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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/37953-8.txt b/37953-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5332031 --- /dev/null +++ b/37953-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10536 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Life, by Mary +Alsop King Waddington + + +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: Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Life + January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904 + + +Author: Mary Alsop King Waddington + + + +Release Date: November 8, 2011 [eBook #37953] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALIAN LETTERS OF A DIPLOMAT'S +LIFE*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 37953-h.htm or 37953-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37953/37953-h/37953-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37953/37953-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + Small capitals have been replaced by all capitals. + + In Part II (page 303) "I^{er}" represents "I" followed by + superscripted "er". + + + + + +ITALIAN LETTERS OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE + + * * * * * + + +7th EDITION + +LETTERS OF A +DIPLOMAT'S WIFE + +By MARY KING WADDINGTON + +"A most interesting book of gossip, which, considered +from the point of view of the general +public, contains not a dull line from the first to the +last. The letters have all the freshness of the +best class of feminine correspondence." + +--_London Athenæum_. + +Illustrated. 8vo. $2.50 Net + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Elena, Queen of Italy.] + + +ITALIAN LETTERS OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE + +January-May, 1880 +February-April, 1904 + +by + +MARY KING WADDINGTON + +Illustrated from Drawings and Photographs + + + + + + + +Charles Scribner's Sons +New York :: :: :: :: :: :: 1905 + +Copyright, 1905, by +Charles Scribner's Sons + +Published, March, 1905 + +Trow Directory +Printing and Bookbinding Company +New York + + + + +NOTE + + +In December, 1879, M. William Henry Waddington resigned the Premiership +of France, and the following month, accompanied by his wife, left Paris +for a winter of rest and recreation in Italy, chiefly in Rome. The +letters from Madame Waddington to her mother and sister, which +constitute "Part I" of this volume, describe this journey and residence. +Those forming "Part II" relate the incidents of a similar Roman sojourn +some twenty years later, M. Waddington having died in the meantime. The +two series together compose a picture of life and society in the Italian +capital with a wide range of contrast and comparison, corresponding with +those of London and Moscow in the well-known "Letters of a Diplomat's +Wife" by the same writer. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + ELENA, QUEEN OF ITALY _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE + + MRS. CHARLES KING 12 + + PRESIDENT CHARLES KING OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW + YORK CITY 30 + + THE SPANISH STEPS 52 + _In the Piazza di Spagna, Rome._ + + POPE LEO XIII. 60 + + KING HUMBERT OF ITALY 66 + + QUEEN MARGHERITA OF ITALY 76 + + QUEEN MARGHERITA AND KING HUMBERT 84 + + QUEEN MARGHERITA AND THE PRINCE OF NAPLES + (PRESENT KING OF ITALY) IN 1880 94 + + VICTORIA, CROWN PRINCESS OF GERMANY 104 + + GARDENS OF THE VILLA TORLONIS, FORMERLY VILLA + CONTI, FRASCATI, OPPOSITE THE VILLA MARCONI, + WHERE WE SPENT THE SUMMER OF 1867 108 + + TOMB OF VINICIANO, BETWEEN FRASCATI AND TUSCULUM 112 + + GROUNDS OF THE VILLA DORIA-PAMPHILI, ROME 116 + _From an unpublished photograph taken about 1869._ + + POPE PIUS IX. 145 + + LAST BENEDICTION OF POPE PIUS IX. FROM THE + BALCONY OF ST. PETER'S 158 + + ST. PETER'S FROM THE PINCIO 172 + + THE BARBERINI PALACE 238 + _The residence of the Storys_ + + VICTOR EMANUEL III., KING OF ITALY 244 + + POPE PIUS X. 250 + + GREAT NEW BRIDGE FROM ALBANO TO ARICCIA 264 + _Built by Pope Pius IX_. + + ROMAN HUNTSMEN ON THE CAMPAGNA 266 + _Ancient Roman aqueduct in the background_ + + WAITING FOR THE HOUNDS 268 + + CARDINAL ANTONELLI 288 + _From a portrait painted for the Grand Duke of + Saxe-Weimar. From a photograph given to Madame + Waddington by the Hereditary Grand Duchess of + Saxe-Weimar at Rome._ + + THE DINING-ROOM IN THE BRANCACCIO PALACE 304 + + + + +ITALIAN LETTERS +OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE + + + + +PART I + + ITALY IN THE EIGHTIES + + + _To G. K. S._[1] + + 31, RUE DUMONT D'URVILLE, PARIS, + January 10, 1880. + +Well, dear, here I am back again in my little hotel, and very small and +uncomfortable it looks--like a doll's house after the enormous rooms of +the Quai d'Orsay--however I am very glad to be a _private_ individual +once more (no longer a "femme publique" as our friend used to say). Our +departure was hurried, as once W.[2] had made up his mind and resigned +he wanted to get away at once. We got off in two days, which I thought +quite wonderful. Of course ever since the opening of the session in +November it was evident that he couldn't stay. He and his Ministers were +hardly ever agreed on any point, and it wasn't worth while for him to +spend his energy and intelligence in trying to carry out a policy which +neither the Chamber nor the country apparently desired. There were +endless conferences all through December, but it was clear that it was +time for him to go. + +[1] Mrs. Eugene Schuyler, née King. + +[2] W. here and throughout these letters refers to M. William Henry +Waddington, Madame Waddington's husband. + +The weather was something awful--bitterly cold--the Seine frozen tight, +booths and games established, and everybody sliding about and trying to +skate--but that was under difficulties as the ice was rough and uneven. +I walked over with Francis,[3] that he might say he had walked across +the Seine. We had great difficulty in warming the house--many trains +with wood and coal were blocked just outside Paris, and nothing could +get in. I don't know what we should have done, but happily the Ministre +de la Guerre gave us an order to take some wood from some dépôt in Paris +where they had a provision; so for the two days before we moved in great +fires were going in the calorifère. I really think the only person who +hated to leave the Quai d'Orsay was Francis. He was furious at seeing +all his things packed up, and was carried out to the carriage kicking +and screaming--"veux pas quitter ma maison--veux pas aller vilaine +petite maison." The huissiers (6, all standing solemnly in a row to say +good-bye) were much impressed, and the old grey-headed Pierson who has +been there for years and seen many Ministers depart, remarked--"au moins +Monsieur Francis est désolé de partir." It seemed funny to drive out of +the big gates for the last time. I wonder if I shall ever go through +them again. Things go so quickly in France now. + +[3] Francis, son of M. and Madame Waddington. + +You can't conceive anything more uncomfortable than this house +to-day--no carpets down nor curtains up; all the furniture, books, rugs, +dumped in the middle of the rooms, and the hall and corridors full of +trunks and boxes. W. has had a steady stream of people ever since we +arrived--some to condole--some (old friends) to congratulate him upon no +longer serving such an infecte government--some a little embarrassed to +explain that, though they regret him extremely, still ... they must +serve their country, and hope he won't take it amiss if they make up to +the rising sun (in the shape of Freycinet, who has taken W.'s place). I +expect we shall have some curious experiences. When one is no longer in +power it is surprising how things change their aspect. I had to settle +the salons as soon as I could as I had invited a big party for Francis's +Christmas Tree, thinking it would be at the Quai d'Orsay. I didn't want +to put the people off--particularly the diplomatists who have all been +most civil and proper--so after a consultation with Kruft--(chef du +matériel at the Quai d'Orsay) who had already begun to make his +preparations, I decided to have it here, and Kruft and one of his men +came and helped dress it. Of course the tree had to be cut at the +top--our rooms are fairly high, but nothing like the Quai d'Orsay +naturally--but it looked rather prettier, quite covered with toys and +shiny ornaments. Francis had beautiful presents--a hand-organ with a +monkey on top from Madame Sibbern, the wife of the Swedish Minister, +from which he can't be extracted. He can't turn it alone, but some of +the bigger children helped him, and we had the "Cloches de Corneville" +and "Niniche" almost all the afternoon. There were about 100 people, +children and parents, and the rooms looked pretty. All the people and +lights warmed them too--it wasn't quite so Siberian. We couldn't attempt +cooking of any kind as the kitchen range was out of order, and besides +we hadn't fuel enough--l'Oncle Alphonse[4] who lives next door feeds us. +W. and I go to him for breakfast and dinner, and his chef (a very +distinguished artist and well dressed gentleman--quite a superior +person--Monsieur Double) submits Francis's menu every morning to Nounou, +as he says he has no experience with children. + +[4] M. Alphonse Sutteroth, ancien diplomatist under Louis Philippe. + +We have decided to go to Italy for two or three months, and shall make +Rome our headquarters. W. has never been there, and says it wouldn't be +worth while going for less than three months. What fun it will be to be +there together--I can hardly believe it is true. I am sure we are wise +to get away. There must always be little jarring things when one has +been in office some time--and it would be rather a bore to W. to take +his place as senator and be in opposition to the present Ministry. If he +stayed in Paris he would have to take part in all the discussions, and +would certainly be interviewed by all sorts of people to whom he would +say nothing (he never does--he hates newspaper people) but they would +say he did all the same, and so many people believe implicitly whatever +they see in a paper. The Minister has offered W. the London Embassy, but +he won't take it, doesn't wish to have any function of any kind at +present. He is looking forward to long, happy hours in Rome, deciphering +all the old inscriptions, and going over the old city with Lanciani[5] +and some of his literary friends. + +[5] Director of Excavations in Rome under Rossi. + + + January 12, 1880. + +After all I have been back to the Quai d'Orsay. W. said I must go and +make a formal visit to Madame de Freycinet (who is a very nice woman--a +Protestant, and has one daughter--a charming intelligent girl). +Henrietta and I went together, taking Francis with us, who was delighted +as soon as he got to the Place de la Concorde and crossed the +bridge--"C'est Paris--C'est Paris." Poor little boy--the rue Dumont +d'Urville is so quiet, nothing passing and nothing to see when he looks +out of the window. He was always at the window at the Quai d'Orsay +looking at the boats, the soldiers, and the general liveliness of a +great thoroughfare. It was a funny sensation to go and pay a visit to +Madame de Freycinet in the little blue salon where I had received her so +often, and to be announced by my own pet huissier, Gérard, who spent his +life all the time I was at the Quai d'Orsay sitting outside the door of +any room I happened to be in. He knew all my visitors--those I wanted to +see and those I didn't--kept all the cards, and books, and remembered +every quête I had given to--and the bills that had been paid. I don't +remember that he ever occupied himself with my garments, but I am sure +that he could have found anything that I asked for. + +The house is gradually getting warm and comfortable, and the furniture +settling into its place; but I have a curious feeling of smallness--as +if I hadn't room to turn. We hope to get off in three or four days. We +leave Francis of course, but Nounou and Hubert will look after him, and +he will go to breakfast every day with Mother, where of course he will +be well spoiled and have everything he asks for. + + + _To G. K. S._ + + January 18, 1880. + +I hope we shall get off now in a day or two--W. really needs the rest, +which he never will get here as all day long people come to see him and +suggest various plans. We have written to the Hôtel de Londres. You or +Eugene might go there some day and see the rooms they propose. It will +be nice to be back in our old quarters Piazza di Spagna. We had a +pleasant small dinner last night at the British Embassy--Lord Lyons is +always so nice and cordial. He was a little surprised and not _quite_ +pleased that W. hadn't accepted the London Embassy, he would have been +so entirely a "persona grata" with his English education, connections, +etc. All the Diplomates seem to regret us (but I think they will like +the Freycinets just as much) and really here, where Ministers are such +passing figures in the political world, they would have a hard time if +they set their affections on any particular man. + +I am becoming very philosophical--though the attitude of some of my +friends has rather surprised me (not W.; he is never surprised at +anything). L'Oncle Alphonse keeps us well informed of what is said on +the other side. He is quite a Royalist, a great friend of the Orléans +Princes, and a great deal at the club where they always call him +"l'oncle du gouvernement"--and when the "gouvernement makes a 'bêtise'" +(which sometimes happens) they criticize freely, and he tells it all to +us. I fancy he always defends W. in public--but of course in private +pitches into him well. + +I rather miss the big life--seeing so many people, and being as it were +behind the scenes--also our conversations at night when W. had finished +his signatures, and Pontécoulant[6] came up from his quarters with the +report of the day, and got his instructions for the next morning. W. is +not at all "matinal" and hates doing any kind of business early--must +always have his ride first. We used to sit in W.'s cabinet until two in +the morning sometimes, telling our experiences--some of mine were funny. +I hated an official reception day, but the gentlemen of the protocol +department thought it absolutely necessary, so I was obliged to give +in--and certainly nothing I did tired me so much as those long Fridays +in the big yellow drawing-room. From 3 to 6 streams of people--women +mostly--of all nationalities--and of course no conversation +possible--however it wasn't always banal, as you will see. + +[6] Comte de Pontécoulant, chef de Cabinet. + +Our last Friday one of my friends had been in, very much taken up with +the journey to Rome--her clothes, the climate, which hotel was the best, +etc. When she went out in a whirl of talk and excitement I turned to one +of the 14 women who were seated in a semicircle on each side of me, and +by way of continuing the conversation said: "Il me semble qu'on serait +très bien à l'Hôtel de Londres à Rome en plein soleil," to which she +replied haughtily "Je n'en sais rien, Madame, je n'ai jamais quitté +Paris, et je m'en vante." W. wouldn't believe it, but as I told him I +couldn't have invented it. I was rather sorry I hadn't pursued the +conversation, and asked her why she was so proud of that particular +phase of her life. I suppose she must have had a reason, which naturally +I couldn't understand, having begun my career so very far away from +either Rome or Paris. It is a real pleasure though to be back in my own +salon, and have my nice little tea-table, and three or four of my +friends, and talk about anything and everything, and even do a little +music occasionally. + + + January 20, 1880. + +I didn't find my tea quite so pleasant the other day. I was sitting in +the little salon talking to one or two ladies, and receiving their +congratulations at being no longer of the official world, and obliged to +associate with the Government people, when the footman appeared with his +eyes round, to announce that "La Présidente" (Madame Grévy) was coming +upstairs to pay Madame a visit. I flew to the door and the top of the +stairs (I couldn't get any further) and received "ma Présidente" in +proper style. I ushered her into the salon where I had left my friends +(mad Royalists both). They were much disgusted--however they were too +well-bred to make things disagreeable for me in my own house--and rose +when we came in. I named Madame Grévy--and as soon as she had taken her +seat, and declined a cup of tea, they went away. Of course they _hated_ +getting up for Madame Grévy, but there was nothing else to be done as +she and I were both standing. Happily no one else came in but Prince +Orloff, Russian Ambassador, who of course knew Madame Grévy and talked +easily enough. She didn't stay long--it was the classic "visite de +condoléance" to the wife of the ex-Minister (if she only knew how glad +this _Ex_ was to return to private life and her own house, and to be no +longer "logée par le gouvernement"). This is the second visit of +condoléance I have had. When Marshal MacMahon dismissed (suddenly) all +his cabinet presided by Jules Simon, 16th of May, 1877, Madame de +MacMahon came also to see me--and at the same time--5 o'clock on my +reception day--so I knew precisely what the conversation would be--and +Madame Grévy and I both said exactly the same things that the Maréchale +and I had said two or three years ago. I suppose everybody does say the +same thing on certain occasions. After she had gone Orloff asked me if I +remembered those two ladies meeting (for the first time in their lives) +at the Quai d'Orsay on one of my Fridays. Just after the Marshal +resigned Madame de MacMahon came to see me. She was announced by all the +servants and I had plenty of time to get to the door of the first +drawing-room, not quite to the anteroom, to receive her. When her +husband was President she was received always like Royalty--at the door +of the apartment. She was very simple and easy, quite pleased evidently +at still having all her honours. Prince Orloff came in to pay a visit, +and we were having a very pleasant talk, when I heard quick footsteps in +the second salon, and again appeared my faithful Gérard (I had also +visions of numberless doors being opened all down the enfilade of +salons) announcing Madame Grévy. I was embarrassed for a moment as I +didn't like to leave the Maréchale, and yet I knew I must go and meet +Madame Grévy--all the ceremony of course was for the official position, +and one Présidente was just the same as the other. Madame de MacMahon +was most amiable--said at once--"Je vous en prie, Madame, ne pensez pas +à moi"--and "au fond" was rather curious to see her successor. I went as +quickly as I could (Orloff giving me a funny little smile, _almost_ a +wink, as I passed him) and got my other Présidente just at the door. She +was rather astounded I think at her reception--she hadn't been long in +her exalted position. We proceeded majestically through three or four +salons, and when we arrived at my drawing-room Madame de MacMahon got up +at once, saying quite simply "Voulez-vous me présenter, Madame, à Madame +Grévy?" She was quite at her ease--Madame Grévy rather shy and +embarrassed--however Madame de MacMahon talked at once about some of the +great charities, artists, etc., and it really wasn't too stiff--Orloff +of course always helping and making jokes with the two ladies. One or +two visitors came in and gasped when they saw the situation--also one of +the young men of the Cabinet, who instantly disappeared. I always +thought he went to tell W. what was happening upstairs so that he might +come to the rescue in case I wasn't up to the mark ... but he swears he +didn't. When the Maréchale got up to go there was again a complication +as I wanted to accompany her to the door, and I didn't like to leave +Madame Grévy. She wouldn't hear of my going through all the salons--took +leave of me at the door--and then Orloff came to the rescue--gave her +his arm and took her to her carriage. It was a curious meeting, and, as +Orloff said just now, "je lui devais une fameuse chandelle."[7] + +[7] French idiom difficult to translate, meaning "I ought to be very +grateful to him." + + + February 6, 1880. + +We are starting to-night, straight for Florence, where we shall stay a +week or ten days with the Bunsens before going on to Rome. W. is much +pleased at the Roman prospect--and I can hardly believe that I am going +to see Rome again. We have our lit-salon straight through to Florence, +and I hope we shall be warm enough. It is bitterly cold to-day--even +walking I was glad to have my sealskin coat. Nounou is rather tearful at +being left in sole charge of Francis, but as that young gentleman is +perfectly well, in roaring spirits, and will be given everything his +heart desires by his Grandmother and Aunts, I don't feel very unhappy +about him. It seems incredible that we should be going to meet soon. How +we will prowl about Rome. I suppose I shall find it absolutely +changed--so many more people--not our dear old dead Rome. + +[Illustration: Mrs. Charles King.] + + + _To H. L. K._[8] + + FLORENCE, VIA ROMANA, VILLA MCDONNELL, + February 8, 1880. + +We arrived quite comfortably, dear mother, but almost frozen, +particularly W. He has not been extracted from the fire since we got +here. Henrietta will have told you of our start. Pontécoulant and one or +two men were at the station to see us off--also the Chef de Gare, most +civil, and saying we should not be disturbed at the frontier--and +that our coupé-lit would take us straight through to Florence. We had a +perfectly easy journey, and I slept quite peacefully--waking up merely +when we passed through the tunnel, as the guard came in to shut all the +windows. It was a beautiful, cold, starlight winter night. The great +mountains covered with snow looked gigantic as we approached--"sinistres" +as Madame Hubert[9] said. She was much impressed and rather nervous. There +were very few people in the train. When we arrived at Modane the Chef de +Gare was waiting for us--he had been telegraphed from Paris to expect us. +We had breakfast in the private room, and a nice woman was waiting for us +upstairs in the ladies' room with hot water, towels, etc. I made quite a +toilet--she carried off my dress and jacket to brush--and then we went +down to a nice little breakfast which tasted very good, as I hadn't +had anything since our 7 o'clock dinner. They offered us coffee +somewhere--Dijon I think--but I didn't want anything then. All the first +part of the road--in fact all the road to Turin was lovely. It was a +bright, cold morning, and the snow mountains looked beautiful. It was +such a pleasure to hear Italian once more--even the names at the stations +"capo stazione"--"grande velocità"--"uscita," etc., also the shrill +"partenza" when we started. The last time I crossed the Mont Cenis was +by the Fell railway when we all started together from Aix. That was +certainly very beautiful--but rather terrifying--particularly as we neared +the top and looked at the steep places and the various zigzags we were +to follow going down. One couldn't help feeling that if a brake or chain +broke there would be a terrible catastrophe. I remember so well some of +the women who were quite sea-sick--the swaying motion, I suppose, as we +rounded the curves, of which there were many. I can see one now stretched +out on the floor on a rug in the small salle d'attente at Susa, quite +exhausted and absolutely indifferent to the outside world. + +[8] Mrs. Charles King, mother of Madame Waddington. + +[9] Madame Waddington's maid. + +We had quite a wait at Turin. Our coupé was detached and put on the +Florence express. They locked the doors, and we left all our +things--books, shawls, bags, etc.--and had a very fair dinner at the +buffet. We had so much time that Madame Hubert and I went for a little +walk. There was not much to see close to the gare--but it was delightful +to me to hear Italian again, and to see the idle, placid crowd standing +about--nobody in a hurry apparently, and nobody jostling and pushing +through, though there were trains starting or coming in all the time. W. +was too cold to move--he really should have had a fur coat--which he +utterly despises--says that will do when he is 70, and can't walk any +more. It was warm and fairly light in the buffet so he established +himself there with a paper and was quite happy. We got here about +6.30--Charles de Bunsen was at the station with a carriage--so we came +off at once, leaving Madame Hubert and Francesco with the trunks. How +she will get on in Italian I don't know, but she is very active and +débrouillarde, and generally makes herself understood. Mary[10] was +waiting for us with tea and those crisp little grissini[11] we always +used to have in Casa Guadagni. They have a charming "villino"--part of +the McDonnell villa. One goes in by a small door (in one of the narrow +grey streets of old Florence, with high walls on each side--Via Romana) +and straight up a fine broad staircase to a good palier with large high +rooms opening out on it. All the bed-rooms and small salon open on a +loggia overlooking the garden--a real old Italian garden. I shall never +be dressed in time for anything in the morning, as I am always on the +loggia. The flowers are all coming out--the birds singing--the sky +bright, deep blue--and the whole atmosphere so soft and clear--and in +fact Italian--different from everything else. + +[10] Madame de Bunsen, née Waddington. + +[11] Long crisp breads one has in Italy. + +Mary has arranged the small salon (which they always sit in) most +prettily and comfortably--with bibelots and quantities of books about in +all languages--there are usually four going in the establishment--Charles +and his daughter speak always German to each other--the rest of us either +French or English--it depends rather upon what we are talking about--and +always an undercurrent of Italian with the servants and "parlatrice" +(such a sweet, refined looking girl who comes every day to read and +speak Italian with my belle-mère). Mrs. Waddington strikes at the mixture +at meals and insists upon one language, either English or French. There +is also a charming German girl here, Mlle. de Sternberg, a niece of +Charles de Bunsen--so we are a most cosmopolitan household. The life +is utterly different from the one I have been leading for the last two +years. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + February 10, 1880. + +I try and write every day, but am so much taken up and so tired when I +come in that I don't always find the moment. W. is all right again. He +really got quite a chill from the cold night journey--and for two or +three days sat _in_ the fire. Francesco, the Italian servant, took +excellent care of him--was so sympathetic the night we had some music +and W. couldn't appear. It was a pleasant evening--a Russian Prince (I +forget his name, and couldn't probably spell it if I remembered), a +great friend of Mary's, an excellent musician and a great Wagnerian +offered to come and play some of the Nibelungen. I was delighted as I +only know Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. I remember now your sigh of relief +when Seilern and I finished playing à 4 mains the Walpurgis Night years +ago in the Champs Elysées. I daresay it was trying for the public--but +we enjoyed ourselves immensely. The big drawing-room looked very pretty, +with plenty of flowers, and I think there were about 50 people--almost +all (except Lottie and Madame de Tchiatcheff) ardent admirers of the +great man. One lady appeared in a sort of loose, red gown (it seems red +is the only colour Wagner admits), her hair, very pretty, blonde, +hanging down her back, just tied with a ribbon--and carrying two +partitions. Mary said, "Wouldn't you like to sit by her, and she will +explain it all to you?"--but I said there was nothing I would like so +little. I knew enough of the legend to be able to follow, and moreover I +had always heard that Wagner's descriptive music was so wonderful that +one understood everything without any text, etc. The great man +appeared--the grand piano was opened all over to give as much sound as +possible--and he requested absolute silence. He played beautifully--it +was enchanting--one quite heard the little waves in which the +Rhein-Töchter were disporting themselves. It was wonderfully melodious +and delicate--I should have liked it to go on forever. He played for +about three-quarters of an hour--all Rheingold--then suddenly pushed +back his chair, and rushed to the anteroom, exclaiming "de l'air--de +l'air," followed by all the red and musical ladies. It is a pity there +must always be such a pose with Wagner--for really the music was a joy. +I met of course quantities of old friends, and agreed to go to Lottie +Van Schaick's ball. + + + February 12, 1880. + +W. and I had a lovely long flânerie this morning. He is quite well +again, and the sun was tempting. It seems quite a different Florence +living over here, and I must say much more old-world and Italian than +the Lungarno, with all the modern hotels and apartments, and evident +signs of forestieri[12] everywhere. As soon as we cross the bridge it is +quite different--a gay, bustling, northern city. W. was so much amused +the other day--we were in a fiacre and the driver put on the brake to go +down the almost imperceptible descent on the other side of the bridge. +We went straight across to the Piazza del Duomo to-day, where the market +was held, and wandered in and out among the stalls. It was all so +familiar--little green cucumbers, almonds, and strings of fried fish, +with a good healthy smell of "frittura." The people were all most +smiling, and so pleased when I spoke Italian to them, and said I was so +happy to be back in their country again. W. has no opinion of my +Italian. He came to my room this morning followed by the Italian servant +to tell _me_ to tell him that his razor must be sharpened. I began, and +came to a dead halt--hadn't the slightest idea what razor was in +Italian. W. was much disgusted, but I explained that when I was living +in Italy before as a girl, I hadn't often had occasion to ask for +razors--all the same he has evidently lost confidence, and thinks my +reputation as a linguist "surfaite." + +[12] Foreigners. + +This afternoon we had a lovely drive up the Fiesole hill with Mary and +Beatrice. Their man, who goes on the carriage, is called "Bacco" and is +so Italian and sympathetic--takes a lively interest in all our +proceedings--knows everybody we meet, and talks cheerfully with any of +his friends we happen to cross. The view from Fiesole was divine--the +long slopes of cyprus and olive trees--with Florence at the bottom of +the valley, and the Arno just visible--a streak of light. I am so fond +of the grey green of the olives. It all looked so soft and delicate in +the sunset light. + + + February 13, 1880. + +We are getting dreadfully mondain. The other night we had a pretty, +typical Florentine party at Edith Peruzzi's.[13] We went a little after +ten and thought we would be among the first, but the rooms were already +full--quantities of people (not many of my old friends) and splendid +jewels. It was much more real Florentine society than the people we used +to see when we lived in Casa Guadagni. _They_ were generally the young, +sporting, pleasure-loving set, with a good dash of foreigners, artists, +diplomatists, etc. These were the real polite, stiff Italians of the old +régime. Many people were introduced to us, and W. enjoyed his evening +immensely--found many interesting people to talk to. He was delighted to +meet Bentivoglio again, and they immediately retired into a corner, and +plunged into Asia Minor and coins. Edith looked very well, did the +honours simply and graciously; and Peruzzi really not changed--always +the same tall, handsome, aristocratic type. + +[13] Née Story, daughter of W. W. Story, the sculptor. + +Last night was Lottie Van Schaick's ball, very gay and handsome. Mary +wouldn't go--so I chaperoned the two girls--Beatrice and Rosa Sternberg. +They made a very pretty contrast--Rosa von Sternberg is fair and slight, +a pretty, graceful figure. Beatrice on rather a larger scale, with a +very white skin, and beautiful dark eyes. W. and Charles Bunsen came +too, but didn't stay very long. We went late as the Florence balls +always last so long. I met quantities of old friends, and made a tour de +valse with Carlo Alessandri for the sake of old times. W. was much +amused to see all the older men still dancing. At the Paris balls the +danseurs are all so young--few of the married men dance--only the very +young ones. I didn't wait for the cotillon--it hadn't begun at 3.30. The +supper is always before the cotillon which of course prolongs the +festivity. + +I was lazy this morning, as we came in so late last night, so W. and I +only went for a turn in the Boboli Gardens. The shade was so thick it +was almost black--but it was resting to the eyes. There are very few +flowers, one had a general impression of green. This afternoon we have +been driving about leaving cards, and ending with a turn in the Cascine. +There everything seemed exactly the same as when we lived there ten +years ago. The same people driving about in the same carriages, and +everybody drawing up on the Piazza, and talking to their neighbours. It +amused me to drive down the Lungarno to our bridge. There were +quantities of carriages and people lounging on the pavement, and looking +at the river. The instant one crosses the bridge it is perfectly +different--narrow streets, high walls, few carriages, no loiterers. + +Our garden was beautiful to-night--a splendid moon just rising over the +black trees, and a soft delicious air. We have had a quiet evening, +talking and reading in the small salon. Charles was very interesting, +talking about old Italy and their beginnings in Turin. It seems the +etiquette of that Court was something awful. Mary told us that she was +talking one day to the Marchesa S. (a lively little old lady who took +snuff) who had been in her time a famous wit and beauty, dame d'honneur +to the wife of Carlo Alberto. Mary was rather complaining of the +inconvenience of going to the winter reception of the Duchess of Genoa +(she had only one in the year) where all the ladies of the Corps +Diplomatique were obliged to go in full dress décolletée at about 4 in +the afternoon. "Ah, ma chère," said the old Marchesa, "what would you +have said in our time?" She told her that when the Queen-Mother was ill +in the winter at the Château of Stupinigi, some miles from Turin, all +her ladies had to go and inquire for her in full dress and manteaux de +cour, and that when they knew she was in bed, and could see no one. Mary +has splendid Italian lace which she bought from one of the ladies of the +old Queen after her death. It would cost a fortune now, and in fact +could not be had unless some private individual in reduced circumstances +was obliged to sell. I had a nice visit from Alberti to-day--just the +same--gay, impossible, saying the most risqué things in a perfectly +natural way, so that you can hardly realize the enormities you are +listening to. They don't sound so bad in Italian--I think the language +veils and poetizes everything. He is very anxious we should go out and +spend the day at Signa--his most lovely place--and I wish we could, I +should like W. to see it--so much natural beauty--and, with our northern +ideas, so absolutely neglected--splendid rooms, painted ceilings--no +practical furniture of any kind, and a garden that was a dream of wild +beauty--flowers everywhere, climbing up over the roof, around bits of +grey wall, long grass that almost twisted around one's feet, and such a +view from the terrace. I told W. afterward of our great day there long +ago, when we started at 10 in the morning and got back at 2 A.M. I +wonder if you remember the day? We were a large party--Van Schaicks, +Maquays, Coxes, and others whose names I forget and pretty much every +man in Florence (of all nationalities). We started by rail--the women +all in light muslin dresses and hats. We were met by carriages of all +kinds--Alberti's own little pony-trap--and a collection of remarkable +vehicles from all the neighbouring villages. The drive was short, but +straight up a steep hill--the villa most beautifully situated at the +top, with a background of green hills. Two or three rooms had been +arranged for us--so we took off cloaks--a nice, sympathetic Italian +woman brushed off the dust--and we went at once to breakfast in the +state dining-room--the big doors on the terrace open. Some of the men +had their breakfast out there. After breakfast we all wandered about the +garden--such thick shade that it was quite comfortable. It was pretty to +see the white figures flitting in and out among the trees. About 3 I got +into a riding skirt and loose jacket, and went for a ride with Alberti +and a Frenchman, Brinquant, a friend of Alberti--very gay, and entrain, +and perfectly amused at the entertainment--so sans façon and original. +We had a lovely ride--through such narrow roads--branches of the orange +trees and roses nearly coming into our faces as we cantered along the +little steep paths. I had a pretty little mare--perfectly sure-footed, +which was an absolute necessity as the hill paths were very steep, with +many curves, and full of rolling stones. We pottered about for an hour, +and when we got home I thought I would retire to one of the rooms and +rest for half an hour before I got back into my afternoon dress, but +that was a delusion. They all came clamouring at the door, and insisted +upon my coming out at once, as the whole party were to be photographed. +As I was perfectly confident that they would all come in if I didn't +come out, there was nothing to be done, and I joined the group. It was +rather a long affair, but at the end seemed satisfactory. Then we had +tea on the terrace, and sat there watching the sun go down behind the +Signa hills, leaving that beautiful afterglow which one only sees in +Italy--the green tints particularly. + +Three or four men came out for dinner who hadn't been able to get off +early (diplomates, I fancy, for they were certainly the only men in this +gay city who had any occupation), also a tapeur[14] and little objets for +the cotillon. We did have about an hour before dinner to rest and make +ourselves look as nice as we could--but naturally a long, hot day +wandering about in a garden, and sitting on half-ruined crumbling stone +walls doesn't improve muslin dresses. The dinner was very gay and good, +and the hour on the terrace afterward with coffee, enchanting. One or +two of the men had brought guitars, and there were scraps of songs, +choruses, "stornelli," going on all the time. One man, with a lovely +tenor voice, sat on the lower step singing anything--everything--the +rest of us joining in when we knew the song. The terrace was quite +dark--the house brilliantly lighted standing out well; and every now and +then the Italian servants would appear at the door with their smiling +faces--black eyes and white teeth--evidently restraining themselves with +difficulty from joining in the choruses. I really don't think Mary's +"Bacco" could have resisted. I always hear him and Francesco singing +merrily over their work in the morning. They certainly are an +easy-going, light-hearted race, these modern Florentines. One can hardly +believe that they are the descendants of the fierce old Medici who sit +up so proud and cold on their marble tombs at San Lorenzo. + +[14] Man to play on the piano. + +We began the cotillon about 10, and it lasted an hour and a half. There +were 10 couples, plenty of flowers and ribbons, and, needless to say, an +extraordinary "entrain." We ended, of course, with the "Quadrille +infernal" (which Alberti always leads with the greatest spirit), made a +long chain all through the house down the terrace steps (such a +scramble) and finally dispersed in the garden. I shouldn't like to say +what the light dresses looked like after that. We started back to +Florence about midnight in two coaches--such a beautiful drive. The +coming out of the gates, and down the steep hill with a bad road and a +narrow turn was rather nervous work--but we finally emerged on the broad +high-road looking like a long silver ribbon in the moonlight winding +down the valley. We had the road quite to ourselves--it was too late for +revellers, and too early for market people, so we could go a good pace, +and galloped up and down the hills, some of them decidedly steep. It was +a splendid night--that warm southern moon (so unlike our cold white +moonlight) throwing out every line sharply. It was just 3 o'clock when +we drew up at Casa Guadagni. + +I didn't intend to write so much about Signa, but I had just been +telling it all to W., and I think it will amuse the family in America. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + VILLA MCDONNELL, + February 15, 1880. + +I try and write every day, but it is not easy. We are out all the time. +The weather is divine, and it seems wicked to stay indoors. W. and I go +out every morning, and we do a good deal of sight-seeing in a pleasant, +idle way. I go sometimes to the Boboli Gardens and wait for him there +when he has letters to write. It is all so unlike our Florence of ten +years ago; I love the quiet grey streets. The gardens are delicious; +dark and cool; you see no one, hear nothing but the splash of the +fountains, and the modern busy world doesn't exist. I am becoming quite +intimate with the custode--he is most friendly--smiles all over when W. +appears--and remarked the other day casually when he was late and I was +waiting at the gate, "Il marito si fa aspettare." This morning we +pottered about the Ponte Vecchio, where all the shops look exactly the +same, and apparently the same old wrinkled men bending over their pearls +and turquoises. So many foreigners have bought pearls that the prices +have all gone up. There has been a great influx of strangers these last +days as Easter is early, and we hear English on all sides. Two pretty +fair-haired English girls were loitering about the bridge and shops, +attracting much attention and admiration, quite freely expressed, from +some of the numerous young men who are always lounging about; but the +admiration is so genuine and so open that no one could be angry or +consider it an impertinence. + +Do you remember one of my first Italian experiences in crossing the +Piazza di Spagna one afternoon with my white kitten on my shoulder, and +one of the group of "paini"[15] standing at the door of the bank remarked +smilingly, "Che gatto fortunato!" I was rather taken aback but pleased +certainly. At Doney's in the Via Tornabuoni, there is always the same +group of men on the pavement about tea-time, when every one goes in for +a cup of tea or chocolate--all much interested in the pretty girls who +go in and out--also the society men standing at the door of the Club +making remarks and criticising, with rather more reserve perhaps. + +[15] Young bourgeois. + +We took a fiacre when we had crossed the bridge and drove to Santa Maria +Novella. The black and white façade looked like an old friend, also the +spezeria where we used to buy the sachets of iris powder in the old +days. We wandered all over the church, looked at the frescoes and the +wonderful Cimabue Madonna, and then through the cloisters. A monk (one +of the few left) in the long white robe of the Dominicans was working in +the garden. He looked very picturesque in the little square of green, +and was apparently engrossed in his work as he didn't even turn his head +to look at us. He wasn't at all an old man as we saw when he raised +himself--was tall and broad-shouldered. What a life it must be for a man +in the full force of strength and health. One can understand it in the +old days before books and printing, when the Dominicans and Benedictines +were students and their parchments made history, but now when everybody +reads and discusses everything it seems incredible that a man should +condemn himself to such an existence. + +We dined at the Tchiatcheffs, and on our way home crossed a procession +of "la Misericordia"; all the men with long cloaks and cowls drawn tight +over their faces, with slits for the eyes. One could see nothing but +bright, keen eyes, impossible to recognise any one. I believe men of all +classes belong to the society, and we had probably various friends among +them. I suppose they were going to get a corpse (which is always done at +night in Florence, or, in fact, everywhere in Italy) and their low, +melancholy chant rather haunted me. They say they do a great deal of +good when there is an accident or a case of malignant fever, in +transporting the patient to a hospital; but it was an uncanny sight. +They tell me they went to get a young Englishman the other day who had +fever, and was to be moved from the hotel to a private hospital. It was +the doctor's suggestion, and I am sure they carried him quite well and +gently, but it seems his poor wife went nearly mad when the procession +arrived, and she saw all those black eyes gleaming from behind the +cowls. + +We have been this afternoon to tea at "Camerata," the Halls' Villa. The +drive out was charming, the day beautiful and bright, flowers +everywhere. Quantities of peasant children ran alongside the carriage as +we toiled up the hills, chattering volubly (many _Inglesi_ thrown in) +and holding out little brown hands filled with yellow flowers. The +Camerata garden and terrace were lovely. It was still a little cool to +sit out, so we had tea inside. The lawn was blue with violets, and there +were quantities of yellow flowers, crocuses, narcissi everywhere, roses +just beginning. We met various old friends there--principally +English--among others Miss Arbuthnot, looking quite the same; and the +two Misses Forbes who have a charming apartment in Florence--we went +there to tea the other day. Our friend and compatriot, Mrs. K., was also +there; very dressy and very foolish; poor dear she never was wise. She +was glad to see me, was sure I was enjoying the change and rest after my +"full life"; then "Did you live in Paris?" I felt like saying, "No, +French Cabinet Ministers usually live in Yokohama," but I desisted from +that plaisanterie as I was sure she would go away under the impression +that W. had been a member of the Japanese Cabinet. W. doesn't like my +jokes--thinks they are frivolous. + + + February 17, 1880. + +Our Talleyrand dinner last night was handsome and pleasant. He was for +years French Ambassador at Petersburg (Baron Charles de +Talleyrand-Périgord), and is the type of the clever, old-fashioned +French gentleman and diplomatist. He married a Russian, Mlle. Bernadaky. +She is very amiable, has a beautiful voice and beautiful jewels. I had +Carlo Alessandri next to me, and we plunged into old times. After dinner +Talleyrand and W. talked politics in the fumoir. He is of course quite +"d'un autre bord" and thinks Republican France "grotesque," but W. said +he was so moderate and sensible, not at all narrow-minded, understanding +that a different opinion was quite possible, that it was interesting to +discuss with him. Talleyrand confided to Mary afterward that he couldn't +understand a man of her brother's intelligence and education being a +Republican. + +Madame de Talleyrand didn't sing, had a cold. I was very sorry as I told +her I should have liked to hear her sing again "Divinité du Styx." It +will be always associated in my mind with the French-German war when we +were all at Ouchy together hearing fresh disasters every day. + +This afternoon we went to have tea with "Ouida"[16] at her villa outside +Florence. She was most anxious W. should come to her--which he agreed to +do--though afternoon visits are not much in his line. As we were rather +a large party we went out in detachments, and Madame de Tchiatcheff +drove me. We arrived before the Bunsens and W. Ouida came to the gate to +meet us, and Madame Tchiatcheff named me. She was civil, but before I +had time to say that M. Waddington was coming in another carriage, she +looked past me, saying, "Et Monsieur Waddington--il ne vient donc pas," +with such evident disappointment and utter indifference to the presence +of _Madame_ Waddington that I was rather taken aback; but I suppose +geniuses must not be judged like other people. I was rather disappointed +in her appearance. I expected to see her dressed either in "primrose +satin with trails of white lace," or as an Italian peasant, and she +really looked like any one else--her hair cut short and a most +intelligent face. She was interesting when she talked about Italy and +the absolute poverty of the people. She spoke either French or English, +both equally well. When the visit had been talked of at home we had told +W. he must read, or at any rate look over one of her books. I didn't +think he could undertake one of her long novels, "Idalia" for instance, +where the heroine wanders for days through wood and dale attired in a +white satin dress, and arrives at her destination looking like "a tall, +beautiful, pure lily"; but I think he might like one of her short +Italian stories, which are charming, such beautiful descriptions. I +always remember one of her sentences, "There is nothing in the world so +beautiful as the smile of Italy to the awakening Spring." One felt that +to-day in the garden, every bud was bursting, everything looked green +and fresh and young. + +[16] Mlle. de la Ramée. + +Our dinner at home to-night was most agreeable. We had Mlle. de Weling, +a great friend of the Bunsens, a clever, interesting woman whose +girlhood was passed at the old Nassau castle at Bieberich on the Rhine. +Her mother was one of the Duchess's ladies. I know the place well, and +used often to walk through the beautiful park to the Rhine when I was +staying with Mary. It is quite shut up and deserted now. The old Duke +held out against United Imperial Germany, and never lived in his Schloss +after Nassau was annexed. It is a grand old house with all its great +windows and balconies facing the Rhine. One could quite imagine an +animated court life (small court) there, with music, and riding, and +excursions on the river. It is rather melancholy to see such a fine old +place deserted. + +We had, too, Comandi, an Italian who occupies himself with orphan boys, +and has a home for them near here somewhere in the country which we are +going to see some day. Anna de Weling, too, has founded one or two small +homes in different parts of Germany. She read us a letter the other day +from one of her boys, quite grown up now, whom she had placed. It began +"Wir brauchen Beinkleider" (we need trousers)--so naïf. The conversation +was almost entirely in Italian as Comandi speaks no other language. All +the Bunsens speak of course perfectly--they lived in Italy for so many +years at the beginning of their diplomatic career. Mrs. Waddington is +quite wonderful, speaks and reads it perfectly. Her nice little +parlatrice is devoted to her. + + + February 19, 1880. + +We have had two nice days. Yesterday we walked straight across the +bridge to the Piazza del Duomo--walked about the Cathedral and the +Baptistery trying to make out the Saints' processions, and figures on +the marvellous bronze doors--but it would take weeks of study to +understand them. I was tired, and sat (very uncomfortably) on a sort of +pointed stone near the gates while W. examined them. I really think I +like the Piazza and the open air and the street life as much as anything +else. There was so much movement, flower stalls, fruit, cakes, those +extraordinary little straw bottles of wine, children playing and +tumbling all over the place (evidently compulsory education doesn't +bother them much), and always quantities of men standing about doing +nothing, wrapped up in their long cloaks, but what a wonderful cadre for +it all. The Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, Loggia, etc.--one can't imagine now +the horrors that have been perpetrated in that very square. I told the +family the other day I wanted to read "Nicolo dei Lapi" over again, and +they all jeered at me; but I must get it somewhere; it will take me +straight back to Frascati and the long hot days of the cholera summer +when I was reading it, and trying so hard with my imperfect and +school-girl translation to make you understand the beauty and horrors of +the book. + +I was telling Mrs. Waddington the other day of our life at Frascati--the +great cholera year at Albano (1869), when so many people died--the +Dowager Queen of Naples, Princess Colonna, and Cardinal Altieri, who +came straight out to his villa as soon as the cholera broke out (which +it did quite suddenly). He was wonderful--went about everywhere in all +the poor little houses, relieving and encouraging the sick and dying, +holding up the cross to the poor dim eyes when life was too nearly gone +for any words to avail; and finally was struck down himself and died in +two days. How terribly lonely and cut off we felt--Dr. Valery was the +only person we saw. He was allowed to come out every day from Rome, but +was fumigated at the station at Frascati, and again in Rome when he got +back, obliged to change his clothes outside the gate before coming into +the city. We were never at all nervous about the cholera. I don't think +there was one case at Frascati, and of course all our thoughts were +centred in that great big room with its pink walls and mosaic floor +where father[17] lay desperately ill. It seems like a dream now, those +hot summer nights, when we used to go out on the terrace (upon which his +room opened) to get bouillon, ice, etc., and we fancied we could see the +cloud of disease hovering over the Campagna. + +[17] Charles King, President of Columbia College, father of Madame +Waddington. + +[Illustration: President Charles King of Columbia College, New York +City.] + +When it was moonlight, and such moonlight, that beautiful golden, +southern moon, we saw a long white line in the distance--the sea. +Circulation was very difficult, all the roads leading to Albano were +barred, and guarded by zouaves; and of course we heard tales of horror +from the Italian servants, always most talkative and graphic in their +descriptions. However on the whole they behaved well. We used to ride +every day, and always passed a little chapel on the way to Castel +Gandolfo, which was filled with people kneeling and praying--a long line +stretching out quite across the road to a little shrine just opposite. +They used to make way for us to pass without getting off their knees, +only stretching out their hands for anything the Principesse americane +would give them. + +Some of the women were quite absorbed, looking hard at the Madonna in +her shrine as if they expected some visible sign of pity, or promise of +help. I rather envied them their simple faith; it must help them through +many moments of trial and discouragement. + +As usual I seem to have wandered from my original subject, but Italy is +so full of memories. We were too tired to walk home, besides were a +little late, so we took a fiacre with a most friendly coachman, who saw +at once that we were strangers, pointed out all the places of interest, +and said it would be a delightful afternoon for Fiesole, and he would +come and get us if we would name the hour. + +We found lots of letters and papers at the house, and W. plunged into +Paris and politics after breakfast. I went for a drive with Mary and +Beatrice to the Villa Careggi. The house is nothing remarkable--a large +square building with enormous rooms, deep fireplaces, and very high +ceilings. Some good frescoes on the walls. The garden and terraces were +enchanting--the sun really too warm on the terrace--always a divine +view; blue-purple hills rolling away in the distance, and funny, crooked +little roads shut in between high walls, with every now and then a gap, +or a gate, which gave one glimpses of straggling, unkempt gardens, with +a wealth of flowers and vines. + +We had a quiet dinner and evening, which we all enjoyed. W. smoked and +talked a great deal of the past year and the last days at the Quai +d'Orsay. He doesn't miss the life in the least, which rather surprises +me; I thought he would be so bored with suddenly nothing to do, and no +part to play in the world's history; but I see that the absolute rest +and being with all his family is doing him so much good. It is +extraordinary how soon one forgets, and takes up a quiet life again. +Already the whirl and fatigues of the Exhibition year seem so far away I +feel as if somebody else had lived that life. I cannot imagine myself +now dining out (and not ordinary dinners, official banquets) 19 nights +in succession, but I suppose I should begin again quite naturally if we +returned to public life. + +Did you see the article in the "Français" saying "M. Waddington will now +have all the rest of his life before him to consecrate to his studies"? +I wonder! This morning we had our usual walk--as W. was ready at ten +o'clock I didn't make my regular station in the Boboli Gardens. We went +to Vieusseux about a book W. wanted, and then into the bank to pay +George Maquay a visit. He was most cheerful, and showed us a nice +article in the "Times" regretting very much W.'s departure from the +Foreign Office, "one of the few men who could look ahead a little, and +who was independent, not limited in his views by what the Chamber of +Deputies would think." I was rather pleased, but W. is very calm about +all newspaper articles. He always has a "mauvaise presse" as we don't +_soigner_ any paper. I fancy, though, Henrietta is right when she says +the next time he takes office she means to buy one--so many people +believe implicitly all they see in a paper, especially when it says what +you want to believe. + +We did a little shopping, I wanted some veils, and W. remained outside +looking at the grim old Strozzi Palace, standing like a great fortress +with its huge stones and heavy doors in the middle of all the busy, +bustling life of the Tornabuoni. I think it is the one street in +Florence where people move about quickly, and as if they were going +somewhere. Everywhere else there are crowds of people, men especially, +doing nothing but sitting all day in the sun looking at the passers-by. + +We hadn't time to walk over to San Lorenzo, so hailed a fiacre, and +wandered about there for some time. I was delighted to see the Medici +Chapel again and the famous monument of Lorenzo. He does look as if he +were thinking out some great problem--I wonder what he would think of +our go-ahead, unartistic world, and of our politicians, so timorous and +afraid of responsibility--at least the men of that race were strong for +good or for evil. When they wanted anything they did all they could to +get it. I don't know that the women were behindhand either in energy +when one thinks of Queen Catherine and of all the Huguenots she disposed +of one summer evening in Paris. Do you remember our friend Mrs. A., a +converted Catholic, whom we overheard one night at the Opera when they +were shooting all the Huguenots in the last act, telling her daughter +(remained a Protestant) that the Saint Bartholomew had nothing to do +with Catholics and Protestants; was entirely a political move. + +We have had a long drive this afternoon with Mary and Charles, up the +Poggio Imperiale--a stiff climb but such a beautiful road--villas, +cypresses, olive trees, and roses everywhere. We went up to the Certosa, +where a nice old monk, in his white dress, showed us the church and +monastery. It was dark and rather cold in the church, and nothing +particular to see--good frescoes and many coloured marbles--but the +terrace outside was delightful. There were not too many beggars on the +road considering that it is the favourite drive in Florence, and of +course the carriage people are at a disadvantage as they must go slowly +up the hill, and are escorted by a long troop of children singing, +dancing with a sort of tambourine, turning somersaults, and enjoying +life generally, whether they get a few pennies or not. It is very +difficult to resist the children with their smiling faces and evident +desire to amuse the "forestieri." + +We went to Casa Guadagni before we came home, and paid a visit to the +Marchesa, who was at home. The same old porter was at the door, and +greeted me most warmly, much pleased to see W. "bel uomo, il +marito"--had I any children, and where were all the rest of the +family?--that simple, natural Italian manner, without a thought of +familiarity. W. was delighted with Madame Guadagni. She talked about +everything and really didn't look any older. I asked about our old +apartment (piano nobile--first floor); she said it was always +let--generally to foreigners. I _didn't_ ask if she had made any modern +improvements since we lived there. Shall you ever forget that cold +winter with the doors that wouldn't open, and the windows that wouldn't +shut, and the chimneys that always smoked, and the calorifère, which +John never would light, as he was afraid it would warm the Guadagni +rooms below? I should have liked to go over the apartment and see the +rooms again--the big ball-room where we danced so often and had so much +music. We wound up with a turn in the Cascine, drawing up in the Piazza +alongside of Lottie's carriage, which was of course surrounded by all +the gilded youth of Florence. Maquay came to talk to us, Carlo +Alessandri and Serristori, whom I hadn't yet seen. He was just the same +(laughing and criticising) as in the old days when some of the swells +appeared in so-called Worth garments, which he said were all made in a +little room over his stables, by the wife and daughters of one of his +men. + +I was glad to get in and have a quiet hour to write before dinner. I am +at my table close up to the open window. The air is soft and +delicious--the garden just beginning to look dark and mysterious in the +waning light. The group of cypresses (I don't know how to write that in +the plural, it looks funny) always black. I was called off various +times, and must finish now as we are going to dine at the Maquays--we +being ourselves, Mary, and Charles. We generally go about a family +party. + + + Sunday, February 21, 1880. + +We are making our pacquets as we have decided to leave for Rome on +Monday (22). The Schuylers are clamouring for us, and though I hate to +leave here I really think we ought to go. As W. has never seen Rome two +months will not be too much. We shan't have much more as he wants to get +home for the Conseil Général. The Schuylers want to have a big reception +for us, and would like next Sunday week, so I think we really shall get +off this time. The longer we stay the more invitations we have. It has +been all quite charming. Our Maquay dinner was very easy and pleasant; +the Tchiatcheffs, Lottie, Alessandri, Talleyrands, Mrs. Fuller, and one +or two stray men. The house looked so natural--of course the ball-room +wasn't open as we were a small party, but they lighted it after dinner. +I wanted W. to see how pretty it was and how light--white with red seats +all around. How it took me back to old times? I seemed to see everybody +settling for the cotillon--the stairs too, where we all used to sit +waiting for the cotillon to begin. How we amused ourselves that winter +in Florence, and how scattered all that little band is now. The +Florentines amuse themselves still--there must be something in the air +which makes people light-hearted--one can't imagine a serious, studious +life in Florence. + +We spent two hours in the Uffizi yesterday looking at all the old +friends again. I was delighted to see the dear little "St. John in the +Wilderness" hanging just where it did before, on one side of the door in +the Tribuna; also the Peruginos--I like them so much--his Madonnas with +their wooden faces, but a pure, unearthly expression all the same, and +the curious green colour one sees in all his pictures. We saw as much as +we could in the two hours, but as it was the second visit we found our +way about better. I never rested until I found the corridor with Niobe +and all her children--it used to fascinate me in the old days. One +realized perfectly all those big sons and daughters, so terrified, and +the last little one clinging to his mother's skirts. + +We went to tea, Mary and I, with Edith Peruzzi--quite quietly--as she +wanted to show me her children--and fine specimens they are; a duck of a +boy, quite sociable and smiling. Nina and Louisa Maquay came in--Louisa +looked lovely. This morning I went to the English church with Mary and +Beatrice. We didn't go out again till late--after tea--as we had various +visitors, among others Schuyler Crosby, who had asked us to dine but we +had no evening left. I saw him riding the other day in the Cascine, and +recognised him some way off by his seat. I don't know what it is, but +whatever the Americans do, whether riding, dancing, or tennis, they do +it differently from any one else. I was talking about it the other day +to an Englishman who had seen some of the Anglo-American boat races, and +he quite agreed with me, said their rowing was very good, but quite +another thing from the English sport. + +We drove out again Fiesole way. It was enchanting--more roses come out +every day. There was a perfect fringe of pink roses hanging over some of +the old grey walls. As it was Sunday, and a lovely day, there were +quantities of people about. There are scarcely any costumes left, but +all Italians like bright colours, and the red and green fichus and +aprons looked pretty and gay as the various groups passed us. Some of +the old women were terribly bent, with such brown, wrinkled faces--one +could quite see that they had toiled up and down hills under the Italian +scorching sun all their lives, with baskets and bundles of fagots on +their backs--but the old eyes were keen and smiling. They don't look so +utterly starved and wretched as Ouida (and others) say they are. I +suppose they live on nothing, and go on quite simply, leading the same +lives that their fathers and mothers did before them, without knowing of +anything better. + +Tell Henrietta I haven't made much progress in the travelling work she +presented me with. I did take it out into the drawing-room one evening, +but the immediate result of that was disastrous. I took it out of the +bag proudly, to show that I had silk, embroidery, scissors, needles, +etc., like everybody else, but left it on the table. Somebody wanted a +book or a newspaper also on the table; turned everything upside down, +and the work, silk, needles, thimble, etc., went rolling all over the +floor. When you think of the crevasses of an old parquet floor in an +Italian Palace, you can imagine how difficult it was to find anything +again. The two girls were hours on their knees looking for my thimble +which never turned up--however, that will be an excellent reason for +buying a pretty little gold thimble with a row of turquoises that I saw +the other day in a shop on the Ponte Vecchio. There is evidently a fate +against my becoming an accomplished needlewoman, and I am afraid the +"clumsy little fingers," which used to worry you so in the old days of +music lessons, have not improved with advancing years. Perhaps I shall +take to work in my old age. Isn't it George Sand who says (and I don't +believe she ever took a needle in her hand), "Don't despise our less +ambitious sisters who work. Many great resolutions and silent +abnegations have been woven into the bright flowers and delicate +tracings of the embroidery in the long hours spent over the frame." + + + Monday Night, February 22, 1880. + +We really are starting to-morrow morning--trunks are packed, compartment +engaged, and we have said good-bye to everybody. I made a last little +turn this morning in the Boboli Gardens. I didn't see the custode--I +wanted to say good-bye to him. Then we went to the Pitti gallery, W. +wanted to see one particular Botticelli, "la bella Simonetta" I think, +which he and Mary had been talking about, and which we had missed the +other day. It is quite impossible to see everything. I had remembered +pretty well the principal pictures. Then we took a fiacre and went out +to San Marco to see the Fra Angelicos and Savonarola's cell. We had +never once got there, there is always so much to do. We walked through +the cloisters first--the frescoes are perfectly well preserved--some of +Fra Angelico's and others less interesting. I wanted to see the cells, +and was quite pleased to recognise the "Coronation of the Virgin" and +the "Madonna and Child" surrounded by angels, all in their long +green-blue robes with wings and musical instruments of all kinds. As +usual people were copying them, and I will try and find a pretty one and +bring it back. I want the one in a sort of light green dress blowing a +trumpet. The faces are quite beautiful, so pure. He must have had a +wonderful imagination--I wonder if he believed angels look like that? +Somehow or other I always think of an angel in a white robe. We saw of +course Savonarola's cell, and they showed us his rosary, and a piece of +wood which is supposed to have been taken from his funeral pile. It all +looked so peaceful and smiling to-day, one could hardly realize the long +hours of doubt and self-torture passed in these solitary cells. There is +a fine description in one of the numerous books the Bunsens have on +Florence, of Savonarola's preaching--all the people congregated in the +great square before the church, when there was no longer any room +inside, leaving their shops and their work to come and listen to him. +That is one of the delightful things in this household, you can always +find a book in almost any language about any subject that interests you, +religion, music, politics, everything. + +Beatrice has a delightful German magazine, "Monatsheft," very well +illustrated, with all the modern German literature, stories, essays, +criticisms, etc. One could almost wish for a rainy day or a quiet +evening to read a little. + +W. went off by himself the other night and had a very pleasant evening. +First to the Piccolellis' where he found a small party and his old +friend Bentivoglio, with whom he had travelled in the East. Of course +they instantly got into a corner and talked shop (medals). Then to +Lottie Van Schaick who had a few friends, where he amused himself very +much. + +Gertrude writes that our rooms are very nice, and the man at the hotel +delighted to have us. I wonder what Rome will be like. It will seem +funny to be back there again, a respectable middle-aged lady. I think +one should always be young and gay to live in Italy. + +We had a fine musical evening Saturday with the Landi family--five; +mother, father, daughter, son, and grandfather. Madame Landi sang +anything, everything, delightfully. Some of the stornelli and peasant +songs, those particularly of the Abruzzi mountains, were charming. I +wonder what Italians have got in their "gosier" that we haven't, that +gives such a charm to their simplest song. I sang once or twice in +French, and then Madame Landi and I did some duos in Italian which went +very well. She was very complimentary over my Italian (I told it +triumphantly to W., but he remains under the impression of the razor), +said it was evident I had learnt in Rome; the language is so much +softer, or rather the pronunciation "Lingua toscana in bocca romana." + +The old father was killing, knew everything, was wildly interested, and +criticised freely. I think the daughter will have a very pretty voice, +like her mother's, a rich, low mezzo. + +I was called off by some visits, and will finish now. My letter will go +to-morrow morning. We don't start very early--9.30--but I shall not have +time to write anything more. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + HÔTEL DE LONDRES, ROME, + February 24, 1880. + +We arrived last evening for dinner, dear mother, and are most +comfortably settled. We have a nice apartment on the second floor--a +large bright salon with a good bed-room on either side of it for me and +W., and a very fair anteroom where Madame Hubert has just had another +wardrobe put up. She interviewed the gérant and made it clear to him +that it was impossible for her to unpack her mistress's dresses until +she had something suitable to put them in. We found flowers and papers +on the table from the Schuylers, Mrs. Bruce, and the proprietor of the +hotel. + +I thought we should never get away from Florence. We were so happy there +with the Bunsens and Mrs. Waddington, and every day there was something +to see or do. The weather was divine the last days--the hills were quite +a pink-purple sometimes as we drove home after sunset, and quantities of +roses climbing up all the old grey walls. We had a very easy +journey--they had reserved a carriage for us, which was a good +precaution, as the train was crowded. We got to Rome about six. W. was +quite excited as we approached (it is too funny to think that he had +never been here), and very anxious for the first glimpse of St. Peter's. +I can't say we saw the dome from a great distance--I fancy it depends +upon which way you enter Rome. We found the Schuylers at the station +with a carriage, and drove at once to the hotel, where Gert had ordered +tea and a pannettone. If I hadn't known I was coming to Rome I should +never have believed it on arriving at the station. It was so unlike the +little old Termine of our Roman days--the funny little station so far +away, with few porters or cabs, and comparatively few voyageurs. I was +quite bewildered with the rush into this great, modern station, with +porters and officials of all kinds, and all the bustle of a great city. + +I looked in vain for some familiar landmarks as we came along. Nothing. +The new streets, Via Garibaldi and Nazionale--an abomination, tall ugly +maisons de location and official buildings so new and regular--awful! It +wasn't until we got into the town and near the Piazza di Spagna that I +really felt that I was back in Rome; that of course was unchanged. It +brought back such a flood of memories as we passed 20, and all the first +happy days in Rome came back to me, before father's illness, when he +enjoyed everything so much, and wrote to Uncle John that "the hours were +golden." The "barca" looked just the same, with boys and women leaning +up against the stones, flower-girls on the Spanish Steps, and even old +Nazzari's low, dark shop opposite looked picturesque. W. was quite +surprised to see me so sentimental, though I had warned him that for me +there was no place in the world like Rome. + +The Schuylers stayed talking some little while, then had to go, as they +were dining out, but promised to come in after dinner. W. asked me if I +was too tired to go for a little stroll (the tea had refreshed us), so +we started up the Spanish Steps to the Villa Medici, where we had that +beautiful view of Rome. I showed him the stone pines of the +Doria-Pamphili, which stood out splendidly against the last bright +clouds of the sunset--it was quite lovely. We stayed out quite late, and +were received with respectful, but decidedly disapproving greetings from +the gérant when we came in. It was not at all prudent for "Eccellenza" +and Madame to remain out late, particularly as they must be very tired +after a long journey. We dined downstairs in the big dining-room. There +was a long table d'hôte full--people about half through their +dinner--and at the extreme end of the room five or six small tables, one +of which had been reserved for us. I didn't see any one I knew, but two +men got up and bowed as we passed. The dinner was good--the head waiter +hovering about us all the time, and of course always addressing W. as +"Eccellenza." We had coffee upstairs. W. smoked and I read the paper and +one or two notes. About ten the Schuylers appeared, very cheerful and +full of propositions of all kinds. They have got a big reception for us +on Sunday night--Roman and diplomatic--and we agreed to breakfast with +them to-day. Gert looked very well in blue, with her diamond necklace +and feathers. They don't seem very pleased with Marsh--our Minister. +Always the same old story and jealousy--the ministers consider +themselves so far above a consul. But really when the Consul-General +happens to be Schuyler and his wife King, one would think these two +names would speak for themselves--for Americans, at any rate. + +We told Schuyler how many compliments we had had both in Paris and +Florence for his "Peter the Great"--so much in it, and yet the subject +one that had been written about so often. They went off about eleven, +and I was glad to go to bed; could hardly believe I was sleeping again +in the Piazza di Spagna. I certainly never imagined when I left Rome +tearfully so many years ago that I would come back as the wife of a +French statesman. + +I was busy all the morning unpacking and settling myself, and of course +looking out of the window. It is all so delightfully familiar--all the +botte standing in the middle of the street, and the coachman trying so +hard to understand when some English or American tourists give them some +impossible address in Italian--you know the kind of people I mean, +conscientious tourists who think they must always speak the language of +the country they are in, learned out of a phrase-book. We have various +invitations, from our two Embassies, Quirinal and Vatican, also the +Teanos, and W. had a nice visit from Lanciani, who wants to show him all +Rome. We took a botta to go to the Schuylers. It isn't far, but I wasn't +quite sure of finding my way the first time. They have a charming +apartment in Palazzo Altemps, near the Piazza Navona, not at all far +really from our hotel, and now that I know the way I can often walk over +in the mornings when W. is off sight-seeing seriously with some of his +learned friends. It is a fine old palace with a large open court and +broad stone staircase. San Carlo Borromeo is supposed to have lived +there. Their apartment belongs to Mrs. Terry, wife of the artist, who +had arranged it very comfortably, and the Schuylers have put in all +their Turkish rugs, carpets, and bibelots, so it really looks very +pretty. There are quantities of green plants and flowers about (they are +both fond of flowers and are always making experiments and trying +something new) and of course books, papers, reviews, and a piano. + +I told Gert I thought I would write to Vera and have some singing +lessons--I have done so little singing since I have been married. Eugene +is a charming host, and he and W. had plenty to talk about. I inspected +Gert's wardrobe while they were smoking. Her dresses are all right, and +I think her maid is good. I wrote all this after I came in. The man of +the hotel had engaged a carriage for us--a nice little victoria with a +pair of greys. It comes from Tomba's stables--do you remember the name? +The same loueur we had when we lived here. The coachman said he +remembered me perfectly, had often driven the "signorine" to the meets, +and hoped la maman was well. We were lucky to get such a nice little +carriage. The d'Aubignys, a French couple, had just given it up, as they +were leaving the Embassy here for Berlin. + +We drove about a little--left cards for the Noailles, Desprez, Cairolis, +and wound up in the Villa Borghese, which was again quite changed--such +quantities of carriages and people walking, also Italian officers +riding, and soldiers, bersaglieri, etc., about. We crossed the +Wimpffens, looking very smiling, and saw in the distance, as we were +coming out, the royal red liveries, but the carriage was too far off to +see who was in it. Now we are going to dinner, and I shall be glad to +get to bed early. I think I am more tired than yesterday. + + + HÔTEL DE LONDRES, + February 26, 1880. + +I will begin again this afternoon, as I have a little time before +dinner. The weather is divine, quite the same deep-blue sky and bright +sun of our first Roman winter. We have had an enchanting drive out of +Porta San Sebastiano and along the Via Appia as far as Cecilia +Metella--everything exactly the same as when we were there so many years +ago. The same peasant carts blocking up the narrow gateway, everybody +talking at once, white teeth gleaming, and quantities of little brown +children with black eyes and jet black hair tumbling down over their +eyes and outstretched hands for anything the forestieri would put into +them. W. was a little disappointed at first. The road is narrow, an +atrocious pavement, and high walls almost shutting out the view. +However, as we got farther out there came gaps in the walls through +which one saw the whole stretch of the Campagna with the Claudian +Aqueduct on one side, and when we finally emerged into the open fields, +he was delighted. How extraordinary all these old tombs and pyramids +are, most of them falling in ruins, with roses and creepers of all kinds +holding them together. On one of the largest round tombs there was a +peasant house with a garden and vines, and smoke coming out of the +chimney, perched quite on the top, with a steep, stony path winding +down, where the coachman told me the donkey went up and down, as he too +lived in the house with the family. Some of the tombs are very +high--real towers. There is hardly a trace of marble or inscription +left, but the original building so strong that the walls remain. + +The queer old tombs, towers, and bits of ruins all along the road +interested W. immensely; though he has never been here he knows them all +from photographs and reproductions, and could tell me a great deal more +than I could tell him. We went as far as the round tomb of Cecilia +Metella, and then got out and walked a little. I wanted to show him the +low wall which we used to jump always when the meet was at Cecilia +Metella. Do you remember the first time you came out to see us jump, not +at a hunt but one afternoon with Dyer practising to see what the horses +and riders would do? You saw us start at a canter for the wall, and then +shut your eyes tight until we called out to you from the other side. + +This morning W. and I had our first regular turn at sight-seeing. We +took a nice little botta on the Piazza, had our Baedeker--a red one, +like all the tourists--and were quite happy. Some of the old colleagues +were highly entertained seeing us driving about with our Baedeker; said +it was W. under a wholly different aspect. We wandered about the +Vatican for two hours, seeing quantities of things--Sistine Chapel, +Stanze Raphael, Apollo Belvedere, etc., and always a beautiful view over +the gardens. Later, he says, he must do it all regularly and +intelligently with one of his men friends, as I naturally could not +stand for hours recognising and deciphering an old inscription. I left +him from time to time, sat down on one of the stone benches, talked to +the custode, looked at the other people, and gave them any information I +could. It interested me to see the different nationalities--almost +entirely English, American, German, very few Italian, and no +French--yes, one artist, a rather nice looking young fellow who was +copying something on the ceiling of one of the "Stanze," rather a +difficult process apparently. There were many more women than +men--groups of English spinsters doing their sights most thoroughly--the +Americans more casual. The Apollo looked splendid, so young and +spirited. We walked some little distance, coming home before we could +get a fiacre, and I had forgotten how cruel that Roman pavement was. I +don't believe any of my boots will stand it; I shall have to get +somewhere here a pair of thick-soled walking shoes. + +We had a quiet hour after breakfast. I have arranged a ladies' corner in +the drawing-room. I was in despair the first two days over the room. I +had never lived in small hotel quarters with a man, and I had no idea +how disorderly they are. The table was covered with pens, papers--piles +of them, three or four days old, thick with dust--cigars, cigar ashes +over everything, two or three large, bulky black portfolios, very often +a pot hat, etc. So we compromised; W. took one end of the room and I the +other. I obtained from the gérant (thanks to Madame Hubert, who is very +pretty and on the best of terms with him) a small table, large china +vase for a plant, a nice arm-chair, and a cushion for the sofa, borrowed +a table-cloth from Gert, also some small things for my table, and my end +looked quite respectable and feminine. The room is large, so we can +really get on very well. We had a pleasant visit from the Marquis de +Noailles, French Ambassador to the Quirinal, before we went out. He has +a charming, easy manner. We are to breakfast at the Embassy, Palazzo +Farnese, to-morrow for me to make Madame de Noailles's acquaintance. I +wonder what I shall think of her? The men all say she is a charmeuse. +She is Polish born, was a beautiful woman--I think all Poles have a +great charm of manner. + +Trocchi came in, too--so pleased to see me again and to make W.'s +acquaintance. The two senators talked politics, and Noailles put me a +little au courant of Roman society and the two camps black and white. We +went out at 3.30, as I said before, to Cecilia Metella, and stopped at +Gert's for tea. W. walked home, and I stayed a little while with her +talking over the arrangements for their reception on Sunday. Every +one--Romans, diplomats, and Americans--they have asked has accepted; but +their rooms are fairly large and I don't think they will be crowded. + + + HÔTEL DE LONDRES, + Monday, February 29, 1880. + +I am still tired from the quantity of people we saw last night at the +Schuylers. Their reception was most brilliant; all the world----However, +I will begin at the beginning. We went to church on Sunday, as Dr. Nevin +came to see us Saturday afternoon and said he hoped we would not fail to +come. W. found him clever and interesting. He said he thought I should +hardly recognise him in his new church. It is very pretty--English +style, built by an English architect (Street) in the new quarter, Via +Nazionale, utterly unlike the bare little room outside the Porta del +Popolo, where we used to go and do the music. It makes me laugh now when +I think of the congregation all embarked on a well-known hymn, when +suddenly Henrietta would lower the tune one note--if I was tired, as +often happened, as one of the gayest balls in Rome was Princess +Sciarra's on Saturday night. When I had danced until four o'clock in the +morning (the test of the ball was how late it lasted) it was rather an +effort to be at church at 10.30 Sunday morning and sing straight through +the service. Henrietta had the harmonium and I led the singing. I will +say that the effect of the sudden change was disastrous from a musical +point of view. However, we did our best. I am afraid Henrietta was not +always faithful to Bach and Beethoven in her voluntaries. We had no +music, and she played whatever she could remember, and occasionally +there were strains of "Araby's Daughter" or "When the Swallows Homeward +Fly," which were quite perceptible even through the minor chords. I +liked doing it all the same, and like it still. I am so fond of the old +hymns we used to sing as children, and should like to hear "Shout the +Glad Tidings" every Christmas. I never have since we left America and +Oyster Bay, where also we did the music, and where, when we were late +sometimes for church, Faust, the big black Newfoundland dog would come +and bark when the bell had stopped, telling us quite plainly we were +late--he knew all about it. + +We made the regular Sunday turn in the afternoon--Villa Borghese and +Pincio--sent the carriage away and walked home by the Villa Medici. W. +loves the view from the terrace. We met Mrs. Bruce, also looking at the +view, and walked home together. She told W. Cardinal Howard wanted to +see him, had known him in England in the old days, also a young English +monsignore--called _English_ oddly enough. She will ask us all to dine +together some night next week. I asked her if she remembered her famous +dinner long ago with Cardinal Howard and Dean Stanley. The two divines +were very anxious to cross swords. They were such a contrast. Dean +Stanley, small, slight, nervous, bright eyes, charming manners, and a +keen debater. The Cardinal, tall, large, slow, but very earnest, +absolutely convinced. The conversation was most interesting--very +animated--but never personal nor even vehement, though their views and +judgments were absolutely different on all points. However, both were +gentlemen and both large-minded. W. was much interested, as he knew Dean +Stanley and his wife Lady Augusta well; they came often to Paris, and +were habitués of Madame Mohl's famous salon, where the literary men of +all creeds and countries used to meet. It was there, too, that Dean +Stanley and Renan used to meet and talk, the two great intellects +finding points in common. I was taken there once or twice after I was +first married. It was a curious interior; Madame Mohl, a little old +lady, always dressed in white, with a group of men standing around her +chair--many more men than women, and never more than twenty or thirty +people. I suppose it was the type of the old French literary salon where +people went to talk. I naturally listened in those days, not being +sufficiently up in all the political and literary questions, and not +pinning my faith absolutely on the "Revue des Deux Mondes." Mrs. Bruce, +too, was often at Madame Mohl's. + +We stopped in a few minutes at the Trinità de' Monti, where there was a +service of some kind going on. The nuns were singing a low, monotonous +chant behind their grating; the church was quite dark, lights only on +the altar, a few women kneeling and absorbed, and a few irreverent +forestieri looking about and talking in whispers. We came down the +Spanish Steps, which were quite deserted at that hour--models, beggars, +flâneurs, all resting from their labours. + +I was glad to rest a little before dinner, and only dressed afterward, +as I couldn't well go down to the public dining-room in a low red satin +dress and diamonds. We went rather early--ten o'clock--to Palazzo +Altemps, but found many people already there. The apartment looked very +pretty, quantities of flowers and plants wherever they could be put. +Gert looked very well in yellow satin, and Eugene is always at his best +in his own house--very courteous and receiving people as if it were a +pleasure to him (which I think it is). We found quantities of old +friends--Pallavicinis, Teanos, Lovatellis, Calabrinis, Bandini, Pagets, +Mrs. Bruce, Hooker, Grants, etc., and quantities of people we didn't +know, and whose acquaintance we made of course--Mesdames Minghetti, +Cairoli, Despretis, and almost the whole of the Corps Diplomatique. + +W. enjoyed it very much, did his manners very well, and never looked +stiff or bored. I was delighted to see the familiar faces once more. I +almost felt as if we had never been away. Madame de Noailles was +astounded at the number of people I knew--I think she hadn't realized +how long I had lived in Rome as a girl. She had heard W. say it was his +first visit to Rome, and thought I, too, was here for the first time, +and she was naturally surprised to hear me talking to Calabrini about +the hunts, cotillons, his coach, and tempi passati generally. + +I have accepted so many invitations that I never can remember them, but +the ladies promised to send a card. Aunt Mary Gracie was rather put out +with me because I wore no necklace (which couldn't be said of the Roman +ladies, who all wore splendid jewels), but I told her it was the last +chic in Paris to wear your necklace on your bodice, not on your neck. + +We stayed on after all the beau monde had gone with Aunt Mary, Hooker, a +Russian friend of Schuyler's, and Count Palfy, had a nice little supper, +champagne and sandwiches, and talked over the party, saying of course +(as they say we Kings always do) how pleasant our party was. W. was much +interested in the various talks he had. He found Minghetti charming--so +intelligent and well up in everything. Cairoli, too, he had been anxious +to see; also Visconti Venosta. He was naturally (like all the men) +charmed with Madame Minghetti. She must have been beautiful, and has an +extraordinary charm of manner. The Cairolis are a very big couple. He is +tall and broad, fine eyes--she, too, on a large scale, but handsome. Of +course there were many inquiries from all the old friends for la maman +and the family generally. Mrs. Bruce says she never drives in the +Doria-Pamphili without thinking of you driving about in your plain black +dress and bonnet, with two or three daughters (not quite so plainly +dressed) in the carriage, and all always talking and laughing, and +enjoying life together. I told her about Florence, where the King of +Italy always bowed to you in the Cascine, evidently taking you for the +superior of some religious order (he must have thought the novices were +lively), and the children in the street used to run up to you and kiss +your hand. "He was quite right, to bow to you," she said, "my grand old +Republican." + +[Illustration: The Spanish Steps. + +In the Piazza di Spagna, Rome.] + + + March 4, 1880. + +Yesterday we went again to the Vatican. W. is quite happy, I thought I +should never get him away. It is most amusing to walk about old Rome +with him, for suddenly over a gateway or at the bottom of an ordinary +little court he discovers an inscription or a slab, or an old stone +which he knows all about, and we stop. He reads, and recognises, and +translates to me, and is wildly interested. It is all so good for him, +and puts politics and little annoyances out of his head. It is quite new +for me to see Rome from a classical point de vue, but I suppose one +enjoys things differently as one grows older. I certainly enjoyed the +mad gallops over the Campagna in the old days; do you remember Mrs. S. +who was so severe with us--first because we were Americans (she was +English) and then because we knew everybody and enjoyed +ourselves?--"when she was young people came to Rome to educate +themselves and enjoy the pictures, museums, historical associations, +etc. _Now_ one saw nothing but American girls racing over the Campagna +with a troop of Roman princes at their heels." Poor dear, she really +thought it was a calamity not to be born under the British flag. I +suppose that makes the great strength of the English, their absolute +conviction that England is the only country in the world. + +They are funny, though--I was discussing something one day with Lady S., +and we didn't quite agree; upon which she remarked she supposed I +couldn't understand her ideas--she came from a big country where one +took broad views of things. I said I thought I did too, but perhaps it +is a matter of appreciation--I think, though, I have got geography on my +side. + +After breakfast we drove about paying visits. We found Princess Teano +(who has asked us to dine on Wednesday) and she showed us her boys--the +eldest one a beauty. She looked very handsome with her pure Madonna +face. She told us her beau-père (the blind Duke of Sermoneta) had been +so pleased to meet W. in Florence. They had a long talk somewhere, and +W. was so amused with the Duke's politics and liberalism--all so +easy-going, half chaffing, but very decided too, no sounding phrases nor +profession de foi; simply accepting (what he couldn't really like very +much) the inevitable, de bonne grâce; and seizing and ridiculing all the +weak points. + +In France they are frightfully logical, must always argue and discuss +everything--I think they are born debaters. + +We left cards on various people, Princess Bandini, Cenci, Countess +Lovatelli, and then went for a little turn out of the San Lorenzo gate, +but not far, as we wanted to go to Princess Pallavicini, who received +that afternoon. W. was much struck with the apartment--so many rooms, +all very high ceilings, that we passed through before getting to the +boudoir where the Princess was sitting. It all looked so natural, I +remembered the hangings--bright flowers on a light satin ground--as soon +as I got into the room, and some of the pictures. She was very cordial +and friendly, told W. how long she had known me, and recalled some of +our rides at Frascati with her and Del Monte. She asked us to come on +Friday evenings, she was always at home. No one else was there but a +Princesse de Thurn and Taxis (née Hohenlohe) who was introduced to us, +and the talk was pleasant enough. She was quite interested in our two +audiences--Pope and Quirinal--but we told her we had heard nothing from +either court yet. W. walked home, and I went on to Gert as it was her +reception day. She gave me a cup of tea, and I found various friends +there, including Father Smith who was quite pleased to see me again. He +doesn't look any older, and is apparently quite as energetic as ever. He +told me he had enjoyed his talk with W. very much, and they had made a +rendezvous for two days--the Catacombs and San Clemente. He remarked +casually that W. wasn't at all what he expected to find him; not at all +his idea of a "French Republican." I wonder what sort of trade-mark he +expected to see? If he had pictured W. as a slight, nervous, black-eyed, +voluble Frenchman, he must naturally have been surprised. + +We have heard people discussing us sometimes in English as we pass down +the long dining-room to our table--"There goes Waddington, the late +French Premier." "Never--that man is an Englishman." "I have seen +pictures of Waddington--he doesn't look at all like that, etc." The head +waiter always points us out as distinguished strangers. + +I found quantities of cards when I came home--one from Lily San Vito +with a nice little message of welcome. (We crossed her in the Corso the +other day and she looked lovely.) Also Valerys, Middletons, Pantaleones, +etc. After I had gone to my room to dress W. had a visit from Desprez, +the French Ambassador to the Vatican. He has just arrived, his wife not +yet come, and he feels a little strange in this very divided society. We +are going to meet him at dinner at the Portuguese Embassy. He told W. +there would be several Cardinals at the dinner--a regular black +assemblage. It will be a funny experience for W. + + + March 6, 1880. + +I will finish this long letter to night. We have just come in from the +Teano dinner, which was pleasant. Teano looked quite the same (I hadn't +seen him for years) with his tall, slight figure and white lock. (I +forgot to look if the boy had it.) She looked very handsome. We had the +Minghettis, a Polish Countess--sister-in-law of the Duc de Sermoneta, +the Calabrinis, and M. Heding, a German savant. Minghetti was +delightful, telling us his early experiences with the old Pope, Pio +Nono. He was killing over the entente between the government and the +monks for the suppression of the monasteries. The gendarmes arrived, +found barred doors and resistance. There was a sort of halt and +parley--one father came out, then another--a little livret of the Caisse +d'Epargne was put into their hands, and all went off as quietly as +possible. Heding seemed to think things wouldn't go so easily in +Germany, and they certainly wouldn't in France. + +Madame Minghetti and I talked for a long time after dinner exchanging +our experiences of the official world, which I fancy is always the same +in all countries. Calabrini was of course his same courteous self--so +absolutely free from pose of any kind--rather unusual in a man who has +always had such a success. + +This morning we went to Trajan's Forum, walked, W. as usual quite at +home, everywhere recognising old friends at every step. We looked at all +manner of inscriptions and basso-rilievos, and enjoyed ourselves very +much. This afternoon W. and Schuyler went off together to see some +churches and the Palazzo dei Cesari. I backed out, as I can't stand two +sight-seeings the same day with a dinner in prospect in the evening. I +went over to get Gert, and we drove about together, winding up at the +Comtesse Wimpffens, Austrian Ambassadress, who has a charming apartment +in the Palazzo Chigi (where Odo Russell used to live when we were in +Rome). There were various ladies there, the Marquise de Noailles, +French Ambassadress (who immediately asked me who made my dress, the +blue velvet that did all my visits the last year of the Quai d'Orsay), +Lady Paget, Madame Minghetti, and a sprinkling of secretaries and +attachés. Comtesse d'Aulnay, looking very pretty, very well dressed, +came in just as we were leaving. We wound up with a turn in the Villa +Borghese. There were grooms waiting at the gate with saddle horses, just +as our old Carmine used to wait for us. It is all so curiously familiar +and yet changed. I can't get accustomed to the quantities of people in +the streets where there never used to be any one--occasionally a priest, +or a few beggars, or a water-carrier. Now there are soldiers, people +carrying parcels, small employees, workmen, carts, carriages, life in +fact. There were quantities of people in the Villa Borghese. Some of the +carriages very well turned out, again very different from our days when +we knew every carriage, and when a new equipage or a new face made a +sensation. + +W. has had a delightful afternoon looking at some of the very old +churches with Eugene. He had, too, a note from Desprez saying our +audience from the Pope would be to-morrow at one o'clock, and giving me +the necessary instructions for my veil, long black dress, etc. To-morrow +night we dine at the Noailles. The breakfast there the other day was +pleasant--no one but ourselves and Ripalda. Of course it is a +magnificent Embassy--the Farnese Palace--and they do it very well, but +it would take an army of servants to "garnish" these long anterooms and +passages, in fact ordinary servants are quite lost there; there ought to +be Swiss guards or halberdiers with steel cuirasses and lances which +would stand out splendidly from the old grey walls. One could quite +imagine an Ambassador of Louis XIV arriving with 100 gentlemen and +armed retainers in his suite. The famous room with the Caracci frescoes +must be beautiful at night. Ripalda asked us to come to tea one +afternoon at his palace on the Tiber, the "Farnesina." Marquise de +Noailles was charming. + +Now I will say good-night, dear, for I am tired, and we have a busy day +to-morrow. I wonder if Leo XIII. will impress me as much as Pio Nono +did. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + ROME, HÔTEL DE LONDRES, + Thursday, March 8, 1880. + +The Piazza is delightful this morning, dear mother; it is bright and +warm, and there are lots of people starting for excursions with +guide-books, white umbrellas, and every variety of wrap. The coachmen of +the little botte look so smiling and interested, so anxious to make +things easy and comfortable. Vera came to see us yesterday, and told me +he was hailed by one of the coachmen from the top of his box, just as he +was crossing the Piazza, who said to him: "Sai Maestro, una di quelle +signorine King è tornata col marito?" (Do you know, master, one of those +King young ladies has come back with her husband?) He was much +amused--told him he was quite right, and that he was going to see that +same signorina. I dare say he had driven us often to one of the gates to +meet the saddle horses. + +Yesterday was our udienza particolare (special audience), and most +interesting it was. Madame Hubert was madly excited dressing me. I wore +my black satin, long, with the Spanish lace veil I had brought in case I +should be received by his Holiness, and of course no gloves, though I +had a pair with me and left them in the carriage. We started at 12.30, +as our audience was at one, and got there quickly enough. I had +forgotten all the queer little courts and turns at the back of the +Vatican. Everything was ready for us; we were received really in royal +state--Swiss Guard, with their extraordinary striped yellow uniform +(designed, some one told us the other day, by Michelangelo), tall +footmen attired in red damask, Guardia Nobile, chamberlains, and two +monsignori. The garde noble de service was Felice Malatesta. He really +seemed much pleased to see me again, and to make W.'s acquaintance--swore +he would have known me at once, I was so little changed; but I rather +suspect if he hadn't known we were coming he wouldn't have recognised +me. We had a nice talk the few minutes we stood waiting in the room +adjoining the one where the Pope received us, and he gave me news of +all his family--Emilio (still unmarried), Francesco, etc.; then a door +was opened, a monsignore came out, bowed, and said his Holiness was +ready to receive us. We went in at once, the monsignore closing the +door behind us and leaving us alone with the Pope, who came almost +to the door to receive us, so that the three regulation curtseys +were impossible. There were three red and gold arm-chairs at one end of +the room, with a thick, handsome carpet in front of them. The Pope sat +on the one in the middle, put me on his right and W. on his left. He is +a very striking figure; tall, slight, a fine intellectual brow and +wonderfully bright eyes--absolutely unlike Pio Nono, the only Pope I had +ever approached. He was most gracious, spoke to me always in Italian, +said he knew I was an old Roman, and that we had lived many years in +Rome; spoke French to W., who, though he knows Italian fairly, prefers +speaking French. He asked W. all sorts of questions about home politics +and the attitude of the clergy, saying that as a Protestant his opinion +would be impartial (he was well up in French politics, and knew that +there were three Protestants in W.'s ministry: himself, Léon Say, and +Freycinet). W. was rather guarded at first (decidedly "banale," I told +him afterward), but the Pope looked straight at him with his keen, +bright eyes, saying: "Je vous en prie, M. Waddington, parlez sons +réserves." + +We stayed about three-quarters of an hour, and the talk was most +interesting. The Pope is very anxious to bring about a better state of +feeling between the clergy and the people in France, and tries so hard +to understand why the priests are so unpopular; asked about the country +curate, who baptizes the children and buries the old people--surely +there must be a feeling of respect for him; said, too, that everywhere +in town or country the priests do so much for the sick and poor. W. told +him the women _all_ went to church and sent their children to the +catechism, but the men are indifferent, if not hostile, and once the +boys have made their first communion they never put their foot in a +church. "What will keep them straight and make good men of them, if they +grow up without any religious education?" The answer was +difficult--example and home teaching, _when_ they get it. Evidently he +had been curious to see W., and I think he was pleased. It was quite a +picture to see the two men--the Pope dressed all in white, sitting very +straight in his arm-chair with his two hands resting on the arms of the +chair, his head a little bent forward, and listening attentively to +every word that W. said. W. drew his chair a little forward, spoke very +quietly, as he always does, and said all he wanted to say with just the +same steady look in his blue eyes. + +[Illustration: Pope Leo XIII.] + +From time to time the Pope turned to me and asked me (always in Italian) +if politics interested me--he believed all French women were keen +politicians; also if I had found many old friends in Rome. I told him I +was so pleased to see Felice Malatesta as we came in, and that we were +going to meet Cardinal Howard one day at breakfast. I shouldn't think he +took as much interest in the social life of Rome as Pio Nono did. They +used always to say he knew everything about everybody, and that there +was nothing he enjoyed so much as a visit from Odo Russell, who used to +tell him all sorts of "petites histoires" when their official business +was over. + +He also talked a good deal to W. about his uncle, Evelyn Waddington, who +lived in Perugia, where he was "sindaco" (mayor) for years. He married +an Italian lady, and was more than half Italian--curious for a man +called Evelyn Waddington. The Pope had known him well when he was Bishop +of Perugia. + +We both kissed his hand when we took leave, and he said again to W. how +much he had been interested in all he told him. We lingered a few +minutes in the anteroom, as there was some idea Cardinal Nina would +receive us, but it had not been arranged. It seemed strange to be in +those high, bare rooms again, and reminded me of our visit to Cardinal +Antonelli years ago with father, when he showed us his collection of +gems. I remember so well his answer to Bessie Curtis (now Marquise de +Talleyrand-Périgord), who was looking out of the window, and said it was +such an enchanting view, would help one in "des moments de +découragement." "On n'est jamais découragé, mademoiselle." + +I imagine Leo XIII has very difficult moments sometimes. + +W. wouldn't come out again as he had letters to write, so I stopped for +Gert, and we had a lovely turn in the Villa Pamphili. Quantities of +people--it looked very gay. We got home about six, and had visits until +it was time to dress for our dinner at the Wimpffens. D'Aulnay came +first, very anxious to hear about our audience at the Vatican; and +Tagliani, the auditeur of the old "nonce"; also Dr. Nevin. + +Our dinner at the Wimpffens was very pleasant. Their apartment looks +very handsome lighted. There was a fine, pompous old porter at the door +downstairs, and plenty of servants and a "chasseur" upstairs. We had all +the personnel of the Embassy, the Calabrinis, Bibra (Bavarian Minister), +Van Loo (Belgian), and an Austrian whose name I didn't master, who had +been a minister in Andrassy's Cabinet. After dinner we all adjourned to +the smoking-room, which is very large and comfortable, lots of low +arm-chairs. The Austrian ladies smoked, and I talked to Bibra and Van +Loo, who told me all the diplomats had been rather struck with the +cordiality of our reception--that in general the Romans troubled +themselves very little about strangers. W. talked to Wimpffen and his +Austrian friend, who was much interested in hearing about our audience +with the Pope, and a little surprised that W. should have talked to him +so freely, both of them saying that his being a Protestant made things +much easier. + +The Romans went off early, so W. went to Geoffroy (director of the École +de Rome--French Archæological Society), who receives Thursday evenings +at the Farnese Palace. He has an apartment quite up at the top of the +palace over the Noailles, and I went to Gert, who also received +Thursday. I found a good many people there--principally Americans, and +some young diplomats. So many people were introduced to me that I was +quite exhausted, and went and sat down by Aunt Mary, who looked very +handsome. + + + Sunday, March 10, 1880. + +I shall not go out this morning. It is a little foggy--the first time +since we came here--and I was also lazy. We are going so perpetually. +Yesterday W. was off at nine in the morning with Geoffroy and Lanciani +for a classic tournée. I wrote one or two letters, and then Madame +Hubert and I walked over to Gert's and breakfasted. After breakfast +Monsignor English came in and had much to say about the Pope, and the +impression W. had made which he had heard from high personages of the +Vatican. I told him all about the interview, and he was much surprised +when I said we all sat down. W. came while he was still there, and of +course he wanted to hear his account, and was so pleased with all W. +said about the Pope, his marvellous intelligence and comprehension of +the present very difficult state of affairs in France. English also said +the Pope had been pleased with me (I did nothing but listen) so I +plucked up my courage, and asked him if he thought his Holiness would +give me a photograph _signed_--I should like so much to have one. He +said it would be difficult, as the Pope never _signed_ a photo--but +perhaps----. I should like one so much--I hope he will make an exception +for this heretic. + +W. and I walked home, and then I dressed, and we started again for some +visits. We found Princess Bandini, who was most amiable--very pleased to +make W.'s acquaintance, also rather curious about the Vatican visit. +There were quantities of people there, principally diplomats and +English. W. thought the apartment very handsome. + +We tried to find Madame Calabrini, but she was not receiving. We dined +at the Noailles. I wore my blue satin and all the diamonds I possess. +The apartment looked very ambassadorial--the great gallery lighted, +superb. The dinner was handsome--Wimpffens, Pagets, Uxkulls (Russian +Ambassador, you will remember him in Florence the year we were there), +Cairolis, Geoffroys, Schuylers, and various young men. Maffei, the +Under-Secretary of State, took me in, and I had Cairoli on the other +side. I didn't find him very easy to talk to. He doesn't speak French +very well, so I changed into Italian (which I am gradually getting back) +and then we got on better. I shouldn't think he was much of a ladies' +man, and never a brilliant talker. Maffei is very clever and amusing. +Gert sat just opposite, looking very well in yellow. + +During the dinner Maffei called my attention to the menu "Cotelettes à +la Waddington," and asked me if W. was as much of an authority in cooks +as he was in coins. I disclaimed any such knowledge for him, and was +rather curious to see what the "cotelettes" would prove to be. They were +a sort of chaud-froid, with a thick, white envelope, on which was a +large W. in truffles. The whole table was rather amused, and Madame de +Noailles gave us the explanation. Her chef had been some time with us at +the Quai d'Orsay, and when he heard W. was coming to dinner was much +excited, and anxious to do honour to his old master--so he consulted +Madame de Noailles, and that was the result. I will keep the menu for +you. + +After dinner we adjourned to the beautiful Carracci gallery, and there I +was presented to various ladies--Madame d'Uxkull (ci-devant Madame +Gheka), very handsome; and Madame Visconti Venosta, an attractive +looking woman with charming manners. I had quite a talk with Lady Paget, +who looks always very distinguished with her beautiful figure. She told +me Mrs. Edwards's baby had arrived--a little girl--to be called "Gay" +after her daughter.[18] I hope she will grow up as pretty as her mother. +I talked some time to Madame Cairoli who was very amiable and expansive, +called me always "Madame la Comtesse"; and offered me anything I wanted +from cards for the Chamber to a presentation to the Queen. + +[18] Now the Hon. Sylvia Edwards, Maid of Honour to Queen Alexandra. + +There was quite a reception in the evening--not many of the Roman +ladies. Marc Antonio Colonna came up--recalled himself, and introduced +me to his wife--very pretty, with splendid jewels. She is the daughter +of the Duke of Sant-Arpino, a very handsome man. Her mother, the +Duchess, an English woman, also very handsome, so she comes fairly by +her beauty. I walked about the rooms with Wimpffen, and he showed me all +the notabilities in the parliamentary world. Lady Paget asked us to go +to her on Sunday afternoon, and I promised Nevin we would go to his +church, but we didn't. + +W. has just received an intimation that King Humbert will receive him +to-morrow at one o'clock, and I have told Madame Hubert to get out his +Italian decorations, as he always forgets to put them on, and it seems +in all courts they attach much importance to these matters. We are +starting now for a drive; first to the Villa Wolkonsky--I want to show +it to W., and we shall probably go in late to the British Embassy. + + + Monday, March 11, 1880. + +The King gave W. his audience to-day at one. He went off most properly +attired, _with_ his Italian ribbon. He generally forgets to put on his +orders, and was decidedly put out one day in Paris when he arrived at a +royal reception _without_ the decoration the sovereign had just sent +him. The explanation was difficult--he could hardly tell the King he had +forgotten. W. got back again a little after two, and said the interview +was pleasant enough--the King very gracious, and he supposed, for him, +talkative; though there were long pauses in the conversation--he leaning +on his sword, with his hands crossed on the hilt as his father always +did--spoke about the Queen, said she was in Rome, and he believed Madame +Waddington had known her when she was Princess de Piedmont. I never was +presented to her--saw her only from a distance at some of the balls. I +remember her quite well at a ball at the Teanos in a blue dress, with +her beautiful pearls. I hope she will receive us. He talked less +politics than the Pope; said France and Italy, the two great Latin +races, ought to be friends, and deplored the extreme liberty of the +press; knew also that W. was in Rome for the first time, and hoped he +would have fine weather. He did not ask him anything about his interview +with the Pope. W. said the reception was quite simple--nothing like the +state and show of the Vatican. There was a big porter at the door of the +palace, two or three servants on the stairs, and two officers, +aides-de-camp, in the small salon opening into the King's cabinet. + +Soon after he came in we had visits--Hooker, Monsignor English, a French +priest, head of St. Louis des Français, and Del Monte, whom I hadn't yet +seen. He was so nice and friendly--doesn't look really much older, +though he says he feels so. I told him it seemed unnatural not to have a +piano. He would have brought his cello, and we could have plunged into +music and quite forgotten how many years had passed since we first +played and sang the "Stella Confidente." + +[Illustration: King Humbert of Italy.] + +After they had all gone we started out to the "Tre Fontane," taking Gert +with us to see the establishment of the French Trappists who are trying +to "assainir" the Campagna by planting eucalyptus trees. It is an +interesting experiment, but rather a dangerous one, as several of the +fathers have died. The summer here, with that deadly mist that rises +from the Campagna, must be fatal, and the two monks we saw looked yellow +and shrivelled with fever. However, they will persevere, with that +extraordinary tenacity and devotion of the Catholic priests when they +undertake anything of that kind. I carried off a bottle of Elixir of +Eucalpytus, for I am sorry to say these last bright days have given me +an unpleasant souvenir in the shape of a cold chill every now and then +between the shoulders, and evidently there is still truth in the Roman +proverb "Cuore di donna, onde di mare, sole di Marzo, non ti fidare." +(Don't trust a woman's heart, the waves of the sea, nor the March sun.) + +We got home about half-past six, had tea and more visits--Calabrini, +Vitelleschi, and Princess Pallavicini, who was most animated, and talked +politics hard with W. We dined at home and had a little talk, just as we +were finishing dinner, with Menabrea, who was dining at a table next +ours. They say he will go to the Paris Embassy in Cialdini's place. W. +wouldn't go out again, so I went alone to Gert's, who had a few +people--Mrs. Van Rensselaer, clever and original; Countess Calice, an +American; her husband, a cousin of the Malatestas; Vera; young +Malatesta, a son of Francesco; a Russian secretary, and one or two +others. It was rather a pleasant evening. They had tea in the +dining-room--everybody walked about, and the men smoked. + + + Tuesday, March 13, 1880. + +Yesterday morning W. and I had a good outing, wandering about the +Capitol. First we walked around Marcus Aurelius, then up the old worn +stone steps to the Ara Coeli. I told W. how we used to go there always +on Christmas Eve to see the Crèche and the Bambino. It was very well +done, and most effective. The stable, beasts, shepherds, and kings (one +quite black with a fine crown). There were always children singing the +"storia di Gesù" and babies in arms stretching out their hands to the +lights. Yesterday the church was quite empty, as there is not much to +attract the ordinary tourist. We made our way slowly, W. stopping every +moment before an inscription, or a sarcophagus, or a fresco, to the room +of the "Dying Gladiator," which he found magnificent--was not at all +disappointed; afterward the faun--and then sauntered though all the +rooms. I had forgotten the two skeletons in one of the sarcophagi--the +woman's with rings on her fingers, most ghastly. + +After lunch Countess Wimpffen came in to know if I would drive with her +to the Villa Borghese, and do two teas afterwards--Madame Cairoli and +Madame Westenberg (wife of the Dutch Minister, an American and a great +friend of Gert's); but I couldn't arrange it, as W. wanted to come with +me to the Affaires Etrangères--so we agreed to go another day. I always +liked both Wimpffens so much when they were in Paris that it is a great +pleasure to find them here. Wimpffen likes to get hold of W. and talk +about France and French politics. + +Our dinner at Mrs. Bruce's was very gay. I told her I didn't find her +salon much prettier than in our days when we lived on the first floor of +Perret's house (she on the second), and she always said we made Perret +send up to her all the ugly furniture we wouldn't have. What we kept +was so bad, that I think the "rebut" must have been something awful. We +had the Minghettis, Vitelleschis, Wurts, Wilbrahams, Schuylers, and one +or two stray Englishmen. Vitelleschi took me in, and I had Minghetti on +the other side, so I was very well placed. It is killing to hear them +talk politics--discussing all the most burning questions with a sort of +easy persiflage and "esprit de conciliation" that would astound our +"grands politiques" at home. Minghetti said the most absolutely liberal +man he had ever known was Pio Nono--but what could he do, once he was +Pope. + +It was really a charming dinner--Mrs. Bruce is an ideal hostess. She +likes to hear the clever men discuss, and always manages to put them on +their mettle. We all came away about the same time, and W. and I went on +to the opera "Tor di None." Bibra had invited us to come to his box. The +house was much less "élégante" than the Paris house--hardly any one in a +low dress, no tiaras, and few jewels. The Royal box empty. Princess +Bandini was in the next box with Del Monte and Trochi. The Minghettis +opposite with the Wimpffens. The "salle" was badly lighted--one could +hardly make the people out. + +W. had rather a shock--we had scarcely got in--(Bibra not yet come) when +the door opened and in came Maurizio Cavaletti--enchanted to see +me--seizing both my hands--"Maria mia adorata--cara regazza, etc.," +utterly oblivious of "cara Maria's" husband, who stood stiff and cold +(an icicle) in the background, with Anglo-Saxon written all over him; +waiting for the exuberant demonstration to finish, and a presentation to +be made. As soon as I could I presented Monsieur le Marquis in proper +form, and explained that we were very old friends, had not met for +years, etc., but W. hardly thawed all the evening. + +When he went out of the box to pay a visit to our neighbours I +remonstrated vigorously with Maurizio, but he was so unfeignedly +astonished at being taken to task for greeting a very old friend warmly, +that I didn't make much impression. The ballet was pretty, and of course +there was an influx of young men as soon as it began--a handsome, rather +stout "ballerina" being evidently a favourite. + +To-day we breakfasted with the Schuylers to meet Mrs. Bruce and Cardinal +Howard--no one else. We had a pretty little breakfast, most lively. I +didn't find the Cardinal much changed, a little stouter perhaps. He was +quite surprised at W.'s English; knew of course that he had been +educated at Rugby and Cambridge, and had the Chancellor's medal, but +thought he would have lost it a little having lived so many years in +France, and having made all his political career in French. I asked him +if he was as particular as ever about his horses. He always had such +splendid black horses when we lived in Rome, but he said, rather sadly, +that times were changed. W. and he talked a long time after breakfast. +He was very anxious to know whether _all_ the religious orders were +threatened in France or merely the Jesuits. Comte Palfy (Austrian) came +in just as we were leaving. He is so attractive--a great friend of +l'Oncle Alphonse--knows everybody here and loves Rome. + +W. and I went off to the Villa Albani--out of Porta Salara. We walked +through the rooms--there are principally busts, statues, bas-reliefs, +etc.--and then loitered about the gardens which are fine. Fountains, +vases, and statues in every direction, and always that beautiful view of +the hills in the soft afternoon light. + +I will finish when I come home from our _Black_ dinner. We are asked for +seven, so of course will get back early, as we do not go anywhere +afterward. I shall wear black, as I hear so many Princes of the church +are to be there. Madame Hubert is very sorry I can't wear the long black +veil that I did for the Pope--she found that most becoming. + + + Tuesday, March 12, 1880, 10.30 P.M. + +We are just home from our dinner at the Portuguese Embassy, so I have +got out of my gauds and into my tea-gown, and will finish this long +letter. It was most interesting--a great deal of couleur locale. We +arrived very punctually--three or four carriages driving up at the same +time. There was of course a magnificent porter downstairs, and +quantities of servants in handsome liveries; a good deal of red and +powder. Two giants at the foot of the staircase, with the enormous tall +candles which are de rigueur at a Black embassy when cardinals or +ambassadors dine. They were just preparing to escort some swell up the +staircase as we arrived; there was a moment's halt, and the swell turned +out to be M. Desprez, the new French Ambassador to the Vatican +(replacing the Marquis de Cabriac). He was half embarrassed when he +recognised us; W. had so lately been his chef that he couldn't quite +make up his mind to pass before him--especially under such novel and +rather trying conditions. However, there was nothing to be done, and he +started up the great staircase between the tall candles, W. and I +followed modestly in his wake. We found several people, including two or +three cardinals, already there. The apartment is very handsome. The +Ambassador (Thomar) looked very well--"très grand seigneur"--standing at +the door of the first salon, and one saw quite a vista of large, +brilliantly lighted rooms beyond. All the guests arrived very +quickly--we had hardly time to exchange a word with any one. I saw the +Sulmonas come in. I recognised her instantly, though I hadn't seen her +for years. She was born Apponyi, and they were married when we were +living in Rome. Also Marc Antonio Colonna and the d'Aulnays. Almost +immediately dinner was announced. Sulmona took me in and I had a +cardinal (Portuguese) on the other side. I didn't say much to the +cardinal at first. He talked to his neighbour, and Sulmona and I +plunged, of course, into old Roman days. He was much amused at the +composition of the dinner, and wondered if it would interest W. He asked +me if I remembered the fancy ball at the Palazzo Borghese. He had still +the album with all the photos, and remembered me perfectly as "Folie" +with short skirts, bells, mirror, etc. I remember it, of course, quite +well. Some of the costumes were beautiful, particularly those copied +from portraits. After a little while the cardinal turned his attention +to me. He was a nice old man, speaking either French or Italian (both +with a strong accent), and much interested in the guests. He asked me if +I belonged to the corps diplomatique. I said no--we were merely +strangers spending the winter in Rome. He thought there were a good many +strangers at table--he didn't know half the people, not having been long +in Rome; but he knew that there was one man dining whom he had a great +desire to see, Waddington, the late French Premier; perhaps I knew him, +and could point him out. He had always followed his career with great +interest, but there were some things he couldn't understand, "par +exemple son attitude dans la question--" Then as I didn't know what he +might be going to say, I interrupted, and said no one could point out +that gentleman as well as I, as I was Madame Waddington. He looked a +little uncomfortable, so I remarked, "Il diavolo non è tanto nero quant +è dipinto" (The devil is not so black as he is painted), to which he +replied, "Eh, no punto diavolo" (no devil)--was rather amused, and asked +me if I would introduce him to W. after dinner. We then, of course, +talked a little about France, and how very difficult the religious +question was. He asked me where I had learned Italian, so I told him how +many years we had lived in Rome when my brother was the last Minister +from the United States to the Vatican. Sulmona joined in the talk, and +we rather amused ourselves. Sulmona, of course, knew everybody, and +explained some of the people, including members of his own (Borghese) +family, who were very Black and uncompromising. Still, as I told him, +the younger generation is less narrow-minded, more modern. I don't think +they mean to cut themselves off from all participation in the nation's +history. After all, they are all Italians as well as Romans. The foreign +marriages, too, make a difference. I don't think the sons of English and +American mothers could settle down to that life of inaction and living +on the past which the Black Party means in Rome. + +As soon as I could after dinner I got hold of W. (which was difficult, +as he was decidedly surrounded) and introduced him to my cardinal, whose +name I never got, and I went to recall myself to Princess Sulmona. We +had a nice talk first about her people--her father, Count Apponyi, was +Austrian Ambassador in Paris when Marshal MacMahon was President, and +their salon was very brilliant, everybody going to them; the official +world and the Faubourg St. Germain meeting, but not mingling. Then we +talked a little about Rome, and the future of the young generation just +growing up. Of course it is awfully difficult for families like Borghese +and Colonna who have been bound up in the old papal world, and given +popes to Italy, to break away from the traditions of centuries and go in +frankly for "Italia Unita." Do you remember what they used to tell us of +Prince Massimo? When some inquisitive woman asked if they really called +themselves Fabius Maximus, he replied that it had been a family name for +1,400 years. + +The present Prince Massimo is one of the most zealous supporters of the +Pope. The great doors of his gloomy old palace have never been opened +since the King of Italy came to Rome. One can't help admiring such +absolute conviction and loyalty; but one wants more than that in these +days of progress to keep a country alive. + +The evening wasn't long; the cardinals never stay late, and every one +went away at the same time. We again assisted at the ceremony of the big +candles, as of course every cardinal and the Ambassador had to be +conducted downstairs with the same form. It was altogether a very +interesting evening and quite different from any dinner we had ever been +at. I don't think the French cardinals ever dine out in France; I don't +remember ever meeting one. Of course the "nunzio" went everywhere and +always had the "pas"--but one looks upon him more as a diplomatist than +a priest. + +W. enjoyed his evening very much. He is now settled in his arm-chair +with his very disreputable pipe, and has been telling me his +experiences. He found my old cardinal very intelligent, and very well up +in French politics, and life generally. He liked Sulmona, too, very +much; made her acquaintance, but didn't have a chance to talk much to +her, as so many people were introduced to him. There is certainly a +great curiosity to see him--I wonder what people expected to find? He +looks very well, and is enjoying himself very much. I am so glad we did +not stay in Paris; he would have had all sorts of small annoyances, and +as it is, his friends write and want him to come back. He is quite +conscious of the sort of feeling there is about him. First his +appearance--a great many people refuse to believe that he is a +Frenchman; he certainly is not at all the usual French type, with his +fair hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders; and when they realize that it +is he the cautious, doubtful way in which the clericals begin a +conversation with him, as if they expected red-hot anarchist +declarations to fall from his lips, is most amusing. Cardinal Howard +always seeks him out for a talk--but then he doesn't mince matters--goes +straight to the subject he wants to discuss, and told him the other day +he couldn't understand how a man of his English habits and education +should ever have dropped (he didn't say degenerated, but I think he +thought it) into a French republican government. + +W. is very pleased to see the cordial way in which everybody meets me, +and I must say I am rather touched by it myself. I have never had a +moment's disappointment, and I was a little afraid, coming back in such +changed circumstances after so many years. Everybody asks after you, and +some one the other day--Countess Malatesta, I think--asked if you still +wore in Paris your plain black dress and bonnet. I suppose she thought +that even you couldn't have resisted the Paris modiste. It would seem +strange to see you in a hat and feathers. + +Good-night, dearest; W.'s pipe is out, and we are going to bed. + + + HÔTEL DE LONDRES, + March 14, 1880. + +Cannons are firing, drums beating, flags flying in all directions +to-day, dear mother. It is King Humbert's birthday and there is to be a +great revue on the Piazza dell' Indipendenza. We are invited to go and +see it by Turkam Pacha, Turkish Minister, who has an apartment on the +Piazza; but as he told us that we should meet Ismail Pacha (the +ex-Khedive) we thought we had better remain at home. I hardly think it +would be a pleasure to Ismail to meet the man who was one of the chief +instruments in his downfall. My sympathies were rather with the +Khedive--I never quite understood why France and England should have +politely but forcibly insisted upon his leaving his throne and +country--but whenever I raised the question I had always that inert +force the "raison d'état" opposed to me. We crossed him the other day +driving. The carriage full of red-fezzed men attracted my attention, and +our Giuseppe told us who they were. He looked very fat and smiling, +evidently was not rongé by his disasters. Turkam suggested that I should +come alone, but that of course I could not do. + +Mrs. Bailey, who has also an apartment on the Piazza, has asked us to +come to her, but I think I shall stay quietly at home and look out of +the window. I see lots of officers and functionaries, in uniform, +passing in fiacres and riding, and a general migration of the whole city +including the beggars and flower girls of the Spanish Steps toward the +Piazza. W. says he will smoke his cigar walking about in the crowd, and +will see very well. + +[Illustration: Queen Margherita of Italy.] + +I was interrupted by a message from Gert begging me to come to her at +once. Her maid was in such an extraordinary state of violence she +thought she was crazy--and as Eugene was away for a day or two she was +really afraid. I questioned the little footman who brought the note but +he was very non-committal. W. was already off to see the review and I +left him a note explaining where I was and asking him if I didn't get +back to breakfast to come and get me at Gert's. I then started off with +the little footman who had a fiacre waiting. As I entered the court of +the Palazzo Altemps a glimpse of a white, frightened face at the window +told me what Gert's state was. Poor dear, she was terribly upset, and +Eugene's being away is a complication. Her two men-servants are very +devoted, but they evidently feel uncomfortable. She asked me if I would +go with her and see the woman. We found her sitting in a chair in Gert's +dressing-room looking certainly most unpleasant, sullen, and an ugly +look in her eyes. She is a great big Southern woman (French), could +throw Gert out of the window if she wanted to. Gert spoke to her very +gently, saying I had come to see her as I had heard she was not well. +She didn't answer nor move but gave Gert a nasty look--she evidently has +got something against her. I looked at her very steadily--said we were +very sorry she was suffering, which was most evident, and that the best +thing for her would be to rest, attempt no service of any kind and go to +her own room--that we had sent for Dr. Valery who would certainly be +able to relieve her. She didn't answer at first, and looked as if she +would like to spring upon us both, then burst into screams of +abuse--"She would go to her room of course--would leave the house at +once and never come back, etc." I told her I should certainly advise +Mrs. Schuyler to send her away--that evidently the climate did not suit +her, and she would be happier in France. She didn't answer, relapsed +into her sullen silence, and almost immediately Valery appeared. He +insisted very quietly that she should go to her own room (at the other +end of the apartment), and she went off with him, giving an ugly look at +Gert as she passed. It seems she already had had such an attack, less +violent, when they were at Birmingham, but once it was over went on +quite peaceably and didn't seem to realize how ill she had been. Valery +came back to tell us the result of his examination--said she had already +calmed down and was anxious to beg her mistress's pardon, but that she +was of a nervous, dangerous temperament, and at any moment might have a +relapse. Of course she must go, but it is very uncomfortable. I took +Gert out for a drive. W. sent me a line to say he was busy all the +afternoon and would not come unless I wanted him. I think the air and +distraction did her good. The streets had a decidedly festive +appearance. There were a good many flags everywhere, and soldiers still +passing on their way back to their various barracks. We were kept some +time in the Corso seeing a battalion of "bersaglieri" pass. They had +good music and looked very spirited as they moved along with all their +feathers flying. They were rather small, but well set up, and marched in +beautiful time with a light, quick step. We saw some cavalry too, but I +didn't care so much for them. I thought the men looked too tall for the +horses--their legs too near the ground. + +We went to Nazzari's for tea, and the man was so smiling and pleased to +see me that I asked him if he knew me--"Ma sì, certamente, la Signorina +King"--had seen me various times in the Piazza or driving, and hoped I +would come in some day for tea. I went upstairs with Gert when I took +her home, and left every possible instruction with the maître d'hôtel to +look after her, and above all to look after Louise, and not let her +leave her room. The cook's wife will help her dress, as the poor thing +has a dinner. + +We have dined quietly at home. W. was tired, having been out all day. +There is a reception at the French Embassy, but we shan't go. I told W. +about the maid and the exciting morning we had had. He said of course +the woman must go at once--that she had evidently a grudge of some kind +against Gert, and might do her some injury. He had had rather a pleasant +day. He walked about in the crowd seeing everything very well. He was +rather favourably impressed with the Italian soldiers--said they were +small as a rule, but light and active--marched very well. The King +looked well, and was very well received. He thought him a striking +figure on horseback in uniform, that curious type of all the Savoy +Princes. They don't look modern at all, but as if they belonged to +another century. I don't know exactly what it is--one sees the same sort +of face so often in old Spanish and Italian portraits. + +He had breakfasted alone, as I was over with Gert, and then started off +with Monsignor English to meet Father Smith at the Catacombs, where they +had a long delightful afternoon. He says Father Smith is a charming +guide, knows and loves every corner of the Catacombs. His brogue, too, +is attractive, sounds so out of place in that atmosphere of Latin and +old-world tombs and inscriptions. He also told me what pleased me very +much, that the Pope will give me his photograph, signed. Monsignor +English told him to tell me, and he will come and see us to-morrow. +Among our cards was one from the Cardinal Di Pietro--Doyen of the +College of Cardinals--coming first to see W. What would the Protocole +say? + + + March 16, 1880. + +Schuyler has got back, and the maid is a lamb, but is going all the +same. The doctor and the other servants advise it strongly, and I am +sure Gert will find a nice Italian maid here to replace her. W. and I +have done a fair amount of sight-seeing these days, and yesterday he +paid a long visit to Cardinal Nina--Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the +Vatican. He found him reasonable and interesting. I tell him he is +getting quite a "papalino"--he finds the Cardinals so pleasant. He came +and got me after his visit and we went off to the Chambre des Députés. +Visconti Venosta was going to make a great speech attacking the Ministry +on their foreign policy, and they thought there would be a lively +séance. We were in the Diplomatic box--all the Ambassadors were there, +and he had just got up to speak as we got there. They don't speak from +the tribune, as in France. Every man speaks from his own place--and as +he had his back to us we didn't hear very well. He spoke very easily, +and was very well listened to. Occasionally there would be a sort of +growl of disapproval, but on the whole the house was much quieter than +ours. Cairoli looked quite composed when Visconti was pitching into him, +smiling even when he remarked he didn't understand the Italian +character, nor how to use the great powers his position gave him, etc. +Various people came up and spoke to me, among others Countess Celleri, +who seems to be taking up politics now. She has grown a little older, +but is very handsome still, and was evidently a great attraction to all +the young diplomatists who were in the box. W. admired her appearance +and manner very much. We stayed there till 5.30 hoping that Cairoli +would answer, but he didn't, the discussion rather trailed on, so we +went for a turn in the Villa Borghese to get a little air before our +dinner at the British Embassy. It was very crowded, all the swells +driving--King, Queen, and Khedive all in separate carriages. The King in +a small victoria with one aide-de-camp--the Queen in her big landau with +one lady and the red royal liveries; the Khedive in an ordinary +carriage, but conspicuous, as he and his gentlemen all wore the red fez. + +Our Paget dinner was pleasant. They have got a big villa in the Venti +Settembre out toward Porta Pia. There is a large garden with fine trees, +and the entrance and staircase are handsome. We were 36--Italians +chiefly--but a few Diplomatists. I knew almost every one, Calabrinis, +Minghettis, Somaglias (you will remember her name, she was Gwendoline +Doria, and married when we lived in Rome), Serristori, Castagneta and +some Deputies and gentlemen of the Palace who, of course, were strangers +to me. The dining-room is large with a quite round table which must be +very difficult to cover, there were such spaces. I think there must have +been hundreds of roses on the table. The Marquis de Villamarina, head of +the Queen's household, took me in, and I had Uxkull on the other side, +Lady Paget next to him. We all talked together, and I complimented Lady +Paget on the quickness of the service. It was always one of our +preoccupations at the Quai d'Orsay to get through these long official +dinners as soon as possible. W. took in Madame Visconti Venosta, and +they seemed to be getting on swimmingly. After dinner I talked some time +to Countess Somaglia, and asked to be introduced to the Marquise +Villamarina. She told me the Queen would certainly receive us, but +couldn't quite fix the day yet as she had many official rendezvous these +days. When the men came in from smoking I had a few words with +Calabrini, and one or two Deputies were presented, Sella, Lanza, etc., +but I really only _talked_ to Sir Augustus Paget. He said they were +going to have a small ball after Easter, and hoped we should still be +here. I hope we shall, I should like to see the ball-room--they say all +the decoration, painting, flowers, cupids, etc., has been done by Lady +Paget herself. The party broke up early, no one stays late at dinner. +There is always a reception somewhere to which everybody goes. + +We came home as I get tired at night. We begin our day early, and are +never in the house. This morning Gert and I went out shopping in the +Piazza della Minerva and Campo Marzo--it was most amusing. We got two +dresses for her--one of that coarse Roman linen, and a very pretty Roman +silk from Bianchi, the same man who existed in our days. He looked most +smiling and evidently recognised the familiar faces, though he could not +put a name to them. We got the linen in a funny little old shop, low, +and as dark as pitch. I never should have dreamed of going there for +anything, but some one told us it was _the_ place for linen, and we +found at once what we wanted. I bought two Roman sashes--one for Alice +and a ribbon for Nounou. We pottered about for some time looking at the +bits of old brocade and embroidery, some pieces stretched out on the +pavement with a stone at each end to hold them down. There were two +pieces of old rose brocade which looked very tempting, but when I took +them up I saw there were thin places in the silk, and spots--so I +resisted these "occasions." The woman was amusing, tried to make us buy, +but knew quite well her silk was not first-rate. She evidently attached +no importance to the spots (è vecchia), but allowed that the frayed bits +were not encouraging. + +This afternoon we have been again to the Chambre des Députés--Cairoli +was speaking. He has a good voice, we heard him much better than +Visconti Venosta. _I_ didn't find his speech very interesting. There +were all sorts of details and references to despatches and blue books +which were Greek to me, but of course W. liked it and knew the question +thoroughly so he said he would stay and I had much better go and get +some fresh air. The heat was something awful and the box full, so I took +myself off. One of the Austrian secretaries came down with me to look +for the carriage and I started for a solitary turn in the Villa +Borghese. I hadn't gone very far when I met Comtesse Wimpffen alone in +her carriage. We drew up for a little talk, and she proposed I should +send my carriage away and come into hers, which I was delighted to do. +We went for a little walk, and met various friends--Marchesa Theoduli[19] +looking lovely. She was very amusing over the divided state of +society--says she is not allowed to bow to the Queen, and as they meet +almost every day driving and neither of them can pass inaperçue it is +rather awkward. Mrs. Lorillard Spencer came up too, she was walking with +her daughter, Princess Vicovaro, whose husband was "le beau Cenci" of +our days. It was delicious lounging about on the grass under the trees, +after the heat of the Chamber. We stopped at Nazzari's for tea, met +Bibra at the door and invited him to come with us--also Cornélie +Zuylen,[20] who had seen us from the street and rushed in to have a +little talk. She is in Rome for a few days--sight-seeing hard. We had +tea and very good cakes--and I was glad to have a few minutes before +dressing for the Calabrini dinner. + +[19] Née Lily Conrad. + +[20] Now Madame Scheidecker. + +We started off again at 8, and had really a very pleasant evening at +Calabrini's. Their house is not large--they can't dine easily more than +10 people. I was the only lady--the men were Vitelleschi, Sella (their +rising political man) whom W. was delighted to see, a Ruspoli whom I had +never seen before, a brother of the late Prince; and Alphonso Doria who +looks like a tall English boy. Stella is clever enough, decidedly un +homme sérieux, and Calabrini was much pleased to have him for my homme +sérieux. He told us all sorts of stories about "Italia Unita" and +Cavour, and his profound distrust of Louis Napoleon; how, until the very +last moment when the French troops were really at the gates, he was +afraid they wouldn't come. We stayed fairly late, as the talk was +interesting. I don't think there is much real sympathy between the +French and Italians. They are very unlike though they are of the same +race. The Italians seem very excitable when they talk fast and +gesticulate and their eyes flash, but au fond they are calmer than our +people--at least the upper classes; I don't know about the bas peuple. +They say knives play a part in their discussions. Certainly in France +there are always rows when the Italian workmen arrive. They are +generally terrassiers and come in bands when railroads or bridges are +being made. One recognises them at once with their black eyes, white +teeth, red sashes and slouched hats. There is usually a coup de couteau +before the season ends. They work well enough, are light and active, but +always stop to talk--don't keep up a sort of desultory talk over their +work as our men do. + +[Illustration: Queen Margherita and King Humbert.] + + + March 18, 1880. + +Last night we went to the Wimpffens' grand official "ricevimento." All +the street in front of the house was crowded just as it used to be in +the old days--people coming close up to the carriages (going of course + at a foot's pace) and peering in to see the diamonds. There was +nothing like the display of carriages, diamonds, and liveries there +used to be--many fiacres, and many uniforms. Countess Wimpffen looked +very well in white satin, pearls, and diamond tiara, Wimpffen of course +in uniform and his broad ribbon, Cenci (now Prince de Vicovaro) attached +to the Court, was standing at one side of the Ambassadress presenting +all the Court people. The Princess, his wife, stood near by looking very +well, beautifully dressed, with diamonds and large pearl pendants. She was +wearing for the first time her decoration of dame de palais. All the +"White" Roman ladies were there. I saw quantities of people whom I knew. +W. also begins to know the people. He thought the Roman women very +distinguished looking, and the jewels splendid, particularly the pearls. +We stayed quite late, and decidedly amused ourselves. I was rather +interested in seeing when Madame de Wimpffen shook hands and when she +merely bowed. When W. was at the Foreign Office and we had big +receptions I was puzzled sometimes. My impulse was not to shake hands +with the men. W. and Richard thought I ought to shake hands with all the +Deputies, but that seemed a great undertaking and would, I think, have +surprised them, as Frenchmen as a rule are formal, don't shake hands +usually with ladies, but make rather a stiff bow, so I compromised by +shaking hands only with those I knew. + +This afternoon W. and I went out together. We left several cards and +wound up in the Villa Borghese, where we walked about for some time. It +was lovely under the cypress trees, long dark avenues with a fountain at +one end--large vases--bits of half-ruined gateways, columns, and +unexpectedly a sort of rond or opening with fountains, statues, big +stones, all in a heap, and then long stretches of lawn with anemones, +violets, and a pretty little yellow flower I didn't know, all perfectly +neglected and growing wild, but with a wonderful charm. Such a contrast +when we emerged again into the regular promenade and the gay modern life +of Rome of to-day. There were quantities of carriages, three or four +four-in-hands with women in light dresses on the tops of the coaches; +men, principally officers, riding (in uniform, which always makes a gay +note), lots of victorias and open carriages. The Prince of Naples (with +the Royal red liveries) driving with one gentleman. He was dressed in +sailor dress, looked smiling and interested, and bowed all the time. +Three or four carriages filled with pretty girls--English or +American--looking hard at everything, and always bands of black-robed +students, seminarists from the various colleges which abound in Rome. It +is a curious motley crowd--I don't think one would see it anywhere else. +The clerical element is always well to the fore, and in spite of the +changes the Monarchy established, with all the train of courtiers, +deputies, soldiers, and endless functionaries that it brings, one feels +that it is the great centre of Catholicism, and that the long arm of the +Church still retains her hold on her children scattered all over the +world. + +I will finish now as we have come home fairly early from the Pallavicini +reception. We dined at home and started off about 10. We went to get +Gert, and on arriving about 10.30 found ourselves almost the first +people. Felice Malatesta was there, also Del Monte. Both being +"Gardes-Nobles" they can only come early and not run the risk of meeting +any of the Court people nor diplomatists to the Quirinal. Princess +Pallavicini is one of the Queen's ladies, but she is such an old friend +of both gentlemen that they always go to her. Among the first arrivals +was Massari. He and W. and Prince Pallavicini had a nice talk, and it +amused me to see the people come in. There were about 30 (I knew a good +many of the Romans, but of course the Court people and Deputies were +strangers to me), Wimpffens, Noailles, St. Asilea, Somaglias, and a +sprinkling of young diplomatists. As soon as the White diplomatists +began to appear Del Monte and Malatesta departed. I had a talk with +Villamarina who is very musical, also with Vitelleschi. The party broke +up early--there was no music nor dancing (not even the little informal +"tour de valse" there used to be in our days) and we were home before 12 +o'clock. W. enjoyed his evening--talked principally to the men. + + + Saturday, March 20, 1880. + +W. is off this morning with Father Smith to San Clemente. I was lazy as +I was out all day yesterday. In the morning W. and I walked to the +Palazzo dei Cesari, and stayed there two hours walking about and sitting +down in the nice sunny places. It was beautifully bright, a splendid +blue sky, but cold, a sharp wind, very unusual they say for the end of +March. One gets a very fair walk on the Palatine Hill. There is so much +to see, and the little irregular paths running up and down from the +various temples and ruined buildings of all kinds give one plenty of +exercise. It needs a good deal of imagination to reconstruct all the +temples, tribunes, porticoes, and palaces which existed in the days of +Imperial Rome, but there are still bits of coloured marble, faded +frescoes, mosaics, tops of columns and broken statues in every +direction. W. was quite happy--he had already spent a morning there +with Lanciani, and so could show me what was still well enough preserved +for me to understand. The view from the terrace over Rome and the +Campagna was beautiful--the mountains seemed so near. We didn't walk +home as we found a botta which had just brought up a party of +forestieri--French this time, with a young priest, who was evidently the +guide. + + + Sunday, March 21, 1880. + +We went to the American church this morning as Nevin was so anxious we +should see it. There is no very interesting French church--a sort of +Vaudois chapel--so we preferred the Capella Americana. It is a pretty +little church, very full--I should think a good many English as well as +Americans--very good singing and a good sermon, not too long. We had +visitors after lunch, and about 4 started for a drive out to Ponte +Nomentano. We got out and walked about the Campagna for some time. The +view was divine--Frascati and Rocca di Papa on one side, Tivoli on the +other. W. thought the old bridge most picturesque. He recognised it +instantly from the aquarelle that is in the dining-room at home. As it +was Sunday all the country people were out; carts filled with women and +children, boys on donkeys, sitting well back, almost on the tails of the +animals, and all the little courts in front of the various osterias +quite full. There were not exactly costumes, but there was a general +impression of colour. The men had bright coloured sashes and shirts--the +women nearly all red and blue skirts striped, and a coloured +handkerchief on their heads--almost all with long gold ear-rings (some +of the men too had ear-rings--large gold hoops) and a string of coloured +beads around their necks. Everybody talking, laughing, and enjoying +themselves. We stopped at the British Embassy for tea. Lady Paget +receives always Sunday afternoon. There were various carriages at the +door, and the villa looked pretty. The tea-table was on a broad palier +at the head of the stairs. It was very well arranged with screens +"cassoni," plants, arm-chairs--very original and attractive. I went in +first to the drawing-room and had a talk with Lady Paget, then adjourned +to the palier with Princess Sciarra and Countess Wimpffen, and we had a +very pleasant hour. It was amusing to see all the people coming up the +broad staircase. There were of course a great many I didn't know, as +besides all the Court set and political people there were many English, +all arriving for Holy Week. Mrs. Bruce, Madame Visconti Venosta, Gert, +Marquise Chigi came and joined us. I was quite horrified when I found +how late it was. We had just time to dress and go and dine with the +Geoffroys at the Palazzo Farnese. The evening was very pleasant; +decidedly archeological and scientific, but the men were all clever and +talked so well that they would have made any subject interesting. We had +Visconti, de Rossi, Lanciani, and some of the young men of the École +Française. They all love Rome and know every stone. W. was quite in his +element, talked a great deal himself, and was much interested in their +excavations and all the curious things they are finding all the time. I +meant to leave early and go to Gert who had a few people at dinner, but +it was eleven o'clock before any one moved, and we went quietly home. + + + Good Friday, March 26, 1880. + +I was too tired to-day to do anything, as yesterday we were out all day. +W. and I walked about in the morning, going into all sorts of churches +whenever we saw one open. There were always people, and in the smaller +churches they looked devout and absorbed, but the crowd of strangers in +the large, better known basilicas took away any religious feeling. It +all seemed a great show, which is practically what Holy Week is in Rome. +They say they have not had so many foreigners in years. Last night the +"gérant" begged us not to come downstairs until 8 o'clock, or even a +quarter past, as they needed all the small tables for the table-d'hôte. +It was not so very crowded this morning as we breakfast at 12.30, much +earlier than the foreigners, who are usually English and come in for +luncheon at 1.30. + +Yesterday afternoon we went to St. Peter's and found ourselves in a long +file of carriages going the same way; also all kinds of pedestrians, +priests, nuns, soldiers, artists, Cook's tourists, etc. W. was rather +horrified at the crowd in the church, and the regular "bousculade" at +the big doors. There was to be very good singing at one of the small +chapels, but it was already so full that we couldn't get in, though we +had cards from one of the Monsignori. We tried to make our way in but it +was utterly impossible, and then stood outside, thinking we might hear; +but the people all talked so much that we heard nothing except every now +and then a few notes in that curious, high, unnatural voice of the Papal +Choir. Two young German priests, with keen intelligent faces, were so +put out--begged the people near not to talk--"in zehn Minuten ist alles +vorüber" (in ten minutes it will be all over). All Rome was walking +about the church, talking and looking about as if they were in a great +hall of some kind--a crowd of strangers pushing, jostling, and trying to +get up to the High Altar, or the statue of St. Peter where all the +faithful were kissing the toe. It was certainly not solemn nor edifying, +except when we came upon a quiet corner, with some old chapel filled +with tombs of dead Romans, Popes or Princes, who had played a great part +in their day. That took us back into the past, and we could realize that +we were really in St. Peter's. I tried to show W. the part that was shut +off for the great Ecumenical Council under Pio Nono, but I couldn't +remember exactly. We shall come back another day with Father Smith who +will know all about it. I did find the Stuart monument with the busts of +Charles Edward and Cardinal York. People kept pouring into the church, +but it is so enormous that, except at certain places, it was quite easy +to circulate. All the women (except a few stray tourists) were in black, +and every now and then one saw a long file of séminaristes, also in +black, but with a coloured sash to mark their nationality. I think the +Americans wear blue--the French are quite black--no colour. We talked to +quantities of people--it was like an enormous reception. I was very +tired when we finally came out, as of course we were walking and +standing about all the time. There is no aisle with regular seats as in +most churches--merely a few prie-Dieu inside the side chapels. The drive +home was lovely--we went at a walk almost all the time, there were so +many carriages. + +I went out after all this afternoon with W. and Monsignor English to St. +John Lateran, where they were singing a Miserere of Cappoci's. It is +most strange, weird music, and the voices of the men are so unlike +anything one hears elsewhere. There was always the same crowd. I will +say Cook does his business thoroughly--wherever there is anything to see +or hear he pilots all his band. After the Miserere was over we stood +some time at the foot of the Scala Santa. It was black with people going +up on their knees, saying a prayer at each step (I think there are 30) +and some of them did look serious and absorbed. They were principally +peasants--every now and then some well-dressed bourgeois. Monsignor +English told us we would be surprised at the class of people (society) +who come early, before the great crowd of sight-seers. + +We went back to the Palazzo Altemps, picking up Count Palfy on the way, +where Gert had promised us tea and hot cross buns from Spillman's (very +good they were). + +We found a note from the Quirinal when we came home saying the Queen +would receive us to-morrow at 2.30. Desprez came and sat some time. He +told W. all that was going on in Paris--the Ministry as usual struggling +against the Radicals who are always wanting to suppress the French +Embassy at the Vatican. It doesn't make the position of the Ambassador +very pleasant, but Desprez is very wise, has had long training at the +Foreign Office, and will certainly do all he can to conciliate and keep +things straight. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + Saturday, March 27, 1880. + +It was raining this morning, and I was very glad. The dust was getting +most disagreeable in one's eyes and throat, and covering everything. I +am glad, too, that it is cool, decidedly, as I wanted to wear my blue +velvet. If it had been a bright warm day it would have looked dark and +heavy. It is four o'clock--we have just come in from our audience, and I +will write at once while the impression is fresh. W. has a "rendezvous" +with some of the French Institute people, and I shall not see him again +until dinner time. We got to the palace (a great ugly yellow building, +standing high) quickly enough, as there was no one in the streets at +that hour, and drove into the court-yard to a handsome entrance and +staircase. There were a few soldiers about, but not much movement. A +carriage came in behind us, and just as we were going upstairs some one +called my name. It was Bessie Brancaccio,[21] who had also an audience +with the Queen. She had come to thank her for her appointment as dame de +palais. I was glad to have just that glimpse of her, as they are not in +Rome this winter. Their beautiful house is not ready for them, so they +have been spending the winter in Nice. We walked through a large +anteroom where there were three or four servants and an "écuyer," and in +the first salon we were received by the Comtesse Marcello, one of the +Queen's ladies, a Venetian and a great friend of Mary's, and the +gentleman-in-waiting, whose name I didn't master. We talked for a few +minutes--she said a lady was with the Queen. The room was handsome, +prettily furnished and opened into another--three or four, in fact, all +communicating. After about ten minutes we saw a lady come out of the end +room, the door of which was open, so Comtesse Marcello ushered us +through the suite. We went to the corner room, quite at the end, where +the Queen was waiting standing. We went through the usual ceremony. The +Comtesse Marcello made a low curtsey on the threshold, saying, "I have +the honour to present his Excellency, M. Waddington and Madame +Waddington," and instantly retired. The Queen was standing quite at the +end of the room (a lovely, bright corner room, with lots of windows and +a magnificent view over Rome--even on a dull day it looked cheerful and +spacious). I had ample time for my three curtseys. She let us come quite +close up to her, and then shook hands with us both and made us sit +down--I next to her on the sofa, W. in an arm-chair in front. I found +her rather changed since I had seen her. She has lost the girlish +appearance she had so long, and her manner was nervous, particularly at +first. When she began to talk and was interested and animated she was +more like what I remembered her as Princess Marguerite. She was dressed +in bronze satin, with a flowered brocade "casaque," and one string of +splendid pearls. She told W. she was very pleased to see him, remembered +that I had lived in Rome before my marriage, and asked if I still sang, +Vera had talked so much about the music in Casa Pierret, and the trios +we used to sing there with Lovatelli and Malatesta. The talk was most +easy, about everything, generally in French, but occasionally breaking +into English, which she speaks quite well. W. was delighted with +her--found her most interesting and "très instruite"--not at all the +banal talk one expects to have with sovereigns--in fact, I quite forgot +we were having a royal audience. It was a very pleasant visit to a +charming woman, in a pretty room with all sorts of beautiful pictures +and "bibelots" about. While we were still there the Prince of Naples[22] +came in. We both got up; she told him to shake hands with W. and to kiss +me, and to ask me how old my little boy was, which he did quite simply +and naturally. He told his mother he was going to ride. I asked him if +he had a nice pony, to which he replied in English, "Oh, yes, jolly," +and asked if my little boy rode. I said not yet; he was only two years +old. The child looked intelligent, but delicate. They say his mother +makes him work too much, is so ambitious for him; and he has rather that +look. The Princes of Savoy have always been soldiers rather than +scholars, but I suppose one could combine the two. The Queen also +spoke about the Bunsens, and "little Beatrice";[23] said she was very +fond of Mary. I was very sorry when the audience was over and she +dismissed me, saying she had people waiting. + +[21] Princess Brancaccio, born Field. + +[22] The present King. + +[23] Now Mrs. Charles Loftus Townshend, of Castle Townshend, Ireland. + +[Illustration: Queen Margherita and the Prince of Naples (Present King +of Italy) in 1880.] + +We found Bessie and one or two other ladies in the first salon when we +came out, waiting their turn. Comtesse Marcello was delighted with all +W. said about the Queen. He was very enthusiastic, for him, as he is not +generally gushing. I told her she had remembered that I had lived some +years in Rome as Mary King, and she said: "Oh, yes, she remembered you +and all your family perfectly, and knew that you had married M. +Waddington." + + + Tuesday, March 30, 1880. + +It is much pleasanter to-day--quite Spring-like, and the Piazza is full +of people. I have drawn my little writing table close up to the window, +and I am afraid my correspondence will suffer, as there is always so +much to see. Almost all the little botte have departed, in fact W., who +has just started off with Visconti for the Vatican to look at the coins, +took the last one. Cook's two big omnibuses have also just started for +Tivoli--crammed. Some of the people dashed into Nazzari's, and +reappeared with little paper bags, filled evidently with goodies. + +Yesterday W. and I breakfasted again at the Noailles', and they took us +over the palace (Farnese) which is quite splendid, such enormous rooms +and high ceilings. The great gallery with the famous Carracci frescoes +looked beautiful in the daylight, and we saw them much better. The +colours are still quite wonderful, hardly faded, some of the figures so +graceful and life-like. Madame de Noailles' bed-room and dressing-room +are huge. The enormous bedstead hardly took up any room at all. She +said it took her some little time to accustom herself to such very +spacious apartments, she almost had the impression of sleeping in the +streets. + +We went for a drive afterward out of Porta Maggiore to look at the +Baker's tomb--do you remember it, a great square tomb with rows of +little cells? We wandered about on foot for some time, looked at the +bits that remain of the old Roman road, and then drove out some distance +toward the arches of the Claudian Viaduct. It is the road we shall take +when we go to Tivoli. It was not quite clear, so the hills hadn't the +beautiful colour they have when the sun is on them--but the grey +atmosphere seems to suit the Campagna, which is after all a long stretch +of barren, desolate country broken at intervals by the long lines of +aqueducts--every now and then a square tower standing out straight and +solitary against the sky, and hardly visible until one comes close upon +it, and a few shepherds' huts, sometimes with a thatched roof, sometimes +what remains of an old tomb, with a dried-up old woman apparently as old +as the tomb spinning in the doorway. We met very few vehicles of any +description. + +We dined at the Palazzo della Consultà where Cairoli, Foreign Minister, +lives. There were not many women--Madame de Noailles, Gert, Madame de +Sant' Onofrio (wife of one of Cairoli's secretaries), and quantities of +men. They divided the honours--Cairoli took in Madame de +Noailles--Madame Cairoli, W. The Préfet of Rome, Gravina, took me and +put me on Cairoli's left. We all talked Italian, and I rather enjoyed +myself. I told Gravina how much I preferred "Roma com' era," that the +new buildings and the boulevards and the bustle and the quantities of +people had spoiled the dear, dead, old Rome of our days--to which he +replied "but you, Madame, are an American born, you surely can't be +against progress." Oh, no, I like progress in my own country, but +certainly not here. Rome was never intended to be modern and +go-ahead--it didn't go with the monuments and the ruins and the +traditions of old Rome. However he answered me quite seriously that not +only every country, but every individual, must "marcher," or else they +would "dépérir." Cairoli joined in the conversation, others too, and +there was rather an interesting discussion as to how much could be left +to sentiment, association of the past, etc., when an old historic city +was being transformed into a busy, modern, political centre. + +After dinner Madame Cairoli came and sat down by me, and was pleasant +enough. She looked handsome--very wide awake--still continues to call me +Madame la Comtesse, so I have given up correcting her. She is well up on +all subjects, particularly art, music, pictures, etc. She was rather +amusing over the state of society and all the great Roman ladies whom +she didn't know (there is such a division between the Government people +and the old Romans) but said she had a very pleasant entourage with all +the diplomatists and the distinguished strangers (with a little bow to +me) and really didn't notice the absence of the grandes dames. She asked +me about my audience with the Queen--had we been able to talk to her at +all. She had been so tired lately and nervous that any attempt at +conversation was an effort. I told her that on the contrary she talked a +great deal, and that I didn't find her changed. + +Maffei came up and talked--asked me if I really liked Rome better as it +used to be--I must surely prefer life to stagnation. He speaks English +well, and likes to speak. They tell me that all the present generation +of Romans speak English perfectly--much better than French. There was a +small reception after dinner, some of the young diplomatists and +political men. We came away early--10.30, and plunged into our Paris +letters, of which we found quantities. + + + Friday, April 2, 1880. + +It is raining quite hard this morning, so I will write and not go out +until after breakfast. Yesterday was beautiful, and we had a charming +day at the races. I drove out with Madame de Wimpffen in her +victoria--W. and Wimpffen together. I wore my brown cloth with the coat +trimmed with gold braid and a great bunch of yellow roses on my hat, but +I was sorry I hadn't sent for something lighter, as almost all the women +were in white. I had thought of having two dresses sent by the "valise" +(I hadn't time to have them sent by ordinary express). I consulted +Noailles, who was very amiable, and said he would do what he could, but +that the rules were very strict now for the "valise," as there had been +such abuse. I rather protested, so he remarked with a twinkle in his eye +that I had better speak to my husband, as he was the Minister who had +insisted on a reform being made--he added that it was Princess Lise +Troubetzkoi who made the final scandal--that when St. Vallier was French +Ambassador to Berlin she was always sending things to Petersburg, via +Berlin, by the "valise." When the "petit paquet" she had spoken of +turned out to be a grand piano there was a row, and W., who was then +Foreign Minister, decreed that henceforth no "paquets" of any kind that +were not on official business could be sent by the "valise." I suppose a +pink tulle ball dress would hardly come under that head. + +The Queen was there looking very well and bright, dressed in light grey +with a big black hat--very becoming. There were a great many pretty +women. We came away before the end and drew up a little distance from +the gate where a long string of carriages was waiting to see the Queen +pass. The cortège was simple--first two dragoons, then a "piqueur" and +her carriage with four horses, postillion and two servants behind in the +scarlet liveries. The Countess Marcello was seated alongside of the +Queen--two gentlemen (I couldn't make out who they were) facing her; a +second carriage with two horses with two gentlemen in it followed, all +very well turned out. The scarlet liveries make a great effect, one sees +them from such a distance. The crowd was very respectful--not +particularly enthusiastic. The Queen bowed right and left very prettily. +I talked to lots of people at the races--among others to Madame Alphonse +Rothschild who is here for a few days, and to Mesdames Somaglia, +Rignano, Celleri, etc. I walked about a little with Sant' Asilea, but it +was not easy to move--most of the ladies stayed quietly in the tribunes. +We stopped at Nazzari's coming back and W. treated us all to tea--then +we sent our carriage away as we wanted it at night for the Teano ball, +and we walked about in the Corso, looking at all the turn-outs. The +Teano four-in-hand was very handsome, and there were one or two others +we couldn't make out which were very well turned out--some of the +victorias, too, very smart, with handsome stepping horses. The Corso was +full of people waiting to see the "retour"--it looked so gay. About +eleven we went off to the Teano ball, which was most brilliant--all the +société there. Again I was sorry I hadn't sent for another dress as my +red satin looked heavy and wintry. Princess Teano in white, with a +diamond tiara, looked charming. Of course all the young generation who +were dancing were strangers to me, but I met many old friends. I had +quite a talk with Doria who wanted to be introduced to W. whom he had +not yet seen. We stayed until 1.30, and when we came away they were just +beginning the cotillon. In the old days we used to arrive at the balls +about 12.30 or 1 o'clock just so as to have one waltz before the +cotillon which was usually the best of the evening, as all the serious +people had gone, and the mammas were at supper fortifying themselves for +the long hours before them, so the ball-room was comparatively empty and +one could get a good turn. + + + Saturday, April 3, 1880. + +It is a beautiful morning, so was yesterday, an ideal Roman day--the sky +so blue and just a soft little air that makes the awnings over the shops +opposite flap lazily and indisposes one to any exertion. We walked about +a little before breakfast, inspected the Fountain of Trevi where Neptune +sits in state, looking at the rush of water falling over the rocks and +splashing into the great marble basin. The water is beautifully clear, +and sparkled and glistened in the sunlight. There were a good many +people about--girls with pitchers on their heads, old men and women with +pails and cans, all after water. The Trevi water is considered the best +in Rome and is in great demand. We loitered about in the small narrow +streets that branch off in every direction, always seeing something +interesting. I think we lost our way as we found ourselves down by +Trajan's Column and Forum, but we managed to get back to the Piazza di +Spagna in good time for breakfast. + +We started again in the afternoon for tea at the Farnesina Palace with +the Duke di Ripalda. We stopped at the Farnese Palace to pick up Madame +de Noailles, who was coming too, and we had a charming afternoon. +Ripalda took us all over the Palace, and W. was delighted with the +frescoes, particularly Sodoma's. The garden was lovely, though they have +cut off a great piece for their quays and works along the river. They +are enlarging the Tiber, making great walls, etc. The City of Rome gave +Ripalda a large sum of money, but he is much disgusted as it had taken a +good bit off his garden. More people came in--the wife of the Peruvian +Minister, a very pretty woman, and one or two men. We had tea in the +long gallery with all Raphael's and Carracci's beautiful gods and cupids +over our heads. How many different scenes they must have looked down +on--not always so peaceful as this quiet party. + + + Saturday evening, April 3, 1880, 10 P.M. + +We went to the German Embassy on our way home to write ourselves down +for the German Crown Princess, who had just arrived there for a short +stay. I hope I shall see her--W. admires her so much. He saw her often +when he was in Berlin for the Congress, and found her most sympathetic +and charming. Turkam Bey came in just before dinner and had a great deal +to say about the Khedive, and what France would have done if he had +resisted, retired up the country, and obliged the French and English to +depose him by force. It was evident that the suite had been talking to +him, and talking very big--he was very anxious to have a categorical +answer. W. said very quietly they had never considered that emergency, +as it was quite evident from the beginning that the Khedive had no +intention of resisting. "Cependant, monsieur, s'il avait voulu," etc., +so W. could only repeat the same thing--that they had never been anxious +on that point. + +We dined quietly at home, and in the course of the evening there came a +note from Keudell, the German Ambassador (whom we don't either of us +know), saying that "par ordre de Son Altesse Impériale la Princesse +Héréditaire d'Allemagne" he had the honour to ask M. and Madame +Waddington to dine to-day at 7.30 at the Embassy "en petit comité." We +should find a small party--the Wimpffens and Pagets. The Princess only +arrived on Thursday, and W. is much pleased that she should have thought +of us at once. Keudell has been ill with gout ever since we have been +here. We have never once seen him, but various people told W. he +regretted so much not seeing him, that the other day we tried to find +him, but the porter said he was still in his room. + + + Sunday, April 4, 1880. + +Our dinner was charming. I was not a bit disappointed in the Princess. +W. had talked so much about her that I had rather made up my mind I +should find her very formal and German--and she isn't either one or the +other. We left a little after seven (I wearing black satin). I am so +bored with always wearing the same dresses. If I had had any idea we +should go out every night I should have brought much more, but W. spoke +of "a nice quiet month in Rome, sight-seeing and resting." We were the +first to arrive. Keudell was at the door, introduced himself, and took +us into the large salon, where Madame Keudell was waiting. She looked +slight and rather delicate, and he really ill, so very white. He said he +had had a long, sharp attack of gout--had not been out for some time, +and was in the salon for the first time the day the Princess arrived. +While we were waiting for the others to come he showed us the rooms and +pictures. I recognised at once one of those pretty child's heads by Otto +Brandt like the one we have. He was much interested in knowing that we +had bought one so long ago, he thought Brandt had so much talent. There +was a grand piano, of course, as he is a fine musician. The Pagets and +Wimpffens came together almost, and as soon as they were there the +Princess came in. She had one lady with her and a "chambellan"--Count +Seckendorff. She was dressed in black, with a handsome string of pearls. +She is short, and rather stout, carries herself very well and moves +gracefully. We all made low curtseys--the men kissed her hand, Sir +Augustus Paget just touching the floor with his knee, the first time I +had seen a man kneel to any one in a salon. She received W. most +charmingly, and was very gracious to me--asked me at once why I didn't +accompany my husband to Berlin. I said, "Principally because he didn't +want me," which was perfectly true. He said when he was named +Plenipotentiary that it was all new ground to him, that he would have +plenty to do, and didn't want to have a woman to look after. He rather +protests now, but that is really what he said, and I certainly didn't +go. The dinner was pleasant enough. The Princess talked a great deal, +and as the party was small, general conversation was quite easy. The +talk was all in French, which really was very amiable for us--we were +the only foreigners present, and naturally if we hadn't been there every +one would have spoken German. After dinner she made a short "cercle," +standing in the middle of the room, all of us around her, then made a +sign to W. to come and talk to her, sat down on the big sofa, he on a +chair next, and they talked for about half an hour. We all remained +standing. I asked Keudell about his piano. He told me that he liked the +Erard grand very much, but that they didn't stand travelling well. In a +few moments the Princess told us all to sit down, particularly Keudell, +who looked quite white and exhausted. I sat by Madame Keudell, and as +she is very fond of Italy, and Rome in particular, we got on very well. +When the Princess had finished her talk with W. she came over and sat +down by me--was most charming and easy. She has the Queen's beautiful +smile, and such an expressive face. We spoke English; she asked me if I +had become very French (I wonder?)--that she had always heard American +women were so adaptable, taking at once their husband's nationality when +they married foreigners. She had always remained very fond of England +and English ways--the etiquette and formality of the German Court had +tried her at first. She asked me, of course, how many children I +had--said one was not enough. "If anything should happen to him, what +would your life be?" and then spoke a great deal about the son she lost +last summer by diphtheria, said he was the most promising of all her +children, and she sometimes thought she never could be resigned. I said +that her life was necessarily so full, she had so many obligations of +all kinds, had so many to think about, that she would be taken out of +herself. "Ah, yes, there is much to do, and one can't sit down with +one's sorrow, but the mother who has lost her child carries a heavy +heart all her life." It was all so simply said--so womanly. She said she +was very glad to meet W. again, thought he looked very well--was sure +the change and rest were doing him good. She regretted his departure +from the Quai d'Orsay and public life generally. I told her he was still +a Senator, and always interested in politics. I didn't think a few +months' absence at this time would affect his political career much, and +that he found so much to interest him that he really didn't miss the +busy, agitated life he had been leading for so long. She said she +intended to spend a quiet fortnight here as a tourist, seeing all she +could. She then talked to all the other ladies, and about ten said +she was tired and would go to her own rooms. She shook hands with the +ladies, the men kissed her hand, and when she got to the door she turned +and made a very pretty curtsey to us all. We stayed on about a quarter +of an hour. + +[Illustration: Victoria, Crown Princess of Germany.] + +The Wimpffens have arranged a dinner for her on Thursday (to which she +said she would like to have us invited), just the same party with the +addition of the Minghettis. As we were going on to Madame Minghetti's +reception, Countess Wimpffen asked us to tell them to keep themselves +disengaged for Thursday, as she wanted them for dinner to meet the +Princess--she would write, of course, but sent the message to gain time. +They brought in tea and orangeade, and I talked a little to Count +Seckendorff--he speaks English as well as I do. He told me the Princess +was quite pleased when she heard W. was here, and hoped to see him +often. We hadn't the courage to stay any longer--poor Keudell looked +ready to drop--and started off to the Minghettis'. + +It was a beautiful, bright night, and the Capitol and all its +surroundings looked gigantic, Marcus Aurelius on his big bronze horse +standing out splendidly. We found a large party at Madame +Minghetti's--principally political--not many women, but I should think +every man in Rome. Alfieri, Visconti Venosta, Massari, Bonghi, Sella, +Teano, etc. It was evidently a "centre" for the intelligent, serious men +of all parties. There was quite a buzz, almost a noise, of talking as we +came in--rather curious, every one seemed to be talking hard, almost +like a meeting of some kind. They were all talking about the English +elections, which apparently are going dead against the Ministry. +Minghetti said it was quite their own fault--a cabinet that couldn't +control the elections was not fit to live. Of course their time was +over--there was no use in even attempting a fight--they had quite lost +their hold on the country. Madame Minghetti seems as keen about politics +as her husband. She has many friends in England. I told her about the +Wimpffen dinner--they will go, of course. She asked a great deal about +the Princess--said she was very glad she had decided to come to Rome, +that she couldn't help being interested and distracted here, which she +needed, as she was so upset by her son's death. We talked music--she +sings very well--and we agreed to sing together some afternoon, perhaps +at the German Embassy, as Keudell is a beautiful musician and loves to +accompany. + +Mrs. Bruce was there and I sat down by her a little while, looking at +the people. She pointed out various political swells, and a nice young +Englishman (whose name I didn't catch) joined us, saying he wished he +understood Italian, as it was evident the group of men around Minghetti +was discussing English politics, and he would so like to know what they +were saying. Mrs. Bruce told him it was just as well he didn't +understand, as, from the echoes that came to her, she didn't believe it +was altogether complimentary to John Bull. I don't believe political men +of any nationality ever approve any ministry. It seems to me that as +soon as a man becomes a cabinet minister, or prominent in any way, he is +instantly attacked on all sides. + +We didn't stay very long, as we had promised to go for a few moments to +the Farnese Palace, where the Noailles had also a reception. I had some +difficulty in extracting W. from the group of men. He naturally was much +interested in all the talk, and as almost all the men were, or had been +ministers, their criticisms were most lively. They appealed to him every +now and then, he having been so lately in the fray himself, and he was +a funny contrast with his quiet voice and manner to the animated group +of Italians, all talking at once, and as much with their hands as with +their tongues. + +It was very late--after eleven--but we thought we would try for the +Noailles, and there were still many carriages at the door when we drove +up. We met so many people coming away, on the stairs and in the long +anteroom, that it didn't seem possible there could be any one left, but +the rooms were quite full still. The palace looked regal--all +lighted--and there were enough people to take away the bare look that +the rooms usually have. They are very large, very high, and scarcely any +furniture (being only used for big receptions), so unless there are a +great many people there is a look of emptiness, which would be difficult +to prevent. Madame de Noailles was no longer at the door, but I found +her seated in the end room with a little group of ladies, all smoking +cigarettes, and we had an agreeable half hour. Madame Visconti Venosta +was there, and another lady who was presented to me--Madame Pannissera, +wife of one of the "grand-maîtres de cérémonie" at court. W. was at once +absorbed into the circle of men, also talking politics, English +elections, etc., but he was ready to come away when I made the move. +Noailles insisted upon taking me to the buffet, though I told him I had +done nothing but eat and drink since 7.30 (with a little conversation +thrown in). It was rather amusing walking through the rooms and seeing +all the people, but at 12.30 I struck. I really was incapable of another +remark of any kind. + +I will finish this very long letter to-day. I wonder if you will ever +have patience to read it. I am sure I shouldn't if it were written to +me. I hope I shall remember all the things I want to tell when we get +back--so much that one can't write. My black satin was right--the +Princess was in mourning, the other ladies equally in black. W. wants me +to be photographed in the black dress and long veil I wore at the Pope's +audience. He found it very becoming, and thinks Francis ought to have +one; but it is so difficult to find time for anything. + + + Saturday, April 10, 1880. + +We had a nice musical evening the other night at Gert's. All the vieille +garde turned up, Vera, Malatesta, Del Monte (with his violoncello), and +Grant. We sang all the evening, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I was +sorry Edith Peruzzi couldn't come, as she sings so well, and it would +have been nice to have another lady. She has been nursing her mother, +who has been ill (so ill that they sent for Edith to come from +Florence), but she is getting all right now, and I don't think Edith +will stay much longer. Charles de Bunsen has arrived for a few days. We +took for him a room at our hotel, and we have been doing all manner of +sight-seeing. Thursday morning we went to the Accademia of San Luca, +where we had not yet been. It was rather interesting, but there is much +less to see than in the other galleries. There are some good busts and +modern pictures--a pretty Greuze. + +[Illustration: Gardens of the Villa Torlonia, Formerly Villa Conti, +Frascati, Opposite the Villa Marconi, Where we Spent the Summer of +1867.] + +Our dinner at the Wimpffens' was very pleasant. We arrived very +punctually at 7.20 and found the Keudells already there. He told us the +Princess was very tired, she had been all day in the galleries standing, +looking at pictures, and he didn't think she would stay late. He still +looked very tired and pale, but said he was much better and that the +royal visit did not tire him at all. The Princess was very considerate +and went about quite simply with her lady and Count Seckendorff. The +other guests arrived almost immediately--the Pagets, Minghettis, +Gosselins of the British Embassy, and Maffei, Under-Secretary of the +Foreign Office. About a quarter to eight the Princess arrived with her +lady and chamberlain, she was dressed in black, with a long string of +pearls. We went at once to dinner (which was announced as she entered +the room), Wimpffen of course taking the Princess, who had Minghetti on +her other side. Sir Augustus Paget took me, and I had Gosselin on the +other side. W. sat next Countess Wimpffen. The talk was easy and +animated, quite like the other day at the Palazzo Caffarelli (German +Embassy). The Princess talked a great deal to Minghetti, principally +art, old Rome, pictures, etc.--she herself draws and paints very well. +After dinner she sat down at once (said she didn't usually mind +standing, but the long days in the galleries tried her), made us all sit +down, and for about half an hour she was most charming, talking about +all sorts of things, and keeping the conversation general. When she had +had enough of _female_ conversation she said something in a low tone to +Lady Paget, who got up, crossed the room to where W. was standing, and +told him the Princess wished to speak to him. He came at once, of +course--she made him sit down, and they talked for a long time. She is +naturally a Protestant, but very liberal, and quite open to new ideas. +She was much interested in French Protestants--had always heard they +were very strict, very narrow-minded, in fact, rather Calvinistic. She +kept W. until she went away, early--about ten--as she was tired. She has +an extraordinary charm of manner. Her way of taking leave of us was so +pretty and gracious. She dines quietly at the British Embassy to-morrow +night, and when Lady Paget asked her who she would have, said: "Cardinal +Howard and Mr. Story." She wants to see all manner of men. + +Yesterday we made our first excursion to Frascati, and most unpleasant +it was. We had chosen our day so as to have Charles Bunsen with us, and +one also when we had nothing in the evening, as one is so tired after +being out all day. We started about 9--in the carriage--W. and I, Gert +and Charles. It looked grey (was perfectly mild) and rather threatening, +but the hotel man and coachman assured us we should have no rain--merely +a covered day which would be more agreeable than the bright sun. +Schuyler promised to come out by train for breakfast. The drive out was +delicious, out of the Porta San Giovanni, the whole road lined with +tombs, arches, ruined villas, always the aqueducts on one side, and the +blue hills directly in front of us. The sun came out occasionally +through little bits of white clouds, and the Campagna looked enchanting, +almost alive. We passed close to the Osteria del Pino--where the meet +used to be often in old hunting days. It was so familiar as we drove up +the steep hill and recognised all the well-known places--the Pallavicini +villa at the side of the road, half-way up the hill; the Torlonia +gardens, and the gateway of the funny little town. We went straight to +the hotel, the same one as in our day, Albergo di Londra (that shows +what a haunt of "forestieri" it is), ordered breakfast, and then sallied +out for a walk. + +The little piazza before the hotel was filled with donkeys and boys, all +clamouring to us to have a ride, expatiating on the merits of their +beasts, and making a perfect uproar. We explained to the porter that we +wanted beasts of some description to go up to Tusculum, and he said he +would arrange it for us. However, the boys pursued us to the gate, +dragging their donkeys after them. We went first to the Palazzo Marconi, +which is just outside the gates opposite the Torlonia villa. I wanted so +much to see the old house again, it was inhabited by a Russian family, +and at first there seemed some little difficulty about getting in, but +W. sent in his card, and after a little parley a servant appeared and +took us all over the house, except the dining-room where the family were +breakfasting. It looks exactly the same--only much more neglected and +uninhabited. The broken steps were more broken, the bright paint more +faded, and the look of discomfort much accentuated. I showed W. the room +where father died. It looked much more bare and empty, but the pink +walls were still there, and the door open giving on the terrace. How it +brought back those long, hot nights when we tried to hope--knowing quite +well there was no chance--but never daring to put the fear into words. +W. was much struck by the lonely, desolate look of the whole place. The +little salon which we had made so comfortable with tables, rugs, and +arm-chairs brought from Rome, looked perfectly bare--no furniture except +one or two red velvet benches close to the wall, and rather an ugly +marble table with nothing on it. The big round salon with its colossal +statues in their marble niches and the marble benches, was exactly the +same--only no piano. We went through the bed-rooms at the other end (our +three), the marble bath still in the middle one, which used to be +Henrietta's, but there was no trace of occupation, neither beds, washing +apparatus, tables, nor chairs. I suppose the "locataires" live in the +two rooms at the other end. There wasn't much furniture there, but I did +see some beds. We went out into the little raised garden behind the big +statue, but it was a wild waste of straggling vines and weeds. It was +rather sad--nothing changed and yet so different. + +I explained our life to W.--our morning or evening rides, our music, +which was enchanting in the big salon--so mysterious, just a little +glow of light around the piano and other instruments, and the rest of +the great room almost dark, the white statues looking so huge and grim +in the half light. I was rather nervous the first nights out here when I +had to cross that room to go to mine with a very small Roman lamp in my +hand--but I soon got accustomed to my surroundings, and it seemed quite +natural to live our daily, modern life in that milieu of frescoes, +marble statues, hanging gardens, and strangers. I tried to find some +little flower in the mass of weeds in the garden, but there wasn't one, +so I send these periwinkles and anemones picked in the Villa Torlonia, +where we walked about for some time under the splendid old ilex trees. + +[Illustration: Tomb of Viniciano, Between Frascati and Tusculum.] + +Breakfast, a fairly good one, was ready when we got back to the hotel, +but no Schuyler. I think he was a wise man and foresaw what was going to +happen. Quite a number of strangers had come out by train--all English +and American, no one we knew--and the table-d'hôte was quite full. As +soon as the gentlemen had had their coffee, about 1.30, we started for +Tusculum, Gert and I on donkeys with two pretty, chattering Italian boys +at their heads--Bunsen on a stout little mountain pony, and W. on foot. +He wouldn't hear of a donkey, and preferred to walk with the guide. We +climbed up the steep little path, between high walls at first, then +opening out on the hillside to the amphitheatre, which we saw quite +well. The arena and seats are very well preserved. There are still rows +of steps, slippery and green with moss. We went on again toward Cicero's +Villa, and for a moment the clouds cleared a little, and we saw what the +view might be straight over the Campagna to Rome (the dome of St. +Peter's just standing out--on one side the hills with the little +villages where we have ridden so often, Monte Compatri, Monte Porzio, +the Campi d'Annibale and Monastery of Monte Cave in the distance). I +wonder if the old monk would tell us to-day what one did years ago, when +we were standing on the terrace looking at the magnificent view: "Quando +fa bel tempo si può vedere le montagne d'America" (When it is fine one +can see the mountains of America). I thought it was rather pretty, his +eagerness to make us understand what an extended view one had from his +mountain top, and he probably didn't know where America was. However, +our little gleam of sunlight didn't last--first came big drops, then a +regular downpour, and in a few minutes a thick white mist closed around +us, shutting out everything. We took refuge for a few moments under a +sort of ruined portico, but the rain came down harder, and we decided to +give up Cicero's Villa, and turn our faces homeward. + +The descent was neither easy nor pleasant--a steep little path with the +donkeys slipping and stumbling, and the rain falling in buckets. I was +wet through in ten minutes, as I was very lightly dressed in a white +shirt and foulard skirt (having stupidly left my jacket at the hotel as +it was very warm when we started). Gert was better off, as she had her +tweed dress. I shan't soon forget that descent, and as we passed +Mondragone--the Borghese Palace--we had thunder and lightning, which +didn't add to my comfort--however, the donkeys didn't mind. I was wet to +the skin when we arrived at the hotel, and had to undress entirely and +go to bed wrapped up in a blanket. The chambermaid lighted a fire in the +room, and she and Gert dried my clothes as well as they could, and I had +a cup of hot tea. About 5 my things were fairly dry--Gert went shopping +in the town, and bought me a piece of flannel which I put on under my +corsage which was still damp. It rained a little when we started home, +but cleared about half-way, and we had the most glorious sunset. + +It was too bad to have fallen upon such a day, and I am afraid we shan't +have time to attempt it again. I was half tempted to stay at Frascati +all night and try again the next morning, but the others thought it +better to come home. I went to bed immediately after dinner, and feel +quite well to-day--only a little stiff--the combined effect of the +donkey and the damp. + + + April 11, 1880. + +Yesterday it rained hard all day, there was quite a little stream of +water in the Piazza coming down from the Pincio. Certainly Rome needs +sunshine, everything looked forlorn and colourless and everybody so +depressed. The Spanish Steps were quite deserted, no models nor children +galloping up and down. The coachmen of the fiacre-stand on the Piazza +dripping and dejected on their boxes--nobody wanting carriages and very +few people about. I really believe the Romans stay in when it rains. We +didn't, of course, as our time is getting short, and the galleries are +always a resource. We went off about 10 to the Vatican and spent two +hours there. Charles de Bunsen was very glad to see it all again. We +went first to the Cappella Paolina where there was not much to see--some +frescoes of Michelangelo's, not very well preserved. It used to be so +beautiful, Holy Week in Rome, when we were here before, brilliantly +lighted for a silent adoration and filled with people kneeling and +motionless. + +Then we went on to the Cappella Sistina where there were a good many +people taking advantage of a rainy day to do the Vatican. It wasn't at +all dark--I don't know exactly why, for the rain was pouring straight +down. The Last Judgment is an awful picture. I had forgotten Charon and +his boat and the agonized faces of the people whom he is knocking back +with his oar. Some of the faces were too terrible, such despair and +suffering. I can't think why any artist ever chooses such subjects, one +would think they would be haunted by their own conceptions. + +We walked through the Stanze, I wanted to see the Deliverance of St. +Peter; I remember so well the engraving that was in the dining-room at +Bond Street, which I have sat opposite to so often. I used to be +fascinated as a child with the Roman soldiers, particularly the one with +a torch. We sauntered through the picture gallery looking at the +beautiful Foligno Madonna, Communion of St. Jerome, and of course the +Marriage of St. Catherine, and really my copy by the young German is +good as I see the original again. We finished in the Galerie des +Inscriptions where W. always finds odd bits of inscriptions which are +wildly interesting to him. I think for the moment yellow-books and +interpellations and the "peuple souverain" generally as represented in +the Chambre des Députés are out of his head. + +The sun came out bright and warm in the afternoon and we drove to the +Villa Pamphili. We stopped at San Pietro in Montorio on our way. It is +there that St. Peter is said to have been crucified. The view from the +terrace is very fine--the whole of Rome at our feet stretching out over +the Campagna to the Alban Hills. It was too early really for the view, +as one ought to see it at sunset, when the hills take most beautiful +rose blue tints and the Campagna looks vague and mysterious, not the +long barren stretch of waste uncultivated land it is in the daylight. + +We stopped again at the Fontana Paolina, looked at the rush of water +that tumbles into the stone basin, and climbed up the Janiculum, every +turn of the road giving the most enchanting view, out of the Porta San +Pancrazio to the Villa Pamphili--all Rome apparently was doing the same +thing; there were quantities of carriages. It was charming in the +Villa--many people had got out of their carriages and were walking about +in the shady alleys. It was a relief to get out of the sun. The stone +pines of course are magnificent, but I think I like them best from a +distance--from the terrace of the Villa Medici for instance they stand +out splendidly. What is grand is the view of St. Peter's. It seems to +stand alone as if there were no Rome anywhere near it. The dome rises +straight up above the green of Monte Mario, and looks enormous. + +We walked about the gardens with the queer, old-fashioned flower-beds +and the little lake with a mosaic pattern at the bottom, and talked to +quantities of people. The drive down was enchanting; the sun setting, +clouds of every colour imaginable and a sort of soft "brume" that made +every dirty little street (and there are many in Rome) look picturesque. + +We went to the ball at the British Embassy in the evening, taking +Charles de Bunsen, who protested at first he didn't go to balls any +more, etc., but he found plenty of old friends and was very glad he had +gone. The house looked very handsome--the ball-room with its decoration +of flowers, cupids, etc., had a decidedly festive appearance. I danced +two quadrilles--one with Count d'Aulnay and the other with the Duke of +Leuchtenberg who was here with his wife, Comtesse de Beauharnais. As it +is a morganatic marriage (he is a Royal Prince) she can't take his name +and title. She was beautifully dressed, had splendid jewels--pearls as +big as eggs. + +[Illustration: Grounds of the Villa Doria-Pamphili, Rome. + +From an unpublished photograph taken about 1869.] + +The ball was very gay, lots of people. We stayed quite late; went to +supper, which W. generally refuses with scorn, and only left at 1.30. +They were preparing for the cotillon, but were going to dance a +"tempête" (whatever that may be) first. I hear they danced until 4 +o'clock. + + + Thursday, 12th. + +We had a nice dinner at the Villa Medici Tuesday night. The Director M. +Cabat, his wife and daughter, M. and Madame Geoffroy and 5 or 6 of the +young men. They all love Rome and say it is a paradise for an artist. +Such beautiful models of all kinds in the old pictures and statues. I +ventured to say that I thought one or two of the modern Roman +things--fountains and statues--were pretty, but I was instantly sat upon +by the whole party--"no originality; no strength, weak imitations of +great conceptions, etc." I suppose one's taste and judgment do get +formed looking at splendid models all the time; still the world of art +must go on and there is no reason why the present generation shouldn't +have graceful fancies, and power to carry out their dreams. We didn't +stay very late and went on to Countess Somaglia, who was receiving. +There were only two or three ladies. Her younger sister, Olympia Doria, +married to a Colonna, the Marquise Sant' Asilea and two others I didn't +know. Quantities of men came in and out, Calabrini, Vitelleschi, +Minghetti. The "maître de maison" was not there. I was sorry, as I had +never seen him. Lucchesi-Palli came up and claimed acquaintance--said he +had danced at Casa Pierret in the old days. I introduced him to W. who +was rather interested at meeting a half brother of the Comte de +Chambord. He is much astonished at the quantity of people I know, but I +told him one couldn't live years in Rome without seeing almost every +one worth knowing, as everybody comes to Rome. + +Yesterday Gert and I went out together. W. had an expedition of some +kind with de Rossi, and gave a dinner at the Falcone to Charles and some +of his men friends. The Roman menu didn't tempt me. I heard them talking +about porcupines and peacocks. I preferred dining with Gert--she asked +Mrs. Van Rensselaer, and we had a pleasant evening. Mrs. V. R. is clever +and original, very amusing over her Italian and the extraordinary +mistakes that she knows she makes, but she keeps on talking all the +same. It is curious how much colder Gert's apartment is than our rooms +at the hotel--I suppose no sun ever gets into that narrow street, and +one is quite struck with the cold the minute one gets into the palace +and on the stone staircase. We had a little fire and it wasn't at all +too much--of course in the Piazza di Spagna the sun streams into the +rooms all day. I came home early--about 10--and found the two gentlemen, +Charles and W., settled very comfortably each in a large arm-chair with +pipe and newspaper (you can imagine the atmosphere in a small hotel +sitting-room). They said their dinner was very good, even the ordinary +Roman wine, but they both agreed they wouldn't care to have that menu +every day. The talk was very interesting; some of the men had been in +Italy years ago, before the days of railways or modern conveniences of +any kind, and their experiences in some of the little towns near Rome +were most amusing--most of the peasants so mistrustful of the artist +baggage, white umbrella, camp-stool, etc., and so anxious, when they +finally understood no harm was intended, that they should sketch a nice +new house or a bit of wall freshly plastered instead of old gateways and +tumble-down palaces. + +Charles is going back to Florence to-morrow; I think he has enjoyed his +visit very much, it brought back so many recollections (he was born in +Rome and spent all his early childhood there).[24] + +[24] His father, Baron de Bunsen, was for years Prussian Minister at +Rome, a most intellectual, distinguished man; after Rome he was for many +years Minister in England, and their house in Carlton Terrace was the +rendezvous of all that was most brilliant and cosmopolitan in London. He +married Miss Waddington, and his son Charles also married Miss +Waddington, sister of William Waddington. + +I wish they would settle in Rome instead of Florence, the life is so +much more interesting here. Florence is charming, but asleep--here there +is life, and the contrast between the old patrician city full of +old-world memories and prejudices, and the political, financial +atmosphere of this 19th century is most striking. W. has decided to go +to Naples for four or five days. I shan't go with him. He will be all +day in the museums, as there is a great deal to see, and I should bore +myself sitting alone in the hotel. If we could stay long enough to make +some excursions--see Sorrento, Capri, and Ischia, I would not hesitate, +I should love to see it all again. They say Vesuvius is giving signs of +a disturbance. + +As we were talking about Capri and Vesuvius I told them my experience +there so many years ago, and both gentlemen told me I ought to write it +while it was still fresh in my memory, so here it is and you will send +the letter to the family in America. + +We went to Naples in October, 1867. Father died at Frascati the 27th of +September, and we all needed change after the long nursing and watching. +All our friends in Rome were most anxious we should get off; affairs +were rapidly coming to a crisis in Italy and it was evident that the +days of the temporal power of the Pope were numbered. At any moment the +Italians under Garibaldi might appear at the gates of Rome and it was +not considered safe for women and foreigners to remain there. No one +thought or talked of anything else, and though we were absorbed by +father's illness and the numerous duties that a sick room entails we +were quite as excited as all our friends. Of course we heard the two +sides--the liberals who had high hopes of liberty and "Italia Unita" and +the "papalini" who were convinced that the Italians would only enter +Rome over the bodies of the faithful. Our young imaginations pictured +anything, everything; the Garibaldians penetrating quite to the Court of +the Vatican, the Swiss Guard, Charette and his Zouaves, massacred; +priests flying in every direction pursued by a crowd of soldiers and +infuriated populace. Good old Dr. Valery, who knew his countrymen better +than we did, assured us there was no danger. When resistance was +perfectly useless it would be wicked to shed blood, and Pio Nono himself +would be the first to advise submission to the inevitable. We couldn't +believe that such a tremendous change and uprooting of the traditions of +centuries could be accomplished so quietly. We stayed two days only in +Rome after leaving Frascati. We laid father at rest in the little +English churchyard just by the San Paolo gate. There was a mortuary +chapel where he could stay till he was taken home to the old family +churchyard at Jamaica where Grandpapa King and a long line of children +and grandchildren are buried. We had to see about our mourning and were +finally hustled out of Rome the third day, Mr. Hooker (the American +banker), our great friend, fairly standing over us while the trunks were +being packed. He was quite right. We took the last train that went +through to Naples, carrying with us a number of letters which our +liberal friends had asked us to mail as soon as we crossed the +frontier,--they naturally being unwilling to trust them to the Roman +post-office. Rome looked deserted, very few people about, some of the +shops and hotels still closed, but one felt a suppressed excitement in +the air. Some of our friends, jubilant, came to see us off at "Termine" +and promised to send us a telegram at Naples if anything happened. Mr. +Hooker was rather anxious. He too thought the Papal court wouldn't make +any resistance if the Italians came, or rather when the Italians came, +as they were marching on Rome; but he thought there might be trouble in +the streets. He had his large American flag ready to protect the bank. +We of course made our journey very quietly and comfortably, as Garibaldi +and his men were not on that road. I was rather disappointed, I should +have liked to have had a glimpse of the famous revolutionary leader in +his classic red shirt. We found Naples just the same, very full, people +everywhere, in the Via Toledo, on the quays, etc. There wasn't much +apparent excitement, all the red-capped, bare-legged fishermen were +lounging about on the quays or in the numberless little boats of all +descriptions flying about in every direction. The same songs, "Julia +Gentil," "La Luissella," "La Bella Sorrentina," were sung under our +windows every night with an accompaniment of mandolins and a sort of +tambourine. From time to time the voices would cease and then there +would be a most lively dance--tarantella, saltarella--all the dancers +moving lightly and quickly and always in perfect time. The nights were +beautiful--warm and clear--the whole population lived in the streets and +we were always on the balcony. The islands, Ischia and Capri, took such +beautiful colours, at sunset; seemed almost like painted islands rising +straight up out of a perfectly blue sea. Vesuvius, too, was most +interesting. Savants were prophesying an eruption and every now and +then faint, very faint curls of smoke came out of the crater. We knew +nothing of what was going on; had no communication with Rome, and were +entirely dependent for news on the landlord, whose information was +certainly fantastic; also the little Naples paper, the "Pungolo," which +made marvellous statements every morning--the streets of Rome running +with blood, etc. Finally came the first news--the battle of "Monte +Rotondo," Garibaldi and his men victorious. From Paris we heard that the +French troops had started and were at Cività Vecchia, but there were so +many conflicting stories that we really didn't know how much to believe. +Then came Mentana--the Garibaldians driven back by the Papal and French +troops; the Pope still supreme in Rome. We had a telegram from one of +our liberal friends, "Le malade va bien," which meant that the Pope had +conquered, and Rome was not yet the capital of "Italia Unita." There was +no fighting at all in the streets of Rome; a great deal of patriotic +talk among the young liberals, but I don't think any of them absolutely +enrolled themselves in Garibaldi's band. It wouldn't have made any +difference--they could do nothing against the combined Papal and French +troops--but it might have been a personal satisfaction to have struck a +blow for the liberal cause. There again the common sense of the Italians +showed itself--there was no resisting "le fait accompli," they had only +to bide their time. We had lovely days at Naples, making all sorts of +excursions--Posilippo, Capo di Monte, Camaldoli, etc. Every morning we +went to the Museum; I was madly interested in the Pompeian relics, +particularly the mummies. It seemed impossible to believe that those +little black bundles had once been human beings feeling and living as +keenly as we do now. We always kept our eyes on Vesuvius as it really +did seem as if something was going on. The column of smoke looked +thicker and we could quite well see little jets of sand or small stones +thrown up from the crater. One afternoon when we came in from driving +everybody in the street was looking hard at the mountain and the padrone +informed us that the eruption had begun. We didn't see anything, but +after dinner when we were standing on the balcony suddenly we saw a +great tongue of flame leap out from the crater and a stream of fire +running down the side of the mountain. The flame disappeared almost +immediately; came back three or four times in the course of the evening, +but didn't gain very much in height or intensity. The next day, however, +it had increased considerably and was a fine sight at dark, every few +moments a great tongue of fire with quantities of stones and gravel +thrown high in the air. We almost fancied we heard the noise of thunder, +but I don't think we did. People were flocking into Naples, and we of +course, like all the rest, were most anxious to make the ascent. The +landlord told us there was no danger; that the authorities never +permitted an ascent if there was danger, and no guides would go, as they +are very prudent. One would go up on one side (the only thing to avoid +was the stream of red-hot lava). Mother was rather unwilling, +particularly as we were to go at night (and at night from our balcony +the mountain did look rather a formidable thing to tackle). We waited +still another day and then when we had seen some English people--two +ladies and a youth who had made the excursion and said it was not at all +alarming and most interesting--she agreed to let us go. Anne stayed with +her, she doesn't like donkey riding under any circumstances, and a +donkey at night on the slopes of Vesuvius in eruption, with a stream of +red-hot lava running alongside, didn't strike her absolutely as a +pleasant performance. We started about 7 o'clock, William, Henrietta, +Gertrude, and I. The drive out all the way to Resina was most amusing. +Quantities of people, the famous Naples "cariole" crammed with peasants +and children, and all eyes turned to the mountain. Our landlord had made +all the arrangements for us, secured the best guides, donkeys, etc., and +we were in great spirits. The mountain looked forbidding; as we came +nearer we heard the noise, rumbling and thunder--the thunder always +preceding a great burst of flames and showers of stones thrown up very +high and falling one didn't know exactly where. I didn't say anything as +I was very anxious to make the ascent, but I did wonder where these red +stones fell and how one could know exactly beforehand. We drove as far +as we could and then arrived at the Hermitage and Observatory, where +there was a very primitive sort of wooden house, half tavern, half inn. +Here donkeys and guides (very voluble) were waiting, and we started. It +had begun to rain a little, but the guides assured us that it would not +last and we should soon be above the clouds. It was almost dark--not +quite--and everything looked weird, even the faces of the guides seemed +to me to have a curious expression; they looked fierce and wild. We went +on quietly at first though the rumblings under our feet and sudden light +as the flames burst out were unpleasant. When we began the last steep +ascent I had got very nervous. I was the last of the party, and when the +donkey-boy (an infant) took a short cut, when the path was steep, +calling out cheerfully "Coraggio Signorina," and left me and the donkey +alone to clamber over the great slippery blocks of lava, I was +frightened and felt I should never get up to the top. It was really +terrifying--the rain and mist had increased very much, it was pitch +dark, rumbling and thunder all the time, and such noises under our feet +that I was sure a great hole would open and we should all be swallowed +up. I didn't like the dark, but I certainly didn't like the light +either, when a great tongue of flame would spring out of the crater +spreading out like a fan and throwing a mass of stones and gravel high +in the air which all fell somewhere on the mountain. The red stream of +lava looked wider and seemed to me to be coming nearer. I called out to +William, who was far ahead and looked gigantic in the mist where he was +crossing some great rocks of lava (quite black and shiny when they are +old), and told him I was too frightened, that I should go back to the +Hermitage and wait there. He was much disgusted--said there was no +possible danger. All the guides and donkey-boys repeated the same thing, +but it was no use, I was thoroughly unnerved and couldn't make up my +mind to go on. We had a consultation with the guides as he didn't like +the idea of my going back alone to the inn, but they told him it was all +right, that the padrone was a "brav'uomo" and would take care of me +until they came back; so most reluctantly they went on, and I turned my +face homeward, always with my minute attendant whom I would gladly have +shaken as he was laughing and chattering and repeating twenty times, +"non c'è pericolo." I think the going down was rather worse; I had the +rain in my face, heard all the same unearthly noises around me, and from +time to time had glimpses of the whole country-side--Naples, the little +villages, the islands, the bay standing out well in the red light thrown +on them by the flames from the crater; then absolute darkness and +stillness, nothing apparently on the mountain but me and the donkey +scrambling and stumbling over the wet, slippery stones. How we ever got +down to the inn I don't know, but both boy and donkey seemed to know the +road. I was thankful when we emerged on a sort of terrace and saw a +faint light, which meant the little inn. The boy helped me off (it was +pouring), called out something at the door, told me to go in and go +upstairs, then disappeared around the corner with the donkey. I +called--no one answered--so I went upstairs, just seeing my way by the +light of a little dull, smoky lamp put in a niche of the wall. I saw two +doors when I got up to the top of the stairs, both shut, so I called +again, knocked; a man's voice said something which I supposed to be +"entrate" and I walked in. I found myself in a big room hardly +lighted--a small lamp on a table, a fire of a sort of peat and wood, a +bed in one corner on which was stretched a big man with a black beard +and red shirt; another man not quite so big, but also in a red shirt and +a hat on his head, got up when I came in, from a chair where he had been +sitting by the fire. He said something I couldn't understand, first to +me and then to his companion on the bed, who answered I thought rather +gruffly (they both spoke Neapolitan "patois" which I couldn't understand +at first). I didn't feel very comfortable (still I liked even that room +with those two brigand-looking men better than the mountain-side with +the flames and the lava), but I tried to explain, took off my wet cloak +which spoke for itself, and went toward the fire. My friend with the hat +always keeping up a running conversation with the man on the bed, +brought up a chair, then a sort of stand over which he hung my cloak, +and proceeded to take a bottle out of a cupboard which I supposed was +their famous wine (lacrima Christi) which one always drinks at Naples. +However that I declined and established myself on the chair by the fire. +He took the other one, and when I looked at him I saw that he had +rather a nice face; so I took courage. He pointed to my shoes, which +were wet as we had walked a little, and wanted to talk. After a little +while I began to understand him, and he me; and we had quite a friendly +conversation. He looked at my shoes, asked me where they were made, and +when I said in Rome was madly interested; he had a brother in Rome, a +shoemaker, perhaps I knew him "Giuseppe Ricci," he might have made those +very shoes--instantly confided that interesting piece of information to +the gentleman on the bed. He told me they were three brothers, the +eldest was the shoemaker, then came he the padrone of the osteria, and +the other one "there on the bed" had vines and made very good wine. He +asked me if I had ever seen the Pope, or Garibaldi (there was a picture +of Garibaldi framed on the wall), and when I said I had often seen the +former, and that he had a good, kind face, he again conversed amicably +with the gentleman on the bed, who first raised himself into a sitting +posture, and finally got up altogether and came over to the fire, +evidently rather anxious to take part in the conversation. He was an +enormous man and didn't look as nice as the "padrone." He rather +startled me when he bent down, took my foot in his hand and inspected +the shoe which he pronounced well made. We must have sat there fully +half an hour talking--they were perfectly easy, but not familiar, and +wanted to hear anything I would tell them about Rome. Every now and then +they dropped off into some side talk in their "patois," and I looked at +the fire and thought what an extraordinary experience it was, sitting +alone with such odd-looking companions in that big, bare room on the top +of Mount Vesuvius. The fire had almost died out, the miserable little +lamp gave a faint flickering light that only made everything look more +uncanny, and every now and then the whole room would be flooded with a +red lurid light (heralded always by a violent explosion which made the +crazy little house shake) which threw out the figures of the two men +sitting with their long legs stretched out to the fire, and keeping up a +steady talk in a low voice. Still I wasn't afraid; I was quite sure they +would be respectful, and do all they could to help me. They had a sort +of native politeness, too, for they stopped their talk occasionally and +made conversation for me; one looked out of the window and said the rain +had stopped, but that the night was "brutta" and they referred to other +eruptions and told me stories of accidents that had happened to +people--two young men, "Inglesi," who were killed because they would go +on their own way and not listen to the guides, consequently were knocked +on the head by some huge stones; always assuring me that this eruption +was nothing. However I was getting tired, and found the time long, when +suddenly we heard the noise of a party arriving, and for a moment I +thought it was my people; but no, they were coming the other way, up the +mountain. There was a great commotion and talking, lanterns flashing +backward and forward, donkeys being led out and all preparations made +for the ascent--but there seemed a hitch of some kind and I heard a +woman's voice speaking English. The "padrone" had rushed downstairs as +soon as he heard the party arriving, and presently he reappeared talking +very hard to a lady and two gentlemen who were coming upstairs behind +him and evidently wanting something which they couldn't make him +understand. He was telling them to have patience, that there was an +"Inglese" upstairs who would talk to them. They were so astounded when +they saw me that they were speechless--il y avait de quoi--seeing a +girl established there in rather a dishevelled condition, her hat off, +wet cloak hanging over the chair, and entirely alone with those +"Neapolitan brigands"--but one man ventured to ask timidly "did I speak +English." Oh yes--Italian, too--what could I do for them. They explained +that the lady was tired, cold and wet (she looked miserable, poor thing) +and wanted a hot drink--brandy, anything she could get. She didn't look +as if she could go on, but she said she would be all right if she could +have something hot, and that nothing would induce her to give up the +excursion, having come so far; so a fresh piece of wood, or peat rather +of some kind (it looked quite black), was put on the fire, also water in +a most primitive pot. I suggested that she should take off her cloak and +let it dry a little. The men brought in some more chairs and then the +new comers began to wonder who I was and what I was doing there alone at +that hour of the night. They were Americans, told me their name, but I +have forgotten it, it is so long ago. I told them my experience--that I +was absolutely unnerved, in a dead funk, and would have done anything +rather than go on toward that horrible crater. They couldn't understand +that I wasn't much more afraid of spending two hours in that lonely +little house in such company, and begged me to try again--there was +really no danger, people were going up all the time, etc. The older man +was very earnest--said they couldn't leave a compatriot in such +straits--he would give me his donkey if another one couldn't be procured +and would walk--how could my brother have permitted me to come back +alone, etc. However I reassured him as well as I could--told them I was +perfectly accustomed to Italians and knew the language well (which was a +great help to me, I don't know what I should have done if I hadn't been +able to talk and understand them). They stayed about 20 minutes--the +lady said her drink was very nasty, but hot, and she looked better for +the rest and partial drying. She wasn't as wet as I was, the rain had +stopped when they were half-way up. I told them who I was and begged +them to say, if they met my people coming down, a gentleman and two +ladies, that they had seen me, and that I was quite dry and comfortable. +They went away most reluctantly, were half inclined to stay until the +others should come back, but the guides were anxious to be off. Even at +the last moment when they had got downstairs, the older man came back +and begged me to come with them--"I assure you, my dear young lady, you +don't know in what a dangerous position you are; if I had any authority +over you I should insist, etc." He was very nice, and left all sorts of +recommendations in English and a very good fee to the padrone, who of +course didn't understand a word of what he was saying, but seemed to +divine in some mysterious way. He looked smilingly at me, told me to +cheer up ("Coraggio" is their way of saying it) and told the American, +in Italian, that he would take good care of me. He was very sorry to go +and leave me, said he had never done anything he liked so little. As +soon as the excitement of their departure was over the two men came +back. The "vigneron" went back to his bed, from where he conversed with +us occasionally, and the other one settled down in his chair, and seemed +half asleep. It wasn't very long before my party came back. The men +heard them before I did, and told me they were arriving. I must say I +was glad to see them. They had had a splendid time, seen everything +beautifully, gone quite up to the stream of red-hot lava, put umbrellas +and canes into it (the ends were quite black and burnt)--they were not +in the least nervous, and jibed well at me. William said he had rather +an uncomfortable feeling at first when he saw me and my very small +attendant depart, but he forgot it in the excitement and novelty of +their excursion. He thanked the padrone for taking such good care of me, +proposed a hot drink (very bad it was) all round, and we took quite a +friendly leave of the two gentlemen. I promised to try and find the +brother shoemaker. They had crossed my American friends on the way +back--William said they were just starting down when they saw another +party appearing and he heard a gentleman say, "I think this must be Mr. +King." He was very much surprised to hear his name, but rode up to the +speaker, to see who he was, and then the gentleman told him of his +amazement at meeting his sister in that wretched little shanty and how +miserable he had felt at leaving me there alone, with two Neapolitan +brigands, but that I had assured him I was quite safe and not at all +afraid of the two black giants--but he begged William to hurry on, as it +was not really the place to leave a girl--even an American who would +know how to take care of herself. We made our journey down quite easily. +It was still pitch dark, except when the fire of the mountain lighted up +everything, but there was neither rain nor wind, the air was soft, and +the little outlying villages looked quite quiet and peaceable, as if no +great mountain was throwing up masses of ashes and stones just over +their heads, which might after all destroy them entirely. There must +always be a beginning, and I suppose in the old days of Pompeii and +Herculaneum the beginning was just what we have seen--first columns of +smoke, then the lava stream and showers of red-hot stones, and none of +the people frightened at first. We found Mother and Anne waiting for us +with supper. They had been a little anxious, particularly as the weather +was so bad, and they evidently had had more of a tempest than we had. +They were of course madly interested in our expedition and were +astounded that I was the coward. They wouldn't have been at all +surprised if it had been Gert. It is true she is nearly always timid, +and we used to play all sorts of tricks on her when we were children at +Cherry Lawn, beguile her up into the big cherry tree, then take the +ladder away and tell her to climb down; or take the peg out of the boat, +let in a little water and pretend it was sinking--so she was triumphant +this time. I can't understand why I was so frightened. I am not usually +afraid of anything, but that time no reasoning would have been of the +least use, and nothing would have made me go on to the crater. Mother +was rather like the American--she wouldn't have liked the flames and the +awful rumbling noises any more than I did, but she would have been much +more afraid of the lonely house and long wait on the mountain in that +wretched little inn with those two big, black-bearded Neapolitans. + +Le monde est petit--years afterward my brother William was travelling in +America, and in the smoking-room all the men were telling their +experiences either at home or abroad--many strange adventures. One +gentleman said he had never forgotten a curious scene on the top of +Mount Vesuvius in eruption, when he had met an American girl, quite +alone, at night, in the dark and rain, in a miserable little shanty with +two great, big Neapolitans "looking like brigands" (he evidently always +retained that first impression of my companions). He told all the story, +giving my name, which excited much comment; some of the listeners +evidently thought it was a traveller's tale, arranged on some slight +foundation of truth--however, when he had finished William said: "That +story is perfectly true. The young lady is my sister, and I am the Mr. +King to whom you spoke that night on the mountain, in the dark, begging +me to hurry down, and not leave my sister any longer alone in such +company." They naturally didn't recognise each other, having merely met +for a moment in the dark, both wrapped up in cloaks and under umbrellas. +They had quite a talk, and the gentleman was very anxious to know how +they found me--whether I wasn't really more uncomfortable than I +allowed, and what had become of me. + +We decided to move on to Sorrento and settle ourselves there for some +time. We also wanted to go to Capri, but the steamers had stopped +running, and we could only get over in a sailboat. The man of the hotel +advised us to go from Sorrento, it was shorter and a charming sail on a +bright day. The drive from Castellamare was beautiful; divine views of +the sea all the time and equally lovely when we came down upon Sorrento, +which seemed to stand in the midst of orange groves and vineyards. The +Hôtel Sirena is perched on the top of a high cliff rising up straight +from the sea. We had charming rooms with a nice broad balcony, and at +our feet a little sheltered cove and beach of golden sand. There were +very few people in the hotel--the one or two English spinsters of a +certain age whom one always meets travelling, and two artists. We were +only about twelve people at table-d'hôte; and as we were six that didn't +leave many outsiders. It was before the days of restaurants and small +tables. There was one long, narrow table--the padrone carved himself at +a smaller one, and talked to us occasionally. There was too much wind +the first days to think of attempting Capri, so we drove all over the +country, walked about in the orange groves and up and down the steep +hills, through lovely little paths that wound in and out of olive woods +along the side of the mountain, sometimes clambering up a bit of +straight rock, that seemed a wall impossible to get over--when it was +too stiff there would be steps cut out in the earth on one side, half +hidden by the long grass and weeds. + +Henrietta and I had discovered a pony trap with a pair of sturdy little +mountain ponies, quite black, and we drove ourselves all over. Mother +wouldn't let us go alone, so the stableman sent his son with us, aged 12 +years. He wasn't much of a protector! but he knew the ponies, and the +country, and everybody we met. He was a pretty little fellow--not at all +the dark Italian type, rather fair, with blue eyes, but always the olive +skin of the South. He invariably got off the little seat behind and took +a short cut up the hills when the road was very steep, though I don't +think his weight made any perceptible difference. + +The evenings were delicious. We sat almost always on the +balcony--sometimes with a light wrap when the breeze from the sea +freshened about 9 o'clock. How beautiful it was; the sea deep blue, the +islands changing from pink to purple, and as soon as it was dark +Vesuvius sending up its pyramid of fire. It looked magnificent, but very +formidable. Almost every morning we saw a party come and bathe in the +little cove at the foot of the cliff--a pretty little boat came around +the point with a family party on board--two ladies, one man and three +children. I think they were English, their installation was so +practical. They had a small tent, camp-stools, and table, also two toy +sailboats which were a source of much pleasure and tribulation, as they +frequently got jammed in between the rocks, or caught in the thick +seaweed, and there was great excitement until they were started afresh. +We made great friends with the sister of the man at the hotel. She was a +nun, such a gentle, good face--she came every morning to get flowers +for the little chapel of Maria--Stella del Mare--which was near the +house, standing high on the hill and easily seen from the sea. One day +she seemed very busy and anxious about her flowers, so we asked what was +happening, and she said it was their great fête, and they were going to +decorate the chapel and dress the Virgin--"should we like to see it?" +The Virgin had a beautiful dress--white satin with silver embroidery and +some fine jewels which some rich forestieri had given. We were delighted +to go, and went with her to the little chapel, which looked very pretty +filled with flowers and greens, one beautiful dark, shiny leaf which +made much effect. The Virgin was removed from her niche--her vestments +brought in with great care, wrapped in soft paper, and the good sister +most reverently and happily began the toilet. The dress was very +elaborate, had been the wedding dress of an Italian Principessa, and +there were some handsome pins and rings--a gold chain on her neck with a +pearl ornament. She was rather lamenting over the cessation of +gifts--when I suddenly remembered my ring--quite a plain gold one with +the cross (pax) one always sees in Rome, which had been blessed by the +Pope. I put it on with three or four other little ornaments one day when +we had an audience. I took it off, explained to her what it was, that it +had been blessed by the Saint Père and that I should like very much to +give it to the Virgin, if she wasn't afraid of accepting anything from a +heretic. She was a little doubtful, but the fact of its having had the +Pope's blessing outweighed other considerations, and the ring was +instantly put on the Virgin's hand. She told us afterward that she had +told it to the priest, and he said she was quite right to accept it, it +might be the means of bringing me to the "true church." We grew really +quite fond of her. It was such a simple, childish faith, her whole life +was given up to her little chapel, cleaning and decorating it on feast +days. All the children in the country brought flowers and leaves, one +little boy came once, she told us, with a dead bird with bright feathers +that he found, quite beautiful. + +We made friends with the people at the table-d'hôte and they were very +anxious we should come down to the reading-room at night and make +music--but our mourning of course prevented that. We used to hear the +piano sometimes and a man's voice singing, not too badly. + +At last the wind seemed to have blown itself out, and our landlord said +we could get easily to Capri. He could recommend an excellent boatman +who had a large, safe boat and who was most prudent, as well as his son. +With a fair wind we ought to go over in two hours. We wanted to stay +over one night, and he arranged everything. The boat would wait and +bring us back the next evening. We started early--about 9 o'clock--so as +to get over for breakfast. The boat was most comfortable, a big broad +tub, with rather a small sail, plenty of room for all our bags, wraps, +etc. The sea was divine, blue and dancing, but there was not much wind. +We progressed rather slowly, the breeze was mild, the boat heavy and the +sail small, but nobody minded. It was delicious drifting along on that +summer sea--just enough ripple to make little waves that tumbled up +against the side of the boat, and a slight rocking motion that was +delightful--couldn't have suggested sea-sickness or nervousness to the +most timid sailor. There were plenty of boats about (mostly fishermen) +of all sizes, some of them with the dark red sail that is so effective, +and several pleasure boats and small yachts. _They_ were almost as broad +and solid as our boat; hadn't at all the graceful outlines and large +sails that we are accustomed to. We were exactly three hours going over +though the breeze freshened a little as we got near Capri. We were quite +excited when we made out the landing-place ("Marina grande") and the +long, steep flight of steps leading up to the town. The last time we +were there we went by the regular tourist steamer from Naples. There +were quantities of people and a perfect rush for donkeys and guides as +soon as we arrived; also the whole population of Capri on the shore +chattering, offering donkeys, flowers, funny little bottles of wine, and +a troop of children running up the steps alongside of the donkeys and +clamouring for "un piccolo soldo." This time there was no one at the +landing-place, but the man of the hotel with a sedan chair for mother, +donkeys for us if we wanted them (we didn't--preferred walking) and a +wheelbarrow or hand cart of some kind for the luggage, which was +slight--merely bags and wraps. There were a good many steps, but they +were broad, we didn't mind. We found a very nice little hotel, kept by +an English couple. The woman had been for years maid in the Sheridan +family. She told us there was no one in the hotel but one Englishman--in +fact no foreigners in the island. We had a very good breakfast in a +nice, fairly large room with views of the sea in all directions, and +started off immediately afterward to see as much as we could. Mother had +her chair, but didn't go all the way with us. We passed through narrow, +badly paved little streets with low, pink houses, lots of people, women +and children, standing in the doorways--no men, I suppose they were all +fishing--and then climbed up to the Villa Tiberius--a steep climb at the +end, but such a view. Before we got quite to the top we stopped at the +"Salto di Tiberio," a rock high up over the water from which the guide +told us that monarch had his victims precipitated into the sea. We +dropped down stones (I remember quite well doing the same thing when we +were there before) to see how long it was before they touched the water, +which showed at what a height one was. The palace is too much in ruins +to be very interesting, but there was enough to show how large it must +have been, and bits of wall and arches still standing. We went on to the +chapel, drank some rather bad wine which the hermit offered us, bought +some paper weights and crosses made out of bits of coloured marble which +had been found in the ruins, and wrote our names in his book. We looked +back in the book to see if there were any interesting signatures, but +there was nothing remarkable--a great many Germans. + +We came home by another path, winding down through small gardens, +vineyards, and occasionally along the steep side of the mountain, all +stones and ragged rocks, with the sea far down at our feet. There were a +good many houses scattered about, one or two quite isolated near the +top. We had a running escort of little black-eyed brown children all +talking and offering little bunches of mountain flowers. The guides +remonstrated vigorously occasionally and they would disappear, but were +immediately replaced by another band from the next group of houses we +passed. + +We were rather tired when we got back to the hotel as the climbing was +stiff in some parts, and glad to rest a little before dinner. The +padrona came in and talked to us. It seemed funny to see an English +woman in that milieu with her brown hair quite smooth and plain and a +clean print dress. She said she liked her life, and the people of the +island. They were industrious, simple and easy-going. She talked a great +deal about the Sheridans, for whom she had of course the greatest +admiration, said one of the sons came often to Capri, and that his +cousin Norton had married a Capri fisher-girl. We had heard the story, +of course, and were much interested in all she told us. She said the +girl was lovely, an absolute peasant, had walked about with bare feet +like all the rest, but that she had been over to England, was taught +there all they could get into her head, and was quite changed, had two +children. I remember their telling us in Rome what a difficult process +that education was. She was willing and anxious to learn to read and +write, but her ambition and her capability of receiving instruction +stopped there--when they wanted to teach her a little history (not very +far back either) and the glories of the Sheridan name she was +recalcitrant, couldn't interest herself and dismissed the subject +saying, "ma sono morti tutti" (they are all dead). She always kept her +little house at Capri, in fact was there now, perhaps we should like to +see her. We said we should very much. + +We had nice, clean comfortable rooms and made out our plan for the next +day. We didn't care about the Blue Grotto--we had seen it before, and +besides they told us that at this season of the year it would be almost +impossible, one must have a perfectly still sea as the entrance is not +easy--very low--and a big wave would swamp the boat. We heard the wind +getting up a little in the night and we woke the next morning to see a +grey, cloudy sky, little showers falling occasionally, and a fine gale, +sea rough, no little boats out, one or two fishing boats racing along +under well-reefed sails, anything but tempting for a three hours' sail +in an open boat. Mother looked decidedly nervous; however the matter was +taken out of our hands, for the boatmen appeared saying they would not +go out, which was rather a relief; we didn't mind staying. There was a +fair library in the house, books that visitors had left, so we hunted up +a history of Capri (Baedeker was soon exhausted), and got through our +morning pretty well, some reading aloud, the others knitting or working. +We had all taken some sort of work in our bags, various experiences of +small hotels on rainy days having taught us to provide our own +amusement. + +It cleared in the afternoon though the wind was still very high and we +set off--on donkeys this time--and mother in her chair, to the other +side of the island. Two or three girls, handsome enough in their bright +skirts, bare brown legs and thick braids of hair, came with us to take +charge of the donkeys. As we were going up a steep flight of steps +(which the donkeys did very well and deliberately) they began to tell us +about Mrs. Norton and said we should pass her house. It was amusing to +hear them talk of her wonderful luck in being married to this "bel +Inglese"; "adesso fa la signora sta in camera tutto il giorno--colle +mani bianche" ("Now she does the lady, sits in her room all day with +white hands"). We passed several houses rather better than the ordinary +fisherman's cottage and then came upon a nice little white house, +standing rather high, with a garden and gate, which they told us was +Mrs. Norton's. We stopped a moment at the gate, looking at the garden; +mother's bearers put her chair down and gave themselves a rest, and we +saw a lady appear very simply dressed in something dark, who came to the +gate and asked us in very nice English with a pretty accent if we would +come in and rest, as the day was hot and we had had a steep climb. We +heard all the fisher-girls giggling and saying "Eccola la Signora." We +were half ashamed to have been seen gaping in at her garden, but the +invitation was simply and cordially given, and we accepted. Her manner +to mother was quite pretty, respectful to the older lady. We went into +a pretty little sitting-room quite simply furnished, with books and +photographs about. She showed us pictures of all her family, her husband +(regretting extremely that he was not there), her mother-in-law, Mrs. +Norton, and her children. She seemed very proud of her son, said he was +at school in England and didn't care very much for Capri. I asked her if +she liked England, and though she said "very much," I thought I detected +a regret for her old home, though not perhaps her old life. Her face +quite lighted up when we said how much we admired her island with its +high cliffs and beautiful blue sea. I didn't find her as handsome as I +expected, but the eyes were fine and her smile charming. Her manner was +perfectly natural, she showed us very simply all she had, and was not in +the least curious about us--asked us no questions, was evidently +accustomed to seeing foreigners and tourists at Capri. We stayed about +half an hour, and then went on our way. She shook hands with us all, and +looked most smilingly at mother; couldn't quite understand her black +dress and white cap--said we mustn't let her do too much, "she is not so +young as you, la mamma." + +Of course the fisher-girls were in a wild state of excitement when we +came out--all talked at once, stopping in the middle of the path, the +donkeys, too; when they had much to say, and telling the whole story +over again. I said to one of them, "Should you like to marry a 'bel +Inglese' and go and live in another country far away from Capri with no +sun nor blue sky?" She thought a moment, looking straight at me with her +big, black eyes and then answered, sensibly enough, my rather foolish +question--she had never thought about it--was quite happy where she was. +It was a curious meeting. + +When we got back to the hotel we asked our padrona about Mrs. Norton +and the life she led. She told us Mrs. Norton mère[25] had been in +despair when her son married the fisher-girl--he was very good-looking +and her favourite, and it was a great blow to her, but that she had been +very good to her and was fond of the boy. She didn't seem to think the +young woman had had a very happy life, but that she was always delighted +to get back to Capri. "Did she see any of her old friends?" "Not +much--that was difficult--she only came in the summer, the children +generally with her, and they fished and sailed and made their own life +apart." + +[25] The well-known poetess and beauty, née Sheridan. + +We got back to Sorrento the next morning--the sea beautifully smooth and +calm--no trace of the great waves that had roared all night into the +numerous caves, throwing up showers of foam. + +My dear, I seem to have prosed on for pages about Naples, but once +started I couldn't stop. Tell Henrietta I feel rather like her when we +used to call her Mrs. Nickleby, because she never could keep to any one +subject, but always made long, foolish digressions. + + + Monday, April 13th. + +Last night we had a pleasant dinner at Mr. Hooker's, the American +banker. He still lives in one end of his apartment in the Palazzo +Bonaparte, but has rented the greater part to the Suzannets.[26] We were +a small party--ourselves, Schuylers, Ristori (Marchesa Caprannica), and +her charming daughter. Ristori is very striking looking--very large, but +dignified and easy in her movements, and a wonderfully expressive face. +The girl, Bianca Caprannica, is charming, tall, fair, graceful. Ristori +talked a great deal, speaks French, of course, perfectly. + +[26] Comte de Suzannet, Secretary of the French Embassy. + +She admires the French stage, and we discussed various actors and +actresses. I should love to see her act once, her voice is so full and +beautiful. Such a characteristic scene took place after coffee. We were +still sitting in the dining-room when we heard a carriage come in, and +instantly there was a great sound of stamping horses, angry coachman, +whip freely applied, etc. It really made a great noise and disturbance. +Ristori listened for a moment, then rushed to the window (very high +up--we were on the top story), exclaiming it was her man, opened it, and +proceeded to expostulate with the irate coachman in very energetic +Italian--"Che diavolo!" were these her horses or his, was he a Christian +man to treat poor brutes like that, etc.--a stream of angry remonstrance +in her deep, tragic voice. There was a cessation of noise in the +court-yard--her voice dominated everything--and then I suppose the +coachman explained and excused himself, but we were so high up and +inside that we couldn't hear. She didn't listen, but continued to abuse +him until at length Hooker went to the window and suggested that she +might cease scolding and come back into the room, which she did quite +smilingly--the storm had passed. + +This morning we have been to the Doria Gallery. The palace is enormous, +a great court and staircase and some fine pictures. We liked a portrait +by Velasquez of a Pope--Innocent X, I think--and some of the Claude +Lorraines, with their curious blue-green color. We walked home by the +Corso. It was rather warm, but shady always on one side of the street. +After breakfast Cardinal Bibra, the Bishop of Frascati, came to see us. +He was much disappointed that we had had such a horrid day for our +Frascati and Tusculum expedition, and wants us to go again, but we +haven't time. We want to go to Ostia and Albano if it is possible. He +and W. plunged into ecclesiastical affairs. It is curious what an +importance they all attach to W.'s being a Protestant; seem to think his +judgment must be fairer. He also knew about Uncle Evelyn having married +and settled in Perugia, and had heard the Pope speak about him. He spoke +about the Marquis de Gabriac (Desprez's predecessor) and regretted his +departure very much. I think he had not yet seen the new Ambassador. W. +told him Desprez would do all he could to make things go smoothly, that +his whole career had been made at the Quai d'Orsay, where every +important question for years had been discussed with him. + + + Tuesday, April 14th. + +We dined last night at the Black Spanish Embassy with the Cardenas. It +was very pleasant. We had two cardinals--Bibra and a Spanish cardinal +whose name I didn't catch; he had a striking face, keen and stern, +didn't talk much at dinner--Desprez and his son, the Sulmonas, Bandinis, +Primolis (she is née Bonaparte), d'Aulnays, all the personnel of the +French Embassy, and one or two young men from the other embassies; quite +a small dinner. W. took in Princess Sulmona and enjoyed it very much. +Primoli took me, and I had Prince Bandini on the other side. Both men +were pleasant enough. All the women except me were in high dresses, and +Primoli asked me how I had the conscience to appear "décolletée" and +show bare shoulders to cardinals. I told him we weren't told that we +should meet any cardinals, and that in these troubled days I thought a +woman in full dress was such a minor evil that I didn't believe they +would even notice what one had on; but he seemed to think they were +observant, says all churchmen of any denomination are. Their life is +so inactive that they get their experience from what they see and hear. +I talked a few minutes to Princess Bandini after dinner, but she went +away almost immediately, as she had music (Tosti) at home. We promised +to go to her later--I wanted very much to hear Tosti. The evening was +short. The cardinals always go away early--at 9.30 (we dined at 7.30, +and every one was punctual). As long as they stayed the men made a +circle around them. They are treated with much deference (we women were +left to our own devices). W. said the conversation was not very +interesting, they talk with so much reserve always. He said the Spaniard +hardly spoke, and Cardinal Bibra talked antiquities, the excavations +still to be made in Tusculum, etc. I think they go out very little now, +only occasionally to Black embassies. Their position is of course much +changed since the Italians are in Rome. They live much more quietly; +never receive, their carriages are much simpler, no more red trappings, +nothing to attract attention--so different from our day. When Pio Nono +went out it was a real royal progress. First came the "batta strada" or +"piqueur" on a good horse, stopping all the carriages and traffic; then +the Pope in his handsome coach, one or two ecclesiastics with him, +followed by several cardinals in their carriages, minor prelates, +members of the household and the escort of "gardes nobles." All the +gentlemen got out of their carriages, knelt or bowed very low; the +ladies stood in theirs, making low curtseys, and many people knelt in +the street. One saw the old man quite distinctly, dressed all in white; +leaning forward a little and blessing the crowd with a large sweeping +movement of his hand. He rarely walked in the streets of Rome, but often +in the villas--Pamphili or Borghese. There almost all the people he met +knelt; children kissed his hand, and he would sometimes pat their little +black heads. We crossed him one day in the Villa Pamphili. We were a +band of youngsters--Roman and foreigners--and all knelt. The old man +looked quite pleased at the group of young people--stopped a moment and +gave his blessing with a pretty smile. Some of our compatriots were +rather horrified at seeing us kneel with all the rest--Protestants doing +homage to the head of the Roman Catholic Church--and expressed their +opinion to father: it would certainly be a very bad note for my +brother.[27] However, father didn't think the United States Government +would attach much importance to our papal demonstration, and we +continued to kneel and ask his blessing whenever we met His Holiness. He +had a kind, gentle face (a twinkle, too, in his eyes), and was always so +fond of children and young people. The contrast between him and his +successor is most striking. Leo XIII is tall, slight, hardly anything +earthly about him--the type of the intellectual, ascetic priest--all his +will and energy shining out of his eyes, which are extraordinarily +bright and keen for a man of his age. + +[27] General Rufus King, last United States Minister to the Vatican. + +[Illustration: Pope Pius IX.] + +We didn't stay very long after the cardinals left, as I was anxious to +get off to Princess Bandini. We found a great many people, and music +going on. Some woman had been singing--a foreigner, either English or +American--and Tosti was just settled at the piano. He is quite charming; +has very little voice, but says his things delightfully, accompanying +himself with a light, soft touch. He sang five or six times, principally +his own songs, with much expression; also a French song extremely well. +His diction is perfect, his style simple and easy. One wonders why every +one doesn't sing in the same way. They don't, as we perceived when a +man with a big voice, high barytone, came forward, and sang two songs, +Italian and German. The voice was fine, and the man sang well, but +didn't give half the pleasure that Tosti did with his "voix de +compositeur" and wonderful expression. He was introduced to me, and we +had a pleasant talk. He loves England, and goes there every season. A +good many people came in after us. I wanted to introduce W. to some one +and couldn't find him, thought he must have gone, and was just going to +say good-night to Princess Bandini when her husband came up, saying, +"You mustn't go yet--your husband is deep in a talk with Cardinal +Howard," and took me to one of the small salons, where I saw the two +gentlemen sitting, talking hard. The Cardinal was just going when we +came in, so he intercepted W. and carried him off to this quiet corner +where they would be undisturbed. They must have been there quite +three-quarters of an hour, for I went back into the music-room, and it +was some little time before W. found me there. Every one had gone, but +we stayed on a little while, talking to the two Bandinis. It is a funny +change for W. to plunge into all this clerical society of Rome; but he +says he understands their point de vue much better, now that he sees +them here, particularly when both parties can talk quite frankly. It +would be almost impossible to have such a talk in France--each side +begins with such an evident prejudice. The honest clerical really +believes that the liberal is a man absolutely devoid of religious +feeling of any kind--a dangerous character, incapable of real patriotic +feeling, and doing great harm to his country. The liberal is not quite +so narrow-minded; but he, too, in his heart holds the clergy responsible +for the want of progress, the narrow grooves they would like the young +generation to move in, and the influence they try to exercise in +families through the women (who all go to church and confession). With +the pitiless logic of the French character every disputed point stands +out clear and sharp, and discussion is very difficult. Here they are +more supple--leave a larger part to human weaknesses. + + + Thursday, April 16th. + +We have finally had our day at Albano, and delightful it was. W. and I +went alone, as Gert was not very well, and afraid of the long day in the +sun. We started early--at 8.30--though we had been rather late the night +before as Count Coello, Spanish Ambassador,[28] sent us his box for the +opera. It was Lohengrin--well enough given, orchestra and chorus good, +but the soloists rather weak. _Elsa_, a very stout Italian woman of +mature years, did not give one just the idea of the fair patrician +maiden one imagines her to be. The Italian sounded very funny after +hearing it always in German, and "Cigno gentil" didn't at all convey the +same idea as "Lieber Schwan." The tenor had a pretty, sympathetic voice +and looked his part well (rather more like _Elsa's_ son than her lover), +but one mustn't be too particular. The house was fairly brilliant--much +fuller than the last time we were there--and quantities of people we +knew. Hardly any one in full dress, which is a pity, as it makes the +salle look dull. One or two women in white (one very handsome with +diamond stars in her hair, whom nobody knew) stood out very well against +the dark red of the boxes. Del Monte came in and sat some time with us. +He is quite mad about Wagner--rare for an Italian. They generally like +more melody and less science. We invited him to come to Albano with us +and show us everything, and I think he was half inclined to accept, but +he was de service that day and it was too late to find any one to +replace him. + +[28] To the Quirinal. + +We finally decided to drive out after various consultations as to hours, +routes, etc. It is quicker by the railway and we should perhaps have +rather more time, but we both of us love the drive on the Campagna, and +W. was very keen to take the old Via Appia again and realize more +completely the street of tombs. It was a lovely morning and every minute +of the drive interesting, even when we were almost shut in between the +high grey walls which stretch out some little distance at first leaving +the Porta San Sebastiano. They were covered with creepers, pink roses +starting apparently out of all the crevices; pretty, dirty little +children tumbling over the broken bits into the road almost under the +horses' feet; every now and then a donkey's head emerging from an +opening, or a wrinkled old woman appearing at some open door smiling and +nodding a cheerful "Buon giorno!" to the passers-by. There was a long +string of carts with nothing apparently in them. They didn't take much +trouble about getting a little to one side to let the carriage pass; and +their drivers--some of them stretched out on their backs in the carts, +the reins hanging loosely over the seat--didn't at all mind the +invectives our coachman hurled at them, "pigs, lazy dogs, etc." Of +course we passed again Cecilia Metella, also two tombs said to be the +Horatii and Curatii; and the Casale Rotondo with a house and olive trees +on the top, but I cannot remember half the names, nor places. + +We were armed with our Baedeker, but it goes into such details of all +the supposed tombs and monuments that one gets rather lost. I don't know +that it adds very much to the interest to know the names and dates of +all the tombs. One feels in such an old-world atmosphere they speak for +themselves. The colours were beautiful to-day--the old stones had a +soft, grey tint. It is a desolate bit of road all the same--so little +life or movement of any kind. As we got further out we came upon the +long line of aqueducts, but there were apparently miles of plain with +nothing in sight--occasionally a flock of sheep in the distance, the +shepherd riding a rough, unkempt little pony, and looking a half-wild +creature himself--some boys on donkeys, and the shepherds' dogs, which +came barking and jumping over the plain toward the strangers. They are +sometimes very fierce. Years ago in Rome when we used to make long +excursions riding to Vei or Ostia, the gentlemen of the party always +carried good big whips to keep them off. They have been known to spring +on the horses, who are afraid of them. One sprang on Gert once, when we +were cantering over the Campagna, and almost tore her habit off. We +didn't meet any cart or vehicle of any description. I wondered where all +these were going that we passed on the road, and asked our Giuseppe, but +he merely shrugged his shoulders and said they were "robaccia" (trash). + +We stopped a few minutes at the Osteria della Frattocchie--the man +watered his horses (had a drink himself, too) and was very anxious we +should try some of the "vino del paese." We tasted it--a sour, white +wine, very like all the cheap Italian wines. The view from the Osteria +looking back toward Rome was very striking. Long lines of ruined, +crumbling tombs and arches--great blocks of stone, heads of columns, +mounds, wide ditches choked up with weeds, broken walls--all the dead +past of the great city. The sun was bright, but there were plenty of +little clouds, and the changing lights and shades on the great expanse +of the Campagna were beautiful. The hills seemed now so near that we +almost felt like getting out and walking, but the man assured us we had +still three or four miles before us, and a steep hill to climb--Albano +on the top. The road was shady--between two lines of trees. As we got +near the city we saw Pompey's tomb--a high tower with bits of marble +still on the walls. W. is rather sceptical about all the tombs; would +like to have time enough to investigate himself and make out all the +inscriptions, but it would take a life-time. + +We went at once to the hotel to order breakfast, and then strolled about +in the streets until it was ready. It looked more changed to me than +Frascati--more modern. They tell me many people go out there now for +their summer "villegiatura," principally English and Americans, bankers, +doctors, artists, etc., who are obliged to spend their summer in or near +Rome. There were many new houses, and in all the old palaces apartments +to rent. There were a few tourists walking about, but happily no Cook's +this time. When we went back to the hotel we told the landlord what we +wanted to see--Ariccia, Genzano and Nemi. He suggested donkeys, but that +we both declined, so he said he had a good little carriage which could +take us easily. The breakfast was good, we were both hungry, and after +coffee we walked about in the Villa Doria under the ilex trees. W. +smoked and was quite happy, and I wasn't sorry to walk a little after +having been so long in the carriage. We went to the gardens of the Villa +Altieri. It was there the Cardinal died in the cholera summer of '69 +when we were at Frascati. We could almost have walked to Ariccia, it is +so near, and such a lovely road, all ilex trees and great rocks, winding +along the side of the hill. The church and old Chigi Palace look very +grand and imposing as one gets near the gates of the little town. We +walked about the streets and went into the church, but there was not +much to see, and I thought it less effective seen near; then on to the +gardens of the Capuchin Convent, from where there are splendid views in +every direction, and always the thick shade of the ilex. We couldn't +loiter very much as we had the drive to Genzano before us. The road was +quite beautiful all the way; every turn familiar (how many times we have +ridden over it), and Genzano with its little, old streets straggling up +the hill looked exactly the same. I had forgotten the great viaduct +which one sees all the time on that road, it is splendid. We again got +out of the carriage and walked up a steep little path to have a view of +Lake Nemi. It lay far down at our feet--a little green pond (yet high +too), they say it was a volcanic crater. The water was perfectly +still--not even a shimmer of light or movement. Every way we turned the +view was beautiful--either down the valley where the colours were +changing all the time, sometimes quite grey, when the sun was under a +cloud (one almost felt a chill), and then every leaf and flower +sparkling in the sunlight--or toward the hills where the little towns +Rocca di Papa and Monte Cavo seemed hanging on the side of the mountain. + +The drive back to Albano by the "Galleria di Sotto" under the enormous +ilex trees was simply enchanting, the afternoon sun throwing beautiful +streaks of yellow light through the thick shade, and the road most +animated--groups of peasants coming in from their work in the fields; +old women tottering along, almost disappearing beneath the great bundles +of fagots they carried on their heads; girls with jet-black hair and +eyes, in bright-coloured skirts, and little handkerchiefs pinned over +their shoulders, laughing and singing and chaffing the drivers of the +wine carts, who usually got down and walked along with them, leaving +their horses, who followed quietly, the men turning around occasionally +and talking to them. In the fields alongside there were teams of the +splendid white oxen and quantities of children tumbling up and down the +banks and racing after the carriage. They spot the foreigner at once. I +had talked so much to W. about the beauty of the road, the Galleria in +particular, that I was afraid he would be disappointed; but he wasn't, +was quite as enthusiastic as I was. + +When we got back to Albano I tried to find some of the little cakes +(ciambelle) we used to buy when we rode over from Frascati; the little +package wrapped up in greasy brown paper and tied to the pommel of the +saddle; but the woman at the very nice baker's or confectioner's shop we +went into hadn't any, but said she could make a "plome cheke" (she +showed us the ticket with the name on it with pride), which was what all +the "Inglesi" took. + +The drive home was lovely--just enough of the beautiful sunset clouds to +give colour to everything; the air soft and the world so still that a +dog barking in one of the little old farms or shepherds' huts made quite +a disturbance. As the evening closed in we heard the "grilli" (alas, no +nightingales; it is still too early) and the bushes along the road were +bright with fire-flies. The road seemed much less lonely going back to +Rome; so many peasants were coming back from the fields, also boys on +donkeys with empty sacks--had evidently taken olives, cheese, or dried +herbs into the city--and always bands of girls laughing and singing. It +was an ideal day, and after dinner we were just tired enough to settle +in our respective arm-chairs and say how glad we were we had decided to +come and spend these months in Italy. + +The Schuylers came in for a cup of tea and Gert was rather sorry she +hadn't come, as her headache wasn't very serious. I think they will +take themselves out to Albano for a little stay as soon as the heat +begins. + + + Friday, April 17th. + +This morning we went for a last turn in the Vatican. That is what W. +likes best. There is so much to see in that marvellous collection. He +wanted to copy one or two inscriptions, so I wandered about alone and +talked to the custode, who has become an intimate friend of ours. He +hovers about W. when he is taking notes or examining things closely, and +is evidently much gratified at the interest he takes in +everything--quite like a collector showing off his antiquities. We saw a +little commotion at one end of the long gallery, and he came running up +to say "His Holiness" was walking in the garden, and if we would come +with him he would take us to a window from where we could see him quite +distinctly. This of course we were delighted to do, as one never sees +the present Pope, except in some great ceremony when he is carried in +the "sedia gestatoria," but so high over the heads of the people that +one can hardly distinguish his features. We walked down the gallery, +through two or three passages, up a flight of stairs, and came upon a +window looking down directly on the gardens. They are beautiful, more +like a park than a garden, and one can quite understand that the Pope +can get a very good drive there, the days he doesn't walk. The custode +says he only walks when it is quite fine, is afraid of the damp or wind, +but that he goes out every day. There is a wood, flowers, long alleys +stretching far away bordered with box and quite wide enough for a +carriage, various buildings, a casino, tower, observatory, etc., also +fountains and a lake (I didn't see a boat upon it). In the middle of one +of the alleys a little group was walking slowly in our direction--about +10 people I should think. The Pope, dressed always in white, seemed to +walk easily enough. He carried himself very straight, and was talking +with a certain animation to the two ecclesiastics who walked on each +side of him. He stopped every now and then, going on with his +conversation and using his hands freely. He was talking all the time, +the others listening with much deference. The suite seemed to consist of +three or four priests and two servants. I didn't see either a Suisse or +Garde-Noble, but they may have been following at a distance. Our glimpse +of him was fleeting, as he turned into a side alley before he got up to +our window--still it was enough to realize his life--think of never +going outside those walls, walking day after day in those same alleys, +cut off from all the outside world and living his life in the stillness +and monotony of the Vatican. However it certainly doesn't react in any +way upon his intellect. They say he is just as keen and well up in +everything as when he was Bishop of Perugia, and that his indomitable +will will carry him through. + +We thanked our old custode very warmly (and in many ways) for having +brought us to the window, and also said good-bye to him, as this of +course was our last visit to the Vatican. He begged us to come back, but +it must be soon, or _he_ wouldn't be there, as he was as old as the +Pope. + +When we got to the hotel we found Monsignor English in the salon with +the Pope's photograph, very well framed with a gilt shield with the +Papal arms on the top. It is exactly like him, sitting very straight in +his chair, his hand lifted a little just as if he were speaking, and the +other hand and arm resting on the arm of the chair. He is dressed in his +white robes, red cape and embroidered stole, just as we saw him; and his +little white cap on his head. He has written himself a few words in +Latin, of which this is a free translation: "The woman who fears God, +makes her own reputation. Her husband was celebrated in his country when +he sat with the Senators of the land." I am so pleased to have the +photograph--so many people told me I should never get it, that the Pope +rarely gave his picture to anybody and never signed one. Monsignor +English, too, was much pleased, as he had undertaken the whole thing. He +said again that the Pope was glad to have seen W., found him so +moderate, and yet very decided, too, about what the church mustn't do. +Leo XIII. has an awfully difficult part to play--the ultra-Catholics +disapprove absolutely his line--can't understand any concession or +compromise with Republican France, and yet there are very good religious +people on the liberal side, and he, as Head of the Church, must think +about all his children, and try to conciliate, not alienate. It is +wonderful that that old man sitting up there by himself at the top of +the Vatican can think out all those perplexed questions and arrive at a +solution. They say he works it all out himself--rarely asks advice. I +daresay it wouldn't help him if he did, for of course there are +divisions, too, in the clerical party of Rome, even among the Cardinals, +where the difference of nationalities must have a very great influence. +I should think there was almost as much difference between an American +and an Italian Cardinal as between Protestants and Catholics. The +American must look at things from a different point of view. Monsignor +English quite understood that--said Americans were more +independent--still when a great question came they must submit like all +the rest. + +We then had a most animated discussion as to how far it was possible for +an intelligent man (or woman) to abdicate entirely his own judgment, and +to accept a thing which he was not quite sure of because the church +decided it must be. I think we should have gone on indefinitely with +that conversation, never arriving at any solution, so it was just as +well that breakfast put a stop to it. + +We went for a lovely drive in the afternoon, out of the Porta del +Popolo, across Ponte Molle, and then along the river until we came to +that rough country road, or lane, leading across the fields where we +have gone in so many times on horseback, to the Villa Madama. We drove +as far as we could (almost to the gate) and then walked up the hill to +the Villa itself. There everything was quite unchanged--the garden +neglected, full of weeds, and grass growing high. The oval stone basin +was there still, the sides covered with moss, and a few flowers coming +quite promiscuously out of walls, stones, etc. We went into the loggia +to see the paintings and frescoes, all in good condition, and then sat +some time on the terrace looking at the view, which was +divine--everything so soft in the distance, even the yellow Tiber looked +silvery--at least I saw it so; I don't know that W. did. He generally +finds it sluggish and muddy. We came home by the Porta Angelica and +drove through the Square of St. Peter's. There are always people on the +steps, not a crowd of course as on fête days, but enough to give +animation, priests, beggars, and the people lounging and looking at +whatever passes in the Square. It is so enormous, the Piazza, when one +sees it empty, one can hardly realize what it used to be in the old days +for the great Easter ceremony when the Pope gave his blessing from the +balcony of St. Peter's. I can see it now, packed black with people, the +French soldiers with their red caps and trousers making great patches of +colour, and Montebello (who commanded the French Armée d'Occupation in +Rome) with a brilliant staff in the centre of the Square--he and his +black charger so absolutely motionless one might have thought both horse +and rider were cast in bronze. There were all sorts of jokes and +chattering in the crowd until the first glimpse of the waving peacock +plumes, and banners, passing high, high up, and just visible through the +arches, showed that the Pope's procession was arriving on the balcony; +and when at last one saw distinctly the white figure as the old man was +raised high in his chair there was an absolute stillness in all that +great mass; every one knelt to receive the blessing, and the Pope's +voice rang out clear and strong (one could hear every word). As soon as +it was over cannon fired, bells rang, and there fluttered down over the +crowd a quantity of little white papers (indulgences) which every one +tried to grasp. It was a magnificent cadre for such a ceremony--the dome +of St. Peter's towering above us straight up into the blue sky, the +steps crowded with people, the red umbrellas of the peasants making a +great show, and women of all conditions and all nationalities dressed in +bright, gay colours; uniforms of all kinds, monks and priests of every +order; the black of the priests rather lost in all the colour of +uniforms, costumes, etc. The getting away was long--we might have had +our carriage with the American cockade in one of the back courts of the +Vatican, but we wanted to see everything and come home by the Ponte St. +Angelo. It was a great show all the way--the long line of carriages and +pedestrians streaming back to Rome, cut every now and then by a +detachment of troops. Everybody was cheered, from Charette and his +Zouaves to Montebello and his staff. The crowd was in a good humour--it +was a splendid day, they had had a fine show, and politics and "foreign +mercenaries" were forgotten for the moment. Everybody had a flower of +some kind--the boys and young men in their hats, the girls in their +hair. One heard on all sides "buona festa," "buona Pasqua." How we +enjoyed it all, particularly the first time, when we were fresh from +America and our principal idea of a fête was the 4th of July. That +seemed a magnificent thing in our childish days, when we had friends on +the lawn at Cherry Lawn, a torch-light procession with a band (such a +band) from the town, and father's speech, standing at the top of the +steps and telling the boys that if they worked hard and studied well, +any one of them might become President of the United States, which +statement of course was always received with roars of applause. + +[Illustration: Last Benediction of Pope Pius IX. from the Balcony of St. +Peter's.] + +We went back to the Piazza always at night to see the "Girandola" +fireworks, and there was almost the same crowd waiting for the first +silvery light to appear on the façade of St. Peter's. It was marvellous +to see the lines of light spread all over the enormous mass of stone, +running around all the cupolas and statues like a trail of silver, in +such quantities that the stone almost disappeared, and the church seemed +made of light--quite beautiful. The illumination lasted a long +time--gold light came after the silver, and I think it was perhaps more +striking when they began to go out one by one, leaving great spaces in +darkness--then one saw what an enormous edifice it was. + +I have written you a volume--but every turn here recalls old, happy +days--"Roma com'era"--and I must come back to the present and our +farewell dinner at the Noailles'. + +We were a small party--all the French Embassy, the Duc de Ripalda, the +Chilian Minister and his wife, Maffel, Visconti Venosta, and Lanciani. +W. and Noailles retired to the fumoir and talked politics hard. We shall +soon be back in the thick of it now, and W. will take his place again +in the Senate. It will seem funny to be quietly settled in the rue +Dumont d'Urville--riding in the Bois in the morning and driving over to +the Senate in the afternoon, with the boy, to get W. Ripalda and I had a +long talk. He tells me he still holds the same opinion about American +women--they are the prettiest and most attractive in the world. There is +something--he doesn't know what--that makes them different from all the +others. I asked him if he remembered Antoinette Polk; to which he +promptly replied, "Ah, qu'elle était belle--une déesse." I must tell her +how she lives in his old memory. I always find Noailles pleasant--so +grand seigneur. + +We found all sorts of cards and invitations when we came in, and a +surprise for me from Father Smith which pleased me greatly, a silver +medal of Leo XIII. in a case. It is about the size of a five-franc +piece--rather larger if anything, and so like, the small head, and fine, +sharply cut features, such a nice note, too, from Father Smith; he was +very glad to be able to offer me something which he knew I would prize, +and that it wasn't necessary to be of the same religion to admire and +appreciate a great intellect and a good man. I am very proud of my two +pictures, and shall show them triumphantly to some of my Catholic +friends and relations who can't understand a Protestant and a heretic +caring for such souvenirs. + +We can't accept any more dinners as we leave on Monday, W. for Naples +and I for Florence. I wanted very much to go to Ostia, I should like W. +to see that desolate, sandy shore with the pines coming down almost to +the water's edge, and the old castle rising up in the distance; but it +is an all-day excursion and we haven't time. We will try and do Vei, +which is an easy afternoon's drive. I must stop now--W. is deep in +Baedeker, looking out Ostia and Vei, and must also write a note to +Geoffroy about something they want to see to-morrow. I shall go and see +something with Gert. + + + Sunday, April 19, 1880. + +Yesterday we had an enchanting day at Tivoli, W., Gert and I. Schuyler +was detained in Rome, much to his disgust, on business. He loves a day +in the country and is most amusing to go about with. He talks to +everybody, priests, peasants, soldiers, and always gets odd bits of +information about old customs, legends, family histories--all that makes +the story of a nation. Tomba gave us a light carriage and a pair of +strong horses (our little ones were not up to the long day). We started +at 8 in the morning and didn't get back until 8.30. There is a steam +tram now all the way out but we preferred driving, as we wanted to stop +at Hadrian's Villa. We went out by Porta San Lorenzo, crossed the Arno +(the river which makes the falls of Tivoli) at Ponte Mammolo, and had a +good two hours' drive (rather more, in fact) to Hadrian's Villa. I +didn't find that part of the Campagna very interesting (it was much +finer after one left the Villa). We left the carriage at the entrance of +a sort of lane (one doesn't see much before getting actually inside) +between high banks covered with every description of vine and creepers; +and wild flowers and weeds in a tangle at our feet (it was really +difficult walking sometimes), and found ourselves in an open space, with +ruins in every direction--a half-crumbling wall, weeds choking it up; +part of a theatre with broken columns and steps, a few bits of mosaic +but not much colour of any kind; some bas-reliefs very well preserved; +but one felt that everything of value had been taken away, and what was +left was so hidden in long grass and weeds that it was difficult to +understand all the former magnificence of the famous Villa. + +The custode was most conscientious, explained everything--the arena, +theatre, baths, temples, etc., but my impression was a mass of grey, +broken bits of stones and columns. There were one or two splendid stone +pines standing up straight and tall, looking like guardians of past +splendour, and in every direction the crooked little grey-green olive +trees and fields full of flowers. Gert and I sat on the wall in a shady +corner, while W. and the custode went off some little distance to look +at a fountain, and we were not sorry to have the rest. The last part of +the drive, winding up the hill to Tivoli, was beautiful--such splendid +views all the time, either toward Rome (St. Peter's standing out, a +faint blue dome at the end of the long, flat plains of the Campagna; or +on the other side the Sabine Hills, Soracte, Frascati, etc.). + +We went straight to the little old hotel of the Sybilla, which looks +exactly the same as in our day, and ordered breakfast. We were quite +ready for it, having had our "petit déjeuner" at 7.30. The padrone said +he wanted half an hour to prepare it, as the regular table-d'hôte was +over. Of course the railway tourists got out much quicker than we did +and we met them all over the place, when we went out to see the famous +Temple of Vesta. It is perched on the top of the cliff, looking as if it +would take very little to precipitate it into the mass of rushing, +leaping water tumbling itself over the rocks far below at our feet. We +had a very good breakfast, capital trout for which Tivoli is famous, and +a most talkative landlord who came to superintend the meal and give us +any information we wanted. He said we must have donkeys to make the +"giro," which would take us about two hours, and we could finish at the +Villa d'Este, where the carriage would come and get us. + +We walked about a little in the town after breakfast through narrow, +dirty streets with curious old bits of architecture, and into the +church, or cathedral as they grandly call it, of San Francesco; but +there was really nothing to see; and at two we started for our tournée +to the grottoes of Neptune and the Sirena. We all walked at first, two +donkeys with the usual pretty little black-eyed boys at their heads +following (W. of course wouldn't have a donkey but took a cane which the +padrone of the Sybilla strongly recommended as the steps going down to +the grotto were steep and slippery). I wondered how the donkeys would +get on, but made no remarks as I knew I could always get off. We walked +through the little town under a nice old arch and up a path which was +pleasant enough at first, but when we wound round the side of the hill +Gert and I were glad to mount our beasts as the sun was very hot and +there wasn't an atom of shade. It was a beautiful excursion, always +something to see--ruins of old castles, temples, gateways--so much +really that one couldn't take in details. From certain "points de vue" +the Temple of Vesta seemed almost standing on air--one lost the cliff, +which disappeared in a sort of mist. As soon as we began to go down the +noise of the rushing water was quite overpowering; we couldn't hear +ourselves speak, and the glimpses we had of the quantities of little +falls leaping over big rocks and stones were quite enchanting. + +Our little donkeys were perfectly sure-footed and the path good though +steep. We dismounted before getting quite down to the grottoes and the +steps certainly were rough and slippery. The guide took charge of Gert, +and I followed in W.'s wake very carefully. It was icy cold when we got +all the way down. I am generally impervious to that sort of thing, but I +felt the cold strike me and didn't stay long. The chill passed entirely +as soon as we came out and began the ascent, leaving the dark, deep pool +behind us. + +The road back was, if possible, more beautiful; great ravines with olive +trees half way down their sides, mountain streams in every direction +making countless little cataracts, all dancing and sparkling in the +sun--rocks covered with bright green moss, and fields carpeted with wild +flowers. The guide pointed out various ruins--the Villa of Mæcenas--a +great square mass on the top of a hill--but we didn't care to make a +long détour to go up to it. We were quite satisfied with all the natural +beauty we saw around us--one old bridge, the arches covered with moss +and flowers, and every now and then through the olive trees one had +glimpses of arches, columns, temples--quite beautiful. The only drawback +was the Cook's tourists who were riding and walking and talking all over +the place, making jokes with the guides and speaking the most execrable +Italian. However they had already _done_ the Villa d'Este, so we lost +them there, which was a relief. + +The Villa was enchanting after the heat and glare of the road, and at +first we sat quite quietly on a grassy bank and enjoyed the thick shade +of the enormous cypresses. The custode was very anxious we should make +the classic tour with him but we told him we knew the place--it was by +no means our first visit. I explained to him in Italian that I was a +"vecchia Romana" (old Roman), to which he replied with true Italian +gallantry, "non tanto vecchia--son to vecchio" (no, not at all old--I am +old), and old he was, his face all yellow and wrinkled like the +peasants who live on the Campagna and are poisoned with malaria. + +I should think, though, the Villa d'Este was healthy, it stands so high. +It is almost uninhabited, belongs now to Cardinal Hohenlohe, but they +tell me he never lives there, never sleeps--comes out for the day from +Rome and goes back at night. It is sometimes let to foreigners. The +garden is quite beautiful, perfectly wild and neglected but a wealth of +trees, fountains, statues, terraces--it might be made a paradise with a +little care. There are few flowers (like most Italian gardens) except +those that grow quite wild. There is still the same great arch at one +end of the terrace which just frames a stretch of Campagna, making a +beautiful picture. + +We had a delicious hour wandering about, stopping to rest every now and +then, and sitting on some old bit of wall or column--no one there but +ourselves and not a sound except the splashing water of the fountains. +W. was delighted, and we were very sorry to leave. The afternoon light +was so beautiful, penetrating through the black cypress avenue, however, +we had a long drive back, longer even than coming, as we wanted to make +a détour to look at the sulphur lakes. Our coachman was evidently +anxious to leave. We heard an animated parley at the gate of the Villa, +and the custode appeared to say the carriage was there and the coachman +said it was time to start if we wanted to get back to Rome before +nightfall. I think _he_ didn't want to be too late on the road. + +It was still warm when we started back, but we hadn't gone very far when +it changed completely and I was very glad to put on my jacket and a +shawl over it. It is a long, barren stretch of Campagna toward the +sulphur lakes; one smelt the sulphur some time before arriving. They +were not particularly interesting, looked like big, stagnant ponds, with +rather yellowish water. Our man was decidedly uncomfortable. The road +was absolutely lonely--not a person nor a vehicle of any kind in sight, +the long straight road before us, and the desolate plains of the +Campagna on each side. He fidgeted on his box, looked nervously from +side to side, whipped up his horses, until at last W. asked him what was +the matter, what was he afraid of. "Nothing, nothing, but it was late. +We were strangers and one never could be quite sure what one would +meet." It was not very reassuring, and when we saw once or twice a +figure looming up in the distance, a man or two men on horseback, who +might be shepherds or who might be bandits, we were not very comfortable +either; we seemed to feel suddenly that it was getting dark, that we +were alone in a very lonely road in a strange country, and we didn't +mind at all when the coachman urged his horses to a quick gallop, and +got over the ground as fast as he could. + +We didn't say much until the little twinkling lights of the first +"osterias" began to show themselves, and as we got nearer Rome and met +the long lines of carts and peasants, some walking, some riding, we felt +better and agreed that it wasn't pleasant to feel afraid, particularly a +vague fear that didn't take shape. + +When we drew up at the door of the hotel, after having deposited Gert at +her Palazzo, we asked the coachman what he had been afraid of--was there +any danger; to which he (safe on his box in the Piazza di Spagna) +replied with a magnificent gesture that a Roman didn't know what fear +meant, but he saw the ladies were nervous. It seems absurd now this +morning, sitting at the window with the Piazza full of people, that we +should have felt so uncomfortable. I asked W. if he was nervous. He +said rather, for from the moment of starting he saw the coachman didn't +want to take the side-road to the sulphur lakes, which was certainly +wild and lonely, also that he was most anxious to get on. If the +carriage had been merely stopped to rob us it would have been very +disagreeable as we had no means of defence, nothing but our parasols, +and of course nobody near to come to our rescue. I don't think our +Giuseppe would have made a very vigorous resistance. After all, +adventures do happen, and it would have been unpleasant to return to +Paris minus one ear or one finger or any other souvenir of a sojourn in +a bandit camp. + +As we didn't get home until nearly nine I proposed no dinner, but "high +tea" upstairs in our salon. W. demurred at first, like all men he +loathes that meal dear to the female mind, but upon reflection thought +it would be best. The gérant came up to speak about some boxes we want +to send to Paris direct from here, and we told him of our return and the +coachman's evident terror. He said he could quite understand it, that it +was a very lonely, unfrequented bit of road leading to the sulphur +lakes, and that we had chosen our time badly; all the tourists went +first to the lakes before going to Tivoli, and it would have been a +temptation to some of the wild shepherds and Campagna peasants to stop +the carriage and insist upon having money or jewels. He didn't think +there was any danger to our lives, nor even to our ears. They wouldn't +have made much of a haul--I had no jewels of any kind, except my big +pearl earrings--and W. very little money--three or four hundred francs. +It was a disagreeable experience, all the same. I don't like being +afraid, and I was. We went a swinging pace for about three-quarters of +an hour--the horses on a good quick gallop. + +I went to church this morning. It is a nice walk from here and the day +is enchanting--warm, but just air enough to make exercise pleasant. W. +was off early with Geoffroy. They put off yesterday's excursion until +to-day, as W. was very anxious to see Tivoli. + +The trunks are being packed, the gérant apparently superintending +operations, as I hear a great deal of conversation in the anteroom. +Madame Hubert has an extraordinary faculty for getting all she wants--an +excellent quality in a travelling maid. As you know she is very pretty, +which again carries out my favourite theory that beauty is the most +important gift for a woman. I daresay it won't bear discussion, and I +ought to say "goodness," but my experience points the other way. I have +so often heard father quote Madame de Staël (who was very kind to him +when he was a young man in Paris) who, at the very height of her triumph +as the great woman's intelligence of her time, said to him one evening +at a big party in Paris, looking at Madame Récamier, who was beautiful, +and surrounded by all that was most distinguished and brilliant in the +room, "Je donnerai toute mon intelligence pour avoir sa beauté." + +I am so sorry to go--though of course I shall be glad to see you all, +but we have enjoyed ourselves so much. I wonder when I shall see it all +again, and I also wonder what makes the great charm of Rome. It appeals +to so many people of perfectly different tastes. W. has been perfectly +happy and interested (and in many things, not only in inscriptions and +antiquities) and I am sure such an absolute change of life and scenes +was the best rest he could have after the very fatiguing life of the +last two years. + + + Sunday, April 19, 1880, 10 o'clock. + +We have just come in from our farewell dinner with Gert, our last in +Rome, or rather my last. I go to Florence to-morrow morning, but W. +stays on till Tuesday. He is going to dine at the Wimpffens to-morrow +night with some colleagues and political people. He has stopped +downstairs to finish his cigar and give directions about some books he +wants sent to Paris, and I will finish this letter. I have nothing to +do--the trunks are all packed, some already downstairs, and the salon +looks quite bare and uncomfortable, notwithstanding some flowers which +Mrs. Bruce and Trocchi have sent for good-bye. + +Gert and I had a nice afternoon. It was so beautiful that we went for a +last drive in the country, and I shall carry away a last summer +impression almost, all blue sky, bright flowers, deep shadows, and a +warm light over everything. It is wonderful how the Campagna +changes--almost from day to day (not only with the change of seasons), +quite like the ocean. To-day, for instance, was enchanting, the air soft +and mild, a smell of fresh earth and flowers everywhere, the old towers +and tombs standing well out, rising out of a mass of high grass and wild +flowers, and taking a soft pink colour in the warm sunlight--so clear +that one could see a great distance--and all the little villages made +white spots on the hills. It is quite different from the winter +Campagna, which stretches away--miles of barren, desolate plains; the +rocks look quite bare, the hills are shrouded in mist, and one has a +feeling of solitude and of dead nature which is curious. I suppose +history and all the old legends work upon the imagination and incline us +to idealize the most ordinary surroundings; but there are always the +long lines of ruined aqueducts, the square, massive towers, and great +memorial stones that one comes upon in most unexpected places; and an +extraordinary feeling of a great dead past which I don't think one has +anywhere else. + +We passed through the Piazza Montanara, and by the old theatre of +Marcellus on our way out. I wanted to see the little, dark, dirty corner +I was always so fond of. The fruit-stall was still there, jammed up +against the wall, half hidden by the great stones, remains of balconies, +and arched windows that jut out from the great black mass--all that +remains of the once famous theatre. The piazza was very full--peasants, +donkeys, boys selling fruit and drinks, and in one corner the "scrivano" +(public letter-writer) with his rickety little old table, pen, paper, +and ink, waiting for any one who needed his services. Thirty years ago, +it seems, he did a flourishing trade, Sundays particularly, and there +would be a long string of people patiently waiting their turn. Much +chaffing and commenting when some pretty girl appeared, smiling and +blushing, wanting to have a letter written to her sweetheart away with +his regiment in foreign parts or high up on some of the hills with his +sheep or cattle. To-day there was hardly any one--a wrinkled old woman +dictating something about a soldier and apparently not making it very +clear, as the writer (not the classic old man with a long beard, but a +youth) seemed decidedly impatient. We had quite time to take it all in, +as the people (donkeys too) were all standing in the middle of the +street and didn't hurry themselves at all to move apart and let the +carriage pass. We were evidently near the "Ghetto," as we saw some fine +types of Jewish women, tall, handsome creatures, carrying themselves +very well; quite unlike the men, who were a dirty, hard-featured lot, +creeping along with that cringing, deprecatory manner which seems +inherent in the race. + +We crossed the bridge and drove through part of the Trastevere, which +certainly looked remarkably dark and uninviting on this lovely summer +afternoon. There are of course fine buildings, churches, and old +palaces, some half tumbling down, and all black with dirt and age. The +streets were dirty, the children (quantities of them playing in the +streets) dirty and unkempt; clothes of all kinds were hanging out of the +windows, falling over sculptured balconies and broken statues, in what +had been stately palaces--every now and then flowers in a broken vase. +There were some fine old arched gateways with a rope across on which +clothes and rags were drying, and dreadful old men and women sitting +under them on dirty benches and broken chairs. There was a smell (not to +use a stronger word) of dirt and stale things, fruit and vegetables, +also a little "frittura," which one always perceives in the people's +quarter in Rome. I had forgotten how wretched it all was, and we were +glad to get away from the smells and the dirt and find ourselves on the +road along the river which leads to Ponte Molle. It was too late to +think of Vei, but we drove some distance along the road. The Campagna +looked quite beautiful, and every group we passed a picture in the soft +evening light. Sometimes a woman with a baby on her shoulder (the child +with a red cap) standing well out against the sky--sometimes one or two +shepherds on their shaggy mountain ponies seeming quite close to us, but +really far away on the plains (always wrapped in their long cloaks, +though it was a summer evening). Every now and then a merry band of +girls and soldiers. The "bersaglieri" with their long feathers and the +girls with bright, striped skirts swinging along at a great pace, always +singing and laughing; of course the inevitable old woman carrying a +heavy load of fagots or dried grass on her poor bent back; and equally +of course the man with her lounging along, a cigar in his mouth and +hands in his pockets, evidently thinking that to carry a heavy burden +was "lavoro di donna." Poor old women! I daresay they hardly remember +that they were once straight, active girls, singing and dancing in the +sunlight with no thought of old age nor fears for the future. + +As soon as we crossed the bridge going back there were many more people +on the road. There are "osterias," gardens, and small vineyards on each +side of the road almost up to the Porta del Popolo, and as it was +Sunday, the whole population was abroad. Many of the women carry their +babies perched on their shoulders (not in their arms) and steady them +with one hand. The little creatures, their black heads just showing out +of the sort of bag or tight bands they are wrapped in, look quite +contented--some of them asleep. + +[Illustration: St. Peter's from the Pincio.] + +We went up to the Pincio, to have a last look at St. Peter's and the +Doria pines before the sun went down. There were few people; it was +late, and we had the terrace to ourselves. The dome stood out, quite +purple, against a clear blue sky, and seemed almost resting on the +clouds. There was a slight mist, which detached it from the mass of +buildings. Rome hardly existed--we only saw the dome. I was sorry W. was +not there to have that last beautiful picture in his mind. Del Monte, +who was also lingering on the terrace, joined us and said he would walk +back with me along the terrace of the Villa Medici, so I sent Gert back +to her palazzo in the carriage and he and I strolled along and talked +over old times; so many recollections of things done together--rides on +the Campagna, hours of music of all kinds, particularly at the Villa +Marconi at Frascati. I asked him if he had ever gone back there since we +left. The villa was often let to forestieri. One year there was an +English family there, father, mother, _one_ son, and _eight_ daughters. +They used to go about always in three carriages. He said he had never +known any one there since us. He remembered so well all the music we did +in the big room. When it was a fine night all the mezzo ceto (petite +bourgeoisie) who were in "villegiatura" at Frascati would congregate +under our windows, whenever we were singing and playing. If they liked +our music they applauded; if they didn't (which happened sometimes, when +the strains were not melodious enough) they were too polite to express +disapproval, and would remain perfectly silent. We used to hear them +singing and whistling our songs when they went home. We amused ourselves +often trying them with music they couldn't possibly know--plantation +songs or amateur music which had never been published. We would sing +them one evening; the next they would come back and sing all our songs +perfectly well (no words, of course). They had an extraordinary musical +facility. Often when we stopped, or on some of the rare occasions when +we didn't do any music, they would sing some of their songs--many of +them ending on a long, sustained note quite charming. + +It was pleasant to recall all the "tempi passati." We lingered a few +moments at the top of the Spanish Steps, quite deserted at this hour of +the evening, and when he left me at the door of the hotel I had barely +time to talk a little to W. before dressing for dinner. He was rather +wondering what had become of me. He had had a delightful afternoon with +his friends. They had walked along the banks of the Tiber on the way to +Ostia. He says there are all sorts of interesting things to be found +there--tombs, bits of Roman wall and pavements, traces of old quays, and +subterraneous passages all mixed up with modern improvements. The City +of Rome is spending a great deal of money in building new quays, +bridges, etc., on a most elaborate and expensive scale. I should think +the sluggish old Tiber would hardly know itself flowing between such +energetic, busy banks. + +They drove out for some distance on the road to Ostia, but only got as +far as the Monte di San Paolo (I think), from where they had a fine view +of the sea, and the pine forests. I am sorry they hadn't time to go on, +but we must leave something for the next time. I wonder when it will be. + +Gert's dinner was pleasant--Mrs. Bruce, Comte Palfy, Father Smith, and +Mr. Hooker. They all talked hard. Mr. Hooker has lived so many years in +Rome that he has seen all its transformations; says the present busy, +brilliant capital is so unlike the old Rome of his days that he can +hardly believe it is the same place. It is incredible that a whole city +should have lived so many years in such absolute submission to the Papal +Government. In those days there were only two newspapers, each revised +at the Vatican and nothing allowed to appear in either that wasn't +authorized by the papal court; also the government exercised a paternal +right over the jeunesse dorée, and when certain fair ladies with yellow +hair and elaborate costumes appeared in the Villa Borghese, or on the +Pincio, exciting great admiration in all the young men of the place (and +filling the mammas and wives with horror), it was merely necessary to +make a statement to the Vatican. The dangerous stranger was instantly +warned that she must cross the frontier. + +Palfy, too, remembered Rome in the old days, when the long drive along +the Riviera in an old-fashioned travelling carriage (before railways +were known in these parts) was a thing planned and arranged months +beforehand--one such journey was made in a life-time. He said the little +villages where they stopped were something awful; not the slightest idea +of modern comfort or cleanliness. The ladies travelled with a retinue of +servants, taking with them sheets, mattresses, washing materials (there +was a large heavy silver basin and jug which always travelled with his +family) and batterie de cuisine; also very often a doctor, as one was +afraid of fever or a bad chill, as of course any heating apparatus was +most primitive. The Italians sat in the sun all day and went to bed when +it was dark and cold. One saw the country and the people much better in +that way. Now we fly through at night in an express train, and the Rome +we see to-day might be Paris, Vienna, or any modern capital. I mean, of +course, inside the walls. As soon as one gets out of the gates and on +the Campagna one feels as if by instinct all the dead past of the great +city. + +I told them that in our time, when we lived one summer in the Villa +Marconi at Frascati, the arrangements were most primitive. The palace +was supposed to be furnished, but as the furniture consisted chiefly of +marble statues, benches, and baths--also a raised garden on a level with +the upper rooms, opening out of the music-room, the door behind an +enormous white marble statue of some mythological celebrity--it didn't +seem very habitable to our practical American minds. There were beds and +one or two wash-stands, also curtains in one room, but as for certain +intimate domestic arrangements they didn't exist; and when we ventured +to suggest that they were indispensable to our comfort we were told, "I +principi romani non domandono altro" (Roman princes don't ask for +anything more). + +Heavens, how funny all the pourparlers were. Fanny[29] did all the +talking, as we were still too new to the language to embark upon a +business conversation. Her mother, who was an excellent maîtresse de +maison, gave all the directions, which were most particular and +detailed, as she was very anxious we should be comfortable, and very +doubtful as to the resources of the establishment. The agent was visibly +agacé and impatient. Fanny had on a pair of tortoise-shell star +ear-rings, and the man told one of our friends afterward that "quella +piccola colle stellette" (the young girl with the little stars) was a +real "diavolo." It was funny to hear her beginning every sentence "Dice +la signora" (madame says), and saying exactly what her mother told her; +the mother, standing near, understanding every word, though she couldn't +say anything, and looking hard at the agent. He understood her, too. +However, we didn't get any more than the Roman princes had, and made our +own arrangements as well as we could, having out a large van of +furniture of all kinds from Rome. + +[29] Miss Fanny King, daughter of General Rufus King, United States +Minister to the Vatican, now Mrs. Edward Ward. + +Hooker remembered it all well, as he found the house for us and had many +misgivings as to how we should get along. He was always keeping us +straight in a financial point of view, as even then, before the days of +the enormous American fortunes, Americans were careless about money, and +didn't mind paying, and paying well, for what they wanted. In those +days, too, it was rather cheap living in Italy, and we were so surprised +often by the prices of the mere necessaries of life that we couldn't +help expressing our astonishment freely. Poor Hooker was much disgusted. +"You might as well ask them to cheat you." We learned better, however, +later, particularly after several visits to Naples, where the first +price asked for anything was about five times as much as the vender +expected to get. "Le tout c'est de savoir." + +Father Smith and W. got on swimmingly. It is too funny to see them +together. The father's brogue is delightful and comes out strong +whenever he talks about anything that interests him. He has such a nice +twinkle, too, in his eye when he tells an Irish story or makes a little +joke. I must say I am very sorry to go. It has been a real pleasure to +be back again in Rome and to take up so many threads of my old life. I +find Italians delightful to live with; they are so absolutely natural +and unsnobbish--no pose of any kind; not that they under-rate themselves +and their great historic names, but they are so simple and sure of +themselves that a pose would never occur to them. Father Smith asked us +a great deal about the German Crown Princess. He had never seen her, but +had the greatest admiration for her character and intelligence--"a +worthy daughter of her great mother"--thought it a pity that such a +woman couldn't have remained in her own country, though he didn't see +very well how it could have been managed. He doesn't at all approve of +royal princesses marrying subjects. I think he is right--certainly +democratic princes are a mistake. There should always be an idea of +state--ermine and royal purple--connected with royalties. I remember +quite well my disappointment at the first sovereign I saw. It was the +Emperor of Austria coming out of his palace at Vienna. We had been +loitering about, sight-seeing, and as we passed the Hof-Burg evident +tourists, some friendly passers-by told us to stop a moment and we would +see the Emperor, who was just driving out of the gates. When I saw a +victoria with a pair of horses drive out with two gentlemen in very +simple uniform, one bowing mechanically to the few people who were +waiting, I was distinctly disappointed. I don't suppose I expected to +see a monarch arrayed in ermine robes, with a crown on his head and a +sceptre in his hand, but all the same it was a disillusion. Of course +when one sees them at court, or at some great function, with brilliant +uniforms, grand cordon, and diamond stars, they are more imposing. I +don't know, though, whether that does make a difference. Do you remember +one of A.'s stories? He was secretary to the British Embassy at +Washington, and at one of the receptions at the White House (which are +open receptions--all the world can go) all the corps diplomatique were +present in the full glory of ribbons and plaques. He heard some one in +the crowd saying, "What are all these men dressed up in gold lace and +coloured ribbons?" The answer came after a moment's reflection, "I guess +it's the band." + +I don't think I can write any more to-night. I seem to be rambling on +without anything much to say. If I could tell you all I am doing it +would be much pleasanter. A pen seems to paralyze me and I feel a mantle +of dulness settle down on me as soon as I take one in my hand. You will +have to let me talk hard the first three or four days after I get home, +and be the good listener you always are to your children. + +It is a beautiful bright night, the sky almost as blue as in the day, +and myriads of stars. The piazza is quite deserted. It is early, not yet +10.40, but the season is over, all the forestieri gone, and Rome is +sinking back into its normal state of sleepiness and calm. How many +times I have looked out on the piazza on just such a night (from Casa +Pierret, our old house just next door)! It is the one place that hasn't +changed in Rome. I almost feel as if I must go to bed at once, so as to +be up early and in my habit for a meet at Cecilia Metella to-morrow +morning. I do start to-morrow, but not very early--at ten. I have a line +from Mary Bunsen this evening saying they will meet me at the station in +Florence to-morrow. I shall arrive for dinner. I am half sorry now I +didn't decide to go to Naples, after all. The weather is divine, and I +should have liked to have another look at that beautiful bay, with its +blue dancing water, and Capri and Ischia in the distance. We had had +visions of Sicily, prolonging our stay another fortnight, but W. is +rather worrying now to get home. He had a letter from Richard yesterday, +telling him to be sure and come back for the Conseil Général. + +There were two amusing articles in the papers the other day, one saying +M. Waddington had been charged by the French Government with a delicate +and confidential mission to the Pope; two days after, in another paper, +a denial and most vicious attack on W., saying M. Waddington had +evidently inspired the first article himself, that he had been charged +with no mission of any kind, and they knew from private sources that he +would not even be received by the Pope. I daresay a great many people +believe both. W. naturally doesn't care--doesn't pay the least attention +to what any paper says. I am getting hardened, too, though the process +has been longer with me. I don't mind a good vicious article from an +opposition paper--that is "de bonne guerre"--but the little perfidious +insinuations of the so-called friendly sheets which one can't notice +(and which always leave a trace) are very irritating. + +W. has just come up. He lingered talking in the smoking-room with two +Englishmen who have just arrived from Brindisi, and were full of India +and all "the muddles _our_ government is making," asking him if he +wasn't disgusted as an Englishman at all the mistakes and stupidities +they were making out there. They were so surprised when he said that he +wasn't an Englishman that it was funny; and when he added that he was a +Frenchman they really didn't know what he meant. He didn't explain his +personality (I suppose the man of the hotel enlightened them afterward), +but stayed on talking, as the men were clever and had seen a great deal. +They had made a long tour in India, and said the country was most +interesting. The ruins--also modern palaces--on such a gigantic scale. + +Well, dear, I really must finish now. My next letter will be from +Florence. We shall stop at Milan and Turin, but not very long, I fancy, +unless W. finds marvels in the way of coins at Milan. I am quite sad to +think I shan't look out on the piazza to-morrow night. I think after all +these years I still hold to my original opinion that the Corso is the +finest street and the Tiber the finest river in the world. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + MILAN, HÔTEL DE VILLE, + Thursday, May 6, 1880. + +Here we are, dearest mother, almost home--only 26 hours from Paris--so +if we are suddenly called back (and I earnestly hope we shan't be) we +can start at once. We made our journey most comfortably yesterday, +though it was long. We left Florence at 9 in the morning and didn't get +here until nearly 8. The Bunsens came with us to the station. I begged +them not to at such an early hour but they didn't mind. It would have +been nice to stay longer. They have just taken their villa on for +another month. Their gardener at Meìngenügen wrote them that it was +snowing and a cold wind--horrid weather; so they instantly decided to +stay on another month. My belle-mère is delicate and never could have +stood a cold, northern spring after this beautiful month of April here. +They tried to tempt us with all sorts of excursions--Vallombrosa, Pisa +(which I should like to see again, I have such a vivid recollection of +the Campo Santo and some of the extraordinary tombs, wide square courts +and painted windows). I don't remember if it was there or at Genoa, +where we saw such elaborate modern monuments; the marble carved and +draped in the most curious manner--a widow kneeling at her husband's +tomb, her skirts all embroidered and carved so finely, like lace, and a +lace veil--really extraordinary. + +We found a long train at the station--the night express from Rome. The +préfet had kept a compartment for us, and Ubaldino Peruzzi, the former +sindaco, a great friend of W.'s, went with us as far as Pistoja. +Minghetti was on the train, and he came into our compartment for about +an hour, but then adjourned to his own carriage as he was composing a +great political speech he makes at Bologna to-night. They are all much +excited over the elections, which take place Sunday week, so their time +is short. Minghetti has lived and fought through so many phases of +Italian history that he is most interesting. They say his memory is +extraordinary--so accurate. He never forgets a face or a speech. He says +whenever he has an important speech to make he goes for a drive or a +long walk--the movement helps him. W. is just the contrary. His great +speeches (and they were not many) have always been composed sitting in +his big arm-chair smoking the beloved old cherry-wood pipe Ségur brought +him from Jersey. When he had got his speech quite in his head, he wrote +it, and then it went straight on--never a correction or an erasure. I +asked Minghetti if he was nervous. He said not in the least--he was +always ready for the fray, and the more he was interrupted the better he +spoke, as that proved they were listening to him. + +I remember so well one of the first days I went to the Assemblée +Nationale years ago. Somebody was speaking--apparently well--on some +question of the day, and nobody was listening. The deputies were walking +about, talking, writing letters, just as if there was nothing going on. +I looked down to see if W. was listening, but he was talking cheerfully +to Léon Say. It seemed to me incredible that the orator could continue +under such circumstances, but W. explained it to me. He was speaking for +his electors in the country and for the "Journal Officiel," which would +publish his speech _in extenso_ the next day. + +It was most interesting making the journey with these gentlemen as they +had their history at their finger ends. All that part of the country had +been so fought over--oceans of blood shed in the fierce struggle against +Austrian tyranny--particularly as we got near Milan. It seems incredible +what a hard iron rule theirs was--especially if one knows Austria and +the Austrians a little. They seem such an easy-going, happy people. All +their little villages look clean and prosperous, the peasants cheerful +and singing and civil to all strangers and travellers. + +The country we passed through to-day looked green and smiling, but their +idea of work is still primitive, even in Northern Italy. Wherever we +passed the people in the fields all stopped and looked at the +train--many came running up the bank. If they do that for every train +they must lose a considerable amount of time. We were very sorry when +our companions departed, but at every station almost Minghetti met +friends, and it was evident that he had his head full of politics. It is +a long time since I have met any one so interesting. It is such a quick +intelligence and he touches every subject so lightly, apparently, only +one feels he knows all about it. + +We made a fair stop at the Bologna station and had a very good +breakfast. It recalled so vividly old times and our first journeys to +Rome. Even the buffet looked exactly the same. I could have sworn there +was the same "fricandeau de veau." The buffet was crowded--it seems +there were a lot of Indian officers arriving with their families from +Brindisi, with dark turbaned servants and ayahs always in white. However +the Indian nurses didn't look so miserable as they used to in winter +when we first made the journey down. They were rather bewildered all the +same in such a jostling, hurrying crowd. It is funny to see how they +cling to their charges, holding the babies tight with one hand and +guiding one or two others half hidden in their long white draperies, +with the other. I am sure they are excellent, faithful nurses. + +Our last days in Florence were very full. Tuesday was the day of the +races--bright, beautiful weather--and we drove out to see the retour, +stationing ourselves at the entrance of the Cascine until 7 o'clock. +There was not much to see in the way of equipages--nothing like the +Roman turn-outs--but there were some pretty women. The Comtesse +Mirafiori (née Larderel), I daresay you will remember the name, was +about the prettiest. Her victoria was very well appointed, handsome +horses stepping perfectly; and she looked a picture, all in white with a +big hat turned up with dark blue and long blue and yellow feathers. I +think a woman never looks better than in a victoria--it shows off the +dress and figure so well. Lottie, too, looked very well, but she passed +so quickly I couldn't see what she had on. I had an impression of white +with some pink in her hat. Almost all the women were in white. Of course +the Lungarno was crowded--all the loungers taking the most lively +interest in the carriages; and when there was a stop criticising +freely--but I must say with their natural Italian politeness, confining +themselves to expressions of admiration more or less pronounced--never +anything disagreeable. + +We had a mild reception in the evening. Various friends came to say +good-bye--Maquays, Peruzzis, Miss Forbes and one or two men. A +scientific German--I forget his name--who told W. it would take weeks to +see all the coins and interesting things of all kinds at the Milan +Museum. We are very comfortable here; the hotel is old-fashioned with a +nice open court, and the rooms good. We have a pretty apartment on the +front, and as it is on the main thoroughfare, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, +we see all that goes on. There is a church opposite--San Carlo, I +believe--and we are not far from the Piazza del Duomo. + +We went for a little stroll last night after dinner, just for W. to +smoke his cigar. The Cathedral looked splendid--a gigantic white mass in +the midst of the busy square, quantities of people in the streets and +sitting at all the cafes, of which there are hundreds--quite like the +Paris boulevards on a summer night--everybody talking and laughing and a +cheerful sound of clinking glasses. I think they were almost all +drinking beer--a great many uniforms--I suppose there is a large +garrison. There seemed very few foreigners--we heard nothing but Italian +spoken--so unlike Rome and even Florence where one heard always so much +English in the streets and the shops. They told me in Florence that +there was a large English colony there, living quite apart from the +fashionable world--children learning music, or some of the family +delicate, needing a mild climate and sunshine--more perhaps in the +villas close to the gates than in the town itself. I should think the +cutting wind that sweeps the Lungarno would be mortal to weak chests; +but up in the hills sheltered by the high walls and olive groves one +would be quite protected. Certainly the other day on the terrace of +Castello the sun was divine and the air soft and balmy, not a sign of +chill or damp--but it was the month of May--the month for Florence. + +This morning I have been unpacking--or rather Madame Hubert has--and +settling myself in my salon, making the two corners--feminine and +masculine--as I did in Rome. I have no convenient Palazzo Altemps to +help me out with cushions, screens, etc., but I found lovely flowers +which the landlord (who received us in dress clothes and his hat in his +hand) put there, and as he was very civil and pleased to have the +"Excellenza" and hoped I would ask for anything I wanted, I have asked +for and obtained an arm-chair, and suggested he should give me a simple +table-cover instead of the beautiful green velvet one, embroidered with +pink roses, which now ornaments my salon. With my careless way of +writing and facility for putting ink all over myself, even in my hair, I +am afraid that work of art would be seriously deteriorated. He sent up +this morning to know if I wanted my breakfast upstairs--if I would come +down he would reserve me a small table in the window. I shall go down--I +hate meals in a sitting-room and I should like to see what sort of +people there are in the hotel. + + + 10 o'clock. + +I will go on to-night while W. is putting his papers in order. I +breakfasted alone downstairs about 12. The dining-room is a large, +handsome room across the court. There were very few people--not more +than four tables occupied--a large English family with troops of +fair-haired children--girls in white frocks and long black stockings and +boys in Eton coats. They all looked about the same age, but I suppose +they weren't. They were very quiet and well-behaved, quite unlike any of +our small relations. I have vivid recollections of travelling with some +of them--all talking at once at the top of their lungs, "Pa, give me a +penny," "Pa, give me a cake," "Pa, what's that for?" etc. + +The reading-room opened out of the dining-room, so I went in to have a +look at the papers--found a "Débats" and the "Times," and read up all +that was going on in the fashionable and political world. W. came in +about 4--he had ordered a carriage for 4.30, and as it was a lovely +afternoon we thought we would drive about the streets a little and out +into the country. He had had a delightful morning--says the Museum is +most interesting--the cabinet de médailles a marvel. He has arranged to +go there every day at 10 o'clock--will work there until 3, then come +back for me and we shall have our afternoon. He is much pleased with +this arrangement but he doesn't think the employees of the cabinet de +médailles will find it quite so satisfactory, as some one must always be +with him. They never leave any one alone in these rooms. He thinks there +are only two people for this service, and they will naturally hate +spending a long day doing nothing while he studies and copies. + +The Directeur received him to-day most enthusiastically--knew all about +his collection of coins. + +We started out about 5 and went first to have a cup of tea at the café +the padrone recommended--Cova, I think--and then told the man to drive +about the streets and pass the principal buildings. We saw the Duomo +again, the Scala (theatre)--if it is open we shall go one night; the +great Galerie Victor Emmanuel, full of shops; and quantities of +churches, Santa Maria delle Grazie, of course, where is the famous +"Cenacolo" of Leonardo da Vinci, but the outside merely. The fresco is +only visible until 4--so we shall see the inside of the church another +day. We made a turn in the public gardens or promenade where there were +quite a number of handsome carriages and saddle horses--many officers +riding. It was rather late to attempt a country drive (we had said we +would dine downstairs at 7.30), for the turning and twisting about in +the streets and stopping every now and then had taken up a good deal of +time. We had a nice little victoria with a pair of horses, not unlike +the carriage Tomba gave us in Rome. + +We went down about a quarter to eight. The padrone in his dress clothes +was waiting at the foot of the stairs and conducted us with much pomp +into the dining-room, where we found a nice round table in the window. +The room was quite full--many more people than in the morning, and I +should think almost all Italians. They looked at us naturally with much +curiosity, as such a fuss was made with us. W. smoked a cigar in the +court after dinner and talked to the man of the house who told him about +all the distinguished people he had had in his hotel. I found papers and +a "Graphic" in the reading-room and was quite surprised when they said +it was 10 o'clock. + + + May 7th. + +It has been pouring all day--straight down. I think it has stopped a +little since dinner. We didn't stay long in the reading-room as W. is +fairly launched in his coins now and puts his notes in order in the +evening. I prowled this morning with Madame Hubert. Before breakfast we +went to the Brera. It was almost empty but we found a nice guide, a +youngish man, speaking such beautiful Italian that it was a pleasure to +hear him, and well up on all the pictures. There are beautiful things, +certainly. I was so glad to see some old friends. I was always so fond +of the "Amanti Veneziani" of Paris Bordone. The "sposo" looks so young +and straight and proud, and the girl's attitude is charming, her +brown-gold head drooping on her lover's shoulder as she holds out her +hand for the ring he is putting on her finger. Even the inferior +pictures of the Paul Veronese school are fine--there is such an +intensity of colour. The whole room seemed filled with light and warmth. +I think I like the backgrounds and accessories almost as much as the +figures. The draperies are so wonderfully done, one can almost touch the +gorgeous stuffs, heavy with gold and silver embroidery; and there are +one or two high-backed, carved arm-chairs which are a marvel. The +beautiful fair women with strings of pearls in their golden hair, and +white satin dresses, sitting up straight and slight in the dark wooden +chairs, are fascinating; and there are quantities, for Paul Veronese and +all his pupils have always so many people in their pictures. + +We saw of course the "Sposalizia" in a small room quite by itself. The +Virgin is a beautifully slight ethereal figure with the marvellous pure +face that all Raphael's Madonnas have; but the St. Joseph looks younger +than in most other pictures. Our guide was most enthusiastic over the +picture. It was a treat to hear him say--"morbidezza" and "dolcissimo." +We were there about an hour and a half, and that was quite long enough. +One's eyes get tired. We saw splendid portraits of princes and warriors +as we passed through the rooms--Moretto, Leonardo da Vinci and others. + +It was still raining when we came out so we thought we wouldn't attempt +any more sight-seeing, and walked up to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele +where we were under cover. The Cathedral looked splendid--all the white +pinnacles and statues standing out from the dark grey sky. We looked in +at all the shop windows, but didn't see anything particularly striking +or local except the black lace veils which so many women (not the upper +classes) wear here. Madame Hubert being young and pretty was most +anxious to adopt that fashion--thought it would be more suitable for +Madame as all the suivantes here wore the veil--she would be less +remarked going about with Madame--but Madame decidedly preferred the +plain little black bonnet of the Parisian femme de chambre. It seems +there is a swell Italian woman in the hotel--a Princess--whose maid +always wears a veil when she accompanies her mistress in her walks +abroad. + +I was decidedly damp when I got back to the hotel. I breakfasted alone +at my little table, and in fact was almost alone in the +dining-room--there were only two other tables occupied. The head waiter +was very sympathetic about the weather--they always had sun in Milan, +just a mauvaise chance to-day. I had the reading-room also to myself, +and found plenty of papers in all languages. I have rather a weakness +for the "Kölnische Zeitung" (Gazette de Cologne). It is very +anti-French, or I might really say anti-everything, as it is always +pitching into somebody, but there is a good deal of general information +in it. + +W. came in about 3.30, having worked steadily since 9. It was getting +too dark to see much more and his attendant beamed when he saw him +putting up his papers and preparing to leave. He says the man is bored +to death--wants to talk at first and explain things to him, but he soon +realizes that W. is bent on serious work, so he desists and reads a +paper and walks about the room and fidgets generally. + +We waited until 4.30 hoping the rain would stop. It didn't, but the +clouds lightened a little and we thought we would go and see the Duomo. +I had forgotten how beautiful it is--those great wide aisles quite +bare--no chairs, nothing to break the line until quite at the high +altar, and the light from the old glass windows coming from so high over +our heads it seemed straight from heaven. We sat some little time in one +of the side chapels. It looked vast and mysterious--one had such an +impression of space and height. Various guides came up and supposed we +would not care to go up on the roof on such an afternoon. We told them +we would come back the next day if it was fine. They looked so +disappointed at having nothing that we finally went down into the crypt +to see the tomb and body of San Carlo Borromeo. We had both seen it +before but I didn't mind reviving my souvenirs. We had tapers of course +as it was quite dark, but we saw quite well the coloured marbles and +precious stones of the little chapel--also the body of the Saint, +marvellously preserved. It looked very small--hardly the size of a grown +man. The guide of course wanted to show us all sorts of relics, and the +trésor of the Cathedral, but we preferred going up again to the church, +and wandered about looking at the marble tombs and monuments--there are +not many, and they are quite lost in the enormous building. Quite down +at the bottom of the church, near the door under a baldaquin, is a font +in porphyry, said to be the sarcophagus of some saint. The church looked +immense as it grew darker and the light gradually faded, leaving deep +shadows everywhere. When we turned back, just as we were going out, to +have a last glimpse, the high altar seemed far away, and the tall +candles looked like twinkling lights seen through a mist or veil. + +We walked about a little under the arcades. W. wanted some cigars and I +an Italian book Minghetti had recommended to me, "Sketches of Life in +Milan and Venice under the Austrian Occupation." I have been reading it +a little to-night--what an awful life for Italians--a despotic, iron +rule, police and spies everywhere, women even making their way into the +great Italian houses and reporting everything to the police--the +children's games and little songs, the books and papers the family read, +the visits they received. The most arbitrary measures prevailed--no +young man allowed to leave the city--no papers nor books allowed that +were not authorized by the government--and when arrests were made, the +prisoners, men or women, treated most cruelly. The Austrians must have +felt the hatred and thirst for vengeance that was smouldering in all +these young hearts. It seems all the girls and young women, even of the +poorest classes, made themselves flags (tricolour) out of bits of +anything (paper when they couldn't get anything better) and gave them to +all the men, preparing for the "Cinque giorni" when many of them went +down under the Austrian bayonets, giving their lives cheerfully and +proudly for their country. Radetzsky must have been a monster of +cruelty. How they must hate the white uniform and the black and yellow +flag. + +The city is quiet enough to-night. I suppose it is not an opera night. +It is only half-past ten and we are on one of the principal +thoroughfares, but nothing is passing in the street. The hotel, too, is +quiet, one doesn't hear a sound. I fancy most travellers go to the new +hotel--the Cavour. We are quite satisfied here, and are most +comfortable--the landlord very attentive. He and W. are becoming great +friends--they talk politics (Italian) every night while W. smokes. + + + Friday 7th. + +I see I shall always write at night. After coffee and half an hour in +the reading-room (I always go and have a look at the papers while W. +smokes) we come upstairs. W. plunges at once into his notes, and I read +and write. It has been lovely to-day and we have had a nice afternoon. +W. came home to breakfast at 1, as he wanted to see the Brera and +"Cenacolo" once again; and it is of course too late when we start for +our afternoon drive at 4.30. We walked to the Brera--it isn't far--and +were there a long time. We made a long stop in the vestibule looking at +the Luini frescoes--all scenes in the Virgin's life--Madonnas, angels, +saints--quantities of figures, and colours and accessories of all +kinds--wonderful trees and buildings and clouds with angels and seraphim +rising out of them. They must have had marvellous imaginations, those +early Italian painters. They never saw anything to suggest such pictures +to them, and of course never read anything--there were no books to +read--merely written manuscripts difficult enough for scholars to +decipher. All the wonderful scenes--Nativity, Coronation, etc.--evoked +out of their own brains. I think I like the Annunciation the best of +all the scenes of the Virgin's life. There is a beautiful one in the +Pitti--I forget now by whom--the Virgin just risen from her chair with a +half-dazed, half-triumphant look, and the angel kneeling before her with +his lily. I like some of the German ones, too, but they are much more +elaborate--the Virgin often standing in a wide arch--a portico--more +figures in the background--and the Virgin herself quite a German +girl--not at all the lovely, spiritual head of the Italian masters. + +We walked through all the rooms. The Venetian pictures (Paul Veronese +school) looked beautiful. W., too, was struck with the splendid +colouring. Some of the names quite unknown, and if one looked too +closely there were perhaps faults of drawing and exaggeration of colour, +but the effect was extraordinary. He admired the men's portraits +excessively, by Titian, Tintoretto, Moroni, etc. They are very +fine--sometimes a soldier with keen, hard eyes, clad in complete +armour--often a noble, some grand seigneur of his time, in black velvet +and fur with jewelled cap and chain, a fine patrician head and +thoughtful face. We didn't see the young guide who went about with me--I +was rather sorry--I wanted W. to hear his beautiful Italian. + +We stayed so long looking at everything (Luini's pictures are most +interesting, too--he must have had an extraordinary capacity for work) +that we had just time to get a cab and drive over to Santa Maria delle +Grazie to see the "Cenacolo" as it shuts at 4. The Saviour's head, St. +John, and some of the other faces are beautiful--but it is so faded (and +on the other hand has been touched up a little) that I was disappointed. + +It was a beautiful bright afternoon and we saw as well as possible, but +really "decay's effacing fingers" have been allowed too much sway. They +told us it was impossible to guard against the damp, and that eventually +the whole thing would be blotted out. However, it has stood the test +pretty well through all these years. + +We went into the church, which was quite empty, except one figure in +black, absorbed and motionless, kneeling on the stone pavement. Poor +woman, I hope she got what she was praying for so earnestly. From there +we went to the church of St. Ambrogio, which is a fine old building--the +frescoes and inscriptions much faded. The iron crown used to be kept +there (they told us the Kings and Emperors came there to be crowned) but +it is now at Monza. I declined any more churches and regular +sight-seeing after that--so we went back to the hotel where the carriage +was to meet us, went for our cup of tea to Cova's, and then started for +a drive. + +The country quite around the city is not particularly interesting--much +cultivated, but flat--vineyards, corn and rice fields all intersected +with numberless little canals. Though it was late, 6 o'clock, people +were still working in the fields and seemed to keep to their work much +more steadily than the peasants about Rome and Florence who were always +stopping to talk or look at whatever was passing. We met bands of them +trooping along the road--they were generally tall, broad-shouldered, +strong men--quite the northern type. We crossed some soldiers, +too--cavalry and infantry--quite a big detachment--all had their kits, +and baggage wagons following. They were evidently changing garrison. I +didn't think the troops looked very smart. The horses were small and +very thin, and the men (infantry particularly) dragged along and were +rather dirty. Just as they passed us the music struck up a sort of quick +march, and it was curious to see the instantaneous effect. The men +straightened themselves up, moved more quickly and lightly--it was +quite different. + +I hoped we should get a view of the mountains, but the sunset, though +beautiful, was rather misty--however the coachman told us that meant +fine weather for to-morrow which will be nice as we are going up on the +top of the Cathedral. I was glad to have a little rest before dinner. I +plunged again into my book, which is madly interesting--but such +horrors--a long imprisonment like Silvio Pellico's was merciful compared +to some of the tortures and cruelties--and it seems the Emperor himself +was the hardest of all--never forgetting nor pardoning nor listening to +any petition or prayer for mercy--no wonder the people were +infuriated--mad with rage--women and children working at the barricades +during the "five days"; and the old ones, too infirm to take an active +part, at the windows pouring down boiling water and oil on the Austrian +soldiers. However, I suppose it is the history of all street fighting. I +remember the hideous tales they told us of the Paris Commune, when we +went back there after the war--how maddened the Versaillais were at the +shots, missiles and boiling water which came from all the windows upon +them. The reprisals were terrible when the regular troops finally got +the upper hand--and I suppose no one will ever know how many innocent +people were shot in the first flush of success. + +I read out bits of my book to W. He said he didn't think the account +exaggerated--of course they had chosen all the worst cases. He was at +Versailles during the Commune, and saw the first batches of prisoners +brought in--such awful looking people--many young, very young men, with +wild reckless faces. They probably didn't know, half of them, what they +had been fighting for--a vague idea of patrie and liberty, and the +natural love of the Parisian gamin for a row and a barricade. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + MILAN, HÔTEL DE VILLE, + May 9, 1880. + +We have had an awful day, dear mother, pouring steady rain since early +morning--clouds grey and low shutting out the city entirely; really so +dark I could hardly see to dress--and the streets apparently deserted. +W. didn't mind, and was off as usual to his coins at 9 o'clock. He did +have a remords de conscience at leaving me all alone all day shut up in +a little hotel salon, and said if I would come and get him about 3 we +would try and see something. + +I wrote two letters which will rather amuse the family as they say I +only write when I am boring myself in the country or having a series of +rainy days--Janet always calls them my rain letters. However, when I had +written two my energy in that line was exhausted, and I felt I couldn't +sit another moment in that dark salon, so I summoned Madame Hubert (I +don't generally care to have a maid for a companion but I didn't like to +walk about the streets of a foreign city alone) and we started off with +short skirts and umbrellas. The gérant nearly fell off his high stool in +the bureau when he saw me preparing to go out--wanted to send for a +carriage, a fiacre, anything--but I told him I really wanted to walk, +which filled him with amazement. Italians as a rule don't like walking +at all, and he thought I was quite mad to go out deliberately, and for +my pleasure, on such a day. + +It wasn't very pleasant in the streets--everybody's umbrella ran into +me, and the pavements were wet and slippery. We finally took refuge +under the arcades, but there we got quite as much jostled, for everybody +who was out, was there; and the sudden gusts of wind and rain around the +corners and through the arches were anything but pleasant. I wasn't at +all happy, but I liked it better than sitting in the room at the hotel. +I was so draggled and my boots so covered with mud that I was rather +ashamed to cross the big hall of the hotel when I came in. + +I found a letter from Gert saying she was so glad we had such delightful +weather for Milan. I wish she could look out of my window at this +moment. She wouldn't know if she were in Milan or Elizabethtown. The +clouds are very low on the roofs of the houses--the city has disappeared +in a mist, I can just see across the street. The pavements are +swimming--quite rushing torrents in the gutters, and I look down upon a +sea of umbrellas. + +I started out again about 3--in a carriage this time--and went to get +W.--extract him from his coins if I could. There was no one, apparently, +in the Museum, but a smiling concierge took me to the antiquity and coin +rooms where I found W. very busy and happy; quite insensible to rain or +any outside considerations. He said the light wasn't very good. A musty +old savant with a long ragged beard and very bright black eyes was +keeping him company. _He_ was delighted to see me, for he knew that +meant stopping work for that afternoon. I talked to him a little while +W. was putting his papers in order, and it was evident he had never seen +any one with such a capacity for steady work. He encouraged us very much +to go and see something (anything that would take us out of the coin +room) but we really didn't know what to do with ourselves--a country +drive wasn't inviting and it was too dark and late for pictures--all the +galleries close at 4. The padrone had recommended the flower show to us +in the public gardens, so we thought we would try that. The flowers were +all under glass and tents, so we were dry overhead, but the ground was +wet and muddy--a general damp, chilly feeling everywhere. I am sure the +place is lovely on a bright summer day. There are fine trees, splendid +horse chestnuts, pretty paths and little bosquets. The poor flowers +looked faded and drooping, even under cover. The roses were +splendid--such enormous ones with quantities of leaves, very full. The +finest were "Reine Marguerite," "Marguerite de Savoie," "Princess de +Piémont." I asked one of the gardeners if the Queen was very fond of +flowers--the "Marguerite de Savoie" was a beautiful white rose. "Oh, +yes," he said, enthusiastically, "the Queen loves flowers and everything +that is beautiful." I thought it such a pretty answer. He showed us, +with great pride, a green rose. I can't say I admired it, but it is so +difficult and so expensive to produce that I don't think we shall see +many. We walked about and looked at all the flowers. Some of the +variegated leaves were very handsome. There was a pink broad leaf with a +dull green border and an impossible name I should have liked to take +away, but the man said it was an extremely delicate plant raised under +glass--wouldn't live long in a room (which was what I wanted it for). We +thought we would go back and have tea in a new place under the +arcades--in the Galleria. The tea was bad--had certainly never seen +China--as grown, I daresay, in the rice fields near the city, so we +declined that and ordered chocolate, which was very good, and panettoni. +W. was rather glad to have something to eat after his early breakfast. +It was pouring, but we were quite sheltered in the corner of the +veranda; so he smoked and we looked at the people passing and sitting +near us. They were certainly not a very distinguished collection--a +good many officers (in uniform), loungers who might be anything--small +functionaries, I should think--few women of any description, and no +pretty ones. The peasant woman coming out of the fields was much +better-looking than any we saw to-day. + +W. had had visitors in the coin room this morning. The Director, who +came, he thinks, out of sheer curiosity to see how any one, for his +pleasure, could work five or six hours at a time. He brought with him a +Greek savant--a most intelligent young man who apparently knew W.'s +collection almost as well as he did--and all the famous collections of +Europe. They had a most interesting talk and discussion about certain +doubtful coins of which 3 Museums--London, Petersburg and Milan--claim +to have the only originals. We talked over our plans, but I think we +have still two or three more days here. We want to go to Monza. They say +the old town and church are most interesting, as well as the Royal +Villa. + +It was rather amusing in the reading-room after dinner. There were many +more people--women principally, and English. Some of them had been +buying things at the two famous bric-à-brac shops, and they were very +much afraid they had paid too much, and been imposed upon. They finally +appealed to me (we had exchanged papers and spoken a few words to each +other) but I told them I was no good, nothing of a connoisseur for +bric-à-brac, and particularly ignorant about lace. They showed it to me, +and it looked very handsome--old Venetian, the man had told them. They +had also some silver which they had bought at one of the little shops in +the Piazza dei Mercanti. I think I will go and see what I can find +there. + +I found W. deep in his Paris courrier when I got upstairs. There was a +heap of letters and papers, also Daudet's book "Souvenirs de la +Présidence du Maréchal de MacMahon" which l'Oncle Alphonse had sent us, +said everybody was reading it at the clubs. W. figures in it +considerably, not always in a very favourable light, as judged by +Monsieur Daudet; but facts speak for themselves, even when the criticism +is not quite fair. I suppose it is absolutely impossible for a Royalist +to judge a moderate Republican impartially. I think they understand the +out-and-out Radical better. The book is clever. I read out bits to W. +(which, by the way, he hates--loathes being read to). It was interesting +to read the life we had just been leading described by an outsider. + +I think W. will give himself a holiday to-morrow if it is fine (at the +present moment, with the wind and rain beating against the windows, that +seems a remote possibility). He will come back to breakfast and we will +have our afternoon at Monza. I have finished my book of the Austrian +rule, and I am really glad--the horrors quite haunted me. It seems +incredible that in our days one Christian nation should have been +allowed to treat another one so barbarously. I should like to go back to +my childish days and read "Le mie Prigioni," but I found a life of +Cavour downstairs in the hotel library, so I think I shall take that. + + + May 10th. + +It is lovely this morning (though when the weather changed I don't know, +as it seemed to me I heard a steady downpour every time I woke in the +night), however, at 9 o'clock it was an ideal summer day, warm, a bright +blue sky, no grey clouds or mist, one could hardly believe it was the +same city. The atmosphere is so clear that the snow mountains seem +almost at the bottom of the street. I went for a walk with Madame Hubert +through the old parts of the city--such curious, narrow, twisting +little streets. We went into the Duomo for a moment, it looked +enormous--cool and dark except where a bright ray of sunshine came +through the painted windows, but so subdued that it didn't seem real +sunlight seen through all the marvellous coloured glass. There were a +few people walking about in little groups, but they were lost in the +great space. One didn't hear a sound--the silence was striking--there +wasn't even the usual murmur of priest or chorister at the altar as +there was no mass going on. + +We asked the way to the Piazza dei Mercanti on the other side of the +Duomo. It is a curious old square--a very bad pavement, grass growing in +places between the stones, and all sorts of queer, irregular buildings +all around it--churches, palaces, porticos, gateways--a remnant of old +Milan. At each end there were little low shops where many people were +congregated. I don't know if they were buying--I should think not as +they seemed all rather seedy, impecunious individuals judging by their +shabby, not to say worn-out garments--all Italians--I think we were the +only foreigners in the Piazza (yet it is one of the sights of Milan, +mentioned in the guide books). We went, too, and looked at some of the +things spread out for sale--many old engravings, carved wooden frames, +gold and silver ornaments, and some handsome cups and flagons very +elaborately worked--also some bits of old stuff, brocade, and a curious +faded red velvet worked in gold, but all in very bad condition. I +couldn't find a good piece large enough to make an ordinary cushion. In +one corner, squatting in the sun, were two big, dark men with scarlet +caps on their heads (they looked like Tunisians). They had muslins, +spangled with gold and silver, crêpe de Chine, and nondescript +embroidered squares of white, soft silk with wonderful bright embroidery +and designs--moons, and ships and trees. We spoke to them in French, but +they didn't understand, and answered us in some unintelligible +jargon--half Italian, with a few English words thrown in. + +Some of the old palaces are fine, one in particular which seems to be a +sort of bourse now. The portico was crowded with men, all talking at the +top of their voices. We had glimpses through the crowd of a fine +collection of broken columns, statues, tablets and bas-reliefs inside, +but we didn't attempt to get in; though a friendly workman in the +street, seeing us stopping and looking, evident strangers, told us we +ought to go in and see "le bellezze" (the beautiful things). There is an +equestrian statue on one side of the palace--I couldn't quite make out +the name, but the inscription says that among other great deeds he +"burnt many heretics." I don't suppose they gave him his statue +exclusively on that account, but the fact was carefully mentioned. We +wandered about rather aimlessly, leaving the Piazza, and finally found +ourselves in a wide, handsome street--large palaces on one side and the +canal running through the middle. The canal is really very +picturesque--the water fairly clear, reflecting the curious, high, +carved balconies and loggias (some of them covered with creepers and +bright coloured flowers) that hang over the canal. They seemed all large +houses, with the back giving on the canal; some of the low doors opening +straight out on the water were quite a reminder of Venice; and when +there was a terrace with white marble balustrade and benches one could +quite imagine some of Paul Veronese's beautiful, fair-haired women with +their pearls and gorgeous red and gold garments disporting themselves +there in the summer evenings. The palaces on the other side of the +street are fine, stately mansions--large doors open, showing great +square courts, sometimes two or three stretching far back--sometimes a +fountain and grass plot in the middle--sometimes arcades running all +around the court, with balconies and small pointed windows--coats-of-arms +up over the big doors, but no signs of life--no magnificent porters such +as one sees in Rome in all the great houses. They all looked in perfectly +good condition and well cared for. I wonder who lives in them. + +We came out at the Place Cavour and had a look at the statue, which is +good--in bronze--an energetic standing figure with a fine head, very +like--one would have recognised it anywhere from all the pictures one +has always seen of Cavour. There is no group--he standing alone on a +granite pedestal--a woman (Fame) kneeling, and writing his name on a +scroll. I liked it very much--it is so simple, and we have seen so many +allegorical groups and gods and goddesses lately that it was rather a +relief to see anything quite plain and intelligible. + +I wasn't sorry to get back to the hotel and rest a little before +starting again this afternoon. I liked walking through the little old +crooked streets--they were not empty, there were people in all of them, +but decidedly of the poorer classes. They are a naturally polite, +sympathetic race--always smiling if you ask anything and always moving +to one side to let you pass--unlike the stolid German who calmly and +massively takes the middle of the pavement and never dreams of moving to +one side, or considering anybody else. I have just been jostled by two +stout specimens of the touring Vaterland--they are anything but good +types. If they didn't understand the language in which Madame Hubert +expressed her opinion I think the tone said something to them, for one +man muttered a sort of excuse. + +If I can keep my eyes open long enough I will finish this letter +to-night. We have had a lovely afternoon--didn't get back until 8.30 and +have only just come upstairs from dinner. We started a little after +three, in a light victoria and a capital pair of small strong +post-horses who went at a good, steady, quick trot. The drive is a short +hour and a half--not very interesting country--flat rice fields and the +same numerous little canals one sees all over Lombardy. Monza is quite a +large town--looks very old and Italian. The Cathedral was begun in the +sixth century, but rebuilt in the fourteenth. There are all sorts of +curious frescoes and relics. We saw, of course, the iron crown which all +Austrian Emperors are supposed to wear at their coronation. The last two +to wear it were Napoleon and Ferdinand I. It is really a large gold +circle with a smaller iron one inside, and studded with precious +stones--very heavy. It was shown to us with much pomp, lighted tapers, +and a priest in his vestments. He told us the iron band inside was made +out of a nail that had been taken from the Saviour's cross. He handled +it very reverently, and would hardly let me lift it to see how heavy it +was. He showed us many curious things, among others a fan of Queen +Theodolinda's, made in the 6th century. It was small, made in leather, +and really not too faded, though one had to look closely and with the +eyes of faith to see the roses the old priest pointed out. + +While we were looking at the relics a French pèlerinage came up--quite a +long procession; many very nice-looking women. They were all dressed in +black, and most of them wore bonnets--some few had black veils--priests +of course, and a fair amount of men of all ages. They passed in +procession up the aisle, chanting a psalm, which sounded very well, full +and solemn. One or two stragglers, two young men and a woman stopped to +see what we were looking at, and we had a little talk. They had just +arrived over the St. Gothard, hadn't much time, and were very keen to +see everything. They said it was very cold crossing the mountain--the +heavy rain we had had at Milan had been deep snow on the pass. We went +to look at Queen Theodolinda's tomb in one of the side chapels, and then +started for the "Casa Reale" as they call the Royal Villa. It has no +pretensions to architecture; is a large square building with long, +rambling wings. We could only see the great hall and some of the +reception rooms downstairs, as they were painting and cleaning upstairs. +The rooms had no particular style--large, high ceilings, great windows +looking on the park; just what one sees in all Royal Palaces. All the +furniture was covered with housses--the gardien took one off an +arm-chair to show us the red velvet. The lustres also were covered--the +mirrors were handsome. The park is delightful--quantities of trees of +all kinds, lovely shady walks, and bosquets. There seemed to be a great +deal of game--deer and pheasants walking about quite tame and +undisturbed in all directions. The communs and dépendances are enormous, +quite a little colony of houses scattered about--régisseur, head-keeper, +head-gardener, all with good gardens. + +We had a nice talk with a half-gardener half-guide who went about with +us and showed us all the beauties. The place is low--I should think +would be very warm in summer, for even to-day the shade was pleasant and +the low afternoon sun in our faces rather trying. There were splendid +views every now and then of the distant Alps. The gardener, like every +one else who has ever been thrown with her, apparently adored the +Queen--said she knew all about the place, and trees, and flowers, and +was so beloved in the town. I remember Peruzzi telling me how fond she +was of Monza--happier there than anywhere. They certainly love their +"Margherita di Savoia." There are pictures of her everywhere, and some +one told us that all the girls in Monza are called Margherita. + +When we were starting back we met the pilgrims again, still walking and +chanting on their way to the station. They had a white banner with them, +but I couldn't see what the inscription was. The drive home was lovely, +even along the long straight road bordered with poplars (quite like a +French country road). The evening was delicious, a little cool driving, +as we went a very good pace. I was glad to put a light wrap over my +shoulders. The sunset clouds were gorgeous, and every now and then +glimpses of the snow mountains. I love to see them--those beautiful +white peaks, half clouds, half snow--they seem so mysterious, so far +away from our every-day life and world. The road was dull, very little +passing until we got near Milan. There we met bands of peasants coming +in from their work in the fields, and country carts loaded with +people--all the young ones singing and talking, and the wrinkled old +women looking on smiling. We noticed again what a fine, strong race they +are--both men and women--such broad shoulders, and holding themselves so +straight. They must have been nasty adversaries when their time came and +they shook off the hated Austrian yoke; but they were not cruel victors +(so says my book), the wives and daughters of men who had fallen under +Austrian cannon nursing and tending their sick and wounded enemies. + +We met three or four handsome private carriages, also a young man +driving a phaeton with a pair of handsome steppers. Our coachman pointed +him out proudly to us as the Marchese ----, some name I didn't catch, +but he was evidently a swell. I suppose there are villas in the +neighborhood, but we didn't see any, nothing but trees, rice fields and +little canals and ditches. + +I think we shall get off the day after to-morrow. W. thinks one more +morning with the coins will be enough for him, he wants now to get back. +I think he is homesick for the Senate and politics generally, but he +won't allow it. We had thought of going to Como for two days, it is so +easy from here, but he wants to stop at Turin, so we must give it up. I +suppose it won't be as cold at Turin now as we always used to find it +crossing in winter. Do you remember one of the first years, coming over +the Mount Cenis, how bitterly cold it was, and how we shivered in the +big, high rooms of the hotel--a mosaic pavement, bits of thin carpet on +the floor, and a fire of shavings in the chimney. We will write and +telegraph, of course, from there. I don't think we shall stay more than +one night. + + + May 11th. + +We are really leaving to-morrow morning, get to Turin for dinner. As we +telegraphed yesterday the address I hope we shall find letters. It has +been lovely again all day, so our last impressions are good. I have +quite forgotten the rain and dark of the other day. The padrone has just +informed us, with much pride, that the Crown Princess of Germany arrives +to-night in this hotel from Vienna. I wish she had come yesterday--I +should have liked to see her again. I have been out shopping this +morning, but it is difficult; there is not much to buy, at least not in +the nice big shops of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and I am a little +afraid of the antiquities--I know so little about bric-à-brac (au fond +like modern things just as well, but other people don't, and would much +rather have a really ugly, queer-shaped old cup or glass than the most +graceful modern creation). + +The padrone gave me the address of a good antiquity shop, and said I +could be perfectly sure in taking anything they said was old, and I need +only say he had recommended me to go there. I found beautiful things, +but all large, cassoni, high-backed, carved arm-chairs and Venetian +mirrors, but the prices were awful and the things much too big. I wanted +something smaller that I could put into my trunk. We went back to the +Piazza dei Mercanti and, after looking about at many of the little +shops, I did find some rather curious silver spoons and boxes. The +spoons have quaint, long handles ending in a head, not apostles, but +soldiers and women with veils and crowns. The boxes are most elaborately +carved--on the cover of one there are 21 figures--a sort of vintage with +bunches of grapes. As usual there were many people lounging about and +stopping at all the shops--some of them wildly interested in my +purchases. One funny little old man with a yellow face and bright eyes +was apparently much pleased with the box I chose--nodded and smiled at +me, saying: "Una bellezza questa" (this is a beauty). On our way back we +went into the great court-yard of the Ospedale Maggiore, an enormous +brick building with fine façade and high pointed windows; the walls +covered with medallions and ornaments in terra-cotta. I believe it is +one of the largest hospitals that exist and certainly once inside those +great courts one would feel absolutely cut off from the outside world. +There seemed to be gardens and good trees at the back--we saw the green +through the cloisters, and there was a fine loggia overlooking the +court. It was as sleepy and quiet as possible to-day--no sign of life, +no concierge nor porter, nor patient of any kind visible. If we had had +time and wanted to go over the hospital I don't know whom we could have +applied to. + +It was very warm walking home. Happily our way lay through narrow +streets, with high houses on each side, so we had shade. I found cards +and a note from the Murrays (English friends we had met in Rome). They +are staying at the Cavour, but will come and dine at our hotel to-night. +They are off to the Lakes to-morrow, and as we leave too early it will +be our only chance of meeting. It will seem quite strange to see any one +we know--we have lived so entirely alone these few days in Milan. I told +W. last night I found him a most agreeable companion. We haven't talked +so much to each other for years. He is always so busy all day in Paris +that except for the ride in the morning, I don't see much of him--and of +course in Rome and Florence we were never alone. + +It is rather late but I will write a few lines and send them off +to-morrow morning. W. came home about 4, fussed a little over trunks and +interviewed the porter about our tickets, places, etc., and then we +started off for the Duomo. There was a party going up just as we got to +the door, so we joined forces--about 8 people. The ascent was very +fatiguing, quite 500 steps, I should think, mostly inside the tower, +with openings giving fine views over the city and Lombard plains. We all +halted every now and then--I was the only lady. There were two +Englishmen with whom we fraternized. They were making a walking tour +through the North of Italy--Piedmont and Lombardy. They addressed W. by +name, which surprised him extremely, so much so that he said: "I don't +remember, but I suppose we must have met before." "Not at all," they +said, "we recognised you from all the pictures we had seen of you in +the illustrated papers." What it is to be a celebrity! + +We did finally, with many stops, get up on the roof, and were well +repaid, for the view was enchanting--Milan so far below us we could +hardly believe it was a big city, but the mountains quite beautiful. +There was a man with a telescope on top, and he pointed out the +principal peaks. Monte Rosa was magnificent--stood out splendidly, a +round snow peak; Mt. Cervin, Mt. Cenis, the Bernese far away, +disappearing in the clouds; and various others whose names I forget, +nearer. I couldn't see the Chartreuse of Pavia, though they said it was +quite visible, and just the Superga of Turin. Nearer these were various +churches and monasteries standing high on hills nearer the town, but I +couldn't look at anything but the snow mountains. You can't imagine how +divine they were, with the beautiful, soft afternoon sun on them. One +couldn't really tell which was cloud and which was mountain--they seemed +to be part of the sky. + +I found the going down more disagreeable than coming up. It was darker, +the steps were a little broken at the edge and decidedly slippery; +however, we arrived without any adventures. Just as we got to the hotel +we saw three or four carriages drive up, and as we went in the porter +told us the German Crown Princess with her daughters and a large suite +was arriving. We stood in the court to see them pass--but the Princess +was not there, only her daughters (3). They were tall, fair, very +German-looking, each one with a large bouquet. There seemed any number +of ladies and gentlemen in attendance, and a great deal of bowing and +deferential manners. + +We went downstairs about a quarter to eight. We had given the Murrays +rendezvous in the reading-room, but they came in just as we crossed the +court, and we went straight to the dining-room. They told us the Crown +Princess only comes to-morrow. They had gone to the station to meet her +(they had seen her in Venice), but there were only the young Princesses. +We had a pleasant dinner. They are a nice couple (Scotch). He is very +clever, a literary man, rather delicate, can't stand the English winter, +and always comes abroad. He knows Italy well and is mad about Venice. +She is clever, too, but is rather silent--however, we didn't either of +us have a chance to-night, for the two gentlemen talked hard, politics, +which Mr. Murray was very keen about. He had a decided thirst for +information, and asked W. so many questions about France, the state of +politics, the influence of the clergy, etc., that I was rather anxious, +as in general there is nothing W. hates like being questioned. However, +he was very gracious to-night, and disposed to talk. When he doesn't +feel like it wild horses couldn't drag anything out of him. + +They stayed till ten o'clock, and now I have been putting the last +things in my small trunk. The big trunks go straight through from here, +and we will pick them up at the Gare de Lyon. The padrone has just been +up to ask if we were satisfied with the hotel, and would we recommend +him. + + + _To G. W. S._ + + TURIN, HÔTEL DE L'EUROPE, + May 13, 1880. + +This will be my last letter from Italy, dear. I am sorry to think I am +turning my back on this enchanting country. To-day has been perfect; +everything, sky, sun, mountains, ugly yellow palaces, grim, frowning +buildings, look beautiful--a perfect glow of light and colour. I can +scarcely believe it is the same city we used to freeze in, when we +passed through it often in old times going down to Rome. Heavens--how +cold it was everywhere--a wind that seemed to come straight from the +glaciers cutting one in two when there was a great square to be crossed, +or whistling through the arcades when we wished to loiter a little and +see the shops and curiosities. I can't remember if we stayed at this +hotel--I don't think so, as it is very comfortable and that was by no +means my recollection of the one we always went to on our way down so +many years ago. The rooms are high--we have a nice apartment on the +first floor, well furnished--quite modern. + +We got here yesterday quite early in the afternoon. It is only about 4 +or 5 hours by train. We had a most festive "send-off" from Milan. I was +well "bunched" as some of our compatriots would say. The padrone gave me +a beautiful bouquet of roses when we came downstairs to the carriage, +also a nice little basket of fruit which he thought might be acceptable +on our journey. He had seen about our carriage--so that was all +right--and we found the Director of the Museum, and the Greek friend at +the station--also with a bouquet. All our bags and wraps were stowed +away in the carriage, and the Director of the Museum (I have never known +his name) had also put papers--some illustrated ones--on the seats. I +felt rather like a bride starting on her wedding journey. + +The road wasn't very interesting. We had glimpses of the Alps +occasionally, and the day was beautiful, making everything look +picturesque and charming. It was rather a relief to get out of the rice +fields and little canals. We stopped some little time at Novara--where +we had a good cup of coffee. As we got near Turin everything looked very +green. There seemed to be more trees and little woods than in the +neighbourhood of Milan. The hotel porter was waiting for us at the +station with a carriage--so we drove straight off, leaving Madame Hubert +in charge of the porter, who spoke French perfectly, to follow with the +trunks. + +The hotel is on the great Place du Château, faces the Palazzo Madama. +They have given us a nice apartment, with windows and a good balcony +looking out on the Place. We went upstairs immediately to inspect the +rooms--the padrone himself conducting us. There were flowers on the +table, nice lounging chairs on the balcony. It looked charming. He +wanted to send us tea or coffee--but we really couldn't take anything as +it wasn't more than two hours since we had had a very fair little goûter +at Novara. We said we would dine in the restaurant about 8. He was +rather anxious we should have our dinner in the anteroom which was large +and light--often used for a dining-room--but we told him we much +preferred dining downstairs and seeing the people. + +We brushed off a little dust--it wasn't a very dirty journey--and +started off for a stroll across the Piazza Castello. It is a fine large +square, high buildings all around it, and the great mediæval pile +Palazzo Madama facing us as we went in. It looked more like a fortress +than a palace, but there is a fine double staircase and façade with +marble columns and statues--white, I suppose, originally, but now rather +mellowed with years and exposure and taking a soft pink tint in the +waning sunlight. It was inhabited by the mother of one of the kings, +"Madama Reale," hence its name. There is a monument to the Sardinian +army in front of the palace with very elaborate bas-reliefs. They told +us there was nothing to see inside, so we merely walked all around it, +and then went over to the Palazzo Reale, which is a large brick +building, with no pretensions to architecture. They say it is very +handsome inside--large, high rooms, very luxuriously furnished. Somehow +or other luxuriously furnished apartments don't seem to go with Princes +of the House of Savoy. One can't imagine them reclining in ladies' +boudoirs on satin cushions, with silk and damask hangings. They seem +always to have been simple, hardy soldiers, more at home on a +battle-field than in a drawing-room. We asked at the entrance if the Duc +d'Aoste was here. He told us when he was in Paris that if ever we came +to Turin we must let him know--that he always received twice a week in +the evening when he was at home and that he would be delighted to see us +(I had put an evening dress in my trunk in case we should be invited +anywhere)--however he isn't here, away in the country for three or four +days on some inspection--so we wrote ourselves down in the book that he +might see that we intended to pay our respects. + +We walked through some of the squares--Piazza Carignano, with the great +palace Carignano which also looks grim and frowning, more like a prison +than a stately princely residence. I wonder if there are any what we +should call comfortable rooms in those gaunt old palaces. I have visions +of barred windows, very small panes of glass, brick floors, frescoed +ceilings black with age and smoke, and straight-backed, narrow carved +wooden chairs. However a fine race of sturdy, fighting men were brought +up within those old walls--perhaps Italy would not have been "unita" so +soon if the pioneers of freedom had been accustomed to all the luxury +and gaiety of the present generation. + +We wandered back through more squares and saw numberless statues of +Princes and Dukes of Savoy--almost all equestrian--the Princes in +armour, and generally a drawn sword in their hand--one feels that they +were a fighting race. + +The hills all around the city are charming, beautifully green, with +hundreds of villas (generally white) in all directions; some so high up +one wonders how the inhabitants ever get up there. In the distance +always the beautiful snow mountains. The town doesn't look either very +Italian or very Southern. I suppose the Piedmontese are a type apart. + +We had a table to ourselves in the dining-room, which was almost +empty--evidently people dine earlier than we do--and yet it is tempting +to stay out on a lovely summer evening. There were several officers in +uniform at one table--evidently a sort of mess--about 10. They were +rather noisy, making all sorts of jokes with the waiters, but they had +nearly finished when we came in and soon departed with a great clatter +of spurs and swords. We went for a few moments into the reading-room, +which was also quite deserted--only two couples, an English clergyman +and his wife both buried in their papers--and a German ménage discussing +routes and guides and prices for some excursion they wanted to make. + +I had kept on my hat as we thought we would go out, take a turn in the +arcades and have a "granita." The padrone told us of a famous café where +the "granita" was very good, also very good music. W. is becoming such a +flâneur, and so imbued with the dolce far niente of this enchanting +country that I am rather anxious about him. I think he will want to go +every evening to the "Ambassadeurs" when we get back to Paris. + +We strolled about for some time. It was cool and there were not too many +people. Everybody sitting out, smoking and drinking. We got a nice +little table--each took an ice (they were very good--not too sweet), and +the music was really charming--quite a large orchestra, all guitars and +mandolins. Whenever they played a well-known air--song or waltz--the +whole company joined in. It sounded very pretty--they didn't sing too +loud, and enjoyed themselves extremely. We stayed some time. + +I am writing as usual, late, while W. is putting his notes in order. He +found a note, when he came in, from the Director of the Museum, saying +he would be delighted to see W. at the Museum to-morrow morning at 9 +o'clock, and would do the honours of the cabinet de médailles--also the +card of a Mr. Hoffman who wants very much to see W. and renew his +acquaintance with him after many years. He is in this hotel and will +come and see us to-morrow. W. has no idea who he is, but of course there +are many Hoffmans in the world. I suppose the gentleman will explain +himself. If it is fine we shall drive to the Superga to-morrow +afternoon, and start for Paris the next evening. W. says three séances +(and his are long) will be all he wants in the Museum. + + + May 14th. + +It has been again a lovely summer day--not too hot, and a delicious +breeze as we drove home from La Superga. I have been out all day. W. was +off at 9 to meet his Director, and I started at 10 with Madame Hubert to +flâner a little. We went first to the arcades where are all the best +shops, but I can't say I was tempted. There was really nothing to +buy--some nice blankets, half silk, half wool--not striped like the Como +blankets, a plain centre, red or blue, with a bright border--but it was +not a day to buy blankets, with the sun bright and strong over our +heads. There was a good deal of iron work, rather nice. I didn't care +for the jewellery. I didn't see myself with a wrought-iron chain and +cross, but I did get a large ring--strong and prettily worked, which the +man said many people bought to put in a hall and hang keys on. There +were plenty of people about. I didn't think the peasants were any +particular type--the men looked smaller than those about Milan--slight, +wiry figures. A good many were evidently guides, with axes and coils of +rope strapped on their backs. They told us in one of the shops (where as +a true American I was asking questions, eager for information) that +there were several interesting excursions to be made in the +neighbourhood. + +We went again to the Piazzo Castello which is so large that it is a very +fair walk to go all around the square--and went into the hall to see the +statue (equestrian of course) of Victor Amadeus the First. The horse is +curious, in marble. Then we went to the Cathedral, which is not very +interesting. The sacristan showed us a collection of small, dark +pictures over the altar which he said were by Albert Dürer; but they +were so black and confused I couldn't see anything--a little glimpse of +gilding every now and then that might be a halo around a saint's head. +What was interesting was the "Cappella del S. S. Sudario," where the +linen cloth is kept which is said to have enveloped the body of our +Saviour. It is kept in an urn, and only shown by special permission. +This, however, the sacristan obtained for us. He disappeared into the +sacristy and soon returned bringing with him a nice fat old priest in +full canonicals and very conversationally disposed. He lifted off the +top of the urn and drew out the linen cloth most carefully. It is very +fine linen, quite yellow and worn--almost in holes in some parts. He +spread it out most reverently on a marble slab, and showed us the +outlines of a man's figure. Marks there were certainly. I thought I saw +the head distinctly, but of course the imagination is a powerful factor +on these occasions. The chapel was dimly lighted, a few tapers burning, +and the old priest was so convinced and reverent that it was catching. I +suppose it might be possible--certainly all these traditions and relics +were an enormous strength to the Catholic Church in the early days when +there were no books and little learning, and people believed more easily +and simply than they do now. The chapel is a rather ugly, round +building, almost black, and with a quantity of statues (white) which +stand out well. It is the burial chapel of the House of Savoy, and there +are statues apparently to every Emmanuel or Amadeus that ever +existed--also a large marble monument to the late Queen of Sardinia. Do +you remember when Prince Massimo, in Rome, always spoke of Victor +Emmanuel, when he was King of Italy, and holding his court in Florence, +as the King of Sardinia? + +We had walked about longer than we thought, but everything is close +together, and it was time to get back to the hotel for breakfast. I had +the dining-room almost to myself--my table was drawn up close to the +open window, a vase of roses upon it, and one or two papers--English, +Italian, and the "Figaro." Paris seems to be amusing itself. Henrietta +writes that the Champs Elysées are enchanting--all the horse chestnuts +in full bloom. Here there is abundance of flowers--one gets glimpses of +pretty gardens through open gates and openings in railings and walls. +There are plenty of street stalls, too, with fruits and flowers, but one +doesn't see the wealth of roses and wistaria climbing over every bit of +wall and up the sides of houses as in Florence. The city is perfectly +busy and prosperous, but has none of the delightful look of laziness and +enjoyment of life and the blue sky and the sunshine that one feels in +Rome and Florence. + +W. came in about 3, having had a delightful morning in the cabinet des +médailles. The Director, a most learned, courteous old gentleman, was +waiting for him, and though he knew W. and his collection by reputation, +he was quite surprised to find that W. knew quite as much about his +coins and treasures as he did himself. He hadn't supposed it possible +that a statesman with so many interests and calls upon his time could +have kept up his scientific work. + +We shall leave to-morrow night, and before we started for our drive we +sent off letters and telegrams to Paris. I can hardly believe it +possible that Friday morning I shall be breakfasting in Paris, going to +mother to tea in the afternoon, and taking up my ordinary life. +Henrietta writes that she has told Francis we are coming home, but +frankness compels her to say that he has received that piece of +information with absolute indifference. He has been as happy as a king +all the months we have been away--spoiled to his heart's content and +everybody in the two establishments his abject slaves. + +We started about 4 for La Superga in a nice light basket carriage and +pair of strong little horses. It was rather interesting driving all +through the town, which is comparatively small--one is soon out of it. +The streets are narrow, once one is out of the great thoroughfares, with +high houses on each side. Every now and then an interesting cornice with +a curious round tower and some funny old-fashioned houses with high +pointed roofs and iron balconies running quite around the house, but on +the whole it is much less picturesque and colder looking than the other +Italian cities. The road was not very animated--few vehicles of any +description, a few fiacres evidently bound for the Superga like us. +There were not many carts nor many people about. What _was_ lovely was +the crown of green hills with little chestnut groves--some of the little +woods we drove through were quite charming, with the long slanting rays +of the afternoon sun shining through the branches--just as I remember +the Galleria di Sotto at Albano--the chestnuts grow high on all the +hillsides. We had quite a stiff mount before we got to the church (but +the little horses trotted up very fairly) and a good climb after we left +the carriage. One sees the church from a long distance. It has a fine +colonnade and a high dome which lifts itself well up into the clouds. We +followed a pretty steep, winding path up to the top, quantities of wild +roses, a delicate pink, like our eglantine at home, twisting themselves +around the bushes. There is nothing particularly interesting in the +church. It is the burial place of the Kings of Savoy, and their vault is +in the crypt. The last one buried there was Charles Albert. Victor +Emmanuel is buried in the Pantheon in Rome. We found a nice old +sacristan who took us about and explained various statues to us--also +all the glories of the Casa di Savoia, winding up with an enthusiastic +eulogy of Queen Margherita--but never as Queen of Italy, "nostra +Principessa." She has certainly made herself a splendid place in the +hearts of the people--they all adore her. We climbed up to the roof, and +what a view we had, all Turin at our feet with its domes and high, +pointed roofs, standing in the midst of the green plain dotted all over +with villas, farms, gardens, little groves of chestnuts, the river +meandering along through the meadows carpeted with flowers, and looking +in the sunlight like a gold zig-zag with its numerous turns--always the +beautiful crown of hills, and in the background the snow peaks of the +Alps. It was very clear--they looked so near, as if one could throw a +stone across. Our old man pointed out all the well-known peaks--Monte +Rosa, Mont Cenis, and many others whose names I didn't catch. He said he +had rarely seen the whole chain so distinct. It reminded me of the view +we had of the Bernese Oberland so many years ago--the first time we had +seen snow mountains. On arriving at Berne we were hurried out on the +terrace by the padrone of the hotel as he said we might never again see +all the chain of the Alps so distinctly. Beautiful it was--all the snow +mountains rolling away in the distance; some of them straight up into +the sunset clouds, others with little wreaths of white soft clouds half +way up their summits, and clouds and snow so mingled that one could +hardly distinguish which was snow. I thought they were all +clouds--beautiful, airy intangible shapes. + +We loitered about some time on the terrace after we came down, watching +the lights fade and finally disappear--the mountains looking like great +grey giants frowning down on the city. The air was decidedly cooler as +we drove home, but it was a perfect summer evening. There were more +people out as we got near Turin--all the workers getting a little breath +of air after the toil of the day. + + + May 15th. + +I will send this very long letter off this evening. Our trunks are +packed and downstairs, and I will finish this while we are waiting for +dinner. We have had a nice day. Madame Hubert and I strolled about this +morning and went to see the house where Cavour was born, and also to the +Giardino Pubblico. The grounds are handsome, but not particularly +interesting at that hour in the morning, and there wasn't a creature +there but ourselves. There are various monuments--one of Manin with a +fine figure of the Republic of Venice. + +I breakfasted as usual alone, and at 3 W. came in, having quite finished +his work at the Museum. He had given rendezvous to Mr. Hoffman for 3.30, +and while we were sitting talking waiting for him the padrone came up +and said an officer "de la part du Duc d'Aoste" wanted to see us. We +begged him of course to send him up, and in a few minutes a very +good-looking young officer in uniform made his appearance. He named +himself--Count Colobiano I think--but we didn't catch the name very +distinctly; said he had had the honour of dining with us at the Quai +d'Orsay with his Prince, and that the Prince was "désolé" not to be in +Turin these days and had sent him to put himself at our disposition. He +proposed all sorts of things--the opera, a drive (or a ride if we +preferred) to a sort of parade ground just outside the gates where we +would see some cavalry manoeuvres. He knew I rode, and could give me a +capital lady's hack. I was rather sorry he hadn't come before--it would +have amused us to see the manoeuvres, and also to ride--but that would +have been difficult as I had no habit with me. However, as we are +leaving this evening there was nothing to be done. He was very civil and +I think rather sorry not to do us the honours of his city. He said there +were beautiful excursions to be made from Turin, and asked us if we had +seen anything. We said only the Superga which he evidently didn't +consider very interesting. He said the Duke was very sorry to have +missed us, and that he thought I would have enjoyed an evening at the +Palace, as the receptions were very gay and informal. I cannot imagine +(I didn't tell him that) anything gay with the Duc d'Aoste. He is very +sympathetic to me, but a type apart. A stern, almost ascetic appearance, +very silent and shy, but a beautiful smile. He looks exactly as one +would imagine a Prince of the House of Savoy would. We saw him often in +Paris, and his face always interested me--so grave, and as if he were +miles away from the ordinary modern world. It was just after he had +given up his Spanish throne, and although I didn't think that crown +weighed very heavily on his brow he must have had some curious +experiences and seen human nature in perhaps not its best form. The +young aide-de-camp paid us quite a visit, and we made him promise to +come and see us if ever he came to Paris. We sent all sorts of messages +and regrets to the Duke. Just as he was going out Mr. Hoffman appeared +and he sat an hour with us. He was delightful, has lived almost all his +life in and near Turin, and had all the history of Piedmont at his +fingers' ends. He seems to have met W. years ago at a dinner in London +and has always followed his career with much interest. It was most +interesting to hear him talk. He admires Cavour immensely--said his +death was a great calamity for Italy--that he hadn't given half of what +he could, and that every year he lived he grew in intellect and +knowledge of people. He also said (as they all do) that he mistrusted +Louis Napoleon so intensely, and through all their negotiations and +discussions as to Italy's future he was pursued by the idea that the +Emperor would go back upon his word. He said the Piedmontese were a race +apart--hardly considered themselves Italian, and that even now in the +little hamlets in the mountains the peasants had vague ideas of +nationality, and never spoke of themselves as Italians, or identified +themselves with Italian interests and history--that in the upper classes +traces of French occupation and education, superstition and priestly +rule were just getting effaced. For years in the beginning of the +century the priests (Jesuits) had it all their own way in Turin. The +teaching in the schools was entirely in their hands, and most +elementary; and numerous convents and monasteries were built. Cavour as +a very young man soon emancipated himself from all those ideas, and if +he had lived, Hoffman thinks, much trouble would have been averted, and +that he would certainly have found some means of coming to a better +understanding with the Vatican, "the most brilliant and far-seeing +intellect I have ever met." + +He wanted to take us to some palace where there are some very curious +and inédites letters of Cavour's to the owner, who was one of his +friends, and always on very confidential terms with him; but of course +we couldn't do that as we are off in a few hours. + +Hoffman would never have gone, I think, if the padrone hadn't appeared +to say dinner was ready. I left him and W. talking while I went to give +some last instructions to the maid, and when I got back to the salon +they had drifted away from Cavour and Piedmont and were discussing +French politics, the attitude of Germany and the anti-religious feeling +in France. + +I shall miss all the talk about Italy and her first struggles for +independence when I get home. French people, as a rule, care so little +for outside things. They travel very little, don't read much foreign +literature, and are quite absorbed in their own interests and +surroundings. Of course they are passing through a curious phase--so +many old things passing away--habits and traditions of years upset, and +the new régime not yet sufficiently established nor supported by all +that is best in the country. I think W. has been impressed and rather +surprised at the very easy way in which all religious questions are +disposed of in Italy, and yet the people are certainly superstitious +and have a sort of religious feeling. The churches are all full on great +feast days, and one sees great big young peasants kneeling and kissing +relics when they are exposed; and several times even here about Turin we +have seen men and women kneeling at some of the crosses along the road. +I have rarely seen that in France--but then the Italians are a more +emotional race. They are difficult problems--a country can't live +without a religion. + + + RUE DUMONT D'URVILLE. + +We got back yesterday morning early. Hubert and the big mare were +waiting for us, and we were whirled up to the house in a very un-Italian +manner (for the horses in Italy are just as easy-going as the people and +never hurry themselves nor display any undue energy). Francis and +"nounou" were waiting at the door--he really quite excited and pleased +to see us--and the sisters appeared about 11. We talked a little and +they helped me unpack; and I went to see mother directly after breakfast +and stayed there all the afternoon. This morning I am writing as usual +at the window and hearing all the familiar Paris sounds. The goat-boy +has just passed with his 6 goats and curious reed pipe, the marchande de +cressons with her peculiar cry advertising her merchandise, and ending +"pour la santé du corps" on a long shrill note--the man who sits on the +pavement and mends china. He is just at our door, and has a collection +of broken plates and cups around him. I suppose some are ours. The +"light lady" next door is standing at her door in her riding habit, the +skirt already very short and held well up over her arm displaying a fair +amount of trousers and high boots. She is haranguing in very forcible +language the groom who is cantering the horse up and down the street, +and of course even in our quiet street there are always badauds who stop +and ask questions, and hang around the porte-cochères to see all that is +going on. W. has just started on horseback and that is a most +interesting moment for the street, for his big black "Paddy" has a most +uncomfortable trick. From the moment he takes the bridle in his hand and +prepares to mount, the horse snorts, and stamps and backs, making such a +noise in the little court-yard you would think he was kicking everything +to pieces. As soon as the big doors are opened and he can get out he is +as quiet as a lamb. + +It is a beautiful morning and Paris looks its best--all the +horse-chestnuts in full bloom, the sky a bright blue, and quantities of +equipages and riders streaming out to the Bois. I suppose I shall ride +too in a day or so, and by the end of the week Italy will be a thing of +the past, and I shall be leading my ordinary Paris life. + +There was a procession of people here all the afternoon yesterday to see +W., and now he is quite au courant of all that has taken place in his +absence, and I think in his heart he is delighted to be back and in the +thick of the fight again. He is going to the Senate this afternoon. + +We had a most comfortable journey from Turin--a lit-salon to ourselves, +the maid just behind us. All the first hours were charming as long as we +could see as all the country about Turin is so lovely. We passed +Moncalieri which stands high on the hills--a long low building, and one +or two other fine old castles, all perched high on the slope of the +mountains. I always sleep so well in a train that I was hardly awake +when we passed at Modane, though I was dimly conscious of the stop, the +lanterns flashing along the train and a great deal of conversation. +Nobody disturbed us as we had given our "laissez-passer" to the garde, +but I fancy we made a long halt there as the train was very crowded. We +had our coffee at Dijon very early in the morning. It was quite pleasant +to see the regular little French brioche again. + +I went to tea with Mother and afterward we went for a turn in the Bois, +which looked beautiful--so green--all the horse-chestnuts out (the road +from Auteuil to Boulogne with the rows of red horse-chestnuts on each +side quite enchanting); the hills, St. Cloud and Mont Valérien blue and +standing out sharply against the sky, but I missed the delicious soft +atmosphere of Italy and the haze that always hung around the hills and +softened all the outlines. The Seine looked quite animated. There really +were one or two small boats out, and near Puteaux (the club) some women +rowing, and of course the little river steamers flying up and down, +crowded. + +We are dining with l'Oncle Alphonse who will give us all the news of the +day, and the opinion of the "Union." + + + + +PART II + +ITALY REVISITED + + + _To H. L. K._ + + ROME, Friday, February 12, 1904. + +It seems so strange to be back here, dear, after twenty-four years, and +to find Rome so changed, so unchanged. The new quarter, an absolutely +new modern city, might be Wiesbaden, or Neuilly, or any cheerful resort +of retired business men who build hideous villas with all sorts of +excrescences--busts, vases, and plaques of bright-coloured majolica--and +the old city with the dirty little winding streets going toward St. +Peter's exactly the same; almost the same little ragged, black-eyed +children playing in the gutters. + +We had a most comfortable journey down. Hardly any one in the +sleeping-car but ourselves, so we all had plenty of room. It was a +bright, beautiful morning when we got to Modane--the mountains covered +with snow, and the fresh keen wind blowing straight from the glaciers +was enchanting after a night in the sleeping-car. They are frightfully +overheated. I had some difficulty in persuading the attendant to open my +window for the night; however, as I was alone in my compartment, he +finally agreed, merely saying he would come and shut it when we passed +through the great tunnel. We dined at the buffet at Genoa, and it didn't +seem natural not to ask for the Alassio train. The station was crowded, +the Roman train too--they put on extra carriages. We got to Rome about +9.30. I had been ready since 6.30, eagerly watching to get a glimpse of +St. Peter's. I had visions of Cività Vecchia and running along by the +sea in the early morning. + +I was quite awake, but I didn't see St. Peter's until we were quite near +Rome. We ran through long, level stretches of Campagna, with every now +and then a great square building that had been probably a mediæval +castle, but was now a farm--sheep and cattle wandering out of the old +gateway, and those splendid big white oxen that one sees all over the +Campagna--some shepherds' huts with their pointed thatched roofs dotted +about, but nothing very picturesque or striking. We passed close to San +Paolo Fuori le Mura, with the Testaccio quite near. We paid ourselves +compliments when we arrived at the station for having made our long +journey so easily and pleasantly. No one was tired and no one was bored. +Between us all (we were four women) we had plenty of provisions and +Bessie[30] and Mme. de Bailleul were most successful with their afternoon +tea, with delicious American cake, that Bessie had brought over in the +steamer. + +[30] Marquise de Talleyrand-Périgord, née Curtis. + +After all, Josephine[31] finds she has room for me and my maid, which of +course is infinitely pleasanter for me than being at the hotel. Her +house is charming--not one of the old palaces, but plenty of room and +thoroughly Italian. The large red salon I delight in; it couldn't exist +anywhere else but in Rome, with its red silk walls, heavy gilt +furniture, pictures, and curious bits of old carving and majolica. It +opens into a delightful music-room with fine frescoes on the walls (a +beautiful bit of colour), and beyond that there is a small salon where +we usually sit. + +[31] Princess di Poggio-Suasa, née Curtis. + +She has a picture there of her husband, Don Emanuele Ruspoli (late +syndic of Rome), which has rather taken possession of me. It is such a +handsome, spirited face, energetic and rather imperious--he looks a born +ruler of men, and I believe he was. They say Rome was never so well +governed as in his time. He was one of the first of the young Roman +nobles who emancipated themselves from the papal rule. As quite a youth +he ran away from college and entered the Italian army as a simple +soldier, winning his grade as captain on the battle-field. He was a +loyal and devoted servant of the House of Savoy, and took a prominent +part in all the events which ended in proclaiming Victor Emanuel King of +Italy, with Rome his capital. + +This quarter, Piazza Barberini, is quite new to me. It used to seem +rather far off in the old days when we came to see the Storys in the +Barberini Palace, but now it is quite central. The great new street--Via +Veneto--runs straight away from the Piazza, past the Church of the +Cappucini--you will remember the vaults with all the dead monks standing +about--the Palace of the Queen Mother, and various large hotels, to +Porta Pinciana. Just the other side of the road is the new gate opening +into the Villa Borghese. I rather lost myself there the first day I +prowled about alone. It was raining, but I wanted some air, and turned +into the Via Veneto, which is broad and clean. I walked quite to the +end, and then came to the Porta Pinciana, crossed the road, and found +myself in a beautiful villa. I didn't come upon any special landmark +until I got near the Museum, which, of course, looked quite familiar. +However, I was bewildered and hailed a passing groom to inquire where I +was, and even when he told me could scarcely believe it. I had never +gone into the Villa Borghese except by the Piazza del Popolo. They have +made extraordinary changes since the Government has bought it--opened +out new roads and paths, planted quantities of trees and flowers, and +cleaned up and trimmed in every direction. It will be a splendid +promenade in the heart of the city, but no longer the old Villa Borghese +we used to know, with ragged, unkempt corners, and little paths in +out-of-the-way places, so choked up with weeds and long grass that one +could hardly get through. + +I haven't quite got my bearings yet, and for the first three or four +mornings I took myself down to the Piazza di Spagna, and started from +there. There, too, there are changes--new houses and shops (I was glad +to see old Spithoever in the same place) and a decided look of business +and modern life. There were not nearly so many people doing nothing, +lounging about, leaning on the "barca," or playing mora on the Spanish +Steps. All the botte were still standing in the middle of the street, +the coachmen smiling, cracking their whips, and making frantic little +dashes across the piazza whenever they saw an unwary stranger who might +want a cab. + +The Spanish Steps looked beautiful, glowing with colour--pink, yellow, +and that soft grey tint that the Roman stones take in the sunlight. All +the lower steps are covered with flower stalls (they are not allowed any +longer scattered all over the piazza), and most picturesque they +looked--daffodils, mimosa, and great bunches of peach-blossoms which +were very effective. There were very few models in costume sitting +about; a few children playing some sort of game with stones, which they +interrupted to run after the forestieri and ask for a "piccolo soldo" (a +penny), and one or two old men with long white beards--might have done +for models of the apostles or Joseph in the flight into Egypt--wrapped +in their wonderful long green cloaks, sitting in the sun. There is one +novelty--an "ascenseur." I haven't been in it yet, but I shall try it +some day. One must get accustomed to many changes in the Rome of to-day. + +I recognised some of the houses at the top of the steps--the corner one +between Vias Sistina and Gregoriana, where the Rodmans used to live one +year, and where we have dined so often, sitting on the round balcony and +seeing the moon rise over the Pincio. + +I walked home the other day by the Via Sistina to the Piazza Barberini, +and that part seemed to me absolutely unchanged. The same little open +mosaic shops, with the workmen dressed in white working at the +door--almost in the street. In one shop they were just finishing a +table, putting in countless bits of coloured marble (some of them very +small). It was exactly like the one we brought from Rome many years ago, +which stands now in Francis's smoking-room. There was of course the +inevitable jeweller's shop, with crosses and brooches of dull yellow +Roman gold and mosaic, and silk shops with Roman silk scarfs, and a sort +of coarse lace which I have seen everywhere. In the middle of the street +a miserable wrinkled old woman, her face mahogany colour, attired in a +red skirt with a green handkerchief on her head, was skirmishing with a +band of dirty little children, who had apparently upset her basket of +roast chestnuts, and were making off with as many as they could find, +pursued by her shrill cries and "maledizioni." + +We went out in the open carriage yesterday, and drove all around Rome +leaving cards--finished with a turn in the Villa Borghese and Pincio. It +was too late for the Villa--almost every one had gone, and one felt the +chill strike one on going into the thick shade after coming out of the +bright sun in the Piazza del Popolo. We crossed Queen Margherita at the +gate. She looked so handsome--the black is very becoming and threw out +well her fair hair and skin. She was driving in a handsome carriage--the +servants in mourning. One lady was with her--another carriage and two +cyclists following. All the people bowed and looked so pleased to see +her, and her bow and smile of acknowledgment were charming. + +We made a short turn in the Villa and then went on to the Pincio, which +was crowded. There were some very handsome, stately Roman equipages, +plenty of light victorias, a few men driving themselves in very high +phaetons, and the inevitable botta with often three youths on the one +seat. The carriages didn't draw up--the ladies holding a sort of +reception as in our days, when all the "gilded youth" used to sit on the +steps of the victorias and surround the carriages of the pretty women. +They tell me the present generation comes much less to the Villa +Borghese and Pincio. They are much more sporting--ride, drive +automobiles and play golf. There are two golf clubs now--one at Villa +Pamphili Doria, the other at Aqua Santa. Every time we go out on the +Campagna we meet men with golf clubs and rackets. + +Monday I prowled about in the morning, always making the same round--Via +Sistina and the Spanish Steps. The lame man at the top of the steps +knows me well now, and we always exchange a cheerful good morning. +Sometimes I give him some pennies and sometimes I don't, but he is +always just as smiling when I don't give him anything. + +In the afternoon Madame de B. and I went for a drive and a little +sight-seeing. She wanted a bottle of eucalyptus from the monks at Tre +Fontane, so we took in San Paolo Fuori le Mura on our way. The drive out +is charming--a few dirty little streets at first--past the Theatre of +Marcellus, which looks blacker and grimmer, if possible, than when I +last saw it--and then some distance along the river. There are great +changes---high buildings, quays, boats, carts with heavy stones and +quantities of workmen--really quite an air of a busy port--busy of +course in a modified sense, as no Roman ever looks as if he were working +hard, and there are always two or three looking on, and talking, for +every one who works--however, there is certainly much more life in the +streets and the city looks prosperous. + +The great new Benedictine Monastery of Sant' Anselmo stands splendidly +on the heights (Aventine) to the left, also the walls and garden of the +Knights of Malta. The garden, with its long shady walks, between rows of +tall cypress trees, looked most inviting. We left the Testaccio and +Protestant Cemetery on our right and followed a long file of carriages +evidently going, too, to San Paolo. That of course looked exactly the +same--an enormous modern building with a wealth of splendid marble +columns inside. The proportions and great spaces are very fine, and +there was a brilliant effect of light and colour (as every column is +different). Some of the red-pink was quite beautiful, but it is not in +the least like a church--not at all devotional. One can't imagine any +poor weary souls kneeling on that slippery, shining marble pavement and +pouring out their hearts in prayer. It is more like a great hall or +academy. We went out into the quiet of the cloisters, which are +interesting, some curious old tombs and statues, but small for such a +huge basilica--always the square green plot in the centre with a well. + +We had some difficulty in making our way to the carriage through a +perfect army of boys and men selling photographs, postal cards, mosaic +pins with views of the church, etc., also bits of marble, giallo +antico, porphyry and a piece of dark marble, almost black, which had +come from the Marmorata close by. + +We went on to the Tre Fontane, about half an hour's drive--real country, +quite charming. We didn't see the churches until we were quite close to +them--they are almost hidden by the trees. I never should have +recognised the place. The eucalyptus trees which the monks were just +beginning to plant when we were here before have grown up into a fine +avenue. They were cutting and trimming them, and the ground was covered +with great branches making a beautiful green carpet with a strong +perfume. Various people were looking on and almost every one carried off +a branch of eucalyptus. We did too, and one is now hanging over the bed +in my room. It is supposed to be very healthy. It has a very strong +odour--to me very agreeable. + +A service was going on in one of the churches, the monks singing a low +monotonous chant, and everything was so still; one was so shut in by the +trees that the outside world, Rome and the Corso might have been miles +away. We went into the church to see the three fountains built into the +wall. Tradition says that when St. Paul was executed his head bounded +three times and at each place a fountain sprang up. A tall young monk +was going about with some seminarists explaining the legend to them. +They were listening with rapt attention and drinking reverently at each +fountain. + +We went into the little farmacia and found there a German monk who was +much pleased when he found we could speak German. He told us there were +90 monks there, and that the place was perfectly healthy--not as when +they began their work, when many died of fever. We each bought a bottle +of eucalyptus, and were sorry to come away. The light was fading--the +eucalyptus avenue looked dark and mysterious, and the low chant of the +monks was still going on. + +We went to a beautiful ball in the evening at the Brancaccios'. They +built their palace--which is enormous--has a fine marble staircase +(which showed off the women's long trailing skirts splendidly) and +quantities of rooms filled with beautiful things. I didn't take them all +in as I was so much interested in the people, but Bessie has promised to +take me all over the palace some morning. + +To-day we have been to the Brancaccio garden. It was a beautiful bright +morning, so Bessie Talleyrand proposed we should drive up and stroll +about there. We telephoned to Brancaccio, who said he would meet us in +the garden. You can't imagine anything more enchanting than that +beautiful southern garden in the heart of Rome. We drove through the +court-yard and straight up the hill to a little bridge that connects the +garden with Mrs. Field's old apartment. Mrs. Field really made the +garden (and loved it always). When they bought the ground it was simply +an "orto" or field, and now it is a paradise filled with every possible +variety of trees and flowers. It seems that wherever she saw a beautiful +tree she immediately asked what it was and where it came from, and then +had some sent to her from no matter where. Of course hundreds were +lost--the journey, change of soil, transplanting them, etc., but +hundreds remain and the effect is marvellous. Splendid tall palms from +Bordighera, little delicate shrubs from America and Canada all growing +and thriving side by side in the beautiful Roman garden. There is a fine +broad allée which goes straight down from the winter garden to the end +of the grounds with the Colosseum as background. It is planted on each +side with green oaks, and between them rows of orange and mandarin +trees--the branches heavy with the fruit. We picked delicious, ripe, +warm mandarins from the trees, and eat them as we were strolling along. +It was too early for the roses, of which there are thousands in the +season--one saw the plants twining around all the trees. There are all +sorts of ruins and old walls in the garden, baths of Titus, Sette Celle, +and one comes unexpectedly, in odd corners, upon fine old bits of +carving and wall which have no name now, but which certainly have had a +history. + +The sky was a deep blue over our heads, and the trees so thick, that the +ugly new buildings which skirt one side of the garden are almost +completely hidden. It was a pleasure just to sit on a bench and +live--the air was so soft, and the garden smell so delicious. + +[Illustration: The Barberini Palace. + +The residence of the Storys.] + +After breakfast I went out early with Josephine--leaving of course some +cards first--after that we took a turn on the Pincio, which was basking +in the sunshine (but quite deserted at that hour except by nurses and +children), and then drove out toward the Villa Pamphili. The road was so +familiar, and yet so different. The same steep ascent to the Janiculum +with the beggars and cripples of all ages running alongside the carriage +and holding out withered arms and maimed limbs--awful to see. The road +is much wider--more of a promenade, trees and flowers planted all along. +The fountains of San Pietro in Montorio looked beautiful--such a rush of +bright, dancing water. We drove through the Villa Corsini--quite new +since my time--a beautiful drive, and drew up on the terrace just under +the equestrian statue of Garibaldi from where there is a splendid +view--the whole city of Rome at our feet, seen through a warm, grey mist +that made even the ugly staring white and yellow houses of the new +quarter look picturesque. They lost themselves in a charming +ensemble. St. Peter's looked very near but always a little veiled by the +haze which made the great mass more imposing. We looked straight across +the city to the Campagna--all the well-known monuments--Cecilia Metella, +aqueducts and the various tombs scattered along the Via Appia were quite +distinct. The statue of the great revolutionary leader seemed curiously +out of place. I should have preferred almost the traditional wolf with +the two little boys sucking in her milk. We couldn't stay very long as +we had a tea at home. We met many people and carriages going up as we +came down, as it was the day for the Villa Pamphili, which is open to +the public twice a week. + +We went to a ball at the Storys' in the evening, and as we went up the +great staircase of the Barberini Palace (the steps so broad and shallow +that one could drive up in a light carriage) finishing with the steep +little flight quite at the top which leads directly to the Story +apartment, I could hardly realize how many years had passed since I had +first danced in these same rooms, and that I shouldn't find the +charming, genial maître de maison of my youth who made his house such an +interesting centre. I think one of Mr. Story's greatest charms was his +absolute simplicity, his keen interest in everything and his sympathy +with younger men who were still fighting the great battle of life which +he had brought to such a triumphant close. His son, Waldo Story,[32] who +has inherited his father's talent, keeps up the hospitable traditions of +the house. + +[32] The well-known sculptor. + +The ball was very animated--all the young dancing Rome was there. + + + Monday, February 15th. + +I am alone this morning--the others have gone to the meet at Cecchignola +fuori Porta San Sebastiano. I should have liked to go for the sake of +old times, but I was rather tired, and have the court ball to-night. + +Last night I had a pleasant dinner at Count Vitali's. He has bought the +Bandini palace, and made it, of course, most comfortable and modern. The +rooms are beautiful--the splendid proportions and great space one only +sees now in Rome in the old palaces. The dinner was for M. Nisard +(French Ambassador to the Vatican), but it wasn't altogether Black. +There were one of the Queen's ladies and one or two secretaries from the +Quirinal embassies. The line between the two parties is not nearly so +sharply drawn as when I was here so many years ago. A few people came in +the evening. Among the first to appear was Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, +whom I was delighted to see again. It is long since I have seen a +cardinal in all the bravery of his red robes and large jewelled cross, +and for the first time I felt as if I were back in old Rome. We had a +nice talk and plunged into Moscow and all the coronation festivities. I +told him I was very anxious to see the Pope, which he said could easily +be arranged. Nisard, too, was charming--said I should have an audience +spéciale as ancienne ambassadrice. I waited to see the cardinal go with +all the usual ceremonies for a prince of the Church. Two big footmen +with flambeaux and tall candles escorted him to his carriage. The +cardinal came alone, which surprised me. I thought they always had an +attendant--a sort of ecclesiastical aide-de-camp. + +Saturday Marquise de Bailleul and I were received by the Queen. Our +audience was at four. I went for her a little before. We drove straight +to the Quirinal, the great entrance on the piazza. Two swell porters +were at the door, but no guards nor soldiers visible anywhere. We went +up the grand staircase, where there was a red carpet and plenty of +flowers, but no servants on the steps. The doors of a large anteroom at +the top of the stairs were open, and there were four footmen in powder, +culottes, and royal red liveries, and three or four men in black. We +left our wraps. I wore my grey velvet and Marquise de Bailleul was in +black with a handsome sable cape (which she was much disgusted at +leaving). We went at once into a large room, where the dame de palais de +service was waiting for us. She had a list in her hand, came forward at +once and named herself, Duchesse d'Arscoli, said she supposed I was +Madame Waddington. I introduced Marquise de Bailleul. The gentleman also +came up and said a few words. There were one or two other ladies in the +room, evidently waiting their turn. In a few minutes the door into the +next room opened and two ladies came out. The duchess went in, remained +a second, then coming back, waved us in. She didn't come in herself, +didn't announce us, and shut the door behind us. We found ourselves in a +large, rather bare room, with no trace of habitation--I fancy it is only +used for official receptions. The Queen was standing at a table about +the middle of the room. She is tall, dark, with fine eyes and a pretty +smile. We made our two curtseys--hadn't time for the third, as she +advanced a step, shook hands, and made us sit down. The visit didn't +last very long. I fancy she was rather tired, as evidently she had been +receiving a good many people, and was probably bored at having to make +phrases to utter strangers she might never see again. We had the usual +royal questions as to our children. As I only had _one_ child my +conversation on that subject soon came to an end, but Marquise de +Bailleul has three small ones, so she got on swimmingly. The Queen +talked very prettily and simply about her own children, and the +difficulty of keeping them natural and unspoiled; said people gave them +such beautiful presents--all sorts of wonderful mechanical toys which +they couldn't appreciate. One thing she said was rather funny--that the +present they liked best was a rag doll the American Ambassadress had +brought them from America. + +As soon as we came out other people went in. I fancy all the strangers +asked to the ball had to be presented first to the Queen. I think the +London rule was rather simpler. There the strangers were always +presented at supper, when the Princess of Wales made her "cercle." + +We went to a ball in the evening at Baron Pasetti's (Austrian Ambassador +to the Quirinal). They have a fine apartment in the Palazzo Chigi. I +remembered the rooms quite well, just as they were in the old days when +Wimpffen was Ambassador. The hall was most brilliant--all Rome there. +The Pasettis are going away, and will be much regretted. I think he is +rather delicate and has had enough of public life. I hadn't seen him +since Florence, when we were all young, and life was then a succession +of summer days--long afternoons in the villas, with roses hanging over +the walls, and evenings on the balcony, with nightingales singing in the +garden and the scent of flowers in the air, "der goldener Zeit der +jungen Liebe" (the golden days of young love). + +Sunday Bessie and I went to the American church. Dr. Nevin is still +away. The church is large, but was quite full--there are evidently many +Americans in Rome. The great mosaics over the altar were given by Mrs. +Field. + + + Wednesday, February 17th. + +Monday night we went to the court ball. It was very amusing, but +extraordinarily simple, not to say democratic. Bessie and I went +together early, so as to get good seats. If I hadn't known we were going +to the palace I should have thought we had made a mistake in the house. +The square of the Quirinal was so quiet, almost deserted--no troops nor +music, nor crowd of people looking on and peering into the carriages to +see the dresses and jewels--no soldiers nor officials of any kind on the +grand staircase. Some tall cuirassiers and footmen in the anteroom--no +chamberlains nor pages--nothing like the glittering crowd of gold lace +and uniforms one usually sees in the anteroom of a palace. We walked +through two or three handsome rooms to the ball-room, where there were +already a great many people. The room is large, high, but rather too +narrow, with seats all round. There was no raised platform for the +court--merely a carpet and two large gilt arm-chairs for the King and +Queen and a smaller one for the Comte de Turin. It was amusing to see +all the people coming in, the different uniforms and jewels of the women +giving at once an air of court. The entrance of the royal cortège was +quite simple. They played the "Marcia Reale," which I don't at all care +for. It is a frivolous, jumpy little tune, not at all the grave, +dignified measure one would expect on such an occasion. There were no +chamberlains walking backward with their great wands of office in their +hands. The master of ceremonies, Count Gianotti, looking very well in +his uniform and broad green ribbon, came first, and almost immediately +behind him the King and Queen, arm in arm, the Count of Turin, and a +small procession of court functionaries. The Queen looked very well in +yellow, with a splendid tiara. She took her seat at once; the King and +Comte de Turin remained standing. What was charming was the group of +young court ladies who followed the Queen--tall, handsome women, very +well dressed. There was no "quadrille d'honneur," none of the royalties +danced. The dancing began as soon as the court was seated--any little +couple, a young lieutenant, an American, any one, dancing under the nose +of the sovereigns. The Queen remained sitting quite alone, hardly +speaking to any one, through three or four dances; then there was a +move, and she made her "cercle," going straight around the room, and +speaking to almost every one. The King made no "cercle," remained +standing near the "corps diplomatique," who were all massed on one side +of the thrones (or arm-chairs). He talked to the ambassadors and +étrangers de distinction (men--they say he rarely speaks to a woman). We +all moved about a little after the Queen had passed, and I found plenty +of old friends and colleagues to talk to. Neither the Russian +Ambassador, Prince Ourousoff, nor any of his staff were present, on +account of the war. + +Tuesday it poured all the morning, so I didn't get my usual walk, and I +tried to put some sort of order in our cards, which are in a hopeless +confusion. The unfortunate porter is almost crazy. There are four of us +here (as Madame de Bailleul's cards and invitations also come here), all +with different names, and it must be impossible not to mix them. + +[Illustration: Victor Emanuel III., King of Italy.] + +It stopped raining in the afternoon and Josephine and I walked up to +Palazzo Brancaccio after tea, to ask about Bessie, who has been ill ever +since her ball. The streets were full of people, a few masks (as it was +Mardi Gras), but quite in the lower classes. I should think the +Carnival was dead, as far as Society is concerned. We got very little +information about Bessie--the porter would not let us go upstairs, said +the Princess was in the country, or perhaps in Paris. It seems he is +quite a character, well known in Rome. When Mr. Field was ill, dying, of +course everybody went to inquire, which seemed to exasperate him, as he +finally replied, "ma sì, è malato, va morire, ma lasciarlo in +pace--perchè venir seccar la gente?" (yes, yes, he is ill, dying, but +leave him in peace--why do you come and bore people?). + +We stepped in at a little church on our way back, where a benediction +was going on. It was brilliantly lighted, and filled with people almost +all kneeling--princesses and peasants--on the stone floor. It was a +curious contrast to the motley, masquerading crowd just outside. + + + Thursday, 18th. + +It is still showery and the streets very muddy to-day. This morning I +made a solitary expedition to St. Peter's--armed with an Italian +guide-book M. Virgo lent me (it was red, like Baedeker, so I looked +quite the tourist). I went by tram--M. Virgo and the children escorted +me to the bottom of the Via Tritone, and started me. The tramway is most +convenient. We went through the Piazza di Spagna, across the Piazza del +Popolo, and turned off short to the left. It was all quite different +from what I remembered--a fine broad road (Lungo Tevere) (along the +Tiber) with quantities of high, ugly modern buildings, "maisons de +location," villas, and an enormous Ministère, I forget which one, Public +Works, I think, which could accommodate a village. Some of the villas +are too awful--fancy white stucco buildings ornamented with cheap +statues and plaques of majolica and coloured marble. The tram stopped +at the end of the piazza facing the church, but one loses the sense of +immensity being so near. I saw merely the façade and the great stone +perron. I wandered about for an hour finding my way everywhere, and +recognising all the old monuments--Christina of Sweden, the Stuart +monuments, the Cappella Julia, etc. There were quite a number of people +walking about and sitting on the benches, or in the stalls of the little +side chapels, reading their Baedekers. I came home in a botta for the +sum of one franc. I wanted to cross the St. Angelo Bridge and see the +crooked dirty little streets and low dark shops I remembered so +well--and which will all disappear one day--with new quarters and all +the old buildings pulled down. They were all there quite unchanged, only +a little dirtier--the same heaps of decayed vegetables lying about in +the corners, girls and women in bright red skirts and yellow fichus on +their heads, long gold earrings, and gold pins in their hair, standing +talking in the doorways, children playing in the gutter, a general smell +of frittura everywhere. The little dark shops have no windows, only a +low, narrow door, and the people sit in the doorway to get all the light +they can for their work. + +We paid some visits in the afternoon, winding up with Princess +Pallavicini. Her beautiful apartment looked just the same (only there, +too, is an ascenseur) with the enormous anteroom and suites of salons +before reaching the boudoir, where she gave us tea. I remembered +everything, even the flowered Pompadour satin on the walls, just as I +had always seen it. + + + Saturday, February 20th. + +These last two days have been beautiful--real Roman days, bright blue +sky, warm sun, and just air enough to be pleasant. Yesterday I trammed +over again to the Vatican (a trolley car is an abomination in Rome, but +so convenient). I wanted to see the statues and my favourite Apollo +Belvedere, who hasn't grown any older in 24 years--the same beautiful, +spirited young god. As I was coming downstairs I saw some people going +into the garden from a side door, so I stepped up to the gardien, and +said I wanted to go too. He said it was quite impossible without a +permesso signed by one of the officers of the Pope's household. I +assured him in my best Italian that I could have all the permessi I +wanted, that I knew a great many people, was only here de passage and +might not be able to come back another day, and that as I was alone he +really might let me pass--so after a little conversation he chose a time +when no one was passing, opened the door as little as he could and let +me through. There were two or three parties being conducted about by +guides, but no one took any notice of me, and I wandered about for some +time quite happy. It is a splendid garden--really a park. I seemed to +have got out on a sort of terrace (the carriage road below me). There +were some lovely walks, with cypress and ilex making thick shade, and +hundreds of camellias--great trees. The view toward Monte Mario was +divine--everything so clear, hardly any of the blue mist that one almost +always sees on the Campagna near Rome. The sun was too hot when I had to +cross an open space, and I was glad to get back to the dark cypress +walks. It was enchanting, but I think the most beautiful nature would +pall upon me if I knew I must always do the same thing. I am sure Léon +XIII. must have pined often for the green plains and lovely valleys +around Perugia, and I don't believe the most beautiful views of the +Alban hills tipped with snow, and pink in the sunset hues, will make up +to the present Pope for the Lagoons of Venice and the long sweep of the +Grand Canal to the sea. + + + Tuesday, 23d. + +Yesterday Josephine and I drove out to the meet at Acqua Santa, out of +Porta San Giovanni. There were quantities of carriages and led horses +going out, as it is one of the favourite meets--you get out so soon into +the open country. There was such a crowd as we got near that we got out +and walked, scrambling over and through fences. It was a much larger +field than I had ever seen in Rome--many officers (all in uniform) +riding, and many women. The hounds broke away from a pretty little olive +wood on a height, and stretched away across a field to two stone walls, +which almost every one jumped. There were one or two falls, but nothing +serious. They were soon out of sight, but we loitered on the Campagna, +sitting on the stone walls, and talking to belated hunters who came +galloping up, eager to know which way the hunt had gone. + +Sunday we had a party and music at the French Embassy (Vatican). Diemor +played beautifully, so did Teresina Tua. When they played together +Griegg's sonata for piano and violin it was enchanting. All the Black +world was there, and a good many strangers. + + + Thursday, February 25th. + +We dined last night at the Wurts', who have a charming apartment in one +of the finest old palaces (Anticci Mattei) in Rome. The staircase +beautiful, most elaborately carved, really reminded me of Mont St. +Michel. Their rooms are filled with all sorts of interesting things, the +collection of years. The dinner was very pleasant--half Italian, half +diplomatic. + +I have just come in from my audience with the Pope. I found the +convocation when I got home last night. Bessie was rather disgusted at +not having received hers, as we had planned to go together; but she said +she would come with me. She would dress herself in regulation +attire--long black dress and black veil--and take the chance. We had a +mild humiliation as we got to the inner Court. The sentries would not +let us pass. We had the small coupé, with one horse, and it seems +one-horse vehicles are not allowed to enter these sacred precincts. We +protested, saying we had a special audience, and that we couldn't get +out on the muddy pavement, but it was no use; they wouldn't hear of our +modest equipage going in, so we had to cross the court--quite a large +one, and decidedly muddy--on foot, holding up our long dresses as well +as we could. + +It seemed so natural to go up the great stone staircase, with a few +Swiss guards in their striped red and yellow uniform standing about. We +spoke to one man in Italian, asking him the way, and he replied in +German. I fancy very few of them speak Italian. We passed through a good +many rooms filled with all sorts of people: priests, officers, gardes +nobles, women in black, evidently waiting for an audience, valets de +chambre dressed in red damask, camerieri segreti in black velvet +doublets, ruffs and gold chains and cross--a most picturesque and +polyglot assemblage; one heard every language under the sun. + +We were passed on from one room to another, and finally came to a halt +in a large square room, where there were more priests, one or two +monsignori, in their violet robes, and two officers. I showed my paper, +one of the monsignori, Bicletis (maestro di Casa di Sua Santità), came +forward and said the Pope was expecting me; so then I presented Bessie, +explained that her name had been sent in at the same time with mine, and +that if she could be admitted (without the convocation) it would be a +great pleasure to both of us to be received together. He said there +would be no difficulty in that. + +While we were talking to him the door into the audience chamber was +opened, and a large party came out--the Comte and Comtesse d'Eu and +their sons, with a numerous suite. We had barely time to exchange a few +remarks, as Monsignor Bicletis was waiting for us to advance. We found +the Pope standing in the centre of rather a small room. The walls were +hung with red damask, the carpet also was red, and at one end were three +gold chairs. We made low curtseys--didn't kneel nor kiss his hands, +being Protestants. He advanced a few steps, shook hands, and made us sit +down, one on each side of him. He was dressed, of course, entirely in +white. He spoke only Italian--said he understood French, but didn't +speak it easily. He has a beautiful face--so earnest, with a fine upward +look in his eyes; not at all the intellectual, ascetic appearance of Léo +XIII., nor the half-malicious, kindly smile of Pius IX., but a face one +would remember. I asked him if he was less tired than when he was first +named Pope. He said, oh, yes, but that the first days were very +trying--the great heat, the change of habits and climate, and the change +of food (so funny, one would think there needn't be any great change +between Rome and Venice--less fish, perhaps). He talked a little--only a +little--about France, and the difficult times we were passing through; +knew that I was a Protestant and an "old Roman"; asked how many years +since I had been back; said: "You won't find the old Rome you used to +know; there are many, many changes." + +[Illustration: Pope Pius X.] + +He was much interested in all Bessie told him about America and the +Catholic religion in the States--was rather amused when she suggested +that another American cardinal might perhaps be a good thing. He asked +us if we knew Venice, and his face quite lighted up when we spoke of all +the familiar scenes where he had spent so many happy years. He was much +beloved in Venice. He gave me the impression of a man who was still +feeling his way, but who, when he had found it, would go straight on to +what he considered his duty. But I must say that is not the general +impression; most people think he will be absolutely guided by his +"entourage," who will never leave him any initiative. + +As we were leaving I said I had something to ask. "Dica, dica, La prego" +(Please speak), so I explained that I was a Protestant, my son also, but +that he had married a Catholic, and I would like his blessing for my +daughter. He made me a sign to kneel and touched my head with his hand, +saying the words in Latin, and adding, "E per Lei et tutta la sua +famiglia" (for you and all your family). He turned his back slightly +when we went out, so we were not obliged to back out altogether. + +We talked a few moments in the anteroom with Monsignor Bicletis, but he +was very busy, other people going in to the Pope, so we didn't stay and +went down to Cardinal Mery del Val's apartment. He receives in the +beautiful Borgia rooms, with Pinturicchio's marvellous frescoes (there +was such a lovely Madonna over one of the doors, a young pure face +against that curious light-green background one sees so often in the +early Italian masters). The apartment was comparatively +modern--calorifère, electric light, bells, etc. While we were waiting +the Comte and Comtesse d'Eu and their party passed through. + +The Cardinal received us standing, but made us sit down at once. He is a +tall, handsome homme du monde, rather English looking, very young. He +told us he was not yet forty years old. He speaks English as well as I +do (his mother was English), and, they tell me, every other language +equally well. He seemed to have read everything and to be au courant of +all that was said and thought all over the world. He talked a little +more politics than the Pope--deplored what was going on in France, was +interested in all Bessie told him about America and Catholicism over +there. They must be struck with the American priests and bishops whom +they see in Europe, not only their conception, but their practice of +their religion is so different. I had such an example of that one day +when we asked a friend of ours, a most intelligent, highly educated +_modern_ priest, to meet Monsignor Ireland. He was charmed with +him--listened most intently to all he said, particularly when he was +speaking of the wild life out West, near California, and the difficulty +of getting any hold over the miners. (He started a music hall, among +other things, to have some place where the men could go in the evenings, +and get out of the saloons and low drinking-shops.) Our friend perfectly +appreciated the practical energy of the monsignor, but said such a line +would be impossible in France. No priest, no matter how high his rank, +would be allowed such initiative, and the people would not understand. + +He didn't keep us very long, had evidently other audiences, and not time +to talk to everybody. I am very glad to have seen him. He is quite +unlike any cardinal I have ever met--perhaps because he is so much +younger than most of them, perhaps because he seemed more homme du monde +than ecclesiastic; but I daresay that type is changing, too, with +everything else in Rome. We had a most interesting afternoon. After all, +Rome and the Vatican are unique of their kind. + + + Friday, February 26th. + +I had my audience from Queen Margherita alone this afternoon. Bessie and +Josephine have already been. Her palace is in the Veneto (our quarter) +and very near. It is a large, fine building, but I should have liked it +better standing back in a garden, not directly on the street. However, +the Romans don't think so. There are always people standing about +waiting to see her carriage or auto pass out--they wait hours for a +smile from their beloved Regina Margherita. I went up in an +ascenseur--three or four footmen (in black) and a groom of the chambers +at the top. I was ushered down a fine long gallery with handsome +furniture and pictures to a large room almost at the end, where I found +the Marquise Villa Marina (who is always with the Queen), the Duchesse +Sforza Cesarini (lady in waiting), and one gentleman. There were three +or four people in the room, waiting also to be received. Almost +immediately the door into the next room opened, and the Duchesse Sforza +waved me in (didn't come in herself). I had at once the impression of a +charming drawing-room, with flowers, pictures, books, bibelots--not in +the least like the ordinary bare official reception room where Queen +Elena received us. The Queen, dressed in black, was sitting on a sofa +about the middle of the room, and really not much changed since I had +seen her twenty-four years ago at the Quirinal, when the present King +was a little boy, dressed in a blue sailor suit. She is a little +stouter, but her blonde hair and colouring just the same, and si grand +air. She was most charming, talked in French and English, about +anything, everything--asked about my sister-in-law, Madame de Bunsen, +and her daughter Beatrice, whom she had known as a little girl in +Florence. She is very fond of automobiling, so we had at once one great +point of sympathy. She had read "The Lightning Conductor" and was much +amused with it. We talked a little about the great changes in Rome. I +told her about our visit to the Pope, and the impression of simplicity +and extreme goodness he had made upon us. I can't remember all we talked +about. I had the same impression that I had twenty-four years ago--a +visit to a charming, sympathetic woman, very large-minded, to whom one +could talk of anything. + + + Sunday, 28th. + +It has poured all day, but held up a little in the afternoon, so we went +(all four) to see Cardinal Mathieu, who lives in the Villa Wolkonsky. He +had asked us to come and walk in his beautiful garden (with such a view +of the Aqueducts) but that was of course out of the question. He is very +clever and genial, and was rather amused at the account we gave him of +our discussions. We are two Catholics and two Protestants, and argue +from morning till night--naturally neither party convincing the other. +He told us we should go to the Vatican to-morrow--there was a large +French pèlerinage which he presented. We would certainly see the Pope +and perhaps hear him speak. + + + Monday. + +We had a pleasant breakfast this morning with Bebella d'Arsoli,[33] in +their beautiful apartment in his father's (Prince Massimo's) palace. +The palace looks so black and melancholy outside, with its heavy portico +of columns (and always beggars sitting on the stone benches under the +portico) that it was a surprise to get into their beautiful rooms--with +splendid pictures and tapestries. The corner drawing-room, where she +received us, flooded with light, showing off the old red damask of the +walls and the splendid ceiling. We went to see the Chapel after +breakfast, where there are wonderful relics, and a famous pavement in +majolica. + +[33] Princess d'Arsoli, née Bella Brancaccio, granddaughter of Hickson +Field. + +About 3 we started off for St. Peter's. We had all brought our veils +with us, and retired to Bebella's dressing-room where her maid arranged +our heads. We left a pile of hats which Bebella promised to send home +for us, and took ourselves off to the Vatican, taking little Victoria +Ruspoli with us, who looked quite sweet in her white dress and veil--her +great dark eyes bright with excitement. We found many carriages in the +court, as we got to the Vatican, and many more soldiers on the stairs, +and about in the passages. The rooms and long gallery were crowded--all +sorts of people, priests, women, young men, children (some very +nice-looking people) all speaking French. We went at first into the +gallery, but there was such a crowd and such a smell of people closely +packed that we couldn't stay, and just as we were wondering what to do, +Monsignor Bicletis came through and at once told us to come with him. He +took us through several rooms, one large one filled with people waiting +for their audience, into the one next the Pope's, who he said was with +Cardinal Mathieu, and would soon pass. We were quite alone in that room, +except for three or four priests. In a few moments the Pope appeared +with Cardinal Mathieu and quite a large suite. The Cardinal, who had +promised to present Madame de B. (there had been some delay about her +convocation), came up to us at once. We all knelt as the Pope came near, +and he named Madame de B. and little Victoria, who asked for his +blessing for her brothers. He recognised me and Bessie, and said we were +welcome always at the Vatican. He only said a few words to Madame de B. +as he had a long afternoon before him. Cardinal Mathieu told us to +follow them, so we closed up behind the suite, and followed the Pope's +procession. + +There must have been over a hundred people waiting in the next room, and +it was an impressive sight to see them all--men, women, and +children--kneel as the Pope appeared. Some of the children were quite +sweet, holding out their little hands full of medals and rosaries to be +blessed--almost all the girls in white, with white veils, like the +little first communiantes in France. The Pope made his "cercle," +speaking to almost every one--sometimes only a word, sometimes quite a +little talk. We followed him through one or two rooms to the open +loggia, which was crowded. We were very hot, but he sent for his cloak +and hat. We waited some little time but the crowd was so dense--he would +have spoken from the other end of the loggia--and we couldn't possibly +have got through--so we came away, having had again a very interesting +afternoon. + +It is most picturesque driving around the back of St. Peter's and the +Vatican. There are such countless turns and courts and long stretches of +high walls with little narrow windows quite up at the top. Always people +coming and going--cardinals' carriages with their black horses, fiacres +with tourists looking eagerly about them and speaking every possible +language, priests, women in black with black veils, little squads of +Papal troops marching across the squares--and Italian soldiers keeping +order in the great piazza. A curious little old world in the midst of +the cosmopolitan town Rome has become. + + + ROME, March 2d. + +Yesterday Madame de B. and I made an expedition to the Catacombs of San +Calisto fuori Porta San Sebastiano. It was decidedly cold and we were +very glad we hadn't taken the open carriage. The drive out was +charming--first inside the gates, passing the Colosseum, the two great +arches of Constantine and Titus, and directly under the Palatine Hill +and Baths of Caracalla, and then going out through the narrow little +gateway, and for some little distance through high stone walls, we came +upon the countless towers, tombs and columns standing alone in the +middle of the fields, having no particular connection with anything, +that mark the Appian Way, and make it so extraordinarily interesting and +unlike any other drive in the world. I was delighted when we came upon +that funny little stone house, built on the top of a high circular +tomb--I remembered it perfectly. + +The Catacombs stand in a sort of garden or vineyard. There were people +already there, and a party just preparing to go down as we appeared. +They had asked for a guide who spoke French, as they knew no Italian, +and a nice-looking, intelligent young monk was marshalling his party and +lighting the tapers. I thought _they_ were rather short (I am rather +nervous about subterraneous expeditions and one has heard gruesome tales +of people lost in the Catacombs, not so very long ago) but they lasted +quite well. + +It was curious to see all the old symbols again--the fish, the pax +(cross) and to think what they represented to the early bands of +Christians, when the mere fact of being a Christian meant persecution, +suffering, and often a terrible death in the arena of the Colosseum. + +Some of the frescoes are wonderfully preserved--we saw quite well the +heads of saints, martyrs, and decorations of wreaths of flowers or a +delicate arabesque tracery; the most favourite subjects were Jonah and +the whale, a shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders, and kneeling women's +figures. The ladies in our party were wildly interested in the mummies +(terrible looking things), particularly one with the hair quite visible. +We saw of course the niche where the body of Ste. Cecilia was found--but +the body is now removed to the church of Ste. Cecilia in the Trastevere. +They have put, however, a model of the body, representing it exactly, in +the niche, so the illusion is quite possible. + +We walked about for an hour, following quantities of narrow passages, +coming suddenly into small round rooms, which had been chapels, and +still seeing in some of the stone coffins bits of bones, and +inscriptions on the walls. It was rather weird to see the procession +moving along, Indian file, holding their tapers, which gave a faint, +flickering light. The guide had rather a bigger one--on the end of a +long stick. We stopped at San Clemente on our way back, hoping to see +the underground church, but it was too late. The sacristan said we +should have come yesterday--there was a fête, and the two churches were +illuminated. + + + Friday, 4th. + +It has been another beautiful day. I trammed over to the Vatican to see +the Sistine Chapel this time and the Stanze and Loggie of Raphael. It is +a good pull up to the Sistine Chapel, by a rather dark staircase, but +the day was so bright I saw everything very well when I once got there. +The Vatican was very full--people in every direction--almost all English +and German--I didn't hear a word of French or Italian. Two young men +were stretched out flat on their backs on one of the benches, trying to +get a good look at the ceiling through their glasses. I was delighted to +see the Stanze again with many old friends. Do you remember the "Poesia" +on the ceiling of one of the rooms--a lovely figure clad in light blue +draperies, with a young, pure face? I wandered up and down the Loggie, +but I think I was more interested looking down into the Court of San +Damaso, filled with carriages, priests, women in black with black veils +coming and going (I should think the Pope would be exhausted with all +the people he sees) and the general little clerical bustle. The striped +Swiss guard were lounging about in the gateway, and a fine stately +porter in cocked hat and long red cloak at each door. + +Josephine had a dinner in the evening--Cardinal Mathieu, the Austrian +Ambassador to the Vatican and his wife, and other notabilities. There +was quite a large reception after dinner, among others the Grand Duchess +of Saxe-Weimar, who is very easy, charming--likes to see everybody. When +I came downstairs to dinner I found all the ladies with lace fichus or +boas on their shoulders, and I was told that I was quite incorrect--that +one couldn't appear décolletée in a cardinal's presence. I could find +nothing in my hurry when I went back to my room, but a little (very +little) ermine cravat, but still even that modified my low body +somewhat, and at least showed that my intentions were good. The big red +salon looks charming in the evening and is a most becoming room--the +dark red silk walls show off the dresses so well. The cardinal had his +whist, or rather his bridge, after dinner, for even the Church has +succumbed to the universal craze--one sees all the ecclesiastics in +Black circles just as intent upon their game and criticising their +partner's play quite as keenly as the most ardent clubmen. I suppose +bridge is a pleasure to those who play, but they don't look as though +they were enjoying themselves--their faces so set and drawn, any +interruption a catastrophe, and nobody ever satisfied with his partner's +play. + +We had very good music. An American protégé of Josephine's with a good +high barytone voice sang very well, and the young French trio (all +élèves du Conservatoire de Paris) really played extremely well. The +piano in one of Mendelssohn's trios was quite charming--so sure and +delicate. It was a pleasure to see the young, refined, intelligent faces +so absorbed in their music, quite indifferent to the gallery. The young +violinist played a romance (I forget what--Rubinstein, I think) with so +much sentiment that I said to him "Vous êtes trop jeune pour jouer avec +tant d'âme," to which he replied proudly, "Madame, j'ai vingt ans." +C'est beau d'avoir vingt ans. I wonder how many of us at fifty remember +how we thought and felt at twenty. Perhaps there would be fewer +heart-burnings in the world if we older ones did remember sometimes our +own youth. + + + Sunday, March 6th. + +Yesterday I walked up to Santa Maria Maggiore and San Giovanni in +Laterano. I took the Scala Santa on my way to San Giovanni. Several +people were going up--some priests, Italian soldiers, two or three +peasants and two ladies--mother and daughter, I should think, their long +black cloth dresses very much in their way evidently. I watched them for +some time. I wonder what it means to them, and if they really believe +that they are the steps from Jerusalem which our Saviour came down. I +stayed some little time in San Giovanni. It is magnificent certainly, +but there is too much gilding and mosaic and modern decoration. The view +from the steps was enchanting when I came out; the air was delicious, +the sun bright in a bright blue sky, and the mountains soft and purple +in the distance. + +We had an interesting breakfast--two Benedictine monks from the great +abbaye of Solesmes. They talked very moderately about their expulsion, +and the wrench it was to leave the old monastery and begin life again in +new surroundings. The older man especially seemed to feel it very much. +I suppose he had spent all his life inside those old grey walls--reading +and meditating and bound up in the interests and routine of his order. +They had come to Rome to see the Pope, and consult with him about +suppressing secular music in the churches, and substituting the +Gregorian chants everywhere. It is a very difficult question; of course +some of the music they have now in the churches is impossible. When you +hear the "Méditation de Thaïs" played at some ceremony, and you think +what Thaïs was, it is out of the question to admit such music in a +church--on the other hand the strict Gregorian chant is very severe, +particularly sung without any organ. I daresay educated musicians would +prefer it, but to the ordinary assemblage, accustomed to the great peal +of the organ with occasionally, in the country for instance at some +festa, the national anthem or some well-known military march being +played, the monotonous, old-world chant would say nothing. We shall hear +them at the great festival at St. Peter's for San Gregorio. + + + Thursday, 10th. + +It was warm and lovely Tuesday. Bessie, Josephine and I walked down to +J.'s work-room in the Convent of St. Euphemia, somewhere beyond +Trajan's Forum, before breakfast. It was too warm walking along the +broad street by the Quirinal. We were thankful to take little dark +narrow side streets. The "ouvroir" (work-room) was interesting--quantities +of women and girls working--some of the work, fine lingerie, lace-mending, +embroidery beautifully done. It is managed by sisters, under Josephine's +direction, who gives a great deal of time and thought to her work. They +take in any child or girl from the street, feed them and have them taught +whatever they can do. It was pretty to see the little smiling faces and +bright eyes as Josephine passed through the rooms. + +We went to a pleasant tea in the afternoon at Countess Gianotti's (wife +of Count Gianotti, Master of Ceremonies to the King). There were quite a +number of people--a very cosmopolitan society (she herself is an +American) and she gave us excellent waffles. + +Yesterday we had a delightful excursion with Countess de Bertheny in her +automobile. She came to get me and Bessie about 11. We picked up two +young men and started for Nemi and the Castelli Romani. We drove +straight out from Porta San Giovanni to Albano. It was quite lovely all +the way, particularly when we began the steep ascent of Albano, and +looked back--the Campagna a beautiful stretch of purple, the aqueducts +standing well out all around us, and the statues of San Giovanni just +visible and looking enormous, in the mist that always hangs over Rome, +St. Peter's a great white spot with the sun full upon it. We rattled +through Albano. The streets looked animated, full of people, all getting +out of our way as fast as they could. + +The door into the Doria Villa was open; we just had a glimpse of the +garden which looked cool and green, with a perspective of long walks, +ending in a sort of bosquet, but we passed so quickly that it was +merely a fleeting impression. We drove through Ariccia to Gensano--a +beautiful road, splendid trees, making a perfect shade, the great Chigi +Palace looking just the same, a huge grim pile--quite the old château +fort, built at the entrance of the little village to protect it from +invading enemies. If stones could speak I wonder what they would say to +modern inventions, automobiles, huge monsters certainly, but peaceful +ones, rushing past, trains puffing and smoking along the Campagna, great +carts drawn by fine white oxen going lazily along, the driver generally +asleep under his funny little tent of red or blue linen, and nobody +thinking of harm. + +We drove through Gensano, then turned off sharp to the left to Nemi--a +fairly good road. We soon came in sight of the lake, which looked +exactly as I remembered it--a lifeless blue, like a deep cup surrounded +by green hills. They used to tell us, I remember, that there were no +fish, no living thing in the lake, but Ruspoli says there are plenty +now--very good ones. + +We followed a beautiful winding road up to Nemi, which is a compact +little village on the top of a hill--the great castle standing out well. +It has just been bought by Don Enrico Ruspoli, and he and his charming +American wife are making it most picturesque and livable. We breakfasted +at the little Hôtel de Nemi--not at all bad--the dining-room opening on +a terrace with such a view--at our feet the Campagna rolling away its +great waves of blue purple to a bright dazzling white streak, the +sea--on one side a stretch of green valley leading to all the different +little villages; on the other the lake with its crown of olive-covered +hills. + +Just as we were finishing breakfast Ruspoli appeared to ask us if we +would come and see the castle. We entered directly from the little +square of the town--the big doors face the church. There is a fine stone +staircase, and halls and rooms innumerable. They have only just begun to +work on it--have made new floors (a sort of mosaic, small stones, just +as I remember them at Frascati in Villa Marconi) and put water +everywhere, but there is still a great deal to do. The proportions of +the rooms are beautiful, and the view divine. As in all old Italian +castles some of the village houses were built directly into the wall of +the castle. They have already bought and knocked down many of these +(giving the inhabitants instead comfortable, clean, modern houses which +they probably won't like nearly as well) and are arranging a beautiful +garden in their place. They have also a terrace planted with trees about +half-way down the slope to the lake, which would be a divine place to +read or dream away a long summer's day. I don't think there are ten +yards of level ground on the place. + +[Illustration: Great New Bridge from Albano to Ariccia. + +Built by Pope Pius IX.] + +We couldn't stay very long as we were going on to Frascati and Castle +Gondolfo. They gave us tea, and when we came out on the piazza we found +the whole village congregated around the automobiles (another had +arrived from Rome--I am so cross I didn't bring mine with Strutz, it +would have been so convenient for all the excursions). It is a wild +beautiful spot, but I should think lonely. We went back to Albano, saw +the great bridge built by Pio Nono, with its three tiers of arches, the +famous tombs--Horatii, Curiatii and Pompey, and then drove along the +beautiful "galeria di sotto" to Castle Gondolfo, the old crooked ilex +trees nearly meeting over our heads, and the Campagna with lovely lights +and shades flitting over it, far down at our feet. There everything +looked exactly as I remembered it. It seemed to me the same priests were +walking about under the trees, the same men riding minute donkeys, +with their legs nearly touching the ground; the same great carts, +lumbering peacefully along, the driver usually asleep until the horn of +the automobile close behind him roused him into frantic energy; however +they were all most smiling, evidently don't hate the auto as they do in +some parts of France. + +We stopped at the Villa Barberini at Castle Gondolfo--such a beautiful +garden, but so neglected--great long dark walks, trees like high black +walls on each side, and big bushes of white and red camellias almost as +tall as the trees, roses just beginning. In every direction broken +columns, vases, statues (minus arms and legs) carved benches, all +falling to pieces. We went into the Villa which is usually let to +strangers, but it was most primitive--brick floors everywhere (except in +the salons, where there was always the mosaic pavement), and the +simplest description of furniture--ordinary iron bed-steads, and iron +trépieds in the master's bed-rooms, but a magnificent view of sea and +Campagna from the balcony, and a beautiful cool, bracing air. + +We drove on through Marino and Frascati. We passed the little chapel on +the road where we used to see all the people praying the great cholera +year. It was open, and one or two women were kneeling just inside. The +atmosphere was so transparent that Rocca di Papa and Monte Cavo seemed +quite near. The Piazza of Frascati was just the same, the Palazzo +Marconi at one side with the great Aldobrandini Villa overtopping it and +the Villa Torlonia opposite. We didn't go into the town, but took the +steep road down by the railway station. There everything is changed--it +didn't seem at all the Frascati we had once lived in--quantities of new, +ugly villas, and an enormous modern Grand Hotel. + +We got home about 6.30--the Campagna quite beautiful and quiet in the +soft evening light. There were very few people on the road, every now +and then a shepherd in his long sheepskin cloak, staff and broad-brimmed +hat appearing on the top of one of the many little mounds which are +dotted all over the Campagna, and occasionally in the distance a dog +barking. + + + March 17th. + +Bessie and I have just come in from the last meet of the season at +Cecilia Metella. It is such a favourite rendezvous that there is always +a great crowd, almost as many people walking about on the Campagna as +riding. It was a very pretty sight. There were quantities of handsome +horses, but I don't know that it was quite comfortable walking when the +hunt moved off. Some of the young men--principally officers--were taking +preliminary gallops in every direction, and jumping backward and forward +over a large ditch. One of them knocked down an Englishwoman--at least I +don't think he really knocked her, but he alighted so near her that she +was frightened, and slipped getting out of his way. We stopped to speak +to her, but she said she wasn't at all hurt, and had friends with her. +The master of the hounds--Marchese Roccagiovine--didn't look very +pleased, and I should think a large, motley field, with a good many +women and careless riders, would be most trying to a real sportsman, +such as he is. Giovanni Borghese told me there were two hundred people +riding, and I can quite believe it. + +[Illustration: Roman Huntsmen on the Campagna. + +Ancient Roman aqueduct in the background.] + +We had a delightful day yesterday, but rather a fatiguing one--I am +still tired. We made an excursion (a family party--Bessie, Josephine, +her two children, Mr. Virgo and two of his friends--a Catholic priest +and a student preparing for orders--all Englishmen). We went by train +to Frascati, and from there to Tusculum, carrying our breakfast with us. +We passed the little Campagna station (Ciampino) where we have stopped +so often. Do you remember the old crazy-looking station, and the +station-master, yellow and shivering, and burned up with fever. Now it +is quite a busy little place, people getting on and off the trains and +one or two brisk porters. The arrival at Frascati was a sight. We were +instantly surrounded by a crowd of donkey-boys and carriages--nice +little victorias with red flowers in the horses' heads and feathers in +the coachmen's hats--all talking at the top of their voices; but between +Mr. Virgo and Pietro, Josephine's Italian footman, who had charge of the +valise with the luncheon, we soon came to terms, and declined all +carriages, taking three or four donkeys. + +It isn't a long walk to Tusculum, and Josephine and I both preferred +walking--besides I don't think I should have had the courage to mount in +the piazza with all the crowd looking on and making comments; however, +Bessie did, and she sat her donkey very lightly and gracefully, making a +great effect with her red hat and red parasol. Perhaps the most +interesting show was Pietro. He was so well dressed in a light grey +country suit that I hardly recognised him. He stoutly refused to be +separated from his valise, put it in front of him on the donkey, sat +well back himself and beamed at the whole party. He is a typical Italian +servant--perfectly intelligent, perfectly devoted (can neither read nor +write), madly interested in everybody, but never familiar nor wanting in +respect. I ask him for everything I want. He does it, or has it done at +once, better and cheaper than I could, and I am quite satisfied when I +hear his delightful phrase "Ci penso io"--I am sure it will be done. + +We went up through the Aldobrandini garden. It looked rather deserted; +no one ever lives there now, but it is let occasionally to strangers. +Men were working in the garden; there were plenty of violets and a few +roses--it is still early in the season for them. In a basin of one of +the fountains a pink water-lily--only one--quite beautiful. The +fountains were lovely--sparkling, splashing, living--everything else +seemed so dead. + +As we wound up the steep paths we had enchanting views of the Campagna, +looking like a great blue sea, at our feet, and Rome seemed a long, low +line of sunlight, with the dome of St. Peter's hanging above it in the +clouds. The road was very steep, and decidedly sunny, so I mounted my +donkey, Father Evans walking alongside. Monte Cavo, Rocca di Papa, the +Madonna del Tufo, all seemed very near, it was so clear and the air was +delicious as we got higher. I recognised all the well-known places, the +beginning of the Roman pavement, the Columbarium, Cicero's house, etc. + +We were quite ready for breakfast when we got to Tusculum, and looked +about for a shady spot under the trees. There are two great stones, +almost tables, in the middle of the "amfiteatro," where people usually +spread out their food, but the sun was shining straight down on them; we +didn't think we could stand that. We found a nice bit of grass under the +trees and established ourselves there. It was quite a summer's day, and +the rest and quiet after toiling up the steep paths was delightful. + +[Illustration: Waiting for the Hounds.] + +After breakfast Josephine and I walked quite up to the top of the hill, +the trees making a perfect dome of verdure over our heads. There was no +sound except our own voices, and the distant thud of horses' feet +cantering in a meadow alongside, an absolute stillness everywhere. Such +a view! Snow on the Sabine Mountains, sun on the Alban Hills, the +Campagna on either side blue and broken like waves, and quite +distinct, a long white line, the sea. + +While we were walking about we noticed two carabinieri, very well +mounted, who seemed to be always hovering near us, so we asked them what +they were doing up there. They promptly replied, taking care of the +"società." We could hardly believe we heard rightly; but it was quite +true, they were there for us. They told us that when it was known that a +number of people were coming up to Tusculum (there were two other +parties besides us) they had orders to come up, keep us always in sight, +and stay as long as we did. We gave them some wine and sandwiches, and +they became quite communicative--told us there were brigands and +"cattiva gente" (wicked people) about; that at Rocca di Papa, one of the +little mountain villages quite near, there were 500 inhabitants, 450 of +whom had been in prison for various crimes, and that people were +constantly robbed in these parts. I wouldn't have believed it if any one +had told us, but they always kept us in sight. + +We decided to go home through the Villa Ruffinella. Donkeys are not +allowed inside, and we thought probably not horses either, but the +carabinieri came in and showed us the way down. The grounds are +splendid--we walked first down through a beautiful green allée, then up, +a good climb. The villa is enormous--uninhabited and uncared for--a +charming garden and great terrace with stone benches before the house +looking toward Rome. The garden, of course, wild and ragged, but with +splendid possibilities. Just outside the gate we came upon a little +church. Three or four girls and women with bright-coloured skirts and +fichus and quantities of coarse jet-black hair were sitting on the steps +working at what looked like coarse crochet work and talking hard. The +carabinieri were always near, opened two or three gates for us, and only +left us when we were quite close to the town, well past the gates of the +Aldobrandini Villa. + +As we had some little time before the train started, I went off with +Bessie to have a look at Palazzo Marconi. It is now occupied by the +municipio and quite changed. We found a youth downstairs who couldn't +imagine what we wanted and why we wanted to go up; however, I explained +that I had lived there many years ago, so finally he agreed to go up +with us. The steps looked more worn and dirty--quite broken in some +places--and the frescoes on the walls, which were bright blue and green +in our time, are almost effaced. It was all so familiar and yet so +changed. I went into father's room and opened the window on the terrace, +where we had stood so often those hot August nights, watching the mist +rise over the Campagna and the moon over the sea. There was very little +furniture anywhere--a few chairs and couches in the small salon that we +had made comfortable enough with our own furniture from Rome. The great +round room with the marble statues has been turned into a salle de +conseil, with a big writing-table in the middle, and chairs ranged in a +semicircle around the room. There was nothing at all in our old +bed-rooms--piles of cartons in one corner. The marble bath-tub was black +and grimy. We couldn't see the dining-room, people were in it, but we +went out to the hanging-garden--all weeds, and clothes hanging out to +dry. The fountain was going at the back of the court, but covered with +moss, and bits of stone were dropping off. It all looked very +miserable--I don't think I shall ever care to go back. There seemed just +the same groups of idle men standing about as in our time--dozens of +them doing nothing, hanging over the wall looking at the people come up +from the railway station. They tell me they never work; even when they +own little lots of land or vignas they don't work themselves--the +peasants from the Abruzzi come down at stated seasons, dig and plant and +do all the work. One can't understand it, for they look a tall, fine +race, all these peasants of the Castelli Romani, strong, well-fed, +broad-shouldered. I suppose there must be a strong touch of indolence in +all the Latin races. + +It was after six when we got back to Rome. We had just time to rush +home, get clean gloves and long skirts, and start for the Massimo Palace +to see the great fête. Once a year the palace is opened to the general +public, and the whole of Rome goes upstairs and into the chapel. It is +on St. Philippe's day, when a miracle was performed in the Massimo +family, a dead boy resuscitated in 1651. There was a crowd assembled as +we drove up, tramways stopped, and the getting across the pavement was +rather difficult. The walls of the palace and portico were hung with red +and gold draperies, the porter and footman in gala liveries, the old +beggars squatted about inside the portico, the gardes municipaux keeping +order, and a motley crowd struggling up the grand staircase--priests, +women, children, femmes du monde, peasants, policemen, forestieri, two +cooks in their white vestons, nuns, Cappucini--all striving and jostling +to get along. We stopped at Bebella's apartment, who gave us tea. She +had been receiving all day, but almost every one had gone. We talked to +her a few moments, and then d'Arsoli took us upstairs to the chapel (by +no means an easy performance, as there were two currents going up and +coming down). The chapel was brilliantly lighted, and crowded; a +benedizione was going on, with very good music from the Pope's +chapel--those curious, high, unnatural voices. All the relics were +exposed, and Prince Massimo, in dress clothes and white cravat, was +standing at the door. It was a most curious sight. D'Arsoli told us that +people had begun to come at seven in the morning. When we went home +there was still a crowd on the staircase, stretching out into the +street, and a long line of tram-cars stopped. + + + Friday, March 18th. + +It rained rather hard this morning, but we three got ourselves into the +small carriage and went down to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia to hear +the Benedictine monk Don Guery try the Gregorian chants with the big +organ. The organ is a fine one, made at Nuremberg. An organist arrived +from St. Anselmo to accompany the chants. They sounded very fine, but I +thought rather too melodious and even modern, but Don Guery assured me +that the one I particularly noticed was of the eleventh century. + + + Tuesday, 22d. + +We seem always to be doing something, but have had two quiet evenings +this week. Friday night we went to the Valle to see Marchesa Rudini's +Fête de Bienfaisance. The heat was something awful, as the house was +packed, and as at all amateur performances they were unpunctual, and +there were terribly long intervals. The comédie was well acted, a little +long, but the clou of the evening was the ballet-pantomime, danced by +all the prettiest women in Rome. The young Marchesa Rudini (née +Labouchère) looked charming as a white and silver butterfly, and danced +beautifully, such pretty style, not a gesture nor a pas that any one +could object to. The rest of the troop too were quite charming, coming +in by couples--the Princess Teano and Thérèse Pécoul a picture--both +tall, one dark, one fair, and making a lovely contrast. I should think +they must have made a lot of money. + +Saturday I had a pleasant afternoon at the Palazzo dei Cesari with Mr. +and Mrs. Seth Low. He is an excellent guide, had already been all over +the palace with Boni and knew exactly what to show us. It was a +beautiful afternoon and the view over Rome, the seven hills, and the +Forum was divine. These first Roman Emperors certainly knew where to +pitch their tents--what a magnificent scale they built upon in those +days. The old Augustus must have seen wonderful sights in the Forum from +the heights of the Palatine. + +Josephine had a large dinner in the evening for the Grand Duchess and +Cardinal Vannutelli. It was very easy and pleasant, and we all wore our +little fichus most correctly as long as the Cardinal was there (they +never stay very long), but were glad to let them slip off as soon as he +went away, for we had a great many people in the evening and the rooms +were warm. I had rather an interesting talk with an old Italian friend +(not a Roman) over the tremendous influx of strangers and Italians from +all parts of Italy to Rome. He says au fond the Romans hate it--they +liked the old life very much better--they were of much more importance; +it meant something then to be a Roman prince. Now, with all the Northern +Italians, Court people and double Diplomatic Corps Rome has become too +cosmopolitan. People amuse themselves, and dance and hunt, and give +dinners at the Grand Hotel and trouble themselves very little about the +old Roman families (particularly those who have lost money and don't +receive any more). The Romans have a feeling of being put aside in their +own place. + +It was beautiful this morning, so I took my convenient tram again and +went over to see the pictures of the Vatican. Such a typical peasant +couple were in the tram, evidently just down from the mountains, as they +were looking about at everything, and were rather nervous when the tram +made a sudden stop. The woman (young and rather pretty) had on a bright +blue skirt, a white shirt with a red corset over it, a pink flowered +apron, green fichu on her head, and long gold ear-rings with a coral +centre. The man, a big broad-shouldered fellow, had the long cloak with +the cape lined with green that the men all wear here, and a slouched hat +drawn low down over his brows. They got out at St. Peter's and went into +the church. I went around by the Colonnade as I was going to the +pictures. There were lots of people on the stairs. It certainly is a +good stiff pull up. + +I stayed about an hour looking at the pictures--all hanging exactly +where I had always seen them, except the Sposalizio of St. Catherine, +which was on an easel near the window; some one evidently copying it. I +was quite horrified coming back through the Stanze by some English +people--three women--who were calmly lunching in one corner of the room. +They were all seated, eating sandwiches out of a paper bag, and drinking +out of a large green bottle. Everybody stopped and looked at them, and +they didn't mind at all. The gardien was looking on like all the rest. I +was so astounded at his making no remarks that I said to him, surely +such a thing is forbidden; to which he replied smilingly: "No--no, non +fanno male a nessnno--non fanno niente d'indecente" (No, they are doing +no harm to any one, they are doing nothing indecent). That evidently was +quite true; but I must say I think it required a certain courage to +continue their repast with all the public looking on, giggling and +criticising freely. + +I dined this evening with Malcolm Kahn--Persian Minister--and an old +colleague of ours in London. It was very pleasant--General Brusatti, one +of the King's Aides-de-Camp, took me in, and I had Comte Greppi, ancien +Ambassadeur, on the other side. Greppi is marvellous--really a very old +man, but as straight as an arrow, and remembering everybody. Tittone, +Minister of Foreign Affairs, was there, but I wasn't near him at table, +which I regretted, as I should have liked to talk to him. + + + Palm Sunday, March 27th. + +Bessie and I went to the American church this morning, and afterward to +the Grand Hotel to breakfast with some friends. The restaurant was +crowded, so many people have arrived for Easter, and it was decidedly +amusing--a great many pretty women and pretty dresses. It poured when we +came away. We had all promised to go to an amateur performance of the +Stabat Mater at the old Doria Palace in Piazza Navona. It was rather +damp, with draughts in every direction, so Mrs. Law and I decided we +would not stay to the end, but would go for a drive until it was time to +go back to tea at the Grand Hotel (it is rather funny, the first month I +was here I never put my foot in the Grand Hotel, and I was rather +disappointed, as tea there in the Palm Garden with Tziganes playing, is +one of the great features of modern Rome, and now I am there nearly +every day). It was coming down in torrents when we came out of the +concert, and a drive seemed insane, so I suggested a turn in St. Peter's +(which is always a resource on a rainy day in Rome). That seemed +difficult to accomplish, though, when we arrived at the steps--we +couldn't have gone up those steps and across the wide space at the top +without getting completely soaked. However I remembered old times, and +told the man to drive around to the Sagrestia. He protested, so did all +the beggars around the steps, who wanted to open the door of the +carriage. We couldn't get in--the door was shut, etc., but I thought we +would try, so accordingly we drove straight to the Sagrestia. The door +was open--a man standing there who opened the carriage door and told the +coachman where to stand. I don't think I ever saw rain come down so +hard, and so straight. It was very interesting walking through all the +passages at the back of St. Peter's, and into the church through the +sacristy, where priests and children were robing and just starting for +some service with tapers and palms in their hands. We followed the +procession, and found ourselves just about in the middle of the church. +There were still draperies hanging on the columns and seats marked off. +There had been a ceremony of some kind in the morning, and a great many +people were walking about. We stopped some little time at the great +bronze statue of St. Peter. I was astounded at the quantity and quality +of people who came up and kissed the toe of the Saint. Priests and nuns +of course, and old people, both men and women, but it seemed +extraordinary to me to see young men, tall, good-looking fellows, bend +down quite as reverently as the others and kiss the toe. They were +singing in one of the side chapels--we listened for a little while--and +all over the church everywhere people kneeling on the pavement. + +We went back to the Grand Hotel for tea, and dined with the young +Ruspolis, who have a handsome apartment in the Colonna Palace. The +dinner was for the Grand Duchess, and was pleasant enough. There was a +small reception in the evening, and almost every one went afterward to +Princesse Pallavicini's who receives on Sunday evening. I like the +informal evening receptions here very much. It is a pleasant way of +finishing the evening after a dinner, and so much more agreeable than +the day receptions--at least you do see a few men in the +evening--whereas they all fly from afternoons and teas. As every one +receives there is always some house to go to. + + + Monday, March 28th. + +I have had a nice solitary morning in the Forum, with my beloved Italian +guide book, a little English brochure with a map of the principal +sights, and occasional conversations with the workmen, of whom there are +many, as they are excavating in every direction, and German tourists. +The Germans, I must say, are always extremely well up in antiquities, +and quite ready to impart their information to others. They are a little +long sometimes, but one usually finds that they know what they are +talking about. + +There are of course great changes since I have seen the Forum. They are +excavating and working here all the time. The King takes a great +interest in all that sort of work, and often appears, it seems, early in +the morning and unexpectedly, when anything important is going on. The +Basilica Julia (enormous) has been quite opened out since my day; and +another large temple opposite is most interesting, with splendid bits +left of marble pavement--some quite large squares of pink marble that +were beautiful; and in various places quantities of coins melted and +incrusted in the marble which looks as if the temple had been destroyed +by a fire. + +There was little shade anywhere. I hadn't the courage to walk in the sun +as far as the Vestals' house, which is really most interesting. The +recent excavations have brought to light so many rooms, passages, +frescoes, etc., that the ordinary, every-day life of the Vestal Virgins +has been quite reconstructed. One could follow them in their daily +avocations. From where I was sitting I could see some of the great +statues--some of the figures in quite good preservation, two of them +holding their lamps. I found a nice square stone, and sat there lazily +taking in the enchanting views on all sides--the Palatine Hill behind +me, the Capitol on one side, on the other the three enormous arches of +the Temple of Constantine; at my feet the Via Sacra running straight +away to the Colosseum, the sky a deep, soft blue throwing out every line +and bit of sculpture on the countless pillars, temples and arches that +spring up on all sides. From a height, the Palatine Hill, for instance, +the Forum always looks to me like an enormous cemetery--one loses the +impression of each separate building or ruin. It might be a street of +tombs rather than the busy centre of a great city. + +There were plenty of people going about--bands of Cook's tourists being +personally conducted and instructed. If the gentleman who explains Roman +history gives the same loose rein to his imagination as the one we used +to hear in Versailles conducting the British public through the +Historical Portrait Gallery, the present generation will have curious +ideas as to the deeds of daring and wonderful rule of all the Augustuses +and Vespasians who have made the Palace of the Cæsars the keystone of +magnificent and Imperial Rome; and again "unwritten history" will be +responsible for many wonderful statements. However, I wasn't near enough +to hear the explanations. People were still coming in when I left, and +all the way home I met carriages filled with strangers. + +We went out again rather late. I went for tea to Marchesa Vitelleschi, +and before I came away Vitelleschi came in. I wanted to see him to +thank him for sending me his book, a Roman novel, "Roma che se ne +va."[34] It is very cleverly written, and an excellent picture of the +Rome of 35 years ago, as we first knew it. I should think it would +interest English and Americans very much, I wonder he hasn't translated +it. + +[34] Rome which is disappearing. + +I found quite a party assembled in the little green salon when I got +back--Don Guery, the Benedictine monk, who wishes to arrange a concert +with Josephine for her charities, and M. Alphonse Mustel, who has just +come from Paris with his beautiful organ. He arrived this morning early +and hadn't yet found a room anywhere--all the hotels crowded. They say +that for years they haven't had so many strangers for Holy Week. He is +coming to play here Thursday afternoon. + +We had a quiet evening, and after dinner Mr. Virgo read to us the book I +am so mad about, "The Call of the Wild." He read extremely well, and I +liked the book even better hearing it read. It is a marvellous +description of that wild life in the Klondyke, and a beautiful poetical +strain all through. The children listened attentively, were wildly +interested, particularly when poor Buck was made to drag the sledge so +heavily loaded, for his master to win his bet. We also want to read +Cardinal Mathieu's article in the "Revue des Deux Mondes," "Les derniers +jours de Léon XIII."; but we have so rarely a quiet evening, and in the +daytime every one is out in the beautiful Roman sunshine. + +We have all come upstairs early (ten o'clock) so I am profiting of a +quiet hour to write, as I can't go to bed so early. This street is +rather noisy. It is on the way to the station and some of the big +hotels. Cabs and big omnibuses go through it all day and all night. I +don't mind the noise. I rather like the roar of a big city--it means +life. + + + Thursday, March 31st. + +It is pouring to-day, and we have been out all day. I went to church +this morning, but didn't get too wet with a thick serge dress and +umbrella; then to breakfast at the Grand Hotel with some friends, and an +excursion to the Palace of the Cæsars in prospect, under the guidance of +Mr. Baddeley, who is an authority on all Roman antiquities and a great +friend of Boni's. It rained so hard when we were sitting in the Palm +Garden for coffee, that it seemed impossible the drops shouldn't come +through, and we looked to see if little puddles were not forming +themselves on the floor under our chairs, but no, it was quite dry. + +We started in shut carriages, thinking we would try for the Palace of +the Cæsars, where we could get refuge, but it was shut, so we went on to +San Giovanni in Laterano, and had an interesting hour wandering about +the church. Our guide had old artistic Rome at his fingers' ends, and it +certainly makes all the difference in seeing the curious old tombs and +monuments when one has some idea as to who the people were, and what +sort of lives they led. Mr. Baddeley said, like all the people who +really live in Italy, that the summer was the time to see Rome; that no +one could imagine what a Roman "festa" was unless he had seen one in the +height of summer, when the whole population was out and in the streets +all day and all night, in a frenzy of amusement. No priests were in the +streets; a sort of tacit concession, or tolerance for just one or two +occasions. + +We came back here for tea, as M. Mustel had promised to play for us this +afternoon, and Josephine had asked some of her friends. The organ +sounded splendidly in her big music-room, where there is little +furniture and no draperies to deaden the sound. He played of course +extremely well, and brought out every sound of his instrument. Two +preludes of Bach were quite beautiful; also the prelude of +"Parsifal"--so much sound at times that it seemed an orchestra, and then +again beautifully soft. We were all delighted with it. + +People stayed rather late, but Bessie and I and Sir Donald Wallace, who +had come to tea, started off to St. Peter's. It is the tradition in Rome +to go to St. Peter's on Holy Thursday. In our time the whole city +went--it was quite a promenade de société. I believe they do still, but +we were rather late. The church looked quite beautiful as we drove +up--brilliantly lighted, the big doors open, quantities of people going +up the steps and through a double line of _Italian_ soldiers into the +church. The "Miserere" was over, but the chapel was still lighted, a +good many people kneeling at the altar. The church was crowded, and +every one pushing toward the grand altar, which was being washed. They +were also exposing the relics from the two high balconies on each side +of the altar. Many people were kneeling, and every now and then a +procession came through the crowd of priests and choir-boys with +banners, all chanting, and kneeling when they came near the altar--of +course there was the usual collection of gaping, irreverent tourists, +commenting audibly, and wondering if anybody really believed those were +the actual nails that came out of the cross, or the thorn out of the +Crown of Thorns, etc., etc., also "why are they making such a fuss +washing their altar--why couldn't they do it this morning when no one +was in the church." + +We had some little difficulty in getting away, as the crowd was +awful--getting worse every moment. It was beautiful when we did get +out--the great Piazza quite black, a steady stream still pouring into +the church. The lights from inside threw little bright spots on the +gun-barrels and belts of the soldiers--the great mass of the Vatican +quite black, with little lights twinkling high up in some of the +windows. + +I am decidedly tired and stiff--I think being rained upon all day and +standing on damp pavements and in windy corners is rather a trial to any +one with rheumatic tendencies--but I have enjoyed my day thoroughly, +particularly the end at St. Peter's. It so reminded me of old times when +we used to go to all the ceremonies, beginning with the "Pastorale" at +Christmas time and finishing with the Easter Benediction and +"Girandola." + +We finished "The Call of the Wild" this evening, and now we must take +something else. I should like the "Figlia di Jorio" of d'Annunzio. They +say the Italian is quite beautiful, but the morals, I am afraid, are not +of the same high order. I shall try and see it. + + + ROME, Saturday, April 2, 1904. + +It was bright yesterday, but cold. The snow was quite thick on the +Sabine Hills--they looked beautiful as we drove out into the country +through Porta San Giovanni before going to the church of Santa Croce in +Jerusalemme, where Prince Colonna had asked us to come and see a curious +ceremony--he himself carrying a cross at the head of a procession. +Bessie and I with the two children and the dog (we would have left him +in the carriage) tried to see some of the churches and hear some music, +but there were such crowds everywhere that we couldn't get in, so we +took a drive instead. There was such a crowd at Santa Croce that we +couldn't have got anywhere near the altar if we hadn't had a card from +Colonna; that took us into the Sagrestia where they gave us chairs, and +we sat there some little time watching all the "neri" (Blacks) assemble. +They proposed to show us the relics to while away the time, so we were +taken up a very steep staircase, along a narrow short passage to a small +room where they are kept. The priest lighted tapers, made his little +prayer, and then unveiled his treasures. There were pieces of the Cross, +a nail, St. Thomas's unbelieving finger, and the inscription on a piece +of wood that was over the Cross, "Jesus King of the Jews." It was an +old, blackened, almost rotten square, with the inscription in Latin, +hardly legible, but the priest showed us some letters and numbers that +were quite distinct. + +When we got back again to the sacristy the procession was forming--a +number of gentlemen dressed in black, with gold chains and crosses +around their necks, and a long procession of monks, priests, and +choristers. Colonna himself at the head, carrying quite simply a rather +large wooden cross; all with tapers and all chanting. As soon as they +had filed out of the sacristy we went upstairs again to a high balcony, +from which we had a fine view of the church. It was packed with people, +the crowd just opening enough to allow the procession to pass, which +looked like a line of fire winding in and out. There was a short, simple +service, and then all turned toward the balcony from where the relics +were shown, every one in the church kneeling, as far as I could see. We +came away before the end, and had great difficulty in getting through +the crowd to our carriages. + +This morning it was beautiful so we all started off early to the Wurts' +Villa (old Sciarra Villa) on the Janiculum. Just as we crossed the +bridge the bells rang out the Hallelujah (the first time they had rung +since Wednesday). They sounded beautiful, so joyous, a real Easter +peal. We had a delightful hour in the garden of the Villa. There were +armies of workmen in every direction, and the place will be a perfect +Paradise. There are fine trees in the garden, masses of rhododendrons, +every description of palm, and of course flowers everywhere. The views +were divine to-day--the Sabine Mountains with a great deal of snow, +Soracte blue and solitary rising straight out of the Campagna, and the +Abruzzi snow-topped in the distance. Mr. and Mrs. Wurts were there and +showed us all the improvements they intend making. + +After breakfast I walked about in the Via Sistina looking for some +photographs. I wanted to find some of old Rome (at least Rome of 24 +years ago) but that seemed hopeless. My artist friend had promised to +look in some of his father's old portfolios and see what he could find, +but he was not in a business frame of mind this afternoon. He was eating +his dinner at his counter, his slouched hat on his head, which he didn't +remove while I was talking to him. A young woman with her face tied up +in a red fichu was stretched out on the floor behind the counter, sound +asleep, her head on a pile of books; another over at the other end of +the shop, her chair tilted back, talking sometimes to him and sometimes +to people in the street. I suppose my eyes wandered to the one who was +asleep, for he instantly said, "She is ill, tired, don't disturb her." +He said he hadn't found any old photographs, only one rather bad and +half-effaced of Pio IX. I said I wanted one of Antonelli. "E morto lui." +I said I knew that, but he _had_ lived however once, and not so very +long ago, and had been a person of some importance. He evidently didn't +think it worth while to continue that conversation, and had certainly no +intention of looking for any photographs for me that day. It was +"festa"--Easter Eve--and work was over for him until Monday morning, so +I was really obliged to go, he wishing me "buon giorno" and "buona +Pasqua" quite cheerfully, without getting up or taking off his hat. + +I came in to tea, as Mustel was to play. We had about 40 people, and he +was much pleased at the way in which every one listened, and appreciated +his instrument. Of course he plays it divinely and brings out every +sound. Josephine had asked the Marquise Villa Marina to come and hear +him. He naturally wants very much to play for Queen Margherita (who is a +very good musician and plays the organ herself), and if the Marquise +makes a good report the Queen will perhaps send for him to play for her. + + + Easter Sunday, April 3d. + +It has been a beautiful day. Bessie and I went to the English church, +which was crowded. We could only find seats quite at the bottom of the +church, and those were chairs which had been brought in at the last +moment. We went afterward to breakfast with the Wurts in their beautiful +apartment. They had flowers everywhere (from their villa) and the rooms +looked like a garden. We were quite a party--16--and stayed there +talking and looking at everything until after three. Then we started for +a drive. I wanted to go to the Protestant Cemetery and see the little +mortuary chapel we built after father's death. Some one told me it was +utterly uncared for, going to ruin. The gates were open as we drove up, +a good many carriages waiting, and plenty of people walking about +inside. It is a lovely, peaceful spot, so green and still, many fine +trees, quantities of camellias, and violets on almost every grave. The +chapel stood just as I remembered it--in the middle of the cemetery. It +is in perfectly good order, and had evidently been used quite lately as +there were wooden trestles to support a coffin, and bits of wreaths and +stalks of flowers lying about. The two inscriptions, Latin on one side +and English on the other, are both quite well preserved and legible. I +wanted very much to see a guardian or director of the cemetery, but +there was only a woman at the gate, who knew nothing, hadn't been there +very long, in fact she knew nothing about the chapel, and showed me a +room opening into the old cemetery (where Keats is buried) which looked +more like a lumber room than anything else. There are some interesting +monuments, one to Mrs. Story, quite simple and beautiful, an angel +kneeling with folded wings. It was done by her husband, the last thing +he did, his son told me. The old cemetery looks quite deserted, close +under the great pyramid of Caius Cestius, the few graves quite uncared +for, a general air of neglect, a fitting resting-place for the poor +young poet whose profound discouragement will go down to posterity. +Every one goes to the grave and reads the melancholy inscription, "Here +lies one whose name was writ in water." + +It was such a lovely afternoon that we drove on to Tre Fontane. There, +too, there were people. The churches were open, but there was no service +going on; however the place has always a great charm. The tops of the +eucalyptus trees were swaying in a little breeze, and the smell was +stronger and more aromatic than when we were there the other day. + +We have had a quiet evening, all of us, children and grown-ups, +Protestants and Catholics, singing the English Easter Hymns. Josephine, +who is a very strict Catholic, loves the English hymns, and certainly we +can all sing "Christ the Lord is Risen To-day," for Easter is a fête for +all the world. I am sorry I didn't go to St. Peter's this morning. I +don't know that there was any special ceremony, but for the sake of old +times I should have liked to have had my Easter and Hallelujah there. + +I am writing rather under difficulties as the telephone is ringing +furiously (it goes all day, as every one in the house uses it for +everything). At the present moment Josephine seems conversing with "all +manner of men"--the Marquise Villa Marina from the Queen's Palace, the +padrone of the hotel where Mustel is staying, and one or two others. It +seems Queen Margherita would like to have Mustel and his organ to-morrow +night at the Palace; and has asked us three, Bessie, Josephine and me, +to come. I am very glad for Mustel who wants so much to be heard by the +Queen. He hopes to sell some of his organs here. They are not expensive, +but so few people care about an organ of their own. + + + Wednesday, April 6th. + +We had an interesting evening at the palace on Monday. I couldn't get +there for the beginning, as I had a big dinner, and a very pleasant one, +at the Iddings'. When I arrived I heard the music going on, but the +Marquise de Villa Marina came to meet me in the corridor, and we walked +up and down talking until the piece was over. I found a small party--the +Queen, her mother, the Duchess of Genoa, and about fifteen or twenty +people. The Queen was in black, with beautiful pearl necklace. She +received me charmingly and was most kind and gracious to Mustel, saying +she was so pleased to see a French artist, and taking great interest in +his instrument. He played several times: Handel's grand aria, Bach, and +the Marche des Pèlerins from "Tannhäuser," which sounded +magnificent--quite an effect of orchestra. + +About 11.30 there was a pause. The Duchess of Genoa came over and +talked to me a little, saying she had known my husband and followed his +career with great interest, his English origin and education making him +quite different from the usual run of French statesmen. She also spoke +of my sister-in-law, Madame de Bunsen, whom she had known formerly in +Florence. She exchanged a few words with the other ladies, and then +withdrew, the Queen and her ladies accompanying her to her apartments. +We remained talking with the other guests until Queen Margherita came +back. She asked Mustel to play once more--and then we had orangeade, +ices, and cakes. There was a small buffet at one end of the +drawing-room. It was quite half-past twelve when the Queen dismissed us. +We had a real musical evening, pleasant and easy. + +[Illustration: Cardinal Antonelli. From a picture painted for the Grand +Duke of Saxe-Weimar. + +From a photograph given to Madame Waddington by the Hereditary Grand +Duchess of Saxe-Weimar at Rome.] + +It was beautiful this morning, so I went for a turn in the Villa +Borghese, which is a paradise these lovely spring days; only the getting +to it is disagreeable. It is a hot, glaring walk up the Via Veneto, not +an atom of shade anywhere until one gets well inside the grounds. I was +walking about on the grass quite leisurely, and very distraite, not +noticing any one, when I heard my name. I turned and saw two ladies +making signs to me from the other side of the road, so I squeezed +through a very narrow opening in the fence, and found myself with the +grand duchess and her lady-in-waiting, who were taking their morning +walk. We strolled on together. She asked me if I always came to the +villa in the morning. I said "No," I often went shopping in the morning, +and told her about my photographer of the Via Sistina and the difficulty +of getting a photograph of Antonelli. She instantly said: "Oh, but I can +help you there, if you really would like a photograph of Antonelli. I +have a fine portrait of him that was painted for my beau-père. It is in +the palace at Weimar, and I will give orders at once for the court +photographer to go and copy it." I was much pleased, as I _do_ want the +photograph and was rather in despair at not having found one. It seemed +incredible to me, until I had asked a little, that there should be +nothing of Antonelli. After all, it isn't very long since he played a +great part here, so it was a most fortunate rencontre for me this +morning. We parted at the gate--I walked home and she got into her +carriage. + + + Friday, April 7th. + +We made a pleasant excursion yesterday to San Gregorio, the Brancaccios' +fine place beyond Tivoli. The day unluckily was grey, looked as if it +would pour every minute, we had none of the lovely lights and shades +that make the Campagna and the hills so beautiful. We went out in +Camillo Ruspoli's automobile, a Fiat, Italian make, strong and fast. The +road is not particularly interesting until one begins the steep ascent +to Tivoli; then looking back the view of course was beautiful. We didn't +have much time to admire it, for the auto galloped up the steep hill as +if it were nothing. After Tivoli the road goes straight up into the +Sabine hills, winding and narrow, with very sharp corners, which we +swung round quite easily certainly, as Ruspoli managed his carriage +perfectly--but still the road _was_ narrow and steep--hills rolling away +on one side, a precipice and deep valley on the other, no wall nor +parapet of any description, and it was absolutely lonely. If anything +had broken, or an animal crossed our road suddenly, and made us swerve, +I don't think anything could have saved us. + +The castle looked very imposing as we came up to it, an enormous mass, +the village built into the castle walls, standing high on the top of a +hill. The flag was flying, all the population, wildly excited (another +automobile had arrived before us), were massed at the gates, the +drawbridge down, and Bessie and her husband waiting for us, also the +Bishops who had come in their auto. We took off some of our coats, but +not all, as the rooms are so enormous that it was cold, notwithstanding +a great fire in the big hall. We had an hour before breakfast, so they +showed us the house which is magnificent, with the most divine views on +all sides from all the balconies, corner windows, etc. It is beautifully +furnished, perfectly comfortable. I couldn't begin to describe it--one +couldn't take it all in in a flying visit. There are several complete +apartments with dressing-rooms, bath-rooms, etc., so curious to see so +much modern comfort and luxury inside this grim old castle on the top of +a rock far back in the Sabine hills. + +It was very cold--I kept on my thick coat. There are balconies and +little bridges connecting towers, high terraces, staircases in every +direction--quite bewildering. We breakfasted in the large dining hall, +and it was pleasant to see the enormous logs, and to hear the crackling +and spluttering of a big fire. There are some fine Brancaccio portraits, +in the curious old-world court dress of the Neapolitan ladies of the +last century. They gave us an excellent breakfast, with a turkey bred +and fattened at the olive farm (it seems these olive-fed turkeys are +their specialty). We did some more sight-seeing after breakfast, +bachelor apartments principally, such curious old niches and steep, +narrow little staircases (we could only pass single file) cut in the +thick walls, and then started off to drive and walk in the park. They +had two nice little two-wheeled carts, with stout ponies, just the thing +for rough wood driving. The park is charming--long green alleys with +beautiful views--the country all around rather stony and barren, no +shade as there are few trees. We hadn't time to go to the olive farm, +which I was sorry for, as the people were all working there picking the +olives. I should have liked to see the women with their bright skirts +and corsets making a warm bit of colour in the midst of the grey-green +olive groves. + +We started home rather sooner than we had intended, as the sky was +getting blacker, and a few drops already falling. We were in an open +automobile, and should have been half drowned going home if it had begun +to rain hard. We went back at a frightful pace. If I found the coming up +terrifying you can imagine what the descent was, flying around the +corners, and seeing the steep road zigzagging far down below us. I heard +smothered exclamations ("Oh, mon petit Camillo, pas si vite") +occasionally from Bessie, and I think Josephine was saying her +prayers--however we did get home without any accident or "panne" of any +kind, and Ruspoli assured us he had _crawled_ out of consideration for +us. + +This morning Josephine and I have been out to the new Benedictine +Monastery of St. Anselmo, which stands high on a hill overlooking the +Tiber. She had business with the Director, so I went into the chapel +which is fine (quite modern with splendid marbles) and walked about a +little in the garden (they wouldn't let me go far). We went afterward +into the Villa Malta. There is an extraordinary view through the +key-hole of the door--one looks straight down a long, narrow avenue with +high trees on each side, to St. Peter's--a great blue dome at the end. We +couldn't make out at first what the old woman meant who opened the door +for us, she wouldn't let us come in, but pointed to the key-hole, +mumbling something we couldn't understand. At last we heard "veduta" +(view), and divined what she wanted us to do. It was most curious. The +gardens are lovely still, green, cool. We went over the house, but +there is nothing particularly interesting--portraits of all the "Grands +Maîtres de l'Ordre de Malte." It was so lovely that we didn't want to +come home, so we drove out as far at St. Paul's Fuori le Mura, and +walked around the church to the front where they are making a splendid +portico--all marble and mosaic. I should have liked it better without +the mosaic--merely the fine granite and marble columns. + + + Tuesday, April 12th. + +Yesterday we had a splendid ceremony at St. Peter's, the 13th +anniversary of Pope Gregorio Magno. We started early, Josephine and I +leaving the house together at 8, dressed in the regulation black dress +and veil. I had on a short cloth skirt, which I regretted afterward, but +as we had asked for no particular places, and were going to take our +chance in the church with all the ordinary sight-seers, I hadn't made a +very élégante toilette. We got along pretty well, though there were +streams of carriages and people all going in the same direction, until +we got near the St. Angelo bridge--there we took the file, hardly +advanced at all, and met quantities of empty carriages coming back. I +fancy most people started much earlier than we did. The piazza was +fairly crowded (but not the compact mass we used to see in the old days +when the Pope gave the Easter blessing from the balcony), all the +Colonnade guarded by Italian troops, carabinieri and bersaglieri. We +went round to the Sagrestia, and found our way easily into the church, +and into our Tribune A, but we might just as well have remained at home, +if we had wanted to see anything. We were far back, low, and could have +just seen perhaps the top of the Pope's tiara when he was carried in his +high chair in procession--however it was our own fault, as we had asked +too late for our tickets. I was interested all the same seeing the +different people come in (the church was very full). We sat there some +little time, rather disgusted au fond at having such bad places, +particularly when we saw some people we knew being escorted with much +pomp past our obscure little tribune, toward the centre of the church. +Finally one of the camerieri segreti in his uniform--black velvet, ruff +and chain--recognised Josephine, and insisted that she should come with +him and he would give her a proper place. She rather demurred at leaving +me, but I urged her going, as I was sure she would find a seat for me +somewhere. In a few minutes the gentleman returned, and put me first in +the same tribune with her, a little farther back, but eventually +conducted me to the Diplomatic Tribune, d'Antas, the Doyen, Portuguese +Ambassador to the Quirinal, and an old colleague of ours in London, +having said he would gladly give a place in their box to an ancienne +collègue. That was the moment in which I regretted my short skirt. I had +to cross the red carpet between rows of gardes-nobles and gala uniforms +of all kinds and colours, and I was quite conscious that my dress was +not up to the mark, a sentiment which gathered strength as I got to the +Diplomatic Tribune, and saw all the ladies beautifully dressed, with +long lace and satin dresses, pearl necklaces, and their veils fastened +with diamond stars. However, it was a momentary ennui, and I could only +hope nobody looked at me. Wasn't it silly of me to wear a plain little +skirt--I can't think why I did it. Almost all the bishops and sommités +of the clerical world were already assembled and walking about in the +great space at the back of the altar. Just opposite us was the Tribune +of the patriciat Romain. All the tribunes and columns were covered with +red and gold draperies. A detachment of gardes-nobles, splendid in +their red coats, white culottes and white plumes, surrounded the altar. +There were two silver thrones for the Pope, one at one side of the +church where he sat first, directly opposite to us, another quite at the +end of the long nave behind the high altar. The entrance of the +cardinals was very effective. They all wore white cloaks trimmed with +silver, and silver mitres, each one accompanied by an attendant priest, +who helped them take off and put on their mitres, which they did several +times during the ceremony. The costumes were splendid, some high +prelates, I suppose, in red skirts with splendid old lace; some in white +and gold brocaded cloaks, also grey fur cloaks; and an Eastern bishop +with a long beard, in purple flowered robes, a pink sash worn like a +grand cordon over his shoulder, and purple mitre. It was a gorgeous +effect of colour, showing all the more between the rows of tribunes +where every one was in black. + +We divined (as we were too far back to see) when the Pope's cortège +entered the church. There was no sound--a curious silence--except the +trumpets which preceded the cortège (they played a "Marcia pontificale," +they told me). At last we saw the "sedia gestatoria" with the peacock +fans appearing, and the Pope himself held high over the heads of the +crowd (it seems he hates the sedia and hoped until the last moment not +to be obliged to use it, but it is the tradition of St. Peter's, and +really the only way for the people to see him). We saw him quite +distinctly. He looked pale certainly, and a little tired, even before +the ceremony began, but that may have been the effect of the swaying +motion of the chair. There was the same silence when he was taken out of +his chair and walked to the throne, not even the subdued hum of a great +crowd. There was a little group of officiating priests and cardinals on +the dais surrounding the throne. The Pope wore a long soutane of fine +white cloth, white shoes, a splendid mantle of white and gold brocade, +and a gold mitre with precious stones, principally pearls. He began his +mass at once, a bishop holding the big book open before him, a priest on +each side with a lighted taper. His voice sounded strong and clear, but +I don't think it would carry very far. I was disappointed in the +Gregorian chants. There were 1,500 voices, but they sounded meagre in +that enormous space. The ceremony was very long. I couldn't follow it +all, and at intervals couldn't see anything, as the priests stood often +directly in front of the Pope. It was interesting to make out the +various cardinals--Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli sat almost directly +opposite to us, his tall figure standing out well. His brother Cardinal +Serafino was always close to the Pope. I asked d'Antas to show me +Cardinal Rampolla, who has a fine head and dignified carriage, rather a +sad face. It was very impressive when the Pope left his throne by the +altar and walked across the great space to the other one at the end of +the nave. Every one knelt as he passed, the cardinals, bishops, +gardes-nobles, everybody in the tribunes (at least everybody in the +front row, I won't answer for the young ones behind, but they stood if +they didn't kneel). There again the ceremonies were very long. When the +Pope had taken his seat, many of the cardinals sat too on the steps of +the dais. It was very picturesque, and the Eastern prelate stood out +well from the group of white-robed Cardinals in his bright flowered +garments. The Evangile was read in Latin and in Greek--a great many +things and people were blessed, every one kneeling at the foot of the +dais, and again when they got close up to the Pope; some quite +prostrated themselves and kissed his slipper (a very nice white one) +which they say he hates. Prince Orsini, premier assistant of the Saint +Siège, officiated, and looked his part to perfection. He is tall, with a +long white beard, and his short black velvet cloak, with a long white +and silver mantle over it, was most effective. I don't know exactly what +he did, but he appeared various times at the foot of the dais, knelt, +and sometimes presented something on a platter. He was always +accompanied (as were all who took any prominent part in the ceremony) by +two priests, one on each side of him; sort of masters of ceremony who +told him when to kneel, when to stand, etc. On the whole all the music +disappointed me. The Gregorian chants were too thin; the Sistine choir +didn't seem as full and fine as it used to be, and the silver trumpets +absolutely trivial. + +It was most impressive at the moment of the elevation, almost the whole +assembly in that enormous church kneeling, and not a sound except the +silver trumpets, which had seemed so divinely inspired to me in the old +days. I remember quite well seeing Gounod on his knees, with tears +streaming down his face, and we were quite enchanted, lifted out of +ourselves and our every-day surroundings. This time I was perfectly +conscious of a great spectacle of the Catholic Church with its +magnificent "mise-en-scène," but nothing devotional or appealing to +one's religious feelings. + +I should have liked to hear a great solemn choral of Bach, not an +ordinary melodious little tune; and yet for years after those first days +in Rome I never could play or hear the music of the silver trumpets +without being strangely moved. + +I thought the Pope looked very pale and tired as he passed down the long +nave the last time and was finally carried off in his chair with his +peacock fans waving, and a stately procession of cardinals and prelates +following. I think he regrets Venice and the simple life there as pastor +of his people. + +We saw plenty of people we knew as we were making our way through the +crowd to the carriage. Some of the ladies told us they had left their +hotel at 5.30 in the morning, they were so anxious to get a good place. +I told d'Antas I was very grateful to him, for I saw everything of +course perfectly, and took in many little details which I never could +have seen if we hadn't been so near. I also apologized to Madame d'Antas +for my modest, not to say mesquin attire; but she said as long as I was +all black, and had the black veil, it was of no consequence. There were +two or three ladies in the Royal Tribune--Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar +and Duchess Paul of Mecklenburg. We were a long time getting home, but +it was an interesting progress; all Rome out, a good many handsome +carriages, and I should think people from every part of the world, Rome +is so full of strangers. + + + Thursday, April 14th. + +I never had a moment yesterday as it was the children's ball, and we +were all taken up with the preparations. It went off very well, and was +one of the prettiest sights I ever saw. The children danced extremely +well, though even at the last repetition things didn't go perfectly; but +evidently at all ages there is a sort of amour propre that carries one +through, when there is a gallery. The dresses were Louis XVI., paniers +and powder for the girls (and sweet they looked--Victoria quite a +picture with her large dark eyes and bright colour), embroidered coats, +long gilets, tricorne hats and swords for the boys. There were eight +couples, and very good music--4 violins playing Boccherini's minuet. +Bessie had arranged a very pretty "rampe" with white azaleas and pink +and yellow ribbons, separating the upper part of the ball-room, and the +space for the dancers was kept by 4 tall footmen in yellow gala liveries +and powder, who stood at each corner of the square, in their hands tall +gilt canes held together by bands of pink ribbon. It made a charming +"cadre"--you can't imagine how pretty the little procession looked as +they all filed in, the small ones first. I think perhaps the quite small +ones were the best; they were so important, took much trouble and +weren't as distracted by the spectators as the bigger ones. They were +much applauded, and were obliged to repeat the minuet after a little +rest. In an incredibly short time all the seats and various accessories +were taken away, and the ball began, ending with a very spirited +cotillon led by the son of the house, Don Camillo Ruspoli, and one of +his friends, the Marquis Guglielmi. They kept it up until dinner time, +when the various mammas, quite exhausted with the heat and the emotion +of seeing their children perform in public, carried them off; but the +children (ours certainly) were not at all tired. + + + Saturday, April 16th. + +It is real summer weather--too hot to walk in the morning, particularly +from here, where we have to cross the open piazza before we can get +anywhere. Thursday we went to the races with the Brancaccios, on their +coach. It was most amusing, the road very animated all the way out from +Porta San Giovanni to Campanelle; every one making way for the coach as +they do in England. There was every description of vehicle, and +quantities of police and soldiers--the road very strictly guarded, as +the King and Queen were coming. It looked very pretty to see a patrol of +cuirassiers suddenly appearing from under an old archway, or behind a +bit of ruined wall, or from time to time one solitary soldier standing +on the top of a high mound. It was very hot, the sun too strong on our +heads, but we didn't go very fast; couldn't, in such a crowd, so we were +able to hold our parasols. + +The course and all the tribunes were crowded; the women almost all in +white or light dresses. The King and Queen came in an open carriage with +four horses--no escort. We had a pleasant day, meeting quantities of +people we knew. We had rather a struggle for tea; there were not nearly +enough tables and chairs for so many people; but we finally got some +under difficulties, two of us sitting on the same chair and thankful to +get it. + +The drive home was lovely, cool, and very little dust. Rome looked soft +and warm in the sunset light as we got near, and the statues on San +Giovanni Laterano almost golden as the light struck them. It was +interminable when we got into the file, and Brancaccio had some +difficulty in turning into his court-yard. + + + Monday, April 18th. + +It is enchanting summer weather, but too hot for walking. I have had two +charming auto expeditions with Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. Saturday we started +after breakfast to Cività Vecchia. The country is not very interesting +near Rome, but it was delightful running along by the sea--the road low +and so close to the water that the little waves came nearly up to the +wheels. Cività Vecchia looked quite picturesque, rising up out of the +sea. We didn't stop there, merely drove through the town, and came home +another way inland, through the hills, quite beautiful, but _such_ sharp +turns and steep bits. We climbed straight up a high hill (2,000 feet) +soon after leaving Cività Vecchia, and had for some time a divine view +of sea and coast; then plunged at once into the mountains, great barren, +stony peaks with little old grey villages on top; hills rolling away on +each side, a wild, desolate country. The road was very lonely, we met +only a few carts; the peasants frantic with terror as the big auto +dashed by. + +We passed Bracciano, the great feudal castle of the Odescalchi, with the +beautiful little blue lake at the bottom of the hill. It is a fine old +pile, square and grey, with battlements running all around it--more +imposing than attractive. After leaving Bracciano we flew--the road was +straight and level--and got back to Rome by Ponte Molle and Porta del +Popolo. + +Sunday we made a longer expedition to the Falls of Terni. There were +three autos--quite a party. The road was very different, but quite +beautiful, green fields and olive woods, and lovely effects of light and +shade on the Campagna. The day was grey, the sun appearing every now and +then from behind a cloud, at first; later, when we stopped on the high +road, with not a vestige of tree or bit of wall to give us shade, we +longed for the clouds. + +We soon began to climb, then down a long, winding hill to Cività +Castellana, an old fortified town, walls all around. We drove in through +the gate, and along a narrow steep street filled with people, as it was +Sunday, and asked if they had seen another auto. They told us yes, in +the piazza, so we went on, making our way with difficulty through the +crowded streets; every one taking a lively interest in the auto. The +square, too, was crowded, all the women in bright skirts and fichus, and +a fair sprinkling of uniforms; little carts with fruit and vegetables, +and two or three men with mandolins or violins (a mild little music) but +no signs of an auto. A splendid gentleman in uniform with waving plumes +and a sword (mayor, I suppose) came up and interviewed us, and told us +an auto had been there, coming from Rome, but had left about ten minutes +before; so we started off again, and had a beautiful drive to Terni. We +passed Narni, which stands very well on the top of a rock, high above +the little river which runs there through a narrow gorge to the Tiber. +We crossed a fine large bridge, then down a hill to Terni, where we +breakfasted. After breakfast we started for the Falls, about four miles +further on, and quite beautiful they are, a great rush of sparkling +water falling from a height and breaking into countless little falls +over the green moss-covered rocks below. It was delicious to hear the +sound of running water, and to feel the spray on our faces after our hot +ride. + +We didn't get out. We shouldn't have seen the Falls any better, and +would have had to scramble over wet, slippery stones. There was the +usual collection of guides, beggars, etc., offering us pieces of +petrified stone, and of course post-cards of the Falls. Just around +Terni the hills are very green, the slopes covered with olive trees, and +quantities of white villas scattered about on the hillside, little +groups of people loitering about, women and girls making pretty bits of +colour as they strolled along. They love bright colours, and generally +have on two or three, red or blue skirts, yellow fichus on their heads, +or over their shoulders, coloured beads or gold pins. Some of them +carried such heavy loads on their heads or backs, great bundles of +fagots, or sacks of olives, old women generally. They are given that +work as a rest when they are too old to do anything in the fields. + +We came home by another road, always the same wild mountain scenery, +always also the same sharp curves and steep descents. It is certainly +lovely country, green hills breaking away in every direction. As we got +higher, great stony, barren peaks, torrents rushing along at our feet, +and always on the top of a rock, rising straight up out of the hills, a +little old grey village (with usually a steeple and sometimes an old +square castle). Some of the villages were stretched along the +mountain-side about half-way up. They all looked perfectly lonely and +inaccessible, but I suppose life goes on there with just as much +interest to them, as in ours in the busy world beneath. + +We raced up and down the hills, through beautiful country, scarcely +slackening when we passed through some little walled towns (hardly more +than one long crooked street), in at one gate and out at the other, +people all crowding into the piazza, smiling and taking off their hats. +Once or twice one heard them say "la Regina" evidently thinking it was +Queen Margherita, who loves her auto, and makes long country excursions +in it. It was a curious, fantastic progress, but enchanting. + +The other autos had started some time ahead of us. We saw an object +(stationary) as we were speeding down a steep hill, which proved, as we +got near, to be one of them, stuck in a little stream, quite firmly +embedded in the sand, and looking as if nothing would ever get it out. +About 15 or 20 men were pulling and hauling, but it seemed quite +hopeless. It wasn't a very pleasant prospect for us either, as our auto, +too, was big and heavy, and we had to get across. It would have been too +far to go back all the way round. However, Mr. Bishop's chauffeur was +not in the least concerned, said he would certainly take _his_ carriage +over, and he did, Mrs. Bishop and me in it. We waited to see the other +one emerge from its bed of sand. The men pulled well, and talked as hard +as they pulled, and finally the great heavy machine was landed on the +other side. + +We had a long level stretch, about 20 kilometres, before we got into +Rome, and we raced the train, all the passengers wildly excited. It is +curious to see how one gets accustomed to the speed when the carriage +rolls smoothly. It seemed quite natural to me to fly past everything, +and yet when Strutz has occasionally whirled us in to La Ferté to catch +the express I haven't been comfortable at all. + + + April 22, 1904. + +Yesterday afternoon Bessie and I went to the reception at the Villa +Médicis, which was pleasant. We liked the music of the I^{er} Prix de +Rome, and it was interesting to see the pictures and sculpture. I think +the faces of the young men interested me, perhaps, more than their +work--they looked so young and intelligent and hopeful, so eager for the +battle of life; and yet so many find it such a struggle. There is so +much concurrence in everything, and an artist's life is precarious. The +very qualities which make their genius unfit them so for all the cares +and worries of a career which must always have ups and downs. + +We went late for a drive in the Corso and Via Nazionale to see all the +preparations for Loubet's arrival. They are certainly taking no end of +trouble--flags, draperies, and festoons of flowers, in all the principal +streets. The garden they are making in Piazza Colonna is quite +wonderful--quite tall trees, little green lawns, and the statue of a +Roman emperor. Quantities of people looking on at the workmen and +walking about in the piazza. The Via Nazionale, too, is gorgeous with +draperies, shields, and large medallions with French and Italian colours +entwined. + +This afternoon I went off alone and did some sight-seeing. We shall go +in a few days, and I haven't seen half I wanted to. I went straight over +to the Trastevere; first to Santa Maria, with its queer old mosaic +façade, looking more Byzantine than Italian; then on to Santa Cecilia, +where a nice old sacristan took me all over, showed me the chapel +supposed to be directly over Santa Cecilia's bath-room (the church is +said to be built on the very spot where her house stood), and of course +the tomb of the saint. Then, as I had nothing particular to do, I drove +out toward Monte Mario, which is a lovely drive in the afternoon, the +view of Rome looking back is so beautiful. It is a long steep hill, with +many turns, so one gets the view on all sides. The Cork Valley was green +and lovely, and the road was unusually quiet. I think everybody is on +the Corso looking at the festal preparations. I went back to the house +to get Bessie, and we went to tea with the Waldo Storys, in his studio. +He has some beautiful things--two fountains in particular are quite +charming. + +We all dined out, Bessie and Josephine with Cardinal Mathieu, I at the +American Embassy with the Meyers. We had a pleasant dinner--four or five +small tables. They have Mrs. Field's apartment in the Brancaccio +Palace--entertain a great deal, and are much liked in Rome. + +[Illustration: The Dining-room in the Brancaccio Palace.] + +We came home early, and I am finishing this letter to-night. It is very +warm, the windows open, and the street sounds very gay. To say that we +have heard the Marseillaise these last days but faintly expresses how we +have been pursued by the well-known air. Everybody sings or whistles it, +all the street musicians, hand-organs, guitars, accordions, and brass +bands play it all day and all night; and we hear the music of a +neighbouring barrack working at it every morning. At this present moment +a band of youths are howling it under the window. I think they are +getting ready to amuse themselves when the President arrives. + +It was most amusing in the streets this morning, flags flying, draperies +being put up everywhere, troops marching across the Piazza di Spagna, +musique en tête, to exercise a little on the review ground before the +great day--quantities of people everywhere. They say all the hotels will +be crowded to-morrow, and with French people, which rather surprises me, +but they tell me there are deputations from Avignon, Marseilles, and +various other southern towns. They are beginning to arrange the Spanish +Steps quite charmingly--a perfect carpet of flowers (if only it doesn't +rain). + + + Saturday, April 23d. + +It poured this morning, and all night I heard the rain beating against +the window every time I woke. The clouds are breaking a little now, at +three o'clock, so perhaps it has rained itself out, and the President +may have the "Queen's weather" to-morrow. Our Loubet invitations are +beginning to come--a soirée at the Capitol; great ricevimento, all the +statues illuminated with pink lights; a gala at the opera; another great +reception at the French Embassy (Quirinal); and the review. + +Josephine and I have been dining with the grand duchess at her hotel. We +were a small party, and it was pleasant enough. She talks easily about +everything, and loves Rome. The evening was not long. We all sat in a +semicircle around her sofa after dinner. Every one smoked (but me), and +she retired about ten. + +We have been talking over plans since we got back. Bessie will start +to-morrow night. She is not keen naturally about the Loubet fêtes, and +Palma[35] wants her to stay over two or three days with her in the +country somewhere near Ancona. She will meet me in Turin, and we will +come on together from there. It is still raining--I hope it will stop. + +[35] Princesse di Poggio Suasa, née Talleyrand-Périgord. + + + Tuesday, April 26th. + +I had no time to write Sunday, as we were going all day. Bessie and I +went to church in the morning, and then I left some P. P. C. cards on +Cardinals Vannutelli, Mathieu, etc., also a note to the grand duchess to +thank her for the photographs of Antonelli which she sent me last +night--two very good ones, with a nice little note, saying she thought I +would perhaps keep the big one for myself "as a souvenir of old times +and new friends." + +The Corso looked quite brilliant as we drove through--the bright sun +seemed to have completely dried the flags and festoons and the streets +were full of people, all gaping and smiling, and in high good-humour. +The Spanish Steps were charming, the great middle flight entirely +covered with flowers, looking like an enormous bright carpet. + +We had some visits after breakfast, and started about three to the +Countess Bruschi's, who has an apartment with windows looking directly +over to the "Esedra di Termine," where the syndic, Prince Prosper +Colonna, was to receive the President. There was such a crowd, and there +were so many people going to the same place, that we thought that would +be hopeless, so we returned and made our way with difficulty, as the +streets were crowded, to the Via Nazionale, where a friend of +Josephine's had asked us to come. She established us on a balcony, and +there we saw splendidly. The street is rather narrow, and the balcony +not high. The crowd was most amusing, perfectly good-natured, even at +times when a band of roughs would try to break the lines, pushing +through the rows of screaming, struggling women and children, and +apparently coming to a hand-to-hand fight with the policemen; but as +soon as the soldiers charged into them--which they did repeatedly during +the afternoon--they dispersed; nobody was hurt (I never can imagine why +not, when the horses all backed down on them), nobody protested +violently, and the crowd cheered impartially both sides. These little +skirmishes went on the whole afternoon until we heard the Marcia Reale, +and saw the escort appearing. A troop of cuirassiers opened the march. +The royal carriages with the red Savoie liveries were very handsome--all +the uniforms making a great effect--the King and President together, +both looking very happy, the King in uniform, the President in plain +black with a high hat, returning all the salutations most smilingly. He +was enthusiastically received, certainly--there were roars of applause, +which became frantic when some of the military bands played the +Marseillaise. As soon as the cortège had passed the crowd broke up, +quantities of people following the carriage to the Quirinal, where the +great square was crowded. There, too, they were so enthusiastic that the +President had to appear on the balcony between the King and Queen. + +We started out again after dinner, and wanted to see the torch-light +procession, but didn't, as our movements were a little complicated. We +took Bessie to the station, and waited to see her start. When we came +out the procession had passed, but the streets were still brilliantly +lighted and very gay, quantities of people about. + +Yesterday we had a delightful expedition to Porta d'Anzio and +Nettuno--two autos--and some of the party by train. We were really glad +to get out of the streets and the crowd of sight-seers. Quantities of +people have come from all parts of Italy to see the show, and are +standing about all day in compact little groups, gaping at the festoons +and decorations. It is frightful to think of the microbes that are +flying about. + +We started early, at 9.30, went straight out toward Albano, to the foot +of the hill, then turned off sharp to the right, taking a most lovely +road, chestnut trees on each side, and hedges white and fragrant with +hawthorn. As we got near Porta d'Anzio we had a beautiful view of a +bright blue summer sea. The first arrivals had ordered breakfast in +quite a clean hotel, evidently other people had thought too that it +would be pleasant to get out of Rome to-day, as there were several +parties in the dining-room, which was large and bright, but no view of +the sea. + +After breakfast we all wandered out to the shore, and walked about a +little, but the sun was hot and the glare very trying--the sea like a +painted ocean, all the sails of the little pleasure boats, and even +fishing boats further out, hanging in folds, the boats just drifting +with the tide. The place is enchanting, and the little point of Nettuno +quite white in the sun, stretching out into the blue sea, was +fairy-like--the colours almost too vivid. The various boatmen lounging +about in bright coloured shirts and sashes were very anxious we should +sail or row to Nettuno, but the sea, though beautiful, looked hot, and +we were rather sceptical about the breeze which they assured us always +got up after 12. + +We went off in the auto to the Villa Borghese, about half-way between +Porta d'Anzio and Nettuno, which is a Paradise. It stands high, in a +lovely green park and looks straight out to sea. The drive through the +park by the galleria, trees meeting over our heads, and the road winding +up and down through the little wood was delightful, so shady and +resting to the eyes after the glare and sun of the beach. All the way to +Nettuno there are quantities of villas, fronting the sea, some very high +with terraces sloping down to the water, all with gardens. Nettuno +itself is an interesting little place with a fine old feudal castle. +Some of the party had chosen to sail from Porta d'Anzio to Nettuno, and +we saw their boat, full of children, just moving along close to the +shore. + +We had tea on the shore, made in Countess Frankenstein's tea-basket, and +it was delicious sitting there, seeing the little blue waves break at +our feet, and the beautiful clear atmosphere making everything look so +soft and near. + +The coming home was enchanting, very few people on the road, so we could +come quickly, and the flying through the air was delightful after the +heat and fatigue of the day. The Campagna is beautiful at the end of the +day; so quiet, long stretches of green just broken here and there by the +shepherds' huts, and the long lines of aqueducts, curiously lonely so +close to a great city. + +We had just time to dress and dine, and start for the gala at the opera. +The theatre (Argentina) is small, and stands in a narrow street. There +was a long file of carriages, and so little space in front, that there +could be no display of troops, music, etc., as one has always in Paris +for a gala night at the Opera. Inside, too, all is small, the entrance, +corridor, staircase, etc. Once we had got to our box the coup d'oeil was +charming. The whole house is boxes, tier upon tier, all dark red inside, +which threw out the women's dresses and jewels splendidly. They were +almost all in white with handsome tiaras, the men in uniform, at least +the diplomatists and officers. The peuple souverain, senators, deputies, +etc., in the parterre were in black. The heat was something awful. The +Court came very punctually--the Queen looked handsome with her beautiful +tiara, the King of course in uniform, the President between them in +black with no decoration. The house went mad (every one standing of +course) when they played the Marseillaise, all the parterre cheering and +waving hats and handkerchiefs; equally mad when they stopped that and +played the Marcia Reale. The King, who is generally quite impassive, +looked pleased. The performance, like all gala performances, was long, +but the Royal party didn't look bored, and seemed to talk to each other, +and to Loubet quite a good deal. The King has a serious, almost stern +face, with a keen, steady look in the eye. I should think he saw +everything. The end of the ballet was a fine potpourri of French and +Italian flags, Marseillaise and Marcia Reale, and the Court left in a +roar of cheers. The Queen bowed very graciously and prettily right and +left as she turned to go. + +The getting away was difficult and disagreeable, the narrow street was +crowded with royal carriages, all the horses prancing and backing, and +no one paying attention to anything else. However, it was a fine, dry +night, and once we had got across the street we found our carriage +(guided by the faithful Pietro) without any trouble. + +This morning the Piazza is most interesting. Evidently the King and +President pass at the foot of the square, as there are troops +everywhere, and a double line of soldiers stretching across the top of +the Tritone. Every description of vehicle, omnibuses, fiacres, peasants' +carts, people on horseback, all ranged close up behind the soldiers; +groups of carabinieri with their red plumets are scattered about the +Piazza; a long line of red-coated German seminarists crossing at one +end, two or three Cappucini with their sandals, bare feet, and ropes at +their waists, coming out of their church, but not stopping to see the +show. + +I am writing as usual at the window, and a fine smell of frittura comes +up from the shop underneath. A most animated discussion is going on just +under the window between a peasant, sitting well back on his donkey's +tail, two baskets slung over his saddle, strawberries in one, nespoli +(medlars) in the other, and a group of ragged, black-eyed little imps to +whom some young Englishmen have just given some pennies. They all talk, +and every now and then some enterprising boy makes a dive at the +baskets, whereupon the man makes his donkey kick, and the children +scatter. All the people in the street, and the coachmen of the little +botte (there is a station in the Piazza Barberini) take a lively +interest in the discussion; so do I from the window, but the police are +arriving and the man will be obliged to come to terms. The coachmen of +the botte are a feature of Rome, they spot the foreigner at once, and +always try to get the better of him. I took a carriage the other day to +go and breakfast with Mrs. Cameron in the Piazza di Spagna, about two +minutes' drive, and asked our porter what I must give the coachman. He +said one lira (franc). When we arrived I gave my franc, which he +promptly refused to receive; however I told him I knew that was the +tariff and I wouldn't give any more. He protested energetically, giving +every possible reason why I should give more--his carriage was the best +in the piazza, the road (Via Tritone) was very bad, down hill and +slippery, he had waited some time in the piazza for me, etc.; however I +was firm and said I would only give him one franc. Two other coachmen +who were standing near joined in the discussion and told him he was +quite wrong, that a franc was all he was entitled to. He instantly +plunged into an angry dispute with them, and in the meantime Mrs. +Cameron's door opened, so I put the franc on the cushion of the +carriage, he in a frenzy, telling me he wouldn't go away, but would stay +there with his carriage until I came out. That I told him he was at +perfect liberty to do, and went into the house. He and the others then +proceeded to abuse each other and make such a row that when I got up to +Mrs. Cameron's rooms she said she couldn't think what was going on in +the street, there was such a noise and violent quarrelling--so I told +her it was all me and my botta. + + + Thursday, April 28th. + +Well, dear, the fêtes are over, the President has departed, and the +Piazza Barberini has at once resumed its ordinary aspect; no more +carabinieri, nor police, nor carriages full of people, waiting all day +in the square in the hope of seeing King or President pass. I wonder +what the old Triton sitting on his shell with his dolphins around him +thinks of this last show. He has sat there for centuries, throwing his +jet of water high in the air, and seeing many wonderful sights. + +The reception at the Farnese Palace was most brilliant last night. We +got there too late to see the King and Queen and President receiving; +there was such a crowd in the streets, which were all illuminated, that +we couldn't get across the Corso, and were obliged to make a long +détour. The Farnese Palace looked beautiful as we came up, the rows of +lights throwing out the splendid façade, the big doors open, quantities +of handsome carriages, people in uniform and ladies in full dress and +jewels who had got out of their carriages, crowding into the grand old +court. The royal carriages were all drawn up inside the court, and the +group of footmen in their bright red liveries made a fine effect of +colour at the foot of the stairs. It was an interesting assemblage, all +Rome (White) there, and all most curious to see the President. I didn't +see either King or Queen. They were already making their progress +through the rooms, which were so crowded that it was impossible to pass. +The famous Carracci Gallery looked magnificent lighted. The Ambassador +and Madame Barrère received their numerous guests most courteously, and +didn't look tired, but I fancy it was a relief to them when the fêtes +and their responsibility were over. + +We have had to put off our journey until Saturday. They wouldn't +undertake to keep us reserved compartments, not even sleeping, until +Saturday, there would be such a crowd. I don't exactly know why, for the +President left this morning, going south, and we, of course, are coming +north, but every one told me not to go, so we have telegraphed to the +Ruspolis to say we would go out and breakfast with them at Nemi. + +There were quantities of affiches posted everywhere this morning which I +shouldn't think would please either the King of Italy or the French +President: "Viva Loubet--Viva Combes--Viva la France anticléricale." + +Josephine and I went for a drive. It had rained all the morning, and was +grey and damp, but we didn't mind. We both of us love the Campagna in +all its varying aspects. We walked about for some time, but had +difficulty in choosing our ground, on account of the shepherds' dogs, +which are very fierce sometimes, and the troops of buffaloes. Josephine +had a disagreeable experience one day with the buffaloes. She was +walking on the Campagna with her small children and her Italian footman, +when suddenly a troop of these wild creatures charged down upon her at a +headlong pace. There was no refuge of any kind near; the footman, +frightened to death, promptly ran away. She was terrified, but didn't +lose her head. She stood quite still, the children clinging to her +skirts, and the herd divided, passing by on either side; but she might +have been trampled to death. Naturally she has given them a wide berth +since. + + + Friday, April 29th. + +I will finish to-night dear, as we have come upstairs early after a long +day in the country. The trunks are all ready, some of them downstairs, +and we start early to-morrow morning. They say the confusion yesterday +at the station, when the President departed, was awful, +people--ladies--rushing about distractedly trying to find places, no +footmen allowed inside, not enough porters to carry the heavy +dressing-bags and rouleaux. Some people couldn't get any places, could +only start last night. + +We had a pleasant day at Nemi. We went out by train. There were a good +many people, evidently starting for the regular round of Castelli +Romani, principally English and Americans, and principally women, very +few men, but large parties, six and seven, of women and girls. It is a +pretty road across the Campagna and up the steep hill to Albano, and as +our speed was not terrifying we had ample time to see everything. The +Ruspoli carriage was waiting for us, and we had a beautiful drive to +Nemi. It is really a lovely little place--the deep blue lake at the foot +of the hills, and all the country about us green. Our hosts were waiting +for us in one of the numerous salons, and we had time to go over the +castle a little before breakfast, which we had in a charming +old-fashioned room, with wonderful frescoes on the walls. They have +already done wonders in the old feudal castle, and I should think it +would be a charming summer residence, as no heat could penetrate these +thick walls. The view from the balcony was divine, over green slopes and +little woods to the lake. + +We missed our train at Albano, so drove on to Castel Gandolfo and waited +there for the next one. We had goûter in a lovely little pergola +overlooking the lake of Albano, with the great papal villa opposite. It +is not very interesting as to architecture, a large square pile. No Pope +has lived there since Pio Nono. I believe some French nuns are settled +there now. + +It was very warm walking about the little old town, which looked as if +it had been asleep for years--no one in the streets, no beggars even, no +movement of any kind. Just as we were starting for the station three or +four carriages filled with tourists rattled through. It is curious to +see how life seems to go on in just the same grooves in all these little +towns. Rome has so changed--changes so all the time--is getting +cosmopolitan, a great capital; but all these little mountain villages +seem quite the same as in the old days of Savellis, Colonnas, and +Orsinis, when most of the great feudal chiefs were at daggers drawn and +all the country fought over, and changing hands after each fierce +encounter. The few people one meets look peaceful enough, but on the +smallest provocation eyes flash, tones and gestures get loud and +threatening, but apparently they calm down at once and are on the whole, +I fancy, a lazy, peaceable population. + +It is warm to-night, the windows are open and the Marseillaise still has +the honours of the night--one hears it everywhere. + + + + +INDEX + + +Albano, 30 + +Alberti, 20-21 + +Alfieri, 105 + +Allessandri, Carlo, 27, 35 + +Altieri, Cardinal, death of, 30 + +Angelico, Fra, 39 + +Antonelli, Cardinal, 61, 284, 288, 306 + +d'Aosta, Duke, 223 + +Apponyi, Count, 73 + +Arbuthnot, Miss, 26 + +d'Asoli, 271 + +d'Asoli, Princess, 254 + +d'Aubigny, M. and Madame, 45 + +d'Aulnay, 62, 116 + +d'Aulnay, Comtesse, 57 + +Austria, Emperor of, 177 + +d'Autas, 295 + + +Baddeley, Mr., 280 + +Bailey, Mrs., 76 + +Bailleul, Madame de, 230; + received by the Queen, 240, 244, 257 + +Bandini, Prince, 144 + +Bandini, Princess, 51, 54, 63, 69, 145; + gives musicale, 146 + +Beauharnais, Comtesse de, 116 + +Bertheny, Countess de, 262 + +Bibra, 62, 69, 143, 145 + +Bicletis, Monsignor, 249, 250, 251, 255 + +Bishop, Mr. and Mrs., 299 + +Bonghi, 105 + +Borghese, Giovanni, 266 + +Brancaccio, Princess, 93 + +Brandt, Otto, 102 + +Brinquant, 21 + +Bruce, Mrs., 41, 50, 51; + gives dinner, 68-69, 89, 106, 169, 174 + +Brusatti, General, 275 + +Bruschi, Countess, 306 + +Bunsen, Charles de, 14, 34; + arrives at Rome, 108, 110, 114, 118; + returns to Florence, 119, 180 + +Bunsen, Madame de, 14, 15, 34, 179, 180, 254, 288 + + +Cabat, M., 117 + +Cabriac, Marquis de, 71 + +Cairoli, 45, 52, 64, 80; + speaks in Chamber, 83; + gives dinner, 96-98 + +Cairoli, Madame, 45, 51, 64, 68; + gives dinner, 96-98 + +Calabrini, 51, 56, 62, 63, 67, 81 + +Calice, Countess, 67 + +Cameron, Mrs., 311 + +Caprannica, Bianca, 142 + +Caprannica, Marchesa, 142 + +Cardenas, the, give dinner, 144 + +Cavaletti, Maurizio, 69 + +Cavour, 84, 223, 224 + +Celleri, Countess, 80, 99 + +Cenci, 54 + +Cesarini, Marquise Villa, 253 + +Chambord, Comte de, 117 + +Charles Albert, King of Savoy, 220 + +Charette, 120 + +Chigi, Marquise, 89 + +Cialdini, 67 + +Coello, Count, 148 + +Colobiano, Count, 222 + +Colonna, Prince, 282, 283, 306 + +Colonna, Princess, death of, 30 + +Comandi, 29 + +Cook, 91, 95 + +Crosby, Schuyler, 37 + +Curtis, Bessie, 61, 230 + + +Daudet, M., 200 + +Del Monte, 108, 148; + walk with, 172 + +Despretis, Madame, 51 + +Desprez, 45, 55, 57, 71, 92, 144 + +Diemor, 248 + +Director of Museum at Milan, 186, 199, 212, 216 + +Doria, 100 + +Doria, Gwendoline, 81 + + +Edwards, Mrs., 65 + +Edwards, Hon. Sylvia, 65 + +Elena, Queen of Italy, gives audience, 240-242; + at the court ball, 243, 253, 299; + at the opera, 310; + gives reception in honour of President Loubet, 312 + +English, Monsignor, 63, 66, 79; + brings Pope's photograph, 155 + +d'Eu, Comte and Comtesse, 250 + +Evans, Father, 268 + + +Field, Mr., 245 + +Field, Mrs., 237, 305 + +Forbes, Misses, 26, 184 + +Frankenstein, Countess, 309 + +Freycinet, 5, 60 + +Freycinet, Madame de, 6 + +Fua, Teresina, 248 + + +Gabriac, Marquis de, 144 + +Garibaldi, 120, 122 + +Genoa, Duchess of, 287, 288 + +Geoffroy, 62, 63, 64, 89, 117, 168 + +Geoffroy, Madame, 117 + +Germany, Crown Princess of, 101, 104, 108, 109, 207; + daughters of, 210 + +Gianotti, Count, 243, 262 + +Gianotti, Countess, gives afternoon tea, 262 + +Gittone, 275 + +Gosselins, 108, 109 + +Gounod, 296 + +Grants, 51 + +Gravina, 96 + +Greppi, Comte, 275 + +Grévy, Madame, 9, 11 + +Guadagni, Madame, 34 + +Guery, Don, 272, 279 + +Guglielmi, Marquis, 298 + + +Helena, Queen of Italy, see Elena + +Hoffman, Mr., 216, 222, 223 + +Hohenlohe, Cardinal, 165 + +Hooker Mr., 51, 66, 120; + gives dinner, 142, 174; + recollections, 176 + +Howard, Cardinal, 50, 61, 70, 75, 109, 147 + +Hubert, 225 + +Hubert, Madame, 13, 47, 58, 63, 71, 168, 185, 188, 196, 200, 203, 216, 221 + +Humbert, King of Italy, 65, 66; + birthday, 76, 79, 91 + + +Ireland, Monsignor, 23 + +Ismail, Pasha, ex-Khedive of Egypt, 76 + + +Kahn, Malcolm, 275 + +Keats, John, 286 + +Keudell, 101-103, 106, 108 + +Keudell, Madame, 102, 103, 108 + +King, Charles, 30; + death of, 119-120 + +King, Fanny, 176 + +King, Henrietta, 124, 134, 218 + +King, Mrs., 123, 132, 134, 137, 139 + +King, William, 124, 132 + +Kruft, 5 + + +Lanciani, 44, 63, 88, 89, 159 + +Landi, Madame, 40 + +Law, Mrs., 275 + +Leuchtenberg, Duke of, 116 + +Loubet, President, 305; + reception of, 306-307; + at the opera, 309-310; + at the reception at the Farnese Palace, 312, 314 + +Lovatellis, 51, 94 + +Low, Mr. and Mrs. Seth, 273 + +Lucchesi-Palli, 117 + +Lyons, Lord, 7 + + +MacMahon, Madame de, 10, 11 + +MacMahon, Marshal, 10, 73 + +Maffei, 64, 97, 108, 159 + +Malatesta, Felice, 59, 61, 86, 94, 108 + +Malatesta, Countess, 75 + +Maquay, George, 32, 35, 184 + +Maquay, Louisa, 36, 184 + +Maquay, Nina, 36, 184 + +Marcello, Comtesse, 93, 95, 98 + +Margherita, Queen of Italy, 220, 234; + gives audience, 253, 285, 287 + +Marina, Marquise Villa, 253, 285, 287 + +Massari, 87, 105 + +Massimo, Prince, 74, 218, 255, 272 + +Mathieu, Cardinal, 254, 255, 304, 306 + +Medici, Catherine de', 33 + +Menabrea, 67 + +Meyers, the, give dinner, 304 + +Michelangelo, 59 + +Minghetti, 52, 56, 69, 81, 105, 181-183 + +Minghetti, Madame, 51, 52, 56, 57, 69, 81; + receives, 105, 108 + +Mirafiori, Comtesse, 183 + +Mohl, Madame, 50 + +Murrays, 209, 210-211 + +Mustel, M. Alphonse, 279, 280, 285; + plays before Queen Margherita, 287 + + +Naples, Prince of, 86, 94 + +Napoleon, Louis, 84, 223 + +Nassau, Duke of, 28 + +Nevin, Dr., 48, 88, 242 + +Nina, Cardinal, 61, 80 + +Nisard, M., 240 + +Noailles, Marquis de, 45, 48, 87, 98 + +Noailles, Marquise de, 48, 51, 56, 57; + gives dinner, 64, 87, 96, 100; + receives, 107, 108; + gives farewell dinner to the Waddingtons, 159 + +Norton, Mrs., 139-142 + + +Orloff, Prince, 10 + +Orsini, Prince, 295 + +"Ouida," 27; + description of, 28 + +Ouronsoff, Prince, 244 + + +Paget, Sir Augustus, 51, 64, 82, 102, 109 + +Paget, Lady, 51, 57, 64; + receives, 89, 102, 109 + +Palfy, Count, 52, 70, 92; + conversation with, 174 + +Pallavicini, Princess, 51, 54, 67; + gives reception, 86-87, 246; + receives, 277 + +Pannissera, Madame, 107 + +Pasetti, Baron, 242 + +Paul, Duchess of Mecklenburg, 297 + +Pécoul, Thérèse, 273 + +Perret, 68 + +Peruzzi, Edith, 18, 36, 108, 184 + +Peruzzi, Ubaldino, 181, 206 + +Pierson, 4 + +Pietro, 267, 310 + +Pietro, Cardinal di, 79 + +Poggio-Suasa, Princess di (née Curtis), 230, 238, 244, 248; + gives dinner, 259, 262, 266; + gives dinner, 273, 285, 286, 291, 292, 294, 304, 305, 313 + +Poggio-Suasa, Princess di (née Talleyrand-Périgord), 305 + +Polk, Antoinette, 160 + +Pontécoulant, Comte de, 8, 12 + +Pope Leo XIII, 58; + audience with, 59; + described, 59, 60, 71, 146; + in his garden, 155, 156, 250 + +Pope Pius IX, 56, 58, 59, 69; + how he was received in the streets when he rode out, 146; + description of the blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's, + 157-158, 250, 264, 315 + +Pope Pius X, audience with, 249-251; + description of, 250 + +Primoli, 144 + + +Queen of Naples, Dowager, death of, 30 + + +Ramée, Mlle. de la, 27 + +Rampolla, Cardinal, 295 + +Récamier, Madame, 168 + +Rignano, Madame, 99 + +Ripaldi, Duke di, 57, 100, 159 + +Ristori, Madame, 142 + +Roccagiovine, Marchese, 266 + +Rodmans, 233 + +Rossi, de, 89 + +Rothschild, Madame Alphonse, 99 + +Rudini, Marchesa, gives fête, 272 + +Ruspoli, Camillo, 289, 291, 298 + +Ruspoli, Don Emanuele, 231, 263 + +Ruspoli, Victoria, 255; + gives dinner, 276, 315 + + +St. Asilea, 87, 98 + +Sand, George, 38 + +Sant' Onofrio, Madame de, 96 + +Savonarola, 39 + +Savoy, Princes of, 94 + +Saxe-Weimar, Grand Duchess, 259, 297 + +Say, Léon, 60 + +Schuyler, Eugene, 35, 41, 42, 44, 56, 69, 77, 110, 112, 142 + +Schuyler, Mrs. Eugene ("Gert"), 35, 41, 42, 44, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 69; + trouble with maid, 76-78, 79, 80, 82, 89, 92, 108, 110, 113, 118, 124, + 132, 142; + at Tivoli, 161; + gives farewell dinner, 174, 197 + +Sciarra, Princess, 49, 89 + +Seckendorff, Count, 103, 105, 108 + +Sella, 81, 84, 105 + +Sermoneta, Duke of, 54 + +Serristori, 35 + +Sibbern, Madame, 5 + +Smith, Father, 55, 79, 87, 91; + presents a medal, 160, 174; + conversations with, 177 + +Somaglia, Countess, 81, 87, 98, 117; + her daughters, 117 + +Spencer, Mrs. Lorillard, 83 + +Staël, Madame de, 168 + +Stanley, Dean, 50 + +Stanley, Lady Augusta, 50 + +Sternberg, Mlle. de, 15, 18 + +Story, Mrs., 286 + +Story, Waldo, 239, 304 + +Story, W. W., 18, 109, 239 + +Sulmona, 72-73 + +Sulmona, Princess, 73, 87, 144 + +Sutteroth, M. Alphonse, 5, 8, 200, 227 + + +Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles de, 26 + +Talleyrand-Périgord, Madame de, 27, 61 + +Talleyrand-Périgord, Marquise de (née Curtis), 230, 237, 242, 244; + audience with the Pope, 249-251, 262, 266, 267, 275, 285, 290, 302, 304; + leaves Rome, 307 + +Tchaitcheff, Madame de, 16, 25 + +Teano, Prince, 51, 54, 56, 105 + +Teano, Princess, gives ball, 99, 272 + +Theoduli, Marchesa, 83 + +Thomar, 71 + +Thurn, Princess de, 54 + +Tosti, 145; + described and criticised, 147 + +Townshend, Mrs. Charles L., 95 + +Trocchi, 48; + sends flowers, 169 + +Troubetzkoi, Princess Lise, 98 + +Turin, Comte de, 243 + +Turkam, Pasha, 76, 101 + + +Uffizi, 36 + +Uxkull, 64, 81 + + +Val, Cardinal Mery del, audience with, 251-252 + +Valery, Dr., 30, 77, 120 + +Van Loo, 62 + +Vannutelli, Cardinal Serafino, 295 + +Vannutelli, Cardinal Vincenzo, 240; + dinner given for, 273, 295, 306 + +Van Rensselaer, Mrs., 67, 118 + +Van Schaick, Lottie, 16, 17, 35, 40, 184 + +Venosta, Visconti, 52; + speaks in Chamber, 80, 83, 105, 159 + +Venosta, Madame Visconti, 64, 81, 89, 107 + +Vera, 108 + +Vicovaro, Princess, 83, 85 + +Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 218, 220, 231 + +Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, at the court ball, 243, 277, 299; + receives President Loubet, 306-307; + at the Opera, 310; + gives reception in honour of President Loubet, 312 + +Villamarina, Marquis de, 81, 87 + +Virgo, M., 245, 266, 279 + +Visconti, 89 + +Vitali, Count, gives dinner for French Ambassador, 240 + +Vitelleschi, 67, 69, 87, 279 + +Vitelleschi, Marchesa, gives tea, 278 + + +Waddington, Evelyn, 61 + +Waddington, Francis, has Christmas tree, 5; + left in Paris, 12, 108, 225, 251 + +WADDINGTON, Madame, leaves Quai d'Orsay, 3-4; + calls on Madame de Freycinet, 6; + formal receptions, 8; + receives Mesdames Grévy and MacMahon, 11; + arrives at Florence, 12; + arrives at M. de Bunsen's, 14; + atypical Florentine party, 18; + a visit from Alberti, 20; + recalls picnic at Segna, 20-22; + visits the Ponte Vecchio, 24; + drives to Santa Maria Novella, 25; + tea at Camerata, 26; + dines with Talleyrand-Périgord, 26; + takes tea with "Ouida," 27; + impressions of "Ouida," 28; + drives to Villa Careggi, 31; + drives to the Certosa and Casa Guadagni, 34; + decides to go to Rome, 35; + Maquay dinner, 35; + drives out Fiesole way, 37; + visits Fra Angelico's and Savonarola's cells at San Marco, 39; + musical evening with the Landis, 40; + arrives at Rome, 41; + her father's illness, 42; + calls on Eugene Schuyler, 44; + invitations from Embassies, 44; + drives along the Via Appia, 45; + visit to the Vatican, 47; + visit from the Marquis de Noailles, 48; + Princess Sciarra's ball, 49; + recollections of Dean Stanley and Cardinal Howard, 50; + reception at the Schuylers', 51; + reception at Princess Pallavicini's, 54; + pointed out as distinguished strangers, 55; + dinner at the Teanos', 56; + breakfast at the Noailles', 57; + audience with the Pope, 58-60; + dinner at the of, 63; + dinner at the Noailles', 64; + attends the opera, 69; + dines at the Portuguese Embassy, 71-74; + dines with the Pagets, 81; + dinner at the Calabrinis', 84; + attends American Church, 88; + walk on Good Friday, 90; + service at St. Peter's, 90; + service at St. John Lateran, 91; + note from the Quirinal, 92; + audience with the Queen of Italy, 92-95; + meets the Prince of Naples, 94; + breakfast with the Noailles, 95; + sees Farnese Palace, 95; + visits the Bakers' tomb, 96; + dines with the Cairoli, 96-98; + day at the races, 98-99; + protests against "valise" regulations, 98; + attends Teano ball, 99; + visits the Trevi Fountain, 100; + tea with the Duke di Ripaldo, 100; + dines at German Embassy and meets German Crown Princess, 102-105; + attends reception at the Noailles', 107; + musical evening at the Schuylers', 108; + dinner with the Wimpffens, 108; + meets Crown Princess again, 109; + excursion to Frascati, 110; + fails to visit Tusculum, 112, 113; + trip to the Vatican, 114-115; + ball at the British Embassy, 116; + dinner at Villa Medici, 117; + recollections of 1867, 119; + goes to Naples, 119; + sees Vesuvius in eruption, 123; + ascends Mt. Vesuvius, 124-125; + a long wait at an inn, 126-130; + fête at the Stella del Mare, 135; + the nun, 135; + sail to Capri, 136; + Capri, 137; + a Capri fisher-girl, 139-141; + dinner at Mr. Hooker's, 142; + visit to the Doria Gallery, 143; + dines at the Spanish Embassy, 144; + musicale at Princess Bandini's, 146; + hears Lohengrin in Italian, 148; + drives to Albano, 149-153; + last turn in the Vatican, 154; + receives the Pope's photograph, 155; + drives to the Villa Madama, 157; + farewell dinner at the Noailles', 159; + a day at Tivoli, 161-165; + a lonely road, 167; + last drive in the country, 169; + walk with Del Monte, 173; + arrives at Milan, 180; + attends the races, 183; + holds small reception, 184; + a drive about Milan, 187; + a visit to the Brera, 188-189; + visit to the Duomo, 190; + a second visit to the Brera, 192-193; + describes the Piazza dei Mercanti, 201, 202; + an afternoon at Monza, 204-206; + leaves Milan and arrives at Turin, 211; + trip to La Superga, 219-221; + returns to Paris, 225; + Rome revisited, 229; + attends a ball at the Storys', 239; + dinner at Count Vitali's, 240; + received by the Queen, 240-242; + attends the court ball, 243-244; + in the garden of the Vatican, 247; + music at the French Embassy, 248; + audience with the Pope, 249-251; + audience with Cardinal Mery del Val, 251-252; + audience with Queen Margherita, 253; + breakfast with Princess d'Arsoli, 254; + at the Pope's audience, 255-256; + an expedition to the Catacombs, 257; + dines with Princess Poggio-Suasa, 259; + automobile excursion with Countess de Bertheny, 262-265; + trip to Tusculum, 267; + special guards, 269; + fête at the Massimo Palace, 271; + fête given by Marchesa Rudini, 272; + dines with Malcolm Kahn, 275; + dines with the Ruspolis, 276; + Holy Thursday at St. Peter's, 281; + visits her father's grave, 285; + a musical evening at the Palace, 287-288; + excursion to San Gregorio, 289-291; + attends ceremony at St. Peter's, the 13th anniversary of Pope Gregorio + Magno, 292-296; + children's ball, 297-298; + auto trips with the Bishops, 299-301; + reception at the Villa Médicis, 303; + dines with the Meyers, 304; + dines with the Grand Duchess, 305; + reception of President Loubet, 306-307; + attends gala night at the opera, 309-310; + reception at the Farnese Palace, 312-313 + +_Waddington_, M. William H., resigns as Premier, 3; + refuses London Embassy, 6; + leaves Paris and arrives at Florence, 12; + arrives at M. de Bunsen's, 14; + attends the Peruzzis' party and meets Bentivoglio, 18; + dines with Talleyrand-Périgord, 26; + calls on Madame Guadagni, 34; + arrival at Rome, 41; + talks with Eugene Schuyler, 44; + various invitations from Embassies, 44; + visit to the Vatican, 47; + visit from Marquis de Noailles, 48; + reception in his honour at the Schuylers', 51; + pointed out as a celebrated man, 55; + has audience with the Pope and converses about politics, 50-60; + the Pope's opinion of him, 63; + dinner at the Noailles', "Cotelettes à la Waddington," 64; + has audience with King Humbert, 65-66; + meets Cardinal Howard, 70; + curiosity to meet him, 75; + attends the Chambre des Députés, 80; + second visit to the Chambre des Députés, 83; + goes to San Clemente, 87; + walk on the Campagna, 88; + audience with the Queen of Italy, 92-95; + insists on "valise" reform, 98; + delighted with di Ripalda's frescoes, etc., 101; + conversation with Turkam Bey, 101; + received by the German Crown Princess, 103; + dines with de Rossi, 118; + change of mental atmosphere, 147; + trip to Albano, 149-153; + last visit to the Vatican, 154; + conversation with Father Smith, 177; + speech-making, 181; + visits the cabinet de médailles at Milan, 186; + a visit to the Brera, 192-193; + receives Mr. Hoffman, 223-224; + arrives in Paris, 225 + +Wales, Princess of, 242 + +Wallace, Sir Donald, 281 + +Weling, Mlle. de, 28 + +Westenberg, Madame, 68 + +Wilbrahams, the, 69 + +Wimpffen, Count, 64, 81, 89, 107, 242 + +Wimpffen, Comtesse, 56; + gives dinner, 62, 64, 68, 83; + gives reception, 84-87, 89, 98, 105; + dinner to German Crown Princess, 108-109 + +Wurts, Mr. and Mrs., 69; + give dinner, 248, 284, 285 + + +Zuylen, Cornélie, 83 + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Spelling has been made consistent throughout but reflects the +author's preference. 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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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Life</p> +<p> January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904</p> +<p>Author: Mary Alsop King Waddington</p> +<p>Release Date: November 8, 2011 [eBook #37953]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALIAN LETTERS OF A DIPLOMAT'S LIFE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 429px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="429" height="500" alt="cover" title="cover" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i"></a></span></p> + +<h3>ITALIAN LETTERS<br /> +OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE</h3> +<p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii"></a></span></p> + + +<div class="box"> +<h4>7<sup>th</sup> EDITION</h4> + +<h3>LETTERS OF A<br /> +DIPLOMAT'S WIFE</h3> + +<h4>By MARY KING WADDINGTON</h4> + +<p>"A most interesting book of gossip, which, considered +from the point of view of the general +public, contains not a dull line from the first to the +last. The letters have all the freshness of the +best class of feminine correspondence."</p> + +<div class="signature">—<i>London Athenæum</i>.</div> +<p> </p> +<div class="center">Illustrated. 8vo. $2.50 Net<br /> + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 343px;"> +<img src="images/illus004.png" width="343" height="500" alt="Elena, Queen of Italy." title="Elena, Queen of Italy." /> +<span class="caption">Elena, Queen of Italy.</span> +</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1><a name="ITALIAN_LETTERS_OF_A_DIPLOMATS_WIFE" id="ITALIAN_LETTERS_OF_A_DIPLOMATS_WIFE"></a>ITALIAN LETTERS OF +A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE</h1> + +<h4><span class="smcap">January-May</span>, 1880<br /> +<span class="smcap">February-April</span>, 1904</h4> + +<h2>BY<br /> +MARY KING WADDINGTON</h2> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATED FROM DRAWINGS<br /> +AND PHOTOGRAPHS</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="center">CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<br /> +NEW YORK :: :: :: :: :: :: 1905</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v"></a></span></p> +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1905, by</span><br /> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +Published, March, 1905<br /><br /> + +TROW DIRECTORY<br /> +PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NOTE</h2> + + +<p>In December, 1879, M. William Henry Waddington +resigned the Premiership of France, and the following +month, accompanied by his wife, left Paris for +a winter of rest and recreation in Italy, chiefly in +Rome. The letters from Madame Waddington to +her mother and sister, which constitute "Part I" of +this volume, describe this journey and residence. +Those forming "Part II" relate the incidents of a +similar Roman sojourn some twenty years later, M. +Waddington having died in the meantime. The two +series together compose a picture of life and society +in the Italian capital with a wide range of contrast +and comparison, corresponding with those of London +and Moscow in the well-known "Letters of a +Diplomat's Wife" by the same writer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS"> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Elena, Queen of Italy</span></td><td align="left"><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">FACING</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Charles King</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">President Charles King of Columbia College, New York City</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Spanish Steps</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i> In the Piazza di Spagna, Rome.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Pope Leo XIII.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">King Humbert of Italy</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Queen Margherita of Italy</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Queen Margherita and King Humbert</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Queen Margherita and the Prince of Naples (Present King of Italy) in 1880</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Victoria, Crown Princess of Germany</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Gardens of the Villa Torlonis, Formerly Villa Conti, Frascati, Opposite the Villa Marconi, Where we Spent the Summer of 1867</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Tomb of Viniciano, Between Frascati and Tusculum</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Grounds of the Villa Doria-Pamphili, Rome</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i> From an unpublished photograph taken about 1869.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Pope Pius IX.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Last Benediction of Pope Pius IX. from the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Balcony of St. Peter's</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">St. Peter's from the Pincio</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Barberini Palace</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i> The residence of the Storys</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Victor Emanuel</span> III., <span class="smcap">King of Italy</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Pope Pius</span> X.</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Great New Bridge from Albano to Ariccia</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i> Built by Pope Pius IX</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Roman Huntsmen on the Campagna</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i> Ancient Roman aqueduct in the background</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Waiting for the Hounds</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Cardinal Antonelli</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i> From a portrait painted for the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar. From a photograph given to Madame Waddington by the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar at Rome.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Dining-room in the Brancaccio Palace</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></span></p> +<h3>ITALIAN LETTERS<br /> +OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE</h3> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> +<h2>PART I</h2> + +<h3>ITALY IN THE EIGHTIES</h3> + + +<h3><i>To G. K. S.</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h3> + +<div class="signature">31, <span class="smcap">rue Dumont d'Urville, Paris</span>,<br /> +January 10, 1880.<br /> +</div> + +<p>Well, dear, here I am back again in my little hotel, +and very small and uncomfortable it looks—like a doll's +house after the enormous rooms of the Quai d'Orsay—however +I am very glad to be a <i>private</i> individual once +more (no longer a "femme publique" as our friend +used to say). Our departure was hurried, as once W.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +had made up his mind and resigned he wanted to get +away at once. We got off in two days, which I thought +quite wonderful. Of course ever since the opening of the +session in November it was evident that he couldn't stay. +He and his Ministers were hardly ever agreed on any +point, and it wasn't worth while for him to spend his +energy and intelligence in trying to carry out a policy +which neither the Chamber nor the country apparently +desired. There were endless conferences all through +December, but it was clear that it was time for him to go.</p> + +<p>The weather was something awful—bitterly cold—the +Seine frozen tight, booths and games established, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>everybody sliding about and trying to skate—but that +was under difficulties as the ice was rough and uneven. +I walked over with Francis,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> that he might say he had +walked across the Seine. We had great difficulty in +warming the house—many trains with wood and coal +were blocked just outside Paris, and nothing could get +in. I don't know what we should have done, but happily +the Ministre de la Guerre gave us an order to take some +wood from some dépôt in Paris where they had a provision; +so for the two days before we moved in great +fires were going in the calorifère. I really think the only +person who hated to leave the Quai d'Orsay was Francis. +He was furious at seeing all his things packed up, and +was carried out to the carriage kicking and screaming—"veux +pas quitter ma maison—veux pas aller vilaine +petite maison." The huissiers (6, all standing solemnly +in a row to say good-bye) were much impressed, and the +old grey-headed Pierson who has been there for years +and seen many Ministers depart, remarked—"au moins +Monsieur Francis est désolé de partir." It seemed funny +to drive out of the big gates for the last time. I wonder +if I shall ever go through them again. Things go so +quickly in France now.</p> + +<p>You can't conceive anything more uncomfortable than +this house to-day—no carpets down nor curtains up; all +the furniture, books, rugs, dumped in the middle of the +rooms, and the hall and corridors full of trunks and +boxes. W. has had a steady stream of people ever since +we arrived—some to condole—some (old friends) to congratulate +him upon no longer serving such an infecte +government—some a little embarrassed to explain that, +though they regret him extremely, still ... they +must serve their country, and hope he won't take it amiss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +if they make up to the rising sun (in the shape of Freycinet, +who has taken W.'s place). I expect we shall +have some curious experiences. When one is no longer +in power it is surprising how things change their aspect. +I had to settle the salons as soon as I could as I had +invited a big party for Francis's Christmas Tree, thinking +it would be at the Quai d'Orsay. I didn't want to +put the people off—particularly the diplomatists who have +all been most civil and proper—so after a consultation +with Kruft—(chef du matériel at the Quai d'Orsay) who +had already begun to make his preparations, I decided +to have it here, and Kruft and one of his men came and +helped dress it. Of course the tree had to be cut at the +top—our rooms are fairly high, but nothing like the Quai +d'Orsay naturally—but it looked rather prettier, quite +covered with toys and shiny ornaments. Francis had +beautiful presents—a hand-organ with a monkey on top +from Madame Sibbern, the wife of the Swedish Minister, +from which he can't be extracted. He can't turn it alone, +but some of the bigger children helped him, and we had +the "Cloches de Corneville" and "Niniche" almost all +the afternoon. There were about 100 people, children +and parents, and the rooms looked pretty. All the people +and lights warmed them too—it wasn't quite so +Siberian. We couldn't attempt cooking of any kind as +the kitchen range was out of order, and besides we hadn't +fuel enough—l'Oncle Alphonse<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> who lives next door +feeds us. W. and I go to him for breakfast and dinner, +and his chef (a very distinguished artist and well dressed +gentleman—quite a superior person—Monsieur Double) +submits Francis's menu every morning to Nounou, as he +says he has no experience with children.</p> + +<p>We have decided to go to Italy for two or three months,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +and shall make Rome our headquarters. W. has never +been there, and says it wouldn't be worth while going +for less than three months. What fun it will be to be +there together—I can hardly believe it is true. I am +sure we are wise to get away. There must always be +little jarring things when one has been in office some +time—and it would be rather a bore to W. to take his +place as senator and be in opposition to the present Ministry. +If he stayed in Paris he would have to take part +in all the discussions, and would certainly be interviewed +by all sorts of people to whom he would say nothing (he +never does—he hates newspaper people) but they would +say he did all the same, and so many people believe implicitly +whatever they see in a paper. The Minister has +offered W. the London Embassy, but he won't take it, +doesn't wish to have any function of any kind at present. +He is looking forward to long, happy hours in +Rome, deciphering all the old inscriptions, and going over +the old city with Lanciani<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and some of his literary +friends.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +January 12, 1880. +</div> + +<p>After all I have been back to the Quai d'Orsay. W. +said I must go and make a formal visit to Madame de +Freycinet (who is a very nice woman—a Protestant, and +has one daughter—a charming intelligent girl). Henrietta +and I went together, taking Francis with us, who +was delighted as soon as he got to the Place de la +Concorde and crossed the bridge—"C'est Paris—C'est +Paris." Poor little boy—the rue Dumont d'Urville is +so quiet, nothing passing and nothing to see when he +looks out of the window. He was always at the window +at the Quai d'Orsay looking at the boats, the soldiers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +and the general liveliness of a great thoroughfare. It +was a funny sensation to go and pay a visit to Madame +de Freycinet in the little blue salon where I had received +her so often, and to be announced by my own pet huissier, +Gérard, who spent his life all the time I was at the Quai +d'Orsay sitting outside the door of any room I happened +to be in. He knew all my visitors—those I wanted to +see and those I didn't—kept all the cards, and books, and +remembered every quête I had given to—and the bills +that had been paid. I don't remember that he ever occupied +himself with my garments, but I am sure that he +could have found anything that I asked for.</p> + +<p>The house is gradually getting warm and comfortable, +and the furniture settling into its place; but I have a +curious feeling of smallness—as if I hadn't room to turn. +We hope to get off in three or four days. We leave +Francis of course, but Nounou and Hubert will look after +him, and he will go to breakfast every day with Mother, +where of course he will be well spoiled and have everything +he asks for.</p> + + +<h3><i>To G. K. S.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature">January 18, 1880.</div> + +<p>I hope we shall get off now in a day or two—W. really +needs the rest, which he never will get here as all day +long people come to see him and suggest various plans. +We have written to the Hôtel de Londres. You or +Eugene might go there some day and see the rooms they +propose. It will be nice to be back in our old quarters +Piazza di Spagna. We had a pleasant small dinner last +night at the British Embassy—Lord Lyons is always so +nice and cordial. He was a little surprised and not <i>quite</i> +pleased that W. hadn't accepted the London Embassy, +he would have been so entirely a "persona grata" with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +his English education, connections, etc. All the Diplomates +seem to regret us (but I think they will like the +Freycinets just as much) and really here, where Ministers +are such passing figures in the political world, they +would have a hard time if they set their affections on any +particular man.</p> + +<p>I am becoming very philosophical—though the attitude +of some of my friends has rather surprised me (not W.; +he is never surprised at anything). L'Oncle Alphonse +keeps us well informed of what is said on the other side. +He is quite a Royalist, a great friend of the Orléans +Princes, and a great deal at the club where they always +call him "l'oncle du gouvernement"—and when the +"gouvernement makes a 'bêtise'" (which sometimes +happens) they criticize freely, and he tells it all to us. +I fancy he always defends W. in public—but of course +in private pitches into him well.</p> + +<p>I rather miss the big life—seeing so many people, and +being as it were behind the scenes—also our conversations +at night when W. had finished his signatures, and +Pontécoulant<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> came up from his quarters with the report +of the day, and got his instructions for the next morning. +W. is not at all "matinal" and hates doing any kind of +business early—must always have his ride first. We used +to sit in W.'s cabinet until two in the morning sometimes, +telling our experiences—some of mine were funny. I +hated an official reception day, but the gentlemen of the +protocol department thought it absolutely necessary, so I +was obliged to give in—and certainly nothing I did tired +me so much as those long Fridays in the big yellow drawing-room. +From 3 to 6 streams of people—women mostly—of +all nationalities—and of course no conversation possible—however +it wasn't always banal, as you will see. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>Our last Friday one of my friends had been in, very +much taken up with the journey to Rome—her clothes, +the climate, which hotel was the best, etc. When she +went out in a whirl of talk and excitement I turned to +one of the 14 women who were seated in a semicircle +on each side of me, and by way of continuing the conversation +said: "Il me semble qu'on serait très bien à +l'Hôtel de Londres à Rome en plein soleil," to which she +replied haughtily "Je n'en sais rien, Madame, je n'ai +jamais quitté Paris, et je m'en vante." W. wouldn't +believe it, but as I told him I couldn't have invented it. +I was rather sorry I hadn't pursued the conversation, and +asked her why she was so proud of that particular phase +of her life. I suppose she must have had a reason, which +naturally I couldn't understand, having begun my career +so very far away from either Rome or Paris. It is a +real pleasure though to be back in my own salon, and have +my nice little tea-table, and three or four of my friends, +and talk about anything and everything, and even do a +little music occasionally.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +January 20, 1880. +</div> + +<p>I didn't find my tea quite so pleasant the other day. +I was sitting in the little salon talking to one or two +ladies, and receiving their congratulations at being no +longer of the official world, and obliged to associate with +the Government people, when the footman appeared with +his eyes round, to announce that "La Présidente" +(Madame Grévy) was coming upstairs to pay Madame +a visit. I flew to the door and the top of the stairs (I +couldn't get any further) and received "ma Présidente" +in proper style. I ushered her into the salon where I had +left my friends (mad Royalists both). They were much +disgusted—however they were too well-bred to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +things disagreeable for me in my own house—and rose +when we came in. I named Madame Grévy—and as soon +as she had taken her seat, and declined a cup of tea, they +went away. Of course they <i>hated</i> getting up for +Madame Grévy, but there was nothing else to be done +as she and I were both standing. Happily no one else +came in but Prince Orloff, Russian Ambassador, who of +course knew Madame Grévy and talked easily enough. +She didn't stay long—it was the classic "visite de condoléance" +to the wife of the ex-Minister (if she only +knew how glad this <i>Ex</i> was to return to private life and +her own house, and to be no longer "logée par le gouvernement"). +This is the second visit of condoléance I +have had. When Marshal MacMahon dismissed (suddenly) +all his cabinet presided by Jules Simon, 16th of +May, 1877, Madame de MacMahon came also to see me—and +at the same time—5 o'clock on my reception day—so +I knew precisely what the conversation would be—and +Madame Grévy and I both said exactly the same +things that the Maréchale and I had said two or three +years ago. I suppose everybody does say the same thing +on certain occasions. After she had gone Orloff asked +me if I remembered those two ladies meeting (for the +first time in their lives) at the Quai d'Orsay on one of +my Fridays. Just after the Marshal resigned Madame +de MacMahon came to see me. She was announced by +all the servants and I had plenty of time to get to the door +of the first drawing-room, not quite to the anteroom, to +receive her. When her husband was President she was +received always like Royalty—at the door of the apartment. +She was very simple and easy, quite pleased evidently +at still having all her honours. Prince Orloff came +in to pay a visit, and we were having a very pleasant talk, +when I heard quick footsteps in the second salon, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +again appeared my faithful Gérard (I had also visions +of numberless doors being opened all down the enfilade +of salons) announcing Madame Grévy. I was embarrassed +for a moment as I didn't like to leave the Maréchale, +and yet I knew I must go and meet Madame Grévy—all +the ceremony of course was for the official position, +and one Présidente was just the same as the other. +Madame de MacMahon was most amiable—said at once—"Je +vous en prie, Madame, ne pensez pas à moi"—and +"au fond" was rather curious to see her successor. +I went as quickly as I could (Orloff giving me a funny +little smile, <i>almost</i> a wink, as I passed him) and got my +other Présidente just at the door. She was rather astounded +I think at her reception—she hadn't been long +in her exalted position. We proceeded majestically +through three or four salons, and when we arrived at +my drawing-room Madame de MacMahon got up at +once, saying quite simply "Voulez-vous me présenter, +Madame, à Madame Grévy?" She was quite at her +ease—Madame Grévy rather shy and embarrassed—however +Madame de MacMahon talked at once about some +of the great charities, artists, etc., and it really wasn't +too stiff—Orloff of course always helping and making +jokes with the two ladies. One or two visitors came in +and gasped when they saw the situation—also one of the +young men of the Cabinet, who instantly disappeared. +I always thought he went to tell W. what was happening +upstairs so that he might come to the rescue in case +I wasn't up to the mark ... but he swears he +didn't. When the Maréchale got up to go there was +again a complication as I wanted to accompany her to +the door, and I didn't like to leave Madame Grévy. She +wouldn't hear of my going through all the salons—took +leave of me at the door—and then Orloff came to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +rescue—gave her his arm and took her to her carriage. +It was a curious meeting, and, as Orloff said just now, +"je lui devais une fameuse chandelle."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + + +<div class="signature"> +February 6, 1880.</div> + +<p>We are starting to-night, straight for Florence, where +we shall stay a week or ten days with the Bunsens before +going on to Rome. W. is much pleased at the Roman +prospect—and I can hardly believe that I am going to +see Rome again. We have our lit-salon straight through +to Florence, and I hope we shall be warm enough. It is +bitterly cold to-day—even walking I was glad to have +my sealskin coat. Nounou is rather tearful at being left +in sole charge of Francis, but as that young gentleman +is perfectly well, in roaring spirits, and will be given +everything his heart desires by his Grandmother and +Aunts, I don't feel very unhappy about him. It seems +incredible that we should be going to meet soon. How +we will prowl about Rome. I suppose I shall find it +absolutely changed—so many more people—not our dear +old dead Rome.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 469px;"> +<img src="images/illus023.png" width="469" height="500" alt="Mrs. Charles King." title="Mrs. Charles King." /> +<span class="caption">Mrs. Charles King.</span> +</div> + +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i><a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Florence, Via Romana, Villa McDonnell,</span><br /> +February 8, 1880.</div> + +<p>We arrived quite comfortably, dear mother, but almost +frozen, particularly W. He has not been extracted from +the fire since we got here. Henrietta will have told you of +our start. Pontécoulant and one or two men were at +the station to see us off—also the Chef de Gare, most +civil, and saying we should not be disturbed at the frontier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>—and that our coupé-lit would take us straight +through to Florence. We had a perfectly easy journey, +and I slept quite peacefully—waking up merely when we +passed through the tunnel, as the guard came in to shut +all the windows. It was a beautiful, cold, starlight +winter night. The great mountains covered with snow +looked gigantic as we approached—"sinistres" as Madame +Hubert<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> said. She was much impressed and rather +nervous. There were very few people in the train. When +we arrived at Modane the Chef de Gare was waiting +for us—he had been telegraphed from Paris to expect +us. We had breakfast in the private room, and a +nice woman was waiting for us upstairs in the ladies' +room with hot water, towels, etc. I made quite a toilet—she +carried off my dress and jacket to brush—and then +we went down to a nice little breakfast which tasted very +good, as I hadn't had anything since our 7 o'clock dinner. +They offered us coffee somewhere—Dijon I think—but +I didn't want anything then. All the first part of the +road—in fact all the road to Turin was lovely. It was +a bright, cold morning, and the snow mountains looked +beautiful. It was such a pleasure to hear Italian once +more—even the names at the stations "capo stazione"—"grande +velocità"—"uscita," etc., also the shrill "partenza" +when we started. The last time I crossed the +Mont Cenis was by the Fell railway when we all started +together from Aix. That was certainly very beautiful—but +rather terrifying—particularly as we neared the +top and looked at the steep places and the various zigzags +we were to follow going down. One couldn't help +feeling that if a brake or chain broke there would be a +terrible catastrophe. I remember so well some of the +women who were quite sea-sick—the swaying motion, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +suppose, as we rounded the curves, of which there were +many. I can see one now stretched out on the floor on +a rug in the small salle d'attente at Susa, quite exhausted +and absolutely indifferent to the outside world.</p> + +<p>We had quite a wait at Turin. Our coupé was detached +and put on the Florence express. They locked +the doors, and we left all our things—books, shawls, +bags, etc.—and had a very fair dinner at the buffet. We +had so much time that Madame Hubert and I went for +a little walk. There was not much to see close to the +gare—but it was delightful to me to hear Italian again, +and to see the idle, placid crowd standing about—nobody +in a hurry apparently, and nobody jostling and pushing +through, though there were trains starting or coming in +all the time. W. was too cold to move—he really should +have had a fur coat—which he utterly despises—says that +will do when he is 70, and can't walk any more. It was +warm and fairly light in the buffet so he established himself +there with a paper and was quite happy. We got here +about 6.30—Charles de Bunsen was at the station with +a carriage—so we came off at once, leaving Madame +Hubert and Francesco with the trunks. How she will +get on in Italian I don't know, but she is very active and +débrouillarde, and generally makes herself understood. +Mary<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> was waiting for us with tea and those crisp little +grissini<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> we always used to have in Casa Guadagni. +They have a charming "villino"—part of the McDonnell +villa. One goes in by a small door (in one of the +narrow grey streets of old Florence, with high walls on +each side—Via Romana) and straight up a fine broad +staircase to a good palier with large high rooms opening +out on it. All the bed-rooms and small salon open on a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>loggia overlooking the garden—a real old Italian garden. +I shall never be dressed in time for anything in the morning, +as I am always on the loggia. The flowers are all +coming out—the birds singing—the sky bright, deep +blue—and the whole atmosphere so soft and clear—and +in fact Italian—different from everything else.</p> + +<p>Mary has arranged the small salon (which they +always sit in) most prettily and comfortably—with +bibelots and quantities of books about in all languages—there +are usually four going in the establishment—Charles +and his daughter speak always German to each +other—the rest of us either French or English—it depends +rather upon what we are talking about—and +always an undercurrent of Italian with the servants and +"parlatrice" (such a sweet, refined looking girl who +comes every day to read and speak Italian with my belle-mère). +Mrs. Waddington strikes at the mixture at +meals and insists upon one language, either English or +French. There is also a charming German girl here, +Mlle. de Sternberg, a niece of Charles de Bunsen—so we +are a most cosmopolitan household. The life is utterly +different from the one I have been leading for the last +two years.</p> + + +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +February 10, 1880. +</div> + +<p>I try and write every day, but am so much taken up +and so tired when I come in that I don't always find the +moment. W. is all right again. He really got quite a +chill from the cold night journey—and for two or three +days sat <i>in</i> the fire. Francesco, the Italian servant, took +excellent care of him—was so sympathetic the night we +had some music and W. couldn't appear. It was a pleasant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +evening—a Russian Prince (I forget his name, and +couldn't probably spell it if I remembered), a great friend +of Mary's, an excellent musician and a great Wagnerian +offered to come and play some of the Nibelungen. I was +delighted as I only know Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. I +remember now your sigh of relief when Seilern and I +finished playing à 4 mains the Walpurgis Night years +ago in the Champs Elysées. I daresay it was trying for +the public—but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. The +big drawing-room looked very pretty, with plenty of +flowers, and I think there were about 50 people—almost +all (except Lottie and Madame de Tchiatcheff) ardent +admirers of the great man. One lady appeared in a sort +of loose, red gown (it seems red is the only colour Wagner +admits), her hair, very pretty, blonde, hanging down +her back, just tied with a ribbon—and carrying two partitions. +Mary said, "Wouldn't you like to sit by her, +and she will explain it all to you?"—but I said there was +nothing I would like so little. I knew enough of the +legend to be able to follow, and moreover I had always +heard that Wagner's descriptive music was so wonderful +that one understood everything without any text, etc. +The great man appeared—the grand piano was opened +all over to give as much sound as possible—and he requested +absolute silence. He played beautifully—it was +enchanting—one quite heard the little waves in which the +Rhein-Töchter were disporting themselves. It was wonderfully +melodious and delicate—I should have liked it to +go on forever. He played for about three-quarters of +an hour—all Rheingold—then suddenly pushed back his +chair, and rushed to the anteroom, exclaiming "de l'air—de +l'air," followed by all the red and musical ladies. +It is a pity there must always be such a pose with Wagner—for +really the music was a joy. I met of course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +quantities of old friends, and agreed to go to Lottie Van +Schaick's ball.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +February 12, 1880.</div> + +<p>W. and I had a lovely long flânerie this morning. He +is quite well again, and the sun was tempting. It seems +quite a different Florence living over here, and I must +say much more old-world and Italian than the Lungarno, +with all the modern hotels and apartments, and +evident signs of forestieri<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> everywhere. As soon as we +cross the bridge it is quite different—a gay, bustling, +northern city. W. was so much amused the other day—we +were in a fiacre and the driver put on the brake to +go down the almost imperceptible descent on the other +side of the bridge. We went straight across to the +Piazza del Duomo to-day, where the market was held, +and wandered in and out among the stalls. It was all +so familiar—little green cucumbers, almonds, and strings +of fried fish, with a good healthy smell of "frittura." +The people were all most smiling, and so pleased when I +spoke Italian to them, and said I was so happy to be +back in their country again. W. has no opinion of my +Italian. He came to my room this morning followed by +the Italian servant to tell <i>me</i> to tell him that his razor +must be sharpened. I began, and came to a dead halt—hadn't +the slightest idea what razor was in Italian. W. +was much disgusted, but I explained that when I was living +in Italy before as a girl, I hadn't often had occasion +to ask for razors—all the same he has evidently lost confidence, +and thinks my reputation as a linguist "surfaite."</p> + +<p>This afternoon we had a lovely drive up the Fiesole +hill with Mary and Beatrice. Their man, who goes on +the carriage, is called "Bacco" and is so Italian and +sympathetic—takes a lively interest in all our proceedings—knows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +everybody we meet, and talks cheerfully +with any of his friends we happen to cross. The view +from Fiesole was divine—the long slopes of cyprus and +olive trees—with Florence at the bottom of the valley, +and the Arno just visible—a streak of light. I am so +fond of the grey green of the olives. It all looked so +soft and delicate in the sunset light.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +February 13, 1880.</div> + +<p>We are getting dreadfully mondain. The other night +we had a pretty, typical Florentine party at Edith +Peruzzi's.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> We went a little after ten and thought we +would be among the first, but the rooms were already +full—quantities of people (not many of my old friends) +and splendid jewels. It was much more real Florentine +society than the people we used to see when we lived in +Casa Guadagni. <i>They</i> were generally the young, sporting, +pleasure-loving set, with a good dash of foreigners, +artists, diplomatists, etc. These were the real polite, +stiff Italians of the old régime. Many people were introduced +to us, and W. enjoyed his evening immensely—found +many interesting people to talk to. He was delighted +to meet Bentivoglio again, and they immediately +retired into a corner, and plunged into Asia Minor and +coins. Edith looked very well, did the honours simply +and graciously; and Peruzzi really not changed—always +the same tall, handsome, aristocratic type.</p> + +<p>Last night was Lottie Van Schaick's ball, very gay +and handsome. Mary wouldn't go—so I chaperoned the +two girls—Beatrice and Rosa Sternberg. They made a +very pretty contrast—Rosa von Sternberg is fair and +slight, a pretty, graceful figure. Beatrice on rather a +larger scale, with a very white skin, and beautiful dark<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +eyes. W. and Charles Bunsen came too, but didn't stay +very long. We went late as the Florence balls always +last so long. I met quantities of old friends, and made +a tour de valse with Carlo Alessandri for the sake of old +times. W. was much amused to see all the older men +still dancing. At the Paris balls the danseurs are all +so young—few of the married men dance—only the very +young ones. I didn't wait for the cotillon—it hadn't +begun at 3.30. The supper is always before the cotillon +which of course prolongs the festivity.</p> + +<p>I was lazy this morning, as we came in so late last +night, so W. and I only went for a turn in the Boboli +Gardens. The shade was so thick it was almost black—but +it was resting to the eyes. There are very few +flowers, one had a general impression of green. This +afternoon we have been driving about leaving cards, and +ending with a turn in the Cascine. There everything +seemed exactly the same as when we lived there ten years +ago. The same people driving about in the same carriages, +and everybody drawing up on the Piazza, and +talking to their neighbours. It amused me to drive down +the Lungarno to our bridge. There were quantities of +carriages and people lounging on the pavement, and looking +at the river. The instant one crosses the bridge it +is perfectly different—narrow streets, high walls, few +carriages, no loiterers.</p> + +<p>Our garden was beautiful to-night—a splendid moon +just rising over the black trees, and a soft delicious air. +We have had a quiet evening, talking and reading in the +small salon. Charles was very interesting, talking about +old Italy and their beginnings in Turin. It seems the +etiquette of that Court was something awful. Mary told +us that she was talking one day to the Marchesa S. (a +lively little old lady who took snuff) who had been in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +her time a famous wit and beauty, dame d'honneur to the +wife of Carlo Alberto. Mary was rather complaining of +the inconvenience of going to the winter reception of the +Duchess of Genoa (she had only one in the year) where +all the ladies of the Corps Diplomatique were obliged +to go in full dress décolletée at about 4 in the afternoon. +"Ah, ma chère," said the old Marchesa, "what would +you have said in our time?" She told her that when the +Queen-Mother was ill in the winter at the Château of +Stupinigi, some miles from Turin, all her ladies had to +go and inquire for her in full dress and manteaux de +cour, and that when they knew she was in bed, and could +see no one. Mary has splendid Italian lace which she +bought from one of the ladies of the old Queen after her +death. It would cost a fortune now, and in fact could +not be had unless some private individual in reduced circumstances +was obliged to sell. I had a nice visit from +Alberti to-day—just the same—gay, impossible, saying +the most risqué things in a perfectly natural way, so that +you can hardly realize the enormities you are listening +to. They don't sound so bad in Italian—I think the language +veils and poetizes everything. He is very anxious +we should go out and spend the day at Signa—his most +lovely place—and I wish we could, I should like W. to +see it—so much natural beauty—and, with our northern +ideas, so absolutely neglected—splendid rooms, painted +ceilings—no practical furniture of any kind, and a garden +that was a dream of wild beauty—flowers everywhere, +climbing up over the roof, around bits of grey +wall, long grass that almost twisted around one's feet, +and such a view from the terrace. I told W. afterward +of our great day there long ago, when we started at 10 +in the morning and got back at 2 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> I wonder if +you remember the day? We were a large party—Van<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +Schaicks, Maquays, Coxes, and others whose names I +forget and pretty much every man in Florence (of all +nationalities). We started by rail—the women all in +light muslin dresses and hats. We were met by carriages +of all kinds—Alberti's own little pony-trap—and +a collection of remarkable vehicles from all the neighbouring +villages. The drive was short, but straight up +a steep hill—the villa most beautifully situated at the +top, with a background of green hills. Two or three +rooms had been arranged for us—so we took off cloaks—a +nice, sympathetic Italian woman brushed off the dust—and +we went at once to breakfast in the state dining-room—the +big doors on the terrace open. Some of the +men had their breakfast out there. After breakfast we +all wandered about the garden—such thick shade that +it was quite comfortable. It was pretty to see the white +figures flitting in and out among the trees. About 3 I got +into a riding skirt and loose jacket, and went for a ride +with Alberti and a Frenchman, Brinquant, a friend of +Alberti—very gay, and entrain, and perfectly amused at +the entertainment—so sans façon and original. We had +a lovely ride—through such narrow roads—branches of +the orange trees and roses nearly coming into our faces +as we cantered along the little steep paths. I had a pretty +little mare—perfectly sure-footed, which was an absolute +necessity as the hill paths were very steep, with many +curves, and full of rolling stones. We pottered about for +an hour, and when we got home I thought I would retire +to one of the rooms and rest for half an hour before +I got back into my afternoon dress, but that was a delusion. +They all came clamouring at the door, and insisted +upon my coming out at once, as the whole party were to +be photographed. As I was perfectly confident that they +would all come in if I didn't come out, there was nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +to be done, and I joined the group. It was rather a long +affair, but at the end seemed satisfactory. Then we had +tea on the terrace, and sat there watching the sun go +down behind the Signa hills, leaving that beautiful afterglow +which one only sees in Italy—the green tints particularly.</p> + +<p>Three or four men came out for dinner who hadn't +been able to get off early (diplomates, I fancy, for they +were certainly the only men in this gay city who had any +occupation), also a tapeur<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and little objets for the cotillon. +We did have about an hour before dinner to rest +and make ourselves look as nice as we could—but +naturally a long, hot day wandering about in a garden, +and sitting on half-ruined crumbling stone walls doesn't +improve muslin dresses. The dinner was very gay and +good, and the hour on the terrace afterward with coffee, +enchanting. One or two of the men had brought guitars, +and there were scraps of songs, choruses, "stornelli," +going on all the time. One man, with a lovely tenor +voice, sat on the lower step singing anything—everything—the +rest of us joining in when we knew the song. +The terrace was quite dark—the house brilliantly lighted +standing out well; and every now and then the Italian +servants would appear at the door with their smiling +faces—black eyes and white teeth—evidently restraining +themselves with difficulty from joining in the choruses. +I really don't think Mary's "Bacco" could have resisted. +I always hear him and Francesco singing merrily over +their work in the morning. They certainly are an easy-going, +light-hearted race, these modern Florentines. +One can hardly believe that they are the descendants of +the fierce old Medici who sit up so proud and cold on +their marble tombs at San Lorenzo.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> +<p>We began the cotillon about 10, and it lasted an hour +and a half. There were 10 couples, plenty of flowers and +ribbons, and, needless to say, an extraordinary "entrain." +We ended, of course, with the "Quadrille infernal" +(which Alberti always leads with the greatest spirit), +made a long chain all through the house down the terrace +steps (such a scramble) and finally dispersed in the +garden. I shouldn't like to say what the light dresses +looked like after that. We started back to Florence +about midnight in two coaches—such a beautiful drive. +The coming out of the gates, and down the steep hill with +a bad road and a narrow turn was rather nervous work—but +we finally emerged on the broad high-road looking +like a long silver ribbon in the moonlight winding down +the valley. We had the road quite to ourselves—it was +too late for revellers, and too early for market people, +so we could go a good pace, and galloped up and down +the hills, some of them decidedly steep. It was a splendid +night—that warm southern moon (so unlike our cold +white moonlight) throwing out every line sharply. It was +just 3 o'clock when we drew up at Casa Guadagni.</p> + +<p>I didn't intend to write so much about Signa, but I +had just been telling it all to W., and I think it will +amuse the family in America.</p> + + +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Villa McDonnell</span>,<br /> +February 15, 1880.</div> + +<p>I try and write every day, but it is not easy. We are +out all the time. The weather is divine, and it seems +wicked to stay indoors. W. and I go out every morning, +and we do a good deal of sight-seeing in a pleasant, idle +way. I go sometimes to the Boboli Gardens and wait +for him there when he has letters to write. It is all so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +unlike our Florence of ten years ago; I love the quiet +grey streets. The gardens are delicious; dark and cool; +you see no one, hear nothing but the splash of the fountains, +and the modern busy world doesn't exist. I am +becoming quite intimate with the custode—he is most +friendly—smiles all over when W. appears—and remarked +the other day casually when he was late and I +was waiting at the gate, "Il marito si fa aspettare." +This morning we pottered about the Ponte Vecchio, +where all the shops look exactly the same, and apparently +the same old wrinkled men bending over their pearls and +turquoises. So many foreigners have bought pearls that +the prices have all gone up. There has been a great influx +of strangers these last days as Easter is early, and +we hear English on all sides. Two pretty fair-haired +English girls were loitering about the bridge and shops, +attracting much attention and admiration, quite freely +expressed, from some of the numerous young men who +are always lounging about; but the admiration is so genuine +and so open that no one could be angry or consider +it an impertinence.</p> + +<p>Do you remember one of my first Italian experiences +in crossing the Piazza di Spagna one afternoon with my +white kitten on my shoulder, and one of the group of +"paini"<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> standing at the door of the bank remarked +smilingly, "Che gatto fortunato!" I was rather taken +aback but pleased certainly. At Doney's in the Via +Tornabuoni, there is always the same group of men on +the pavement about tea-time, when every one goes in for +a cup of tea or chocolate—all much interested in the +pretty girls who go in and out—also the society men +standing at the door of the Club making remarks and +criticising, with rather more reserve perhaps.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> +<p>We took a fiacre when we had crossed the bridge and +drove to Santa Maria Novella. The black and white +façade looked like an old friend, also the spezeria where +we used to buy the sachets of iris powder in the old days. +We wandered all over the church, looked at the frescoes +and the wonderful Cimabue Madonna, and then through +the cloisters. A monk (one of the few left) in the long +white robe of the Dominicans was working in the garden. +He looked very picturesque in the little square of green, +and was apparently engrossed in his work as he didn't +even turn his head to look at us. He wasn't at all an old +man as we saw when he raised himself—was tall and +broad-shouldered. What a life it must be for a man in +the full force of strength and health. One can understand +it in the old days before books and printing, when +the Dominicans and Benedictines were students and their +parchments made history, but now when everybody reads +and discusses everything it seems incredible that a man +should condemn himself to such an existence.</p> + +<p>We dined at the Tchiatcheffs, and on our way home +crossed a procession of "la Misericordia"; all the men +with long cloaks and cowls drawn tight over their faces, +with slits for the eyes. One could see nothing but +bright, keen eyes, impossible to recognise any one. I believe +men of all classes belong to the society, and we +had probably various friends among them. I suppose they +were going to get a corpse (which is always done at night +in Florence, or, in fact, everywhere in Italy) and their +low, melancholy chant rather haunted me. They say they +do a great deal of good when there is an accident or +a case of malignant fever, in transporting the patient to +a hospital; but it was an uncanny sight. They tell me +they went to get a young Englishman the other day who +had fever, and was to be moved from the hotel to a private<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +hospital. It was the doctor's suggestion, and I am sure +they carried him quite well and gently, but it seems his +poor wife went nearly mad when the procession arrived, +and she saw all those black eyes gleaming from behind +the cowls.</p> + +<p>We have been this afternoon to tea at "Camerata," the +Halls' Villa. The drive out was charming, the day beautiful +and bright, flowers everywhere. Quantities of +peasant children ran alongside the carriage as we toiled +up the hills, chattering volubly (many <i>Inglesi</i> thrown +in) and holding out little brown hands filled with yellow +flowers. The Camerata garden and terrace were lovely. +It was still a little cool to sit out, so we had tea inside. +The lawn was blue with violets, and there were quantities +of yellow flowers, crocuses, narcissi everywhere, +roses just beginning. We met various old friends there—principally +English—among others Miss Arbuthnot, +looking quite the same; and the two Misses Forbes who +have a charming apartment in Florence—we went there +to tea the other day. Our friend and compatriot, Mrs. +K., was also there; very dressy and very foolish; poor +dear she never was wise. She was glad to see me, was +sure I was enjoying the change and rest after my "full +life"; then "Did you live in Paris?" I felt like saying, +"No, French Cabinet Ministers usually live in Yokohama," +but I desisted from that plaisanterie as I was sure +she would go away under the impression that W. had +been a member of the Japanese Cabinet. W. doesn't like +my jokes—thinks they are frivolous.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +February 17, 1880. +</div> + +<p>Our Talleyrand dinner last night was handsome and +pleasant. He was for years French Ambassador at +Petersburg (Baron Charles de Talleyrand-Périgord),<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +and is the type of the clever, old-fashioned French gentleman +and diplomatist. He married a Russian, Mlle. +Bernadaky. She is very amiable, has a beautiful voice +and beautiful jewels. I had Carlo Alessandri next to me, +and we plunged into old times. After dinner Talleyrand +and W. talked politics in the fumoir. He is of +course quite "d'un autre bord" and thinks Republican +France "grotesque," but W. said he was so moderate +and sensible, not at all narrow-minded, understanding +that a different opinion was quite possible, that it was +interesting to discuss with him. Talleyrand confided to +Mary afterward that he couldn't understand a man of +her brother's intelligence and education being a Republican.</p> + +<p>Madame de Talleyrand didn't sing, had a cold. I was +very sorry as I told her I should have liked to hear her +sing again "Divinité du Styx." It will be always associated +in my mind with the French-German war when +we were all at Ouchy together hearing fresh disasters +every day.</p> + +<p>This afternoon we went to have tea with "Ouida"<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +at her villa outside Florence. She was most anxious W. +should come to her—which he agreed to do—though +afternoon visits are not much in his line. As we were +rather a large party we went out in detachments, and +Madame de Tchiatcheff drove me. We arrived before +the Bunsens and W. Ouida came to the gate to meet +us, and Madame Tchiatcheff named me. She was civil, +but before I had time to say that M. Waddington was +coming in another carriage, she looked past me, saying, +"Et Monsieur Waddington—il ne vient donc pas," with +such evident disappointment and utter indifference to the +presence of <i>Madame</i> Waddington that I was rather taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +aback; but I suppose geniuses must not be judged like +other people. I was rather disappointed in her appearance. +I expected to see her dressed either in "primrose +satin with trails of white lace," or as an Italian peasant, +and she really looked like any one else—her hair cut short +and a most intelligent face. She was interesting when she +talked about Italy and the absolute poverty of the people. +She spoke either French or English, both equally +well. When the visit had been talked of at home we had +told W. he must read, or at any rate look over one of +her books. I didn't think he could undertake one of her +long novels, "Idalia" for instance, where the heroine +wanders for days through wood and dale attired in a +white satin dress, and arrives at her destination looking +like "a tall, beautiful, pure lily"; but I think he might +like one of her short Italian stories, which are charming, +such beautiful descriptions. I always remember one +of her sentences, "There is nothing in the world so beautiful +as the smile of Italy to the awakening Spring." +One felt that to-day in the garden, every bud was bursting, +everything looked green and fresh and young.</p> + +<p>Our dinner at home to-night was most agreeable. We +had Mlle. de Weling, a great friend of the Bunsens, +a clever, interesting woman whose girlhood was passed +at the old Nassau castle at Bieberich on the Rhine. Her +mother was one of the Duchess's ladies. I know the +place well, and used often to walk through the beautiful +park to the Rhine when I was staying with Mary. It is +quite shut up and deserted now. The old Duke held +out against United Imperial Germany, and never lived in +his Schloss after Nassau was annexed. It is a grand old +house with all its great windows and balconies facing +the Rhine. One could quite imagine an animated court +life (small court) there, with music, and riding, and excursions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +on the river. It is rather melancholy to see +such a fine old place deserted.</p> + +<p>We had, too, Comandi, an Italian who occupies himself +with orphan boys, and has a home for them near here +somewhere in the country which we are going to see some +day. Anna de Weling, too, has founded one or two small +homes in different parts of Germany. She read us a +letter the other day from one of her boys, quite grown +up now, whom she had placed. It began "Wir brauchen +Beinkleider" (we need trousers)—so naïf. The conversation +was almost entirely in Italian as Comandi speaks +no other language. All the Bunsens speak of course +perfectly—they lived in Italy for so many years at the +beginning of their diplomatic career. Mrs. Waddington +is quite wonderful, speaks and reads it perfectly. +Her nice little parlatrice is devoted to her.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +February 19, 1880.</div> + +<p>We have had two nice days. Yesterday we walked +straight across the bridge to the Piazza del Duomo—walked +about the Cathedral and the Baptistery trying to +make out the Saints' processions, and figures on the marvellous +bronze doors—but it would take weeks of study +to understand them. I was tired, and sat (very uncomfortably) +on a sort of pointed stone near the gates while +W. examined them. I really think I like the Piazza and +the open air and the street life as much as anything else. +There was so much movement, flower stalls, fruit, cakes, +those extraordinary little straw bottles of wine, children +playing and tumbling all over the place (evidently compulsory +education doesn't bother them much), and always +quantities of men standing about doing nothing, wrapped +up in their long cloaks, but what a wonderful cadre for +it all. The Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, Loggia, etc.—one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +can't imagine now the horrors that have been perpetrated +in that very square. I told the family the other day I +wanted to read "Nicolo dei Lapi" over again, and they +all jeered at me; but I must get it somewhere; it will +take me straight back to Frascati and the long hot days +of the cholera summer when I was reading it, and trying +so hard with my imperfect and school-girl translation to +make you understand the beauty and horrors of the book.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;"> +<img src="images/illus043.png" width="263" height="500" alt="President Charles King of Columbia College, New York City." title="President Charles King of Columbia College, New York City." /> +<span class="caption">President Charles King of Columbia College, New York City.</span> +</div> + +<p>I was telling Mrs. Waddington the other day of our +life at Frascati—the great cholera year at Albano +(1869), when so many people died—the Dowager Queen +of Naples, Princess Colonna, and Cardinal Altieri, who +came straight out to his villa as soon as the cholera broke +out (which it did quite suddenly). He was wonderful—went +about everywhere in all the poor little houses, +relieving and encouraging the sick and dying, holding up +the cross to the poor dim eyes when life was too nearly +gone for any words to avail; and finally was struck down +himself and died in two days. How terribly lonely and +cut off we felt—Dr. Valery was the only person we saw. +He was allowed to come out every day from Rome, but +was fumigated at the station at Frascati, and again in +Rome when he got back, obliged to change his clothes +outside the gate before coming into the city. We were +never at all nervous about the cholera. I don't think +there was one case at Frascati, and of course all our +thoughts were centred in that great big room with its +pink walls and mosaic floor where father<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> lay desperately +ill. It seems like a dream now, those hot summer nights, +when we used to go out on the terrace (upon which his +room opened) to get bouillon, ice, etc., and we fancied +we could see the cloud of disease hovering over the Campagna.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +When it was moonlight, and such moonlight, +that beautiful golden, southern moon, we saw a long +white line in the distance—the sea. Circulation was very +difficult, all the roads leading to Albano were barred, and +guarded by zouaves; and of course we heard tales of horror +from the Italian servants, always most talkative and +graphic in their descriptions. However on the whole +they behaved well. We used to ride every day, and +always passed a little chapel on the way to Castel Gandolfo, +which was filled with people kneeling and praying—a +long line stretching out quite across the road to a +little shrine just opposite. They used to make way for +us to pass without getting off their knees, only stretching +out their hands for anything the Principesse americane +would give them.</p> + +<p>Some of the women were quite absorbed, looking hard +at the Madonna in her shrine as if they expected some +visible sign of pity, or promise of help. I rather envied +them their simple faith; it must help them through many +moments of trial and discouragement.</p> + +<p>As usual I seem to have wandered from my original +subject, but Italy is so full of memories. We were too +tired to walk home, besides were a little late, so we took +a fiacre with a most friendly coachman, who saw at once +that we were strangers, pointed out all the places of interest, +and said it would be a delightful afternoon for +Fiesole, and he would come and get us if we would name +the hour.</p> + +<p>We found lots of letters and papers at the house, and +W. plunged into Paris and politics after breakfast. I +went for a drive with Mary and Beatrice to the Villa +Careggi. The house is nothing remarkable—a large +square building with enormous rooms, deep fireplaces, +and very high ceilings. Some good frescoes on the walls.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +The garden and terraces were enchanting—the sun really +too warm on the terrace—always a divine view; blue-purple +hills rolling away in the distance, and funny, +crooked little roads shut in between high walls, with +every now and then a gap, or a gate, which gave one +glimpses of straggling, unkempt gardens, with a wealth +of flowers and vines.</p> + +<p>We had a quiet dinner and evening, which we all enjoyed. +W. smoked and talked a great deal of the past +year and the last days at the Quai d'Orsay. He doesn't +miss the life in the least, which rather surprises me; I +thought he would be so bored with suddenly nothing to +do, and no part to play in the world's history; but I see +that the absolute rest and being with all his family is +doing him so much good. It is extraordinary how soon +one forgets, and takes up a quiet life again. Already +the whirl and fatigues of the Exhibition year seem so +far away I feel as if somebody else had lived that life. +I cannot imagine myself now dining out (and not ordinary +dinners, official banquets) 19 nights in succession, +but I suppose I should begin again quite naturally if we +returned to public life.</p> + +<p>Did you see the article in the "Français" saying +"M. Waddington will now have all the rest of his life +before him to consecrate to his studies"? I wonder! +This morning we had our usual walk—as W. was ready +at ten o'clock I didn't make my regular station in the +Boboli Gardens. We went to Vieusseux about a book +W. wanted, and then into the bank to pay George Maquay +a visit. He was most cheerful, and showed us a nice +article in the "Times" regretting very much W.'s departure +from the Foreign Office, "one of the few men +who could look ahead a little, and who was independent, +not limited in his views by what the Chamber of Deputies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +would think." I was rather pleased, but W. is very +calm about all newspaper articles. He always has a +"mauvaise presse" as we don't <i>soigner</i> any paper. I +fancy, though, Henrietta is right when she says the next +time he takes office she means to buy one—so many people +believe implicitly all they see in a paper, especially +when it says what you want to believe.</p> + +<p>We did a little shopping, I wanted some veils, and W. +remained outside looking at the grim old Strozzi Palace, +standing like a great fortress with its huge stones and +heavy doors in the middle of all the busy, bustling life +of the Tornabuoni. I think it is the one street in Florence +where people move about quickly, and as if they +were going somewhere. Everywhere else there are +crowds of people, men especially, doing nothing but sitting +all day in the sun looking at the passers-by.</p> + +<p>We hadn't time to walk over to San Lorenzo, so hailed +a fiacre, and wandered about there for some time. I was +delighted to see the Medici Chapel again and the famous +monument of Lorenzo. He does look as if he were thinking +out some great problem—I wonder what he would +think of our go-ahead, unartistic world, and of our politicians, +so timorous and afraid of responsibility—at least +the men of that race were strong for good or for evil. +When they wanted anything they did all they could to +get it. I don't know that the women were behindhand +either in energy when one thinks of Queen Catherine and +of all the Huguenots she disposed of one summer evening +in Paris. Do you remember our friend Mrs. A., a converted +Catholic, whom we overheard one night at the +Opera when they were shooting all the Huguenots in the +last act, telling her daughter (remained a Protestant) +that the Saint Bartholomew had nothing to do with +Catholics and Protestants; was entirely a political move.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>We have had a long drive this afternoon with Mary +and Charles, up the Poggio Imperiale—a stiff climb but +such a beautiful road—villas, cypresses, olive trees, and +roses everywhere. We went up to the Certosa, where +a nice old monk, in his white dress, showed us the church +and monastery. It was dark and rather cold in the +church, and nothing particular to see—good frescoes and +many coloured marbles—but the terrace outside was delightful. +There were not too many beggars on the road +considering that it is the favourite drive in Florence, and +of course the carriage people are at a disadvantage as +they must go slowly up the hill, and are escorted by a +long troop of children singing, dancing with a sort of +tambourine, turning somersaults, and enjoying life generally, +whether they get a few pennies or not. It is very +difficult to resist the children with their smiling faces and +evident desire to amuse the "forestieri."</p> + +<p>We went to Casa Guadagni before we came home, and +paid a visit to the Marchesa, who was at home. The +same old porter was at the door, and greeted me most +warmly, much pleased to see W. "bel uomo, il marito"—had +I any children, and where were all the rest of the +family?—that simple, natural Italian manner, without a +thought of familiarity. W. was delighted with Madame +Guadagni. She talked about everything and really didn't +look any older. I asked about our old apartment (piano +nobile—first floor); she said it was always let—generally +to foreigners. I <i>didn't</i> ask if she had made any modern +improvements since we lived there. Shall you ever forget +that cold winter with the doors that wouldn't open, +and the windows that wouldn't shut, and the chimneys +that always smoked, and the calorifère, which John +never would light, as he was afraid it would warm the +Guadagni rooms below? I should have liked to go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +over the apartment and see the rooms again—the big +ball-room where we danced so often and had so much +music. We wound up with a turn in the Cascine, drawing +up in the Piazza alongside of Lottie's carriage, which +was of course surrounded by all the gilded youth of Florence. +Maquay came to talk to us, Carlo Alessandri +and Serristori, whom I hadn't yet seen. He was just +the same (laughing and criticising) as in the old days +when some of the swells appeared in so-called Worth garments, +which he said were all made in a little room over +his stables, by the wife and daughters of one of his men.</p> + +<p>I was glad to get in and have a quiet hour to write +before dinner. I am at my table close up to the open +window. The air is soft and delicious—the garden +just beginning to look dark and mysterious in the waning +light. The group of cypresses (I don't know how +to write that in the plural, it looks funny) always black. +I was called off various times, and must finish now as we +are going to dine at the Maquays—we being ourselves, +Mary, and Charles. We generally go about a family +party.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Sunday, February 21, 1880. +</div> + +<p>We are making our pacquets as we have decided to +leave for Rome on Monday (22). The Schuylers are +clamouring for us, and though I hate to leave here I really +think we ought to go. As W. has never seen Rome +two months will not be too much. We shan't have much +more as he wants to get home for the Conseil Général. +The Schuylers want to have a big reception for us, and +would like next Sunday week, so I think we really shall +get off this time. The longer we stay the more invitations +we have. It has been all quite charming. Our +Maquay dinner was very easy and pleasant; the Tchiatcheffs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +Lottie, Alessandri, Talleyrands, Mrs. Fuller, and +one or two stray men. The house looked so natural—of +course the ball-room wasn't open as we were a small +party, but they lighted it after dinner. I wanted W. to +see how pretty it was and how light—white with red +seats all around. How it took me back to old times? +I seemed to see everybody settling for the cotillon—the +stairs too, where we all used to sit waiting for the cotillon +to begin. How we amused ourselves that winter in Florence, +and how scattered all that little band is now. The +Florentines amuse themselves still—there must be something +in the air which makes people light-hearted—one +can't imagine a serious, studious life in Florence.</p> + +<p>We spent two hours in the Uffizi yesterday looking at +all the old friends again. I was delighted to see the dear +little "St. John in the Wilderness" hanging just where +it did before, on one side of the door in the Tribuna; +also the Peruginos—I like them so much—his Madonnas +with their wooden faces, but a pure, unearthly expression +all the same, and the curious green colour one sees in +all his pictures. We saw as much as we could in the two +hours, but as it was the second visit we found our way +about better. I never rested until I found the corridor +with Niobe and all her children—it used to fascinate me +in the old days. One realized perfectly all those big +sons and daughters, so terrified, and the last little one +clinging to his mother's skirts.</p> + +<p>We went to tea, Mary and I, with Edith Peruzzi—quite +quietly—as she wanted to show me her children—and +fine specimens they are; a duck of a boy, quite +sociable and smiling. Nina and Louisa Maquay came in—Louisa +looked lovely. This morning I went to the +English church with Mary and Beatrice. We didn't go +out again till late—after tea—as we had various visitors,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +among others Schuyler Crosby, who had asked us to dine +but we had no evening left. I saw him riding the other +day in the Cascine, and recognised him some way off by +his seat. I don't know what it is, but whatever the +Americans do, whether riding, dancing, or tennis, they +do it differently from any one else. I was talking about +it the other day to an Englishman who had seen some of +the Anglo-American boat races, and he quite agreed with +me, said their rowing was very good, but quite another +thing from the English sport.</p> + +<p>We drove out again Fiesole way. It was enchanting—more +roses come out every day. There was a perfect +fringe of pink roses hanging over some of the old grey +walls. As it was Sunday, and a lovely day, there were +quantities of people about. There are scarcely any costumes +left, but all Italians like bright colours, and the +red and green fichus and aprons looked pretty and gay as +the various groups passed us. Some of the old women +were terribly bent, with such brown, wrinkled faces—one +could quite see that they had toiled up and down hills +under the Italian scorching sun all their lives, with baskets +and bundles of fagots on their backs—but the old +eyes were keen and smiling. They don't look so utterly +starved and wretched as Ouida (and others) say they +are. I suppose they live on nothing, and go on quite +simply, leading the same lives that their fathers and +mothers did before them, without knowing of anything +better.</p> + +<p>Tell Henrietta I haven't made much progress in the +travelling work she presented me with. I did take it out +into the drawing-room one evening, but the immediate +result of that was disastrous. I took it out of the bag +proudly, to show that I had silk, embroidery, scissors, +needles, etc., like everybody else, but left it on the table.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +Somebody wanted a book or a newspaper also on the +table; turned everything upside down, and the work, silk, +needles, thimble, etc., went rolling all over the floor. +When you think of the crevasses of an old parquet floor +in an Italian Palace, you can imagine how difficult it was +to find anything again. The two girls were hours on +their knees looking for my thimble which never turned +up—however, that will be an excellent reason for buying +a pretty little gold thimble with a row of turquoises that +I saw the other day in a shop on the Ponte Vecchio. +There is evidently a fate against my becoming an accomplished +needlewoman, and I am afraid the "clumsy +little fingers," which used to worry you so in the old days +of music lessons, have not improved with advancing +years. Perhaps I shall take to work in my old age. Isn't +it George Sand who says (and I don't believe she ever +took a needle in her hand), "Don't despise our less ambitious +sisters who work. Many great resolutions and silent +abnegations have been woven into the bright flowers +and delicate tracings of the embroidery in the long hours +spent over the frame."</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Monday Night, February 22, 1880.</div> + +<p>We really are starting to-morrow morning—trunks are +packed, compartment engaged, and we have said good-bye +to everybody. I made a last little turn this morning +in the Boboli Gardens. I didn't see the custode—I +wanted to say good-bye to him. Then we went to the +Pitti gallery, W. wanted to see one particular Botticelli, +"la bella Simonetta" I think, which he and Mary had +been talking about, and which we had missed the other +day. It is quite impossible to see everything. I had remembered +pretty well the principal pictures. Then we +took a fiacre and went out to San Marco to see the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +Fra Angelicos and Savonarola's cell. We had never +once got there, there is always so much to do. We +walked through the cloisters first—the frescoes are perfectly +well preserved—some of Fra Angelico's and others +less interesting. I wanted to see the cells, and was +quite pleased to recognise the "Coronation of the Virgin" +and the "Madonna and Child" surrounded by +angels, all in their long green-blue robes with wings and +musical instruments of all kinds. As usual people were +copying them, and I will try and find a pretty one and +bring it back. I want the one in a sort of light green +dress blowing a trumpet. The faces are quite beautiful, +so pure. He must have had a wonderful imagination—I +wonder if he believed angels look like that? Somehow +or other I always think of an angel in a white robe. We +saw of course Savonarola's cell, and they showed us his +rosary, and a piece of wood which is supposed to have +been taken from his funeral pile. It all looked so peaceful +and smiling to-day, one could hardly realize the long +hours of doubt and self-torture passed in these solitary +cells. There is a fine description in one of the numerous +books the Bunsens have on Florence, of Savonarola's +preaching—all the people congregated in the great +square before the church, when there was no longer any +room inside, leaving their shops and their work to come +and listen to him. That is one of the delightful things +in this household, you can always find a book in almost +any language about any subject that interests you, religion, +music, politics, everything.</p> + +<p>Beatrice has a delightful German magazine, "Monatsheft," +very well illustrated, with all the modern German +literature, stories, essays, criticisms, etc. One could almost +wish for a rainy day or a quiet evening to read a +little.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>W. went off by himself the other night and had a very +pleasant evening. First to the Piccolellis' where he found +a small party and his old friend Bentivoglio, with whom +he had travelled in the East. Of course they instantly +got into a corner and talked shop (medals). Then to +Lottie Van Schaick who had a few friends, where he +amused himself very much.</p> + +<p>Gertrude writes that our rooms are very nice, and the +man at the hotel delighted to have us. I wonder what +Rome will be like. It will seem funny to be back there +again, a respectable middle-aged lady. I think one should +always be young and gay to live in Italy.</p> + +<p>We had a fine musical evening Saturday with the +Landi family—five; mother, father, daughter, son, and +grandfather. Madame Landi sang anything, everything, +delightfully. Some of the stornelli and peasant songs, +those particularly of the Abruzzi mountains, were charming. +I wonder what Italians have got in their "gosier" +that we haven't, that gives such a charm to their simplest +song. I sang once or twice in French, and then Madame +Landi and I did some duos in Italian which went very +well. She was very complimentary over my Italian (I +told it triumphantly to W., but he remains under the impression +of the razor), said it was evident I had learnt +in Rome; the language is so much softer, or rather the +pronunciation "Lingua toscana in bocca romana."</p> + +<p>The old father was killing, knew everything, was +wildly interested, and criticised freely. I think the +daughter will have a very pretty voice, like her mother's, +a rich, low mezzo.</p> + +<p>I was called off by some visits, and will finish now. +My letter will go to-morrow morning. We don't start +very early—9.30—but I shall not have time to write anything +more.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Hôtel de Londres, Rome,</span><br /> +February 24, 1880.</div> + +<p>We arrived last evening for dinner, dear mother, and +are most comfortably settled. We have a nice apartment +on the second floor—a large bright salon with a +good bed-room on either side of it for me and W., and a +very fair anteroom where Madame Hubert has just had +another wardrobe put up. She interviewed the gérant +and made it clear to him that it was impossible for her +to unpack her mistress's dresses until she had something +suitable to put them in. We found flowers and papers +on the table from the Schuylers, Mrs. Bruce, and the +proprietor of the hotel.</p> + +<p>I thought we should never get away from Florence. +We were so happy there with the Bunsens and Mrs. Waddington, +and every day there was something to see or do. +The weather was divine the last days—the hills were +quite a pink-purple sometimes as we drove home after +sunset, and quantities of roses climbing up all the old +grey walls. We had a very easy journey—they had +reserved a carriage for us, which was a good precaution, +as the train was crowded. We got to Rome about six. +W. was quite excited as we approached (it is too funny +to think that he had never been here), and very anxious +for the first glimpse of St. Peter's. I can't say we saw +the dome from a great distance—I fancy it depends upon +which way you enter Rome. We found the Schuylers at +the station with a carriage, and drove at once to the hotel, +where Gert had ordered tea and a pannettone. If +I hadn't known I was coming to Rome I should never +have believed it on arriving at the station. It was so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +unlike the little old Termine of our Roman days—the +funny little station so far away, with few porters or +cabs, and comparatively few voyageurs. I was quite bewildered +with the rush into this great, modern station, +with porters and officials of all kinds, and all the bustle +of a great city.</p> + +<p>I looked in vain for some familiar landmarks as we +came along. Nothing. The new streets, Via Garibaldi +and Nazionale—an abomination, tall ugly maisons de location +and official buildings so new and regular—awful! +It wasn't until we got into the town and near the Piazza +di Spagna that I really felt that I was back in Rome; that +of course was unchanged. It brought back such a flood +of memories as we passed 20, and all the first happy days +in Rome came back to me, before father's illness, when +he enjoyed everything so much, and wrote to Uncle John +that "the hours were golden." The "barca" looked +just the same, with boys and women leaning up against +the stones, flower-girls on the Spanish Steps, and even +old Nazzari's low, dark shop opposite looked picturesque. +W. was quite surprised to see me so sentimental, though +I had warned him that for me there was no place in the +world like Rome.</p> + +<p>The Schuylers stayed talking some little while, then +had to go, as they were dining out, but promised to come +in after dinner. W. asked me if I was too tired to go +for a little stroll (the tea had refreshed us), so we started +up the Spanish Steps to the Villa Medici, where we +had that beautiful view of Rome. I showed him the +stone pines of the Doria-Pamphili, which stood out splendidly +against the last bright clouds of the sunset—it was +quite lovely. We stayed out quite late, and were received +with respectful, but decidedly disapproving greetings +from the gérant when we came in. It was not at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +all prudent for "Eccellenza" and Madame to remain out +late, particularly as they must be very tired after a long +journey. We dined downstairs in the big dining-room. +There was a long table d'hôte full—people about half +through their dinner—and at the extreme end of the room +five or six small tables, one of which had been reserved +for us. I didn't see any one I knew, but two men got +up and bowed as we passed. The dinner was good—the +head waiter hovering about us all the time, and of +course always addressing W. as "Eccellenza." We had +coffee upstairs. W. smoked and I read the paper and +one or two notes. About ten the Schuylers appeared, +very cheerful and full of propositions of all kinds. They +have got a big reception for us on Sunday night—Roman +and diplomatic—and we agreed to breakfast with them +to-day. Gert looked very well in blue, with her diamond +necklace and feathers. They don't seem very pleased +with Marsh—our Minister. Always the same old story +and jealousy—the ministers consider themselves so far +above a consul. But really when the Consul-General +happens to be Schuyler and his wife King, one would +think these two names would speak for themselves—for +Americans, at any rate.</p> + +<p>We told Schuyler how many compliments we had had +both in Paris and Florence for his "Peter the Great"—so +much in it, and yet the subject one that had been +written about so often. They went off about eleven, and +I was glad to go to bed; could hardly believe I was sleeping +again in the Piazza di Spagna. I certainly never +imagined when I left Rome tearfully so many years ago +that I would come back as the wife of a French statesman.</p> + +<p>I was busy all the morning unpacking and settling myself, +and of course looking out of the window. It is all +so delightfully familiar—all the botte standing in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +middle of the street, and the coachman trying so hard to +understand when some English or American tourists give +them some impossible address in Italian—you know the +kind of people I mean, conscientious tourists who think +they must always speak the language of the country they +are in, learned out of a phrase-book. We have various +invitations, from our two Embassies, Quirinal and Vatican, +also the Teanos, and W. had a nice visit from +Lanciani, who wants to show him all Rome. We took a +botta to go to the Schuylers. It isn't far, but I wasn't +quite sure of finding my way the first time. They have +a charming apartment in Palazzo Altemps, near the +Piazza Navona, not at all far really from our hotel, and +now that I know the way I can often walk over in the +mornings when W. is off sight-seeing seriously with some +of his learned friends. It is a fine old palace with a large +open court and broad stone staircase. San Carlo Borromeo +is supposed to have lived there. Their apartment +belongs to Mrs. Terry, wife of the artist, who had arranged +it very comfortably, and the Schuylers have put in +all their Turkish rugs, carpets, and bibelots, so it really +looks very pretty. There are quantities of green plants +and flowers about (they are both fond of flowers and are +always making experiments and trying something new) +and of course books, papers, reviews, and a piano.</p> + +<p>I told Gert I thought I would write to Vera and have +some singing lessons—I have done so little singing since +I have been married. Eugene is a charming host, and he +and W. had plenty to talk about. I inspected Gert's +wardrobe while they were smoking. Her dresses are all +right, and I think her maid is good. I wrote all this after +I came in. The man of the hotel had engaged a carriage +for us—a nice little victoria with a pair of greys. +It comes from Tomba's stables—do you remember the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +name? The same loueur we had when we lived here. +The coachman said he remembered me perfectly, had +often driven the "signorine" to the meets, and hoped +la maman was well. We were lucky to get such a nice +little carriage. The d'Aubignys, a French couple, had +just given it up, as they were leaving the Embassy here +for Berlin.</p> + +<p>We drove about a little—left cards for the Noailles, +Desprez, Cairolis, and wound up in the Villa Borghese, +which was again quite changed—such quantities of carriages +and people walking, also Italian officers riding, and +soldiers, bersaglieri, etc., about. We crossed the Wimpffens, +looking very smiling, and saw in the distance, as +we were coming out, the royal red liveries, but the carriage +was too far off to see who was in it. Now we are +going to dinner, and I shall be glad to get to bed early. I +think I am more tired than yesterday.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Hôtel de Londres,</span><br /> +February 26, 1880.</div> + +<p>I will begin again this afternoon, as I have a little +time before dinner. The weather is divine, quite the +same deep-blue sky and bright sun of our first Roman +winter. We have had an enchanting drive out of Porta +San Sebastiano and along the Via Appia as far as Cecilia +Metella—everything exactly the same as when we were +there so many years ago. The same peasant carts blocking +up the narrow gateway, everybody talking at once, +white teeth gleaming, and quantities of little brown +children with black eyes and jet black hair tumbling down +over their eyes and outstretched hands for anything the +forestieri would put into them. W. was a little disappointed +at first. The road is narrow, an atrocious pavement, +and high walls almost shutting out the view. However,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +as we got farther out there came gaps in the walls +through which one saw the whole stretch of the Campagna +with the Claudian Aqueduct on one side, and when +we finally emerged into the open fields, he was delighted. +How extraordinary all these old tombs and pyramids are, +most of them falling in ruins, with roses and creepers of +all kinds holding them together. On one of the largest +round tombs there was a peasant house with a garden and +vines, and smoke coming out of the chimney, perched +quite on the top, with a steep, stony path winding down, +where the coachman told me the donkey went up and +down, as he too lived in the house with the family. Some +of the tombs are very high—real towers. There is +hardly a trace of marble or inscription left, but the original +building so strong that the walls remain.</p> + +<p>The queer old tombs, towers, and bits of ruins all along +the road interested W. immensely; though he has never +been here he knows them all from photographs and reproductions, +and could tell me a great deal more than I could +tell him. We went as far as the round tomb of Cecilia +Metella, and then got out and walked a little. I wanted +to show him the low wall which we used to jump always +when the meet was at Cecilia Metella. Do you remember +the first time you came out to see us jump, not at a hunt +but one afternoon with Dyer practising to see what the +horses and riders would do? You saw us start at a canter +for the wall, and then shut your eyes tight until we +called out to you from the other side.</p> + +<p>This morning W. and I had our first regular turn at +sight-seeing. We took a nice little botta on the Piazza, +had our Baedeker—a red one, like all the tourists—and +were quite happy. Some of the old colleagues were +highly entertained seeing us driving about with our +Baedeker; said it was W. under a wholly different aspect.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +We wandered about the Vatican for two hours, seeing +quantities of things—Sistine Chapel, Stanze Raphael, +Apollo Belvedere, etc., and always a beautiful view over +the gardens. Later, he says, he must do it all regularly +and intelligently with one of his men friends, as I naturally +could not stand for hours recognising and deciphering +an old inscription. I left him from time to time, sat +down on one of the stone benches, talked to the custode, +looked at the other people, and gave them any information +I could. It interested me to see the different nationalities—almost +entirely English, American, German, very +few Italian, and no French—yes, one artist, a rather nice +looking young fellow who was copying something on the +ceiling of one of the "Stanze," rather a difficult process +apparently. There were many more women than men—groups +of English spinsters doing their sights most thoroughly—the +Americans more casual. The Apollo looked +splendid, so young and spirited. We walked some little +distance, coming home before we could get a fiacre, and +I had forgotten how cruel that Roman pavement was. I +don't believe any of my boots will stand it; I shall have +to get somewhere here a pair of thick-soled walking +shoes.</p> + +<p>We had a quiet hour after breakfast. I have arranged +a ladies' corner in the drawing-room. I was in despair +the first two days over the room. I had never lived in +small hotel quarters with a man, and I had no idea how +disorderly they are. The table was covered with pens, +papers—piles of them, three or four days old, thick with +dust—cigars, cigar ashes over everything, two or three +large, bulky black portfolios, very often a pot hat, etc. +So we compromised; W. took one end of the room and +I the other. I obtained from the gérant (thanks to Madame +Hubert, who is very pretty and on the best of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +terms with him) a small table, large china vase for a +plant, a nice arm-chair, and a cushion for the sofa, borrowed +a table-cloth from Gert, also some small things +for my table, and my end looked quite respectable and +feminine. The room is large, so we can really get on +very well. We had a pleasant visit from the Marquis +de Noailles, French Ambassador to the Quirinal, before +we went out. He has a charming, easy manner. We +are to breakfast at the Embassy, Palazzo Farnese, to-morrow +for me to make Madame de Noailles's acquaintance. +I wonder what I shall think of her? The +men all say she is a charmeuse. She is Polish born, was +a beautiful woman—I think all Poles have a great charm +of manner.</p> + +<p>Trocchi came in, too—so pleased to see me again and +to make W.'s acquaintance. The two senators talked +politics, and Noailles put me a little au courant of Roman +society and the two camps black and white. We went +out at 3.30, as I said before, to Cecilia Metella, and +stopped at Gert's for tea. W. walked home, and I stayed +a little while with her talking over the arrangements for +their reception on Sunday. Every one—Romans, diplomats, +and Americans—they have asked has accepted; but +their rooms are fairly large and I don't think they will +be crowded.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Hôtel de Londres,</span><br /> +Monday, February 29, 1880.</div> + +<p>I am still tired from the quantity of people we saw last +night at the Schuylers. Their reception was most brilliant; +all the world——However, I will begin at the beginning. +We went to church on Sunday, as Dr. Nevin +came to see us Saturday afternoon and said he hoped we +would not fail to come. W. found him clever and interesting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +He said he thought I should hardly recognise +him in his new church. It is very pretty—English style, +built by an English architect (Street) in the new quarter, +Via Nazionale, utterly unlike the bare little room outside +the Porta del Popolo, where we used to go and do the +music. It makes me laugh now when I think of the congregation +all embarked on a well-known hymn, when +suddenly Henrietta would lower the tune one note—if +I was tired, as often happened, as one of the gayest +balls in Rome was Princess Sciarra's on Saturday night. +When I had danced until four o'clock in the morning +(the test of the ball was how late it lasted) it was rather +an effort to be at church at 10.30 Sunday morning +and sing straight through the service. Henrietta had +the harmonium and I led the singing. I will say that +the effect of the sudden change was disastrous from a +musical point of view. However, we did our best. I am +afraid Henrietta was not always faithful to Bach and +Beethoven in her voluntaries. We had no music, and she +played whatever she could remember, and occasionally +there were strains of "Araby's Daughter" or "When +the Swallows Homeward Fly," which were quite perceptible +even through the minor chords. I liked doing +it all the same, and like it still. I am so fond of the old +hymns we used to sing as children, and should like to hear +"Shout the Glad Tidings" every Christmas. I never +have since we left America and Oyster Bay, where also +we did the music, and where, when we were late sometimes +for church, Faust, the big black Newfoundland dog +would come and bark when the bell had stopped, telling us +quite plainly we were late—he knew all about it.</p> + +<p>We made the regular Sunday turn in the afternoon—Villa +Borghese and Pincio—sent the carriage away and +walked home by the Villa Medici. W. loves the view<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +from the terrace. We met Mrs. Bruce, also looking at +the view, and walked home together. She told W. Cardinal +Howard wanted to see him, had known him in England +in the old days, also a young English monsignore—called +<i>English</i> oddly enough. She will ask us all to dine +together some night next week. I asked her if she remembered +her famous dinner long ago with Cardinal +Howard and Dean Stanley. The two divines were very +anxious to cross swords. They were such a contrast. +Dean Stanley, small, slight, nervous, bright eyes, charming +manners, and a keen debater. The Cardinal, tall, +large, slow, but very earnest, absolutely convinced. The +conversation was most interesting—very animated—but +never personal nor even vehement, though their views +and judgments were absolutely different on all points. +However, both were gentlemen and both large-minded. +W. was much interested, as he knew Dean Stanley and +his wife Lady Augusta well; they came often to Paris, +and were habitués of Madame Mohl's famous salon, +where the literary men of all creeds and countries used to +meet. It was there, too, that Dean Stanley and Renan +used to meet and talk, the two great intellects finding +points in common. I was taken there once or twice after +I was first married. It was a curious interior; Madame +Mohl, a little old lady, always dressed in white, with a +group of men standing around her chair—many more +men than women, and never more than twenty or thirty +people. I suppose it was the type of the old French literary +salon where people went to talk. I naturally listened +in those days, not being sufficiently up in all the political +and literary questions, and not pinning my faith absolutely +on the "Revue des Deux Mondes." Mrs. Bruce, +too, was often at Madame Mohl's.</p> + +<p>We stopped in a few minutes at the Trinità de' Monti,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +where there was a service of some kind going on. The +nuns were singing a low, monotonous chant behind their +grating; the church was quite dark, lights only on the +altar, a few women kneeling and absorbed, and a few +irreverent forestieri looking about and talking in whispers. +We came down the Spanish Steps, which were +quite deserted at that hour—models, beggars, flâneurs, all +resting from their labours.</p> + +<p>I was glad to rest a little before dinner, and only +dressed afterward, as I couldn't well go down to the public +dining-room in a low red satin dress and diamonds. +We went rather early—ten o'clock—to Palazzo Altemps, +but found many people already there. The apartment +looked very pretty, quantities of flowers and plants wherever +they could be put. Gert looked very well in yellow +satin, and Eugene is always at his best in his own house—very +courteous and receiving people as if it were a pleasure +to him (which I think it is). We found quantities of +old friends—Pallavicinis, Teanos, Lovatellis, Calabrinis, +Bandini, Pagets, Mrs. Bruce, Hooker, Grants, etc., and +quantities of people we didn't know, and whose acquaintance +we made of course—Mesdames Minghetti, Cairoli, +Despretis, and almost the whole of the Corps Diplomatique.</p> + +<p>W. enjoyed it very much, did his manners very well, +and never looked stiff or bored. I was delighted to see +the familiar faces once more. I almost felt as if we had +never been away. Madame de Noailles was astounded +at the number of people I knew—I think she hadn't realized +how long I had lived in Rome as a girl. She had +heard W. say it was his first visit to Rome, and thought +I, too, was here for the first time, and she was naturally +surprised to hear me talking to Calabrini about the hunts, +cotillons, his coach, and tempi passati generally.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>I have accepted so many invitations that I never can +remember them, but the ladies promised to send a card. +Aunt Mary Gracie was rather put out with me because I +wore no necklace (which couldn't be said of the Roman +ladies, who all wore splendid jewels), but I told her it +was the last chic in Paris to wear your necklace on your +bodice, not on your neck.</p> + +<p>We stayed on after all the beau monde had gone with +Aunt Mary, Hooker, a Russian friend of Schuyler's, and +Count Palfy, had a nice little supper, champagne and +sandwiches, and talked over the party, saying of course +(as they say we Kings always do) how pleasant our party +was. W. was much interested in the various talks he +had. He found Minghetti charming—so intelligent and +well up in everything. Cairoli, too, he had been anxious +to see; also Visconti Venosta. He was naturally (like all +the men) charmed with Madame Minghetti. She must +have been beautiful, and has an extraordinary charm of +manner. The Cairolis are a very big couple. He is tall +and broad, fine eyes—she, too, on a large scale, but handsome. +Of course there were many inquiries from all the +old friends for la maman and the family generally. Mrs. +Bruce says she never drives in the Doria-Pamphili without +thinking of you driving about in your plain black dress +and bonnet, with two or three daughters (not quite so +plainly dressed) in the carriage, and all always talking +and laughing, and enjoying life together. I told her +about Florence, where the King of Italy always bowed +to you in the Cascine, evidently taking you for the superior +of some religious order (he must have thought the +novices were lively), and the children in the street used +to run up to you and kiss your hand. "He was quite +right, to bow to you," she said, "my grand old Republican."</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus067.png" width="500" height="350" alt="The Spanish Steps. + +In the Piazza di Spagna, Rome." title="The Spanish Steps. + +In the Piazza di Spagna, Rome." /> +<span class="caption">The Spanish Steps. + +In the Piazza di Spagna, Rome.</span> +</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="signature"> +March 4, 1880. +</div> + +<p>Yesterday we went again to the Vatican. W. is +quite happy, I thought I should never get him away. It +is most amusing to walk about old Rome with him, for +suddenly over a gateway or at the bottom of an ordinary +little court he discovers an inscription or a slab, or an old +stone which he knows all about, and we stop. He reads, +and recognises, and translates to me, and is wildly interested. +It is all so good for him, and puts politics and +little annoyances out of his head. It is quite new for me +to see Rome from a classical point de vue, but I suppose +one enjoys things differently as one grows older. I certainly +enjoyed the mad gallops over the Campagna in the +old days; do you remember Mrs. S. who was so severe +with us—first because we were Americans (she was English) +and then because we knew everybody and enjoyed +ourselves?—"when she was young people came to Rome +to educate themselves and enjoy the pictures, museums, +historical associations, etc. <i>Now</i> one saw nothing but +American girls racing over the Campagna with a troop +of Roman princes at their heels." Poor dear, she really +thought it was a calamity not to be born under the British +flag. I suppose that makes the great strength of the +English, their absolute conviction that England is the +only country in the world.</p> + +<p>They are funny, though—I was discussing something +one day with Lady S., and we didn't quite agree; upon +which she remarked she supposed I couldn't understand +her ideas—she came from a big country where one took +broad views of things. I said I thought I did too, but +perhaps it is a matter of appreciation—I think, though, +I have got geography on my side.</p> + +<p>After breakfast we drove about paying visits. We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +found Princess Teano (who has asked us to dine on +Wednesday) and she showed us her boys—the eldest one +a beauty. She looked very handsome with her pure +Madonna face. She told us her beau-père (the blind Duke +of Sermoneta) had been so pleased to meet W. in Florence. +They had a long talk somewhere, and W. was so +amused with the Duke's politics and liberalism—all so +easy-going, half chaffing, but very decided too, no sounding +phrases nor profession de foi; simply accepting (what +he couldn't really like very much) the inevitable, de bonne +grâce; and seizing and ridiculing all the weak points.</p> + +<p>In France they are frightfully logical, must always +argue and discuss everything—I think they are born debaters.</p> + +<p>We left cards on various people, Princess Bandini, +Cenci, Countess Lovatelli, and then went for a little turn +out of the San Lorenzo gate, but not far, as we wanted to +go to Princess Pallavicini, who received that afternoon. +W. was much struck with the apartment—so many +rooms, all very high ceilings, that we passed through before +getting to the boudoir where the Princess was sitting. +It all looked so natural, I remembered the hangings—bright +flowers on a light satin ground—as soon as I got +into the room, and some of the pictures. She was very +cordial and friendly, told W. how long she had known +me, and recalled some of our rides at Frascati with her +and Del Monte. She asked us to come on Friday evenings, +she was always at home. No one else was there but +a Princesse de Thurn and Taxis (née Hohenlohe) who +was introduced to us, and the talk was pleasant enough. +She was quite interested in our two audiences—Pope and +Quirinal—but we told her we had heard nothing from +either court yet. W. walked home, and I went on to +Gert as it was her reception day. She gave me a cup of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +tea, and I found various friends there, including Father +Smith who was quite pleased to see me again. He +doesn't look any older, and is apparently quite as energetic +as ever. He told me he had enjoyed his talk with W. +very much, and they had made a rendezvous for two days—the +Catacombs and San Clemente. He remarked casually +that W. wasn't at all what he expected to find him; +not at all his idea of a "French Republican." I wonder +what sort of trade-mark he expected to see? If he +had pictured W. as a slight, nervous, black-eyed, voluble +Frenchman, he must naturally have been surprised.</p> + +<p>We have heard people discussing us sometimes in English +as we pass down the long dining-room to our table—"There +goes Waddington, the late French Premier." +"Never—that man is an Englishman." "I have seen +pictures of Waddington—he doesn't look at all like that, +etc." The head waiter always points us out as distinguished +strangers.</p> + +<p>I found quantities of cards when I came home—one +from Lily San Vito with a nice little message of welcome. +(We crossed her in the Corso the other day and she +looked lovely.) Also Valerys, Middletons, Pantaleones, +etc. After I had gone to my room to dress W. had a visit +from Desprez, the French Ambassador to the Vatican. +He has just arrived, his wife not yet come, and he feels a +little strange in this very divided society. We are going +to meet him at dinner at the Portuguese Embassy. He +told W. there would be several Cardinals at the dinner—a +regular black assemblage. It will be a funny experience +for W.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +March 6, 1880.</div> + +<p>I will finish this long letter to-night. We have just +come in from the Teano dinner, which was pleasant. +Teano looked quite the same (I hadn't seen him for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +years) with his tall, slight figure and white lock. (I +forgot to look if the boy had it.) She looked very handsome. +We had the Minghettis, a Polish Countess—sister-in-law +of the Duc de Sermoneta, the Calabrinis, +and M. Heding, a German savant. Minghetti was delightful, +telling us his early experiences with the old +Pope, Pio Nono. He was killing over the entente between +the government and the monks for the suppression of +the monasteries. The gendarmes arrived, found barred +doors and resistance. There was a sort of halt and parley—one +father came out, then another—a little livret of the +Caisse d'Epargne was put into their hands, and all went +off as quietly as possible. Heding seemed to think things +wouldn't go so easily in Germany, and they certainly +wouldn't in France.</p> + +<p>Madame Minghetti and I talked for a long time after +dinner exchanging our experiences of the official world, +which I fancy is always the same in all countries. Calabrini +was of course his same courteous self—so absolutely +free from pose of any kind—rather unusual in a man who +has always had such a success.</p> + +<p>This morning we went to Trajan's Forum, walked, W. +as usual quite at home, everywhere recognising old friends +at every step. We looked at all manner of inscriptions +and basso-rilievos, and enjoyed ourselves very much. +This afternoon W. and Schuyler went off together to see +some churches and the Palazzo dei Cesari. I backed out, +as I can't stand two sight-seeings the same day with a +dinner in prospect in the evening. I went over to get +Gert, and we drove about together, winding up at the +Comtesse Wimpffens, Austrian Ambassadress, who has +a charming apartment in the Palazzo Chigi (where Odo +Russell used to live when we were in Rome). There +were various ladies there, the Marquise de Noailles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +French Ambassadress (who immediately asked me +who made my dress, the blue velvet that did all my visits +the last year of the Quai d'Orsay), Lady Paget, Madame +Minghetti, and a sprinkling of secretaries and attachés. +Comtesse d'Aulnay, looking very pretty, very well +dressed, came in just as we were leaving. We wound up +with a turn in the Villa Borghese. There were grooms +waiting at the gate with saddle horses, just as our old +Carmine used to wait for us. It is all so curiously familiar +and yet changed. I can't get accustomed to the +quantities of people in the streets where there never used +to be any one—occasionally a priest, or a few beggars, or +a water-carrier. Now there are soldiers, people carrying +parcels, small employees, workmen, carts, carriages, life in +fact. There were quantities of people in the Villa Borghese. +Some of the carriages very well turned out, again +very different from our days when we knew every carriage, +and when a new equipage or a new face made a +sensation.</p> + +<p>W. has had a delightful afternoon looking at some of +the very old churches with Eugene. He had, too, a note +from Desprez saying our audience from the Pope would +be to-morrow at one o'clock, and giving me the necessary +instructions for my veil, long black dress, etc. To-morrow +night we dine at the Noailles. The breakfast there +the other day was pleasant—no one but ourselves and +Ripalda. Of course it is a magnificent Embassy—the +Farnese Palace—and they do it very well, but it would +take an army of servants to "garnish" these long anterooms +and passages, in fact ordinary servants are quite +lost there; there ought to be Swiss guards or halberdiers +with steel cuirasses and lances which would stand out +splendidly from the old grey walls. One could quite +imagine an Ambassador of Louis XIV arriving with 100<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +gentlemen and armed retainers in his suite. The famous +room with the Caracci frescoes must be beautiful at +night. Ripalda asked us to come to tea one afternoon +at his palace on the Tiber, the "Farnesina." Marquise +de Noailles was charming.</p> + +<p>Now I will say good-night, dear, for I am tired, and +we have a busy day to-morrow. I wonder if Leo XIII. +will impress me as much as Pio Nono did.</p> + + +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Rome, Hôtel de Londres</span>,<br /> +Thursday, March 8, 1880.</div> + +<p>The Piazza is delightful this morning, dear mother; it +is bright and warm, and there are lots of people starting +for excursions with guide-books, white umbrellas, and +every variety of wrap. The coachmen of the little botte +look so smiling and interested, so anxious to make things +easy and comfortable. Vera came to see us yesterday, +and told me he was hailed by one of the coachmen from +the top of his box, just as he was crossing the Piazza, who +said to him: "Sai Maestro, una di quelle signorine King +è tornata col marito?" (Do you know, master, one of +those King young ladies has come back with her husband?) +He was much amused—told him he was quite +right, and that he was going to see that same signorina. +I dare say he had driven us often to one of the gates to +meet the saddle horses.</p> + +<p>Yesterday was our udienza particolare (special audience), +and most interesting it was. Madame Hubert was +madly excited dressing me. I wore my black satin, long, +with the Spanish lace veil I had brought in case I should +be received by his Holiness, and of course no gloves, +though I had a pair with me and left them in the carriage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +We started at 12.30, as our audience was at one, and got +there quickly enough. I had forgotten all the queer little +courts and turns at the back of the Vatican. Everything +was ready for us; we were received really in royal state—Swiss +Guard, with their extraordinary striped yellow +uniform (designed, some one told us the other day, by +Michelangelo), tall footmen attired in red damask, +Guardia Nobile, chamberlains, and two monsignori. The +garde noble de service was Felice Malatesta. He really +seemed much pleased to see me again, and to make W.'s +acquaintance—swore he would have known me at once, +I was so little changed; but I rather suspect if he hadn't +known we were coming he wouldn't have recognised me. +We had a nice talk the few minutes we stood waiting in +the room adjoining the one where the Pope received us, +and he gave me news of all his family—Emilio (still unmarried), +Francesco, etc.; then a door was opened, a +monsignore came out, bowed, and said his Holiness was +ready to receive us. We went in at once, the monsignore +closing the door behind us and leaving us alone with the +Pope, who came almost to the door to receive us, so that +the three regulation curtseys were impossible. There +were three red and gold arm-chairs at one end of the +room, with a thick, handsome carpet in front of them. +The Pope sat on the one in the middle, put me on his +right and W. on his left. He is a very striking figure; +tall, slight, a fine intellectual brow and wonderfully bright +eyes—absolutely unlike Pio Nono, the only Pope I had +ever approached. He was most gracious, spoke to me +always in Italian, said he knew I was an old Roman, and +that we had lived many years in Rome; spoke French to +W., who, though he knows Italian fairly, prefers speaking +French. He asked W. all sorts of questions about +home politics and the attitude of the clergy, saying that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +as a Protestant his opinion would be impartial (he was +well up in French politics, and knew that there were three +Protestants in W.'s ministry: himself, Léon Say, and +Freycinet). W. was rather guarded at first (decidedly +"banale," I told him afterward), but the Pope looked +straight at him with his keen, bright eyes, saying: "Je +vous en prie, M. Waddington, parlez sons réserves."</p> + +<p>We stayed about three-quarters of an hour, and the talk +was most interesting. The Pope is very anxious to bring +about a better state of feeling between the clergy and the +people in France, and tries so hard to understand why the +priests are so unpopular; asked about the country curate, +who baptizes the children and buries the old people—surely +there must be a feeling of respect for him; said, +too, that everywhere in town or country the priests do +so much for the sick and poor. W. told him the women +<i>all</i> went to church and sent their children to the catechism, +but the men are indifferent, if not hostile, and +once the boys have made their first communion they +never put their foot in a church. "What will keep them +straight and make good men of them, if they grow up +without any religious education?" The answer was difficult—example +and home teaching, <i>when</i> they get it. Evidently +he had been curious to see W., and I think he was +pleased. It was quite a picture to see the two men—the +Pope dressed all in white, sitting very straight in his arm-chair +with his two hands resting on the arms of the chair, +his head a little bent forward, and listening attentively to +every word that W. said. W. drew his chair a little forward, +spoke very quietly, as he always does, and said all +he wanted to say with just the same steady look in his +blue eyes.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 325px;"> +<img src="images/illus077.png" width="325" height="500" alt="Pope Leo XIII." title="Pope Leo XIII." /> +<span class="caption">Pope Leo XIII.</span> +</div> + +<p>From time to time the Pope turned to me and asked +me (always in Italian) if politics interested me—he believed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +all French women were keen politicians; also if I +had found many old friends in Rome. I told him I was +so pleased to see Felice Malatesta as we came in, and that +we were going to meet Cardinal Howard one day at +breakfast. I shouldn't think he took as much interest in +the social life of Rome as Pio Nono did. They used +always to say he knew everything about everybody, and +that there was nothing he enjoyed so much as a visit from +Odo Russell, who used to tell him all sorts of "petites +histoires" when their official business was over.</p> + +<p>He also talked a good deal to W. about his uncle, +Evelyn Waddington, who lived in Perugia, where he was +"sindaco" (mayor) for years. He married an Italian +lady, and was more than half Italian—curious for a man +called Evelyn Waddington. The Pope had known him +well when he was Bishop of Perugia.</p> + +<p>We both kissed his hand when we took leave, and he +said again to W. how much he had been interested in all +he told him. We lingered a few minutes in the anteroom, +as there was some idea Cardinal Nina would receive us, +but it had not been arranged. It seemed strange to be +in those high, bare rooms again, and reminded me of our +visit to Cardinal Antonelli years ago with father, when +he showed us his collection of gems. I remember so well +his answer to Bessie Curtis (now Marquise de Talleyrand-Périgord), +who was looking out of the window, and +said it was such an enchanting view, would help one in +"des moments de découragement." "On n'est jamais +découragé, mademoiselle."</p> + +<p>I imagine Leo XIII has very difficult moments sometimes.</p> + +<p>W. wouldn't come out again as he had letters to write, +so I stopped for Gert, and we had a lovely turn in the Villa +Pamphili. Quantities of people—it looked very gay.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +We got home about six, and had visits until it was time +to dress for our dinner at the Wimpffens. D'Aulnay came +first, very anxious to hear about our audience at the +Vatican; and Tagliani, the auditeur of the old "nonce"; +also Dr. Nevin.</p> + +<p>Our dinner at the Wimpffens was very pleasant. Their +apartment looks very handsome lighted. There was a +fine, pompous old porter at the door downstairs, and +plenty of servants and a "chasseur" upstairs. We had +all the personnel of the Embassy, the Calabrinis, Bibra +(Bavarian Minister), Van Loo (Belgian), and an +Austrian whose name I didn't master, who had been a +minister in Andrassy's Cabinet. After dinner we all adjourned +to the smoking-room, which is very large and +comfortable, lots of low arm-chairs. The Austrian ladies +smoked, and I talked to Bibra and Van Loo, who +told me all the diplomats had been rather struck with the +cordiality of our reception—that in general the Romans +troubled themselves very little about strangers. W. talked +to Wimpffen and his Austrian friend, who was much +interested in hearing about our audience with the Pope, +and a little surprised that W. should have talked to him +so freely, both of them saying that his being a Protestant +made things much easier.</p> + +<p>The Romans went off early, so W. went to Geoffroy +(director of the École de Rome—French Archæological +Society), who receives Thursday evenings at the Farnese +Palace. He has an apartment quite up at the top of the +palace over the Noailles, and I went to Gert, who also +received Thursday. I found a good many people there—principally +Americans, and some young diplomats. So +many people were introduced to me that I was quite exhausted, +and went and sat down by Aunt Mary, who +looked very handsome.</p> + + +<div class="signature"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +Sunday, March 10, 1880.</div> + +<p>I shall not go out this morning. It is a little foggy—the +first time since we came here—and I was also lazy. +We are going so perpetually. Yesterday W. was off at +nine in the morning with Geoffroy and Lanciani for +a classic tournée. I wrote one or two letters, and then +Madame Hubert and I walked over to Gert's and breakfasted. +After breakfast Monsignor English came in and +had much to say about the Pope, and the impression W. +had made which he had heard from high personages of +the Vatican. I told him all about the interview, and he +was much surprised when I said we all sat down. W. +came while he was still there, and of course he wanted to +hear his account, and was so pleased with all W. said +about the Pope, his marvellous intelligence and comprehension +of the present very difficult state of affairs in +France. English also said the Pope had been pleased +with me (I did nothing but listen) so I plucked up my +courage, and asked him if he thought his Holiness would +give me a photograph <i>signed</i>—I should like so much to +have one. He said it would be difficult, as the Pope +never <i>signed</i> a photo—but perhaps——. I should like +one so much—I hope he will make an exception for this +heretic.</p> + +<p>W. and I walked home, and then I dressed, and we +started again for some visits. We found Princess Bandini, +who was most amiable—very pleased to make W.'s +acquaintance, also rather curious about the Vatican visit. +There were quantities of people there, principally diplomats +and English. W. thought the apartment very handsome.</p> + +<p>We tried to find Madame Calabrini, but she was not +receiving. We dined at the Noailles. I wore my blue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +satin and all the diamonds I possess. The apartment +looked very ambassadorial—the great gallery lighted, +superb. The dinner was handsome—Wimpffens, Pagets, +Uxkulls (Russian Ambassador, you will remember him +in Florence the year we were there), Cairolis, Geoffroys, +Schuylers, and various young men. Maffei, the Under-Secretary +of State, took me in, and I had Cairoli on the +other side. I didn't find him very easy to talk to. He +doesn't speak French very well, so I changed into Italian +(which I am gradually getting back) and then we got on +better. I shouldn't think he was much of a ladies' man, +and never a brilliant talker. Maffei is very clever and +amusing. Gert sat just opposite, looking very well in +yellow.</p> + +<p>During the dinner Maffei called my attention to the +menu "Cotelettes à la Waddington," and asked me if +W. was as much of an authority in cooks as he was in +coins. I disclaimed any such knowledge for him, and +was rather curious to see what the "cotelettes" would +prove to be. They were a sort of chaud-froid, with a +thick, white envelope, on which was a large W. in +truffles. The whole table was rather amused, and Madame +de Noailles gave us the explanation. Her chef had been +some time with us at the Quai d'Orsay, and when he +heard W. was coming to dinner was much excited, and +anxious to do honour to his old master—so he consulted +Madame de Noailles, and that was the result. I will keep +the menu for you.</p> + +<p>After dinner we adjourned to the beautiful Carracci +gallery, and there I was presented to various ladies—Madame +d'Uxkull (ci-devant Madame Gheka), very handsome; +and Madame Visconti Venosta, an attractive looking +woman with charming manners. I had quite a talk +with Lady Paget, who looks always very distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +with her beautiful figure. She told me Mrs. Edwards's +baby had arrived—a little girl—to be called "Gay" after +her daughter.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> I hope she will grow up as pretty as her +mother. I talked some time to Madame Cairoli who was +very amiable and expansive, called me always "Madame +la Comtesse"; and offered me anything I wanted from +cards for the Chamber to a presentation to the Queen.</p> + +<p>There was quite a reception in the evening—not many +of the Roman ladies. Marc Antonio Colonna came up—recalled +himself, and introduced me to his wife—very +pretty, with splendid jewels. She is the daughter of +the Duke of Sant-Arpino, a very handsome man. Her +mother, the Duchess, an English woman, also very handsome, +so she comes fairly by her beauty. I walked about +the rooms with Wimpffen, and he showed me all the +notabilities in the parliamentary world. Lady Paget +asked us to go to her on Sunday afternoon, and I promised +Nevin we would go to his church, but we didn't.</p> + +<p>W. has just received an intimation that King Humbert +will receive him to-morrow at one o'clock, and I +have told Madame Hubert to get out his Italian decorations, +as he always forgets to put them on, and it seems +in all courts they attach much importance to these matters. +We are starting now for a drive; first to the Villa +Wolkonsky—I want to show it to W., and we shall probably +go in late to the British Embassy.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Monday, March 11, 1880.</div> + +<p>The King gave W. his audience to-day at one. He +went off most properly attired, <i>with</i> his Italian ribbon. +He generally forgets to put on his orders, and was decidedly +put out one day in Paris when he arrived at a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +royal reception <i>without</i> the decoration the sovereign had +just sent him. The explanation was difficult—he could +hardly tell the King he had forgotten. W. got back again +a little after two, and said the interview was pleasant +enough—the King very gracious, and he supposed, for +him, talkative; though there were long pauses in the conversation—he +leaning on his sword, with his hands +crossed on the hilt as his father always did—spoke about +the Queen, said she was in Rome, and he believed Madame +Waddington had known her when she was Princess de +Piedmont. I never was presented to her—saw her only +from a distance at some of the balls. I remember her +quite well at a ball at the Teanos in a blue dress, with +her beautiful pearls. I hope she will receive us. He +talked less politics than the Pope; said France and Italy, +the two great Latin races, ought to be friends, and deplored +the extreme liberty of the press; knew also that +W. was in Rome for the first time, and hoped he would +have fine weather. He did not ask him anything about +his interview with the Pope. W. said the reception was +quite simple—nothing like the state and show of the +Vatican. There was a big porter at the door of the palace, +two or three servants on the stairs, and two officers, +aides-de-camp, in the small salon opening into the King's +cabinet.</p> + +<p>Soon after he came in we had visits—Hooker, Monsignor +English, a French priest, head of St. Louis des +Français, and Del Monte, whom I hadn't yet seen. He +was so nice and friendly—doesn't look really much older, +though he says he feels so. I told him it seemed unnatural +not to have a piano. He would have brought his +cello, and we could have plunged into music and quite forgotten +how many years had passed since we first played +and sang the "Stella Confidente."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 366px;"> +<img src="images/illus085.png" width="366" height="500" alt="King Humbert of Italy." title="King Humbert of Italy." /> +<span class="caption">King Humbert of Italy.</span> +</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + +<p>After they had all gone we started out to the "Tre +Fontane," taking Gert with us to see the establishment +of the French Trappists who are trying to "assainir" +the Campagna by planting eucalyptus trees. It is an interesting +experiment, but rather a dangerous one, as several +of the fathers have died. The summer here, with +that deadly mist that rises from the Campagna, must be +fatal, and the two monks we saw looked yellow and shrivelled +with fever. However, they will persevere, with +that extraordinary tenacity and devotion of the Catholic +priests when they undertake anything of that kind. +I carried off a bottle of Elixir of Eucalpytus, for I am +sorry to say these last bright days have given me an +unpleasant souvenir in the shape of a cold chill every now +and then between the shoulders, and evidently there is +still truth in the Roman proverb "Cuore di donna, onde +di mare, sole di Marzo, non ti fidare." (Don't trust a +woman's heart, the waves of the sea, nor the March sun.)</p> + +<p>We got home about half-past six, had tea and more +visits—Calabrini, Vitelleschi, and Princess Pallavicini, +who was most animated, and talked politics hard with W. +We dined at home and had a little talk, just as we were +finishing dinner, with Menabrea, who was dining at a +table next ours. They say he will go to the Paris Embassy +in Cialdini's place. W. wouldn't go out again, so +I went alone to Gert's, who had a few people—Mrs. Van +Rensselaer, clever and original; Countess Calice, an American; +her husband, a cousin of the Malatestas; Vera; +young Malatesta, a son of Francesco; a Russian secretary, +and one or two others. It was rather a pleasant evening. +They had tea in the dining-room—everybody walked +about, and the men smoked.</p> + + +<div class="signature"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +Tuesday, March 13, 1880.</div> + +<p>Yesterday morning W. and I had a good outing, wandering +about the Capitol. First we walked around Marcus +Aurelius, then up the old worn stone steps to the Ara +Cœli. I told W. how we used to go there always on +Christmas Eve to see the Crèche and the Bambino. It +was very well done, and most effective. The stable, +beasts, shepherds, and kings (one quite black with a fine +crown). There were always children singing the "storia +di Gesù" and babies in arms stretching out their hands +to the lights. Yesterday the church was quite empty, as +there is not much to attract the ordinary tourist. We +made our way slowly, W. stopping every moment before +an inscription, or a sarcophagus, or a fresco, to the room +of the "Dying Gladiator," which he found magnificent—was +not at all disappointed; afterward the faun—and +then sauntered though all the rooms. I had forgotten the +two skeletons in one of the sarcophagi—the woman's +with rings on her fingers, most ghastly.</p> + +<p>After lunch Countess Wimpffen came in to know if +I would drive with her to the Villa Borghese, and do two +teas afterwards—Madame Cairoli and Madame Westenberg +(wife of the Dutch Minister, an American and a +great friend of Gert's); but I couldn't arrange it, as W. +wanted to come with me to the Affaires Etrangères—so +we agreed to go another day. I always liked both Wimpffens +so much when they were in Paris that it is a great +pleasure to find them here. Wimpffen likes to get hold +of W. and talk about France and French politics.</p> + +<p>Our dinner at Mrs. Bruce's was very gay. I told her +I didn't find her salon much prettier than in our days +when we lived on the first floor of Perret's house (she on +the second), and she always said we made Perret send<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +up to her all the ugly furniture we wouldn't have. What +we kept was so bad, that I think the "rebut" must have +been something awful. We had the Minghettis, Vitelleschis, +Wurts, Wilbrahams, Schuylers, and one or two +stray Englishmen. Vitelleschi took me in, and I had +Minghetti on the other side, so I was very well placed. +It is killing to hear them talk politics—discussing all the +most burning questions with a sort of easy persiflage and +"esprit de conciliation" that would astound our "grands +politiques" at home. Minghetti said the most absolutely +liberal man he had ever known was Pio Nono—but what +could he do, once he was Pope.</p> + +<p>It was really a charming dinner—Mrs. Bruce is an +ideal hostess. She likes to hear the clever men discuss, +and always manages to put them on their mettle. We +all came away about the same time, and W. and I went +on to the opera "Tor di None." Bibra had invited us to +come to his box. The house was much less "élégante" +than the Paris house—hardly any one in a low dress, no +tiaras, and few jewels. The Royal box empty. Princess +Bandini was in the next box with Del Monte and Trochi. +The Minghettis opposite with the Wimpffens. The +"salle" was badly lighted—one could hardly make the +people out.</p> + +<p>W. had rather a shock—we had scarcely got in—(Bibra +not yet come) when the door opened and in came +Maurizio Cavaletti—enchanted to see me—seizing both +my hands—"Maria mia adorata—cara regazza, etc.," +utterly oblivious of "cara Maria's" husband, who stood +stiff and cold (an icicle) in the background, with Anglo-Saxon +written all over him; waiting for the exuberant +demonstration to finish, and a presentation to be made. +As soon as I could I presented Monsieur le Marquis in +proper form, and explained that we were very old friends,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +had not met for years, etc., but W. hardly thawed all the +evening.</p> + +<p>When he went out of the box to pay a visit to our +neighbours I remonstrated vigorously with Maurizio, but +he was so unfeignedly astonished at being taken to task +for greeting a very old friend warmly, that I didn't make +much impression. The ballet was pretty, and of course +there was an influx of young men as soon as it began—a +handsome, rather stout "ballerina" being evidently a +favourite.</p> + +<p>To-day we breakfasted with the Schuylers to meet +Mrs. Bruce and Cardinal Howard—no one else. We had +a pretty little breakfast, most lively. I didn't find the +Cardinal much changed, a little stouter perhaps. He was +quite surprised at W.'s English; knew of course that he +had been educated at Rugby and Cambridge, and had the +Chancellor's medal, but thought he would have lost it a +little having lived so many years in France, and having +made all his political career in French. I asked him if he +was as particular as ever about his horses. He always +had such splendid black horses when we lived in Rome, +but he said, rather sadly, that times were changed. W. +and he talked a long time after breakfast. He was very +anxious to know whether <i>all</i> the religious orders were +threatened in France or merely the Jesuits. Comte Palfy +(Austrian) came in just as we were leaving. He is so +attractive—a great friend of l'Oncle Alphonse—knows +everybody here and loves Rome.</p> + +<p>W. and I went off to the Villa Albani—out of Porta +Salara. We walked through the rooms—there are principally +busts, statues, bas-reliefs, etc.—and then loitered +about the gardens which are fine. Fountains, vases, and +statues in every direction, and always that beautiful view +of the hills in the soft afternoon light.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>I will finish when I come home from our <i>Black</i> dinner. +We are asked for seven, so of course will get back early, +as we do not go anywhere afterward. I shall wear +black, as I hear so many Princes of the church are to be +there. Madame Hubert is very sorry I can't wear the +long black veil that I did for the Pope—she found that +most becoming.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Tuesday, March 12, 1880, 10.30 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> +</div> + +<p>We are just home from our dinner at the Portuguese +Embassy, so I have got out of my gauds and into my tea-gown, +and will finish this long letter. It was most interesting—a +great deal of couleur locale. We arrived +very punctually—three or four carriages driving up at +the same time. There was of course a magnificent porter +downstairs, and quantities of servants in handsome +liveries; a good deal of red and powder. Two giants at +the foot of the staircase, with the enormous tall candles +which are de rigueur at a Black embassy when cardinals +or ambassadors dine. They were just preparing +to escort some swell up the staircase as we arrived; there +was a moment's halt, and the swell turned out to be M. +Desprez, the new French Ambassador to the Vatican (replacing +the Marquis de Cabriac). He was half embarrassed +when he recognised us; W. had so lately been his +chef that he couldn't quite make up his mind to pass +before him—especially under such novel and rather trying +conditions. However, there was nothing to be done, +and he started up the great staircase between the tall +candles, W. and I followed modestly in his wake. We +found several people, including two or three cardinals, +already there. The apartment is very handsome. +The Ambassador (Thomar) looked very well—"très +grand seigneur"—standing at the door of the first salon,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +and one saw quite a vista of large, brilliantly lighted +rooms beyond. All the guests arrived very quickly—we +had hardly time to exchange a word with any one. +I saw the Sulmonas come in. I recognised her instantly, +though I hadn't seen her for years. She was born Apponyi, +and they were married when we were living in +Rome. Also Marc Antonio Colonna and the d'Aulnays. +Almost immediately dinner was announced. Sulmona +took me in and I had a cardinal (Portuguese) on the +other side. I didn't say much to the cardinal at first. +He talked to his neighbour, and Sulmona and I +plunged, of course, into old Roman days. He was much +amused at the composition of the dinner, and wondered +if it would interest W. He asked me if I remembered +the fancy ball at the Palazzo Borghese. He had still +the album with all the photos, and remembered me perfectly +as "Folie" with short skirts, bells, mirror, etc. +I remember it, of course, quite well. Some of the +costumes were beautiful, particularly those copied from +portraits. After a little while the cardinal turned his +attention to me. He was a nice old man, speaking +either French or Italian (both with a strong accent), and +much interested in the guests. He asked me if I +belonged to the corps diplomatique. I said no—we were +merely strangers spending the winter in Rome. He +thought there were a good many strangers at table—he +didn't know half the people, not having been long in +Rome; but he knew that there was one man dining whom +he had a great desire to see, Waddington, the late French +Premier; perhaps I knew him, and could point him out. +He had always followed his career with great interest, +but there were some things he couldn't understand, "par +exemple son attitude dans la question—" Then as I +didn't know what he might be going to say, I interrupted,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +and said no one could point out that gentleman as well as +I, as I was Madame Waddington. He looked a little uncomfortable, +so I remarked, "Il diavolo non è tanto nero +quant è dipinto" (The devil is not so black as he is +painted), to which he replied, "Eh, no punto diavolo" +(no devil)—was rather amused, and asked me if I would +introduce him to W. after dinner. We then, of course, +talked a little about France, and how very difficult the +religious question was. He asked me where I had +learned Italian, so I told him how many years we had +lived in Rome when my brother was the last Minister +from the United States to the Vatican. Sulmona joined +in the talk, and we rather amused ourselves. Sulmona, +of course, knew everybody, and explained some of the +people, including members of his own (Borghese) family, +who were very Black and uncompromising. Still, as I +told him, the younger generation is less narrow-minded, +more modern. I don't think they mean to cut themselves +off from all participation in the nation's history. After +all, they are all Italians as well as Romans. The foreign +marriages, too, make a difference. I don't think the sons +of English and American mothers could settle down to +that life of inaction and living on the past which the +Black Party means in Rome.</p> + +<p>As soon as I could after dinner I got hold of W. +(which was difficult, as he was decidedly surrounded) +and introduced him to my cardinal, whose name I never +got, and I went to recall myself to Princess Sulmona. +We had a nice talk first about her people—her father, +Count Apponyi, was Austrian Ambassador in Paris when +Marshal MacMahon was President, and their salon was +very brilliant, everybody going to them; the official world +and the Faubourg St. Germain meeting, but not mingling. +Then we talked a little about Rome, and the future of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +the young generation just growing up. Of course it is +awfully difficult for families like Borghese and Colonna +who have been bound up in the old papal world, and given +popes to Italy, to break away from the traditions of centuries +and go in frankly for "Italia Unita." Do you +remember what they used to tell us of Prince Massimo? +When some inquisitive woman asked if they really called +themselves Fabius Maximus, he replied that it had been +a family name for 1,400 years.</p> + +<p>The present Prince Massimo is one of the most zealous +supporters of the Pope. The great doors of his gloomy +old palace have never been opened since the King of Italy +came to Rome. One can't help admiring such absolute +conviction and loyalty; but one wants more than that in +these days of progress to keep a country alive.</p> + +<p>The evening wasn't long; the cardinals never stay late, +and every one went away at the same time. We again +assisted at the ceremony of the big candles, as of course +every cardinal and the Ambassador had to be conducted +downstairs with the same form. It was altogether a very +interesting evening and quite different from any dinner +we had ever been at. I don't think the French cardinals +ever dine out in France; I don't remember ever meeting +one. Of course the "nunzio" went everywhere and always +had the "pas"—but one looks upon him more as +a diplomatist than a priest.</p> + +<p>W. enjoyed his evening very much. He is now settled +in his arm-chair with his very disreputable pipe, and +has been telling me his experiences. He found my old +cardinal very intelligent, and very well up in French politics, +and life generally. He liked Sulmona, too, very +much; made her acquaintance, but didn't have a chance +to talk much to her, as so many people were introduced +to him. There is certainly a great curiosity to see him—I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +wonder what people expected to find? He looks very +well, and is enjoying himself very much. I am so glad +we did not stay in Paris; he would have had all sorts +of small annoyances, and as it is, his friends write and +want him to come back. He is quite conscious of the +sort of feeling there is about him. First his appearance—a +great many people refuse to believe that he is a +Frenchman; he certainly is not at all the usual French +type, with his fair hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders; +and when they realize that it is he the cautious, doubtful +way in which the clericals begin a conversation with +him, as if they expected red-hot anarchist declarations to +fall from his lips, is most amusing. Cardinal Howard +always seeks him out for a talk—but then he doesn't +mince matters—goes straight to the subject he wants to +discuss, and told him the other day he couldn't understand +how a man of his English habits and education +should ever have dropped (he didn't say degenerated, but +I think he thought it) into a French republican government.</p> + +<p>W. is very pleased to see the cordial way in which +everybody meets me, and I must say I am rather touched +by it myself. I have never had a moment's disappointment, +and I was a little afraid, coming back in such +changed circumstances after so many years. Everybody +asks after you, and some one the other day—Countess +Malatesta, I think—asked if you still wore in Paris your +plain black dress and bonnet. I suppose she thought that +even you couldn't have resisted the Paris modiste. It +would seem strange to see you in a hat and feathers.</p> + +<p>Good-night, dearest; W.'s pipe is out, and we are going +to bed.</p> + + +<div class="signature"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">Hôtel de Londres,</span><br /> +March 14, 1880.</div> + +<p>Cannons are firing, drums beating, flags flying in all +directions to-day, dear mother. It is King Humbert's +birthday and there is to be a great revue on the Piazza +dell' Indipendenza. We are invited to go and see it by +Turkam Pacha, Turkish Minister, who has an apartment +on the Piazza; but as he told us that we should meet +Ismail Pacha (the ex-Khedive) we thought we had better +remain at home. I hardly think it would be a pleasure +to Ismail to meet the man who was one of the chief +instruments in his downfall. My sympathies were rather +with the Khedive—I never quite understood why France +and England should have politely but forcibly insisted +upon his leaving his throne and country—but whenever +I raised the question I had always that inert force the +"raison d'état" opposed to me. We crossed him the +other day driving. The carriage full of red-fezzed men +attracted my attention, and our Giuseppe told us who +they were. He looked very fat and smiling, evidently +was not rongé by his disasters. Turkam suggested +that I should come alone, but that of course I could not +do.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bailey, who has also an apartment on the Piazza, +has asked us to come to her, but I think I shall stay +quietly at home and look out of the window. I see lots +of officers and functionaries, in uniform, passing in fiacres +and riding, and a general migration of the whole city +including the beggars and flower girls of the Spanish +Steps toward the Piazza. W. says he will smoke his +cigar walking about in the crowd, and will see very well.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 373px;"> +<img src="images/illus097.png" width="373" height="500" alt="Queen Margherita of Italy." title="Queen Margherita of Italy." /> +<span class="caption">Queen Margherita of Italy.</span> +</div> + +<p>I was interrupted by a message from Gert begging me +to come to her at once. Her maid was in such an extraordinary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>state of violence she thought she was crazy—and +as Eugene was away for a day or two she was +really afraid. I questioned the little footman who brought +the note but he was very non-committal. W. was already +off to see the review and I left him a note explaining +where I was and asking him if I didn't get back to +breakfast to come and get me at Gert's. I then started +off with the little footman who had a fiacre waiting. +As I entered the court of the Palazzo Altemps a glimpse +of a white, frightened face at the window told me what +Gert's state was. Poor dear, she was terribly upset, +and Eugene's being away is a complication. Her two +men-servants are very devoted, but they evidently feel +uncomfortable. She asked me if I would go with her +and see the woman. We found her sitting in a chair +in Gert's dressing-room looking certainly most unpleasant, +sullen, and an ugly look in her eyes. She is a great +big Southern woman (French), could throw Gert out of +the window if she wanted to. Gert spoke to her very +gently, saying I had come to see her as I had heard she +was not well. She didn't answer nor move but gave +Gert a nasty look—she evidently has got something +against her. I looked at her very steadily—said we were +very sorry she was suffering, which was most evident, +and that the best thing for her would be to rest, attempt +no service of any kind and go to her own room—that we +had sent for Dr. Valery who would certainly be able to +relieve her. She didn't answer at first, and looked as if +she would like to spring upon us both, then burst into +screams of abuse—"She would go to her room of course—would +leave the house at once and never come back, +etc." I told her I should certainly advise Mrs. Schuyler +to send her away—that evidently the climate did not +suit her, and she would be happier in France. She didn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +answer, relapsed into her sullen silence, and almost immediately +Valery appeared. He insisted very quietly that +she should go to her own room (at the other end of the +apartment), and she went off with him, giving an ugly +look at Gert as she passed. It seems she already had had +such an attack, less violent, when they were at Birmingham, +but once it was over went on quite peaceably and +didn't seem to realize how ill she had been. Valery came +back to tell us the result of his examination—said she had +already calmed down and was anxious to beg her mistress's +pardon, but that she was of a nervous, dangerous +temperament, and at any moment might have a relapse. +Of course she must go, but it is very uncomfortable. I +took Gert out for a drive. W. sent me a line to say he +was busy all the afternoon and would not come unless I +wanted him. I think the air and distraction did her +good. The streets had a decidedly festive appearance. +There were a good many flags everywhere, and soldiers +still passing on their way back to their various barracks. +We were kept some time in the Corso seeing a battalion +of "bersaglieri" pass. They had good music and looked +very spirited as they moved along with all their feathers +flying. They were rather small, but well set up, and +marched in beautiful time with a light, quick step. We +saw some cavalry too, but I didn't care so much for them. +I thought the men looked too tall for the horses—their +legs too near the ground.</p> + +<p>We went to Nazzari's for tea, and the man was so +smiling and pleased to see me that I asked him if he knew +me—"Ma sì, certamente, la Signorina King"—had seen +me various times in the Piazza or driving, and hoped I +would come in some day for tea. I went upstairs with +Gert when I took her home, and left every possible instruction +with the maître d'hôtel to look after her, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +above all to look after Louise, and not let her leave her +room. The cook's wife will help her dress, as the poor +thing has a dinner.</p> + +<p>We have dined quietly at home. W. was tired, having +been out all day. There is a reception at the French +Embassy, but we shan't go. I told W. about the maid +and the exciting morning we had had. He said of course +the woman must go at once—that she had evidently a +grudge of some kind against Gert, and might do her some +injury. He had had rather a pleasant day. He walked +about in the crowd seeing everything very well. He was +rather favourably impressed with the Italian soldiers—said +they were small as a rule, but light and active—marched +very well. The King looked well, and was very +well received. He thought him a striking figure on +horseback in uniform, that curious type of all the Savoy +Princes. They don't look modern at all, but as if they +belonged to another century. I don't know exactly what +it is—one sees the same sort of face so often in old +Spanish and Italian portraits.</p> + +<p>He had breakfasted alone, as I was over with Gert, and +then started off with Monsignor English to meet Father +Smith at the Catacombs, where they had a long delightful +afternoon. He says Father Smith is a charming +guide, knows and loves every corner of the Catacombs. +His brogue, too, is attractive, sounds so out of place in +that atmosphere of Latin and old-world tombs and inscriptions. +He also told me what pleased me very much, +that the Pope will give me his photograph, signed. +Monsignor English told him to tell me, and he will come +and see us to-morrow. Among our cards was one from +the Cardinal Di Pietro—Doyen of the College of Cardinals—coming +first to see W. What would the Protocole +say?</p> + + +<div class="signature"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +March 16, 1880.</div> + +<p>Schuyler has got back, and the maid is a lamb, but is +going all the same. The doctor and the other servants +advise it strongly, and I am sure Gert will find a nice +Italian maid here to replace her. W. and I have done a +fair amount of sight-seeing these days, and yesterday he +paid a long visit to Cardinal Nina—Secretary of Foreign +Affairs for the Vatican. He found him reasonable and +interesting. I tell him he is getting quite a "papalino"—he +finds the Cardinals so pleasant. He came and got me +after his visit and we went off to the Chambre des Députés. +Visconti Venosta was going to make a great speech +attacking the Ministry on their foreign policy, and they +thought there would be a lively séance. We were in the +Diplomatic box—all the Ambassadors were there, and +he had just got up to speak as we got there. They +don't speak from the tribune, as in France. Every man +speaks from his own place—and as he had his back to us +we didn't hear very well. He spoke very easily, and +was very well listened to. Occasionally there would be +a sort of growl of disapproval, but on the whole the +house was much quieter than ours. Cairoli looked quite +composed when Visconti was pitching into him, smiling +even when he remarked he didn't understand the Italian +character, nor how to use the great powers his position +gave him, etc. Various people came up and spoke to +me, among others Countess Celleri, who seems to be taking +up politics now. She has grown a little older, but is +very handsome still, and was evidently a great attraction +to all the young diplomatists who were in the box. W. +admired her appearance and manner very much. We +stayed there till 5.30 hoping that Cairoli would answer, +but he didn't, the discussion rather trailed on, so we went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +for a turn in the Villa Borghese to get a little air before +our dinner at the British Embassy. It was very +crowded, all the swells driving—King, Queen, and +Khedive all in separate carriages. The King in a small +victoria with one aide-de-camp—the Queen in her big +landau with one lady and the red royal liveries; the +Khedive in an ordinary carriage, but conspicuous, as he +and his gentlemen all wore the red fez.</p> + +<p>Our Paget dinner was pleasant. They have got a +big villa in the Venti Settembre out toward Porta Pia. +There is a large garden with fine trees, and the entrance +and staircase are handsome. We were 36—Italians +chiefly—but a few Diplomatists. I knew almost every +one, Calabrinis, Minghettis, Somaglias (you will remember +her name, she was Gwendoline Doria, and married +when we lived in Rome), Serristori, Castagneta and some +Deputies and gentlemen of the Palace who, of course, +were strangers to me. The dining-room is large with a +quite round table which must be very difficult to cover, +there were such spaces. I think there must have been +hundreds of roses on the table. The Marquis de Villamarina, +head of the Queen's household, took me in, and +I had Uxkull on the other side, Lady Paget next to him. +We all talked together, and I complimented Lady Paget +on the quickness of the service. It was always one of +our preoccupations at the Quai d'Orsay to get through +these long official dinners as soon as possible. W. took +in Madame Visconti Venosta, and they seemed to be getting +on swimmingly. After dinner I talked some time +to Countess Somaglia, and asked to be introduced to the +Marquise Villamarina. She told me the Queen would +certainly receive us, but couldn't quite fix the day yet as +she had many official rendezvous these days. When the +men came in from smoking I had a few words with Calabrini,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +and one or two Deputies were presented, Sella, +Lanza, etc., but I really only <i>talked</i> to Sir Augustus +Paget. He said they were going to have a small ball +after Easter, and hoped we should still be here. I hope we +shall, I should like to see the ball-room—they say all the +decoration, painting, flowers, cupids, etc., has been done +by Lady Paget herself. The party broke up early, no one +stays late at dinner. There is always a reception somewhere +to which everybody goes.</p> + +<p>We came home as I get tired at night. We begin our +day early, and are never in the house. This morning +Gert and I went out shopping in the Piazza della Minerva +and Campo Marzo—it was most amusing. We got two +dresses for her—one of that coarse Roman linen, and a +very pretty Roman silk from Bianchi, the same man who +existed in our days. He looked most smiling and evidently +recognised the familiar faces, though he could not +put a name to them. We got the linen in a funny little +old shop, low, and as dark as pitch. I never should have +dreamed of going there for anything, but some one told +us it was <i>the</i> place for linen, and we found at once what +we wanted. I bought two Roman sashes—one for Alice +and a ribbon for Nounou. We pottered about for some +time looking at the bits of old brocade and embroidery, +some pieces stretched out on the pavement with a stone +at each end to hold them down. There were two pieces +of old rose brocade which looked very tempting, but when +I took them up I saw there were thin places in the silk, +and spots—so I resisted these "occasions." The woman +was amusing, tried to make us buy, but knew quite well +her silk was not first-rate. She evidently attached no +importance to the spots (è vecchia), but allowed that the +frayed bits were not encouraging.</p> + +<p>This afternoon we have been again to the Chambre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +des Députés—Cairoli was speaking. He has a good +voice, we heard him much better than Visconti Venosta. +<i>I</i> didn't find his speech very interesting. There were all +sorts of details and references to despatches and blue +books which were Greek to me, but of course W. liked +it and knew the question thoroughly so he said he would +stay and I had much better go and get some fresh air. +The heat was something awful and the box full, so I +took myself off. One of the Austrian secretaries came +down with me to look for the carriage and I started for +a solitary turn in the Villa Borghese. I hadn't gone very +far when I met Comtesse Wimpffen alone in her carriage. +We drew up for a little talk, and she proposed I should +send my carriage away and come into hers, which I was +delighted to do. We went for a little walk, and met +various friends—Marchesa Theoduli<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> looking lovely. +She was very amusing over the divided state of society—says +she is not allowed to bow to the Queen, and +as they meet almost every day driving and neither of +them can pass inaperçue it is rather awkward. Mrs. +Lorillard Spencer came up too, she was walking with +her daughter, Princess Vicovaro, whose husband was +"le beau Cenci" of our days. It was delicious lounging +about on the grass under the trees, after the heat +of the Chamber. We stopped at Nazzari's for tea, met +Bibra at the door and invited him to come with us—also +Cornélie Zuylen,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> who had seen us from the street +and rushed in to have a little talk. She is in Rome for +a few days—sight-seeing hard. We had tea and very +good cakes—and I was glad to have a few minutes before +dressing for the Calabrini dinner.</p> + +<p>We started off again at 8, and had really a very pleasant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +evening at Calabrini's. Their house is not large—they +can't dine easily more than 10 people. I was the +only lady—the men were Vitelleschi, Sella (their rising +political man) whom W. was delighted to see, a Ruspoli +whom I had never seen before, a brother of the late +Prince; and Alphonso Doria who looks like a tall English +boy. Stella is clever enough, decidedly un homme +sérieux, and Calabrini was much pleased to have him +for my homme sérieux. He told us all sorts of stories +about "Italia Unita" and Cavour, and his profound distrust +of Louis Napoleon; how, until the very last moment +when the French troops were really at the gates, +he was afraid they wouldn't come. We stayed fairly +late, as the talk was interesting. I don't think there is +much real sympathy between the French and Italians. +They are very unlike though they are of the same race. +The Italians seem very excitable when they talk fast and +gesticulate and their eyes flash, but au fond they are +calmer than our people—at least the upper classes; I +don't know about the bas peuple. They say knives play +a part in their discussions. Certainly in France there +are always rows when the Italian workmen arrive. +They are generally terrassiers and come in bands when +railroads or bridges are being made. One recognises +them at once with their black eyes, white teeth, red +sashes and slouched hats. There is usually a coup de +couteau before the season ends. They work well enough, +are light and active, but always stop to talk—don't +keep up a sort of desultory talk over their work as our +men do.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 319px;"> +<img src="images/illus107.png" width="319" height="500" alt="Queen Margherita and King Humbert." title="Queen Margherita and King Humbert." /> +<span class="caption">Queen Margherita and King Humbert.</span> +</div> + + +<div class="signature"> +March 18, 1880.</div> + +<p>Last night we went to the Wimpffens' grand official +"ricevimento." All the street in front of the house was +crowded just as it used to be in the old days—people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +coming close up to the carriages (going of course at a +foot's pace) and peering in to see the diamonds. There +was nothing like the display of carriages, diamonds, and +liveries there used to be—many fiacres, and many uniforms. +Countess Wimpffen looked very well in white +satin, pearls, and diamond tiara, Wimpffen of course in +uniform and his broad ribbon, Cenci (now Prince de +Vicovaro) attached to the Court, was standing at one side +of the Ambassadress presenting all the Court people. +The Princess, his wife, stood near by looking very well, +beautifully dressed, with diamonds and large pearl pendants. +She was wearing for the first time her decoration +of dame de palais. All the "White" Roman ladies +were there. I saw quantities of people whom I knew. +W. also begins to know the people. He thought the +Roman women very distinguished looking, and the jewels +splendid, particularly the pearls. We stayed quite late, +and decidedly amused ourselves. I was rather interested +in seeing when Madame de Wimpffen shook hands +and when she merely bowed. When W. was at the Foreign +Office and we had big receptions I was puzzled +sometimes. My impulse was not to shake hands with +the men. W. and Richard thought I ought to shake +hands with all the Deputies, but that seemed a great +undertaking and would, I think, have surprised them, +as Frenchmen as a rule are formal, don't shake hands +usually with ladies, but make rather a stiff bow, so +I compromised by shaking hands only with those I +knew.</p> + +<p>This afternoon W. and I went out together. We left +several cards and wound up in the Villa Borghese, where +we walked about for some time. It was lovely under the +cypress trees, long dark avenues with a fountain at one +end—large vases—bits of half-ruined gateways, columns,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +and unexpectedly a sort of rond or opening with fountains, +statues, big stones, all in a heap, and then long +stretches of lawn with anemones, violets, and a pretty +little yellow flower I didn't know, all perfectly neglected +and growing wild, but with a wonderful charm. Such +a contrast when we emerged again into the regular promenade +and the gay modern life of Rome of to-day. There +were quantities of carriages, three or four four-in-hands +with women in light dresses on the tops of the coaches; +men, principally officers, riding (in uniform, which always +makes a gay note), lots of victorias and open carriages. +The Prince of Naples (with the Royal red liveries) +driving with one gentleman. He was dressed in +sailor dress, looked smiling and interested, and bowed all +the time. Three or four carriages filled with pretty girls—English +or American—looking hard at everything, and +always bands of black-robed students, seminarists from +the various colleges which abound in Rome. It is a curious +motley crowd—I don't think one would see it anywhere +else. The clerical element is always well to the +fore, and in spite of the changes the Monarchy established, +with all the train of courtiers, deputies, soldiers, +and endless functionaries that it brings, one feels that it +is the great centre of Catholicism, and that the long arm +of the Church still retains her hold on her children scattered +all over the world.</p> + +<p>I will finish now as we have come home fairly early +from the Pallavicini reception. We dined at home and +started off about 10. We went to get Gert, and on arriving +about 10.30 found ourselves almost the first people. +Felice Malatesta was there, also Del Monte. Both +being "Gardes-Nobles" they can only come early and +not run the risk of meeting any of the Court people nor +diplomatists to the Quirinal. Princess Pallavicini is one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +of the Queen's ladies, but she is such an old friend of +both gentlemen that they always go to her. Among the +first arrivals was Massari. He and W. and Prince +Pallavicini had a nice talk, and it amused me to see the +people come in. There were about 30 (I knew a good +many of the Romans, but of course the Court people and +Deputies were strangers to me), Wimpffens, Noailles, St. +Asilea, Somaglias, and a sprinkling of young diplomatists. +As soon as the White diplomatists began to appear +Del Monte and Malatesta departed. I had a talk with +Villamarina who is very musical, also with Vitelleschi. +The party broke up early—there was no music nor dancing +(not even the little informal "tour de valse" there +used to be in our days) and we were home before 12 +o'clock. W. enjoyed his evening—talked principally to +the men.</p> + + +<div class="signature">Saturday, March 20, 1880.</div> + +<p>W. is off this morning with Father Smith to San +Clemente. I was lazy as I was out all day yesterday. +In the morning W. and I walked to the Palazzo dei +Cesari, and stayed there two hours walking about and +sitting down in the nice sunny places. It was beautifully +bright, a splendid blue sky, but cold, a sharp wind, +very unusual they say for the end of March. One gets +a very fair walk on the Palatine Hill. There is so much +to see, and the little irregular paths running up and down +from the various temples and ruined buildings of all +kinds give one plenty of exercise. It needs a good deal of +imagination to reconstruct all the temples, tribunes, porticoes, +and palaces which existed in the days of Imperial +Rome, but there are still bits of coloured marble, faded +frescoes, mosaics, tops of columns and broken statues in +every direction. W. was quite happy—he had already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +spent a morning there with Lanciani, and so could show +me what was still well enough preserved for me to understand. +The view from the terrace over Rome and the +Campagna was beautiful—the mountains seemed so near. +We didn't walk home as we found a botta which had +just brought up a party of forestieri—French this time, +with a young priest, who was evidently the guide.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Sunday, March 21, 1880. +</div> + +<p>We went to the American church this morning as +Nevin was so anxious we should see it. There is no +very interesting French church—a sort of Vaudois chapel—so +we preferred the Capella Americana. It is a pretty +little church, very full—I should think a good many +English as well as Americans—very good singing and +a good sermon, not too long. We had visitors after +lunch, and about 4 started for a drive out to Ponte +Nomentano. We got out and walked about the Campagna +for some time. The view was divine—Frascati +and Rocca di Papa on one side, Tivoli on the other. W. +thought the old bridge most picturesque. He recognised +it instantly from the aquarelle that is in the dining-room +at home. As it was Sunday all the country people were +out; carts filled with women and children, boys on donkeys, +sitting well back, almost on the tails of the animals, +and all the little courts in front of the various osterias +quite full. There were not exactly costumes, but there +was a general impression of colour. The men had bright +coloured sashes and shirts—the women nearly all red and +blue skirts striped, and a coloured handkerchief on their +heads—almost all with long gold ear-rings (some of the +men too had ear-rings—large gold hoops) and a string +of coloured beads around their necks. Everybody talking, +laughing, and enjoying themselves. We stopped at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +the British Embassy for tea. Lady Paget receives always +Sunday afternoon. There were various carriages +at the door, and the villa looked pretty. The tea-table +was on a broad palier at the head of the stairs. It was +very well arranged with screens "cassoni," plants, arm-chairs—very +original and attractive. I went in first to the +drawing-room and had a talk with Lady Paget, then adjourned +to the palier with Princess Sciarra and Countess +Wimpffen, and we had a very pleasant hour. It was +amusing to see all the people coming up the broad staircase. +There were of course a great many I didn't know, +as besides all the Court set and political people there were +many English, all arriving for Holy Week. Mrs. Bruce, +Madame Visconti Venosta, Gert, Marquise Chigi came +and joined us. I was quite horrified when I found how +late it was. We had just time to dress and go and dine +with the Geoffroys at the Palazzo Farnese. The evening +was very pleasant; decidedly archeological and scientific, +but the men were all clever and talked so well that they +would have made any subject interesting. We had Visconti, +de Rossi, Lanciani, and some of the young men of +the École Française. They all love Rome and know +every stone. W. was quite in his element, talked a great +deal himself, and was much interested in their excavations +and all the curious things they are finding all the time. +I meant to leave early and go to Gert who had a few +people at dinner, but it was eleven o'clock before any +one moved, and we went quietly home.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Good Friday, March 26, 1880.</div> + +<p>I was too tired to-day to do anything, as yesterday we +were out all day. W. and I walked about in the morning, +going into all sorts of churches whenever we saw +one open. There were always people, and in the smaller<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +churches they looked devout and absorbed, but the crowd +of strangers in the large, better known basilicas took +away any religious feeling. It all seemed a great show, +which is practically what Holy Week is in Rome. They +say they have not had so many foreigners in years. Last +night the "gérant" begged us not to come downstairs +until 8 o'clock, or even a quarter past, as they needed all +the small tables for the table-d'hôte. It was not so very +crowded this morning as we breakfast at 12.30, much +earlier than the foreigners, who are usually English and +come in for luncheon at 1.30.</p> + +<p>Yesterday afternoon we went to St. Peter's and found +ourselves in a long file of carriages going the same way; +also all kinds of pedestrians, priests, nuns, soldiers, artists, +Cook's tourists, etc. W. was rather horrified at the +crowd in the church, and the regular "bousculade" at the +big doors. There was to be very good singing at one of +the small chapels, but it was already so full that we +couldn't get in, though we had cards from one of the +Monsignori. We tried to make our way in but it was +utterly impossible, and then stood outside, thinking we +might hear; but the people all talked so much that we +heard nothing except every now and then a few notes in +that curious, high, unnatural voice of the Papal Choir. +Two young German priests, with keen intelligent faces, +were so put out—begged the people near not to talk—"in +zehn Minuten ist alles vorüber" (in ten minutes +it will be all over). All Rome was walking about +the church, talking and looking about as if they were +in a great hall of some kind—a crowd of strangers +pushing, jostling, and trying to get up to the High Altar, +or the statue of St. Peter where all the faithful were kissing +the toe. It was certainly not solemn nor edifying, +except when we came upon a quiet corner, with some old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +chapel filled with tombs of dead Romans, Popes or +Princes, who had played a great part in their day. That +took us back into the past, and we could realize that we +were really in St. Peter's. I tried to show W. the part +that was shut off for the great Ecumenical Council +under Pio Nono, but I couldn't remember exactly. We +shall come back another day with Father Smith who will +know all about it. I did find the Stuart monument with +the busts of Charles Edward and Cardinal York. People +kept pouring into the church, but it is so enormous +that, except at certain places, it was quite easy to circulate. +All the women (except a few stray tourists) were +in black, and every now and then one saw a long file of +séminaristes, also in black, but with a coloured sash to +mark their nationality. I think the Americans wear blue—the +French are quite black—no colour. We talked to +quantities of people—it was like an enormous reception. +I was very tired when we finally came out, as of course +we were walking and standing about all the time. There +is no aisle with regular seats as in most churches—merely +a few prie-Dieu inside the side chapels. The +drive home was lovely—we went at a walk almost all the +time, there were so many carriages.</p> + +<p>I went out after all this afternoon with W. and Monsignor +English to St. John Lateran, where they were +singing a Miserere of Cappoci's. It is most strange, +weird music, and the voices of the men are so unlike anything +one hears elsewhere. There was always the same +crowd. I will say Cook does his business thoroughly—wherever +there is anything to see or hear he pilots all +his band. After the Miserere was over we stood some +time at the foot of the Scala Santa. It was black with +people going up on their knees, saying a prayer at each +step (I think there are 30) and some of them did look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +serious and absorbed. They were principally peasants—every +now and then some well-dressed bourgeois. Monsignor +English told us we would be surprised at the class +of people (society) who come early, before the great +crowd of sight-seers.</p> + +<p>We went back to the Palazzo Altemps, picking up Count +Palfy on the way, where Gert had promised us tea and +hot cross buns from Spillman's (very good they were).</p> + +<p>We found a note from the Quirinal when we came +home saying the Queen would receive us to-morrow at +2.30. Desprez came and sat some time. He told W. all +that was going on in Paris—the Ministry as usual struggling +against the Radicals who are always wanting to +suppress the French Embassy at the Vatican. It doesn't +make the position of the Ambassador very pleasant, but +Desprez is very wise, has had long training at the Foreign +Office, and will certainly do all he can to conciliate and +keep things straight.</p> + + +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature">Saturday, March 27, 1880.</div> + +<p>It was raining this morning and I was very glad. The dust was getting most disagreeable in one's eyes and +throat, and covering everything. I am glad, too, that it +is cool, decidedly, as I wanted to wear my blue velvet. +If it had been a bright warm day it would have looked +dark and heavy. It is four o'clock—we have just come +in from our audience, and I will write at once while the +impression is fresh. W. has a "rendezvous" with some +of the French Institute people, and I shall not see him +again until dinner time. We got to the palace (a great +ugly yellow building, standing high) quickly enough, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +there was no one in the streets at that hour, and drove +into the court-yard to a handsome entrance and staircase. +There were a few soldiers about, but not much movement. +A carriage came in behind us, and just as we were +going upstairs some one called my name. It was Bessie +Brancaccio,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> who had also an audience with the Queen. +She had come to thank her for her appointment as dame +de palais. I was glad to have just that glimpse of her, as +they are not in Rome this winter. Their beautiful house +is not ready for them, so they have been spending the +winter in Nice. We walked through a large anteroom +where there were three or four servants and an "écuyer," +and in the first salon we were received by the Comtesse +Marcello, one of the Queen's ladies, a Venetian and a +great friend of Mary's, and the gentleman-in-waiting, +whose name I didn't master. We talked for a few minutes—she +said a lady was with the Queen. The room was +handsome, prettily furnished and opened into another—three +or four, in fact, all communicating. After about ten +minutes we saw a lady come out of the end room, the +door of which was open, so Comtesse Marcello ushered +us through the suite. We went to the corner room, +quite at the end, where the Queen was waiting standing. +We went through the usual ceremony. The Comtesse +Marcello made a low curtsey on the threshold, +saying, "I have the honour to present his Excellency, M. +Waddington and Madame Waddington," and instantly +retired. The Queen was standing quite at the end of the +room (a lovely, bright corner room, with lots of windows +and a magnificent view over Rome—even on a dull day +it looked cheerful and spacious). I had ample time for +my three curtseys. She let us come quite close up to +her, and then shook hands with us both and made us sit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +down—I next to her on the sofa, W. in an arm-chair in +front. I found her rather changed since I had seen her. +She has lost the girlish appearance she had so long, and +her manner was nervous, particularly at first. When she +began to talk and was interested and animated she was +more like what I remembered her as Princess Marguerite. +She was dressed in bronze satin, with a flowered brocade +"casaque," and one string of splendid pearls. She told W. +she was very pleased to see him, remembered that I had +lived in Rome before my marriage, and asked if I still +sang, Vera had talked so much about the music in +Casa Pierret, and the trios we used to sing there with +Lovatelli and Malatesta. The talk was most easy, about +everything, generally in French, but occasionally breaking +into English, which she speaks quite well. W. was +delighted with her—found her most interesting and "très +instruite"—not at all the banal talk one expects to have +with sovereigns—in fact, I quite forgot we were having +a royal audience. It was a very pleasant visit to a charming +woman, in a pretty room with all sorts of beautiful +pictures and "bibelots" about. While we were still +there the Prince of Naples<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> came in. We both got up; +she told him to shake hands with W. and to kiss me, and +to ask me how old my little boy was, which he did quite +simply and naturally. He told his mother he was going +to ride. I asked him if he had a nice pony, to which he +replied in English, "Oh, yes, jolly," and asked if my +little boy rode. I said not yet; he was only two years +old. The child looked intelligent, but delicate. They +say his mother makes him work too much, is so ambitious +for him; and he has rather that look. The Princes of +Savoy have always been soldiers rather than scholars, but +I suppose one could combine the two. The Queen also +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>spoke about the Bunsens, and "little Beatrice";<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> said +she was very fond of Mary. I was very sorry when the +audience was over and she dismissed me, saying she had +people waiting.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;"> +<img src="images/illus119.png" width="267" height="500" alt="Queen Margherita and the Prince of Naples (Present King of +Italy) in 1880." title="Queen Margherita and the Prince of Naples (Present King of +Italy) in 1880." /> +<span class="caption">Queen Margherita and the Prince of Naples (Present King of +Italy) in 1880.</span> +</div> + +<p>We found Bessie and one or two other ladies in the +first salon when we came out, waiting their turn. Comtesse +Marcello was delighted with all W. said about the +Queen. He was very enthusiastic, for him, as he is not +generally gushing. I told her she had remembered that +I had lived some years in Rome as Mary King, and she +said: "Oh, yes, she remembered you and all your +family perfectly, and knew that you had married M. +Waddington."</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Tuesday, March 30, 1880.</div> + +<p>It is much pleasanter to-day—quite Spring-like, and +the Piazza is full of people. I have drawn my little writing +table close up to the window, and I am afraid my correspondence +will suffer, as there is always so much to see. +Almost all the little botte have departed, in fact W., +who has just started off with Visconti for the Vatican to +look at the coins, took the last one. Cook's two big +omnibuses have also just started for Tivoli—crammed. +Some of the people dashed into Nazzari's, and reappeared +with little paper bags, filled evidently with goodies.</p> + +<p>Yesterday W. and I breakfasted again at the Noailles', +and they took us over the palace (Farnese) which is quite +splendid, such enormous rooms and high ceilings. The +great gallery with the famous Carracci frescoes looked +beautiful in the daylight, and we saw them much better. +The colours are still quite wonderful, hardly faded, some +of the figures so graceful and life-like. Madame de +Noailles' bed-room and dressing-room are huge. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +enormous bedstead hardly took up any room at all. She +said it took her some little time to accustom herself to +such very spacious apartments, she almost had the impression +of sleeping in the streets.</p> + +<p>We went for a drive afterward out of Porta Maggiore +to look at the Baker's tomb—do you remember it, a great +square tomb with rows of little cells? We wandered +about on foot for some time, looked at the bits that remain +of the old Roman road, and then drove out some distance +toward the arches of the Claudian Viaduct. It is the road +we shall take when we go to Tivoli. It was not quite +clear, so the hills hadn't the beautiful colour they have +when the sun is on them—but the grey atmosphere seems +to suit the Campagna, which is after all a long stretch of +barren, desolate country broken at intervals by the long +lines of aqueducts—every now and then a square tower +standing out straight and solitary against the sky, and +hardly visible until one comes close upon it, and a few +shepherds' huts, sometimes with a thatched roof, sometimes +what remains of an old tomb, with a dried-up old +woman apparently as old as the tomb spinning in the +doorway. We met very few vehicles of any description.</p> + +<p>We dined at the Palazzo della Consultà where Cairoli, +Foreign Minister, lives. There were not many women—Madame +de Noailles, Gert, Madame de Sant' Onofrio +(wife of one of Cairoli's secretaries), and quantities of +men. They divided the honours—Cairoli took in Madame +de Noailles—Madame Cairoli, W. The Préfet of Rome, +Gravina, took me and put me on Cairoli's left. We all +talked Italian, and I rather enjoyed myself. I told Gravina +how much I preferred "Roma com' era," that the +new buildings and the boulevards and the bustle and the +quantities of people had spoiled the dear, dead, old Rome +of our days—to which he replied "but you, Madame, are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +an American born, you surely can't be against progress." +Oh, no, I like progress in my own country, but certainly +not here. Rome was never intended to be modern and +go-ahead—it didn't go with the monuments and the +ruins and the traditions of old Rome. However he answered +me quite seriously that not only every country, +but every individual, must "marcher," or else they would +"dépérir." Cairoli joined in the conversation, others too, +and there was rather an interesting discussion as to how +much could be left to sentiment, association of the past, +etc., when an old historic city was being transformed into +a busy, modern, political centre.</p> + +<p>After dinner Madame Cairoli came and sat down by +me, and was pleasant enough. She looked handsome—very +wide awake—still continues to call me Madame la +Comtesse, so I have given up correcting her. She is well +up on all subjects, particularly art, music, pictures, etc. +She was rather amusing over the state of society and all +the great Roman ladies whom she didn't know (there is +such a division between the Government people and the +old Romans) but said she had a very pleasant entourage +with all the diplomatists and the distinguished strangers +(with a little bow to me) and really didn't notice the +absence of the grandes dames. She asked me about +my audience with the Queen—had we been able to talk +to her at all. She had been so tired lately and nervous +that any attempt at conversation was an effort. I told +her that on the contrary she talked a great deal, and that +I didn't find her changed.</p> + +<p>Maffei came up and talked—asked me if I really liked +Rome better as it used to be—I must surely prefer life +to stagnation. He speaks English well, and likes to +speak. They tell me that all the present generation of +Romans speak English perfectly—much better than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +French. There was a small reception after dinner, some +of the young diplomatists and political men. We came +away early—10.30, and plunged into our Paris letters, of +which we found quantities.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Friday, April 2, 1880.</div> + +<p>It is raining quite hard this morning, so I will write +and not go out until after breakfast. Yesterday was +beautiful, and we had a charming day at the races. I +drove out with Madame de Wimpffen in her victoria—W. +and Wimpffen together. I wore my brown cloth with +the coat trimmed with gold braid and a great bunch of +yellow roses on my hat, but I was sorry I hadn't sent for +something lighter, as almost all the women were in white. +I had thought of having two dresses sent by the "valise" +(I hadn't time to have them sent by ordinary express). +I consulted Noailles, who was very amiable, and said he +would do what he could, but that the rules were very +strict now for the "valise," as there had been such abuse. +I rather protested, so he remarked with a twinkle in his +eye that I had better speak to my husband, as he was the +Minister who had insisted on a reform being made—he +added that it was Princess Lise Troubetzkoi who made +the final scandal—that when St. Vallier was French Ambassador +to Berlin she was always sending things to +Petersburg, via Berlin, by the "valise." When the "petit +paquet" she had spoken of turned out to be a grand piano +there was a row, and W., who was then Foreign Minister, +decreed that henceforth no "paquets" of any kind that +were not on official business could be sent by the "valise." +I suppose a pink tulle ball dress would hardly come under +that head.</p> + +<p>The Queen was there looking very well and bright, +dressed in light grey with a big black hat—very becoming.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +There were a great many pretty women. We came away +before the end and drew up a little distance from the gate +where a long string of carriages was waiting to see the +Queen pass. The cortège was simple—first two dragoons, +then a "piqueur" and her carriage with four horses, +postillion and two servants behind in the scarlet liveries. +The Countess Marcello was seated alongside of the Queen—two +gentlemen (I couldn't make out who they were) +facing her; a second carriage with two horses with two +gentlemen in it followed, all very well turned out. The +scarlet liveries make a great effect, one sees them from +such a distance. The crowd was very respectful—not +particularly enthusiastic. The Queen bowed right and +left very prettily. I talked to lots of people at the races—among +others to Madame Alphonse Rothschild who is +here for a few days, and to Mesdames Somaglia, Rignano, +Celleri, etc. I walked about a little with Sant' Asilea, but +it was not easy to move—most of the ladies stayed quietly +in the tribunes. We stopped at Nazzari's coming back +and W. treated us all to tea—then we sent our carriage +away as we wanted it at night for the Teano ball, and we +walked about in the Corso, looking at all the turn-outs. +The Teano four-in-hand was very handsome, and there +were one or two others we couldn't make out which were +very well turned out—some of the victorias, too, very +smart, with handsome stepping horses. The Corso was +full of people waiting to see the "retour"—it looked so +gay. About eleven we went off to the Teano ball, which +was most brilliant—all the société there. Again I was +sorry I hadn't sent for another dress as my red satin +looked heavy and wintry. Princess Teano in white, with a +diamond tiara, looked charming. Of course all the young +generation who were dancing were strangers to me, but +I met many old friends. I had quite a talk with Doria<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +who wanted to be introduced to W. whom he had not +yet seen. We stayed until 1.30, and when we came away +they were just beginning the cotillon. In the old days +we used to arrive at the balls about 12.30 or 1 o'clock just +so as to have one waltz before the cotillon which was +usually the best of the evening, as all the serious people +had gone, and the mammas were at supper fortifying +themselves for the long hours before them, so the ball-room +was comparatively empty and one could get a good +turn.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Saturday, April 3, 1880.</div> + +<p>It is a beautiful morning, so was yesterday, an ideal +Roman day—the sky so blue and just a soft little air that +makes the awnings over the shops opposite flap lazily and +indisposes one to any exertion. We walked about a little +before breakfast, inspected the Fountain of Trevi where +Neptune sits in state, looking at the rush of water falling +over the rocks and splashing into the great marble basin. +The water is beautifully clear, and sparkled and glistened +in the sunlight. There were a good many people about—girls +with pitchers on their heads, old men and women +with pails and cans, all after water. The Trevi water is +considered the best in Rome and is in great demand. We +loitered about in the small narrow streets that branch off +in every direction, always seeing something interesting. +I think we lost our way as we found ourselves down by +Trajan's Column and Forum, but we managed to get back +to the Piazza di Spagna in good time for breakfast.</p> + +<p>We started again in the afternoon for tea at the Farnesina +Palace with the Duke di Ripalda. We stopped at +the Farnese Palace to pick up Madame de Noailles, who +was coming too, and we had a charming afternoon. +Ripalda took us all over the Palace, and W. was delighted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +with the frescoes, particularly Sodoma's. The garden +was lovely, though they have cut off a great piece for their +quays and works along the river. They are enlarging +the Tiber, making great walls, etc. The City of Rome +gave Ripalda a large sum of money, but he is much disgusted +as it had taken a good bit off his garden. More +people came in—the wife of the Peruvian Minister, a +very pretty woman, and one or two men. We had tea +in the long gallery with all Raphael's and Carracci's beautiful +gods and cupids over our heads. How many different +scenes they must have looked down on—not always +so peaceful as this quiet party.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Saturday evening, April 3, 1880, 10 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span></div> + +<p>We went to the German Embassy on our way home to +write ourselves down for the German Crown Princess, +who had just arrived there for a short stay. I hope I +shall see her—W. admires her so much. He saw her +often when he was in Berlin for the Congress, and found +her most sympathetic and charming. Turkam Bey came +in just before dinner and had a great deal to say about +the Khedive, and what France would have done if he had +resisted, retired up the country, and obliged the French +and English to depose him by force. It was evident that +the suite had been talking to him, and talking very big—he +was very anxious to have a categorical answer. W. +said very quietly they had never considered that emergency, +as it was quite evident from the beginning that +the Khedive had no intention of resisting. "Cependant, +monsieur, s'il avait voulu," etc., so W. could only repeat +the same thing—that they had never been anxious on that +point.</p> + +<p>We dined quietly at home, and in the course of the +evening there came a note from Keudell, the German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +Ambassador (whom we don't either of us know), saying +that "par ordre de Son Altesse Impériale la Princesse +Héréditaire d'Allemagne" he had the honour to ask M. +and Madame Waddington to dine to-day at 7.30 at the +Embassy "en petit comité." We should find a small party—the +Wimpffens and Pagets. The Princess only arrived +on Thursday, and W. is much pleased that she should +have thought of us at once. Keudell has been ill with +gout ever since we have been here. We have never once +seen him, but various people told W. he regretted so much +not seeing him, that the other day we tried to find him, +but the porter said he was still in his room.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Sunday, April 4, 1880.</div> + +<p>Our dinner was charming. I was not a bit disappointed +in the Princess. W. had talked so much about +her that I had rather made up my mind I should find her +very formal and German—and she isn't either one or the +other. We left a little after seven (I wearing black satin). +I am so bored with always wearing the same dresses. If +I had had any idea we should go out every night I should +have brought much more, but W. spoke of "a nice quiet +month in Rome, sight-seeing and resting." We were the +first to arrive. Keudell was at the door, introduced himself, +and took us into the large salon, where Madame Keudell +was waiting. She looked slight and rather delicate, +and he really ill, so very white. He said he had had a +long, sharp attack of gout—had not been out for some +time, and was in the salon for the first time the day the +Princess arrived. While we were waiting for the others +to come he showed us the rooms and pictures. I recognised +at once one of those pretty child's heads by Otto +Brandt like the one we have. He was much interested in +knowing that we had bought one so long ago, he thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +Brandt had so much talent. There was a grand piano, +of course, as he is a fine musician. The Pagets and +Wimpffens came together almost, and as soon as they +were there the Princess came in. She had one lady with +her and a "chambellan"—Count Seckendorff. She was +dressed in black, with a handsome string of pearls. She +is short, and rather stout, carries herself very well and +moves gracefully. We all made low curtseys—the men +kissed her hand, Sir Augustus Paget just touching the +floor with his knee, the first time I had seen a man kneel +to any one in a salon. She received W. most charmingly, +and was very gracious to me—asked me at once why I +didn't accompany my husband to Berlin. I said, "Principally +because he didn't want me," which was perfectly +true. He said when he was named Plenipotentiary that +it was all new ground to him, that he would have plenty +to do, and didn't want to have a woman to look after. +He rather protests now, but that is really what he said, +and I certainly didn't go. The dinner was pleasant +enough. The Princess talked a great deal, and as the +party was small, general conversation was quite easy. +The talk was all in French, which really was very amiable +for us—we were the only foreigners present, and naturally +if we hadn't been there every one would have spoken +German. After dinner she made a short "cercle," standing +in the middle of the room, all of us around her, then +made a sign to W. to come and talk to her, sat down on +the big sofa, he on a chair next, and they talked for about +half an hour. We all remained standing. I asked +Keudell about his piano. He told me that he liked the +Erard grand very much, but that they didn't stand travelling +well. In a few moments the Princess told us all +to sit down, particularly Keudell, who looked quite white +and exhausted. I sat by Madame Keudell, and as she is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +very fond of Italy, and Rome in particular, we got on +very well. When the Princess had finished her talk with +W. she came over and sat down by me—was most charming +and easy. She has the Queen's beautiful smile, and +such an expressive face. We spoke English; she asked +me if I had become very French (I wonder?)—that she +had always heard American women were so adaptable, +taking at once their husband's nationality when they married +foreigners. She had always remained very fond of +England and English ways—the etiquette and formality +of the German Court had tried her at first. She asked +me, of course, how many children I had—said one was +not enough. "If anything should happen to him, what +would your life be?" and then spoke a great deal about +the son she lost last summer by diphtheria, said he was +the most promising of all her children, and she sometimes +thought she never could be resigned. I said that her life +was necessarily so full, she had so many obligations of +all kinds, had so many to think about, that she would be +taken out of herself. "Ah, yes, there is much to do, +and one can't sit down with one's sorrow, but the mother +who has lost her child carries a heavy heart all her life." +It was all so simply said—so womanly. She said she +was very glad to meet W. again, thought he looked very +well—was sure the change and rest were doing him good. +She regretted his departure from the Quai d'Orsay and +public life generally. I told her he was still a Senator, +and always interested in politics. I didn't think a few +months' absence at this time would affect his political +career much, and that he found so much to interest him +that he really didn't miss the busy, agitated life he had +been leading for so long. She said she intended to spend +a quiet fortnight here as a tourist, seeing all she could. +She then talked to all the other ladies, and about ten said +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>she was tired and would go to her own rooms. She shook +hands with the ladies, the men kissed her hand, and when +she got to the door she turned and made a very pretty +curtsey to us all. We stayed on about a quarter of an +hour.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 314px;"> +<img src="images/illus131.png" width="314" height="500" alt="Victoria, Crown Princess of Germany." title="Victoria, Crown Princess of Germany." /> +<span class="caption">Victoria, Crown Princess of Germany.</span> +</div> + +<p>The Wimpffens have arranged a dinner for her on +Thursday (to which she said she would like to have us +invited), just the same party with the addition of the +Minghettis. As we were going on to Madame Minghetti's +reception, Countess Wimpffen asked us to tell them to +keep themselves disengaged for Thursday, as she wanted +them for dinner to meet the Princess—she would write, +of course, but sent the message to gain time. They +brought in tea and orangeade, and I talked a little to +Count Seckendorff—he speaks English as well as I do. +He told me the Princess was quite pleased when she heard +W. was here, and hoped to see him often. We hadn't +the courage to stay any longer—poor Keudell looked +ready to drop—and started off to the Minghettis'.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful, bright night, and the Capitol and all +its surroundings looked gigantic, Marcus Aurelius on his +big bronze horse standing out splendidly. We found a +large party at Madame Minghetti's—principally political—not +many women, but I should think every man in +Rome. Alfieri, Visconti Venosta, Massari, Bonghi, Sella, +Teano, etc. It was evidently a "centre" for the intelligent, +serious men of all parties. There was quite a buzz, +almost a noise, of talking as we came in—rather curious, +every one seemed to be talking hard, almost like a meeting +of some kind. They were all talking about the English +elections, which apparently are going dead against the +Ministry. Minghetti said it was quite their own fault—a +cabinet that couldn't control the elections was not fit to +live. Of course their time was over—there was no use in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +even attempting a fight—they had quite lost their hold on +the country. Madame Minghetti seems as keen about politics +as her husband. She has many friends in England. +I told her about the Wimpffen dinner—they will go, of +course. She asked a great deal about the Princess—said +she was very glad she had decided to come to Rome, that +she couldn't help being interested and distracted here, +which she needed, as she was so upset by her son's death. +We talked music—she sings very well—and we agreed +to sing together some afternoon, perhaps at the German +Embassy, as Keudell is a beautiful musician and loves to +accompany.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bruce was there and I sat down by her a little +while, looking at the people. She pointed out various +political swells, and a nice young Englishman (whose +name I didn't catch) joined us, saying he wished he understood +Italian, as it was evident the group of men +around Minghetti was discussing English politics, and he +would so like to know what they were saying. Mrs. +Bruce told him it was just as well he didn't understand, +as, from the echoes that came to her, she didn't believe it +was altogether complimentary to John Bull. I don't believe +political men of any nationality ever approve any +ministry. It seems to me that as soon as a man becomes +a cabinet minister, or prominent in any way, he is instantly +attacked on all sides.</p> + +<p>We didn't stay very long, as we had promised to go +for a few moments to the Farnese Palace, where the +Noailles had also a reception. I had some difficulty in +extracting W. from the group of men. He naturally was +much interested in all the talk, and as almost all the men +were, or had been ministers, their criticisms were most +lively. They appealed to him every now and then, he +having been so lately in the fray himself, and he was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +funny contrast with his quiet voice and manner to the +animated group of Italians, all talking at once, and as +much with their hands as with their tongues.</p> + +<p>It was very late—after eleven—but we thought we +would try for the Noailles, and there were still many carriages +at the door when we drove up. We met so many +people coming away, on the stairs and in the long anteroom, +that it didn't seem possible there could be any one +left, but the rooms were quite full still. The palace +looked regal—all lighted—and there were enough people +to take away the bare look that the rooms usually have. +They are very large, very high, and scarcely any furniture +(being only used for big receptions), so unless there +are a great many people there is a look of emptiness, which +would be difficult to prevent. Madame de Noailles was +no longer at the door, but I found her seated in the end +room with a little group of ladies, all smoking cigarettes, +and we had an agreeable half hour. Madame Visconti +Venosta was there, and another lady who was presented to +me—Madame Pannissera, wife of one of the "grand-maîtres +de cérémonie" at court. W. was at once absorbed +into the circle of men, also talking politics, English +elections, etc., but he was ready to come away when I +made the move. Noailles insisted upon taking me to the +buffet, though I told him I had done nothing but eat and +drink since 7.30 (with a little conversation thrown in). +It was rather amusing walking through the rooms and +seeing all the people, but at 12.30 I struck. I really was +incapable of another remark of any kind.</p> + +<p>I will finish this very long letter to-day. I wonder if +you will ever have patience to read it. I am sure I +shouldn't if it were written to me. I hope I shall remember +all the things I want to tell when we get back—so +much that one can't write. My black satin was right—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +Princess was in mourning, the other ladies equally in +black. W. wants me to be photographed in the black +dress and long veil I wore at the Pope's audience. He +found it very becoming, and thinks Francis ought to have +one; but it is so difficult to find time for anything.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Saturday, April 10, 1880.</div> + +<p>We had a nice musical evening the other night at +Gert's. All the vieille garde turned up, Vera, Malatesta, +Del Monte (with his violoncello), and Grant. We +sang all the evening, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. +I was sorry Edith Peruzzi couldn't come, as she sings so +well, and it would have been nice to have another lady. +She has been nursing her mother, who has been ill (so ill +that they sent for Edith to come from Florence), but she +is getting all right now, and I don't think Edith will stay +much longer. Charles de Bunsen has arrived for a few +days. We took for him a room at our hotel, and we have +been doing all manner of sight-seeing. Thursday morning +we went to the Accademia of San Luca, where we had +not yet been. It was rather interesting, but there is much +less to see than in the other galleries. There are some +good busts and modern pictures—a pretty Greuze.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus137.png" width="500" height="325" alt="Gardens of the Villa Torlonia, Formerly Villa Conti, Frascati, Opposite the Villa Marconi, Where we Spent the Summer of 1867." title="Gardens of the Villa Torlonia, Formerly Villa Conti, Frascati, Opposite the Villa Marconi, Where we Spent the Summer of 1867." /> +<span class="caption">Gardens of the Villa Torlonia, Formerly Villa Conti, Frascati, Opposite the Villa Marconi, Where we Spent the Summer of 1867.</span> +</div> + + +<p>Our dinner at the Wimpffens' was very pleasant. We +arrived very punctually at 7.20 and found the Keudells +already there. He told us the Princess was very tired, +she had been all day in the galleries standing, looking at +pictures, and he didn't think she would stay late. He +still looked very tired and pale, but said he was much +better and that the royal visit did not tire him at all. The +Princess was very considerate and went about quite simply +with her lady and Count Seckendorff. The other +guests arrived almost immediately—the Pagets, Minghettis, +Gosselins of the British Embassy, and Maffei,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office. About a quarter +to eight the Princess arrived with her lady and chamberlain, +she was dressed in black, with a long string of +pearls. We went at once to dinner (which was announced +as she entered the room), Wimpffen of course taking the +Princess, who had Minghetti on her other side. Sir +Augustus Paget took me, and I had Gosselin on the other +side. W. sat next Countess Wimpffen. The talk was easy +and animated, quite like the other day at the Palazzo Caffarelli +(German Embassy). The Princess talked a great +deal to Minghetti, principally art, old Rome, pictures, etc.—she +herself draws and paints very well. After dinner +she sat down at once (said she didn't usually mind standing, +but the long days in the galleries tried her), made us +all sit down, and for about half an hour she was most +charming, talking about all sorts of things, and keeping +the conversation general. When she had had enough of +<i>female</i> conversation she said something in a low tone +to Lady Paget, who got up, crossed the room to where +W. was standing, and told him the Princess wished to +speak to him. He came at once, of course—she made +him sit down, and they talked for a long time. She +is naturally a Protestant, but very liberal, and quite +open to new ideas. She was much interested in French +Protestants—had always heard they were very strict, +very narrow-minded, in fact, rather Calvinistic. She +kept W. until she went away, early—about ten—as she +was tired. She has an extraordinary charm of manner. +Her way of taking leave of us was so pretty and gracious. +She dines quietly at the British Embassy to-morrow +night, and when Lady Paget asked her who she would +have, said: "Cardinal Howard and Mr. Story." She +wants to see all manner of men.</p> + +<p>Yesterday we made our first excursion to Frascati, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +most unpleasant it was. We had chosen our day so as to +have Charles Bunsen with us, and one also when we had +nothing in the evening, as one is so tired after being out +all day. We started about 9—in the carriage—W. and +I, Gert and Charles. It looked grey (was perfectly +mild) and rather threatening, but the hotel man and +coachman assured us we should have no rain—merely a +covered day which would be more agreeable than the +bright sun. Schuyler promised to come out by train for +breakfast. The drive out was delicious, out of the Porta +San Giovanni, the whole road lined with tombs, arches, +ruined villas, always the aqueducts on one side, and the +blue hills directly in front of us. The sun came out occasionally +through little bits of white clouds, and the +Campagna looked enchanting, almost alive. We passed +close to the Osteria del Pino—where the meet used to be +often in old hunting days. It was so familiar as we +drove up the steep hill and recognised all the well-known +places—the Pallavicini villa at the side of the road, half-way +up the hill; the Torlonia gardens, and the gateway +of the funny little town. We went straight to the hotel, +the same one as in our day, Albergo di Londra (that +shows what a haunt of "forestieri" it is), ordered breakfast, +and then sallied out for a walk.</p> + +<p>The little piazza before the hotel was filled with donkeys +and boys, all clamouring to us to have a ride, expatiating +on the merits of their beasts, and making a perfect +uproar. We explained to the porter that we wanted +beasts of some description to go up to Tusculum, and he +said he would arrange it for us. However, the boys +pursued us to the gate, dragging their donkeys after them. +We went first to the Palazzo Marconi, which is just outside +the gates opposite the Torlonia villa. I wanted so +much to see the old house again, it was inhabited by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +Russian family, and at first there seemed some little difficulty +about getting in, but W. sent in his card, and after +a little parley a servant appeared and took us all over the +house, except the dining-room where the family were +breakfasting. It looks exactly the same—only much +more neglected and uninhabited. The broken steps +were more broken, the bright paint more faded, and +the look of discomfort much accentuated. I showed +W. the room where father died. It looked much more +bare and empty, but the pink walls were still there, and +the door open giving on the terrace. How it brought +back those long, hot nights when we tried to hope—knowing +quite well there was no chance—but never daring +to put the fear into words. W. was much struck by +the lonely, desolate look of the whole place. The little +salon which we had made so comfortable with tables, +rugs, and arm-chairs brought from Rome, looked perfectly +bare—no furniture except one or two red velvet +benches close to the wall, and rather an ugly marble table +with nothing on it. The big round salon with its colossal +statues in their marble niches and the marble benches, +was exactly the same—only no piano. We went through +the bed-rooms at the other end (our three), the marble +bath still in the middle one, which used to be Henrietta's, +but there was no trace of occupation, neither beds, washing +apparatus, tables, nor chairs. I suppose the "locataires" +live in the two rooms at the other end. There +wasn't much furniture there, but I did see some beds. +We went out into the little raised garden behind the big +statue, but it was a wild waste of straggling vines and +weeds. It was rather sad—nothing changed and yet so +different.</p> + +<p>I explained our life to W.—our morning or evening +rides, our music, which was enchanting in the big salon—so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +mysterious, just a little glow of light around the +piano and other instruments, and the rest of the great +room almost dark, the white statues looking so huge and +grim in the half light. I was rather nervous the first +nights out here when I had to cross that room to go to +mine with a very small Roman lamp in my hand—but I +soon got accustomed to my surroundings, and it seemed +quite natural to live our daily, modern life in that milieu +of frescoes, marble statues, hanging gardens, and +strangers. I tried to find some little flower in the mass of +weeds in the garden, but there wasn't one, so I send these +periwinkles and anemones picked in the Villa Torlonia, +where we walked about for some time under the splendid +old ilex trees.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus143.png" width="500" height="285" alt="Tomb of Viniciano, Between Frascati and Tusculum." title="Tomb of Viniciano, Between Frascati and Tusculum." /> +<span class="caption">Tomb of Viniciano, Between Frascati and Tusculum.</span> +</div> + +<p>Breakfast, a fairly good one, was ready when we got +back to the hotel, but no Schuyler. I think he was a +wise man and foresaw what was going to happen. Quite +a number of strangers had come out by train—all English +and American, no one we knew—and the table-d'hôte +was quite full. As soon as the gentlemen had had their +coffee, about 1.30, we started for Tusculum, Gert and I +on donkeys with two pretty, chattering Italian boys at +their heads—Bunsen on a stout little mountain pony, and +W. on foot. He wouldn't hear of a donkey, and preferred +to walk with the guide. We climbed up the steep +little path, between high walls at first, then opening out +on the hillside to the amphitheatre, which we saw quite +well. The arena and seats are very well preserved. +There are still rows of steps, slippery and green with +moss. We went on again toward Cicero's Villa, and for +a moment the clouds cleared a little, and we saw what the +view might be straight over the Campagna to Rome +(the dome of St. Peter's just standing out—on one side +the hills with the little villages where we have ridden so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>often, Monte Compatri, Monte Porzio, the Campi d'Annibale +and Monastery of Monte Cave in the distance). +I wonder if the old monk would tell us to-day what one +did years ago, when we were standing on the terrace +looking at the magnificent view: "Quando fa bel tempo +si può vedere le montagne d'America" (When it is fine +one can see the mountains of America). I thought it +was rather pretty, his eagerness to make us understand +what an extended view one had from his mountain top, +and he probably didn't know where America was. However, +our little gleam of sunlight didn't last—first came +big drops, then a regular downpour, and in a few minutes +a thick white mist closed around us, shutting out +everything. We took refuge for a few moments under +a sort of ruined portico, but the rain came down harder, +and we decided to give up Cicero's Villa, and turn our +faces homeward.</p> + +<p>The descent was neither easy nor pleasant—a steep little +path with the donkeys slipping and stumbling, and the +rain falling in buckets. I was wet through in ten minutes, +as I was very lightly dressed in a white shirt and +foulard skirt (having stupidly left my jacket at the hotel +as it was very warm when we started). Gert was better +off, as she had her tweed dress. I shan't soon forget that +descent, and as we passed Mondragone—the Borghese +Palace—we had thunder and lightning, which didn't +add to my comfort—however, the donkeys didn't mind. +I was wet to the skin when we arrived at the hotel, and +had to undress entirely and go to bed wrapped up in a +blanket. The chambermaid lighted a fire in the room, +and she and Gert dried my clothes as well as they could, +and I had a cup of hot tea. About 5 my things were +fairly dry—Gert went shopping in the town, and bought +me a piece of flannel which I put on under my corsage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +which was still damp. It rained a little when we started +home, but cleared about half-way, and we had the most +glorious sunset.</p> + +<p>It was too bad to have fallen upon such a day, and I +am afraid we shan't have time to attempt it again. I +was half tempted to stay at Frascati all night and try +again the next morning, but the others thought it better +to come home. I went to bed immediately after dinner, +and feel quite well to-day—only a little stiff—the combined +effect of the donkey and the damp.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +April 11, 1880. +</div> + +<p>Yesterday it rained hard all day, there was quite a little +stream of water in the Piazza coming down from the +Pincio. Certainly Rome needs sunshine, everything +looked forlorn and colourless and everybody so depressed. +The Spanish Steps were quite deserted, no models nor +children galloping up and down. The coachmen of the +fiacre-stand on the Piazza dripping and dejected on their +boxes—nobody wanting carriages and very few people +about. I really believe the Romans stay in when it rains. +We didn't, of course, as our time is getting short, and the +galleries are always a resource. We went off about 10 +to the Vatican and spent two hours there. Charles de +Bunsen was very glad to see it all again. We went first +to the Cappella Paolina where there was not much to see—some +frescoes of Michelangelo's, not very well preserved. +It used to be so beautiful, Holy Week in Rome, +when we were here before, brilliantly lighted for a silent +adoration and filled with people kneeling and motionless.</p> + +<p>Then we went on to the Cappella Sistina where there +were a good many people taking advantage of a rainy +day to do the Vatican. It wasn't at all dark—I don't +know exactly why, for the rain was pouring straight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +down. The Last Judgment is an awful picture. I +had forgotten Charon and his boat and the agonized faces +of the people whom he is knocking back with his oar. +Some of the faces were too terrible, such despair and suffering. +I can't think why any artist ever chooses such +subjects, one would think they would be haunted by their +own conceptions.</p> + +<p>We walked through the Stanze, I wanted to see the +Deliverance of St. Peter; I remember so well the engraving +that was in the dining-room at Bond Street, which +I have sat opposite to so often. I used to be fascinated +as a child with the Roman soldiers, particularly the one +with a torch. We sauntered through the picture gallery +looking at the beautiful Foligno Madonna, Communion +of St. Jerome, and of course the Marriage of St. Catherine, +and really my copy by the young German is good +as I see the original again. We finished in the Galerie +des Inscriptions where W. always finds odd bits of inscriptions +which are wildly interesting to him. I think +for the moment yellow-books and interpellations and +the "peuple souverain" generally as represented in the +Chambre des Députés are out of his head.</p> + +<p>The sun came out bright and warm in the afternoon +and we drove to the Villa Pamphili. We stopped at San +Pietro in Montorio on our way. It is there that St. Peter +is said to have been crucified. The view from the terrace +is very fine—the whole of Rome at our feet stretching +out over the Campagna to the Alban Hills. It was +too early really for the view, as one ought to see it at +sunset, when the hills take most beautiful rose blue tints +and the Campagna looks vague and mysterious, not the +long barren stretch of waste uncultivated land it is in +the daylight.</p> + +<p>We stopped again at the Fontana Paolina, looked at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +the rush of water that tumbles into the stone basin, and +climbed up the Janiculum, every turn of the road giving +the most enchanting view, out of the Porta San Pancrazio +to the Villa Pamphili—all Rome apparently was +doing the same thing; there were quantities of carriages. +It was charming in the Villa—many people had got out +of their carriages and were walking about in the shady +alleys. It was a relief to get out of the sun. The stone +pines of course are magnificent, but I think I like them +best from a distance—from the terrace of the Villa +Medici for instance they stand out splendidly. What is +grand is the view of St. Peter's. It seems to stand alone +as if there were no Rome anywhere near it. The dome +rises straight up above the green of Monte Mario, and +looks enormous.</p> + +<p>We walked about the gardens with the queer, old-fashioned +flower-beds and the little lake with a mosaic pattern +at the bottom, and talked to quantities of people. The +drive down was enchanting; the sun setting, clouds of +every colour imaginable and a sort of soft "brume" that +made every dirty little street (and there are many in +Rome) look picturesque.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus149.png" width="500" height="367" alt="Grounds of the Villa Doria-Pamphili, Rome. + +From an unpublished photograph taken about 1869." title="Grounds of the Villa Doria-Pamphili, Rome. + +From an unpublished photograph taken about 1869." /> +<span class="caption">Grounds of the Villa Doria-Pamphili, Rome. + +From an unpublished photograph taken about 1869.</span> +</div> + +<p>We went to the ball at the British Embassy in the +evening, taking Charles de Bunsen, who protested at first +he didn't go to balls any more, etc., but he found plenty +of old friends and was very glad he had gone. The +house looked very handsome—the ball-room with its +decoration of flowers, cupids, etc., had a decidedly festive +appearance. I danced two quadrilles—one with Count +d'Aulnay and the other with the Duke of Leuchtenberg +who was here with his wife, Comtesse de Beauharnais. +As it is a morganatic marriage (he is a Royal Prince) +she can't take his name and title. She was beautifully +dressed, had splendid jewels—pearls as big as eggs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +The ball was very gay, lots of people. We stayed quite +late; went to supper, which W. generally refuses with +scorn, and only left at 1.30. They were preparing for +the cotillon, but were going to dance a "tempête" (whatever +that may be) first. I hear they danced until 4 +o'clock.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Thursday, 12th. +</div> + +<p>We had a nice dinner at the Villa Medici Tuesday +night. The Director M. Cabat, his wife and daughter, +M. and Madame Geoffroy and 5 or 6 of the young men. +They all love Rome and say it is a paradise for an artist. +Such beautiful models of all kinds in the old pictures and +statues. I ventured to say that I thought one or two of +the modern Roman things—fountains and statues—were +pretty, but I was instantly sat upon by the whole party—"no +originality; no strength, weak imitations of great +conceptions, etc." I suppose one's taste and judgment +do get formed looking at splendid models all the time; +still the world of art must go on and there is no reason +why the present generation shouldn't have graceful fancies, +and power to carry out their dreams. We didn't +stay very late and went on to Countess Somaglia, who +was receiving. There were only two or three ladies. Her +younger sister, Olympia Doria, married to a Colonna, +the Marquise Sant' Asilea and two others I didn't know. +Quantities of men came in and out, Calabrini, Vitelleschi, +Minghetti. The "maître de maison" was not there. I +was sorry, as I had never seen him. Lucchesi-Palli came +up and claimed acquaintance—said he had danced at Casa +Pierret in the old days. I introduced him to W. who was +rather interested at meeting a half brother of the Comte +de Chambord. He is much astonished at the quantity +of people I know, but I told him one couldn't live years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +in Rome without seeing almost every one worth knowing, +as everybody comes to Rome.</p> + +<p>Yesterday Gert and I went out together. W. had an +expedition of some kind with de Rossi, and gave a dinner +at the Falcone to Charles and some of his men +friends. The Roman menu didn't tempt me. I heard +them talking about porcupines and peacocks. I preferred +dining with Gert—she asked Mrs. Van Rensselaer, +and we had a pleasant evening. Mrs. V. R. is clever and +original, very amusing over her Italian and the extraordinary +mistakes that she knows she makes, but she keeps +on talking all the same. It is curious how much colder +Gert's apartment is than our rooms at the hotel—I suppose +no sun ever gets into that narrow street, and one is +quite struck with the cold the minute one gets into the +palace and on the stone staircase. We had a little fire +and it wasn't at all too much—of course in the Piazza di +Spagna the sun streams into the rooms all day. I came +home early—about 10—and found the two gentlemen, +Charles and W., settled very comfortably each in a large +arm-chair with pipe and newspaper (you can imagine the +atmosphere in a small hotel sitting-room). They said their +dinner was very good, even the ordinary Roman wine, +but they both agreed they wouldn't care to have that +menu every day. The talk was very interesting; some +of the men had been in Italy years ago, before the days +of railways or modern conveniences of any kind, and their +experiences in some of the little towns near Rome were +most amusing—most of the peasants so mistrustful of +the artist baggage, white umbrella, camp-stool, etc., and +so anxious, when they finally understood no harm was +intended, that they should sketch a nice new house or a +bit of wall freshly plastered instead of old gateways and +tumble-down palaces.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>Charles is going back to Florence to-morrow; I think +he has enjoyed his visit very much, it brought back so +many recollections (he was born in Rome and spent all +his early childhood there).<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>I wish they would settle in Rome instead of Florence, +the life is so much more interesting here. Florence is +charming, but asleep—here there is life, and the contrast +between the old patrician city full of old-world memories +and prejudices, and the political, financial atmosphere of +this 19th century is most striking. W. has decided to +go to Naples for four or five days. I shan't go with him. +He will be all day in the museums, as there is a great +deal to see, and I should bore myself sitting alone in the +hotel. If we could stay long enough to make some excursions—see +Sorrento, Capri, and Ischia, I would not +hesitate, I should love to see it all again. They say +Vesuvius is giving signs of a disturbance.</p> + +<p>As we were talking about Capri and Vesuvius I told +them my experience there so many years ago, and both +gentlemen told me I ought to write it while it was still +fresh in my memory, so here it is and you will send the +letter to the family in America.</p> + +<p>We went to Naples in October, 1867. Father died at +Frascati the 27th of September, and we all needed change +after the long nursing and watching. All our friends in +Rome were most anxious we should get off; affairs were +rapidly coming to a crisis in Italy and it was evident that +the days of the temporal power of the Pope were numbered. +At any moment the Italians under Garibaldi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +might appear at the gates of Rome and it was not considered +safe for women and foreigners to remain there. +No one thought or talked of anything else, and though we +were absorbed by father's illness and the numerous +duties that a sick room entails we were quite as excited +as all our friends. Of course we heard the two sides—the +liberals who had high hopes of liberty and "Italia +Unita" and the "papalini" who were convinced that the +Italians would only enter Rome over the bodies of the +faithful. Our young imaginations pictured anything, +everything; the Garibaldians penetrating quite to the +Court of the Vatican, the Swiss Guard, Charette and his +Zouaves, massacred; priests flying in every direction pursued +by a crowd of soldiers and infuriated populace. +Good old Dr. Valery, who knew his countrymen better +than we did, assured us there was no danger. When resistance +was perfectly useless it would be wicked to shed +blood, and Pio Nono himself would be the first to advise +submission to the inevitable. We couldn't believe that +such a tremendous change and uprooting of the traditions +of centuries could be accomplished so quietly. We +stayed two days only in Rome after leaving Frascati. +We laid father at rest in the little English churchyard +just by the San Paolo gate. There was a mortuary +chapel where he could stay till he was taken home to the +old family churchyard at Jamaica where Grandpapa King +and a long line of children and grandchildren are buried. +We had to see about our mourning and were finally +hustled out of Rome the third day, Mr. Hooker (the +American banker), our great friend, fairly standing over +us while the trunks were being packed. He was quite +right. We took the last train that went through to +Naples, carrying with us a number of letters which our +liberal friends had asked us to mail as soon as we crossed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +the frontier,—they naturally being unwilling to trust +them to the Roman post-office. Rome looked deserted, +very few people about, some of the shops and hotels still +closed, but one felt a suppressed excitement in the air. +Some of our friends, jubilant, came to see us off at "Termine" +and promised to send us a telegram at Naples if +anything happened. Mr. Hooker was rather anxious. +He too thought the Papal court wouldn't make any resistance +if the Italians came, or rather when the Italians came, +as they were marching on Rome; but he thought there +might be trouble in the streets. He had his large American +flag ready to protect the bank. We of course made +our journey very quietly and comfortably, as Garibaldi +and his men were not on that road. I was rather disappointed, +I should have liked to have had a glimpse of the +famous revolutionary leader in his classic red shirt. We +found Naples just the same, very full, people everywhere, +in the Via Toledo, on the quays, etc. There wasn't much +apparent excitement, all the red-capped, bare-legged fishermen +were lounging about on the quays or in the numberless +little boats of all descriptions flying about in every +direction. The same songs, "Julia Gentil," "La Luissella," +"La Bella Sorrentina," were sung under our windows +every night with an accompaniment of mandolins +and a sort of tambourine. From time to time the voices +would cease and then there would be a most lively dance—tarantella, +saltarella—all the dancers moving lightly +and quickly and always in perfect time. The nights were +beautiful—warm and clear—the whole population lived in +the streets and we were always on the balcony. The islands, +Ischia and Capri, took such beautiful colours, at +sunset; seemed almost like painted islands rising straight +up out of a perfectly blue sea. Vesuvius, too, was most +interesting. Savants were prophesying an eruption and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +every now and then faint, very faint curls of smoke came +out of the crater. We knew nothing of what was going +on; had no communication with Rome, and were entirely +dependent for news on the landlord, whose information +was certainly fantastic; also the little Naples +paper, the "Pungolo," which made marvellous statements +every morning—the streets of Rome running +with blood, etc. Finally came the first news—the battle +of "Monte Rotondo," Garibaldi and his men victorious. +From Paris we heard that the French troops had started +and were at Cività Vecchia, but there were so many conflicting +stories that we really didn't know how much to +believe. Then came Mentana—the Garibaldians driven +back by the Papal and French troops; the Pope still +supreme in Rome. We had a telegram from one of our +liberal friends, "Le malade va bien," which meant that +the Pope had conquered, and Rome was not yet the +capital of "Italia Unita." There was no fighting at +all in the streets of Rome; a great deal of patriotic talk +among the young liberals, but I don't think any of them +absolutely enrolled themselves in Garibaldi's band. It +wouldn't have made any difference—they could do nothing +against the combined Papal and French troops—but +it might have been a personal satisfaction to have struck +a blow for the liberal cause. There again the common +sense of the Italians showed itself—there was no resisting +"le fait accompli," they had only to bide their time. +We had lovely days at Naples, making all sorts of excursions—Posilippo, +Capo di Monte, Camaldoli, etc. +Every morning we went to the Museum; I was madly interested +in the Pompeian relics, particularly the mummies. +It seemed impossible to believe that those little black +bundles had once been human beings feeling and living +as keenly as we do now. We always kept our eyes on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +Vesuvius as it really did seem as if something was going +on. The column of smoke looked thicker and we could +quite well see little jets of sand or small stones thrown +up from the crater. One afternoon when we came in +from driving everybody in the street was looking hard at +the mountain and the padrone informed us that the eruption +had begun. We didn't see anything, but after dinner +when we were standing on the balcony suddenly we +saw a great tongue of flame leap out from the crater and +a stream of fire running down the side of the mountain. +The flame disappeared almost immediately; came back +three or four times in the course of the evening, but +didn't gain very much in height or intensity. The next +day, however, it had increased considerably and was a +fine sight at dark, every few moments a great tongue of +fire with quantities of stones and gravel thrown high in +the air. We almost fancied we heard the noise of thunder, +but I don't think we did. People were flocking into +Naples, and we of course, like all the rest, were most +anxious to make the ascent. The landlord told us there +was no danger; that the authorities never permitted an +ascent if there was danger, and no guides would go, as +they are very prudent. One would go up on one side +(the only thing to avoid was the stream of red-hot lava). +Mother was rather unwilling, particularly as we were to +go at night (and at night from our balcony the mountain +did look rather a formidable thing to tackle). We +waited still another day and then when we had seen some +English people—two ladies and a youth who had made +the excursion and said it was not at all alarming and +most interesting—she agreed to let us go. Anne stayed +with her, she doesn't like donkey riding under any circumstances, +and a donkey at night on the slopes of +Vesuvius in eruption, with a stream of red-hot lava running<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +alongside, didn't strike her absolutely as a pleasant +performance. We started about 7 o'clock, William, +Henrietta, Gertrude, and I. The drive out all the way +to Resina was most amusing. Quantities of people, the +famous Naples "cariole" crammed with peasants and +children, and all eyes turned to the mountain. Our landlord +had made all the arrangements for us, secured the +best guides, donkeys, etc., and we were in great spirits. +The mountain looked forbidding; as we came nearer we +heard the noise, rumbling and thunder—the thunder +always preceding a great burst of flames and showers of +stones thrown up very high and falling one didn't know +exactly where. I didn't say anything as I was very anxious +to make the ascent, but I did wonder where these +red stones fell and how one could know exactly beforehand. +We drove as far as we could and then arrived +at the Hermitage and Observatory, where there was a +very primitive sort of wooden house, half tavern, half +inn. Here donkeys and guides (very voluble) were +waiting, and we started. It had begun to rain a little, +but the guides assured us that it would not last and we +should soon be above the clouds. It was almost dark—not +quite—and everything looked weird, even the faces +of the guides seemed to me to have a curious expression; +they looked fierce and wild. We went on quietly at first +though the rumblings under our feet and sudden light as +the flames burst out were unpleasant. When we began +the last steep ascent I had got very nervous. I was the +last of the party, and when the donkey-boy (an infant) +took a short cut, when the path was steep, calling out +cheerfully "Coraggio Signorina," and left me and the +donkey alone to clamber over the great slippery blocks of +lava, I was frightened and felt I should never get up to the +top. It was really terrifying—the rain and mist had increased<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +very much, it was pitch dark, rumbling and thunder +all the time, and such noises under our feet that I was +sure a great hole would open and we should all be swallowed +up. I didn't like the dark, but I certainly didn't +like the light either, when a great tongue of flame would +spring out of the crater spreading out like a fan and +throwing a mass of stones and gravel high in the air +which all fell somewhere on the mountain. The red +stream of lava looked wider and seemed to me to be coming +nearer. I called out to William, who was far ahead +and looked gigantic in the mist where he was crossing +some great rocks of lava (quite black and shiny when +they are old), and told him I was too frightened, that I +should go back to the Hermitage and wait there. He +was much disgusted—said there was no possible danger. +All the guides and donkey-boys repeated the same thing, +but it was no use, I was thoroughly unnerved and +couldn't make up my mind to go on. We had a consultation +with the guides as he didn't like the idea of my +going back alone to the inn, but they told him it was +all right, that the padrone was a "brav'uomo" and +would take care of me until they came back; so most +reluctantly they went on, and I turned my face homeward, +always with my minute attendant whom I would +gladly have shaken as he was laughing and chattering +and repeating twenty times, "non c'è pericolo." I think +the going down was rather worse; I had the rain in my +face, heard all the same unearthly noises around me, and +from time to time had glimpses of the whole country-side—Naples, +the little villages, the islands, the bay +standing out well in the red light thrown on them by the +flames from the crater; then absolute darkness and stillness, +nothing apparently on the mountain but me and the +donkey scrambling and stumbling over the wet, slippery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +stones. How we ever got down to the inn I don't +know, but both boy and donkey seemed to know the road. +I was thankful when we emerged on a sort of terrace +and saw a faint light, which meant the little inn. The +boy helped me off (it was pouring), called out something +at the door, told me to go in and go upstairs, then disappeared +around the corner with the donkey. I called—no +one answered—so I went upstairs, just seeing my way +by the light of a little dull, smoky lamp put in a niche of +the wall. I saw two doors when I got up to the top of +the stairs, both shut, so I called again, knocked; a man's +voice said something which I supposed to be "entrate" +and I walked in. I found myself in a big room hardly +lighted—a small lamp on a table, a fire of a sort of peat +and wood, a bed in one corner on which was stretched a +big man with a black beard and red shirt; another man +not quite so big, but also in a red shirt and a hat on his +head, got up when I came in, from a chair where he had +been sitting by the fire. He said something I couldn't +understand, first to me and then to his companion on +the bed, who answered I thought rather gruffly (they both +spoke Neapolitan "patois" which I couldn't understand +at first). I didn't feel very comfortable (still I liked even +that room with those two brigand-looking men better +than the mountain-side with the flames and the lava), +but I tried to explain, took off my wet cloak which spoke +for itself, and went toward the fire. My friend with the +hat always keeping up a running conversation with the +man on the bed, brought up a chair, then a sort of stand +over which he hung my cloak, and proceeded to take a +bottle out of a cupboard which I supposed was their +famous wine (lacrima Christi) which one always drinks +at Naples. However that I declined and established +myself on the chair by the fire. He took the other one,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +and when I looked at him I saw that he had rather a nice +face; so I took courage. He pointed to my shoes, which +were wet as we had walked a little, and wanted to talk. +After a little while I began to understand him, and he +me; and we had quite a friendly conversation. He +looked at my shoes, asked me where they were made, +and when I said in Rome was madly interested; he had +a brother in Rome, a shoemaker, perhaps I knew him +"Giuseppe Ricci," he might have made those very shoes—instantly +confided that interesting piece of information +to the gentleman on the bed. He told me they were +three brothers, the eldest was the shoemaker, then came +he the padrone of the osteria, and the other one "there +on the bed" had vines and made very good wine. He +asked me if I had ever seen the Pope, or Garibaldi (there +was a picture of Garibaldi framed on the wall), and when +I said I had often seen the former, and that he had a +good, kind face, he again conversed amicably with the +gentleman on the bed, who first raised himself into a sitting +posture, and finally got up altogether and came over +to the fire, evidently rather anxious to take part in the +conversation. He was an enormous man and didn't look +as nice as the "padrone." He rather startled me when he +bent down, took my foot in his hand and inspected the +shoe which he pronounced well made. We must have +sat there fully half an hour talking—they were perfectly +easy, but not familiar, and wanted to hear anything I +would tell them about Rome. Every now and then they +dropped off into some side talk in their "patois," and I +looked at the fire and thought what an extraordinary experience +it was, sitting alone with such odd-looking companions +in that big, bare room on the top of Mount +Vesuvius. The fire had almost died out, the miserable little +lamp gave a faint flickering light that only made everything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +look more uncanny, and every now and then the +whole room would be flooded with a red lurid light (heralded +always by a violent explosion which made the crazy +little house shake) which threw out the figures of the two +men sitting with their long legs stretched out to the fire, +and keeping up a steady talk in a low voice. Still I +wasn't afraid; I was quite sure they would be respectful, +and do all they could to help me. They had a sort of +native politeness, too, for they stopped their talk occasionally +and made conversation for me; one looked out +of the window and said the rain had stopped, but that the +night was "brutta" and they referred to other eruptions +and told me stories of accidents that had happened to +people—two young men, "Inglesi," who were killed because +they would go on their own way and not listen to +the guides, consequently were knocked on the head by +some huge stones; always assuring me that this eruption +was nothing. However I was getting tired, and found +the time long, when suddenly we heard the noise of a +party arriving, and for a moment I thought it was my +people; but no, they were coming the other way, up the +mountain. There was a great commotion and talking, lanterns +flashing backward and forward, donkeys being led +out and all preparations made for the ascent—but there +seemed a hitch of some kind and I heard a woman's voice +speaking English. The "padrone" had rushed downstairs +as soon as he heard the party arriving, and presently +he reappeared talking very hard to a lady and two +gentlemen who were coming upstairs behind him and +evidently wanting something which they couldn't make +him understand. He was telling them to have patience, +that there was an "Inglese" upstairs who would talk to +them. They were so astounded when they saw me that +they were speechless—il y avait de quoi—seeing a girl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +established there in rather a dishevelled condition, her hat +off, wet cloak hanging over the chair, and entirely alone +with those "Neapolitan brigands"—but one man ventured +to ask timidly "did I speak English." Oh yes—Italian, +too—what could I do for them. They explained +that the lady was tired, cold and wet (she looked miserable, +poor thing) and wanted a hot drink—brandy, anything +she could get. She didn't look as if she could go +on, but she said she would be all right if she could have +something hot, and that nothing would induce her to give +up the excursion, having come so far; so a fresh piece of +wood, or peat rather of some kind (it looked quite black), +was put on the fire, also water in a most primitive pot. I +suggested that she should take off her cloak and let it dry a +little. The men brought in some more chairs and then the +new comers began to wonder who I was and what I was +doing there alone at that hour of the night. They were +Americans, told me their name, but I have forgotten it, +it is so long ago. I told them my experience—that I +was absolutely unnerved, in a dead funk, and would have +done anything rather than go on toward that horrible +crater. They couldn't understand that I wasn't much +more afraid of spending two hours in that lonely little +house in such company, and begged me to try again—there +was really no danger, people were going up all the +time, etc. The older man was very earnest—said they +couldn't leave a compatriot in such straits—he would +give me his donkey if another one couldn't be procured +and would walk—how could my brother have permitted +me to come back alone, etc. However I reassured him as +well as I could—told them I was perfectly accustomed +to Italians and knew the language well (which was a +great help to me, I don't know what I should have done +if I hadn't been able to talk and understand them).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +They stayed about 20 minutes—the lady said her drink +was very nasty, but hot, and she looked better for the +rest and partial drying. She wasn't as wet as I was, the +rain had stopped when they were half-way up. I told +them who I was and begged them to say, if they met my +people coming down, a gentleman and two ladies, that +they had seen me, and that I was quite dry and comfortable. +They went away most reluctantly, were half inclined +to stay until the others should come back, but the +guides were anxious to be off. Even at the last moment +when they had got downstairs, the older man came back +and begged me to come with them—"I assure you, my +dear young lady, you don't know in what a dangerous position +you are; if I had any authority over you I should +insist, etc." He was very nice, and left all sorts of recommendations +in English and a very good fee to the +padrone, who of course didn't understand a word of +what he was saying, but seemed to divine in some mysterious +way. He looked smilingly at me, told me to cheer +up ("Coraggio" is their way of saying it) and told the +American, in Italian, that he would take good care of me. +He was very sorry to go and leave me, said he had never +done anything he liked so little. As soon as the excitement +of their departure was over the two men came back. +The "vigneron" went back to his bed, from where he +conversed with us occasionally, and the other one settled +down in his chair, and seemed half asleep. It wasn't +very long before my party came back. The men heard +them before I did, and told me they were arriving. I +must say I was glad to see them. They had had a splendid +time, seen everything beautifully, gone quite up to the +stream of red-hot lava, put umbrellas and canes into it +(the ends were quite black and burnt)—they were not +in the least nervous, and jibed well at me. William said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +he had rather an uncomfortable feeling at first when he +saw me and my very small attendant depart, but he forgot +it in the excitement and novelty of their excursion. +He thanked the padrone for taking such good care of +me, proposed a hot drink (very bad it was) all round, +and we took quite a friendly leave of the two gentlemen. +I promised to try and find the brother shoemaker. They +had crossed my American friends on the way back—William +said they were just starting down when they +saw another party appearing and he heard a gentleman +say, "I think this must be Mr. King." He was very +much surprised to hear his name, but rode up to the +speaker, to see who he was, and then the gentleman told +him of his amazement at meeting his sister in that +wretched little shanty and how miserable he had felt at +leaving me there alone, with two Neapolitan brigands, +but that I had assured him I was quite safe and not at all +afraid of the two black giants—but he begged William +to hurry on, as it was not really the place to leave a girl—even +an American who would know how to take care +of herself. We made our journey down quite easily. It +was still pitch dark, except when the fire of the mountain +lighted up everything, but there was neither rain nor +wind, the air was soft, and the little outlying villages +looked quite quiet and peaceable, as if no great mountain +was throwing up masses of ashes and stones just over +their heads, which might after all destroy them entirely. +There must always be a beginning, and I suppose in the +old days of Pompeii and Herculaneum the beginning was +just what we have seen—first columns of smoke, then the +lava stream and showers of red-hot stones, and none of +the people frightened at first. We found Mother and +Anne waiting for us with supper. They had been a +little anxious, particularly as the weather was so bad,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +and they evidently had had more of a tempest than we +had. They were of course madly interested in our expedition +and were astounded that I was the coward. They +wouldn't have been at all surprised if it had been Gert. +It is true she is nearly always timid, and we used to play +all sorts of tricks on her when we were children at Cherry +Lawn, beguile her up into the big cherry tree, then take +the ladder away and tell her to climb down; or take the +peg out of the boat, let in a little water and pretend it +was sinking—so she was triumphant this time. I can't +understand why I was so frightened. I am not usually +afraid of anything, but that time no reasoning would +have been of the least use, and nothing would have made +me go on to the crater. Mother was rather like the +American—she wouldn't have liked the flames and the +awful rumbling noises any more than I did, but she would +have been much more afraid of the lonely house and long +wait on the mountain in that wretched little inn with +those two big, black-bearded Neapolitans.</p> + +<p>Le monde est petit—years afterward my brother William +was travelling in America, and in the smoking-room +all the men were telling their experiences either at +home or abroad—many strange adventures. One gentleman +said he had never forgotten a curious scene on the +top of Mount Vesuvius in eruption, when he had met an +American girl, quite alone, at night, in the dark and +rain, in a miserable little shanty with two great, big Neapolitans +"looking like brigands" (he evidently always +retained that first impression of my companions). He +told all the story, giving my name, which excited much +comment; some of the listeners evidently thought it was a +traveller's tale, arranged on some slight foundation of +truth—however, when he had finished William said: +"That story is perfectly true. The young lady is my sister,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +and I am the Mr. King to whom you spoke that night +on the mountain, in the dark, begging me to hurry down, +and not leave my sister any longer alone in such company." +They naturally didn't recognise each other, having +merely met for a moment in the dark, both wrapped +up in cloaks and under umbrellas. They had quite a +talk, and the gentleman was very anxious to know how +they found me—whether I wasn't really more uncomfortable +than I allowed, and what had become of me.</p> + +<p>We decided to move on to Sorrento and settle ourselves +there for some time. We also wanted to go to Capri, +but the steamers had stopped running, and we could only +get over in a sailboat. The man of the hotel advised +us to go from Sorrento, it was shorter and a charming +sail on a bright day. The drive from Castellamare +was beautiful; divine views of the sea all the time +and equally lovely when we came down upon Sorrento, +which seemed to stand in the midst of orange groves and +vineyards. The Hôtel Sirena is perched on the top of +a high cliff rising up straight from the sea. We had +charming rooms with a nice broad balcony, and at our +feet a little sheltered cove and beach of golden sand. +There were very few people in the hotel—the one or two +English spinsters of a certain age whom one always meets +travelling, and two artists. We were only about twelve +people at table-d'hôte; and as we were six that didn't +leave many outsiders. It was before the days of restaurants +and small tables. There was one long, narrow +table—the padrone carved himself at a smaller one, and +talked to us occasionally. There was too much wind the +first days to think of attempting Capri, so we drove all +over the country, walked about in the orange groves and +up and down the steep hills, through lovely little paths +that wound in and out of olive woods along the side of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +the mountain, sometimes clambering up a bit of straight +rock, that seemed a wall impossible to get over—when +it was too stiff there would be steps cut out in the earth +on one side, half hidden by the long grass and weeds.</p> + +<p>Henrietta and I had discovered a pony trap with a +pair of sturdy little mountain ponies, quite black, and +we drove ourselves all over. Mother wouldn't let us go +alone, so the stableman sent his son with us, aged 12 +years. He wasn't much of a protector! but he knew the +ponies, and the country, and everybody we met. He was +a pretty little fellow—not at all the dark Italian type, +rather fair, with blue eyes, but always the olive skin of +the South. He invariably got off the little seat behind +and took a short cut up the hills when the road was very +steep, though I don't think his weight made any perceptible +difference.</p> + +<p>The evenings were delicious. We sat almost always +on the balcony—sometimes with a light wrap when the +breeze from the sea freshened about 9 o'clock. How +beautiful it was; the sea deep blue, the islands changing +from pink to purple, and as soon as it was dark Vesuvius +sending up its pyramid of fire. It looked magnificent, +but very formidable. Almost every morning we saw a +party come and bathe in the little cove at the foot of the +cliff—a pretty little boat came around the point with a +family party on board—two ladies, one man and three +children. I think they were English, their installation +was so practical. They had a small tent, camp-stools, +and table, also two toy sailboats which were a source +of much pleasure and tribulation, as they frequently got +jammed in between the rocks, or caught in the thick seaweed, +and there was great excitement until they were +started afresh. We made great friends with the sister of +the man at the hotel. She was a nun, such a gentle, good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +face—she came every morning to get flowers for the little +chapel of Maria—Stella del Mare—which was near +the house, standing high on the hill and easily seen from +the sea. One day she seemed very busy and anxious +about her flowers, so we asked what was happening, and +she said it was their great fête, and they were going to +decorate the chapel and dress the Virgin—"should we +like to see it?" The Virgin had a beautiful dress—white +satin with silver embroidery and some fine jewels which +some rich forestieri had given. We were delighted to go, +and went with her to the little chapel, which looked very +pretty filled with flowers and greens, one beautiful dark, +shiny leaf which made much effect. The Virgin was removed +from her niche—her vestments brought in with +great care, wrapped in soft paper, and the good sister +most reverently and happily began the toilet. The dress +was very elaborate, had been the wedding dress of an Italian +Principessa, and there were some handsome pins and +rings—a gold chain on her neck with a pearl ornament. +She was rather lamenting over the cessation of gifts—when +I suddenly remembered my ring—quite a plain gold +one with the cross (pax) one always sees in Rome, which +had been blessed by the Pope. I put it on with three or +four other little ornaments one day when we had an audience. +I took it off, explained to her what it was, that it +had been blessed by the Saint Père and that I should like +very much to give it to the Virgin, if she wasn't afraid +of accepting anything from a heretic. She was a little +doubtful, but the fact of its having had the Pope's blessing +outweighed other considerations, and the ring was +instantly put on the Virgin's hand. She told us afterward +that she had told it to the priest, and he said she was +quite right to accept it, it might be the means of bringing +me to the "true church." We grew really quite fond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +of her. It was such a simple, childish faith, her whole +life was given up to her little chapel, cleaning and decorating +it on feast days. All the children in the country +brought flowers and leaves, one little boy came once, she +told us, with a dead bird with bright feathers that he +found, quite beautiful.</p> + +<p>We made friends with the people at the table-d'hôte +and they were very anxious we should come down to +the reading-room at night and make music—but our +mourning of course prevented that. We used to hear +the piano sometimes and a man's voice singing, not too +badly.</p> + +<p>At last the wind seemed to have blown itself out, and +our landlord said we could get easily to Capri. He could +recommend an excellent boatman who had a large, safe +boat and who was most prudent, as well as his son. With +a fair wind we ought to go over in two hours. We +wanted to stay over one night, and he arranged everything. +The boat would wait and bring us back the next +evening. We started early—about 9 o'clock—so as to +get over for breakfast. The boat was most comfortable, +a big broad tub, with rather a small sail, plenty of room +for all our bags, wraps, etc. The sea was divine, blue +and dancing, but there was not much wind. We progressed +rather slowly, the breeze was mild, the boat heavy +and the sail small, but nobody minded. It was delicious +drifting along on that summer sea—just enough ripple +to make little waves that tumbled up against the side of +the boat, and a slight rocking motion that was delightful—couldn't +have suggested sea-sickness or nervousness +to the most timid sailor. There were plenty of boats +about (mostly fishermen) of all sizes, some of them with +the dark red sail that is so effective, and several pleasure +boats and small yachts. <i>They</i> were almost as broad and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +solid as our boat; hadn't at all the graceful outlines and +large sails that we are accustomed to. We were exactly +three hours going over though the breeze freshened a +little as we got near Capri. We were quite excited when +we made out the landing-place ("Marina grande") and +the long, steep flight of steps leading up to the town. +The last time we were there we went by the regular tourist +steamer from Naples. There were quantities of people +and a perfect rush for donkeys and guides as soon as we +arrived; also the whole population of Capri on the shore +chattering, offering donkeys, flowers, funny little bottles +of wine, and a troop of children running up the steps +alongside of the donkeys and clamouring for "un piccolo +soldo." This time there was no one at the landing-place, +but the man of the hotel with a sedan chair for mother, +donkeys for us if we wanted them (we didn't—preferred +walking) and a wheelbarrow or hand cart of some kind +for the luggage, which was slight—merely bags and +wraps. There were a good many steps, but they were +broad, we didn't mind. We found a very nice little hotel, +kept by an English couple. The woman had been for +years maid in the Sheridan family. She told us there +was no one in the hotel but one Englishman—in fact no +foreigners in the island. We had a very good breakfast +in a nice, fairly large room with views of the sea in all +directions, and started off immediately afterward to see +as much as we could. Mother had her chair, but didn't +go all the way with us. We passed through narrow, +badly paved little streets with low, pink houses, lots of +people, women and children, standing in the doorways—no +men, I suppose they were all fishing—and then climbed +up to the Villa Tiberius—a steep climb at the end, but +such a view. Before we got quite to the top we stopped +at the "Salto di Tiberio," a rock high up over the water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +from which the guide told us that monarch had his victims +precipitated into the sea. We dropped down stones +(I remember quite well doing the same thing when we +were there before) to see how long it was before they +touched the water, which showed at what a height one +was. The palace is too much in ruins to be very interesting, +but there was enough to show how large it must have +been, and bits of wall and arches still standing. We +went on to the chapel, drank some rather bad wine which +the hermit offered us, bought some paper weights and +crosses made out of bits of coloured marble which had +been found in the ruins, and wrote our names in his book. +We looked back in the book to see if there were any interesting +signatures, but there was nothing remarkable—a +great many Germans.</p> + +<p>We came home by another path, winding down through +small gardens, vineyards, and occasionally along the steep +side of the mountain, all stones and ragged rocks, with +the sea far down at our feet. There were a good many +houses scattered about, one or two quite isolated near the +top. We had a running escort of little black-eyed brown +children all talking and offering little bunches of mountain +flowers. The guides remonstrated vigorously occasionally +and they would disappear, but were immediately +replaced by another band from the next group of houses +we passed.</p> + +<p>We were rather tired when we got back to the hotel +as the climbing was stiff in some parts, and glad to rest +a little before dinner. The padrona came in and talked +to us. It seemed funny to see an English woman in that +milieu with her brown hair quite smooth and plain and a +clean print dress. She said she liked her life, and the +people of the island. They were industrious, simple and +easy-going. She talked a great deal about the Sheridans,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +for whom she had of course the greatest admiration, said +one of the sons came often to Capri, and that his cousin +Norton had married a Capri fisher-girl. We had heard +the story, of course, and were much interested in all +she told us. She said the girl was lovely, an absolute +peasant, had walked about with bare feet like all the rest, +but that she had been over to England, was taught there +all they could get into her head, and was quite changed, +had two children. I remember their telling us in Rome +what a difficult process that education was. She was +willing and anxious to learn to read and write, but her +ambition and her capability of receiving instruction +stopped there—when they wanted to teach her a little history +(not very far back either) and the glories of the +Sheridan name she was recalcitrant, couldn't interest herself +and dismissed the subject saying, "ma sono morti +tutti" (they are all dead). She always kept her little +house at Capri, in fact was there now, perhaps we should +like to see her. We said we should very much.</p> + +<p>We had nice, clean comfortable rooms and made out +our plan for the next day. We didn't care about the Blue +Grotto—we had seen it before, and besides they told us +that at this season of the year it would be almost impossible, +one must have a perfectly still sea as the entrance +is not easy—very low—and a big wave would swamp the +boat. We heard the wind getting up a little in the night +and we woke the next morning to see a grey, cloudy sky, +little showers falling occasionally, and a fine gale, sea +rough, no little boats out, one or two fishing boats racing +along under well-reefed sails, anything but tempting for +a three hours' sail in an open boat. Mother looked decidedly +nervous; however the matter was taken out of +our hands, for the boatmen appeared saying they would +not go out, which was rather a relief; we didn't mind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +staying. There was a fair library in the house, books +that visitors had left, so we hunted up a history of Capri +(Baedeker was soon exhausted), and got through our +morning pretty well, some reading aloud, the others knitting +or working. We had all taken some sort of work in +our bags, various experiences of small hotels on rainy +days having taught us to provide our own amusement.</p> + +<p>It cleared in the afternoon though the wind was still +very high and we set off—on donkeys this time—and +mother in her chair, to the other side of the island. Two +or three girls, handsome enough in their bright skirts, +bare brown legs and thick braids of hair, came with us to +take charge of the donkeys. As we were going up a steep +flight of steps (which the donkeys did very well and deliberately) +they began to tell us about Mrs. Norton and said +we should pass her house. It was amusing to hear them +talk of her wonderful luck in being married to this "bel +Inglese"; "adesso fa la signora sta in camera tutto il +giorno—colle mani bianche" ("Now she does the lady, +sits in her room all day with white hands"). We passed +several houses rather better than the ordinary fisherman's +cottage and then came upon a nice little white house, +standing rather high, with a garden and gate, which they +told us was Mrs. Norton's. We stopped a moment at the +gate, looking at the garden; mother's bearers put her +chair down and gave themselves a rest, and we saw a +lady appear very simply dressed in something dark, who +came to the gate and asked us in very nice English with +a pretty accent if we would come in and rest, as the day +was hot and we had had a steep climb. We heard all +the fisher-girls giggling and saying "Eccola la Signora." +We were half ashamed to have been seen gaping in at her +garden, but the invitation was simply and cordially given, +and we accepted. Her manner to mother was quite pretty,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +respectful to the older lady. We went into a pretty +little sitting-room quite simply furnished, with books and +photographs about. She showed us pictures of all her +family, her husband (regretting extremely that he was +not there), her mother-in-law, Mrs. Norton, and her children. +She seemed very proud of her son, said he was +at school in England and didn't care very much for Capri. +I asked her if she liked England, and though she said +"very much," I thought I detected a regret for her old +home, though not perhaps her old life. Her face quite +lighted up when we said how much we admired her island +with its high cliffs and beautiful blue sea. I didn't find +her as handsome as I expected, but the eyes were fine and +her smile charming. Her manner was perfectly natural, +she showed us very simply all she had, and was not in +the least curious about us—asked us no questions, was +evidently accustomed to seeing foreigners and tourists +at Capri. We stayed about half an hour, and then went +on our way. She shook hands with us all, and looked +most smilingly at mother; couldn't quite understand her +black dress and white cap—said we mustn't let her do too +much, "she is not so young as you, la mamma."</p> + +<p>Of course the fisher-girls were in a wild state of excitement +when we came out—all talked at once, stopping in +the middle of the path, the donkeys, too; when they had +much to say, and telling the whole story over again. I +said to one of them, "Should you like to marry a 'bel +Inglese' and go and live in another country far away from +Capri with no sun nor blue sky?" She thought a moment, +looking straight at me with her big, black eyes and +then answered, sensibly enough, my rather foolish question—she +had never thought about it—was quite happy +where she was. It was a curious meeting.</p> + +<p>When we got back to the hotel we asked our padrona<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +about Mrs. Norton and the life she led. She told us +Mrs. Norton mère<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> had been in despair when her son +married the fisher-girl—he was very good-looking and +her favourite, and it was a great blow to her, but that +she had been very good to her and was fond of the +boy. She didn't seem to think the young woman had +had a very happy life, but that she was always delighted +to get back to Capri. "Did she see any of her old +friends?" "Not much—that was difficult—she only +came in the summer, the children generally with her, and +they fished and sailed and made their own life apart."</p> + +<p>We got back to Sorrento the next morning—the sea +beautifully smooth and calm—no trace of the great waves +that had roared all night into the numerous caves, throwing +up showers of foam.</p> + +<p>My dear, I seem to have prosed on for pages about +Naples, but once started I couldn't stop. Tell Henrietta +I feel rather like her when we used to call her Mrs. +Nickleby, because she never could keep to any one subject, +but always made long, foolish digressions.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Monday, April 13th.</div> + +<p>Last night we had a pleasant dinner at Mr. Hooker's, +the American banker. He still lives in one end of his +apartment in the Palazzo Bonaparte, but has rented the +greater part to the Suzannets.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> We were a small party—ourselves, +Schuylers, Ristori (Marchesa Caprannica), +and her charming daughter. Ristori is very striking +looking—very large, but dignified and easy in her movements, +and a wonderfully expressive face. The girl, +Bianca Caprannica, is charming, tall, fair, graceful. Ristori +talked a great deal, speaks French, of course, perfectly. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +She admires the French stage, and we discussed +various actors and actresses. I should love to see her act +once, her voice is so full and beautiful. Such a characteristic +scene took place after coffee. We were still sitting +in the dining-room when we heard a carriage come in, +and instantly there was a great sound of stamping horses, +angry coachman, whip freely applied, etc. It really made +a great noise and disturbance. Ristori listened for a +moment, then rushed to the window (very high up—we +were on the top story), exclaiming it was her man, +opened it, and proceeded to expostulate with the irate +coachman in very energetic Italian—"Che diavolo!" were +these her horses or his, was he a Christian man to treat +poor brutes like that, etc.—a stream of angry remonstrance +in her deep, tragic voice. There was a cessation of +noise in the court-yard—her voice dominated everything—and +then I suppose the coachman explained and excused +himself, but we were so high up and inside that we +couldn't hear. She didn't listen, but continued to abuse +him until at length Hooker went to the window and suggested +that she might cease scolding and come back into +the room, which she did quite smilingly—the storm had +passed.</p> + +<p>This morning we have been to the Doria Gallery. The +palace is enormous, a great court and staircase and some +fine pictures. We liked a portrait by Velasquez of a Pope—Innocent X, +I think—and some of the Claude Lorraines, +with their curious blue-green color. We walked +home by the Corso. It was rather warm, but shady always +on one side of the street. After breakfast Cardinal +Bibra, the Bishop of Frascati, came to see us. He was +much disappointed that we had had such a horrid day for +our Frascati and Tusculum expedition, and wants us to +go again, but we haven't time. We want to go to Ostia<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +and Albano if it is possible. He and W. plunged into +ecclesiastical affairs. It is curious what an importance +they all attach to W.'s being a Protestant; seem to think +his judgment must be fairer. He also knew about Uncle +Evelyn having married and settled in Perugia, and had +heard the Pope speak about him. He spoke about the +Marquis de Gabriac (Desprez's predecessor) and regretted +his departure very much. I think he had not yet +seen the new Ambassador. W. told him Desprez would +do all he could to make things go smoothly, that his whole +career had been made at the Quai d'Orsay, where every +important question for years had been discussed with +him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 326px;"> +<img src="images/illus180.png" width="326" height="500" alt="Pope Pius IX." title="Pope Pius IX." /> +<span class="caption">Pope Pius IX.</span> +</div> + + +<div class="signature"> +Tuesday, April 14th.</div> + +<p>We dined last night at the Black Spanish Embassy with +the Cardenas. It was very pleasant. We had two cardinals—Bibra +and a Spanish cardinal whose name I didn't +catch; he had a striking face, keen and stern, didn't talk +much at dinner—Desprez and his son, the Sulmonas, +Bandinis, Primolis (she is née Bonaparte), d'Aulnays, +all the personnel of the French Embassy, and one or two +young men from the other embassies; quite a small dinner. +W. took in Princess Sulmona and enjoyed it very +much. Primoli took me, and I had Prince Bandini on +the other side. Both men were pleasant enough. All +the women except me were in high dresses, and Primoli +asked me how I had the conscience to appear "décolletée" +and show bare shoulders to cardinals. I told him +we weren't told that we should meet any cardinals, and +that in these troubled days I thought a woman in full +dress was such a minor evil that I didn't believe they +would even notice what one had on; but he seemed to +think they were observant, says all churchmen of any denomination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +are. Their life is so inactive that they get +their experience from what they see and hear. I talked +a few minutes to Princess Bandini after dinner, but she +went away almost immediately, as she had music (Tosti) +at home. We promised to go to her later—I wanted +very much to hear Tosti. The evening was short. The +cardinals always go away early—at 9.30 (we dined at +7.30, and every one was punctual). As long as they +stayed the men made a circle around them. They are +treated with much deference (we women were left to +our own devices). W. said the conversation was not +very interesting, they talk with so much reserve always. +He said the Spaniard hardly spoke, and Cardinal Bibra +talked antiquities, the excavations still to be made in Tusculum, +etc. I think they go out very little now, only +occasionally to Black embassies. Their position is of +course much changed since the Italians are in Rome. +They live much more quietly; never receive, their carriages +are much simpler, no more red trappings, nothing +to attract attention—so different from our day. When +Pio Nono went out it was a real royal progress. First +came the "batta strada" or "piqueur" on a good horse, +stopping all the carriages and traffic; then the Pope in +his handsome coach, one or two ecclesiastics with him, +followed by several cardinals in their carriages, minor +prelates, members of the household and the escort of +"gardes nobles." All the gentlemen got out of their +carriages, knelt or bowed very low; the ladies stood in +theirs, making low curtseys, and many people knelt in the +street. One saw the old man quite distinctly, dressed all +in white; leaning forward a little and blessing the crowd +with a large sweeping movement of his hand. He rarely +walked in the streets of Rome, but often in the villas—Pamphili +or Borghese. There almost all the people he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +met knelt; children kissed his hand, and he would sometimes +pat their little black heads. We crossed him one +day in the Villa Pamphili. We were a band of youngsters—Roman +and foreigners—and all knelt. The old +man looked quite pleased at the group of young people—stopped +a moment and gave his blessing with a pretty +smile. Some of our compatriots were rather horrified at +seeing us kneel with all the rest—Protestants doing +homage to the head of the Roman Catholic Church—and +expressed their opinion to father: it would certainly be a +very bad note for my brother.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> However, father didn't +think the United States Government would attach much +importance to our papal demonstration, and we continued +to kneel and ask his blessing whenever we met His Holiness. +He had a kind, gentle face (a twinkle, too, in his +eyes), and was always so fond of children and young +people. The contrast between him and his successor is +most striking. Leo XIII is tall, slight, hardly anything +earthly about him—the type of the intellectual, ascetic +priest—all his will and energy shining out of his eyes, +which are extraordinarily bright and keen for a man of +his age.</p> + +<p>We didn't stay very long after the cardinals left, as I +was anxious to get off to Princess Bandini. We found +a great many people, and music going on. Some woman +had been singing—a foreigner, either English or American—and +Tosti was just settled at the piano. He is quite +charming; has very little voice, but says his things delightfully, +accompanying himself with a light, soft touch. +He sang five or six times, principally his own songs, with +much expression; also a French song extremely well. His +diction is perfect, his style simple and easy. One wonders +why every one doesn't sing in the same way. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +don't, as we perceived when a man with a big voice, high +barytone, came forward, and sang two songs, Italian and +German. The voice was fine, and the man sang well, but +didn't give half the pleasure that Tosti did with his "voix +de compositeur" and wonderful expression. He was introduced +to me, and we had a pleasant talk. He loves +England, and goes there every season. A good many +people came in after us. I wanted to introduce W. to some +one and couldn't find him, thought he must have gone, +and was just going to say good-night to Princess Bandini +when her husband came up, saying, "You mustn't +go yet—your husband is deep in a talk with Cardinal +Howard," and took me to one of the small salons, where I +saw the two gentlemen sitting, talking hard. The Cardinal +was just going when we came in, so he intercepted +W. and carried him off to this quiet corner where they +would be undisturbed. They must have been there quite +three-quarters of an hour, for I went back into the music-room, +and it was some little time before W. found me +there. Every one had gone, but we stayed on a little +while, talking to the two Bandinis. It is a funny change +for W. to plunge into all this clerical society of Rome; +but he says he understands their point de vue much better, +now that he sees them here, particularly when both +parties can talk quite frankly. It would be almost impossible +to have such a talk in France—each side begins +with such an evident prejudice. The honest clerical really +believes that the liberal is a man absolutely devoid of +religious feeling of any kind—a dangerous character, incapable +of real patriotic feeling, and doing great harm to +his country. The liberal is not quite so narrow-minded; +but he, too, in his heart holds the clergy responsible for +the want of progress, the narrow grooves they would like +the young generation to move in, and the influence they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +try to exercise in families through the women (who all +go to church and confession). With the pitiless logic of +the French character every disputed point stands out clear +and sharp, and discussion is very difficult. Here they +are more supple—leave a larger part to human weaknesses.</p> + + +<div class="signature">Thursday, April 16th.</div> + +<p>We have finally had our day at Albano, and delightful +it was. W. and I went alone, as Gert was not very well, +and afraid of the long day in the sun. We started early—at +8.30—though we had been rather late the night before +as Count Coello, Spanish Ambassador,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> sent us his +box for the opera. It was Lohengrin—well enough +given, orchestra and chorus good, but the soloists rather +weak. <i>Elsa</i>, a very stout Italian woman of mature +years, did not give one just the idea of the fair patrician +maiden one imagines her to be. The Italian sounded +very funny after hearing it always in German, and +"Cigno gentil" didn't at all convey the same idea as +"Lieber Schwan." The tenor had a pretty, sympathetic +voice and looked his part well (rather more like <i>Elsa's</i> +son than her lover), but one mustn't be too particular. +The house was fairly brilliant—much fuller than the last +time we were there—and quantities of people we knew. +Hardly any one in full dress, which is a pity, as it makes +the salle look dull. One or two women in white (one +very handsome with diamond stars in her hair, whom nobody +knew) stood out very well against the dark red of +the boxes. Del Monte came in and sat some time with +us. He is quite mad about Wagner—rare for an Italian. +They generally like more melody and less science. We +invited him to come to Albano with us and show us everything, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>and I think he was half inclined to accept, but he +was de service that day and it was too late to find any +one to replace him.</p> + +<p>We finally decided to drive out after various consultations +as to hours, routes, etc. It is quicker by the railway +and we should perhaps have rather more time, but we +both of us love the drive on the Campagna, and W. was +very keen to take the old Via Appia again and realize +more completely the street of tombs. It was a lovely +morning and every minute of the drive interesting, +even when we were almost shut in between the high grey +walls which stretch out some little distance at first leaving +the Porta San Sebastiano. They were covered with +creepers, pink roses starting apparently out of all the +crevices; pretty, dirty little children tumbling over the +broken bits into the road almost under the horses' feet; +every now and then a donkey's head emerging from an +opening, or a wrinkled old woman appearing at some open +door smiling and nodding a cheerful "Buon giorno!" to +the passers-by. There was a long string of carts with +nothing apparently in them. They didn't take much +trouble about getting a little to one side to let the carriage +pass; and their drivers—some of them stretched out on +their backs in the carts, the reins hanging loosely over +the seat—didn't at all mind the invectives our coachman +hurled at them, "pigs, lazy dogs, etc." Of course we +passed again Cecilia Metella, also two tombs said to be +the Horatii and Curatii; and the Casale Rotondo with a +house and olive trees on the top, but I cannot remember +half the names, nor places.</p> + +<p>We were armed with our Baedeker, but it goes into +such details of all the supposed tombs and monuments +that one gets rather lost. I don't know that it adds very +much to the interest to know the names and dates of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +the tombs. One feels in such an old-world atmosphere +they speak for themselves. The colours were beautiful +to-day—the old stones had a soft, grey tint. It is a +desolate bit of road all the same—so little life or movement +of any kind. As we got further out we came upon +the long line of aqueducts, but there were apparently miles +of plain with nothing in sight—occasionally a flock of +sheep in the distance, the shepherd riding a rough, unkempt +little pony, and looking a half-wild creature himself—some +boys on donkeys, and the shepherds' dogs, +which came barking and jumping over the plain toward +the strangers. They are sometimes very fierce. Years +ago in Rome when we used to make long excursions riding +to Vei or Ostia, the gentlemen of the party always carried +good big whips to keep them off. They have been +known to spring on the horses, who are afraid of them. +One sprang on Gert once, when we were cantering over +the Campagna, and almost tore her habit off. We didn't +meet any cart or vehicle of any description. I wondered +where all these were going that we passed on the road, +and asked our Giuseppe, but he merely shrugged his shoulders +and said they were "robaccia" (trash).</p> + +<p>We stopped a few minutes at the Osteria della Frattocchie—the +man watered his horses (had a drink himself, +too) and was very anxious we should try some of the +"vino del paese." We tasted it—a sour, white wine, +very like all the cheap Italian wines. The view from the +Osteria looking back toward Rome was very striking. +Long lines of ruined, crumbling tombs and arches—great +blocks of stone, heads of columns, mounds, wide ditches +choked up with weeds, broken walls—all the dead past of +the great city. The sun was bright, but there were plenty +of little clouds, and the changing lights and shades on the +great expanse of the Campagna were beautiful. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +hills seemed now so near that we almost felt like getting +out and walking, but the man assured us we had still +three or four miles before us, and a steep hill to climb—Albano +on the top. The road was shady—between two +lines of trees. As we got near the city we saw Pompey's +tomb—a high tower with bits of marble still on the walls. +W. is rather sceptical about all the tombs; would like +to have time enough to investigate himself and make out +all the inscriptions, but it would take a life-time.</p> + +<p>We went at once to the hotel to order breakfast, and +then strolled about in the streets until it was ready. It +looked more changed to me than Frascati—more modern. +They tell me many people go out there now for their summer +"villegiatura," principally English and Americans, +bankers, doctors, artists, etc., who are obliged to spend their +summer in or near Rome. There were many new houses, +and in all the old palaces apartments to rent. There were +a few tourists walking about, but happily no Cook's this +time. When we went back to the hotel we told the landlord +what we wanted to see—Ariccia, Genzano and Nemi. +He suggested donkeys, but that we both declined, so he +said he had a good little carriage which could take us +easily. The breakfast was good, we were both hungry, +and after coffee we walked about in the Villa Doria under +the ilex trees. W. smoked and was quite happy, and I +wasn't sorry to walk a little after having been so long in +the carriage. We went to the gardens of the Villa +Altieri. It was there the Cardinal died in the cholera +summer of '69 when we were at Frascati. We could +almost have walked to Ariccia, it is so near, and such a +lovely road, all ilex trees and great rocks, winding along +the side of the hill. The church and old Chigi Palace +look very grand and imposing as one gets near the gates +of the little town. We walked about the streets and went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +into the church, but there was not much to see, and I +thought it less effective seen near; then on to the gardens +of the Capuchin Convent, from where there are splendid +views in every direction, and always the thick shade of +the ilex. We couldn't loiter very much as we had the +drive to Genzano before us. The road was quite beautiful +all the way; every turn familiar (how many times +we have ridden over it), and Genzano with its little, old +streets straggling up the hill looked exactly the same. I +had forgotten the great viaduct which one sees all the +time on that road, it is splendid. We again got out of +the carriage and walked up a steep little path to have a +view of Lake Nemi. It lay far down at our feet—a little +green pond (yet high too), they say it was a volcanic +crater. The water was perfectly still—not even a shimmer +of light or movement. Every way we turned the view +was beautiful—either down the valley where the colours +were changing all the time, sometimes quite grey, when the +sun was under a cloud (one almost felt a chill), and then +every leaf and flower sparkling in the sunlight—or toward +the hills where the little towns Rocca di Papa and Monte +Cavo seemed hanging on the side of the mountain.</p> + +<p>The drive back to Albano by the "Galleria di Sotto" +under the enormous ilex trees was simply enchanting, the +afternoon sun throwing beautiful streaks of yellow light +through the thick shade, and the road most animated—groups +of peasants coming in from their work in the +fields; old women tottering along, almost disappearing +beneath the great bundles of fagots they carried on their +heads; girls with jet-black hair and eyes, in bright-coloured +skirts, and little handkerchiefs pinned over their +shoulders, laughing and singing and chaffing the drivers +of the wine carts, who usually got down and walked along +with them, leaving their horses, who followed quietly, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +men turning around occasionally and talking to them. +In the fields alongside there were teams of the splendid +white oxen and quantities of children tumbling up and +down the banks and racing after the carriage. They spot +the foreigner at once. I had talked so much to W. about +the beauty of the road, the Galleria in particular, that I +was afraid he would be disappointed; but he wasn't, was +quite as enthusiastic as I was.</p> + +<p>When we got back to Albano I tried to find some of +the little cakes (ciambelle) we used to buy when we rode +over from Frascati; the little package wrapped up in +greasy brown paper and tied to the pommel of the saddle; +but the woman at the very nice baker's or confectioner's +shop we went into hadn't any, but said she could +make a "plome cheke" (she showed us the ticket with +the name on it with pride), which was what all the +"Inglesi" took.</p> + +<p>The drive home was lovely—just enough of the beautiful +sunset clouds to give colour to everything; the air +soft and the world so still that a dog barking in one of +the little old farms or shepherds' huts made quite a disturbance. +As the evening closed in we heard the "grilli" +(alas, no nightingales; it is still too early) and the bushes +along the road were bright with fire-flies. The road +seemed much less lonely going back to Rome; so many +peasants were coming back from the fields, also boys on +donkeys with empty sacks—had evidently taken olives, +cheese, or dried herbs into the city—and always bands +of girls laughing and singing. It was an ideal day, and +after dinner we were just tired enough to settle in our +respective arm-chairs and say how glad we were we had +decided to come and spend these months in Italy.</p> + +<p>The Schuylers came in for a cup of tea and Gert was +rather sorry she hadn't come, as her headache wasn't very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +serious. I think they will take themselves out to Albano +for a little stay as soon as the heat begins.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Friday, April 17th.</div> + +<p>This morning we went for a last turn in the Vatican. +That is what W. likes best. There is so much to see in +that marvellous collection. He wanted to copy one or +two inscriptions, so I wandered about alone and talked to +the custode, who has become an intimate friend of ours. +He hovers about W. when he is taking notes or examining +things closely, and is evidently much gratified at the interest +he takes in everything—quite like a collector showing +off his antiquities. We saw a little commotion at one end +of the long gallery, and he came running up to say "His +Holiness" was walking in the garden, and if we would +come with him he would take us to a window from where +we could see him quite distinctly. This of course we +were delighted to do, as one never sees the present Pope, +except in some great ceremony when he is carried in the +"sedia gestatoria," but so high over the heads of the +people that one can hardly distinguish his features. We +walked down the gallery, through two or three passages, +up a flight of stairs, and came upon a window looking +down directly on the gardens. They are beautiful, more +like a park than a garden, and one can quite understand +that the Pope can get a very good drive there, the days +he doesn't walk. The custode says he only walks when +it is quite fine, is afraid of the damp or wind, but that he +goes out every day. There is a wood, flowers, long alleys +stretching far away bordered with box and quite wide +enough for a carriage, various buildings, a casino, tower, +observatory, etc., also fountains and a lake (I didn't see +a boat upon it). In the middle of one of the alleys a +little group was walking slowly in our direction—about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +10 people I should think. The Pope, dressed always in +white, seemed to walk easily enough. He carried himself +very straight, and was talking with a certain animation +to the two ecclesiastics who walked on each side of him. +He stopped every now and then, going on with his conversation +and using his hands freely. He was talking all +the time, the others listening with much deference. The +suite seemed to consist of three or four priests and two +servants. I didn't see either a Suisse or Garde-Noble, +but they may have been following at a distance. Our +glimpse of him was fleeting, as he turned into a side alley +before he got up to our window—still it was enough to +realize his life—think of never going outside those walls, +walking day after day in those same alleys, cut off from +all the outside world and living his life in the stillness +and monotony of the Vatican. However it certainly +doesn't react in any way upon his intellect. They say +he is just as keen and well up in everything as when he +was Bishop of Perugia, and that his indomitable will will +carry him through.</p> + +<p>We thanked our old custode very warmly (and in +many ways) for having brought us to the window, and +also said good-bye to him, as this of course was our last +visit to the Vatican. He begged us to come back, but it +must be soon, or <i>he</i> wouldn't be there, as he was as old +as the Pope.</p> + +<p>When we got to the hotel we found Monsignor English +in the salon with the Pope's photograph, very well +framed with a gilt shield with the Papal arms on the top. +It is exactly like him, sitting very straight in his chair, +his hand lifted a little just as if he were speaking, and the +other hand and arm resting on the arm of the chair. He +is dressed in his white robes, red cape and embroidered +stole, just as we saw him; and his little white cap on his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +head. He has written himself a few words in Latin, of +which this is a free translation: "The woman who fears +God, makes her own reputation. Her husband was celebrated +in his country when he sat with the Senators of +the land." I am so pleased to have the photograph—so +many people told me I should never get it, that the +Pope rarely gave his picture to anybody and never signed +one. Monsignor English, too, was much pleased, as he +had undertaken the whole thing. He said again that the +Pope was glad to have seen W., found him so moderate, +and yet very decided, too, about what the church mustn't +do. Leo XIII. has an awfully difficult part to play—the +ultra-Catholics disapprove absolutely his line—can't +understand any concession or compromise with Republican +France, and yet there are very good religious people +on the liberal side, and he, as Head of the Church, must +think about all his children, and try to conciliate, not +alienate. It is wonderful that that old man sitting up +there by himself at the top of the Vatican can think out +all those perplexed questions and arrive at a solution. +They say he works it all out himself—rarely asks advice. +I daresay it wouldn't help him if he did, for of course +there are divisions, too, in the clerical party of Rome, even +among the Cardinals, where the difference of nationalities +must have a very great influence. I should think there +was almost as much difference between an American and +an Italian Cardinal as between Protestants and Catholics. +The American must look at things from a different point +of view. Monsignor English quite understood that—said +Americans were more independent—still when a +great question came they must submit like all the rest.</p> + +<p>We then had a most animated discussion as to how far +it was possible for an intelligent man (or woman) to +abdicate entirely his own judgment, and to accept a thing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +which he was not quite sure of because the church decided +it must be. I think we should have gone on indefinitely +with that conversation, never arriving at any solution, so +it was just as well that breakfast put a stop to it.</p> + +<p>We went for a lovely drive in the afternoon, out of the +Porta del Popolo, across Ponte Molle, and then along the +river until we came to that rough country road, or lane, +leading across the fields where we have gone in so many +times on horseback, to the Villa Madama. We drove as +far as we could (almost to the gate) and then walked +up the hill to the Villa itself. There everything was quite +unchanged—the garden neglected, full of weeds, and +grass growing high. The oval stone basin was there +still, the sides covered with moss, and a few flowers coming +quite promiscuously out of walls, stones, etc. We +went into the loggia to see the paintings and frescoes, +all in good condition, and then sat some time on the terrace +looking at the view, which was divine—everything +so soft in the distance, even the yellow Tiber looked silvery—at +least I saw it so; I don't know that W. did. He +generally finds it sluggish and muddy. We came home +by the Porta Angelica and drove through the Square of +St. Peter's. There are always people on the steps, not a +crowd of course as on fête days, but enough to give animation, +priests, beggars, and the people lounging and +looking at whatever passes in the Square. It is so enormous, +the Piazza, when one sees it empty, one can hardly +realize what it used to be in the old days for the great +Easter ceremony when the Pope gave his blessing from +the balcony of St. Peter's. I can see it now, packed black +with people, the French soldiers with their red caps and +trousers making great patches of colour, and Montebello +(who commanded the French Armée d'Occupation in +Rome) with a brilliant staff in the centre of the Square—he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +and his black charger so absolutely motionless one +might have thought both horse and rider were cast in +bronze. There were all sorts of jokes and chattering in +the crowd until the first glimpse of the waving peacock +plumes, and banners, passing high, high up, and just +visible through the arches, showed that the Pope's procession +was arriving on the balcony; and when at last one +saw distinctly the white figure as the old man was raised +high in his chair there was an absolute stillness in all that +great mass; every one knelt to receive the blessing, and +the Pope's voice rang out clear and strong (one could +hear every word). As soon as it was over cannon fired, +bells rang, and there fluttered down over the crowd a +quantity of little white papers (indulgences) which every +one tried to grasp. It was a magnificent cadre for such +a ceremony—the dome of St. Peter's towering above us +straight up into the blue sky, the steps crowded with +people, the red umbrellas of the peasants making a great +show, and women of all conditions and all nationalities +dressed in bright, gay colours; uniforms of all kinds, +monks and priests of every order; the black of the priests +rather lost in all the colour of uniforms, costumes, etc. +The getting away was long—we might have had our carriage +with the American cockade in one of the back courts +of the Vatican, but we wanted to see everything and come +home by the Ponte St. Angelo. It was a great show all +the way—the long line of carriages and pedestrians +streaming back to Rome, cut every now and then by a +detachment of troops. Everybody was cheered, from +Charette and his Zouaves to Montebello and his staff. +The crowd was in a good humour—it was a splendid day, +they had had a fine show, and politics and "foreign mercenaries" +were forgotten for the moment. Everybody +had a flower of some kind—the boys and young men in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +their hats, the girls in their hair. One heard on all sides +"buona festa," "buona Pasqua." How we enjoyed it +all, particularly the first time, when we were fresh from +America and our principal idea of a fête was the 4th of +July. That seemed a magnificent thing in our childish +days, when we had friends on the lawn at Cherry Lawn, +a torch-light procession with a band (such a band) from +the town, and father's speech, standing at the top of +the steps and telling the boys that if they worked hard +and studied well, any one of them might become President +of the United States, which statement of course was +always received with roars of applause.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus195.png" width="500" height="272" alt="Last Benediction of Pope Pius IX. from the Balcony of St. Peter's." title="Last Benediction of Pope Pius IX. from the Balcony of St. Peter's." /> +<span class="caption">Last Benediction of Pope Pius IX. from the Balcony of St. Peter's.</span> +</div> + +<p>We went back to the Piazza always at night to see the +"Girandola" fireworks, and there was almost the same +crowd waiting for the first silvery light to appear on the +façade of St. Peter's. It was marvellous to see the lines +of light spread all over the enormous mass of stone, running +around all the cupolas and statues like a trail of +silver, in such quantities that the stone almost disappeared, +and the church seemed made of light—quite beautiful. +The illumination lasted a long time—gold light +came after the silver, and I think it was perhaps more +striking when they began to go out one by one, leaving +great spaces in darkness—then one saw what an enormous +edifice it was.</p> + +<p>I have written you a volume—but every turn here recalls +old, happy days—"Roma com'era"—and I must +come back to the present and our farewell dinner at the +Noailles'.</p> + +<p>We were a small party—all the French Embassy, the +Duc de Ripalda, the Chilian Minister and his wife, Maffel, +Visconti Venosta, and Lanciani. W. and Noailles +retired to the fumoir and talked politics hard. We shall +soon be back in the thick of it now, and W. will take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +his place again in the Senate. It will seem funny to be +quietly settled in the rue Dumont d'Urville—riding in the +Bois in the morning and driving over to the Senate in +the afternoon, with the boy, to get W. Ripalda and +I had a long talk. He tells me he still holds the same +opinion about American women—they are the prettiest +and most attractive in the world. There is something—he +doesn't know what—that makes them different from +all the others. I asked him if he remembered Antoinette +Polk; to which he promptly replied, "Ah, qu'elle était +belle—une déesse." I must tell her how she lives in his +old memory. I always find Noailles pleasant—so grand +seigneur.</p> + +<p>We found all sorts of cards and invitations when we +came in, and a surprise for me from Father Smith which +pleased me greatly, a silver medal of Leo XIII. in a case. +It is about the size of a five-franc piece—rather larger if +anything, and so like, the small head, and fine, sharply +cut features, such a nice note, too, from Father Smith; +he was very glad to be able to offer me something which +he knew I would prize, and that it wasn't necessary to be +of the same religion to admire and appreciate a great intellect +and a good man. I am very proud of my two +pictures, and shall show them triumphantly to some of +my Catholic friends and relations who can't understand a +Protestant and a heretic caring for such souvenirs.</p> + +<p>We can't accept any more dinners as we leave on Monday, +W. for Naples and I for Florence. I wanted very +much to go to Ostia, I should like W. to see that desolate, +sandy shore with the pines coming down almost to +the water's edge, and the old castle rising up in the distance; +but it is an all-day excursion and we haven't time. +We will try and do Vei, which is an easy afternoon's +drive. I must stop now—W. is deep in Baedeker, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +out Ostia and Vei, and must also write a note to +Geoffroy about something they want to see to-morrow. +I shall go and see something with Gert.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Sunday, April 19, 1880.</div> + +<p>Yesterday we had an enchanting day at Tivoli, W., +Gert and I. Schuyler was detained in Rome, much to +his disgust, on business. He loves a day in the country +and is most amusing to go about with. He talks to +everybody, priests, peasants, soldiers, and always gets +odd bits of information about old customs, legends, +family histories—all that makes the story of a nation. +Tomba gave us a light carriage and a pair of strong +horses (our little ones were not up to the long day). +We started at 8 in the morning and didn't get back until +8.30. There is a steam tram now all the way out but we +preferred driving, as we wanted to stop at Hadrian's +Villa. We went out by Porta San Lorenzo, crossed the +Arno (the river which makes the falls of Tivoli) at Ponte +Mammolo, and had a good two hours' drive (rather +more, in fact) to Hadrian's Villa. I didn't find that part +of the Campagna very interesting (it was much finer +after one left the Villa). We left the carriage at the entrance +of a sort of lane (one doesn't see much before getting +actually inside) between high banks covered with +every description of vine and creepers; and wild flowers +and weeds in a tangle at our feet (it was really difficult +walking sometimes), and found ourselves in an open +space, with ruins in every direction—a half-crumbling +wall, weeds choking it up; part of a theatre with broken +columns and steps, a few bits of mosaic but not much +colour of any kind; some bas-reliefs very well preserved; +but one felt that everything of value had been taken away,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +and what was left was so hidden in long grass and weeds +that it was difficult to understand all the former magnificence +of the famous Villa.</p> + +<p>The custode was most conscientious, explained everything—the +arena, theatre, baths, temples, etc., but my +impression was a mass of grey, broken bits of stones and +columns. There were one or two splendid stone pines +standing up straight and tall, looking like guardians of +past splendour, and in every direction the crooked little +grey-green olive trees and fields full of flowers. Gert and +I sat on the wall in a shady corner, while W. and the custode +went off some little distance to look at a fountain, and +we were not sorry to have the rest. The last part of the +drive, winding up the hill to Tivoli, was beautiful—such +splendid views all the time, either toward Rome (St. +Peter's standing out, a faint blue dome at the end of the +long, flat plains of the Campagna; or on the other side +the Sabine Hills, Soracte, Frascati, etc.).</p> + +<p>We went straight to the little old hotel of the Sybilla, +which looks exactly the same as in our day, and ordered +breakfast. We were quite ready for it, having had +our "petit déjeuner" at 7.30. The padrone said he +wanted half an hour to prepare it, as the regular table-d'hôte +was over. Of course the railway tourists got out +much quicker than we did and we met them all over the +place, when we went out to see the famous Temple of +Vesta. It is perched on the top of the cliff, looking as +if it would take very little to precipitate it into the mass +of rushing, leaping water tumbling itself over the rocks +far below at our feet. We had a very good breakfast, +capital trout for which Tivoli is famous, and a most talkative +landlord who came to superintend the meal and give +us any information we wanted. He said we must have +donkeys to make the "giro," which would take us about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +two hours, and we could finish at the Villa d'Este, where +the carriage would come and get us.</p> + +<p>We walked about a little in the town after breakfast +through narrow, dirty streets with curious old bits of +architecture, and into the church, or cathedral as they +grandly call it, of San Francesco; but there was really +nothing to see; and at two we started for our tournée to +the grottoes of Neptune and the Sirena. We all walked +at first, two donkeys with the usual pretty little black-eyed +boys at their heads following (W. of course +wouldn't have a donkey but took a cane which the +padrone of the Sybilla strongly recommended as the steps +going down to the grotto were steep and slippery). I +wondered how the donkeys would get on, but made no +remarks as I knew I could always get off. We walked +through the little town under a nice old arch and up a +path which was pleasant enough at first, but when we +wound round the side of the hill Gert and I were glad +to mount our beasts as the sun was very hot and +there wasn't an atom of shade. It was a beautiful excursion, +always something to see—ruins of old castles, +temples, gateways—so much really that one couldn't take +in details. From certain "points de vue" the Temple of +Vesta seemed almost standing on air—one lost the cliff, +which disappeared in a sort of mist. As soon as we +began to go down the noise of the rushing water was +quite overpowering; we couldn't hear ourselves speak, +and the glimpses we had of the quantities of little +falls leaping over big rocks and stones were quite enchanting.</p> + +<p>Our little donkeys were perfectly sure-footed and the +path good though steep. We dismounted before getting +quite down to the grottoes and the steps certainly were +rough and slippery. The guide took charge of Gert, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +I followed in W.'s wake very carefully. It was icy cold +when we got all the way down. I am generally impervious +to that sort of thing, but I felt the cold strike me +and didn't stay long. The chill passed entirely as soon +as we came out and began the ascent, leaving the dark, +deep pool behind us.</p> + +<p>The road back was, if possible, more beautiful; great +ravines with olive trees half way down their sides, mountain +streams in every direction making countless little +cataracts, all dancing and sparkling in the sun—rocks +covered with bright green moss, and fields carpeted with +wild flowers. The guide pointed out various ruins—the +Villa of Mæcenas—a great square mass on the top of +a hill—but we didn't care to make a long détour to go +up to it. We were quite satisfied with all the natural +beauty we saw around us—one old bridge, the arches +covered with moss and flowers, and every now and then +through the olive trees one had glimpses of arches, columns, +temples—quite beautiful. The only drawback was +the Cook's tourists who were riding and walking and +talking all over the place, making jokes with the guides +and speaking the most execrable Italian. However they +had already <i>done</i> the Villa d'Este, so we lost them there, +which was a relief.</p> + +<p>The Villa was enchanting after the heat and glare of +the road, and at first we sat quite quietly on a grassy bank +and enjoyed the thick shade of the enormous cypresses. +The custode was very anxious we should make the classic +tour with him but we told him we knew the place—it +was by no means our first visit. I explained to him in +Italian that I was a "vecchia Romana" (old Roman), +to which he replied with true Italian gallantry, "non tanto +vecchia—son to vecchio" (no, not at all old—I am old), +and old he was, his face all yellow and wrinkled like the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +peasants who live on the Campagna and are poisoned with +malaria.</p> + +<p>I should think, though, the Villa d'Este was healthy, +it stands so high. It is almost uninhabited, belongs now +to Cardinal Hohenlohe, but they tell me he never lives +there, never sleeps—comes out for the day from Rome +and goes back at night. It is sometimes let to foreigners. +The garden is quite beautiful, perfectly wild and neglected +but a wealth of trees, fountains, statues, terraces—it +might be made a paradise with a little care. There +are few flowers (like most Italian gardens) except those +that grow quite wild. There is still the same great arch +at one end of the terrace which just frames a stretch of +Campagna, making a beautiful picture.</p> + +<p>We had a delicious hour wandering about, stopping to +rest every now and then, and sitting on some old bit of +wall or column—no one there but ourselves and not a +sound except the splashing water of the fountains. W. +was delighted, and we were very sorry to leave. The +afternoon light was so beautiful, penetrating through the +black cypress avenue, however, we had a long drive back, +longer even than coming, as we wanted to make a détour +to look at the sulphur lakes. Our coachman was evidently +anxious to leave. We heard an animated parley at +the gate of the Villa, and the custode appeared to say +the carriage was there and the coachman said it was +time to start if we wanted to get back to Rome before +nightfall. I think <i>he</i> didn't want to be too late on the +road.</p> + +<p>It was still warm when we started back, but we hadn't +gone very far when it changed completely and I was very +glad to put on my jacket and a shawl over it. It is a +long, barren stretch of Campagna toward the sulphur +lakes; one smelt the sulphur some time before arriving.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +They were not particularly interesting, looked like big, +stagnant ponds, with rather yellowish water. Our man +was decidedly uncomfortable. The road was absolutely +lonely—not a person nor a vehicle of any kind in sight, +the long straight road before us, and the desolate plains +of the Campagna on each side. He fidgeted on his box, +looked nervously from side to side, whipped up his horses, +until at last W. asked him what was the matter, what was +he afraid of. "Nothing, nothing, but it was late. We +were strangers and one never could be quite sure what +one would meet." It was not very reassuring, and when +we saw once or twice a figure looming up in the distance, +a man or two men on horseback, who might be shepherds +or who might be bandits, we were not very comfortable +either; we seemed to feel suddenly that it was getting dark, +that we were alone in a very lonely road in a strange +country, and we didn't mind at all when the coachman +urged his horses to a quick gallop, and got over the ground +as fast as he could.</p> + +<p>We didn't say much until the little twinkling lights of +the first "osterias" began to show themselves, and as +we got nearer Rome and met the long lines of carts and +peasants, some walking, some riding, we felt better and +agreed that it wasn't pleasant to feel afraid, particularly +a vague fear that didn't take shape.</p> + +<p>When we drew up at the door of the hotel, after having +deposited Gert at her Palazzo, we asked the coachman +what he had been afraid of—was there any danger; to +which he (safe on his box in the Piazza di Spagna) replied +with a magnificent gesture that a Roman didn't +know what fear meant, but he saw the ladies were nervous. +It seems absurd now this morning, sitting at the +window with the Piazza full of people, that we should +have felt so uncomfortable. I asked W. if he was nervous.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +He said rather, for from the moment of starting +he saw the coachman didn't want to take the side-road +to the sulphur lakes, which was certainly wild and lonely, +also that he was most anxious to get on. If the carriage +had been merely stopped to rob us it would have been +very disagreeable as we had no means of defence, nothing +but our parasols, and of course nobody near to come to +our rescue. I don't think our Giuseppe would have made +a very vigorous resistance. After all, adventures do happen, +and it would have been unpleasant to return to Paris +minus one ear or one finger or any other souvenir of a +sojourn in a bandit camp.</p> + +<p>As we didn't get home until nearly nine I proposed no +dinner, but "high tea" upstairs in our salon. W. demurred +at first, like all men he loathes that meal dear to +the female mind, but upon reflection thought it would +be best. The gérant came up to speak about some boxes +we want to send to Paris direct from here, and we told +him of our return and the coachman's evident terror. +He said he could quite understand it, that it was a very +lonely, unfrequented bit of road leading to the sulphur +lakes, and that we had chosen our time badly; all the +tourists went first to the lakes before going to Tivoli, and +it would have been a temptation to some of the wild shepherds +and Campagna peasants to stop the carriage and insist +upon having money or jewels. He didn't think there +was any danger to our lives, nor even to our ears. They +wouldn't have made much of a haul—I had no jewels of +any kind, except my big pearl earrings—and W. very little +money—three or four hundred francs. It was a disagreeable +experience, all the same. I don't like being +afraid, and I was. We went a swinging pace for about +three-quarters of an hour—the horses on a good quick +gallop.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>I went to church this morning. It is a nice walk from +here and the day is enchanting—warm, but just air +enough to make exercise pleasant. W. was off early with +Geoffroy. They put off yesterday's excursion until to-day, +as W. was very anxious to see Tivoli.</p> + +<p>The trunks are being packed, the gérant apparently +superintending operations, as I hear a great deal of conversation +in the anteroom. Madame Hubert has an extraordinary +faculty for getting all she wants—an excellent +quality in a travelling maid. As you know she is +very pretty, which again carries out my favourite theory +that beauty is the most important gift for a woman. I +daresay it won't bear discussion, and I ought to say +"goodness," but my experience points the other way. I +have so often heard father quote Madame de Staël (who +was very kind to him when he was a young man in Paris) +who, at the very height of her triumph as the great +woman's intelligence of her time, said to him one evening +at a big party in Paris, looking at Madame Récamier, +who was beautiful, and surrounded by all that was most +distinguished and brilliant in the room, "Je donnerai +toute mon intelligence pour avoir sa beauté."</p> + +<p>I am so sorry to go—though of course I shall be glad +to see you all, but we have enjoyed ourselves so much. +I wonder when I shall see it all again, and I also wonder +what makes the great charm of Rome. It appeals to so +many people of perfectly different tastes. W. has been +perfectly happy and interested (and in many things, not +only in inscriptions and antiquities) and I am sure such +an absolute change of life and scenes was the best rest he +could have after the very fatiguing life of the last two +years.</p> + + +<div class="signature"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +Sunday, April 19, 1880, 10 o'clock.</div> + +<p>We have just come in from our farewell dinner with +Gert, our last in Rome, or rather my last. I go to Florence +to-morrow morning, but W. stays on till Tuesday. +He is going to dine at the Wimpffens to-morrow +night with some colleagues and political people. He has +stopped downstairs to finish his cigar and give directions +about some books he wants sent to Paris, and I +will finish this letter. I have nothing to do—the trunks +are all packed, some already downstairs, and the salon +looks quite bare and uncomfortable, notwithstanding some +flowers which Mrs. Bruce and Trocchi have sent for +good-bye.</p> + +<p>Gert and I had a nice afternoon. It was so beautiful +that we went for a last drive in the country, and I shall +carry away a last summer impression almost, all blue +sky, bright flowers, deep shadows, and a warm light over +everything. It is wonderful how the Campagna changes—almost +from day to day (not only with the change of +seasons), quite like the ocean. To-day, for instance, was +enchanting, the air soft and mild, a smell of fresh earth +and flowers everywhere, the old towers and tombs standing +well out, rising out of a mass of high grass and wild +flowers, and taking a soft pink colour in the warm sunlight—so +clear that one could see a great distance—and +all the little villages made white spots on the hills. +It is quite different from the winter Campagna, which +stretches away—miles of barren, desolate plains; the +rocks look quite bare, the hills are shrouded in mist, and +one has a feeling of solitude and of dead nature which is +curious. I suppose history and all the old legends work +upon the imagination and incline us to idealize the most +ordinary surroundings; but there are always the long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +lines of ruined aqueducts, the square, massive towers, +and great memorial stones that one comes upon in most +unexpected places; and an extraordinary feeling of a +great dead past which I don't think one has anywhere +else.</p> + +<p>We passed through the Piazza Montanara, and by the +old theatre of Marcellus on our way out. I wanted to +see the little, dark, dirty corner I was always so fond of. +The fruit-stall was still there, jammed up against the +wall, half hidden by the great stones, remains of balconies, +and arched windows that jut out from the great +black mass—all that remains of the once famous theatre. +The piazza was very full—peasants, donkeys, boys selling +fruit and drinks, and in one corner the "scrivano" (public +letter-writer) with his rickety little old table, pen, +paper, and ink, waiting for any one who needed his services. +Thirty years ago, it seems, he did a flourishing +trade, Sundays particularly, and there would be a long +string of people patiently waiting their turn. Much +chaffing and commenting when some pretty girl appeared, +smiling and blushing, wanting to have a letter written +to her sweetheart away with his regiment in foreign +parts or high up on some of the hills with his sheep +or cattle. To-day there was hardly any one—a wrinkled +old woman dictating something about a soldier and apparently +not making it very clear, as the writer (not the +classic old man with a long beard, but a youth) seemed +decidedly impatient. We had quite time to take it all +in, as the people (donkeys too) were all standing in the +middle of the street and didn't hurry themselves at all to +move apart and let the carriage pass. We were evidently +near the "Ghetto," as we saw some fine types of Jewish +women, tall, handsome creatures, carrying themselves +very well; quite unlike the men, who were a dirty, hard-featured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +lot, creeping along with that cringing, deprecatory +manner which seems inherent in the race.</p> + +<p>We crossed the bridge and drove through part of the +Trastevere, which certainly looked remarkably dark and +uninviting on this lovely summer afternoon. There are +of course fine buildings, churches, and old palaces, some +half tumbling down, and all black with dirt and age. +The streets were dirty, the children (quantities of them +playing in the streets) dirty and unkempt; clothes of all +kinds were hanging out of the windows, falling over +sculptured balconies and broken statues, in what had been +stately palaces—every now and then flowers in a broken +vase. There were some fine old arched gateways with a +rope across on which clothes and rags were drying, and +dreadful old men and women sitting under them on dirty +benches and broken chairs. There was a smell (not to +use a stronger word) of dirt and stale things, fruit and +vegetables, also a little "frittura," which one always perceives +in the people's quarter in Rome. I had forgotten +how wretched it all was, and we were glad to get away +from the smells and the dirt and find ourselves on the road +along the river which leads to Ponte Molle. It was too +late to think of Vei, but we drove some distance along +the road. The Campagna looked quite beautiful, and +every group we passed a picture in the soft evening light. +Sometimes a woman with a baby on her shoulder (the +child with a red cap) standing well out against the sky—sometimes +one or two shepherds on their shaggy mountain +ponies seeming quite close to us, but really far away +on the plains (always wrapped in their long cloaks, +though it was a summer evening). Every now and then +a merry band of girls and soldiers. The "bersaglieri" +with their long feathers and the girls with bright, striped +skirts swinging along at a great pace, always singing and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +laughing; of course the inevitable old woman carrying a +heavy load of fagots or dried grass on her poor bent +back; and equally of course the man with her lounging +along, a cigar in his mouth and hands in his pockets, evidently +thinking that to carry a heavy burden was "lavoro +di donna." Poor old women! I daresay they hardly +remember that they were once straight, active girls, singing +and dancing in the sunlight with no thought of old +age nor fears for the future.</p> + +<p>As soon as we crossed the bridge going back there +were many more people on the road. There are "osterias," +gardens, and small vineyards on each side of the +road almost up to the Porta del Popolo, and as it was +Sunday, the whole population was abroad. Many of the +women carry their babies perched on their shoulders (not +in their arms) and steady them with one hand. The +little creatures, their black heads just showing out of the +sort of bag or tight bands they are wrapped in, look quite +contented—some of them asleep.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus211.png" width="500" height="357" alt="St. Peter's from the Pincio." title="St. Peter's from the Pincio." /> +<span class="caption">St. Peter's from the Pincio.</span> +</div> + +<p>We went up to the Pincio, to have a last look at St. +Peter's and the Doria pines before the sun went down. +There were few people; it was late, and we had the terrace +to ourselves. The dome stood out, quite purple, +against a clear blue sky, and seemed almost resting on the +clouds. There was a slight mist, which detached it from +the mass of buildings. Rome hardly existed—we only +saw the dome. I was sorry W. was not there to have +that last beautiful picture in his mind. Del Monte, who +was also lingering on the terrace, joined us and said he +would walk back with me along the terrace of the Villa +Medici, so I sent Gert back to her palazzo in the carriage +and he and I strolled along and talked over old times; +so many recollections of things done together—rides on +the Campagna, hours of music of all kinds, particularly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>at the Villa Marconi at Frascati. I asked him if he +had ever gone back there since we left. The villa was +often let to forestieri. One year there was an English +family there, father, mother, <i>one</i> son, and <i>eight</i> daughters. +They used to go about always in three carriages. He +said he had never known any one there since us. He remembered +so well all the music we did in the big room. +When it was a fine night all the mezzo ceto (petite bourgeoisie) +who were in "villegiatura" at Frascati would +congregate under our windows, whenever we were singing +and playing. If they liked our music they applauded; +if they didn't (which happened sometimes, when the +strains were not melodious enough) they were too polite +to express disapproval, and would remain perfectly silent. +We used to hear them singing and whistling our songs +when they went home. We amused ourselves often trying +them with music they couldn't possibly know—plantation +songs or amateur music which had never been +published. We would sing them one evening; the next +they would come back and sing all our songs perfectly +well (no words, of course). They had an extraordinary +musical facility. Often when we stopped, or on some of +the rare occasions when we didn't do any music, they +would sing some of their songs—many of them ending +on a long, sustained note quite charming.</p> + +<p>It was pleasant to recall all the "tempi passati." We +lingered a few moments at the top of the Spanish Steps, +quite deserted at this hour of the evening, and when he +left me at the door of the hotel I had barely time to talk +a little to W. before dressing for dinner. He was rather +wondering what had become of me. He had had a delightful +afternoon with his friends. They had walked +along the banks of the Tiber on the way to Ostia. He +says there are all sorts of interesting things to be found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +there—tombs, bits of Roman wall and pavements, traces +of old quays, and subterraneous passages all mixed up +with modern improvements. The City of Rome is spending +a great deal of money in building new quays, bridges, +etc., on a most elaborate and expensive scale. I should +think the sluggish old Tiber would hardly know itself +flowing between such energetic, busy banks.</p> + +<p>They drove out for some distance on the road to Ostia, +but only got as far as the Monte di San Paolo (I think), +from where they had a fine view of the sea, and the pine +forests. I am sorry they hadn't time to go on, but we +must leave something for the next time. I wonder when +it will be.</p> + +<p>Gert's dinner was pleasant—Mrs. Bruce, Comte Palfy, +Father Smith, and Mr. Hooker. They all talked hard. +Mr. Hooker has lived so many years in Rome that he +has seen all its transformations; says the present busy, +brilliant capital is so unlike the old Rome of his days that +he can hardly believe it is the same place. It is incredible +that a whole city should have lived so many years in +such absolute submission to the Papal Government. In +those days there were only two newspapers, each revised +at the Vatican and nothing allowed to appear in +either that wasn't authorized by the papal court; also the +government exercised a paternal right over the jeunesse +dorée, and when certain fair ladies with yellow hair and +elaborate costumes appeared in the Villa Borghese, or on +the Pincio, exciting great admiration in all the young +men of the place (and filling the mammas and wives with +horror), it was merely necessary to make a statement to +the Vatican. The dangerous stranger was instantly +warned that she must cross the frontier.</p> + +<p>Palfy, too, remembered Rome in the old days, when +the long drive along the Riviera in an old-fashioned travelling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +carriage (before railways were known in these +parts) was a thing planned and arranged months beforehand—one +such journey was made in a life-time. He +said the little villages where they stopped were something +awful; not the slightest idea of modern comfort or cleanliness. +The ladies travelled with a retinue of servants, +taking with them sheets, mattresses, washing materials +(there was a large heavy silver basin and jug which +always travelled with his family) and batterie de cuisine; +also very often a doctor, as one was afraid of fever +or a bad chill, as of course any heating apparatus was +most primitive. The Italians sat in the sun all day +and went to bed when it was dark and cold. One saw +the country and the people much better in that way. +Now we fly through at night in an express train, and the +Rome we see to-day might be Paris, Vienna, or any modern +capital. I mean, of course, inside the walls. As soon +as one gets out of the gates and on the Campagna one +feels as if by instinct all the dead past of the great city.</p> + +<p>I told them that in our time, when we lived one summer +in the Villa Marconi at Frascati, the arrangements +were most primitive. The palace was supposed to be +furnished, but as the furniture consisted chiefly of marble +statues, benches, and baths—also a raised garden on a +level with the upper rooms, opening out of the music-room, +the door behind an enormous white marble statue +of some mythological celebrity—it didn't seem very habitable +to our practical American minds. There were +beds and one or two wash-stands, also curtains in one +room, but as for certain intimate domestic arrangements +they didn't exist; and when we ventured to suggest that +they were indispensable to our comfort we were told, "I +principi romani non domandono altro" (Roman princes +don't ask for anything more).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>Heavens, how funny all the pourparlers were. Fanny<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +did all the talking, as we were still too new to the +language to embark upon a business conversation. Her +mother, who was an excellent maîtresse de maison, gave +all the directions, which were most particular and detailed, +as she was very anxious we should be comfortable, +and very doubtful as to the resources of the establishment. +The agent was visibly agacé and impatient. +Fanny had on a pair of tortoise-shell star ear-rings, +and the man told one of our friends afterward that +"quella piccola colle stellette" (the young girl with the +little stars) was a real "diavolo." It was funny to +hear her beginning every sentence "Dice la signora" +(madame says), and saying exactly what her mother +told her; the mother, standing near, understanding every +word, though she couldn't say anything, and looking hard +at the agent. He understood her, too. However, we +didn't get any more than the Roman princes had, and +made our own arrangements as well as we could, having +out a large van of furniture of all kinds from Rome.</p> + +<p>Hooker remembered it all well, as he found the house +for us and had many misgivings as to how we should get +along. He was always keeping us straight in a financial +point of view, as even then, before the days of the enormous +American fortunes, Americans were careless about +money, and didn't mind paying, and paying well, for +what they wanted. In those days, too, it was rather +cheap living in Italy, and we were so surprised often by +the prices of the mere necessaries of life that we couldn't +help expressing our astonishment freely. Poor Hooker +was much disgusted. "You might as well ask them to +cheat you." We learned better, however, later, particularly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +after several visits to Naples, where the first price +asked for anything was about five times as much as the +vender expected to get. "Le tout c'est de savoir."</p> + +<p>Father Smith and W. got on swimmingly. It is too +funny to see them together. The father's brogue is delightful +and comes out strong whenever he talks about +anything that interests him. He has such a nice twinkle, +too, in his eye when he tells an Irish story or makes a +little joke. I must say I am very sorry to go. It has +been a real pleasure to be back again in Rome and to take +up so many threads of my old life. I find Italians delightful +to live with; they are so absolutely natural and +unsnobbish—no pose of any kind; not that they under-rate +themselves and their great historic names, but they +are so simple and sure of themselves that a pose would +never occur to them. Father Smith asked us a great deal +about the German Crown Princess. He had never seen +her, but had the greatest admiration for her character and +intelligence—"a worthy daughter of her great mother"—thought +it a pity that such a woman couldn't have remained +in her own country, though he didn't see very +well how it could have been managed. He doesn't at +all approve of royal princesses marrying subjects. I +think he is right—certainly democratic princes are a mistake. +There should always be an idea of state—ermine +and royal purple—connected with royalties. I remember +quite well my disappointment at the first sovereign +I saw. It was the Emperor of Austria coming out of his +palace at Vienna. We had been loitering about, sight-seeing, +and as we passed the Hof-Burg evident tourists, +some friendly passers-by told us to stop a moment and +we would see the Emperor, who was just driving out of +the gates. When I saw a victoria with a pair of horses +drive out with two gentlemen in very simple uniform, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +bowing mechanically to the few people who were waiting, +I was distinctly disappointed. I don't suppose I expected +to see a monarch arrayed in ermine robes, with a crown +on his head and a sceptre in his hand, but all the same it +was a disillusion. Of course when one sees them at +court, or at some great function, with brilliant uniforms, +grand cordon, and diamond stars, they are more imposing. +I don't know, though, whether that does make a +difference. Do you remember one of A.'s stories? He +was secretary to the British Embassy at Washington, and +at one of the receptions at the White House (which +are open receptions—all the world can go) all the corps +diplomatique were present in the full glory of ribbons +and plaques. He heard some one in the crowd saying, +"What are all these men dressed up in gold lace and +coloured ribbons?" The answer came after a moment's +reflection, "I guess it's the band."</p> + +<p>I don't think I can write any more to-night. I seem +to be rambling on without anything much to say. If I +could tell you all I am doing it would be much pleasanter. +A pen seems to paralyze me and I feel a mantle +of dulness settle down on me as soon as I take one in my +hand. You will have to let me talk hard the first three +or four days after I get home, and be the good listener +you always are to your children.</p> + +<p>It is a beautiful bright night, the sky almost as blue +as in the day, and myriads of stars. The piazza is quite +deserted. It is early, not yet 10.40, but the season is +over, all the forestieri gone, and Rome is sinking back +into its normal state of sleepiness and calm. How many +times I have looked out on the piazza on just such a night +(from Casa Pierret, our old house just next door)! It +is the one place that hasn't changed in Rome. I almost +feel as if I must go to bed at once, so as to be up early<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +and in my habit for a meet at Cecilia Metella to-morrow +morning. I do start to-morrow, but not very early—at +ten. I have a line from Mary Bunsen this evening saying +they will meet me at the station in Florence to-morrow. +I shall arrive for dinner. I am half sorry now I didn't +decide to go to Naples, after all. The weather is divine, +and I should have liked to have another look at that +beautiful bay, with its blue dancing water, and Capri and +Ischia in the distance. We had had visions of Sicily, +prolonging our stay another fortnight, but W. is rather +worrying now to get home. He had a letter from Richard +yesterday, telling him to be sure and come back for +the Conseil Général.</p> + +<p>There were two amusing articles in the papers the +other day, one saying M. Waddington had been charged +by the French Government with a delicate and confidential +mission to the Pope; two days after, in another paper, +a denial and most vicious attack on W., saying M. Waddington +had evidently inspired the first article himself, +that he had been charged with no mission of any kind, +and they knew from private sources that he would not +even be received by the Pope. I daresay a great many +people believe both. W. naturally doesn't care—doesn't +pay the least attention to what any paper says. I am +getting hardened, too, though the process has been longer +with me. I don't mind a good vicious article from an +opposition paper—that is "de bonne guerre"—but the +little perfidious insinuations of the so-called friendly sheets +which one can't notice (and which always leave a trace) +are very irritating.</p> + +<p>W. has just come up. He lingered talking in the +smoking-room with two Englishmen who have just arrived +from Brindisi, and were full of India and all "the +muddles <i>our</i> government is making," asking him if he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +wasn't disgusted as an Englishman at all the mistakes +and stupidities they were making out there. They were +so surprised when he said that he wasn't an Englishman +that it was funny; and when he added that he was a +Frenchman they really didn't know what he meant. He +didn't explain his personality (I suppose the man of the +hotel enlightened them afterward), but stayed on talking, +as the men were clever and had seen a great deal. They +had made a long tour in India, and said the country was +most interesting. The ruins—also modern palaces—on +such a gigantic scale.</p> + +<p>Well, dear, I really must finish now. My next letter +will be from Florence. We shall stop at Milan and +Turin, but not very long, I fancy, unless W. finds marvels +in the way of coins at Milan. I am quite sad to think +I shan't look out on the piazza to-morrow night. I think +after all these years I still hold to my original opinion +that the Corso is the finest street and the Tiber the finest +river in the world.</p> + + +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Milan, Hôtel de Ville</span>,<br /> +Thursday, May 6, 1880. +</div> + +<p>Here we are, dearest mother, almost home—only 26 +hours from Paris—so if we are suddenly called back (and +I earnestly hope we shan't be) we can start at once. We +made our journey most comfortably yesterday, though +it was long. We left Florence at 9 in the morning and +didn't get here until nearly 8. The Bunsens came with +us to the station. I begged them not to at such an +early hour but they didn't mind. It would have been +nice to stay longer. They have just taken their villa +on for another month. Their gardener at Meìngenügen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +wrote them that it was snowing and a cold wind—horrid +weather; so they instantly decided to stay on another +month. My belle-mère is delicate and never could +have stood a cold, northern spring after this beautiful +month of April here. They tried to tempt us with all +sorts of excursions—Vallombrosa, Pisa (which I should +like to see again, I have such a vivid recollection of the +Campo Santo and some of the extraordinary tombs, +wide square courts and painted windows). I don't remember +if it was there or at Genoa, where we saw such +elaborate modern monuments; the marble carved and +draped in the most curious manner—a widow kneeling +at her husband's tomb, her skirts all embroidered and +carved so finely, like lace, and a lace veil—really extraordinary.</p> + +<p>We found a long train at the station—the night express +from Rome. The préfet had kept a compartment for +us, and Ubaldino Peruzzi, the former sindaco, a great +friend of W.'s, went with us as far as Pistoja. Minghetti +was on the train, and he came into our compartment for +about an hour, but then adjourned to his own carriage as +he was composing a great political speech he makes at +Bologna to-night. They are all much excited over the +elections, which take place Sunday week, so their time +is short. Minghetti has lived and fought through so +many phases of Italian history that he is most interesting. +They say his memory is extraordinary—so accurate. He +never forgets a face or a speech. He says whenever he +has an important speech to make he goes for a drive +or a long walk—the movement helps him. W. is just +the contrary. His great speeches (and they were not +many) have always been composed sitting in his big arm-chair +smoking the beloved old cherry-wood pipe Ségur +brought him from Jersey. When he had got his speech<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +quite in his head, he wrote it, and then it went straight on—never +a correction or an erasure. I asked Minghetti if +he was nervous. He said not in the least—he was always +ready for the fray, and the more he was interrupted the +better he spoke, as that proved they were listening to him.</p> + +<p>I remember so well one of the first days I went to the +Assemblée Nationale years ago. Somebody was speaking—apparently +well—on some question of the day, and +nobody was listening. The deputies were walking about, +talking, writing letters, just as if there was nothing going +on. I looked down to see if W. was listening, but +he was talking cheerfully to Léon Say. It seemed to me +incredible that the orator could continue under such circumstances, +but W. explained it to me. He was speaking +for his electors in the country and for the "Journal +Officiel," which would publish his speech <i>in extenso</i> the +next day.</p> + +<p>It was most interesting making the journey with these +gentlemen as they had their history at their finger ends. +All that part of the country had been so fought over—oceans +of blood shed in the fierce struggle against Austrian +tyranny—particularly as we got near Milan. It +seems incredible what a hard iron rule theirs was—especially +if one knows Austria and the Austrians a little. +They seem such an easy-going, happy people. All their +little villages look clean and prosperous, the peasants +cheerful and singing and civil to all strangers and travellers.</p> + +<p>The country we passed through to-day looked green +and smiling, but their idea of work is still primitive, even +in Northern Italy. Wherever we passed the people in +the fields all stopped and looked at the train—many came +running up the bank. If they do that for every train +they must lose a considerable amount of time. We were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +very sorry when our companions departed, but at every +station almost Minghetti met friends, and it was evident +that he had his head full of politics. It is a long time +since I have met any one so interesting. It is such a +quick intelligence and he touches every subject so lightly, +apparently, only one feels he knows all about it.</p> + +<p>We made a fair stop at the Bologna station and had a +very good breakfast. It recalled so vividly old times and +our first journeys to Rome. Even the buffet looked exactly +the same. I could have sworn there was the same +"fricandeau de veau." The buffet was crowded—it seems +there were a lot of Indian officers arriving with their families +from Brindisi, with dark turbaned servants and ayahs +always in white. However the Indian nurses didn't look +so miserable as they used to in winter when we first made +the journey down. They were rather bewildered all the +same in such a jostling, hurrying crowd. It is funny to +see how they cling to their charges, holding the babies +tight with one hand and guiding one or two others half +hidden in their long white draperies, with the other. I +am sure they are excellent, faithful nurses.</p> + +<p>Our last days in Florence were very full. Tuesday was +the day of the races—bright, beautiful weather—and we +drove out to see the retour, stationing ourselves at the +entrance of the Cascine until 7 o'clock. There was not +much to see in the way of equipages—nothing like the +Roman turn-outs—but there were some pretty women. +The Comtesse Mirafiori (née Larderel), I daresay you +will remember the name, was about the prettiest. Her +victoria was very well appointed, handsome horses stepping +perfectly; and she looked a picture, all in white with +a big hat turned up with dark blue and long blue and +yellow feathers. I think a woman never looks better than +in a victoria—it shows off the dress and figure so well.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +Lottie, too, looked very well, but she passed so quickly I +couldn't see what she had on. I had an impression of +white with some pink in her hat. Almost all the women +were in white. Of course the Lungarno was crowded—all +the loungers taking the most lively interest in the carriages; +and when there was a stop criticising freely—but +I must say with their natural Italian politeness, confining +themselves to expressions of admiration more or +less pronounced—never anything disagreeable.</p> + +<p>We had a mild reception in the evening. Various +friends came to say good-bye—Maquays, Peruzzis, Miss +Forbes and one or two men. A scientific German—I forget +his name—who told W. it would take weeks to +see all the coins and interesting things of all kinds at +the Milan Museum. We are very comfortable here; the +hotel is old-fashioned with a nice open court, and the +rooms good. We have a pretty apartment on the front, +and as it is on the main thoroughfare, Corso Vittorio +Emanuele, we see all that goes on. There is a church +opposite—San Carlo, I believe—and we are not far from +the Piazza del Duomo.</p> + +<p>We went for a little stroll last night after dinner, just +for W. to smoke his cigar. The Cathedral looked splendid—a +gigantic white mass in the midst of the busy +square, quantities of people in the streets and sitting at +all the cafes, of which there are hundreds—quite like the +Paris boulevards on a summer night—everybody talking +and laughing and a cheerful sound of clinking glasses. I +think they were almost all drinking beer—a great many +uniforms—I suppose there is a large garrison. There +seemed very few foreigners—we heard nothing but Italian +spoken—so unlike Rome and even Florence where one +heard always so much English in the streets and the +shops. They told me in Florence that there was a large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +English colony there, living quite apart from the fashionable +world—children learning music, or some of the +family delicate, needing a mild climate and sunshine—more +perhaps in the villas close to the gates than in the +town itself. I should think the cutting wind that sweeps +the Lungarno would be mortal to weak chests; but up +in the hills sheltered by the high walls and olive groves +one would be quite protected. Certainly the other day +on the terrace of Castello the sun was divine and the air +soft and balmy, not a sign of chill or damp—but it was +the month of May—the month for Florence.</p> + +<p>This morning I have been unpacking—or rather +Madame Hubert has—and settling myself in my salon, +making the two corners—feminine and masculine—as I +did in Rome. I have no convenient Palazzo Altemps to +help me out with cushions, screens, etc., but I found lovely +flowers which the landlord (who received us in dress +clothes and his hat in his hand) put there, and as he was +very civil and pleased to have the "Excellenza" and +hoped I would ask for anything I wanted, I have asked +for and obtained an arm-chair, and suggested he should +give me a simple table-cover instead of the beautiful +green velvet one, embroidered with pink roses, which +now ornaments my salon. With my careless way of writing +and facility for putting ink all over myself, even in +my hair, I am afraid that work of art would be seriously +deteriorated. He sent up this morning to know if I +wanted my breakfast upstairs—if I would come down he +would reserve me a small table in the window. I shall +go down—I hate meals in a sitting-room and I should +like to see what sort of people there are in the hotel.</p> + + +<div class="signature"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +10 o'clock.</div> + +<p>I will go on to-night while W. is putting his papers in +order. I breakfasted alone downstairs about 12. The +dining-room is a large, handsome room across the court. +There were very few people—not more than four tables +occupied—a large English family with troops of fair-haired +children—girls in white frocks and long black +stockings and boys in Eton coats. They all looked about +the same age, but I suppose they weren't. They were +very quiet and well-behaved, quite unlike any of our small +relations. I have vivid recollections of travelling with +some of them—all talking at once at the top of their +lungs, "Pa, give me a penny," "Pa, give me a cake," +"Pa, what's that for?" etc.</p> + +<p>The reading-room opened out of the dining-room, so +I went in to have a look at the papers—found a "Débats" +and the "Times," and read up all that was going on in the +fashionable and political world. W. came in about 4—he +had ordered a carriage for 4.30, and as it was a lovely +afternoon we thought we would drive about the streets a +little and out into the country. He had had a delightful +morning—says the Museum is most interesting—the +cabinet de médailles a marvel. He has arranged to go +there every day at 10 o'clock—will work there until 3, +then come back for me and we shall have our afternoon. +He is much pleased with this arrangement but he doesn't +think the employees of the cabinet de médailles will find +it quite so satisfactory, as some one must always be with +him. They never leave any one alone in these rooms. +He thinks there are only two people for this service, and +they will naturally hate spending a long day doing nothing +while he studies and copies.</p> + +<p>The Directeur received him to-day most enthusiastically—knew +all about his collection of coins.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>We started out about 5 and went first to have a cup +of tea at the café the padrone recommended—Cova, I +think—and then told the man to drive about the streets +and pass the principal buildings. We saw the Duomo +again, the Scala (theatre)—if it is open we shall go one +night; the great Galerie Victor Emmanuel, full of shops; +and quantities of churches, Santa Maria delle Grazie, +of course, where is the famous "Cenacolo" of Leonardo +da Vinci, but the outside merely. The fresco is only +visible until 4—so we shall see the inside of the church +another day. We made a turn in the public gardens or +promenade where there were quite a number of handsome +carriages and saddle horses—many officers riding. It +was rather late to attempt a country drive (we had said +we would dine downstairs at 7.30), for the turning and +twisting about in the streets and stopping every now and +then had taken up a good deal of time. We had a nice +little victoria with a pair of horses, not unlike the carriage +Tomba gave us in Rome.</p> + +<p>We went down about a quarter to eight. The +padrone in his dress clothes was waiting at the foot of +the stairs and conducted us with much pomp into the +dining-room, where we found a nice round table in the +window. The room was quite full—many more people +than in the morning, and I should think almost all +Italians. They looked at us naturally with much curiosity, +as such a fuss was made with us. W. smoked a +cigar in the court after dinner and talked to the man of +the house who told him about all the distinguished people +he had had in his hotel. I found papers and a "Graphic" +in the reading-room and was quite surprised when they +said it was 10 o'clock.</p> + + +<div class="signature"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +May 7th.</div> + +<p>It has been pouring all day—straight down. I think +it has stopped a little since dinner. We didn't stay long +in the reading-room as W. is fairly launched in his coins +now and puts his notes in order in the evening. I prowled +this morning with Madame Hubert. Before breakfast +we went to the Brera. It was almost empty but we found +a nice guide, a youngish man, speaking such beautiful +Italian that it was a pleasure to hear him, and +well up on all the pictures. There are beautiful things, +certainly. I was so glad to see some old friends. I was +always so fond of the "Amanti Veneziani" of Paris +Bordone. The "sposo" looks so young and straight and +proud, and the girl's attitude is charming, her brown-gold +head drooping on her lover's shoulder as she holds +out her hand for the ring he is putting on her finger. +Even the inferior pictures of the Paul Veronese school +are fine—there is such an intensity of colour. The whole +room seemed filled with light and warmth. I think I +like the backgrounds and accessories almost as much as +the figures. The draperies are so wonderfully done, one +can almost touch the gorgeous stuffs, heavy with gold +and silver embroidery; and there are one or two high-backed, +carved arm-chairs which are a marvel. The +beautiful fair women with strings of pearls in their golden +hair, and white satin dresses, sitting up straight and +slight in the dark wooden chairs, are fascinating; and +there are quantities, for Paul Veronese and all his pupils +have always so many people in their pictures.</p> + +<p>We saw of course the "Sposalizia" in a small room +quite by itself. The Virgin is a beautifully slight ethereal +figure with the marvellous pure face that all Raphael's +Madonnas have; but the St. Joseph looks younger than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +in most other pictures. Our guide was most enthusiastic +over the picture. It was a treat to hear him say—"morbidezza" +and "dolcissimo." We were there about +an hour and a half, and that was quite long enough. +One's eyes get tired. We saw splendid portraits of +princes and warriors as we passed through the rooms—Moretto, +Leonardo da Vinci and others.</p> + +<p>It was still raining when we came out so we thought +we wouldn't attempt any more sight-seeing, and walked +up to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele where we were +under cover. The Cathedral looked splendid—all the +white pinnacles and statues standing out from the dark +grey sky. We looked in at all the shop windows, but +didn't see anything particularly striking or local except +the black lace veils which so many women (not the upper +classes) wear here. Madame Hubert being young and +pretty was most anxious to adopt that fashion—thought +it would be more suitable for Madame as all the suivantes +here wore the veil—she would be less remarked going +about with Madame—but Madame decidedly preferred +the plain little black bonnet of the Parisian femme de +chambre. It seems there is a swell Italian woman in the +hotel—a Princess—whose maid always wears a veil when +she accompanies her mistress in her walks abroad.</p> + +<p>I was decidedly damp when I got back to the hotel. I +breakfasted alone at my little table, and in fact was almost +alone in the dining-room—there were only two other +tables occupied. The head waiter was very sympathetic +about the weather—they always had sun in Milan, just +a mauvaise chance to-day. I had the reading-room also +to myself, and found plenty of papers in all languages. +I have rather a weakness for the "Kölnische Zeitung" +(Gazette de Cologne). It is very anti-French, or I might +really say anti-everything, as it is always pitching into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +somebody, but there is a good deal of general information +in it.</p> + +<p>W. came in about 3.30, having worked steadily since 9. +It was getting too dark to see much more and his attendant +beamed when he saw him putting up his papers +and preparing to leave. He says the man is bored to +death—wants to talk at first and explain things to him, +but he soon realizes that W. is bent on serious work, so he +desists and reads a paper and walks about the room and +fidgets generally.</p> + +<p>We waited until 4.30 hoping the rain would stop. It +didn't, but the clouds lightened a little and we thought +we would go and see the Duomo. I had forgotten how +beautiful it is—those great wide aisles quite bare—no +chairs, nothing to break the line until quite at the high +altar, and the light from the old glass windows coming +from so high over our heads it seemed straight from +heaven. We sat some little time in one of the side +chapels. It looked vast and mysterious—one had such +an impression of space and height. Various guides came +up and supposed we would not care to go up on the +roof on such an afternoon. We told them we would +come back the next day if it was fine. They looked so +disappointed at having nothing that we finally went down +into the crypt to see the tomb and body of San Carlo Borromeo. +We had both seen it before but I didn't mind +reviving my souvenirs. We had tapers of course as it +was quite dark, but we saw quite well the coloured +marbles and precious stones of the little chapel—also the +body of the Saint, marvellously preserved. It looked +very small—hardly the size of a grown man. The guide +of course wanted to show us all sorts of relics, and the +trésor of the Cathedral, but we preferred going up again +to the church, and wandered about looking at the marble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +tombs and monuments—there are not many, and +they are quite lost in the enormous building. Quite +down at the bottom of the church, near the door under a +baldaquin, is a font in porphyry, said to be the sarcophagus +of some saint. The church looked immense as it +grew darker and the light gradually faded, leaving deep +shadows everywhere. When we turned back, just as we +were going out, to have a last glimpse, the high altar +seemed far away, and the tall candles looked like twinkling +lights seen through a mist or veil.</p> + +<p>We walked about a little under the arcades. W. +wanted some cigars and I an Italian book Minghetti had +recommended to me, "Sketches of Life in Milan and +Venice under the Austrian Occupation." I have been +reading it a little to-night—what an awful life for +Italians—a despotic, iron rule, police and spies everywhere, +women even making their way into the great +Italian houses and reporting everything to the police—the +children's games and little songs, the books and +papers the family read, the visits they received. The +most arbitrary measures prevailed—no young man allowed +to leave the city—no papers nor books allowed that +were not authorized by the government—and when arrests +were made, the prisoners, men or women, treated +most cruelly. The Austrians must have felt the hatred +and thirst for vengeance that was smouldering in all +these young hearts. It seems all the girls and young +women, even of the poorest classes, made themselves +flags (tricolour) out of bits of anything (paper when they +couldn't get anything better) and gave them to all the +men, preparing for the "Cinque giorni" when many of +them went down under the Austrian bayonets, giving +their lives cheerfully and proudly for their country. +Radetzsky must have been a monster of cruelty. How<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +they must hate the white uniform and the black and +yellow flag.</p> + +<p>The city is quiet enough to-night. I suppose it is not +an opera night. It is only half-past ten and we are on +one of the principal thoroughfares, but nothing is passing +in the street. The hotel, too, is quiet, one doesn't hear +a sound. I fancy most travellers go to the new hotel—the +Cavour. We are quite satisfied here, and are most +comfortable—the landlord very attentive. He and W. +are becoming great friends—they talk politics (Italian) +every night while W. smokes.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Friday 7th.</div> + +<p>I see I shall always write at night. After coffee and +half an hour in the reading-room (I always go and have +a look at the papers while W. smokes) we come upstairs. +W. plunges at once into his notes, and I read and write. +It has been lovely to-day and we have had a nice afternoon. +W. came home to breakfast at 1, as he wanted +to see the Brera and "Cenacolo" once again; and it is of +course too late when we start for our afternoon drive at +4.30. We walked to the Brera—it isn't far—and were +there a long time. We made a long stop in the vestibule +looking at the Luini frescoes—all scenes in the Virgin's +life—Madonnas, angels, saints—quantities of figures, +and colours and accessories of all kinds—wonderful trees +and buildings and clouds with angels and seraphim rising +out of them. They must have had marvellous imaginations, +those early Italian painters. They never saw +anything to suggest such pictures to them, and of course +never read anything—there were no books to read—merely +written manuscripts difficult enough for scholars +to decipher. All the wonderful scenes—Nativity, Coronation, +etc.—evoked out of their own brains. I think I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +like the Annunciation the best of all the scenes of the +Virgin's life. There is a beautiful one in the Pitti—I +forget now by whom—the Virgin just risen from her +chair with a half-dazed, half-triumphant look, and the +angel kneeling before her with his lily. I like some of +the German ones, too, but they are much more elaborate—the +Virgin often standing in a wide arch—a portico—more +figures in the background—and the Virgin herself +quite a German girl—not at all the lovely, spiritual head +of the Italian masters.</p> + +<p>We walked through all the rooms. The Venetian +pictures (Paul Veronese school) looked beautiful. W., +too, was struck with the splendid colouring. Some of +the names quite unknown, and if one looked too closely +there were perhaps faults of drawing and exaggeration of +colour, but the effect was extraordinary. He admired the +men's portraits excessively, by Titian, Tintoretto, Moroni, +etc. They are very fine—sometimes a soldier with keen, +hard eyes, clad in complete armour—often a noble, some +grand seigneur of his time, in black velvet and fur with +jewelled cap and chain, a fine patrician head and thoughtful +face. We didn't see the young guide who went about +with me—I was rather sorry—I wanted W. to hear his +beautiful Italian.</p> + +<p>We stayed so long looking at everything (Luini's +pictures are most interesting, too—he must have had an +extraordinary capacity for work) that we had just time +to get a cab and drive over to Santa Maria delle Grazie +to see the "Cenacolo" as it shuts at 4. The Saviour's +head, St. John, and some of the other faces are beautiful—but +it is so faded (and on the other hand has been +touched up a little) that I was disappointed.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful bright afternoon and we saw as well +as possible, but really "decay's effacing fingers" have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +been allowed too much sway. They told us it was impossible +to guard against the damp, and that eventually +the whole thing would be blotted out. However, it has +stood the test pretty well through all these years.</p> + +<p>We went into the church, which was quite empty, except +one figure in black, absorbed and motionless, kneeling +on the stone pavement. Poor woman, I hope she got +what she was praying for so earnestly. From there we +went to the church of St. Ambrogio, which is a fine +old building—the frescoes and inscriptions much faded. +The iron crown used to be kept there (they told us the +Kings and Emperors came there to be crowned) but it is +now at Monza. I declined any more churches and regular +sight-seeing after that—so we went back to the hotel +where the carriage was to meet us, went for our cup +of tea to Cova's, and then started for a drive.</p> + +<p>The country quite around the city is not particularly +interesting—much cultivated, but flat—vineyards, corn +and rice fields all intersected with numberless little canals. +Though it was late, 6 o'clock, people were still working +in the fields and seemed to keep to their work much +more steadily than the peasants about Rome and Florence +who were always stopping to talk or look at whatever +was passing. We met bands of them trooping along the +road—they were generally tall, broad-shouldered, strong +men—quite the northern type. We crossed some soldiers, +too—cavalry and infantry—quite a big detachment—all +had their kits, and baggage wagons following. They +were evidently changing garrison. I didn't think the +troops looked very smart. The horses were small and +very thin, and the men (infantry particularly) dragged +along and were rather dirty. Just as they passed us the +music struck up a sort of quick march, and it was curious +to see the instantaneous effect. The men straightened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +themselves up, moved more quickly and lightly—it was +quite different.</p> + +<p>I hoped we should get a view of the mountains, but the +sunset, though beautiful, was rather misty—however the +coachman told us that meant fine weather for to-morrow +which will be nice as we are going up on the top of the +Cathedral. I was glad to have a little rest before dinner. +I plunged again into my book, which is madly interesting—but +such horrors—a long imprisonment like +Silvio Pellico's was merciful compared to some of the +tortures and cruelties—and it seems the Emperor himself +was the hardest of all—never forgetting nor pardoning +nor listening to any petition or prayer for mercy—no +wonder the people were infuriated—mad with rage—women +and children working at the barricades during the +"five days"; and the old ones, too infirm to take an +active part, at the windows pouring down boiling water +and oil on the Austrian soldiers. However, I suppose it +is the history of all street fighting. I remember the +hideous tales they told us of the Paris Commune, when +we went back there after the war—how maddened the +Versaillais were at the shots, missiles and boiling water +which came from all the windows upon them. The reprisals +were terrible when the regular troops finally got +the upper hand—and I suppose no one will ever know +how many innocent people were shot in the first flush of +success.</p> + +<p>I read out bits of my book to W. He said he didn't +think the account exaggerated—of course they had chosen +all the worst cases. He was at Versailles during the +Commune, and saw the first batches of prisoners brought +in—such awful looking people—many young, very young +men, with wild reckless faces. They probably didn't know, +half of them, what they had been fighting for—a vague<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +idea of patrie and liberty, and the natural love of the +Parisian gamin for a row and a barricade.</p> + + +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Milan, Hôtel de Ville</span>,<br /> +May 9, 1880.</div> + +<p>We have had an awful day, dear mother, pouring +steady rain since early morning—clouds grey and low +shutting out the city entirely; really so dark I could +hardly see to dress—and the streets apparently deserted. +W. didn't mind, and was off as usual to his coins at 9 +o'clock. He did have a remords de conscience at leaving +me all alone all day shut up in a little hotel salon, and +said if I would come and get him about 3 we would try +and see something.</p> + +<p>I wrote two letters which will rather amuse the family +as they say I only write when I am boring myself in the +country or having a series of rainy days—Janet always +calls them my rain letters. However, when I had written +two my energy in that line was exhausted, and I felt +I couldn't sit another moment in that dark salon, so I +summoned Madame Hubert (I don't generally care to +have a maid for a companion but I didn't like to walk +about the streets of a foreign city alone) and we started +off with short skirts and umbrellas. The gérant nearly +fell off his high stool in the bureau when he saw me preparing +to go out—wanted to send for a carriage, a fiacre, +anything—but I told him I really wanted to walk, which +filled him with amazement. Italians as a rule don't like +walking at all, and he thought I was quite mad to go out +deliberately, and for my pleasure, on such a day.</p> + +<p>It wasn't very pleasant in the streets—everybody's umbrella +ran into me, and the pavements were wet and slippery.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +We finally took refuge under the arcades, but there +we got quite as much jostled, for everybody who was out, +was there; and the sudden gusts of wind and rain around +the corners and through the arches were anything but +pleasant. I wasn't at all happy, but I liked it better than +sitting in the room at the hotel. I was so draggled and +my boots so covered with mud that I was rather ashamed +to cross the big hall of the hotel when I came in.</p> + +<p>I found a letter from Gert saying she was so glad we +had such delightful weather for Milan. I wish she could +look out of my window at this moment. She wouldn't +know if she were in Milan or Elizabethtown. The clouds +are very low on the roofs of the houses—the city has disappeared +in a mist, I can just see across the street. The +pavements are swimming—quite rushing torrents in the +gutters, and I look down upon a sea of umbrellas.</p> + +<p>I started out again about 3—in a carriage this time—and +went to get W.—extract him from his coins if I +could. There was no one, apparently, in the Museum, +but a smiling concierge took me to the antiquity and coin +rooms where I found W. very busy and happy; quite insensible +to rain or any outside considerations. He said +the light wasn't very good. A musty old savant with +a long ragged beard and very bright black eyes was keeping +him company. <i>He</i> was delighted to see me, for he +knew that meant stopping work for that afternoon. I +talked to him a little while W. was putting his papers +in order, and it was evident he had never seen any one +with such a capacity for steady work. He encouraged +us very much to go and see something (anything that +would take us out of the coin room) but we really didn't +know what to do with ourselves—a country drive wasn't +inviting and it was too dark and late for pictures—all the +galleries close at 4. The padrone had recommended<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +the flower show to us in the public gardens, so we thought +we would try that. The flowers were all under glass and +tents, so we were dry overhead, but the ground was wet +and muddy—a general damp, chilly feeling everywhere. +I am sure the place is lovely on a bright summer day. +There are fine trees, splendid horse chestnuts, pretty +paths and little bosquets. The poor flowers looked +faded and drooping, even under cover. The roses were +splendid—such enormous ones with quantities of leaves, +very full. The finest were "Reine Marguerite," "Marguerite +de Savoie," "Princess de Piémont." I asked one +of the gardeners if the Queen was very fond of flowers—the +"Marguerite de Savoie" was a beautiful white rose. +"Oh, yes," he said, enthusiastically, "the Queen loves +flowers and everything that is beautiful." I thought it +such a pretty answer. He showed us, with great pride, +a green rose. I can't say I admired it, but it is so difficult +and so expensive to produce that I don't think we shall +see many. We walked about and looked at all the +flowers. Some of the variegated leaves were very handsome. +There was a pink broad leaf with a dull green +border and an impossible name I should have liked to take +away, but the man said it was an extremely delicate plant +raised under glass—wouldn't live long in a room (which +was what I wanted it for). We thought we would go +back and have tea in a new place under the arcades—in +the Galleria. The tea was bad—had certainly never seen +China—as grown, I daresay, in the rice fields near the +city, so we declined that and ordered chocolate, which +was very good, and panettoni. W. was rather glad to +have something to eat after his early breakfast. It was +pouring, but we were quite sheltered in the corner of the +veranda; so he smoked and we looked at the people passing +and sitting near us. They were certainly not a very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +distinguished collection—a good many officers (in uniform), +loungers who might be anything—small functionaries, +I should think—few women of any description, and +no pretty ones. The peasant woman coming out of the +fields was much better-looking than any we saw to-day.</p> + +<p>W. had had visitors in the coin room this morning. The +Director, who came, he thinks, out of sheer curiosity to +see how any one, for his pleasure, could work five or six +hours at a time. He brought with him a Greek savant—a +most intelligent young man who apparently knew W.'s +collection almost as well as he did—and all the famous +collections of Europe. They had a most interesting talk +and discussion about certain doubtful coins of which +3 Museums—London, Petersburg and Milan—claim to +have the only originals. We talked over our plans, but I +think we have still two or three more days here. We +want to go to Monza. They say the old town and church +are most interesting, as well as the Royal Villa.</p> + +<p>It was rather amusing in the reading-room after dinner. +There were many more people—women principally, +and English. Some of them had been buying +things at the two famous bric-à-brac shops, and they were +very much afraid they had paid too much, and been imposed +upon. They finally appealed to me (we had exchanged +papers and spoken a few words to each other) +but I told them I was no good, nothing of a connoisseur +for bric-à-brac, and particularly ignorant about lace. +They showed it to me, and it looked very handsome—old +Venetian, the man had told them. They had also +some silver which they had bought at one of the little +shops in the Piazza dei Mercanti. I think I will go and +see what I can find there.</p> + +<p>I found W. deep in his Paris courrier when I got +upstairs. There was a heap of letters and papers, also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +Daudet's book "Souvenirs de la Présidence du Maréchal +de MacMahon" which l'Oncle Alphonse had sent us, +said everybody was reading it at the clubs. W. figures +in it considerably, not always in a very favourable light, +as judged by Monsieur Daudet; but facts speak for themselves, +even when the criticism is not quite fair. I suppose +it is absolutely impossible for a Royalist to judge a +moderate Republican impartially. I think they understand +the out-and-out Radical better. The book is clever. +I read out bits to W. (which, by the way, he hates—loathes +being read to). It was interesting to read the +life we had just been leading described by an outsider.</p> + +<p>I think W. will give himself a holiday to-morrow if it +is fine (at the present moment, with the wind and +rain beating against the windows, that seems a remote +possibility). He will come back to breakfast and we +will have our afternoon at Monza. I have finished my +book of the Austrian rule, and I am really glad—the horrors +quite haunted me. It seems incredible that in our +days one Christian nation should have been allowed to +treat another one so barbarously. I should like to go +back to my childish days and read "Le mie Prigioni," but +I found a life of Cavour downstairs in the hotel library, +so I think I shall take that.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +May 10th.</div> + +<p>It is lovely this morning (though when the weather +changed I don't know, as it seemed to me I heard a steady +downpour every time I woke in the night), however, at +9 o'clock it was an ideal summer day, warm, a bright blue +sky, no grey clouds or mist, one could hardly believe it +was the same city. The atmosphere is so clear that the +snow mountains seem almost at the bottom of the street. +I went for a walk with Madame Hubert through the old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +parts of the city—such curious, narrow, twisting little +streets. We went into the Duomo for a moment, it +looked enormous—cool and dark except where a bright +ray of sunshine came through the painted windows, but +so subdued that it didn't seem real sunlight seen through +all the marvellous coloured glass. There were a few people +walking about in little groups, but they were lost in +the great space. One didn't hear a sound—the silence +was striking—there wasn't even the usual murmur of +priest or chorister at the altar as there was no mass +going on.</p> + +<p>We asked the way to the Piazza dei Mercanti on the +other side of the Duomo. It is a curious old square—a +very bad pavement, grass growing in places between the +stones, and all sorts of queer, irregular buildings all +around it—churches, palaces, porticos, gateways—a remnant +of old Milan. At each end there were little low +shops where many people were congregated. I don't +know if they were buying—I should think not as they +seemed all rather seedy, impecunious individuals judging +by their shabby, not to say worn-out garments—all Italians—I +think we were the only foreigners in the Piazza +(yet it is one of the sights of Milan, mentioned in the +guide books). We went, too, and looked at some of the +things spread out for sale—many old engravings, carved +wooden frames, gold and silver ornaments, and some +handsome cups and flagons very elaborately worked—also +some bits of old stuff, brocade, and a curious faded +red velvet worked in gold, but all in very bad condition. I +couldn't find a good piece large enough to make an ordinary +cushion. In one corner, squatting in the sun, were +two big, dark men with scarlet caps on their heads (they +looked like Tunisians). They had muslins, spangled +with gold and silver, crêpe de Chine, and nondescript<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +embroidered squares of white, soft silk with wonderful +bright embroidery and designs—moons, and ships and +trees. We spoke to them in French, but they didn't understand, +and answered us in some unintelligible jargon—half +Italian, with a few English words thrown in.</p> + +<p>Some of the old palaces are fine, one in particular +which seems to be a sort of bourse now. The portico +was crowded with men, all talking at the top of their +voices. We had glimpses through the crowd of a fine +collection of broken columns, statues, tablets and bas-reliefs +inside, but we didn't attempt to get in; though a +friendly workman in the street, seeing us stopping and +looking, evident strangers, told us we ought to go in and +see "le bellezze" (the beautiful things). There is an +equestrian statue on one side of the palace—I couldn't +quite make out the name, but the inscription says that +among other great deeds he "burnt many heretics." I +don't suppose they gave him his statue exclusively on that +account, but the fact was carefully mentioned. We +wandered about rather aimlessly, leaving the Piazza, and +finally found ourselves in a wide, handsome street—large +palaces on one side and the canal running through the +middle. The canal is really very picturesque—the water +fairly clear, reflecting the curious, high, carved balconies +and loggias (some of them covered with creepers and +bright coloured flowers) that hang over the canal. They +seemed all large houses, with the back giving on the +canal; some of the low doors opening straight out on the +water were quite a reminder of Venice; and when there +was a terrace with white marble balustrade and benches +one could quite imagine some of Paul Veronese's beautiful, +fair-haired women with their pearls and gorgeous +red and gold garments disporting themselves there in the +summer evenings. The palaces on the other side of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +street are fine, stately mansions—large doors open, showing +great square courts, sometimes two or three stretching +far back—sometimes a fountain and grass plot in the +middle—sometimes arcades running all around the court, +with balconies and small pointed windows—coats-of-arms +up over the big doors, but no signs of life—no magnificent +porters such as one sees in Rome in all the great +houses. They all looked in perfectly good condition and +well cared for. I wonder who lives in them.</p> + +<p>We came out at the Place Cavour and had a look at the +statue, which is good—in bronze—an energetic standing +figure with a fine head, very like—one would have recognised +it anywhere from all the pictures one has always +seen of Cavour. There is no group—he standing alone +on a granite pedestal—a woman (Fame) kneeling, and +writing his name on a scroll. I liked it very much—it +is so simple, and we have seen so many allegorical groups +and gods and goddesses lately that it was rather a relief +to see anything quite plain and intelligible.</p> + +<p>I wasn't sorry to get back to the hotel and rest a little +before starting again this afternoon. I liked walking +through the little old crooked streets—they were not +empty, there were people in all of them, but decidedly of +the poorer classes. They are a naturally polite, sympathetic +race—always smiling if you ask anything and always +moving to one side to let you pass—unlike the stolid +German who calmly and massively takes the middle of the +pavement and never dreams of moving to one side, or +considering anybody else. I have just been jostled by +two stout specimens of the touring Vaterland—they are +anything but good types. If they didn't understand the +language in which Madame Hubert expressed her opinion +I think the tone said something to them, for one man +muttered a sort of excuse.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>If I can keep my eyes open long enough I will finish +this letter to-night. We have had a lovely afternoon—didn't +get back until 8.30 and have only just come upstairs +from dinner. We started a little after three, in a +light victoria and a capital pair of small strong post-horses +who went at a good, steady, quick trot. The drive +is a short hour and a half—not very interesting country—flat +rice fields and the same numerous little canals one +sees all over Lombardy. Monza is quite a large town—looks +very old and Italian. The Cathedral was begun in +the sixth century, but rebuilt in the fourteenth. There +are all sorts of curious frescoes and relics. We saw, of +course, the iron crown which all Austrian Emperors are +supposed to wear at their coronation. The last two to +wear it were Napoleon and Ferdinand I. It is really a +large gold circle with a smaller iron one inside, and +studded with precious stones—very heavy. It was shown +to us with much pomp, lighted tapers, and a priest in his +vestments. He told us the iron band inside was made +out of a nail that had been taken from the Saviour's +cross. He handled it very reverently, and would hardly +let me lift it to see how heavy it was. He showed us +many curious things, among others a fan of Queen Theodolinda's, +made in the 6th century. It was small, made +in leather, and really not too faded, though one had to +look closely and with the eyes of faith to see the roses the +old priest pointed out.</p> + +<p>While we were looking at the relics a French pèlerinage +came up—quite a long procession; many very nice-looking +women. They were all dressed in black, and +most of them wore bonnets—some few had black veils—priests +of course, and a fair amount of men of all ages. +They passed in procession up the aisle, chanting a psalm, +which sounded very well, full and solemn. One or two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +stragglers, two young men and a woman stopped to see +what we were looking at, and we had a little talk. They +had just arrived over the St. Gothard, hadn't much time, +and were very keen to see everything. They said it was +very cold crossing the mountain—the heavy rain we had +had at Milan had been deep snow on the pass. We went +to look at Queen Theodolinda's tomb in one of the side +chapels, and then started for the "Casa Reale" as they +call the Royal Villa. It has no pretensions to architecture; +is a large square building with long, rambling +wings. We could only see the great hall and some of the +reception rooms downstairs, as they were painting and +cleaning upstairs. The rooms had no particular style—large, +high ceilings, great windows looking on the park; +just what one sees in all Royal Palaces. All the furniture +was covered with housses—the gardien took one off +an arm-chair to show us the red velvet. The lustres also +were covered—the mirrors were handsome. The park +is delightful—quantities of trees of all kinds, lovely shady +walks, and bosquets. There seemed to be a great deal of +game—deer and pheasants walking about quite tame and +undisturbed in all directions. The communs and dépendances +are enormous, quite a little colony of houses scattered +about—régisseur, head-keeper, head-gardener, all +with good gardens.</p> + +<p>We had a nice talk with a half-gardener half-guide who +went about with us and showed us all the beauties. The +place is low—I should think would be very warm in summer, +for even to-day the shade was pleasant and the low +afternoon sun in our faces rather trying. There were +splendid views every now and then of the distant Alps. +The gardener, like every one else who has ever been +thrown with her, apparently adored the Queen—said she +knew all about the place, and trees, and flowers, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +so beloved in the town. I remember Peruzzi telling +me how fond she was of Monza—happier there than +anywhere. They certainly love their "Margherita di +Savoia." There are pictures of her everywhere, and +some one told us that all the girls in Monza are called +Margherita.</p> + +<p>When we were starting back we met the pilgrims +again, still walking and chanting on their way to the +station. They had a white banner with them, but I +couldn't see what the inscription was. The drive home +was lovely, even along the long straight road bordered +with poplars (quite like a French country road). The +evening was delicious, a little cool driving, as we went a +very good pace. I was glad to put a light wrap over my +shoulders. The sunset clouds were gorgeous, and every +now and then glimpses of the snow mountains. I love +to see them—those beautiful white peaks, half clouds, +half snow—they seem so mysterious, so far away from +our every-day life and world. The road was dull, very +little passing until we got near Milan. There we met +bands of peasants coming in from their work in the fields, +and country carts loaded with people—all the young ones +singing and talking, and the wrinkled old women looking +on smiling. We noticed again what a fine, strong race +they are—both men and women—such broad shoulders, +and holding themselves so straight. They must have +been nasty adversaries when their time came and they +shook off the hated Austrian yoke; but they were not cruel +victors (so says my book), the wives and daughters of +men who had fallen under Austrian cannon nursing and +tending their sick and wounded enemies.</p> + +<p>We met three or four handsome private carriages, also +a young man driving a phaeton with a pair of handsome +steppers. Our coachman pointed him out proudly to us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +as the Marchese ——, some name I didn't catch, but he +was evidently a swell. I suppose there are villas in the +neighborhood, but we didn't see any, nothing but trees, +rice fields and little canals and ditches.</p> + +<p>I think we shall get off the day after to-morrow. W. +thinks one more morning with the coins will be enough +for him, he wants now to get back. I think he is homesick +for the Senate and politics generally, but he won't +allow it. We had thought of going to Como for two +days, it is so easy from here, but he wants to stop at +Turin, so we must give it up. I suppose it won't be as +cold at Turin now as we always used to find it crossing +in winter. Do you remember one of the first years, coming +over the Mount Cenis, how bitterly cold it was, and +how we shivered in the big, high rooms of the hotel—a +mosaic pavement, bits of thin carpet on the floor, and a +fire of shavings in the chimney. We will write and telegraph, +of course, from there. I don't think we shall stay +more than one night.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +May 11th.</div> + +<p>We are really leaving to-morrow morning, get to +Turin for dinner. As we telegraphed yesterday the address +I hope we shall find letters. It has been lovely +again all day, so our last impressions are good. I have +quite forgotten the rain and dark of the other day. The +padrone has just informed us, with much pride, that +the Crown Princess of Germany arrives to-night in this +hotel from Vienna. I wish she had come yesterday—I +should have liked to see her again. I have been out +shopping this morning, but it is difficult; there is not +much to buy, at least not in the nice big shops of the Galleria +Vittorio Emanuele, and I am a little afraid of the +antiquities—I know so little about bric-à-brac (au fond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +like modern things just as well, but other people don't, +and would much rather have a really ugly, queer-shaped +old cup or glass than the most graceful modern creation).</p> + +<p>The padrone gave me the address of a good antiquity +shop, and said I could be perfectly sure in taking +anything they said was old, and I need only say he had +recommended me to go there. I found beautiful things, +but all large, cassoni, high-backed, carved arm-chairs +and Venetian mirrors, but the prices were awful and +the things much too big. I wanted something smaller +that I could put into my trunk. We went back to the +Piazza dei Mercanti and, after looking about at many +of the little shops, I did find some rather curious silver +spoons and boxes. The spoons have quaint, long handles +ending in a head, not apostles, but soldiers and women +with veils and crowns. The boxes are most elaborately +carved—on the cover of one there are 21 figures—a +sort of vintage with bunches of grapes. As usual +there were many people lounging about and stopping +at all the shops—some of them wildly interested in +my purchases. One funny little old man with a yellow +face and bright eyes was apparently much pleased with +the box I chose—nodded and smiled at me, saying: "Una +bellezza questa" (this is a beauty). On our way back +we went into the great court-yard of the Ospedale Maggiore, +an enormous brick building with fine façade and +high pointed windows; the walls covered with medallions +and ornaments in terra-cotta. I believe it is one of the +largest hospitals that exist and certainly once inside those +great courts one would feel absolutely cut off from the +outside world. There seemed to be gardens and good trees +at the back—we saw the green through the cloisters, and +there was a fine loggia overlooking the court. It was as +sleepy and quiet as possible to-day—no sign of life, no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +concierge nor porter, nor patient of any kind visible. If +we had had time and wanted to go over the hospital I +don't know whom we could have applied to.</p> + +<p>It was very warm walking home. Happily our way +lay through narrow streets, with high houses on each +side, so we had shade. I found cards and a note from the +Murrays (English friends we had met in Rome). They +are staying at the Cavour, but will come and dine at our +hotel to-night. They are off to the Lakes to-morrow, +and as we leave too early it will be our only chance of +meeting. It will seem quite strange to see any one we +know—we have lived so entirely alone these few days +in Milan. I told W. last night I found him a most +agreeable companion. We haven't talked so much to +each other for years. He is always so busy all day in +Paris that except for the ride in the morning, I don't see +much of him—and of course in Rome and Florence we +were never alone.</p> + +<p>It is rather late but I will write a few lines and send +them off to-morrow morning. W. came home about 4, +fussed a little over trunks and interviewed the porter +about our tickets, places, etc., and then we started off for +the Duomo. There was a party going up just as we got +to the door, so we joined forces—about 8 people. The +ascent was very fatiguing, quite 500 steps, I should think, +mostly inside the tower, with openings giving fine views +over the city and Lombard plains. We all halted every +now and then—I was the only lady. There were two +Englishmen with whom we fraternized. They were +making a walking tour through the North of Italy—Piedmont +and Lombardy. They addressed W. by name, +which surprised him extremely, so much so that he said: +"I don't remember, but I suppose we must have met before." +"Not at all," they said, "we recognised you from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +all the pictures we had seen of you in the illustrated +papers." What it is to be a celebrity!</p> + +<p>We did finally, with many stops, get up on the roof, +and were well repaid, for the view was enchanting—Milan +so far below us we could hardly believe it was a +big city, but the mountains quite beautiful. There was +a man with a telescope on top, and he pointed out the +principal peaks. Monte Rosa was magnificent—stood +out splendidly, a round snow peak; Mt. Cervin, Mt. +Cenis, the Bernese far away, disappearing in the clouds; +and various others whose names I forget, nearer. I +couldn't see the Chartreuse of Pavia, though they said it +was quite visible, and just the Superga of Turin. Nearer +these were various churches and monasteries standing +high on hills nearer the town, but I couldn't look at anything +but the snow mountains. You can't imagine how +divine they were, with the beautiful, soft afternoon sun on +them. One couldn't really tell which was cloud and +which was mountain—they seemed to be part of the sky.</p> + +<p>I found the going down more disagreeable than coming +up. It was darker, the steps were a little broken at the +edge and decidedly slippery; however, we arrived without +any adventures. Just as we got to the hotel we saw +three or four carriages drive up, and as we went in the +porter told us the German Crown Princess with her +daughters and a large suite was arriving. We stood in +the court to see them pass—but the Princess was not +there, only her daughters (3). They were tall, fair, very +German-looking, each one with a large bouquet. There +seemed any number of ladies and gentlemen in attendance, +and a great deal of bowing and deferential manners.</p> + +<p>We went downstairs about a quarter to eight. We +had given the Murrays rendezvous in the reading-room, +but they came in just as we crossed the court, and we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +went straight to the dining-room. They told us the +Crown Princess only comes to-morrow. They had gone +to the station to meet her (they had seen her in Venice), +but there were only the young Princesses. We had a +pleasant dinner. They are a nice couple (Scotch). He +is very clever, a literary man, rather delicate, can't stand +the English winter, and always comes abroad. He knows +Italy well and is mad about Venice. She is clever, too, +but is rather silent—however, we didn't either of us +have a chance to-night, for the two gentlemen talked +hard, politics, which Mr. Murray was very keen about. +He had a decided thirst for information, and asked W. so +many questions about France, the state of politics, the +influence of the clergy, etc., that I was rather anxious, as +in general there is nothing W. hates like being questioned. +However, he was very gracious to-night, and disposed +to talk. When he doesn't feel like it wild horses couldn't +drag anything out of him.</p> + +<p>They stayed till ten o'clock, and now I have been putting +the last things in my small trunk. The big trunks +go straight through from here, and we will pick them up +at the Gare de Lyon. The padrone has just been up to +ask if we were satisfied with the hotel, and would we +recommend him.</p> + + +<h3><i>To G. W. S.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Turin, Hôtel de l'Europe</span>,<br /> +May 13, 1880.</div> + +<p>This will be my last letter from Italy, dear. I am +sorry to think I am turning my back on this enchanting +country. To-day has been perfect; everything, sky, sun, +mountains, ugly yellow palaces, grim, frowning buildings, +look beautiful—a perfect glow of light and colour.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +I can scarcely believe it is the same city we used to freeze +in, when we passed through it often in old times going +down to Rome. Heavens—how cold it was everywhere—a +wind that seemed to come straight from the glaciers +cutting one in two when there was a great square to be +crossed, or whistling through the arcades when we wished +to loiter a little and see the shops and curiosities. I can't +remember if we stayed at this hotel—I don't think so, +as it is very comfortable and that was by no means my +recollection of the one we always went to on our way +down so many years ago. The rooms are high—we have +a nice apartment on the first floor, well furnished—quite +modern.</p> + +<p>We got here yesterday quite early in the afternoon. +It is only about 4 or 5 hours by train. We had a most +festive "send-off" from Milan. I was well "bunched" +as some of our compatriots would say. The padrone +gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses when we came +downstairs to the carriage, also a nice little basket of fruit +which he thought might be acceptable on our journey. +He had seen about our carriage—so that was all right—and +we found the Director of the Museum, and the Greek +friend at the station—also with a bouquet. All our bags +and wraps were stowed away in the carriage, and the +Director of the Museum (I have never known his name) +had also put papers—some illustrated ones—on the seats. +I felt rather like a bride starting on her wedding journey.</p> + +<p>The road wasn't very interesting. We had glimpses +of the Alps occasionally, and the day was beautiful, making +everything look picturesque and charming. It was +rather a relief to get out of the rice fields and little canals. +We stopped some little time at Novara—where we had a +good cup of coffee. As we got near Turin everything +looked very green. There seemed to be more trees and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +little woods than in the neighbourhood of Milan. The +hotel porter was waiting for us at the station with a carriage—so +we drove straight off, leaving Madame Hubert +in charge of the porter, who spoke French perfectly, to +follow with the trunks.</p> + +<p>The hotel is on the great Place du Château, faces the +Palazzo Madama. They have given us a nice apartment, +with windows and a good balcony looking out on the +Place. We went upstairs immediately to inspect the +rooms—the padrone himself conducting us. There were +flowers on the table, nice lounging chairs on the balcony. +It looked charming. He wanted to send us tea +or coffee—but we really couldn't take anything as it +wasn't more than two hours since we had had a very +fair little goûter at Novara. We said we would dine +in the restaurant about 8. He was rather anxious we +should have our dinner in the anteroom which was large +and light—often used for a dining-room—but we told +him we much preferred dining downstairs and seeing the +people.</p> + +<p>We brushed off a little dust—it wasn't a very dirty +journey—and started off for a stroll across the Piazza +Castello. It is a fine large square, high buildings all +around it, and the great mediæval pile Palazzo Madama +facing us as we went in. It looked more like a fortress +than a palace, but there is a fine double staircase +and façade with marble columns and statues—white, +I suppose, originally, but now rather mellowed with years +and exposure and taking a soft pink tint in the waning +sunlight. It was inhabited by the mother of one of the +kings, "Madama Reale," hence its name. There is a monument +to the Sardinian army in front of the palace with +very elaborate bas-reliefs. They told us there was nothing +to see inside, so we merely walked all around it, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +then went over to the Palazzo Reale, which is a large +brick building, with no pretensions to architecture. They +say it is very handsome inside—large, high rooms, very +luxuriously furnished. Somehow or other luxuriously +furnished apartments don't seem to go with Princes of +the House of Savoy. One can't imagine them reclining +in ladies' boudoirs on satin cushions, with silk and damask +hangings. They seem always to have been simple, +hardy soldiers, more at home on a battle-field than in a +drawing-room. We asked at the entrance if the Duc +d'Aoste was here. He told us when he was in Paris +that if ever we came to Turin we must let him know—that +he always received twice a week in the evening when +he was at home and that he would be delighted to see us (I +had put an evening dress in my trunk in case we should +be invited anywhere)—however he isn't here, away in the +country for three or four days on some inspection—so +we wrote ourselves down in the book that he might see +that we intended to pay our respects.</p> + +<p>We walked through some of the squares—Piazza Carignano, +with the great palace Carignano which also looks +grim and frowning, more like a prison than a stately +princely residence. I wonder if there are any what we +should call comfortable rooms in those gaunt old palaces. +I have visions of barred windows, very small panes of +glass, brick floors, frescoed ceilings black with age and +smoke, and straight-backed, narrow carved wooden chairs. +However a fine race of sturdy, fighting men were brought +up within those old walls—perhaps Italy would not +have been "unita" so soon if the pioneers of freedom +had been accustomed to all the luxury and gaiety of the +present generation.</p> + +<p>We wandered back through more squares and saw +numberless statues of Princes and Dukes of Savoy—almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +all equestrian—the Princes in armour, and generally +a drawn sword in their hand—one feels that they +were a fighting race.</p> + +<p>The hills all around the city are charming, beautifully +green, with hundreds of villas (generally white) in all +directions; some so high up one wonders how the inhabitants +ever get up there. In the distance always the beautiful +snow mountains. The town doesn't look either +very Italian or very Southern. I suppose the Piedmontese +are a type apart.</p> + +<p>We had a table to ourselves in the dining-room, which +was almost empty—evidently people dine earlier than we +do—and yet it is tempting to stay out on a lovely summer +evening. There were several officers in uniform at +one table—evidently a sort of mess—about 10. They +were rather noisy, making all sorts of jokes with the +waiters, but they had nearly finished when we came in +and soon departed with a great clatter of spurs and +swords. We went for a few moments into the reading-room, +which was also quite deserted—only two couples, +an English clergyman and his wife both buried in their +papers—and a German ménage discussing routes and +guides and prices for some excursion they wanted to +make.</p> + +<p>I had kept on my hat as we thought we would go out, +take a turn in the arcades and have a "granita." The +padrone told us of a famous café where the "granita" +was very good, also very good music. W. is becoming +such a flâneur, and so imbued with the dolce far niente +of this enchanting country that I am rather anxious +about him. I think he will want to go every evening +to the "Ambassadeurs" when we get back to Paris.</p> + +<p>We strolled about for some time. It was cool and +there were not too many people. Everybody sitting out,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +smoking and drinking. We got a nice little table—each +took an ice (they were very good—not too sweet), and +the music was really charming—quite a large orchestra, +all guitars and mandolins. Whenever they played a +well-known air—song or waltz—the whole company +joined in. It sounded very pretty—they didn't sing too +loud, and enjoyed themselves extremely. We stayed +some time.</p> + +<p>I am writing as usual, late, while W. is putting his +notes in order. He found a note, when he came in, from +the Director of the Museum, saying he would be delighted +to see W. at the Museum to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock, +and would do the honours of the cabinet de médailles—also +the card of a Mr. Hoffman who wants very much to +see W. and renew his acquaintance with him after many +years. He is in this hotel and will come and see us to-morrow. +W. has no idea who he is, but of course there +are many Hoffmans in the world. I suppose the gentleman +will explain himself. If it is fine we shall drive to +the Superga to-morrow afternoon, and start for Paris the +next evening. W. says three séances (and his are long) +will be all he wants in the Museum.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +May 14th.</div> + +<p>It has been again a lovely summer day—not too hot, +and a delicious breeze as we drove home from La +Superga. I have been out all day. W. was off at 9 +to meet his Director, and I started at 10 with Madame +Hubert to flâner a little. We went first to the arcades +where are all the best shops, but I can't say I was +tempted. There was really nothing to buy—some nice +blankets, half silk, half wool—not striped like the Como +blankets, a plain centre, red or blue, with a bright +border—but it was not a day to buy blankets, with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +sun bright and strong over our heads. There was a good +deal of iron work, rather nice. I didn't care for the jewellery. +I didn't see myself with a wrought-iron chain +and cross, but I did get a large ring—strong and prettily +worked, which the man said many people bought to +put in a hall and hang keys on. There were plenty of +people about. I didn't think the peasants were any particular +type—the men looked smaller than those about +Milan—slight, wiry figures. A good many were evidently +guides, with axes and coils of rope strapped on +their backs. They told us in one of the shops (where as +a true American I was asking questions, eager for information) +that there were several interesting excursions to +be made in the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>We went again to the Piazzo Castello which is so large +that it is a very fair walk to go all around the square—and +went into the hall to see the statue (equestrian of +course) of Victor Amadeus the First. The horse is +curious, in marble. Then we went to the Cathedral, +which is not very interesting. The sacristan showed us +a collection of small, dark pictures over the altar which +he said were by Albert Dürer; but they were so black and +confused I couldn't see anything—a little glimpse of gilding +every now and then that might be a halo around a +saint's head. What was interesting was the "Cappella +del S. S. Sudario," where the linen cloth is kept which is +said to have enveloped the body of our Saviour. It is +kept in an urn, and only shown by special permission. +This, however, the sacristan obtained for us. He disappeared +into the sacristy and soon returned bringing with +him a nice fat old priest in full canonicals and very conversationally +disposed. He lifted off the top of the urn +and drew out the linen cloth most carefully. It is very +fine linen, quite yellow and worn—almost in holes in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +some parts. He spread it out most reverently on a marble +slab, and showed us the outlines of a man's figure. +Marks there were certainly. I thought I saw the head +distinctly, but of course the imagination is a powerful +factor on these occasions. The chapel was dimly lighted, +a few tapers burning, and the old priest was so convinced +and reverent that it was catching. I suppose it might be +possible—certainly all these traditions and relics were an +enormous strength to the Catholic Church in the early +days when there were no books and little learning, and +people believed more easily and simply than they do now. +The chapel is a rather ugly, round building, almost black, +and with a quantity of statues (white) which stand out +well. It is the burial chapel of the House of Savoy, and +there are statues apparently to every Emmanuel or Amadeus +that ever existed—also a large marble monument to +the late Queen of Sardinia. Do you remember when +Prince Massimo, in Rome, always spoke of Victor Emmanuel, +when he was King of Italy, and holding his court +in Florence, as the King of Sardinia?</p> + +<p>We had walked about longer than we thought, but +everything is close together, and it was time to get back +to the hotel for breakfast. I had the dining-room almost +to myself—my table was drawn up close to the open window, +a vase of roses upon it, and one or two papers—English, +Italian, and the "Figaro." Paris seems to be +amusing itself. Henrietta writes that the Champs +Elysées are enchanting—all the horse chestnuts in full +bloom. Here there is abundance of flowers—one gets +glimpses of pretty gardens through open gates and openings +in railings and walls. There are plenty of street +stalls, too, with fruits and flowers, but one doesn't see +the wealth of roses and wistaria climbing over every bit +of wall and up the sides of houses as in Florence. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +city is perfectly busy and prosperous, but has none of the +delightful look of laziness and enjoyment of life and the +blue sky and the sunshine that one feels in Rome and +Florence.</p> + +<p>W. came in about 3, having had a delightful morning +in the cabinet des médailles. The Director, a most +learned, courteous old gentleman, was waiting for him, +and though he knew W. and his collection by reputation, +he was quite surprised to find that W. knew quite as much +about his coins and treasures as he did himself. He +hadn't supposed it possible that a statesman with so many +interests and calls upon his time could have kept up his +scientific work.</p> + +<p>We shall leave to-morrow night, and before we started +for our drive we sent off letters and telegrams to Paris. +I can hardly believe it possible that Friday morning I +shall be breakfasting in Paris, going to mother to tea +in the afternoon, and taking up my ordinary life. Henrietta +writes that she has told Francis we are coming +home, but frankness compels her to say that he has received +that piece of information with absolute indifference. +He has been as happy as a king all the months we +have been away—spoiled to his heart's content and everybody +in the two establishments his abject slaves.</p> + +<p>We started about 4 for La Superga in a nice light +basket carriage and pair of strong little horses. It was +rather interesting driving all through the town, which +is comparatively small—one is soon out of it. The +streets are narrow, once one is out of the great +thoroughfares, with high houses on each side. Every +now and then an interesting cornice with a curious round +tower and some funny old-fashioned houses with high +pointed roofs and iron balconies running quite around the +house, but on the whole it is much less picturesque and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +colder looking than the other Italian cities. The road +was not very animated—few vehicles of any description, +a few fiacres evidently bound for the Superga like us. +There were not many carts nor many people about. +What <i>was</i> lovely was the crown of green hills with little +chestnut groves—some of the little woods we drove +through were quite charming, with the long slanting +rays of the afternoon sun shining through the branches—just +as I remember the Galleria di Sotto at Albano—the +chestnuts grow high on all the hillsides. We +had quite a stiff mount before we got to the church +(but the little horses trotted up very fairly) and a good +climb after we left the carriage. One sees the church +from a long distance. It has a fine colonnade and a +high dome which lifts itself well up into the clouds. +We followed a pretty steep, winding path up to the top, +quantities of wild roses, a delicate pink, like our eglantine +at home, twisting themselves around the bushes. There +is nothing particularly interesting in the church. It is +the burial place of the Kings of Savoy, and their vault +is in the crypt. The last one buried there was Charles +Albert. Victor Emmanuel is buried in the Pantheon in +Rome. We found a nice old sacristan who took us about +and explained various statues to us—also all the glories +of the Casa di Savoia, winding up with an enthusiastic +eulogy of Queen Margherita—but never as Queen of +Italy, "nostra Principessa." She has certainly made +herself a splendid place in the hearts of the people—they +all adore her. We climbed up to the roof, and what a +view we had, all Turin at our feet with its domes and +high, pointed roofs, standing in the midst of the green +plain dotted all over with villas, farms, gardens, little +groves of chestnuts, the river meandering along through +the meadows carpeted with flowers, and looking in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +sunlight like a gold zig-zag with its numerous turns—always +the beautiful crown of hills, and in the background +the snow peaks of the Alps. It was very clear—they +looked so near, as if one could throw a stone +across. Our old man pointed out all the well-known +peaks—Monte Rosa, Mont Cenis, and many others whose +names I didn't catch. He said he had rarely seen the +whole chain so distinct. It reminded me of the view +we had of the Bernese Oberland so many years ago—the +first time we had seen snow mountains. On arriving +at Berne we were hurried out on the terrace by +the padrone of the hotel as he said we might never +again see all the chain of the Alps so distinctly. Beautiful +it was—all the snow mountains rolling away in the +distance; some of them straight up into the sunset clouds, +others with little wreaths of white soft clouds half way +up their summits, and clouds and snow so mingled that +one could hardly distinguish which was snow. I thought +they were all clouds—beautiful, airy intangible shapes.</p> + +<p>We loitered about some time on the terrace after we +came down, watching the lights fade and finally disappear—the +mountains looking like great grey giants frowning +down on the city. The air was decidedly cooler as we +drove home, but it was a perfect summer evening. There +were more people out as we got near Turin—all the workers +getting a little breath of air after the toil of the day.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +May 15th.</div> + +<p>I will send this very long letter off this evening. Our +trunks are packed and downstairs, and I will finish this +while we are waiting for dinner. We have had a nice +day. Madame Hubert and I strolled about this morning +and went to see the house where Cavour was born, and +also to the Giardino Pubblico. The grounds are handsome,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +but not particularly interesting at that hour in the +morning, and there wasn't a creature there but ourselves. +There are various monuments—one of Manin with a fine +figure of the Republic of Venice.</p> + +<p>I breakfasted as usual alone, and at 3 W. came in, having +quite finished his work at the Museum. He had +given rendezvous to Mr. Hoffman for 3.30, and while +we were sitting talking waiting for him the padrone +came up and said an officer "de la part du Duc d'Aoste" +wanted to see us. We begged him of course to send him +up, and in a few minutes a very good-looking young officer +in uniform made his appearance. He named himself—Count +Colobiano I think—but we didn't catch the name +very distinctly; said he had had the honour of dining with +us at the Quai d'Orsay with his Prince, and that the Prince +was "désolé" not to be in Turin these days and had +sent him to put himself at our disposition. He proposed +all sorts of things—the opera, a drive (or a ride if we +preferred) to a sort of parade ground just outside the +gates where we would see some cavalry manœuvres. He +knew I rode, and could give me a capital lady's hack. I +was rather sorry he hadn't come before—it would have +amused us to see the manœuvres, and also to ride—but +that would have been difficult as I had no habit with me. +However, as we are leaving this evening there was nothing +to be done. He was very civil and I think rather +sorry not to do us the honours of his city. He said there +were beautiful excursions to be made from Turin, and +asked us if we had seen anything. We said only the +Superga which he evidently didn't consider very interesting. +He said the Duke was very sorry to have +missed us, and that he thought I would have enjoyed an +evening at the Palace, as the receptions were very gay +and informal. I cannot imagine (I didn't tell him that)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +anything gay with the Duc d'Aoste. He is very sympathetic +to me, but a type apart. A stern, almost ascetic +appearance, very silent and shy, but a beautiful smile. +He looks exactly as one would imagine a Prince of the +House of Savoy would. We saw him often in Paris, +and his face always interested me—so grave, and as if he +were miles away from the ordinary modern world. It +was just after he had given up his Spanish throne, and +although I didn't think that crown weighed very heavily +on his brow he must have had some curious experiences +and seen human nature in perhaps not its best form. The +young aide-de-camp paid us quite a visit, and we made +him promise to come and see us if ever he came to Paris. +We sent all sorts of messages and regrets to the Duke. +Just as he was going out Mr. Hoffman appeared and he +sat an hour with us. He was delightful, has lived almost +all his life in and near Turin, and had all the history of +Piedmont at his fingers' ends. He seems to have met W. +years ago at a dinner in London and has always followed +his career with much interest. It was most interesting +to hear him talk. He admires Cavour immensely—said +his death was a great calamity for Italy—that he hadn't +given half of what he could, and that every year he lived +he grew in intellect and knowledge of people. He also +said (as they all do) that he mistrusted Louis Napoleon +so intensely, and through all their negotiations and discussions +as to Italy's future he was pursued by the idea +that the Emperor would go back upon his word. He +said the Piedmontese were a race apart—hardly considered +themselves Italian, and that even now in the little +hamlets in the mountains the peasants had vague ideas of +nationality, and never spoke of themselves as Italians, or +identified themselves with Italian interests and history—that +in the upper classes traces of French occupation and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +education, superstition and priestly rule were just getting +effaced. For years in the beginning of the century the +priests (Jesuits) had it all their own way in Turin. The +teaching in the schools was entirely in their hands, and +most elementary; and numerous convents and monasteries +were built. Cavour as a very young man soon emancipated +himself from all those ideas, and if he had lived, +Hoffman thinks, much trouble would have been averted, +and that he would certainly have found some means of +coming to a better understanding with the Vatican, "the +most brilliant and far-seeing intellect I have ever met."</p> + +<p>He wanted to take us to some palace where there are +some very curious and inédites letters of Cavour's to +the owner, who was one of his friends, and always on +very confidential terms with him; but of course we +couldn't do that as we are off in a few hours.</p> + +<p>Hoffman would never have gone, I think, if the +padrone hadn't appeared to say dinner was ready. I +left him and W. talking while I went to give some last +instructions to the maid, and when I got back to the salon +they had drifted away from Cavour and Piedmont and +were discussing French politics, the attitude of Germany +and the anti-religious feeling in France.</p> + +<p>I shall miss all the talk about Italy and her first struggles +for independence when I get home. French people, +as a rule, care so little for outside things. They travel +very little, don't read much foreign literature, and are +quite absorbed in their own interests and surroundings. +Of course they are passing through a curious phase—so +many old things passing away—habits and traditions of +years upset, and the new régime not yet sufficiently established +nor supported by all that is best in the country. +I think W. has been impressed and rather surprised at the +very easy way in which all religious questions are disposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +of in Italy, and yet the people are certainly superstitious +and have a sort of religious feeling. The +churches are all full on great feast days, and one sees +great big young peasants kneeling and kissing relics +when they are exposed; and several times even here about +Turin we have seen men and women kneeling at some of +the crosses along the road. I have rarely seen that in +France—but then the Italians are a more emotional race. +They are difficult problems—a country can't live without +a religion.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Rue Dumont d'Urville.</span></div> + +<p>We got back yesterday morning early. Hubert and +the big mare were waiting for us, and we were whirled +up to the house in a very un-Italian manner (for the +horses in Italy are just as easy-going as the people and +never hurry themselves nor display any undue energy). +Francis and "nounou" were waiting at the door—he +really quite excited and pleased to see us—and the sisters +appeared about 11. We talked a little and they helped +me unpack; and I went to see mother directly after breakfast +and stayed there all the afternoon. This morning I +am writing as usual at the window and hearing all the +familiar Paris sounds. The goat-boy has just passed +with his 6 goats and curious reed pipe, the marchande +de cressons with her peculiar cry advertising her merchandise, +and ending "pour la santé du corps" on a long +shrill note—the man who sits on the pavement and mends +china. He is just at our door, and has a collection of +broken plates and cups around him. I suppose some are +ours. The "light lady" next door is standing at her +door in her riding habit, the skirt already very short and +held well up over her arm displaying a fair amount of +trousers and high boots. She is haranguing in very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +forcible language the groom who is cantering the horse +up and down the street, and of course even in our quiet +street there are always badauds who stop and ask questions, +and hang around the porte-cochères to see all that +is going on. W. has just started on horseback and that +is a most interesting moment for the street, for his big +black "Paddy" has a most uncomfortable trick. From +the moment he takes the bridle in his hand and prepares +to mount, the horse snorts, and stamps and backs, +making such a noise in the little court-yard you would +think he was kicking everything to pieces. As soon as +the big doors are opened and he can get out he is as quiet +as a lamb.</p> + +<p>It is a beautiful morning and Paris looks its best—all +the horse-chestnuts in full bloom, the sky a bright blue, +and quantities of equipages and riders streaming out to +the Bois. I suppose I shall ride too in a day or so, and +by the end of the week Italy will be a thing of the past, +and I shall be leading my ordinary Paris life.</p> + +<p>There was a procession of people here all the afternoon +yesterday to see W., and now he is quite au courant +of all that has taken place in his absence, and I think in +his heart he is delighted to be back and in the thick of the +fight again. He is going to the Senate this afternoon.</p> + +<p>We had a most comfortable journey from Turin—a lit-salon +to ourselves, the maid just behind us. All the first +hours were charming as long as we could see as all the +country about Turin is so lovely. We passed Moncalieri +which stands high on the hills—a long low building, and +one or two other fine old castles, all perched high on the +slope of the mountains. I always sleep so well in a train +that I was hardly awake when we passed at Modane, +though I was dimly conscious of the stop, the lanterns +flashing along the train and a great deal of conversation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +Nobody disturbed us as we had given our "laissez-passer" +to the garde, but I fancy we made a long halt +there as the train was very crowded. We had our coffee +at Dijon very early in the morning. It was quite pleasant +to see the regular little French brioche again.</p> + +<p>I went to tea with Mother and afterward we went for +a turn in the Bois, which looked beautiful—so green—all +the horse-chestnuts out (the road from Auteuil to Boulogne +with the rows of red horse-chestnuts on each side +quite enchanting); the hills, St. Cloud and Mont Valérien +blue and standing out sharply against the sky, but I missed +the delicious soft atmosphere of Italy and the haze that +always hung around the hills and softened all the outlines. +The Seine looked quite animated. There really +were one or two small boats out, and near Puteaux (the +club) some women rowing, and of course the little river +steamers flying up and down, crowded.</p> + +<p>We are dining with l'Oncle Alphonse who will give us +all the news of the day, and the opinion of the "Union."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> +<h3>PART II</h3> + +<h2>ITALY REVISITED</h2> + + +<h3><i>To H. L. K.</i></h3> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Rome</span>, Friday, February 12, 1904.</div> + +<p>It seems so strange to be back here, dear, after twenty-four +years, and to find Rome so changed, so unchanged. +The new quarter, an absolutely new modern city, might +be Wiesbaden, or Neuilly, or any cheerful resort of retired +business men who build hideous villas with all sorts +of excrescences—busts, vases, and plaques of bright-coloured +majolica—and the old city with the dirty little +winding streets going toward St. Peter's exactly the +same; almost the same little ragged, black-eyed children +playing in the gutters.</p> + +<p>We had a most comfortable journey down. Hardly +any one in the sleeping-car but ourselves, so we all had +plenty of room. It was a bright, beautiful morning +when we got to Modane—the mountains covered with +snow, and the fresh keen wind blowing straight from the +glaciers was enchanting after a night in the sleeping-car. +They are frightfully overheated. I had some difficulty +in persuading the attendant to open my window for the +night; however, as I was alone in my compartment, he +finally agreed, merely saying he would come and shut +it when we passed through the great tunnel. We dined +at the buffet at Genoa, and it didn't seem natural not to +ask for the Alassio train. The station was crowded, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +Roman train too—they put on extra carriages. We got +to Rome about 9.30. I had been ready since 6.30, +eagerly watching to get a glimpse of St. Peter's. I had +visions of Cività Vecchia and running along by the sea in +the early morning.</p> + +<p>I was quite awake, but I didn't see St. Peter's until we +were quite near Rome. We ran through long, level +stretches of Campagna, with every now and then a great +square building that had been probably a mediæval castle, +but was now a farm—sheep and cattle wandering out of +the old gateway, and those splendid big white oxen that +one sees all over the Campagna—some shepherds' huts +with their pointed thatched roofs dotted about, but nothing +very picturesque or striking. We passed close to +San Paolo Fuori le Mura, with the Testaccio quite near. +We paid ourselves compliments when we arrived at the +station for having made our long journey so easily and +pleasantly. No one was tired and no one was bored. +Between us all (we were four women) we had plenty of +provisions and Bessie<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> and Mme. de Bailleul were most +successful with their afternoon tea, with delicious American +cake, that Bessie had brought over in the steamer.</p> + +<p>After all, Josephine<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> finds she has room for me and my +maid, which of course is infinitely pleasanter for me than +being at the hotel. Her house is charming—not one of +the old palaces, but plenty of room and thoroughly Italian. +The large red salon I delight in; it couldn't exist anywhere +else but in Rome, with its red silk walls, heavy gilt +furniture, pictures, and curious bits of old carving and +majolica. It opens into a delightful music-room with +fine frescoes on the walls (a beautiful bit of colour), and +beyond that there is a small salon where we usually sit. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>She has a picture there of her husband, Don Emanuele +Ruspoli (late syndic of Rome), which has rather taken +possession of me. It is such a handsome, spirited face, +energetic and rather imperious—he looks a born ruler +of men, and I believe he was. They say Rome was never +so well governed as in his time. He was one of the first +of the young Roman nobles who emancipated themselves +from the papal rule. As quite a youth he ran away from +college and entered the Italian army as a simple soldier, +winning his grade as captain on the battle-field. He was +a loyal and devoted servant of the House of Savoy, and +took a prominent part in all the events which ended in +proclaiming Victor Emanuel King of Italy, with Rome +his capital.</p> + +<p>This quarter, Piazza Barberini, is quite new to me. It +used to seem rather far off in the old days when we came +to see the Storys in the Barberini Palace, but now it is +quite central. The great new street—Via Veneto—runs +straight away from the Piazza, past the Church of the +Cappucini—you will remember the vaults with all the +dead monks standing about—the Palace of the Queen +Mother, and various large hotels, to Porta Pinciana. +Just the other side of the road is the new gate opening +into the Villa Borghese. I rather lost myself there the +first day I prowled about alone. It was raining, but I +wanted some air, and turned into the Via Veneto, which +is broad and clean. I walked quite to the end, and then +came to the Porta Pinciana, crossed the road, and found +myself in a beautiful villa. I didn't come upon any +special landmark until I got near the Museum, which, of +course, looked quite familiar. However, I was bewildered +and hailed a passing groom to inquire where I was, +and even when he told me could scarcely believe it. I +had never gone into the Villa Borghese except by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +Piazza del Popolo. They have made extraordinary +changes since the Government has bought it—opened +out new roads and paths, planted quantities of trees and +flowers, and cleaned up and trimmed in every direction. +It will be a splendid promenade in the heart of the city, +but no longer the old Villa Borghese we used to know, +with ragged, unkempt corners, and little paths in out-of-the-way +places, so choked up with weeds and long grass +that one could hardly get through.</p> + +<p>I haven't quite got my bearings yet, and for the first +three or four mornings I took myself down to the Piazza +di Spagna, and started from there. There, too, there are +changes—new houses and shops (I was glad to see old +Spithoever in the same place) and a decided look of +business and modern life. There were not nearly so +many people doing nothing, lounging about, leaning on +the "barca," or playing mora on the Spanish Steps. +All the botte were still standing in the middle of the +street, the coachmen smiling, cracking their whips, and +making frantic little dashes across the piazza whenever +they saw an unwary stranger who might want a cab.</p> + +<p>The Spanish Steps looked beautiful, glowing with colour—pink, +yellow, and that soft grey tint that the Roman +stones take in the sunlight. All the lower steps are covered +with flower stalls (they are not allowed any longer +scattered all over the piazza), and most picturesque they +looked—daffodils, mimosa, and great bunches of peach-blossoms +which were very effective. There were very +few models in costume sitting about; a few children playing +some sort of game with stones, which they interrupted +to run after the forestieri and ask for a "piccolo +soldo" (a penny), and one or two old men with long +white beards—might have done for models of the apostles +or Joseph in the flight into Egypt—wrapped in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +wonderful long green cloaks, sitting in the sun. There +is one novelty—an "ascenseur." I haven't been in it +yet, but I shall try it some day. One must get accustomed +to many changes in the Rome of to-day.</p> + +<p>I recognised some of the houses at the top of the steps—the +corner one between Vias Sistina and Gregoriana, +where the Rodmans used to live one year, and where we +have dined so often, sitting on the round balcony and +seeing the moon rise over the Pincio.</p> + +<p>I walked home the other day by the Via Sistina to the +Piazza Barberini, and that part seemed to me absolutely +unchanged. The same little open mosaic shops, with the +workmen dressed in white working at the door—almost +in the street. In one shop they were just finishing a +table, putting in countless bits of coloured marble (some of +them very small). It was exactly like the one we brought +from Rome many years ago, which stands now in Francis's +smoking-room. There was of course the inevitable +jeweller's shop, with crosses and brooches of dull yellow +Roman gold and mosaic, and silk shops with Roman silk +scarfs, and a sort of coarse lace which I have seen everywhere. +In the middle of the street a miserable wrinkled +old woman, her face mahogany colour, attired in a red +skirt with a green handkerchief on her head, was skirmishing +with a band of dirty little children, who had apparently +upset her basket of roast chestnuts, and were making off +with as many as they could find, pursued by her shrill +cries and "maledizioni."</p> + +<p>We went out in the open carriage yesterday, and drove +all around Rome leaving cards—finished with a turn in +the Villa Borghese and Pincio. It was too late for the +Villa—almost every one had gone, and one felt the chill +strike one on going into the thick shade after coming out +of the bright sun in the Piazza del Popolo. We crossed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +Queen Margherita at the gate. She looked so handsome—the +black is very becoming and threw out well her fair +hair and skin. She was driving in a handsome carriage—the +servants in mourning. One lady was with her—another +carriage and two cyclists following. All the +people bowed and looked so pleased to see her, and her +bow and smile of acknowledgment were charming.</p> + +<p>We made a short turn in the Villa and then went on +to the Pincio, which was crowded. There were some +very handsome, stately Roman equipages, plenty of light +victorias, a few men driving themselves in very high +phaetons, and the inevitable botta with often three youths +on the one seat. The carriages didn't draw up—the +ladies holding a sort of reception as in our days, when +all the "gilded youth" used to sit on the steps of the +victorias and surround the carriages of the pretty women. +They tell me the present generation comes much less to +the Villa Borghese and Pincio. They are much more +sporting—ride, drive automobiles and play golf. There +are two golf clubs now—one at Villa Pamphili Doria, the +other at Aqua Santa. Every time we go out on the Campagna +we meet men with golf clubs and rackets.</p> + +<p>Monday I prowled about in the morning, always +making the same round—Via Sistina and the Spanish +Steps. The lame man at the top of the steps knows me +well now, and we always exchange a cheerful good +morning. Sometimes I give him some pennies and sometimes +I don't, but he is always just as smiling when I +don't give him anything.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon Madame de B. and I went for a drive +and a little sight-seeing. She wanted a bottle of eucalyptus +from the monks at Tre Fontane, so we took in San +Paolo Fuori le Mura on our way. The drive out is +charming—a few dirty little streets at first—past the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +Theatre of Marcellus, which looks blacker and grimmer, +if possible, than when I last saw it—and then some distance +along the river. There are great changes—-high +buildings, quays, boats, carts with heavy stones and quantities +of workmen—really quite an air of a busy port—busy +of course in a modified sense, as no Roman ever +looks as if he were working hard, and there are always +two or three looking on, and talking, for every one who +works—however, there is certainly much more life in +the streets and the city looks prosperous.</p> + +<p>The great new Benedictine Monastery of Sant' Anselmo +stands splendidly on the heights (Aventine) to the left, +also the walls and garden of the Knights of Malta. The +garden, with its long shady walks, between rows of tall +cypress trees, looked most inviting. We left the Testaccio +and Protestant Cemetery on our right and followed +a long file of carriages evidently going, too, to San Paolo. +That of course looked exactly the same—an enormous +modern building with a wealth of splendid marble columns +inside. The proportions and great spaces are very +fine, and there was a brilliant effect of light and colour +(as every column is different). Some of the red-pink +was quite beautiful, but it is not in the least like a church—not +at all devotional. One can't imagine any poor +weary souls kneeling on that slippery, shining marble +pavement and pouring out their hearts in prayer. It is +more like a great hall or academy. We went out into +the quiet of the cloisters, which are interesting, some +curious old tombs and statues, but small for such a huge +basilica—always the square green plot in the centre with +a well.</p> + +<p>We had some difficulty in making our way to the carriage +through a perfect army of boys and men selling +photographs, postal cards, mosaic pins with views of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +church, etc., also bits of marble, giallo antico, porphyry +and a piece of dark marble, almost black, which had come +from the Marmorata close by.</p> + +<p>We went on to the Tre Fontane, about half an hour's +drive—real country, quite charming. We didn't see the +churches until we were quite close to them—they are +almost hidden by the trees. I never should have recognised +the place. The eucalyptus trees which the monks +were just beginning to plant when we were here before +have grown up into a fine avenue. They were cutting +and trimming them, and the ground was covered with +great branches making a beautiful green carpet with a +strong perfume. Various people were looking on and +almost every one carried off a branch of eucalyptus. We +did too, and one is now hanging over the bed in my room. +It is supposed to be very healthy. It has a very strong +odour—to me very agreeable.</p> + +<p>A service was going on in one of the churches, the +monks singing a low monotonous chant, and everything +was so still; one was so shut in by the trees that the outside +world, Rome and the Corso might have been miles +away. We went into the church to see the three fountains +built into the wall. Tradition says that when St. +Paul was executed his head bounded three times and at +each place a fountain sprang up. A tall young monk was +going about with some seminarists explaining the legend +to them. They were listening with rapt attention and +drinking reverently at each fountain.</p> + +<p>We went into the little farmacia and found there a +German monk who was much pleased when he found we +could speak German. He told us there were 90 monks +there, and that the place was perfectly healthy—not as +when they began their work, when many died of fever. +We each bought a bottle of eucalyptus, and were sorry to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +come away. The light was fading—the eucalyptus avenue +looked dark and mysterious, and the low chant of +the monks was still going on.</p> + +<p>We went to a beautiful ball in the evening at the Brancaccios'. +They built their palace—which is enormous—has +a fine marble staircase (which showed off the +women's long trailing skirts splendidly) and quantities +of rooms filled with beautiful things. I didn't take them +all in as I was so much interested in the people, but Bessie +has promised to take me all over the palace some morning.</p> + +<p>To-day we have been to the Brancaccio garden. It +was a beautiful bright morning, so Bessie Talleyrand proposed +we should drive up and stroll about there. We +telephoned to Brancaccio, who said he would meet us in +the garden. You can't imagine anything more enchanting +than that beautiful southern garden in the heart of +Rome. We drove through the court-yard and straight up +the hill to a little bridge that connects the garden with +Mrs. Field's old apartment. Mrs. Field really made the +garden (and loved it always). When they bought the +ground it was simply an "orto" or field, and now it is a +paradise filled with every possible variety of trees and +flowers. It seems that wherever she saw a beautiful tree +she immediately asked what it was and where it came +from, and then had some sent to her from no matter +where. Of course hundreds were lost—the journey, +change of soil, transplanting them, etc., but hundreds +remain and the effect is marvellous. Splendid tall palms +from Bordighera, little delicate shrubs from America and +Canada all growing and thriving side by side in the beautiful +Roman garden. There is a fine broad allée which +goes straight down from the winter garden to the end +of the grounds with the Colosseum as background. It +is planted on each side with green oaks, and between them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +rows of orange and mandarin trees—the branches heavy +with the fruit. We picked delicious, ripe, warm mandarins +from the trees, and eat them as we were strolling +along. It was too early for the roses, of which there are +thousands in the season—one saw the plants twining +around all the trees. There are all sorts of ruins and old +walls in the garden, baths of Titus, Sette Celle, and one +comes unexpectedly, in odd corners, upon fine old bits +of carving and wall which have no name now, but which +certainly have had a history.</p> + +<p>The sky was a deep blue over our heads, and the trees +so thick, that the ugly new buildings which skirt one side +of the garden are almost completely hidden. It was a +pleasure just to sit on a bench and live—the air was so +soft, and the garden smell so delicious.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus279.png" width="500" height="377" alt="The Barberini Palace. + +The residence of the Storys." title="The Barberini Palace. + +The residence of the Storys." /> +<span class="caption">The Barberini Palace. + +The residence of the Storys.</span> +</div> + +<p>After breakfast I went out early with Josephine—leaving +of course some cards first—after that we took a turn +on the Pincio, which was basking in the sunshine (but +quite deserted at that hour except by nurses and children), +and then drove out toward the Villa Pamphili. The road +was so familiar, and yet so different. The same steep +ascent to the Janiculum with the beggars and cripples of +all ages running alongside the carriage and holding out +withered arms and maimed limbs—awful to see. The +road is much wider—more of a promenade, trees and +flowers planted all along. The fountains of San Pietro +in Montorio looked beautiful—such a rush of bright, +dancing water. We drove through the Villa Corsini—quite +new since my time—a beautiful drive, and drew up +on the terrace just under the equestrian statue of Garibaldi +from where there is a splendid view—the whole +city of Rome at our feet, seen through a warm, grey mist +that made even the ugly staring white and yellow houses +of the new quarter look picturesque. They lost themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +in a charming ensemble. St. Peter's looked very +near but always a little veiled by the haze which made the +great mass more imposing. We looked straight across +the city to the Campagna—all the well-known monuments—Cecilia +Metella, aqueducts and the various tombs scattered +along the Via Appia were quite distinct. The +statue of the great revolutionary leader seemed curiously +out of place. I should have preferred almost the traditional +wolf with the two little boys sucking in her milk. +We couldn't stay very long as we had a tea at home. We +met many people and carriages going up as we came +down, as it was the day for the Villa Pamphili, which is +open to the public twice a week.</p> + +<p>We went to a ball at the Storys' in the evening, and +as we went up the great staircase of the Barberini Palace +(the steps so broad and shallow that one could drive up in +a light carriage) finishing with the steep little flight quite +at the top which leads directly to the Story apartment, I +could hardly realize how many years had passed since I +had first danced in these same rooms, and that I shouldn't +find the charming, genial maître de maison of my youth +who made his house such an interesting centre. I think +one of Mr. Story's greatest charms was his absolute simplicity, +his keen interest in everything and his sympathy +with younger men who were still fighting the great battle +of life which he had brought to such a triumphant close. +His son, Waldo Story,<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> who has inherited his father's +talent, keeps up the hospitable traditions of the house.</p> + +<p>The ball was very animated—all the young dancing +Rome was there.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<div class="signature"> +Monday, February 15th.</div> + +<p>I am alone this morning—the others have gone to +the meet at Cecchignola fuori Porta San Sebastiano. I +should have liked to go for the sake of old times, but I +was rather tired, and have the court ball to-night.</p> + +<p>Last night I had a pleasant dinner at Count Vitali's. +He has bought the Bandini palace, and made it, of course, +most comfortable and modern. The rooms are beautiful—the +splendid proportions and great space one only sees +now in Rome in the old palaces. The dinner was for +M. Nisard (French Ambassador to the Vatican), but it +wasn't altogether Black. There were one of the Queen's +ladies and one or two secretaries from the Quirinal embassies. +The line between the two parties is not nearly +so sharply drawn as when I was here so many years ago. +A few people came in the evening. Among the first to +appear was Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, whom I was +delighted to see again. It is long since I have seen a +cardinal in all the bravery of his red robes and large +jewelled cross, and for the first time I felt as if I were back +in old Rome. We had a nice talk and plunged into Moscow +and all the coronation festivities. I told him I was +very anxious to see the Pope, which he said could easily +be arranged. Nisard, too, was charming—said I should +have an audience spéciale as ancienne ambassadrice. I +waited to see the cardinal go with all the usual ceremonies +for a prince of the Church. Two big footmen +with flambeaux and tall candles escorted him to his carriage. +The cardinal came alone, which surprised me. I +thought they always had an attendant—a sort of ecclesiastical +aide-de-camp.</p> + +<p>Saturday Marquise de Bailleul and I were received by +the Queen. Our audience was at four. I went for her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +a little before. We drove straight to the Quirinal, the +great entrance on the piazza. Two swell porters were +at the door, but no guards nor soldiers visible anywhere. +We went up the grand staircase, where there was a red +carpet and plenty of flowers, but no servants on the steps. +The doors of a large anteroom at the top of the stairs +were open, and there were four footmen in powder, +culottes, and royal red liveries, and three or four men +in black. We left our wraps. I wore my grey velvet +and Marquise de Bailleul was in black with a handsome +sable cape (which she was much disgusted at leaving). +We went at once into a large room, where the dame de +palais de service was waiting for us. She had a list +in her hand, came forward at once and named herself, +Duchesse d'Arscoli, said she supposed I was Madame +Waddington. I introduced Marquise de Bailleul. The +gentleman also came up and said a few words. There +were one or two other ladies in the room, evidently +waiting their turn. In a few minutes the door +into the next room opened and two ladies came out. +The duchess went in, remained a second, then coming +back, waved us in. She didn't come in herself, +didn't announce us, and shut the door behind us. +We found ourselves in a large, rather bare room, with +no trace of habitation—I fancy it is only used for +official receptions. The Queen was standing at a table +about the middle of the room. She is tall, dark, with +fine eyes and a pretty smile. We made our two curtseys—hadn't +time for the third, as she advanced a step, shook +hands, and made us sit down. The visit didn't last very +long. I fancy she was rather tired, as evidently she had +been receiving a good many people, and was probably +bored at having to make phrases to utter strangers she +might never see again. We had the usual royal questions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +as to our children. As I only had <i>one</i> child my conversation +on that subject soon came to an end, but Marquise +de Bailleul has three small ones, so she got on swimmingly. +The Queen talked very prettily and simply +about her own children, and the difficulty of keeping them +natural and unspoiled; said people gave them such beautiful +presents—all sorts of wonderful mechanical toys +which they couldn't appreciate. One thing she said was +rather funny—that the present they liked best was a rag +doll the American Ambassadress had brought them from +America.</p> + +<p>As soon as we came out other people went in. I fancy +all the strangers asked to the ball had to be presented first +to the Queen. I think the London rule was rather simpler. +There the strangers were always presented at supper, +when the Princess of Wales made her "cercle."</p> + +<p>We went to a ball in the evening at Baron Pasetti's +(Austrian Ambassador to the Quirinal). They have a +fine apartment in the Palazzo Chigi. I remembered the +rooms quite well, just as they were in the old days when +Wimpffen was Ambassador. The hall was most brilliant—all +Rome there. The Pasettis are going away, and +will be much regretted. I think he is rather delicate and +has had enough of public life. I hadn't seen him since +Florence, when we were all young, and life was then a +succession of summer days—long afternoons in the villas, +with roses hanging over the walls, and evenings on the +balcony, with nightingales singing in the garden and the +scent of flowers in the air, "der goldener Zeit der jungen +Liebe" (the golden days of young love).</p> + +<p>Sunday Bessie and I went to the American church. +Dr. Nevin is still away. The church is large, but was +quite full—there are evidently many Americans in Rome. +The great mosaics over the altar were given by Mrs. Field.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +Wednesday, February 17th.</div> + +<p>Monday night we went to the court ball. It was very +amusing, but extraordinarily simple, not to say democratic. +Bessie and I went together early, so as to get +good seats. If I hadn't known we were going to the palace +I should have thought we had made a mistake in the +house. The square of the Quirinal was so quiet, almost +deserted—no troops nor music, nor crowd of people looking +on and peering into the carriages to see the dresses +and jewels—no soldiers nor officials of any kind on +the grand staircase. Some tall cuirassiers and footmen +in the anteroom—no chamberlains nor pages—nothing +like the glittering crowd of gold lace and uniforms +one usually sees in the anteroom of a palace. We +walked through two or three handsome rooms to the ball-room, +where there were already a great many people. +The room is large, high, but rather too narrow, with +seats all round. There was no raised platform for the +court—merely a carpet and two large gilt arm-chairs for +the King and Queen and a smaller one for the Comte de +Turin. It was amusing to see all the people coming in, +the different uniforms and jewels of the women giving +at once an air of court. The entrance of the royal +cortège was quite simple. They played the "Marcia +Reale," which I don't at all care for. It is a frivolous, +jumpy little tune, not at all the grave, dignified measure +one would expect on such an occasion. There were no +chamberlains walking backward with their great wands +of office in their hands. The master of ceremonies, +Count Gianotti, looking very well in his uniform and +broad green ribbon, came first, and almost immediately +behind him the King and Queen, arm in arm, the Count +of Turin, and a small procession of court functionaries.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +The Queen looked very well in yellow, with a splendid +tiara. She took her seat at once; the King and Comte +de Turin remained standing. What was charming was +the group of young court ladies who followed the Queen—tall, +handsome women, very well dressed. There was +no "quadrille d'honneur," none of the royalties danced. +The dancing began as soon as the court was seated—any +little couple, a young lieutenant, an American, any one, +dancing under the nose of the sovereigns. The Queen +remained sitting quite alone, hardly speaking to any one, +through three or four dances; then there was a move, and +she made her "cercle," going straight around the room, +and speaking to almost every one. The King made no +"cercle," remained standing near the "corps diplomatique," +who were all massed on one side of the thrones +(or arm-chairs). He talked to the ambassadors and +étrangers de distinction (men—they say he rarely speaks +to a woman). We all moved about a little after the +Queen had passed, and I found plenty of old friends +and colleagues to talk to. Neither the Russian Ambassador, +Prince Ourousoff, nor any of his staff were present, +on account of the war.</p> + +<p>Tuesday it poured all the morning, so I didn't get my +usual walk, and I tried to put some sort of order in our +cards, which are in a hopeless confusion. The unfortunate +porter is almost crazy. There are four of us here +(as Madame de Bailleul's cards and invitations also come +here), all with different names, and it must be impossible +not to mix them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;"> +<img src="images/illus287.png" width="351" height="500" alt="Victor Emanuel III., King of Italy." title="Victor Emanuel III., King of Italy." /> +<span class="caption">Victor Emanuel III., King of Italy.</span> +</div> + +<p>It stopped raining in the afternoon and Josephine and +I walked up to Palazzo Brancaccio after tea, to ask about +Bessie, who has been ill ever since her ball. The streets +were full of people, a few masks (as it was Mardi Gras), +but quite in the lower classes. I should think the Carnival<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +was dead, as far as Society is concerned. We got +very little information about Bessie—the porter would +not let us go upstairs, said the Princess was in the country, +or perhaps in Paris. It seems he is quite a character, +well known in Rome. When Mr. Field was ill, +dying, of course everybody went to inquire, which seemed +to exasperate him, as he finally replied, "ma sì, è malato, +va morire, ma lasciarlo in pace—perchè venir seccar la +gente?" (yes, yes, he is ill, dying, but leave him in peace—why +do you come and bore people?).</p> + +<p>We stepped in at a little church on our way back, where +a benediction was going on. It was brilliantly lighted, +and filled with people almost all kneeling—princesses and +peasants—on the stone floor. It was a curious contrast +to the motley, masquerading crowd just outside.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Thursday, 18th.</div> + +<p>It is still showery and the streets very muddy to-day. +This morning I made a solitary expedition to St. Peter's—armed +with an Italian guide-book M. Virgo lent me +(it was red, like Baedeker, so I looked quite the tourist). +I went by tram—M. Virgo and the children escorted me +to the bottom of the Via Tritone, and started me. The +tramway is most convenient. We went through the +Piazza di Spagna, across the Piazza del Popolo, and +turned off short to the left. It was all quite different +from what I remembered—a fine broad road (Lungo +Tevere) (along the Tiber) with quantities of high, ugly +modern buildings, "maisons de location," villas, and an +enormous Ministère, I forget which one, Public Works, +I think, which could accommodate a village. Some of the +villas are too awful—fancy white stucco buildings ornamented +with cheap statues and plaques of majolica and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +coloured marble. The tram stopped at the end of the +piazza facing the church, but one loses the sense of immensity +being so near. I saw merely the façade and the +great stone perron. I wandered about for an hour finding +my way everywhere, and recognising all the old monuments—Christina +of Sweden, the Stuart monuments, +the Cappella Julia, etc. There were quite a number of +people walking about and sitting on the benches, or in the +stalls of the little side chapels, reading their Baedekers. +I came home in a botta for the sum of one franc. I +wanted to cross the St. Angelo Bridge and see the crooked +dirty little streets and low dark shops I remembered so +well—and which will all disappear one day—with new +quarters and all the old buildings pulled down. They +were all there quite unchanged, only a little dirtier—the +same heaps of decayed vegetables lying about in the corners, +girls and women in bright red skirts and yellow +fichus on their heads, long gold earrings, and gold pins in +their hair, standing talking in the doorways, children +playing in the gutter, a general smell of frittura everywhere. +The little dark shops have no windows, only a +low, narrow door, and the people sit in the doorway to +get all the light they can for their work.</p> + +<p>We paid some visits in the afternoon, winding up with +Princess Pallavicini. Her beautiful apartment looked +just the same (only there, too, is an ascenseur) with +the enormous anteroom and suites of salons before reaching +the boudoir, where she gave us tea. I remembered +everything, even the flowered Pompadour satin on the +walls, just as I had always seen it.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Saturday, February 20th.</div> + +<p>These last two days have been beautiful—real Roman +days, bright blue sky, warm sun, and just air enough to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +be pleasant. Yesterday I trammed over again to the +Vatican (a trolley car is an abomination in Rome, but so +convenient). I wanted to see the statues and my favourite +Apollo Belvedere, who hasn't grown any older in 24 +years—the same beautiful, spirited young god. As I was +coming downstairs I saw some people going into the garden +from a side door, so I stepped up to the gardien, +and said I wanted to go too. He said it was quite impossible +without a permesso signed by one of the officers +of the Pope's household. I assured him in my best +Italian that I could have all the permessi I wanted, that +I knew a great many people, was only here de passage +and might not be able to come back another day, +and that as I was alone he really might let me pass—so +after a little conversation he chose a time when no one +was passing, opened the door as little as he could and let +me through. There were two or three parties being conducted +about by guides, but no one took any notice of +me, and I wandered about for some time quite happy. It +is a splendid garden—really a park. I seemed to have +got out on a sort of terrace (the carriage road below me). +There were some lovely walks, with cypress and ilex making +thick shade, and hundreds of camellias—great trees. +The view toward Monte Mario was divine—everything +so clear, hardly any of the blue mist that one almost +always sees on the Campagna near Rome. The sun was +too hot when I had to cross an open space, and I was +glad to get back to the dark cypress walks. It was enchanting, +but I think the most beautiful nature would +pall upon me if I knew I must always do the same thing. +I am sure Léon XIII. must have pined often for the green +plains and lovely valleys around Perugia, and I don't +believe the most beautiful views of the Alban hills tipped +with snow, and pink in the sunset hues, will make up to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +the present Pope for the Lagoons of Venice and the long +sweep of the Grand Canal to the sea.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Tuesday, 23d.</div> + +<p>Yesterday Josephine and I drove out to the meet at +Acqua Santa, out of Porta San Giovanni. There were +quantities of carriages and led horses going out, as it is +one of the favourite meets—you get out so soon into the +open country. There was such a crowd as we got near +that we got out and walked, scrambling over and through +fences. It was a much larger field than I had ever seen +in Rome—many officers (all in uniform) riding, and +many women. The hounds broke away from a pretty +little olive wood on a height, and stretched away across +a field to two stone walls, which almost every one jumped. +There were one or two falls, but nothing serious. They +were soon out of sight, but we loitered on the Campagna, +sitting on the stone walls, and talking to belated hunters +who came galloping up, eager to know which way the +hunt had gone.</p> + +<p>Sunday we had a party and music at the French +Embassy (Vatican). Diemor played beautifully, so did +Teresina Tua. When they played together Griegg's sonata +for piano and violin it was enchanting. All the +Black world was there, and a good many strangers.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Thursday, February 25th.</div> + +<p>We dined last night at the Wurts', who have a charming +apartment in one of the finest old palaces (Anticci +Mattei) in Rome. The staircase beautiful, most elaborately +carved, really reminded me of Mont St. Michel. +Their rooms are filled with all sorts of interesting things, +the collection of years. The dinner was very pleasant—half +Italian, half diplomatic.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>I have just come in from my audience with the Pope. +I found the convocation when I got home last night. +Bessie was rather disgusted at not having received hers, +as we had planned to go together; but she said she would +come with me. She would dress herself in regulation +attire—long black dress and black veil—and take the +chance. We had a mild humiliation as we got to the +inner Court. The sentries would not let us pass. We +had the small coupé, with one horse, and it seems one-horse +vehicles are not allowed to enter these sacred precincts. +We protested, saying we had a special audience, +and that we couldn't get out on the muddy pavement, but +it was no use; they wouldn't hear of our modest equipage +going in, so we had to cross the court—quite a large +one, and decidedly muddy—on foot, holding up our long +dresses as well as we could.</p> + +<p>It seemed so natural to go up the great stone staircase, +with a few Swiss guards in their striped red and yellow +uniform standing about. We spoke to one man in Italian, +asking him the way, and he replied in German. I +fancy very few of them speak Italian. We passed +through a good many rooms filled with all sorts of +people: priests, officers, gardes nobles, women in black, +evidently waiting for an audience, valets de chambre +dressed in red damask, camerieri segreti in black velvet +doublets, ruffs and gold chains and cross—a most +picturesque and polyglot assemblage; one heard every +language under the sun.</p> + +<p>We were passed on from one room to another, and +finally came to a halt in a large square room, where there +were more priests, one or two monsignori, in their violet +robes, and two officers. I showed my paper, one of +the monsignori, Bicletis (maestro di Casa di Sua Santità), +came forward and said the Pope was expecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +me; so then I presented Bessie, explained that her name +had been sent in at the same time with mine, and that if +she could be admitted (without the convocation) it would +be a great pleasure to both of us to be received together. +He said there would be no difficulty in that.</p> + +<p>While we were talking to him the door into the audience +chamber was opened, and a large party came out—the +Comte and Comtesse d'Eu and their sons, with a +numerous suite. We had barely time to exchange a few +remarks, as Monsignor Bicletis was waiting for us to +advance. We found the Pope standing in the centre of +rather a small room. The walls were hung with red +damask, the carpet also was red, and at one end were +three gold chairs. We made low curtseys—didn't kneel +nor kiss his hands, being Protestants. He advanced a +few steps, shook hands, and made us sit down, one on +each side of him. He was dressed, of course, entirely in +white. He spoke only Italian—said he understood +French, but didn't speak it easily. He has a beautiful +face—so earnest, with a fine upward look in his eyes; not +at all the intellectual, ascetic appearance of Léo XIII., nor +the half-malicious, kindly smile of Pius IX., but a face +one would remember. I asked him if he was less tired +than when he was first named Pope. He said, oh, yes, +but that the first days were very trying—the great heat, +the change of habits and climate, and the change of food +(so funny, one would think there needn't be any great +change between Rome and Venice—less fish, perhaps). +He talked a little—only a little—about France, and the +difficult times we were passing through; knew that I was +a Protestant and an "old Roman"; asked how many +years since I had been back; said: "You won't find the +old Rome you used to know; there are many, many +changes."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 276px;"> +<img src="images/illus295.png" width="276" height="500" alt="Pope Pius X." title="Pope Pius X." /> +<span class="caption">Pope Pius X.</span> +</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> + +<p>He was much interested in all Bessie told him about +America and the Catholic religion in the States—was +rather amused when she suggested that another American +cardinal might perhaps be a good thing. He asked us +if we knew Venice, and his face quite lighted up when +we spoke of all the familiar scenes where he had spent so +many happy years. He was much beloved in Venice. +He gave me the impression of a man who was still feeling +his way, but who, when he had found it, would go +straight on to what he considered his duty. But I must +say that is not the general impression; most people think +he will be absolutely guided by his "entourage," who will +never leave him any initiative.</p> + +<p>As we were leaving I said I had something to ask. +"Dica, dica, La prego" (Please speak), so I explained +that I was a Protestant, my son also, but that he had +married a Catholic, and I would like his blessing for my +daughter. He made me a sign to kneel and touched my +head with his hand, saying the words in Latin, and adding, +"E per Lei et tutta la sua famiglia" (for you and +all your family). He turned his back slightly when we +went out, so we were not obliged to back out altogether.</p> + +<p>We talked a few moments in the anteroom with Monsignor +Bicletis, but he was very busy, other people going +in to the Pope, so we didn't stay and went down to Cardinal +Mery del Val's apartment. He receives in the beautiful +Borgia rooms, with Pinturicchio's marvellous frescoes +(there was such a lovely Madonna over one of the +doors, a young pure face against that curious light-green +background one sees so often in the early Italian masters). +The apartment was comparatively modern—calorifère, +electric light, bells, etc. While we were waiting +the Comte and Comtesse d'Eu and their party passed +through.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>The Cardinal received us standing, but made us sit +down at once. He is a tall, handsome homme du +monde, rather English looking, very young. He told +us he was not yet forty years old. He speaks English +as well as I do (his mother was English), and, they tell +me, every other language equally well. He seemed to +have read everything and to be au courant of all that +was said and thought all over the world. He talked a +little more politics than the Pope—deplored what was +going on in France, was interested in all Bessie told him +about America and Catholicism over there. They must +be struck with the American priests and bishops whom +they see in Europe, not only their conception, but their +practice of their religion is so different. I had such an +example of that one day when we asked a friend of ours, a +most intelligent, highly educated <i>modern</i> priest, to meet +Monsignor Ireland. He was charmed with him—listened +most intently to all he said, particularly when he +was speaking of the wild life out West, near California, +and the difficulty of getting any hold over the miners. +(He started a music hall, among other things, to have +some place where the men could go in the evenings, and +get out of the saloons and low drinking-shops.) Our +friend perfectly appreciated the practical energy of the +monsignor, but said such a line would be impossible in +France. No priest, no matter how high his rank, would +be allowed such initiative, and the people would not +understand.</p> + +<p>He didn't keep us very long, had evidently other audiences, +and not time to talk to everybody. I am very +glad to have seen him. He is quite unlike any cardinal +I have ever met—perhaps because he is so much younger +than most of them, perhaps because he seemed more +homme du monde than ecclesiastic; but I daresay that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +type is changing, too, with everything else in Rome. We +had a most interesting afternoon. After all, Rome and +the Vatican are unique of their kind.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Friday, February 26th.</div> + +<p>I had my audience from Queen Margherita alone this +afternoon. Bessie and Josephine have already been. Her +palace is in the Veneto (our quarter) and very near. +It is a large, fine building, but I should have liked it better +standing back in a garden, not directly on the street. +However, the Romans don't think so. There are always +people standing about waiting to see her carriage or auto +pass out—they wait hours for a smile from their beloved +Regina Margherita. I went up in an ascenseur—three +or four footmen (in black) and a groom of the +chambers at the top. I was ushered down a fine long +gallery with handsome furniture and pictures to a large +room almost at the end, where I found the Marquise Villa +Marina (who is always with the Queen), the Duchesse +Sforza Cesarini (lady in waiting), and one gentleman. +There were three or four people in the room, waiting also +to be received. Almost immediately the door into the +next room opened, and the Duchesse Sforza waved me +in (didn't come in herself). I had at once the impression +of a charming drawing-room, with flowers, pictures, +books, bibelots—not in the least like the ordinary bare +official reception room where Queen Elena received us. +The Queen, dressed in black, was sitting on a sofa about +the middle of the room, and really not much changed +since I had seen her twenty-four years ago at the Quirinal, +when the present King was a little boy, dressed in +a blue sailor suit. She is a little stouter, but her blonde +hair and colouring just the same, and si grand air. +She was most charming, talked in French and English,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +about anything, everything—asked about my sister-in-law, +Madame de Bunsen, and her daughter Beatrice, +whom she had known as a little girl in Florence. She +is very fond of automobiling, so we had at once one great +point of sympathy. She had read "The Lightning Conductor" +and was much amused with it. We talked a little +about the great changes in Rome. I told her about +our visit to the Pope, and the impression of simplicity and +extreme goodness he had made upon us. I can't remember +all we talked about. I had the same impression that +I had twenty-four years ago—a visit to a charming, sympathetic +woman, very large-minded, to whom one could +talk of anything.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Sunday, 28th.</div> + +<p>It has poured all day, but held up a little in the afternoon, +so we went (all four) to see Cardinal Mathieu, who +lives in the Villa Wolkonsky. He had asked us to come +and walk in his beautiful garden (with such a view of +the Aqueducts) but that was of course out of the question. +He is very clever and genial, and was rather +amused at the account we gave him of our discussions. +We are two Catholics and two Protestants, and argue +from morning till night—naturally neither party convincing +the other. He told us we should go to the +Vatican to-morrow—there was a large French pèlerinage +which he presented. We would certainly see the Pope +and perhaps hear him speak.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Monday.</div> + +<p>We had a pleasant breakfast this morning with +Bebella d'Arsoli,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> in their beautiful apartment in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +father's (Prince Massimo's) palace. The palace looks +so black and melancholy outside, with its heavy portico +of columns (and always beggars sitting on the stone +benches under the portico) that it was a surprise to get +into their beautiful rooms—with splendid pictures and +tapestries. The corner drawing-room, where she received +us, flooded with light, showing off the old red damask +of the walls and the splendid ceiling. We went to see +the Chapel after breakfast, where there are wonderful +relics, and a famous pavement in majolica.</p> + +<p>About 3 we started off for St. Peter's. We had all +brought our veils with us, and retired to Bebella's dressing-room +where her maid arranged our heads. We left a pile +of hats which Bebella promised to send home for us, and +took ourselves off to the Vatican, taking little Victoria +Ruspoli with us, who looked quite sweet in her white dress +and veil—her great dark eyes bright with excitement. +We found many carriages in the court, as we got to the +Vatican, and many more soldiers on the stairs, and about +in the passages. The rooms and long gallery were +crowded—all sorts of people, priests, women, young men, +children (some very nice-looking people) all speaking +French. We went at first into the gallery, but there was +such a crowd and such a smell of people closely packed +that we couldn't stay, and just as we were wondering +what to do, Monsignor Bicletis came through and at once +told us to come with him. He took us through several +rooms, one large one filled with people waiting for their +audience, into the one next the Pope's, who he said was +with Cardinal Mathieu, and would soon pass. We were +quite alone in that room, except for three or four priests. +In a few moments the Pope appeared with Cardinal Mathieu +and quite a large suite. The Cardinal, who had +promised to present Madame de B. (there had been some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +delay about her convocation), came up to us at once. We +all knelt as the Pope came near, and he named Madame de +B. and little Victoria, who asked for his blessing for her +brothers. He recognised me and Bessie, and said we +were welcome always at the Vatican. He only said a +few words to Madame de B. as he had a long afternoon +before him. Cardinal Mathieu told us to follow them, +so we closed up behind the suite, and followed the Pope's +procession.</p> + +<p>There must have been over a hundred people waiting +in the next room, and it was an impressive sight to see +them all—men, women, and children—kneel as the Pope +appeared. Some of the children were quite sweet, holding +out their little hands full of medals and rosaries to +be blessed—almost all the girls in white, with white +veils, like the little first communiantes in France. The +Pope made his "cercle," speaking to almost every one—sometimes +only a word, sometimes quite a little talk. +We followed him through one or two rooms to the open +loggia, which was crowded. We were very hot, but he +sent for his cloak and hat. We waited some little time +but the crowd was so dense—he would have spoken from +the other end of the loggia—and we couldn't possibly +have got through—so we came away, having had again +a very interesting afternoon.</p> + +<p>It is most picturesque driving around the back of St. +Peter's and the Vatican. There are such countless turns +and courts and long stretches of high walls with little +narrow windows quite up at the top. Always people +coming and going—cardinals' carriages with their black +horses, fiacres with tourists looking eagerly about them +and speaking every possible language, priests, women in +black with black veils, little squads of Papal troops marching +across the squares—and Italian soldiers keeping order<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +in the great piazza. A curious little old world in the +midst of the cosmopolitan town Rome has become.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Rome</span>, March 2d.</div> + +<p>Yesterday Madame de B. and I made an expedition to +the Catacombs of San Calisto fuori Porta San Sebastiano. +It was decidedly cold and we were very glad we hadn't +taken the open carriage. The drive out was charming—first +inside the gates, passing the Colosseum, the two great +arches of Constantine and Titus, and directly under the +Palatine Hill and Baths of Caracalla, and then going out +through the narrow little gateway, and for some little +distance through high stone walls, we came upon the +countless towers, tombs and columns standing alone in +the middle of the fields, having no particular connection +with anything, that mark the Appian Way, and make it +so extraordinarily interesting and unlike any other drive +in the world. I was delighted when we came upon that +funny little stone house, built on the top of a high circular +tomb—I remembered it perfectly.</p> + +<p>The Catacombs stand in a sort of garden or vineyard. +There were people already there, and a party just preparing +to go down as we appeared. They had asked for a +guide who spoke French, as they knew no Italian, and a +nice-looking, intelligent young monk was marshalling his +party and lighting the tapers. I thought <i>they</i> were +rather short (I am rather nervous about subterraneous +expeditions and one has heard gruesome tales of people +lost in the Catacombs, not so very long ago) but they +lasted quite well.</p> + +<p>It was curious to see all the old symbols again—the +fish, the pax (cross) and to think what they represented +to the early bands of Christians, when the mere fact of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +being a Christian meant persecution, suffering, and often +a terrible death in the arena of the Colosseum.</p> + +<p>Some of the frescoes are wonderfully preserved—we +saw quite well the heads of saints, martyrs, and decorations +of wreaths of flowers or a delicate arabesque tracery; +the most favourite subjects were Jonah and the +whale, a shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders, and +kneeling women's figures. The ladies in our party were +wildly interested in the mummies (terrible looking +things), particularly one with the hair quite visible. We +saw of course the niche where the body of Ste. Cecilia was +found—but the body is now removed to the church of Ste. +Cecilia in the Trastevere. They have put, however, a +model of the body, representing it exactly, in the niche, so +the illusion is quite possible.</p> + +<p>We walked about for an hour, following quantities of +narrow passages, coming suddenly into small round +rooms, which had been chapels, and still seeing in some +of the stone coffins bits of bones, and inscriptions on the +walls. It was rather weird to see the procession moving +along, Indian file, holding their tapers, which gave a +faint, flickering light. The guide had rather a bigger +one—on the end of a long stick. We stopped at San +Clemente on our way back, hoping to see the underground +church, but it was too late. The sacristan said we should +have come yesterday—there was a fête, and the two +churches were illuminated.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Friday, 4th.</div> + +<p>It has been another beautiful day. I trammed over +to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel this time and the +Stanze and Loggie of Raphael. It is a good pull up to +the Sistine Chapel, by a rather dark staircase, but the day +was so bright I saw everything very well when I once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +got there. The Vatican was very full—people in every +direction—almost all English and German—I didn't hear +a word of French or Italian. Two young men were +stretched out flat on their backs on one of the benches, +trying to get a good look at the ceiling through their +glasses. I was delighted to see the Stanze again with +many old friends. Do you remember the "Poesia" on +the ceiling of one of the rooms—a lovely figure clad in +light blue draperies, with a young, pure face? I wandered +up and down the Loggie, but I think I was more +interested looking down into the Court of San Damaso, +filled with carriages, priests, women in black with black +veils coming and going (I should think the Pope would +be exhausted with all the people he sees) and the general +little clerical bustle. The striped Swiss guard were +lounging about in the gateway, and a fine stately porter +in cocked hat and long red cloak at each door.</p> + +<p>Josephine had a dinner in the evening—Cardinal +Mathieu, the Austrian Ambassador to the Vatican and +his wife, and other notabilities. There was quite a large +reception after dinner, among others the Grand Duchess +of Saxe-Weimar, who is very easy, charming—likes to +see everybody. When I came downstairs to dinner I +found all the ladies with lace fichus or boas on their +shoulders, and I was told that I was quite incorrect—that +one couldn't appear décolletée in a cardinal's presence. +I could find nothing in my hurry when I went back to my +room, but a little (very little) ermine cravat, but still even +that modified my low body somewhat, and at least showed +that my intentions were good. The big red salon looks +charming in the evening and is a most becoming room—the +dark red silk walls show off the dresses so well. The +cardinal had his whist, or rather his bridge, after dinner, +for even the Church has succumbed to the universal +craze<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>—one +sees all the ecclesiastics in Black circles just as intent +upon their game and criticising their partner's play +quite as keenly as the most ardent clubmen. I suppose +bridge is a pleasure to those who play, but they don't look +as though they were enjoying themselves—their faces so +set and drawn, any interruption a catastrophe, and nobody +ever satisfied with his partner's play.</p> + +<p>We had very good music. An American protégé of +Josephine's with a good high barytone voice sang very +well, and the young French trio (all élèves du Conservatoire +de Paris) really played extremely well. The piano +in one of Mendelssohn's trios was quite charming—so +sure and delicate. It was a pleasure to see the young, +refined, intelligent faces so absorbed in their music, quite +indifferent to the gallery. The young violinist played a +romance (I forget what—Rubinstein, I think) with so +much sentiment that I said to him "Vous êtes trop jeune +pour jouer avec tant d'âme," to which he replied proudly, +"Madame, j'ai vingt ans." C'est beau d'avoir vingt +ans. I wonder how many of us at fifty remember how +we thought and felt at twenty. Perhaps there would be +fewer heart-burnings in the world if we older ones did +remember sometimes our own youth.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Sunday, March 6th.</div> + +<p>Yesterday I walked up to Santa Maria Maggiore and +San Giovanni in Laterano. I took the Scala Santa on +my way to San Giovanni. Several people were going +up—some priests, Italian soldiers, two or three peasants +and two ladies—mother and daughter, I should think, +their long black cloth dresses very much in their way +evidently. I watched them for some time. I wonder +what it means to them, and if they really believe that they +are the steps from Jerusalem which our Saviour came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +down. I stayed some little time in San Giovanni. It is +magnificent certainly, but there is too much gilding and +mosaic and modern decoration. The view from the steps +was enchanting when I came out; the air was delicious, +the sun bright in a bright blue sky, and the mountains +soft and purple in the distance.</p> + +<p>We had an interesting breakfast—two Benedictine +monks from the great abbaye of Solesmes. They talked +very moderately about their expulsion, and the wrench +it was to leave the old monastery and begin life again in +new surroundings. The older man especially seemed to +feel it very much. I suppose he had spent all his life +inside those old grey walls—reading and meditating and +bound up in the interests and routine of his order. They +had come to Rome to see the Pope, and consult with him +about suppressing secular music in the churches, and substituting +the Gregorian chants everywhere. It is a very +difficult question; of course some of the music they have +now in the churches is impossible. When you hear the +"Méditation de Thaïs" played at some ceremony, and +you think what Thaïs was, it is out of the question to admit +such music in a church—on the other hand the strict +Gregorian chant is very severe, particularly sung without +any organ. I daresay educated musicians would prefer +it, but to the ordinary assemblage, accustomed to the +great peal of the organ with occasionally, in the country +for instance at some festa, the national anthem or some +well-known military march being played, the monotonous, +old-world chant would say nothing. We shall hear them +at the great festival at St. Peter's for San Gregorio.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Thursday, 10th.</div> + +<p>It was warm and lovely Tuesday. Bessie, Josephine +and I walked down to J.'s work-room in the Convent of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +St. Euphemia, somewhere beyond Trajan's Forum, before +breakfast. It was too warm walking along the broad +street by the Quirinal. We were thankful to take little +dark narrow side streets. The "ouvroir" (work-room) +was interesting—quantities of women and girls working—some +of the work, fine lingerie, lace-mending, embroidery +beautifully done. It is managed by sisters, under Josephine's +direction, who gives a great deal of time and +thought to her work. They take in any child or girl from +the street, feed them and have them taught whatever they +can do. It was pretty to see the little smiling faces and +bright eyes as Josephine passed through the rooms.</p> + +<p>We went to a pleasant tea in the afternoon at Countess +Gianotti's (wife of Count Gianotti, Master of Ceremonies +to the King). There were quite a number of people—a +very cosmopolitan society (she herself is an American) +and she gave us excellent waffles.</p> + +<p>Yesterday we had a delightful excursion with Countess +de Bertheny in her automobile. She came to get me +and Bessie about 11. We picked up two young men and +started for Nemi and the Castelli Romani. We drove +straight out from Porta San Giovanni to Albano. It +was quite lovely all the way, particularly when we began +the steep ascent of Albano, and looked back—the Campagna +a beautiful stretch of purple, the aqueducts standing +well out all around us, and the statues of San Giovanni +just visible and looking enormous, in the mist that +always hangs over Rome, St. Peter's a great white spot +with the sun full upon it. We rattled through Albano. +The streets looked animated, full of people, all getting +out of our way as fast as they could.</p> + +<p>The door into the Doria Villa was open; we just had +a glimpse of the garden which looked cool and green, +with a perspective of long walks, ending in a sort of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +bosquet, but we passed so quickly that it was merely +a fleeting impression. We drove through Ariccia to +Gensano—a beautiful road, splendid trees, making a +perfect shade, the great Chigi Palace looking just the +same, a huge grim pile—quite the old château fort, built +at the entrance of the little village to protect it from invading +enemies. If stones could speak I wonder what +they would say to modern inventions, automobiles, huge +monsters certainly, but peaceful ones, rushing past, trains +puffing and smoking along the Campagna, great carts +drawn by fine white oxen going lazily along, the driver +generally asleep under his funny little tent of red or blue +linen, and nobody thinking of harm.</p> + +<p>We drove through Gensano, then turned off sharp to +the left to Nemi—a fairly good road. We soon came in +sight of the lake, which looked exactly as I remembered +it—a lifeless blue, like a deep cup surrounded by green +hills. They used to tell us, I remember, that there were +no fish, no living thing in the lake, but Ruspoli says there +are plenty now—very good ones.</p> + +<p>We followed a beautiful winding road up to Nemi, +which is a compact little village on the top of a hill—the +great castle standing out well. It has just been bought +by Don Enrico Ruspoli, and he and his charming American +wife are making it most picturesque and livable. We +breakfasted at the little Hôtel de Nemi—not at all bad—the +dining-room opening on a terrace with such a view—at +our feet the Campagna rolling away its great waves +of blue purple to a bright dazzling white streak, the sea—on +one side a stretch of green valley leading to all the +different little villages; on the other the lake with its +crown of olive-covered hills.</p> + +<p>Just as we were finishing breakfast Ruspoli appeared +to ask us if we would come and see the castle. We entered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +directly from the little square of the town—the +big doors face the church. There is a fine stone staircase, +and halls and rooms innumerable. They have only +just begun to work on it—have made new floors (a sort +of mosaic, small stones, just as I remember them at Frascati +in Villa Marconi) and put water everywhere, but +there is still a great deal to do. The proportions of the +rooms are beautiful, and the view divine. As in all old +Italian castles some of the village houses were built +directly into the wall of the castle. They have already +bought and knocked down many of these (giving the inhabitants +instead comfortable, clean, modern houses +which they probably won't like nearly as well) and are +arranging a beautiful garden in their place. They have +also a terrace planted with trees about half-way down the +slope to the lake, which would be a divine place to read +or dream away a long summer's day. I don't think there +are ten yards of level ground on the place.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus311.png" width="500" height="339" alt="Great New Bridge from Albano to Ariccia. + +Built by Pope Pius IX." title="Great New Bridge from Albano to Ariccia. + +Built by Pope Pius IX." /> +<span class="caption">Great New Bridge from Albano to Ariccia. + +Built by Pope Pius IX.</span> +</div> + +<p>We couldn't stay very long as we were going on to +Frascati and Castle Gondolfo. They gave us tea, and +when we came out on the piazza we found the whole village +congregated around the automobiles (another had +arrived from Rome—I am so cross I didn't bring mine +with Strutz, it would have been so convenient for all the +excursions). It is a wild beautiful spot, but I should +think lonely. We went back to Albano, saw the great +bridge built by Pio Nono, with its three tiers of arches, +the famous tombs—Horatii, Curiatii and Pompey, and +then drove along the beautiful "galeria di sotto" to +Castle Gondolfo, the old crooked ilex trees nearly meeting +over our heads, and the Campagna with lovely lights and +shades flitting over it, far down at our feet. There +everything looked exactly as I remembered it. It seemed +to me the same priests were walking about under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +trees, the same men riding minute donkeys, with their +legs nearly touching the ground; the same great carts, +lumbering peacefully along, the driver usually asleep +until the horn of the automobile close behind him roused +him into frantic energy; however they were all most +smiling, evidently don't hate the auto as they do in some +parts of France.</p> + +<p>We stopped at the Villa Barberini at Castle Gondolfo—such +a beautiful garden, but so neglected—great long +dark walks, trees like high black walls on each side, and +big bushes of white and red camellias almost as tall as the +trees, roses just beginning. In every direction broken +columns, vases, statues (minus arms and legs) carved +benches, all falling to pieces. We went into the Villa +which is usually let to strangers, but it was most primitive—brick +floors everywhere (except in the salons, +where there was always the mosaic pavement), and the +simplest description of furniture—ordinary iron bed-steads, +and iron trépieds in the master's bed-rooms, but a +magnificent view of sea and Campagna from the balcony, +and a beautiful cool, bracing air.</p> + +<p>We drove on through Marino and Frascati. We +passed the little chapel on the road where we used to see +all the people praying the great cholera year. It was +open, and one or two women were kneeling just inside. +The atmosphere was so transparent that Rocca di Papa +and Monte Cavo seemed quite near. The Piazza of +Frascati was just the same, the Palazzo Marconi at one +side with the great Aldobrandini Villa overtopping it +and the Villa Torlonia opposite. We didn't go into the +town, but took the steep road down by the railway station. +There everything is changed—it didn't seem at all the +Frascati we had once lived in—quantities of new, ugly +villas, and an enormous modern Grand Hotel.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>We got home about 6.30—the Campagna quite beautiful +and quiet in the soft evening light. There were very +few people on the road, every now and then a shepherd +in his long sheepskin cloak, staff and broad-brimmed hat +appearing on the top of one of the many little mounds +which are dotted all over the Campagna, and occasionally +in the distance a dog barking.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +March 17th.</div> + +<p>Bessie and I have just come in from the last meet of +the season at Cecilia Metella. It is such a favourite +rendezvous that there is always a great crowd, almost +as many people walking about on the Campagna as riding. +It was a very pretty sight. There were quantities of +handsome horses, but I don't know that it was quite comfortable +walking when the hunt moved off. Some of the +young men—principally officers—were taking preliminary +gallops in every direction, and jumping backward and forward +over a large ditch. One of them knocked down an +Englishwoman—at least I don't think he really knocked +her, but he alighted so near her that she was frightened, +and slipped getting out of his way. We stopped to speak +to her, but she said she wasn't at all hurt, and had friends +with her. The master of the hounds—Marchese Roccagiovine—didn't +look very pleased, and I should think a +large, motley field, with a good many women and careless +riders, would be most trying to a real sportsman, +such as he is. Giovanni Borghese told me there were +two hundred people riding, and I can quite believe it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus315.png" width="500" height="345" alt="Roman Huntsmen on the Campagna. + +Ancient Roman aqueduct in the background." title="Roman Huntsmen on the Campagna. + +Ancient Roman aqueduct in the background." /> +<span class="caption">Roman Huntsmen on the Campagna. + +Ancient Roman aqueduct in the background.</span> +</div> + +<p>We had a delightful day yesterday, but rather a +fatiguing one—I am still tired. We made an excursion +(a family party—Bessie, Josephine, her two children, +Mr. Virgo and two of his friends—a Catholic priest and +a student preparing for orders—all Englishmen). We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +went by train to Frascati, and from there to Tusculum, +carrying our breakfast with us. We passed the little Campagna +station (Ciampino) where we have stopped so often. +Do you remember the old crazy-looking station, and the +station-master, yellow and shivering, and burned up with +fever. Now it is quite a busy little place, people getting +on and off the trains and one or two brisk porters. The +arrival at Frascati was a sight. We were instantly surrounded +by a crowd of donkey-boys and carriages—nice +little victorias with red flowers in the horses' heads and +feathers in the coachmen's hats—all talking at the top of +their voices; but between Mr. Virgo and Pietro, Josephine's +Italian footman, who had charge of the valise +with the luncheon, we soon came to terms, and declined +all carriages, taking three or four donkeys.</p> + +<p>It isn't a long walk to Tusculum, and Josephine and I +both preferred walking—besides I don't think I should +have had the courage to mount in the piazza with all the +crowd looking on and making comments; however, Bessie +did, and she sat her donkey very lightly and gracefully, +making a great effect with her red hat and red +parasol. Perhaps the most interesting show was Pietro. +He was so well dressed in a light grey country suit that +I hardly recognised him. He stoutly refused to be +separated from his valise, put it in front of him on the +donkey, sat well back himself and beamed at the whole +party. He is a typical Italian servant—perfectly intelligent, +perfectly devoted (can neither read nor write), +madly interested in everybody, but never familiar nor +wanting in respect. I ask him for everything I want. +He does it, or has it done at once, better and cheaper than +I could, and I am quite satisfied when I hear his delightful +phrase "Ci penso io"—I am sure it will be done.</p> + +<p>We went up through the Aldobrandini garden. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +looked rather deserted; no one ever lives there now, but +it is let occasionally to strangers. Men were working in +the garden; there were plenty of violets and a few roses—it +is still early in the season for them. In a basin of +one of the fountains a pink water-lily—only one—quite +beautiful. The fountains were lovely—sparkling, splashing, +living—everything else seemed so dead.</p> + +<p>As we wound up the steep paths we had enchanting +views of the Campagna, looking like a great blue sea, at +our feet, and Rome seemed a long, low line of sunlight, +with the dome of St. Peter's hanging above it in the +clouds. The road was very steep, and decidedly sunny, +so I mounted my donkey, Father Evans walking alongside. +Monte Cavo, Rocca di Papa, the Madonna del +Tufo, all seemed very near, it was so clear and the air +was delicious as we got higher. I recognised all the well-known +places, the beginning of the Roman pavement, the +Columbarium, Cicero's house, etc.</p> + +<p>We were quite ready for breakfast when we got to +Tusculum, and looked about for a shady spot under the +trees. There are two great stones, almost tables, in the +middle of the "amfiteatro," where people usually spread +out their food, but the sun was shining straight down on +them; we didn't think we could stand that. We found a +nice bit of grass under the trees and established ourselves +there. It was quite a summer's day, and the rest and quiet +after toiling up the steep paths was delightful.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus319.png" width="500" height="347" alt="Waiting for the Hounds." title="Waiting for the Hounds." /> +<span class="caption">Waiting for the Hounds.</span> +</div> + +<p>After breakfast Josephine and I walked quite up to the +top of the hill, the trees making a perfect dome of verdure +over our heads. There was no sound except our own +voices, and the distant thud of horses' feet cantering in a +meadow alongside, an absolute stillness everywhere. +Such a view! Snow on the Sabine Mountains, sun on +the Alban Hills, the Campagna on either side blue and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +broken like waves, and quite distinct, a long white line, +the sea.</p> + +<p>While we were walking about we noticed two carabinieri, +very well mounted, who seemed to be always +hovering near us, so we asked them what they were +doing up there. They promptly replied, taking care +of the "società." We could hardly believe we heard +rightly; but it was quite true, they were there for us. +They told us that when it was known that a number of +people were coming up to Tusculum (there were two +other parties besides us) they had orders to come up, keep +us always in sight, and stay as long as we did. We gave +them some wine and sandwiches, and they became quite +communicative—told us there were brigands and "cattiva +gente" (wicked people) about; that at Rocca di Papa, +one of the little mountain villages quite near, there were +500 inhabitants, 450 of whom had been in prison for +various crimes, and that people were constantly robbed in +these parts. I wouldn't have believed it if any one had +told us, but they always kept us in sight.</p> + +<p>We decided to go home through the Villa Ruffinella. +Donkeys are not allowed inside, and we thought probably +not horses either, but the carabinieri came in and +showed us the way down. The grounds are splendid—we +walked first down through a beautiful green allée, +then up, a good climb. The villa is enormous—uninhabited +and uncared for—a charming garden and great +terrace with stone benches before the house looking +toward Rome. The garden, of course, wild and ragged, +but with splendid possibilities. Just outside the gate we +came upon a little church. Three or four girls and +women with bright-coloured skirts and fichus and quantities +of coarse jet-black hair were sitting on the steps +working at what looked like coarse crochet work and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +talking hard. The carabinieri were always near, opened +two or three gates for us, and only left us when we were +quite close to the town, well past the gates of the Aldobrandini +Villa.</p> + +<p>As we had some little time before the train started, I +went off with Bessie to have a look at Palazzo Marconi. +It is now occupied by the municipio and quite changed. +We found a youth downstairs who couldn't imagine what +we wanted and why we wanted to go up; however, I explained +that I had lived there many years ago, so finally +he agreed to go up with us. The steps looked more worn +and dirty—quite broken in some places—and the frescoes +on the walls, which were bright blue and green in our +time, are almost effaced. It was all so familiar and yet +so changed. I went into father's room and opened the +window on the terrace, where we had stood so often +those hot August nights, watching the mist rise over the +Campagna and the moon over the sea. There was very +little furniture anywhere—a few chairs and couches in +the small salon that we had made comfortable enough +with our own furniture from Rome. The great round +room with the marble statues has been turned into a +salle de conseil, with a big writing-table in the middle, +and chairs ranged in a semicircle around the room. +There was nothing at all in our old bed-rooms—piles of +cartons in one corner. The marble bath-tub was black +and grimy. We couldn't see the dining-room, people +were in it, but we went out to the hanging-garden—all +weeds, and clothes hanging out to dry. The fountain +was going at the back of the court, but covered with moss, +and bits of stone were dropping off. It all looked very +miserable—I don't think I shall ever care to go back. +There seemed just the same groups of idle men standing +about as in our time—dozens of them doing nothing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +hanging over the wall looking at the people come up from +the railway station. They tell me they never work; even +when they own little lots of land or vignas they don't +work themselves—the peasants from the Abruzzi come +down at stated seasons, dig and plant and do all the work. +One can't understand it, for they look a tall, fine race, all +these peasants of the Castelli Romani, strong, well-fed, +broad-shouldered. I suppose there must be a strong touch +of indolence in all the Latin races.</p> + +<p>It was after six when we got back to Rome. We had +just time to rush home, get clean gloves and long skirts, +and start for the Massimo Palace to see the great fête. +Once a year the palace is opened to the general public, +and the whole of Rome goes upstairs and into the chapel. +It is on St. Philippe's day, when a miracle was performed +in the Massimo family, a dead boy resuscitated in 1651. +There was a crowd assembled as we drove up, tramways +stopped, and the getting across the pavement was rather +difficult. The walls of the palace and portico were hung +with red and gold draperies, the porter and footman in +gala liveries, the old beggars squatted about inside the +portico, the gardes municipaux keeping order, and a +motley crowd struggling up the grand staircase—priests, +women, children, femmes du monde, peasants, policemen, +forestieri, two cooks in their white vestons, nuns, Cappucini—all +striving and jostling to get along. We stopped +at Bebella's apartment, who gave us tea. She had been +receiving all day, but almost every one had gone. We +talked to her a few moments, and then d'Arsoli took us +upstairs to the chapel (by no means an easy performance, +as there were two currents going up and coming down). +The chapel was brilliantly lighted, and crowded; a benedizione +was going on, with very good music from the +Pope's chapel—those curious, high, unnatural voices. All<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +the relics were exposed, and Prince Massimo, in dress +clothes and white cravat, was standing at the door. It +was a most curious sight. D'Arsoli told us that people +had begun to come at seven in the morning. When +we went home there was still a crowd on the staircase, +stretching out into the street, and a long line of tram-cars +stopped.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Friday, March 18th. +</div> + +<p>It rained rather hard this morning, but we three got +ourselves into the small carriage and went down to +the Accademia di Santa Cecilia to hear the Benedictine +monk Don Guery try the Gregorian chants with the big +organ. The organ is a fine one, made at Nuremberg. +An organist arrived from St. Anselmo to accompany the +chants. They sounded very fine, but I thought rather +too melodious and even modern, but Don Guery assured +me that the one I particularly noticed was of the eleventh +century.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Tuesday, 22d.</div> + +<p>We seem always to be doing something, but have had +two quiet evenings this week. Friday night we went +to the Valle to see Marchesa Rudini's Fête de Bienfaisance. +The heat was something awful, as the house was +packed, and as at all amateur performances they were +unpunctual, and there were terribly long intervals. The +comédie was well acted, a little long, but the clou of +the evening was the ballet-pantomime, danced by all +the prettiest women in Rome. The young Marchesa +Rudini (née Labouchère) looked charming as a white +and silver butterfly, and danced beautifully, such pretty +style, not a gesture nor a pas that any one could object +to. The rest of the troop too were quite charming, +coming in by couples—the Princess Teano and Thérèse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +Pécoul a picture—both tall, one dark, one fair, and making +a lovely contrast. I should think they must have +made a lot of money.</p> + +<p>Saturday I had a pleasant afternoon at the Palazzo +dei Cesari with Mr. and Mrs. Seth Low. He is an excellent +guide, had already been all over the palace with Boni +and knew exactly what to show us. It was a beautiful +afternoon and the view over Rome, the seven hills, and +the Forum was divine. These first Roman Emperors +certainly knew where to pitch their tents—what a magnificent +scale they built upon in those days. The old +Augustus must have seen wonderful sights in the Forum +from the heights of the Palatine.</p> + +<p>Josephine had a large dinner in the evening for the +Grand Duchess and Cardinal Vannutelli. It was very +easy and pleasant, and we all wore our little fichus +most correctly as long as the Cardinal was there (they +never stay very long), but were glad to let them slip off +as soon as he went away, for we had a great many people +in the evening and the rooms were warm. I had +rather an interesting talk with an old Italian friend (not +a Roman) over the tremendous influx of strangers and +Italians from all parts of Italy to Rome. He says au +fond the Romans hate it—they liked the old life very +much better—they were of much more importance; it +meant something then to be a Roman prince. Now, with +all the Northern Italians, Court people and double Diplomatic +Corps Rome has become too cosmopolitan. People +amuse themselves, and dance and hunt, and give dinners +at the Grand Hotel and trouble themselves very little +about the old Roman families (particularly those who have +lost money and don't receive any more). The Romans +have a feeling of being put aside in their own place.</p> + +<p>It was beautiful this morning, so I took my convenient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +tram again and went over to see the pictures of the +Vatican. Such a typical peasant couple were in the tram, +evidently just down from the mountains, as they were +looking about at everything, and were rather nervous +when the tram made a sudden stop. The woman (young +and rather pretty) had on a bright blue skirt, a white +shirt with a red corset over it, a pink flowered apron, green +fichu on her head, and long gold ear-rings with a coral +centre. The man, a big broad-shouldered fellow, had the +long cloak with the cape lined with green that the men +all wear here, and a slouched hat drawn low down over +his brows. They got out at St. Peter's and went into +the church. I went around by the Colonnade as I was +going to the pictures. There were lots of people on the +stairs. It certainly is a good stiff pull up.</p> + +<p>I stayed about an hour looking at the pictures—all +hanging exactly where I had always seen them, except +the Sposalizio of St. Catherine, which was on an easel +near the window; some one evidently copying it. I was +quite horrified coming back through the Stanze by some +English people—three women—who were calmly lunching +in one corner of the room. They were all seated, +eating sandwiches out of a paper bag, and drinking out +of a large green bottle. Everybody stopped and looked +at them, and they didn't mind at all. The gardien +was looking on like all the rest. I was so astounded at +his making no remarks that I said to him, surely such a +thing is forbidden; to which he replied smilingly: "No—no, +non fanno male a nessnno—non fanno niente d'indecente" +(No, they are doing no harm to any one, they +are doing nothing indecent). That evidently was quite +true; but I must say I think it required a certain courage +to continue their repast with all the public looking on, +giggling and criticising freely.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>I dined this evening with Malcolm Kahn—Persian +Minister—and an old colleague of ours in London. It +was very pleasant—General Brusatti, one of the King's +Aides-de-Camp, took me in, and I had Comte Greppi, +ancien Ambassadeur, on the other side. Greppi is marvellous—really +a very old man, but as straight as an +arrow, and remembering everybody. Tittone, Minister +of Foreign Affairs, was there, but I wasn't near him at +table, which I regretted, as I should have liked to talk +to him.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Palm Sunday, March 27th.</div> + +<p>Bessie and I went to the American church this morning, +and afterward to the Grand Hotel to breakfast with +some friends. The restaurant was crowded, so many +people have arrived for Easter, and it was decidedly +amusing—a great many pretty women and pretty dresses. +It poured when we came away. We had all promised +to go to an amateur performance of the Stabat Mater +at the old Doria Palace in Piazza Navona. It was rather +damp, with draughts in every direction, so Mrs. Law +and I decided we would not stay to the end, but would +go for a drive until it was time to go back to tea at the +Grand Hotel (it is rather funny, the first month I was +here I never put my foot in the Grand Hotel, and I was +rather disappointed, as tea there in the Palm Garden with +Tziganes playing, is one of the great features of modern +Rome, and now I am there nearly every day). It was +coming down in torrents when we came out of the concert, +and a drive seemed insane, so I suggested a turn in +St. Peter's (which is always a resource on a rainy day in +Rome). That seemed difficult to accomplish, though, +when we arrived at the steps—we couldn't have gone up +those steps and across the wide space at the top without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +getting completely soaked. However I remembered old +times, and told the man to drive around to the Sagrestia. +He protested, so did all the beggars around the +steps, who wanted to open the door of the carriage. We +couldn't get in—the door was shut, etc., but I thought we +would try, so accordingly we drove straight to the +Sagrestia. The door was open—a man standing there +who opened the carriage door and told the coachman +where to stand. I don't think I ever saw rain come down +so hard, and so straight. It was very interesting walking +through all the passages at the back of St. Peter's, +and into the church through the sacristy, where priests +and children were robing and just starting for some service +with tapers and palms in their hands. We followed +the procession, and found ourselves just about in the middle +of the church. There were still draperies hanging +on the columns and seats marked off. There had been +a ceremony of some kind in the morning, and a great +many people were walking about. We stopped some +little time at the great bronze statue of St. Peter. I +was astounded at the quantity and quality of people who +came up and kissed the toe of the Saint. Priests and +nuns of course, and old people, both men and women, +but it seemed extraordinary to me to see young men, tall, +good-looking fellows, bend down quite as reverently as +the others and kiss the toe. They were singing in one +of the side chapels—we listened for a little while—and +all over the church everywhere people kneeling on the +pavement.</p> + +<p>We went back to the Grand Hotel for tea, and dined +with the young Ruspolis, who have a handsome apartment +in the Colonna Palace. The dinner was for the Grand +Duchess, and was pleasant enough. There was a small +reception in the evening, and almost every one went afterward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +to Princesse Pallavicini's who receives on Sunday +evening. I like the informal evening receptions here +very much. It is a pleasant way of finishing the evening +after a dinner, and so much more agreeable than the day +receptions—at least you do see a few men in the evening—whereas +they all fly from afternoons and teas. As +every one receives there is always some house to go to.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Monday, March 28th.</div> + +<p>I have had a nice solitary morning in the Forum, with +my beloved Italian guide book, a little English brochure +with a map of the principal sights, and occasional conversations +with the workmen, of whom there are many, +as they are excavating in every direction, and German +tourists. The Germans, I must say, are always extremely +well up in antiquities, and quite ready to impart +their information to others. They are a little long sometimes, +but one usually finds that they know what they are +talking about.</p> + +<p>There are of course great changes since I have seen the +Forum. They are excavating and working here all the +time. The King takes a great interest in all that sort of +work, and often appears, it seems, early in the morning +and unexpectedly, when anything important is going on. +The Basilica Julia (enormous) has been quite opened out +since my day; and another large temple opposite is most +interesting, with splendid bits left of marble pavement—some +quite large squares of pink marble that were +beautiful; and in various places quantities of coins melted +and incrusted in the marble which looks as if the temple +had been destroyed by a fire.</p> + +<p>There was little shade anywhere. I hadn't the courage +to walk in the sun as far as the Vestals' house, which +is really most interesting. The recent excavations have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +brought to light so many rooms, passages, frescoes, etc., +that the ordinary, every-day life of the Vestal Virgins has +been quite reconstructed. One could follow them in their +daily avocations. From where I was sitting I could see +some of the great statues—some of the figures in quite +good preservation, two of them holding their lamps. I +found a nice square stone, and sat there lazily taking +in the enchanting views on all sides—the Palatine Hill +behind me, the Capitol on one side, on the other the three +enormous arches of the Temple of Constantine; at my +feet the Via Sacra running straight away to the Colosseum, +the sky a deep, soft blue throwing out every line +and bit of sculpture on the countless pillars, temples and +arches that spring up on all sides. From a height, the +Palatine Hill, for instance, the Forum always looks to +me like an enormous cemetery—one loses the impression +of each separate building or ruin. It might be a street +of tombs rather than the busy centre of a great city.</p> + +<p>There were plenty of people going about—bands of +Cook's tourists being personally conducted and instructed. +If the gentleman who explains Roman history gives the +same loose rein to his imagination as the one we used to +hear in Versailles conducting the British public through +the Historical Portrait Gallery, the present generation +will have curious ideas as to the deeds of daring and wonderful +rule of all the Augustuses and Vespasians who +have made the Palace of the Cæsars the keystone of magnificent +and Imperial Rome; and again "unwritten history" +will be responsible for many wonderful statements. +However, I wasn't near enough to hear the explanations. +People were still coming in when I left, and all the way +home I met carriages filled with strangers.</p> + +<p>We went out again rather late. I went for tea to +Marchesa Vitelleschi, and before I came away Vitelleschi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +came in. I wanted to see him to thank him for sending +me his book, a Roman novel, "Roma che se ne va."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> It +is very cleverly written, and an excellent picture of the +Rome of 35 years ago, as we first knew it. I should +think it would interest English and Americans very much, +I wonder he hasn't translated it.</p> + +<p>I found quite a party assembled in the little green salon +when I got back—Don Guery, the Benedictine monk, who +wishes to arrange a concert with Josephine for her charities, +and M. Alphonse Mustel, who has just come from +Paris with his beautiful organ. He arrived this morning +early and hadn't yet found a room anywhere—all the +hotels crowded. They say that for years they haven't +had so many strangers for Holy Week. He is coming +to play here Thursday afternoon.</p> + +<p>We had a quiet evening, and after dinner Mr. Virgo +read to us the book I am so mad about, "The Call of the +Wild." He read extremely well, and I liked the book +even better hearing it read. It is a marvellous description +of that wild life in the Klondyke, and a beautiful +poetical strain all through. The children listened attentively, +were wildly interested, particularly when poor Buck +was made to drag the sledge so heavily loaded, for +his master to win his bet. We also want to read Cardinal +Mathieu's article in the "Revue des Deux Mondes," +"Les derniers jours de Léon XIII."; but we have so +rarely a quiet evening, and in the daytime every one is +out in the beautiful Roman sunshine.</p> + +<p>We have all come upstairs early (ten o'clock) so I am +profiting of a quiet hour to write, as I can't go to bed so +early. This street is rather noisy. It is on the way to +the station and some of the big hotels. Cabs and big +omnibuses go through it all day and all night. I don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +mind the noise. I rather like the roar of a big city—it +means life.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Thursday, March 31st.</div> + +<p>It is pouring to-day, and we have been out all day. I +went to church this morning, but didn't get too wet with +a thick serge dress and umbrella; then to breakfast at the +Grand Hotel with some friends, and an excursion to the +Palace of the Cæsars in prospect, under the guidance of +Mr. Baddeley, who is an authority on all Roman antiquities +and a great friend of Boni's. It rained so hard when +we were sitting in the Palm Garden for coffee, that it +seemed impossible the drops shouldn't come through, and +we looked to see if little puddles were not forming themselves +on the floor under our chairs, but no, it was quite +dry.</p> + +<p>We started in shut carriages, thinking we would try for +the Palace of the Cæsars, where we could get refuge, but +it was shut, so we went on to San Giovanni in Laterano, +and had an interesting hour wandering about the church. +Our guide had old artistic Rome at his fingers' ends, and +it certainly makes all the difference in seeing the curious +old tombs and monuments when one has some idea as to +who the people were, and what sort of lives they led. +Mr. Baddeley said, like all the people who really live in +Italy, that the summer was the time to see Rome; that +no one could imagine what a Roman "festa" was unless +he had seen one in the height of summer, when the +whole population was out and in the streets all day and +all night, in a frenzy of amusement. No priests were in +the streets; a sort of tacit concession, or tolerance for just +one or two occasions.</p> + +<p>We came back here for tea, as M. Mustel had promised +to play for us this afternoon, and Josephine had +asked some of her friends. The organ sounded splendidly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +in her big music-room, where there is little furniture +and no draperies to deaden the sound. He played of +course extremely well, and brought out every sound of +his instrument. Two preludes of Bach were quite beautiful; +also the prelude of "Parsifal"—so much sound at +times that it seemed an orchestra, and then again beautifully +soft. We were all delighted with it.</p> + +<p>People stayed rather late, but Bessie and I and Sir +Donald Wallace, who had come to tea, started off to St. +Peter's. It is the tradition in Rome to go to St. Peter's +on Holy Thursday. In our time the whole city went—it +was quite a promenade de société. I believe they +do still, but we were rather late. The church looked +quite beautiful as we drove up—brilliantly lighted, the +big doors open, quantities of people going up the steps +and through a double line of <i>Italian</i> soldiers into the +church. The "Miserere" was over, but the chapel +was still lighted, a good many people kneeling at the +altar. The church was crowded, and every one pushing +toward the grand altar, which was being washed. They +were also exposing the relics from the two high balconies +on each side of the altar. Many people were kneeling, +and every now and then a procession came through +the crowd of priests and choir-boys with banners, all +chanting, and kneeling when they came near the altar—of +course there was the usual collection of gaping, irreverent +tourists, commenting audibly, and wondering if +anybody really believed those were the actual nails that +came out of the cross, or the thorn out of the Crown of +Thorns, etc., etc., also "why are they making such a fuss +washing their altar—why couldn't they do it this morning +when no one was in the church."</p> + +<p>We had some little difficulty in getting away, as the +crowd was awful—getting worse every moment. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +beautiful when we did get out—the great Piazza quite +black, a steady stream still pouring into the church. The +lights from inside threw little bright spots on the gun-barrels +and belts of the soldiers—the great mass of the +Vatican quite black, with little lights twinkling high up +in some of the windows.</p> + +<p>I am decidedly tired and stiff—I think being rained +upon all day and standing on damp pavements and in +windy corners is rather a trial to any one with rheumatic +tendencies—but I have enjoyed my day thoroughly, particularly +the end at St. Peter's. It so reminded me of +old times when we used to go to all the ceremonies, beginning +with the "Pastorale" at Christmas time and finishing +with the Easter Benediction and "Girandola."</p> + +<p>We finished "The Call of the Wild" this evening, and +now we must take something else. I should like the +"Figlia di Jorio" of d'Annunzio. They say the Italian is +quite beautiful, but the morals, I am afraid, are not of +the same high order. I shall try and see it.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">Rome</span>, Saturday, April 2, 1904.</div> + +<p>It was bright yesterday, but cold. The snow was quite +thick on the Sabine Hills—they looked beautiful as we +drove out into the country through Porta San Giovanni +before going to the church of Santa Croce in Jerusalemme, +where Prince Colonna had asked us to come +and see a curious ceremony—he himself carrying a cross +at the head of a procession. Bessie and I with the two +children and the dog (we would have left him in the +carriage) tried to see some of the churches and hear +some music, but there were such crowds everywhere +that we couldn't get in, so we took a drive instead. +There was such a crowd at Santa Croce that we couldn't +have got anywhere near the altar if we hadn't had a card<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +from Colonna; that took us into the Sagrestia where they +gave us chairs, and we sat there some little time watching +all the "neri" (Blacks) assemble. They proposed +to show us the relics to while away the time, so we were +taken up a very steep staircase, along a narrow short +passage to a small room where they are kept. The priest +lighted tapers, made his little prayer, and then unveiled +his treasures. There were pieces of the Cross, a nail, St. +Thomas's unbelieving finger, and the inscription on a +piece of wood that was over the Cross, "Jesus King of +the Jews." It was an old, blackened, almost rotten +square, with the inscription in Latin, hardly legible, but +the priest showed us some letters and numbers that were +quite distinct.</p> + +<p>When we got back again to the sacristy the procession +was forming—a number of gentlemen dressed in +black, with gold chains and crosses around their necks, +and a long procession of monks, priests, and choristers. +Colonna himself at the head, carrying quite simply a +rather large wooden cross; all with tapers and all chanting. +As soon as they had filed out of the sacristy we +went upstairs again to a high balcony, from which we +had a fine view of the church. It was packed with people, +the crowd just opening enough to allow the procession +to pass, which looked like a line of fire winding in +and out. There was a short, simple service, and then all +turned toward the balcony from where the relics were +shown, every one in the church kneeling, as far as I could +see. We came away before the end, and had great difficulty +in getting through the crowd to our carriages.</p> + +<p>This morning it was beautiful so we all started off +early to the Wurts' Villa (old Sciarra Villa) on the Janiculum. +Just as we crossed the bridge the bells rang +out the Hallelujah (the first time they had rung since<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +Wednesday). They sounded beautiful, so joyous, a real +Easter peal. We had a delightful hour in the garden of +the Villa. There were armies of workmen in every direction, +and the place will be a perfect Paradise. There are +fine trees in the garden, masses of rhododendrons, every +description of palm, and of course flowers everywhere. +The views were divine to-day—the Sabine Mountains +with a great deal of snow, Soracte blue and solitary rising +straight out of the Campagna, and the Abruzzi snow-topped +in the distance. Mr. and Mrs. Wurts were there +and showed us all the improvements they intend making.</p> + +<p>After breakfast I walked about in the Via Sistina looking +for some photographs. I wanted to find some of old +Rome (at least Rome of 24 years ago) but that seemed +hopeless. My artist friend had promised to look in some +of his father's old portfolios and see what he could find, +but he was not in a business frame of mind this afternoon. +He was eating his dinner at his counter, his slouched hat +on his head, which he didn't remove while I was talking +to him. A young woman with her face tied up in a red +fichu was stretched out on the floor behind the counter, +sound asleep, her head on a pile of books; another over +at the other end of the shop, her chair tilted back, talking +sometimes to him and sometimes to people in the street. +I suppose my eyes wandered to the one who was asleep, +for he instantly said, "She is ill, tired, don't disturb her." +He said he hadn't found any old photographs, only one +rather bad and half-effaced of Pio IX. I said I wanted +one of Antonelli. "E morto lui." I said I knew that, +but he <i>had</i> lived however once, and not so very long ago, +and had been a person of some importance. He evidently +didn't think it worth while to continue that conversation, +and had certainly no intention of looking for +any photographs for me that day. It was "festa"—Easter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +Eve—and work was over for him until Monday +morning, so I was really obliged to go, he wishing me +"buon giorno" and "buona Pasqua" quite cheerfully, +without getting up or taking off his hat.</p> + +<p>I came in to tea, as Mustel was to play. We had about +40 people, and he was much pleased at the way in which +every one listened, and appreciated his instrument. Of +course he plays it divinely and brings out every sound. +Josephine had asked the Marquise Villa Marina to come +and hear him. He naturally wants very much to play +for Queen Margherita (who is a very good musician and +plays the organ herself), and if the Marquise makes a +good report the Queen will perhaps send for him to play +for her.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Easter Sunday, April 3d.</div> + +<p>It has been a beautiful day. Bessie and I went to the +English church, which was crowded. We could only +find seats quite at the bottom of the church, and those +were chairs which had been brought in at the last moment. +We went afterward to breakfast with the Wurts +in their beautiful apartment. They had flowers everywhere +(from their villa) and the rooms looked like a garden. +We were quite a party—16—and stayed there talking +and looking at everything until after three. Then +we started for a drive. I wanted to go to the Protestant +Cemetery and see the little mortuary chapel we built after +father's death. Some one told me it was utterly uncared +for, going to ruin. The gates were open as we +drove up, a good many carriages waiting, and plenty of +people walking about inside. It is a lovely, peaceful spot, +so green and still, many fine trees, quantities of camellias, +and violets on almost every grave. The chapel stood +just as I remembered it—in the middle of the cemetery. +It is in perfectly good order, and had evidently been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +used quite lately as there were wooden trestles to support +a coffin, and bits of wreaths and stalks of flowers lying +about. The two inscriptions, Latin on one side and +English on the other, are both quite well preserved and +legible. I wanted very much to see a guardian or director +of the cemetery, but there was only a woman at the +gate, who knew nothing, hadn't been there very long, in +fact she knew nothing about the chapel, and showed me +a room opening into the old cemetery (where Keats is +buried) which looked more like a lumber room than anything +else. There are some interesting monuments, one +to Mrs. Story, quite simple and beautiful, an angel kneeling +with folded wings. It was done by her husband, +the last thing he did, his son told me. The old cemetery +looks quite deserted, close under the great pyramid of +Caius Cestius, the few graves quite uncared for, a general +air of neglect, a fitting resting-place for the poor young +poet whose profound discouragement will go down to +posterity. Every one goes to the grave and reads the +melancholy inscription, "Here lies one whose name was +writ in water."</p> + +<p>It was such a lovely afternoon that we drove on to Tre +Fontane. There, too, there were people. The churches +were open, but there was no service going on; however +the place has always a great charm. The tops of the +eucalyptus trees were swaying in a little breeze, and the +smell was stronger and more aromatic than when we +were there the other day.</p> + +<p>We have had a quiet evening, all of us, children and +grown-ups, Protestants and Catholics, singing the English +Easter Hymns. Josephine, who is a very strict +Catholic, loves the English hymns, and certainly we can +all sing "Christ the Lord is Risen To-day," for Easter +is a fête for all the world. I am sorry I didn't go to St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +Peter's this morning. I don't know that there was any +special ceremony, but for the sake of old times I should +have liked to have had my Easter and Hallelujah there.</p> + +<p>I am writing rather under difficulties as the telephone +is ringing furiously (it goes all day, as every one in the +house uses it for everything). At the present moment +Josephine seems conversing with "all manner of men"—the +Marquise Villa Marina from the Queen's Palace, +the padrone of the hotel where Mustel is staying, and +one or two others. It seems Queen Margherita would +like to have Mustel and his organ to-morrow night at the +Palace; and has asked us three, Bessie, Josephine and me, +to come. I am very glad for Mustel who wants so much +to be heard by the Queen. He hopes to sell some of his +organs here. They are not expensive, but so few people +care about an organ of their own.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Wednesday, April 6th.</div> + +<p>We had an interesting evening at the palace on Monday. +I couldn't get there for the beginning, as I had a +big dinner, and a very pleasant one, at the Iddings'. +When I arrived I heard the music going on, but the Marquise +de Villa Marina came to meet me in the corridor, +and we walked up and down talking until the piece was +over. I found a small party—the Queen, her mother, the +Duchess of Genoa, and about fifteen or twenty people. +The Queen was in black, with beautiful pearl necklace. +She received me charmingly and was most kind and +gracious to Mustel, saying she was so pleased to see a +French artist, and taking great interest in his instrument. +He played several times: Handel's grand aria, Bach, and +the Marche des Pèlerins from "Tannhäuser," which +sounded magnificent—quite an effect of orchestra.</p> + +<p>About 11.30 there was a pause. The Duchess of Genoa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +came over and talked to me a little, saying she had known +my husband and followed his career with great interest, +his English origin and education making him quite different +from the usual run of French statesmen. She also +spoke of my sister-in-law, Madame de Bunsen, whom she +had known formerly in Florence. She exchanged a few +words with the other ladies, and then withdrew, the Queen +and her ladies accompanying her to her apartments. +We remained talking with the other guests until Queen +Margherita came back. She asked Mustel to play once +more—and then we had orangeade, ices, and cakes. +There was a small buffet at one end of the drawing-room. +It was quite half-past twelve when the Queen dismissed +us. We had a real musical evening, pleasant and easy.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 368px;"> +<img src="images/illus341.png" width="368" height="500" alt="Cardinal Antonelli. From a picture painted for the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar. + +From a photograph given to Madame Waddington by the Hereditary Grand Duchess of +Saxe-Weimar at Rome." title="Cardinal Antonelli. From a picture painted for the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar. + +From a photograph given to Madame Waddington by the Hereditary Grand Duchess of +Saxe-Weimar at Rome." /> +<span class="caption">Cardinal Antonelli. From a picture painted for the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar. + +From a photograph given to Madame Waddington by the Hereditary Grand Duchess of +Saxe-Weimar at Rome.</span> +</div> + +<p>It was beautiful this morning, so I went for a turn in +the Villa Borghese, which is a paradise these lovely spring +days; only the getting to it is disagreeable. It is a hot, +glaring walk up the Via Veneto, not an atom of shade +anywhere until one gets well inside the grounds. I was +walking about on the grass quite leisurely, and very +distraite, not noticing any one, when I heard my name. +I turned and saw two ladies making signs to me from +the other side of the road, so I squeezed through a very +narrow opening in the fence, and found myself with the +grand duchess and her lady-in-waiting, who were taking +their morning walk. We strolled on together. She +asked me if I always came to the villa in the morning. +I said "No," I often went shopping in the morning, and +told her about my photographer of the Via Sistina and the +difficulty of getting a photograph of Antonelli. She instantly +said: "Oh, but I can help you there, if you really +would like a photograph of Antonelli. I have a fine portrait +of him that was painted for my beau-père. It is in +the palace at Weimar, and I will give orders at once for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +the court photographer to go and copy it." I was much +pleased, as I <i>do</i> want the photograph and was rather in +despair at not having found one. It seemed incredible +to me, until I had asked a little, that there should be +nothing of Antonelli. After all, it isn't very long since +he played a great part here, so it was a most fortunate +rencontre for me this morning. We parted at the gate—I +walked home and she got into her carriage.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Friday, April 7th.</div> + +<p>We made a pleasant excursion yesterday to San Gregorio, +the Brancaccios' fine place beyond Tivoli. The day +unluckily was grey, looked as if it would pour every minute, +we had none of the lovely lights and shades that +make the Campagna and the hills so beautiful. We went +out in Camillo Ruspoli's automobile, a Fiat, Italian make, +strong and fast. The road is not particularly interesting +until one begins the steep ascent to Tivoli; then looking +back the view of course was beautiful. We didn't have +much time to admire it, for the auto galloped up the steep +hill as if it were nothing. After Tivoli the road goes +straight up into the Sabine hills, winding and narrow, +with very sharp corners, which we swung round quite +easily certainly, as Ruspoli managed his carriage perfectly—but +still the road <i>was</i> narrow and steep—hills +rolling away on one side, a precipice and deep valley on +the other, no wall nor parapet of any description, and it +was absolutely lonely. If anything had broken, or an +animal crossed our road suddenly, and made us swerve, I +don't think anything could have saved us.</p> + +<p>The castle looked very imposing as we came up to it, +an enormous mass, the village built into the castle walls, +standing high on the top of a hill. The flag was flying, +all the population, wildly excited (another automobile had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +arrived before us), were massed at the gates, the drawbridge +down, and Bessie and her husband waiting for +us, also the Bishops who had come in their auto. We +took off some of our coats, but not all, as the rooms are +so enormous that it was cold, notwithstanding a great +fire in the big hall. We had an hour before breakfast, so +they showed us the house which is magnificent, with the +most divine views on all sides from all the balconies, +corner windows, etc. It is beautifully furnished, perfectly +comfortable. I couldn't begin to describe it—one +couldn't take it all in in a flying visit. There are several +complete apartments with dressing-rooms, bath-rooms, +etc., so curious to see so much modern comfort and luxury +inside this grim old castle on the top of a rock far +back in the Sabine hills.</p> + +<p>It was very cold—I kept on my thick coat. There are +balconies and little bridges connecting towers, high terraces, +staircases in every direction—quite bewildering. +We breakfasted in the large dining hall, and it was pleasant +to see the enormous logs, and to hear the crackling and +spluttering of a big fire. There are some fine Brancaccio +portraits, in the curious old-world court dress of the +Neapolitan ladies of the last century. They gave us an +excellent breakfast, with a turkey bred and fattened at +the olive farm (it seems these olive-fed turkeys are their +specialty). We did some more sight-seeing after breakfast, +bachelor apartments principally, such curious old +niches and steep, narrow little staircases (we could only +pass single file) cut in the thick walls, and then started +off to drive and walk in the park. They had two nice +little two-wheeled carts, with stout ponies, just the thing +for rough wood driving. The park is charming—long +green alleys with beautiful views—the country all around +rather stony and barren, no shade as there are few trees.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +We hadn't time to go to the olive farm, which I was sorry +for, as the people were all working there picking the +olives. I should have liked to see the women with their +bright skirts and corsets making a warm bit of colour in +the midst of the grey-green olive groves.</p> + +<p>We started home rather sooner than we had intended, +as the sky was getting blacker, and a few drops already +falling. We were in an open automobile, and should +have been half drowned going home if it had begun to +rain hard. We went back at a frightful pace. If I +found the coming up terrifying you can imagine what +the descent was, flying around the corners, and seeing +the steep road zigzagging far down below us. I heard +smothered exclamations ("Oh, mon petit Camillo, pas si +vite") occasionally from Bessie, and I think Josephine +was saying her prayers—however we did get home without +any accident or "panne" of any kind, and Ruspoli +assured us he had <i>crawled</i> out of consideration for us.</p> + +<p>This morning Josephine and I have been out to the +new Benedictine Monastery of St. Anselmo, which stands +high on a hill overlooking the Tiber. She had business +with the Director, so I went into the chapel which +is fine (quite modern with splendid marbles) and +walked about a little in the garden (they wouldn't let +me go far). We went afterward into the Villa Malta. +There is an extraordinary view through the key-hole of +the door—one looks straight down a long, narrow avenue +with high trees on each side, to St. Peter's—a great blue +dome at the end. We couldn't make out at first what +the old woman meant who opened the door for us, she +wouldn't let us come in, but pointed to the key-hole, +mumbling something we couldn't understand. At last we +heard "veduta" (view), and divined what she wanted us +to do. It was most curious. The gardens are lovely still,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +green, cool. We went over the house, but there is nothing +particularly interesting—portraits of all the "Grands +Maîtres de l'Ordre de Malte." It was so lovely that we +didn't want to come home, so we drove out as far at St. +Paul's Fuori le Mura, and walked around the church to +the front where they are making a splendid portico—all +marble and mosaic. I should have liked it better +without the mosaic—merely the fine granite and marble +columns.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Tuesday, April 12th.</div> + +<p>Yesterday we had a splendid ceremony at St. Peter's, +the 13th anniversary of Pope Gregorio Magno. We +started early, Josephine and I leaving the house together +at 8, dressed in the regulation black dress and veil. I had +on a short cloth skirt, which I regretted afterward, but as +we had asked for no particular places, and were going to +take our chance in the church with all the ordinary sight-seers, +I hadn't made a very élégante toilette. We got +along pretty well, though there were streams of carriages +and people all going in the same direction, until we got +near the St. Angelo bridge—there we took the file, hardly +advanced at all, and met quantities of empty carriages +coming back. I fancy most people started much earlier +than we did. The piazza was fairly crowded (but not +the compact mass we used to see in the old days when +the Pope gave the Easter blessing from the balcony), all +the Colonnade guarded by Italian troops, carabinieri and +bersaglieri. We went round to the Sagrestia, and found +our way easily into the church, and into our Tribune A, +but we might just as well have remained at home, if we +had wanted to see anything. We were far back, low, and +could have just seen perhaps the top of the Pope's tiara +when he was carried in his high chair in procession—however +it was our own fault, as we had asked too late for our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +tickets. I was interested all the same seeing the different +people come in (the church was very full). We sat +there some little time, rather disgusted au fond at having +such bad places, particularly when we saw some people +we knew being escorted with much pomp past our obscure +little tribune, toward the centre of the church. +Finally one of the camerieri segreti in his uniform—black +velvet, ruff and chain—recognised Josephine, and +insisted that she should come with him and he would give +her a proper place. She rather demurred at leaving me, +but I urged her going, as I was sure she would find a +seat for me somewhere. In a few minutes the gentleman +returned, and put me first in the same tribune with her, +a little farther back, but eventually conducted me to the +Diplomatic Tribune, d'Antas, the Doyen, Portuguese Ambassador +to the Quirinal, and an old colleague of ours in +London, having said he would gladly give a place in their +box to an ancienne collègue. That was the moment in +which I regretted my short skirt. I had to cross the +red carpet between rows of gardes-nobles and gala uniforms +of all kinds and colours, and I was quite conscious +that my dress was not up to the mark, a sentiment which +gathered strength as I got to the Diplomatic Tribune, and +saw all the ladies beautifully dressed, with long lace and +satin dresses, pearl necklaces, and their veils fastened +with diamond stars. However, it was a momentary +ennui, and I could only hope nobody looked at me. +Wasn't it silly of me to wear a plain little skirt—I can't +think why I did it. Almost all the bishops and sommités +of the clerical world were already assembled and +walking about in the great space at the back of the +altar. Just opposite us was the Tribune of the patriciat +Romain. All the tribunes and columns were covered with +red and gold draperies. A detachment of gardes-nobles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +splendid in their red coats, white culottes and white +plumes, surrounded the altar. There were two silver +thrones for the Pope, one at one side of the church where +he sat first, directly opposite to us, another quite at the end +of the long nave behind the high altar. The entrance +of the cardinals was very effective. They all wore white +cloaks trimmed with silver, and silver mitres, each one +accompanied by an attendant priest, who helped them +take off and put on their mitres, which they did several +times during the ceremony. The costumes were splendid, +some high prelates, I suppose, in red skirts with +splendid old lace; some in white and gold brocaded +cloaks, also grey fur cloaks; and an Eastern bishop with +a long beard, in purple flowered robes, a pink sash worn +like a grand cordon over his shoulder, and purple mitre. +It was a gorgeous effect of colour, showing all the more +between the rows of tribunes where every one was in +black.</p> + +<p>We divined (as we were too far back to see) when the +Pope's cortège entered the church. There was no sound—a +curious silence—except the trumpets which preceded +the cortège (they played a "Marcia pontificale," they +told me). At last we saw the "sedia gestatoria" with +the peacock fans appearing, and the Pope himself held +high over the heads of the crowd (it seems he hates the +sedia and hoped until the last moment not to be obliged +to use it, but it is the tradition of St. Peter's, and really +the only way for the people to see him). We saw him +quite distinctly. He looked pale certainly, and a little +tired, even before the ceremony began, but that may have +been the effect of the swaying motion of the chair. There +was the same silence when he was taken out of his chair +and walked to the throne, not even the subdued hum of +a great crowd. There was a little group of officiating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +priests and cardinals on the dais surrounding the throne. +The Pope wore a long soutane of fine white cloth, white +shoes, a splendid mantle of white and gold brocade, and +a gold mitre with precious stones, principally pearls. He +began his mass at once, a bishop holding the big book +open before him, a priest on each side with a lighted +taper. His voice sounded strong and clear, but I don't +think it would carry very far. I was disappointed in the +Gregorian chants. There were 1,500 voices, but they +sounded meagre in that enormous space. The ceremony +was very long. I couldn't follow it all, and at intervals +couldn't see anything, as the priests stood often directly +in front of the Pope. It was interesting to make out +the various cardinals—Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli sat +almost directly opposite to us, his tall figure standing out +well. His brother Cardinal Serafino was always close to +the Pope. I asked d'Antas to show me Cardinal Rampolla, +who has a fine head and dignified carriage, rather a +sad face. It was very impressive when the Pope left his +throne by the altar and walked across the great space +to the other one at the end of the nave. Every one +knelt as he passed, the cardinals, bishops, gardes-nobles, +everybody in the tribunes (at least everybody in the front +row, I won't answer for the young ones behind, but they +stood if they didn't kneel). There again the ceremonies +were very long. When the Pope had taken his seat, +many of the cardinals sat too on the steps of the dais. +It was very picturesque, and the Eastern prelate stood +out well from the group of white-robed Cardinals in his +bright flowered garments. The Evangile was read in +Latin and in Greek—a great many things and people were +blessed, every one kneeling at the foot of the dais, and +again when they got close up to the Pope; some quite prostrated +themselves and kissed his slipper (a very nice white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +one) which they say he hates. Prince Orsini, premier +assistant of the Saint Siège, officiated, and looked his +part to perfection. He is tall, with a long white beard, +and his short black velvet cloak, with a long white and +silver mantle over it, was most effective. I don't know +exactly what he did, but he appeared various times at the +foot of the dais, knelt, and sometimes presented something +on a platter. He was always accompanied (as were all +who took any prominent part in the ceremony) by two +priests, one on each side of him; sort of masters of ceremony +who told him when to kneel, when to stand, etc. +On the whole all the music disappointed me. The Gregorian +chants were too thin; the Sistine choir didn't seem +as full and fine as it used to be, and the silver trumpets +absolutely trivial.</p> + +<p>It was most impressive at the moment of the elevation, +almost the whole assembly in that enormous church +kneeling, and not a sound except the silver trumpets, +which had seemed so divinely inspired to me in the old +days. I remember quite well seeing Gounod on his knees, +with tears streaming down his face, and we were quite +enchanted, lifted out of ourselves and our every-day surroundings. +This time I was perfectly conscious of a +great spectacle of the Catholic Church with its magnificent +"mise-en-scène," but nothing devotional or appealing +to one's religious feelings.</p> + +<p>I should have liked to hear a great solemn choral of +Bach, not an ordinary melodious little tune; and yet for +years after those first days in Rome I never could play or +hear the music of the silver trumpets without being +strangely moved.</p> + +<p>I thought the Pope looked very pale and tired as he +passed down the long nave the last time and was finally +carried off in his chair with his peacock fans waving,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +and a stately procession of cardinals and prelates following. +I think he regrets Venice and the simple life there +as pastor of his people.</p> + +<p>We saw plenty of people we knew as we were making +our way through the crowd to the carriage. Some of +the ladies told us they had left their hotel at 5.30 in the +morning, they were so anxious to get a good place. I +told d'Antas I was very grateful to him, for I saw everything +of course perfectly, and took in many little details +which I never could have seen if we hadn't been so near. +I also apologized to Madame d'Antas for my modest, not +to say mesquin attire; but she said as long as I was all +black, and had the black veil, it was of no consequence. +There were two or three ladies in the Royal Tribune—Grand +Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and Duchess Paul of +Mecklenburg. We were a long time getting home, but it +was an interesting progress; all Rome out, a good many +handsome carriages, and I should think people from every +part of the world, Rome is so full of strangers.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Thursday, April 14th.</div> + +<p>I never had a moment yesterday as it was the children's +ball, and we were all taken up with the preparations. It +went off very well, and was one of the prettiest sights I +ever saw. The children danced extremely well, though +even at the last repetition things didn't go perfectly; but +evidently at all ages there is a sort of amour propre +that carries one through, when there is a gallery. The +dresses were Louis XVI., paniers and powder for the +girls (and sweet they looked—Victoria quite a picture +with her large dark eyes and bright colour), embroidered +coats, long gilets, tricorne hats and swords for the boys. +There were eight couples, and very good music—4 +violins playing Boccherini's minuet. Bessie had arranged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +a very pretty "rampe" with white azaleas and +pink and yellow ribbons, separating the upper part of the +ball-room, and the space for the dancers was kept by 4 +tall footmen in yellow gala liveries and powder, who stood +at each corner of the square, in their hands tall gilt canes +held together by bands of pink ribbon. It made a charming +"cadre"—you can't imagine how pretty the little +procession looked as they all filed in, the small ones first. +I think perhaps the quite small ones were the best; they +were so important, took much trouble and weren't as distracted +by the spectators as the bigger ones. They were +much applauded, and were obliged to repeat the minuet +after a little rest. In an incredibly short time all the +seats and various accessories were taken away, and +the ball began, ending with a very spirited cotillon led by +the son of the house, Don Camillo Ruspoli, and one of his +friends, the Marquis Guglielmi. They kept it up until +dinner time, when the various mammas, quite exhausted +with the heat and the emotion of seeing their children +perform in public, carried them off; but the children +(ours certainly) were not at all tired.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Saturday, April 16th.</div> + +<p>It is real summer weather—too hot to walk in the +morning, particularly from here, where we have to cross +the open piazza before we can get anywhere. Thursday +we went to the races with the Brancaccios, on their coach. +It was most amusing, the road very animated all the way +out from Porta San Giovanni to Campanelle; every one +making way for the coach as they do in England. There +was every description of vehicle, and quantities of police +and soldiers—the road very strictly guarded, as the King +and Queen were coming. It looked very pretty to see +a patrol of cuirassiers suddenly appearing from under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +an old archway, or behind a bit of ruined wall, or from +time to time one solitary soldier standing on the top of a +high mound. It was very hot, the sun too strong on our +heads, but we didn't go very fast; couldn't, in such a +crowd, so we were able to hold our parasols.</p> + +<p>The course and all the tribunes were crowded; the +women almost all in white or light dresses. The King +and Queen came in an open carriage with four horses—no +escort. We had a pleasant day, meeting quantities of +people we knew. We had rather a struggle for tea; there +were not nearly enough tables and chairs for so many +people; but we finally got some under difficulties, two of +us sitting on the same chair and thankful to get it.</p> + +<p>The drive home was lovely, cool, and very little dust. +Rome looked soft and warm in the sunset light as we got +near, and the statues on San Giovanni Laterano almost +golden as the light struck them. It was interminable +when we got into the file, and Brancaccio had some difficulty +in turning into his court-yard.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Monday, April 18th.</div> + +<p>It is enchanting summer weather, but too hot for walking. +I have had two charming auto expeditions with +Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. Saturday we started after breakfast +to Cività Vecchia. The country is not very interesting +near Rome, but it was delightful running along by +the sea—the road low and so close to the water that the +little waves came nearly up to the wheels. Cività Vecchia +looked quite picturesque, rising up out of the sea. +We didn't stop there, merely drove through the town, +and came home another way inland, through the hills, +quite beautiful, but <i>such</i> sharp turns and steep bits. We +climbed straight up a high hill (2,000 feet) soon after +leaving Cività Vecchia, and had for some time a divine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +view of sea and coast; then plunged at once into the +mountains, great barren, stony peaks with little old grey +villages on top; hills rolling away on each side, a wild, +desolate country. The road was very lonely, we met only +a few carts; the peasants frantic with terror as the big +auto dashed by.</p> + +<p>We passed Bracciano, the great feudal castle of the +Odescalchi, with the beautiful little blue lake at the bottom +of the hill. It is a fine old pile, square and grey, +with battlements running all around it—more imposing +than attractive. After leaving Bracciano we flew—the +road was straight and level—and got back to Rome by +Ponte Molle and Porta del Popolo.</p> + +<p>Sunday we made a longer expedition to the Falls of +Terni. There were three autos—quite a party. The +road was very different, but quite beautiful, green fields +and olive woods, and lovely effects of light and shade on +the Campagna. The day was grey, the sun appearing +every now and then from behind a cloud, at first; later, +when we stopped on the high road, with not a vestige of +tree or bit of wall to give us shade, we longed for the +clouds.</p> + +<p>We soon began to climb, then down a long, winding +hill to Cività Castellana, an old fortified town, walls all +around. We drove in through the gate, and along a +narrow steep street filled with people, as it was Sunday, +and asked if they had seen another auto. They told us +yes, in the piazza, so we went on, making our way with +difficulty through the crowded streets; every one taking a +lively interest in the auto. The square, too, was crowded, +all the women in bright skirts and fichus, and a fair +sprinkling of uniforms; little carts with fruit and vegetables, +and two or three men with mandolins or violins (a +mild little music) but no signs of an auto. A splendid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +gentleman in uniform with waving plumes and a sword +(mayor, I suppose) came up and interviewed us, and told +us an auto had been there, coming from Rome, but had +left about ten minutes before; so we started off again, and +had a beautiful drive to Terni. We passed Narni, which +stands very well on the top of a rock, high above the little +river which runs there through a narrow gorge to the +Tiber. We crossed a fine large bridge, then down a hill +to Terni, where we breakfasted. After breakfast we +started for the Falls, about four miles further on, and +quite beautiful they are, a great rush of sparkling water +falling from a height and breaking into countless little +falls over the green moss-covered rocks below. It was +delicious to hear the sound of running water, and to feel +the spray on our faces after our hot ride.</p> + +<p>We didn't get out. We shouldn't have seen the Falls +any better, and would have had to scramble over wet, slippery +stones. There was the usual collection of guides, +beggars, etc., offering us pieces of petrified stone, and of +course post-cards of the Falls. Just around Terni the +hills are very green, the slopes covered with olive trees, +and quantities of white villas scattered about on the +hillside, little groups of people loitering about, women +and girls making pretty bits of colour as they strolled +along. They love bright colours, and generally have on +two or three, red or blue skirts, yellow fichus on their +heads, or over their shoulders, coloured beads or gold +pins. Some of them carried such heavy loads on their +heads or backs, great bundles of fagots, or sacks of +olives, old women generally. They are given that work +as a rest when they are too old to do anything in the fields.</p> + +<p>We came home by another road, always the same wild +mountain scenery, always also the same sharp curves and +steep descents. It is certainly lovely country, green hills<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +breaking away in every direction. As we got higher, +great stony, barren peaks, torrents rushing along at our +feet, and always on the top of a rock, rising straight up +out of the hills, a little old grey village (with usually a +steeple and sometimes an old square castle). Some of +the villages were stretched along the mountain-side about +half-way up. They all looked perfectly lonely and inaccessible, +but I suppose life goes on there with just as much +interest to them, as in ours in the busy world beneath.</p> + +<p>We raced up and down the hills, through beautiful +country, scarcely slackening when we passed through +some little walled towns (hardly more than one long +crooked street), in at one gate and out at the other, people +all crowding into the piazza, smiling and taking off their +hats. Once or twice one heard them say "la Regina" +evidently thinking it was Queen Margherita, who loves +her auto, and makes long country excursions in it. It was +a curious, fantastic progress, but enchanting.</p> + +<p>The other autos had started some time ahead of us. +We saw an object (stationary) as we were speeding down +a steep hill, which proved, as we got near, to be one of +them, stuck in a little stream, quite firmly embedded in +the sand, and looking as if nothing would ever get it +out. About 15 or 20 men were pulling and hauling, but +it seemed quite hopeless. It wasn't a very pleasant prospect +for us either, as our auto, too, was big and heavy, +and we had to get across. It would have been too far to +go back all the way round. However, Mr. Bishop's chauffeur +was not in the least concerned, said he would certainly +take <i>his</i> carriage over, and he did, Mrs. Bishop and +me in it. We waited to see the other one emerge from +its bed of sand. The men pulled well, and talked as hard +as they pulled, and finally the great heavy machine was +landed on the other side.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>We had a long level stretch, about 20 kilometres, before +we got into Rome, and we raced the train, all the passengers +wildly excited. It is curious to see how one gets +accustomed to the speed when the carriage rolls smoothly. +It seemed quite natural to me to fly past everything, and +yet when Strutz has occasionally whirled us in to La +Ferté to catch the express I haven't been comfortable +at all.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +April 22, 1904.</div> + +<p>Yesterday afternoon Bessie and I went to the reception +at the Villa Médicis, which was pleasant. We liked +the music of the I<sup>er</sup> Prix de Rome, and it was interesting +to see the pictures and sculpture. I think the faces +of the young men interested me, perhaps, more than their +work—they looked so young and intelligent and hopeful, +so eager for the battle of life; and yet so many find +it such a struggle. There is so much concurrence in +everything, and an artist's life is precarious. The very +qualities which make their genius unfit them so for all +the cares and worries of a career which must always +have ups and downs.</p> + +<p>We went late for a drive in the Corso and Via Nazionale +to see all the preparations for Loubet's arrival. They +are certainly taking no end of trouble—flags, draperies, +and festoons of flowers, in all the principal streets. The +garden they are making in Piazza Colonna is quite wonderful—quite +tall trees, little green lawns, and the statue +of a Roman emperor. Quantities of people looking on +at the workmen and walking about in the piazza. The +Via Nazionale, too, is gorgeous with draperies, shields, +and large medallions with French and Italian colours +entwined.</p> + +<p>This afternoon I went off alone and did some sight-seeing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +We shall go in a few days, and I haven't seen +half I wanted to. I went straight over to the Trastevere; +first to Santa Maria, with its queer old mosaic façade, +looking more Byzantine than Italian; then on to Santa +Cecilia, where a nice old sacristan took me all over, +showed me the chapel supposed to be directly over Santa +Cecilia's bath-room (the church is said to be built on the +very spot where her house stood), and of course the tomb +of the saint. Then, as I had nothing particular to do, +I drove out toward Monte Mario, which is a lovely drive +in the afternoon, the view of Rome looking back is so +beautiful. It is a long steep hill, with many turns, so +one gets the view on all sides. The Cork Valley was +green and lovely, and the road was unusually quiet. I +think everybody is on the Corso looking at the festal +preparations. I went back to the house to get Bessie, +and we went to tea with the Waldo Storys, in his studio. +He has some beautiful things—two fountains in particular +are quite charming.</p> + +<p>We all dined out, Bessie and Josephine with Cardinal +Mathieu, I at the American Embassy with the Meyers. +We had a pleasant dinner—four or five small tables. +They have Mrs. Field's apartment in the Brancaccio Palace—entertain +a great deal, and are much liked in Rome.</p> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus359.png" width="500" height="346" alt="The Dining-room in the Brancaccio Palace." title="The Dining-room in the Brancaccio Palace." /> +<span class="caption">The Dining-room in the Brancaccio Palace.</span> +</div> + +<p>We came home early, and I am finishing this letter to-night. +It is very warm, the windows open, and the street +sounds very gay. To say that we have heard the Marseillaise +these last days but faintly expresses how we have +been pursued by the well-known air. Everybody sings +or whistles it, all the street musicians, hand-organs, guitars, +accordions, and brass bands play it all day and all +night; and we hear the music of a neighbouring barrack +working at it every morning. At this present moment +a band of youths are howling it under the window. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +think they are getting ready to amuse themselves when +the President arrives.</p> + +<p>It was most amusing in the streets this morning, flags +flying, draperies being put up everywhere, troops marching +across the Piazza di Spagna, musique en tête, to exercise +a little on the review ground before the great day—quantities +of people everywhere. They say all the +hotels will be crowded to-morrow, and with French people, +which rather surprises me, but they tell me there are +deputations from Avignon, Marseilles, and various other +southern towns. They are beginning to arrange the +Spanish Steps quite charmingly—a perfect carpet of +flowers (if only it doesn't rain).</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Saturday, April 23d.</div> + +<p>It poured this morning, and all night I heard the rain +beating against the window every time I woke. The +clouds are breaking a little now, at three o'clock, so perhaps +it has rained itself out, and the President may have +the "Queen's weather" to-morrow. Our Loubet invitations +are beginning to come—a soirée at the Capitol; +great ricevimento, all the statues illuminated with pink +lights; a gala at the opera; another great reception at the +French Embassy (Quirinal); and the review.</p> + +<p>Josephine and I have been dining with the grand +duchess at her hotel. We were a small party, and it was +pleasant enough. She talks easily about everything, and +loves Rome. The evening was not long. We all sat in +a semicircle around her sofa after dinner. Every one +smoked (but me), and she retired about ten.</p> + +<p>We have been talking over plans since we got back. +Bessie will start to-morrow night. She is not keen +naturally about the Loubet fêtes, and Palma<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> wants her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>to stay over two or three days with her in the country +somewhere near Ancona. She will meet me in Turin, +and we will come on together from there. It is still +raining—I hope it will stop.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Tuesday, April 26th.</div> + +<p>I had no time to write Sunday, as we were going all +day. Bessie and I went to church in the morning, and +then I left some P. P. C. cards on Cardinals Vannutelli, +Mathieu, etc., also a note to the grand duchess to thank +her for the photographs of Antonelli which she sent me +last night—two very good ones, with a nice little note, +saying she thought I would perhaps keep the big one for +myself "as a souvenir of old times and new friends."</p> + +<p>The Corso looked quite brilliant as we drove through—the +bright sun seemed to have completely dried the flags +and festoons and the streets were full of people, all gaping +and smiling, and in high good-humour. The Spanish +Steps were charming, the great middle flight entirely +covered with flowers, looking like an enormous bright +carpet.</p> + +<p>We had some visits after breakfast, and started about +three to the Countess Bruschi's, who has an apartment +with windows looking directly over to the "Esedra di +Termine," where the syndic, Prince Prosper Colonna, was +to receive the President. There was such a crowd, and +there were so many people going to the same place, that +we thought that would be hopeless, so we returned and +made our way with difficulty, as the streets were crowded, +to the Via Nazionale, where a friend of Josephine's had +asked us to come. She established us on a balcony, and +there we saw splendidly. The street is rather narrow, +and the balcony not high. The crowd was most amusing, +perfectly good-natured, even at times when a band of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +roughs would try to break the lines, pushing through the +rows of screaming, struggling women and children, and +apparently coming to a hand-to-hand fight with the +policemen; but as soon as the soldiers charged into them—which +they did repeatedly during the afternoon—they +dispersed; nobody was hurt (I never can imagine why +not, when the horses all backed down on them), nobody +protested violently, and the crowd cheered impartially +both sides. These little skirmishes went on the whole +afternoon until we heard the Marcia Reale, and saw the +escort appearing. A troop of cuirassiers opened the +march. The royal carriages with the red Savoie liveries +were very handsome—all the uniforms making a great +effect—the King and President together, both looking +very happy, the King in uniform, the President in plain +black with a high hat, returning all the salutations most +smilingly. He was enthusiastically received, certainly—there +were roars of applause, which became frantic when +some of the military bands played the Marseillaise. As +soon as the cortège had passed the crowd broke up, quantities +of people following the carriage to the Quirinal, +where the great square was crowded. There, too, they +were so enthusiastic that the President had to appear on +the balcony between the King and Queen.</p> + +<p>We started out again after dinner, and wanted to see +the torch-light procession, but didn't, as our movements +were a little complicated. We took Bessie to the station, +and waited to see her start. When we came out the procession +had passed, but the streets were still brilliantly +lighted and very gay, quantities of people about.</p> + +<p>Yesterday we had a delightful expedition to Porta +d'Anzio and Nettuno—two autos—and some of the party +by train. We were really glad to get out of the streets +and the crowd of sight-seers. Quantities of people have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +come from all parts of Italy to see the show, and are +standing about all day in compact little groups, gaping +at the festoons and decorations. It is frightful to think +of the microbes that are flying about.</p> + +<p>We started early, at 9.30, went straight out toward +Albano, to the foot of the hill, then turned off sharp to +the right, taking a most lovely road, chestnut trees on +each side, and hedges white and fragrant with hawthorn. +As we got near Porta d'Anzio we had a beautiful view +of a bright blue summer sea. The first arrivals had ordered +breakfast in quite a clean hotel, evidently other +people had thought too that it would be pleasant to get +out of Rome to-day, as there were several parties in the +dining-room, which was large and bright, but no view +of the sea.</p> + +<p>After breakfast we all wandered out to the shore, and +walked about a little, but the sun was hot and the glare +very trying—the sea like a painted ocean, all the sails of +the little pleasure boats, and even fishing boats further +out, hanging in folds, the boats just drifting with the +tide. The place is enchanting, and the little point of +Nettuno quite white in the sun, stretching out into the +blue sea, was fairy-like—the colours almost too vivid. +The various boatmen lounging about in bright coloured +shirts and sashes were very anxious we should sail or +row to Nettuno, but the sea, though beautiful, looked +hot, and we were rather sceptical about the breeze which +they assured us always got up after 12.</p> + +<p>We went off in the auto to the Villa Borghese, about +half-way between Porta d'Anzio and Nettuno, which is +a Paradise. It stands high, in a lovely green park and +looks straight out to sea. The drive through the park +by the galleria, trees meeting over our heads, and the +road winding up and down through the little wood was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +delightful, so shady and resting to the eyes after the glare +and sun of the beach. All the way to Nettuno there are +quantities of villas, fronting the sea, some very high with +terraces sloping down to the water, all with gardens. +Nettuno itself is an interesting little place with a fine old +feudal castle. Some of the party had chosen to sail from +Porta d'Anzio to Nettuno, and we saw their boat, full of +children, just moving along close to the shore.</p> + +<p>We had tea on the shore, made in Countess Frankenstein's +tea-basket, and it was delicious sitting there, +seeing the little blue waves break at our feet, and the +beautiful clear atmosphere making everything look so +soft and near.</p> + +<p>The coming home was enchanting, very few people on +the road, so we could come quickly, and the flying through +the air was delightful after the heat and fatigue of the +day. The Campagna is beautiful at the end of the day; +so quiet, long stretches of green just broken here and +there by the shepherds' huts, and the long lines of aqueducts, +curiously lonely so close to a great city.</p> + +<p>We had just time to dress and dine, and start for the +gala at the opera. The theatre (Argentina) is small, +and stands in a narrow street. There was a long file of +carriages, and so little space in front, that there could be +no display of troops, music, etc., as one has always +in Paris for a gala night at the Opera. Inside, too, all +is small, the entrance, corridor, staircase, etc. Once +we had got to our box the coup d'œil was charming. +The whole house is boxes, tier upon tier, all dark red +inside, which threw out the women's dresses and jewels +splendidly. They were almost all in white with handsome +tiaras, the men in uniform, at least the diplomatists +and officers. The peuple souverain, senators, deputies, +etc., in the parterre were in black. The heat was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +something awful. The Court came very punctually—the +Queen looked handsome with her beautiful tiara, the +King of course in uniform, the President between them in +black with no decoration. The house went mad (every +one standing of course) when they played the Marseillaise, +all the parterre cheering and waving hats and handkerchiefs; +equally mad when they stopped that and played +the Marcia Reale. The King, who is generally quite impassive, +looked pleased. The performance, like all gala +performances, was long, but the Royal party didn't look +bored, and seemed to talk to each other, and to Loubet +quite a good deal. The King has a serious, almost stern +face, with a keen, steady look in the eye. I should think +he saw everything. The end of the ballet was a fine potpourri +of French and Italian flags, Marseillaise and Marcia +Reale, and the Court left in a roar of cheers. The +Queen bowed very graciously and prettily right and left +as she turned to go.</p> + +<p>The getting away was difficult and disagreeable, the +narrow street was crowded with royal carriages, all the +horses prancing and backing, and no one paying attention +to anything else. However, it was a fine, dry night, and +once we had got across the street we found our carriage +(guided by the faithful Pietro) without any trouble.</p> + +<p>This morning the Piazza is most interesting. Evidently +the King and President pass at the foot of the +square, as there are troops everywhere, and a double line +of soldiers stretching across the top of the Tritone. +Every description of vehicle, omnibuses, fiacres, peasants' +carts, people on horseback, all ranged close up +behind the soldiers; groups of carabinieri with their +red plumets are scattered about the Piazza; a long line +of red-coated German seminarists crossing at one end, +two or three Cappucini with their sandals, bare feet, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +ropes at their waists, coming out of their church, but not +stopping to see the show.</p> + +<p>I am writing as usual at the window, and a fine smell +of frittura comes up from the shop underneath. A most +animated discussion is going on just under the window +between a peasant, sitting well back on his donkey's tail, +two baskets slung over his saddle, strawberries in one, +nespoli (medlars) in the other, and a group of ragged, +black-eyed little imps to whom some young Englishmen +have just given some pennies. They all talk, and every +now and then some enterprising boy makes a dive at the +baskets, whereupon the man makes his donkey kick, and +the children scatter. All the people in the street, and the +coachmen of the little botte (there is a station in the +Piazza Barberini) take a lively interest in the discussion; +so do I from the window, but the police are arriving +and the man will be obliged to come to terms. The +coachmen of the botte are a feature of Rome, they spot +the foreigner at once, and always try to get the better +of him. I took a carriage the other day to go and breakfast +with Mrs. Cameron in the Piazza di Spagna, about +two minutes' drive, and asked our porter what I must +give the coachman. He said one lira (franc). When +we arrived I gave my franc, which he promptly refused +to receive; however I told him I knew that was the +tariff and I wouldn't give any more. He protested +energetically, giving every possible reason why I should +give more—his carriage was the best in the piazza, the +road (Via Tritone) was very bad, down hill and slippery, +he had waited some time in the piazza for me, etc.; +however I was firm and said I would only give him one +franc. Two other coachmen who were standing near +joined in the discussion and told him he was quite wrong, +that a franc was all he was entitled to. He instantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +plunged into an angry dispute with them, and in the +meantime Mrs. Cameron's door opened, so I put the franc +on the cushion of the carriage, he in a frenzy, telling me +he wouldn't go away, but would stay there with his carriage +until I came out. That I told him he was at perfect +liberty to do, and went into the house. He and the +others then proceeded to abuse each other and make such +a row that when I got up to Mrs. Cameron's rooms she +said she couldn't think what was going on in the street, +there was such a noise and violent quarrelling—so I told +her it was all me and my botta.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Thursday, April 28th.</div> + +<p>Well, dear, the fêtes are over, the President has departed, +and the Piazza Barberini has at once resumed its +ordinary aspect; no more carabinieri, nor police, nor carriages +full of people, waiting all day in the square in +the hope of seeing King or President pass. I wonder +what the old Triton sitting on his shell with his dolphins +around him thinks of this last show. He has sat there +for centuries, throwing his jet of water high in the air, +and seeing many wonderful sights.</p> + +<p>The reception at the Farnese Palace was most brilliant +last night. We got there too late to see the King and +Queen and President receiving; there was such a crowd +in the streets, which were all illuminated, that we couldn't +get across the Corso, and were obliged to make a long +détour. The Farnese Palace looked beautiful as we +came up, the rows of lights throwing out the splendid +façade, the big doors open, quantities of handsome carriages, +people in uniform and ladies in full dress and +jewels who had got out of their carriages, crowding into +the grand old court. The royal carriages were all drawn +up inside the court, and the group of footmen in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +bright red liveries made a fine effect of colour at the foot +of the stairs. It was an interesting assemblage, all Rome +(White) there, and all most curious to see the President. +I didn't see either King or Queen. They were already +making their progress through the rooms, which were so +crowded that it was impossible to pass. The famous +Carracci Gallery looked magnificent lighted. The Ambassador +and Madame Barrère received their numerous +guests most courteously, and didn't look tired, but I fancy +it was a relief to them when the fêtes and their responsibility +were over.</p> + +<p>We have had to put off our journey until Saturday. +They wouldn't undertake to keep us reserved compartments, +not even sleeping, until Saturday, there would be +such a crowd. I don't exactly know why, for the President +left this morning, going south, and we, of course, +are coming north, but every one told me not to go, so +we have telegraphed to the Ruspolis to say we would go +out and breakfast with them at Nemi.</p> + +<p>There were quantities of affiches posted everywhere +this morning which I shouldn't think would please either +the King of Italy or the French President: "Viva Loubet—Viva +Combes—Viva la France anticléricale."</p> + +<p>Josephine and I went for a drive. It had rained all the +morning, and was grey and damp, but we didn't mind. +We both of us love the Campagna in all its varying aspects. +We walked about for some time, but had difficulty +in choosing our ground, on account of the shepherds' +dogs, which are very fierce sometimes, and the +troops of buffaloes. Josephine had a disagreeable experience +one day with the buffaloes. She was walking on +the Campagna with her small children and her Italian +footman, when suddenly a troop of these wild creatures +charged down upon her at a headlong pace. There was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +no refuge of any kind near; the footman, frightened to +death, promptly ran away. She was terrified, but didn't +lose her head. She stood quite still, the children clinging +to her skirts, and the herd divided, passing by on either +side; but she might have been trampled to death. +Naturally she has given them a wide berth since.</p> + + +<div class="signature"> +Friday, April 29th.</div> + +<p>I will finish to-night dear, as we have come upstairs +early after a long day in the country. The trunks are +all ready, some of them downstairs, and we start early to-morrow +morning. They say the confusion yesterday at +the station, when the President departed, was awful, +people—ladies—rushing about distractedly trying to find +places, no footmen allowed inside, not enough porters to +carry the heavy dressing-bags and rouleaux. Some people +couldn't get any places, could only start last night.</p> + +<p>We had a pleasant day at Nemi. We went out by +train. There were a good many people, evidently starting +for the regular round of Castelli Romani, principally +English and Americans, and principally women, +very few men, but large parties, six and seven, of women +and girls. It is a pretty road across the Campagna and +up the steep hill to Albano, and as our speed was not +terrifying we had ample time to see everything. The +Ruspoli carriage was waiting for us, and we had a beautiful +drive to Nemi. It is really a lovely little place—the +deep blue lake at the foot of the hills, and all the +country about us green. Our hosts were waiting for us +in one of the numerous salons, and we had time to go +over the castle a little before breakfast, which we had in +a charming old-fashioned room, with wonderful frescoes +on the walls. They have already done wonders in the +old feudal castle, and I should think it would be a charming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +summer residence, as no heat could penetrate these +thick walls. The view from the balcony was divine, over +green slopes and little woods to the lake.</p> + +<p>We missed our train at Albano, so drove on to Castel +Gandolfo and waited there for the next one. We had +goûter in a lovely little pergola overlooking the lake of +Albano, with the great papal villa opposite. It is not +very interesting as to architecture, a large square pile. +No Pope has lived there since Pio Nono. I believe some +French nuns are settled there now.</p> + +<p>It was very warm walking about the little old town, +which looked as if it had been asleep for years—no one +in the streets, no beggars even, no movement of any kind. +Just as we were starting for the station three or four +carriages filled with tourists rattled through. It is curious +to see how life seems to go on in just the same +grooves in all these little towns. Rome has so changed—changes +so all the time—is getting cosmopolitan, a +great capital; but all these little mountain villages seem +quite the same as in the old days of Savellis, Colonnas, +and Orsinis, when most of the great feudal chiefs were +at daggers drawn and all the country fought over, and +changing hands after each fierce encounter. The few +people one meets look peaceful enough, but on the smallest +provocation eyes flash, tones and gestures get loud and +threatening, but apparently they calm down at once and +are on the whole, I fancy, a lazy, peaceable population.</p> + +<p>It is warm to-night, the windows are open and the Marseillaise +still has the honours of the night—one hears it +everywhere.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p> +<h2>INDEX</h2> + + +<div> +Albano, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +Alberti, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>-<a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Alfieri, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +<br /> +Allessandri, Carlo, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> +<br /> +Altieri, Cardinal, death of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +Angelico, Fra, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Antonelli, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a><br /> +<br /> +d'Aosta, Duke, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Apponyi, Count, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br /> +<br /> +Arbuthnot, Miss, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +d'Asoli, <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br /> +<br /> +d'Asoli, Princess, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br /> +<br /> +d'Aubigny, M. and Madame, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +d'Aulnay, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +d'Aulnay, Comtesse, <a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /> +<br /> +Austria, Emperor of, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br /> +<br /> +d'Autas, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Baddeley, Mr., <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Bailey, Mrs., <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<br /> +Bailleul, Madame de, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">received by the Queen, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bandini, Prince, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +<br /> +Bandini, Princess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives musicale, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Beauharnais, Comtesse de, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Bertheny, Countess de, <a href="#Page_262">262</a><br /> +<br /> +Bibra, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br /> +<br /> +Bicletis, Monsignor, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /> +<br /> +Bishop, Mr. and Mrs., <a href="#Page_299">299</a><br /> +<br /> +Bonghi, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +<br /> +Borghese, Giovanni, <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br /> +<br /> +Brancaccio, Princess, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Brandt, Otto, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br /> +<br /> +Brinquant, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Bruce, Mrs., <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brusatti, General, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Bruschi, Countess, <a href="#Page_306">306</a><br /> +<br /> +Bunsen, Charles de, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives at Rome, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Florence, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bunsen, Madame de, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Cabat, M., <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +Cabriac, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +<br /> +Cairoli, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speaks in Chamber, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cairoli, Madame, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Calabrini, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Calice, Countess, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Cameron, Mrs., <a href="#Page_311">311</a><br /> +<br /> +Caprannica, Bianca, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Caprannica, Marchesa, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Cardenas, the, give dinner, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +<br /> +Cavaletti, Maurizio, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br /> +<br /> +Cavour, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Celleri, Countess, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br /> +<br /> +Cenci, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +Cesarini, Marquise Villa, <a href="#Page_253">253</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>Chambord, Comte de, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +Charles Albert, King of Savoy, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Charette, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br /> +<br /> +Chigi, Marquise, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Cialdini, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Coello, Count, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /> +<br /> +Colobiano, Count, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> +<br /> +Colonna, Prince, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a><br /> +<br /> +Colonna, Princess, death of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +Comandi, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Cook, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +Crosby, Schuyler, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<br /> +Curtis, Bessie, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Daudet, M., <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br /> +<br /> +Del Monte, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">walk with, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Despretis, Madame, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> +<br /> +Desprez, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +<br /> +Diemor, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> +<br /> +Director of Museum at Milan, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br /> +<br /> +Doria, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br /> +<br /> +Doria, Gwendoline, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Edwards, Mrs., <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Edwards, Hon. Sylvia, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Elena, Queen of Italy, gives audience, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_242">242</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the court ball, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the opera, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives reception in honour of President Loubet, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></span><br /> +<br /> +English, Monsignor, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings Pope's photograph, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br /> +<br /> +d'Eu, Comte and Comtesse, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br /> +<br /> +Evans, Father, <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Field, Mr., <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +<br /> +Field, Mrs., <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br /> +<br /> +Forbes, Misses, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Frankenstein, Countess, <a href="#Page_309">309</a><br /> +<br /> +Freycinet, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<br /> +Freycinet, Madame de, <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Fua, Teresina, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Gabriac, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +<br /> +Garibaldi, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +Genoa, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a><br /> +<br /> +Geoffroy, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +Geoffroy, Madame, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +Germany, Crown Princess of, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">daughters of, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gianotti, Count, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a><br /> +<br /> +Gianotti, Countess, gives afternoon tea, <a href="#Page_262">262</a><br /> +<br /> +Gittone, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Gosselins, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Gounod, <a href="#Page_296">296</a><br /> +<br /> +Grants, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> +<br /> +Gravina, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +Greppi, Comte, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Grévy, Madame, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Guadagni, Madame, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> +<br /> +Guery, Don, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +<br /> +Guglielmi, Marquis, <a href="#Page_298">298</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Helena, Queen of Italy, see Elena<br /> +<br /> +Hoffman, Mr., <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Hohenlohe, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /> +<br /> +Hooker Mr., <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recollections, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Howard, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +Hubert, <a href="#Page_225">225</a><br /> +<br /> +Hubert, Madame, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> +<br /> +Humbert, King of Italy, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birthday, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ireland, Monsignor, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Ismail, Pasha, ex-Khedive of Egypt, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Kahn, Malcolm, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Keats, John, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Keudell, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>-<a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +<br /> +Keudell, Madame, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>King, Charles, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br /> +<br /> +King, Fanny, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +King, Henrietta, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br /> +<br /> +King, Mrs., <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br /> +<br /> +King, William, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Kruft, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Lanciani, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +Landi, Madame, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +Law, Mrs., <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Leuchtenberg, Duke of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Loubet, President, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>-<a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the opera, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>-<a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the reception at the Farnese Palace, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lovatellis, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +<br /> +Low, Mr. and Mrs. Seth, <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br /> +<br /> +Lucchesi-Palli, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +Lyons, Lord, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +MacMahon, Madame de, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +MacMahon, Marshal, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br /> +<br /> +Maffei, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +Malatesta, Felice, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +<br /> +Malatesta, Countess, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Maquay, George, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Maquay, Louisa, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Maquay, Nina, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Marcello, Comtesse, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +<br /> +Margherita, Queen of Italy, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives audience, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Marina, Marquise Villa, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Massari, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +<br /> +Massimo, Prince, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br /> +<br /> +Mathieu, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a><br /> +<br /> +Medici, Catherine de', <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +Menabrea, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Meyers, the, give dinner, <a href="#Page_304">304</a><br /> +<br /> +Michelangelo, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Minghetti, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>-<a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Minghetti, Madame, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mirafiori, Comtesse, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Mohl, Madame, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +Murrays, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>-<a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<br /> +Mustel, M. Alphonse, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plays before Queen Margherita, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Naples, Prince of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +<br /> +Napoleon, Louis, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Nassau, Duke of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Nevin, Dr., <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> +<br /> +Nina, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br /> +<br /> +Nisard, M., <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br /> +<br /> +Noailles, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +<br /> +Noailles, Marquise de, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives farewell dinner to the Waddingtons, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Norton, Mrs., <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Orloff, Prince, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Orsini, Prince, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +"Ouida," <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ouronsoff, Prince, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Paget, Sir Augustus, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Paget, Lady, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Palfy, Count, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conversation with, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pallavicini, Princess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives reception, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>-<a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pannissera, Madame, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +<br /> +Pasetti, Baron, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> +<br /> +Paul, Duchess of Mecklenburg, <a href="#Page_297">297</a><br /> +<br /> +Pécoul, Thérèse, <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br /> +<br /> +Perret, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>Peruzzi, Edith, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Peruzzi, Ubaldino, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br /> +<br /> +Pierson, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Pietro, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a><br /> +<br /> +Pietro, Cardinal di, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /> +<br /> +Poggio-Suasa, Princess di (née Curtis), <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Poggio-Suasa, Princess di (née Talleyrand-Périgord), <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br /> +<br /> +Polk, Antoinette, <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> +<br /> +Pontécoulant, Comte de, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +Pope Leo XIII, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience with, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in his garden, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pope Pius IX, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how he was received in the streets when he rode out, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of the blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-<a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pope Pius X, audience with, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>-<a href="#Page_251">251</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Primoli, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Queen of Naples, Dowager, death of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ramée, Mlle. de la, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Rampolla, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Récamier, Madame, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +Rignano, Madame, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br /> +<br /> +Ripaldi, Duke di, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +Ristori, Madame, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Roccagiovine, Marchese, <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br /> +<br /> +Rodmans, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> +<br /> +Rossi, de, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Rothschild, Madame Alphonse, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br /> +<br /> +Rudini, Marchesa, gives fête, <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br /> +<br /> +Ruspoli, Camillo, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a><br /> +<br /> +Ruspoli, Don Emanuele, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a><br /> +<br /> +Ruspoli, Victoria, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +St. Asilea, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +<br /> +Sand, George, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<br /> +Sant' Onofrio, Madame de, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +Savonarola, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Savoy, Princes of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +<br /> +Saxe-Weimar, Grand Duchess, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a><br /> +<br /> +Say, Léon, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<br /> +Schuyler, Eugene, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Schuyler, Mrs. Eugene ("Gert"), <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trouble with maid, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Tivoli, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives farewell dinner, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sciarra, Princess, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Seckendorff, Count, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +<br /> +Sella, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +<br /> +Sermoneta, Duke of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +Serristori, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> +<br /> +Sibbern, Madame, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +<br /> +Smith, Father, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents a medal, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conversations with, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Somaglia, Countess, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her daughters, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Spencer, Mrs. Lorillard, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +<br /> +Staël, Madame de, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +Stanley, Dean, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +Stanley, Lady Augusta, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +Sternberg, Mlle. de, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +Story, Mrs., <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Story, Waldo, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a><br /> +<br /> +Story, W. W., <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +Sulmona, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a><br /> +<br /> +Sulmona, Princess, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +<br /> +Sutteroth, M. Alphonse, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles de, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Talleyrand-Périgord, Madame de, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>Talleyrand-Périgord, Marquise de (née Curtis), <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience with the Pope, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>-<a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Rome, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tchaitcheff, Madame de, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> +<br /> +Teano, Prince, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +<br /> +Teano, Princess, gives ball, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br /> +<br /> +Theoduli, Marchesa, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +<br /> +Thomar, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +<br /> +Thurn, Princess de, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +Tosti, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described and criticised, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Townshend, Mrs. Charles L., <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +Trocchi, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends flowers, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Troubetzkoi, Princess Lise, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +<br /> +Turin, Comte de, <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br /> +<br /> +Turkam, Pasha, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Uffizi, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /> +<br /> +Uxkull, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Val, Cardinal Mery del, audience with, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +Valery, Dr., <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br /> +<br /> +Van Loo, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> +<br /> +Vannutelli, Cardinal Serafino, <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Vannutelli, Cardinal Vincenzo, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner given for, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Van Rensselaer, Mrs., <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +<br /> +Van Schaick, Lottie, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Venosta, Visconti, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speaks in Chamber, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Venosta, Madame Visconti, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +<br /> +Vera, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +<br /> +Vicovaro, Princess, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, at the court ball, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives President Loubet, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>-<a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Opera, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives reception in honour of President Loubet, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Villamarina, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +<br /> +Virgo, M., <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +<br /> +Visconti, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Vitali, Count, gives dinner for French Ambassador, <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br /> +<br /> +Vitelleschi, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +<br /> +Vitelleschi, Marchesa, gives tea, <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Waddington, Evelyn, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /> +<br /> +Waddington, Francis, has Christmas tree, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">left in Paris, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></span><br /> +<br /> +WADDINGTON, Madame, leaves Quai d'Orsay, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls on Madame de Freycinet, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">formal receptions, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives Mesdames Grévy and MacMahon, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives at Florence, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives at M. de Bunsen's, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">atypical Florentine party, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a visit from Alberti, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalls picnic at Segna, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits the Ponte Vecchio, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives to Santa Maria Novella, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tea at Camerata, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with Talleyrand-Périgord, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes tea with "Ouida," <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impressions of "Ouida," <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives to Villa Careggi, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives to the Certosa and Casa Guadagni, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decides to go to Rome, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maquay dinner, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives out Fiesole way, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Fra Angelico's and Savonarola's cells at San Marco, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">musical evening with the Landis, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives at Rome, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her father's illness, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls on Eugene Schuyler, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">invitations from Embassies, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives along the Via Appia, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to the Vatican, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit from the Marquis de Noailles, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Princess Sciarra's ball, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recollections of Dean Stanley and Cardinal Howard, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at the Schuylers', <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at Princess Pallavicini's, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pointed out as distinguished strangers, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at the Teanos', <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breakfast at the Noailles', <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience with the Pope, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>-<a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at the Wimpffens', <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the pope's impression of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at the Noailles', <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends the opera, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines at the Portuguese Embassy, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>-<a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with the Pagets, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at the Calabrinis', <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends American Church, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">walk on Good Friday, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">service at St. Peter's, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">service at St. John Lateran, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">note from the Quirinal, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience with the Queen of Italy, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-<a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets the Prince of Naples, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breakfast with the Noailles, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sees Farnese Palace, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits the Bakers' tomb, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with the Cairoli, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">day at the races, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against "valise" regulations, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Teano ball, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits the Trevi Fountain, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tea with the Duke di Ripaldo, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines at German Embassy and meets German Crown Princess, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>-<a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends reception at the Noailles', <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">musical evening at the Schuylers', <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner with the Wimpffens, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets Crown Princess again, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excursion to Frascati, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to visit Tusculum, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trip to the Vatican, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ball at the British Embassy, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at Villa Medici, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recollections of 1867, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Naples, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sees Vesuvius in eruption, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ascends Mt. Vesuvius, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-<a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a long wait at an inn, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fête at the Stella del Mare, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the nun, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sail to Capri, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Capri, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Capri fisher-girl, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at Mr. Hooker's, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to the Doria Gallery, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines at the Spanish Embassy, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">musicale at Princess Bandini's, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hears Lohengrin in Italian, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives to Albano, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last turn in the Vatican, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives the Pope's photograph, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives to the Villa Madama, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">farewell dinner at the Noailles', <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a day at Tivoli, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a lonely road, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last drive in the country, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">walk with Del Monte, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives at Milan, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends the races, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds small reception, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a drive about Milan, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a visit to the Brera, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to the Duomo, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a second visit to the Brera, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes the Piazza dei Mercanti, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an afternoon at Monza, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-<a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Milan and arrives at Turin, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trip to La Superga, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Paris, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rome revisited, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends a ball at the Storys', <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at Count Vitali's, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">received by the Queen, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends the court ball, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-<a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the garden of the Vatican, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music at the French Embassy, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience with the Pope, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>-<a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience with Cardinal Mery del Val, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience with Queen Margherita, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breakfast with Princess d'Arsoli, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Pope's audience, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>-<a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an expedition to the Catacombs, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with Princess Poggio-Suasa, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">automobile excursion with Countess de Bertheny, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-<a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trip to Tusculum, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">special guards, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fête at the Massimo Palace, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fête given by Marchesa Rudini, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with Malcolm Kahn, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with the Ruspolis, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Thursday at St. Peter's, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits her father's grave, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a musical evening at the Palace, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>-<a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excursion to San Gregorio, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>-<a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends ceremony at St. Peter's, the 13th anniversary of Pope Gregorio Magno, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>-<a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">children's ball, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>-<a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">auto trips with the Bishops, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-<a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at the Villa Médicis, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with the Meyers, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with the Grand Duchess, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of President Loubet, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>-<a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends gala night at the opera, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>-<a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at the Farnese Palace, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>-<a href="#Page_313">313</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Waddington</i>, M. William H., resigns as Premier, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses London Embassy, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Paris and arrives at Florence, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives at M. de Bunsen's, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends the Peruzzis' party and meets Bentivoglio, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with Talleyrand-Périgord, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls on Madame Guadagni, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival at Rome, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">talks with Eugene Schuyler, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">various invitations from Embassies, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to the Vatican, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit from Marquis de Noailles, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception in his honour at the Schuylers', <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pointed out as a celebrated man, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">has audience with the Pope and converses about politics, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Pope's opinion of him, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at the Noailles', "Cotelettes à la Waddington," <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">has audience with King Humbert, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets Cardinal Howard, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">curiosity to meet him, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends the Chambre des Députés, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second visit to the Chambre des Députés, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to San Clemente, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">walk on the Campagna, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience with the Queen of Italy, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-<a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insists on "valise" reform, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delighted with di Ripalda's frescoes, etc., <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conversation with Turkam Bey, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">received by the German Crown Princess, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dines with de Rossi, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change of mental atmosphere, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trip to Albano, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last visit to the Vatican, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conversation with Father Smith, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech-making, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits the cabinet de médailles at Milan, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a visit to the Brera, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives Mr. Hoffman, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>-<a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives in Paris, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wales, Princess of, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> +<br /> +Wallace, Sir Donald, <a href="#Page_281">281</a><br /> +<br /> +Weling, Mlle. de, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Westenberg, Madame, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>Wilbrahams, the, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br /> +<br /> +Wimpffen, Count, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> +<br /> +Wimpffen, Comtesse, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives dinner, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives reception, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner to German Crown Princess, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_109">109</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wurts, Mr. and Mrs., <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">give dinner, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Zuylen, Cornélie, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +</div> + + + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<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> Mrs. Eugene Schuyler, née King.</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> W. here and throughout these letters refers to M. William Henry Waddington, +Madame Waddington's husband.</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> Francis, son of M. and Madame Waddington.</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> M. Alphonse Sutteroth, ancien diplomatist under Louis Philippe.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Director of Excavations in Rome under Rossi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Comte de Pontécoulant, chef de Cabinet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> French idiom difficult to translate, meaning "I ought to be very grateful +to him."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Mrs. Charles King, mother of Madame Waddington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Madame Waddington's maid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Madame de Bunsen, née Waddington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Long crisp breads one has in Italy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Foreigners.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Née Story, daughter of W. W. Story, the sculptor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Man to play on the piano.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Young bourgeois.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Mlle. de la Ramée.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Charles King, President of Columbia College, father of Madame +Waddington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Now the Hon. Sylvia Edwards, Maid of Honour to Queen Alexandra.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Née Lily Conrad.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Now Madame Scheidecker.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Princess Brancaccio, born Field.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The present King.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Now Mrs. Charles Loftus Townshend, of Castle Townshend, Ireland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> His father, Baron de Bunsen, was for years Prussian Minister at Rome, +a most intellectual, distinguished man; after Rome he was for many years +Minister in England, and their house in Carlton Terrace was the rendezvous +of all that was most brilliant and cosmopolitan in London. He married +Miss Waddington, and his son Charles also married Miss Waddington, sister +of William Waddington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The well-known poetess and beauty, née Sheridan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Comte de Suzannet, Secretary of the French Embassy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> General Rufus King, last United States Minister to the Vatican.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> To the Quirinal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Miss Fanny King, daughter of General Rufus King, United States +Minister to the Vatican, now Mrs. Edward Ward.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Marquise de Talleyrand-Périgord, née Curtis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Princess di Poggio-Suasa, née Curtis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> The well-known sculptor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Princess d'Arsoli, née Bella Brancaccio, granddaughter of Hickson +Field.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Rome which is disappearing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Princesse di Poggio Suasa, née Talleyrand-Périgord.</p></div> + + +</div> + +<div class="tn"><h3>Transcriber's note:</h3> + +<p>Spelling has been made consistent throughout but reflects the author's preference. 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b/37953.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c068e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/37953.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10536 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Life, by Mary +Alsop King Waddington + + +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: Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Life + January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904 + + +Author: Mary Alsop King Waddington + + + +Release Date: November 8, 2011 [eBook #37953] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALIAN LETTERS OF A DIPLOMAT'S +LIFE*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 37953-h.htm or 37953-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37953/37953-h/37953-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37953/37953-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + Small capitals have been replaced by all capitals. + + In Part II (page 303) "I^{er}" represents "I" followed by + superscripted "er". + + + + + +ITALIAN LETTERS OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE + + * * * * * + + +7th EDITION + +LETTERS OF A +DIPLOMAT'S WIFE + +By MARY KING WADDINGTON + +"A most interesting book of gossip, which, considered +from the point of view of the general +public, contains not a dull line from the first to the +last. The letters have all the freshness of the +best class of feminine correspondence." + +--_London Athenaeum_. + +Illustrated. 8vo. $2.50 Net + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Elena, Queen of Italy.] + + +ITALIAN LETTERS OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE + +January-May, 1880 +February-April, 1904 + +by + +MARY KING WADDINGTON + +Illustrated from Drawings and Photographs + + + + + + + +Charles Scribner's Sons +New York :: :: :: :: :: :: 1905 + +Copyright, 1905, by +Charles Scribner's Sons + +Published, March, 1905 + +Trow Directory +Printing and Bookbinding Company +New York + + + + +NOTE + + +In December, 1879, M. William Henry Waddington resigned the Premiership +of France, and the following month, accompanied by his wife, left Paris +for a winter of rest and recreation in Italy, chiefly in Rome. The +letters from Madame Waddington to her mother and sister, which +constitute "Part I" of this volume, describe this journey and residence. +Those forming "Part II" relate the incidents of a similar Roman sojourn +some twenty years later, M. Waddington having died in the meantime. The +two series together compose a picture of life and society in the Italian +capital with a wide range of contrast and comparison, corresponding with +those of London and Moscow in the well-known "Letters of a Diplomat's +Wife" by the same writer. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + ELENA, QUEEN OF ITALY _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE + + MRS. CHARLES KING 12 + + PRESIDENT CHARLES KING OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW + YORK CITY 30 + + THE SPANISH STEPS 52 + _In the Piazza di Spagna, Rome._ + + POPE LEO XIII. 60 + + KING HUMBERT OF ITALY 66 + + QUEEN MARGHERITA OF ITALY 76 + + QUEEN MARGHERITA AND KING HUMBERT 84 + + QUEEN MARGHERITA AND THE PRINCE OF NAPLES + (PRESENT KING OF ITALY) IN 1880 94 + + VICTORIA, CROWN PRINCESS OF GERMANY 104 + + GARDENS OF THE VILLA TORLONIS, FORMERLY VILLA + CONTI, FRASCATI, OPPOSITE THE VILLA MARCONI, + WHERE WE SPENT THE SUMMER OF 1867 108 + + TOMB OF VINICIANO, BETWEEN FRASCATI AND TUSCULUM 112 + + GROUNDS OF THE VILLA DORIA-PAMPHILI, ROME 116 + _From an unpublished photograph taken about 1869._ + + POPE PIUS IX. 145 + + LAST BENEDICTION OF POPE PIUS IX. FROM THE + BALCONY OF ST. PETER'S 158 + + ST. PETER'S FROM THE PINCIO 172 + + THE BARBERINI PALACE 238 + _The residence of the Storys_ + + VICTOR EMANUEL III., KING OF ITALY 244 + + POPE PIUS X. 250 + + GREAT NEW BRIDGE FROM ALBANO TO ARICCIA 264 + _Built by Pope Pius IX_. + + ROMAN HUNTSMEN ON THE CAMPAGNA 266 + _Ancient Roman aqueduct in the background_ + + WAITING FOR THE HOUNDS 268 + + CARDINAL ANTONELLI 288 + _From a portrait painted for the Grand Duke of + Saxe-Weimar. From a photograph given to Madame + Waddington by the Hereditary Grand Duchess of + Saxe-Weimar at Rome._ + + THE DINING-ROOM IN THE BRANCACCIO PALACE 304 + + + + +ITALIAN LETTERS +OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE + + + + +PART I + + ITALY IN THE EIGHTIES + + + _To G. K. S._[1] + + 31, RUE DUMONT D'URVILLE, PARIS, + January 10, 1880. + +Well, dear, here I am back again in my little hotel, and very small and +uncomfortable it looks--like a doll's house after the enormous rooms of +the Quai d'Orsay--however I am very glad to be a _private_ individual +once more (no longer a "femme publique" as our friend used to say). Our +departure was hurried, as once W.[2] had made up his mind and resigned +he wanted to get away at once. We got off in two days, which I thought +quite wonderful. Of course ever since the opening of the session in +November it was evident that he couldn't stay. He and his Ministers were +hardly ever agreed on any point, and it wasn't worth while for him to +spend his energy and intelligence in trying to carry out a policy which +neither the Chamber nor the country apparently desired. There were +endless conferences all through December, but it was clear that it was +time for him to go. + +[1] Mrs. Eugene Schuyler, nee King. + +[2] W. here and throughout these letters refers to M. William Henry +Waddington, Madame Waddington's husband. + +The weather was something awful--bitterly cold--the Seine frozen tight, +booths and games established, and everybody sliding about and trying to +skate--but that was under difficulties as the ice was rough and uneven. +I walked over with Francis,[3] that he might say he had walked across +the Seine. We had great difficulty in warming the house--many trains +with wood and coal were blocked just outside Paris, and nothing could +get in. I don't know what we should have done, but happily the Ministre +de la Guerre gave us an order to take some wood from some depot in Paris +where they had a provision; so for the two days before we moved in great +fires were going in the calorifere. I really think the only person who +hated to leave the Quai d'Orsay was Francis. He was furious at seeing +all his things packed up, and was carried out to the carriage kicking +and screaming--"veux pas quitter ma maison--veux pas aller vilaine +petite maison." The huissiers (6, all standing solemnly in a row to say +good-bye) were much impressed, and the old grey-headed Pierson who has +been there for years and seen many Ministers depart, remarked--"au moins +Monsieur Francis est desole de partir." It seemed funny to drive out of +the big gates for the last time. I wonder if I shall ever go through +them again. Things go so quickly in France now. + +[3] Francis, son of M. and Madame Waddington. + +You can't conceive anything more uncomfortable than this house +to-day--no carpets down nor curtains up; all the furniture, books, rugs, +dumped in the middle of the rooms, and the hall and corridors full of +trunks and boxes. W. has had a steady stream of people ever since we +arrived--some to condole--some (old friends) to congratulate him upon no +longer serving such an infecte government--some a little embarrassed to +explain that, though they regret him extremely, still ... they must +serve their country, and hope he won't take it amiss if they make up to +the rising sun (in the shape of Freycinet, who has taken W.'s place). I +expect we shall have some curious experiences. When one is no longer in +power it is surprising how things change their aspect. I had to settle +the salons as soon as I could as I had invited a big party for Francis's +Christmas Tree, thinking it would be at the Quai d'Orsay. I didn't want +to put the people off--particularly the diplomatists who have all been +most civil and proper--so after a consultation with Kruft--(chef du +materiel at the Quai d'Orsay) who had already begun to make his +preparations, I decided to have it here, and Kruft and one of his men +came and helped dress it. Of course the tree had to be cut at the +top--our rooms are fairly high, but nothing like the Quai d'Orsay +naturally--but it looked rather prettier, quite covered with toys and +shiny ornaments. Francis had beautiful presents--a hand-organ with a +monkey on top from Madame Sibbern, the wife of the Swedish Minister, +from which he can't be extracted. He can't turn it alone, but some of +the bigger children helped him, and we had the "Cloches de Corneville" +and "Niniche" almost all the afternoon. There were about 100 people, +children and parents, and the rooms looked pretty. All the people and +lights warmed them too--it wasn't quite so Siberian. We couldn't attempt +cooking of any kind as the kitchen range was out of order, and besides +we hadn't fuel enough--l'Oncle Alphonse[4] who lives next door feeds us. +W. and I go to him for breakfast and dinner, and his chef (a very +distinguished artist and well dressed gentleman--quite a superior +person--Monsieur Double) submits Francis's menu every morning to Nounou, +as he says he has no experience with children. + +[4] M. Alphonse Sutteroth, ancien diplomatist under Louis Philippe. + +We have decided to go to Italy for two or three months, and shall make +Rome our headquarters. W. has never been there, and says it wouldn't be +worth while going for less than three months. What fun it will be to be +there together--I can hardly believe it is true. I am sure we are wise +to get away. There must always be little jarring things when one has +been in office some time--and it would be rather a bore to W. to take +his place as senator and be in opposition to the present Ministry. If he +stayed in Paris he would have to take part in all the discussions, and +would certainly be interviewed by all sorts of people to whom he would +say nothing (he never does--he hates newspaper people) but they would +say he did all the same, and so many people believe implicitly whatever +they see in a paper. The Minister has offered W. the London Embassy, but +he won't take it, doesn't wish to have any function of any kind at +present. He is looking forward to long, happy hours in Rome, deciphering +all the old inscriptions, and going over the old city with Lanciani[5] +and some of his literary friends. + +[5] Director of Excavations in Rome under Rossi. + + + January 12, 1880. + +After all I have been back to the Quai d'Orsay. W. said I must go and +make a formal visit to Madame de Freycinet (who is a very nice woman--a +Protestant, and has one daughter--a charming intelligent girl). +Henrietta and I went together, taking Francis with us, who was delighted +as soon as he got to the Place de la Concorde and crossed the +bridge--"C'est Paris--C'est Paris." Poor little boy--the rue Dumont +d'Urville is so quiet, nothing passing and nothing to see when he looks +out of the window. He was always at the window at the Quai d'Orsay +looking at the boats, the soldiers, and the general liveliness of a +great thoroughfare. It was a funny sensation to go and pay a visit to +Madame de Freycinet in the little blue salon where I had received her so +often, and to be announced by my own pet huissier, Gerard, who spent his +life all the time I was at the Quai d'Orsay sitting outside the door of +any room I happened to be in. He knew all my visitors--those I wanted to +see and those I didn't--kept all the cards, and books, and remembered +every quete I had given to--and the bills that had been paid. I don't +remember that he ever occupied himself with my garments, but I am sure +that he could have found anything that I asked for. + +The house is gradually getting warm and comfortable, and the furniture +settling into its place; but I have a curious feeling of smallness--as +if I hadn't room to turn. We hope to get off in three or four days. We +leave Francis of course, but Nounou and Hubert will look after him, and +he will go to breakfast every day with Mother, where of course he will +be well spoiled and have everything he asks for. + + + _To G. K. S._ + + January 18, 1880. + +I hope we shall get off now in a day or two--W. really needs the rest, +which he never will get here as all day long people come to see him and +suggest various plans. We have written to the Hotel de Londres. You or +Eugene might go there some day and see the rooms they propose. It will +be nice to be back in our old quarters Piazza di Spagna. We had a +pleasant small dinner last night at the British Embassy--Lord Lyons is +always so nice and cordial. He was a little surprised and not _quite_ +pleased that W. hadn't accepted the London Embassy, he would have been +so entirely a "persona grata" with his English education, connections, +etc. All the Diplomates seem to regret us (but I think they will like +the Freycinets just as much) and really here, where Ministers are such +passing figures in the political world, they would have a hard time if +they set their affections on any particular man. + +I am becoming very philosophical--though the attitude of some of my +friends has rather surprised me (not W.; he is never surprised at +anything). L'Oncle Alphonse keeps us well informed of what is said on +the other side. He is quite a Royalist, a great friend of the Orleans +Princes, and a great deal at the club where they always call him +"l'oncle du gouvernement"--and when the "gouvernement makes a 'betise'" +(which sometimes happens) they criticize freely, and he tells it all to +us. I fancy he always defends W. in public--but of course in private +pitches into him well. + +I rather miss the big life--seeing so many people, and being as it were +behind the scenes--also our conversations at night when W. had finished +his signatures, and Pontecoulant[6] came up from his quarters with the +report of the day, and got his instructions for the next morning. W. is +not at all "matinal" and hates doing any kind of business early--must +always have his ride first. We used to sit in W.'s cabinet until two in +the morning sometimes, telling our experiences--some of mine were funny. +I hated an official reception day, but the gentlemen of the protocol +department thought it absolutely necessary, so I was obliged to give +in--and certainly nothing I did tired me so much as those long Fridays +in the big yellow drawing-room. From 3 to 6 streams of people--women +mostly--of all nationalities--and of course no conversation +possible--however it wasn't always banal, as you will see. + +[6] Comte de Pontecoulant, chef de Cabinet. + +Our last Friday one of my friends had been in, very much taken up with +the journey to Rome--her clothes, the climate, which hotel was the best, +etc. When she went out in a whirl of talk and excitement I turned to one +of the 14 women who were seated in a semicircle on each side of me, and +by way of continuing the conversation said: "Il me semble qu'on serait +tres bien a l'Hotel de Londres a Rome en plein soleil," to which she +replied haughtily "Je n'en sais rien, Madame, je n'ai jamais quitte +Paris, et je m'en vante." W. wouldn't believe it, but as I told him I +couldn't have invented it. I was rather sorry I hadn't pursued the +conversation, and asked her why she was so proud of that particular +phase of her life. I suppose she must have had a reason, which naturally +I couldn't understand, having begun my career so very far away from +either Rome or Paris. It is a real pleasure though to be back in my own +salon, and have my nice little tea-table, and three or four of my +friends, and talk about anything and everything, and even do a little +music occasionally. + + + January 20, 1880. + +I didn't find my tea quite so pleasant the other day. I was sitting in +the little salon talking to one or two ladies, and receiving their +congratulations at being no longer of the official world, and obliged to +associate with the Government people, when the footman appeared with his +eyes round, to announce that "La Presidente" (Madame Grevy) was coming +upstairs to pay Madame a visit. I flew to the door and the top of the +stairs (I couldn't get any further) and received "ma Presidente" in +proper style. I ushered her into the salon where I had left my friends +(mad Royalists both). They were much disgusted--however they were too +well-bred to make things disagreeable for me in my own house--and rose +when we came in. I named Madame Grevy--and as soon as she had taken her +seat, and declined a cup of tea, they went away. Of course they _hated_ +getting up for Madame Grevy, but there was nothing else to be done as +she and I were both standing. Happily no one else came in but Prince +Orloff, Russian Ambassador, who of course knew Madame Grevy and talked +easily enough. She didn't stay long--it was the classic "visite de +condoleance" to the wife of the ex-Minister (if she only knew how glad +this _Ex_ was to return to private life and her own house, and to be no +longer "logee par le gouvernement"). This is the second visit of +condoleance I have had. When Marshal MacMahon dismissed (suddenly) all +his cabinet presided by Jules Simon, 16th of May, 1877, Madame de +MacMahon came also to see me--and at the same time--5 o'clock on my +reception day--so I knew precisely what the conversation would be--and +Madame Grevy and I both said exactly the same things that the Marechale +and I had said two or three years ago. I suppose everybody does say the +same thing on certain occasions. After she had gone Orloff asked me if I +remembered those two ladies meeting (for the first time in their lives) +at the Quai d'Orsay on one of my Fridays. Just after the Marshal +resigned Madame de MacMahon came to see me. She was announced by all the +servants and I had plenty of time to get to the door of the first +drawing-room, not quite to the anteroom, to receive her. When her +husband was President she was received always like Royalty--at the door +of the apartment. She was very simple and easy, quite pleased evidently +at still having all her honours. Prince Orloff came in to pay a visit, +and we were having a very pleasant talk, when I heard quick footsteps in +the second salon, and again appeared my faithful Gerard (I had also +visions of numberless doors being opened all down the enfilade of +salons) announcing Madame Grevy. I was embarrassed for a moment as I +didn't like to leave the Marechale, and yet I knew I must go and meet +Madame Grevy--all the ceremony of course was for the official position, +and one Presidente was just the same as the other. Madame de MacMahon +was most amiable--said at once--"Je vous en prie, Madame, ne pensez pas +a moi"--and "au fond" was rather curious to see her successor. I went as +quickly as I could (Orloff giving me a funny little smile, _almost_ a +wink, as I passed him) and got my other Presidente just at the door. She +was rather astounded I think at her reception--she hadn't been long in +her exalted position. We proceeded majestically through three or four +salons, and when we arrived at my drawing-room Madame de MacMahon got up +at once, saying quite simply "Voulez-vous me presenter, Madame, a Madame +Grevy?" She was quite at her ease--Madame Grevy rather shy and +embarrassed--however Madame de MacMahon talked at once about some of the +great charities, artists, etc., and it really wasn't too stiff--Orloff +of course always helping and making jokes with the two ladies. One or +two visitors came in and gasped when they saw the situation--also one of +the young men of the Cabinet, who instantly disappeared. I always +thought he went to tell W. what was happening upstairs so that he might +come to the rescue in case I wasn't up to the mark ... but he swears he +didn't. When the Marechale got up to go there was again a complication +as I wanted to accompany her to the door, and I didn't like to leave +Madame Grevy. She wouldn't hear of my going through all the salons--took +leave of me at the door--and then Orloff came to the rescue--gave her +his arm and took her to her carriage. It was a curious meeting, and, as +Orloff said just now, "je lui devais une fameuse chandelle."[7] + +[7] French idiom difficult to translate, meaning "I ought to be very +grateful to him." + + + February 6, 1880. + +We are starting to-night, straight for Florence, where we shall stay a +week or ten days with the Bunsens before going on to Rome. W. is much +pleased at the Roman prospect--and I can hardly believe that I am going +to see Rome again. We have our lit-salon straight through to Florence, +and I hope we shall be warm enough. It is bitterly cold to-day--even +walking I was glad to have my sealskin coat. Nounou is rather tearful at +being left in sole charge of Francis, but as that young gentleman is +perfectly well, in roaring spirits, and will be given everything his +heart desires by his Grandmother and Aunts, I don't feel very unhappy +about him. It seems incredible that we should be going to meet soon. How +we will prowl about Rome. I suppose I shall find it absolutely +changed--so many more people--not our dear old dead Rome. + +[Illustration: Mrs. Charles King.] + + + _To H. L. K._[8] + + FLORENCE, VIA ROMANA, VILLA MCDONNELL, + February 8, 1880. + +We arrived quite comfortably, dear mother, but almost frozen, +particularly W. He has not been extracted from the fire since we got +here. Henrietta will have told you of our start. Pontecoulant and one or +two men were at the station to see us off--also the Chef de Gare, most +civil, and saying we should not be disturbed at the frontier--and +that our coupe-lit would take us straight through to Florence. We had a +perfectly easy journey, and I slept quite peacefully--waking up merely +when we passed through the tunnel, as the guard came in to shut all the +windows. It was a beautiful, cold, starlight winter night. The great +mountains covered with snow looked gigantic as we approached--"sinistres" +as Madame Hubert[9] said. She was much impressed and rather nervous. There +were very few people in the train. When we arrived at Modane the Chef de +Gare was waiting for us--he had been telegraphed from Paris to expect us. +We had breakfast in the private room, and a nice woman was waiting for us +upstairs in the ladies' room with hot water, towels, etc. I made quite a +toilet--she carried off my dress and jacket to brush--and then we went +down to a nice little breakfast which tasted very good, as I hadn't +had anything since our 7 o'clock dinner. They offered us coffee +somewhere--Dijon I think--but I didn't want anything then. All the first +part of the road--in fact all the road to Turin was lovely. It was a +bright, cold morning, and the snow mountains looked beautiful. It was +such a pleasure to hear Italian once more--even the names at the stations +"capo stazione"--"grande velocita"--"uscita," etc., also the shrill +"partenza" when we started. The last time I crossed the Mont Cenis was +by the Fell railway when we all started together from Aix. That was +certainly very beautiful--but rather terrifying--particularly as we neared +the top and looked at the steep places and the various zigzags we were +to follow going down. One couldn't help feeling that if a brake or chain +broke there would be a terrible catastrophe. I remember so well some of +the women who were quite sea-sick--the swaying motion, I suppose, as we +rounded the curves, of which there were many. I can see one now stretched +out on the floor on a rug in the small salle d'attente at Susa, quite +exhausted and absolutely indifferent to the outside world. + +[8] Mrs. Charles King, mother of Madame Waddington. + +[9] Madame Waddington's maid. + +We had quite a wait at Turin. Our coupe was detached and put on the +Florence express. They locked the doors, and we left all our +things--books, shawls, bags, etc.--and had a very fair dinner at the +buffet. We had so much time that Madame Hubert and I went for a little +walk. There was not much to see close to the gare--but it was delightful +to me to hear Italian again, and to see the idle, placid crowd standing +about--nobody in a hurry apparently, and nobody jostling and pushing +through, though there were trains starting or coming in all the time. W. +was too cold to move--he really should have had a fur coat--which he +utterly despises--says that will do when he is 70, and can't walk any +more. It was warm and fairly light in the buffet so he established +himself there with a paper and was quite happy. We got here about +6.30--Charles de Bunsen was at the station with a carriage--so we came +off at once, leaving Madame Hubert and Francesco with the trunks. How +she will get on in Italian I don't know, but she is very active and +debrouillarde, and generally makes herself understood. Mary[10] was +waiting for us with tea and those crisp little grissini[11] we always +used to have in Casa Guadagni. They have a charming "villino"--part of +the McDonnell villa. One goes in by a small door (in one of the narrow +grey streets of old Florence, with high walls on each side--Via Romana) +and straight up a fine broad staircase to a good palier with large high +rooms opening out on it. All the bed-rooms and small salon open on a +loggia overlooking the garden--a real old Italian garden. I shall never +be dressed in time for anything in the morning, as I am always on the +loggia. The flowers are all coming out--the birds singing--the sky +bright, deep blue--and the whole atmosphere so soft and clear--and in +fact Italian--different from everything else. + +[10] Madame de Bunsen, nee Waddington. + +[11] Long crisp breads one has in Italy. + +Mary has arranged the small salon (which they always sit in) most +prettily and comfortably--with bibelots and quantities of books about in +all languages--there are usually four going in the establishment--Charles +and his daughter speak always German to each other--the rest of us either +French or English--it depends rather upon what we are talking about--and +always an undercurrent of Italian with the servants and "parlatrice" +(such a sweet, refined looking girl who comes every day to read and +speak Italian with my belle-mere). Mrs. Waddington strikes at the mixture +at meals and insists upon one language, either English or French. There +is also a charming German girl here, Mlle. de Sternberg, a niece of +Charles de Bunsen--so we are a most cosmopolitan household. The life +is utterly different from the one I have been leading for the last two +years. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + February 10, 1880. + +I try and write every day, but am so much taken up and so tired when I +come in that I don't always find the moment. W. is all right again. He +really got quite a chill from the cold night journey--and for two or +three days sat _in_ the fire. Francesco, the Italian servant, took +excellent care of him--was so sympathetic the night we had some music +and W. couldn't appear. It was a pleasant evening--a Russian Prince (I +forget his name, and couldn't probably spell it if I remembered), a +great friend of Mary's, an excellent musician and a great Wagnerian +offered to come and play some of the Nibelungen. I was delighted as I +only know Tannhaeuser and Lohengrin. I remember now your sigh of relief +when Seilern and I finished playing a 4 mains the Walpurgis Night years +ago in the Champs Elysees. I daresay it was trying for the public--but +we enjoyed ourselves immensely. The big drawing-room looked very pretty, +with plenty of flowers, and I think there were about 50 people--almost +all (except Lottie and Madame de Tchiatcheff) ardent admirers of the +great man. One lady appeared in a sort of loose, red gown (it seems red +is the only colour Wagner admits), her hair, very pretty, blonde, +hanging down her back, just tied with a ribbon--and carrying two +partitions. Mary said, "Wouldn't you like to sit by her, and she will +explain it all to you?"--but I said there was nothing I would like so +little. I knew enough of the legend to be able to follow, and moreover I +had always heard that Wagner's descriptive music was so wonderful that +one understood everything without any text, etc. The great man +appeared--the grand piano was opened all over to give as much sound as +possible--and he requested absolute silence. He played beautifully--it +was enchanting--one quite heard the little waves in which the +Rhein-Toechter were disporting themselves. It was wonderfully melodious +and delicate--I should have liked it to go on forever. He played for +about three-quarters of an hour--all Rheingold--then suddenly pushed +back his chair, and rushed to the anteroom, exclaiming "de l'air--de +l'air," followed by all the red and musical ladies. It is a pity there +must always be such a pose with Wagner--for really the music was a joy. +I met of course quantities of old friends, and agreed to go to Lottie +Van Schaick's ball. + + + February 12, 1880. + +W. and I had a lovely long flanerie this morning. He is quite well +again, and the sun was tempting. It seems quite a different Florence +living over here, and I must say much more old-world and Italian than +the Lungarno, with all the modern hotels and apartments, and evident +signs of forestieri[12] everywhere. As soon as we cross the bridge it is +quite different--a gay, bustling, northern city. W. was so much amused +the other day--we were in a fiacre and the driver put on the brake to go +down the almost imperceptible descent on the other side of the bridge. +We went straight across to the Piazza del Duomo to-day, where the market +was held, and wandered in and out among the stalls. It was all so +familiar--little green cucumbers, almonds, and strings of fried fish, +with a good healthy smell of "frittura." The people were all most +smiling, and so pleased when I spoke Italian to them, and said I was so +happy to be back in their country again. W. has no opinion of my +Italian. He came to my room this morning followed by the Italian servant +to tell _me_ to tell him that his razor must be sharpened. I began, and +came to a dead halt--hadn't the slightest idea what razor was in +Italian. W. was much disgusted, but I explained that when I was living +in Italy before as a girl, I hadn't often had occasion to ask for +razors--all the same he has evidently lost confidence, and thinks my +reputation as a linguist "surfaite." + +[12] Foreigners. + +This afternoon we had a lovely drive up the Fiesole hill with Mary and +Beatrice. Their man, who goes on the carriage, is called "Bacco" and is +so Italian and sympathetic--takes a lively interest in all our +proceedings--knows everybody we meet, and talks cheerfully with any of +his friends we happen to cross. The view from Fiesole was divine--the +long slopes of cyprus and olive trees--with Florence at the bottom of +the valley, and the Arno just visible--a streak of light. I am so fond +of the grey green of the olives. It all looked so soft and delicate in +the sunset light. + + + February 13, 1880. + +We are getting dreadfully mondain. The other night we had a pretty, +typical Florentine party at Edith Peruzzi's.[13] We went a little after +ten and thought we would be among the first, but the rooms were already +full--quantities of people (not many of my old friends) and splendid +jewels. It was much more real Florentine society than the people we used +to see when we lived in Casa Guadagni. _They_ were generally the young, +sporting, pleasure-loving set, with a good dash of foreigners, artists, +diplomatists, etc. These were the real polite, stiff Italians of the old +regime. Many people were introduced to us, and W. enjoyed his evening +immensely--found many interesting people to talk to. He was delighted to +meet Bentivoglio again, and they immediately retired into a corner, and +plunged into Asia Minor and coins. Edith looked very well, did the +honours simply and graciously; and Peruzzi really not changed--always +the same tall, handsome, aristocratic type. + +[13] Nee Story, daughter of W. W. Story, the sculptor. + +Last night was Lottie Van Schaick's ball, very gay and handsome. Mary +wouldn't go--so I chaperoned the two girls--Beatrice and Rosa Sternberg. +They made a very pretty contrast--Rosa von Sternberg is fair and slight, +a pretty, graceful figure. Beatrice on rather a larger scale, with a +very white skin, and beautiful dark eyes. W. and Charles Bunsen came +too, but didn't stay very long. We went late as the Florence balls +always last so long. I met quantities of old friends, and made a tour de +valse with Carlo Alessandri for the sake of old times. W. was much +amused to see all the older men still dancing. At the Paris balls the +danseurs are all so young--few of the married men dance--only the very +young ones. I didn't wait for the cotillon--it hadn't begun at 3.30. The +supper is always before the cotillon which of course prolongs the +festivity. + +I was lazy this morning, as we came in so late last night, so W. and I +only went for a turn in the Boboli Gardens. The shade was so thick it +was almost black--but it was resting to the eyes. There are very few +flowers, one had a general impression of green. This afternoon we have +been driving about leaving cards, and ending with a turn in the Cascine. +There everything seemed exactly the same as when we lived there ten +years ago. The same people driving about in the same carriages, and +everybody drawing up on the Piazza, and talking to their neighbours. It +amused me to drive down the Lungarno to our bridge. There were +quantities of carriages and people lounging on the pavement, and looking +at the river. The instant one crosses the bridge it is perfectly +different--narrow streets, high walls, few carriages, no loiterers. + +Our garden was beautiful to-night--a splendid moon just rising over the +black trees, and a soft delicious air. We have had a quiet evening, +talking and reading in the small salon. Charles was very interesting, +talking about old Italy and their beginnings in Turin. It seems the +etiquette of that Court was something awful. Mary told us that she was +talking one day to the Marchesa S. (a lively little old lady who took +snuff) who had been in her time a famous wit and beauty, dame d'honneur +to the wife of Carlo Alberto. Mary was rather complaining of the +inconvenience of going to the winter reception of the Duchess of Genoa +(she had only one in the year) where all the ladies of the Corps +Diplomatique were obliged to go in full dress decolletee at about 4 in +the afternoon. "Ah, ma chere," said the old Marchesa, "what would you +have said in our time?" She told her that when the Queen-Mother was ill +in the winter at the Chateau of Stupinigi, some miles from Turin, all +her ladies had to go and inquire for her in full dress and manteaux de +cour, and that when they knew she was in bed, and could see no one. Mary +has splendid Italian lace which she bought from one of the ladies of the +old Queen after her death. It would cost a fortune now, and in fact +could not be had unless some private individual in reduced circumstances +was obliged to sell. I had a nice visit from Alberti to-day--just the +same--gay, impossible, saying the most risque things in a perfectly +natural way, so that you can hardly realize the enormities you are +listening to. They don't sound so bad in Italian--I think the language +veils and poetizes everything. He is very anxious we should go out and +spend the day at Signa--his most lovely place--and I wish we could, I +should like W. to see it--so much natural beauty--and, with our northern +ideas, so absolutely neglected--splendid rooms, painted ceilings--no +practical furniture of any kind, and a garden that was a dream of wild +beauty--flowers everywhere, climbing up over the roof, around bits of +grey wall, long grass that almost twisted around one's feet, and such a +view from the terrace. I told W. afterward of our great day there long +ago, when we started at 10 in the morning and got back at 2 A.M. I +wonder if you remember the day? We were a large party--Van Schaicks, +Maquays, Coxes, and others whose names I forget and pretty much every +man in Florence (of all nationalities). We started by rail--the women +all in light muslin dresses and hats. We were met by carriages of all +kinds--Alberti's own little pony-trap--and a collection of remarkable +vehicles from all the neighbouring villages. The drive was short, but +straight up a steep hill--the villa most beautifully situated at the +top, with a background of green hills. Two or three rooms had been +arranged for us--so we took off cloaks--a nice, sympathetic Italian +woman brushed off the dust--and we went at once to breakfast in the +state dining-room--the big doors on the terrace open. Some of the men +had their breakfast out there. After breakfast we all wandered about the +garden--such thick shade that it was quite comfortable. It was pretty to +see the white figures flitting in and out among the trees. About 3 I got +into a riding skirt and loose jacket, and went for a ride with Alberti +and a Frenchman, Brinquant, a friend of Alberti--very gay, and entrain, +and perfectly amused at the entertainment--so sans facon and original. +We had a lovely ride--through such narrow roads--branches of the orange +trees and roses nearly coming into our faces as we cantered along the +little steep paths. I had a pretty little mare--perfectly sure-footed, +which was an absolute necessity as the hill paths were very steep, with +many curves, and full of rolling stones. We pottered about for an hour, +and when we got home I thought I would retire to one of the rooms and +rest for half an hour before I got back into my afternoon dress, but +that was a delusion. They all came clamouring at the door, and insisted +upon my coming out at once, as the whole party were to be photographed. +As I was perfectly confident that they would all come in if I didn't +come out, there was nothing to be done, and I joined the group. It was +rather a long affair, but at the end seemed satisfactory. Then we had +tea on the terrace, and sat there watching the sun go down behind the +Signa hills, leaving that beautiful afterglow which one only sees in +Italy--the green tints particularly. + +Three or four men came out for dinner who hadn't been able to get off +early (diplomates, I fancy, for they were certainly the only men in this +gay city who had any occupation), also a tapeur[14] and little objets for +the cotillon. We did have about an hour before dinner to rest and make +ourselves look as nice as we could--but naturally a long, hot day +wandering about in a garden, and sitting on half-ruined crumbling stone +walls doesn't improve muslin dresses. The dinner was very gay and good, +and the hour on the terrace afterward with coffee, enchanting. One or +two of the men had brought guitars, and there were scraps of songs, +choruses, "stornelli," going on all the time. One man, with a lovely +tenor voice, sat on the lower step singing anything--everything--the +rest of us joining in when we knew the song. The terrace was quite +dark--the house brilliantly lighted standing out well; and every now and +then the Italian servants would appear at the door with their smiling +faces--black eyes and white teeth--evidently restraining themselves with +difficulty from joining in the choruses. I really don't think Mary's +"Bacco" could have resisted. I always hear him and Francesco singing +merrily over their work in the morning. They certainly are an +easy-going, light-hearted race, these modern Florentines. One can hardly +believe that they are the descendants of the fierce old Medici who sit +up so proud and cold on their marble tombs at San Lorenzo. + +[14] Man to play on the piano. + +We began the cotillon about 10, and it lasted an hour and a half. There +were 10 couples, plenty of flowers and ribbons, and, needless to say, an +extraordinary "entrain." We ended, of course, with the "Quadrille +infernal" (which Alberti always leads with the greatest spirit), made a +long chain all through the house down the terrace steps (such a +scramble) and finally dispersed in the garden. I shouldn't like to say +what the light dresses looked like after that. We started back to +Florence about midnight in two coaches--such a beautiful drive. The +coming out of the gates, and down the steep hill with a bad road and a +narrow turn was rather nervous work--but we finally emerged on the broad +high-road looking like a long silver ribbon in the moonlight winding +down the valley. We had the road quite to ourselves--it was too late for +revellers, and too early for market people, so we could go a good pace, +and galloped up and down the hills, some of them decidedly steep. It was +a splendid night--that warm southern moon (so unlike our cold white +moonlight) throwing out every line sharply. It was just 3 o'clock when +we drew up at Casa Guadagni. + +I didn't intend to write so much about Signa, but I had just been +telling it all to W., and I think it will amuse the family in America. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + VILLA MCDONNELL, + February 15, 1880. + +I try and write every day, but it is not easy. We are out all the time. +The weather is divine, and it seems wicked to stay indoors. W. and I go +out every morning, and we do a good deal of sight-seeing in a pleasant, +idle way. I go sometimes to the Boboli Gardens and wait for him there +when he has letters to write. It is all so unlike our Florence of ten +years ago; I love the quiet grey streets. The gardens are delicious; +dark and cool; you see no one, hear nothing but the splash of the +fountains, and the modern busy world doesn't exist. I am becoming quite +intimate with the custode--he is most friendly--smiles all over when W. +appears--and remarked the other day casually when he was late and I was +waiting at the gate, "Il marito si fa aspettare." This morning we +pottered about the Ponte Vecchio, where all the shops look exactly the +same, and apparently the same old wrinkled men bending over their pearls +and turquoises. So many foreigners have bought pearls that the prices +have all gone up. There has been a great influx of strangers these last +days as Easter is early, and we hear English on all sides. Two pretty +fair-haired English girls were loitering about the bridge and shops, +attracting much attention and admiration, quite freely expressed, from +some of the numerous young men who are always lounging about; but the +admiration is so genuine and so open that no one could be angry or +consider it an impertinence. + +Do you remember one of my first Italian experiences in crossing the +Piazza di Spagna one afternoon with my white kitten on my shoulder, and +one of the group of "paini"[15] standing at the door of the bank remarked +smilingly, "Che gatto fortunato!" I was rather taken aback but pleased +certainly. At Doney's in the Via Tornabuoni, there is always the same +group of men on the pavement about tea-time, when every one goes in for +a cup of tea or chocolate--all much interested in the pretty girls who +go in and out--also the society men standing at the door of the Club +making remarks and criticising, with rather more reserve perhaps. + +[15] Young bourgeois. + +We took a fiacre when we had crossed the bridge and drove to Santa Maria +Novella. The black and white facade looked like an old friend, also the +spezeria where we used to buy the sachets of iris powder in the old +days. We wandered all over the church, looked at the frescoes and the +wonderful Cimabue Madonna, and then through the cloisters. A monk (one +of the few left) in the long white robe of the Dominicans was working in +the garden. He looked very picturesque in the little square of green, +and was apparently engrossed in his work as he didn't even turn his head +to look at us. He wasn't at all an old man as we saw when he raised +himself--was tall and broad-shouldered. What a life it must be for a man +in the full force of strength and health. One can understand it in the +old days before books and printing, when the Dominicans and Benedictines +were students and their parchments made history, but now when everybody +reads and discusses everything it seems incredible that a man should +condemn himself to such an existence. + +We dined at the Tchiatcheffs, and on our way home crossed a procession +of "la Misericordia"; all the men with long cloaks and cowls drawn tight +over their faces, with slits for the eyes. One could see nothing but +bright, keen eyes, impossible to recognise any one. I believe men of all +classes belong to the society, and we had probably various friends among +them. I suppose they were going to get a corpse (which is always done at +night in Florence, or, in fact, everywhere in Italy) and their low, +melancholy chant rather haunted me. They say they do a great deal of +good when there is an accident or a case of malignant fever, in +transporting the patient to a hospital; but it was an uncanny sight. +They tell me they went to get a young Englishman the other day who had +fever, and was to be moved from the hotel to a private hospital. It was +the doctor's suggestion, and I am sure they carried him quite well and +gently, but it seems his poor wife went nearly mad when the procession +arrived, and she saw all those black eyes gleaming from behind the +cowls. + +We have been this afternoon to tea at "Camerata," the Halls' Villa. The +drive out was charming, the day beautiful and bright, flowers +everywhere. Quantities of peasant children ran alongside the carriage as +we toiled up the hills, chattering volubly (many _Inglesi_ thrown in) +and holding out little brown hands filled with yellow flowers. The +Camerata garden and terrace were lovely. It was still a little cool to +sit out, so we had tea inside. The lawn was blue with violets, and there +were quantities of yellow flowers, crocuses, narcissi everywhere, roses +just beginning. We met various old friends there--principally +English--among others Miss Arbuthnot, looking quite the same; and the +two Misses Forbes who have a charming apartment in Florence--we went +there to tea the other day. Our friend and compatriot, Mrs. K., was also +there; very dressy and very foolish; poor dear she never was wise. She +was glad to see me, was sure I was enjoying the change and rest after my +"full life"; then "Did you live in Paris?" I felt like saying, "No, +French Cabinet Ministers usually live in Yokohama," but I desisted from +that plaisanterie as I was sure she would go away under the impression +that W. had been a member of the Japanese Cabinet. W. doesn't like my +jokes--thinks they are frivolous. + + + February 17, 1880. + +Our Talleyrand dinner last night was handsome and pleasant. He was for +years French Ambassador at Petersburg (Baron Charles de +Talleyrand-Perigord), and is the type of the clever, old-fashioned +French gentleman and diplomatist. He married a Russian, Mlle. Bernadaky. +She is very amiable, has a beautiful voice and beautiful jewels. I had +Carlo Alessandri next to me, and we plunged into old times. After dinner +Talleyrand and W. talked politics in the fumoir. He is of course quite +"d'un autre bord" and thinks Republican France "grotesque," but W. said +he was so moderate and sensible, not at all narrow-minded, understanding +that a different opinion was quite possible, that it was interesting to +discuss with him. Talleyrand confided to Mary afterward that he couldn't +understand a man of her brother's intelligence and education being a +Republican. + +Madame de Talleyrand didn't sing, had a cold. I was very sorry as I told +her I should have liked to hear her sing again "Divinite du Styx." It +will be always associated in my mind with the French-German war when we +were all at Ouchy together hearing fresh disasters every day. + +This afternoon we went to have tea with "Ouida"[16] at her villa outside +Florence. She was most anxious W. should come to her--which he agreed to +do--though afternoon visits are not much in his line. As we were rather +a large party we went out in detachments, and Madame de Tchiatcheff +drove me. We arrived before the Bunsens and W. Ouida came to the gate to +meet us, and Madame Tchiatcheff named me. She was civil, but before I +had time to say that M. Waddington was coming in another carriage, she +looked past me, saying, "Et Monsieur Waddington--il ne vient donc pas," +with such evident disappointment and utter indifference to the presence +of _Madame_ Waddington that I was rather taken aback; but I suppose +geniuses must not be judged like other people. I was rather disappointed +in her appearance. I expected to see her dressed either in "primrose +satin with trails of white lace," or as an Italian peasant, and she +really looked like any one else--her hair cut short and a most +intelligent face. She was interesting when she talked about Italy and +the absolute poverty of the people. She spoke either French or English, +both equally well. When the visit had been talked of at home we had told +W. he must read, or at any rate look over one of her books. I didn't +think he could undertake one of her long novels, "Idalia" for instance, +where the heroine wanders for days through wood and dale attired in a +white satin dress, and arrives at her destination looking like "a tall, +beautiful, pure lily"; but I think he might like one of her short +Italian stories, which are charming, such beautiful descriptions. I +always remember one of her sentences, "There is nothing in the world so +beautiful as the smile of Italy to the awakening Spring." One felt that +to-day in the garden, every bud was bursting, everything looked green +and fresh and young. + +[16] Mlle. de la Ramee. + +Our dinner at home to-night was most agreeable. We had Mlle. de Weling, +a great friend of the Bunsens, a clever, interesting woman whose +girlhood was passed at the old Nassau castle at Bieberich on the Rhine. +Her mother was one of the Duchess's ladies. I know the place well, and +used often to walk through the beautiful park to the Rhine when I was +staying with Mary. It is quite shut up and deserted now. The old Duke +held out against United Imperial Germany, and never lived in his Schloss +after Nassau was annexed. It is a grand old house with all its great +windows and balconies facing the Rhine. One could quite imagine an +animated court life (small court) there, with music, and riding, and +excursions on the river. It is rather melancholy to see such a fine old +place deserted. + +We had, too, Comandi, an Italian who occupies himself with orphan boys, +and has a home for them near here somewhere in the country which we are +going to see some day. Anna de Weling, too, has founded one or two small +homes in different parts of Germany. She read us a letter the other day +from one of her boys, quite grown up now, whom she had placed. It began +"Wir brauchen Beinkleider" (we need trousers)--so naif. The conversation +was almost entirely in Italian as Comandi speaks no other language. All +the Bunsens speak of course perfectly--they lived in Italy for so many +years at the beginning of their diplomatic career. Mrs. Waddington is +quite wonderful, speaks and reads it perfectly. Her nice little +parlatrice is devoted to her. + + + February 19, 1880. + +We have had two nice days. Yesterday we walked straight across the +bridge to the Piazza del Duomo--walked about the Cathedral and the +Baptistery trying to make out the Saints' processions, and figures on +the marvellous bronze doors--but it would take weeks of study to +understand them. I was tired, and sat (very uncomfortably) on a sort of +pointed stone near the gates while W. examined them. I really think I +like the Piazza and the open air and the street life as much as anything +else. There was so much movement, flower stalls, fruit, cakes, those +extraordinary little straw bottles of wine, children playing and +tumbling all over the place (evidently compulsory education doesn't +bother them much), and always quantities of men standing about doing +nothing, wrapped up in their long cloaks, but what a wonderful cadre for +it all. The Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, Loggia, etc.--one can't imagine now +the horrors that have been perpetrated in that very square. I told the +family the other day I wanted to read "Nicolo dei Lapi" over again, and +they all jeered at me; but I must get it somewhere; it will take me +straight back to Frascati and the long hot days of the cholera summer +when I was reading it, and trying so hard with my imperfect and +school-girl translation to make you understand the beauty and horrors of +the book. + +I was telling Mrs. Waddington the other day of our life at Frascati--the +great cholera year at Albano (1869), when so many people died--the +Dowager Queen of Naples, Princess Colonna, and Cardinal Altieri, who +came straight out to his villa as soon as the cholera broke out (which +it did quite suddenly). He was wonderful--went about everywhere in all +the poor little houses, relieving and encouraging the sick and dying, +holding up the cross to the poor dim eyes when life was too nearly gone +for any words to avail; and finally was struck down himself and died in +two days. How terribly lonely and cut off we felt--Dr. Valery was the +only person we saw. He was allowed to come out every day from Rome, but +was fumigated at the station at Frascati, and again in Rome when he got +back, obliged to change his clothes outside the gate before coming into +the city. We were never at all nervous about the cholera. I don't think +there was one case at Frascati, and of course all our thoughts were +centred in that great big room with its pink walls and mosaic floor +where father[17] lay desperately ill. It seems like a dream now, those +hot summer nights, when we used to go out on the terrace (upon which his +room opened) to get bouillon, ice, etc., and we fancied we could see the +cloud of disease hovering over the Campagna. + +[17] Charles King, President of Columbia College, father of Madame +Waddington. + +[Illustration: President Charles King of Columbia College, New York +City.] + +When it was moonlight, and such moonlight, that beautiful golden, +southern moon, we saw a long white line in the distance--the sea. +Circulation was very difficult, all the roads leading to Albano were +barred, and guarded by zouaves; and of course we heard tales of horror +from the Italian servants, always most talkative and graphic in their +descriptions. However on the whole they behaved well. We used to ride +every day, and always passed a little chapel on the way to Castel +Gandolfo, which was filled with people kneeling and praying--a long line +stretching out quite across the road to a little shrine just opposite. +They used to make way for us to pass without getting off their knees, +only stretching out their hands for anything the Principesse americane +would give them. + +Some of the women were quite absorbed, looking hard at the Madonna in +her shrine as if they expected some visible sign of pity, or promise of +help. I rather envied them their simple faith; it must help them through +many moments of trial and discouragement. + +As usual I seem to have wandered from my original subject, but Italy is +so full of memories. We were too tired to walk home, besides were a +little late, so we took a fiacre with a most friendly coachman, who saw +at once that we were strangers, pointed out all the places of interest, +and said it would be a delightful afternoon for Fiesole, and he would +come and get us if we would name the hour. + +We found lots of letters and papers at the house, and W. plunged into +Paris and politics after breakfast. I went for a drive with Mary and +Beatrice to the Villa Careggi. The house is nothing remarkable--a large +square building with enormous rooms, deep fireplaces, and very high +ceilings. Some good frescoes on the walls. The garden and terraces were +enchanting--the sun really too warm on the terrace--always a divine +view; blue-purple hills rolling away in the distance, and funny, crooked +little roads shut in between high walls, with every now and then a gap, +or a gate, which gave one glimpses of straggling, unkempt gardens, with +a wealth of flowers and vines. + +We had a quiet dinner and evening, which we all enjoyed. W. smoked and +talked a great deal of the past year and the last days at the Quai +d'Orsay. He doesn't miss the life in the least, which rather surprises +me; I thought he would be so bored with suddenly nothing to do, and no +part to play in the world's history; but I see that the absolute rest +and being with all his family is doing him so much good. It is +extraordinary how soon one forgets, and takes up a quiet life again. +Already the whirl and fatigues of the Exhibition year seem so far away I +feel as if somebody else had lived that life. I cannot imagine myself +now dining out (and not ordinary dinners, official banquets) 19 nights +in succession, but I suppose I should begin again quite naturally if we +returned to public life. + +Did you see the article in the "Francais" saying "M. Waddington will now +have all the rest of his life before him to consecrate to his studies"? +I wonder! This morning we had our usual walk--as W. was ready at ten +o'clock I didn't make my regular station in the Boboli Gardens. We went +to Vieusseux about a book W. wanted, and then into the bank to pay +George Maquay a visit. He was most cheerful, and showed us a nice +article in the "Times" regretting very much W.'s departure from the +Foreign Office, "one of the few men who could look ahead a little, and +who was independent, not limited in his views by what the Chamber of +Deputies would think." I was rather pleased, but W. is very calm about +all newspaper articles. He always has a "mauvaise presse" as we don't +_soigner_ any paper. I fancy, though, Henrietta is right when she says +the next time he takes office she means to buy one--so many people +believe implicitly all they see in a paper, especially when it says what +you want to believe. + +We did a little shopping, I wanted some veils, and W. remained outside +looking at the grim old Strozzi Palace, standing like a great fortress +with its huge stones and heavy doors in the middle of all the busy, +bustling life of the Tornabuoni. I think it is the one street in +Florence where people move about quickly, and as if they were going +somewhere. Everywhere else there are crowds of people, men especially, +doing nothing but sitting all day in the sun looking at the passers-by. + +We hadn't time to walk over to San Lorenzo, so hailed a fiacre, and +wandered about there for some time. I was delighted to see the Medici +Chapel again and the famous monument of Lorenzo. He does look as if he +were thinking out some great problem--I wonder what he would think of +our go-ahead, unartistic world, and of our politicians, so timorous and +afraid of responsibility--at least the men of that race were strong for +good or for evil. When they wanted anything they did all they could to +get it. I don't know that the women were behindhand either in energy +when one thinks of Queen Catherine and of all the Huguenots she disposed +of one summer evening in Paris. Do you remember our friend Mrs. A., a +converted Catholic, whom we overheard one night at the Opera when they +were shooting all the Huguenots in the last act, telling her daughter +(remained a Protestant) that the Saint Bartholomew had nothing to do +with Catholics and Protestants; was entirely a political move. + +We have had a long drive this afternoon with Mary and Charles, up the +Poggio Imperiale--a stiff climb but such a beautiful road--villas, +cypresses, olive trees, and roses everywhere. We went up to the Certosa, +where a nice old monk, in his white dress, showed us the church and +monastery. It was dark and rather cold in the church, and nothing +particular to see--good frescoes and many coloured marbles--but the +terrace outside was delightful. There were not too many beggars on the +road considering that it is the favourite drive in Florence, and of +course the carriage people are at a disadvantage as they must go slowly +up the hill, and are escorted by a long troop of children singing, +dancing with a sort of tambourine, turning somersaults, and enjoying +life generally, whether they get a few pennies or not. It is very +difficult to resist the children with their smiling faces and evident +desire to amuse the "forestieri." + +We went to Casa Guadagni before we came home, and paid a visit to the +Marchesa, who was at home. The same old porter was at the door, and +greeted me most warmly, much pleased to see W. "bel uomo, il +marito"--had I any children, and where were all the rest of the +family?--that simple, natural Italian manner, without a thought of +familiarity. W. was delighted with Madame Guadagni. She talked about +everything and really didn't look any older. I asked about our old +apartment (piano nobile--first floor); she said it was always +let--generally to foreigners. I _didn't_ ask if she had made any modern +improvements since we lived there. Shall you ever forget that cold +winter with the doors that wouldn't open, and the windows that wouldn't +shut, and the chimneys that always smoked, and the calorifere, which +John never would light, as he was afraid it would warm the Guadagni +rooms below? I should have liked to go over the apartment and see the +rooms again--the big ball-room where we danced so often and had so much +music. We wound up with a turn in the Cascine, drawing up in the Piazza +alongside of Lottie's carriage, which was of course surrounded by all +the gilded youth of Florence. Maquay came to talk to us, Carlo +Alessandri and Serristori, whom I hadn't yet seen. He was just the same +(laughing and criticising) as in the old days when some of the swells +appeared in so-called Worth garments, which he said were all made in a +little room over his stables, by the wife and daughters of one of his +men. + +I was glad to get in and have a quiet hour to write before dinner. I am +at my table close up to the open window. The air is soft and +delicious--the garden just beginning to look dark and mysterious in the +waning light. The group of cypresses (I don't know how to write that in +the plural, it looks funny) always black. I was called off various +times, and must finish now as we are going to dine at the Maquays--we +being ourselves, Mary, and Charles. We generally go about a family +party. + + + Sunday, February 21, 1880. + +We are making our pacquets as we have decided to leave for Rome on +Monday (22). The Schuylers are clamouring for us, and though I hate to +leave here I really think we ought to go. As W. has never seen Rome two +months will not be too much. We shan't have much more as he wants to get +home for the Conseil General. The Schuylers want to have a big reception +for us, and would like next Sunday week, so I think we really shall get +off this time. The longer we stay the more invitations we have. It has +been all quite charming. Our Maquay dinner was very easy and pleasant; +the Tchiatcheffs, Lottie, Alessandri, Talleyrands, Mrs. Fuller, and one +or two stray men. The house looked so natural--of course the ball-room +wasn't open as we were a small party, but they lighted it after dinner. +I wanted W. to see how pretty it was and how light--white with red seats +all around. How it took me back to old times? I seemed to see everybody +settling for the cotillon--the stairs too, where we all used to sit +waiting for the cotillon to begin. How we amused ourselves that winter +in Florence, and how scattered all that little band is now. The +Florentines amuse themselves still--there must be something in the air +which makes people light-hearted--one can't imagine a serious, studious +life in Florence. + +We spent two hours in the Uffizi yesterday looking at all the old +friends again. I was delighted to see the dear little "St. John in the +Wilderness" hanging just where it did before, on one side of the door in +the Tribuna; also the Peruginos--I like them so much--his Madonnas with +their wooden faces, but a pure, unearthly expression all the same, and +the curious green colour one sees in all his pictures. We saw as much as +we could in the two hours, but as it was the second visit we found our +way about better. I never rested until I found the corridor with Niobe +and all her children--it used to fascinate me in the old days. One +realized perfectly all those big sons and daughters, so terrified, and +the last little one clinging to his mother's skirts. + +We went to tea, Mary and I, with Edith Peruzzi--quite quietly--as she +wanted to show me her children--and fine specimens they are; a duck of a +boy, quite sociable and smiling. Nina and Louisa Maquay came in--Louisa +looked lovely. This morning I went to the English church with Mary and +Beatrice. We didn't go out again till late--after tea--as we had various +visitors, among others Schuyler Crosby, who had asked us to dine but we +had no evening left. I saw him riding the other day in the Cascine, and +recognised him some way off by his seat. I don't know what it is, but +whatever the Americans do, whether riding, dancing, or tennis, they do +it differently from any one else. I was talking about it the other day +to an Englishman who had seen some of the Anglo-American boat races, and +he quite agreed with me, said their rowing was very good, but quite +another thing from the English sport. + +We drove out again Fiesole way. It was enchanting--more roses come out +every day. There was a perfect fringe of pink roses hanging over some of +the old grey walls. As it was Sunday, and a lovely day, there were +quantities of people about. There are scarcely any costumes left, but +all Italians like bright colours, and the red and green fichus and +aprons looked pretty and gay as the various groups passed us. Some of +the old women were terribly bent, with such brown, wrinkled faces--one +could quite see that they had toiled up and down hills under the Italian +scorching sun all their lives, with baskets and bundles of fagots on +their backs--but the old eyes were keen and smiling. They don't look so +utterly starved and wretched as Ouida (and others) say they are. I +suppose they live on nothing, and go on quite simply, leading the same +lives that their fathers and mothers did before them, without knowing of +anything better. + +Tell Henrietta I haven't made much progress in the travelling work she +presented me with. I did take it out into the drawing-room one evening, +but the immediate result of that was disastrous. I took it out of the +bag proudly, to show that I had silk, embroidery, scissors, needles, +etc., like everybody else, but left it on the table. Somebody wanted a +book or a newspaper also on the table; turned everything upside down, +and the work, silk, needles, thimble, etc., went rolling all over the +floor. When you think of the crevasses of an old parquet floor in an +Italian Palace, you can imagine how difficult it was to find anything +again. The two girls were hours on their knees looking for my thimble +which never turned up--however, that will be an excellent reason for +buying a pretty little gold thimble with a row of turquoises that I saw +the other day in a shop on the Ponte Vecchio. There is evidently a fate +against my becoming an accomplished needlewoman, and I am afraid the +"clumsy little fingers," which used to worry you so in the old days of +music lessons, have not improved with advancing years. Perhaps I shall +take to work in my old age. Isn't it George Sand who says (and I don't +believe she ever took a needle in her hand), "Don't despise our less +ambitious sisters who work. Many great resolutions and silent +abnegations have been woven into the bright flowers and delicate +tracings of the embroidery in the long hours spent over the frame." + + + Monday Night, February 22, 1880. + +We really are starting to-morrow morning--trunks are packed, compartment +engaged, and we have said good-bye to everybody. I made a last little +turn this morning in the Boboli Gardens. I didn't see the custode--I +wanted to say good-bye to him. Then we went to the Pitti gallery, W. +wanted to see one particular Botticelli, "la bella Simonetta" I think, +which he and Mary had been talking about, and which we had missed the +other day. It is quite impossible to see everything. I had remembered +pretty well the principal pictures. Then we took a fiacre and went out +to San Marco to see the Fra Angelicos and Savonarola's cell. We had +never once got there, there is always so much to do. We walked through +the cloisters first--the frescoes are perfectly well preserved--some of +Fra Angelico's and others less interesting. I wanted to see the cells, +and was quite pleased to recognise the "Coronation of the Virgin" and +the "Madonna and Child" surrounded by angels, all in their long +green-blue robes with wings and musical instruments of all kinds. As +usual people were copying them, and I will try and find a pretty one and +bring it back. I want the one in a sort of light green dress blowing a +trumpet. The faces are quite beautiful, so pure. He must have had a +wonderful imagination--I wonder if he believed angels look like that? +Somehow or other I always think of an angel in a white robe. We saw of +course Savonarola's cell, and they showed us his rosary, and a piece of +wood which is supposed to have been taken from his funeral pile. It all +looked so peaceful and smiling to-day, one could hardly realize the long +hours of doubt and self-torture passed in these solitary cells. There is +a fine description in one of the numerous books the Bunsens have on +Florence, of Savonarola's preaching--all the people congregated in the +great square before the church, when there was no longer any room +inside, leaving their shops and their work to come and listen to him. +That is one of the delightful things in this household, you can always +find a book in almost any language about any subject that interests you, +religion, music, politics, everything. + +Beatrice has a delightful German magazine, "Monatsheft," very well +illustrated, with all the modern German literature, stories, essays, +criticisms, etc. One could almost wish for a rainy day or a quiet +evening to read a little. + +W. went off by himself the other night and had a very pleasant evening. +First to the Piccolellis' where he found a small party and his old +friend Bentivoglio, with whom he had travelled in the East. Of course +they instantly got into a corner and talked shop (medals). Then to +Lottie Van Schaick who had a few friends, where he amused himself very +much. + +Gertrude writes that our rooms are very nice, and the man at the hotel +delighted to have us. I wonder what Rome will be like. It will seem +funny to be back there again, a respectable middle-aged lady. I think +one should always be young and gay to live in Italy. + +We had a fine musical evening Saturday with the Landi family--five; +mother, father, daughter, son, and grandfather. Madame Landi sang +anything, everything, delightfully. Some of the stornelli and peasant +songs, those particularly of the Abruzzi mountains, were charming. I +wonder what Italians have got in their "gosier" that we haven't, that +gives such a charm to their simplest song. I sang once or twice in +French, and then Madame Landi and I did some duos in Italian which went +very well. She was very complimentary over my Italian (I told it +triumphantly to W., but he remains under the impression of the razor), +said it was evident I had learnt in Rome; the language is so much +softer, or rather the pronunciation "Lingua toscana in bocca romana." + +The old father was killing, knew everything, was wildly interested, and +criticised freely. I think the daughter will have a very pretty voice, +like her mother's, a rich, low mezzo. + +I was called off by some visits, and will finish now. My letter will go +to-morrow morning. We don't start very early--9.30--but I shall not have +time to write anything more. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + HOTEL DE LONDRES, ROME, + February 24, 1880. + +We arrived last evening for dinner, dear mother, and are most +comfortably settled. We have a nice apartment on the second floor--a +large bright salon with a good bed-room on either side of it for me and +W., and a very fair anteroom where Madame Hubert has just had another +wardrobe put up. She interviewed the gerant and made it clear to him +that it was impossible for her to unpack her mistress's dresses until +she had something suitable to put them in. We found flowers and papers +on the table from the Schuylers, Mrs. Bruce, and the proprietor of the +hotel. + +I thought we should never get away from Florence. We were so happy there +with the Bunsens and Mrs. Waddington, and every day there was something +to see or do. The weather was divine the last days--the hills were quite +a pink-purple sometimes as we drove home after sunset, and quantities of +roses climbing up all the old grey walls. We had a very easy +journey--they had reserved a carriage for us, which was a good +precaution, as the train was crowded. We got to Rome about six. W. was +quite excited as we approached (it is too funny to think that he had +never been here), and very anxious for the first glimpse of St. Peter's. +I can't say we saw the dome from a great distance--I fancy it depends +upon which way you enter Rome. We found the Schuylers at the station +with a carriage, and drove at once to the hotel, where Gert had ordered +tea and a pannettone. If I hadn't known I was coming to Rome I should +never have believed it on arriving at the station. It was so unlike the +little old Termine of our Roman days--the funny little station so far +away, with few porters or cabs, and comparatively few voyageurs. I was +quite bewildered with the rush into this great, modern station, with +porters and officials of all kinds, and all the bustle of a great city. + +I looked in vain for some familiar landmarks as we came along. Nothing. +The new streets, Via Garibaldi and Nazionale--an abomination, tall ugly +maisons de location and official buildings so new and regular--awful! It +wasn't until we got into the town and near the Piazza di Spagna that I +really felt that I was back in Rome; that of course was unchanged. It +brought back such a flood of memories as we passed 20, and all the first +happy days in Rome came back to me, before father's illness, when he +enjoyed everything so much, and wrote to Uncle John that "the hours were +golden." The "barca" looked just the same, with boys and women leaning +up against the stones, flower-girls on the Spanish Steps, and even old +Nazzari's low, dark shop opposite looked picturesque. W. was quite +surprised to see me so sentimental, though I had warned him that for me +there was no place in the world like Rome. + +The Schuylers stayed talking some little while, then had to go, as they +were dining out, but promised to come in after dinner. W. asked me if I +was too tired to go for a little stroll (the tea had refreshed us), so +we started up the Spanish Steps to the Villa Medici, where we had that +beautiful view of Rome. I showed him the stone pines of the +Doria-Pamphili, which stood out splendidly against the last bright +clouds of the sunset--it was quite lovely. We stayed out quite late, and +were received with respectful, but decidedly disapproving greetings from +the gerant when we came in. It was not at all prudent for "Eccellenza" +and Madame to remain out late, particularly as they must be very tired +after a long journey. We dined downstairs in the big dining-room. There +was a long table d'hote full--people about half through their +dinner--and at the extreme end of the room five or six small tables, one +of which had been reserved for us. I didn't see any one I knew, but two +men got up and bowed as we passed. The dinner was good--the head waiter +hovering about us all the time, and of course always addressing W. as +"Eccellenza." We had coffee upstairs. W. smoked and I read the paper and +one or two notes. About ten the Schuylers appeared, very cheerful and +full of propositions of all kinds. They have got a big reception for us +on Sunday night--Roman and diplomatic--and we agreed to breakfast with +them to-day. Gert looked very well in blue, with her diamond necklace +and feathers. They don't seem very pleased with Marsh--our Minister. +Always the same old story and jealousy--the ministers consider +themselves so far above a consul. But really when the Consul-General +happens to be Schuyler and his wife King, one would think these two +names would speak for themselves--for Americans, at any rate. + +We told Schuyler how many compliments we had had both in Paris and +Florence for his "Peter the Great"--so much in it, and yet the subject +one that had been written about so often. They went off about eleven, +and I was glad to go to bed; could hardly believe I was sleeping again +in the Piazza di Spagna. I certainly never imagined when I left Rome +tearfully so many years ago that I would come back as the wife of a +French statesman. + +I was busy all the morning unpacking and settling myself, and of course +looking out of the window. It is all so delightfully familiar--all the +botte standing in the middle of the street, and the coachman trying so +hard to understand when some English or American tourists give them some +impossible address in Italian--you know the kind of people I mean, +conscientious tourists who think they must always speak the language of +the country they are in, learned out of a phrase-book. We have various +invitations, from our two Embassies, Quirinal and Vatican, also the +Teanos, and W. had a nice visit from Lanciani, who wants to show him all +Rome. We took a botta to go to the Schuylers. It isn't far, but I wasn't +quite sure of finding my way the first time. They have a charming +apartment in Palazzo Altemps, near the Piazza Navona, not at all far +really from our hotel, and now that I know the way I can often walk over +in the mornings when W. is off sight-seeing seriously with some of his +learned friends. It is a fine old palace with a large open court and +broad stone staircase. San Carlo Borromeo is supposed to have lived +there. Their apartment belongs to Mrs. Terry, wife of the artist, who +had arranged it very comfortably, and the Schuylers have put in all +their Turkish rugs, carpets, and bibelots, so it really looks very +pretty. There are quantities of green plants and flowers about (they are +both fond of flowers and are always making experiments and trying +something new) and of course books, papers, reviews, and a piano. + +I told Gert I thought I would write to Vera and have some singing +lessons--I have done so little singing since I have been married. Eugene +is a charming host, and he and W. had plenty to talk about. I inspected +Gert's wardrobe while they were smoking. Her dresses are all right, and +I think her maid is good. I wrote all this after I came in. The man of +the hotel had engaged a carriage for us--a nice little victoria with a +pair of greys. It comes from Tomba's stables--do you remember the name? +The same loueur we had when we lived here. The coachman said he +remembered me perfectly, had often driven the "signorine" to the meets, +and hoped la maman was well. We were lucky to get such a nice little +carriage. The d'Aubignys, a French couple, had just given it up, as they +were leaving the Embassy here for Berlin. + +We drove about a little--left cards for the Noailles, Desprez, Cairolis, +and wound up in the Villa Borghese, which was again quite changed--such +quantities of carriages and people walking, also Italian officers +riding, and soldiers, bersaglieri, etc., about. We crossed the +Wimpffens, looking very smiling, and saw in the distance, as we were +coming out, the royal red liveries, but the carriage was too far off to +see who was in it. Now we are going to dinner, and I shall be glad to +get to bed early. I think I am more tired than yesterday. + + + HOTEL DE LONDRES, + February 26, 1880. + +I will begin again this afternoon, as I have a little time before +dinner. The weather is divine, quite the same deep-blue sky and bright +sun of our first Roman winter. We have had an enchanting drive out of +Porta San Sebastiano and along the Via Appia as far as Cecilia +Metella--everything exactly the same as when we were there so many years +ago. The same peasant carts blocking up the narrow gateway, everybody +talking at once, white teeth gleaming, and quantities of little brown +children with black eyes and jet black hair tumbling down over their +eyes and outstretched hands for anything the forestieri would put into +them. W. was a little disappointed at first. The road is narrow, an +atrocious pavement, and high walls almost shutting out the view. +However, as we got farther out there came gaps in the walls through +which one saw the whole stretch of the Campagna with the Claudian +Aqueduct on one side, and when we finally emerged into the open fields, +he was delighted. How extraordinary all these old tombs and pyramids +are, most of them falling in ruins, with roses and creepers of all kinds +holding them together. On one of the largest round tombs there was a +peasant house with a garden and vines, and smoke coming out of the +chimney, perched quite on the top, with a steep, stony path winding +down, where the coachman told me the donkey went up and down, as he too +lived in the house with the family. Some of the tombs are very +high--real towers. There is hardly a trace of marble or inscription +left, but the original building so strong that the walls remain. + +The queer old tombs, towers, and bits of ruins all along the road +interested W. immensely; though he has never been here he knows them all +from photographs and reproductions, and could tell me a great deal more +than I could tell him. We went as far as the round tomb of Cecilia +Metella, and then got out and walked a little. I wanted to show him the +low wall which we used to jump always when the meet was at Cecilia +Metella. Do you remember the first time you came out to see us jump, not +at a hunt but one afternoon with Dyer practising to see what the horses +and riders would do? You saw us start at a canter for the wall, and then +shut your eyes tight until we called out to you from the other side. + +This morning W. and I had our first regular turn at sight-seeing. We +took a nice little botta on the Piazza, had our Baedeker--a red one, +like all the tourists--and were quite happy. Some of the old colleagues +were highly entertained seeing us driving about with our Baedeker; said +it was W. under a wholly different aspect. We wandered about the +Vatican for two hours, seeing quantities of things--Sistine Chapel, +Stanze Raphael, Apollo Belvedere, etc., and always a beautiful view over +the gardens. Later, he says, he must do it all regularly and +intelligently with one of his men friends, as I naturally could not +stand for hours recognising and deciphering an old inscription. I left +him from time to time, sat down on one of the stone benches, talked to +the custode, looked at the other people, and gave them any information I +could. It interested me to see the different nationalities--almost +entirely English, American, German, very few Italian, and no +French--yes, one artist, a rather nice looking young fellow who was +copying something on the ceiling of one of the "Stanze," rather a +difficult process apparently. There were many more women than +men--groups of English spinsters doing their sights most thoroughly--the +Americans more casual. The Apollo looked splendid, so young and +spirited. We walked some little distance, coming home before we could +get a fiacre, and I had forgotten how cruel that Roman pavement was. I +don't believe any of my boots will stand it; I shall have to get +somewhere here a pair of thick-soled walking shoes. + +We had a quiet hour after breakfast. I have arranged a ladies' corner in +the drawing-room. I was in despair the first two days over the room. I +had never lived in small hotel quarters with a man, and I had no idea +how disorderly they are. The table was covered with pens, papers--piles +of them, three or four days old, thick with dust--cigars, cigar ashes +over everything, two or three large, bulky black portfolios, very often +a pot hat, etc. So we compromised; W. took one end of the room and I the +other. I obtained from the gerant (thanks to Madame Hubert, who is very +pretty and on the best of terms with him) a small table, large china +vase for a plant, a nice arm-chair, and a cushion for the sofa, borrowed +a table-cloth from Gert, also some small things for my table, and my end +looked quite respectable and feminine. The room is large, so we can +really get on very well. We had a pleasant visit from the Marquis de +Noailles, French Ambassador to the Quirinal, before we went out. He has +a charming, easy manner. We are to breakfast at the Embassy, Palazzo +Farnese, to-morrow for me to make Madame de Noailles's acquaintance. I +wonder what I shall think of her? The men all say she is a charmeuse. +She is Polish born, was a beautiful woman--I think all Poles have a +great charm of manner. + +Trocchi came in, too--so pleased to see me again and to make W.'s +acquaintance. The two senators talked politics, and Noailles put me a +little au courant of Roman society and the two camps black and white. We +went out at 3.30, as I said before, to Cecilia Metella, and stopped at +Gert's for tea. W. walked home, and I stayed a little while with her +talking over the arrangements for their reception on Sunday. Every +one--Romans, diplomats, and Americans--they have asked has accepted; but +their rooms are fairly large and I don't think they will be crowded. + + + HOTEL DE LONDRES, + Monday, February 29, 1880. + +I am still tired from the quantity of people we saw last night at the +Schuylers. Their reception was most brilliant; all the world----However, +I will begin at the beginning. We went to church on Sunday, as Dr. Nevin +came to see us Saturday afternoon and said he hoped we would not fail to +come. W. found him clever and interesting. He said he thought I should +hardly recognise him in his new church. It is very pretty--English +style, built by an English architect (Street) in the new quarter, Via +Nazionale, utterly unlike the bare little room outside the Porta del +Popolo, where we used to go and do the music. It makes me laugh now when +I think of the congregation all embarked on a well-known hymn, when +suddenly Henrietta would lower the tune one note--if I was tired, as +often happened, as one of the gayest balls in Rome was Princess +Sciarra's on Saturday night. When I had danced until four o'clock in the +morning (the test of the ball was how late it lasted) it was rather an +effort to be at church at 10.30 Sunday morning and sing straight through +the service. Henrietta had the harmonium and I led the singing. I will +say that the effect of the sudden change was disastrous from a musical +point of view. However, we did our best. I am afraid Henrietta was not +always faithful to Bach and Beethoven in her voluntaries. We had no +music, and she played whatever she could remember, and occasionally +there were strains of "Araby's Daughter" or "When the Swallows Homeward +Fly," which were quite perceptible even through the minor chords. I +liked doing it all the same, and like it still. I am so fond of the old +hymns we used to sing as children, and should like to hear "Shout the +Glad Tidings" every Christmas. I never have since we left America and +Oyster Bay, where also we did the music, and where, when we were late +sometimes for church, Faust, the big black Newfoundland dog would come +and bark when the bell had stopped, telling us quite plainly we were +late--he knew all about it. + +We made the regular Sunday turn in the afternoon--Villa Borghese and +Pincio--sent the carriage away and walked home by the Villa Medici. W. +loves the view from the terrace. We met Mrs. Bruce, also looking at the +view, and walked home together. She told W. Cardinal Howard wanted to +see him, had known him in England in the old days, also a young English +monsignore--called _English_ oddly enough. She will ask us all to dine +together some night next week. I asked her if she remembered her famous +dinner long ago with Cardinal Howard and Dean Stanley. The two divines +were very anxious to cross swords. They were such a contrast. Dean +Stanley, small, slight, nervous, bright eyes, charming manners, and a +keen debater. The Cardinal, tall, large, slow, but very earnest, +absolutely convinced. The conversation was most interesting--very +animated--but never personal nor even vehement, though their views and +judgments were absolutely different on all points. However, both were +gentlemen and both large-minded. W. was much interested, as he knew Dean +Stanley and his wife Lady Augusta well; they came often to Paris, and +were habitues of Madame Mohl's famous salon, where the literary men of +all creeds and countries used to meet. It was there, too, that Dean +Stanley and Renan used to meet and talk, the two great intellects +finding points in common. I was taken there once or twice after I was +first married. It was a curious interior; Madame Mohl, a little old +lady, always dressed in white, with a group of men standing around her +chair--many more men than women, and never more than twenty or thirty +people. I suppose it was the type of the old French literary salon where +people went to talk. I naturally listened in those days, not being +sufficiently up in all the political and literary questions, and not +pinning my faith absolutely on the "Revue des Deux Mondes." Mrs. Bruce, +too, was often at Madame Mohl's. + +We stopped in a few minutes at the Trinita de' Monti, where there was a +service of some kind going on. The nuns were singing a low, monotonous +chant behind their grating; the church was quite dark, lights only on +the altar, a few women kneeling and absorbed, and a few irreverent +forestieri looking about and talking in whispers. We came down the +Spanish Steps, which were quite deserted at that hour--models, beggars, +flaneurs, all resting from their labours. + +I was glad to rest a little before dinner, and only dressed afterward, +as I couldn't well go down to the public dining-room in a low red satin +dress and diamonds. We went rather early--ten o'clock--to Palazzo +Altemps, but found many people already there. The apartment looked very +pretty, quantities of flowers and plants wherever they could be put. +Gert looked very well in yellow satin, and Eugene is always at his best +in his own house--very courteous and receiving people as if it were a +pleasure to him (which I think it is). We found quantities of old +friends--Pallavicinis, Teanos, Lovatellis, Calabrinis, Bandini, Pagets, +Mrs. Bruce, Hooker, Grants, etc., and quantities of people we didn't +know, and whose acquaintance we made of course--Mesdames Minghetti, +Cairoli, Despretis, and almost the whole of the Corps Diplomatique. + +W. enjoyed it very much, did his manners very well, and never looked +stiff or bored. I was delighted to see the familiar faces once more. I +almost felt as if we had never been away. Madame de Noailles was +astounded at the number of people I knew--I think she hadn't realized +how long I had lived in Rome as a girl. She had heard W. say it was his +first visit to Rome, and thought I, too, was here for the first time, +and she was naturally surprised to hear me talking to Calabrini about +the hunts, cotillons, his coach, and tempi passati generally. + +I have accepted so many invitations that I never can remember them, but +the ladies promised to send a card. Aunt Mary Gracie was rather put out +with me because I wore no necklace (which couldn't be said of the Roman +ladies, who all wore splendid jewels), but I told her it was the last +chic in Paris to wear your necklace on your bodice, not on your neck. + +We stayed on after all the beau monde had gone with Aunt Mary, Hooker, a +Russian friend of Schuyler's, and Count Palfy, had a nice little supper, +champagne and sandwiches, and talked over the party, saying of course +(as they say we Kings always do) how pleasant our party was. W. was much +interested in the various talks he had. He found Minghetti charming--so +intelligent and well up in everything. Cairoli, too, he had been anxious +to see; also Visconti Venosta. He was naturally (like all the men) +charmed with Madame Minghetti. She must have been beautiful, and has an +extraordinary charm of manner. The Cairolis are a very big couple. He is +tall and broad, fine eyes--she, too, on a large scale, but handsome. Of +course there were many inquiries from all the old friends for la maman +and the family generally. Mrs. Bruce says she never drives in the +Doria-Pamphili without thinking of you driving about in your plain black +dress and bonnet, with two or three daughters (not quite so plainly +dressed) in the carriage, and all always talking and laughing, and +enjoying life together. I told her about Florence, where the King of +Italy always bowed to you in the Cascine, evidently taking you for the +superior of some religious order (he must have thought the novices were +lively), and the children in the street used to run up to you and kiss +your hand. "He was quite right, to bow to you," she said, "my grand old +Republican." + +[Illustration: The Spanish Steps. + +In the Piazza di Spagna, Rome.] + + + March 4, 1880. + +Yesterday we went again to the Vatican. W. is quite happy, I thought I +should never get him away. It is most amusing to walk about old Rome +with him, for suddenly over a gateway or at the bottom of an ordinary +little court he discovers an inscription or a slab, or an old stone +which he knows all about, and we stop. He reads, and recognises, and +translates to me, and is wildly interested. It is all so good for him, +and puts politics and little annoyances out of his head. It is quite new +for me to see Rome from a classical point de vue, but I suppose one +enjoys things differently as one grows older. I certainly enjoyed the +mad gallops over the Campagna in the old days; do you remember Mrs. S. +who was so severe with us--first because we were Americans (she was +English) and then because we knew everybody and enjoyed +ourselves?--"when she was young people came to Rome to educate +themselves and enjoy the pictures, museums, historical associations, +etc. _Now_ one saw nothing but American girls racing over the Campagna +with a troop of Roman princes at their heels." Poor dear, she really +thought it was a calamity not to be born under the British flag. I +suppose that makes the great strength of the English, their absolute +conviction that England is the only country in the world. + +They are funny, though--I was discussing something one day with Lady S., +and we didn't quite agree; upon which she remarked she supposed I +couldn't understand her ideas--she came from a big country where one +took broad views of things. I said I thought I did too, but perhaps it +is a matter of appreciation--I think, though, I have got geography on my +side. + +After breakfast we drove about paying visits. We found Princess Teano +(who has asked us to dine on Wednesday) and she showed us her boys--the +eldest one a beauty. She looked very handsome with her pure Madonna +face. She told us her beau-pere (the blind Duke of Sermoneta) had been +so pleased to meet W. in Florence. They had a long talk somewhere, and +W. was so amused with the Duke's politics and liberalism--all so +easy-going, half chaffing, but very decided too, no sounding phrases nor +profession de foi; simply accepting (what he couldn't really like very +much) the inevitable, de bonne grace; and seizing and ridiculing all the +weak points. + +In France they are frightfully logical, must always argue and discuss +everything--I think they are born debaters. + +We left cards on various people, Princess Bandini, Cenci, Countess +Lovatelli, and then went for a little turn out of the San Lorenzo gate, +but not far, as we wanted to go to Princess Pallavicini, who received +that afternoon. W. was much struck with the apartment--so many rooms, +all very high ceilings, that we passed through before getting to the +boudoir where the Princess was sitting. It all looked so natural, I +remembered the hangings--bright flowers on a light satin ground--as soon +as I got into the room, and some of the pictures. She was very cordial +and friendly, told W. how long she had known me, and recalled some of +our rides at Frascati with her and Del Monte. She asked us to come on +Friday evenings, she was always at home. No one else was there but a +Princesse de Thurn and Taxis (nee Hohenlohe) who was introduced to us, +and the talk was pleasant enough. She was quite interested in our two +audiences--Pope and Quirinal--but we told her we had heard nothing from +either court yet. W. walked home, and I went on to Gert as it was her +reception day. She gave me a cup of tea, and I found various friends +there, including Father Smith who was quite pleased to see me again. He +doesn't look any older, and is apparently quite as energetic as ever. He +told me he had enjoyed his talk with W. very much, and they had made a +rendezvous for two days--the Catacombs and San Clemente. He remarked +casually that W. wasn't at all what he expected to find him; not at all +his idea of a "French Republican." I wonder what sort of trade-mark he +expected to see? If he had pictured W. as a slight, nervous, black-eyed, +voluble Frenchman, he must naturally have been surprised. + +We have heard people discussing us sometimes in English as we pass down +the long dining-room to our table--"There goes Waddington, the late +French Premier." "Never--that man is an Englishman." "I have seen +pictures of Waddington--he doesn't look at all like that, etc." The head +waiter always points us out as distinguished strangers. + +I found quantities of cards when I came home--one from Lily San Vito +with a nice little message of welcome. (We crossed her in the Corso the +other day and she looked lovely.) Also Valerys, Middletons, Pantaleones, +etc. After I had gone to my room to dress W. had a visit from Desprez, +the French Ambassador to the Vatican. He has just arrived, his wife not +yet come, and he feels a little strange in this very divided society. We +are going to meet him at dinner at the Portuguese Embassy. He told W. +there would be several Cardinals at the dinner--a regular black +assemblage. It will be a funny experience for W. + + + March 6, 1880. + +I will finish this long letter to night. We have just come in from the +Teano dinner, which was pleasant. Teano looked quite the same (I hadn't +seen him for years) with his tall, slight figure and white lock. (I +forgot to look if the boy had it.) She looked very handsome. We had the +Minghettis, a Polish Countess--sister-in-law of the Duc de Sermoneta, +the Calabrinis, and M. Heding, a German savant. Minghetti was +delightful, telling us his early experiences with the old Pope, Pio +Nono. He was killing over the entente between the government and the +monks for the suppression of the monasteries. The gendarmes arrived, +found barred doors and resistance. There was a sort of halt and +parley--one father came out, then another--a little livret of the Caisse +d'Epargne was put into their hands, and all went off as quietly as +possible. Heding seemed to think things wouldn't go so easily in +Germany, and they certainly wouldn't in France. + +Madame Minghetti and I talked for a long time after dinner exchanging +our experiences of the official world, which I fancy is always the same +in all countries. Calabrini was of course his same courteous self--so +absolutely free from pose of any kind--rather unusual in a man who has +always had such a success. + +This morning we went to Trajan's Forum, walked, W. as usual quite at +home, everywhere recognising old friends at every step. We looked at all +manner of inscriptions and basso-rilievos, and enjoyed ourselves very +much. This afternoon W. and Schuyler went off together to see some +churches and the Palazzo dei Cesari. I backed out, as I can't stand two +sight-seeings the same day with a dinner in prospect in the evening. I +went over to get Gert, and we drove about together, winding up at the +Comtesse Wimpffens, Austrian Ambassadress, who has a charming apartment +in the Palazzo Chigi (where Odo Russell used to live when we were in +Rome). There were various ladies there, the Marquise de Noailles, +French Ambassadress (who immediately asked me who made my dress, the +blue velvet that did all my visits the last year of the Quai d'Orsay), +Lady Paget, Madame Minghetti, and a sprinkling of secretaries and +attaches. Comtesse d'Aulnay, looking very pretty, very well dressed, +came in just as we were leaving. We wound up with a turn in the Villa +Borghese. There were grooms waiting at the gate with saddle horses, just +as our old Carmine used to wait for us. It is all so curiously familiar +and yet changed. I can't get accustomed to the quantities of people in +the streets where there never used to be any one--occasionally a priest, +or a few beggars, or a water-carrier. Now there are soldiers, people +carrying parcels, small employees, workmen, carts, carriages, life in +fact. There were quantities of people in the Villa Borghese. Some of the +carriages very well turned out, again very different from our days when +we knew every carriage, and when a new equipage or a new face made a +sensation. + +W. has had a delightful afternoon looking at some of the very old +churches with Eugene. He had, too, a note from Desprez saying our +audience from the Pope would be to-morrow at one o'clock, and giving me +the necessary instructions for my veil, long black dress, etc. To-morrow +night we dine at the Noailles. The breakfast there the other day was +pleasant--no one but ourselves and Ripalda. Of course it is a +magnificent Embassy--the Farnese Palace--and they do it very well, but +it would take an army of servants to "garnish" these long anterooms and +passages, in fact ordinary servants are quite lost there; there ought to +be Swiss guards or halberdiers with steel cuirasses and lances which +would stand out splendidly from the old grey walls. One could quite +imagine an Ambassador of Louis XIV arriving with 100 gentlemen and +armed retainers in his suite. The famous room with the Caracci frescoes +must be beautiful at night. Ripalda asked us to come to tea one +afternoon at his palace on the Tiber, the "Farnesina." Marquise de +Noailles was charming. + +Now I will say good-night, dear, for I am tired, and we have a busy day +to-morrow. I wonder if Leo XIII. will impress me as much as Pio Nono +did. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + ROME, HOTEL DE LONDRES, + Thursday, March 8, 1880. + +The Piazza is delightful this morning, dear mother; it is bright and +warm, and there are lots of people starting for excursions with +guide-books, white umbrellas, and every variety of wrap. The coachmen of +the little botte look so smiling and interested, so anxious to make +things easy and comfortable. Vera came to see us yesterday, and told me +he was hailed by one of the coachmen from the top of his box, just as he +was crossing the Piazza, who said to him: "Sai Maestro, una di quelle +signorine King e tornata col marito?" (Do you know, master, one of those +King young ladies has come back with her husband?) He was much +amused--told him he was quite right, and that he was going to see that +same signorina. I dare say he had driven us often to one of the gates to +meet the saddle horses. + +Yesterday was our udienza particolare (special audience), and most +interesting it was. Madame Hubert was madly excited dressing me. I wore +my black satin, long, with the Spanish lace veil I had brought in case I +should be received by his Holiness, and of course no gloves, though I +had a pair with me and left them in the carriage. We started at 12.30, +as our audience was at one, and got there quickly enough. I had +forgotten all the queer little courts and turns at the back of the +Vatican. Everything was ready for us; we were received really in royal +state--Swiss Guard, with their extraordinary striped yellow uniform +(designed, some one told us the other day, by Michelangelo), tall +footmen attired in red damask, Guardia Nobile, chamberlains, and two +monsignori. The garde noble de service was Felice Malatesta. He really +seemed much pleased to see me again, and to make W.'s acquaintance--swore +he would have known me at once, I was so little changed; but I rather +suspect if he hadn't known we were coming he wouldn't have recognised +me. We had a nice talk the few minutes we stood waiting in the room +adjoining the one where the Pope received us, and he gave me news of +all his family--Emilio (still unmarried), Francesco, etc.; then a door +was opened, a monsignore came out, bowed, and said his Holiness was +ready to receive us. We went in at once, the monsignore closing the +door behind us and leaving us alone with the Pope, who came almost +to the door to receive us, so that the three regulation curtseys +were impossible. There were three red and gold arm-chairs at one end of +the room, with a thick, handsome carpet in front of them. The Pope sat +on the one in the middle, put me on his right and W. on his left. He is +a very striking figure; tall, slight, a fine intellectual brow and +wonderfully bright eyes--absolutely unlike Pio Nono, the only Pope I had +ever approached. He was most gracious, spoke to me always in Italian, +said he knew I was an old Roman, and that we had lived many years in +Rome; spoke French to W., who, though he knows Italian fairly, prefers +speaking French. He asked W. all sorts of questions about home politics +and the attitude of the clergy, saying that as a Protestant his opinion +would be impartial (he was well up in French politics, and knew that +there were three Protestants in W.'s ministry: himself, Leon Say, and +Freycinet). W. was rather guarded at first (decidedly "banale," I told +him afterward), but the Pope looked straight at him with his keen, +bright eyes, saying: "Je vous en prie, M. Waddington, parlez sons +reserves." + +We stayed about three-quarters of an hour, and the talk was most +interesting. The Pope is very anxious to bring about a better state of +feeling between the clergy and the people in France, and tries so hard +to understand why the priests are so unpopular; asked about the country +curate, who baptizes the children and buries the old people--surely +there must be a feeling of respect for him; said, too, that everywhere +in town or country the priests do so much for the sick and poor. W. told +him the women _all_ went to church and sent their children to the +catechism, but the men are indifferent, if not hostile, and once the +boys have made their first communion they never put their foot in a +church. "What will keep them straight and make good men of them, if they +grow up without any religious education?" The answer was +difficult--example and home teaching, _when_ they get it. Evidently he +had been curious to see W., and I think he was pleased. It was quite a +picture to see the two men--the Pope dressed all in white, sitting very +straight in his arm-chair with his two hands resting on the arms of the +chair, his head a little bent forward, and listening attentively to +every word that W. said. W. drew his chair a little forward, spoke very +quietly, as he always does, and said all he wanted to say with just the +same steady look in his blue eyes. + +[Illustration: Pope Leo XIII.] + +From time to time the Pope turned to me and asked me (always in Italian) +if politics interested me--he believed all French women were keen +politicians; also if I had found many old friends in Rome. I told him I +was so pleased to see Felice Malatesta as we came in, and that we were +going to meet Cardinal Howard one day at breakfast. I shouldn't think he +took as much interest in the social life of Rome as Pio Nono did. They +used always to say he knew everything about everybody, and that there +was nothing he enjoyed so much as a visit from Odo Russell, who used to +tell him all sorts of "petites histoires" when their official business +was over. + +He also talked a good deal to W. about his uncle, Evelyn Waddington, who +lived in Perugia, where he was "sindaco" (mayor) for years. He married +an Italian lady, and was more than half Italian--curious for a man +called Evelyn Waddington. The Pope had known him well when he was Bishop +of Perugia. + +We both kissed his hand when we took leave, and he said again to W. how +much he had been interested in all he told him. We lingered a few +minutes in the anteroom, as there was some idea Cardinal Nina would +receive us, but it had not been arranged. It seemed strange to be in +those high, bare rooms again, and reminded me of our visit to Cardinal +Antonelli years ago with father, when he showed us his collection of +gems. I remember so well his answer to Bessie Curtis (now Marquise de +Talleyrand-Perigord), who was looking out of the window, and said it was +such an enchanting view, would help one in "des moments de +decouragement." "On n'est jamais decourage, mademoiselle." + +I imagine Leo XIII has very difficult moments sometimes. + +W. wouldn't come out again as he had letters to write, so I stopped for +Gert, and we had a lovely turn in the Villa Pamphili. Quantities of +people--it looked very gay. We got home about six, and had visits until +it was time to dress for our dinner at the Wimpffens. D'Aulnay came +first, very anxious to hear about our audience at the Vatican; and +Tagliani, the auditeur of the old "nonce"; also Dr. Nevin. + +Our dinner at the Wimpffens was very pleasant. Their apartment looks +very handsome lighted. There was a fine, pompous old porter at the door +downstairs, and plenty of servants and a "chasseur" upstairs. We had all +the personnel of the Embassy, the Calabrinis, Bibra (Bavarian Minister), +Van Loo (Belgian), and an Austrian whose name I didn't master, who had +been a minister in Andrassy's Cabinet. After dinner we all adjourned to +the smoking-room, which is very large and comfortable, lots of low +arm-chairs. The Austrian ladies smoked, and I talked to Bibra and Van +Loo, who told me all the diplomats had been rather struck with the +cordiality of our reception--that in general the Romans troubled +themselves very little about strangers. W. talked to Wimpffen and his +Austrian friend, who was much interested in hearing about our audience +with the Pope, and a little surprised that W. should have talked to him +so freely, both of them saying that his being a Protestant made things +much easier. + +The Romans went off early, so W. went to Geoffroy (director of the Ecole +de Rome--French Archaeological Society), who receives Thursday evenings +at the Farnese Palace. He has an apartment quite up at the top of the +palace over the Noailles, and I went to Gert, who also received +Thursday. I found a good many people there--principally Americans, and +some young diplomats. So many people were introduced to me that I was +quite exhausted, and went and sat down by Aunt Mary, who looked very +handsome. + + + Sunday, March 10, 1880. + +I shall not go out this morning. It is a little foggy--the first time +since we came here--and I was also lazy. We are going so perpetually. +Yesterday W. was off at nine in the morning with Geoffroy and Lanciani +for a classic tournee. I wrote one or two letters, and then Madame +Hubert and I walked over to Gert's and breakfasted. After breakfast +Monsignor English came in and had much to say about the Pope, and the +impression W. had made which he had heard from high personages of the +Vatican. I told him all about the interview, and he was much surprised +when I said we all sat down. W. came while he was still there, and of +course he wanted to hear his account, and was so pleased with all W. +said about the Pope, his marvellous intelligence and comprehension of +the present very difficult state of affairs in France. English also said +the Pope had been pleased with me (I did nothing but listen) so I +plucked up my courage, and asked him if he thought his Holiness would +give me a photograph _signed_--I should like so much to have one. He +said it would be difficult, as the Pope never _signed_ a photo--but +perhaps----. I should like one so much--I hope he will make an exception +for this heretic. + +W. and I walked home, and then I dressed, and we started again for some +visits. We found Princess Bandini, who was most amiable--very pleased to +make W.'s acquaintance, also rather curious about the Vatican visit. +There were quantities of people there, principally diplomats and +English. W. thought the apartment very handsome. + +We tried to find Madame Calabrini, but she was not receiving. We dined +at the Noailles. I wore my blue satin and all the diamonds I possess. +The apartment looked very ambassadorial--the great gallery lighted, +superb. The dinner was handsome--Wimpffens, Pagets, Uxkulls (Russian +Ambassador, you will remember him in Florence the year we were there), +Cairolis, Geoffroys, Schuylers, and various young men. Maffei, the +Under-Secretary of State, took me in, and I had Cairoli on the other +side. I didn't find him very easy to talk to. He doesn't speak French +very well, so I changed into Italian (which I am gradually getting back) +and then we got on better. I shouldn't think he was much of a ladies' +man, and never a brilliant talker. Maffei is very clever and amusing. +Gert sat just opposite, looking very well in yellow. + +During the dinner Maffei called my attention to the menu "Cotelettes a +la Waddington," and asked me if W. was as much of an authority in cooks +as he was in coins. I disclaimed any such knowledge for him, and was +rather curious to see what the "cotelettes" would prove to be. They were +a sort of chaud-froid, with a thick, white envelope, on which was a +large W. in truffles. The whole table was rather amused, and Madame de +Noailles gave us the explanation. Her chef had been some time with us at +the Quai d'Orsay, and when he heard W. was coming to dinner was much +excited, and anxious to do honour to his old master--so he consulted +Madame de Noailles, and that was the result. I will keep the menu for +you. + +After dinner we adjourned to the beautiful Carracci gallery, and there I +was presented to various ladies--Madame d'Uxkull (ci-devant Madame +Gheka), very handsome; and Madame Visconti Venosta, an attractive +looking woman with charming manners. I had quite a talk with Lady Paget, +who looks always very distinguished with her beautiful figure. She told +me Mrs. Edwards's baby had arrived--a little girl--to be called "Gay" +after her daughter.[18] I hope she will grow up as pretty as her mother. +I talked some time to Madame Cairoli who was very amiable and expansive, +called me always "Madame la Comtesse"; and offered me anything I wanted +from cards for the Chamber to a presentation to the Queen. + +[18] Now the Hon. Sylvia Edwards, Maid of Honour to Queen Alexandra. + +There was quite a reception in the evening--not many of the Roman +ladies. Marc Antonio Colonna came up--recalled himself, and introduced +me to his wife--very pretty, with splendid jewels. She is the daughter +of the Duke of Sant-Arpino, a very handsome man. Her mother, the +Duchess, an English woman, also very handsome, so she comes fairly by +her beauty. I walked about the rooms with Wimpffen, and he showed me all +the notabilities in the parliamentary world. Lady Paget asked us to go +to her on Sunday afternoon, and I promised Nevin we would go to his +church, but we didn't. + +W. has just received an intimation that King Humbert will receive him +to-morrow at one o'clock, and I have told Madame Hubert to get out his +Italian decorations, as he always forgets to put them on, and it seems +in all courts they attach much importance to these matters. We are +starting now for a drive; first to the Villa Wolkonsky--I want to show +it to W., and we shall probably go in late to the British Embassy. + + + Monday, March 11, 1880. + +The King gave W. his audience to-day at one. He went off most properly +attired, _with_ his Italian ribbon. He generally forgets to put on his +orders, and was decidedly put out one day in Paris when he arrived at a +royal reception _without_ the decoration the sovereign had just sent +him. The explanation was difficult--he could hardly tell the King he had +forgotten. W. got back again a little after two, and said the interview +was pleasant enough--the King very gracious, and he supposed, for him, +talkative; though there were long pauses in the conversation--he leaning +on his sword, with his hands crossed on the hilt as his father always +did--spoke about the Queen, said she was in Rome, and he believed Madame +Waddington had known her when she was Princess de Piedmont. I never was +presented to her--saw her only from a distance at some of the balls. I +remember her quite well at a ball at the Teanos in a blue dress, with +her beautiful pearls. I hope she will receive us. He talked less +politics than the Pope; said France and Italy, the two great Latin +races, ought to be friends, and deplored the extreme liberty of the +press; knew also that W. was in Rome for the first time, and hoped he +would have fine weather. He did not ask him anything about his interview +with the Pope. W. said the reception was quite simple--nothing like the +state and show of the Vatican. There was a big porter at the door of the +palace, two or three servants on the stairs, and two officers, +aides-de-camp, in the small salon opening into the King's cabinet. + +Soon after he came in we had visits--Hooker, Monsignor English, a French +priest, head of St. Louis des Francais, and Del Monte, whom I hadn't yet +seen. He was so nice and friendly--doesn't look really much older, +though he says he feels so. I told him it seemed unnatural not to have a +piano. He would have brought his cello, and we could have plunged into +music and quite forgotten how many years had passed since we first +played and sang the "Stella Confidente." + +[Illustration: King Humbert of Italy.] + +After they had all gone we started out to the "Tre Fontane," taking Gert +with us to see the establishment of the French Trappists who are trying +to "assainir" the Campagna by planting eucalyptus trees. It is an +interesting experiment, but rather a dangerous one, as several of the +fathers have died. The summer here, with that deadly mist that rises +from the Campagna, must be fatal, and the two monks we saw looked yellow +and shrivelled with fever. However, they will persevere, with that +extraordinary tenacity and devotion of the Catholic priests when they +undertake anything of that kind. I carried off a bottle of Elixir of +Eucalpytus, for I am sorry to say these last bright days have given me +an unpleasant souvenir in the shape of a cold chill every now and then +between the shoulders, and evidently there is still truth in the Roman +proverb "Cuore di donna, onde di mare, sole di Marzo, non ti fidare." +(Don't trust a woman's heart, the waves of the sea, nor the March sun.) + +We got home about half-past six, had tea and more visits--Calabrini, +Vitelleschi, and Princess Pallavicini, who was most animated, and talked +politics hard with W. We dined at home and had a little talk, just as we +were finishing dinner, with Menabrea, who was dining at a table next +ours. They say he will go to the Paris Embassy in Cialdini's place. W. +wouldn't go out again, so I went alone to Gert's, who had a few +people--Mrs. Van Rensselaer, clever and original; Countess Calice, an +American; her husband, a cousin of the Malatestas; Vera; young +Malatesta, a son of Francesco; a Russian secretary, and one or two +others. It was rather a pleasant evening. They had tea in the +dining-room--everybody walked about, and the men smoked. + + + Tuesday, March 13, 1880. + +Yesterday morning W. and I had a good outing, wandering about the +Capitol. First we walked around Marcus Aurelius, then up the old worn +stone steps to the Ara Coeli. I told W. how we used to go there always +on Christmas Eve to see the Creche and the Bambino. It was very well +done, and most effective. The stable, beasts, shepherds, and kings (one +quite black with a fine crown). There were always children singing the +"storia di Gesu" and babies in arms stretching out their hands to the +lights. Yesterday the church was quite empty, as there is not much to +attract the ordinary tourist. We made our way slowly, W. stopping every +moment before an inscription, or a sarcophagus, or a fresco, to the room +of the "Dying Gladiator," which he found magnificent--was not at all +disappointed; afterward the faun--and then sauntered though all the +rooms. I had forgotten the two skeletons in one of the sarcophagi--the +woman's with rings on her fingers, most ghastly. + +After lunch Countess Wimpffen came in to know if I would drive with her +to the Villa Borghese, and do two teas afterwards--Madame Cairoli and +Madame Westenberg (wife of the Dutch Minister, an American and a great +friend of Gert's); but I couldn't arrange it, as W. wanted to come with +me to the Affaires Etrangeres--so we agreed to go another day. I always +liked both Wimpffens so much when they were in Paris that it is a great +pleasure to find them here. Wimpffen likes to get hold of W. and talk +about France and French politics. + +Our dinner at Mrs. Bruce's was very gay. I told her I didn't find her +salon much prettier than in our days when we lived on the first floor of +Perret's house (she on the second), and she always said we made Perret +send up to her all the ugly furniture we wouldn't have. What we kept +was so bad, that I think the "rebut" must have been something awful. We +had the Minghettis, Vitelleschis, Wurts, Wilbrahams, Schuylers, and one +or two stray Englishmen. Vitelleschi took me in, and I had Minghetti on +the other side, so I was very well placed. It is killing to hear them +talk politics--discussing all the most burning questions with a sort of +easy persiflage and "esprit de conciliation" that would astound our +"grands politiques" at home. Minghetti said the most absolutely liberal +man he had ever known was Pio Nono--but what could he do, once he was +Pope. + +It was really a charming dinner--Mrs. Bruce is an ideal hostess. She +likes to hear the clever men discuss, and always manages to put them on +their mettle. We all came away about the same time, and W. and I went on +to the opera "Tor di None." Bibra had invited us to come to his box. The +house was much less "elegante" than the Paris house--hardly any one in a +low dress, no tiaras, and few jewels. The Royal box empty. Princess +Bandini was in the next box with Del Monte and Trochi. The Minghettis +opposite with the Wimpffens. The "salle" was badly lighted--one could +hardly make the people out. + +W. had rather a shock--we had scarcely got in--(Bibra not yet come) when +the door opened and in came Maurizio Cavaletti--enchanted to see +me--seizing both my hands--"Maria mia adorata--cara regazza, etc.," +utterly oblivious of "cara Maria's" husband, who stood stiff and cold +(an icicle) in the background, with Anglo-Saxon written all over him; +waiting for the exuberant demonstration to finish, and a presentation to +be made. As soon as I could I presented Monsieur le Marquis in proper +form, and explained that we were very old friends, had not met for +years, etc., but W. hardly thawed all the evening. + +When he went out of the box to pay a visit to our neighbours I +remonstrated vigorously with Maurizio, but he was so unfeignedly +astonished at being taken to task for greeting a very old friend warmly, +that I didn't make much impression. The ballet was pretty, and of course +there was an influx of young men as soon as it began--a handsome, rather +stout "ballerina" being evidently a favourite. + +To-day we breakfasted with the Schuylers to meet Mrs. Bruce and Cardinal +Howard--no one else. We had a pretty little breakfast, most lively. I +didn't find the Cardinal much changed, a little stouter perhaps. He was +quite surprised at W.'s English; knew of course that he had been +educated at Rugby and Cambridge, and had the Chancellor's medal, but +thought he would have lost it a little having lived so many years in +France, and having made all his political career in French. I asked him +if he was as particular as ever about his horses. He always had such +splendid black horses when we lived in Rome, but he said, rather sadly, +that times were changed. W. and he talked a long time after breakfast. +He was very anxious to know whether _all_ the religious orders were +threatened in France or merely the Jesuits. Comte Palfy (Austrian) came +in just as we were leaving. He is so attractive--a great friend of +l'Oncle Alphonse--knows everybody here and loves Rome. + +W. and I went off to the Villa Albani--out of Porta Salara. We walked +through the rooms--there are principally busts, statues, bas-reliefs, +etc.--and then loitered about the gardens which are fine. Fountains, +vases, and statues in every direction, and always that beautiful view of +the hills in the soft afternoon light. + +I will finish when I come home from our _Black_ dinner. We are asked for +seven, so of course will get back early, as we do not go anywhere +afterward. I shall wear black, as I hear so many Princes of the church +are to be there. Madame Hubert is very sorry I can't wear the long black +veil that I did for the Pope--she found that most becoming. + + + Tuesday, March 12, 1880, 10.30 P.M. + +We are just home from our dinner at the Portuguese Embassy, so I have +got out of my gauds and into my tea-gown, and will finish this long +letter. It was most interesting--a great deal of couleur locale. We +arrived very punctually--three or four carriages driving up at the same +time. There was of course a magnificent porter downstairs, and +quantities of servants in handsome liveries; a good deal of red and +powder. Two giants at the foot of the staircase, with the enormous tall +candles which are de rigueur at a Black embassy when cardinals or +ambassadors dine. They were just preparing to escort some swell up the +staircase as we arrived; there was a moment's halt, and the swell turned +out to be M. Desprez, the new French Ambassador to the Vatican +(replacing the Marquis de Cabriac). He was half embarrassed when he +recognised us; W. had so lately been his chef that he couldn't quite +make up his mind to pass before him--especially under such novel and +rather trying conditions. However, there was nothing to be done, and he +started up the great staircase between the tall candles, W. and I +followed modestly in his wake. We found several people, including two or +three cardinals, already there. The apartment is very handsome. The +Ambassador (Thomar) looked very well--"tres grand seigneur"--standing at +the door of the first salon, and one saw quite a vista of large, +brilliantly lighted rooms beyond. All the guests arrived very +quickly--we had hardly time to exchange a word with any one. I saw the +Sulmonas come in. I recognised her instantly, though I hadn't seen her +for years. She was born Apponyi, and they were married when we were +living in Rome. Also Marc Antonio Colonna and the d'Aulnays. Almost +immediately dinner was announced. Sulmona took me in and I had a +cardinal (Portuguese) on the other side. I didn't say much to the +cardinal at first. He talked to his neighbour, and Sulmona and I +plunged, of course, into old Roman days. He was much amused at the +composition of the dinner, and wondered if it would interest W. He asked +me if I remembered the fancy ball at the Palazzo Borghese. He had still +the album with all the photos, and remembered me perfectly as "Folie" +with short skirts, bells, mirror, etc. I remember it, of course, quite +well. Some of the costumes were beautiful, particularly those copied +from portraits. After a little while the cardinal turned his attention +to me. He was a nice old man, speaking either French or Italian (both +with a strong accent), and much interested in the guests. He asked me if +I belonged to the corps diplomatique. I said no--we were merely +strangers spending the winter in Rome. He thought there were a good many +strangers at table--he didn't know half the people, not having been long +in Rome; but he knew that there was one man dining whom he had a great +desire to see, Waddington, the late French Premier; perhaps I knew him, +and could point him out. He had always followed his career with great +interest, but there were some things he couldn't understand, "par +exemple son attitude dans la question--" Then as I didn't know what he +might be going to say, I interrupted, and said no one could point out +that gentleman as well as I, as I was Madame Waddington. He looked a +little uncomfortable, so I remarked, "Il diavolo non e tanto nero quant +e dipinto" (The devil is not so black as he is painted), to which he +replied, "Eh, no punto diavolo" (no devil)--was rather amused, and asked +me if I would introduce him to W. after dinner. We then, of course, +talked a little about France, and how very difficult the religious +question was. He asked me where I had learned Italian, so I told him how +many years we had lived in Rome when my brother was the last Minister +from the United States to the Vatican. Sulmona joined in the talk, and +we rather amused ourselves. Sulmona, of course, knew everybody, and +explained some of the people, including members of his own (Borghese) +family, who were very Black and uncompromising. Still, as I told him, +the younger generation is less narrow-minded, more modern. I don't think +they mean to cut themselves off from all participation in the nation's +history. After all, they are all Italians as well as Romans. The foreign +marriages, too, make a difference. I don't think the sons of English and +American mothers could settle down to that life of inaction and living +on the past which the Black Party means in Rome. + +As soon as I could after dinner I got hold of W. (which was difficult, +as he was decidedly surrounded) and introduced him to my cardinal, whose +name I never got, and I went to recall myself to Princess Sulmona. We +had a nice talk first about her people--her father, Count Apponyi, was +Austrian Ambassador in Paris when Marshal MacMahon was President, and +their salon was very brilliant, everybody going to them; the official +world and the Faubourg St. Germain meeting, but not mingling. Then we +talked a little about Rome, and the future of the young generation just +growing up. Of course it is awfully difficult for families like Borghese +and Colonna who have been bound up in the old papal world, and given +popes to Italy, to break away from the traditions of centuries and go in +frankly for "Italia Unita." Do you remember what they used to tell us of +Prince Massimo? When some inquisitive woman asked if they really called +themselves Fabius Maximus, he replied that it had been a family name for +1,400 years. + +The present Prince Massimo is one of the most zealous supporters of the +Pope. The great doors of his gloomy old palace have never been opened +since the King of Italy came to Rome. One can't help admiring such +absolute conviction and loyalty; but one wants more than that in these +days of progress to keep a country alive. + +The evening wasn't long; the cardinals never stay late, and every one +went away at the same time. We again assisted at the ceremony of the big +candles, as of course every cardinal and the Ambassador had to be +conducted downstairs with the same form. It was altogether a very +interesting evening and quite different from any dinner we had ever been +at. I don't think the French cardinals ever dine out in France; I don't +remember ever meeting one. Of course the "nunzio" went everywhere and +always had the "pas"--but one looks upon him more as a diplomatist than +a priest. + +W. enjoyed his evening very much. He is now settled in his arm-chair +with his very disreputable pipe, and has been telling me his +experiences. He found my old cardinal very intelligent, and very well up +in French politics, and life generally. He liked Sulmona, too, very +much; made her acquaintance, but didn't have a chance to talk much to +her, as so many people were introduced to him. There is certainly a +great curiosity to see him--I wonder what people expected to find? He +looks very well, and is enjoying himself very much. I am so glad we did +not stay in Paris; he would have had all sorts of small annoyances, and +as it is, his friends write and want him to come back. He is quite +conscious of the sort of feeling there is about him. First his +appearance--a great many people refuse to believe that he is a +Frenchman; he certainly is not at all the usual French type, with his +fair hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders; and when they realize that it +is he the cautious, doubtful way in which the clericals begin a +conversation with him, as if they expected red-hot anarchist +declarations to fall from his lips, is most amusing. Cardinal Howard +always seeks him out for a talk--but then he doesn't mince matters--goes +straight to the subject he wants to discuss, and told him the other day +he couldn't understand how a man of his English habits and education +should ever have dropped (he didn't say degenerated, but I think he +thought it) into a French republican government. + +W. is very pleased to see the cordial way in which everybody meets me, +and I must say I am rather touched by it myself. I have never had a +moment's disappointment, and I was a little afraid, coming back in such +changed circumstances after so many years. Everybody asks after you, and +some one the other day--Countess Malatesta, I think--asked if you still +wore in Paris your plain black dress and bonnet. I suppose she thought +that even you couldn't have resisted the Paris modiste. It would seem +strange to see you in a hat and feathers. + +Good-night, dearest; W.'s pipe is out, and we are going to bed. + + + HOTEL DE LONDRES, + March 14, 1880. + +Cannons are firing, drums beating, flags flying in all directions +to-day, dear mother. It is King Humbert's birthday and there is to be a +great revue on the Piazza dell' Indipendenza. We are invited to go and +see it by Turkam Pacha, Turkish Minister, who has an apartment on the +Piazza; but as he told us that we should meet Ismail Pacha (the +ex-Khedive) we thought we had better remain at home. I hardly think it +would be a pleasure to Ismail to meet the man who was one of the chief +instruments in his downfall. My sympathies were rather with the +Khedive--I never quite understood why France and England should have +politely but forcibly insisted upon his leaving his throne and +country--but whenever I raised the question I had always that inert +force the "raison d'etat" opposed to me. We crossed him the other day +driving. The carriage full of red-fezzed men attracted my attention, and +our Giuseppe told us who they were. He looked very fat and smiling, +evidently was not ronge by his disasters. Turkam suggested that I should +come alone, but that of course I could not do. + +Mrs. Bailey, who has also an apartment on the Piazza, has asked us to +come to her, but I think I shall stay quietly at home and look out of +the window. I see lots of officers and functionaries, in uniform, +passing in fiacres and riding, and a general migration of the whole city +including the beggars and flower girls of the Spanish Steps toward the +Piazza. W. says he will smoke his cigar walking about in the crowd, and +will see very well. + +[Illustration: Queen Margherita of Italy.] + +I was interrupted by a message from Gert begging me to come to her at +once. Her maid was in such an extraordinary state of violence she +thought she was crazy--and as Eugene was away for a day or two she was +really afraid. I questioned the little footman who brought the note but +he was very non-committal. W. was already off to see the review and I +left him a note explaining where I was and asking him if I didn't get +back to breakfast to come and get me at Gert's. I then started off with +the little footman who had a fiacre waiting. As I entered the court of +the Palazzo Altemps a glimpse of a white, frightened face at the window +told me what Gert's state was. Poor dear, she was terribly upset, and +Eugene's being away is a complication. Her two men-servants are very +devoted, but they evidently feel uncomfortable. She asked me if I would +go with her and see the woman. We found her sitting in a chair in Gert's +dressing-room looking certainly most unpleasant, sullen, and an ugly +look in her eyes. She is a great big Southern woman (French), could +throw Gert out of the window if she wanted to. Gert spoke to her very +gently, saying I had come to see her as I had heard she was not well. +She didn't answer nor move but gave Gert a nasty look--she evidently has +got something against her. I looked at her very steadily--said we were +very sorry she was suffering, which was most evident, and that the best +thing for her would be to rest, attempt no service of any kind and go to +her own room--that we had sent for Dr. Valery who would certainly be +able to relieve her. She didn't answer at first, and looked as if she +would like to spring upon us both, then burst into screams of +abuse--"She would go to her room of course--would leave the house at +once and never come back, etc." I told her I should certainly advise +Mrs. Schuyler to send her away--that evidently the climate did not suit +her, and she would be happier in France. She didn't answer, relapsed +into her sullen silence, and almost immediately Valery appeared. He +insisted very quietly that she should go to her own room (at the other +end of the apartment), and she went off with him, giving an ugly look at +Gert as she passed. It seems she already had had such an attack, less +violent, when they were at Birmingham, but once it was over went on +quite peaceably and didn't seem to realize how ill she had been. Valery +came back to tell us the result of his examination--said she had already +calmed down and was anxious to beg her mistress's pardon, but that she +was of a nervous, dangerous temperament, and at any moment might have a +relapse. Of course she must go, but it is very uncomfortable. I took +Gert out for a drive. W. sent me a line to say he was busy all the +afternoon and would not come unless I wanted him. I think the air and +distraction did her good. The streets had a decidedly festive +appearance. There were a good many flags everywhere, and soldiers still +passing on their way back to their various barracks. We were kept some +time in the Corso seeing a battalion of "bersaglieri" pass. They had +good music and looked very spirited as they moved along with all their +feathers flying. They were rather small, but well set up, and marched in +beautiful time with a light, quick step. We saw some cavalry too, but I +didn't care so much for them. I thought the men looked too tall for the +horses--their legs too near the ground. + +We went to Nazzari's for tea, and the man was so smiling and pleased to +see me that I asked him if he knew me--"Ma si, certamente, la Signorina +King"--had seen me various times in the Piazza or driving, and hoped I +would come in some day for tea. I went upstairs with Gert when I took +her home, and left every possible instruction with the maitre d'hotel to +look after her, and above all to look after Louise, and not let her +leave her room. The cook's wife will help her dress, as the poor thing +has a dinner. + +We have dined quietly at home. W. was tired, having been out all day. +There is a reception at the French Embassy, but we shan't go. I told W. +about the maid and the exciting morning we had had. He said of course +the woman must go at once--that she had evidently a grudge of some kind +against Gert, and might do her some injury. He had had rather a pleasant +day. He walked about in the crowd seeing everything very well. He was +rather favourably impressed with the Italian soldiers--said they were +small as a rule, but light and active--marched very well. The King +looked well, and was very well received. He thought him a striking +figure on horseback in uniform, that curious type of all the Savoy +Princes. They don't look modern at all, but as if they belonged to +another century. I don't know exactly what it is--one sees the same sort +of face so often in old Spanish and Italian portraits. + +He had breakfasted alone, as I was over with Gert, and then started off +with Monsignor English to meet Father Smith at the Catacombs, where they +had a long delightful afternoon. He says Father Smith is a charming +guide, knows and loves every corner of the Catacombs. His brogue, too, +is attractive, sounds so out of place in that atmosphere of Latin and +old-world tombs and inscriptions. He also told me what pleased me very +much, that the Pope will give me his photograph, signed. Monsignor +English told him to tell me, and he will come and see us to-morrow. +Among our cards was one from the Cardinal Di Pietro--Doyen of the +College of Cardinals--coming first to see W. What would the Protocole +say? + + + March 16, 1880. + +Schuyler has got back, and the maid is a lamb, but is going all the +same. The doctor and the other servants advise it strongly, and I am +sure Gert will find a nice Italian maid here to replace her. W. and I +have done a fair amount of sight-seeing these days, and yesterday he +paid a long visit to Cardinal Nina--Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the +Vatican. He found him reasonable and interesting. I tell him he is +getting quite a "papalino"--he finds the Cardinals so pleasant. He came +and got me after his visit and we went off to the Chambre des Deputes. +Visconti Venosta was going to make a great speech attacking the Ministry +on their foreign policy, and they thought there would be a lively +seance. We were in the Diplomatic box--all the Ambassadors were there, +and he had just got up to speak as we got there. They don't speak from +the tribune, as in France. Every man speaks from his own place--and as +he had his back to us we didn't hear very well. He spoke very easily, +and was very well listened to. Occasionally there would be a sort of +growl of disapproval, but on the whole the house was much quieter than +ours. Cairoli looked quite composed when Visconti was pitching into him, +smiling even when he remarked he didn't understand the Italian +character, nor how to use the great powers his position gave him, etc. +Various people came up and spoke to me, among others Countess Celleri, +who seems to be taking up politics now. She has grown a little older, +but is very handsome still, and was evidently a great attraction to all +the young diplomatists who were in the box. W. admired her appearance +and manner very much. We stayed there till 5.30 hoping that Cairoli +would answer, but he didn't, the discussion rather trailed on, so we +went for a turn in the Villa Borghese to get a little air before our +dinner at the British Embassy. It was very crowded, all the swells +driving--King, Queen, and Khedive all in separate carriages. The King in +a small victoria with one aide-de-camp--the Queen in her big landau with +one lady and the red royal liveries; the Khedive in an ordinary +carriage, but conspicuous, as he and his gentlemen all wore the red fez. + +Our Paget dinner was pleasant. They have got a big villa in the Venti +Settembre out toward Porta Pia. There is a large garden with fine trees, +and the entrance and staircase are handsome. We were 36--Italians +chiefly--but a few Diplomatists. I knew almost every one, Calabrinis, +Minghettis, Somaglias (you will remember her name, she was Gwendoline +Doria, and married when we lived in Rome), Serristori, Castagneta and +some Deputies and gentlemen of the Palace who, of course, were strangers +to me. The dining-room is large with a quite round table which must be +very difficult to cover, there were such spaces. I think there must have +been hundreds of roses on the table. The Marquis de Villamarina, head of +the Queen's household, took me in, and I had Uxkull on the other side, +Lady Paget next to him. We all talked together, and I complimented Lady +Paget on the quickness of the service. It was always one of our +preoccupations at the Quai d'Orsay to get through these long official +dinners as soon as possible. W. took in Madame Visconti Venosta, and +they seemed to be getting on swimmingly. After dinner I talked some time +to Countess Somaglia, and asked to be introduced to the Marquise +Villamarina. She told me the Queen would certainly receive us, but +couldn't quite fix the day yet as she had many official rendezvous these +days. When the men came in from smoking I had a few words with +Calabrini, and one or two Deputies were presented, Sella, Lanza, etc., +but I really only _talked_ to Sir Augustus Paget. He said they were +going to have a small ball after Easter, and hoped we should still be +here. I hope we shall, I should like to see the ball-room--they say all +the decoration, painting, flowers, cupids, etc., has been done by Lady +Paget herself. The party broke up early, no one stays late at dinner. +There is always a reception somewhere to which everybody goes. + +We came home as I get tired at night. We begin our day early, and are +never in the house. This morning Gert and I went out shopping in the +Piazza della Minerva and Campo Marzo--it was most amusing. We got two +dresses for her--one of that coarse Roman linen, and a very pretty Roman +silk from Bianchi, the same man who existed in our days. He looked most +smiling and evidently recognised the familiar faces, though he could not +put a name to them. We got the linen in a funny little old shop, low, +and as dark as pitch. I never should have dreamed of going there for +anything, but some one told us it was _the_ place for linen, and we +found at once what we wanted. I bought two Roman sashes--one for Alice +and a ribbon for Nounou. We pottered about for some time looking at the +bits of old brocade and embroidery, some pieces stretched out on the +pavement with a stone at each end to hold them down. There were two +pieces of old rose brocade which looked very tempting, but when I took +them up I saw there were thin places in the silk, and spots--so I +resisted these "occasions." The woman was amusing, tried to make us buy, +but knew quite well her silk was not first-rate. She evidently attached +no importance to the spots (e vecchia), but allowed that the frayed bits +were not encouraging. + +This afternoon we have been again to the Chambre des Deputes--Cairoli +was speaking. He has a good voice, we heard him much better than +Visconti Venosta. _I_ didn't find his speech very interesting. There +were all sorts of details and references to despatches and blue books +which were Greek to me, but of course W. liked it and knew the question +thoroughly so he said he would stay and I had much better go and get +some fresh air. The heat was something awful and the box full, so I took +myself off. One of the Austrian secretaries came down with me to look +for the carriage and I started for a solitary turn in the Villa +Borghese. I hadn't gone very far when I met Comtesse Wimpffen alone in +her carriage. We drew up for a little talk, and she proposed I should +send my carriage away and come into hers, which I was delighted to do. +We went for a little walk, and met various friends--Marchesa Theoduli[19] +looking lovely. She was very amusing over the divided state of +society--says she is not allowed to bow to the Queen, and as they meet +almost every day driving and neither of them can pass inapercue it is +rather awkward. Mrs. Lorillard Spencer came up too, she was walking with +her daughter, Princess Vicovaro, whose husband was "le beau Cenci" of +our days. It was delicious lounging about on the grass under the trees, +after the heat of the Chamber. We stopped at Nazzari's for tea, met +Bibra at the door and invited him to come with us--also Cornelie +Zuylen,[20] who had seen us from the street and rushed in to have a +little talk. She is in Rome for a few days--sight-seeing hard. We had +tea and very good cakes--and I was glad to have a few minutes before +dressing for the Calabrini dinner. + +[19] Nee Lily Conrad. + +[20] Now Madame Scheidecker. + +We started off again at 8, and had really a very pleasant evening at +Calabrini's. Their house is not large--they can't dine easily more than +10 people. I was the only lady--the men were Vitelleschi, Sella (their +rising political man) whom W. was delighted to see, a Ruspoli whom I had +never seen before, a brother of the late Prince; and Alphonso Doria who +looks like a tall English boy. Stella is clever enough, decidedly un +homme serieux, and Calabrini was much pleased to have him for my homme +serieux. He told us all sorts of stories about "Italia Unita" and +Cavour, and his profound distrust of Louis Napoleon; how, until the very +last moment when the French troops were really at the gates, he was +afraid they wouldn't come. We stayed fairly late, as the talk was +interesting. I don't think there is much real sympathy between the +French and Italians. They are very unlike though they are of the same +race. The Italians seem very excitable when they talk fast and +gesticulate and their eyes flash, but au fond they are calmer than our +people--at least the upper classes; I don't know about the bas peuple. +They say knives play a part in their discussions. Certainly in France +there are always rows when the Italian workmen arrive. They are +generally terrassiers and come in bands when railroads or bridges are +being made. One recognises them at once with their black eyes, white +teeth, red sashes and slouched hats. There is usually a coup de couteau +before the season ends. They work well enough, are light and active, but +always stop to talk--don't keep up a sort of desultory talk over their +work as our men do. + +[Illustration: Queen Margherita and King Humbert.] + + + March 18, 1880. + +Last night we went to the Wimpffens' grand official "ricevimento." All +the street in front of the house was crowded just as it used to be in +the old days--people coming close up to the carriages (going of course + at a foot's pace) and peering in to see the diamonds. There was +nothing like the display of carriages, diamonds, and liveries there +used to be--many fiacres, and many uniforms. Countess Wimpffen looked +very well in white satin, pearls, and diamond tiara, Wimpffen of course +in uniform and his broad ribbon, Cenci (now Prince de Vicovaro) attached +to the Court, was standing at one side of the Ambassadress presenting +all the Court people. The Princess, his wife, stood near by looking very +well, beautifully dressed, with diamonds and large pearl pendants. She was +wearing for the first time her decoration of dame de palais. All the +"White" Roman ladies were there. I saw quantities of people whom I knew. +W. also begins to know the people. He thought the Roman women very +distinguished looking, and the jewels splendid, particularly the pearls. +We stayed quite late, and decidedly amused ourselves. I was rather +interested in seeing when Madame de Wimpffen shook hands and when she +merely bowed. When W. was at the Foreign Office and we had big +receptions I was puzzled sometimes. My impulse was not to shake hands +with the men. W. and Richard thought I ought to shake hands with all the +Deputies, but that seemed a great undertaking and would, I think, have +surprised them, as Frenchmen as a rule are formal, don't shake hands +usually with ladies, but make rather a stiff bow, so I compromised by +shaking hands only with those I knew. + +This afternoon W. and I went out together. We left several cards and +wound up in the Villa Borghese, where we walked about for some time. It +was lovely under the cypress trees, long dark avenues with a fountain at +one end--large vases--bits of half-ruined gateways, columns, and +unexpectedly a sort of rond or opening with fountains, statues, big +stones, all in a heap, and then long stretches of lawn with anemones, +violets, and a pretty little yellow flower I didn't know, all perfectly +neglected and growing wild, but with a wonderful charm. Such a contrast +when we emerged again into the regular promenade and the gay modern life +of Rome of to-day. There were quantities of carriages, three or four +four-in-hands with women in light dresses on the tops of the coaches; +men, principally officers, riding (in uniform, which always makes a gay +note), lots of victorias and open carriages. The Prince of Naples (with +the Royal red liveries) driving with one gentleman. He was dressed in +sailor dress, looked smiling and interested, and bowed all the time. +Three or four carriages filled with pretty girls--English or +American--looking hard at everything, and always bands of black-robed +students, seminarists from the various colleges which abound in Rome. It +is a curious motley crowd--I don't think one would see it anywhere else. +The clerical element is always well to the fore, and in spite of the +changes the Monarchy established, with all the train of courtiers, +deputies, soldiers, and endless functionaries that it brings, one feels +that it is the great centre of Catholicism, and that the long arm of the +Church still retains her hold on her children scattered all over the +world. + +I will finish now as we have come home fairly early from the Pallavicini +reception. We dined at home and started off about 10. We went to get +Gert, and on arriving about 10.30 found ourselves almost the first +people. Felice Malatesta was there, also Del Monte. Both being +"Gardes-Nobles" they can only come early and not run the risk of meeting +any of the Court people nor diplomatists to the Quirinal. Princess +Pallavicini is one of the Queen's ladies, but she is such an old friend +of both gentlemen that they always go to her. Among the first arrivals +was Massari. He and W. and Prince Pallavicini had a nice talk, and it +amused me to see the people come in. There were about 30 (I knew a good +many of the Romans, but of course the Court people and Deputies were +strangers to me), Wimpffens, Noailles, St. Asilea, Somaglias, and a +sprinkling of young diplomatists. As soon as the White diplomatists +began to appear Del Monte and Malatesta departed. I had a talk with +Villamarina who is very musical, also with Vitelleschi. The party broke +up early--there was no music nor dancing (not even the little informal +"tour de valse" there used to be in our days) and we were home before 12 +o'clock. W. enjoyed his evening--talked principally to the men. + + + Saturday, March 20, 1880. + +W. is off this morning with Father Smith to San Clemente. I was lazy as +I was out all day yesterday. In the morning W. and I walked to the +Palazzo dei Cesari, and stayed there two hours walking about and sitting +down in the nice sunny places. It was beautifully bright, a splendid +blue sky, but cold, a sharp wind, very unusual they say for the end of +March. One gets a very fair walk on the Palatine Hill. There is so much +to see, and the little irregular paths running up and down from the +various temples and ruined buildings of all kinds give one plenty of +exercise. It needs a good deal of imagination to reconstruct all the +temples, tribunes, porticoes, and palaces which existed in the days of +Imperial Rome, but there are still bits of coloured marble, faded +frescoes, mosaics, tops of columns and broken statues in every +direction. W. was quite happy--he had already spent a morning there +with Lanciani, and so could show me what was still well enough preserved +for me to understand. The view from the terrace over Rome and the +Campagna was beautiful--the mountains seemed so near. We didn't walk +home as we found a botta which had just brought up a party of +forestieri--French this time, with a young priest, who was evidently the +guide. + + + Sunday, March 21, 1880. + +We went to the American church this morning as Nevin was so anxious we +should see it. There is no very interesting French church--a sort of +Vaudois chapel--so we preferred the Capella Americana. It is a pretty +little church, very full--I should think a good many English as well as +Americans--very good singing and a good sermon, not too long. We had +visitors after lunch, and about 4 started for a drive out to Ponte +Nomentano. We got out and walked about the Campagna for some time. The +view was divine--Frascati and Rocca di Papa on one side, Tivoli on the +other. W. thought the old bridge most picturesque. He recognised it +instantly from the aquarelle that is in the dining-room at home. As it +was Sunday all the country people were out; carts filled with women and +children, boys on donkeys, sitting well back, almost on the tails of the +animals, and all the little courts in front of the various osterias +quite full. There were not exactly costumes, but there was a general +impression of colour. The men had bright coloured sashes and shirts--the +women nearly all red and blue skirts striped, and a coloured +handkerchief on their heads--almost all with long gold ear-rings (some +of the men too had ear-rings--large gold hoops) and a string of coloured +beads around their necks. Everybody talking, laughing, and enjoying +themselves. We stopped at the British Embassy for tea. Lady Paget +receives always Sunday afternoon. There were various carriages at the +door, and the villa looked pretty. The tea-table was on a broad palier +at the head of the stairs. It was very well arranged with screens +"cassoni," plants, arm-chairs--very original and attractive. I went in +first to the drawing-room and had a talk with Lady Paget, then adjourned +to the palier with Princess Sciarra and Countess Wimpffen, and we had a +very pleasant hour. It was amusing to see all the people coming up the +broad staircase. There were of course a great many I didn't know, as +besides all the Court set and political people there were many English, +all arriving for Holy Week. Mrs. Bruce, Madame Visconti Venosta, Gert, +Marquise Chigi came and joined us. I was quite horrified when I found +how late it was. We had just time to dress and go and dine with the +Geoffroys at the Palazzo Farnese. The evening was very pleasant; +decidedly archeological and scientific, but the men were all clever and +talked so well that they would have made any subject interesting. We had +Visconti, de Rossi, Lanciani, and some of the young men of the Ecole +Francaise. They all love Rome and know every stone. W. was quite in his +element, talked a great deal himself, and was much interested in their +excavations and all the curious things they are finding all the time. I +meant to leave early and go to Gert who had a few people at dinner, but +it was eleven o'clock before any one moved, and we went quietly home. + + + Good Friday, March 26, 1880. + +I was too tired to-day to do anything, as yesterday we were out all day. +W. and I walked about in the morning, going into all sorts of churches +whenever we saw one open. There were always people, and in the smaller +churches they looked devout and absorbed, but the crowd of strangers in +the large, better known basilicas took away any religious feeling. It +all seemed a great show, which is practically what Holy Week is in Rome. +They say they have not had so many foreigners in years. Last night the +"gerant" begged us not to come downstairs until 8 o'clock, or even a +quarter past, as they needed all the small tables for the table-d'hote. +It was not so very crowded this morning as we breakfast at 12.30, much +earlier than the foreigners, who are usually English and come in for +luncheon at 1.30. + +Yesterday afternoon we went to St. Peter's and found ourselves in a long +file of carriages going the same way; also all kinds of pedestrians, +priests, nuns, soldiers, artists, Cook's tourists, etc. W. was rather +horrified at the crowd in the church, and the regular "bousculade" at +the big doors. There was to be very good singing at one of the small +chapels, but it was already so full that we couldn't get in, though we +had cards from one of the Monsignori. We tried to make our way in but it +was utterly impossible, and then stood outside, thinking we might hear; +but the people all talked so much that we heard nothing except every now +and then a few notes in that curious, high, unnatural voice of the Papal +Choir. Two young German priests, with keen intelligent faces, were so +put out--begged the people near not to talk--"in zehn Minuten ist alles +vorueber" (in ten minutes it will be all over). All Rome was walking +about the church, talking and looking about as if they were in a great +hall of some kind--a crowd of strangers pushing, jostling, and trying to +get up to the High Altar, or the statue of St. Peter where all the +faithful were kissing the toe. It was certainly not solemn nor edifying, +except when we came upon a quiet corner, with some old chapel filled +with tombs of dead Romans, Popes or Princes, who had played a great part +in their day. That took us back into the past, and we could realize that +we were really in St. Peter's. I tried to show W. the part that was shut +off for the great Ecumenical Council under Pio Nono, but I couldn't +remember exactly. We shall come back another day with Father Smith who +will know all about it. I did find the Stuart monument with the busts of +Charles Edward and Cardinal York. People kept pouring into the church, +but it is so enormous that, except at certain places, it was quite easy +to circulate. All the women (except a few stray tourists) were in black, +and every now and then one saw a long file of seminaristes, also in +black, but with a coloured sash to mark their nationality. I think the +Americans wear blue--the French are quite black--no colour. We talked to +quantities of people--it was like an enormous reception. I was very +tired when we finally came out, as of course we were walking and +standing about all the time. There is no aisle with regular seats as in +most churches--merely a few prie-Dieu inside the side chapels. The drive +home was lovely--we went at a walk almost all the time, there were so +many carriages. + +I went out after all this afternoon with W. and Monsignor English to St. +John Lateran, where they were singing a Miserere of Cappoci's. It is +most strange, weird music, and the voices of the men are so unlike +anything one hears elsewhere. There was always the same crowd. I will +say Cook does his business thoroughly--wherever there is anything to see +or hear he pilots all his band. After the Miserere was over we stood +some time at the foot of the Scala Santa. It was black with people going +up on their knees, saying a prayer at each step (I think there are 30) +and some of them did look serious and absorbed. They were principally +peasants--every now and then some well-dressed bourgeois. Monsignor +English told us we would be surprised at the class of people (society) +who come early, before the great crowd of sight-seers. + +We went back to the Palazzo Altemps, picking up Count Palfy on the way, +where Gert had promised us tea and hot cross buns from Spillman's (very +good they were). + +We found a note from the Quirinal when we came home saying the Queen +would receive us to-morrow at 2.30. Desprez came and sat some time. He +told W. all that was going on in Paris--the Ministry as usual struggling +against the Radicals who are always wanting to suppress the French +Embassy at the Vatican. It doesn't make the position of the Ambassador +very pleasant, but Desprez is very wise, has had long training at the +Foreign Office, and will certainly do all he can to conciliate and keep +things straight. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + Saturday, March 27, 1880. + +It was raining this morning, and I was very glad. The dust was getting +most disagreeable in one's eyes and throat, and covering everything. I +am glad, too, that it is cool, decidedly, as I wanted to wear my blue +velvet. If it had been a bright warm day it would have looked dark and +heavy. It is four o'clock--we have just come in from our audience, and I +will write at once while the impression is fresh. W. has a "rendezvous" +with some of the French Institute people, and I shall not see him again +until dinner time. We got to the palace (a great ugly yellow building, +standing high) quickly enough, as there was no one in the streets at +that hour, and drove into the court-yard to a handsome entrance and +staircase. There were a few soldiers about, but not much movement. A +carriage came in behind us, and just as we were going upstairs some one +called my name. It was Bessie Brancaccio,[21] who had also an audience +with the Queen. She had come to thank her for her appointment as dame de +palais. I was glad to have just that glimpse of her, as they are not in +Rome this winter. Their beautiful house is not ready for them, so they +have been spending the winter in Nice. We walked through a large +anteroom where there were three or four servants and an "ecuyer," and in +the first salon we were received by the Comtesse Marcello, one of the +Queen's ladies, a Venetian and a great friend of Mary's, and the +gentleman-in-waiting, whose name I didn't master. We talked for a few +minutes--she said a lady was with the Queen. The room was handsome, +prettily furnished and opened into another--three or four, in fact, all +communicating. After about ten minutes we saw a lady come out of the end +room, the door of which was open, so Comtesse Marcello ushered us +through the suite. We went to the corner room, quite at the end, where +the Queen was waiting standing. We went through the usual ceremony. The +Comtesse Marcello made a low curtsey on the threshold, saying, "I have +the honour to present his Excellency, M. Waddington and Madame +Waddington," and instantly retired. The Queen was standing quite at the +end of the room (a lovely, bright corner room, with lots of windows and +a magnificent view over Rome--even on a dull day it looked cheerful and +spacious). I had ample time for my three curtseys. She let us come quite +close up to her, and then shook hands with us both and made us sit +down--I next to her on the sofa, W. in an arm-chair in front. I found +her rather changed since I had seen her. She has lost the girlish +appearance she had so long, and her manner was nervous, particularly at +first. When she began to talk and was interested and animated she was +more like what I remembered her as Princess Marguerite. She was dressed +in bronze satin, with a flowered brocade "casaque," and one string of +splendid pearls. She told W. she was very pleased to see him, remembered +that I had lived in Rome before my marriage, and asked if I still sang, +Vera had talked so much about the music in Casa Pierret, and the trios +we used to sing there with Lovatelli and Malatesta. The talk was most +easy, about everything, generally in French, but occasionally breaking +into English, which she speaks quite well. W. was delighted with +her--found her most interesting and "tres instruite"--not at all the +banal talk one expects to have with sovereigns--in fact, I quite forgot +we were having a royal audience. It was a very pleasant visit to a +charming woman, in a pretty room with all sorts of beautiful pictures +and "bibelots" about. While we were still there the Prince of Naples[22] +came in. We both got up; she told him to shake hands with W. and to kiss +me, and to ask me how old my little boy was, which he did quite simply +and naturally. He told his mother he was going to ride. I asked him if +he had a nice pony, to which he replied in English, "Oh, yes, jolly," +and asked if my little boy rode. I said not yet; he was only two years +old. The child looked intelligent, but delicate. They say his mother +makes him work too much, is so ambitious for him; and he has rather that +look. The Princes of Savoy have always been soldiers rather than +scholars, but I suppose one could combine the two. The Queen also +spoke about the Bunsens, and "little Beatrice";[23] said she was very +fond of Mary. I was very sorry when the audience was over and she +dismissed me, saying she had people waiting. + +[21] Princess Brancaccio, born Field. + +[22] The present King. + +[23] Now Mrs. Charles Loftus Townshend, of Castle Townshend, Ireland. + +[Illustration: Queen Margherita and the Prince of Naples (Present King +of Italy) in 1880.] + +We found Bessie and one or two other ladies in the first salon when we +came out, waiting their turn. Comtesse Marcello was delighted with all +W. said about the Queen. He was very enthusiastic, for him, as he is not +generally gushing. I told her she had remembered that I had lived some +years in Rome as Mary King, and she said: "Oh, yes, she remembered you +and all your family perfectly, and knew that you had married M. +Waddington." + + + Tuesday, March 30, 1880. + +It is much pleasanter to-day--quite Spring-like, and the Piazza is full +of people. I have drawn my little writing table close up to the window, +and I am afraid my correspondence will suffer, as there is always so +much to see. Almost all the little botte have departed, in fact W., who +has just started off with Visconti for the Vatican to look at the coins, +took the last one. Cook's two big omnibuses have also just started for +Tivoli--crammed. Some of the people dashed into Nazzari's, and +reappeared with little paper bags, filled evidently with goodies. + +Yesterday W. and I breakfasted again at the Noailles', and they took us +over the palace (Farnese) which is quite splendid, such enormous rooms +and high ceilings. The great gallery with the famous Carracci frescoes +looked beautiful in the daylight, and we saw them much better. The +colours are still quite wonderful, hardly faded, some of the figures so +graceful and life-like. Madame de Noailles' bed-room and dressing-room +are huge. The enormous bedstead hardly took up any room at all. She +said it took her some little time to accustom herself to such very +spacious apartments, she almost had the impression of sleeping in the +streets. + +We went for a drive afterward out of Porta Maggiore to look at the +Baker's tomb--do you remember it, a great square tomb with rows of +little cells? We wandered about on foot for some time, looked at the +bits that remain of the old Roman road, and then drove out some distance +toward the arches of the Claudian Viaduct. It is the road we shall take +when we go to Tivoli. It was not quite clear, so the hills hadn't the +beautiful colour they have when the sun is on them--but the grey +atmosphere seems to suit the Campagna, which is after all a long stretch +of barren, desolate country broken at intervals by the long lines of +aqueducts--every now and then a square tower standing out straight and +solitary against the sky, and hardly visible until one comes close upon +it, and a few shepherds' huts, sometimes with a thatched roof, sometimes +what remains of an old tomb, with a dried-up old woman apparently as old +as the tomb spinning in the doorway. We met very few vehicles of any +description. + +We dined at the Palazzo della Consulta where Cairoli, Foreign Minister, +lives. There were not many women--Madame de Noailles, Gert, Madame de +Sant' Onofrio (wife of one of Cairoli's secretaries), and quantities of +men. They divided the honours--Cairoli took in Madame de +Noailles--Madame Cairoli, W. The Prefet of Rome, Gravina, took me and +put me on Cairoli's left. We all talked Italian, and I rather enjoyed +myself. I told Gravina how much I preferred "Roma com' era," that the +new buildings and the boulevards and the bustle and the quantities of +people had spoiled the dear, dead, old Rome of our days--to which he +replied "but you, Madame, are an American born, you surely can't be +against progress." Oh, no, I like progress in my own country, but +certainly not here. Rome was never intended to be modern and +go-ahead--it didn't go with the monuments and the ruins and the +traditions of old Rome. However he answered me quite seriously that not +only every country, but every individual, must "marcher," or else they +would "deperir." Cairoli joined in the conversation, others too, and +there was rather an interesting discussion as to how much could be left +to sentiment, association of the past, etc., when an old historic city +was being transformed into a busy, modern, political centre. + +After dinner Madame Cairoli came and sat down by me, and was pleasant +enough. She looked handsome--very wide awake--still continues to call me +Madame la Comtesse, so I have given up correcting her. She is well up on +all subjects, particularly art, music, pictures, etc. She was rather +amusing over the state of society and all the great Roman ladies whom +she didn't know (there is such a division between the Government people +and the old Romans) but said she had a very pleasant entourage with all +the diplomatists and the distinguished strangers (with a little bow to +me) and really didn't notice the absence of the grandes dames. She asked +me about my audience with the Queen--had we been able to talk to her at +all. She had been so tired lately and nervous that any attempt at +conversation was an effort. I told her that on the contrary she talked a +great deal, and that I didn't find her changed. + +Maffei came up and talked--asked me if I really liked Rome better as it +used to be--I must surely prefer life to stagnation. He speaks English +well, and likes to speak. They tell me that all the present generation +of Romans speak English perfectly--much better than French. There was a +small reception after dinner, some of the young diplomatists and +political men. We came away early--10.30, and plunged into our Paris +letters, of which we found quantities. + + + Friday, April 2, 1880. + +It is raining quite hard this morning, so I will write and not go out +until after breakfast. Yesterday was beautiful, and we had a charming +day at the races. I drove out with Madame de Wimpffen in her +victoria--W. and Wimpffen together. I wore my brown cloth with the coat +trimmed with gold braid and a great bunch of yellow roses on my hat, but +I was sorry I hadn't sent for something lighter, as almost all the women +were in white. I had thought of having two dresses sent by the "valise" +(I hadn't time to have them sent by ordinary express). I consulted +Noailles, who was very amiable, and said he would do what he could, but +that the rules were very strict now for the "valise," as there had been +such abuse. I rather protested, so he remarked with a twinkle in his eye +that I had better speak to my husband, as he was the Minister who had +insisted on a reform being made--he added that it was Princess Lise +Troubetzkoi who made the final scandal--that when St. Vallier was French +Ambassador to Berlin she was always sending things to Petersburg, via +Berlin, by the "valise." When the "petit paquet" she had spoken of +turned out to be a grand piano there was a row, and W., who was then +Foreign Minister, decreed that henceforth no "paquets" of any kind that +were not on official business could be sent by the "valise." I suppose a +pink tulle ball dress would hardly come under that head. + +The Queen was there looking very well and bright, dressed in light grey +with a big black hat--very becoming. There were a great many pretty +women. We came away before the end and drew up a little distance from +the gate where a long string of carriages was waiting to see the Queen +pass. The cortege was simple--first two dragoons, then a "piqueur" and +her carriage with four horses, postillion and two servants behind in the +scarlet liveries. The Countess Marcello was seated alongside of the +Queen--two gentlemen (I couldn't make out who they were) facing her; a +second carriage with two horses with two gentlemen in it followed, all +very well turned out. The scarlet liveries make a great effect, one sees +them from such a distance. The crowd was very respectful--not +particularly enthusiastic. The Queen bowed right and left very prettily. +I talked to lots of people at the races--among others to Madame Alphonse +Rothschild who is here for a few days, and to Mesdames Somaglia, +Rignano, Celleri, etc. I walked about a little with Sant' Asilea, but it +was not easy to move--most of the ladies stayed quietly in the tribunes. +We stopped at Nazzari's coming back and W. treated us all to tea--then +we sent our carriage away as we wanted it at night for the Teano ball, +and we walked about in the Corso, looking at all the turn-outs. The +Teano four-in-hand was very handsome, and there were one or two others +we couldn't make out which were very well turned out--some of the +victorias, too, very smart, with handsome stepping horses. The Corso was +full of people waiting to see the "retour"--it looked so gay. About +eleven we went off to the Teano ball, which was most brilliant--all the +societe there. Again I was sorry I hadn't sent for another dress as my +red satin looked heavy and wintry. Princess Teano in white, with a +diamond tiara, looked charming. Of course all the young generation who +were dancing were strangers to me, but I met many old friends. I had +quite a talk with Doria who wanted to be introduced to W. whom he had +not yet seen. We stayed until 1.30, and when we came away they were just +beginning the cotillon. In the old days we used to arrive at the balls +about 12.30 or 1 o'clock just so as to have one waltz before the +cotillon which was usually the best of the evening, as all the serious +people had gone, and the mammas were at supper fortifying themselves for +the long hours before them, so the ball-room was comparatively empty and +one could get a good turn. + + + Saturday, April 3, 1880. + +It is a beautiful morning, so was yesterday, an ideal Roman day--the sky +so blue and just a soft little air that makes the awnings over the shops +opposite flap lazily and indisposes one to any exertion. We walked about +a little before breakfast, inspected the Fountain of Trevi where Neptune +sits in state, looking at the rush of water falling over the rocks and +splashing into the great marble basin. The water is beautifully clear, +and sparkled and glistened in the sunlight. There were a good many +people about--girls with pitchers on their heads, old men and women with +pails and cans, all after water. The Trevi water is considered the best +in Rome and is in great demand. We loitered about in the small narrow +streets that branch off in every direction, always seeing something +interesting. I think we lost our way as we found ourselves down by +Trajan's Column and Forum, but we managed to get back to the Piazza di +Spagna in good time for breakfast. + +We started again in the afternoon for tea at the Farnesina Palace with +the Duke di Ripalda. We stopped at the Farnese Palace to pick up Madame +de Noailles, who was coming too, and we had a charming afternoon. +Ripalda took us all over the Palace, and W. was delighted with the +frescoes, particularly Sodoma's. The garden was lovely, though they have +cut off a great piece for their quays and works along the river. They +are enlarging the Tiber, making great walls, etc. The City of Rome gave +Ripalda a large sum of money, but he is much disgusted as it had taken a +good bit off his garden. More people came in--the wife of the Peruvian +Minister, a very pretty woman, and one or two men. We had tea in the +long gallery with all Raphael's and Carracci's beautiful gods and cupids +over our heads. How many different scenes they must have looked down +on--not always so peaceful as this quiet party. + + + Saturday evening, April 3, 1880, 10 P.M. + +We went to the German Embassy on our way home to write ourselves down +for the German Crown Princess, who had just arrived there for a short +stay. I hope I shall see her--W. admires her so much. He saw her often +when he was in Berlin for the Congress, and found her most sympathetic +and charming. Turkam Bey came in just before dinner and had a great deal +to say about the Khedive, and what France would have done if he had +resisted, retired up the country, and obliged the French and English to +depose him by force. It was evident that the suite had been talking to +him, and talking very big--he was very anxious to have a categorical +answer. W. said very quietly they had never considered that emergency, +as it was quite evident from the beginning that the Khedive had no +intention of resisting. "Cependant, monsieur, s'il avait voulu," etc., +so W. could only repeat the same thing--that they had never been anxious +on that point. + +We dined quietly at home, and in the course of the evening there came a +note from Keudell, the German Ambassador (whom we don't either of us +know), saying that "par ordre de Son Altesse Imperiale la Princesse +Hereditaire d'Allemagne" he had the honour to ask M. and Madame +Waddington to dine to-day at 7.30 at the Embassy "en petit comite." We +should find a small party--the Wimpffens and Pagets. The Princess only +arrived on Thursday, and W. is much pleased that she should have thought +of us at once. Keudell has been ill with gout ever since we have been +here. We have never once seen him, but various people told W. he +regretted so much not seeing him, that the other day we tried to find +him, but the porter said he was still in his room. + + + Sunday, April 4, 1880. + +Our dinner was charming. I was not a bit disappointed in the Princess. +W. had talked so much about her that I had rather made up my mind I +should find her very formal and German--and she isn't either one or the +other. We left a little after seven (I wearing black satin). I am so +bored with always wearing the same dresses. If I had had any idea we +should go out every night I should have brought much more, but W. spoke +of "a nice quiet month in Rome, sight-seeing and resting." We were the +first to arrive. Keudell was at the door, introduced himself, and took +us into the large salon, where Madame Keudell was waiting. She looked +slight and rather delicate, and he really ill, so very white. He said he +had had a long, sharp attack of gout--had not been out for some time, +and was in the salon for the first time the day the Princess arrived. +While we were waiting for the others to come he showed us the rooms and +pictures. I recognised at once one of those pretty child's heads by Otto +Brandt like the one we have. He was much interested in knowing that we +had bought one so long ago, he thought Brandt had so much talent. There +was a grand piano, of course, as he is a fine musician. The Pagets and +Wimpffens came together almost, and as soon as they were there the +Princess came in. She had one lady with her and a "chambellan"--Count +Seckendorff. She was dressed in black, with a handsome string of pearls. +She is short, and rather stout, carries herself very well and moves +gracefully. We all made low curtseys--the men kissed her hand, Sir +Augustus Paget just touching the floor with his knee, the first time I +had seen a man kneel to any one in a salon. She received W. most +charmingly, and was very gracious to me--asked me at once why I didn't +accompany my husband to Berlin. I said, "Principally because he didn't +want me," which was perfectly true. He said when he was named +Plenipotentiary that it was all new ground to him, that he would have +plenty to do, and didn't want to have a woman to look after. He rather +protests now, but that is really what he said, and I certainly didn't +go. The dinner was pleasant enough. The Princess talked a great deal, +and as the party was small, general conversation was quite easy. The +talk was all in French, which really was very amiable for us--we were +the only foreigners present, and naturally if we hadn't been there every +one would have spoken German. After dinner she made a short "cercle," +standing in the middle of the room, all of us around her, then made a +sign to W. to come and talk to her, sat down on the big sofa, he on a +chair next, and they talked for about half an hour. We all remained +standing. I asked Keudell about his piano. He told me that he liked the +Erard grand very much, but that they didn't stand travelling well. In a +few moments the Princess told us all to sit down, particularly Keudell, +who looked quite white and exhausted. I sat by Madame Keudell, and as +she is very fond of Italy, and Rome in particular, we got on very well. +When the Princess had finished her talk with W. she came over and sat +down by me--was most charming and easy. She has the Queen's beautiful +smile, and such an expressive face. We spoke English; she asked me if I +had become very French (I wonder?)--that she had always heard American +women were so adaptable, taking at once their husband's nationality when +they married foreigners. She had always remained very fond of England +and English ways--the etiquette and formality of the German Court had +tried her at first. She asked me, of course, how many children I +had--said one was not enough. "If anything should happen to him, what +would your life be?" and then spoke a great deal about the son she lost +last summer by diphtheria, said he was the most promising of all her +children, and she sometimes thought she never could be resigned. I said +that her life was necessarily so full, she had so many obligations of +all kinds, had so many to think about, that she would be taken out of +herself. "Ah, yes, there is much to do, and one can't sit down with +one's sorrow, but the mother who has lost her child carries a heavy +heart all her life." It was all so simply said--so womanly. She said she +was very glad to meet W. again, thought he looked very well--was sure +the change and rest were doing him good. She regretted his departure +from the Quai d'Orsay and public life generally. I told her he was still +a Senator, and always interested in politics. I didn't think a few +months' absence at this time would affect his political career much, and +that he found so much to interest him that he really didn't miss the +busy, agitated life he had been leading for so long. She said she +intended to spend a quiet fortnight here as a tourist, seeing all she +could. She then talked to all the other ladies, and about ten said +she was tired and would go to her own rooms. She shook hands with the +ladies, the men kissed her hand, and when she got to the door she turned +and made a very pretty curtsey to us all. We stayed on about a quarter +of an hour. + +[Illustration: Victoria, Crown Princess of Germany.] + +The Wimpffens have arranged a dinner for her on Thursday (to which she +said she would like to have us invited), just the same party with the +addition of the Minghettis. As we were going on to Madame Minghetti's +reception, Countess Wimpffen asked us to tell them to keep themselves +disengaged for Thursday, as she wanted them for dinner to meet the +Princess--she would write, of course, but sent the message to gain time. +They brought in tea and orangeade, and I talked a little to Count +Seckendorff--he speaks English as well as I do. He told me the Princess +was quite pleased when she heard W. was here, and hoped to see him +often. We hadn't the courage to stay any longer--poor Keudell looked +ready to drop--and started off to the Minghettis'. + +It was a beautiful, bright night, and the Capitol and all its +surroundings looked gigantic, Marcus Aurelius on his big bronze horse +standing out splendidly. We found a large party at Madame +Minghetti's--principally political--not many women, but I should think +every man in Rome. Alfieri, Visconti Venosta, Massari, Bonghi, Sella, +Teano, etc. It was evidently a "centre" for the intelligent, serious men +of all parties. There was quite a buzz, almost a noise, of talking as we +came in--rather curious, every one seemed to be talking hard, almost +like a meeting of some kind. They were all talking about the English +elections, which apparently are going dead against the Ministry. +Minghetti said it was quite their own fault--a cabinet that couldn't +control the elections was not fit to live. Of course their time was +over--there was no use in even attempting a fight--they had quite lost +their hold on the country. Madame Minghetti seems as keen about politics +as her husband. She has many friends in England. I told her about the +Wimpffen dinner--they will go, of course. She asked a great deal about +the Princess--said she was very glad she had decided to come to Rome, +that she couldn't help being interested and distracted here, which she +needed, as she was so upset by her son's death. We talked music--she +sings very well--and we agreed to sing together some afternoon, perhaps +at the German Embassy, as Keudell is a beautiful musician and loves to +accompany. + +Mrs. Bruce was there and I sat down by her a little while, looking at +the people. She pointed out various political swells, and a nice young +Englishman (whose name I didn't catch) joined us, saying he wished he +understood Italian, as it was evident the group of men around Minghetti +was discussing English politics, and he would so like to know what they +were saying. Mrs. Bruce told him it was just as well he didn't +understand, as, from the echoes that came to her, she didn't believe it +was altogether complimentary to John Bull. I don't believe political men +of any nationality ever approve any ministry. It seems to me that as +soon as a man becomes a cabinet minister, or prominent in any way, he is +instantly attacked on all sides. + +We didn't stay very long, as we had promised to go for a few moments to +the Farnese Palace, where the Noailles had also a reception. I had some +difficulty in extracting W. from the group of men. He naturally was much +interested in all the talk, and as almost all the men were, or had been +ministers, their criticisms were most lively. They appealed to him every +now and then, he having been so lately in the fray himself, and he was +a funny contrast with his quiet voice and manner to the animated group +of Italians, all talking at once, and as much with their hands as with +their tongues. + +It was very late--after eleven--but we thought we would try for the +Noailles, and there were still many carriages at the door when we drove +up. We met so many people coming away, on the stairs and in the long +anteroom, that it didn't seem possible there could be any one left, but +the rooms were quite full still. The palace looked regal--all +lighted--and there were enough people to take away the bare look that +the rooms usually have. They are very large, very high, and scarcely any +furniture (being only used for big receptions), so unless there are a +great many people there is a look of emptiness, which would be difficult +to prevent. Madame de Noailles was no longer at the door, but I found +her seated in the end room with a little group of ladies, all smoking +cigarettes, and we had an agreeable half hour. Madame Visconti Venosta +was there, and another lady who was presented to me--Madame Pannissera, +wife of one of the "grand-maitres de ceremonie" at court. W. was at once +absorbed into the circle of men, also talking politics, English +elections, etc., but he was ready to come away when I made the move. +Noailles insisted upon taking me to the buffet, though I told him I had +done nothing but eat and drink since 7.30 (with a little conversation +thrown in). It was rather amusing walking through the rooms and seeing +all the people, but at 12.30 I struck. I really was incapable of another +remark of any kind. + +I will finish this very long letter to-day. I wonder if you will ever +have patience to read it. I am sure I shouldn't if it were written to +me. I hope I shall remember all the things I want to tell when we get +back--so much that one can't write. My black satin was right--the +Princess was in mourning, the other ladies equally in black. W. wants me +to be photographed in the black dress and long veil I wore at the Pope's +audience. He found it very becoming, and thinks Francis ought to have +one; but it is so difficult to find time for anything. + + + Saturday, April 10, 1880. + +We had a nice musical evening the other night at Gert's. All the vieille +garde turned up, Vera, Malatesta, Del Monte (with his violoncello), and +Grant. We sang all the evening, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I was +sorry Edith Peruzzi couldn't come, as she sings so well, and it would +have been nice to have another lady. She has been nursing her mother, +who has been ill (so ill that they sent for Edith to come from +Florence), but she is getting all right now, and I don't think Edith +will stay much longer. Charles de Bunsen has arrived for a few days. We +took for him a room at our hotel, and we have been doing all manner of +sight-seeing. Thursday morning we went to the Accademia of San Luca, +where we had not yet been. It was rather interesting, but there is much +less to see than in the other galleries. There are some good busts and +modern pictures--a pretty Greuze. + +[Illustration: Gardens of the Villa Torlonia, Formerly Villa Conti, +Frascati, Opposite the Villa Marconi, Where we Spent the Summer of +1867.] + +Our dinner at the Wimpffens' was very pleasant. We arrived very +punctually at 7.20 and found the Keudells already there. He told us the +Princess was very tired, she had been all day in the galleries standing, +looking at pictures, and he didn't think she would stay late. He still +looked very tired and pale, but said he was much better and that the +royal visit did not tire him at all. The Princess was very considerate +and went about quite simply with her lady and Count Seckendorff. The +other guests arrived almost immediately--the Pagets, Minghettis, +Gosselins of the British Embassy, and Maffei, Under-Secretary of the +Foreign Office. About a quarter to eight the Princess arrived with her +lady and chamberlain, she was dressed in black, with a long string of +pearls. We went at once to dinner (which was announced as she entered +the room), Wimpffen of course taking the Princess, who had Minghetti on +her other side. Sir Augustus Paget took me, and I had Gosselin on the +other side. W. sat next Countess Wimpffen. The talk was easy and +animated, quite like the other day at the Palazzo Caffarelli (German +Embassy). The Princess talked a great deal to Minghetti, principally +art, old Rome, pictures, etc.--she herself draws and paints very well. +After dinner she sat down at once (said she didn't usually mind +standing, but the long days in the galleries tried her), made us all sit +down, and for about half an hour she was most charming, talking about +all sorts of things, and keeping the conversation general. When she had +had enough of _female_ conversation she said something in a low tone to +Lady Paget, who got up, crossed the room to where W. was standing, and +told him the Princess wished to speak to him. He came at once, of +course--she made him sit down, and they talked for a long time. She is +naturally a Protestant, but very liberal, and quite open to new ideas. +She was much interested in French Protestants--had always heard they +were very strict, very narrow-minded, in fact, rather Calvinistic. She +kept W. until she went away, early--about ten--as she was tired. She has +an extraordinary charm of manner. Her way of taking leave of us was so +pretty and gracious. She dines quietly at the British Embassy to-morrow +night, and when Lady Paget asked her who she would have, said: "Cardinal +Howard and Mr. Story." She wants to see all manner of men. + +Yesterday we made our first excursion to Frascati, and most unpleasant +it was. We had chosen our day so as to have Charles Bunsen with us, and +one also when we had nothing in the evening, as one is so tired after +being out all day. We started about 9--in the carriage--W. and I, Gert +and Charles. It looked grey (was perfectly mild) and rather threatening, +but the hotel man and coachman assured us we should have no rain--merely +a covered day which would be more agreeable than the bright sun. +Schuyler promised to come out by train for breakfast. The drive out was +delicious, out of the Porta San Giovanni, the whole road lined with +tombs, arches, ruined villas, always the aqueducts on one side, and the +blue hills directly in front of us. The sun came out occasionally +through little bits of white clouds, and the Campagna looked enchanting, +almost alive. We passed close to the Osteria del Pino--where the meet +used to be often in old hunting days. It was so familiar as we drove up +the steep hill and recognised all the well-known places--the Pallavicini +villa at the side of the road, half-way up the hill; the Torlonia +gardens, and the gateway of the funny little town. We went straight to +the hotel, the same one as in our day, Albergo di Londra (that shows +what a haunt of "forestieri" it is), ordered breakfast, and then sallied +out for a walk. + +The little piazza before the hotel was filled with donkeys and boys, all +clamouring to us to have a ride, expatiating on the merits of their +beasts, and making a perfect uproar. We explained to the porter that we +wanted beasts of some description to go up to Tusculum, and he said he +would arrange it for us. However, the boys pursued us to the gate, +dragging their donkeys after them. We went first to the Palazzo Marconi, +which is just outside the gates opposite the Torlonia villa. I wanted so +much to see the old house again, it was inhabited by a Russian family, +and at first there seemed some little difficulty about getting in, but +W. sent in his card, and after a little parley a servant appeared and +took us all over the house, except the dining-room where the family were +breakfasting. It looks exactly the same--only much more neglected and +uninhabited. The broken steps were more broken, the bright paint more +faded, and the look of discomfort much accentuated. I showed W. the room +where father died. It looked much more bare and empty, but the pink +walls were still there, and the door open giving on the terrace. How it +brought back those long, hot nights when we tried to hope--knowing quite +well there was no chance--but never daring to put the fear into words. +W. was much struck by the lonely, desolate look of the whole place. The +little salon which we had made so comfortable with tables, rugs, and +arm-chairs brought from Rome, looked perfectly bare--no furniture except +one or two red velvet benches close to the wall, and rather an ugly +marble table with nothing on it. The big round salon with its colossal +statues in their marble niches and the marble benches, was exactly the +same--only no piano. We went through the bed-rooms at the other end (our +three), the marble bath still in the middle one, which used to be +Henrietta's, but there was no trace of occupation, neither beds, washing +apparatus, tables, nor chairs. I suppose the "locataires" live in the +two rooms at the other end. There wasn't much furniture there, but I did +see some beds. We went out into the little raised garden behind the big +statue, but it was a wild waste of straggling vines and weeds. It was +rather sad--nothing changed and yet so different. + +I explained our life to W.--our morning or evening rides, our music, +which was enchanting in the big salon--so mysterious, just a little +glow of light around the piano and other instruments, and the rest of +the great room almost dark, the white statues looking so huge and grim +in the half light. I was rather nervous the first nights out here when I +had to cross that room to go to mine with a very small Roman lamp in my +hand--but I soon got accustomed to my surroundings, and it seemed quite +natural to live our daily, modern life in that milieu of frescoes, +marble statues, hanging gardens, and strangers. I tried to find some +little flower in the mass of weeds in the garden, but there wasn't one, +so I send these periwinkles and anemones picked in the Villa Torlonia, +where we walked about for some time under the splendid old ilex trees. + +[Illustration: Tomb of Viniciano, Between Frascati and Tusculum.] + +Breakfast, a fairly good one, was ready when we got back to the hotel, +but no Schuyler. I think he was a wise man and foresaw what was going to +happen. Quite a number of strangers had come out by train--all English +and American, no one we knew--and the table-d'hote was quite full. As +soon as the gentlemen had had their coffee, about 1.30, we started for +Tusculum, Gert and I on donkeys with two pretty, chattering Italian boys +at their heads--Bunsen on a stout little mountain pony, and W. on foot. +He wouldn't hear of a donkey, and preferred to walk with the guide. We +climbed up the steep little path, between high walls at first, then +opening out on the hillside to the amphitheatre, which we saw quite +well. The arena and seats are very well preserved. There are still rows +of steps, slippery and green with moss. We went on again toward Cicero's +Villa, and for a moment the clouds cleared a little, and we saw what the +view might be straight over the Campagna to Rome (the dome of St. +Peter's just standing out--on one side the hills with the little +villages where we have ridden so often, Monte Compatri, Monte Porzio, +the Campi d'Annibale and Monastery of Monte Cave in the distance). I +wonder if the old monk would tell us to-day what one did years ago, when +we were standing on the terrace looking at the magnificent view: "Quando +fa bel tempo si puo vedere le montagne d'America" (When it is fine one +can see the mountains of America). I thought it was rather pretty, his +eagerness to make us understand what an extended view one had from his +mountain top, and he probably didn't know where America was. However, +our little gleam of sunlight didn't last--first came big drops, then a +regular downpour, and in a few minutes a thick white mist closed around +us, shutting out everything. We took refuge for a few moments under a +sort of ruined portico, but the rain came down harder, and we decided to +give up Cicero's Villa, and turn our faces homeward. + +The descent was neither easy nor pleasant--a steep little path with the +donkeys slipping and stumbling, and the rain falling in buckets. I was +wet through in ten minutes, as I was very lightly dressed in a white +shirt and foulard skirt (having stupidly left my jacket at the hotel as +it was very warm when we started). Gert was better off, as she had her +tweed dress. I shan't soon forget that descent, and as we passed +Mondragone--the Borghese Palace--we had thunder and lightning, which +didn't add to my comfort--however, the donkeys didn't mind. I was wet to +the skin when we arrived at the hotel, and had to undress entirely and +go to bed wrapped up in a blanket. The chambermaid lighted a fire in the +room, and she and Gert dried my clothes as well as they could, and I had +a cup of hot tea. About 5 my things were fairly dry--Gert went shopping +in the town, and bought me a piece of flannel which I put on under my +corsage which was still damp. It rained a little when we started home, +but cleared about half-way, and we had the most glorious sunset. + +It was too bad to have fallen upon such a day, and I am afraid we shan't +have time to attempt it again. I was half tempted to stay at Frascati +all night and try again the next morning, but the others thought it +better to come home. I went to bed immediately after dinner, and feel +quite well to-day--only a little stiff--the combined effect of the +donkey and the damp. + + + April 11, 1880. + +Yesterday it rained hard all day, there was quite a little stream of +water in the Piazza coming down from the Pincio. Certainly Rome needs +sunshine, everything looked forlorn and colourless and everybody so +depressed. The Spanish Steps were quite deserted, no models nor children +galloping up and down. The coachmen of the fiacre-stand on the Piazza +dripping and dejected on their boxes--nobody wanting carriages and very +few people about. I really believe the Romans stay in when it rains. We +didn't, of course, as our time is getting short, and the galleries are +always a resource. We went off about 10 to the Vatican and spent two +hours there. Charles de Bunsen was very glad to see it all again. We +went first to the Cappella Paolina where there was not much to see--some +frescoes of Michelangelo's, not very well preserved. It used to be so +beautiful, Holy Week in Rome, when we were here before, brilliantly +lighted for a silent adoration and filled with people kneeling and +motionless. + +Then we went on to the Cappella Sistina where there were a good many +people taking advantage of a rainy day to do the Vatican. It wasn't at +all dark--I don't know exactly why, for the rain was pouring straight +down. The Last Judgment is an awful picture. I had forgotten Charon and +his boat and the agonized faces of the people whom he is knocking back +with his oar. Some of the faces were too terrible, such despair and +suffering. I can't think why any artist ever chooses such subjects, one +would think they would be haunted by their own conceptions. + +We walked through the Stanze, I wanted to see the Deliverance of St. +Peter; I remember so well the engraving that was in the dining-room at +Bond Street, which I have sat opposite to so often. I used to be +fascinated as a child with the Roman soldiers, particularly the one with +a torch. We sauntered through the picture gallery looking at the +beautiful Foligno Madonna, Communion of St. Jerome, and of course the +Marriage of St. Catherine, and really my copy by the young German is +good as I see the original again. We finished in the Galerie des +Inscriptions where W. always finds odd bits of inscriptions which are +wildly interesting to him. I think for the moment yellow-books and +interpellations and the "peuple souverain" generally as represented in +the Chambre des Deputes are out of his head. + +The sun came out bright and warm in the afternoon and we drove to the +Villa Pamphili. We stopped at San Pietro in Montorio on our way. It is +there that St. Peter is said to have been crucified. The view from the +terrace is very fine--the whole of Rome at our feet stretching out over +the Campagna to the Alban Hills. It was too early really for the view, +as one ought to see it at sunset, when the hills take most beautiful +rose blue tints and the Campagna looks vague and mysterious, not the +long barren stretch of waste uncultivated land it is in the daylight. + +We stopped again at the Fontana Paolina, looked at the rush of water +that tumbles into the stone basin, and climbed up the Janiculum, every +turn of the road giving the most enchanting view, out of the Porta San +Pancrazio to the Villa Pamphili--all Rome apparently was doing the same +thing; there were quantities of carriages. It was charming in the +Villa--many people had got out of their carriages and were walking about +in the shady alleys. It was a relief to get out of the sun. The stone +pines of course are magnificent, but I think I like them best from a +distance--from the terrace of the Villa Medici for instance they stand +out splendidly. What is grand is the view of St. Peter's. It seems to +stand alone as if there were no Rome anywhere near it. The dome rises +straight up above the green of Monte Mario, and looks enormous. + +We walked about the gardens with the queer, old-fashioned flower-beds +and the little lake with a mosaic pattern at the bottom, and talked to +quantities of people. The drive down was enchanting; the sun setting, +clouds of every colour imaginable and a sort of soft "brume" that made +every dirty little street (and there are many in Rome) look picturesque. + +We went to the ball at the British Embassy in the evening, taking +Charles de Bunsen, who protested at first he didn't go to balls any +more, etc., but he found plenty of old friends and was very glad he had +gone. The house looked very handsome--the ball-room with its decoration +of flowers, cupids, etc., had a decidedly festive appearance. I danced +two quadrilles--one with Count d'Aulnay and the other with the Duke of +Leuchtenberg who was here with his wife, Comtesse de Beauharnais. As it +is a morganatic marriage (he is a Royal Prince) she can't take his name +and title. She was beautifully dressed, had splendid jewels--pearls as +big as eggs. + +[Illustration: Grounds of the Villa Doria-Pamphili, Rome. + +From an unpublished photograph taken about 1869.] + +The ball was very gay, lots of people. We stayed quite late; went to +supper, which W. generally refuses with scorn, and only left at 1.30. +They were preparing for the cotillon, but were going to dance a +"tempete" (whatever that may be) first. I hear they danced until 4 +o'clock. + + + Thursday, 12th. + +We had a nice dinner at the Villa Medici Tuesday night. The Director M. +Cabat, his wife and daughter, M. and Madame Geoffroy and 5 or 6 of the +young men. They all love Rome and say it is a paradise for an artist. +Such beautiful models of all kinds in the old pictures and statues. I +ventured to say that I thought one or two of the modern Roman +things--fountains and statues--were pretty, but I was instantly sat upon +by the whole party--"no originality; no strength, weak imitations of +great conceptions, etc." I suppose one's taste and judgment do get +formed looking at splendid models all the time; still the world of art +must go on and there is no reason why the present generation shouldn't +have graceful fancies, and power to carry out their dreams. We didn't +stay very late and went on to Countess Somaglia, who was receiving. +There were only two or three ladies. Her younger sister, Olympia Doria, +married to a Colonna, the Marquise Sant' Asilea and two others I didn't +know. Quantities of men came in and out, Calabrini, Vitelleschi, +Minghetti. The "maitre de maison" was not there. I was sorry, as I had +never seen him. Lucchesi-Palli came up and claimed acquaintance--said he +had danced at Casa Pierret in the old days. I introduced him to W. who +was rather interested at meeting a half brother of the Comte de +Chambord. He is much astonished at the quantity of people I know, but I +told him one couldn't live years in Rome without seeing almost every +one worth knowing, as everybody comes to Rome. + +Yesterday Gert and I went out together. W. had an expedition of some +kind with de Rossi, and gave a dinner at the Falcone to Charles and some +of his men friends. The Roman menu didn't tempt me. I heard them talking +about porcupines and peacocks. I preferred dining with Gert--she asked +Mrs. Van Rensselaer, and we had a pleasant evening. Mrs. V. R. is clever +and original, very amusing over her Italian and the extraordinary +mistakes that she knows she makes, but she keeps on talking all the +same. It is curious how much colder Gert's apartment is than our rooms +at the hotel--I suppose no sun ever gets into that narrow street, and +one is quite struck with the cold the minute one gets into the palace +and on the stone staircase. We had a little fire and it wasn't at all +too much--of course in the Piazza di Spagna the sun streams into the +rooms all day. I came home early--about 10--and found the two gentlemen, +Charles and W., settled very comfortably each in a large arm-chair with +pipe and newspaper (you can imagine the atmosphere in a small hotel +sitting-room). They said their dinner was very good, even the ordinary +Roman wine, but they both agreed they wouldn't care to have that menu +every day. The talk was very interesting; some of the men had been in +Italy years ago, before the days of railways or modern conveniences of +any kind, and their experiences in some of the little towns near Rome +were most amusing--most of the peasants so mistrustful of the artist +baggage, white umbrella, camp-stool, etc., and so anxious, when they +finally understood no harm was intended, that they should sketch a nice +new house or a bit of wall freshly plastered instead of old gateways and +tumble-down palaces. + +Charles is going back to Florence to-morrow; I think he has enjoyed his +visit very much, it brought back so many recollections (he was born in +Rome and spent all his early childhood there).[24] + +[24] His father, Baron de Bunsen, was for years Prussian Minister at +Rome, a most intellectual, distinguished man; after Rome he was for many +years Minister in England, and their house in Carlton Terrace was the +rendezvous of all that was most brilliant and cosmopolitan in London. He +married Miss Waddington, and his son Charles also married Miss +Waddington, sister of William Waddington. + +I wish they would settle in Rome instead of Florence, the life is so +much more interesting here. Florence is charming, but asleep--here there +is life, and the contrast between the old patrician city full of +old-world memories and prejudices, and the political, financial +atmosphere of this 19th century is most striking. W. has decided to go +to Naples for four or five days. I shan't go with him. He will be all +day in the museums, as there is a great deal to see, and I should bore +myself sitting alone in the hotel. If we could stay long enough to make +some excursions--see Sorrento, Capri, and Ischia, I would not hesitate, +I should love to see it all again. They say Vesuvius is giving signs of +a disturbance. + +As we were talking about Capri and Vesuvius I told them my experience +there so many years ago, and both gentlemen told me I ought to write it +while it was still fresh in my memory, so here it is and you will send +the letter to the family in America. + +We went to Naples in October, 1867. Father died at Frascati the 27th of +September, and we all needed change after the long nursing and watching. +All our friends in Rome were most anxious we should get off; affairs +were rapidly coming to a crisis in Italy and it was evident that the +days of the temporal power of the Pope were numbered. At any moment the +Italians under Garibaldi might appear at the gates of Rome and it was +not considered safe for women and foreigners to remain there. No one +thought or talked of anything else, and though we were absorbed by +father's illness and the numerous duties that a sick room entails we +were quite as excited as all our friends. Of course we heard the two +sides--the liberals who had high hopes of liberty and "Italia Unita" and +the "papalini" who were convinced that the Italians would only enter +Rome over the bodies of the faithful. Our young imaginations pictured +anything, everything; the Garibaldians penetrating quite to the Court of +the Vatican, the Swiss Guard, Charette and his Zouaves, massacred; +priests flying in every direction pursued by a crowd of soldiers and +infuriated populace. Good old Dr. Valery, who knew his countrymen better +than we did, assured us there was no danger. When resistance was +perfectly useless it would be wicked to shed blood, and Pio Nono himself +would be the first to advise submission to the inevitable. We couldn't +believe that such a tremendous change and uprooting of the traditions of +centuries could be accomplished so quietly. We stayed two days only in +Rome after leaving Frascati. We laid father at rest in the little +English churchyard just by the San Paolo gate. There was a mortuary +chapel where he could stay till he was taken home to the old family +churchyard at Jamaica where Grandpapa King and a long line of children +and grandchildren are buried. We had to see about our mourning and were +finally hustled out of Rome the third day, Mr. Hooker (the American +banker), our great friend, fairly standing over us while the trunks were +being packed. He was quite right. We took the last train that went +through to Naples, carrying with us a number of letters which our +liberal friends had asked us to mail as soon as we crossed the +frontier,--they naturally being unwilling to trust them to the Roman +post-office. Rome looked deserted, very few people about, some of the +shops and hotels still closed, but one felt a suppressed excitement in +the air. Some of our friends, jubilant, came to see us off at "Termine" +and promised to send us a telegram at Naples if anything happened. Mr. +Hooker was rather anxious. He too thought the Papal court wouldn't make +any resistance if the Italians came, or rather when the Italians came, +as they were marching on Rome; but he thought there might be trouble in +the streets. He had his large American flag ready to protect the bank. +We of course made our journey very quietly and comfortably, as Garibaldi +and his men were not on that road. I was rather disappointed, I should +have liked to have had a glimpse of the famous revolutionary leader in +his classic red shirt. We found Naples just the same, very full, people +everywhere, in the Via Toledo, on the quays, etc. There wasn't much +apparent excitement, all the red-capped, bare-legged fishermen were +lounging about on the quays or in the numberless little boats of all +descriptions flying about in every direction. The same songs, "Julia +Gentil," "La Luissella," "La Bella Sorrentina," were sung under our +windows every night with an accompaniment of mandolins and a sort of +tambourine. From time to time the voices would cease and then there +would be a most lively dance--tarantella, saltarella--all the dancers +moving lightly and quickly and always in perfect time. The nights were +beautiful--warm and clear--the whole population lived in the streets and +we were always on the balcony. The islands, Ischia and Capri, took such +beautiful colours, at sunset; seemed almost like painted islands rising +straight up out of a perfectly blue sea. Vesuvius, too, was most +interesting. Savants were prophesying an eruption and every now and +then faint, very faint curls of smoke came out of the crater. We knew +nothing of what was going on; had no communication with Rome, and were +entirely dependent for news on the landlord, whose information was +certainly fantastic; also the little Naples paper, the "Pungolo," which +made marvellous statements every morning--the streets of Rome running +with blood, etc. Finally came the first news--the battle of "Monte +Rotondo," Garibaldi and his men victorious. From Paris we heard that the +French troops had started and were at Civita Vecchia, but there were so +many conflicting stories that we really didn't know how much to believe. +Then came Mentana--the Garibaldians driven back by the Papal and French +troops; the Pope still supreme in Rome. We had a telegram from one of +our liberal friends, "Le malade va bien," which meant that the Pope had +conquered, and Rome was not yet the capital of "Italia Unita." There was +no fighting at all in the streets of Rome; a great deal of patriotic +talk among the young liberals, but I don't think any of them absolutely +enrolled themselves in Garibaldi's band. It wouldn't have made any +difference--they could do nothing against the combined Papal and French +troops--but it might have been a personal satisfaction to have struck a +blow for the liberal cause. There again the common sense of the Italians +showed itself--there was no resisting "le fait accompli," they had only +to bide their time. We had lovely days at Naples, making all sorts of +excursions--Posilippo, Capo di Monte, Camaldoli, etc. Every morning we +went to the Museum; I was madly interested in the Pompeian relics, +particularly the mummies. It seemed impossible to believe that those +little black bundles had once been human beings feeling and living as +keenly as we do now. We always kept our eyes on Vesuvius as it really +did seem as if something was going on. The column of smoke looked +thicker and we could quite well see little jets of sand or small stones +thrown up from the crater. One afternoon when we came in from driving +everybody in the street was looking hard at the mountain and the padrone +informed us that the eruption had begun. We didn't see anything, but +after dinner when we were standing on the balcony suddenly we saw a +great tongue of flame leap out from the crater and a stream of fire +running down the side of the mountain. The flame disappeared almost +immediately; came back three or four times in the course of the evening, +but didn't gain very much in height or intensity. The next day, however, +it had increased considerably and was a fine sight at dark, every few +moments a great tongue of fire with quantities of stones and gravel +thrown high in the air. We almost fancied we heard the noise of thunder, +but I don't think we did. People were flocking into Naples, and we of +course, like all the rest, were most anxious to make the ascent. The +landlord told us there was no danger; that the authorities never +permitted an ascent if there was danger, and no guides would go, as they +are very prudent. One would go up on one side (the only thing to avoid +was the stream of red-hot lava). Mother was rather unwilling, +particularly as we were to go at night (and at night from our balcony +the mountain did look rather a formidable thing to tackle). We waited +still another day and then when we had seen some English people--two +ladies and a youth who had made the excursion and said it was not at all +alarming and most interesting--she agreed to let us go. Anne stayed with +her, she doesn't like donkey riding under any circumstances, and a +donkey at night on the slopes of Vesuvius in eruption, with a stream of +red-hot lava running alongside, didn't strike her absolutely as a +pleasant performance. We started about 7 o'clock, William, Henrietta, +Gertrude, and I. The drive out all the way to Resina was most amusing. +Quantities of people, the famous Naples "cariole" crammed with peasants +and children, and all eyes turned to the mountain. Our landlord had made +all the arrangements for us, secured the best guides, donkeys, etc., and +we were in great spirits. The mountain looked forbidding; as we came +nearer we heard the noise, rumbling and thunder--the thunder always +preceding a great burst of flames and showers of stones thrown up very +high and falling one didn't know exactly where. I didn't say anything as +I was very anxious to make the ascent, but I did wonder where these red +stones fell and how one could know exactly beforehand. We drove as far +as we could and then arrived at the Hermitage and Observatory, where +there was a very primitive sort of wooden house, half tavern, half inn. +Here donkeys and guides (very voluble) were waiting, and we started. It +had begun to rain a little, but the guides assured us that it would not +last and we should soon be above the clouds. It was almost dark--not +quite--and everything looked weird, even the faces of the guides seemed +to me to have a curious expression; they looked fierce and wild. We went +on quietly at first though the rumblings under our feet and sudden light +as the flames burst out were unpleasant. When we began the last steep +ascent I had got very nervous. I was the last of the party, and when the +donkey-boy (an infant) took a short cut, when the path was steep, +calling out cheerfully "Coraggio Signorina," and left me and the donkey +alone to clamber over the great slippery blocks of lava, I was +frightened and felt I should never get up to the top. It was really +terrifying--the rain and mist had increased very much, it was pitch +dark, rumbling and thunder all the time, and such noises under our feet +that I was sure a great hole would open and we should all be swallowed +up. I didn't like the dark, but I certainly didn't like the light +either, when a great tongue of flame would spring out of the crater +spreading out like a fan and throwing a mass of stones and gravel high +in the air which all fell somewhere on the mountain. The red stream of +lava looked wider and seemed to me to be coming nearer. I called out to +William, who was far ahead and looked gigantic in the mist where he was +crossing some great rocks of lava (quite black and shiny when they are +old), and told him I was too frightened, that I should go back to the +Hermitage and wait there. He was much disgusted--said there was no +possible danger. All the guides and donkey-boys repeated the same thing, +but it was no use, I was thoroughly unnerved and couldn't make up my +mind to go on. We had a consultation with the guides as he didn't like +the idea of my going back alone to the inn, but they told him it was all +right, that the padrone was a "brav'uomo" and would take care of me +until they came back; so most reluctantly they went on, and I turned my +face homeward, always with my minute attendant whom I would gladly have +shaken as he was laughing and chattering and repeating twenty times, +"non c'e pericolo." I think the going down was rather worse; I had the +rain in my face, heard all the same unearthly noises around me, and from +time to time had glimpses of the whole country-side--Naples, the little +villages, the islands, the bay standing out well in the red light thrown +on them by the flames from the crater; then absolute darkness and +stillness, nothing apparently on the mountain but me and the donkey +scrambling and stumbling over the wet, slippery stones. How we ever got +down to the inn I don't know, but both boy and donkey seemed to know the +road. I was thankful when we emerged on a sort of terrace and saw a +faint light, which meant the little inn. The boy helped me off (it was +pouring), called out something at the door, told me to go in and go +upstairs, then disappeared around the corner with the donkey. I +called--no one answered--so I went upstairs, just seeing my way by the +light of a little dull, smoky lamp put in a niche of the wall. I saw two +doors when I got up to the top of the stairs, both shut, so I called +again, knocked; a man's voice said something which I supposed to be +"entrate" and I walked in. I found myself in a big room hardly +lighted--a small lamp on a table, a fire of a sort of peat and wood, a +bed in one corner on which was stretched a big man with a black beard +and red shirt; another man not quite so big, but also in a red shirt and +a hat on his head, got up when I came in, from a chair where he had been +sitting by the fire. He said something I couldn't understand, first to +me and then to his companion on the bed, who answered I thought rather +gruffly (they both spoke Neapolitan "patois" which I couldn't understand +at first). I didn't feel very comfortable (still I liked even that room +with those two brigand-looking men better than the mountain-side with +the flames and the lava), but I tried to explain, took off my wet cloak +which spoke for itself, and went toward the fire. My friend with the hat +always keeping up a running conversation with the man on the bed, +brought up a chair, then a sort of stand over which he hung my cloak, +and proceeded to take a bottle out of a cupboard which I supposed was +their famous wine (lacrima Christi) which one always drinks at Naples. +However that I declined and established myself on the chair by the fire. +He took the other one, and when I looked at him I saw that he had +rather a nice face; so I took courage. He pointed to my shoes, which +were wet as we had walked a little, and wanted to talk. After a little +while I began to understand him, and he me; and we had quite a friendly +conversation. He looked at my shoes, asked me where they were made, and +when I said in Rome was madly interested; he had a brother in Rome, a +shoemaker, perhaps I knew him "Giuseppe Ricci," he might have made those +very shoes--instantly confided that interesting piece of information to +the gentleman on the bed. He told me they were three brothers, the +eldest was the shoemaker, then came he the padrone of the osteria, and +the other one "there on the bed" had vines and made very good wine. He +asked me if I had ever seen the Pope, or Garibaldi (there was a picture +of Garibaldi framed on the wall), and when I said I had often seen the +former, and that he had a good, kind face, he again conversed amicably +with the gentleman on the bed, who first raised himself into a sitting +posture, and finally got up altogether and came over to the fire, +evidently rather anxious to take part in the conversation. He was an +enormous man and didn't look as nice as the "padrone." He rather +startled me when he bent down, took my foot in his hand and inspected +the shoe which he pronounced well made. We must have sat there fully +half an hour talking--they were perfectly easy, but not familiar, and +wanted to hear anything I would tell them about Rome. Every now and then +they dropped off into some side talk in their "patois," and I looked at +the fire and thought what an extraordinary experience it was, sitting +alone with such odd-looking companions in that big, bare room on the top +of Mount Vesuvius. The fire had almost died out, the miserable little +lamp gave a faint flickering light that only made everything look more +uncanny, and every now and then the whole room would be flooded with a +red lurid light (heralded always by a violent explosion which made the +crazy little house shake) which threw out the figures of the two men +sitting with their long legs stretched out to the fire, and keeping up a +steady talk in a low voice. Still I wasn't afraid; I was quite sure they +would be respectful, and do all they could to help me. They had a sort +of native politeness, too, for they stopped their talk occasionally and +made conversation for me; one looked out of the window and said the rain +had stopped, but that the night was "brutta" and they referred to other +eruptions and told me stories of accidents that had happened to +people--two young men, "Inglesi," who were killed because they would go +on their own way and not listen to the guides, consequently were knocked +on the head by some huge stones; always assuring me that this eruption +was nothing. However I was getting tired, and found the time long, when +suddenly we heard the noise of a party arriving, and for a moment I +thought it was my people; but no, they were coming the other way, up the +mountain. There was a great commotion and talking, lanterns flashing +backward and forward, donkeys being led out and all preparations made +for the ascent--but there seemed a hitch of some kind and I heard a +woman's voice speaking English. The "padrone" had rushed downstairs as +soon as he heard the party arriving, and presently he reappeared talking +very hard to a lady and two gentlemen who were coming upstairs behind +him and evidently wanting something which they couldn't make him +understand. He was telling them to have patience, that there was an +"Inglese" upstairs who would talk to them. They were so astounded when +they saw me that they were speechless--il y avait de quoi--seeing a +girl established there in rather a dishevelled condition, her hat off, +wet cloak hanging over the chair, and entirely alone with those +"Neapolitan brigands"--but one man ventured to ask timidly "did I speak +English." Oh yes--Italian, too--what could I do for them. They explained +that the lady was tired, cold and wet (she looked miserable, poor thing) +and wanted a hot drink--brandy, anything she could get. She didn't look +as if she could go on, but she said she would be all right if she could +have something hot, and that nothing would induce her to give up the +excursion, having come so far; so a fresh piece of wood, or peat rather +of some kind (it looked quite black), was put on the fire, also water in +a most primitive pot. I suggested that she should take off her cloak and +let it dry a little. The men brought in some more chairs and then the +new comers began to wonder who I was and what I was doing there alone at +that hour of the night. They were Americans, told me their name, but I +have forgotten it, it is so long ago. I told them my experience--that I +was absolutely unnerved, in a dead funk, and would have done anything +rather than go on toward that horrible crater. They couldn't understand +that I wasn't much more afraid of spending two hours in that lonely +little house in such company, and begged me to try again--there was +really no danger, people were going up all the time, etc. The older man +was very earnest--said they couldn't leave a compatriot in such +straits--he would give me his donkey if another one couldn't be procured +and would walk--how could my brother have permitted me to come back +alone, etc. However I reassured him as well as I could--told them I was +perfectly accustomed to Italians and knew the language well (which was a +great help to me, I don't know what I should have done if I hadn't been +able to talk and understand them). They stayed about 20 minutes--the +lady said her drink was very nasty, but hot, and she looked better for +the rest and partial drying. She wasn't as wet as I was, the rain had +stopped when they were half-way up. I told them who I was and begged +them to say, if they met my people coming down, a gentleman and two +ladies, that they had seen me, and that I was quite dry and comfortable. +They went away most reluctantly, were half inclined to stay until the +others should come back, but the guides were anxious to be off. Even at +the last moment when they had got downstairs, the older man came back +and begged me to come with them--"I assure you, my dear young lady, you +don't know in what a dangerous position you are; if I had any authority +over you I should insist, etc." He was very nice, and left all sorts of +recommendations in English and a very good fee to the padrone, who of +course didn't understand a word of what he was saying, but seemed to +divine in some mysterious way. He looked smilingly at me, told me to +cheer up ("Coraggio" is their way of saying it) and told the American, +in Italian, that he would take good care of me. He was very sorry to go +and leave me, said he had never done anything he liked so little. As +soon as the excitement of their departure was over the two men came +back. The "vigneron" went back to his bed, from where he conversed with +us occasionally, and the other one settled down in his chair, and seemed +half asleep. It wasn't very long before my party came back. The men +heard them before I did, and told me they were arriving. I must say I +was glad to see them. They had had a splendid time, seen everything +beautifully, gone quite up to the stream of red-hot lava, put umbrellas +and canes into it (the ends were quite black and burnt)--they were not +in the least nervous, and jibed well at me. William said he had rather +an uncomfortable feeling at first when he saw me and my very small +attendant depart, but he forgot it in the excitement and novelty of +their excursion. He thanked the padrone for taking such good care of me, +proposed a hot drink (very bad it was) all round, and we took quite a +friendly leave of the two gentlemen. I promised to try and find the +brother shoemaker. They had crossed my American friends on the way +back--William said they were just starting down when they saw another +party appearing and he heard a gentleman say, "I think this must be Mr. +King." He was very much surprised to hear his name, but rode up to the +speaker, to see who he was, and then the gentleman told him of his +amazement at meeting his sister in that wretched little shanty and how +miserable he had felt at leaving me there alone, with two Neapolitan +brigands, but that I had assured him I was quite safe and not at all +afraid of the two black giants--but he begged William to hurry on, as it +was not really the place to leave a girl--even an American who would +know how to take care of herself. We made our journey down quite easily. +It was still pitch dark, except when the fire of the mountain lighted up +everything, but there was neither rain nor wind, the air was soft, and +the little outlying villages looked quite quiet and peaceable, as if no +great mountain was throwing up masses of ashes and stones just over +their heads, which might after all destroy them entirely. There must +always be a beginning, and I suppose in the old days of Pompeii and +Herculaneum the beginning was just what we have seen--first columns of +smoke, then the lava stream and showers of red-hot stones, and none of +the people frightened at first. We found Mother and Anne waiting for us +with supper. They had been a little anxious, particularly as the weather +was so bad, and they evidently had had more of a tempest than we had. +They were of course madly interested in our expedition and were +astounded that I was the coward. They wouldn't have been at all +surprised if it had been Gert. It is true she is nearly always timid, +and we used to play all sorts of tricks on her when we were children at +Cherry Lawn, beguile her up into the big cherry tree, then take the +ladder away and tell her to climb down; or take the peg out of the boat, +let in a little water and pretend it was sinking--so she was triumphant +this time. I can't understand why I was so frightened. I am not usually +afraid of anything, but that time no reasoning would have been of the +least use, and nothing would have made me go on to the crater. Mother +was rather like the American--she wouldn't have liked the flames and the +awful rumbling noises any more than I did, but she would have been much +more afraid of the lonely house and long wait on the mountain in that +wretched little inn with those two big, black-bearded Neapolitans. + +Le monde est petit--years afterward my brother William was travelling in +America, and in the smoking-room all the men were telling their +experiences either at home or abroad--many strange adventures. One +gentleman said he had never forgotten a curious scene on the top of +Mount Vesuvius in eruption, when he had met an American girl, quite +alone, at night, in the dark and rain, in a miserable little shanty with +two great, big Neapolitans "looking like brigands" (he evidently always +retained that first impression of my companions). He told all the story, +giving my name, which excited much comment; some of the listeners +evidently thought it was a traveller's tale, arranged on some slight +foundation of truth--however, when he had finished William said: "That +story is perfectly true. The young lady is my sister, and I am the Mr. +King to whom you spoke that night on the mountain, in the dark, begging +me to hurry down, and not leave my sister any longer alone in such +company." They naturally didn't recognise each other, having merely met +for a moment in the dark, both wrapped up in cloaks and under umbrellas. +They had quite a talk, and the gentleman was very anxious to know how +they found me--whether I wasn't really more uncomfortable than I +allowed, and what had become of me. + +We decided to move on to Sorrento and settle ourselves there for some +time. We also wanted to go to Capri, but the steamers had stopped +running, and we could only get over in a sailboat. The man of the hotel +advised us to go from Sorrento, it was shorter and a charming sail on a +bright day. The drive from Castellamare was beautiful; divine views of +the sea all the time and equally lovely when we came down upon Sorrento, +which seemed to stand in the midst of orange groves and vineyards. The +Hotel Sirena is perched on the top of a high cliff rising up straight +from the sea. We had charming rooms with a nice broad balcony, and at +our feet a little sheltered cove and beach of golden sand. There were +very few people in the hotel--the one or two English spinsters of a +certain age whom one always meets travelling, and two artists. We were +only about twelve people at table-d'hote; and as we were six that didn't +leave many outsiders. It was before the days of restaurants and small +tables. There was one long, narrow table--the padrone carved himself at +a smaller one, and talked to us occasionally. There was too much wind +the first days to think of attempting Capri, so we drove all over the +country, walked about in the orange groves and up and down the steep +hills, through lovely little paths that wound in and out of olive woods +along the side of the mountain, sometimes clambering up a bit of +straight rock, that seemed a wall impossible to get over--when it was +too stiff there would be steps cut out in the earth on one side, half +hidden by the long grass and weeds. + +Henrietta and I had discovered a pony trap with a pair of sturdy little +mountain ponies, quite black, and we drove ourselves all over. Mother +wouldn't let us go alone, so the stableman sent his son with us, aged 12 +years. He wasn't much of a protector! but he knew the ponies, and the +country, and everybody we met. He was a pretty little fellow--not at all +the dark Italian type, rather fair, with blue eyes, but always the olive +skin of the South. He invariably got off the little seat behind and took +a short cut up the hills when the road was very steep, though I don't +think his weight made any perceptible difference. + +The evenings were delicious. We sat almost always on the +balcony--sometimes with a light wrap when the breeze from the sea +freshened about 9 o'clock. How beautiful it was; the sea deep blue, the +islands changing from pink to purple, and as soon as it was dark +Vesuvius sending up its pyramid of fire. It looked magnificent, but very +formidable. Almost every morning we saw a party come and bathe in the +little cove at the foot of the cliff--a pretty little boat came around +the point with a family party on board--two ladies, one man and three +children. I think they were English, their installation was so +practical. They had a small tent, camp-stools, and table, also two toy +sailboats which were a source of much pleasure and tribulation, as they +frequently got jammed in between the rocks, or caught in the thick +seaweed, and there was great excitement until they were started afresh. +We made great friends with the sister of the man at the hotel. She was a +nun, such a gentle, good face--she came every morning to get flowers +for the little chapel of Maria--Stella del Mare--which was near the +house, standing high on the hill and easily seen from the sea. One day +she seemed very busy and anxious about her flowers, so we asked what was +happening, and she said it was their great fete, and they were going to +decorate the chapel and dress the Virgin--"should we like to see it?" +The Virgin had a beautiful dress--white satin with silver embroidery and +some fine jewels which some rich forestieri had given. We were delighted +to go, and went with her to the little chapel, which looked very pretty +filled with flowers and greens, one beautiful dark, shiny leaf which +made much effect. The Virgin was removed from her niche--her vestments +brought in with great care, wrapped in soft paper, and the good sister +most reverently and happily began the toilet. The dress was very +elaborate, had been the wedding dress of an Italian Principessa, and +there were some handsome pins and rings--a gold chain on her neck with a +pearl ornament. She was rather lamenting over the cessation of +gifts--when I suddenly remembered my ring--quite a plain gold one with +the cross (pax) one always sees in Rome, which had been blessed by the +Pope. I put it on with three or four other little ornaments one day when +we had an audience. I took it off, explained to her what it was, that it +had been blessed by the Saint Pere and that I should like very much to +give it to the Virgin, if she wasn't afraid of accepting anything from a +heretic. She was a little doubtful, but the fact of its having had the +Pope's blessing outweighed other considerations, and the ring was +instantly put on the Virgin's hand. She told us afterward that she had +told it to the priest, and he said she was quite right to accept it, it +might be the means of bringing me to the "true church." We grew really +quite fond of her. It was such a simple, childish faith, her whole life +was given up to her little chapel, cleaning and decorating it on feast +days. All the children in the country brought flowers and leaves, one +little boy came once, she told us, with a dead bird with bright feathers +that he found, quite beautiful. + +We made friends with the people at the table-d'hote and they were very +anxious we should come down to the reading-room at night and make +music--but our mourning of course prevented that. We used to hear the +piano sometimes and a man's voice singing, not too badly. + +At last the wind seemed to have blown itself out, and our landlord said +we could get easily to Capri. He could recommend an excellent boatman +who had a large, safe boat and who was most prudent, as well as his son. +With a fair wind we ought to go over in two hours. We wanted to stay +over one night, and he arranged everything. The boat would wait and +bring us back the next evening. We started early--about 9 o'clock--so as +to get over for breakfast. The boat was most comfortable, a big broad +tub, with rather a small sail, plenty of room for all our bags, wraps, +etc. The sea was divine, blue and dancing, but there was not much wind. +We progressed rather slowly, the breeze was mild, the boat heavy and the +sail small, but nobody minded. It was delicious drifting along on that +summer sea--just enough ripple to make little waves that tumbled up +against the side of the boat, and a slight rocking motion that was +delightful--couldn't have suggested sea-sickness or nervousness to the +most timid sailor. There were plenty of boats about (mostly fishermen) +of all sizes, some of them with the dark red sail that is so effective, +and several pleasure boats and small yachts. _They_ were almost as broad +and solid as our boat; hadn't at all the graceful outlines and large +sails that we are accustomed to. We were exactly three hours going over +though the breeze freshened a little as we got near Capri. We were quite +excited when we made out the landing-place ("Marina grande") and the +long, steep flight of steps leading up to the town. The last time we +were there we went by the regular tourist steamer from Naples. There +were quantities of people and a perfect rush for donkeys and guides as +soon as we arrived; also the whole population of Capri on the shore +chattering, offering donkeys, flowers, funny little bottles of wine, and +a troop of children running up the steps alongside of the donkeys and +clamouring for "un piccolo soldo." This time there was no one at the +landing-place, but the man of the hotel with a sedan chair for mother, +donkeys for us if we wanted them (we didn't--preferred walking) and a +wheelbarrow or hand cart of some kind for the luggage, which was +slight--merely bags and wraps. There were a good many steps, but they +were broad, we didn't mind. We found a very nice little hotel, kept by +an English couple. The woman had been for years maid in the Sheridan +family. She told us there was no one in the hotel but one Englishman--in +fact no foreigners in the island. We had a very good breakfast in a +nice, fairly large room with views of the sea in all directions, and +started off immediately afterward to see as much as we could. Mother had +her chair, but didn't go all the way with us. We passed through narrow, +badly paved little streets with low, pink houses, lots of people, women +and children, standing in the doorways--no men, I suppose they were all +fishing--and then climbed up to the Villa Tiberius--a steep climb at the +end, but such a view. Before we got quite to the top we stopped at the +"Salto di Tiberio," a rock high up over the water from which the guide +told us that monarch had his victims precipitated into the sea. We +dropped down stones (I remember quite well doing the same thing when we +were there before) to see how long it was before they touched the water, +which showed at what a height one was. The palace is too much in ruins +to be very interesting, but there was enough to show how large it must +have been, and bits of wall and arches still standing. We went on to the +chapel, drank some rather bad wine which the hermit offered us, bought +some paper weights and crosses made out of bits of coloured marble which +had been found in the ruins, and wrote our names in his book. We looked +back in the book to see if there were any interesting signatures, but +there was nothing remarkable--a great many Germans. + +We came home by another path, winding down through small gardens, +vineyards, and occasionally along the steep side of the mountain, all +stones and ragged rocks, with the sea far down at our feet. There were a +good many houses scattered about, one or two quite isolated near the +top. We had a running escort of little black-eyed brown children all +talking and offering little bunches of mountain flowers. The guides +remonstrated vigorously occasionally and they would disappear, but were +immediately replaced by another band from the next group of houses we +passed. + +We were rather tired when we got back to the hotel as the climbing was +stiff in some parts, and glad to rest a little before dinner. The +padrona came in and talked to us. It seemed funny to see an English +woman in that milieu with her brown hair quite smooth and plain and a +clean print dress. She said she liked her life, and the people of the +island. They were industrious, simple and easy-going. She talked a great +deal about the Sheridans, for whom she had of course the greatest +admiration, said one of the sons came often to Capri, and that his +cousin Norton had married a Capri fisher-girl. We had heard the story, +of course, and were much interested in all she told us. She said the +girl was lovely, an absolute peasant, had walked about with bare feet +like all the rest, but that she had been over to England, was taught +there all they could get into her head, and was quite changed, had two +children. I remember their telling us in Rome what a difficult process +that education was. She was willing and anxious to learn to read and +write, but her ambition and her capability of receiving instruction +stopped there--when they wanted to teach her a little history (not very +far back either) and the glories of the Sheridan name she was +recalcitrant, couldn't interest herself and dismissed the subject +saying, "ma sono morti tutti" (they are all dead). She always kept her +little house at Capri, in fact was there now, perhaps we should like to +see her. We said we should very much. + +We had nice, clean comfortable rooms and made out our plan for the next +day. We didn't care about the Blue Grotto--we had seen it before, and +besides they told us that at this season of the year it would be almost +impossible, one must have a perfectly still sea as the entrance is not +easy--very low--and a big wave would swamp the boat. We heard the wind +getting up a little in the night and we woke the next morning to see a +grey, cloudy sky, little showers falling occasionally, and a fine gale, +sea rough, no little boats out, one or two fishing boats racing along +under well-reefed sails, anything but tempting for a three hours' sail +in an open boat. Mother looked decidedly nervous; however the matter was +taken out of our hands, for the boatmen appeared saying they would not +go out, which was rather a relief; we didn't mind staying. There was a +fair library in the house, books that visitors had left, so we hunted up +a history of Capri (Baedeker was soon exhausted), and got through our +morning pretty well, some reading aloud, the others knitting or working. +We had all taken some sort of work in our bags, various experiences of +small hotels on rainy days having taught us to provide our own +amusement. + +It cleared in the afternoon though the wind was still very high and we +set off--on donkeys this time--and mother in her chair, to the other +side of the island. Two or three girls, handsome enough in their bright +skirts, bare brown legs and thick braids of hair, came with us to take +charge of the donkeys. As we were going up a steep flight of steps +(which the donkeys did very well and deliberately) they began to tell us +about Mrs. Norton and said we should pass her house. It was amusing to +hear them talk of her wonderful luck in being married to this "bel +Inglese"; "adesso fa la signora sta in camera tutto il giorno--colle +mani bianche" ("Now she does the lady, sits in her room all day with +white hands"). We passed several houses rather better than the ordinary +fisherman's cottage and then came upon a nice little white house, +standing rather high, with a garden and gate, which they told us was +Mrs. Norton's. We stopped a moment at the gate, looking at the garden; +mother's bearers put her chair down and gave themselves a rest, and we +saw a lady appear very simply dressed in something dark, who came to the +gate and asked us in very nice English with a pretty accent if we would +come in and rest, as the day was hot and we had had a steep climb. We +heard all the fisher-girls giggling and saying "Eccola la Signora." We +were half ashamed to have been seen gaping in at her garden, but the +invitation was simply and cordially given, and we accepted. Her manner +to mother was quite pretty, respectful to the older lady. We went into +a pretty little sitting-room quite simply furnished, with books and +photographs about. She showed us pictures of all her family, her husband +(regretting extremely that he was not there), her mother-in-law, Mrs. +Norton, and her children. She seemed very proud of her son, said he was +at school in England and didn't care very much for Capri. I asked her if +she liked England, and though she said "very much," I thought I detected +a regret for her old home, though not perhaps her old life. Her face +quite lighted up when we said how much we admired her island with its +high cliffs and beautiful blue sea. I didn't find her as handsome as I +expected, but the eyes were fine and her smile charming. Her manner was +perfectly natural, she showed us very simply all she had, and was not in +the least curious about us--asked us no questions, was evidently +accustomed to seeing foreigners and tourists at Capri. We stayed about +half an hour, and then went on our way. She shook hands with us all, and +looked most smilingly at mother; couldn't quite understand her black +dress and white cap--said we mustn't let her do too much, "she is not so +young as you, la mamma." + +Of course the fisher-girls were in a wild state of excitement when we +came out--all talked at once, stopping in the middle of the path, the +donkeys, too; when they had much to say, and telling the whole story +over again. I said to one of them, "Should you like to marry a 'bel +Inglese' and go and live in another country far away from Capri with no +sun nor blue sky?" She thought a moment, looking straight at me with her +big, black eyes and then answered, sensibly enough, my rather foolish +question--she had never thought about it--was quite happy where she was. +It was a curious meeting. + +When we got back to the hotel we asked our padrona about Mrs. Norton +and the life she led. She told us Mrs. Norton mere[25] had been in +despair when her son married the fisher-girl--he was very good-looking +and her favourite, and it was a great blow to her, but that she had been +very good to her and was fond of the boy. She didn't seem to think the +young woman had had a very happy life, but that she was always delighted +to get back to Capri. "Did she see any of her old friends?" "Not +much--that was difficult--she only came in the summer, the children +generally with her, and they fished and sailed and made their own life +apart." + +[25] The well-known poetess and beauty, nee Sheridan. + +We got back to Sorrento the next morning--the sea beautifully smooth and +calm--no trace of the great waves that had roared all night into the +numerous caves, throwing up showers of foam. + +My dear, I seem to have prosed on for pages about Naples, but once +started I couldn't stop. Tell Henrietta I feel rather like her when we +used to call her Mrs. Nickleby, because she never could keep to any one +subject, but always made long, foolish digressions. + + + Monday, April 13th. + +Last night we had a pleasant dinner at Mr. Hooker's, the American +banker. He still lives in one end of his apartment in the Palazzo +Bonaparte, but has rented the greater part to the Suzannets.[26] We were +a small party--ourselves, Schuylers, Ristori (Marchesa Caprannica), and +her charming daughter. Ristori is very striking looking--very large, but +dignified and easy in her movements, and a wonderfully expressive face. +The girl, Bianca Caprannica, is charming, tall, fair, graceful. Ristori +talked a great deal, speaks French, of course, perfectly. + +[26] Comte de Suzannet, Secretary of the French Embassy. + +She admires the French stage, and we discussed various actors and +actresses. I should love to see her act once, her voice is so full and +beautiful. Such a characteristic scene took place after coffee. We were +still sitting in the dining-room when we heard a carriage come in, and +instantly there was a great sound of stamping horses, angry coachman, +whip freely applied, etc. It really made a great noise and disturbance. +Ristori listened for a moment, then rushed to the window (very high +up--we were on the top story), exclaiming it was her man, opened it, and +proceeded to expostulate with the irate coachman in very energetic +Italian--"Che diavolo!" were these her horses or his, was he a Christian +man to treat poor brutes like that, etc.--a stream of angry remonstrance +in her deep, tragic voice. There was a cessation of noise in the +court-yard--her voice dominated everything--and then I suppose the +coachman explained and excused himself, but we were so high up and +inside that we couldn't hear. She didn't listen, but continued to abuse +him until at length Hooker went to the window and suggested that she +might cease scolding and come back into the room, which she did quite +smilingly--the storm had passed. + +This morning we have been to the Doria Gallery. The palace is enormous, +a great court and staircase and some fine pictures. We liked a portrait +by Velasquez of a Pope--Innocent X, I think--and some of the Claude +Lorraines, with their curious blue-green color. We walked home by the +Corso. It was rather warm, but shady always on one side of the street. +After breakfast Cardinal Bibra, the Bishop of Frascati, came to see us. +He was much disappointed that we had had such a horrid day for our +Frascati and Tusculum expedition, and wants us to go again, but we +haven't time. We want to go to Ostia and Albano if it is possible. He +and W. plunged into ecclesiastical affairs. It is curious what an +importance they all attach to W.'s being a Protestant; seem to think his +judgment must be fairer. He also knew about Uncle Evelyn having married +and settled in Perugia, and had heard the Pope speak about him. He spoke +about the Marquis de Gabriac (Desprez's predecessor) and regretted his +departure very much. I think he had not yet seen the new Ambassador. W. +told him Desprez would do all he could to make things go smoothly, that +his whole career had been made at the Quai d'Orsay, where every +important question for years had been discussed with him. + + + Tuesday, April 14th. + +We dined last night at the Black Spanish Embassy with the Cardenas. It +was very pleasant. We had two cardinals--Bibra and a Spanish cardinal +whose name I didn't catch; he had a striking face, keen and stern, +didn't talk much at dinner--Desprez and his son, the Sulmonas, Bandinis, +Primolis (she is nee Bonaparte), d'Aulnays, all the personnel of the +French Embassy, and one or two young men from the other embassies; quite +a small dinner. W. took in Princess Sulmona and enjoyed it very much. +Primoli took me, and I had Prince Bandini on the other side. Both men +were pleasant enough. All the women except me were in high dresses, and +Primoli asked me how I had the conscience to appear "decolletee" and +show bare shoulders to cardinals. I told him we weren't told that we +should meet any cardinals, and that in these troubled days I thought a +woman in full dress was such a minor evil that I didn't believe they +would even notice what one had on; but he seemed to think they were +observant, says all churchmen of any denomination are. Their life is +so inactive that they get their experience from what they see and hear. +I talked a few minutes to Princess Bandini after dinner, but she went +away almost immediately, as she had music (Tosti) at home. We promised +to go to her later--I wanted very much to hear Tosti. The evening was +short. The cardinals always go away early--at 9.30 (we dined at 7.30, +and every one was punctual). As long as they stayed the men made a +circle around them. They are treated with much deference (we women were +left to our own devices). W. said the conversation was not very +interesting, they talk with so much reserve always. He said the Spaniard +hardly spoke, and Cardinal Bibra talked antiquities, the excavations +still to be made in Tusculum, etc. I think they go out very little now, +only occasionally to Black embassies. Their position is of course much +changed since the Italians are in Rome. They live much more quietly; +never receive, their carriages are much simpler, no more red trappings, +nothing to attract attention--so different from our day. When Pio Nono +went out it was a real royal progress. First came the "batta strada" or +"piqueur" on a good horse, stopping all the carriages and traffic; then +the Pope in his handsome coach, one or two ecclesiastics with him, +followed by several cardinals in their carriages, minor prelates, +members of the household and the escort of "gardes nobles." All the +gentlemen got out of their carriages, knelt or bowed very low; the +ladies stood in theirs, making low curtseys, and many people knelt in +the street. One saw the old man quite distinctly, dressed all in white; +leaning forward a little and blessing the crowd with a large sweeping +movement of his hand. He rarely walked in the streets of Rome, but often +in the villas--Pamphili or Borghese. There almost all the people he met +knelt; children kissed his hand, and he would sometimes pat their little +black heads. We crossed him one day in the Villa Pamphili. We were a +band of youngsters--Roman and foreigners--and all knelt. The old man +looked quite pleased at the group of young people--stopped a moment and +gave his blessing with a pretty smile. Some of our compatriots were +rather horrified at seeing us kneel with all the rest--Protestants doing +homage to the head of the Roman Catholic Church--and expressed their +opinion to father: it would certainly be a very bad note for my +brother.[27] However, father didn't think the United States Government +would attach much importance to our papal demonstration, and we +continued to kneel and ask his blessing whenever we met His Holiness. He +had a kind, gentle face (a twinkle, too, in his eyes), and was always so +fond of children and young people. The contrast between him and his +successor is most striking. Leo XIII is tall, slight, hardly anything +earthly about him--the type of the intellectual, ascetic priest--all his +will and energy shining out of his eyes, which are extraordinarily +bright and keen for a man of his age. + +[27] General Rufus King, last United States Minister to the Vatican. + +[Illustration: Pope Pius IX.] + +We didn't stay very long after the cardinals left, as I was anxious to +get off to Princess Bandini. We found a great many people, and music +going on. Some woman had been singing--a foreigner, either English or +American--and Tosti was just settled at the piano. He is quite charming; +has very little voice, but says his things delightfully, accompanying +himself with a light, soft touch. He sang five or six times, principally +his own songs, with much expression; also a French song extremely well. +His diction is perfect, his style simple and easy. One wonders why every +one doesn't sing in the same way. They don't, as we perceived when a +man with a big voice, high barytone, came forward, and sang two songs, +Italian and German. The voice was fine, and the man sang well, but +didn't give half the pleasure that Tosti did with his "voix de +compositeur" and wonderful expression. He was introduced to me, and we +had a pleasant talk. He loves England, and goes there every season. A +good many people came in after us. I wanted to introduce W. to some one +and couldn't find him, thought he must have gone, and was just going to +say good-night to Princess Bandini when her husband came up, saying, +"You mustn't go yet--your husband is deep in a talk with Cardinal +Howard," and took me to one of the small salons, where I saw the two +gentlemen sitting, talking hard. The Cardinal was just going when we +came in, so he intercepted W. and carried him off to this quiet corner +where they would be undisturbed. They must have been there quite +three-quarters of an hour, for I went back into the music-room, and it +was some little time before W. found me there. Every one had gone, but +we stayed on a little while, talking to the two Bandinis. It is a funny +change for W. to plunge into all this clerical society of Rome; but he +says he understands their point de vue much better, now that he sees +them here, particularly when both parties can talk quite frankly. It +would be almost impossible to have such a talk in France--each side +begins with such an evident prejudice. The honest clerical really +believes that the liberal is a man absolutely devoid of religious +feeling of any kind--a dangerous character, incapable of real patriotic +feeling, and doing great harm to his country. The liberal is not quite +so narrow-minded; but he, too, in his heart holds the clergy responsible +for the want of progress, the narrow grooves they would like the young +generation to move in, and the influence they try to exercise in +families through the women (who all go to church and confession). With +the pitiless logic of the French character every disputed point stands +out clear and sharp, and discussion is very difficult. Here they are +more supple--leave a larger part to human weaknesses. + + + Thursday, April 16th. + +We have finally had our day at Albano, and delightful it was. W. and I +went alone, as Gert was not very well, and afraid of the long day in the +sun. We started early--at 8.30--though we had been rather late the night +before as Count Coello, Spanish Ambassador,[28] sent us his box for the +opera. It was Lohengrin--well enough given, orchestra and chorus good, +but the soloists rather weak. _Elsa_, a very stout Italian woman of +mature years, did not give one just the idea of the fair patrician +maiden one imagines her to be. The Italian sounded very funny after +hearing it always in German, and "Cigno gentil" didn't at all convey the +same idea as "Lieber Schwan." The tenor had a pretty, sympathetic voice +and looked his part well (rather more like _Elsa's_ son than her lover), +but one mustn't be too particular. The house was fairly brilliant--much +fuller than the last time we were there--and quantities of people we +knew. Hardly any one in full dress, which is a pity, as it makes the +salle look dull. One or two women in white (one very handsome with +diamond stars in her hair, whom nobody knew) stood out very well against +the dark red of the boxes. Del Monte came in and sat some time with us. +He is quite mad about Wagner--rare for an Italian. They generally like +more melody and less science. We invited him to come to Albano with us +and show us everything, and I think he was half inclined to accept, but +he was de service that day and it was too late to find any one to +replace him. + +[28] To the Quirinal. + +We finally decided to drive out after various consultations as to hours, +routes, etc. It is quicker by the railway and we should perhaps have +rather more time, but we both of us love the drive on the Campagna, and +W. was very keen to take the old Via Appia again and realize more +completely the street of tombs. It was a lovely morning and every minute +of the drive interesting, even when we were almost shut in between the +high grey walls which stretch out some little distance at first leaving +the Porta San Sebastiano. They were covered with creepers, pink roses +starting apparently out of all the crevices; pretty, dirty little +children tumbling over the broken bits into the road almost under the +horses' feet; every now and then a donkey's head emerging from an +opening, or a wrinkled old woman appearing at some open door smiling and +nodding a cheerful "Buon giorno!" to the passers-by. There was a long +string of carts with nothing apparently in them. They didn't take much +trouble about getting a little to one side to let the carriage pass; and +their drivers--some of them stretched out on their backs in the carts, +the reins hanging loosely over the seat--didn't at all mind the +invectives our coachman hurled at them, "pigs, lazy dogs, etc." Of +course we passed again Cecilia Metella, also two tombs said to be the +Horatii and Curatii; and the Casale Rotondo with a house and olive trees +on the top, but I cannot remember half the names, nor places. + +We were armed with our Baedeker, but it goes into such details of all +the supposed tombs and monuments that one gets rather lost. I don't know +that it adds very much to the interest to know the names and dates of +all the tombs. One feels in such an old-world atmosphere they speak for +themselves. The colours were beautiful to-day--the old stones had a +soft, grey tint. It is a desolate bit of road all the same--so little +life or movement of any kind. As we got further out we came upon the +long line of aqueducts, but there were apparently miles of plain with +nothing in sight--occasionally a flock of sheep in the distance, the +shepherd riding a rough, unkempt little pony, and looking a half-wild +creature himself--some boys on donkeys, and the shepherds' dogs, which +came barking and jumping over the plain toward the strangers. They are +sometimes very fierce. Years ago in Rome when we used to make long +excursions riding to Vei or Ostia, the gentlemen of the party always +carried good big whips to keep them off. They have been known to spring +on the horses, who are afraid of them. One sprang on Gert once, when we +were cantering over the Campagna, and almost tore her habit off. We +didn't meet any cart or vehicle of any description. I wondered where all +these were going that we passed on the road, and asked our Giuseppe, but +he merely shrugged his shoulders and said they were "robaccia" (trash). + +We stopped a few minutes at the Osteria della Frattocchie--the man +watered his horses (had a drink himself, too) and was very anxious we +should try some of the "vino del paese." We tasted it--a sour, white +wine, very like all the cheap Italian wines. The view from the Osteria +looking back toward Rome was very striking. Long lines of ruined, +crumbling tombs and arches--great blocks of stone, heads of columns, +mounds, wide ditches choked up with weeds, broken walls--all the dead +past of the great city. The sun was bright, but there were plenty of +little clouds, and the changing lights and shades on the great expanse +of the Campagna were beautiful. The hills seemed now so near that we +almost felt like getting out and walking, but the man assured us we had +still three or four miles before us, and a steep hill to climb--Albano +on the top. The road was shady--between two lines of trees. As we got +near the city we saw Pompey's tomb--a high tower with bits of marble +still on the walls. W. is rather sceptical about all the tombs; would +like to have time enough to investigate himself and make out all the +inscriptions, but it would take a life-time. + +We went at once to the hotel to order breakfast, and then strolled about +in the streets until it was ready. It looked more changed to me than +Frascati--more modern. They tell me many people go out there now for +their summer "villegiatura," principally English and Americans, bankers, +doctors, artists, etc., who are obliged to spend their summer in or near +Rome. There were many new houses, and in all the old palaces apartments +to rent. There were a few tourists walking about, but happily no Cook's +this time. When we went back to the hotel we told the landlord what we +wanted to see--Ariccia, Genzano and Nemi. He suggested donkeys, but that +we both declined, so he said he had a good little carriage which could +take us easily. The breakfast was good, we were both hungry, and after +coffee we walked about in the Villa Doria under the ilex trees. W. +smoked and was quite happy, and I wasn't sorry to walk a little after +having been so long in the carriage. We went to the gardens of the Villa +Altieri. It was there the Cardinal died in the cholera summer of '69 +when we were at Frascati. We could almost have walked to Ariccia, it is +so near, and such a lovely road, all ilex trees and great rocks, winding +along the side of the hill. The church and old Chigi Palace look very +grand and imposing as one gets near the gates of the little town. We +walked about the streets and went into the church, but there was not +much to see, and I thought it less effective seen near; then on to the +gardens of the Capuchin Convent, from where there are splendid views in +every direction, and always the thick shade of the ilex. We couldn't +loiter very much as we had the drive to Genzano before us. The road was +quite beautiful all the way; every turn familiar (how many times we have +ridden over it), and Genzano with its little, old streets straggling up +the hill looked exactly the same. I had forgotten the great viaduct +which one sees all the time on that road, it is splendid. We again got +out of the carriage and walked up a steep little path to have a view of +Lake Nemi. It lay far down at our feet--a little green pond (yet high +too), they say it was a volcanic crater. The water was perfectly +still--not even a shimmer of light or movement. Every way we turned the +view was beautiful--either down the valley where the colours were +changing all the time, sometimes quite grey, when the sun was under a +cloud (one almost felt a chill), and then every leaf and flower +sparkling in the sunlight--or toward the hills where the little towns +Rocca di Papa and Monte Cavo seemed hanging on the side of the mountain. + +The drive back to Albano by the "Galleria di Sotto" under the enormous +ilex trees was simply enchanting, the afternoon sun throwing beautiful +streaks of yellow light through the thick shade, and the road most +animated--groups of peasants coming in from their work in the fields; +old women tottering along, almost disappearing beneath the great bundles +of fagots they carried on their heads; girls with jet-black hair and +eyes, in bright-coloured skirts, and little handkerchiefs pinned over +their shoulders, laughing and singing and chaffing the drivers of the +wine carts, who usually got down and walked along with them, leaving +their horses, who followed quietly, the men turning around occasionally +and talking to them. In the fields alongside there were teams of the +splendid white oxen and quantities of children tumbling up and down the +banks and racing after the carriage. They spot the foreigner at once. I +had talked so much to W. about the beauty of the road, the Galleria in +particular, that I was afraid he would be disappointed; but he wasn't, +was quite as enthusiastic as I was. + +When we got back to Albano I tried to find some of the little cakes +(ciambelle) we used to buy when we rode over from Frascati; the little +package wrapped up in greasy brown paper and tied to the pommel of the +saddle; but the woman at the very nice baker's or confectioner's shop we +went into hadn't any, but said she could make a "plome cheke" (she +showed us the ticket with the name on it with pride), which was what all +the "Inglesi" took. + +The drive home was lovely--just enough of the beautiful sunset clouds to +give colour to everything; the air soft and the world so still that a +dog barking in one of the little old farms or shepherds' huts made quite +a disturbance. As the evening closed in we heard the "grilli" (alas, no +nightingales; it is still too early) and the bushes along the road were +bright with fire-flies. The road seemed much less lonely going back to +Rome; so many peasants were coming back from the fields, also boys on +donkeys with empty sacks--had evidently taken olives, cheese, or dried +herbs into the city--and always bands of girls laughing and singing. It +was an ideal day, and after dinner we were just tired enough to settle +in our respective arm-chairs and say how glad we were we had decided to +come and spend these months in Italy. + +The Schuylers came in for a cup of tea and Gert was rather sorry she +hadn't come, as her headache wasn't very serious. I think they will +take themselves out to Albano for a little stay as soon as the heat +begins. + + + Friday, April 17th. + +This morning we went for a last turn in the Vatican. That is what W. +likes best. There is so much to see in that marvellous collection. He +wanted to copy one or two inscriptions, so I wandered about alone and +talked to the custode, who has become an intimate friend of ours. He +hovers about W. when he is taking notes or examining things closely, and +is evidently much gratified at the interest he takes in +everything--quite like a collector showing off his antiquities. We saw a +little commotion at one end of the long gallery, and he came running up +to say "His Holiness" was walking in the garden, and if we would come +with him he would take us to a window from where we could see him quite +distinctly. This of course we were delighted to do, as one never sees +the present Pope, except in some great ceremony when he is carried in +the "sedia gestatoria," but so high over the heads of the people that +one can hardly distinguish his features. We walked down the gallery, +through two or three passages, up a flight of stairs, and came upon a +window looking down directly on the gardens. They are beautiful, more +like a park than a garden, and one can quite understand that the Pope +can get a very good drive there, the days he doesn't walk. The custode +says he only walks when it is quite fine, is afraid of the damp or wind, +but that he goes out every day. There is a wood, flowers, long alleys +stretching far away bordered with box and quite wide enough for a +carriage, various buildings, a casino, tower, observatory, etc., also +fountains and a lake (I didn't see a boat upon it). In the middle of one +of the alleys a little group was walking slowly in our direction--about +10 people I should think. The Pope, dressed always in white, seemed to +walk easily enough. He carried himself very straight, and was talking +with a certain animation to the two ecclesiastics who walked on each +side of him. He stopped every now and then, going on with his +conversation and using his hands freely. He was talking all the time, +the others listening with much deference. The suite seemed to consist of +three or four priests and two servants. I didn't see either a Suisse or +Garde-Noble, but they may have been following at a distance. Our glimpse +of him was fleeting, as he turned into a side alley before he got up to +our window--still it was enough to realize his life--think of never +going outside those walls, walking day after day in those same alleys, +cut off from all the outside world and living his life in the stillness +and monotony of the Vatican. However it certainly doesn't react in any +way upon his intellect. They say he is just as keen and well up in +everything as when he was Bishop of Perugia, and that his indomitable +will will carry him through. + +We thanked our old custode very warmly (and in many ways) for having +brought us to the window, and also said good-bye to him, as this of +course was our last visit to the Vatican. He begged us to come back, but +it must be soon, or _he_ wouldn't be there, as he was as old as the +Pope. + +When we got to the hotel we found Monsignor English in the salon with +the Pope's photograph, very well framed with a gilt shield with the +Papal arms on the top. It is exactly like him, sitting very straight in +his chair, his hand lifted a little just as if he were speaking, and the +other hand and arm resting on the arm of the chair. He is dressed in his +white robes, red cape and embroidered stole, just as we saw him; and his +little white cap on his head. He has written himself a few words in +Latin, of which this is a free translation: "The woman who fears God, +makes her own reputation. Her husband was celebrated in his country when +he sat with the Senators of the land." I am so pleased to have the +photograph--so many people told me I should never get it, that the Pope +rarely gave his picture to anybody and never signed one. Monsignor +English, too, was much pleased, as he had undertaken the whole thing. He +said again that the Pope was glad to have seen W., found him so +moderate, and yet very decided, too, about what the church mustn't do. +Leo XIII. has an awfully difficult part to play--the ultra-Catholics +disapprove absolutely his line--can't understand any concession or +compromise with Republican France, and yet there are very good religious +people on the liberal side, and he, as Head of the Church, must think +about all his children, and try to conciliate, not alienate. It is +wonderful that that old man sitting up there by himself at the top of +the Vatican can think out all those perplexed questions and arrive at a +solution. They say he works it all out himself--rarely asks advice. I +daresay it wouldn't help him if he did, for of course there are +divisions, too, in the clerical party of Rome, even among the Cardinals, +where the difference of nationalities must have a very great influence. +I should think there was almost as much difference between an American +and an Italian Cardinal as between Protestants and Catholics. The +American must look at things from a different point of view. Monsignor +English quite understood that--said Americans were more +independent--still when a great question came they must submit like all +the rest. + +We then had a most animated discussion as to how far it was possible for +an intelligent man (or woman) to abdicate entirely his own judgment, and +to accept a thing which he was not quite sure of because the church +decided it must be. I think we should have gone on indefinitely with +that conversation, never arriving at any solution, so it was just as +well that breakfast put a stop to it. + +We went for a lovely drive in the afternoon, out of the Porta del +Popolo, across Ponte Molle, and then along the river until we came to +that rough country road, or lane, leading across the fields where we +have gone in so many times on horseback, to the Villa Madama. We drove +as far as we could (almost to the gate) and then walked up the hill to +the Villa itself. There everything was quite unchanged--the garden +neglected, full of weeds, and grass growing high. The oval stone basin +was there still, the sides covered with moss, and a few flowers coming +quite promiscuously out of walls, stones, etc. We went into the loggia +to see the paintings and frescoes, all in good condition, and then sat +some time on the terrace looking at the view, which was +divine--everything so soft in the distance, even the yellow Tiber looked +silvery--at least I saw it so; I don't know that W. did. He generally +finds it sluggish and muddy. We came home by the Porta Angelica and +drove through the Square of St. Peter's. There are always people on the +steps, not a crowd of course as on fete days, but enough to give +animation, priests, beggars, and the people lounging and looking at +whatever passes in the Square. It is so enormous, the Piazza, when one +sees it empty, one can hardly realize what it used to be in the old days +for the great Easter ceremony when the Pope gave his blessing from the +balcony of St. Peter's. I can see it now, packed black with people, the +French soldiers with their red caps and trousers making great patches of +colour, and Montebello (who commanded the French Armee d'Occupation in +Rome) with a brilliant staff in the centre of the Square--he and his +black charger so absolutely motionless one might have thought both horse +and rider were cast in bronze. There were all sorts of jokes and +chattering in the crowd until the first glimpse of the waving peacock +plumes, and banners, passing high, high up, and just visible through the +arches, showed that the Pope's procession was arriving on the balcony; +and when at last one saw distinctly the white figure as the old man was +raised high in his chair there was an absolute stillness in all that +great mass; every one knelt to receive the blessing, and the Pope's +voice rang out clear and strong (one could hear every word). As soon as +it was over cannon fired, bells rang, and there fluttered down over the +crowd a quantity of little white papers (indulgences) which every one +tried to grasp. It was a magnificent cadre for such a ceremony--the dome +of St. Peter's towering above us straight up into the blue sky, the +steps crowded with people, the red umbrellas of the peasants making a +great show, and women of all conditions and all nationalities dressed in +bright, gay colours; uniforms of all kinds, monks and priests of every +order; the black of the priests rather lost in all the colour of +uniforms, costumes, etc. The getting away was long--we might have had +our carriage with the American cockade in one of the back courts of the +Vatican, but we wanted to see everything and come home by the Ponte St. +Angelo. It was a great show all the way--the long line of carriages and +pedestrians streaming back to Rome, cut every now and then by a +detachment of troops. Everybody was cheered, from Charette and his +Zouaves to Montebello and his staff. The crowd was in a good humour--it +was a splendid day, they had had a fine show, and politics and "foreign +mercenaries" were forgotten for the moment. Everybody had a flower of +some kind--the boys and young men in their hats, the girls in their +hair. One heard on all sides "buona festa," "buona Pasqua." How we +enjoyed it all, particularly the first time, when we were fresh from +America and our principal idea of a fete was the 4th of July. That +seemed a magnificent thing in our childish days, when we had friends on +the lawn at Cherry Lawn, a torch-light procession with a band (such a +band) from the town, and father's speech, standing at the top of the +steps and telling the boys that if they worked hard and studied well, +any one of them might become President of the United States, which +statement of course was always received with roars of applause. + +[Illustration: Last Benediction of Pope Pius IX. from the Balcony of St. +Peter's.] + +We went back to the Piazza always at night to see the "Girandola" +fireworks, and there was almost the same crowd waiting for the first +silvery light to appear on the facade of St. Peter's. It was marvellous +to see the lines of light spread all over the enormous mass of stone, +running around all the cupolas and statues like a trail of silver, in +such quantities that the stone almost disappeared, and the church seemed +made of light--quite beautiful. The illumination lasted a long +time--gold light came after the silver, and I think it was perhaps more +striking when they began to go out one by one, leaving great spaces in +darkness--then one saw what an enormous edifice it was. + +I have written you a volume--but every turn here recalls old, happy +days--"Roma com'era"--and I must come back to the present and our +farewell dinner at the Noailles'. + +We were a small party--all the French Embassy, the Duc de Ripalda, the +Chilian Minister and his wife, Maffel, Visconti Venosta, and Lanciani. +W. and Noailles retired to the fumoir and talked politics hard. We shall +soon be back in the thick of it now, and W. will take his place again +in the Senate. It will seem funny to be quietly settled in the rue +Dumont d'Urville--riding in the Bois in the morning and driving over to +the Senate in the afternoon, with the boy, to get W. Ripalda and I had a +long talk. He tells me he still holds the same opinion about American +women--they are the prettiest and most attractive in the world. There is +something--he doesn't know what--that makes them different from all the +others. I asked him if he remembered Antoinette Polk; to which he +promptly replied, "Ah, qu'elle etait belle--une deesse." I must tell her +how she lives in his old memory. I always find Noailles pleasant--so +grand seigneur. + +We found all sorts of cards and invitations when we came in, and a +surprise for me from Father Smith which pleased me greatly, a silver +medal of Leo XIII. in a case. It is about the size of a five-franc +piece--rather larger if anything, and so like, the small head, and fine, +sharply cut features, such a nice note, too, from Father Smith; he was +very glad to be able to offer me something which he knew I would prize, +and that it wasn't necessary to be of the same religion to admire and +appreciate a great intellect and a good man. I am very proud of my two +pictures, and shall show them triumphantly to some of my Catholic +friends and relations who can't understand a Protestant and a heretic +caring for such souvenirs. + +We can't accept any more dinners as we leave on Monday, W. for Naples +and I for Florence. I wanted very much to go to Ostia, I should like W. +to see that desolate, sandy shore with the pines coming down almost to +the water's edge, and the old castle rising up in the distance; but it +is an all-day excursion and we haven't time. We will try and do Vei, +which is an easy afternoon's drive. I must stop now--W. is deep in +Baedeker, looking out Ostia and Vei, and must also write a note to +Geoffroy about something they want to see to-morrow. I shall go and see +something with Gert. + + + Sunday, April 19, 1880. + +Yesterday we had an enchanting day at Tivoli, W., Gert and I. Schuyler +was detained in Rome, much to his disgust, on business. He loves a day +in the country and is most amusing to go about with. He talks to +everybody, priests, peasants, soldiers, and always gets odd bits of +information about old customs, legends, family histories--all that makes +the story of a nation. Tomba gave us a light carriage and a pair of +strong horses (our little ones were not up to the long day). We started +at 8 in the morning and didn't get back until 8.30. There is a steam +tram now all the way out but we preferred driving, as we wanted to stop +at Hadrian's Villa. We went out by Porta San Lorenzo, crossed the Arno +(the river which makes the falls of Tivoli) at Ponte Mammolo, and had a +good two hours' drive (rather more, in fact) to Hadrian's Villa. I +didn't find that part of the Campagna very interesting (it was much +finer after one left the Villa). We left the carriage at the entrance of +a sort of lane (one doesn't see much before getting actually inside) +between high banks covered with every description of vine and creepers; +and wild flowers and weeds in a tangle at our feet (it was really +difficult walking sometimes), and found ourselves in an open space, with +ruins in every direction--a half-crumbling wall, weeds choking it up; +part of a theatre with broken columns and steps, a few bits of mosaic +but not much colour of any kind; some bas-reliefs very well preserved; +but one felt that everything of value had been taken away, and what was +left was so hidden in long grass and weeds that it was difficult to +understand all the former magnificence of the famous Villa. + +The custode was most conscientious, explained everything--the arena, +theatre, baths, temples, etc., but my impression was a mass of grey, +broken bits of stones and columns. There were one or two splendid stone +pines standing up straight and tall, looking like guardians of past +splendour, and in every direction the crooked little grey-green olive +trees and fields full of flowers. Gert and I sat on the wall in a shady +corner, while W. and the custode went off some little distance to look +at a fountain, and we were not sorry to have the rest. The last part of +the drive, winding up the hill to Tivoli, was beautiful--such splendid +views all the time, either toward Rome (St. Peter's standing out, a +faint blue dome at the end of the long, flat plains of the Campagna; or +on the other side the Sabine Hills, Soracte, Frascati, etc.). + +We went straight to the little old hotel of the Sybilla, which looks +exactly the same as in our day, and ordered breakfast. We were quite +ready for it, having had our "petit dejeuner" at 7.30. The padrone said +he wanted half an hour to prepare it, as the regular table-d'hote was +over. Of course the railway tourists got out much quicker than we did +and we met them all over the place, when we went out to see the famous +Temple of Vesta. It is perched on the top of the cliff, looking as if it +would take very little to precipitate it into the mass of rushing, +leaping water tumbling itself over the rocks far below at our feet. We +had a very good breakfast, capital trout for which Tivoli is famous, and +a most talkative landlord who came to superintend the meal and give us +any information we wanted. He said we must have donkeys to make the +"giro," which would take us about two hours, and we could finish at the +Villa d'Este, where the carriage would come and get us. + +We walked about a little in the town after breakfast through narrow, +dirty streets with curious old bits of architecture, and into the +church, or cathedral as they grandly call it, of San Francesco; but +there was really nothing to see; and at two we started for our tournee +to the grottoes of Neptune and the Sirena. We all walked at first, two +donkeys with the usual pretty little black-eyed boys at their heads +following (W. of course wouldn't have a donkey but took a cane which the +padrone of the Sybilla strongly recommended as the steps going down to +the grotto were steep and slippery). I wondered how the donkeys would +get on, but made no remarks as I knew I could always get off. We walked +through the little town under a nice old arch and up a path which was +pleasant enough at first, but when we wound round the side of the hill +Gert and I were glad to mount our beasts as the sun was very hot and +there wasn't an atom of shade. It was a beautiful excursion, always +something to see--ruins of old castles, temples, gateways--so much +really that one couldn't take in details. From certain "points de vue" +the Temple of Vesta seemed almost standing on air--one lost the cliff, +which disappeared in a sort of mist. As soon as we began to go down the +noise of the rushing water was quite overpowering; we couldn't hear +ourselves speak, and the glimpses we had of the quantities of little +falls leaping over big rocks and stones were quite enchanting. + +Our little donkeys were perfectly sure-footed and the path good though +steep. We dismounted before getting quite down to the grottoes and the +steps certainly were rough and slippery. The guide took charge of Gert, +and I followed in W.'s wake very carefully. It was icy cold when we got +all the way down. I am generally impervious to that sort of thing, but I +felt the cold strike me and didn't stay long. The chill passed entirely +as soon as we came out and began the ascent, leaving the dark, deep pool +behind us. + +The road back was, if possible, more beautiful; great ravines with olive +trees half way down their sides, mountain streams in every direction +making countless little cataracts, all dancing and sparkling in the +sun--rocks covered with bright green moss, and fields carpeted with wild +flowers. The guide pointed out various ruins--the Villa of Maecenas--a +great square mass on the top of a hill--but we didn't care to make a +long detour to go up to it. We were quite satisfied with all the natural +beauty we saw around us--one old bridge, the arches covered with moss +and flowers, and every now and then through the olive trees one had +glimpses of arches, columns, temples--quite beautiful. The only drawback +was the Cook's tourists who were riding and walking and talking all over +the place, making jokes with the guides and speaking the most execrable +Italian. However they had already _done_ the Villa d'Este, so we lost +them there, which was a relief. + +The Villa was enchanting after the heat and glare of the road, and at +first we sat quite quietly on a grassy bank and enjoyed the thick shade +of the enormous cypresses. The custode was very anxious we should make +the classic tour with him but we told him we knew the place--it was by +no means our first visit. I explained to him in Italian that I was a +"vecchia Romana" (old Roman), to which he replied with true Italian +gallantry, "non tanto vecchia--son to vecchio" (no, not at all old--I am +old), and old he was, his face all yellow and wrinkled like the +peasants who live on the Campagna and are poisoned with malaria. + +I should think, though, the Villa d'Este was healthy, it stands so high. +It is almost uninhabited, belongs now to Cardinal Hohenlohe, but they +tell me he never lives there, never sleeps--comes out for the day from +Rome and goes back at night. It is sometimes let to foreigners. The +garden is quite beautiful, perfectly wild and neglected but a wealth of +trees, fountains, statues, terraces--it might be made a paradise with a +little care. There are few flowers (like most Italian gardens) except +those that grow quite wild. There is still the same great arch at one +end of the terrace which just frames a stretch of Campagna, making a +beautiful picture. + +We had a delicious hour wandering about, stopping to rest every now and +then, and sitting on some old bit of wall or column--no one there but +ourselves and not a sound except the splashing water of the fountains. +W. was delighted, and we were very sorry to leave. The afternoon light +was so beautiful, penetrating through the black cypress avenue, however, +we had a long drive back, longer even than coming, as we wanted to make +a detour to look at the sulphur lakes. Our coachman was evidently +anxious to leave. We heard an animated parley at the gate of the Villa, +and the custode appeared to say the carriage was there and the coachman +said it was time to start if we wanted to get back to Rome before +nightfall. I think _he_ didn't want to be too late on the road. + +It was still warm when we started back, but we hadn't gone very far when +it changed completely and I was very glad to put on my jacket and a +shawl over it. It is a long, barren stretch of Campagna toward the +sulphur lakes; one smelt the sulphur some time before arriving. They +were not particularly interesting, looked like big, stagnant ponds, with +rather yellowish water. Our man was decidedly uncomfortable. The road +was absolutely lonely--not a person nor a vehicle of any kind in sight, +the long straight road before us, and the desolate plains of the +Campagna on each side. He fidgeted on his box, looked nervously from +side to side, whipped up his horses, until at last W. asked him what was +the matter, what was he afraid of. "Nothing, nothing, but it was late. +We were strangers and one never could be quite sure what one would +meet." It was not very reassuring, and when we saw once or twice a +figure looming up in the distance, a man or two men on horseback, who +might be shepherds or who might be bandits, we were not very comfortable +either; we seemed to feel suddenly that it was getting dark, that we +were alone in a very lonely road in a strange country, and we didn't +mind at all when the coachman urged his horses to a quick gallop, and +got over the ground as fast as he could. + +We didn't say much until the little twinkling lights of the first +"osterias" began to show themselves, and as we got nearer Rome and met +the long lines of carts and peasants, some walking, some riding, we felt +better and agreed that it wasn't pleasant to feel afraid, particularly a +vague fear that didn't take shape. + +When we drew up at the door of the hotel, after having deposited Gert at +her Palazzo, we asked the coachman what he had been afraid of--was there +any danger; to which he (safe on his box in the Piazza di Spagna) +replied with a magnificent gesture that a Roman didn't know what fear +meant, but he saw the ladies were nervous. It seems absurd now this +morning, sitting at the window with the Piazza full of people, that we +should have felt so uncomfortable. I asked W. if he was nervous. He +said rather, for from the moment of starting he saw the coachman didn't +want to take the side-road to the sulphur lakes, which was certainly +wild and lonely, also that he was most anxious to get on. If the +carriage had been merely stopped to rob us it would have been very +disagreeable as we had no means of defence, nothing but our parasols, +and of course nobody near to come to our rescue. I don't think our +Giuseppe would have made a very vigorous resistance. After all, +adventures do happen, and it would have been unpleasant to return to +Paris minus one ear or one finger or any other souvenir of a sojourn in +a bandit camp. + +As we didn't get home until nearly nine I proposed no dinner, but "high +tea" upstairs in our salon. W. demurred at first, like all men he +loathes that meal dear to the female mind, but upon reflection thought +it would be best. The gerant came up to speak about some boxes we want +to send to Paris direct from here, and we told him of our return and the +coachman's evident terror. He said he could quite understand it, that it +was a very lonely, unfrequented bit of road leading to the sulphur +lakes, and that we had chosen our time badly; all the tourists went +first to the lakes before going to Tivoli, and it would have been a +temptation to some of the wild shepherds and Campagna peasants to stop +the carriage and insist upon having money or jewels. He didn't think +there was any danger to our lives, nor even to our ears. They wouldn't +have made much of a haul--I had no jewels of any kind, except my big +pearl earrings--and W. very little money--three or four hundred francs. +It was a disagreeable experience, all the same. I don't like being +afraid, and I was. We went a swinging pace for about three-quarters of +an hour--the horses on a good quick gallop. + +I went to church this morning. It is a nice walk from here and the day +is enchanting--warm, but just air enough to make exercise pleasant. W. +was off early with Geoffroy. They put off yesterday's excursion until +to-day, as W. was very anxious to see Tivoli. + +The trunks are being packed, the gerant apparently superintending +operations, as I hear a great deal of conversation in the anteroom. +Madame Hubert has an extraordinary faculty for getting all she wants--an +excellent quality in a travelling maid. As you know she is very pretty, +which again carries out my favourite theory that beauty is the most +important gift for a woman. I daresay it won't bear discussion, and I +ought to say "goodness," but my experience points the other way. I have +so often heard father quote Madame de Stael (who was very kind to him +when he was a young man in Paris) who, at the very height of her triumph +as the great woman's intelligence of her time, said to him one evening +at a big party in Paris, looking at Madame Recamier, who was beautiful, +and surrounded by all that was most distinguished and brilliant in the +room, "Je donnerai toute mon intelligence pour avoir sa beaute." + +I am so sorry to go--though of course I shall be glad to see you all, +but we have enjoyed ourselves so much. I wonder when I shall see it all +again, and I also wonder what makes the great charm of Rome. It appeals +to so many people of perfectly different tastes. W. has been perfectly +happy and interested (and in many things, not only in inscriptions and +antiquities) and I am sure such an absolute change of life and scenes +was the best rest he could have after the very fatiguing life of the +last two years. + + + Sunday, April 19, 1880, 10 o'clock. + +We have just come in from our farewell dinner with Gert, our last in +Rome, or rather my last. I go to Florence to-morrow morning, but W. +stays on till Tuesday. He is going to dine at the Wimpffens to-morrow +night with some colleagues and political people. He has stopped +downstairs to finish his cigar and give directions about some books he +wants sent to Paris, and I will finish this letter. I have nothing to +do--the trunks are all packed, some already downstairs, and the salon +looks quite bare and uncomfortable, notwithstanding some flowers which +Mrs. Bruce and Trocchi have sent for good-bye. + +Gert and I had a nice afternoon. It was so beautiful that we went for a +last drive in the country, and I shall carry away a last summer +impression almost, all blue sky, bright flowers, deep shadows, and a +warm light over everything. It is wonderful how the Campagna +changes--almost from day to day (not only with the change of seasons), +quite like the ocean. To-day, for instance, was enchanting, the air soft +and mild, a smell of fresh earth and flowers everywhere, the old towers +and tombs standing well out, rising out of a mass of high grass and wild +flowers, and taking a soft pink colour in the warm sunlight--so clear +that one could see a great distance--and all the little villages made +white spots on the hills. It is quite different from the winter +Campagna, which stretches away--miles of barren, desolate plains; the +rocks look quite bare, the hills are shrouded in mist, and one has a +feeling of solitude and of dead nature which is curious. I suppose +history and all the old legends work upon the imagination and incline us +to idealize the most ordinary surroundings; but there are always the +long lines of ruined aqueducts, the square, massive towers, and great +memorial stones that one comes upon in most unexpected places; and an +extraordinary feeling of a great dead past which I don't think one has +anywhere else. + +We passed through the Piazza Montanara, and by the old theatre of +Marcellus on our way out. I wanted to see the little, dark, dirty corner +I was always so fond of. The fruit-stall was still there, jammed up +against the wall, half hidden by the great stones, remains of balconies, +and arched windows that jut out from the great black mass--all that +remains of the once famous theatre. The piazza was very full--peasants, +donkeys, boys selling fruit and drinks, and in one corner the "scrivano" +(public letter-writer) with his rickety little old table, pen, paper, +and ink, waiting for any one who needed his services. Thirty years ago, +it seems, he did a flourishing trade, Sundays particularly, and there +would be a long string of people patiently waiting their turn. Much +chaffing and commenting when some pretty girl appeared, smiling and +blushing, wanting to have a letter written to her sweetheart away with +his regiment in foreign parts or high up on some of the hills with his +sheep or cattle. To-day there was hardly any one--a wrinkled old woman +dictating something about a soldier and apparently not making it very +clear, as the writer (not the classic old man with a long beard, but a +youth) seemed decidedly impatient. We had quite time to take it all in, +as the people (donkeys too) were all standing in the middle of the +street and didn't hurry themselves at all to move apart and let the +carriage pass. We were evidently near the "Ghetto," as we saw some fine +types of Jewish women, tall, handsome creatures, carrying themselves +very well; quite unlike the men, who were a dirty, hard-featured lot, +creeping along with that cringing, deprecatory manner which seems +inherent in the race. + +We crossed the bridge and drove through part of the Trastevere, which +certainly looked remarkably dark and uninviting on this lovely summer +afternoon. There are of course fine buildings, churches, and old +palaces, some half tumbling down, and all black with dirt and age. The +streets were dirty, the children (quantities of them playing in the +streets) dirty and unkempt; clothes of all kinds were hanging out of the +windows, falling over sculptured balconies and broken statues, in what +had been stately palaces--every now and then flowers in a broken vase. +There were some fine old arched gateways with a rope across on which +clothes and rags were drying, and dreadful old men and women sitting +under them on dirty benches and broken chairs. There was a smell (not to +use a stronger word) of dirt and stale things, fruit and vegetables, +also a little "frittura," which one always perceives in the people's +quarter in Rome. I had forgotten how wretched it all was, and we were +glad to get away from the smells and the dirt and find ourselves on the +road along the river which leads to Ponte Molle. It was too late to +think of Vei, but we drove some distance along the road. The Campagna +looked quite beautiful, and every group we passed a picture in the soft +evening light. Sometimes a woman with a baby on her shoulder (the child +with a red cap) standing well out against the sky--sometimes one or two +shepherds on their shaggy mountain ponies seeming quite close to us, but +really far away on the plains (always wrapped in their long cloaks, +though it was a summer evening). Every now and then a merry band of +girls and soldiers. The "bersaglieri" with their long feathers and the +girls with bright, striped skirts swinging along at a great pace, always +singing and laughing; of course the inevitable old woman carrying a +heavy load of fagots or dried grass on her poor bent back; and equally +of course the man with her lounging along, a cigar in his mouth and +hands in his pockets, evidently thinking that to carry a heavy burden +was "lavoro di donna." Poor old women! I daresay they hardly remember +that they were once straight, active girls, singing and dancing in the +sunlight with no thought of old age nor fears for the future. + +As soon as we crossed the bridge going back there were many more people +on the road. There are "osterias," gardens, and small vineyards on each +side of the road almost up to the Porta del Popolo, and as it was +Sunday, the whole population was abroad. Many of the women carry their +babies perched on their shoulders (not in their arms) and steady them +with one hand. The little creatures, their black heads just showing out +of the sort of bag or tight bands they are wrapped in, look quite +contented--some of them asleep. + +[Illustration: St. Peter's from the Pincio.] + +We went up to the Pincio, to have a last look at St. Peter's and the +Doria pines before the sun went down. There were few people; it was +late, and we had the terrace to ourselves. The dome stood out, quite +purple, against a clear blue sky, and seemed almost resting on the +clouds. There was a slight mist, which detached it from the mass of +buildings. Rome hardly existed--we only saw the dome. I was sorry W. was +not there to have that last beautiful picture in his mind. Del Monte, +who was also lingering on the terrace, joined us and said he would walk +back with me along the terrace of the Villa Medici, so I sent Gert back +to her palazzo in the carriage and he and I strolled along and talked +over old times; so many recollections of things done together--rides on +the Campagna, hours of music of all kinds, particularly at the Villa +Marconi at Frascati. I asked him if he had ever gone back there since we +left. The villa was often let to forestieri. One year there was an +English family there, father, mother, _one_ son, and _eight_ daughters. +They used to go about always in three carriages. He said he had never +known any one there since us. He remembered so well all the music we did +in the big room. When it was a fine night all the mezzo ceto (petite +bourgeoisie) who were in "villegiatura" at Frascati would congregate +under our windows, whenever we were singing and playing. If they liked +our music they applauded; if they didn't (which happened sometimes, when +the strains were not melodious enough) they were too polite to express +disapproval, and would remain perfectly silent. We used to hear them +singing and whistling our songs when they went home. We amused ourselves +often trying them with music they couldn't possibly know--plantation +songs or amateur music which had never been published. We would sing +them one evening; the next they would come back and sing all our songs +perfectly well (no words, of course). They had an extraordinary musical +facility. Often when we stopped, or on some of the rare occasions when +we didn't do any music, they would sing some of their songs--many of +them ending on a long, sustained note quite charming. + +It was pleasant to recall all the "tempi passati." We lingered a few +moments at the top of the Spanish Steps, quite deserted at this hour of +the evening, and when he left me at the door of the hotel I had barely +time to talk a little to W. before dressing for dinner. He was rather +wondering what had become of me. He had had a delightful afternoon with +his friends. They had walked along the banks of the Tiber on the way to +Ostia. He says there are all sorts of interesting things to be found +there--tombs, bits of Roman wall and pavements, traces of old quays, and +subterraneous passages all mixed up with modern improvements. The City +of Rome is spending a great deal of money in building new quays, +bridges, etc., on a most elaborate and expensive scale. I should think +the sluggish old Tiber would hardly know itself flowing between such +energetic, busy banks. + +They drove out for some distance on the road to Ostia, but only got as +far as the Monte di San Paolo (I think), from where they had a fine view +of the sea, and the pine forests. I am sorry they hadn't time to go on, +but we must leave something for the next time. I wonder when it will be. + +Gert's dinner was pleasant--Mrs. Bruce, Comte Palfy, Father Smith, and +Mr. Hooker. They all talked hard. Mr. Hooker has lived so many years in +Rome that he has seen all its transformations; says the present busy, +brilliant capital is so unlike the old Rome of his days that he can +hardly believe it is the same place. It is incredible that a whole city +should have lived so many years in such absolute submission to the Papal +Government. In those days there were only two newspapers, each revised +at the Vatican and nothing allowed to appear in either that wasn't +authorized by the papal court; also the government exercised a paternal +right over the jeunesse doree, and when certain fair ladies with yellow +hair and elaborate costumes appeared in the Villa Borghese, or on the +Pincio, exciting great admiration in all the young men of the place (and +filling the mammas and wives with horror), it was merely necessary to +make a statement to the Vatican. The dangerous stranger was instantly +warned that she must cross the frontier. + +Palfy, too, remembered Rome in the old days, when the long drive along +the Riviera in an old-fashioned travelling carriage (before railways +were known in these parts) was a thing planned and arranged months +beforehand--one such journey was made in a life-time. He said the little +villages where they stopped were something awful; not the slightest idea +of modern comfort or cleanliness. The ladies travelled with a retinue of +servants, taking with them sheets, mattresses, washing materials (there +was a large heavy silver basin and jug which always travelled with his +family) and batterie de cuisine; also very often a doctor, as one was +afraid of fever or a bad chill, as of course any heating apparatus was +most primitive. The Italians sat in the sun all day and went to bed when +it was dark and cold. One saw the country and the people much better in +that way. Now we fly through at night in an express train, and the Rome +we see to-day might be Paris, Vienna, or any modern capital. I mean, of +course, inside the walls. As soon as one gets out of the gates and on +the Campagna one feels as if by instinct all the dead past of the great +city. + +I told them that in our time, when we lived one summer in the Villa +Marconi at Frascati, the arrangements were most primitive. The palace +was supposed to be furnished, but as the furniture consisted chiefly of +marble statues, benches, and baths--also a raised garden on a level with +the upper rooms, opening out of the music-room, the door behind an +enormous white marble statue of some mythological celebrity--it didn't +seem very habitable to our practical American minds. There were beds and +one or two wash-stands, also curtains in one room, but as for certain +intimate domestic arrangements they didn't exist; and when we ventured +to suggest that they were indispensable to our comfort we were told, "I +principi romani non domandono altro" (Roman princes don't ask for +anything more). + +Heavens, how funny all the pourparlers were. Fanny[29] did all the +talking, as we were still too new to the language to embark upon a +business conversation. Her mother, who was an excellent maitresse de +maison, gave all the directions, which were most particular and +detailed, as she was very anxious we should be comfortable, and very +doubtful as to the resources of the establishment. The agent was visibly +agace and impatient. Fanny had on a pair of tortoise-shell star +ear-rings, and the man told one of our friends afterward that "quella +piccola colle stellette" (the young girl with the little stars) was a +real "diavolo." It was funny to hear her beginning every sentence "Dice +la signora" (madame says), and saying exactly what her mother told her; +the mother, standing near, understanding every word, though she couldn't +say anything, and looking hard at the agent. He understood her, too. +However, we didn't get any more than the Roman princes had, and made our +own arrangements as well as we could, having out a large van of +furniture of all kinds from Rome. + +[29] Miss Fanny King, daughter of General Rufus King, United States +Minister to the Vatican, now Mrs. Edward Ward. + +Hooker remembered it all well, as he found the house for us and had many +misgivings as to how we should get along. He was always keeping us +straight in a financial point of view, as even then, before the days of +the enormous American fortunes, Americans were careless about money, and +didn't mind paying, and paying well, for what they wanted. In those +days, too, it was rather cheap living in Italy, and we were so surprised +often by the prices of the mere necessaries of life that we couldn't +help expressing our astonishment freely. Poor Hooker was much disgusted. +"You might as well ask them to cheat you." We learned better, however, +later, particularly after several visits to Naples, where the first +price asked for anything was about five times as much as the vender +expected to get. "Le tout c'est de savoir." + +Father Smith and W. got on swimmingly. It is too funny to see them +together. The father's brogue is delightful and comes out strong +whenever he talks about anything that interests him. He has such a nice +twinkle, too, in his eye when he tells an Irish story or makes a little +joke. I must say I am very sorry to go. It has been a real pleasure to +be back again in Rome and to take up so many threads of my old life. I +find Italians delightful to live with; they are so absolutely natural +and unsnobbish--no pose of any kind; not that they under-rate themselves +and their great historic names, but they are so simple and sure of +themselves that a pose would never occur to them. Father Smith asked us +a great deal about the German Crown Princess. He had never seen her, but +had the greatest admiration for her character and intelligence--"a +worthy daughter of her great mother"--thought it a pity that such a +woman couldn't have remained in her own country, though he didn't see +very well how it could have been managed. He doesn't at all approve of +royal princesses marrying subjects. I think he is right--certainly +democratic princes are a mistake. There should always be an idea of +state--ermine and royal purple--connected with royalties. I remember +quite well my disappointment at the first sovereign I saw. It was the +Emperor of Austria coming out of his palace at Vienna. We had been +loitering about, sight-seeing, and as we passed the Hof-Burg evident +tourists, some friendly passers-by told us to stop a moment and we would +see the Emperor, who was just driving out of the gates. When I saw a +victoria with a pair of horses drive out with two gentlemen in very +simple uniform, one bowing mechanically to the few people who were +waiting, I was distinctly disappointed. I don't suppose I expected to +see a monarch arrayed in ermine robes, with a crown on his head and a +sceptre in his hand, but all the same it was a disillusion. Of course +when one sees them at court, or at some great function, with brilliant +uniforms, grand cordon, and diamond stars, they are more imposing. I +don't know, though, whether that does make a difference. Do you remember +one of A.'s stories? He was secretary to the British Embassy at +Washington, and at one of the receptions at the White House (which are +open receptions--all the world can go) all the corps diplomatique were +present in the full glory of ribbons and plaques. He heard some one in +the crowd saying, "What are all these men dressed up in gold lace and +coloured ribbons?" The answer came after a moment's reflection, "I guess +it's the band." + +I don't think I can write any more to-night. I seem to be rambling on +without anything much to say. If I could tell you all I am doing it +would be much pleasanter. A pen seems to paralyze me and I feel a mantle +of dulness settle down on me as soon as I take one in my hand. You will +have to let me talk hard the first three or four days after I get home, +and be the good listener you always are to your children. + +It is a beautiful bright night, the sky almost as blue as in the day, +and myriads of stars. The piazza is quite deserted. It is early, not yet +10.40, but the season is over, all the forestieri gone, and Rome is +sinking back into its normal state of sleepiness and calm. How many +times I have looked out on the piazza on just such a night (from Casa +Pierret, our old house just next door)! It is the one place that hasn't +changed in Rome. I almost feel as if I must go to bed at once, so as to +be up early and in my habit for a meet at Cecilia Metella to-morrow +morning. I do start to-morrow, but not very early--at ten. I have a line +from Mary Bunsen this evening saying they will meet me at the station in +Florence to-morrow. I shall arrive for dinner. I am half sorry now I +didn't decide to go to Naples, after all. The weather is divine, and I +should have liked to have another look at that beautiful bay, with its +blue dancing water, and Capri and Ischia in the distance. We had had +visions of Sicily, prolonging our stay another fortnight, but W. is +rather worrying now to get home. He had a letter from Richard yesterday, +telling him to be sure and come back for the Conseil General. + +There were two amusing articles in the papers the other day, one saying +M. Waddington had been charged by the French Government with a delicate +and confidential mission to the Pope; two days after, in another paper, +a denial and most vicious attack on W., saying M. Waddington had +evidently inspired the first article himself, that he had been charged +with no mission of any kind, and they knew from private sources that he +would not even be received by the Pope. I daresay a great many people +believe both. W. naturally doesn't care--doesn't pay the least attention +to what any paper says. I am getting hardened, too, though the process +has been longer with me. I don't mind a good vicious article from an +opposition paper--that is "de bonne guerre"--but the little perfidious +insinuations of the so-called friendly sheets which one can't notice +(and which always leave a trace) are very irritating. + +W. has just come up. He lingered talking in the smoking-room with two +Englishmen who have just arrived from Brindisi, and were full of India +and all "the muddles _our_ government is making," asking him if he +wasn't disgusted as an Englishman at all the mistakes and stupidities +they were making out there. They were so surprised when he said that he +wasn't an Englishman that it was funny; and when he added that he was a +Frenchman they really didn't know what he meant. He didn't explain his +personality (I suppose the man of the hotel enlightened them afterward), +but stayed on talking, as the men were clever and had seen a great deal. +They had made a long tour in India, and said the country was most +interesting. The ruins--also modern palaces--on such a gigantic scale. + +Well, dear, I really must finish now. My next letter will be from +Florence. We shall stop at Milan and Turin, but not very long, I fancy, +unless W. finds marvels in the way of coins at Milan. I am quite sad to +think I shan't look out on the piazza to-morrow night. I think after all +these years I still hold to my original opinion that the Corso is the +finest street and the Tiber the finest river in the world. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + MILAN, HOTEL DE VILLE, + Thursday, May 6, 1880. + +Here we are, dearest mother, almost home--only 26 hours from Paris--so +if we are suddenly called back (and I earnestly hope we shan't be) we +can start at once. We made our journey most comfortably yesterday, +though it was long. We left Florence at 9 in the morning and didn't get +here until nearly 8. The Bunsens came with us to the station. I begged +them not to at such an early hour but they didn't mind. It would have +been nice to stay longer. They have just taken their villa on for +another month. Their gardener at Meingenuegen wrote them that it was +snowing and a cold wind--horrid weather; so they instantly decided to +stay on another month. My belle-mere is delicate and never could have +stood a cold, northern spring after this beautiful month of April here. +They tried to tempt us with all sorts of excursions--Vallombrosa, Pisa +(which I should like to see again, I have such a vivid recollection of +the Campo Santo and some of the extraordinary tombs, wide square courts +and painted windows). I don't remember if it was there or at Genoa, +where we saw such elaborate modern monuments; the marble carved and +draped in the most curious manner--a widow kneeling at her husband's +tomb, her skirts all embroidered and carved so finely, like lace, and a +lace veil--really extraordinary. + +We found a long train at the station--the night express from Rome. The +prefet had kept a compartment for us, and Ubaldino Peruzzi, the former +sindaco, a great friend of W.'s, went with us as far as Pistoja. +Minghetti was on the train, and he came into our compartment for about +an hour, but then adjourned to his own carriage as he was composing a +great political speech he makes at Bologna to-night. They are all much +excited over the elections, which take place Sunday week, so their time +is short. Minghetti has lived and fought through so many phases of +Italian history that he is most interesting. They say his memory is +extraordinary--so accurate. He never forgets a face or a speech. He says +whenever he has an important speech to make he goes for a drive or a +long walk--the movement helps him. W. is just the contrary. His great +speeches (and they were not many) have always been composed sitting in +his big arm-chair smoking the beloved old cherry-wood pipe Segur brought +him from Jersey. When he had got his speech quite in his head, he wrote +it, and then it went straight on--never a correction or an erasure. I +asked Minghetti if he was nervous. He said not in the least--he was +always ready for the fray, and the more he was interrupted the better he +spoke, as that proved they were listening to him. + +I remember so well one of the first days I went to the Assemblee +Nationale years ago. Somebody was speaking--apparently well--on some +question of the day, and nobody was listening. The deputies were walking +about, talking, writing letters, just as if there was nothing going on. +I looked down to see if W. was listening, but he was talking cheerfully +to Leon Say. It seemed to me incredible that the orator could continue +under such circumstances, but W. explained it to me. He was speaking for +his electors in the country and for the "Journal Officiel," which would +publish his speech _in extenso_ the next day. + +It was most interesting making the journey with these gentlemen as they +had their history at their finger ends. All that part of the country had +been so fought over--oceans of blood shed in the fierce struggle against +Austrian tyranny--particularly as we got near Milan. It seems incredible +what a hard iron rule theirs was--especially if one knows Austria and +the Austrians a little. They seem such an easy-going, happy people. All +their little villages look clean and prosperous, the peasants cheerful +and singing and civil to all strangers and travellers. + +The country we passed through to-day looked green and smiling, but their +idea of work is still primitive, even in Northern Italy. Wherever we +passed the people in the fields all stopped and looked at the +train--many came running up the bank. If they do that for every train +they must lose a considerable amount of time. We were very sorry when +our companions departed, but at every station almost Minghetti met +friends, and it was evident that he had his head full of politics. It is +a long time since I have met any one so interesting. It is such a quick +intelligence and he touches every subject so lightly, apparently, only +one feels he knows all about it. + +We made a fair stop at the Bologna station and had a very good +breakfast. It recalled so vividly old times and our first journeys to +Rome. Even the buffet looked exactly the same. I could have sworn there +was the same "fricandeau de veau." The buffet was crowded--it seems +there were a lot of Indian officers arriving with their families from +Brindisi, with dark turbaned servants and ayahs always in white. However +the Indian nurses didn't look so miserable as they used to in winter +when we first made the journey down. They were rather bewildered all the +same in such a jostling, hurrying crowd. It is funny to see how they +cling to their charges, holding the babies tight with one hand and +guiding one or two others half hidden in their long white draperies, +with the other. I am sure they are excellent, faithful nurses. + +Our last days in Florence were very full. Tuesday was the day of the +races--bright, beautiful weather--and we drove out to see the retour, +stationing ourselves at the entrance of the Cascine until 7 o'clock. +There was not much to see in the way of equipages--nothing like the +Roman turn-outs--but there were some pretty women. The Comtesse +Mirafiori (nee Larderel), I daresay you will remember the name, was +about the prettiest. Her victoria was very well appointed, handsome +horses stepping perfectly; and she looked a picture, all in white with a +big hat turned up with dark blue and long blue and yellow feathers. I +think a woman never looks better than in a victoria--it shows off the +dress and figure so well. Lottie, too, looked very well, but she passed +so quickly I couldn't see what she had on. I had an impression of white +with some pink in her hat. Almost all the women were in white. Of course +the Lungarno was crowded--all the loungers taking the most lively +interest in the carriages; and when there was a stop criticising +freely--but I must say with their natural Italian politeness, confining +themselves to expressions of admiration more or less pronounced--never +anything disagreeable. + +We had a mild reception in the evening. Various friends came to say +good-bye--Maquays, Peruzzis, Miss Forbes and one or two men. A +scientific German--I forget his name--who told W. it would take weeks to +see all the coins and interesting things of all kinds at the Milan +Museum. We are very comfortable here; the hotel is old-fashioned with a +nice open court, and the rooms good. We have a pretty apartment on the +front, and as it is on the main thoroughfare, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, +we see all that goes on. There is a church opposite--San Carlo, I +believe--and we are not far from the Piazza del Duomo. + +We went for a little stroll last night after dinner, just for W. to +smoke his cigar. The Cathedral looked splendid--a gigantic white mass in +the midst of the busy square, quantities of people in the streets and +sitting at all the cafes, of which there are hundreds--quite like the +Paris boulevards on a summer night--everybody talking and laughing and a +cheerful sound of clinking glasses. I think they were almost all +drinking beer--a great many uniforms--I suppose there is a large +garrison. There seemed very few foreigners--we heard nothing but Italian +spoken--so unlike Rome and even Florence where one heard always so much +English in the streets and the shops. They told me in Florence that +there was a large English colony there, living quite apart from the +fashionable world--children learning music, or some of the family +delicate, needing a mild climate and sunshine--more perhaps in the +villas close to the gates than in the town itself. I should think the +cutting wind that sweeps the Lungarno would be mortal to weak chests; +but up in the hills sheltered by the high walls and olive groves one +would be quite protected. Certainly the other day on the terrace of +Castello the sun was divine and the air soft and balmy, not a sign of +chill or damp--but it was the month of May--the month for Florence. + +This morning I have been unpacking--or rather Madame Hubert has--and +settling myself in my salon, making the two corners--feminine and +masculine--as I did in Rome. I have no convenient Palazzo Altemps to +help me out with cushions, screens, etc., but I found lovely flowers +which the landlord (who received us in dress clothes and his hat in his +hand) put there, and as he was very civil and pleased to have the +"Excellenza" and hoped I would ask for anything I wanted, I have asked +for and obtained an arm-chair, and suggested he should give me a simple +table-cover instead of the beautiful green velvet one, embroidered with +pink roses, which now ornaments my salon. With my careless way of +writing and facility for putting ink all over myself, even in my hair, I +am afraid that work of art would be seriously deteriorated. He sent up +this morning to know if I wanted my breakfast upstairs--if I would come +down he would reserve me a small table in the window. I shall go down--I +hate meals in a sitting-room and I should like to see what sort of +people there are in the hotel. + + + 10 o'clock. + +I will go on to-night while W. is putting his papers in order. I +breakfasted alone downstairs about 12. The dining-room is a large, +handsome room across the court. There were very few people--not more +than four tables occupied--a large English family with troops of +fair-haired children--girls in white frocks and long black stockings and +boys in Eton coats. They all looked about the same age, but I suppose +they weren't. They were very quiet and well-behaved, quite unlike any of +our small relations. I have vivid recollections of travelling with some +of them--all talking at once at the top of their lungs, "Pa, give me a +penny," "Pa, give me a cake," "Pa, what's that for?" etc. + +The reading-room opened out of the dining-room, so I went in to have a +look at the papers--found a "Debats" and the "Times," and read up all +that was going on in the fashionable and political world. W. came in +about 4--he had ordered a carriage for 4.30, and as it was a lovely +afternoon we thought we would drive about the streets a little and out +into the country. He had had a delightful morning--says the Museum is +most interesting--the cabinet de medailles a marvel. He has arranged to +go there every day at 10 o'clock--will work there until 3, then come +back for me and we shall have our afternoon. He is much pleased with +this arrangement but he doesn't think the employees of the cabinet de +medailles will find it quite so satisfactory, as some one must always be +with him. They never leave any one alone in these rooms. He thinks there +are only two people for this service, and they will naturally hate +spending a long day doing nothing while he studies and copies. + +The Directeur received him to-day most enthusiastically--knew all about +his collection of coins. + +We started out about 5 and went first to have a cup of tea at the cafe +the padrone recommended--Cova, I think--and then told the man to drive +about the streets and pass the principal buildings. We saw the Duomo +again, the Scala (theatre)--if it is open we shall go one night; the +great Galerie Victor Emmanuel, full of shops; and quantities of +churches, Santa Maria delle Grazie, of course, where is the famous +"Cenacolo" of Leonardo da Vinci, but the outside merely. The fresco is +only visible until 4--so we shall see the inside of the church another +day. We made a turn in the public gardens or promenade where there were +quite a number of handsome carriages and saddle horses--many officers +riding. It was rather late to attempt a country drive (we had said we +would dine downstairs at 7.30), for the turning and twisting about in +the streets and stopping every now and then had taken up a good deal of +time. We had a nice little victoria with a pair of horses, not unlike +the carriage Tomba gave us in Rome. + +We went down about a quarter to eight. The padrone in his dress clothes +was waiting at the foot of the stairs and conducted us with much pomp +into the dining-room, where we found a nice round table in the window. +The room was quite full--many more people than in the morning, and I +should think almost all Italians. They looked at us naturally with much +curiosity, as such a fuss was made with us. W. smoked a cigar in the +court after dinner and talked to the man of the house who told him about +all the distinguished people he had had in his hotel. I found papers and +a "Graphic" in the reading-room and was quite surprised when they said +it was 10 o'clock. + + + May 7th. + +It has been pouring all day--straight down. I think it has stopped a +little since dinner. We didn't stay long in the reading-room as W. is +fairly launched in his coins now and puts his notes in order in the +evening. I prowled this morning with Madame Hubert. Before breakfast we +went to the Brera. It was almost empty but we found a nice guide, a +youngish man, speaking such beautiful Italian that it was a pleasure to +hear him, and well up on all the pictures. There are beautiful things, +certainly. I was so glad to see some old friends. I was always so fond +of the "Amanti Veneziani" of Paris Bordone. The "sposo" looks so young +and straight and proud, and the girl's attitude is charming, her +brown-gold head drooping on her lover's shoulder as she holds out her +hand for the ring he is putting on her finger. Even the inferior +pictures of the Paul Veronese school are fine--there is such an +intensity of colour. The whole room seemed filled with light and warmth. +I think I like the backgrounds and accessories almost as much as the +figures. The draperies are so wonderfully done, one can almost touch the +gorgeous stuffs, heavy with gold and silver embroidery; and there are +one or two high-backed, carved arm-chairs which are a marvel. The +beautiful fair women with strings of pearls in their golden hair, and +white satin dresses, sitting up straight and slight in the dark wooden +chairs, are fascinating; and there are quantities, for Paul Veronese and +all his pupils have always so many people in their pictures. + +We saw of course the "Sposalizia" in a small room quite by itself. The +Virgin is a beautifully slight ethereal figure with the marvellous pure +face that all Raphael's Madonnas have; but the St. Joseph looks younger +than in most other pictures. Our guide was most enthusiastic over the +picture. It was a treat to hear him say--"morbidezza" and "dolcissimo." +We were there about an hour and a half, and that was quite long enough. +One's eyes get tired. We saw splendid portraits of princes and warriors +as we passed through the rooms--Moretto, Leonardo da Vinci and others. + +It was still raining when we came out so we thought we wouldn't attempt +any more sight-seeing, and walked up to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele +where we were under cover. The Cathedral looked splendid--all the white +pinnacles and statues standing out from the dark grey sky. We looked in +at all the shop windows, but didn't see anything particularly striking +or local except the black lace veils which so many women (not the upper +classes) wear here. Madame Hubert being young and pretty was most +anxious to adopt that fashion--thought it would be more suitable for +Madame as all the suivantes here wore the veil--she would be less +remarked going about with Madame--but Madame decidedly preferred the +plain little black bonnet of the Parisian femme de chambre. It seems +there is a swell Italian woman in the hotel--a Princess--whose maid +always wears a veil when she accompanies her mistress in her walks +abroad. + +I was decidedly damp when I got back to the hotel. I breakfasted alone +at my little table, and in fact was almost alone in the +dining-room--there were only two other tables occupied. The head waiter +was very sympathetic about the weather--they always had sun in Milan, +just a mauvaise chance to-day. I had the reading-room also to myself, +and found plenty of papers in all languages. I have rather a weakness +for the "Koelnische Zeitung" (Gazette de Cologne). It is very +anti-French, or I might really say anti-everything, as it is always +pitching into somebody, but there is a good deal of general information +in it. + +W. came in about 3.30, having worked steadily since 9. It was getting +too dark to see much more and his attendant beamed when he saw him +putting up his papers and preparing to leave. He says the man is bored +to death--wants to talk at first and explain things to him, but he soon +realizes that W. is bent on serious work, so he desists and reads a +paper and walks about the room and fidgets generally. + +We waited until 4.30 hoping the rain would stop. It didn't, but the +clouds lightened a little and we thought we would go and see the Duomo. +I had forgotten how beautiful it is--those great wide aisles quite +bare--no chairs, nothing to break the line until quite at the high +altar, and the light from the old glass windows coming from so high over +our heads it seemed straight from heaven. We sat some little time in one +of the side chapels. It looked vast and mysterious--one had such an +impression of space and height. Various guides came up and supposed we +would not care to go up on the roof on such an afternoon. We told them +we would come back the next day if it was fine. They looked so +disappointed at having nothing that we finally went down into the crypt +to see the tomb and body of San Carlo Borromeo. We had both seen it +before but I didn't mind reviving my souvenirs. We had tapers of course +as it was quite dark, but we saw quite well the coloured marbles and +precious stones of the little chapel--also the body of the Saint, +marvellously preserved. It looked very small--hardly the size of a grown +man. The guide of course wanted to show us all sorts of relics, and the +tresor of the Cathedral, but we preferred going up again to the church, +and wandered about looking at the marble tombs and monuments--there are +not many, and they are quite lost in the enormous building. Quite down +at the bottom of the church, near the door under a baldaquin, is a font +in porphyry, said to be the sarcophagus of some saint. The church looked +immense as it grew darker and the light gradually faded, leaving deep +shadows everywhere. When we turned back, just as we were going out, to +have a last glimpse, the high altar seemed far away, and the tall +candles looked like twinkling lights seen through a mist or veil. + +We walked about a little under the arcades. W. wanted some cigars and I +an Italian book Minghetti had recommended to me, "Sketches of Life in +Milan and Venice under the Austrian Occupation." I have been reading it +a little to-night--what an awful life for Italians--a despotic, iron +rule, police and spies everywhere, women even making their way into the +great Italian houses and reporting everything to the police--the +children's games and little songs, the books and papers the family read, +the visits they received. The most arbitrary measures prevailed--no +young man allowed to leave the city--no papers nor books allowed that +were not authorized by the government--and when arrests were made, the +prisoners, men or women, treated most cruelly. The Austrians must have +felt the hatred and thirst for vengeance that was smouldering in all +these young hearts. It seems all the girls and young women, even of the +poorest classes, made themselves flags (tricolour) out of bits of +anything (paper when they couldn't get anything better) and gave them to +all the men, preparing for the "Cinque giorni" when many of them went +down under the Austrian bayonets, giving their lives cheerfully and +proudly for their country. Radetzsky must have been a monster of +cruelty. How they must hate the white uniform and the black and yellow +flag. + +The city is quiet enough to-night. I suppose it is not an opera night. +It is only half-past ten and we are on one of the principal +thoroughfares, but nothing is passing in the street. The hotel, too, is +quiet, one doesn't hear a sound. I fancy most travellers go to the new +hotel--the Cavour. We are quite satisfied here, and are most +comfortable--the landlord very attentive. He and W. are becoming great +friends--they talk politics (Italian) every night while W. smokes. + + + Friday 7th. + +I see I shall always write at night. After coffee and half an hour in +the reading-room (I always go and have a look at the papers while W. +smokes) we come upstairs. W. plunges at once into his notes, and I read +and write. It has been lovely to-day and we have had a nice afternoon. +W. came home to breakfast at 1, as he wanted to see the Brera and +"Cenacolo" once again; and it is of course too late when we start for +our afternoon drive at 4.30. We walked to the Brera--it isn't far--and +were there a long time. We made a long stop in the vestibule looking at +the Luini frescoes--all scenes in the Virgin's life--Madonnas, angels, +saints--quantities of figures, and colours and accessories of all +kinds--wonderful trees and buildings and clouds with angels and seraphim +rising out of them. They must have had marvellous imaginations, those +early Italian painters. They never saw anything to suggest such pictures +to them, and of course never read anything--there were no books to +read--merely written manuscripts difficult enough for scholars to +decipher. All the wonderful scenes--Nativity, Coronation, etc.--evoked +out of their own brains. I think I like the Annunciation the best of +all the scenes of the Virgin's life. There is a beautiful one in the +Pitti--I forget now by whom--the Virgin just risen from her chair with a +half-dazed, half-triumphant look, and the angel kneeling before her with +his lily. I like some of the German ones, too, but they are much more +elaborate--the Virgin often standing in a wide arch--a portico--more +figures in the background--and the Virgin herself quite a German +girl--not at all the lovely, spiritual head of the Italian masters. + +We walked through all the rooms. The Venetian pictures (Paul Veronese +school) looked beautiful. W., too, was struck with the splendid +colouring. Some of the names quite unknown, and if one looked too +closely there were perhaps faults of drawing and exaggeration of colour, +but the effect was extraordinary. He admired the men's portraits +excessively, by Titian, Tintoretto, Moroni, etc. They are very +fine--sometimes a soldier with keen, hard eyes, clad in complete +armour--often a noble, some grand seigneur of his time, in black velvet +and fur with jewelled cap and chain, a fine patrician head and +thoughtful face. We didn't see the young guide who went about with me--I +was rather sorry--I wanted W. to hear his beautiful Italian. + +We stayed so long looking at everything (Luini's pictures are most +interesting, too--he must have had an extraordinary capacity for work) +that we had just time to get a cab and drive over to Santa Maria delle +Grazie to see the "Cenacolo" as it shuts at 4. The Saviour's head, St. +John, and some of the other faces are beautiful--but it is so faded (and +on the other hand has been touched up a little) that I was disappointed. + +It was a beautiful bright afternoon and we saw as well as possible, but +really "decay's effacing fingers" have been allowed too much sway. They +told us it was impossible to guard against the damp, and that eventually +the whole thing would be blotted out. However, it has stood the test +pretty well through all these years. + +We went into the church, which was quite empty, except one figure in +black, absorbed and motionless, kneeling on the stone pavement. Poor +woman, I hope she got what she was praying for so earnestly. From there +we went to the church of St. Ambrogio, which is a fine old building--the +frescoes and inscriptions much faded. The iron crown used to be kept +there (they told us the Kings and Emperors came there to be crowned) but +it is now at Monza. I declined any more churches and regular +sight-seeing after that--so we went back to the hotel where the carriage +was to meet us, went for our cup of tea to Cova's, and then started for +a drive. + +The country quite around the city is not particularly interesting--much +cultivated, but flat--vineyards, corn and rice fields all intersected +with numberless little canals. Though it was late, 6 o'clock, people +were still working in the fields and seemed to keep to their work much +more steadily than the peasants about Rome and Florence who were always +stopping to talk or look at whatever was passing. We met bands of them +trooping along the road--they were generally tall, broad-shouldered, +strong men--quite the northern type. We crossed some soldiers, +too--cavalry and infantry--quite a big detachment--all had their kits, +and baggage wagons following. They were evidently changing garrison. I +didn't think the troops looked very smart. The horses were small and +very thin, and the men (infantry particularly) dragged along and were +rather dirty. Just as they passed us the music struck up a sort of quick +march, and it was curious to see the instantaneous effect. The men +straightened themselves up, moved more quickly and lightly--it was +quite different. + +I hoped we should get a view of the mountains, but the sunset, though +beautiful, was rather misty--however the coachman told us that meant +fine weather for to-morrow which will be nice as we are going up on the +top of the Cathedral. I was glad to have a little rest before dinner. I +plunged again into my book, which is madly interesting--but such +horrors--a long imprisonment like Silvio Pellico's was merciful compared +to some of the tortures and cruelties--and it seems the Emperor himself +was the hardest of all--never forgetting nor pardoning nor listening to +any petition or prayer for mercy--no wonder the people were +infuriated--mad with rage--women and children working at the barricades +during the "five days"; and the old ones, too infirm to take an active +part, at the windows pouring down boiling water and oil on the Austrian +soldiers. However, I suppose it is the history of all street fighting. I +remember the hideous tales they told us of the Paris Commune, when we +went back there after the war--how maddened the Versaillais were at the +shots, missiles and boiling water which came from all the windows upon +them. The reprisals were terrible when the regular troops finally got +the upper hand--and I suppose no one will ever know how many innocent +people were shot in the first flush of success. + +I read out bits of my book to W. He said he didn't think the account +exaggerated--of course they had chosen all the worst cases. He was at +Versailles during the Commune, and saw the first batches of prisoners +brought in--such awful looking people--many young, very young men, with +wild reckless faces. They probably didn't know, half of them, what they +had been fighting for--a vague idea of patrie and liberty, and the +natural love of the Parisian gamin for a row and a barricade. + + + _To H. L. K._ + + MILAN, HOTEL DE VILLE, + May 9, 1880. + +We have had an awful day, dear mother, pouring steady rain since early +morning--clouds grey and low shutting out the city entirely; really so +dark I could hardly see to dress--and the streets apparently deserted. +W. didn't mind, and was off as usual to his coins at 9 o'clock. He did +have a remords de conscience at leaving me all alone all day shut up in +a little hotel salon, and said if I would come and get him about 3 we +would try and see something. + +I wrote two letters which will rather amuse the family as they say I +only write when I am boring myself in the country or having a series of +rainy days--Janet always calls them my rain letters. However, when I had +written two my energy in that line was exhausted, and I felt I couldn't +sit another moment in that dark salon, so I summoned Madame Hubert (I +don't generally care to have a maid for a companion but I didn't like to +walk about the streets of a foreign city alone) and we started off with +short skirts and umbrellas. The gerant nearly fell off his high stool in +the bureau when he saw me preparing to go out--wanted to send for a +carriage, a fiacre, anything--but I told him I really wanted to walk, +which filled him with amazement. Italians as a rule don't like walking +at all, and he thought I was quite mad to go out deliberately, and for +my pleasure, on such a day. + +It wasn't very pleasant in the streets--everybody's umbrella ran into +me, and the pavements were wet and slippery. We finally took refuge +under the arcades, but there we got quite as much jostled, for everybody +who was out, was there; and the sudden gusts of wind and rain around the +corners and through the arches were anything but pleasant. I wasn't at +all happy, but I liked it better than sitting in the room at the hotel. +I was so draggled and my boots so covered with mud that I was rather +ashamed to cross the big hall of the hotel when I came in. + +I found a letter from Gert saying she was so glad we had such delightful +weather for Milan. I wish she could look out of my window at this +moment. She wouldn't know if she were in Milan or Elizabethtown. The +clouds are very low on the roofs of the houses--the city has disappeared +in a mist, I can just see across the street. The pavements are +swimming--quite rushing torrents in the gutters, and I look down upon a +sea of umbrellas. + +I started out again about 3--in a carriage this time--and went to get +W.--extract him from his coins if I could. There was no one, apparently, +in the Museum, but a smiling concierge took me to the antiquity and coin +rooms where I found W. very busy and happy; quite insensible to rain or +any outside considerations. He said the light wasn't very good. A musty +old savant with a long ragged beard and very bright black eyes was +keeping him company. _He_ was delighted to see me, for he knew that +meant stopping work for that afternoon. I talked to him a little while +W. was putting his papers in order, and it was evident he had never seen +any one with such a capacity for steady work. He encouraged us very much +to go and see something (anything that would take us out of the coin +room) but we really didn't know what to do with ourselves--a country +drive wasn't inviting and it was too dark and late for pictures--all the +galleries close at 4. The padrone had recommended the flower show to us +in the public gardens, so we thought we would try that. The flowers were +all under glass and tents, so we were dry overhead, but the ground was +wet and muddy--a general damp, chilly feeling everywhere. I am sure the +place is lovely on a bright summer day. There are fine trees, splendid +horse chestnuts, pretty paths and little bosquets. The poor flowers +looked faded and drooping, even under cover. The roses were +splendid--such enormous ones with quantities of leaves, very full. The +finest were "Reine Marguerite," "Marguerite de Savoie," "Princess de +Piemont." I asked one of the gardeners if the Queen was very fond of +flowers--the "Marguerite de Savoie" was a beautiful white rose. "Oh, +yes," he said, enthusiastically, "the Queen loves flowers and everything +that is beautiful." I thought it such a pretty answer. He showed us, +with great pride, a green rose. I can't say I admired it, but it is so +difficult and so expensive to produce that I don't think we shall see +many. We walked about and looked at all the flowers. Some of the +variegated leaves were very handsome. There was a pink broad leaf with a +dull green border and an impossible name I should have liked to take +away, but the man said it was an extremely delicate plant raised under +glass--wouldn't live long in a room (which was what I wanted it for). We +thought we would go back and have tea in a new place under the +arcades--in the Galleria. The tea was bad--had certainly never seen +China--as grown, I daresay, in the rice fields near the city, so we +declined that and ordered chocolate, which was very good, and panettoni. +W. was rather glad to have something to eat after his early breakfast. +It was pouring, but we were quite sheltered in the corner of the +veranda; so he smoked and we looked at the people passing and sitting +near us. They were certainly not a very distinguished collection--a +good many officers (in uniform), loungers who might be anything--small +functionaries, I should think--few women of any description, and no +pretty ones. The peasant woman coming out of the fields was much +better-looking than any we saw to-day. + +W. had had visitors in the coin room this morning. The Director, who +came, he thinks, out of sheer curiosity to see how any one, for his +pleasure, could work five or six hours at a time. He brought with him a +Greek savant--a most intelligent young man who apparently knew W.'s +collection almost as well as he did--and all the famous collections of +Europe. They had a most interesting talk and discussion about certain +doubtful coins of which 3 Museums--London, Petersburg and Milan--claim +to have the only originals. We talked over our plans, but I think we +have still two or three more days here. We want to go to Monza. They say +the old town and church are most interesting, as well as the Royal +Villa. + +It was rather amusing in the reading-room after dinner. There were many +more people--women principally, and English. Some of them had been +buying things at the two famous bric-a-brac shops, and they were very +much afraid they had paid too much, and been imposed upon. They finally +appealed to me (we had exchanged papers and spoken a few words to each +other) but I told them I was no good, nothing of a connoisseur for +bric-a-brac, and particularly ignorant about lace. They showed it to me, +and it looked very handsome--old Venetian, the man had told them. They +had also some silver which they had bought at one of the little shops in +the Piazza dei Mercanti. I think I will go and see what I can find +there. + +I found W. deep in his Paris courrier when I got upstairs. There was a +heap of letters and papers, also Daudet's book "Souvenirs de la +Presidence du Marechal de MacMahon" which l'Oncle Alphonse had sent us, +said everybody was reading it at the clubs. W. figures in it +considerably, not always in a very favourable light, as judged by +Monsieur Daudet; but facts speak for themselves, even when the criticism +is not quite fair. I suppose it is absolutely impossible for a Royalist +to judge a moderate Republican impartially. I think they understand the +out-and-out Radical better. The book is clever. I read out bits to W. +(which, by the way, he hates--loathes being read to). It was interesting +to read the life we had just been leading described by an outsider. + +I think W. will give himself a holiday to-morrow if it is fine (at the +present moment, with the wind and rain beating against the windows, that +seems a remote possibility). He will come back to breakfast and we will +have our afternoon at Monza. I have finished my book of the Austrian +rule, and I am really glad--the horrors quite haunted me. It seems +incredible that in our days one Christian nation should have been +allowed to treat another one so barbarously. I should like to go back to +my childish days and read "Le mie Prigioni," but I found a life of +Cavour downstairs in the hotel library, so I think I shall take that. + + + May 10th. + +It is lovely this morning (though when the weather changed I don't know, +as it seemed to me I heard a steady downpour every time I woke in the +night), however, at 9 o'clock it was an ideal summer day, warm, a bright +blue sky, no grey clouds or mist, one could hardly believe it was the +same city. The atmosphere is so clear that the snow mountains seem +almost at the bottom of the street. I went for a walk with Madame Hubert +through the old parts of the city--such curious, narrow, twisting +little streets. We went into the Duomo for a moment, it looked +enormous--cool and dark except where a bright ray of sunshine came +through the painted windows, but so subdued that it didn't seem real +sunlight seen through all the marvellous coloured glass. There were a +few people walking about in little groups, but they were lost in the +great space. One didn't hear a sound--the silence was striking--there +wasn't even the usual murmur of priest or chorister at the altar as +there was no mass going on. + +We asked the way to the Piazza dei Mercanti on the other side of the +Duomo. It is a curious old square--a very bad pavement, grass growing in +places between the stones, and all sorts of queer, irregular buildings +all around it--churches, palaces, porticos, gateways--a remnant of old +Milan. At each end there were little low shops where many people were +congregated. I don't know if they were buying--I should think not as +they seemed all rather seedy, impecunious individuals judging by their +shabby, not to say worn-out garments--all Italians--I think we were the +only foreigners in the Piazza (yet it is one of the sights of Milan, +mentioned in the guide books). We went, too, and looked at some of the +things spread out for sale--many old engravings, carved wooden frames, +gold and silver ornaments, and some handsome cups and flagons very +elaborately worked--also some bits of old stuff, brocade, and a curious +faded red velvet worked in gold, but all in very bad condition. I +couldn't find a good piece large enough to make an ordinary cushion. In +one corner, squatting in the sun, were two big, dark men with scarlet +caps on their heads (they looked like Tunisians). They had muslins, +spangled with gold and silver, crepe de Chine, and nondescript +embroidered squares of white, soft silk with wonderful bright embroidery +and designs--moons, and ships and trees. We spoke to them in French, but +they didn't understand, and answered us in some unintelligible +jargon--half Italian, with a few English words thrown in. + +Some of the old palaces are fine, one in particular which seems to be a +sort of bourse now. The portico was crowded with men, all talking at the +top of their voices. We had glimpses through the crowd of a fine +collection of broken columns, statues, tablets and bas-reliefs inside, +but we didn't attempt to get in; though a friendly workman in the +street, seeing us stopping and looking, evident strangers, told us we +ought to go in and see "le bellezze" (the beautiful things). There is an +equestrian statue on one side of the palace--I couldn't quite make out +the name, but the inscription says that among other great deeds he +"burnt many heretics." I don't suppose they gave him his statue +exclusively on that account, but the fact was carefully mentioned. We +wandered about rather aimlessly, leaving the Piazza, and finally found +ourselves in a wide, handsome street--large palaces on one side and the +canal running through the middle. The canal is really very +picturesque--the water fairly clear, reflecting the curious, high, +carved balconies and loggias (some of them covered with creepers and +bright coloured flowers) that hang over the canal. They seemed all large +houses, with the back giving on the canal; some of the low doors opening +straight out on the water were quite a reminder of Venice; and when +there was a terrace with white marble balustrade and benches one could +quite imagine some of Paul Veronese's beautiful, fair-haired women with +their pearls and gorgeous red and gold garments disporting themselves +there in the summer evenings. The palaces on the other side of the +street are fine, stately mansions--large doors open, showing great +square courts, sometimes two or three stretching far back--sometimes a +fountain and grass plot in the middle--sometimes arcades running all +around the court, with balconies and small pointed windows--coats-of-arms +up over the big doors, but no signs of life--no magnificent porters such +as one sees in Rome in all the great houses. They all looked in perfectly +good condition and well cared for. I wonder who lives in them. + +We came out at the Place Cavour and had a look at the statue, which is +good--in bronze--an energetic standing figure with a fine head, very +like--one would have recognised it anywhere from all the pictures one +has always seen of Cavour. There is no group--he standing alone on a +granite pedestal--a woman (Fame) kneeling, and writing his name on a +scroll. I liked it very much--it is so simple, and we have seen so many +allegorical groups and gods and goddesses lately that it was rather a +relief to see anything quite plain and intelligible. + +I wasn't sorry to get back to the hotel and rest a little before +starting again this afternoon. I liked walking through the little old +crooked streets--they were not empty, there were people in all of them, +but decidedly of the poorer classes. They are a naturally polite, +sympathetic race--always smiling if you ask anything and always moving +to one side to let you pass--unlike the stolid German who calmly and +massively takes the middle of the pavement and never dreams of moving to +one side, or considering anybody else. I have just been jostled by two +stout specimens of the touring Vaterland--they are anything but good +types. If they didn't understand the language in which Madame Hubert +expressed her opinion I think the tone said something to them, for one +man muttered a sort of excuse. + +If I can keep my eyes open long enough I will finish this letter +to-night. We have had a lovely afternoon--didn't get back until 8.30 and +have only just come upstairs from dinner. We started a little after +three, in a light victoria and a capital pair of small strong +post-horses who went at a good, steady, quick trot. The drive is a short +hour and a half--not very interesting country--flat rice fields and the +same numerous little canals one sees all over Lombardy. Monza is quite a +large town--looks very old and Italian. The Cathedral was begun in the +sixth century, but rebuilt in the fourteenth. There are all sorts of +curious frescoes and relics. We saw, of course, the iron crown which all +Austrian Emperors are supposed to wear at their coronation. The last two +to wear it were Napoleon and Ferdinand I. It is really a large gold +circle with a smaller iron one inside, and studded with precious +stones--very heavy. It was shown to us with much pomp, lighted tapers, +and a priest in his vestments. He told us the iron band inside was made +out of a nail that had been taken from the Saviour's cross. He handled +it very reverently, and would hardly let me lift it to see how heavy it +was. He showed us many curious things, among others a fan of Queen +Theodolinda's, made in the 6th century. It was small, made in leather, +and really not too faded, though one had to look closely and with the +eyes of faith to see the roses the old priest pointed out. + +While we were looking at the relics a French pelerinage came up--quite a +long procession; many very nice-looking women. They were all dressed in +black, and most of them wore bonnets--some few had black veils--priests +of course, and a fair amount of men of all ages. They passed in +procession up the aisle, chanting a psalm, which sounded very well, full +and solemn. One or two stragglers, two young men and a woman stopped to +see what we were looking at, and we had a little talk. They had just +arrived over the St. Gothard, hadn't much time, and were very keen to +see everything. They said it was very cold crossing the mountain--the +heavy rain we had had at Milan had been deep snow on the pass. We went +to look at Queen Theodolinda's tomb in one of the side chapels, and then +started for the "Casa Reale" as they call the Royal Villa. It has no +pretensions to architecture; is a large square building with long, +rambling wings. We could only see the great hall and some of the +reception rooms downstairs, as they were painting and cleaning upstairs. +The rooms had no particular style--large, high ceilings, great windows +looking on the park; just what one sees in all Royal Palaces. All the +furniture was covered with housses--the gardien took one off an +arm-chair to show us the red velvet. The lustres also were covered--the +mirrors were handsome. The park is delightful--quantities of trees of +all kinds, lovely shady walks, and bosquets. There seemed to be a great +deal of game--deer and pheasants walking about quite tame and +undisturbed in all directions. The communs and dependances are enormous, +quite a little colony of houses scattered about--regisseur, head-keeper, +head-gardener, all with good gardens. + +We had a nice talk with a half-gardener half-guide who went about with +us and showed us all the beauties. The place is low--I should think +would be very warm in summer, for even to-day the shade was pleasant and +the low afternoon sun in our faces rather trying. There were splendid +views every now and then of the distant Alps. The gardener, like every +one else who has ever been thrown with her, apparently adored the +Queen--said she knew all about the place, and trees, and flowers, and +was so beloved in the town. I remember Peruzzi telling me how fond she +was of Monza--happier there than anywhere. They certainly love their +"Margherita di Savoia." There are pictures of her everywhere, and some +one told us that all the girls in Monza are called Margherita. + +When we were starting back we met the pilgrims again, still walking and +chanting on their way to the station. They had a white banner with them, +but I couldn't see what the inscription was. The drive home was lovely, +even along the long straight road bordered with poplars (quite like a +French country road). The evening was delicious, a little cool driving, +as we went a very good pace. I was glad to put a light wrap over my +shoulders. The sunset clouds were gorgeous, and every now and then +glimpses of the snow mountains. I love to see them--those beautiful +white peaks, half clouds, half snow--they seem so mysterious, so far +away from our every-day life and world. The road was dull, very little +passing until we got near Milan. There we met bands of peasants coming +in from their work in the fields, and country carts loaded with +people--all the young ones singing and talking, and the wrinkled old +women looking on smiling. We noticed again what a fine, strong race they +are--both men and women--such broad shoulders, and holding themselves so +straight. They must have been nasty adversaries when their time came and +they shook off the hated Austrian yoke; but they were not cruel victors +(so says my book), the wives and daughters of men who had fallen under +Austrian cannon nursing and tending their sick and wounded enemies. + +We met three or four handsome private carriages, also a young man +driving a phaeton with a pair of handsome steppers. Our coachman pointed +him out proudly to us as the Marchese ----, some name I didn't catch, +but he was evidently a swell. I suppose there are villas in the +neighborhood, but we didn't see any, nothing but trees, rice fields and +little canals and ditches. + +I think we shall get off the day after to-morrow. W. thinks one more +morning with the coins will be enough for him, he wants now to get back. +I think he is homesick for the Senate and politics generally, but he +won't allow it. We had thought of going to Como for two days, it is so +easy from here, but he wants to stop at Turin, so we must give it up. I +suppose it won't be as cold at Turin now as we always used to find it +crossing in winter. Do you remember one of the first years, coming over +the Mount Cenis, how bitterly cold it was, and how we shivered in the +big, high rooms of the hotel--a mosaic pavement, bits of thin carpet on +the floor, and a fire of shavings in the chimney. We will write and +telegraph, of course, from there. I don't think we shall stay more than +one night. + + + May 11th. + +We are really leaving to-morrow morning, get to Turin for dinner. As we +telegraphed yesterday the address I hope we shall find letters. It has +been lovely again all day, so our last impressions are good. I have +quite forgotten the rain and dark of the other day. The padrone has just +informed us, with much pride, that the Crown Princess of Germany arrives +to-night in this hotel from Vienna. I wish she had come yesterday--I +should have liked to see her again. I have been out shopping this +morning, but it is difficult; there is not much to buy, at least not in +the nice big shops of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and I am a little +afraid of the antiquities--I know so little about bric-a-brac (au fond +like modern things just as well, but other people don't, and would much +rather have a really ugly, queer-shaped old cup or glass than the most +graceful modern creation). + +The padrone gave me the address of a good antiquity shop, and said I +could be perfectly sure in taking anything they said was old, and I need +only say he had recommended me to go there. I found beautiful things, +but all large, cassoni, high-backed, carved arm-chairs and Venetian +mirrors, but the prices were awful and the things much too big. I wanted +something smaller that I could put into my trunk. We went back to the +Piazza dei Mercanti and, after looking about at many of the little +shops, I did find some rather curious silver spoons and boxes. The +spoons have quaint, long handles ending in a head, not apostles, but +soldiers and women with veils and crowns. The boxes are most elaborately +carved--on the cover of one there are 21 figures--a sort of vintage with +bunches of grapes. As usual there were many people lounging about and +stopping at all the shops--some of them wildly interested in my +purchases. One funny little old man with a yellow face and bright eyes +was apparently much pleased with the box I chose--nodded and smiled at +me, saying: "Una bellezza questa" (this is a beauty). On our way back we +went into the great court-yard of the Ospedale Maggiore, an enormous +brick building with fine facade and high pointed windows; the walls +covered with medallions and ornaments in terra-cotta. I believe it is +one of the largest hospitals that exist and certainly once inside those +great courts one would feel absolutely cut off from the outside world. +There seemed to be gardens and good trees at the back--we saw the green +through the cloisters, and there was a fine loggia overlooking the +court. It was as sleepy and quiet as possible to-day--no sign of life, +no concierge nor porter, nor patient of any kind visible. If we had had +time and wanted to go over the hospital I don't know whom we could have +applied to. + +It was very warm walking home. Happily our way lay through narrow +streets, with high houses on each side, so we had shade. I found cards +and a note from the Murrays (English friends we had met in Rome). They +are staying at the Cavour, but will come and dine at our hotel to-night. +They are off to the Lakes to-morrow, and as we leave too early it will +be our only chance of meeting. It will seem quite strange to see any one +we know--we have lived so entirely alone these few days in Milan. I told +W. last night I found him a most agreeable companion. We haven't talked +so much to each other for years. He is always so busy all day in Paris +that except for the ride in the morning, I don't see much of him--and of +course in Rome and Florence we were never alone. + +It is rather late but I will write a few lines and send them off +to-morrow morning. W. came home about 4, fussed a little over trunks and +interviewed the porter about our tickets, places, etc., and then we +started off for the Duomo. There was a party going up just as we got to +the door, so we joined forces--about 8 people. The ascent was very +fatiguing, quite 500 steps, I should think, mostly inside the tower, +with openings giving fine views over the city and Lombard plains. We all +halted every now and then--I was the only lady. There were two +Englishmen with whom we fraternized. They were making a walking tour +through the North of Italy--Piedmont and Lombardy. They addressed W. by +name, which surprised him extremely, so much so that he said: "I don't +remember, but I suppose we must have met before." "Not at all," they +said, "we recognised you from all the pictures we had seen of you in +the illustrated papers." What it is to be a celebrity! + +We did finally, with many stops, get up on the roof, and were well +repaid, for the view was enchanting--Milan so far below us we could +hardly believe it was a big city, but the mountains quite beautiful. +There was a man with a telescope on top, and he pointed out the +principal peaks. Monte Rosa was magnificent--stood out splendidly, a +round snow peak; Mt. Cervin, Mt. Cenis, the Bernese far away, +disappearing in the clouds; and various others whose names I forget, +nearer. I couldn't see the Chartreuse of Pavia, though they said it was +quite visible, and just the Superga of Turin. Nearer these were various +churches and monasteries standing high on hills nearer the town, but I +couldn't look at anything but the snow mountains. You can't imagine how +divine they were, with the beautiful, soft afternoon sun on them. One +couldn't really tell which was cloud and which was mountain--they seemed +to be part of the sky. + +I found the going down more disagreeable than coming up. It was darker, +the steps were a little broken at the edge and decidedly slippery; +however, we arrived without any adventures. Just as we got to the hotel +we saw three or four carriages drive up, and as we went in the porter +told us the German Crown Princess with her daughters and a large suite +was arriving. We stood in the court to see them pass--but the Princess +was not there, only her daughters (3). They were tall, fair, very +German-looking, each one with a large bouquet. There seemed any number +of ladies and gentlemen in attendance, and a great deal of bowing and +deferential manners. + +We went downstairs about a quarter to eight. We had given the Murrays +rendezvous in the reading-room, but they came in just as we crossed the +court, and we went straight to the dining-room. They told us the Crown +Princess only comes to-morrow. They had gone to the station to meet her +(they had seen her in Venice), but there were only the young Princesses. +We had a pleasant dinner. They are a nice couple (Scotch). He is very +clever, a literary man, rather delicate, can't stand the English winter, +and always comes abroad. He knows Italy well and is mad about Venice. +She is clever, too, but is rather silent--however, we didn't either of +us have a chance to-night, for the two gentlemen talked hard, politics, +which Mr. Murray was very keen about. He had a decided thirst for +information, and asked W. so many questions about France, the state of +politics, the influence of the clergy, etc., that I was rather anxious, +as in general there is nothing W. hates like being questioned. However, +he was very gracious to-night, and disposed to talk. When he doesn't +feel like it wild horses couldn't drag anything out of him. + +They stayed till ten o'clock, and now I have been putting the last +things in my small trunk. The big trunks go straight through from here, +and we will pick them up at the Gare de Lyon. The padrone has just been +up to ask if we were satisfied with the hotel, and would we recommend +him. + + + _To G. W. S._ + + TURIN, HOTEL DE L'EUROPE, + May 13, 1880. + +This will be my last letter from Italy, dear. I am sorry to think I am +turning my back on this enchanting country. To-day has been perfect; +everything, sky, sun, mountains, ugly yellow palaces, grim, frowning +buildings, look beautiful--a perfect glow of light and colour. I can +scarcely believe it is the same city we used to freeze in, when we +passed through it often in old times going down to Rome. Heavens--how +cold it was everywhere--a wind that seemed to come straight from the +glaciers cutting one in two when there was a great square to be crossed, +or whistling through the arcades when we wished to loiter a little and +see the shops and curiosities. I can't remember if we stayed at this +hotel--I don't think so, as it is very comfortable and that was by no +means my recollection of the one we always went to on our way down so +many years ago. The rooms are high--we have a nice apartment on the +first floor, well furnished--quite modern. + +We got here yesterday quite early in the afternoon. It is only about 4 +or 5 hours by train. We had a most festive "send-off" from Milan. I was +well "bunched" as some of our compatriots would say. The padrone gave me +a beautiful bouquet of roses when we came downstairs to the carriage, +also a nice little basket of fruit which he thought might be acceptable +on our journey. He had seen about our carriage--so that was all +right--and we found the Director of the Museum, and the Greek friend at +the station--also with a bouquet. All our bags and wraps were stowed +away in the carriage, and the Director of the Museum (I have never known +his name) had also put papers--some illustrated ones--on the seats. I +felt rather like a bride starting on her wedding journey. + +The road wasn't very interesting. We had glimpses of the Alps +occasionally, and the day was beautiful, making everything look +picturesque and charming. It was rather a relief to get out of the rice +fields and little canals. We stopped some little time at Novara--where +we had a good cup of coffee. As we got near Turin everything looked very +green. There seemed to be more trees and little woods than in the +neighbourhood of Milan. The hotel porter was waiting for us at the +station with a carriage--so we drove straight off, leaving Madame Hubert +in charge of the porter, who spoke French perfectly, to follow with the +trunks. + +The hotel is on the great Place du Chateau, faces the Palazzo Madama. +They have given us a nice apartment, with windows and a good balcony +looking out on the Place. We went upstairs immediately to inspect the +rooms--the padrone himself conducting us. There were flowers on the +table, nice lounging chairs on the balcony. It looked charming. He +wanted to send us tea or coffee--but we really couldn't take anything as +it wasn't more than two hours since we had had a very fair little gouter +at Novara. We said we would dine in the restaurant about 8. He was +rather anxious we should have our dinner in the anteroom which was large +and light--often used for a dining-room--but we told him we much +preferred dining downstairs and seeing the people. + +We brushed off a little dust--it wasn't a very dirty journey--and +started off for a stroll across the Piazza Castello. It is a fine large +square, high buildings all around it, and the great mediaeval pile +Palazzo Madama facing us as we went in. It looked more like a fortress +than a palace, but there is a fine double staircase and facade with +marble columns and statues--white, I suppose, originally, but now rather +mellowed with years and exposure and taking a soft pink tint in the +waning sunlight. It was inhabited by the mother of one of the kings, +"Madama Reale," hence its name. There is a monument to the Sardinian +army in front of the palace with very elaborate bas-reliefs. They told +us there was nothing to see inside, so we merely walked all around it, +and then went over to the Palazzo Reale, which is a large brick +building, with no pretensions to architecture. They say it is very +handsome inside--large, high rooms, very luxuriously furnished. Somehow +or other luxuriously furnished apartments don't seem to go with Princes +of the House of Savoy. One can't imagine them reclining in ladies' +boudoirs on satin cushions, with silk and damask hangings. They seem +always to have been simple, hardy soldiers, more at home on a +battle-field than in a drawing-room. We asked at the entrance if the Duc +d'Aoste was here. He told us when he was in Paris that if ever we came +to Turin we must let him know--that he always received twice a week in +the evening when he was at home and that he would be delighted to see us +(I had put an evening dress in my trunk in case we should be invited +anywhere)--however he isn't here, away in the country for three or four +days on some inspection--so we wrote ourselves down in the book that he +might see that we intended to pay our respects. + +We walked through some of the squares--Piazza Carignano, with the great +palace Carignano which also looks grim and frowning, more like a prison +than a stately princely residence. I wonder if there are any what we +should call comfortable rooms in those gaunt old palaces. I have visions +of barred windows, very small panes of glass, brick floors, frescoed +ceilings black with age and smoke, and straight-backed, narrow carved +wooden chairs. However a fine race of sturdy, fighting men were brought +up within those old walls--perhaps Italy would not have been "unita" so +soon if the pioneers of freedom had been accustomed to all the luxury +and gaiety of the present generation. + +We wandered back through more squares and saw numberless statues of +Princes and Dukes of Savoy--almost all equestrian--the Princes in +armour, and generally a drawn sword in their hand--one feels that they +were a fighting race. + +The hills all around the city are charming, beautifully green, with +hundreds of villas (generally white) in all directions; some so high up +one wonders how the inhabitants ever get up there. In the distance +always the beautiful snow mountains. The town doesn't look either very +Italian or very Southern. I suppose the Piedmontese are a type apart. + +We had a table to ourselves in the dining-room, which was almost +empty--evidently people dine earlier than we do--and yet it is tempting +to stay out on a lovely summer evening. There were several officers in +uniform at one table--evidently a sort of mess--about 10. They were +rather noisy, making all sorts of jokes with the waiters, but they had +nearly finished when we came in and soon departed with a great clatter +of spurs and swords. We went for a few moments into the reading-room, +which was also quite deserted--only two couples, an English clergyman +and his wife both buried in their papers--and a German menage discussing +routes and guides and prices for some excursion they wanted to make. + +I had kept on my hat as we thought we would go out, take a turn in the +arcades and have a "granita." The padrone told us of a famous cafe where +the "granita" was very good, also very good music. W. is becoming such a +flaneur, and so imbued with the dolce far niente of this enchanting +country that I am rather anxious about him. I think he will want to go +every evening to the "Ambassadeurs" when we get back to Paris. + +We strolled about for some time. It was cool and there were not too many +people. Everybody sitting out, smoking and drinking. We got a nice +little table--each took an ice (they were very good--not too sweet), and +the music was really charming--quite a large orchestra, all guitars and +mandolins. Whenever they played a well-known air--song or waltz--the +whole company joined in. It sounded very pretty--they didn't sing too +loud, and enjoyed themselves extremely. We stayed some time. + +I am writing as usual, late, while W. is putting his notes in order. He +found a note, when he came in, from the Director of the Museum, saying +he would be delighted to see W. at the Museum to-morrow morning at 9 +o'clock, and would do the honours of the cabinet de medailles--also the +card of a Mr. Hoffman who wants very much to see W. and renew his +acquaintance with him after many years. He is in this hotel and will +come and see us to-morrow. W. has no idea who he is, but of course there +are many Hoffmans in the world. I suppose the gentleman will explain +himself. If it is fine we shall drive to the Superga to-morrow +afternoon, and start for Paris the next evening. W. says three seances +(and his are long) will be all he wants in the Museum. + + + May 14th. + +It has been again a lovely summer day--not too hot, and a delicious +breeze as we drove home from La Superga. I have been out all day. W. was +off at 9 to meet his Director, and I started at 10 with Madame Hubert to +flaner a little. We went first to the arcades where are all the best +shops, but I can't say I was tempted. There was really nothing to +buy--some nice blankets, half silk, half wool--not striped like the Como +blankets, a plain centre, red or blue, with a bright border--but it was +not a day to buy blankets, with the sun bright and strong over our +heads. There was a good deal of iron work, rather nice. I didn't care +for the jewellery. I didn't see myself with a wrought-iron chain and +cross, but I did get a large ring--strong and prettily worked, which the +man said many people bought to put in a hall and hang keys on. There +were plenty of people about. I didn't think the peasants were any +particular type--the men looked smaller than those about Milan--slight, +wiry figures. A good many were evidently guides, with axes and coils of +rope strapped on their backs. They told us in one of the shops (where as +a true American I was asking questions, eager for information) that +there were several interesting excursions to be made in the +neighbourhood. + +We went again to the Piazzo Castello which is so large that it is a very +fair walk to go all around the square--and went into the hall to see the +statue (equestrian of course) of Victor Amadeus the First. The horse is +curious, in marble. Then we went to the Cathedral, which is not very +interesting. The sacristan showed us a collection of small, dark +pictures over the altar which he said were by Albert Duerer; but they +were so black and confused I couldn't see anything--a little glimpse of +gilding every now and then that might be a halo around a saint's head. +What was interesting was the "Cappella del S. S. Sudario," where the +linen cloth is kept which is said to have enveloped the body of our +Saviour. It is kept in an urn, and only shown by special permission. +This, however, the sacristan obtained for us. He disappeared into the +sacristy and soon returned bringing with him a nice fat old priest in +full canonicals and very conversationally disposed. He lifted off the +top of the urn and drew out the linen cloth most carefully. It is very +fine linen, quite yellow and worn--almost in holes in some parts. He +spread it out most reverently on a marble slab, and showed us the +outlines of a man's figure. Marks there were certainly. I thought I saw +the head distinctly, but of course the imagination is a powerful factor +on these occasions. The chapel was dimly lighted, a few tapers burning, +and the old priest was so convinced and reverent that it was catching. I +suppose it might be possible--certainly all these traditions and relics +were an enormous strength to the Catholic Church in the early days when +there were no books and little learning, and people believed more easily +and simply than they do now. The chapel is a rather ugly, round +building, almost black, and with a quantity of statues (white) which +stand out well. It is the burial chapel of the House of Savoy, and there +are statues apparently to every Emmanuel or Amadeus that ever +existed--also a large marble monument to the late Queen of Sardinia. Do +you remember when Prince Massimo, in Rome, always spoke of Victor +Emmanuel, when he was King of Italy, and holding his court in Florence, +as the King of Sardinia? + +We had walked about longer than we thought, but everything is close +together, and it was time to get back to the hotel for breakfast. I had +the dining-room almost to myself--my table was drawn up close to the +open window, a vase of roses upon it, and one or two papers--English, +Italian, and the "Figaro." Paris seems to be amusing itself. Henrietta +writes that the Champs Elysees are enchanting--all the horse chestnuts +in full bloom. Here there is abundance of flowers--one gets glimpses of +pretty gardens through open gates and openings in railings and walls. +There are plenty of street stalls, too, with fruits and flowers, but one +doesn't see the wealth of roses and wistaria climbing over every bit of +wall and up the sides of houses as in Florence. The city is perfectly +busy and prosperous, but has none of the delightful look of laziness and +enjoyment of life and the blue sky and the sunshine that one feels in +Rome and Florence. + +W. came in about 3, having had a delightful morning in the cabinet des +medailles. The Director, a most learned, courteous old gentleman, was +waiting for him, and though he knew W. and his collection by reputation, +he was quite surprised to find that W. knew quite as much about his +coins and treasures as he did himself. He hadn't supposed it possible +that a statesman with so many interests and calls upon his time could +have kept up his scientific work. + +We shall leave to-morrow night, and before we started for our drive we +sent off letters and telegrams to Paris. I can hardly believe it +possible that Friday morning I shall be breakfasting in Paris, going to +mother to tea in the afternoon, and taking up my ordinary life. +Henrietta writes that she has told Francis we are coming home, but +frankness compels her to say that he has received that piece of +information with absolute indifference. He has been as happy as a king +all the months we have been away--spoiled to his heart's content and +everybody in the two establishments his abject slaves. + +We started about 4 for La Superga in a nice light basket carriage and +pair of strong little horses. It was rather interesting driving all +through the town, which is comparatively small--one is soon out of it. +The streets are narrow, once one is out of the great thoroughfares, with +high houses on each side. Every now and then an interesting cornice with +a curious round tower and some funny old-fashioned houses with high +pointed roofs and iron balconies running quite around the house, but on +the whole it is much less picturesque and colder looking than the other +Italian cities. The road was not very animated--few vehicles of any +description, a few fiacres evidently bound for the Superga like us. +There were not many carts nor many people about. What _was_ lovely was +the crown of green hills with little chestnut groves--some of the little +woods we drove through were quite charming, with the long slanting rays +of the afternoon sun shining through the branches--just as I remember +the Galleria di Sotto at Albano--the chestnuts grow high on all the +hillsides. We had quite a stiff mount before we got to the church (but +the little horses trotted up very fairly) and a good climb after we left +the carriage. One sees the church from a long distance. It has a fine +colonnade and a high dome which lifts itself well up into the clouds. We +followed a pretty steep, winding path up to the top, quantities of wild +roses, a delicate pink, like our eglantine at home, twisting themselves +around the bushes. There is nothing particularly interesting in the +church. It is the burial place of the Kings of Savoy, and their vault is +in the crypt. The last one buried there was Charles Albert. Victor +Emmanuel is buried in the Pantheon in Rome. We found a nice old +sacristan who took us about and explained various statues to us--also +all the glories of the Casa di Savoia, winding up with an enthusiastic +eulogy of Queen Margherita--but never as Queen of Italy, "nostra +Principessa." She has certainly made herself a splendid place in the +hearts of the people--they all adore her. We climbed up to the roof, and +what a view we had, all Turin at our feet with its domes and high, +pointed roofs, standing in the midst of the green plain dotted all over +with villas, farms, gardens, little groves of chestnuts, the river +meandering along through the meadows carpeted with flowers, and looking +in the sunlight like a gold zig-zag with its numerous turns--always the +beautiful crown of hills, and in the background the snow peaks of the +Alps. It was very clear--they looked so near, as if one could throw a +stone across. Our old man pointed out all the well-known peaks--Monte +Rosa, Mont Cenis, and many others whose names I didn't catch. He said he +had rarely seen the whole chain so distinct. It reminded me of the view +we had of the Bernese Oberland so many years ago--the first time we had +seen snow mountains. On arriving at Berne we were hurried out on the +terrace by the padrone of the hotel as he said we might never again see +all the chain of the Alps so distinctly. Beautiful it was--all the snow +mountains rolling away in the distance; some of them straight up into +the sunset clouds, others with little wreaths of white soft clouds half +way up their summits, and clouds and snow so mingled that one could +hardly distinguish which was snow. I thought they were all +clouds--beautiful, airy intangible shapes. + +We loitered about some time on the terrace after we came down, watching +the lights fade and finally disappear--the mountains looking like great +grey giants frowning down on the city. The air was decidedly cooler as +we drove home, but it was a perfect summer evening. There were more +people out as we got near Turin--all the workers getting a little breath +of air after the toil of the day. + + + May 15th. + +I will send this very long letter off this evening. Our trunks are +packed and downstairs, and I will finish this while we are waiting for +dinner. We have had a nice day. Madame Hubert and I strolled about this +morning and went to see the house where Cavour was born, and also to the +Giardino Pubblico. The grounds are handsome, but not particularly +interesting at that hour in the morning, and there wasn't a creature +there but ourselves. There are various monuments--one of Manin with a +fine figure of the Republic of Venice. + +I breakfasted as usual alone, and at 3 W. came in, having quite finished +his work at the Museum. He had given rendezvous to Mr. Hoffman for 3.30, +and while we were sitting talking waiting for him the padrone came up +and said an officer "de la part du Duc d'Aoste" wanted to see us. We +begged him of course to send him up, and in a few minutes a very +good-looking young officer in uniform made his appearance. He named +himself--Count Colobiano I think--but we didn't catch the name very +distinctly; said he had had the honour of dining with us at the Quai +d'Orsay with his Prince, and that the Prince was "desole" not to be in +Turin these days and had sent him to put himself at our disposition. He +proposed all sorts of things--the opera, a drive (or a ride if we +preferred) to a sort of parade ground just outside the gates where we +would see some cavalry manoeuvres. He knew I rode, and could give me a +capital lady's hack. I was rather sorry he hadn't come before--it would +have amused us to see the manoeuvres, and also to ride--but that would +have been difficult as I had no habit with me. However, as we are +leaving this evening there was nothing to be done. He was very civil and +I think rather sorry not to do us the honours of his city. He said there +were beautiful excursions to be made from Turin, and asked us if we had +seen anything. We said only the Superga which he evidently didn't +consider very interesting. He said the Duke was very sorry to have +missed us, and that he thought I would have enjoyed an evening at the +Palace, as the receptions were very gay and informal. I cannot imagine +(I didn't tell him that) anything gay with the Duc d'Aoste. He is very +sympathetic to me, but a type apart. A stern, almost ascetic appearance, +very silent and shy, but a beautiful smile. He looks exactly as one +would imagine a Prince of the House of Savoy would. We saw him often in +Paris, and his face always interested me--so grave, and as if he were +miles away from the ordinary modern world. It was just after he had +given up his Spanish throne, and although I didn't think that crown +weighed very heavily on his brow he must have had some curious +experiences and seen human nature in perhaps not its best form. The +young aide-de-camp paid us quite a visit, and we made him promise to +come and see us if ever he came to Paris. We sent all sorts of messages +and regrets to the Duke. Just as he was going out Mr. Hoffman appeared +and he sat an hour with us. He was delightful, has lived almost all his +life in and near Turin, and had all the history of Piedmont at his +fingers' ends. He seems to have met W. years ago at a dinner in London +and has always followed his career with much interest. It was most +interesting to hear him talk. He admires Cavour immensely--said his +death was a great calamity for Italy--that he hadn't given half of what +he could, and that every year he lived he grew in intellect and +knowledge of people. He also said (as they all do) that he mistrusted +Louis Napoleon so intensely, and through all their negotiations and +discussions as to Italy's future he was pursued by the idea that the +Emperor would go back upon his word. He said the Piedmontese were a race +apart--hardly considered themselves Italian, and that even now in the +little hamlets in the mountains the peasants had vague ideas of +nationality, and never spoke of themselves as Italians, or identified +themselves with Italian interests and history--that in the upper classes +traces of French occupation and education, superstition and priestly +rule were just getting effaced. For years in the beginning of the +century the priests (Jesuits) had it all their own way in Turin. The +teaching in the schools was entirely in their hands, and most +elementary; and numerous convents and monasteries were built. Cavour as +a very young man soon emancipated himself from all those ideas, and if +he had lived, Hoffman thinks, much trouble would have been averted, and +that he would certainly have found some means of coming to a better +understanding with the Vatican, "the most brilliant and far-seeing +intellect I have ever met." + +He wanted to take us to some palace where there are some very curious +and inedites letters of Cavour's to the owner, who was one of his +friends, and always on very confidential terms with him; but of course +we couldn't do that as we are off in a few hours. + +Hoffman would never have gone, I think, if the padrone hadn't appeared +to say dinner was ready. I left him and W. talking while I went to give +some last instructions to the maid, and when I got back to the salon +they had drifted away from Cavour and Piedmont and were discussing +French politics, the attitude of Germany and the anti-religious feeling +in France. + +I shall miss all the talk about Italy and her first struggles for +independence when I get home. French people, as a rule, care so little +for outside things. They travel very little, don't read much foreign +literature, and are quite absorbed in their own interests and +surroundings. Of course they are passing through a curious phase--so +many old things passing away--habits and traditions of years upset, and +the new regime not yet sufficiently established nor supported by all +that is best in the country. I think W. has been impressed and rather +surprised at the very easy way in which all religious questions are +disposed of in Italy, and yet the people are certainly superstitious +and have a sort of religious feeling. The churches are all full on great +feast days, and one sees great big young peasants kneeling and kissing +relics when they are exposed; and several times even here about Turin we +have seen men and women kneeling at some of the crosses along the road. +I have rarely seen that in France--but then the Italians are a more +emotional race. They are difficult problems--a country can't live +without a religion. + + + RUE DUMONT D'URVILLE. + +We got back yesterday morning early. Hubert and the big mare were +waiting for us, and we were whirled up to the house in a very un-Italian +manner (for the horses in Italy are just as easy-going as the people and +never hurry themselves nor display any undue energy). Francis and +"nounou" were waiting at the door--he really quite excited and pleased +to see us--and the sisters appeared about 11. We talked a little and +they helped me unpack; and I went to see mother directly after breakfast +and stayed there all the afternoon. This morning I am writing as usual +at the window and hearing all the familiar Paris sounds. The goat-boy +has just passed with his 6 goats and curious reed pipe, the marchande de +cressons with her peculiar cry advertising her merchandise, and ending +"pour la sante du corps" on a long shrill note--the man who sits on the +pavement and mends china. He is just at our door, and has a collection +of broken plates and cups around him. I suppose some are ours. The +"light lady" next door is standing at her door in her riding habit, the +skirt already very short and held well up over her arm displaying a fair +amount of trousers and high boots. She is haranguing in very forcible +language the groom who is cantering the horse up and down the street, +and of course even in our quiet street there are always badauds who stop +and ask questions, and hang around the porte-cocheres to see all that is +going on. W. has just started on horseback and that is a most +interesting moment for the street, for his big black "Paddy" has a most +uncomfortable trick. From the moment he takes the bridle in his hand and +prepares to mount, the horse snorts, and stamps and backs, making such a +noise in the little court-yard you would think he was kicking everything +to pieces. As soon as the big doors are opened and he can get out he is +as quiet as a lamb. + +It is a beautiful morning and Paris looks its best--all the +horse-chestnuts in full bloom, the sky a bright blue, and quantities of +equipages and riders streaming out to the Bois. I suppose I shall ride +too in a day or so, and by the end of the week Italy will be a thing of +the past, and I shall be leading my ordinary Paris life. + +There was a procession of people here all the afternoon yesterday to see +W., and now he is quite au courant of all that has taken place in his +absence, and I think in his heart he is delighted to be back and in the +thick of the fight again. He is going to the Senate this afternoon. + +We had a most comfortable journey from Turin--a lit-salon to ourselves, +the maid just behind us. All the first hours were charming as long as we +could see as all the country about Turin is so lovely. We passed +Moncalieri which stands high on the hills--a long low building, and one +or two other fine old castles, all perched high on the slope of the +mountains. I always sleep so well in a train that I was hardly awake +when we passed at Modane, though I was dimly conscious of the stop, the +lanterns flashing along the train and a great deal of conversation. +Nobody disturbed us as we had given our "laissez-passer" to the garde, +but I fancy we made a long halt there as the train was very crowded. We +had our coffee at Dijon very early in the morning. It was quite pleasant +to see the regular little French brioche again. + +I went to tea with Mother and afterward we went for a turn in the Bois, +which looked beautiful--so green--all the horse-chestnuts out (the road +from Auteuil to Boulogne with the rows of red horse-chestnuts on each +side quite enchanting); the hills, St. Cloud and Mont Valerien blue and +standing out sharply against the sky, but I missed the delicious soft +atmosphere of Italy and the haze that always hung around the hills and +softened all the outlines. The Seine looked quite animated. There really +were one or two small boats out, and near Puteaux (the club) some women +rowing, and of course the little river steamers flying up and down, +crowded. + +We are dining with l'Oncle Alphonse who will give us all the news of the +day, and the opinion of the "Union." + + + + +PART II + +ITALY REVISITED + + + _To H. L. K._ + + ROME, Friday, February 12, 1904. + +It seems so strange to be back here, dear, after twenty-four years, and +to find Rome so changed, so unchanged. The new quarter, an absolutely +new modern city, might be Wiesbaden, or Neuilly, or any cheerful resort +of retired business men who build hideous villas with all sorts of +excrescences--busts, vases, and plaques of bright-coloured majolica--and +the old city with the dirty little winding streets going toward St. +Peter's exactly the same; almost the same little ragged, black-eyed +children playing in the gutters. + +We had a most comfortable journey down. Hardly any one in the +sleeping-car but ourselves, so we all had plenty of room. It was a +bright, beautiful morning when we got to Modane--the mountains covered +with snow, and the fresh keen wind blowing straight from the glaciers +was enchanting after a night in the sleeping-car. They are frightfully +overheated. I had some difficulty in persuading the attendant to open my +window for the night; however, as I was alone in my compartment, he +finally agreed, merely saying he would come and shut it when we passed +through the great tunnel. We dined at the buffet at Genoa, and it didn't +seem natural not to ask for the Alassio train. The station was crowded, +the Roman train too--they put on extra carriages. We got to Rome about +9.30. I had been ready since 6.30, eagerly watching to get a glimpse of +St. Peter's. I had visions of Civita Vecchia and running along by the +sea in the early morning. + +I was quite awake, but I didn't see St. Peter's until we were quite near +Rome. We ran through long, level stretches of Campagna, with every now +and then a great square building that had been probably a mediaeval +castle, but was now a farm--sheep and cattle wandering out of the old +gateway, and those splendid big white oxen that one sees all over the +Campagna--some shepherds' huts with their pointed thatched roofs dotted +about, but nothing very picturesque or striking. We passed close to San +Paolo Fuori le Mura, with the Testaccio quite near. We paid ourselves +compliments when we arrived at the station for having made our long +journey so easily and pleasantly. No one was tired and no one was bored. +Between us all (we were four women) we had plenty of provisions and +Bessie[30] and Mme. de Bailleul were most successful with their afternoon +tea, with delicious American cake, that Bessie had brought over in the +steamer. + +[30] Marquise de Talleyrand-Perigord, nee Curtis. + +After all, Josephine[31] finds she has room for me and my maid, which of +course is infinitely pleasanter for me than being at the hotel. Her +house is charming--not one of the old palaces, but plenty of room and +thoroughly Italian. The large red salon I delight in; it couldn't exist +anywhere else but in Rome, with its red silk walls, heavy gilt +furniture, pictures, and curious bits of old carving and majolica. It +opens into a delightful music-room with fine frescoes on the walls (a +beautiful bit of colour), and beyond that there is a small salon where +we usually sit. + +[31] Princess di Poggio-Suasa, nee Curtis. + +She has a picture there of her husband, Don Emanuele Ruspoli (late +syndic of Rome), which has rather taken possession of me. It is such a +handsome, spirited face, energetic and rather imperious--he looks a born +ruler of men, and I believe he was. They say Rome was never so well +governed as in his time. He was one of the first of the young Roman +nobles who emancipated themselves from the papal rule. As quite a youth +he ran away from college and entered the Italian army as a simple +soldier, winning his grade as captain on the battle-field. He was a +loyal and devoted servant of the House of Savoy, and took a prominent +part in all the events which ended in proclaiming Victor Emanuel King of +Italy, with Rome his capital. + +This quarter, Piazza Barberini, is quite new to me. It used to seem +rather far off in the old days when we came to see the Storys in the +Barberini Palace, but now it is quite central. The great new street--Via +Veneto--runs straight away from the Piazza, past the Church of the +Cappucini--you will remember the vaults with all the dead monks standing +about--the Palace of the Queen Mother, and various large hotels, to +Porta Pinciana. Just the other side of the road is the new gate opening +into the Villa Borghese. I rather lost myself there the first day I +prowled about alone. It was raining, but I wanted some air, and turned +into the Via Veneto, which is broad and clean. I walked quite to the +end, and then came to the Porta Pinciana, crossed the road, and found +myself in a beautiful villa. I didn't come upon any special landmark +until I got near the Museum, which, of course, looked quite familiar. +However, I was bewildered and hailed a passing groom to inquire where I +was, and even when he told me could scarcely believe it. I had never +gone into the Villa Borghese except by the Piazza del Popolo. They have +made extraordinary changes since the Government has bought it--opened +out new roads and paths, planted quantities of trees and flowers, and +cleaned up and trimmed in every direction. It will be a splendid +promenade in the heart of the city, but no longer the old Villa Borghese +we used to know, with ragged, unkempt corners, and little paths in +out-of-the-way places, so choked up with weeds and long grass that one +could hardly get through. + +I haven't quite got my bearings yet, and for the first three or four +mornings I took myself down to the Piazza di Spagna, and started from +there. There, too, there are changes--new houses and shops (I was glad +to see old Spithoever in the same place) and a decided look of business +and modern life. There were not nearly so many people doing nothing, +lounging about, leaning on the "barca," or playing mora on the Spanish +Steps. All the botte were still standing in the middle of the street, +the coachmen smiling, cracking their whips, and making frantic little +dashes across the piazza whenever they saw an unwary stranger who might +want a cab. + +The Spanish Steps looked beautiful, glowing with colour--pink, yellow, +and that soft grey tint that the Roman stones take in the sunlight. All +the lower steps are covered with flower stalls (they are not allowed any +longer scattered all over the piazza), and most picturesque they +looked--daffodils, mimosa, and great bunches of peach-blossoms which +were very effective. There were very few models in costume sitting +about; a few children playing some sort of game with stones, which they +interrupted to run after the forestieri and ask for a "piccolo soldo" (a +penny), and one or two old men with long white beards--might have done +for models of the apostles or Joseph in the flight into Egypt--wrapped +in their wonderful long green cloaks, sitting in the sun. There is one +novelty--an "ascenseur." I haven't been in it yet, but I shall try it +some day. One must get accustomed to many changes in the Rome of to-day. + +I recognised some of the houses at the top of the steps--the corner one +between Vias Sistina and Gregoriana, where the Rodmans used to live one +year, and where we have dined so often, sitting on the round balcony and +seeing the moon rise over the Pincio. + +I walked home the other day by the Via Sistina to the Piazza Barberini, +and that part seemed to me absolutely unchanged. The same little open +mosaic shops, with the workmen dressed in white working at the +door--almost in the street. In one shop they were just finishing a +table, putting in countless bits of coloured marble (some of them very +small). It was exactly like the one we brought from Rome many years ago, +which stands now in Francis's smoking-room. There was of course the +inevitable jeweller's shop, with crosses and brooches of dull yellow +Roman gold and mosaic, and silk shops with Roman silk scarfs, and a sort +of coarse lace which I have seen everywhere. In the middle of the street +a miserable wrinkled old woman, her face mahogany colour, attired in a +red skirt with a green handkerchief on her head, was skirmishing with a +band of dirty little children, who had apparently upset her basket of +roast chestnuts, and were making off with as many as they could find, +pursued by her shrill cries and "maledizioni." + +We went out in the open carriage yesterday, and drove all around Rome +leaving cards--finished with a turn in the Villa Borghese and Pincio. It +was too late for the Villa--almost every one had gone, and one felt the +chill strike one on going into the thick shade after coming out of the +bright sun in the Piazza del Popolo. We crossed Queen Margherita at the +gate. She looked so handsome--the black is very becoming and threw out +well her fair hair and skin. She was driving in a handsome carriage--the +servants in mourning. One lady was with her--another carriage and two +cyclists following. All the people bowed and looked so pleased to see +her, and her bow and smile of acknowledgment were charming. + +We made a short turn in the Villa and then went on to the Pincio, which +was crowded. There were some very handsome, stately Roman equipages, +plenty of light victorias, a few men driving themselves in very high +phaetons, and the inevitable botta with often three youths on the one +seat. The carriages didn't draw up--the ladies holding a sort of +reception as in our days, when all the "gilded youth" used to sit on the +steps of the victorias and surround the carriages of the pretty women. +They tell me the present generation comes much less to the Villa +Borghese and Pincio. They are much more sporting--ride, drive +automobiles and play golf. There are two golf clubs now--one at Villa +Pamphili Doria, the other at Aqua Santa. Every time we go out on the +Campagna we meet men with golf clubs and rackets. + +Monday I prowled about in the morning, always making the same round--Via +Sistina and the Spanish Steps. The lame man at the top of the steps +knows me well now, and we always exchange a cheerful good morning. +Sometimes I give him some pennies and sometimes I don't, but he is +always just as smiling when I don't give him anything. + +In the afternoon Madame de B. and I went for a drive and a little +sight-seeing. She wanted a bottle of eucalyptus from the monks at Tre +Fontane, so we took in San Paolo Fuori le Mura on our way. The drive out +is charming--a few dirty little streets at first--past the Theatre of +Marcellus, which looks blacker and grimmer, if possible, than when I +last saw it--and then some distance along the river. There are great +changes---high buildings, quays, boats, carts with heavy stones and +quantities of workmen--really quite an air of a busy port--busy of +course in a modified sense, as no Roman ever looks as if he were working +hard, and there are always two or three looking on, and talking, for +every one who works--however, there is certainly much more life in the +streets and the city looks prosperous. + +The great new Benedictine Monastery of Sant' Anselmo stands splendidly +on the heights (Aventine) to the left, also the walls and garden of the +Knights of Malta. The garden, with its long shady walks, between rows of +tall cypress trees, looked most inviting. We left the Testaccio and +Protestant Cemetery on our right and followed a long file of carriages +evidently going, too, to San Paolo. That of course looked exactly the +same--an enormous modern building with a wealth of splendid marble +columns inside. The proportions and great spaces are very fine, and +there was a brilliant effect of light and colour (as every column is +different). Some of the red-pink was quite beautiful, but it is not in +the least like a church--not at all devotional. One can't imagine any +poor weary souls kneeling on that slippery, shining marble pavement and +pouring out their hearts in prayer. It is more like a great hall or +academy. We went out into the quiet of the cloisters, which are +interesting, some curious old tombs and statues, but small for such a +huge basilica--always the square green plot in the centre with a well. + +We had some difficulty in making our way to the carriage through a +perfect army of boys and men selling photographs, postal cards, mosaic +pins with views of the church, etc., also bits of marble, giallo +antico, porphyry and a piece of dark marble, almost black, which had +come from the Marmorata close by. + +We went on to the Tre Fontane, about half an hour's drive--real country, +quite charming. We didn't see the churches until we were quite close to +them--they are almost hidden by the trees. I never should have +recognised the place. The eucalyptus trees which the monks were just +beginning to plant when we were here before have grown up into a fine +avenue. They were cutting and trimming them, and the ground was covered +with great branches making a beautiful green carpet with a strong +perfume. Various people were looking on and almost every one carried off +a branch of eucalyptus. We did too, and one is now hanging over the bed +in my room. It is supposed to be very healthy. It has a very strong +odour--to me very agreeable. + +A service was going on in one of the churches, the monks singing a low +monotonous chant, and everything was so still; one was so shut in by the +trees that the outside world, Rome and the Corso might have been miles +away. We went into the church to see the three fountains built into the +wall. Tradition says that when St. Paul was executed his head bounded +three times and at each place a fountain sprang up. A tall young monk +was going about with some seminarists explaining the legend to them. +They were listening with rapt attention and drinking reverently at each +fountain. + +We went into the little farmacia and found there a German monk who was +much pleased when he found we could speak German. He told us there were +90 monks there, and that the place was perfectly healthy--not as when +they began their work, when many died of fever. We each bought a bottle +of eucalyptus, and were sorry to come away. The light was fading--the +eucalyptus avenue looked dark and mysterious, and the low chant of the +monks was still going on. + +We went to a beautiful ball in the evening at the Brancaccios'. They +built their palace--which is enormous--has a fine marble staircase +(which showed off the women's long trailing skirts splendidly) and +quantities of rooms filled with beautiful things. I didn't take them all +in as I was so much interested in the people, but Bessie has promised to +take me all over the palace some morning. + +To-day we have been to the Brancaccio garden. It was a beautiful bright +morning, so Bessie Talleyrand proposed we should drive up and stroll +about there. We telephoned to Brancaccio, who said he would meet us in +the garden. You can't imagine anything more enchanting than that +beautiful southern garden in the heart of Rome. We drove through the +court-yard and straight up the hill to a little bridge that connects the +garden with Mrs. Field's old apartment. Mrs. Field really made the +garden (and loved it always). When they bought the ground it was simply +an "orto" or field, and now it is a paradise filled with every possible +variety of trees and flowers. It seems that wherever she saw a beautiful +tree she immediately asked what it was and where it came from, and then +had some sent to her from no matter where. Of course hundreds were +lost--the journey, change of soil, transplanting them, etc., but +hundreds remain and the effect is marvellous. Splendid tall palms from +Bordighera, little delicate shrubs from America and Canada all growing +and thriving side by side in the beautiful Roman garden. There is a fine +broad allee which goes straight down from the winter garden to the end +of the grounds with the Colosseum as background. It is planted on each +side with green oaks, and between them rows of orange and mandarin +trees--the branches heavy with the fruit. We picked delicious, ripe, +warm mandarins from the trees, and eat them as we were strolling along. +It was too early for the roses, of which there are thousands in the +season--one saw the plants twining around all the trees. There are all +sorts of ruins and old walls in the garden, baths of Titus, Sette Celle, +and one comes unexpectedly, in odd corners, upon fine old bits of +carving and wall which have no name now, but which certainly have had a +history. + +The sky was a deep blue over our heads, and the trees so thick, that the +ugly new buildings which skirt one side of the garden are almost +completely hidden. It was a pleasure just to sit on a bench and +live--the air was so soft, and the garden smell so delicious. + +[Illustration: The Barberini Palace. + +The residence of the Storys.] + +After breakfast I went out early with Josephine--leaving of course some +cards first--after that we took a turn on the Pincio, which was basking +in the sunshine (but quite deserted at that hour except by nurses and +children), and then drove out toward the Villa Pamphili. The road was so +familiar, and yet so different. The same steep ascent to the Janiculum +with the beggars and cripples of all ages running alongside the carriage +and holding out withered arms and maimed limbs--awful to see. The road +is much wider--more of a promenade, trees and flowers planted all along. +The fountains of San Pietro in Montorio looked beautiful--such a rush of +bright, dancing water. We drove through the Villa Corsini--quite new +since my time--a beautiful drive, and drew up on the terrace just under +the equestrian statue of Garibaldi from where there is a splendid +view--the whole city of Rome at our feet, seen through a warm, grey mist +that made even the ugly staring white and yellow houses of the new +quarter look picturesque. They lost themselves in a charming +ensemble. St. Peter's looked very near but always a little veiled by the +haze which made the great mass more imposing. We looked straight across +the city to the Campagna--all the well-known monuments--Cecilia Metella, +aqueducts and the various tombs scattered along the Via Appia were quite +distinct. The statue of the great revolutionary leader seemed curiously +out of place. I should have preferred almost the traditional wolf with +the two little boys sucking in her milk. We couldn't stay very long as +we had a tea at home. We met many people and carriages going up as we +came down, as it was the day for the Villa Pamphili, which is open to +the public twice a week. + +We went to a ball at the Storys' in the evening, and as we went up the +great staircase of the Barberini Palace (the steps so broad and shallow +that one could drive up in a light carriage) finishing with the steep +little flight quite at the top which leads directly to the Story +apartment, I could hardly realize how many years had passed since I had +first danced in these same rooms, and that I shouldn't find the +charming, genial maitre de maison of my youth who made his house such an +interesting centre. I think one of Mr. Story's greatest charms was his +absolute simplicity, his keen interest in everything and his sympathy +with younger men who were still fighting the great battle of life which +he had brought to such a triumphant close. His son, Waldo Story,[32] who +has inherited his father's talent, keeps up the hospitable traditions of +the house. + +[32] The well-known sculptor. + +The ball was very animated--all the young dancing Rome was there. + + + Monday, February 15th. + +I am alone this morning--the others have gone to the meet at Cecchignola +fuori Porta San Sebastiano. I should have liked to go for the sake of +old times, but I was rather tired, and have the court ball to-night. + +Last night I had a pleasant dinner at Count Vitali's. He has bought the +Bandini palace, and made it, of course, most comfortable and modern. The +rooms are beautiful--the splendid proportions and great space one only +sees now in Rome in the old palaces. The dinner was for M. Nisard +(French Ambassador to the Vatican), but it wasn't altogether Black. +There were one of the Queen's ladies and one or two secretaries from the +Quirinal embassies. The line between the two parties is not nearly so +sharply drawn as when I was here so many years ago. A few people came in +the evening. Among the first to appear was Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, +whom I was delighted to see again. It is long since I have seen a +cardinal in all the bravery of his red robes and large jewelled cross, +and for the first time I felt as if I were back in old Rome. We had a +nice talk and plunged into Moscow and all the coronation festivities. I +told him I was very anxious to see the Pope, which he said could easily +be arranged. Nisard, too, was charming--said I should have an audience +speciale as ancienne ambassadrice. I waited to see the cardinal go with +all the usual ceremonies for a prince of the Church. Two big footmen +with flambeaux and tall candles escorted him to his carriage. The +cardinal came alone, which surprised me. I thought they always had an +attendant--a sort of ecclesiastical aide-de-camp. + +Saturday Marquise de Bailleul and I were received by the Queen. Our +audience was at four. I went for her a little before. We drove straight +to the Quirinal, the great entrance on the piazza. Two swell porters +were at the door, but no guards nor soldiers visible anywhere. We went +up the grand staircase, where there was a red carpet and plenty of +flowers, but no servants on the steps. The doors of a large anteroom at +the top of the stairs were open, and there were four footmen in powder, +culottes, and royal red liveries, and three or four men in black. We +left our wraps. I wore my grey velvet and Marquise de Bailleul was in +black with a handsome sable cape (which she was much disgusted at +leaving). We went at once into a large room, where the dame de palais de +service was waiting for us. She had a list in her hand, came forward at +once and named herself, Duchesse d'Arscoli, said she supposed I was +Madame Waddington. I introduced Marquise de Bailleul. The gentleman also +came up and said a few words. There were one or two other ladies in the +room, evidently waiting their turn. In a few minutes the door into the +next room opened and two ladies came out. The duchess went in, remained +a second, then coming back, waved us in. She didn't come in herself, +didn't announce us, and shut the door behind us. We found ourselves in a +large, rather bare room, with no trace of habitation--I fancy it is only +used for official receptions. The Queen was standing at a table about +the middle of the room. She is tall, dark, with fine eyes and a pretty +smile. We made our two curtseys--hadn't time for the third, as she +advanced a step, shook hands, and made us sit down. The visit didn't +last very long. I fancy she was rather tired, as evidently she had been +receiving a good many people, and was probably bored at having to make +phrases to utter strangers she might never see again. We had the usual +royal questions as to our children. As I only had _one_ child my +conversation on that subject soon came to an end, but Marquise de +Bailleul has three small ones, so she got on swimmingly. The Queen +talked very prettily and simply about her own children, and the +difficulty of keeping them natural and unspoiled; said people gave them +such beautiful presents--all sorts of wonderful mechanical toys which +they couldn't appreciate. One thing she said was rather funny--that the +present they liked best was a rag doll the American Ambassadress had +brought them from America. + +As soon as we came out other people went in. I fancy all the strangers +asked to the ball had to be presented first to the Queen. I think the +London rule was rather simpler. There the strangers were always +presented at supper, when the Princess of Wales made her "cercle." + +We went to a ball in the evening at Baron Pasetti's (Austrian Ambassador +to the Quirinal). They have a fine apartment in the Palazzo Chigi. I +remembered the rooms quite well, just as they were in the old days when +Wimpffen was Ambassador. The hall was most brilliant--all Rome there. +The Pasettis are going away, and will be much regretted. I think he is +rather delicate and has had enough of public life. I hadn't seen him +since Florence, when we were all young, and life was then a succession +of summer days--long afternoons in the villas, with roses hanging over +the walls, and evenings on the balcony, with nightingales singing in the +garden and the scent of flowers in the air, "der goldener Zeit der +jungen Liebe" (the golden days of young love). + +Sunday Bessie and I went to the American church. Dr. Nevin is still +away. The church is large, but was quite full--there are evidently many +Americans in Rome. The great mosaics over the altar were given by Mrs. +Field. + + + Wednesday, February 17th. + +Monday night we went to the court ball. It was very amusing, but +extraordinarily simple, not to say democratic. Bessie and I went +together early, so as to get good seats. If I hadn't known we were going +to the palace I should have thought we had made a mistake in the house. +The square of the Quirinal was so quiet, almost deserted--no troops nor +music, nor crowd of people looking on and peering into the carriages to +see the dresses and jewels--no soldiers nor officials of any kind on the +grand staircase. Some tall cuirassiers and footmen in the anteroom--no +chamberlains nor pages--nothing like the glittering crowd of gold lace +and uniforms one usually sees in the anteroom of a palace. We walked +through two or three handsome rooms to the ball-room, where there were +already a great many people. The room is large, high, but rather too +narrow, with seats all round. There was no raised platform for the +court--merely a carpet and two large gilt arm-chairs for the King and +Queen and a smaller one for the Comte de Turin. It was amusing to see +all the people coming in, the different uniforms and jewels of the women +giving at once an air of court. The entrance of the royal cortege was +quite simple. They played the "Marcia Reale," which I don't at all care +for. It is a frivolous, jumpy little tune, not at all the grave, +dignified measure one would expect on such an occasion. There were no +chamberlains walking backward with their great wands of office in their +hands. The master of ceremonies, Count Gianotti, looking very well in +his uniform and broad green ribbon, came first, and almost immediately +behind him the King and Queen, arm in arm, the Count of Turin, and a +small procession of court functionaries. The Queen looked very well in +yellow, with a splendid tiara. She took her seat at once; the King and +Comte de Turin remained standing. What was charming was the group of +young court ladies who followed the Queen--tall, handsome women, very +well dressed. There was no "quadrille d'honneur," none of the royalties +danced. The dancing began as soon as the court was seated--any little +couple, a young lieutenant, an American, any one, dancing under the nose +of the sovereigns. The Queen remained sitting quite alone, hardly +speaking to any one, through three or four dances; then there was a +move, and she made her "cercle," going straight around the room, and +speaking to almost every one. The King made no "cercle," remained +standing near the "corps diplomatique," who were all massed on one side +of the thrones (or arm-chairs). He talked to the ambassadors and +etrangers de distinction (men--they say he rarely speaks to a woman). We +all moved about a little after the Queen had passed, and I found plenty +of old friends and colleagues to talk to. Neither the Russian +Ambassador, Prince Ourousoff, nor any of his staff were present, on +account of the war. + +Tuesday it poured all the morning, so I didn't get my usual walk, and I +tried to put some sort of order in our cards, which are in a hopeless +confusion. The unfortunate porter is almost crazy. There are four of us +here (as Madame de Bailleul's cards and invitations also come here), all +with different names, and it must be impossible not to mix them. + +[Illustration: Victor Emanuel III., King of Italy.] + +It stopped raining in the afternoon and Josephine and I walked up to +Palazzo Brancaccio after tea, to ask about Bessie, who has been ill ever +since her ball. The streets were full of people, a few masks (as it was +Mardi Gras), but quite in the lower classes. I should think the +Carnival was dead, as far as Society is concerned. We got very little +information about Bessie--the porter would not let us go upstairs, said +the Princess was in the country, or perhaps in Paris. It seems he is +quite a character, well known in Rome. When Mr. Field was ill, dying, of +course everybody went to inquire, which seemed to exasperate him, as he +finally replied, "ma si, e malato, va morire, ma lasciarlo in +pace--perche venir seccar la gente?" (yes, yes, he is ill, dying, but +leave him in peace--why do you come and bore people?). + +We stepped in at a little church on our way back, where a benediction +was going on. It was brilliantly lighted, and filled with people almost +all kneeling--princesses and peasants--on the stone floor. It was a +curious contrast to the motley, masquerading crowd just outside. + + + Thursday, 18th. + +It is still showery and the streets very muddy to-day. This morning I +made a solitary expedition to St. Peter's--armed with an Italian +guide-book M. Virgo lent me (it was red, like Baedeker, so I looked +quite the tourist). I went by tram--M. Virgo and the children escorted +me to the bottom of the Via Tritone, and started me. The tramway is most +convenient. We went through the Piazza di Spagna, across the Piazza del +Popolo, and turned off short to the left. It was all quite different +from what I remembered--a fine broad road (Lungo Tevere) (along the +Tiber) with quantities of high, ugly modern buildings, "maisons de +location," villas, and an enormous Ministere, I forget which one, Public +Works, I think, which could accommodate a village. Some of the villas +are too awful--fancy white stucco buildings ornamented with cheap +statues and plaques of majolica and coloured marble. The tram stopped +at the end of the piazza facing the church, but one loses the sense of +immensity being so near. I saw merely the facade and the great stone +perron. I wandered about for an hour finding my way everywhere, and +recognising all the old monuments--Christina of Sweden, the Stuart +monuments, the Cappella Julia, etc. There were quite a number of people +walking about and sitting on the benches, or in the stalls of the little +side chapels, reading their Baedekers. I came home in a botta for the +sum of one franc. I wanted to cross the St. Angelo Bridge and see the +crooked dirty little streets and low dark shops I remembered so +well--and which will all disappear one day--with new quarters and all +the old buildings pulled down. They were all there quite unchanged, only +a little dirtier--the same heaps of decayed vegetables lying about in +the corners, girls and women in bright red skirts and yellow fichus on +their heads, long gold earrings, and gold pins in their hair, standing +talking in the doorways, children playing in the gutter, a general smell +of frittura everywhere. The little dark shops have no windows, only a +low, narrow door, and the people sit in the doorway to get all the light +they can for their work. + +We paid some visits in the afternoon, winding up with Princess +Pallavicini. Her beautiful apartment looked just the same (only there, +too, is an ascenseur) with the enormous anteroom and suites of salons +before reaching the boudoir, where she gave us tea. I remembered +everything, even the flowered Pompadour satin on the walls, just as I +had always seen it. + + + Saturday, February 20th. + +These last two days have been beautiful--real Roman days, bright blue +sky, warm sun, and just air enough to be pleasant. Yesterday I trammed +over again to the Vatican (a trolley car is an abomination in Rome, but +so convenient). I wanted to see the statues and my favourite Apollo +Belvedere, who hasn't grown any older in 24 years--the same beautiful, +spirited young god. As I was coming downstairs I saw some people going +into the garden from a side door, so I stepped up to the gardien, and +said I wanted to go too. He said it was quite impossible without a +permesso signed by one of the officers of the Pope's household. I +assured him in my best Italian that I could have all the permessi I +wanted, that I knew a great many people, was only here de passage and +might not be able to come back another day, and that as I was alone he +really might let me pass--so after a little conversation he chose a time +when no one was passing, opened the door as little as he could and let +me through. There were two or three parties being conducted about by +guides, but no one took any notice of me, and I wandered about for some +time quite happy. It is a splendid garden--really a park. I seemed to +have got out on a sort of terrace (the carriage road below me). There +were some lovely walks, with cypress and ilex making thick shade, and +hundreds of camellias--great trees. The view toward Monte Mario was +divine--everything so clear, hardly any of the blue mist that one almost +always sees on the Campagna near Rome. The sun was too hot when I had to +cross an open space, and I was glad to get back to the dark cypress +walks. It was enchanting, but I think the most beautiful nature would +pall upon me if I knew I must always do the same thing. I am sure Leon +XIII. must have pined often for the green plains and lovely valleys +around Perugia, and I don't believe the most beautiful views of the +Alban hills tipped with snow, and pink in the sunset hues, will make up +to the present Pope for the Lagoons of Venice and the long sweep of the +Grand Canal to the sea. + + + Tuesday, 23d. + +Yesterday Josephine and I drove out to the meet at Acqua Santa, out of +Porta San Giovanni. There were quantities of carriages and led horses +going out, as it is one of the favourite meets--you get out so soon into +the open country. There was such a crowd as we got near that we got out +and walked, scrambling over and through fences. It was a much larger +field than I had ever seen in Rome--many officers (all in uniform) +riding, and many women. The hounds broke away from a pretty little olive +wood on a height, and stretched away across a field to two stone walls, +which almost every one jumped. There were one or two falls, but nothing +serious. They were soon out of sight, but we loitered on the Campagna, +sitting on the stone walls, and talking to belated hunters who came +galloping up, eager to know which way the hunt had gone. + +Sunday we had a party and music at the French Embassy (Vatican). Diemor +played beautifully, so did Teresina Tua. When they played together +Griegg's sonata for piano and violin it was enchanting. All the Black +world was there, and a good many strangers. + + + Thursday, February 25th. + +We dined last night at the Wurts', who have a charming apartment in one +of the finest old palaces (Anticci Mattei) in Rome. The staircase +beautiful, most elaborately carved, really reminded me of Mont St. +Michel. Their rooms are filled with all sorts of interesting things, the +collection of years. The dinner was very pleasant--half Italian, half +diplomatic. + +I have just come in from my audience with the Pope. I found the +convocation when I got home last night. Bessie was rather disgusted at +not having received hers, as we had planned to go together; but she said +she would come with me. She would dress herself in regulation +attire--long black dress and black veil--and take the chance. We had a +mild humiliation as we got to the inner Court. The sentries would not +let us pass. We had the small coupe, with one horse, and it seems +one-horse vehicles are not allowed to enter these sacred precincts. We +protested, saying we had a special audience, and that we couldn't get +out on the muddy pavement, but it was no use; they wouldn't hear of our +modest equipage going in, so we had to cross the court--quite a large +one, and decidedly muddy--on foot, holding up our long dresses as well +as we could. + +It seemed so natural to go up the great stone staircase, with a few +Swiss guards in their striped red and yellow uniform standing about. We +spoke to one man in Italian, asking him the way, and he replied in +German. I fancy very few of them speak Italian. We passed through a good +many rooms filled with all sorts of people: priests, officers, gardes +nobles, women in black, evidently waiting for an audience, valets de +chambre dressed in red damask, camerieri segreti in black velvet +doublets, ruffs and gold chains and cross--a most picturesque and +polyglot assemblage; one heard every language under the sun. + +We were passed on from one room to another, and finally came to a halt +in a large square room, where there were more priests, one or two +monsignori, in their violet robes, and two officers. I showed my paper, +one of the monsignori, Bicletis (maestro di Casa di Sua Santita), came +forward and said the Pope was expecting me; so then I presented Bessie, +explained that her name had been sent in at the same time with mine, and +that if she could be admitted (without the convocation) it would be a +great pleasure to both of us to be received together. He said there +would be no difficulty in that. + +While we were talking to him the door into the audience chamber was +opened, and a large party came out--the Comte and Comtesse d'Eu and +their sons, with a numerous suite. We had barely time to exchange a few +remarks, as Monsignor Bicletis was waiting for us to advance. We found +the Pope standing in the centre of rather a small room. The walls were +hung with red damask, the carpet also was red, and at one end were three +gold chairs. We made low curtseys--didn't kneel nor kiss his hands, +being Protestants. He advanced a few steps, shook hands, and made us sit +down, one on each side of him. He was dressed, of course, entirely in +white. He spoke only Italian--said he understood French, but didn't +speak it easily. He has a beautiful face--so earnest, with a fine upward +look in his eyes; not at all the intellectual, ascetic appearance of Leo +XIII., nor the half-malicious, kindly smile of Pius IX., but a face one +would remember. I asked him if he was less tired than when he was first +named Pope. He said, oh, yes, but that the first days were very +trying--the great heat, the change of habits and climate, and the change +of food (so funny, one would think there needn't be any great change +between Rome and Venice--less fish, perhaps). He talked a little--only a +little--about France, and the difficult times we were passing through; +knew that I was a Protestant and an "old Roman"; asked how many years +since I had been back; said: "You won't find the old Rome you used to +know; there are many, many changes." + +[Illustration: Pope Pius X.] + +He was much interested in all Bessie told him about America and the +Catholic religion in the States--was rather amused when she suggested +that another American cardinal might perhaps be a good thing. He asked +us if we knew Venice, and his face quite lighted up when we spoke of all +the familiar scenes where he had spent so many happy years. He was much +beloved in Venice. He gave me the impression of a man who was still +feeling his way, but who, when he had found it, would go straight on to +what he considered his duty. But I must say that is not the general +impression; most people think he will be absolutely guided by his +"entourage," who will never leave him any initiative. + +As we were leaving I said I had something to ask. "Dica, dica, La prego" +(Please speak), so I explained that I was a Protestant, my son also, but +that he had married a Catholic, and I would like his blessing for my +daughter. He made me a sign to kneel and touched my head with his hand, +saying the words in Latin, and adding, "E per Lei et tutta la sua +famiglia" (for you and all your family). He turned his back slightly +when we went out, so we were not obliged to back out altogether. + +We talked a few moments in the anteroom with Monsignor Bicletis, but he +was very busy, other people going in to the Pope, so we didn't stay and +went down to Cardinal Mery del Val's apartment. He receives in the +beautiful Borgia rooms, with Pinturicchio's marvellous frescoes (there +was such a lovely Madonna over one of the doors, a young pure face +against that curious light-green background one sees so often in the +early Italian masters). The apartment was comparatively +modern--calorifere, electric light, bells, etc. While we were waiting +the Comte and Comtesse d'Eu and their party passed through. + +The Cardinal received us standing, but made us sit down at once. He is a +tall, handsome homme du monde, rather English looking, very young. He +told us he was not yet forty years old. He speaks English as well as I +do (his mother was English), and, they tell me, every other language +equally well. He seemed to have read everything and to be au courant of +all that was said and thought all over the world. He talked a little +more politics than the Pope--deplored what was going on in France, was +interested in all Bessie told him about America and Catholicism over +there. They must be struck with the American priests and bishops whom +they see in Europe, not only their conception, but their practice of +their religion is so different. I had such an example of that one day +when we asked a friend of ours, a most intelligent, highly educated +_modern_ priest, to meet Monsignor Ireland. He was charmed with +him--listened most intently to all he said, particularly when he was +speaking of the wild life out West, near California, and the difficulty +of getting any hold over the miners. (He started a music hall, among +other things, to have some place where the men could go in the evenings, +and get out of the saloons and low drinking-shops.) Our friend perfectly +appreciated the practical energy of the monsignor, but said such a line +would be impossible in France. No priest, no matter how high his rank, +would be allowed such initiative, and the people would not understand. + +He didn't keep us very long, had evidently other audiences, and not time +to talk to everybody. I am very glad to have seen him. He is quite +unlike any cardinal I have ever met--perhaps because he is so much +younger than most of them, perhaps because he seemed more homme du monde +than ecclesiastic; but I daresay that type is changing, too, with +everything else in Rome. We had a most interesting afternoon. After all, +Rome and the Vatican are unique of their kind. + + + Friday, February 26th. + +I had my audience from Queen Margherita alone this afternoon. Bessie and +Josephine have already been. Her palace is in the Veneto (our quarter) +and very near. It is a large, fine building, but I should have liked it +better standing back in a garden, not directly on the street. However, +the Romans don't think so. There are always people standing about +waiting to see her carriage or auto pass out--they wait hours for a +smile from their beloved Regina Margherita. I went up in an +ascenseur--three or four footmen (in black) and a groom of the chambers +at the top. I was ushered down a fine long gallery with handsome +furniture and pictures to a large room almost at the end, where I found +the Marquise Villa Marina (who is always with the Queen), the Duchesse +Sforza Cesarini (lady in waiting), and one gentleman. There were three +or four people in the room, waiting also to be received. Almost +immediately the door into the next room opened, and the Duchesse Sforza +waved me in (didn't come in herself). I had at once the impression of a +charming drawing-room, with flowers, pictures, books, bibelots--not in +the least like the ordinary bare official reception room where Queen +Elena received us. The Queen, dressed in black, was sitting on a sofa +about the middle of the room, and really not much changed since I had +seen her twenty-four years ago at the Quirinal, when the present King +was a little boy, dressed in a blue sailor suit. She is a little +stouter, but her blonde hair and colouring just the same, and si grand +air. She was most charming, talked in French and English, about +anything, everything--asked about my sister-in-law, Madame de Bunsen, +and her daughter Beatrice, whom she had known as a little girl in +Florence. She is very fond of automobiling, so we had at once one great +point of sympathy. She had read "The Lightning Conductor" and was much +amused with it. We talked a little about the great changes in Rome. I +told her about our visit to the Pope, and the impression of simplicity +and extreme goodness he had made upon us. I can't remember all we talked +about. I had the same impression that I had twenty-four years ago--a +visit to a charming, sympathetic woman, very large-minded, to whom one +could talk of anything. + + + Sunday, 28th. + +It has poured all day, but held up a little in the afternoon, so we went +(all four) to see Cardinal Mathieu, who lives in the Villa Wolkonsky. He +had asked us to come and walk in his beautiful garden (with such a view +of the Aqueducts) but that was of course out of the question. He is very +clever and genial, and was rather amused at the account we gave him of +our discussions. We are two Catholics and two Protestants, and argue +from morning till night--naturally neither party convincing the other. +He told us we should go to the Vatican to-morrow--there was a large +French pelerinage which he presented. We would certainly see the Pope +and perhaps hear him speak. + + + Monday. + +We had a pleasant breakfast this morning with Bebella d'Arsoli,[33] in +their beautiful apartment in his father's (Prince Massimo's) palace. +The palace looks so black and melancholy outside, with its heavy portico +of columns (and always beggars sitting on the stone benches under the +portico) that it was a surprise to get into their beautiful rooms--with +splendid pictures and tapestries. The corner drawing-room, where she +received us, flooded with light, showing off the old red damask of the +walls and the splendid ceiling. We went to see the Chapel after +breakfast, where there are wonderful relics, and a famous pavement in +majolica. + +[33] Princess d'Arsoli, nee Bella Brancaccio, granddaughter of Hickson +Field. + +About 3 we started off for St. Peter's. We had all brought our veils +with us, and retired to Bebella's dressing-room where her maid arranged +our heads. We left a pile of hats which Bebella promised to send home +for us, and took ourselves off to the Vatican, taking little Victoria +Ruspoli with us, who looked quite sweet in her white dress and veil--her +great dark eyes bright with excitement. We found many carriages in the +court, as we got to the Vatican, and many more soldiers on the stairs, +and about in the passages. The rooms and long gallery were crowded--all +sorts of people, priests, women, young men, children (some very +nice-looking people) all speaking French. We went at first into the +gallery, but there was such a crowd and such a smell of people closely +packed that we couldn't stay, and just as we were wondering what to do, +Monsignor Bicletis came through and at once told us to come with him. He +took us through several rooms, one large one filled with people waiting +for their audience, into the one next the Pope's, who he said was with +Cardinal Mathieu, and would soon pass. We were quite alone in that room, +except for three or four priests. In a few moments the Pope appeared +with Cardinal Mathieu and quite a large suite. The Cardinal, who had +promised to present Madame de B. (there had been some delay about her +convocation), came up to us at once. We all knelt as the Pope came near, +and he named Madame de B. and little Victoria, who asked for his +blessing for her brothers. He recognised me and Bessie, and said we were +welcome always at the Vatican. He only said a few words to Madame de B. +as he had a long afternoon before him. Cardinal Mathieu told us to +follow them, so we closed up behind the suite, and followed the Pope's +procession. + +There must have been over a hundred people waiting in the next room, and +it was an impressive sight to see them all--men, women, and +children--kneel as the Pope appeared. Some of the children were quite +sweet, holding out their little hands full of medals and rosaries to be +blessed--almost all the girls in white, with white veils, like the +little first communiantes in France. The Pope made his "cercle," +speaking to almost every one--sometimes only a word, sometimes quite a +little talk. We followed him through one or two rooms to the open +loggia, which was crowded. We were very hot, but he sent for his cloak +and hat. We waited some little time but the crowd was so dense--he would +have spoken from the other end of the loggia--and we couldn't possibly +have got through--so we came away, having had again a very interesting +afternoon. + +It is most picturesque driving around the back of St. Peter's and the +Vatican. There are such countless turns and courts and long stretches of +high walls with little narrow windows quite up at the top. Always people +coming and going--cardinals' carriages with their black horses, fiacres +with tourists looking eagerly about them and speaking every possible +language, priests, women in black with black veils, little squads of +Papal troops marching across the squares--and Italian soldiers keeping +order in the great piazza. A curious little old world in the midst of +the cosmopolitan town Rome has become. + + + ROME, March 2d. + +Yesterday Madame de B. and I made an expedition to the Catacombs of San +Calisto fuori Porta San Sebastiano. It was decidedly cold and we were +very glad we hadn't taken the open carriage. The drive out was +charming--first inside the gates, passing the Colosseum, the two great +arches of Constantine and Titus, and directly under the Palatine Hill +and Baths of Caracalla, and then going out through the narrow little +gateway, and for some little distance through high stone walls, we came +upon the countless towers, tombs and columns standing alone in the +middle of the fields, having no particular connection with anything, +that mark the Appian Way, and make it so extraordinarily interesting and +unlike any other drive in the world. I was delighted when we came upon +that funny little stone house, built on the top of a high circular +tomb--I remembered it perfectly. + +The Catacombs stand in a sort of garden or vineyard. There were people +already there, and a party just preparing to go down as we appeared. +They had asked for a guide who spoke French, as they knew no Italian, +and a nice-looking, intelligent young monk was marshalling his party and +lighting the tapers. I thought _they_ were rather short (I am rather +nervous about subterraneous expeditions and one has heard gruesome tales +of people lost in the Catacombs, not so very long ago) but they lasted +quite well. + +It was curious to see all the old symbols again--the fish, the pax +(cross) and to think what they represented to the early bands of +Christians, when the mere fact of being a Christian meant persecution, +suffering, and often a terrible death in the arena of the Colosseum. + +Some of the frescoes are wonderfully preserved--we saw quite well the +heads of saints, martyrs, and decorations of wreaths of flowers or a +delicate arabesque tracery; the most favourite subjects were Jonah and +the whale, a shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders, and kneeling women's +figures. The ladies in our party were wildly interested in the mummies +(terrible looking things), particularly one with the hair quite visible. +We saw of course the niche where the body of Ste. Cecilia was found--but +the body is now removed to the church of Ste. Cecilia in the Trastevere. +They have put, however, a model of the body, representing it exactly, in +the niche, so the illusion is quite possible. + +We walked about for an hour, following quantities of narrow passages, +coming suddenly into small round rooms, which had been chapels, and +still seeing in some of the stone coffins bits of bones, and +inscriptions on the walls. It was rather weird to see the procession +moving along, Indian file, holding their tapers, which gave a faint, +flickering light. The guide had rather a bigger one--on the end of a +long stick. We stopped at San Clemente on our way back, hoping to see +the underground church, but it was too late. The sacristan said we +should have come yesterday--there was a fete, and the two churches were +illuminated. + + + Friday, 4th. + +It has been another beautiful day. I trammed over to the Vatican to see +the Sistine Chapel this time and the Stanze and Loggie of Raphael. It is +a good pull up to the Sistine Chapel, by a rather dark staircase, but +the day was so bright I saw everything very well when I once got there. +The Vatican was very full--people in every direction--almost all English +and German--I didn't hear a word of French or Italian. Two young men +were stretched out flat on their backs on one of the benches, trying to +get a good look at the ceiling through their glasses. I was delighted to +see the Stanze again with many old friends. Do you remember the "Poesia" +on the ceiling of one of the rooms--a lovely figure clad in light blue +draperies, with a young, pure face? I wandered up and down the Loggie, +but I think I was more interested looking down into the Court of San +Damaso, filled with carriages, priests, women in black with black veils +coming and going (I should think the Pope would be exhausted with all +the people he sees) and the general little clerical bustle. The striped +Swiss guard were lounging about in the gateway, and a fine stately +porter in cocked hat and long red cloak at each door. + +Josephine had a dinner in the evening--Cardinal Mathieu, the Austrian +Ambassador to the Vatican and his wife, and other notabilities. There +was quite a large reception after dinner, among others the Grand Duchess +of Saxe-Weimar, who is very easy, charming--likes to see everybody. When +I came downstairs to dinner I found all the ladies with lace fichus or +boas on their shoulders, and I was told that I was quite incorrect--that +one couldn't appear decolletee in a cardinal's presence. I could find +nothing in my hurry when I went back to my room, but a little (very +little) ermine cravat, but still even that modified my low body +somewhat, and at least showed that my intentions were good. The big red +salon looks charming in the evening and is a most becoming room--the +dark red silk walls show off the dresses so well. The cardinal had his +whist, or rather his bridge, after dinner, for even the Church has +succumbed to the universal craze--one sees all the ecclesiastics in +Black circles just as intent upon their game and criticising their +partner's play quite as keenly as the most ardent clubmen. I suppose +bridge is a pleasure to those who play, but they don't look as though +they were enjoying themselves--their faces so set and drawn, any +interruption a catastrophe, and nobody ever satisfied with his partner's +play. + +We had very good music. An American protege of Josephine's with a good +high barytone voice sang very well, and the young French trio (all +eleves du Conservatoire de Paris) really played extremely well. The +piano in one of Mendelssohn's trios was quite charming--so sure and +delicate. It was a pleasure to see the young, refined, intelligent faces +so absorbed in their music, quite indifferent to the gallery. The young +violinist played a romance (I forget what--Rubinstein, I think) with so +much sentiment that I said to him "Vous etes trop jeune pour jouer avec +tant d'ame," to which he replied proudly, "Madame, j'ai vingt ans." +C'est beau d'avoir vingt ans. I wonder how many of us at fifty remember +how we thought and felt at twenty. Perhaps there would be fewer +heart-burnings in the world if we older ones did remember sometimes our +own youth. + + + Sunday, March 6th. + +Yesterday I walked up to Santa Maria Maggiore and San Giovanni in +Laterano. I took the Scala Santa on my way to San Giovanni. Several +people were going up--some priests, Italian soldiers, two or three +peasants and two ladies--mother and daughter, I should think, their long +black cloth dresses very much in their way evidently. I watched them for +some time. I wonder what it means to them, and if they really believe +that they are the steps from Jerusalem which our Saviour came down. I +stayed some little time in San Giovanni. It is magnificent certainly, +but there is too much gilding and mosaic and modern decoration. The view +from the steps was enchanting when I came out; the air was delicious, +the sun bright in a bright blue sky, and the mountains soft and purple +in the distance. + +We had an interesting breakfast--two Benedictine monks from the great +abbaye of Solesmes. They talked very moderately about their expulsion, +and the wrench it was to leave the old monastery and begin life again in +new surroundings. The older man especially seemed to feel it very much. +I suppose he had spent all his life inside those old grey walls--reading +and meditating and bound up in the interests and routine of his order. +They had come to Rome to see the Pope, and consult with him about +suppressing secular music in the churches, and substituting the +Gregorian chants everywhere. It is a very difficult question; of course +some of the music they have now in the churches is impossible. When you +hear the "Meditation de Thais" played at some ceremony, and you think +what Thais was, it is out of the question to admit such music in a +church--on the other hand the strict Gregorian chant is very severe, +particularly sung without any organ. I daresay educated musicians would +prefer it, but to the ordinary assemblage, accustomed to the great peal +of the organ with occasionally, in the country for instance at some +festa, the national anthem or some well-known military march being +played, the monotonous, old-world chant would say nothing. We shall hear +them at the great festival at St. Peter's for San Gregorio. + + + Thursday, 10th. + +It was warm and lovely Tuesday. Bessie, Josephine and I walked down to +J.'s work-room in the Convent of St. Euphemia, somewhere beyond +Trajan's Forum, before breakfast. It was too warm walking along the +broad street by the Quirinal. We were thankful to take little dark +narrow side streets. The "ouvroir" (work-room) was interesting--quantities +of women and girls working--some of the work, fine lingerie, lace-mending, +embroidery beautifully done. It is managed by sisters, under Josephine's +direction, who gives a great deal of time and thought to her work. They +take in any child or girl from the street, feed them and have them taught +whatever they can do. It was pretty to see the little smiling faces and +bright eyes as Josephine passed through the rooms. + +We went to a pleasant tea in the afternoon at Countess Gianotti's (wife +of Count Gianotti, Master of Ceremonies to the King). There were quite a +number of people--a very cosmopolitan society (she herself is an +American) and she gave us excellent waffles. + +Yesterday we had a delightful excursion with Countess de Bertheny in her +automobile. She came to get me and Bessie about 11. We picked up two +young men and started for Nemi and the Castelli Romani. We drove +straight out from Porta San Giovanni to Albano. It was quite lovely all +the way, particularly when we began the steep ascent of Albano, and +looked back--the Campagna a beautiful stretch of purple, the aqueducts +standing well out all around us, and the statues of San Giovanni just +visible and looking enormous, in the mist that always hangs over Rome, +St. Peter's a great white spot with the sun full upon it. We rattled +through Albano. The streets looked animated, full of people, all getting +out of our way as fast as they could. + +The door into the Doria Villa was open; we just had a glimpse of the +garden which looked cool and green, with a perspective of long walks, +ending in a sort of bosquet, but we passed so quickly that it was +merely a fleeting impression. We drove through Ariccia to Gensano--a +beautiful road, splendid trees, making a perfect shade, the great Chigi +Palace looking just the same, a huge grim pile--quite the old chateau +fort, built at the entrance of the little village to protect it from +invading enemies. If stones could speak I wonder what they would say to +modern inventions, automobiles, huge monsters certainly, but peaceful +ones, rushing past, trains puffing and smoking along the Campagna, great +carts drawn by fine white oxen going lazily along, the driver generally +asleep under his funny little tent of red or blue linen, and nobody +thinking of harm. + +We drove through Gensano, then turned off sharp to the left to Nemi--a +fairly good road. We soon came in sight of the lake, which looked +exactly as I remembered it--a lifeless blue, like a deep cup surrounded +by green hills. They used to tell us, I remember, that there were no +fish, no living thing in the lake, but Ruspoli says there are plenty +now--very good ones. + +We followed a beautiful winding road up to Nemi, which is a compact +little village on the top of a hill--the great castle standing out well. +It has just been bought by Don Enrico Ruspoli, and he and his charming +American wife are making it most picturesque and livable. We breakfasted +at the little Hotel de Nemi--not at all bad--the dining-room opening on +a terrace with such a view--at our feet the Campagna rolling away its +great waves of blue purple to a bright dazzling white streak, the +sea--on one side a stretch of green valley leading to all the different +little villages; on the other the lake with its crown of olive-covered +hills. + +Just as we were finishing breakfast Ruspoli appeared to ask us if we +would come and see the castle. We entered directly from the little +square of the town--the big doors face the church. There is a fine stone +staircase, and halls and rooms innumerable. They have only just begun to +work on it--have made new floors (a sort of mosaic, small stones, just +as I remember them at Frascati in Villa Marconi) and put water +everywhere, but there is still a great deal to do. The proportions of +the rooms are beautiful, and the view divine. As in all old Italian +castles some of the village houses were built directly into the wall of +the castle. They have already bought and knocked down many of these +(giving the inhabitants instead comfortable, clean, modern houses which +they probably won't like nearly as well) and are arranging a beautiful +garden in their place. They have also a terrace planted with trees about +half-way down the slope to the lake, which would be a divine place to +read or dream away a long summer's day. I don't think there are ten +yards of level ground on the place. + +[Illustration: Great New Bridge from Albano to Ariccia. + +Built by Pope Pius IX.] + +We couldn't stay very long as we were going on to Frascati and Castle +Gondolfo. They gave us tea, and when we came out on the piazza we found +the whole village congregated around the automobiles (another had +arrived from Rome--I am so cross I didn't bring mine with Strutz, it +would have been so convenient for all the excursions). It is a wild +beautiful spot, but I should think lonely. We went back to Albano, saw +the great bridge built by Pio Nono, with its three tiers of arches, the +famous tombs--Horatii, Curiatii and Pompey, and then drove along the +beautiful "galeria di sotto" to Castle Gondolfo, the old crooked ilex +trees nearly meeting over our heads, and the Campagna with lovely lights +and shades flitting over it, far down at our feet. There everything +looked exactly as I remembered it. It seemed to me the same priests were +walking about under the trees, the same men riding minute donkeys, +with their legs nearly touching the ground; the same great carts, +lumbering peacefully along, the driver usually asleep until the horn of +the automobile close behind him roused him into frantic energy; however +they were all most smiling, evidently don't hate the auto as they do in +some parts of France. + +We stopped at the Villa Barberini at Castle Gondolfo--such a beautiful +garden, but so neglected--great long dark walks, trees like high black +walls on each side, and big bushes of white and red camellias almost as +tall as the trees, roses just beginning. In every direction broken +columns, vases, statues (minus arms and legs) carved benches, all +falling to pieces. We went into the Villa which is usually let to +strangers, but it was most primitive--brick floors everywhere (except in +the salons, where there was always the mosaic pavement), and the +simplest description of furniture--ordinary iron bed-steads, and iron +trepieds in the master's bed-rooms, but a magnificent view of sea and +Campagna from the balcony, and a beautiful cool, bracing air. + +We drove on through Marino and Frascati. We passed the little chapel on +the road where we used to see all the people praying the great cholera +year. It was open, and one or two women were kneeling just inside. The +atmosphere was so transparent that Rocca di Papa and Monte Cavo seemed +quite near. The Piazza of Frascati was just the same, the Palazzo +Marconi at one side with the great Aldobrandini Villa overtopping it and +the Villa Torlonia opposite. We didn't go into the town, but took the +steep road down by the railway station. There everything is changed--it +didn't seem at all the Frascati we had once lived in--quantities of new, +ugly villas, and an enormous modern Grand Hotel. + +We got home about 6.30--the Campagna quite beautiful and quiet in the +soft evening light. There were very few people on the road, every now +and then a shepherd in his long sheepskin cloak, staff and broad-brimmed +hat appearing on the top of one of the many little mounds which are +dotted all over the Campagna, and occasionally in the distance a dog +barking. + + + March 17th. + +Bessie and I have just come in from the last meet of the season at +Cecilia Metella. It is such a favourite rendezvous that there is always +a great crowd, almost as many people walking about on the Campagna as +riding. It was a very pretty sight. There were quantities of handsome +horses, but I don't know that it was quite comfortable walking when the +hunt moved off. Some of the young men--principally officers--were taking +preliminary gallops in every direction, and jumping backward and forward +over a large ditch. One of them knocked down an Englishwoman--at least I +don't think he really knocked her, but he alighted so near her that she +was frightened, and slipped getting out of his way. We stopped to speak +to her, but she said she wasn't at all hurt, and had friends with her. +The master of the hounds--Marchese Roccagiovine--didn't look very +pleased, and I should think a large, motley field, with a good many +women and careless riders, would be most trying to a real sportsman, +such as he is. Giovanni Borghese told me there were two hundred people +riding, and I can quite believe it. + +[Illustration: Roman Huntsmen on the Campagna. + +Ancient Roman aqueduct in the background.] + +We had a delightful day yesterday, but rather a fatiguing one--I am +still tired. We made an excursion (a family party--Bessie, Josephine, +her two children, Mr. Virgo and two of his friends--a Catholic priest +and a student preparing for orders--all Englishmen). We went by train +to Frascati, and from there to Tusculum, carrying our breakfast with us. +We passed the little Campagna station (Ciampino) where we have stopped +so often. Do you remember the old crazy-looking station, and the +station-master, yellow and shivering, and burned up with fever. Now it +is quite a busy little place, people getting on and off the trains and +one or two brisk porters. The arrival at Frascati was a sight. We were +instantly surrounded by a crowd of donkey-boys and carriages--nice +little victorias with red flowers in the horses' heads and feathers in +the coachmen's hats--all talking at the top of their voices; but between +Mr. Virgo and Pietro, Josephine's Italian footman, who had charge of the +valise with the luncheon, we soon came to terms, and declined all +carriages, taking three or four donkeys. + +It isn't a long walk to Tusculum, and Josephine and I both preferred +walking--besides I don't think I should have had the courage to mount in +the piazza with all the crowd looking on and making comments; however, +Bessie did, and she sat her donkey very lightly and gracefully, making a +great effect with her red hat and red parasol. Perhaps the most +interesting show was Pietro. He was so well dressed in a light grey +country suit that I hardly recognised him. He stoutly refused to be +separated from his valise, put it in front of him on the donkey, sat +well back himself and beamed at the whole party. He is a typical Italian +servant--perfectly intelligent, perfectly devoted (can neither read nor +write), madly interested in everybody, but never familiar nor wanting in +respect. I ask him for everything I want. He does it, or has it done at +once, better and cheaper than I could, and I am quite satisfied when I +hear his delightful phrase "Ci penso io"--I am sure it will be done. + +We went up through the Aldobrandini garden. It looked rather deserted; +no one ever lives there now, but it is let occasionally to strangers. +Men were working in the garden; there were plenty of violets and a few +roses--it is still early in the season for them. In a basin of one of +the fountains a pink water-lily--only one--quite beautiful. The +fountains were lovely--sparkling, splashing, living--everything else +seemed so dead. + +As we wound up the steep paths we had enchanting views of the Campagna, +looking like a great blue sea, at our feet, and Rome seemed a long, low +line of sunlight, with the dome of St. Peter's hanging above it in the +clouds. The road was very steep, and decidedly sunny, so I mounted my +donkey, Father Evans walking alongside. Monte Cavo, Rocca di Papa, the +Madonna del Tufo, all seemed very near, it was so clear and the air was +delicious as we got higher. I recognised all the well-known places, the +beginning of the Roman pavement, the Columbarium, Cicero's house, etc. + +We were quite ready for breakfast when we got to Tusculum, and looked +about for a shady spot under the trees. There are two great stones, +almost tables, in the middle of the "amfiteatro," where people usually +spread out their food, but the sun was shining straight down on them; we +didn't think we could stand that. We found a nice bit of grass under the +trees and established ourselves there. It was quite a summer's day, and +the rest and quiet after toiling up the steep paths was delightful. + +[Illustration: Waiting for the Hounds.] + +After breakfast Josephine and I walked quite up to the top of the hill, +the trees making a perfect dome of verdure over our heads. There was no +sound except our own voices, and the distant thud of horses' feet +cantering in a meadow alongside, an absolute stillness everywhere. Such +a view! Snow on the Sabine Mountains, sun on the Alban Hills, the +Campagna on either side blue and broken like waves, and quite +distinct, a long white line, the sea. + +While we were walking about we noticed two carabinieri, very well +mounted, who seemed to be always hovering near us, so we asked them what +they were doing up there. They promptly replied, taking care of the +"societa." We could hardly believe we heard rightly; but it was quite +true, they were there for us. They told us that when it was known that a +number of people were coming up to Tusculum (there were two other +parties besides us) they had orders to come up, keep us always in sight, +and stay as long as we did. We gave them some wine and sandwiches, and +they became quite communicative--told us there were brigands and +"cattiva gente" (wicked people) about; that at Rocca di Papa, one of the +little mountain villages quite near, there were 500 inhabitants, 450 of +whom had been in prison for various crimes, and that people were +constantly robbed in these parts. I wouldn't have believed it if any one +had told us, but they always kept us in sight. + +We decided to go home through the Villa Ruffinella. Donkeys are not +allowed inside, and we thought probably not horses either, but the +carabinieri came in and showed us the way down. The grounds are +splendid--we walked first down through a beautiful green allee, then up, +a good climb. The villa is enormous--uninhabited and uncared for--a +charming garden and great terrace with stone benches before the house +looking toward Rome. The garden, of course, wild and ragged, but with +splendid possibilities. Just outside the gate we came upon a little +church. Three or four girls and women with bright-coloured skirts and +fichus and quantities of coarse jet-black hair were sitting on the steps +working at what looked like coarse crochet work and talking hard. The +carabinieri were always near, opened two or three gates for us, and only +left us when we were quite close to the town, well past the gates of the +Aldobrandini Villa. + +As we had some little time before the train started, I went off with +Bessie to have a look at Palazzo Marconi. It is now occupied by the +municipio and quite changed. We found a youth downstairs who couldn't +imagine what we wanted and why we wanted to go up; however, I explained +that I had lived there many years ago, so finally he agreed to go up +with us. The steps looked more worn and dirty--quite broken in some +places--and the frescoes on the walls, which were bright blue and green +in our time, are almost effaced. It was all so familiar and yet so +changed. I went into father's room and opened the window on the terrace, +where we had stood so often those hot August nights, watching the mist +rise over the Campagna and the moon over the sea. There was very little +furniture anywhere--a few chairs and couches in the small salon that we +had made comfortable enough with our own furniture from Rome. The great +round room with the marble statues has been turned into a salle de +conseil, with a big writing-table in the middle, and chairs ranged in a +semicircle around the room. There was nothing at all in our old +bed-rooms--piles of cartons in one corner. The marble bath-tub was black +and grimy. We couldn't see the dining-room, people were in it, but we +went out to the hanging-garden--all weeds, and clothes hanging out to +dry. The fountain was going at the back of the court, but covered with +moss, and bits of stone were dropping off. It all looked very +miserable--I don't think I shall ever care to go back. There seemed just +the same groups of idle men standing about as in our time--dozens of +them doing nothing, hanging over the wall looking at the people come up +from the railway station. They tell me they never work; even when they +own little lots of land or vignas they don't work themselves--the +peasants from the Abruzzi come down at stated seasons, dig and plant and +do all the work. One can't understand it, for they look a tall, fine +race, all these peasants of the Castelli Romani, strong, well-fed, +broad-shouldered. I suppose there must be a strong touch of indolence in +all the Latin races. + +It was after six when we got back to Rome. We had just time to rush +home, get clean gloves and long skirts, and start for the Massimo Palace +to see the great fete. Once a year the palace is opened to the general +public, and the whole of Rome goes upstairs and into the chapel. It is +on St. Philippe's day, when a miracle was performed in the Massimo +family, a dead boy resuscitated in 1651. There was a crowd assembled as +we drove up, tramways stopped, and the getting across the pavement was +rather difficult. The walls of the palace and portico were hung with red +and gold draperies, the porter and footman in gala liveries, the old +beggars squatted about inside the portico, the gardes municipaux keeping +order, and a motley crowd struggling up the grand staircase--priests, +women, children, femmes du monde, peasants, policemen, forestieri, two +cooks in their white vestons, nuns, Cappucini--all striving and jostling +to get along. We stopped at Bebella's apartment, who gave us tea. She +had been receiving all day, but almost every one had gone. We talked to +her a few moments, and then d'Arsoli took us upstairs to the chapel (by +no means an easy performance, as there were two currents going up and +coming down). The chapel was brilliantly lighted, and crowded; a +benedizione was going on, with very good music from the Pope's +chapel--those curious, high, unnatural voices. All the relics were +exposed, and Prince Massimo, in dress clothes and white cravat, was +standing at the door. It was a most curious sight. D'Arsoli told us that +people had begun to come at seven in the morning. When we went home +there was still a crowd on the staircase, stretching out into the +street, and a long line of tram-cars stopped. + + + Friday, March 18th. + +It rained rather hard this morning, but we three got ourselves into the +small carriage and went down to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia to hear +the Benedictine monk Don Guery try the Gregorian chants with the big +organ. The organ is a fine one, made at Nuremberg. An organist arrived +from St. Anselmo to accompany the chants. They sounded very fine, but I +thought rather too melodious and even modern, but Don Guery assured me +that the one I particularly noticed was of the eleventh century. + + + Tuesday, 22d. + +We seem always to be doing something, but have had two quiet evenings +this week. Friday night we went to the Valle to see Marchesa Rudini's +Fete de Bienfaisance. The heat was something awful, as the house was +packed, and as at all amateur performances they were unpunctual, and +there were terribly long intervals. The comedie was well acted, a little +long, but the clou of the evening was the ballet-pantomime, danced by +all the prettiest women in Rome. The young Marchesa Rudini (nee +Labouchere) looked charming as a white and silver butterfly, and danced +beautifully, such pretty style, not a gesture nor a pas that any one +could object to. The rest of the troop too were quite charming, coming +in by couples--the Princess Teano and Therese Pecoul a picture--both +tall, one dark, one fair, and making a lovely contrast. I should think +they must have made a lot of money. + +Saturday I had a pleasant afternoon at the Palazzo dei Cesari with Mr. +and Mrs. Seth Low. He is an excellent guide, had already been all over +the palace with Boni and knew exactly what to show us. It was a +beautiful afternoon and the view over Rome, the seven hills, and the +Forum was divine. These first Roman Emperors certainly knew where to +pitch their tents--what a magnificent scale they built upon in those +days. The old Augustus must have seen wonderful sights in the Forum from +the heights of the Palatine. + +Josephine had a large dinner in the evening for the Grand Duchess and +Cardinal Vannutelli. It was very easy and pleasant, and we all wore our +little fichus most correctly as long as the Cardinal was there (they +never stay very long), but were glad to let them slip off as soon as he +went away, for we had a great many people in the evening and the rooms +were warm. I had rather an interesting talk with an old Italian friend +(not a Roman) over the tremendous influx of strangers and Italians from +all parts of Italy to Rome. He says au fond the Romans hate it--they +liked the old life very much better--they were of much more importance; +it meant something then to be a Roman prince. Now, with all the Northern +Italians, Court people and double Diplomatic Corps Rome has become too +cosmopolitan. People amuse themselves, and dance and hunt, and give +dinners at the Grand Hotel and trouble themselves very little about the +old Roman families (particularly those who have lost money and don't +receive any more). The Romans have a feeling of being put aside in their +own place. + +It was beautiful this morning, so I took my convenient tram again and +went over to see the pictures of the Vatican. Such a typical peasant +couple were in the tram, evidently just down from the mountains, as they +were looking about at everything, and were rather nervous when the tram +made a sudden stop. The woman (young and rather pretty) had on a bright +blue skirt, a white shirt with a red corset over it, a pink flowered +apron, green fichu on her head, and long gold ear-rings with a coral +centre. The man, a big broad-shouldered fellow, had the long cloak with +the cape lined with green that the men all wear here, and a slouched hat +drawn low down over his brows. They got out at St. Peter's and went into +the church. I went around by the Colonnade as I was going to the +pictures. There were lots of people on the stairs. It certainly is a +good stiff pull up. + +I stayed about an hour looking at the pictures--all hanging exactly +where I had always seen them, except the Sposalizio of St. Catherine, +which was on an easel near the window; some one evidently copying it. I +was quite horrified coming back through the Stanze by some English +people--three women--who were calmly lunching in one corner of the room. +They were all seated, eating sandwiches out of a paper bag, and drinking +out of a large green bottle. Everybody stopped and looked at them, and +they didn't mind at all. The gardien was looking on like all the rest. I +was so astounded at his making no remarks that I said to him, surely +such a thing is forbidden; to which he replied smilingly: "No--no, non +fanno male a nessnno--non fanno niente d'indecente" (No, they are doing +no harm to any one, they are doing nothing indecent). That evidently was +quite true; but I must say I think it required a certain courage to +continue their repast with all the public looking on, giggling and +criticising freely. + +I dined this evening with Malcolm Kahn--Persian Minister--and an old +colleague of ours in London. It was very pleasant--General Brusatti, one +of the King's Aides-de-Camp, took me in, and I had Comte Greppi, ancien +Ambassadeur, on the other side. Greppi is marvellous--really a very old +man, but as straight as an arrow, and remembering everybody. Tittone, +Minister of Foreign Affairs, was there, but I wasn't near him at table, +which I regretted, as I should have liked to talk to him. + + + Palm Sunday, March 27th. + +Bessie and I went to the American church this morning, and afterward to +the Grand Hotel to breakfast with some friends. The restaurant was +crowded, so many people have arrived for Easter, and it was decidedly +amusing--a great many pretty women and pretty dresses. It poured when we +came away. We had all promised to go to an amateur performance of the +Stabat Mater at the old Doria Palace in Piazza Navona. It was rather +damp, with draughts in every direction, so Mrs. Law and I decided we +would not stay to the end, but would go for a drive until it was time to +go back to tea at the Grand Hotel (it is rather funny, the first month I +was here I never put my foot in the Grand Hotel, and I was rather +disappointed, as tea there in the Palm Garden with Tziganes playing, is +one of the great features of modern Rome, and now I am there nearly +every day). It was coming down in torrents when we came out of the +concert, and a drive seemed insane, so I suggested a turn in St. Peter's +(which is always a resource on a rainy day in Rome). That seemed +difficult to accomplish, though, when we arrived at the steps--we +couldn't have gone up those steps and across the wide space at the top +without getting completely soaked. However I remembered old times, and +told the man to drive around to the Sagrestia. He protested, so did all +the beggars around the steps, who wanted to open the door of the +carriage. We couldn't get in--the door was shut, etc., but I thought we +would try, so accordingly we drove straight to the Sagrestia. The door +was open--a man standing there who opened the carriage door and told the +coachman where to stand. I don't think I ever saw rain come down so +hard, and so straight. It was very interesting walking through all the +passages at the back of St. Peter's, and into the church through the +sacristy, where priests and children were robing and just starting for +some service with tapers and palms in their hands. We followed the +procession, and found ourselves just about in the middle of the church. +There were still draperies hanging on the columns and seats marked off. +There had been a ceremony of some kind in the morning, and a great many +people were walking about. We stopped some little time at the great +bronze statue of St. Peter. I was astounded at the quantity and quality +of people who came up and kissed the toe of the Saint. Priests and nuns +of course, and old people, both men and women, but it seemed +extraordinary to me to see young men, tall, good-looking fellows, bend +down quite as reverently as the others and kiss the toe. They were +singing in one of the side chapels--we listened for a little while--and +all over the church everywhere people kneeling on the pavement. + +We went back to the Grand Hotel for tea, and dined with the young +Ruspolis, who have a handsome apartment in the Colonna Palace. The +dinner was for the Grand Duchess, and was pleasant enough. There was a +small reception in the evening, and almost every one went afterward to +Princesse Pallavicini's who receives on Sunday evening. I like the +informal evening receptions here very much. It is a pleasant way of +finishing the evening after a dinner, and so much more agreeable than +the day receptions--at least you do see a few men in the +evening--whereas they all fly from afternoons and teas. As every one +receives there is always some house to go to. + + + Monday, March 28th. + +I have had a nice solitary morning in the Forum, with my beloved Italian +guide book, a little English brochure with a map of the principal +sights, and occasional conversations with the workmen, of whom there are +many, as they are excavating in every direction, and German tourists. +The Germans, I must say, are always extremely well up in antiquities, +and quite ready to impart their information to others. They are a little +long sometimes, but one usually finds that they know what they are +talking about. + +There are of course great changes since I have seen the Forum. They are +excavating and working here all the time. The King takes a great +interest in all that sort of work, and often appears, it seems, early in +the morning and unexpectedly, when anything important is going on. The +Basilica Julia (enormous) has been quite opened out since my day; and +another large temple opposite is most interesting, with splendid bits +left of marble pavement--some quite large squares of pink marble that +were beautiful; and in various places quantities of coins melted and +incrusted in the marble which looks as if the temple had been destroyed +by a fire. + +There was little shade anywhere. I hadn't the courage to walk in the sun +as far as the Vestals' house, which is really most interesting. The +recent excavations have brought to light so many rooms, passages, +frescoes, etc., that the ordinary, every-day life of the Vestal Virgins +has been quite reconstructed. One could follow them in their daily +avocations. From where I was sitting I could see some of the great +statues--some of the figures in quite good preservation, two of them +holding their lamps. I found a nice square stone, and sat there lazily +taking in the enchanting views on all sides--the Palatine Hill behind +me, the Capitol on one side, on the other the three enormous arches of +the Temple of Constantine; at my feet the Via Sacra running straight +away to the Colosseum, the sky a deep, soft blue throwing out every line +and bit of sculpture on the countless pillars, temples and arches that +spring up on all sides. From a height, the Palatine Hill, for instance, +the Forum always looks to me like an enormous cemetery--one loses the +impression of each separate building or ruin. It might be a street of +tombs rather than the busy centre of a great city. + +There were plenty of people going about--bands of Cook's tourists being +personally conducted and instructed. If the gentleman who explains Roman +history gives the same loose rein to his imagination as the one we used +to hear in Versailles conducting the British public through the +Historical Portrait Gallery, the present generation will have curious +ideas as to the deeds of daring and wonderful rule of all the Augustuses +and Vespasians who have made the Palace of the Caesars the keystone of +magnificent and Imperial Rome; and again "unwritten history" will be +responsible for many wonderful statements. However, I wasn't near enough +to hear the explanations. People were still coming in when I left, and +all the way home I met carriages filled with strangers. + +We went out again rather late. I went for tea to Marchesa Vitelleschi, +and before I came away Vitelleschi came in. I wanted to see him to +thank him for sending me his book, a Roman novel, "Roma che se ne +va."[34] It is very cleverly written, and an excellent picture of the +Rome of 35 years ago, as we first knew it. I should think it would +interest English and Americans very much, I wonder he hasn't translated +it. + +[34] Rome which is disappearing. + +I found quite a party assembled in the little green salon when I got +back--Don Guery, the Benedictine monk, who wishes to arrange a concert +with Josephine for her charities, and M. Alphonse Mustel, who has just +come from Paris with his beautiful organ. He arrived this morning early +and hadn't yet found a room anywhere--all the hotels crowded. They say +that for years they haven't had so many strangers for Holy Week. He is +coming to play here Thursday afternoon. + +We had a quiet evening, and after dinner Mr. Virgo read to us the book I +am so mad about, "The Call of the Wild." He read extremely well, and I +liked the book even better hearing it read. It is a marvellous +description of that wild life in the Klondyke, and a beautiful poetical +strain all through. The children listened attentively, were wildly +interested, particularly when poor Buck was made to drag the sledge so +heavily loaded, for his master to win his bet. We also want to read +Cardinal Mathieu's article in the "Revue des Deux Mondes," "Les derniers +jours de Leon XIII."; but we have so rarely a quiet evening, and in the +daytime every one is out in the beautiful Roman sunshine. + +We have all come upstairs early (ten o'clock) so I am profiting of a +quiet hour to write, as I can't go to bed so early. This street is +rather noisy. It is on the way to the station and some of the big +hotels. Cabs and big omnibuses go through it all day and all night. I +don't mind the noise. I rather like the roar of a big city--it means +life. + + + Thursday, March 31st. + +It is pouring to-day, and we have been out all day. I went to church +this morning, but didn't get too wet with a thick serge dress and +umbrella; then to breakfast at the Grand Hotel with some friends, and an +excursion to the Palace of the Caesars in prospect, under the guidance of +Mr. Baddeley, who is an authority on all Roman antiquities and a great +friend of Boni's. It rained so hard when we were sitting in the Palm +Garden for coffee, that it seemed impossible the drops shouldn't come +through, and we looked to see if little puddles were not forming +themselves on the floor under our chairs, but no, it was quite dry. + +We started in shut carriages, thinking we would try for the Palace of +the Caesars, where we could get refuge, but it was shut, so we went on to +San Giovanni in Laterano, and had an interesting hour wandering about +the church. Our guide had old artistic Rome at his fingers' ends, and it +certainly makes all the difference in seeing the curious old tombs and +monuments when one has some idea as to who the people were, and what +sort of lives they led. Mr. Baddeley said, like all the people who +really live in Italy, that the summer was the time to see Rome; that no +one could imagine what a Roman "festa" was unless he had seen one in the +height of summer, when the whole population was out and in the streets +all day and all night, in a frenzy of amusement. No priests were in the +streets; a sort of tacit concession, or tolerance for just one or two +occasions. + +We came back here for tea, as M. Mustel had promised to play for us this +afternoon, and Josephine had asked some of her friends. The organ +sounded splendidly in her big music-room, where there is little +furniture and no draperies to deaden the sound. He played of course +extremely well, and brought out every sound of his instrument. Two +preludes of Bach were quite beautiful; also the prelude of +"Parsifal"--so much sound at times that it seemed an orchestra, and then +again beautifully soft. We were all delighted with it. + +People stayed rather late, but Bessie and I and Sir Donald Wallace, who +had come to tea, started off to St. Peter's. It is the tradition in Rome +to go to St. Peter's on Holy Thursday. In our time the whole city +went--it was quite a promenade de societe. I believe they do still, but +we were rather late. The church looked quite beautiful as we drove +up--brilliantly lighted, the big doors open, quantities of people going +up the steps and through a double line of _Italian_ soldiers into the +church. The "Miserere" was over, but the chapel was still lighted, a +good many people kneeling at the altar. The church was crowded, and +every one pushing toward the grand altar, which was being washed. They +were also exposing the relics from the two high balconies on each side +of the altar. Many people were kneeling, and every now and then a +procession came through the crowd of priests and choir-boys with +banners, all chanting, and kneeling when they came near the altar--of +course there was the usual collection of gaping, irreverent tourists, +commenting audibly, and wondering if anybody really believed those were +the actual nails that came out of the cross, or the thorn out of the +Crown of Thorns, etc., etc., also "why are they making such a fuss +washing their altar--why couldn't they do it this morning when no one +was in the church." + +We had some little difficulty in getting away, as the crowd was +awful--getting worse every moment. It was beautiful when we did get +out--the great Piazza quite black, a steady stream still pouring into +the church. The lights from inside threw little bright spots on the +gun-barrels and belts of the soldiers--the great mass of the Vatican +quite black, with little lights twinkling high up in some of the +windows. + +I am decidedly tired and stiff--I think being rained upon all day and +standing on damp pavements and in windy corners is rather a trial to any +one with rheumatic tendencies--but I have enjoyed my day thoroughly, +particularly the end at St. Peter's. It so reminded me of old times when +we used to go to all the ceremonies, beginning with the "Pastorale" at +Christmas time and finishing with the Easter Benediction and +"Girandola." + +We finished "The Call of the Wild" this evening, and now we must take +something else. I should like the "Figlia di Jorio" of d'Annunzio. They +say the Italian is quite beautiful, but the morals, I am afraid, are not +of the same high order. I shall try and see it. + + + ROME, Saturday, April 2, 1904. + +It was bright yesterday, but cold. The snow was quite thick on the +Sabine Hills--they looked beautiful as we drove out into the country +through Porta San Giovanni before going to the church of Santa Croce in +Jerusalemme, where Prince Colonna had asked us to come and see a curious +ceremony--he himself carrying a cross at the head of a procession. +Bessie and I with the two children and the dog (we would have left him +in the carriage) tried to see some of the churches and hear some music, +but there were such crowds everywhere that we couldn't get in, so we +took a drive instead. There was such a crowd at Santa Croce that we +couldn't have got anywhere near the altar if we hadn't had a card from +Colonna; that took us into the Sagrestia where they gave us chairs, and +we sat there some little time watching all the "neri" (Blacks) assemble. +They proposed to show us the relics to while away the time, so we were +taken up a very steep staircase, along a narrow short passage to a small +room where they are kept. The priest lighted tapers, made his little +prayer, and then unveiled his treasures. There were pieces of the Cross, +a nail, St. Thomas's unbelieving finger, and the inscription on a piece +of wood that was over the Cross, "Jesus King of the Jews." It was an +old, blackened, almost rotten square, with the inscription in Latin, +hardly legible, but the priest showed us some letters and numbers that +were quite distinct. + +When we got back again to the sacristy the procession was forming--a +number of gentlemen dressed in black, with gold chains and crosses +around their necks, and a long procession of monks, priests, and +choristers. Colonna himself at the head, carrying quite simply a rather +large wooden cross; all with tapers and all chanting. As soon as they +had filed out of the sacristy we went upstairs again to a high balcony, +from which we had a fine view of the church. It was packed with people, +the crowd just opening enough to allow the procession to pass, which +looked like a line of fire winding in and out. There was a short, simple +service, and then all turned toward the balcony from where the relics +were shown, every one in the church kneeling, as far as I could see. We +came away before the end, and had great difficulty in getting through +the crowd to our carriages. + +This morning it was beautiful so we all started off early to the Wurts' +Villa (old Sciarra Villa) on the Janiculum. Just as we crossed the +bridge the bells rang out the Hallelujah (the first time they had rung +since Wednesday). They sounded beautiful, so joyous, a real Easter +peal. We had a delightful hour in the garden of the Villa. There were +armies of workmen in every direction, and the place will be a perfect +Paradise. There are fine trees in the garden, masses of rhododendrons, +every description of palm, and of course flowers everywhere. The views +were divine to-day--the Sabine Mountains with a great deal of snow, +Soracte blue and solitary rising straight out of the Campagna, and the +Abruzzi snow-topped in the distance. Mr. and Mrs. Wurts were there and +showed us all the improvements they intend making. + +After breakfast I walked about in the Via Sistina looking for some +photographs. I wanted to find some of old Rome (at least Rome of 24 +years ago) but that seemed hopeless. My artist friend had promised to +look in some of his father's old portfolios and see what he could find, +but he was not in a business frame of mind this afternoon. He was eating +his dinner at his counter, his slouched hat on his head, which he didn't +remove while I was talking to him. A young woman with her face tied up +in a red fichu was stretched out on the floor behind the counter, sound +asleep, her head on a pile of books; another over at the other end of +the shop, her chair tilted back, talking sometimes to him and sometimes +to people in the street. I suppose my eyes wandered to the one who was +asleep, for he instantly said, "She is ill, tired, don't disturb her." +He said he hadn't found any old photographs, only one rather bad and +half-effaced of Pio IX. I said I wanted one of Antonelli. "E morto lui." +I said I knew that, but he _had_ lived however once, and not so very +long ago, and had been a person of some importance. He evidently didn't +think it worth while to continue that conversation, and had certainly no +intention of looking for any photographs for me that day. It was +"festa"--Easter Eve--and work was over for him until Monday morning, so +I was really obliged to go, he wishing me "buon giorno" and "buona +Pasqua" quite cheerfully, without getting up or taking off his hat. + +I came in to tea, as Mustel was to play. We had about 40 people, and he +was much pleased at the way in which every one listened, and appreciated +his instrument. Of course he plays it divinely and brings out every +sound. Josephine had asked the Marquise Villa Marina to come and hear +him. He naturally wants very much to play for Queen Margherita (who is a +very good musician and plays the organ herself), and if the Marquise +makes a good report the Queen will perhaps send for him to play for her. + + + Easter Sunday, April 3d. + +It has been a beautiful day. Bessie and I went to the English church, +which was crowded. We could only find seats quite at the bottom of the +church, and those were chairs which had been brought in at the last +moment. We went afterward to breakfast with the Wurts in their beautiful +apartment. They had flowers everywhere (from their villa) and the rooms +looked like a garden. We were quite a party--16--and stayed there +talking and looking at everything until after three. Then we started for +a drive. I wanted to go to the Protestant Cemetery and see the little +mortuary chapel we built after father's death. Some one told me it was +utterly uncared for, going to ruin. The gates were open as we drove up, +a good many carriages waiting, and plenty of people walking about +inside. It is a lovely, peaceful spot, so green and still, many fine +trees, quantities of camellias, and violets on almost every grave. The +chapel stood just as I remembered it--in the middle of the cemetery. It +is in perfectly good order, and had evidently been used quite lately as +there were wooden trestles to support a coffin, and bits of wreaths and +stalks of flowers lying about. The two inscriptions, Latin on one side +and English on the other, are both quite well preserved and legible. I +wanted very much to see a guardian or director of the cemetery, but +there was only a woman at the gate, who knew nothing, hadn't been there +very long, in fact she knew nothing about the chapel, and showed me a +room opening into the old cemetery (where Keats is buried) which looked +more like a lumber room than anything else. There are some interesting +monuments, one to Mrs. Story, quite simple and beautiful, an angel +kneeling with folded wings. It was done by her husband, the last thing +he did, his son told me. The old cemetery looks quite deserted, close +under the great pyramid of Caius Cestius, the few graves quite uncared +for, a general air of neglect, a fitting resting-place for the poor +young poet whose profound discouragement will go down to posterity. +Every one goes to the grave and reads the melancholy inscription, "Here +lies one whose name was writ in water." + +It was such a lovely afternoon that we drove on to Tre Fontane. There, +too, there were people. The churches were open, but there was no service +going on; however the place has always a great charm. The tops of the +eucalyptus trees were swaying in a little breeze, and the smell was +stronger and more aromatic than when we were there the other day. + +We have had a quiet evening, all of us, children and grown-ups, +Protestants and Catholics, singing the English Easter Hymns. Josephine, +who is a very strict Catholic, loves the English hymns, and certainly we +can all sing "Christ the Lord is Risen To-day," for Easter is a fete for +all the world. I am sorry I didn't go to St. Peter's this morning. I +don't know that there was any special ceremony, but for the sake of old +times I should have liked to have had my Easter and Hallelujah there. + +I am writing rather under difficulties as the telephone is ringing +furiously (it goes all day, as every one in the house uses it for +everything). At the present moment Josephine seems conversing with "all +manner of men"--the Marquise Villa Marina from the Queen's Palace, the +padrone of the hotel where Mustel is staying, and one or two others. It +seems Queen Margherita would like to have Mustel and his organ to-morrow +night at the Palace; and has asked us three, Bessie, Josephine and me, +to come. I am very glad for Mustel who wants so much to be heard by the +Queen. He hopes to sell some of his organs here. They are not expensive, +but so few people care about an organ of their own. + + + Wednesday, April 6th. + +We had an interesting evening at the palace on Monday. I couldn't get +there for the beginning, as I had a big dinner, and a very pleasant one, +at the Iddings'. When I arrived I heard the music going on, but the +Marquise de Villa Marina came to meet me in the corridor, and we walked +up and down talking until the piece was over. I found a small party--the +Queen, her mother, the Duchess of Genoa, and about fifteen or twenty +people. The Queen was in black, with beautiful pearl necklace. She +received me charmingly and was most kind and gracious to Mustel, saying +she was so pleased to see a French artist, and taking great interest in +his instrument. He played several times: Handel's grand aria, Bach, and +the Marche des Pelerins from "Tannhaeuser," which sounded +magnificent--quite an effect of orchestra. + +About 11.30 there was a pause. The Duchess of Genoa came over and +talked to me a little, saying she had known my husband and followed his +career with great interest, his English origin and education making him +quite different from the usual run of French statesmen. She also spoke +of my sister-in-law, Madame de Bunsen, whom she had known formerly in +Florence. She exchanged a few words with the other ladies, and then +withdrew, the Queen and her ladies accompanying her to her apartments. +We remained talking with the other guests until Queen Margherita came +back. She asked Mustel to play once more--and then we had orangeade, +ices, and cakes. There was a small buffet at one end of the +drawing-room. It was quite half-past twelve when the Queen dismissed us. +We had a real musical evening, pleasant and easy. + +[Illustration: Cardinal Antonelli. From a picture painted for the Grand +Duke of Saxe-Weimar. + +From a photograph given to Madame Waddington by the Hereditary Grand +Duchess of Saxe-Weimar at Rome.] + +It was beautiful this morning, so I went for a turn in the Villa +Borghese, which is a paradise these lovely spring days; only the getting +to it is disagreeable. It is a hot, glaring walk up the Via Veneto, not +an atom of shade anywhere until one gets well inside the grounds. I was +walking about on the grass quite leisurely, and very distraite, not +noticing any one, when I heard my name. I turned and saw two ladies +making signs to me from the other side of the road, so I squeezed +through a very narrow opening in the fence, and found myself with the +grand duchess and her lady-in-waiting, who were taking their morning +walk. We strolled on together. She asked me if I always came to the +villa in the morning. I said "No," I often went shopping in the morning, +and told her about my photographer of the Via Sistina and the difficulty +of getting a photograph of Antonelli. She instantly said: "Oh, but I can +help you there, if you really would like a photograph of Antonelli. I +have a fine portrait of him that was painted for my beau-pere. It is in +the palace at Weimar, and I will give orders at once for the court +photographer to go and copy it." I was much pleased, as I _do_ want the +photograph and was rather in despair at not having found one. It seemed +incredible to me, until I had asked a little, that there should be +nothing of Antonelli. After all, it isn't very long since he played a +great part here, so it was a most fortunate rencontre for me this +morning. We parted at the gate--I walked home and she got into her +carriage. + + + Friday, April 7th. + +We made a pleasant excursion yesterday to San Gregorio, the Brancaccios' +fine place beyond Tivoli. The day unluckily was grey, looked as if it +would pour every minute, we had none of the lovely lights and shades +that make the Campagna and the hills so beautiful. We went out in +Camillo Ruspoli's automobile, a Fiat, Italian make, strong and fast. The +road is not particularly interesting until one begins the steep ascent +to Tivoli; then looking back the view of course was beautiful. We didn't +have much time to admire it, for the auto galloped up the steep hill as +if it were nothing. After Tivoli the road goes straight up into the +Sabine hills, winding and narrow, with very sharp corners, which we +swung round quite easily certainly, as Ruspoli managed his carriage +perfectly--but still the road _was_ narrow and steep--hills rolling away +on one side, a precipice and deep valley on the other, no wall nor +parapet of any description, and it was absolutely lonely. If anything +had broken, or an animal crossed our road suddenly, and made us swerve, +I don't think anything could have saved us. + +The castle looked very imposing as we came up to it, an enormous mass, +the village built into the castle walls, standing high on the top of a +hill. The flag was flying, all the population, wildly excited (another +automobile had arrived before us), were massed at the gates, the +drawbridge down, and Bessie and her husband waiting for us, also the +Bishops who had come in their auto. We took off some of our coats, but +not all, as the rooms are so enormous that it was cold, notwithstanding +a great fire in the big hall. We had an hour before breakfast, so they +showed us the house which is magnificent, with the most divine views on +all sides from all the balconies, corner windows, etc. It is beautifully +furnished, perfectly comfortable. I couldn't begin to describe it--one +couldn't take it all in in a flying visit. There are several complete +apartments with dressing-rooms, bath-rooms, etc., so curious to see so +much modern comfort and luxury inside this grim old castle on the top of +a rock far back in the Sabine hills. + +It was very cold--I kept on my thick coat. There are balconies and +little bridges connecting towers, high terraces, staircases in every +direction--quite bewildering. We breakfasted in the large dining hall, +and it was pleasant to see the enormous logs, and to hear the crackling +and spluttering of a big fire. There are some fine Brancaccio portraits, +in the curious old-world court dress of the Neapolitan ladies of the +last century. They gave us an excellent breakfast, with a turkey bred +and fattened at the olive farm (it seems these olive-fed turkeys are +their specialty). We did some more sight-seeing after breakfast, +bachelor apartments principally, such curious old niches and steep, +narrow little staircases (we could only pass single file) cut in the +thick walls, and then started off to drive and walk in the park. They +had two nice little two-wheeled carts, with stout ponies, just the thing +for rough wood driving. The park is charming--long green alleys with +beautiful views--the country all around rather stony and barren, no +shade as there are few trees. We hadn't time to go to the olive farm, +which I was sorry for, as the people were all working there picking the +olives. I should have liked to see the women with their bright skirts +and corsets making a warm bit of colour in the midst of the grey-green +olive groves. + +We started home rather sooner than we had intended, as the sky was +getting blacker, and a few drops already falling. We were in an open +automobile, and should have been half drowned going home if it had begun +to rain hard. We went back at a frightful pace. If I found the coming up +terrifying you can imagine what the descent was, flying around the +corners, and seeing the steep road zigzagging far down below us. I heard +smothered exclamations ("Oh, mon petit Camillo, pas si vite") +occasionally from Bessie, and I think Josephine was saying her +prayers--however we did get home without any accident or "panne" of any +kind, and Ruspoli assured us he had _crawled_ out of consideration for +us. + +This morning Josephine and I have been out to the new Benedictine +Monastery of St. Anselmo, which stands high on a hill overlooking the +Tiber. She had business with the Director, so I went into the chapel +which is fine (quite modern with splendid marbles) and walked about a +little in the garden (they wouldn't let me go far). We went afterward +into the Villa Malta. There is an extraordinary view through the +key-hole of the door--one looks straight down a long, narrow avenue with +high trees on each side, to St. Peter's--a great blue dome at the end. We +couldn't make out at first what the old woman meant who opened the door +for us, she wouldn't let us come in, but pointed to the key-hole, +mumbling something we couldn't understand. At last we heard "veduta" +(view), and divined what she wanted us to do. It was most curious. The +gardens are lovely still, green, cool. We went over the house, but +there is nothing particularly interesting--portraits of all the "Grands +Maitres de l'Ordre de Malte." It was so lovely that we didn't want to +come home, so we drove out as far at St. Paul's Fuori le Mura, and +walked around the church to the front where they are making a splendid +portico--all marble and mosaic. I should have liked it better without +the mosaic--merely the fine granite and marble columns. + + + Tuesday, April 12th. + +Yesterday we had a splendid ceremony at St. Peter's, the 13th +anniversary of Pope Gregorio Magno. We started early, Josephine and I +leaving the house together at 8, dressed in the regulation black dress +and veil. I had on a short cloth skirt, which I regretted afterward, but +as we had asked for no particular places, and were going to take our +chance in the church with all the ordinary sight-seers, I hadn't made a +very elegante toilette. We got along pretty well, though there were +streams of carriages and people all going in the same direction, until +we got near the St. Angelo bridge--there we took the file, hardly +advanced at all, and met quantities of empty carriages coming back. I +fancy most people started much earlier than we did. The piazza was +fairly crowded (but not the compact mass we used to see in the old days +when the Pope gave the Easter blessing from the balcony), all the +Colonnade guarded by Italian troops, carabinieri and bersaglieri. We +went round to the Sagrestia, and found our way easily into the church, +and into our Tribune A, but we might just as well have remained at home, +if we had wanted to see anything. We were far back, low, and could have +just seen perhaps the top of the Pope's tiara when he was carried in his +high chair in procession--however it was our own fault, as we had asked +too late for our tickets. I was interested all the same seeing the +different people come in (the church was very full). We sat there some +little time, rather disgusted au fond at having such bad places, +particularly when we saw some people we knew being escorted with much +pomp past our obscure little tribune, toward the centre of the church. +Finally one of the camerieri segreti in his uniform--black velvet, ruff +and chain--recognised Josephine, and insisted that she should come with +him and he would give her a proper place. She rather demurred at leaving +me, but I urged her going, as I was sure she would find a seat for me +somewhere. In a few minutes the gentleman returned, and put me first in +the same tribune with her, a little farther back, but eventually +conducted me to the Diplomatic Tribune, d'Antas, the Doyen, Portuguese +Ambassador to the Quirinal, and an old colleague of ours in London, +having said he would gladly give a place in their box to an ancienne +collegue. That was the moment in which I regretted my short skirt. I had +to cross the red carpet between rows of gardes-nobles and gala uniforms +of all kinds and colours, and I was quite conscious that my dress was +not up to the mark, a sentiment which gathered strength as I got to the +Diplomatic Tribune, and saw all the ladies beautifully dressed, with +long lace and satin dresses, pearl necklaces, and their veils fastened +with diamond stars. However, it was a momentary ennui, and I could only +hope nobody looked at me. Wasn't it silly of me to wear a plain little +skirt--I can't think why I did it. Almost all the bishops and sommites +of the clerical world were already assembled and walking about in the +great space at the back of the altar. Just opposite us was the Tribune +of the patriciat Romain. All the tribunes and columns were covered with +red and gold draperies. A detachment of gardes-nobles, splendid in +their red coats, white culottes and white plumes, surrounded the altar. +There were two silver thrones for the Pope, one at one side of the +church where he sat first, directly opposite to us, another quite at the +end of the long nave behind the high altar. The entrance of the +cardinals was very effective. They all wore white cloaks trimmed with +silver, and silver mitres, each one accompanied by an attendant priest, +who helped them take off and put on their mitres, which they did several +times during the ceremony. The costumes were splendid, some high +prelates, I suppose, in red skirts with splendid old lace; some in white +and gold brocaded cloaks, also grey fur cloaks; and an Eastern bishop +with a long beard, in purple flowered robes, a pink sash worn like a +grand cordon over his shoulder, and purple mitre. It was a gorgeous +effect of colour, showing all the more between the rows of tribunes +where every one was in black. + +We divined (as we were too far back to see) when the Pope's cortege +entered the church. There was no sound--a curious silence--except the +trumpets which preceded the cortege (they played a "Marcia pontificale," +they told me). At last we saw the "sedia gestatoria" with the peacock +fans appearing, and the Pope himself held high over the heads of the +crowd (it seems he hates the sedia and hoped until the last moment not +to be obliged to use it, but it is the tradition of St. Peter's, and +really the only way for the people to see him). We saw him quite +distinctly. He looked pale certainly, and a little tired, even before +the ceremony began, but that may have been the effect of the swaying +motion of the chair. There was the same silence when he was taken out of +his chair and walked to the throne, not even the subdued hum of a great +crowd. There was a little group of officiating priests and cardinals on +the dais surrounding the throne. The Pope wore a long soutane of fine +white cloth, white shoes, a splendid mantle of white and gold brocade, +and a gold mitre with precious stones, principally pearls. He began his +mass at once, a bishop holding the big book open before him, a priest on +each side with a lighted taper. His voice sounded strong and clear, but +I don't think it would carry very far. I was disappointed in the +Gregorian chants. There were 1,500 voices, but they sounded meagre in +that enormous space. The ceremony was very long. I couldn't follow it +all, and at intervals couldn't see anything, as the priests stood often +directly in front of the Pope. It was interesting to make out the +various cardinals--Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli sat almost directly +opposite to us, his tall figure standing out well. His brother Cardinal +Serafino was always close to the Pope. I asked d'Antas to show me +Cardinal Rampolla, who has a fine head and dignified carriage, rather a +sad face. It was very impressive when the Pope left his throne by the +altar and walked across the great space to the other one at the end of +the nave. Every one knelt as he passed, the cardinals, bishops, +gardes-nobles, everybody in the tribunes (at least everybody in the +front row, I won't answer for the young ones behind, but they stood if +they didn't kneel). There again the ceremonies were very long. When the +Pope had taken his seat, many of the cardinals sat too on the steps of +the dais. It was very picturesque, and the Eastern prelate stood out +well from the group of white-robed Cardinals in his bright flowered +garments. The Evangile was read in Latin and in Greek--a great many +things and people were blessed, every one kneeling at the foot of the +dais, and again when they got close up to the Pope; some quite +prostrated themselves and kissed his slipper (a very nice white one) +which they say he hates. Prince Orsini, premier assistant of the Saint +Siege, officiated, and looked his part to perfection. He is tall, with a +long white beard, and his short black velvet cloak, with a long white +and silver mantle over it, was most effective. I don't know exactly what +he did, but he appeared various times at the foot of the dais, knelt, +and sometimes presented something on a platter. He was always +accompanied (as were all who took any prominent part in the ceremony) by +two priests, one on each side of him; sort of masters of ceremony who +told him when to kneel, when to stand, etc. On the whole all the music +disappointed me. The Gregorian chants were too thin; the Sistine choir +didn't seem as full and fine as it used to be, and the silver trumpets +absolutely trivial. + +It was most impressive at the moment of the elevation, almost the whole +assembly in that enormous church kneeling, and not a sound except the +silver trumpets, which had seemed so divinely inspired to me in the old +days. I remember quite well seeing Gounod on his knees, with tears +streaming down his face, and we were quite enchanted, lifted out of +ourselves and our every-day surroundings. This time I was perfectly +conscious of a great spectacle of the Catholic Church with its +magnificent "mise-en-scene," but nothing devotional or appealing to +one's religious feelings. + +I should have liked to hear a great solemn choral of Bach, not an +ordinary melodious little tune; and yet for years after those first days +in Rome I never could play or hear the music of the silver trumpets +without being strangely moved. + +I thought the Pope looked very pale and tired as he passed down the long +nave the last time and was finally carried off in his chair with his +peacock fans waving, and a stately procession of cardinals and prelates +following. I think he regrets Venice and the simple life there as pastor +of his people. + +We saw plenty of people we knew as we were making our way through the +crowd to the carriage. Some of the ladies told us they had left their +hotel at 5.30 in the morning, they were so anxious to get a good place. +I told d'Antas I was very grateful to him, for I saw everything of +course perfectly, and took in many little details which I never could +have seen if we hadn't been so near. I also apologized to Madame d'Antas +for my modest, not to say mesquin attire; but she said as long as I was +all black, and had the black veil, it was of no consequence. There were +two or three ladies in the Royal Tribune--Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar +and Duchess Paul of Mecklenburg. We were a long time getting home, but +it was an interesting progress; all Rome out, a good many handsome +carriages, and I should think people from every part of the world, Rome +is so full of strangers. + + + Thursday, April 14th. + +I never had a moment yesterday as it was the children's ball, and we +were all taken up with the preparations. It went off very well, and was +one of the prettiest sights I ever saw. The children danced extremely +well, though even at the last repetition things didn't go perfectly; but +evidently at all ages there is a sort of amour propre that carries one +through, when there is a gallery. The dresses were Louis XVI., paniers +and powder for the girls (and sweet they looked--Victoria quite a +picture with her large dark eyes and bright colour), embroidered coats, +long gilets, tricorne hats and swords for the boys. There were eight +couples, and very good music--4 violins playing Boccherini's minuet. +Bessie had arranged a very pretty "rampe" with white azaleas and pink +and yellow ribbons, separating the upper part of the ball-room, and the +space for the dancers was kept by 4 tall footmen in yellow gala liveries +and powder, who stood at each corner of the square, in their hands tall +gilt canes held together by bands of pink ribbon. It made a charming +"cadre"--you can't imagine how pretty the little procession looked as +they all filed in, the small ones first. I think perhaps the quite small +ones were the best; they were so important, took much trouble and +weren't as distracted by the spectators as the bigger ones. They were +much applauded, and were obliged to repeat the minuet after a little +rest. In an incredibly short time all the seats and various accessories +were taken away, and the ball began, ending with a very spirited +cotillon led by the son of the house, Don Camillo Ruspoli, and one of +his friends, the Marquis Guglielmi. They kept it up until dinner time, +when the various mammas, quite exhausted with the heat and the emotion +of seeing their children perform in public, carried them off; but the +children (ours certainly) were not at all tired. + + + Saturday, April 16th. + +It is real summer weather--too hot to walk in the morning, particularly +from here, where we have to cross the open piazza before we can get +anywhere. Thursday we went to the races with the Brancaccios, on their +coach. It was most amusing, the road very animated all the way out from +Porta San Giovanni to Campanelle; every one making way for the coach as +they do in England. There was every description of vehicle, and +quantities of police and soldiers--the road very strictly guarded, as +the King and Queen were coming. It looked very pretty to see a patrol of +cuirassiers suddenly appearing from under an old archway, or behind a +bit of ruined wall, or from time to time one solitary soldier standing +on the top of a high mound. It was very hot, the sun too strong on our +heads, but we didn't go very fast; couldn't, in such a crowd, so we were +able to hold our parasols. + +The course and all the tribunes were crowded; the women almost all in +white or light dresses. The King and Queen came in an open carriage with +four horses--no escort. We had a pleasant day, meeting quantities of +people we knew. We had rather a struggle for tea; there were not nearly +enough tables and chairs for so many people; but we finally got some +under difficulties, two of us sitting on the same chair and thankful to +get it. + +The drive home was lovely, cool, and very little dust. Rome looked soft +and warm in the sunset light as we got near, and the statues on San +Giovanni Laterano almost golden as the light struck them. It was +interminable when we got into the file, and Brancaccio had some +difficulty in turning into his court-yard. + + + Monday, April 18th. + +It is enchanting summer weather, but too hot for walking. I have had two +charming auto expeditions with Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. Saturday we started +after breakfast to Civita Vecchia. The country is not very interesting +near Rome, but it was delightful running along by the sea--the road low +and so close to the water that the little waves came nearly up to the +wheels. Civita Vecchia looked quite picturesque, rising up out of the +sea. We didn't stop there, merely drove through the town, and came home +another way inland, through the hills, quite beautiful, but _such_ sharp +turns and steep bits. We climbed straight up a high hill (2,000 feet) +soon after leaving Civita Vecchia, and had for some time a divine view +of sea and coast; then plunged at once into the mountains, great barren, +stony peaks with little old grey villages on top; hills rolling away on +each side, a wild, desolate country. The road was very lonely, we met +only a few carts; the peasants frantic with terror as the big auto +dashed by. + +We passed Bracciano, the great feudal castle of the Odescalchi, with the +beautiful little blue lake at the bottom of the hill. It is a fine old +pile, square and grey, with battlements running all around it--more +imposing than attractive. After leaving Bracciano we flew--the road was +straight and level--and got back to Rome by Ponte Molle and Porta del +Popolo. + +Sunday we made a longer expedition to the Falls of Terni. There were +three autos--quite a party. The road was very different, but quite +beautiful, green fields and olive woods, and lovely effects of light and +shade on the Campagna. The day was grey, the sun appearing every now and +then from behind a cloud, at first; later, when we stopped on the high +road, with not a vestige of tree or bit of wall to give us shade, we +longed for the clouds. + +We soon began to climb, then down a long, winding hill to Civita +Castellana, an old fortified town, walls all around. We drove in through +the gate, and along a narrow steep street filled with people, as it was +Sunday, and asked if they had seen another auto. They told us yes, in +the piazza, so we went on, making our way with difficulty through the +crowded streets; every one taking a lively interest in the auto. The +square, too, was crowded, all the women in bright skirts and fichus, and +a fair sprinkling of uniforms; little carts with fruit and vegetables, +and two or three men with mandolins or violins (a mild little music) but +no signs of an auto. A splendid gentleman in uniform with waving plumes +and a sword (mayor, I suppose) came up and interviewed us, and told us +an auto had been there, coming from Rome, but had left about ten minutes +before; so we started off again, and had a beautiful drive to Terni. We +passed Narni, which stands very well on the top of a rock, high above +the little river which runs there through a narrow gorge to the Tiber. +We crossed a fine large bridge, then down a hill to Terni, where we +breakfasted. After breakfast we started for the Falls, about four miles +further on, and quite beautiful they are, a great rush of sparkling +water falling from a height and breaking into countless little falls +over the green moss-covered rocks below. It was delicious to hear the +sound of running water, and to feel the spray on our faces after our hot +ride. + +We didn't get out. We shouldn't have seen the Falls any better, and +would have had to scramble over wet, slippery stones. There was the +usual collection of guides, beggars, etc., offering us pieces of +petrified stone, and of course post-cards of the Falls. Just around +Terni the hills are very green, the slopes covered with olive trees, and +quantities of white villas scattered about on the hillside, little +groups of people loitering about, women and girls making pretty bits of +colour as they strolled along. They love bright colours, and generally +have on two or three, red or blue skirts, yellow fichus on their heads, +or over their shoulders, coloured beads or gold pins. Some of them +carried such heavy loads on their heads or backs, great bundles of +fagots, or sacks of olives, old women generally. They are given that +work as a rest when they are too old to do anything in the fields. + +We came home by another road, always the same wild mountain scenery, +always also the same sharp curves and steep descents. It is certainly +lovely country, green hills breaking away in every direction. As we got +higher, great stony, barren peaks, torrents rushing along at our feet, +and always on the top of a rock, rising straight up out of the hills, a +little old grey village (with usually a steeple and sometimes an old +square castle). Some of the villages were stretched along the +mountain-side about half-way up. They all looked perfectly lonely and +inaccessible, but I suppose life goes on there with just as much +interest to them, as in ours in the busy world beneath. + +We raced up and down the hills, through beautiful country, scarcely +slackening when we passed through some little walled towns (hardly more +than one long crooked street), in at one gate and out at the other, +people all crowding into the piazza, smiling and taking off their hats. +Once or twice one heard them say "la Regina" evidently thinking it was +Queen Margherita, who loves her auto, and makes long country excursions +in it. It was a curious, fantastic progress, but enchanting. + +The other autos had started some time ahead of us. We saw an object +(stationary) as we were speeding down a steep hill, which proved, as we +got near, to be one of them, stuck in a little stream, quite firmly +embedded in the sand, and looking as if nothing would ever get it out. +About 15 or 20 men were pulling and hauling, but it seemed quite +hopeless. It wasn't a very pleasant prospect for us either, as our auto, +too, was big and heavy, and we had to get across. It would have been too +far to go back all the way round. However, Mr. Bishop's chauffeur was +not in the least concerned, said he would certainly take _his_ carriage +over, and he did, Mrs. Bishop and me in it. We waited to see the other +one emerge from its bed of sand. The men pulled well, and talked as hard +as they pulled, and finally the great heavy machine was landed on the +other side. + +We had a long level stretch, about 20 kilometres, before we got into +Rome, and we raced the train, all the passengers wildly excited. It is +curious to see how one gets accustomed to the speed when the carriage +rolls smoothly. It seemed quite natural to me to fly past everything, +and yet when Strutz has occasionally whirled us in to La Ferte to catch +the express I haven't been comfortable at all. + + + April 22, 1904. + +Yesterday afternoon Bessie and I went to the reception at the Villa +Medicis, which was pleasant. We liked the music of the I^{er} Prix de +Rome, and it was interesting to see the pictures and sculpture. I think +the faces of the young men interested me, perhaps, more than their +work--they looked so young and intelligent and hopeful, so eager for the +battle of life; and yet so many find it such a struggle. There is so +much concurrence in everything, and an artist's life is precarious. The +very qualities which make their genius unfit them so for all the cares +and worries of a career which must always have ups and downs. + +We went late for a drive in the Corso and Via Nazionale to see all the +preparations for Loubet's arrival. They are certainly taking no end of +trouble--flags, draperies, and festoons of flowers, in all the principal +streets. The garden they are making in Piazza Colonna is quite +wonderful--quite tall trees, little green lawns, and the statue of a +Roman emperor. Quantities of people looking on at the workmen and +walking about in the piazza. The Via Nazionale, too, is gorgeous with +draperies, shields, and large medallions with French and Italian colours +entwined. + +This afternoon I went off alone and did some sight-seeing. We shall go +in a few days, and I haven't seen half I wanted to. I went straight over +to the Trastevere; first to Santa Maria, with its queer old mosaic +facade, looking more Byzantine than Italian; then on to Santa Cecilia, +where a nice old sacristan took me all over, showed me the chapel +supposed to be directly over Santa Cecilia's bath-room (the church is +said to be built on the very spot where her house stood), and of course +the tomb of the saint. Then, as I had nothing particular to do, I drove +out toward Monte Mario, which is a lovely drive in the afternoon, the +view of Rome looking back is so beautiful. It is a long steep hill, with +many turns, so one gets the view on all sides. The Cork Valley was green +and lovely, and the road was unusually quiet. I think everybody is on +the Corso looking at the festal preparations. I went back to the house +to get Bessie, and we went to tea with the Waldo Storys, in his studio. +He has some beautiful things--two fountains in particular are quite +charming. + +We all dined out, Bessie and Josephine with Cardinal Mathieu, I at the +American Embassy with the Meyers. We had a pleasant dinner--four or five +small tables. They have Mrs. Field's apartment in the Brancaccio +Palace--entertain a great deal, and are much liked in Rome. + +[Illustration: The Dining-room in the Brancaccio Palace.] + +We came home early, and I am finishing this letter to-night. It is very +warm, the windows open, and the street sounds very gay. To say that we +have heard the Marseillaise these last days but faintly expresses how we +have been pursued by the well-known air. Everybody sings or whistles it, +all the street musicians, hand-organs, guitars, accordions, and brass +bands play it all day and all night; and we hear the music of a +neighbouring barrack working at it every morning. At this present moment +a band of youths are howling it under the window. I think they are +getting ready to amuse themselves when the President arrives. + +It was most amusing in the streets this morning, flags flying, draperies +being put up everywhere, troops marching across the Piazza di Spagna, +musique en tete, to exercise a little on the review ground before the +great day--quantities of people everywhere. They say all the hotels will +be crowded to-morrow, and with French people, which rather surprises me, +but they tell me there are deputations from Avignon, Marseilles, and +various other southern towns. They are beginning to arrange the Spanish +Steps quite charmingly--a perfect carpet of flowers (if only it doesn't +rain). + + + Saturday, April 23d. + +It poured this morning, and all night I heard the rain beating against +the window every time I woke. The clouds are breaking a little now, at +three o'clock, so perhaps it has rained itself out, and the President +may have the "Queen's weather" to-morrow. Our Loubet invitations are +beginning to come--a soiree at the Capitol; great ricevimento, all the +statues illuminated with pink lights; a gala at the opera; another great +reception at the French Embassy (Quirinal); and the review. + +Josephine and I have been dining with the grand duchess at her hotel. We +were a small party, and it was pleasant enough. She talks easily about +everything, and loves Rome. The evening was not long. We all sat in a +semicircle around her sofa after dinner. Every one smoked (but me), and +she retired about ten. + +We have been talking over plans since we got back. Bessie will start +to-morrow night. She is not keen naturally about the Loubet fetes, and +Palma[35] wants her to stay over two or three days with her in the +country somewhere near Ancona. She will meet me in Turin, and we will +come on together from there. It is still raining--I hope it will stop. + +[35] Princesse di Poggio Suasa, nee Talleyrand-Perigord. + + + Tuesday, April 26th. + +I had no time to write Sunday, as we were going all day. Bessie and I +went to church in the morning, and then I left some P. P. C. cards on +Cardinals Vannutelli, Mathieu, etc., also a note to the grand duchess to +thank her for the photographs of Antonelli which she sent me last +night--two very good ones, with a nice little note, saying she thought I +would perhaps keep the big one for myself "as a souvenir of old times +and new friends." + +The Corso looked quite brilliant as we drove through--the bright sun +seemed to have completely dried the flags and festoons and the streets +were full of people, all gaping and smiling, and in high good-humour. +The Spanish Steps were charming, the great middle flight entirely +covered with flowers, looking like an enormous bright carpet. + +We had some visits after breakfast, and started about three to the +Countess Bruschi's, who has an apartment with windows looking directly +over to the "Esedra di Termine," where the syndic, Prince Prosper +Colonna, was to receive the President. There was such a crowd, and there +were so many people going to the same place, that we thought that would +be hopeless, so we returned and made our way with difficulty, as the +streets were crowded, to the Via Nazionale, where a friend of +Josephine's had asked us to come. She established us on a balcony, and +there we saw splendidly. The street is rather narrow, and the balcony +not high. The crowd was most amusing, perfectly good-natured, even at +times when a band of roughs would try to break the lines, pushing +through the rows of screaming, struggling women and children, and +apparently coming to a hand-to-hand fight with the policemen; but as +soon as the soldiers charged into them--which they did repeatedly during +the afternoon--they dispersed; nobody was hurt (I never can imagine why +not, when the horses all backed down on them), nobody protested +violently, and the crowd cheered impartially both sides. These little +skirmishes went on the whole afternoon until we heard the Marcia Reale, +and saw the escort appearing. A troop of cuirassiers opened the march. +The royal carriages with the red Savoie liveries were very handsome--all +the uniforms making a great effect--the King and President together, +both looking very happy, the King in uniform, the President in plain +black with a high hat, returning all the salutations most smilingly. He +was enthusiastically received, certainly--there were roars of applause, +which became frantic when some of the military bands played the +Marseillaise. As soon as the cortege had passed the crowd broke up, +quantities of people following the carriage to the Quirinal, where the +great square was crowded. There, too, they were so enthusiastic that the +President had to appear on the balcony between the King and Queen. + +We started out again after dinner, and wanted to see the torch-light +procession, but didn't, as our movements were a little complicated. We +took Bessie to the station, and waited to see her start. When we came +out the procession had passed, but the streets were still brilliantly +lighted and very gay, quantities of people about. + +Yesterday we had a delightful expedition to Porta d'Anzio and +Nettuno--two autos--and some of the party by train. We were really glad +to get out of the streets and the crowd of sight-seers. Quantities of +people have come from all parts of Italy to see the show, and are +standing about all day in compact little groups, gaping at the festoons +and decorations. It is frightful to think of the microbes that are +flying about. + +We started early, at 9.30, went straight out toward Albano, to the foot +of the hill, then turned off sharp to the right, taking a most lovely +road, chestnut trees on each side, and hedges white and fragrant with +hawthorn. As we got near Porta d'Anzio we had a beautiful view of a +bright blue summer sea. The first arrivals had ordered breakfast in +quite a clean hotel, evidently other people had thought too that it +would be pleasant to get out of Rome to-day, as there were several +parties in the dining-room, which was large and bright, but no view of +the sea. + +After breakfast we all wandered out to the shore, and walked about a +little, but the sun was hot and the glare very trying--the sea like a +painted ocean, all the sails of the little pleasure boats, and even +fishing boats further out, hanging in folds, the boats just drifting +with the tide. The place is enchanting, and the little point of Nettuno +quite white in the sun, stretching out into the blue sea, was +fairy-like--the colours almost too vivid. The various boatmen lounging +about in bright coloured shirts and sashes were very anxious we should +sail or row to Nettuno, but the sea, though beautiful, looked hot, and +we were rather sceptical about the breeze which they assured us always +got up after 12. + +We went off in the auto to the Villa Borghese, about half-way between +Porta d'Anzio and Nettuno, which is a Paradise. It stands high, in a +lovely green park and looks straight out to sea. The drive through the +park by the galleria, trees meeting over our heads, and the road winding +up and down through the little wood was delightful, so shady and +resting to the eyes after the glare and sun of the beach. All the way to +Nettuno there are quantities of villas, fronting the sea, some very high +with terraces sloping down to the water, all with gardens. Nettuno +itself is an interesting little place with a fine old feudal castle. +Some of the party had chosen to sail from Porta d'Anzio to Nettuno, and +we saw their boat, full of children, just moving along close to the +shore. + +We had tea on the shore, made in Countess Frankenstein's tea-basket, and +it was delicious sitting there, seeing the little blue waves break at +our feet, and the beautiful clear atmosphere making everything look so +soft and near. + +The coming home was enchanting, very few people on the road, so we could +come quickly, and the flying through the air was delightful after the +heat and fatigue of the day. The Campagna is beautiful at the end of the +day; so quiet, long stretches of green just broken here and there by the +shepherds' huts, and the long lines of aqueducts, curiously lonely so +close to a great city. + +We had just time to dress and dine, and start for the gala at the opera. +The theatre (Argentina) is small, and stands in a narrow street. There +was a long file of carriages, and so little space in front, that there +could be no display of troops, music, etc., as one has always in Paris +for a gala night at the Opera. Inside, too, all is small, the entrance, +corridor, staircase, etc. Once we had got to our box the coup d'oeil was +charming. The whole house is boxes, tier upon tier, all dark red inside, +which threw out the women's dresses and jewels splendidly. They were +almost all in white with handsome tiaras, the men in uniform, at least +the diplomatists and officers. The peuple souverain, senators, deputies, +etc., in the parterre were in black. The heat was something awful. The +Court came very punctually--the Queen looked handsome with her beautiful +tiara, the King of course in uniform, the President between them in +black with no decoration. The house went mad (every one standing of +course) when they played the Marseillaise, all the parterre cheering and +waving hats and handkerchiefs; equally mad when they stopped that and +played the Marcia Reale. The King, who is generally quite impassive, +looked pleased. The performance, like all gala performances, was long, +but the Royal party didn't look bored, and seemed to talk to each other, +and to Loubet quite a good deal. The King has a serious, almost stern +face, with a keen, steady look in the eye. I should think he saw +everything. The end of the ballet was a fine potpourri of French and +Italian flags, Marseillaise and Marcia Reale, and the Court left in a +roar of cheers. The Queen bowed very graciously and prettily right and +left as she turned to go. + +The getting away was difficult and disagreeable, the narrow street was +crowded with royal carriages, all the horses prancing and backing, and +no one paying attention to anything else. However, it was a fine, dry +night, and once we had got across the street we found our carriage +(guided by the faithful Pietro) without any trouble. + +This morning the Piazza is most interesting. Evidently the King and +President pass at the foot of the square, as there are troops +everywhere, and a double line of soldiers stretching across the top of +the Tritone. Every description of vehicle, omnibuses, fiacres, peasants' +carts, people on horseback, all ranged close up behind the soldiers; +groups of carabinieri with their red plumets are scattered about the +Piazza; a long line of red-coated German seminarists crossing at one +end, two or three Cappucini with their sandals, bare feet, and ropes at +their waists, coming out of their church, but not stopping to see the +show. + +I am writing as usual at the window, and a fine smell of frittura comes +up from the shop underneath. A most animated discussion is going on just +under the window between a peasant, sitting well back on his donkey's +tail, two baskets slung over his saddle, strawberries in one, nespoli +(medlars) in the other, and a group of ragged, black-eyed little imps to +whom some young Englishmen have just given some pennies. They all talk, +and every now and then some enterprising boy makes a dive at the +baskets, whereupon the man makes his donkey kick, and the children +scatter. All the people in the street, and the coachmen of the little +botte (there is a station in the Piazza Barberini) take a lively +interest in the discussion; so do I from the window, but the police are +arriving and the man will be obliged to come to terms. The coachmen of +the botte are a feature of Rome, they spot the foreigner at once, and +always try to get the better of him. I took a carriage the other day to +go and breakfast with Mrs. Cameron in the Piazza di Spagna, about two +minutes' drive, and asked our porter what I must give the coachman. He +said one lira (franc). When we arrived I gave my franc, which he +promptly refused to receive; however I told him I knew that was the +tariff and I wouldn't give any more. He protested energetically, giving +every possible reason why I should give more--his carriage was the best +in the piazza, the road (Via Tritone) was very bad, down hill and +slippery, he had waited some time in the piazza for me, etc.; however I +was firm and said I would only give him one franc. Two other coachmen +who were standing near joined in the discussion and told him he was +quite wrong, that a franc was all he was entitled to. He instantly +plunged into an angry dispute with them, and in the meantime Mrs. +Cameron's door opened, so I put the franc on the cushion of the +carriage, he in a frenzy, telling me he wouldn't go away, but would stay +there with his carriage until I came out. That I told him he was at +perfect liberty to do, and went into the house. He and the others then +proceeded to abuse each other and make such a row that when I got up to +Mrs. Cameron's rooms she said she couldn't think what was going on in +the street, there was such a noise and violent quarrelling--so I told +her it was all me and my botta. + + + Thursday, April 28th. + +Well, dear, the fetes are over, the President has departed, and the +Piazza Barberini has at once resumed its ordinary aspect; no more +carabinieri, nor police, nor carriages full of people, waiting all day +in the square in the hope of seeing King or President pass. I wonder +what the old Triton sitting on his shell with his dolphins around him +thinks of this last show. He has sat there for centuries, throwing his +jet of water high in the air, and seeing many wonderful sights. + +The reception at the Farnese Palace was most brilliant last night. We +got there too late to see the King and Queen and President receiving; +there was such a crowd in the streets, which were all illuminated, that +we couldn't get across the Corso, and were obliged to make a long +detour. The Farnese Palace looked beautiful as we came up, the rows of +lights throwing out the splendid facade, the big doors open, quantities +of handsome carriages, people in uniform and ladies in full dress and +jewels who had got out of their carriages, crowding into the grand old +court. The royal carriages were all drawn up inside the court, and the +group of footmen in their bright red liveries made a fine effect of +colour at the foot of the stairs. It was an interesting assemblage, all +Rome (White) there, and all most curious to see the President. I didn't +see either King or Queen. They were already making their progress +through the rooms, which were so crowded that it was impossible to pass. +The famous Carracci Gallery looked magnificent lighted. The Ambassador +and Madame Barrere received their numerous guests most courteously, and +didn't look tired, but I fancy it was a relief to them when the fetes +and their responsibility were over. + +We have had to put off our journey until Saturday. They wouldn't +undertake to keep us reserved compartments, not even sleeping, until +Saturday, there would be such a crowd. I don't exactly know why, for the +President left this morning, going south, and we, of course, are coming +north, but every one told me not to go, so we have telegraphed to the +Ruspolis to say we would go out and breakfast with them at Nemi. + +There were quantities of affiches posted everywhere this morning which I +shouldn't think would please either the King of Italy or the French +President: "Viva Loubet--Viva Combes--Viva la France anticlericale." + +Josephine and I went for a drive. It had rained all the morning, and was +grey and damp, but we didn't mind. We both of us love the Campagna in +all its varying aspects. We walked about for some time, but had +difficulty in choosing our ground, on account of the shepherds' dogs, +which are very fierce sometimes, and the troops of buffaloes. Josephine +had a disagreeable experience one day with the buffaloes. She was +walking on the Campagna with her small children and her Italian footman, +when suddenly a troop of these wild creatures charged down upon her at a +headlong pace. There was no refuge of any kind near; the footman, +frightened to death, promptly ran away. She was terrified, but didn't +lose her head. She stood quite still, the children clinging to her +skirts, and the herd divided, passing by on either side; but she might +have been trampled to death. Naturally she has given them a wide berth +since. + + + Friday, April 29th. + +I will finish to-night dear, as we have come upstairs early after a long +day in the country. The trunks are all ready, some of them downstairs, +and we start early to-morrow morning. They say the confusion yesterday +at the station, when the President departed, was awful, +people--ladies--rushing about distractedly trying to find places, no +footmen allowed inside, not enough porters to carry the heavy +dressing-bags and rouleaux. Some people couldn't get any places, could +only start last night. + +We had a pleasant day at Nemi. We went out by train. There were a good +many people, evidently starting for the regular round of Castelli +Romani, principally English and Americans, and principally women, very +few men, but large parties, six and seven, of women and girls. It is a +pretty road across the Campagna and up the steep hill to Albano, and as +our speed was not terrifying we had ample time to see everything. The +Ruspoli carriage was waiting for us, and we had a beautiful drive to +Nemi. It is really a lovely little place--the deep blue lake at the foot +of the hills, and all the country about us green. Our hosts were waiting +for us in one of the numerous salons, and we had time to go over the +castle a little before breakfast, which we had in a charming +old-fashioned room, with wonderful frescoes on the walls. They have +already done wonders in the old feudal castle, and I should think it +would be a charming summer residence, as no heat could penetrate these +thick walls. The view from the balcony was divine, over green slopes and +little woods to the lake. + +We missed our train at Albano, so drove on to Castel Gandolfo and waited +there for the next one. We had gouter in a lovely little pergola +overlooking the lake of Albano, with the great papal villa opposite. It +is not very interesting as to architecture, a large square pile. No Pope +has lived there since Pio Nono. I believe some French nuns are settled +there now. + +It was very warm walking about the little old town, which looked as if +it had been asleep for years--no one in the streets, no beggars even, no +movement of any kind. Just as we were starting for the station three or +four carriages filled with tourists rattled through. It is curious to +see how life seems to go on in just the same grooves in all these little +towns. Rome has so changed--changes so all the time--is getting +cosmopolitan, a great capital; but all these little mountain villages +seem quite the same as in the old days of Savellis, Colonnas, and +Orsinis, when most of the great feudal chiefs were at daggers drawn and +all the country fought over, and changing hands after each fierce +encounter. The few people one meets look peaceful enough, but on the +smallest provocation eyes flash, tones and gestures get loud and +threatening, but apparently they calm down at once and are on the whole, +I fancy, a lazy, peaceable population. + +It is warm to-night, the windows are open and the Marseillaise still has +the honours of the night--one hears it everywhere. + + + + +INDEX + + +Albano, 30 + +Alberti, 20-21 + +Alfieri, 105 + +Allessandri, Carlo, 27, 35 + +Altieri, Cardinal, death of, 30 + +Angelico, Fra, 39 + +Antonelli, Cardinal, 61, 284, 288, 306 + +d'Aosta, Duke, 223 + +Apponyi, Count, 73 + +Arbuthnot, Miss, 26 + +d'Asoli, 271 + +d'Asoli, Princess, 254 + +d'Aubigny, M. and Madame, 45 + +d'Aulnay, 62, 116 + +d'Aulnay, Comtesse, 57 + +Austria, Emperor of, 177 + +d'Autas, 295 + + +Baddeley, Mr., 280 + +Bailey, Mrs., 76 + +Bailleul, Madame de, 230; + received by the Queen, 240, 244, 257 + +Bandini, Prince, 144 + +Bandini, Princess, 51, 54, 63, 69, 145; + gives musicale, 146 + +Beauharnais, Comtesse de, 116 + +Bertheny, Countess de, 262 + +Bibra, 62, 69, 143, 145 + +Bicletis, Monsignor, 249, 250, 251, 255 + +Bishop, Mr. and Mrs., 299 + +Bonghi, 105 + +Borghese, Giovanni, 266 + +Brancaccio, Princess, 93 + +Brandt, Otto, 102 + +Brinquant, 21 + +Bruce, Mrs., 41, 50, 51; + gives dinner, 68-69, 89, 106, 169, 174 + +Brusatti, General, 275 + +Bruschi, Countess, 306 + +Bunsen, Charles de, 14, 34; + arrives at Rome, 108, 110, 114, 118; + returns to Florence, 119, 180 + +Bunsen, Madame de, 14, 15, 34, 179, 180, 254, 288 + + +Cabat, M., 117 + +Cabriac, Marquis de, 71 + +Cairoli, 45, 52, 64, 80; + speaks in Chamber, 83; + gives dinner, 96-98 + +Cairoli, Madame, 45, 51, 64, 68; + gives dinner, 96-98 + +Calabrini, 51, 56, 62, 63, 67, 81 + +Calice, Countess, 67 + +Cameron, Mrs., 311 + +Caprannica, Bianca, 142 + +Caprannica, Marchesa, 142 + +Cardenas, the, give dinner, 144 + +Cavaletti, Maurizio, 69 + +Cavour, 84, 223, 224 + +Celleri, Countess, 80, 99 + +Cenci, 54 + +Cesarini, Marquise Villa, 253 + +Chambord, Comte de, 117 + +Charles Albert, King of Savoy, 220 + +Charette, 120 + +Chigi, Marquise, 89 + +Cialdini, 67 + +Coello, Count, 148 + +Colobiano, Count, 222 + +Colonna, Prince, 282, 283, 306 + +Colonna, Princess, death of, 30 + +Comandi, 29 + +Cook, 91, 95 + +Crosby, Schuyler, 37 + +Curtis, Bessie, 61, 230 + + +Daudet, M., 200 + +Del Monte, 108, 148; + walk with, 172 + +Despretis, Madame, 51 + +Desprez, 45, 55, 57, 71, 92, 144 + +Diemor, 248 + +Director of Museum at Milan, 186, 199, 212, 216 + +Doria, 100 + +Doria, Gwendoline, 81 + + +Edwards, Mrs., 65 + +Edwards, Hon. Sylvia, 65 + +Elena, Queen of Italy, gives audience, 240-242; + at the court ball, 243, 253, 299; + at the opera, 310; + gives reception in honour of President Loubet, 312 + +English, Monsignor, 63, 66, 79; + brings Pope's photograph, 155 + +d'Eu, Comte and Comtesse, 250 + +Evans, Father, 268 + + +Field, Mr., 245 + +Field, Mrs., 237, 305 + +Forbes, Misses, 26, 184 + +Frankenstein, Countess, 309 + +Freycinet, 5, 60 + +Freycinet, Madame de, 6 + +Fua, Teresina, 248 + + +Gabriac, Marquis de, 144 + +Garibaldi, 120, 122 + +Genoa, Duchess of, 287, 288 + +Geoffroy, 62, 63, 64, 89, 117, 168 + +Geoffroy, Madame, 117 + +Germany, Crown Princess of, 101, 104, 108, 109, 207; + daughters of, 210 + +Gianotti, Count, 243, 262 + +Gianotti, Countess, gives afternoon tea, 262 + +Gittone, 275 + +Gosselins, 108, 109 + +Gounod, 296 + +Grants, 51 + +Gravina, 96 + +Greppi, Comte, 275 + +Grevy, Madame, 9, 11 + +Guadagni, Madame, 34 + +Guery, Don, 272, 279 + +Guglielmi, Marquis, 298 + + +Helena, Queen of Italy, see Elena + +Hoffman, Mr., 216, 222, 223 + +Hohenlohe, Cardinal, 165 + +Hooker Mr., 51, 66, 120; + gives dinner, 142, 174; + recollections, 176 + +Howard, Cardinal, 50, 61, 70, 75, 109, 147 + +Hubert, 225 + +Hubert, Madame, 13, 47, 58, 63, 71, 168, 185, 188, 196, 200, 203, 216, 221 + +Humbert, King of Italy, 65, 66; + birthday, 76, 79, 91 + + +Ireland, Monsignor, 23 + +Ismail, Pasha, ex-Khedive of Egypt, 76 + + +Kahn, Malcolm, 275 + +Keats, John, 286 + +Keudell, 101-103, 106, 108 + +Keudell, Madame, 102, 103, 108 + +King, Charles, 30; + death of, 119-120 + +King, Fanny, 176 + +King, Henrietta, 124, 134, 218 + +King, Mrs., 123, 132, 134, 137, 139 + +King, William, 124, 132 + +Kruft, 5 + + +Lanciani, 44, 63, 88, 89, 159 + +Landi, Madame, 40 + +Law, Mrs., 275 + +Leuchtenberg, Duke of, 116 + +Loubet, President, 305; + reception of, 306-307; + at the opera, 309-310; + at the reception at the Farnese Palace, 312, 314 + +Lovatellis, 51, 94 + +Low, Mr. and Mrs. Seth, 273 + +Lucchesi-Palli, 117 + +Lyons, Lord, 7 + + +MacMahon, Madame de, 10, 11 + +MacMahon, Marshal, 10, 73 + +Maffei, 64, 97, 108, 159 + +Malatesta, Felice, 59, 61, 86, 94, 108 + +Malatesta, Countess, 75 + +Maquay, George, 32, 35, 184 + +Maquay, Louisa, 36, 184 + +Maquay, Nina, 36, 184 + +Marcello, Comtesse, 93, 95, 98 + +Margherita, Queen of Italy, 220, 234; + gives audience, 253, 285, 287 + +Marina, Marquise Villa, 253, 285, 287 + +Massari, 87, 105 + +Massimo, Prince, 74, 218, 255, 272 + +Mathieu, Cardinal, 254, 255, 304, 306 + +Medici, Catherine de', 33 + +Menabrea, 67 + +Meyers, the, give dinner, 304 + +Michelangelo, 59 + +Minghetti, 52, 56, 69, 81, 105, 181-183 + +Minghetti, Madame, 51, 52, 56, 57, 69, 81; + receives, 105, 108 + +Mirafiori, Comtesse, 183 + +Mohl, Madame, 50 + +Murrays, 209, 210-211 + +Mustel, M. Alphonse, 279, 280, 285; + plays before Queen Margherita, 287 + + +Naples, Prince of, 86, 94 + +Napoleon, Louis, 84, 223 + +Nassau, Duke of, 28 + +Nevin, Dr., 48, 88, 242 + +Nina, Cardinal, 61, 80 + +Nisard, M., 240 + +Noailles, Marquis de, 45, 48, 87, 98 + +Noailles, Marquise de, 48, 51, 56, 57; + gives dinner, 64, 87, 96, 100; + receives, 107, 108; + gives farewell dinner to the Waddingtons, 159 + +Norton, Mrs., 139-142 + + +Orloff, Prince, 10 + +Orsini, Prince, 295 + +"Ouida," 27; + description of, 28 + +Ouronsoff, Prince, 244 + + +Paget, Sir Augustus, 51, 64, 82, 102, 109 + +Paget, Lady, 51, 57, 64; + receives, 89, 102, 109 + +Palfy, Count, 52, 70, 92; + conversation with, 174 + +Pallavicini, Princess, 51, 54, 67; + gives reception, 86-87, 246; + receives, 277 + +Pannissera, Madame, 107 + +Pasetti, Baron, 242 + +Paul, Duchess of Mecklenburg, 297 + +Pecoul, Therese, 273 + +Perret, 68 + +Peruzzi, Edith, 18, 36, 108, 184 + +Peruzzi, Ubaldino, 181, 206 + +Pierson, 4 + +Pietro, 267, 310 + +Pietro, Cardinal di, 79 + +Poggio-Suasa, Princess di (nee Curtis), 230, 238, 244, 248; + gives dinner, 259, 262, 266; + gives dinner, 273, 285, 286, 291, 292, 294, 304, 305, 313 + +Poggio-Suasa, Princess di (nee Talleyrand-Perigord), 305 + +Polk, Antoinette, 160 + +Pontecoulant, Comte de, 8, 12 + +Pope Leo XIII, 58; + audience with, 59; + described, 59, 60, 71, 146; + in his garden, 155, 156, 250 + +Pope Pius IX, 56, 58, 59, 69; + how he was received in the streets when he rode out, 146; + description of the blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's, + 157-158, 250, 264, 315 + +Pope Pius X, audience with, 249-251; + description of, 250 + +Primoli, 144 + + +Queen of Naples, Dowager, death of, 30 + + +Ramee, Mlle. de la, 27 + +Rampolla, Cardinal, 295 + +Recamier, Madame, 168 + +Rignano, Madame, 99 + +Ripaldi, Duke di, 57, 100, 159 + +Ristori, Madame, 142 + +Roccagiovine, Marchese, 266 + +Rodmans, 233 + +Rossi, de, 89 + +Rothschild, Madame Alphonse, 99 + +Rudini, Marchesa, gives fete, 272 + +Ruspoli, Camillo, 289, 291, 298 + +Ruspoli, Don Emanuele, 231, 263 + +Ruspoli, Victoria, 255; + gives dinner, 276, 315 + + +St. Asilea, 87, 98 + +Sand, George, 38 + +Sant' Onofrio, Madame de, 96 + +Savonarola, 39 + +Savoy, Princes of, 94 + +Saxe-Weimar, Grand Duchess, 259, 297 + +Say, Leon, 60 + +Schuyler, Eugene, 35, 41, 42, 44, 56, 69, 77, 110, 112, 142 + +Schuyler, Mrs. Eugene ("Gert"), 35, 41, 42, 44, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 69; + trouble with maid, 76-78, 79, 80, 82, 89, 92, 108, 110, 113, 118, 124, + 132, 142; + at Tivoli, 161; + gives farewell dinner, 174, 197 + +Sciarra, Princess, 49, 89 + +Seckendorff, Count, 103, 105, 108 + +Sella, 81, 84, 105 + +Sermoneta, Duke of, 54 + +Serristori, 35 + +Sibbern, Madame, 5 + +Smith, Father, 55, 79, 87, 91; + presents a medal, 160, 174; + conversations with, 177 + +Somaglia, Countess, 81, 87, 98, 117; + her daughters, 117 + +Spencer, Mrs. Lorillard, 83 + +Stael, Madame de, 168 + +Stanley, Dean, 50 + +Stanley, Lady Augusta, 50 + +Sternberg, Mlle. de, 15, 18 + +Story, Mrs., 286 + +Story, Waldo, 239, 304 + +Story, W. W., 18, 109, 239 + +Sulmona, 72-73 + +Sulmona, Princess, 73, 87, 144 + +Sutteroth, M. Alphonse, 5, 8, 200, 227 + + +Talleyrand-Perigord, Charles de, 26 + +Talleyrand-Perigord, Madame de, 27, 61 + +Talleyrand-Perigord, Marquise de (nee Curtis), 230, 237, 242, 244; + audience with the Pope, 249-251, 262, 266, 267, 275, 285, 290, 302, 304; + leaves Rome, 307 + +Tchaitcheff, Madame de, 16, 25 + +Teano, Prince, 51, 54, 56, 105 + +Teano, Princess, gives ball, 99, 272 + +Theoduli, Marchesa, 83 + +Thomar, 71 + +Thurn, Princess de, 54 + +Tosti, 145; + described and criticised, 147 + +Townshend, Mrs. Charles L., 95 + +Trocchi, 48; + sends flowers, 169 + +Troubetzkoi, Princess Lise, 98 + +Turin, Comte de, 243 + +Turkam, Pasha, 76, 101 + + +Uffizi, 36 + +Uxkull, 64, 81 + + +Val, Cardinal Mery del, audience with, 251-252 + +Valery, Dr., 30, 77, 120 + +Van Loo, 62 + +Vannutelli, Cardinal Serafino, 295 + +Vannutelli, Cardinal Vincenzo, 240; + dinner given for, 273, 295, 306 + +Van Rensselaer, Mrs., 67, 118 + +Van Schaick, Lottie, 16, 17, 35, 40, 184 + +Venosta, Visconti, 52; + speaks in Chamber, 80, 83, 105, 159 + +Venosta, Madame Visconti, 64, 81, 89, 107 + +Vera, 108 + +Vicovaro, Princess, 83, 85 + +Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 218, 220, 231 + +Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, at the court ball, 243, 277, 299; + receives President Loubet, 306-307; + at the Opera, 310; + gives reception in honour of President Loubet, 312 + +Villamarina, Marquis de, 81, 87 + +Virgo, M., 245, 266, 279 + +Visconti, 89 + +Vitali, Count, gives dinner for French Ambassador, 240 + +Vitelleschi, 67, 69, 87, 279 + +Vitelleschi, Marchesa, gives tea, 278 + + +Waddington, Evelyn, 61 + +Waddington, Francis, has Christmas tree, 5; + left in Paris, 12, 108, 225, 251 + +WADDINGTON, Madame, leaves Quai d'Orsay, 3-4; + calls on Madame de Freycinet, 6; + formal receptions, 8; + receives Mesdames Grevy and MacMahon, 11; + arrives at Florence, 12; + arrives at M. de Bunsen's, 14; + atypical Florentine party, 18; + a visit from Alberti, 20; + recalls picnic at Segna, 20-22; + visits the Ponte Vecchio, 24; + drives to Santa Maria Novella, 25; + tea at Camerata, 26; + dines with Talleyrand-Perigord, 26; + takes tea with "Ouida," 27; + impressions of "Ouida," 28; + drives to Villa Careggi, 31; + drives to the Certosa and Casa Guadagni, 34; + decides to go to Rome, 35; + Maquay dinner, 35; + drives out Fiesole way, 37; + visits Fra Angelico's and Savonarola's cells at San Marco, 39; + musical evening with the Landis, 40; + arrives at Rome, 41; + her father's illness, 42; + calls on Eugene Schuyler, 44; + invitations from Embassies, 44; + drives along the Via Appia, 45; + visit to the Vatican, 47; + visit from the Marquis de Noailles, 48; + Princess Sciarra's ball, 49; + recollections of Dean Stanley and Cardinal Howard, 50; + reception at the Schuylers', 51; + reception at Princess Pallavicini's, 54; + pointed out as distinguished strangers, 55; + dinner at the Teanos', 56; + breakfast at the Noailles', 57; + audience with the Pope, 58-60; + dinner at the of, 63; + dinner at the Noailles', 64; + attends the opera, 69; + dines at the Portuguese Embassy, 71-74; + dines with the Pagets, 81; + dinner at the Calabrinis', 84; + attends American Church, 88; + walk on Good Friday, 90; + service at St. Peter's, 90; + service at St. John Lateran, 91; + note from the Quirinal, 92; + audience with the Queen of Italy, 92-95; + meets the Prince of Naples, 94; + breakfast with the Noailles, 95; + sees Farnese Palace, 95; + visits the Bakers' tomb, 96; + dines with the Cairoli, 96-98; + day at the races, 98-99; + protests against "valise" regulations, 98; + attends Teano ball, 99; + visits the Trevi Fountain, 100; + tea with the Duke di Ripaldo, 100; + dines at German Embassy and meets German Crown Princess, 102-105; + attends reception at the Noailles', 107; + musical evening at the Schuylers', 108; + dinner with the Wimpffens, 108; + meets Crown Princess again, 109; + excursion to Frascati, 110; + fails to visit Tusculum, 112, 113; + trip to the Vatican, 114-115; + ball at the British Embassy, 116; + dinner at Villa Medici, 117; + recollections of 1867, 119; + goes to Naples, 119; + sees Vesuvius in eruption, 123; + ascends Mt. Vesuvius, 124-125; + a long wait at an inn, 126-130; + fete at the Stella del Mare, 135; + the nun, 135; + sail to Capri, 136; + Capri, 137; + a Capri fisher-girl, 139-141; + dinner at Mr. Hooker's, 142; + visit to the Doria Gallery, 143; + dines at the Spanish Embassy, 144; + musicale at Princess Bandini's, 146; + hears Lohengrin in Italian, 148; + drives to Albano, 149-153; + last turn in the Vatican, 154; + receives the Pope's photograph, 155; + drives to the Villa Madama, 157; + farewell dinner at the Noailles', 159; + a day at Tivoli, 161-165; + a lonely road, 167; + last drive in the country, 169; + walk with Del Monte, 173; + arrives at Milan, 180; + attends the races, 183; + holds small reception, 184; + a drive about Milan, 187; + a visit to the Brera, 188-189; + visit to the Duomo, 190; + a second visit to the Brera, 192-193; + describes the Piazza dei Mercanti, 201, 202; + an afternoon at Monza, 204-206; + leaves Milan and arrives at Turin, 211; + trip to La Superga, 219-221; + returns to Paris, 225; + Rome revisited, 229; + attends a ball at the Storys', 239; + dinner at Count Vitali's, 240; + received by the Queen, 240-242; + attends the court ball, 243-244; + in the garden of the Vatican, 247; + music at the French Embassy, 248; + audience with the Pope, 249-251; + audience with Cardinal Mery del Val, 251-252; + audience with Queen Margherita, 253; + breakfast with Princess d'Arsoli, 254; + at the Pope's audience, 255-256; + an expedition to the Catacombs, 257; + dines with Princess Poggio-Suasa, 259; + automobile excursion with Countess de Bertheny, 262-265; + trip to Tusculum, 267; + special guards, 269; + fete at the Massimo Palace, 271; + fete given by Marchesa Rudini, 272; + dines with Malcolm Kahn, 275; + dines with the Ruspolis, 276; + Holy Thursday at St. Peter's, 281; + visits her father's grave, 285; + a musical evening at the Palace, 287-288; + excursion to San Gregorio, 289-291; + attends ceremony at St. Peter's, the 13th anniversary of Pope Gregorio + Magno, 292-296; + children's ball, 297-298; + auto trips with the Bishops, 299-301; + reception at the Villa Medicis, 303; + dines with the Meyers, 304; + dines with the Grand Duchess, 305; + reception of President Loubet, 306-307; + attends gala night at the opera, 309-310; + reception at the Farnese Palace, 312-313 + +_Waddington_, M. William H., resigns as Premier, 3; + refuses London Embassy, 6; + leaves Paris and arrives at Florence, 12; + arrives at M. de Bunsen's, 14; + attends the Peruzzis' party and meets Bentivoglio, 18; + dines with Talleyrand-Perigord, 26; + calls on Madame Guadagni, 34; + arrival at Rome, 41; + talks with Eugene Schuyler, 44; + various invitations from Embassies, 44; + visit to the Vatican, 47; + visit from Marquis de Noailles, 48; + reception in his honour at the Schuylers', 51; + pointed out as a celebrated man, 55; + has audience with the Pope and converses about politics, 50-60; + the Pope's opinion of him, 63; + dinner at the Noailles', "Cotelettes a la Waddington," 64; + has audience with King Humbert, 65-66; + meets Cardinal Howard, 70; + curiosity to meet him, 75; + attends the Chambre des Deputes, 80; + second visit to the Chambre des Deputes, 83; + goes to San Clemente, 87; + walk on the Campagna, 88; + audience with the Queen of Italy, 92-95; + insists on "valise" reform, 98; + delighted with di Ripalda's frescoes, etc., 101; + conversation with Turkam Bey, 101; + received by the German Crown Princess, 103; + dines with de Rossi, 118; + change of mental atmosphere, 147; + trip to Albano, 149-153; + last visit to the Vatican, 154; + conversation with Father Smith, 177; + speech-making, 181; + visits the cabinet de medailles at Milan, 186; + a visit to the Brera, 192-193; + receives Mr. Hoffman, 223-224; + arrives in Paris, 225 + +Wales, Princess of, 242 + +Wallace, Sir Donald, 281 + +Weling, Mlle. de, 28 + +Westenberg, Madame, 68 + +Wilbrahams, the, 69 + +Wimpffen, Count, 64, 81, 89, 107, 242 + +Wimpffen, Comtesse, 56; + gives dinner, 62, 64, 68, 83; + gives reception, 84-87, 89, 98, 105; + dinner to German Crown Princess, 108-109 + +Wurts, Mr. and Mrs., 69; + give dinner, 248, 284, 285 + + +Zuylen, Cornelie, 83 + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Spelling has been made consistent throughout but reflects the +author's preference. 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