_ designed by Bernini, with one of the most +ingeniously treated perspective effects to be found, it may be, in the +entire world; to cross this _Scala_ with its interesting frescoes by +Salviati and others; to see at near range the picturesque Swiss +Guard,--surely any pretext to enjoy such a morning is easily accepted of +whatever occurrence one may grasp in order to obtain the hour. + +One curious feature of the past is to-day equally in evidence in Rome. +Strolling at any time into the Church of San Agostino one beholds a +curious spectacle. It is in this church that is placed the beautiful +bronze statue of the Virgin and Child by Sansovino. It is approached by +a platform on which is placed a stool that enables one to mount and thus +reach the foot of the statue, which is kissed and the wish of the +devotee is offered. This Madonna is believed to have the power to grant +each wish and prayer; to heal the sick; restore the blind, the deaf, and +the lame; to grant immunity from loss or illness; to grant success and +prosperity. The poor Madonna must have her hands full with these +avalanches of petitions, but she sits calmly in state and, if the +striking testimony of votive offerings can be credited, she is most +amiable in granting the prayers of her devotees. For she is hung with +priceless jewels; necklaces, brooches, bracelets, diamond and ruby and +sapphire rings on her fingers, she is a blaze of splendor. Around this +statue there is a perpetual crowd, whatever hour of day one chances to +wander in, and from prince to beggar the bronze foot is kissed, as each +waits his turn to mount the stool and prefer his secret wish. The walls +of the church are covered with the votive offerings to the Madonna for +her aid,--rich jewels, orders, tablets,--offerings of all kinds. In this +church is entombed the body of Santa Monica, the mother of St. +Augustine, placed in an urn of verd-antique, in a special chapel +beautifully decorated. After preferring one's secret wish to the Virgin +one must wander on to the Fontane de Trevi and throw his penny into the +water to insure his return to Rome, and then he may rest, _mens conscia +recti_! + +Although Holy Week in Rome has less ceremonial observance in these +latter days than those of the impressive scenes so vividly portrayed by +Mme. de Staël in "Corinne," it still attracts a multitude of visitors +and offers much to touch and thrill the life of the spirit, quite +irrespective as to whether the visitor be of the Catholic or Protestant +faith. In the great essentials of Christianity, all followers of Christ +unite. The Pope does not now take part in public services on Easter, and +that scene of the Pontifical blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's +given to the multitude below who throng the piazza remains only in +memory and in record. But the stately and solemn services of Good Friday +in the vast and grand interior of St. Peter's are an experience to +linger forever in memory. The three hours' service--the chanting of the +Miserere--was a scene to impress the imagination. This service is held +in the late afternoon of Good Friday, in the tribune of St. Peter's, the +extreme end of the church where the vast window of yellow glass gives a +perpetually golden light. The chair believed to have been that of St. +Peter's is here placed, enclosed in ivory and supported by statues of +four Fathers of the church, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, +and St. Athanasius, from a design of Bernini. + +In the tribune is the tomb of Urban VIII (who was Matteo Barberini), of +which the redundant decoration tells the story that it is also Bernini's +work. Opposite this tomb is that of Paul III, by della Porta, under the +supervision of Michael Angelo, it is said, and the beauty and dignity of +the bronze figure of the aged Pope, in the act of giving the +benediction, quite confirm this tradition. On a tablet in the wall of +the tribune are engraved the names of all the bishops and prelates who, +in 1854, accepted the belief of the Immaculate Conception,--this tablet +being placed by the order of Pio Nono. + +In this tribune on the late afternoon of the Good Friday of 1907 the +seats were filled with worshippers to listen to the three hours' chant +of the Miserere. Princes and peasants sat side by side, and an immense +throng who could not find seats stood, often wandering away in the dim +distances of the cathedral and ever and again returning. The high altar, +where Canova's beautiful figure of the kneeling Pope always enchains the +visitor, was, as usual, surrounded. The lights burned--these perpetual +lamps--and the moving throng went and came. The scene grew mystic, +dream-like, as the solemn music floated on the air. + +The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, on the left of the cathedral, was made +into the sepulchre that day, and anything more beautiful than the myriad +altar lights and the flowers could not be imagined. At the altar +black-robed nuns were kneeling, and all over the chapel, kneeling on the +floor, were people of all grades and ranks of life, from the duchess and +princess to the beggar woman with a ragged shawl on her shoulders and +her baby in her arms. St. Peter's was nearly filled all that day with +people, not crowded, but apparently thronged in almost every part. + +The altar in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament was one mass of deep red +roses. The chapel was completely darkened, but the blaze of myriads of +tall candles illuminated the roses and the black-robed nuns and the +black-robed devotees. It was a scene never to be forgotten. + +Even in the latter-day Rome, historic names are not wanting. One of +these, the Princess Christina Bonaparte, _née_ Ruspoli, died in 1907 in +her Roman villa in Via Venti Settembre. She was the widow of Prince +Napoleon Charles Bonaparte and a cousin of the Empress Eugénie. With her +husband in Paris until 1870, she fled (whilst her husband was fighting +at Metz) as soon as the Commune was proclaimed. The princess was +considered a beautiful woman and her portrait had been painted by Ernest +Hébert, but it was lost when the Palace of the Tuileries was destroyed +in 1870. + +With this princess dies the name of the Bonaparte family. Her daughters, +Donna Maria Gotti-Bonaparte and Princess Maria della Moskowa, were often +with her in Rome. + +The Palazzo Bonaparte is very near Porta Pia. Although called a palace, +it is simply a plain house of some five stories, with narrow halls and +stone staircases, no elevator, no electric lights. The princess occupied +the first floor, while the apartments above were let to various +families. + +With the exception of the royal palaces there are few in which suites +are not obtainable for residence by any one who desires them. + + [Illustration: CASTEL SAN ANGELO AND ST. PETER'S, ROME + _Page 204_] + +It was at a pleasant _déjeûner_ one spring day in Rome that the project +was launched, that we should go motoring that afternoon to Frascati, +Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Lago di Nemi, and all that wonderful region. We +were lunching with a friend who had a charming apartment in one of the +sumptuous old palaces of Rome, where, in a niche on the marble +staircase, the statue of Cæsar Augustus stood,--a copy of the famous +statue in the Capitoline,--where lofty, decorated ceilings, old +paintings and sculptures adorned the rooms, and where from the windows +we looked out on the tragedy-haunted Castel San Angelo, with the dome of +San Pietro in the background. Our friend who invited us to fly in his +motor had brought his touring car over from America. The one note of new +luxury now is for travellers to journey with their touring cars. In a +year or two more it will be airships or soaring machines. On this +wonderful May afternoon, all azure and gold, we started off in the +great, luxurious touring car which was arranged even to carry two +trunks, with a safe in it for the deposit of valuables, a hamper for +refreshments, and, indeed, almost every conceivable convenience. On we +flew through Rome, past the great Basilica of San Maria Maggiore; past +the wonderful pile of San Giovanni Laterano, with the colossal statues +of the apostles surmounting the façade; through the Porta San Giovanni +into the narrow, walled lane leading out on the Campagna; on, on, to the +Alban hills. We flew past olive orchards and vineyards, and the vast +green pasture lands of the Campagna whose vivid green was ablaze with +scarlet poppies. Far away to the west there was a white shining +line--the line of the sea. + +At Frascati we stopped at the Villa Torlonia, the country place of the +ducal family, whose grand Roman palazzo is in the Bocca di Leone in the +old part of Rome. The Torlonia have an only daughter, Donna Teresa, +whose _débutante_ ball a year ago is said to have been the most +magnificent entertainment in Rome for fifty years. A writer, in a recent +article on the nobility of Rome, said of this family:-- + + "The Torlonia figure repeatedly in the novels of Thackeray, who + was never tired of portraying them. They have been most useful + citizens, and since the days of the old army contractor, who + founded the house, have augmented the family wealth by judicious + investments, especially in connection with the draining and + reclaiming of the marsh lands that abound in the former Papal + States. They have contracted matrimonial alliances with the + Colonna, with the Borghese, the Belmonte, the Doria, and the + Sforza." + +The Villa Torlonia at Frascati is a very large estate with extensive +gardens, terraces, and a cascade of three falls on the hillside, which +is turned on (the water) at pleasure. The house, however, is a +shabby-looking affair, a two or three story, rambling, yellow structure, +which, at Newport, would not be considered too good for the gardener. + +After the usual fashion of the Italians who seldom travel, the Torlonia, +wealthy as they are, simply remove from their palace in Rome to their +villa at Frascati instead of travelling to Switzerland, Germany, or +elsewhere in the summer. + +The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland were the guests of the Torlonia that +day, the entire party enjoying themselves _al fresco_, and the beautiful +cascade pouring down within the near distance. + +These outlying towns, Frascati, Albano, Castel Gandolfo, and Lago di +Nemi, the picturesque group in the Alban Mountains, are some sixteen to +eighteen miles from Rome. These Alban hills rise like an island from the +vast plain of the Campagna, the highest point being some three thousand +feet above sea level. They are covered with villages and castles and +villas, and have in all a population of some fifty thousand. The region +is volcanic, and the beautiful Lago di Nemi and Lago di Albano were the +craters of extinct volcanoes. All this region was the haunt of Cicero, +Virgil, and Livy. At Tusculum, near Frascati, are the remains of +Cicero's villa, and also of an ancient theatre hewn out of solid rock. +The view to the west toward Rome is most beautiful. The dome of St. +Peter's crowns the Eternal City; and the Campagna--a sea of green--is as +infinite in sight as is the Mediterranean. There are splendid villas and +estates in these Alban hills that belong to the Roman nobility, and +here the Pope has his summer palace. "The Alban Mount is also full of +historical and legendary interest," says a writer on the country around +Rome. "The Latin tribe, one of the constituent elements of the Roman +people, had here its seat. Upon the highest peak of the range was the +temple of Jupiter Latiaris, where all the tribes of Latin blood, the +Romans included, met every year to worship; and where the victorious +generals of the Republic repaired to offer praises and acknowledgments. +In these mountain glens undoubtedly most of that ballad literature of +Rome, the loss of which Macaulay so eloquently laments and so +successfully restores, had its origin. Nor need the scholar be reminded +that this is the scene of the most original and vigorous portions of the +Æneid of Virgil; nor how the genius of the poet, which rather languidly +recounts the traditions borrowed from Greece, wakes to new life, when he +feels his feet upon his own soil and deals with Latin names and Latin +legends." + +The Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati is celebrated for its fantastic +waterworks in elaborate fountains and cascades. In the gardens a statue +of Pan with a pipe of reeds and one of a satyr with a trumpet are made +to play (both the pipe and the trumpet) by water. The hydraulic engineer +must have found in Frascati his earthly paradise, for he commanded the +water to leap into foam and spray in the air, to rush down marble +terraces, and to form itself into obelisks of liquid silver. + +At Grotto Ferrata is a vast monastery of monks of the Order of Basilio +(Greek), a monastery so colossal as to be mistaken for a fortress. The +chapel has frescoes by Domenichino. At Castel Gandolfo is the summer +Papal palace, that has not been occupied by a Pope since the +overthrowing of the temporal power in 1870. It has a beautiful and +commanding view toward Rome. It was built by Urban VIII. + +All the magic of Italy is in this picturesque excursion. In the vast +grounds of the Villa Barberini are the ruins of the ancient palace and +gardens of Domitian. On one hillside is a broken wall; a long avenue of +ilex trees reveals here and there fragments of mosaic pavement. +Crumbling niches hold fragments of statues. The hill itself is still +pierced with the long tunnels driven through it by Domitian that he +might pass unseen,--presumably safe from his enemies,--from the palace +to the gardens. From the parapet, Rome is seen across the shining +Campagna and the dome of Michael Angelo gleams against the blue Italian +sky. + +"The wreck is beautiful," writes Mrs. Humphry Ward, in "Eleanor," of +this romantic spot; "for it is masked in the gloom of the overhanging +trees; or hidden behind dropping veils of ivy; or lit up by straggling +patches of broom and cytisus that thrust themselves through the gaps in +the Roman brickwork and shine golden in the dark. At the foot of the +wall, along its whole length, runs a low marble conduit that held the +sweetest, liveliest water. Lilies of the valley grow beside it, +breathing scent into the shadowed air; while on the outer or garden side +of the path the grass is purple with long-stalked violets, or pink with +the sharp heads of the cyclamen. And a little farther, from the same +grass, there shoots up, in happy neglect, tall camellia trees, ragged +and laden, strewing the ground red and white beneath them. And above the +camellias again the famous stone-pines of the villa climb into the high +air, overlooking the plain and the sea, peering at Rome and Soracte." + +One could wander all day in the strange ruins of the old Barberini +grounds, and in the vast spaces of the gardens and through the Villa +Doria. + +The beauty of the avenue of ilex trees through which we flew from Castel +Gandolfo to Lago di Nemi surpasses description. This lake, some four +miles in circumference, lies in a crater hollow, with precipitous hills +surrounding it, the water so clear that the ancients called it the +"Mirror of Diana." In it was constructed an artificial island in the +design of a Roman state barge. + +Over the long viaduct at Ariccia we flew; everywhere in the little town +people, donkeys--an almost indistinguishable mass--filled the narrow +streets; and thus on to Genzano and the Lago di Nemi, with its fabled +fleet at the bottom. + +The Chigi woods, that fill the deep ravine under the great viaduct at +Ariccia, were in the most brilliant emerald green. Past these forests +lay the vast stretch of the Pontine Marshes; and turning toward Rome +again, the splendor of the sunset flamed in the sky. One could but +recall Mrs. Humphry Ward's vivid picture of a storm seen over this part +of the Campagna:-- + + "The sunset was rushing to its height through every possible phase + of violence and splendor. From the Mediterranean, storm clouds were + rising fast to the assault and conquest of the upper sky, which + still above the hills shone blue and tranquil. But the northwest + wind and the sea were leagued against it. They sent out threatening + fingers and long spinning veils of cloud across it--skirmishers + that foretold the black and serried lines, the torn and monstrous + masses behind. Below these wild tempest shapes again--in long + spaces resting on the sea--the heaven was at peace, shining in + delicate greens and yellows, infinitely translucent and serene, + above the dazzling lines of water. Over Rome itself there was a + strange massing and curving of the clouds. Between their blackness + and the deep purple of the Campagna rose the city--pale + phantom--upholding one great dome, and one only, to view of night + and the world. Round and above and behind, beneath the long flat + arch of the storm, glowed a furnace of scarlet light. The buildings + of the city were faint specks within its fierce intensity, dimly + visible through a sea of fire. St. Peter's alone, without visible + foundation or support, had consistence, form, identity; and between + the city and the hills, waves of blue and purple shade, forerunners + of the night, stole over the Campagna towards the higher ground. + But the hills themselves were still shining, still clad in rose and + amethyst, caught in gentler repetition from the wildness of the + west. Pale rose even the olive gardens; rose the rich brown + fallows, the emerging farms; while drawn across the Campagna from + north to south, as though some mighty brush had just laid it there + for sheer lust of color, sheer joy in the mating it with the + rose,--one long strip of sharpest, purest green." + +The Villa Falconieri, in Frascati, which was built by Cardinal Ruffini, +with the old ilex tree preserved in the portals, has recently been +purchased by the Emperor of Germany, who proposes to transform it into +an Academy for the accommodation of German students in Rome. These +national academies draw their corresponding numbers of students from the +nations thus represented, and contribute to the cosmopolitan aspects of +Rome. The American Academy in Rome is now being transferred from the +Ludovisi quarter to a large and convenient building outside Porta Pia. + +Perhaps the eminently social quality of Roman life may be indirectly due +to the lack of library privileges which is a conspicuous defect in Rome. +The Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele, under the courteous administration of +Commendatore Conte Guili, has, it is true, a collection of over half a +million volumes and thousands of very rare and valuable manuscripts. It +has a large public reading room, and books are loaned on the signature +of any embassy or consulate; yet this library, while offering peculiar +advantages to theological and other special students and readers, does +not afford any extended privileges to the general reader of modern +English and American publications. It is located in a grim and +forbidding old stone palace, approached by an obscure lane from the +Corso, where, as there is no sidewalk, the pedestrian shares the narrow, +dark, cold, stone-paved little street with carts, donkeys, peasants, +and beggars. + +The great monument to King Victor Emmanuel, of mingled architecture and +sculpture, a colossal structure of white marble with arches and pillars +forming beautiful colonnades, the capital of each column heavily carved, +and the sculpture, which is being done by a number of artists, will be +of the most artistic and beautiful order. This memorial will occupy an +entire block, and it is located very near the Capitol. All the old +buildings in the vicinity will be torn down to give a fine vista for +this transcendently noble and sumptuous memorial. + +The directors of this work aim to have it completed and ready to be +unveiled in 1911, the jubilee year of Italy's resurrection as a united +country. + +Encircled by the old Aurelian wall and near the great pyramid that marks +the tomb of Caius Cestius, who died 12 B.C., lies the Protestant +cemetery of Rome, full of bloom and fragrance and beauty, under the +dark, solemn cypress trees that stand like ever-watchful sentinels. When +Keats was buried here (in 1820), Shelley wrote of "the romantic and +lovely cemetery ... under the pyramid of Caius Cestius, and the mossy +walls and towers now mouldering and desolate which formed the circuit of +ancient Rome. The cemetery is an open space among the ruins, covered +even in winter with violets and daisies. It might make one in love with +death," he added, "to think of being buried in so sweet a place." + + [Illustration: PORTA SAN PAOLA, PYRAMID OF CAIUS CESTIUS, ROME + _Page 216_] + +In the old cemetery (immediately adjoining the pyramid and separated +from the new one by a wall) is the grave of Keats (who died in 1821) +with its unique inscription, "Here lies one whose name was writ in +water." Beside it is that of his friend, Joseph Severn, who died in +1829, and near these the grave of John Bell, the famous writer on +surgery and anatomy. In the new or more modern cemetery the visitor +lingers by the graves of Shelley and his friend, Trelawney; August +Goethe (the son of the poet); of William and Mary Howitt, who died in +1879 and 1888. Not merely, however, do the names of Keats and Shelley +allure the visitor to poetic meditations; but here lie the earthly forms +of many a poet, painter, and sculptor of our own country, with their +wives and children, who have sought in the Eternal City the +atmosphere for art and who, enamoured by the loveliness of Rome, +continued there for all their remaining years. These graves, these +sculptured memorials, are eloquent with the joys, the sorrows, the +achievements and the failures, the success and the defeat, of the +artistic life in a foreign land. Many of these memorial sculptures are +the work of the husband or the father, into which is inseparably joined +the personal tenderness to the artist's skill. Especially noticeable are +the graves of the wives of three American sculptors,--William Wetmore +Story, Richard S. Greenough, and Franklin Simmons. Each of these is +marked by a memorial sculpture created by the husband, and the three +different conceptions of these sculptors are interesting to contrast. +That of Mr. Story is of an angel with outspread wings, kneeling, her +head bowed in the utter despair and desolation of hopeless sorrow. The +figure has the greatest delicacy of beauty and refinement and +tenderness; but it is the grief that has no support of faith, the grief +that has no vision of divine consolation. On the memorial monument is +simply the name, Emelyn Story, born in Boston, 1820, died in Rome in +1898, and the note that it is the last work of W. W. Story, in memory of +his beloved wife. Here, also, is Mr. Story buried, his name and dates of +birth and death (1819-1901) alone being inscribed. + +At the tomb of Sarah B. Greenough, the wife of Richard S. Greenough, the +monument is designed to represent Psyche escaping from the bondage of +mortality. This Psyche is emerging from her garments and she holds in +her hand a lamp. On this is the inscription: "Her loss was that as of a +keystone to an arch." + +Mrs. Greenough was a very accomplished musician, and she had the unique +honor of having been made a member of the "Arcadians." + +The memorial sculpture over the grave of Mrs. Franklin Simmons is, as +elsewhere noted, the work of her husband, a figure called "The Angel of +the Resurrection." The angel is represented as a male figure (Gabriel) +holding in the left hand a golden trumpet while the right is +outstretched. His wings are spread, his face partly turned to the right. +The form is partially draped and in every detail is instinct with a +complete harmony; every fold of the drapery, every curve of the body, +and the lofty and triumphant expression of the face in its ineffable +glory of achievement proclaim the triumph of immortality. It stands on a +pedestal that gives it, from the base of the pedestal to the tip of the +outstretched wings, a height of some twenty-one feet. This monument, +seen against a background of dark cypress trees, speaks the word of +positive and complete faith in the divine promise of eternal life. + + "Then life is--to wake, not sleep, + Rise and not rest, but press + From earth's level where blindly creep + Things perfected, more or less, + In the heaven's height--far and steep." + +The visitor lingers over the grave of that interesting painter, J. +Rollin Tilton, whose landscapes from Egypt and Italian scenes were so +vivid and picturesque. + +Richard Henry Dana, the elder, born in Boston in 1815, came to Rome to +die in 1882. + +Very near the tomb of William Wetmore and Emelyn Story is that of +Constance Fenimore Woolson. Over the graves of William and Mary Howitt +is the inscription: "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, +believe also in me." + +On the wall just back of the new tomb erected over the ashes of Shelley +by Onslow Ford in 1891 is a memorial tablet placed to Frederick W. H. +Myers, bearing this inscription:-- + + "This tablet is placed to the memory of Frederick William Henry + Myers, born at Keswick, Cumberland, Feb. 6, 1843; died in Rome, + Jan. 17, 1901. 'He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest him long + life ever and forever.'" + +Over the grave of John Addington Symonds, whose best monument is in his +admirable History of the Renaissance in Italy, is a Latin inscription +written by Professor Jowett of Oxford, and a stanza from the Greek of +Cleanthes, translated by Mr. Symonds as follows:-- + + "Lead thou, our God, law, reason, motion, life; + All names for Thee alike are vain and hollow; + Lead me, for I will follow without strife, + Or, if I strive, still more I blindly follow." + +John Addington Symonds, who certainly ranks as the most gifted +interpreter of Italy, in her art, her legends and associations, and her +landscape loveliness, died in the Rome he so loved in 1893. His wife was +ill in Venice, but his daughter, Margaret,--his inseparable companion +and his helper in his work,--was with him. It is Miss Symonds who +prefaced a memorial volume to her father with the exquisite lines:-- + + "O Love; we two shall go no longer + To lands of summer beyond the sea." + +Near the graves of Keats and of his friend, Joseph Severn, are those of +Augustus William Hare and John Gibson, the sculptor, who died in 1868. +Some ten years before Hawthorne, meeting Gibson at a dinner given by T. +Buchanan Read, wrote of him that it was whispered about the table that +he had been in Rome for forty-two years and that he had a quiet, +self-contained aspect as of one who had spent a calm life among his clay +and marble. + +Dwight Benton, an American painter and writer, who was for some time in +the diplomatic service and whose home had been in Rome for more than a +quarter of a century, lies buried here. For many years he was the +editor of _The Roman World_, which still sustains the interesting +character that marked it during his editorship. Of his work in art a +friend wrote:-- + + "In painting, as in literature, Dwight Benton took his inspiration + from nature. His paintings of Italian scenery are true and faithful + representations of its character and atmospheric effects. His + tramps on the Roman Campagna were long and often tiring, but he + worked with all an artist's enthusiasm, unmindful of cold, rain, + and even hunger. He would delight, as all true artists, in an old + convent, a tree, a tower, a cross, which he would reproduce with a + peculiar and striking perfection of tone and color. In his + paintings of Keats's and Shelley's tombs, not only are the slabs + and marble there, but there, also, in all their naturalness, are + the stately pines and cypresses above, with the sunshine and + shadows alternating between them, and in the background the + turreted top of St. Paul's Gateway, the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, + all lending effect and picturesqueness to the whole." + +The present King of Italy purchased one of Mr. Benton's paintings, +called "Giornata di tristezza." + +While art abounds in Rome, less can be said for literature. There is a +large and admirable selected Italian library in connection with the +Collegio Romano; but while these books circulate, under certain +conditions, to visitors, and the courtesy of the librarian and his staff +is generously kind, the location and the Italian methods render it a +matter of some difficulty to avail one's self of its resources. In the +Piazza di Spagna there are two circulating libraries, but although one +of these claims twenty-five thousand volumes, the majority are of +mediocre fiction and almost none, if any, of the important modern works +are to be found here. The visitor who is a subscriber to this library +passes into a small, dark room, where one window looking on the street +hardly does more than make the darkness visible, and he must take the +catalogue to the window and stand in order to decipher the list, which +is hardly, indeed, worth the trouble, as there are very few volumes of +any pretension to importance in the collection, and of late years no +additions, apparently, have ever been made. The other circulating +library, while far preferable, is still in crowded rooms and the +assortment is limited. The visitor in Rome who cares for reading matter +looks forward with delight to Florence, with its noble circulating +library, to which access is so easy and whose conduct in all ways is so +convenient and grateful to the guest. + +In Rome, however, one finds his romance embodied in life and his history +written in the streets and in the marvellous structures. His poetry is +in her art, her ruins, her magical loveliness of hillside vistas, her +infinite views over the Campagna, her sapphire skies, and her luminous, +golden atmosphere. + + + + + "_Here Ischia smiles + O'er liquid miles, + And yonder, bluest of the isles, + Calm Capri waits + Her sapphire gates, + Beguiling to her bright estates._" + + "_Oh, Signor! thine the amber hand, + And mine the distant sea + Obedient to the least command + Thine eyes impose on me._" + + + + +III + +DAY-DREAMS IN NAPLES, AMALFI, AND CAPRI + + "With dreamful eyes + My spirit lies + Where summer sings but never dies." + + +Naples is the paradise of excursions. It is set in the heart of +incomparable loveliness. Over its sapphire sea one sails away--to the +Fortunate Isles, or some others equally alluring. Its heights and +adjacent mountains offer views that one might well cross the ocean to +enjoy. Its atmosphere is full of classic interest; of song, and story, +and legend, and romance; of history, too, which in its tragic and +exciting episodes is not less vivid in color and in strange studies of +human life than is any romance. Naples is the city of fascination. Rome +is stately and impressive; Florence is all beauty and enchantment; +Genoa is picturesque; Venice is a dream city; but Naples is +simply--fascinating. There is the common life of the streets and the +populace continually _en scène_; the people who are at home on the sunny +side in winter, or the shady side in summer; there is the social life of +the nobility, which is brilliant and vivacious. The excursions, of which +Naples is the centre, are the chief interest to travellers, and these, +while possible in winter, are far more enjoyable in the early spring. +Still even in midwinter the days are sunny, and while the air is crisp +and cool, it is not cold. The grass is as green as in June; but the +foliage and flowers are more or less withered. Naples has the high and +the lower town, the former the more desirable, and the fine hotels +perched on the terraces, with the view all over the Bay of Naples, +Capri, Sorrento, and Vesuvius, offer a vista hardly to be duplicated in +the entire world. The lower town has its fine hotels on the water's +edge, with a beautiful view over the bay, less enchanting than when seen +from above. The Bay of Naples is enclosed in two semicircular arms that +extend far out at sea, the southern reaching nearly to Capri, while near +the termination of the northern, + + "Fair Ischia smiles + O'er liquid miles." + +Far out at sea the sun shines dazzlingly on the blue Mediterranean. The +landscape is full of those curious formations that are always inherent +in volcanic regions. The region surrounding Naples is abrupt, +picturesque, with the same irregular outline of hills that characterizes +the elevations in the Tonto basin in Arizona. The vegetation is of the +tropical type. The cactus is common, although it grows to no such +monstrous heights as in Arizona. Orange and lemon groves prevail as far +as the eye can see. On every height towns and villages crown the crests +and sweep in winding terraces around the hillsides. Olive orchards +abound. Castles and ruins gleam white in the sunshine on the ledge of +rocky precipices. The curved shores shine like broken lines of silver, +with deep indentations at Naples and at Castellammare. Between these two +points rises Vesuvius, the thin blue smoke constantly curling from the +summit that, since the eruption of 1906, has lost much of its elevation. +In many places there is hardly the width of a roadway between the low +mountains and the coast, but the cliffs are tropically luxurious in +vegetation. Everywhere the habitations of the people crowd the space. +From the monasteries and the castles that crown the heights, both +distant and near to the clustered villages of the plain and those +clinging to the hillsides, the scene is one unending panorama of human +life. For Naples is only the focussing point of these densely populated +regions of Southern Italy. The city stretches along the coast on both +sides her semicircular bay; but the terraced hills, the stretches of +land beyond, and every peak and valley are thickly sown with human +habitations. Its commanding heights, two of which rise in the middle of +the town, and its beautiful mirrored expanse of water give to it the +most unparalleled variety and beauty of landscape loveliness. + +"What words can analyze," says George S. Hillard, "the parts and details +of this matchless panorama, or unravel that magic web of beauty into +which palaces, villas, forests, gardens, vineyards, the mountains, and +the sea are woven? What pen can paint the soft curves, the gentle +undulations, the flowing outlines, the craggy steeps, and the far-seen +heights, which, in their combination, are so full of grace and, at the +same time, expression? Words here are imperfect instruments, and must +yield their place to the pencil and the graver. But no canvas can +reproduce the light and color which play round this enchanting region. +No skill can catch the changing hues of the distant mountains, the +star-points of the playing waves, the films of purple and green which +spread themselves over the calm waters, the sunsets of gold and orange, +and the aerial veils of rose and amethyst which drop upon the hills from +the skies of morning and evening. The author of the book of +Ecclesiasticus seems to have described Naples, when he speaks of 'the +pride of the height, the clear firmament, the beauty of heaven, with his +glorious show.' 'See Naples and then die,' is a well-known Italian +saying; but it should read, 'See Naples and then live.' One glance at +such a scene stamps upon the memory an image which, forever after, gives +a new value to life." + + [Illustration: CASTEL SANT'ELMO, NAPLES + _Page 231_] + +Naples gives to the visitor the impression of being a city without a +past. If she has a history, it is not written in her streets. She is +poetic and picturesque, not historic. The heights of Capodimonte and +Sant'Elmo divide her into unequal parts, and there is the old Naples +which only the antiquarian or the political economist would wish to +see, and the new and modern city which is such a miracle of beauty that +one longs to stay forever, and fails to wonder that the siren sought +these shores. Naples has either been very much misrepresented as to its +prevailing manners and customs, or else it has changed within the past +decade, for, as a rule, the gentle courtesy and kindness of the people +are especially appealing. Augustus often sojourned in Naples, and it was +an especially poetic haunt of Virgil, whose tomb is here. Although the +poverty and the primitive life of the great masses of the people have +been widely discussed, it is yet true that Naples has a very charming +social life, and that the University is a centre of learning and +culture. One of the oldest universities in Europe, it has a faculty of +over one hundred and twenty professors and more than five thousand +students. A large and valuable library, and a mineralogical collection +which specialists from all over the world come to study, are among the +treasures of this University, which was founded in the early part of the +thirteenth century by Emperor Frederick William II. There is now in +process of erection a new group of buildings which will embody the +latest laboratory and library and other privileges. Archæology is, +naturally, a special feature of the University of Naples, and the +proximity to Pompeii, Herculaneum, and to the wonderful Pompeian +collection in the Museum of Naples affords peculiar and unrivalled +advantages to students. A bust of Thomas Aquinas, during his life a +lecturer at this University, is one of the interesting treasures. The +Archives of the Kingdom of Naples attract many a scholar and savant to +this city. There are in this collection (which is kept in the monastery +adjoining the Church of San Severino) over forty thousand Greek +manuscripts, some of which date back to the year 700. The Naples Museum +is the great repository of all Pompeian art, and it is rich in +sculpture; but it is badly arranged and the vast series of galleries and +the long flights of stairs make any study of its work so fatiguing that +a visit to it might rank as one of the seven labors of Hercules. + +In the royal museum of the Palazzo di Capodimonte, which is located on +the beautiful height bearing that name, there are some pictures that are +well worth visiting, not because they are particularly good art, but +because of the interest attaching to the subjects. This gallery is +largely the work of modern Neapolitan artists. Here is the celebrated +picture of Michael Angelo bending over the dead body of Vittoria +Colonna, kissing only her hand, and haunted by the after-regret that he +did not kiss her forehead. Virginia Lebrun has here portraits of Maria +Theresa and of the Duchess of Parma; there is one canvas (by Celentano) +showing Benvenuto Cellini at the Castel Sant'Angelo; a scene depicting +the death of Cæsar and a few others of some degree of interest. + +Curiously, Naples has never produced great art. Salvator Rosa was, to be +sure, a Neapolitan, but his is almost the only name that has made itself +immortal in the art of this city. Domenico Morelli, who has recently +died, made himself felt as an original painter with certain claims that +arrested attention. He is not a draughtsman, but he is a colorist of +passionate intensity; he has original power and, more than all, he has a +curious endowment of what may be called artistic clairvoyance. +Transporting himself by the magic of thought to places on which his eye +never rested, he yet sees as in vision their special characteristics. +In one of his most important works, the motive of which is the +temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, he has painted the desert with a +startling reality. Here is a great plain, the stony, parched Judean +plain, with the very feeling of its desolation pervading the atmosphere. +The Royal Chapel in Naples was decorated by Morelli, the ceiling painted +with an "Assumption of the Virgin," which stands alone in all the +interpretations of this theme; not by virtue of superior artistic +excellence,--on the contrary its art does not make a strong appeal,--but +by its originality of treatment. The "Salve Regina" and the "Da Scala +d'Oro" are among the more interesting works of this artist, whose recent +death has removed a figure of exceptional character in modern art, one +who had, pre-eminently, the courage of his convictions. Some few years +ago Morelli's "Temptation of St. Anthony" was exhibited in both Paris +and Florence, and was generally condemned, perhaps because not wholly +understood. The form of the temptation was supposed to be the shapes +taken by a morbid and diseased imagination; but while as a +psychological conception it was not without value, it was yet far from +attractive as a work of art. The finest conception, perhaps, ever +depicted of the temptation of St. Anthony--a subject that has haunted +many an artist--is that painted by the late Carl Guthers of Washington, +a lofty and gifted spirit whose too brief stay on earth ended in the +early months of 1907. In this picture the temptation of the saint +appears as a vision of all that is purest and sweetest in life,--wife, +children, home; it was from all this peace and loveliness that St. +Anthony turned, sacrificing personal happiness to the duty of +consecrated service to his Master, in the exquisite conception of Mr. +Guthers. Edoardo Dalbano is the typical leader of the Neapolitan school +of painting of the present day, and his fascinating picture, called the +"Isle of Sirens," representing the sirens singing in the sunlit Bay of +Naples, might well be held as the keynote to all this enchanting region. +Surely, if the sirens sing not in those blue waters, it were useless to +search elsewhere for them. Buono is an artist of the Neapolitan shores, +who paints its fisher-folk; Brancaccio catches the very spirit and +animated atmosphere of the street scenes of Naples; Campriani and +Pratello are landscapists of note; Esposito, too, despite his Spanish +name, is a Neapolitan marine painter whose work is often most arresting +in its power to catch the flickering sunshine over blue water that +bathes the rocks rising out of the sea,--these isles of the sirens from +which float the melodies that enchanted Odysseus. + +The traveller may be surprised to find that in size Naples ranks fourth +on the European Continent,--Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, only, +exceeding it. Naples should be, not only a port, a pleasure haunt, and a +paradise for excursions, but one of the great cities of the world in +commercial and in social importance. It has one of the finest natural +harbors of the world; it has a beautiful and attractive adjoining +country in which to extend, indefinitely, its residence and trade +districts; it has the most enchanting fairyland of views that ever were +seen this side the ethereal world; it has an atmosphere of song and +story and a climate that is far from being objectionable. Naples is +seldom the possessor of a higher temperature in summer than is New York +or Boston; the winters are mild, and they offer weeks of sunny +loveliness when Rome is swept by the icy tramontana from the snow-clad +Alban hills. Naples offers, too, exceedingly good facilities for living; +the groups of excellent hotels, both on the terraces and on the water's +edge in the lower town and along the Villa Nazionale, offer every +comfort, and the politeness and courtesy of the Neapolitans, as a rule, +are among the alluring features of this enchanting city. + +What shall be said of one hotel, especially, perched on the cliffs, to +which one ascends by an elevator, finding it the most luxurious +fairyland that imagination can conjure? Leaving the street one walks +through a marble tunnel lighted with electricity, wondering if he is, +indeed, in the grotto of the Muses. Entering a "lift" truly American in +its comfort and speed, he is wafted up the heights and steps out in--is +it paradise? Here is a large salon entirely of glass with an +incomparable view all over the gleaming bay, with Capri and Sorrento +shining fair on the opposite sides and Vesuvius, a purple peak, in the +near distance. The great city of Naples lies spread out below, with its +interior heights of Capodimonte and others. It is a view for which alone +one might well sail the four thousand miles of sea from the American +shores. Through open French windows one may step out on the terrace. If +it is cold he may still enjoy this sublimely wonderful view behind the +glass walls that reveal all its beauty and protect him from wind or +chill. Elsewhere adjoining salons stretch away, where sunshine, music, +reading matter, and dainty writing-desks allure the guest and create for +him, indeed, an earthly paradise. + +Of the drive on the Strada Nuova di Posilipo, skirting the coast while +following the winding rise of the hill, with the sumptuous villas and +gardens on one side and the blue sea on the other,--what words can +suggest its charm? On a jutting promontory on the ruins of the Palazzo +di Donna Ana are seen the palace whose convenient location made it +possible for the royal hosts to throw their guests into the sea whenever +they became tiresome, an accommodation that the modern hostess might, at +times, appreciate. On this road, winding up the Posilipo, is the villa +where Garibaldi passed the last winter of his life and which is marked +by a tablet. And everywhere and at every turn are the beautiful views, +commanding Bagnoli, Camaldoli, Ischia, Baia and Procida, Capri, Nisida +and the Neapolitan waters. The hill slopes are overgrown with myrtles +and orange trees and roses. Here and there a defile is filled with a +vineyard under careful culture. + +In the presence of all this marvel of nature's loveliness the visitor +hardly remembers the historic interest; yet it was on the little island +of Nisida that Brutus and Cassius concocted the conspiracy against +Cæsar. The vast Phlegræan Plain before the eye is invested with Hellenic +traditions and is the region of many scenes in the poems of Virgil and +Homer. In the years of the first and second centuries this plain was +dotted with the rich villas of the Roman aristocracy. Here, too, lay the +celebrated Lacus Avernus, a volcanic lake which the ancients regarded as +the entrance to Avernus itself. Truly it required little imagination to +see here the approach to the infernal regions. The air was so poisonous +that no bird could fly over the lake and live. Virgil's scene of the +descent of Æneas, guided by the sibyl, into the infernal depths is laid +here; and near this lake are resorts of the latter-day tourist, known +as the "Sibyl's Grotto," the "Grotto della Pace," the "Bagni di Sibyl," +and the "Inferno." + + [Illustration: ANCIENT TEMPLE, BAIÆ + _Page 241_] + +Baia, on the coast, was the Newport of Rome in the days of Augustus, +Hadrian, Cicero, and Nero. It was then the most magnificent summer +watering-place known to the world. The glory of the Roman Empire was +reflected in the glory of Baia. In one of the Epistles of Horace a Roman +noble is made to say: "Nothing in the world can be compared with the +lovely bay of Baia." Some five hundred years ago this region became so +malarial that no one could dwell in it. Fragments and ruins still remain +of the imposing baths and villas of the Roman occupancy. An old crater +called the Capo Miseno is described by Virgil as the burial place of +Misenus:-- + + "_At pius Æneas ingenti mole sepulcrum + Inponit, suaque arma viro remumque tubamque + Monte sub aereo, qui nunc Misenus ab illo + Dicitur aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen._" + +Cumæ was the most ancient Greek colony of Italy on the coast, and the +last survivors of the Tarquinii died here. This is the most classic of +all these legendary coast towns near Naples, as it was here that the +Cumæan Sibyl dwelt with the mysterious sibylline leaves,--the books that +were carried to Rome. A colossal Acropolis was once here, fragments of +whose walls are now standing; and the rocky foundation is honeycombed +with secret passages and openings. It is here that Virgil's "Grotto of +the Sibyl" is supposed to have stood,--the grotto "whence resound as +many voices, the oracles of the prophetess." + +The journey from Naples to Herculaneum is easily made by electric train +cars within an hour, and while there is not much to see it is still an +excursion well worth making. Dr. de Petra, of the chair of Archæology in +the University of Naples, and formerly the Director of the National +Museum, is warmly in favor of the proposed excavation of this buried +city, as is Professor Spinazzola of the San Martino museum, who believes +that Italy may well become one vast museum of antiquities. "As the +theatre of Herculaneum is actually at present a subterranean +excavation," he observed, "why not excavate in a similar way the entire +city underneath modern Resina? In this way a perfectly unique +underground museum would be formed, which would have the merit of +leaving magnificent Roman art treasures exactly in their proper places +in the villas. Such a work ought to be perfectly practicable, with the +resources of modern engineering, and would certainly be unique in the +world. + +"There would be no need to build a special museum for the objects +discovered. Not only would this money be saved, but I feel convinced +that so many visitors would be attracted as to more than pay for the +maintenance. A subterraneous Herculaneum--surely a perfectly unique +place of pilgrimage, just as it was nearly two thousand years ago--might +be lighted by electric arc lights. I feel certain it would attract +sight-seers from the ends of the world. At the same time work might go +on in the open parts of the city. + +"Pompeii was more of an industrial town, while Herculaneum was a +favorite resort of the Roman patricians, who did not bring their +treasures with them from their northern homes, but had them executed by +Greek artists in the south." + +Under the mighty floods of _lava d'acqua_ that buried Herculaneum +doubtless lie temples, a splendid forum, magnificent villas, and most +valuable art and literary treasures. In the eighteenth century +excavations brought to light rare bronzes, mosaics, and papyri. The +famous equestrian statue of Balbo, in the Naples Museum, was excavated +from Herculaneum. Professor Lanciani and Commendatore Boni of Rome--the +latter the present director of the Forum, succeeding Lanciani--believe +that some of the richest art of ancient times may be found in +Herculaneum; as does Professor Dall'Osso, inspector of excavations at +Pompeii. + +Herculaneum is held to have been founded by Hercules when he landed at +Campania, returning from Iberia, some three hundred years B.C., and it +was in 63 A.D. that it was destroyed. Of this cataclysm Pliny, the +Younger, wrote:-- + + "The sea seemed to roll back on itself by the convulsions of the + earth. On the other side hung a black and dreadful cloud, bursting + with fiery and serpentine vapors. Naught was heard in the darkness + but the shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the frenzied + cries of men calling for children, for wives, for parents,--all + lifting hands to the gods, praying and wishing for death." + +Dr. Charles Waldstein of Cambridge University, the eminent archæologist, +whose efforts toward initiating the excavation of Herculaneum were a +notable event of 1906, thus writes of this buried city:-- + + "It is important to bear in mind that naturally all the best works + in the Museum of Naples, especially the bronzes, came from + Herculaneum and not from Pompeii. + + "What is most striking is the marvellous preservation of these + works. This fact of itself ought to counteract the strange but + widespread misapprehension that, while Pompeii was covered with + cinders and ashes, Herculaneum was covered with lava, and that the + hardness of that material made excavation difficult, if not + impossible. All geologists and archæologists are agreed that no + lava issued from the eruption of 79 A.D. Herculaneum was covered by + a torrent of mud consisting of ashes and cinders mixed with water. + The mass which covers it, so far from being less favorable to the + preservation of objects, is much more favorable than that which + covers Pompeii. Pompeii was partially covered with hot ashes and + pumice stones, which burnt or damaged the works of art. As it was + not wholly covered, moreover, the inhabitants returned and dug up + some of their greatest treasures. Herculaneum, on the other hand, + had its actual life, arrested at the highest point, securely + preserved from depredation, to a depth of eighty feet, by a + material which preserved intact the most delicate specimens which + have come down to us in a state so perfect as to be really + remarkable. + + "The most important of these delicate objects are manuscripts, of + which that one villa produced 1750. The state of preservation is + illustrated by one specimen, giving two pages from the works of the + philosopher Philademus. Unfortunately, the possessor of the villa + was a specialist, a student of Epicurean philosophy. While his + taste in art was fortunately so catholic, his taste in literature + was narrowed down by his special bent. Piso was the friend and + protector of the philosopher Philo. Already sixty-five copies of + that author's works have been found among the papyri. + + "Yet the city of Herculaneum contained many such villas, and herein + it differed from Pompeii. Pompeii was a commonplace provincial town + devoted exclusively to commerce; it was not the resort of wealthy + and cultured Romans. It was essentially illiterate. No manuscript + can be proved to have been found there. It is true a wax tablet + with writing has been found; yet this contains--receipts of + auctions. Herculaneum, on the other hand, was the favorite resort + of wealthy Romans, who built beautiful villas there as in our times + people from modern Rome settle for the summer at Sorrento and + Castellammare." + +The present descent into the theatre of Herculaneum is made by a flight +of more than a hundred steps, slippery and cold, in total darkness save +for the candle that is carried by the guide, and the visitor sees only +the stone seats of the amphitheatre and the stage with the two vacant +niches, the statues that filled each being now placed in the Museum in +Naples. + +The journey of thirteen miles from Naples to Pompeii is through a +succession of densely populated villages that seem to be an integral +part of Naples itself, for there is no line of demarcation. Portici, +Torre del Greco, Torre dell'Annunziata, and others all blend with each +other and with Naples. However familiar one has become with the +literature of Pompeii, with both archæological descriptions and +imaginative interpretations in romance, and however familiar with its +aspects he may have become from replicas in art museums, and from +pictures, one can yet hardly approach this silent, phantom city without +being thrilled by its deep significance. At a distance of a few miles +over the gently undulating plain rises Vesuvius; one gazes on the paths +where the rivers of molten fire must have rolled down. George S. +Hillard, visiting Pompeii in 1853, thus described a house which the +visitors of to-day study and admire:-- + + "The finest house we saw within the walls is one which had been + discovered and laid bare about four months previous to the date of + our visit, called the house of the Suonatrice, from a painting of a + female playing on a pipe, at the entrance. This house was deemed of + such peculiar interest that it was under the charge of a special + custode, and was only to be seen on payment of an extra fee. It was + not of large size, but had evidently been occupied by a person of + ample fortune and exquisite taste. The paintings on the walls were + numerous, and in the most perfect preservation. In the rear was a + minute garden not more than twenty or thirty feet square, with a + fairy fountain in the centre; around which were several small + statues of children and animals, of white marble, wrought with + considerable skill. The whole thing had a very curious effect, like + the tasteful baby-house of a grown-up child. Everything in this + house was in the most wonderful preservation. The metal pipes which + distributed the water, and the cocks by which it was let off, + looked perfectly suited for use. Nothing at Pompeii seemed so real + as this house, and nowhere else were the embellishments so numerous + and so costly. + + "Pompeii, though a Roman city in its political relations, was + everywhere strongly marked with the impress of the Greek mind. It + stood on the northern edge of that part of Italy which, from the + number of Grecian colonies it contained, was called Magna + Græcia,--a region of enchanting beauty, in which the genius of + Greece attained its most luxurious development. It has been + conjectured that Pompeii had an unusually large proportion of men + of property, who had been drawn there by the charms of its + situation and climate, and that it thus extended a liberal + patronage to Greek architects, painters, and sculptors. At any + rate, the spirit of Greece still lives and breathes in its ashes. + Its temples, as restored by modern architects, are Greek. Its works + in marble and bronze claim a place in that cyclus of art of which + the metopes of the Parthenon are the highest point of excellence. + The pictures that embellish the walls, the unzoned nymphs, the + bounding Bacchantes, the grotesque Fauns, the playful arabesques, + all are informed with the airy and creative spirit of Greek art. + + "The ruins of Pompeii are not merely an open-air museum of + curiosities, but they have great value in the illustration they + offer to Roman history and Roman literature. The antiquarian of our + times studies the great realm of the past with incomparable + advantage, by the help of the torch here lighted." + +From Pompeii to Castellammare, the beautiful seaside summer resort of +the Neapolitans, "a lover of nature could hardly find a spot of more +varied attractions. Before him spreads the unrivalled bay,--dotted with +sails and unfolding a broad canvas, on which the most glowing colors and +the most vivid lights are dashed,--a mirror in which the crimson and +gold of morning, the blue of noon, and the orange and yellow-green of +sunset behold a livelier image of themselves,--a gentle and tideless +sea, whose waves break upon the shore like caresses, and never like +angry blows. Should he ever become weary of waves and languish for +woods, he has only to turn his back upon the sea and climb the hills for +an hour or two, and he will find himself in the depth of sylvan and +mountain solitudes,--in a region of vines, running streams, +deep-shadowed valleys, and broad-armed oaks,--where he will hear the +ringdove coo, and see the sensitive hare dart across the forest aisles. +A great city is within an hour's reach; and the shadow of Vesuvius hangs +over the landscape, keeping the imagination awake by touches of mystery +and terror." + +The road to Sorrento, on a cliff a hundred feet or more above the sea, +with mountains on the other side, towering up hundreds of feet high; a +road cut in many places out of the solid rock, supported by galleries +and viaducts from below,--a road that crosses deep gorges and chasms, +always with the iridescent colors of the sea below,--and from Sorrento +to Amalfi again, only, if possible, even more wonderful,--is there in +the world any drive that can rival this picturesque and sublime route? +Of it George Eliot wrote:-- + + "It is an unspeakably grand drive round the mighty rocks with the + sea below; and Amalfi itself surpasses all imagination of a + romantic site for a city that once made itself famous in the + world." + +Sorrento, with its memories and associations of Tasso, seems a place in +which one cares only to sit on the balcony of the hotel overhanging the +sea and watch the magic spectacle of a panorama unrivalled in all the +beauty of the world. Flowers grow in riotous profusion; the fairy sail +of a flitting boat is caught in the deepening dusk; the dark outline of +Vesuvius is seen against the horizon; and orange orchards gleam against +gray walls. Here Tasso was born, in 1544, fit haunt for a poet, with +tangles of gay blossoms and the aerial line of mountain peaks. A low +parapet borders the precipice, and over it one leans in the air heavy +with perfume of locust blossoms. Has the lovely town anything beside +sunsets and stars and poets' dreams? Who could ask for more? + +To La Cava,--to Amalfi,--still all a dream world! + + "O summer day, beside the joyous sea! + O summer day so wonderful and white, + So full of gladness and so full of pain!" + +How Amalfi sets itself to song and music! Who can enter it without +hearing in the air Longfellow's beautiful lines?-- + + "Sweet the memory is to me + Of a land beyond the sea, + Where the waves and mountains meet, + Where, amid her mulberry-trees, + Sits Amalfi in the heat, + Bathing ever her white feet + In the tideless summer seas. + + * * * * * + + 'Tis a stairway, not a street, + That ascends the deep ravine, + Where the torrent leaps between + Rocky walls that almost meet. + + * * * * * + + This is an enchanted land! + Round the headlands, far away, + Sweeps the blue Salernian bay + With its sickle of white sand; + Further still and furthermost + On the dim discovered coast, + Pæstum with its ruins lies, + And its roses all in bloom." + +If ever a region was dropped out of paradise designed, solely, for a +poet's day-dreams, it is Amalfi, and the even more beautiful Ravello +just above. One fancies that it must have been in the mystic loveliness +of this eyrie that the poet lost himself in a day-dream while Jupiter +was dividing all the goods of the world. When he reproached the god for +not saving a portion for him, Jupiter replied that all the goods were +gone, it was true, but that his heaven was always open to the poet. + +The ancient Amalfi, the city of activities and merchandise, is gone. + + "Where are now the freighted barks + From the marts of east and west? + Where the knights in iron sarks + Journeying to the Holy Land, + Glove of steel upon the hand, + Cross of crimson on the breast? + Where the pomp of camp and court? + Where the pilgrims with their prayers? + Where the merchants with their wares? + + * * * * * + + Vanished like a fleet of cloud, + Like a passing trumpet-blast, + Are those splendors of the past, + And the commerce and the crowd! + Fathoms deep beneath the seas + Lie the ancient warves and quays, + Swallowed by the engulfing waves." + +It is impossible to realize that Amalfi was once a flourishing city of +Oriental trade. One looks in vain for any trace of ruin or shrine that +still suggests the ancient splendors of activity. The strata of the +past, so visible in other mediæval cities, are not apparent here. The +great cathedral is a most interesting study in the art of +architecture,--its exquisite arcades, its delicate, lofty campanile +glittering in the sun. The green-roofed cupola is a distinctive feature, +and up the many flights of stairs the old Capuccini convent lies,--the +unique, romantic hotel where the cells of the monks are now the rooms of +the perpetual procession of guests. Does the wraith of Cardinal +Capuano, who founded this convent, still wander in midnight hours +through the dim cloisters? Does he still keep watch by the body of St. +Andrew, the apostle, which he is said to have found and brought to the +cathedral where the saint lies, as a saint should lie, gloriously +entombed. St. Andrew was the patron saint of Amalfi, but at his death +his body was carried from Patras to the Bosphorus, where it was placed +in a church in Constantinople. The legend runs that Cardinal Capuano, +being in Constantinople, entered the Church of the Holy Apostles to +pray, and knowing that the body of the saint was in that city, he +besought the heavenly powers to guide him to it. Rising from his +devotions he was approached by an aged priest, who announced to the +Cardinal that the object of his search was in that very church in which +he was praying for guidance; and, aided by unseen powers, he was able to +recover it and convey it to Amalfi. All Italian towns that respect +themselves offer the allurement of an entombed saint and if, +occasionally, the same identical saint does duty for more than one city, +who is to decide the local genuineness of the claim? Nothing in all +Italy is so curious as is this town of staircases instead of streets; of +houses perched on the angles of impossible eyries suggesting that, as +the Venetians go about in gondolas, so the Amalfians must have airships, +or the wings of Icarus, with which to circle in air from their dwellings +to the beach. + +The precipitous gorges and dark ravines have on their crests low +parapets of stone walls over which the visitor lingers and leans +watching the bluest of seas lying fair under the bluest of skies. The +main road,--there is only one,--descending from the hill to the water's +edge, makes its progress through a tunnel. + +The old Amalfi, with its palaces, its arches and colonnades, lies under +the sea. Just as the Pensione Caterina with its rose walks and terraces +slipped into the sea in December of 1899, when two guests and several +fishermen lost their lives, so the ancient Amalfi fell, its cliffs +swallowed up in the waters below. + + "Hidden from all mortal eyes, + Deep the sunken city lies; + Silent streets and vacant halls, + Ruined roofs and towers and walls; + Even cities have their graves!" + +When, on a May evening, the white moonlight falls in cascades of silver +sheen over terraces and sea, with Amalfi all alabaster and pearl like a +dream city in the ethereal air; when the stars hang low in the skies and +the fairy lights of the fishermen's boats twinkle far out at sea; when +the summer silence is suddenly thrilled by the melody of Neapolitan +songs on the air, as if it were a veritable _chant d'amour_ of +sirens,--then does one believe in the buried city. These rich baritone +voices are surely those of some singers of the buried ages. They are +floating across the centuries since Amalfi had its pride and place among +the great centres of activity. Atrani, Amalfi's twin city, lies in the +adjoining defile of the mountains which arch above them. The strange old +houses are all dazzlingly white, transfigured under the moon to an +unearthly loveliness. + +The tragedy of the ruin of Amalfi is related by Petrarca, who was then +living in Naples. It was in 1343 that a terrible cataclysm--an +earthquake accompanied by a tempest--caused the destruction and the +submergence of the city in the sea. + +The believers in astrology will find their faith re-enforced by the fact +that a bishop, who was also an astrologist, had read in the stars that +in December of 1343 a terrible disaster would occur on the Naples coast. +It arrived on schedule time. Petrarca, writing of it to Giovanni +Colonna, states that in consequence of the prediction of the bishop, the +people were in a condition of wild terror, endeavoring to repent of +their sins and aspiring to a purer moral life. In this tide of religious +emotion, ordinary occupations were neglected. On the very day of the +calamity people were crowding the churches and kneeling in prayer. At +night, after the people were in bed, the shock came. The sunset had been +fair, the evening quiet, and the people were reassured. But they were +awakened from sleep by the violence of falling walls and the terror of +the tempest. Petrarcha was lodging in a convent, and he heard the monks +calling to one another as they rushed from cell to cell. They hastily +gathered crosses and sacred relics in their hands, and, preceded by the +prior, sought the chapel, where they passed the night in prayer while +the tempest raged outside. The sea broke against the rocks with a fury +that seemed to tear the very foundations of the earth. The thunder +pealed, and mingled with it were the shrieks of the frightened +populace. The rain fell in torrents, deluging the city as if the sea +itself were pouring on it. When the morning came the darkness still +continued. In the harbor broken ships crashed helplessly together. The +sands were strewn with mutilated dead bodies. Between Capri and the +shore the sea ran mountains high. Amalfi was completely destroyed, and +has never regained her prestige. + +The cathedral at Ravello has traces of the rich art it once enshrined, +and the rose gardens of the Palazzo Rufolo might enchant Hafiz himself. +The terrace on the very crest of the mountain commands one of the +wonderful views of the world. The cloistered colonnades of this old +Saracenic palace reveal views even to the plains of Pæstum. There are +rare mosaics and fragments of bronzes and marbles yet remaining. + +The noble Greek ruins at Pæstum--the three temples--stand in all the +majesty of utter desolation. They are overgrown with flowers, however, +and they stand "dewy in the light of the rising dawn-star." + + "The shrine is ruined now, and far away + To east and west stretch olive groves, whose shade, + Even at the height of summer noon, is gray. + + * * * * * + + "Yet this was once a hero's temple, crowned + With myrtle boughs by lovers, and with palm + By wrestlers, resonant with sweetest sound + Of flute and fife in summer evening's calm, + And odorous with incense all the year, + With nard and spice and galbanum and balm." + +The detour to Pæstum is full of significance. The massive columns of the +temples stand like giants of the ages. "It is difficult," writes John +Addington Symonds, "not to return again and again to the beauty of +coloring at Pæstum. Lying basking in the sun on a flat slab of stone, +and gazing eastward, we overlook a foreground of dappled light and +shadow; then come two stationary columns built, it seems, of solid gold, +where the sunbeams strike along their russet surface. Between them lies +the landscape, a medley first of brakefern and asphodel and feathering +acanthus and blue spikes; while beyond and above is a glimpse of +mountains, purple almost to indigo with cloud shadows, and flecked with +snow." + +The sail from Amalfi to Pæstum is one incomparable in loveliness. The +sunshine is all lurid gold. The faint, transparent blue haze fills all +the defiles of the mountains; the cliffs disclose yawning caverns where +vast clusters of stalactites hang; and as the boat floats toward Capri +from the Sorrento promontory its rocky headlands rise and flame into +purple and rose against the glowing sky. Across the Bay of Naples rises +the great city. It stands in some subtle way reminding one of the scene +where one + + "... rowing hard against the stream, + Saw distant gates of Eden gleam." + +Capri is the idyllic island of prismatic light and shade, of gay and +joyous life. Here Tiberius had his summer palace, and it was from these +shores that he sent the historic letter which revolutionized the life of +Sejanus. The letter--_verbosa et grandis epistola_--is still vivid in +the historic associations of Rome. Capri is one of the favorite resorts +both for winter and summer. Its former modest prices are now greatly +increased, like all the latter-day expenses of Italy; but its beauty is +perennial, and the artist and poet can still command there a seclusion +almost impossible to secure elsewhere in Italy. The distinguished +artist, Elihu Vedder of Rome, has a country house on Capri, and another +well-known artist, Charles Caryl Coleman, makes this island his home. +There are days--sometimes several days in succession--that the sea is +high and the boats cannot run between Naples, Sorrento, and Capri; and +the enforced seclusion is still the seclusion of the poet's dream. For +he shares it with Mithras, the "unconquered god of the sun," whose cult +influenced all the monarchs of Europe and who holds his court in the +Grotto de Matrimonia. Into this grotto one descends by a flight of +nearly two hundred feet; he strolls among the ruins of the villa of +Tiberius, where the very air is still vital and vocal with those strange +and tragic chapters of Roman life. The Emperor Augustus first founded +here palaces and aqueducts. Tiberius, who retired to Capri in the year +27 A.D., had his architects build twelve villas, in honor of the gods, +the largest of these being for Jupiter and known as the Villa Jovis. In +31 A.D. occurred that dramatic episode in Roman history, the fall of +Sejanus, and six years later Tiberius died. The vast white marble baths +he had built for him are now submerged on the coast, and boats glide +over the spot where they stood. The Villa Jovis stood on a cliff seven +hundred feet above the sea, and the traditions of the barbarities and +atrocities that took place there still haunt the island. The natives +apparently regard them as a certain title to fame, but the wise tourists +persistently ignore horrors; life is made for joy, sweetness, and charm; +it is far wiser to think on these things. + +And there is charm and joy to spare on lovely Capri. "Sea-mists are +frequent in the early summer mornings, swathing the cliffs of Capri and +brooding on the smooth water till the day wind rises," says John +Addington Symonds. "Then they disappear like magic, rolling in +smoke-wreaths from the surface of the sea, condensing into clouds and +climbing the hills like Oceanides in quest of Prometheus, or taking +their station on the watch towers of the world as in the chorus of the +Nephelai. Such a morning may be chosen for the _giro_ of the island. The +Blue Grotto loses nothing of its beauty, but rather gains by contrast, +when passing from dense fog you find yourself transported to a world of +wavering subaqueous sheen. It is only through the very topmost arch that +a boat can glide into this cavern; the arch itself spreads downward +through the water so that all the light is transmitted from beneath and +colored by the sea. Outside the magic world of pantomime there is +nothing to equal these effects of blue and silver.... Numberless are the +caves at Capri. The so-called Green Grotto has the beauty of moss agate +in its liquid floor; the Red Grotto shows a warmer chord of color; and +where there is no other charm to notice, endless beauty may be found in +the play of sunlight upon roofs of limestone, tinted with yellow, +orange, and pale pink, mossed over, hung with fern, and catching tones +of blue or green from the still deeps beneath.... After a day upon the +water it is pleasant to rest at sunset in the loggia above the sea. The +Bay of Naples stretches far and wide in front, beautiful by reason of +the long fine line descending from Vesuvius, dipping almost to a level, +and then gliding up to join the highlands of the north. Now sun and moon +begin to mingle: waning and waxing splendors. The cliffs above our heads +are still blushing like the heart of some tea-rose; when lo, the touch +of the huntress is laid upon those eastern pinnacles, and the horizon +glimmers with her rising. Was it on such a night that Ferdinand of +Aragon fled from his capital before the French, with eyes turned ever to +the land he loved, chanting, as he leaned from his galley's stern, that +melancholy psalm, 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh +but in vain,' and seeing Naples dwindle to a white blot on the purple +shore?" + +The roses of Capri would form a chapter alone. What walks there are +where the air is all fragrance of acacia and rose and orange blossoms! +Cascades of roses in riotous luxuriance festoon the old gray stone +walls; the pale pink of the early dawn or of a shell by the seashore, +the amber of the Banskeia rose, the great golden masses of the Maréchal +Niel, their faint yellow gleaming against the deep green leaves of +myrtle and frond. The intense glowing scarlet of the gladiolus flames +from rocks and roadside, and rosemary and the purple stars of hyacinths +garland the ways, until one feels like journeying only in his singing +robes. The deep, solemn green of stone pines forms canopies under the +sapphire skies, and through their trunks one gazes on the sapphire sea. +Is Capri the isle of Epipsychidion? + + "Is there now any one that knows + What a world of mystery lies deep down in the heart of a rose?" + +One walks among these rose-lined lanes, hearing in the very air that +exquisite lyric by Louise Chandler Moulton:-- + + "Roses that briefly live, + Joy is your dower; + Blest be the Fates that give + One perfect hour. + And, though too soon you die, + In your dust glows + Something the passer-by + Knows was a Rose." + +Monte Cassino is one of the most interesting inland points in Southern +Italy,--the monastery lying on the crest of a hill nearly two thousand +feet above the sea. Dante alludes to this in his Paradiso (XXII, +XXXVII), and in the prose translation made by that eminent Dantean +scholar, Professor Charles Eliot Norton, this assurance of Beatrice to +Dante is thus rendered:-- + + "That mountain on whose slope Cassino is, was of old frequented on + its summit by the deluded and ill-disposed people, and I am he who + first carried up thither the name of Him who brought to earth the + truth which so high exalts us; and such grace shone upon me that I + drew away the surrounding villages from the impious worship which + seduced the world. Those other fires were all contemplative men, + kindled by that heat which brings to birth holy flowers and fruits. + Here is Macarius, here is Romuald, here are my brothers, who within + the cloisters fixed their feet, and held a steadfast heart. And I + to him, 'The affection which thou displayest in speaking with me, + and the good semblance which I see and note in all your ardors, + have so expanded my confidence as the sun does the rose, when she + becomes open so much as she has power to be. Therefore I pray thee, + and do thou, father, assure me if I have power to receive so much + grace, that I may see thee with uncovered shape.' Whereon he, + 'Brother, thy high desire shall be fulfilled in the last sphere, + where are fulfilled all others and my own. There perfect, mature, + and whole is every desire; in that alone is every part there where + it always was: for it is not in space, and hath not poles; and our + stairway reaches up to it, wherefore thus from thy sight it + conceals itself. Far up as there the patriarch Jacob saw it stretch + its topmost part when it appeared to him so laden with Angels. But + now no one lifts his feet from earth to ascend it; and my rule is + remaining as waste of paper. The walls, which used to be an abbey, + have become caves; and the cowls are sacks full of bad meal. But + heavy usury is not gathered in so greatly against the pleasure of + God, as that fruit which makes the heart of monks so foolish. For + whatsoever the Church guards is all for the folk that ask it in + God's name, not for one's kindred, or for another more vile. The + flesh of mortals is so soft that a good beginning suffices not + below from the springing of the oak to the forming of the acorn. + Peter began without gold and without silver, and I with prayers and + with fasting, and Francis in humility his convent; and if thou + lookest at the source of each, and then lookest again whither it + has run, thou wilt see dark made of the white. Truly, Jordan turned + back, and the sea fleeing when God willed, were more marvellous to + behold than succor here." + +Dante adds that the company "like a whirlwind gathered itself upward," +and that "the sweet lady urged me behind them, with only a sign, up over +that stairway; so did her virtue overcome my nature. But never here +below, where one mounts and descends naturally, was there motion so +rapid that it could be compared unto my wing." + +The time was when Dante and Beatrice met, and he "was standing as one +who within himself represses the point of his desire, and attempts not +to ask, he so fears the too-much." And then he heard: "If thou couldst +see, as I do, the charity which burns among us thy thoughts would be +expressed. But that thou through waiting mayst not delay thy high end, I +will make answer to thee, even to the thought concerning which thou art +so regardful." + +The vast monastery of Monte Cassino, lying on the crest of a hill nearly +two thousand feet above the sea, has one of the most magnificent +locations in all Italy. This monastery was founded (in 529 A.D.) by St. +Benedict, on the site of an ancient temple to Apollo. Dante alludes to +this also in the Paradiso (Canto XX, 11). As seen from below this +monastery has the appearance of a vast castle, or fortress. Its +location is one of the most magnificent in all Italy. The old entrance +was a curious passage cut through solid rock and it is still used for +princes and cardinals--no lesser dignitaries being allowed to pass +through it--and within the past thirty years a new entrance has been +constructed. In the passageway of the mediæval entrance St. Benedict is +said to have had his cell, and of recent years the German Benedictines, +believing they had located the original cell, had it located, restored, +and decorated with Egyptian frescoes. Several of the courts of this +convent are connected by beautiful arcades with lofty arches, and +adorned with statues, among which are those of St. Benedict and his +sister, St. Scholastica. Still farther up the hill, upon the monastery, +stands the church which is built on the site of the ancient one that was +erected by St. Benedict himself--this present edifice dating back to +1637. Above the portals there is a long inscription in Latin relating +the history of the monastery and the church. These portals are solid +bronze, beautifully carved, with inlaid tablets of silver on which are +inscribed a list of all the treasures of the abbey in the year 1006. The +church is very rich in interior decoration of mosaics, rare marbles, +and wonderful monumental memorials. Either side of the high altar are +monuments to the Prince of Mignano (Guidone Fieramosca) and also to +Piero de Medico. Both St. Benedict and his sister, St. Scholastica, are +entombed under the high altar, which is one of the most elaborately +sculptured in all the churches of Italy. + +Among the pictorial decorations of this church are a series of fresco +paintings by Luca Giordano, painted in the seventeenth century, +representing the miracles wrought by St. Benedict. In the refectory is +the "Miracle of the Loaves," by Bassano; and in the chapel below are +paintings by Mazzaroppi and Marco da Siena. Nothing can exceed the +richness and beauty of the carvings of the choir stalls. These were +executed in the seventeenth century by Coliccio. + +The library of this monastery is renowned all over Europe--indeed, it is +famous all over the world--for its preservation of ancient manuscripts +done by the monks. These are carefully treasured in the archives. Among +them is the record of a vision that came to the monk Alferic, in the +twelfth century, on which it is believed that Dante founded his +immortal "Divina Commedia;" there is also a fourteenth-century edition +of Dante with margined notes; and the Commentary of Origen (on the +Epistle to the Romans), dating back to the sixteenth century; there is +the complete series of Papal bulls that were sent to the monastery of +Monte Cassino from the eleventh century to the present time, many of +them being richly illuminated and decorated with curiously elaborate +seals. There is an autograph letter of the Sultan Mohammed II to Pope +Nicholas IV, with the Pope's reply,--the theme of the correspondence +being the Pope's threat of war. The imperial Mohammed seems to have been +in terror of this, and in his epistle he expresses his willingness, and, +indeed, his intention, to be converted as soon as he shall visit Rome! +Apparently the Holy Father of that day laid little stress on the +sincerity of this offer on the part of the Sultan. Here, too, is a +wonderful correspondence between Don Erasmo Gattola, the historian of +the abbey, and a great number of the celebrated men of his time; and +there are hundreds of other letters, manuscripts, and documents relating +to kings, nobles, emperors, and many of the nobility of the age. + +In this monastery there is a most interesting collection of relics, in +bronze, silver, gold, and _rosso antico_. The library proper contains +some eleven thousand volumes, dating back to the very dawn of the +discovery of the art of printing. + +Mr. Longfellow, whose poet's pen has pictured so many of the Italian +landscapes and ancient monuments, thus set Monte Cassino to music, +picturing the entire landscape of the Terra di Lavoro region:-- + + "The Land of Labor and the Land of Rest, + Where mediæval towns are white on all + The hillsides, and where every mountain's crest + Is an Etrurian or a Roman wall. + + * * * * * + + "There is Aquinum, the old Volscian town, + Where Juvenal was born, whose lurid light + Still hovers o'er his birthplace like the crown + Of splendor seen o'er cities in the night. + + "Doubled the splendor is, that in its streets + The Angelic Doctor as a school-boy played, + And dreamed perhaps the dreams that he repeats + In ponderous folios for scholastics made. + + "And there, uplifted, like a passing cloud + That pauses on a mountain summit high, + Monte Cassino's convent rears its proud + And venerable walls against the sky. + + "Well I remember how on foot I climbed + The stony pathway leading to its gate; + Above, the convent bells for vespers chimed, + Below, the darkening town grew desolate. + + * * * * * + + "The silence of the place was like a sleep, + So full of rest it seemed; each passing tread + Was a reverberation from the deep + Recesses of the ages that are dead. + + "For, more than thirteen centuries ago, + Benedict fleeing from the gates of Rome, + A youth disgusted with its vice and woe, + Sought in these mountain solitudes a home. + + "He founded here his Convent and his Rule + Of prayer and work, and counted work as prayer; + The pen became a clarion, and his school + Flamed like a beacon in the midnight air. + + * * * * * + + "From the high window, I beheld the scene + On which Saint Benedict so oft had gazed,-- + The mountains and the valley in the sheen + Of the bright sun,--and stood as one amazed. + + * * * * * + + "The conflict of the Present and the Past, + The ideal and the actual in our life, + As on a field of battle held me fast, + Where this world and the next world were at strife." + +The monastery of Monte Cassino entertains, as its guests, for dinner or +for a night, all gentlemen who visit it; but there is an alms box on the +ancient gate into which the guest is supposed to place whatever +contribution he pleases for the poor of the place. The Italian +government, in 1866, declared this monastery to be a "Monumento +Nazionale," and it is now a famous ecclesiastical school with some two +hundred students and a resplendent faculty of fifty learned monks under +the direction of the Abbot. Some of the most celebrated prelates in +Europe have been educated at Monte Cassino. + +Quite near Monte Cassino, as Longfellow depicts in his lines, is Monte +Aquino, a picturesque hillside where the "Doctor Angelicus," Thomas +Aquinas, was born (in 1224), the son of Count Landulf, in the Castel +Roccasecca. He was educated in the monastery, and one finds himself +recalling here these lines of Thomas William Parsons, entitled "Turning +from Darwin to Thomas Aquinas:"-- + + "Unless in thought with thee I often live, + Angelic doctor! life seems poor to me. + What are these bounties, if they only be + Such boon as farmers to their servants give? + That I am fed, and that mine oxen thrive, + That my lambs fatten, that mine hours are free-- + These ask my nightly thanks on bended knee; + And I do thank Him who hath blest my hive, + And made content my herd, my flock, my bee. + But, Father! nobler things I ask from Thee. + Fishes have sunshine, worms have everything! + Are we but apes? Oh! give me, God, to know + I am death's master; not a scaffolding, + But a true temple where Christ's word could grow." + +It was at Aquinum, too, at the foot of Monte Aquino, Juvenal was born. +Near the peaks of Monte Cassino and Monte Aquino is that of Monte Cairo, +five thousand five hundred feet high, from whose summit one of the +finest views of all southern Europe is attained. The Gulf of Gaeta, the +valley of San Germano, the wild and romantic mountain region of the +Abruzzi and a view, too, of the blue sea are in the panorama, bathed in +the opalescent, gleaming lights that often invest the Italian landscape +with jewelled splendor. + + "I ask myself, Is this a dream? + Will it all vanish into air? + Is there a land of such supreme + And perfect beauty, anywhere?" + +It might have been in this pictured dream-region that Hercules came to +rest. + + "When Heracles, the twelve great labors done, + To Calpe came, and there his journey stayed, + He raised two pillars toward the evening sun, + And carved them by a goddess' subtle aid. + Upon their shafts were sacred legends traced, + And round the twain a serpent cincture placed: + 'T was at this bound the primal world stood still, + And of Atlantis dreamed, with baffled will." + +But still in unmeasured space, still beyond and afar and unattained, +still lost in the unpenetrated realms of the poet's fancy,-- + + "Atlantis lies beyond the pillars yet!" + + + + + _"Here Ischia smiles + O'er liquid miles."_ + + * * * * * + + _High o'er the sea-surge and the sands, + Like a great galleon wrecked and cast + Ashore by storms, thy Castle stands + A mouldering landmark of the Past._ + + _Upon its terrace-walk, I see + A phantom gliding to and fro; + It is Colonna,--it is she + Who lived and loved so long ago._ + + LONGFELLOW. + + + + + _We are the only two that, face to face, + Do know each other, as God doth know us both. + --O fearless friendship, that held nothing back! + O absolute trust, that yielded every key, + And flung each curtain up, and drew me on + To enter the white temple of thy soul, + So vast, so cold, so waste!--and give thee sense + Of living warmth, of throbbing tenderness, + Of soft dependencies! O faith that made + Thee free to seek the spot where my dead hopes + Have sepulture, and read above the crypt + Deep graven, the tearful legend of my life! + There, gloomed with the memorials of my past, + Thou once for all didst learn what man accepts + Lothly--(how should he else?)--that never woman, + Fashioned a woman,--heart, brain, body, soul,-- + Ever twice loved._ + + "_Vittoria Colonna to Michael Angelo._" + + MARGARET J. PRESTON. + + + + +IV + +A PAGE DE CONTI FROM ISCHIA + + "Unto my buried lord I give myself." + + * * * * * + + Michael Angelo! + A man that all men honor, and the model + That all should follow; one who works and prays, + For work is prayer, and consecrates his life + To the sublime ideal of his art + Till art and life are one. + + LONGFELLOW, from "_Michael Angelo; A Fragment_." + + +In that poetic sail along the Italian coast between Naples and Genoa the +voyager feels that it is + + "On no earthly sea with transient roar" + +that his bark is floating; that + + "Unto no earthly airs he trims his sail," + +as he flits along this coast when violet waves dash against a brilliant +background of sky. Ischia reveals herself through the blue, transparent +air, gleaming with opalescent lights, quivering, fading and flaming +again as the afterglow in the east rivals in its coloring the sunset +splendors of the west. Is there in the air a faint, lingering echo of +the _chant d'amour_ of sirens on the rocky shores? Is Parthenope still +to be descried? Gazing upon Ischia there is a rush of romantic +impressions as if one were transported into ideal regions of song, +before this impression begins to resolve itself into definite +remembrance of fact and incident. Surely some exquisite associations in +the past had enchanted this island in memory and invested it with the +magic light that never was on sea or land. Traditions of beauty; of the +lives of scholar and savant and princes of the church; of a court of +nobility enriched and adorned by prelate and by poet; traditions, too, +of a woman's consecration to an immortal love and the solace of grief by +poetic genius and exalted friendships,--all these seem to cling about +Ischia in a vague, atmospheric way till memory, still groping backward +in the twilight of the richly historic past, suddenly crystallized into +recognition that it was Ischia which was the home of Vittoria Colonna, +the greatest woman poet of the Italian Renaissance. Lines, long since +read, arose like an incantation; and like bars of music, each note of +which vibrated in the air, came this fragment of one of her songs:-- + + "If in these rude and artless songs of mine + I never take the file in hand, nor try + With curious care and nice, fastidious eye + To deck and polish each uncultured line, + 'T is that it makes small merit of my name + To merit praise.... + + * * * * * + + But it must be that heaven's own gracious gift + Which, with its breath, divine, inspires my soul, + Strikes forth these sparks unbidden by my will." + + [Illustration: ISCHIA, FROM THE SEA + _Page 282_] + +Vittoria Colonna was called the most beautiful and gifted woman of her +time in all Italy. Her life of nearly sixty years (1490-1547) lay +entirely in that period when the apathy of ten centuries was broken, +when the darkness fled before the dawning of a glorious day. New methods +of thought, revised taste in poetry, new discoveries of science, a +nobler progress in criticism, great discoveries, and a lofty and +unprecedented freedom of conviction marked the century between 1450 and +1550, stamping it as the marvellous time which we know as the +Renaissance, "that solemn fifteenth century which can hardly be studied +too much, not merely for its positive results in the things of the +intellect and the imagination, its concrete works of art, its special +and prominent personalities, with their profound æsthetic charm, but for +its general spirit and character, for the ethical qualities of which it +is a consummate type." + +It was peculiarly fitting that Italy should take the initiative in +inaugurating this _vita nuova_. Italy had a language and literature and +art. Dante had delivered his solemn message and Petrarca his impassioned +song. Boccaccio had taught the gospel of gladness. Who shall analyze the +secret springs of their inspiration and reveal to what degree Ovid and +Horace and Virgil influenced the later literature? A new solar system +was established by Copernicus. America was discovered. Science entered +on her definite and ceaseless progress, and religion and art became +significant forces in human life. Printing had been invented and the +compass discovered. + +Into this time of new forces, when everything was throbbing and +pulsating with life, was Vittoria Colonna born into social prestige and +splendor. Her father, Fabrizio Colonna, and her mother, Agnesina di +Montefeltro, a daughter of the Duke of Urbino, were then domiciled in +the castle of Marino, on the Lago d'Albano, a magnificent palace some +twelve miles from Rome, in which the Duke d'Amalfi (the father of +Fabrizio Colonna) lived, and which is still standing, filled with +memorials and relics of historic interest. Urbino, the seat of the +Montefeltro, is renowned as having been the birthplace of Raphael, who + + "Only drank the precious wine of youth," + +but who + + "... lives immortal in the hearts of men, + ... and the world is fairer + That he lived in it." + +The Colonna date back to the eleventh century, and they gave many +princes and cardinals to the country. At the close of the thirteenth +century they were arrayed against Boniface VIII, the Pope, who accused +them of crime, while they disputed the validity of his election to the +holy office. In retaliation, the Pope excommunicated the entire family, +anathematized them as heretics and declared their estates forfeited to +the church. The Colonna, far from being intimidated, commanded three +hundred armed horsemen, attacked the papal palace, which they plundered, +and made him a prisoner,--an incident referred to by Dante in the +"Inferno." The Colonna and the Orsini were also at warfare, and when a +member of the former family was elevated to the papacy under the name of +Martin V, they despoiled property of the Orsini. + +Gay excursionists to-day, who fly over the Campagna in their +twentieth-century touring cars to the lovely towns of the Alban hills, +may look down from Castel Gandolfo on the gloomy, mediæval little town +of Marino, part way up a steep hillside, whose summit is crowned by the +castle once belonging to the Colonna and in which Vittoria passed her +early childhood. "Nothing," in his "Roba di Roma," says Story, "can be +more rich and varied than this magnificent amphitheatre of the Campagna +of Rome, ... sometimes drear, mysterious, and melancholy in desolate +stretches; sometimes rolling like an inland sea whose waves have +suddenly become green with grass, golden with grain, and gracious with +myriads of wild flowers, where scarlet poppies blaze and pink daisies +cover vast meadows and vines shroud the picturesque ruins of antique +villas, aqueducts, and tombs, or drop from mediæval towers and +fortresses." + +Flying in the swift motor-car of the time toward the Alban hills, Marino +may be easily reached in less than an hour from the Porta San Giovanni, +and in the near distance Monte Albani, rising into the cone of Monte +Cavi, is a picture before the eye, while on the lower slopes gleam the +white villages of Albani, Marino, Castel Gandolfo, and Frascati, with +the campanile of a cathedral, a fortress-like ruin, or gardens and olive +orchards clambering up the heights. The Papal town of Rocca di Papa +crowns one summit where once Tarquin's temple to Jupiter stood and on +whose ruins now gleam afar in the Italian sunshine the white walls of +the Passionist convent of Monte Cavi, built by Cardinal York. From this +height Juno gazed upon the great conflict of contending armies, if +Virgil's topography be entitled to authority. And here, through a defile +in the hills, one may look toward Naples, "and then rising abruptly +with sheer limestone cliffs and crevasses, where transparent purple +shadows sleep all day long, towers the grand range of the Sabine +mountains, whose lofty peaks surround the Campagna to the east and north +like a curved amphitheatre.... Again, skirting the Pontine Marshes on +the east, are the Volscian mountains, closing up the Campagna at +Terracina, where they overhang the road and affront the sea with their +great barrier. Following along the Sabine hills, you will see at +intervals the towns of Palestrina and Tivoli, where the Anio tumbles in +foam, and other little mountain towns nestled here and there among the +soft airy hollows, or perched on the cliffs." + +In this landscape there are three ruined villages--Colonna, Gallicano, +and Zagarda--perched on their respective hills. The castle of the +Colonna family is now restored and modernized to a degree that leaves +little trace of that former stately grandeur which is transmuted into +modern convenience and comfort. + +In this scene of romantic beauty, with the vista of beauty almost +incomparable in any inland view in Italy, Vittoria passed her infancy, +until, at the age of four, her childhood was transplanted to fairy +Ischia. In all this chain of Alban towns, including Marino, Viterbo, +Ariccia, and Rocca di Papa, the great family of the Colonna owned +extensive estates, each crowning some height, while the defiles between +were filled, then as now, with the foam and blossom of riotous greenery. +Then, as now, across the mystic Campagna, the dome of St. Peter's +silhouetted itself against a golden background of western sky. + +One needs not to have had privileged access to the sibylline leaves of +the Cumæan soothsayer to recognize that Vittoria Colonna was born under +the star of destiny. Her horoscope seemed to be inextricably entwined +with that of Italy; and the events which created and determined the +conditions of her life and its panoramic series of circumstances were +the events of Italy and of Europe as well--in political aspects and in +the influence on general progress, brought to bear by strong and +prominent individualities whose gifts, genius, or force dominated the +movements of the day. + +To her father's change of political allegiance, from the French to the +Spanish side, in the war raging between those countries in 1494, +Vittoria owed all her life in Ischia; and her marriage, and all that +resulted from her becoming a member of the d'Avalos family, was due to +this espousal of a new political faith on the part of Fabrizio Colonna. +To the fact that in 1425 the war with France again broke out was due the +loss of her husband and the conditions that consecrated her life to +poetry, to learning, and that made possible the beautiful and +sympathetic friendship between herself and Michael Angelo. Her life +presents the most forcible illustration of the overruling power on human +life and destiny. + +It was the political change of faith on the part of Fabrizio Colonna +that initiated an unforeseen and undreamed-of drama of life for his +infant daughter, the first act of which included the command of the King +of Naples that the little Vittoria should be betrothed to Francesco +d'Avalos, the son of Alphonso, Marchese di Pescara, of Ischia, one of +the nobles who stood nearest to the king in those troubled days. +Francesco was born in the castle on Ischia in 1489, and was one year +older than Vittoria. Fabrizio exchanged his castle at Marino for one in +Naples, which city made him the Grand Constable. The d'Avalos castle in +Ischia had at this time for its chatelaine the Duchessa di Francavilla, +who is said by some authorities to have been the elder sister and by +others to have been the aunt of Francesco. Donna Constanza d'Avalos, +later the Duchessa di Francavilla, had been made the Castellana of the +island for her courage in refusing to capitulate to the French troops +when, after the death of her father, she was left in sole charge of the +d'Avalos estates, and Emperor Charles V elevated her rank to that of +Principessa. The Duchessa was one of the most remarkable women of the +day. She was a classical scholar, and herself a writer, the author of a +book entitled "_Degli Infortuni e Travagli del Mondo_." To the care of +this learned and brilliant woman, a great lady in the social life of the +time, the care of the little Vittoria was committed, and she studied and +played and grew up with Francesco, her future husband. The d'Avalos +family ranked among the highest nobility of the Court of Naples, and the +Principessa reigned as a queen of letters and society in her island +kingdom. It was under her care that the two children, Francesco and +Vittoria, pursued their studies together and acquired every grace of +scholarship and accomplishment of society. The circles which the +Duchessa drew around her included many gentlewomen from Sicily and from +Naples; and "the life at Castel d'Ischia was synonymous with everything +glorious and elegant," recorded Visconti, "and its fame has been +immortalized." Although Francesco (the future Marchese di Pescara) was +born in Italian dominions, yet the d'Avalos family were of Spanish +ancestry and traditions. The musical Castilian was the language of the +household. The race ideals of Spain--the poetic, the impassioned, the +joy in color and movement--pervaded the very atmosphere of Castel +d'Ischia. Vittoria's earliest girlhood revealed her exceptional beauty +and charm, and gave evidence that the gods loved her and had dowered her +with their immortal gifts and genius, which flowered, under the +sympathetic guidance and stimulus of such a woman as the Principessa +(the Duchessa di Francavilla) and the society she drew around her, as +the orange and the myrtle flower under the southern sunshine. + +The literature of biography presents no chapter that can rival this in +the idyllic beauty of the lives of those two children on the lovely +island in the violet sea. The perpetual conflicts that were waged in +both Rome and Naples awakened no echoes in this romantic and isolated +spot, whose atmosphere was that of the peace of scholarly pursuits and +lofty thought that is found where the arts and the muses hold their +sway. + +But in 1496 came the tragedy of the death of the young king and queen of +Naples; four years later Rome celebrated a jubilee in which Naples took +part, sending a splendid procession as escort to the famous Madonna that +was carried from Naples to Rome and back, working miracles, it is said, +on both journeys, as a Madonna should. A year later Frederick of Naples +and the queen, and two of the king's sisters,--ladies of high +nobility,--came as guests to the castle in Ischia,--royal exiles seeking +shelter. Five years later the new king and queen were welcomed with +gorgeous parade and acclamation. A pier was thrown out over one hundred +feet into the sea; on this a tent of gold was erected, and all the +nobility of Naples, in the richest costumes of velvet and jewels, +thronged to meet the royal guests. Over the sunlit Bay of Naples +resounded the thunder of the guns in military salute and the cheers of +the people. Among the distinguished nobility present, Costanza, Duchessa +and Principessa di Francavilla, was a marked figure with her young +charge, Vittoria Colonna, at her side. She made a deep reverence and +kissed the hand of the king as he passed, as did many of the ladies of +highest rank, and at the fête of that evening Vittoria's beauty charmed +all eyes. Although it was well understood that she had been betrothed +since childhood to Francesco d'Avalos, yet many princes and nobles sued +for her hand and were refused by her father, who was at this time +established magnificently in Naples. Pope Julius II refused the +pleadings of two dukes, both of whom wished to seek Vittoria in +marriage, as he considered the love of the young girl for her betrothed +a matter to be held sacred. Three years later, when Vittoria was +nineteen and Francesco twenty, their marriage was celebrated in Castel +d'Ischia with the richest state and beauty of ceremonial observance. A +few months previous to this time she had returned to her father's +country home in the family castle at Marino, whither both Fabrizio +and Agnese Colonna accompanied their daughter. When the time appointed +for her bridal came, Vittoria was escorted to Ischia by princes, and +dukes, and ladies of honor, and the marriage gifts to the bride included +a chain of rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, linked with gold; a writing +desk of solid gold; wonderful bracelets; costumes of velvets, and +brocades and rich embroideries, and a portion of fourteen thousand +ducats. + + [Illustration: LA ROCCA, ISCHIA + _Page 294_] + +"The noted pair had not their equals in Italy at this time," writes a +contemporary historian. "Their life in Naples was all magnificence and +festivity, and when they desired to exchange it for the country they +left Naples for Pietralba on Monte Emo, where they assembled pleasant +parties of ladies and gentlemen. Much time was passed in their beloved +Ischia, where the Duchessa, as Castellana, was obliged to receive much +company. And here were found the flower of chivalry and the men most +noted in letters.... They listened to the poets Sanazzaro, il Rota, and +Bernardo Tasso; or they heard the admirable discourses on letters of +Musefico, il Giovio, and il Minturno. It was an agreeable school for the +youthful minds of Vittoria and Pescara. Thus passed in great happiness +the first three years of their married life." + +It is not strange that to the young Marchesa di Pescara, Ischia had +become an enchanted island. The scene of her happy childhood, of her +studies, of her first efforts in lyric art, of her stately and +resplendent bridal; the home, too, of her early married life,--it is +little wonder that in after years she translated into song its scenic +loveliness and the thoughts and visions it had inspired. + +Again, the ever-recurring war came on, and in the spring of 1512 the +King of Naples conferred the doubtful privilege on the Marchesa di +Pescara of serving as the royal representative. It is said that Vittoria +personally superintended her young husband's outfit,--in horses, +attendants, armor, and other details belonging to a gentleman of rank. +Her father and her uncle, Prospero Colonna, were also among the military +who led Italian troops. In the terrible battle of Ravenna (which was +fought on the Easter Sunday, April 11, of 1512), Pescara was wounded, +taken prisoner, and carried to the fortress of Porta Gobbia. A messenger +was sent to Ischia, where Vittoria lived between her books and the +orange groves; and the twentieth-century cynic of 1907 will smile at the +form in which she expressed her sorrow,--that of a poem of some forty +stanzas, which began:-- + + "_Eccelso Mio Signor! Questa ti scrivo + Per te narrar tra quante dubbie voglie, + Fra quanti aspri martir, dogliosa io vivo!_" + +A translation of this lyric epistle, made in prose, gives it more fully +as follows:-- + + "Eccelso Mio Signor: I write this to thee to tell thee amid what + bitter anxieties I live.... I believed that so many prayers and + tears, and love without measure, would not have been displeasing to + God.... Thy great valor has shone as in a Hector or an Achilles." + +In this letter Vittoria tells him that when the messenger reached her, +she was lying on a point of the island ("_I_, in the _body_, my _mind_ +always with _thee_," she says), and that the whole atmosphere had been +to her that day "like a cavern of black fog," and that "the marine gods +seemed to say to Ischia, 'To-day, Vittoria, thou shalt hear of disgrace +from the confines: thou now in health and honor, thou shalt be turned +to grief; but thy father and husband are saved, though taken +prisoners.'" + +This presentiment she related to her husband's aunt, the Duchessa +Francavilla, the Castellana of Ischia, who begged her not to think of it +and said, "It would be strange for such a force to be conquered." + +Just after this conversation between the youthful Marchesa and the +Duchessa, the messenger arrived. The psychic science of to-day would see +in this occurrence a striking instance of telepathy. In her poetic +epistle to her husband, Vittoria also says:-- + + "A wife ought to follow her husband at home and abroad; if he + suffers trouble, she suffers; if he is happy, she is; if he dies, + she dies. What happens to one happens to both; equals in life, they + are equals in death. His fate is her fate." + +These letters--in keeping with the times--were, on both sides, expressed +in literary rather than in personal form. Pescara, from his captivity, +wrote to her a "Dialogue on Love,"--a manuscript for which Visconti +notes that he has searched in vain. + +The Marchesa di Pescara went from Ischia to Naples, after learning of +the misfortunes that had overtaken her husband, in order that she might +be able constantly to receive direct communication regarding his fate. A +few months later the Marchese returned, making the day "brilliant with +joy" to Vittoria, but after a year of happiness he was again called to +service, and the Marchesa returned to her beloved Ischia. She gave +herself to the study of the ancient classics; she wrote poems, and +"considered no time of value but so spent," says Rota. The age was one +of a general revival of learning. Royalty, the Pope, the princes and +nobility were all giving themselves with ardor to this higher culture. +Under Dante the Italian language assumed new perfection. This period was +to Vittoria one of intense stimulus, and it must have had a formative +influence on her gifts and her mental power. Having no children, she +adopted a young cousin of her husband, the Marchese del Vasto, to +educate and to be the heir of their estates. In 1515, Pescara again +returned and the entire island of Ischia was "aflame with bonfires, and +the borders of the beautiful shore bright and warm with lights," in +honor of the event. Of this event, Vittoria wrote:-- + + "... My beloved returns to us ... his countenance radiant with + piety to God, with deeds born of inward faith." + +At a magnificent wedding festival in the d'Avalos family about this +time, it is recorded that the Marchesa di Pescara "wore a robe of +brocaded crimson velvet, with large branches of beaten gold wrought on +it, with a headdress of wrought gold and a girdle of beaten gold around +her waist." + +When the coronation of Charles V was to be celebrated at Aix-la-Chapelle +the Marchese di Pescara was appointed ambassador to represent the House +of Aragon on this brilliant occasion, when the new emperor was to be +invested with the crown and the sceptre of Charlemagne. Charles had +decided to journey by sea and to visit Henry VIII on the way, an +arrangement of which Cardinal Wolsey was aware, although he had kept +Henry in ignorance of it, according to those curious mental processes +of his mind where his young monarch was concerned. Shakespeare, in the +play of "King Henry VIII," describes the meeting of the two kings, which +occurred at Canterbury, "at a grand jubilee in honor of the shrine of +Thomas à Becket." One historian thus describes this scene:-- + + "The two handsome young sovereigns rode into Canterbury under the + same canopy, the great Cardinal riding directly in front of them, + and on the right and left were the proud nobles of Spain and + England, among whom was Pescara. The kings alighted from their + horses at the west door of the cathedral and together paid their + devotions before that rich shrine blazing with jewels. They humbly + knelt on the steps worn by the knees of tens of thousands of + pilgrims." + +On the return to Naples of the Marchese di Pescara he told the story of +his regal journey to an assemblage of nobles in the Church of Santa +Maria di Monte Oliveto, and he then joined the Marchesa in Rome, where +she had gone to visit her family and to pay her devotions to Leo X, who +had just created Pompeo Colonna a cardinal. + +Pope Leo aspired to draw around him a court distinguished for its +culture and brilliancy in both art and literature. In this court the +Marchesa di Pescara shone resplendent. "She was at the height of her +beauty, and her charms were sung by the poets of the day," says a +contemporary. + +A year later Leo X died, succeeded by Adrian (who had been tutor to +Charles V), to the intense and bitter disappointment of Cardinal Wolsey, +who had made the widest--and wiliest--efforts to gratify his own +ambition of reigning in the Papal chair. Again the war between France +and Italy, that which seemed to be a perpetually smouldering feud, and +the Marchese di Pescara, again summoned to battle, was wounded at Pavia. +For some time he lay between life and death at Milan, and a messenger +was sent to beg Vittoria to come to him. She set out on this journey, +leaving Naples in great haste; but on reaching Viterbo another messenger +met her with the tidings of the death of the Marchese, which had +occurred on Nov. 25, 1525. Overcome with grief, Vittoria was carried +back to Rome and for the solace of entire seclusion she sought the +cloistered silence of the convent of San Silvestre, which lay at the +foot of the Monte Cavallo in Rome, almost adjoining the gardens of the +Colonna palace. To the Marchese di Pescara, who had the military rank of +general, was given a funeral of great pomp and splendor in Milan, and +his body was brought to the famous Naples church of Santa Domenica +Maggiore, where it was entombed with the princes and nobles of his +house. + +Before the death of the Marchese there had been a political plot to join +the Papal, Venetian, and Milanese forces and rescue Italy from the +Emperor's rule, and the Pope himself had sent a messenger to Pescara +asking him to unite with the league. The Marchese, Spanish by ancestry +and by sympathies, used this knowledge to frustrate the Italian designs +and to warn Spain. The Italian historians have execrated him for this +act, which they regard as that of a traitor. Vittoria, however, did not +take this view apparently, as in a letter to her husband she wrote:-- + + "Titles and kingdoms do not add to true honor.... I do not desire + to be the wife of a king, but I glory in being the wife of that + great general who shows his bravery in war and, still more, by + magnanimity in peace, surpasses the greatest kings." + +The inducement of the throne of Naples had been held out to Marchese di +Pescara. He evidently regarded this in the nature of a dishonorable +bribe, and it is this view which the Marchesa plainly shared. + +After his death her first impulse was to take the vows of a cloistered +nun. The Pope himself intervened to dissuade her, and she consented to +enter, only temporarily, the convent of San Silvestre on the Monte +Cavallo. + +In the will of the Marchese di Pescara there was a clause directing that +anything in his estate unlawfully acquired should be restored to the +owner; and under this, Vittoria gave back to the monastery of Monte +Cassino the Monte San Magno that had formerly been its property. + +From the cloistered shades of the convent Vittoria removed to the family +castle of the Colonna at Marino, where, on the shore of this beautiful +lake (which was the scenery of Virgil's Æneid), she passed some months, +engaged in writing sonnets. Of one of these a translation runs in +part:-- + + "I write solely to assuage my inward grief, which destroys in my + heart the light of this world's sun; and not to add light to _mio + bel sole_, to his glorified spirit. It is fit that other tongues + should preserve his great name from oblivion." + +In another, perhaps her most perfect sonnet, she beseeches the winds to +convey to her beloved the message she sends:-- + + "_Ch'io di lui sempre pensi; o pianga, o parli_,"--That I always + think of him, or weep for him, or speak of him. + +Again, a year later, Vittoria returned to lovely Ischia, which, as one +writer has described, "rises out of the blue billows of the +Mediterranean like giant towers. The immense blocks of stone are heaped +one upon another, in such a supernatural manner as to give a coloring to +the legend, that beneath them, in those vast volcanic caverns, dwells +the giant Tifeo." The castle where the Duchessa Francavilla and the +Marchesa Pescara lived is built on a towering mass of rock joined to the +island by a causeway. The castle includes the palace, a church, and +other buildings for the family and their guests and dependants. + +For some three years the Marchesa did not again leave Ischia. In the +mean time volumes of her poems were published. She received the +acclamation of all the writers of her time. The crown of immortelles, +often laid but on a tomb, was continually pressed upon her brow. She was +the most famous woman of her time. Her beauty, her genius, her noble +majesty of character impressed the contemporary world. Her days were +filled with correspondence with the most distinguished men of the day. +Ariosto, Castiglione, Ludovico Dolce, Cardinal Bembo, Cardinal +Contarini, and Paolo Giovio were among her nearer circle of friends. + + [Illustration: CASTELLO DI ALFONSO, ISCHIA + _Page 306_] + +Stormy times fell upon Italy, in all of which the Colonna family bore +prominent part, and all of which affected the life of Vittoria Colonna +in many ways. Her biography, if written with fulness and accuracy, would +be largely a history of the Italy of that time, for her life seemed +always inseparably united with great events. + +In the year 1530 (Clement VII being the Pope) a full Papal pardon had +been extended to all the Colonna, and their castles and estates had also +been restored to them. For years past Rome had been in a state of +conflict. Benvenuto Cellini, who had watched the terrible scenes from +Castel San Angelo where he was immured, has described the terrors. The +Eternal City, whose population under Leo X had been 90,000, was now--in +1530--reduced to half that number. Palaces and temples had been the +scenes of riot and destruction, yet to this very lawlessness of the time +the Roman galleries of the present owe their ancient statues, which were +uncovered by these assaults. The Coliseum was left in the ruined state +in which it is now seen, and by the sale of the stones taken from it the +Palazzo Barberini was erected. + +Vittoria, coming again to Rome and revisiting its classic greatness, +exclaimed that happy were they who lived in times so full of grandeur; +to which the poet Molza gallantly replied that they were less happy, as +they had not known her! Everywhere was she received with the highest +honors. She made a tour, visiting Bagni di Lucca, Bologna, and Ferrara, +where she was the guest of the Duca and Duchessa Ercole in the ducal +palace. The Duchessa was the Princesse Renée, the daughter of Louis XII +of France, and an ardent friend of Calvin, who visited her in Ferrara. +It was to this visit that Longfellow refers in his poem entitled +"Michael Angelo," when he pictures Vittoria as sitting for her portrait +to the artist and conversing with her friend Giulia, the Duchess of +Trajetto, Michael Angelo begs them to resume the conversation +interrupted by his entrance, and Vittoria says:-- + + "Well, first, then, of Duke Ercole, a man + Cold in his manners, and reserved and silent, + And yet magnificent in all his ways." + +To which the Duchessa replies:-- + + "How could the daughter of a king of France + Wed such a duke?" + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "The men that women marry, + And why they marry them, will always be + A marvel and a mystery to the world." + + VITTORIA. + + "And then the Duchess,--how shall I describe her, + Or tell the merits of that happy nature + Which pleases most when least it thinks of pleasing? + Not beautiful, perhaps, in form and feature, + Yet with an inward beauty, that shines through + Each look and attitude and word and gesture; + A kindly grace of manner and behavior, + A something in her presence and her ways + That makes her beautiful beyond the reach + Of mere external beauty; and in heart + So noble and devoted to the truth, + And so in sympathy with all who strive + After the higher life." + + JULIA. + + "She draws me to her + As much as her Duke Ercole repels me." + + VITTORIA. + + "Then the devout and honorable women + That grace her court, and make it good to be there; + Francesca Bucyronia, the true-hearted, + Lavinia della Rovere and the Orsini, + The Magdalena and the Cherubina, + And Anne de Parthenai, who sings so sweetly; + All lovely women, full of noble thoughts + And aspirations after noble things. + + * * * * * + + With these ladies + Was a young girl, Olympia Morata, + Daughter of Fulvio, the learned scholar, + Famous in all the universities: + A marvellous child, who at the spinning-wheel, + And in the daily round of household cares, + Hath learned both Greek and Latin; and is now + A favorite of the Duchess and companion + Of Princess Anne. This beautiful young Sappho + Sometimes recited to us Grecian odes + That she had written, with a voice whose sadness + Thrilled and o'ermastered me, and made me look + Into the future time, and ask myself + What destiny will be hers." + + JULIA. + + "And what poets + Were there to sing you madrigals, and praise + Olympia's eyes?" ... + + VITTORIA. + + "None; for great Ariosto is no more." + + * * * * * + + JULIA. + + "He spake of you." + + VITTORIA. + + "And of yourself, no less, + And of our master, Michael Angelo." + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "Of me?" + + VITTORIA. + + "Have you forgotten that he calls you + Michael, less man than angel, and divine? + You are ungrateful." + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "A mere play on words." + +The Duca and Duchessa of Ferrara invited the most distinguished persons +in Venice and Bologna and Lombardy to meet their honored guest. Bishop +Ghiberto of Verona besought her to visit that city. Vittoria accepted +and was for some time the Bishop's guest in his palace, and she took +great interest in the historic city. With the Bishop she visited the +ancient Duomo, which in 1160 had been restored by Pope Urban II, and +reconsecrated. It was a strong desire of the Marchesa at this time to +make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; but the journey was then so perilous and +so long--none too easy, indeed, at the present time--that she was +dissuaded from the attempt. + +Verona, to do her honor, had a medal struck bearing her portrait. The +group of great artists--Titian, Tintoretto, and Giorgione in Venice; Fra +Angelico, Bartolommeo, and others of that day--were creating their +wonderful works which Vittoria must have seen and enjoyed during this +tour. Raphael, whose death had occurred in 1520, Vittoria had, +doubtless, known; but whether it was she who was the original of the +Muse in his great picture of "Parnassus," as is alleged, is not fully +established. + + [Illustration: DETAIL FROM "PARNASSUS," RAPHAEL STANZE, + PALAZZO VATICANO, ROME + Raphael Sanzio + _Page 311_] + + "Unto my buried lord I give myself," + +wrote Vittoria Colonna in one of the sonnets to her husband's memory, +and this line is the keynote to her entire life, both as woman and poet. +It was no translation of her life into another key, no reckoning by +stars that flashed from different skies, when there fell upon her the +baptism and crown of that immortal friendship with Michael Angelo. + +The Marchesa di Pescara returned to Rome, from this notable tour in +Northern Italy, in 1538. She was received with the honors that her fame +inspired. Michael Angelo was then deeply absorbed in painting his "Last +Judgment," in the Capella Sistina. + +"Every one in Rome took an interest in the progress of this magnificent +fresco, from the Pope (who continually visited the artist) down to the +humblest of the people. We may imagine Vittoria standing by the great +painter to view his sublime work; but Michael Angelo did not require the +patronage, even of a Colonna, and it is possible that Vittoria herself +first sought out his friendship." + +In the Casa Buonarroti, in Florence, hangs that exquisite picture +painted of Italy's greatest woman poet, in her early youth; and in its +rare and precious collection of manuscripts are the letters of Vittoria +to the poet and sculptor. Her influence is said to have produced a great +change in his religious views, influencing his mind to a more lofty and +more spiritual comprehension of the divine laws that govern the +universe. + +Condivi, in referring to this chapter in their lives, has said:-- + + "In particular he was most deeply attached to the Marchesa di + Pescara, of whose divine spirit he was enamoured, and he was + beloved by her in return with much affection." + +It was about 1535 when Michael Angelo left Florence for Rome, appointed +by the Pope, Paul III, as the chief architect, sculptor, and painter of +the Vatican. He was enrolled in the Pontifical household, and he at once +began his work in the Sistine Chapel. Mr. Symonds believes that he must +have been engaged upon the "Last Judgment" through 1536, 1537. The great +artist was not without a keen wit of his own as well; for on receipt of +a letter from Pietro Aretino, from Venice, in September of 1537, with +praises of his work that Michael Angelo deemed extravagant, he replied +that while he rejoiced in Aretino's commendation, he also grieved; "as +having finished a large part of the fresco," he said, "I cannot realize +your conception which is so complete that if the Day of Judgment had +come and you had been present and seen it with your eyes, your words +could not have described it better." + +Vittoria Colonna now passed some years between Rome and Orvieto, that +picturesque town with its magnificent cathedral rich in mediæval art, +where she lived in the convent of St. Paolo d'Orvieto. She varied this +residence by remaining at times in the convent of San Caterina di +Viterbo, in that city. In Rome she had lived both at the convent of +Santa Anna and also at the Palazzo Cesarini, which was the home of +members of the Colonna family. A sonnet of Michael Angelo's written to +Vittoria reflects the feeling that she inspired in him:-- + + "Da che concetto ha l'arte intera e diva + La forma e gli atti d'alcun, poi di quello + D'umil materia un semplice modello + È 'l primo parto che da quel deriva. + Ma nel secondo poi di pietra viva + S'adempion le promesse del martello; + E sì rinasce tal concetto e bello, + Che ma' non è chi suo eterno prescriva. + Simil, di me model, nacqu'io da prima; + Di me model, per cosa più perfetta + Da voi rinascer poi, donna alta e degna. + Se 'l poco accresce, 'l mio superchio lima + Vostra pietà; qual penitenzia aspetta + Mio fiero ardor, se mi gastiga e insegna?" + +Of this sonnet the following beautiful translation is made by John +Addington Symonds:-- + + "When divine Art conceives a form and face, + She bids the craftsman for his first essay + To shape a simple model in mere clay: + This is the earliest birth of Art's embrace. + From the live marble in the second place + His mallet brings into the light of day + A thing so beautiful that who can say + When time shall conquer that immortal grace? + Thus my own model I was born to be-- + The model of that nobler self, whereto + Schooled by your pity, lady, I shall grow. + Each overplus and each deficiency + You will make good. What penance then is due + For my fierce heat, chastened and taught by you?" + +The correspondence between Vittoria and Michael Angelo was undated, and +all that now remains is fragmentary. + +The great artist, writing to his nephew, Sionardo, in 1554, says:-- + + "Messer Giovan Francisco Fattucci asked me about a month ago if I + possessed any writings of the marchioness. I have a little book + bound in parchment which she gave me some ten years ago. It has one + hundred and three sonnets, not counting another forty she afterward + sent on paper from Viterbo. I had these bound into the same book, + and at that time I used to lend them about to many persons so that + they are all of them now in print. In addition to these poems I + have many letters which she wrote from Orvieto and Viterbo. These, + then, are the writings I possess of the marchioness." + +In Rome, 1545, Michael Angelo thus writes to Vittoria:-- + + "I desired, lady, before I accepted the things which your ladyship + has often expressed the will to give me--I desired to produce + something for you with my own hand in order to be as little as + possible unworthy of this kindness. I have now come to recognize + that the grace of God is not to be bought, and that to keep it + waiting is a grievous sin. Therefore I acknowledge my error and + willingly accept your favors. When I possess them--not, indeed, + because I shall have them in my house, but for that I myself shall + dwell in them--the place will seem to encircle me with paradise. + For which felicity I shall remain ever more obliged to your + ladyship than I am already, if that is possible. + + "The bearer of this letter will be Urbino, who lives in my service. + Your ladyship may inform him when you would like me to come and see + the head you promised to show me." + +With this letter Michael Angelo sent to Vittoria a sonnet which, in the +translation made by John Addington Symonds, is as follows:-- + + "Seeking at least to be not all unfit + For thy sublime and boundless courtesy, + My lowly thoughts at first were fain to try + What they could yield for grace so infinite. + But now I know my unassisted wit + Is all too weak to make me soar so high, + For pardon, lady, for this fault I cry, + And wiser still I grow remembering it. + Yea, will I see what folly 't were to think + That largess dropped from thee like dews from heaven, + Could e'er be paid by work so frail as mine! + To nothingness my art and talent sink; + He fails who from his mental stores hath given + A thousandfold to match one gift divine." + +As a gift to Vittoria Colonna, Michael Angelo designed an episode from +the Passion of our Lord, which Condivi describes as "a naked Christ at +the moment when, taken from the cross, our Lord would have fallen at the +feet of His most holy mother if two angels did not support Him in their +arms. She sits below the cross with a face full of tears and sorrow, +lifting both her widespread arms to heaven while on the stem of the tree +above is written this legend: '_Non vi si pensa quanto sangue costa._' +The cross is of the same kind as that which was carried by the White +Friars at the time of the plague of 1348, and afterward deposited in the +Church of Santa Croce at Florence." + +In presenting this cross to her he wrote:-- + + "Lady Marchioness, being myself in Rome, I thought it hardly + fitting to give the Crucified Christ to Messer Tommaso, and to make + him an intermediary between your ladyship and me, especially + because it has been my earnest wish to perform more for you than + for any one I ever knew upon the world. But absorbing occupations, + which still engage me, have prevented my informing your ladyship of + this. Moreover, knowing that you know love needs no taskmaster, and + that he who loves doth not sleep, I thought the less of using + go-betweens. And though I seemed to have forgotten, I was doing + what I did not talk about, in order to effect a thing that was not + looked for, my purpose has been spoiled. He sins who faith like + this so soon forgets." + + [Illustration: VITTORIA COLONNA, GALLERIA BUONARROTI, FLORENCE + _Page 312_] + +In reply Vittoria Colonna wrote:-- + + "Unique Master Angelo and my most singular friend: I have received + your letter and examined the crucifix which truly hath crucified in + my memory every other picture I ever saw. Nowhere could one find + another figure of our Lord so well executed, so living, and so + exquisitely finished. I cannot express in words how subtly and + marvellously it is designed. Wherefore I am resolved to take the + work as coming from no other hand but yours.... I have examined it + minutely in full light and by the lens and mirror, and never saw + anything more perfect." + +She added:-- + + "... Your works forcibly stimulate the judgment of all who would + look at them. My study of them made me speak of adding goodness to + things perfect in themselves, and I have seen now that 'all is + possible to him who believes.' I had the greatest faith in God that + He would bestow upon you supernatural grace for the making of this + Christ. When I came to examine it I found it so marvellous that it + surpasses all my expectations. Wherefore, emboldened by your + miracles I conceived a great desire for that which I now see + marvellously accomplished: I mean that the design is in all parts + perfect and consummate. I tell you that I am pleased that the angel + on the right hand is by far the fairer, since Michael will place + you, with all angels, upon the right hand of the Lord some day. + Meanwhile I do not know how else to serve you, than by making + orisons to this sweet Christ, whom you have drawn so well and + exquisitely, and praying you to hold me yours to command as yours + in all and for all." + +Again Vittoria wrote to him:-- + + "I beg you to let me have the crucifix a short while in my keeping, + even though it be unfinished. I want to show it to some gentlemen + who have come from the most reverend, the Cardinal of Mantua. If + you are not working will you not come at your leisure to-day and + talk with me?" + +It is an interesting fact to the visitor in the Rome of to-day that the +convent of San Silvestre where Vittoria Colonna lived was attached to +the church of San Silvestre in Capite, now used as the English-speaking +Catholic church in the Eternal City. The wing which was formerly the +convent (founded in 1318) is now converted into the central post office. + +It was in the sacristy of San Silvestre, decorated with frescoes by +Domenichino, that a memorable meeting and conversation took place, one +Sunday afternoon in those far-away days of nearly five hundred years +ago, between Michael Angelo and Francesco d'Ollanda, a Spanish miniature +artist,--the meeting brought about by Vittoria Colonna. The Spanish +artist was a worshipper of Michael Angelo, who "awakened such a feeling +of love," that if d'Ollanda met him in the street "the stars would come +out in the sky," he says, "before I would let him go again." This +fervent worship was hardly enjoyed by its object, who avoided the +Spanish enthusiast. One Sunday, however, d'Ollanda had gone to San +Silvestre finding there Tolomei, to whom he was also devoted, and +Vittoria Colonna, both of whom had gone to hear the celebrated Fra +Ambrosia of Siena expound the Epistles of St. Paul. The Marchesa di +Pescara observed that she felt sure their Spanish friend would far +rather hear Michael Angelo discuss painting than to hear Fra Ambrosia on +the wisdom of St. Paul. Summoning an attendant she directed him to find +Michael Angelo and tell him how cool and delightful was the church that +morning and to beg him to join Messer Tolomei and herself; but to make +no mention of the presence of d'Ollanda. Her woman's tact and her +faultless courtesy were successful in procuring this inestimable +privilege for the Spanish painter. Michael Angelo came, and began the +conversation--which was a monologue, rather, as all three of the friends +wished only to listen to the master--by defending artists from the +charge of eccentric and difficult methods. With somewhat startling +candor Michael Angelo proceeded:-- + + "I dare affirm that any artist who tries to satisfy the better + vulgar rather than men of his own craft will never become a + superior talent. For my part, I am bound to confess that even his + Holiness wearies and annoys me by begging for too much of my + company. I am most anxious to serve him, ... but I think I can do + so better by studying at home than by dancing attendance on my legs + in his reception room." + +Another meeting of this little group was appointed for the next Sunday +in the Colonna gardens behind the convent, under the shadow of the +laurel trees in the air fragrant with roses and orange blossoms, where +they sat with Rome spread out like a picture at their feet. That +beautiful terrace of the Colonna gardens, to which the visitor in Rome +to-day always makes his pilgrimage, with the ruined statues and the +broken marble flights of steps, is the scene of this meeting of Vittoria +Colonna, Michael Angelo, and Francesco d'Ollanda. On this second +occasion the sculptor asserted his belief that while all things are +worthy the artist's attention, the real test of his art is in the +representation of the human form. He extolled the art of design. He +emphasized the essential nature of nobleness in the artist, and added:-- + + "In order to represent in some degree the adored image of our Lord, + it is not enough that a master should be great and able. I maintain + that he must also be a man of good conduct and morals, if possible + a saint, in order that the Holy Ghost may rain down inspiration on + his understanding." + +Of the relative degree of swiftness in work Michael Angelo said:-- + + "We must regard it as a special gift from God to be able to do that + in a few hours which other men can only perform in many days of + labor. But should this rapidity cause a man to fail in his best + realization it would be better to proceed slowly. No artist should + allow his eagerness to hinder him from the supreme end of + art--perfection." + +Mr. Longfellow, in his unfinished dramatic poem, "Michael Angelo" (to +which reference has already been made), has one scene laid in the +convent chapel of San Silvestre, in which these passages occur:-- + + VITTORIA. + + "Here let us rest awhile, until the crowd + Has left the church. I have already sent + For Michael Angelo to join us here." + + MESSER CLAUDIO. + + "After Fra Bernardino's wise discourse + On the Pauline Epistles, certainly + Some words of Michael Angelo on Art + Were not amiss, to bring us back to earth." + + * * * * * + + MICHAEL ANGELO, _at the door_. + + "How like a Saint or Goddess she appears! + Diana or Madonna, which I know not, + In attitude and aspect formed to be + At once the artist's worship and despair!" + + VITTORIA. + + "Welcome, Maestro. We were waiting for you." + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "I met your messenger upon the way. + And hastened hither." + + VITTORIA. + + "It is kind of you + To come to us, who linger here like gossips + Wasting the afternoon in idle talk. + These are all friends of mine and friends of yours." + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "If friends of yours, then are they friends of mine. + Pardon me, gentlemen. But when I entered + I saw but the Marchesa." + +Vittoria tells the master that the Pope has granted her permission to +build a convent, and Michael Angelo replies:-- + + "Ah, to build, to build! + That is the noblest art of all the arts. + Painting and sculpture are but images, + Are merely shadows cast by outward things + On stone or canvas, having in themselves + No separate existence. Architecture, + Existing in itself, and not in seeming + A something it is not, surpasses them + As substance shadow.... + + ... Yet he beholds + Far nobler works who looks upon the ruins + Of temples in the Forum here in Rome. + If God should give me power in my old age + To build for Him a temple half as grand + As those were in their glory, I should count + My age more excellent than youth itself, + And all that I have hitherto accomplished + As only vanity." + +To which Vittoria responds:-- + + "I understand you. + Art is the gift of God, and must be used + Unto His glory. That in art is highest + Which aims at this." + +The poet, with his characteristically delicate divination, has entered +into the inner spirit of these two immortal friends. + +Walter Pater, writing of Michael Angelo, truly says:-- + + "Michael Angelo is always pressing forward from the outward + beauty--_il bel del fuor che agli occhi piace_--to apprehend the + unseen beauty; _trascenda nella forma universale_--that abstract + form of beauty about which the Platonists reason. And this gives + the impression in him of something flitting and unfixed, of the + houseless and complaining spirit, almost clairvoyant through the + frail and yielding flesh." + +Again we find Pater saying:-- + + "Though it is quite possible that Michael Angelo had seen Vittoria, + that somewhat shadowy figure, as early as 1537, yet their closer + intimacy did not begin till about the year 1542, when Michael + Angelo was nearly seventy years old. Vittoria herself, an ardent + Neo-Catholic, vowed to perpetual widowhood since the news had + reached her, seventeen years before, that her husband, the youthful + and princely Marquess of Pescara, lay dead of the wounds he had + received in the battle of Pavia, was then no longer an object of + great passion. In a dialogue written by the painter, Francesco + d'Ollanda, we catch a glimpse of them together in an empty church + at Rome, one Sunday afternoon, discussing indeed the + characteristics of various schools of art, but still more the + writings of St. Paul, already following the ways and tasting the + sunless pleasures of weary people, whose hold on outward things is + slackening. In a letter still extant he regrets that when he + visited her after death he had kissed her hands only. He made, or + set to work to make, a crucifix for her use, and two drawings, + perhaps in preparation for it, are now in Oxford.... In many ways + no sentiment could have been less like Dante's love for Beatrice + than Michael Angelo's for Vittoria Colonna. Dante's comes in early + youth; Beatrice is a child, with the wistful, ambiguous vision of a + child, with a character still unaccentuated by the influence of + outward circumstances, almost expressionless. Vittoria is a woman + already weary, in advanced age, of grave intellectual qualities. + Dante's story is a piece of figured work inlaid with lovely + incidents. In Michael Angelo's poems frost and fire are almost the + only images--the refining fire of the goldsmith; once or twice the + phoenix; ice melting at the fire; fire struck from the rock which + it afterwards consumes." + +Visconti notes that among Italian poets, Vittoria Colonna was the first +to make religion a subject of poetic treatment, and the first to +introduce nature's ministry to man into poetry. Rota, her Italian +biographer, states that she died in February of 1547, in the Palazzo +Cesarini. This palace is in Genzano, on Lago di Nemi, and has been one +of the Colonna estates; but from Visconti and other authorities it is +evident that she died in Rome, either in the convent of Santa Anna or in +the palace of Cesarini, the husband of her kinswoman, Giulio Colonna, +which must have been near the convent in Trastevere, the old portion of +Rome across the Tiber. Visconti records that on the last evening of her +life when Michael Angelo was beside her, she said: "I die. Help me to +repeat my last prayer. I do not now remember the words." He clasped her +hand and repeated it to her, while her own lips moved, she gazed +intently on him, smiled and passed away. This translation has been made +of Vittoria Colonna's last prayer:-- + + "Grant, I beseech Thee, O Lord, that I may ever worship Thee with + such humility of mind as becometh my lowliness and such elevation + of mind as Thy loftiness demandeth.... I entreat, O Most Holy + Father, that Thy most living flame may so urge me forward that, not + being hindered by any mortal imperfections, I may happily and + safely again return to Thee." + +It is recorded by an authority that her body, "enclosed in a casket of +cypress wood, lined with embroidered velvet," was placed in the chapel +of Santa Anna which has since been destroyed. Visconti says: "She +desired, with Christian humility, to be buried in the manner in which +the sisters were buried when they died. And, as I suppose, her body was +placed in the common sepulchre of the nuns of Santa Anna." Grimm +declares that he cannot discover the place of her burial, and Visconti +declares that her tomb remains unknown. + +But it is apparently a fact that the body of Vittoria Colonna is +entombed in the sacristy of Santa Domenica Maggiore in Naples, the +sarcophagus containing it resting by the side of the one containing the +body of her husband, Francesco d'Avalos, Marchese of Pescara. This +church is one of the finest in Naples, with twenty-seven chapels and +twelve altars, and it is here that nearly all the great nobles of the +kingdom of Naples are entombed. Here is the tomb of the learned Thomas +Aquinas and here is shown, in relief, the miracle of the crucifix by +Tommaso de Stefani, which--as the legend runs--thus addressed the +learned doctor:-- + +"_Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem recipies?_" + +To which he replied: "_Non aliam nisi te._" + +It is in the sacristy in which lie all the Princes of the House of +Aragon that the sarcophagi of the Marchese and the Marchesa di Pescara +are placed side by side in the high gallery near the ceiling. The altar +has a fine Annunciation ascribed to Andrea da Salerno. The ceiling +(whose coloring is as fresh and vivid as if painted yesterday) is by +Solimena. Around the walls near the ceiling are two balconies or +galleries, filled with very large wooden sarcophagi, whose scarlet +velvet covers have faded into yellow browns with pink shades, many of +which are tattered and are falling to pieces. The casket containing the +body of Fernando Francesco d'Avalos, Marchese of Pescara (the husband of +Vittoria Colonna), has on it an inscription by Ariosto; and his portrait +(showing in profile a young face with blonde hair and a full reddish +brown beard) and a banner, also, is suspended above the casket. That +containing the body of the Marchesa, his wife (Vittoria Colonna), has an +aperture at the top where the wood is worn away and the embalmed form, +partly crumbled, may be seen. This seems strange to the verge of +fantasy, but it is, apparently, true. The writer of this volume visited +the Church of Santa Domenica Maggiore in Naples in December of 1906, and +was assured by the sacristan that this sarcophagus contains the body of +the Marchesa. Inquiries were then made of other prelates and of the +Archbishop, who gave the same assurance. Later, learned archæologists in +Rome were appealed to, regarding this assertion made in Naples, and the +consensus of opinion obtained declares their assertion true. Professor +Lanciani has himself publicly expressed this conviction. Still, it +remains a curious question as to when this sarcophagus was placed in the +sacristy, for the date goes back into long-buried centuries. + +Adjoining Santa Domenica Maggiore is the monastery in which Thomas +Aquinas lived and lectured (in 1272), and the cell of the great doctor +of philosophy is now made into a chapel. His lectures called together +men of the highest rank and learning and were attended by the king and +the members of the royal family. The entire locality of this church is +replete with historic association. The most distinguished of the +nobility of Naples have, for centuries, held their chapels in this +church, and in these are many notable examples of Renaissance sculpture. + +The Accadémia des Arcades of Rome, founded in the seventeenth century to +do honor to lyric art, celebrated the placing of a bust of Vittoria +Colonna in a gallery of the Capitoline, in May of 1865, by a resplendent +poetic festa. According to the gentle, leisurely customs of the land, +where it is always afternoon and time has no value, thirty-two poets +read their songs, written in Latin or in Italian, for this occasion, +which were published in a sumptuous volume to be preserved in the +archives of the Arcadians, who take themselves more seriously than the +world outside quite realizes. This bust of Vittoria Colonna was the gift +of the Duca and Duchessa of Torlonia of that period. It was crowned with +laurel, as that of Petrarca had been, and the government took official +recognition of the event. + +Goethe was made a member of this Accadémia that regarded itself as +reflecting the glories of the Golden Age of Greece, and which was a +century old at the time of his visit to Italy. "No stranger of any +consequence was readily permitted to leave Rome without being invited to +join this body," he recorded, and he wrote a humorous description of the +formalities of his initiation. + +Mrs. Horatio Greenough was honored by being made a member of this +Accadémia in recognition of her musical accomplishments, and the record +of it is placed on the memorial marble over her grave in the Protestant +cemetery in Rome. Every year, on Tasso's birthday (April 25), the +Accadémia holds a festa in a little amphitheatre near "Tasso's oak," on +the Janiculum, at which his bust is crowned with laurel. The gardens in +which the seventeenth-century Arcadians disported themselves are now +known among the Romans as _il Bosco Parrasio degli Arcadi_. + +Throughout Italy the fame of Vittoria Colonna only deepens with every +succeeding century. Her nobility of character, her lofty spirituality of +life, fitly crowned and perfected her intellectual force and brilliant +gifts. Although from the customs of the time the Marchesa lived much in +convents, she never, in any sense, save that of her fervent piety, lived +the conventual life. Her noble gifts linked her always to the larger +activities, and her gifts and rank invested her with certain demands and +responsibilities that she could not evade. She was one of the messengers +of life, and her place as a brilliant and distinguished figure in the +contemporary world was one that the line of destiny, which pervades all +circumstances and which, in her case, was so marked, absolutely +constrained her to fill. She had that supreme gift of the lofty nature, +the power of personal influence. Her exquisite courtesy and graciousness +of manner, her simple dignity and unaffected sincerity, her delicacy of +divination and her power of tender sympathy and liberal comprehension +all combined to make her the ideal companion, counsellor, and friend, as +well as the celebrity of letters and lyric art. + +No poet has more exquisitely touched the friendship between Vittoria +Colonna and Michael Angelo than has Margaret J. Preston, in a poem +supposed to be addressed to the sculptor by Vittoria, in which occur the +lines:-- + + "We twain--one lingering on the violet verge, + And one with eyes raised to the twilight peaks-- + Shall meet in the morn again. + + * * * * * + + ... Supremest truth I gave; + Quick comprehension of thine unsaid thought, + Reverence, whose crystal sheen was never blurred + By faintest film of over-breathing doubt; + ... helpfulness + Such as thou hadst not known of womanly hands; + And sympathies so urgent, they made bold + To press their way where never mortal yet + Entrance had gained,--even to thy soul." + +This is the _Page de Conti_ that one reads in the air as he sails past +Ischia on the violet sea; and the _chant d'amour_ of the sirens catches +the echo of lines far down the centuries:-- + + "I understood not, when the angel stooped, + Whispering, 'Live on! for yet one joyless soul, + Void of true faith in human happiness, + Waits to be won by thee, from unbelief.' + + "Now, all is clear. For _thy_ sake I am glad + I waited. Not that some far age may say,-- + '_God's benison on her, since she was the friend + Of Michael Angelo!_'" + + + + + _So sometimes comes to soul and sense + The feeling which is evidence + That very near about us lies + The realm of spiritual mysteries. + The sphere of the supernal powers + Impinges on this world of ours. + The low and dark horizon lifts, + To light the scenic terror shifts; + The breath of a diviner air + Blows down the answer of a prayer:-- + That all our sorrow, pain, and doubt + A great compassion clasps about, + And law and goodness, love and force, + Are wedded fast beyond divorce. + Then duty leaves to love its task, + The beggar Self forgets to ask; + With smile of trust and folded hands, + The passive soul in waiting stands + To feel, as flowers the sun and dew, + The One true Life its own renew._ + + WHITTIER. + + "_For Thou only art holy. Thou only art the Lord. Thou only, O + Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the Glory of God the + Father._" + + + + + _Sometimes in heaven-sent dreams I do behold + A city with its turrets high in air, + Its gates that gleam with jewels strange and rare, + And streets that glow with burning of red gold; + And happy souls, through blessedness grown bold, + Thrill with their praises all the radiant air, + And God himself is light, and shineth there + On glories tongue of man hath never told._ + + _And in my dreams I thither march, nor stay + To heed earth's voices, howsoe'er they call, + Or proffers of the joys of this brief day, + On which so soon the sunset shadows fall; + I see the Gleaming Gates, and toward them press-- + What though my path lead through the Wilderness?_ + + LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. + + + + +V + +VOICES OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI + + Oh, Italy! thy strength, thy power, thy crown + Lie in the life that in Assisi stirs + The heart, with impulse of self-sacrifice; + Where still St. Francis gathers weary souls + In his great love, which reaches out to all. + ... His blessing falls + In clear sweet tones: "_Benedicat tibi + Convertat vultum suum ad te et + Det Pacem!_" Hushed and holy silence breathes + About the wanderer who lifts his heart + To catch the echo of that voice of love. + + CELIA RICHMOND. + + +The mystic pilgrimage to Assisi, the "Seraphic City," prefigures itself +almost as a journey to the Mount of Vision. "Any line of truth that +leads us above materialism," says Dr. Wilberforce, Venerable Archdeacon +of Westminster Abbey, "that forces us to think, that encourages the +imagination to pierce the world's cobwebs, that forces us to remember +that we are enwrapped by the supernatural, is helpful and stimulating. A +human life lived only in the seen and felt, with no sense of the +invisible, is a fatally impoverished life, a poor, blind, wingless life, +but to believe that ever around us is a whole world full of spiritual +beings; that this life, with its burdens, is but the shadow which +precedes the reality; that here we are but God's children at school, is +an invigorating conviction, full of hope, productive of patience and +fruitful in self-control." + +To an age imprisoned in the fear of God the "sweet saint," Francis, +brought the message of the love of God. To an age crushed under the +abuses of religion as an organization of feudal bishops and +ecclesiastics, St. Francis brought the message of hope and of joy. He +revealed to his age the absolute reality of the spiritual world that +surrounds us. He was born into a time when there existed on the one +hand, poverty and misery; on the other, selfish and debasing +self-indulgence of wealth and its corresponding oppression of the poor. +The Church itself was a power for conquest and greed. Its kingdom was of +this world. St. Bernard and others had nobly aimed to effect a reform +and had illustrated by their own lives the beautiful example of +simplicity and unselfishness, but their work failed in effectiveness +and permanent impress. + + "Oh, beauty of holiness! + Of self-forgetfulness, of lowliness." + +Not only in beauty, but in power does it stand. St. Francis brought to +the sad and problematic conditions of his time that resistless energy of +infinite patience, of a self-control based on insight into the divine +relationships of life, and of unfailing fidelity to his high purpose. +Through good report or through evil report he kept the faith, and +pressed onward to the high calling of God. The twelfth and the +thirteenth centuries had been a period of religious unrest and chaos. As +Archdeacon Wilberforce has so impressively said in the words quoted from +him, a life lived with no sense of the invisible is blind and +impoverished. The movement initiated by St. Francis proclaimed anew the +divine grace and love. + + "Tokens are dead if the things live not. The light everlasting + Unto the blind is not, but is born of the eye that has vision." + +Something not unlike this trend of thought must drift through the mind +of every one who journeys through the lovely Umbrian country to Assisi, +one of those picturesquely beautiful hill towns of Italy whose romantic +situation impresses the visitor. Seen from a little distance, one could +hardly imagine how it could be reached unless he were the fortunate +possessor of an airship. The entire region is most picturesque in +character. Journeying from Rome to Assisi there is a constant ascent +from the Campagna to the Apennines, and the road passes through wild +defile and valley with amethyst peaks shining fair against the sky, with +precipitous rocks, and the dense growth of oak and pine trees. In some +places the valley is so narrow that the hills, on either side, rise +almost within touch of the hand from the car window. The hill towns are +frequent, and the apex of these towns is invariably crowned with a +castle, a cathedral, or a ruin, and around it, circling in terraces, is +built the town. The charm largely vanishes when fairly in these circling +roads, for on either side are high walls, so that one's view is +completely bounded by them; but from the summit and from the upper +floors of the houses the most beautiful views are obtained. The Umbrian +region, in which are located Perugia, Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Spoleto, +Terni, Narni, and others, is simply the gem region of all Italy. The +Umbrians are the most ancient of the Italian people, and Assisi claims +to have been founded eight hundred and sixty-five years before the +founding of Rome. It was the scene of constant warfare, and the streets +are all underlaid by subterranean passages, in which the inhabitants +could disappear from their enemies. + +To this ancient Umbrian city, from which went out the life and light +that carried wonderful currents of vitality and illumination to all +Italy and into almost all parts of the world, one comes as to a special +and a sacred pilgrimage. For this mediæval town, perched on the top of a +rocky hill, is the birthplace of St. Francis, the founder of the +Franciscan order; in it were the scenes of his early life, and here, in +1226, at the age of forty-four years, he died. The convent-church of San +Francesco, built to his memory in 1230; the lower church, completed at +that date, while the upper was finished in 1253; the magnificent +Cathedral of Santa Maria Degli Angeli, completed in 1640; the Church of +Santa Chiara and the Duomo, are the points of interest. + + [Illustration: SAN FRANCESCAN CONVENT-CHURCH, ASSISI + _Page 346_] + +The purple Apennines, on one spur of which Assisi is built, are a +picturesque feature of lovely Umbria. The old houses of Assisi rise +white in the sunshine. The ancient walls still surround the city, and +its towers stand as they stood before the eyes of St. Francis, almost +seven centuries ago. The peak of Mt. Subasio, a neighboring peak of the +Apennines, looms above the colossal rock that crowns the hill around +whose top Assisi clusters in winding terraces. The massive pile of the +Francescan church and monastery--the two churches, one above the +other--forms an architectural group whose imposing aspect arrests the +eye of every traveller for miles around. The pointed arches of the +cloisters and the square campanile contrast rather than blend in an +effective and harmonious manner and resemble military fortifications +rather than an edifice of the church. The old walls still surround +Assisi, and the houses all rise white under the blue Italian sky. The +narrow streets, hardly wide enough for one carriage to pass another, are +so intricate in their curves as they climb the steep hill, that it +requires a faith hardly less than the traditional degree said to move +mountains to lead the visitor to suppose that he will ever emerge +from one that he has entered. Many of the houses along these curious +thoroughfares have no windows, the only light and air coming through the +open door. The bells from the campanile of the Francescan +convent-church, from the Duomo and from the Church of Santa Chiara ring +every quarter of an hour; and this constant clash of bells is almost the +only sound that breaks the silence of the mediæval town, which lends +itself to visions and to dreams. On the very air is stamped the impress +of St. Francis. His personality, his teachings, his faith pervaded the +atmosphere in a way that no one could believe until he had himself +entered into the experience. In narration it cannot but seem like a +pleasing and half-poetic fancy; but the lingerer in this shrine of +religion and art will realize that the actual personality of the man who +trod these streets nearly seven hundred years ago is strangely before +him. Canon Knox Little, in a series of lectures on St. Francis of Assisi +delivered in the Ladye Chapel of Worcester Cathedral a few years since, +says of the panorama of the town:-- + + "The scene which from Assisi presented itself daily to his youthful + eyes must have had, did have, as we know, a lasting effect upon his + mind. From thence the eye surveys a noble coronet of stately + mountains. You look from Radicofani, above Trena, to Monte Catria, + famous as the scene of some of Dante's saddest times of solitude, + and ever is the eye satisfied with the grace and grandeur of the + curves of mountain outline, and the changing hues of an + incomparable sky. There are rivers and cities and lakes,--from + Thrasymene, just hidden by a line of crests, to the Paglia and + Tiber beneath, where Orvieto crowns its severe and lonely rock. + With the changing lights and shadows always beautiful in the vivid + spring or burning summer, tender-tinted autumn or clear and + sparkling winter, with the bright and pure and buoyant atmosphere + always giving life and vigor, what spot on earth more fitted as the + birthplace of the saint who was, above all things, bright and + tender and strong?" + +Assisi was an important town in the twelfth century when Francis, the +son of Pietro Bernardone di Mercanti, wandered over its hills, and after +severe fasting and prayer communed with God. Born in the midst of the +constant warfare between Assisi and Perugia, he was first a soldier. He +was captured and thrown into prison, and it was a remarkable dream, or +vision, that came to him before he was set free, that determined his +life of consecration. Tradition invested his birth with legends, one of +which is, that in his infancy an aged man came to the door and begged to +be permitted to take the child in his arms, prophesying that he was +destined to accomplish a great work. Pietro Bernardone was a wealthy +merchant of Assisi. Pica, the mother of Francis, is said to have been of +noble origin and of a deeply religious nature. The early youth of +Francis was given to games, festivals, and pleasures that degenerated +into dissipation, but the mother continually affirmed her assurance +that, if it pleased God, her son would become a Christian. In this +atmosphere was nurtured "the sweet-souled saint of mediæval Italy," who +is described as a figure of magical power, whose ardent temperament and +mystic loveliness attracted to him all men. + +There is also a legend that Pica went to pray at the Portiuncula and +that, for seven years, she prayed for a son. Her prayer was answered in +the coming of the infant who was to be the great saint of all the ages. +Francis, in his childhood, also knelt and prayed at this shrine. In the +year 1211, when Francis was twenty-nine years of age and had entered on +his ministry, this chapel was given to him, "and no sooner had they come +to live here," it is said, "than the Lord multiplied their number from +day to day." At one time he had gone to his devotions in great +depression of spirits, "when, suddenly, an unspeakable ecstasy filled +his breast. 'Be comforted, my dearest,' he said, 'and rejoice in the +Lord, and let us not be sad that we are few; for it has been shown to me +by God that you shall increase to a great multitude and shall go on +increasing to the end of the world. I see a multitude of men coming to +me from every quarter--French, Spaniards, Germans, English--each in +their different tongues encouraging the others.'" + +At a distance of perhaps a mile and a half from Assisi, down in the +valley near the railroad station, four holy pilgrims founded a shrine in +the fourth century. Later, on this site, St. Benedict erected a tiny +chapel, called "St. Maria della Portiuncula" (St. Mary of the Little +Patron), and once, when praying in the chapel, Benedict had a vision of +a vast crowd of people kneeling in ecstasy, chanting hymns of praise, +while outside greater multitudes waited to kneel before the shrine, and +he took this to mean that a great saint would one day be honored there. + +So the legends, still conversationally told in Assisi, run on and are +locally current. Undoubtedly the dwellers in this curious old town, +whose streets have hardly one level spot but climb up and down the steep +hillside, realize that their saint is their title to fame and their +revenue as well; yet through all the tales there breathes a certain +sincerity and simplicity of worship. The little dark primitive shops +teem with relics, which make, it is true, a great draft on imagination, +and by what miracle modern photography has contrived to present the +saint of Assisi in various impressive attitudes and groups it would be +as well not to inquire too closely. It is a part of the philosophy of +travel to take the goods the gods provide, and the blending of amused +tolerance and unsuspected depths of reverential devotion by which the +visitor will find himself moved, while in Assisi, can hardly be +described. For, surely, here + + "... there trod + The whitest of the saints of God," + +and Catholic or Protestant, one equally enters into the beauty of his +memory. The double and triple arches of the convent church enclose +cloistered walls continually filled with visitors. No shrine in Italy +holds such mysterious power. Simplicity and joy were the two keynotes of +the life taught by St. Francis. "Poverty," he asserted, "is the happy +state of life in which men are set free from the trammels of +conventionalism, and can breathe the pure air of God's love. The richest +inward life is enjoyed when life is poorest outwardly. Be poor," he +continued, "try a new principle; be careless of having and getting; try +_being_, for a change. Our life in the world ought to be such that any +one on meeting us should be constrained to praise the heavenly Father. +Be not an occasion of wrath to any one," he often said, "but by your +gentleness may all be led to press onward to good works." + +The supreme aim of Francis was that of service to humanity. He gave +himself with impassioned fervor to this one work. For him there were no +ideals of cloistered seclusion or of devotion to learning and art, but +the ideal alone to uplift humanity. It was literally and simply, indeed, +the Christ ideal. Of the "Rule" made, one of his biographers says:-- + + "Amid all these encouragements the Rule was made. It consists, like + other monastic rules, of the three great vows of poverty, chastity, + and obedience, differing only in so far that the poverty ordained + by Francis was absolute. In other rules, though the individual was + allowed to possess nothing, the community had often rich + possessions, and there was no reason why the monks should not fare + sumptuously and secure to themselves many earthly enjoyments, + notwithstanding their individual destitution and their vow. But + among the Brothers Minor there was not to be so much as a provision + secured for the merest daily necessities. Day by day they were to + live by God's providence, eating what was given to them, taking no + thought how they were to be fed, or wherewithal clothed; 'neither + gold nor silver in your purses;' not even the scrip to collect + fragments in--as if God could not provide for every returning + necessity. There had been monasteries in Italy for centuries, and + the Benedictines were already a great and flourishing community; + but this absolute renunciation of all things struck a certain chill + to the hearts of all who heard of it, except the devoted band who + had no will but that of Francis. His friend, the Bishop of Assisi, + was one of those who stumbled at this novel and wonderful + self-devotion. 'Your life, without a possession in the world, seems + to me most hard and terrible,' said the compassionate prelate. 'My + lord,' said Francis, 'if we had possessions, arms and protection + would be necessary to us.' There was a force in this response which + perhaps we can scarcely realize, but the Assisan bishop, who knew + something of the temper of the lords of Umbria, and knew how lonely + were the brethren dwelling on the church lands--the little plot + (Portiuncula) a whole half league from the city gates--understood + and perceived the justice of the reply. + + "Another grand distinction of the Rule drawn up by Francis was the + occupation it prescribed to its members. They were not to shut + themselves up, or to care first for their own salvation. They were + to preach--this was their special work; they were to proclaim + repentance and the remission of sins; they were to be heralds of + God to the world, and proclaim the coming of His kingdom. It is not + possible to suppose that when he thus began to organize the mind of + Francis did not make a survey of the establishments already in + existence--the convents bound by the same three great vows, where + life at this moment was going on so placidly, with flocks and herds + and vineyards to supply the communities, and studious monks in + their retirement, safe from all secular anxieties, fostering all + the arts in their beginning, and carrying on the traditions of + learning; while all around them the great unquiet, violent world + heaved and struggled, yet within the convent walls there was + leisure and peace. Blessed peace and leisure it was often, let us + allow, preserving for us the germs of many good things we now + enjoy, and raising little centres of safety and charity and + brotherly kindness through the country in which they were placed. + But such quiet was not in the nature of Francis. So far as we can + make out, he had thought little of himself--even of his own soul to + be saved--all his life. The trouble on his mind had been what to + do, how sufficiently to work for God and to help men. His fellow + creatures were dear to him; he gave them his cloak from his + shoulders many a day, and the morsel from his own lips, and would + have given them the heart from his bosom had that been possible." + +These are the "voices" that still echo in the air of Assisi. In the +suburbs is still shown the spot where the chapel of St. Damian stood up +a rocky path on the hillside in an olive grove. It was here that the +scene of the miracle of the crucifix is laid. Before the altar Francis +knelt, praying: "Great and Glorious Father, and thou, Lord Jesus, I pray +ye, shed abroad your light in the darkness of my mind. May I in all +things act in accordance with thy holy will." + +It is recorded that while he thus knelt in deep prayer, he was unable to +turn his eyes from the cross, conscious that something marvellous was +taking place. The image of the Saviour assumed life; the eyes turned +attentively on him; a voice spoke accepting his service and he felt at +once endowed with the most marvellous tide of vitality, of joy, and of +exhilaration. At this moment he entered on that life whose impress is +left on the ages. Of the character and the peculiar quality of its +influence Mrs. Oliphant well says:-- + + "It is not always possible to follow with our sympathy that + literal, childlike rendering of every incident in the life of the + Master, which sometimes looks fantastical and often unmeaning. He + was a man of his time, and could live only under the conditions + which that time allowed. He made visible to a literal, practical, + unquestioning age the undeniable and astounding fact that the + highest of all beings chose a life of poverty, hardship, and + humbleness; that He chose submission instead of resistance, love + instead of oppression, peace and forgiveness instead of revenge and + war. Christ had died in their hearts, as said the legend of that + Christmas at Greccia; and, as in one of the bold and artless + pictures just then beginning to yield to a more refined and subtle + art, Francis set forth before the world the image of his Master. + The Son of man was lifted up, as on another cross, before the eyes + of Umbria, before all Italy, warlike and wily, priest and baron, + peasant and Pope. In this world Francis knew nothing, acknowledged + nothing, cared for nothing save Christ and Him crucified--except, + indeed, Christ's world, the universe redeemed, the souls to be + saved, the poor to be comforted, the friends to be cherished, the + singing birds and bubbling fountains, the fair earth and the sweet + sky. Courteous, tender, and gentle as any paladin, sweet-tongued + and harmonious as any poet, liberal as any prince, was the + barefooted beggar and herald of God. We ask no visionary reverence + for the Stigmata, no wondering belief in any miracle. As he stood, + he was as great a miracle as any then existing under God's + abundant, miraculous heavens; more wonderful than are the day and + night, the sun and the dew; only less wonderful than that great + Love which saves the world, and which it was his aim and destiny to + reflect and show forth." + +That mystic union to which all the ages attest, the union that may, at +any moment, be formed between the soul and God, that mystery which the +church calls conversion and which finds its perfect interpretation in +the words of St. Paul, when he said, that if any man be in Christ he is +a new creation, had been accomplished in the life of Francis. He +realized the fulness of the knowledge of God's will; he longed only for +wisdom and for spiritual understanding. Nor is this experience one to be +relegated to the realm of miracle. It is simply entering into the +supreme completeness of life. It is not alone St. Paul, but every man, +who may truly say, "I can do all things through Christ, who +strengtheneth me." Nor does this experience, when translated aright into +daily life and action, require any abnormal form of expression. It does +not, in its truest significance, mean a life apart from the ordinary +duties, but rather it means that these duties shall be fulfilled in the +larger and nobler way. The exceptional man may be called to be the +standard bearer; to renounce all domestic ties and give his service to +the world; but such a life as this differs only in degree from that +which in the ordinary home and social relations finds ample means for +its best expression. The persistent aim after perfection should be the +keynote of every life. No one should be satisfied to hold as his +supreme ideal any lesser standard of ultimate achievement than is +involved in the divine command, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your +Father in heaven is perfect." This is the soul's ideal, whatever ages +and eternities it may require for it to recognize this trackless path. + +St. Francis recognized joy as a factor of the nobler life. "It was his +constant effort," writes one biographer, "that there should be bright +looks and cheerful tones about him. To one of his brethren, who had the +habit of walking about sadly with his head drooping, he said,--it is +evident, with a spark of the impatience natural to his own vivacious +spirit,--'You may surely repent of your sins, my brother, without +showing your grief so openly. Let your sorrow be between God and you: +pray to Him to pardon you by His mercy, and to restore to your soul the +joy of His salvation. But before me and the others be always cheerful, +for it does not become a servant of God to have an air of melancholy and +a face full of trouble.'" + +An incident in the early life of St. Francis, which had determining +significance, was his meeting with Dominic. The story is told "that +Dominic, praying in a church in Rome, saw, in a vision, our Lord rise +from the right hand of the Father in wrath, wearied at last with the +contradiction of sinners, with a terrible aspect and three lances in his +hand, each one of which was to destroy from the face of the earth a +distinct class of offenders. But while the dreamer gazed at this awful +spectacle, the Virgin Mother arose and pleaded for the world, declaring +that she had two faithful servants whom she was about to send into it to +bring sinners to the feet of the Saviour; one of these was Dominic +himself, the other was a poor man, meanly clad, whom he had never seen +before. This vision came to the devout Spaniard, according to the +legend, during the night, which he spent, as he was wont, in a church, +in prayer. Next morning, while he mused on the dream which had been sent +to him, his eye fell all at once upon a stranger in a brown tunic, of +aspect as humble and modest as his garb, coming into the same church to +pray. Dominic at once ran to him, fell on his neck, and, saluting him +with a kiss, cried, 'Thou art my companion: thy work and mine is the +same. If we stand by each other, nothing can prevail against us.'" + +No magic mirror, however, revealed to Francis the wonderful panorama of +his future. No sibyl turned the leaves of the records yet to unfold. "He +was preparing himself for a life of penitence rather than a life of +activity," in the opinion of Paul Sabatier, and he had dreamed no dream +of becoming a religious founder. He was so entirely without any personal +ambition, save that of being obedient to the Heavenly Vision, that this +absolute consecration of purpose enabled the divine power to work +through him without obstruction. He became a very perfect instrument, so +to speak, in the divine hand. After repairing the little chapel called +the Portiuncula, on the level ground at the foot of the hill, some two +miles from Assisi, his plan was to there pass his time in meditation and +prayer. But the legend runs that on the feast of St. Mathias (February +24), in the winter of 1209, a Benedictine monk was celebrating mass and +on his turning to read, "Wherever ye go preach, saying, The kingdom of +heaven is at hand," Francis was profoundly and peculiarly impressed, and +he exclaimed: "This is what I desire, O Father; from this day forth I +set myself to put this command in practice." He felt that Jesus himself +had spoken to him through the priest. Love and sacrifice became to him +the supreme ideals, and in this moment, in that poor and bare little +chapel, was inaugurated one of the greatest and most far-reaching +religious movements of the entire world. + + "Not always as the whirlwind's rush + On Horeb's mount of fear, + Not always as the burning bush + To Midian's shepherd seer, + Not as the awful voice which came + To Israel's prophet bards, + Nor as the tongues of cloven flame, + Nor gift of fearful words,-- + + "Not always thus with outward sign + Of fire or voice from Heaven + The message of a truth divine, + The call of God is given!" + +That great ministry of St. Francis, whose influence pervades all +time,--that lies between the opening years of the thirteenth and the +opening years of the twentieth centuries,--was initiated the next +morning in Assisi, when Francis preached for the first time. He spoke +simply, emphasizing the truths he had learned to realize through his own +experience: the absolute duty of following after perfection; the +importance of realizing the shortness of life and the need of +repentance. The first disciple of Francis was a wealthy resident of +Assisi, named Bernardo. He was impressed with the conviction that he +should distribute his possessions and unite with Francis in all his aims +and work. Without definite organization, others joined them. They passed +that spring and summer going up and down the country, sometimes +assisting the harvesters and haymakers, and everywhere entering into the +common life of the people. The Bishop of Assisi, however, remonstrated +with Francis, saying that to him it seemed very harsh and unwise to try +to live without owning anything. To which Francis replied that he did +not desire temporal possessions, as these required arms for their +defence and were an obstacle to the love of God and one's neighbor. It +has remained for later years to discern the still truer significance of +the teachings of Jesus, that neither possessions nor the lack of +possessions form the real test, but the use which is made of them. As +spiritual insight is developed it is more and more clearly realized that +the quality of the life lived is the sole matter of importance, and not +the conditions that surround it. + +The brotherhood increased. The abbot of the Benedictines on Monte +Subasio ceded to Francis and his order the little chapel called the +Portiuncula, now enclosed within the vast and magnificent church of +Santa Maria degli Angeli. M. Paul Sabatier, in his admirable biography +of St. Francis, points out clearly that the founder of the Franciscans +contemplated a laboring and not a mendicant order. During the decade +1211 to 1221, which Francis and his followers passed at the Portiuncula, +a portion of the time was constantly passed in industrial pursuits. +"With all his gentleness, Francis knew how to show an inflexible +severity toward the idle," says Sabatier, "and he even went so far as to +dismiss a friar who refused to work." Although Francis espoused poverty, +declaring that she was his bride, he was unfalteringly loyal to the +ideals of honest industry and integrity. + + [Illustration: ST. FRANCIS D'ASSISI, THE DUOMO, ASSISI + Giovanni Dupré + _Page 366_] + +The mystic legends of the life of their saint that abound in Assisi are +touched with poetic romance in that a companion figure is always seen by +his side, that of Santa Chiara. Not more inseparable in popular thought +are Dante and Beatrice, or Petrarca and Laura, than are Francis and +Clara. Their statues stand side by side in the Duomo; they are +represented together by both painter and sculptor in the churches of +Santa Chiara and Santa Maria degli Angeli in the old hill town. Chiara +was the daughter of a noble family, and as a girl of sixteen, coming +under the influence of Francis from hearing one of his sermons, she, +too, became one of his followers and left her father's palace in Assisi +to take the vows of perpetual and voluntary poverty at the altar of the +Portiuncula. Followed by two women, she passed swiftly through the town +in the dead of the night, and through dark woods, her hurrying figure +seeming like some spirit driven by winds towards an unknown future. One +thing alone was clear before her--that she was nearing the abode of +Francis Bernardone whose preaching at San Giorgio only a month before +had thrilled her, inspiring her in this strange way to seek the life he +had described in fiery words. Just as she came in sight of the +Portiuncula the chanting of the brethren, which had reached her in the +wood, suddenly ceased, and they came out with lighted torches in +expectation of her coming. Swiftly and without a word she passed in +to attend the midnight mass which Francis was to serve, and the scene is +thus described:-- + + "The ceremony was simple, wherein lies the charm of all things + Franciscan. The service over and the last blessing given, St. + Francis led Clare toward the altar, and with his own hands cut off + her long, fair hair and unclasped the jewels from her neck. But a + few minutes more and a daughter of the proud house of Scifi stood + clothed in the brown habit of the order, the black veil of religion + falling about her shoulders, lovelier far in this nun-like severity + than she had been when decked out in all her former luxury of + silken gowns and precious gems. + + "It was arranged that Clare was to go afterward to the Benedictine + nuns of San Paolo, near Bastia, about an hour's walk farther on in + the plain. So when the final vows had been taken, St. Francis took + her by the hand and they passed out of the chapel together just as + dawn was breaking, while the brethren returned to their cells + gazing half sadly, as they passed, at the coils of golden hair and + the little heap of jewels which still lay upon the altar cloth." + +Clara founded a convent and lived as its abbess, and the great church of +Santa Chiara is built on the site of this convent. She was born in +Assisi in 1194, and died in 1253, surviving Francis by twenty-seven +years. Her father was the Count Favorini Scifi, and he had destined his +daughter--who had great beauty--to a rich and brilliant marriage. He +violently opposed her choice of the religious life, but no earthly +power, she declared, should sever her from it. + +The beauty of the lifelong friendship between Francis and Clara is thus +touched upon by Mrs. Oliphant:-- + + "It was one of those tender and touching friendships which are to + the student of history like green spots in the desert; and which + gave to the man and the woman thus voluntarily separated from all + the joys of life a certain human consolation in the midst of their + hardships. They can have seen each other but seldom, for it was one + of the express stipulations of the Franciscan Rule that the friars + should refrain from all society with women, and have only the most + sparing and reserved intercourse even with their sisters in + religion. And Francis was no priest, nor had he the privilege of + hearing confession and directing the spiritual life of his daughter + in the faith. But he sent to her to ask enlightenment from her + prayers, when any difficulty was in his way. He went to see her + when he was in trouble; especially once on his way to Rieti to have + an operation performed on his eyes. Once the two friends ate + together at a sacramental meal, the pledge and almost the + conclusion on earth of that tenderest, most disinterested, and + unworldly love which existed between them. That he was sure of her + sympathy in all things, of her prayers and spiritual aid, + whatsoever he might be doing, wheresoever he might be, no doubt was + sweet to Francis in all his labors and trials. As he walked many a + weary day past that church of St. Damian, every stone of which was + familiar to him, and many laid with his own hands, must not his + heart have warmed at thought of the sister within, safe from all + conflict with the world, upon whose fellow-feeling he could rely + absolutely as man can rely only on woman? The world has jeered at + the possibility of such friendships from its earliest age; and yet + they have always existed,--one of the most exquisite and delicate + of earthly ties. Gazing back into that far distance over the + graves, not only of those two friends, but of a hundred succeeding + generations, a tear of grateful sympathy comes into the student's + eye. He is glad to believe that, all those years, Francis could see + in his comings and goings the cloister of Clara; and that this + sacred gleam of human fellowship,--love purified of all + self-seeking,--tender, visionary, celestial affection, sweetened + their solitary lives." + +Legends innumerable, attesting supernormal manifestations regarding +Francis, sprang up and have been perpetuated through the ages. One is as +follows:-- + + "Hardly more than three years from the moment when the pale + penitent was hooted through Assisi amid the derisive shouts of the + people, and driven with blows and curses into confinement in his + own father's house, we find that it has already become his custom + on Sunday to preach in the cathedral; and that, from his little + convent at the Portiuncula, Francis has risen into influence in the + whole country, which no doubt by this time was full of stories of + his visit to Rome and intercourse with the Pope, and all the + miraculous dreams and parables with which that intercourse was + attended. Already the mind of the people, so slow to adopt, but so + ready to become habituated to, anything novel, had used itself to + the sight of the brethren in their brown gowns, and, leaping from + one extreme to the other, instead of madmen, learned to consider + them saints. The air about the little cloister began to breathe of + miracles,--miracles which must have been a matter of common report + among the contemporaries of the saint, for Celano wrote within + three years of Francis's death. Once, when their leader was absent, + a sudden wonder startled the brethren. It was midnight between + Saturday and Sunday, and Francis, who had gone to preach at Assisi, + was at the moment praying in the canon's garden. A chariot of fire, + all radiant and shining, suddenly entered the house, awaking those + who lay asleep, and moving to wonder and awe those who watched, or + labored, or prayed. It was the heart and thoughts of their leader + returning to them in the midst of his prayer, which were figured by + this appearance." + +When Francis died a pathetic scene is thus described:-- + + "All the clergy of Assisi, chanting solemn hymns, came out to meet + the bier, and thus they climbed the hill to the birthplace of the + saint, the city of his toils and tears and blessing. When they came + to St. Damian an affecting pause was made. Clara within, with all + her maidens, waited the last visit of their father and friend. + Slowly the triumphant crowd defiled into the church of the nuns, + hushing, let us hope, their songs of joy, their transports of + gratulations, out of respect to the grief which dwelt there, and + could scarcely, by all the arguments of family pride, or the + excitement of this universal triumph, be brought to rejoice. The + bier was set down within the chancel, the coffin opened, and opened + also was the little window through which the nuns received the + sacrament on ordinary occasions. To this little opening the pale + group of nuns, ten of them, with Clara at their head, came marching + silently, with tears and suppressed cries. Clara herself, even in + face of that multitude, could not restrain her grief. 'Father, + father, what will become of us?' she cried out; 'who will care for + us now, or console us in our troubles?' 'Virgin modesty,' says + Celano, stopped her lamentations, and with a miserable attempt at + thanksgiving, reminding herself that the angels were rejoicing at + his coming, and all was gladness on his arrival in the city of God, + the woman who had been his closest friend in this world, whose + sympathy he had sought so often, kissed the pale hands--'splendid + hands,' says Celano, in his enthusiasm, 'adorned with precious gems + and shining pearls'--and disappeared from the little window with + her tears into the dim convent behind, where nobody could reprove + her sorrow." + +The personality of Chiara comes down to us through the ages invested +with untold charm. It is said that when she was dying there came "a long +procession of white-robed virgins, led by the Queen of Heaven, whose +head was crowned with a diadem of shining gold, each of the celestial +visitors stooped to kiss Chiara as her soul passed to its home." + +During all the life of Francis, whenever any new movement or work was to +be undertaken, he invariably sent to ask the counsel and the prayers of +Chiara. + +The miraculous preservation of the body of Santa Chiara is one of the +articles of faith in Assisi. In 1850--six hundred years after her +death--a tomb believed to be hers was found and opened in the presence +of a distinguished group of ecclesiastics, among whom was Cardinal +Pecci, later Pope Leo XIII. In this tomb a form is said to have been +found, and it has been placed in a reliquary of alabaster and Carrara +marble especially constructed for it. This sanctuary is placed in the +church of Santa Chiara, in the crypt, behind a glass screen, where +candles are kept perpetually burning. Lina Gordon Duff, writing the +history of Assisi, says of this curious spectacle:-- + + "As pilgrims stand before a grating in the dimly lighted crypt, the + gentle rustle of a nun's dress is heard; slowly invisible hands + draw the curtain aside, and the body of Santa Chiara is seen + lying in a glass case upon a satin bed, her face clearly outlined + against her black and white veils, whilst her brown habit is drawn + in straight folds about her body. She clasps the book of her Rule + in one hand, and in the other holds a lily with small diamonds + shining on the streamers." + + [Illustration: SANTA CHIARA, THE DUOMO, ASSISI + Amalia Dupré + _Page 375_] + +In all these churches--the great convent church, upper and lower, of the +Franciscans elaborately adorned with frescoes by Cimabue and by Giotto; +in the ancient Duomo; in Santa Chiara and in Santa Maria degli +Angeli--statues of the two saints, Francis and Chiara, are placed side +by side. She shares all the exaltation of his memory and the fulness of +his fame. + +The strange problem of the stigmata has, perhaps, never been absolutely +solved. Canon Knox Little says that as to the miracles of St. Francis +generally speaking, there is no intrinsic improbability; that "his holy +life, his constant communion with God, the abundant blessings with which +it pleased God to mark his ministry, all point in the same direction." +Latter-day revelations of psychic science disclose contemporary facts +of the power of mental influence on the physical form that are, in many +instances, hardly less wonderful than this alleged miracle of St. +Francis. Whether the story is accepted literally or only in a figurative +sense does not affect the transcendent power of his influence. His +entire life and work illustrate the beauty of holiness. "Art in its +widest sense gained a marvellous impulse from his work and effort," says +Canon Knox Little. The French and Provençal literature and the schools +of Byzantine art preceded the life of Francis; but his influence +imparted a powerful wave of sympathetic and vital insight and awakened a +world of new sensibilities of feeling. Indeed, it is a proverb of Italy, +"Without Francis, no Dante." Certainly the life of Francis was the +inspiration of the early Italian art. Cimabue and Giotto drew from the +inspiration of that unique and lovely life the pictorial conceptions +that have made Assisi the cradle of Italian painting. The great works of +Giotto are in the lower church of the Franciscan monastery. One of these +frescoes represents chastity as a maiden kneeling in a shrine, while +angels bring to her branches of palm. Obedience is depicted as placing +a yoke upon the bowed figure of a priest, while St. Francis, attended by +two angels, looks on; Poverty, whom Francis declared to be his bride, is +pictured as accompanied by Hope and Charity, who give her in marriage to +St. Francis, the union being blessed by Christ, while the heavenly +Father and throngs of angels gaze through the clouds on this nuptial +scene. The fresco called Gloriosus Franciscus is perhaps the crowning +work of Giotto. Francis is seen in a beatitude of glory, with a richly +decorated banner bearing the cross and seven stars floating above his +head and bands of angels in the air surrounding him. Canon Knox Little, +alluding to these interesting works of Giotto, says that "even in their +faded glories they give an immense interest to the lower church of +Assisi. No one can look at them now unmoved, or wander on the hillside +to the west of the little city, with the rugged rocks above one's head, +and beneath one's feet the rich carpets of cyclamen, and before one's +eyes long dreamy stretches of the landscape of Umbria, without being +touched by the feeling of that beautiful and loving life devoted to God +and man and nature, in utter truth, which therefore left such an +impress on Christian art." + +The Madonna and saints painted by Cimabue are faded almost to the point +of obliteration, yet there still lingers about them a certain grace and +charm. The visitor to this Franciscan monastery church realizes that he +is beholding the art which was the very pledge and prophecy of the +Renaissance, and he realizes, too, that the Renaissance itself was the +outgrowth of the new vitality communicated to the world by the life and +character of St. Francis. He gave to the world the realization of the +living Christ; he taught that religion was in action, not in theology. +He liberated the spirit; and when this colossal church was being built +(1228-53) the artists who had felt the new thrill of life opened by his +teaching hastened to Assisi to express their appreciation by their +pictorial work on its walls. The qualities of spiritual life--faith, +sacrifice, sympathy, and love--began, for the first time, to be +interpreted into artistic expression. + +The tomb of St. Francis is in the crypt of the church. The stone +sarcophagus containing his body was discovered in 1818, and then placed +here in a little chamber especially prepared, surrounded by an iron +latticework with candles perpetually burning. + +From the sacristy of the lower church, stairs ascend to the upper, with +its beautiful nave and transept with a high altar, and the choir stalls. +While the lower church with its great arches is always dark, the upper +is flooded with light from vast windows. There is a series of frescoed +panels on either side, accredited to pupils of Giotto, full of forcible +action and a glow of color. But the upper church, while it is +magnificent, lacks somewhat of that mystic atmosphere one is so swiftly +conscious of in the gloom and mystery of the lower church. + +Stretching behind the churches, along the crest of the high hill, is the +colossal monastery itself, with that double row of arches and colonnades +that makes it so conspicuous a feature of all the Umbrian valley. +Formerly hundreds of monks dwelt here; but the Italian government +suppressed this monastery in 1866, and since that time it has been used +as a school for boys. + +The ancient Duomo, whose façade is of the twelfth century, has three +exquisite rose windows, and on either side, as one approaches the high +altar, stand the statues of St. Francis and of Santa Chiara. In the +little piazza in front of the church is a bronze copy of Dupré's famous +statue of St. Francis. + +The colossal church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, with its magnificent +dome, is a contrast, indeed, to the primitive little Portiuncula where +Francis knelt in prayer, and which is now preserved in the centre of +this vast cathedral,--the rude structure encased in marble, and +decorated, above the entrance, with a picture by Overbeck, whose motive +is St. Francis as he stands, hushed and reverent, listening to the voice +that tells him to embrace poverty. There is a fine Perugino in the +church, representing the Saviour. The cell in which St. Francis died, +enclosed in the little chapel which St. Bonaventura built over it, is +preserved in this great cathedral. + +"And who was he that opened that door in heaven?" questions Canon Knox +Little in reference to St. Francis. "Who was he that gave that fresh +life and thought? Who but the man who had brought down in his own person +the living Christ into his century, who had taught men again the love of +God, and then the love of man and the love of nature; who had lifted +the people out of their misery and degradation, and awakened the church +out of its stiffness and worldliness; it was he, too, who inspired, who +may at most be said to have created, Italian art,--the great St. +Francis! Such are the deep, such are the penetrating, such are the +far-reaching effects of sanctity. If a soul is, by divine grace, given +wholly to God, it is impossible for us to say to what heights it may +attain, or what good, in every region of human effort, it may do." + + [Illustration: BAIÆ AND ISCHIA, FROM CAMALDOLI + _Page 382_] + +Perugia, the neighboring city only fifteen miles from Assisi, is the +metropolis of all this Umbrian region. Like Assisi, it is a "hill town," +built on an acropolis of rock, its foundations laid by the Etruscans +more than three thousand years before the Christian era, and its +atmosphere is freighted with the records of artists and scholars. The +Perugians were the forerunners. They held the secret of artifice in +metals and gems; they were architects and sculptors. The only traces of +their painting that have come down to us are their works on sarcophagi, +on vases or funeral urns,--traces that indicate their gifts for line and +form. It was about 310 B.C. that all Umbria became a Roman province. +The colossal porta of Augustus--a gateway apparently designed for the +Cyclops--still retains its inscription, "Augustus Perusia." The +imperishable impress of the great Roman conqueror is still seen in many +places. Perugia was a firm citadel, as is attested by the fact that +Totila and his army of Goths spent seven years in besieging it. The +centuries from the thirteenth to the fifteenth inclusive, when it was +under the sway of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, were years of tragic +violence. Even the cathedral became the scene of riot, and its interior +was entirely washed with wine, and it was reconsecrated before it could +be again used for holy offices. The little piazza in front of the +cathedral, now dreaming in the sun, has been the scene of strange and +contrasting crises of life. Strife and warfare have desolated it; the +footsteps of Bernardino of Siena have consecrated it, as he passed +within the great portals to preach the gospel of peace. He was one of +the most potent of the Francescan disciples, and Bernardino (born of the +noble family of the Albizzeschi, in 1380, in Siena, the year after St. +Catherine's death) for forty years wandered over Italy, preaching +peace and repentance. Vespasiano da Bisticci, a contemporary historian, +records that Bernardino "converted and changed the minds and spirits of +men marvellously and had a wondrous power in persuading men to lay aside +their mortal hatreds." Bernardino died at the age of sixty-four in +Aquila, and the towns in which he had faithfully carried on his +apostolic work placed the sacred sign of the divine name (I.H.S.) upon +their gates and palaces, in his memory. In the Sienese gallery is a +portrait of San Bernardino by Sano, painted in 1460, representing the +saint as the champion of the Holy Name, with the inscription, "I have +manifested Thy name to men." In one of his impressive and wonderful +sermons San Bernardino said:-- + + "There still remain many places for us to make. Ah! for the love of + God, love one another. Alas! see you not that, if you love the + destruction one of the other you are ruining your very selves? Ah! + put this thing right for the love of God. Love one another! What I + have done to make peace among you and to make you like brothers, I + have done with that zeal I should wish my own soul to receive. I + have done it all to the glory of God. And let no one think that I + have set myself to do anything at any person's request. I am only + moved by the bidding of God for His honor and glory." + +Opposite the Duomo of Perugia, on the other side of the piazza, is the +Palazzo Municipio, with a Gothic façade, a beautiful example of +thirteenth-century architecture. Here also is the colossal fountain with +three basins, decorated with pictorial designs from the Bible by Niccolo +Pisano and Arnolfo of Florence, and in the shadow of this fountain St. +Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Bernardino often met and held converse. + +Perugia easily reads her title clear to artistic immortality in having +been the home of Perugino, the master of Raphael. Here he lived for +several years working with Pinturicchio in the frescoes that adorn the +Collegio del Cambio, now held as a priceless treasure hall of art. They +still glow with rich coloring,--the Christ seen on the Mount of +Transfiguration; the Mother and Child with the adoring magi; and the +chariot of the dawn driven by Apollo a century before Guido painted his +"Aurora" in the Palazzo Rospigliosi in Rome. + +From the parapets of Perugia are views of supreme poetic beauty. The +play of light and color on the picturesque hills and mountains of the +Umbrian country; the gray-green gleam of olive orchards and the silver +threads of winding streams; the towers and ruins and castles of a dozen +towns and villages that crown the slopes, and the violet shadows of +deepening twilight, with Assisi bathed in a splendor of rose and +gold,--all combine to make this an ever-changing panorama for the poet +and painter. + +No journey in Italy is quite like that to the lovely Umbrian valley and +its Jerusalem, Assisi, the shrine which, with the single exception of +Rome, is the special place of pilgrimage for the entire religious world. +Perugia offers the charm of art, and attracts the visitor, also, by an +exceptional degree of modern comfort and convenience; but Assisi is the +shrine before which he kneels, where the footsteps of saints who have +knelt in prayer make holy ground, and where he realizes anew the +consecration of faith and sacrifice. The very air is filled with divine +messages, and in lowly listening he will hear, again, those wonderful +and thrilling words of St. Francis:-- + + "By the holy love which is in God I pray all to put aside every + obstacle, every care, every anxiety, that they may be able to + consecrate themselves entirely to serve, love, and honor the Lord + God, with a pure heart and a sincere purpose, which is what He asks + above all things." + + + + + _White phantom city, whose untrodden streets + Are rivers, and whose pavements are the shifting + Shadows of palaces and strips of sky; + I wait to see thee vanish like the fleets + Seen in mirage, or towers of clouds uplifting + In air their unsubstantial masonry._ + + LONGFELLOW. + + + _Fair as the palace builded for Aladdin, + Yonder St. Mark uplifts its sculptured splendor-- + Intricate fretwork, Byzantine mosaic, + Color on color, column upon column, + Barbaric, wonderful, a thing to kneel to! + Over the portal stand the four gilt horses, + Gilt hoof in air, and wide distended nostril, + Fiery, untamed, as in the days of Nero. + Skyward, a cloud of domes and spires and crosses; + Earthward, black shadows flung from jutting stonework. + High over all the slender Campanile + Quivers, and seems a falling shaft of silver._ + + THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH. + + + + + _As one who parts from Life's familiar shore, + Looks his last look in long-beloved eyes, + And sees in their dear depths new meanings rise + And strange light shine he never knew before; + As then he fain would snatch from Death his hand + And linger still, if haply he may see + A little more of this Soul's mystery + Which year by year he seemed to understand; + So, Venice, when thy wondrous beauty grew + Dim in the clouds which clothed the wintry sea + I saw thou wert more beauteous than I knew, + And long to turn and be again with thee. + But what I could not then I trust to see + In that next life which we call memory._ + + PHILLIPS BROOKS.[2] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] From "Life of Phillips Brooks," by kind permission of Messrs. E. P. +Dutton & Co. + + + + +VI + +THE GLORY OF A VENETIAN JUNE + + I have been between Heaven and Earth since our arrival at Venice. + The Heaven of it is ineffable--never had I touched the skirts of so + celestial a place. The beauty of the architecture, the silver + trails of water up between all that gorgeous color and carving, the + enchanting silence, the music, the gondolas,--I mix it all up + together, and maintain that nothing is like it, nothing equal to + it, no second Venice in the world. + + MRS. BROWNING, in the June of 1850. + + + + +The first glimpse of enchanted Venice, as her towers and marble palaces +rise wraith-like from the sea, is an experience that can never fade from +memory. Like a mirage, like a vision invoked by some incantation or +magician's spell, the scene prefigures itself, bringing a thrill of some +vague and undefined memory, as if a breath floated by,-- + + "An odor from Dreamland sent, + That makes the ghost seem nigh me, + Of a splendor that came and went; + Of a life lived somewhere,--I know not + In what diviner sphere,-- + Of memories that stay not and go not," + +which eludes all translation into words. Nor does the spell dissolve and +vanish when put to the test of one's actual sojourn in the Dream City. +It is an experience outside the boundaries of the ordinary day and +daylight world, as if one were caught up into the ethereal realm to find +a city + + "... of gliding and wide-wayed silence + With room in the streets for the soul." + +The sense of remoteness from common life could hardly be greater if one +were suddenly swept away to some far star, blazing in the firmament; or +if Charon had rowed him over the mystic river and he had entered the +abodes of life on the plane beyond. Even the hotel becomes an enchanted +palace whose salons, luxuriously decorated, open by long windows on +marble balconies overhanging the Grand Canal. Dainty little tables piled +with current reading matter, in French, English, and Italian, stand +around; the writing-desks are sumptuous, filled with every convenience +of stationery; and the matutinal coffee and rolls are served the guest +in any idyllic niche wherein he chooses to ensconce himself, regardless +of the regulation _salle-à-manger_. One looks across the Grand Canal to +the beautiful Church of Santa Maria della Salute. The water plashes +against the marble steps as gondolas glide past; the blue sky of Italy +reflects itself in the waters below, until one feels as if he were +floating in the air between sea and sky. In the heart of the city, with +throngs of people moving to and fro, all is yet silence, save the cry of +the gondolier, the confused echo of voices from the people who pass, and +here and there the faint call of a bird. No whir and rush of electric +cars and motors; no click of the horses' feet on the asphalt +pavement--no pavement, indeed, and no horses, no twentieth-century rush +of life. It is Venice, it is June, and the two combine to make an +illuminated chapter. To live in Venice is like being domesticated in the +heart of an opal. How wonderful it is to drift--a sky above and a sky +below--on still waters at sunset, with the Dream City mirrored in the +depths, every shade of gold and rose and amber mirrored back,--the very +atmosphere a sea of color, recalling to one Ruskin's words that "none of +us appreciate the nobleness and the sacredness of color. Of all God's +gifts to man," he continues, "color is the holiest, the most divine, +the most solemn. Color is the sacred and saving element." If the +enthusiasm in these words savor of exaggeration, Venice is the place +that will lure one to forgetfulness of it. One is simply conscious of +being steeped in color and revelling in a strange loveliness. One no +longer marvels at the glory of Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. They but +interpreted on canvas the shining reality. A charming writer on Venice +has well said:-- + + "The aspects of Venice are as various, as manifold, as the hues + held in solution upon her waters beneath a sirocco sky. There is a + perpetual miracle of change; one day is not like another, one hour + varies from the next; there is no stable outline such as one finds + among the mountains, no permanent vista, as in a view across a + plain. The two great constituents of the Venetian landscape, the + sea and the sky, are precisely the two features in nature which + undergo most incessant change. The cloud-wreaths of this evening's + sunset will never be repeated again; the bold and buttressed piles + of those cloud-mountains will never be built again just so for us; + the grain of orange and crimson that stains the water before our + prow, we cannot be sure that we shall look upon its like again.... + One day is less like another in Venice than anywhere else. The + revolution of the seasons will repeat certain effects; spring will + chill the waters to a cold, hard green; summer will spread its + breadth of golden light on palace front and water way; autumn will + come with its pearly-gray sirocco days, and sunsets flaming a + sombre death; the stars of a cloudless winter night, the whole vast + dome of heaven, will be reflected in the mirror of the still + lagoon. But in spite of this general order of the seasons, one day + is less like another in Venice than anywhere else; the lagoon wears + a different aspect each morning when you rise, the sky offers a + varied composition of cloud each evening as the sun sets. Words + cannot describe Venice, nor brush portray her ever-fleeting, + ever-varying charm. Venice is to be felt, not reproduced; to live + there is to live a poem, to be daily surfeited with a wealth of + beauty enough to madden an artist to despair." + +It was in the autumn of 1882 that the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks, later +Bishop of Massachusetts, visited Venice and wrote of San Marco:-- + + "Strange how there is nothing like St. Mark's in Venice, nothing of + the same kind as the great church. It would have seemed as if, + standing here for so many centuries, and always profoundly loved + and honored, it would almost of necessity have influenced the minds + of the generations of architects, and shown its power in their + works. But there seems to be no sign of any such influence. It + stands alone." + +Dr. Brooks noted that Venice had "two aspects, one sensuous and +self-indulgent, the other lofty, spiritual, and even severe. Both +aspects," he continues, "are in its history and both are also in its +art. Titian often represents the former. The loftier, nobler Tintoretto +gives us the second. There is something in his greatest pictures, as, +for instance, in the Crucifixion, at St. Rocco, which no other artist +approaches. The lordly composition gives us an impression of +intellectual grasp and vigor. The foreground group of prostrate women is +full of a tenderness. The rich pearly light, which floods the centre, +glows with a solemn picturesqueness, and the great Christ, who hangs +like a benediction over the whole, is vocal with a piety which no other +picture in the world displays. And the Presentation of the Virgin, in +Santa Maria dell'Orto, is the consummate presentation of that beautiful +subject, its beauty not lost in its majesty." + +Of other pictures Dr. Brooks said:-- + + "In the Academia there is the sunshine of three hundred years ago. + Paris Bordone's glowing picture of the Fisherman who brings the + Ring of St. Mark to the Doge, burned like a ray of sunlight on the + wall. Carpaccio's delightful story of St. Ursula brought the old + false standards of other days back to one's mind, but brought them + back lustrous with the splendor of summers that seemed forever + passed, but are perpetually here. Tintoretto's Adam and Eve was, as + it always is, the most delightful picture in the gallery, and + Pordenone's great St. Augustine seemed a very presence in the vast + illuminated room." + +Tennyson loved best, of all the pictures in Venice, a Bellini,--a +beautiful work, in the Church of Il Redentore; and he was deeply +impressed by the "Presentation of the Virgin," from Tintoretto, in the +Church of the Madonna dell'Orto. "He was fascinated by St. Mark's," +writes the poet's son, "by the Doge's Palace and the Piazza, and by the +blaze of color in water and sky. He climbed the Campanile, and walked to +the library where he could scarcely tear himself away from the Grimani +Breviary." + +Venice, though not containing any single gallery comparable with the +Pitti and the Uffizi, is still singularly rich in treasures of art, and +rich in legend and story. The school of encrusted architecture is +nowhere so wonderfully represented as here, and it is only in this +architecture that a perfect scheme of color decoration is possible. In +all the world there is no such example of encrusted architecture as that +revealed in St. Mark's. It is a gleaming mass of gold, opal, ruby, and +pearl; with alabaster pillars carved in designs of palm and pomegranate +and lily; with legions of sculptured angels looking down; with altars of +gold ablaze with scarlet flowers and snowy lilies, while clouds of +mystic incense fill the air. One most impressive place is the +baptistery, where is the tomb of St. Mark and also that of the Doge +Andrea Dandolo, who died at the age of forty-six, having been chosen +Doge ten years before. His tomb is under a window in the baptistery, and +the design is that of his statue in bronze, lying on a couch, while two +angels at the head and the feet hold back the curtains. + +The sarcophagus that is said to contain the body of St. Mark is of the +richest description, encrusted with gold and jewels on polished ebony +and marble. There is a legend that after St. Mark had seen the people of +Aguilia well grounded in religion he was called to Rome by St. Peter; +but before setting off he took with him in a boat the holy Bishop +Hennagoras and sailed to the marshes of Venice. The boat was driven by +wind to a small island called Rialto, on which were some houses, and St. +Mark was suddenly snatched into ecstasy and heard the voice of an angel +saying, "Peace be to thee, Mark; here shall thy body rest." + +There is also a legend that in the great conflagration which destroyed +Venice in 976 A.D., the body of St. Mark was lost and no one knew where +to find it. Then the pious Doge and the people gave themselves to +fasting and prayer, and assembled in the church, asking that the place +be revealed them. It was on the 25th of June that the assemblage took +place. Suddenly one of the pillars of the church trembled, and opened to +disclose the sarcophagus,--a chest of bronze. The legend goes on to say +that St. Mark stretched his hand out through the side and that a noble, +Dolfini by name, drew a gold ring off the finger. + +The place where this miracle is said to have been wrought is now marked +by the Altar of the Cross. + +Ruskin declares that "a complete understanding of the sanctity of color +is the key to European art." Nowhere is this sanctity of color so felt +as at San Marco. The church is like the temple of the New Jerusalem. + +The origin of Venice is steeped in sacred history. It is pre-eminently +the city founded in religious enthusiasm. The chronicles of De Monici, +written in 421, give this passage: "God, who punishes the sins of men by +war, sorrow, and whose ways are past finding out, willing both to save +the innocent blood, and that a great power, beneficial to the whole +world, should arise in a place strange beyond belief, moved the chief +men of the cities of the Venetian province both in memory of the past, +and in dread of future distress, to establish states upon the nearer +islands of the Adriatic, to which, in the last extremity, they might +retreat for refuge.... They laid the foundation of the new city under +good auspices on the island of the Rialto, the highest and nearest to +the mouth of the Brenta, on March 25, 471." + +The first Doge of Venice was Paolo Lucio Anafesto, elected by the +tribunal of commonalty, tribunals, and clergy, at Heraclea, in 697. The +period of the subjection of the ecclesiastical to the ducal and +patrician powers followed. The "Council of Ten" was established in 1335, +and the last Doge elected was Lodovico Manin in 1789, who exclaimed, +"_Tolè questo: no la doperò più_," as the French Revolution destroyed +the Republic of Venice. + +The finest example of Renaissance architecture in Venice is that of the +_Libreria Vecchia_, the work of Jacobo Sansovino, completed in the +sixteenth century. Never were the creations of poet and philosopher more +fittingly enshrined. The rich Doric frieze, the Ionic columns, the +stately balustrade, with statues and obelisks, the resplendent richness +of ornamentation, offer a majesty and beauty seldom found even in the +best classical architecture of Europe. On the ceiling of one sala is a +picture by Titian representing "Wisdom" as a woman, reclining on a +cloud, her right hand outstretched to take a book that Genius is +offering her. There are two beautiful caryatides by Vittoria and rich +mural work by Battista Franco and De Moro. + +Petrarca, returning from his wanderings in 1362, pleaded with the Senate +of Venezia to give him a house, in return for which he offered the +inheritance of his library. This was the nucleus of the fine collection +which since 1812 has been included in the Palace of the Doges. In it are +some magnificent works by Paolo Veronese, one portrait by Tintoretto, +and others by Salviati and Telotti. + +The Doge's Palace is a treasure house of history. One enters the Porta +della Carta, which dates back to 1638, erected by Bartolomeo Buon. The +portal is very rich in sculpture, and among the reliefs is a heroic one +of Francesco Foscari, kneeling before the lion at St. Mark's. One +recalls his tragic fate and passes on. Perhaps, _en passant_, one may +say that his pilgrimage through Venice and Florence is so constantly in +the scenes of tragedy that he is prone to sink almost into utter +sadness, even, rather than seriousness. The air is full of ghosts. One +feels the oppression of all the life that has there been lived, all the +tragedies that have been enacted in these scenes. + +In Renaissance nothing more wonderful in Europe can be found than the +court of the Palace of the Doges. Antonio Rizzo began the east façade of +the building in 1480, and it was continued by Lombardo, and completed by +Scarpagnino. "Words cannot be found to praise the beauty of these +sculptures," says Salvatico, "as well as of the single ornaments of the +walls and of the ogres which have been carved so delicately and richly +that they cannot be excelled by the Roman antique friezes." + +By the golden staircase one goes to the council chambers,--the hall of +the Senate, the Council of Ten, and the Council of Three. In the great +council chamber is that most celebrated mural painting in the world, +"The Glory of Venice," by Paolo Veronese, which covers the ceiling. In a +frieze are the portraits of seventy-six of the Doges, but in one space +is a black tablet only, with the inscription: "This in place of M. F., +who was executed for his crimes." + +The "Sala del Maggior Consiglio" (hall of the grand council) is very +rich in paintings. Above the throne is Tintoretto's "The Glory of +Paradise," and the walls are covered with battle pieces and symbolic and +allegorical paintings. There is "Venice Crowned by Fame," by Paolo +Veronese, "Doge Niccolò da Ponte Presenting the Senate and Envoys of +Conquered Cities to Venice," by Tintoretto; "Venice Crowned by the +Goddess of Victory," by Palma Giovane, and many another of the richest +and most wonderful beauty. + +Descending into the prisons and dungeons brings one into a vivid +realization of the grim history of which these were the scenes. The +Bridge of Sighs has two covered passages, one for the political and one +for the criminal prisoners. Here is shown a narrow ledge on which the +condemned man stood, with a slanting stone passageway before him, which, +when the guillotine had done its swift and deadly work, conveyed the +crimson flood into the dark waters of the canal below, while the body +was thrown in the water on the other side. There are the "Chambers of +Lead," where prisoners were confined, intensely hot in the summer, and +as intensely cold in the winter. Many of these dark, close, narrow +cells--in which the one article of furniture allowed was the wooden +slanting rack, that served as a bed--still remain. In many of these are +inscriptions that were written by the prisoners. One reads (in +translation): "May God protect me against him whom I trust; I will +protect myself against him whom I do not trust." + +The murderer, Giovanni M. Borni, wrote in his cell: "G. M. B. was +confined very unjustly in this prison; if God does not help it will be +the last desolation of a poor, numerous, and honest family." + +All visitors to these gloomy dungeons recall the lines of Byron:-- + + "I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, + A palace and a prison on each hand." + +The piazza of St. Mark's is a distinctive feature, even in all Europe. +It is not large; it is surrounded on three sides with shops, which are +merely glittering bazaars of jewels and bric-a-brac; the sidewalk is +blockaded with cafés _al fresco_, the ground is half covered with the +dense flocks of white doves, but here all lingers and loiters. The +façade of St. Mark's fills one end--a mass of gleaming color. At one +corner is the tall clock tower (Torre dell'Orologio) in the Renaissance +style of 1400, crowned with the gilded lion of St. Mark. On the festa +days three figures, the Three Wise Men, preceded by an angel, come forth +on the tower and bow before the Madonna, in a niche above,--a very +ingenious piece of mechanism. With its rich architecture and sculptures +and masses of color, the piazza of San Marco is really an open-air hall, +where all the town congregates from morning till midnight. + +To study the art of the Venetian school is a work of months, and one +that would richly repay the student. The churches and galleries of +Venice give a truly unique opportunity. In the Church of San Sebastiano +lies Paolo Veronese, the church in which he painted his celebrated +frescoes, now transformed into a temple for himself. Here one finds his +"Coronation of the Virgin," "The Virgin in the Gloria," "Adoration of +the Magi," "Martyrdom of San Sebastian," and many others. In the Scuola +di San Rocco are the great works of Tintoretto, "St. Magdalene in the +Wilderness," the "Visitation," and the "Murder of the Innocents." + +In the San Maria dei Frari is the tomb of Titian,--an exquisite grouping +of sculpture in Carrara marble, erected in 1878-80 by the command of the +Emperor of Austria, the work of Zandomenighi. In this church is Titian's +most famous painting, the "Madonna of the Pessaro," the work of which is +probably, too, the greatest in all Venetian art. The Hall of Heaven is +shown, supported by colossal columns. St. Peter, Francis, and Antoninus +are commending the Pessaro family to the Virgin, who is enthroned on +high. The beauty of line, the splendor of color, and the marvellous +composition render this immortal masterpiece something whose sight marks +an epoch in life. Canova's tomb in San Maria dei Frari is a wonderful +thing. It is a pyramid of purest marble, with a door opening for the +sarcophagus, above which is a portrait of Canova in relief, and on +either side the door angels and symbolic figures are sculptured. + +The Church of Santa Maria della Salute, to which one is always +returning, is a wonderful example of artistic architecture, as its snowy +towers and dome seem to rise out of the water and float in the air. + +The fall of the Campanile in 1904 was regarded as a calamity by all the +civilized world. For a thousand years it had stood at the side of St. +Mark's; but the disaster aroused the attention of experts to the +condition of the great cathedral itself, and it was found that the vast +area of over fifty thousand square feet of matchless mosaic needed +restoration in order that they should be preserved. + +The Palazzo Rezzonico, which dates to Clement XIII, usually known as the +"Browning Palace," has been for many years one of the special interests +to the visitor in Venice. In the early months of 1907 it passed out of +the hands of Robert Barrett Browning, who had purchased it in 1888, and +had held it sacredly, with its poetic and personal associations, since +the death of his father, the poet, in 1889. To Mr. Barrett Browning is +due the grateful appreciation of a multitude of tourists for his +generous and never-failing courtesy in permitting them the privilege of +visiting this palace in which his father had passed many months of +enjoyment. It was from this residence that the poet Browning wrote, in +October of 1880, to a friend:-- + + "Every morning at six I see the sun rise; far more wonderfully, to + my mind, than his famous setting which everybody glorifies. My + bedroom window commands a perfect view; the still, gray lagune, the + few sea-gulls flying, the islet of San Giorgio in deep shadow and + the clouds in a long purple rock behind which a sort of spirit of + rose burns up till presently all the rims are on fire with gold, + and last of all the orb sends before it a long column of its own + essence apparently; so my day begins." + +Later, of his son's palace, Mr. Browning wrote:-- + + "Have I told you that there is a chapel which he has restored in + honor of his mother--putting up there the inscription by + Tommaseo,[3] now above Casa Guidi in Florence?" + + +In this palace Mr. Browning wrote some of his later poems, and it may +well be that it was when he was clad in his singing robes that he +perhaps most deeply felt the ineffable charm of Venice:-- + + "For the stars help me, and the sea bears part; + The very night is clinging + Closer to Venice' streets to leave one space + Above me...." + +It was from these lofty salons in the Browning Palace that the poet +passed to the "life more abundant" on that December day of 1889, on the +very day that his last volume, "Asolando," was published and also the +last volume of Tennyson's. Regarding these Mr. Gladstone said, in a +letter to Lord Tennyson: "The death of Browning on the day of the +appearance of your volume, and we hear of one of his own, is a touching +event." + +From the time of Mrs. Browning's death in Florence (in June of 1861) Mr. +Browning never felt that he could see Italy again, until the autumn of +1878, when he, with his sister, Miss Sarianna Browning, came to Venice +by way of the Italian lakes and Verona. At this time they only remained +for a fortnight, domiciled in the old Palazzo Brandolin-Rota, which was +transformed into the Albergo dell'Universo. This palace was on the Grand +Canal below the Accadémia, and here he returned through two or three +subsequent years. Mr. Browning became very fond of Venice, and he +explored its winding ways and gardens and knew it, not merely from the +gondola view, but from the point of view of the curious little dark and +narrow byways, the bridges, and the piazzas. + +It was in 1880 that Mr. Browning first met, through the kind offices of +Mr. Story, a most charming and notable American lady, Mrs. Arthur +Bronson (Katherine DeKay), who had domiciled herself in Casa Alvisi, an +old palace on the Grand Canal opposite the Church of Santa Maria della +Salute. She was a woman of very interesting personality, and had drawn +about her a circle including many of the most distinguished people of +her time, authors, artists, poets, and notable figures in the social +world. She was eminently _simpatica_ and her lovely impulses of generous +kindness were rendered possible to translate into the world of the +actual by the freedom which a large fortune confers on its possessor. +Between Mrs. Bronson and Mr. Browning there sprang up one of those rare +and beautiful friendships that lasted during his lifetime, and to her +appreciation and many courtesies he owed much of the happiness of his +later years. In the autumn of 1880 Mrs. Bronson made Mr. Browning and +his sister her guests, placing at their disposal a suite of rooms in the +Palazzo Giustiniani Recanati--a palace adjoining her own--and each night +they dined and passed the evening with her, with music and conversation +to enchant the hours. After Mr. Browning's death, Mrs. Bronson was the +friend whom all pilgrims to his shrine in Venice felt it a special +privilege to meet and to hear speak of him. In her palace was a large +easy-chair, with a ribbon tied across the arms, in which Browning was +accustomed to sit, and which was held sacred to him. Mrs. Bronson was an +accomplished linguist, and the _habitués_ of her salon represented many +nationalities. Among these was the Princess Montenegro, the mother of +the present Queen of Italy. + +It is little wonder that the Browning Palace was for so many years a +focus for all who revered and loved the wedded poets, Robert and +Elizabeth Barrett Browning. + +In the marble court, roofed only by the blue Venetian sky, stood Mr. +Barrett Browning's statue of "Dryope" in bronze, on its marble +pedestal,--a beautiful conception of the Dryope of Keats,--the dweller +in forest solitudes whom the Hamadryads transformed into a poplar. Here +a fountain makes music all day long, and the court is also adorned in +summer by great Venetian jars of pink hydrangeas in full bloom. The +grand staircase, with its carved balustrade and the wide landing where a +rose window decorates the wall, leads to the lofty salons which were yet +as homelike as they were artistic during the residence of the Brownings. +Mr. Story's bust of Mrs. Browning, other portrait busts of both the +poets, sculptured by their artist son, and by others, and other +memorials abound. In the library were gathered many interesting volumes, +autographed from their authors, and many rare and choice editions, among +which was one of the "Sonnets from the Portuguese" in a sumptuous volume +whose artistic beauty found a fitting setting to Mrs. Browning's +immortal sonnets. Among other volumes were a collection of signed +"Etchings" by Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema; presentation copies from +Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Aubrey De Vere, Walter Savage Landor, and many +another known to fame; and a copy, also, of a study of Mrs. Browning's +poetry[4] by an American writer. + +There is one memento over which the visitor always smiled--a souvenir of +a London evening in 1855 when the Brownings had invited Dante Gabriel +Rossetti and his brother and Lord Madox Brown to meet Tennyson and +listen to his reading of his new poem, "Maud," then still unpublished. +During the reading Rossetti drew a caricature representing Tennyson with +his hair standing on end, his eyes glowering and his hand theatrically +extended, as he held a manuscript inscribed, + + "I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood." + +A reproduction of John Singer Sargent's painting, "The Gypsy Dance," +bore the inscription, "To _mon ami_, Browning." From the library is a +niche, decorated in gold, with memorial entablatures to the memory of +Mrs. Browning. On the outer wall of the palace is an inscription that +runs:-- + + "Robert Browning died in this house 12th December, 1889. + + "Open my heart and you will see + Graven inside it 'Italy.'" + +There is a sadness in the fact that this palace, consecrated to the +memory of the immortal poets, husband and wife, has passed into the +hands of strangers; but that is a part of the play in a world in which +we have no continuing city. In the spring of 1905, Miss Sarianna +Browning died in the home of her nephew, near Florence, and her body was +buried in the new Protestant cemetery in that city; the old one, where +all that was mortal of Elizabeth Barrett Browning was laid to rest, +being now closed. Mr. Barrett Browning, in his Tuscan villa, is again +dwelling near Florence, his native city, which must forever hold to him +its atmosphere of consecrated beauty as the beloved home of his +mother,--the noblest and greatest of all woman poets. + +The centenary of Carlo Goldoni was celebrated in Venice in the spring +of 1907 by the publication of all his works and a monograph on his life; +an exhibition of personal relics; the presentation of one of his dramas +set to music by Baldassare Galuppi, the great Venetian composer of his +time, and by a procession to lay a wreath of laurel on his monument in +the Campo San Bartolommeo. The drama given, entitled the "Buranello," +was the last work of the author, and it was presented in the theatre +Goldoni. The Municipal Council of Venice voted the sum of fifty thousand +lire for the _édition de luxe_, which consists of twenty volumes, in +octavo. In each volume is a different portrait of Goldoni, facsimile of +manuscripts, and the reproduction of literary curiosities. + +The monograph of Goldoni was issued by the press of the Venetian +Institute of Graphic Art in a limited number of copies. + +It contains more than three hundred printed pages and a series of very +interesting illustrations. Among these are the reproductions of ancient +engravings which are most rare (such as the view of the Grimani Theatre +at San Giovanni Crisostomo, a famous theatre existing in the days of the +Venetian republic, but now demolished), frontispieces of destroyed +editions, and other personal memorials. The revival of the splendid work +of the famous artist was one of the attractions of the festa of +celebration. The art exhibition of Venice in this spring of 1907 was +very picturesque. One special salon was allotted to the artists of Great +Britain, and there was a fine loan collection of the portraits of +English noblemen painted by Mr. Sargent. This salon was decorated with +panels by Frank Brangwyn. + +Venice forever remains a dream, a mirage, an enchantment. Has it a +recognized social life, with "seasons" that come and go? Has it trade, +commerce, traffic? Has it any existence save on the artist's canvas, in +the poet's vision? Has it a resident population to whom it is a home, +and not the pilgrimage of passionate pilgrims? + +There are those who find this Venice of all the year round a society of +stately nobles whose ancestral claims are identified with the history of +the city and who are at home in its palaces and gondolas, but of this +resident life the visitor is less aware than of that in any other city +in Italy. For him it remains forever in his memory as the crowning +glory of June evenings when the full, golden moon hangs over towers and +walls, when gondolas freighted with Venetian singers loom up out of the +shadows and fill the air with melody that echoes as in dreams, and that +vanishes--one knows not when or where. Mr. Howells, in his delightful +"Venetian Days," has interpreted much of that life that the tourist +never recognizes, that eludes his sight; and the Dream City still, to +the visitor who comes and goes, shrouds itself in myth and mystery. One +of the poetic visions of Venice is that given in Robert Underwood +Johnson's "Browning at Asolo" (inscribed to Mrs. Arthur Bronson), of +which the opening stanzas run:-- + + "This is the loggia Browning loved, + High on the flank of the friendly town; + These are the hills that his keen eye roved, + The green like a cataract leaping down + To the plain that his pen gave new renown. + + "There to the West what a range of blue!-- + The very background Titian drew + To his peerless Loves. O tranquil scene! + Who than thy poet fondlier knew + The peaks and the shore and the lore between? + + "See! yonder's his Venice--the valiant Spire, + Highest one of the perfect three, + Guarding the others: the Palace choir, + The Temple flashing with opal fire-- + Bubble and foam of the sunlit sea." + +Edgar Fawcett, always enchanted with his Venetian days, pictures the +northern lagoon, some six miles from Venice, as "a revel of pastoral +greenness, with briery hedges, numberless wild flowers and the most +captivating of sinuous creeks, overarched by an occasional bridge, so +old that you greet with respect every moss-grown inch of its drowsy and +sagging brickwork. The cathedral, the ineludible cathedral of all +Italian settlements, is reached after a short ramble, and you enter it +with mingled awe and amusement," he continues. "Some of its mosaics, +representing martyrs being devoured by flames and evidently enjoying +themselves a great deal during this mortuary process, challenge the +disrespectful smile. But others are vested with a rude yet sacred +poetry, and certain semi-Oriental marble sculptures, adjacent to the +altar, would make an infidel feel like crossing himself for the crime of +having yielded to a humorous twinge. This duomo dates far back beyond +the Middle Ages, and so does the small Church of Santa Fosca, only a +step away. What renders Torcello so individual among all the islands and +islets of the lagoon, I should say, is her continual contrast between +the ever-recurrent idyllicism of open meadows or wilding clusters of +simple rustic thickets, and the enormous antiquity of these two hoary +ecclesiastic fanes. History is in the air, and you feel that the very +daisies you crush underfoot, the very copses from which you pluck a +scented spray, have their delicate rustic ancestries, dating back to +Attila, who is said once to have brought his destructive presence where +now such sweet solemnity of desertion and quietude unmolestedly rules." + +History and legend and art and romance meet and mingle to create that +indefinable sorcery of Venice. It is like nothing on earth except a +poet's dream, and his poetic dream is of the ethereal realm. The +wonderful music that floats over the "silver trail" of still waters; the +mystic silences; the resplendence of color,--all, indeed, weave +themselves into an incantation of the gods; it is the ineffable +loveliness of Paradise where the rose of morning glows "and the June is +always June," and it is no more earth, but a celestial atmosphere,--this +glory of June in Venice. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] This inscription and a description in detail of all the memorials of +Elizabeth Barrett Browning are given in full in a volume entitled "A +Study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. + +[4] "A Study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Little, Brown, & Co. + + + + + _Dear Italy! The sound of thy soft name + Soothes me with balm of Memory and Hope. + Mine, for the moment, height and sweep and slope + That once were mine. Supreme is still the aim + To flee the cold and gray + Of our December day, + And rest where thy clear spirit burns with unconsuming flame._ + + _Thou human-hearted land, whose revels hold + Man in communion with the antique days, + And summon him from prosy greed to ways + Where Youth is beckoning to the Age of Gold; + How thou dost hold him near + And whisper in his ear + Of the lost Paradise that lies beyond the alluring haze!_ + + ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON. + + + + + _Great ideas create great peoples. Let your life be the living + summary of one sole organic idea. Enlarge the horizon of the + peoples. Liberate their conscience from the materialism by which it + is weighed down. Set a vast mission before them. Rebaptize them._ + + MAZZINI. + + + _All parts array for the progress of souls: all religion, all solid + things, arts, governments,--all that was or is apparent upon this + globe, or any globe, falls into niches and comes before the + procession of Souls along the grand roads of the universe.... Of + the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of + the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and + sustenance._ + + WALT WHITMAN. + + + + +VII + +THE MAGIC LAND + + More than five hundred years have passed over the country of Dante + since the death of his mortal part--years of glory and of shame, of + genius and intolerable mediocrity, of turbulent liberty and mortal + servitude; but the name of Dante has remained, and the severe image + of the poet still rules the destinies of Italian generations, now + an encouragement and now a reproach. The splendor of no other + genius has been able to eclipse or dim the grandeur of Dante; never + has there been a darkness so profound that it could conceal this + star of promise from Italian eyes; neither the profanations of + tyrants and Jesuits, nor the violations of foreign invaders, have + been able to efface it. "_Sanctum Poetæ nomen quod nunquam + barbaries violavit._" + + MAZZINI. + + +The true life of Italy is not read in any record of contemporary facts +or statistics. Mazzini once said of Dante, in an essay on the immortal +poet, that "the life, the true life of Dante does not lie in the series +of the material facts of his existence. The life of Dante consists in +the sufferings and aspirations of his soul; in its dominant impulses; in +the ceaseless development of the idea which was at once his guide, +inspiration, and consolation; in his belief as a man and as an Italian." +The real life of Italy is, by analogy, to be read in that atmosphere +of aspiration and of noble purpose which characterizes the nation rather +than in the material facts of its general progress at the present time. +As a country Italy is young. It is still less than forty years since her +unity was declared, and to merge the large number of separate States +into one harmonious whole is a task requiring the evolutionary progress +of time; for a nation, like a university, cannot be a matter of +instantaneous creation. It must germinate and grow. The country that, +previous to so comparatively a recent date as the year 1870, was, in the +phrasing of Prince Metternich, "a geographical expression," can hardly +be judged by present national standards after an existence of only +thirty-seven years, although it need be said in no spirit of apology; +for Italy is advancing in scientific development, in manufactures, and +in the problems involved in civil and hydraulic engineering to a notable +degree in the northern part. Milan and Naples are separated by far more +than geographical distance. In modern progress Milan is divided by +centuries from all Southern Italy. + +Between Italy and the United States the _entente cordiale_ is not +merely that of diplomatic and ceremonial courtesy, but of an exceptional +degree of mutually sympathetic comprehensions. In noble ambitions and +lofty purposes Americans and Italians are closely akin. In zeal for +contemporary scientific progress, in an intense susceptibility to the +glories of art, and in hospitality to all that makes for progress, both +nations meet in mutual recognition. Of no people is it more deeply true +than of Americans that "each man has two countries: his own and Italy." +The average traveller sees this fair land with a breadth and +thoroughness seldom called into requisition elsewhere. In England he is +usually content with London, the tour of the cathedral towns and the +lake region of the poets. France is summed up to him in Paris and in the +chateaux of outlying districts. But Italy beguiles the traveller into +every lonely foot-trail in the mountains; to every "piazza grande" of +lonely hamlets, isolated on a rocky hillside; to every "fortezza" that +crowns a mountain summit. The unexplored byways of Italy are magnetic in +their fascination, and one special source of congratulation on the part +of those fortunate tourists who travel with their own motor car is that +they are thus enabled to penetrate into untrodden byways in Italy in a +manner impossible to those who must depend entirely on the regulation +railroad service. All lovers of Italy are devoted to these original +tours of private exploration. A recent trip to Saracinesco, in the +region of Tivoli, was made by Mrs. Stetson (Grace Ellery Channing) with +her husband, and in a descriptive record of the little journey into an +unfrequented mountain region this paragraph occurs:-- + + "Roused by 'an awful rose of dawn' which turned every solemn slope + to strange amber and amethyst, we left that rocky eyrie next day, + returning by way of Anticoli--beloved of artists. And if the ascent + had qualified us for Alpine climbers, the descent qualified us as + members of the Italian cavalry corps. Pictures of officers riding + down the face of cliffs will never impress us again; we know now it + is the very simplest of 'stunts.' Our way down was diversified by + the tinkling of thousands of sheep-bells, by the far too close + proximity of bulls to Maria's crimson headdress, which nothing in + the world would induce her to remove, and by sundry meetings with + relations, long-unseen friends, and strangers, from whom we culled + the whole register of deaths, births, marriages, and happenings for + a month past. At last, beside a little bridge near the railroad + station, Leonardo addressed his ten-thousandth adjuration to + Beppino, whose poor little legs trembled under him. It was no + longer, 'Ah, sacred one!--don't you see Anticoli!'--or 'the rock,' + or whatever it might be; now he said, 'Ah, sacred one!--don't you + comprehend?--the Signora descends'--and Beppino looked distinctly + pleased. + + "Here we demanded the reckoning, skilfully evaded hitherto. + + "'Well--a franc for each beast,--and half a franc for the + room,--the rest was nothing--a _sciocchezza_.' + + "A franc apiece!--half a franc!--were _we_ brigands that we should + do this thing?" + +This typical picture of idyllic days in Italy, enjoyed in the impromptu +excursion and trip, reveals the delicacy of feeling and the sunny +kindness that characterize the _contadini_ and which imparts to any +social contact with them a grace and sweetness peculiar to Italian +life. There are parts of Italy where it is still the Middle Ages and no +hint of the twentieth century has yet penetrated. The modern spirit has +almost taken possession of Rome; it is largely in evidence in Florence +and even Venice, and it dominates Milan; but in most of the "hill towns" +and in the little hamlets and lonely haunts where a house is perhaps +improvised out of the primeval rock, the prevailing life is still +mediæval, and only awakens on festa days into any semblance of activity. + +Somewhere, away up in the hills, several miles from Pegli,--on the +Mediterranean coast near Genoa,--is one of these sequestered little hill +towns called _Acqua Sacra_. The name is obvious, indeed, for the sound +of the "sacred water" fills the air, falling from every hillside and +from the fountain of the _acqua sacra_ by the church. Pilgrims come from +miles around to drink of these waters. Each house in this remote little +hamlet is of solid stone, resembling a fortress on a small scale, and +the houses cling to the hillsides like mosses to a rock. Though far up +in the mountains, the hills rise around the hamlet like city walls, +as if the life of all the world were kept outside. The unforeseen visit +to these remote hamlets, suddenly chancing upon some small centre of +happy and half-idyllic life, is one of the charms of tourist travel in +this land of ineffable loveliness. + + [Illustration: RUINS OF THE GREEK THEATRE, TAORMINA, SICILY + _Page 429_] + +The approach to Italy, by whatever direction, by land or by sea, one +enters, is one of magical beauty. Whether one enters from the +Mediterranean or from the Adriatic, or by means of the Mont Cenis, the +Simplon, or the St. Gothard pass, through the sublime mountain wall, +each gateway is marvellous in attraction. Approaching from the seas that +completely surround Italy except on one side, the almost undreamed-of +splendor of Naples, Genoa, and Venice, as seen from off the shore, +exceeds all power of painter or poet to reproduce. The precipitous coast +of Sicily; the picturesque city of Palermo; the wonderful ruins of the +Greek theatre on the heights in Taormina,--all enchant the tourist. To +anchor off Naples, in the beautiful bay, serves the purpose of an hotel +out at sea. It is like living in Venice--only more so! By the little +rowboats one may go, at any moment, to Naples, and it is more delightful +than passing the days in the city itself. For at night as one strolls +or sits on deck what a picture is before the eye! All Naples, on her +semicircular shores, with her terraced heights rising above, defined in +a blaze of electric lights! Genoa, _la Superba_, is still more +magnificent when seen from the sea; and Venice, rising dream-enchanted, +completes the wonders of the approach by water. + +As the new Italy has not yet achieved any homogeneous unity, Naples, +Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan differ in their characteristics to +such a degree that no general interpretation of the residents of any one +would appropriately describe those of another. Paris and Vienna hardly +differ as much as do Milan and Rome; and Venice, Florence, and Rome, +each rich in art treasures, have little else in common. Certain +characteristics of each of the large cities reveal themselves +prominently, even to a superficial observer. Milan, as has been said, is +a centre of activity, as Florence is of culture and accomplishments. +Florence has the largest and the most choice circulating library in all +Italy and one that ranks among the best on the Continent. Her galleries +are treasure stores of art, and her social life is unsurpassed--one +might almost say unrivalled--in its fine quality. Music, philosophic +culture, learning in all lines of research characterize Florentine +society. Education has always been regarded in Florence as a matter of +prime importance, and when the government grant of funds is insufficient +the sum is made up by private contributions, so that the _Scuola del +Popolo_ gives free instruction, yearly, to eighteen hundred pupils, in +every branch of technical and art education. This fact alone offers its +own explanation of that general intelligence of the people which so +impresses the visitor in Florence. But this is a municipal rather than +national fact. Every special development in any direction in Italy will +always be found to be the characteristic of the city or locality, not of +the country as a whole; and thus the unity of Italy is still a political +expression rather than a political fact. It is a theory which is not yet +developed into an experience. Italy is in the making. Practically, she +is the youngest of countries, with less than forty years of experimental +attempt at _national_ life behind her. Not until 1919 will she have +attained the first half century of her united life. Educational +facilities, inclusive of schools, libraries, and museums; railroads, +telegraph and telephone service, electric lighting and electric +trams,--all the ways and means of the modern mechanism of life are, +inevitably, in a nebulous state in Italy. The political situation is +extremely interesting at the present time. That the "Blacks" and the +"Whites" are diametrically opposed to each other is in the nature of +history rather than that of contemporary record or of prophecy; and that +this is a traditional attitude in this city of the Cæsars is not a fact +by any means unknown; but the situation is complicated by the third +party--the Socialists--who, by allying themselves with either, would +easily turn the scales and command the situation. If they were ardent +Catholics and were advocates of the Papal supremacy, the temporal power +of the Pope would be restored in less time almost than could be +recorded, and Pius X would be in residence in the Palazzo Quirinale +rather than Victor Emanuele III. But this great modern uprising in +Italy--a movement that is gathering force and numbers so rapidly that no +one can venture to prophesy results even in the comparatively immediate +future--this great modern movement is neither for church nor state. The +Socialist uprising is very strong in Milan and through Northern Italy. +It is much in evidence in the Umbrian region--in Foligno, Spoleto, +Nervi, and those towns; and from Frascati to Genzano and in the Lake +Nemi chain of villages--Rocca di Papa, Castel Gandolpho, Ariccia, +Albano--these villages within some fifteen miles of Rome. In these there +is a veritable stronghold of Socialism, where its purposes and policy +are entrenched. Yet when one alludes to its policy, the term is rather +too definite. If it had a settled and well-formulated policy on which +all its adherents were in absolute accord they would carry all before +them. But Socialism is still a very elastic term and covers, if not a +multitude of sins, at least a multitude of ideas and ideals. There is +now a rumor that the situation is forcing the absolutely inconceivable +union of church and state--of the Vatican and the Quirinale--that they +may thus withstand their common foe. A more amazing and extraordinary +turn of affairs could not be imagined; and if the rumor (which is now +becoming more coherent in Rome) should prove to be the forerunner of +any truth, the situation will be one of the most amazing in all history. + + [Illustration: PONTE VECCHIO, FLORENCE + _Page 430_] + +Epoch-making events in the course of progress are always preceded by +circumstances that form to them a natural approach and chain of +causation. They are the results of which the causes stretch backward in +the past. One of the things that has an incalculably determining +influence on the present situation is that of the character of the +present Pope. His Holiness, Pius X, brings to the Papacy an entirely new +element. He is no ascetic or exclusive ecclesiastic; he is no diplomat +or intriguant, but rather a simple, kindly man, of a simplicity totally +unprecedented in the annals of the Palazzo Vaticano. Instead of clinging +with unswerving intensity of devotion to the idea of the restoration of +the temporal power of the church, Pope Pius X would not be disinclined +to the uniting of church and state as in England; the Vatican to remain, +like the See of Canterbury, the acknowledged head of the spiritual +power, while the Quirinale remained the head of the government to which +the church should give its political adherence, the Quirinale in return +giving to the Vatican its religious adherence. Perhaps it is not too +much to say that something not unlike this might easily become--if it is +not already--the dream of Pius X. But in the mean time there is another +factor with which to reckon, and that is the present Papal Secretary of +State, Cardinal Merry del Val. He it is who really holds the mystic key +of St. Peter's. He is a diplomatist, an ecclesiastic, an embodiment of +all that is severe and archaic in authority. The Pope is by no means +able to set his course by his own watch-lights. The College of Cardinals +surrounds him, and the College of Cardinals is practically one Cardinal, +the keen scholar and the all determining Cardinal Merry del Val, whose +personality dominates the court of the Vatican. This remarkable prelate +represents the most advanced and progressive thought of the day in many +ways,--as has been noted in preceding pages,--but as a Jesuit he is +unalterably devoted to what he considers the only ideal,--the +restoration of the temporal power of the Pope. Spain revealed her +attitude when King Alphonso asked of all the monarchs of Europe that the +name of each should be borne by his infant son, the heir-apparent; and +for Italy he asked the name of the Pope and not of the King, thus +recognizing Pius X rather than Victor Emmanuel III as the head of the +nation. + +That the Socialists have very logical and serious grounds for complaint +is true. That their leader, Signor Enrico Ferri, an Italian journalist +and a Senator, is one of the most able men in Italy since the time of +Cavour is equally undeniable. The Socialists are fortunate, too, in +other leading men. Turati, the editor of the _Critica Sociale_, +Pantaleoni, Colajanni, and others are absolutely the hope of Italy at +the present time in the struggle for better conditions. For the +conditions of life in Italy, as regards taxation, the problems of +transit, the government restrictions on agricultural production and on +manufactures, are absolutely intolerable and should not be endured for a +day. The taxation is so exorbitant that it is a marvel Italy is not +depopulated. On land the tax rate is from thirty to fifty per cent; the +income tax is not merely, as one would suppose, levied on a legitimate +income derived from a man's possessions, but is levied on salaries, +ranging from ten to twenty per cent of these, and also, not content with +this unheard-of extortion, the tax is levied on the nature and source +of his salary, and even the smallest wage is thus subject to an income +tax. Again, there is a most absurd tax on salt, which, like sugar and +tobacco, is held as a government monopoly. No poor person living on the +seacoast in Italy is allowed to take even a pail of water from the sea +to his house, as the government assumes that, by evaporation, it might +yield a few grains of salt. The tax on sugar effectually checks an +industry that might be made most profitable, that of putting up fruit in +jams, jellies, and compote, and renders the price of these commodities +absurdly high. Again, when taxes are paid the process is even worse than +the unjust and exorbitant tax itself. No one is allowed to send a check +or postal order; no tax gatherer calls at the home or the office. Each +person must go himself or send a personal representative to a given +place between certain hours. Here stand a long procession, each person +in town going up, filling out pages of written formalities; talking of +each item and discussing it according to the national custom, until the +office hours are over for that day, and often not one-fourth of the +persons waiting have been served. All then must take their chances the +next day, and perhaps even a third or a fourth day,--a loss of time and +energy that in no other country would be tolerated for a moment. But +time has not yet any recognizable value in Italy. Every enterprise and +manufacture is taxed in Italy, and as the returns of these are +inevitably revealed so that no evasion is possible, and as the exactions +of the government consume nearly all the profits, the result is that all +business enterprises are discouraged and that Italy swarms with a great +idle population, while nearly all articles and supplies are imported +from other countries, with the payment of enormous duties, making their +cost far greater, proportionately, than their value. + +There are great tracts of country in Southern Italy suitable for tobacco +raising, but (as it is one of the government monopolies) people are +forbidden to raise it; and in private gardens only three plants are +permitted. Again, all industries are crippled, if not paralyzed, by the +tax at the frontier, and also by the tax at every gate of every city. At +every _porta_ in Rome are stationed government officers who scrutinize +every box, basket, and package; and all fruit, eggs, garden stuff, +milk, and commodities of every kind are taxed as they are brought inside +the walls. + +The railroads of Italy are, at present, very poor in all facilities of +transit. Within a year the Italian government has "taken over" these +roads and better conditions are promised, which are, alas! not yet in +sight. There are many "counts" to the indictment against the Italian +railroads which are only suitable to adorn the very lowest circles of +the Inferno described by Dante. They are uncleanly; the roadbeds are so +rough that the miserably built compartments jolt and jostle over the +tracks; the seats are so high that the feet can hardly touch the floor, +and the facilities for light and air are as badly managed as is possible +to conceive. As is well known, these are divided into first, second, and +third class, these compartments all being in the same train, and between +the first and second there is little difference save that of price. +Curiously, the price of even second-class travelling in Italy is over +half a cent a mile higher than that of the splendid trains in America, +with their swift time, their smooth roadbeds, their admirable +conveniences in every way. Again, no luggage is carried free, and the +prices asked for it are extortionate beyond words. One may check all his +impedimenta from San Francisco to New York without extra charge; but in +going from Rome to Naples, or from Florence to Genoa to sail, the same +luggage will cost from six to eight dollars to convey it to the steamer. +Again, these railroads pay their employés so poorly that only the most +inefficient service can be retained at all; only those persons who are +the absolute prisoners of poverty will consent to accept such meagrely +paid service. + +The Italian government consists, like that of most countries, of an +upper and lower house, the Senate and the House of Deputies. But the +former is rather a matter of miscellaneous honors than one of political +initiative. There is no limit to the number of Senators; they are +created by being named by the King, and the office is for life. If a man +attracts the favorable notice of the King,--because he is a good artist, +engineer, archæologist, chemist, or financier,--presto, he is liable to +be made a Senator. Canova, the celebrated sculptor, was made a Senator +because, indeed, he was a great artist! There is one condition, +however, that a Senator must be one who pays annually not less than +three thousand lire in taxes. The Senators receive no salary, and their +times of meeting are uncertain and no man's presence is obligatory. The +House of Deputies has five hundred and eight members, all of whom must +be Italian subjects over thirty years of age. They have no salary, but +are given the entire freedom of the realm in all transit on railroads +and steamers. The Chamber of Deputies is largely made up of professional +men, and it is little wonder that the Socialists are demanding an entire +reform in the government of the country. There was never in any country +more defective conditions than now prevail in Italy. The very fact that +the young King is an estimable gentleman, who is personally not in the +least to blame for the prevailing status of unfortunate conditions, is +in one way an added misfortune, as the personal loyalty he justly +inspires militates by so much against the revolution in government which +is so deeply a necessity of Italy before her better and more prosperous +life can begin. It is now a country of stagnation. All Southern and +Central Italy simply lives off its tourists; and every year prices and +fees and extortion in general from the visitors to Italy become greater. + +Senator Enrico Ferri, the leader of Socialism in Italy, was born in 1856 +in Mantua. He had a university education, was admitted to the bar, and +in 1881 was called to the chair of penal law in the University of +Bologna. The Senator is a scientific Socialist,--a man of the most +exceptional gifts and qualities, and the author of a noted work, +entitled "Criminal Sociology," which is translated into several +languages. Senators Ferri and Lombroso are special friends and also +co-workers. + +On taking his seat in the University of Bologna, Professor Ferri +delivered a lecture, entitled "New Horizons in Penal Law," which was a +most impressive effort. In it he said:-- + + "It was in this inaugural discourse that I affirmed the existence + of the positivist school of criminal law, and assigned to it these + two fundamental rules: First, while the classical schools of + criminal law have always studied the crime and neglected the + criminal, the object of the positivist school was, in the first + place, to study the criminal, so that, instead of the crime being + regarded merely as a juridical fact, it must be studied with the + aid of biology, of psychology, and of criminal statistics as a + natural and social fact, transforming the old criminal law into a + criminal sociology. Secondly, while the classical schools, since + Beccaria and Howard, have fulfilled the historic mission of + decreasing the punishments as a reaction from the severity of the + mediæval laws, the object of the positivist school is to decrease + the offence by investigating its natural and social causes in order + to apply social remedies more efficacious and more humane than the + penal counteraction, always slow in its effects, especially in its + cellular system, which I have called one of the aberrations of the + nineteenth century." + +Such is the man to whom it is no extravagance to allude as one of the +present leaders of progress in Italy. He is in the early prime of mature +life; he is a man of education, culture, great original gifts, and of +sympathies with humanity as wise and judicious as they are liberal and +all-embracing. Scientific Socialism tolerates no lawlessness, no +violence, nor does it, like the so-called Christian Socialism, attempt +to graft impossible conditions on society. It regards the laws of +economics, and it is practicable and possible as well as considerate and +just. And the great inspirer, proclaimer, and leader of scientific +Socialism is Enrico Ferri. + +Italy not only inspires the enthusiasm of the lover of beauty in nature +and art, she inspires a vital and abiding interest in all that shall +make for her true progress, and she inspires, as well, absolute faith in +her ultimate future. At present her monarchy is among the most liberal +and progressive of Europe. King Victor Emmanuel is a man of integrity, +of intelligence, and of devotion to the best interests of his country as +he understands these interests to be. If they might be better served by +a more democratic form of government, it is hardly to be asked or +expected that such a view should present itself to an hereditary +monarch. Among the most liberal element there are not wanting men who +believe that for the immediate future the present form of government is +the most feasible. In their conviction Italy is by no means prepared to +be a republic. The masses of the people are uneducated; and a great +work, requiring time, must be effected in the popularization of +intelligence and of instruction, before democratic government could be +adopted. Yet there is no faltering in the outlook on a glorious future. +The noble words of Mazzini still ring in the Italian air: "Walk in +faith, and fear not. Believe, and you will conquer." By way of enforcing +his convictions Mazzini said:-- + + "Upon a day in the sixteenth century, at Rome, some men bearing the + title of _Inquisitors_, who assumed to derive wisdom and authority + from God himself, were assembled to decree the immobility of the + earth. A prisoner stood before them. His brow was illumined by + genius. He had outstripped time and mankind, and revealed the + secret of a world. + + "It was Galileo. + + "The old man shook his bold and venerable head. His soul revolted + against the absurd violence of those who sought to force him to + deny the truths revealed to him by God. But his pristine energy was + worn down by long suffering and sorrow; the monkish menace crushed + him. He strove to submit. He raised his hand, he too, to declare + the immobility of the earth. But as he raised his hand, he raised + his weary eyes to that heaven they had searched throughout long + nights to read thereon one line of the universal law; they + encountered a ray of that sun which he so well knew motionless amid + the moving spheres. Remorse entered his heart: an involuntary cry + burst from the believer's soul: _Eppur si muove!_ and yet it moves. + + "Three centuries have passed away. + Inquisitors,--inquisition,--absurd theses imposed by force,--all + these have disappeared. Naught remains but the well-established + movement of the earth, and the sublime cry of Galileo floating + above the ages. + + "Child of Humanity, raise thy brow to the sun of God, and read upon + the heavens: _It moves._ Faith and action! The future is ours." + +"Poetry," added Mazzini, "will teach the young the nobleness of +sacrifice, of constancy, and silence; of feeling one's self alone +without despairing, in an existence of suffering unknown or +misunderstood; in long years of bitterness, wounds, and delusion, +endured without murmur or lament; it will teach them to have faith in +things to come, and to labor unceasingly to hasten their coming, even +though without hope of living to witness their triumph;" and his final +word in this great invocation to the new potencies of the opening future +is an exhortation to believe in all greatness and goodness. "Faith," he +said, "which is intellect, energy, and love, will put an end to the +discords existing in a society which has neither church nor leaders; +which invokes a new world, but forgets to ask its secret, its Word, from +God." In universal education must lie the first national aid to the +development of Italy. "_L'anima del gran mondo è l'allegria._" + +As Florence is pre-eminently the city of culture, so is Milan of +activities. Her keynote is _modernité_. The visitor is at once impressed +by her energy, her enterprise, and her commercial prosperity. Milan has +the best municipal facilities and conveniences in all Italy. The +electric lighting of streets, public buildings, and residences, the +street transit, the arrangement and conduct of shops and all industrial +matters, are in such contrast to any other city in Italy as to lead the +sojourner to ask himself whether he can still be on the southern side of +the Alpine range. In the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele Milan has the most +wonderful structure in all Europe. This arcade was built in 1865, and +under the magnificent glass dome it includes nearly one hundred of the +most attractive and well-stocked shops, bazaars, and establishments. The +dome is decorated with frescoes and caryatides, and with the statues of +numbers of eminent men, among whom are Dante, Raphael, Savonarola, and +Cavour. The offices and banks in Milan are centres of incessant energy. + +For all this stress of activity the visitor does not, however, forget +the art features; the visit to the antique Church of St. Ambrosio; to +the old convent where Leonardo da Vinci's celebrated fresco, "The Last +Supper," is to be seen, though so faded that it is now difficult to +discern all the figures. Nor does he fail to climb the wonderful +cathedral that lifts its airy grace, as if about to float upward in the +skies. Every flight of the steps, in the ascent, brings one to a new +vision of beauty. On the roof of this cathedral one wanders as in a very +forest of sculpture. Its scheme of decoration includes more than two +thousand statues, two of which are by Canova. From the summit, when the +air is clear, there are beautiful views of the Alps. + +To the savant and scholar the Ambrosian library in Milan is one of the +special treasures of Europe. It contains some of the most rare and +valuable manuscripts in the entire world,--some of Virgil's with +annotations from Petrarcha; a manuscript of Dante's; drawings by +Leonardo da Vinci, and other interesting matters of which no other +copies exist. + +The Magic Land is seen under its most bewitching spell in the region of +the Italian lakes. The palace of Isola Bella; the charming gardens; the +lake of Como, green-walled in hills whose luxuriant foliage and bloom +form a framework for the white villas that cluster on their terraced +slopes,--all form a very fairyland of ethereal, rose-embowered beauty. +At night the lakes are a strange, unreal world of silver lights and +shadows. + +The completion of the Simplon tunnel has opened between Italy and Paris +a route not only offering swifter facilities for transit, but adding +another to the regions of beauty. This route has also still further +increased the commercial importance of Milan, the portal and metropolis +of Northern Italy. Milan has become the national centre of all +scientific and technical pursuits, and it is fairly the Mecca for young +men of Central and Southern Italy who are entering into the professions, +or into civil and electrical engineering and other of the technical arts +and industries. + +Bologna, with her historic University, with the long covered arcades of +the streets, the fountain, which is the work of Giovanni di Bologna, and +the gallery where many of Guido's best works are placed, has its +individual interest for the tourist; and Verona, Pavia, Modena, Parma, +and Turin all repay a visit from the leisurely saunterer in Italy. + +Pisa offers to the visitor four interesting architectural monuments in +the Duomo, the Baptistery, the Leaning Tower, and the Campo Santo, all +of which are unique. The cathedral has unique designs in its black and +white marbles that render it almost as much an object of artistic study +as is the cathedral in Siena. The view from the summit of the Leaning +Tower reveals the Mediterranean six miles in the distance, gleaming like +a sea of silver. The Campo Santo dates from the thirteenth century, +when the earth of which it is composed was brought (in 1228) from the +holy places in Jerusalem, conveyed to the city (then a seaport) by fifty +galleys sent out by the Republic of Pisa. The interior walls of the +Campo Santo are covered with fresco paintings by Orcagna which are one +of the artistic spectacles of the country in their extravagant portrayal +of theological beliefs, so realistically presented in their dramatic +scenes from Paradise and from Hades, as to leave nothing to the +imagination. The fantasies in this emblematic sculpture of memorial +monuments over a period of seven hundred years can be seen in the Campo +Santo of Pisa,--a strange and often a most grotesque medley. + +Genoa is well named La Superba. Her thoroughfares are streets of +palaces. Her terraced gardens and villas, reached by the subterranean +funicular street railway, are regions of unique and incomparable beauty, +with the blue Mediterranean at their feet. Genoa is the paradise for +walking. The streets are largely inaccessible to carriages, but the +admirable street electric railway penetrates every locality. It passes +in dark tunnels under the hills, reappears on the high terraces, and +climbs every height. From the crest of one of these Corsica can often be +seen. All the hill-slopes are a dream of pictorial grandeur, with their +terraces, their palaces, their sculpture, fountains, and flowers. On the +summit of almost every hill there is a fortress, and often ramparts +which are silhouetted, in dark masses, against the sky. Orange groves +abound on the terraces, often showing the golden fruit, buds, and +blossoms all at the same time. + +Genoa is fairly a metropolis of sculpture. The great families have +themselves perpetuated in portrait statues rather than in painted +portraits. In one of the grand ducal palaces in the Via Balbi the +visitor may see, not only the life-size statues and the busts of the +family ancestry, but one group comprising nine figures, where three +generations are represented, in both sitting and standing poses, +ingeniously combined. + +The churches of Genoa are among the richest in Europe. That of the +Annunziata, the special monument of the Lomellini family, glitters and +gleams with its gold ceilings and rich frescoes. The cathedral has the +special allurement of the emerald dish which King Solomon received as +a gift from the Queen of Sheba. The little "street of the jewellers" is +an alluring place,--so narrow that one can almost stand in the centre of +the road and touch the shop windows on either hand, and these windows +dazzle the eye with their fascinating glitter of gold and silver +filigree work and their rich jewels. + + [Illustration: CAMPO SANTO, GENOA + _Page 453_] + +Beyond all other curious excursions that even a Magic Land can offer is +that to the Campo Santo of Genoa. A cloistered promenade encloses a +square, and above are terraced colonnades, each and all revealing +statues, and monuments, and groups of sculpture whose varied beauty, +oddity, or bizarre effects are a curious study. Some memorials--as one +of an angel with outstretched wings; another of a flight of angels +bearing the soul away; another combining the figure of Christ with the +cross, and angels hovering near--are full of beauty. Others are a marvel +of ingenious and incongruous combination. One of the latter represents +the man whose memory it commemorates as lying on his bed in his last +illness; the physician stands by, his fingers on the patient's pulse; +on the opposite side a maid is approaching with a dish holding some +article of food, and near the physician are grouped the wife, with a +little child clinging to her skirts; the son, holding his hat with both +hands and looking down on it, and the daughter, a young girl, with her +eyes raised to heaven. Each of these figures is in life size; the bed is +reproduced in marble, with the pillows and all the coverings in the most +absolute realism, and the entire effect is so startling in its bizarre +aspect that one could hardly believe in its existence until by personal +observation he had verified so singular a monument. + +Yet there is beauty and symbolic loveliness, too, in many of the +memorial sculptures of this Campo Santo, and turning away from this +cemetery in which lies the body of the noble Mazzini, one hears on the +air the refrain of his words on Dante:-- + + "It appeared to him of more importance to hasten to accomplish his + mission upon earth, than to meditate upon the inevitable hour which + marks for all men the beginning of a new task. And if at times he + speaks of weariness of life, it is only because he sees evil more + and more triumphant in the places where his mission was appointed. + He concerned himself, not about the length or the shortness of + life, but about the end for which life was given; for he felt God + in life, and knew the creative virtue there is in action." + +Eighty thousand people followed Mazzini to his tomb, and his name lives +in the Italy of to-day as one to be associated with that of Dante as +prophet and inspirer. + +The enchantment of approaching Genoa from the sea at night is an +experience to remain as one of the pictorial treasures of memory. The +magnificent _lanterna_, the lighthouse with its revolving light, that +can be seen for fifty miles out from the coast; the brilliant +illumination defining the _fortezza_ on the summit of one hill; the +curving lights of the terraced residential district and the illumination +of the very forest of shipping clustered in the bay,--all combine into a +scene not easily effaced from the memories of foreign scenes. + +It is only in close relations with Italian literature that Italy can be +adequately enjoyed and that the sojourner may enter into sympathetic +associations with contemporary Italian life. Dr. Richard Garnett +believes that the literature of Italy "is a less exhaustive +manifestation than elsewhere of the intellect of the nation," and that +"the best energies of the country are employed in artistic production. +It is, indeed, remarkable," he continues, "that out of the nine Italians +most brilliantly conspicuous in the first rank of genius and +achievement,--Aquinas, Dante, Columbus, Leonardo, Michael Angelo, +Raphael, Titian, Galileo, Napoleon,--only one should have been a man of +letters." + +Contemporary Italian literature follows the trend of the day in +reflecting the life of the people. The novels of Fogazzaro, the poems of +Carducci, the biography and history written by Villari, to say nothing +of several other writers who, while not approaching these authors, have +still a definite place in the literature of the present, offer +illumination on the outer scenery of life, and offer interpretation of +the life itself. Art has declined; literature has advanced in Italy, +even within the past decade. The law of progress is as inevitable as is +the law of gravitation. + + "Onward the chariot of the Unvarying moves; + Nor day divulges him nor night conceals; + Thou hear'st the echo of unreturning hooves, + And thunder of irrevocable wheels." + +The future of Italy inspires faith in the renewal of its noblest ideals +of achievement. Its ineffable beauty is a heritage of joy to every +visitor who comes under the indescribable spell of its attraction and +finds that, in all the panorama of foreign life which haunts his memory, +it is Italy which shines resplendent as the Magic Land! + + + + +INDEX + + + Accademia des Arcades, Rome, 334. + + Accadémia di San Luca, oldest art school, 44; + location of, 45; + galleries of, 46, 47, 48. + + Acqua Sacra, 428. + + Akers, Paul, in Rome, 10; + early death of, 53; + work of, 54, 55; + quoted, 56; + Hawthorne's estimate of, 57. + + Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, quoted, 387. + + Allen, Elizabeth Akers, quoted, 53. + + Amalfi, 253-257; + destruction of, 258, 259. + + Ambrosian library, Milan, 449. + + American Academy, Rome, 214. + + American Embassy, Rome, location of, 153; + ball at, 164-167; + receptions at, 169. + + Anderson, Hendrick Christian, in Rome, 10. + + Angelo, Michael, work of, 22, 23, 312; + message of, 117; + friendship with Vittoria Colonna, 290; + Longfellow's poem on, 308-310; + art of, 313, 314; + quoted, 314, 316, 317, 318, 323; + gift to Vittoria Colonna, 318; + meeting with Francesco d'Ollanda, 322, 323, 324; + Walter Pater's estimate of, 327, 328, 329. + + Annunziata Cathedral, Genoa, 452. + + Aquinas, Thomas, birthplace of, 276; + tomb of, 331; + monastery of, 333. + + Aquinum, 277. + + "Arcadians," meetings of, 150. + + Ariosto, 306. + + Art, as leader of popular taste, 115; + inspired by religious ideals, 116; + Renaissance in, 117; + national importance of, 117; + ignored, 118; + relation to ugliness, 119; + falseness of, 121; + influence on life, 122; + united with religion, 123. + + Assisi, pilgrimage to, 341, 344; + founding of, 345; + points of interest in, 345, 346; + Canon Knox Little's description of, 348; + as a shrine, 385. + + Assisi, Bishop of, 354, 364. + + Assisi, St. Francis of, 123, 124; + message of, 342; + birthplace of, 345; + impress of, 347; + parents of, 348, 349; + early life of, 350; + legends regarding, 351; + quoted, 352, 354, 356; + supreme aim of, 353; + Rule of, 353, 354; + prayer of, 356; + character of, 357; + incident in early life of, 360; + first ministry of, 363; + first disciple of, 364; + at the Portiuncula, 365; + friendship with Clara, 365, 367, 368; + legends regarding, 370; + death of, 372; + miracles of, 375; + tomb of, 378. + + + Bagot, Richard, in Rome, 11, 13. + + Baia, 241. + + Baldwin, Rev. Dr., in Rome, 10, 171. + + Ball, Thomas, work of, 52. + + Balzac, quoted, 120. + + Barberini, Cardinal, 72. + + Baths of Caracalla, 139. + + Baths of Diocletian, 184. + + Bell, John, grave of, 216. + + Bembo, Cardinal, 306. + + Benedictines, 354, 365. + + Benton, Dwight, grave of, 221; + estimate of, 221. + + Bernardino of Siena, 382, 383; + quoted, 383. + + Bernini, Lorenzo, work of, 22. + + Besant, Mrs. Annie, 174. + + Biblioteca Sarti, 48. + + "Blacks," 145, 146. + + Bologna, 450. + + Bonaparte, Princess Christina, death of, 203. + + Boni, Commendatore, opinion of, 244. + + Boni, Giovanni M., 403. + + Bronson, Mrs. Arthur, 409, 410. + + Brooks, Rev. Phillips, in Rome, 15; + quoted, 16, 39, 388, 394, 395. + + Brownell, W. C., quoted, 96. + + Browning, Elizabeth B., in Rome, 11; + quoted, 60, 114, 125, 389; + death of, 80, 408; + meeting with Mrs. Bronson, 410, 411. + + Browning Palace, 406, 410, 411, 412, 413. + + Browning, Robert, quoted, 3, 407, 408; + in Rome, 11, 70; + in Venice, 406; + death of, 408. + + Browning, Miss Sarianna, 408, 413. + + Buono, 236. + + Byron, Lord, in Rome, 22; + quoted, 22, 403. + + + Campagna, 73, 205. + + Campanile, fall of, 406. + + Campo Verano, 76. + + Campo Santo of Pisa, 450, 451, 453. + + Campidoglio, buildings on, 25. + + Campriani, 237. + + Canova, in Rome, 7; + his genius, 33; + masterpiece of, 42; + realism of, 118. + + Capella Sistina, 27. + + Capo Miseno, 241. + + Capri, island of, 262, 263, 264; + roses of, 266. + + Capuano, Cardinal, legends of, 256. + + Capuccini, convent of, 255. + + Carducci, 143. + + Carter, Professor Jesse Benedict, in Rome, 169. + + Carter, Mrs. Jesse Benedict, 34, 37, 169. + + Casa Buonarroti, 312. + + Casino Borghese, 185. + + Castel d'Ischia, 292, 293, 294. + + Castellammare, 250. + + Castle Gandolfo, 286. + + Castiglione, 306. + + Cecioni's "La Madre," 121. + + Cestius, Caius, tomb of, 215. + + Channing, Grace Ellery, 10, 91. + + Chapel of Holy Sacrament, 202. + + Chateaubriand, in Rome, 21; + quoted, 21. + + Cicero's villa, remains of, 207. + + Cimabue, 376, 378. + + Cole, Thomas, in Rome, 9. + + Coleman, Charles Caryl, home of, 263. + + College of Cardinals, 435. + + Colonna, Fabrizio, 290. + + Colonna family, 285, 288, 289, 306, 307. + + Colonna palace and gardens, 131. + + Colonna, Vittoria, home of, 282; + quoted, 283, 303; + parents of, 285; + early childhood of, 286, 288; + horoscope of, 289; + destiny of, 290; + betrothal of, 290; + marriage of, 294, 295; + early married life of, 295, 296; + quoted, 297, 298, 300, 303, 305, 319, 320, 321; + in Pope Leo's court, 302; + her husband's death, 302; + removal of, 304; + fame of, 306; + return to Rome of, 307; + Longfellow's picture of, 308, 309, 310, 325, 326, 327; + travels of, 308, 311; + her influence with Michael Angelo, 313; + life in Rome and Orvieto, 314; + receives letters and sonnet from Michael Angelo, 317; + receives present from Michael Angelo, 318; + arranges meeting of Michael Angelo and Francesco d'Ollanda, + 322, 323, 324; + Walter Pater's comments on, 328; + death of, 329; + last prayer of, 330; + burial of, 331; + tomb of, 332; + bust of, 334; + fame of, 335, 336; + Margaret J. Preston's poem on, 337. + + Condivi, quoted, 313. + + Contarini, Cardinal, 306. + + Corsini chapel, 152. + + Crawford, Marion, in Rome, 11, 13. + + Crawford, Thomas, in Rome, 49; + career of, 51; + poem on, 52. + + Crow, Hon. Wayman, 61. + + Cumæ, 241. + + Cumæan Sibyl, 242. + + + da Bisticci, Vespasiano, 383. + + Dalbano, Edoardo, 236. + + Dana, Richard Henry, 219. + + Dante, quoted, 267-270; + Mazzini's estimate of, 454. + + d'Avalos, Donna Constanza, 291. + + d'Avalos, Francesco, 290, 294, 295. + + De Castro, Consul General, in Rome, 169. + + Decline of art, 31. + + d'Ollanda, Francesco, 322-324. + + del Val, Cardinal Merry, 146-149, 435. + + del Vasto, Marchese, 299. + + De Monici, chronicles of, 398. + + de Staël, Mme., in Rome, 11, 22. + + Dietsch, C. Percival, in Rome, 10. + + di Francavilla, Duchess, 291-293. + + di Mercanti, Pica, 349, 350. + + di Mercanti, Pietro Bernardone, 348, 349. + + di Pescara, Marchesa, 296, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 306, 311, 312, + 322, 331, 332, 335. + + di Pescara, Marchese, 292, 296, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 331, + 332. + + Doges, Palace of, 400-403. + + Dolce, Ludovico, 306. + + Don Erasmo Gattola, 273. + + Duca de Torlonia, family of, 205. + + Duff, Lina Gordon, quoted, 374. + + Dupaty, quoted, 16. + + Duran, M. Carolus, in Rome, 166, 167. + + + Elena, Queen, 140, 142, 179. + + Eliot, George, quoted, 252. + + Emerson, Mary Moody, letters to, 12. + + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, in Rome, 12; + quoted, 85. + + Emmons, Miss Elise, in Rome, 167. + + Esposito, 237. + + Ezekiel, Moses, in Rome, 10; + studios of, 97. + + + Fawcett, Edgar, quoted, 417. + + Ferrara, Duca and Duchessa of, 311. + + Ferri, Signor Enrico, 436, 442; + quoted, 442. + + Festus, quoted, 30. + + Field, Kate, in Rome, 12. + + Florence, culture of, 430, 431. + + Fra Ambrosia, 322. + + Franciscan, 367. + + Frascati, visited, 205. + + + Galileo, in Rome, 139, 445. + + Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, 448. + + Garibaldi, villa of, 239. + + Garnett, Dr. Richard, quoted, 456. + + Genoa, 430; + features of, 451; + as a metropolis of sculpture, 452; + churches of, 452; + enchantment of, 455. + + Ghiberto, Bishop, 311. + + Gibson, John, in Rome, 10, 36; + quoted, 34, 37, 59; + grave of, 221. + + Giotto, 376, 377, 379. + + Giovio, Paolo, 306. + + Gladstone, in Rome, 11. + + Goethe, in Rome, 11, 20; + quoted, 20. + + Goethe, August, grave of, 216. + + Goldoni, Carlo, centenary of, 413; + memorial of, 414. + + Good Friday, service in Rome, 200, 201. + + Greenough, Horatio, in Rome, 10; + work of, 49; + death, 50. + + Greenough, Mrs. Horatio, 335. + + Greenough, Richard, in Rome, 10, 58; + grave of, 217. + + Greenough, Sarah B., tomb of, 218. + + Grotto de Matrimonia, 263. + + Grotto Ferrata, 209. + + Guili, Commendatore Conte, 214. + + Guthers, Carl, work of, 236. + + + Hare, Augustus William, grave of, 221. + + Hawthorne, Nathaniel, quoted, 45, 57, 67, 195. + + Healy, Mr., in Rome, 19. + + Herculaneum, 242; + excavations in, 244; + Professor Spinazzola on, 242, 243; + destruction of, 244; + theatre in, 247. + + Hillard, George Stillman, in Rome, 12; + quoted, 23, 24, 51, 230, 248. + + Holy Week, in Rome, 200. + + Hosmer, Harriet, in Rome, 10, 59, 60, 61; + work of, 62. + + Howe, Dr. Samuel Gridley, in Rome, 12. + + Howe, Julia Ward, in Rome, 12. + + Howells, William Dean, in Rome, 13, 416. + + Howitt, William and Mary, graves of, 216. + + Hugo, Victor, 41. + + + Ischia, 281; + romantic impressions of, 282; + home of Vittoria Colonna, 282; + the d'Avalos castle in, 291; + as an enchanted island, 296; + Vittoria's return to, 299, 305. + + Italy, land of romance and song, 6; + Mazzini's opinion of, 65; + true life of, 423; + as a youthful country, 424; + relation with United States, 425; + traveller in, 425; + picture of idyllic days in, 427; + approach to, 429; + cities of, 429, 430; + in the making, 431; + politics of, 432; + Socialistic uprising in, 433; + taxation in, 436-438; + railroads in, 439, 440; + government of, 440, 441; + future of, 444, 457; + lakes of, 449; + contemporary literature of, 456. + + + James, Henry, in Rome, 11, 13. + + Jameson, Mrs., in Rome, 67; + quoted, 193. + + Johnson, Robert Underwood, quoted, 416, 421. + + Juvenal, birthplace of, 277. + + + Keats, in Rome, 11, 132; + memorial, 133; + grave of, 216. + + Kemble, Adelaide, in Rome, 68. + + Kemble, Fanny, in Rome, 68. + + Keynote of life, 359. + + Khayyam, Omar, quoted, 1, 94. + + + Lacus Avernus, 240. + + Lanciani, Professor, lectures by, 138, 139; + opinion of, 244, 333. + + Leaning Tower of Pisa, 450. + + Libraries of Rome, 214, 223. + + Lister, Mrs., in Rome, 172. + + Liszt, Abbé, in Rome, 18, 19. + + Little, Canon Knox, quoted, 347, 348, 376, 377, 380. + + Lodge, Sir Oliver, quoted, 120. + + Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, in Rome, 12; + quoted, 16, 17, 125, 253, 274, 279, 281, 308, 309, 310, 325, 327, 387. + + Longfellow, Rev. Samuel, quoted, 18. + + Lowell, James Russell, in Rome, 12. + + Ludovisi collection, 185. + + Luther, in Rome, 80; + ascent of the Scala Santa, 156. + + + Margherita, Queen Mother, 140, 141; + palace of, 142; + quoted, 143; + relations with artists, 144; + at requiem mass, 179. + + Marino, 286, 287. + + Mazzini, 191, 192; quoted, 64, 422, 423, 444, 446; + works of, 190, 191; + estimate of, 191; + tomb of, 454. + + Mead, Larkin G., in Rome, 10; + work of, 53. + + Mediæval Museum of Rome, 139. + + Meredith, Owen, quoted, 2. + + Metella, Cecilia, tomb of, 145. + + Milan, activity of, 430, 447; + structures of, 448; + Ambrosian library of, 449; + as scientific centre, 450. + + Mills, Clark, in Rome, 10. + + Milton, in Rome, 11, 19. + + Misenus, burial place of, 241. + + Monte Aquino, 276. + + Monte Cairo, 277. + + Monte Cassino, 304. + + Monte Catria, 348. + + Monte Mario, 21, 133. + + Monte Pincio, 188. + + Monte San Mano, 304. + + Morelli, Domenico, work of, 234, 235. + + Moulton, Louise Chandler, in Rome, 13; + quoted, 13, 14, 95, 267, 340. + + Myers, Frederick W. H., memorial tablet to, 220. + + + Naples, described, 227-231; + University of, 232; + Museum, 233; + natural attractions of, 237; + hotels of, 238; + Bay of, 265. + + Nardi, Monsignore, in Rome, 18. + + Nero's tomb, 78, 80. + + Nisida, island of, 240. + + Norton, Charles Eliot, quoted, 267. + + + Obelisk in Piazza del Popolo, 77. + + Oldest art school, 44. + + Oliphant, Mrs., quoted, 357, 368. + + Orvieto, 314. + + Osso, Professor Dall', opinion of, 244. + + Oxenham, Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Nutcombe, in Rome, 171. + + + Pæstum, 260, 261. + + Page de Conti, 337. + + Page, William, in Rome, 66. + + Palatine Hill, 13, 112. + + Palazzo Barberini, 72, 90. + + Palazzo Bernini, 32. + + Palazzo Bonaparte, 203. + + Palazzo Brandolin-Rota, 409. + + Palazzo Cesarini, 314, 329. + + Palazzo del Drago, 163, 164. + + Palazzo di Capodimonte, 233. + + Palazzo di Donna Ana, 239. + + Palazzo Margherita, 142. + + Palazzo Municipio, 384. + + Palazzo Quirinale, 142, 143, 432. + + Palazzo Rezzonico, 406. + + Palazzo Senni, 172. + + Palazzo Tamagno, 104. + + Palazzo Vaticano, 27. + + Pantheon, 177; + ceremonies at, 179. + + Papal supremacy, 432. + + Parsons, Thomas William, quoted, 52, 276. + + Pater, Walter, quoted, 327, 328. + + Perugia, town of, 381-384. + + Perugino, 384. + + Petrarcha, 258, 259, 400. + + Phlegræan Plain, 240. + + Piazza Barberini, 18. + + Piazza del Popolo, 76, 80, 134. + + Piazza di Spagna, 70, 133, 146. + + Piazza di Trinità, 133. + + Piazza San Giovanni, 151. + + Pietro da Cortona, work of, 194. + + Pisa, architectural monuments of, 450. + + Pistolesi, quoted, 43. + + Pliny, the Younger, quoted, 244. + + Poe, quoted, 136. + + Pompeii, 243, 245, 248. + + Pope Adrian, 302. + + Pope Clement XII, tomb of, 152. + + Pope Julius II, 23, 27, 28. + + Pope Leo XII, 302. + + Pope Leo XIII, tomb of, 154. + + Pope Paschal, dream of, 157. + + Pope Paul III, 313. + + Pope Pio Nono, 64, 75. + + Pope Pius X, 145, 147; + "passage" of, 196, 197; + ceremonial receptions of, 146; + residence of, 432; + character of, 434; + dream of, 435. + + Portiuncula, 365, 366. + + Posilipo, 239. + + Powers, Hiram, in Rome, 10; + America's first sculptor, 49; + work, 50. + + Pratello, 237. + + Preston, Margaret J., quoted, 280, 337. + + Principessa d'Antuni, 163, 164. + + + Quattro Fontane, Via delle, 72. + + + Raphael, work of, 22, 46, 47, 79; + genius of, 26; + masterpieces of, 27; + Franklin Simmons, opinion of, 29; + inspiration of, 30; + decline of art after, 31. + + Ravello, Cathedral at, 260. + + Ravenna, battle of, 296. + + Read, Thomas Buchanan, in Rome, 67. + + Realism, kinds of, 118. + + _Regina Madre_, 140, 142. + + Regio Palazzo del Quirinale, 143, 144. + + Reid, Hon. Whitelaw, 105. + + Reinhart, William, in Rome, 10. + + Religion united with art, 123. + + Renaissance in Italy, 117. + + Richmond, Celia, 341. + + Rocca di Papa, 287. + + Rogers, Randolph, in Rome, 10; + early death of, 53. + + Roman environment, 93. + + Rome, features of, 1; + as artistic centre, 6, 10, 114; + under Pontifical régime, 8; + Longfellow's love for, 16; + Goethe's impressions of, 20; + work of Michael Angelo and Raphael in, 22; + oldest art school of, 44; + latter-day artists in, 49; + Brownings in, 67; + social life in, 113, 127; + new bridge of, 128; + in May, 129; + in winter, 129, 130; + in spring, 130, 132; + festas in, 136; + discussed by Professor Lanciani, 138; + society in, 140, 141, 170; + two courts of, 142; + modern features of, 145; + enchanting views in, 151; + poetic symbolism in, 158-160; + of the present day, breakfast-table talk in, 162; + American Embassy in, 163; + elevator service in, 164; + American consulate in, 169; + delightful hostesses in, 171, 172; + attitude toward modern thought in, 173; + Theosophical Society of, 173, 174; + demand for apartments in, 175; + sight-seeing in, 183; + great palaces in, 187; + famous drive of, 188; + birthday celebrations of, 189; + Republic of, 190; + rich years to artists in, 192, 193; + Papal ceremonies in, 195; + curious spectacle in, 198; + Holy Week in, 200; + Good Friday service in, 200, 201; + motoring from, 204, 205; + outlying towns of, 207; + American Academy in, 214; + libraries of, 214; + Protestant cemetery of, 215; + literature of, 223; + modern spirit in, 428. + + Rosa, Salvator, 234. + + Rosenkrans, Baroness, 173. + + Rota, 329. + + Ruskin, in Rome, 12; + quoted, 398. + + + Sabatier, Paul, quoted, 362, 365. + + Sallust, Gardens of, 140. + + Salvatico, quoted, 401. + + San Agostino, church of, 198. + + San Caterina di Viterbo, 314. + + San Francesco, church of, 345. + + San Giovanni, 153. + + San Marco, 394. + + San Maria della Pace, 27. + + San Maria dei Frari, 405. + + San Silvestre, 32. + + Sansovino, Jacob, work of, 399. + + Santa Anna, convent of, 314. + + Santa Chiara (Clara), 365; + takes vows, 366, 367; + founds convent, 368; + family history of, 368; + friendship with St. Francis of Assisi, 368; + at death of Francis, 372; + personality of, 373; + preservation of body of, 374. + + Santa Domenica Maggiore, church of, 303, 331, 333. + + Santa Maria Degli Angeli, 345, 365, 380. + + Santa Maria del Popolo, 78-80. + + Santa Maria della Salute, 405. + + Santa Monica, tomb of, 199. + + Scala di Spagna, 72. + + Scala Santa, 155; + Luther's ascent of, 156. + + Scifi, Count Favorini, 368. + + Scott, Sir Walter, in Rome, 20. + + Sejanus, fall of, 263. + + Sermoneta, Duke of, in Rome, 18. + + Severn, Joseph, grave of, 216. + + Shelley, in Rome, 22; + memorial, 133; + quoted, 215; + grave of, 216. + + Simmons, Franklin, in Rome, 10, 15, 91, 98; + quoted, 29; + works of, 98-112; + early life, 100; + degrees conferred upon, 103; + marriage of, 103; + latest success of, 107; + studios of, 112; + realism of, 119; + beautiful creation of, 121; + grave of, 217. + + Simmons, Mrs. Franklin, in Rome, 104; + death of, 112; + estimate of, 112; + grave of, 218. + + Sindoni, Turillo, 144. + + Sistine Chapel, art in, 177. + + Sorrento, 251, 252. + + Spearman, Frank Hamilton, in Rome, 167; + work of, 168. + + Spinazzola, Professor, quoted, 242, 243. + + St. Ambrosio, church of, 448. + + St. Andrew, 256. + + St. Benedict, work of, 270, 271; + tomb of, 272; + chapel of, 350. + + St. Damian, chapel of, 356. + + St. Gaudens, Augustus, in Rome, 10. + + St. Gregory, feast of, 180. + + St. Maria della Portiuncula, 351. + + St. Mark's, Venice, 396, 397, 404. + + St. Mark, tomb of, 397; + legend regarding, 397. + + St. Paola d'Orvieto, 314. + + Stebbins, Emma, in Rome, 58. + + Stetson, Charles Walker, in Rome, 10, 91; + work of, 113. + + Stetson, Mrs. Charles Walker, in Rome, 11; + quoted, 426. + + Stillman, Mr., quoted, 39. + + Story, Julian, in Rome, 91; + studio of, 97. + + Story, Waldo, in Rome, 91; + studio of, 97; + works of, 98. + + Story, William Wetmore, in Rome, 10; + first visit to Italy of, 62; + in Florence, 65; + quoted, 70, 80, 89, 90, 286; + in Palazzo Barberini, Rome, 71; + works of, 81-86; + estimate of, 82-90; + literary work of, 90; + grave of, 217. + + Stowe, Harriet Beecher, in Rome, 11. + + Strada Nuova di Posilipo, 239. + + Symonds, John Addington, grave of, 220; + estimate of, 220; + quoted, 261, 264, 315, 316. + + + Tasso, 252, 253, 335. + + Tennyson's choice of pictures in Venice, 395. + + Thackeray, in Rome, 69. + + Theocritus, quoted, 85. + + Theosophical Society of Rome, 173. + + Thomas, Edith, quoted, 82. + + Thompson, Launt, in Rome, 10. + + Thorwaldsen, in Rome, 7, 10; + quoted, 35; + realism of, 119. + + Tiberius, summer palace of, 262; + baths of, 263. + + Tilton, J. Rollin, in Rome, 10; + grave of, 219. + + Titian, tomb of, 405. + + Torlonia, Duca and Duchessa of, 334. + + Trelawney, grave of, 216. + + Trinità di Monti, church of, 133. + + Tusculum, 207. + + + Umberto, King, 142. + + Umbrians, 345. + + Urbino, 285. + + + Vanderlyn, in Rome, 10. + + Vaughn, Monsignor, 181. + + Vatican, galleries of, 112. + + Vatican palace, 196, 198. + + Vedder, Anita, in Rome, 171. + + Vedder, Elihu, in Rome, 10; + art of, 91-95; + appreciation of, 96; + works of, 96, 97; + country house of, 262. + + Vedder, Mrs. Elihu, in Rome, 170. + + Venice, first glimpses of, 389; + Grand Canal of, 390; + in June, 391; + color and loveliness of, 392; + art of, 395, 396; + origin of, 398; + first Doge of, 399; + Renaissance architecture in, 399; + Doge's Palace, 400-404; + art in, 404; + fall of Campanile in, 406; + Browning Palace in, 408-413; + centenary of Carlo Goldoni celebrated in, 413, 414; + art exhibition in, 415; + June evening in, 416; + as a poet's dream, 418. + + Vernet, Horace, in Rome, 10. + + Verona, 311. + + Veronese, Paolo, 404. + + Vesuvius, 229. + + Via Bonella, 45. + + Victor Emmanuel III, 118, 215, 432, 444. + + Villa Aldobrandini, 208. + + Villa Barberini, 209. + + Villa Borghese, 14, 187. + + Villa Doria, 211. + + Villa Falconieri, 213. + + Villa Jovis, 263. + + Villa Medici, 4, 134. + + Villa Nazionale, 238. + + Villa Pamphilia Doria, 149. + + Villa Torlonia, 206. + + Virgil, quoted, 241; + grotto of, 242. + + Visconti, 329, 330. + + Vittorio Emanuele, 214. + + + Waldstein, Dr. Charles, quoted, 245. + + Ward, Mrs. Humphry, quoted, 210, 212. + + Watson, William, quoted, 9, 25, 86, 87. + + Wellman, Walter, 9. + + West, Benjamin, in Rome, 10. + + White, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, in Rome, 165. + + "Whites," 145. + + Whitman, Walt, quoted, 422. + + Whitney, Anne, in Rome, 10, 58. + + Whittier, quoted, 339. + + Wilberforce, Rev. Basil, quoted, 125, 341. + + Woolson, Constance Fenimore, tomb of, 219. + + + Zuccaro, Federigo, 44. + + + + +WORKS BY LILIAN WHITING + + + THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL. First, Second, and Third Series. 3 vols. 16mo. + $1.00 per vol. Decorated cloth, $1.25 per vol. + +Cannot help being uplifting and inspiring.--_New Church Messenger._ + + + AFTER HER DEATH, 16mo. $1.00. Decorated cloth, $1.25. + +Should bring positive aid in sorrow.--_Hartford Post._ + + + FROM DREAMLAND SENT. Verses of the Life to Come. 16mo. $1.00. + Decorated cloth, $1.25. + +Graceful, tender, true, appealing to what is best in the human +heart.--_The Independent._ + + + THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE; or, Death as an Event in Life. 16mo. + $1.00. Decorated cloth, $1.25. + +It suggests and hints at the ultimate significance of scientific +investigation with relation to the totality of thought in a very fresh +and suggestive way.--_The Outlook._ + + + KATE FIELD: A RECORD. With portraits, including one by Elihu + Vedder. 12mo. Decorated cloth, $2.00. + +A wonderfully vivid portrait.--_San Francisco Chronicle._ + + + A STUDY OF ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, 16mo. Decorated cloth, + $1.25. + +The most virile picture of Mrs. Browning in all our literature.--_New +York Times._ + + + THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL IN BOOKS, 16mo. $1.00 net. Decorated cloth, + $1.25 net. + +Great thoughts of great writers are touched upon with rare +discrimination and critical power.--_Boston Transcript._ + + + BOSTON DAYS. Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50 net. + +All the famous names associated with Boston pass in review.--_Boston +Herald._ + + + THE LIFE RADIANT, 16mo. $1.00 net. Decorated cloth, $1.25 net. + +No one can read it without having a clearer perception of the meaning of +life and of the infinite possibilities of the human soul in its process +of advancement.--_Chicago Chronicle._ + + + THE OUTLOOK BEAUTIFUL, 16mo. $1.00 net. White and gold, $1.25 net. + +A fitting crown to "The World Beautiful."--_Philadelphia Ledger._ + + + THE FLORENCE OF LANDOR. Fully illustrated. 8vo. In box, $2.50 net. + +A striking picture of Florence, doubly interesting because so many +eminent persons appear in it.--_Philadelphia Ledger._ + + + THE JOY THAT NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU. 18 mo. 50 cents net. + +Emphasizes the reality of spiritual things with an intense +conviction.--_Living Age._ + + + FROM DREAM TO VISION OF LIFE. 16mo. $1.00 net. White and gold, + $1.25 net. Uniform with "The World Beautiful." + +A study of life from the mere transient dream to the radiant eternal +vision. + + + THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT. From Pike's Peak to the Pacific. Fully + illustrated. 8vo. $2.50 net. + +A vivid presentation of the scenic marvels and resources of the +Southwest. + + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers, BOSTON + + + + + * * * * * + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + + The original language, spelling, language and punctuation have been + preserved. + The following corrections were made to the original text: + + Page xii: Vittoria Colonna, Galleria Buonarotti, Florence + Vittoria Colonna, Galleria Buonarroti, Florence + + Page 6: artistic centre of the ninteenth century and + artistic centre of the nineteenth century and + + Page 19: on the wall of the _casa_ in the Via delle Quattre Fontane + on the wall of the _casa_ in the Via delle Quattro Fontane + + page 26: the Palazzo Sentoriale and the Palazzo dei Conservatore. + the Palazzo Senatoriale and the Palazzo dei Conservatori. + + page 27: the Stanza della Incendio and the Sala di Constantino. + the Stanza dell'Incendio and the Sala di Constantino. + + page 32: winds on the Pont San Angelo, and in the vast + winds on the Ponte San Angelo, and in the vast + + page 32: the Music Nazionale--is the group of "Pluto + the Museo Nazionale--is the group of "Pluto + + page 55: during hs stay in Rome are 'St. Elizabeth of + during his stay in Rome are 'St. Elizabeth of + + page 72: The Via delle Quatre Fontane, on which the + The Via delle Quattro Fontane, on which the + + page 138: given under the auspices of the Societa Archeologica, + given under the auspices of the Società Archeologica, + + page 148: _gentilinomo_, who is gorgeously arrayed in knee + _gentiluomo_, who is gorgeously arrayed in knee + + page 161: Jacomletti, and there is also a kneeling statue + Jacometti, and there is also a kneeling statue + + page 163: and the Via dell Quattro Fontane. The + and the Via delle Quattro Fontane. The + + page 163: for living purposes. The portere, the guards, + for living purposes. The portiere, the guards, + + page 170: and in the Vedder villa, _Torre Quatro Venti_ + and in the Vedder villa, _Torre Quattro Venti_ + + page 171: the American wife of Caviliere Cortesi, an + the American wife of Cavaliere Cortesi, an + + page 178: Peruzzi, and Annibale Caracci. Raphael is + Peruzzi, and Annibale Carracci. Raphael is + + page 185: that includes the "Ludovisi Mars;" Hercules," + that includes the "Ludovisi Mars;" "Hercules," + + page 200: he may rest, _mens conscia recta_! + he may rest, _mens conscia recti_! + + page 205: whose grand Roman palazzo is in the Boca di + whose grand Roman palazzo is in the Bocca di + + page 213: The Villa Falconicri, in Frascati, which was + The Villa Falconieri, in Frascati, which was + + page 234: Benvenuto Cellini at the Castel Sant Angelo; + Benvenuto Cellini at the Castel Sant'Angelo; + + page 237: of the street scenes of Naples; Camprani and + of the street scenes of Naples; Campriani and + + page 244: Forum, succeding Lanciani--believe that some + Forum, succeeding Lanciani--believe that some + + page 244: equestrian statue of Bulbi, in the Naples Museum, + equestrian statue of Balbo, in the Naples Museum, + + page 260: The cathedral at Revello has traces of the + The cathedral at Ravello has traces of the + + page 260: of the Palazzo Rufelo might enchant Hafiz himself. + of the Palazzo Rufolo might enchant Hafiz himself. + + page 272: Mignano (Ginodone Trieramosca) and also to + Mignano (Guidone Fieramosca) and also to + + page 272: are a series of fresco paintings by Luca Gindano, + are a series of fresco paintings by Luca Giordano, + + page 272: by Mazzarappi and Marco da Siena. Nothing + by Mazzaroppi and Marco da Siena. Nothing + + page 274: Terre di Lavorno region:-- + Terra di Lavoro region:-- + + page 276: to be a "Monumento Nazionali," and it is now + to be a "Monumento Nazionale," and it is now + + page 286: in the "Inferno." The Colonna and the Orsino + in the "Inferno." The Colonna and the Orsini + + page 286: look down from Castel Gondolfo on the gloomy, + look down from Castel Gandolfo on the gloomy, + + page 287: Marino, Castel Gondolfo, and Frascati, with + Marino, Castel Gandolfo, and Frascati, with + + page 295: for the country they left Naples for Pietzalba + for the country they left Naples for Pietralba + + page 295: Musefico, il Givoio, and il Minturo. It was an + Musefico, il Giovio, and il Minturno. It was an + + page 297: Per te narrar tre quante dubbie voglie, + Per te narrar tra quante dubbie voglie, + + page 297: Fra quanti aspri martir, degliosa io vivo!_" + Fra quanti aspri martir, dogliosa io vivo!_" + + page 304: San Mano that had formerly been its property. + San Magno that had formerly been its property. + + page 305: world's sun; and not to add light to _mio vel solo_, + world's sun; and not to add light to _mio bel sole_, + + page 332: "_Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem recipris?_" + "_Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem recipies?_" + + page 380: Bonaventuri built over it, is preserved in this + Bonaventura built over it, is preserved in this + + page 385: the Palazzo Rospigliosa in Rome. + the Palazzo Rospigliosi in Rome. + + page 399: Anopeste, elected by the tribunal of commonalty, + Anafesto, elected by the tribunal of commonalty, + + page 400: mural work by Battesta Franco and De Moro. + mural work by Battista Franco and De Moro. + + page 400: One enters the Porta delta Carta, which + One enters the Porta della Carta, which + + page 405: Peter, Maucis, and Antoninus are commending + Peter, Francis, and Antoninus are commending + + page 426: Saricinesco, in the region of Tivoli, was made + Saracinesco, in the region of Tivoli, was made + + page 436: too, in other leading men. Zurati, the + too, in other leading men. Turati, the + + page 452: in Europe. That of the Annunziati, the + in Europe. That of the Annunziata, the + + page 461: Annunziati Cathedral, Genoa, 452. + Annunziata Cathedral, Genoa, 452. + + page 462: Camprani, 237. + Campriani, 237. + + page 463: del Vall, Cardinal Merry, 146-149, 435. + del Val, Cardinal Merry, 146-149, 435. + + page 466: Ossi, Professor Dall, opinion of, 244. + Osso, Professor Dall', opinion of, 244. + + page 467: Quatre Fontane, Via delle, 72. + Quattro Fontane, Via delle, 72. + + page 467: Revello, Cathedral at, 260. + Ravello, Cathedral at, 260. + + page 470: Villa Falconicri, 213. + Villa Falconieri, 213. + +On page 235: "Da Scala d'Oro" should be "La Scala d'Oro" or +"Madonna della Scala d'Oro". + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Italy, the Magic Land, by Lilian Whiting + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND *** + +***** This file should be named 29658-8.txt or 29658-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/5/29658/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emanuela Piasentini and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i7 {display: block; margin-left: 7em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Italy, the Magic Land, by Lilian Whiting + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Italy, the Magic Land + +Author: Lilian Whiting + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29658] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emanuela Piasentini and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="347" height="400" alt="cover" title="cover" /> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 293px;"> +<a href="images/frontisb.jpg"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="293" height="400" alt="Temple, Taormina" title="Temple, Taormina" /></a> +<p class="caption"><i>Temple, Taormina</i></p> +</div> + + + + + +<h1>ITALY<br /> + +THE MAGIC LAND</h1> + +<p class="center">BY<br /><br /> + +<big>LILIAN WHITING</big></p> + +<p class="center"><small>AUTHOR OF “THE FLORENCE OF LANDOR,” “THE LAND OF<br /> +ENCHANTMENT,” “THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL,” ETC.</small></p> + + +<div class="poemm" style="width: 12em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><small>“And, under many a yellow star,</small></span><br/> +<span class="i0"><small>We dropped into the Magic Land!”</small></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><i>Illustrated from Photographs</i><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="center">BOSTON<br /> +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY<br /> +1907<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1907</i>,<br /> + +<span class="smcap">By Little, Brown, and Company</span>.<br /> + +——<br /> + +<i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<p class="center">Published November, 1907<br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="center">THE GRIFFITH-STILLINGS PRESS, BOSTON, U.S.A.<br /><br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<p class="center">TO<br /> +<big>ELLA</big><br /> +(<span class="smcap">Mrs. Franklin Simmons</span>)</p> + +<p class="center"><small>WHOSE EARTHLY FORM REPOSES IN THE BEAUTIFUL ROMAN CEMETERY,<br /> +WHERE POETIC ASSOCIATIONS WITH KEATS AND SHELLEY HAUNT THE<br /> +AIR,—UNDER THE SCULPTURED “ANGEL OF THE RESURRECTION,”<br /> +WITH ITS MAJESTIC SYMBOLISM OF THE TRIUMPH OF<br /> +IMMORTALITY,—BUT WHOSE RADIANT PRESENCE <br /> +STILL TRANSFIGURES THE LIFE THAT HELD <br /> +HER IN IMMORTAL DEVOTION,—<br /> +THESE PAGES ARE INSCRIBED,</small></p> + +<p class="center"><small>WITH THE UNFORGETTING LOVE OF</small></p> + +<p class="rightm"><big>LILIAN WHITING</big>.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25%;"><small><span class="smcap">Rome, Italy</span>, May Days, 1907.</small> +</p> + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + +<div class="poem" style="width:14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“<i>Nor Life is ever lord of Death,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And Love can never lose its own.</i>”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></div></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="PREFATORY_NOTE" id="PREFATORY_NOTE"></a>PREFATORY NOTE</h2> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">That</span> Florence, the “Flower City,” receives only a passing +allusion in this record of various impressions that +gleam and glow through the days after several visits to +the Magic Land, is due to the fact that in a previous +volume by the writer—one entitled “The Florence of +Landor”—the lovely Tuscan town with its art, its +ineffable beauty, and its choice social life, formed the +subject matter of that volume. Any attempt to portray +Florence in the present book would savor only of the +repetition of loves and enthusiasms already recorded in +the previous work in which Walter Savage Landor formed +the central figure. For that reason no mention of Florence, +beyond some mere allusion, is attempted in these +pages, which only aim to present certain fragmentary +impressions of various sojourns in Italy, refracted through +the prism of memory. Whatever inconveniences or discomfort +attend the traveller swiftly fade, and leave to him +only the precious heritage of resplendent sunset skies, of +poetic association, of artistic beauty. In spirit he is +again lingering through long afternoons in St. Peter’s +till the golden light through the far windows of the +tribune is merged into the dusk of twilight in which +the vast monumental groups gleam wraith-like. Again<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> +he is ascending the magnificent <i>Scala Regia</i>, and lingering +in the Raphael Stanze, or in the wonderful sculpture +galleries of the Vatican, or sauntering in the sunshine +on the Palatine. In memory he is again spellbound by +ancient and mediæval art. In the line of modern +sculpture the work of Franklin Simmons in Rome is +a feature of Italy that haunts the imagination. No +lover of beauty would willingly miss his great studios +in the Via San Nicolo da Tolentino, with their wealth of +ideal creations that contribute new interest to the most +divine of all the arts.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width:19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The world of art is an ideal world,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world I love, and that I fain would live in;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So speak to me of artists and of art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all the painters, sculptors, and musicians<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That now illustrate Rome.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The mystic charm of the pilgrimage to Assisi; the +romance that reflects itself in the violet seas and flaming +splendors of the sky on the shores of Ischia and Capri; +the buried treasures of Amalfi; the magnetic impressiveness +of the Eternal City,—all these enter into life as new +forces to build and shape the future into undreamed-of +destinies.</p> + +<p class="rightm"> +L. W.<br /> +<br /></p> +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The Brunswick, Boston</span>,<br /> +<span style="padding-left: 1.5em;">October Days, 1907.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table summary="toc"> +<tr> +<td class="right" colspan="3"> <small>PAGE</small></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right"> +I</td><td><span class="smcap">The Period of Modern Art in Rome</span></td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right"> +II</td><td> <span class="smcap">Social Life in the Eternal City</span></td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_127">127</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right"> +III</td><td> <span class="smcap">Day-Dreams in Naples, Amalfi, and Capri</span> </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_227">227</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right"> +IV</td><td> <span class="smcap">A Page de Conti from Ischia</span></td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_281">281</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right"> +V</td><td> <span class="smcap">Voices of St. Francis of Assisi</span> </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_341">341</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right"> +VI</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Glory of a Venetian June</span></td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_389">389</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right"> +VII</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Magic Land</span> </td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_423">423</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"> +<span class="smcap">Index</span> </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_459">459</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<table summary="toi"> +<tr> +<td>Temple, Taormina</td><td class="right"> <a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece in Photogravure</i></a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Angel, Church of San Andrea delle Fratte, Rome</td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_32"><i>Page</i> 32</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Detail from the Stuart Monument, St. Peter’s, Rome</td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Tomb of Clement XIII, St. Peter’s, Rome</td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +“The Genius of Death,” Detail from the Tomb +of Clement XIII, St. Peter’s, Rome</td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +“La Fortuna,” Accadémia di San Luca, Rome</td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Spanish Steps, Piazza Trinità dei Monti, Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Tomb of Pio Nono, San Lorenzo (Fuori le Mura) +Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +“The Dance of the Pleiades” </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +“Grief and History,” Detail from Naval Monument, +Washington </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +“The Genius of Progress Leading the Nations” </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +“Mother of Moses” </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +“Valley Forge” </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +La Pieta, St. Peter’s, Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Villa Medici, Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Entrance to Villa Pamphilia-Doria, Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Statue of Christ, Ancient Church of San Martina, +Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_192">192</a> +</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Castel San Angelo and St. Peter’s, Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_204">204</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Porta San Paola, Pyramid of Caius Cestius, Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_216">216</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Castel Sant’Elmo, Naples </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_231">231</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Ancient Temple, Baiæ </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Ischia, from the Sea </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +La Rocca, Ischia </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Castello di Alfonso, Ischia </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_306">306</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Detail from “Parnassus,” Raphael Stanze, Palazzo +Vaticano, Rome </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_311">311</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Vittoria Colonna, Galleria <a name="tnxii" id="tnxii"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Buonarotti'">Buonarroti</ins>, Florence </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +San Francescan Convent-Church, Assisi </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_346">346</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +St. Francis d’Assisi, The Duomo, Assisi </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Santa Chiara, The Duomo, Assisi </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_375">375</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Baiæ and Ischia, from Camaldoli </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_381">381</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Ruins of the Greek Theatre, Taormina, Sicily </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_429">429</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Ponte Vecchio, Florence </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_430">430</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> +Campo Santo, Genoa </td><td class="right"> <a href="#Page_453">453</a></td></tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“<i>Rest we content if whispers from the stars</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>In wafting of the incalculable wind</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Come blown at midnight through our prison-bars.</i>”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<h2><a name="THE_MAGIC_LAND" id="THE_MAGIC_LAND"></a><span class="nob"><small>THE MAGIC LAND</small></span></h2> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18.5em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>By woodland belt, by ocean bar,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>The full south breeze our forehead fanned;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And, under many a yellow star,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>We dropped into the Magic Land.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>We heard, far-off, the siren’s song;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>We caught the gleam of sea-maids’ hair;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The glimmering isles and rocks among</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>We moved through sparkling purple air.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Then Morning rose, and smote from far</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Her elfin harps o’er land and sea;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And woodland belt, and ocean bar</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>To one sweet note sighed—“Italy!”</i><br /></span> + + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Owen Meredith.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p></div></div> + + + + +<h1><a name="ITALY_THE_MAGIC_LAND" id="ITALY_THE_MAGIC_LAND"></a>ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND</h1> + + + + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I<br /><br /> + +<span class="nob">THE PERIOD OF MODERN ART IN ROME</span></h2> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 22em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But ah, that spring should vanish with the Rose!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That youth’s sweet-scented manuscript should close?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The nightingale that in the branches sang,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, where and whither flown again,—who knows?<br /></span> +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Omar Khayyam.</span><br /> +</p></div></div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Rome</span>, as the picturesque city of the Popes in +the middle years of the nineteenth century, was +resplendent in local color. It was the Rome +of sunny winters; the Rome of gay excursions +over that haunted sea of the Campagna to +pictorial points in the Alban and Sabine hills; +the Rome of young artist life, which organized +impromptu festas with Arcadian freedom, and +utilized the shadow or the shelter of ruined +temples or tombs in which to spread its picnic +lunches and bring the glow of simple, friendly +intercourse into the romantic lights of the +poetic, historic, or tragic past. There were +splendid Catholic processions and ceremonials +that seemed organized as a part of the stage +scenery that ensconced itself, also, with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +nonchalance of easy possession, in the vast +salons of historic palaces where tapestried walls +and richly painted ceilings, arched high overhead, +with statues dimly seen in niches here +and there, and the bust of some crowned Antoninus, +or radiant Juno, gleaming from a +shadowy corner, all made up the <i>mise-en-scène</i> +of familiar evenings. There were lingering +hours in the gardens of the Villa Medici into +whose shades one strolled by that beguiling +path along the parapet on Monte Pincio, +through the beautiful grove with its walks and +fountains. The old ilex bosquet, with its +tangled growth and air of complete seclusion, +had its spell of fascination. Then, as now, the +elevated temple, at the end of the main path, +seemed the haunt of gods and muses. In all +the incidental, as well as the ceremonial social +meeting and mingling, art and religion were the +general themes of discussion. This idyllic life—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Comprehending, too, the soul’s<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the high necessities of art”—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">has left its impress on the air as well as its +record on many a page of the poet and the +romancist. The names that made memorable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +those wonderful days touch chords of association +that still vibrate in the life of the hour. +For the most part the artists and their associates +have gone their way—not into a Silent +Land, a land of shadows and vague, wandering +ghosts—but into that realm wherein is the +“life more abundant,” of more intense energy +and of nobler achievement; the realm in which +every aspiration of earth enlarges its conception +and every inspiration is exalted and endowed +with new purpose; the realm where, as +Browning says,—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Power comes in full play.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The poet’s vision recognizes the truth:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I know there shall dawn a day,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">—Is it here on homely earth?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is it yonder, worlds away,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Where the strange and new have birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That Power comes in full play?”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The names of sculptor, painter, and poet +throng back, imaged in that retrospective mirror +which reflects a vista of the past, rich in ideal +creation. Beautiful forms emerge from the +marble; pictorial scenes glow from the canvas; +song and story and happy, historic days are in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +the very air. To Italy, land of romance and +song, all the artists came trooping, and</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 12em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Under many a yellow Star”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">they dropped into the Magic Land. If the +wraiths of the centuries long since dead walked +the streets, they were quite welcome to revisit +the glimpses of the moon and contribute their +mystery to the general artistic effectiveness of +the Seven-hilled City. All this group of American +idealists, from Allston and Page to Crawford, +Story, Randolph Rogers, Vedder, Simmons, +and to the latest comer of all, Charles Walter +Stetson, recognized something of the artist’s +native air in this Mecca of their pilgrimage.</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, quite natural, on account of +the stupendous work of Michael Angelo and +the unrivalled museums of the Vatican, that +Rome should have become pre-eminently the +artistic centre of the <a name="tn6" id="tn6"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'ninteenth'">nineteenth</ins> century and +should have attracted students and lovers of art +from all parts of the world. The immortal +works of the two great periods, the Greek and +the Renaissance,—the art that was forever +great because it was the outgrowth of profound +religious conviction,—were enshrined in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +churches and the galleries of Rome. The leading +countries of Europe sent here their aspiring +students and established permanent academies +for their residence. Germany, France, and +England were thus represented. Thorwaldsen +came as a pensioner from the Academy of Fine +Arts in Copenhagen; and it was during his life, +and that of the noble Canova, that Rome began +to be recognized as the modern world-centre of +art. Was it not a natural sequence that the +early painters and sculptors who came to study +under the stimulating influences of the great +masterpieces of the past should linger on in +the city whose very air became to them the +breath of inspiring suggestion? Where but in +Rome would have come to Crawford the vision +of his “Orpheus” and of his noble Beethoven? +or to Story his “Libyan Sibyl,” and that exquisite +group, “Into the Silent Land”? or to Vedder +his marvellous creations of “The Fates Gathering +in the Stars,” the “Cumæan Sibyl,” or the +“Dance of the Pleiades”? to Simmons his triumphant +“Angel of the Resurrection,” and +“The Genius of Progress Leading the Nations”? +or to Stetson that ineffable vision of +“The Child,” and that wonderful group called<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +“Music”? whose coloring Titian or Giorgione +might well mistake for their own.</p> + +<p>Under the Pontifical <i>régime</i> the general character +of Rome was mediæval and religious. +The perpetual festas of the church made the +streets constantly picturesque with their processions +of monks, and friars, and priests, and +these wonderful blendings of color and scenic +effect stimulated the artistic sense. The expenses +of living in Rome were then only a fraction +of what the cost is at the present time; and +as the city was the resort of the wealthy and +cultured few, the artists were surrounded by the +stimulus of critical appreciation and of patronage. +Their work, their dreams, were the theme +of literary discussion, and focussed the attention +of the polite world. Their studios were among +the important interests to every visitor in the +Eternal City. In those days the traveller did +not land with his touring car at Naples, make +“the run” to Rome in a record that distanced +any possibilities of railroad trains, pass two or +three days in motoring about the city and its +environs, seeing the exterior of everything in a +dissolving view and the interior of nothing,—as +within this time, at least, he must flash on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +in his touring car to Florence. On the contrary, +the traveller proceeded to Rome with +serious deliberation, and with a more realizing +sense of undertaking a journey than Walter +Wellman experiences in attempting to fly in +his aero-car to the North Pole and send his +observations across the polar seas by wireless +telegraphy. The visitor went to Rome for a +winter, for a year, and gave himself up to +leisurely impressions. Rome was an atmosphere, +not a spectacle, and it was to be entered +with the lofty and reverent appreciation of the +poet’s power and the artist’s vision.</p> + +<p>In Rome, Thomas Cole painted some of his +best pictures; and in Rome or Florence wrought +a long list of painters and sculptors. Whether +in the Eternal City or in the Flower City, their +environment was alike Italy—the environment of +the Magic Land. Among the more prominent +of all these devotees of Beauty several nationalities +were represented. Each might have said of +his purpose, in the words of William Watson:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I follow Beauty; of her train am I,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Beauty, whose voice is earth and sea and air;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who serveth, and her hands for all things ply;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Who reigneth, and her throne is everywhere.”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>Among these artists there flash upon memory +the names of Vanderlyn, Benjamin West, Allston, +Rauch, Ange, Veit, Tenerani, Overbeck, +Schadow, Horace Vernet, Thorwaldsen, John +Gibson, Hiram Powers, Crawford, Page, Clark +Mills, Randolph Rogers, William Rinehart, +Launt Thompson, Horatio and Richard Greenough, +Thomas Ball, Anne Whitney, Larkin G. +Mead, Paul Akers, William Wetmore Story, +Harriet Hosmer, J. Rollin Tilton, and, later, +Elihu Vedder, Moses Ezekiel, Franklin Simmons, +Augustus St. Gaudens, and Charles +Walter Stetson, the name of Mr. Stetson linking +the long and interesting procession with the +immediate life of to-day. Of these later artists +Story, Miss Hosmer, Ezekiel, Vedder, Simmons, +and Stetson are identified with Rome as being +either their permanent or their prolonged residence. +Mr. St. Gaudens was a transient student, +returning to his own country to pursue +his work; and of two young sculptors, Hendrick +Christian Anderson and C. Percival Dietsch, +time has not yet developed their powers beyond +an experimental stage of brilliant promise.</p> + +<p>The Rome of the artists of clay and canvas +was also the Rome of the poets and romancists,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +of authors in all lines of literary achievement. +How the names of the procession of visitors and +sojourners in the Eternal City, from Milton, +Goethe, and Mme. de Staël to Henry James, +Marion Crawford, Richard Bagot, and Grace +Ellery Channing (Mrs. Charles Walter Stetson), +gleam from that resplendent panorama of the +modern past of Rome! Like the words in +electric fire that flash out of the darkness in +city streets at night, there shine the names of +Shelley and of Keats; of Gladstone, on whom +in one memorable summer day, while strolling +in Italian sunshine, there fell a vision of the +sacredness and the significance of life and its +infinite responsibility in the fulfilment of lofty +purposes. What charming associations these +guests and sojourners have left behind! Hawthorne, +embodying in immortal romance the +spirit of the scenic greatness of the Eternal +City; Margaret Fuller, Marchesa d’Ossoli, allying +herself in marriage with the country she +loved, and living in Rome those troubled, +mysterious years that were to close the earthly +chapter of her life; Robert and Elizabeth +Browning, the wedded poets, who sang of love +and Italy; Harriet Beecher Stowe, finding on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +the enchanted Italian shores the material which +she wove with such irresistible attraction into +the romance of “Agnes of Sorrento;” Longfellow, +with his poet’s vision, transmuting every +vista and impression into some exquisite lyric; +Lowell, bringing his philosophic as well as his +poetic insight to penetrate the untold meaning +of Rome; Thomas William Parsons, making the +country of Dante fairly his own; Thackeray, +with his brilliant interpretation of the <i>comédie +humaine</i>; Emerson, who, oblivious of all the +glories of art or the joys of nature, absorbed +himself in writing transcendental letters to his +eccentric, but high-souled aunt, Mary Moody +Emerson; Ruskin, translating Italian art to +Italy herself; Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe and +his poet wife, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in the +first flush of their bridal happiness, when Mrs. +Howe’s impassioned love for the Seven-hilled +City inspired many a lyric that mirrors the +Roman atmosphere of that day; Kate Field, +with a young girl’s glad enthusiasm over the +marvellous loveliness of a Maytime in Rome, +and her devotion to those great histrionic +artists, Ristori and Salvini; George Stillman +Hillard, leaving to literature the rich legacy of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +his “Six Months in Italy,”—a work that to +this day holds precedence as a clear and comprehensive +presentation of the scenic beauty, +the notable monumental and architectural art, +and the general life and resources of this land +of painter and poet. Other names, too, throng +upon memory—that of William Dean Howells, +painting Italian life in his “Venetian Days,” +and charming all the literary world by his +choice art; and among later work, the interesting +interpretations of Rome and of social life +in Rome, by Marion Crawford, Henry James, +and Richard Bagot,—in chronicle, in romance, +or in biographical record. During the last +quarter of the nineteenth century, indeed, the +visitors to Rome—authors, artists, travellers of +easy leisure—defy any numerical record. Mrs. +Louise Chandler Moulton, poet, romancist, and +delightful <i>raconteur</i> as well, has recorded some +charming impressions of her various sojourns +in Rome both in her “Random Rambles” and +in “Lazy Tours.” Of the Palatine Hill we +find her saying:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Sometimes we go to the Palace of the +Cæsars, and look off upon the heights where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +the snow lingers and the warm light rests, +making them shine like the Delectable Mountains. +Nearer at hand are the almond trees, +in flower, or the orange trees, bright at once +with their white, sweet blossoms and their +golden fruit.”</p></div> + +<p>Mrs. Moulton writes of the “stately dwellers” +in Rome whom time cannot change; and to +whom, whenever she returns, she makes her +first visit; some of whom are in the mighty +palace of the Vatican and some of whom dwell +in state in the Capitol.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The beautiful Antoninus still wears his +crown of lotus in Villa Albani and the Juno +whom Goethe worshipped reigns forever at the +Ludovisi,” she writes; “I can never put in +words the pleasure I find in these immortals.” +Mrs. Moulton loved to wander in the Villa +Borghese “before the place is thronged with +the beauty and fashion of Rome as it is in the +late afternoon. I do not wonder that Miriam +and Donatello could forget their fate in these +enchanted glades,” she wrote, “and dance as +the sunbeams danced with the shadows. Sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +I seem to see them where the sun sifts +through the young green leaves, and her beauty—her +human, deep-souled beauty—and his +fantastic grace are the only things here that +cannot change.</p> + +<p>“The walls will crumble; the busts of kings +and heroes and poets will lose their contours, +the lovely Roman ladies also grow old and +fade, and vanish from sight and from memory; +but still these two, hopeless yet happy, will +dance in these wild glades immortally beyond +the reach of the effacing years.”</p></div> + +<p>The visit to Rome of the Rev. Dr. Phillips +Brooks—later the Bishop of Massachusetts—is +immortalized in the most lifelike portrait +bust of the great preacher ever modelled; a +bust in which the genius of the sculptor, Franklin +Simmons, found one of its noblest expressions, +and has perpetuated, with masterly +power, the energy of thought, at once profound +and intense, in the countenance of Bishop +Brooks. These, and many another whom the +gods have loved and dowered with gifts, rise +before any retrospective glance over the comparatively +recent past of Rome. Bishop Brooks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +passed there the Holy Week of one Lenten +season, and of the Miserere in the Sistine +Chapel he wrote that it was certainly the most +wonderful music to which he had ever listened; +and he added:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The Miserere in the Sistine, the Benediction +from the balcony, the solemn moment of +the elevation of the Host on Easter, and the +illumination of St. Peter’s, these all seem to +reach very remarkably the great ideal of the +central religious commemoration of Christendom.”</p></div> + +<p>It was in the winter of 1828 that Mr. Longfellow +first visited Rome, which “is announced,” +he wrote, “by Nero’s tomb,” and he quotes +Dupaty’s lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Quoi! c’est là Rome? quoi!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">C’est le tombeau de Neron qui l’annonce.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr. Longfellow expressed his love for the +Eternal City, and in a personal letter<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> he +said:—</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I have been so delighted with Rome that I +have extended my residence much beyond my +original intention. There is so much in the +city to delay the stranger; the villages in the +environs are so beautiful, and there is such a +quiet and stillness about everything that, were +it in my power, I should be induced to remain +the whole year round. You can imagine nothing +equal to the ruins of Rome. The Forum +and the Coliseum are beyond all I had ever +fancied them; and the ruined temples and +the mouldering aqueducts which are scattered +over the Campagna; I do not believe there is a +finer view in the world than that from the +eastern gate of the city, embracing the Campagna, +with its ruined aqueducts diverging in +long broken arcades, and terminated by the +sweep of the Albanian hills, sprinkled with their +white villages, and celebrated in song and story! +But the great charm of the scene springs from +association; and though everything in Italy is +really picturesque, yet strip the country of its +historic recollections,—think merely of what +it is, and not of what it has been,—and you will +find the dream to be fading away.</p> + +<p>“You would be shocked at the misery of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +people, especially in the Pope’s dominions: but +their element seems to be in rags and misery; +and with the ceremonials of their religion and +the holidays of the church, which average nearly +three a week, they are poor—and lazy and +happy. I mean, happy in their way.”</p></div> + +<p>In a later visit the poet was domiciled in an +hotel on the Piazza Barberini, where the wonderful +view included then the entire city “to where +St. Peter’s dome darkens against the sunset.” +Of this visit his brother, Rev. Samuel Longfellow, +writes:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Here Mr. Longfellow became for the season +the centre of the group of American visitors +and resident artists, whose well-known names +need not be recounted. Here he made, also, +acquaintances among the Italians,—especially +the Duke of Sermoneta, the Dantean scholar, +and Monsignore Nardi, of the papal court. +The Pope himself he did not visit. An interesting +acquaintance was that made with the +Abbé Liszt, who was spending the winter in +Rome, having rooms in the abandoned Convent +of Santa Francesca, in the Forum. Calling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +there one evening, in company with Mr. +Healy the artist, the inner door of the apartment +was opened to them by Liszt himself, holding +high in his hand a candle which illuminated his +fine face. The picture was so striking that Mr. +Longfellow begged his companion to put it +upon canvas,—which he did; and the painting +now hangs in the library of Craigie House. +At a morning visit, Liszt delighted the party +with a performance upon his Chickering pianoforte.</p> + +<p>“To see Rome, as all travellers know, is a +work for many months; and it was pursued with +tolerable diligence. But Mr. Longfellow was +never a good sight-seer. He was impatient of +lingering in picture galleries, churches, or ruins. +He saw quickly the essential points, and soon +tired of any minuter examination.”</p></div> + +<p>But long, indeed, before nineteenth-century +artists and authors laid siege to the Eternal +City, in the far-away years of 1638, Milton +visited Rome, and there still remains the tablet, +on the wall of the <i>casa</i> in the Via delle <a name="tn19" id="tn19"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Quattre'">Quattro</ins> +Fontane in which he stayed, a tablet bearing +an inscription giving the date of his visit; as,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +also, in Via Machella, there is an inscription +marking the place where Scott lived during his +visit to Rome. Goethe made his memorable +tour to Italy in 1786—fourteen years before the +dawn of the nineteenth century—and wrote: +“I feel the greatest longing to read Tacitus +in Rome;” and again (an observation with +which every visitor to the Eternal City will +sympathize) he noted:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It grows more and more difficult for me to +render an account of my residence in Rome, for +as we always find the sea deeper the further we +go, so it is with me in observation of this +city. . . . Wherever we go and wherever we +stand, we see about us a finished picture,—forms +of every kind and style; palaces and +ruins; gardens and wastes; the distant and the +near houses; triumphal arches and columns,—often +all so close together that they might be +sketched on a single sheet. One should have a +thousand points of steel with which to write, +and what can a single pen do? and then in the +evening one is weary and exhausted with the +day of seeing and admiring. Here one reads +history from within outward.”</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<p>Chateaubriand, who in his earliest youth +had visited America as the guest of Washington, +passed the winter of 1803-4 in Rome, and +his pictorial transcriptions of the city and its +environs are among the most exquisite things +in literary record. As, for instance, this description +of a sunset from Monte Mario:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I was never weary of seeing, from the Villa +Borghese, the sun go down behind the cypresses +of Monte Mario, and the pines of the Villa +Pamphili planted by Le Notre. I have stood +upon the Ponte Molle to enjoy the sublime +spectacle of the close of day. The summits of +the Sabine hills appeared of lapis lazuli and +pale gold, while their bases and sides were +bathed in vapors of violet or purple. Sometimes +lovely clouds, like fairy cars, borne along +by the evening wind with inimitable grace, recall +the mythological tales of the descent of the +deities of Olympus. Sometimes old Rome +seems to have spread all over the west the +purple of her consuls and her Cæsars, beneath +the last steps of the god of day. This rich +decoration does not vanish so quickly as in our +climate. When we think the hues are about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +to disappear they revive on some other point of +the horizon; one twilight follows another and +the magic of sunset is prolonged.”</p></div> + +<p>It was in the same year that Mme. de Staël +visited Rome and recorded, in her glowing +romance, “Corinne,” the impressions she received. +In the spring of 1817 Lord Byron +found in Rome the inspiration that he transmitted +into that wonderful line in “Childe +Harold”:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The Niobe of Nations! There she stands.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was two years later that Shelley passed +the spring in the Seven-hilled City, retiring to +Leghorn later, to write his tragedy of “The +Cenci.”</p> + +<p>In Rome the visitor follows Michael Angelo +and Raphael through the various churches and +museums. The celebrated sibyls of Raphael are +in the Santa Maria della Pace; his “Isaiah” is in +San Agostino and his “Entombment” in the +Casino of the Villa Borghese. While the sublime +work of Michael Angelo in the Sistine +Chapel is always one of the first things in Rome<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +to which the traveller goes to study that incomparable +work portraying the Creation—the +Prophets and the Sibyls, the Angels and the +Genii, that record the impassioned power of +the master—yet all footsteps turn quickly, too, +to the church called San Pietro in Vincoli, near +the house in which Lucrezia Borgia lived, in +which is the colossal Moses of Michael Angelo. +As it stands, it fails to convey the first design +of the great sculptor. Originally intended for +the tomb of Pope Julius II, the plan included +a massive block of marble (some forty by twenty +feet) surmounted by a cornice and having its +niches, its columns, and its statues, of which +the Moses was to have been one. It would +then have been judged relatively to the entire +group, while now it is seen alone, and thus out +of the proportions that were in the mind of the +artist. The entire conception, indeed, was to +unite sculpture and architecture into one splendid +combination. “Thus the statue of Moses +was meant to have been raised considerably +above the eye of the spectator,” writes Mr. +Hillard, “and to have been a single object in a +colossal structure of architecture and sculpture, +which would have had a foreground and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +background, and been crowned with a mass at +once dome-like and pyramidal. Torn, as it is, +from its proper place; divorced from its proportionate +companionship; stuck against the +wall of a church; and brought face to face with +the observer,—what wonder that so many of +those who see it turn away with no other impressions +than those of caricature and exaggeration!”</p> + +<p>Mr. Hillard adds:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“But who that can appreciate the sublime +in art will fail to bow down before it as +embodied in this wonderful statue? The majestic +character of the head, the prodigious +muscles of the chest and arms, and the beard +that flows like a torrent to the waist, represent +a being of more than mortal port and +power, speaking with the authority, and frowning +with the sanctions of incarnate law. The +drapery of the lower part of the figure is inferior +to the anatomy of the upper part. Remarkable +as the execution of the statue is, the expression +is yet more so; for notwithstanding its colossal +proportions, its prominent characteristic is the +embodiment of intellectual power. It is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +great leader and lawgiver of his people that we +see, whose voice was command, and whose outstretched +arm sustained a nation’s infant steps. +He looks as if he might control the energies of +nature as well as shape the mould in which the +character of his people should be formed. That +any one should stand before this statue in a +scoffing mood is to me perfectly inexplicable. +My own emotions were more nearly akin to +absolute bodily fear. At an irreverent word, I +should have expected the brow to contract into +a darker frown, and the marble lips to unclose +in rebuke.”</p></div> + +<p>William Watson condenses his impressions of +this majestic sculpture in the following quatrain.—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 22em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The captain’s might, and mystery of the seer—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Remoteness of Jehovah’s colloquist,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nearness of man’s heaven-advocate—are here:<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Alone Mount Nebo’s harsh foreshadow is miss’d.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The impressive group of sculptures and buildings +on the Campidoglio—where once the +shrine of Jupiter Capitolinus stood—owes its +present picturesque scheme largely to Michael +Angelo. The fascination of the long flights of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +steps leading from the Piazza Aracöeli to the +Capitoline, where the ancient bronze equestrian +statue of Marcus Aurelius forever keeps guard, +is indescribable. The historic statues of Castor +and Pollux mark the portals; on either hand +there are seen the Muses of ancient sculpture, +the Palazzo <a name="tn26" id="tn26"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Sentoriale and the Palazzo dei Conservatore'">Senatoriale and the Palazzo dei +Conservatori</ins>. There is in the entire world +no more classic ground than is found in this +impressive grouping of art and architecture.</p> + +<p>The genius of Raphael has recorded itself in +those brilliant and imperishable works that enthrall +the student of art in the Raphael stanze in +the Vatican. He was imbued with the spirit +of Greek art, and while Titian is a greater colorist, +while Correggio, Botticelli, Perugino, and +other artists that could be named equal or exceed +Raphael in certain lines, yet as the interpreter +of the profoundest thought, and for his +philosophic grasp and his power to endow his +conceptions with the most brilliant animation, +he stands alone. The religious exaltation of +“The Transfiguration” reveals the supreme degree +of the divine genius of Raphael. That +this painting was the last work of his life, that +it was placed above his body as it lay in state,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +and was carried in his funeral procession, invests +it with peculiar interest.</p> + +<p>As a draftsman Raphael was second only to +Michael Angelo, with whom he must forever +share the immortality of fame. The Academy +in Venice holds some of his choicest drawings, +and in the Venetian sketch-book in the National +Gallery in London are many of his small +pictures, including that of the “Knight’s +Dream.”</p> + +<p>It was in the autumn of 1508, when Raphael +was in his twenty-fifth year, that he was called +to Rome in the service of the Pope. The Pontiff +at this time was Pope Julius II, whose successor +was Leo X, and under their pontificates +(from 1508 to 1520) Raphael produced these +masterpieces which stand unrivalled in the world +save by the creations of Michael Angelo in the +Capella Sistina. The celebrated “Four Sibyls” +of Raphael are not, however, in the stanze of +the Vatican, but in the Church of San Maria +della Pace. In the Palazzo Vaticano these four +wonderful stanze entrance the visitor; the +Stanza della Signatura, the Stanza d’Eliodoro, +the Stanza <a name="tn27" id="tn27"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'della Incendio'">dell’Incendio</ins> and the Sala di Constantino.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>For the decoration of these stanze several +painters from Umbria had been summoned,—Perugino, +Sodoma, Signorelli, and others; but +when Raphael had produced the “Disputa” in +the Sala della Signatura, Pope Julius II recognized +the work as so transcendent that he +ordered the other artists to cease and even had +some of their paintings obliterated that there +might be more space for the exercise of +Raphael’s genius. In the “Disputa” are glorified +the highest expressions of the human intellect—the +domain portrayed being that of Theology, +Philosophy, Poetry, and Justice. The +splendor of this creation transcends all attempts +of interpretation in language. Against a background +of gold mosaic are portrayed these typical +figures enthroned on clouds where genii flit +to and fro bearing tablets with inscriptions. +Theology holds in the left hand a book, while +the other points to the vision of angels; Poetry, +laurel-crowned, is seen seated on a throne +with books and lyre; Philosophy wears a diadem, +and Justice, with her balance and her +sword, is also crowned. The title of this marvellous +work is misleading. Its message is +not that of disputation but of beatitude.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +At the altar are grouped the congregation; +the mystic spell of heavenly enthusiasm enfolds +the scene as an atmosphere, as above +the heavens open and the glorified Christ, +surrounded by the saints who have kept the +faith, is disclosed to the devotees kneeling +below, while a choir of listening angels bend +over them from the distant clouds in the background.</p> + +<p>Under Poetry are grouped Apollo and the +Muses, and the figures of Homer, Dante and +Virgil, of Petrarcha, Anacreon and Sappho, of +Pindar and of Horace are recognized. The great +scholars seen in the Philosophy include Plato +and Aristotle, while in the groups under Justice, +Moses and Solon are seen.</p> + +<p>“Raphael seems to have never known +despair,” remarked Franklin Simmons of the +work of this divine genius. “His paintings reveal +no struggle, but seem to have been produced +without effort, as if brought into existence +by an enchanter’s wand.”</p> + +<p>No observation could more vividly interpret +the wonderful effect produced on the student +by Raphael, and he cannot but recall the truth +expressed in these lines of Festus:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">“All aspiration is a toil;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But inspiration cometh from above<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And is no labor.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration of Raphael was of the noblest +order. His genius, his kindling enthusiasm, his +ecstasy of religious devotion, have left an imperishable +heritage to art. By his transcendent +gifts he represents the highest manifestation +of the art of painting in the Renaissance. For +the true note in art lies in spiritual perception. +Not so brilliant a colorist as Titian, he was +more the interpreter of the extension of human +activity into that realm of the life more abundant, +and with his extraordinary facility of +execution he united exquisite refinement and +unerring sense of beauty and the masterly +power in composition that fairly created for the +spectator the visions that his soul beheld. “I +say to you,” said Mr. Bryce recently in a press +interview,—“I say to you, each oncoming tide +of life requires and needs men of lofty thought +who shall dream for it, sing for it, who shall +gather up its tendencies, formulate its ideals +and voice its spirit.” One of those men of lofty +thought who thus dream for the ages was +Raphael, and his power and glory have left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +an ineffaceable impress upon human life. He +was the divinely appointed messenger of beauty, +and he was never disobedient to the heavenly +vision.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Time hath no tide but must abide<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The servant of Thy will;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tide hath no time, for to Thy rhyme<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The ranging stars stand still.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The decline of art after Michael Angelo and +Raphael was marked. The very splendor and +power of their creations, instead of inspiring +those who immediately followed them, produced +almost the inertia of despair. In the +reverence and awe and admiration with which +these transcendent masterpieces were approached +any power to originate seemed futile +by contrast. Imitation rather than creation +became the method adopted, resulting in an +increased poverty of design and feeble execution. +The art of the sixteenth century deteriorated +rapidly till the baroco style was in evidence. +One reason, too, for the decline was in +that art was no longer so exclusively dedicated +to the high service of religion, but aimed, instead, +to please and to procure patrons, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +thus were all worthy standards lowered to pernicious +levels.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 314px;"> +<a href="images/angelb.jpg"><img src="images/angel.jpg" width="314" height="400" alt="ANGEL, CHURCH OF SAN ANDREA DELLE FRATTE, ROME +Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini" title="ANGEL, CHURCH OF SAN ANDREA DELLE FRATTE, ROME +Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>ANGEL, CHURCH OF SAN ANDREA DELLE FRATTE, ROME<br /> +Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini</small></p> +</div> + +<p>A sculptor who left his impress upon the +sixteenth-century art was Lorenzo Bernini, a +Neapolitan (born in 1598) who died in Rome +in 1685. The work of Bernini has a certain +fascination and airy touch that, while it sometimes +degenerates into the merely fantastic and +even into tawdry and puerile affectations, has +at its best a refinement and grace that lend to +his sculptures an enduring charm, as seen in +his “Apollo and Daphne” (a work executed +in his eighteenth year) which is now in the +Casino of the Villa Borghese. Bernini’s name +is perpetuated in the colossal statues on the +colonnade of St. Peter’s, the great bronze +angels with their draperies streaming to the +winds on the <a name="tn32a" id="tn32a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Pont'">Ponte</ins> San Angelo, and in the vast +fountain in the Piazza Navona. In the court +of the Palazzo Bernini is one of the most +interesting of his works—a colossal figure, +allegorical in significance, illustrating “Truth +Brought to Light by Time.” One of the most +important works of Bernini—now placed in +the <a name="tn32b" id="tn32b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Music'">Museo</ins> Nazionale—is the group of “Pluto +and Proserpine.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>”</p> + +<p>The influence that was to reform and regenerate +the art of sculpture in the sixteenth century +came with the great and good Canova, with +which was united that of Flaxman and of Thorwaldsen. +The heavenly messengers are always +sent and appear at the time they are most +needed. Neither Truth nor Art is ever left +without a witness.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“God sends his teachers unto every age,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To every clime, and every race of men,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With revelations fitted to their growth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shape of mind; nor gives the realm of truth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the selfish rule of one sole race.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 303px;"> +<a href="images/stuartb.jpg"><img src="images/stuart.jpg" width="303" height="400" alt="DETAIL FROM STUART MONUMENT, ST. PETER’S, ROME Antonio Canova +" title=" +DETAIL FROM STUART MONUMENT, ST. PETER’S, ROME Antonio Canova +" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>DETAIL FROM STUART MONUMENT, ST. PETER’S, ROME<br /> Antonio Canova +</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Canova’s genius and services were widely +recognized. In 1719 he was made a Senator; +he was ennobled with the title of Marchese of +Ischia and granted a yearly allowance of three +thousand scudi; and his noble and generous +enthusiasms, not less than his genius, have left +their record on life as well as on art. When he +died (in Venice, Oct. 3, 1822) his work included +fifty-nine statues, fourteen groups, +twenty-two monuments, and fifty-four busts. +The statue of Pius V and the tomb of Clement +XIII are his greatest works, and the latter is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +perhaps even increasingly held as a masterpiece +of the ages.</p> + +<p>Canova, warned by the fatal influence of +imitation in art in the sixteenth century, frequently +counselled his pupils against copying +his own style and constantly urged them to study +from the Greeks. He advised them to visit +frequently the studios of other artists, “and +especially,” he would add, “the studios of +Thorwaldsen, who is a very great artist.”</p> + +<p>In the early part of the nineteenth century +contemporary sculpture in Rome was led by +the three great artists,—Canova, Thorwaldsen, +and Gibson. In 1829 Gibson had the honor of +being elected a member of the Accadémia di +San Luca in place of the sculptor Massimiliano, +who had then just died. Cammuccini, the historical +painter, proposed Gibson, and with the +ardent assistance of Thorwaldsen he was +elected resident Academician of merit. “Like +Canova, Thorwaldsen was most generous to +young artists,” says Gibson of the great Danish +master, “and he freely visited all who required +his advice. I profited greatly by the knowledge +which this splendid sculptor had of his +art. On every occasion when I was modelling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +a new work he came to me, and corrected whatever +he thought amiss. I also often went to +his studio and contemplated his glorious works, +always in the noblest style, full of pure and +severe simplicity. His studio was a safe school +for the young, and was the resort of artists and +lovers of art from all nations. The old man’s +person can never be forgotten by those who +saw him. Tall and strong,—he never lost a +tooth in his life,—he was most venerable looking. +His kind countenance was marked with +hard thinking, his eyes were gray, and his +white locks lay upon his broad shoulders. At +great assemblies his breast was covered with +orders.”</p> + +<p>Thorwaldsen (born in Copenhagen, Nov. 19, +1770) went to Rome in 1797—sent by the +government of Denmark as a pensioner. It is +said that, in his enthusiasm for Rome, Thorwaldsen +dated his birth from the hour he entered +the Eternal City. “Before that day,” he exclaimed, +“I existed; I did not live.” For +nearly fifty years—until his death in 1844—he +lived and worked in Rome, occupying at +one time the studio in Via Babuino that had +formerly been that of Flaxman.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> + +<p>John Gibson, who went to Rome in 1817,—twenty +years after Thorwaldsen first arrived,—had +the good fortune to be for five years a +pupil of Canova, whose death in 1822 terminated +this inestimable privilege. The elevation +of purpose that characterized the young +English student made his progress and development +a matter of peculiar interest to the +master. Gibson, also, bears his testimony to +the stimulus of the Roman environment. +“Rome above all other cities,” he says, “has +a peculiar influence upon and charm for the +real student; he feels himself in the very university +of art, where it is the one thing talked +about and thought about. Constantly did I +feel the presence of this influence. Every +morning I rose with the sun, my soul gladdened +by a new day of a happy and delightful +pursuit; and as I walked to my breakfast at +the Caffè Greco and watched with new pleasure +the tops of the churches and palaces gilt +by the morning sun, I was inspired with a +sense of daily renovated youth, and fresh enthusiasm, +and returned joyfully to the combat, +to the invigorating strife with the difficulties +of art. Nor did the worm of envy creep round<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +my heart whenever I saw a beautiful idea skilfully +executed by any of my young rivals, but +constantly spurred on by the talent around me +I returned to my studio with fresh resolution.”</p> + +<p>Again to a friend Gibson writes:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I renewed my visits to the Vatican, refreshing +my spirits in that Pantheon of the gods, +demigods, and heroes of Hellas. . . . In the +art of sculpture the Greeks were gods. . . . +In the Vatican we go from statue to statue, +from fragment to fragment, like the bee from +flower to flower.”</p></div> + +<p>These five years in which Canova, Thorwaldsen, +and Gibson lived and wrought together—although +the youngest of this trio was still in +his student life—form a definite period in +the history of modern art in Rome. The +dreams, the enthusiasm, the devotion to ideal +beauty which characterized their work left its +impress and its vitality of influence—a mystic +power ready to incarnate itself again through +the facility of expression of the artists yet to +come. To the young men whose steps were +turned toward Rome in these early years of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +the century just passed, how great was the +privilege of coming into close range of the +influence of such artists as these; to study their +methods; to hear the expression of their views +on art in familiar meeting and conversation! +These artists were closely in touch with that +“lovely and faithful dream which came with +Italian Renaissance in the works of Pisani, +Mino di Fiesole, Donatello, Michael Angelo, +and Giovanni da Bologna—all who caught +the spirit of Greek art.” Artistic truth was +the keynote of the hour, and it is this truth +which is the basis of the highest conception +of life.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 22em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Art’s a service,—mark:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A silver key is given to thy clasp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thou shalt stand unwearied night and day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fix it in the hard, slow-turning wards<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To open, so that intermediate door<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Betwixt the different planes of sensuous form<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And form insensuous, that inferior men<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May learn to feel on still through these to those,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bless thy ministration. The world waits for help.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In their true relation art and ethics meet in +their ministry to humanity, for only in their +union can they best serve man. All the nobler<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +culture has its responsibility in service. “Many +a man has a blind notion of stewardship about +his property, but very few have it about their +knowledge,” said Bishop Phillips Brooks, and +he added: “One grows tired of seeing cultivated +people with all their culture cursed by +selfishness.” To the true idealist—as distinct +from the mere emotionalist with æsthetic tastes—selfishness +is an impossible prison. The only +spiritual freedom lies in the perpetual sharing +of the fuller life. The gift shared is the gift +doubled. Art is the spiritual glory of life; the +supreme manifestation, the very influence of +spiritual achievement. Mr. Stillman, discussing +the revival of art, has questioned: “Does +the world want art any longer? Has it, +in the present state of human progress, any +place which will justify devotion to it?”</p> + +<p>He questions as to whether man is still</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 12em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Apparelled in celestial light,”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">or whether he has lost “the glory and the freshness” +of his dreams.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“No one can admit,” continues Mr. Stillman, +“that the human intellect is weaker than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +it was five or twenty centuries ago; but it is +certain that if we take the pains to study what +was done five centuries ago in painting, or +twenty centuries ago in sculpture, and compare +it with the best work of to-day, we shall +find the latter trivial and ’prentice work compared +with the ordinary work of men whose +names are lost in the lustre of a school.</p> + +<p>“Then, little men inspired by the Zeitgeist, +painted greatly; now, our great men fail to +reach the technical achievement of the little +men of them. There is only one living painter +who can treat a portrait as a Venetian artist +of 1550 A.D. would have done it, and how +differently in the mastery of his material! If +we go to the work of wider range, the Campo +Santo of Pisa, the Stanze, the Sistine Chapel, +the distance becomes an abyss; the simplest +fragment of a Greek statue of 450 B.C. shows +us that the best sculpture of this century, even +the French, is only a happy child-work, not +even to be put in sight of Donatello or Michael +Angelo. The reason is simple, and already +indicated. The early men grew up in a system +in which the power of expression was taught +from childhood; they acquired method as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +musician does now, and the tendency of the +opinion of their time was to keep them in the +good method.”</p></div> + +<p>Is this not too narrow and sweeping a judgment? +The art of portraiture certainly did not +die with the Venetian painters of 1550, however +great their work; and if there be but “one +living painter” who can treat portrait art like +the early Venetians, there are scores of artists +who achieve signal success by other methods of +treatment.</p> + +<p>At all events, these three men, Canova, Thorwaldsen, +and Gibson, worked with the conviction +that art is service. With Victor Hugo, +Canova could have said: “Genius is not made +for genius; it is made for men. . . . Let him +have wings for the infinite provided he has feet +for the earth, and that, after having been seen +flying, he is seen walking. After he has been +seen an archangel, let him be still more a +brother. . . . To be the servant of God in +the march of progress—such is the law which +regulates the growth of genius.”</p> + +<p>They worked and taught by this creed. +Thorwaldsen, on first arriving in Rome, wandered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +for three years, it is said, among the +statues of gods and heroes, like a man in a +dream. The atmosphere of the earlier day +when Titian was employed by the king of Portugal +and Raphael by the Pope to create works +of great public importance still lingered and +exerted over Thorwaldsen, and over all artists +susceptible to its subtle influence, a peculiar +spell. Its power was revealed in his subsequent +works—the “Christ;” the sculptured +groups for tombs in St. Peter’s and in other +churches; the poetic reliefs symbolizing “Day” +and “Night;” “Ganymede Watering the +Eagle;” the “Three Graces,” “Hebe,” and +many others.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 303px;"> +<a href="images/clementb.jpg"><img src="images/clement.jpg" width="303" height="400" alt="TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, ST. PETER’S, ROME Antonio Canova +" title="TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, ST. PETER’S, ROME Antonio Canova +" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, ST. PETER’S, ROME<br /> Antonio Canova +</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Among Canova’s works his immortal masterpiece +is the monumental memorial group for +the tomb of Pope Clement XIII in St. Peter’s. +The Pope is represented as kneeling in prayer. +The modelling of the entire figure is instinct +with expression. The fine and beautiful hands +express reverence and trust. The countenance +is pervaded with that peace only known to the +soul that is in complete harmony with the +divine power. The Holy Father has taken the +tiara from his head and it lies before him on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +the cushion on which he kneels. Although the +entire portrayal of the figure reveals that devotion +expressed in the solemn and searching words +of the church service, “And here we offer and +present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls +and bodies to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice +unto thee,”—although it is the very utmost +rendering of the soul to God, it is yet the deliberate, +the joyful, the living acceptance of divine +love and no mere trance of ecstasy. No more +wonderful figure in all the range of sculpture +has been created than the Clement XIII of +Canova.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 313px;"> +<a href="images/deathb.jpg"><img src="images/death.jpg" width="313" height="400" alt="“THE GENIUS OF DEATH,” DETAIL FROM TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, +ST. PETER’S, ROME Antonio Canova" title="“THE GENIUS OF DEATH,” DETAIL FROM TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, +ST. PETER’S, ROME Antonio Canova" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>“THE GENIUS OF DEATH,” DETAIL FROM TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, +ST. PETER’S, ROME<br /> Antonio Canova</small></p> +</div> + +<p>The group is completed by two symbolic +figures representing Religion and Death. The +former is personified as a female figure holding +a cross; the latter sits with his torch reversed. +Grief, but not hopeless and despairing sorrow, is +portrayed; it is the grief companioned by faith +which ever sees</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The stars shine through the cypress trees.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The base of the monument represents a +chapel guarded by lions. Pistolesi, the great +Italian authority on the sculpture of St. Peter’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +and the Vatican galleries, notes that the lions +typify the firmness and the force and the courage, +“<i>la fortezza dell’anima</i>,” that so signally +characterized Clement XIII. There is probably +no sacred monument in the realm of all +modern art which can equal this creation in its +delicacy, its lofty beauty, and the noble message +that it conveys.</p> + +<p>The oldest art school, the Accadémia di +San Luca, founded in 1507 by Sixtus, when +he called to Rome all the leading artists of +Europe to assist in the decoration of the Sistine +Chapel, is an organization that magically links +the present with the days of Canova, Thorwaldsen, +and Gibson, as it linked them, also, with +the remote and historic past. The father of +the present custodian of the Academy knew +Thorwaldsen well. The grandfather of the +gifted Italian sculptor, Tadolini (who has recently +completed the tomb for Pope Leo XIII, +placed in the Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano), +modelled the bust of Thorwaldsen, and in +one gallery hangs the great Danish sculptor’s portrait, +painted by himself. The first director of +San Luca was Federigo Zuccaro. In the early +years of the nineteenth century this Academy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +was a vital centre of art life, and it is still a +school that draws students, although the visitor +who does not loiter and linger in his Rome +may fail to know of this most alluring place. +The San Luca is in the Via Bonella, one of the +old, dark, narrow, and gloomy streets of the +oldest part of Rome,—a short street of hardly +more than two blocks, running between the +Via Alessandra and the Forum. Hawthorne +vividly pictures all this old Rome when he +speaks of the “narrow, crooked, intricate +streets, so uncomfortably paved with little +squares of lava that to tread over them is a +penitential pilgrimage; so indescribably ugly, +moreover; so cold, so alley-like, into which the +sun never falls and where a chill wind forces +its deadly breath into our lungs; the immense +seven-storied, yellow-washed hovels, or call +them palaces, where all that is dreary in domestic +life seems magnified and multiplied; those +staircases which ascend from a ground floor of +cook shops and cobblers’ stalls, stables and +regiments of cavalry, to a middle region of +princes, cardinals, and ambassadors, and an +upper tier of artists just beneath the unattainable +sky: . . . in which the visitor becomes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +sick at heart of Italian trickery, which has uprooted +whatever faith in man’s integrity had +till then endured;” the city “crushed down in +spirit by the desolation of her ruin and the +hopelessness of her future;” one recalls these +words when passing through the unspeakable +gloom and horror and desolation and squalor +of ancient Rome. In these surroundings one’s +cab stops at “No. 44,” and ringing the bell the +door is open, whether by super-normal agency +or by some invisible terrestrial manipulation +one is unable to determine; but in the semi-darkness +of the narrow hall he discerns before +him a flight of steep stairs, and, as no other +vista opens, he reasons that, by the law of +exclusion, this must be the appointed way. +Along the wall are seen, here and there, some +antique casts from Trajan’s Column, and reliefs +from Canova and Thorwaldsen. The galleries +above hold only a small and a comparatively +unimportant collection of pictures. There +are marines from Vernet and Claude Lorraine; +a “Venus Crowned by the Graces” from Rubens; +Giulio Romano’s copy of Raphael’s “Galatea,”—the +original of which (in the Villa Farnesina) +represents Galatea surrounded by Nymphs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +Cupids, and Tritons, being carried in a shell +across the sea. There is a Cupid, and also the +“Fortuna” of Guido Reni,—the latter a figure +of ineffable grace floating in the air. One of +Raphael’s early works representing “St. Luke +Painting the Madonna” is here. There are +several works by Titian, but these have less than +would be expected of the glory usually associated +with his name; and a Vandyke representing +the Virgin and Child, with two angels playing, +the one on a lute, the other on the violin.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 310px;"> +<a href="images/fortunab.jpg"><img src="images/fortuna.jpg" width="310" height="400" alt="“LA FORTUNA,” ACCADÉMIA DI SAN LUCA, ROME Guido Reni" title="“LA FORTUNA,” ACCADÉMIA DI SAN LUCA, ROME Guido Reni" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>“LA FORTUNA,” ACCADÉMIA DI SAN LUCA, ROME<br /> Guido Reni</small></p> +</div> + +<p>One salon filled with portraits of artists is +especially interesting, and that of Thorwaldsen +is so feminine in its costume and the parting +of the hair, that it is almost inevitably mistaken +for that of a woman. Guido’s graceful +“Fortuna” is represented as a female figure +flying through the air, her long hair streaming +in the wind, and the picture recalls to one the +Greek legend of Opportunity, as told by Kainos. +The legend runs:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“‘Of what town is thy sculptor?’</p> + +<p>“‘Of Lukzon.’</p> + +<p>“‘What is his name?’</p> + +<p>“‘Lysippos.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>’</p> + +<p>“‘And thine?’</p> + +<p>“‘Opportunity, controller of all things.’</p> + +<p>“‘But why standest thou on tiptoe?’</p> + +<p>“‘I am always running.’</p> + +<p>“‘Why, then, hast thou wings on both feet?’</p> + +<p>“‘I fly like the wind.’</p> + +<p>“‘But wherefore bearest thou a razor in thy +right hand?’</p> + +<p>“‘As a sign to men that I am sharper than +any steel.’</p> + +<p>“‘And why wearest thou thy hair long in +front?’</p> + +<p>“‘That I may be seized by him who approaches +me.’</p> + +<p>“‘By Zeus! And thou art bald behind?’</p> + +<p>“‘Because once I have passed with my +winged feet no one may seize me then.’”</p></div> + +<p>From one landing, on the steep narrow staircase +of San Luca, opens the Biblioteca Sarti, +an art library of some fifteen thousand volumes. +The sculpture gallery is now closed and can +only be entered by special permission. This +is the more to be regretted as it contains the +principal collections in Rome of the original +casts of the works of Thorwaldsen and Canova.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>The latter-day artists who have been setting +up their Lares and Penates in Rome at various +periods during the early and into the later +years of the nineteenth century have found the +Eternal City in strong contrast with its twentieth-century +aspects, however it may have differed +from the Rome of the Popes. The earlier American +artists to seek the Seven-hilled City were +painters; and Allston, Copley, and Stuart had +already distinguished themselves in pictorial art +before America had produced any sculptor who +could read his title clear to fame. It is to +Hiram Powers (born in Vermont in 1805) that +America must look as her first sculptor, +chronologically considered, closely followed by +Thomas Crawford, who was but eight years his +junior, and by Horatio Greenough, who was +also born in the same year as Powers, and who +preceded him in Italy, but whose work has less +artistic value. Mr. Greenough has left a colossal +(if not an artistic) monument to his gifts in +stately shaft marking Bunker Hill which he +designed. Problematic in their claim to artistic +excellence as are his “Washington”—a +seated figure in the grounds of the Capitol in +Washington—and his group in relief called<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +“The Rescue” in the portico of the Capitol, +his name lives by his personality as a man of +liberal culture and noble character, if not by +his actual rank in art. First of the American +group in Italy, he was followed by Powers, who +sought the ineffable beauty and enchantment +of Florence in 1837. Horatio Greenough died +in comparatively early life, leaving perhaps the +most interesting of his works in a relief (purchased +by Professor George Ticknor, the distinguished +historian of Spain) “representing in +touching beauty and expression a sculptor +in an attitude of dejection and discouragement +before his work, while a hand from above +pours oil into his dying lamp, an allegory +illustrative of the struggles of genius and +the relief which timely patronage may extend +to it.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Powers passed his entire life in Florence. +His work attracted great attention and inspired +ardent appreciation. In portrait busts Powers +was especially successful; and his “Greek Slave,” +his “Fisher Boy,” “Il Penseroso,” and “Proserpine” +impressed the art-loving public of the +time as marked by strong artistic power and as +entitled to permanent rank in sculpture.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Crawford died young; but his name lives +in the majestic bronze statue of “Beethoven” +which is in the beautiful white and gold interior +of Symphony Hall, in Boston; and his +“Orpheus” and some other works claim high +appreciation. Writing of Crawford, Mr. Hillard +said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Crawford’s career was distinguished by +energy, resolution, and self-reliance. While yet +a youth, he formed the determination to make +himself an artist; and with this view went to +Rome—alone, unfriended, and unknown—and +there began a life of toil and renunciation; +resisting the approaches alike of indolence and +despondency. His strength of character and +force of will would have earned distinction for +powers inferior to his. Nothing was given to +self-indulgence; nothing to vague dreams; +nothing to unmanly despair. He did not wait +for the work that he would have, but labored +cheerfully upon that which he could have. +Success came gradually, but surely; and his +powers as surely proved themselves to be +more than equal to the demand made upon +them.”</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the death of Mr. Crawford, Thomas William +Parsons wrote a memorial poem in which +this stanza occurs:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“O Rome! what memories awake,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">When Crawford’s name is said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of days and friends for whose dear sake<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That path of Hades unto me<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Will have no more of dread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than his own Orpheus felt, seeking Eurydice!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">O Crawford! husband, father, brother<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Are in that name, that little word!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let me no more my sorrow smother;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Grief stirs me, and I must be stirred.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Thomas Ball, who went in early manhood to +Florence, where he remained until when nearly +at the age of fourscore he returned to his native +land, still continues, at the age of eighty-five, to +pursue the art he loves. He has created works, +as his equestrian statue of “Washington” in the +Public Gardens and his “Lincoln Freeing the +Slave” in Park Square, both in Boston; his +great Washington Memorial group in Methuen, +Massachusetts; his “Christ Blessing Little Children,” +and many other historic and ideal sculptures, +that seem endowed with his beautiful +and winning spirit as well as with his rare<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +gifts. Larkin G. Mead chose Florence rather +than Rome for his home and work. His noble +“River God,” placed at the head of the Mississippi +near St. Paul, as well as other interesting +creations, link his name with that of his native +land. Randolph Rogers, a man of genius; +Rinehart, Paul Akers, and Thompson all died +before the full maturity of their powers; Akers +at the early age of thirty-six, leaving, as his +bride of a year, the poet, Elizabeth Akers Allen, +who, under the <i>nom de plume</i> of “Florence Percy,” +has endeared herself to all lovers of lyric art. In +a monograph on Paul Akers, written after his +death, the writer says of his studio in Rome:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Linked with this studio is Hawthorne’s tale +of ‘The Marble Faun,’ as Kenyon’s studio was +none other than Paul Akers’s. Though Hawthorne +in his romance saw fit to lay the scene +in the rooms once occupied by Canova, it was +in the Via del Crecie that he wove the thread +of his Italian romance.</p> + +<p>“Paul Akers’s growing reputation and increase +of work ere long made it necessary for +him to seek a more commodious studio, and he +took rooms once occupied by the famous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +Canova. Here he had made under his supervision +copies in marble of many of the famous +works of the Vatican and the Capitol. The +largest collection of these was a commission +from Mr. Edward King of Newport, and among +them were busts of Ariadne, Demosthenes, and +Cicero, and a facsimile of the ‘Dying Gladiator’ +which Mr. King presented to the Redwood +Library of Newport.</p> + +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> + +<p>“During his first winter in Rome he was +permitted by the authorities to make a cast of +a mutilated bust of Cicero which had long lain +in the Vatican. A critic writing from Rome +in 1857 says of this bust of Cicero: ‘Mr. Akers +obtained permission to take a cast from it; he +then restored the eye, brow, and ears, and +modelled a neck and bust for it in accordance +with the temperament shown by the nervous +and rather thin face. He has succeeded +admirably. It is the very head of the Vatican, +yet without the scars of envious time, and sits +gracefully on human shoulders, instead of being +rolled awkwardly back upon a shelf.’ This +bust is unlike the portrait which so long passed +for Cicero’s, but has been identified by means<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +of a medal which was struck by the Magnesians +in honor of the great orator during his consulate, +and is now the authorized portrait of Cicero. +The finest of Paul Akers’s creations executed +during <a name="tn55" id="tn55"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'hs'">his</ins> stay in Rome are ‘St. Elizabeth of +Hungary,’ which represents the princess at the +moment the roses have fallen to the ground; +‘Una and the Lion,’ an illustration of the line in +Spenser’s ‘Faerie Queene,’—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Still while she slept he kept both watch and ward;’<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">the head of Milton and the ‘Pearl Diver.’ The +‘Pearl Diver,’ now owned by the city of Portland, +represents a youth stretched upon a sea-worn +rock and wrapped in eternal sleep. The +arms are thrown above the head, and about the +waist is a net containing pearl-bearing shells for +which he has risked his life. There is no trace +of suffering; all is subdued to beauty. It is +death represented as the ancients conceived it, +the act of the torch-reverting god. This youth, +who has lost his life at the moment when all +that for which he had dared was within his +grasp, suggests Paul Akers’s own untimely +death on the eve of his triumph.”</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was from his Roman studio that Mr. Akers +wrote to a friend:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Yesterday Browning called. He looked a +long time at my Milton, and said it was Milton, +the man-angel. He praised the wealth of hair +which I had given the head, and then said that +Mrs. Browning had a lock of Milton’s hair, the +only one now in existence. This was given her +by Leigh Hunt, just before his death, who +had the records proving it to be genuine. The +hair was, he said, like mine. He invited me +to visit him in Florence, where he would show +me the first edition of Milton’s poems, marked +to indicate the peculiar accent which the poet +sometimes adopted, a knowledge of which +makes clear somewhat that otherwise seems +discordant. Milton was so great a musician +that there could have been no fault in sound +in his compositions. He looked over my books; +said my edition of Shelley was one which he +had corrected for the press, not from a knowledge +of the original MS., but from his internal +evidence that so it must have been; said Poe +was a wonderful man; spoke of Tennyson in +the warmest terms. Took up a copy of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +own poems published in the United States, and +remarked that it was better than the English +edition, yet had some awful blunders, and +wished me to allow him to correct a copy for +me. My head of the ‘Drowned Girl’ caught his +eye and interested him. I told him that I had +thought of Hood’s ‘Bridge of Sighs.’ He then +said that Hood wrote that on his deathbed, +and read it to him before any one else had seen +it. Hood was doubtful whether it was worth +publishing. To-morrow Mrs. Browning is to +come; she has been quite ill since she came to +Rome, and I have seen her but once. I derive +much comfort from the friendship of Charlotte +Cushman. She has just gone from here. She +has frequent breakfast parties; I have attended +but one. Mr. and Mrs. James T. Fields, Wild, +the painter, and myself were the guests. Fields +I like much.”</p></div> + +<p>The first works of Mr. Akers were two +portrait busts, of Longfellow and of Samuel +Appleton. Of his bust of Milton, Hawthorne +in the “Marble Faun” has said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“In another style, there was the grand, calm +head of Milton, not copied from any one bust<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +or picture, yet more authentic than any of +them, because all known representations of the +poet had been profoundly studied and solved +in the artist’s mind. The bust over the tomb +in Greyfriar’s Church, the original miniatures +and pictures wherever to be found, had mingled +each its special truth in this one work—wherein +likewise by long perusal and deep love +of ‘Paradise Lost,’ the ‘Comus,’ the ‘Lycidas,’ +and ‘L’Allegro,’ the sculptor had succeeded +even better than he knew in spiritualizing his +marble with the poet’s mighty genius. And +this was a great thing to have achieved, such a +length of time after the dry bones and dust of +Milton were like those of any other dead man.”</p></div> + +<p>Richard Greenough and the painter, Mr. +Haseltine, were prominent figures among the +early American group of the nineteenth-century +artists in Rome. There came Emma Stebbins, +who modelled a fine portrait bust of Charlotte +Cushman; and Anne Whitney, whose statues +of Samuel Adams and of Leif Ericson adorn +public grounds in Boston; whose life-size statue +of Harriet Martineau is the possession of Wellesley +College; and whose “Chaldean Astronomer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>” +“Lotus-Eater,” and “Roma”—a figure personifying +the Rome of Pio Nono—reveal her +power in ideal creation.</p> + +<p>The name of Harriet Hosmer stands out in +brilliant pre-eminence among those of all women +who have followed the plastic art. Her infinite +charm of personality seems to impart itself to +her work, and she has the gift to make friends +as well as to call forms out of clay—the +success of friendship being one even more permanently +satisfying. In her early life as a +girl hardly more than twenty, she sought Rome, +living with art as her chaperon. Her versatility, +her picturesque individuality, and her +imaginative power all combined to win sympathetic +recognition. Gibson, whose guidance +was particularly well adapted to develop her +gifts, received her into his own studio and took +a deep interest in her work. It was during the +period of her early efforts that Hawthorne was +in Rome, and she is graphically depicted in his +notebooks in her boyish cap at work in the +clay. Gibson was an artist, <i>con amore</i>, and +Miss Hosmer’s joyous abandon to her art captivated +his sympathy. “In my art what do I +find?” he questioned; “happiness; love which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +does not depress me; difficulties which I do +not fear; resolution which never abates; flights +which carry me above the ground; ambition +which tramples no one down.” Master and +pupil were akin in their unwearied devotion to +art. Of Gibson, whose absence of mind regarding +all the details of life made him almost +helpless in travel and affairs, Miss Hosmer +used gleefully to say that he “was a god in +his studio, but God help him out of it!” This +glancing sprite of a girl, frightening her friends +by her daring and venturous horseback riding; +gravitating by instinct to offer some generous, +tender aid to the sick, the destitute, or the helpless; +the life and light of gay dinners and of +social evenings; working from six in the morning +till night in her studio, “with an absence of +pretension,” says Mrs. Browning, “and simplicity +of manners which accord rather with +the childish dimples in her rosy cheeks than +with her broad forehead and high aims,” had +the magic gift that merged her visitors and +patrons into enthusiastic friends; and Mrs. +Browning has chronicled the pretty scene when +Lady Marion Alford, the daughter of the Earl +of Northumberland, knelt before the girl artist<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +and slipped on her finger a ring—a precious +ruby set with diamonds—as a token of her +devotion. Reading Miss Hosmer’s life still +further backward, the reader is transported, as +if on some magic carpet, to St. Louis, in the +United States, where a noble and lofty man, +Hon. Wayman Crow,—a generous friend, a +liberal patron of the arts, a man of the most +refined tastes and culture, whose great qualities +were always used in high service,—first aided +Miss Hosmer to the preliminary studies in her +art, and whose accomplished and lovely daughters +(now Mrs. Lucien Carr of Boston, Mrs. +Edwin Cushman of Newport and Rome, and +Mrs. Emmons of Leamington, England) were +as a trio of sisters to the young artist. And +“the flowing conditions of life” bear on this +lifelong friendship until a fair young girl, +Élise (the daughter of Mrs. Emmons), catches +up this sweet tie and as an accomplished and +lovely young woman in Roman society, when +these “flowing conditions” had come down even +into the season of 1906-7, Miss Emmons cherished +the fame of Harriet Hosmer and enjoyed +the privilege of a constant correspondence with +the distinguished artist. So the past links itself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +again with the present; and who can tell where +any story in life begins or ends in the constant +evolutionary progress?</p> + +<p>Miss Hosmer’s work attracted wide attention. +Her majestic statue of “Zenobia;” the winsome +“Puck;” the impressive statue of “Beatrice +Cenci,” representing her as she lay in her cell +in Castel San Angelo the night before her execution,—these +and other works of hers are of +an interesting character and will hold their +permanent rank in sculpture.</p> + +<p>Were all the muses present at the christening +of William Wetmore Story—sculptor, musician, +poet and painter, jurist and man of +letters, and the friend whose social relationships +made life a thing of beauty—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“To winds and waterfalls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And autumn’s sunlit festivals,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To music and to music’s thoughts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inextricably bound”?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr. Story made his first visit to Italy in 1847; +not at that time with any fixed purpose of exchanging +his profession of the law for art. He +loved literature, and his grace and ease in +expression had already manifested his literary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +talent; he had an inclination toward modelling—it +could hardly, at this time, have been called +by a stronger name—and curiously enough +with him the usual conditions were reversed +and he received a commission for a statue of +his father, Judge Story, before he had made +any definite turning toward the art of sculpture. +A young man of versatile gifts and accomplished +scholarship, sculpture was to him one +among the many attractive forms of art rather +than the supreme attraction; and it was the +stimulus of the given work that determined +him as a sculptor, rather than his determination +to be a sculptor that determined the work. +Among the goddesses of life Destiny must, perhaps, +be allowed a place. At all events, after +Mr. Story’s initial glance at Italy, he sought +Rome again a year later, and this time it was +his choice for life, however unrevealed to his eye +were the resplendent years that lay before him. +He had fallen under the spell of the Magic +Land. In a letter to Lowell, Mr. Story had +questioned how he should ever endure again +“the restraint and bondage of Boston.” It +was the picturesque Rome of the Popes that he +first knew. The years of 1848-49 were those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +of revolutionary activities in Italy. Pio Nono, +one of the most saintly and beloved of the +Popes,—whose mortal form now rests in that +richly decorated chapel in old San Lorenzo, +<i>fuori le mura</i>, on the site of the church that +Constantine founded on the burial place of St. +Lawrence,—made his flight to Gaeta and the +Roman republic was established. It was a +dramatic scene when Pio Nono returned (April +12, 1850), entering Rome by the Porta San Giovanni. +The scene from this gate was then, as +now, one of the most impressive in the Eternal +City.</p> + +<p>It was in this vast Basilica of San Giovanni +Laterano that Pio Nono entered that April day, +leaving his carriage and walking alone to the +altar, where he knelt in devotion. A splendid +procession awaited without to accompany the +Holy Father to the Papal Palace. The superb +state carriages conveyed princes and foreign +ambassadors and great nobles. From the +Piazza San Giovanni to St. Peter’s every house +was illuminated, and the populace cheered and +waved until the very air vibrated with sound +and color. These were the days when the +methods of government were a visible spectacle,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +a drama, making the life in Rome a daily illuminated +missal.</p> + +<p>The Storys, on their return to Italy, located +themselves for a time in Florence, where they +met the Brownings, and that lifelong friendship +between the poet and the sculptor was initiated. +In these happy Florentine days Mr. Story +worked in his studio while his wife read to him +the life of Keats, then just issued, written by +Monckton Milnes, later Lord Houghton. But +the “flowing conditions” soon bore them onward +to Rome, where they settled themselves +in the Via Porta Pinciana, and met the Crawfords, +who were domiciled in the Villa Negroni. +In these Roman days, too, appeared Mr. Cropsey, +of poetic landscape fame, and here, too, was +Margaret Fuller. Mazzini was then a leading +figure in the Chamber of Deputies,—“the +prophet not only of modern Italy, but of the +modern world.” He found Italy “utilitarian and +materialistic, permeated by French ideas, and +weakened by her reliance on French initiative. +He was filled with hope that Italy might not only +achieve her own unity, but might once more +accomplish, as she had in the Rome of the +Cæsars and the Rome of the Church, the unity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +of the Western world. ‘On my side I believe,’ +he says, ‘that the great problem of the day was +a religious problem, to which all other questions +were but secondary.’” He was asserting +that “we cannot relate ourselves to the Divine, +but through collective humanity. It is not by +isolated duty (which indeed the conditions of +modern life render more and more impossible), +nor by contemplation of mere Power as displayed +in the material world, that we can +develop our nature. It is rather by mingling +with the universal life, and by carrying on the +evolution of the never-ending work.”</p> + +<p>The studios of Mr. Crawford in those days +were in the Piazza delle Terme, near the Baths +of Diocletian. William Page, the painter, was +domiciled on the slope of the Quirinal where +he painted a portrait of Charlotte Cushman +which Mrs. Browning described as “a miracle”; +one of Mrs. Crawford; the head of Mrs. Story, +which he insisted upon presenting to her husband; +and a magnificent portrait of Browning +which the artist presented to Mrs. Browning. +“Both of us,” wrote Robert Browning of this +gift, “would have fain escaped being the subjects +of such princely generosity; but there was no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +withstanding his delicacy and noble-mindedness.” +Mrs. Jameson was much in Rome in +the early years of the 1850-60 decade, living +in the old port by the Tiber nearly opposite +to the new and splendid building of the law +courts. Near the Tarpeian Rock Frederika +Bremer had perched, in a tiny room of which +she took all the frugal care, even to washing +the blue cups and plates when she invited +the Hawthornes to a tea of a simplicity that +suggested, indeed, the utmost degree of “light” +housekeeping. Thomas Buchanan Read was +one of the hosts and guests of this social +group, and it was at a dinner he gave that +Hawthorne met Gibson, whose conversational +talents were evidently (upon that occasion) +chiefly employed in contemning the pre-Raphaelite +school of painters and emphasizing the need +of sculptors to discover and to follow the principles +of the Greeks,—“a fair doctrine, but +one which Mr. Gibson fails to practise,” +observes Hawthorne. The Brownings were +variously bestowed in Rome through succeeding +winters,—in the <a name="tn205" id="tn205"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Boca'">Bocca</ins> di Leone, in the +Via del Tritone and elsewhere. Mrs. Browning, +as her “Casa Guida Windows” and many other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +poems attest, took always the deepest interest +in Italian politics. American and English +friends come and go, but the little group of +residents and the more permanent sojourners, +as the Hawthornes and the Brownings, continue +their daily variations on life in the social +dinners and teas, the excursions and the sight-seeing +of the wonderful city.</p> + +<p>Only the magician could “call up the vanished +past again” and summon into an undeniable +materialization those charming figures to +come forth out of the shadowy air of the rich, +historic past, and stand before us in the full +light of contemporary attention. Not alone this +group of choice persons, but the environment +of their time, the very atmosphere, are demanded +of this necromancy. The figure of +Adelaide Kemble (Mrs. Sartoris) is one of +these, and the tradition still survives of a +concert given in the splendid, spacious hall +of the Palazzo Colonna where she was the prima +donna of the occasion. There were also musicals +at the house of Mrs. Sartoris, where the +guests met her famous sister, Fanny Kemble. +Mrs. Browning was fond of both the sisters, +and said of them that their social brilliancy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +was their least distinction. She found them +both “noble and sympathetic,” and her “dear +Mr. Page” and “Hatty” (Miss Hosmer) “an +immense favorite with us both,” she said of +her husband and herself; these and the Storys +made up the special circle for the Brownings in +Rome. “The Sartoris house has the best society +in Rome,” writes Mrs. Browning to Miss +Mitford, “and exquisite music, of course. We +met Lockhart there and my husband sees a +good deal of him. . . . A little society,” she +says, “is good for soul and body, and on the +Continent it is easy to get a handful of society +without paying too dear for it. This is an +advantage of Continental life.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Browning greatly admired the work of +Mr. Page, whose portraits she found “like +Titian’s.” But the tinted statues of Gibson +seemed to her inartistic. His famous painted +Venus she called “pretty,” but only as a wax +doll might be, not as a work of genuine art. +Then Thackeray and his two daughters came; +Miss Anne (now known to the world of literature +as Anne Thackeray Ritchie) was a special +favorite with Mrs. Browning.</p> + +<p>Coming to Rome at one time from Florence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +in midwinter, the Brownings found that the +Storys had taken an apartment for them (in +the Via Bocca di Leone), and they arrived to +find lighted fires and lamps. Their journey +had included a week’s visit at Assisi, studying +the rich art of Cimabue and Giotto in the +church of the great Franciscan monastery. +Mrs. Browning visited studios in Rome and +found that of Mr. Crawford more interesting +to her than Mr. Gibson’s, but no artist is “as +near” to her, as she herself says, as Mr. Page. +The Storys left the Porta Pinciana to live at +No. 93 in the Piazza di Spagna, and in the +same house with the Brownings, in the Bocca +di Leone, Mr. Page had his apartment. To +Lowell, Mr. Story wrote of the Brownings:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The Brownings and we became great +friends in Florence, and, of course, we could +not become friends without liking each other. +He, Emelyn says, is like you. He is of my +size, but slighter, with straight black hair, +small eyes, a smooth face, and manner nervous +and rapid. He has great vivacity, but +not the least humor; some sarcasm, considerable +critical faculty, and very great frankness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +and friendliness of manner and mind. Mrs. +Browning will sit buried up in a large easy-chair +listening and talking very quietly and +pleasantly. Very unaffected is she. . . . I +have hundreds of statues in my head, but they +are in the future tense. Powers I knew very +well in Florence. He is a man of great mechanical +talent and natural strength of perception, +but with no poetry in his composition, +and I think no creative power. . . . I have +been to hear Allegri’s ‘Miserere’ in the Sistine +Chapel, with the awful and mighty figures of +Michael Angelo looking down from the ceiling; to +hear Guglielmi’s ‘Miserere’ in St. Peter’s, while +the gloom of evening was gathering in the lofty +aisles and shrouding the frescoed domes, was +a deeply affecting and solemnly beautiful experience. +Never can one forget the plaintive +wailing of the voices that seemed to implore +pity and pardon.”</p></div> + +<p>It was in 1856 that the Storys located +themselves in Palazzo Barberini, which Bernini +designed and which was built “out of the +quarry of the Coliseum” by Urban VIII. It +is one of the wonderful old palaces of Rome,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>—this +mass of Barberini courts, gardens, terraces, +and vast apartments, with the interminable +winding stairs, where on one landing Thorwaldsen’s +lion lies before the great doors decorated +with the arms of Popes and princes. +Here the old Cardinal Barberini lived his +stormy life; here are the gallery and the library,—the +latter stored with infinite treasures of ancient +documents, old maps whose portrayal of the +earth bears little resemblance to the present, +and famous manuscripts and volumes in old vellum, +some fifty thousand in all. In the Barberini +gallery are a few noted works,—Raphael’s +“Fornarina,” Guido’s “Beatrice Cenci,” a +“Holy Family” by Andrea del Sarto, and others.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/spagnab.jpg"><img src="images/spagna.jpg" width="400" height="295" alt="SPANISH STEPS, PIAZZA TRINITÀ DEI MONTI, ROME +" title="SPANISH STEPS, PIAZZA TRINITÀ DEI MONTI, ROME +" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>SPANISH STEPS, PIAZZA TRINITÀ DEI MONTI, ROME</small> +</p> +</div> + +<p>The Via delle <a name="tn72" id="tn72"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Quatre'">Quattro</ins> Fontane, on which the +Palazzo Barberini stands, might well be known +as the street of the wonderful vista. One strolls +down it to the Via Sistina and to Piazza Trinità +de’ Monti at the head of the Spanish steps +(the Scala di Spagna), pausing for the loveliness +of the view. Across the city rises the +opposite height of Monte Mario, and to the +left the Janiculum, now crowned with the magnificent +equestrian statue of Garibaldi, which +is in evidence from almost every part of Rome.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +As far as the eye can see the Campagna stretches +away, infinite as the sea—a very Campagna +Mystica. The luminous air, the faint, misty +blue of the distance, the deep purple shadows +on the hills, make up a landscape of color. At +the foot of the Spanish steps the flower venders +spread out their wares,—great bunches of the +flame-colored roses peculiar to Italy, the fragrant +white hyacinths, golden jonquils, baskets +of violets, and masses of lilies of the valley.</p> + +<p>On many a night of brilliant moonlit glory +the artistic sojourners in Rome lingered on the +parapet of the Pincian Hill watching the moonlight +flood the Eternal City until churches and +palaces seemed to swim in a sea of silver. Or +in the morning, when the rose-red of dawn +was aglow, there seemed to hover over the +city that wraith of mist whose secret Claude +Lorraine surprises in his landscapes. These +dawn visions of mysterious, incredible beauty +are a part of the very identity of Rome.</p> + +<p>There were mornings when the Hawthornes +with Mrs. Jameson or some other friend would +drive out to the old San Lorenzo (<i>fuori le mura</i>), +the church founded by Constantine in 330 on +the site where the body of St. Lawrence was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +buried. At various periods the church was +enlarged and finally, as recently as in 1864, +Pio Nono had great improvements made under +the architect Vespignani. In the piazza in front +was placed an immense column of red granite, +some sixty feet high, with the statue of St. +Lawrence, a standing figure, at the top. It is +most impressive. The colonnade at the entrance +of the church is decorated with frescoes +and contains two immense sarcophagi, whose +sides are beautifully sculptured with reliefs. +The roof is supported by six Ionic columns. +Entering the church one finds an interior of +three aisles divided by colossal columns of +Oriental granite. In the middle aisle, on both +sides the galleries, are fresco paintings illustrating +the martyrdom of St. Lawrence and of St. +Stephen, one series on the right and the other +on the left. One of these paintings, especially, +of the life of St. Lawrence, is strangely haunting +to the imagination. It represents the youthful, +slender figure, nude, save for slight drapery, +laid on the gridiron while the fire is being +kindled under it and the fagots shovelled in. +The physical shrinking of the flesh—of every +nerve—from the torture, the spiritual strength<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +and invincible energy of the countenance, are +wonderfully depicted. The great aisle was +painted by order of Pius IX by Cesare Fracassini; +in it are two pulpits of marble. A double +staircase of marble conducts to that part of the +Basilica of Constantine which by Honorius III +was converted into the presbytery. It is decorated +at the upper end by twelve columns of +violet marble which rise from the level of the +primitive basilica beneath. At the end is the +ancient pontifical seat, adorned with mosaic and +precious marbles. The papal altar is under a +canopy in the Byzantine style. The pavement +of this presbytery is worthy of particular attention. +Descending to the confessional which is +under the high altar the tomb of the martyred +saints, Lawrence, Stephen, and Justin, is found.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/pioixb.jpg"><img src="images/pioix.jpg" width="400" height="299" alt="TOMB OF PIO NONO, SAN LORENZO (FUORI LE MURA), ROME +" title="TOMB OF PIO NONO, SAN LORENZO (FUORI LE MURA), ROME +" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>TOMB OF PIO NONO, SAN LORENZO (FUORI LE MURA), ROME</small> +</p> +</div> + +<p>It was the request of Pio Nono that his mortal +body should rest here, where it is placed in a +simple tomb, according to his own instructions; +but the chapel is very rich in decoration which +was paid for by money sent from all parts of +the world.</p> + +<p>The chapel walls are entirely encrusted in +mother-of-pearl, gilt bronze, and beautiful +marbles. The mosaic paintings are formed of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +gold and precious stones of fabulous value. +This interior is perhaps the richest in the +world in its decoration. San Lorenzo is a +patriarchal church, and one of the seven pilgrimage +churches of Rome. Near San Lorenzo +is the Campo Verano, a cemetery containing +many beautiful memorial sculptures.</p> + +<p>In those days, half a century ago, the entrance +most often used by visitors to Rome was through +the Via Flaminia and the Porta del Popolo, +opening on the Piazza del Popolo, rather the +most picturesque and impressive place in all +Rome. On the left is the Pincian Hill (Monte +Pincio), with its rich terraces, balustrades, +its beautiful porticos filled with statuary, +its groves of cypress and ilex trees; a classic +vision rising on the sight and enchanting the +imagination. On the side opposite the Porta +three roads diverge in fan shape—the Via +Babuino, the Corso, and the Ripetta, with the +“twin churches” side by side; one between the +Babuino and the Corso, the other between +the Corso and the Ripetta.</p> + +<p>The Corso (which was the ancient Flaminian +Way) runs straight to the Piazza Venezia at the +foot of the Capitoline Hill. This Piazza del<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +Popolo was widened and decorated by Pius VII. +It is formed by two semicircles, adorned with +fountains and statues, and terminated by four +symmetrical edifices. In the semicircles are +colossal groups in marble, and a road opposite +the Pincio leads to the Ponte Margherita and +the Prati di Castello.</p> + +<p>The obelisk in the centre of the piazza was +brought to Rome from Heliopolis by Cæsar +Augustus and originally stood in the Circus +Maximus. It was erected here by Pope Sixtus +V, and it is nearly a hundred feet in height. +It is formed of red granite, and while it has +been broken in three places, the hieroglyphics +are still legible. This obelisk was first erected +in Egypt as a part of the Temple of the Sun +at Heliopolis, in a period preceding that of +Rameses II. After the battle of Actium, Augustus +transported it to Rome, and it was first +placed in the Circus Maximus, but during the +reign of Valentinian it fell from its pedestal +and lay buried in the earth, until in the sixteenth +century Pope Sixtus V had it placed in +the centre of the Piazza del Popolo, and consecrated +it to the cross. The two inscriptions +are on opposite sides. One thus reads:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The Emperor Cæsar, son of the divine +Cæsar Augustus, Sovereign Pontiff, twelve times +Emperor, eleven times Consul, fourteen times +Tribune, having conquered Egypt, consecrated +this gift to the Sun.”</p></div> + +<p>The other inscription is as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Sixtus V, Sovereign Pontiff, excavated, +transported, and restored this obelisk, sacrilegiously +consecrated to the Sun by the great +Augustus, in the great Circus, where it lay in +ruins, and dedicated it to the cross triumphant +in the fourth year of his pontificate.”</p></div> + +<p>The Church of Santa Maria del Popolo is +built into the very wall of Monte Pincio on the +site of Nero’s tomb. It dates back to 1099, +and consists of three naves and several chapels. +In the first chapel is a “Nativity” by Pinturicchio, +who also painted the lunettes. +Another chapel belongs to the Cibo family, and +is rich in marbles and adorned with sixteen +columns of Sicilian jasper. The “Conception” +is by Maratta, the “Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” +by Morandi, and the “St. Catherine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>” +by Volterra. The “Visitation” was sculptured +by Bernini in 1679. The third chapel is painted +by Pinturicchio (1513), and the fourth has an +interesting bas-relief of the fifteenth century. +The picture of the Virgin, on the high altar, is +one of those attributed to St. Luke; the paintings +on the vault of the choir are by Pinturicchio. +The two marble monuments are, from +their perfection of design and execution, reckoned +among the best modern works. They are +by Cantucci da S. Savino. In the chapel following +is an “Assumption” by Annibale Carracci; +the side pictures are by Caravaggio. The last +chapel but one in the small nave is the Chigi +chapel, and is one of the most celebrated in +Rome.</p> + +<p>Raphael gave the designs for the dome, the +paintings of the frieze, and the altar picture. +This latter was begun by Del Piombo and finished +by Salviati. The statue of Daniel is by +Bernini. The front of the altar and the statues +of Jonah and Elijah were done by Lorenzetto +(1541), from designs by Raphael. Outside this +chapel is the monument of Princess Odescalchi +Chigi (1771), by Paolo Posi. The stained windows +of the choir belong to the fourteenth century,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +and in the sacristy and the vestibule are +monuments also of the fourteenth century and +of the fifteenth. Luther resided in the convent +attached to this church when he was in Rome.</p> + +<p>There is a legend that a large walnut tree +grew on the site of Nero’s tomb in whose +branches innumerable crows had their home, +and that they devastated all that part of Rome. +An appeal was made to the Virgin, who declared +that the crows were demons who kept +watch over the ashes of Nero, and ordered the +tree to be cut down and burned, the ashes being +scattered to the air, and that, on the spot, a +church should be built to her honor. This was +accomplished, and the crows no more troubled +the Eternal City.</p> + +<p>The gardens of Lucullus were on the Monte +Pincio. The view of the terraced hillside from +the Piazza del Popolo is one of the most impressive +in Rome.</p> + +<p>The Hawthornes left Rome in 1859; and the +death of Mrs. Browning in June of 1861 left +the little circle of the Roman winters irreparably +broken. “Returning to Rome,” wrote Story +to Charles Eliot Norton, “I have not one single +intimate . . . no one with whom I can walk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +any of the higher ranges of art and philosophy.” +Mr. Story had modelled the busts of both Mr. +and Mrs. Browning during their sojourns in +Rome; in 1853 Harriet Hosmer had made the cast +of the “clasped hands” of the poets, the model +having since been cast in bronze; Mr. Page had, +as already noted, painted a portrait of Robert +Browning; and Mr. Leighton (afterward Sir +Frederick) had made a beautiful portrait sketch +of Mrs. Browning. In later years all these +memorials, with other paintings or plastic +sketches of the wedded poets, were grouped in +Mr. Barrett Browning’s palace in Venice.</p> + +<p>At this time Mr. Story had completed his +“Cleopatra,” which Hawthorne had embalmed +in literary mention in “The Marble Faun;” +and beside his “Judith,” “Sappho,” and other +lesser works, he had achieved one of his finest +successes in the “Libyan Sibyl.” Both the +“Cleopatra” and the “Sibyl” became famous. +Whether they would produce so strong an effect +at the present stage of twentieth-century life is +a problem, but one that need not press for +solution. Mr. Story was singularly fortunate +in certain conditions that grouped themselves +about his life and combined to establish his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +fame. These conditions, of course, were largely +the outer reflection of inner qualities, as our +conditions are apt to be; still, the “lack of +favoring gales” not infrequently foredooms some +gallant bark to a disastrous course.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Man is his own star. . . .<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Our acts, our angels, are, for good or ill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our fatal shadows that walk by us still,”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">it is true; yet has not Edith Thomas embodied +something of that overruling destiny that every +thoughtful observer must discern in life in these +lines?—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“You may blame the wind or no,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But it ever hath been so—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Something bravest of its kind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leads a frustrate life and blind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the lack of favoring gales<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blowing blithe on other sails.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Only occasionally have we</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“. . . the time, and the place,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the loved one all together.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr. Story’s nature was eminently sympathetic +with the other arts; he was himself almost as +much a literary man as he was a sculptor; he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +was the friend and companion of literary men, +and to the fact that art in the middle years of +the nineteenth century was far more a literary +topic than a matter of critical scrutiny, Mr. +Story owed an incalculable degree of his fame. +He was an extremely interesting figure with his +social grace, his liberal culture, and his versatile +gifts. His life was centred in choice and +refined associations. If not dowered with lofty +and immortal original genius, he had a singular +combination of talent, of fastidious taste, and of +the intellectual appreciation that enabled him +to select interesting ideal subjects to portray in +the plastic art. These appealed to the special +interest of his literary friends and were widely +discussed in the press and periodicals of the +day. It is a <i>bonmot</i> of contemporary studio life +that Hawthorne rather than Story created the +“Cleopatra,” and one ingenious spirit suggests +that as Mr. Story put nothing of expression or +significance into his statues, the beholder could +read into them anything he pleased; finding an +empty mould, so to speak, into which to pour +whatever image or embodiment he might conjure +up from the infinite realm of imagination. +One of the latest of these contemporary critics<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +declares that “Story declined appreciably, year +by year, falling away from his own standard; +haunted to the point of obsession by visions +of mournful female figures, generally seated, +wrapped in gloom. It seems strange,” this +critic continues, “that so active a mind should +dream of nothing but brooding, sinister souls, +of bodies bowed in grief, or tense with rage. +Never once, apparently, did there come to +him a vision of buoyancy and grace; of a +beauty that one could love; of good cheer +and joy of very living; always these unwholesome +creatures born of that belated Byronic +romanticism.”</p> + +<p>This criticism, while it has as little appreciation +of Mr. Story’s exquisite culture and of +the taste and refinement of his art as the general +rush of the motor car and telephonic conversational +life of the first decade of the twentieth +century has of the thoughtful, the poetic, +the leisurely atmosphere of Mr. Story’s time, +is yet not without a keen flashlight of truth. +Painting had its reactionary crisis from the +pre-Raphaelite ideals and the <i>intransigeants</i> +have had their own conflicts in which they survived, +or disappeared, according to the degree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +of artistic vitality within. Sculpture and literature +must also meet the series of tests to which +the onward progress of life persists in subjecting +them, and those who are submerged and +perish can only encourage the survivors as did +the Greeks, as sung by Theocritus:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A shipwrecked sailor, buried on this coast,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bids you set sail.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Full many a gallant ship, when we were lost,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Weathered the gale.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>“As we refine, our checks grow finer,” said +Emerson. As life becomes more elaborate and +ambitious, the critical tests increase. Contemporary +fame can be created for the artist by +favorable contemporary comment; but it rests +with himself, after all; it rests in the abiding +significance of his work—or the lack of it—as +to whether this fame is perpetuated. That +of Mr. Story does not hold within itself all the +qualities that insure the appreciation of the +present day. It is, as the critic of the hour +expresses himself, “too literary,”—too largely +a question of classic titles which appealed to +the mid-nineteenth-century authors whose judgment +of art the twentieth century finds particularly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +amusing. Henry James has somewhere +held up to ridicule the early Beacon Hill Boston +for its impassioned devotion to the “attenuated +outlines” of Flaxman’s art. But the +work of Story will survive all transient variations +of opinion, even of the present realistic +age; for is not true realism, after all, to be +found in the eternal ideals of truth, grace, +dignity, refinement, significance, and beauty? +These qualities have a message to convey; and +no one can study with sympathetic appreciation +any sculpture of William Wetmore Story +without feeling that the work has something to +say; that it is not a mere reproduction of some +form, but is, rather, an idea impersonated, and +therefore it has life, it has significance. The +criticism of the immediate hour is not necessarily +infallible because it is contemporary. +What does William Watson say?</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A deft musician does the breeze become<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Whenever an Æolian harp it finds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hornpipe and hurdy-gurdy both are dumb<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Unto the most musicianly of winds.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is an irretrievable loss if, in the passion +for the <i>vita nuova</i>, a generation, or a century,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +shall substitute for the Æolian harp the mere +hornpipe and hurdy-gurdy of the hour. In +another of his keenly critical quatrains William +Watson embodies this signal truth:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 24em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“His rhymes the poet flings at all men’s feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And whoso will may trample on his rhymes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should Time let die a song that’s pure and sweet,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The singer’s loss were more than matched by Time’s.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Art is progressive, and the present is always +the “heir of all the ages” preceding; but it +cannot be affirmed that it invariably makes the +best use of its rich inheritance.</p> + +<p>There are latter-day sculptors who excel in +certain excellences that Story lacked; still, it +would not be his loss, but our own, if we fail +in a due recognition of that in his art which +may appeal to the imagination; for, whatever +the enthusiasms of other cults may be, there are +qualities of beauty, strength, and profound significance +in the art of Story that must insure +their permanent recognition. Still, it remains +true that Mr. Story owes his fame in an incalculable +degree to the friendly pens of Hawthorne +and others of his immediate circle,—Lowell, +Motley, Charles Eliot Norton, Thackeray,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +Browning,—friends who, according to +the latest standards of art criticism, were not +unqualified nor absolute judges of art, but +who were in sympathy with ideal expression +and recognized this as embodied in the statues +of Story.</p> + +<p>Browning wrote to the London <i>Times</i> an +article on Mr. Story’s work, in which he conjured +up most of the superlative phrases of +commendation that the limits of the English +language allow to praise his work, none of +whose marshalled force was too poor to do him +reverence. The versatile gifts of Story’s personality +drew around him friends whose influence +was potent and, indeed, authoritative in +their time.</p> + +<p>Still, any analysis of these conditions brings +the searcher back to the primary truth that +without the gifts and grace to attract about him +an eminent circle of choice spirits he could not +have enjoyed this potent aid and inspiration; +and thus, that</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 10em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Man is his own star,”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">is an assertion that life, as well as poetry, justifies. +In the full blaze of this fundamental<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +truth, it is, not unfrequently, the mysterious +spiritual tragedy of life that many an one as +fine of fibre and with lofty ideals</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 13em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Leads a frustrate life and blind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the lack of favoring gales<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blowing blithe on other sails.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr. Story was himself of too fine an order +not to divine this truth. With what unrivalled +power and pathos has he expressed it in his +poem—one far too little known—the “Io +Victis”:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 25em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I sing the song of the Conquered, who fell in the Battle of Life,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hymn of the wounded, the beaten, who died overwhelmed in the strife;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not the jubilant song of the victors, for whom the resounding acclaim<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of nations was lifted in chorus, whose brows wore the chaplet of fame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the hymn of the low and the humble, the weary, the broken in heart,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whose youth bore no flower on its branches, whose hopes burned in ashes away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From whose hands slipped the prize they had grasped at, who stood at the dying of day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the wreck of their life all around them. . . .”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>In this poem Mr. Story touched the highest +note of his life,—as poet, sculptor, painter, or +writer of prose; in no other form of expression +has he equalled the sublimity of sentiment +in these lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 25em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">“. . . I stand on the field of defeat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the shadow, with those who are fallen, and wounded, and dying, and there<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hold the hand that is helpless, and whisper, ‘They only the victory win<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who have fought the good fight, and have vanquished the demon that tempts us within;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who have held to their faith unseduced by the prize that the world holds on high;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who have dared for a high cause to suffer, resist, fight,—if need be, to die.’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Such a poem must have its own immortality +in lyric literature.</p> + +<p>For a period of forty years the home of the +Storys in Palazzo Barberini was a noted centre +of the most charming social life. Mr. Story’s +literary work—in his contributions of essays +and poems to the <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>; in his published +works, the “Roba di Roma,” “Conversations +in a Studio,” his collected “Poems,” +and others—gave him a not transitory rank<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +in literature which rivals, if it does not exceed, +his rank in art.</p> + +<p>Meantime other artists were to take up their +permanent abode in the Seven-hilled City,—Elihu +Vedder in 1866; Franklin Simmons two +years later; Waldo and Julian Story, the two +sons of William Wetmore Story, though claiming +Rome as their home, are American by +parentage and ancestry; and Mr. Waldo Story +succeeds his father in pursuing the art of sculpture +in the beautiful studios in the Via San +Martino built by the elder Story. In 1902 +Charles Walter Stetson, with his gifted wife, +known to the contemporary literary world by +her maiden name, Grace Ellery Channing, set +up their household gods and lighted their altar +fires in the city by the Tiber, ready, it may be, +to exclaim with Ovid:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 25em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Four times happy is he, and times without number is happy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who the city of Rome uninterdicted enjoys.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/pleiadesb.jpg"><img src="images/pleiades.jpg" width="400" height="260" alt="THE DANCE OF THE PLEIADES Elihu Vedder" title="THE DANCE OF THE PLEIADES Elihu Vedder" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>THE DANCE OF THE PLEIADES<br /> Elihu Vedder</small></p> +</div> + +<p>If art is a corner of the universe seen through +a temperament, the temperament of Mr. Vedder +must offer an enthralling study, for it seems to be +a lens whose power of refraction defies prophecy +because it deals with the incalculable forces.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +His art concerns itself little with the æsthetic, +but is chiefly the art of the intellect and the +imagination. All manner of symbols and analogies; +the laws of the universe that prevail +beyond the stars; the celestial figures; the +undreamed significance in prophecy or in destiny; +omens, signs, and wonders; the world +forces, advancing stealthily in the shadows of +a dusky twilight; the Fates, under brilliant +skies, gathering in the stars; oracles and supernatural +coincidences that lurk in undreamed-of +days; the Pleiades dancing in a light that never +was on sea or land; unknown Shapes that meet +outside space and time and question each +other’s identity; the dead that come forth from +their graves and glide, silent and spectral, +through a crowd, unseen by any one; the +prayer of the celestial powers poured forth in +the utter solitude of the vast desert,—it is these +that are the realm of Vedder’s art, and what +has the normal world of portrait and landscape +to do with such art as this? Can it only be +relegated to a class, an order, of its own, and +considered as being—Vedderesque? It seems +to stand alone and unparalleled. In his work +lies the transfiguration of all mystery. Vedder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +never paints nature, in the sense of landscapes, +and yet one often feels that he has the key to +the very creation of nature; that he has supped +with gods and surprised the secrets of the stars. +Do the winds whisper to him?—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The Muse can knit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is past, what is done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the web that’s just begun.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>How can he find the design to phrase his +thought—this painter of ideas?</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Can blaze be done in cochineal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or noon in mazarin?”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Whatever the Roman environment may have +done for Allston, Page, and Story, there is no +question but that to Vedder it has been as his +soul’s native air. For him the sirens sing again +on the coast; the sorceress works her spell; the +Cumæan Sibyl again flies, wraithlike, over the +plain, clasping her rejected leaves of destiny +which Tarquin in his blindness has refused to +buy. The Rome that lies buried under the +ages rises for Vedder. His art cannot be catalogued +under any known division of portrait,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +landscape, marine, or genre, but it is simply—the +art of Vedder. It stands alone and absolutely +unrivalled. The pictorial creations of +Vedder are as wholly without precedent or +comparison as if they were the sole pictorial +treasures of the world. The visitor may care +for them, or not care, according to his own +ability to comprehend and to recognize the +inscrutable genius there manifested; but in +either case he will find nowhere else, in either +ancient or contemporary art, any parallel to +these works.</p> + +<p>One could well fancy that to any interrogation +of his conceptions the artist might reply:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I am seeker of the stone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Living gem of Solomon.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But what is land, or what is wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To me, who only jewels crave?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I’m all-knowing, yet unknowing;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stand not, pause not in my going.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the rich, weird realm of Omar Khayyam’s +Persian poem, the Rubaiyat, Mr. Vedder found +the opportunity of his life for translating its +thought into strange, mystic symbolism. Never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +were artist and poet so blended in one as +in Vedder’s wonderful illustrations for this +poem. It has nothing in common with what +we ordinarily call an illustrated work. It is a +great treasure of art for all the ages. It is +a very fount of inspiration for painter and +poet. An exquisite sonnet suggested by “The +Angel of the Darker Cup” is the following by +Louise Chandler Moulton:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 22em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“She bends her lovely head to taste thy draught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O thou stern Angel of the Darker Cup!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With thee to-night in the dim shades to sup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where all they be who from that cup have quaffed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She had been glad in her own loveliness, and laughed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At Life’s strong enemies who lie in wait;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had kept with golden youth her queenly state,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All unafraid of Sorrow’s threat’ning shaft.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Then human Grief found out her human heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And she was fain to go where pain is dumb;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So Thou wert welcome, Angel dread to see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And she fares onward with thee, willingly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To dwell where no man loves, no lovers part,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus Grief that is, makes welcome Death to come.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sonnet, the stanza, and the pictorial +interpretation all form one beautiful trio in +poetic and graphic art.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<p>Writing of Mr. Vedder, Mr. W. C. Brownell +speaks of the personal force in a picture and +says that with Vedder this personal force is imagination,—“the +imagination of a man whose +natural expression is pictorial, but who is a man +as well as a painter; who has lived as well as +painted, who has speculated, pondered, and felt +much. . . . It is this,” he continues, “that +places Vedder in the front rank of the imaginative +painters of the day.” Of Mr. Vedder’s +painting called “The Enemy Sowing Tares,” +Mr. Brownell writes:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“. . . Here you note a dozen phases of significance. +The theme is unconventional; the +man has become the archenemy; the night is +weird and awe-inspiring; the tares represent +the foe of the church—money; they are sown +at the foot of the cross—the symbol of the +church. . . . Mr. Vedder has not passed his +life in Rome for nothing. His attitude is in +harmony with the spirit of the Sistine and the +Stanze.”</p></div> + +<p>One of the interesting and mystical works of +Vedder is “The Soul between Doubt and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +Faith,”—three heads, that of the Soul hooded +and draped, looking before her with eyes that +seem to discern things not seen by mortals; +the sinister face of Doubt at the left, the serene, +inspiring countenance of Faith at the right. It +is a magical picture to have before one with its +profoundly significant message. The works of +Mr. Vedder will grow more priceless as the +years pass by. They are pictures for the ages.</p> + +<p>In Mr. Ezekiel, another American artist +whose almost lifelong home has been in Rome, +is a sculptor whose touch and technique have +won recognition. In a recumbent figure of +Christ is seen one of the best examples of his +art. It is pervaded by the classic influences in +which he has lived. The studios of Mr. Ezekiel, +in the ruins of the old Baths of Caracalla, +are very picturesque and his salon, with its +music, its wealth of books including many rare +and beautiful copies, and its old pictures and +bric-a-brac, is one of the fascinating interiors of +the Eternal City.</p> + +<p>The visitor who is privileged to see the Story +studios in the Via San Martino finds Mr. Waldo +Story occupying these spacious rooms where the +flash of a fountain in the court, a view of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +garden, green-walled by vines, with flowers and +shrubs and broken statues, make the place +alluring to dreamer and poet. In these rooms +may be seen many of the elder Story’s finest +statues in cast or marble, the “Libyan Sibyl,” +“Nemesis,” “Sappho,” the “Christ,” “Into the +Silent Land,” and others, with many portrait +busts, among which are those of Browning, +Shelley, Keats, Theodore Parker, Mrs. Browning, +Marchesa Peruzzi de Medici (Edith Story), +John Lothrop Motley, one of Story’s nearer +friends, and Lord Houghton.</p> + +<p>In the work of Mr. Waldo Story one admirable +portrait bust is of Cecil Rhodes. A decorative +work, a fountain for the Rothschild +country estate in England, is charmingly designed +as a Galatea (in bronze), standing in a +marble shell that is drawn by Nereids and +attended by Cupids. The happy blending of +marble and bronze gives to this work a pleasing +variety of color. Another decorative design +is that of “Nymphs Drinking at the Fountain +of Love.” These studios are among the most +interesting in Rome.</p> + +<p>It was in 1868 that Franklin Simmons, then +a young artist from Maine, turned to Rome as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +his artistic Mecca. Since then the Eternal City +has always been his home, but his frequent and +prolonged sojourns in America have kept him +closely in touch with its national life. Mr. +Simmons is the idealist who translates his +vision into the actuality of the hour and who +also exalts this actuality of the hour to the +universality of the vision. In the creation of +portrait busts and of the statues and monumental +memorials of great men he infuses into +them the indefinable quality of extended relation +which relegates his work to the realm of +the universal and, therefore, to the immortality +of art, rather than restricting it to the temporal +locality. Louis Gorse observes that it is not +the absence of faults that constitutes a masterpiece, +but that it is flame, it is life, it is emotion, +it is sincerity. Under the touch of Mr. Simmons +the personal accent speaks; to his creative +power flame and life respond, and to no sculptor +is the truth so admirably stated by M. +Gorse more applicable.</p> + +<p>Mr. Simmons has been singularly fortunate +in a wide American recognition, having received +a liberal share of the more important commissions +for great public works of sculpture. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +splendid statue, <i>al fresco</i>, of the poet Longfellow +for his native city, Portland, was appropriately +the work of Mr. Simmons as a native of +the same state; the portrait statues of General +Grant, Gov. William King, Roger Williams, and +Francis H. Pierrepont, all in Statuary Hall in +the Capitol in Washington; the portrait busts of +Grant, Sheridan, Porter, Hooker, Thomas, and +other heroes of the Civil War; the colossal +group of the Naval Monument at the head of +Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington,—are all +among the works of Mr. Simmons.</p> + +<p>Like all artists who, like the poet, are +born and not made, Mr. Simmons gave evidence +of his artistic bent in his early childhood. +After graduating from Bates College he modelled +a bust of its president, and a little +later, going to Washington (in the winter of +1865-66), many of the noted men of the time +gave him sittings, and in a series of portrait +busts his genius impressed itself by its dignity +of conception and an unusual power of sympathetic +interpretation. He modelled the bust of +Grant while he was the General’s guest in +camp, taking advantage of whatever spare +minutes General Grant could give for sittings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +in the midst of his pressing responsibilities; and +it is perhaps due to this unusually intimate +intercourse with the great hero, and the <i>rapport</i>, +not difficult of establishment, between two men +whose natures were akin in a certain noble sincerity +and lofty devotion to the purest ideals, +that Mr. Simmons owes the power with which +he has absolutely interpreted the essential characteristics +of General Grant in that immortal +portrait statue in the Capitol.</p> + +<p>Washington is, indeed, the place to especially +study the earlier work of Franklin Simmons. +An important one is the Logan memorial,—an +equestrian statue which is considered the finest +work in sculpture in the capital, and which is +the only statue in the United States in which +both the group and the pedestal are of bronze. +The visitor in Washington who should be ignorant +of the relative rank of the great men commemorated +by the equestrian memorial monuments +of the city might be justified in believing +that General Logan was the most important +man of his time, if he judged from the relative +greatness of his statue. When Congress decided +upon this group, Mr. Simmons was +requested to prepare a model. This proving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +eminently acceptable, Mr. Simmons found himself, +quite to his own surprise, fairly launched +on this arduous work, involving years of intense +concentration and labor. For this monumental +work was to be not merely that of the brave +and gallant military leader,—a single idea +embodied, as in those of Generals Scott, Sheridan, +Thomas, and others,—but it was to be a permanent +interpretation of the soldier-statesman, +mounted on his battle-horse; it was to be, in +the comprehensive grasp of Mr. Simmons, the +vital representation of the complex life and +individuality of General Logan and, even more, +it must reflect and suggest the complex spirit +of his age. In this martial figure was thus embodied +a manifold and mysterious relation, as +one of the potent leaders and directive powers +in an age of tumultuous activities; an age of +strife and carnage, whose goal was peace; of +adverse conditions and reactions, whose manifest +outcome was yet prosperity and national +greatness and splendid moral triumph. All +these must be suggested in the atmosphere, so +to speak, of the artist’s work; and no sculptor +who was not also an American—not merely +by ancestry and activity, but one in mind and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +heart only; one who was an intense patriot and +identified with national ideas—could ever have +produced such a work as that of the Logan +monument. So unrivalled does it stand, unique +among all the equestrian art of this country, +that it enchants the art student and lover with +its indefinable spell. When this colossal work +was cast in bronze, in Rome, the event was +considered important. The king and the +Royal family visited the studio of Mr. Simmons +to see the great group, and so powerfully did +its excellence appeal to King Umberto that he +knighted Mr. Simmons, making him Cavaliere +of the Crown of Italy. Nor was Mr. Simmons +the prophet who was not without honor save in +his own country, for his <i>alma mater</i> gave him +the degree of M.A. in 1867; Colby College +honored him with the Master’s degree in 1885, +and in 1888 Bowdoin bestowed upon this eminent +Maine artist the same degree. In 1892 +Mr. Simmons married the Baroness von Jeinsen, +a brilliant and beautiful woman who, +though a lady of foreign title, was an American +by birth. An accomplished musician, a critical +lover of art, and the most delightful of hostesses +and friends, Mrs. Simmons drew around her a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +remarkable circle of charming people and made +their home in the Palazzo Tamagno a notable +centre of social life. No woman in the American +colony of the Seven-hilled City was ever +more beloved; and it was frequently noted by +guests at her weekly receptions that Mrs. Simmons +was as solicitous for the enjoyment of +the most unknown stranger as for those of +rank and title who frequented her house. Her +grace and loveliness were fully equalled by her +graciousness and that charm of personality +peculiarly her own. Her death in Rome, on +Christmas of 1905, left a vacant place, indeed, +in many a home which had been gladdened by +her radiant presence. One of the most beautiful +works of Mr. Simmons is a portrait of his +wife in bas-relief, representing her standing just +at the opening of parted curtains, as if she +were about to step behind and vanish. It is +a very poetic conception. A bust of Mrs. Simmons, +also, in his studio, is fairly a speaking +likeness of this beautiful and distinguished +woman. It is over her grave in the Protestant +cemetery that Mr. Simmons has placed one of +his noblest ideal statues, “The Angel of the +Resurrection,”—a memorial monument that is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +one of the art features of Rome to the visitor +in the Eternal City.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 232px;"> +<a href="images/griefb.jpg"><img src="images/grief.jpg" width="232" height="400" alt="“GRIEF AND HISTORY,” DETAIL FROM NAVAL MONUMENT, WASHINGTON Franklin Simmons" title="“GRIEF AND HISTORY,” DETAIL FROM NAVAL MONUMENT, WASHINGTON Franklin Simmons" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>“GRIEF AND HISTORY,”<br /> DETAIL FROM NAVAL MONUMENT, WASHINGTON<br /> +Franklin Simmons</small></p> +</div> + +<p>The brilliant and impressive Naval Monument, +or Monument of Peace, as it is known in +Washington, placed at the foot of Capitol Hill +on Pennsylvania Avenue, is eloquent with the +power of heroic suggestion that Mr. Simmons +has imparted to it. The work breathes that +exaltation of final triumph that follows temporary +defeat. Those who died that the nation +might live, are seen in the perpetual illumination +of immortality. Not only has Mr. Simmons +here perpetuated the suffering, the +sacrifices of the Civil War, but that sublime +and eternal truth of victory after defeat, of +peace and serene exaltation after conflict, and +the triumph of life after death, are all immortally +embodied in this group crowned with those +impressive and haunting figures, “Grief” and +“History,” which are considered as among the +most classically beautiful and significant in the +range of modern sculpture.</p> + +<p>In the early winter of 1907 Mr. Simmons +was invited by the American Ambassador to +the Court of St. James, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, +to send for Dorchester House, London, three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +busts of distinguished Americans,—those of +Alexander Hamilton, Chief Justice Chase, and +Hon. James G. Blaine, which Mr. Reid, in visiting +the Roman studios of Mr. Simmons, had seen +and greatly admired. The Ambassador observed +that he “would like a few Americans, as well +as so many Roman Emperors,” about him.</p> + +<p>These portrait busts all reveal an amazing +force and mastery of work. The fine sculptural +effect of the Hamilton and the wonderful +blending of subtle delicacy of touch and vigor +of treatment with which the nobility of character +is expressed, mark this bust as something +exceptional in portrait art. It has a matchless +dignity and serene poise. The bust of Chief +Justice Chase is a faithful and speaking reproduction +of the very presence of its subject, +instinct with vitality; and the fire and force +and brilliancy of the bust of Hon. James G. +Blaine fairly sweeps the visitor off his feet. +The modelling is done with an apparent instantaneousness +of power that is the highest realization +of creative art. It is the magnetic Blaine, +the impassioned and eloquent statesman, that +rises before the gazer.</p> + +<p>Mr. Simmons has long been a commanding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +figure in plastic art. No American sculptor +abroad has, perhaps, received so many important +public commissions as have been given to him. +He has created nearly a score of memorial +groups; he has modelled over one hundred portrait +busts and statues. His industry has kept +step with his genius. The latest success of Mr. +Simmons in the line of monumental art is the +statue (in bronze) of Alexander Hamilton, +which was unveiled at Paterson, N. J., in May +of 1907. The splendidly poised figure, the dignity, +the serene strength and yet the intense +energy of the expression and of the entire pose +are a revelation in the art of the portrait statue.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/geniusb.jpg"><img src="images/genius.jpg" width="400" height="214" alt="“THE GENIUS OF PROGRESS LEADING THE NATIONS” Franklin Simmons" title="“THE GENIUS OF PROGRESS LEADING THE NATIONS” Franklin Simmons" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>“THE GENIUS OF PROGRESS LEADING THE NATIONS”<br /> Franklin Simmons</small></p> +</div> + +<p>It is not, however, true that Mr. Simmons +has ever resigned himself to the necessity of +producing portrait and memorial sculpture exclusively. +In the realm of the purely ideal Mr. +Simmons finds his most felicitous field for creative +work. A bas-relief entitled “The Genius +of Progress Leading the Nations,” with all its +splendid fire and action, the <i>motif</i> being that of +the spirits Life and Light beating down and +driving out the spirits of darkness and evil; +“The Angel of the Resurrection,” with its glad, +triumphant assertion of the power of the immortal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +life; the poetry and sacredness of maternity +as typified in the “Mother of Moses;” the +statues of the “Galatea” and the “Medusa,” +and other ideal creations, indicate “the vision +and the faculty divine” of Mr. Simmons. To a +very great degree his art is that which the +French describe as the grand manner, and to +this is added a spiritual quality, a power of +radiating the intellectual purpose, the profounder +thought and the aspiration of the subject +represented.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 282px;"> +<a href="images/mosesb.jpg"><img src="images/moses.jpg" width="282" height="400" alt="“MOTHER OF MOSES” Franklin Simmons" title="“MOTHER OF MOSES” Franklin Simmons" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>“MOTHER OF MOSES”<br /> Franklin Simmons</small></p> +</div> + +<p>One of the most charming of these ideal +works is a statue of “Penelope,” represented +seated in the chair, her rich robe falling in +graceful folds, and the little Greek fillet binding +her hair. The face bears a meditative expression, +into which has entered a hint of pathos +and wistfulness in the dawning wonder as to +whether, after all, Ulysses will return. The +classic beauty of the pose; the exquisite modelling +of the bust and arms and hands, every +curve and contour so ideally lovely; the distinction +of the figure in its noble and refined patrician +elegance, are combined to render this work +one that well deserves immortality in art, and +to rank as a masterpiece in modern sculpture.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>Another of his ideal figures, “The Promised +Land,” is a work of great spiritual exaltation +and beauty. An Israelite woman has just arrived +at the point when before her vision gleams +the “Promised Land”; the face tells its own +story of all she has passed through,—the trials, +the sadness, the obstacles to be overcome; but +now she sees the fulfilment of her hopes and +dreams. It is a most interesting creation, and +one in which is portrayed the artist’s spiritual +insight and susceptibility to poetic exaltation. +To one visitor to Mr. Simmons’s studio this +statue suggested the following lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fair on her sight it gleams,—the Promised Land!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rose of dawn sifts through the azure air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all her weariness and toil and care<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vanish, as if from her some tender hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lifted the burden, and transformed the hour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To this undreamed-of sense of joy and power!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rapture and the ecstasy divine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are deep realities that only wait<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their hour to dawn, nor ever rise too late<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To draw the soul to its immortal shrine.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Sculptor! thy great gift has shaped this clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To image the profoundest truth, and stand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As witness of the spirit power that may<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Achieve the vision of the Promised Land!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></div></div> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 286px;"> +<a href="images/forgeb.jpg"><img src="images/forge.jpg" width="286" height="400" alt="“VALLEY FORGE” Franklin Simmons" title="“VALLEY FORGE” Franklin Simmons" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>“VALLEY FORGE”<br /> Franklin Simmons</small></p> +</div> + +<p>In a statuette in bronze called “Valley +Forge,” Mr. Simmons has fairly incarnated the +entire spirit of the Revolutionary period in that +mysterious way recognized only in its result; +all that unparalleled epoch of tragic intensity +and sublime triumph lives again in this work. +The fidelity to a lofty ideal which essentially +characterizes Mr. Simmons is as unswerving as +that of Merlin, who followed “The Gleam.”</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 9em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Great the Master<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sweet the Magic<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When over the valley<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In early summers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over the mountain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On human faces,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all around me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Moving to melody,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Floated the Gleam.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This American sculptor who, in his early +youth, sought the artistic atmosphere of Rome +as the environment most stimulating to his +dawning power, who accepted with unfailing +courage the incidental privations of art life in +a foreign land more renowned for beauty than +for comfort, who</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 23em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“. . . never turned his back, but marched breast forward,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Never doubted clouds would break,”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></div></div> + +<p class="noi">has expressed his message in many purely ideal +works,—the message that the true artist must +always give to the world and that leads humanity +to the crowning truth of life, that of the +ceaseless progress of the soul in its immortality.</p> + +<p>For the brief and significant assertion of +the apostle condenses the most profound truth +of life when he says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually +minded is life and peace.”</p></div> + +<p>In these words are imaged the supreme purpose +of all the experiences of the life on earth; +and to the artist whose works bear this lofty +message of the triumph of spirituality, his reward +shall appear, not in the praise of men, +but in the effect on character that his efforts +have aided to exalt; in the train of nobler influences +that his work shall perpetually inspire +and create.</p> + +<p>Mr. Simmons has always found Rome potent +in fascination. One may not want to go to +St. Peter’s every day, but one knows it is there, +and there is some inexplicable satisfaction in +being where it is possible to easily enter this +impressive interior. One may not go near the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +Forum for a month, or even a season, but the +knowledge that one may find it and the wonderful +Palatine Hill any hour of any day is a perpetual +delight. The Vatican galleries, with +their great masterpieces; the Sistine Chapel, the +stately, splendid impressiveness of San Giovanni +Laterano; the wanderings in Villa Borghese, and +the picturesque climbing of the Spanish steps, +even all the inconveniences and deprivations, +become a part of the story of Rome which the +artist absorbs and loves.</p> + +<p>The studios of Mr. Simmons in the Via San +Nicolo da Tolentino are a centre of artistic +resort, and his personal life is one of distinction +amid the picturesque beauty and enchantment +of the Eternal City.</p> + +<p>For many years (until the death of Mrs. +Simmons in 1905) the sculptor and his wife had +their home in the beautiful Palazzo Tamagno +in the Via Agostino Depretis, where one of +those spacious apartments of twenty to thirty +rooms, only to be found in a Roman palace, was +made by them a brilliant centre of social life. +Mrs. Simmons was herself a musical artist, with +impassioned devotion to music; and her rare personal +charm and distinction of presence drew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +around her a most interesting circle. Her receptions +were for many years a noted feature of +Roman society. The social life in Rome is +very brilliant, interesting, and fascinating. The +sight-seeing is a kind of attendant atmosphere,—the +perpetual environment offering, but not +intruding itself. People come to Rome for reasons +quite disconnected with the Golden House +of Nero or the latest archæological discoveries +in the Forum. The present, rather than the +past, calls to them, and the present, too, is +resplendent and alluring.</p> + +<p>Of the foreign painters in Rome, Charles +Walter Stetson, whose work recalls the glory +of the old Italian masters, is especially distinguished +for his genius as a colorist. No visitor +in Rome can afford to miss the studio of one of +the most imaginative of modern artists. A +wonderful picture still in process is a genre +work with several figures, called “Music.” An +idyllic scene of a festa amid the ilex trees—with +the Italian sky and the golden sunshine +pervading a luminous atmosphere, while the joyous +abandon of the dancers appeals to all who +love Italy—is one of the many beautiful pictorial +scenes of Mr. Stetson which enchant the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +eye and haunt the imagination. Another picture +is called “Beggars,”—a name that illy +suggests its splendor. There is the façade of +a church to which a long flight of steps leads +up, a procession of cardinals and friars in their +rich robes, while at one side the groups of +beggars shrink into the darkness. It is an +impressive commentary upon life.</p> + +<p>For a long period, through the early and +middle years of the nineteenth century, Rome +held her place as the world centre of modern +artistic activity. Great works of poetic and +ideal sculpture elevated the general public taste +to a high degree of appreciation. The standards +were not ingeniously adjusted to mere +spectacular methods whose sole appeal was to +the crude fancy of possible patrons. Art held +her absolute and inviolate ideals, and the spirit +of her votaries might well have been interpreted +in Mrs. Browning’s words:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">“I, who love my art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would never wish it lower to suit my stature.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The tone of public appreciation is raised to +a high quality only when the artist refuses to +sell his soul for a mess of pottage. He may,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +to be sure, need the pottage, but the price is +too great. Rather will he find his attitude expressed +in these wonderful lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12">“I can live<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At least my soul’s life without alms from men.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if it be in heaven instead of earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let heaven look to it—I am not afraid.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>All art that has within itself true vitality must +ever be the leader and the creator of the popular +taste; only when it falls into decadence does +it become the servile follower.</p> + +<p>It is a serious question as to the degree in +which the art of to-day keeps faith with the +eternal ideals. The great expositions of the +past quarter of a century, while they have contributed +immeasurably to the popularization of +art and to the familiarization of the public with +the work of individual painters and sculptors, +have yet, in many ways, been a demoralizing +influence in their insidious temptation to produce +pictures or plastic art calculated to arrest +immediate attention, thus putting a premium +on the spectacular, the sensational, on that +which makes the most immediate and direct +appeal to the senses. The work becomes fairly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +a personal document wrought with perhaps an +almost amazing finesse, but utterly failing in +power to inspire joyous sensibility to beauty +or to impart to the gazer that glow of radiant +energy which lofty art invariably communicates +to all who respond to its infinite exaltation.</p> + +<p>All great art is inspired by religious ideals. +Painting and sculpture give to these a presence. +Under their creative power are these ideals +manifested. To embody them in living form +becomes the absolute responsibility of the artist. +In Greece all the fortunate conditions to produce +great art were curiously combined and pre-eminently +supported by the conjunction of events +and by the prevailing sentiment of the time. +The artist drew his inspiration from the most +exalted conception of life embodied in gods +rather than in men. Art, too, was an affair +of the state. It was the supreme interest and +held national importance. The temple was +erected to form an inclosure for the statue, +rather than that the statue was created as an +adornment for the temple. The greatest gifts +were consecrated to the service of art, and under +these stimulating influences it is little wonder +that artistic creation achieved that vital potency<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +which has thrilled all succeeding centuries and +has communicated to them something of the +divine air of that remote period. With the +Renaissance in Italy art culminated in the immortal +work of Raphael and Michael Angelo. +In the Sistine Chapel, where that sublime +grouping of prophets and sibyls speaks of the +very miracle of art in their impassioned fire and +glow; where the figures, the pose, the draperies +are so grandly noble and infused with dignity +and presence,—the very atmosphere is vocal +with the language of the spirit and the expressions +of religious reverence. These marvellous +shapes of grandeur and sublime intimations +carry the soul into a conscious communion with +the divine. In these stupendous works Michael +Angelo has given to all the ages the message of +the highest exaltation of art. In the technique, +in the marvellous dignity of the sentiment, in +the depth of the feeling involved, in the grace +and power of the composition, these works +embody the artistic possibilities of painting.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 300px;"> +<a href="images/pietab.jpg"><img src="images/pieta.jpg" width="300" height="400" alt="“LA PIETA,” ST. PETER’S, ROME Michael Angelo" title="“LA PIETA,” ST. PETER’S, ROME Michael Angelo" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>“LA PIETA,” ST. PETER’S, ROME<br /> Michael Angelo</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Are such works as those of Canova and +Thorwaldsen no longer created?</p> + +<p>Can it be that art is no longer of national +importance? In our own country vast appropriations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +are made for internal improvements +of all kinds, while art that kindles and re-enforces +life is almost ignored. Our government—the +government of the richest country in the +world—appropriated $200,000 for a memorial +monument to General Grant to be placed in +Washington, while Italy—whose resources are so +slender in comparison—appropriates seven million +dollars—thirty-five times the amount—for +her great monument to Victor Emmanuel which +is now being erected in Rome to stand near the +Capitol and the Palace of the Quirinale. Great +art has always been closely associated with +great devotion to religious ideals. The artist +was the servant of the Lord, and it was his +supreme purpose to embody the aspirations of +the age and render his works a full and complete +symbol of those true realities of life which +have their being in the spiritual universe rather +than in the changing temporal world of the outer +universe. The so-called realism of the day is +based on a false interpretation. “The things +that are seen are temporal, while the things that +are not seen are eternal.” True realism is in +spiritual qualities, not in physical attributes. +True realism is found in such works as Canova’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +sublime group, where the figures of Religion +and of Death forever impress all who stand +before this magnificent monument; it is found +in Thorwaldsen’s “Christ;” in Franklin Simmons’s +“Angel of the Resurrection,”—in such +works as those that have a language for the +soul, rather than in a “Saturnalia.”</p> + +<p>Again, another fatal rock on which art must +inevitably make shipwreck is the theory that it +is good to perpetuate ugliness, in either painting +or in sculpture. The permanent reality of +life is beauty. So far as any person or object +departs from this enduring reality, so far it is +the result of distortion and deformity, and these, +being the temporary, the accidental, the deficient, +should not be perpetuated in ideal creation. +It is an Apollo who embodies the permanent +ideal of manhood—not a cripple or a hunchback. +Still further: art should not only refuse +to embody the defective, which is a mere negative; +it should not only give form to the utmost +perfection it beholds in nature or in humanity, +but beyond this the responsibility is upon the +artist to penetrate into loftier realms, to catch +the vision not revealed to mortals. The artist +is, by virtue of his high calling, a co-worker<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +with God. An English wit has declared that +life copies art rather than that art copies life. +In this he expresses a truth rather than a merely +clever epigram. It is the artist’s business to +lead, not to follow. Only as he leads does he +fulfil his divinely appointed destiny. “I maintain +that life is not a form of energy,” writes +Sir Oliver Lodge; “that it is not included in +our present physical categories; that its explanation +is still to be sought. And it appears to me +to belong to a separate order of existence, +which interacts with this material frame of +things, and while here exerts guidance and control +on the energy which already here exists; +for although they alter the quantity of energy +no whit, and though they merely utilize available +energy like any other machine, live things +are able to direct inorganic terrestrial energy +along new and special paths, so as to achieve +results without which such living agency could +not have occurred.” Does it for an instant seem +that a great scientist’s theoretical speculations of +the laws of the universe and of organic life have +no connection with the province of art? On +the contrary. Truly does Balzac exclaim: “Is +not God the whole of science, the all of love,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +the source of poetry?” The artist is he who +enters into the divine realm; who discerns the +divine creations as the true ideals of humanity, +and who interprets to the world the sublime +significance of the divine thought. Shall such +an artist degrade his power by portraying ugliness—the +mere defects of negations and distortions? +Shall he degrade life by calling these +the realities?</p> + +<p>The painter or sculptor who holds that it is +as truly art to represent distortion and repulsiveness +as it is to represent beauty is as false +to his high calling as would be the poet who +should insist that doggerel and mere commonplace +truisms expressed in rhyme are poetry. +Compare, for example, two statues, Cecioni’s +“<i>La Madre</i>,” in which a woman’s utter lack of +personal attraction is so complete as to make +her fairly repulsive to the gazer, and the +“Mother of Moses,” by Franklin Simmons, in +which the mystic beauty, the very ideal of maternity, +is embodied. Which of these statues is +calculated to uplift and to exalt all who come +near? This marvellously beautiful creation of +Mr. Simmons shows a woman of exquisite delicacy +and loveliness sitting, slightly bending forward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +holding her baby to her breast. The +modelling of the draped figure with the bare +arms and neck revealing the tender curves, the +yielding delicacy of the flesh and that inscrutable +light upon the beautiful countenance, whose +expression suggests that she is looking far into +the future of the infant whom she holds in +her arms, are a wonderful portrayal of the +mystery and the sacredness of motherhood. +The one statue degrades maternity; the other +ennobles and exalts. The one embodies a pernicious +and a false ideal; the other embodies +the ideal that must appeal to all that is noble +and divine in human life, and it thus ministers +to moral progress by its contribution to the +elevation of the social tone. For indeed, life +follows art. It is art that exerts this powerful +influence upon life which it may lead to loftier +heights or drag down to the moral abyss. The +artist is not merely the portrayer of existing +types; he is the inspirer of those ideal types +which human life should recognize as its pattern, +its model to be followed and ultimately achieved. +The world needs ideal and poetic art to minister +to the attainment of the true social life and to the +full and complete expression of man himself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + +<p>Do not the visions of Fra Angelico and Botticelli +still inspire the artist of to-day with the +absolute realization of all the deep significance +of the past?</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Is there never a retroscope mirror,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In the realms and corners of space,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That can give us a glimpse of the battle,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And the soldiers face to face?”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Religion and art are inseparably united. In +its true significance religion takes precedence +of all else in that its influence is felt in +every department and in every direction +and expression of man’s activity. It is the +inexhaustible fountain of that lofty energy +which communicates itself to every channel +that carries inspiration to life and to art. +Religion is the influence that redeems the +mere shallow, surface presentation,—the petty +trick to capture popularity, and holds art +true to its real purpose. The glory of the +mediæval art of Italy owed its greatness to +religion. Cimabue and Giotto were directly +inspired by that spring of a diviner life +given to Italy and later to the world of +that “sweet saint,” Francis of Assisi. In an +age of cruelty and terror he brought the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +new message that man is dear to God; that +the soul is ceaselessly joyful; that man, created +in the divine image, is a part of the +divine life, and that only when he lives in +this response and recognition does he truly +live at all. In this restatement of the truth +that Jesus came to proclaim, St. Francis +opened the way for a revival of art, and +opened the gates of that infinite and divine +energy which has immortally recorded itself for +all ages in the “Divina Comedia” of Dante. +The irresistible wave of power which resulted +from that liberating of thought, feeling, and +emotion by the work of St. Francis expressed +itself in the sublimest poem of all the ages, and +in that glorious triumph of art that is still the +treasure and the source of artistic inspiration.</p> + +<p>It is only when the world is lifted out of the +limitations of the material by a period of great +art that humanity is brought into close and +inspiring relation with the living Christ.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Men and women make the world,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>As head and heart make human life.</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Mrs. Browning.</span><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Alas, our memories may retrace</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Each circumstance of time and place;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Season and scene come back again,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And outward things unchanged remain;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The rest we cannot reinstate,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Ourselves we cannot re-create,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Nor set our souls to the same key</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of the remembered harmony.</i><br /></span> +</div> + + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Longfellow.</span></p><br /></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p><i>And as, after the lapse of a thousand years, you stand upon +that hallowed spot, the yellow Tiber flowing sluggishly beneath +you, the ruins of the Eternal City all around you speaking of +fallen greatness, the mighty Basilica of St. Peter rising before +you like some modern tower of Babel that would monopolize the +road to heaven, the eye rests upon the figure of the Archangel +sheathing his glittering sword upon the summit of the Castle of +St. Angelo, and the heart asks, Why should that be a legend? +Why should that be a projection of a morbid and devout imagination? +Why should it not have been the clairvoyance of supernatural +ecstasy opening the world of spirits? It was no unreality +when the angel of God, with his sword drawn in his hand, withstood +the prophet Balaam. It was no morbid imagination when +the angel of God smote with the edge of the sword the first-born +of the land of Egypt. It was no imposture when the shining +hosts of the army of the Almighty smote the Assyrians. It was +no deception when Gabriel, the King’s messenger from the court +of heaven, was sent to comfort Daniel by the river Hiddekel; +or when he announced to the maiden, whom all generations have +called blessed, that she was to be the mother of the Divine Redeemer. . . . +The written Word from first to last is full of the +holy angels. It begins with angels, it ends with angels.</i></p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">The Venerable Archdeacon Wilberforce</span>, +<br /> +Westminster Abbey.<br /></p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II<br /><br /> + +<span class="nob">SOCIAL LIFE IN THE ETERNAL CITY</span></h2> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And others came,—Desires and Adorations,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Winged Persuasions and Veiled Destinies!<br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Shelley.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 11em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In what ethereal dances!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By what eternal streams!<br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Poe.</span><br /> +</p></div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Social</span> life in Rome is no misnomer. From the +most stately and beautiful ceremonials of balls +at the court of the Quirinale, in ducal palaces, +or at the embassies; of dinners whose every +detail suggests stage pictures in their magnificence, +to the simple afternoon tea, where conversation +and music enchant the hours; the +morning call <i>en tête-à-tête</i>, and the morning +stroll, or the late afternoon drive,—a season in +Rome prefigures itself, by the necromancy of +retrospective vision, as a resplendent panorama +of pictorial scenes. There rise before one those +mornings, all gold and azure, of loitering over +the stone parapet on Monte Pincio, gazing down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +on the city in her most alluring mood. The +new bridge that is to connect the Pincio with +the Villa Borghese is a picturesque feature in +its unfinished state; but the vision traverses the +deep ravine and revels in the scene of the +Borghese grounds carpeted with flowers. Its +picturesque slopes under the great trees, with +a view of Michael Angelo’s dome in the near +distance, are the resort of morning strollers, +who find that lovely picture of Charles Walter +Stetson’s—a stretch of landscape under the +ilex trees, the scarlet gowns of the divinity +students giving vivid accents of color here and +there—fairly reproduced in nature before their +vision. One should never be in haste as the +bewildering beauty of the Roman spring weaves +its emerald fantasies on grass and trees, and +touches into magical bloom the scarlet poppies +that flame over all the meadows, and caress +roses and hyacinths and lilies of the valley into +delicate bloom and floating fragrance until the +Eternal City is no more Rome, but Arcady, +instead—one should never be in haste to toss +his penny into the <i>Fontane de Trevi</i>. Yet in +another way it may work for him an immediate +spell that defies all other necromancy. Judiciously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +thrown in, on the very eve of departure, +it is the conjurer that insures his return; but at +any time prior to this it may even weave the +irresistible enchantment that falls upon him and +may prevent his leaving at all. Nor can he +summon up the moral courage to regret even +the missing of all other engagements, and the +failure to keep faith with his plans. For in +the May days Rome falls upon him anew, like +a revelation, and he is ready to confess that he +has never seen her who sees her not in her +springtime loveliness. The Italian winter by no +means lives up to its reputation. It is not the +chill of any one special day that discourages +one from any further effort to continue in this +vale of tears, but the cold that has, apparently, +the chill and dampness and cold of all those +two thousand and two hundred and sixty winters +that have gone before which concentrate +themselves in the atmosphere. One could presumably +endure with some degree of courage, if +not equanimity, the chill in the air of any <i>one</i> +winter; but when all the chill and cold that has +ever existed in more than the two thousand +winters of the past concentrates itself in the +winter, say, of 1906-7, why, patience ceases<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +to be a virtue although one that the sojourner +in Rome is particularly called upon to practise +if he fares forth to visit churches and galleries +in the winter.</p> + +<p>Torrents of rain pour down, rivalling the +cloud-bursts of Arizona. Virgil’s cave of the +winds apparently lets loose its sharpest blasts. +Tramontana and sirocco alternate, and each is +more unendurable than the other.</p> + +<p>The encircling mountains are white with +snow. The streets are a sea of mud, for they +are paved with small stones, and except in the +new Villa Ludovisi quarter and along the Via +Nazionale and a few other of the newer thoroughfares +there are no sidewalks, the foot passengers +(in all old Rome) pressing close to the +wall to avoid the dangerously near proximity +of carts and cabs. This rough pavement makes +all driving hard and walking difficult. The +Roman lady, indeed, does not walk; and the +visitors who cannot forego the joy of daily +promenades enter into the feelings of that +nation which is said to take its pleasures sadly. +But spring works a transformation scene. The +air is filled with the most transparent shining +haze; the sky lacks little of that intense, melting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +blue that characterizes the ineffable beauty of +the skies in Arizona; and ruins and fragments +and strange relics—ghosts of the historic +past—are all enshrined in trailing green and riotous +blossoms. To drive on the terraced roads of +Monte Mario with all Rome and the emerald-green +Campagna before one; through the +romantic “Lovers’ Lane,” walled in by roses +and myrtle; to enjoy the local life, full of gayety +and brilliancy, is to know Rome in her most +gracious aspects. One goes for strolls in the +old Colonna Gardens, where still remain the +ruins of the Temple of the Sun and of the +Baths of Constantine. The terraces offer lovely +views over the city. The old palace is occupied +by the present Prince Colonna, and it is +not unfrequently the scene of most elaborate +and gorgeous receptions where the traditional +Roman splendor is to be found. A series of +arched bridges over the narrow street of the +Via della Pilotta connect the Gardens with the +Colonna Palace in the Piazza San Apostoli. +Very fine old sarcophagi are half buried in +trailing vines on the slope of the hill, dark with +magnificent cypress trees. The Colonna Gardens +are a very dream of the past, in their ruins<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +of old temples, their shattered statues, their +strange old tablets and inscriptions, and their +grand view of the Capitol.</p> + +<p>In one’s retrospective vision of a Roman +season all the inconveniences and discomforts +of the winter disappear, leaving only the beauty +and the enjoyment to be “developed,” as the +photographer would say, on the sensitive plate +of memory.</p> + +<p>No one really knows Rome until he has +watched the transcendent loveliness of spring +investing every nook and corner of the Eternal +City. The picturesque Spanish steps are a very +garden of fragrance, the lower steps of the terraced +flight being taken possession of by the +flower venders who display their wares,—masses +of white lilac, flame-colored roses, rose +and purple hyacinths and baskets of violets and +carnations. Did all this fragrance and beauty +send up its incense to Keats as he lay in the +house adjoining, with the musical plash of Bernini’s +fountain under his window? It is pleasant +to know that by the appreciation of +American and English authors, the movement +effectively directed by Robert Underwood Johnson, +this house consecrated to a poet’s memory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +has been purchased to be a permanent memorial +to Keats and to Shelley. A library of their +works will be arranged in it; and portraits, busts, +and all mementos that can be collected of +these poets will render this memorial one of the +beautiful features of Rome.</p> + +<p>From the flower venders and the circulating +libraries in the Piazza di Spagna that allure one +in the morning, from the fascinating glitter of +the little Via Condotti which is, in its way, the +rue de la Paix of Rome, one leisurely climbs +the steps to where the great obelisk looms up +in front of the Convent Church of the Trinità +di Monti and on, across the Piazza di Trinità, +toward the Pincian, one wanders along the +brow of the hill surmounted by the low stone +parapet. The view is a dream of beauty. Over +the valley lies Monte Mario, crowned with the +Villa Madama, silhouetted against the blue +Roman sky; and the commanding dome of St. +Peter’s, the splendid new white marble buildings +of the Law Courts, the domes of other +churches, all make up a picturesque panorama, +while on the Janiculum the great equestrian +statue of Garibaldi can be descried. Strolling +on, one turns into the gardens of the Villa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +Medici, the French Academy of Art, in which +the present director, the great Carolus Duran, +is domiciled and in which twenty-four students—of +painting, sculpture, music, and architecture—are +maintained at the expense of the +French government for several years, the twenty +four being chosen from those who have given +signal proof of their ability. The Villa Medici +has, perhaps, a more beautiful site than any +other building in Rome. Facing the west, with +the Janiculum and Monte Mario forever before +it, while below lies the Piazza di Spagna and +the Piazza del Popolo, and all the changing +splendors of the sunset sky as a perpetual picture +gallery, the situation is, indeed, magnificent. +It is still conceivable, however, that Monsieur +Carolus Duran must have many quarters +of an hour when he longs for the brilliancy and +the movement and the stimulus of his Paris. +The gardens of the Villa Medici are large, but +they are laid out with narrow paths bordered +with box, forming a wall as impervious as if +of stone, and dark and damp by the shade +of foliage. These walks are paved with gravel, +and are always damp. These formal rectangles +and alleys are utterly shut in, so that in any one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +part one can see only the two dense green walls +of box that inclose him and the glimpse of sky +overhead,—not precisely a cheering promenade. +This is the Italian idea of a garden. Much +broken sculpture, weather-stained and defective, +is placed all along the way, and the +perpetual Roman fountain is always gushing +somewhere.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/medicib.jpg"><img src="images/medici.jpg" width="400" height="293" alt="VILLA MEDICI, ROME" title="VILLA MEDICI, ROME" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>VILLA MEDICI, ROME</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Another phase of the Roman season may rise +before one in the stately beauty of any old historic +palace, where the hostess, all grace and +sweetness, receives her guests in the apartment +in which Galileo had been confined when imprisoned +in Rome. The approach to this <i>piano +nobile</i> was up a flight of easily graded marble +stairs, where in frequent niches stood old +statues. The large windows in the corridor on +the landing were curtained with pale yellow, +thus creating a golden light to fall on the old +sculptured marbles. One salon was decorated +with Flaxman’s drawings on the wall, in their +classical outlines. From a steep, dark stone +stairway, down which one descended (at the +imminent risk of a broken neck in the darkness +and from the irregular stairs rudely carved +in the stone), one emerged on a landing, where a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +little door opened into the balcony of the chapel, +a curious, gloomy place, with tombs and altar +and shrine, and some very poor old paintings. +One’s progress to it recalled the lines from +Poe’s “Ulalume”:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 13em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“By a route, obscure and lonely,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Haunted by ill angels only.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then, sitting in one of the richly decorated +salons at afternoon tea in this same old palace +one day, while an accomplished harpist was +discoursing delicate music from its vibrating +chords, flights of birds kept passing a window, +making a scene like that of a Wagner opera. +The groups present, largely of the Roman +nobility, the titled aristocracy, resembling so +closely some of the old portraits in the palazzo +that it was easy to recognize that they were all +one people, descendants of the same race.</p> + +<p>Many of the guests looked, indeed, as if they +had stepped from out the sumptuously carved +frames on the wall. At these pretty festas one +meets much of the resident Roman world. The +guests assembled seem to be speaking in all the +romance languages. There are Russian and +Spanish as well as Italian, French, German,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +and English at these alluring teas. All the +salons of the spacious apartments are thrown +open, and the men in their picturesque court +dress or military costume, and the women and +girls in dainty gowns, make up an alluring scene. +The salons are richly furnished and abound in +works of art, old pictures, inlaid cabinets, carvings, +rich vases, busts, and statuettes. The +library, with its wealth of books; the music +room; the salon for dancing; the supper room, +and the quiet rooms where groups gather before +the blazing open fires, grateful in these lofty +rooms whose temperature suggests the frozen +circles of Dante,—all make up a delightful +picture. One meets the most varying individualities. +A Russian lady of title may confide +her conviction that her country is ruined, +and that she never desires to return to it. Italy +is the country that attracts not only political +refugees from other European countries, but +many who are out of sympathy with conditions +elsewhere and who find the cosmopolitan society +and the varied interests of this land of sunshine +their most enjoyable environment.</p> + +<p>One pleasant feature of a Roman winter is +that of the usual course of lectures given by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +Professor Lanciani. The celebrated archæologist +is a man of special personal charm, and his +conversation, as well as his public lectures, is +full of interest and value. The lectures are +given under the auspices of the <a name="tn138" id="tn138"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Societa'">Società</ins> Archeologica, +and a special subject recently discussed +was the celebration to be held in 1911 in Rome. +One project for this celebration includes the +plan to lay out a carriage road around the +Forum and the Palatine, and also around +the Baths of Titus and of Caracalla, extending +the drive to all those places included between +the Appian and the Latin Way, the Villa +Celimontana and the Circus Maximus.</p> + +<p>Professor Lanciani discussed the artistic history +of Rome and the different appearances the +city took on in different periods; the regulation +plan drawn up by Julius Cæsar and accepted +and carried out by Augustus, by which one-fifth +of the total area of the city was reserved +for public parks. In the third century of the +empire the city was inclosed by parks and +crossed from end to end by delightful portico +gardens, where valuable works of art were collected. +During the period of the Renaissance +there were the famous villas and the Cesarini<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +Park on the slopes of the Esquiline, and after +regretting the many unnecessary acts of vandalism +committed since 1870 in Rome, Professor +Lanciani suggested that a complete +reconstruction of the Baths of Caracalla should +be made, to serve in 1911 as the Exhibition +Building. He believed no artistic difficulties +would present themselves, as in the fifteenth +century different architects took plaster casts +of the decorations of the statues and of every +detail of the Baths. The archæological exhibition +would be arranged in the two large halls, +another hall would be for concerts, another for +lectures, the others for different congresses to +be held.</p> + +<p>In this way Rome would inaugurate for 1911 +the Mediæval Museum in Castel Sant’Angelo, +the mediæval collections in the Torre degli +Anguillara, and the grand archæological exhibition +in the reconstructed Baths of Caracalla.</p> + +<p>Italian women are by no means behind the +age in their organizations to aid in social progress. +The most important one in Italy is that +of the leading women of the nobility and aristocracy, +called “The Society for Women’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +Work,” which holds annual meetings, over +which Lady Aberdeen, the president of the +International Council, and the Contessa Spalletti, +the president of the National Council of +Italy, preside. Many of the prominent women +of the Italian nobility are taking active part in +the larger outlook for women; and in this movement +Margherita, <i>la Regina Madre</i>, leads the +way, supported by a large following of the +titled nobility.</p> + +<p>“Margherita holds the hearts of the people,” +remarked Cora, Contessa di Brazzá Savorgnan, +at a brilliant little dinner one night, and no +expression could more admirably represent the +feeling of the nation toward the Queen Mother.</p> + +<p>Queen Elena as the reigning sovereign has, +of course, her exclusive royal prerogatives, and +she has youth and initiative and precedence; +but Margherita is a most attractive woman, +with learning and accomplishments galore, and +she has an art of conversation that allures and +fascinates visiting foreigners of learning and +wit, as well as of rank. Roman society is not +large numerically, and the same people are constantly +meeting and consolidating their many +points of contact and interest. Social life in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +these Italian cities is the supreme occupation of +the residents, and one must concede that in +proportion as one meets the same people constantly +does society gain in dramatic interest. +With each person who is in any sense an individual +the play of life begins. It gains in +dramatic sequence as it proceeds. The Eternal +City is a wonderful scenic setting for the human +drama.</p> + +<p>Local gossip suggests perceptible rivalry between +the stately palace of the King and the +pink palace on the hill, in which Margherita +holds her state with not less ceremony than +that observed at the Court of the Quirinale. It +is a beautiful thing for a country to have in it a +woman of high position, of leisure and of culture, +who is so admirably fitted to be the friend +of the people as is Margherita. She is a connoisseur +in art; she has a most intelligent interest +in science; she is a critical lover of literature; +she is a wise and judicious and deeply sympathetic +leader in all philanthropic work and purposes. +One can hardly visit painter or poet or +artist in any line, or school, institute, or association, +but that he hears of the personal +sympathy and encouragement bestowed by this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +noble and beautiful Italian Queen,—the <i>Regina +Madre</i>.</p> + +<p>Practically there are, indeed, two courts in +Rome; that of the Palazzo Margherita seeming +to quite rival that held at the Palazzo Quirinale. +The palace of the Queen Mother is an imposing +three-story structure of pink-hued marble, with +beautiful gardens and terraces, and adjoining +it, in the palace grounds, is a marble villa, +used for the entertainment of royal guests. +This palace has been the residence of Margherita +when in Rome since the tragic death of +King Umberto, in 1900. It is in the Ludovisi +quarter, and stands on the very site of the Gardens +of Sallust. The Queen Mother receives +noted visitors constantly, and entertains visiting +royalties and members of the aristocracy. +No great man of science, literature, and art +visits Rome without seeking a presentation to +the liberal-minded and accomplished <i>Regina +Madre</i>, who is one of the most winning and +attractive of all the royal women of Europe.</p> + +<p>It has become quite a feature in introducing +young girls to present them first in private audience +to Margherita, and then later to Queen +Elena at the Court of the Quirinale. Surely no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +girl could be given a lovelier idea of womanhood +than that embodied in the Dowager Queen. +When the poet Carducci died in the early +months of 1907, Margherita sent beautiful messages +of consolation to his family, and, later, +to his home city of Bologna she sent the following +letter:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I announce that I make a free gift to the +city of Bologna of the house where Giosuè Carducci +passed the last years of his life, and the +library he collected there.</p> + +<p>“Bologna, that showed such affectionate hospitality +for Giosuè Carducci for so many years, +and surrounded him with so much devotion, +will know, I feel sure, how to carefully preserve +this remembrance of the greatest poet of modern +Italy.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Margherita.</span>”<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>The Syndic replied in a letter hardly less fine +in its expression of Bologna’s appreciation, and +with assurances that the name of the first Queen +of Italy will in future be forever associated with +Italy’s greatest modern poet.</p> + +<p>The Regio Palazzo del Quirinale is near the +Capitol, in the older part of the city, and only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +a small part of this is shown to visitors when +the King and Queen are in residence. The +Sala Regia may be seen, the chapel in which +are preserved a large number of the wreaths +and the addresses sent from all parts of the +civilized world on the occasion of the death of +Victor Emmanuel II, and a suite of reception +rooms, the throne room with many historic portraits, +the Sala des Ambassadeurs, and the +audience chamber, containing Thorwaldsen’s +“Triumphal Procession of Alexander the +Great,” a gift from Napoleon I. In the small +chapel of the Annunciation is an altar piece by +Guido Reni.</p> + +<p>To artists the Queen Mother is most generously +kind. One of the younger Italian sculptors, +Turillo Sindoni, Cavaliere of the Crown +of Italy, whose latest creation is a very beautiful +statue of St. Agnes, has his studios in the +Via del Babuino, and to especially favored +visitors he sometimes exhibits a beautiful letter +that he received from Margherita, who purchased +two of his statues. With the letter expressing +her warm appreciation of his art was +an exquisite gift of jewelled sleeve-links.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the fascinating lectures of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +Professor Lanciani and the valuable and interesting +work in the Forum that is being accomplished +under the efficient directorship of +Commendatore Boni, yet all the roads that traditionally +lead to Rome do not converge to the +palace on the Palatine. Modern Rome is only +mildly archæological, and while it takes occasional +recognition of the ancient monuments, +and drives to the crypt of old St. Agnes, to +the tomb of Cecilia Metella, and may manage +a descent into the catacomb of St. Calixtus, it +is far more actively interested in its dancing +and dining and driving. As a scenic background +for festivities Rome is a success, and as +one comes into social touch with the titled +nobility, and the resident life, by birth or adoption, +one finds a city of infinite human interest +and picturesque possibilities.</p> + +<p>Between the “Whites” (the loyal followers of +the Palazzo Quirinale and the King) and the +“Blacks” (the devoted followers of the Palazzo +Vaticano and the Pope) a great gulf is fixed +over which no one may cross.</p> + +<p>Pope Pius X is wonderfully accessible, considering +the great responsibilities and duties he +has on him, and his generous goodness, his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +gracious tact and the beauty of his spirit endear +him to all, Catholic or Protestant alike, for +every one recognizes in him the Christian +gentleman, whose ideals of gentleness and inspiring +helpfulness impress themselves on all +who are so fortunate as to meet him.</p> + +<p>The most impressive ceremonial receptions +of the “Blacks” are those given at the Spanish +Embassy in the Piazza di Spagna. At the Embassy +or in the private palace of any Roman +noble which a Cardinal honors by accepting an +invitation, he is received according to a most +picturesque old Roman custom. At the foot of +the stairs two servants bearing lighted torches +meet his Eminence, and, making a profound +obeisance, escort him to the portals of the grand +reception salon and await, in the corridor, his +return. On his departure they escort him in +the same way down the staircase.</p> + +<p>In the College of Cardinals and among the +many interesting individualities of the Vatican, +the most marked figure is that of the Cardinal +Secretary of State, Merry del Val. He occupies +the Borgia apartments, which are hung +with tapestry and ornamented with the most +unique and valuable articles <i>de vertu</i>,—wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +vases, inlaid cabinets, old tapestries, +paintings, statues, busts, and ivories. These +Borgia apartments are one of the most interesting +features of the Palazzo Vaticano, and +may be seen now and then by special permission +when the Cardinal secretary is out, or when he +may be pleased to retire into his more private +salons in the apartment while the others are +shown. Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val is +an impressive personality, whose life seems +strangely determined by destiny. His father +was an <i>attaché</i> of the Spanish embassy to the +Court of St. James when the future Cardinal +was born in 1865. In 1904, at the early age of +thirty-nine, he was advanced from the soutane +violet of the bishop to the mantelletta scarlet +of the cardinal, and after the accession of the +present Pope, Pius X, he was appointed to the +highest office in the Vatican, that of Secretary +of State, the Pope paying him the high tribute +because of his “devotion to work, his capability +and absolute self-negation.”</p> + +<p>Cardinal Merry del Val has had a wonderful +training of experience and circumstances. At +the early age of twenty-two he was a member +of the papal embassy commissioned to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. He was also +appointed a member of the embassy from the +Vatican to attend the funeral of Emperor William +I; and at the jubilee of Francis Joseph, +Emperor of Austria, Cardinal (then Bishop) +Merry del Val was the sole and accredited representative +of the Holy See, as he was also at +the coronation of King Edward. The Spanish +Cardinal is the special trusted counsellor of the +royal family of Spain.</p> + +<p>In Rome, Cardinal Merry del Val is an impressive +figure. He is always attended by his +<i><a name="tn148" id="tn148"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'gentilinomo'">gentiluomo</ins></i>, who is gorgeously arrayed in knee +breeches, military hat and sword. This gentleman +in waiting walks behind him on a promenade, +sits in his carriage and stands near him +in all religious ceremonies. His equipage is +well known in the Eternal City,—a stately +black carriage drawn by two massive black +horses with luxurious flowing manes.</p> + +<p>It is freely prophesied in Rome that the Cardinal +secretary is destined to yet exchange the +mantelletta scarlet for the zucchetta white, when +Pius X shall have gone the way of all his predecessors +in the papal chair. He is the Cardinal +especially favored by Austria and Spain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +Although the conflict with France was at first +ascribed to Cardinal Merry del Val, he has of +late been completely exonerated from blame, +even by the French prelates and clergy.</p> + +<p>Cardinal Merry del Val represents the most +advanced and progressive thought of the day. +He is an enthusiastic admirer of Marconi and +the marvels of wireless telegraphy; he is an +advocate of telephonic service, electric motors, +electric lights, and of phonographs and typewriters +for the Vatican service. He is a great +linguist, speaking English, French, and German +as well as Spanish, which is his native tongue, +and Italian, which has become second nature. +He is a good Greek scholar and a profound +Latin scholar, and he speaks the ancient Latin +with the fluency and the force of the modern +languages. He is, indeed, a remarkable twentieth-century +personality and one who has +apparently a very interesting life yet to come in +his future.</p> + +<p>At the Villa Pamphilia Doria, built by a +former Prince Doria, the largest villa in the +Roman environs and the finest now remaining, +the Cardinal enjoys his game of golf, of which +he is very fond. The Doria family rendered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +the villa magnificent in every respect. Besides +the spacious avenues, woods, fountains, a lake, +and cascades, are various edifices, among which +is one in the form of a triumphal arch, decorated +with ancient statues; the casino of the villa in +which are preserved some ancient marbles and +several pictures; the beautiful circular chapel, +adorned with eight columns of marble and +other stately ornaments. There is a monument +erected by the present Prince Doria to the +memory of the French soldiers who were killed +there during the siege of 1849. From the +terrace of the palace there is a magnificent +view of the environs of Rome, as far as the sea. +In consequence of excavations, some columbaria, +sepulchres, inscriptions, and other relics +have been found, which have attracted much +attention from archæologists.</p> + +<p>It is near these grounds that the “Arcadians” +still hold their <i>al fresco</i> meetings. The +society dates back to 1690, and the first <i>custos</i> +(whose duty was to open and close the meetings) +was Crescimbeni. The “Arcadians” +organized themselves to protest against the degeneracy +of Italian poetry that marked the +seventeenth century. To keep their meetings a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +secret from the populace the “Arcadians” held +their meetings in an open garden on the slope +below San Pietro in Montorio,—a terrace still +known as “Bosco Parrasio degli Arcadi.”</p> + +<p>One of the enchanting views in Rome is +from the Piazza San Giovanni. One looks far +away past the Coliseum in its ruined grandeur +and the <i>casa</i> where Lucrezia Borgia lived, and +in the near distance is the colossal pile of San +Giovanni di Laterano, its beautiful and impressive +façade crowned with the statues of the +apostles silhouetted against the western sky. In +the piazza formed by the church, the museums, +and the Baptistery of San Giovanni and the +Scala Santa is one of the most remarkable +obelisks in Rome, ninety-nine feet in height, +formed of red granite and carved with hieroglyphics. +This shaft is placed on a pedestal +which makes it in all some 115 feet in height. +It was placed in 1568 by Sixtus V. The +museums of the San Giovanni are the “Museo +Sacro” and the “Museo Profano,”—the latter +founded by Pope Gregory XVI, and very rich +in sculptures and mosaics. The “Museo Sacro” +was founded by Pio Nono, and is rich +in the antiquities of the Christian era. Within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +San Giovanni the visitor finds himself in a vast +interior divided by columns of verd-antique +into three aisles, each of which is as wide as, +and far longer than, the interior of an ordinary +church. Statues fill the niches, and the chapels +and confessionals are all beautifully decorated. +The Corsini Chapel is the richest and was executed +by order of Clement XII, in honor of +St. Andrew Corsini, who is represented in a +rich mosaic painting copied from Guido. Two +sculptured figures, “Innocence” and “Penitence,” +stand before the altar, and above is a +relief depicting St. Andrew protecting the Florentine +army at the battle of Anghiari.</p> + +<p>The tomb of Pope Clement XII (who himself +belonged to the Corsini family and who was an +uncle of Cardinal Corsini) is in a niche between +two columns of porphyry, and there is a bronze +statue of the Pope. On the opposite side is a +statue of Cardinal Corsini, and in the crypt +below are tombs of the Corsini family. On the +altar—always lighted—is a “Pieta” by Bernini, +of which the face of the Christ is very +beautiful.</p> + +<p>Near the centre of the Basilica is a rich tabernacle +of precious stones, defined by four col<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>umns +of <i>verde antico</i>, and it is said that the +heads of St. Peter and St. Paul are preserved +here. The table upon which Christ +celebrated the Last Supper is placed here, +above the altar of the Holy Sacrament, a +sacred relic that thrills the visitors. In one +chapel is a curious and grotesque group of +sculpture,—a skeleton holding up a medallion +portrait, while an angel with outstretched +wings hovers over it.</p> + +<p>San Giovanni has the reputation of being +absolutely the coldest church in all Rome, +which—it is needless to remark—means a +great deal, for they all in winter have the temperature +of the arctic regions. In all these +great churches there is never any heat; no +apparatus for heating has ever been introduced, +and the twentieth century finds them just as +cold as they were in the centuries of a thousand +years ago. This colossal Basilica is +considered the most important church in the +world, as it is the cathedral of the Pontiff. It +was founded in the third century by Constantine, +destroyed by fire in 1308, and rebuilt by +Pope Clement V, and every succeeding Pope +has added to it. The façade is of travertine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +with four gigantic columns and six pilasters, +and the cornice is decorated with colossal figures +of Jesus and a number of the saints. There are +five balconies, the middle one being always used +for papal benedictions. In the portico is the +colossal statue of Constantine the Great. +Within the columns are of <i>verde antico</i>; the +ceiling was designed by Michael Angelo; the +interior is very rich in sculpture, and there are +some fine paintings and the chapels are most +beautiful, one of them containing a tabernacle +comprised wholly of precious stones. Above +the altar of the Holy Sacrament the table upon +which Christ celebrated the Last Supper with +the disciples is preserved. It is wonderful to +look upon this most sacred and significant +relic.</p> + +<p>It is in this church that the tomb of Leo +XIII has been constructed by the eminent +Italian sculptor, Tadolini, opposite the tomb of +Innocent III. The work was completed in the +spring of 1907, the design being a life-size portrait +statue of the Pope with two figures, one on +either side, representing the church and the +workman-pilgrim, forming part of the group. +This is one of the most memorable monu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>ments +of all Rome, and the tomb of the great +Leo XIII will form a new shrine for Christian +pilgrimage.</p> + +<p>Included in the group of structures that form +the great Basilica of San Giovanni is the Scala +Santa, which offers a strange picture whenever +one approaches it. These twenty-eight marble +steps that belonged to Pilate’s house in Jerusalem +are said to have been once trodden by +Jesus and may be ascended only on one’s knees. +At no hour of the day can one visit the Scala +Santa without finding the most motley and +incongruous throng thus ascending, pausing on +each step for meditation and prayer. These +stairs were transported from Jerusalem to +Rome under the auspices of St. Helena, the +Empress, about 326 A.D., and in 1589 they were +placed by Pope Sixtus V in this portico built +for them with a chapel at the top of the stairs +called the “Sancta Sanctorum,” formerly the +private chapel of the Popes. In this sanctuary +is preserved a wonderful portrait of the Saviour, +painted on wood, which is said to have been +partly the work of St. Luke but finished by +unseen hands. The legend runs that St. Luke +prepared to undertake the work by three days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>’ +fasting and prayer, and that, having drawn it +in outline, the painting was done by angelic +ministry, the colors being filled in by invisible +hands. In ancient times—the custom being +abolished by Pius V in 1566—this picture was +borne through Rome on the Feast of the Assumption +and the bearer halted with it in the +Forum, when the “Kyrie Eleison” would be +chanted by hundreds of voices.</p> + +<p>Myth and legend invest every turn and footfall +of the Eternal City, and there are few that +are not founded on what the church has always +called supernatural manifestations, but which +the new age is learning to recognize as occurrences +under natural law.</p> + +<p>The story of Luther’s ascent of the Scala +Santa is thus told:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Brother Martin Luther went to accomplish +the ascent of the Scala Santa—the Holy Staircase—which +once, they say, formed part of +Pilate’s house. He slowly mounted step after +step of the hard stone, worn into hollows by +the knees of penitents and pilgrims. Patiently +he crept halfway up the staircase, when he +suddenly stood erect, lifted his face heavenward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +and in another moment turned and walked +slowly down again.</p> + +<p>“He said that as he was toiling up a voice as +if from heaven spoke to him and said, ‘The +just shall live by faith.’ He awoke as if from +a nightmare, restored to himself. He dared not +creep up another step; but rising from his knees +he stood upright like a man suddenly loosed +from bonds and fetters, and with the firm step +of a free man he descended the staircase and +walked from the place.”</p></div> + +<p>The entire legendary as well as sacred history +is almost made up of instances of the interpenetration +of the two worlds; the response of +those in the spiritual world to the needs of those +in the natural world. Pope Paschal recorded +that he fell asleep in his chair at St. Peter’s +(somewhere about 8.20 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>) with a prayer on +his lips that he might find the burial place of +St. Cecilia, and in his dream she appeared to +him and showed him the spot where her body +lay, in the catacombs of Calixtus. The next +day he went to the spot and found all as had +been revealed to him. The miraculous preservation +of St. Agnes is familiar to all students of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +legendary art. Throughout all Rome, shrine +and niche and sculpture, picture, monument, +arch and column, speak perpetually of some +interposition of unseen forces with events and +circumstances in this part of life. The Eternal +City in its rich and poetic symbolism is one +great object lesson of the interblending of the +two worlds, the natural and the spiritual. +The first stage regarding all this marvellous +panorama was entire and unquestioning acceptance; +the succeeding stage was doubt, disbelief; +the third, into which we are now entering, +is that of an enlightened understanding and a +growing knowledge and grasp of the laws under +which these special interpositions and interventions +occur.</p> + +<p>For that “according to thy faith be it unto +thee,” is as true now in the twentieth century +as it was in the first. The one central truth +that is the very foundation of all religious +philosophy is the continuity of life and the persistence +of intercourse and communion, spirit +to spirit, across the gulf we call death. The +evidences of this truth have been always in the +world. The earliest records of the Bible are +replete with them. The gospels of the New<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +Testament record an unbroken succession of +occurrences and of testimony to this interpenetration +of life in the Unseen with that in the +Seen. Secular history is full of its narrations +of instances of clairvoyance, clairaudience, and +of communications in a variety of ways; and the +sacred and legendary art of Rome, largely +founded on story and myth and legend, when +seen in the light of latter-day science is judged +anew, and the literal truth of much that has +before been considered purely legendary is revealed +and realized. One reads new meanings +into Rome when testing it by this consciousness. +It is a city of spiritual symbolism. It is a great +object lesson extending over all the centuries. +Making due allowance for the distortion and +exaggeration of ages of testimony, there yet +remains a residuum indisputable. The Past +and the Present both teem with record and +incident and experience proving that life is +twofold, even now and here; that all the motives +and acts of the life which we see are variously +incited, modified, strengthened, or annulled by +those in the realm of the Unseen.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/doriab.jpg"><img src="images/doria.jpg" width="400" height="294" alt="ENTRANCE TO VILLA PAMPHILIA-DORIA, ROME" title="ENTRANCE TO VILLA PAMPHILIA-DORIA, ROME" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>ENTRANCE TO VILLA PAMPHILIA-DORIA, ROME</small></p> +</div> + +<p>The intelligent recognition of this truth +changes the entire conduct of life. It entirely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +alters the point of view. It extends the horizon +line infinitely. Instead of conceiving of life as +a whole, as comprised between the cradle and +the grave, it will be regarded in its larger and +truer scope as a series of experiences and +achievements, infinite in length and in their possibilities +and unbroken by the change we call +death. This will impart to humanity a new +motor spring in that greater hope which puts +man in a working mood, which makes him believe +in the value of that which he undertakes, +which encourages him to press on amid all +difficulties and against all obstacles. Increasing +hope, all activity is proportionately increased. +It was an event of incalculable importance to +the progress of humanity when the swift communication +by cable was established between +America and Europe. It is one of infinitely +greater importance to establish the truth and +enlarge the possibility of direct communication +with the world of higher forces and larger attainment +and scope than our own. This communication +exists and has always existed, but +it has been regarded as myth and legend and +phenomenon rather than as a fact of nature +whose laws were to be ascertained and understood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +It must be made clear as an absolute +scientific demonstration that the change of form +by the process we call death does not put an +end to intelligent and rational intercourse, but +that, indeed, instead of setting up a barrier, it +removes barriers and renders mutual comprehension +far clearer and more direct than before. +This realization alters the entire perspective of +life, and is the new Glad Tidings of great joy.</p> + +<p>It is something of all this that the Eternal +City suggests to one as he makes his pilgrimages +to shrine and cloister and chapel and Basilica. +The mighty Past is eloquent with a thousand +voices, and they blend into a choral harmony +of promise and prophecy for the nobler future +of humanity.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the Scala Santa, on either +side, are statues of Christ and Judas, and of +Christ and Pilate, very interesting groups by +<a name="tn161" id="tn161"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Jacomletti'">Jacometti</ins>, and there is also a kneeling statue +of Pio Nono.</p> + +<p>The statue of Judas is considered one of the +most notable of the late modern Italian sculpture.</p> + +<p>The Rome of to-day is in strange contrast +even to the city that Page and Hawthorne<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +knew, in the comparatively recent past; and +the Rome of the ancients is traced only in the +churches and the ruins. It is a <i>mot</i> that one +hears every language spoken in Rome, except +the Italian! So largely has the Seven-hilled +City become the pleasure ground of foreign +residents. The contrast between the ordinary +breakfast-table talk in Rome and in—Boston, +for instance, or Washington, is amusing. In +the Puritan capital it usually includes the topic +of weather predictions and the news in the +morning paper, with whatever other of local or +personal matters of interest. In Washington, +where the very actors and the events that make +the nation’s history are fairly before one’s +eyes, the breakfast-table conversation is apt to +turn on matters that have not yet got into the +papers,—the evening session of the previous +night, perhaps, when too long prolonged under +the vast dome to admit of its having been noted +in the morning press. But in Rome the breakfast-table +talk is apt to be of the new excavations +just taken from the bed of the Tiber; +the question as to whether the head of St. Paul +could have touched (at the tragic scene of his +execution) at three places so far apart as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +tri-fontanes; or a discussion of the marvellous +freshness of the mosaics in the interior of the +Palace of the Cæsars; or, again, of the last +night’s balls or dinners, and matters most +frankly <i>mondaine</i>, and of contemporary life.</p> + +<p>The American Embassy, whose location depends +on the individual choice of the Ambassador +of the time, is now in the old Palazzo +del Drago on the corner of the Via Venti Settembre +and the Via <a name="tn163a" id="tn163a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'dell'">delle</ins> Quattro Fontane. The +street floor, like all the old palaces, is not used +for living purposes. The <a name="tn163b" id="tn163b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'portere'">portiere</ins>, the guards, +the corridors, and approaches to the staircases +monopolize this space. The piano nobile is +the residence of the beautiful and lovely Principessa +d’Antuni, the youthful widow of the +Principe who was himself a grandson of Marie +Christine, the Queen of Spain. The young +Princess who was married to him at the age of +seventeen, ten years ago, is left with three little +children, of whom the only daughter bears the +name of her great-grandmother, the Spanish +Queen. Perfectly at home in all the romance +languages, an accomplished musician, a thinker, +a scholar, a student, a lovely figure in life, a +beautiful and sympathetic friend is the Princess<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +d’Antuni. She is “of a simplicity,” as they +say in Italy, investing the dignity of her rank +with indescribable grace and sweetness. The +two long flights of stairs that lead up to the +secundo piano in the Palazzo del Drago—the +floor occupied by the American Embassy—have +at least a hundred steps to each staircase, +yet so broad and easy of ascent as hardly to +fatigue one. These flights are carpeted in +glowing red, while along the wall are niches in +each of which stands an old statue, making the +ascent of the guest seem a classic progress.</p> + +<p>The Palazzo del Drago has an elevator, but +elevator service in Rome is a thing apart, +something considered quite too good for human +nature’s daily food, and the slight power is +far too little to permit any number of people +to be accommodated, so on any ceremonial +occasion the elevator is closed and the guests +walk up the two long flights. The total lack +of any mastery of mechanical conditions in +Italy is very curious.</p> + +<p>The grand ball given at the American Embassy +just before Ash Wednesday in the winter +of 1907 was a very pretty affair. Up the rose-red +carpeted stairs the guests walked, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +statues looking silently on, but apparently there +was no Galatea to step down from her niche +and join the happy throng. In the antechamber +each guest was asked to write his name in the +large autograph books kept for that purpose, +and then, passing on, was received by the +Ambassador and Ambassadress in the first of +the splendid series of salons thrown open for +the occasion. At this time it was Mr. and +Mrs. Henry White who represented the United +States, and won the hearts of all Rome as well, +and assisted by their charming daughter, Miss +Muriel White, they made this ball an affair to +leave its lovely pictures in memory. The scenic +setting of an old Roman palace captivates the +stranger. It may not impress him as especially +comfortable, but it is certainly picturesque, and +who would not prefer—at least for the “one +night only” of the traditional <i>prima donna</i> +announcements—the pictorially picturesque +and magnificent to the merely comfortable? +The lofty ceilings, painted by artists who have +long since vanished from mortal sight, make +it impossible to attain the temperature that the +American regards as essential to his terrestrial +well-being, and as the only sources of heat were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +the open fireplaces the guests hovered around +these and their radii of comfortable warmth +were limited. In one salon there was one +especially beautiful effect of a great jar of white +lilacs placed before a vast mirror at sufficient +distance to give the mirror reflection an individuality +as a thing apart, and the effect was that +of a very garden of paradise. The music was +fascinating, the decorations all in good taste, +and the occasion was most brilliant,—<i>très +charmante</i> indeed. The American ambassadress +was ablaze with her famous diamonds, +her corsage being literally covered with them, +and her coiffure adorned with a coronet, but the +temperature soon forced the ambassadress to +partially eclipse her splendor with the little ermine +shoulder cape that is an indispensable article +for evening dress in Rome. The temperature +does not admit the possibility of <i>décolleté</i> gowns +without some protection, when these resplendent +glittering robes that seem woven of the stars +are worn. Among the more distinguished +guests, aside from the <i>corps diplomatique</i> and +the titled nobility of Rome and visiting foreigners, +were M. Carolus Duran, the celebrated +portrait artist of Paris, and among other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +interesting people were Miss Elise Emmons of +Leamington, England, a grand-niece of Charlotte +Cushman. M. Carolus Duran was very magnificent, +his breast covered with jewelled orders +and decorations from the various societies, +academies, and governments that have honored +him. He is a short man and has grown quite +stout, but he carries himself with inimitable +grace and dignity, and in his luminous eyes one +still surprises that far-away look which Sargent +so wonderfully caught in his portrait of the +great French artist, painted in his earlier life.</p> + +<p>The number of spacious salons with their +easy-chairs and sofas enabled all guests who +desired to ensconce themselves luxuriously to +do so, and watch the glittering scene. The +supper room and the salon for dancing were +not more alluring than the salons wherein one +could study this brilliant throng of diplomates, +titled nobility, distinguished artists, social celebrities, +and those who were, in various ways, +each <i>persona grata</i> in Rome. Among those at +this particular festivity were the American novelist, +Frank Hamilton Spearman, with Mrs. Spearman. +In late American fiction Mr. Spearman +has made for himself a distinctive place as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +novelist whose artistic eye has discerned the +romance in the new phases of life created by +the extensive systems of mountain railroading, +and the great irrigation schemes of the far West, +which have not only opened up new territory, +but have called into evidence new combinations +of the qualities most potent in human life,—love, +sacrifice, heroism, devotion to duty, and +tragedy and comedy as well. In his novels, +“The Daughter of a Magnate” and “Whispering +Smith,” in such vivid and delightful short +stories as “The Ghost at Point of Rocks,” +which appeared in <i>Scribner’s Magazine</i> for +August of 1907, Mr. Spearman has dramatized +the pathos, the wit, the vast and marvellous +spirit of enterprise, the desolation of isolated +regions, the all-pervading potency and one may +almost say intimacy of modern life made possible +by the Arabian Nights’ dream of wireless +telegraphy, “soaring” cars, long-distance telephoning, +and lightning express train service +in cars that climb the mountains beyond the +clouds, or dash through tunnels with ten thousand +feet of mountains above them. Mr. Spearman +is the novelist <i>par excellence</i> of this intense +<i>vie modernité</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>On Washington’s Birthday, again, the stately +salons of the American Embassy in the old +Palazzo del Drago were well filled from four to +six with an assemblage which expressed its +patriotism and devotion to Washington by appearing +in its most faultless raiment and in an +apparent appreciation of the refreshment tables, +from which cake and ices, tea and various other +delicacies, were served.</p> + +<p>The informal weekly receptions at the Embassy +are always delightful, and the dinners +and ceremonial entertainments are given with +that faultless grace which characterizes the +American ambassadress.</p> + +<p>The American consulate is always a charming +centre in Rome, and in the present residence +of Consul-General and Mrs. De Castro, who +have domiciled themselves on a lofty floor of a +palace in the Via Venti Settembre, commanding +beautiful views that make a picture of every +window, the consulate is one of the favorite +social centres for Americans and other nationalities +as well, who enjoy the charming welcome +of Mrs. De Castro.</p> + +<p>Professor and Mrs. Jesse Benedict Carter, in +their lovely home in the Via Gregoriana, add<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +another to the pleasant American centres in the +Eternal City, Professor Carter having succeeded +Professor Norton as the principal of the American +Classical School.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Elihu Vedder, assisted by her accomplished +daughter, Miss Anita Vedder, has a +pretty fashion of receiving weekly in Mr. +Vedder’s studio in the Via Flaminia, and these +Saturday receptions at the Vedders’ are a feature +of social life in Rome which are greatly +sought. The distinguished artist reserves these +afternoons for leisurely conversation, and pictures +and sketches are enjoyed the more that +they may be enjoyed in the presence of their +creator. Miss Vedder has called to life again +the almost lost art of tapestry, and her productions +of wonderful beauty are considered as +among the most desirable in modern decorative +art. Among these tapestries are “The +Lover’s Song,” “Salome Dancing before +Herod,” “The Annunciation,” “The Legend of +the Unicorn,” “The Lovers’ Picnic,” and “The +Lovers.” The tapestries were painted in Rome +and in the Vedder villa, <i>Torre <a name="tn170" id="tn170"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Quatro'">Quattro</ins> Venti</i> +on Capri, where the artist and his wife and +daughter pass their summers. The established<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +English Church has two chapels in Rome, one +the Holy Trinity, of which Rev. Dr. Baldwin +is the rector, and the other English chapel in +Via del Babuino has for its chaplain Rev. Dr. +Nutcombe Oxenham, whose ministry is one of +the most helpful factors in Rome. Dr. and +Mrs. Oxenham occupy a charming apartment +in the Piazza del Popolo, the most picturesque +piazza in Rome, with the terraced Pincion hillside +crowned by the Villa di Medici on one +side, and the “twin churches” on another; and +the beautiful salon of Mrs. Oxenham, with its +wealth of books and classic engravings and gems +of pictures, is one of the homelike interiors in +Rome. Mr. and Mrs. Oxenham receive on +Wednesdays, and an hour with them and their +guests is always a privileged one.</p> + +<p>The work of this church, largely through the +active co-operation of Mrs. Oxenham, extends +into wide charities which are without discrimination +as to sect or race,—the only consideration +being the human need to be met in the +name of Him whose care and love are for each +and all.</p> + +<p>Among the delightful hostesses of Rome is +the American wife of <a name="tn171" id="tn171"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Caviliere'">Cavaliere</ins> Cortesi, an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +Italian man of letters, and in their apartment, +in one of the notable palaces in the Corso, some +of the most brilliant musicals and receptions +are given, the “All’Illustrissima Signora” being +assisted in the informal serving of tea by the +two little fairy daughters, Annunziata and +Elizabetta, whose childish loveliness lingers +with the <i>habitués</i> of this pleasant home.</p> + +<p>In the Palazzo Senni, in the old part of Rome, +looking out on Castel San Angelo and the +Ponte d’Angelo, across to the dome of St. +Peter’s, the Listers had their home; and though +Mrs. Lister, one of the most distinguished +English ladies of Rome, has gone on into the +fairer world beyond, her daughter, Miss Roma +Lister, sustains the charming hospitalities for +which her mother was famous. Her salons on +the piano nobile of the palace are rich in souvenirs +and rare objects of art. Mrs. Lister, +who was of a noted English house, was evidently +a favorite with Queen Victoria and the royal +family; and her marriage gifts included two +drawings by the Queen, both autographed, and +a crayon portrait of the Empress Frederick +with autographic inscription to Mrs. Lister. +Another personal gift was a portrait of Cardinal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +Newman, with his autograph. A bust of Lady +Paget of Florence, the widow of Sir Augustus +Paget, formerly the English Ambassador to +Italy, is another of the interesting treasures +which include, indeed, gifts and offerings from +a large number of those eminent in state, in +art, in literature, or in the church. The gracious +hospitality of Miss Lister is dispensed to groups +of cosmopolitan guests, and her dinners and +other entertainments are among the most brilliant +in Rome.</p> + +<p>The Eternal City is not as hospitable to +various phases of modern thought as is Florence, +in which Theosophy, Christian Science, and +psychic investigation flourish with rapidly increasing +ardor; but Rome has a Theosophical +Society, among whose leaders is the Baroness +Rosenkrans, the mother of the distinguished +young Danish novelist, and the aunt of Miss +Roma Lister. The society has its rooms in the +very heart of old Rome, and holds weekly meetings, +often with an English lecturer as the speaker +of the hour. A Theosophical library, in both +English and Italian, is easily accessible, and the +meetings are conducted in either language as +it chances at the time. The accession of Annie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +Besant to the presidency of the Theosophical +Society, succeeding Colonel Olcott, whose death +occurred early in 1907, was most satisfactory +to the Roman members. Mrs. Besant is one +of the most remarkable women of the day. She +is in no sense allied with any fads or freaks; +she is essentially a woman of scholarship and +poise, of genuine grasp of significant thought +and of brilliant eloquence. Theosophy, rightly +interpreted, is in no sense antagonistic, but, +rather, supplemental to Christianity. It offers +the intellectual explanation—the details, so +to speak—of the great spiritual truths of the +Bible.</p> + +<p>Rome seems fairly on its way to become an +English-speaking city, so numerous are the +Americans and English who throng to Rome +in the winter.</p> + +<p>There are now at least a dozen large new +hotels on the scale of the best modern hotels in +New York and Paris, beside the multitude of +the older ones which are comfortable and retain +all their popularity; yet this increase in accommodation +does not equal the increase in demand. +In February the tide of travel sets in toward +Rome, and from that date until after Easter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +every nook and niche are filled to overflowing. +The demand for apartments in Rome is +greater than the supply, although the city is +being constantly extended and new buildings +are rapidly being erected. It would seem as if, +with the present increasingly large number of +Americans and English, it might be an admirable +financial enterprise for capitalists to come and +build comfortable modern apartment hotels. +There seems to be no adequate reason why, in +this age, people should be compelled to live in +these gloomy, dreary, cold, old stone palaces, +without elevator service and with no adequate +heating, lighting, and running-water facilities. +There would seem to be no conceivable reason +why these conveniences should not be at hand +in Rome as well as in New York. As for the +climate, with warm houses to live in, it would +be charmingly comfortable, for the deadly cold +is not in the temperature out of doors, but only +in the interiors. One is warm in the sunshine +in the streets, when he is fairly frozen in the +house. Mentioning this, however, with wonder +that some enterprising American did not begin +such building operations, a friend who has lived +for sixteen years in Rome replied that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +Italians would never permit it; that no foreigner +is allowed to come in here and initiate business +operations. And the Italians continue building +after the old and clumsy fashion of five hundred +years ago.</p> + +<p>Italy has a curiously pervasive and general +suspicion of any latter-day comfort. The new +apartment houses of from four to seven stories +are largely without any elevator; if there is one +it usually only ascends about halfway, and it is +so clumsy and slow in its methods, so poorly +supported by power, that half the time it does +not run at all. The streets of Rome are paved +with rough stones; the sidewalks are very narrow; +the lighting is inadequate. Bathrooms are +rare and insufficient in number, and all interior +lighting and heating arrangements lack much +that is desirable according to American ideas +of comfort.</p> + +<p>Still the Eternal City is so impressive in and +of itself that sunshine or storm, comfort or the +reverse, can hardly affect one’s intensity of joy +and wonder and mysterious, unanalyzable rapture +in it. The twentieth-century Rome is a +very different affair from the Rome on which +Hawthorne entered one dark, cold, stormy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +winter night more than half a century ago. In +the best modern hotels one may be as comfortable +as he likes, with all the fascinations of +life added besides. No wonder that Rome is +one of the great winter centres, with some of the +most interesting people in the world always to +be found under the spell of its enchantment.</p> + +<p>The Rome of to-day is a curious mixture of +ruins and of modern buildings which are neither +modern nor mediæval in their structure, but +many of which combine the most picturesque +features of the latter with the latest beauty of +French and American architectural art. The +classic buildings are now largely in unpleasant +surroundings; as, for instance, the Pantheon, +which is surrounded by a fish market, with unspeakable +odors and other repulsive features. +“But the portico, with its sixteen Corinthian +columns, is forever majestic; the interior, a vast +circular cell surmounted by a dome through +which alone it is lighted, there being no windows +in the walls, is massive and grim, but the +magical illumination, the eye constantly revealing +the sky above, gives it wonderful beauty. +Over the outer portals is the inscription of its +erection by Agrippa twenty-seven years before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +Christ, so it has stood for nearly two thousand +years. Colossal statues of Augustus and Agrippa +fill niches. In diameter the interior of the +Pantheon is one hundred and thirty-two feet, +and it is the same in height, which insures the +singularly harmonious proportions. The tribune +of the High-Altar is cut in the thickness of the +wall in the form of a semicircle, and is ornamented, +like the door, with four pilasters and +two columns of violet marble. The six chapels +are also cut in the wall and ornamented by two +columns and two pilasters. The columns and +the pilasters support the beautiful cornice of +white marble; the frieze is of porphyry, and +goes round the whole temple. Above this order +there is a species of attic with fourteen niches, +and the great cornice from which rises the +majestic dome. Eight other niches are between +the chapels, and these are also with a pediment +supported by two Corinthian columns. They +are now converted into altars. In this temple +are buried several artists, among whom are +Raphael, Giovanni da Udine, Baldassare +Peruzzi, and Annibale <a name="tn178" id="tn178"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Caracci'">Carracci</ins>. Raphael is +buried beneath the base of the statue called +la Madonna del Sasso, sculptured by Lorenzetti.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +This church is, however, without paintings or +sculptures of much interest. Victor Emmanuel +was entombed here on the 20th of January, +1878, and King Umberto on the 9th of August, +1900.” One of the imposing ceremonies of +Rome is that always celebrated in the Pantheon +on March 14, in memory of King Umberto +Primo.</p> + +<p>A grand catafalque, surmounted by the royal +crown, and surrounded by tall candelabra with +wax candles, is erected in the centre of the +temple, draped with black velvet and gold lace, +and lighted with electric lamps. The mass is +for a chorus of voices only. All the civil and +military authorities, the state dignitaries, and +the <i>corps diplomatique</i> to the court of Italy are +present. The troops, in full dress uniform, file +in the Piazza of the Collegio Romano, Via Piè +di Marmo, and the Piazza della Minerva, enclosing +thus a large square in the Piazza del +Pantheon. The spectacle is one of the most +imposing of all Roman ceremonies.</p> + +<p>The King, and Queen Elena, and the Dowager +Queen Margherita, accompanied by their respective +civil and military households, assist at +the requiem mass celebrated in the Pantheon,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +and at a commemoration service, on the same +day, in the Royal Chapel of the Sudario, where +also assemble the ladies and gentlemen of the +Order of the Annunziata.</p> + +<p>On the same morning the feast of St. Gregory, +Pope and Doctor of the church, is celebrated +at his church on the Cælian Hill. He was born +of a noble family, and was Prefect of Rome in +573. Pope Pelagius II made him regionary +deacon of Rome, and sent him as legate to +Constantinople in 578, where he remained till +the death of Pelagius, when he was elected +Pope (590). He introduced the Gregorian chant. +His first great act was to send St. Augustine to +convert the Saxons of England to the Christian +faith. An inscription in the Church of San +Gregorio Magno states that St. Augustine was +educated in the abbey which was erected on the +site of the present church by Gregory, and that +many early archbishops of York and Canterbury +were also educated there. It was on the +steps of this church that Augustine and his +forty monks took leave of Gregory, when setting +out for England. He died in 604, after a pontificate +of thirteen years and six months. He was +buried in the portico of the Vatican Basilica,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +and his body lies under the altar dedicated to +him in this same church. His church, on the +Cælian Hill, was built on the site of the monastery +founded by him. In the chapel of the +triclinium, near the church, the table on which +he served the poor is shown. Near the church +also is seen his cell, where his marble chair and +one of his arms are exhibited.</p> + +<p>During the Lenten season of 1907 one of the +privileges of Rome was to hear the sermons of +Monsignor Vaughn, in the English Catholic +Church of San Silvestre. Monsignor Vaughn +is the private chaplain of the Pope. His discourses +attracted increasing throngs of both +Catholic and Protestant hearers. This celebrated +prelate is a brother of the late English +Cardinal. He is a man of great distinction of +presence, of beautiful voice and fascination of +manner. One discourse had for its theme the +joys of the life that is to come. The spiritual +body, he said, has many qualities not pertaining +to the physical body. It is immured from all +disease and accidents; it is subtle and can pass +through any substance which is (apparently) +solid to us, as, for instance, when Jesus appeared +in the midst of his disciples, “the doors being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +shut.” It is not a clog on the soul, continued +Monsignor Vaughn; the spiritual body is the +vehicle of the soul and can waft its way through +the air; it can walk the air as the physical body +walks the earth. It is not—as is the physical +body—the prison of the soul, but the companion +of the soul. This is all a very enlightened +presentation of spiritual truth, and it is little +wonder that such preaching attracts large congregations. +Holy Week in Rome bears little +resemblance now to that of the past. The +Pope is not visible in any of the ceremonials +in any of the churches; and the impressiveness +of former Catholic ceremonials is greatly lessened. +Indeed, with the passing of the temporal +power of the Pope, the picturesqueness of Rome +largely vanished.</p> + +<p>Not, assuredly, from any lack of reverence +for the colossal cathedral of St. Peter’s is that +Basilica a resort for Sunday afternoons; it +suggests a social reunion, where every one +goes, listens as he will to the music of the +Papal choir in the Chapel of the Sacrament, +and strolls about the vast interior where the +promenade of the multitude does not yet disturb +in the least the vesper service in the chapel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +Here one meets everybody; the general news of +the day is exchanged; greeting and salutation +and pleasant little conversational interludes +mark the afternoon, while the sun sinks behind +the splendid pile of the Palazzo Vaticano, and +the golden light through the window of the +tribune fades into dusk. Can one ever lose out +of memory the indescribable charm of this +leisurely sauntering, in social enjoyment, in +the wonderful interior of St. Peter’s?</p> + +<p>In the way of the regulation sight-seeing the +visitor to Rome compasses most of his duty in +this respect on his initial sojourn and goes the +rounds that no one ever need dream of repeating. +Once for all the visitor to Rome goes +down into the Catacombs; makes his appallingly +hard journey over Castel San Angelo, into its +cells and dungeons, and to the colossal salon +in which is Hadrian’s tomb; once for a lifetime +he climbs St. Peter’s dome; drives out to old +St. Agnes and descends into the crypt; visits +the Church of the Capucines and beholds the +ghastly spectacle of the monks’ skulls; drives +in the Appian Way; visits the Palace of the +Cæsars, the Baths of Caracalla—a mass of +ruins; the Forum; the Temples of Vesta and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +Isis; the Coliseum, and the classic old Pantheon. +These form a kind of skeleton for the regulation +sight-seeing of the Eternal City; things which, +once done, are checked off with the feeling that +the entire duty of the tourist has been fulfilled, +and that, henceforth in Rome, there is laid up +for him the crown of enjoyment, if not rejoicing; +that he may go again and again to +study the marvellous treasures of the Vatican +galleries, the masterpieces of art in the Raphael +stanze in the Vatican, the interesting pictures +and sculpture in the many rich churches and +galleries. The deadly chill of most of these +galleries and churches in the winter is beyond +words to describe. It is as if the gloom and +chill and darkness of a thousand centuries were +there concentrated.</p> + +<p>One of the regulation places for the devout +sight-seer, who feels responsible to his conscience +for improving his privileges, is the Museo +Nazionale, or the Tiberine Museum, a large +proportion of whose treasures have been excavated +in making the new embankments of +the Tiber. It is located on the site of the Baths +of Diocletian, the great ruins of which surround +it in the most uncanny way. Built around a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +large court, the salons of the museum are +entered from the inner cloisters. In the centre +of the court is a fountain, and around it are +antique fragments of statues, columns, and +statuettes found in many places. The famous +Ludovisi collection of antique statuary is now +permanently placed in this museum,—a collection +that includes the “Ludovisi Mars;” <a name="tn185" id="tn185"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: opening quote missing">“Hercules,”</ins> +with a cornucopia; the “Hermes of +Theseus,” the “Discobolus Hermes;” the +“Venus of Gnidus” as copied by Praxiteles; +the “Dying Medusa;” the “Ludovisi Juno,” +which Winckelmann declares to be the finest +head of Juno extant, a Greek work of the +fourth century; a “Cupid and Psyche;” the +two “Muses of Astronomy” and of “Epic +Poetry,” “Urania and Calliope;” “an Antoninus;” +the largest sarcophagus known; a +“Tragic Mask” (colossal) in rosso antico; a +bust of “Marcus Aurelius” in bronze, and +many other priceless works.</p> + +<p>The splendor of scenic setting for art in the +magnificent salons of the Casino Borghese has +never been surpassed. They are, perhaps, the +most impressive of any Roman interior, with +lofty, splendidly decorated ceilings and walls,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +where recess and niche hold priceless sculptures. +The splendor of these salons, indeed, quite +exceeds description. In the principal one is +a group on one wall—a colossal relief—representing +Marcus Curtius plunging into the gulf +in the Forum. There are busts of the twelve +Cæsars; there are busts of all the Roman Emperors, +with alabaster draperies, placed on +pedestals of red granite. There are Bernini’s +“Apollo and Daphne;” Canova’s celebrated +statue of Princess Pauline Borghese (the sister +of Napoleon I); Bernini’s “David” and “Æneas +and Anchises;” Thorwaldsen’s “Faun;” “Diana,” +“Isis,” “Juno,” and many other celebrated +classic statues. All the great paintings +which were formerly in the Palazzo Borghese—over +six hundred in all—are now in +this casino. The great work in this collection +is Raphael’s “Entombment of Christ,” painted +in his twenty-fourth year. Titian’s “Divine +and Human Love;” Raphael’s portrait of +“Cæsar Borgia;” Correggio’s “Danaë;” Domenichino’s +“Cumæan Sibyl” and “Diana;” +Peruzzi’s “Venus Leaving the Bath;” Van +Dyck’s “Crucifixion;” Titian’s “Venus and +Cupid;” and “Annunciation,” by Paul Veronese;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +Vasari’s “Lucrezia Borgia;” Botticelli’s “Holy +Family and Angels;” Van Dyck’s “Entombment;” +Carlo Dolce’s “Mater Dolorosa,” and +Sassoferrato’s “Three Ages of Man” are among +the great masterpieces in this museum.</p> + +<p>The Villa Borghese (by which is meant the +park) is some three miles in extent, and was +laid out some two hundred years ago by Cardinal +Borghese. As recently as 1902 it was purchased +by the government for three million francs, and +its official name is now “Villa Comunale Umberto +Primo.” These grounds contain fountains, +antique statues, tablets, small temples +and many inscriptions, with statues of Æsculapius +and Apollo, and an Egyptian gateway. +They are open all day to every one freely and +are one of the great attractions of Rome.</p> + +<p>The great palaces of Rome are of later date +than those of Florence. There are some eighty +principal ones, of which the Palazzos Veneziano, +Farnese, Doria, Barberini, Colonna, +and the Rospigliosi (containing Guido’s famous +“Aurora”) are the most important. +The Farnesina Palace contains some of the +most interesting pictures in Rome, and the +traditions of the residence of Agostino Chigi,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +during the pontificate of Leo X, are still found +in Rome,—traditions of the lavish magnificence +of the entertainments given here to the +Pope and the Cardinals.</p> + +<p>The Monte Pincio is the famous drive of +Roman society, and the promenade around the +brow of the hill offers one of the most enchanting +views of the world. Near the Trinità di +Monti stands the historic Villa Medici, the +French Academy of which the great Carolus +Duran is now the director. The view across +the valley in which lies the Piazza di Spagna, the +river to St. Peter’s, from the Villa Medici, is +one of the finest in Rome.</p> + +<p>The architecture of the garden façade is +attributed to Michael Angelo. These gardens +have a circuit of more than a mile, laid out in +the formal rectangles and densely bordered walks +of the Italian custom. All manner of old fragments +of sculpture are scattered through them,—a +torso, a broken bust, a ruined statue, an +old and partly broken fountain,—and entablatures +and reliefs are seen in the walls on every +hand. No sound of the city ever penetrates +into this dense foliage which secludes the +gardens of the famous Villa Medici.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> + +<p>One of the features of Roman life is the +fashionable drive on Monte Pincio in the late +afternoons. An hour or two before sunset +the terrace of the Piazza Trinità di Monti +begins to be thronged with pedestrians, who +lean over the marble balustrade, gazing at the +incomparable pictured panorama where the +vast dome of St. Peter’s, the dense pines of the +Villa Pamphilia-Doria on the Janiculum, and +the dark cypress groves on Monte Mario loom +up against the golden western sky.</p> + +<p>Compared with the extensive parks of modern +cities the Monte Pincio would prefigure +itself as a drive for fairies alone. It comprises +a few acres only, thickly decorated with trees +and shrubbery, with a casino for the orchestra +that plays every afternoon, and a circular carriage +drive so limited in extent that the same +carriage comes in view every few minutes.</p> + +<p>The Eternal City has had so many birthdays +that one would fancy them to have become +negligible; but it was announced on April 21 +of 1907 that the date was a special anniversary, +and she took on aspects of festivity. The municipal +palaces and museums were hung with +tapestries, flags were flying from the Capitol,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +the municipal guards were all in full dress uniform +and the municipal orchestra played in the +Piazza Colonna. The historic bell began ringing +at eight in the morning in peals that were +well calculated to call the Cæsars from their +tombs and which might, indeed, have been mistaken +for the final trumpet calls of Gabriel. +But the Romans take their pleasures rather +sadly and sternly,—not like the light-hearted +Florentines in song and laughter, or with the +joyous abandon of the Neapolitans,—so there +was no special manifestation on the part of the +populace, and the day, cold, gloomy, and cheerless, +did not inspire gayety.</p> + +<p>When the Republic of Rome was established +(on Feb. 9, 1849) a provisional government was +appointed. In March of that year Mazzini +proposed that the assembly should appoint a +Committee of War, and it was decided to send +troops to Piedmont. Later a triumvirate, consisting +of Mazzini, Saffi, and Armellini, was +formed, but disaster was near. In April the +French troops landed at Cività Vecchia, and the +Italians prepared to defend their country from +the control of Louis Napoleon. Mazzini is +said to have been “the life and the soul” of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +this defence. But the Republic was doomed, +and when it had fallen the Pope returned, only +under the protection of the French. But the +French Empire, too, was doomed to fall; and +when Garibaldi transferred his successes to +Victor Emmanuel, the monarchy was consolidated +by the union of Rome with Italy, and the +present “Via Venti Settembre” in Rome—the +street named to commemorate that 20th of +September, 1870, on which the Italian troops +entered the city and the Papal reign ended—perpetuates +the story of those eventful days. +“Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, and Garibaldi have +been designated, along with Mazzini, as the +founders of the modern Italy,” said Dr. William +Clarke, “but a broad line divides Mazzini from +the others.” Dr. Clarke sees between Cavour +and Mazzini “the everlasting conflict between +the idealist and the man of the world. The +former,” he continues, “stands by the intellect +and the conscience; the latter by the limitations +of actual fact and the practical difficulties of +the case,” and Dr. Clarke notes further:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It was pre-eminently Mazzini who gave to +Italy the breath of a new life, who taught her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +people constancy in devotion to an ideal good. +Prophets are rarely successful in their own day, +and so it has been with the prophet of modern +Italy. The making of Italy has not proceeded +in the way he hoped it would; for the Italians, +who are an eminently subtle and diplomatic +people, have apparently thought it best to bend +to the hard facts by which they have been surrounded. +But if, as Emerson teaches, facts are +fluid to thought, we may believe that the ideas +of Mazzini will yet prevail in the nation of his +birth, and that he may yet be regarded as the +spiritual father of the future Italian commonwealth. +For of him, if of any modern man, we +may say that he</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Saw distant gates of Eden gleam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And did not dream it was a dream.’”<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 304px;"> +<a href="images/christb.jpg"><img src="images/christ.jpg" width="304" height="400" alt="STATUE OF CHRIST, ANCIENT CHURCH OF SAN MARTINA, ROME +From the Artist’s Original Cast +Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen" title="STATUE OF CHRIST, ANCIENT CHURCH OF SAN MARTINA, ROME +From the Artist’s Original Cast +Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>STATUE OF CHRIST, ANCIENT CHURCH OF SAN MARTINA, ROME<br /> +From the Artist’s Original Cast<br /> +Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Between the period of the establishment of +the Roman Republic in 1849 and the consummation +of United Italy in 1870 the years were +rich to the artist, whatever they may have been +to philosopher and patriot. The way for the +painter and the sculptor seems to have been a +flowery and a pictorial one,—a very <i>via buona<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +fortuna</i>, through a golden, artistic atmosphere. +The perpetual excursions may lead the serious +spectator to wonder where working hours come +in, but, at all events, those days are rich in +color. Friends grouped together by the unerring +law of elective affinities loitered in galleries +and churches. San Martina, near the +Mamertine prisons, was a point of interest +because of Thorwaldsen’s bequest to it of the +original cast of his beautiful statue of “Christ” +which is in Copenhagen. This is, perhaps, +the finest work ever conceived by the Danish +sculptor, and is one that no visitor of to-day +can behold unmoved. Both Canova and Bernini +are also represented in this church,—the +former by a statue of “Religion” and the latter +by a bust of Pietro da Cortona. Beneath the +present Church of San Martina is the ancient +one containing the shrine of the martyr, under +a superb bronze altar. Of this church, Mrs. +Jameson says in her “Sacred and Legendary +Art”:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“At the foot of the Capitoline Hill, on the +left hand as we descend from the Ara Cœli +into the Forum, there stood in very ancient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +times a small chapel, dedicated to St. Martina, +a Roman virgin. The veneration paid to her +was of very early date, and the Roman people +were accustomed to assemble there on the first +day of the year. This observance was, however, +confined to the people, and was not very +general till 1634, an era which connects her in +rather an interesting manner with the history of +art. In this year, as they were about to repair +her chapel, they discovered, walled into the +foundations, a sarcophagus of terra cotta, in +which was the body of a young female, whose +severed head reposed in a separate casket. +These remains were very naturally supposed to +be those of the saint who had been so long +venerated on that spot. The discovery was +hailed with the utmost exultation, not by the +people only, but by those who led the minds +and consciences of the people. The Pope himself, +Urban VIII, composed hymns in her +praise; and Cardinal Francesco Barberini undertook +to rebuild her church.”</p></div> + +<p>The painter, Pietro da Cortona, entered into +this feeling and at his own expense built the +chapel and painted for its altar piece the picture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +representing the saint in triumph, while +the temple in which she has gone to sacrifice +falls in ruins from a raging tempest.</p> + +<p>In any stray ramble in Rome the sojourner +might chance, at any moment, upon obelisk, a +pedestal or inscription linked with the great +names of the historic past. Hawthorne has recorded +how, by mere chance, he turned from +the Via delle Quattro Fontane into the Via Quirinale +and was thus lured on to an obelisk and +a fountain on the pedestal of which on one side +was the inscription, “Opus Phidias,” and on +the other, “Opus Praxiteles,” and he exclaims:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“What a city is this, when one may stumble, by +mere chance—at a street corner as it were—on +the works of two such sculptors! I do not know +the authority,” he continues, “on which these +statues (Castor and Pollux I presume) are attributed +to Phidias and Praxiteles; but they impressed +me as noble and godlike, and I feel inclined +to take them for what they purport to be.”</p></div> + +<p>While the Papal ceremonies are neither so +frequent nor so magnificent as in former days, +still any hotel guest in Rome is liable, any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +morning, on coming down to the <i>salle-à-manger</i> +for coffee, to find every woman (who is taking +her Rome seriously) arrayed in a black robe +with a black lace veil on her head. One would +fancy they were all a procession of nuns, about +to retire from the world into the strict seclusion +of the cloister. But it is nothing so momentous. +It is only that every lady, with the +devotion to spectacles which every visitor in +Rome feels, as a matter of course, has secured +the pink ticket entitling her to admission to +the Vatican Palace to see the “passage” of the +Pope, as he makes his way, attended by the +Cardinals of the Sacred College, to the Sistine +Chapel where his Holiness “creates” new +Cardinals. Although rumored that the spectacle +will be a gorgeous one, that the Pope +will be carried aloft preceded by the silver +trumpeters and attended by the Cardinals and +the ambassadors and other dignitaries in the +full dress of their ceremonial costumes and their +orders, the reality is less impressive. Some +feminine enthusiasts fare forth at the heroic +hour of eight, although the procession is not +announced to pass until a quarter after ten +(which in Italy should be translated as a quarter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +after eleven, at the earliest, if not after twelve, +which would be the more probable), in order +to secure good standing room. For everybody +is to stand—of course, comfort being a thing +conspicuous only by its absence in Italy! Those +of us too well aware by the experiences of previous +visits to Italy that no Italian function +was ever on time, from the starting of a +railway train to the crowning of a king, only +betake ourselves to the glories of the Palazzo +Vaticano at the hour named, and we have +then—as one’s prophetic soul or his commonplace +memory warned him—to wait more +than an hour wedged into a dense crowd of +all nationalities, none of whom seem at this +particular juncture, at least, to be at all overburdened +with good manners. And what went +they out for to seek? Instead of an impressive +spectacle—a thing to remember for a lifetime—one +merely sees Pius X walking, surrounded +by his Cardinals in a group,—not a procession,—he +alone in the centre with his mitre on his +head,—the whole scene hardly lasting over a +minute, and as his Holiness is not as tall as +most of his Cardinals, he is almost hidden from +view. It had been rumored that the Pope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +was to be borne aloft in the Papal chair, preceded +by the traditional white fan and the +silver trumpets; but the present Pope is temperamentally +inclined to minimize all the ceremonials +investing his sacred office.</p> + +<p>Yet there is always a thrill in entering the +Vatican. To ascend that splendid <i>Scala Regia</i> +designed by Bernini, with one of the most ingeniously +treated perspective effects to be found, +it may be, in the entire world; to cross +this <i>Scala</i> with its interesting frescoes by +Salviati and others; to see at near range the +picturesque Swiss Guard,—surely any pretext +to enjoy such a morning is easily accepted of +whatever occurrence one may grasp in order +to obtain the hour.</p> + +<p>One curious feature of the past is to-day +equally in evidence in Rome. Strolling at +any time into the Church of San Agostino one +beholds a curious spectacle. It is in this church +that is placed the beautiful bronze statue of +the Virgin and Child by Sansovino. It is approached +by a platform on which is placed a +stool that enables one to mount and thus reach +the foot of the statue, which is kissed and the +wish of the devotee is offered. This Madonna<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +is believed to have the power to grant each wish +and prayer; to heal the sick; restore the blind, +the deaf, and the lame; to grant immunity +from loss or illness; to grant success and prosperity. +The poor Madonna must have her +hands full with these avalanches of petitions, +but she sits calmly in state and, if the striking +testimony of votive offerings can be credited, +she is most amiable in granting the prayers of +her devotees. For she is hung with priceless +jewels; necklaces, brooches, bracelets, diamond +and ruby and sapphire rings on her +fingers, she is a blaze of splendor. Around +this statue there is a perpetual crowd, whatever +hour of day one chances to wander in, and +from prince to beggar the bronze foot is kissed, +as each waits his turn to mount the stool and +prefer his secret wish. The walls of the church +are covered with the votive offerings to the +Madonna for her aid,—rich jewels, orders, +tablets,—offerings of all kinds. In this church +is entombed the body of Santa Monica, the +mother of St. Augustine, placed in an urn of +verd-antique, in a special chapel beautifully +decorated. After preferring one’s secret wish +to the Virgin one must wander on to the Fontane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +de Trevi and throw his penny into the +water to insure his return to Rome, and then +he may rest, <i>mens conscia <a name="tn200" id="tn200"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'recta'">recti</ins></i>!</p> + +<p>Although Holy Week in Rome has less ceremonial +observance in these latter days than those +of the impressive scenes so vividly portrayed +by Mme. de Staël in “Corinne,” it still attracts +a multitude of visitors and offers much to touch +and thrill the life of the spirit, quite irrespective +as to whether the visitor be of the Catholic +or Protestant faith. In the great essentials of +Christianity, all followers of Christ unite. The +Pope does not now take part in public services +on Easter, and that scene of the Pontifical +blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s given +to the multitude below who throng the piazza +remains only in memory and in record. But +the stately and solemn services of Good Friday +in the vast and grand interior of St. Peter’s are +an experience to linger forever in memory. +The three hours’ service—the chanting of the +Miserere—was a scene to impress the imagination. +This service is held in the late afternoon +of Good Friday, in the tribune of St. Peter’s, +the extreme end of the church where the vast +window of yellow glass gives a perpetually<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +golden light. The chair believed to have been +that of St. Peter’s is here placed, enclosed in +ivory and supported by statues of four Fathers +of the church, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. +Chrysostom, and St. Athanasius, from a design +of Bernini.</p> + +<p>In the tribune is the tomb of Urban VIII +(who was Matteo Barberini), of which the +redundant decoration tells the story that it is +also Bernini’s work. Opposite this tomb is +that of Paul III, by della Porta, under the +supervision of Michael Angelo, it is said, and +the beauty and dignity of the bronze figure of +the aged Pope, in the act of giving the benediction, +quite confirm this tradition. On a +tablet in the wall of the tribune are engraved +the names of all the bishops and prelates who, +in 1854, accepted the belief of the Immaculate +Conception,—this tablet being placed by the +order of Pio Nono.</p> + +<p>In this tribune on the late afternoon of the +Good Friday of 1907 the seats were filled with +worshippers to listen to the three hours’ chant +of the Miserere. Princes and peasants sat side +by side, and an immense throng who could not +find seats stood, often wandering away in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +dim distances of the cathedral and ever and +again returning. The high altar, where Canova’s +beautiful figure of the kneeling Pope +always enchains the visitor, was, as usual, surrounded. +The lights burned—these perpetual +lamps—and the moving throng went and +came. The scene grew mystic, dream-like, +as the solemn music floated on the air.</p> + +<p>The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, on the +left of the cathedral, was made into the sepulchre +that day, and anything more beautiful +than the myriad altar lights and the flowers could +not be imagined. At the altar black-robed nuns +were kneeling, and all over the chapel, kneeling +on the floor, were people of all grades and ranks +of life, from the duchess and princess to the +beggar woman with a ragged shawl on her +shoulders and her baby in her arms. St. Peter’s +was nearly filled all that day with people, not +crowded, but apparently thronged in almost +every part.</p> + +<p>The altar in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament +was one mass of deep red roses. The +chapel was completely darkened, but the blaze +of myriads of tall candles illuminated the roses +and the black-robed nuns and the black-robed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +devotees. It was a scene never to be +forgotten.</p> + +<p>Even in the latter-day Rome, historic names +are not wanting. One of these, the Princess +Christina Bonaparte, <i>née</i> Ruspoli, died in 1907 +in her Roman villa in Via Venti Settembre. She +was the widow of Prince Napoleon Charles +Bonaparte and a cousin of the Empress Eugénie. +With her husband in Paris until 1870, she fled +(whilst her husband was fighting at Metz) as +soon as the Commune was proclaimed. The +princess was considered a beautiful woman and +her portrait had been painted by Ernest Hébert, +but it was lost when the Palace of the Tuileries +was destroyed in 1870.</p> + +<p>With this princess dies the name of the Bonaparte +family. Her daughters, Donna Maria +Gotti-Bonaparte and Princess Maria della +Moskowa, were often with her in Rome.</p> + +<p>The Palazzo Bonaparte is very near Porta +Pia. Although called a palace, it is simply a +plain house of some five stories, with narrow +halls and stone staircases, no elevator, no electric +lights. The princess occupied the first +floor, while the apartments above were let to +various families.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<p>With the exception of the royal palaces there +are few in which suites are not obtainable for +residence by any one who desires them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/peterb.jpg"><img src="images/peter.jpg" width="400" height="257" alt="CASTEL SAN ANGELO AND ST. PETER’S, ROME" title="CASTEL SAN ANGELO AND ST. PETER’S, ROME" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>CASTEL SAN ANGELO AND ST. PETER’S, ROME</small></p> +</div> + +<p>It was at a pleasant <i>déjeûner</i> one spring day +in Rome that the project was launched, that +we should go motoring that afternoon to Frascati, +Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Lago di Nemi, +and all that wonderful region. We were lunching +with a friend who had a charming apartment +in one of the sumptuous old palaces of Rome, +where, in a niche on the marble staircase, the +statue of Cæsar Augustus stood,—a copy of +the famous statue in the Capitoline,—where +lofty, decorated ceilings, old paintings and +sculptures adorned the rooms, and where from +the windows we looked out on the tragedy-haunted +Castel San Angelo, with the dome of +San Pietro in the background. Our friend +who invited us to fly in his motor had brought +his touring car over from America. The one +note of new luxury now is for travellers to +journey with their touring cars. In a year or +two more it will be airships or soaring machines. +On this wonderful May afternoon, +all azure and gold, we started off in the great, +luxurious touring car which was arranged even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +to carry two trunks, with a safe in it for the +deposit of valuables, a hamper for refreshments, +and, indeed, almost every conceivable convenience. +On we flew through Rome, past +the great Basilica of San Maria Maggiore; +past the wonderful pile of San Giovanni Laterano, +with the colossal statues of the apostles +surmounting the façade; through the Porta +San Giovanni into the narrow, walled lane +leading out on the Campagna; on, on, to the +Alban hills. We flew past olive orchards and +vineyards, and the vast green pasture lands of +the Campagna whose vivid green was ablaze with +scarlet poppies. Far away to the west there +was a white shining line—the line of the sea.</p> + +<p>At Frascati we stopped at the Villa Torlonia, +the country place of the ducal family, +whose grand Roman palazzo is in the Bocca di +Leone in the old part of Rome. The Torlonia +have an only daughter, Donna Teresa, whose +<i>débutante</i> ball a year ago is said to have been +the most magnificent entertainment in Rome +for fifty years. A writer, in a recent article +on the nobility of Rome, said of this family:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>“The Torlonia figure repeatedly in the novels +of Thackeray, who was never tired of portraying +them. They have been most useful citizens, +and since the days of the old army contractor, +who founded the house, have augmented the +family wealth by judicious investments, especially +in connection with the draining and reclaiming +of the marsh lands that abound in +the former Papal States. They have contracted +matrimonial alliances with the Colonna, with +the Borghese, the Belmonte, the Doria, and +the Sforza.”</p></div> + +<p>The Villa Torlonia at Frascati is a very +large estate with extensive gardens, terraces, +and a cascade of three falls on the hillside, +which is turned on (the water) at pleasure. +The house, however, is a shabby-looking affair, +a two or three story, rambling, yellow structure, +which, at Newport, would not be considered +too good for the gardener.</p> + +<p>After the usual fashion of the Italians who +seldom travel, the Torlonia, wealthy as they +are, simply remove from their palace in Rome +to their villa at Frascati instead of travelling +to Switzerland, Germany, or elsewhere in the +summer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland +were the guests of the Torlonia that day, the +entire party enjoying themselves <i>al fresco</i>, and +the beautiful cascade pouring down within the +near distance.</p> + +<p>These outlying towns, Frascati, Albano, Castel +Gandolfo, and Lago di Nemi, the picturesque +group in the Alban Mountains, are some +sixteen to eighteen miles from Rome. These +Alban hills rise like an island from the vast +plain of the Campagna, the highest point being +some three thousand feet above sea level. They +are covered with villages and castles and villas, +and have in all a population of some fifty thousand. +The region is volcanic, and the beautiful +Lago di Nemi and Lago di Albano were the +craters of extinct volcanoes. All this region +was the haunt of Cicero, Virgil, and Livy. At +Tusculum, near Frascati, are the remains of +Cicero’s villa, and also of an ancient theatre +hewn out of solid rock. The view to the west +toward Rome is most beautiful. The dome of +St. Peter’s crowns the Eternal City; and the +Campagna—a sea of green—is as infinite +in sight as is the Mediterranean. There are +splendid villas and estates in these Alban hills<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +that belong to the Roman nobility, and here +the Pope has his summer palace. “The Alban +Mount is also full of historical and legendary +interest,” says a writer on the country around +Rome. “The Latin tribe, one of the constituent +elements of the Roman people, had here +its seat. Upon the highest peak of the range +was the temple of Jupiter Latiaris, where all +the tribes of Latin blood, the Romans included, +met every year to worship; and where the victorious +generals of the Republic repaired to +offer praises and acknowledgments. In these +mountain glens undoubtedly most of that +ballad literature of Rome, the loss of which +Macaulay so eloquently laments and so successfully +restores, had its origin. Nor need the +scholar be reminded that this is the scene of +the most original and vigorous portions of the +Æneid of Virgil; nor how the genius of the +poet, which rather languidly recounts the traditions +borrowed from Greece, wakes to new life, +when he feels his feet upon his own soil and +deals with Latin names and Latin legends.”</p> + +<p>The Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati is celebrated +for its fantastic waterworks in elaborate +fountains and cascades. In the gardens a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +statue of Pan with a pipe of reeds and one of a +satyr with a trumpet are made to play (both +the pipe and the trumpet) by water. The +hydraulic engineer must have found in Frascati +his earthly paradise, for he commanded the +water to leap into foam and spray in the air, +to rush down marble terraces, and to form +itself into obelisks of liquid silver.</p> + +<p>At Grotto Ferrata is a vast monastery of +monks of the Order of Basilio (Greek), a +monastery so colossal as to be mistaken for a +fortress. The chapel has frescoes by Domenichino. +At Castel Gandolfo is the summer +Papal palace, that has not been occupied by a +Pope since the overthrowing of the temporal +power in 1870. It has a beautiful and commanding +view toward Rome. It was built by +Urban VIII.</p> + +<p>All the magic of Italy is in this picturesque +excursion. In the vast grounds of the Villa +Barberini are the ruins of the ancient palace +and gardens of Domitian. On one hillside is +a broken wall; a long avenue of ilex trees +reveals here and there fragments of mosaic +pavement. Crumbling niches hold fragments +of statues. The hill itself is still pierced with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +the long tunnels driven through it by Domitian +that he might pass unseen,—presumably safe +from his enemies,—from the palace to the +gardens. From the parapet, Rome is seen +across the shining Campagna and the dome of +Michael Angelo gleams against the blue Italian +sky.</p> + +<p>“The wreck is beautiful,” writes Mrs. Humphry +Ward, in “Eleanor,” of this romantic +spot; “for it is masked in the gloom of the +overhanging trees; or hidden behind dropping +veils of ivy; or lit up by straggling patches of +broom and cytisus that thrust themselves through +the gaps in the Roman brickwork and shine +golden in the dark. At the foot of the wall, +along its whole length, runs a low marble conduit +that held the sweetest, liveliest water. +Lilies of the valley grow beside it, breathing +scent into the shadowed air; while on the outer +or garden side of the path the grass is purple +with long-stalked violets, or pink with the +sharp heads of the cyclamen. And a little +farther, from the same grass, there shoots up, +in happy neglect, tall camellia trees, ragged +and laden, strewing the ground red and white +beneath them. And above the camellias again<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +the famous stone-pines of the villa climb into +the high air, overlooking the plain and the sea, +peering at Rome and Soracte.”</p> + +<p>One could wander all day in the strange +ruins of the old Barberini grounds, and in +the vast spaces of the gardens and through +the Villa Doria.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the avenue of ilex trees through +which we flew from Castel Gandolfo to Lago +di Nemi surpasses description. This lake, some +four miles in circumference, lies in a crater +hollow, with precipitous hills surrounding it, +the water so clear that the ancients called it +the “Mirror of Diana.” In it was constructed +an artificial island in the design of +a Roman state barge.</p> + +<p>Over the long viaduct at Ariccia we flew; +everywhere in the little town people, donkeys—an +almost indistinguishable mass—filled the +narrow streets; and thus on to Genzano and +the Lago di Nemi, with its fabled fleet at the +bottom.</p> + +<p>The Chigi woods, that fill the deep ravine +under the great viaduct at Ariccia, were in the +most brilliant emerald green. Past these forests +lay the vast stretch of the Pontine Marshes; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +turning toward Rome again, the splendor of +the sunset flamed in the sky. One could but +recall Mrs. Humphry Ward’s vivid picture of +a storm seen over this part of the Campagna:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The sunset was rushing to its height through +every possible phase of violence and splendor. +From the Mediterranean, storm clouds were +rising fast to the assault and conquest of the +upper sky, which still above the hills shone +blue and tranquil. But the northwest wind and +the sea were leagued against it. They sent out +threatening fingers and long spinning veils of +cloud across it—skirmishers that foretold the +black and serried lines, the torn and monstrous +masses behind. Below these wild tempest +shapes again—in long spaces resting on the +sea—the heaven was at peace, shining in delicate +greens and yellows, infinitely translucent +and serene, above the dazzling lines of water. +Over Rome itself there was a strange massing +and curving of the clouds. Between their blackness +and the deep purple of the Campagna rose +the city—pale phantom—upholding one great +dome, and one only, to view of night and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +world. Round and above and behind, beneath +the long flat arch of the storm, glowed a furnace +of scarlet light. The buildings of the city were +faint specks within its fierce intensity, dimly +visible through a sea of fire. St. Peter’s alone, +without visible foundation or support, had consistence, +form, identity; and between the city +and the hills, waves of blue and purple shade, +forerunners of the night, stole over the Campagna +towards the higher ground. But the +hills themselves were still shining, still clad in +rose and amethyst, caught in gentler repetition +from the wildness of the west. Pale rose even +the olive gardens; rose the rich brown fallows, +the emerging farms; while drawn across the +Campagna from north to south, as though some +mighty brush had just laid it there for sheer +lust of color, sheer joy in the mating it with the +rose,—one long strip of sharpest, purest green.”</p></div> + +<p>The Villa <a name="tn213" id="tn213"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Falconicri'">Falconieri</ins>, in Frascati, which was +built by Cardinal Ruffini, with the old ilex tree +preserved in the portals, has recently been purchased +by the Emperor of Germany, who proposes +to transform it into an Academy for the +accommodation of German students in Rome.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +These national academies draw their corresponding +numbers of students from the nations +thus represented, and contribute to the cosmopolitan +aspects of Rome. The American +Academy in Rome is now being transferred +from the Ludovisi quarter to a large and convenient +building outside Porta Pia.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the eminently social quality of +Roman life may be indirectly due to the lack of +library privileges which is a conspicuous defect +in Rome. The Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele, +under the courteous administration of Commendatore +Conte Guili, has, it is true, a collection +of over half a million volumes and thousands +of very rare and valuable manuscripts. +It has a large public reading room, and books +are loaned on the signature of any embassy or +consulate; yet this library, while offering peculiar +advantages to theological and other special +students and readers, does not afford any extended +privileges to the general reader of modern +English and American publications. It is located +in a grim and forbidding old stone palace, +approached by an obscure lane from the Corso, +where, as there is no sidewalk, the pedestrian +shares the narrow, dark, cold, stone-paved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +little street with carts, donkeys, peasants, and +beggars.</p> + +<p>The great monument to King Victor Emmanuel, +of mingled architecture and sculpture, a colossal +structure of white marble with arches and +pillars forming beautiful colonnades, the capital +of each column heavily carved, and the sculpture, +which is being done by a number of artists, +will be of the most artistic and beautiful order. +This memorial will occupy an entire block, and +it is located very near the Capitol. All the old +buildings in the vicinity will be torn down to +give a fine vista for this transcendently noble +and sumptuous memorial.</p> + +<p>The directors of this work aim to have it +completed and ready to be unveiled in 1911, the +jubilee year of Italy’s resurrection as a united +country.</p> + +<p>Encircled by the old Aurelian wall and near +the great pyramid that marks the tomb of +Caius Cestius, who died 12 B.C., lies the Protestant +cemetery of Rome, full of bloom and +fragrance and beauty, under the dark, solemn +cypress trees that stand like ever-watchful +sentinels. When Keats was buried here (in +1820), Shelley wrote of “the romantic and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +lovely cemetery . . . under the pyramid of +Caius Cestius, and the mossy walls and towers +now mouldering and desolate which formed +the circuit of ancient Rome. The cemetery +is an open space among the ruins, covered +even in winter with violets and daisies. It +might make one in love with death,” he added, +“to think of being buried in so sweet a +place.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/paolap.jpg"><img src="images/paola.jpg" width="400" height="297" alt="PORTA SAN PAOLA, PYRAMID OF CAIUS CESTIUS, ROME" title="PORTA SAN PAOLA, PYRAMID OF CAIUS CESTIUS, ROME" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>PORTA SAN PAOLA, PYRAMID OF CAIUS CESTIUS, ROME</small></p> +</div> + +<p>In the old cemetery (immediately adjoining +the pyramid and separated from the new one +by a wall) is the grave of Keats (who died in +1821) with its unique inscription, “Here lies +one whose name was writ in water.” Beside it is +that of his friend, Joseph Severn, who died in +1829, and near these the grave of John Bell, +the famous writer on surgery and anatomy. In +the new or more modern cemetery the visitor +lingers by the graves of Shelley and his friend, +Trelawney; August Goethe (the son of the +poet); of William and Mary Howitt, who +died in 1879 and 1888. Not merely, however, +do the names of Keats and Shelley allure the +visitor to poetic meditations; but here lie the +earthly forms of many a poet, painter, and +sculptor of our own country, with their wives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +and children, who have sought in the Eternal +City the atmosphere for art and who, enamoured +by the loveliness of Rome, continued there for +all their remaining years. These graves, these +sculptured memorials, are eloquent with the +joys, the sorrows, the achievements and the +failures, the success and the defeat, of the +artistic life in a foreign land. Many of these +memorial sculptures are the work of the husband +or the father, into which is inseparably +joined the personal tenderness to the artist’s +skill. Especially noticeable are the graves of +the wives of three American sculptors,—William +Wetmore Story, Richard S. Greenough, and +Franklin Simmons. Each of these is marked +by a memorial sculpture created by the husband, +and the three different conceptions of +these sculptors are interesting to contrast. That +of Mr. Story is of an angel with outspread +wings, kneeling, her head bowed in the utter +despair and desolation of hopeless sorrow. +The figure has the greatest delicacy of beauty +and refinement and tenderness; but it is the +grief that has no support of faith, the grief that +has no vision of divine consolation. On the +memorial monument is simply the name, Emelyn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +Story, born in Boston, 1820, died in Rome +in 1898, and the note that it is the last work of +W. W. Story, in memory of his beloved wife. +Here, also, is Mr. Story buried, his name and +dates of birth and death (1819-1901) alone +being inscribed.</p> + +<p>At the tomb of Sarah B. Greenough, the wife +of Richard S. Greenough, the monument is +designed to represent Psyche escaping from the +bondage of mortality. This Psyche is emerging +from her garments and she holds in her +hand a lamp. On this is the inscription: “Her +loss was that as of a keystone to an arch.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Greenough was a very accomplished +musician, and she had the unique honor of +having been made a member of the “Arcadians.”</p> + +<p>The memorial sculpture over the grave of +Mrs. Franklin Simmons is, as elsewhere noted, +the work of her husband, a figure called “The +Angel of the Resurrection.” The angel is represented +as a male figure (Gabriel) holding in +the left hand a golden trumpet while the right +is outstretched. His wings are spread, his face +partly turned to the right. The form is partially +draped and in every detail is instinct<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +with a complete harmony; every fold of the +drapery, every curve of the body, and the lofty +and triumphant expression of the face in its +ineffable glory of achievement proclaim the +triumph of immortality. It stands on a pedestal +that gives it, from the base of the pedestal +to the tip of the outstretched wings, a height of +some twenty-one feet. This monument, seen +against a background of dark cypress trees, +speaks the word of positive and complete faith +in the divine promise of eternal life.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Then life is—to wake, not sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Rise and not rest, but press<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From earth’s level where blindly creep<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Things perfected, more or less,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the heaven’s height—far and steep.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The visitor lingers over the grave of that +interesting painter, J. Rollin Tilton, whose landscapes +from Egypt and Italian scenes were so +vivid and picturesque.</p> + +<p>Richard Henry Dana, the elder, born in Boston +in 1815, came to Rome to die in 1882.</p> + +<p>Very near the tomb of William Wetmore and +Emelyn Story is that of Constance Fenimore +Woolson. Over the graves of William and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +Mary Howitt is the inscription: “Let not your +heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also +in me.”</p> + +<p>On the wall just back of the new tomb erected +over the ashes of Shelley by Onslow Ford +in 1891 is a memorial tablet placed to Frederick +W. H. Myers, bearing this inscription:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“This tablet is placed to the memory of +Frederick William Henry Myers, born at Keswick, +Cumberland, Feb. 6, 1843; died in Rome, +Jan. 17, 1901. ‘He asked life of Thee, and +Thou gavest him long life ever and forever.’”</p></div> + +<p>Over the grave of John Addington Symonds, +whose best monument is in his admirable History +of the Renaissance in Italy, is a Latin +inscription written by Professor Jowett of Oxford, +and a stanza from the Greek of Cleanthes, +translated by Mr. Symonds as follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Lead thou, our God, law, reason, motion, life;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All names for Thee alike are vain and hollow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lead me, for I will follow without strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or, if I strive, still more I blindly follow.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>John Addington Symonds, who certainly +ranks as the most gifted interpreter of Italy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +in her art, her legends and associations, and +her landscape loveliness, died in the Rome he +so loved in 1893. His wife was ill in Venice, +but his daughter, Margaret,—his inseparable +companion and his helper in his work,—was +with him. It is Miss Symonds who prefaced +a memorial volume to her father with +the exquisite lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“O Love; we two shall go no longer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To lands of summer beyond the sea.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Near the graves of Keats and of his friend, +Joseph Severn, are those of Augustus William +Hare and John Gibson, the sculptor, who died +in 1868. Some ten years before Hawthorne, +meeting Gibson at a dinner given by T. Buchanan +Read, wrote of him that it was whispered +about the table that he had been in Rome +for forty-two years and that he had a quiet, +self-contained aspect as of one who had spent +a calm life among his clay and marble.</p> + +<p>Dwight Benton, an American painter and +writer, who was for some time in the diplomatic +service and whose home had been in +Rome for more than a quarter of a century,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +lies buried here. For many years he was the +editor of <i>The Roman World</i>, which still sustains +the interesting character that marked it +during his editorship. Of his work in art a +friend wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“In painting, as in literature, Dwight Benton +took his inspiration from nature. His paintings +of Italian scenery are true and faithful representations +of its character and atmospheric +effects. His tramps on the Roman Campagna +were long and often tiring, but he worked with +all an artist’s enthusiasm, unmindful of cold, +rain, and even hunger. He would delight, as +all true artists, in an old convent, a tree, a tower, +a cross, which he would reproduce with a +peculiar and striking perfection of tone and +color. In his paintings of Keats’s and Shelley’s +tombs, not only are the slabs and marble there, +but there, also, in all their naturalness, are the +stately pines and cypresses above, with the sunshine +and shadows alternating between them, +and in the background the turreted top of +St. Paul’s Gateway, the Pyramid of Caius +Cestius, all lending effect and picturesqueness +to the whole.”</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> + +<p>The present King of Italy purchased one of +Mr. Benton’s paintings, called “Giornata di +tristezza.”</p> + +<p>While art abounds in Rome, less can be said +for literature. There is a large and admirable +selected Italian library in connection with the +Collegio Romano; but while these books circulate, +under certain conditions, to visitors, and +the courtesy of the librarian and his staff is +generously kind, the location and the Italian +methods render it a matter of some difficulty +to avail one’s self of its resources. In the +Piazza di Spagna there are two circulating +libraries, but although one of these claims +twenty-five thousand volumes, the majority are +of mediocre fiction and almost none, if any, of +the important modern works are to be found here. +The visitor who is a subscriber to this library +passes into a small, dark room, where one +window looking on the street hardly does more +than make the darkness visible, and he must +take the catalogue to the window and stand in +order to decipher the list, which is hardly, +indeed, worth the trouble, as there are very +few volumes of any pretension to importance in +the collection, and of late years no additions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +apparently, have ever been made. The other +circulating library, while far preferable, is still +in crowded rooms and the assortment is limited. +The visitor in Rome who cares for reading +matter looks forward with delight to Florence, +with its noble circulating library, to which +access is so easy and whose conduct in all ways +is so convenient and grateful to the guest.</p> + +<p>In Rome, however, one finds his romance +embodied in life and his history written in the +streets and in the marvellous structures. His +poetry is in her art, her ruins, her magical +loveliness of hillside vistas, her infinite views +over the Campagna, her sapphire skies, and her +luminous, golden atmosphere.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“<i>Here Ischia smiles</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>O’er liquid miles,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>And yonder, bluest of the isles,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Calm Capri waits</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Her sapphire gates,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Beguiling to her bright estates.</i>”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“<i>Oh, Signor! thine the amber hand,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>And mine the distant sea</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Obedient to the least command</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Thine eyes impose on me.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>”<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III<br /><br /> + +<span class="nob">DAY-DREAMS IN NAPLES, AMALFI, AND CAPRI</span></h2> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“With dreamful eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My spirit lies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where summer sings but never dies.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Naples</span> is the paradise of excursions. It is set +in the heart of incomparable loveliness. Over +its sapphire sea one sails away—to the Fortunate +Isles, or some others equally alluring. +Its heights and adjacent mountains offer views +that one might well cross the ocean to enjoy. +Its atmosphere is full of classic interest; of song, +and story, and legend, and romance; of history, +too, which in its tragic and exciting episodes is +not less vivid in color and in strange studies +of human life than is any romance. Naples +is the city of fascination. Rome is stately and +impressive; Florence is all beauty and enchantment; +Genoa is picturesque; Venice is a +dream city; but Naples is simply—fascinating. +There is the common life of the streets and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +populace continually <i>en scène</i>; the people who +are at home on the sunny side in winter, or the +shady side in summer; there is the social life +of the nobility, which is brilliant and vivacious. +The excursions, of which Naples is the centre, +are the chief interest to travellers, and these, +while possible in winter, are far more enjoyable +in the early spring. Still even in midwinter +the days are sunny, and while the air is crisp +and cool, it is not cold. The grass is as green +as in June; but the foliage and flowers are more +or less withered. Naples has the high and the +lower town, the former the more desirable, and +the fine hotels perched on the terraces, with +the view all over the Bay of Naples, Capri, +Sorrento, and Vesuvius, offer a vista hardly to be +duplicated in the entire world. The lower town +has its fine hotels on the water’s edge, with a +beautiful view over the bay, less enchanting +than when seen from above. The Bay of Naples +is enclosed in two semicircular arms that +extend far out at sea, the southern reaching +nearly to Capri, while near the termination of the +northern,</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 8em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Fair Ischia smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O’er liquid miles.”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></div></div> + +<p class="noi">Far out at sea the sun shines dazzlingly on +the blue Mediterranean. The landscape is full +of those curious formations that are always +inherent in volcanic regions. The region surrounding +Naples is abrupt, picturesque, with the +same irregular outline of hills that characterizes +the elevations in the Tonto basin in Arizona. +The vegetation is of the tropical type. The +cactus is common, although it grows to no such +monstrous heights as in Arizona. Orange and +lemon groves prevail as far as the eye can see. +On every height towns and villages crown the +crests and sweep in winding terraces around the +hillsides. Olive orchards abound. Castles and +ruins gleam white in the sunshine on the ledge +of rocky precipices. The curved shores shine +like broken lines of silver, with deep indentations +at Naples and at Castellammare. Between +these two points rises Vesuvius, the thin blue +smoke constantly curling from the summit that, +since the eruption of 1906, has lost much of its +elevation. In many places there is hardly the +width of a roadway between the low mountains +and the coast, but the cliffs are tropically luxurious +in vegetation. Everywhere the habitations +of the people crowd the space. From the monasteries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +and the castles that crown the heights, +both distant and near to the clustered villages +of the plain and those clinging to the +hillsides, the scene is one unending panorama +of human life. For Naples is only the focussing +point of these densely populated regions of +Southern Italy. The city stretches along the +coast on both sides her semicircular bay; but +the terraced hills, the stretches of land beyond, +and every peak and valley are thickly sown +with human habitations. Its commanding +heights, two of which rise in the middle of the +town, and its beautiful mirrored expanse of +water give to it the most unparalleled variety +and beauty of landscape loveliness.</p> + +<p>“What words can analyze,” says George S. +Hillard, “the parts and details of this matchless +panorama, or unravel that magic web of +beauty into which palaces, villas, forests, gardens, +vineyards, the mountains, and the sea are +woven? What pen can paint the soft curves, +the gentle undulations, the flowing outlines, the +craggy steeps, and the far-seen heights, which, +in their combination, are so full of grace and, +at the same time, expression? Words here are +imperfect instruments, and must yield their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +place to the pencil and the graver. But no +canvas can reproduce the light and color which +play round this enchanting region. No skill +can catch the changing hues of the distant +mountains, the star-points of the playing waves, +the films of purple and green which spread +themselves over the calm waters, the sunsets of +gold and orange, and the aerial veils of rose and +amethyst which drop upon the hills from the +skies of morning and evening. The author of +the book of Ecclesiasticus seems to have described +Naples, when he speaks of ‘the pride +of the height, the clear firmament, the beauty +of heaven, with his glorious show.’ ‘See Naples +and then die,’ is a well-known Italian saying; +but it should read, ‘See Naples and then live.’ +One glance at such a scene stamps upon the +memory an image which, forever after, gives a +new value to life.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/elmob.jpg"><img src="images/elmo.jpg" width="400" height="297" alt="CASTEL SANT’ELMO, NAPLES" title="CASTEL SANT’ELMO, NAPLES" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>CASTEL SANT’ELMO, NAPLES</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Naples gives to the visitor the impression of +being a city without a past. If she has a history, +it is not written in her streets. She is +poetic and picturesque, not historic. The +heights of Capodimonte and Sant’Elmo divide +her into unequal parts, and there is the old +Naples which only the antiquarian or the political<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +economist would wish to see, and the new +and modern city which is such a miracle of +beauty that one longs to stay forever, and fails +to wonder that the siren sought these shores. +Naples has either been very much misrepresented +as to its prevailing manners and customs, +or else it has changed within the past decade, +for, as a rule, the gentle courtesy and kindness +of the people are especially appealing. Augustus +often sojourned in Naples, and it was an +especially poetic haunt of Virgil, whose tomb is +here. Although the poverty and the primitive +life of the great masses of the people have been +widely discussed, it is yet true that Naples has +a very charming social life, and that the University +is a centre of learning and culture. +One of the oldest universities in Europe, it has +a faculty of over one hundred and twenty professors +and more than five thousand students. +A large and valuable library, and a mineralogical +collection which specialists from all over +the world come to study, are among the treasures +of this University, which was founded in +the early part of the thirteenth century by +Emperor Frederick William II. There is now in +process of erection a new group of buildings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +which will embody the latest laboratory and +library and other privileges. Archæology is, +naturally, a special feature of the University of +Naples, and the proximity to Pompeii, Herculaneum, +and to the wonderful Pompeian collection +in the Museum of Naples affords peculiar +and unrivalled advantages to students. A bust +of Thomas Aquinas, during his life a lecturer +at this University, is one of the interesting treasures. +The Archives of the Kingdom of Naples +attract many a scholar and savant to this city. +There are in this collection (which is kept in +the monastery adjoining the Church of San +Severino) over forty thousand Greek manuscripts, +some of which date back to the year +700. The Naples Museum is the great repository +of all Pompeian art, and it is rich in sculpture; +but it is badly arranged and the vast series +of galleries and the long flights of stairs make +any study of its work so fatiguing that a visit +to it might rank as one of the seven labors of +Hercules.</p> + +<p>In the royal museum of the Palazzo di +Capodimonte, which is located on the beautiful +height bearing that name, there are some pictures +that are well worth visiting, not because<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +they are particularly good art, but because of +the interest attaching to the subjects. This +gallery is largely the work of modern Neapolitan +artists. Here is the celebrated picture of +Michael Angelo bending over the dead body of +Vittoria Colonna, kissing only her hand, and +haunted by the after-regret that he did not kiss +her forehead. Virginia Lebrun has here portraits +of Maria Theresa and of the Duchess of +Parma; there is one canvas (by Celentano) showing +Benvenuto Cellini at the Castel <a name="tn234" id="tn234"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Sant Angelo'">Sant’Angelo</ins>; +a scene depicting the death of Cæsar and a few +others of some degree of interest.</p> + +<p>Curiously, Naples has never produced great +art. Salvator Rosa was, to be sure, a Neapolitan, +but his is almost the only name that has +made itself immortal in the art of this city. +Domenico Morelli, who has recently died, +made himself felt as an original painter with +certain claims that arrested attention. He is +not a draughtsman, but he is a colorist of passionate +intensity; he has original power and, more +than all, he has a curious endowment of what +may be called artistic clairvoyance. Transporting +himself by the magic of thought to places +on which his eye never rested, he yet sees as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +in vision their special characteristics. In one +of his most important works, the motive of +which is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, +he has painted the desert with a startling +reality. Here is a great plain, the stony, +parched Judean plain, with the very feeling of +its desolation pervading the atmosphere. The +Royal Chapel in Naples was decorated by +Morelli, the ceiling painted with an “Assumption +of the Virgin,” which stands alone in all +the interpretations of this theme; not by virtue +of superior artistic excellence,—on the contrary +its art does not make a strong appeal,—but +by its originality of treatment. The +“Salve Regina” and the “Da Scala d’Oro” +are among the more interesting works of this +artist, whose recent death has removed a figure +of exceptional character in modern art, one +who had, pre-eminently, the courage of his +convictions. Some few years ago Morelli’s +“Temptation of St. Anthony” was exhibited +in both Paris and Florence, and was generally +condemned, perhaps because not wholly understood. +The form of the temptation was supposed +to be the shapes taken by a morbid and +diseased imagination; but while as a psychological<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +conception it was not without value, +it was yet far from attractive as a work of art. +The finest conception, perhaps, ever depicted +of the temptation of St. Anthony—a subject +that has haunted many an artist—is that +painted by the late Carl Guthers of Washington, +a lofty and gifted spirit whose too brief stay +on earth ended in the early months of 1907. +In this picture the temptation of the saint +appears as a vision of all that is purest and +sweetest in life,—wife, children, home; it was +from all this peace and loveliness that St. Anthony +turned, sacrificing personal happiness to +the duty of consecrated service to his Master, +in the exquisite conception of Mr. Guthers. +Edoardo Dalbano is the typical leader of the +Neapolitan school of painting of the present +day, and his fascinating picture, called the +“Isle of Sirens,” representing the sirens singing +in the sunlit Bay of Naples, might well be +held as the keynote to all this enchanting +region. Surely, if the sirens sing not in those +blue waters, it were useless to search elsewhere +for them. Buono is an artist of the Neapolitan +shores, who paints its fisher-folk; Brancaccio +catches the very spirit and animated atmosphere<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +of the street scenes of Naples; <a name="tn237" id="tn237"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Camprani'">Campriani</ins> and +Pratello are landscapists of note; Esposito, too, +despite his Spanish name, is a Neapolitan +marine painter whose work is often most arresting +in its power to catch the flickering sunshine +over blue water that bathes the rocks +rising out of the sea,—these isles of the +sirens from which float the melodies that enchanted +Odysseus.</p> + +<p>The traveller may be surprised to find that +in size Naples ranks fourth on the European +Continent,—Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, +only, exceeding it. Naples should be, not +only a port, a pleasure haunt, and a paradise +for excursions, but one of the great cities +of the world in commercial and in social importance. +It has one of the finest natural +harbors of the world; it has a beautiful and +attractive adjoining country in which to extend, +indefinitely, its residence and trade districts; +it has the most enchanting fairyland of views +that ever were seen this side the ethereal world; +it has an atmosphere of song and story and a +climate that is far from being objectionable. +Naples is seldom the possessor of a higher +temperature in summer than is New York or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +Boston; the winters are mild, and they offer +weeks of sunny loveliness when Rome is swept +by the icy tramontana from the snow-clad +Alban hills. Naples offers, too, exceedingly +good facilities for living; the groups of excellent +hotels, both on the terraces and on the water’s +edge in the lower town and along the Villa +Nazionale, offer every comfort, and the politeness +and courtesy of the Neapolitans, as a rule, +are among the alluring features of this enchanting +city.</p> + +<p>What shall be said of one hotel, especially, +perched on the cliffs, to which one ascends +by an elevator, finding it the most luxurious +fairyland that imagination can conjure? Leaving +the street one walks through a marble tunnel +lighted with electricity, wondering if he is, indeed, +in the grotto of the Muses. Entering a +“lift” truly American in its comfort and speed, +he is wafted up the heights and steps out in—is +it paradise? Here is a large salon entirely +of glass with an incomparable view all over +the gleaming bay, with Capri and Sorrento shining +fair on the opposite sides and Vesuvius, a +purple peak, in the near distance. The great +city of Naples lies spread out below, with its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +interior heights of Capodimonte and others. It +is a view for which alone one might well sail +the four thousand miles of sea from the American +shores. Through open French windows one +may step out on the terrace. If it is cold he +may still enjoy this sublimely wonderful view +behind the glass walls that reveal all its beauty +and protect him from wind or chill. Elsewhere +adjoining salons stretch away, where sunshine, +music, reading matter, and dainty writing-desks +allure the guest and create for him, indeed, an +earthly paradise.</p> + +<p>Of the drive on the Strada Nuova di Posilipo, +skirting the coast while following the winding +rise of the hill, with the sumptuous villas and +gardens on one side and the blue sea on the +other,—what words can suggest its charm? +On a jutting promontory on the ruins of the +Palazzo di Donna Ana are seen the palace +whose convenient location made it possible for +the royal hosts to throw their guests into the +sea whenever they became tiresome, an accommodation +that the modern hostess might, at +times, appreciate. On this road, winding up +the Posilipo, is the villa where Garibaldi passed +the last winter of his life and which is marked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +by a tablet. And everywhere and at every turn +are the beautiful views, commanding Bagnoli, +Camaldoli, Ischia, Baia and Procida, Capri, +Nisida and the Neapolitan waters. The hill +slopes are overgrown with myrtles and orange +trees and roses. Here and there a defile is +filled with a vineyard under careful culture.</p> + +<p>In the presence of all this marvel of nature’s +loveliness the visitor hardly remembers the historic +interest; yet it was on the little island of +Nisida that Brutus and Cassius concocted the +conspiracy against Cæsar. The vast Phlegræan +Plain before the eye is invested with Hellenic +traditions and is the region of many scenes in +the poems of Virgil and Homer. In the years +of the first and second centuries this plain was +dotted with the rich villas of the Roman aristocracy. +Here, too, lay the celebrated Lacus +Avernus, a volcanic lake which the ancients +regarded as the entrance to Avernus itself. +Truly it required little imagination to see here +the approach to the infernal regions. The air +was so poisonous that no bird could fly over the +lake and live. Virgil’s scene of the descent of +Æneas, guided by the sibyl, into the infernal +depths is laid here; and near this lake are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +resorts of the latter-day tourist, known as the +“Sibyl’s Grotto,” the “Grotto della Pace,” +the “Bagni di Sibyl,” and the “Inferno.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/baiaeb.jpg"><img src="images/baiae.jpg" width="400" height="301" alt="ANCIENT TEMPLE, BAIÆ" title="ANCIENT TEMPLE, BAIÆ" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>ANCIENT TEMPLE, BAIÆ</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Baia, on the coast, was the Newport of Rome +in the days of Augustus, Hadrian, Cicero, and +Nero. It was then the most magnificent +summer watering-place known to the world. +The glory of the Roman Empire was reflected +in the glory of Baia. In one of the Epistles of +Horace a Roman noble is made to say: +“Nothing in the world can be compared with +the lovely bay of Baia.” Some five hundred +years ago this region became so malarial that +no one could dwell in it. Fragments and ruins +still remain of the imposing baths and villas +of the Roman occupancy. An old crater called +the Capo Miseno is described by Virgil as the +burial place of Misenus:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“<i>At pius Æneas ingenti mole sepulcrum</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Inponit, suaque arma viro remumque tubamque</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Monte sub aereo, qui nunc Misenus ab illo</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Dicitur aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen.</i>”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Cumæ was the most ancient Greek colony of +Italy on the coast, and the last survivors of the +Tarquinii died here. This is the most classic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +of all these legendary coast towns near Naples, +as it was here that the Cumæan Sibyl dwelt +with the mysterious sibylline leaves,—the books +that were carried to Rome. A colossal Acropolis +was once here, fragments of whose walls +are now standing; and the rocky foundation is +honeycombed with secret passages and openings. +It is here that Virgil’s “Grotto of the +Sibyl” is supposed to have stood,—the grotto +“whence resound as many voices, the oracles +of the prophetess.”</p> + +<p>The journey from Naples to Herculaneum is +easily made by electric train cars within an hour, +and while there is not much to see it is still an +excursion well worth making. Dr. de Petra, +of the chair of Archæology in the University +of Naples, and formerly the Director of the +National Museum, is warmly in favor of the +proposed excavation of this buried city, as is +Professor Spinazzola of the San Martino museum, +who believes that Italy may well become +one vast museum of antiquities. “As the +theatre of Herculaneum is actually at present +a subterranean excavation,” he observed, “why +not excavate in a similar way the entire city +underneath modern Resina? In this way a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +perfectly unique underground museum would +be formed, which would have the merit of +leaving magnificent Roman art treasures exactly +in their proper places in the villas. Such a +work ought to be perfectly practicable, with +the resources of modern engineering, and would +certainly be unique in the world.</p> + +<p>“There would be no need to build a special +museum for the objects discovered. Not only +would this money be saved, but I feel convinced +that so many visitors would be attracted as to +more than pay for the maintenance. A subterraneous +Herculaneum—surely a perfectly +unique place of pilgrimage, just as it was nearly +two thousand years ago—might be lighted by +electric arc lights. I feel certain it would attract +sight-seers from the ends of the world. At the +same time work might go on in the open parts +of the city.</p> + +<p>“Pompeii was more of an industrial town, +while Herculaneum was a favorite resort of the +Roman patricians, who did not bring their treasures +with them from their northern homes, but +had them executed by Greek artists in the south.”</p> + +<p>Under the mighty floods of <i>lava d’acqua</i> that +buried Herculaneum doubtless lie temples, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +splendid forum, magnificent villas, and most +valuable art and literary treasures. In the +eighteenth century excavations brought to light +rare bronzes, mosaics, and papyri. The famous +equestrian statue of <a name="tn244a" id="tn244a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Bulbi'">Balbo</ins>, in the Naples Museum, +was excavated from Herculaneum. Professor +Lanciani and Commendatore Boni of +Rome—the latter the present director of the +Forum, <a name="tn244b" id="tn244b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'succeding'">succeeding</ins> Lanciani—believe that some +of the richest art of ancient times may be found +in Herculaneum; as does Professor Dall’Osso, +inspector of excavations at Pompeii.</p> + +<p>Herculaneum is held to have been founded +by Hercules when he landed at Campania, +returning from Iberia, some three hundred years +B.C., and it was in 63 A.D. that it was destroyed. +Of this cataclysm Pliny, the Younger, +wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The sea seemed to roll back on itself by the +convulsions of the earth. On the other side +hung a black and dreadful cloud, bursting with +fiery and serpentine vapors. Naught was heard +in the darkness but the shrieks of women, the +screams of children, and the frenzied cries of +men calling for children, for wives, for parents,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>—all +lifting hands to the gods, praying and +wishing for death.”</p></div> + +<p>Dr. Charles Waldstein of Cambridge University, +the eminent archæologist, whose efforts +toward initiating the excavation of Herculaneum +were a notable event of 1906, thus +writes of this buried city:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It is important to bear in mind that naturally +all the best works in the Museum of Naples, +especially the bronzes, came from Herculaneum +and not from Pompeii.</p> + +<p>“What is most striking is the marvellous +preservation of these works. This fact of itself +ought to counteract the strange but widespread +misapprehension that, while Pompeii was covered +with cinders and ashes, Herculaneum was +covered with lava, and that the hardness of +that material made excavation difficult, if not +impossible. All geologists and archæologists are +agreed that no lava issued from the eruption of +79 A.D. Herculaneum was covered by a torrent +of mud consisting of ashes and cinders mixed +with water. The mass which covers it, so far +from being less favorable to the preservation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +of objects, is much more favorable than that +which covers Pompeii. Pompeii was partially +covered with hot ashes and pumice stones, +which burnt or damaged the works of art. As +it was not wholly covered, moreover, the inhabitants +returned and dug up some of their +greatest treasures. Herculaneum, on the other +hand, had its actual life, arrested at the highest +point, securely preserved from depredation, to +a depth of eighty feet, by a material which preserved +intact the most delicate specimens which +have come down to us in a state so perfect as +to be really remarkable.</p> + +<p>“The most important of these delicate objects +are manuscripts, of which that one villa produced +1750. The state of preservation is illustrated +by one specimen, giving two pages from +the works of the philosopher Philademus. Unfortunately, +the possessor of the villa was a +specialist, a student of Epicurean philosophy. +While his taste in art was fortunately so catholic, +his taste in literature was narrowed down +by his special bent. Piso was the friend and +protector of the philosopher Philo. Already +sixty-five copies of that author’s works have +been found among the papyri.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +“Yet the city of Herculaneum contained many +such villas, and herein it differed from Pompeii. +Pompeii was a commonplace provincial town +devoted exclusively to commerce; it was not the +resort of wealthy and cultured Romans. It was +essentially illiterate. No manuscript can be +proved to have been found there. It is true a +wax tablet with writing has been found; yet this +contains—receipts of auctions. Herculaneum, +on the other hand, was the favorite resort of +wealthy Romans, who built beautiful villas there +as in our times people from modern Rome +settle for the summer at Sorrento and Castellammare.”</p></div> + +<p>The present descent into the theatre of Herculaneum +is made by a flight of more than a +hundred steps, slippery and cold, in total +darkness save for the candle that is carried by +the guide, and the visitor sees only the stone +seats of the amphitheatre and the stage with +the two vacant niches, the statues that filled +each being now placed in the Museum in +Naples.</p> + +<p>The journey of thirteen miles from Naples +to Pompeii is through a succession of densely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +populated villages that seem to be an integral +part of Naples itself, for there is no line of +demarcation. Portici, Torre del Greco, Torre +dell’Annunziata, and others all blend with each +other and with Naples. However familiar one +has become with the literature of Pompeii, with +both archæological descriptions and imaginative +interpretations in romance, and however familiar +with its aspects he may have become from replicas +in art museums, and from pictures, one can +yet hardly approach this silent, phantom city +without being thrilled by its deep significance. +At a distance of a few miles over the gently +undulating plain rises Vesuvius; one gazes on +the paths where the rivers of molten fire must +have rolled down. George S. Hillard, visiting +Pompeii in 1853, thus described a house which +the visitors of to-day study and admire:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The finest house we saw within the walls +is one which had been discovered and laid bare +about four months previous to the date of our +visit, called the house of the Suonatrice, from a +painting of a female playing on a pipe, at the +entrance. This house was deemed of such +peculiar interest that it was under the charge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +of a special custode, and was only to be seen on +payment of an extra fee. It was not of large +size, but had evidently been occupied by a person +of ample fortune and exquisite taste. The +paintings on the walls were numerous, and in +the most perfect preservation. In the rear was +a minute garden not more than twenty or thirty +feet square, with a fairy fountain in the centre; +around which were several small statues of children +and animals, of white marble, wrought +with considerable skill. The whole thing had +a very curious effect, like the tasteful baby-house +of a grown-up child. Everything in this +house was in the most wonderful preservation. +The metal pipes which distributed the water, +and the cocks by which it was let off, looked perfectly +suited for use. Nothing at Pompeii seemed +so real as this house, and nowhere else were the +embellishments so numerous and so costly.</p> + +<p>“Pompeii, though a Roman city in its political +relations, was everywhere strongly marked +with the impress of the Greek mind. It stood +on the northern edge of that part of Italy which, +from the number of Grecian colonies it contained, +was called Magna Græcia,—a region of +enchanting beauty, in which the genius of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +Greece attained its most luxurious development. +It has been conjectured that Pompeii had an +unusually large proportion of men of property, +who had been drawn there by the charms of its +situation and climate, and that it thus extended +a liberal patronage to Greek architects, painters, +and sculptors. At any rate, the spirit of Greece +still lives and breathes in its ashes. Its temples, +as restored by modern architects, are Greek. +Its works in marble and bronze claim a place +in that cyclus of art of which the metopes of +the Parthenon are the highest point of excellence. +The pictures that embellish the walls, +the unzoned nymphs, the bounding Bacchantes, +the grotesque Fauns, the playful arabesques, +all are informed with the airy and creative spirit +of Greek art.</p> + +<p>“The ruins of Pompeii are not merely an +open-air museum of curiosities, but they have +great value in the illustration they offer to Roman +history and Roman literature. The antiquarian +of our times studies the great realm of +the past with incomparable advantage, by the +help of the torch here lighted.”</p></div> + +<p>From Pompeii to Castellammare, the beautiful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +seaside summer resort of the Neapolitans, +“a lover of nature could hardly find a spot of +more varied attractions. Before him spreads +the unrivalled bay,—dotted with sails and unfolding +a broad canvas, on which the most +glowing colors and the most vivid lights are +dashed,—a mirror in which the crimson and +gold of morning, the blue of noon, and the +orange and yellow-green of sunset behold a +livelier image of themselves,—a gentle and +tideless sea, whose waves break upon the +shore like caresses, and never like angry blows. +Should he ever become weary of waves and +languish for woods, he has only to turn his +back upon the sea and climb the hills for an +hour or two, and he will find himself in the +depth of sylvan and mountain solitudes,—in +a region of vines, running streams, deep-shadowed +valleys, and broad-armed oaks,—where +he will hear the ringdove coo, and see the sensitive +hare dart across the forest aisles. A +great city is within an hour’s reach; and the +shadow of Vesuvius hangs over the landscape, +keeping the imagination awake by touches of +mystery and terror.”</p> + +<p>The road to Sorrento, on a cliff a hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +feet or more above the sea, with mountains on +the other side, towering up hundreds of feet +high; a road cut in many places out of the +solid rock, supported by galleries and viaducts +from below,—a road that crosses deep gorges +and chasms, always with the iridescent colors +of the sea below,—and from Sorrento to +Amalfi again, only, if possible, even more wonderful,—is +there in the world any drive that +can rival this picturesque and sublime route? +Of it George Eliot wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It is an unspeakably grand drive round the +mighty rocks with the sea below; and Amalfi +itself surpasses all imagination of a romantic +site for a city that once made itself famous +in the world.”</p></div> + +<p>Sorrento, with its memories and associations +of Tasso, seems a place in which one cares +only to sit on the balcony of the hotel overhanging +the sea and watch the magic spectacle +of a panorama unrivalled in all the beauty of the +world. Flowers grow in riotous profusion; the +fairy sail of a flitting boat is caught in the deepening +dusk; the dark outline of Vesuvius is seen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +against the horizon; and orange orchards gleam +against gray walls. Here Tasso was born, in +1544, fit haunt for a poet, with tangles of gay +blossoms and the aerial line of mountain peaks. +A low parapet borders the precipice, and over it +one leans in the air heavy with perfume of +locust blossoms. Has the lovely town anything +beside sunsets and stars and poets’ dreams? +Who could ask for more?</p> + +<p>To La Cava,—to Amalfi,—still all a dream +world!</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“O summer day, beside the joyous sea!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O summer day so wonderful and white,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So full of gladness and so full of pain!”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>How Amalfi sets itself to song and music! +Who can enter it without hearing in the air +Longfellow’s beautiful lines?—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Sweet the memory is to me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of a land beyond the sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the waves and mountains meet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where, amid her mulberry-trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sits Amalfi in the heat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bathing ever her white feet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the tideless summer seas.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">’Tis a stairway, not a street,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That ascends the deep ravine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the torrent leaps between<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rocky walls that almost meet.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This is an enchanted land!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Round the headlands, far away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweeps the blue Salernian bay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With its sickle of white sand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Further still and furthermost<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the dim discovered coast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pæstum with its ruins lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And its roses all in bloom.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>If ever a region was dropped out of paradise +designed, solely, for a poet’s day-dreams, +it is Amalfi, and the even more beautiful Ravello +just above. One fancies that it must have been +in the mystic loveliness of this eyrie that the +poet lost himself in a day-dream while Jupiter +was dividing all the goods of the world. When +he reproached the god for not saving a portion +for him, Jupiter replied that all the goods were +gone, it was true, but that his heaven was always +open to the poet.</p> + +<p>The ancient Amalfi, the city of activities and +merchandise, is gone.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Where are now the freighted barks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the marts of east and west?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the knights in iron sarks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Journeying to the Holy Land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glove of steel upon the hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cross of crimson on the breast?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the pomp of camp and court?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the pilgrims with their prayers?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the merchants with their wares?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Vanished like a fleet of cloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a passing trumpet-blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are those splendors of the past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the commerce and the crowd!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fathoms deep beneath the seas<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lie the ancient warves and quays,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swallowed by the engulfing waves.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is impossible to realize that Amalfi was +once a flourishing city of Oriental trade. One +looks in vain for any trace of ruin or shrine that +still suggests the ancient splendors of activity. +The strata of the past, so visible in other mediæval +cities, are not apparent here. The great +cathedral is a most interesting study in the art +of architecture,—its exquisite arcades, its delicate, +lofty campanile glittering in the sun. The +green-roofed cupola is a distinctive feature, +and up the many flights of stairs the old Capuccini +convent lies,—the unique, romantic hotel +where the cells of the monks are now the rooms +of the perpetual procession of guests. Does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +the wraith of Cardinal Capuano, who founded +this convent, still wander in midnight hours +through the dim cloisters? Does he still keep +watch by the body of St. Andrew, the apostle, +which he is said to have found and brought to +the cathedral where the saint lies, as a saint +should lie, gloriously entombed. St. Andrew +was the patron saint of Amalfi, but at his death +his body was carried from Patras to the Bosphorus, +where it was placed in a church in +Constantinople. The legend runs that Cardinal +Capuano, being in Constantinople, entered +the Church of the Holy Apostles to pray, and +knowing that the body of the saint was in that +city, he besought the heavenly powers to guide +him to it. Rising from his devotions he was +approached by an aged priest, who announced +to the Cardinal that the object of his search was +in that very church in which he was praying +for guidance; and, aided by unseen powers, he +was able to recover it and convey it to Amalfi. +All Italian towns that respect themselves offer +the allurement of an entombed saint and if, +occasionally, the same identical saint does duty +for more than one city, who is to decide the +local genuineness of the claim? Nothing in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +all Italy is so curious as is this town of staircases +instead of streets; of houses perched on +the angles of impossible eyries suggesting that, +as the Venetians go about in gondolas, so the +Amalfians must have airships, or the wings of +Icarus, with which to circle in air from their +dwellings to the beach.</p> + +<p>The precipitous gorges and dark ravines have +on their crests low parapets of stone walls over +which the visitor lingers and leans watching the +bluest of seas lying fair under the bluest of skies. +The main road,—there is only one,—descending +from the hill to the water’s edge, makes its +progress through a tunnel.</p> + +<p>The old Amalfi, with its palaces, its arches +and colonnades, lies under the sea. Just as the +Pensione Caterina with its rose walks and terraces +slipped into the sea in December of 1899, +when two guests and several fishermen lost +their lives, so the ancient Amalfi fell, its cliffs +swallowed up in the waters below.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Hidden from all mortal eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deep the sunken city lies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Silent streets and vacant halls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ruined roofs and towers and walls;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Even cities have their graves!”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>When, on a May evening, the white moonlight +falls in cascades of silver sheen over terraces +and sea, with Amalfi all alabaster and +pearl like a dream city in the ethereal air; +when the stars hang low in the skies and the +fairy lights of the fishermen’s boats twinkle far +out at sea; when the summer silence is suddenly +thrilled by the melody of Neapolitan +songs on the air, as if it were a veritable <i>chant +d’amour</i> of sirens,—then does one believe in +the buried city. These rich baritone voices are +surely those of some singers of the buried ages. +They are floating across the centuries since +Amalfi had its pride and place among the great +centres of activity. Atrani, Amalfi’s twin city, +lies in the adjoining defile of the mountains +which arch above them. The strange old +houses are all dazzlingly white, transfigured +under the moon to an unearthly loveliness.</p> + +<p>The tragedy of the ruin of Amalfi is related by +Petrarca, who was then living in Naples. It was +in 1343 that a terrible cataclysm—an earthquake +accompanied by a tempest—caused the destruction +and the submergence of the city in the sea.</p> + +<p>The believers in astrology will find their +faith re-enforced by the fact that a bishop, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +was also an astrologist, had read in the stars +that in December of 1343 a terrible disaster +would occur on the Naples coast. It arrived +on schedule time. Petrarca, writing of it to +Giovanni Colonna, states that in consequence +of the prediction of the bishop, the people were +in a condition of wild terror, endeavoring to +repent of their sins and aspiring to a purer +moral life. In this tide of religious emotion, +ordinary occupations were neglected. On the +very day of the calamity people were crowding +the churches and kneeling in prayer. At night, +after the people were in bed, the shock came. +The sunset had been fair, the evening quiet, +and the people were reassured. But they were +awakened from sleep by the violence of falling +walls and the terror of the tempest. Petrarcha +was lodging in a convent, and he heard the +monks calling to one another as they rushed +from cell to cell. They hastily gathered crosses +and sacred relics in their hands, and, preceded +by the prior, sought the chapel, where they passed +the night in prayer while the tempest raged +outside. The sea broke against the rocks with +a fury that seemed to tear the very foundations +of the earth. The thunder pealed, and mingled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +with it were the shrieks of the frightened populace. +The rain fell in torrents, deluging the city +as if the sea itself were pouring on it. When +the morning came the darkness still continued. +In the harbor broken ships crashed helplessly together. +The sands were strewn with mutilated +dead bodies. Between Capri and the shore the +sea ran mountains high. Amalfi was completely +destroyed, and has never regained her prestige.</p> + +<p>The cathedral at <a name="tn260a" id="tn260a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Revello'">Ravello</ins> has traces of the +rich art it once enshrined, and the rose gardens +of the Palazzo <a name="tn260b" id="tn260b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Rufelo'">Rufolo</ins> might enchant Hafiz himself. +The terrace on the very crest of the mountain +commands one of the wonderful views of the +world. The cloistered colonnades of this old +Saracenic palace reveal views even to the plains +of Pæstum. There are rare mosaics and fragments +of bronzes and marbles yet remaining.</p> + +<p>The noble Greek ruins at Pæstum—the three +temples—stand in all the majesty of utter desolation. +They are overgrown with flowers, however, +and they stand “dewy in the light of the +rising dawn-star.”</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The shrine is ruined now, and far away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To east and west stretch olive groves, whose shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Even at the height of summer noon, is gray.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Yet this was once a hero’s temple, crowned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With myrtle boughs by lovers, and with palm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By wrestlers, resonant with sweetest sound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of flute and fife in summer evening’s calm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And odorous with incense all the year,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With nard and spice and galbanum and balm.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The detour to Pæstum is full of significance. +The massive columns of the temples stand like +giants of the ages. “It is difficult,” writes John +Addington Symonds, “not to return again and +again to the beauty of coloring at Pæstum. +Lying basking in the sun on a flat slab of stone, +and gazing eastward, we overlook a foreground +of dappled light and shadow; then come two +stationary columns built, it seems, of solid gold, +where the sunbeams strike along their russet +surface. Between them lies the landscape, a +medley first of brakefern and asphodel and +feathering acanthus and blue spikes; while +beyond and above is a glimpse of mountains, +purple almost to indigo with cloud shadows, +and flecked with snow.”</p> + +<p>The sail from Amalfi to Pæstum is one incomparable +in loveliness. The sunshine is all +lurid gold. The faint, transparent blue haze +fills all the defiles of the mountains; the cliffs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +disclose yawning caverns where vast clusters of +stalactites hang; and as the boat floats toward +Capri from the Sorrento promontory its rocky +headlands rise and flame into purple and rose +against the glowing sky. Across the Bay of +Naples rises the great city. It stands in some +subtle way reminding one of the scene where one</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“. . . rowing hard against the stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Saw distant gates of Eden gleam.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Capri is the idyllic island of prismatic light +and shade, of gay and joyous life. Here Tiberius +had his summer palace, and it was from these +shores that he sent the historic letter which +revolutionized the life of Sejanus. The letter—<i>verbosa +et grandis epistola</i>—is still vivid in +the historic associations of Rome. Capri is one +of the favorite resorts both for winter and +summer. Its former modest prices are now +greatly increased, like all the latter-day expenses +of Italy; but its beauty is perennial, +and the artist and poet can still command +there a seclusion almost impossible to secure +elsewhere in Italy. The distinguished artist, +Elihu Vedder of Rome, has a country house on +Capri, and another well-known artist, Charles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +Caryl Coleman, makes this island his home. +There are days—sometimes several days in +succession—that the sea is high and the boats +cannot run between Naples, Sorrento, and Capri; +and the enforced seclusion is still the seclusion +of the poet’s dream. For he shares it with +Mithras, the “unconquered god of the sun,” +whose cult influenced all the monarchs of +Europe and who holds his court in the Grotto +de Matrimonia. Into this grotto one descends +by a flight of nearly two hundred feet; he strolls +among the ruins of the villa of Tiberius, where +the very air is still vital and vocal with those +strange and tragic chapters of Roman life. +The Emperor Augustus first founded here palaces +and aqueducts. Tiberius, who retired +to Capri in the year 27 A.D., had his architects +build twelve villas, in honor of the gods, the +largest of these being for Jupiter and known as +the Villa Jovis. In 31 A.D. occurred that +dramatic episode in Roman history, the fall of +Sejanus, and six years later Tiberius died. The +vast white marble baths he had built for him +are now submerged on the coast, and boats glide +over the spot where they stood. The Villa +Jovis stood on a cliff seven hundred feet above<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +the sea, and the traditions of the barbarities and +atrocities that took place there still haunt the +island. The natives apparently regard them as +a certain title to fame, but the wise tourists +persistently ignore horrors; life is made for joy, +sweetness, and charm; it is far wiser to think +on these things.</p> + +<p>And there is charm and joy to spare on +lovely Capri. “Sea-mists are frequent in the +early summer mornings, swathing the cliffs of +Capri and brooding on the smooth water till the +day wind rises,” says John Addington Symonds. +“Then they disappear like magic, rolling in +smoke-wreaths from the surface of the sea, +condensing into clouds and climbing the hills +like Oceanides in quest of Prometheus, or +taking their station on the watch towers of the +world as in the chorus of the Nephelai. Such +a morning may be chosen for the <i>giro</i> of the +island. The Blue Grotto loses nothing of its +beauty, but rather gains by contrast, when +passing from dense fog you find yourself transported +to a world of wavering subaqueous +sheen. It is only through the very topmost +arch that a boat can glide into this cavern; +the arch itself spreads downward through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +water so that all the light is transmitted from +beneath and colored by the sea. Outside the +magic world of pantomime there is nothing to +equal these effects of blue and silver. . . . +Numberless are the caves at Capri. The so-called +Green Grotto has the beauty of moss +agate in its liquid floor; the Red Grotto shows +a warmer chord of color; and where there is +no other charm to notice, endless beauty may +be found in the play of sunlight upon roofs +of limestone, tinted with yellow, orange, and +pale pink, mossed over, hung with fern, and +catching tones of blue or green from the still +deeps beneath. . . . After a day upon the +water it is pleasant to rest at sunset in the +loggia above the sea. The Bay of Naples +stretches far and wide in front, beautiful by +reason of the long fine line descending from +Vesuvius, dipping almost to a level, and then +gliding up to join the highlands of the north. +Now sun and moon begin to mingle: waning +and waxing splendors. The cliffs above our +heads are still blushing like the heart of some +tea-rose; when lo, the touch of the huntress +is laid upon those eastern pinnacles, and the +horizon glimmers with her rising. Was it on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +such a night that Ferdinand of Aragon fled +from his capital before the French, with eyes +turned ever to the land he loved, chanting, +as he leaned from his galley’s stern, that melancholy +psalm, ‘Except the Lord keep the city, +the watchman waketh but in vain,’ and seeing +Naples dwindle to a white blot on the purple +shore?”</p> + +<p>The roses of Capri would form a chapter +alone. What walks there are where the air +is all fragrance of acacia and rose and orange +blossoms! Cascades of roses in riotous luxuriance +festoon the old gray stone walls; the pale +pink of the early dawn or of a shell by the seashore, +the amber of the Banskeia rose, the +great golden masses of the Maréchal Niel, +their faint yellow gleaming against the deep +green leaves of myrtle and frond. The intense +glowing scarlet of the gladiolus flames from +rocks and roadside, and rosemary and the purple +stars of hyacinths garland the ways, until +one feels like journeying only in his singing +robes. The deep, solemn green of stone pines +forms canopies under the sapphire skies, and +through their trunks one gazes on the sapphire +sea. Is Capri the isle of Epipsychidion?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 26em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11">“Is there now any one that knows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What a world of mystery lies deep down in the heart of a rose?”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>One walks among these rose-lined lanes, +hearing in the very air that exquisite lyric by +Louise Chandler Moulton:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 13em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Roses that briefly live,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Joy is your dower;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blest be the Fates that give<br /></span> +<span class="i1">One perfect hour.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, though too soon you die,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In your dust glows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Something the passer-by<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Knows was a Rose.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Monte Cassino is one of the most interesting +inland points in Southern Italy,—the monastery +lying on the crest of a hill nearly two +thousand feet above the sea. Dante alludes +to this in his Paradiso (XXII, XXXVII), and +in the prose translation made by that eminent +Dantean scholar, Professor Charles Eliot +Norton, this assurance of Beatrice to Dante is +thus rendered:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“That mountain on whose slope Cassino is, +was of old frequented on its summit by the +deluded and ill-disposed people, and I am he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +who first carried up thither the name of Him +who brought to earth the truth which so high +exalts us; and such grace shone upon me that +I drew away the surrounding villages from the +impious worship which seduced the world. +Those other fires were all contemplative men, +kindled by that heat which brings to birth holy +flowers and fruits. Here is Macarius, here is +Romuald, here are my brothers, who within the +cloisters fixed their feet, and held a steadfast +heart. And I to him, ‘The affection which +thou displayest in speaking with me, and the +good semblance which I see and note in all +your ardors, have so expanded my confidence +as the sun does the rose, when she becomes +open so much as she has power to be. Therefore +I pray thee, and do thou, father, assure me +if I have power to receive so much grace, +that I may see thee with uncovered shape.’ +Whereon he, ‘Brother, thy high desire shall be +fulfilled in the last sphere, where are fulfilled +all others and my own. There perfect, mature, +and whole is every desire; in that alone is every +part there where it always was: for it is not in +space, and hath not poles; and our stairway +reaches up to it, wherefore thus from thy sight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +it conceals itself. Far up as there the patriarch +Jacob saw it stretch its topmost part when +it appeared to him so laden with Angels. But +now no one lifts his feet from earth to ascend it; +and my rule is remaining as waste of paper. +The walls, which used to be an abbey, have +become caves; and the cowls are sacks full of +bad meal. But heavy usury is not gathered in +so greatly against the pleasure of God, as that +fruit which makes the heart of monks so foolish. +For whatsoever the Church guards is all for the +folk that ask it in God’s name, not for one’s +kindred, or for another more vile. The flesh +of mortals is so soft that a good beginning +suffices not below from the springing of the oak +to the forming of the acorn. Peter began without +gold and without silver, and I with prayers +and with fasting, and Francis in humility his +convent; and if thou lookest at the source of +each, and then lookest again whither it has run, +thou wilt see dark made of the white. Truly, +Jordan turned back, and the sea fleeing when +God willed, were more marvellous to behold +than succor here.”</p></div> + +<p>Dante adds that the company “like a whirlwind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +gathered itself upward,” and that “the +sweet lady urged me behind them, with only +a sign, up over that stairway; so did her virtue +overcome my nature. But never here below, +where one mounts and descends naturally, +was there motion so rapid that it could be +compared unto my wing.”</p> + +<p>The time was when Dante and Beatrice met, +and he “was standing as one who within himself +represses the point of his desire, and attempts +not to ask, he so fears the too-much.” And +then he heard: “If thou couldst see, as I do, +the charity which burns among us thy thoughts +would be expressed. But that thou through +waiting mayst not delay thy high end, I will +make answer to thee, even to the thought concerning +which thou art so regardful.”</p> + +<p>The vast monastery of Monte Cassino, lying +on the crest of a hill nearly two thousand feet +above the sea, has one of the most magnificent +locations in all Italy. This monastery was +founded (in 529 A.D.) by St. Benedict, on the +site of an ancient temple to Apollo. Dante alludes +to this also in the Paradiso (Canto XX, 11). +As seen from below this monastery has the +appearance of a vast castle, or fortress. Its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +location is one of the most magnificent in all +Italy. The old entrance was a curious passage +cut through solid rock and it is still used for +princes and cardinals—no lesser dignitaries being +allowed to pass through it—and within +the past thirty years a new entrance has been +constructed. In the passageway of the mediæval +entrance St. Benedict is said to have had his +cell, and of recent years the German Benedictines, +believing they had located the original cell, +had it located, restored, and decorated with +Egyptian frescoes. Several of the courts of this +convent are connected by beautiful arcades with +lofty arches, and adorned with statues, among +which are those of St. Benedict and his sister, +St. Scholastica. Still farther up the hill, upon +the monastery, stands the church which is built +on the site of the ancient one that was erected +by St. Benedict himself—this present edifice +dating back to 1637. Above the portals there +is a long inscription in Latin relating the history +of the monastery and the church. These portals +are solid bronze, beautifully carved, with +inlaid tablets of silver on which are inscribed a +list of all the treasures of the abbey in the year +1006. The church is very rich in interior decoration<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +of mosaics, rare marbles, and wonderful +monumental memorials. Either side of the +high altar are monuments to the Prince of +Mignano <a name="tn272a" id="tn272a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Ginodone Trieramosca'">(Guidone Fieramosca)</ins> and also to +Piero de Medico. Both St. Benedict and his +sister, St. Scholastica, are entombed under the +high altar, which is one of the most elaborately +sculptured in all the churches of Italy.</p> + +<p>Among the pictorial decorations of this church +are a series of fresco paintings by Luca <a name="tn272b" id="tn272b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Gindano'">Giordano</ins>, +painted in the seventeenth century, representing +the miracles wrought by St. Benedict. In the +refectory is the “Miracle of the Loaves,” by +Bassano; and in the chapel below are paintings +by <a name="tn272c" id="tn272c"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Mazzarappi'">Mazzaroppi</ins> and Marco da Siena. Nothing +can exceed the richness and beauty of the carvings +of the choir stalls. These were executed +in the seventeenth century by Coliccio.</p> + +<p>The library of this monastery is renowned +all over Europe—indeed, it is famous all over +the world—for its preservation of ancient +manuscripts done by the monks. These are +carefully treasured in the archives. Among +them is the record of a vision that came to the +monk Alferic, in the twelfth century, on which +it is believed that Dante founded his immortal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +“Divina Commedia;” there is also a fourteenth-century +edition of Dante with margined notes; +and the Commentary of Origen (on the Epistle +to the Romans), dating back to the sixteenth +century; there is the complete series of Papal +bulls that were sent to the monastery of Monte +Cassino from the eleventh century to the +present time, many of them being richly illuminated +and decorated with curiously elaborate +seals. There is an autograph letter of the Sultan +Mohammed II to Pope Nicholas IV, with +the Pope’s reply,—the theme of the correspondence +being the Pope’s threat of war. The +imperial Mohammed seems to have been in +terror of this, and in his epistle he expresses +his willingness, and, indeed, his intention, to +be converted as soon as he shall visit Rome! +Apparently the Holy Father of that day laid +little stress on the sincerity of this offer on the +part of the Sultan. Here, too, is a wonderful +correspondence between Don Erasmo Gattola, +the historian of the abbey, and a great number +of the celebrated men of his time; and there +are hundreds of other letters, manuscripts, and +documents relating to kings, nobles, emperors, +and many of the nobility of the age.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p> + +<p>In this monastery there is a most interesting +collection of relics, in bronze, silver, gold, and +<i>rosso antico</i>. The library proper contains some +eleven thousand volumes, dating back to the +very dawn of the discovery of the art of printing.</p> + +<p>Mr. Longfellow, whose poet’s pen has pictured +so many of the Italian landscapes and +ancient monuments, thus set Monte Cassino +to music, picturing the entire landscape of the +<a name="tn274" id="tn274"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Terre di Lavorno'">Terra di Lavoro</ins> region:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 23em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The Land of Labor and the Land of Rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Where mediæval towns are white on all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hillsides, and where every mountain’s crest<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Is an Etrurian or a Roman wall.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“There is Aquinum, the old Volscian town,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Where Juvenal was born, whose lurid light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still hovers o’er his birthplace like the crown<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of splendor seen o’er cities in the night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Doubled the splendor is, that in its streets<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The Angelic Doctor as a school-boy played,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dreamed perhaps the dreams that he repeats<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In ponderous folios for scholastics made.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And there, uplifted, like a passing cloud<br /></span> +<span class="i1">That pauses on a mountain summit high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Monte Cassino’s convent rears its proud<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And venerable walls against the sky.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Well I remember how on foot I climbed<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The stony pathway leading to its gate;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above, the convent bells for vespers chimed,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Below, the darkening town grew desolate.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The silence of the place was like a sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">So full of rest it seemed; each passing tread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was a reverberation from the deep<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Recesses of the ages that are dead.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“For, more than thirteen centuries ago,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Benedict fleeing from the gates of Rome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A youth disgusted with its vice and woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Sought in these mountain solitudes a home.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“He founded here his Convent and his Rule<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of prayer and work, and counted work as prayer;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pen became a clarion, and his school<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Flamed like a beacon in the midnight air.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“From the high window, I beheld the scene<br /></span> +<span class="i1">On which Saint Benedict so oft had gazed,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mountains and the valley in the sheen<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of the bright sun,—and stood as one amazed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The conflict of the Present and the Past,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The ideal and the actual in our life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As on a field of battle held me fast,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Where this world and the next world were at strife.”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>The monastery of Monte Cassino entertains, +as its guests, for dinner or for a night, all +gentlemen who visit it; but there is an alms +box on the ancient gate into which the guest +is supposed to place whatever contribution he +pleases for the poor of the place. The Italian +government, in 1866, declared this monastery +to be a “Monumento <a name="tn276" id="tn276"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Nazionali'">Nazionale</ins>,” and it is now +a famous ecclesiastical school with some two +hundred students and a resplendent faculty of +fifty learned monks under the direction of the +Abbot. Some of the most celebrated prelates +in Europe have been educated at Monte Cassino.</p> + +<p>Quite near Monte Cassino, as Longfellow +depicts in his lines, is Monte Aquino, a picturesque +hillside where the “Doctor Angelicus,” +Thomas Aquinas, was born (in 1224), the +son of Count Landulf, in the Castel Roccasecca. +He was educated in the monastery, and +one finds himself recalling here these lines of +Thomas William Parsons, entitled “Turning +from Darwin to Thomas Aquinas:”—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 22em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Unless in thought with thee I often live,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Angelic doctor! life seems poor to me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What are these bounties, if they only be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such boon as farmers to their servants give?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That I am fed, and that mine oxen thrive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That my lambs fatten, that mine hours are free—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These ask my nightly thanks on bended knee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I do thank Him who hath blest my hive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And made content my herd, my flock, my bee.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, Father! nobler things I ask from Thee.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fishes have sunshine, worms have everything!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are we but apes? Oh! give me, God, to know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am death’s master; not a scaffolding,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But a true temple where Christ’s word could grow.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was at Aquinum, too, at the foot of Monte +Aquino, Juvenal was born. Near the peaks of +Monte Cassino and Monte Aquino is that of +Monte Cairo, five thousand five hundred feet +high, from whose summit one of the finest +views of all southern Europe is attained. The +Gulf of Gaeta, the valley of San Germano, the +wild and romantic mountain region of the +Abruzzi and a view, too, of the blue sea are in +the panorama, bathed in the opalescent, gleaming +lights that often invest the Italian landscape +with jewelled splendor.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I ask myself, Is this a dream?<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Will it all vanish into air?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is there a land of such supreme<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And perfect beauty, anywhere?”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>It might have been in this pictured dream-region +that Hercules came to rest.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“When Heracles, the twelve great labors done,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To Calpe came, and there his journey stayed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He raised two pillars toward the evening sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And carved them by a goddess’ subtle aid.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon their shafts were sacred legends traced,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And round the twain a serpent cincture placed:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">’T was at this bound the primal world stood still,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And of Atlantis dreamed, with baffled will.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But still in unmeasured space, still beyond +and afar and unattained, still lost in the unpenetrated +realms of the poet’s fancy,—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Atlantis lies beyond the pillars yet!”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span></div></div> + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 8em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>“Here Ischia smiles</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>O’er liquid miles.”</i><br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr /> +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>High o’er the sea-surge and the sands,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Like a great galleon wrecked and cast</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Ashore by storms, thy Castle stands</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>A mouldering landmark of the Past.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Upon its terrace-walk, I see</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>A phantom gliding to and fro;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>It is Colonna,—it is she</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Who lived and loved so long ago.</i><br /></span> +</div> + + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Longfellow.</span><br /></p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>We are the only two that, face to face,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Do know each other, as God doth know us both.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>—O fearless friendship, that held nothing back!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>O absolute trust, that yielded every key,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And flung each curtain up, and drew me on</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To enter the white temple of thy soul,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>So vast, so cold, so waste!—and give thee sense</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of living warmth, of throbbing tenderness,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of soft dependencies! O faith that made</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Thee free to seek the spot where my dead hopes</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Have sepulture, and read above the crypt</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Deep graven, the tearful legend of my life!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>There, gloomed with the memorials of my past,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Thou once for all didst learn what man accepts</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Lothly—(how should he else?)—that never woman,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Fashioned a woman,—heart, brain, body, soul,—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Ever twice loved.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">“<i>Vittoria Colonna to Michael Angelo.</i>”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Margaret J. Preston.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span></p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV<br /><br /> + +<span class="nob">A PAGE DE CONTI FROM ISCHIA</span></h2> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Unto my buried lord I give myself.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">Michael Angelo!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A man that all men honor, and the model<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That all should follow; one who works and prays,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For work is prayer, and consecrates his life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the sublime ideal of his art<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till art and life are one.<br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>, from “<i>Michael Angelo; A Fragment</i>.”<br /> +</p></div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">In</span> that poetic sail along the Italian coast +between Naples and Genoa the voyager feels +that it is</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“On no earthly sea with transient roar”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">that his bark is floating; that</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Unto no earthly airs he trims his sail,”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">as he flits along this coast when violet waves +dash against a brilliant background of sky. +Ischia reveals herself through the blue, transparent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +air, gleaming with opalescent lights, +quivering, fading and flaming again as the afterglow +in the east rivals in its coloring the sunset +splendors of the west. Is there in the air a +faint, lingering echo of the <i>chant d’amour</i> of +sirens on the rocky shores? Is Parthenope still +to be descried? Gazing upon Ischia there is +a rush of romantic impressions as if one were +transported into ideal regions of song, before +this impression begins to resolve itself into definite +remembrance of fact and incident. Surely +some exquisite associations in the past had enchanted +this island in memory and invested it +with the magic light that never was on sea or +land. Traditions of beauty; of the lives of +scholar and savant and princes of the church; +of a court of nobility enriched and adorned by +prelate and by poet; traditions, too, of a woman’s +consecration to an immortal love and the solace +of grief by poetic genius and exalted friendships,—all +these seem to cling about Ischia in a +vague, atmospheric way till memory, still groping +backward in the twilight of the richly historic +past, suddenly crystallized into recognition +that it was Ischia which was the home of Vittoria +Colonna, the greatest woman poet of the Italian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +Renaissance. Lines, long since read, arose like +an incantation; and like bars of music, each +note of which vibrated in the air, came this +fragment of one of her songs:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“If in these rude and artless songs of mine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I never take the file in hand, nor try<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With curious care and nice, fastidious eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To deck and polish each uncultured line,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">’T is that it makes small merit of my name<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To merit praise. . . .<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But it must be that heaven’s own gracious gift<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, with its breath, divine, inspires my soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strikes forth these sparks unbidden by my will.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/ischiab.jpg"><img src="images/ischia.jpg" width="400" height="239" alt="ISCHIA, FROM THE SEA" title="ISCHIA, FROM THE SEA" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>ISCHIA, FROM THE SEA</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Vittoria Colonna was called the most beautiful +and gifted woman of her time in all Italy. Her +life of nearly sixty years (1490-1547) lay entirely +in that period when the apathy of ten centuries +was broken, when the darkness fled before +the dawning of a glorious day. New methods +of thought, revised taste in poetry, new discoveries +of science, a nobler progress in criticism, +great discoveries, and a lofty and unprecedented +freedom of conviction marked the century +between 1450 and 1550, stamping it as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +marvellous time which we know as the Renaissance, +“that solemn fifteenth century which +can hardly be studied too much, not merely for +its positive results in the things of the intellect +and the imagination, its concrete works of art, +its special and prominent personalities, with their +profound æsthetic charm, but for its general +spirit and character, for the ethical qualities of +which it is a consummate type.”</p> + +<p>It was peculiarly fitting that Italy should take +the initiative in inaugurating this <i>vita nuova</i>. +Italy had a language and literature and art. +Dante had delivered his solemn message and +Petrarca his impassioned song. Boccaccio had +taught the gospel of gladness. Who shall +analyze the secret springs of their inspiration +and reveal to what degree Ovid and Horace and +Virgil influenced the later literature? A new +solar system was established by Copernicus. +America was discovered. Science entered on +her definite and ceaseless progress, and religion +and art became significant forces in human life. +Printing had been invented and the compass +discovered.</p> + +<p>Into this time of new forces, when everything +was throbbing and pulsating with life, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +Vittoria Colonna born into social prestige and +splendor. Her father, Fabrizio Colonna, and +her mother, Agnesina di Montefeltro, a daughter +of the Duke of Urbino, were then domiciled in +the castle of Marino, on the Lago d’Albano, +a magnificent palace some twelve miles from +Rome, in which the Duke d’Amalfi (the father +of Fabrizio Colonna) lived, and which is still +standing, filled with memorials and relics of +historic interest. Urbino, the seat of the Montefeltro, +is renowned as having been the birthplace +of Raphael, who</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Only drank the precious wine of youth,”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">but who</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“. . . lives immortal in the hearts of men,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">. . . and the world is fairer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That he lived in it.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The Colonna date back to the eleventh +century, and they gave many princes and cardinals +to the country. At the close of the thirteenth +century they were arrayed against Boniface +VIII, the Pope, who accused them of crime, +while they disputed the validity of his election +to the holy office. In retaliation, the Pope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +excommunicated the entire family, anathematized +them as heretics and declared their estates +forfeited to the church. The Colonna, far +from being intimidated, commanded three hundred +armed horsemen, attacked the papal +palace, which they plundered, and made him a +prisoner,—an incident referred to by Dante +in the “Inferno.” The Colonna and the <a name="tn286a" id="tn286a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Orsino'">Orsini</ins> +were also at warfare, and when a member of +the former family was elevated to the papacy +under the name of Martin V, they despoiled +property of the Orsini.</p> + +<p>Gay excursionists to-day, who fly over the +Campagna in their twentieth-century touring +cars to the lovely towns of the Alban hills, may +look down from Castel <a name="tn286b" id="tn286b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Gondolfo'">Gandolfo</ins> on the gloomy, +mediæval little town of Marino, part way up +a steep hillside, whose summit is crowned by +the castle once belonging to the Colonna and +in which Vittoria passed her early childhood. +“Nothing,” in his “Roba di Roma,” says Story, +“can be more rich and varied than this magnificent +amphitheatre of the Campagna of Rome, +. . . sometimes drear, mysterious, and melancholy +in desolate stretches; sometimes rolling +like an inland sea whose waves have suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +become green with grass, golden with grain, and +gracious with myriads of wild flowers, where +scarlet poppies blaze and pink daisies cover +vast meadows and vines shroud the picturesque +ruins of antique villas, aqueducts, and tombs, +or drop from mediæval towers and fortresses.”</p> + +<p>Flying in the swift motor-car of the time +toward the Alban hills, Marino may be easily +reached in less than an hour from the Porta +San Giovanni, and in the near distance Monte +Albani, rising into the cone of Monte Cavi, +is a picture before the eye, while on the lower +slopes gleam the white villages of Albani, +Marino, Castel <a name="tn287" id="tn287"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Gondolfo'">Gandolfo</ins>, and Frascati, with +the campanile of a cathedral, a fortress-like +ruin, or gardens and olive orchards clambering +up the heights. The Papal town of Rocca di +Papa crowns one summit where once Tarquin’s +temple to Jupiter stood and on whose ruins +now gleam afar in the Italian sunshine the +white walls of the Passionist convent of Monte +Cavi, built by Cardinal York. From this height +Juno gazed upon the great conflict of contending +armies, if Virgil’s topography be entitled +to authority. And here, through a defile in +the hills, one may look toward Naples, “and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +then rising abruptly with sheer limestone cliffs +and crevasses, where transparent purple shadows +sleep all day long, towers the grand range of the +Sabine mountains, whose lofty peaks surround +the Campagna to the east and north like a +curved amphitheatre. . . . Again, skirting the +Pontine Marshes on the east, are the Volscian +mountains, closing up the Campagna at Terracina, +where they overhang the road and +affront the sea with their great barrier. Following +along the Sabine hills, you will see at +intervals the towns of Palestrina and Tivoli, +where the Anio tumbles in foam, and other little +mountain towns nestled here and there among +the soft airy hollows, or perched on the cliffs.”</p> + +<p>In this landscape there are three ruined +villages—Colonna, Gallicano, and Zagarda—perched +on their respective hills. The castle +of the Colonna family is now restored and +modernized to a degree that leaves little trace +of that former stately grandeur which is transmuted +into modern convenience and comfort.</p> + +<p>In this scene of romantic beauty, with the +vista of beauty almost incomparable in any +inland view in Italy, Vittoria passed her infancy, +until, at the age of four, her childhood was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +transplanted to fairy Ischia. In all this chain +of Alban towns, including Marino, Viterbo, Ariccia, +and Rocca di Papa, the great family of the +Colonna owned extensive estates, each crowning +some height, while the defiles between were +filled, then as now, with the foam and blossom +of riotous greenery. Then, as now, across the +mystic Campagna, the dome of St. Peter’s silhouetted +itself against a golden background of +western sky.</p> + +<p>One needs not to have had privileged access +to the sibylline leaves of the Cumæan soothsayer +to recognize that Vittoria Colonna was +born under the star of destiny. Her horoscope +seemed to be inextricably entwined with that of +Italy; and the events which created and determined +the conditions of her life and its panoramic +series of circumstances were the events +of Italy and of Europe as well—in political +aspects and in the influence on general progress, +brought to bear by strong and prominent individualities +whose gifts, genius, or force dominated +the movements of the day.</p> + +<p>To her father’s change of political allegiance, +from the French to the Spanish side, in the +war raging between those countries in 1494,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +Vittoria owed all her life in Ischia; and her +marriage, and all that resulted from her becoming +a member of the d’Avalos family, was due +to this espousal of a new political faith on the +part of Fabrizio Colonna. To the fact that in +1425 the war with France again broke out was +due the loss of her husband and the conditions +that consecrated her life to poetry, to learning, +and that made possible the beautiful and sympathetic +friendship between herself and Michael +Angelo. Her life presents the most forcible +illustration of the overruling power on human +life and destiny.</p> + +<p>It was the political change of faith on the +part of Fabrizio Colonna that initiated an unforeseen +and undreamed-of drama of life for his +infant daughter, the first act of which included +the command of the King of Naples that the +little Vittoria should be betrothed to Francesco +d’Avalos, the son of Alphonso, Marchese di +Pescara, of Ischia, one of the nobles who stood +nearest to the king in those troubled days. +Francesco was born in the castle on Ischia in +1489, and was one year older than Vittoria. +Fabrizio exchanged his castle at Marino for +one in Naples, which city made him the Grand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +Constable. The d’Avalos castle in Ischia had +at this time for its chatelaine the Duchessa di +Francavilla, who is said by some authorities +to have been the elder sister and by others to +have been the aunt of Francesco. Donna Constanza +d’Avalos, later the Duchessa di Francavilla, +had been made the Castellana of the +island for her courage in refusing to capitulate +to the French troops when, after the death of +her father, she was left in sole charge of the +d’Avalos estates, and Emperor Charles V elevated +her rank to that of Principessa. The +Duchessa was one of the most remarkable +women of the day. She was a classical scholar, +and herself a writer, the author of a book entitled +“<i>Degli Infortuni e Travagli del Mondo</i>.” +To the care of this learned and brilliant woman, +a great lady in the social life of the time, the +care of the little Vittoria was committed, and +she studied and played and grew up with +Francesco, her future husband. The d’Avalos +family ranked among the highest nobility of +the Court of Naples, and the Principessa reigned +as a queen of letters and society in her island +kingdom. It was under her care that the two +children, Francesco and Vittoria, pursued their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +studies together and acquired every grace of +scholarship and accomplishment of society. The +circles which the Duchessa drew around her +included many gentlewomen from Sicily and +from Naples; and “the life at Castel d’Ischia +was synonymous with everything glorious and +elegant,” recorded Visconti, “and its fame has +been immortalized.” Although Francesco (the +future Marchese di Pescara) was born in Italian +dominions, yet the d’Avalos family were of +Spanish ancestry and traditions. The musical +Castilian was the language of the household. +The race ideals of Spain—the poetic, the impassioned, +the joy in color and movement—pervaded +the very atmosphere of Castel d’Ischia. +Vittoria’s earliest girlhood revealed her exceptional +beauty and charm, and gave evidence +that the gods loved her and had dowered her +with their immortal gifts and genius, which +flowered, under the sympathetic guidance and +stimulus of such a woman as the Principessa +(the Duchessa di Francavilla) and the society +she drew around her, as the orange and the +myrtle flower under the southern sunshine.</p> + +<p>The literature of biography presents no chapter +that can rival this in the idyllic beauty of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +the lives of those two children on the lovely +island in the violet sea. The perpetual conflicts +that were waged in both Rome and Naples +awakened no echoes in this romantic and +isolated spot, whose atmosphere was that of +the peace of scholarly pursuits and lofty thought +that is found where the arts and the muses +hold their sway.</p> + +<p>But in 1496 came the tragedy of the death +of the young king and queen of Naples; four +years later Rome celebrated a jubilee in which +Naples took part, sending a splendid procession +as escort to the famous Madonna that was +carried from Naples to Rome and back, working +miracles, it is said, on both journeys, as a +Madonna should. A year later Frederick of +Naples and the queen, and two of the king’s +sisters,—ladies of high nobility,—came as +guests to the castle in Ischia,—royal exiles +seeking shelter. Five years later the new king +and queen were welcomed with gorgeous parade +and acclamation. A pier was thrown out over +one hundred feet into the sea; on this a tent of +gold was erected, and all the nobility of Naples, +in the richest costumes of velvet and jewels, +thronged to meet the royal guests. Over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +sunlit Bay of Naples resounded the thunder of +the guns in military salute and the cheers of +the people. Among the distinguished nobility +present, Costanza, Duchessa and Principessa +di Francavilla, was a marked figure with her +young charge, Vittoria Colonna, at her side. +She made a deep reverence and kissed the hand +of the king as he passed, as did many of the +ladies of highest rank, and at the fête of that +evening Vittoria’s beauty charmed all eyes. +Although it was well understood that she had +been betrothed since childhood to Francesco +d’Avalos, yet many princes and nobles sued +for her hand and were refused by her father, +who was at this time established magnificently +in Naples. Pope Julius II refused the pleadings +of two dukes, both of whom wished to seek +Vittoria in marriage, as he considered the love +of the young girl for her betrothed a matter to +be held sacred. Three years later, when Vittoria +was nineteen and Francesco twenty, their +marriage was celebrated in Castel d’Ischia with +the richest state and beauty of ceremonial +observance. A few months previous to this +time she had returned to her father’s country +home in the family castle at Marino, whither<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +both Fabrizio and Agnese Colonna accompanied +their daughter. When the time appointed for +her bridal came, Vittoria was escorted to Ischia +by princes, and dukes, and ladies of honor, and +the marriage gifts to the bride included a chain +of rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, linked with +gold; a writing desk of solid gold; wonderful +bracelets; costumes of velvets, and brocades and +rich embroideries, and a portion of fourteen +thousand ducats.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/roccab.jpg"><img src="images/rocca.jpg" width="400" height="262" alt="LA ROCCA, ISCHIA" title="LA ROCCA, ISCHIA" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>LA ROCCA, ISCHIA</small></p> +</div> + +<p>“The noted pair had not their equals in Italy +at this time,” writes a contemporary historian. +“Their life in Naples was all magnificence and +festivity, and when they desired to exchange it +for the country they left Naples for <a name="tn295a" id="tn295a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Pietzalba'">Pietralba</ins> +on Monte Emo, where they assembled pleasant +parties of ladies and gentlemen. Much time +was passed in their beloved Ischia, where the +Duchessa, as Castellana, was obliged to receive +much company. And here were found the +flower of chivalry and the men most noted in +letters. . . . They listened to the poets Sanazzaro, +il Rota, and Bernardo Tasso; or they +heard the admirable discourses on letters of +Musefico, il <a name="tn295b" id="tn295b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Givoio, and il Minturo'">Giovio, and il Minturno</ins>. It was an +agreeable school for the youthful minds of Vittoria<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +and Pescara. Thus passed in great happiness +the first three years of their married life.”</p> + +<p>It is not strange that to the young Marchesa +di Pescara, Ischia had become an enchanted +island. The scene of her happy childhood, of +her studies, of her first efforts in lyric art, of +her stately and resplendent bridal; the home, +too, of her early married life,—it is little +wonder that in after years she translated into +song its scenic loveliness and the thoughts and +visions it had inspired.</p> + +<p>Again, the ever-recurring war came on, and +in the spring of 1512 the King of Naples conferred +the doubtful privilege on the Marchesa +di Pescara of serving as the royal representative. +It is said that Vittoria personally superintended +her young husband’s outfit,—in horses, attendants, +armor, and other details belonging to +a gentleman of rank. Her father and her uncle, +Prospero Colonna, were also among the military +who led Italian troops. In the terrible battle +of Ravenna (which was fought on the Easter +Sunday, April 11, of 1512), Pescara was wounded, +taken prisoner, and carried to the fortress of +Porta Gobbia. A messenger was sent to Ischia, +where Vittoria lived between her books and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +orange groves; and the twentieth-century cynic +of 1907 will smile at the form in which she +expressed her sorrow,—that of a poem of +some forty stanzas, which began:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“<i>Eccelso Mio Signor! Questa ti scrivo</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Per te narrar <a name="tn297a" id="tn297a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'tre'">tra</ins> quante dubbie voglie,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Fra quanti aspri martir, <a name="tn297b" id="tn297b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'degliosa'">dogliosa</ins> io vivo!</i>”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A translation of this lyric epistle, made in +prose, gives it more fully as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Eccelso Mio Signor: I write this to thee to +tell thee amid what bitter anxieties I live. . . . +I believed that so many prayers and tears, and +love without measure, would not have been +displeasing to God. . . . Thy great valor has +shone as in a Hector or an Achilles.”</p></div> + +<p>In this letter Vittoria tells him that when +the messenger reached her, she was lying on +a point of the island (“<i>I</i>, in the <i>body</i>, my <i>mind</i> +always with <i>thee</i>,” she says), and that the whole +atmosphere had been to her that day “like a +cavern of black fog,” and that “the marine +gods seemed to say to Ischia, ‘To-day, Vittoria, +thou shalt hear of disgrace from the confines:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +thou now in health and honor, thou shalt be +turned to grief; but thy father and husband are +saved, though taken prisoners.’”</p> + +<p>This presentiment she related to her husband’s +aunt, the Duchessa Francavilla, the +Castellana of Ischia, who begged her not to +think of it and said, “It would be strange for +such a force to be conquered.”</p> + +<p>Just after this conversation between the +youthful Marchesa and the Duchessa, the +messenger arrived. The psychic science of +to-day would see in this occurrence a striking +instance of telepathy. In her poetic epistle +to her husband, Vittoria also says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“A wife ought to follow her husband at home +and abroad; if he suffers trouble, she suffers; +if he is happy, she is; if he dies, she dies. What +happens to one happens to both; equals in +life, they are equals in death. His fate is her +fate.”</p></div> + +<p>These letters—in keeping with the times—were, +on both sides, expressed in literary rather +than in personal form. Pescara, from his captivity, +wrote to her a “Dialogue on Love,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>—a +manuscript for which Visconti notes that he +has searched in vain.</p> + +<p>The Marchesa di Pescara went from Ischia +to Naples, after learning of the misfortunes +that had overtaken her husband, in order that +she might be able constantly to receive direct +communication regarding his fate. A few +months later the Marchese returned, making +the day “brilliant with joy” to Vittoria, but after +a year of happiness he was again called to service, +and the Marchesa returned to her beloved +Ischia. She gave herself to the study of the +ancient classics; she wrote poems, and “considered +no time of value but so spent,” says +Rota. The age was one of a general revival +of learning. Royalty, the Pope, the princes +and nobility were all giving themselves with +ardor to this higher culture. Under Dante the +Italian language assumed new perfection. This +period was to Vittoria one of intense stimulus, +and it must have had a formative influence on +her gifts and her mental power. Having no +children, she adopted a young cousin of her +husband, the Marchese del Vasto, to educate +and to be the heir of their estates. In 1515, +Pescara again returned and the entire island<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +of Ischia was “aflame with bonfires, and the +borders of the beautiful shore bright and warm +with lights,” in honor of the event. Of this +event, Vittoria wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“. . . My beloved returns to us . . . his +countenance radiant with piety to God, with +deeds born of inward faith.”</p></div> + +<p>At a magnificent wedding festival in the +d’Avalos family about this time, it is recorded +that the Marchesa di Pescara “wore a robe of +brocaded crimson velvet, with large branches of +beaten gold wrought on it, with a headdress of +wrought gold and a girdle of beaten gold around +her waist.”</p> + +<p>When the coronation of Charles V was to be +celebrated at Aix-la-Chapelle the Marchese di +Pescara was appointed ambassador to represent +the House of Aragon on this brilliant occasion, +when the new emperor was to be invested with +the crown and the sceptre of Charlemagne. +Charles had decided to journey by sea and to +visit Henry VIII on the way, an arrangement +of which Cardinal Wolsey was aware, although +he had kept Henry in ignorance of it, according<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +to those curious mental processes of his mind +where his young monarch was concerned. +Shakespeare, in the play of “King Henry VIII,” +describes the meeting of the two kings, which +occurred at Canterbury, “at a grand jubilee in +honor of the shrine of Thomas à Becket.” +One historian thus describes this scene:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The two handsome young sovereigns rode +into Canterbury under the same canopy, the +great Cardinal riding directly in front of them, +and on the right and left were the proud nobles +of Spain and England, among whom was Pescara. +The kings alighted from their horses at +the west door of the cathedral and together +paid their devotions before that rich shrine +blazing with jewels. They humbly knelt on +the steps worn by the knees of tens of thousands +of pilgrims.”</p></div> + +<p>On the return to Naples of the Marchese di +Pescara he told the story of his regal journey +to an assemblage of nobles in the Church of +Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto, and he then +joined the Marchesa in Rome, where she had +gone to visit her family and to pay her devotions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +to Leo X, who had just created Pompeo +Colonna a cardinal.</p> + +<p>Pope Leo aspired to draw around him a +court distinguished for its culture and brilliancy +in both art and literature. In this court +the Marchesa di Pescara shone resplendent. +“She was at the height of her beauty, and her +charms were sung by the poets of the day,” +says a contemporary.</p> + +<p>A year later Leo X died, succeeded by Adrian +(who had been tutor to Charles V), to the +intense and bitter disappointment of Cardinal +Wolsey, who had made the widest—and wiliest—efforts +to gratify his own ambition of reigning +in the Papal chair. Again the war between +France and Italy, that which seemed to be a +perpetually smouldering feud, and the Marchese +di Pescara, again summoned to battle, +was wounded at Pavia. For some time he lay +between life and death at Milan, and a messenger +was sent to beg Vittoria to come to him. +She set out on this journey, leaving Naples in +great haste; but on reaching Viterbo another +messenger met her with the tidings of the death +of the Marchese, which had occurred on Nov. 25, +1525. Overcome with grief, Vittoria was carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +back to Rome and for the solace of entire +seclusion she sought the cloistered silence of +the convent of San Silvestre, which lay at the +foot of the Monte Cavallo in Rome, almost +adjoining the gardens of the Colonna palace. +To the Marchese di Pescara, who had the military +rank of general, was given a funeral of great +pomp and splendor in Milan, and his body was +brought to the famous Naples church of Santa +Domenica Maggiore, where it was entombed +with the princes and nobles of his house.</p> + +<p>Before the death of the Marchese there had +been a political plot to join the Papal, Venetian, +and Milanese forces and rescue Italy from the +Emperor’s rule, and the Pope himself had sent +a messenger to Pescara asking him to unite +with the league. The Marchese, Spanish by +ancestry and by sympathies, used this knowledge +to frustrate the Italian designs and to +warn Spain. The Italian historians have execrated +him for this act, which they regard as +that of a traitor. Vittoria, however, did not +take this view apparently, as in a letter to her +husband she wrote:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>“Titles and kingdoms do not add to true +honor. . . . I do not desire to be the wife of +a king, but I glory in being the wife of that +great general who shows his bravery in war +and, still more, by magnanimity in peace, surpasses +the greatest kings.”</p></div> + +<p>The inducement of the throne of Naples had +been held out to Marchese di Pescara. He +evidently regarded this in the nature of a dishonorable +bribe, and it is this view which the +Marchesa plainly shared.</p> + +<p>After his death her first impulse was to take +the vows of a cloistered nun. The Pope himself +intervened to dissuade her, and she consented +to enter, only temporarily, the convent +of San Silvestre on the Monte Cavallo.</p> + +<p>In the will of the Marchese di Pescara there +was a clause directing that anything in his +estate unlawfully acquired should be restored +to the owner; and under this, Vittoria gave back +to the monastery of Monte Cassino the Monte +San <a name="tn304" id="tn304"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Mano'">Magno</ins> that had formerly been its property.</p> + +<p>From the cloistered shades of the convent +Vittoria removed to the family castle of the +Colonna at Marino, where, on the shore of this +beautiful lake (which was the scenery of Virgil’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +Æneid), she passed some months, engaged +in writing sonnets. Of one of these a translation +runs in part:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I write solely to assuage my inward grief, +which destroys in my heart the light of this +world’s sun; and not to add light to <i>mio <a name="tn305" id="tn305"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'vel solo'">bel +sole</ins></i>, to his glorified spirit. It is fit that other +tongues should preserve his great name from +oblivion.”</p></div> + +<p>In another, perhaps her most perfect sonnet, +she beseeches the winds to convey to her beloved +the message she sends:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“<i>Ch’io di lui sempre pensi; o pianga, o parli</i>,”—That +I always think of him, or weep for him, +or speak of him.</p></div> + +<p>Again, a year later, Vittoria returned to +lovely Ischia, which, as one writer has described, +“rises out of the blue billows of the Mediterranean +like giant towers. The immense blocks +of stone are heaped one upon another, in such +a supernatural manner as to give a coloring to +the legend, that beneath them, in those vast<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +volcanic caverns, dwells the giant Tifeo.” The +castle where the Duchessa Francavilla and the +Marchesa Pescara lived is built on a towering +mass of rock joined to the island by a causeway. +The castle includes the palace, a church, +and other buildings for the family and their +guests and dependants.</p> + +<p>For some three years the Marchesa did not +again leave Ischia. In the mean time volumes +of her poems were published. She received the +acclamation of all the writers of her time. The +crown of immortelles, often laid but on a tomb, +was continually pressed upon her brow. She +was the most famous woman of her time. Her +beauty, her genius, her noble majesty of character +impressed the contemporary world. Her +days were filled with correspondence with the +most distinguished men of the day. Ariosto, +Castiglione, Ludovico Dolce, Cardinal Bembo, +Cardinal Contarini, and Paolo Giovio were +among her nearer circle of friends.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/alfonsob.jpg"><img src="images/alfonso.jpg" width="400" height="267" alt="CASTELLO DI ALFONSO, ISCHIA" title="CASTELLO DI ALFONSO, ISCHIA" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>CASTELLO DI ALFONSO, ISCHIA</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Stormy times fell upon Italy, in all of which +the Colonna family bore prominent part, and +all of which affected the life of Vittoria Colonna +in many ways. Her biography, if written with +fulness and accuracy, would be largely a history<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +of the Italy of that time, for her life seemed +always inseparably united with great events.</p> + +<p>In the year 1530 (Clement VII being the +Pope) a full Papal pardon had been extended +to all the Colonna, and their castles and estates +had also been restored to them. For years past +Rome had been in a state of conflict. Benvenuto +Cellini, who had watched the terrible +scenes from Castel San Angelo where he was +immured, has described the terrors. The Eternal +City, whose population under Leo X had +been 90,000, was now—in 1530—reduced to +half that number. Palaces and temples had +been the scenes of riot and destruction, yet to +this very lawlessness of the time the Roman +galleries of the present owe their ancient statues, +which were uncovered by these assaults. The +Coliseum was left in the ruined state in which +it is now seen, and by the sale of the stones +taken from it the Palazzo Barberini was +erected.</p> + +<p>Vittoria, coming again to Rome and revisiting +its classic greatness, exclaimed that happy +were they who lived in times so full of grandeur; +to which the poet Molza gallantly replied that +they were less happy, as they had not known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +her! Everywhere was she received with the +highest honors. She made a tour, visiting +Bagni di Lucca, Bologna, and Ferrara, where +she was the guest of the Duca and Duchessa +Ercole in the ducal palace. The Duchessa was +the Princesse Renée, the daughter of Louis XII +of France, and an ardent friend of Calvin, who +visited her in Ferrara. It was to this visit that +Longfellow refers in his poem entitled “Michael +Angelo,” when he pictures Vittoria as sitting +for her portrait to the artist and conversing with +her friend Giulia, the Duchess of Trajetto, +Michael Angelo begs them to resume the conversation +interrupted by his entrance, and +Vittoria says:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Well, first, then, of Duke Ercole, a man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cold in his manners, and reserved and silent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And yet magnificent in all his ways.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>To which the Duchessa replies:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 22em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“How could the daughter of a king of France<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wed such a duke?”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">MICHAEL ANGELO.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">“The men that women marry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And why they marry them, will always be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A marvel and a mystery to the world.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">VITTORIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And then the Duchess,—how shall I describe her,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or tell the merits of that happy nature<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which pleases most when least it thinks of pleasing?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not beautiful, perhaps, in form and feature,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet with an inward beauty, that shines through<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each look and attitude and word and gesture;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A kindly grace of manner and behavior,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A something in her presence and her ways<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That makes her beautiful beyond the reach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of mere external beauty; and in heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So noble and devoted to the truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And so in sympathy with all who strive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">After the higher life.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">JULIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">“She draws me to her<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As much as her Duke Ercole repels me.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">VITTORIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Then the devout and honorable women<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That grace her court, and make it good to be there;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Francesca Bucyronia, the true-hearted,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lavinia della Rovere and the Orsini,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Magdalena and the Cherubina,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Anne de Parthenai, who sings so sweetly;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All lovely women, full of noble thoughts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And aspirations after noble things.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">With these ladies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was a young girl, Olympia Morata,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Daughter of Fulvio, the learned scholar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Famous in all the universities:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">A marvellous child, who at the spinning-wheel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in the daily round of household cares,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hath learned both Greek and Latin; and is now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A favorite of the Duchess and companion<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Princess Anne. This beautiful young Sappho<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sometimes recited to us Grecian odes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That she had written, with a voice whose sadness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thrilled and o’ermastered me, and made me look<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the future time, and ask myself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What destiny will be hers.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">JULIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12">“And what poets<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were there to sing you madrigals, and praise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Olympia’s eyes?” . . .<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">VITTORIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“None; for great Ariosto is no more.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">JULIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“He spake of you.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">VITTORIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">“And of yourself, no less,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And of our master, Michael Angelo.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">MICHAEL ANGELO.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Of me?”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">VITTORIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">“Have you forgotten that he calls you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Michael, less man than angel, and divine?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You are ungrateful.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">MICHAEL ANGELO.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i9">“A mere play on words.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The Duca and Duchessa of Ferrara invited +the most distinguished persons in Venice and +Bologna and Lombardy to meet their honored +guest. Bishop Ghiberto of Verona besought +her to visit that city. Vittoria accepted and +was for some time the Bishop’s guest in his +palace, and she took great interest in the historic +city. With the Bishop she visited the ancient +Duomo, which in 1160 had been restored by Pope +Urban II, and reconsecrated. It was a strong +desire of the Marchesa at this time to make a +pilgrimage to Jerusalem; but the journey was +then so perilous and so long—none too easy, +indeed, at the present time—that she was dissuaded +from the attempt.</p> + +<p>Verona, to do her honor, had a medal struck +bearing her portrait. The group of great artists—Titian, +Tintoretto, and Giorgione in Venice; +Fra Angelico, Bartolommeo, and others of that +day—were creating their wonderful works which +Vittoria must have seen and enjoyed during +this tour. Raphael, whose death had occurred +in 1520, Vittoria had, doubtless, known; but +whether it was she who was the original of the +Muse in his great picture of “Parnassus,” as +is alleged, is not fully established.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/parnassusb.jpg"><img src="images/parnassus.jpg" width="400" height="307" alt="DETAIL FROM “PARNASSUS,” RAPHAEL STANZE, PALAZZO VATICANO, ROME Raphael Sanzio" title="DETAIL FROM “PARNASSUS,” RAPHAEL STANZE, PALAZZO VATICANO, ROME Raphael Sanzio" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>DETAIL FROM “PARNASSUS,”<br /> RAPHAEL STANZE, PALAZZO VATICANO, ROME<br /> Raphael Sanzio</small></p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Unto my buried lord I give myself,”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">wrote Vittoria Colonna in one of the sonnets +to her husband’s memory, and this line is the +keynote to her entire life, both as woman and +poet. It was no translation of her life into +another key, no reckoning by stars that flashed +from different skies, when there fell upon her +the baptism and crown of that immortal friendship +with Michael Angelo.</p> + +<p>The Marchesa di Pescara returned to Rome, +from this notable tour in Northern Italy, in +1538. She was received with the honors that +her fame inspired. Michael Angelo was then +deeply absorbed in painting his “Last Judgment,” +in the Capella Sistina.</p> + +<p>“Every one in Rome took an interest in the +progress of this magnificent fresco, from the +Pope (who continually visited the artist) down +to the humblest of the people. We may imagine +Vittoria standing by the great painter to +view his sublime work; but Michael Angelo +did not require the patronage, even of a Colonna, +and it is possible that Vittoria herself first +sought out his friendship.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 270px;"> +<a href="images/vittoriab.jpg"><img src="images/vittoria.jpg" width="270" height="400" alt="VITTORIA COLONNA, GALLERIA BUONARROTI, FLORENCE" title="VITTORIA COLONNA, GALLERIA BUONARROTI, FLORENCE" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>VITTORIA COLONNA,<br /> GALLERIA BUONARROTI, FLORENCE</small></p> +</div> + +<p>In the Casa Buonarroti, in Florence, hangs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +that exquisite picture painted of Italy’s greatest +woman poet, in her early youth; and in its rare +and precious collection of manuscripts are the +letters of Vittoria to the poet and sculptor. Her +influence is said to have produced a great change +in his religious views, influencing his mind to a +more lofty and more spiritual comprehension of +the divine laws that govern the universe.</p> + +<p>Condivi, in referring to this chapter in their +lives, has said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“In particular he was most deeply attached +to the Marchesa di Pescara, of whose divine +spirit he was enamoured, and he was beloved +by her in return with much affection.”</p></div> + +<p>It was about 1535 when Michael Angelo left +Florence for Rome, appointed by the Pope, +Paul III, as the chief architect, sculptor, and +painter of the Vatican. He was enrolled in +the Pontifical household, and he at once began +his work in the Sistine Chapel. Mr. Symonds +believes that he must have been engaged upon +the “Last Judgment” through 1536, 1537. The +great artist was not without a keen wit of his +own as well; for on receipt of a letter from Pietro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +Aretino, from Venice, in September of 1537, +with praises of his work that Michael Angelo +deemed extravagant, he replied that while he +rejoiced in Aretino’s commendation, he also +grieved; “as having finished a large part of the +fresco,” he said, “I cannot realize your conception +which is so complete that if the Day of +Judgment had come and you had been present +and seen it with your eyes, your words could +not have described it better.”</p> + +<p>Vittoria Colonna now passed some years +between Rome and Orvieto, that picturesque +town with its magnificent cathedral rich in +mediæval art, where she lived in the convent of +St. Paolo d’Orvieto. She varied this residence +by remaining at times in the convent of San +Caterina di Viterbo, in that city. In Rome she +had lived both at the convent of Santa Anna +and also at the Palazzo Cesarini, which was the +home of members of the Colonna family. A +sonnet of Michael Angelo’s written to Vittoria +reflects the feeling that she inspired in him:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Da che concetto ha l’arte intera e diva<br /></span> +<span class="i1">La forma e gli atti d’alcun, poi di quello<br /></span> +<span class="i1">D’umil materia un semplice modello<br /></span> +<span class="i0">È ’l primo parto che da quel deriva.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ma nel secondo poi di pietra viva<br /></span> +<span class="i1">S’adempion le promesse del martello;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">E sì rinasce tal concetto e bello,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Che ma’ non è chi suo eterno prescriva.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Simil, di me model, nacqu’io da prima;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Di me model, per cosa più perfetta<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Da voi rinascer poi, donna alta e degna.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Se ’l poco accresce, ’l mio superchio lima<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Vostra pietà; qual penitenzia aspetta<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Mio fiero ardor, se mi gastiga e insegna?”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Of this sonnet the following beautiful translation +is made by John Addington Symonds:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 22em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“When divine Art conceives a form and face,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">She bids the craftsman for his first essay<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To shape a simple model in mere clay:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This is the earliest birth of Art’s embrace.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the live marble in the second place<br /></span> +<span class="i1">His mallet brings into the light of day<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A thing so beautiful that who can say<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When time shall conquer that immortal grace?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus my own model I was born to be—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The model of that nobler self, whereto<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Schooled by your pity, lady, I shall grow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each overplus and each deficiency<br /></span> +<span class="i1">You will make good. What penance then is due<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For my fierce heat, chastened and taught by you?”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The correspondence between Vittoria and +Michael Angelo was undated, and all that now +remains is fragmentary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span></p> + +<p>The great artist, writing to his nephew, +Sionardo, in 1554, says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Messer Giovan Francisco Fattucci asked +me about a month ago if I possessed any writings +of the marchioness. I have a little book +bound in parchment which she gave me some +ten years ago. It has one hundred and three +sonnets, not counting another forty she afterward +sent on paper from Viterbo. I had these +bound into the same book, and at that time I +used to lend them about to many persons so +that they are all of them now in print. In +addition to these poems I have many letters +which she wrote from Orvieto and Viterbo. +These, then, are the writings I possess of the +marchioness.”</p></div> + +<p>In Rome, 1545, Michael Angelo thus writes +to Vittoria:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I desired, lady, before I accepted the things +which your ladyship has often expressed the +will to give me—I desired to produce something +for you with my own hand in order to be as +little as possible unworthy of this kindness. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +have now come to recognize that the grace of +God is not to be bought, and that to keep it +waiting is a grievous sin. Therefore I acknowledge +my error and willingly accept your +favors. When I possess them—not, indeed, +because I shall have them in my house, but for +that I myself shall dwell in them—the place will +seem to encircle me with paradise. For which +felicity I shall remain ever more obliged to your +ladyship than I am already, if that is possible.</p> + +<p>“The bearer of this letter will be Urbino, who +lives in my service. Your ladyship may inform +him when you would like me to come and see +the head you promised to show me.”</p></div> + +<p>With this letter Michael Angelo sent to +Vittoria a sonnet which, in the translation +made by John Addington Symonds, is as +follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 23em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Seeking at least to be not all unfit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For thy sublime and boundless courtesy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My lowly thoughts at first were fain to try<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What they could yield for grace so infinite.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But now I know my unassisted wit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is all too weak to make me soar so high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For pardon, lady, for this fault I cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wiser still I grow remembering it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, will I see what folly ’t were to think<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That largess dropped from thee like dews from heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Could e’er be paid by work so frail as mine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To nothingness my art and talent sink;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He fails who from his mental stores hath given<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A thousandfold to match one gift divine.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As a gift to Vittoria Colonna, Michael Angelo +designed an episode from the Passion of our +Lord, which Condivi describes as “a naked +Christ at the moment when, taken from the +cross, our Lord would have fallen at the feet +of His most holy mother if two angels did not +support Him in their arms. She sits below the +cross with a face full of tears and sorrow, lifting +both her widespread arms to heaven while on +the stem of the tree above is written this legend: +‘<i>Non vi si pensa quanto sangue costa.</i>’ The +cross is of the same kind as that which was carried +by the White Friars at the time of the +plague of 1348, and afterward deposited in the +Church of Santa Croce at Florence.”</p> + +<p>In presenting this cross to her he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Lady Marchioness, being myself in Rome, I +thought it hardly fitting to give the Crucified +Christ to Messer Tommaso, and to make him an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> +intermediary between your ladyship and me, +especially because it has been my earnest wish +to perform more for you than for any one I +ever knew upon the world. But absorbing occupations, +which still engage me, have prevented +my informing your ladyship of this. Moreover, +knowing that you know love needs no taskmaster, +and that he who loves doth not sleep, +I thought the less of using go-betweens. And +though I seemed to have forgotten, I was doing +what I did not talk about, in order to effect a +thing that was not looked for, my purpose has +been spoiled. He sins who faith like this so +soon forgets.”</p></div> + +<p>In reply Vittoria Colonna wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Unique Master Angelo and my most singular +friend: I have received your letter and examined +the crucifix which truly hath crucified +in my memory every other picture I ever saw. +Nowhere could one find another figure of our +Lord so well executed, so living, and so exquisitely +finished. I cannot express in words +how subtly and marvellously it is designed. +Wherefore I am resolved to take the work as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +coming from no other hand but yours. . . . I +have examined it minutely in full light and by +the lens and mirror, and never saw anything +more perfect.”</p></div> + +<p>She added:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“. . . Your works forcibly stimulate the +judgment of all who would look at them. My +study of them made me speak of adding goodness +to things perfect in themselves, and I +have seen now that ‘all is possible to him who +believes.’ I had the greatest faith in God that +He would bestow upon you supernatural grace +for the making of this Christ. When I came +to examine it I found it so marvellous that it +surpasses all my expectations. Wherefore, emboldened +by your miracles I conceived a great +desire for that which I now see marvellously +accomplished: I mean that the design is in all +parts perfect and consummate. I tell you that I +am pleased that the angel on the right hand is +by far the fairer, since Michael will place you, +with all angels, upon the right hand of the Lord +some day. Meanwhile I do not know how +else to serve you, than by making orisons to this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +sweet Christ, whom you have drawn so well +and exquisitely, and praying you to hold me +yours to command as yours in all and for all.”</p></div> + +<p>Again Vittoria wrote to him:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I beg you to let me have the crucifix a short +while in my keeping, even though it be unfinished. +I want to show it to some gentlemen +who have come from the most reverend, +the Cardinal of Mantua. If you are not working +will you not come at your leisure to-day +and talk with me?”</p></div> + +<p>It is an interesting fact to the visitor in the +Rome of to-day that the convent of San Silvestre +where Vittoria Colonna lived was attached to +the church of San Silvestre in Capite, now used +as the English-speaking Catholic church in the +Eternal City. The wing which was formerly +the convent (founded in 1318) is now converted +into the central post office.</p> + +<p>It was in the sacristy of San Silvestre, decorated +with frescoes by Domenichino, that a +memorable meeting and conversation took place, +one Sunday afternoon in those far-away days of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> +nearly five hundred years ago, between Michael +Angelo and Francesco d’Ollanda, a Spanish +miniature artist,—the meeting brought about +by Vittoria Colonna. The Spanish artist was +a worshipper of Michael Angelo, who “awakened +such a feeling of love,” that if d’Ollanda +met him in the street “the stars would come out +in the sky,” he says, “before I would let him go +again.” This fervent worship was hardly enjoyed +by its object, who avoided the Spanish +enthusiast. One Sunday, however, d’Ollanda +had gone to San Silvestre finding there Tolomei, +to whom he was also devoted, and Vittoria +Colonna, both of whom had gone to hear the +celebrated Fra Ambrosia of Siena expound the +Epistles of St. Paul. The Marchesa di Pescara +observed that she felt sure their Spanish friend +would far rather hear Michael Angelo discuss +painting than to hear Fra Ambrosia on the +wisdom of St. Paul. Summoning an attendant +she directed him to find Michael Angelo and tell +him how cool and delightful was the church +that morning and to beg him to join Messer +Tolomei and herself; but to make no mention +of the presence of d’Ollanda. Her woman’s +tact and her faultless courtesy were successful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> +in procuring this inestimable privilege for the +Spanish painter. Michael Angelo came, and +began the conversation—which was a monologue, +rather, as all three of the friends wished +only to listen to the master—by defending +artists from the charge of eccentric and difficult +methods. With somewhat startling candor +Michael Angelo proceeded:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I dare affirm that any artist who tries to +satisfy the better vulgar rather than men of +his own craft will never become a superior +talent. For my part, I am bound to confess +that even his Holiness wearies and annoys +me by begging for too much of my company. +I am most anxious to serve him, . . . but I +think I can do so better by studying at home +than by dancing attendance on my legs in his +reception room.”</p></div> + +<p>Another meeting of this little group was appointed +for the next Sunday in the Colonna +gardens behind the convent, under the shadow +of the laurel trees in the air fragrant with roses +and orange blossoms, where they sat with Rome +spread out like a picture at their feet. That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +beautiful terrace of the Colonna gardens, to +which the visitor in Rome to-day always makes +his pilgrimage, with the ruined statues and the +broken marble flights of steps, is the scene of +this meeting of Vittoria Colonna, Michael +Angelo, and Francesco d’Ollanda. On this second +occasion the sculptor asserted his belief +that while all things are worthy the artist’s +attention, the real test of his art is in the representation +of the human form. He extolled the +art of design. He emphasized the essential +nature of nobleness in the artist, and added:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“In order to represent in some degree the +adored image of our Lord, it is not enough that +a master should be great and able. I maintain +that he must also be a man of good conduct +and morals, if possible a saint, in order that the +Holy Ghost may rain down inspiration on his +understanding.”</p></div> + +<p>Of the relative degree of swiftness in work +Michael Angelo said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“We must regard it as a special gift from +God to be able to do that in a few hours which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +other men can only perform in many days of +labor. But should this rapidity cause a man +to fail in his best realization it would be better +to proceed slowly. No artist should allow his +eagerness to hinder him from the supreme end +of art—perfection.”</p></div> + +<p>Mr. Longfellow, in his unfinished dramatic +poem, “Michael Angelo” (to which reference +has already been made), has one scene laid in +the convent chapel of San Silvestre, in which +these passages occur:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">VITTORIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Here let us rest awhile, until the crowd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has left the church. I have already sent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Michael Angelo to join us here.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">MESSER CLAUDIO.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“After Fra Bernardino’s wise discourse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the Pauline Epistles, certainly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some words of Michael Angelo on Art<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were not amiss, to bring us back to earth.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">MICHAEL ANGELO, <i>at the door</i>.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“How like a Saint or Goddess she appears!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Diana or Madonna, which I know not,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In attitude and aspect formed to be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At once the artist’s worship and despair!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">VITTORIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Welcome, Maestro. We were waiting for you.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">MICHAEL ANGELO.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I met your messenger upon the way.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hastened hither.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">VITTORIA.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i9">“It is kind of you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To come to us, who linger here like gossips<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wasting the afternoon in idle talk.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These are all friends of mine and friends of yours.”<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="char">MICHAEL ANGELO.<br /></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“If friends of yours, then are they friends of mine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pardon me, gentlemen. But when I entered<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw but the Marchesa.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Vittoria tells the master that the Pope has +granted her permission to build a convent, and +Michael Angelo replies:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 18em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i7">“Ah, to build, to build!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is the noblest art of all the arts.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Painting and sculpture are but images,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are merely shadows cast by outward things<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On stone or canvas, having in themselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No separate existence. Architecture,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Existing in itself, and not in seeming<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A something it is not, surpasses them<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As substance shadow. . . .<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i7">. . . Yet he beholds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Far nobler works who looks upon the ruins<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of temples in the Forum here in Rome.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If God should give me power in my old age<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To build for Him a temple half as grand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As those were in their glory, I should count<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My age more excellent than youth itself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all that I have hitherto accomplished<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As only vanity.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>To which Vittoria responds:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i7">“I understand you.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Art is the gift of God, and must be used<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unto His glory. That in art is highest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which aims at this.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The poet, with his characteristically delicate +divination, has entered into the inner spirit of +these two immortal friends.</p> + +<p>Walter Pater, writing of Michael Angelo, +truly says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Michael Angelo is always pressing forward +from the outward beauty—<i>il bel del fuor che +agli occhi piace</i>—to apprehend the unseen +beauty; <i>trascenda nella forma universale</i>—that +abstract form of beauty about which the Platonists +reason. And this gives the impression +in him of something flitting and unfixed, of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> +houseless and complaining spirit, almost clairvoyant +through the frail and yielding flesh.”</p></div> + +<p>Again we find Pater saying:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Though it is quite possible that Michael +Angelo had seen Vittoria, that somewhat shadowy +figure, as early as 1537, yet their closer +intimacy did not begin till about the year 1542, +when Michael Angelo was nearly seventy years +old. Vittoria herself, an ardent Neo-Catholic, +vowed to perpetual widowhood since the news +had reached her, seventeen years before, that +her husband, the youthful and princely Marquess +of Pescara, lay dead of the wounds he +had received in the battle of Pavia, was then +no longer an object of great passion. In a +dialogue written by the painter, Francesco +d’Ollanda, we catch a glimpse of them together +in an empty church at Rome, one Sunday afternoon, +discussing indeed the characteristics of +various schools of art, but still more the writings +of St. Paul, already following the ways and +tasting the sunless pleasures of weary people, +whose hold on outward things is slackening. +In a letter still extant he regrets that when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +visited her after death he had kissed her hands +only. He made, or set to work to make, a +crucifix for her use, and two drawings, perhaps +in preparation for it, are now in Oxford. . . . +In many ways no sentiment could have been +less like Dante’s love for Beatrice than Michael +Angelo’s for Vittoria Colonna. Dante’s comes +in early youth; Beatrice is a child, with the +wistful, ambiguous vision of a child, with a +character still unaccentuated by the influence +of outward circumstances, almost expressionless. +Vittoria is a woman already weary, in +advanced age, of grave intellectual qualities. +Dante’s story is a piece of figured work inlaid +with lovely incidents. In Michael Angelo’s +poems frost and fire are almost the only images—the +refining fire of the goldsmith; once or twice +the phœnix; ice melting at the fire; fire struck +from the rock which it afterwards consumes.”</p></div> + +<p>Visconti notes that among Italian poets, +Vittoria Colonna was the first to make religion +a subject of poetic treatment, and the first to +introduce nature’s ministry to man into poetry. +Rota, her Italian biographer, states that she +died in February of 1547, in the Palazzo Cesarini.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> +This palace is in Genzano, on Lago di +Nemi, and has been one of the Colonna estates; +but from Visconti and other authorities it is +evident that she died in Rome, either in the +convent of Santa Anna or in the palace of Cesarini, +the husband of her kinswoman, Giulio +Colonna, which must have been near the convent +in Trastevere, the old portion of Rome +across the Tiber. Visconti records that on the +last evening of her life when Michael Angelo +was beside her, she said: “I die. Help me to +repeat my last prayer. I do not now remember +the words.” He clasped her hand and repeated +it to her, while her own lips moved, she gazed +intently on him, smiled and passed away. +This translation has been made of Vittoria +Colonna’s last prayer:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Grant, I beseech Thee, O Lord, that I may +ever worship Thee with such humility of mind +as becometh my lowliness and such elevation of +mind as Thy loftiness demandeth. . . . I entreat, +O Most Holy Father, that Thy most +living flame may so urge me forward that, not +being hindered by any mortal imperfections, I +may happily and safely again return to Thee.”</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is recorded by an authority that her body, +“enclosed in a casket of cypress wood, lined +with embroidered velvet,” was placed in the +chapel of Santa Anna which has since been +destroyed. Visconti says: “She desired, with +Christian humility, to be buried in the manner +in which the sisters were buried when they died. +And, as I suppose, her body was placed in the +common sepulchre of the nuns of Santa Anna.” +Grimm declares that he cannot discover the +place of her burial, and Visconti declares that +her tomb remains unknown.</p> + +<p>But it is apparently a fact that the body of +Vittoria Colonna is entombed in the sacristy +of Santa Domenica Maggiore in Naples, the +sarcophagus containing it resting by the side +of the one containing the body of her husband, +Francesco d’Avalos, Marchese of Pescara. This +church is one of the finest in Naples, with +twenty-seven chapels and twelve altars, and it +is here that nearly all the great nobles of the +kingdom of Naples are entombed. Here is the +tomb of the learned Thomas Aquinas and here +is shown, in relief, the miracle of the crucifix +by Tommaso de Stefani, which—as the legend +runs—thus addressed the learned doctor:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>“<i>Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo +mercedem <a name="tn332" id="tn332"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'recipris'">recipies</ins>?</i>”</p> + +<p>To which he replied: “<i>Non aliam nisi +te.</i>”</p> + +<p>It is in the sacristy in which lie all the Princes +of the House of Aragon that the sarcophagi +of the Marchese and the Marchesa di Pescara +are placed side by side in the high gallery +near the ceiling. The altar has a fine Annunciation +ascribed to Andrea da Salerno. The +ceiling (whose coloring is as fresh and vivid +as if painted yesterday) is by Solimena. Around +the walls near the ceiling are two balconies +or galleries, filled with very large wooden +sarcophagi, whose scarlet velvet covers have +faded into yellow browns with pink shades, +many of which are tattered and are falling to +pieces. The casket containing the body of Fernando +Francesco d’Avalos, Marchese of Pescara +(the husband of Vittoria Colonna), has on +it an inscription by Ariosto; and his portrait +(showing in profile a young face with blonde +hair and a full reddish brown beard) and a +banner, also, is suspended above the casket. +That containing the body of the Marchesa, +his wife (Vittoria Colonna), has an aperture at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +the top where the wood is worn away and the +embalmed form, partly crumbled, may be seen. +This seems strange to the verge of fantasy, but +it is, apparently, true. The writer of this +volume visited the Church of Santa Domenica +Maggiore in Naples in December of 1906, and +was assured by the sacristan that this sarcophagus +contains the body of the Marchesa. Inquiries +were then made of other prelates and of +the Archbishop, who gave the same assurance. +Later, learned archæologists in Rome were +appealed to, regarding this assertion made in +Naples, and the consensus of opinion obtained +declares their assertion true. Professor Lanciani +has himself publicly expressed this conviction. +Still, it remains a curious question as +to when this sarcophagus was placed in the +sacristy, for the date goes back into long-buried +centuries.</p> + +<p>Adjoining Santa Domenica Maggiore is the +monastery in which Thomas Aquinas lived and +lectured (in 1272), and the cell of the great +doctor of philosophy is now made into a chapel. +His lectures called together men of the highest +rank and learning and were attended by the +king and the members of the royal family.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> +The entire locality of this church is replete with +historic association. The most distinguished of +the nobility of Naples have, for centuries, held +their chapels in this church, and in these are +many notable examples of Renaissance sculpture.</p> + +<p>The Accadémia des Arcades of Rome, +founded in the seventeenth century to do honor +to lyric art, celebrated the placing of a bust of +Vittoria Colonna in a gallery of the Capitoline, +in May of 1865, by a resplendent poetic festa. +According to the gentle, leisurely customs of the +land, where it is always afternoon and time has +no value, thirty-two poets read their songs, +written in Latin or in Italian, for this occasion, +which were published in a sumptuous volume +to be preserved in the archives of the Arcadians, +who take themselves more seriously than the +world outside quite realizes. This bust of Vittoria +Colonna was the gift of the Duca and +Duchessa of Torlonia of that period. It was +crowned with laurel, as that of Petrarca had +been, and the government took official recognition +of the event.</p> + +<p>Goethe was made a member of this Accadémia +that regarded itself as reflecting the glories of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +the Golden Age of Greece, and which was a +century old at the time of his visit to Italy. +“No stranger of any consequence was readily +permitted to leave Rome without being invited +to join this body,” he recorded, and he wrote +a humorous description of the formalities of +his initiation.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Horatio Greenough was honored by +being made a member of this Accadémia in +recognition of her musical accomplishments, +and the record of it is placed on the memorial +marble over her grave in the Protestant cemetery +in Rome. Every year, on Tasso’s birthday +(April 25), the Accadémia holds a festa in a +little amphitheatre near “Tasso’s oak,” on the +Janiculum, at which his bust is crowned with +laurel. The gardens in which the seventeenth-century +Arcadians disported themselves are now +known among the Romans as <i>il Bosco Parrasio +degli Arcadi</i>.</p> + +<p>Throughout Italy the fame of Vittoria Colonna +only deepens with every succeeding century. +Her nobility of character, her lofty spirituality +of life, fitly crowned and perfected her intellectual +force and brilliant gifts. Although from +the customs of the time the Marchesa lived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> +much in convents, she never, in any sense, save +that of her fervent piety, lived the conventual +life. Her noble gifts linked her always to the +larger activities, and her gifts and rank invested +her with certain demands and responsibilities +that she could not evade. She was one of +the messengers of life, and her place as a +brilliant and distinguished figure in the contemporary +world was one that the line of +destiny, which pervades all circumstances and +which, in her case, was so marked, absolutely +constrained her to fill. She had that +supreme gift of the lofty nature, the power of +personal influence. Her exquisite courtesy and +graciousness of manner, her simple dignity and +unaffected sincerity, her delicacy of divination +and her power of tender sympathy and liberal +comprehension all combined to make her the +ideal companion, counsellor, and friend, as well +as the celebrity of letters and lyric art.</p> + +<p>No poet has more exquisitely touched the +friendship between Vittoria Colonna and Michael +Angelo than has Margaret J. Preston, +in a poem supposed to be addressed to the +sculptor by Vittoria, in which occur the +lines:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“We twain—one lingering on the violet verge,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And one with eyes raised to the twilight peaks—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall meet in the morn again.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 3em; margin-right: -3em;">*****</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">. . . Supremest truth I gave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quick comprehension of thine unsaid thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Reverence, whose crystal sheen was never blurred<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By faintest film of over-breathing doubt;<br /></span> +<span class="i8">. . . helpfulness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such as thou hadst not known of womanly hands;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sympathies so urgent, they made bold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To press their way where never mortal yet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Entrance had gained,—even to thy soul.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is the <i>Page de Conti</i> that one reads in +the air as he sails past Ischia on the violet sea; +and the <i>chant d’amour</i> of the sirens catches +the echo of lines far down the centuries:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I understood not, when the angel stooped,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whispering, ‘Live on! for yet one joyless soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Void of true faith in human happiness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Waits to be won by thee, from unbelief.’<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Now, all is clear. For <i>thy</i> sake I am glad<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I waited. Not that some far age may say,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘<i>God’s benison on her, since she was the friend</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of Michael Angelo!</i>’”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span></div></div> + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>So sometimes comes to soul and sense</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The feeling which is evidence</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>That very near about us lies</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The realm of spiritual mysteries.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The sphere of the supernal powers</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Impinges on this world of ours.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The low and dark horizon lifts,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To light the scenic terror shifts;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The breath of a diviner air</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Blows down the answer of a prayer:—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>That all our sorrow, pain, and doubt</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>A great compassion clasps about,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And law and goodness, love and force,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Are wedded fast beyond divorce.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Then duty leaves to love its task,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The beggar Self forgets to ask;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>With smile of trust and folded hands,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The passive soul in waiting stands</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To feel, as flowers the sun and dew,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The One true Life its own renew.</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Whittier.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="blockquot2"><p>“<i>For Thou only art holy. Thou only art the Lord. Thou +only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the Glory +of God the Father.</i>”</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Sometimes in heaven-sent dreams I do behold</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>A city with its turrets high in air,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Its gates that gleam with jewels strange and rare,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And streets that glow with burning of red gold;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And happy souls, through blessedness grown bold,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Thrill with their praises all the radiant air,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>And God himself is light, and shineth there</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>On glories tongue of man hath never told.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>And in my dreams I thither march, nor stay</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>To heed earth’s voices, howsoe’er they call,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Or proffers of the joys of this brief day,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>On which so soon the sunset shadows fall;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I see the Gleaming Gates, and toward them press—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>What though my path lead through the Wilderness?</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Louise Chandler Moulton.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span></p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V<br /><br /> + +<span class="nob">VOICES OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI</span></h2> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, Italy! thy strength, thy power, thy crown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lie in the life that in Assisi stirs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The heart, with impulse of self-sacrifice;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where still St. Francis gathers weary souls<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In his great love, which reaches out to all.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">. . . His blessing falls<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In clear sweet tones: “<i>Benedicat tibi</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Convertat vultum suum ad te et</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Det Pacem!</i>” Hushed and holy silence breathes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">About the wanderer who lifts his heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To catch the echo of that voice of love.<br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Celia Richmond.</span><br /> +</p></div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> mystic pilgrimage to Assisi, the “Seraphic +City,” prefigures itself almost as a journey to +the Mount of Vision. “Any line of truth that +leads us above materialism,” says Dr. Wilberforce, +Venerable Archdeacon of Westminster +Abbey, “that forces us to think, that encourages +the imagination to pierce the world’s +cobwebs, that forces us to remember that +we are enwrapped by the supernatural, is +helpful and stimulating. A human life lived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +only in the seen and felt, with no sense of the +invisible, is a fatally impoverished life, a poor, +blind, wingless life, but to believe that ever +around us is a whole world full of spiritual +beings; that this life, with its burdens, is but +the shadow which precedes the reality; that +here we are but God’s children at school, is +an invigorating conviction, full of hope, productive +of patience and fruitful in self-control.”</p> + +<p>To an age imprisoned in the fear of God +the “sweet saint,” Francis, brought the message +of the love of God. To an age crushed under +the abuses of religion as an organization of +feudal bishops and ecclesiastics, St. Francis +brought the message of hope and of joy. He +revealed to his age the absolute reality of the +spiritual world that surrounds us. He was +born into a time when there existed on the +one hand, poverty and misery; on the other, +selfish and debasing self-indulgence of wealth +and its corresponding oppression of the poor. +The Church itself was a power for conquest +and greed. Its kingdom was of this world. +St. Bernard and others had nobly aimed to +effect a reform and had illustrated by their own +lives the beautiful example of simplicity and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +unselfishness, but their work failed in effectiveness +and permanent impress.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Oh, beauty of holiness!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of self-forgetfulness, of lowliness.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Not only in beauty, but in power does it +stand. St. Francis brought to the sad and +problematic conditions of his time that resistless +energy of infinite patience, of a self-control +based on insight into the divine relationships +of life, and of unfailing fidelity to his high purpose. +Through good report or through evil +report he kept the faith, and pressed onward +to the high calling of God. The twelfth and the +thirteenth centuries had been a period of religious +unrest and chaos. As Archdeacon Wilberforce +has so impressively said in the words +quoted from him, a life lived with no sense of +the invisible is blind and impoverished. The +movement initiated by St. Francis proclaimed +anew the divine grace and love.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 25em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Tokens are dead if the things live not. The light everlasting<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unto the blind is not, but is born of the eye that has vision.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Something not unlike this trend of thought +must drift through the mind of every one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> +who journeys through the lovely Umbrian +country to Assisi, one of those picturesquely +beautiful hill towns of Italy whose romantic +situation impresses the visitor. Seen from a +little distance, one could hardly imagine how +it could be reached unless he were the fortunate +possessor of an airship. The entire region +is most picturesque in character. Journeying +from Rome to Assisi there is a constant ascent +from the Campagna to the Apennines, +and the road passes through wild defile and +valley with amethyst peaks shining fair against +the sky, with precipitous rocks, and the dense +growth of oak and pine trees. In some places +the valley is so narrow that the hills, on either +side, rise almost within touch of the hand from +the car window. The hill towns are frequent, +and the apex of these towns is invariably +crowned with a castle, a cathedral, or a ruin, +and around it, circling in terraces, is built the +town. The charm largely vanishes when fairly +in these circling roads, for on either side are +high walls, so that one’s view is completely +bounded by them; but from the summit and +from the upper floors of the houses the most +beautiful views are obtained. The Umbrian region,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> +in which are located Perugia, Assisi, Spello, +Foligno, Spoleto, Terni, Narni, and others, is +simply the gem region of all Italy. The Umbrians +are the most ancient of the Italian people, +and Assisi claims to have been founded eight +hundred and sixty-five years before the founding +of Rome. It was the scene of constant +warfare, and the streets are all underlaid by +subterranean passages, in which the inhabitants +could disappear from their enemies.</p> + +<p>To this ancient Umbrian city, from which +went out the life and light that carried wonderful +currents of vitality and illumination to all +Italy and into almost all parts of the world, one +comes as to a special and a sacred pilgrimage. +For this mediæval town, perched on the top of +a rocky hill, is the birthplace of St. Francis, +the founder of the Franciscan order; in it were +the scenes of his early life, and here, in 1226, +at the age of forty-four years, he died. The +convent-church of San Francesco, built to his +memory in 1230; the lower church, completed at +that date, while the upper was finished in 1253; +the magnificent Cathedral of Santa Maria Degli +Angeli, completed in 1640; the Church of Santa +Chiara and the Duomo, are the points of interest.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/assisib.jpg"><img src="images/assisi.jpg" width="400" height="301" alt="SAN FRANCESCAN CONVENT-CHURCH, ASSISI" title="SAN FRANCESCAN CONVENT-CHURCH, ASSISI" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>SAN FRANCESCAN CONVENT-CHURCH, ASSISI</small></p> +</div> + +<p>The purple Apennines, on one spur of which +Assisi is built, are a picturesque feature of lovely +Umbria. The old houses of Assisi rise white +in the sunshine. The ancient walls still surround +the city, and its towers stand as they +stood before the eyes of St. Francis, almost seven +centuries ago. The peak of Mt. Subasio, a +neighboring peak of the Apennines, looms above +the colossal rock that crowns the hill around +whose top Assisi clusters in winding terraces. +The massive pile of the Francescan church and +monastery—the two churches, one above the +other—forms an architectural group whose imposing +aspect arrests the eye of every traveller +for miles around. The pointed arches of the +cloisters and the square campanile contrast +rather than blend in an effective and harmonious +manner and resemble military fortifications +rather than an edifice of the church. The old +walls still surround Assisi, and the houses all +rise white under the blue Italian sky. The +narrow streets, hardly wide enough for one carriage +to pass another, are so intricate in their +curves as they climb the steep hill, that it requires +a faith hardly less than the traditional +degree said to move mountains to lead the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> +visitor to suppose that he will ever emerge from +one that he has entered. Many of the houses +along these curious thoroughfares have no windows, +the only light and air coming through the +open door. The bells from the campanile +of the Francescan convent-church, from the +Duomo and from the Church of Santa Chiara +ring every quarter of an hour; and this constant +clash of bells is almost the only sound that +breaks the silence of the mediæval town, which +lends itself to visions and to dreams. On the +very air is stamped the impress of St. Francis. +His personality, his teachings, his faith pervaded +the atmosphere in a way that no one +could believe until he had himself entered into +the experience. In narration it cannot but +seem like a pleasing and half-poetic fancy; +but the lingerer in this shrine of religion +and art will realize that the actual personality +of the man who trod these streets nearly +seven hundred years ago is strangely before +him. Canon Knox Little, in a series of lectures +on St. Francis of Assisi delivered in +the Ladye Chapel of Worcester Cathedral a +few years since, says of the panorama of the +town:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The scene which from Assisi presented itself +daily to his youthful eyes must have had, did +have, as we know, a lasting effect upon his mind. +From thence the eye surveys a noble coronet of +stately mountains. You look from Radicofani, +above Trena, to Monte Catria, famous as the +scene of some of Dante’s saddest times of solitude, +and ever is the eye satisfied with the grace +and grandeur of the curves of mountain outline, +and the changing hues of an incomparable sky. +There are rivers and cities and lakes,—from +Thrasymene, just hidden by a line of crests, to +the Paglia and Tiber beneath, where Orvieto +crowns its severe and lonely rock. With the +changing lights and shadows always beautiful in +the vivid spring or burning summer, tender-tinted +autumn or clear and sparkling winter, with the +bright and pure and buoyant atmosphere always +giving life and vigor, what spot on earth more +fitted as the birthplace of the saint who was, +above all things, bright and tender and strong?”</p></div> + +<p>Assisi was an important town in the twelfth +century when Francis, the son of Pietro Bernardone +di Mercanti, wandered over its hills, and +after severe fasting and prayer communed with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> +God. Born in the midst of the constant warfare +between Assisi and Perugia, he was first a +soldier. He was captured and thrown into +prison, and it was a remarkable dream, or vision, +that came to him before he was set free, that +determined his life of consecration. Tradition +invested his birth with legends, one of which is, +that in his infancy an aged man came to the +door and begged to be permitted to take the +child in his arms, prophesying that he was +destined to accomplish a great work. Pietro +Bernardone was a wealthy merchant of Assisi. +Pica, the mother of Francis, is said to have been +of noble origin and of a deeply religious nature. +The early youth of Francis was given to games, +festivals, and pleasures that degenerated into +dissipation, but the mother continually affirmed +her assurance that, if it pleased God, her +son would become a Christian. In this atmosphere +was nurtured “the sweet-souled saint +of mediæval Italy,” who is described as a figure +of magical power, whose ardent temperament +and mystic loveliness attracted to him +all men.</p> + +<p>There is also a legend that Pica went to pray +at the Portiuncula and that, for seven years,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> +she prayed for a son. Her prayer was answered +in the coming of the infant who was to be the +great saint of all the ages. Francis, in his childhood, +also knelt and prayed at this shrine. In +the year 1211, when Francis was twenty-nine +years of age and had entered on his ministry, +this chapel was given to him, “and no sooner +had they come to live here,” it is said, “than +the Lord multiplied their number from day to +day.” At one time he had gone to his devotions +in great depression of spirits, “when, suddenly, +an unspeakable ecstasy filled his breast. ‘Be +comforted, my dearest,’ he said, ‘and rejoice +in the Lord, and let us not be sad that we are +few; for it has been shown to me by God that +you shall increase to a great multitude and shall +go on increasing to the end of the world. I see +a multitude of men coming to me from every +quarter—French, Spaniards, Germans, English—each +in their different tongues encouraging +the others.’”</p> + +<p>At a distance of perhaps a mile and a half +from Assisi, down in the valley near the railroad +station, four holy pilgrims founded a shrine in +the fourth century. Later, on this site, St. +Benedict erected a tiny chapel, called “St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> +Maria della Portiuncula” (St. Mary of the +Little Patron), and once, when praying in the +chapel, Benedict had a vision of a vast crowd of +people kneeling in ecstasy, chanting hymns of +praise, while outside greater multitudes waited +to kneel before the shrine, and he took this to +mean that a great saint would one day be honored +there.</p> + +<p>So the legends, still conversationally told in +Assisi, run on and are locally current. Undoubtedly +the dwellers in this curious old town, +whose streets have hardly one level spot but +climb up and down the steep hillside, realize +that their saint is their title to fame and their +revenue as well; yet through all the tales there +breathes a certain sincerity and simplicity of +worship. The little dark primitive shops teem +with relics, which make, it is true, a great +draft on imagination, and by what miracle +modern photography has contrived to present +the saint of Assisi in various impressive attitudes +and groups it would be as well not to inquire +too closely. It is a part of the philosophy of +travel to take the goods the gods provide, and +the blending of amused tolerance and unsuspected +depths of reverential devotion by which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> +the visitor will find himself moved, while in +Assisi, can hardly be described. For, surely, +here</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">“. . . there trod<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The whitest of the saints of God,”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noi">and Catholic or Protestant, one equally enters +into the beauty of his memory. The double +and triple arches of the convent church enclose +cloistered walls continually filled with visitors. +No shrine in Italy holds such mysterious power. +Simplicity and joy were the two keynotes of +the life taught by St. Francis. “Poverty,” he +asserted, “is the happy state of life in which +men are set free from the trammels of conventionalism, +and can breathe the pure air of God’s +love. The richest inward life is enjoyed when +life is poorest outwardly. Be poor,” he continued, +“try a new principle; be careless of +having and getting; try <i>being</i>, for a change. +Our life in the world ought to be such that any +one on meeting us should be constrained to +praise the heavenly Father. Be not an occasion +of wrath to any one,” he often said, “but +by your gentleness may all be led to press onward +to good works.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>”</p> + +<p>The supreme aim of Francis was that of +service to humanity. He gave himself with +impassioned fervor to this one work. For him +there were no ideals of cloistered seclusion or +of devotion to learning and art, but the ideal +alone to uplift humanity. It was literally and +simply, indeed, the Christ ideal. Of the “Rule” +made, one of his biographers says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Amid all these encouragements the Rule +was made. It consists, like other monastic +rules, of the three great vows of poverty, chastity, +and obedience, differing only in so far that +the poverty ordained by Francis was absolute. +In other rules, though the individual was allowed +to possess nothing, the community had often +rich possessions, and there was no reason why +the monks should not fare sumptuously and +secure to themselves many earthly enjoyments, +notwithstanding their individual destitution and +their vow. But among the Brothers Minor +there was not to be so much as a provision secured +for the merest daily necessities. Day by +day they were to live by God’s providence, eating +what was given to them, taking no thought +how they were to be fed, or wherewithal clothed;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> +‘neither gold nor silver in your purses;’ not +even the scrip to collect fragments in—as if +God could not provide for every returning necessity. +There had been monasteries in Italy for +centuries, and the Benedictines were already a +great and flourishing community; but this absolute +renunciation of all things struck a certain +chill to the hearts of all who heard of it, except +the devoted band who had no will but that of +Francis. His friend, the Bishop of Assisi, was one +of those who stumbled at this novel and wonderful +self-devotion. ‘Your life, without a possession +in the world, seems to me most hard and +terrible,’ said the compassionate prelate. ‘My +lord,’ said Francis, ‘if we had possessions, arms +and protection would be necessary to us.’ There +was a force in this response which perhaps we +can scarcely realize, but the Assisan bishop, who +knew something of the temper of the lords of +Umbria, and knew how lonely were the brethren +dwelling on the church lands—the little plot +(Portiuncula) a whole half league from the city +gates—understood and perceived the justice of +the reply.</p> + +<p>“Another grand distinction of the Rule drawn +up by Francis was the occupation it prescribed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span> +to its members. They were not to shut themselves +up, or to care first for their own salvation. +They were to preach—this was their +special work; they were to proclaim repentance +and the remission of sins; they were to be +heralds of God to the world, and proclaim the +coming of His kingdom. It is not possible to +suppose that when he thus began to organize +the mind of Francis did not make a survey of +the establishments already in existence—the +convents bound by the same three great vows, +where life at this moment was going on so +placidly, with flocks and herds and vineyards to +supply the communities, and studious monks +in their retirement, safe from all secular anxieties, +fostering all the arts in their beginning, and +carrying on the traditions of learning; while all +around them the great unquiet, violent world +heaved and struggled, yet within the convent +walls there was leisure and peace. Blessed +peace and leisure it was often, let us allow, +preserving for us the germs of many good things +we now enjoy, and raising little centres of safety +and charity and brotherly kindness through the +country in which they were placed. But such +quiet was not in the nature of Francis. So far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> +as we can make out, he had thought little of +himself—even of his own soul to be saved—all +his life. The trouble on his mind had been +what to do, how sufficiently to work for God +and to help men. His fellow creatures were +dear to him; he gave them his cloak from his +shoulders many a day, and the morsel from +his own lips, and would have given them the +heart from his bosom had that been possible.”</p></div> + +<p>These are the “voices” that still echo in the air +of Assisi. In the suburbs is still shown the spot +where the chapel of St. Damian stood up a rocky +path on the hillside in an olive grove. It was +here that the scene of the miracle of the crucifix +is laid. Before the altar Francis knelt, praying: +“Great and Glorious Father, and thou, Lord +Jesus, I pray ye, shed abroad your light in the +darkness of my mind. May I in all things act +in accordance with thy holy will.”</p> + +<p>It is recorded that while he thus knelt in deep +prayer, he was unable to turn his eyes from the +cross, conscious that something marvellous was +taking place. The image of the Saviour assumed +life; the eyes turned attentively on him; +a voice spoke accepting his service and he felt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> +at once endowed with the most marvellous tide +of vitality, of joy, and of exhilaration. At this +moment he entered on that life whose impress +is left on the ages. Of the character and the +peculiar quality of its influence Mrs. Oliphant +well says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It is not always possible to follow with our +sympathy that literal, childlike rendering of +every incident in the life of the Master, which +sometimes looks fantastical and often unmeaning. +He was a man of his time, and could live +only under the conditions which that time +allowed. He made visible to a literal, practical, +unquestioning age the undeniable and astounding +fact that the highest of all beings chose a +life of poverty, hardship, and humbleness; that +He chose submission instead of resistance, love +instead of oppression, peace and forgiveness instead +of revenge and war. Christ had died in +their hearts, as said the legend of that Christmas +at Greccia; and, as in one of the bold and artless +pictures just then beginning to yield to a +more refined and subtle art, Francis set forth +before the world the image of his Master. The +Son of man was lifted up, as on another cross,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> +before the eyes of Umbria, before all Italy, +warlike and wily, priest and baron, peasant and +Pope. In this world Francis knew nothing, +acknowledged nothing, cared for nothing save +Christ and Him crucified—except, indeed, +Christ’s world, the universe redeemed, the souls +to be saved, the poor to be comforted, the friends +to be cherished, the singing birds and bubbling +fountains, the fair earth and the sweet sky. +Courteous, tender, and gentle as any paladin, +sweet-tongued and harmonious as any poet, +liberal as any prince, was the barefooted beggar +and herald of God. We ask no visionary reverence +for the Stigmata, no wondering belief in +any miracle. As he stood, he was as great a +miracle as any then existing under God’s abundant, +miraculous heavens; more wonderful than +are the day and night, the sun and the dew; +only less wonderful than that great Love which +saves the world, and which it was his aim and +destiny to reflect and show forth.”</p></div> + +<p>That mystic union to which all the ages +attest, the union that may, at any moment, be +formed between the soul and God, that mystery +which the church calls conversion and which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> +finds its perfect interpretation in the words of +St. Paul, when he said, that if any man be in +Christ he is a new creation, had been accomplished +in the life of Francis. He realized the +fulness of the knowledge of God’s will; he longed +only for wisdom and for spiritual understanding. +Nor is this experience one to be relegated to the +realm of miracle. It is simply entering into +the supreme completeness of life. It is not +alone St. Paul, but every man, who may truly +say, “I can do all things through Christ, who +strengtheneth me.” Nor does this experience, +when translated aright into daily life and action, +require any abnormal form of expression. It +does not, in its truest significance, mean a life +apart from the ordinary duties, but rather +it means that these duties shall be fulfilled in +the larger and nobler way. The exceptional +man may be called to be the standard bearer; +to renounce all domestic ties and give his service +to the world; but such a life as this differs +only in degree from that which in the ordinary +home and social relations finds ample means +for its best expression. The persistent aim +after perfection should be the keynote of every +life. No one should be satisfied to hold as his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> +supreme ideal any lesser standard of ultimate +achievement than is involved in the divine command, +“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your +Father in heaven is perfect.” This is the +soul’s ideal, whatever ages and eternities it may +require for it to recognize this trackless path.</p> + +<p>St. Francis recognized joy as a factor of the +nobler life. “It was his constant effort,” writes +one biographer, “that there should be bright +looks and cheerful tones about him. To one +of his brethren, who had the habit of walking +about sadly with his head drooping, he said,—it +is evident, with a spark of the impatience +natural to his own vivacious spirit,—‘You +may surely repent of your sins, my brother, +without showing your grief so openly. Let +your sorrow be between God and you: pray to +Him to pardon you by His mercy, and to restore +to your soul the joy of His salvation. But before +me and the others be always cheerful, for it +does not become a servant of God to have an +air of melancholy and a face full of trouble.’”</p> + +<p>An incident in the early life of St. Francis, +which had determining significance, was his +meeting with Dominic. The story is told “that +Dominic, praying in a church in Rome, saw, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> +a vision, our Lord rise from the right hand of +the Father in wrath, wearied at last with the +contradiction of sinners, with a terrible aspect +and three lances in his hand, each one of which +was to destroy from the face of the earth a distinct +class of offenders. But while the dreamer +gazed at this awful spectacle, the Virgin Mother +arose and pleaded for the world, declaring that +she had two faithful servants whom she was +about to send into it to bring sinners to the +feet of the Saviour; one of these was Dominic +himself, the other was a poor man, meanly +clad, whom he had never seen before. This +vision came to the devout Spaniard, according +to the legend, during the night, which he spent, +as he was wont, in a church, in prayer. Next +morning, while he mused on the dream which +had been sent to him, his eye fell all at once +upon a stranger in a brown tunic, of aspect as +humble and modest as his garb, coming into +the same church to pray. Dominic at once ran +to him, fell on his neck, and, saluting him with +a kiss, cried, ‘Thou art my companion: thy work +and mine is the same. If we stand by each +other, nothing can prevail against us.’”</p> + +<p>No magic mirror, however, revealed to Francis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> +the wonderful panorama of his future. No +sibyl turned the leaves of the records yet to +unfold. “He was preparing himself for a life +of penitence rather than a life of activity,” in +the opinion of Paul Sabatier, and he had +dreamed no dream of becoming a religious +founder. He was so entirely without any personal +ambition, save that of being obedient to +the Heavenly Vision, that this absolute consecration +of purpose enabled the divine power +to work through him without obstruction. He +became a very perfect instrument, so to speak, +in the divine hand. After repairing the little +chapel called the Portiuncula, on the level +ground at the foot of the hill, some two miles +from Assisi, his plan was to there pass his time +in meditation and prayer. But the legend runs +that on the feast of St. Mathias (February 24), in +the winter of 1209, a Benedictine monk was +celebrating mass and on his turning to read, +“Wherever ye go preach, saying, The kingdom +of heaven is at hand,” Francis was profoundly +and peculiarly impressed, and he exclaimed: +“This is what I desire, O Father; from this +day forth I set myself to put this command in +practice.” He felt that Jesus himself had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> +spoken to him through the priest. Love and +sacrifice became to him the supreme ideals, +and in this moment, in that poor and bare little +chapel, was inaugurated one of the greatest +and most far-reaching religious movements of +the entire world.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 15em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Not always as the whirlwind’s rush<br /></span> +<span class="i1">On Horeb’s mount of fear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not always as the burning bush<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To Midian’s shepherd seer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not as the awful voice which came<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To Israel’s prophet bards,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor as the tongues of cloven flame,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Nor gift of fearful words,—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Not always thus with outward sign<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of fire or voice from Heaven<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The message of a truth divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The call of God is given!”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>That great ministry of St. Francis, whose +influence pervades all time,—that lies between +the opening years of the thirteenth and the +opening years of the twentieth centuries,—was +initiated the next morning in Assisi, when Francis +preached for the first time. He spoke simply, +emphasizing the truths he had learned to realize +through his own experience: the absolute duty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> +of following after perfection; the importance of +realizing the shortness of life and the need of +repentance. The first disciple of Francis was +a wealthy resident of Assisi, named Bernardo. +He was impressed with the conviction that he +should distribute his possessions and unite with +Francis in all his aims and work. Without +definite organization, others joined them. They +passed that spring and summer going up and +down the country, sometimes assisting the harvesters +and haymakers, and everywhere entering +into the common life of the people. The +Bishop of Assisi, however, remonstrated with +Francis, saying that to him it seemed very harsh +and unwise to try to live without owning anything. +To which Francis replied that he did +not desire temporal possessions, as these required +arms for their defence and were an +obstacle to the love of God and one’s neighbor. +It has remained for later years to discern the +still truer significance of the teachings of Jesus, +that neither possessions nor the lack of possessions +form the real test, but the use which is +made of them. As spiritual insight is developed +it is more and more clearly realized that the +quality of the life lived is the sole matter of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> +importance, and not the conditions that surround +it.</p> + +<p>The brotherhood increased. The abbot of +the Benedictines on Monte Subasio ceded to +Francis and his order the little chapel called +the Portiuncula, now enclosed within the vast +and magnificent church of Santa Maria degli +Angeli. M. Paul Sabatier, in his admirable +biography of St. Francis, points out clearly that +the founder of the Franciscans contemplated a +laboring and not a mendicant order. During +the decade 1211 to 1221, which Francis and his +followers passed at the Portiuncula, a portion of +the time was constantly passed in industrial pursuits. +“With all his gentleness, Francis knew +how to show an inflexible severity toward the +idle,” says Sabatier, “and he even went so far +as to dismiss a friar who refused to work.” +Although Francis espoused poverty, declaring +that she was his bride, he was unfalteringly loyal +to the ideals of honest industry and integrity.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 288px;"> +<a href="images/francisb.jpg"><img src="images/francis.jpg" width="288" height="400" alt="ST. FRANCIS D’ASSISI, THE DUOMO, ASSISI Giovanni Dupré" title="ST. FRANCIS D’ASSISI, THE DUOMO, ASSISI Giovanni Dupré" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>ST. FRANCIS D’ASSISI,<br /> THE DUOMO, ASSISI<br /> Giovanni Dupré</small></p> +</div> + +<p>The mystic legends of the life of their saint +that abound in Assisi are touched with poetic romance +in that a companion figure is always seen +by his side, that of Santa Chiara. Not more +inseparable in popular thought are Dante and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> +Beatrice, or Petrarca and Laura, than are Francis +and Clara. Their statues stand side by side +in the Duomo; they are represented together +by both painter and sculptor in the churches +of Santa Chiara and Santa Maria degli Angeli +in the old hill town. Chiara was the daughter +of a noble family, and as a girl of sixteen, coming +under the influence of Francis from hearing +one of his sermons, she, too, became one of +his followers and left her father’s palace in +Assisi to take the vows of perpetual and voluntary +poverty at the altar of the Portiuncula. +Followed by two women, she passed swiftly +through the town in the dead of the night, and +through dark woods, her hurrying figure seeming +like some spirit driven by winds towards an +unknown future. One thing alone was clear +before her—that she was nearing the abode of +Francis Bernardone whose preaching at San +Giorgio only a month before had thrilled her, +inspiring her in this strange way to seek the life +he had described in fiery words. Just as she +came in sight of the Portiuncula the chanting +of the brethren, which had reached her in the +wood, suddenly ceased, and they came out with +lighted torches in expectation of her coming.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> +Swiftly and without a word she passed in to +attend the midnight mass which Francis was to +serve, and the scene is thus described:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The ceremony was simple, wherein lies the +charm of all things Franciscan. The service +over and the last blessing given, St. Francis led +Clare toward the altar, and with his own hands +cut off her long, fair hair and unclasped the +jewels from her neck. But a few minutes more +and a daughter of the proud house of Scifi +stood clothed in the brown habit of the +order, the black veil of religion falling about +her shoulders, lovelier far in this nun-like +severity than she had been when decked out +in all her former luxury of silken gowns and +precious gems.</p> + +<p>“It was arranged that Clare was to go afterward +to the Benedictine nuns of San Paolo, +near Bastia, about an hour’s walk farther on +in the plain. So when the final vows had been +taken, St. Francis took her by the hand and +they passed out of the chapel together just as +dawn was breaking, while the brethren returned +to their cells gazing half sadly, as they +passed, at the coils of golden hair and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> +little heap of jewels which still lay upon the +altar cloth.”</p></div> + +<p>Clara founded a convent and lived as its +abbess, and the great church of Santa Chiara +is built on the site of this convent. She was +born in Assisi in 1194, and died in 1253, surviving +Francis by twenty-seven years. Her +father was the Count Favorini Scifi, and he had +destined his daughter—who had great beauty—to +a rich and brilliant marriage. He violently +opposed her choice of the religious life, but no +earthly power, she declared, should sever her +from it.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the lifelong friendship between +Francis and Clara is thus touched upon by +Mrs. Oliphant:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It was one of those tender and touching +friendships which are to the student of history +like green spots in the desert; and which +gave to the man and the woman thus voluntarily +separated from all the joys of life a certain +human consolation in the midst of their hardships. +They can have seen each other but +seldom, for it was one of the express stipulations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> +of the Franciscan Rule that the friars should +refrain from all society with women, and have +only the most sparing and reserved intercourse +even with their sisters in religion. And Francis +was no priest, nor had he the privilege of hearing +confession and directing the spiritual life of +his daughter in the faith. But he sent to her to +ask enlightenment from her prayers, when any +difficulty was in his way. He went to see her +when he was in trouble; especially once on his +way to Rieti to have an operation performed +on his eyes. Once the two friends ate together +at a sacramental meal, the pledge and almost +the conclusion on earth of that tenderest, most +disinterested, and unworldly love which existed +between them. That he was sure of her sympathy +in all things, of her prayers and spiritual +aid, whatsoever he might be doing, wheresoever +he might be, no doubt was sweet to Francis +in all his labors and trials. As he walked many +a weary day past that church of St. Damian, +every stone of which was familiar to him, and +many laid with his own hands, must not his +heart have warmed at thought of the sister +within, safe from all conflict with the world, +upon whose fellow-feeling he could rely absolutely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> +as man can rely only on woman? The +world has jeered at the possibility of such friendships +from its earliest age; and yet they have +always existed,—one of the most exquisite and +delicate of earthly ties. Gazing back into that +far distance over the graves, not only of those +two friends, but of a hundred succeeding generations, +a tear of grateful sympathy comes into +the student’s eye. He is glad to believe that, +all those years, Francis could see in his comings +and goings the cloister of Clara; and that this +sacred gleam of human fellowship,—love purified +of all self-seeking,—tender, visionary, celestial +affection, sweetened their solitary lives.”</p></div> + +<p>Legends innumerable, attesting supernormal +manifestations regarding Francis, sprang up and +have been perpetuated through the ages. One +is as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Hardly more than three years from the +moment when the pale penitent was hooted +through Assisi amid the derisive shouts of the +people, and driven with blows and curses into +confinement in his own father’s house, we find +that it has already become his custom on Sunday<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> +to preach in the cathedral; and that, from +his little convent at the Portiuncula, Francis +has risen into influence in the whole country, +which no doubt by this time was full of stories +of his visit to Rome and intercourse with the +Pope, and all the miraculous dreams and +parables with which that intercourse was attended. +Already the mind of the people, so +slow to adopt, but so ready to become habituated +to, anything novel, had used itself to the +sight of the brethren in their brown gowns, and, +leaping from one extreme to the other, instead +of madmen, learned to consider them saints. +The air about the little cloister began to breathe +of miracles,—miracles which must have been +a matter of common report among the contemporaries +of the saint, for Celano wrote +within three years of Francis’s death. Once, +when their leader was absent, a sudden wonder +startled the brethren. It was midnight between +Saturday and Sunday, and Francis, who had +gone to preach at Assisi, was at the moment +praying in the canon’s garden. A chariot of +fire, all radiant and shining, suddenly entered +the house, awaking those who lay asleep, and +moving to wonder and awe those who watched,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> +or labored, or prayed. It was the heart and +thoughts of their leader returning to them in +the midst of his prayer, which were figured by +this appearance.”</p></div> + +<p>When Francis died a pathetic scene is thus +described:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“All the clergy of Assisi, chanting solemn +hymns, came out to meet the bier, and thus +they climbed the hill to the birthplace of the +saint, the city of his toils and tears and blessing. +When they came to St. Damian an affecting +pause was made. Clara within, with all her +maidens, waited the last visit of their father and +friend. Slowly the triumphant crowd defiled +into the church of the nuns, hushing, let us +hope, their songs of joy, their transports of +gratulations, out of respect to the grief which +dwelt there, and could scarcely, by all the arguments +of family pride, or the excitement of this +universal triumph, be brought to rejoice. The +bier was set down within the chancel, the coffin +opened, and opened also was the little window +through which the nuns received the sacrament +on ordinary occasions. To this little opening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> +the pale group of nuns, ten of them, with Clara +at their head, came marching silently, with +tears and suppressed cries. Clara herself, even +in face of that multitude, could not restrain her +grief. ‘Father, father, what will become of us?’ +she cried out; ‘who will care for us now, or +console us in our troubles?’ ‘Virgin modesty,’ +says Celano, stopped her lamentations, and with +a miserable attempt at thanksgiving, reminding +herself that the angels were rejoicing at his +coming, and all was gladness on his arrival in +the city of God, the woman who had been his +closest friend in this world, whose sympathy +he had sought so often, kissed the pale hands—‘splendid +hands,’ says Celano, in his enthusiasm, +‘adorned with precious gems and shining +pearls’—and disappeared from the little window +with her tears into the dim convent behind, +where nobody could reprove her sorrow.”</p></div> + +<p>The personality of Chiara comes down to us +through the ages invested with untold charm. +It is said that when she was dying there came +“a long procession of white-robed virgins, led +by the Queen of Heaven, whose head was +crowned with a diadem of shining gold, each of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> +the celestial visitors stooped to kiss Chiara as +her soul passed to its home.”</p> + +<p>During all the life of Francis, whenever any +new movement or work was to be undertaken, +he invariably sent to ask the counsel and the +prayers of Chiara.</p> + +<p>The miraculous preservation of the body of +Santa Chiara is one of the articles of faith in +Assisi. In 1850—six hundred years after her +death—a tomb believed to be hers was found +and opened in the presence of a distinguished +group of ecclesiastics, among whom was Cardinal +Pecci, later Pope Leo XIII. In this tomb +a form is said to have been found, and it has +been placed in a reliquary of alabaster and +Carrara marble especially constructed for it. +This sanctuary is placed in the church of Santa +Chiara, in the crypt, behind a glass screen, +where candles are kept perpetually burning. +Lina Gordon Duff, writing the history of Assisi, +says of this curious spectacle:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“As pilgrims stand before a grating in the +dimly lighted crypt, the gentle rustle of a nun’s +dress is heard; slowly invisible hands draw the +curtain aside, and the body of Santa Chiara is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> +seen lying in a glass case upon a satin bed, her +face clearly outlined against her black and +white veils, whilst her brown habit is drawn in +straight folds about her body. She clasps the +book of her Rule in one hand, and in the other +holds a lily with small diamonds shining on +the streamers.”</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 308px;"> +<a href="images/chiarab.jpg"><img src="images/chiara.jpg" width="308" height="400" alt="SANTA CHIARA, THE DUOMO, ASSISI Amalia Dupré" title="SANTA CHIARA, THE DUOMO, ASSISI Amalia Dupré" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>SANTA CHIARA, THE DUOMO, ASSISI<br /> Amalia Dupré</small></p> +</div> + +<p>In all these churches—the great convent +church, upper and lower, of the Franciscans +elaborately adorned with frescoes by Cimabue +and by Giotto; in the ancient Duomo; in Santa +Chiara and in Santa Maria degli Angeli—statues +of the two saints, Francis and Chiara, +are placed side by side. She shares all the +exaltation of his memory and the fulness of his +fame.</p> + +<p>The strange problem of the stigmata has, +perhaps, never been absolutely solved. Canon +Knox Little says that as to the miracles of St. +Francis generally speaking, there is no intrinsic +improbability; that “his holy life, his constant +communion with God, the abundant blessings +with which it pleased God to mark his +ministry, all point in the same direction.” Latter-day +revelations of psychic science disclose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> +contemporary facts of the power of mental influence +on the physical form that are, in many +instances, hardly less wonderful than this +alleged miracle of St. Francis. Whether the +story is accepted literally or only in a figurative +sense does not affect the transcendent power +of his influence. His entire life and work illustrate +the beauty of holiness. “Art in its widest +sense gained a marvellous impulse from his +work and effort,” says Canon Knox Little. +The French and Provençal literature and the +schools of Byzantine art preceded the life of +Francis; but his influence imparted a powerful +wave of sympathetic and vital insight and awakened +a world of new sensibilities of feeling. +Indeed, it is a proverb of Italy, “Without +Francis, no Dante.” Certainly the life of Francis +was the inspiration of the early Italian +art. Cimabue and Giotto drew from the inspiration +of that unique and lovely life the +pictorial conceptions that have made Assisi the +cradle of Italian painting. The great works of +Giotto are in the lower church of the Franciscan +monastery. One of these frescoes represents +chastity as a maiden kneeling in a shrine, +while angels bring to her branches of palm.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span> +Obedience is depicted as placing a yoke upon +the bowed figure of a priest, while St. Francis, +attended by two angels, looks on; Poverty, +whom Francis declared to be his bride, is pictured +as accompanied by Hope and Charity, +who give her in marriage to St. Francis, the +union being blessed by Christ, while the +heavenly Father and throngs of angels gaze +through the clouds on this nuptial scene. The +fresco called Gloriosus Franciscus is perhaps +the crowning work of Giotto. Francis is seen +in a beatitude of glory, with a richly decorated +banner bearing the cross and seven stars floating +above his head and bands of angels in the +air surrounding him. Canon Knox Little, alluding +to these interesting works of Giotto, says +that “even in their faded glories they give an +immense interest to the lower church of Assisi. +No one can look at them now unmoved, or +wander on the hillside to the west of the little +city, with the rugged rocks above one’s head, and +beneath one’s feet the rich carpets of cyclamen, +and before one’s eyes long dreamy stretches of +the landscape of Umbria, without being touched +by the feeling of that beautiful and loving life +devoted to God and man and nature, in utter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> +truth, which therefore left such an impress on +Christian art.”</p> + +<p>The Madonna and saints painted by Cimabue +are faded almost to the point of obliteration, +yet there still lingers about them a certain grace +and charm. The visitor to this Franciscan +monastery church realizes that he is beholding +the art which was the very pledge and prophecy +of the Renaissance, and he realizes, too, that +the Renaissance itself was the outgrowth of +the new vitality communicated to the world by +the life and character of St. Francis. He gave +to the world the realization of the living Christ; +he taught that religion was in action, not in +theology. He liberated the spirit; and when +this colossal church was being built (1228-53) +the artists who had felt the new thrill of life +opened by his teaching hastened to Assisi to +express their appreciation by their pictorial +work on its walls. The qualities of spiritual life—faith, +sacrifice, sympathy, and love—began, +for the first time, to be interpreted into artistic +expression.</p> + +<p>The tomb of St. Francis is in the crypt of the +church. The stone sarcophagus containing his +body was discovered in 1818, and then placed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> +here in a little chamber especially prepared, +surrounded by an iron latticework with candles +perpetually burning.</p> + +<p>From the sacristy of the lower church, stairs +ascend to the upper, with its beautiful nave +and transept with a high altar, and the choir +stalls. While the lower church with its great +arches is always dark, the upper is flooded with +light from vast windows. There is a series of +frescoed panels on either side, accredited to +pupils of Giotto, full of forcible action and +a glow of color. But the upper church, while +it is magnificent, lacks somewhat of that mystic +atmosphere one is so swiftly conscious of in +the gloom and mystery of the lower church.</p> + +<p>Stretching behind the churches, along the +crest of the high hill, is the colossal monastery +itself, with that double row of arches and colonnades +that makes it so conspicuous a feature of +all the Umbrian valley. Formerly hundreds of +monks dwelt here; but the Italian government +suppressed this monastery in 1866, and since +that time it has been used as a school for boys.</p> + +<p>The ancient Duomo, whose façade is of the +twelfth century, has three exquisite rose windows, +and on either side, as one approaches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> +the high altar, stand the statues of St. Francis +and of Santa Chiara. In the little piazza in +front of the church is a bronze copy of Dupré’s +famous statue of St. Francis.</p> + +<p>The colossal church of Santa Maria degli +Angeli, with its magnificent dome, is a contrast, +indeed, to the primitive little Portiuncula where +Francis knelt in prayer, and which is now preserved +in the centre of this vast cathedral,—the +rude structure encased in marble, and +decorated, above the entrance, with a picture +by Overbeck, whose motive is St. Francis as he +stands, hushed and reverent, listening to the +voice that tells him to embrace poverty. There +is a fine Perugino in the church, representing +the Saviour. The cell in which St. Francis +died, enclosed in the little chapel which St. +<a name="tn380" id="tn380"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Bonaventuri'">Bonaventura</ins> built over it, is preserved in this +great cathedral.</p> + +<p>“And who was he that opened that door +in heaven?” questions Canon Knox Little in +reference to St. Francis. “Who was he that +gave that fresh life and thought? Who but the +man who had brought down in his own person +the living Christ into his century, who had +taught men again the love of God, and then the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> +love of man and the love of nature; who had +lifted the people out of their misery and degradation, +and awakened the church out of its +stiffness and worldliness; it was he, too, who +inspired, who may at most be said to have +created, Italian art,—the great St. Francis! +Such are the deep, such are the penetrating, +such are the far-reaching effects of sanctity. +If a soul is, by divine grace, given wholly to +God, it is impossible for us to say to what +heights it may attain, or what good, in every +region of human effort, it may do.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/camaldolib.jpg"><img src="images/camaldoli.jpg" width="400" height="283" alt="BAIÆ AND ISCHIA, FROM CAMALDOLI" title="BAIÆ AND ISCHIA, FROM CAMALDOLI" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>BAIÆ AND ISCHIA, FROM CAMALDOLI</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Perugia, the neighboring city only fifteen miles +from Assisi, is the metropolis of all this Umbrian +region. Like Assisi, it is a “hill town,” built +on an acropolis of rock, its foundations laid by +the Etruscans more than three thousand years +before the Christian era, and its atmosphere is +freighted with the records of artists and scholars. +The Perugians were the forerunners. They +held the secret of artifice in metals and gems; +they were architects and sculptors. The only +traces of their painting that have come down +to us are their works on sarcophagi, on vases +or funeral urns,—traces that indicate their gifts +for line and form. It was about 310 B.C. that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> +all Umbria became a Roman province. The +colossal porta of Augustus—a gateway apparently +designed for the Cyclops—still retains its +inscription, “Augustus Perusia.” The imperishable +impress of the great Roman conqueror +is still seen in many places. Perugia was a firm +citadel, as is attested by the fact that Totila and +his army of Goths spent seven years in besieging +it. The centuries from the thirteenth to +the fifteenth inclusive, when it was under the +sway of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, were +years of tragic violence. Even the cathedral +became the scene of riot, and its interior was +entirely washed with wine, and it was reconsecrated +before it could be again used for holy +offices. The little piazza in front of the +cathedral, now dreaming in the sun, has been +the scene of strange and contrasting crises of +life. Strife and warfare have desolated it; the +footsteps of Bernardino of Siena have consecrated +it, as he passed within the great portals +to preach the gospel of peace. He was one of +the most potent of the Francescan disciples, +and Bernardino (born of the noble family of +the Albizzeschi, in 1380, in Siena, the year +after St. Catherine’s death) for forty years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> +wandered over Italy, preaching peace and +repentance. Vespasiano da Bisticci, a contemporary +historian, records that Bernardino +“converted and changed the minds and spirits +of men marvellously and had a wondrous power +in persuading men to lay aside their mortal +hatreds.” Bernardino died at the age of sixty-four +in Aquila, and the towns in which he had +faithfully carried on his apostolic work placed +the sacred sign of the divine name (I.H.S.) +upon their gates and palaces, in his memory. +In the Sienese gallery is a portrait of San Bernardino +by Sano, painted in 1460, representing +the saint as the champion of the Holy Name, +with the inscription, “I have manifested Thy +name to men.” In one of his impressive and +wonderful sermons San Bernardino said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“There still remain many places for us to +make. Ah! for the love of God, love one +another. Alas! see you not that, if you love +the destruction one of the other you are ruining +your very selves? Ah! put this thing right for +the love of God. Love one another! What I +have done to make peace among you and to +make you like brothers, I have done with that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> +zeal I should wish my own soul to receive. I +have done it all to the glory of God. And let +no one think that I have set myself to do anything +at any person’s request. I am only moved +by the bidding of God for His honor and glory.”</p></div> + +<p>Opposite the Duomo of Perugia, on the other +side of the piazza, is the Palazzo Municipio, +with a Gothic façade, a beautiful example of +thirteenth-century architecture. Here also is +the colossal fountain with three basins, decorated +with pictorial designs from the Bible by +Niccolo Pisano and Arnolfo of Florence, and +in the shadow of this fountain St. Dominic, St. +Francis, and St. Bernardino often met and held +converse.</p> + +<p>Perugia easily reads her title clear to artistic +immortality in having been the home of Perugino, +the master of Raphael. Here he lived +for several years working with Pinturicchio in +the frescoes that adorn the Collegio del Cambio, +now held as a priceless treasure hall of art. +They still glow with rich coloring,—the Christ +seen on the Mount of Transfiguration; the +Mother and Child with the adoring magi; and +the chariot of the dawn driven by Apollo a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> +century before Guido painted his “Aurora” in +the Palazzo <a name="tn385" id="tn385"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Rospigliosa'">Rospigliosi</ins> in Rome.</p> + +<p>From the parapets of Perugia are views of +supreme poetic beauty. The play of light and +color on the picturesque hills and mountains +of the Umbrian country; the gray-green gleam +of olive orchards and the silver threads of winding +streams; the towers and ruins and castles +of a dozen towns and villages that crown the +slopes, and the violet shadows of deepening +twilight, with Assisi bathed in a splendor of +rose and gold,—all combine to make this an +ever-changing panorama for the poet and +painter.</p> + +<p>No journey in Italy is quite like that to the +lovely Umbrian valley and its Jerusalem, Assisi, +the shrine which, with the single exception of +Rome, is the special place of pilgrimage for the +entire religious world. Perugia offers the charm +of art, and attracts the visitor, also, by an exceptional +degree of modern comfort and convenience; +but Assisi is the shrine before which +he kneels, where the footsteps of saints who +have knelt in prayer make holy ground, and +where he realizes anew the consecration of faith +and sacrifice. The very air is filled with divine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> +messages, and in lowly listening he will hear, +again, those wonderful and thrilling words of +St. Francis:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“By the holy love which is in God I pray all +to put aside every obstacle, every care, every +anxiety, that they may be able to consecrate +themselves entirely to serve, love, and honor the +Lord God, with a pure heart and a sincere purpose, +which is what He asks above all things.”</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>White phantom city, whose untrodden streets</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Are rivers, and whose pavements are the shifting</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Shadows of palaces and strips of sky;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I wait to see thee vanish like the fleets</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Seen in mirage, or towers of clouds uplifting</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>In air their unsubstantial masonry.</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Longfellow.</span><br /> +</p></div> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 23em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Fair as the palace builded for Aladdin,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Yonder St. Mark uplifts its sculptured splendor—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Intricate fretwork, Byzantine mosaic,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Color on color, column upon column,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Barbaric, wonderful, a thing to kneel to!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Over the portal stand the four gilt horses,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Gilt hoof in air, and wide distended nostril,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Fiery, untamed, as in the days of Nero.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Skyward, a cloud of domes and spires and crosses;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Earthward, black shadows flung from jutting stonework.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>High over all the slender Campanile</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Quivers, and seems a falling shaft of silver.</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Thomas Bailey Aldrich.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span></p></div> + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>As one who parts from Life’s familiar shore,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Looks his last look in long-beloved eyes,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>And sees in their dear depths new meanings rise</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And strange light shine he never knew before;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>As then he fain would snatch from Death his hand</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>And linger still, if haply he may see</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>A little more of this Soul’s mystery</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Which year by year he seemed to understand;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>So, Venice, when thy wondrous beauty grew</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Dim in the clouds which clothed the wintry sea</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I saw thou wert more beauteous than I knew,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>And long to turn and be again with thee.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>But what I could not then I trust to see</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>In that next life which we call memory.</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a><br /> +</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span></p> + + + +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI<br /><br /> + +<span class="nob">THE GLORY OF A VENETIAN JUNE</span></h2> + +<div class="blockquot2"><p>I have been between Heaven and Earth since our arrival at Venice. +The Heaven of it is ineffable—never had I touched the skirts of so +celestial a place. The beauty of the architecture, the silver trails of +water up between all that gorgeous color and carving, the enchanting +silence, the music, the gondolas,—I mix it all up together, and maintain +that nothing is like it, nothing equal to it, no second Venice in the +world.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Mrs. Browning</span>, in the June of 1850.<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> first glimpse of enchanted Venice, as her +towers and marble palaces rise wraith-like from +the sea, is an experience that can never fade +from memory. Like a mirage, like a vision +invoked by some incantation or magician’s spell, +the scene prefigures itself, bringing a thrill of +some vague and undefined memory, as if a +breath floated by,—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">“An odor from Dreamland sent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That makes the ghost seem nigh me,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of a splendor that came and went;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of a life lived somewhere,—I know not<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In what diviner sphere,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of memories that stay not and go not,”<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span></div></div> + +<p class="noi">which eludes all translation into words. Nor +does the spell dissolve and vanish when put to +the test of one’s actual sojourn in the Dream +City. It is an experience outside the boundaries +of the ordinary day and daylight world, +as if one were caught up into the ethereal realm +to find a city</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 16em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“. . . of gliding and wide-wayed silence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With room in the streets for the soul.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sense of remoteness from common life +could hardly be greater if one were suddenly +swept away to some far star, blazing in the +firmament; or if Charon had rowed him over +the mystic river and he had entered the +abodes of life on the plane beyond. Even the +hotel becomes an enchanted palace whose +salons, luxuriously decorated, open by long +windows on marble balconies overhanging the +Grand Canal. Dainty little tables piled with +current reading matter, in French, English, +and Italian, stand around; the writing-desks are +sumptuous, filled with every convenience of +stationery; and the matutinal coffee and rolls +are served the guest in any idyllic niche wherein +he chooses to ensconce himself, regardless of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span> +the regulation <i>salle-à-manger</i>. One looks across +the Grand Canal to the beautiful Church of +Santa Maria della Salute. The water plashes +against the marble steps as gondolas glide past; +the blue sky of Italy reflects itself in the waters +below, until one feels as if he were floating in +the air between sea and sky. In the heart of +the city, with throngs of people moving to and +fro, all is yet silence, save the cry of the gondolier, +the confused echo of voices from the +people who pass, and here and there the faint +call of a bird. No whir and rush of electric +cars and motors; no click of the horses’ feet on +the asphalt pavement—no pavement, indeed, +and no horses, no twentieth-century rush of life. +It is Venice, it is June, and the two combine +to make an illuminated chapter. To live in +Venice is like being domesticated in the heart +of an opal. How wonderful it is to drift—a +sky above and a sky below—on still waters at +sunset, with the Dream City mirrored in the +depths, every shade of gold and rose and amber +mirrored back,—the very atmosphere a sea of +color, recalling to one Ruskin’s words that “none +of us appreciate the nobleness and the sacredness +of color. Of all God’s gifts to man,” he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> +continues, “color is the holiest, the most divine, +the most solemn. Color is the sacred and saving +element.” If the enthusiasm in these words +savor of exaggeration, Venice is the place that +will lure one to forgetfulness of it. One is +simply conscious of being steeped in color and +revelling in a strange loveliness. One no longer +marvels at the glory of Tintoretto and Paolo +Veronese. They but interpreted on canvas the +shining reality. A charming writer on Venice +has well said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The aspects of Venice are as various, as +manifold, as the hues held in solution upon her +waters beneath a sirocco sky. There is a perpetual +miracle of change; one day is not like +another, one hour varies from the next; there +is no stable outline such as one finds among +the mountains, no permanent vista, as in a +view across a plain. The two great constituents +of the Venetian landscape, the sea and the +sky, are precisely the two features in nature +which undergo most incessant change. The +cloud-wreaths of this evening’s sunset will never +be repeated again; the bold and buttressed piles +of those cloud-mountains will never be built<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> +again just so for us; the grain of orange and +crimson that stains the water before our prow, +we cannot be sure that we shall look upon its +like again. . . . One day is less like another in +Venice than anywhere else. The revolution of +the seasons will repeat certain effects; spring will +chill the waters to a cold, hard green; summer +will spread its breadth of golden light on palace +front and water way; autumn will come with its +pearly-gray sirocco days, and sunsets flaming +a sombre death; the stars of a cloudless winter +night, the whole vast dome of heaven, will +be reflected in the mirror of the still lagoon. +But in spite of this general order of the seasons, +one day is less like another in Venice than +anywhere else; the lagoon wears a different +aspect each morning when you rise, the sky +offers a varied composition of cloud each evening +as the sun sets. Words cannot describe +Venice, nor brush portray her ever-fleeting, +ever-varying charm. Venice is to be felt, not +reproduced; to live there is to live a poem, +to be daily surfeited with a wealth of beauty +enough to madden an artist to despair.”</p></div> + +<p>It was in the autumn of 1882 that the Rev.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span> +Dr. Phillips Brooks, later Bishop of Massachusetts, +visited Venice and wrote of San Marco:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Strange how there is nothing like St. Mark’s +in Venice, nothing of the same kind as the great +church. It would have seemed as if, standing +here for so many centuries, and always profoundly +loved and honored, it would almost of +necessity have influenced the minds of the generations +of architects, and shown its power in +their works. But there seems to be no sign of +any such influence. It stands alone.”</p></div> + +<p>Dr. Brooks noted that Venice had “two +aspects, one sensuous and self-indulgent, the +other lofty, spiritual, and even severe. Both +aspects,” he continues, “are in its history and +both are also in its art. Titian often represents +the former. The loftier, nobler Tintoretto gives +us the second. There is something in his greatest +pictures, as, for instance, in the Crucifixion, +at St. Rocco, which no other artist approaches. +The lordly composition gives us an impression +of intellectual grasp and vigor. The foreground +group of prostrate women is full of a tenderness. +The rich pearly light, which floods the centre,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> +glows with a solemn picturesqueness, and the +great Christ, who hangs like a benediction over +the whole, is vocal with a piety which no other +picture in the world displays. And the Presentation +of the Virgin, in Santa Maria dell’Orto, +is the consummate presentation of that beautiful +subject, its beauty not lost in its majesty.”</p> + +<p>Of other pictures Dr. Brooks said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“In the Academia there is the sunshine of +three hundred years ago. Paris Bordone’s +glowing picture of the Fisherman who brings +the Ring of St. Mark to the Doge, burned like +a ray of sunlight on the wall. Carpaccio’s +delightful story of St. Ursula brought the old +false standards of other days back to one’s mind, +but brought them back lustrous with the splendor +of summers that seemed forever passed, but +are perpetually here. Tintoretto’s Adam and +Eve was, as it always is, the most delightful +picture in the gallery, and Pordenone’s great +St. Augustine seemed a very presence in the +vast illuminated room.”</p></div> + +<p>Tennyson loved best, of all the pictures in +Venice, a Bellini,—a beautiful work, in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> +Church of Il Redentore; and he was deeply +impressed by the “Presentation of the Virgin,” +from Tintoretto, in the Church of the Madonna +dell’Orto. “He was fascinated by St. Mark’s,” +writes the poet’s son, “by the Doge’s Palace +and the Piazza, and by the blaze of color in +water and sky. He climbed the Campanile, +and walked to the library where he could +scarcely tear himself away from the Grimani +Breviary.”</p> + +<p>Venice, though not containing any single +gallery comparable with the Pitti and the +Uffizi, is still singularly rich in treasures of art, +and rich in legend and story. The school of +encrusted architecture is nowhere so wonderfully +represented as here, and it is only in this +architecture that a perfect scheme of color decoration +is possible. In all the world there is no +such example of encrusted architecture as that +revealed in St. Mark’s. It is a gleaming mass +of gold, opal, ruby, and pearl; with alabaster +pillars carved in designs of palm and pomegranate +and lily; with legions of sculptured +angels looking down; with altars of gold ablaze +with scarlet flowers and snowy lilies, while +clouds of mystic incense fill the air. One most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span> +impressive place is the baptistery, where is the +tomb of St. Mark and also that of the Doge +Andrea Dandolo, who died at the age of forty-six, +having been chosen Doge ten years before. +His tomb is under a window in the baptistery, +and the design is that of his statue in bronze, +lying on a couch, while two angels at the head +and the feet hold back the curtains.</p> + +<p>The sarcophagus that is said to contain the +body of St. Mark is of the richest description, encrusted +with gold and jewels on polished ebony +and marble. There is a legend that after St. +Mark had seen the people of Aguilia well +grounded in religion he was called to Rome by +St. Peter; but before setting off he took with +him in a boat the holy Bishop Hennagoras and +sailed to the marshes of Venice. The boat was +driven by wind to a small island called Rialto, +on which were some houses, and St. Mark was +suddenly snatched into ecstasy and heard the +voice of an angel saying, “Peace be to thee, +Mark; here shall thy body rest.”</p> + +<p>There is also a legend that in the great conflagration +which destroyed Venice in 976 A.D., +the body of St. Mark was lost and no one knew +where to find it. Then the pious Doge and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> +people gave themselves to fasting and prayer, +and assembled in the church, asking that the +place be revealed them. It was on the 25th +of June that the assemblage took place. Suddenly +one of the pillars of the church trembled, +and opened to disclose the sarcophagus,—a +chest of bronze. The legend goes on to say +that St. Mark stretched his hand out through the +side and that a noble, Dolfini by name, drew a +gold ring off the finger.</p> + +<p>The place where this miracle is said to have +been wrought is now marked by the Altar of +the Cross.</p> + +<p>Ruskin declares that “a complete understanding +of the sanctity of color is the key to +European art.” Nowhere is this sanctity of +color so felt as at San Marco. The church is +like the temple of the New Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>The origin of Venice is steeped in sacred history. +It is pre-eminently the city founded in +religious enthusiasm. The chronicles of De +Monici, written in 421, give this passage: “God, +who punishes the sins of men by war, sorrow, +and whose ways are past finding out, willing +both to save the innocent blood, and that a +great power, beneficial to the whole world,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span> +should arise in a place strange beyond belief, +moved the chief men of the cities of the Venetian +province both in memory of the past, and +in dread of future distress, to establish states +upon the nearer islands of the Adriatic, to which, +in the last extremity, they might retreat for +refuge. . . . They laid the foundation of the +new city under good auspices on the island of +the Rialto, the highest and nearest to the mouth +of the Brenta, on March 25, 471.”</p> + +<p>The first Doge of Venice was Paolo Lucio +<a name="tn399" id="tn399"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Anopeste'">Anafesto</ins>, elected by the tribunal of commonalty, +tribunals, and clergy, at Heraclea, in +697. The period of the subjection of the +ecclesiastical to the ducal and patrician powers +followed. The “Council of Ten” was established +in 1335, and the last Doge elected was +Lodovico Manin in 1789, who exclaimed, “<i>Tolè +questo: no la doperò più</i>,” as the French Revolution +destroyed the Republic of Venice.</p> + +<p>The finest example of Renaissance architecture +in Venice is that of the <i>Libreria Vecchia</i>, +the work of Jacobo Sansovino, completed in +the sixteenth century. Never were the creations +of poet and philosopher more fittingly enshrined. +The rich Doric frieze, the Ionic columns, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span> +stately balustrade, with statues and obelisks, +the resplendent richness of ornamentation, offer +a majesty and beauty seldom found even in the +best classical architecture of Europe. On the +ceiling of one sala is a picture by Titian representing +“Wisdom” as a woman, reclining on a +cloud, her right hand outstretched to take a +book that Genius is offering her. There are +two beautiful caryatides by Vittoria and rich +mural work by <a name="tn400a" id="tn400a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Battesta'">Battista</ins> Franco and De Moro.</p> + +<p>Petrarca, returning from his wanderings in +1362, pleaded with the Senate of Venezia +to give him a house, in return for which he +offered the inheritance of his library. This was +the nucleus of the fine collection which since +1812 has been included in the Palace of the +Doges. In it are some magnificent works by +Paolo Veronese, one portrait by Tintoretto, and +others by Salviati and Telotti.</p> + +<p>The Doge’s Palace is a treasure house of history. +One enters the Porta <a name="tn400b" id="tn400b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'delta'">della</ins> Carta, which +dates back to 1638, erected by Bartolomeo +Buon. The portal is very rich in sculpture, +and among the reliefs is a heroic one of Francesco +Foscari, kneeling before the lion at St. +Mark’s. One recalls his tragic fate and passes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> +on. Perhaps, <i>en passant</i>, one may say that his +pilgrimage through Venice and Florence is so +constantly in the scenes of tragedy that he is +prone to sink almost into utter sadness, even, +rather than seriousness. The air is full of +ghosts. One feels the oppression of all the life +that has there been lived, all the tragedies that +have been enacted in these scenes.</p> + +<p>In Renaissance nothing more wonderful in +Europe can be found than the court of the +Palace of the Doges. Antonio Rizzo began the +east façade of the building in 1480, and it was +continued by Lombardo, and completed by +Scarpagnino. “Words cannot be found to +praise the beauty of these sculptures,” says Salvatico, +“as well as of the single ornaments of +the walls and of the ogres which have been +carved so delicately and richly that they cannot +be excelled by the Roman antique friezes.”</p> + +<p>By the golden staircase one goes to the council +chambers,—the hall of the Senate, the Council +of Ten, and the Council of Three. In the great +council chamber is that most celebrated mural +painting in the world, “The Glory of Venice,” +by Paolo Veronese, which covers the ceiling. In +a frieze are the portraits of seventy-six of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> +Doges, but in one space is a black tablet only, +with the inscription: “This in place of M. F., +who was executed for his crimes.”</p> + +<p>The “Sala del Maggior Consiglio” (hall of +the grand council) is very rich in paintings. +Above the throne is Tintoretto’s “The Glory of +Paradise,” and the walls are covered with battle +pieces and symbolic and allegorical paintings. +There is “Venice Crowned by Fame,” by Paolo +Veronese, “Doge Niccolò da Ponte Presenting +the Senate and Envoys of Conquered Cities +to Venice,” by Tintoretto; “Venice Crowned by +the Goddess of Victory,” by Palma Giovane, +and many another of the richest and most wonderful +beauty.</p> + +<p>Descending into the prisons and dungeons +brings one into a vivid realization of the grim +history of which these were the scenes. The +Bridge of Sighs has two covered passages, one +for the political and one for the criminal prisoners. +Here is shown a narrow ledge on which +the condemned man stood, with a slanting stone +passageway before him, which, when the guillotine +had done its swift and deadly work, conveyed +the crimson flood into the dark waters +of the canal below, while the body was thrown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> +in the water on the other side. There are the +“Chambers of Lead,” where prisoners were confined, +intensely hot in the summer, and as +intensely cold in the winter. Many of these +dark, close, narrow cells—in which the one +article of furniture allowed was the wooden +slanting rack, that served as a bed—still remain. +In many of these are inscriptions that +were written by the prisoners. One reads (in +translation): “May God protect me against him +whom I trust; I will protect myself against him +whom I do not trust.”</p> + +<p>The murderer, Giovanni M. Borni, wrote in +his cell: “G. M. B. was confined very unjustly +in this prison; if God does not help it will be +the last desolation of a poor, numerous, and +honest family.”</p> + +<p>All visitors to these gloomy dungeons recall +the lines of Byron:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 17em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A palace and a prison on each hand.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The piazza of St. Mark’s is a distinctive +feature, even in all Europe. It is not large; it +is surrounded on three sides with shops, which +are merely glittering bazaars of jewels and bric-a-brac;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> +the sidewalk is blockaded with cafés <i>al +fresco</i>, the ground is half covered with the dense +flocks of white doves, but here all lingers and +loiters. The façade of St. Mark’s fills one end—a +mass of gleaming color. At one corner +is the tall clock tower (Torre dell’Orologio) +in the Renaissance style of 1400, crowned with +the gilded lion of St. Mark. On the festa days +three figures, the Three Wise Men, preceded +by an angel, come forth on the tower and bow +before the Madonna, in a niche above,—a very +ingenious piece of mechanism. With its rich +architecture and sculptures and masses of color, +the piazza of San Marco is really an open-air +hall, where all the town congregates from morning +till midnight.</p> + +<p>To study the art of the Venetian school is a +work of months, and one that would richly +repay the student. The churches and galleries +of Venice give a truly unique opportunity. In +the Church of San Sebastiano lies Paolo Veronese, +the church in which he painted his celebrated +frescoes, now transformed into a temple +for himself. Here one finds his “Coronation +of the Virgin,” “The Virgin in the Gloria,” +“Adoration of the Magi,” “Martyrdom of San<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span> +Sebastian,” and many others. In the Scuola +di San Rocco are the great works of Tintoretto, +“St. Magdalene in the Wilderness,” the “Visitation,” +and the “Murder of the Innocents.”</p> + +<p>In the San Maria dei Frari is the tomb of +Titian,—an exquisite grouping of sculpture in +Carrara marble, erected in 1878-80 by the command +of the Emperor of Austria, the work of +Zandomenighi. In this church is Titian’s most +famous painting, the “Madonna of the Pessaro,” +the work of which is probably, too, the greatest +in all Venetian art. The Hall of Heaven is +shown, supported by colossal columns. St. +Peter, <a name="tn405" id="tn405"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Maucis'">Francis</ins>, and Antoninus are commending +the Pessaro family to the Virgin, who is enthroned +on high. The beauty of line, the splendor +of color, and the marvellous composition +render this immortal masterpiece something +whose sight marks an epoch in life. Canova’s +tomb in San Maria dei Frari is a wonderful +thing. It is a pyramid of purest marble, with +a door opening for the sarcophagus, above which +is a portrait of Canova in relief, and on either +side the door angels and symbolic figures are +sculptured.</p> + +<p>The Church of Santa Maria della Salute, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> +which one is always returning, is a wonderful +example of artistic architecture, as its snowy +towers and dome seem to rise out of the water +and float in the air.</p> + +<p>The fall of the Campanile in 1904 was regarded +as a calamity by all the civilized world. +For a thousand years it had stood at the side of +St. Mark’s; but the disaster aroused the attention +of experts to the condition of the great +cathedral itself, and it was found that the vast +area of over fifty thousand square feet of matchless +mosaic needed restoration in order that +they should be preserved.</p> + +<p>The Palazzo Rezzonico, which dates to Clement +XIII, usually known as the “Browning +Palace,” has been for many years one of the +special interests to the visitor in Venice. In +the early months of 1907 it passed out of the +hands of Robert Barrett Browning, who had +purchased it in 1888, and had held it sacredly, +with its poetic and personal associations, since +the death of his father, the poet, in 1889. To +Mr. Barrett Browning is due the grateful appreciation +of a multitude of tourists for his generous +and never-failing courtesy in permitting +them the privilege of visiting this palace in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span> +which his father had passed many months of +enjoyment. It was from this residence that +the poet Browning wrote, in October of 1880, +to a friend:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Every morning at six I see the sun rise; far +more wonderfully, to my mind, than his famous +setting which everybody glorifies. My bedroom +window commands a perfect view; the +still, gray lagune, the few sea-gulls flying, the +islet of San Giorgio in deep shadow and the +clouds in a long purple rock behind which a +sort of spirit of rose burns up till presently all +the rims are on fire with gold, and last of all +the orb sends before it a long column of its +own essence apparently; so my day begins.”</p></div> + +<p>Later, of his son’s palace, Mr. Browning +wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Have I told you that there is a chapel which +he has restored in honor of his mother—putting +up there the inscription by Tommaseo,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +now above Casa Guidi in Florence?”</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span></p> +<p>In this palace Mr. Browning wrote some of +his later poems, and it may well be that it was +when he was clad in his singing robes that he +perhaps most deeply felt the ineffable charm of +Venice:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“For the stars help me, and the sea bears part;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The very night is clinging<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Closer to Venice’ streets to leave one space<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Above me. . . .”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was from these lofty salons in the Browning +Palace that the poet passed to the “life +more abundant” on that December day of +1889, on the very day that his last volume, +“Asolando,” was published and also the last +volume of Tennyson’s. Regarding these Mr. +Gladstone said, in a letter to Lord Tennyson: +“The death of Browning on the day of the +appearance of your volume, and we hear of +one of his own, is a touching event.”</p> + +<p>From the time of Mrs. Browning’s death in +Florence (in June of 1861) Mr. Browning never +felt that he could see Italy again, until the +autumn of 1878, when he, with his sister, Miss +Sarianna Browning, came to Venice by way +of the Italian lakes and Verona. At this time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span> +they only remained for a fortnight, domiciled +in the old Palazzo Brandolin-Rota, which was +transformed into the Albergo dell’Universo. +This palace was on the Grand Canal below +the Accadémia, and here he returned through +two or three subsequent years. Mr. Browning +became very fond of Venice, and he explored +its winding ways and gardens and knew it, +not merely from the gondola view, but from +the point of view of the curious little dark +and narrow byways, the bridges, and the +piazzas.</p> + +<p>It was in 1880 that Mr. Browning first met, +through the kind offices of Mr. Story, a most +charming and notable American lady, Mrs. +Arthur Bronson (Katherine DeKay), who had +domiciled herself in Casa Alvisi, an old palace +on the Grand Canal opposite the Church of +Santa Maria della Salute. She was a woman +of very interesting personality, and had drawn +about her a circle including many of the most +distinguished people of her time, authors, artists, +poets, and notable figures in the social world. +She was eminently <i>simpatica</i> and her lovely impulses +of generous kindness were rendered possible +to translate into the world of the actual by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> +the freedom which a large fortune confers on +its possessor. Between Mrs. Bronson and Mr. +Browning there sprang up one of those rare +and beautiful friendships that lasted during his +lifetime, and to her appreciation and many +courtesies he owed much of the happiness of +his later years. In the autumn of 1880 Mrs. +Bronson made Mr. Browning and his sister her +guests, placing at their disposal a suite of rooms +in the Palazzo Giustiniani Recanati—a palace +adjoining her own—and each night they dined +and passed the evening with her, with music +and conversation to enchant the hours. After +Mr. Browning’s death, Mrs. Bronson was the +friend whom all pilgrims to his shrine in Venice +felt it a special privilege to meet and to hear +speak of him. In her palace was a large easy-chair, +with a ribbon tied across the arms, in +which Browning was accustomed to sit, and +which was held sacred to him. Mrs. Bronson +was an accomplished linguist, and the <i>habitués</i> +of her salon represented many nationalities. +Among these was the Princess Montenegro, the +mother of the present Queen of Italy.</p> + +<p>It is little wonder that the Browning Palace +was for so many years a focus for all who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> +revered and loved the wedded poets, Robert and +Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</p> + +<p>In the marble court, roofed only by the blue +Venetian sky, stood Mr. Barrett Browning’s +statue of “Dryope” in bronze, on its marble +pedestal,—a beautiful conception of the Dryope +of Keats,—the dweller in forest solitudes +whom the Hamadryads transformed into a +poplar. Here a fountain makes music all day +long, and the court is also adorned in summer +by great Venetian jars of pink hydrangeas in +full bloom. The grand staircase, with its carved +balustrade and the wide landing where a rose +window decorates the wall, leads to the lofty +salons which were yet as homelike as they were +artistic during the residence of the Brownings. +Mr. Story’s bust of Mrs. Browning, other portrait +busts of both the poets, sculptured by +their artist son, and by others, and other memorials +abound. In the library were gathered +many interesting volumes, autographed from +their authors, and many rare and choice editions, +among which was one of the “Sonnets +from the Portuguese” in a sumptuous volume +whose artistic beauty found a fitting setting to +Mrs. Browning’s immortal sonnets. Among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> +other volumes were a collection of signed +“Etchings” by Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema; +presentation copies from Tennyson, Matthew +Arnold, Aubrey De Vere, Walter Savage Landor, +and many another known to fame; and a copy, +also, of a study of Mrs. Browning’s poetry<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> by +an American writer.</p> + +<p>There is one memento over which the visitor +always smiled—a souvenir of a London evening +in 1855 when the Brownings had invited +Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his brother and +Lord Madox Brown to meet Tennyson and +listen to his reading of his new poem, “Maud,” +then still unpublished. During the reading Rossetti +drew a caricature representing Tennyson +with his hair standing on end, his eyes glowering +and his hand theatrically extended, as he +held a manuscript inscribed,</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 21em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A reproduction of John Singer Sargent’s +painting, “The Gypsy Dance,” bore the inscription, +“To <i>mon ami</i>, Browning.” From the +library is a niche, decorated in gold, with memorial +entablatures to the memory of Mrs. Brown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span>ing. +On the outer wall of the palace is an +inscription that runs:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Robert Browning died in this house 12th +December, 1889.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 14em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Open my heart and you will see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Graven inside it ‘Italy.’”<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<p>There is a sadness in the fact that this palace, +consecrated to the memory of the immortal +poets, husband and wife, has passed into the +hands of strangers; but that is a part of the play +in a world in which we have no continuing +city. In the spring of 1905, Miss Sarianna +Browning died in the home of her nephew, +near Florence, and her body was buried in the +new Protestant cemetery in that city; the old +one, where all that was mortal of Elizabeth +Barrett Browning was laid to rest, being now +closed. Mr. Barrett Browning, in his Tuscan +villa, is again dwelling near Florence, his native +city, which must forever hold to him its atmosphere +of consecrated beauty as the beloved +home of his mother,—the noblest and greatest +of all woman poets.</p> + +<p>The centenary of Carlo Goldoni was celebrated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span> +in Venice in the spring of 1907 by the +publication of all his works and a monograph +on his life; an exhibition of personal relics; the +presentation of one of his dramas set to music +by Baldassare Galuppi, the great Venetian +composer of his time, and by a procession to +lay a wreath of laurel on his monument in the +Campo San Bartolommeo. The drama given, +entitled the “Buranello,” was the last work of +the author, and it was presented in the theatre +Goldoni. The Municipal Council of Venice +voted the sum of fifty thousand lire for the <i>édition +de luxe</i>, which consists of twenty volumes, in +octavo. In each volume is a different portrait +of Goldoni, facsimile of manuscripts, and the +reproduction of literary curiosities.</p> + +<p>The monograph of Goldoni was issued by the +press of the Venetian Institute of Graphic Art +in a limited number of copies.</p> + +<p>It contains more than three hundred printed +pages and a series of very interesting illustrations. +Among these are the reproductions +of ancient engravings which are most rare +(such as the view of the Grimani Theatre +at San Giovanni Crisostomo, a famous theatre +existing in the days of the Venetian republic,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span> +but now demolished), frontispieces of destroyed +editions, and other personal memorials. The +revival of the splendid work of the famous artist +was one of the attractions of the festa of celebration. +The art exhibition of Venice in this +spring of 1907 was very picturesque. One +special salon was allotted to the artists of Great +Britain, and there was a fine loan collection of +the portraits of English noblemen painted by +Mr. Sargent. This salon was decorated with +panels by Frank Brangwyn.</p> + +<p>Venice forever remains a dream, a mirage, an +enchantment. Has it a recognized social life, +with “seasons” that come and go? Has it +trade, commerce, traffic? Has it any existence +save on the artist’s canvas, in the poet’s vision? +Has it a resident population to whom it is a +home, and not the pilgrimage of passionate +pilgrims?</p> + +<p>There are those who find this Venice of all +the year round a society of stately nobles whose +ancestral claims are identified with the history +of the city and who are at home in its palaces +and gondolas, but of this resident life the +visitor is less aware than of that in any other +city in Italy. For him it remains forever in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span> +his memory as the crowning glory of June evenings +when the full, golden moon hangs over +towers and walls, when gondolas freighted with +Venetian singers loom up out of the shadows +and fill the air with melody that echoes as in +dreams, and that vanishes—one knows not +when or where. Mr. Howells, in his delightful +“Venetian Days,” has interpreted much of that +life that the tourist never recognizes, that eludes +his sight; and the Dream City still, to the visitor +who comes and goes, shrouds itself in myth +and mystery. One of the poetic visions of +Venice is that given in Robert Underwood +Johnson’s “Browning at Asolo” (inscribed to +Mrs. Arthur Bronson), of which the opening +stanzas run:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“This is the loggia Browning loved,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">High on the flank of the friendly town;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These are the hills that his keen eye roved,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The green like a cataract leaping down<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To the plain that his pen gave new renown.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“There to the West what a range of blue!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The very background Titian drew<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To his peerless Loves. O tranquil scene!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who than thy poet fondlier knew<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The peaks and the shore and the lore between?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“See! yonder’s his Venice—the valiant Spire,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Highest one of the perfect three,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Guarding the others: the Palace choir,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Temple flashing with opal fire—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Bubble and foam of the sunlit sea.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Edgar Fawcett, always enchanted with his +Venetian days, pictures the northern lagoon, +some six miles from Venice, as “a revel of +pastoral greenness, with briery hedges, numberless +wild flowers and the most captivating of +sinuous creeks, overarched by an occasional +bridge, so old that you greet with respect every +moss-grown inch of its drowsy and sagging +brickwork. The cathedral, the ineludible cathedral +of all Italian settlements, is reached after a +short ramble, and you enter it with mingled +awe and amusement,” he continues. “Some of +its mosaics, representing martyrs being devoured +by flames and evidently enjoying themselves a +great deal during this mortuary process, challenge +the disrespectful smile. But others are +vested with a rude yet sacred poetry, and certain +semi-Oriental marble sculptures, adjacent +to the altar, would make an infidel feel like +crossing himself for the crime of having +yielded to a humorous twinge. This duomo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span> +dates far back beyond the Middle Ages, and +so does the small Church of Santa Fosca, only +a step away. What renders Torcello so individual +among all the islands and islets of the +lagoon, I should say, is her continual contrast +between the ever-recurrent idyllicism of open +meadows or wilding clusters of simple rustic +thickets, and the enormous antiquity of these +two hoary ecclesiastic fanes. History is in +the air, and you feel that the very daisies +you crush underfoot, the very copses from +which you pluck a scented spray, have their +delicate rustic ancestries, dating back to Attila, +who is said once to have brought his destructive +presence where now such sweet solemnity +of desertion and quietude unmolestedly +rules.”</p> + +<p>History and legend and art and romance meet +and mingle to create that indefinable sorcery of +Venice. It is like nothing on earth except a +poet’s dream, and his poetic dream is of the +ethereal realm. The wonderful music that +floats over the “silver trail” of still waters; +the mystic silences; the resplendence of color,—all, +indeed, weave themselves into an incantation +of the gods; it is the ineffable loveliness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span> +Paradise where the rose of morning glows “and +the June is always June,” and it is no more +earth, but a celestial atmosphere,—this glory +of June in Venice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 26em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Dear Italy! The sound of thy soft name</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Soothes me with balm of Memory and Hope.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Mine, for the moment, height and sweep and slope</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>That once were mine. Supreme is still the aim</i><br /></span> +<span class="i6"><i>To flee the cold and gray</i><br /></span> +<span class="i6"><i>Of our December day,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And rest where thy clear spirit burns with unconsuming flame.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Thou human-hearted land, whose revels hold</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>Man in communion with the antique days,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i1"><i>And summon him from prosy greed to ways</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Where Youth is beckoning to the Age of Gold;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i6"><i>How thou dost hold him near</i><br /></span> +<span class="i6"><i>And whisper in his ear</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of the lost Paradise that lies beyond the alluring haze!</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Robert Underwood Johnson.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span></p></div> + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 3em;" /> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p><i>Great ideas create great peoples. Let your life be the living +summary of one sole organic idea. Enlarge the horizon of the +peoples. Liberate their conscience from the materialism by which +it is weighed down. Set a vast mission before them. Rebaptize +them.</i></p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Mazzini.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<p class="noi"><br /></p> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p><i>All parts array for the progress of souls: all religion, all solid +things, arts, governments,—all that was or is apparent upon +this globe, or any globe, falls into niches and comes before the procession +of Souls along the grand roads of the universe. . . . Of the +progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of +the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.</i></p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Walt Whitman.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span></p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII<br /><br /> + +<span class="nob">THE MAGIC LAND</span></h2> + +<div class="blockquot2"><p>More than five hundred years have passed over the country of Dante +since the death of his mortal part—years of glory and of shame, of genius +and intolerable mediocrity, of turbulent liberty and mortal servitude; but +the name of Dante has remained, and the severe image of the poet still +rules the destinies of Italian generations, now an encouragement and now +a reproach. The splendor of no other genius has been able to eclipse or +dim the grandeur of Dante; never has there been a darkness so profound +that it could conceal this star of promise from Italian eyes; neither the +profanations of tyrants and Jesuits, nor the violations of foreign invaders, +have been able to efface it. “<i>Sanctum Poetæ nomen quod nunquam barbaries +violavit.</i>”</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Mazzini.</span><br /> +</p></div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> true life of Italy is not read in any record +of contemporary facts or statistics. Mazzini +once said of Dante, in an essay on the immortal +poet, that “the life, the true life of Dante does +not lie in the series of the material facts of his +existence. The life of Dante consists in the +sufferings and aspirations of his soul; in its +dominant impulses; in the ceaseless development +of the idea which was at once his guide, +inspiration, and consolation; in his belief as a +man and as an Italian.” The real life of Italy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span> +is, by analogy, to be read in that atmosphere +of aspiration and of noble purpose which characterizes +the nation rather than in the material +facts of its general progress at the present time. +As a country Italy is young. It is still less than +forty years since her unity was declared, and to +merge the large number of separate States into +one harmonious whole is a task requiring the +evolutionary progress of time; for a nation, like +a university, cannot be a matter of instantaneous +creation. It must germinate and grow. +The country that, previous to so comparatively +a recent date as the year 1870, was, in the phrasing +of Prince Metternich, “a geographical expression,” +can hardly be judged by present +national standards after an existence of only +thirty-seven years, although it need be said in +no spirit of apology; for Italy is advancing in +scientific development, in manufactures, and in +the problems involved in civil and hydraulic +engineering to a notable degree in the northern +part. Milan and Naples are separated by far +more than geographical distance. In modern +progress Milan is divided by centuries from all +Southern Italy.</p> + +<p>Between Italy and the United States the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span> +<i>entente cordiale</i> is not merely that of diplomatic +and ceremonial courtesy, but of an exceptional +degree of mutually sympathetic comprehensions. +In noble ambitions and lofty purposes Americans +and Italians are closely akin. In zeal for +contemporary scientific progress, in an intense +susceptibility to the glories of art, and in hospitality +to all that makes for progress, both +nations meet in mutual recognition. Of no +people is it more deeply true than of Americans +that “each man has two countries: his own +and Italy.” The average traveller sees this +fair land with a breadth and thoroughness seldom +called into requisition elsewhere. In England +he is usually content with London, the +tour of the cathedral towns and the lake region +of the poets. France is summed up to him in +Paris and in the chateaux of outlying districts. +But Italy beguiles the traveller into every lonely +foot-trail in the mountains; to every “piazza +grande” of lonely hamlets, isolated on a rocky +hillside; to every “fortezza” that crowns a +mountain summit. The unexplored byways of +Italy are magnetic in their fascination, and one +special source of congratulation on the part of +those fortunate tourists who travel with their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span> +own motor car is that they are thus enabled to +penetrate into untrodden byways in Italy in a +manner impossible to those who must depend +entirely on the regulation railroad service. All +lovers of Italy are devoted to these original +tours of private exploration. A recent trip to +<a name="tn426" id="tn426"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Saricinesco'">Saracinesco</ins>, in the region of Tivoli, was made +by Mrs. Stetson (Grace Ellery Channing) with +her husband, and in a descriptive record of the +little journey into an unfrequented mountain +region this paragraph occurs:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Roused by ‘an awful rose of dawn’ which +turned every solemn slope to strange amber and +amethyst, we left that rocky eyrie next day, +returning by way of Anticoli—beloved of artists. +And if the ascent had qualified us for +Alpine climbers, the descent qualified us as +members of the Italian cavalry corps. Pictures +of officers riding down the face of cliffs will +never impress us again; we know now it is the +very simplest of ‘stunts.’ Our way down was diversified +by the tinkling of thousands of sheep-bells, +by the far too close proximity of bulls to +Maria’s crimson headdress, which nothing in +the world would induce her to remove, and by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span> +sundry meetings with relations, long-unseen +friends, and strangers, from whom we culled +the whole register of deaths, births, marriages, +and happenings for a month past. At last, +beside a little bridge near the railroad station, +Leonardo addressed his ten-thousandth adjuration +to Beppino, whose poor little legs trembled +under him. It was no longer, ‘Ah, sacred one!—don’t +you see Anticoli!’—or ‘the rock,’ +or whatever it might be; now he said, ‘Ah, +sacred one!—don’t you comprehend?—the +Signora descends’—and Beppino looked distinctly +pleased.</p> + +<p>“Here we demanded the reckoning, skilfully +evaded hitherto.</p> + +<p>“‘Well—a franc for each beast,—and half +a franc for the room,—the rest was nothing—a +<i>sciocchezza</i>.’</p> + +<p>“A franc apiece!—half a franc!—were <i>we</i> +brigands that we should do this thing?”</p></div> + +<p>This typical picture of idyllic days in Italy, +enjoyed in the impromptu excursion and trip, +reveals the delicacy of feeling and the sunny +kindness that characterize the <i>contadini</i> and +which imparts to any social contact with them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span> +a grace and sweetness peculiar to Italian life. +There are parts of Italy where it is still the +Middle Ages and no hint of the twentieth +century has yet penetrated. The modern spirit +has almost taken possession of Rome; it is +largely in evidence in Florence and even +Venice, and it dominates Milan; but in most +of the “hill towns” and in the little hamlets +and lonely haunts where a house is perhaps +improvised out of the primeval rock, the +prevailing life is still mediæval, and only +awakens on festa days into any semblance of +activity.</p> + +<p>Somewhere, away up in the hills, several +miles from Pegli,—on the Mediterranean coast +near Genoa,—is one of these sequestered little +hill towns called <i>Acqua Sacra</i>. The name is +obvious, indeed, for the sound of the “sacred +water” fills the air, falling from every hillside +and from the fountain of the <i>acqua sacra</i> by +the church. Pilgrims come from miles around +to drink of these waters. Each house in this +remote little hamlet is of solid stone, resembling +a fortress on a small scale, and the houses cling +to the hillsides like mosses to a rock. Though +far up in the mountains, the hills rise around<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span> +the hamlet like city walls, as if the life of all +the world were kept outside. The unforeseen +visit to these remote hamlets, suddenly chancing +upon some small centre of happy and half-idyllic +life, is one of the charms of tourist travel +in this land of ineffable loveliness.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/theaterb.jpg"><img src="images/theater.jpg" width="400" height="290" alt="RUINS OF THE GREEK THEATRE, TAORMINA, SICILY" title="RUINS OF THE GREEK THEATRE, TAORMINA, SICILY" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>RUINS OF THE GREEK THEATRE, TAORMINA, SICILY</small></p> +</div> + +<p>The approach to Italy, by whatever direction, +by land or by sea, one enters, is one of magical +beauty. Whether one enters from the Mediterranean +or from the Adriatic, or by means of +the Mont Cenis, the Simplon, or the St. Gothard +pass, through the sublime mountain wall, each +gateway is marvellous in attraction. Approaching +from the seas that completely surround Italy +except on one side, the almost undreamed-of +splendor of Naples, Genoa, and Venice, as seen +from off the shore, exceeds all power of painter +or poet to reproduce. The precipitous coast +of Sicily; the picturesque city of Palermo; +the wonderful ruins of the Greek theatre on +the heights in Taormina,—all enchant the +tourist. To anchor off Naples, in the beautiful +bay, serves the purpose of an hotel out at +sea. It is like living in Venice—only more so! +By the little rowboats one may go, at any moment, +to Naples, and it is more delightful than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span> +passing the days in the city itself. For at +night as one strolls or sits on deck what a picture +is before the eye! All Naples, on her +semicircular shores, with her terraced heights +rising above, defined in a blaze of electric +lights! Genoa, <i>la Superba</i>, is still more magnificent +when seen from the sea; and Venice, +rising dream-enchanted, completes the wonders +of the approach by water.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/ponteb.jpg"><img src="images/ponte.jpg" width="400" height="241" alt="PONTE VECCHIO, FLORENCE" title="PONTE VECCHIO, FLORENCE" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>PONTE VECCHIO, FLORENCE</small></p> +</div> + +<p>As the new Italy has not yet achieved any +homogeneous unity, Naples, Rome, Florence, +Venice, and Milan differ in their characteristics +to such a degree that no general interpretation +of the residents of any one would appropriately +describe those of another. Paris and Vienna +hardly differ as much as do Milan and Rome; +and Venice, Florence, and Rome, each rich in +art treasures, have little else in common. Certain +characteristics of each of the large cities +reveal themselves prominently, even to a superficial +observer. Milan, as has been said, is +a centre of activity, as Florence is of culture +and accomplishments. Florence has the largest +and the most choice circulating library in all +Italy and one that ranks among the best on the +Continent. Her galleries are treasure stores of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span> +art, and her social life is unsurpassed—one +might almost say unrivalled—in its fine quality. +Music, philosophic culture, learning in all +lines of research characterize Florentine society. +Education has always been regarded in Florence +as a matter of prime importance, and when the +government grant of funds is insufficient the +sum is made up by private contributions, so +that the <i>Scuola del Popolo</i> gives free instruction, +yearly, to eighteen hundred pupils, in every +branch of technical and art education. This +fact alone offers its own explanation of that +general intelligence of the people which so impresses +the visitor in Florence. But this is a +municipal rather than national fact. Every +special development in any direction in Italy +will always be found to be the characteristic of +the city or locality, not of the country as a +whole; and thus the unity of Italy is still a +political expression rather than a political fact. +It is a theory which is not yet developed into +an experience. Italy is in the making. Practically, +she is the youngest of countries, with +less than forty years of experimental attempt at +<i>national</i> life behind her. Not until 1919 will +she have attained the first half century of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span> +united life. Educational facilities, inclusive of +schools, libraries, and museums; railroads, telegraph +and telephone service, electric lighting +and electric trams,—all the ways and means +of the modern mechanism of life are, inevitably, +in a nebulous state in Italy. The political +situation is extremely interesting at the present +time. That the “Blacks” and the “Whites” +are diametrically opposed to each other is in +the nature of history rather than that of contemporary +record or of prophecy; and that this +is a traditional attitude in this city of the Cæsars +is not a fact by any means unknown; but the situation +is complicated by the third party—the +Socialists—who, by allying themselves with +either, would easily turn the scales and command +the situation. If they were ardent Catholics +and were advocates of the Papal supremacy, +the temporal power of the Pope would be restored +in less time almost than could be recorded, and +Pius X would be in residence in the Palazzo +Quirinale rather than Victor Emanuele III. +But this great modern uprising in Italy—a +movement that is gathering force and numbers +so rapidly that no one can venture to prophesy +results even in the comparatively immediate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span> +future—this great modern movement is neither +for church nor state. The Socialist uprising is +very strong in Milan and through Northern +Italy. It is much in evidence in the Umbrian +region—in Foligno, Spoleto, Nervi, and those +towns; and from Frascati to Genzano and in +the Lake Nemi chain of villages—Rocca di +Papa, Castel Gandolpho, Ariccia, Albano—these +villages within some fifteen miles of Rome. +In these there is a veritable stronghold of Socialism, +where its purposes and policy are entrenched. +Yet when one alludes to its policy, +the term is rather too definite. If it had a +settled and well-formulated policy on which all +its adherents were in absolute accord they would +carry all before them. But Socialism is still a +very elastic term and covers, if not a multitude +of sins, at least a multitude of ideas and +ideals. There is now a rumor that the situation +is forcing the absolutely inconceivable union +of church and state—of the Vatican and the +Quirinale—that they may thus withstand their +common foe. A more amazing and extraordinary +turn of affairs could not be imagined; and +if the rumor (which is now becoming more coherent +in Rome) should prove to be the forerunner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span> +of any truth, the situation will be one of +the most amazing in all history.</p> + +<p>Epoch-making events in the course of progress +are always preceded by circumstances that +form to them a natural approach and chain of +causation. They are the results of which the +causes stretch backward in the past. One of +the things that has an incalculably determining +influence on the present situation is that of the +character of the present Pope. His Holiness, +Pius X, brings to the Papacy an entirely new +element. He is no ascetic or exclusive ecclesiastic; +he is no diplomat or intriguant, but rather +a simple, kindly man, of a simplicity totally +unprecedented in the annals of the Palazzo +Vaticano. Instead of clinging with unswerving +intensity of devotion to the idea of the restoration +of the temporal power of the church, Pope +Pius X would not be disinclined to the uniting +of church and state as in England; the Vatican +to remain, like the See of Canterbury, the acknowledged +head of the spiritual power, while +the Quirinale remained the head of the government +to which the church should give its political +adherence, the Quirinale in return giving +to the Vatican its religious adherence. Perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span> +it is not too much to say that something not +unlike this might easily become—if it is not +already—the dream of Pius X. But in the +mean time there is another factor with which to +reckon, and that is the present Papal Secretary +of State, Cardinal Merry del Val. He it is who +really holds the mystic key of St. Peter’s. He +is a diplomatist, an ecclesiastic, an embodiment +of all that is severe and archaic in authority. +The Pope is by no means able to set his course +by his own watch-lights. The College of Cardinals +surrounds him, and the College of Cardinals +is practically one Cardinal, the keen +scholar and the all determining Cardinal Merry +del Val, whose personality dominates the court +of the Vatican. This remarkable prelate represents +the most advanced and progressive +thought of the day in many ways,—as has +been noted in preceding pages,—but as a +Jesuit he is unalterably devoted to what he considers +the only ideal,—the restoration of the +temporal power of the Pope. Spain revealed +her attitude when King Alphonso asked of all +the monarchs of Europe that the name of each +should be borne by his infant son, the heir-apparent; +and for Italy he asked the name of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span> +the Pope and not of the King, thus recognizing +Pius X rather than Victor Emmanuel III as +the head of the nation.</p> + +<p>That the Socialists have very logical and +serious grounds for complaint is true. That +their leader, Signor Enrico Ferri, an Italian +journalist and a Senator, is one of the most +able men in Italy since the time of Cavour is +equally undeniable. The Socialists are fortunate, +too, in other leading men. <a name="tn436" id="tn436"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Zurati'">Turati</ins>, the +editor of the <i>Critica Sociale</i>, Pantaleoni, Colajanni, +and others are absolutely the hope of +Italy at the present time in the struggle for better +conditions. For the conditions of life in +Italy, as regards taxation, the problems of transit, +the government restrictions on agricultural +production and on manufactures, are absolutely +intolerable and should not be endured for a +day. The taxation is so exorbitant that it is a +marvel Italy is not depopulated. On land the tax +rate is from thirty to fifty per cent; the income +tax is not merely, as one would suppose, levied +on a legitimate income derived from a man’s possessions, +but is levied on salaries, ranging from +ten to twenty per cent of these, and also, not +content with this unheard-of extortion, the tax<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span> +is levied on the nature and source of his salary, +and even the smallest wage is thus subject to +an income tax. Again, there is a most absurd +tax on salt, which, like sugar and tobacco, is +held as a government monopoly. No poor person +living on the seacoast in Italy is allowed to +take even a pail of water from the sea to his +house, as the government assumes that, by evaporation, +it might yield a few grains of salt. The +tax on sugar effectually checks an industry that +might be made most profitable, that of putting +up fruit in jams, jellies, and compote, and renders +the price of these commodities absurdly +high. Again, when taxes are paid the process +is even worse than the unjust and exorbitant +tax itself. No one is allowed to send a check +or postal order; no tax gatherer calls at the +home or the office. Each person must go himself +or send a personal representative to a given +place between certain hours. Here stand a long +procession, each person in town going up, filling +out pages of written formalities; talking of each +item and discussing it according to the national +custom, until the office hours are over for that +day, and often not one-fourth of the persons +waiting have been served. All then must take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span> +their chances the next day, and perhaps even a +third or a fourth day,—a loss of time and +energy that in no other country would be tolerated +for a moment. But time has not yet +any recognizable value in Italy. Every enterprise +and manufacture is taxed in Italy, and as +the returns of these are inevitably revealed so +that no evasion is possible, and as the exactions +of the government consume nearly all the profits, +the result is that all business enterprises are discouraged +and that Italy swarms with a great +idle population, while nearly all articles and +supplies are imported from other countries, with +the payment of enormous duties, making their +cost far greater, proportionately, than their +value.</p> + +<p>There are great tracts of country in Southern +Italy suitable for tobacco raising, but (as it is +one of the government monopolies) people are +forbidden to raise it; and in private gardens +only three plants are permitted. Again, all industries +are crippled, if not paralyzed, by the +tax at the frontier, and also by the tax at every +gate of every city. At every <i>porta</i> in Rome +are stationed government officers who scrutinize +every box, basket, and package; and all fruit,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span> +eggs, garden stuff, milk, and commodities of +every kind are taxed as they are brought inside +the walls.</p> + +<p>The railroads of Italy are, at present, very +poor in all facilities of transit. Within a year +the Italian government has “taken over” these +roads and better conditions are promised, which +are, alas! not yet in sight. There are many +“counts” to the indictment against the Italian +railroads which are only suitable to adorn the +very lowest circles of the Inferno described by +Dante. They are uncleanly; the roadbeds are +so rough that the miserably built compartments +jolt and jostle over the tracks; the seats are so +high that the feet can hardly touch the floor, +and the facilities for light and air are as badly +managed as is possible to conceive. As is well +known, these are divided into first, second, and +third class, these compartments all being in +the same train, and between the first and second +there is little difference save that of price. +Curiously, the price of even second-class travelling +in Italy is over half a cent a mile higher +than that of the splendid trains in America, +with their swift time, their smooth roadbeds, +their admirable conveniences in every way.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span> +Again, no luggage is carried free, and the prices +asked for it are extortionate beyond words. +One may check all his impedimenta from San +Francisco to New York without extra charge; +but in going from Rome to Naples, or from +Florence to Genoa to sail, the same luggage will +cost from six to eight dollars to convey it to +the steamer. Again, these railroads pay their +employés so poorly that only the most inefficient +service can be retained at all; only those +persons who are the absolute prisoners of poverty +will consent to accept such meagrely paid +service.</p> + +<p>The Italian government consists, like that of +most countries, of an upper and lower house, +the Senate and the House of Deputies. But the +former is rather a matter of miscellaneous honors +than one of political initiative. There is no +limit to the number of Senators; they are created +by being named by the King, and the office is +for life. If a man attracts the favorable notice of +the King,—because he is a good artist, engineer, +archæologist, chemist, or financier,—presto, he +is liable to be made a Senator. Canova, the +celebrated sculptor, was made a Senator because, +indeed, he was a great artist! There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span> +is one condition, however, that a Senator +must be one who pays annually not less than +three thousand lire in taxes. The Senators receive +no salary, and their times of meeting are +uncertain and no man’s presence is obligatory. +The House of Deputies has five hundred and +eight members, all of whom must be Italian +subjects over thirty years of age. They have no +salary, but are given the entire freedom of the +realm in all transit on railroads and steamers. +The Chamber of Deputies is largely made up +of professional men, and it is little wonder +that the Socialists are demanding an entire +reform in the government of the country. +There was never in any country more defective +conditions than now prevail in Italy. The very +fact that the young King is an estimable gentleman, +who is personally not in the least to blame +for the prevailing status of unfortunate conditions, +is in one way an added misfortune, as +the personal loyalty he justly inspires militates +by so much against the revolution in government +which is so deeply a necessity of Italy +before her better and more prosperous life can +begin. It is now a country of stagnation. All +Southern and Central Italy simply lives off its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span> +tourists; and every year prices and fees and +extortion in general from the visitors to Italy +become greater.</p> + +<p>Senator Enrico Ferri, the leader of Socialism +in Italy, was born in 1856 in Mantua. He had +a university education, was admitted to the bar, +and in 1881 was called to the chair of penal +law in the University of Bologna. The Senator +is a scientific Socialist,—a man of the most +exceptional gifts and qualities, and the author +of a noted work, entitled “Criminal Sociology,” +which is translated into several languages. Senators +Ferri and Lombroso are special friends +and also co-workers.</p> + +<p>On taking his seat in the University of +Bologna, Professor Ferri delivered a lecture, entitled +“New Horizons in Penal Law,” which +was a most impressive effort. In it he said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It was in this inaugural discourse that I +affirmed the existence of the positivist school of +criminal law, and assigned to it these two +fundamental rules: First, while the classical +schools of criminal law have always studied the +crime and neglected the criminal, the object of +the positivist school was, in the first place, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span> +study the criminal, so that, instead of the crime +being regarded merely as a juridical fact, it +must be studied with the aid of biology, of psychology, +and of criminal statistics as a natural +and social fact, transforming the old criminal +law into a criminal sociology. Secondly, while +the classical schools, since Beccaria and Howard, +have fulfilled the historic mission of decreasing +the punishments as a reaction from the severity +of the mediæval laws, the object of the positivist +school is to decrease the offence by investigating +its natural and social causes in order to +apply social remedies more efficacious and more +humane than the penal counteraction, always +slow in its effects, especially in its cellular system, +which I have called one of the aberrations +of the nineteenth century.”</p></div> + +<p>Such is the man to whom it is no extravagance +to allude as one of the present leaders of +progress in Italy. He is in the early prime of +mature life; he is a man of education, culture, +great original gifts, and of sympathies with humanity +as wise and judicious as they are liberal +and all-embracing. Scientific Socialism tolerates +no lawlessness, no violence, nor does it, like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span> +the so-called Christian Socialism, attempt to +graft impossible conditions on society. It regards +the laws of economics, and it is practicable +and possible as well as considerate +and just. And the great inspirer, proclaimer, +and leader of scientific Socialism is Enrico +Ferri.</p> + +<p>Italy not only inspires the enthusiasm of the +lover of beauty in nature and art, she inspires +a vital and abiding interest in all that shall +make for her true progress, and she inspires, as +well, absolute faith in her ultimate future. At +present her monarchy is among the most liberal +and progressive of Europe. King Victor Emmanuel +is a man of integrity, of intelligence, and +of devotion to the best interests of his country +as he understands these interests to be. If they +might be better served by a more democratic +form of government, it is hardly to be asked +or expected that such a view should present +itself to an hereditary monarch. Among the +most liberal element there are not wanting men +who believe that for the immediate future the +present form of government is the most feasible. +In their conviction Italy is by no means prepared +to be a republic. The masses of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span> +people are uneducated; and a great work, requiring +time, must be effected in the popularization +of intelligence and of instruction, before +democratic government could be adopted. Yet +there is no faltering in the outlook on a glorious +future. The noble words of Mazzini still +ring in the Italian air: “Walk in faith, and fear +not. Believe, and you will conquer.” By way +of enforcing his convictions Mazzini said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Upon a day in the sixteenth century, at +Rome, some men bearing the title of <i>Inquisitors</i>, +who assumed to derive wisdom and authority +from God himself, were assembled to decree +the immobility of the earth. A prisoner stood +before them. His brow was illumined by genius. +He had outstripped time and mankind, and revealed +the secret of a world.</p> + +<p>“It was Galileo.</p> + +<p>“The old man shook his bold and venerable +head. His soul revolted against the absurd violence +of those who sought to force him to deny +the truths revealed to him by God. But his +pristine energy was worn down by long suffering +and sorrow; the monkish menace crushed +him. He strove to submit. He raised his hand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span> +he too, to declare the immobility of the earth. +But as he raised his hand, he raised his weary +eyes to that heaven they had searched throughout +long nights to read thereon one line of the +universal law; they encountered a ray of that +sun which he so well knew motionless amid the +moving spheres. Remorse entered his heart: an +involuntary cry burst from the believer’s soul: +<i>Eppur si muove!</i> and yet it moves.</p> + +<p>“Three centuries have passed away. Inquisitors,—inquisition,—absurd +theses imposed by +force,—all these have disappeared. Naught +remains but the well-established movement of +the earth, and the sublime cry of Galileo floating +above the ages.</p> + +<p>“Child of Humanity, raise thy brow to the +sun of God, and read upon the heavens: <i>It +moves.</i> Faith and action! The future is ours.”</p></div> + +<p>“Poetry,” added Mazzini, “will teach the +young the nobleness of sacrifice, of constancy, +and silence; of feeling one’s self alone without +despairing, in an existence of suffering unknown +or misunderstood; in long years of bitterness, +wounds, and delusion, endured without murmur +or lament; it will teach them to have faith in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[447]</a></span> +things to come, and to labor unceasingly to +hasten their coming, even though without hope +of living to witness their triumph;” and his +final word in this great invocation to the new +potencies of the opening future is an exhortation +to believe in all greatness and goodness. +“Faith,” he said, “which is intellect, energy, +and love, will put an end to the discords existing +in a society which has neither church nor +leaders; which invokes a new world, but forgets +to ask its secret, its Word, from God.” In +universal education must lie the first national +aid to the development of Italy. “<i>L’anima del +gran mondo è l’allegria.</i>”</p> + +<p>As Florence is pre-eminently the city of culture, +so is Milan of activities. Her keynote is +<i>modernité</i>. The visitor is at once impressed by +her energy, her enterprise, and her commercial +prosperity. Milan has the best municipal facilities +and conveniences in all Italy. The electric +lighting of streets, public buildings, and +residences, the street transit, the arrangement +and conduct of shops and all industrial matters, +are in such contrast to any other city in Italy +as to lead the sojourner to ask himself whether +he can still be on the southern side of the Alpine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[448]</a></span> +range. In the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele +Milan has the most wonderful structure in all +Europe. This arcade was built in 1865, and +under the magnificent glass dome it includes +nearly one hundred of the most attractive +and well-stocked shops, bazaars, and establishments. +The dome is decorated with frescoes +and caryatides, and with the statues of numbers +of eminent men, among whom are Dante, +Raphael, Savonarola, and Cavour. The offices +and banks in Milan are centres of incessant +energy.</p> + +<p>For all this stress of activity the visitor does +not, however, forget the art features; the visit +to the antique Church of St. Ambrosio; to the +old convent where Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated +fresco, “The Last Supper,” is to be +seen, though so faded that it is now difficult +to discern all the figures. Nor does he fail to +climb the wonderful cathedral that lifts its airy +grace, as if about to float upward in the skies. +Every flight of the steps, in the ascent, brings +one to a new vision of beauty. On the roof of +this cathedral one wanders as in a very forest +of sculpture. Its scheme of decoration includes +more than two thousand statues, two of which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[449]</a></span> +are by Canova. From the summit, when the air +is clear, there are beautiful views of the Alps.</p> + +<p>To the savant and scholar the Ambrosian +library in Milan is one of the special treasures +of Europe. It contains some of the most rare +and valuable manuscripts in the entire world,—some +of Virgil’s with annotations from Petrarcha; +a manuscript of Dante’s; drawings by +Leonardo da Vinci, and other interesting matters +of which no other copies exist.</p> + +<p>The Magic Land is seen under its most bewitching +spell in the region of the Italian lakes. +The palace of Isola Bella; the charming gardens; +the lake of Como, green-walled in hills +whose luxuriant foliage and bloom form a +framework for the white villas that cluster on +their terraced slopes,—all form a very fairyland +of ethereal, rose-embowered beauty. At night +the lakes are a strange, unreal world of silver +lights and shadows.</p> + +<p>The completion of the Simplon tunnel has +opened between Italy and Paris a route not +only offering swifter facilities for transit, but +adding another to the regions of beauty. This +route has also still further increased the commercial +importance of Milan, the portal and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[450]</a></span> +metropolis of Northern Italy. Milan has become +the national centre of all scientific and +technical pursuits, and it is fairly the Mecca for +young men of Central and Southern Italy who +are entering into the professions, or into civil +and electrical engineering and other of the +technical arts and industries.</p> + +<p>Bologna, with her historic University, with +the long covered arcades of the streets, the +fountain, which is the work of Giovanni di +Bologna, and the gallery where many of Guido’s +best works are placed, has its individual interest +for the tourist; and Verona, Pavia, Modena, +Parma, and Turin all repay a visit from the +leisurely saunterer in Italy.</p> + +<p>Pisa offers to the visitor four interesting +architectural monuments in the Duomo, the +Baptistery, the Leaning Tower, and the Campo +Santo, all of which are unique. The cathedral +has unique designs in its black and white +marbles that render it almost as much an object +of artistic study as is the cathedral in +Siena. The view from the summit of the Leaning +Tower reveals the Mediterranean six miles +in the distance, gleaming like a sea of silver. +The Campo Santo dates from the thirteenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[451]</a></span> +century, when the earth of which it is composed +was brought (in 1228) from the holy places +in Jerusalem, conveyed to the city (then a seaport) +by fifty galleys sent out by the Republic +of Pisa. The interior walls of the Campo +Santo are covered with fresco paintings by +Orcagna which are one of the artistic spectacles +of the country in their extravagant portrayal +of theological beliefs, so realistically +presented in their dramatic scenes from Paradise +and from Hades, as to leave nothing to the +imagination. The fantasies in this emblematic +sculpture of memorial monuments over a period +of seven hundred years can be seen in the +Campo Santo of Pisa,—a strange and often a +most grotesque medley.</p> + +<p>Genoa is well named La Superba. Her +thoroughfares are streets of palaces. Her terraced +gardens and villas, reached by the subterranean +funicular street railway, are regions +of unique and incomparable beauty, with the +blue Mediterranean at their feet. Genoa is the +paradise for walking. The streets are largely +inaccessible to carriages, but the admirable +street electric railway penetrates every locality. +It passes in dark tunnels under the hills, reappears<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[452]</a></span> +on the high terraces, and climbs every +height. From the crest of one of these Corsica +can often be seen. All the hill-slopes are a +dream of pictorial grandeur, with their terraces, +their palaces, their sculpture, fountains, and +flowers. On the summit of almost every hill +there is a fortress, and often ramparts which are +silhouetted, in dark masses, against the sky. +Orange groves abound on the terraces, often +showing the golden fruit, buds, and blossoms +all at the same time.</p> + +<p>Genoa is fairly a metropolis of sculpture. +The great families have themselves perpetuated +in portrait statues rather than in painted portraits. +In one of the grand ducal palaces in +the Via Balbi the visitor may see, not only the +life-size statues and the busts of the family ancestry, +but one group comprising nine figures, +where three generations are represented, in +both sitting and standing poses, ingeniously +combined.</p> + +<p>The churches of Genoa are among the richest +in Europe. That of the <a name="tn452" id="tn452"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Annunziati'">Annunziata</ins>, the +special monument of the Lomellini family, +glitters and gleams with its gold ceilings and +rich frescoes. The cathedral has the special<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[453]</a></span> +allurement of the emerald dish which King +Solomon received as a gift from the Queen of +Sheba. The little “street of the jewellers” is +an alluring place,—so narrow that one can almost +stand in the centre of the road and touch +the shop windows on either hand, and these +windows dazzle the eye with their fascinating +glitter of gold and silver filigree work and their +rich jewels.</p> + +<div class="figcenter border" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/genoab.jpg"><img src="images/genoa.jpg" width="400" height="299" alt="CAMPO SANTO, GENOA" title="CAMPO SANTO, GENOA" /></a> +<p class="caption noi"><small>CAMPO SANTO, GENOA</small></p> +</div> + +<p>Beyond all other curious excursions that even +a Magic Land can offer is that to the Campo +Santo of Genoa. A cloistered promenade encloses +a square, and above are terraced colonnades, +each and all revealing statues, and +monuments, and groups of sculpture whose +varied beauty, oddity, or bizarre effects are a +curious study. Some memorials—as one of +an angel with outstretched wings; another of +a flight of angels bearing the soul away; another +combining the figure of Christ with the cross, +and angels hovering near—are full of beauty. +Others are a marvel of ingenious and incongruous +combination. One of the latter represents +the man whose memory it commemorates as +lying on his bed in his last illness; the physician +stands by, his fingers on the patient’s pulse; on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[454]</a></span> +the opposite side a maid is approaching with a +dish holding some article of food, and near the +physician are grouped the wife, with a little +child clinging to her skirts; the son, holding +his hat with both hands and looking down on +it, and the daughter, a young girl, with her +eyes raised to heaven. Each of these figures is +in life size; the bed is reproduced in marble, +with the pillows and all the coverings in the +most absolute realism, and the entire effect is +so startling in its bizarre aspect that one could +hardly believe in its existence until by personal +observation he had verified so singular a monument.</p> + +<p>Yet there is beauty and symbolic loveliness, +too, in many of the memorial sculptures of this +Campo Santo, and turning away from this +cemetery in which lies the body of the noble +Mazzini, one hears on the air the refrain of +his words on Dante:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It appeared to him of more importance to +hasten to accomplish his mission upon earth, +than to meditate upon the inevitable hour which +marks for all men the beginning of a new +task. And if at times he speaks of weariness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[455]</a></span> +of life, it is only because he sees evil more and +more triumphant in the places where his mission +was appointed. He concerned himself, not +about the length or the shortness of life, but +about the end for which life was given; for he +felt God in life, and knew the creative virtue +there is in action.”</p></div> + +<p>Eighty thousand people followed Mazzini to +his tomb, and his name lives in the Italy of +to-day as one to be associated with that of +Dante as prophet and inspirer.</p> + +<p>The enchantment of approaching Genoa from +the sea at night is an experience to remain as +one of the pictorial treasures of memory. The +magnificent <i>lanterna</i>, the lighthouse with its revolving +light, that can be seen for fifty miles +out from the coast; the brilliant illumination +defining the <i>fortezza</i> on the summit of one hill; +the curving lights of the terraced residential +district and the illumination of the very forest +of shipping clustered in the bay,—all combine +into a scene not easily effaced from the memories +of foreign scenes.</p> + +<p>It is only in close relations with Italian literature +that Italy can be adequately enjoyed and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[456]</a></span> +that the sojourner may enter into sympathetic +associations with contemporary Italian life. Dr. +Richard Garnett believes that the literature of +Italy “is a less exhaustive manifestation than +elsewhere of the intellect of the nation,” and +that “the best energies of the country are employed +in artistic production. It is, indeed, +remarkable,” he continues, “that out of the nine +Italians most brilliantly conspicuous in the first +rank of genius and achievement,—Aquinas, +Dante, Columbus, Leonardo, Michael Angelo, +Raphael, Titian, Galileo, Napoleon,—only one +should have been a man of letters.”</p> + +<p>Contemporary Italian literature follows the +trend of the day in reflecting the life of the +people. The novels of Fogazzaro, the poems +of Carducci, the biography and history written +by Villari, to say nothing of several other +writers who, while not approaching these authors, +have still a definite place in the literature +of the present, offer illumination on the outer +scenery of life, and offer interpretation of the +life itself. Art has declined; literature has advanced +in Italy, even within the past decade. +The law of progress is as inevitable as is the law +of gravitation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[457]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 19em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Onward the chariot of the Unvarying moves;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Nor day divulges him nor night conceals;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou hear’st the echo of unreturning hooves,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And thunder of irrevocable wheels.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The future of Italy inspires faith in the renewal +of its noblest ideals of achievement. Its +ineffable beauty is a heritage of joy to every +visitor who comes under the indescribable spell +of its attraction and finds that, in all the panorama +of foreign life which haunts his memory, +it is Italy which shines resplendent as the +Magic Land!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[459]</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[458]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 2em;" /> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h2><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a><small>FOOTNOTES:</small></h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> From “Life of Phillips Brooks,” by kind permission of Messrs. +E. P. Dutton & Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> This inscription and a description in detail of all the memorials of +Elizabeth Barrett Browning are given in full in a volume entitled “A +Study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.” Boston: Little, Brown, & Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> “A Study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.” Little, Brown, & Co.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr style="visibility: hidden; margin: 2em;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[460]</a></span></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[461]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + + +<div class="index"> +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Accademia</span> des Arcades, Rome, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.</li> +<li> +Accadémia di San Luca, oldest art school, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>location of, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> +<li>galleries of, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li>Acqua Sacra, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</li> +<li>Akers, Paul, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>early death of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li> +<li>work of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> +<li>Hawthorne’s estimate of, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li></ul> +</li> +<li> +Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, quoted, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li> +<li> +Allen, Elizabeth Akers, quoted, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li> +<li> +Amalfi, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>-<a href="#Page_257">257</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>destruction of, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li></ul> +</li> +<li>Ambrosian library, Milan, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>.</li> +<li> +American Academy, Rome, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> +<li> +American Embassy, Rome, location of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>ball at, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-<a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li> +<li>receptions at, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Anderson, Hendrick Christian, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +Angelo, Michael, work of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;<ul class="IX"> +<li>message of, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> +<li>friendship with Vittoria Colonna, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li> +<li>Longfellow’s poem on, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>-<a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</li> +<li>art of, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;</li> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</li> +<li>gift to Vittoria Colonna, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</li> +<li>meeting with Francesco d’Ollanda, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</li> +<li>Walter Pater’s estimate of, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +<a name="tn461" id="tn461"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Annunziati'">Annunziata</ins> Cathedral, Genoa, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>.</li> +<li> +Aquinas, Thomas, birthplace of, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>tomb of, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li> +<li>monastery of, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Aquinum, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> +<li> +“Arcadians,” meetings of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> +<li> +Ariosto, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> +<li> +Art, as leader of popular taste, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>inspired by religious ideals, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li> +<li>Renaissance in, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> +<li>national importance of, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> +<li>ignored, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> +<li>relation to ugliness, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li> +<li>falseness of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> +<li>influence on life, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> +<li>united with religion, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Assisi, pilgrimage to, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>founding of, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</li> +<li>points of interest in, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</li> +<li>Canon Knox Little’s description of, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</li> +<li>as a shrine, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Assisi, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li> +<li> +Assisi, St. Francis of, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>message of, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li> +<li>birthplace of, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</li> +<li>impress of, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</li> +<li>parents of, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</li> +<li>early life of, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li> +<li>legends regarding, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</li> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</li> +<li>supreme aim of, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</li> +<li>Rule of, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</li> +<li>prayer of, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</li> +<li>character of, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</li> +<li>incident in early life of, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;</li> +<li>first ministry of, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li> +<li>first disciple of, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</li> +<li>at the Portiuncula, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[462]</a></span>friendship with Clara, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</li> +<li>legends regarding, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</li> +<li>death of, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</li> +<li>miracles of, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>;</li> +<li>tomb of, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li></ul></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li><span class="smcap">Bagot</span>, Richard, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li> +<li> +Baia, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li> +<li> +Baldwin, Rev. Dr., in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li> +<li> +Ball, Thomas, work of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> +<li> +Balzac, quoted, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li> +<li> +Barberini, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li> +<li> +Baths of Caracalla, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> +<li> +Baths of Diocletian, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> +<li> +Bell, John, grave of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> +<li> +Bembo, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> +<li> +Benedictines, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>.</li> +<li> +Benton, Dwight, grave of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>estimate of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Bernardino of Siena, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Bernini, Lorenzo, work of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> +<li> +Besant, Mrs. Annie, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> +<li> +Biblioteca Sarti, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</li> +<li> +“Blacks,” <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li> +<li> +Bologna, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>.</li> +<li> +Bonaparte, Princess Christina, death of, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li> +<li> +Boni, Commendatore, opinion of, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li> +<li> +Boni, Giovanni M., <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li> +<li> +Bronson, Mrs. Arthur, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li> +<li> +Brooks, Rev. Phillips, in Rome, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Brownell, W. C., quoted, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> +<li> +Browning, Elizabeth B., in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>;</li> +<li>death of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>;</li> +<li>meeting with Mrs. Bronson, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Browning Palace, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>.</li> +<li> +Browning, Robert, quoted, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> +<li>in Venice, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>;</li> +<li>death of, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Browning, Miss Sarianna, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>.</li> +<li> +Buono, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li> +<li> +Byron, Lord, in Rome, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li></ul></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li><span class="smcap">Campagna</span>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> +<li> +Campanile, fall of, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> +<li> +Campo Verano, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li> +<li> +Campo Santo of Pisa, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>.</li> +<li> +Campidoglio, buildings on, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li> +<li> +<a name="tn462" id="tn462"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Camprani'">Campriani</ins>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> +<li> +Canova, in Rome, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>his genius, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li> +<li>masterpiece of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li> +<li>realism of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Capella Sistina, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> +<li> +Capo Miseno, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li> +<li> +Capri, island of, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>roses of, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Capuano, Cardinal, legends of, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li> +<li> +Capuccini, convent of, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li> +<li> +Carducci, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> +<li> +Carter, Professor Jesse Benedict, in Rome, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li> +<li> +Carter, Mrs. Jesse Benedict, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li> +<li> +Casa Buonarroti, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>.</li> +<li> +Casino Borghese, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li> +<li> +Castel d’Ischia, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.</li> +<li> +Castellammare, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li> +<li> +Castle Gandolfo, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[463]</a></span>Castiglione, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> +<li> +Cecioni’s “La Madre,” <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li> +<li> +Cestius, Caius, tomb of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> +<li> +Channing, Grace Ellery, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> +<li> +Chapel of Holy Sacrament, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> +<li> +Chateaubriand, in Rome, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Cicero’s villa, remains of, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li> +<li> +Cimabue, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li> +<li> +Cole, Thomas, in Rome, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> +<li> +Coleman, Charles Caryl, home of, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li> +<li> +College of Cardinals, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>.</li> +<li> +Colonna, Fabrizio, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> +<li> +Colonna family, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>.</li> +<li> +Colonna palace and gardens, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li> +<li> +Colonna, Vittoria, home of, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li> +<li>parents of, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</li> +<li>early childhood of, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li> +<li>horoscope of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li> +<li>destiny of, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li> +<li>betrothal of, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li> +<li>marriage of, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li> +<li>early married life of, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li> +<li>in Pope Leo’s court, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li> +<li>her husband’s death, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li> +<li>removal of, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li> +<li>fame of, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li> +<li>return to Rome of, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li> +<li>Longfellow’s picture of, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li> +<li>travels of, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li> +<li>her influence with Michael Angelo, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li> +<li>life in Rome and Orvieto, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;</li> +<li>receives letters and sonnet from Michael Angelo, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</li> +<li>receives present from Michael Angelo, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</li> +<li>arranges meeting of Michael Angelo and Francesco d’Ollanda, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</li> +<li>Walter Pater’s comments on, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li> +<li>death of, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li> +<li>last prayer of, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li> +<li>burial of, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li> +<li>tomb of, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</li> +<li>bust of, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</li> +<li>fame of, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li> +<li>Margaret J. Preston’s poem on, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Condivi, quoted, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> +<li> +Contarini, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> +<li> +Corsini chapel, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> +<li> +Crawford, Marion, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li> +<li> +Crawford, Thomas, in Rome, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>career of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> +<li>poem on, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Crow, Hon. Wayman, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> +<li> +Cumæ, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li> +<li> +Cumæan Sibyl, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">da Bisticci</span>, Vespasiano, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>.</li> +<li> +Dalbano, Edoardo, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li> +<li> +Dana, Richard Henry, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li> +<li> +Dante, quoted, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_270">270</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Mazzini’s estimate of, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +d’Avalos, Donna Constanza, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> +<li> +d’Avalos, Francesco, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.</li> +<li> +De Castro, Consul General, in Rome, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li> +<li> +Decline of art, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li> +<li> +d’Ollanda, Francesco, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>-<a href="#Page_324">324</a>.</li> +<li> +<a name="tn463" id="tn463"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'del Vall'">del Val</ins>, Cardinal Merry, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-<a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>.</li> +<li> +del Vasto, Marchese, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.</li> +<li> +De Monici, chronicles of, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li> +<li> +de Staël, Mme., in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> +<li> +Dietsch, C. Percival, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +di Francavilla, Duchess, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>-<a href="#Page_293">293</a>.</li> +<li> +di Mercanti, Pica, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</li> +<li> +di Mercanti, Pietro Bernardone, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[464]</a></span>di Pescara, Marchesa, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>.</li> +<li> +di Pescara, Marchese, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</li> +<li> +Doges, Palace of, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>-<a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li> +<li> +Dolce, Ludovico, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> +<li> +Don Erasmo Gattola, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.</li> +<li> +Duca de Torlonia, family of, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> +<li> +Duff, Lina Gordon, quoted, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>.</li> +<li> +Dupaty, quoted, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li> +<li> +Duran, M. Carolus, in Rome, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Elena</span>, Queen, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li> +<li> +Eliot, George, quoted, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</li> +<li> +Emerson, Mary Moody, letters to, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> +<li> +Emerson, Ralph Waldo, in Rome, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Emmons, Miss Elise, in Rome, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> +<li> +Esposito, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> +<li> +Ezekiel, Moses, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>studios of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li></ul></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li><span class="smcap">Fawcett</span>, Edgar, quoted, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</li> +<li> +Ferrara, Duca and Duchessa of, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li> +<li> +Ferri, Signor Enrico, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Festus, quoted, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li> +<li> +Field, Kate, in Rome, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> +<li> +Florence, culture of, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li> +<li> +Fra Ambrosia, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.</li> +<li> +Franciscan, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>.</li> +<li> +Frascati, visited, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Galileo</span>, in Rome, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>.</li> +<li> +Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>.</li> +<li> +Garibaldi, villa of, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> +<li> +Garnett, Dr. Richard, quoted, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>.</li> +<li> +Genoa, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>features of, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>;</li> +<li>as a metropolis of sculpture, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>;</li> +<li>churches of, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>;</li> +<li>enchantment of, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Ghiberto, Bishop, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li> +<li> +Gibson, John, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> +<li>grave of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Giotto, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>.</li> +<li> +Giovio, Paolo, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> +<li> +Gladstone, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> +<li> +Goethe, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Goethe, August, grave of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> +<li> +Goldoni, Carlo, centenary of, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>memorial of, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Good Friday, service in Rome, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li> +<li> +Greenough, Horatio, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>work of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> +<li>death, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Greenough, Mrs. Horatio, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>.</li> +<li> +Greenough, Richard, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>grave of, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Greenough, Sarah B., tomb of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li> +<li> +Grotto de Matrimonia, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li> +<li> +Grotto Ferrata, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li> +<li> +Guili, Commendatore Conte, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> +<li> +Guthers, Carl, work of, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Hare</span>, Augustus William, grave of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +<li> +Hawthorne, Nathaniel, quoted, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li> +<li> +Healy, Mr., in Rome, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li> +<li> +Herculaneum, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>excavations in, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li> +<li>Professor Spinazzola on, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> +<li>destruction of, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[465]</a></span>theatre in, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Hillard, George Stillman, in Rome, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Holy Week, in Rome, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> +<li> +Hosmer, Harriet, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>work of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Howe, Dr. Samuel Gridley, in Rome, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> +<li> +Howe, Julia Ward, in Rome, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> +<li> +Howells, William Dean, in Rome, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>.</li> +<li> +Howitt, William and Mary, graves of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> +<li> +Hugo, Victor, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Ischia</span>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>romantic impressions of, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li> +<li>home of Vittoria Colonna, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li> +<li>the d’Avalos castle in, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li> +<li>as an enchanted island, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li> +<li>Vittoria’s return to, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Italy, land of romance and song, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Mazzini’s opinion of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> +<li>true life of, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>;</li> +<li>as a youthful country, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>;</li> +<li>relation with United States, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</li> +<li>traveller in, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</li> +<li>picture of idyllic days in, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>;</li> +<li>approach to, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>;</li> +<li>cities of, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>;</li> +<li>in the making, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>;</li> +<li>politics of, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</li> +<li>Socialistic uprising in, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>;</li> +<li>taxation in, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>-<a href="#Page_438">438</a>;</li> +<li>railroads in, <a href="#Page_439">439</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>;</li> +<li>government of, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>;</li> +<li>future of, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</li> +<li>lakes of, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</li> +<li>contemporary literature of, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>.</li></ul></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li><span class="smcap">James</span>, Henry, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li> +<li> +Jameson, Mrs., in Rome, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Johnson, Robert Underwood, quoted, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>.</li> +<li> +Juvenal, birthplace of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Keats</span>, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>memorial, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li> +<li>grave of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Kemble, Adelaide, in Rome, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> +<li> +Kemble, Fanny, in Rome, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> +<li> +Keynote of life, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>.</li> +<li> +Khayyam, Omar, quoted, <a href="#Page_3">1</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Lacus</span> Avernus, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> +<li> +Lanciani, Professor, lectures by, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>opinion of, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Leaning Tower of Pisa, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>.</li> +<li> +Libraries of Rome, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> +<li> +Lister, Mrs., in Rome, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li> +<li> +Liszt, Abbé, in Rome, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li> +<li> +Little, Canon Knox, quoted, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>.</li> +<li> +Lodge, Sir Oliver, quoted, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li> +<li> +Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, in Rome, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Longfellow, Rev. Samuel, quoted, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> +<li> +Lowell, James Russell, in Rome, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> +<li> +Ludovisi collection, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li> +<li> +Luther, in Rome, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>ascent of the Scala Santa, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li></ul></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Margherita</span>, Queen Mother, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>palace of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li> +<li>relations with artists, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li> +<li>at requiem mass, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Marino, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[466]</a></span>Mazzini, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>; quoted, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>works of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li> +<li>estimate of, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li> +<li>tomb of, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Mead, Larkin G., in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>work of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Mediæval Museum of Rome, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> +<li> +Meredith, Owen, quoted, <a href="#Page_3">2</a>.</li> +<li> +Metella, Cecilia, tomb of, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> +<li> +Milan, activity of, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>structures of, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>;</li> +<li>Ambrosian library of, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</li> +<li>as scientific centre, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Mills, Clark, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +Milton, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li> +<li> +Misenus, burial place of, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li> +<li> +Monte Aquino, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</li> +<li> +Monte Cairo, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> +<li> +Monte Cassino, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>.</li> +<li> +Monte Catria, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.</li> +<li> +Monte Mario, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> +<li> +Monte Pincio, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> +<li> +Monte San Mano, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>.</li> +<li> +Morelli, Domenico, work of, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li> +<li> +Moulton, Louise Chandler, in Rome, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Myers, Frederick W. H., memorial tablet to, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Naples</span>, described, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_231">231</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>University of, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</li> +<li>Museum, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li> +<li>natural attractions of, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li> +<li>hotels of, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> +<li>Bay of, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Nardi, Monsignore, in Rome, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> +<li> +Nero’s tomb, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li> +<li> +Nisida, island of, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> +<li> +Norton, Charles Eliot, quoted, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Obelisk</span> in Piazza del Popolo, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> +<li> +Oldest art school, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> +<li> +Oliphant, Mrs., quoted, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>.</li> +<li> +Orvieto, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li> +<li> +<a name="tn466" id="tn466"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Ossi, Professor Dall'">Osso, Professor Dall’</ins>, opinion of, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li> +<li> +Oxenham, Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Nutcombe, in Rome, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Pæstum</span>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> +<li> +Page de Conti, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</li> +<li> +Page, William, in Rome, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> +<li> +Palatine Hill, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Barberini, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Bernini, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Bonaparte, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Brandolin-Rota, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Cesarini, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo del Drago, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo di Capodimonte, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo di Donna Ana, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Margherita, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Municipio, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Quirinale, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Rezzonico, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Senni, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Tamagno, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li> +<li> +Palazzo Vaticano, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> +<li> +Pantheon, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>ceremonies at, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Papal supremacy, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>.</li> +<li> +Parsons, Thomas William, quoted, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</li> +<li> +Pater, Walter, quoted, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li> +<li> +Perugia, town of, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>-<a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li> +<li> +Perugino, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li> +<li> +Petrarcha, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> +<li> +Phlegræan Plain, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> +<li> +Piazza Barberini, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> +<li> +Piazza del Popolo, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[467]</a></span>Piazza di Spagna, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li> +<li> +Piazza di Trinità, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> +<li> +Piazza San Giovanni, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> +<li> +Pietro da Cortona, work of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li> +<li> +Pisa, architectural monuments of, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>.</li> +<li> +Pistolesi, quoted, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li> +<li> +Pliny, the Younger, quoted, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li> +<li> +Poe, quoted, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> +<li> +Pompeii, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Adrian, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Clement XII, tomb of, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Julius II, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Leo XII, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Leo XIII, tomb of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Paschal, dream of, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Paul III, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Pio Nono, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li> +<li> +Pope Pius X, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>“passage” of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> +<li>ceremonial receptions of, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li> +<li>residence of, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</li> +<li>character of, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</li> +<li>dream of, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Portiuncula, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>.</li> +<li> +Posilipo, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> +<li> +Powers, Hiram, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>America’s first sculptor, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> +<li>work, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Pratello, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> +<li> +Preston, Margaret J., quoted, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</li> +<li> +Principessa d’Antuni, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="IX"> +<li><span class="smcap"><a name="tn467a" id="tn467a"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Quatre'">Quattro</ins></span> Fontane, Via delle, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li></ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Raphael</span>, work of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>genius of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> +<li>masterpieces of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> +<li>Franklin Simmons, opinion of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li> +<li>inspiration of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li> +<li>decline of art after, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +<a name="tn467b" id="tn467b"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Revello'">Ravello</ins>, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</li> +<li> +Ravenna, battle of, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</li> +<li> +Read, Thomas Buchanan, in Rome, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li> +<li> +Realism, kinds of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> +<li> +<i>Regina Madre</i>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> +<li> +Regio Palazzo del Quirinale, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> +<li> +Reid, Hon. Whitelaw, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> +<li> +Reinhart, William, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +Religion united with art, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> +<li> +Renaissance in Italy, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> +<li> +Richmond, Celia, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>.</li> +<li> +Rocca di Papa, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> +<li> +Rogers, Randolph, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>early death of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Roman environment, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> +<li> +Rome, features of, <a href="#Page_3">1</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>as artistic centre, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> +<li>under Pontifical régime, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li> +<li>Longfellow’s love for, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li> +<li>Goethe’s impressions of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li> +<li>work of Michael Angelo and Raphael in, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> +<li>oldest art school of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li> +<li>latter-day artists in, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> +<li>Brownings in, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li> +<li>social life in, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> +<li>new bridge of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li> +<li>in May, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> +<li>in winter, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li> +<li>in spring, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li> +<li>festas in, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li> +<li>discussed by Professor Lanciani, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> +<li>society in, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li> +<li>two courts of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li> +<li>modern features of, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li> +<li>enchanting views in, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li> +<li>poetic symbolism in, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> +<li>of the present day, breakfast-table talk in, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</li> +<li>American Embassy in, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li> +<li>elevator service in, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li> +<li>American consulate in, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li> +<li>delightful hostesses in, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[468]</a></span>attitude toward modern thought in, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li> +<li>Theosophical Society of, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li> +<li>demand for apartments in, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> +<li>sight-seeing in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li> +<li>great palaces in, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li> +<li>famous drive of, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li> +<li>birthday celebrations of, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li> +<li>Republic of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li> +<li>rich years to artists in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li> +<li>Papal ceremonies in, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li> +<li>curious spectacle in, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li> +<li>Holy Week in, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li> +<li>Good Friday service in, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li> +<li>motoring from, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li> +<li>outlying towns of, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li> +<li>American Academy in, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li> +<li>libraries of, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li> +<li>Protestant cemetery of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li> +<li>literature of, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li> +<li>modern spirit in, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Rosa, Salvator, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li> +<li> +Rosenkrans, Baroness, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> +<li> +Rota, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li> +<li> +Ruskin, in Rome, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li></ul></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Sabatier</span>, Paul, quoted, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>.</li> +<li> +Sallust, Gardens of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> +<li> +Salvatico, quoted, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>.</li> +<li> +San Agostino, church of, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li> +<li> +San Caterina di Viterbo, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li> +<li> +San Francesco, church of, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</li> +<li> +San Giovanni, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> +<li> +San Marco, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>.</li> +<li> +San Maria della Pace, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> +<li> +San Maria dei Frari, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li> +<li> +San Silvestre, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> +<li> +Sansovino, Jacob, work of, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</li> +<li> +Santa Anna, convent of, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li> +<li> +Santa Chiara (Clara), <a href="#Page_365">365</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>takes vows, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</li> +<li>founds convent, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</li> +<li>family history of, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</li> +<li>friendship with St. Francis of Assisi, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</li> +<li>at death of Francis, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</li> +<li>personality of, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;</li> +<li>preservation of body of, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Santa Domenica Maggiore, church of, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li> +<li> +Santa Maria Degli Angeli, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>.</li> +<li> +Santa Maria del Popolo, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li> +<li> +Santa Maria della Salute, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li> +<li> +Santa Monica, tomb of, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> +<li> +Scala di Spagna, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li> +<li> +Scala Santa, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Luther’s ascent of, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Scifi, Count Favorini, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>.</li> +<li> +Scott, Sir Walter, in Rome, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li> +<li> +Sejanus, fall of, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li> +<li> +Sermoneta, Duke of, in Rome, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> +<li> +Severn, Joseph, grave of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> +<li> +Shelley, in Rome, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>memorial, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li> +<li>grave of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Simmons, Franklin, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li> +<li>works of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> +<li>early life, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li> +<li>degrees conferred upon, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> +<li>marriage of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> +<li>latest success of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li> +<li>studios of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> +<li>realism of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li> +<li>beautiful creation of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> +<li>grave of, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Simmons, Mrs. Franklin, in Rome, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>death of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> +<li>estimate of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> +<li>grave of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Sindoni, Turillo, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> +<li> +Sistine Chapel, art in, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li> +<li> +Sorrento, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</li> +<li> +Spearman, Frank Hamilton, in Rome, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>work of, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Spinazzola, Professor, quoted, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.</li> +<li> +St. Ambrosio, church of, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>.</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[469]</a></span>St. Andrew, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li> +<li> +St. Benedict, work of, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>tomb of, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</li> +<li>chapel of, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +St. Damian, chapel of, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li> +<li> +St. Gaudens, Augustus, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +St. Gregory, feast of, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li> +<li> +St. Maria della Portiuncula, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> +<li> +St. Mark’s, Venice, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li> +<li> +St. Mark, tomb of, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>legend regarding, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +St. Paola d’Orvieto, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li> +<li> +Stebbins, Emma, in Rome, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> +<li> +Stetson, Charles Walker, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>work of, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Stetson, Mrs. Charles Walker, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Stillman, Mr., quoted, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> +<li> +Story, Julian, in Rome, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>studio of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Story, Waldo, in Rome, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>studio of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li> +<li>works of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Story, William Wetmore, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>first visit to Italy of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> +<li>in Florence, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</li> +<li>in Palazzo Barberini, Rome, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> +<li>works of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> +<li>estimate of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li> +<li>literary work of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li> +<li>grave of, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Stowe, Harriet Beecher, in Rome, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> +<li> +Strada Nuova di Posilipo, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> +<li> +Symonds, John Addington, grave of, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>estimate of, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</li></ul></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Tasso</span>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>.</li> +<li> +Tennyson’s choice of pictures in Venice, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>.</li> +<li> +Thackeray, in Rome, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li> +<li> +Theocritus, quoted, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li> +<li> +Theosophical Society of Rome, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> +<li> +Thomas, Edith, quoted, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> +<li> +Thompson, Launt, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +Thorwaldsen, in Rome, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>quoted, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li> +<li>realism of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Tiberius, summer palace of, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>baths of, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Tilton, J. Rollin, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>grave of, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Titian, tomb of, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li> +<li> +Torlonia, Duca and Duchessa of, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.</li> +<li> +Trelawney, grave of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> +<li> +Trinità di Monti, church of, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> +<li> +Tusculum, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Umberto</span>, King, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> +<li> +Umbrians, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</li> +<li> +Urbino, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Vanderlyn</span>, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +Vaughn, Monsignor, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li> +<li> +Vatican, galleries of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> +<li> +Vatican palace, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li> +<li> +Vedder, Anita, in Rome, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li> +<li> +Vedder, Elihu, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>art of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>-<a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> +<li>appreciation of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> +<li>works of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li> +<li>country house of, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Vedder, Mrs. Elihu, in Rome, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li> +<li> +Venice, first glimpses of, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Grand Canal of, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>;</li> +<li>in June, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</li> +<li>color and loveliness of, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>;</li> +<li>art of, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>;</li> +<li>origin of, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>;</li> +<li>first Doge of, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</li> +<li>Renaissance architecture in, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</li> +<li> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[470]</a></span>Doge’s Palace, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>-<a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</li> +<li>art in, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</li> +<li>fall of Campanile in, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>;</li> +<li>Browning Palace in, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>-<a href="#Page_413">413</a>;</li> +<li>centenary of Carlo Goldoni celebrated in, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;</li> +<li>art exhibition in, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;</li> +<li>June evening in, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</li> +<li>as a poet’s dream, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Vernet, Horace, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +Verona, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li> +<li> +Veronese, Paolo, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li> +<li> +Vesuvius, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> +<li> +Via Bonella, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> +<li> +Victor Emmanuel III, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Aldobrandini, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Barberini, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Borghese, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Doria, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa <a name="tn470" id="tn470"></a><ins class="correction" title="original: 'Falconicri'">Falconieri</ins>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Jovis, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Medici, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Nazionale, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Pamphilia Doria, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> +<li> +Villa Torlonia, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li> +<li> +Virgil, quoted, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>; +<ul class="IX"> +<li>grotto of, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li></ul></li> +<li> +Visconti, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>.</li> +<li> +Vittorio Emanuele, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Waldstein</span>, Dr. Charles, quoted, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.</li> +<li> +Ward, Mrs. Humphry, quoted, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> +<li> +Watson, William, quoted, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> +<li> +Wellman, Walter, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> +<li> +West, Benjamin, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> +<li> +White, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, in Rome, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> +<li> +“Whites,” <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> +<li> +Whitman, Walt, quoted, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>.</li> +<li> +Whitney, Anne, in Rome, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> +<li> +Whittier, quoted, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li> +<li> +Wilberforce, Rev. Basil, quoted, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>.</li> +<li> +Woolson, Constance Fenimore, tomb of, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="IX"> +<li> +<span class="smcap">Zuccaro</span>, Federigo, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li></ul> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 class="u"><a name="WORKS_BY_LILIAN_WHITING" id="WORKS_BY_LILIAN_WHITING"></a>WORKS BY LILIAN WHITING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL. First, Second, and Third Series. +3 vols. 16mo. $1.00 per vol. Decorated cloth, $1.25 per vol.</p> +<p class="negi2">Cannot help being uplifting and inspiring.—<i>New Church Messenger.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">AFTER HER DEATH, 16mo. $1.00. Decorated cloth, $1.25.</p> + +<p class="negi2">Should bring positive aid in sorrow.—<i>Hartford Post.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">FROM DREAMLAND SENT. Verses of the Life to Come. +16mo. $1.00. Decorated cloth, $1.25.</p> + +<p class="negi2">Graceful, tender, true, appealing to what is best in the human heart.—<i>The Independent.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE; or, Death as an Event in +Life. 16mo. $1.00. Decorated cloth, $1.25.</p> + +<p class="negi2">It suggests and hints at the ultimate significance of scientific investigation with relation to the +totality of thought in a very fresh and suggestive way.—<i>The Outlook.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">KATE FIELD: A RECORD. With portraits, including one by +Elihu Vedder. 12mo. Decorated cloth, $2.00.</p> + +<p class="negi2">A wonderfully vivid portrait.—<i>San Francisco Chronicle.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">A STUDY OF ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, 16mo. +Decorated cloth, $1.25.</p> + +<p class="negi2">The most virile picture of Mrs. Browning in all our literature.—<i>New York Times.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL IN BOOKS, 16mo. $1.00 net. +Decorated cloth, $1.25 net.</p> + +<p class="negi2">Great thoughts of great writers are touched upon with rare discrimination and critical power.—<i>Boston +Transcript.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">BOSTON DAYS. Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50 net.</p> + +<p class="negi2">All the famous names associated with Boston pass in review.—<i>Boston Herald.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">THE LIFE RADIANT, 16mo. $1.00 net. Decorated cloth, $1.25 net.</p> + +<p class="negi2">No one can read it without having a clearer perception of the meaning of life and of the infinite +possibilities of the human soul in its process of advancement.—<i>Chicago Chronicle.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">THE OUTLOOK BEAUTIFUL, 16mo. $1.00 net. White and +gold, $1.25 net.</p> + +<p class="negi2">A fitting crown to “The World Beautiful.”—<i>Philadelphia Ledger.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">THE FLORENCE OF LANDOR. Fully illustrated. 8vo. In +box, $2.50 net.</p> + +<p class="negi2">A striking picture of Florence, doubly interesting because so many eminent persons appear +in it.—<i>Philadelphia Ledger.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">THE JOY THAT NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU. 18 mo. +50 cents net.</p> + +<p class="negi2">Emphasizes the reality of spiritual things with an intense conviction.—<i>Living Age.</i></p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">FROM DREAM TO VISION OF LIFE. 16mo. $1.00 net. +White and gold, $1.25 net. Uniform with “The World Beautiful.”</p> + +<p class="negi2">A study of life from the mere transient dream to the radiant eternal vision.</p></div> + + +<div class="blockquot2"><p class="negi">THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT. From Pike’s Peak to the +Pacific. Fully illustrated. 8vo. $2.50 net.</p> + +<p class="negi2">A vivid presentation of the scenic marvels and resources of the Southwest.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><big>LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers, BOSTON</big></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="tnote"> +<h2><a name="TRANSCRIBERrsquoS_NOTE" id="TRANSCRIBERrsquoS_NOTE"></a><small>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</small></h2> + + +<p class="noi">The original language, spelling and punctuation have been preserved, except where noted.<br /><br /> +The illustrations were moved to the paragraph they refer to. The List of Illustrations was changed accordingly.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noi"> +Page <a href="#tnxii">xii</a>: Vittoria Colonna, Galleria Buonarotti, Florence<br /> +<br /> +Page <a href="#tn6">6</a>: artistic centre of the ninteenth century and<br /> +<br /> +Page <a href="#tn19">19</a>: on the wall of the <i>casa</i> in the Via delle Quattre Fontane<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn26">26</a>: the Palazzo Sentoriale and the Palazzo dei Conservatore.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn27">27</a>: the Stanza della Incendio and the Sala di Constantino.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn32a">32</a>: winds on the Pont San Angelo, and in the vast<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn32b">32</a>: the Music Nazionale—is the group of “Pluto<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn55">55</a>: during hs stay in Rome are ‘St. Elizabeth of<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn72">72</a>: The Via delle Quatre Fontane, on which the<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn138">138</a>: given under the auspices of the Societa Archeologica,<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn148">148</a>: <i>gentilinomo</i>, who is gorgeously arrayed in knee<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn161">161</a>: Jacomletti, and there is also a kneeling statue<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn163a">163</a>: and the Via dell Quattro Fontane. The<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn163b">163</a>: for living purposes. The portere, the guards,<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn170">170</a>: and in the Vedder villa, <i>Torre Quatro Venti</i><br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn171">171</a>: the American wife of Caviliere Cortesi, an<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn178">178</a>: Peruzzi, and Annibale Caracci. Raphael is<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn185">185</a>: that includes the “Ludovisi Mars;” Hercules,”<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn200">200</a>: he may rest, <i>mens conscia recta</i>!<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn205">205</a>: whose grand Roman palazzo is in the Boca di<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn244b">244</a>: Forum, succeding Lanciani—believe that some<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn272a">272</a>: Mignano (Ginodone Trieramosca) and also to<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn272b">272</a>: are a series of fresco paintings by Luca Gindano,<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn276">276</a>: to be a “Monumento Nazionali,” and it is now<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn286a">286</a>: in the “Inferno.” The Colonna and the Orsino<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn286b">286</a>: look down from Castel Gondolfo on the gloomy,<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn287">287</a>: Marino, Castel Gondolfo, and Frascati, with<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn295a">295</a>: for the country they left Naples for Pietzalba<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn295b">295</a>: Musefico, il Givoio, and il Minturo. It was an<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn297a">297</a>: Per te narrar tre quante dubbie voglie,<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn297b">297</a>: <i>Fra quanti aspri martir, degliosa io vivo!</i>”<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn304">304</a>: San Mano that had formerly been its property.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn305">305</a>: world’s sun; and not to add light to <i>mio vel solo</i>,<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn213">213</a>: The Villa Falconicri, in Frascati, which was<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn234">234</a>: Benvenuto Cellini at the Castel Sant Angelo;<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn237">237</a>: of the street scenes of Naples; Camprani and<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn244a">244</a>: equestrian statue of Bulbi, in the Naples Museum,<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn260a">260</a>: The cathedral at Revello has traces of the<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn260b">260</a>: of the Palazzo Rufelo might enchant Hafiz himself.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn272c">272</a>: by Mazzarappi and Marco da Siena. Nothing<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn274">274</a>: Terre di Lavorno region:—<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn332">332</a>: “<i>Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem recipris?</i>”<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn380">380</a>: Bonaventuri built over it, is preserved in this<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn385">385</a>: the Palazzo Rospigliosa in Rome.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn399">399</a>: Anopeste, elected by the tribunal of commonalty,<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn400a">400</a>: mural work by Battesta Franco and De Moro.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn400b">400</a>: One enters the Porta delta Carta, which<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn405">405</a>: Peter, Maucis, and Antoninus are commending<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn426">426</a>: Saricinesco, in the region of Tivoli, was made<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn436">436</a>: too, in other leading men. Zurati, the<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn452">452</a>: in Europe. That of the Annunziati, the<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn461">461</a>: Annunziati Cathedral, Genoa, 452.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn462">462</a>: Camprani, 237.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn463">463</a>: del Vall, Cardinal Merry, 146-149, 435.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn466">466</a>: Ossi, Professor Dall, opinion of, 244.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn467a">467</a>: Quatre Fontane, Via delle, 72.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn467b">467</a>: Revello, Cathedral at, 260.<br /> +<br /> +page <a href="#tn470">470</a>: Villa Falconicri, 213.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noi">On page <a href="#Page_235">235</a>: “Da Scala d'Oro” should be “La Scala d'Oro” or +“Madonna della Scala d'Oro”.</p> + +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Italy, the Magic Land, by Lilian Whiting + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND *** + +***** This file should be named 29658-h.htm or 29658-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/5/29658/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emanuela Piasentini and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8384cb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/29658-h/images/theaterb.jpg diff --git a/29658-h/images/vittoria.jpg b/29658-h/images/vittoria.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..47eb1d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/29658-h/images/vittoria.jpg diff --git a/29658-h/images/vittoriab.jpg b/29658-h/images/vittoriab.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cca7027 --- /dev/null +++ b/29658-h/images/vittoriab.jpg diff --git a/29658.txt b/29658.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0c6928 --- /dev/null +++ b/29658.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11068 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Italy, the Magic Land, by Lilian Whiting + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Italy, the Magic Land + +Author: Lilian Whiting + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29658] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emanuela Piasentini and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: _Temple, Taormina_] + + + + + ITALY + + THE MAGIC LAND + + BY + + LILIAN WHITING + + AUTHOR OF "THE FLORENCE OF LANDOR," "THE LAND OF + ENCHANTMENT," "THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL," ETC. + + + "And, under many a yellow star, + We dropped into the Magic Land!" + + + _Illustrated from Photographs_ + + BOSTON + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 1907 + + + + +_Copyright, 1907_, + +BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + +_All rights reserved_ + +Published November, 1907 + +THE GRIFFITH-STILLINGS PRESS, BOSTON, U.S.A. + + + + + TO + ELLA + + (MRS. FRANKLIN SIMMONS) + + WHOSE EARTHLY FORM REPOSES IN THE BEAUTIFUL ROMAN CEMETERY, + WHERE POETIC ASSOCIATIONS WITH KEATS AND SHELLEY HAUNT + THE AIR,--UNDER THE SCULPTURED "ANGEL OF THE RESURRECTION," + WITH ITS MAJESTIC SYMBOLISM OF THE + TRIUMPH OF IMMORTALITY,--BUT WHOSE RADIANT + PRESENCE STILL TRANSFIGURES THE LIFE THAT + HELD HER IN IMMORTAL DEVOTION,-- + THESE PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, + + WITH THE UNFORGETTING LOVE OF + + LILIAN WHITING. + +ROME, ITALY, May Days, 1907. + + + + + "_Nor Life is ever lord of Death, + And Love can never lose its own._" + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +That Florence, the "Flower City," receives only a passing allusion in +this record of various impressions that gleam and glow through the days +after several visits to the Magic Land, is due to the fact that in a +previous volume by the writer--one entitled "The Florence of +Landor"--the lovely Tuscan town with its art, its ineffable beauty, and +its choice social life, formed the subject matter of that volume. Any +attempt to portray Florence in the present book would savor only of the +repetition of loves and enthusiasms already recorded in the previous +work in which Walter Savage Landor formed the central figure. For that +reason no mention of Florence, beyond some mere allusion, is attempted +in these pages, which only aim to present certain fragmentary +impressions of various sojourns in Italy, refracted through the prism of +memory. Whatever inconveniences or discomfort attend the traveller +swiftly fade, and leave to him only the precious heritage of resplendent +sunset skies, of poetic association, of artistic beauty. In spirit he is +again lingering through long afternoons in St. Peter's till the golden +light through the far windows of the tribune is merged into the dusk of +twilight in which the vast monumental groups gleam wraith-like. Again +he is ascending the magnificent _Scala Regia_, and lingering in the +Raphael Stanze, or in the wonderful sculpture galleries of the Vatican, +or sauntering in the sunshine on the Palatine. In memory he is again +spellbound by ancient and mediaeval art. In the line of modern sculpture +the work of Franklin Simmons in Rome is a feature of Italy that haunts +the imagination. No lover of beauty would willingly miss his great +studios in the Via San Nicolo da Tolentino, with their wealth of ideal +creations that contribute new interest to the most divine of all the +arts. + + "The world of art is an ideal world,-- + The world I love, and that I fain would live in; + So speak to me of artists and of art, + Of all the painters, sculptors, and musicians + That now illustrate Rome." + +The mystic charm of the pilgrimage to Assisi; the romance that reflects +itself in the violet seas and flaming splendors of the sky on the shores +of Ischia and Capri; the buried treasures of Amalfi; the magnetic +impressiveness of the Eternal City,--all these enter into life as new +forces to build and shape the future into undreamed-of destinies. + + L. W. + + THE BRUNSWICK, BOSTON, + October Days, 1907. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + I THE PERIOD OF MODERN ART IN ROME 3 + + II SOCIAL LIFE IN THE ETERNAL CITY 127 + + III DAY-DREAMS IN NAPLES, AMALFI, AND CAPRI 227 + + IV A PAGE DE CONTI FROM ISCHIA 281 + + V VOICES OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 341 + + VI THE GLORY OF A VENETIAN JUNE 389 + + VII THE MAGIC LAND 423 + + INDEX 459 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Temple, Taormina _Frontispiece in Photogravure_ + + Angel, Church of San Andrea delle Fratte, Rome _Page_ 12 + + Detail from the Stuart Monument, St. Peter's, Rome " 24 + + Tomb of Clement XIII, St. Peter's, Rome " 32 + + "The Genius of Death," Detail from the Tomb + of Clement XIII, St. Peter's, Rome " 43 + + "La Fortuna," Accademia di San Luca, Rome " 47 + + Spanish Steps, Piazza Trinita dei Monti, Rome " 72 + + Tomb of Pio Nono, San Lorenzo (Fuori le Mura) Rome " 75 + + "The Dance of the Pleiades" " 92 + + "Grief and History," Detail from Naval Monument, + Washington " 105 + + "The Genius of Progress Leading the Nations" " 108 + + "Mother of Moses" " 112 + + "Valley Forge" " 116 + + La Pieta, St. Peter's, Rome " 120 + + Villa Medici, Rome " 134 + + Entrance to Villa Pamphilia-Doria, Rome " 159 + + Statue of Christ, Ancient Church of San Martina, Rome " 193 + + Castel San Angelo and St. Peter's, Rome " 204 + + Porta San Paola, Pyramid of Caius Cestius, Rome " 216 + + Castel Sant'Elmo, Naples " 231 + + Ancient Temple, Baiae " 241 + + Ischia, from the Sea " 282 + + La Rocca, Ischia " 294 + + Castello di Alfonso, Ischia " 306 + + Detail from "Parnassus," Raphael Stanze, Palazzo + Vaticano, Rome " 311 + + Vittoria Colonna, Galleria Buonarroti, Florence " 320 + + San Francescan Convent-Church, Assisi " 346 + + St. Francis d'Assisi, The Duomo, Assisi " 366 + + Santa Chiara, The Duomo, Assisi " 375 + + Baiae and Ischia, from Camaldoli " 382 + + Ruins of the Greek Theatre, Taormina, Sicily " 429 + + Ponte Vecchio, Florence " 434 + + Campo Santo, Genoa " 453 + + + + + "_Rest we content if whispers from the stars + In wafting of the incalculable wind + Come blown at midnight through our prison-bars._" + + + + +THE MAGIC LAND + + _By woodland belt, by ocean bar, + The full south breeze our forehead fanned; + And, under many a yellow star, + We dropped into the Magic Land._ + + * * * * * + + _We heard, far-off, the siren's song; + We caught the gleam of sea-maids' hair; + The glimmering isles and rocks among + We moved through sparkling purple air._ + + _Then Morning rose, and smote from far + Her elfin harps o'er land and sea; + And woodland belt, and ocean bar + To one sweet note sighed--"Italy!"_ + + OWEN MEREDITH. + + + + +ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND + + + + +I + +THE PERIOD OF MODERN ART IN ROME + + But ah, that spring should vanish with the Rose! + That youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close? + The nightingale that in the branches sang, + Oh, where and whither flown again,--who knows? + + OMAR KHAYYAM. + + +ROME, as the picturesque city of the Popes in the middle years of the +nineteenth century, was resplendent in local color. It was the Rome of +sunny winters; the Rome of gay excursions over that haunted sea of the +Campagna to pictorial points in the Alban and Sabine hills; the Rome of +young artist life, which organized impromptu festas with Arcadian +freedom, and utilized the shadow or the shelter of ruined temples or +tombs in which to spread its picnic lunches and bring the glow of +simple, friendly intercourse into the romantic lights of the poetic, +historic, or tragic past. There were splendid Catholic processions and +ceremonials that seemed organized as a part of the stage scenery that +ensconced itself, also, with the nonchalance of easy possession, in the +vast salons of historic palaces where tapestried walls and richly +painted ceilings, arched high overhead, with statues dimly seen in +niches here and there, and the bust of some crowned Antoninus, or +radiant Juno, gleaming from a shadowy corner, all made up the +_mise-en-scene_ of familiar evenings. There were lingering hours in the +gardens of the Villa Medici into whose shades one strolled by that +beguiling path along the parapet on Monte Pincio, through the beautiful +grove with its walks and fountains. The old ilex bosquet, with its +tangled growth and air of complete seclusion, had its spell of +fascination. Then, as now, the elevated temple, at the end of the main +path, seemed the haunt of gods and muses. In all the incidental, as well +as the ceremonial social meeting and mingling, art and religion were the +general themes of discussion. This idyllic life-- + + "Comprehending, too, the soul's + And all the high necessities of art"-- + +has left its impress on the air as well as its record on many a page of +the poet and the romancist. The names that made memorable those +wonderful days touch chords of association that still vibrate in the +life of the hour. For the most part the artists and their associates +have gone their way--not into a Silent Land, a land of shadows and +vague, wandering ghosts--but into that realm wherein is the "life more +abundant," of more intense energy and of nobler achievement; the realm +in which every aspiration of earth enlarges its conception and every +inspiration is exalted and endowed with new purpose; the realm where, as +Browning says,-- + + "Power comes in full play." + +The poet's vision recognizes the truth:-- + + "I know there shall dawn a day, + --Is it here on homely earth? + Is it yonder, worlds away, + Where the strange and new have birth, + That Power comes in full play?" + +The names of sculptor, painter, and poet throng back, imaged in that +retrospective mirror which reflects a vista of the past, rich in ideal +creation. Beautiful forms emerge from the marble; pictorial scenes glow +from the canvas; song and story and happy, historic days are in the +very air. To Italy, land of romance and song, all the artists came +trooping, and + + "Under many a yellow Star" + +they dropped into the Magic Land. If the wraiths of the centuries long +since dead walked the streets, they were quite welcome to revisit the +glimpses of the moon and contribute their mystery to the general +artistic effectiveness of the Seven-hilled City. All this group of +American idealists, from Allston and Page to Crawford, Story, Randolph +Rogers, Vedder, Simmons, and to the latest comer of all, Charles Walter +Stetson, recognized something of the artist's native air in this Mecca +of their pilgrimage. + +It was, indeed, quite natural, on account of the stupendous work of +Michael Angelo and the unrivalled museums of the Vatican, that Rome +should have become pre-eminently the artistic centre of the nineteenth +century and should have attracted students and lovers of art from all +parts of the world. The immortal works of the two great periods, the +Greek and the Renaissance,--the art that was forever great because it +was the outgrowth of profound religious conviction,--were enshrined in +the churches and the galleries of Rome. The leading countries of Europe +sent here their aspiring students and established permanent academies +for their residence. Germany, France, and England were thus represented. +Thorwaldsen came as a pensioner from the Academy of Fine Arts in +Copenhagen; and it was during his life, and that of the noble Canova, +that Rome began to be recognized as the modern world-centre of art. Was +it not a natural sequence that the early painters and sculptors who came +to study under the stimulating influences of the great masterpieces of +the past should linger on in the city whose very air became to them the +breath of inspiring suggestion? Where but in Rome would have come to +Crawford the vision of his "Orpheus" and of his noble Beethoven? or to +Story his "Libyan Sibyl," and that exquisite group, "Into the Silent +Land"? or to Vedder his marvellous creations of "The Fates Gathering in +the Stars," the "Cumaean Sibyl," or the "Dance of the Pleiades"? to +Simmons his triumphant "Angel of the Resurrection," and "The Genius of +Progress Leading the Nations"? or to Stetson that ineffable vision of +"The Child," and that wonderful group called "Music"? whose coloring +Titian or Giorgione might well mistake for their own. + +Under the Pontifical _regime_ the general character of Rome was mediaeval +and religious. The perpetual festas of the church made the streets +constantly picturesque with their processions of monks, and friars, and +priests, and these wonderful blendings of color and scenic effect +stimulated the artistic sense. The expenses of living in Rome were then +only a fraction of what the cost is at the present time; and as the city +was the resort of the wealthy and cultured few, the artists were +surrounded by the stimulus of critical appreciation and of patronage. +Their work, their dreams, were the theme of literary discussion, and +focussed the attention of the polite world. Their studios were among the +important interests to every visitor in the Eternal City. In those days +the traveller did not land with his touring car at Naples, make "the +run" to Rome in a record that distanced any possibilities of railroad +trains, pass two or three days in motoring about the city and its +environs, seeing the exterior of everything in a dissolving view and the +interior of nothing,--as within this time, at least, he must flash on +in his touring car to Florence. On the contrary, the traveller proceeded +to Rome with serious deliberation, and with a more realizing sense of +undertaking a journey than Walter Wellman experiences in attempting to +fly in his aero-car to the North Pole and send his observations across +the polar seas by wireless telegraphy. The visitor went to Rome for a +winter, for a year, and gave himself up to leisurely impressions. Rome +was an atmosphere, not a spectacle, and it was to be entered with the +lofty and reverent appreciation of the poet's power and the artist's +vision. + +In Rome, Thomas Cole painted some of his best pictures; and in Rome or +Florence wrought a long list of painters and sculptors. Whether in the +Eternal City or in the Flower City, their environment was alike +Italy--the environment of the Magic Land. Among the more prominent of +all these devotees of Beauty several nationalities were represented. +Each might have said of his purpose, in the words of William Watson:-- + + "I follow Beauty; of her train am I, + Beauty, whose voice is earth and sea and air; + Who serveth, and her hands for all things ply; + Who reigneth, and her throne is everywhere." + +Among these artists there flash upon memory the names of Vanderlyn, +Benjamin West, Allston, Rauch, Ange, Veit, Tenerani, Overbeck, Schadow, +Horace Vernet, Thorwaldsen, John Gibson, Hiram Powers, Crawford, Page, +Clark Mills, Randolph Rogers, William Rinehart, Launt Thompson, Horatio +and Richard Greenough, Thomas Ball, Anne Whitney, Larkin G. Mead, Paul +Akers, William Wetmore Story, Harriet Hosmer, J. Rollin Tilton, and, +later, Elihu Vedder, Moses Ezekiel, Franklin Simmons, Augustus St. +Gaudens, and Charles Walter Stetson, the name of Mr. Stetson linking the +long and interesting procession with the immediate life of to-day. Of +these later artists Story, Miss Hosmer, Ezekiel, Vedder, Simmons, and +Stetson are identified with Rome as being either their permanent or +their prolonged residence. Mr. St. Gaudens was a transient student, +returning to his own country to pursue his work; and of two young +sculptors, Hendrick Christian Anderson and C. Percival Dietsch, time has +not yet developed their powers beyond an experimental stage of brilliant +promise. + + [Illustration: ANGEL, CHURCH OF SAN ANDREA DELLE FRATTE, ROME + Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini + _Page 32_] + +The Rome of the artists of clay and canvas was also the Rome of the +poets and romancists, of authors in all lines of literary achievement. +How the names of the procession of visitors and sojourners in the +Eternal City, from Milton, Goethe, and Mme. de Stael to Henry James, +Marion Crawford, Richard Bagot, and Grace Ellery Channing (Mrs. Charles +Walter Stetson), gleam from that resplendent panorama of the modern past +of Rome! Like the words in electric fire that flash out of the darkness +in city streets at night, there shine the names of Shelley and of Keats; +of Gladstone, on whom in one memorable summer day, while strolling in +Italian sunshine, there fell a vision of the sacredness and the +significance of life and its infinite responsibility in the fulfilment +of lofty purposes. What charming associations these guests and +sojourners have left behind! Hawthorne, embodying in immortal romance +the spirit of the scenic greatness of the Eternal City; Margaret Fuller, +Marchesa d'Ossoli, allying herself in marriage with the country she +loved, and living in Rome those troubled, mysterious years that were to +close the earthly chapter of her life; Robert and Elizabeth Browning, +the wedded poets, who sang of love and Italy; Harriet Beecher Stowe, +finding on the enchanted Italian shores the material which she wove +with such irresistible attraction into the romance of "Agnes of +Sorrento;" Longfellow, with his poet's vision, transmuting every vista +and impression into some exquisite lyric; Lowell, bringing his +philosophic as well as his poetic insight to penetrate the untold +meaning of Rome; Thomas William Parsons, making the country of Dante +fairly his own; Thackeray, with his brilliant interpretation of the +_comedie humaine_; Emerson, who, oblivious of all the glories of art or +the joys of nature, absorbed himself in writing transcendental letters +to his eccentric, but high-souled aunt, Mary Moody Emerson; Ruskin, +translating Italian art to Italy herself; Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe and +his poet wife, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in the first flush of their bridal +happiness, when Mrs. Howe's impassioned love for the Seven-hilled City +inspired many a lyric that mirrors the Roman atmosphere of that day; +Kate Field, with a young girl's glad enthusiasm over the marvellous +loveliness of a Maytime in Rome, and her devotion to those great +histrionic artists, Ristori and Salvini; George Stillman Hillard, +leaving to literature the rich legacy of his "Six Months in +Italy,"--a work that to this day holds precedence as a clear and +comprehensive presentation of the scenic beauty, the notable monumental +and architectural art, and the general life and resources of this land +of painter and poet. Other names, too, throng upon memory--that of +William Dean Howells, painting Italian life in his "Venetian Days," and +charming all the literary world by his choice art; and among later work, +the interesting interpretations of Rome and of social life in Rome, by +Marion Crawford, Henry James, and Richard Bagot,--in chronicle, in +romance, or in biographical record. During the last quarter of the +nineteenth century, indeed, the visitors to Rome--authors, artists, +travellers of easy leisure--defy any numerical record. Mrs. Louise +Chandler Moulton, poet, romancist, and delightful _raconteur_ as well, +has recorded some charming impressions of her various sojourns in Rome +both in her "Random Rambles" and in "Lazy Tours." Of the Palatine Hill +we find her saying:-- + + "Sometimes we go to the Palace of the Caesars, and look off upon the + heights where the snow lingers and the warm light rests, making + them shine like the Delectable Mountains. Nearer at hand are the + almond trees, in flower, or the orange trees, bright at once with + their white, sweet blossoms and their golden fruit." + +Mrs. Moulton writes of the "stately dwellers" in Rome whom time cannot +change; and to whom, whenever she returns, she makes her first visit; +some of whom are in the mighty palace of the Vatican and some of whom +dwell in state in the Capitol. + + "The beautiful Antoninus still wears his crown of lotus in Villa + Albani and the Juno whom Goethe worshipped reigns forever at the + Ludovisi," she writes; "I can never put in words the pleasure I + find in these immortals." Mrs. Moulton loved to wander in the Villa + Borghese "before the place is thronged with the beauty and fashion + of Rome as it is in the late afternoon. I do not wonder that Miriam + and Donatello could forget their fate in these enchanted glades," + she wrote, "and dance as the sunbeams danced with the shadows. + Sometimes I seem to see them where the sun sifts through the young + green leaves, and her beauty--her human, deep-souled beauty--and + his fantastic grace are the only things here that cannot change. + + "The walls will crumble; the busts of kings and heroes and poets + will lose their contours, the lovely Roman ladies also grow old and + fade, and vanish from sight and from memory; but still these two, + hopeless yet happy, will dance in these wild glades immortally + beyond the reach of the effacing years." + +The visit to Rome of the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks--later the Bishop of +Massachusetts--is immortalized in the most lifelike portrait bust of the +great preacher ever modelled; a bust in which the genius of the +sculptor, Franklin Simmons, found one of its noblest expressions, and +has perpetuated, with masterly power, the energy of thought, at once +profound and intense, in the countenance of Bishop Brooks. These, and +many another whom the gods have loved and dowered with gifts, rise +before any retrospective glance over the comparatively recent past of +Rome. Bishop Brooks passed there the Holy Week of one Lenten season, +and of the Miserere in the Sistine Chapel he wrote that it was certainly +the most wonderful music to which he had ever listened; and he added:-- + + "The Miserere in the Sistine, the Benediction from the balcony, the + solemn moment of the elevation of the Host on Easter, and the + illumination of St. Peter's, these all seem to reach very + remarkably the great ideal of the central religious commemoration + of Christendom." + +It was in the winter of 1828 that Mr. Longfellow first visited Rome, +which "is announced," he wrote, "by Nero's tomb," and he quotes Dupaty's +lines:-- + + "Quoi! c'est la Rome? quoi! + C'est le tombeau de Neron qui l'annonce." + +Mr. Longfellow expressed his love for the Eternal City, and in a +personal letter[1] he said:-- + + "I have been so delighted with Rome that I have extended my + residence much beyond my original intention. There is so much in + the city to delay the stranger; the villages in the environs are so + beautiful, and there is such a quiet and stillness about everything + that, were it in my power, I should be induced to remain the whole + year round. You can imagine nothing equal to the ruins of Rome. The + Forum and the Coliseum are beyond all I had ever fancied them; and + the ruined temples and the mouldering aqueducts which are scattered + over the Campagna; I do not believe there is a finer view in the + world than that from the eastern gate of the city, embracing the + Campagna, with its ruined aqueducts diverging in long broken + arcades, and terminated by the sweep of the Albanian hills, + sprinkled with their white villages, and celebrated in song and + story! But the great charm of the scene springs from association; + and though everything in Italy is really picturesque, yet strip the + country of its historic recollections,--think merely of what it is, + and not of what it has been,--and you will find the dream to be + fading away. + + "You would be shocked at the misery of the people, especially in + the Pope's dominions: but their element seems to be in rags and + misery; and with the ceremonials of their religion and the holidays + of the church, which average nearly three a week, they are + poor--and lazy and happy. I mean, happy in their way." + +In a later visit the poet was domiciled in an hotel on the Piazza +Barberini, where the wonderful view included then the entire city "to +where St. Peter's dome darkens against the sunset." Of this visit his +brother, Rev. Samuel Longfellow, writes:-- + + "Here Mr. Longfellow became for the season the centre of the group + of American visitors and resident artists, whose well-known names + need not be recounted. Here he made, also, acquaintances among the + Italians,--especially the Duke of Sermoneta, the Dantean scholar, + and Monsignore Nardi, of the papal court. The Pope himself he did + not visit. An interesting acquaintance was that made with the Abbe + Liszt, who was spending the winter in Rome, having rooms in the + abandoned Convent of Santa Francesca, in the Forum. Calling there + one evening, in company with Mr. Healy the artist, the inner door + of the apartment was opened to them by Liszt himself, holding high + in his hand a candle which illuminated his fine face. The picture + was so striking that Mr. Longfellow begged his companion to put it + upon canvas,--which he did; and the painting now hangs in the + library of Craigie House. At a morning visit, Liszt delighted the + party with a performance upon his Chickering pianoforte. + + "To see Rome, as all travellers know, is a work for many months; + and it was pursued with tolerable diligence. But Mr. Longfellow was + never a good sight-seer. He was impatient of lingering in picture + galleries, churches, or ruins. He saw quickly the essential points, + and soon tired of any minuter examination." + +But long, indeed, before nineteenth-century artists and authors laid +siege to the Eternal City, in the far-away years of 1638, Milton visited +Rome, and there still remains the tablet, on the wall of the _casa_ in +the Via delle Quattro Fontane in which he stayed, a tablet bearing an +inscription giving the date of his visit; as, also, in Via Machella, +there is an inscription marking the place where Scott lived during his +visit to Rome. Goethe made his memorable tour to Italy in 1786--fourteen +years before the dawn of the nineteenth century--and wrote: "I feel the +greatest longing to read Tacitus in Rome;" and again (an observation +with which every visitor to the Eternal City will sympathize) he +noted:-- + + "It grows more and more difficult for me to render an account of my + residence in Rome, for as we always find the sea deeper the further + we go, so it is with me in observation of this city.... Wherever we + go and wherever we stand, we see about us a finished + picture,--forms of every kind and style; palaces and ruins; gardens + and wastes; the distant and the near houses; triumphal arches and + columns,--often all so close together that they might be sketched + on a single sheet. One should have a thousand points of steel with + which to write, and what can a single pen do? and then in the + evening one is weary and exhausted with the day of seeing and + admiring. Here one reads history from within outward." + +Chateaubriand, who in his earliest youth had visited America as the +guest of Washington, passed the winter of 1803-4 in Rome, and his +pictorial transcriptions of the city and its environs are among the most +exquisite things in literary record. As, for instance, this description +of a sunset from Monte Mario:-- + + "I was never weary of seeing, from the Villa Borghese, the sun go + down behind the cypresses of Monte Mario, and the pines of the + Villa Pamphili planted by Le Notre. I have stood upon the Ponte + Molle to enjoy the sublime spectacle of the close of day. The + summits of the Sabine hills appeared of lapis lazuli and pale gold, + while their bases and sides were bathed in vapors of violet or + purple. Sometimes lovely clouds, like fairy cars, borne along by + the evening wind with inimitable grace, recall the mythological + tales of the descent of the deities of Olympus. Sometimes old Rome + seems to have spread all over the west the purple of her consuls + and her Caesars, beneath the last steps of the god of day. This rich + decoration does not vanish so quickly as in our climate. When we + think the hues are about to disappear they revive on some other + point of the horizon; one twilight follows another and the magic of + sunset is prolonged." + +It was in the same year that Mme. de Stael visited Rome and recorded, in +her glowing romance, "Corinne," the impressions she received. In the +spring of 1817 Lord Byron found in Rome the inspiration that he +transmitted into that wonderful line in "Childe Harold":-- + + "The Niobe of Nations! There she stands." + +It was two years later that Shelley passed the spring in the +Seven-hilled City, retiring to Leghorn later, to write his tragedy of +"The Cenci." + +In Rome the visitor follows Michael Angelo and Raphael through the +various churches and museums. The celebrated sibyls of Raphael are in +the Santa Maria della Pace; his "Isaiah" is in San Agostino and his +"Entombment" in the Casino of the Villa Borghese. While the sublime work +of Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel is always one of the first +things in Rome to which the traveller goes to study that incomparable +work portraying the Creation--the Prophets and the Sibyls, the Angels +and the Genii, that record the impassioned power of the master--yet all +footsteps turn quickly, too, to the church called San Pietro in Vincoli, +near the house in which Lucrezia Borgia lived, in which is the colossal +Moses of Michael Angelo. As it stands, it fails to convey the first +design of the great sculptor. Originally intended for the tomb of Pope +Julius II, the plan included a massive block of marble (some forty by +twenty feet) surmounted by a cornice and having its niches, its columns, +and its statues, of which the Moses was to have been one. It would then +have been judged relatively to the entire group, while now it is seen +alone, and thus out of the proportions that were in the mind of the +artist. The entire conception, indeed, was to unite sculpture and +architecture into one splendid combination. "Thus the statue of Moses +was meant to have been raised considerably above the eye of the +spectator," writes Mr. Hillard, "and to have been a single object in a +colossal structure of architecture and sculpture, which would have had a +foreground and a background, and been crowned with a mass at once +dome-like and pyramidal. Torn, as it is, from its proper place; divorced +from its proportionate companionship; stuck against the wall of a +church; and brought face to face with the observer,--what wonder that so +many of those who see it turn away with no other impressions than those +of caricature and exaggeration!" + +Mr. Hillard adds:-- + + "But who that can appreciate the sublime in art will fail to bow + down before it as embodied in this wonderful statue? The majestic + character of the head, the prodigious muscles of the chest and + arms, and the beard that flows like a torrent to the waist, + represent a being of more than mortal port and power, speaking with + the authority, and frowning with the sanctions of incarnate law. + The drapery of the lower part of the figure is inferior to the + anatomy of the upper part. Remarkable as the execution of the + statue is, the expression is yet more so; for notwithstanding its + colossal proportions, its prominent characteristic is the + embodiment of intellectual power. It is the great leader and + lawgiver of his people that we see, whose voice was command, and + whose outstretched arm sustained a nation's infant steps. He looks + as if he might control the energies of nature as well as shape the + mould in which the character of his people should be formed. That + any one should stand before this statue in a scoffing mood is to me + perfectly inexplicable. My own emotions were more nearly akin to + absolute bodily fear. At an irreverent word, I should have expected + the brow to contract into a darker frown, and the marble lips to + unclose in rebuke." + + [Illustration: DETAIL FROM STUART MONUMENT, ST. PETER'S, ROME + Antonio Canova + _Page 33_] + +William Watson condenses his impressions of this majestic sculpture in +the following quatrain.-- + + "The captain's might, and mystery of the seer-- + Remoteness of Jehovah's colloquist, + Nearness of man's heaven-advocate--are here: + Alone Mount Nebo's harsh foreshadow is miss'd." + +The impressive group of sculptures and buildings on the +Campidoglio--where once the shrine of Jupiter Capitolinus stood--owes +its present picturesque scheme largely to Michael Angelo. The +fascination of the long flights of steps leading from the Piazza +Aracoeeli to the Capitoline, where the ancient bronze equestrian statue +of Marcus Aurelius forever keeps guard, is indescribable. The historic +statues of Castor and Pollux mark the portals; on either hand there are +seen the Muses of ancient sculpture, the Palazzo Senatoriale and the +Palazzo dei Conservatori. There is in the entire world no more classic +ground than is found in this impressive grouping of art and +architecture. + +The genius of Raphael has recorded itself in those brilliant and +imperishable works that enthrall the student of art in the Raphael +stanze in the Vatican. He was imbued with the spirit of Greek art, and +while Titian is a greater colorist, while Correggio, Botticelli, +Perugino, and other artists that could be named equal or exceed Raphael +in certain lines, yet as the interpreter of the profoundest thought, and +for his philosophic grasp and his power to endow his conceptions with +the most brilliant animation, he stands alone. The religious exaltation +of "The Transfiguration" reveals the supreme degree of the divine genius +of Raphael. That this painting was the last work of his life, that it +was placed above his body as it lay in state, and was carried in his +funeral procession, invests it with peculiar interest. + +As a draftsman Raphael was second only to Michael Angelo, with whom he +must forever share the immortality of fame. The Academy in Venice holds +some of his choicest drawings, and in the Venetian sketch-book in the +National Gallery in London are many of his small pictures, including +that of the "Knight's Dream." + +It was in the autumn of 1508, when Raphael was in his twenty-fifth year, +that he was called to Rome in the service of the Pope. The Pontiff at +this time was Pope Julius II, whose successor was Leo X, and under their +pontificates (from 1508 to 1520) Raphael produced these masterpieces +which stand unrivalled in the world save by the creations of Michael +Angelo in the Capella Sistina. The celebrated "Four Sibyls" of Raphael +are not, however, in the stanze of the Vatican, but in the Church of San +Maria della Pace. In the Palazzo Vaticano these four wonderful stanze +entrance the visitor; the Stanza della Signatura, the Stanza d'Eliodoro, +the Stanza dell'Incendio and the Sala di Constantino. + +For the decoration of these stanze several painters from Umbria had been +summoned,--Perugino, Sodoma, Signorelli, and others; but when Raphael +had produced the "Disputa" in the Sala della Signatura, Pope Julius II +recognized the work as so transcendent that he ordered the other artists +to cease and even had some of their paintings obliterated that there +might be more space for the exercise of Raphael's genius. In the +"Disputa" are glorified the highest expressions of the human +intellect--the domain portrayed being that of Theology, Philosophy, +Poetry, and Justice. The splendor of this creation transcends all +attempts of interpretation in language. Against a background of gold +mosaic are portrayed these typical figures enthroned on clouds where +genii flit to and fro bearing tablets with inscriptions. Theology holds +in the left hand a book, while the other points to the vision of angels; +Poetry, laurel-crowned, is seen seated on a throne with books and lyre; +Philosophy wears a diadem, and Justice, with her balance and her sword, +is also crowned. The title of this marvellous work is misleading. Its +message is not that of disputation but of beatitude. At the altar are +grouped the congregation; the mystic spell of heavenly enthusiasm +enfolds the scene as an atmosphere, as above the heavens open and the +glorified Christ, surrounded by the saints who have kept the faith, is +disclosed to the devotees kneeling below, while a choir of listening +angels bend over them from the distant clouds in the background. + +Under Poetry are grouped Apollo and the Muses, and the figures of Homer, +Dante and Virgil, of Petrarcha, Anacreon and Sappho, of Pindar and of +Horace are recognized. The great scholars seen in the Philosophy include +Plato and Aristotle, while in the groups under Justice, Moses and Solon +are seen. + +"Raphael seems to have never known despair," remarked Franklin Simmons +of the work of this divine genius. "His paintings reveal no struggle, +but seem to have been produced without effort, as if brought into +existence by an enchanter's wand." + +No observation could more vividly interpret the wonderful effect +produced on the student by Raphael, and he cannot but recall the truth +expressed in these lines of Festus:-- + + "All aspiration is a toil; + But inspiration cometh from above + And is no labor." + +The inspiration of Raphael was of the noblest order. His genius, his +kindling enthusiasm, his ecstasy of religious devotion, have left an +imperishable heritage to art. By his transcendent gifts he represents +the highest manifestation of the art of painting in the Renaissance. For +the true note in art lies in spiritual perception. Not so brilliant a +colorist as Titian, he was more the interpreter of the extension of +human activity into that realm of the life more abundant, and with his +extraordinary facility of execution he united exquisite refinement and +unerring sense of beauty and the masterly power in composition that +fairly created for the spectator the visions that his soul beheld. "I +say to you," said Mr. Bryce recently in a press interview,--"I say to +you, each oncoming tide of life requires and needs men of lofty thought +who shall dream for it, sing for it, who shall gather up its tendencies, +formulate its ideals and voice its spirit." One of those men of lofty +thought who thus dream for the ages was Raphael, and his power and glory +have left an ineffaceable impress upon human life. He was the divinely +appointed messenger of beauty, and he was never disobedient to the +heavenly vision. + + "Time hath no tide but must abide + The servant of Thy will; + Tide hath no time, for to Thy rhyme + The ranging stars stand still." + +The decline of art after Michael Angelo and Raphael was marked. The very +splendor and power of their creations, instead of inspiring those who +immediately followed them, produced almost the inertia of despair. In +the reverence and awe and admiration with which these transcendent +masterpieces were approached any power to originate seemed futile by +contrast. Imitation rather than creation became the method adopted, +resulting in an increased poverty of design and feeble execution. The +art of the sixteenth century deteriorated rapidly till the baroco style +was in evidence. One reason, too, for the decline was in that art was no +longer so exclusively dedicated to the high service of religion, but +aimed, instead, to please and to procure patrons, and thus were all +worthy standards lowered to pernicious levels. + +A sculptor who left his impress upon the sixteenth-century art was +Lorenzo Bernini, a Neapolitan (born in 1598) who died in Rome in 1685. +The work of Bernini has a certain fascination and airy touch that, while +it sometimes degenerates into the merely fantastic and even into tawdry +and puerile affectations, has at its best a refinement and grace that +lend to his sculptures an enduring charm, as seen in his "Apollo and +Daphne" (a work executed in his eighteenth year) which is now in the +Casino of the Villa Borghese. Bernini's name is perpetuated in the +colossal statues on the colonnade of St. Peter's, the great bronze +angels with their draperies streaming to the winds on the Ponte San +Angelo, and in the vast fountain in the Piazza Navona. In the court of +the Palazzo Bernini is one of the most interesting of his works--a +colossal figure, allegorical in significance, illustrating "Truth +Brought to Light by Time." One of the most important works of +Bernini--now placed in the Museo Nazionale--is the group of "Pluto and +Proserpine." + + [Illustration: TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, ST. PETER'S, ROME + Antonio Canova + _Page 42_] + +The influence that was to reform and regenerate the art of sculpture in +the sixteenth century came with the great and good Canova, with which +was united that of Flaxman and of Thorwaldsen. The heavenly messengers +are always sent and appear at the time they are most needed. Neither +Truth nor Art is ever left without a witness. + + "God sends his teachers unto every age, + To every clime, and every race of men, + With revelations fitted to their growth + And shape of mind; nor gives the realm of truth + Into the selfish rule of one sole race." + +Canova's genius and services were widely recognized. In 1719 he was made +a Senator; he was ennobled with the title of Marchese of Ischia and +granted a yearly allowance of three thousand scudi; and his noble and +generous enthusiasms, not less than his genius, have left their record +on life as well as on art. When he died (in Venice, Oct. 3, 1822) his +work included fifty-nine statues, fourteen groups, twenty-two monuments, +and fifty-four busts. The statue of Pius V and the tomb of Clement XIII +are his greatest works, and the latter is perhaps even increasingly +held as a masterpiece of the ages. + +Canova, warned by the fatal influence of imitation in art in the +sixteenth century, frequently counselled his pupils against copying his +own style and constantly urged them to study from the Greeks. He advised +them to visit frequently the studios of other artists, "and especially," +he would add, "the studios of Thorwaldsen, who is a very great artist." + +In the early part of the nineteenth century contemporary sculpture in +Rome was led by the three great artists,--Canova, Thorwaldsen, and +Gibson. In 1829 Gibson had the honor of being elected a member of the +Accademia di San Luca in place of the sculptor Massimiliano, who had +then just died. Cammuccini, the historical painter, proposed Gibson, and +with the ardent assistance of Thorwaldsen he was elected resident +Academician of merit. "Like Canova, Thorwaldsen was most generous to +young artists," says Gibson of the great Danish master, "and he freely +visited all who required his advice. I profited greatly by the knowledge +which this splendid sculptor had of his art. On every occasion when I +was modelling a new work he came to me, and corrected whatever he +thought amiss. I also often went to his studio and contemplated his +glorious works, always in the noblest style, full of pure and severe +simplicity. His studio was a safe school for the young, and was the +resort of artists and lovers of art from all nations. The old man's +person can never be forgotten by those who saw him. Tall and strong,--he +never lost a tooth in his life,--he was most venerable looking. His kind +countenance was marked with hard thinking, his eyes were gray, and his +white locks lay upon his broad shoulders. At great assemblies his breast +was covered with orders." + +Thorwaldsen (born in Copenhagen, Nov. 19, 1770) went to Rome in +1797--sent by the government of Denmark as a pensioner. It is said that, +in his enthusiasm for Rome, Thorwaldsen dated his birth from the hour he +entered the Eternal City. "Before that day," he exclaimed, "I existed; I +did not live." For nearly fifty years--until his death in 1844--he lived +and worked in Rome, occupying at one time the studio in Via Babuino that +had formerly been that of Flaxman. + +John Gibson, who went to Rome in 1817,--twenty years after Thorwaldsen +first arrived,--had the good fortune to be for five years a pupil of +Canova, whose death in 1822 terminated this inestimable privilege. The +elevation of purpose that characterized the young English student made +his progress and development a matter of peculiar interest to the +master. Gibson, also, bears his testimony to the stimulus of the Roman +environment. "Rome above all other cities," he says, "has a peculiar +influence upon and charm for the real student; he feels himself in the +very university of art, where it is the one thing talked about and +thought about. Constantly did I feel the presence of this influence. +Every morning I rose with the sun, my soul gladdened by a new day of a +happy and delightful pursuit; and as I walked to my breakfast at the +Caffe Greco and watched with new pleasure the tops of the churches and +palaces gilt by the morning sun, I was inspired with a sense of daily +renovated youth, and fresh enthusiasm, and returned joyfully to the +combat, to the invigorating strife with the difficulties of art. Nor did +the worm of envy creep round my heart whenever I saw a beautiful idea +skilfully executed by any of my young rivals, but constantly spurred on +by the talent around me I returned to my studio with fresh resolution." + +Again to a friend Gibson writes:-- + + "I renewed my visits to the Vatican, refreshing my spirits in that + Pantheon of the gods, demigods, and heroes of Hellas.... In the art + of sculpture the Greeks were gods.... In the Vatican we go from + statue to statue, from fragment to fragment, like the bee from + flower to flower." + +These five years in which Canova, Thorwaldsen, and Gibson lived and +wrought together--although the youngest of this trio was still in his +student life--form a definite period in the history of modern art in +Rome. The dreams, the enthusiasm, the devotion to ideal beauty which +characterized their work left its impress and its vitality of +influence--a mystic power ready to incarnate itself again through the +facility of expression of the artists yet to come. To the young men +whose steps were turned toward Rome in these early years of the century +just passed, how great was the privilege of coming into close range of +the influence of such artists as these; to study their methods; to hear +the expression of their views on art in familiar meeting and +conversation! These artists were closely in touch with that "lovely and +faithful dream which came with Italian Renaissance in the works of +Pisani, Mino di Fiesole, Donatello, Michael Angelo, and Giovanni da +Bologna--all who caught the spirit of Greek art." Artistic truth was the +keynote of the hour, and it is this truth which is the basis of the +highest conception of life. + + "Art's a service,--mark: + A silver key is given to thy clasp + And thou shalt stand unwearied night and day, + And fix it in the hard, slow-turning wards + To open, so that intermediate door + Betwixt the different planes of sensuous form + And form insensuous, that inferior men + May learn to feel on still through these to those, + And bless thy ministration. The world waits for help." + +In their true relation art and ethics meet in their ministry to +humanity, for only in their union can they best serve man. All the +nobler culture has its responsibility in service. "Many a man has a +blind notion of stewardship about his property, but very few have it +about their knowledge," said Bishop Phillips Brooks, and he added: "One +grows tired of seeing cultivated people with all their culture cursed by +selfishness." To the true idealist--as distinct from the mere +emotionalist with aesthetic tastes--selfishness is an impossible prison. +The only spiritual freedom lies in the perpetual sharing of the fuller +life. The gift shared is the gift doubled. Art is the spiritual glory of +life; the supreme manifestation, the very influence of spiritual +achievement. Mr. Stillman, discussing the revival of art, has +questioned: "Does the world want art any longer? Has it, in the present +state of human progress, any place which will justify devotion to it?" + +He questions as to whether man is still + + "Apparelled in celestial light," + +or whether he has lost "the glory and the freshness" of his dreams. + + "No one can admit," continues Mr. Stillman, "that the human + intellect is weaker than it was five or twenty centuries ago; but + it is certain that if we take the pains to study what was done five + centuries ago in painting, or twenty centuries ago in sculpture, + and compare it with the best work of to-day, we shall find the + latter trivial and 'prentice work compared with the ordinary work + of men whose names are lost in the lustre of a school. + + "Then, little men inspired by the Zeitgeist, painted greatly; now, + our great men fail to reach the technical achievement of the little + men of them. There is only one living painter who can treat a + portrait as a Venetian artist of 1550 A.D. would have done it, and + how differently in the mastery of his material! If we go to the + work of wider range, the Campo Santo of Pisa, the Stanze, the + Sistine Chapel, the distance becomes an abyss; the simplest + fragment of a Greek statue of 450 B.C. shows us that the best + sculpture of this century, even the French, is only a happy + child-work, not even to be put in sight of Donatello or Michael + Angelo. The reason is simple, and already indicated. The early men + grew up in a system in which the power of expression was taught + from childhood; they acquired method as the musician does now, and + the tendency of the opinion of their time was to keep them in the + good method." + +Is this not too narrow and sweeping a judgment? The art of portraiture +certainly did not die with the Venetian painters of 1550, however great +their work; and if there be but "one living painter" who can treat +portrait art like the early Venetians, there are scores of artists who +achieve signal success by other methods of treatment. + +At all events, these three men, Canova, Thorwaldsen, and Gibson, worked +with the conviction that art is service. With Victor Hugo, Canova could +have said: "Genius is not made for genius; it is made for men.... Let +him have wings for the infinite provided he has feet for the earth, and +that, after having been seen flying, he is seen walking. After he has +been seen an archangel, let him be still more a brother.... To be the +servant of God in the march of progress--such is the law which regulates +the growth of genius." + +They worked and taught by this creed. Thorwaldsen, on first arriving in +Rome, wandered for three years, it is said, among the statues of gods +and heroes, like a man in a dream. The atmosphere of the earlier day +when Titian was employed by the king of Portugal and Raphael by the Pope +to create works of great public importance still lingered and exerted +over Thorwaldsen, and over all artists susceptible to its subtle +influence, a peculiar spell. Its power was revealed in his subsequent +works--the "Christ;" the sculptured groups for tombs in St. Peter's and +in other churches; the poetic reliefs symbolizing "Day" and "Night;" +"Ganymede Watering the Eagle;" the "Three Graces," "Hebe," and many +others. + +Among Canova's works his immortal masterpiece is the monumental memorial +group for the tomb of Pope Clement XIII in St. Peter's. The Pope is +represented as kneeling in prayer. The modelling of the entire figure is +instinct with expression. The fine and beautiful hands express reverence +and trust. The countenance is pervaded with that peace only known to the +soul that is in complete harmony with the divine power. The Holy Father +has taken the tiara from his head and it lies before him on the +cushion on which he kneels. Although the entire portrayal of the figure +reveals that devotion expressed in the solemn and searching words of the +church service, "And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, +ourselves, our souls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy, and living +sacrifice unto thee,"--although it is the very utmost rendering of the +soul to God, it is yet the deliberate, the joyful, the living acceptance +of divine love and no mere trance of ecstasy. No more wonderful figure +in all the range of sculpture has been created than the Clement XIII of +Canova. + + [Illustration: "THE GENIUS OF DEATH," + DETAIL FROM TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII, + ST. PETER'S, ROME + Antonio Canova + _Page 43_] + +The group is completed by two symbolic figures representing Religion and +Death. The former is personified as a female figure holding a cross; the +latter sits with his torch reversed. Grief, but not hopeless and +despairing sorrow, is portrayed; it is the grief companioned by faith +which ever sees + + "The stars shine through the cypress trees." + +The base of the monument represents a chapel guarded by lions. +Pistolesi, the great Italian authority on the sculpture of St. Peter's +and the Vatican galleries, notes that the lions typify the firmness and +the force and the courage, "_la fortezza dell'anima_," that so signally +characterized Clement XIII. There is probably no sacred monument in the +realm of all modern art which can equal this creation in its delicacy, +its lofty beauty, and the noble message that it conveys. + +The oldest art school, the Accademia di San Luca, founded in 1507 by +Sixtus, when he called to Rome all the leading artists of Europe to +assist in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel, is an organization that +magically links the present with the days of Canova, Thorwaldsen, and +Gibson, as it linked them, also, with the remote and historic past. The +father of the present custodian of the Academy knew Thorwaldsen well. +The grandfather of the gifted Italian sculptor, Tadolini (who has +recently completed the tomb for Pope Leo XIII, placed in the Basilica of +San Giovanni Laterano), modelled the bust of Thorwaldsen, and in one +gallery hangs the great Danish sculptor's portrait, painted by himself. +The first director of San Luca was Federigo Zuccaro. In the early years +of the nineteenth century this Academy was a vital centre of art life, +and it is still a school that draws students, although the visitor who +does not loiter and linger in his Rome may fail to know of this most +alluring place. The San Luca is in the Via Bonella, one of the old, +dark, narrow, and gloomy streets of the oldest part of Rome,--a short +street of hardly more than two blocks, running between the Via +Alessandra and the Forum. Hawthorne vividly pictures all this old Rome +when he speaks of the "narrow, crooked, intricate streets, so +uncomfortably paved with little squares of lava that to tread over them +is a penitential pilgrimage; so indescribably ugly, moreover; so cold, +so alley-like, into which the sun never falls and where a chill wind +forces its deadly breath into our lungs; the immense seven-storied, +yellow-washed hovels, or call them palaces, where all that is dreary in +domestic life seems magnified and multiplied; those staircases which +ascend from a ground floor of cook shops and cobblers' stalls, stables +and regiments of cavalry, to a middle region of princes, cardinals, and +ambassadors, and an upper tier of artists just beneath the unattainable +sky: ... in which the visitor becomes sick at heart of Italian +trickery, which has uprooted whatever faith in man's integrity had till +then endured;" the city "crushed down in spirit by the desolation of her +ruin and the hopelessness of her future;" one recalls these words when +passing through the unspeakable gloom and horror and desolation and +squalor of ancient Rome. In these surroundings one's cab stops at "No. +44," and ringing the bell the door is open, whether by super-normal +agency or by some invisible terrestrial manipulation one is unable to +determine; but in the semi-darkness of the narrow hall he discerns +before him a flight of steep stairs, and, as no other vista opens, he +reasons that, by the law of exclusion, this must be the appointed way. +Along the wall are seen, here and there, some antique casts from +Trajan's Column, and reliefs from Canova and Thorwaldsen. The galleries +above hold only a small and a comparatively unimportant collection of +pictures. There are marines from Vernet and Claude Lorraine; a "Venus +Crowned by the Graces" from Rubens; Giulio Romano's copy of Raphael's +"Galatea,"--the original of which (in the Villa Farnesina) represents +Galatea surrounded by Nymphs, Cupids, and Tritons, being carried in a +shell across the sea. There is a Cupid, and also the "Fortuna" of Guido +Reni,--the latter a figure of ineffable grace floating in the air. One +of Raphael's early works representing "St. Luke Painting the Madonna" is +here. There are several works by Titian, but these have less than would +be expected of the glory usually associated with his name; and a Vandyke +representing the Virgin and Child, with two angels playing, the one on a +lute, the other on the violin. + + [Illustration: "LA FORTUNA," ACCADEMIA DI SAN LUCA, ROME + Guido Reni + _Page 47_] + +One salon filled with portraits of artists is especially interesting, +and that of Thorwaldsen is so feminine in its costume and the parting of +the hair, that it is almost inevitably mistaken for that of a woman. +Guido's graceful "Fortuna" is represented as a female figure flying +through the air, her long hair streaming in the wind, and the picture +recalls to one the Greek legend of Opportunity, as told by Kainos. The +legend runs:-- + + "'Of what town is thy sculptor?' + + "'Of Lukzon.' + + "'What is his name?' + + "'Lysippos.' + + "'And thine?' + + "'Opportunity, controller of all things.' + + "'But why standest thou on tiptoe?' + + "'I am always running.' + + "'Why, then, hast thou wings on both feet?' + + "'I fly like the wind.' + + "'But wherefore bearest thou a razor in thy right hand?' + + "'As a sign to men that I am sharper than any steel.' + + "'And why wearest thou thy hair long in front?' + + "'That I may be seized by him who approaches me.' + + "'By Zeus! And thou art bald behind?' + + "'Because once I have passed with my winged feet no one may seize + me then.'" + +From one landing, on the steep narrow staircase of San Luca, opens the +Biblioteca Sarti, an art library of some fifteen thousand volumes. The +sculpture gallery is now closed and can only be entered by special +permission. This is the more to be regretted as it contains the +principal collections in Rome of the original casts of the works of +Thorwaldsen and Canova. + +The latter-day artists who have been setting up their Lares and Penates +in Rome at various periods during the early and into the later years of +the nineteenth century have found the Eternal City in strong contrast +with its twentieth-century aspects, however it may have differed from +the Rome of the Popes. The earlier American artists to seek the +Seven-hilled City were painters; and Allston, Copley, and Stuart had +already distinguished themselves in pictorial art before America had +produced any sculptor who could read his title clear to fame. It is to +Hiram Powers (born in Vermont in 1805) that America must look as her +first sculptor, chronologically considered, closely followed by Thomas +Crawford, who was but eight years his junior, and by Horatio Greenough, +who was also born in the same year as Powers, and who preceded him in +Italy, but whose work has less artistic value. Mr. Greenough has left a +colossal (if not an artistic) monument to his gifts in stately shaft +marking Bunker Hill which he designed. Problematic in their claim to +artistic excellence as are his "Washington"--a seated figure in the +grounds of the Capitol in Washington--and his group in relief called +"The Rescue" in the portico of the Capitol, his name lives by his +personality as a man of liberal culture and noble character, if not by +his actual rank in art. First of the American group in Italy, he was +followed by Powers, who sought the ineffable beauty and enchantment of +Florence in 1837. Horatio Greenough died in comparatively early life, +leaving perhaps the most interesting of his works in a relief (purchased +by Professor George Ticknor, the distinguished historian of Spain) +"representing in touching beauty and expression a sculptor in an +attitude of dejection and discouragement before his work, while a hand +from above pours oil into his dying lamp, an allegory illustrative of +the struggles of genius and the relief which timely patronage may extend +to it." + +Mr. Powers passed his entire life in Florence. His work attracted great +attention and inspired ardent appreciation. In portrait busts Powers was +especially successful; and his "Greek Slave," his "Fisher Boy," "Il +Penseroso," and "Proserpine" impressed the art-loving public of the time +as marked by strong artistic power and as entitled to permanent rank in +sculpture. + +Mr. Crawford died young; but his name lives in the majestic bronze +statue of "Beethoven" which is in the beautiful white and gold interior +of Symphony Hall, in Boston; and his "Orpheus" and some other works +claim high appreciation. Writing of Crawford, Mr. Hillard said:-- + + "Crawford's career was distinguished by energy, resolution, and + self-reliance. While yet a youth, he formed the determination to + make himself an artist; and with this view went to Rome--alone, + unfriended, and unknown--and there began a life of toil and + renunciation; resisting the approaches alike of indolence and + despondency. His strength of character and force of will would have + earned distinction for powers inferior to his. Nothing was given to + self-indulgence; nothing to vague dreams; nothing to unmanly + despair. He did not wait for the work that he would have, but + labored cheerfully upon that which he could have. Success came + gradually, but surely; and his powers as surely proved themselves + to be more than equal to the demand made upon them." + +On the death of Mr. Crawford, Thomas William Parsons wrote a memorial +poem in which this stanza occurs:-- + + "O Rome! what memories awake, + When Crawford's name is said, + Of days and friends for whose dear sake + That path of Hades unto me + Will have no more of dread + Than his own Orpheus felt, seeking Eurydice! + O Crawford! husband, father, brother + Are in that name, that little word! + Let me no more my sorrow smother; + Grief stirs me, and I must be stirred." + +Thomas Ball, who went in early manhood to Florence, where he remained +until when nearly at the age of fourscore he returned to his native +land, still continues, at the age of eighty-five, to pursue the art he +loves. He has created works, as his equestrian statue of "Washington" in +the Public Gardens and his "Lincoln Freeing the Slave" in Park Square, +both in Boston; his great Washington Memorial group in Methuen, +Massachusetts; his "Christ Blessing Little Children," and many other +historic and ideal sculptures, that seem endowed with his beautiful and +winning spirit as well as with his rare gifts. Larkin G. Mead chose +Florence rather than Rome for his home and work. His noble "River God," +placed at the head of the Mississippi near St. Paul, as well as other +interesting creations, link his name with that of his native land. +Randolph Rogers, a man of genius; Rinehart, Paul Akers, and Thompson all +died before the full maturity of their powers; Akers at the early age of +thirty-six, leaving, as his bride of a year, the poet, Elizabeth Akers +Allen, who, under the _nom de plume_ of "Florence Percy," has endeared +herself to all lovers of lyric art. In a monograph on Paul Akers, +written after his death, the writer says of his studio in Rome:-- + + "Linked with this studio is Hawthorne's tale of 'The Marble Faun,' + as Kenyon's studio was none other than Paul Akers's. Though + Hawthorne in his romance saw fit to lay the scene in the rooms once + occupied by Canova, it was in the Via del Crecie that he wove the + thread of his Italian romance. + + "Paul Akers's growing reputation and increase of work ere long made + it necessary for him to seek a more commodious studio, and he took + rooms once occupied by the famous Canova. Here he had made under + his supervision copies in marble of many of the famous works of the + Vatican and the Capitol. The largest collection of these was a + commission from Mr. Edward King of Newport, and among them were + busts of Ariadne, Demosthenes, and Cicero, and a facsimile of the + 'Dying Gladiator' which Mr. King presented to the Redwood Library + of Newport. + + * * * * * + + "During his first winter in Rome he was permitted by the + authorities to make a cast of a mutilated bust of Cicero which had + long lain in the Vatican. A critic writing from Rome in 1857 says + of this bust of Cicero: 'Mr. Akers obtained permission to take a + cast from it; he then restored the eye, brow, and ears, and + modelled a neck and bust for it in accordance with the temperament + shown by the nervous and rather thin face. He has succeeded + admirably. It is the very head of the Vatican, yet without the + scars of envious time, and sits gracefully on human shoulders, + instead of being rolled awkwardly back upon a shelf.' This bust is + unlike the portrait which so long passed for Cicero's, but has been + identified by means of a medal which was struck by the Magnesians + in honor of the great orator during his consulate, and is now the + authorized portrait of Cicero. The finest of Paul Akers's creations + executed during his stay in Rome are 'St. Elizabeth of Hungary,' + which represents the princess at the moment the roses have fallen + to the ground; 'Una and the Lion,' an illustration of the line in + Spenser's 'Faerie Queene,'-- + + 'Still while she slept he kept both watch and ward;' + + the head of Milton and the 'Pearl Diver.' The 'Pearl Diver,' now + owned by the city of Portland, represents a youth stretched upon a + sea-worn rock and wrapped in eternal sleep. The arms are thrown + above the head, and about the waist is a net containing + pearl-bearing shells for which he has risked his life. There is no + trace of suffering; all is subdued to beauty. It is death + represented as the ancients conceived it, the act of the + torch-reverting god. This youth, who has lost his life at the + moment when all that for which he had dared was within his grasp, + suggests Paul Akers's own untimely death on the eve of his + triumph." + +It was from his Roman studio that Mr. Akers wrote to a friend:-- + + "Yesterday Browning called. He looked a long time at my Milton, and + said it was Milton, the man-angel. He praised the wealth of hair + which I had given the head, and then said that Mrs. Browning had a + lock of Milton's hair, the only one now in existence. This was + given her by Leigh Hunt, just before his death, who had the records + proving it to be genuine. The hair was, he said, like mine. He + invited me to visit him in Florence, where he would show me the + first edition of Milton's poems, marked to indicate the peculiar + accent which the poet sometimes adopted, a knowledge of which makes + clear somewhat that otherwise seems discordant. Milton was so great + a musician that there could have been no fault in sound in his + compositions. He looked over my books; said my edition of Shelley + was one which he had corrected for the press, not from a knowledge + of the original MS., but from his internal evidence that so it must + have been; said Poe was a wonderful man; spoke of Tennyson in the + warmest terms. Took up a copy of his own poems published in the + United States, and remarked that it was better than the English + edition, yet had some awful blunders, and wished me to allow him to + correct a copy for me. My head of the 'Drowned Girl' caught his eye + and interested him. I told him that I had thought of Hood's 'Bridge + of Sighs.' He then said that Hood wrote that on his deathbed, and + read it to him before any one else had seen it. Hood was doubtful + whether it was worth publishing. To-morrow Mrs. Browning is to + come; she has been quite ill since she came to Rome, and I have + seen her but once. I derive much comfort from the friendship of + Charlotte Cushman. She has just gone from here. She has frequent + breakfast parties; I have attended but one. Mr. and Mrs. James T. + Fields, Wild, the painter, and myself were the guests. Fields I + like much." + +The first works of Mr. Akers were two portrait busts, of Longfellow and +of Samuel Appleton. Of his bust of Milton, Hawthorne in the "Marble +Faun" has said:-- + + "In another style, there was the grand, calm head of Milton, not + copied from any one bust or picture, yet more authentic than any + of them, because all known representations of the poet had been + profoundly studied and solved in the artist's mind. The bust over + the tomb in Greyfriar's Church, the original miniatures and + pictures wherever to be found, had mingled each its special truth + in this one work--wherein likewise by long perusal and deep love of + 'Paradise Lost,' the 'Comus,' the 'Lycidas,' and 'L'Allegro,' the + sculptor had succeeded even better than he knew in spiritualizing + his marble with the poet's mighty genius. And this was a great + thing to have achieved, such a length of time after the dry bones + and dust of Milton were like those of any other dead man." + +Richard Greenough and the painter, Mr. Haseltine, were prominent figures +among the early American group of the nineteenth-century artists in +Rome. There came Emma Stebbins, who modelled a fine portrait bust of +Charlotte Cushman; and Anne Whitney, whose statues of Samuel Adams and +of Leif Ericson adorn public grounds in Boston; whose life-size statue +of Harriet Martineau is the possession of Wellesley College; and whose +"Chaldean Astronomer," "Lotus-Eater," and "Roma"--a figure personifying +the Rome of Pio Nono--reveal her power in ideal creation. + +The name of Harriet Hosmer stands out in brilliant pre-eminence among +those of all women who have followed the plastic art. Her infinite charm +of personality seems to impart itself to her work, and she has the gift +to make friends as well as to call forms out of clay--the success of +friendship being one even more permanently satisfying. In her early life +as a girl hardly more than twenty, she sought Rome, living with art as +her chaperon. Her versatility, her picturesque individuality, and her +imaginative power all combined to win sympathetic recognition. Gibson, +whose guidance was particularly well adapted to develop her gifts, +received her into his own studio and took a deep interest in her work. +It was during the period of her early efforts that Hawthorne was in +Rome, and she is graphically depicted in his notebooks in her boyish cap +at work in the clay. Gibson was an artist, _con amore_, and Miss +Hosmer's joyous abandon to her art captivated his sympathy. "In my art +what do I find?" he questioned; "happiness; love which does not depress +me; difficulties which I do not fear; resolution which never abates; +flights which carry me above the ground; ambition which tramples no one +down." Master and pupil were akin in their unwearied devotion to art. Of +Gibson, whose absence of mind regarding all the details of life made him +almost helpless in travel and affairs, Miss Hosmer used gleefully to say +that he "was a god in his studio, but God help him out of it!" This +glancing sprite of a girl, frightening her friends by her daring and +venturous horseback riding; gravitating by instinct to offer some +generous, tender aid to the sick, the destitute, or the helpless; the +life and light of gay dinners and of social evenings; working from six +in the morning till night in her studio, "with an absence of +pretension," says Mrs. Browning, "and simplicity of manners which accord +rather with the childish dimples in her rosy cheeks than with her broad +forehead and high aims," had the magic gift that merged her visitors and +patrons into enthusiastic friends; and Mrs. Browning has chronicled the +pretty scene when Lady Marion Alford, the daughter of the Earl of +Northumberland, knelt before the girl artist and slipped on her finger +a ring--a precious ruby set with diamonds--as a token of her devotion. +Reading Miss Hosmer's life still further backward, the reader is +transported, as if on some magic carpet, to St. Louis, in the United +States, where a noble and lofty man, Hon. Wayman Crow,--a generous +friend, a liberal patron of the arts, a man of the most refined tastes +and culture, whose great qualities were always used in high +service,--first aided Miss Hosmer to the preliminary studies in her art, +and whose accomplished and lovely daughters (now Mrs. Lucien Carr of +Boston, Mrs. Edwin Cushman of Newport and Rome, and Mrs. Emmons of +Leamington, England) were as a trio of sisters to the young artist. And +"the flowing conditions of life" bear on this lifelong friendship until +a fair young girl, Elise (the daughter of Mrs. Emmons), catches up this +sweet tie and as an accomplished and lovely young woman in Roman +society, when these "flowing conditions" had come down even into the +season of 1906-7, Miss Emmons cherished the fame of Harriet Hosmer and +enjoyed the privilege of a constant correspondence with the +distinguished artist. So the past links itself again with the present; +and who can tell where any story in life begins or ends in the constant +evolutionary progress? + +Miss Hosmer's work attracted wide attention. Her majestic statue of +"Zenobia;" the winsome "Puck;" the impressive statue of "Beatrice +Cenci," representing her as she lay in her cell in Castel San Angelo the +night before her execution,--these and other works of hers are of an +interesting character and will hold their permanent rank in sculpture. + +Were all the muses present at the christening of William Wetmore +Story--sculptor, musician, poet and painter, jurist and man of letters, +and the friend whose social relationships made life a thing of beauty-- + + "To winds and waterfalls, + And autumn's sunlit festivals, + To music and to music's thoughts + Inextricably bound"? + +Mr. Story made his first visit to Italy in 1847; not at that time with +any fixed purpose of exchanging his profession of the law for art. He +loved literature, and his grace and ease in expression had already +manifested his literary talent; he had an inclination toward +modelling--it could hardly, at this time, have been called by a stronger +name--and curiously enough with him the usual conditions were reversed +and he received a commission for a statue of his father, Judge Story, +before he had made any definite turning toward the art of sculpture. A +young man of versatile gifts and accomplished scholarship, sculpture was +to him one among the many attractive forms of art rather than the +supreme attraction; and it was the stimulus of the given work that +determined him as a sculptor, rather than his determination to be a +sculptor that determined the work. Among the goddesses of life Destiny +must, perhaps, be allowed a place. At all events, after Mr. Story's +initial glance at Italy, he sought Rome again a year later, and this +time it was his choice for life, however unrevealed to his eye were the +resplendent years that lay before him. He had fallen under the spell of +the Magic Land. In a letter to Lowell, Mr. Story had questioned how he +should ever endure again "the restraint and bondage of Boston." It was +the picturesque Rome of the Popes that he first knew. The years of +1848-49 were those of revolutionary activities in Italy. Pio Nono, one +of the most saintly and beloved of the Popes,--whose mortal form now +rests in that richly decorated chapel in old San Lorenzo, _fuori le +mura_, on the site of the church that Constantine founded on the burial +place of St. Lawrence,--made his flight to Gaeta and the Roman republic +was established. It was a dramatic scene when Pio Nono returned (April +12, 1850), entering Rome by the Porta San Giovanni. The scene from this +gate was then, as now, one of the most impressive in the Eternal City. + +It was in this vast Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano that Pio Nono +entered that April day, leaving his carriage and walking alone to the +altar, where he knelt in devotion. A splendid procession awaited without +to accompany the Holy Father to the Papal Palace. The superb state +carriages conveyed princes and foreign ambassadors and great nobles. +From the Piazza San Giovanni to St. Peter's every house was illuminated, +and the populace cheered and waved until the very air vibrated with +sound and color. These were the days when the methods of government were +a visible spectacle, a drama, making the life in Rome a daily +illuminated missal. + +The Storys, on their return to Italy, located themselves for a time in +Florence, where they met the Brownings, and that lifelong friendship +between the poet and the sculptor was initiated. In these happy +Florentine days Mr. Story worked in his studio while his wife read to +him the life of Keats, then just issued, written by Monckton Milnes, +later Lord Houghton. But the "flowing conditions" soon bore them onward +to Rome, where they settled themselves in the Via Porta Pinciana, and +met the Crawfords, who were domiciled in the Villa Negroni. In these +Roman days, too, appeared Mr. Cropsey, of poetic landscape fame, and +here, too, was Margaret Fuller. Mazzini was then a leading figure in the +Chamber of Deputies,--"the prophet not only of modern Italy, but of the +modern world." He found Italy "utilitarian and materialistic, permeated +by French ideas, and weakened by her reliance on French initiative. He +was filled with hope that Italy might not only achieve her own unity, +but might once more accomplish, as she had in the Rome of the Caesars and +the Rome of the Church, the unity of the Western world. 'On my side I +believe,' he says, 'that the great problem of the day was a religious +problem, to which all other questions were but secondary.'" He was +asserting that "we cannot relate ourselves to the Divine, but through +collective humanity. It is not by isolated duty (which indeed the +conditions of modern life render more and more impossible), nor by +contemplation of mere Power as displayed in the material world, that we +can develop our nature. It is rather by mingling with the universal +life, and by carrying on the evolution of the never-ending work." + +The studios of Mr. Crawford in those days were in the Piazza delle +Terme, near the Baths of Diocletian. William Page, the painter, was +domiciled on the slope of the Quirinal where he painted a portrait of +Charlotte Cushman which Mrs. Browning described as "a miracle"; one of +Mrs. Crawford; the head of Mrs. Story, which he insisted upon presenting +to her husband; and a magnificent portrait of Browning which the artist +presented to Mrs. Browning. "Both of us," wrote Robert Browning of this +gift, "would have fain escaped being the subjects of such princely +generosity; but there was no withstanding his delicacy and +noble-mindedness." Mrs. Jameson was much in Rome in the early years of +the 1850-60 decade, living in the old port by the Tiber nearly opposite +to the new and splendid building of the law courts. Near the Tarpeian +Rock Frederika Bremer had perched, in a tiny room of which she took all +the frugal care, even to washing the blue cups and plates when she +invited the Hawthornes to a tea of a simplicity that suggested, indeed, +the utmost degree of "light" housekeeping. Thomas Buchanan Read was one +of the hosts and guests of this social group, and it was at a dinner he +gave that Hawthorne met Gibson, whose conversational talents were +evidently (upon that occasion) chiefly employed in contemning the +pre-Raphaelite school of painters and emphasizing the need of sculptors +to discover and to follow the principles of the Greeks,--"a fair +doctrine, but one which Mr. Gibson fails to practise," observes +Hawthorne. The Brownings were variously bestowed in Rome through +succeeding winters,--in the Bocca di Leone, in the Via del Tritone and +elsewhere. Mrs. Browning, as her "Casa Guida Windows" and many other +poems attest, took always the deepest interest in Italian politics. +American and English friends come and go, but the little group of +residents and the more permanent sojourners, as the Hawthornes and the +Brownings, continue their daily variations on life in the social dinners +and teas, the excursions and the sight-seeing of the wonderful city. + +Only the magician could "call up the vanished past again" and summon +into an undeniable materialization those charming figures to come forth +out of the shadowy air of the rich, historic past, and stand before us +in the full light of contemporary attention. Not alone this group of +choice persons, but the environment of their time, the very atmosphere, +are demanded of this necromancy. The figure of Adelaide Kemble (Mrs. +Sartoris) is one of these, and the tradition still survives of a concert +given in the splendid, spacious hall of the Palazzo Colonna where she +was the prima donna of the occasion. There were also musicals at the +house of Mrs. Sartoris, where the guests met her famous sister, Fanny +Kemble. Mrs. Browning was fond of both the sisters, and said of them +that their social brilliancy was their least distinction. She found +them both "noble and sympathetic," and her "dear Mr. Page" and "Hatty" +(Miss Hosmer) "an immense favorite with us both," she said of her +husband and herself; these and the Storys made up the special circle for +the Brownings in Rome. "The Sartoris house has the best society in +Rome," writes Mrs. Browning to Miss Mitford, "and exquisite music, of +course. We met Lockhart there and my husband sees a good deal of him.... +A little society," she says, "is good for soul and body, and on the +Continent it is easy to get a handful of society without paying too dear +for it. This is an advantage of Continental life." + +Mrs. Browning greatly admired the work of Mr. Page, whose portraits she +found "like Titian's." But the tinted statues of Gibson seemed to her +inartistic. His famous painted Venus she called "pretty," but only as a +wax doll might be, not as a work of genuine art. Then Thackeray and his +two daughters came; Miss Anne (now known to the world of literature as +Anne Thackeray Ritchie) was a special favorite with Mrs. Browning. + +Coming to Rome at one time from Florence in midwinter, the Brownings +found that the Storys had taken an apartment for them (in the Via Bocca +di Leone), and they arrived to find lighted fires and lamps. Their +journey had included a week's visit at Assisi, studying the rich art of +Cimabue and Giotto in the church of the great Franciscan monastery. Mrs. +Browning visited studios in Rome and found that of Mr. Crawford more +interesting to her than Mr. Gibson's, but no artist is "as near" to her, +as she herself says, as Mr. Page. The Storys left the Porta Pinciana to +live at No. 93 in the Piazza di Spagna, and in the same house with the +Brownings, in the Bocca di Leone, Mr. Page had his apartment. To Lowell, +Mr. Story wrote of the Brownings:-- + + "The Brownings and we became great friends in Florence, and, of + course, we could not become friends without liking each other. He, + Emelyn says, is like you. He is of my size, but slighter, with + straight black hair, small eyes, a smooth face, and manner nervous + and rapid. He has great vivacity, but not the least humor; some + sarcasm, considerable critical faculty, and very great frankness + and friendliness of manner and mind. Mrs. Browning will sit buried + up in a large easy-chair listening and talking very quietly and + pleasantly. Very unaffected is she.... I have hundreds of statues + in my head, but they are in the future tense. Powers I knew very + well in Florence. He is a man of great mechanical talent and + natural strength of perception, but with no poetry in his + composition, and I think no creative power.... I have been to hear + Allegri's 'Miserere' in the Sistine Chapel, with the awful and + mighty figures of Michael Angelo looking down from the ceiling; to + hear Guglielmi's 'Miserere' in St. Peter's, while the gloom of + evening was gathering in the lofty aisles and shrouding the + frescoed domes, was a deeply affecting and solemnly beautiful + experience. Never can one forget the plaintive wailing of the + voices that seemed to implore pity and pardon." + +It was in 1856 that the Storys located themselves in Palazzo Barberini, +which Bernini designed and which was built "out of the quarry of the +Coliseum" by Urban VIII. It is one of the wonderful old palaces of +Rome,--this mass of Barberini courts, gardens, terraces, and vast +apartments, with the interminable winding stairs, where on one landing +Thorwaldsen's lion lies before the great doors decorated with the arms +of Popes and princes. Here the old Cardinal Barberini lived his stormy +life; here are the gallery and the library,--the latter stored with +infinite treasures of ancient documents, old maps whose portrayal of the +earth bears little resemblance to the present, and famous manuscripts +and volumes in old vellum, some fifty thousand in all. In the Barberini +gallery are a few noted works,--Raphael's "Fornarina," Guido's "Beatrice +Cenci," a "Holy Family" by Andrea del Sarto, and others. + + [Illustration: SPANISH STEPS, PIAZZA TRINITA DEI MONTI, ROME + _Page 72_] + +The Via delle Quattro Fontane, on which the Palazzo Barberini stands, +might well be known as the street of the wonderful vista. One strolls +down it to the Via Sistina and to Piazza Trinita de' Monti at the head +of the Spanish steps (the Scala di Spagna), pausing for the loveliness +of the view. Across the city rises the opposite height of Monte Mario, +and to the left the Janiculum, now crowned with the magnificent +equestrian statue of Garibaldi, which is in evidence from almost every +part of Rome. As far as the eye can see the Campagna stretches away, +infinite as the sea--a very Campagna Mystica. The luminous air, the +faint, misty blue of the distance, the deep purple shadows on the hills, +make up a landscape of color. At the foot of the Spanish steps the +flower venders spread out their wares,--great bunches of the +flame-colored roses peculiar to Italy, the fragrant white hyacinths, +golden jonquils, baskets of violets, and masses of lilies of the valley. + +On many a night of brilliant moonlit glory the artistic sojourners in +Rome lingered on the parapet of the Pincian Hill watching the moonlight +flood the Eternal City until churches and palaces seemed to swim in a +sea of silver. Or in the morning, when the rose-red of dawn was aglow, +there seemed to hover over the city that wraith of mist whose secret +Claude Lorraine surprises in his landscapes. These dawn visions of +mysterious, incredible beauty are a part of the very identity of Rome. + +There were mornings when the Hawthornes with Mrs. Jameson or some other +friend would drive out to the old San Lorenzo (_fuori le mura_), the +church founded by Constantine in 330 on the site where the body of St. +Lawrence was buried. At various periods the church was enlarged and +finally, as recently as in 1864, Pio Nono had great improvements made +under the architect Vespignani. In the piazza in front was placed an +immense column of red granite, some sixty feet high, with the statue of +St. Lawrence, a standing figure, at the top. It is most impressive. The +colonnade at the entrance of the church is decorated with frescoes and +contains two immense sarcophagi, whose sides are beautifully sculptured +with reliefs. The roof is supported by six Ionic columns. Entering the +church one finds an interior of three aisles divided by colossal columns +of Oriental granite. In the middle aisle, on both sides the galleries, +are fresco paintings illustrating the martyrdom of St. Lawrence and of +St. Stephen, one series on the right and the other on the left. One of +these paintings, especially, of the life of St. Lawrence, is strangely +haunting to the imagination. It represents the youthful, slender figure, +nude, save for slight drapery, laid on the gridiron while the fire is +being kindled under it and the fagots shovelled in. The physical +shrinking of the flesh--of every nerve--from the torture, the spiritual +strength and invincible energy of the countenance, are wonderfully +depicted. The great aisle was painted by order of Pius IX by Cesare +Fracassini; in it are two pulpits of marble. A double staircase of +marble conducts to that part of the Basilica of Constantine which by +Honorius III was converted into the presbytery. It is decorated at the +upper end by twelve columns of violet marble which rise from the level +of the primitive basilica beneath. At the end is the ancient pontifical +seat, adorned with mosaic and precious marbles. The papal altar is under +a canopy in the Byzantine style. The pavement of this presbytery is +worthy of particular attention. Descending to the confessional which is +under the high altar the tomb of the martyred saints, Lawrence, Stephen, +and Justin, is found. + + [Illustration: TOMB OF PIO NONO, SAN LORENZO (FUORI LE MURA), ROME + _Page 75_] + +It was the request of Pio Nono that his mortal body should rest here, +where it is placed in a simple tomb, according to his own instructions; +but the chapel is very rich in decoration which was paid for by money +sent from all parts of the world. + +The chapel walls are entirely encrusted in mother-of-pearl, gilt bronze, +and beautiful marbles. The mosaic paintings are formed of gold and +precious stones of fabulous value. This interior is perhaps the richest +in the world in its decoration. San Lorenzo is a patriarchal church, and +one of the seven pilgrimage churches of Rome. Near San Lorenzo is the +Campo Verano, a cemetery containing many beautiful memorial sculptures. + +In those days, half a century ago, the entrance most often used by +visitors to Rome was through the Via Flaminia and the Porta del Popolo, +opening on the Piazza del Popolo, rather the most picturesque and +impressive place in all Rome. On the left is the Pincian Hill (Monte +Pincio), with its rich terraces, balustrades, its beautiful porticos +filled with statuary, its groves of cypress and ilex trees; a classic +vision rising on the sight and enchanting the imagination. On the side +opposite the Porta three roads diverge in fan shape--the Via Babuino, +the Corso, and the Ripetta, with the "twin churches" side by side; one +between the Babuino and the Corso, the other between the Corso and the +Ripetta. + +The Corso (which was the ancient Flaminian Way) runs straight to the +Piazza Venezia at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. This Piazza del +Popolo was widened and decorated by Pius VII. It is formed by two +semicircles, adorned with fountains and statues, and terminated by four +symmetrical edifices. In the semicircles are colossal groups in marble, +and a road opposite the Pincio leads to the Ponte Margherita and the +Prati di Castello. + +The obelisk in the centre of the piazza was brought to Rome from +Heliopolis by Caesar Augustus and originally stood in the Circus Maximus. +It was erected here by Pope Sixtus V, and it is nearly a hundred feet in +height. It is formed of red granite, and while it has been broken in +three places, the hieroglyphics are still legible. This obelisk was +first erected in Egypt as a part of the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, +in a period preceding that of Rameses II. After the battle of Actium, +Augustus transported it to Rome, and it was first placed in the Circus +Maximus, but during the reign of Valentinian it fell from its pedestal +and lay buried in the earth, until in the sixteenth century Pope Sixtus +V had it placed in the centre of the Piazza del Popolo, and consecrated +it to the cross. The two inscriptions are on opposite sides. One thus +reads:-- + + "The Emperor Caesar, son of the divine Caesar Augustus, Sovereign + Pontiff, twelve times Emperor, eleven times Consul, fourteen times + Tribune, having conquered Egypt, consecrated this gift to the Sun." + +The other inscription is as follows:-- + + "Sixtus V, Sovereign Pontiff, excavated, transported, and restored + this obelisk, sacrilegiously consecrated to the Sun by the great + Augustus, in the great Circus, where it lay in ruins, and dedicated + it to the cross triumphant in the fourth year of his pontificate." + +The Church of Santa Maria del Popolo is built into the very wall of +Monte Pincio on the site of Nero's tomb. It dates back to 1099, and +consists of three naves and several chapels. In the first chapel is a +"Nativity" by Pinturicchio, who also painted the lunettes. Another +chapel belongs to the Cibo family, and is rich in marbles and adorned +with sixteen columns of Sicilian jasper. The "Conception" is by Maratta, +the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" by Morandi, and the "St. Catherine" by +Volterra. The "Visitation" was sculptured by Bernini in 1679. The third +chapel is painted by Pinturicchio (1513), and the fourth has an +interesting bas-relief of the fifteenth century. The picture of the +Virgin, on the high altar, is one of those attributed to St. Luke; the +paintings on the vault of the choir are by Pinturicchio. The two marble +monuments are, from their perfection of design and execution, reckoned +among the best modern works. They are by Cantucci da S. Savino. In the +chapel following is an "Assumption" by Annibale Carracci; the side +pictures are by Caravaggio. The last chapel but one in the small nave is +the Chigi chapel, and is one of the most celebrated in Rome. + +Raphael gave the designs for the dome, the paintings of the frieze, and +the altar picture. This latter was begun by Del Piombo and finished by +Salviati. The statue of Daniel is by Bernini. The front of the altar and +the statues of Jonah and Elijah were done by Lorenzetto (1541), from +designs by Raphael. Outside this chapel is the monument of Princess +Odescalchi Chigi (1771), by Paolo Posi. The stained windows of the choir +belong to the fourteenth century, and in the sacristy and the vestibule +are monuments also of the fourteenth century and of the fifteenth. +Luther resided in the convent attached to this church when he was in +Rome. + +There is a legend that a large walnut tree grew on the site of Nero's +tomb in whose branches innumerable crows had their home, and that they +devastated all that part of Rome. An appeal was made to the Virgin, who +declared that the crows were demons who kept watch over the ashes of +Nero, and ordered the tree to be cut down and burned, the ashes being +scattered to the air, and that, on the spot, a church should be built to +her honor. This was accomplished, and the crows no more troubled the +Eternal City. + +The gardens of Lucullus were on the Monte Pincio. The view of the +terraced hillside from the Piazza del Popolo is one of the most +impressive in Rome. + +The Hawthornes left Rome in 1859; and the death of Mrs. Browning in June +of 1861 left the little circle of the Roman winters irreparably broken. +"Returning to Rome," wrote Story to Charles Eliot Norton, "I have not +one single intimate ... no one with whom I can walk any of the higher +ranges of art and philosophy." Mr. Story had modelled the busts of both +Mr. and Mrs. Browning during their sojourns in Rome; in 1853 Harriet +Hosmer had made the cast of the "clasped hands" of the poets, the model +having since been cast in bronze; Mr. Page had, as already noted, +painted a portrait of Robert Browning; and Mr. Leighton (afterward Sir +Frederick) had made a beautiful portrait sketch of Mrs. Browning. In +later years all these memorials, with other paintings or plastic +sketches of the wedded poets, were grouped in Mr. Barrett Browning's +palace in Venice. + +At this time Mr. Story had completed his "Cleopatra," which Hawthorne +had embalmed in literary mention in "The Marble Faun;" and beside his +"Judith," "Sappho," and other lesser works, he had achieved one of his +finest successes in the "Libyan Sibyl." Both the "Cleopatra" and the +"Sibyl" became famous. Whether they would produce so strong an effect at +the present stage of twentieth-century life is a problem, but one that +need not press for solution. Mr. Story was singularly fortunate in +certain conditions that grouped themselves about his life and combined +to establish his fame. These conditions, of course, were largely the +outer reflection of inner qualities, as our conditions are apt to be; +still, the "lack of favoring gales" not infrequently foredooms some +gallant bark to a disastrous course. + + "Man is his own star.... + + * * * * * + + Our acts, our angels, are, for good or ill, + Our fatal shadows that walk by us still," + +it is true; yet has not Edith Thomas embodied something of that +overruling destiny that every thoughtful observer must discern in life +in these lines?-- + + "You may blame the wind or no, + But it ever hath been so-- + Something bravest of its kind + Leads a frustrate life and blind, + For the lack of favoring gales + Blowing blithe on other sails." + +Only occasionally have we + + "... the time, and the place, + And the loved one all together." + +Mr. Story's nature was eminently sympathetic with the other arts; he was +himself almost as much a literary man as he was a sculptor; he was the +friend and companion of literary men, and to the fact that art in the +middle years of the nineteenth century was far more a literary topic +than a matter of critical scrutiny, Mr. Story owed an incalculable +degree of his fame. He was an extremely interesting figure with his +social grace, his liberal culture, and his versatile gifts. His life was +centred in choice and refined associations. If not dowered with lofty +and immortal original genius, he had a singular combination of talent, +of fastidious taste, and of the intellectual appreciation that enabled +him to select interesting ideal subjects to portray in the plastic art. +These appealed to the special interest of his literary friends and were +widely discussed in the press and periodicals of the day. It is a +_bonmot_ of contemporary studio life that Hawthorne rather than Story +created the "Cleopatra," and one ingenious spirit suggests that as Mr. +Story put nothing of expression or significance into his statues, the +beholder could read into them anything he pleased; finding an empty +mould, so to speak, into which to pour whatever image or embodiment he +might conjure up from the infinite realm of imagination. One of the +latest of these contemporary critics declares that "Story declined +appreciably, year by year, falling away from his own standard; haunted +to the point of obsession by visions of mournful female figures, +generally seated, wrapped in gloom. It seems strange," this critic +continues, "that so active a mind should dream of nothing but brooding, +sinister souls, of bodies bowed in grief, or tense with rage. Never +once, apparently, did there come to him a vision of buoyancy and grace; +of a beauty that one could love; of good cheer and joy of very living; +always these unwholesome creatures born of that belated Byronic +romanticism." + +This criticism, while it has as little appreciation of Mr. Story's +exquisite culture and of the taste and refinement of his art as the +general rush of the motor car and telephonic conversational life of the +first decade of the twentieth century has of the thoughtful, the poetic, +the leisurely atmosphere of Mr. Story's time, is yet not without a keen +flashlight of truth. Painting had its reactionary crisis from the +pre-Raphaelite ideals and the _intransigeants_ have had their own +conflicts in which they survived, or disappeared, according to the +degree of artistic vitality within. Sculpture and literature must also +meet the series of tests to which the onward progress of life persists +in subjecting them, and those who are submerged and perish can only +encourage the survivors as did the Greeks, as sung by Theocritus:-- + + "A shipwrecked sailor, buried on this coast, + Bids you set sail. + Full many a gallant ship, when we were lost, + Weathered the gale." + +"As we refine, our checks grow finer," said Emerson. As life becomes +more elaborate and ambitious, the critical tests increase. Contemporary +fame can be created for the artist by favorable contemporary comment; +but it rests with himself, after all; it rests in the abiding +significance of his work--or the lack of it--as to whether this fame is +perpetuated. That of Mr. Story does not hold within itself all the +qualities that insure the appreciation of the present day. It is, as the +critic of the hour expresses himself, "too literary,"--too largely a +question of classic titles which appealed to the mid-nineteenth-century +authors whose judgment of art the twentieth century finds particularly +amusing. Henry James has somewhere held up to ridicule the early Beacon +Hill Boston for its impassioned devotion to the "attenuated outlines" of +Flaxman's art. But the work of Story will survive all transient +variations of opinion, even of the present realistic age; for is not +true realism, after all, to be found in the eternal ideals of truth, +grace, dignity, refinement, significance, and beauty? These qualities +have a message to convey; and no one can study with sympathetic +appreciation any sculpture of William Wetmore Story without feeling that +the work has something to say; that it is not a mere reproduction of +some form, but is, rather, an idea impersonated, and therefore it has +life, it has significance. The criticism of the immediate hour is not +necessarily infallible because it is contemporary. What does William +Watson say? + + "A deft musician does the breeze become + Whenever an AEolian harp it finds; + Hornpipe and hurdy-gurdy both are dumb + Unto the most musicianly of winds." + +It is an irretrievable loss if, in the passion for the _vita nuova_, a +generation, or a century, shall substitute for the AEolian harp the mere +hornpipe and hurdy-gurdy of the hour. In another of his keenly critical +quatrains William Watson embodies this signal truth:-- + + "His rhymes the poet flings at all men's feet, + And whoso will may trample on his rhymes. + Should Time let die a song that's pure and sweet, + The singer's loss were more than matched by Time's." + +Art is progressive, and the present is always the "heir of all the ages" +preceding; but it cannot be affirmed that it invariably makes the best +use of its rich inheritance. + +There are latter-day sculptors who excel in certain excellences that +Story lacked; still, it would not be his loss, but our own, if we fail +in a due recognition of that in his art which may appeal to the +imagination; for, whatever the enthusiasms of other cults may be, there +are qualities of beauty, strength, and profound significance in the art +of Story that must insure their permanent recognition. Still, it remains +true that Mr. Story owes his fame in an incalculable degree to the +friendly pens of Hawthorne and others of his immediate circle,--Lowell, +Motley, Charles Eliot Norton, Thackeray, Browning,--friends who, +according to the latest standards of art criticism, were not unqualified +nor absolute judges of art, but who were in sympathy with ideal +expression and recognized this as embodied in the statues of Story. + +Browning wrote to the London _Times_ an article on Mr. Story's work, in +which he conjured up most of the superlative phrases of commendation +that the limits of the English language allow to praise his work, none +of whose marshalled force was too poor to do him reverence. The +versatile gifts of Story's personality drew around him friends whose +influence was potent and, indeed, authoritative in their time. + +Still, any analysis of these conditions brings the searcher back to the +primary truth that without the gifts and grace to attract about him an +eminent circle of choice spirits he could not have enjoyed this potent +aid and inspiration; and thus, that + + "Man is his own star," + +is an assertion that life, as well as poetry, justifies. In the full +blaze of this fundamental truth, it is, not unfrequently, the +mysterious spiritual tragedy of life that many an one as fine of fibre +and with lofty ideals + + "Leads a frustrate life and blind, + For the lack of favoring gales + Blowing blithe on other sails." + +Mr. Story was himself of too fine an order not to divine this truth. +With what unrivalled power and pathos has he expressed it in his +poem--one far too little known--the "Io Victis":-- + + "I sing the song of the Conquered, who fell in the Battle of + Life,-- + The hymn of the wounded, the beaten, who died overwhelmed + in the strife; + Not the jubilant song of the victors, for whom the resounding + acclaim + Of nations was lifted in chorus, whose brows wore the chaplet + of fame, + But the hymn of the low and the humble, the weary, the + broken in heart, + + * * * * * + + Whose youth bore no flower on its branches, whose hopes + burned in ashes away, + From whose hands slipped the prize they had grasped at, who stood + at the dying of day + With the wreck of their life all around them...." + +In this poem Mr. Story touched the highest note of his life,--as poet, +sculptor, painter, or writer of prose; in no other form of expression +has he equalled the sublimity of sentiment in these lines:-- + + "... I stand on the field of defeat, + In the shadow, with those who are fallen, and wounded, and + dying, and there + + * * * * * + + Hold the hand that is helpless, and whisper, 'They only the + victory win + Who have fought the good fight, and have vanquished the + demon that tempts us within; + Who have held to their faith unseduced by the prize that the + world holds on high; + Who have dared for a high cause to suffer, resist, fight,--if + need be, to die.'" + +Such a poem must have its own immortality in lyric literature. + +For a period of forty years the home of the Storys in Palazzo Barberini +was a noted centre of the most charming social life. Mr. Story's +literary work--in his contributions of essays and poems to the _Atlantic +Monthly_; in his published works, the "Roba di Roma," "Conversations in +a Studio," his collected "Poems," and others--gave him a not transitory +rank in literature which rivals, if it does not exceed, his rank in +art. + +Meantime other artists were to take up their permanent abode in the +Seven-hilled City,--Elihu Vedder in 1866; Franklin Simmons two years +later; Waldo and Julian Story, the two sons of William Wetmore Story, +though claiming Rome as their home, are American by parentage and +ancestry; and Mr. Waldo Story succeeds his father in pursuing the art of +sculpture in the beautiful studios in the Via San Martino built by the +elder Story. In 1902 Charles Walter Stetson, with his gifted wife, known +to the contemporary literary world by her maiden name, Grace Ellery +Channing, set up their household gods and lighted their altar fires in +the city by the Tiber, ready, it may be, to exclaim with Ovid:-- + + "Four times happy is he, and times without number is happy, + Who the city of Rome uninterdicted enjoys." + + [Illustration: "THE DANCE OF THE PLEIADES" + Elihu Vedder + _Page 92_] + +If art is a corner of the universe seen through a temperament, the +temperament of Mr. Vedder must offer an enthralling study, for it seems +to be a lens whose power of refraction defies prophecy because it deals +with the incalculable forces. His art concerns itself little with the +aesthetic, but is chiefly the art of the intellect and the imagination. +All manner of symbols and analogies; the laws of the universe that +prevail beyond the stars; the celestial figures; the undreamed +significance in prophecy or in destiny; omens, signs, and wonders; the +world forces, advancing stealthily in the shadows of a dusky twilight; +the Fates, under brilliant skies, gathering in the stars; oracles and +supernatural coincidences that lurk in undreamed-of days; the Pleiades +dancing in a light that never was on sea or land; unknown Shapes that +meet outside space and time and question each other's identity; the dead +that come forth from their graves and glide, silent and spectral, +through a crowd, unseen by any one; the prayer of the celestial powers +poured forth in the utter solitude of the vast desert,--it is these that +are the realm of Vedder's art, and what has the normal world of portrait +and landscape to do with such art as this? Can it only be relegated to a +class, an order, of its own, and considered as being--Vedderesque? It +seems to stand alone and unparalleled. In his work lies the +transfiguration of all mystery. Vedder never paints nature, in the +sense of landscapes, and yet one often feels that he has the key to the +very creation of nature; that he has supped with gods and surprised the +secrets of the stars. Do the winds whisper to him?-- + + "The Muse can knit + What is past, what is done, + With the web that's just begun." + +How can he find the design to phrase his thought--this painter of ideas? + + "Can blaze be done in cochineal, + Or noon in mazarin?" + +Whatever the Roman environment may have done for Allston, Page, and +Story, there is no question but that to Vedder it has been as his soul's +native air. For him the sirens sing again on the coast; the sorceress +works her spell; the Cumaean Sibyl again flies, wraithlike, over the +plain, clasping her rejected leaves of destiny which Tarquin in his +blindness has refused to buy. The Rome that lies buried under the ages +rises for Vedder. His art cannot be catalogued under any known division +of portrait, landscape, marine, or genre, but it is simply--the art of +Vedder. It stands alone and absolutely unrivalled. The pictorial +creations of Vedder are as wholly without precedent or comparison as if +they were the sole pictorial treasures of the world. The visitor may +care for them, or not care, according to his own ability to comprehend +and to recognize the inscrutable genius there manifested; but in either +case he will find nowhere else, in either ancient or contemporary art, +any parallel to these works. + +One could well fancy that to any interrogation of his conceptions the +artist might reply:-- + + "I am seeker of the stone, + Living gem of Solomon. + But what is land, or what is wave, + To me, who only jewels crave? + + * * * * * + + I'm all-knowing, yet unknowing; + Stand not, pause not in my going." + +In the rich, weird realm of Omar Khayyam's Persian poem, the Rubaiyat, +Mr. Vedder found the opportunity of his life for translating its thought +into strange, mystic symbolism. Never were artist and poet so blended +in one as in Vedder's wonderful illustrations for this poem. It has +nothing in common with what we ordinarily call an illustrated work. It +is a great treasure of art for all the ages. It is a very fount of +inspiration for painter and poet. An exquisite sonnet suggested by "The +Angel of the Darker Cup" is the following by Louise Chandler Moulton:-- + + "She bends her lovely head to taste thy draught, + O thou stern Angel of the Darker Cup! + With thee to-night in the dim shades to sup, + Where all they be who from that cup have quaffed. + She had been glad in her own loveliness, and laughed + At Life's strong enemies who lie in wait; + Had kept with golden youth her queenly state, + All unafraid of Sorrow's threat'ning shaft. + + "Then human Grief found out her human heart, + And she was fain to go where pain is dumb; + So Thou wert welcome, Angel dread to see, + And she fares onward with thee, willingly, + To dwell where no man loves, no lovers part,-- + Thus Grief that is, makes welcome Death to come." + +The sonnet, the stanza, and the pictorial interpretation all form one +beautiful trio in poetic and graphic art. + +Writing of Mr. Vedder, Mr. W. C. Brownell speaks of the personal force +in a picture and says that with Vedder this personal force is +imagination,--"the imagination of a man whose natural expression is +pictorial, but who is a man as well as a painter; who has lived as well +as painted, who has speculated, pondered, and felt much.... It is this," +he continues, "that places Vedder in the front rank of the imaginative +painters of the day." Of Mr. Vedder's painting called "The Enemy Sowing +Tares," Mr. Brownell writes:-- + + "... Here you note a dozen phases of significance. The theme is + unconventional; the man has become the archenemy; the night is + weird and awe-inspiring; the tares represent the foe of the + church--money; they are sown at the foot of the cross--the symbol + of the church.... Mr. Vedder has not passed his life in Rome for + nothing. His attitude is in harmony with the spirit of the Sistine + and the Stanze." + +One of the interesting and mystical works of Vedder is "The Soul between +Doubt and Faith,"--three heads, that of the Soul hooded and draped, +looking before her with eyes that seem to discern things not seen by +mortals; the sinister face of Doubt at the left, the serene, inspiring +countenance of Faith at the right. It is a magical picture to have +before one with its profoundly significant message. The works of Mr. +Vedder will grow more priceless as the years pass by. They are pictures +for the ages. + +In Mr. Ezekiel, another American artist whose almost lifelong home has +been in Rome, is a sculptor whose touch and technique have won +recognition. In a recumbent figure of Christ is seen one of the best +examples of his art. It is pervaded by the classic influences in which +he has lived. The studios of Mr. Ezekiel, in the ruins of the old Baths +of Caracalla, are very picturesque and his salon, with its music, its +wealth of books including many rare and beautiful copies, and its old +pictures and bric-a-brac, is one of the fascinating interiors of the +Eternal City. + +The visitor who is privileged to see the Story studios in the Via San +Martino finds Mr. Waldo Story occupying these spacious rooms where the +flash of a fountain in the court, a view of the garden, green-walled by +vines, with flowers and shrubs and broken statues, make the place +alluring to dreamer and poet. In these rooms may be seen many of the +elder Story's finest statues in cast or marble, the "Libyan Sibyl," +"Nemesis," "Sappho," the "Christ," "Into the Silent Land," and others, +with many portrait busts, among which are those of Browning, Shelley, +Keats, Theodore Parker, Mrs. Browning, Marchesa Peruzzi de Medici (Edith +Story), John Lothrop Motley, one of Story's nearer friends, and Lord +Houghton. + +In the work of Mr. Waldo Story one admirable portrait bust is of Cecil +Rhodes. A decorative work, a fountain for the Rothschild country estate +in England, is charmingly designed as a Galatea (in bronze), standing in +a marble shell that is drawn by Nereids and attended by Cupids. The +happy blending of marble and bronze gives to this work a pleasing +variety of color. Another decorative design is that of "Nymphs Drinking +at the Fountain of Love." These studios are among the most interesting +in Rome. + +It was in 1868 that Franklin Simmons, then a young artist from Maine, +turned to Rome as his artistic Mecca. Since then the Eternal City has +always been his home, but his frequent and prolonged sojourns in America +have kept him closely in touch with its national life. Mr. Simmons is +the idealist who translates his vision into the actuality of the hour +and who also exalts this actuality of the hour to the universality of +the vision. In the creation of portrait busts and of the statues and +monumental memorials of great men he infuses into them the indefinable +quality of extended relation which relegates his work to the realm of +the universal and, therefore, to the immortality of art, rather than +restricting it to the temporal locality. Louis Gorse observes that it is +not the absence of faults that constitutes a masterpiece, but that it is +flame, it is life, it is emotion, it is sincerity. Under the touch of +Mr. Simmons the personal accent speaks; to his creative power flame and +life respond, and to no sculptor is the truth so admirably stated by M. +Gorse more applicable. + +Mr. Simmons has been singularly fortunate in a wide American +recognition, having received a liberal share of the more important +commissions for great public works of sculpture. The splendid statue, +_al fresco_, of the poet Longfellow for his native city, Portland, was +appropriately the work of Mr. Simmons as a native of the same state; the +portrait statues of General Grant, Gov. William King, Roger Williams, +and Francis H. Pierrepont, all in Statuary Hall in the Capitol in +Washington; the portrait busts of Grant, Sheridan, Porter, Hooker, +Thomas, and other heroes of the Civil War; the colossal group of the +Naval Monument at the head of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington,--are +all among the works of Mr. Simmons. + +Like all artists who, like the poet, are born and not made, Mr. Simmons +gave evidence of his artistic bent in his early childhood. After +graduating from Bates College he modelled a bust of its president, and a +little later, going to Washington (in the winter of 1865-66), many of +the noted men of the time gave him sittings, and in a series of portrait +busts his genius impressed itself by its dignity of conception and an +unusual power of sympathetic interpretation. He modelled the bust of +Grant while he was the General's guest in camp, taking advantage of +whatever spare minutes General Grant could give for sittings in the +midst of his pressing responsibilities; and it is perhaps due to this +unusually intimate intercourse with the great hero, and the _rapport_, +not difficult of establishment, between two men whose natures were akin +in a certain noble sincerity and lofty devotion to the purest ideals, +that Mr. Simmons owes the power with which he has absolutely interpreted +the essential characteristics of General Grant in that immortal portrait +statue in the Capitol. + +Washington is, indeed, the place to especially study the earlier work of +Franklin Simmons. An important one is the Logan memorial,--an equestrian +statue which is considered the finest work in sculpture in the capital, +and which is the only statue in the United States in which both the +group and the pedestal are of bronze. The visitor in Washington who +should be ignorant of the relative rank of the great men commemorated by +the equestrian memorial monuments of the city might be justified in +believing that General Logan was the most important man of his time, if +he judged from the relative greatness of his statue. When Congress +decided upon this group, Mr. Simmons was requested to prepare a model. +This proving eminently acceptable, Mr. Simmons found himself, quite to +his own surprise, fairly launched on this arduous work, involving years +of intense concentration and labor. For this monumental work was to be +not merely that of the brave and gallant military leader,--a single idea +embodied, as in those of Generals Scott, Sheridan, Thomas, and +others,--but it was to be a permanent interpretation of the +soldier-statesman, mounted on his battle-horse; it was to be, in the +comprehensive grasp of Mr. Simmons, the vital representation of the +complex life and individuality of General Logan and, even more, it must +reflect and suggest the complex spirit of his age. In this martial +figure was thus embodied a manifold and mysterious relation, as one of +the potent leaders and directive powers in an age of tumultuous +activities; an age of strife and carnage, whose goal was peace; of +adverse conditions and reactions, whose manifest outcome was yet +prosperity and national greatness and splendid moral triumph. All these +must be suggested in the atmosphere, so to speak, of the artist's work; +and no sculptor who was not also an American--not merely by ancestry and +activity, but one in mind and heart only; one who was an intense +patriot and identified with national ideas--could ever have produced +such a work as that of the Logan monument. So unrivalled does it stand, +unique among all the equestrian art of this country, that it enchants +the art student and lover with its indefinable spell. When this colossal +work was cast in bronze, in Rome, the event was considered important. +The king and the Royal family visited the studio of Mr. Simmons to see +the great group, and so powerfully did its excellence appeal to King +Umberto that he knighted Mr. Simmons, making him Cavaliere of the Crown +of Italy. Nor was Mr. Simmons the prophet who was not without honor save +in his own country, for his _alma mater_ gave him the degree of M.A. in +1867; Colby College honored him with the Master's degree in 1885, and in +1888 Bowdoin bestowed upon this eminent Maine artist the same degree. In +1892 Mr. Simmons married the Baroness von Jeinsen, a brilliant and +beautiful woman who, though a lady of foreign title, was an American by +birth. An accomplished musician, a critical lover of art, and the most +delightful of hostesses and friends, Mrs. Simmons drew around her a +remarkable circle of charming people and made their home in the Palazzo +Tamagno a notable centre of social life. No woman in the American colony +of the Seven-hilled City was ever more beloved; and it was frequently +noted by guests at her weekly receptions that Mrs. Simmons was as +solicitous for the enjoyment of the most unknown stranger as for those +of rank and title who frequented her house. Her grace and loveliness +were fully equalled by her graciousness and that charm of personality +peculiarly her own. Her death in Rome, on Christmas of 1905, left a +vacant place, indeed, in many a home which had been gladdened by her +radiant presence. One of the most beautiful works of Mr. Simmons is a +portrait of his wife in bas-relief, representing her standing just at +the opening of parted curtains, as if she were about to step behind and +vanish. It is a very poetic conception. A bust of Mrs. Simmons, also, in +his studio, is fairly a speaking likeness of this beautiful and +distinguished woman. It is over her grave in the Protestant cemetery +that Mr. Simmons has placed one of his noblest ideal statues, "The Angel +of the Resurrection,"--a memorial monument that is one of the art +features of Rome to the visitor in the Eternal City. + + [Illustration: "GRIEF AND HISTORY," DETAIL FROM NAVAL MONUMENT, + WASHINGTON + Franklin Simmons + _Page 105_] + +The brilliant and impressive Naval Monument, or Monument of Peace, as it +is known in Washington, placed at the foot of Capitol Hill on +Pennsylvania Avenue, is eloquent with the power of heroic suggestion +that Mr. Simmons has imparted to it. The work breathes that exaltation +of final triumph that follows temporary defeat. Those who died that the +nation might live, are seen in the perpetual illumination of +immortality. Not only has Mr. Simmons here perpetuated the suffering, +the sacrifices of the Civil War, but that sublime and eternal truth of +victory after defeat, of peace and serene exaltation after conflict, and +the triumph of life after death, are all immortally embodied in this +group crowned with those impressive and haunting figures, "Grief" and +"History," which are considered as among the most classically beautiful +and significant in the range of modern sculpture. + +In the early winter of 1907 Mr. Simmons was invited by the American +Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, to send +for Dorchester House, London, three busts of distinguished +Americans,--those of Alexander Hamilton, Chief Justice Chase, and Hon. +James G. Blaine, which Mr. Reid, in visiting the Roman studios of Mr. +Simmons, had seen and greatly admired. The Ambassador observed that he +"would like a few Americans, as well as so many Roman Emperors," about +him. + +These portrait busts all reveal an amazing force and mastery of work. +The fine sculptural effect of the Hamilton and the wonderful blending of +subtle delicacy of touch and vigor of treatment with which the nobility +of character is expressed, mark this bust as something exceptional in +portrait art. It has a matchless dignity and serene poise. The bust of +Chief Justice Chase is a faithful and speaking reproduction of the very +presence of its subject, instinct with vitality; and the fire and force +and brilliancy of the bust of Hon. James G. Blaine fairly sweeps the +visitor off his feet. The modelling is done with an apparent +instantaneousness of power that is the highest realization of creative +art. It is the magnetic Blaine, the impassioned and eloquent statesman, +that rises before the gazer. + +Mr. Simmons has long been a commanding figure in plastic art. No +American sculptor abroad has, perhaps, received so many important public +commissions as have been given to him. He has created nearly a score of +memorial groups; he has modelled over one hundred portrait busts and +statues. His industry has kept step with his genius. The latest success +of Mr. Simmons in the line of monumental art is the statue (in bronze) +of Alexander Hamilton, which was unveiled at Paterson, N. J., in May of +1907. The splendidly poised figure, the dignity, the serene strength and +yet the intense energy of the expression and of the entire pose are a +revelation in the art of the portrait statue. + +It is not, however, true that Mr. Simmons has ever resigned himself to +the necessity of producing portrait and memorial sculpture exclusively. +In the realm of the purely ideal Mr. Simmons finds his most felicitous +field for creative work. A bas-relief entitled "The Genius of Progress +Leading the Nations," with all its splendid fire and action, the _motif_ +being that of the spirits Life and Light beating down and driving out +the spirits of darkness and evil; "The Angel of the Resurrection," with +its glad, triumphant assertion of the power of the immortal life; the +poetry and sacredness of maternity as typified in the "Mother of Moses;" +the statues of the "Galatea" and the "Medusa," and other ideal +creations, indicate "the vision and the faculty divine" of Mr. Simmons. +To a very great degree his art is that which the French describe as the +grand manner, and to this is added a spiritual quality, a power of +radiating the intellectual purpose, the profounder thought and the +aspiration of the subject represented. + + [Illustration: "MOTHER OF MOSES" + Franklin Simmons + _Page 108_] + +One of the most charming of these ideal works is a statue of "Penelope," +represented seated in the chair, her rich robe falling in graceful +folds, and the little Greek fillet binding her hair. The face bears a +meditative expression, into which has entered a hint of pathos and +wistfulness in the dawning wonder as to whether, after all, Ulysses will +return. The classic beauty of the pose; the exquisite modelling of the +bust and arms and hands, every curve and contour so ideally lovely; the +distinction of the figure in its noble and refined patrician elegance, +are combined to render this work one that well deserves immortality in +art, and to rank as a masterpiece in modern sculpture. + + [Illustration: "THE GENIUS OF PROGRESS LEADING THE NATIONS" + Franklin Simmons + _Page 107_] + +Another of his ideal figures, "The Promised Land," is a work of great +spiritual exaltation and beauty. An Israelite woman has just arrived at +the point when before her vision gleams the "Promised Land"; the face +tells its own story of all she has passed through,--the trials, the +sadness, the obstacles to be overcome; but now she sees the fulfilment +of her hopes and dreams. It is a most interesting creation, and one in +which is portrayed the artist's spiritual insight and susceptibility to +poetic exaltation. To one visitor to Mr. Simmons's studio this statue +suggested the following lines:-- + + Fair on her sight it gleams,--the Promised Land! + The rose of dawn sifts through the azure air, + And all her weariness and toil and care + Vanish, as if from her some tender hand + Lifted the burden, and transformed the hour + To this undreamed-of sense of joy and power! + The rapture and the ecstasy divine + Are deep realities that only wait + Their hour to dawn, nor ever rise too late + To draw the soul to its immortal shrine. + + O Sculptor! thy great gift has shaped this clay, + To image the profoundest truth, and stand + As witness of the spirit power that may + Achieve the vision of the Promised Land! + + [Illustration: "VALLEY FORGE" + Franklin Simmons + _Page 110_] + +In a statuette in bronze called "Valley Forge," Mr. Simmons has fairly +incarnated the entire spirit of the Revolutionary period in that +mysterious way recognized only in its result; all that unparalleled +epoch of tragic intensity and sublime triumph lives again in this work. +The fidelity to a lofty ideal which essentially characterizes Mr. +Simmons is as unswerving as that of Merlin, who followed "The Gleam." + + "Great the Master + And sweet the Magic + When over the valley + In early summers, + Over the mountain, + On human faces, + And all around me + Moving to melody, + Floated the Gleam." + +This American sculptor who, in his early youth, sought the artistic +atmosphere of Rome as the environment most stimulating to his dawning +power, who accepted with unfailing courage the incidental privations of +art life in a foreign land more renowned for beauty than for comfort, +who + + "... never turned his back, but marched breast forward, + Never doubted clouds would break," + +has expressed his message in many purely ideal works,--the message that +the true artist must always give to the world and that leads humanity to +the crowning truth of life, that of the ceaseless progress of the soul +in its immortality. + +For the brief and significant assertion of the apostle condenses the +most profound truth of life when he says:-- + + "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is + life and peace." + +In these words are imaged the supreme purpose of all the experiences of +the life on earth; and to the artist whose works bear this lofty message +of the triumph of spirituality, his reward shall appear, not in the +praise of men, but in the effect on character that his efforts have +aided to exalt; in the train of nobler influences that his work shall +perpetually inspire and create. + +Mr. Simmons has always found Rome potent in fascination. One may not +want to go to St. Peter's every day, but one knows it is there, and +there is some inexplicable satisfaction in being where it is possible to +easily enter this impressive interior. One may not go near the Forum +for a month, or even a season, but the knowledge that one may find it +and the wonderful Palatine Hill any hour of any day is a perpetual +delight. The Vatican galleries, with their great masterpieces; the +Sistine Chapel, the stately, splendid impressiveness of San Giovanni +Laterano; the wanderings in Villa Borghese, and the picturesque climbing +of the Spanish steps, even all the inconveniences and deprivations, +become a part of the story of Rome which the artist absorbs and loves. + +The studios of Mr. Simmons in the Via San Nicolo da Tolentino are a +centre of artistic resort, and his personal life is one of distinction +amid the picturesque beauty and enchantment of the Eternal City. + +For many years (until the death of Mrs. Simmons in 1905) the sculptor +and his wife had their home in the beautiful Palazzo Tamagno in the Via +Agostino Depretis, where one of those spacious apartments of twenty to +thirty rooms, only to be found in a Roman palace, was made by them a +brilliant centre of social life. Mrs. Simmons was herself a musical +artist, with impassioned devotion to music; and her rare personal charm +and distinction of presence drew around her a most interesting +circle. Her receptions were for many years a noted feature of Roman +society. The social life in Rome is very brilliant, interesting, and +fascinating. The sight-seeing is a kind of attendant atmosphere,--the +perpetual environment offering, but not intruding itself. People come to +Rome for reasons quite disconnected with the Golden House of Nero or the +latest archaeological discoveries in the Forum. The present, rather than +the past, calls to them, and the present, too, is resplendent and +alluring. + +Of the foreign painters in Rome, Charles Walter Stetson, whose work +recalls the glory of the old Italian masters, is especially +distinguished for his genius as a colorist. No visitor in Rome can +afford to miss the studio of one of the most imaginative of modern +artists. A wonderful picture still in process is a genre work with +several figures, called "Music." An idyllic scene of a festa amid the +ilex trees--with the Italian sky and the golden sunshine pervading a +luminous atmosphere, while the joyous abandon of the dancers appeals to +all who love Italy--is one of the many beautiful pictorial scenes of Mr. +Stetson which enchant the eye and haunt the imagination. Another +picture is called "Beggars,"--a name that illy suggests its splendor. +There is the facade of a church to which a long flight of steps leads +up, a procession of cardinals and friars in their rich robes, while at +one side the groups of beggars shrink into the darkness. It is an +impressive commentary upon life. + +For a long period, through the early and middle years of the nineteenth +century, Rome held her place as the world centre of modern artistic +activity. Great works of poetic and ideal sculpture elevated the general +public taste to a high degree of appreciation. The standards were not +ingeniously adjusted to mere spectacular methods whose sole appeal was +to the crude fancy of possible patrons. Art held her absolute and +inviolate ideals, and the spirit of her votaries might well have been +interpreted in Mrs. Browning's words:-- + + "I, who love my art, + Would never wish it lower to suit my stature." + +The tone of public appreciation is raised to a high quality only when +the artist refuses to sell his soul for a mess of pottage. He may, to +be sure, need the pottage, but the price is too great. Rather will he +find his attitude expressed in these wonderful lines:-- + + "I can live + At least my soul's life without alms from men. + And if it be in heaven instead of earth, + Let heaven look to it--I am not afraid." + +All art that has within itself true vitality must ever be the leader and +the creator of the popular taste; only when it falls into decadence does +it become the servile follower. + +It is a serious question as to the degree in which the art of to-day +keeps faith with the eternal ideals. The great expositions of the past +quarter of a century, while they have contributed immeasurably to the +popularization of art and to the familiarization of the public with the +work of individual painters and sculptors, have yet, in many ways, been +a demoralizing influence in their insidious temptation to produce +pictures or plastic art calculated to arrest immediate attention, thus +putting a premium on the spectacular, the sensational, on that which +makes the most immediate and direct appeal to the senses. The work +becomes fairly a personal document wrought with perhaps an almost +amazing finesse, but utterly failing in power to inspire joyous +sensibility to beauty or to impart to the gazer that glow of radiant +energy which lofty art invariably communicates to all who respond to its +infinite exaltation. + +All great art is inspired by religious ideals. Painting and sculpture +give to these a presence. Under their creative power are these ideals +manifested. To embody them in living form becomes the absolute +responsibility of the artist. In Greece all the fortunate conditions to +produce great art were curiously combined and pre-eminently supported by +the conjunction of events and by the prevailing sentiment of the time. +The artist drew his inspiration from the most exalted conception of life +embodied in gods rather than in men. Art, too, was an affair of the +state. It was the supreme interest and held national importance. The +temple was erected to form an inclosure for the statue, rather than that +the statue was created as an adornment for the temple. The greatest +gifts were consecrated to the service of art, and under these +stimulating influences it is little wonder that artistic creation +achieved that vital potency which has thrilled all succeeding +centuries and has communicated to them something of the divine air of +that remote period. With the Renaissance in Italy art culminated in the +immortal work of Raphael and Michael Angelo. In the Sistine Chapel, +where that sublime grouping of prophets and sibyls speaks of the very +miracle of art in their impassioned fire and glow; where the figures, +the pose, the draperies are so grandly noble and infused with dignity +and presence,--the very atmosphere is vocal with the language of the +spirit and the expressions of religious reverence. These marvellous +shapes of grandeur and sublime intimations carry the soul into a +conscious communion with the divine. In these stupendous works Michael +Angelo has given to all the ages the message of the highest exaltation +of art. In the technique, in the marvellous dignity of the sentiment, in +the depth of the feeling involved, in the grace and power of the +composition, these works embody the artistic possibilities of painting. + +Are such works as those of Canova and Thorwaldsen no longer created? + +Can it be that art is no longer of national importance? In our own +country vast appropriations are made for internal improvements of all +kinds, while art that kindles and re-enforces life is almost ignored. +Our government--the government of the richest country in the +world--appropriated $200,000 for a memorial monument to General Grant to +be placed in Washington, while Italy--whose resources are so slender in +comparison--appropriates seven million dollars--thirty-five times the +amount--for her great monument to Victor Emmanuel which is now being +erected in Rome to stand near the Capitol and the Palace of the +Quirinale. Great art has always been closely associated with great +devotion to religious ideals. The artist was the servant of the Lord, +and it was his supreme purpose to embody the aspirations of the age and +render his works a full and complete symbol of those true realities of +life which have their being in the spiritual universe rather than in the +changing temporal world of the outer universe. The so-called realism of +the day is based on a false interpretation. "The things that are seen +are temporal, while the things that are not seen are eternal." True +realism is in spiritual qualities, not in physical attributes. True +realism is found in such works as Canova's sublime group, where the +figures of Religion and of Death forever impress all who stand before +this magnificent monument; it is found in Thorwaldsen's "Christ;" in +Franklin Simmons's "Angel of the Resurrection,"--in such works as those +that have a language for the soul, rather than in a "Saturnalia." + +Again, another fatal rock on which art must inevitably make shipwreck is +the theory that it is good to perpetuate ugliness, in either painting or +in sculpture. The permanent reality of life is beauty. So far as any +person or object departs from this enduring reality, so far it is the +result of distortion and deformity, and these, being the temporary, the +accidental, the deficient, should not be perpetuated in ideal creation. +It is an Apollo who embodies the permanent ideal of manhood--not a +cripple or a hunchback. Still further: art should not only refuse to +embody the defective, which is a mere negative; it should not only give +form to the utmost perfection it beholds in nature or in humanity, but +beyond this the responsibility is upon the artist to penetrate into +loftier realms, to catch the vision not revealed to mortals. The artist +is, by virtue of his high calling, a co-worker with God. An English wit +has declared that life copies art rather than that art copies life. In +this he expresses a truth rather than a merely clever epigram. It is the +artist's business to lead, not to follow. Only as he leads does he +fulfil his divinely appointed destiny. "I maintain that life is not a +form of energy," writes Sir Oliver Lodge; "that it is not included in +our present physical categories; that its explanation is still to be +sought. And it appears to me to belong to a separate order of existence, +which interacts with this material frame of things, and while here +exerts guidance and control on the energy which already here exists; for +although they alter the quantity of energy no whit, and though they +merely utilize available energy like any other machine, live things are +able to direct inorganic terrestrial energy along new and special paths, +so as to achieve results without which such living agency could not have +occurred." Does it for an instant seem that a great scientist's +theoretical speculations of the laws of the universe and of organic life +have no connection with the province of art? On the contrary. Truly does +Balzac exclaim: "Is not God the whole of science, the all of love, +the source of poetry?" The artist is he who enters into the divine +realm; who discerns the divine creations as the true ideals of humanity, +and who interprets to the world the sublime significance of the divine +thought. Shall such an artist degrade his power by portraying +ugliness--the mere defects of negations and distortions? Shall he +degrade life by calling these the realities? + + [Illustration: "LA PIETA," ST. PETER'S, ROME + Michael Angelo + _Page 117_] + +The painter or sculptor who holds that it is as truly art to represent +distortion and repulsiveness as it is to represent beauty is as false to +his high calling as would be the poet who should insist that doggerel +and mere commonplace truisms expressed in rhyme are poetry. Compare, for +example, two statues, Cecioni's "_La Madre_," in which a woman's utter +lack of personal attraction is so complete as to make her fairly +repulsive to the gazer, and the "Mother of Moses," by Franklin Simmons, +in which the mystic beauty, the very ideal of maternity, is embodied. +Which of these statues is calculated to uplift and to exalt all who come +near? This marvellously beautiful creation of Mr. Simmons shows a woman +of exquisite delicacy and loveliness sitting, slightly bending forward, +holding her baby to her breast. The modelling of the draped figure with +the bare arms and neck revealing the tender curves, the yielding +delicacy of the flesh and that inscrutable light upon the beautiful +countenance, whose expression suggests that she is looking far into the +future of the infant whom she holds in her arms, are a wonderful +portrayal of the mystery and the sacredness of motherhood. The one +statue degrades maternity; the other ennobles and exalts. The one +embodies a pernicious and a false ideal; the other embodies the ideal +that must appeal to all that is noble and divine in human life, and it +thus ministers to moral progress by its contribution to the elevation of +the social tone. For indeed, life follows art. It is art that exerts +this powerful influence upon life which it may lead to loftier heights +or drag down to the moral abyss. The artist is not merely the portrayer +of existing types; he is the inspirer of those ideal types which human +life should recognize as its pattern, its model to be followed and +ultimately achieved. The world needs ideal and poetic art to minister to +the attainment of the true social life and to the full and complete +expression of man himself. + +Do not the visions of Fra Angelico and Botticelli still inspire the +artist of to-day with the absolute realization of all the deep +significance of the past? + + "Is there never a retroscope mirror, + In the realms and corners of space, + That can give us a glimpse of the battle, + And the soldiers face to face?" + +Religion and art are inseparably united. In its true significance +religion takes precedence of all else in that its influence is felt in +every department and in every direction and expression of man's +activity. It is the inexhaustible fountain of that lofty energy which +communicates itself to every channel that carries inspiration to life +and to art. Religion is the influence that redeems the mere shallow, +surface presentation,--the petty trick to capture popularity, and holds +art true to its real purpose. The glory of the mediaeval art of Italy +owed its greatness to religion. Cimabue and Giotto were directly +inspired by that spring of a diviner life given to Italy and later to +the world of that "sweet saint," Francis of Assisi. In an age of cruelty +and terror he brought the new message that man is dear to God; that the +soul is ceaselessly joyful; that man, created in the divine image, is a +part of the divine life, and that only when he lives in this response +and recognition does he truly live at all. In this restatement of the +truth that Jesus came to proclaim, St. Francis opened the way for a +revival of art, and opened the gates of that infinite and divine energy +which has immortally recorded itself for all ages in the "Divina +Comedia" of Dante. The irresistible wave of power which resulted from +that liberating of thought, feeling, and emotion by the work of St. +Francis expressed itself in the sublimest poem of all the ages, and in +that glorious triumph of art that is still the treasure and the source +of artistic inspiration. + +It is only when the world is lifted out of the limitations of the +material by a period of great art that humanity is brought into close +and inspiring relation with the living Christ. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + + + + + _Men and women make the world, + As head and heart make human life._ + + MRS. BROWNING. + + * * * * * + + _Alas, our memories may retrace + Each circumstance of time and place; + Season and scene come back again, + And outward things unchanged remain; + The rest we cannot reinstate, + Ourselves we cannot re-create, + Nor set our souls to the same key + Of the remembered harmony._ + + LONGFELLOW. + + + + + _And as, after the lapse of a thousand years, you stand upon that + hallowed spot, the yellow Tiber flowing sluggishly beneath you, the + ruins of the Eternal City all around you speaking of fallen + greatness, the mighty Basilica of St. Peter rising before you like + some modern tower of Babel that would monopolize the road to + heaven, the eye rests upon the figure of the Archangel sheathing + his glittering sword upon the summit of the Castle of St. Angelo, + and the heart asks, Why should that be a legend? Why should that be + a projection of a morbid and devout imagination? Why should it not + have been the clairvoyance of supernatural ecstasy opening the + world of spirits? It was no unreality when the angel of God, with + his sword drawn in his hand, withstood the prophet Balaam. It was + no morbid imagination when the angel of God smote with the edge of + the sword the first-born of the land of Egypt. It was no imposture + when the shining hosts of the army of the Almighty smote the + Assyrians. It was no deception when Gabriel, the King's messenger + from the court of heaven, was sent to comfort Daniel by the river + Hiddekel; or when he announced to the maiden, whom all generations + have called blessed, that she was to be the mother of the Divine + Redeemer.... The written Word from first to last is full of the + holy angels. It begins with angels, it ends with angels._ + + THE VENERABLE ARCHDEACON WILBERFORCE, + Westminster Abbey. + + + + +II + +SOCIAL LIFE IN THE ETERNAL CITY + + And others came,--Desires and Adorations, + Winged Persuasions and Veiled Destinies! + + SHELLEY. + + In what ethereal dances! + By what eternal streams! + + POE. + + +Social life in Rome is no misnomer. From the most stately and beautiful +ceremonials of balls at the court of the Quirinale, in ducal palaces, or +at the embassies; of dinners whose every detail suggests stage pictures +in their magnificence, to the simple afternoon tea, where conversation +and music enchant the hours; the morning call _en tete-a-tete_, and the +morning stroll, or the late afternoon drive,--a season in Rome +prefigures itself, by the necromancy of retrospective vision, as a +resplendent panorama of pictorial scenes. There rise before one those +mornings, all gold and azure, of loitering over the stone parapet on +Monte Pincio, gazing down on the city in her most alluring mood. The +new bridge that is to connect the Pincio with the Villa Borghese is a +picturesque feature in its unfinished state; but the vision traverses +the deep ravine and revels in the scene of the Borghese grounds carpeted +with flowers. Its picturesque slopes under the great trees, with a view +of Michael Angelo's dome in the near distance, are the resort of morning +strollers, who find that lovely picture of Charles Walter Stetson's--a +stretch of landscape under the ilex trees, the scarlet gowns of the +divinity students giving vivid accents of color here and there--fairly +reproduced in nature before their vision. One should never be in haste +as the bewildering beauty of the Roman spring weaves its emerald +fantasies on grass and trees, and touches into magical bloom the scarlet +poppies that flame over all the meadows, and caress roses and hyacinths +and lilies of the valley into delicate bloom and floating fragrance +until the Eternal City is no more Rome, but Arcady, instead--one should +never be in haste to toss his penny into the _Fontane de Trevi_. Yet in +another way it may work for him an immediate spell that defies all other +necromancy. Judiciously thrown in, on the very eve of departure, it is +the conjurer that insures his return; but at any time prior to this it +may even weave the irresistible enchantment that falls upon him and may +prevent his leaving at all. Nor can he summon up the moral courage to +regret even the missing of all other engagements, and the failure to +keep faith with his plans. For in the May days Rome falls upon him anew, +like a revelation, and he is ready to confess that he has never seen her +who sees her not in her springtime loveliness. The Italian winter by no +means lives up to its reputation. It is not the chill of any one special +day that discourages one from any further effort to continue in this +vale of tears, but the cold that has, apparently, the chill and dampness +and cold of all those two thousand and two hundred and sixty winters +that have gone before which concentrate themselves in the atmosphere. +One could presumably endure with some degree of courage, if not +equanimity, the chill in the air of any _one_ winter; but when all the +chill and cold that has ever existed in more than the two thousand +winters of the past concentrates itself in the winter, say, of 1906-7, +why, patience ceases to be a virtue although one that the sojourner in +Rome is particularly called upon to practise if he fares forth to visit +churches and galleries in the winter. + +Torrents of rain pour down, rivalling the cloud-bursts of Arizona. +Virgil's cave of the winds apparently lets loose its sharpest blasts. +Tramontana and sirocco alternate, and each is more unendurable than the +other. + +The encircling mountains are white with snow. The streets are a sea of +mud, for they are paved with small stones, and except in the new Villa +Ludovisi quarter and along the Via Nazionale and a few other of the +newer thoroughfares there are no sidewalks, the foot passengers (in all +old Rome) pressing close to the wall to avoid the dangerously near +proximity of carts and cabs. This rough pavement makes all driving hard +and walking difficult. The Roman lady, indeed, does not walk; and the +visitors who cannot forego the joy of daily promenades enter into the +feelings of that nation which is said to take its pleasures sadly. But +spring works a transformation scene. The air is filled with the most +transparent shining haze; the sky lacks little of that intense, melting +blue that characterizes the ineffable beauty of the skies in Arizona; +and ruins and fragments and strange relics--ghosts of the historic +past--are all enshrined in trailing green and riotous blossoms. To drive +on the terraced roads of Monte Mario with all Rome and the emerald-green +Campagna before one; through the romantic "Lovers' Lane," walled in by +roses and myrtle; to enjoy the local life, full of gayety and +brilliancy, is to know Rome in her most gracious aspects. One goes for +strolls in the old Colonna Gardens, where still remain the ruins of the +Temple of the Sun and of the Baths of Constantine. The terraces offer +lovely views over the city. The old palace is occupied by the present +Prince Colonna, and it is not unfrequently the scene of most elaborate +and gorgeous receptions where the traditional Roman splendor is to be +found. A series of arched bridges over the narrow street of the Via +della Pilotta connect the Gardens with the Colonna Palace in the Piazza +San Apostoli. Very fine old sarcophagi are half buried in trailing vines +on the slope of the hill, dark with magnificent cypress trees. The +Colonna Gardens are a very dream of the past, in their ruins of old +temples, their shattered statues, their strange old tablets and +inscriptions, and their grand view of the Capitol. + +In one's retrospective vision of a Roman season all the inconveniences +and discomforts of the winter disappear, leaving only the beauty and the +enjoyment to be "developed," as the photographer would say, on the +sensitive plate of memory. + +No one really knows Rome until he has watched the transcendent +loveliness of spring investing every nook and corner of the Eternal +City. The picturesque Spanish steps are a very garden of fragrance, the +lower steps of the terraced flight being taken possession of by the +flower venders who display their wares,--masses of white lilac, +flame-colored roses, rose and purple hyacinths and baskets of violets +and carnations. Did all this fragrance and beauty send up its incense to +Keats as he lay in the house adjoining, with the musical plash of +Bernini's fountain under his window? It is pleasant to know that by the +appreciation of American and English authors, the movement effectively +directed by Robert Underwood Johnson, this house consecrated to a poet's +memory has been purchased to be a permanent memorial to Keats and to +Shelley. A library of their works will be arranged in it; and portraits, +busts, and all mementos that can be collected of these poets will render +this memorial one of the beautiful features of Rome. + +From the flower venders and the circulating libraries in the Piazza di +Spagna that allure one in the morning, from the fascinating glitter of +the little Via Condotti which is, in its way, the rue de la Paix of +Rome, one leisurely climbs the steps to where the great obelisk looms up +in front of the Convent Church of the Trinita di Monti and on, across +the Piazza di Trinita, toward the Pincian, one wanders along the brow of +the hill surmounted by the low stone parapet. The view is a dream of +beauty. Over the valley lies Monte Mario, crowned with the Villa Madama, +silhouetted against the blue Roman sky; and the commanding dome of St. +Peter's, the splendid new white marble buildings of the Law Courts, the +domes of other churches, all make up a picturesque panorama, while on +the Janiculum the great equestrian statue of Garibaldi can be descried. +Strolling on, one turns into the gardens of the Villa Medici, the +French Academy of Art, in which the present director, the great Carolus +Duran, is domiciled and in which twenty-four students--of painting, +sculpture, music, and architecture--are maintained at the expense of the +French government for several years, the twenty four being chosen from +those who have given signal proof of their ability. The Villa Medici +has, perhaps, a more beautiful site than any other building in Rome. +Facing the west, with the Janiculum and Monte Mario forever before it, +while below lies the Piazza di Spagna and the Piazza del Popolo, and all +the changing splendors of the sunset sky as a perpetual picture gallery, +the situation is, indeed, magnificent. It is still conceivable, however, +that Monsieur Carolus Duran must have many quarters of an hour when he +longs for the brilliancy and the movement and the stimulus of his Paris. +The gardens of the Villa Medici are large, but they are laid out with +narrow paths bordered with box, forming a wall as impervious as if of +stone, and dark and damp by the shade of foliage. These walks are paved +with gravel, and are always damp. These formal rectangles and alleys are +utterly shut in, so that in any one part one can see only the two +dense green walls of box that inclose him and the glimpse of sky +overhead,--not precisely a cheering promenade. This is the Italian idea +of a garden. Much broken sculpture, weather-stained and defective, is +placed all along the way, and the perpetual Roman fountain is always +gushing somewhere. + + [Illustration: VILLA MEDICI, ROME + _Page 134_] + +Another phase of the Roman season may rise before one in the stately +beauty of any old historic palace, where the hostess, all grace and +sweetness, receives her guests in the apartment in which Galileo had +been confined when imprisoned in Rome. The approach to this _piano +nobile_ was up a flight of easily graded marble stairs, where in +frequent niches stood old statues. The large windows in the corridor on +the landing were curtained with pale yellow, thus creating a golden +light to fall on the old sculptured marbles. One salon was decorated +with Flaxman's drawings on the wall, in their classical outlines. From a +steep, dark stone stairway, down which one descended (at the imminent +risk of a broken neck in the darkness and from the irregular stairs +rudely carved in the stone), one emerged on a landing, where a little +door opened into the balcony of the chapel, a curious, gloomy place, +with tombs and altar and shrine, and some very poor old paintings. One's +progress to it recalled the lines from Poe's "Ulalume":-- + + "By a route, obscure and lonely, + Haunted by ill angels only." + +Then, sitting in one of the richly decorated salons at afternoon tea in +this same old palace one day, while an accomplished harpist was +discoursing delicate music from its vibrating chords, flights of birds +kept passing a window, making a scene like that of a Wagner opera. The +groups present, largely of the Roman nobility, the titled aristocracy, +resembling so closely some of the old portraits in the palazzo that it +was easy to recognize that they were all one people, descendants of the +same race. + +Many of the guests looked, indeed, as if they had stepped from out the +sumptuously carved frames on the wall. At these pretty festas one meets +much of the resident Roman world. The guests assembled seem to be +speaking in all the romance languages. There are Russian and Spanish as +well as Italian, French, German, and English at these alluring teas. +All the salons of the spacious apartments are thrown open, and the men +in their picturesque court dress or military costume, and the women and +girls in dainty gowns, make up an alluring scene. The salons are richly +furnished and abound in works of art, old pictures, inlaid cabinets, +carvings, rich vases, busts, and statuettes. The library, with its +wealth of books; the music room; the salon for dancing; the supper room, +and the quiet rooms where groups gather before the blazing open fires, +grateful in these lofty rooms whose temperature suggests the frozen +circles of Dante,--all make up a delightful picture. One meets the most +varying individualities. A Russian lady of title may confide her +conviction that her country is ruined, and that she never desires to +return to it. Italy is the country that attracts not only political +refugees from other European countries, but many who are out of sympathy +with conditions elsewhere and who find the cosmopolitan society and the +varied interests of this land of sunshine their most enjoyable +environment. + +One pleasant feature of a Roman winter is that of the usual course of +lectures given by Professor Lanciani. The celebrated archaeologist is a +man of special personal charm, and his conversation, as well as his +public lectures, is full of interest and value. The lectures are given +under the auspices of the Societa Archeologica, and a special subject +recently discussed was the celebration to be held in 1911 in Rome. One +project for this celebration includes the plan to lay out a carriage +road around the Forum and the Palatine, and also around the Baths of +Titus and of Caracalla, extending the drive to all those places included +between the Appian and the Latin Way, the Villa Celimontana and the +Circus Maximus. + +Professor Lanciani discussed the artistic history of Rome and the +different appearances the city took on in different periods; the +regulation plan drawn up by Julius Caesar and accepted and carried out by +Augustus, by which one-fifth of the total area of the city was reserved +for public parks. In the third century of the empire the city was +inclosed by parks and crossed from end to end by delightful portico +gardens, where valuable works of art were collected. During the period +of the Renaissance there were the famous villas and the Cesarini Park +on the slopes of the Esquiline, and after regretting the many +unnecessary acts of vandalism committed since 1870 in Rome, Professor +Lanciani suggested that a complete reconstruction of the Baths of +Caracalla should be made, to serve in 1911 as the Exhibition Building. +He believed no artistic difficulties would present themselves, as in the +fifteenth century different architects took plaster casts of the +decorations of the statues and of every detail of the Baths. The +archaeological exhibition would be arranged in the two large halls, +another hall would be for concerts, another for lectures, the others for +different congresses to be held. + +In this way Rome would inaugurate for 1911 the Mediaeval Museum in Castel +Sant'Angelo, the mediaeval collections in the Torre degli Anguillara, and +the grand archaeological exhibition in the reconstructed Baths of +Caracalla. + +Italian women are by no means behind the age in their organizations to +aid in social progress. The most important one in Italy is that of the +leading women of the nobility and aristocracy, called "The Society for +Women's Work," which holds annual meetings, over which Lady Aberdeen, +the president of the International Council, and the Contessa Spalletti, +the president of the National Council of Italy, preside. Many of the +prominent women of the Italian nobility are taking active part in the +larger outlook for women; and in this movement Margherita, _la Regina +Madre_, leads the way, supported by a large following of the titled +nobility. + +"Margherita holds the hearts of the people," remarked Cora, Contessa di +Brazza Savorgnan, at a brilliant little dinner one night, and no +expression could more admirably represent the feeling of the nation +toward the Queen Mother. + +Queen Elena as the reigning sovereign has, of course, her exclusive +royal prerogatives, and she has youth and initiative and precedence; but +Margherita is a most attractive woman, with learning and accomplishments +galore, and she has an art of conversation that allures and fascinates +visiting foreigners of learning and wit, as well as of rank. Roman +society is not large numerically, and the same people are constantly +meeting and consolidating their many points of contact and interest. +Social life in these Italian cities is the supreme occupation of the +residents, and one must concede that in proportion as one meets the same +people constantly does society gain in dramatic interest. With each +person who is in any sense an individual the play of life begins. It +gains in dramatic sequence as it proceeds. The Eternal City is a +wonderful scenic setting for the human drama. + +Local gossip suggests perceptible rivalry between the stately palace of +the King and the pink palace on the hill, in which Margherita holds her +state with not less ceremony than that observed at the Court of the +Quirinale. It is a beautiful thing for a country to have in it a woman +of high position, of leisure and of culture, who is so admirably fitted +to be the friend of the people as is Margherita. She is a connoisseur in +art; she has a most intelligent interest in science; she is a critical +lover of literature; she is a wise and judicious and deeply sympathetic +leader in all philanthropic work and purposes. One can hardly visit +painter or poet or artist in any line, or school, institute, or +association, but that he hears of the personal sympathy and +encouragement bestowed by this noble and beautiful Italian Queen,--the +_Regina Madre_. + +Practically there are, indeed, two courts in Rome; that of the Palazzo +Margherita seeming to quite rival that held at the Palazzo Quirinale. +The palace of the Queen Mother is an imposing three-story structure of +pink-hued marble, with beautiful gardens and terraces, and adjoining it, +in the palace grounds, is a marble villa, used for the entertainment of +royal guests. This palace has been the residence of Margherita when in +Rome since the tragic death of King Umberto, in 1900. It is in the +Ludovisi quarter, and stands on the very site of the Gardens of Sallust. +The Queen Mother receives noted visitors constantly, and entertains +visiting royalties and members of the aristocracy. No great man of +science, literature, and art visits Rome without seeking a presentation +to the liberal-minded and accomplished _Regina Madre_, who is one of the +most winning and attractive of all the royal women of Europe. + +It has become quite a feature in introducing young girls to present them +first in private audience to Margherita, and then later to Queen Elena +at the Court of the Quirinale. Surely no girl could be given a lovelier +idea of womanhood than that embodied in the Dowager Queen. When the poet +Carducci died in the early months of 1907, Margherita sent beautiful +messages of consolation to his family, and, later, to his home city of +Bologna she sent the following letter:-- + + "I announce that I make a free gift to the city of Bologna of the + house where Giosue Carducci passed the last years of his life, and + the library he collected there. + + "Bologna, that showed such affectionate hospitality for Giosue + Carducci for so many years, and surrounded him with so much + devotion, will know, I feel sure, how to carefully preserve this + remembrance of the greatest poet of modern Italy. + + MARGHERITA." + +The Syndic replied in a letter hardly less fine in its expression of +Bologna's appreciation, and with assurances that the name of the first +Queen of Italy will in future be forever associated with Italy's +greatest modern poet. + +The Regio Palazzo del Quirinale is near the Capitol, in the older part +of the city, and only a small part of this is shown to visitors when +the King and Queen are in residence. The Sala Regia may be seen, the +chapel in which are preserved a large number of the wreaths and the +addresses sent from all parts of the civilized world on the occasion of +the death of Victor Emmanuel II, and a suite of reception rooms, the +throne room with many historic portraits, the Sala des Ambassadeurs, and +the audience chamber, containing Thorwaldsen's "Triumphal Procession of +Alexander the Great," a gift from Napoleon I. In the small chapel of the +Annunciation is an altar piece by Guido Reni. + +To artists the Queen Mother is most generously kind. One of the younger +Italian sculptors, Turillo Sindoni, Cavaliere of the Crown of Italy, +whose latest creation is a very beautiful statue of St. Agnes, has his +studios in the Via del Babuino, and to especially favored visitors he +sometimes exhibits a beautiful letter that he received from Margherita, +who purchased two of his statues. With the letter expressing her warm +appreciation of his art was an exquisite gift of jewelled sleeve-links. + +Notwithstanding the fascinating lectures of Professor Lanciani and the +valuable and interesting work in the Forum that is being accomplished +under the efficient directorship of Commendatore Boni, yet all the roads +that traditionally lead to Rome do not converge to the palace on the +Palatine. Modern Rome is only mildly archaeological, and while it takes +occasional recognition of the ancient monuments, and drives to the crypt +of old St. Agnes, to the tomb of Cecilia Metella, and may manage a +descent into the catacomb of St. Calixtus, it is far more actively +interested in its dancing and dining and driving. As a scenic background +for festivities Rome is a success, and as one comes into social touch +with the titled nobility, and the resident life, by birth or adoption, +one finds a city of infinite human interest and picturesque +possibilities. + +Between the "Whites" (the loyal followers of the Palazzo Quirinale and +the King) and the "Blacks" (the devoted followers of the Palazzo +Vaticano and the Pope) a great gulf is fixed over which no one may +cross. + +Pope Pius X is wonderfully accessible, considering the great +responsibilities and duties he has on him, and his generous goodness, +his gracious tact and the beauty of his spirit endear him to all, +Catholic or Protestant alike, for every one recognizes in him the +Christian gentleman, whose ideals of gentleness and inspiring +helpfulness impress themselves on all who are so fortunate as to meet +him. + +The most impressive ceremonial receptions of the "Blacks" are those +given at the Spanish Embassy in the Piazza di Spagna. At the Embassy or +in the private palace of any Roman noble which a Cardinal honors by +accepting an invitation, he is received according to a most picturesque +old Roman custom. At the foot of the stairs two servants bearing lighted +torches meet his Eminence, and, making a profound obeisance, escort him +to the portals of the grand reception salon and await, in the corridor, +his return. On his departure they escort him in the same way down the +staircase. + +In the College of Cardinals and among the many interesting +individualities of the Vatican, the most marked figure is that of the +Cardinal Secretary of State, Merry del Val. He occupies the Borgia +apartments, which are hung with tapestry and ornamented with the most +unique and valuable articles _de vertu_,--wonderful vases, inlaid +cabinets, old tapestries, paintings, statues, busts, and ivories. These +Borgia apartments are one of the most interesting features of the +Palazzo Vaticano, and may be seen now and then by special permission +when the Cardinal secretary is out, or when he may be pleased to retire +into his more private salons in the apartment while the others are +shown. Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val is an impressive personality, whose +life seems strangely determined by destiny. His father was an _attache_ +of the Spanish embassy to the Court of St. James when the future +Cardinal was born in 1865. In 1904, at the early age of thirty-nine, he +was advanced from the soutane violet of the bishop to the mantelletta +scarlet of the cardinal, and after the accession of the present Pope, +Pius X, he was appointed to the highest office in the Vatican, that of +Secretary of State, the Pope paying him the high tribute because of his +"devotion to work, his capability and absolute self-negation." + +Cardinal Merry del Val has had a wonderful training of experience and +circumstances. At the early age of twenty-two he was a member of the +papal embassy commissioned to the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. He +was also appointed a member of the embassy from the Vatican to attend +the funeral of Emperor William I; and at the jubilee of Francis Joseph, +Emperor of Austria, Cardinal (then Bishop) Merry del Val was the sole +and accredited representative of the Holy See, as he was also at the +coronation of King Edward. The Spanish Cardinal is the special trusted +counsellor of the royal family of Spain. + +In Rome, Cardinal Merry del Val is an impressive figure. He is always +attended by his _gentiluomo_, who is gorgeously arrayed in knee +breeches, military hat and sword. This gentleman in waiting walks behind +him on a promenade, sits in his carriage and stands near him in all +religious ceremonies. His equipage is well known in the Eternal City,--a +stately black carriage drawn by two massive black horses with luxurious +flowing manes. + +It is freely prophesied in Rome that the Cardinal secretary is destined +to yet exchange the mantelletta scarlet for the zucchetta white, when +Pius X shall have gone the way of all his predecessors in the papal +chair. He is the Cardinal especially favored by Austria and Spain. +Although the conflict with France was at first ascribed to Cardinal +Merry del Val, he has of late been completely exonerated from blame, +even by the French prelates and clergy. + +Cardinal Merry del Val represents the most advanced and progressive +thought of the day. He is an enthusiastic admirer of Marconi and the +marvels of wireless telegraphy; he is an advocate of telephonic service, +electric motors, electric lights, and of phonographs and typewriters for +the Vatican service. He is a great linguist, speaking English, French, +and German as well as Spanish, which is his native tongue, and Italian, +which has become second nature. He is a good Greek scholar and a +profound Latin scholar, and he speaks the ancient Latin with the fluency +and the force of the modern languages. He is, indeed, a remarkable +twentieth-century personality and one who has apparently a very +interesting life yet to come in his future. + +At the Villa Pamphilia Doria, built by a former Prince Doria, the +largest villa in the Roman environs and the finest now remaining, the +Cardinal enjoys his game of golf, of which he is very fond. The Doria +family rendered the villa magnificent in every respect. Besides the +spacious avenues, woods, fountains, a lake, and cascades, are various +edifices, among which is one in the form of a triumphal arch, decorated +with ancient statues; the casino of the villa in which are preserved +some ancient marbles and several pictures; the beautiful circular +chapel, adorned with eight columns of marble and other stately +ornaments. There is a monument erected by the present Prince Doria to +the memory of the French soldiers who were killed there during the siege +of 1849. From the terrace of the palace there is a magnificent view of +the environs of Rome, as far as the sea. In consequence of excavations, +some columbaria, sepulchres, inscriptions, and other relics have been +found, which have attracted much attention from archaeologists. + +It is near these grounds that the "Arcadians" still hold their _al +fresco_ meetings. The society dates back to 1690, and the first _custos_ +(whose duty was to open and close the meetings) was Crescimbeni. The +"Arcadians" organized themselves to protest against the degeneracy of +Italian poetry that marked the seventeenth century. To keep their +meetings a secret from the populace the "Arcadians" held their meetings +in an open garden on the slope below San Pietro in Montorio,--a terrace +still known as "Bosco Parrasio degli Arcadi." + +One of the enchanting views in Rome is from the Piazza San Giovanni. One +looks far away past the Coliseum in its ruined grandeur and the _casa_ +where Lucrezia Borgia lived, and in the near distance is the colossal +pile of San Giovanni di Laterano, its beautiful and impressive facade +crowned with the statues of the apostles silhouetted against the western +sky. In the piazza formed by the church, the museums, and the Baptistery +of San Giovanni and the Scala Santa is one of the most remarkable +obelisks in Rome, ninety-nine feet in height, formed of red granite and +carved with hieroglyphics. This shaft is placed on a pedestal which +makes it in all some 115 feet in height. It was placed in 1568 by Sixtus +V. The museums of the San Giovanni are the "Museo Sacro" and the "Museo +Profano,"--the latter founded by Pope Gregory XVI, and very rich in +sculptures and mosaics. The "Museo Sacro" was founded by Pio Nono, and +is rich in the antiquities of the Christian era. Within San Giovanni +the visitor finds himself in a vast interior divided by columns of +verd-antique into three aisles, each of which is as wide as, and far +longer than, the interior of an ordinary church. Statues fill the +niches, and the chapels and confessionals are all beautifully decorated. +The Corsini Chapel is the richest and was executed by order of Clement +XII, in honor of St. Andrew Corsini, who is represented in a rich mosaic +painting copied from Guido. Two sculptured figures, "Innocence" and +"Penitence," stand before the altar, and above is a relief depicting St. +Andrew protecting the Florentine army at the battle of Anghiari. + +The tomb of Pope Clement XII (who himself belonged to the Corsini family +and who was an uncle of Cardinal Corsini) is in a niche between two +columns of porphyry, and there is a bronze statue of the Pope. On the +opposite side is a statue of Cardinal Corsini, and in the crypt below +are tombs of the Corsini family. On the altar--always lighted--is a +"Pieta" by Bernini, of which the face of the Christ is very beautiful. + +Near the centre of the Basilica is a rich tabernacle of precious stones, +defined by four columns of _verde antico_, and it is said that the +heads of St. Peter and St. Paul are preserved here. The table upon which +Christ celebrated the Last Supper is placed here, above the altar of the +Holy Sacrament, a sacred relic that thrills the visitors. In one chapel +is a curious and grotesque group of sculpture,--a skeleton holding up a +medallion portrait, while an angel with outstretched wings hovers over +it. + +San Giovanni has the reputation of being absolutely the coldest church +in all Rome, which--it is needless to remark--means a great deal, for +they all in winter have the temperature of the arctic regions. In all +these great churches there is never any heat; no apparatus for heating +has ever been introduced, and the twentieth century finds them just as +cold as they were in the centuries of a thousand years ago. This +colossal Basilica is considered the most important church in the world, +as it is the cathedral of the Pontiff. It was founded in the third +century by Constantine, destroyed by fire in 1308, and rebuilt by Pope +Clement V, and every succeeding Pope has added to it. The facade is of +travertine, with four gigantic columns and six pilasters, and the +cornice is decorated with colossal figures of Jesus and a number of the +saints. There are five balconies, the middle one being always used for +papal benedictions. In the portico is the colossal statue of Constantine +the Great. Within the columns are of _verde antico_; the ceiling was +designed by Michael Angelo; the interior is very rich in sculpture, and +there are some fine paintings and the chapels are most beautiful, one of +them containing a tabernacle comprised wholly of precious stones. Above +the altar of the Holy Sacrament the table upon which Christ celebrated +the Last Supper with the disciples is preserved. It is wonderful to look +upon this most sacred and significant relic. + +It is in this church that the tomb of Leo XIII has been constructed by +the eminent Italian sculptor, Tadolini, opposite the tomb of Innocent +III. The work was completed in the spring of 1907, the design being a +life-size portrait statue of the Pope with two figures, one on either +side, representing the church and the workman-pilgrim, forming part of +the group. This is one of the most memorable monuments of all Rome, and +the tomb of the great Leo XIII will form a new shrine for Christian +pilgrimage. + +Included in the group of structures that form the great Basilica of San +Giovanni is the Scala Santa, which offers a strange picture whenever one +approaches it. These twenty-eight marble steps that belonged to Pilate's +house in Jerusalem are said to have been once trodden by Jesus and may +be ascended only on one's knees. At no hour of the day can one visit the +Scala Santa without finding the most motley and incongruous throng thus +ascending, pausing on each step for meditation and prayer. These stairs +were transported from Jerusalem to Rome under the auspices of St. +Helena, the Empress, about 326 A.D., and in 1589 they were placed by +Pope Sixtus V in this portico built for them with a chapel at the top of +the stairs called the "Sancta Sanctorum," formerly the private chapel of +the Popes. In this sanctuary is preserved a wonderful portrait of the +Saviour, painted on wood, which is said to have been partly the work of +St. Luke but finished by unseen hands. The legend runs that St. Luke +prepared to undertake the work by three days' fasting and prayer, and +that, having drawn it in outline, the painting was done by angelic +ministry, the colors being filled in by invisible hands. In ancient +times--the custom being abolished by Pius V in 1566--this picture was +borne through Rome on the Feast of the Assumption and the bearer halted +with it in the Forum, when the "Kyrie Eleison" would be chanted by +hundreds of voices. + +Myth and legend invest every turn and footfall of the Eternal City, and +there are few that are not founded on what the church has always called +supernatural manifestations, but which the new age is learning to +recognize as occurrences under natural law. + +The story of Luther's ascent of the Scala Santa is thus told:-- + + "Brother Martin Luther went to accomplish the ascent of the Scala + Santa--the Holy Staircase--which once, they say, formed part of + Pilate's house. He slowly mounted step after step of the hard + stone, worn into hollows by the knees of penitents and pilgrims. + Patiently he crept halfway up the staircase, when he suddenly stood + erect, lifted his face heavenward, and in another moment turned + and walked slowly down again. + + "He said that as he was toiling up a voice as if from heaven spoke + to him and said, 'The just shall live by faith.' He awoke as if + from a nightmare, restored to himself. He dared not creep up + another step; but rising from his knees he stood upright like a man + suddenly loosed from bonds and fetters, and with the firm step of a + free man he descended the staircase and walked from the place." + +The entire legendary as well as sacred history is almost made up of +instances of the interpenetration of the two worlds; the response of +those in the spiritual world to the needs of those in the natural world. +Pope Paschal recorded that he fell asleep in his chair at St. Peter's +(somewhere about 8.20 A.M.) with a prayer on his lips that he might find +the burial place of St. Cecilia, and in his dream she appeared to him +and showed him the spot where her body lay, in the catacombs of +Calixtus. The next day he went to the spot and found all as had been +revealed to him. The miraculous preservation of St. Agnes is familiar to +all students of legendary art. Throughout all Rome, shrine and niche +and sculpture, picture, monument, arch and column, speak perpetually of +some interposition of unseen forces with events and circumstances in +this part of life. The Eternal City in its rich and poetic symbolism is +one great object lesson of the interblending of the two worlds, the +natural and the spiritual. The first stage regarding all this marvellous +panorama was entire and unquestioning acceptance; the succeeding stage +was doubt, disbelief; the third, into which we are now entering, is that +of an enlightened understanding and a growing knowledge and grasp of the +laws under which these special interpositions and interventions occur. + +For that "according to thy faith be it unto thee," is as true now in the +twentieth century as it was in the first. The one central truth that is +the very foundation of all religious philosophy is the continuity of +life and the persistence of intercourse and communion, spirit to spirit, +across the gulf we call death. The evidences of this truth have been +always in the world. The earliest records of the Bible are replete with +them. The gospels of the New Testament record an unbroken succession +of occurrences and of testimony to this interpenetration of life in the +Unseen with that in the Seen. Secular history is full of its narrations +of instances of clairvoyance, clairaudience, and of communications in a +variety of ways; and the sacred and legendary art of Rome, largely +founded on story and myth and legend, when seen in the light of +latter-day science is judged anew, and the literal truth of much that +has before been considered purely legendary is revealed and realized. +One reads new meanings into Rome when testing it by this consciousness. +It is a city of spiritual symbolism. It is a great object lesson +extending over all the centuries. Making due allowance for the +distortion and exaggeration of ages of testimony, there yet remains a +residuum indisputable. The Past and the Present both teem with record +and incident and experience proving that life is twofold, even now and +here; that all the motives and acts of the life which we see are +variously incited, modified, strengthened, or annulled by those in the +realm of the Unseen. + + [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO VILLA PAMPHILIA-DORIA, ROME + _Page 159_] + +The intelligent recognition of this truth changes the entire conduct of +life. It entirely alters the point of view. It extends the horizon line +infinitely. Instead of conceiving of life as a whole, as comprised +between the cradle and the grave, it will be regarded in its larger and +truer scope as a series of experiences and achievements, infinite in +length and in their possibilities and unbroken by the change we call +death. This will impart to humanity a new motor spring in that greater +hope which puts man in a working mood, which makes him believe in the +value of that which he undertakes, which encourages him to press on amid +all difficulties and against all obstacles. Increasing hope, all +activity is proportionately increased. It was an event of incalculable +importance to the progress of humanity when the swift communication by +cable was established between America and Europe. It is one of +infinitely greater importance to establish the truth and enlarge the +possibility of direct communication with the world of higher forces and +larger attainment and scope than our own. This communication exists and +has always existed, but it has been regarded as myth and legend and +phenomenon rather than as a fact of nature whose laws were to be +ascertained and understood. It must be made clear as an absolute +scientific demonstration that the change of form by the process we call +death does not put an end to intelligent and rational intercourse, but +that, indeed, instead of setting up a barrier, it removes barriers and +renders mutual comprehension far clearer and more direct than before. +This realization alters the entire perspective of life, and is the new +Glad Tidings of great joy. + +It is something of all this that the Eternal City suggests to one as he +makes his pilgrimages to shrine and cloister and chapel and Basilica. +The mighty Past is eloquent with a thousand voices, and they blend into +a choral harmony of promise and prophecy for the nobler future of +humanity. + +At the foot of the Scala Santa, on either side, are statues of Christ +and Judas, and of Christ and Pilate, very interesting groups by +Jacometti, and there is also a kneeling statue of Pio Nono. + +The statue of Judas is considered one of the most notable of the late +modern Italian sculpture. + +The Rome of to-day is in strange contrast even to the city that Page and +Hawthorne knew, in the comparatively recent past; and the Rome of the +ancients is traced only in the churches and the ruins. It is a _mot_ +that one hears every language spoken in Rome, except the Italian! So +largely has the Seven-hilled City become the pleasure ground of foreign +residents. The contrast between the ordinary breakfast-table talk in +Rome and in--Boston, for instance, or Washington, is amusing. In the +Puritan capital it usually includes the topic of weather predictions and +the news in the morning paper, with whatever other of local or personal +matters of interest. In Washington, where the very actors and the events +that make the nation's history are fairly before one's eyes, the +breakfast-table conversation is apt to turn on matters that have not yet +got into the papers,--the evening session of the previous night, +perhaps, when too long prolonged under the vast dome to admit of its +having been noted in the morning press. But in Rome the breakfast-table +talk is apt to be of the new excavations just taken from the bed of the +Tiber; the question as to whether the head of St. Paul could have +touched (at the tragic scene of his execution) at three places so far +apart as the tri-fontanes; or a discussion of the marvellous freshness +of the mosaics in the interior of the Palace of the Caesars; or, again, +of the last night's balls or dinners, and matters most frankly +_mondaine_, and of contemporary life. + +The American Embassy, whose location depends on the individual choice of +the Ambassador of the time, is now in the old Palazzo del Drago on the +corner of the Via Venti Settembre and the Via delle Quattro Fontane. The +street floor, like all the old palaces, is not used for living purposes. +The portiere, the guards, the corridors, and approaches to the +staircases monopolize this space. The piano nobile is the residence of +the beautiful and lovely Principessa d'Antuni, the youthful widow of the +Principe who was himself a grandson of Marie Christine, the Queen of +Spain. The young Princess who was married to him at the age of +seventeen, ten years ago, is left with three little children, of whom +the only daughter bears the name of her great-grandmother, the Spanish +Queen. Perfectly at home in all the romance languages, an accomplished +musician, a thinker, a scholar, a student, a lovely figure in life, a +beautiful and sympathetic friend is the Princess d'Antuni. She is "of a +simplicity," as they say in Italy, investing the dignity of her rank +with indescribable grace and sweetness. The two long flights of stairs +that lead up to the secundo piano in the Palazzo del Drago--the floor +occupied by the American Embassy--have at least a hundred steps to each +staircase, yet so broad and easy of ascent as hardly to fatigue one. +These flights are carpeted in glowing red, while along the wall are +niches in each of which stands an old statue, making the ascent of the +guest seem a classic progress. + +The Palazzo del Drago has an elevator, but elevator service in Rome is a +thing apart, something considered quite too good for human nature's +daily food, and the slight power is far too little to permit any number +of people to be accommodated, so on any ceremonial occasion the elevator +is closed and the guests walk up the two long flights. The total lack of +any mastery of mechanical conditions in Italy is very curious. + +The grand ball given at the American Embassy just before Ash Wednesday +in the winter of 1907 was a very pretty affair. Up the rose-red carpeted +stairs the guests walked, the statues looking silently on, but +apparently there was no Galatea to step down from her niche and join the +happy throng. In the antechamber each guest was asked to write his name +in the large autograph books kept for that purpose, and then, passing +on, was received by the Ambassador and Ambassadress in the first of the +splendid series of salons thrown open for the occasion. At this time it +was Mr. and Mrs. Henry White who represented the United States, and won +the hearts of all Rome as well, and assisted by their charming daughter, +Miss Muriel White, they made this ball an affair to leave its lovely +pictures in memory. The scenic setting of an old Roman palace captivates +the stranger. It may not impress him as especially comfortable, but it +is certainly picturesque, and who would not prefer--at least for the +"one night only" of the traditional _prima donna_ announcements--the +pictorially picturesque and magnificent to the merely comfortable? The +lofty ceilings, painted by artists who have long since vanished from +mortal sight, make it impossible to attain the temperature that the +American regards as essential to his terrestrial well-being, and as the +only sources of heat were the open fireplaces the guests hovered around +these and their radii of comfortable warmth were limited. In one salon +there was one especially beautiful effect of a great jar of white lilacs +placed before a vast mirror at sufficient distance to give the mirror +reflection an individuality as a thing apart, and the effect was that of +a very garden of paradise. The music was fascinating, the decorations +all in good taste, and the occasion was most brilliant,--_tres +charmante_ indeed. The American ambassadress was ablaze with her famous +diamonds, her corsage being literally covered with them, and her +coiffure adorned with a coronet, but the temperature soon forced the +ambassadress to partially eclipse her splendor with the little ermine +shoulder cape that is an indispensable article for evening dress in +Rome. The temperature does not admit the possibility of _decollete_ +gowns without some protection, when these resplendent glittering robes +that seem woven of the stars are worn. Among the more distinguished +guests, aside from the _corps diplomatique_ and the titled nobility of +Rome and visiting foreigners, were M. Carolus Duran, the celebrated +portrait artist of Paris, and among other interesting people were Miss +Elise Emmons of Leamington, England, a grand-niece of Charlotte Cushman. +M. Carolus Duran was very magnificent, his breast covered with jewelled +orders and decorations from the various societies, academies, and +governments that have honored him. He is a short man and has grown quite +stout, but he carries himself with inimitable grace and dignity, and in +his luminous eyes one still surprises that far-away look which Sargent +so wonderfully caught in his portrait of the great French artist, +painted in his earlier life. + +The number of spacious salons with their easy-chairs and sofas enabled +all guests who desired to ensconce themselves luxuriously to do so, and +watch the glittering scene. The supper room and the salon for dancing +were not more alluring than the salons wherein one could study this +brilliant throng of diplomates, titled nobility, distinguished artists, +social celebrities, and those who were, in various ways, each _persona +grata_ in Rome. Among those at this particular festivity were the +American novelist, Frank Hamilton Spearman, with Mrs. Spearman. In late +American fiction Mr. Spearman has made for himself a distinctive place +as the novelist whose artistic eye has discerned the romance in the new +phases of life created by the extensive systems of mountain railroading, +and the great irrigation schemes of the far West, which have not only +opened up new territory, but have called into evidence new combinations +of the qualities most potent in human life,--love, sacrifice, heroism, +devotion to duty, and tragedy and comedy as well. In his novels, "The +Daughter of a Magnate" and "Whispering Smith," in such vivid and +delightful short stories as "The Ghost at Point of Rocks," which +appeared in _Scribner's Magazine_ for August of 1907, Mr. Spearman has +dramatized the pathos, the wit, the vast and marvellous spirit of +enterprise, the desolation of isolated regions, the all-pervading +potency and one may almost say intimacy of modern life made possible by +the Arabian Nights' dream of wireless telegraphy, "soaring" cars, +long-distance telephoning, and lightning express train service in cars +that climb the mountains beyond the clouds, or dash through tunnels with +ten thousand feet of mountains above them. Mr. Spearman is the novelist +_par excellence_ of this intense _vie modernite_. + +On Washington's Birthday, again, the stately salons of the American +Embassy in the old Palazzo del Drago were well filled from four to six +with an assemblage which expressed its patriotism and devotion to +Washington by appearing in its most faultless raiment and in an apparent +appreciation of the refreshment tables, from which cake and ices, tea +and various other delicacies, were served. + +The informal weekly receptions at the Embassy are always delightful, and +the dinners and ceremonial entertainments are given with that faultless +grace which characterizes the American ambassadress. + +The American consulate is always a charming centre in Rome, and in the +present residence of Consul-General and Mrs. De Castro, who have +domiciled themselves on a lofty floor of a palace in the Via Venti +Settembre, commanding beautiful views that make a picture of every +window, the consulate is one of the favorite social centres for +Americans and other nationalities as well, who enjoy the charming +welcome of Mrs. De Castro. + +Professor and Mrs. Jesse Benedict Carter, in their lovely home in the +Via Gregoriana, add another to the pleasant American centres in the +Eternal City, Professor Carter having succeeded Professor Norton as the +principal of the American Classical School. + +Mrs. Elihu Vedder, assisted by her accomplished daughter, Miss Anita +Vedder, has a pretty fashion of receiving weekly in Mr. Vedder's studio +in the Via Flaminia, and these Saturday receptions at the Vedders' are a +feature of social life in Rome which are greatly sought. The +distinguished artist reserves these afternoons for leisurely +conversation, and pictures and sketches are enjoyed the more that they +may be enjoyed in the presence of their creator. Miss Vedder has called +to life again the almost lost art of tapestry, and her productions of +wonderful beauty are considered as among the most desirable in modern +decorative art. Among these tapestries are "The Lover's Song," "Salome +Dancing before Herod," "The Annunciation," "The Legend of the Unicorn," +"The Lovers' Picnic," and "The Lovers." The tapestries were painted in +Rome and in the Vedder villa, _Torre Quattro Venti_ on Capri, where the +artist and his wife and daughter pass their summers. The established +English Church has two chapels in Rome, one the Holy Trinity, of which +Rev. Dr. Baldwin is the rector, and the other English chapel in Via del +Babuino has for its chaplain Rev. Dr. Nutcombe Oxenham, whose ministry +is one of the most helpful factors in Rome. Dr. and Mrs. Oxenham occupy +a charming apartment in the Piazza del Popolo, the most picturesque +piazza in Rome, with the terraced Pincion hillside crowned by the Villa +di Medici on one side, and the "twin churches" on another; and the +beautiful salon of Mrs. Oxenham, with its wealth of books and classic +engravings and gems of pictures, is one of the homelike interiors in +Rome. Mr. and Mrs. Oxenham receive on Wednesdays, and an hour with them +and their guests is always a privileged one. + +The work of this church, largely through the active co-operation of Mrs. +Oxenham, extends into wide charities which are without discrimination as +to sect or race,--the only consideration being the human need to be met +in the name of Him whose care and love are for each and all. + +Among the delightful hostesses of Rome is the American wife of Cavaliere +Cortesi, an Italian man of letters, and in their apartment, in one of +the notable palaces in the Corso, some of the most brilliant musicals +and receptions are given, the "All'Illustrissima Signora" being assisted +in the informal serving of tea by the two little fairy daughters, +Annunziata and Elizabetta, whose childish loveliness lingers with the +_habitues_ of this pleasant home. + +In the Palazzo Senni, in the old part of Rome, looking out on Castel San +Angelo and the Ponte d'Angelo, across to the dome of St. Peter's, the +Listers had their home; and though Mrs. Lister, one of the most +distinguished English ladies of Rome, has gone on into the fairer world +beyond, her daughter, Miss Roma Lister, sustains the charming +hospitalities for which her mother was famous. Her salons on the piano +nobile of the palace are rich in souvenirs and rare objects of art. Mrs. +Lister, who was of a noted English house, was evidently a favorite with +Queen Victoria and the royal family; and her marriage gifts included two +drawings by the Queen, both autographed, and a crayon portrait of the +Empress Frederick with autographic inscription to Mrs. Lister. Another +personal gift was a portrait of Cardinal Newman, with his autograph. A +bust of Lady Paget of Florence, the widow of Sir Augustus Paget, +formerly the English Ambassador to Italy, is another of the interesting +treasures which include, indeed, gifts and offerings from a large number +of those eminent in state, in art, in literature, or in the church. The +gracious hospitality of Miss Lister is dispensed to groups of +cosmopolitan guests, and her dinners and other entertainments are among +the most brilliant in Rome. + +The Eternal City is not as hospitable to various phases of modern +thought as is Florence, in which Theosophy, Christian Science, and +psychic investigation flourish with rapidly increasing ardor; but Rome +has a Theosophical Society, among whose leaders is the Baroness +Rosenkrans, the mother of the distinguished young Danish novelist, and +the aunt of Miss Roma Lister. The society has its rooms in the very +heart of old Rome, and holds weekly meetings, often with an English +lecturer as the speaker of the hour. A Theosophical library, in both +English and Italian, is easily accessible, and the meetings are +conducted in either language as it chances at the time. The accession of +Annie Besant to the presidency of the Theosophical Society, succeeding +Colonel Olcott, whose death occurred early in 1907, was most +satisfactory to the Roman members. Mrs. Besant is one of the most +remarkable women of the day. She is in no sense allied with any fads +or freaks; she is essentially a woman of scholarship and poise, of +genuine grasp of significant thought and of brilliant eloquence. +Theosophy, rightly interpreted, is in no sense antagonistic, but, +rather, supplemental to Christianity. It offers the intellectual +explanation--the details, so to speak--of the great spiritual truths of +the Bible. + +Rome seems fairly on its way to become an English-speaking city, so +numerous are the Americans and English who throng to Rome in the winter. + +There are now at least a dozen large new hotels on the scale of the best +modern hotels in New York and Paris, beside the multitude of the older +ones which are comfortable and retain all their popularity; yet this +increase in accommodation does not equal the increase in demand. In +February the tide of travel sets in toward Rome, and from that date +until after Easter every nook and niche are filled to overflowing. The +demand for apartments in Rome is greater than the supply, although the +city is being constantly extended and new buildings are rapidly being +erected. It would seem as if, with the present increasingly large number +of Americans and English, it might be an admirable financial enterprise +for capitalists to come and build comfortable modern apartment hotels. +There seems to be no adequate reason why, in this age, people should be +compelled to live in these gloomy, dreary, cold, old stone palaces, +without elevator service and with no adequate heating, lighting, and +running-water facilities. There would seem to be no conceivable reason +why these conveniences should not be at hand in Rome as well as in New +York. As for the climate, with warm houses to live in, it would be +charmingly comfortable, for the deadly cold is not in the temperature +out of doors, but only in the interiors. One is warm in the sunshine in +the streets, when he is fairly frozen in the house. Mentioning this, +however, with wonder that some enterprising American did not begin such +building operations, a friend who has lived for sixteen years in Rome +replied that the Italians would never permit it; that no foreigner is +allowed to come in here and initiate business operations. And the +Italians continue building after the old and clumsy fashion of five +hundred years ago. + +Italy has a curiously pervasive and general suspicion of any latter-day +comfort. The new apartment houses of from four to seven stories are +largely without any elevator; if there is one it usually only ascends +about halfway, and it is so clumsy and slow in its methods, so poorly +supported by power, that half the time it does not run at all. The +streets of Rome are paved with rough stones; the sidewalks are very +narrow; the lighting is inadequate. Bathrooms are rare and insufficient +in number, and all interior lighting and heating arrangements lack much +that is desirable according to American ideas of comfort. + +Still the Eternal City is so impressive in and of itself that sunshine +or storm, comfort or the reverse, can hardly affect one's intensity of +joy and wonder and mysterious, unanalyzable rapture in it. The +twentieth-century Rome is a very different affair from the Rome on which +Hawthorne entered one dark, cold, stormy winter night more than half a +century ago. In the best modern hotels one may be as comfortable as he +likes, with all the fascinations of life added besides. No wonder that +Rome is one of the great winter centres, with some of the most +interesting people in the world always to be found under the spell of +its enchantment. + +The Rome of to-day is a curious mixture of ruins and of modern buildings +which are neither modern nor mediaeval in their structure, but many of +which combine the most picturesque features of the latter with the +latest beauty of French and American architectural art. The classic +buildings are now largely in unpleasant surroundings; as, for instance, +the Pantheon, which is surrounded by a fish market, with unspeakable +odors and other repulsive features. "But the portico, with its sixteen +Corinthian columns, is forever majestic; the interior, a vast circular +cell surmounted by a dome through which alone it is lighted, there being +no windows in the walls, is massive and grim, but the magical +illumination, the eye constantly revealing the sky above, gives it +wonderful beauty. Over the outer portals is the inscription of its +erection by Agrippa twenty-seven years before Christ, so it has stood +for nearly two thousand years. Colossal statues of Augustus and Agrippa +fill niches. In diameter the interior of the Pantheon is one hundred and +thirty-two feet, and it is the same in height, which insures the +singularly harmonious proportions. The tribune of the High-Altar is cut +in the thickness of the wall in the form of a semicircle, and is +ornamented, like the door, with four pilasters and two columns of violet +marble. The six chapels are also cut in the wall and ornamented by two +columns and two pilasters. The columns and the pilasters support the +beautiful cornice of white marble; the frieze is of porphyry, and goes +round the whole temple. Above this order there is a species of attic +with fourteen niches, and the great cornice from which rises the +majestic dome. Eight other niches are between the chapels, and these are +also with a pediment supported by two Corinthian columns. They are now +converted into altars. In this temple are buried several artists, among +whom are Raphael, Giovanni da Udine, Baldassare Peruzzi, and Annibale +Carracci. Raphael is buried beneath the base of the statue called la +Madonna del Sasso, sculptured by Lorenzetti. This church is, however, +without paintings or sculptures of much interest. Victor Emmanuel was +entombed here on the 20th of January, 1878, and King Umberto on the 9th +of August, 1900." One of the imposing ceremonies of Rome is that always +celebrated in the Pantheon on March 14, in memory of King Umberto Primo. + +A grand catafalque, surmounted by the royal crown, and surrounded by +tall candelabra with wax candles, is erected in the centre of the +temple, draped with black velvet and gold lace, and lighted with +electric lamps. The mass is for a chorus of voices only. All the civil +and military authorities, the state dignitaries, and the _corps +diplomatique_ to the court of Italy are present. The troops, in full +dress uniform, file in the Piazza of the Collegio Romano, Via Pie di +Marmo, and the Piazza della Minerva, enclosing thus a large square in +the Piazza del Pantheon. The spectacle is one of the most imposing of +all Roman ceremonies. + +The King, and Queen Elena, and the Dowager Queen Margherita, accompanied +by their respective civil and military households, assist at the requiem +mass celebrated in the Pantheon, and at a commemoration service, on the +same day, in the Royal Chapel of the Sudario, where also assemble the +ladies and gentlemen of the Order of the Annunziata. + +On the same morning the feast of St. Gregory, Pope and Doctor of the +church, is celebrated at his church on the Caelian Hill. He was born of a +noble family, and was Prefect of Rome in 573. Pope Pelagius II made him +regionary deacon of Rome, and sent him as legate to Constantinople in +578, where he remained till the death of Pelagius, when he was elected +Pope (590). He introduced the Gregorian chant. His first great act was +to send St. Augustine to convert the Saxons of England to the Christian +faith. An inscription in the Church of San Gregorio Magno states that +St. Augustine was educated in the abbey which was erected on the site of +the present church by Gregory, and that many early archbishops of York +and Canterbury were also educated there. It was on the steps of this +church that Augustine and his forty monks took leave of Gregory, when +setting out for England. He died in 604, after a pontificate of thirteen +years and six months. He was buried in the portico of the Vatican +Basilica, and his body lies under the altar dedicated to him in this +same church. His church, on the Caelian Hill, was built on the site of +the monastery founded by him. In the chapel of the triclinium, near the +church, the table on which he served the poor is shown. Near the church +also is seen his cell, where his marble chair and one of his arms are +exhibited. + +During the Lenten season of 1907 one of the privileges of Rome was to +hear the sermons of Monsignor Vaughn, in the English Catholic Church of +San Silvestre. Monsignor Vaughn is the private chaplain of the Pope. His +discourses attracted increasing throngs of both Catholic and Protestant +hearers. This celebrated prelate is a brother of the late English +Cardinal. He is a man of great distinction of presence, of beautiful +voice and fascination of manner. One discourse had for its theme the +joys of the life that is to come. The spiritual body, he said, has many +qualities not pertaining to the physical body. It is immured from all +disease and accidents; it is subtle and can pass through any substance +which is (apparently) solid to us, as, for instance, when Jesus appeared +in the midst of his disciples, "the doors being shut." It is not a clog +on the soul, continued Monsignor Vaughn; the spiritual body is the +vehicle of the soul and can waft its way through the air; it can walk +the air as the physical body walks the earth. It is not--as is the +physical body--the prison of the soul, but the companion of the soul. +This is all a very enlightened presentation of spiritual truth, and it +is little wonder that such preaching attracts large congregations. Holy +Week in Rome bears little resemblance now to that of the past. The Pope +is not visible in any of the ceremonials in any of the churches; and the +impressiveness of former Catholic ceremonials is greatly lessened. +Indeed, with the passing of the temporal power of the Pope, the +picturesqueness of Rome largely vanished. + +Not, assuredly, from any lack of reverence for the colossal cathedral of +St. Peter's is that Basilica a resort for Sunday afternoons; it suggests +a social reunion, where every one goes, listens as he will to the music +of the Papal choir in the Chapel of the Sacrament, and strolls about the +vast interior where the promenade of the multitude does not yet disturb +in the least the vesper service in the chapel. Here one meets +everybody; the general news of the day is exchanged; greeting and +salutation and pleasant little conversational interludes mark the +afternoon, while the sun sinks behind the splendid pile of the Palazzo +Vaticano, and the golden light through the window of the tribune fades +into dusk. Can one ever lose out of memory the indescribable charm of +this leisurely sauntering, in social enjoyment, in the wonderful +interior of St. Peter's? + +In the way of the regulation sight-seeing the visitor to Rome compasses +most of his duty in this respect on his initial sojourn and goes the +rounds that no one ever need dream of repeating. Once for all the +visitor to Rome goes down into the Catacombs; makes his appallingly hard +journey over Castel San Angelo, into its cells and dungeons, and to the +colossal salon in which is Hadrian's tomb; once for a lifetime he climbs +St. Peter's dome; drives out to old St. Agnes and descends into the +crypt; visits the Church of the Capucines and beholds the ghastly +spectacle of the monks' skulls; drives in the Appian Way; visits the +Palace of the Caesars, the Baths of Caracalla--a mass of ruins; the +Forum; the Temples of Vesta and Isis; the Coliseum, and the classic old +Pantheon. These form a kind of skeleton for the regulation sight-seeing +of the Eternal City; things which, once done, are checked off with the +feeling that the entire duty of the tourist has been fulfilled, and +that, henceforth in Rome, there is laid up for him the crown of +enjoyment, if not rejoicing; that he may go again and again to study the +marvellous treasures of the Vatican galleries, the masterpieces of art +in the Raphael stanze in the Vatican, the interesting pictures and +sculpture in the many rich churches and galleries. The deadly chill of +most of these galleries and churches in the winter is beyond words to +describe. It is as if the gloom and chill and darkness of a thousand +centuries were there concentrated. + +One of the regulation places for the devout sight-seer, who feels +responsible to his conscience for improving his privileges, is the Museo +Nazionale, or the Tiberine Museum, a large proportion of whose treasures +have been excavated in making the new embankments of the Tiber. It is +located on the site of the Baths of Diocletian, the great ruins of which +surround it in the most uncanny way. Built around a large court, the +salons of the museum are entered from the inner cloisters. In the centre +of the court is a fountain, and around it are antique fragments of +statues, columns, and statuettes found in many places. The famous +Ludovisi collection of antique statuary is now permanently placed in +this museum,--a collection that includes the "Ludovisi Mars;" +"Hercules," with a cornucopia; the "Hermes of Theseus," the "Discobolus +Hermes;" the "Venus of Gnidus" as copied by Praxiteles; the "Dying +Medusa;" the "Ludovisi Juno," which Winckelmann declares to be the +finest head of Juno extant, a Greek work of the fourth century; a "Cupid +and Psyche;" the two "Muses of Astronomy" and of "Epic Poetry," "Urania +and Calliope;" "an Antoninus;" the largest sarcophagus known; a "Tragic +Mask" (colossal) in rosso antico; a bust of "Marcus Aurelius" in bronze, +and many other priceless works. + +The splendor of scenic setting for art in the magnificent salons of the +Casino Borghese has never been surpassed. They are, perhaps, the most +impressive of any Roman interior, with lofty, splendidly decorated +ceilings and walls, where recess and niche hold priceless sculptures. +The splendor of these salons, indeed, quite exceeds description. In the +principal one is a group on one wall--a colossal relief--representing +Marcus Curtius plunging into the gulf in the Forum. There are busts of +the twelve Caesars; there are busts of all the Roman Emperors, with +alabaster draperies, placed on pedestals of red granite. There are +Bernini's "Apollo and Daphne;" Canova's celebrated statue of Princess +Pauline Borghese (the sister of Napoleon I); Bernini's "David" and +"AEneas and Anchises;" Thorwaldsen's "Faun;" "Diana," "Isis," "Juno," and +many other celebrated classic statues. All the great paintings which +were formerly in the Palazzo Borghese--over six hundred in all--are now +in this casino. The great work in this collection is Raphael's +"Entombment of Christ," painted in his twenty-fourth year. Titian's +"Divine and Human Love;" Raphael's portrait of "Caesar Borgia;" +Correggio's "Danae;" Domenichino's "Cumaean Sibyl" and "Diana;" Peruzzi's +"Venus Leaving the Bath;" Van Dyck's "Crucifixion;" Titian's "Venus and +Cupid;" and "Annunciation," by Paul Veronese; Vasari's "Lucrezia +Borgia;" Botticelli's "Holy Family and Angels;" Van Dyck's "Entombment;" +Carlo Dolce's "Mater Dolorosa," and Sassoferrato's "Three Ages of Man" +are among the great masterpieces in this museum. + +The Villa Borghese (by which is meant the park) is some three miles in +extent, and was laid out some two hundred years ago by Cardinal +Borghese. As recently as 1902 it was purchased by the government for +three million francs, and its official name is now "Villa Comunale +Umberto Primo." These grounds contain fountains, antique statues, +tablets, small temples and many inscriptions, with statues of AEsculapius +and Apollo, and an Egyptian gateway. They are open all day to every one +freely and are one of the great attractions of Rome. + +The great palaces of Rome are of later date than those of Florence. +There are some eighty principal ones, of which the Palazzos Veneziano, +Farnese, Doria, Barberini, Colonna, and the Rospigliosi (containing +Guido's famous "Aurora") are the most important. The Farnesina Palace +contains some of the most interesting pictures in Rome, and the +traditions of the residence of Agostino Chigi, during the pontificate +of Leo X, are still found in Rome,--traditions of the lavish +magnificence of the entertainments given here to the Pope and the +Cardinals. + +The Monte Pincio is the famous drive of Roman society, and the promenade +around the brow of the hill offers one of the most enchanting views of +the world. Near the Trinita di Monti stands the historic Villa Medici, +the French Academy of which the great Carolus Duran is now the director. +The view across the valley in which lies the Piazza di Spagna, the river +to St. Peter's, from the Villa Medici, is one of the finest in Rome. + +The architecture of the garden facade is attributed to Michael Angelo. +These gardens have a circuit of more than a mile, laid out in the formal +rectangles and densely bordered walks of the Italian custom. All manner +of old fragments of sculpture are scattered through them,--a torso, a +broken bust, a ruined statue, an old and partly broken fountain,--and +entablatures and reliefs are seen in the walls on every hand. No sound +of the city ever penetrates into this dense foliage which secludes the +gardens of the famous Villa Medici. + +One of the features of Roman life is the fashionable drive on Monte +Pincio in the late afternoons. An hour or two before sunset the terrace +of the Piazza Trinita di Monti begins to be thronged with pedestrians, +who lean over the marble balustrade, gazing at the incomparable pictured +panorama where the vast dome of St. Peter's, the dense pines of the +Villa Pamphilia-Doria on the Janiculum, and the dark cypress groves on +Monte Mario loom up against the golden western sky. + +Compared with the extensive parks of modern cities the Monte Pincio +would prefigure itself as a drive for fairies alone. It comprises a few +acres only, thickly decorated with trees and shrubbery, with a casino +for the orchestra that plays every afternoon, and a circular carriage +drive so limited in extent that the same carriage comes in view every +few minutes. + +The Eternal City has had so many birthdays that one would fancy them to +have become negligible; but it was announced on April 21 of 1907 that +the date was a special anniversary, and she took on aspects of +festivity. The municipal palaces and museums were hung with tapestries, +flags were flying from the Capitol, the municipal guards were all in +full dress uniform and the municipal orchestra played in the Piazza +Colonna. The historic bell began ringing at eight in the morning in +peals that were well calculated to call the Caesars from their tombs and +which might, indeed, have been mistaken for the final trumpet calls of +Gabriel. But the Romans take their pleasures rather sadly and +sternly,--not like the light-hearted Florentines in song and laughter, +or with the joyous abandon of the Neapolitans,--so there was no special +manifestation on the part of the populace, and the day, cold, gloomy, +and cheerless, did not inspire gayety. + +When the Republic of Rome was established (on Feb. 9, 1849) a +provisional government was appointed. In March of that year Mazzini +proposed that the assembly should appoint a Committee of War, and it was +decided to send troops to Piedmont. Later a triumvirate, consisting of +Mazzini, Saffi, and Armellini, was formed, but disaster was near. In +April the French troops landed at Civita Vecchia, and the Italians +prepared to defend their country from the control of Louis Napoleon. +Mazzini is said to have been "the life and the soul" of this defence. +But the Republic was doomed, and when it had fallen the Pope returned, +only under the protection of the French. But the French Empire, too, was +doomed to fall; and when Garibaldi transferred his successes to Victor +Emmanuel, the monarchy was consolidated by the union of Rome with Italy, +and the present "Via Venti Settembre" in Rome--the street named to +commemorate that 20th of September, 1870, on which the Italian troops +entered the city and the Papal reign ended--perpetuates the story of +those eventful days. "Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, and Garibaldi have been +designated, along with Mazzini, as the founders of the modern Italy," +said Dr. William Clarke, "but a broad line divides Mazzini from the +others." Dr. Clarke sees between Cavour and Mazzini "the everlasting +conflict between the idealist and the man of the world. The former," he +continues, "stands by the intellect and the conscience; the latter by +the limitations of actual fact and the practical difficulties of the +case," and Dr. Clarke notes further:-- + + "It was pre-eminently Mazzini who gave to Italy the breath of a new + life, who taught her people constancy in devotion to an ideal + good. Prophets are rarely successful in their own day, and so it + has been with the prophet of modern Italy. The making of Italy has + not proceeded in the way he hoped it would; for the Italians, who + are an eminently subtle and diplomatic people, have apparently + thought it best to bend to the hard facts by which they have been + surrounded. But if, as Emerson teaches, facts are fluid to thought, + we may believe that the ideas of Mazzini will yet prevail in the + nation of his birth, and that he may yet be regarded as the + spiritual father of the future Italian commonwealth. For of him, if + of any modern man, we may say that he + + 'Saw distant gates of Eden gleam, + And did not dream it was a dream.'" + + [Illustration: STATUE OF CHRIST, ANCIENT CHURCH OF SAN MARTINA, ROME + _From the Artist's Original Cast_ + Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen + _Page 193_] + +Between the period of the establishment of the Roman Republic in 1849 +and the consummation of United Italy in 1870 the years were rich to the +artist, whatever they may have been to philosopher and patriot. The way +for the painter and the sculptor seems to have been a flowery and a +pictorial one,--a very _via buona fortuna_, through a golden, +artistic atmosphere. The perpetual excursions may lead the serious +spectator to wonder where working hours come in, but, at all events, +those days are rich in color. Friends grouped together by the unerring +law of elective affinities loitered in galleries and churches. San +Martina, near the Mamertine prisons, was a point of interest because of +Thorwaldsen's bequest to it of the original cast of his beautiful statue +of "Christ" which is in Copenhagen. This is, perhaps, the finest work +ever conceived by the Danish sculptor, and is one that no visitor of +to-day can behold unmoved. Both Canova and Bernini are also represented +in this church,--the former by a statue of "Religion" and the latter by +a bust of Pietro da Cortona. Beneath the present Church of San Martina +is the ancient one containing the shrine of the martyr, under a superb +bronze altar. Of this church, Mrs. Jameson says in her "Sacred and +Legendary Art":-- + + "At the foot of the Capitoline Hill, on the left hand as we descend + from the Ara Coeli into the Forum, there stood in very ancient + times a small chapel, dedicated to St. Martina, a Roman virgin. The + veneration paid to her was of very early date, and the Roman people + were accustomed to assemble there on the first day of the year. + This observance was, however, confined to the people, and was not + very general till 1634, an era which connects her in rather an + interesting manner with the history of art. In this year, as they + were about to repair her chapel, they discovered, walled into the + foundations, a sarcophagus of terra cotta, in which was the body of + a young female, whose severed head reposed in a separate casket. + These remains were very naturally supposed to be those of the saint + who had been so long venerated on that spot. The discovery was + hailed with the utmost exultation, not by the people only, but by + those who led the minds and consciences of the people. The Pope + himself, Urban VIII, composed hymns in her praise; and Cardinal + Francesco Barberini undertook to rebuild her church." + +The painter, Pietro da Cortona, entered into this feeling and at his own +expense built the chapel and painted for its altar piece the picture +representing the saint in triumph, while the temple in which she has +gone to sacrifice falls in ruins from a raging tempest. + +In any stray ramble in Rome the sojourner might chance, at any moment, +upon obelisk, a pedestal or inscription linked with the great names of +the historic past. Hawthorne has recorded how, by mere chance, he turned +from the Via delle Quattro Fontane into the Via Quirinale and was thus +lured on to an obelisk and a fountain on the pedestal of which on one +side was the inscription, "Opus Phidias," and on the other, "Opus +Praxiteles," and he exclaims:-- + + "What a city is this, when one may stumble, by mere chance--at a + street corner as it were--on the works of two such sculptors! I do + not know the authority," he continues, "on which these statues + (Castor and Pollux I presume) are attributed to Phidias and + Praxiteles; but they impressed me as noble and godlike, and I feel + inclined to take them for what they purport to be." + +While the Papal ceremonies are neither so frequent nor so magnificent as +in former days, still any hotel guest in Rome is liable, any morning, +on coming down to the _salle-a-manger_ for coffee, to find every woman +(who is taking her Rome seriously) arrayed in a black robe with a black +lace veil on her head. One would fancy they were all a procession of +nuns, about to retire from the world into the strict seclusion of the +cloister. But it is nothing so momentous. It is only that every lady, +with the devotion to spectacles which every visitor in Rome feels, as a +matter of course, has secured the pink ticket entitling her to admission +to the Vatican Palace to see the "passage" of the Pope, as he makes his +way, attended by the Cardinals of the Sacred College, to the Sistine +Chapel where his Holiness "creates" new Cardinals. Although rumored that +the spectacle will be a gorgeous one, that the Pope will be carried +aloft preceded by the silver trumpeters and attended by the Cardinals +and the ambassadors and other dignitaries in the full dress of their +ceremonial costumes and their orders, the reality is less impressive. +Some feminine enthusiasts fare forth at the heroic hour of eight, +although the procession is not announced to pass until a quarter after +ten (which in Italy should be translated as a quarter after eleven, at +the earliest, if not after twelve, which would be the more probable), in +order to secure good standing room. For everybody is to stand--of +course, comfort being a thing conspicuous only by its absence in Italy! +Those of us too well aware by the experiences of previous visits to +Italy that no Italian function was ever on time, from the starting of a +railway train to the crowning of a king, only betake ourselves to the +glories of the Palazzo Vaticano at the hour named, and we have then--as +one's prophetic soul or his commonplace memory warned him--to wait more +than an hour wedged into a dense crowd of all nationalities, none of +whom seem at this particular juncture, at least, to be at all +overburdened with good manners. And what went they out for to seek? +Instead of an impressive spectacle--a thing to remember for a +lifetime--one merely sees Pius X walking, surrounded by his Cardinals in +a group,--not a procession,--he alone in the centre with his mitre on +his head,--the whole scene hardly lasting over a minute, and as his +Holiness is not as tall as most of his Cardinals, he is almost hidden +from view. It had been rumored that the Pope was to be borne aloft in +the Papal chair, preceded by the traditional white fan and the silver +trumpets; but the present Pope is temperamentally inclined to minimize +all the ceremonials investing his sacred office. + +Yet there is always a thrill in entering the Vatican. To ascend that +splendid _Scala Regia_ designed by Bernini, with one of the most +ingeniously treated perspective effects to be found, it may be, in the +entire world; to cross this _Scala_ with its interesting frescoes by +Salviati and others; to see at near range the picturesque Swiss +Guard,--surely any pretext to enjoy such a morning is easily accepted of +whatever occurrence one may grasp in order to obtain the hour. + +One curious feature of the past is to-day equally in evidence in Rome. +Strolling at any time into the Church of San Agostino one beholds a +curious spectacle. It is in this church that is placed the beautiful +bronze statue of the Virgin and Child by Sansovino. It is approached by +a platform on which is placed a stool that enables one to mount and thus +reach the foot of the statue, which is kissed and the wish of the +devotee is offered. This Madonna is believed to have the power to grant +each wish and prayer; to heal the sick; restore the blind, the deaf, and +the lame; to grant immunity from loss or illness; to grant success and +prosperity. The poor Madonna must have her hands full with these +avalanches of petitions, but she sits calmly in state and, if the +striking testimony of votive offerings can be credited, she is most +amiable in granting the prayers of her devotees. For she is hung with +priceless jewels; necklaces, brooches, bracelets, diamond and ruby and +sapphire rings on her fingers, she is a blaze of splendor. Around this +statue there is a perpetual crowd, whatever hour of day one chances to +wander in, and from prince to beggar the bronze foot is kissed, as each +waits his turn to mount the stool and prefer his secret wish. The walls +of the church are covered with the votive offerings to the Madonna for +her aid,--rich jewels, orders, tablets,--offerings of all kinds. In this +church is entombed the body of Santa Monica, the mother of St. +Augustine, placed in an urn of verd-antique, in a special chapel +beautifully decorated. After preferring one's secret wish to the Virgin +one must wander on to the Fontane de Trevi and throw his penny into the +water to insure his return to Rome, and then he may rest, _mens conscia +recti_! + +Although Holy Week in Rome has less ceremonial observance in these +latter days than those of the impressive scenes so vividly portrayed by +Mme. de Stael in "Corinne," it still attracts a multitude of visitors +and offers much to touch and thrill the life of the spirit, quite +irrespective as to whether the visitor be of the Catholic or Protestant +faith. In the great essentials of Christianity, all followers of Christ +unite. The Pope does not now take part in public services on Easter, and +that scene of the Pontifical blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's +given to the multitude below who throng the piazza remains only in +memory and in record. But the stately and solemn services of Good Friday +in the vast and grand interior of St. Peter's are an experience to +linger forever in memory. The three hours' service--the chanting of the +Miserere--was a scene to impress the imagination. This service is held +in the late afternoon of Good Friday, in the tribune of St. Peter's, the +extreme end of the church where the vast window of yellow glass gives a +perpetually golden light. The chair believed to have been that of St. +Peter's is here placed, enclosed in ivory and supported by statues of +four Fathers of the church, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, +and St. Athanasius, from a design of Bernini. + +In the tribune is the tomb of Urban VIII (who was Matteo Barberini), of +which the redundant decoration tells the story that it is also Bernini's +work. Opposite this tomb is that of Paul III, by della Porta, under the +supervision of Michael Angelo, it is said, and the beauty and dignity of +the bronze figure of the aged Pope, in the act of giving the +benediction, quite confirm this tradition. On a tablet in the wall of +the tribune are engraved the names of all the bishops and prelates who, +in 1854, accepted the belief of the Immaculate Conception,--this tablet +being placed by the order of Pio Nono. + +In this tribune on the late afternoon of the Good Friday of 1907 the +seats were filled with worshippers to listen to the three hours' chant +of the Miserere. Princes and peasants sat side by side, and an immense +throng who could not find seats stood, often wandering away in the dim +distances of the cathedral and ever and again returning. The high altar, +where Canova's beautiful figure of the kneeling Pope always enchains the +visitor, was, as usual, surrounded. The lights burned--these perpetual +lamps--and the moving throng went and came. The scene grew mystic, +dream-like, as the solemn music floated on the air. + +The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, on the left of the cathedral, was made +into the sepulchre that day, and anything more beautiful than the myriad +altar lights and the flowers could not be imagined. At the altar +black-robed nuns were kneeling, and all over the chapel, kneeling on the +floor, were people of all grades and ranks of life, from the duchess and +princess to the beggar woman with a ragged shawl on her shoulders and +her baby in her arms. St. Peter's was nearly filled all that day with +people, not crowded, but apparently thronged in almost every part. + +The altar in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament was one mass of deep red +roses. The chapel was completely darkened, but the blaze of myriads of +tall candles illuminated the roses and the black-robed nuns and the +black-robed devotees. It was a scene never to be forgotten. + +Even in the latter-day Rome, historic names are not wanting. One of +these, the Princess Christina Bonaparte, _nee_ Ruspoli, died in 1907 in +her Roman villa in Via Venti Settembre. She was the widow of Prince +Napoleon Charles Bonaparte and a cousin of the Empress Eugenie. With her +husband in Paris until 1870, she fled (whilst her husband was fighting +at Metz) as soon as the Commune was proclaimed. The princess was +considered a beautiful woman and her portrait had been painted by Ernest +Hebert, but it was lost when the Palace of the Tuileries was destroyed +in 1870. + +With this princess dies the name of the Bonaparte family. Her daughters, +Donna Maria Gotti-Bonaparte and Princess Maria della Moskowa, were often +with her in Rome. + +The Palazzo Bonaparte is very near Porta Pia. Although called a palace, +it is simply a plain house of some five stories, with narrow halls and +stone staircases, no elevator, no electric lights. The princess occupied +the first floor, while the apartments above were let to various +families. + +With the exception of the royal palaces there are few in which suites +are not obtainable for residence by any one who desires them. + + [Illustration: CASTEL SAN ANGELO AND ST. PETER'S, ROME + _Page 204_] + +It was at a pleasant _dejeuner_ one spring day in Rome that the project +was launched, that we should go motoring that afternoon to Frascati, +Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Lago di Nemi, and all that wonderful region. We +were lunching with a friend who had a charming apartment in one of the +sumptuous old palaces of Rome, where, in a niche on the marble +staircase, the statue of Caesar Augustus stood,--a copy of the famous +statue in the Capitoline,--where lofty, decorated ceilings, old +paintings and sculptures adorned the rooms, and where from the windows +we looked out on the tragedy-haunted Castel San Angelo, with the dome of +San Pietro in the background. Our friend who invited us to fly in his +motor had brought his touring car over from America. The one note of new +luxury now is for travellers to journey with their touring cars. In a +year or two more it will be airships or soaring machines. On this +wonderful May afternoon, all azure and gold, we started off in the +great, luxurious touring car which was arranged even to carry two +trunks, with a safe in it for the deposit of valuables, a hamper for +refreshments, and, indeed, almost every conceivable convenience. On we +flew through Rome, past the great Basilica of San Maria Maggiore; past +the wonderful pile of San Giovanni Laterano, with the colossal statues +of the apostles surmounting the facade; through the Porta San Giovanni +into the narrow, walled lane leading out on the Campagna; on, on, to the +Alban hills. We flew past olive orchards and vineyards, and the vast +green pasture lands of the Campagna whose vivid green was ablaze with +scarlet poppies. Far away to the west there was a white shining +line--the line of the sea. + +At Frascati we stopped at the Villa Torlonia, the country place of the +ducal family, whose grand Roman palazzo is in the Bocca di Leone in the +old part of Rome. The Torlonia have an only daughter, Donna Teresa, +whose _debutante_ ball a year ago is said to have been the most +magnificent entertainment in Rome for fifty years. A writer, in a recent +article on the nobility of Rome, said of this family:-- + + "The Torlonia figure repeatedly in the novels of Thackeray, who + was never tired of portraying them. They have been most useful + citizens, and since the days of the old army contractor, who + founded the house, have augmented the family wealth by judicious + investments, especially in connection with the draining and + reclaiming of the marsh lands that abound in the former Papal + States. They have contracted matrimonial alliances with the + Colonna, with the Borghese, the Belmonte, the Doria, and the + Sforza." + +The Villa Torlonia at Frascati is a very large estate with extensive +gardens, terraces, and a cascade of three falls on the hillside, which +is turned on (the water) at pleasure. The house, however, is a +shabby-looking affair, a two or three story, rambling, yellow structure, +which, at Newport, would not be considered too good for the gardener. + +After the usual fashion of the Italians who seldom travel, the Torlonia, +wealthy as they are, simply remove from their palace in Rome to their +villa at Frascati instead of travelling to Switzerland, Germany, or +elsewhere in the summer. + +The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland were the guests of the Torlonia that +day, the entire party enjoying themselves _al fresco_, and the beautiful +cascade pouring down within the near distance. + +These outlying towns, Frascati, Albano, Castel Gandolfo, and Lago di +Nemi, the picturesque group in the Alban Mountains, are some sixteen to +eighteen miles from Rome. These Alban hills rise like an island from the +vast plain of the Campagna, the highest point being some three thousand +feet above sea level. They are covered with villages and castles and +villas, and have in all a population of some fifty thousand. The region +is volcanic, and the beautiful Lago di Nemi and Lago di Albano were the +craters of extinct volcanoes. All this region was the haunt of Cicero, +Virgil, and Livy. At Tusculum, near Frascati, are the remains of +Cicero's villa, and also of an ancient theatre hewn out of solid rock. +The view to the west toward Rome is most beautiful. The dome of St. +Peter's crowns the Eternal City; and the Campagna--a sea of green--is as +infinite in sight as is the Mediterranean. There are splendid villas and +estates in these Alban hills that belong to the Roman nobility, and +here the Pope has his summer palace. "The Alban Mount is also full of +historical and legendary interest," says a writer on the country around +Rome. "The Latin tribe, one of the constituent elements of the Roman +people, had here its seat. Upon the highest peak of the range was the +temple of Jupiter Latiaris, where all the tribes of Latin blood, the +Romans included, met every year to worship; and where the victorious +generals of the Republic repaired to offer praises and acknowledgments. +In these mountain glens undoubtedly most of that ballad literature of +Rome, the loss of which Macaulay so eloquently laments and so +successfully restores, had its origin. Nor need the scholar be reminded +that this is the scene of the most original and vigorous portions of the +AEneid of Virgil; nor how the genius of the poet, which rather languidly +recounts the traditions borrowed from Greece, wakes to new life, when he +feels his feet upon his own soil and deals with Latin names and Latin +legends." + +The Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati is celebrated for its fantastic +waterworks in elaborate fountains and cascades. In the gardens a statue +of Pan with a pipe of reeds and one of a satyr with a trumpet are made +to play (both the pipe and the trumpet) by water. The hydraulic engineer +must have found in Frascati his earthly paradise, for he commanded the +water to leap into foam and spray in the air, to rush down marble +terraces, and to form itself into obelisks of liquid silver. + +At Grotto Ferrata is a vast monastery of monks of the Order of Basilio +(Greek), a monastery so colossal as to be mistaken for a fortress. The +chapel has frescoes by Domenichino. At Castel Gandolfo is the summer +Papal palace, that has not been occupied by a Pope since the +overthrowing of the temporal power in 1870. It has a beautiful and +commanding view toward Rome. It was built by Urban VIII. + +All the magic of Italy is in this picturesque excursion. In the vast +grounds of the Villa Barberini are the ruins of the ancient palace and +gardens of Domitian. On one hillside is a broken wall; a long avenue of +ilex trees reveals here and there fragments of mosaic pavement. +Crumbling niches hold fragments of statues. The hill itself is still +pierced with the long tunnels driven through it by Domitian that he +might pass unseen,--presumably safe from his enemies,--from the palace +to the gardens. From the parapet, Rome is seen across the shining +Campagna and the dome of Michael Angelo gleams against the blue Italian +sky. + +"The wreck is beautiful," writes Mrs. Humphry Ward, in "Eleanor," of +this romantic spot; "for it is masked in the gloom of the overhanging +trees; or hidden behind dropping veils of ivy; or lit up by straggling +patches of broom and cytisus that thrust themselves through the gaps in +the Roman brickwork and shine golden in the dark. At the foot of the +wall, along its whole length, runs a low marble conduit that held the +sweetest, liveliest water. Lilies of the valley grow beside it, +breathing scent into the shadowed air; while on the outer or garden side +of the path the grass is purple with long-stalked violets, or pink with +the sharp heads of the cyclamen. And a little farther, from the same +grass, there shoots up, in happy neglect, tall camellia trees, ragged +and laden, strewing the ground red and white beneath them. And above the +camellias again the famous stone-pines of the villa climb into the high +air, overlooking the plain and the sea, peering at Rome and Soracte." + +One could wander all day in the strange ruins of the old Barberini +grounds, and in the vast spaces of the gardens and through the Villa +Doria. + +The beauty of the avenue of ilex trees through which we flew from Castel +Gandolfo to Lago di Nemi surpasses description. This lake, some four +miles in circumference, lies in a crater hollow, with precipitous hills +surrounding it, the water so clear that the ancients called it the +"Mirror of Diana." In it was constructed an artificial island in the +design of a Roman state barge. + +Over the long viaduct at Ariccia we flew; everywhere in the little town +people, donkeys--an almost indistinguishable mass--filled the narrow +streets; and thus on to Genzano and the Lago di Nemi, with its fabled +fleet at the bottom. + +The Chigi woods, that fill the deep ravine under the great viaduct at +Ariccia, were in the most brilliant emerald green. Past these forests +lay the vast stretch of the Pontine Marshes; and turning toward Rome +again, the splendor of the sunset flamed in the sky. One could but +recall Mrs. Humphry Ward's vivid picture of a storm seen over this part +of the Campagna:-- + + "The sunset was rushing to its height through every possible phase + of violence and splendor. From the Mediterranean, storm clouds were + rising fast to the assault and conquest of the upper sky, which + still above the hills shone blue and tranquil. But the northwest + wind and the sea were leagued against it. They sent out threatening + fingers and long spinning veils of cloud across it--skirmishers + that foretold the black and serried lines, the torn and monstrous + masses behind. Below these wild tempest shapes again--in long + spaces resting on the sea--the heaven was at peace, shining in + delicate greens and yellows, infinitely translucent and serene, + above the dazzling lines of water. Over Rome itself there was a + strange massing and curving of the clouds. Between their blackness + and the deep purple of the Campagna rose the city--pale + phantom--upholding one great dome, and one only, to view of night + and the world. Round and above and behind, beneath the long flat + arch of the storm, glowed a furnace of scarlet light. The buildings + of the city were faint specks within its fierce intensity, dimly + visible through a sea of fire. St. Peter's alone, without visible + foundation or support, had consistence, form, identity; and between + the city and the hills, waves of blue and purple shade, forerunners + of the night, stole over the Campagna towards the higher ground. + But the hills themselves were still shining, still clad in rose and + amethyst, caught in gentler repetition from the wildness of the + west. Pale rose even the olive gardens; rose the rich brown + fallows, the emerging farms; while drawn across the Campagna from + north to south, as though some mighty brush had just laid it there + for sheer lust of color, sheer joy in the mating it with the + rose,--one long strip of sharpest, purest green." + +The Villa Falconieri, in Frascati, which was built by Cardinal Ruffini, +with the old ilex tree preserved in the portals, has recently been +purchased by the Emperor of Germany, who proposes to transform it into +an Academy for the accommodation of German students in Rome. These +national academies draw their corresponding numbers of students from the +nations thus represented, and contribute to the cosmopolitan aspects of +Rome. The American Academy in Rome is now being transferred from the +Ludovisi quarter to a large and convenient building outside Porta Pia. + +Perhaps the eminently social quality of Roman life may be indirectly due +to the lack of library privileges which is a conspicuous defect in Rome. +The Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele, under the courteous administration of +Commendatore Conte Guili, has, it is true, a collection of over half a +million volumes and thousands of very rare and valuable manuscripts. It +has a large public reading room, and books are loaned on the signature +of any embassy or consulate; yet this library, while offering peculiar +advantages to theological and other special students and readers, does +not afford any extended privileges to the general reader of modern +English and American publications. It is located in a grim and +forbidding old stone palace, approached by an obscure lane from the +Corso, where, as there is no sidewalk, the pedestrian shares the narrow, +dark, cold, stone-paved little street with carts, donkeys, peasants, +and beggars. + +The great monument to King Victor Emmanuel, of mingled architecture and +sculpture, a colossal structure of white marble with arches and pillars +forming beautiful colonnades, the capital of each column heavily carved, +and the sculpture, which is being done by a number of artists, will be +of the most artistic and beautiful order. This memorial will occupy an +entire block, and it is located very near the Capitol. All the old +buildings in the vicinity will be torn down to give a fine vista for +this transcendently noble and sumptuous memorial. + +The directors of this work aim to have it completed and ready to be +unveiled in 1911, the jubilee year of Italy's resurrection as a united +country. + +Encircled by the old Aurelian wall and near the great pyramid that marks +the tomb of Caius Cestius, who died 12 B.C., lies the Protestant +cemetery of Rome, full of bloom and fragrance and beauty, under the +dark, solemn cypress trees that stand like ever-watchful sentinels. When +Keats was buried here (in 1820), Shelley wrote of "the romantic and +lovely cemetery ... under the pyramid of Caius Cestius, and the mossy +walls and towers now mouldering and desolate which formed the circuit of +ancient Rome. The cemetery is an open space among the ruins, covered +even in winter with violets and daisies. It might make one in love with +death," he added, "to think of being buried in so sweet a place." + + [Illustration: PORTA SAN PAOLA, PYRAMID OF CAIUS CESTIUS, ROME + _Page 216_] + +In the old cemetery (immediately adjoining the pyramid and separated +from the new one by a wall) is the grave of Keats (who died in 1821) +with its unique inscription, "Here lies one whose name was writ in +water." Beside it is that of his friend, Joseph Severn, who died in +1829, and near these the grave of John Bell, the famous writer on +surgery and anatomy. In the new or more modern cemetery the visitor +lingers by the graves of Shelley and his friend, Trelawney; August +Goethe (the son of the poet); of William and Mary Howitt, who died in +1879 and 1888. Not merely, however, do the names of Keats and Shelley +allure the visitor to poetic meditations; but here lie the earthly forms +of many a poet, painter, and sculptor of our own country, with their +wives and children, who have sought in the Eternal City the +atmosphere for art and who, enamoured by the loveliness of Rome, +continued there for all their remaining years. These graves, these +sculptured memorials, are eloquent with the joys, the sorrows, the +achievements and the failures, the success and the defeat, of the +artistic life in a foreign land. Many of these memorial sculptures are +the work of the husband or the father, into which is inseparably joined +the personal tenderness to the artist's skill. Especially noticeable are +the graves of the wives of three American sculptors,--William Wetmore +Story, Richard S. Greenough, and Franklin Simmons. Each of these is +marked by a memorial sculpture created by the husband, and the three +different conceptions of these sculptors are interesting to contrast. +That of Mr. Story is of an angel with outspread wings, kneeling, her +head bowed in the utter despair and desolation of hopeless sorrow. The +figure has the greatest delicacy of beauty and refinement and +tenderness; but it is the grief that has no support of faith, the grief +that has no vision of divine consolation. On the memorial monument is +simply the name, Emelyn Story, born in Boston, 1820, died in Rome in +1898, and the note that it is the last work of W. W. Story, in memory of +his beloved wife. Here, also, is Mr. Story buried, his name and dates of +birth and death (1819-1901) alone being inscribed. + +At the tomb of Sarah B. Greenough, the wife of Richard S. Greenough, the +monument is designed to represent Psyche escaping from the bondage of +mortality. This Psyche is emerging from her garments and she holds in +her hand a lamp. On this is the inscription: "Her loss was that as of a +keystone to an arch." + +Mrs. Greenough was a very accomplished musician, and she had the unique +honor of having been made a member of the "Arcadians." + +The memorial sculpture over the grave of Mrs. Franklin Simmons is, as +elsewhere noted, the work of her husband, a figure called "The Angel of +the Resurrection." The angel is represented as a male figure (Gabriel) +holding in the left hand a golden trumpet while the right is +outstretched. His wings are spread, his face partly turned to the right. +The form is partially draped and in every detail is instinct with a +complete harmony; every fold of the drapery, every curve of the body, +and the lofty and triumphant expression of the face in its ineffable +glory of achievement proclaim the triumph of immortality. It stands on a +pedestal that gives it, from the base of the pedestal to the tip of the +outstretched wings, a height of some twenty-one feet. This monument, +seen against a background of dark cypress trees, speaks the word of +positive and complete faith in the divine promise of eternal life. + + "Then life is--to wake, not sleep, + Rise and not rest, but press + From earth's level where blindly creep + Things perfected, more or less, + In the heaven's height--far and steep." + +The visitor lingers over the grave of that interesting painter, J. +Rollin Tilton, whose landscapes from Egypt and Italian scenes were so +vivid and picturesque. + +Richard Henry Dana, the elder, born in Boston in 1815, came to Rome to +die in 1882. + +Very near the tomb of William Wetmore and Emelyn Story is that of +Constance Fenimore Woolson. Over the graves of William and Mary Howitt +is the inscription: "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, +believe also in me." + +On the wall just back of the new tomb erected over the ashes of Shelley +by Onslow Ford in 1891 is a memorial tablet placed to Frederick W. H. +Myers, bearing this inscription:-- + + "This tablet is placed to the memory of Frederick William Henry + Myers, born at Keswick, Cumberland, Feb. 6, 1843; died in Rome, + Jan. 17, 1901. 'He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest him long + life ever and forever.'" + +Over the grave of John Addington Symonds, whose best monument is in his +admirable History of the Renaissance in Italy, is a Latin inscription +written by Professor Jowett of Oxford, and a stanza from the Greek of +Cleanthes, translated by Mr. Symonds as follows:-- + + "Lead thou, our God, law, reason, motion, life; + All names for Thee alike are vain and hollow; + Lead me, for I will follow without strife, + Or, if I strive, still more I blindly follow." + +John Addington Symonds, who certainly ranks as the most gifted +interpreter of Italy, in her art, her legends and associations, and her +landscape loveliness, died in the Rome he so loved in 1893. His wife was +ill in Venice, but his daughter, Margaret,--his inseparable companion +and his helper in his work,--was with him. It is Miss Symonds who +prefaced a memorial volume to her father with the exquisite lines:-- + + "O Love; we two shall go no longer + To lands of summer beyond the sea." + +Near the graves of Keats and of his friend, Joseph Severn, are those of +Augustus William Hare and John Gibson, the sculptor, who died in 1868. +Some ten years before Hawthorne, meeting Gibson at a dinner given by T. +Buchanan Read, wrote of him that it was whispered about the table that +he had been in Rome for forty-two years and that he had a quiet, +self-contained aspect as of one who had spent a calm life among his clay +and marble. + +Dwight Benton, an American painter and writer, who was for some time in +the diplomatic service and whose home had been in Rome for more than a +quarter of a century, lies buried here. For many years he was the +editor of _The Roman World_, which still sustains the interesting +character that marked it during his editorship. Of his work in art a +friend wrote:-- + + "In painting, as in literature, Dwight Benton took his inspiration + from nature. His paintings of Italian scenery are true and faithful + representations of its character and atmospheric effects. His + tramps on the Roman Campagna were long and often tiring, but he + worked with all an artist's enthusiasm, unmindful of cold, rain, + and even hunger. He would delight, as all true artists, in an old + convent, a tree, a tower, a cross, which he would reproduce with a + peculiar and striking perfection of tone and color. In his + paintings of Keats's and Shelley's tombs, not only are the slabs + and marble there, but there, also, in all their naturalness, are + the stately pines and cypresses above, with the sunshine and + shadows alternating between them, and in the background the + turreted top of St. Paul's Gateway, the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, + all lending effect and picturesqueness to the whole." + +The present King of Italy purchased one of Mr. Benton's paintings, +called "Giornata di tristezza." + +While art abounds in Rome, less can be said for literature. There is a +large and admirable selected Italian library in connection with the +Collegio Romano; but while these books circulate, under certain +conditions, to visitors, and the courtesy of the librarian and his staff +is generously kind, the location and the Italian methods render it a +matter of some difficulty to avail one's self of its resources. In the +Piazza di Spagna there are two circulating libraries, but although one +of these claims twenty-five thousand volumes, the majority are of +mediocre fiction and almost none, if any, of the important modern works +are to be found here. The visitor who is a subscriber to this library +passes into a small, dark room, where one window looking on the street +hardly does more than make the darkness visible, and he must take the +catalogue to the window and stand in order to decipher the list, which +is hardly, indeed, worth the trouble, as there are very few volumes of +any pretension to importance in the collection, and of late years no +additions, apparently, have ever been made. The other circulating +library, while far preferable, is still in crowded rooms and the +assortment is limited. The visitor in Rome who cares for reading matter +looks forward with delight to Florence, with its noble circulating +library, to which access is so easy and whose conduct in all ways is so +convenient and grateful to the guest. + +In Rome, however, one finds his romance embodied in life and his history +written in the streets and in the marvellous structures. His poetry is +in her art, her ruins, her magical loveliness of hillside vistas, her +infinite views over the Campagna, her sapphire skies, and her luminous, +golden atmosphere. + + + + + "_Here Ischia smiles + O'er liquid miles, + And yonder, bluest of the isles, + Calm Capri waits + Her sapphire gates, + Beguiling to her bright estates._" + + "_Oh, Signor! thine the amber hand, + And mine the distant sea + Obedient to the least command + Thine eyes impose on me._" + + + + +III + +DAY-DREAMS IN NAPLES, AMALFI, AND CAPRI + + "With dreamful eyes + My spirit lies + Where summer sings but never dies." + + +Naples is the paradise of excursions. It is set in the heart of +incomparable loveliness. Over its sapphire sea one sails away--to the +Fortunate Isles, or some others equally alluring. Its heights and +adjacent mountains offer views that one might well cross the ocean to +enjoy. Its atmosphere is full of classic interest; of song, and story, +and legend, and romance; of history, too, which in its tragic and +exciting episodes is not less vivid in color and in strange studies of +human life than is any romance. Naples is the city of fascination. Rome +is stately and impressive; Florence is all beauty and enchantment; +Genoa is picturesque; Venice is a dream city; but Naples is +simply--fascinating. There is the common life of the streets and the +populace continually _en scene_; the people who are at home on the sunny +side in winter, or the shady side in summer; there is the social life of +the nobility, which is brilliant and vivacious. The excursions, of which +Naples is the centre, are the chief interest to travellers, and these, +while possible in winter, are far more enjoyable in the early spring. +Still even in midwinter the days are sunny, and while the air is crisp +and cool, it is not cold. The grass is as green as in June; but the +foliage and flowers are more or less withered. Naples has the high and +the lower town, the former the more desirable, and the fine hotels +perched on the terraces, with the view all over the Bay of Naples, +Capri, Sorrento, and Vesuvius, offer a vista hardly to be duplicated in +the entire world. The lower town has its fine hotels on the water's +edge, with a beautiful view over the bay, less enchanting than when seen +from above. The Bay of Naples is enclosed in two semicircular arms that +extend far out at sea, the southern reaching nearly to Capri, while near +the termination of the northern, + + "Fair Ischia smiles + O'er liquid miles." + +Far out at sea the sun shines dazzlingly on the blue Mediterranean. The +landscape is full of those curious formations that are always inherent +in volcanic regions. The region surrounding Naples is abrupt, +picturesque, with the same irregular outline of hills that characterizes +the elevations in the Tonto basin in Arizona. The vegetation is of the +tropical type. The cactus is common, although it grows to no such +monstrous heights as in Arizona. Orange and lemon groves prevail as far +as the eye can see. On every height towns and villages crown the crests +and sweep in winding terraces around the hillsides. Olive orchards +abound. Castles and ruins gleam white in the sunshine on the ledge of +rocky precipices. The curved shores shine like broken lines of silver, +with deep indentations at Naples and at Castellammare. Between these two +points rises Vesuvius, the thin blue smoke constantly curling from the +summit that, since the eruption of 1906, has lost much of its elevation. +In many places there is hardly the width of a roadway between the low +mountains and the coast, but the cliffs are tropically luxurious in +vegetation. Everywhere the habitations of the people crowd the space. +From the monasteries and the castles that crown the heights, both +distant and near to the clustered villages of the plain and those +clinging to the hillsides, the scene is one unending panorama of human +life. For Naples is only the focussing point of these densely populated +regions of Southern Italy. The city stretches along the coast on both +sides her semicircular bay; but the terraced hills, the stretches of +land beyond, and every peak and valley are thickly sown with human +habitations. Its commanding heights, two of which rise in the middle of +the town, and its beautiful mirrored expanse of water give to it the +most unparalleled variety and beauty of landscape loveliness. + +"What words can analyze," says George S. Hillard, "the parts and details +of this matchless panorama, or unravel that magic web of beauty into +which palaces, villas, forests, gardens, vineyards, the mountains, and +the sea are woven? What pen can paint the soft curves, the gentle +undulations, the flowing outlines, the craggy steeps, and the far-seen +heights, which, in their combination, are so full of grace and, at the +same time, expression? Words here are imperfect instruments, and must +yield their place to the pencil and the graver. But no canvas can +reproduce the light and color which play round this enchanting region. +No skill can catch the changing hues of the distant mountains, the +star-points of the playing waves, the films of purple and green which +spread themselves over the calm waters, the sunsets of gold and orange, +and the aerial veils of rose and amethyst which drop upon the hills from +the skies of morning and evening. The author of the book of +Ecclesiasticus seems to have described Naples, when he speaks of 'the +pride of the height, the clear firmament, the beauty of heaven, with his +glorious show.' 'See Naples and then die,' is a well-known Italian +saying; but it should read, 'See Naples and then live.' One glance at +such a scene stamps upon the memory an image which, forever after, gives +a new value to life." + + [Illustration: CASTEL SANT'ELMO, NAPLES + _Page 231_] + +Naples gives to the visitor the impression of being a city without a +past. If she has a history, it is not written in her streets. She is +poetic and picturesque, not historic. The heights of Capodimonte and +Sant'Elmo divide her into unequal parts, and there is the old Naples +which only the antiquarian or the political economist would wish to +see, and the new and modern city which is such a miracle of beauty that +one longs to stay forever, and fails to wonder that the siren sought +these shores. Naples has either been very much misrepresented as to its +prevailing manners and customs, or else it has changed within the past +decade, for, as a rule, the gentle courtesy and kindness of the people +are especially appealing. Augustus often sojourned in Naples, and it was +an especially poetic haunt of Virgil, whose tomb is here. Although the +poverty and the primitive life of the great masses of the people have +been widely discussed, it is yet true that Naples has a very charming +social life, and that the University is a centre of learning and +culture. One of the oldest universities in Europe, it has a faculty of +over one hundred and twenty professors and more than five thousand +students. A large and valuable library, and a mineralogical collection +which specialists from all over the world come to study, are among the +treasures of this University, which was founded in the early part of the +thirteenth century by Emperor Frederick William II. There is now in +process of erection a new group of buildings which will embody the +latest laboratory and library and other privileges. Archaeology is, +naturally, a special feature of the University of Naples, and the +proximity to Pompeii, Herculaneum, and to the wonderful Pompeian +collection in the Museum of Naples affords peculiar and unrivalled +advantages to students. A bust of Thomas Aquinas, during his life a +lecturer at this University, is one of the interesting treasures. The +Archives of the Kingdom of Naples attract many a scholar and savant to +this city. There are in this collection (which is kept in the monastery +adjoining the Church of San Severino) over forty thousand Greek +manuscripts, some of which date back to the year 700. The Naples Museum +is the great repository of all Pompeian art, and it is rich in +sculpture; but it is badly arranged and the vast series of galleries and +the long flights of stairs make any study of its work so fatiguing that +a visit to it might rank as one of the seven labors of Hercules. + +In the royal museum of the Palazzo di Capodimonte, which is located on +the beautiful height bearing that name, there are some pictures that are +well worth visiting, not because they are particularly good art, but +because of the interest attaching to the subjects. This gallery is +largely the work of modern Neapolitan artists. Here is the celebrated +picture of Michael Angelo bending over the dead body of Vittoria +Colonna, kissing only her hand, and haunted by the after-regret that he +did not kiss her forehead. Virginia Lebrun has here portraits of Maria +Theresa and of the Duchess of Parma; there is one canvas (by Celentano) +showing Benvenuto Cellini at the Castel Sant'Angelo; a scene depicting +the death of Caesar and a few others of some degree of interest. + +Curiously, Naples has never produced great art. Salvator Rosa was, to be +sure, a Neapolitan, but his is almost the only name that has made itself +immortal in the art of this city. Domenico Morelli, who has recently +died, made himself felt as an original painter with certain claims that +arrested attention. He is not a draughtsman, but he is a colorist of +passionate intensity; he has original power and, more than all, he has a +curious endowment of what may be called artistic clairvoyance. +Transporting himself by the magic of thought to places on which his eye +never rested, he yet sees as in vision their special characteristics. +In one of his most important works, the motive of which is the +temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, he has painted the desert with a +startling reality. Here is a great plain, the stony, parched Judean +plain, with the very feeling of its desolation pervading the atmosphere. +The Royal Chapel in Naples was decorated by Morelli, the ceiling painted +with an "Assumption of the Virgin," which stands alone in all the +interpretations of this theme; not by virtue of superior artistic +excellence,--on the contrary its art does not make a strong appeal,--but +by its originality of treatment. The "Salve Regina" and the "Da Scala +d'Oro" are among the more interesting works of this artist, whose recent +death has removed a figure of exceptional character in modern art, one +who had, pre-eminently, the courage of his convictions. Some few years +ago Morelli's "Temptation of St. Anthony" was exhibited in both Paris +and Florence, and was generally condemned, perhaps because not wholly +understood. The form of the temptation was supposed to be the shapes +taken by a morbid and diseased imagination; but while as a +psychological conception it was not without value, it was yet far from +attractive as a work of art. The finest conception, perhaps, ever +depicted of the temptation of St. Anthony--a subject that has haunted +many an artist--is that painted by the late Carl Guthers of Washington, +a lofty and gifted spirit whose too brief stay on earth ended in the +early months of 1907. In this picture the temptation of the saint +appears as a vision of all that is purest and sweetest in life,--wife, +children, home; it was from all this peace and loveliness that St. +Anthony turned, sacrificing personal happiness to the duty of +consecrated service to his Master, in the exquisite conception of Mr. +Guthers. Edoardo Dalbano is the typical leader of the Neapolitan school +of painting of the present day, and his fascinating picture, called the +"Isle of Sirens," representing the sirens singing in the sunlit Bay of +Naples, might well be held as the keynote to all this enchanting region. +Surely, if the sirens sing not in those blue waters, it were useless to +search elsewhere for them. Buono is an artist of the Neapolitan shores, +who paints its fisher-folk; Brancaccio catches the very spirit and +animated atmosphere of the street scenes of Naples; Campriani and +Pratello are landscapists of note; Esposito, too, despite his Spanish +name, is a Neapolitan marine painter whose work is often most arresting +in its power to catch the flickering sunshine over blue water that +bathes the rocks rising out of the sea,--these isles of the sirens from +which float the melodies that enchanted Odysseus. + +The traveller may be surprised to find that in size Naples ranks fourth +on the European Continent,--Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, only, +exceeding it. Naples should be, not only a port, a pleasure haunt, and a +paradise for excursions, but one of the great cities of the world in +commercial and in social importance. It has one of the finest natural +harbors of the world; it has a beautiful and attractive adjoining +country in which to extend, indefinitely, its residence and trade +districts; it has the most enchanting fairyland of views that ever were +seen this side the ethereal world; it has an atmosphere of song and +story and a climate that is far from being objectionable. Naples is +seldom the possessor of a higher temperature in summer than is New York +or Boston; the winters are mild, and they offer weeks of sunny +loveliness when Rome is swept by the icy tramontana from the snow-clad +Alban hills. Naples offers, too, exceedingly good facilities for living; +the groups of excellent hotels, both on the terraces and on the water's +edge in the lower town and along the Villa Nazionale, offer every +comfort, and the politeness and courtesy of the Neapolitans, as a rule, +are among the alluring features of this enchanting city. + +What shall be said of one hotel, especially, perched on the cliffs, to +which one ascends by an elevator, finding it the most luxurious +fairyland that imagination can conjure? Leaving the street one walks +through a marble tunnel lighted with electricity, wondering if he is, +indeed, in the grotto of the Muses. Entering a "lift" truly American in +its comfort and speed, he is wafted up the heights and steps out in--is +it paradise? Here is a large salon entirely of glass with an +incomparable view all over the gleaming bay, with Capri and Sorrento +shining fair on the opposite sides and Vesuvius, a purple peak, in the +near distance. The great city of Naples lies spread out below, with its +interior heights of Capodimonte and others. It is a view for which alone +one might well sail the four thousand miles of sea from the American +shores. Through open French windows one may step out on the terrace. If +it is cold he may still enjoy this sublimely wonderful view behind the +glass walls that reveal all its beauty and protect him from wind or +chill. Elsewhere adjoining salons stretch away, where sunshine, music, +reading matter, and dainty writing-desks allure the guest and create for +him, indeed, an earthly paradise. + +Of the drive on the Strada Nuova di Posilipo, skirting the coast while +following the winding rise of the hill, with the sumptuous villas and +gardens on one side and the blue sea on the other,--what words can +suggest its charm? On a jutting promontory on the ruins of the Palazzo +di Donna Ana are seen the palace whose convenient location made it +possible for the royal hosts to throw their guests into the sea whenever +they became tiresome, an accommodation that the modern hostess might, at +times, appreciate. On this road, winding up the Posilipo, is the villa +where Garibaldi passed the last winter of his life and which is marked +by a tablet. And everywhere and at every turn are the beautiful views, +commanding Bagnoli, Camaldoli, Ischia, Baia and Procida, Capri, Nisida +and the Neapolitan waters. The hill slopes are overgrown with myrtles +and orange trees and roses. Here and there a defile is filled with a +vineyard under careful culture. + +In the presence of all this marvel of nature's loveliness the visitor +hardly remembers the historic interest; yet it was on the little island +of Nisida that Brutus and Cassius concocted the conspiracy against +Caesar. The vast Phlegraean Plain before the eye is invested with Hellenic +traditions and is the region of many scenes in the poems of Virgil and +Homer. In the years of the first and second centuries this plain was +dotted with the rich villas of the Roman aristocracy. Here, too, lay the +celebrated Lacus Avernus, a volcanic lake which the ancients regarded as +the entrance to Avernus itself. Truly it required little imagination to +see here the approach to the infernal regions. The air was so poisonous +that no bird could fly over the lake and live. Virgil's scene of the +descent of AEneas, guided by the sibyl, into the infernal depths is laid +here; and near this lake are resorts of the latter-day tourist, known +as the "Sibyl's Grotto," the "Grotto della Pace," the "Bagni di Sibyl," +and the "Inferno." + + [Illustration: ANCIENT TEMPLE, BAIAE + _Page 241_] + +Baia, on the coast, was the Newport of Rome in the days of Augustus, +Hadrian, Cicero, and Nero. It was then the most magnificent summer +watering-place known to the world. The glory of the Roman Empire was +reflected in the glory of Baia. In one of the Epistles of Horace a Roman +noble is made to say: "Nothing in the world can be compared with the +lovely bay of Baia." Some five hundred years ago this region became so +malarial that no one could dwell in it. Fragments and ruins still remain +of the imposing baths and villas of the Roman occupancy. An old crater +called the Capo Miseno is described by Virgil as the burial place of +Misenus:-- + + "_At pius AEneas ingenti mole sepulcrum + Inponit, suaque arma viro remumque tubamque + Monte sub aereo, qui nunc Misenus ab illo + Dicitur aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen._" + +Cumae was the most ancient Greek colony of Italy on the coast, and the +last survivors of the Tarquinii died here. This is the most classic of +all these legendary coast towns near Naples, as it was here that the +Cumaean Sibyl dwelt with the mysterious sibylline leaves,--the books that +were carried to Rome. A colossal Acropolis was once here, fragments of +whose walls are now standing; and the rocky foundation is honeycombed +with secret passages and openings. It is here that Virgil's "Grotto of +the Sibyl" is supposed to have stood,--the grotto "whence resound as +many voices, the oracles of the prophetess." + +The journey from Naples to Herculaneum is easily made by electric train +cars within an hour, and while there is not much to see it is still an +excursion well worth making. Dr. de Petra, of the chair of Archaeology in +the University of Naples, and formerly the Director of the National +Museum, is warmly in favor of the proposed excavation of this buried +city, as is Professor Spinazzola of the San Martino museum, who believes +that Italy may well become one vast museum of antiquities. "As the +theatre of Herculaneum is actually at present a subterranean +excavation," he observed, "why not excavate in a similar way the entire +city underneath modern Resina? In this way a perfectly unique +underground museum would be formed, which would have the merit of +leaving magnificent Roman art treasures exactly in their proper places +in the villas. Such a work ought to be perfectly practicable, with the +resources of modern engineering, and would certainly be unique in the +world. + +"There would be no need to build a special museum for the objects +discovered. Not only would this money be saved, but I feel convinced +that so many visitors would be attracted as to more than pay for the +maintenance. A subterraneous Herculaneum--surely a perfectly unique +place of pilgrimage, just as it was nearly two thousand years ago--might +be lighted by electric arc lights. I feel certain it would attract +sight-seers from the ends of the world. At the same time work might go +on in the open parts of the city. + +"Pompeii was more of an industrial town, while Herculaneum was a +favorite resort of the Roman patricians, who did not bring their +treasures with them from their northern homes, but had them executed by +Greek artists in the south." + +Under the mighty floods of _lava d'acqua_ that buried Herculaneum +doubtless lie temples, a splendid forum, magnificent villas, and most +valuable art and literary treasures. In the eighteenth century +excavations brought to light rare bronzes, mosaics, and papyri. The +famous equestrian statue of Balbo, in the Naples Museum, was excavated +from Herculaneum. Professor Lanciani and Commendatore Boni of Rome--the +latter the present director of the Forum, succeeding Lanciani--believe +that some of the richest art of ancient times may be found in +Herculaneum; as does Professor Dall'Osso, inspector of excavations at +Pompeii. + +Herculaneum is held to have been founded by Hercules when he landed at +Campania, returning from Iberia, some three hundred years B.C., and it +was in 63 A.D. that it was destroyed. Of this cataclysm Pliny, the +Younger, wrote:-- + + "The sea seemed to roll back on itself by the convulsions of the + earth. On the other side hung a black and dreadful cloud, bursting + with fiery and serpentine vapors. Naught was heard in the darkness + but the shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the frenzied + cries of men calling for children, for wives, for parents,--all + lifting hands to the gods, praying and wishing for death." + +Dr. Charles Waldstein of Cambridge University, the eminent archaeologist, +whose efforts toward initiating the excavation of Herculaneum were a +notable event of 1906, thus writes of this buried city:-- + + "It is important to bear in mind that naturally all the best works + in the Museum of Naples, especially the bronzes, came from + Herculaneum and not from Pompeii. + + "What is most striking is the marvellous preservation of these + works. This fact of itself ought to counteract the strange but + widespread misapprehension that, while Pompeii was covered with + cinders and ashes, Herculaneum was covered with lava, and that the + hardness of that material made excavation difficult, if not + impossible. All geologists and archaeologists are agreed that no + lava issued from the eruption of 79 A.D. Herculaneum was covered by + a torrent of mud consisting of ashes and cinders mixed with water. + The mass which covers it, so far from being less favorable to the + preservation of objects, is much more favorable than that which + covers Pompeii. Pompeii was partially covered with hot ashes and + pumice stones, which burnt or damaged the works of art. As it was + not wholly covered, moreover, the inhabitants returned and dug up + some of their greatest treasures. Herculaneum, on the other hand, + had its actual life, arrested at the highest point, securely + preserved from depredation, to a depth of eighty feet, by a + material which preserved intact the most delicate specimens which + have come down to us in a state so perfect as to be really + remarkable. + + "The most important of these delicate objects are manuscripts, of + which that one villa produced 1750. The state of preservation is + illustrated by one specimen, giving two pages from the works of the + philosopher Philademus. Unfortunately, the possessor of the villa + was a specialist, a student of Epicurean philosophy. While his + taste in art was fortunately so catholic, his taste in literature + was narrowed down by his special bent. Piso was the friend and + protector of the philosopher Philo. Already sixty-five copies of + that author's works have been found among the papyri. + + "Yet the city of Herculaneum contained many such villas, and herein + it differed from Pompeii. Pompeii was a commonplace provincial town + devoted exclusively to commerce; it was not the resort of wealthy + and cultured Romans. It was essentially illiterate. No manuscript + can be proved to have been found there. It is true a wax tablet + with writing has been found; yet this contains--receipts of + auctions. Herculaneum, on the other hand, was the favorite resort + of wealthy Romans, who built beautiful villas there as in our times + people from modern Rome settle for the summer at Sorrento and + Castellammare." + +The present descent into the theatre of Herculaneum is made by a flight +of more than a hundred steps, slippery and cold, in total darkness save +for the candle that is carried by the guide, and the visitor sees only +the stone seats of the amphitheatre and the stage with the two vacant +niches, the statues that filled each being now placed in the Museum in +Naples. + +The journey of thirteen miles from Naples to Pompeii is through a +succession of densely populated villages that seem to be an integral +part of Naples itself, for there is no line of demarcation. Portici, +Torre del Greco, Torre dell'Annunziata, and others all blend with each +other and with Naples. However familiar one has become with the +literature of Pompeii, with both archaeological descriptions and +imaginative interpretations in romance, and however familiar with its +aspects he may have become from replicas in art museums, and from +pictures, one can yet hardly approach this silent, phantom city without +being thrilled by its deep significance. At a distance of a few miles +over the gently undulating plain rises Vesuvius; one gazes on the paths +where the rivers of molten fire must have rolled down. George S. +Hillard, visiting Pompeii in 1853, thus described a house which the +visitors of to-day study and admire:-- + + "The finest house we saw within the walls is one which had been + discovered and laid bare about four months previous to the date of + our visit, called the house of the Suonatrice, from a painting of a + female playing on a pipe, at the entrance. This house was deemed of + such peculiar interest that it was under the charge of a special + custode, and was only to be seen on payment of an extra fee. It was + not of large size, but had evidently been occupied by a person of + ample fortune and exquisite taste. The paintings on the walls were + numerous, and in the most perfect preservation. In the rear was a + minute garden not more than twenty or thirty feet square, with a + fairy fountain in the centre; around which were several small + statues of children and animals, of white marble, wrought with + considerable skill. The whole thing had a very curious effect, like + the tasteful baby-house of a grown-up child. Everything in this + house was in the most wonderful preservation. The metal pipes which + distributed the water, and the cocks by which it was let off, + looked perfectly suited for use. Nothing at Pompeii seemed so real + as this house, and nowhere else were the embellishments so numerous + and so costly. + + "Pompeii, though a Roman city in its political relations, was + everywhere strongly marked with the impress of the Greek mind. It + stood on the northern edge of that part of Italy which, from the + number of Grecian colonies it contained, was called Magna + Graecia,--a region of enchanting beauty, in which the genius of + Greece attained its most luxurious development. It has been + conjectured that Pompeii had an unusually large proportion of men + of property, who had been drawn there by the charms of its + situation and climate, and that it thus extended a liberal + patronage to Greek architects, painters, and sculptors. At any + rate, the spirit of Greece still lives and breathes in its ashes. + Its temples, as restored by modern architects, are Greek. Its works + in marble and bronze claim a place in that cyclus of art of which + the metopes of the Parthenon are the highest point of excellence. + The pictures that embellish the walls, the unzoned nymphs, the + bounding Bacchantes, the grotesque Fauns, the playful arabesques, + all are informed with the airy and creative spirit of Greek art. + + "The ruins of Pompeii are not merely an open-air museum of + curiosities, but they have great value in the illustration they + offer to Roman history and Roman literature. The antiquarian of our + times studies the great realm of the past with incomparable + advantage, by the help of the torch here lighted." + +From Pompeii to Castellammare, the beautiful seaside summer resort of +the Neapolitans, "a lover of nature could hardly find a spot of more +varied attractions. Before him spreads the unrivalled bay,--dotted with +sails and unfolding a broad canvas, on which the most glowing colors and +the most vivid lights are dashed,--a mirror in which the crimson and +gold of morning, the blue of noon, and the orange and yellow-green of +sunset behold a livelier image of themselves,--a gentle and tideless +sea, whose waves break upon the shore like caresses, and never like +angry blows. Should he ever become weary of waves and languish for +woods, he has only to turn his back upon the sea and climb the hills for +an hour or two, and he will find himself in the depth of sylvan and +mountain solitudes,--in a region of vines, running streams, +deep-shadowed valleys, and broad-armed oaks,--where he will hear the +ringdove coo, and see the sensitive hare dart across the forest aisles. +A great city is within an hour's reach; and the shadow of Vesuvius hangs +over the landscape, keeping the imagination awake by touches of mystery +and terror." + +The road to Sorrento, on a cliff a hundred feet or more above the sea, +with mountains on the other side, towering up hundreds of feet high; a +road cut in many places out of the solid rock, supported by galleries +and viaducts from below,--a road that crosses deep gorges and chasms, +always with the iridescent colors of the sea below,--and from Sorrento +to Amalfi again, only, if possible, even more wonderful,--is there in +the world any drive that can rival this picturesque and sublime route? +Of it George Eliot wrote:-- + + "It is an unspeakably grand drive round the mighty rocks with the + sea below; and Amalfi itself surpasses all imagination of a + romantic site for a city that once made itself famous in the + world." + +Sorrento, with its memories and associations of Tasso, seems a place in +which one cares only to sit on the balcony of the hotel overhanging the +sea and watch the magic spectacle of a panorama unrivalled in all the +beauty of the world. Flowers grow in riotous profusion; the fairy sail +of a flitting boat is caught in the deepening dusk; the dark outline of +Vesuvius is seen against the horizon; and orange orchards gleam against +gray walls. Here Tasso was born, in 1544, fit haunt for a poet, with +tangles of gay blossoms and the aerial line of mountain peaks. A low +parapet borders the precipice, and over it one leans in the air heavy +with perfume of locust blossoms. Has the lovely town anything beside +sunsets and stars and poets' dreams? Who could ask for more? + +To La Cava,--to Amalfi,--still all a dream world! + + "O summer day, beside the joyous sea! + O summer day so wonderful and white, + So full of gladness and so full of pain!" + +How Amalfi sets itself to song and music! Who can enter it without +hearing in the air Longfellow's beautiful lines?-- + + "Sweet the memory is to me + Of a land beyond the sea, + Where the waves and mountains meet, + Where, amid her mulberry-trees, + Sits Amalfi in the heat, + Bathing ever her white feet + In the tideless summer seas. + + * * * * * + + 'Tis a stairway, not a street, + That ascends the deep ravine, + Where the torrent leaps between + Rocky walls that almost meet. + + * * * * * + + This is an enchanted land! + Round the headlands, far away, + Sweeps the blue Salernian bay + With its sickle of white sand; + Further still and furthermost + On the dim discovered coast, + Paestum with its ruins lies, + And its roses all in bloom." + +If ever a region was dropped out of paradise designed, solely, for a +poet's day-dreams, it is Amalfi, and the even more beautiful Ravello +just above. One fancies that it must have been in the mystic loveliness +of this eyrie that the poet lost himself in a day-dream while Jupiter +was dividing all the goods of the world. When he reproached the god for +not saving a portion for him, Jupiter replied that all the goods were +gone, it was true, but that his heaven was always open to the poet. + +The ancient Amalfi, the city of activities and merchandise, is gone. + + "Where are now the freighted barks + From the marts of east and west? + Where the knights in iron sarks + Journeying to the Holy Land, + Glove of steel upon the hand, + Cross of crimson on the breast? + Where the pomp of camp and court? + Where the pilgrims with their prayers? + Where the merchants with their wares? + + * * * * * + + Vanished like a fleet of cloud, + Like a passing trumpet-blast, + Are those splendors of the past, + And the commerce and the crowd! + Fathoms deep beneath the seas + Lie the ancient warves and quays, + Swallowed by the engulfing waves." + +It is impossible to realize that Amalfi was once a flourishing city of +Oriental trade. One looks in vain for any trace of ruin or shrine that +still suggests the ancient splendors of activity. The strata of the +past, so visible in other mediaeval cities, are not apparent here. The +great cathedral is a most interesting study in the art of +architecture,--its exquisite arcades, its delicate, lofty campanile +glittering in the sun. The green-roofed cupola is a distinctive feature, +and up the many flights of stairs the old Capuccini convent lies,--the +unique, romantic hotel where the cells of the monks are now the rooms of +the perpetual procession of guests. Does the wraith of Cardinal +Capuano, who founded this convent, still wander in midnight hours +through the dim cloisters? Does he still keep watch by the body of St. +Andrew, the apostle, which he is said to have found and brought to the +cathedral where the saint lies, as a saint should lie, gloriously +entombed. St. Andrew was the patron saint of Amalfi, but at his death +his body was carried from Patras to the Bosphorus, where it was placed +in a church in Constantinople. The legend runs that Cardinal Capuano, +being in Constantinople, entered the Church of the Holy Apostles to +pray, and knowing that the body of the saint was in that city, he +besought the heavenly powers to guide him to it. Rising from his +devotions he was approached by an aged priest, who announced to the +Cardinal that the object of his search was in that very church in which +he was praying for guidance; and, aided by unseen powers, he was able to +recover it and convey it to Amalfi. All Italian towns that respect +themselves offer the allurement of an entombed saint and if, +occasionally, the same identical saint does duty for more than one city, +who is to decide the local genuineness of the claim? Nothing in all +Italy is so curious as is this town of staircases instead of streets; of +houses perched on the angles of impossible eyries suggesting that, as +the Venetians go about in gondolas, so the Amalfians must have airships, +or the wings of Icarus, with which to circle in air from their dwellings +to the beach. + +The precipitous gorges and dark ravines have on their crests low +parapets of stone walls over which the visitor lingers and leans +watching the bluest of seas lying fair under the bluest of skies. The +main road,--there is only one,--descending from the hill to the water's +edge, makes its progress through a tunnel. + +The old Amalfi, with its palaces, its arches and colonnades, lies under +the sea. Just as the Pensione Caterina with its rose walks and terraces +slipped into the sea in December of 1899, when two guests and several +fishermen lost their lives, so the ancient Amalfi fell, its cliffs +swallowed up in the waters below. + + "Hidden from all mortal eyes, + Deep the sunken city lies; + Silent streets and vacant halls, + Ruined roofs and towers and walls; + Even cities have their graves!" + +When, on a May evening, the white moonlight falls in cascades of silver +sheen over terraces and sea, with Amalfi all alabaster and pearl like a +dream city in the ethereal air; when the stars hang low in the skies and +the fairy lights of the fishermen's boats twinkle far out at sea; when +the summer silence is suddenly thrilled by the melody of Neapolitan +songs on the air, as if it were a veritable _chant d'amour_ of +sirens,--then does one believe in the buried city. These rich baritone +voices are surely those of some singers of the buried ages. They are +floating across the centuries since Amalfi had its pride and place among +the great centres of activity. Atrani, Amalfi's twin city, lies in the +adjoining defile of the mountains which arch above them. The strange old +houses are all dazzlingly white, transfigured under the moon to an +unearthly loveliness. + +The tragedy of the ruin of Amalfi is related by Petrarca, who was then +living in Naples. It was in 1343 that a terrible cataclysm--an +earthquake accompanied by a tempest--caused the destruction and the +submergence of the city in the sea. + +The believers in astrology will find their faith re-enforced by the fact +that a bishop, who was also an astrologist, had read in the stars that +in December of 1343 a terrible disaster would occur on the Naples coast. +It arrived on schedule time. Petrarca, writing of it to Giovanni +Colonna, states that in consequence of the prediction of the bishop, the +people were in a condition of wild terror, endeavoring to repent of +their sins and aspiring to a purer moral life. In this tide of religious +emotion, ordinary occupations were neglected. On the very day of the +calamity people were crowding the churches and kneeling in prayer. At +night, after the people were in bed, the shock came. The sunset had been +fair, the evening quiet, and the people were reassured. But they were +awakened from sleep by the violence of falling walls and the terror of +the tempest. Petrarcha was lodging in a convent, and he heard the monks +calling to one another as they rushed from cell to cell. They hastily +gathered crosses and sacred relics in their hands, and, preceded by the +prior, sought the chapel, where they passed the night in prayer while +the tempest raged outside. The sea broke against the rocks with a fury +that seemed to tear the very foundations of the earth. The thunder +pealed, and mingled with it were the shrieks of the frightened +populace. The rain fell in torrents, deluging the city as if the sea +itself were pouring on it. When the morning came the darkness still +continued. In the harbor broken ships crashed helplessly together. The +sands were strewn with mutilated dead bodies. Between Capri and the +shore the sea ran mountains high. Amalfi was completely destroyed, and +has never regained her prestige. + +The cathedral at Ravello has traces of the rich art it once enshrined, +and the rose gardens of the Palazzo Rufolo might enchant Hafiz himself. +The terrace on the very crest of the mountain commands one of the +wonderful views of the world. The cloistered colonnades of this old +Saracenic palace reveal views even to the plains of Paestum. There are +rare mosaics and fragments of bronzes and marbles yet remaining. + +The noble Greek ruins at Paestum--the three temples--stand in all the +majesty of utter desolation. They are overgrown with flowers, however, +and they stand "dewy in the light of the rising dawn-star." + + "The shrine is ruined now, and far away + To east and west stretch olive groves, whose shade, + Even at the height of summer noon, is gray. + + * * * * * + + "Yet this was once a hero's temple, crowned + With myrtle boughs by lovers, and with palm + By wrestlers, resonant with sweetest sound + Of flute and fife in summer evening's calm, + And odorous with incense all the year, + With nard and spice and galbanum and balm." + +The detour to Paestum is full of significance. The massive columns of the +temples stand like giants of the ages. "It is difficult," writes John +Addington Symonds, "not to return again and again to the beauty of +coloring at Paestum. Lying basking in the sun on a flat slab of stone, +and gazing eastward, we overlook a foreground of dappled light and +shadow; then come two stationary columns built, it seems, of solid gold, +where the sunbeams strike along their russet surface. Between them lies +the landscape, a medley first of brakefern and asphodel and feathering +acanthus and blue spikes; while beyond and above is a glimpse of +mountains, purple almost to indigo with cloud shadows, and flecked with +snow." + +The sail from Amalfi to Paestum is one incomparable in loveliness. The +sunshine is all lurid gold. The faint, transparent blue haze fills all +the defiles of the mountains; the cliffs disclose yawning caverns where +vast clusters of stalactites hang; and as the boat floats toward Capri +from the Sorrento promontory its rocky headlands rise and flame into +purple and rose against the glowing sky. Across the Bay of Naples rises +the great city. It stands in some subtle way reminding one of the scene +where one + + "... rowing hard against the stream, + Saw distant gates of Eden gleam." + +Capri is the idyllic island of prismatic light and shade, of gay and +joyous life. Here Tiberius had his summer palace, and it was from these +shores that he sent the historic letter which revolutionized the life of +Sejanus. The letter--_verbosa et grandis epistola_--is still vivid in +the historic associations of Rome. Capri is one of the favorite resorts +both for winter and summer. Its former modest prices are now greatly +increased, like all the latter-day expenses of Italy; but its beauty is +perennial, and the artist and poet can still command there a seclusion +almost impossible to secure elsewhere in Italy. The distinguished +artist, Elihu Vedder of Rome, has a country house on Capri, and another +well-known artist, Charles Caryl Coleman, makes this island his home. +There are days--sometimes several days in succession--that the sea is +high and the boats cannot run between Naples, Sorrento, and Capri; and +the enforced seclusion is still the seclusion of the poet's dream. For +he shares it with Mithras, the "unconquered god of the sun," whose cult +influenced all the monarchs of Europe and who holds his court in the +Grotto de Matrimonia. Into this grotto one descends by a flight of +nearly two hundred feet; he strolls among the ruins of the villa of +Tiberius, where the very air is still vital and vocal with those strange +and tragic chapters of Roman life. The Emperor Augustus first founded +here palaces and aqueducts. Tiberius, who retired to Capri in the year +27 A.D., had his architects build twelve villas, in honor of the gods, +the largest of these being for Jupiter and known as the Villa Jovis. In +31 A.D. occurred that dramatic episode in Roman history, the fall of +Sejanus, and six years later Tiberius died. The vast white marble baths +he had built for him are now submerged on the coast, and boats glide +over the spot where they stood. The Villa Jovis stood on a cliff seven +hundred feet above the sea, and the traditions of the barbarities and +atrocities that took place there still haunt the island. The natives +apparently regard them as a certain title to fame, but the wise tourists +persistently ignore horrors; life is made for joy, sweetness, and charm; +it is far wiser to think on these things. + +And there is charm and joy to spare on lovely Capri. "Sea-mists are +frequent in the early summer mornings, swathing the cliffs of Capri and +brooding on the smooth water till the day wind rises," says John +Addington Symonds. "Then they disappear like magic, rolling in +smoke-wreaths from the surface of the sea, condensing into clouds and +climbing the hills like Oceanides in quest of Prometheus, or taking +their station on the watch towers of the world as in the chorus of the +Nephelai. Such a morning may be chosen for the _giro_ of the island. The +Blue Grotto loses nothing of its beauty, but rather gains by contrast, +when passing from dense fog you find yourself transported to a world of +wavering subaqueous sheen. It is only through the very topmost arch that +a boat can glide into this cavern; the arch itself spreads downward +through the water so that all the light is transmitted from beneath and +colored by the sea. Outside the magic world of pantomime there is +nothing to equal these effects of blue and silver.... Numberless are the +caves at Capri. The so-called Green Grotto has the beauty of moss agate +in its liquid floor; the Red Grotto shows a warmer chord of color; and +where there is no other charm to notice, endless beauty may be found in +the play of sunlight upon roofs of limestone, tinted with yellow, +orange, and pale pink, mossed over, hung with fern, and catching tones +of blue or green from the still deeps beneath.... After a day upon the +water it is pleasant to rest at sunset in the loggia above the sea. The +Bay of Naples stretches far and wide in front, beautiful by reason of +the long fine line descending from Vesuvius, dipping almost to a level, +and then gliding up to join the highlands of the north. Now sun and moon +begin to mingle: waning and waxing splendors. The cliffs above our heads +are still blushing like the heart of some tea-rose; when lo, the touch +of the huntress is laid upon those eastern pinnacles, and the horizon +glimmers with her rising. Was it on such a night that Ferdinand of +Aragon fled from his capital before the French, with eyes turned ever to +the land he loved, chanting, as he leaned from his galley's stern, that +melancholy psalm, 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh +but in vain,' and seeing Naples dwindle to a white blot on the purple +shore?" + +The roses of Capri would form a chapter alone. What walks there are +where the air is all fragrance of acacia and rose and orange blossoms! +Cascades of roses in riotous luxuriance festoon the old gray stone +walls; the pale pink of the early dawn or of a shell by the seashore, +the amber of the Banskeia rose, the great golden masses of the Marechal +Niel, their faint yellow gleaming against the deep green leaves of +myrtle and frond. The intense glowing scarlet of the gladiolus flames +from rocks and roadside, and rosemary and the purple stars of hyacinths +garland the ways, until one feels like journeying only in his singing +robes. The deep, solemn green of stone pines forms canopies under the +sapphire skies, and through their trunks one gazes on the sapphire sea. +Is Capri the isle of Epipsychidion? + + "Is there now any one that knows + What a world of mystery lies deep down in the heart of a rose?" + +One walks among these rose-lined lanes, hearing in the very air that +exquisite lyric by Louise Chandler Moulton:-- + + "Roses that briefly live, + Joy is your dower; + Blest be the Fates that give + One perfect hour. + And, though too soon you die, + In your dust glows + Something the passer-by + Knows was a Rose." + +Monte Cassino is one of the most interesting inland points in Southern +Italy,--the monastery lying on the crest of a hill nearly two thousand +feet above the sea. Dante alludes to this in his Paradiso (XXII, +XXXVII), and in the prose translation made by that eminent Dantean +scholar, Professor Charles Eliot Norton, this assurance of Beatrice to +Dante is thus rendered:-- + + "That mountain on whose slope Cassino is, was of old frequented on + its summit by the deluded and ill-disposed people, and I am he who + first carried up thither the name of Him who brought to earth the + truth which so high exalts us; and such grace shone upon me that I + drew away the surrounding villages from the impious worship which + seduced the world. Those other fires were all contemplative men, + kindled by that heat which brings to birth holy flowers and fruits. + Here is Macarius, here is Romuald, here are my brothers, who within + the cloisters fixed their feet, and held a steadfast heart. And I + to him, 'The affection which thou displayest in speaking with me, + and the good semblance which I see and note in all your ardors, + have so expanded my confidence as the sun does the rose, when she + becomes open so much as she has power to be. Therefore I pray thee, + and do thou, father, assure me if I have power to receive so much + grace, that I may see thee with uncovered shape.' Whereon he, + 'Brother, thy high desire shall be fulfilled in the last sphere, + where are fulfilled all others and my own. There perfect, mature, + and whole is every desire; in that alone is every part there where + it always was: for it is not in space, and hath not poles; and our + stairway reaches up to it, wherefore thus from thy sight it + conceals itself. Far up as there the patriarch Jacob saw it stretch + its topmost part when it appeared to him so laden with Angels. But + now no one lifts his feet from earth to ascend it; and my rule is + remaining as waste of paper. The walls, which used to be an abbey, + have become caves; and the cowls are sacks full of bad meal. But + heavy usury is not gathered in so greatly against the pleasure of + God, as that fruit which makes the heart of monks so foolish. For + whatsoever the Church guards is all for the folk that ask it in + God's name, not for one's kindred, or for another more vile. The + flesh of mortals is so soft that a good beginning suffices not + below from the springing of the oak to the forming of the acorn. + Peter began without gold and without silver, and I with prayers and + with fasting, and Francis in humility his convent; and if thou + lookest at the source of each, and then lookest again whither it + has run, thou wilt see dark made of the white. Truly, Jordan turned + back, and the sea fleeing when God willed, were more marvellous to + behold than succor here." + +Dante adds that the company "like a whirlwind gathered itself upward," +and that "the sweet lady urged me behind them, with only a sign, up over +that stairway; so did her virtue overcome my nature. But never here +below, where one mounts and descends naturally, was there motion so +rapid that it could be compared unto my wing." + +The time was when Dante and Beatrice met, and he "was standing as one +who within himself represses the point of his desire, and attempts not +to ask, he so fears the too-much." And then he heard: "If thou couldst +see, as I do, the charity which burns among us thy thoughts would be +expressed. But that thou through waiting mayst not delay thy high end, I +will make answer to thee, even to the thought concerning which thou art +so regardful." + +The vast monastery of Monte Cassino, lying on the crest of a hill nearly +two thousand feet above the sea, has one of the most magnificent +locations in all Italy. This monastery was founded (in 529 A.D.) by St. +Benedict, on the site of an ancient temple to Apollo. Dante alludes to +this also in the Paradiso (Canto XX, 11). As seen from below this +monastery has the appearance of a vast castle, or fortress. Its +location is one of the most magnificent in all Italy. The old entrance +was a curious passage cut through solid rock and it is still used for +princes and cardinals--no lesser dignitaries being allowed to pass +through it--and within the past thirty years a new entrance has been +constructed. In the passageway of the mediaeval entrance St. Benedict is +said to have had his cell, and of recent years the German Benedictines, +believing they had located the original cell, had it located, restored, +and decorated with Egyptian frescoes. Several of the courts of this +convent are connected by beautiful arcades with lofty arches, and +adorned with statues, among which are those of St. Benedict and his +sister, St. Scholastica. Still farther up the hill, upon the monastery, +stands the church which is built on the site of the ancient one that was +erected by St. Benedict himself--this present edifice dating back to +1637. Above the portals there is a long inscription in Latin relating +the history of the monastery and the church. These portals are solid +bronze, beautifully carved, with inlaid tablets of silver on which are +inscribed a list of all the treasures of the abbey in the year 1006. The +church is very rich in interior decoration of mosaics, rare marbles, +and wonderful monumental memorials. Either side of the high altar are +monuments to the Prince of Mignano (Guidone Fieramosca) and also to +Piero de Medico. Both St. Benedict and his sister, St. Scholastica, are +entombed under the high altar, which is one of the most elaborately +sculptured in all the churches of Italy. + +Among the pictorial decorations of this church are a series of fresco +paintings by Luca Giordano, painted in the seventeenth century, +representing the miracles wrought by St. Benedict. In the refectory is +the "Miracle of the Loaves," by Bassano; and in the chapel below are +paintings by Mazzaroppi and Marco da Siena. Nothing can exceed the +richness and beauty of the carvings of the choir stalls. These were +executed in the seventeenth century by Coliccio. + +The library of this monastery is renowned all over Europe--indeed, it is +famous all over the world--for its preservation of ancient manuscripts +done by the monks. These are carefully treasured in the archives. Among +them is the record of a vision that came to the monk Alferic, in the +twelfth century, on which it is believed that Dante founded his +immortal "Divina Commedia;" there is also a fourteenth-century edition +of Dante with margined notes; and the Commentary of Origen (on the +Epistle to the Romans), dating back to the sixteenth century; there is +the complete series of Papal bulls that were sent to the monastery of +Monte Cassino from the eleventh century to the present time, many of +them being richly illuminated and decorated with curiously elaborate +seals. There is an autograph letter of the Sultan Mohammed II to Pope +Nicholas IV, with the Pope's reply,--the theme of the correspondence +being the Pope's threat of war. The imperial Mohammed seems to have been +in terror of this, and in his epistle he expresses his willingness, and, +indeed, his intention, to be converted as soon as he shall visit Rome! +Apparently the Holy Father of that day laid little stress on the +sincerity of this offer on the part of the Sultan. Here, too, is a +wonderful correspondence between Don Erasmo Gattola, the historian of +the abbey, and a great number of the celebrated men of his time; and +there are hundreds of other letters, manuscripts, and documents relating +to kings, nobles, emperors, and many of the nobility of the age. + +In this monastery there is a most interesting collection of relics, in +bronze, silver, gold, and _rosso antico_. The library proper contains +some eleven thousand volumes, dating back to the very dawn of the +discovery of the art of printing. + +Mr. Longfellow, whose poet's pen has pictured so many of the Italian +landscapes and ancient monuments, thus set Monte Cassino to music, +picturing the entire landscape of the Terra di Lavoro region:-- + + "The Land of Labor and the Land of Rest, + Where mediaeval towns are white on all + The hillsides, and where every mountain's crest + Is an Etrurian or a Roman wall. + + * * * * * + + "There is Aquinum, the old Volscian town, + Where Juvenal was born, whose lurid light + Still hovers o'er his birthplace like the crown + Of splendor seen o'er cities in the night. + + "Doubled the splendor is, that in its streets + The Angelic Doctor as a school-boy played, + And dreamed perhaps the dreams that he repeats + In ponderous folios for scholastics made. + + "And there, uplifted, like a passing cloud + That pauses on a mountain summit high, + Monte Cassino's convent rears its proud + And venerable walls against the sky. + + "Well I remember how on foot I climbed + The stony pathway leading to its gate; + Above, the convent bells for vespers chimed, + Below, the darkening town grew desolate. + + * * * * * + + "The silence of the place was like a sleep, + So full of rest it seemed; each passing tread + Was a reverberation from the deep + Recesses of the ages that are dead. + + "For, more than thirteen centuries ago, + Benedict fleeing from the gates of Rome, + A youth disgusted with its vice and woe, + Sought in these mountain solitudes a home. + + "He founded here his Convent and his Rule + Of prayer and work, and counted work as prayer; + The pen became a clarion, and his school + Flamed like a beacon in the midnight air. + + * * * * * + + "From the high window, I beheld the scene + On which Saint Benedict so oft had gazed,-- + The mountains and the valley in the sheen + Of the bright sun,--and stood as one amazed. + + * * * * * + + "The conflict of the Present and the Past, + The ideal and the actual in our life, + As on a field of battle held me fast, + Where this world and the next world were at strife." + +The monastery of Monte Cassino entertains, as its guests, for dinner or +for a night, all gentlemen who visit it; but there is an alms box on the +ancient gate into which the guest is supposed to place whatever +contribution he pleases for the poor of the place. The Italian +government, in 1866, declared this monastery to be a "Monumento +Nazionale," and it is now a famous ecclesiastical school with some two +hundred students and a resplendent faculty of fifty learned monks under +the direction of the Abbot. Some of the most celebrated prelates in +Europe have been educated at Monte Cassino. + +Quite near Monte Cassino, as Longfellow depicts in his lines, is Monte +Aquino, a picturesque hillside where the "Doctor Angelicus," Thomas +Aquinas, was born (in 1224), the son of Count Landulf, in the Castel +Roccasecca. He was educated in the monastery, and one finds himself +recalling here these lines of Thomas William Parsons, entitled "Turning +from Darwin to Thomas Aquinas:"-- + + "Unless in thought with thee I often live, + Angelic doctor! life seems poor to me. + What are these bounties, if they only be + Such boon as farmers to their servants give? + That I am fed, and that mine oxen thrive, + That my lambs fatten, that mine hours are free-- + These ask my nightly thanks on bended knee; + And I do thank Him who hath blest my hive, + And made content my herd, my flock, my bee. + But, Father! nobler things I ask from Thee. + Fishes have sunshine, worms have everything! + Are we but apes? Oh! give me, God, to know + I am death's master; not a scaffolding, + But a true temple where Christ's word could grow." + +It was at Aquinum, too, at the foot of Monte Aquino, Juvenal was born. +Near the peaks of Monte Cassino and Monte Aquino is that of Monte Cairo, +five thousand five hundred feet high, from whose summit one of the +finest views of all southern Europe is attained. The Gulf of Gaeta, the +valley of San Germano, the wild and romantic mountain region of the +Abruzzi and a view, too, of the blue sea are in the panorama, bathed in +the opalescent, gleaming lights that often invest the Italian landscape +with jewelled splendor. + + "I ask myself, Is this a dream? + Will it all vanish into air? + Is there a land of such supreme + And perfect beauty, anywhere?" + +It might have been in this pictured dream-region that Hercules came to +rest. + + "When Heracles, the twelve great labors done, + To Calpe came, and there his journey stayed, + He raised two pillars toward the evening sun, + And carved them by a goddess' subtle aid. + Upon their shafts were sacred legends traced, + And round the twain a serpent cincture placed: + 'T was at this bound the primal world stood still, + And of Atlantis dreamed, with baffled will." + +But still in unmeasured space, still beyond and afar and unattained, +still lost in the unpenetrated realms of the poet's fancy,-- + + "Atlantis lies beyond the pillars yet!" + + + + + _"Here Ischia smiles + O'er liquid miles."_ + + * * * * * + + _High o'er the sea-surge and the sands, + Like a great galleon wrecked and cast + Ashore by storms, thy Castle stands + A mouldering landmark of the Past._ + + _Upon its terrace-walk, I see + A phantom gliding to and fro; + It is Colonna,--it is she + Who lived and loved so long ago._ + + LONGFELLOW. + + + + + _We are the only two that, face to face, + Do know each other, as God doth know us both. + --O fearless friendship, that held nothing back! + O absolute trust, that yielded every key, + And flung each curtain up, and drew me on + To enter the white temple of thy soul, + So vast, so cold, so waste!--and give thee sense + Of living warmth, of throbbing tenderness, + Of soft dependencies! O faith that made + Thee free to seek the spot where my dead hopes + Have sepulture, and read above the crypt + Deep graven, the tearful legend of my life! + There, gloomed with the memorials of my past, + Thou once for all didst learn what man accepts + Lothly--(how should he else?)--that never woman, + Fashioned a woman,--heart, brain, body, soul,-- + Ever twice loved._ + + "_Vittoria Colonna to Michael Angelo._" + + MARGARET J. PRESTON. + + + + +IV + +A PAGE DE CONTI FROM ISCHIA + + "Unto my buried lord I give myself." + + * * * * * + + Michael Angelo! + A man that all men honor, and the model + That all should follow; one who works and prays, + For work is prayer, and consecrates his life + To the sublime ideal of his art + Till art and life are one. + + LONGFELLOW, from "_Michael Angelo; A Fragment_." + + +In that poetic sail along the Italian coast between Naples and Genoa the +voyager feels that it is + + "On no earthly sea with transient roar" + +that his bark is floating; that + + "Unto no earthly airs he trims his sail," + +as he flits along this coast when violet waves dash against a brilliant +background of sky. Ischia reveals herself through the blue, transparent +air, gleaming with opalescent lights, quivering, fading and flaming +again as the afterglow in the east rivals in its coloring the sunset +splendors of the west. Is there in the air a faint, lingering echo of +the _chant d'amour_ of sirens on the rocky shores? Is Parthenope still +to be descried? Gazing upon Ischia there is a rush of romantic +impressions as if one were transported into ideal regions of song, +before this impression begins to resolve itself into definite +remembrance of fact and incident. Surely some exquisite associations in +the past had enchanted this island in memory and invested it with the +magic light that never was on sea or land. Traditions of beauty; of the +lives of scholar and savant and princes of the church; of a court of +nobility enriched and adorned by prelate and by poet; traditions, too, +of a woman's consecration to an immortal love and the solace of grief by +poetic genius and exalted friendships,--all these seem to cling about +Ischia in a vague, atmospheric way till memory, still groping backward +in the twilight of the richly historic past, suddenly crystallized into +recognition that it was Ischia which was the home of Vittoria Colonna, +the greatest woman poet of the Italian Renaissance. Lines, long since +read, arose like an incantation; and like bars of music, each note of +which vibrated in the air, came this fragment of one of her songs:-- + + "If in these rude and artless songs of mine + I never take the file in hand, nor try + With curious care and nice, fastidious eye + To deck and polish each uncultured line, + 'T is that it makes small merit of my name + To merit praise.... + + * * * * * + + But it must be that heaven's own gracious gift + Which, with its breath, divine, inspires my soul, + Strikes forth these sparks unbidden by my will." + + [Illustration: ISCHIA, FROM THE SEA + _Page 282_] + +Vittoria Colonna was called the most beautiful and gifted woman of her +time in all Italy. Her life of nearly sixty years (1490-1547) lay +entirely in that period when the apathy of ten centuries was broken, +when the darkness fled before the dawning of a glorious day. New methods +of thought, revised taste in poetry, new discoveries of science, a +nobler progress in criticism, great discoveries, and a lofty and +unprecedented freedom of conviction marked the century between 1450 and +1550, stamping it as the marvellous time which we know as the +Renaissance, "that solemn fifteenth century which can hardly be studied +too much, not merely for its positive results in the things of the +intellect and the imagination, its concrete works of art, its special +and prominent personalities, with their profound aesthetic charm, but for +its general spirit and character, for the ethical qualities of which it +is a consummate type." + +It was peculiarly fitting that Italy should take the initiative in +inaugurating this _vita nuova_. Italy had a language and literature and +art. Dante had delivered his solemn message and Petrarca his impassioned +song. Boccaccio had taught the gospel of gladness. Who shall analyze the +secret springs of their inspiration and reveal to what degree Ovid and +Horace and Virgil influenced the later literature? A new solar system +was established by Copernicus. America was discovered. Science entered +on her definite and ceaseless progress, and religion and art became +significant forces in human life. Printing had been invented and the +compass discovered. + +Into this time of new forces, when everything was throbbing and +pulsating with life, was Vittoria Colonna born into social prestige and +splendor. Her father, Fabrizio Colonna, and her mother, Agnesina di +Montefeltro, a daughter of the Duke of Urbino, were then domiciled in +the castle of Marino, on the Lago d'Albano, a magnificent palace some +twelve miles from Rome, in which the Duke d'Amalfi (the father of +Fabrizio Colonna) lived, and which is still standing, filled with +memorials and relics of historic interest. Urbino, the seat of the +Montefeltro, is renowned as having been the birthplace of Raphael, who + + "Only drank the precious wine of youth," + +but who + + "... lives immortal in the hearts of men, + ... and the world is fairer + That he lived in it." + +The Colonna date back to the eleventh century, and they gave many +princes and cardinals to the country. At the close of the thirteenth +century they were arrayed against Boniface VIII, the Pope, who accused +them of crime, while they disputed the validity of his election to the +holy office. In retaliation, the Pope excommunicated the entire family, +anathematized them as heretics and declared their estates forfeited to +the church. The Colonna, far from being intimidated, commanded three +hundred armed horsemen, attacked the papal palace, which they plundered, +and made him a prisoner,--an incident referred to by Dante in the +"Inferno." The Colonna and the Orsini were also at warfare, and when a +member of the former family was elevated to the papacy under the name of +Martin V, they despoiled property of the Orsini. + +Gay excursionists to-day, who fly over the Campagna in their +twentieth-century touring cars to the lovely towns of the Alban hills, +may look down from Castel Gandolfo on the gloomy, mediaeval little town +of Marino, part way up a steep hillside, whose summit is crowned by the +castle once belonging to the Colonna and in which Vittoria passed her +early childhood. "Nothing," in his "Roba di Roma," says Story, "can be +more rich and varied than this magnificent amphitheatre of the Campagna +of Rome, ... sometimes drear, mysterious, and melancholy in desolate +stretches; sometimes rolling like an inland sea whose waves have +suddenly become green with grass, golden with grain, and gracious with +myriads of wild flowers, where scarlet poppies blaze and pink daisies +cover vast meadows and vines shroud the picturesque ruins of antique +villas, aqueducts, and tombs, or drop from mediaeval towers and +fortresses." + +Flying in the swift motor-car of the time toward the Alban hills, Marino +may be easily reached in less than an hour from the Porta San Giovanni, +and in the near distance Monte Albani, rising into the cone of Monte +Cavi, is a picture before the eye, while on the lower slopes gleam the +white villages of Albani, Marino, Castel Gandolfo, and Frascati, with +the campanile of a cathedral, a fortress-like ruin, or gardens and olive +orchards clambering up the heights. The Papal town of Rocca di Papa +crowns one summit where once Tarquin's temple to Jupiter stood and on +whose ruins now gleam afar in the Italian sunshine the white walls of +the Passionist convent of Monte Cavi, built by Cardinal York. From this +height Juno gazed upon the great conflict of contending armies, if +Virgil's topography be entitled to authority. And here, through a defile +in the hills, one may look toward Naples, "and then rising abruptly +with sheer limestone cliffs and crevasses, where transparent purple +shadows sleep all day long, towers the grand range of the Sabine +mountains, whose lofty peaks surround the Campagna to the east and north +like a curved amphitheatre.... Again, skirting the Pontine Marshes on +the east, are the Volscian mountains, closing up the Campagna at +Terracina, where they overhang the road and affront the sea with their +great barrier. Following along the Sabine hills, you will see at +intervals the towns of Palestrina and Tivoli, where the Anio tumbles in +foam, and other little mountain towns nestled here and there among the +soft airy hollows, or perched on the cliffs." + +In this landscape there are three ruined villages--Colonna, Gallicano, +and Zagarda--perched on their respective hills. The castle of the +Colonna family is now restored and modernized to a degree that leaves +little trace of that former stately grandeur which is transmuted into +modern convenience and comfort. + +In this scene of romantic beauty, with the vista of beauty almost +incomparable in any inland view in Italy, Vittoria passed her infancy, +until, at the age of four, her childhood was transplanted to fairy +Ischia. In all this chain of Alban towns, including Marino, Viterbo, +Ariccia, and Rocca di Papa, the great family of the Colonna owned +extensive estates, each crowning some height, while the defiles between +were filled, then as now, with the foam and blossom of riotous greenery. +Then, as now, across the mystic Campagna, the dome of St. Peter's +silhouetted itself against a golden background of western sky. + +One needs not to have had privileged access to the sibylline leaves of +the Cumaean soothsayer to recognize that Vittoria Colonna was born under +the star of destiny. Her horoscope seemed to be inextricably entwined +with that of Italy; and the events which created and determined the +conditions of her life and its panoramic series of circumstances were +the events of Italy and of Europe as well--in political aspects and in +the influence on general progress, brought to bear by strong and +prominent individualities whose gifts, genius, or force dominated the +movements of the day. + +To her father's change of political allegiance, from the French to the +Spanish side, in the war raging between those countries in 1494, +Vittoria owed all her life in Ischia; and her marriage, and all that +resulted from her becoming a member of the d'Avalos family, was due to +this espousal of a new political faith on the part of Fabrizio Colonna. +To the fact that in 1425 the war with France again broke out was due the +loss of her husband and the conditions that consecrated her life to +poetry, to learning, and that made possible the beautiful and +sympathetic friendship between herself and Michael Angelo. Her life +presents the most forcible illustration of the overruling power on human +life and destiny. + +It was the political change of faith on the part of Fabrizio Colonna +that initiated an unforeseen and undreamed-of drama of life for his +infant daughter, the first act of which included the command of the King +of Naples that the little Vittoria should be betrothed to Francesco +d'Avalos, the son of Alphonso, Marchese di Pescara, of Ischia, one of +the nobles who stood nearest to the king in those troubled days. +Francesco was born in the castle on Ischia in 1489, and was one year +older than Vittoria. Fabrizio exchanged his castle at Marino for one in +Naples, which city made him the Grand Constable. The d'Avalos castle in +Ischia had at this time for its chatelaine the Duchessa di Francavilla, +who is said by some authorities to have been the elder sister and by +others to have been the aunt of Francesco. Donna Constanza d'Avalos, +later the Duchessa di Francavilla, had been made the Castellana of the +island for her courage in refusing to capitulate to the French troops +when, after the death of her father, she was left in sole charge of the +d'Avalos estates, and Emperor Charles V elevated her rank to that of +Principessa. The Duchessa was one of the most remarkable women of the +day. She was a classical scholar, and herself a writer, the author of a +book entitled "_Degli Infortuni e Travagli del Mondo_." To the care of +this learned and brilliant woman, a great lady in the social life of the +time, the care of the little Vittoria was committed, and she studied and +played and grew up with Francesco, her future husband. The d'Avalos +family ranked among the highest nobility of the Court of Naples, and the +Principessa reigned as a queen of letters and society in her island +kingdom. It was under her care that the two children, Francesco and +Vittoria, pursued their studies together and acquired every grace of +scholarship and accomplishment of society. The circles which the +Duchessa drew around her included many gentlewomen from Sicily and from +Naples; and "the life at Castel d'Ischia was synonymous with everything +glorious and elegant," recorded Visconti, "and its fame has been +immortalized." Although Francesco (the future Marchese di Pescara) was +born in Italian dominions, yet the d'Avalos family were of Spanish +ancestry and traditions. The musical Castilian was the language of the +household. The race ideals of Spain--the poetic, the impassioned, the +joy in color and movement--pervaded the very atmosphere of Castel +d'Ischia. Vittoria's earliest girlhood revealed her exceptional beauty +and charm, and gave evidence that the gods loved her and had dowered her +with their immortal gifts and genius, which flowered, under the +sympathetic guidance and stimulus of such a woman as the Principessa +(the Duchessa di Francavilla) and the society she drew around her, as +the orange and the myrtle flower under the southern sunshine. + +The literature of biography presents no chapter that can rival this in +the idyllic beauty of the lives of those two children on the lovely +island in the violet sea. The perpetual conflicts that were waged in +both Rome and Naples awakened no echoes in this romantic and isolated +spot, whose atmosphere was that of the peace of scholarly pursuits and +lofty thought that is found where the arts and the muses hold their +sway. + +But in 1496 came the tragedy of the death of the young king and queen of +Naples; four years later Rome celebrated a jubilee in which Naples took +part, sending a splendid procession as escort to the famous Madonna that +was carried from Naples to Rome and back, working miracles, it is said, +on both journeys, as a Madonna should. A year later Frederick of Naples +and the queen, and two of the king's sisters,--ladies of high +nobility,--came as guests to the castle in Ischia,--royal exiles seeking +shelter. Five years later the new king and queen were welcomed with +gorgeous parade and acclamation. A pier was thrown out over one hundred +feet into the sea; on this a tent of gold was erected, and all the +nobility of Naples, in the richest costumes of velvet and jewels, +thronged to meet the royal guests. Over the sunlit Bay of Naples +resounded the thunder of the guns in military salute and the cheers of +the people. Among the distinguished nobility present, Costanza, Duchessa +and Principessa di Francavilla, was a marked figure with her young +charge, Vittoria Colonna, at her side. She made a deep reverence and +kissed the hand of the king as he passed, as did many of the ladies of +highest rank, and at the fete of that evening Vittoria's beauty charmed +all eyes. Although it was well understood that she had been betrothed +since childhood to Francesco d'Avalos, yet many princes and nobles sued +for her hand and were refused by her father, who was at this time +established magnificently in Naples. Pope Julius II refused the +pleadings of two dukes, both of whom wished to seek Vittoria in +marriage, as he considered the love of the young girl for her betrothed +a matter to be held sacred. Three years later, when Vittoria was +nineteen and Francesco twenty, their marriage was celebrated in Castel +d'Ischia with the richest state and beauty of ceremonial observance. A +few months previous to this time she had returned to her father's +country home in the family castle at Marino, whither both Fabrizio +and Agnese Colonna accompanied their daughter. When the time appointed +for her bridal came, Vittoria was escorted to Ischia by princes, and +dukes, and ladies of honor, and the marriage gifts to the bride included +a chain of rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, linked with gold; a writing +desk of solid gold; wonderful bracelets; costumes of velvets, and +brocades and rich embroideries, and a portion of fourteen thousand +ducats. + + [Illustration: LA ROCCA, ISCHIA + _Page 294_] + +"The noted pair had not their equals in Italy at this time," writes a +contemporary historian. "Their life in Naples was all magnificence and +festivity, and when they desired to exchange it for the country they +left Naples for Pietralba on Monte Emo, where they assembled pleasant +parties of ladies and gentlemen. Much time was passed in their beloved +Ischia, where the Duchessa, as Castellana, was obliged to receive much +company. And here were found the flower of chivalry and the men most +noted in letters.... They listened to the poets Sanazzaro, il Rota, and +Bernardo Tasso; or they heard the admirable discourses on letters of +Musefico, il Giovio, and il Minturno. It was an agreeable school for the +youthful minds of Vittoria and Pescara. Thus passed in great happiness +the first three years of their married life." + +It is not strange that to the young Marchesa di Pescara, Ischia had +become an enchanted island. The scene of her happy childhood, of her +studies, of her first efforts in lyric art, of her stately and +resplendent bridal; the home, too, of her early married life,--it is +little wonder that in after years she translated into song its scenic +loveliness and the thoughts and visions it had inspired. + +Again, the ever-recurring war came on, and in the spring of 1512 the +King of Naples conferred the doubtful privilege on the Marchesa di +Pescara of serving as the royal representative. It is said that Vittoria +personally superintended her young husband's outfit,--in horses, +attendants, armor, and other details belonging to a gentleman of rank. +Her father and her uncle, Prospero Colonna, were also among the military +who led Italian troops. In the terrible battle of Ravenna (which was +fought on the Easter Sunday, April 11, of 1512), Pescara was wounded, +taken prisoner, and carried to the fortress of Porta Gobbia. A messenger +was sent to Ischia, where Vittoria lived between her books and the +orange groves; and the twentieth-century cynic of 1907 will smile at the +form in which she expressed her sorrow,--that of a poem of some forty +stanzas, which began:-- + + "_Eccelso Mio Signor! Questa ti scrivo + Per te narrar tra quante dubbie voglie, + Fra quanti aspri martir, dogliosa io vivo!_" + +A translation of this lyric epistle, made in prose, gives it more fully +as follows:-- + + "Eccelso Mio Signor: I write this to thee to tell thee amid what + bitter anxieties I live.... I believed that so many prayers and + tears, and love without measure, would not have been displeasing to + God.... Thy great valor has shone as in a Hector or an Achilles." + +In this letter Vittoria tells him that when the messenger reached her, +she was lying on a point of the island ("_I_, in the _body_, my _mind_ +always with _thee_," she says), and that the whole atmosphere had been +to her that day "like a cavern of black fog," and that "the marine gods +seemed to say to Ischia, 'To-day, Vittoria, thou shalt hear of disgrace +from the confines: thou now in health and honor, thou shalt be turned +to grief; but thy father and husband are saved, though taken +prisoners.'" + +This presentiment she related to her husband's aunt, the Duchessa +Francavilla, the Castellana of Ischia, who begged her not to think of it +and said, "It would be strange for such a force to be conquered." + +Just after this conversation between the youthful Marchesa and the +Duchessa, the messenger arrived. The psychic science of to-day would see +in this occurrence a striking instance of telepathy. In her poetic +epistle to her husband, Vittoria also says:-- + + "A wife ought to follow her husband at home and abroad; if he + suffers trouble, she suffers; if he is happy, she is; if he dies, + she dies. What happens to one happens to both; equals in life, they + are equals in death. His fate is her fate." + +These letters--in keeping with the times--were, on both sides, expressed +in literary rather than in personal form. Pescara, from his captivity, +wrote to her a "Dialogue on Love,"--a manuscript for which Visconti +notes that he has searched in vain. + +The Marchesa di Pescara went from Ischia to Naples, after learning of +the misfortunes that had overtaken her husband, in order that she might +be able constantly to receive direct communication regarding his fate. A +few months later the Marchese returned, making the day "brilliant with +joy" to Vittoria, but after a year of happiness he was again called to +service, and the Marchesa returned to her beloved Ischia. She gave +herself to the study of the ancient classics; she wrote poems, and +"considered no time of value but so spent," says Rota. The age was one +of a general revival of learning. Royalty, the Pope, the princes and +nobility were all giving themselves with ardor to this higher culture. +Under Dante the Italian language assumed new perfection. This period was +to Vittoria one of intense stimulus, and it must have had a formative +influence on her gifts and her mental power. Having no children, she +adopted a young cousin of her husband, the Marchese del Vasto, to +educate and to be the heir of their estates. In 1515, Pescara again +returned and the entire island of Ischia was "aflame with bonfires, and +the borders of the beautiful shore bright and warm with lights," in +honor of the event. Of this event, Vittoria wrote:-- + + "... My beloved returns to us ... his countenance radiant with + piety to God, with deeds born of inward faith." + +At a magnificent wedding festival in the d'Avalos family about this +time, it is recorded that the Marchesa di Pescara "wore a robe of +brocaded crimson velvet, with large branches of beaten gold wrought on +it, with a headdress of wrought gold and a girdle of beaten gold around +her waist." + +When the coronation of Charles V was to be celebrated at Aix-la-Chapelle +the Marchese di Pescara was appointed ambassador to represent the House +of Aragon on this brilliant occasion, when the new emperor was to be +invested with the crown and the sceptre of Charlemagne. Charles had +decided to journey by sea and to visit Henry VIII on the way, an +arrangement of which Cardinal Wolsey was aware, although he had kept +Henry in ignorance of it, according to those curious mental processes +of his mind where his young monarch was concerned. Shakespeare, in the +play of "King Henry VIII," describes the meeting of the two kings, which +occurred at Canterbury, "at a grand jubilee in honor of the shrine of +Thomas a Becket." One historian thus describes this scene:-- + + "The two handsome young sovereigns rode into Canterbury under the + same canopy, the great Cardinal riding directly in front of them, + and on the right and left were the proud nobles of Spain and + England, among whom was Pescara. The kings alighted from their + horses at the west door of the cathedral and together paid their + devotions before that rich shrine blazing with jewels. They humbly + knelt on the steps worn by the knees of tens of thousands of + pilgrims." + +On the return to Naples of the Marchese di Pescara he told the story of +his regal journey to an assemblage of nobles in the Church of Santa +Maria di Monte Oliveto, and he then joined the Marchesa in Rome, where +she had gone to visit her family and to pay her devotions to Leo X, who +had just created Pompeo Colonna a cardinal. + +Pope Leo aspired to draw around him a court distinguished for its +culture and brilliancy in both art and literature. In this court the +Marchesa di Pescara shone resplendent. "She was at the height of her +beauty, and her charms were sung by the poets of the day," says a +contemporary. + +A year later Leo X died, succeeded by Adrian (who had been tutor to +Charles V), to the intense and bitter disappointment of Cardinal Wolsey, +who had made the widest--and wiliest--efforts to gratify his own +ambition of reigning in the Papal chair. Again the war between France +and Italy, that which seemed to be a perpetually smouldering feud, and +the Marchese di Pescara, again summoned to battle, was wounded at Pavia. +For some time he lay between life and death at Milan, and a messenger +was sent to beg Vittoria to come to him. She set out on this journey, +leaving Naples in great haste; but on reaching Viterbo another messenger +met her with the tidings of the death of the Marchese, which had +occurred on Nov. 25, 1525. Overcome with grief, Vittoria was carried +back to Rome and for the solace of entire seclusion she sought the +cloistered silence of the convent of San Silvestre, which lay at the +foot of the Monte Cavallo in Rome, almost adjoining the gardens of the +Colonna palace. To the Marchese di Pescara, who had the military rank of +general, was given a funeral of great pomp and splendor in Milan, and +his body was brought to the famous Naples church of Santa Domenica +Maggiore, where it was entombed with the princes and nobles of his +house. + +Before the death of the Marchese there had been a political plot to join +the Papal, Venetian, and Milanese forces and rescue Italy from the +Emperor's rule, and the Pope himself had sent a messenger to Pescara +asking him to unite with the league. The Marchese, Spanish by ancestry +and by sympathies, used this knowledge to frustrate the Italian designs +and to warn Spain. The Italian historians have execrated him for this +act, which they regard as that of a traitor. Vittoria, however, did not +take this view apparently, as in a letter to her husband she wrote:-- + + "Titles and kingdoms do not add to true honor.... I do not desire + to be the wife of a king, but I glory in being the wife of that + great general who shows his bravery in war and, still more, by + magnanimity in peace, surpasses the greatest kings." + +The inducement of the throne of Naples had been held out to Marchese di +Pescara. He evidently regarded this in the nature of a dishonorable +bribe, and it is this view which the Marchesa plainly shared. + +After his death her first impulse was to take the vows of a cloistered +nun. The Pope himself intervened to dissuade her, and she consented to +enter, only temporarily, the convent of San Silvestre on the Monte +Cavallo. + +In the will of the Marchese di Pescara there was a clause directing that +anything in his estate unlawfully acquired should be restored to the +owner; and under this, Vittoria gave back to the monastery of Monte +Cassino the Monte San Magno that had formerly been its property. + +From the cloistered shades of the convent Vittoria removed to the family +castle of the Colonna at Marino, where, on the shore of this beautiful +lake (which was the scenery of Virgil's AEneid), she passed some months, +engaged in writing sonnets. Of one of these a translation runs in +part:-- + + "I write solely to assuage my inward grief, which destroys in my + heart the light of this world's sun; and not to add light to _mio + bel sole_, to his glorified spirit. It is fit that other tongues + should preserve his great name from oblivion." + +In another, perhaps her most perfect sonnet, she beseeches the winds to +convey to her beloved the message she sends:-- + + "_Ch'io di lui sempre pensi; o pianga, o parli_,"--That I always + think of him, or weep for him, or speak of him. + +Again, a year later, Vittoria returned to lovely Ischia, which, as one +writer has described, "rises out of the blue billows of the +Mediterranean like giant towers. The immense blocks of stone are heaped +one upon another, in such a supernatural manner as to give a coloring to +the legend, that beneath them, in those vast volcanic caverns, dwells +the giant Tifeo." The castle where the Duchessa Francavilla and the +Marchesa Pescara lived is built on a towering mass of rock joined to the +island by a causeway. The castle includes the palace, a church, and +other buildings for the family and their guests and dependants. + +For some three years the Marchesa did not again leave Ischia. In the +mean time volumes of her poems were published. She received the +acclamation of all the writers of her time. The crown of immortelles, +often laid but on a tomb, was continually pressed upon her brow. She was +the most famous woman of her time. Her beauty, her genius, her noble +majesty of character impressed the contemporary world. Her days were +filled with correspondence with the most distinguished men of the day. +Ariosto, Castiglione, Ludovico Dolce, Cardinal Bembo, Cardinal +Contarini, and Paolo Giovio were among her nearer circle of friends. + + [Illustration: CASTELLO DI ALFONSO, ISCHIA + _Page 306_] + +Stormy times fell upon Italy, in all of which the Colonna family bore +prominent part, and all of which affected the life of Vittoria Colonna +in many ways. Her biography, if written with fulness and accuracy, would +be largely a history of the Italy of that time, for her life seemed +always inseparably united with great events. + +In the year 1530 (Clement VII being the Pope) a full Papal pardon had +been extended to all the Colonna, and their castles and estates had also +been restored to them. For years past Rome had been in a state of +conflict. Benvenuto Cellini, who had watched the terrible scenes from +Castel San Angelo where he was immured, has described the terrors. The +Eternal City, whose population under Leo X had been 90,000, was now--in +1530--reduced to half that number. Palaces and temples had been the +scenes of riot and destruction, yet to this very lawlessness of the time +the Roman galleries of the present owe their ancient statues, which were +uncovered by these assaults. The Coliseum was left in the ruined state +in which it is now seen, and by the sale of the stones taken from it the +Palazzo Barberini was erected. + +Vittoria, coming again to Rome and revisiting its classic greatness, +exclaimed that happy were they who lived in times so full of grandeur; +to which the poet Molza gallantly replied that they were less happy, as +they had not known her! Everywhere was she received with the highest +honors. She made a tour, visiting Bagni di Lucca, Bologna, and Ferrara, +where she was the guest of the Duca and Duchessa Ercole in the ducal +palace. The Duchessa was the Princesse Renee, the daughter of Louis XII +of France, and an ardent friend of Calvin, who visited her in Ferrara. +It was to this visit that Longfellow refers in his poem entitled +"Michael Angelo," when he pictures Vittoria as sitting for her portrait +to the artist and conversing with her friend Giulia, the Duchess of +Trajetto, Michael Angelo begs them to resume the conversation +interrupted by his entrance, and Vittoria says:-- + + "Well, first, then, of Duke Ercole, a man + Cold in his manners, and reserved and silent, + And yet magnificent in all his ways." + +To which the Duchessa replies:-- + + "How could the daughter of a king of France + Wed such a duke?" + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "The men that women marry, + And why they marry them, will always be + A marvel and a mystery to the world." + + VITTORIA. + + "And then the Duchess,--how shall I describe her, + Or tell the merits of that happy nature + Which pleases most when least it thinks of pleasing? + Not beautiful, perhaps, in form and feature, + Yet with an inward beauty, that shines through + Each look and attitude and word and gesture; + A kindly grace of manner and behavior, + A something in her presence and her ways + That makes her beautiful beyond the reach + Of mere external beauty; and in heart + So noble and devoted to the truth, + And so in sympathy with all who strive + After the higher life." + + JULIA. + + "She draws me to her + As much as her Duke Ercole repels me." + + VITTORIA. + + "Then the devout and honorable women + That grace her court, and make it good to be there; + Francesca Bucyronia, the true-hearted, + Lavinia della Rovere and the Orsini, + The Magdalena and the Cherubina, + And Anne de Parthenai, who sings so sweetly; + All lovely women, full of noble thoughts + And aspirations after noble things. + + * * * * * + + With these ladies + Was a young girl, Olympia Morata, + Daughter of Fulvio, the learned scholar, + Famous in all the universities: + A marvellous child, who at the spinning-wheel, + And in the daily round of household cares, + Hath learned both Greek and Latin; and is now + A favorite of the Duchess and companion + Of Princess Anne. This beautiful young Sappho + Sometimes recited to us Grecian odes + That she had written, with a voice whose sadness + Thrilled and o'ermastered me, and made me look + Into the future time, and ask myself + What destiny will be hers." + + JULIA. + + "And what poets + Were there to sing you madrigals, and praise + Olympia's eyes?" ... + + VITTORIA. + + "None; for great Ariosto is no more." + + * * * * * + + JULIA. + + "He spake of you." + + VITTORIA. + + "And of yourself, no less, + And of our master, Michael Angelo." + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "Of me?" + + VITTORIA. + + "Have you forgotten that he calls you + Michael, less man than angel, and divine? + You are ungrateful." + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "A mere play on words." + +The Duca and Duchessa of Ferrara invited the most distinguished persons +in Venice and Bologna and Lombardy to meet their honored guest. Bishop +Ghiberto of Verona besought her to visit that city. Vittoria accepted +and was for some time the Bishop's guest in his palace, and she took +great interest in the historic city. With the Bishop she visited the +ancient Duomo, which in 1160 had been restored by Pope Urban II, and +reconsecrated. It was a strong desire of the Marchesa at this time to +make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; but the journey was then so perilous and +so long--none too easy, indeed, at the present time--that she was +dissuaded from the attempt. + +Verona, to do her honor, had a medal struck bearing her portrait. The +group of great artists--Titian, Tintoretto, and Giorgione in Venice; Fra +Angelico, Bartolommeo, and others of that day--were creating their +wonderful works which Vittoria must have seen and enjoyed during this +tour. Raphael, whose death had occurred in 1520, Vittoria had, +doubtless, known; but whether it was she who was the original of the +Muse in his great picture of "Parnassus," as is alleged, is not fully +established. + + [Illustration: DETAIL FROM "PARNASSUS," RAPHAEL STANZE, + PALAZZO VATICANO, ROME + Raphael Sanzio + _Page 311_] + + "Unto my buried lord I give myself," + +wrote Vittoria Colonna in one of the sonnets to her husband's memory, +and this line is the keynote to her entire life, both as woman and poet. +It was no translation of her life into another key, no reckoning by +stars that flashed from different skies, when there fell upon her the +baptism and crown of that immortal friendship with Michael Angelo. + +The Marchesa di Pescara returned to Rome, from this notable tour in +Northern Italy, in 1538. She was received with the honors that her fame +inspired. Michael Angelo was then deeply absorbed in painting his "Last +Judgment," in the Capella Sistina. + +"Every one in Rome took an interest in the progress of this magnificent +fresco, from the Pope (who continually visited the artist) down to the +humblest of the people. We may imagine Vittoria standing by the great +painter to view his sublime work; but Michael Angelo did not require the +patronage, even of a Colonna, and it is possible that Vittoria herself +first sought out his friendship." + +In the Casa Buonarroti, in Florence, hangs that exquisite picture +painted of Italy's greatest woman poet, in her early youth; and in its +rare and precious collection of manuscripts are the letters of Vittoria +to the poet and sculptor. Her influence is said to have produced a great +change in his religious views, influencing his mind to a more lofty and +more spiritual comprehension of the divine laws that govern the +universe. + +Condivi, in referring to this chapter in their lives, has said:-- + + "In particular he was most deeply attached to the Marchesa di + Pescara, of whose divine spirit he was enamoured, and he was + beloved by her in return with much affection." + +It was about 1535 when Michael Angelo left Florence for Rome, appointed +by the Pope, Paul III, as the chief architect, sculptor, and painter of +the Vatican. He was enrolled in the Pontifical household, and he at once +began his work in the Sistine Chapel. Mr. Symonds believes that he must +have been engaged upon the "Last Judgment" through 1536, 1537. The great +artist was not without a keen wit of his own as well; for on receipt of +a letter from Pietro Aretino, from Venice, in September of 1537, with +praises of his work that Michael Angelo deemed extravagant, he replied +that while he rejoiced in Aretino's commendation, he also grieved; "as +having finished a large part of the fresco," he said, "I cannot realize +your conception which is so complete that if the Day of Judgment had +come and you had been present and seen it with your eyes, your words +could not have described it better." + +Vittoria Colonna now passed some years between Rome and Orvieto, that +picturesque town with its magnificent cathedral rich in mediaeval art, +where she lived in the convent of St. Paolo d'Orvieto. She varied this +residence by remaining at times in the convent of San Caterina di +Viterbo, in that city. In Rome she had lived both at the convent of +Santa Anna and also at the Palazzo Cesarini, which was the home of +members of the Colonna family. A sonnet of Michael Angelo's written to +Vittoria reflects the feeling that she inspired in him:-- + + "Da che concetto ha l'arte intera e diva + La forma e gli atti d'alcun, poi di quello + D'umil materia un semplice modello + E 'l primo parto che da quel deriva. + Ma nel secondo poi di pietra viva + S'adempion le promesse del martello; + E si rinasce tal concetto e bello, + Che ma' non e chi suo eterno prescriva. + Simil, di me model, nacqu'io da prima; + Di me model, per cosa piu perfetta + Da voi rinascer poi, donna alta e degna. + Se 'l poco accresce, 'l mio superchio lima + Vostra pieta; qual penitenzia aspetta + Mio fiero ardor, se mi gastiga e insegna?" + +Of this sonnet the following beautiful translation is made by John +Addington Symonds:-- + + "When divine Art conceives a form and face, + She bids the craftsman for his first essay + To shape a simple model in mere clay: + This is the earliest birth of Art's embrace. + From the live marble in the second place + His mallet brings into the light of day + A thing so beautiful that who can say + When time shall conquer that immortal grace? + Thus my own model I was born to be-- + The model of that nobler self, whereto + Schooled by your pity, lady, I shall grow. + Each overplus and each deficiency + You will make good. What penance then is due + For my fierce heat, chastened and taught by you?" + +The correspondence between Vittoria and Michael Angelo was undated, and +all that now remains is fragmentary. + +The great artist, writing to his nephew, Sionardo, in 1554, says:-- + + "Messer Giovan Francisco Fattucci asked me about a month ago if I + possessed any writings of the marchioness. I have a little book + bound in parchment which she gave me some ten years ago. It has one + hundred and three sonnets, not counting another forty she afterward + sent on paper from Viterbo. I had these bound into the same book, + and at that time I used to lend them about to many persons so that + they are all of them now in print. In addition to these poems I + have many letters which she wrote from Orvieto and Viterbo. These, + then, are the writings I possess of the marchioness." + +In Rome, 1545, Michael Angelo thus writes to Vittoria:-- + + "I desired, lady, before I accepted the things which your ladyship + has often expressed the will to give me--I desired to produce + something for you with my own hand in order to be as little as + possible unworthy of this kindness. I have now come to recognize + that the grace of God is not to be bought, and that to keep it + waiting is a grievous sin. Therefore I acknowledge my error and + willingly accept your favors. When I possess them--not, indeed, + because I shall have them in my house, but for that I myself shall + dwell in them--the place will seem to encircle me with paradise. + For which felicity I shall remain ever more obliged to your + ladyship than I am already, if that is possible. + + "The bearer of this letter will be Urbino, who lives in my service. + Your ladyship may inform him when you would like me to come and see + the head you promised to show me." + +With this letter Michael Angelo sent to Vittoria a sonnet which, in the +translation made by John Addington Symonds, is as follows:-- + + "Seeking at least to be not all unfit + For thy sublime and boundless courtesy, + My lowly thoughts at first were fain to try + What they could yield for grace so infinite. + But now I know my unassisted wit + Is all too weak to make me soar so high, + For pardon, lady, for this fault I cry, + And wiser still I grow remembering it. + Yea, will I see what folly 't were to think + That largess dropped from thee like dews from heaven, + Could e'er be paid by work so frail as mine! + To nothingness my art and talent sink; + He fails who from his mental stores hath given + A thousandfold to match one gift divine." + +As a gift to Vittoria Colonna, Michael Angelo designed an episode from +the Passion of our Lord, which Condivi describes as "a naked Christ at +the moment when, taken from the cross, our Lord would have fallen at the +feet of His most holy mother if two angels did not support Him in their +arms. She sits below the cross with a face full of tears and sorrow, +lifting both her widespread arms to heaven while on the stem of the tree +above is written this legend: '_Non vi si pensa quanto sangue costa._' +The cross is of the same kind as that which was carried by the White +Friars at the time of the plague of 1348, and afterward deposited in the +Church of Santa Croce at Florence." + +In presenting this cross to her he wrote:-- + + "Lady Marchioness, being myself in Rome, I thought it hardly + fitting to give the Crucified Christ to Messer Tommaso, and to make + him an intermediary between your ladyship and me, especially + because it has been my earnest wish to perform more for you than + for any one I ever knew upon the world. But absorbing occupations, + which still engage me, have prevented my informing your ladyship of + this. Moreover, knowing that you know love needs no taskmaster, and + that he who loves doth not sleep, I thought the less of using + go-betweens. And though I seemed to have forgotten, I was doing + what I did not talk about, in order to effect a thing that was not + looked for, my purpose has been spoiled. He sins who faith like + this so soon forgets." + + [Illustration: VITTORIA COLONNA, GALLERIA BUONARROTI, FLORENCE + _Page 312_] + +In reply Vittoria Colonna wrote:-- + + "Unique Master Angelo and my most singular friend: I have received + your letter and examined the crucifix which truly hath crucified in + my memory every other picture I ever saw. Nowhere could one find + another figure of our Lord so well executed, so living, and so + exquisitely finished. I cannot express in words how subtly and + marvellously it is designed. Wherefore I am resolved to take the + work as coming from no other hand but yours.... I have examined it + minutely in full light and by the lens and mirror, and never saw + anything more perfect." + +She added:-- + + "... Your works forcibly stimulate the judgment of all who would + look at them. My study of them made me speak of adding goodness to + things perfect in themselves, and I have seen now that 'all is + possible to him who believes.' I had the greatest faith in God that + He would bestow upon you supernatural grace for the making of this + Christ. When I came to examine it I found it so marvellous that it + surpasses all my expectations. Wherefore, emboldened by your + miracles I conceived a great desire for that which I now see + marvellously accomplished: I mean that the design is in all parts + perfect and consummate. I tell you that I am pleased that the angel + on the right hand is by far the fairer, since Michael will place + you, with all angels, upon the right hand of the Lord some day. + Meanwhile I do not know how else to serve you, than by making + orisons to this sweet Christ, whom you have drawn so well and + exquisitely, and praying you to hold me yours to command as yours + in all and for all." + +Again Vittoria wrote to him:-- + + "I beg you to let me have the crucifix a short while in my keeping, + even though it be unfinished. I want to show it to some gentlemen + who have come from the most reverend, the Cardinal of Mantua. If + you are not working will you not come at your leisure to-day and + talk with me?" + +It is an interesting fact to the visitor in the Rome of to-day that the +convent of San Silvestre where Vittoria Colonna lived was attached to +the church of San Silvestre in Capite, now used as the English-speaking +Catholic church in the Eternal City. The wing which was formerly the +convent (founded in 1318) is now converted into the central post office. + +It was in the sacristy of San Silvestre, decorated with frescoes by +Domenichino, that a memorable meeting and conversation took place, one +Sunday afternoon in those far-away days of nearly five hundred years +ago, between Michael Angelo and Francesco d'Ollanda, a Spanish miniature +artist,--the meeting brought about by Vittoria Colonna. The Spanish +artist was a worshipper of Michael Angelo, who "awakened such a feeling +of love," that if d'Ollanda met him in the street "the stars would come +out in the sky," he says, "before I would let him go again." This +fervent worship was hardly enjoyed by its object, who avoided the +Spanish enthusiast. One Sunday, however, d'Ollanda had gone to San +Silvestre finding there Tolomei, to whom he was also devoted, and +Vittoria Colonna, both of whom had gone to hear the celebrated Fra +Ambrosia of Siena expound the Epistles of St. Paul. The Marchesa di +Pescara observed that she felt sure their Spanish friend would far +rather hear Michael Angelo discuss painting than to hear Fra Ambrosia on +the wisdom of St. Paul. Summoning an attendant she directed him to find +Michael Angelo and tell him how cool and delightful was the church that +morning and to beg him to join Messer Tolomei and herself; but to make +no mention of the presence of d'Ollanda. Her woman's tact and her +faultless courtesy were successful in procuring this inestimable +privilege for the Spanish painter. Michael Angelo came, and began the +conversation--which was a monologue, rather, as all three of the friends +wished only to listen to the master--by defending artists from the +charge of eccentric and difficult methods. With somewhat startling +candor Michael Angelo proceeded:-- + + "I dare affirm that any artist who tries to satisfy the better + vulgar rather than men of his own craft will never become a + superior talent. For my part, I am bound to confess that even his + Holiness wearies and annoys me by begging for too much of my + company. I am most anxious to serve him, ... but I think I can do + so better by studying at home than by dancing attendance on my legs + in his reception room." + +Another meeting of this little group was appointed for the next Sunday +in the Colonna gardens behind the convent, under the shadow of the +laurel trees in the air fragrant with roses and orange blossoms, where +they sat with Rome spread out like a picture at their feet. That +beautiful terrace of the Colonna gardens, to which the visitor in Rome +to-day always makes his pilgrimage, with the ruined statues and the +broken marble flights of steps, is the scene of this meeting of Vittoria +Colonna, Michael Angelo, and Francesco d'Ollanda. On this second +occasion the sculptor asserted his belief that while all things are +worthy the artist's attention, the real test of his art is in the +representation of the human form. He extolled the art of design. He +emphasized the essential nature of nobleness in the artist, and added:-- + + "In order to represent in some degree the adored image of our Lord, + it is not enough that a master should be great and able. I maintain + that he must also be a man of good conduct and morals, if possible + a saint, in order that the Holy Ghost may rain down inspiration on + his understanding." + +Of the relative degree of swiftness in work Michael Angelo said:-- + + "We must regard it as a special gift from God to be able to do that + in a few hours which other men can only perform in many days of + labor. But should this rapidity cause a man to fail in his best + realization it would be better to proceed slowly. No artist should + allow his eagerness to hinder him from the supreme end of + art--perfection." + +Mr. Longfellow, in his unfinished dramatic poem, "Michael Angelo" (to +which reference has already been made), has one scene laid in the +convent chapel of San Silvestre, in which these passages occur:-- + + VITTORIA. + + "Here let us rest awhile, until the crowd + Has left the church. I have already sent + For Michael Angelo to join us here." + + MESSER CLAUDIO. + + "After Fra Bernardino's wise discourse + On the Pauline Epistles, certainly + Some words of Michael Angelo on Art + Were not amiss, to bring us back to earth." + + * * * * * + + MICHAEL ANGELO, _at the door_. + + "How like a Saint or Goddess she appears! + Diana or Madonna, which I know not, + In attitude and aspect formed to be + At once the artist's worship and despair!" + + VITTORIA. + + "Welcome, Maestro. We were waiting for you." + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "I met your messenger upon the way. + And hastened hither." + + VITTORIA. + + "It is kind of you + To come to us, who linger here like gossips + Wasting the afternoon in idle talk. + These are all friends of mine and friends of yours." + + MICHAEL ANGELO. + + "If friends of yours, then are they friends of mine. + Pardon me, gentlemen. But when I entered + I saw but the Marchesa." + +Vittoria tells the master that the Pope has granted her permission to +build a convent, and Michael Angelo replies:-- + + "Ah, to build, to build! + That is the noblest art of all the arts. + Painting and sculpture are but images, + Are merely shadows cast by outward things + On stone or canvas, having in themselves + No separate existence. Architecture, + Existing in itself, and not in seeming + A something it is not, surpasses them + As substance shadow.... + + ... Yet he beholds + Far nobler works who looks upon the ruins + Of temples in the Forum here in Rome. + If God should give me power in my old age + To build for Him a temple half as grand + As those were in their glory, I should count + My age more excellent than youth itself, + And all that I have hitherto accomplished + As only vanity." + +To which Vittoria responds:-- + + "I understand you. + Art is the gift of God, and must be used + Unto His glory. That in art is highest + Which aims at this." + +The poet, with his characteristically delicate divination, has entered +into the inner spirit of these two immortal friends. + +Walter Pater, writing of Michael Angelo, truly says:-- + + "Michael Angelo is always pressing forward from the outward + beauty--_il bel del fuor che agli occhi piace_--to apprehend the + unseen beauty; _trascenda nella forma universale_--that abstract + form of beauty about which the Platonists reason. And this gives + the impression in him of something flitting and unfixed, of the + houseless and complaining spirit, almost clairvoyant through the + frail and yielding flesh." + +Again we find Pater saying:-- + + "Though it is quite possible that Michael Angelo had seen Vittoria, + that somewhat shadowy figure, as early as 1537, yet their closer + intimacy did not begin till about the year 1542, when Michael + Angelo was nearly seventy years old. Vittoria herself, an ardent + Neo-Catholic, vowed to perpetual widowhood since the news had + reached her, seventeen years before, that her husband, the youthful + and princely Marquess of Pescara, lay dead of the wounds he had + received in the battle of Pavia, was then no longer an object of + great passion. In a dialogue written by the painter, Francesco + d'Ollanda, we catch a glimpse of them together in an empty church + at Rome, one Sunday afternoon, discussing indeed the + characteristics of various schools of art, but still more the + writings of St. Paul, already following the ways and tasting the + sunless pleasures of weary people, whose hold on outward things is + slackening. In a letter still extant he regrets that when he + visited her after death he had kissed her hands only. He made, or + set to work to make, a crucifix for her use, and two drawings, + perhaps in preparation for it, are now in Oxford.... In many ways + no sentiment could have been less like Dante's love for Beatrice + than Michael Angelo's for Vittoria Colonna. Dante's comes in early + youth; Beatrice is a child, with the wistful, ambiguous vision of a + child, with a character still unaccentuated by the influence of + outward circumstances, almost expressionless. Vittoria is a woman + already weary, in advanced age, of grave intellectual qualities. + Dante's story is a piece of figured work inlaid with lovely + incidents. In Michael Angelo's poems frost and fire are almost the + only images--the refining fire of the goldsmith; once or twice the + phoenix; ice melting at the fire; fire struck from the rock which + it afterwards consumes." + +Visconti notes that among Italian poets, Vittoria Colonna was the first +to make religion a subject of poetic treatment, and the first to +introduce nature's ministry to man into poetry. Rota, her Italian +biographer, states that she died in February of 1547, in the Palazzo +Cesarini. This palace is in Genzano, on Lago di Nemi, and has been one +of the Colonna estates; but from Visconti and other authorities it is +evident that she died in Rome, either in the convent of Santa Anna or in +the palace of Cesarini, the husband of her kinswoman, Giulio Colonna, +which must have been near the convent in Trastevere, the old portion of +Rome across the Tiber. Visconti records that on the last evening of her +life when Michael Angelo was beside her, she said: "I die. Help me to +repeat my last prayer. I do not now remember the words." He clasped her +hand and repeated it to her, while her own lips moved, she gazed +intently on him, smiled and passed away. This translation has been made +of Vittoria Colonna's last prayer:-- + + "Grant, I beseech Thee, O Lord, that I may ever worship Thee with + such humility of mind as becometh my lowliness and such elevation + of mind as Thy loftiness demandeth.... I entreat, O Most Holy + Father, that Thy most living flame may so urge me forward that, not + being hindered by any mortal imperfections, I may happily and + safely again return to Thee." + +It is recorded by an authority that her body, "enclosed in a casket of +cypress wood, lined with embroidered velvet," was placed in the chapel +of Santa Anna which has since been destroyed. Visconti says: "She +desired, with Christian humility, to be buried in the manner in which +the sisters were buried when they died. And, as I suppose, her body was +placed in the common sepulchre of the nuns of Santa Anna." Grimm +declares that he cannot discover the place of her burial, and Visconti +declares that her tomb remains unknown. + +But it is apparently a fact that the body of Vittoria Colonna is +entombed in the sacristy of Santa Domenica Maggiore in Naples, the +sarcophagus containing it resting by the side of the one containing the +body of her husband, Francesco d'Avalos, Marchese of Pescara. This +church is one of the finest in Naples, with twenty-seven chapels and +twelve altars, and it is here that nearly all the great nobles of the +kingdom of Naples are entombed. Here is the tomb of the learned Thomas +Aquinas and here is shown, in relief, the miracle of the crucifix by +Tommaso de Stefani, which--as the legend runs--thus addressed the +learned doctor:-- + +"_Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem recipies?_" + +To which he replied: "_Non aliam nisi te._" + +It is in the sacristy in which lie all the Princes of the House of +Aragon that the sarcophagi of the Marchese and the Marchesa di Pescara +are placed side by side in the high gallery near the ceiling. The altar +has a fine Annunciation ascribed to Andrea da Salerno. The ceiling +(whose coloring is as fresh and vivid as if painted yesterday) is by +Solimena. Around the walls near the ceiling are two balconies or +galleries, filled with very large wooden sarcophagi, whose scarlet +velvet covers have faded into yellow browns with pink shades, many of +which are tattered and are falling to pieces. The casket containing the +body of Fernando Francesco d'Avalos, Marchese of Pescara (the husband of +Vittoria Colonna), has on it an inscription by Ariosto; and his portrait +(showing in profile a young face with blonde hair and a full reddish +brown beard) and a banner, also, is suspended above the casket. That +containing the body of the Marchesa, his wife (Vittoria Colonna), has an +aperture at the top where the wood is worn away and the embalmed form, +partly crumbled, may be seen. This seems strange to the verge of +fantasy, but it is, apparently, true. The writer of this volume visited +the Church of Santa Domenica Maggiore in Naples in December of 1906, and +was assured by the sacristan that this sarcophagus contains the body of +the Marchesa. Inquiries were then made of other prelates and of the +Archbishop, who gave the same assurance. Later, learned archaeologists in +Rome were appealed to, regarding this assertion made in Naples, and the +consensus of opinion obtained declares their assertion true. Professor +Lanciani has himself publicly expressed this conviction. Still, it +remains a curious question as to when this sarcophagus was placed in the +sacristy, for the date goes back into long-buried centuries. + +Adjoining Santa Domenica Maggiore is the monastery in which Thomas +Aquinas lived and lectured (in 1272), and the cell of the great doctor +of philosophy is now made into a chapel. His lectures called together +men of the highest rank and learning and were attended by the king and +the members of the royal family. The entire locality of this church is +replete with historic association. The most distinguished of the +nobility of Naples have, for centuries, held their chapels in this +church, and in these are many notable examples of Renaissance sculpture. + +The Accademia des Arcades of Rome, founded in the seventeenth century to +do honor to lyric art, celebrated the placing of a bust of Vittoria +Colonna in a gallery of the Capitoline, in May of 1865, by a resplendent +poetic festa. According to the gentle, leisurely customs of the land, +where it is always afternoon and time has no value, thirty-two poets +read their songs, written in Latin or in Italian, for this occasion, +which were published in a sumptuous volume to be preserved in the +archives of the Arcadians, who take themselves more seriously than the +world outside quite realizes. This bust of Vittoria Colonna was the gift +of the Duca and Duchessa of Torlonia of that period. It was crowned with +laurel, as that of Petrarca had been, and the government took official +recognition of the event. + +Goethe was made a member of this Accademia that regarded itself as +reflecting the glories of the Golden Age of Greece, and which was a +century old at the time of his visit to Italy. "No stranger of any +consequence was readily permitted to leave Rome without being invited to +join this body," he recorded, and he wrote a humorous description of the +formalities of his initiation. + +Mrs. Horatio Greenough was honored by being made a member of this +Accademia in recognition of her musical accomplishments, and the record +of it is placed on the memorial marble over her grave in the Protestant +cemetery in Rome. Every year, on Tasso's birthday (April 25), the +Accademia holds a festa in a little amphitheatre near "Tasso's oak," on +the Janiculum, at which his bust is crowned with laurel. The gardens in +which the seventeenth-century Arcadians disported themselves are now +known among the Romans as _il Bosco Parrasio degli Arcadi_. + +Throughout Italy the fame of Vittoria Colonna only deepens with every +succeeding century. Her nobility of character, her lofty spirituality of +life, fitly crowned and perfected her intellectual force and brilliant +gifts. Although from the customs of the time the Marchesa lived much in +convents, she never, in any sense, save that of her fervent piety, lived +the conventual life. Her noble gifts linked her always to the larger +activities, and her gifts and rank invested her with certain demands and +responsibilities that she could not evade. She was one of the messengers +of life, and her place as a brilliant and distinguished figure in the +contemporary world was one that the line of destiny, which pervades all +circumstances and which, in her case, was so marked, absolutely +constrained her to fill. She had that supreme gift of the lofty nature, +the power of personal influence. Her exquisite courtesy and graciousness +of manner, her simple dignity and unaffected sincerity, her delicacy of +divination and her power of tender sympathy and liberal comprehension +all combined to make her the ideal companion, counsellor, and friend, as +well as the celebrity of letters and lyric art. + +No poet has more exquisitely touched the friendship between Vittoria +Colonna and Michael Angelo than has Margaret J. Preston, in a poem +supposed to be addressed to the sculptor by Vittoria, in which occur the +lines:-- + + "We twain--one lingering on the violet verge, + And one with eyes raised to the twilight peaks-- + Shall meet in the morn again. + + * * * * * + + ... Supremest truth I gave; + Quick comprehension of thine unsaid thought, + Reverence, whose crystal sheen was never blurred + By faintest film of over-breathing doubt; + ... helpfulness + Such as thou hadst not known of womanly hands; + And sympathies so urgent, they made bold + To press their way where never mortal yet + Entrance had gained,--even to thy soul." + +This is the _Page de Conti_ that one reads in the air as he sails past +Ischia on the violet sea; and the _chant d'amour_ of the sirens catches +the echo of lines far down the centuries:-- + + "I understood not, when the angel stooped, + Whispering, 'Live on! for yet one joyless soul, + Void of true faith in human happiness, + Waits to be won by thee, from unbelief.' + + "Now, all is clear. For _thy_ sake I am glad + I waited. Not that some far age may say,-- + '_God's benison on her, since she was the friend + Of Michael Angelo!_'" + + + + + _So sometimes comes to soul and sense + The feeling which is evidence + That very near about us lies + The realm of spiritual mysteries. + The sphere of the supernal powers + Impinges on this world of ours. + The low and dark horizon lifts, + To light the scenic terror shifts; + The breath of a diviner air + Blows down the answer of a prayer:-- + That all our sorrow, pain, and doubt + A great compassion clasps about, + And law and goodness, love and force, + Are wedded fast beyond divorce. + Then duty leaves to love its task, + The beggar Self forgets to ask; + With smile of trust and folded hands, + The passive soul in waiting stands + To feel, as flowers the sun and dew, + The One true Life its own renew._ + + WHITTIER. + + "_For Thou only art holy. Thou only art the Lord. Thou only, O + Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the Glory of God the + Father._" + + + + + _Sometimes in heaven-sent dreams I do behold + A city with its turrets high in air, + Its gates that gleam with jewels strange and rare, + And streets that glow with burning of red gold; + And happy souls, through blessedness grown bold, + Thrill with their praises all the radiant air, + And God himself is light, and shineth there + On glories tongue of man hath never told._ + + _And in my dreams I thither march, nor stay + To heed earth's voices, howsoe'er they call, + Or proffers of the joys of this brief day, + On which so soon the sunset shadows fall; + I see the Gleaming Gates, and toward them press-- + What though my path lead through the Wilderness?_ + + LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. + + + + +V + +VOICES OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI + + Oh, Italy! thy strength, thy power, thy crown + Lie in the life that in Assisi stirs + The heart, with impulse of self-sacrifice; + Where still St. Francis gathers weary souls + In his great love, which reaches out to all. + ... His blessing falls + In clear sweet tones: "_Benedicat tibi + Convertat vultum suum ad te et + Det Pacem!_" Hushed and holy silence breathes + About the wanderer who lifts his heart + To catch the echo of that voice of love. + + CELIA RICHMOND. + + +The mystic pilgrimage to Assisi, the "Seraphic City," prefigures itself +almost as a journey to the Mount of Vision. "Any line of truth that +leads us above materialism," says Dr. Wilberforce, Venerable Archdeacon +of Westminster Abbey, "that forces us to think, that encourages the +imagination to pierce the world's cobwebs, that forces us to remember +that we are enwrapped by the supernatural, is helpful and stimulating. A +human life lived only in the seen and felt, with no sense of the +invisible, is a fatally impoverished life, a poor, blind, wingless life, +but to believe that ever around us is a whole world full of spiritual +beings; that this life, with its burdens, is but the shadow which +precedes the reality; that here we are but God's children at school, is +an invigorating conviction, full of hope, productive of patience and +fruitful in self-control." + +To an age imprisoned in the fear of God the "sweet saint," Francis, +brought the message of the love of God. To an age crushed under the +abuses of religion as an organization of feudal bishops and +ecclesiastics, St. Francis brought the message of hope and of joy. He +revealed to his age the absolute reality of the spiritual world that +surrounds us. He was born into a time when there existed on the one +hand, poverty and misery; on the other, selfish and debasing +self-indulgence of wealth and its corresponding oppression of the poor. +The Church itself was a power for conquest and greed. Its kingdom was of +this world. St. Bernard and others had nobly aimed to effect a reform +and had illustrated by their own lives the beautiful example of +simplicity and unselfishness, but their work failed in effectiveness +and permanent impress. + + "Oh, beauty of holiness! + Of self-forgetfulness, of lowliness." + +Not only in beauty, but in power does it stand. St. Francis brought to +the sad and problematic conditions of his time that resistless energy of +infinite patience, of a self-control based on insight into the divine +relationships of life, and of unfailing fidelity to his high purpose. +Through good report or through evil report he kept the faith, and +pressed onward to the high calling of God. The twelfth and the +thirteenth centuries had been a period of religious unrest and chaos. As +Archdeacon Wilberforce has so impressively said in the words quoted from +him, a life lived with no sense of the invisible is blind and +impoverished. The movement initiated by St. Francis proclaimed anew the +divine grace and love. + + "Tokens are dead if the things live not. The light everlasting + Unto the blind is not, but is born of the eye that has vision." + +Something not unlike this trend of thought must drift through the mind +of every one who journeys through the lovely Umbrian country to Assisi, +one of those picturesquely beautiful hill towns of Italy whose romantic +situation impresses the visitor. Seen from a little distance, one could +hardly imagine how it could be reached unless he were the fortunate +possessor of an airship. The entire region is most picturesque in +character. Journeying from Rome to Assisi there is a constant ascent +from the Campagna to the Apennines, and the road passes through wild +defile and valley with amethyst peaks shining fair against the sky, with +precipitous rocks, and the dense growth of oak and pine trees. In some +places the valley is so narrow that the hills, on either side, rise +almost within touch of the hand from the car window. The hill towns are +frequent, and the apex of these towns is invariably crowned with a +castle, a cathedral, or a ruin, and around it, circling in terraces, is +built the town. The charm largely vanishes when fairly in these circling +roads, for on either side are high walls, so that one's view is +completely bounded by them; but from the summit and from the upper +floors of the houses the most beautiful views are obtained. The Umbrian +region, in which are located Perugia, Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Spoleto, +Terni, Narni, and others, is simply the gem region of all Italy. The +Umbrians are the most ancient of the Italian people, and Assisi claims +to have been founded eight hundred and sixty-five years before the +founding of Rome. It was the scene of constant warfare, and the streets +are all underlaid by subterranean passages, in which the inhabitants +could disappear from their enemies. + +To this ancient Umbrian city, from which went out the life and light +that carried wonderful currents of vitality and illumination to all +Italy and into almost all parts of the world, one comes as to a special +and a sacred pilgrimage. For this mediaeval town, perched on the top of a +rocky hill, is the birthplace of St. Francis, the founder of the +Franciscan order; in it were the scenes of his early life, and here, in +1226, at the age of forty-four years, he died. The convent-church of San +Francesco, built to his memory in 1230; the lower church, completed at +that date, while the upper was finished in 1253; the magnificent +Cathedral of Santa Maria Degli Angeli, completed in 1640; the Church of +Santa Chiara and the Duomo, are the points of interest. + + [Illustration: SAN FRANCESCAN CONVENT-CHURCH, ASSISI + _Page 346_] + +The purple Apennines, on one spur of which Assisi is built, are a +picturesque feature of lovely Umbria. The old houses of Assisi rise +white in the sunshine. The ancient walls still surround the city, and +its towers stand as they stood before the eyes of St. Francis, almost +seven centuries ago. The peak of Mt. Subasio, a neighboring peak of the +Apennines, looms above the colossal rock that crowns the hill around +whose top Assisi clusters in winding terraces. The massive pile of the +Francescan church and monastery--the two churches, one above the +other--forms an architectural group whose imposing aspect arrests the +eye of every traveller for miles around. The pointed arches of the +cloisters and the square campanile contrast rather than blend in an +effective and harmonious manner and resemble military fortifications +rather than an edifice of the church. The old walls still surround +Assisi, and the houses all rise white under the blue Italian sky. The +narrow streets, hardly wide enough for one carriage to pass another, are +so intricate in their curves as they climb the steep hill, that it +requires a faith hardly less than the traditional degree said to move +mountains to lead the visitor to suppose that he will ever emerge +from one that he has entered. Many of the houses along these curious +thoroughfares have no windows, the only light and air coming through the +open door. The bells from the campanile of the Francescan +convent-church, from the Duomo and from the Church of Santa Chiara ring +every quarter of an hour; and this constant clash of bells is almost the +only sound that breaks the silence of the mediaeval town, which lends +itself to visions and to dreams. On the very air is stamped the impress +of St. Francis. His personality, his teachings, his faith pervaded the +atmosphere in a way that no one could believe until he had himself +entered into the experience. In narration it cannot but seem like a +pleasing and half-poetic fancy; but the lingerer in this shrine of +religion and art will realize that the actual personality of the man who +trod these streets nearly seven hundred years ago is strangely before +him. Canon Knox Little, in a series of lectures on St. Francis of Assisi +delivered in the Ladye Chapel of Worcester Cathedral a few years since, +says of the panorama of the town:-- + + "The scene which from Assisi presented itself daily to his youthful + eyes must have had, did have, as we know, a lasting effect upon his + mind. From thence the eye surveys a noble coronet of stately + mountains. You look from Radicofani, above Trena, to Monte Catria, + famous as the scene of some of Dante's saddest times of solitude, + and ever is the eye satisfied with the grace and grandeur of the + curves of mountain outline, and the changing hues of an + incomparable sky. There are rivers and cities and lakes,--from + Thrasymene, just hidden by a line of crests, to the Paglia and + Tiber beneath, where Orvieto crowns its severe and lonely rock. + With the changing lights and shadows always beautiful in the vivid + spring or burning summer, tender-tinted autumn or clear and + sparkling winter, with the bright and pure and buoyant atmosphere + always giving life and vigor, what spot on earth more fitted as the + birthplace of the saint who was, above all things, bright and + tender and strong?" + +Assisi was an important town in the twelfth century when Francis, the +son of Pietro Bernardone di Mercanti, wandered over its hills, and after +severe fasting and prayer communed with God. Born in the midst of the +constant warfare between Assisi and Perugia, he was first a soldier. He +was captured and thrown into prison, and it was a remarkable dream, or +vision, that came to him before he was set free, that determined his +life of consecration. Tradition invested his birth with legends, one of +which is, that in his infancy an aged man came to the door and begged to +be permitted to take the child in his arms, prophesying that he was +destined to accomplish a great work. Pietro Bernardone was a wealthy +merchant of Assisi. Pica, the mother of Francis, is said to have been of +noble origin and of a deeply religious nature. The early youth of +Francis was given to games, festivals, and pleasures that degenerated +into dissipation, but the mother continually affirmed her assurance +that, if it pleased God, her son would become a Christian. In this +atmosphere was nurtured "the sweet-souled saint of mediaeval Italy," who +is described as a figure of magical power, whose ardent temperament and +mystic loveliness attracted to him all men. + +There is also a legend that Pica went to pray at the Portiuncula and +that, for seven years, she prayed for a son. Her prayer was answered in +the coming of the infant who was to be the great saint of all the ages. +Francis, in his childhood, also knelt and prayed at this shrine. In the +year 1211, when Francis was twenty-nine years of age and had entered on +his ministry, this chapel was given to him, "and no sooner had they come +to live here," it is said, "than the Lord multiplied their number from +day to day." At one time he had gone to his devotions in great +depression of spirits, "when, suddenly, an unspeakable ecstasy filled +his breast. 'Be comforted, my dearest,' he said, 'and rejoice in the +Lord, and let us not be sad that we are few; for it has been shown to me +by God that you shall increase to a great multitude and shall go on +increasing to the end of the world. I see a multitude of men coming to +me from every quarter--French, Spaniards, Germans, English--each in +their different tongues encouraging the others.'" + +At a distance of perhaps a mile and a half from Assisi, down in the +valley near the railroad station, four holy pilgrims founded a shrine in +the fourth century. Later, on this site, St. Benedict erected a tiny +chapel, called "St. Maria della Portiuncula" (St. Mary of the Little +Patron), and once, when praying in the chapel, Benedict had a vision of +a vast crowd of people kneeling in ecstasy, chanting hymns of praise, +while outside greater multitudes waited to kneel before the shrine, and +he took this to mean that a great saint would one day be honored there. + +So the legends, still conversationally told in Assisi, run on and are +locally current. Undoubtedly the dwellers in this curious old town, +whose streets have hardly one level spot but climb up and down the steep +hillside, realize that their saint is their title to fame and their +revenue as well; yet through all the tales there breathes a certain +sincerity and simplicity of worship. The little dark primitive shops +teem with relics, which make, it is true, a great draft on imagination, +and by what miracle modern photography has contrived to present the +saint of Assisi in various impressive attitudes and groups it would be +as well not to inquire too closely. It is a part of the philosophy of +travel to take the goods the gods provide, and the blending of amused +tolerance and unsuspected depths of reverential devotion by which the +visitor will find himself moved, while in Assisi, can hardly be +described. For, surely, here + + "... there trod + The whitest of the saints of God," + +and Catholic or Protestant, one equally enters into the beauty of his +memory. The double and triple arches of the convent church enclose +cloistered walls continually filled with visitors. No shrine in Italy +holds such mysterious power. Simplicity and joy were the two keynotes of +the life taught by St. Francis. "Poverty," he asserted, "is the happy +state of life in which men are set free from the trammels of +conventionalism, and can breathe the pure air of God's love. The richest +inward life is enjoyed when life is poorest outwardly. Be poor," he +continued, "try a new principle; be careless of having and getting; try +_being_, for a change. Our life in the world ought to be such that any +one on meeting us should be constrained to praise the heavenly Father. +Be not an occasion of wrath to any one," he often said, "but by your +gentleness may all be led to press onward to good works." + +The supreme aim of Francis was that of service to humanity. He gave +himself with impassioned fervor to this one work. For him there were no +ideals of cloistered seclusion or of devotion to learning and art, but +the ideal alone to uplift humanity. It was literally and simply, indeed, +the Christ ideal. Of the "Rule" made, one of his biographers says:-- + + "Amid all these encouragements the Rule was made. It consists, like + other monastic rules, of the three great vows of poverty, chastity, + and obedience, differing only in so far that the poverty ordained + by Francis was absolute. In other rules, though the individual was + allowed to possess nothing, the community had often rich + possessions, and there was no reason why the monks should not fare + sumptuously and secure to themselves many earthly enjoyments, + notwithstanding their individual destitution and their vow. But + among the Brothers Minor there was not to be so much as a provision + secured for the merest daily necessities. Day by day they were to + live by God's providence, eating what was given to them, taking no + thought how they were to be fed, or wherewithal clothed; 'neither + gold nor silver in your purses;' not even the scrip to collect + fragments in--as if God could not provide for every returning + necessity. There had been monasteries in Italy for centuries, and + the Benedictines were already a great and flourishing community; + but this absolute renunciation of all things struck a certain chill + to the hearts of all who heard of it, except the devoted band who + had no will but that of Francis. His friend, the Bishop of Assisi, + was one of those who stumbled at this novel and wonderful + self-devotion. 'Your life, without a possession in the world, seems + to me most hard and terrible,' said the compassionate prelate. 'My + lord,' said Francis, 'if we had possessions, arms and protection + would be necessary to us.' There was a force in this response which + perhaps we can scarcely realize, but the Assisan bishop, who knew + something of the temper of the lords of Umbria, and knew how lonely + were the brethren dwelling on the church lands--the little plot + (Portiuncula) a whole half league from the city gates--understood + and perceived the justice of the reply. + + "Another grand distinction of the Rule drawn up by Francis was the + occupation it prescribed to its members. They were not to shut + themselves up, or to care first for their own salvation. They were + to preach--this was their special work; they were to proclaim + repentance and the remission of sins; they were to be heralds of + God to the world, and proclaim the coming of His kingdom. It is not + possible to suppose that when he thus began to organize the mind of + Francis did not make a survey of the establishments already in + existence--the convents bound by the same three great vows, where + life at this moment was going on so placidly, with flocks and herds + and vineyards to supply the communities, and studious monks in + their retirement, safe from all secular anxieties, fostering all + the arts in their beginning, and carrying on the traditions of + learning; while all around them the great unquiet, violent world + heaved and struggled, yet within the convent walls there was + leisure and peace. Blessed peace and leisure it was often, let us + allow, preserving for us the germs of many good things we now + enjoy, and raising little centres of safety and charity and + brotherly kindness through the country in which they were placed. + But such quiet was not in the nature of Francis. So far as we can + make out, he had thought little of himself--even of his own soul to + be saved--all his life. The trouble on his mind had been what to + do, how sufficiently to work for God and to help men. His fellow + creatures were dear to him; he gave them his cloak from his + shoulders many a day, and the morsel from his own lips, and would + have given them the heart from his bosom had that been possible." + +These are the "voices" that still echo in the air of Assisi. In the +suburbs is still shown the spot where the chapel of St. Damian stood up +a rocky path on the hillside in an olive grove. It was here that the +scene of the miracle of the crucifix is laid. Before the altar Francis +knelt, praying: "Great and Glorious Father, and thou, Lord Jesus, I pray +ye, shed abroad your light in the darkness of my mind. May I in all +things act in accordance with thy holy will." + +It is recorded that while he thus knelt in deep prayer, he was unable to +turn his eyes from the cross, conscious that something marvellous was +taking place. The image of the Saviour assumed life; the eyes turned +attentively on him; a voice spoke accepting his service and he felt at +once endowed with the most marvellous tide of vitality, of joy, and of +exhilaration. At this moment he entered on that life whose impress is +left on the ages. Of the character and the peculiar quality of its +influence Mrs. Oliphant well says:-- + + "It is not always possible to follow with our sympathy that + literal, childlike rendering of every incident in the life of the + Master, which sometimes looks fantastical and often unmeaning. He + was a man of his time, and could live only under the conditions + which that time allowed. He made visible to a literal, practical, + unquestioning age the undeniable and astounding fact that the + highest of all beings chose a life of poverty, hardship, and + humbleness; that He chose submission instead of resistance, love + instead of oppression, peace and forgiveness instead of revenge and + war. Christ had died in their hearts, as said the legend of that + Christmas at Greccia; and, as in one of the bold and artless + pictures just then beginning to yield to a more refined and subtle + art, Francis set forth before the world the image of his Master. + The Son of man was lifted up, as on another cross, before the eyes + of Umbria, before all Italy, warlike and wily, priest and baron, + peasant and Pope. In this world Francis knew nothing, acknowledged + nothing, cared for nothing save Christ and Him crucified--except, + indeed, Christ's world, the universe redeemed, the souls to be + saved, the poor to be comforted, the friends to be cherished, the + singing birds and bubbling fountains, the fair earth and the sweet + sky. Courteous, tender, and gentle as any paladin, sweet-tongued + and harmonious as any poet, liberal as any prince, was the + barefooted beggar and herald of God. We ask no visionary reverence + for the Stigmata, no wondering belief in any miracle. As he stood, + he was as great a miracle as any then existing under God's + abundant, miraculous heavens; more wonderful than are the day and + night, the sun and the dew; only less wonderful than that great + Love which saves the world, and which it was his aim and destiny to + reflect and show forth." + +That mystic union to which all the ages attest, the union that may, at +any moment, be formed between the soul and God, that mystery which the +church calls conversion and which finds its perfect interpretation in +the words of St. Paul, when he said, that if any man be in Christ he is +a new creation, had been accomplished in the life of Francis. He +realized the fulness of the knowledge of God's will; he longed only for +wisdom and for spiritual understanding. Nor is this experience one to be +relegated to the realm of miracle. It is simply entering into the +supreme completeness of life. It is not alone St. Paul, but every man, +who may truly say, "I can do all things through Christ, who +strengtheneth me." Nor does this experience, when translated aright into +daily life and action, require any abnormal form of expression. It does +not, in its truest significance, mean a life apart from the ordinary +duties, but rather it means that these duties shall be fulfilled in the +larger and nobler way. The exceptional man may be called to be the +standard bearer; to renounce all domestic ties and give his service to +the world; but such a life as this differs only in degree from that +which in the ordinary home and social relations finds ample means for +its best expression. The persistent aim after perfection should be the +keynote of every life. No one should be satisfied to hold as his +supreme ideal any lesser standard of ultimate achievement than is +involved in the divine command, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your +Father in heaven is perfect." This is the soul's ideal, whatever ages +and eternities it may require for it to recognize this trackless path. + +St. Francis recognized joy as a factor of the nobler life. "It was his +constant effort," writes one biographer, "that there should be bright +looks and cheerful tones about him. To one of his brethren, who had the +habit of walking about sadly with his head drooping, he said,--it is +evident, with a spark of the impatience natural to his own vivacious +spirit,--'You may surely repent of your sins, my brother, without +showing your grief so openly. Let your sorrow be between God and you: +pray to Him to pardon you by His mercy, and to restore to your soul the +joy of His salvation. But before me and the others be always cheerful, +for it does not become a servant of God to have an air of melancholy and +a face full of trouble.'" + +An incident in the early life of St. Francis, which had determining +significance, was his meeting with Dominic. The story is told "that +Dominic, praying in a church in Rome, saw, in a vision, our Lord rise +from the right hand of the Father in wrath, wearied at last with the +contradiction of sinners, with a terrible aspect and three lances in his +hand, each one of which was to destroy from the face of the earth a +distinct class of offenders. But while the dreamer gazed at this awful +spectacle, the Virgin Mother arose and pleaded for the world, declaring +that she had two faithful servants whom she was about to send into it to +bring sinners to the feet of the Saviour; one of these was Dominic +himself, the other was a poor man, meanly clad, whom he had never seen +before. This vision came to the devout Spaniard, according to the +legend, during the night, which he spent, as he was wont, in a church, +in prayer. Next morning, while he mused on the dream which had been sent +to him, his eye fell all at once upon a stranger in a brown tunic, of +aspect as humble and modest as his garb, coming into the same church to +pray. Dominic at once ran to him, fell on his neck, and, saluting him +with a kiss, cried, 'Thou art my companion: thy work and mine is the +same. If we stand by each other, nothing can prevail against us.'" + +No magic mirror, however, revealed to Francis the wonderful panorama of +his future. No sibyl turned the leaves of the records yet to unfold. "He +was preparing himself for a life of penitence rather than a life of +activity," in the opinion of Paul Sabatier, and he had dreamed no dream +of becoming a religious founder. He was so entirely without any personal +ambition, save that of being obedient to the Heavenly Vision, that this +absolute consecration of purpose enabled the divine power to work +through him without obstruction. He became a very perfect instrument, so +to speak, in the divine hand. After repairing the little chapel called +the Portiuncula, on the level ground at the foot of the hill, some two +miles from Assisi, his plan was to there pass his time in meditation and +prayer. But the legend runs that on the feast of St. Mathias (February +24), in the winter of 1209, a Benedictine monk was celebrating mass and +on his turning to read, "Wherever ye go preach, saying, The kingdom of +heaven is at hand," Francis was profoundly and peculiarly impressed, and +he exclaimed: "This is what I desire, O Father; from this day forth I +set myself to put this command in practice." He felt that Jesus himself +had spoken to him through the priest. Love and sacrifice became to him +the supreme ideals, and in this moment, in that poor and bare little +chapel, was inaugurated one of the greatest and most far-reaching +religious movements of the entire world. + + "Not always as the whirlwind's rush + On Horeb's mount of fear, + Not always as the burning bush + To Midian's shepherd seer, + Not as the awful voice which came + To Israel's prophet bards, + Nor as the tongues of cloven flame, + Nor gift of fearful words,-- + + "Not always thus with outward sign + Of fire or voice from Heaven + The message of a truth divine, + The call of God is given!" + +That great ministry of St. Francis, whose influence pervades all +time,--that lies between the opening years of the thirteenth and the +opening years of the twentieth centuries,--was initiated the next +morning in Assisi, when Francis preached for the first time. He spoke +simply, emphasizing the truths he had learned to realize through his own +experience: the absolute duty of following after perfection; the +importance of realizing the shortness of life and the need of +repentance. The first disciple of Francis was a wealthy resident of +Assisi, named Bernardo. He was impressed with the conviction that he +should distribute his possessions and unite with Francis in all his aims +and work. Without definite organization, others joined them. They passed +that spring and summer going up and down the country, sometimes +assisting the harvesters and haymakers, and everywhere entering into the +common life of the people. The Bishop of Assisi, however, remonstrated +with Francis, saying that to him it seemed very harsh and unwise to try +to live without owning anything. To which Francis replied that he did +not desire temporal possessions, as these required arms for their +defence and were an obstacle to the love of God and one's neighbor. It +has remained for later years to discern the still truer significance of +the teachings of Jesus, that neither possessions nor the lack of +possessions form the real test, but the use which is made of them. As +spiritual insight is developed it is more and more clearly realized that +the quality of the life lived is the sole matter of importance, and not +the conditions that surround it. + +The brotherhood increased. The abbot of the Benedictines on Monte +Subasio ceded to Francis and his order the little chapel called the +Portiuncula, now enclosed within the vast and magnificent church of +Santa Maria degli Angeli. M. Paul Sabatier, in his admirable biography +of St. Francis, points out clearly that the founder of the Franciscans +contemplated a laboring and not a mendicant order. During the decade +1211 to 1221, which Francis and his followers passed at the Portiuncula, +a portion of the time was constantly passed in industrial pursuits. +"With all his gentleness, Francis knew how to show an inflexible +severity toward the idle," says Sabatier, "and he even went so far as to +dismiss a friar who refused to work." Although Francis espoused poverty, +declaring that she was his bride, he was unfalteringly loyal to the +ideals of honest industry and integrity. + + [Illustration: ST. FRANCIS D'ASSISI, THE DUOMO, ASSISI + Giovanni Dupre + _Page 366_] + +The mystic legends of the life of their saint that abound in Assisi are +touched with poetic romance in that a companion figure is always seen by +his side, that of Santa Chiara. Not more inseparable in popular thought +are Dante and Beatrice, or Petrarca and Laura, than are Francis and +Clara. Their statues stand side by side in the Duomo; they are +represented together by both painter and sculptor in the churches of +Santa Chiara and Santa Maria degli Angeli in the old hill town. Chiara +was the daughter of a noble family, and as a girl of sixteen, coming +under the influence of Francis from hearing one of his sermons, she, +too, became one of his followers and left her father's palace in Assisi +to take the vows of perpetual and voluntary poverty at the altar of the +Portiuncula. Followed by two women, she passed swiftly through the town +in the dead of the night, and through dark woods, her hurrying figure +seeming like some spirit driven by winds towards an unknown future. One +thing alone was clear before her--that she was nearing the abode of +Francis Bernardone whose preaching at San Giorgio only a month before +had thrilled her, inspiring her in this strange way to seek the life he +had described in fiery words. Just as she came in sight of the +Portiuncula the chanting of the brethren, which had reached her in the +wood, suddenly ceased, and they came out with lighted torches in +expectation of her coming. Swiftly and without a word she passed in +to attend the midnight mass which Francis was to serve, and the scene is +thus described:-- + + "The ceremony was simple, wherein lies the charm of all things + Franciscan. The service over and the last blessing given, St. + Francis led Clare toward the altar, and with his own hands cut off + her long, fair hair and unclasped the jewels from her neck. But a + few minutes more and a daughter of the proud house of Scifi stood + clothed in the brown habit of the order, the black veil of religion + falling about her shoulders, lovelier far in this nun-like severity + than she had been when decked out in all her former luxury of + silken gowns and precious gems. + + "It was arranged that Clare was to go afterward to the Benedictine + nuns of San Paolo, near Bastia, about an hour's walk farther on in + the plain. So when the final vows had been taken, St. Francis took + her by the hand and they passed out of the chapel together just as + dawn was breaking, while the brethren returned to their cells + gazing half sadly, as they passed, at the coils of golden hair and + the little heap of jewels which still lay upon the altar cloth." + +Clara founded a convent and lived as its abbess, and the great church of +Santa Chiara is built on the site of this convent. She was born in +Assisi in 1194, and died in 1253, surviving Francis by twenty-seven +years. Her father was the Count Favorini Scifi, and he had destined his +daughter--who had great beauty--to a rich and brilliant marriage. He +violently opposed her choice of the religious life, but no earthly +power, she declared, should sever her from it. + +The beauty of the lifelong friendship between Francis and Clara is thus +touched upon by Mrs. Oliphant:-- + + "It was one of those tender and touching friendships which are to + the student of history like green spots in the desert; and which + gave to the man and the woman thus voluntarily separated from all + the joys of life a certain human consolation in the midst of their + hardships. They can have seen each other but seldom, for it was one + of the express stipulations of the Franciscan Rule that the friars + should refrain from all society with women, and have only the most + sparing and reserved intercourse even with their sisters in + religion. And Francis was no priest, nor had he the privilege of + hearing confession and directing the spiritual life of his daughter + in the faith. But he sent to her to ask enlightenment from her + prayers, when any difficulty was in his way. He went to see her + when he was in trouble; especially once on his way to Rieti to have + an operation performed on his eyes. Once the two friends ate + together at a sacramental meal, the pledge and almost the + conclusion on earth of that tenderest, most disinterested, and + unworldly love which existed between them. That he was sure of her + sympathy in all things, of her prayers and spiritual aid, + whatsoever he might be doing, wheresoever he might be, no doubt was + sweet to Francis in all his labors and trials. As he walked many a + weary day past that church of St. Damian, every stone of which was + familiar to him, and many laid with his own hands, must not his + heart have warmed at thought of the sister within, safe from all + conflict with the world, upon whose fellow-feeling he could rely + absolutely as man can rely only on woman? The world has jeered at + the possibility of such friendships from its earliest age; and yet + they have always existed,--one of the most exquisite and delicate + of earthly ties. Gazing back into that far distance over the + graves, not only of those two friends, but of a hundred succeeding + generations, a tear of grateful sympathy comes into the student's + eye. He is glad to believe that, all those years, Francis could see + in his comings and goings the cloister of Clara; and that this + sacred gleam of human fellowship,--love purified of all + self-seeking,--tender, visionary, celestial affection, sweetened + their solitary lives." + +Legends innumerable, attesting supernormal manifestations regarding +Francis, sprang up and have been perpetuated through the ages. One is as +follows:-- + + "Hardly more than three years from the moment when the pale + penitent was hooted through Assisi amid the derisive shouts of the + people, and driven with blows and curses into confinement in his + own father's house, we find that it has already become his custom + on Sunday to preach in the cathedral; and that, from his little + convent at the Portiuncula, Francis has risen into influence in the + whole country, which no doubt by this time was full of stories of + his visit to Rome and intercourse with the Pope, and all the + miraculous dreams and parables with which that intercourse was + attended. Already the mind of the people, so slow to adopt, but so + ready to become habituated to, anything novel, had used itself to + the sight of the brethren in their brown gowns, and, leaping from + one extreme to the other, instead of madmen, learned to consider + them saints. The air about the little cloister began to breathe of + miracles,--miracles which must have been a matter of common report + among the contemporaries of the saint, for Celano wrote within + three years of Francis's death. Once, when their leader was absent, + a sudden wonder startled the brethren. It was midnight between + Saturday and Sunday, and Francis, who had gone to preach at Assisi, + was at the moment praying in the canon's garden. A chariot of fire, + all radiant and shining, suddenly entered the house, awaking those + who lay asleep, and moving to wonder and awe those who watched, or + labored, or prayed. It was the heart and thoughts of their leader + returning to them in the midst of his prayer, which were figured by + this appearance." + +When Francis died a pathetic scene is thus described:-- + + "All the clergy of Assisi, chanting solemn hymns, came out to meet + the bier, and thus they climbed the hill to the birthplace of the + saint, the city of his toils and tears and blessing. When they came + to St. Damian an affecting pause was made. Clara within, with all + her maidens, waited the last visit of their father and friend. + Slowly the triumphant crowd defiled into the church of the nuns, + hushing, let us hope, their songs of joy, their transports of + gratulations, out of respect to the grief which dwelt there, and + could scarcely, by all the arguments of family pride, or the + excitement of this universal triumph, be brought to rejoice. The + bier was set down within the chancel, the coffin opened, and opened + also was the little window through which the nuns received the + sacrament on ordinary occasions. To this little opening the pale + group of nuns, ten of them, with Clara at their head, came marching + silently, with tears and suppressed cries. Clara herself, even in + face of that multitude, could not restrain her grief. 'Father, + father, what will become of us?' she cried out; 'who will care for + us now, or console us in our troubles?' 'Virgin modesty,' says + Celano, stopped her lamentations, and with a miserable attempt at + thanksgiving, reminding herself that the angels were rejoicing at + his coming, and all was gladness on his arrival in the city of God, + the woman who had been his closest friend in this world, whose + sympathy he had sought so often, kissed the pale hands--'splendid + hands,' says Celano, in his enthusiasm, 'adorned with precious gems + and shining pearls'--and disappeared from the little window with + her tears into the dim convent behind, where nobody could reprove + her sorrow." + +The personality of Chiara comes down to us through the ages invested +with untold charm. It is said that when she was dying there came "a long +procession of white-robed virgins, led by the Queen of Heaven, whose +head was crowned with a diadem of shining gold, each of the celestial +visitors stooped to kiss Chiara as her soul passed to its home." + +During all the life of Francis, whenever any new movement or work was to +be undertaken, he invariably sent to ask the counsel and the prayers of +Chiara. + +The miraculous preservation of the body of Santa Chiara is one of the +articles of faith in Assisi. In 1850--six hundred years after her +death--a tomb believed to be hers was found and opened in the presence +of a distinguished group of ecclesiastics, among whom was Cardinal +Pecci, later Pope Leo XIII. In this tomb a form is said to have been +found, and it has been placed in a reliquary of alabaster and Carrara +marble especially constructed for it. This sanctuary is placed in the +church of Santa Chiara, in the crypt, behind a glass screen, where +candles are kept perpetually burning. Lina Gordon Duff, writing the +history of Assisi, says of this curious spectacle:-- + + "As pilgrims stand before a grating in the dimly lighted crypt, the + gentle rustle of a nun's dress is heard; slowly invisible hands + draw the curtain aside, and the body of Santa Chiara is seen + lying in a glass case upon a satin bed, her face clearly outlined + against her black and white veils, whilst her brown habit is drawn + in straight folds about her body. She clasps the book of her Rule + in one hand, and in the other holds a lily with small diamonds + shining on the streamers." + + [Illustration: SANTA CHIARA, THE DUOMO, ASSISI + Amalia Dupre + _Page 375_] + +In all these churches--the great convent church, upper and lower, of the +Franciscans elaborately adorned with frescoes by Cimabue and by Giotto; +in the ancient Duomo; in Santa Chiara and in Santa Maria degli +Angeli--statues of the two saints, Francis and Chiara, are placed side +by side. She shares all the exaltation of his memory and the fulness of +his fame. + +The strange problem of the stigmata has, perhaps, never been absolutely +solved. Canon Knox Little says that as to the miracles of St. Francis +generally speaking, there is no intrinsic improbability; that "his holy +life, his constant communion with God, the abundant blessings with which +it pleased God to mark his ministry, all point in the same direction." +Latter-day revelations of psychic science disclose contemporary facts +of the power of mental influence on the physical form that are, in many +instances, hardly less wonderful than this alleged miracle of St. +Francis. Whether the story is accepted literally or only in a figurative +sense does not affect the transcendent power of his influence. His +entire life and work illustrate the beauty of holiness. "Art in its +widest sense gained a marvellous impulse from his work and effort," says +Canon Knox Little. The French and Provencal literature and the schools +of Byzantine art preceded the life of Francis; but his influence +imparted a powerful wave of sympathetic and vital insight and awakened a +world of new sensibilities of feeling. Indeed, it is a proverb of Italy, +"Without Francis, no Dante." Certainly the life of Francis was the +inspiration of the early Italian art. Cimabue and Giotto drew from the +inspiration of that unique and lovely life the pictorial conceptions +that have made Assisi the cradle of Italian painting. The great works of +Giotto are in the lower church of the Franciscan monastery. One of these +frescoes represents chastity as a maiden kneeling in a shrine, while +angels bring to her branches of palm. Obedience is depicted as placing +a yoke upon the bowed figure of a priest, while St. Francis, attended by +two angels, looks on; Poverty, whom Francis declared to be his bride, is +pictured as accompanied by Hope and Charity, who give her in marriage to +St. Francis, the union being blessed by Christ, while the heavenly +Father and throngs of angels gaze through the clouds on this nuptial +scene. The fresco called Gloriosus Franciscus is perhaps the crowning +work of Giotto. Francis is seen in a beatitude of glory, with a richly +decorated banner bearing the cross and seven stars floating above his +head and bands of angels in the air surrounding him. Canon Knox Little, +alluding to these interesting works of Giotto, says that "even in their +faded glories they give an immense interest to the lower church of +Assisi. No one can look at them now unmoved, or wander on the hillside +to the west of the little city, with the rugged rocks above one's head, +and beneath one's feet the rich carpets of cyclamen, and before one's +eyes long dreamy stretches of the landscape of Umbria, without being +touched by the feeling of that beautiful and loving life devoted to God +and man and nature, in utter truth, which therefore left such an +impress on Christian art." + +The Madonna and saints painted by Cimabue are faded almost to the point +of obliteration, yet there still lingers about them a certain grace and +charm. The visitor to this Franciscan monastery church realizes that he +is beholding the art which was the very pledge and prophecy of the +Renaissance, and he realizes, too, that the Renaissance itself was the +outgrowth of the new vitality communicated to the world by the life and +character of St. Francis. He gave to the world the realization of the +living Christ; he taught that religion was in action, not in theology. +He liberated the spirit; and when this colossal church was being built +(1228-53) the artists who had felt the new thrill of life opened by his +teaching hastened to Assisi to express their appreciation by their +pictorial work on its walls. The qualities of spiritual life--faith, +sacrifice, sympathy, and love--began, for the first time, to be +interpreted into artistic expression. + +The tomb of St. Francis is in the crypt of the church. The stone +sarcophagus containing his body was discovered in 1818, and then placed +here in a little chamber especially prepared, surrounded by an iron +latticework with candles perpetually burning. + +From the sacristy of the lower church, stairs ascend to the upper, with +its beautiful nave and transept with a high altar, and the choir stalls. +While the lower church with its great arches is always dark, the upper +is flooded with light from vast windows. There is a series of frescoed +panels on either side, accredited to pupils of Giotto, full of forcible +action and a glow of color. But the upper church, while it is +magnificent, lacks somewhat of that mystic atmosphere one is so swiftly +conscious of in the gloom and mystery of the lower church. + +Stretching behind the churches, along the crest of the high hill, is the +colossal monastery itself, with that double row of arches and colonnades +that makes it so conspicuous a feature of all the Umbrian valley. +Formerly hundreds of monks dwelt here; but the Italian government +suppressed this monastery in 1866, and since that time it has been used +as a school for boys. + +The ancient Duomo, whose facade is of the twelfth century, has three +exquisite rose windows, and on either side, as one approaches the high +altar, stand the statues of St. Francis and of Santa Chiara. In the +little piazza in front of the church is a bronze copy of Dupre's famous +statue of St. Francis. + +The colossal church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, with its magnificent +dome, is a contrast, indeed, to the primitive little Portiuncula where +Francis knelt in prayer, and which is now preserved in the centre of +this vast cathedral,--the rude structure encased in marble, and +decorated, above the entrance, with a picture by Overbeck, whose motive +is St. Francis as he stands, hushed and reverent, listening to the voice +that tells him to embrace poverty. There is a fine Perugino in the +church, representing the Saviour. The cell in which St. Francis died, +enclosed in the little chapel which St. Bonaventura built over it, is +preserved in this great cathedral. + +"And who was he that opened that door in heaven?" questions Canon Knox +Little in reference to St. Francis. "Who was he that gave that fresh +life and thought? Who but the man who had brought down in his own person +the living Christ into his century, who had taught men again the love of +God, and then the love of man and the love of nature; who had lifted +the people out of their misery and degradation, and awakened the church +out of its stiffness and worldliness; it was he, too, who inspired, who +may at most be said to have created, Italian art,--the great St. +Francis! Such are the deep, such are the penetrating, such are the +far-reaching effects of sanctity. If a soul is, by divine grace, given +wholly to God, it is impossible for us to say to what heights it may +attain, or what good, in every region of human effort, it may do." + + [Illustration: BAIAE AND ISCHIA, FROM CAMALDOLI + _Page 382_] + +Perugia, the neighboring city only fifteen miles from Assisi, is the +metropolis of all this Umbrian region. Like Assisi, it is a "hill town," +built on an acropolis of rock, its foundations laid by the Etruscans +more than three thousand years before the Christian era, and its +atmosphere is freighted with the records of artists and scholars. The +Perugians were the forerunners. They held the secret of artifice in +metals and gems; they were architects and sculptors. The only traces of +their painting that have come down to us are their works on sarcophagi, +on vases or funeral urns,--traces that indicate their gifts for line and +form. It was about 310 B.C. that all Umbria became a Roman province. +The colossal porta of Augustus--a gateway apparently designed for the +Cyclops--still retains its inscription, "Augustus Perusia." The +imperishable impress of the great Roman conqueror is still seen in many +places. Perugia was a firm citadel, as is attested by the fact that +Totila and his army of Goths spent seven years in besieging it. The +centuries from the thirteenth to the fifteenth inclusive, when it was +under the sway of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, were years of tragic +violence. Even the cathedral became the scene of riot, and its interior +was entirely washed with wine, and it was reconsecrated before it could +be again used for holy offices. The little piazza in front of the +cathedral, now dreaming in the sun, has been the scene of strange and +contrasting crises of life. Strife and warfare have desolated it; the +footsteps of Bernardino of Siena have consecrated it, as he passed +within the great portals to preach the gospel of peace. He was one of +the most potent of the Francescan disciples, and Bernardino (born of the +noble family of the Albizzeschi, in 1380, in Siena, the year after St. +Catherine's death) for forty years wandered over Italy, preaching +peace and repentance. Vespasiano da Bisticci, a contemporary historian, +records that Bernardino "converted and changed the minds and spirits of +men marvellously and had a wondrous power in persuading men to lay aside +their mortal hatreds." Bernardino died at the age of sixty-four in +Aquila, and the towns in which he had faithfully carried on his +apostolic work placed the sacred sign of the divine name (I.H.S.) upon +their gates and palaces, in his memory. In the Sienese gallery is a +portrait of San Bernardino by Sano, painted in 1460, representing the +saint as the champion of the Holy Name, with the inscription, "I have +manifested Thy name to men." In one of his impressive and wonderful +sermons San Bernardino said:-- + + "There still remain many places for us to make. Ah! for the love of + God, love one another. Alas! see you not that, if you love the + destruction one of the other you are ruining your very selves? Ah! + put this thing right for the love of God. Love one another! What I + have done to make peace among you and to make you like brothers, I + have done with that zeal I should wish my own soul to receive. I + have done it all to the glory of God. And let no one think that I + have set myself to do anything at any person's request. I am only + moved by the bidding of God for His honor and glory." + +Opposite the Duomo of Perugia, on the other side of the piazza, is the +Palazzo Municipio, with a Gothic facade, a beautiful example of +thirteenth-century architecture. Here also is the colossal fountain with +three basins, decorated with pictorial designs from the Bible by Niccolo +Pisano and Arnolfo of Florence, and in the shadow of this fountain St. +Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Bernardino often met and held converse. + +Perugia easily reads her title clear to artistic immortality in having +been the home of Perugino, the master of Raphael. Here he lived for +several years working with Pinturicchio in the frescoes that adorn the +Collegio del Cambio, now held as a priceless treasure hall of art. They +still glow with rich coloring,--the Christ seen on the Mount of +Transfiguration; the Mother and Child with the adoring magi; and the +chariot of the dawn driven by Apollo a century before Guido painted his +"Aurora" in the Palazzo Rospigliosi in Rome. + +From the parapets of Perugia are views of supreme poetic beauty. The +play of light and color on the picturesque hills and mountains of the +Umbrian country; the gray-green gleam of olive orchards and the silver +threads of winding streams; the towers and ruins and castles of a dozen +towns and villages that crown the slopes, and the violet shadows of +deepening twilight, with Assisi bathed in a splendor of rose and +gold,--all combine to make this an ever-changing panorama for the poet +and painter. + +No journey in Italy is quite like that to the lovely Umbrian valley and +its Jerusalem, Assisi, the shrine which, with the single exception of +Rome, is the special place of pilgrimage for the entire religious world. +Perugia offers the charm of art, and attracts the visitor, also, by an +exceptional degree of modern comfort and convenience; but Assisi is the +shrine before which he kneels, where the footsteps of saints who have +knelt in prayer make holy ground, and where he realizes anew the +consecration of faith and sacrifice. The very air is filled with divine +messages, and in lowly listening he will hear, again, those wonderful +and thrilling words of St. Francis:-- + + "By the holy love which is in God I pray all to put aside every + obstacle, every care, every anxiety, that they may be able to + consecrate themselves entirely to serve, love, and honor the Lord + God, with a pure heart and a sincere purpose, which is what He asks + above all things." + + + + + _White phantom city, whose untrodden streets + Are rivers, and whose pavements are the shifting + Shadows of palaces and strips of sky; + I wait to see thee vanish like the fleets + Seen in mirage, or towers of clouds uplifting + In air their unsubstantial masonry._ + + LONGFELLOW. + + + _Fair as the palace builded for Aladdin, + Yonder St. Mark uplifts its sculptured splendor-- + Intricate fretwork, Byzantine mosaic, + Color on color, column upon column, + Barbaric, wonderful, a thing to kneel to! + Over the portal stand the four gilt horses, + Gilt hoof in air, and wide distended nostril, + Fiery, untamed, as in the days of Nero. + Skyward, a cloud of domes and spires and crosses; + Earthward, black shadows flung from jutting stonework. + High over all the slender Campanile + Quivers, and seems a falling shaft of silver._ + + THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH. + + + + + _As one who parts from Life's familiar shore, + Looks his last look in long-beloved eyes, + And sees in their dear depths new meanings rise + And strange light shine he never knew before; + As then he fain would snatch from Death his hand + And linger still, if haply he may see + A little more of this Soul's mystery + Which year by year he seemed to understand; + So, Venice, when thy wondrous beauty grew + Dim in the clouds which clothed the wintry sea + I saw thou wert more beauteous than I knew, + And long to turn and be again with thee. + But what I could not then I trust to see + In that next life which we call memory._ + + PHILLIPS BROOKS.[2] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] From "Life of Phillips Brooks," by kind permission of Messrs. E. P. +Dutton & Co. + + + + +VI + +THE GLORY OF A VENETIAN JUNE + + I have been between Heaven and Earth since our arrival at Venice. + The Heaven of it is ineffable--never had I touched the skirts of so + celestial a place. The beauty of the architecture, the silver + trails of water up between all that gorgeous color and carving, the + enchanting silence, the music, the gondolas,--I mix it all up + together, and maintain that nothing is like it, nothing equal to + it, no second Venice in the world. + + MRS. BROWNING, in the June of 1850. + + + + +The first glimpse of enchanted Venice, as her towers and marble palaces +rise wraith-like from the sea, is an experience that can never fade from +memory. Like a mirage, like a vision invoked by some incantation or +magician's spell, the scene prefigures itself, bringing a thrill of some +vague and undefined memory, as if a breath floated by,-- + + "An odor from Dreamland sent, + That makes the ghost seem nigh me, + Of a splendor that came and went; + Of a life lived somewhere,--I know not + In what diviner sphere,-- + Of memories that stay not and go not," + +which eludes all translation into words. Nor does the spell dissolve and +vanish when put to the test of one's actual sojourn in the Dream City. +It is an experience outside the boundaries of the ordinary day and +daylight world, as if one were caught up into the ethereal realm to find +a city + + "... of gliding and wide-wayed silence + With room in the streets for the soul." + +The sense of remoteness from common life could hardly be greater if one +were suddenly swept away to some far star, blazing in the firmament; or +if Charon had rowed him over the mystic river and he had entered the +abodes of life on the plane beyond. Even the hotel becomes an enchanted +palace whose salons, luxuriously decorated, open by long windows on +marble balconies overhanging the Grand Canal. Dainty little tables piled +with current reading matter, in French, English, and Italian, stand +around; the writing-desks are sumptuous, filled with every convenience +of stationery; and the matutinal coffee and rolls are served the guest +in any idyllic niche wherein he chooses to ensconce himself, regardless +of the regulation _salle-a-manger_. One looks across the Grand Canal to +the beautiful Church of Santa Maria della Salute. The water plashes +against the marble steps as gondolas glide past; the blue sky of Italy +reflects itself in the waters below, until one feels as if he were +floating in the air between sea and sky. In the heart of the city, with +throngs of people moving to and fro, all is yet silence, save the cry of +the gondolier, the confused echo of voices from the people who pass, and +here and there the faint call of a bird. No whir and rush of electric +cars and motors; no click of the horses' feet on the asphalt +pavement--no pavement, indeed, and no horses, no twentieth-century rush +of life. It is Venice, it is June, and the two combine to make an +illuminated chapter. To live in Venice is like being domesticated in the +heart of an opal. How wonderful it is to drift--a sky above and a sky +below--on still waters at sunset, with the Dream City mirrored in the +depths, every shade of gold and rose and amber mirrored back,--the very +atmosphere a sea of color, recalling to one Ruskin's words that "none of +us appreciate the nobleness and the sacredness of color. Of all God's +gifts to man," he continues, "color is the holiest, the most divine, +the most solemn. Color is the sacred and saving element." If the +enthusiasm in these words savor of exaggeration, Venice is the place +that will lure one to forgetfulness of it. One is simply conscious of +being steeped in color and revelling in a strange loveliness. One no +longer marvels at the glory of Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. They but +interpreted on canvas the shining reality. A charming writer on Venice +has well said:-- + + "The aspects of Venice are as various, as manifold, as the hues + held in solution upon her waters beneath a sirocco sky. There is a + perpetual miracle of change; one day is not like another, one hour + varies from the next; there is no stable outline such as one finds + among the mountains, no permanent vista, as in a view across a + plain. The two great constituents of the Venetian landscape, the + sea and the sky, are precisely the two features in nature which + undergo most incessant change. The cloud-wreaths of this evening's + sunset will never be repeated again; the bold and buttressed piles + of those cloud-mountains will never be built again just so for us; + the grain of orange and crimson that stains the water before our + prow, we cannot be sure that we shall look upon its like again.... + One day is less like another in Venice than anywhere else. The + revolution of the seasons will repeat certain effects; spring will + chill the waters to a cold, hard green; summer will spread its + breadth of golden light on palace front and water way; autumn will + come with its pearly-gray sirocco days, and sunsets flaming a + sombre death; the stars of a cloudless winter night, the whole vast + dome of heaven, will be reflected in the mirror of the still + lagoon. But in spite of this general order of the seasons, one day + is less like another in Venice than anywhere else; the lagoon wears + a different aspect each morning when you rise, the sky offers a + varied composition of cloud each evening as the sun sets. Words + cannot describe Venice, nor brush portray her ever-fleeting, + ever-varying charm. Venice is to be felt, not reproduced; to live + there is to live a poem, to be daily surfeited with a wealth of + beauty enough to madden an artist to despair." + +It was in the autumn of 1882 that the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks, later +Bishop of Massachusetts, visited Venice and wrote of San Marco:-- + + "Strange how there is nothing like St. Mark's in Venice, nothing of + the same kind as the great church. It would have seemed as if, + standing here for so many centuries, and always profoundly loved + and honored, it would almost of necessity have influenced the minds + of the generations of architects, and shown its power in their + works. But there seems to be no sign of any such influence. It + stands alone." + +Dr. Brooks noted that Venice had "two aspects, one sensuous and +self-indulgent, the other lofty, spiritual, and even severe. Both +aspects," he continues, "are in its history and both are also in its +art. Titian often represents the former. The loftier, nobler Tintoretto +gives us the second. There is something in his greatest pictures, as, +for instance, in the Crucifixion, at St. Rocco, which no other artist +approaches. The lordly composition gives us an impression of +intellectual grasp and vigor. The foreground group of prostrate women is +full of a tenderness. The rich pearly light, which floods the centre, +glows with a solemn picturesqueness, and the great Christ, who hangs +like a benediction over the whole, is vocal with a piety which no other +picture in the world displays. And the Presentation of the Virgin, in +Santa Maria dell'Orto, is the consummate presentation of that beautiful +subject, its beauty not lost in its majesty." + +Of other pictures Dr. Brooks said:-- + + "In the Academia there is the sunshine of three hundred years ago. + Paris Bordone's glowing picture of the Fisherman who brings the + Ring of St. Mark to the Doge, burned like a ray of sunlight on the + wall. Carpaccio's delightful story of St. Ursula brought the old + false standards of other days back to one's mind, but brought them + back lustrous with the splendor of summers that seemed forever + passed, but are perpetually here. Tintoretto's Adam and Eve was, as + it always is, the most delightful picture in the gallery, and + Pordenone's great St. Augustine seemed a very presence in the vast + illuminated room." + +Tennyson loved best, of all the pictures in Venice, a Bellini,--a +beautiful work, in the Church of Il Redentore; and he was deeply +impressed by the "Presentation of the Virgin," from Tintoretto, in the +Church of the Madonna dell'Orto. "He was fascinated by St. Mark's," +writes the poet's son, "by the Doge's Palace and the Piazza, and by the +blaze of color in water and sky. He climbed the Campanile, and walked to +the library where he could scarcely tear himself away from the Grimani +Breviary." + +Venice, though not containing any single gallery comparable with the +Pitti and the Uffizi, is still singularly rich in treasures of art, and +rich in legend and story. The school of encrusted architecture is +nowhere so wonderfully represented as here, and it is only in this +architecture that a perfect scheme of color decoration is possible. In +all the world there is no such example of encrusted architecture as that +revealed in St. Mark's. It is a gleaming mass of gold, opal, ruby, and +pearl; with alabaster pillars carved in designs of palm and pomegranate +and lily; with legions of sculptured angels looking down; with altars of +gold ablaze with scarlet flowers and snowy lilies, while clouds of +mystic incense fill the air. One most impressive place is the +baptistery, where is the tomb of St. Mark and also that of the Doge +Andrea Dandolo, who died at the age of forty-six, having been chosen +Doge ten years before. His tomb is under a window in the baptistery, and +the design is that of his statue in bronze, lying on a couch, while two +angels at the head and the feet hold back the curtains. + +The sarcophagus that is said to contain the body of St. Mark is of the +richest description, encrusted with gold and jewels on polished ebony +and marble. There is a legend that after St. Mark had seen the people of +Aguilia well grounded in religion he was called to Rome by St. Peter; +but before setting off he took with him in a boat the holy Bishop +Hennagoras and sailed to the marshes of Venice. The boat was driven by +wind to a small island called Rialto, on which were some houses, and St. +Mark was suddenly snatched into ecstasy and heard the voice of an angel +saying, "Peace be to thee, Mark; here shall thy body rest." + +There is also a legend that in the great conflagration which destroyed +Venice in 976 A.D., the body of St. Mark was lost and no one knew where +to find it. Then the pious Doge and the people gave themselves to +fasting and prayer, and assembled in the church, asking that the place +be revealed them. It was on the 25th of June that the assemblage took +place. Suddenly one of the pillars of the church trembled, and opened to +disclose the sarcophagus,--a chest of bronze. The legend goes on to say +that St. Mark stretched his hand out through the side and that a noble, +Dolfini by name, drew a gold ring off the finger. + +The place where this miracle is said to have been wrought is now marked +by the Altar of the Cross. + +Ruskin declares that "a complete understanding of the sanctity of color +is the key to European art." Nowhere is this sanctity of color so felt +as at San Marco. The church is like the temple of the New Jerusalem. + +The origin of Venice is steeped in sacred history. It is pre-eminently +the city founded in religious enthusiasm. The chronicles of De Monici, +written in 421, give this passage: "God, who punishes the sins of men by +war, sorrow, and whose ways are past finding out, willing both to save +the innocent blood, and that a great power, beneficial to the whole +world, should arise in a place strange beyond belief, moved the chief +men of the cities of the Venetian province both in memory of the past, +and in dread of future distress, to establish states upon the nearer +islands of the Adriatic, to which, in the last extremity, they might +retreat for refuge.... They laid the foundation of the new city under +good auspices on the island of the Rialto, the highest and nearest to +the mouth of the Brenta, on March 25, 471." + +The first Doge of Venice was Paolo Lucio Anafesto, elected by the +tribunal of commonalty, tribunals, and clergy, at Heraclea, in 697. The +period of the subjection of the ecclesiastical to the ducal and +patrician powers followed. The "Council of Ten" was established in 1335, +and the last Doge elected was Lodovico Manin in 1789, who exclaimed, +"_Tole questo: no la dopero piu_," as the French Revolution destroyed +the Republic of Venice. + +The finest example of Renaissance architecture in Venice is that of the +_Libreria Vecchia_, the work of Jacobo Sansovino, completed in the +sixteenth century. Never were the creations of poet and philosopher more +fittingly enshrined. The rich Doric frieze, the Ionic columns, the +stately balustrade, with statues and obelisks, the resplendent richness +of ornamentation, offer a majesty and beauty seldom found even in the +best classical architecture of Europe. On the ceiling of one sala is a +picture by Titian representing "Wisdom" as a woman, reclining on a +cloud, her right hand outstretched to take a book that Genius is +offering her. There are two beautiful caryatides by Vittoria and rich +mural work by Battista Franco and De Moro. + +Petrarca, returning from his wanderings in 1362, pleaded with the Senate +of Venezia to give him a house, in return for which he offered the +inheritance of his library. This was the nucleus of the fine collection +which since 1812 has been included in the Palace of the Doges. In it are +some magnificent works by Paolo Veronese, one portrait by Tintoretto, +and others by Salviati and Telotti. + +The Doge's Palace is a treasure house of history. One enters the Porta +della Carta, which dates back to 1638, erected by Bartolomeo Buon. The +portal is very rich in sculpture, and among the reliefs is a heroic one +of Francesco Foscari, kneeling before the lion at St. Mark's. One +recalls his tragic fate and passes on. Perhaps, _en passant_, one may +say that his pilgrimage through Venice and Florence is so constantly in +the scenes of tragedy that he is prone to sink almost into utter +sadness, even, rather than seriousness. The air is full of ghosts. One +feels the oppression of all the life that has there been lived, all the +tragedies that have been enacted in these scenes. + +In Renaissance nothing more wonderful in Europe can be found than the +court of the Palace of the Doges. Antonio Rizzo began the east facade of +the building in 1480, and it was continued by Lombardo, and completed by +Scarpagnino. "Words cannot be found to praise the beauty of these +sculptures," says Salvatico, "as well as of the single ornaments of the +walls and of the ogres which have been carved so delicately and richly +that they cannot be excelled by the Roman antique friezes." + +By the golden staircase one goes to the council chambers,--the hall of +the Senate, the Council of Ten, and the Council of Three. In the great +council chamber is that most celebrated mural painting in the world, +"The Glory of Venice," by Paolo Veronese, which covers the ceiling. In a +frieze are the portraits of seventy-six of the Doges, but in one space +is a black tablet only, with the inscription: "This in place of M. F., +who was executed for his crimes." + +The "Sala del Maggior Consiglio" (hall of the grand council) is very +rich in paintings. Above the throne is Tintoretto's "The Glory of +Paradise," and the walls are covered with battle pieces and symbolic and +allegorical paintings. There is "Venice Crowned by Fame," by Paolo +Veronese, "Doge Niccolo da Ponte Presenting the Senate and Envoys of +Conquered Cities to Venice," by Tintoretto; "Venice Crowned by the +Goddess of Victory," by Palma Giovane, and many another of the richest +and most wonderful beauty. + +Descending into the prisons and dungeons brings one into a vivid +realization of the grim history of which these were the scenes. The +Bridge of Sighs has two covered passages, one for the political and one +for the criminal prisoners. Here is shown a narrow ledge on which the +condemned man stood, with a slanting stone passageway before him, which, +when the guillotine had done its swift and deadly work, conveyed the +crimson flood into the dark waters of the canal below, while the body +was thrown in the water on the other side. There are the "Chambers of +Lead," where prisoners were confined, intensely hot in the summer, and +as intensely cold in the winter. Many of these dark, close, narrow +cells--in which the one article of furniture allowed was the wooden +slanting rack, that served as a bed--still remain. In many of these are +inscriptions that were written by the prisoners. One reads (in +translation): "May God protect me against him whom I trust; I will +protect myself against him whom I do not trust." + +The murderer, Giovanni M. Borni, wrote in his cell: "G. M. B. was +confined very unjustly in this prison; if God does not help it will be +the last desolation of a poor, numerous, and honest family." + +All visitors to these gloomy dungeons recall the lines of Byron:-- + + "I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, + A palace and a prison on each hand." + +The piazza of St. Mark's is a distinctive feature, even in all Europe. +It is not large; it is surrounded on three sides with shops, which are +merely glittering bazaars of jewels and bric-a-brac; the sidewalk is +blockaded with cafes _al fresco_, the ground is half covered with the +dense flocks of white doves, but here all lingers and loiters. The +facade of St. Mark's fills one end--a mass of gleaming color. At one +corner is the tall clock tower (Torre dell'Orologio) in the Renaissance +style of 1400, crowned with the gilded lion of St. Mark. On the festa +days three figures, the Three Wise Men, preceded by an angel, come forth +on the tower and bow before the Madonna, in a niche above,--a very +ingenious piece of mechanism. With its rich architecture and sculptures +and masses of color, the piazza of San Marco is really an open-air hall, +where all the town congregates from morning till midnight. + +To study the art of the Venetian school is a work of months, and one +that would richly repay the student. The churches and galleries of +Venice give a truly unique opportunity. In the Church of San Sebastiano +lies Paolo Veronese, the church in which he painted his celebrated +frescoes, now transformed into a temple for himself. Here one finds his +"Coronation of the Virgin," "The Virgin in the Gloria," "Adoration of +the Magi," "Martyrdom of San Sebastian," and many others. In the Scuola +di San Rocco are the great works of Tintoretto, "St. Magdalene in the +Wilderness," the "Visitation," and the "Murder of the Innocents." + +In the San Maria dei Frari is the tomb of Titian,--an exquisite grouping +of sculpture in Carrara marble, erected in 1878-80 by the command of the +Emperor of Austria, the work of Zandomenighi. In this church is Titian's +most famous painting, the "Madonna of the Pessaro," the work of which is +probably, too, the greatest in all Venetian art. The Hall of Heaven is +shown, supported by colossal columns. St. Peter, Francis, and Antoninus +are commending the Pessaro family to the Virgin, who is enthroned on +high. The beauty of line, the splendor of color, and the marvellous +composition render this immortal masterpiece something whose sight marks +an epoch in life. Canova's tomb in San Maria dei Frari is a wonderful +thing. It is a pyramid of purest marble, with a door opening for the +sarcophagus, above which is a portrait of Canova in relief, and on +either side the door angels and symbolic figures are sculptured. + +The Church of Santa Maria della Salute, to which one is always +returning, is a wonderful example of artistic architecture, as its snowy +towers and dome seem to rise out of the water and float in the air. + +The fall of the Campanile in 1904 was regarded as a calamity by all the +civilized world. For a thousand years it had stood at the side of St. +Mark's; but the disaster aroused the attention of experts to the +condition of the great cathedral itself, and it was found that the vast +area of over fifty thousand square feet of matchless mosaic needed +restoration in order that they should be preserved. + +The Palazzo Rezzonico, which dates to Clement XIII, usually known as the +"Browning Palace," has been for many years one of the special interests +to the visitor in Venice. In the early months of 1907 it passed out of +the hands of Robert Barrett Browning, who had purchased it in 1888, and +had held it sacredly, with its poetic and personal associations, since +the death of his father, the poet, in 1889. To Mr. Barrett Browning is +due the grateful appreciation of a multitude of tourists for his +generous and never-failing courtesy in permitting them the privilege of +visiting this palace in which his father had passed many months of +enjoyment. It was from this residence that the poet Browning wrote, in +October of 1880, to a friend:-- + + "Every morning at six I see the sun rise; far more wonderfully, to + my mind, than his famous setting which everybody glorifies. My + bedroom window commands a perfect view; the still, gray lagune, the + few sea-gulls flying, the islet of San Giorgio in deep shadow and + the clouds in a long purple rock behind which a sort of spirit of + rose burns up till presently all the rims are on fire with gold, + and last of all the orb sends before it a long column of its own + essence apparently; so my day begins." + +Later, of his son's palace, Mr. Browning wrote:-- + + "Have I told you that there is a chapel which he has restored in + honor of his mother--putting up there the inscription by + Tommaseo,[3] now above Casa Guidi in Florence?" + + +In this palace Mr. Browning wrote some of his later poems, and it may +well be that it was when he was clad in his singing robes that he +perhaps most deeply felt the ineffable charm of Venice:-- + + "For the stars help me, and the sea bears part; + The very night is clinging + Closer to Venice' streets to leave one space + Above me...." + +It was from these lofty salons in the Browning Palace that the poet +passed to the "life more abundant" on that December day of 1889, on the +very day that his last volume, "Asolando," was published and also the +last volume of Tennyson's. Regarding these Mr. Gladstone said, in a +letter to Lord Tennyson: "The death of Browning on the day of the +appearance of your volume, and we hear of one of his own, is a touching +event." + +From the time of Mrs. Browning's death in Florence (in June of 1861) Mr. +Browning never felt that he could see Italy again, until the autumn of +1878, when he, with his sister, Miss Sarianna Browning, came to Venice +by way of the Italian lakes and Verona. At this time they only remained +for a fortnight, domiciled in the old Palazzo Brandolin-Rota, which was +transformed into the Albergo dell'Universo. This palace was on the Grand +Canal below the Accademia, and here he returned through two or three +subsequent years. Mr. Browning became very fond of Venice, and he +explored its winding ways and gardens and knew it, not merely from the +gondola view, but from the point of view of the curious little dark and +narrow byways, the bridges, and the piazzas. + +It was in 1880 that Mr. Browning first met, through the kind offices of +Mr. Story, a most charming and notable American lady, Mrs. Arthur +Bronson (Katherine DeKay), who had domiciled herself in Casa Alvisi, an +old palace on the Grand Canal opposite the Church of Santa Maria della +Salute. She was a woman of very interesting personality, and had drawn +about her a circle including many of the most distinguished people of +her time, authors, artists, poets, and notable figures in the social +world. She was eminently _simpatica_ and her lovely impulses of generous +kindness were rendered possible to translate into the world of the +actual by the freedom which a large fortune confers on its possessor. +Between Mrs. Bronson and Mr. Browning there sprang up one of those rare +and beautiful friendships that lasted during his lifetime, and to her +appreciation and many courtesies he owed much of the happiness of his +later years. In the autumn of 1880 Mrs. Bronson made Mr. Browning and +his sister her guests, placing at their disposal a suite of rooms in the +Palazzo Giustiniani Recanati--a palace adjoining her own--and each night +they dined and passed the evening with her, with music and conversation +to enchant the hours. After Mr. Browning's death, Mrs. Bronson was the +friend whom all pilgrims to his shrine in Venice felt it a special +privilege to meet and to hear speak of him. In her palace was a large +easy-chair, with a ribbon tied across the arms, in which Browning was +accustomed to sit, and which was held sacred to him. Mrs. Bronson was an +accomplished linguist, and the _habitues_ of her salon represented many +nationalities. Among these was the Princess Montenegro, the mother of +the present Queen of Italy. + +It is little wonder that the Browning Palace was for so many years a +focus for all who revered and loved the wedded poets, Robert and +Elizabeth Barrett Browning. + +In the marble court, roofed only by the blue Venetian sky, stood Mr. +Barrett Browning's statue of "Dryope" in bronze, on its marble +pedestal,--a beautiful conception of the Dryope of Keats,--the dweller +in forest solitudes whom the Hamadryads transformed into a poplar. Here +a fountain makes music all day long, and the court is also adorned in +summer by great Venetian jars of pink hydrangeas in full bloom. The +grand staircase, with its carved balustrade and the wide landing where a +rose window decorates the wall, leads to the lofty salons which were yet +as homelike as they were artistic during the residence of the Brownings. +Mr. Story's bust of Mrs. Browning, other portrait busts of both the +poets, sculptured by their artist son, and by others, and other +memorials abound. In the library were gathered many interesting volumes, +autographed from their authors, and many rare and choice editions, among +which was one of the "Sonnets from the Portuguese" in a sumptuous volume +whose artistic beauty found a fitting setting to Mrs. Browning's +immortal sonnets. Among other volumes were a collection of signed +"Etchings" by Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema; presentation copies from +Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Aubrey De Vere, Walter Savage Landor, and many +another known to fame; and a copy, also, of a study of Mrs. Browning's +poetry[4] by an American writer. + +There is one memento over which the visitor always smiled--a souvenir of +a London evening in 1855 when the Brownings had invited Dante Gabriel +Rossetti and his brother and Lord Madox Brown to meet Tennyson and +listen to his reading of his new poem, "Maud," then still unpublished. +During the reading Rossetti drew a caricature representing Tennyson with +his hair standing on end, his eyes glowering and his hand theatrically +extended, as he held a manuscript inscribed, + + "I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood." + +A reproduction of John Singer Sargent's painting, "The Gypsy Dance," +bore the inscription, "To _mon ami_, Browning." From the library is a +niche, decorated in gold, with memorial entablatures to the memory of +Mrs. Browning. On the outer wall of the palace is an inscription that +runs:-- + + "Robert Browning died in this house 12th December, 1889. + + "Open my heart and you will see + Graven inside it 'Italy.'" + +There is a sadness in the fact that this palace, consecrated to the +memory of the immortal poets, husband and wife, has passed into the +hands of strangers; but that is a part of the play in a world in which +we have no continuing city. In the spring of 1905, Miss Sarianna +Browning died in the home of her nephew, near Florence, and her body was +buried in the new Protestant cemetery in that city; the old one, where +all that was mortal of Elizabeth Barrett Browning was laid to rest, +being now closed. Mr. Barrett Browning, in his Tuscan villa, is again +dwelling near Florence, his native city, which must forever hold to him +its atmosphere of consecrated beauty as the beloved home of his +mother,--the noblest and greatest of all woman poets. + +The centenary of Carlo Goldoni was celebrated in Venice in the spring +of 1907 by the publication of all his works and a monograph on his life; +an exhibition of personal relics; the presentation of one of his dramas +set to music by Baldassare Galuppi, the great Venetian composer of his +time, and by a procession to lay a wreath of laurel on his monument in +the Campo San Bartolommeo. The drama given, entitled the "Buranello," +was the last work of the author, and it was presented in the theatre +Goldoni. The Municipal Council of Venice voted the sum of fifty thousand +lire for the _edition de luxe_, which consists of twenty volumes, in +octavo. In each volume is a different portrait of Goldoni, facsimile of +manuscripts, and the reproduction of literary curiosities. + +The monograph of Goldoni was issued by the press of the Venetian +Institute of Graphic Art in a limited number of copies. + +It contains more than three hundred printed pages and a series of very +interesting illustrations. Among these are the reproductions of ancient +engravings which are most rare (such as the view of the Grimani Theatre +at San Giovanni Crisostomo, a famous theatre existing in the days of the +Venetian republic, but now demolished), frontispieces of destroyed +editions, and other personal memorials. The revival of the splendid work +of the famous artist was one of the attractions of the festa of +celebration. The art exhibition of Venice in this spring of 1907 was +very picturesque. One special salon was allotted to the artists of Great +Britain, and there was a fine loan collection of the portraits of +English noblemen painted by Mr. Sargent. This salon was decorated with +panels by Frank Brangwyn. + +Venice forever remains a dream, a mirage, an enchantment. Has it a +recognized social life, with "seasons" that come and go? Has it trade, +commerce, traffic? Has it any existence save on the artist's canvas, in +the poet's vision? Has it a resident population to whom it is a home, +and not the pilgrimage of passionate pilgrims? + +There are those who find this Venice of all the year round a society of +stately nobles whose ancestral claims are identified with the history of +the city and who are at home in its palaces and gondolas, but of this +resident life the visitor is less aware than of that in any other city +in Italy. For him it remains forever in his memory as the crowning +glory of June evenings when the full, golden moon hangs over towers and +walls, when gondolas freighted with Venetian singers loom up out of the +shadows and fill the air with melody that echoes as in dreams, and that +vanishes--one knows not when or where. Mr. Howells, in his delightful +"Venetian Days," has interpreted much of that life that the tourist +never recognizes, that eludes his sight; and the Dream City still, to +the visitor who comes and goes, shrouds itself in myth and mystery. One +of the poetic visions of Venice is that given in Robert Underwood +Johnson's "Browning at Asolo" (inscribed to Mrs. Arthur Bronson), of +which the opening stanzas run:-- + + "This is the loggia Browning loved, + High on the flank of the friendly town; + These are the hills that his keen eye roved, + The green like a cataract leaping down + To the plain that his pen gave new renown. + + "There to the West what a range of blue!-- + The very background Titian drew + To his peerless Loves. O tranquil scene! + Who than thy poet fondlier knew + The peaks and the shore and the lore between? + + "See! yonder's his Venice--the valiant Spire, + Highest one of the perfect three, + Guarding the others: the Palace choir, + The Temple flashing with opal fire-- + Bubble and foam of the sunlit sea." + +Edgar Fawcett, always enchanted with his Venetian days, pictures the +northern lagoon, some six miles from Venice, as "a revel of pastoral +greenness, with briery hedges, numberless wild flowers and the most +captivating of sinuous creeks, overarched by an occasional bridge, so +old that you greet with respect every moss-grown inch of its drowsy and +sagging brickwork. The cathedral, the ineludible cathedral of all +Italian settlements, is reached after a short ramble, and you enter it +with mingled awe and amusement," he continues. "Some of its mosaics, +representing martyrs being devoured by flames and evidently enjoying +themselves a great deal during this mortuary process, challenge the +disrespectful smile. But others are vested with a rude yet sacred +poetry, and certain semi-Oriental marble sculptures, adjacent to the +altar, would make an infidel feel like crossing himself for the crime of +having yielded to a humorous twinge. This duomo dates far back beyond +the Middle Ages, and so does the small Church of Santa Fosca, only a +step away. What renders Torcello so individual among all the islands and +islets of the lagoon, I should say, is her continual contrast between +the ever-recurrent idyllicism of open meadows or wilding clusters of +simple rustic thickets, and the enormous antiquity of these two hoary +ecclesiastic fanes. History is in the air, and you feel that the very +daisies you crush underfoot, the very copses from which you pluck a +scented spray, have their delicate rustic ancestries, dating back to +Attila, who is said once to have brought his destructive presence where +now such sweet solemnity of desertion and quietude unmolestedly rules." + +History and legend and art and romance meet and mingle to create that +indefinable sorcery of Venice. It is like nothing on earth except a +poet's dream, and his poetic dream is of the ethereal realm. The +wonderful music that floats over the "silver trail" of still waters; the +mystic silences; the resplendence of color,--all, indeed, weave +themselves into an incantation of the gods; it is the ineffable +loveliness of Paradise where the rose of morning glows "and the June is +always June," and it is no more earth, but a celestial atmosphere,--this +glory of June in Venice. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] This inscription and a description in detail of all the memorials of +Elizabeth Barrett Browning are given in full in a volume entitled "A +Study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. + +[4] "A Study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Little, Brown, & Co. + + + + + _Dear Italy! The sound of thy soft name + Soothes me with balm of Memory and Hope. + Mine, for the moment, height and sweep and slope + That once were mine. Supreme is still the aim + To flee the cold and gray + Of our December day, + And rest where thy clear spirit burns with unconsuming flame._ + + _Thou human-hearted land, whose revels hold + Man in communion with the antique days, + And summon him from prosy greed to ways + Where Youth is beckoning to the Age of Gold; + How thou dost hold him near + And whisper in his ear + Of the lost Paradise that lies beyond the alluring haze!_ + + ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON. + + + + + _Great ideas create great peoples. Let your life be the living + summary of one sole organic idea. Enlarge the horizon of the + peoples. Liberate their conscience from the materialism by which it + is weighed down. Set a vast mission before them. Rebaptize them._ + + MAZZINI. + + + _All parts array for the progress of souls: all religion, all solid + things, arts, governments,--all that was or is apparent upon this + globe, or any globe, falls into niches and comes before the + procession of Souls along the grand roads of the universe.... Of + the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of + the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and + sustenance._ + + WALT WHITMAN. + + + + +VII + +THE MAGIC LAND + + More than five hundred years have passed over the country of Dante + since the death of his mortal part--years of glory and of shame, of + genius and intolerable mediocrity, of turbulent liberty and mortal + servitude; but the name of Dante has remained, and the severe image + of the poet still rules the destinies of Italian generations, now + an encouragement and now a reproach. The splendor of no other + genius has been able to eclipse or dim the grandeur of Dante; never + has there been a darkness so profound that it could conceal this + star of promise from Italian eyes; neither the profanations of + tyrants and Jesuits, nor the violations of foreign invaders, have + been able to efface it. "_Sanctum Poetae nomen quod nunquam + barbaries violavit._" + + MAZZINI. + + +The true life of Italy is not read in any record of contemporary facts +or statistics. Mazzini once said of Dante, in an essay on the immortal +poet, that "the life, the true life of Dante does not lie in the series +of the material facts of his existence. The life of Dante consists in +the sufferings and aspirations of his soul; in its dominant impulses; in +the ceaseless development of the idea which was at once his guide, +inspiration, and consolation; in his belief as a man and as an Italian." +The real life of Italy is, by analogy, to be read in that atmosphere +of aspiration and of noble purpose which characterizes the nation rather +than in the material facts of its general progress at the present time. +As a country Italy is young. It is still less than forty years since her +unity was declared, and to merge the large number of separate States +into one harmonious whole is a task requiring the evolutionary progress +of time; for a nation, like a university, cannot be a matter of +instantaneous creation. It must germinate and grow. The country that, +previous to so comparatively a recent date as the year 1870, was, in the +phrasing of Prince Metternich, "a geographical expression," can hardly +be judged by present national standards after an existence of only +thirty-seven years, although it need be said in no spirit of apology; +for Italy is advancing in scientific development, in manufactures, and +in the problems involved in civil and hydraulic engineering to a notable +degree in the northern part. Milan and Naples are separated by far more +than geographical distance. In modern progress Milan is divided by +centuries from all Southern Italy. + +Between Italy and the United States the _entente cordiale_ is not +merely that of diplomatic and ceremonial courtesy, but of an exceptional +degree of mutually sympathetic comprehensions. In noble ambitions and +lofty purposes Americans and Italians are closely akin. In zeal for +contemporary scientific progress, in an intense susceptibility to the +glories of art, and in hospitality to all that makes for progress, both +nations meet in mutual recognition. Of no people is it more deeply true +than of Americans that "each man has two countries: his own and Italy." +The average traveller sees this fair land with a breadth and +thoroughness seldom called into requisition elsewhere. In England he is +usually content with London, the tour of the cathedral towns and the +lake region of the poets. France is summed up to him in Paris and in the +chateaux of outlying districts. But Italy beguiles the traveller into +every lonely foot-trail in the mountains; to every "piazza grande" of +lonely hamlets, isolated on a rocky hillside; to every "fortezza" that +crowns a mountain summit. The unexplored byways of Italy are magnetic in +their fascination, and one special source of congratulation on the part +of those fortunate tourists who travel with their own motor car is that +they are thus enabled to penetrate into untrodden byways in Italy in a +manner impossible to those who must depend entirely on the regulation +railroad service. All lovers of Italy are devoted to these original +tours of private exploration. A recent trip to Saracinesco, in the +region of Tivoli, was made by Mrs. Stetson (Grace Ellery Channing) with +her husband, and in a descriptive record of the little journey into an +unfrequented mountain region this paragraph occurs:-- + + "Roused by 'an awful rose of dawn' which turned every solemn slope + to strange amber and amethyst, we left that rocky eyrie next day, + returning by way of Anticoli--beloved of artists. And if the ascent + had qualified us for Alpine climbers, the descent qualified us as + members of the Italian cavalry corps. Pictures of officers riding + down the face of cliffs will never impress us again; we know now it + is the very simplest of 'stunts.' Our way down was diversified by + the tinkling of thousands of sheep-bells, by the far too close + proximity of bulls to Maria's crimson headdress, which nothing in + the world would induce her to remove, and by sundry meetings with + relations, long-unseen friends, and strangers, from whom we culled + the whole register of deaths, births, marriages, and happenings for + a month past. At last, beside a little bridge near the railroad + station, Leonardo addressed his ten-thousandth adjuration to + Beppino, whose poor little legs trembled under him. It was no + longer, 'Ah, sacred one!--don't you see Anticoli!'--or 'the rock,' + or whatever it might be; now he said, 'Ah, sacred one!--don't you + comprehend?--the Signora descends'--and Beppino looked distinctly + pleased. + + "Here we demanded the reckoning, skilfully evaded hitherto. + + "'Well--a franc for each beast,--and half a franc for the + room,--the rest was nothing--a _sciocchezza_.' + + "A franc apiece!--half a franc!--were _we_ brigands that we should + do this thing?" + +This typical picture of idyllic days in Italy, enjoyed in the impromptu +excursion and trip, reveals the delicacy of feeling and the sunny +kindness that characterize the _contadini_ and which imparts to any +social contact with them a grace and sweetness peculiar to Italian +life. There are parts of Italy where it is still the Middle Ages and no +hint of the twentieth century has yet penetrated. The modern spirit has +almost taken possession of Rome; it is largely in evidence in Florence +and even Venice, and it dominates Milan; but in most of the "hill towns" +and in the little hamlets and lonely haunts where a house is perhaps +improvised out of the primeval rock, the prevailing life is still +mediaeval, and only awakens on festa days into any semblance of activity. + +Somewhere, away up in the hills, several miles from Pegli,--on the +Mediterranean coast near Genoa,--is one of these sequestered little hill +towns called _Acqua Sacra_. The name is obvious, indeed, for the sound +of the "sacred water" fills the air, falling from every hillside and +from the fountain of the _acqua sacra_ by the church. Pilgrims come from +miles around to drink of these waters. Each house in this remote little +hamlet is of solid stone, resembling a fortress on a small scale, and +the houses cling to the hillsides like mosses to a rock. Though far up +in the mountains, the hills rise around the hamlet like city walls, +as if the life of all the world were kept outside. The unforeseen visit +to these remote hamlets, suddenly chancing upon some small centre of +happy and half-idyllic life, is one of the charms of tourist travel in +this land of ineffable loveliness. + + [Illustration: RUINS OF THE GREEK THEATRE, TAORMINA, SICILY + _Page 429_] + +The approach to Italy, by whatever direction, by land or by sea, one +enters, is one of magical beauty. Whether one enters from the +Mediterranean or from the Adriatic, or by means of the Mont Cenis, the +Simplon, or the St. Gothard pass, through the sublime mountain wall, +each gateway is marvellous in attraction. Approaching from the seas that +completely surround Italy except on one side, the almost undreamed-of +splendor of Naples, Genoa, and Venice, as seen from off the shore, +exceeds all power of painter or poet to reproduce. The precipitous coast +of Sicily; the picturesque city of Palermo; the wonderful ruins of the +Greek theatre on the heights in Taormina,--all enchant the tourist. To +anchor off Naples, in the beautiful bay, serves the purpose of an hotel +out at sea. It is like living in Venice--only more so! By the little +rowboats one may go, at any moment, to Naples, and it is more delightful +than passing the days in the city itself. For at night as one strolls +or sits on deck what a picture is before the eye! All Naples, on her +semicircular shores, with her terraced heights rising above, defined in +a blaze of electric lights! Genoa, _la Superba_, is still more +magnificent when seen from the sea; and Venice, rising dream-enchanted, +completes the wonders of the approach by water. + +As the new Italy has not yet achieved any homogeneous unity, Naples, +Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan differ in their characteristics to +such a degree that no general interpretation of the residents of any one +would appropriately describe those of another. Paris and Vienna hardly +differ as much as do Milan and Rome; and Venice, Florence, and Rome, +each rich in art treasures, have little else in common. Certain +characteristics of each of the large cities reveal themselves +prominently, even to a superficial observer. Milan, as has been said, is +a centre of activity, as Florence is of culture and accomplishments. +Florence has the largest and the most choice circulating library in all +Italy and one that ranks among the best on the Continent. Her galleries +are treasure stores of art, and her social life is unsurpassed--one +might almost say unrivalled--in its fine quality. Music, philosophic +culture, learning in all lines of research characterize Florentine +society. Education has always been regarded in Florence as a matter of +prime importance, and when the government grant of funds is insufficient +the sum is made up by private contributions, so that the _Scuola del +Popolo_ gives free instruction, yearly, to eighteen hundred pupils, in +every branch of technical and art education. This fact alone offers its +own explanation of that general intelligence of the people which so +impresses the visitor in Florence. But this is a municipal rather than +national fact. Every special development in any direction in Italy will +always be found to be the characteristic of the city or locality, not of +the country as a whole; and thus the unity of Italy is still a political +expression rather than a political fact. It is a theory which is not yet +developed into an experience. Italy is in the making. Practically, she +is the youngest of countries, with less than forty years of experimental +attempt at _national_ life behind her. Not until 1919 will she have +attained the first half century of her united life. Educational +facilities, inclusive of schools, libraries, and museums; railroads, +telegraph and telephone service, electric lighting and electric +trams,--all the ways and means of the modern mechanism of life are, +inevitably, in a nebulous state in Italy. The political situation is +extremely interesting at the present time. That the "Blacks" and the +"Whites" are diametrically opposed to each other is in the nature of +history rather than that of contemporary record or of prophecy; and that +this is a traditional attitude in this city of the Caesars is not a fact +by any means unknown; but the situation is complicated by the third +party--the Socialists--who, by allying themselves with either, would +easily turn the scales and command the situation. If they were ardent +Catholics and were advocates of the Papal supremacy, the temporal power +of the Pope would be restored in less time almost than could be +recorded, and Pius X would be in residence in the Palazzo Quirinale +rather than Victor Emanuele III. But this great modern uprising in +Italy--a movement that is gathering force and numbers so rapidly that no +one can venture to prophesy results even in the comparatively immediate +future--this great modern movement is neither for church nor state. The +Socialist uprising is very strong in Milan and through Northern Italy. +It is much in evidence in the Umbrian region--in Foligno, Spoleto, +Nervi, and those towns; and from Frascati to Genzano and in the Lake +Nemi chain of villages--Rocca di Papa, Castel Gandolpho, Ariccia, +Albano--these villages within some fifteen miles of Rome. In these there +is a veritable stronghold of Socialism, where its purposes and policy +are entrenched. Yet when one alludes to its policy, the term is rather +too definite. If it had a settled and well-formulated policy on which +all its adherents were in absolute accord they would carry all before +them. But Socialism is still a very elastic term and covers, if not a +multitude of sins, at least a multitude of ideas and ideals. There is +now a rumor that the situation is forcing the absolutely inconceivable +union of church and state--of the Vatican and the Quirinale--that they +may thus withstand their common foe. A more amazing and extraordinary +turn of affairs could not be imagined; and if the rumor (which is now +becoming more coherent in Rome) should prove to be the forerunner of +any truth, the situation will be one of the most amazing in all history. + + [Illustration: PONTE VECCHIO, FLORENCE + _Page 430_] + +Epoch-making events in the course of progress are always preceded by +circumstances that form to them a natural approach and chain of +causation. They are the results of which the causes stretch backward in +the past. One of the things that has an incalculably determining +influence on the present situation is that of the character of the +present Pope. His Holiness, Pius X, brings to the Papacy an entirely new +element. He is no ascetic or exclusive ecclesiastic; he is no diplomat +or intriguant, but rather a simple, kindly man, of a simplicity totally +unprecedented in the annals of the Palazzo Vaticano. Instead of clinging +with unswerving intensity of devotion to the idea of the restoration of +the temporal power of the church, Pope Pius X would not be disinclined +to the uniting of church and state as in England; the Vatican to remain, +like the See of Canterbury, the acknowledged head of the spiritual +power, while the Quirinale remained the head of the government to which +the church should give its political adherence, the Quirinale in return +giving to the Vatican its religious adherence. Perhaps it is not too +much to say that something not unlike this might easily become--if it is +not already--the dream of Pius X. But in the mean time there is another +factor with which to reckon, and that is the present Papal Secretary of +State, Cardinal Merry del Val. He it is who really holds the mystic key +of St. Peter's. He is a diplomatist, an ecclesiastic, an embodiment of +all that is severe and archaic in authority. The Pope is by no means +able to set his course by his own watch-lights. The College of Cardinals +surrounds him, and the College of Cardinals is practically one Cardinal, +the keen scholar and the all determining Cardinal Merry del Val, whose +personality dominates the court of the Vatican. This remarkable prelate +represents the most advanced and progressive thought of the day in many +ways,--as has been noted in preceding pages,--but as a Jesuit he is +unalterably devoted to what he considers the only ideal,--the +restoration of the temporal power of the Pope. Spain revealed her +attitude when King Alphonso asked of all the monarchs of Europe that the +name of each should be borne by his infant son, the heir-apparent; and +for Italy he asked the name of the Pope and not of the King, thus +recognizing Pius X rather than Victor Emmanuel III as the head of the +nation. + +That the Socialists have very logical and serious grounds for complaint +is true. That their leader, Signor Enrico Ferri, an Italian journalist +and a Senator, is one of the most able men in Italy since the time of +Cavour is equally undeniable. The Socialists are fortunate, too, in +other leading men. Turati, the editor of the _Critica Sociale_, +Pantaleoni, Colajanni, and others are absolutely the hope of Italy at +the present time in the struggle for better conditions. For the +conditions of life in Italy, as regards taxation, the problems of +transit, the government restrictions on agricultural production and on +manufactures, are absolutely intolerable and should not be endured for a +day. The taxation is so exorbitant that it is a marvel Italy is not +depopulated. On land the tax rate is from thirty to fifty per cent; the +income tax is not merely, as one would suppose, levied on a legitimate +income derived from a man's possessions, but is levied on salaries, +ranging from ten to twenty per cent of these, and also, not content with +this unheard-of extortion, the tax is levied on the nature and source +of his salary, and even the smallest wage is thus subject to an income +tax. Again, there is a most absurd tax on salt, which, like sugar and +tobacco, is held as a government monopoly. No poor person living on the +seacoast in Italy is allowed to take even a pail of water from the sea +to his house, as the government assumes that, by evaporation, it might +yield a few grains of salt. The tax on sugar effectually checks an +industry that might be made most profitable, that of putting up fruit in +jams, jellies, and compote, and renders the price of these commodities +absurdly high. Again, when taxes are paid the process is even worse than +the unjust and exorbitant tax itself. No one is allowed to send a check +or postal order; no tax gatherer calls at the home or the office. Each +person must go himself or send a personal representative to a given +place between certain hours. Here stand a long procession, each person +in town going up, filling out pages of written formalities; talking of +each item and discussing it according to the national custom, until the +office hours are over for that day, and often not one-fourth of the +persons waiting have been served. All then must take their chances the +next day, and perhaps even a third or a fourth day,--a loss of time and +energy that in no other country would be tolerated for a moment. But +time has not yet any recognizable value in Italy. Every enterprise and +manufacture is taxed in Italy, and as the returns of these are +inevitably revealed so that no evasion is possible, and as the exactions +of the government consume nearly all the profits, the result is that all +business enterprises are discouraged and that Italy swarms with a great +idle population, while nearly all articles and supplies are imported +from other countries, with the payment of enormous duties, making their +cost far greater, proportionately, than their value. + +There are great tracts of country in Southern Italy suitable for tobacco +raising, but (as it is one of the government monopolies) people are +forbidden to raise it; and in private gardens only three plants are +permitted. Again, all industries are crippled, if not paralyzed, by the +tax at the frontier, and also by the tax at every gate of every city. At +every _porta_ in Rome are stationed government officers who scrutinize +every box, basket, and package; and all fruit, eggs, garden stuff, +milk, and commodities of every kind are taxed as they are brought inside +the walls. + +The railroads of Italy are, at present, very poor in all facilities of +transit. Within a year the Italian government has "taken over" these +roads and better conditions are promised, which are, alas! not yet in +sight. There are many "counts" to the indictment against the Italian +railroads which are only suitable to adorn the very lowest circles of +the Inferno described by Dante. They are uncleanly; the roadbeds are so +rough that the miserably built compartments jolt and jostle over the +tracks; the seats are so high that the feet can hardly touch the floor, +and the facilities for light and air are as badly managed as is possible +to conceive. As is well known, these are divided into first, second, and +third class, these compartments all being in the same train, and between +the first and second there is little difference save that of price. +Curiously, the price of even second-class travelling in Italy is over +half a cent a mile higher than that of the splendid trains in America, +with their swift time, their smooth roadbeds, their admirable +conveniences in every way. Again, no luggage is carried free, and the +prices asked for it are extortionate beyond words. One may check all his +impedimenta from San Francisco to New York without extra charge; but in +going from Rome to Naples, or from Florence to Genoa to sail, the same +luggage will cost from six to eight dollars to convey it to the steamer. +Again, these railroads pay their employes so poorly that only the most +inefficient service can be retained at all; only those persons who are +the absolute prisoners of poverty will consent to accept such meagrely +paid service. + +The Italian government consists, like that of most countries, of an +upper and lower house, the Senate and the House of Deputies. But the +former is rather a matter of miscellaneous honors than one of political +initiative. There is no limit to the number of Senators; they are +created by being named by the King, and the office is for life. If a man +attracts the favorable notice of the King,--because he is a good artist, +engineer, archaeologist, chemist, or financier,--presto, he is liable to +be made a Senator. Canova, the celebrated sculptor, was made a Senator +because, indeed, he was a great artist! There is one condition, +however, that a Senator must be one who pays annually not less than +three thousand lire in taxes. The Senators receive no salary, and their +times of meeting are uncertain and no man's presence is obligatory. The +House of Deputies has five hundred and eight members, all of whom must +be Italian subjects over thirty years of age. They have no salary, but +are given the entire freedom of the realm in all transit on railroads +and steamers. The Chamber of Deputies is largely made up of professional +men, and it is little wonder that the Socialists are demanding an entire +reform in the government of the country. There was never in any country +more defective conditions than now prevail in Italy. The very fact that +the young King is an estimable gentleman, who is personally not in the +least to blame for the prevailing status of unfortunate conditions, is +in one way an added misfortune, as the personal loyalty he justly +inspires militates by so much against the revolution in government which +is so deeply a necessity of Italy before her better and more prosperous +life can begin. It is now a country of stagnation. All Southern and +Central Italy simply lives off its tourists; and every year prices and +fees and extortion in general from the visitors to Italy become greater. + +Senator Enrico Ferri, the leader of Socialism in Italy, was born in 1856 +in Mantua. He had a university education, was admitted to the bar, and +in 1881 was called to the chair of penal law in the University of +Bologna. The Senator is a scientific Socialist,--a man of the most +exceptional gifts and qualities, and the author of a noted work, +entitled "Criminal Sociology," which is translated into several +languages. Senators Ferri and Lombroso are special friends and also +co-workers. + +On taking his seat in the University of Bologna, Professor Ferri +delivered a lecture, entitled "New Horizons in Penal Law," which was a +most impressive effort. In it he said:-- + + "It was in this inaugural discourse that I affirmed the existence + of the positivist school of criminal law, and assigned to it these + two fundamental rules: First, while the classical schools of + criminal law have always studied the crime and neglected the + criminal, the object of the positivist school was, in the first + place, to study the criminal, so that, instead of the crime being + regarded merely as a juridical fact, it must be studied with the + aid of biology, of psychology, and of criminal statistics as a + natural and social fact, transforming the old criminal law into a + criminal sociology. Secondly, while the classical schools, since + Beccaria and Howard, have fulfilled the historic mission of + decreasing the punishments as a reaction from the severity of the + mediaeval laws, the object of the positivist school is to decrease + the offence by investigating its natural and social causes in order + to apply social remedies more efficacious and more humane than the + penal counteraction, always slow in its effects, especially in its + cellular system, which I have called one of the aberrations of the + nineteenth century." + +Such is the man to whom it is no extravagance to allude as one of the +present leaders of progress in Italy. He is in the early prime of mature +life; he is a man of education, culture, great original gifts, and of +sympathies with humanity as wise and judicious as they are liberal and +all-embracing. Scientific Socialism tolerates no lawlessness, no +violence, nor does it, like the so-called Christian Socialism, attempt +to graft impossible conditions on society. It regards the laws of +economics, and it is practicable and possible as well as considerate and +just. And the great inspirer, proclaimer, and leader of scientific +Socialism is Enrico Ferri. + +Italy not only inspires the enthusiasm of the lover of beauty in nature +and art, she inspires a vital and abiding interest in all that shall +make for her true progress, and she inspires, as well, absolute faith in +her ultimate future. At present her monarchy is among the most liberal +and progressive of Europe. King Victor Emmanuel is a man of integrity, +of intelligence, and of devotion to the best interests of his country as +he understands these interests to be. If they might be better served by +a more democratic form of government, it is hardly to be asked or +expected that such a view should present itself to an hereditary +monarch. Among the most liberal element there are not wanting men who +believe that for the immediate future the present form of government is +the most feasible. In their conviction Italy is by no means prepared to +be a republic. The masses of the people are uneducated; and a great +work, requiring time, must be effected in the popularization of +intelligence and of instruction, before democratic government could be +adopted. Yet there is no faltering in the outlook on a glorious future. +The noble words of Mazzini still ring in the Italian air: "Walk in +faith, and fear not. Believe, and you will conquer." By way of enforcing +his convictions Mazzini said:-- + + "Upon a day in the sixteenth century, at Rome, some men bearing the + title of _Inquisitors_, who assumed to derive wisdom and authority + from God himself, were assembled to decree the immobility of the + earth. A prisoner stood before them. His brow was illumined by + genius. He had outstripped time and mankind, and revealed the + secret of a world. + + "It was Galileo. + + "The old man shook his bold and venerable head. His soul revolted + against the absurd violence of those who sought to force him to + deny the truths revealed to him by God. But his pristine energy was + worn down by long suffering and sorrow; the monkish menace crushed + him. He strove to submit. He raised his hand, he too, to declare + the immobility of the earth. But as he raised his hand, he raised + his weary eyes to that heaven they had searched throughout long + nights to read thereon one line of the universal law; they + encountered a ray of that sun which he so well knew motionless amid + the moving spheres. Remorse entered his heart: an involuntary cry + burst from the believer's soul: _Eppur si muove!_ and yet it moves. + + "Three centuries have passed away. + Inquisitors,--inquisition,--absurd theses imposed by force,--all + these have disappeared. Naught remains but the well-established + movement of the earth, and the sublime cry of Galileo floating + above the ages. + + "Child of Humanity, raise thy brow to the sun of God, and read upon + the heavens: _It moves._ Faith and action! The future is ours." + +"Poetry," added Mazzini, "will teach the young the nobleness of +sacrifice, of constancy, and silence; of feeling one's self alone +without despairing, in an existence of suffering unknown or +misunderstood; in long years of bitterness, wounds, and delusion, +endured without murmur or lament; it will teach them to have faith in +things to come, and to labor unceasingly to hasten their coming, even +though without hope of living to witness their triumph;" and his final +word in this great invocation to the new potencies of the opening future +is an exhortation to believe in all greatness and goodness. "Faith," he +said, "which is intellect, energy, and love, will put an end to the +discords existing in a society which has neither church nor leaders; +which invokes a new world, but forgets to ask its secret, its Word, from +God." In universal education must lie the first national aid to the +development of Italy. "_L'anima del gran mondo e l'allegria._" + +As Florence is pre-eminently the city of culture, so is Milan of +activities. Her keynote is _modernite_. The visitor is at once impressed +by her energy, her enterprise, and her commercial prosperity. Milan has +the best municipal facilities and conveniences in all Italy. The +electric lighting of streets, public buildings, and residences, the +street transit, the arrangement and conduct of shops and all industrial +matters, are in such contrast to any other city in Italy as to lead the +sojourner to ask himself whether he can still be on the southern side of +the Alpine range. In the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele Milan has the most +wonderful structure in all Europe. This arcade was built in 1865, and +under the magnificent glass dome it includes nearly one hundred of the +most attractive and well-stocked shops, bazaars, and establishments. The +dome is decorated with frescoes and caryatides, and with the statues of +numbers of eminent men, among whom are Dante, Raphael, Savonarola, and +Cavour. The offices and banks in Milan are centres of incessant energy. + +For all this stress of activity the visitor does not, however, forget +the art features; the visit to the antique Church of St. Ambrosio; to +the old convent where Leonardo da Vinci's celebrated fresco, "The Last +Supper," is to be seen, though so faded that it is now difficult to +discern all the figures. Nor does he fail to climb the wonderful +cathedral that lifts its airy grace, as if about to float upward in the +skies. Every flight of the steps, in the ascent, brings one to a new +vision of beauty. On the roof of this cathedral one wanders as in a very +forest of sculpture. Its scheme of decoration includes more than two +thousand statues, two of which are by Canova. From the summit, when the +air is clear, there are beautiful views of the Alps. + +To the savant and scholar the Ambrosian library in Milan is one of the +special treasures of Europe. It contains some of the most rare and +valuable manuscripts in the entire world,--some of Virgil's with +annotations from Petrarcha; a manuscript of Dante's; drawings by +Leonardo da Vinci, and other interesting matters of which no other +copies exist. + +The Magic Land is seen under its most bewitching spell in the region of +the Italian lakes. The palace of Isola Bella; the charming gardens; the +lake of Como, green-walled in hills whose luxuriant foliage and bloom +form a framework for the white villas that cluster on their terraced +slopes,--all form a very fairyland of ethereal, rose-embowered beauty. +At night the lakes are a strange, unreal world of silver lights and +shadows. + +The completion of the Simplon tunnel has opened between Italy and Paris +a route not only offering swifter facilities for transit, but adding +another to the regions of beauty. This route has also still further +increased the commercial importance of Milan, the portal and metropolis +of Northern Italy. Milan has become the national centre of all +scientific and technical pursuits, and it is fairly the Mecca for young +men of Central and Southern Italy who are entering into the professions, +or into civil and electrical engineering and other of the technical arts +and industries. + +Bologna, with her historic University, with the long covered arcades of +the streets, the fountain, which is the work of Giovanni di Bologna, and +the gallery where many of Guido's best works are placed, has its +individual interest for the tourist; and Verona, Pavia, Modena, Parma, +and Turin all repay a visit from the leisurely saunterer in Italy. + +Pisa offers to the visitor four interesting architectural monuments in +the Duomo, the Baptistery, the Leaning Tower, and the Campo Santo, all +of which are unique. The cathedral has unique designs in its black and +white marbles that render it almost as much an object of artistic study +as is the cathedral in Siena. The view from the summit of the Leaning +Tower reveals the Mediterranean six miles in the distance, gleaming like +a sea of silver. The Campo Santo dates from the thirteenth century, +when the earth of which it is composed was brought (in 1228) from the +holy places in Jerusalem, conveyed to the city (then a seaport) by fifty +galleys sent out by the Republic of Pisa. The interior walls of the +Campo Santo are covered with fresco paintings by Orcagna which are one +of the artistic spectacles of the country in their extravagant portrayal +of theological beliefs, so realistically presented in their dramatic +scenes from Paradise and from Hades, as to leave nothing to the +imagination. The fantasies in this emblematic sculpture of memorial +monuments over a period of seven hundred years can be seen in the Campo +Santo of Pisa,--a strange and often a most grotesque medley. + +Genoa is well named La Superba. Her thoroughfares are streets of +palaces. Her terraced gardens and villas, reached by the subterranean +funicular street railway, are regions of unique and incomparable beauty, +with the blue Mediterranean at their feet. Genoa is the paradise for +walking. The streets are largely inaccessible to carriages, but the +admirable street electric railway penetrates every locality. It passes +in dark tunnels under the hills, reappears on the high terraces, and +climbs every height. From the crest of one of these Corsica can often be +seen. All the hill-slopes are a dream of pictorial grandeur, with their +terraces, their palaces, their sculpture, fountains, and flowers. On the +summit of almost every hill there is a fortress, and often ramparts +which are silhouetted, in dark masses, against the sky. Orange groves +abound on the terraces, often showing the golden fruit, buds, and +blossoms all at the same time. + +Genoa is fairly a metropolis of sculpture. The great families have +themselves perpetuated in portrait statues rather than in painted +portraits. In one of the grand ducal palaces in the Via Balbi the +visitor may see, not only the life-size statues and the busts of the +family ancestry, but one group comprising nine figures, where three +generations are represented, in both sitting and standing poses, +ingeniously combined. + +The churches of Genoa are among the richest in Europe. That of the +Annunziata, the special monument of the Lomellini family, glitters and +gleams with its gold ceilings and rich frescoes. The cathedral has the +special allurement of the emerald dish which King Solomon received as +a gift from the Queen of Sheba. The little "street of the jewellers" is +an alluring place,--so narrow that one can almost stand in the centre of +the road and touch the shop windows on either hand, and these windows +dazzle the eye with their fascinating glitter of gold and silver +filigree work and their rich jewels. + + [Illustration: CAMPO SANTO, GENOA + _Page 453_] + +Beyond all other curious excursions that even a Magic Land can offer is +that to the Campo Santo of Genoa. A cloistered promenade encloses a +square, and above are terraced colonnades, each and all revealing +statues, and monuments, and groups of sculpture whose varied beauty, +oddity, or bizarre effects are a curious study. Some memorials--as one +of an angel with outstretched wings; another of a flight of angels +bearing the soul away; another combining the figure of Christ with the +cross, and angels hovering near--are full of beauty. Others are a marvel +of ingenious and incongruous combination. One of the latter represents +the man whose memory it commemorates as lying on his bed in his last +illness; the physician stands by, his fingers on the patient's pulse; +on the opposite side a maid is approaching with a dish holding some +article of food, and near the physician are grouped the wife, with a +little child clinging to her skirts; the son, holding his hat with both +hands and looking down on it, and the daughter, a young girl, with her +eyes raised to heaven. Each of these figures is in life size; the bed is +reproduced in marble, with the pillows and all the coverings in the most +absolute realism, and the entire effect is so startling in its bizarre +aspect that one could hardly believe in its existence until by personal +observation he had verified so singular a monument. + +Yet there is beauty and symbolic loveliness, too, in many of the +memorial sculptures of this Campo Santo, and turning away from this +cemetery in which lies the body of the noble Mazzini, one hears on the +air the refrain of his words on Dante:-- + + "It appeared to him of more importance to hasten to accomplish his + mission upon earth, than to meditate upon the inevitable hour which + marks for all men the beginning of a new task. And if at times he + speaks of weariness of life, it is only because he sees evil more + and more triumphant in the places where his mission was appointed. + He concerned himself, not about the length or the shortness of + life, but about the end for which life was given; for he felt God + in life, and knew the creative virtue there is in action." + +Eighty thousand people followed Mazzini to his tomb, and his name lives +in the Italy of to-day as one to be associated with that of Dante as +prophet and inspirer. + +The enchantment of approaching Genoa from the sea at night is an +experience to remain as one of the pictorial treasures of memory. The +magnificent _lanterna_, the lighthouse with its revolving light, that +can be seen for fifty miles out from the coast; the brilliant +illumination defining the _fortezza_ on the summit of one hill; the +curving lights of the terraced residential district and the illumination +of the very forest of shipping clustered in the bay,--all combine into a +scene not easily effaced from the memories of foreign scenes. + +It is only in close relations with Italian literature that Italy can be +adequately enjoyed and that the sojourner may enter into sympathetic +associations with contemporary Italian life. Dr. Richard Garnett +believes that the literature of Italy "is a less exhaustive +manifestation than elsewhere of the intellect of the nation," and that +"the best energies of the country are employed in artistic production. +It is, indeed, remarkable," he continues, "that out of the nine Italians +most brilliantly conspicuous in the first rank of genius and +achievement,--Aquinas, Dante, Columbus, Leonardo, Michael Angelo, +Raphael, Titian, Galileo, Napoleon,--only one should have been a man of +letters." + +Contemporary Italian literature follows the trend of the day in +reflecting the life of the people. The novels of Fogazzaro, the poems of +Carducci, the biography and history written by Villari, to say nothing +of several other writers who, while not approaching these authors, have +still a definite place in the literature of the present, offer +illumination on the outer scenery of life, and offer interpretation of +the life itself. Art has declined; literature has advanced in Italy, +even within the past decade. The law of progress is as inevitable as is +the law of gravitation. + + "Onward the chariot of the Unvarying moves; + Nor day divulges him nor night conceals; + Thou hear'st the echo of unreturning hooves, + And thunder of irrevocable wheels." + +The future of Italy inspires faith in the renewal of its noblest ideals +of achievement. Its ineffable beauty is a heritage of joy to every +visitor who comes under the indescribable spell of its attraction and +finds that, in all the panorama of foreign life which haunts his memory, +it is Italy which shines resplendent as the Magic Land! + + + + +INDEX + + + Accademia des Arcades, Rome, 334. + + Accademia di San Luca, oldest art school, 44; + location of, 45; + galleries of, 46, 47, 48. + + Acqua Sacra, 428. + + Akers, Paul, in Rome, 10; + early death of, 53; + work of, 54, 55; + quoted, 56; + Hawthorne's estimate of, 57. + + Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, quoted, 387. + + Allen, Elizabeth Akers, quoted, 53. + + Amalfi, 253-257; + destruction of, 258, 259. + + Ambrosian library, Milan, 449. + + American Academy, Rome, 214. + + American Embassy, Rome, location of, 153; + ball at, 164-167; + receptions at, 169. + + Anderson, Hendrick Christian, in Rome, 10. + + Angelo, Michael, work of, 22, 23, 312; + message of, 117; + friendship with Vittoria Colonna, 290; + Longfellow's poem on, 308-310; + art of, 313, 314; + quoted, 314, 316, 317, 318, 323; + gift to Vittoria Colonna, 318; + meeting with Francesco d'Ollanda, 322, 323, 324; + Walter Pater's estimate of, 327, 328, 329. + + Annunziata Cathedral, Genoa, 452. + + Aquinas, Thomas, birthplace of, 276; + tomb of, 331; + monastery of, 333. + + Aquinum, 277. + + "Arcadians," meetings of, 150. + + Ariosto, 306. + + Art, as leader of popular taste, 115; + inspired by religious ideals, 116; + Renaissance in, 117; + national importance of, 117; + ignored, 118; + relation to ugliness, 119; + falseness of, 121; + influence on life, 122; + united with religion, 123. + + Assisi, pilgrimage to, 341, 344; + founding of, 345; + points of interest in, 345, 346; + Canon Knox Little's description of, 348; + as a shrine, 385. + + Assisi, Bishop of, 354, 364. + + Assisi, St. Francis of, 123, 124; + message of, 342; + birthplace of, 345; + impress of, 347; + parents of, 348, 349; + early life of, 350; + legends regarding, 351; + quoted, 352, 354, 356; + supreme aim of, 353; + Rule of, 353, 354; + prayer of, 356; + character of, 357; + incident in early life of, 360; + first ministry of, 363; + first disciple of, 364; + at the Portiuncula, 365; + friendship with Clara, 365, 367, 368; + legends regarding, 370; + death of, 372; + miracles of, 375; + tomb of, 378. + + + Bagot, Richard, in Rome, 11, 13. + + Baia, 241. + + Baldwin, Rev. Dr., in Rome, 10, 171. + + Ball, Thomas, work of, 52. + + Balzac, quoted, 120. + + Barberini, Cardinal, 72. + + Baths of Caracalla, 139. + + Baths of Diocletian, 184. + + Bell, John, grave of, 216. + + Bembo, Cardinal, 306. + + Benedictines, 354, 365. + + Benton, Dwight, grave of, 221; + estimate of, 221. + + Bernardino of Siena, 382, 383; + quoted, 383. + + Bernini, Lorenzo, work of, 22. + + Besant, Mrs. Annie, 174. + + Biblioteca Sarti, 48. + + "Blacks," 145, 146. + + Bologna, 450. + + Bonaparte, Princess Christina, death of, 203. + + Boni, Commendatore, opinion of, 244. + + Boni, Giovanni M., 403. + + Bronson, Mrs. Arthur, 409, 410. + + Brooks, Rev. Phillips, in Rome, 15; + quoted, 16, 39, 388, 394, 395. + + Brownell, W. C., quoted, 96. + + Browning, Elizabeth B., in Rome, 11; + quoted, 60, 114, 125, 389; + death of, 80, 408; + meeting with Mrs. Bronson, 410, 411. + + Browning Palace, 406, 410, 411, 412, 413. + + Browning, Robert, quoted, 3, 407, 408; + in Rome, 11, 70; + in Venice, 406; + death of, 408. + + Browning, Miss Sarianna, 408, 413. + + Buono, 236. + + Byron, Lord, in Rome, 22; + quoted, 22, 403. + + + Campagna, 73, 205. + + Campanile, fall of, 406. + + Campo Verano, 76. + + Campo Santo of Pisa, 450, 451, 453. + + Campidoglio, buildings on, 25. + + Campriani, 237. + + Canova, in Rome, 7; + his genius, 33; + masterpiece of, 42; + realism of, 118. + + Capella Sistina, 27. + + Capo Miseno, 241. + + Capri, island of, 262, 263, 264; + roses of, 266. + + Capuano, Cardinal, legends of, 256. + + Capuccini, convent of, 255. + + Carducci, 143. + + Carter, Professor Jesse Benedict, in Rome, 169. + + Carter, Mrs. Jesse Benedict, 34, 37, 169. + + Casa Buonarroti, 312. + + Casino Borghese, 185. + + Castel d'Ischia, 292, 293, 294. + + Castellammare, 250. + + Castle Gandolfo, 286. + + Castiglione, 306. + + Cecioni's "La Madre," 121. + + Cestius, Caius, tomb of, 215. + + Channing, Grace Ellery, 10, 91. + + Chapel of Holy Sacrament, 202. + + Chateaubriand, in Rome, 21; + quoted, 21. + + Cicero's villa, remains of, 207. + + Cimabue, 376, 378. + + Cole, Thomas, in Rome, 9. + + Coleman, Charles Caryl, home of, 263. + + College of Cardinals, 435. + + Colonna, Fabrizio, 290. + + Colonna family, 285, 288, 289, 306, 307. + + Colonna palace and gardens, 131. + + Colonna, Vittoria, home of, 282; + quoted, 283, 303; + parents of, 285; + early childhood of, 286, 288; + horoscope of, 289; + destiny of, 290; + betrothal of, 290; + marriage of, 294, 295; + early married life of, 295, 296; + quoted, 297, 298, 300, 303, 305, 319, 320, 321; + in Pope Leo's court, 302; + her husband's death, 302; + removal of, 304; + fame of, 306; + return to Rome of, 307; + Longfellow's picture of, 308, 309, 310, 325, 326, 327; + travels of, 308, 311; + her influence with Michael Angelo, 313; + life in Rome and Orvieto, 314; + receives letters and sonnet from Michael Angelo, 317; + receives present from Michael Angelo, 318; + arranges meeting of Michael Angelo and Francesco d'Ollanda, + 322, 323, 324; + Walter Pater's comments on, 328; + death of, 329; + last prayer of, 330; + burial of, 331; + tomb of, 332; + bust of, 334; + fame of, 335, 336; + Margaret J. Preston's poem on, 337. + + Condivi, quoted, 313. + + Contarini, Cardinal, 306. + + Corsini chapel, 152. + + Crawford, Marion, in Rome, 11, 13. + + Crawford, Thomas, in Rome, 49; + career of, 51; + poem on, 52. + + Crow, Hon. Wayman, 61. + + Cumae, 241. + + Cumaean Sibyl, 242. + + + da Bisticci, Vespasiano, 383. + + Dalbano, Edoardo, 236. + + Dana, Richard Henry, 219. + + Dante, quoted, 267-270; + Mazzini's estimate of, 454. + + d'Avalos, Donna Constanza, 291. + + d'Avalos, Francesco, 290, 294, 295. + + De Castro, Consul General, in Rome, 169. + + Decline of art, 31. + + d'Ollanda, Francesco, 322-324. + + del Val, Cardinal Merry, 146-149, 435. + + del Vasto, Marchese, 299. + + De Monici, chronicles of, 398. + + de Stael, Mme., in Rome, 11, 22. + + Dietsch, C. Percival, in Rome, 10. + + di Francavilla, Duchess, 291-293. + + di Mercanti, Pica, 349, 350. + + di Mercanti, Pietro Bernardone, 348, 349. + + di Pescara, Marchesa, 296, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 306, 311, 312, + 322, 331, 332, 335. + + di Pescara, Marchese, 292, 296, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 331, + 332. + + Doges, Palace of, 400-403. + + Dolce, Ludovico, 306. + + Don Erasmo Gattola, 273. + + Duca de Torlonia, family of, 205. + + Duff, Lina Gordon, quoted, 374. + + Dupaty, quoted, 16. + + Duran, M. Carolus, in Rome, 166, 167. + + + Elena, Queen, 140, 142, 179. + + Eliot, George, quoted, 252. + + Emerson, Mary Moody, letters to, 12. + + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, in Rome, 12; + quoted, 85. + + Emmons, Miss Elise, in Rome, 167. + + Esposito, 237. + + Ezekiel, Moses, in Rome, 10; + studios of, 97. + + + Fawcett, Edgar, quoted, 417. + + Ferrara, Duca and Duchessa of, 311. + + Ferri, Signor Enrico, 436, 442; + quoted, 442. + + Festus, quoted, 30. + + Field, Kate, in Rome, 12. + + Florence, culture of, 430, 431. + + Fra Ambrosia, 322. + + Franciscan, 367. + + Frascati, visited, 205. + + + Galileo, in Rome, 139, 445. + + Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, 448. + + Garibaldi, villa of, 239. + + Garnett, Dr. Richard, quoted, 456. + + Genoa, 430; + features of, 451; + as a metropolis of sculpture, 452; + churches of, 452; + enchantment of, 455. + + Ghiberto, Bishop, 311. + + Gibson, John, in Rome, 10, 36; + quoted, 34, 37, 59; + grave of, 221. + + Giotto, 376, 377, 379. + + Giovio, Paolo, 306. + + Gladstone, in Rome, 11. + + Goethe, in Rome, 11, 20; + quoted, 20. + + Goethe, August, grave of, 216. + + Goldoni, Carlo, centenary of, 413; + memorial of, 414. + + Good Friday, service in Rome, 200, 201. + + Greenough, Horatio, in Rome, 10; + work of, 49; + death, 50. + + Greenough, Mrs. Horatio, 335. + + Greenough, Richard, in Rome, 10, 58; + grave of, 217. + + Greenough, Sarah B., tomb of, 218. + + Grotto de Matrimonia, 263. + + Grotto Ferrata, 209. + + Guili, Commendatore Conte, 214. + + Guthers, Carl, work of, 236. + + + Hare, Augustus William, grave of, 221. + + Hawthorne, Nathaniel, quoted, 45, 57, 67, 195. + + Healy, Mr., in Rome, 19. + + Herculaneum, 242; + excavations in, 244; + Professor Spinazzola on, 242, 243; + destruction of, 244; + theatre in, 247. + + Hillard, George Stillman, in Rome, 12; + quoted, 23, 24, 51, 230, 248. + + Holy Week, in Rome, 200. + + Hosmer, Harriet, in Rome, 10, 59, 60, 61; + work of, 62. + + Howe, Dr. Samuel Gridley, in Rome, 12. + + Howe, Julia Ward, in Rome, 12. + + Howells, William Dean, in Rome, 13, 416. + + Howitt, William and Mary, graves of, 216. + + Hugo, Victor, 41. + + + Ischia, 281; + romantic impressions of, 282; + home of Vittoria Colonna, 282; + the d'Avalos castle in, 291; + as an enchanted island, 296; + Vittoria's return to, 299, 305. + + Italy, land of romance and song, 6; + Mazzini's opinion of, 65; + true life of, 423; + as a youthful country, 424; + relation with United States, 425; + traveller in, 425; + picture of idyllic days in, 427; + approach to, 429; + cities of, 429, 430; + in the making, 431; + politics of, 432; + Socialistic uprising in, 433; + taxation in, 436-438; + railroads in, 439, 440; + government of, 440, 441; + future of, 444, 457; + lakes of, 449; + contemporary literature of, 456. + + + James, Henry, in Rome, 11, 13. + + Jameson, Mrs., in Rome, 67; + quoted, 193. + + Johnson, Robert Underwood, quoted, 416, 421. + + Juvenal, birthplace of, 277. + + + Keats, in Rome, 11, 132; + memorial, 133; + grave of, 216. + + Kemble, Adelaide, in Rome, 68. + + Kemble, Fanny, in Rome, 68. + + Keynote of life, 359. + + Khayyam, Omar, quoted, 1, 94. + + + Lacus Avernus, 240. + + Lanciani, Professor, lectures by, 138, 139; + opinion of, 244, 333. + + Leaning Tower of Pisa, 450. + + Libraries of Rome, 214, 223. + + Lister, Mrs., in Rome, 172. + + Liszt, Abbe, in Rome, 18, 19. + + Little, Canon Knox, quoted, 347, 348, 376, 377, 380. + + Lodge, Sir Oliver, quoted, 120. + + Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, in Rome, 12; + quoted, 16, 17, 125, 253, 274, 279, 281, 308, 309, 310, 325, 327, 387. + + Longfellow, Rev. Samuel, quoted, 18. + + Lowell, James Russell, in Rome, 12. + + Ludovisi collection, 185. + + Luther, in Rome, 80; + ascent of the Scala Santa, 156. + + + Margherita, Queen Mother, 140, 141; + palace of, 142; + quoted, 143; + relations with artists, 144; + at requiem mass, 179. + + Marino, 286, 287. + + Mazzini, 191, 192; quoted, 64, 422, 423, 444, 446; + works of, 190, 191; + estimate of, 191; + tomb of, 454. + + Mead, Larkin G., in Rome, 10; + work of, 53. + + Mediaeval Museum of Rome, 139. + + Meredith, Owen, quoted, 2. + + Metella, Cecilia, tomb of, 145. + + Milan, activity of, 430, 447; + structures of, 448; + Ambrosian library of, 449; + as scientific centre, 450. + + Mills, Clark, in Rome, 10. + + Milton, in Rome, 11, 19. + + Misenus, burial place of, 241. + + Monte Aquino, 276. + + Monte Cairo, 277. + + Monte Cassino, 304. + + Monte Catria, 348. + + Monte Mario, 21, 133. + + Monte Pincio, 188. + + Monte San Mano, 304. + + Morelli, Domenico, work of, 234, 235. + + Moulton, Louise Chandler, in Rome, 13; + quoted, 13, 14, 95, 267, 340. + + Myers, Frederick W. H., memorial tablet to, 220. + + + Naples, described, 227-231; + University of, 232; + Museum, 233; + natural attractions of, 237; + hotels of, 238; + Bay of, 265. + + Nardi, Monsignore, in Rome, 18. + + Nero's tomb, 78, 80. + + Nisida, island of, 240. + + Norton, Charles Eliot, quoted, 267. + + + Obelisk in Piazza del Popolo, 77. + + Oldest art school, 44. + + Oliphant, Mrs., quoted, 357, 368. + + Orvieto, 314. + + Osso, Professor Dall', opinion of, 244. + + Oxenham, Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Nutcombe, in Rome, 171. + + + Paestum, 260, 261. + + Page de Conti, 337. + + Page, William, in Rome, 66. + + Palatine Hill, 13, 112. + + Palazzo Barberini, 72, 90. + + Palazzo Bernini, 32. + + Palazzo Bonaparte, 203. + + Palazzo Brandolin-Rota, 409. + + Palazzo Cesarini, 314, 329. + + Palazzo del Drago, 163, 164. + + Palazzo di Capodimonte, 233. + + Palazzo di Donna Ana, 239. + + Palazzo Margherita, 142. + + Palazzo Municipio, 384. + + Palazzo Quirinale, 142, 143, 432. + + Palazzo Rezzonico, 406. + + Palazzo Senni, 172. + + Palazzo Tamagno, 104. + + Palazzo Vaticano, 27. + + Pantheon, 177; + ceremonies at, 179. + + Papal supremacy, 432. + + Parsons, Thomas William, quoted, 52, 276. + + Pater, Walter, quoted, 327, 328. + + Perugia, town of, 381-384. + + Perugino, 384. + + Petrarcha, 258, 259, 400. + + Phlegraean Plain, 240. + + Piazza Barberini, 18. + + Piazza del Popolo, 76, 80, 134. + + Piazza di Spagna, 70, 133, 146. + + Piazza di Trinita, 133. + + Piazza San Giovanni, 151. + + Pietro da Cortona, work of, 194. + + Pisa, architectural monuments of, 450. + + Pistolesi, quoted, 43. + + Pliny, the Younger, quoted, 244. + + Poe, quoted, 136. + + Pompeii, 243, 245, 248. + + Pope Adrian, 302. + + Pope Clement XII, tomb of, 152. + + Pope Julius II, 23, 27, 28. + + Pope Leo XII, 302. + + Pope Leo XIII, tomb of, 154. + + Pope Paschal, dream of, 157. + + Pope Paul III, 313. + + Pope Pio Nono, 64, 75. + + Pope Pius X, 145, 147; + "passage" of, 196, 197; + ceremonial receptions of, 146; + residence of, 432; + character of, 434; + dream of, 435. + + Portiuncula, 365, 366. + + Posilipo, 239. + + Powers, Hiram, in Rome, 10; + America's first sculptor, 49; + work, 50. + + Pratello, 237. + + Preston, Margaret J., quoted, 280, 337. + + Principessa d'Antuni, 163, 164. + + + Quattro Fontane, Via delle, 72. + + + Raphael, work of, 22, 46, 47, 79; + genius of, 26; + masterpieces of, 27; + Franklin Simmons, opinion of, 29; + inspiration of, 30; + decline of art after, 31. + + Ravello, Cathedral at, 260. + + Ravenna, battle of, 296. + + Read, Thomas Buchanan, in Rome, 67. + + Realism, kinds of, 118. + + _Regina Madre_, 140, 142. + + Regio Palazzo del Quirinale, 143, 144. + + Reid, Hon. Whitelaw, 105. + + Reinhart, William, in Rome, 10. + + Religion united with art, 123. + + Renaissance in Italy, 117. + + Richmond, Celia, 341. + + Rocca di Papa, 287. + + Rogers, Randolph, in Rome, 10; + early death of, 53. + + Roman environment, 93. + + Rome, features of, 1; + as artistic centre, 6, 10, 114; + under Pontifical regime, 8; + Longfellow's love for, 16; + Goethe's impressions of, 20; + work of Michael Angelo and Raphael in, 22; + oldest art school of, 44; + latter-day artists in, 49; + Brownings in, 67; + social life in, 113, 127; + new bridge of, 128; + in May, 129; + in winter, 129, 130; + in spring, 130, 132; + festas in, 136; + discussed by Professor Lanciani, 138; + society in, 140, 141, 170; + two courts of, 142; + modern features of, 145; + enchanting views in, 151; + poetic symbolism in, 158-160; + of the present day, breakfast-table talk in, 162; + American Embassy in, 163; + elevator service in, 164; + American consulate in, 169; + delightful hostesses in, 171, 172; + attitude toward modern thought in, 173; + Theosophical Society of, 173, 174; + demand for apartments in, 175; + sight-seeing in, 183; + great palaces in, 187; + famous drive of, 188; + birthday celebrations of, 189; + Republic of, 190; + rich years to artists in, 192, 193; + Papal ceremonies in, 195; + curious spectacle in, 198; + Holy Week in, 200; + Good Friday service in, 200, 201; + motoring from, 204, 205; + outlying towns of, 207; + American Academy in, 214; + libraries of, 214; + Protestant cemetery of, 215; + literature of, 223; + modern spirit in, 428. + + Rosa, Salvator, 234. + + Rosenkrans, Baroness, 173. + + Rota, 329. + + Ruskin, in Rome, 12; + quoted, 398. + + + Sabatier, Paul, quoted, 362, 365. + + Sallust, Gardens of, 140. + + Salvatico, quoted, 401. + + San Agostino, church of, 198. + + San Caterina di Viterbo, 314. + + San Francesco, church of, 345. + + San Giovanni, 153. + + San Marco, 394. + + San Maria della Pace, 27. + + San Maria dei Frari, 405. + + San Silvestre, 32. + + Sansovino, Jacob, work of, 399. + + Santa Anna, convent of, 314. + + Santa Chiara (Clara), 365; + takes vows, 366, 367; + founds convent, 368; + family history of, 368; + friendship with St. Francis of Assisi, 368; + at death of Francis, 372; + personality of, 373; + preservation of body of, 374. + + Santa Domenica Maggiore, church of, 303, 331, 333. + + Santa Maria Degli Angeli, 345, 365, 380. + + Santa Maria del Popolo, 78-80. + + Santa Maria della Salute, 405. + + Santa Monica, tomb of, 199. + + Scala di Spagna, 72. + + Scala Santa, 155; + Luther's ascent of, 156. + + Scifi, Count Favorini, 368. + + Scott, Sir Walter, in Rome, 20. + + Sejanus, fall of, 263. + + Sermoneta, Duke of, in Rome, 18. + + Severn, Joseph, grave of, 216. + + Shelley, in Rome, 22; + memorial, 133; + quoted, 215; + grave of, 216. + + Simmons, Franklin, in Rome, 10, 15, 91, 98; + quoted, 29; + works of, 98-112; + early life, 100; + degrees conferred upon, 103; + marriage of, 103; + latest success of, 107; + studios of, 112; + realism of, 119; + beautiful creation of, 121; + grave of, 217. + + Simmons, Mrs. Franklin, in Rome, 104; + death of, 112; + estimate of, 112; + grave of, 218. + + Sindoni, Turillo, 144. + + Sistine Chapel, art in, 177. + + Sorrento, 251, 252. + + Spearman, Frank Hamilton, in Rome, 167; + work of, 168. + + Spinazzola, Professor, quoted, 242, 243. + + St. Ambrosio, church of, 448. + + St. Andrew, 256. + + St. Benedict, work of, 270, 271; + tomb of, 272; + chapel of, 350. + + St. Damian, chapel of, 356. + + St. Gaudens, Augustus, in Rome, 10. + + St. Gregory, feast of, 180. + + St. Maria della Portiuncula, 351. + + St. Mark's, Venice, 396, 397, 404. + + St. Mark, tomb of, 397; + legend regarding, 397. + + St. Paola d'Orvieto, 314. + + Stebbins, Emma, in Rome, 58. + + Stetson, Charles Walker, in Rome, 10, 91; + work of, 113. + + Stetson, Mrs. Charles Walker, in Rome, 11; + quoted, 426. + + Stillman, Mr., quoted, 39. + + Story, Julian, in Rome, 91; + studio of, 97. + + Story, Waldo, in Rome, 91; + studio of, 97; + works of, 98. + + Story, William Wetmore, in Rome, 10; + first visit to Italy of, 62; + in Florence, 65; + quoted, 70, 80, 89, 90, 286; + in Palazzo Barberini, Rome, 71; + works of, 81-86; + estimate of, 82-90; + literary work of, 90; + grave of, 217. + + Stowe, Harriet Beecher, in Rome, 11. + + Strada Nuova di Posilipo, 239. + + Symonds, John Addington, grave of, 220; + estimate of, 220; + quoted, 261, 264, 315, 316. + + + Tasso, 252, 253, 335. + + Tennyson's choice of pictures in Venice, 395. + + Thackeray, in Rome, 69. + + Theocritus, quoted, 85. + + Theosophical Society of Rome, 173. + + Thomas, Edith, quoted, 82. + + Thompson, Launt, in Rome, 10. + + Thorwaldsen, in Rome, 7, 10; + quoted, 35; + realism of, 119. + + Tiberius, summer palace of, 262; + baths of, 263. + + Tilton, J. Rollin, in Rome, 10; + grave of, 219. + + Titian, tomb of, 405. + + Torlonia, Duca and Duchessa of, 334. + + Trelawney, grave of, 216. + + Trinita di Monti, church of, 133. + + Tusculum, 207. + + + Umberto, King, 142. + + Umbrians, 345. + + Urbino, 285. + + + Vanderlyn, in Rome, 10. + + Vaughn, Monsignor, 181. + + Vatican, galleries of, 112. + + Vatican palace, 196, 198. + + Vedder, Anita, in Rome, 171. + + Vedder, Elihu, in Rome, 10; + art of, 91-95; + appreciation of, 96; + works of, 96, 97; + country house of, 262. + + Vedder, Mrs. Elihu, in Rome, 170. + + Venice, first glimpses of, 389; + Grand Canal of, 390; + in June, 391; + color and loveliness of, 392; + art of, 395, 396; + origin of, 398; + first Doge of, 399; + Renaissance architecture in, 399; + Doge's Palace, 400-404; + art in, 404; + fall of Campanile in, 406; + Browning Palace in, 408-413; + centenary of Carlo Goldoni celebrated in, 413, 414; + art exhibition in, 415; + June evening in, 416; + as a poet's dream, 418. + + Vernet, Horace, in Rome, 10. + + Verona, 311. + + Veronese, Paolo, 404. + + Vesuvius, 229. + + Via Bonella, 45. + + Victor Emmanuel III, 118, 215, 432, 444. + + Villa Aldobrandini, 208. + + Villa Barberini, 209. + + Villa Borghese, 14, 187. + + Villa Doria, 211. + + Villa Falconieri, 213. + + Villa Jovis, 263. + + Villa Medici, 4, 134. + + Villa Nazionale, 238. + + Villa Pamphilia Doria, 149. + + Villa Torlonia, 206. + + Virgil, quoted, 241; + grotto of, 242. + + Visconti, 329, 330. + + Vittorio Emanuele, 214. + + + Waldstein, Dr. Charles, quoted, 245. + + Ward, Mrs. Humphry, quoted, 210, 212. + + Watson, William, quoted, 9, 25, 86, 87. + + Wellman, Walter, 9. + + West, Benjamin, in Rome, 10. + + White, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, in Rome, 165. + + "Whites," 145. + + Whitman, Walt, quoted, 422. + + Whitney, Anne, in Rome, 10, 58. + + Whittier, quoted, 339. + + Wilberforce, Rev. Basil, quoted, 125, 341. + + Woolson, Constance Fenimore, tomb of, 219. + + + Zuccaro, Federigo, 44. + + + + +WORKS BY LILIAN WHITING + + + THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL. First, Second, and Third Series. 3 vols. 16mo. + $1.00 per vol. Decorated cloth, $1.25 per vol. + +Cannot help being uplifting and inspiring.--_New Church Messenger._ + + + AFTER HER DEATH, 16mo. $1.00. Decorated cloth, $1.25. + +Should bring positive aid in sorrow.--_Hartford Post._ + + + FROM DREAMLAND SENT. Verses of the Life to Come. 16mo. $1.00. + Decorated cloth, $1.25. + +Graceful, tender, true, appealing to what is best in the human +heart.--_The Independent._ + + + THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE; or, Death as an Event in Life. 16mo. + $1.00. Decorated cloth, $1.25. + +It suggests and hints at the ultimate significance of scientific +investigation with relation to the totality of thought in a very fresh +and suggestive way.--_The Outlook._ + + + KATE FIELD: A RECORD. With portraits, including one by Elihu + Vedder. 12mo. Decorated cloth, $2.00. + +A wonderfully vivid portrait.--_San Francisco Chronicle._ + + + A STUDY OF ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, 16mo. Decorated cloth, + $1.25. + +The most virile picture of Mrs. Browning in all our literature.--_New +York Times._ + + + THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL IN BOOKS, 16mo. $1.00 net. Decorated cloth, + $1.25 net. + +Great thoughts of great writers are touched upon with rare +discrimination and critical power.--_Boston Transcript._ + + + BOSTON DAYS. Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50 net. + +All the famous names associated with Boston pass in review.--_Boston +Herald._ + + + THE LIFE RADIANT, 16mo. $1.00 net. Decorated cloth, $1.25 net. + +No one can read it without having a clearer perception of the meaning of +life and of the infinite possibilities of the human soul in its process +of advancement.--_Chicago Chronicle._ + + + THE OUTLOOK BEAUTIFUL, 16mo. $1.00 net. White and gold, $1.25 net. + +A fitting crown to "The World Beautiful."--_Philadelphia Ledger._ + + + THE FLORENCE OF LANDOR. Fully illustrated. 8vo. In box, $2.50 net. + +A striking picture of Florence, doubly interesting because so many +eminent persons appear in it.--_Philadelphia Ledger._ + + + THE JOY THAT NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU. 18 mo. 50 cents net. + +Emphasizes the reality of spiritual things with an intense +conviction.--_Living Age._ + + + FROM DREAM TO VISION OF LIFE. 16mo. $1.00 net. White and gold, + $1.25 net. Uniform with "The World Beautiful." + +A study of life from the mere transient dream to the radiant eternal +vision. + + + THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT. From Pike's Peak to the Pacific. Fully + illustrated. 8vo. $2.50 net. + +A vivid presentation of the scenic marvels and resources of the +Southwest. + + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers, BOSTON + + + + + * * * * * + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + + The original language, spelling, language and punctuation have been + preserved. + The following corrections were made to the original text: + + Page xii: Vittoria Colonna, Galleria Buonarotti, Florence + Vittoria Colonna, Galleria Buonarroti, Florence + + Page 6: artistic centre of the ninteenth century and + artistic centre of the nineteenth century and + + Page 19: on the wall of the _casa_ in the Via delle Quattre Fontane + on the wall of the _casa_ in the Via delle Quattro Fontane + + page 26: the Palazzo Sentoriale and the Palazzo dei Conservatore. + the Palazzo Senatoriale and the Palazzo dei Conservatori. + + page 27: the Stanza della Incendio and the Sala di Constantino. + the Stanza dell'Incendio and the Sala di Constantino. + + page 32: winds on the Pont San Angelo, and in the vast + winds on the Ponte San Angelo, and in the vast + + page 32: the Music Nazionale--is the group of "Pluto + the Museo Nazionale--is the group of "Pluto + + page 55: during hs stay in Rome are 'St. Elizabeth of + during his stay in Rome are 'St. Elizabeth of + + page 72: The Via delle Quatre Fontane, on which the + The Via delle Quattro Fontane, on which the + + page 138: given under the auspices of the Societa Archeologica, + given under the auspices of the Societa Archeologica, + + page 148: _gentilinomo_, who is gorgeously arrayed in knee + _gentiluomo_, who is gorgeously arrayed in knee + + page 161: Jacomletti, and there is also a kneeling statue + Jacometti, and there is also a kneeling statue + + page 163: and the Via dell Quattro Fontane. The + and the Via delle Quattro Fontane. The + + page 163: for living purposes. The portere, the guards, + for living purposes. The portiere, the guards, + + page 170: and in the Vedder villa, _Torre Quatro Venti_ + and in the Vedder villa, _Torre Quattro Venti_ + + page 171: the American wife of Caviliere Cortesi, an + the American wife of Cavaliere Cortesi, an + + page 178: Peruzzi, and Annibale Caracci. Raphael is + Peruzzi, and Annibale Carracci. Raphael is + + page 185: that includes the "Ludovisi Mars;" Hercules," + that includes the "Ludovisi Mars;" "Hercules," + + page 200: he may rest, _mens conscia recta_! + he may rest, _mens conscia recti_! + + page 205: whose grand Roman palazzo is in the Boca di + whose grand Roman palazzo is in the Bocca di + + page 213: The Villa Falconicri, in Frascati, which was + The Villa Falconieri, in Frascati, which was + + page 234: Benvenuto Cellini at the Castel Sant Angelo; + Benvenuto Cellini at the Castel Sant'Angelo; + + page 237: of the street scenes of Naples; Camprani and + of the street scenes of Naples; Campriani and + + page 244: Forum, succeding Lanciani--believe that some + Forum, succeeding Lanciani--believe that some + + page 244: equestrian statue of Bulbi, in the Naples Museum, + equestrian statue of Balbo, in the Naples Museum, + + page 260: The cathedral at Revello has traces of the + The cathedral at Ravello has traces of the + + page 260: of the Palazzo Rufelo might enchant Hafiz himself. + of the Palazzo Rufolo might enchant Hafiz himself. + + page 272: Mignano (Ginodone Trieramosca) and also to + Mignano (Guidone Fieramosca) and also to + + page 272: are a series of fresco paintings by Luca Gindano, + are a series of fresco paintings by Luca Giordano, + + page 272: by Mazzarappi and Marco da Siena. Nothing + by Mazzaroppi and Marco da Siena. Nothing + + page 274: Terre di Lavorno region:-- + Terra di Lavoro region:-- + + page 276: to be a "Monumento Nazionali," and it is now + to be a "Monumento Nazionale," and it is now + + page 286: in the "Inferno." The Colonna and the Orsino + in the "Inferno." The Colonna and the Orsini + + page 286: look down from Castel Gondolfo on the gloomy, + look down from Castel Gandolfo on the gloomy, + + page 287: Marino, Castel Gondolfo, and Frascati, with + Marino, Castel Gandolfo, and Frascati, with + + page 295: for the country they left Naples for Pietzalba + for the country they left Naples for Pietralba + + page 295: Musefico, il Givoio, and il Minturo. It was an + Musefico, il Giovio, and il Minturno. It was an + + page 297: Per te narrar tre quante dubbie voglie, + Per te narrar tra quante dubbie voglie, + + page 297: Fra quanti aspri martir, degliosa io vivo!_" + Fra quanti aspri martir, dogliosa io vivo!_" + + page 304: San Mano that had formerly been its property. + San Magno that had formerly been its property. + + page 305: world's sun; and not to add light to _mio vel solo_, + world's sun; and not to add light to _mio bel sole_, + + page 332: "_Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem recipris?_" + "_Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem recipies?_" + + page 380: Bonaventuri built over it, is preserved in this + Bonaventura built over it, is preserved in this + + page 385: the Palazzo Rospigliosa in Rome. + the Palazzo Rospigliosi in Rome. + + page 399: Anopeste, elected by the tribunal of commonalty, + Anafesto, elected by the tribunal of commonalty, + + page 400: mural work by Battesta Franco and De Moro. + mural work by Battista Franco and De Moro. + + page 400: One enters the Porta delta Carta, which + One enters the Porta della Carta, which + + page 405: Peter, Maucis, and Antoninus are commending + Peter, Francis, and Antoninus are commending + + page 426: Saricinesco, in the region of Tivoli, was made + Saracinesco, in the region of Tivoli, was made + + page 436: too, in other leading men. Zurati, the + too, in other leading men. Turati, the + + page 452: in Europe. That of the Annunziati, the + in Europe. That of the Annunziata, the + + page 461: Annunziati Cathedral, Genoa, 452. + Annunziata Cathedral, Genoa, 452. + + page 462: Camprani, 237. + Campriani, 237. + + page 463: del Vall, Cardinal Merry, 146-149, 435. + del Val, Cardinal Merry, 146-149, 435. + + page 466: Ossi, Professor Dall, opinion of, 244. + Osso, Professor Dall', opinion of, 244. + + page 467: Quatre Fontane, Via delle, 72. + Quattro Fontane, Via delle, 72. + + page 467: Revello, Cathedral at, 260. + Ravello, Cathedral at, 260. + + page 470: Villa Falconicri, 213. + Villa Falconieri, 213. + +On page 235: "Da Scala d'Oro" should be "La Scala d'Oro" or +"Madonna della Scala d'Oro". + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Italy, the Magic Land, by Lilian Whiting + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALY, THE MAGIC LAND *** + +***** This file should be named 29658.txt or 29658.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/5/29658/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emanuela Piasentini and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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