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FACTS I FIGURES 
 
 « 
 
 FROM 
 
 ITALY, 
 
 DON JEREMY SAVONAEOLA, 
 
 BENEDICTINE MONK, 
 
 ADDRESSED DURING THE LAST TWO WINTERS 
 
 TO 
 
 CHARLES DICKENS, ESQ. 
 
 BEING AN APPENDIX TO HIS 
 
 "PXCTVZLES." 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1847. 
 
LO N don: 
 Printed by Schulze & Co., 13, Poland Street. 
 
Af2 2 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 Having engaged the Father who signs himself 
 " D. J. Savonarol A^^ to enter on this correspon- 
 dence, it only remains for me to say that these 
 are his Letters. 
 
 Charles Dickens. 
 
 Broadstairs, Kent, 
 July i, 1847. 
 
 041 
 
SOME ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 DON JEREMY HIMSELF, 
 
 AND OF A VERY FAMOUS COTEMPORARY. 
 
 BY 
 AN " EMINENT HAND." 
 
 The venerable author of these letters, now living 
 at Rome in the hale enjoyment of his seventy-seven 
 years, was born in the island of Sardinia, a. d. 1770. 
 The family, as any one familiar with Italian history 
 knows, is of Florentine origin ; and this branch ap- 
 pears to have left the banks of the Arno in disgust at 
 the brutal treatment which their great kinsman, the 
 sainted Jeronymo, experienced at the hands of the 
 degenerate Medici, and the infamous Pope Borgia, in 
 1498. Quitting the commercial but very profligate 
 community of Florence, the exiles appear to have 
 brought with them, and introduced into Sardinia a taste 
 for industry and woollen manufactures, matters not 
 much understood by the idle aborigines ; and we find 
 the family still settled near the southern seaport town 
 of Cagliari, where they have carried on steadily their 
 useful pursuits for the last hundred years. 
 
 To understand the biography of our author it is 
 absolutely requisite to enter fully into the circumstances 
 
2 SOME ACCOUNT OF 
 
 of the island in which he was born, and where he 
 passed his early life at the close of the last century. 
 Sardinia is an oblong bit of ground in the middle of 
 the Mediterranean, containing near 10,000 square miles, 
 but so shaped that it resembles what Robinson Crusoe 
 was 80 frightened at by the sea-shore, on that memo- 
 rable occasion when he saw in the sand the print of the 
 sole of a man's foot, 
 
 Et sola in sicca secum spatiatur arena. 
 
 Some superstitious people have jumped at once at the 
 conclusion that the island was originally meant to be 
 trampled on: indeed, Junius says it has been "uniformly 
 plundered and oppressed ;" but the fact of its peculiar 
 form cannot be denied with the map of southern Europe 
 staring one in the face. So sure as the peninsula of 
 Italy is a visible jach-hoot, kicking Sicily before it as it 
 were a sort of triangular foot hall, so Sardinia looks 
 like the huge vestige of some megetheriac Titan who 
 had left one of his monster shoes in the water, as 
 Emjiedocles left his slipper on the top of Etna. It is 
 hence called a sandal by Pliny, " sandaliotis," (Hist. 
 Natur., lib. iii., cap. 7), and a footmark, ixvova-a, by 
 Pausanias, in his "History of Greek Colonies," bookx., 
 while Claudian, in his poem (de Bell. Gild.) clinches the 
 matter : 
 
 *' Ilumanse speciem plants sinuosa figurat 
 Insula, Sardinian! veteres dLxere coloni." 
 
 In allusion to which one of their native poets, il Moro 
 melodiosOy has the following beautiful sentiment, which 
 runs capitally in the original semi-Italian patois spoken 
 by the islanders themselves: 
 
DON JEREMY HIMSELF. 3 
 
 Sardinia ! when Nature embellished the tint 
 
 Of thy hills and thy vales and green sod ; anon 
 She failed in the outline ; and traced but the print 
 Of 0. foot-mark, in order to give us a hint 
 That we'll always be trampled and trodden on ! 
 
 The earliest inliabitants appear to have been fugi- 
 tives driven at Divine command out of the land of 
 Canaan by the children of Israel. These poor devils 
 are known to have emigrated in numbers at the ports 
 of Tyre, Sidon, and Beyrout, for the western islands of 
 Europe. They were fond of building round towers, 
 the original idolatry of Babel, and more than three 
 hundred of these distinctive architectural cylinders, 
 though not exactly after the Irish pattern, still exist in 
 the interior of this island, besides one or two at Malta. 
 The Carthaginians soon conquered these eastern colo- 
 nists, and introduced with their Arab and Numidian 
 blood the true Punic idiosyncracy which all subsequent 
 intermingling of more sober and steady northern races 
 has never effectually cured or tamed. The island was 
 most useful to that great trading community as a 
 grazing-ground and corn granary : hence in the treaty 
 of Hanno, after the first Punic war, the following strin- 
 gent article was inserted, at the instigation of the 
 African board of trade : 
 
 " In Sardinia nulli Romanorum negotiantor, neve oppidum possi- 
 dento, nihil emunto; si quis venerit intra diem V. abitoj' — (Polyb., 
 lib. iii.) 
 
 But it was doomed to follow the fortunes of the sea 
 that surrounds it. When Rome mastered the Medi- 
 terranean, Scipio seized on Sardinia, which became so 
 fertile under the cast-iron fixity of Roman rule that 
 
4 SOME ACCOUNT OP 
 
 Horace immortalized its corn-fields in a song (lib. i., 
 Od. 31). But when Rome fell and the northern Vandals 
 captured the island, its fertility received a check from 
 which it has never recovered. The Roman system had 
 Jixed everything : the barbarians left everything vague, 
 loose, and undefined. Theirs was the Celtic system of 
 agriculture which CjBsar describes as existing in Celtic 
 Gaul. "Nee quis agri modum cerium aut fines propHos 
 habet sed magistratus in annos singulos gentibus cog- 
 nationibusque hominum (clans) quantum agri et quo 
 loco, eis visum est attribuunt ; et anno post, alio tran- 
 j^ire cogunt," (de Bell. Gall.., lib. vi.) Horace, a Sabine 
 farmer, was aware of this defective system among the 
 Scythian tribes of agriculturists. "Immetata quibus 
 jugera," says he, 
 
 •* Nee cultura placet longior annua " — (Lib. iii, Od. 24.) 
 
 The con-acre tenure of soil was thus fatally introduced, 
 for which the Sardinian word " tancave" is used up to 
 this day, where the '•^ vidazzone"' holdings are annual 
 leases of tracts of ground, for which the farmers draw 
 lots with the middle-men, and all is confusion. When 
 the Saracens, a sort of Danes, mastered the coast in 
 the seventh century, they ravaged but did not alter 
 the tenure of land, which, under every successive 
 government, has continued to the present. In the 
 eleventh century the two trading republics of Genoa 
 and Pisa took the island alternately, and squabbled 
 about its masterdom: agreeing at last to leave their 
 rival claims to the arbitration of Frederick Barbarossa. 
 This Imperial wiseacre, reversing the judgment of 
 Solomon, cut the foot into two parts, giving the loes 
 
DON JEREMY HIMSELF. 5 
 
 and instep to Pisa, and the heel to the Genoese. Corn, 
 as it happened, grew principally on the toe district. Mat- 
 ters jogged on this way, heel and toe, until a.d. 1300, 
 when Pope Boniface VIII. took it into his head, by 
 some hocus pocus to discover that the island belonged 
 to him, and he accordingly issued a bull (in the exact 
 terms of Adrian's brief to our Henry II., making him a 
 present of Ireland,) and bestowed the foot on Jacomo 
 Secondo, King of Arragon. (See this grant in the 
 Church History of Cardinal Baronius, continued by 
 Raynaldi, anno 1299.) The Spanish king sailed from 
 Barcelona, took the island, and as a record built the 
 town of Barcelonetta, a kind of Londonderry in its 
 significance. Spain held its footing in it up to 1708, 
 when it was captured by an English fleet under Admi- 
 ral Leake in the war of the Spanish succession. The 
 Marquis of Jamaica, then viceroy, made a very poor 
 resistance for his sovereign. In 1720, Cardinal Albe- 
 roni and Lord Stanhope agreed to swap the island for 
 Sicily; — and the House of Savoy thus finally got pos- 
 session, which it has ever since retained. 
 
 Under the strong and wise Government of Turin, 
 the country, which the Spanish Viceroys had only 
 plundered and demoralized, began steadily to advance 
 in all the elements of European progress. Frequent 
 petty insurrections and religious bickering (always a 
 favourite pastime of the native Sardinians) kept the 
 island back, it is true, more than other provinces ; but 
 the statistics are on record. In the time of the Spani- 
 ards, to which the factious always appeal, viz. up to 
 1721, Sardinia presented —   
 
SOME ACCOUNT OF 
 
 'opulation. 
 
 Export 
 
 Manufacture 
 
 Duty on 
 
 Coral 
 
 Souls. 
 
 Duties. 
 
 of Salt. 
 
 Tobacco. 
 
 Fishery. 
 
 327,000 
 
 189,400f. 
 
 34,000f. 
 
 33,000f. 
 
 4,230f. 
 
 Seventy years afterwards, in 1790, the following aug- 
 mentation had taken place — 
 
 456,000 440,000f. 280,000f. 265,028f. 20,000f. 
 
 And in 1837, the respective items presented further 
 increase — 
 
 620,000 560,000f. 320,000f. 345,000f. 32,000f. 
 
 These very dry details are yet absolutely necessary 
 to understand the part our author took in the politics 
 of Sardinia. It was a natural consequence of the 
 various conquests and the confiscations of land which 
 so many successions of foreign rule had occasioned in 
 the island, that there should exist a vast variety of dis- 
 contented spirits, and that a good number of these, dis- 
 agreeing in every possible way upon every practical 
 matter, should still join in a wish to get the foot into 
 their own hands, — reckless of what must necessarily 
 occur after that difficult consummation. During the 
 short intervals of foreign conquest when they had the 
 isle all to themselves, it is in black and white recorded 
 by their only authentic historians {^^ gll Annali del 
 Quattro Maestri ") that their favourite political economy 
 consisted in cutting each other's throats: for, having 
 taken the trouble to read that work, a rather ponderous 
 composition of 400 pages, I find that tbo average for 
 each historic page gives six broken heads, four throats 
 cut, tNventy head of cattle carried of, three rapes, and 
 a few brace of minor robberies. The more sensible and 
 
DON JEREMY HIMSELF. / 
 
 thoughtful patriots who know the elements of Sardinian 
 society, will ever keep aloof from the mischievous 
 mooting of this visionary millennium, as not merely 
 flat moonshine, but the wildest internecine lunacy. 
 
 The crowned head of the house of Savoy, one of the 
 oldest and most respectable monarchies in Europe, 
 reigns over three united kingdoms, viz., Piedmont, 
 Savoy, and Sardinia. The union of these three coun- 
 tries under one sceptre was brought about and elabo- 
 rated by a necessary chain of events, to their mutual 
 clear advantage; and every well-informed person will 
 ejaculate with me, " Esto perpetua ! Quis separahit .?" 
 Savoy, towards the north, was the cradle of the royal 
 family j 'twas originally a poor district of highlanders, 
 which by the transfer of its court to Turin on the 
 acquisition of Piedmont thought itself ruined outright ; 
 whereas the very contrary has taken place, and by its 
 junction with the more wealthy and enterprizing popu- 
 lation of the south its prosperity has marvellously been 
 developed. Much of this is owing to the shrewd com- 
 mon sense and matter of fact tendencies of the thrifty 
 Savoyards, who are not to be deluded or gulled by 
 cajoling appeals to their weak side, or Celtic prejudices. 
 Not so the Sardinians. Averse to habits of sustained 
 industry, unwilling to use the means of improvement 
 within their reach, taught by designing rogues that 
 they are the finest peasantry in Europe, which they 
 have heard so often that they almost believe it a fact, 
 they imagine that they should cut a grand figure in the 
 world could they only "cut the painter." In the mean 
 
8 SOME ACCOUNT OF 
 
 time they sedulously neglect every single department of 
 local, individual, or national amelioration. 
 
 But before this mischievous dream of a repeal of the 
 union with the two other kingdoms came athwart their 
 habitual slumber, there had been a preliminary subject 
 of angry and unprofitable agitation. Religion was the 
 ostensible cause. They are all Catholics, and all 
 agreed as to the substantial doctrine which everywhere 
 regulates the influence of the Gospel ; but two deno- 
 minations of minor theology, unknown to the primitive 
 teachers of Christianity, sprung up in the island during 
 the Spanish occupation. The Dominicans of Spain had 
 introduced among the people an exaggeration of the 
 respectful homage ever due to Christ's holy Mother, 
 (the most exalted of merely human beings,) and had 
 inculcated the debateable doctrine of her " immaculate 
 conception," as a point of belief, without which no 
 intercommunion could be held with fellow Christians. 
 The metropolitan church was dedicated under this 
 title. In vain, for the pacification of these wild 
 theorists, did the gigantic intellect and unrivalled eru- 
 dition of MuRATORi write, at the suggestion of Govern- 
 ment, his book De Superstitione Vitanda, adversus votum 
 sanguinarium pro immaculata Deiparce conceptione. 
 (Milan, 1742, 4to.) Unfortunately a ASpawwA party was 
 hereby created in politics under the outward guise of 
 simple religion. The loyal adherents of the Court of 
 Turin, comprising most of the intelligent, great part of 
 the commercial, and nearly all the landlord class, did not 
 hold the Spanish view of the " immaculatcs," but held 
 
DON JEREMY HIMSELF. 9 
 
 with the Piedraontese that " it was an open question." 
 It was natural that the central government should 
 favour and prefer its own supporters to the exclusion 
 of the Spanish faction, whose disloyalty was ill- 
 concealed : but the administration was ill advised 
 enough to enact a set of penal laws incapacitating the 
 " immaculates" from public functions. 
 
 Here was a palpable grievance; not indeed affecting 
 the great mass of the people, whom its subsequent 
 abolition left where it had found, but sorely felt by the 
 middle and upper classes of the Spanish faction. 
 They got up accordingly a clamour for the summary 
 abolition of those penal laws, and called their demand 
 " immaculate emancipation. " Freedom, toleration, 
 liberality, were their new watchwords, when in point of 
 fact their exclusion had been originally caused by their 
 refusal to recognize any freedom or any tolerance of 
 opinion. However, their case was favourably viewed 
 by a powerful party at the Court of Turin, — that of 
 the Perukes, — who formed half the wealth, influence, 
 and intelligence of the kingdom. The songs of Tomaso 
 il Moro had a great share in giving the fashion to 
 '' immaculate emancipation," which, supported by wit 
 and reason, became the theme of impassioned eloquence 
 in the grand council of Piedmont. 
 
 The great opposition to this grant was not from the 
 upright and fair-play-loving people in Italy. Turin 
 is known to be so called from Taurinum (taurus), and 
 John Taureau (a familiar name of the inhabitants,) 
 is a just and honest fellow, unless you attempt to hully 
 him, and then he becomes obstinate. But the most 
 
10 SOME ACCOUNT OP 
 
 deadly obstacle arose from native Sardinian adver- 
 saries within the island itself. Possessing the loaves 
 and fishes, these men liked to bask alone in the sunshine 
 of government patronage, to the exclusion of disloyal 
 and disaffected folks. The two factions began a stand- 
 up fight. If it could not be described under the 
 fragrant designation of a war of the Roses, it might 
 have some claim to be called the battle of the Ci- 
 trons, — the acidity being great on both sides, while sour 
 "oranges" and rotten "lemons" were the respective 
 missiles of each party, the common interests of both 
 going to the juice. The central government being then 
 at war with France and Spain was sincerely desirous of 
 bringing this debilitating inward squabble to a close. 
 All that Turin required was a guarantee against Spanish 
 influence, and with that proviso ofi*ered to admit the 
 " immaculate" laity to public offices, if the latter could 
 vouch that none but loyal subjects should exercise 
 spiritual control over them in the higher ranks of their 
 clergy. The foresight of the Court of Turin in making 
 this stipulation, was subsequently shown. Had there 
 been a right of objection on the part of the crown, no 
 such public nuisances would since have ensued as Mac- 
 (c/iiay) Hello, archbishop of Vestram, a roaring bellows 
 of sedition; Higgini, firebrand and bUkop of Arda, and 
 Can^amale, the incendiary pharisee of Midia. 
 
 A quiet interchange of mutual concession was about 
 to set the vast question at rest, when a brawling law- 
 yer, with the aid of the mob, (which had no interest in 
 the exclusion at all,) broke ofi" all negotiation, took 
 the business forcibly out of the hands of the upper and 
 
DON JEREMY HIMSELF. 11 
 
 middle classes, and getting that portion of the clergy 
 who depended on the mob for support to back him, 
 began systematically to hully the Court of Turin, quite 
 disgusted the great Peruke party, exasperated the 
 royal family, and flung hack the settlement of the 
 question fifteen years, to be then most unsatisfacto- 
 rily settled amid rankling bitterness and mutual gnash- 
 ing of teeth, which it will take another generation to 
 forget; for the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the 
 children's teeth are set on edge. — (Lament, of Jerem. 
 xxxi. 29.) 
 
 This result of the arch-lawyer's taking up the ques- 
 tion in the spirit and tone of a vulgar bully, was not 
 then anticipated, nor is it even now generally under- 
 stood ; but it was both seen and felt by our young 
 Jeremy in his calm retreat at the Benedictine Abbey of 
 Sto. Mauro, where he took a dispassionate view of the 
 distant tumult. His youth and manhood passed in com- 
 piling, with the rest of the Benedictine brotherhood, that 
 unrivalled storehouse of history, L'Art de Verifier les 
 Dates, in which every doubtful matter is sifted by refe- 
 rence to authentic records. Their art is exemplified 
 below. 
 
 This arch-lawyer's name was Dondanielo, of an old 
 Carthaginian family of the Smuggleri*, settled on the 
 
 * The following minute stands recorded on the books of the 
 Board of Revenue Commissioners, 1781, and was afterwards con- 
 firmed by the Irish House of Commons, and placed on their 
 journals : — it completely settles an historic doubt. 
 
 " The plan of smuggling on the coast of the county of Kerry 
 having been changed to Darrynane, where there were stores for 
 
12 SOME ACCOUNT OF 
 
 south-west coast, towards the Spanish port of Valentia. 
 Always dissaffected to the government of Turin they 
 were of course ineligible to posts of emolument in Sar- 
 dinia, but they helped themselves to wealth in rather 
 an off-hand manner. This is rather a delicate topic 
 which I would rather avoid, but the immaculate party 
 having adopted the bullying system in every minute 
 matter, will insist on our not only reverencing the hero 
 himself, but his grandfather and his grandchildren, his 
 ox, and his ass, and everything belonging to him. To 
 drive a coach and four or "a six-oared gig" through 
 Sardinian law was an exploit therefore to him of in- 
 stinct and hereditary transmission. 
 
 The cause of the "immaculates" had been left to the 
 management hitherto of a board comprising the lead- 
 ing gentry, barristers, merchants, and landowners; folks 
 really interested in the repeal of the exclusive code. 
 To join them and add his own native vigour and acti- 
 vity to their social weight would have been a straight- 
 
 the purpose of storing the goods smuggled, it was found that the 
 establishment of the Dungannon cruiser was not calculated for the 
 prevention of the illicit trade, a plan was therefore fixed upon to 
 meet the then mode of smuggling, and effectually to subdue it at 
 Darrynane, and overturn the system of illicit traffic ; and marine 
 and land parties were therefore established, under the command of 
 Mr. Whitwell Butler, a gentleman of property and character, and 
 a justice of the peace in the county of Kerry. 
 
 " Done by the Board, with the approbation of Government, 
 the 22nd May, 1781." 
 
 The above is extracted from the Appendix to the Journals of the 
 Irish House of Commons, dated the 19th March, 1796, where it 
 may be seen, verbatim et literatim, at page ccclxxi. 
 
DON JEREMY HIMSELF. 13 
 
 forward and disinterested course : but Dandeleone's 
 plan was to quash the gentry altogether : his scheme 
 was to estrange the masses from any union with them ; 
 to get the question into his own hands, and appropriate 
 it to himself by infuriating the multitude in a pursuit 
 totally profitless to themselves ; — but not so to him : — 
 this afibrds a clue to his whole career. 
 
 Non his in idem is a maxim of our criminal jurispru- 
 dence : but though a man cannot be prosecuted, he may 
 be rewarded twice for the one act : originally and sub- 
 sequently Dandeleone was. The penny and the pater- 
 noster were not more inseparable than, in his eye, 
 pence and the proper sort of patriotism : — 
 
 " Alterius sic 
 Altera poscit opem res et conjurat amice." 
 
 His professional gains among the Sardinian litigants 
 were considerably increased by the notoriety of his 
 political efi'orts ; as the radical oratory of the late 
 Henry Hunt helped the sale of his blacking. His 
 popularity filled the small local newspapers ; and as 
 action begets reaction, the newspapers swelled his 
 popularity : he skilfully kept his name before the 
 public, a process of which he understood the full value. 
 He preferred abuse to silence. The educated classes 
 instinctively shrunk from contact with this boisterous 
 man of the people. But his jolly phiz was on every 
 aqua-vitce jug in the island. Padre Maiteo had not 
 yet arisen, in those days of delusion. 
 
 He got up an " immaculate association " in the Sar- 
 dinian Corn Exchange, in which the principal orators 
 beside himself, were Dick Scutum, afterwards master 
 
14 SOME ACCOUNT OF 
 
 of the mint in Turin, and Tomaso Le Sage, now secre- 
 tary of the board of control for Cyprus, who has 
 written a history of that society, and is connected with 
 the Buonapartes. Both these saw how pernicious the 
 system was, but were forced into it. There was, 
 besides, a chivalrous buflfoon, called Tomaso FerrOj 
 whom Dandeleone made the mouthpiece of every ab- 
 surdity, useful in its way to himself, but of which he 
 shunned the utterance. He also kept a newspaper- 
 editor, Barretti, of the Pllota, author of a slang dic- 
 tionary, in choice Italian, who being most unscrupulous, 
 did all his dirty work in print. 
 
 The office of gonfaliero for the Clara district became 
 vacant ; a spirited gentleman, Gormano Mahon*, ori- 
 ginated ^.ndi forced Dandeleone into the plan of electing 
 him to the vacancy. This settled the business ; and 
 Turin sullenly gave up the point, which it had been 
 ready to concede gracefully fifteen years before. All 
 the people got was the loss to them of their 40 franc 
 franchise, by Dan's collusion. The upper classes were 
 alone benefited. 
 
 It would have been natural enough for these well-oft* 
 classes to pay Dandeleone his fee for speechifying. 
 But they shirked payment; thinking, perhaps, that he 
 had been rather an obstacle to, than a promoter of, the 
 accommodation of the question. Whereupon Dan. got 
 the clergy to hold a plate for him at the chapel doors, 
 year after year, to collect pence from the poor, for 
 
 * The name is Carthaginian. The Mahons, or Mahony's, gave 
 it to Port Mahon, {Partus Maghonus) in Minorca, in the first 
 Punic war. 
 
DON JEREMY HIMSELF. 15 
 
 whom he had never done anything in his whole life, 
 and whose claim to a legal provision he had actually 
 resisted, when proposed by the holy bishop of Kildara. 
 This roused the bile of Don Jeremy. A like fit of 
 s(Bva indignatio prompted Swift to denounce, in 1735, 
 William Wood's design on the tradepeoples' copper 
 currency in Ireland. For years, as long as it lasted, 
 Jeremy mixt up with all his literary effusions, a con- 
 tinued onslaught on this beggary. Dandeleone, in 
 return, maligned him in a " speech of the day," at the 
 Corn Exchange*; no Sardinian priest, according to Dan., 
 was at liberty to take a different view of politics from 
 the cloth in general: a doctrine which the blast of 
 Padre Kenyon's trumpet, from some wild hill in Tip- 
 peraria, has since blown to tatters. But it was not 
 pleasant, in those days, to live among his fanatic fol- 
 lowers. Jeremy retired to Turin, — when Clodius be- 
 came the darling of Rome's mob, TuUy went into exile: 
 abiho ! et ubi cumque invenero bene pacatam et liheram 
 civitatem in ed conquiescam ! — but he kept up in the 
 press of Piedmont constant hostility to Dan., especially 
 to his new project for separating Sardinia from the 
 two sister kingdoms. Dan. thought to effect this by 
 the same bullying system that he had before employed: 
 a total MISTAKE. In vain did he establish a club 
 called " Consternation Hall," gather monstrous mobs, 
 and talk of battle. In vain did he, taking a hint from 
 Corsica, where "King " Theodore was then at work, 
 set up like him (Biog. Univers., vol. xxxi. p. 100) an 
 
 * On Monday, the 20th of February, 1843. See Irish news- 
 papers of the next day. 
 
16 SOME ACCOUNT OP 
 
 " order of liberators." The Turin authorities pounced 
 upon him and his friends, and locked them up in a 
 Sardinian Penitentiary. He came out cowed, but 
 impenitent. Then, alas! alas! La Natione, an able 
 journal, forsook him: he had been created by the news- 
 papers ; an independent print killed him — 
 
 The press unmade him, as the press had made. 
 Archbishop Mora and the Primate of Arma, with 
 the wisest and most enlightened of the episcopacy, 
 formally withdrew from his set. They even approved 
 of certain Government Colleges, which would bring 
 together all classes, and extirpate mutual hatred 
 and distrust : a state of public feeling on which 
 Dan. having thriven and grown prosperous, felt loth to 
 see abolished. He therefore called the colleges " god- 
 less," and got Barretti to hint in his Pilota, that " the 
 archbishop was insane*!"" This happened just as a rot 
 among the chestnuts had began to alarm the people, 
 whose food that tree principally furnishes, and Dr. 
 Mora had ordered prayers against famine, which would 
 have the effect of preventing the annual plunder at the 
 chapel doors; yet he got about 20,000/. that very 
 November : it was, however, the last haul he ever 
 made, and drew forth a lyric from Don Jeremy, which, 
 in an English form, may be seen in the Times of 
 November 14, 1845, not badly translated — 
 
 * This infamous ** dodge" is noticed in the Morning Chronicle, 
 Oct. 7, 1845. — "The utmost disgust is felt at an article in the 
 Dublin Pilot of Monday, calculated to convey the impression or 
 rather the certainty that the Catholic Primate of Ireland (Dr. 
 Crolly) was insane ! " 
 
DON JEREMY HIMSELF. 17 
 
 THE LAY OF LAZARUS (Lamento di Lazzaro.) 
 I. 
 
 Hark, hark, to the begging-box shaking ! 
 For whom is this alms-money making ? 
 For Dan ; who is cramming his wallet, while famine 
 Sets the heart of the peasant a- quaking. 
 
 II. 
 
 Man's food in Earth's bosom is rotting — 
 But Charity's dole is allotting. 
 To whom ? At God's door, the pampered once more 
 To plunder the Pauper is plotting 1 
 
 III. 
 
 The priest from the altar inveigles ; 
 The peasant, reluctant, still higgles ; 
 'Tis his children's support. But a jolly year's sport 
 Must be had for the Darrynane beagles. 
 
 IV. 
 'Tis ^* ffodless" to give education, — 
 'Tis *' godless" to teach a gulled nation, — 
 But " Godlike," Oh call it, to shoulder your wallet, 
 SwelUng huge in this hour of starvation ! 
 
 V. 
 
 Archbishops ** are mad" if they reason ; 
 ** Are mad" if they league not with treason ; 
 '* Stark mad" if they hint, in a prayer, or in print, 
 Common sense to the people he preys on ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 Their rounds, mark his myrmidons plying 
 To where in yon cabin is dying 
 The victim of want, pale, stricken, and gaunt — 
 Go ; enter and pillage the dying ! 
 
18 SOME ACCOUNT, &C. 
 
 VII. 
 Take, take it, in meal or in metal — 
 But, hush ! — where is infancy's prattle ? 
 On its mother's chilled breast, lies the babe in Death's rest; 
 ** Pshaw ! Come, give the box a good rattle !" 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The land is all blighted with famine, 
 The land is all blighted with famine, 
 Yet still doth he crave — and, like ghoul at a grave, 
 Racks rottenness, rooting for Mammon ! 
 
 ENVOY. 
 With a Hand from above to afliict him. 
 Low Lazarus lies. Yet the victim 
 In his anguish implores, (but in vain) for his sores, 
 That the beagles of Dives may lick them. 
 
 He died two years afterwards at Genoa. His son, 
 however, {infelix ptier !) continues the business, which 
 in his petty and paltry hands has sadly fallen off. Le 
 jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle. May we all be let enjoy 
 peace and quietness at last in this our Island of 
 Sardinia ! 
 
 Cagliarif July I, 1847. 
 
PART THE FIEST. 
 
 THE FAG END OF AN OLD KEIGN. 
 
PART THE FIRST. 
 
 THE FAG END OF AN OLD REIGN. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 Rome, January 31, 1846. 
 MY DEAR DICKENS^ 
 
 When you took leave of me at the Milvian 
 Bridge, a spot witness of many occurrences more 
 important to mankind, yet of none to me so par- 
 ticularly interesting as our final farewell ! — final, 
 for alas ! T am a very old man, and cannot 
 hope to revisit England, — you engaged me to 
 enter on this correspondence, and we ratified 
 the solemn compact by your acceptance of 
 that handful of cigars which I pressed on you, 
 under pretext that they were " blessed by the 
 Pope,^^ whereas, I had bought them freshly at the 
 shop of his highness, Duke Torlonia, in the Cor so, 
 I trust you found their efficacy in traversing the 
 pestilent Campagna, and that your remembrance 
 of the donor has not gone the way of all smoke. 
 
 c 
 
18 THE FAG END 
 
 By this time you will have rejoiced all Cockney- 
 dom with your pleasant Pictures from Italy, 
 from which I understood you to intend carefully 
 eliminating all shadow of our peninsular politics. 
 Perhaps you are right. You have passed too 
 rapidly amongst us to penetrate these darker ob- 
 jects, and though gifted with the most observant 
 eye of all modern seers, your glance was but tran- 
 sitory. As you passed along, you have simply 
 daguerrotyped the glorious landscape, the towered 
 cities, and the motley groups : but your country- 
 men, the landscape painters here, at whose mess- 
 table I am an occasional guest, have stigmatised 
 that new-fangled process, no doubt from jealousy, 
 by the opprobrious term of dog-trappiny. The 
 old method of the camera obscura, which they still 
 cling to, allows a more patient study of details, 
 and involves a more laborious investigation of 
 varying appearances: the pheenomena of our 
 Italian institutions, I apprehend, must be con- 
 templated by aid of the older instrument: and 
 much delicacy of handling is requisite in bringing 
 it to bear on the "Camera Apostolic a'^ of Rome. 
 Amid the settled gloom and sullen despon- 
 dency which continue to weigh down our spirits 
 wbcn cMiL-^aired in brooding over our condition in- 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 19 
 
 ternally, the year 1846 has opened rather auspi- 
 ciously on this capital, with reference to its 
 external relations. The Imperial visit runs no 
 risk of being forgotten : long will it be talked of 
 by Roman diplomacy with all the enthusiasm of 
 Scott's old dowager, respecting a royal visit, 
 equally unexpected, and proportionately impor- 
 tant. Great, also, is the exultation of the hotel 
 keepers, at the unwonted influx of Russian Plu- 
 tocracy; the northern hordes having this winter 
 crossed the Ponte molle in unusual force, not as of 
 old, to ravage and despoil, but rather, after the 
 fashion of their ancestral gladiators from the 
 Volga and Danube, 
 
 *' To make a Roman holiday." 
 
 The English migratory flocks are also in consider- 
 able feather ; last fortnight, at the " blessing of the 
 cattle,'' their hunters and carriage-horses were 
 numerously conspicuous in the muster of quad- 
 rupeds annually gathered before the porch of St. 
 Antonio, on the Esquiline; oxen, mules, asses, 
 sheep, all had their share of the friar's blessing, 
 save the foxhounds, the whipper-in not having 
 the grace to bring his pack up from the Cam- 
 pagna. A "very bad sign," as Father Luke, in 
 your wicked comedy, would say or sing ; for, con- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE FAG END 
 
 sidering the precarious tenure which this esoteric 
 sport has of the ground, its enjoyment is to be 
 fenced round with all due observances*. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the frigid indifference of 
 all classes here at the announcement of the Duke's 
 death at Modena, The Pope's coachman dying 
 would make a greater sensation ; indeed, were it 
 not that etiquette of relationship required the 
 postponement of the ball ]at the Austrian Minis- 
 ter's, to the serious annoyance of several young 
 ladies, and of not a few old ones, no notice would 
 be vouchsafed to the fact of the ducal collar 
 having been transferred from the shoulders of an 
 imbecile father to those of his still more stolid 
 boy. The state of Modena is to Italy -what a 
 gradual ossification of the heart would be to the 
 liuman system. The rest of the Peninsula, 
 though slow and stagnant enough, has not yet 
 
 * Fox-liunting is far too manly and exciting an exercise not to 
 alarm the drowsy old prejudices of the Government. Accordingly, 
 when poor Bertie Mathews broke his neck, Governor Marini 
 gladly made it an excuse for his edict of suppression issued in 
 November. But he was made quickly to retrace that step. The 
 Roman nobility rose en masse against the attempt to meddle with 
 their sports, and the prelate has been forced to draw in his horns. 
 Had it been an edict merely oppressive to shop-keepers, trades- 
 men, or peasants, its revocation would have been quite another 
 Uiatter. [In Part II. this affair is again alluded to. — Ed.] 
 
OF AN OLD REIGX. 21 
 
 come to that pitch of petrifaction. For the rest, 
 from the Po to the Faro, unto this trodden-down 
 race no new star of hope has risen ; unless it be 
 found in the announcement seven da3^s ago of a 
 telescopic comet first seen on the 24th, by a lynx- 
 eye from the Jesuit's observatory here, and, omi- 
 nously enough, in the significant constellation of 
 Erida)ius. 
 
 The Pontifi* bears the weight of his eighty-one 
 years with wonderful ease, actually looking younger 
 than at any period for the last dozen winters. The 
 polypus has been long since effectually cured : his 
 voice, a deep barytone, bearing evidence to un- 
 abated vigour. He may yet sing a requiem to 
 Louis Philippe*. From his aboccamento with the 
 Czar, to which it is now pretty well known that 
 he and all in his confidence looked forward with 
 tremulous, with sleepless anxiety, and out of 
 which, to his amazement, he came forth so sig- 
 
 * It will be seen that Savonarola here was no prophet. It 
 would have been better, perhaps, for the French King's ultimate 
 place in history had he not survived, to turn in his dotage marriage 
 broker at Madrid : but it is quite enough for us to stick to the 
 affairs of one peninsula. 
 
 Be his old age hale and mellow, 
 And may the shrewd old fellow 
 Last long as his old umbrella ! 
 Ed. 
 
22 THE FAG END 
 
 nally successful in the eyes of Europe, the octo- 
 genarian frame of Gregory has gathered fresh 
 impulse, and, as it were, galvanic action. What 
 may be called the mere "court^^ of Rome had 
 never flattered itself that the aesthetic fascination 
 of St. Peter, so potent in influencing Goth, Hun, 
 and Vandal, but which Charles V., Joseph II., 
 and Napoleon profanely set at nought (confiding 
 in the more modern agency of salt-'Peter) would 
 have overawed so stalwart a barbarian. A new 
 fresco is in contemplation for a hall in the Vatican ; 
 indeed " Leo confronting Attila,^^ clearly can be 
 reproduced \\ithout much novelty of attitude or 
 even drapery, save in the regimentals of the 
 gigantic Romanoff. 
 
 An early day in February, and a chosen com- 
 mittee (superseding the routine tribunal which 
 would have otherwise taken cognizance thereof) 
 have been named for investigating, in its spiritual 
 operation, the late Act of the British Legislature 
 for the endowment of lay colleges in Ireland. The 
 few whose names have transpired are thoughtful 
 and accomplished men, and know the bounds of 
 their competency, long accustomed to similar 
 vexed questions in other European states. The 
 clauses submitted, as more or less objectionable. 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 23 
 
 by the Irish remonstrants , have every chance of 
 being fairly sifted. The only Irish prelate here. 
 Dr. Kennedy, of Killaloe, keeps strictly aloof, 
 but is understood to side rather with the older 
 and more enlightened members of the episcopacy 
 in his judgment of the measure. His prudent 
 reserve has not, however, prevented the free 
 expression, three days ago, in his presence, of a 
 rather forcible opinion, to wit, that " the Bishops 
 in Ireland favourable to the Colleges ought to be 
 denied Christian burial, and their ashes thrown into 
 the Shannon ;'' the merit of which decent and 
 sober utterance belongs to an official of the Irish 
 seminary here. The wiseacre is from Waterford, 
 for which latitude he is better fitted than that of 
 Rome, where as yet the Turkish custom has not 
 generally obtained of keeping a holy idiot in each 
 mosque for luck. 
 
 People here are not easily surprised at any 
 absurd rumour in the newspapers, which indeed 
 they seldom read; but the persevering tenacity 
 with which the Carlist journals have, month after 
 month, asserted the failure of Rossi^s diplomatic 
 mission at this Court, has amazed the oldest 
 inhabitant. The influence" he obtained at first he 
 has kept and extended, and never were Louis 
 
24 THE FAG END 
 
 Philippe's wishes more respected than since he 
 was chosen to urge and enforce them. Lately he 
 had but to signify an objection, and the Jesuits, 
 who have access everywhere, found it not to the 
 pulpit of the French national church of St. Luigi 
 de' Francesi. 
 
 In the matter of railways much uncertainty 
 prevails: the Holy Father is said to have relaxed 
 his frown and lent an ear to innovation and to his 
 barber Gaetanino, a functionary of well-known 
 influence, and whose position in state affairs and 
 other matters should be understood. At the 
 spring the steamer will resume the towing of 
 barges up the Tiber, beyond the city, into the 
 Sabine territory, where a good bed of coal lias 
 been lately found and is worked, besides another 
 farther inland towards Subiaco. But concerning 
 the development of steam-power in this capital, 
 and the prospect for its utterly idle people of the 
 varied branches of industrj^ to be created through 
 that magic medium, I can hold out none but tlie 
 faintest hopes. A straw thrown up may ser\'e 
 for an anemometer. One of our sculptors took a 
 fancy to imiiort from Liverpool an Ai'uott stove to 
 warm his spacious studio this winter, and laid in 
 his stock of Sabine coal with comfortable fore- 
 
OP AN OLD REIGN. 25 
 
 thought; great was his glee at the genial glow it 
 diffused through his workshop : but short are the 
 moments of perfect enjoyment : in a few days a 
 general outcry arose among the neighbours : the 
 nasal organ at Rome^ guide-books describe as 
 peculiarly sensitive : a mob of women clamoured 
 at the gate : they were all " suifocated by the 
 horrid carbon fossileP Phthisis is fearfully 
 dreaded here : with uproarious lungs they de- 
 nounced him as a promoter of pulmonary disease. 
 Police came^ remonstrance was useless. The 
 artist's lares were ruthlessly invaded, and his 
 "household gods shivered around him.'^ The 
 Arnott Altar of Vesta now lies prostrate in his 
 lumber yard, quenched for ever ! 
 
 Sir Henry Pottinger winters here; the Czar 
 paid him the most marked recognition, en passant, 
 in the Lateran Church. Mr. Dyce is busy in the 
 Vatican, plucking out the heart of that mystery 
 to the English — Fresco. V/e have also Fanny 
 Butler and her sister Adelaide, Mrs. Summerville, 
 Lady Charlotte Bury, Lady DufF Gordon, Lords 
 Arundel and Surrey, Ward, Oxford, Compton, 
 Beverley, Walpole, the Marquises of Douglas and 
 of Headfort; besides Mr. Grey Porter, late of 
 Conciliation Hall. 
 
 c3 
 
26 THE FAG END 
 
 February 2. 
 
 The Roman virtuosi have been, these weeks 
 past, impatiently looking out for the public ap- 
 pearance of Taglioni, who has been an in-dweller 
 of our city some time. It appears from what I 
 am told, she had some difficulty in getting the 
 Roman cor^^phees into dancing order ; the clum- 
 siest ankles in all Christendom being those of 
 Rome, as every artist will tell you, and any eye 
 can see. She came out, however, last night (Sun- 
 day,) it is understood, with applause unequalled 
 since the days of the classic Arbuscula. To-day, 
 being Candlemas morning, Pope Gregory, in per- 
 son, and in rude health, went processionally 
 through the ceremonies, and blessed the can- 
 dles ; may I never see a Pope rather inclined to 
 bless extinguishers ; and let us both hereupon de- 
 voutly ejaculate. Fiat Lux ! 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Rome, February 12. 
 The Consistor}^, held this morning, has just 
 broken up, and has afforded the friends of Louis 
 Philippe matter for congratulation. The assem- 
 bly of cardinals, which would not have taken place 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 2? 
 
 for some time in the usual course, was hastened 
 in compUment to the newly-arrived French bishop 
 of Arras — a strenuous adherent of the Orleans 
 dynasty, a quondam veteran soldier of the Empire, 
 and whose pure and unchallenged merits as a 
 Galilean prelate had justified the demand of the 
 king for a hat, which had been granted five years 
 ago, but which had to be fitted on by Gregory in 
 person, according to rule, this morning. From 
 twenty to thirty of the leading cardinals were in 
 attendance, among whom I noticed Lambruschini, 
 Castracane, Macchi, Fransoni, Barberini, Brignole 
 Patrizi, Polidori, Mai, Orioli, Mezzofante, Fer- 
 retti, Acton, Bernetti, and Altieri. The Pope 
 having taken his seat, a lawyer opened the plead- 
 ings pro forma, in a " beatification case,^^ but was 
 quickly cut short by the crier, who called on the 
 real business of the day. The aged Frenchman 
 was thereupon introduced, and, advancing to the 
 steps of the pontifical throne, received a most 
 cordial acollade from the pontiff. The respective 
 ages of the two performers in this solemn scene, 
 being eighty and eighty-one, added not a little to 
 its impressiveness. 
 
 The only objection which can be taken to an 
 occurrence like this is its rarity. The admissions 
 
28 THE FAG END 
 
 into the purple order, which ostensibly governs 
 the Roman Catholic church, of individuals born 
 beyond the Alps, have of late years diminished in 
 an alarming ratio to the eyes of the thoughtful 
 supporters of the pontifical system. Out of near 
 seventy hats, not half a dozen have been given be- 
 yond the Italian peninsula. The present Pope 
 has created fifty out of the living Princes of the 
 Church, and not only have they been almost inva- 
 riably Italians, but thirty of the number have been 
 selected from a still more restricted boundar}" — 
 viz. the Papal States. This, I conceive, is neither 
 far-seeing nor oRCumenical, Spain has but one 
 hat left of its many olden dignities ; Portugal has 
 but recently acquired one ; Bavaria and Belgium 
 have each a single chapeau ; and Austria Proper is 
 in a similar state of destitution. France, by the 
 exertions of Louis-Philippe, has three. As for the 
 British isles, they have no claim of course, since 
 they will neither give nor take even a diplomatic 
 representative, though old Nicholas himself is about 
 to admit a nuncio at Petersburg. Acton is merely a 
 Neapolitan, and as such the ominous name is mixed 
 up with intrigues of a period little creditable to 
 Great Britain. The time is far remote when men 
 of mind, Lingard, or Wiseman, or Murray, will be 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 29 
 
 raised to the dignity which God and nature in- 
 tended for them. The thing, however, may work 
 its own cure before then. The Irish seem to take 
 their aboriginal and persevering exclusion from 
 any power, place, or rank in the church they love^ 
 with surprising placidity. It is true that 'some 
 rather curious candidates would be probably put 
 forward for a hat did the whim seize their patriots. 
 We should have the ^^ Lion of Tuam '^ clamor- 
 ously recommended by Mayo, [leonum arida 
 nutrix,) and the ^^ dove of Galway*'^ anxiously 
 put forward by Connaught (nota qu(e sedes fuit his 
 columbis !) to the combined horror and amaze- 
 ment of this knowing, grave, and eternal city. 
 
 In the matter of canonization, (incidentally 
 alluded to during this consistory), Italy has still 
 more signally taken to itself the lion^s share. 
 Saints from beyond the Alps have almost be- 
 come an extinct species ; monuments of a former 
 social condition now swept away. It is true that 
 to get a single one enrolled on the sacred panel 
 costs as much as one of your moderately contested 
 
 * It is by these silly nicknames that two Irish prelates, 
 (Mac Hale and O'Higgins,) who have merged the episcopal cha- 
 racter into that of the political brawler, are known in Conciliation 
 Hall, and in that curious dialect in which " oratory" delights over 
 the water. — Ed. 
 
30 THE FAG END 
 
 railway bills, since the system of centralization 
 was adopted, and Rome made sole adjudicatrix of 
 the merits and the sanctity. In Ireland and 
 England, had the clergy and people omitted to 
 crowd heaven with native-born saints by simple 
 acclaim, before reference was made necessary to 
 Rome, those islands would never have got the 
 numerous heavenly intercessors, and the flatter- 
 ing title they shared in the middle ages. St. 
 Kevin, St. Senanus, St. Dunstan, and St. Jarlath 
 luckily had the halo painted round their heads by 
 a native decision, and a home determination. — 
 ^^Hereditary bondsmen^''' ^-c, ^c. 
 
 We had some hopes that that truly angelic 
 creature, the late Princess Borghese, would have 
 made some progress through the path of recognised 
 sanctity in the eyes of her mother church. But 
 as her bright and unblemished memory happens 
 not to be mixed up with any particular theory or 
 school of casuistry, or any collateral ambition or 
 interest of any set of churchmen, the officials have 
 let the matter drop, as being only a mere exempli- 
 fication of transcendant, maidenly, and maternal 
 holiness. 
 
 Among our recent arrivals is that of Sir Ed- 
 ward Bulwer Lytton, 
 
OF AX OLD REIGN. 31 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Rome, Feb. 25, Ash- Wednesday. 
 
 Carnival has been un precedent edly brilliant. 
 For the last ten days, the roll of equipages, the 
 interchange of bouquets, the discharge of con- 
 fectionary projectiles, mid the uproar of the 
 Corso, and of the two parallel streets that dis- 
 embogue into the square del Popolo, have been 
 incessant. The French embassy ball outshone 
 the competition even of the Doria, the Borghese, 
 Lord Ward, and the Bachelors^ Club. The colts 
 from the Campagna ran their appointed races, 
 and save that a Roman lad was killed by a kick 
 from one of these quadrupeds, and an American 
 artist stabbed in the back by a native, everything 
 went off properly. The sudden contrast of this 
 quiet morning is quite a relief. The flaunting 
 masqueraders have vanished as by enchantment. 
 The garb of sobriety and demure looks meet the 
 eye. Many a northern nymph who might be 
 met yesterday in very different attire — 
 
 " Nuper in stratis studiosa flonim," 
 
 is now close veiled in the costume of the cene- 
 rentola, and borne towards the Vatican, to sliare 
 at the old Pope^s hands the envied ashes. 
 
32 THE FAG END 
 
 The profits of this season to the commerce of 
 Rome (such as it is) can scarcely be overrated. 
 Their political economists have the honesty to 
 confess, what is still denied in high quarters here, 
 that the influx of strangers is the very breath of 
 Roman nostrils. You need not be told that the 
 "balance of trade^^ is awfully against the Ponti- 
 fical dominions ; but this, as well as many other 
 unpleasant facts, is carefully kept out of men's 
 thoughts in this eternal place. From a diligent 
 examination of official papers (not of easy access), 
 it turns out that the imports exceed the exports 
 by no less a sum than five millions of dollars 
 annually. The detail of this balance-sheet (which 
 I intend to send you) is still more discreditable, 
 inasmuch as the export trade is almost exclusively 
 made up of raw materials, while the imports are 
 invariably articles of foreign skill and industry; 
 leaving on the side of Rome an overwhelming 
 account of beggarly indolence consequent on go- 
 vermental incapacity. It can be no longer matter 
 of surprise that while every capital of Northern 
 Europe has nearly doubled its population since the 
 century began, this metropolis numbers only a few 
 hundred more citizens this year of our Lord than 
 it did in 1800, neither will it be thought a very 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 33 
 
 improbable occurrence tbat memorials and re- 
 monstrances to be presented to the Roman 
 Government on the part of crippled and op- 
 pressed trade^ as well as other subjects of poli- 
 tical grievance, were actually flung on the drive 
 of the Pincian hill, into the lap of our late visitor 
 — aye, the Czar Nicholas; for it is well known 
 here that even as regards England, the balance 
 of Russian commerce is somewhat diiFerently 
 cared for. 
 
 These few lines may possibly occasion my let- 
 ter to be stopped at the post-office here, as hap- 
 pens to every number of any French, German, 
 or English newspaper, in which the public inte- 
 rests of this oppressed community are advocated. 
 Whenever Galignani copies similar obnoxious 
 paragraphs he is also vicariously punished by 
 strict confiscation in the Piazza Colonna. 
 
 We can only grumble at such things, as they 
 are senza rimedio, according to the habitual 
 phrase here ; but the Spanish nation has a right 
 to complain, and deserves to be trampled on by 
 foreign diplomacy if it do not give proper ut- 
 terance to its indignation when the despatches 
 of its envoy are, (as they ivere a few days ago,) 
 after having been confided to the custody of the 
 
34 THE FAG END 
 
 post-office, found unsealed in the public piazza of 
 St. Agostino, and brought in that state to the 
 Spanish representative by a passing stranger. 
 
 You will not see this fact in the Gazette d'Augs^ 
 hourg, which is the only regular informant of 
 Europe on what passes here, but the writers in 
 which, well known to our police, do not choose 
 to get a week^s lodging in the carcere nuovo. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Rome, March 5. 
 
 Yesterday, a few miles out on the Via Nomen- 
 tana, an unusual assemblage of brilliant equipages, 
 mounted cavaliers, and miscellaneous pedestrians, 
 gave token that the Roman nobility had fixed on 
 a rendezvous for some signal display. The hounds 
 were to meet at this spot, and the scarlet tints of 
 the horsemen's costume accordingly gave additi- 
 onal relief to the glowing effect of the general 
 landscape under an unclouded sky. Prince Con- 
 stantine, the second son of the Czar, was expected 
 on the ground, and hence this unwonted gathering. 
 The newly arrived visitor somehow did not come; 
 and a fox being speedily unearthed, after a short 
 run, the brush was won by the Prince Odeschalchi. 
 
OF AN aLD REIGN. 35 
 
 A cordial welcome is in preparation for the Czar- 
 ina, his mother, whose arrival here from Palermo 
 is impatiently looked for. 
 
 The speech of Lord Aberdeen on the relations 
 between Russia and Rome, was in great request 
 here, and was deemed additional evidence of his 
 Lordship's calm sagacity. You are long since 
 aware of Cardinal Lambruschini's disavowal (in a 
 formal note) of any participation in concocting or 
 publishing the "Nun's Tale;" of that marvellous 
 Odyssey, overshadowing, in fanciful horrors, the 
 history of Baron Trenck, or the story of Mazeppa. 
 The real editor was the facetious Father Ryllo, a 
 Lithuanian genius of no common order, who can- 
 not forget (noVonder ! ) his having been exiled by 
 the Czar's predecessor in 1824. Ryllo is a stirring 
 spirit, and has left his mark on the Caucasus, on 
 the anti-Lebanon, (ask Sir C. Napier,) and the 
 island of Malta. He is now about visiting Abys- 
 sinia, and you may therefore expect to hear of 
 bustling intelligence from that quarter. 
 
 It is hard, nevertheless, to exonerate the autho- 
 rities from the publication, in Roman type, of this 
 pseudo-narrative. The title-page of the little 
 brochure bore, 'tis true, no printer's name, the 
 whereabouts was simply " Italia," and since then 
 
36 THE FAG END 
 
 it has disappeared miraculously from all the Ro- 
 man bookstalls ; but that the printing thereof was 
 tvinked at, is well understood by any one who 
 knows the perils that enviroji here clandestine 
 typography. This is one of the inconveniences to 
 which a government is liable which looks upon the 
 " freedom of the press^^ as the " offspring of hell 
 firstborn/^ It must be responsible for whatever 
 is printed. 
 
 It were happy for the public welfare if that 
 were the only inconvenience. But people will 
 readj even in Rome; and the book trade (the 
 increasing importance of which in diiFusing em- 
 ployment none need tell Charles Dickens,) is a 
 branch of industry which, on the banks of the 
 Tiber, government has effectually withered up, 
 and thus added another melancholy leaf to the 
 hortus siccus of Roman beggary. Without taking 
 into account what is smuggled, a sum of 120,000 
 dollars is annually paid by this poor community 
 to foreign booksellers — mainly for Italian works. 
 If a Roman virtuoso labours with an MS., he 
 seeks the obstetric aid of a printing-press any- 
 where but within these walls. 
 
 You need not be told how many hands and 
 heads are lucratively engaged elsewhere in the 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 3? 
 
 recently-adopted style of illustrated typography; 
 From all share in that elegant industry Rome, by 
 its own restrictions, has shut itself out. The 
 engraver's family pines, the hand of a young 
 genius languishes unemployed; and, by paraly- 
 sing the free production of letter-press, its con- 
 comitant and brother art is stricken down. 
 
 As to periodical literature, which is now awa- 
 kening mankind all over Europe to a sense of the 
 beautiful and the useful in every department of 
 science, here there is a universal blank. There 
 is, to be sure, a costive serial called the " Album 
 di Roma ;" a number of which fell under my eye 
 the other day; but the leading article being a 
 dissertation on il giuoco del oca — viz., ^' the game 
 of GOOSE," I flung it aside with a wish, that if 
 the " authorised '' editor did not wish to enlighten 
 his docile readers, he might avoid thus sneering 
 at their imbecility. Newspapers and their great 
 corollary — advertisements, are, of course, un- 
 dreamt of. 
 
 The paper on which this letter will be printed, 
 has probably come in the shape of Roman rags 
 from Civita Vecchia or Ancona. This export 
 (exclusive of smuggling) is, in pounds, two mil- 
 lions and a half of the raw material of paper. Any 
 
38 THE FAG END 
 
 boy in one of your favourite ^^ ragged schools ^^ 
 can calculate the loss which ensues on exporting 
 rags and receiving printed books in return. An 
 alarm was raised a few years ago about this glar- 
 ing deficiency in the management of things, and, 
 by way of a remedy, a prohibition against the 
 exit of rags was enacted. The rags were then 
 used as manure ; nothing could force them into 
 paper under the restrictions of a manacled press. 
 The prohibition was accordingly removed. As in 
 the similar case of the old log in Horace, the bet- 
 ter alternative (between dung and divinity) was 
 resolved upon — 
 
 ** Maluit esse Deum; 
 Deus inde ego furum maxima fonnido." 
 
 I must break off, having to attend a sitting of 
 the Academia d'Arcadi, which takes place at four 
 to-day. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Rome, March 12. 
 
 That "amusing print" the Diano di Roma^ 
 which, as you know, is generally a mere recital of 
 church ceremonies, chronicled with chamberlain 
 precision and Chinese solemnity, published, last 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 39 
 
 week, in a fit of generosity, the balance sheet of 
 the Savings Bank for February. The laity were 
 thus informed that during the past month a sum 
 of 30,403 dollars had been lodged by them, while 
 only 16,332 had been withdrawn; a palpable hint 
 to be joyful at such evidence of their prosperous 
 condition under the ecclesiastical system of rule. 
 As if they did not know this exceptional surplus 
 to be a simple derivative from the disbursements 
 of foreign opulence during carnival, and a mere 
 casual result of the circulating medium being 
 freely lavished among tradesfolk by these northern 
 revellers, far from being an index to the sustained 
 healthy condition of remunerative industry. This 
 topic I have touched on before, and may resume 
 with effect. The middle classes, the proletaires, 
 and operatives having been utterly overlooked in 
 the dominions of the church (with the ignoble 
 connivance of the aristocracy thereunto); and 
 uniformly snubbed and crushed since the days of 
 Rienzi. 
 
 The declamations of Young Italy may or may 
 not be all froth; but Arabic figures cannot be 
 dealt with in the fashion of rhetorical flourishes; 
 the whole question may resolve itself into a simple 
 study of the balance sheet of Roman trade. Let 
 
40 THE FAG END 
 
 my readers (matter of fact people) pause at each 
 separate item, and then sum up their impressions 
 from the general coup-d'oeil of the following car- 
 toon, of which the contending figures, though 
 graphic and suggestive, have not been painted 
 in the saloons of the Vatican. 
 
 1. Cotton tissues. — The population pays for 
 every yard of this article in use, hard cash to the 
 looms of England, Switzerland, and Mulhausen. 
 Two millions of dollars (exclusive of smuggling) 
 are ascertained to be lost on this item. The only 
 attempt to manufacture a coarse description of 
 cotton stuffs was made lately in the workhouse at 
 Diocletian^s baths, and in the arsenal of galley 
 slaves at Civita Vecchia. The paupers preferred 
 begging, and the only '^cotton lords" left are the 
 latter gentry. 
 
 2. In WoollenSs things are not quite so bad, 
 though the staple is miserably cared for. Alarmed 
 some years ago at the enormous outgoings of 
 money to purchase foreign broad-cloth, the pre- 
 sent Pope's advisers suggested the exploded 
 system of bounties. A certain sum was ordered 
 to be paid to the manufacturers according to 
 quality as well as quantity. The result was, that 
 the trade appeared to revive. 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 41 
 
 28 
 
 there were in) 36 
 operation ] 46 
 44 
 
 34,526 ells 
 manufactories] 48,492 „ 
 producing 63,165 „ 
 63,810 „ 
 
 1836 
 ■'1837 
 1838 
 1839 
 
 but the force of bounties could no farther go. 
 The thing had been worked up-hill to the utmost 
 of its capacity: smuggling increased and the 
 bounties were jobbed ; last year PeeFs policy of 
 reducing the tariff was adopted, and at the fair of 
 Sinigaglia, the quantity of foreign cloth admitted 
 at reduced rates doubled in amount, and kept up 
 the produce to the papal treasury, but several 
 factories have since been discontinued, and much 
 misery has ensued. It must be added that the 
 intelligent manufacturers blame government for 
 not giving them such powers as are supplied in 
 France by the system of livrets, a matter not un- 
 derstood in England, but absolutely necessary 
 here whenever workmen are congregated in bodies. 
 Meantime, the Roman States export raw wool to 
 the amount of 260,000 dollars, and import the 
 same spun or woven to the amount of 480,000 
 dollars. 
 
 3. In Silken tissues these States could supply 
 all Europe with common painstaking. The whole 
 Campagna might be planted with mulberries, if 
 the landowners had the slightest wish to improve 
 
 D 
 
43 THE FAG END 
 
 their enormous tracts. The women spin enough 
 to save a portion of the loss, which is thus : — 
 
 Raw silk exported, in value . . 489 dollars. 
 Spun silk „ 5, . . 515,651 „ 
 
 Woven silk, imported, in value 237,554 „ 
 
 4. — In Flax and Hemp the balance of trade is 
 actually in favour of Rome, and that to an unex- 
 pected extent, so much so as to cover the whole 
 loss of the cotton imports. The spinning and 
 weaving of linen is attended to, not in manufac. 
 tories, but in the homesteads of the cottagers, and 
 without any encouragement or interference of 
 government. The women here again redeem the 
 laziness and incapacity of the men. For, particu- 
 larly on the other side of the Apennines, the old 
 habits of the peasantry have survived, and though 
 no longer is part of Macaulay's description true, 
 when he sings of the hour 
 
 *' When the oldest cask is opened, 
 And the largest lamp is lit ; 
 And the chesnuts glow in the embers. 
 And the kid turns on the spit." 
 
 If no longer 
 
 " The good man mends his armour, 
 And trims his helmet plume ;" 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 43 
 
 Still 
 
 " The good wife's shuttle merrily 
 Goes flashing thro' the loom." 
 
 5. — In Wax and Honey the imports surpass the 
 exports by 140,000 dollars. This is absolutely 
 shameful, and shows how little the fourth book of 
 the Georgics, or the good old man of iEbalia^s 
 example has done for the degenerate agricultural 
 mind. 
 
 6. — The Fisheries are in as miserable a state of 
 neglect as in Ireland. St. Peter appears to have 
 only bequeathed his ring (annulum piscatoris) to 
 the Pontiffs. 400,000 dollars are paid in hard cash 
 to you English, for fishing the cod-banks of New- 
 foundland, to enable the Romans to keep Lent, 
 which they do very badly. 
 
 7. — In the matter of Oil, only think of a 
 country where the olive has but to be planted to 
 spread its silver leaves in the sun and give abun- 
 dant returns, actually importing foreign oil from 
 the other Italian states, particularly its neigh- 
 bour Tuscany, to the amount of 320,000 dollars. 
 Most of the land thus mismanaged is in tlie claws 
 of the church. 
 
 But if Rome, like a foolish virgin, neglects pro- 
 viding a stock of oil for her lamp, to be badly oflf 
 for soap is a still more blameable condition, argu- 
 
 D 2 
 
44 THE FAG END 
 
 ing arrant laziness : this article is imported to the 
 extent of 100^000 dollars. 
 
 8. — Corii shall form a chapter to itself in a future 
 communication. This is the monster grievance, 
 and ought not to be dealt with perfunctorily. 
 
 9. — For Gums, Resins, Fruit, Wines, the abso- 
 lute loss on the balance of import and export is 
 130,000 dollars. 
 
 10. — Colonial produce — tea, coffee, sugar — are 
 of course on the wrong side of the ledger, but not 
 an attempt has been dreamt of to imitate the 
 French and German beet-root factories, though 
 this vegetable, planted lately in the fat ground 
 near Aricia, produced roots varying in weight from 
 ten to thirty pounds ! it might as well rot on 
 Lethe's wharf as on the banks of the Tiber, for 
 all the government cares. 
 
 11. — In the matter of Cheese and Butter, fancy 
 an agricultural country importing these two ar- 
 ticles from its neighbours to the amount of 
 68,191 dollars, and at the same time exporting 
 cows and oxen to the extent of 304,000 dollars. 
 
 12. — Iron, Brass, Tin, Lead, and Zinc, are all 
 imports ; yet are there abundant chalybeate indi- 
 cations and olden mines of iron at Viterbo, at 
 Tolfa, at Monteleone, and coal beds unworked. 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 45 
 
 The government prefer bringing this all-important 
 article from Elba of the Florentines. Some praise 
 is due to Gregory for the iron works established at 
 the falls of Tivoli and Terni, but the rule subsists 
 more glaringly because of the exception. 
 
 13. — In Straw Bonnets the industry of the 
 women again exhibits a slight compensation in an 
 export of 120,000 dollars. 
 
 14. — I have not been able to get at the returns 
 of the delf and crockery trade, but a large balance 
 is here against Rome ; though one of its small de- 
 pendencies, Fayenza, had formerly the glory of 
 giving its name to this most profitable branch of 
 industry. 
 
 15. — In the article of Belli Arti the export is 
 of course on the side of Rome, but to an amount 
 far less than would be supposed — a mere trifle 
 over 100,000 dollars. 
 
 These be a few data on which to found an 
 opinion as to the value of churchmen's govern- 
 ment and the exclusion of laymen from the 
 management of temporal affairs : and further, 
 while such an aggregate of poverty is necessarily 
 accumulated in the Roman States, with what face 
 can the ecclesiastical rulers of this benighted land 
 refuse the lately-made offer of capital for the 
 construction of railroads ? Let Europe judge. 
 
46 THE FAG END 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Rome, March 18. 
 
 We have had a riot here among the trasteve^ 
 rini. The fray began at the foot of the Janiculum, 
 between the papal soldiery and the populace, who 
 drove their armed assailants l^ack into their bar- 
 racks, with the loss of two killed, in return for 
 numerous sabre wounds on the side of the people. 
 Politics had nothing to do with the affair, the 
 provocation being of the old Appius Claudius and 
 Tarquin character. 
 
 The anniversary of St. Patrick drew together 
 yesterday a most brilliant muster of British and 
 Irish votaries to the modest church of the Fran- 
 ciscan friars. His countryman, Cardinal Acton, 
 delivered a rather dull discourse on the occasion ; 
 yet nearly 100/. was contributed to the fair col- 
 lectors of the alms, viz., Lady Dover, the Coun- 
 tess Fingall, Lady Walpole, Olivia Taylor, and 
 Hon. Mrs. Smythe. I noticed Overbeck among 
 the worshippers. 
 
OF AX OLD REIGN. 4? 
 
 Much disgust is felt and expressed in eccle- 
 siastical circles here at the tenour of Dr. John 
 Machale's Lenten manifesto, ascribing the potato 
 rot to the establishment of Irish colleges for the 
 laity. Italian gravity relaxes into a smile of pity 
 for the people to whom such garbage is presented 
 with impunity. Nor, while the question is known, 
 to be under reference to superior authority, do 
 people here overlook the indecency of this in* 
 dividual prejudgment, seeming, as it were, to 
 bully the Vatican. 
 
 The British artists, w^ho meditate exhibiting 
 their capi d^ opera among you in May, have last 
 week been engaged with the numerous agents of 
 Mac Craken, and many a trim bark spreads its 
 canvas for England, with other and more pre- 
 cious canvas under hatches. Not a few flasks 
 of Orvieto have perished, in wafting good wishes 
 with the bill of lading. It were invidious to 
 mention names; besides, does not this particular 
 department belong to one of their artistic breth- 
 ren, whose pen is as graphic as his pencil, but 
 whose sterling good nature is still more conspi- 
 cuous, " Michael Angelo Titmarsh V' He is well 
 remembered here, where he rested awhile after 
 his famous pilgrimage from " Cornhill to Cairo.'^ 
 
48^ THE FAG END 
 
 In the "address book^^ of working artists lying 
 for public inspection at Monaldini^s news-room^ 
 the eye is somewhat bewildered in meeting with 
 an English earl. In sooth, the pictorial brother- 
 hood is augmented by the accession of Lord 
 Compton, who "scorning^' mere aristocratic "de- 
 lights/^ sits at the mess-table of art, has donned 
 the blouze, and wears that indescribable beaver 
 in which rejoiceth your modern Raffaelle; for 
 the rest, incomptus, to a hair completes the pic- 
 ture. 
 
 Placards stuck up yesterday at various corners 
 of streets acquainted the hackney-coachmen and 
 other literati of Rome that a German work, 
 ycleped ^^ Die Romisch-heidnische Kirche" (please 
 spell it correctly for the bookseller^s sake) was 
 condemned by the Index expurgatorius. Ger- 
 many and Italy never did, nor ever will, 
 thoroughly understand each other; there lurks 
 a principle of antagonism in the very nature of 
 both : all attempts to assimilate two such dif- 
 ferent idiosyncracies must fail. As to the so- 
 called "German-Catholic Church,^^ it bears about 
 the same relation to Catholicity as " German 
 silver" to the real article. 
 
 Galignani of the 7th, having had the hardi- 
 
OP AN OLD REIGN. 49 
 
 hood to copy something extracted from one of 
 my letters to you, was confiscated at the pon- 
 tifical post-ofiice. Like Hoby the boot-maker, 
 when Ensign Shuttleworth threatened to with- 
 draw his custom, the great Paris newsmonger 
 will no doubt put up his shutters. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Rome, March 28. 
 
 The utter discomfiture of the insurgents on 
 the Vistula, and the sad tinge of ridicule which 
 this attempt has flung on popular efforts to 
 obtain redress of grievances by the sword, are 
 things not without important reaction on the 
 prospects of Central Italy. The aspiration for 
 deliverance is not checked nor retarded ; but the 
 folly of any premature and fractional attempt has 
 been thus eff*ectually demonstrated. iVnd hence, 
 though the old bastilles of darkness and despo- 
 tism, and the dwellers therein, may imagine the 
 ground more steady beneath them than it was 
 before this slight earthquake, or rather mudquake^ 
 the volcanic action is but adjourned. From 
 Mount Gibello to Hecla — the hint is taken. 
 
 d3 
 
50 THE PAG END 
 
 The Swiss regiments concentrated in the Le- 
 gations for the expected outbreak in April may 
 now pile their muskets comfortably, and the 
 unusually thick crop of bayonets visible on the 
 other bank of the Po, may disappear for the 
 season. Many a good old cardinal-legate will 
 enjoy a sounder night's rest beyond the Apen- 
 nines; and if a new loan is wanted of Torlonia, 
 to stop a fresh gap of the yearly-yawning deficit, 
 the great tobacco contractor will be, perhaps, in 
 better humour. 
 
 Roman quidnuncs have been principal 1}- specu- 
 lating on the approaching arrival of the Russian 
 Empress ; to be escorted hither (so it was given 
 out) by the Majesty of Naples in person. Nu- 
 merous waggons of baggage have, in fact, been 
 traversing Rome to Meloni's Hotel, the horses led 
 by unmistakeable Calmucks, until the Piazza del 
 Popolo began to seem a kind of Scythian en- 
 campment ; when, this morning, despatches arrived 
 at the Russian embassy bringing the disappoint- 
 ing news of the Czarina having been attacked 
 with erysipelas, and her coming is consequently 
 put off until after holy week, and even the month 
 of May if she be not perfectly recovered. The 
 hotel liad been cleared of its inmates, newly 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 51 
 
 decorated, and hired at the expense of 20,000 
 dollars for the whole of whatever time it might 
 be occupied. 
 
 A few days ago this government provided for its 
 subjects the spectacle of a public execution, into 
 the details of which performance I do not enter, 
 after reading your own powerful " picture ^^ of the 
 scene. The law^s delay had allowed the culprit to 
 remain two years in prison before his final pro- 
 duction, and his case is not unsuggestive of much 
 sound teaching, not to the mere rabble who 
 gathered round that spot, where of old Rienzi 
 spoke, and where now the guillotine discourseth, 
 but rather to those whom providence had made 
 responsible for the conduct of the modern Roman 
 people. In the minutes of the trial it appeared 
 that this youth of 24 had sought all over the Cam- 
 pagna, from Frascati to Ardea, for work, and had 
 sought in vain, before resolving first, on the sale 
 of his prayer book, which fetched three bajocchi; 
 and finally, on killing the first man he met, who 
 turned out to be a charcoal burner, as poor as 
 himself. Now, wherefore was there no work for 
 Francesco Sciarra, in that wide champain, with its 
 rich soil and its abounding pastures ? The answer 
 is simple : these lands are either held in mortmain 
 
52 THE FAG END 
 
 by the church or the monks (which are two distinct 
 categories), or by hospitals^ or by such leviathan 
 landowners as Borghese, Rospigliosi, Piombino, 
 Barberini^ and (a namesake of the criminal) Prince 
 Sciarra. The church lands are never improved 
 by additional labour, because the incumbent has 
 but a life tenancy, and generally lives in Rome. 
 The monks are migratory or reckless. The 
 hospitals are gigantic jobs, where the plunder is 
 divided betw^een the highest and the lowest func- 
 tionaries — a mere fractional part finding its way 
 to the original humane object, and no funds can 
 be spared for agricultural progress. The great 
 land proprietors either have no taste for expen- 
 sive improvements on a strictly entailed estate, or 
 they have other and less creditable pursuits; they 
 feel themselves to be mere ciphers in the ecclesi- 
 astical dominions, without the natural influence of 
 property and rank, and, therefore deem them- 
 selves not answerable for the pauperism around 
 them. So between the aristocracy and the church 
 (the middle classes cannot get any land to pur- 
 chase in the Campagna), the labourers are as 
 little cared for, as if they were tenants of an Irish 
 absentee, or squatters of that Milesian Eldorado, 
 Derrvnane Bet(. 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 53 
 
 They have a Corn-law here too^ which attempts 
 to regulate not only the import of grain, but is 
 principally effective in preventing its export, a 
 process capable of being made most extensive and 
 remunerating, but for the peculiar distribution 
 of property. Fertile tracts are only ploughed 
 once every third year, being left the other two to 
 be " cooked" {si cuoce) in the sun. The food of 
 the working peasant is rarely bread, mostly Indian 
 corn made into a moist cake, and having dried 
 fruit, a raisin or something of that kind, frugally 
 interspersed, to make the lump palatable. With 
 this provender he goes forth to labour at a great 
 distance from his dwelling, and returns at eve to 
 a supper of wild herbs, a little oil and vinegar. 
 
 To return to the gallows : the prevalent feeling 
 was of course pity for the young murderer, whose 
 guilt was totally forgotten, and while the dismal 
 preparation was being made, and pickpockets at 
 work, masked pilgrims went round making a col- 
 lection for anticipative masses to benefit his soul. 
 No one thought of including in the votive offering 
 a bajoccho for the soul of the poor charcoal bur- 
 ner : the sympathy being all monopolised by the 
 homicide, as in Ireland, and none left for his 
 victim. 
 
54 THE FAG END 
 
 The selection of the neighbourhood of Rienzi's 
 house for these exhibitions is singularly infelici* 
 tous, but not more so than was a certain adver- 
 tisement in the form of a leading article which 
 appears in the Roman journal of last Thursday. 
 By this the public is informed that the Colonna 
 family offer for sale all that remains of the famous 
 pine tree in their gardens on the Quirinal, blown 
 down by the thunder storm of May, 1842; it 
 having been planted so far back as 1332, on the 
 day that, through their ancestors, the Common- 
 wealth of Rome was brought under subjection to 
 its present rulers, by the death of Cola, the last 
 of the Tribunes. Already fifteen cart loads of 
 firewood had been retailed out of the broken 
 branches of the giant tree; and now that the 
 trunk alone was left, it was supposed that some 
 admirer of antiques, vegetable as well as mineral, 
 might be tempted to exchange with the Colonna 
 for hard dollars, this proud memento of their 
 race. No bidder has yet offered, though the gar- 
 dener yesterday strongly recommended the timber 
 to an English visitor as " buono per un vapore," — 
 good for building a steam-boat: it were better 
 perhaps used in the construction of a printing- 
 press. You may recollect that the same storm 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 55 
 
 blew down Tasso's oak on the Janiculum; but 
 the poor monks did not sell for firewood the me- 
 morial of their melancholy guest, nor made they a 
 peddling trafl&c of Torquato's tree. The wife of 
 your member for Manchester — Mrs. Milner Gib- 
 son, daughter of Sir T. Cullum, bart., of Suffolk 
 — is a descendant of the Colonnas, and she is not 
 probably aware that this opportunity offers of 
 securing an heir-loom of that time-honoured 
 lineage; you may mention the subject to her 
 with my best respects. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 April 4. 
 
 There is much of quiet amusement not untinged 
 with a dash of melancholy supplied perpetually to 
 strangers here by the efforts of government to 
 arrest the progress of those modern improvements 
 which must obviously ultimately be adopted even 
 in Rome. The mirth which borders on sadness 
 is stated by metaphysicians to have peculiar fasci- 
 nations, and some eesthetic poet observes, that no 
 merriment was to him more enjoyable than 
 
 "The fun 
 In mourning coaches when the funeral's done." 
 
 Some such feelings were apt to creep o'er the 
 
56 THE FAG END 
 
 mind, in reading last week the newest edict of the 
 local authorities affixed on the walls for the gui- 
 dance of all shopkeepers and others ; this hatti- 
 sheriff;, which it is impossible not duly to respect, 
 denounces the modern innovation of gas light, 
 made of our old acquaintance, the previously de- 
 nounced '^carbon fossile/' and all private gas- 
 works of this nature are suppressed. Hereby 
 many an industrious and enterprising establish- 
 ment has' its pipe put out all of a sudden, while 
 those which are suffered to remain are subjected 
 to a thousand vexatory restrictions and domici- 
 liary visits from officials, who, as usual, must be 
 bribed to report favourably. They are further 
 told that their private gas generators will be all 
 confiscated at some indetermined period when it 
 shall please the wisdom of authority to establish 
 government gas works: a period far remote, to be 
 sure, but sufficiently indefinite effectively to dis- 
 courage the outlay of private capitalists on their 
 private comforts or accommodation. Milan, Flo- 
 rence, Leghorn, Venice, Turin, and Naples are 
 gas-lit long since. 
 
 There is a refinement of stupidity in this ])ro- 
 ceeding, which requires no further development. 
 Alas ! there was a time when the Rome of Leo 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 5? 
 
 X. girded up her loins to walk in the vanguard of 
 civilization^ instead of being, as now, decrepit 
 and bed-ridden ; or, if you will, after the fashion 
 of a midnight hag squatted on the heaving breast 
 of Italy. The iron roads will nevertheless be 
 made, and the carbon fossile shall redden the fur- 
 nace of many a Roman steam-engine yet, and this 
 very gas now denounced shall add new irradiancy 
 to the majestic dome of Peter, which is just about 
 to be illuminated with tallow for the blessed 
 Easter festival 1 
 
 There is much of secret, senseless pride in 
 this opposition to any innovation, the merit of 
 originating which does not happen to belong to 
 this side of the Alps. But the odium theologicum 
 has also some share in the matter. We ourselves, 
 in by-gone days, showed a similar dogged dulness 
 in our refusal, for a century, to adopt the Grego- 
 rian calendar, because, though obviously right, it 
 was derived from a papal source. For no other 
 reason on earth does the Russian empire still con- 
 tinue to be eleven days out of reckoning with the 
 rest of mankind, being kept in countenance by 
 the modern Greeks alone among civilized nations. 
 
 Of the Russian Empress better accounts have 
 reached us from Naples, and it is now confidently 
 
58 THE FAG END 
 
 expected that her Imperial Majesty, with the 
 Grand Duchess Olga, and several other members 
 of the family, will grace the ceremonies of the 
 Sistine Chapel next week. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Rome, April 11. 
 
 Matters have ceased to go on smoothly be- 
 tween the supreme heads respectively of the Eastern 
 and Western Churches, if, as is whispered to-day, 
 directions have been given by the Czar to his 
 Imperial consort, not to ^'isit this capital at all, 
 but, avoiding the Roman States altogether, to 
 meet him in Tuscany, towards the middle of 
 Spring. Until then her whereabouts is to be that 
 of the poet — 
 
 tenet nunc 
 
 Parthenope," 
 
 and all the outlay in preparations for her recep- 
 tion here go for nought. I should however 
 remark that her nearest relatives, the Prince and 
 the Arch-duchess of Mecklenburg Schwerin, were 
 not forbidden to come hither during this great 
 week, so interesting to strangers in Rome. They 
 accordingly arrived a few days ago, and have 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 5& 
 
 graced the solemnities with their presence. Don 
 Carlos is supposed to be here incognito. 
 
 The Sistine chapel^ adorned with the Last Judg- 
 ment by Buonarottij seems^ at this period of the 
 year, to possess,, in common with that grand and 
 awful gathering of the whole human race, the 
 peculiarity of assembling on one spot the most 
 heterogeneous elements, which nothing short of a 
 grand convulsion could otherwise bring into juccta- 
 position. On looking round, the eye wanders from 
 the uniform of the Cardinals to that of the British 
 red-coats. A fat Capuchin friar is seen alongside 
 of the great French novelist De Balsac, whose 
 rival rotundity of form and amplitude of visage 
 are conspicuous : the pious assiduity of Don 
 Miguel edifies the beholder, while the two mar- 
 ried daughters of Charles Kemble, spite of their 
 black veils, send his thoughts far away to the 
 haunts of Norma and of Julietta. The bluiF face 
 of Sir Henry Pottinger reminds one of our recent 
 glories on the banks of the Trevro irorafMOL, while 
 the tall gaunt figure of Mr. Polk (brother to the 
 Yankee President), rising in a ghastly vision be- 
 hind him, suggests a similar discomfiture of the 
 Kentuckian Sikhs on the banks of the Columbia 
 river. Scotch feudalism is there in the person of 
 
60 THE FAG END 
 
 " the Glengarry '^ — Polish exiles pray alongside of 
 Russian major-generals — Puseyite parsons abound. 
 There is Prince Paul Lieven_, near Mr. Whiteside, 
 late counsel for the Repeal conspirators, Count 
 Toltstoy, Sir Charles Fellowes, Prince Gallitzin, 
 Countess Flahaut, and Mr. James Twig, of the 
 " well-known firm in Crutched Friars/^ London. 
 
 A-propos of Mr. Polk (aforesaid), the presence 
 of this gentleman in Europe is one of the beau- 
 tiful illustrations of the supposed democratic 
 exemption from that well-known Roman vice, ne- 
 potism. Here is an individual sent out at the 
 expense of the all-repudiating Republic, in the 
 high capacity of envoy to the court of Naples; 
 for which employment his qualifications appear to 
 be that he is absolutely incapable of interchanging 
 his ideas in any European dialect spoken on this 
 continent — a sense of which incapacity seems to 
 have suggested to him the uselessness of his so- 
 journing in Naples, for he has been all this year 
 in Paris or elsewhere. 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 61 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Rome, April 18. 
 
 My anticipations of there being a screw loose 
 in the arrangements between Rome and Russia 
 prove correct. The visit of the Empress to this 
 capital is, after all the expensive preparations, 
 finally interdicted by the Autocrat, and the Czarina 
 is by this time on her way seawise from Naples to 
 Leghorn. As she sails along the Roman coast she 
 may possibly catch a glimpse of the cross topping 
 the dome of St. Peter's, an object visible far out 
 at sea ; but nothing further is she fated to behold 
 of all the marvels gathered together here. Among 
 the many evils originating in the schism of old 
 Photius, 'twixt the Greek and Latin Church, the 
 non-gratification of laudable female curiosity, in 
 this instance, is clearly traceable to bygone theo- 
 logy, and a most curious commentary might be 
 written on the oracular warning of the Seer in the 
 ^Eneid uttered many centuries previous. 
 
 *' Has autem terras Italique banc littoris oram 
 
 Effuge! cuncta malis habitantur (mcenia Graiis) rura Latinis ?" 
 
 All is over now. This last hope of prolonging the 
 Roman season has evaporated, and the congre- 
 
62 THE FAG END 
 
 gated visitors from northern Europe are flying off 
 at various tangents. 
 
 The town has relapsed into its habitual torpor. 
 None are seen moving about these dull streets^ but 
 individuals belonging to one of the three great 
 tribes into which the modern Quirites are divisible; 
 viz. the beggars, the friars, and the artists. Of 
 the two first classes much might be profitably said; 
 but for the present let us confine our chat to the 
 third, as the most interesting probably to your 
 readers. 
 
 The innocent Mr. Murray in the pastoral sim- 
 plicity of his Guide-book, has put on record his 
 '^ agreeable surprise to find the artists of all 
 countries living here together on such amicable 
 terms." It is, perhaps, right that the public 
 generally should take for granted the existence of 
 this Arcadian state of things, and one feels loath 
 to disturb so charming a vision. What boots it in 
 sooth to learn that the French clique do not asso- 
 ciate with the German set, or that the Russians 
 have an overseer at a high salary, to see that their 
 political principles undergo no contamination from 
 the indiscriminate burschenschaft of art ? who cares 
 to learn that a Germanic confederation have estab- 
 lished among themselves a kind of Zollverein, ad- 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 63 
 
 mission being made dependent on the use of the 
 Deutsch tongue, and the old club of the " Ponte 
 molW has been consequently expurgated of the 
 few British artists who had been smuggled into it 
 during a more liberal system of customs ? But it 
 is not pleasant to observe a nascent spirit of exclu- 
 siveness among ourselves. It is not quite the 
 thing that the residents of a year's standing in 
 Rome should form themselves into a class apart, 
 to the mortifying depression of all freshmen who 
 may not yet have eaten 365 dinners of roast kid 
 to qualify for association with the aforesaid year- 
 lings. As to individual squabbles, non ragionam 
 di loro. 
 
 But the grand feud of all, reviving the wrath of 
 Guelph and Ghibelline, is the feud between the 
 Puritani and the Classicisti, This quarrel, which 
 had been smouldering for the last twenty years, 
 has now broken out in good earnest. 
 
 Sir David Wilkie, writing from this place to 
 Sir William Knighton, in January, 1826, notices 
 thus to his courtly correspondent (who kept the 
 privy purse), the rise of this riot:—" Some Ger- 
 mans, with more the devotion of a sect than of a 
 school, have attracted much attention, by revert- 
 ing to the beginning of art, by studying RafFaelle's 
 
64 THE FAG END 
 
 master, rather than RafFaelle, in hopes that, by- 
 going over the same ground, they may, from Pietro 
 Perugino, attain all the excellences of his great 
 scholar. These artists, among the most zealous 
 of whom are Fyght, Schaddow, Schnore, and 
 Overbeck, in their works, display with much of 
 the dryness of Albert Durer, great talent, and a 
 strong feeling for expression. They are not 
 without admirers and patrons." 
 
 Now, although volumes have been since written 
 on the subject in newspapers and reviews (I per- 
 ceive the " Quarterly" just advertises a new essay 
 thereupon), the whole pith and substance of the 
 matter has been put forth by Shrewd Davie, in 
 these few lines, twenty years ago. The real sting 
 which envenoms the business is, however, con- 
 tained in the concluding words of the cannic Scot ; 
 and in England, I apprehend, as well as here, the 
 real question which sets men at loggerheads is, 
 ought there to be a monopoly in certain mystical 
 hands of the public patronage, of government 
 orders, and of private commissions ? Is there to 
 be a dominant sect in art? Are there to be 
 Christian and Pagan painters ? Are the " saints" 
 to inherit the land, to the utter exclusion of the 
 profane ? 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 65 
 
 A grand stand-up effort to do battle against this 
 conspiracy has just been made in the great hall of 
 the Roman Capitol. On the occasion of a bien- 
 nial solemnity held by the Academy of St. Luke, 
 Professor Visconti read an official harangue, which, 
 owing to the noise of the overcrowded saloon, 
 could be but indistinctly heard, but which being 
 now in print before me, can be calmly considered. 
 It is a violent tirade, almost personal, against Over- 
 beck and his followers, and by way of being more 
 dispassionate, is announced as the composition of 
 the president, Cavalier Fabris, himself a sculptor; 
 the venerable old imitator of the stiff Perugini is 
 styled by the classic president un capiat are 'pedant Cy 
 at the same time that he is somewhat incoherently 
 designated as a novatore che con falsi principii 
 temerariamente esposti et con presuntuosa sicurezza 
 inculcati fa deviare la gioventu credula, &c. &c., 
 the object of this new sect is further stated, with 
 some shrewdness, to be merely a scheme to avoid 
 fair upright competition, by keeping aloof from 
 the ordinary field of emulation, where their 
 intrinsic weakness would be detected; to crow 
 on a dunghill of their own choice, where no rival 
 deigns to encounter them; per toglier dinanzl 
 qualunque imporiunay emulatione e restar soli a 
 
 E 
 
66 THE FAG END 
 
 dominar Varte ; he calls the purist painter a 
 ^^ povero di spirito,^' ^^ senza anima,'' at the same 
 time that he hints at his being only an old hypo- 
 crite all the time^ " con arrogante ipocrisia,^' as if 
 all this anti-paganism, artistic Puseyism, philo- 
 puginism, &c. &c., were all but cunning devices of 
 quackery, to fill the pockets of men who laugh in 
 their sleeve at the enthusiasm they have created. 
 
 I give you these details, without entering into 
 the merits of the case further than to state that 
 strong jealousy exists among the Italians, forced 
 to see, as they do every Sunday, the enormous 
 crowd of English attending the levee of Overbeck. 
 This idoPs shrine is near the Jews' quarter, in the 
 Palace of the Cenci (chosen for effect by the 
 cunning charlatan, say they), and certainly there 
 are various symptoms of trickery discemiljle in 
 some of the old gentleman's peculiarities. 
 
 In sculpture, where there is little scope for 
 eviation from the enduring canons of the sub- 
 lime and beautiful, the new sect has not broken 
 ground to any extent: but the Cavalier Fabris 
 aforesaid, who has succeeded to the presidency 
 and emoluments of Canova (owing to the camera- 
 derie of Gregory XVT., who, when a poor monk, 
 often quaffed a flask of Orvieto with the sucking 
 
OF AN OLD REIGX. 67 
 
 sculptor)^ is but a poor apology for the genius 
 that is departed. 
 
 John Gibson's statue of the Queen^ ordered for 
 Buckingham Palace^ is now nigh finished, and 
 stands forth confessedly a masterpiece of marble 
 portraiture. No coin, medal, picture, or minia- 
 ture, which the British public has yet seen, can 
 boast of being so striking a resemblance, and at 
 the same time embody so majestically pleasing an 
 impersonation of royalty. With one hand she 
 grasps a scroll (some enactment of beneficial legis- 
 lation), while with the other she is presenting a 
 wreath of reward to some meritorious subject of 
 her happy realm. The drapery is most gracefully 
 studied, and so skilfully managed, that modern 
 costume is insensibly blended and dovetailed in 
 the classic folds of antiquity. The expression is 
 that of firmness, tempered with benignity. 
 
 John Hogan's colossal statue of Mr. O'Con- 
 nell is in a similar state of forwardness. This 
 tremendous figure, twelve feet in vertical height, 
 carved from a spotless block of white Serravezza 
 marble, produces an effect (spite of every reminis- 
 cence connected with the individual represented) 
 of unmixed and unaffected grandeur. Dignity of 
 attitude, consciousness of power, and indomitable 
 
^ THE FAG END 
 
 energ}", are in the extended arm and protruded leg 
 of the orator. There is a shght shadow of sad- 
 ness with a half suppressed twinkle of roguery- 
 perceptible in the countenance. It is the very 
 image of the man. The gigantic folds of the 
 broadly flung mantle are in the boldest style of 
 masterly art, and there stands no pedestal in the 
 British islands bearing a statue in marble of such 
 such dimensions at all approaching the merit of 
 this work; a production of unmistakable native 
 genius, which is understood to be ordered by the 
 managers of Conciliation-hall. If they thus ex- 
 pended all the funds levied from the duped mul- 
 titude, none would cavil at the extortion ; for 
 when all the brawlers will be silent in their graves, 
 and the follies of the present hour long forgotten, 
 this proud monument of well-directed patriotism 
 will yet gladden the eyes of millions. 
 
 A Swiss sculptor, H. Imhoff^, has produced 
 several graceful groups of scriptural subjects, and 
 received much encouragement from the Imperial 
 visitor on the late occasion. The " Infant Moses 
 in his rushy cradle, confided to the stream by his 
 Mother,^' and his "Agar with her Boy in the 
 Desert," are full of pathos and power. 
 
 The Bavarian artist, Wollf, among many im- 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 69 
 
 portant works for Berlin and Munich, has been 
 commissioned by Her Majesty of England to 
 execute a statue of Prince Albert, by reason, 
 perhaps, of his having many years ago (before the 
 royal marriage) carved a bust of the Prince when 
 here in Rome. Of the present work, which is 
 nearly completed, it is enough to say that the 
 likeness is unexceptionable. There is an elegant 
 gentleness in the Royal Consort^s expression, a 
 smooth mildness, somewhat grotesquely contrast- 
 ing, nevertheless, with the warlike costume of a 
 Roman legionary, in which (kilt included) he 
 stands before you. There are the bronze buskins, 
 the corslet, the studded belt. He grasps the 
 Roman short sword, and leans on a round buckler, 
 with dolphins (?) carved thereon. It needs no 
 prophetic soul to anticipate the future celebrity of 
 this performance : the ^'haV^ was nothing to this: 
 alas ! there is a sad dog in Fleet Street, an un- 
 scrupulous assailant of the most solemn tom- 
 fooleries : — need I name the implacable Punchy 
 who, 
 
 " Hushed in grim repose, awaits this marble prey !" 
 
 The Italian Gnaccherini has just executed in 
 marble a remarkably graceful group of three dan- 
 cing girls, in which elasticity and elegance of 
 
70 THE FAG END 
 
 motion are admirably rendered. This classic work 
 has been ordered by William Jackson of Birken- 
 head; and it is satisfactory to see our railway 
 kinglets thus cultivating the ornamental as well as 
 the utilitarian arts. A Mr. Cardwell^ of Man- 
 chester, has modelled some very superior works ; 
 he is just now engaged in modelling a wassail- 
 bowl, which has been ordered by some patron of 
 the Anglo-Norman period of art. It is supposed 
 to represent the favourite drinking cup of him 
 who wrote the ^^ Canterbury Tales," as is indi- 
 cated by the following suggestive inscription, 
 which, in black letter, gracefully runs round the 
 tracery of the vase : — 
 
 (!ri;is( he €f)mitet ]^i?^ cup : tr bjcTl a( tnt^li^l) untrrnictr. 
 
 Painting in Rome ranks now but second to 
 Sculpture; there is no use in asking why*, but 
 the fact is undeniable : there is a much greater 
 amount of relative talent among the brethren of 
 
 * At an artists* dinner last Christmas (the occurrence will be 
 found in Part II.) it was stated from the chair, and ratified by 
 " applause," that the head quarters of Sculpture must ever be 
 Rome, as irremovable thence as the immobile saxum of her 
 Capitol ; but as for being still the head nurse of young painters, 
 she performed that office of late somewhat after the fashion of her 
 own she-wolf, and her udders were exhausted. 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 'Jl 
 
 the chisel than among the fraternity of the brush. 
 Among the natives^ Cavalier Podesti has suc- 
 ceeded to the emoluments and office of the late 
 Camuccini^ a change considerably for the better. 
 Brick-dust is now at a discount, and a more pleas- 
 ing set of tints have been introduced on the 
 Roman palette. Mere academic figures have 1)een 
 banished from the canvas, and some originality 
 of design has superseded the monotony of pre- 
 vious years. Yet is the Roman School far below 
 that of Paris, London, and even Milan. In 
 Podesti's studio there is, nevertheless, a Decame- 
 ron which might vie with that of Winterhalter, 
 It is decidedly more simple, and has more local 
 truthfulness. 
 
 Capalti is exquisite in portraiture, and Minardi 
 unrivalled in linear drawing : but the great at- 
 traction is the studio of Cornelius. It were 
 wrong to confound this painter with the ser\ile 
 adherents of Overbeck : he has burst the swad- 
 dling-clothes of '^early art,'^ and dashes off his sub- 
 ject with a noble freedom. He is now engaged in 
 a series of cartoons for a grand cemetery to be 
 painted in fresco at Berlin. The subjects are 
 from the book of Revelations: and also from his 
 own teeming fancy: for as I was contemplating one 
 
72 THE FAG END 
 
 of these awful scenes of exterminating angels and 
 so fortli^ a shield, with the word '^Waterloo'* 
 caught my eye, and I soon discovered its posses- 
 sor to be an elderly gentleman with a Roman 
 nose and a Roman toga, whom an angel was tap- 
 ping on the shoulder, to draw his attention to 
 another elderly gentleman holding a child on the 
 baptismal font, which I supposed to be His 
 Prussian Majesty, standing godfather at Windsor 
 Castle, in the costume '^ of the period.^^ An 
 American artist, ^Ir. Powell, confessedly the most 
 clever of his people here, has shadowed out the 
 plan of a picture representing a rather hackneyed 
 subject, viz., Columbus before the Council of 
 Seville. In poetry as well as painting the fault of 
 these New Englanders is their want of individuality. 
 There is nothing racy of the American soil about 
 them. There will iiever be an American school 
 of art at this rate*. Powers, at Florence, has 
 
 * There is some value in any addition to the old worn-out 
 nomenclature of professional criticism, "the corregiosity of Cor- 
 regio, and the grand contour of Angelo." At this American 
 painter's studio, last October, lay on the easel the portrait, in 
 progress, of a Mr. Ilabbakuk Browne of Massachusetts, and that 
 worthy citizen, being somewhat proud of his effigy, had brought a 
 brother Yankee to give his opinion on the performance. Silently 
 did he scan the work of art, and ** 'Tis a deuced tight fit! " 
 revealed his deep appreciation. 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 78 
 
 given freshness and originality to his marble 
 busts : he may be truly called the founder of 
 Yankee sculpture. His style is quite his own, 
 
 O'NeaPs works are familiar in England; he 
 has sent to this year's May exhibition a scene of 
 ^^ Captives on the rivers of Babylon/' which see: 
 also Mr. Harwood and Mr. Burlison's scenes from 
 Othello. Brocchy wields as bright and fanciful a 
 pencil as ever, and we have many more promising 
 youths. Fitzgerald, Skillen, Gush, who is en- 
 gaged on a glorious Scripture subject, Brotherton, 
 and Lord Compton, whose picture of a warrior 
 scaring eagles from the dead body of his friend, is 
 in many ways remarkable; there is also a Mr. 
 Forth of Bath, a conscientious student; of Cro- 
 meck it is unnecessary to laud the acknowledged 
 ability. 
 
 An able artist, as well as a connoisseur, Mr. 
 Macpherson, has lately had the luck to purchase, 
 at the breaking up of the great storehouse of 
 Cardinal Fesch, an oaken panel, about four feet by 
 five, which is covered with an unfinished painting 
 of Christ borne to the sepulchre, now pronounced 
 by the best judges in Rome, and by Cornelius, to 
 be an undoubted oil picture by Buonarotti, equal 
 in all his peculiarities to that in the Florentine 
 
 E 3 
 
74 THE FAG END 
 
 "Tribuna/^ Its history is curious enough. It was 
 purchased at Fano^ on the Adriatic, for 35 bajoc- 
 chi, in a barber's shop, where it had done duty for 
 several centuries as a table, the back of the picture 
 having been polished for the upper surface of that 
 piece of domestic furniture. The speculator who 
 brought it to Rome, sold it to the Cardinal at 
 once for 27 crowns, and it has lain among the 
 lumber uncleaned ever since. The Government 
 officer, Visconti, was ordered to put his seal on it 
 — ne exeat regno — but, by some oversight, the 
 Custom-house functionary, Fioroni, allowed him- 
 self to be outwitted, and the valuable oak board is 
 now safe at Leghorn, under the protection of tlie 
 British flag. 
 
 The same gentleman, whose researches in the 
 interesting mine of Stuart antiquities have been 
 rewarded by so many valuable Jacobite treasures, 
 (see Quart, Revieiv, for Jan. 1847, art. "Stuart 
 Papers"), seems to possess a kind of Scottish se- 
 cond sight, by which he instinctively recognises the 
 presence of an okl master. In the Odyssey we have 
 Ulysses, the "old master" of Ithaca, after many 
 years of defacing care and disfiguring toils, still 
 identified by canine sagacity. And a picture by 
 Sebastian del Piombo, (an unquestionable portrait 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. JS 
 
 of Victoria Colonna, painted in her widowhood^) 
 was on the point of being scraped to utter destruc- 
 tion by an ignorant restorer, when Mr. Macpherson 
 came, saw, rescued the invaluable canvas, and re- 
 stored it to its name and origin. Cavalier Minardi, 
 the first authority in Rome on these matters, has 
 hailed and vouched for the discovery, which has 
 derived singular corroboration from an acknow- 
 ledged portrait of the lady in a Neapolitan col- 
 lection. Since the bold revelation of Ossian by 
 his distinguished grand-uncle, there have been few 
 such felicitous trouvailles. 
 
 Memorandum. — At the Cafe del Greco, fre- 
 quented by the children of art, the uninitated 
 visitor hears what sounds like an "unknown 
 tongue." Those who gently ask the waiter for a 
 Carlo Dolce, are simple applicants for a very mild 
 form of alcoholic stimulant : while yon well- 
 whiskered individual, who prefers a stiff tumbler 
 of grog, quickly conveys his meaning by calling 
 for a Pietro Perugino ! 
 
76 THE FAG END 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Florence, April 29. 
 
 Being here to pay a passing visit to some very- 
 clear friends, I do not omit to keep 3'ou au 
 courant of what passes, and I am now in a posi- 
 tion to tell you that the pear is ripening, if this 
 peninsula can be likened to a pear, when it bears 
 so notoriously the semblance of a boot. Our Flo- 
 rence, " the thrifty,^^ is situated on the shinbone 
 of that fanciful similitude, and Bologna, " the fat,^^ 
 forms naturally part of the calf; while Genoa, 
 ^^the superb,^^ supposing the boot to be of the 
 small Hessian model, would play the ornamental 
 part of its, then, obligato appendage, the tassel. 
 In this arrangement Lombardy and the Venetian 
 territory would not be included within the leather 
 at all, though undeniably belonging to the leg, and 
 Austria most undoubtedly thinks that where the 
 leather ends the nationality ought to stop, as in 
 the contract of Queen Dido, — 
 
 *' Taurino quantum potuit circumdare tergo." 
 
 We demur to this ; and it is proper that you 
 should be cognizant of the present prospects and 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN, 7? 
 
 hopes of those (so called) enthusiastic day- 
 dreamers who look on the deliverance of Italy as 
 at hand. Whilst these matters bore only the 
 semblance of conjectural reports or fanciful com- 
 binations, I withheld any reference to their exis- 
 tence ; but as latterly certain outward manifesta- 
 tions and positive overt acts have borne evidence 
 to the reality of what seemed doubtful, I no 
 longer hesitate to put you in possession of what is 
 no secret here. 
 
 Within the last four months a remarkable 
 change has been perceptible in the policy of the 
 Court of Turin. The old and long-departed 
 spirit of the Prince of Carignano, of 1820, seemed 
 to have revisited the glimpses of the moon, and 
 even to have walked in open day. The tone 
 given to public instruction by a new appointment; 
 the withdrawal of confidence from the Jesuits, 
 who had been hitherto paramount ; the circulation 
 given publicly to the patriotic theories and opi- 
 nions of that noble-minded and intelligent Chris- 
 tian philosopher, Gioberti, (whose liberal views 
 are yet combined with strict adherence to Catholic 
 orthodoxy) ; the permission given to the refugees 
 of 1820 to revisit Piedmont and Genoa; the 
 increase of the army to over 100,000 well-dis- 
 
78 THE FAG END 
 
 ciplined troops, all natis^es of Upper Italy; the 
 selection of Genoa as the rendezvous of all the 
 scientific minds and daring souls of the Penin- 
 sula, who are to gather an immense force and 
 unanimity there next September ; all these indi- 
 cations of ulterior views on the part of King 
 Carlo Alberto, have spread alarm and dismay 
 among the Austrian authorities at Milan. The 
 objects contemplated are perfectly obvious. 
 " Italy for the Italians,^' is the ill-suppressed 
 " cry^' on every lip. Hence a rapid march of 
 numerous Hungarian and Bohemian regiments 
 into the provinces of Lombardy; hence a 
 strengthening of the garrisons along the frontier. 
 
 Explanations have been sought by the old 
 Mephistophiles of Vienna, and he has received 
 evasive replies. The mild game of diplomacy is 
 found to be of no use here ; there are no Galician 
 peasantry here to let loose on Italian noblemen. 
 What is to be done ? Foreign bayonets are 
 brought down in plenty, and the slightest com- 
 motion will give an opportunity to test their 
 efficacy. 
 
 Meantime, the war of custom-house vexations 
 has already commenced. Within tlie last few 
 days we learn that the duty on Piedmontese 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 79 
 
 wine has been considerably augmented at the 
 frontier of Lombardy ; you are aware that im- 
 mense suppUes of that article pass from Piedmont 
 into the neighbouring territory, less productive 
 in vineyards, and subject to Austria. Another 
 and a most significant change has taken place in 
 the relative bearing of Milan and Turin towards 
 each other. Hitherto the subjects of both do- 
 minions, having landed property in both, were 
 allowed all the rights of reciprocal citizenship, 
 and were in the enjoyment of a two-fold protec- 
 tion, coupled with a two-fold allegiance. Lately, 
 the Austrian authorities have given notice that 
 all his Imperial Majesty's subjects so situated 
 must make their election, and declare themselves 
 lieges of either the Kaiser or of the King. A 
 further measure has been adopted (still on the 
 part of Austria). Hitherto the farmers and 
 peasantry on the immediate frontier could pass 
 to and fro with a document annually renewed. 
 Now, there must be a special and distinct pass- 
 port for each time they cross the boundar}^ It 
 is reported that to meet the increase of duty on 
 Piedmontese wines, the court of Turin is about 
 to increase the customs on all the woollen and 
 other tissues of Bohemian origin, and to retaliate 
 
80 THE FAG EXD 
 
 right and left on the Emperor. We shall see. 
 War may be carried on by tariflfs. 
 
 *' Nous frapp erons Falck with twenty per cent." 
 
 The facts suggest their own commentary. That 
 commentary is freely made in the universities of 
 Pisa and Bologna^ and wherever the youth of 
 Italy congregate; nor do elderly men draw any 
 different conclusion of what is going on. The 
 Italians have ceased to look to France for aid — 
 
 " Can Gaul or Muscovite befriend ye ? No !" — Byron. 
 
 They are learning self-reliance, and if the prin- 
 ciple of non-intervention is sustained, short work 
 will be made of the foreigner. 
 
 Of course you gave no credit to the rumour 
 that Renzi had been secretly executed in the 
 castle of St. Angelo : the Roman government 
 dare not indulge in such a luxury of vengeance, 
 however palatable to some of Metternich's dis- 
 ciples at the Vatican : but the next best thing 
 was to murder his character, and that has been 
 attempted by the Austrian embassy here, to 
 which I have traced the report prevalent last 
 week, "that Renzi had turned informer, and 
 given in a long list of secret rebels at Ancona, 
 Bologna, Forli, and Perugia.^^ None believed it ; 
 when the question of Renzi's extradition to the 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 81 
 
 Papal Government was under consideration in 
 the council of our Grand Duke, and ultimately- 
 carried by the influence and threats of Austria, 
 it is understood that one of our Florentine jurists, 
 a member of that council, and favourable to the 
 views of despotism in this case, was Judge Buo^ 
 narrotti. Alas ! for the lineage of Michael An- 
 gelo ! The popularity of our Leopold, shaken 
 for a while, is re-established by his firmness in 
 resisting the first attempts at introducing the 
 Jesuits into Tuscany. The university of Pisa, 
 which took so prominent a part on that occasion, 
 is by far the most advanced and enlightened body 
 in this peninsula, and their sympathy with Poland 
 in the late struggle was allowed free scope. They 
 subscribed to the fund raised in Paris, and openly 
 denounced the tyranny of the northern courts — 
 a step which neither at Rome, Naples, nor 
 Modena, would be tolerated a single moment 
 by the paternal rulers of those respective prison- 
 houses. 
 
 At the approaching scientific congress at Ge- 
 noa, I am given to understand that the Govern- 
 ment of Turin will connive at (if not originate) 
 the centenary commemoration of the levying of 
 the siege of that republican capital and the with- 
 
82 THE FAG END 
 
 drawal of the Austrian forces from before its 
 walls on the memorable occasion. This is plain 
 speaking. Numbers of the Piedmontese and 
 Genoese clergy are to harangue the people in 
 the churches on the subject of that signal 
 triumph of their fatherland over the invader. 
 
 To promote sympathy and brotherhood among 
 the states of Italy seems to be the watchword 
 of the patriots. Already have the municipality 
 of Genoa determined on restoring to Pisa the 
 colossal chains which adorn the cathedral of St. 
 Lawrence and the mole, and which were maritime 
 trophies carried off many centuries ago by the 
 Genoese fleet, when Pisa had a fleet and harbour 
 to guard with the aforesaid chains. A deputation 
 is to be sent, and a warm interchange of patriotic 
 feelings will doubtless ensue. 
 
 The Russian Empress arrived here last week, 
 and lives in retirement at the splendid new hotel 
 opposite the house of Amerigo Vespucci. Very 
 unceremoniously was the young Princess of Lucca 
 (sister of the Duke of Bourdeaux) turned out to 
 make room for the Czarina. She retired from 
 Florence at once, and returned to Iicr Lucchese 
 Palace. The most pleasing accounts are given of 
 tliis young lady. On her marriage the whole 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 83 
 
 Carlist clique of Florence went in a body to 
 Lucca, which they made sure of transferring into 
 a court of Henri Quinquists, They were disa- 
 greeably surprised to learn that '^ they would not 
 be received, unless in the usual form, and pre- 
 sented first to her husband. That she had no 
 politics save those in which he could participate.'^ 
 To notice another, but less agreeable, bit of 
 Florentine gossip, you will learn with pain that 
 poor Lady EUenborough's name is again given to 
 publicity ; and a Bavarian gentleman at Pisa, her 
 present residence, has just been shot by her pre- 
 sent sposo, 
 
 " When lovely woman stoops to folly !" &c. &c. 
 
 We have the advantage of living here under Mrs. 
 Trollope^s penetrating eye, and are exposed to her 
 observing genius, in this capital. No doubt 
 there is much to observe in the doings around 
 us, and not a little to amend. 
 
 Affairs of Italy. — A letter from Verona of the 20th April, 
 has the following : — '* The peaceful inhabitants of our town have 
 been thrown into excitement lately, owing to the arrival of three 
 Austrian engineers, as it was asserted that the fortifications, which 
 are on the most extensive scale, and which have been constructed 
 during the last seven years, were to be manned and armed at 
 once. ' ' — Newspaper paragraph. 
 
84 THE FAG END 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Bologna. 
 The tenure by which the Pope retains his half- 
 dozen ^^ Legations" north of the Apennines re- 
 sembles somewhat the hold which the Grand 
 Turk had on Algiers, and still has on the regency 
 of Tunis. He cannot keep them with a tight 
 hand, and must be satisfied with a lax grasp and 
 a loose rein. His Pashas have done their duty if 
 the tribute bags be duly remitted to the Papal 
 treasury, and all minor disarrangements must be 
 winked at. The people of Bologna, in particular, 
 are rather unwilling to be kept in leading-strings. 
 When writing from Rome, I transmitted to you 
 the late edict against gas published in that metro- 
 polis, and which was, of course, there submitted 
 to with a slight growl. No such childish mani- 
 festo would be tolerated here. The municipal 
 authorities have at this moment in active construc- 
 tion three large gas works for the public lighting 
 of this active and industrious town, notwithstand- 
 ing the well-known displeasure felt thereat at 
 head-quarters. Their indignation at the refusal 
 of railroads is intense, seeing that the whole line 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 85 
 
 from Florence to Leghorn, with a branch to 
 Sienna, will be open next year. 
 
 Tt will go hard with the multitudinous lay- 
 dependents and clerical hangers-on about the 
 Papal Court when these provinces fail them. 
 Bologna is the grand milch-cow from which these 
 babes of grace derive their alimentary supplies, 
 and without the Legations the whole system 
 could not last a single day. Hence any peace- 
 ofFering to Austria, any bribe to Louis Philippe, 
 any complaisance to Prussia, sooner than lose this 
 vacca sacra. The animal is exceedingly restive, 
 meantime, 
 
 " Foenum habet in coruu," k.t.X. 
 and no wonder, considering the perpetual drain 
 on its resources, receiving nothing in return, save 
 a present of two Swiss regiments (of 4000 men 
 each) to keep it in order, assisted by a regiment 
 of " PontificaP^ dragoons. 
 
 When it is stated that the principal portion of 
 the Papal income is collected here, and trans- 
 mitted over the mountains, it were well to re- 
 mind you of what that income is, and how further 
 circumstanced; in order that those who shall have 
 recovered their money out of the railway deposits 
 may have the option of investing the same in 
 
86 THE FAG END 
 
 Hoiiian five-per-cents. It is yveW then to re- 
 member that the total revenue of the Roman 
 States is somewhat under two millions sterling: 
 but the expense of collecting it being about 
 4G0.000/.^ there remains a net income of 
 1,540,000/. 
 
 In 1634 the public debt was 6,300,000/. Since 
 then other loans have been contracted, at various 
 rates of usury; one last year, from the tobacco 
 broker, Torlonia, for two million dollars. 
 
 The interest of the public debt payable in Paris 
 and Milan absorbs annually 560,000/. and up- 
 wards. 
 
 The diiFerent heads under which the revenue 
 may be classified, will indicate the form of taxa- 
 tion used in the Roman States : it stands thus in 
 dollars : — 
 
 The receipts of the land-tax, tax on grinding corn, and Dollars. 
 
 other pradial taxes 3,280,000 
 
 The tobacco and salt monopoly, and all custom duties, 
 
 principally at Ancona 4,120,000 
 
 Tlic stamp duties, and all fees for registration 550,000 
 
 The post-office department, most miserably managed... 250,000 
 The sale of lottery tickets to the Roman people 1,100,000 
 
 Total 9,100,000 
 
 Now when it is added that the annual expendi- 
 ture of this Government amounts to the sum of 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 87 
 
 10,154^000 dollars, the deficit each coming year, 
 ^^castmg its shadow before/^ is about 1,000,000 
 dollars, or exactly 222,222/. The shades deepen 
 as day declines — 
 
 '* Et jam summa procul villarum culmina fumant, 
 Majoresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrse!" 
 
 Methinks the obvious consequences are duly 
 felt by so intelligent a mind as yours ; as Sterne 
 has it— ^^ Shall I go on ? No !" 
 
 Yet it is not unimportant to observe lioiv, and at 
 what expense, these taxes are gathered, in order 
 that your people at the Treasury may take out a 
 lesson in economy. 
 
 The cost of collecting the land-tax, and other prsedial 
 
 imposts, is 23 per cent. 
 
 The customs are levied and transmitted at a cost of.... 11 ,, 
 
 Tlie stamps are distributed and registries effected at.... 16 ,, 
 
 Tiie post-office is managed at the charge of 60 ,, 
 
 The machinery of lottery tickets for poor gamblers 
 
 costs the revenue 60 ,, 
 
 You can find the average from these data. 
 This last item, viz., the income made by encou- 
 raging gambling propensities in the ignorant vul- 
 gar, is a subject too serious to be dismissed in a 
 passing notice. I promise to anatomise this part 
 of the Roman system in detail, and exhibit its 
 demoralising operation at full. I have only 
 
88 THE FAG END 
 
 sought here to give you some insight into the 
 mere financial condition of the ecclesiastical do- 
 minions. 
 
 Returning to the affairs of this capital town, 
 centre of the "Legations/^ its principal feature is of 
 course its world-famous and time-honoured uni- 
 versity. In the present fallen condition of this 
 once celebrated Alma Mater may be traced the 
 degrading influence of the modern Roman Court, 
 and the unblushing effrontery with which these 
 selfish worldlings trample out the torch of science. 
 Shortly after the few months of emancipation 
 which this territory enjoyed in ISSl, the first act of 
 the papal legate was to issue an edict confining the 
 benefit of university education to youtlis born in 
 the district, and forbidding all others to approach 
 the schools ; at one fell swoop sweeping off more 
 than half the aspirants after knowledge. Num- 
 bers of students from the Levant, from Greece, 
 from Dalmatia, and otlier countries, were thus 
 sent off to other founts of learning, and the halls 
 of Bologna have ever since borne resemblance to 
 those of Balclutha in desolation. Every professor 
 of eminence was either banished or kidnapped. 
 Mezzofante, whom Byron found here in the 
 good old days of the university, was induced by 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN, 89 
 
 the splendid bribe of a red hat to quit the scene 
 of his early distinction^ anid mingle with the mob 
 of courtly valets at the Vatican. 
 
 Jurisprudence and medicine, which were so 
 highly cultivated for so many centuries, are now 
 both in the most languishing state, and the very 
 school of divinity, when compared to that of 
 Munich, Bonn, or even Louvain, is much below 
 par, and far beneath contempt. The only academy 
 here which may be truly described as flourishing 
 and full of vitality is the Lyceum of Musical 
 Science, presided over and kept alive by the im- 
 mortal Rossini. It is the policy of all despotisms 
 to encourage the enervating arts, and to turn, if 
 possible, the energies of youth into the voluptuous 
 paths and mazes of elegant sensuality. 
 "Motus docere gaudet lonicos," 
 
 and music has effectually done for Italy what 
 tobacco did for the Turks. Ever since the intro- 
 duction of operas here and chibouks there, all 
 energy has departed as well from the children of 
 Dante, as from the followers of the Prophet. The 
 old Saracen sword was left to rust in the scab- 
 bard, to be replaced by the peaceful pipe, and the 
 war-cry of the Viscontis, the Gonzagas, old Dan- 
 dolo, and old Doria, has been superseded by the 
 
90 THE FAG END 
 
 modern modulations of some Sign or Squallini, 
 '^ of Her Majesty's Theatre/^ late from theScalaor 
 the Pergola. It is pitiful to see the young nobles 
 of this once valorous land, totally absorbed, day 
 and night, in the frivolities of the gamut. 
 
 The chairs of jurisprudence and medicine can 
 scarcely be expected to attract the ambition of 
 any intelligent professor in a country where a free 
 exercise of the mental faculties is looked upon 
 with jealous distrust, and forthwith surrounded 
 with a cordon sanitaire of espionage, sure to end 
 in malignant misrepresentation. Yet, notwith- 
 standing Rome's horror of innovation in science, 
 and though up to this day that common instru- 
 ment the stethoscope is not admitted into the 
 hospitals (an English doctor who used it having 
 been nicknamed the ^'dottoi'' della tromba^'), some 
 old ladies in the metropolis have had influence 
 enough at the Roman court to obtain toleration, 
 and even patronage, for ''homoeopathy !" In the 
 middle of last Lent, the Dowager Princess Piom- 
 bino was so treated for hernia, by a notorious 
 homoeopathic practitioner, and, of course, died, 
 under circumstances that would render a coroner's 
 inquest inevitable in England. 
 
 Instead of beggars who used to beset you at 
 every turn in Rome, your eye will be here met in 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 91, 
 
 every direction by the well-known northern visages 
 of the Swiss mercenaries. Their scowl is returned 
 with interest by the civilised inhabitants^ and even 
 the native soldiers owe them a heavy grudge^ be- 
 cause of their double pay and extra allowance for 
 brandy and kirchwasser. You have visited Rome, 
 and there have admired the gentlemanly beef- 
 eaters clad in harlequin costume lounging about the 
 saloons of the Vatican^ but you must not think you 
 have seen any part of a Swiss regiment. These 
 organised janissaries are always kept here in the 
 Legations, and are the main cause of the deficit in 
 the Roman finances; there are now about eight 
 thousand of these Vandals fed and pampered by a 
 bankrupt government to overawe the people who 
 pay for all. When the last year's loan was con- 
 tracted, and the two millions paid by Torlonia 
 into the Papal treasury, do not think that the 
 money was for a moment destined, even in imagi- 
 nation, to the revival of trade, the opening or 
 repairing of roads, the encouragement of manu- 
 factures or fisheries, or mines, or public works — 
 not a bit of it — the ^^ apostolic chamber,'' as it 
 humorously calls itself (they call the same thing 
 an " aulic council" at Vienna), laid out the money 
 at once in soldiers; they purchased up at once 
 
 F 2 
 
92 THE FAG END 
 
 some prime lots of bludgeon-men in the most 
 brutal and ignorant valleys of Switzerland, and 
 they now think themselves safe while the pay and 
 provender can be provided. 
 
 Let there be the slightest misintelligence be- 
 tween the courts of Turin and the authorities of 
 Lombardy, the Legations rise to a man, and aid 
 the northern Italians to sw^eep the country of 
 every beer-drinking boor in the length and breadth 
 of the land. 
 
 Methinks I have said enough to persuade those 
 happy people in England called ^^ scripholders/' 
 who have recovered their deposits from the com- 
 mittee-men, to invest this so happily recuperated 
 capital in Roman Fives, 
 
 LETTER XIIL 
 
 Milan, May 12. 
 
 The attitude of open hostility assumed by the 
 authorities of Lombardy towards the court of 
 Turin, so promptly met, on the part of Piedmont, 
 by scorn and defiance, is a new feature in the 
 aspect of Italian politics; and you will have 
 been the first to put the Englisli pubHc in pos- 
 session of this startling change in the prospects of 
 Southern Europe. The situation is not altered. 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 93 
 
 and the note is rather in crescendo than any 
 symptom of abatement. The utmost activity 
 reigns in all the public departments ; the war and 
 police offices are at work night and day ; and 
 strangers arriving from Lower Italy^ or the Swiss 
 frontier, give the most ludicrous accounts of the 
 vexatory examinations they and their passports 
 have to undergo in the general panic. The move- 
 ment has communicated itself to the small ad- 
 jacent territories more or less depending on 
 Austria. The young Duke of Modena has pre- 
 cipitately left his capital, and fallen back on 
 Reggio. The Archduchess Maria Louisa has left 
 Parma in a most une:5^pected manner, and retreated 
 upon Placentia. The consternation and alarm 
 would be most amusing, did they not indicate a 
 most conscience-stricken admission of imbecility, 
 usurpation, intrusion, and recognised wrong. The 
 whole policy of Metternich seems to go to pieces 
 at a single kick, and Austria stands here in the 
 predicament, not of an European power, but of a 
 member of the swell-mob detected in flagrante, 
 and exposed to general derision. 
 
 " Con arte e con inganno 
 Si vive mezzo I'jinno ; 
 Con inganno e con arte 
 Si vive I'altra parte !" 
 
94 THE FAG END 
 
 It is true that I have my own suspicions as to the 
 real cause of the sudden fliglit of the young Duke, 
 and the concurrent and synchronous heg'ira of the 
 imperial widow. Pohtics may have something to 
 do in the matter, but 
 
 " Thrift ! Horatio, thrift!" 
 Economy was one among the propellant motives. 
 You must have learnt how the King of Naples 
 was cleared out by the visit of the Czarina : the 
 rumour of culinary ravages committed by the 
 Russian locusts set every Italian court aghast; 
 Tuscany trembled at the approach of this female 
 Attila, with her famished hordes. The Grand 
 Duke, however, is rich, and he put the best face 
 he could on the matter; he even went out of his 
 way to give a grand gas illumination of the whole 
 Quay of the Arno, from the Ponte Trinita to the 
 New Gas Works. He got but small thanks and 
 poor courtesy in return, from these haughty folks. 
 They departed, however, and set out over the 
 Apennines northwards, no exact route having been 
 announced ; and hence the complicated terror of 
 the petty courts on the high road. At Bologna 
 it was reported that not a sausage remained unde- 
 voured, and the Imperial caravan, numbering 
 about one hundred and fifty mouths, was an- 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 95 
 
 nounced as within a half day's journey of Mo- 
 dena. What could the young and poor-spirited 
 sovereign of the beggarly town do but run away ? 
 He had no " Caleb Balderstone '^ among his 
 ministers to get up a mock feast of shreds, and 
 patches, and apologies : or, perhaps, to set fire at 
 once to his dreary and lumbersome old palazzo. 
 Buonaparte's widow has been making a purse 
 for her children by Nieperg these fifteen years, 
 and has succeeded thereby in marrying one of 
 them into the noblest family of Parma. She ha 
 no notion of wasting the revenues of her Duchy 
 on itinerant Empresses, though she was once 
 (like Dido) an itinerant herself — 
 
 " Non ignara mali," &c., &c. 
 
 She has, you know, but a life-interest in the sove- 
 reignty of these dominions, and everything shows 
 the dilapidated and desolate condition to which 
 such a tenure is sure to reduce a kingdom as well 
 as any other kind of landed or household pro- 
 perty. After her death, Parma and Placentia 
 become the estate of the Duke of Lucca, whose 
 little duchy reverts to the neighbouring state of 
 Tuscany. These are all nice family arrange- 
 ments 3 but there is a little bird that sings a note 
 of warning aloft, and the tenor of its song, if not 
 
96 THE FAG END 
 
 qa ira, is something tantamount. It may not be 
 the " rogue's march/^ but possibly an air more 
 polite from the Gazza Ladra, People will have 
 their own again. 
 
 It will be perhaps urged in respect to the 
 provender with which Maria Louisa could fur- 
 nish her Russian visitors, that Parmesan cheese 
 might supply a piece de resistance capable of 
 blunting their exorbitant appetite. Those who 
 make the suggestion are not probably aware 
 that the cheese in question, owing to the neglect 
 of successive rulers, is no longer a staple of either 
 Parma or Placentia : scarce a pound of it is made 
 here, and the whole manufacture is now carried 
 on beyond the Po, in the pasturages that sur- 
 round Lodi. Many are the melancholy changes 
 which have befallen the cities of Lombardy; 
 and many more are expected. Verona, from 
 being a most refined, gentle, and industrious 
 town, is now transformed into a barrack, and 
 within the last week is made uninhabitable by 
 retrenchments, bristling cannon, and barred gates. 
 Mantua, which was once in the bosom of its 
 limpid lake, with its long causeways and glitter- 
 ing domes, the Mexico of Italy, has seen its 
 waters drawn off into stagnant ditches, its 
 
OF AN OLD REIGiV. 
 
 9^ 
 
 churches changed into cavalry stables, and its 
 artistic courtly Dukes replaced by a sourer out- 
 eating Field-mare9hal. The splendours of Mon- 
 tezuma have vanished — the glories of Gonzaga 
 are gone! yet what poet is found to weep over 
 Mantuan decay? why is there no sympathy for 
 such desolation ? perhaps the neighbouring 
 widowhood of the ^^sea Cybele^' — of Venice — has 
 monopolised our deplorings, and none are left 
 for Mantua — the Virgilian town suffering in this 
 instance from its vicinity to la bella Venezia, as 
 it did of old from its "too great proximity to 
 Cremona:^' 
 
 " Mantua vse miserse minium vicina Cremonse." — Eclog. 
 
 I was near forgetting to acquaint you with the 
 most important part of the news here, and which 
 mainly renders intelligible the panic terror of 
 Austria; it is the ascertained intelligence that 
 the Court of Naples has pledged its full support 
 to that of Turin, and that both Kings are under- 
 stood to act in concert for the independence of 
 the Peninsula. 
 
 The views of Don Jeremy on Italian affairs communicated 
 from time to time through a morning journal, have been frequently- 
 transferred to other European organs of public opinion. Whether 
 they lost any of their eflaciency by that process or not, the reader 
 
 F 3 
 
98 THE FAG END 
 
 will judge from a specimen which is here subjoined from the 
 Paris Constiiutionnel of M&y 26, 1846. 
 
 "Nous empnintons au Daily-News la lettre suivante, qui lui 
 a ete ecrite de Milan, h la date du 12 Mai : 
 
 ** * L'attitude d'hostilite ouverte prise par les autorites de Lorn- 
 bardie vis-a-vis de la Cour de Turin ; le dedain et les provocations 
 par lesquelles le Piemont s'est si vite empress^ de repoudre, voili 
 qui donne un aspect tout nouveau a I'etat de choses en Italic. 
 La situation n'a pas change, et tout va plutot en crescendo. 
 Toute I'administration deploie la plus grande activite ; les bureaux 
 de la guerre et de la police travailleut nuit et jour; et les etran- 
 gers qui arrivent de la basse Italic ou de la frontiere Suisse font 
 les recits les plus plaisans de Texamen minutieux auquel on soumet 
 eux et leurs passeports dans cette panique gdncrale. L'inquie- 
 tude a gagne les petits Etats adjacens qui dependent plus ou moins 
 de I'Autriche. Le jeune Due de Modene a quitte precipitammcnt 
 sa capitale pour se rcfugier a Reggio. L'Archiduchesse Marie- 
 Louise a quitte Parme tout-a-fait a I'improviste pour se retirer a 
 Plaisance. Cette d^route serait plaisante, si en meme temps elle 
 n'annonfait chez ces souverains la conscience de leurs torts, de 
 leur incapacite, de leurs usurpations et de leur mauvaise admini- 
 stration. Toute la politique de I'Autriche semble s'ea aller en 
 pieces a la premiere chiquenaude. 
 
 " * J'ai, il est vrai, mon opinion particuliere sur les vrais motifs 
 de la fuite soudaine du jeune Due de Modene et la disparition 
 simultanee de la veuve impdriale. La politique y est bien pour 
 quelque chose, mais 
 
 Le gain, Horatio! le gain ! 
 
 " * L'economie a et<5 un des motifs deterrainans de cette deban- 
 dade. Vous devez savoir comment le Roi de Naples a €te mis a 
 sec par la visite de la Czarine : le bruit des ravages culinaires 
 commis par les sauterelles Russes a mis en emoi toutes les cours 
 d'ltalie : la Toscane a tremble a I'approche de cet Attila en jupons 
 avec ses hordes affamees. 
 
 " ' Le Grand-Due pourtant est riche, et il a fait bonne mine k 
 mauvais jeu; il est mime sorti de ses habitudes jusqu'a donner a 
 la Czarine le spectacle d'une grande illumination au gaz de tout le 
 Quai de I'Arno, depuis le Pont de la Trinite jusqu'a la nouvelle 
 usine du gaz. Cela ne lui a valu que peu de remerciemens et 
 une mediocre politesse de la part de ces gens hautains. Partis de 
 Florence, ils franchirent les Apennins et se dirigerent vers le Nord, 
 et sans faire connaitre leur itin^raire : de la la tcrreur extreme de 
 toutes les petites cours situees sur la route du Nord. Le bruit 
 courait qu'il n'e'tait pas reste un seul saucisson h Bologne ni dans 
 les environs ; et Ton annonvait que la caravane impcriale, com- 
 pos^e de cent cinquaute personnes, ctait a une demi-journ^e de 
 Modene. Que pouvait faire le jeune et inexperiment6 souverain de 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 99 
 
 cette ville de mendians, sinon s'enfuir a toutes brides ? 11 n'avait 
 pas parmi ses ministres de Caleb Obalderston pour improviser un 
 festin avec des hachis, des ragouts et de belles excuses, ni meme 
 pour mettre une bonne fois le feu a son vieux palais sale et 
 delabre. 
 
 " * De son cote, la veuve de Napoleon s'occupe depuis quinze 
 ans a faire une bonne bourse pour les enfans qu'elle a eus de M. 
 de Nieperg, et c'est grace a I'argent qu'elle a reussi a en marier 
 un dans la plus noble famille de Parme. Elle n'a nulle envie de 
 depenser les revenus de son duche pour les imperatrices en voyage, 
 quoiqu'elle-meme ait couru aussi les grande chemins, et puisse 
 dire comme Didon : 
 
 ' Non ignara mali,' &c. 
 
 *' * Elle n'a, vous le savez, que la jouissance viagere de ces 
 duch^s, et tout montre I'etat de denument et de desolation auquel 
 ce genre de possession r^duit inevitablement un royaume aussi 
 bien qu'une propriete particuliere. Apres sa mort, Parme et 
 Plaisance appartiendront au Due de Lucques, dont les petits Etats 
 doivent faire retour a la Toscane. Ce sont la tons arrangemens 
 de famille ; mais il y a un petit oiseau qui chante tout bas sur une 
 autre gamme, et si ce n'est pas la le Ca ira, cela y equivaut bien. 
 On pourrait trouver dans la Gazza Ladra, un air plus el%ant, 
 mais tout aussi significatif. Le peuple finira par reprendre son bien. 
 
 ** 'Vous me direz peut-etre que Marie-Louise pourrait trouver 
 dans ses Etats de quoi apaiser la grosse faim de ses visiteurs Mos- 
 covites ; que le Parmesan offrait une piece de resistance capable 
 d'assouvir leur appetit immodere. Vous connaissez mal I'etat de 
 denument dans lequel est tombe ce pays : c'est a peine si, dans le 
 duche de Parme, vous trouveriez line seule livre de Parmesan. 
 Cette Industrie a passe le P6 ; elle est concentree dans les patu- 
 rages qui environnent Lodi. C'est la un exemple de la deca- 
 dence qui a atteint les villes de Lombardie, et qui devient chaque 
 jour plus generale. Verone, jadis une ville elegante, polie, et 
 industrieuse, est devenue une caserne, et, depuis une semaine, on 
 I'a rendue inhabitable a force de retranchemens, de canons en 
 batterie et de postes fortifies. Mantoue qui, au sein de son lac 
 limpide, ^tait, avec ses longues chaussdes et ses domes eblouissans, 
 le Mexico de 1' Italic, a vu ses eaux epuisees par des fosses crou- 
 pissans, ses eglises changees en ecuries pour la cavalerie, et ses 
 dues protecteurs des arts, remplaces par un feld-marechal bourre 
 de choucroute. Adieu les splendeurs de Montezuma! adieu la 
 gloire des Gonzague ! Ou trouver un poete pour pleurer la deca- 
 dence de Mantoue ? 
 
 " * J'allais oublier de vous faire connaitre ce qu'il y a de plus 
 important dans nos nouvelles, et ce qui seul explique la terreur 
 panique de I'Autriche, c'est I'annonce certaine que la Cour de 
 Naples s'est engagee a appuyer en tout celle de Turin, et que les 
 deux rois s'entendent pour travailler de concert a I'afFranchisse- 
 ment de la peninsule.' " 
 
100 THE FAG END 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Genoa, May 24. 
 
 The public mind is still full of anticipated 
 change. From Naples we have confirmation of 
 the King^s reported determination to dismiss his 
 Swiss mercenaries, and to throw himself on the 
 loyalty of his faithful Lazzaroni. He is fully 
 aware that no other course is open to him. The 
 Prince of Capua is bidding for popularity in one 
 at least of the Two Sicilies, and the Prince of 
 Syracuse is more than suspected of a wish to play 
 the old game of Louis- Philippe versus Charles X. 
 in the Neapolitan capital. Next September will 
 develope and ventilate the smouldering elements 
 of combustion in the whole Peninsula. Towards 
 the grand Italian Wittenagemote then to be 
 assembled here in Genoa " the superb,'^ all specu- 
 lation is directed. 
 
 The demise of Gregory XVI. was the period 
 originally fixed for a new organisation of this 
 country ; but it is pleasant to learn that the vene- 
 ral)le old Pontiff is yet likely to last a year or 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 101 
 
 two; a swelling in the legs* has been announced 
 in my last Roman advices ; his general health is, 
 however, wonderful for his age. With all his 
 political mistakes (and what could a poor monk 
 have learnt in his cell of this wicked world^s 
 ways ?) the Roman Bishop is, after all, a genuine 
 honest character. When he dies, you may fairly 
 reproduce the words of your Lord Bacon, con- 
 cerning his namesake and predecessor: — '^ Gre- 
 gory XIII. fulfilled the age of eighty-three years, 
 an absolute good man, sound in mind and in body, 
 temperate, full of good works, and an almsgiver.^* 
 — {Novum Organum. Chapter of Life and Death.) 
 It would be premature to hint anything as to 
 his probable successor; though more is likely to 
 be known here in Genoa about the matter than at 
 Rome itself. This city has had the luck to pro- 
 
 * It has since been ascertained that one of his medical advisers 
 strongly urged as the only chance of prolonging his life, immediate 
 amputation of the left leg. Gregory was thunderstruck at the 
 unheard-of proposal. From the earliest personal records of the 
 Popes, compiled by *' Anastasius the Librarian,'* down to this 
 day, there had been no precedent for a Pontiff with a wooden leg. 
 His horror of innovation which vented itself upon gas and rail- 
 roads, here produced a repugnance which swayed his mind even at 
 the peril of life. He scouted the proposition. There is some- 
 thing impressive in the old man's consistency, reminding us of the 
 sublime outburst in Tacitus. 
 
 •• OpORTET IMPERATOREM STANTEM MORI !" 
 
102 THE FAG EXD 
 
 duce and possess just now no less than six of the 
 most influential Cardinals, for, once the Genoese 
 get a footing anywhere, they are not unhke the 
 Scotch in promoting and assisting their country- 
 men. The Secretary of State, Lambruschini, is 
 from this town; so is Franzoni, head of the Pro- 
 paganda, and spiritual ruler of all your Hiberno- 
 British colonies; next conclave will be most in- 
 teresting, if not to England, to Russia, France, 
 Germany, and Spain, who are, each after its 
 fashion, already busy in the electoral field. 
 
 Of course no one thinks of Acton for the tiara, 
 though in every respect a naturalised Italian, and a 
 most obliging, modest, and unpresuming prelate : 
 it were time nevertheless that old Nicholas Break- 
 speare (Adrian IV.) had a successor from your 
 part of Europe, were it only to rebut the preva- 
 lent notion that the Italians have made a snug 
 job of the popedom for themselves. Was it not 
 your late friend, Tom Hood, who left on record his 
 truly (Ecumenical sentiment — 
 
 " My heart ferments not with the bigot's leaven. 
 All men I view with toleration thorough, 
 And have a horror of regarding heaven 
 
 As any prince or prelate's rotten borough." 
 
 A'propos of your solitary English cardinal, it is 
 
OF AN OLD REIGN. 103 
 
 rather curious to trace the origin of his red hat to 
 the quarter-deck of a ship in the last century. If 
 you will look at Smollett^s " Letters from Italy/^ 
 — a book which got him the nickname of Dr. 
 Smellfungus from Sterne, his rival in this branch 
 of itinerant literature, — you will find a passage, 
 dated January 28, 1765, from Leghorn, ^^ He that 
 now commands the Emperor^s navy is an English- 
 man called Acton, who was heretofore captain of 
 a ship in our East India Company^s service. He 
 has recently embraced the Catholic religion, and 
 been created Admiral of Tuscany." In this cu- 
 rious record of the Italian branch of the Actons, 
 a family which boasts of two baronetcies in Eng- 
 land, you will admire the energies of your Anglo- 
 Saxon race in taking root when transplanted. 
 You will also recognize in the Roman eminence 
 attained by the offspring of a seafaring adventurer, 
 something already adumbrated in the opening 
 lines of the JEneid : 
 
 . . . . " Fato profugus Liburnia venit 
 Littora, multum ille et terris jactatus et alto 
 
 genus unde Latinum 
 
 Albanique patres. " 
 
 There is no further political overt act to com- 
 municate 5 the fermentation goes on steadily. 
 
104 THE FAG END OP AN OLD REIGN. 
 
 The Jesuits here help it on by their eflforts to 
 regain the mastery over the King's present advi- 
 sers; but it is all fruitless intrigue. The paro- 
 chial clergy at Genoa are to a man on the popular 
 side^ and the pulpit will shortly become the ve- 
 hicle of patriotic appeals to an awakening people. 
 I have had the good luck to get from Marseilles 
 an early copy of your ^' Pictures/' in which this 
 city occupies the foreground. I have just glanced 
 through the work, the tone and tendency of which 
 I fain would notice at full leisure. Without in- 
 dulging in political diatribes, a la Lady Morgan, 
 (indeed morgue, as the French call it, or pre- 
 sumption of any sort, is alien to your gentle 
 nature,) you have done Italy yeoman's service. 
 I am rather glad you have not adopted the out- 
 ward semblances of a politician, whatever may 
 be the real working of your spirit; "won optat 
 ephippia boz,'* 
 
A FEW INTEECALAEY BLANK LEAVES 
 
 THE OLD REGIMEN AND THE NEW. 
 
 FILLED UP BY 
 
 "THE BOOKSELLERS HACK IN ORDINARY. 
 
A FEW INTERCALAEY BLANK LEAVES 
 
 THE OLD KEGIMEN AND THE NEW. 
 
 It is well known that his Holiness Pope Gre- 
 gory XVI. (called in that branch of the Benedic- 
 tine Order to w^hich he belonged Don Mauro 
 Capellari,) departed this life June the 1st, on the 
 very day that people in England were reading in 
 a morning journal of recent birth those kind and 
 considerate reflections on his memory which are to 
 be found at page 101 of this remarkable volume, 
 and which Don Jeremy wrote on May the 24th 
 at Genoa. It would appear that at Genoa 
 our author embarked for his native island of 
 Sardinia on a visit to his family and friends at 
 Cagliari, and consequently no record exists from 
 his pen of the transactions that occurred during 
 the conclave w^hich immediately assembled at 
 
108 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 Rome, and eventuated in the happy election of 
 Count John ilfa^/ai-FERRETTi. 
 
 I was not in Rome myself then, nor indeed at 
 any other time, but I don^t consider that an im- 
 pediment to my speculating accurately upon the 
 affairs of the Catholic capital : rather the contrary, 
 as I thereby enjoy the advantage of that respect- 
 ful distance which is known to lend enchantment 
 to the view. The best and most circumstantial 
 works on Roman topography have been written 
 by honest Germans who never crossed the Alps 
 in their lives; and my laborious friend Desbo- 
 rough Cooly, author of that astonishing book, the 
 " Negroland" knows every corner of Africa better 
 than Mahomed Ali or Marshal Bugeaud, though 
 his travels, except an occasional trip to Graves- 
 end, have been mostly confined to tlie reading- 
 room of the British Museum, among the writings 
 of old Jesuit missionaries. 
 
 The Museum library is a great national work- 
 house, where the paupers of literature are em- 
 ployed in elaborating the materials of their dead 
 fellow-creatures into a useful kind of literary 
 guano for the cultivation of the public mind. 
 Much has been said during the last days of the 
 late Parliament about a great case of bone -crush- 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. 109 
 
 ing at Andover, in Hampshire ; and considerable 
 sympathy has been ehcited for the bumpkins 
 engaged in that pursuit. The result is — a big blue 
 book added to the stock in our Museum. But 
 I hope when we get a fresh House of Commons, 
 with a reasonable admixture of literary men 
 among the knights of the shire and burgesses, 
 something will be said in favour of us poor devils, 
 who in seedy garments and with lank visages 
 spend our days up to old age in the silent task- 
 work of grinding into an available compost or 
 composition the ossuary fragments of our defunct 
 predecessors. 
 
 It is not perhaps right on my part to let the 
 public into the secret of our operations, thus tell- 
 ing tales out of school ; but I have latterly become 
 quite reckless, and as I am paid so much a page 
 I may as well let the cat out of the bag, and eke 
 out the twenty pages which I have bargained to 
 write for Don Jeremy Savonarola, by gossiping on 
 the process by which such business is generally 
 accomplished. 
 
 Thus the topic being given, as in the present 
 instance it happens to be the conclave held 
 at Rome last year, the general practitioner in 
 literature hunts out any accounts he may be able 
 
110 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 to find of bye-gone conclaves, and starts with a 
 preliminary dissertation on elective Monarchy as 
 compared with hereditary Kingship. He may 
 then become etymological, and show how these 
 assemblies are so called, because of their being 
 held under lock and key {con clavis), and also 
 their having for object to decide into whose cus- 
 tody the key of heaven is to be committed; 
 being composed of cardinals, so named, rather 
 oddly perhaps, from the term cardines, the 
 hinges of a door; he may then indulge on a 
 slight digression on the cardinal ^^rtues, making 
 honourable mention of the four cardinal points, 
 and of a recent item of fashionable haber- 
 dashery. 
 
 But if he means to astonish the public by the 
 depth of his researches and the extent of his erudi- 
 tion, he will never confine himself to common-place 
 dissertations, nor bound his inquiries within the 
 limits of the 290,000 printed books to be had at 
 the Museum. He will make a plunge into the 
 more recondite department of manuscript, and 
 grope with desperate daring tlirough the MS. 
 repositories of our national collection. This is 
 the plan which I follow myself. 
 
 In the present instance I have ferreted out (and 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. Ill 
 
 the documents are all now lying before me,) a 
 complete assortment of the squibs, placards, and 
 pasquinades put forth at Rome during the several 
 conclaves of — 
 
 Urban VIII. {Barberini), 
 
 Innocent X. (Pamphili), 
 
 Alexander VII, {Chigi), 
 
 Clement IX. {Rospigliosi), 
 
 Clement X. [Altieri), 
 
 Innocent XI. (Odescalchi), 
 
 Alexander VIII. (Ottoboni), 
 
 Innocent XII. {Pignatelli), 
 
 Clement XI. (Albani), 
 
 ending with Innocent XIII. {Conti), 
 
 and embracing a period of exactly one hundred 
 
 years, viz., from 1621 to l72l. The collection 
 
 appears to have been the work of an impartial 
 
 amateur, and though the handwriting is peculiar, 
 
 you can make it out by an occasional guess. It 
 
 is numbered in Sir Fred. Madden^s catalogue, 
 
 10806 addit, MS. 
 
 These spontaneous outbursts of popular hu- 
 mour, applause, indignation, or sarcasm, as the 
 occasion might suggest, are the only true mirror 
 in which we can get a ghmpse of the real state of 
 affairs in any country where there is no free 
 
112 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 press ; and consequently they are far more to be 
 relied on (making every allowance for personality 
 and passion) than the solemn humbug of history, 
 from the pen of an enslaved or hired historian. 
 In Milton's celebrated plea for liberty in matters 
 of the press, a treatise of wondrous logical power 
 and manly common sense, the old man eloquent 
 dwells scornfully on the necessity existing in a 
 government like that of Rome, of submitting 
 every scrap of print to a Dominican friar, " mas- 
 ter of the sacred palace,'^ without whose impri- 
 matur nothing has ever been suffered to go forth 
 to the Roman world. Is the world in its infancy 
 that it is to be treated as a child ; Pius IX. now 
 says, no ! 
 
 Considering them in this point of view, I must 
 say that a very comprehensive, and at the same 
 time, very minute knowledge may be acquired of 
 Roman society, and the prevalent characteristics 
 of civil and ecclesiastical life in that city during 
 the period in question from these remarkable 
 MSS. 
 
 Hinc septem dominos videre montes 
 Et totam licet contemplari Rom am. 
 
 Though much will depend on the construction 
 which each reader's previous prejudices will 
 
BliANK LEAVES^ &C. 113 
 
 prompt in disparagement or in favour of that 
 eternal city — 
 
 Vbuve d'un Peuple Roy et Reine encor' du monde ! 
 
 There is vast variety of matter as well as style 
 in prose and verse^ and, with some doggrel, a good 
 intermingling of terse and beautiful poetry in this 
 voluminous assortment of Roman personalities. 
 I have too great a respect for old Jeremy^s book, 
 and too great a regard for good taste in general, 
 to quote in this volume any of the more objec- 
 tionable parts of the collection, though the moral- 
 ist and historian may be considerably enlightened 
 in their severe researches by the perusal of every 
 line. Too much of this pervades the memorials 
 of the earlier conclaves, which became gradually, 
 as public men began to be more amenable to 
 public opinion in Europe, less characterized by 
 open intrigue and a barefaced contempt of deco- 
 rum. Hence I would confine myself to the last 
 assembly of the kind chronicled in the MS., 
 which was a severe electioneering contest, but 
 ended very satisfactorily in the choice of Innocent 
 XIII. 
 
 Among the candidates was the famous Cardinal 
 Alberoni. From being a bell-ringer in the ca- 
 thedral of his native town, he had risen to be a 
 
 G 
 
114 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 canon of Parma, and went on a diplomatic mis- 
 sion to Madrid, where, by turning marriage-broker 
 to Philip v., for whom he secured the hand of 
 Elizabeth Farnese, Princess of Parma, he quickly 
 became prime minister, bishop, cardinal, and 
 grandee of Spain. In a few years he raised the 
 fallen monarchy into a condition to be the domi- 
 nant power in Europe (Louis XIV. had just 
 died,) and exhibited an energy and diplomatic- 
 skill which threw Richelieu and Mazarin, and even 
 his great predecessor Cardinal Ximenes, into the 
 shade. Resembling in many points our own great 
 political Cardinal Wolsey, his rise as well as his 
 fall was the work of female influence, and one 
 Laura, the Queen's nurse, bribed by the Regent 
 Orleans, achieved his disgrace and downfall. Like 
 Wolsey he also aspired to the papal throne, and 
 when forced to quit Spain, attended the conclave 
 of 1721 in the character of a candidate. Amoni:- 
 other squibs directed against his pretensions, I 
 select this as being almost sublime in its splendid 
 introduction of a passage from the prophecies of 
 Daniel, 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. IIJ 
 
 A Blast against Cardinal Alheroni, candidate for the 
 Tiara {the son of an old gardener in Parma), 1721. 
 
 Albero che fra noi t' estolli e ti dai vanto 
 Ch' il inar' adombri e'l sol' e il ciel' riempi 
 Volgi ridea nei gia trascorsi tempi 
 
 Ne di tuoi fasti insuperbir' cotanto. 
 
 Deh non hai tu letto nel libro santo 
 
 Pieno per te di memorandi esempi 
 
 Che Iddio grida destruttor degli empi 
 L'Albero si recida e cada infranto*. 
 
 Tal contra te non meno funesta e atroce 
 
 dual tnrbo orrendo infra spelonca alpina 
 
 Tuona del Ciel' 1' inesorabil' voce, 
 E della tua caduta ormai vicina. 
 
 Air averno all' orco alia tartarea foce 
 
 Si udira rirabombar la tua ruina ! 
 
 As a curious specimen of the freedom of invec- 
 tive publicly indulged in on those occasions^ and 
 the existence in Rome of a strong spirit of irre- 
 verence towards the governing powers both in 
 Church and State,, I select the following auda- 
 cious lampoon against the whole body of the red- 
 hatted dignitaries ; preferring to give a sample of 
 wholesale abuse than to transcribe more specific 
 
 * Daniel iv. 11. 
 
 g2 
 
IIG A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 onslaughts on individual character with which the 
 collection abounds. 
 
 A silly Diatribe on the Conclave of 1721. 
 
 Fan' consilio gle volpe in Vaticano ; 
 
 Guardate a vostri polli Aquila e Gallo* ! 
 
 Che in conclave vi e piu d'un capel giallo 
 E piu d'un Turco in abito Cristiano. 
 
 II Macchiavel* vi sta I'officio in mano ; 
 
 Veggonsi ogni or' : per non commetter' fallo ; 
 
 Piu d'un man' vi e ch' a fatt' el callo 
 Nel tesser frodi ; e ogni inganno strano. 
 
 Non piu Colomba ma fiamme di fuoco 
 
 Per abbrucciar' in un tutto il conclave 
 Scendi, Spirito Santo ! in questo luoco ! 
 
 Affonde col nochier anche la nave, 
 Atterra i rei ! de te si prendon guoco ; 
 
 Clie in man' di ladri non sta ben' la chiave. 
 
 After that, it is but fair to give an example of 
 the laudatory style, which portion of the MS. is, 
 I regret to say, less plentifully furnished than the 
 uncharitable part, being thus an accurate mirror 
 of human society. Tlie activity of friendly poets 
 on these occasions never seems to equal the ener- 
 
 • France and Germany. 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C, ll7 
 
 getic labours of critics and foes. It must have 
 been a period of great gain to the hirelings of 
 Parnassus, for I perceive (with a blush for our 
 gentle craft) that most of the eulogies bear in- 
 ternal evidence of having been paid for in solid 
 zecchini. Here is a poetic recommendation, 
 which to a careful reader would seem rather 
 ironical: 
 
 A Puf for Cardinal JBarherini, candidate for the 
 Fopedom, 1721. 
 
 O ! iddio ! non avrai gia mai pensato 
 
 Ritrovar' fra noi simil persone ; 
 
 Tessuto aver' e favole e cansone, 
 E tutto contra un tal buon' porporato ! 
 
 Si ti vuol ramentar ch' egli sia stato 
 
 II punitor del empio e del bricone 
 
 E prottetor solo delle pie jDersone ; 
 E piu buon' di lui non si e trovato. 
 
 Regirator' lo chiam* e avaro. O ! indegno 
 E qnanto opera col' senno e colla mano 
 Fe che superi ogni piu sano ingegno. 
 
 Si e Papa, buon per te popol' Romano ! 
 Vi danno 1' aPE in ogni strada I'insegno 
 Di quel che fe in tuo ben' I'ottavo Urbano. 
 
 The allusion to the heraldic bees towards the 
 close of this sonnet is intelligible to every one 
 
118 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 who has visited Rome^ as in the Piazza di Spagna, 
 all round Propaganda College, cut stone emblems 
 of that industrious insect are visible, and in va- 
 rious other parts of the city. The institution of 
 that college is the greatest work of the Barberini 
 family, one of whom, as in our own day, is always 
 on the board of management; and no other col- 
 lege or society has done so much for the enlight^ 
 enment of the heathen and the diffusion of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 This brings to my memory a most classical 
 puflf which, though not stuck on Pasquin's effigy 
 like the rest, and not contained in these MSS., 
 nevertheless was circulated at the election of 
 Urban VIII., founder of Propaganda. The poet 
 on this occasion was the famous Jesuit father 
 Sarbieski, a distinguished Polish nobleman, who 
 was subsequently employed by the Pope in 
 polishing up and rendering less barbarous the 
 Latin hymns of the Roman breviary. How far 
 lie was adequate to that or any other difficult 
 task in the range of Horatian accomplishments, 
 the connoisseur in classic Latinity will quickly 
 perceive on reading 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. 119 
 
 Ad Apes Barberinas (1621). 
 I. 
 
 Gives Hymetti, gratus Atticse lepos, 
 Virginise volucres, 
 Flavseque veris filise ! 
 
 II. 
 
 Fures rosarum, turba praedatrLx tbymi, 
 Nectaris artifices, 
 Bonaeque ruris hospitse ! 
 
 III. 
 
 Laboriosis quid juvat volatibus 
 Rus et agros gravidis 
 Perambulare cruribus ? 
 
 IV. 
 
 Si Baiberino delicata principe 
 Ssecula melle fluant 
 Parata vobis ssecula ! 
 
 It is, perhaps, very impudent on the part of 
 a mere literary hack, as I humbly confessed my- 
 self, in undertaking for Don Jeremy these inter- 
 calary pages, to submit any poetry of mine for 
 inspection, but having translated Sarbieski's lines 
 to my own satisfaction, I cannot help printing 
 them here. 
 
120 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 To the Armorial Bees of Barberini (1621). 
 
 I. 
 
 Citizens of Mount Hymettus, 
 
 Attic labourers, who toil, 
 Never ceasing, till ye get us 
 
 "Winter store of honied spoil. 
 
 II. 
 
 Ye, who nectar, (sweets, and odours,) 
 
 Hebes of the hive ! compose, 
 Flora's privileged marauders. 
 
 Chartered pirates of the rose. 
 
 III. 
 
 Every plant and flower ye touch on, 
 
 Wears at once a fresher grace ; 
 Bees ! ye form the proud escutcheon 
 
 Of the Barberini race. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Emblem bright ! which to embroider, 
 (WTiile her knight was far away,) 
 
 Many a maiden hath employed her 
 Fairy fingers night and day. 
 
 V. 
 Bees ! though pleased your flight I gaze on, 
 
 In the garden or the field, 
 Brighter hues your wings emblason 
 
 On the Barberini shield ! 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. 121 
 
 VI. 
 
 Hitherto a rose's chalice 
 
 Held thee, winged artizan ! 
 But thou fiUest now the palace 
 
 Of the gorgeous Vatican. 
 
 VII. 
 Of that race a Pontiff reigneth, 
 
 Sovereign of Imperial Rome, 
 Lo ! th' armorial Bee obtaineth 
 
 For its hive St. Peter's Dome ! 
 
 vni. 
 
 And an era now commences, 
 
 By a friendly genius planned ; 
 Princely Bee, Urban dispenses 
 
 Honeyed days throughout the land. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Seek, no more, with tuneful humming, 
 
 "Where the juicy floweret grows, 
 Halcyon days for you are coming, 
 
 Days of plenty and repose. 
 
 X. 
 
 Rest ye ! workmen, blyth and bonny, 
 
 Be no more the cowslips suckt. 
 Honeyed flows the Tyber ; honey 
 
 Fills each Roman aqueduct. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Myrtle groves are fast distilling 
 
 Honey ; honey'd falls the dew. 
 Ancient prophecies fulfilling ; 
 
 A millennium for you. 
 
 g3 
 
122 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 Turning aside for the present from the con- 
 templation of these former conclaves, and enter- 
 ing on the subject of that recent assembly which 
 elected Count John Mastai Ferretti, his pre- 
 sent Holiness, no documents have been put into 
 my hands by which I might hope to elucidate 
 the various influences which contributed to bring 
 about that happy result. Confessedly, things had 
 gone on during Gregor^^'s sixteen years of reign 
 from feebleness to dotage and from bad to worse. 
 The finances were in an awful state : the trade 
 and commerce of the country depressed, para- 
 lysed, and in despair : the cultivation of science in 
 every department clogged and discountenanced: 
 no energy, no hope, no buoyancy in any of the 
 liberal professions : deep-rooted discontent among 
 the people, open rebellion in the Legations : cor- 
 ruption in every branch of civil and in some de- 
 partments of ecclesiastical administration : dogged 
 reluctance to adopt any system of amelioration ; 
 stupid adherence to worn-out expedients and by- 
 gone traditions of red-tapery: the approach of 
 RUIN looked at with the calm stolidity of an 
 idiot who hugs himself to the last in the che- 
 rished monotony of routine and fatalism. Such 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. 123 
 
 was the state of things at the close of the late 
 reign. 
 
 Added to this internal state of general decay, 
 the overpowering predominance of an European 
 power, the shadow of whose black eagle hovering 
 over the Roman territory, caused a ^^dim eclipse,'^ 
 and scared all aspirations or hopes of a better 
 future. This gigantic nightmare was far more felt 
 in the Pontifical Dominions than in Upper Italy, 
 where slavery had its counterbalancing accompa- 
 niment of mere brute prosperity and physical 
 enjoyments, which among well-fed negroes will 
 always lessen the pangs of their prison-house, if 
 they cannot eradicate the longing for freedom. 
 But in the Papal States none of the mere phy- 
 sical improvements, — none of the common mate- 
 rial efforts at amehoration prevalent in Lom- 
 bardy, — were objects of administrative solicitude. 
 All was desolate, barren, waste and dilapidated, 
 beyond the graphic picturing of the inspired 
 writer who has left on solemn record his land- 
 scape of the field tenanted by an idle man, with 
 its fences broken down, and its other evidences of 
 sad improvidence. 
 
124 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 Proverbs, cap. xxiv. vers. — 
 
 30. I went by the field of the slothful and the vineyard of the 
 man void of understanding, 
 
 31. And lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles 
 had covered the face thereof, and the stone-wall thereof was 
 broken down. 
 
 32. Then I saw and considered it well. I looked upon it, 
 and received instruction. 
 
 33. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the 
 hands to sleep. 
 
 34. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy 
 want as an armed man ! 
 
 It was at a crisis like this that old Gregory at 
 last died. What followed I may leave to a poet 
 to describe ; for, singularly enough, the conclave 
 of 1846 has been foreseen, and allegorically adum- 
 brated, in an episode called "The Monks and 
 the Giants," as far back as the year 1818, when 
 Robert and William Whistlecraft, harness and 
 collar makers, at Stowmarket in Suffolk, published 
 their proposed National Poem, of which Mr, 
 Murray, of Albemarle Street, printed four cantos. 
 In that fourth canto is the following prophetic 
 narrative, which speaks for itself, and saves me 
 the trouble of entering into details. 
 
 * * * * 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. 125 
 
 XVII. 
 
 We wheeled him out, you know, to take the air, 
 It must have been an apoplectic fit ; 
 
 He tumbled forward from his garden chair : 
 He seemed completely gone but warm as yet. 
 
 (I wonder how they came to leave him there,) 
 Poor soul! he wanted courage, heart, and wit, 
 
 For tunes like these — the shock and the surprise, 
 
 'Twas very natural the gout should rise. 
 
 XVIII.' 
 
 But such a sudden end was scarce expected, 
 Our parties will be puzzled to proceed : 
 
 The Belfry Set divided and dejected : — 
 The crisis is a strange one, strange indeed ; 
 
 I'll bet the fighting friar is elected. 
 It often happens in the hour of need, 
 
 From popular ideas of utility, 
 
 People are pitched upon for mere ability. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 I'll hint the subject and communicate 
 The sad event — he's standing there apart ; 
 
 Our offer, to be sure, comes somewhat late ; 
 But then we never thought he meant to start. 
 
 And if he gains his end, at any rate 
 He has an understanding and a heart : 
 
 He'll serve or he'll protect his friends, at least ] 
 
 With better spirit than the poor deceased. 
 
126 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 XX. 
 
 The convent was all going to the devil, 
 
 While the poor creature thought himself beloved 
 
 For saying handsome things and being civil, 
 Wheeling about as he was pulled and shoved 
 
 By way of leaving things to find their level. 
 This funeral sermon ended, both approved, 
 
 And went to friar John, who merely doubted 
 
 The fact, and wished them to enquue about it. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Then left them, and returned to the attack, 
 They found their Abbot in his former place ; 
 
 They took him up and turned him on his back. 
 'At first, you know, he tumbled on his face : 
 
 They found him fairly stiff, and cold, and black ; 
 They then unloosed each ligature and lace, 
 
 His neckcloth and his girdle, hose, and garters, 
 
 And took him up and lodged him in his quarters. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Bees served me for a simile before, 
 
 And bees again, bees that have lost their king. 
 Would seem a repetition and a bore, 
 
 Besides, in fact, I never saw the thing ; 
 And though those phrases from the good old store, 
 
 Of "feebler hummings and of flagging wing," 
 Perhaps may be descriptive and exact, 
 I doubt it, I confine myself to fact. 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. 127 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Thus mucK is certain, that a mighty pother 
 Arises — that the frame and the condition 
 
 Of things is altered. They combine and bother^ 
 And every winged insect politician 
 
 Is warm and eager till they choose another. 
 In our monastic hive, the same ambition 
 
 Was active and alert ; but angry fortune 
 
 Constrained them to contract the long importune, 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Tedious, obscure, inexplicable train, 
 Qualification, form, and oath, and test, 
 
 Ballots on ballots, balloted again, 
 Accessits, scrutinies, and all the rest. 
 
 Theirs was the good old method, short and plain ; 
 Per acclamationem they invest 
 
 Their fighting friar John, with robes and ring, 
 
 Crozier and mitre, seals, and everything. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 With a new warlike active chief elected, 
 
 Almost at once, it scarce can be believed, 
 What a new spirit, real or affected. 
 
 Prevailed throughout. The monks complained and grieved 
 That nothing was attempted or projected ; 
 
 While quiristers and novices conceived 
 That their new fighting abbot, friar John, 
 Would sally forth at once and lead them on. 
 
128 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 I pass such gossip, and devote my cares, 
 
 By diligent enquiry, to detect 
 The genuine state and posture of affairs, 
 
 Unmannered, uninformed, and incorrect ; 
 Falsehood and malice hold alternate chairs, 
 
 And lecture and preside in Envy's sect. 
 The fortunate and great she never spares, 
 Sowing the soil of history with tares. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Thus jealous of the truth, and feeling loth 
 That Sir Nathaniel henceforth should accuse 
 
 Our noble monk of cowardice and sloth, 
 I'll print the affidavit of the muse, 
 
 And state the facts as ascertained on oath ; 
 Corroborated by surveys and views. 
 
 When good King Arthur granted them a brief, 
 
 And ninety groats were raised for their relief. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Their arbours, walks, and alleys, were defaced ; 
 
 Riven, uprooted, and with ruin strewn. 
 And the fair dial in their garden placed, 
 
 Battered by barbarous hands and overthrown. 
 The deer with wild pursuit dispersed and chased ; 
 
 The dove-house ransacked and the pigeons flown. 
 The cows all killed in one promiscuous slaughter. 
 The sheep all drowned, and floating in the water. 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. 129 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 The mill was burnt down to the water-wheels, 
 The giants had broke down the dam and sluice ; 
 
 Dragged up and emptied all the fishing reels, 
 Drained and destroyed the reservoir and stews. 
 
 Wading about and groping carp and eels : 
 In short, no single earthly thing of use 
 
 Remained untouched, beyond the convent wall, 
 
 The friars, from their windows, viewed it all. 
 
 XXX; 
 
 Hence the bare hope of personal defence. 
 The Church, the Convent's, and their own protection 
 
 Absorbed their thoughts, and silenced every sense 
 Of present feuds at Friar John's election. 
 
 Such would appear in the form of a prophetic 
 allegory, by substituting the cardinals for the 
 monks and the Austrians for giants, a full and 
 true statement of the recent transactions at 
 Rome. 
 
 The first acts of the newly- elected pontiff are 
 on record. He w^as scarce proclaimed to the 
 people, and raised amid enthusiasm to the vacant 
 chair of Peter, than he called for the French 
 ambassador, the only representative in Rome of 
 European progress, and by cordially embracing 
 Count Rossi, seemed at once to fling down the 
 gauntlet to the old despotisms of the Continent. 
 
130 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 Nor was he long without striking a forcible 
 blow at the system of terror, tyranny, and 
 espionage by which the government of his pre- 
 decessor had been miserably upheld. He saw 
 near ten thousand of the quondam subjects of 
 Rome pining or gnashing their teeth in exile, 
 fomenting infidelity and disaffection to all ecclesi- 
 astical rule in every town in Europe, scandalizing 
 Catholic countries and rejoicing Protestant domi- 
 nions, by their open, and in some respects justi- 
 fiable, denunciations of their native land. He 
 knew that he held the keys, not to lock the gates 
 against their return to fidelity and patriotism, not 
 to preclude hope, and change hostility to despair : 
 he seized the glorious opportunity of showing him 
 generous, magnanimous, and confident in the 
 natural emotions, which, in an Italian breast, 
 kindly treatment is sure to awaken. He unbarred 
 the gates of the Roman territory to them all. 
 The great act of political amnesty was the act of 
 the pontiff himself. Alone he did it. Ambas- 
 sadors fumed and threatened. Cardinals dis- 
 approved, hinted, earwigged, and menaced. Old 
 stagers showed an elongated visage, as if all were 
 lost. Not one of the officials in authority could 
 be got to sign the decree. He signed it him- 
 
BLANK LEAVES^ &C. 131 
 
 SELF. It appeared on the l7th of June, Rome 
 arose in its transport of joy, like one man, and the 
 kindred and friends of the banished did not feel 
 more wild enthusiasm than the rest of the popu- 
 lation. The general bosom swelled with grateful 
 emotion, and the voice of the people found utter- 
 ance in a vast variety of delightful demonstration. 
 From the ends of the earth, from the capital 
 cities and seaports and dark recesses of the whole 
 Continent, the exiles came back, as Israel return- 
 ing from a Babylonian captivity. The shout of 
 welcome and the song of gladness was heard in 
 the land. 
 
 Then was felt that a new era had begun. The 
 old crust of antiquated oppression had been 
 broken, and a free current given to the gushings 
 of humanity. 
 
 Has the reader ever been in Hungary when, in 
 the spring of the year, the Danube icebound 
 during winter, relents at the approach of a genial 
 warmth, and with a sudden revulsion bursting the 
 cold manacles in which it has lain enthralled, 
 restores its capacious flood to fluency and freedom ? 
 It is a moment of annual recurrence, but one of 
 unparalleled excitement and native grandeur. 
 The watchmen on the banks above Buda, have, 
 
132 A FEW INTERCALARY 
 
 for miles along the mighty river, transmitted from 
 man to man, the signal of the approaching out- 
 break. The guns from the citadel of Comorn 
 have announced far upwards, and reverberated 
 down the stream the joyful event ; the surface of 
 the wide flood has heaved up as in the throes of 
 deliverance: vast fissures, with a thundering 
 sound, have cloven the hitherto monotous expanse 
 of frozen waters: a general breaking up is per- 
 ceptible from brink to brink, and when a few 
 hours have elapsed, amid the acclamations of the 
 millions who dwell on the margin of that imme- 
 morial current, the combined voice of Hungary 
 calls out that the ice is broken, and the high- 
 way of nations made free once more. 
 
 Year after year this phenomenon takes place in 
 the presence of those various and manly tribes 
 
 Qui profundum Danubium bibunt; 
 
 but it has not happened for centuries on the 
 banks of the Roman river, where, though to all 
 appearance the yellow waters had run their course 
 with the semblance of a rapid flow, yet was the 
 moral and intellectual progress of the Tiber 
 checked, obstructed and frozen, and after the 
 dormant monotony of ages, it was reserved for 
 the energy of Count Ferretti, to give the indwel- 
 
BLANK LEAVES, &C. 133 
 
 lers of the Eternal City a spectacle such as that 
 above described. The guns of St. Angelo that 
 announced his election, told Europe at the same 
 time, that the old pathways of progress and civi- 
 lization were reopened, and that the ice was 
 BROKEN at Rome. 
 
 We have seen great things already achieved 
 what are we look for in the vista of a long and 
 prosperous future? Those who know Pius IX. 
 have their answer ready, indeed, they find the 
 query ready satisfied in the words of Paul : 
 
 Whatsoever things are true; whatsoever things are honest; 
 whatsoever things are just; whatsoever things are pure ; what- 
 sover things are lovely ; whatsoever things are of good report , 
 if there be anything virtuous, if there be anything praise- 
 worthy, count on the realizations of these things. 
 
 Epistle to Philippians, iv. 8. 
 
 For us, who are not of his flock, what may we 
 hope from the accession to the confessedly most 
 distinguished chair of Christian Episcopacy, of an 
 enlightened nobleman, who is a disciple of Christ 
 far more than a rabbi among men ? Much in 
 every way. We may count on him for sympathy 
 in what may be our unintentional error : for a 
 kindly toleration in matters which our limited 
 reason, or deficient information, prevent us from 
 
134 A FEW INTERCALARY, &C. 
 
 seeing in the same light as he was educated to 
 view them. We may look to him for a mitigation 
 of that intolerant spirit, which has never made 
 converts, whatever bitterness it may have infused 
 into the intercourse of European society. We 
 may look to him finally, if the accomplishment of 
 such a work enters at all into the designs of Pro- 
 vidence*, for a GENERAL UNION and AGREEMENT 
 
 among Christian Churches, a " Communion 
 of Saints.'' 
 
 * " This union is not so difficult as appears to many : tlie points 
 of agreement between the two Churches are numerous ; those on 
 which the parties hesitate few, and not the most important. On 
 most of those, it appears to me, there is no essential difference 
 between Catholic and Protestant, the existing diversity of opinion 
 arising in most cases from certain form of words which admit of 
 satisfactory explanation. Ignorance, misconception, prejudice, 
 ill-will, pride, and point of honour, keep us divided on many sub- 
 jects, not a love of Christian humility, charity, and truth. 
 
 "A James Doyle, Bishop of Kildare." 
 
 Letter to an M.P., dated Carlotv, May 13, 1824. 
 
PART THE SECOND. 
 
 THE BRIGHT DAWN OF BETTER DAYS, 
 
 I 
 
PART THE SECOND. 
 
 THE BRIGHT DAWN OF BETTER DAYS, 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Rome, October 20. 
 
 The month of October has been from time 
 immemorial sacred to the observance of the 
 Roman villegiatura^ during which the cool ac- 
 clivities of the circumambient hills afford^ if not 
 watering, at least breathing places to the general 
 public, state functionaries included. The active 
 mind of Pius IX. brooks no relaxation, and 
 during his visit to the falls of Tivoli this week, 
 his whole time was devoted to the organization 
 of the new iron works which promise to relieve 
 Rome from part of the disgraceful tribute she 
 now pays to foreign industry. Fire-blasts, smelt- 
 ing furnaces, specimens of agricultural imple- 
 ments, models of iron bridges (these latter es- 
 pecially) occupied the attention of him who is 
 
138 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 ex-officio "Pontifex*/^ and orders mixed with 
 encouragements were issued for a variety of 
 works. The Roman finances are, thanks to the 
 various retrenchments made in the Papal house- 
 hold, and the discontinuance of many sinecures, 
 far from being in the hopeless condition they 
 would have assumed had the late reign gone on. 
 The last million of the Torlonia loan was paid on 
 the 26th of August, and had the great tobacco 
 broker wished to back out of his agreement, 
 I am cognizant of many quarters whence the 
 money would have been at once forthcoming. 
 You are aware that the grand mill-stone tied 
 round the neck of the Papal treasurer is the 
 payment of the Swiss boors, who, to the num- 
 ber of near 10,000, garrison the Legations. To 
 get rid of these, now worse than useless, mer- 
 cenaries, is the firm determination of Pius; but 
 he is bound by the stolid and suicidal compact 
 signed by the late Gregory, in the year 1831, 
 
 * The original Roman Pontiffs were intrusted with the repairs 
 and construction of Bridges, whence their designation; in those 
 early days, religion was intimately blended with whatever conduced 
 to public utility. This etymology has not escaped the author of 
 ** Paradise Lost," who alludes to it for the purpose of having a 
 fling against his htte noire, prelacy. Talking of the bridge 
 ■which he makes the devil build over chaos to get at tlxis planet, the 
 sublime old Roundhead calls it "a work Pontifical!" 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 139 
 
 when^ frightened out of his senses by the revolt 
 of Bologna, he agreed to guarantee their pay and 
 allowances for twenty years to come ; which period 
 will not expire till 1851. There is some notion 
 of hiring them out to any foreign power who may 
 want such efficient bludgeon-men, and may be 
 willing to relieve his Holiness of the incumbrance. 
 They would be invaluable to keep down the Poles, 
 and I suppose Russia or Austria will ultimately 
 take them oif his hands. The Swiss officers have 
 had the cunning to bargain for full pay during 
 their natural lives, besides certain prerogatives 
 and emoluments, which place them over the heads 
 of their Italian fellow-commanders — a perpetual 
 blister on the pontifical corps d^armee. Does not 
 Milton say something about annulling certain 
 
 ** Vows made in pain, as violent and void." 
 
 And was not such the case of the late Pope when 
 he was cheated into such an agreement by the 
 Dalgetties of Lucerne ? One family of that canton 
 has held the command of these hired troops for 
 the last 300 years; a vested interest with a 
 vengeance. 
 
 Another great source of unprofitable expen- 
 diture is the support of the galley-slaves, who are 
 a very numerous class indeed, owing to the repug- 
 
 h2 
 
140 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 nance of the Papal code to spilling blood, when 
 the penalty can be possibly commuted to per- 
 petual labour. You are aware of the value of 
 such labour: the result is a dead loss to the 
 exchequer. Count Rossi, before he left Rome to 
 consult his masters at Paris, made, officially, an 
 offer to relieve the Pope of all his convicts, whom 
 he engaged to convert into agricultural labourers 
 in the flourishing French colony of Algiers. Whe- 
 ther this was meant as a dry joke by the generally 
 serious and solemn plenipotentiary, I have no 
 means of knowing. Nothing has yet been decided 
 on the point. Of one thing there can be no 
 doubt, and that is the cordial feeUng of Pius 
 towards Louis Philippe ; and hence he has done 
 all in his power to forward the Montpensier mar- 
 riage, as far as his influence with the Spanish 
 clergy could be used for that object. Viewed from 
 Rome, that question assumes an aspect very dif- 
 ferent from its appearance to an English eye. 
 Don Carlos has received a hint that if he come 
 here his sojourn will not be made very satisfactory, 
 should he assume the character of a pretender. 
 All these things annoy the French Carlists as well 
 as those of the Peninsula ; but they must swallow 
 the bitter pill in silent acquiescence. You will 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 141 
 
 scarcely believe it true, but it is, nevertheless, so 
 generally asserted by grave men in every quarter, 
 that there must be some foundation for the report, 
 that his Holiness, previous to taking solemn pos- 
 session of the Papacy on the 9th of November, 
 intends, during eight consecutive days, to preach 
 in propria persona from the pulpit of St. John 
 Lateran. We are all on the qui vive for 
 this unheard-of course of lectures, only to be 
 historically paralleled by the discourses of my 
 respected kinsman, Savonarola, in the glorious 
 days of Florentine freedom. I shall send an 
 analysis of these " speeches from the throne" as 
 they occur. The late secretary, Lambruschini, 
 was detected last week in a quasi treasonable cor- 
 respondence — the original letter having found its 
 way into the Pope's hands. Pius sent for him, 
 tore it in fragments before his face, and told him 
 to ^^ sin no more." Cardinal della Genga has 
 been still more deeply engaged in plotting with 
 Austria, along with certain old jobbing func- 
 tionaries here : the belief in town is, that his 
 Eminence is now lodged in the Castle of St. 
 Angelo. If not, where is he ? For the last week 
 his whereabouts is the town mystery. Father 
 Ryllo starts to-morrow for Abyssinia, on a mis- 
 
142 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 sion of evangelism, combined \vith discover}\ He 
 applied to the French Institute for co-operation, 
 which was refused by the Guizot ministry, " be- 
 cause Ryllo is a Jesuit.'^ He has, to-day, to make 
 a similar application to the Geographical Society 
 of London. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 Rome, October 28. 
 
 I FORWARD you the first number of the Roman 
 Advertiser"^ y an English weekly journal, which 
 began its significant career last Saturday. No 
 less than five new daily and weekly publications 
 are announced to meet the demand of a freshly 
 created reading public of native growth, among 
 others, // Popolare, UEcho del Tempo, II Contem- 
 poraneo, and, perhaps, the most important of all. 
 La Giurisprudenza. This last journal is to be 
 modelled on the French Gazette des THbunaux, 
 and is the natural offshoot of a most vital ame- 
 
 • This paper is edited by a son of the late poetic Mrs. Hemans ; 
 emerging from a Benedictine convent, the young lad shows taste 
 and industry, but is yet rather greeu. He has much to learn in 
 his editorial capacity. 
 
OP BETTER DAYS. 143 
 
 lioration of justice, — viz., publicity in criminal 
 trials, — matters which have hitherto been ma- 
 ' naged in the dark, and over which public opinion 
 never could exercise any sort of control. Not 
 only are all trials to be now conducted in the 
 light of day, but the whole criminal code is un- 
 dergoing revision, and the land that has produced 
 a Beccaria is no longer to be disgraced by the 
 systematic absurdities and glaring discrepancies of 
 late Roman jurisprudence. The cellular system, 
 is under consideration for prison discipline ; in no 
 part of Europe, perhaps, are there such discre- 
 ditable jails as have existed from time immemorial 
 here, and nothing has been attempted in the way 
 of change since they were inspected by your 
 philanthropist Howard, at the close of last cen- 
 tury. 
 
 To improve the administration in every branch 
 is the firm resolve of Pius IX.; but the very 
 existence of the government must be first provided 
 for ; and, with the yearly deficit which for the last 
 sixteen years was going on in arithmetical pro- 
 gression, the days of the sovereignty were num- 
 bered. Finding that all reductions in his house- 
 hold and the abolition of sinecures cannot meet 
 the evil, he has boldly broached the project of 
 
144 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 an income tax, which, in the state of landed pro- 
 perty throughout his dominions, is nothing short 
 of a financial revolution. The tax on salt, that 
 on corn ground at the mill {la moltura) — this 
 latter most oppressive to the peasant, who is not 
 allowed to grind his own corn! — are to be abo- 
 lished on the expiration of the monopoly, now 
 belonging to the great salt-seller, Torlonia. A 
 very serious item of expenditure was indulged in 
 by the late sovereign, no less than the rebuilding 
 of an Imperial basilica, the gigantic church first 
 erected by Theodosius, while master of the Ro- 
 man world, on the Via Ostia, in honour of St. 
 Paul. There can be no question that the apostle 
 of the Gentiles deserves every reasonable testi- 
 monial, but prudence, not to speak of justice, 
 would suggest the impropriety of " robbing Peter 
 to pay'^ his illustrious collaborator. 
 
 When this splendid edifice was originally plan- 
 ned, the road to Ostia was the highway of nations, 
 and the gorgeous colonnade and cedar roof did 
 not flourish in a positive desert ; but the solitude 
 is now unbroken, save by a chance buffalo driver 
 or cockney tourist, for whose edification it is 
 rather too much to spend a half dozen million of 
 dollars, even if a surplus existed in the papal 
 
OF BETTER DAYS, 145 
 
 treasury. King Otho, who repudiates his bond- 
 holders^ might as well exhaust the small remnant 
 of the Greek budget in an attempt to restore the 
 Parthenon, while roads are wanting and banditti 
 unsuppressed. The present Pope has reduced to 
 one-third the allowance for this item of unneces- 
 sary outgoings, and has thus obviated the oppres* 
 sive effects of its ultimate bearing on the people. 
 The late Gregory never took this view of things, 
 being a simple monk. Two years ago an old 
 Florentine usurer put up a stone fayade to a 
 church in the Via larga, and about the same time 
 Professor Segato, having succeeded in a process 
 of embalming dead bodies, so as to render them 
 solid and imperishable, this squib was read on the 
 pediment : 
 
 " Nuovo miracolo! 
 Vivo Segato! 
 Sangue del popolo 
 Petrificato." 
 
 Next to finance, the most urgent difficulty of 
 his Hohness is to find men of intellect and integ- 
 rity not only willing but adequate to the task of 
 carrying out his views — all the old red tapists are 
 found to be more an incumbrance than aid. In the 
 new cabinet, the members of which were named in 
 
 h3 
 
146 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 the public journals^ you will find that he has in- 
 cluded none of the cardinals. Much will depend 
 on the new creations which he may be enabled to 
 make by the frequent deaths among those respect- 
 able octogenarians. One point he has determined 
 upon, viz., not to grant a red " hat " merely be- 
 cause routine of office has accustomed certain 
 functionaries to look up to that dignity as a 
 retiring provision. The governor of Rome, a sort 
 of police officer, expects it as a matter of course; 
 so does the head of the war office; but I can 
 safely affirm that neither Marini nor Medici 
 Spada, (who hold these respective posts,) will be 
 made a cardinal in a hurry, even on removal 
 from office. The late Secretary Lambruschini 
 has no reason to grumble, having got a splendid 
 retiring allowance, 10,000 dollars a year, as' ^^e^re-. 
 tario dei Brevi." I am sorry to report the fading 
 health of Cardinal Acton ; and fear much the 
 speedy loss of old Micara, deservedly popular 
 with the Romans. 
 
 We have had torrents of rain for the last ten 
 days. Old Tiber walked the streets, and among 
 other entertainments consequent on rainy nights 
 at Rome (for you recollect that when node pluit 
 totd, redeunt spectacula mane) the Pantheon pre- 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 14? 
 
 sented a most striking though simple pheno- 
 menon ; the whole area of the marble floor being 
 covered several feet deep with a placid sheet of 
 golden-coloured liquid, the reflection of the great 
 concave above in the mirror below, ^'swan and 
 shadow/^ gave you an idea of the interior of a 
 vast globe of overpowering dimensions. 
 
 The Queen of Holland has just left us, and this 
 week Fanny Elssler was presented to the Pope 
 by Colonel PfyfFer, of the Swiss guard ; and the 
 Monarch blandly said, that ^^ talent in every de- 
 partment of human excellence was ever welcome 
 to his dominions/^ The Pope made a visit in 
 state to the aged martyr of alleged Russian 
 brutality, the Polish nun, Macryna, as if to inti- 
 mate his views respecting Poland. This lady^s 
 story made a great stir last year, and she is now 
 the object of extraordinary veneration. She has 
 of late been induced by the flattery of the French 
 nuns, who have given her kind hospitality, to tr)' 
 her hand at ■' miraculous cures,'^ and this year a 
 young French Abbe, who had lost his voice, be- 
 came quite a lion in all fashionable circles here, 
 by recovering his speech through the agency of 
 Mother Macryna. Should her claims to canoni- 
 zation rest upon this exploit at any future day, I 
 
 b 
 
148 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 fear the avocato del diavolo will demur : the mi- 
 racle should have been reversed to become truly- 
 forcible : she should have succeeded in checking, 
 not in promoting the loquacity of a Frenchman. 
 
 Although his Holiness is overwhelmed with 
 business, your indefatigable countryman, Silk 
 Buckingham, " resident director ^^ of some esta- 
 blishment at the west-end, having insisted on 
 having it, had an audience, the details of which I 
 possess, but am not at liberty to amuse you 
 with ; it was as good as anything lately produced 
 at the Haymarket. He will not fail to give you 
 his own version of it, however, as he has already 
 taken care to do here, in a paragraph of the Diario 
 Romano, at which the British Consul, who volun- 
 teered to introduce him, is deservedly rabid. Alto- 
 gether, the Pope, from this specimen of the native 
 modesty and bashfulness of Englishmen, must 
 imbibe a strange notion of John Bull. The Ro- 
 man paper calls the affair, ^' Britannico straniero '^ 
 —British and strange — especially the latter. 
 
 A project of Messrs. Grey and Chauman (Chap- 
 man ?) to furnish rails of some vitrified substance, 
 to be used in lieu of iron, has been favourably 
 received by the cabinet, and is under considera- 
 tion. The lines have been all finally determined 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. . 149 
 
 oiij and are to be put up for competition forth- 
 with, the "Jackson Company's'^ rights to the 
 more northern branch being recognised. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Rome, November 3. 
 
 On the evening of the 28th October, Mr. New- 
 man, accompanied by Mr. Ambrose St. John, 
 entered the Eternal City, which had been for the 
 last ten days deluged with incessant rain. Next 
 morning the ex-Anglican proselyte^s first impulse 
 was to pay his homage at the tomb of the Apos- 
 tles {limina apostolorum), when, as chance would 
 have it, Pius IX. was in the act of realizing the 
 lines of Scott^s ballad — 
 
 " The Pope he was saying his high high mass, 
 All at St. Peter's shrine." 
 
 Their interview occurred in the crypt or sub- 
 terranean sanctuary, the oldest portion of the 
 basilica. Whatever importance may attach to the 
 arrival of this distinguished transfuga, the most 
 celebrated, perhaps of the many that have come 
 hither since the days of Queen Christina of 
 Sweden (in which eccentric lady^s quondam bou- 
 
150 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 doir I now happen to write), the advent of so 
 propitiatory an offering to the genius of the seven 
 hills, seems to have influenced the elements ; the 
 rain has stopped, 
 
 ** Et soles melius nitent." 
 
 It would appear that the inundations of Upper 
 Italy opposed serious obstacles to the progress of 
 the Oxford pilgrims, and that at one passage the 
 cart which bore them, drawn by oxen (in the ab- 
 sence of any other conveyance), was well nigh 
 swallowed up by the rush of many waters. Safe 
 from those semi-apostolic ^^ perils of the flood,^' 
 tbey are now engaged under the guidance of the 
 most intelligent of their countrymen and co-reli- 
 gionists in a brief survey of whatever is most re- 
 markable here, and in a few days Mr. Newman, 
 late of Oxford, with his companions, will take 
 possession of chambers in the College of Propa- 
 ganda, and enter on a preparatory course, previous 
 to re-ordination in the Church of Rome. 
 
 On All-hallow-e^en the Pope held his first public 
 capella in the Quirinal chapel. The cardinals 
 have not yet gathered in from the country, so 
 that of the twenty who are supposed to be in 
 Rome, I could mark the presence of only the 
 following: Franzoni, Lambruschini, Brignole, 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 151 
 
 Macchi, Gazzoli, Patrizi, Mai, Mezzofante, Orioli, 
 Bianchi, Massimo, Acton, Asquini, and Simonetti. 
 The absence of one or two others was as con- 
 spicuous as the ^^ alibi ^^ of Brutus and Cassius in 
 the old Roman procession. You may collect my 
 meaning from my communication of 20th October. 
 There will be another capella to-morrow in the 
 Church of St. Charles Borromeo in the Corso: this 
 church is one of the most majestic in Rome, and 
 it is but fitting that it should be so to typify aptly 
 the grandeur and high character of the benevolent 
 spirit it is erected to commemorate. Why the 
 Pope should visit this church in particular on the 
 anniversary of the great archbishop of Milan, is 
 a question interwoven with the quarrel of the 
 Spanish succession in 1706, and therefore not 
 uninteresting in 1846, when just a century and a 
 half have terminated in reproducing the selfsame 
 imbroglio, as if in exact accordance with the 
 Pythagorean cycle of which Virgil is expositor, 
 and which would a new peninsular war, another 
 Wellington. 
 
 " Alter erit turn Tiphys et altera que vehat argo 
 Delectos heroas, erunt etiam altera bella 
 Atque iterum ad Trojam magnus mittitur Achilles." 
 
 In 1706 then, the Dean and Chapter of the 
 church being Milanese subjects, and partisans of 
 
152 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 the house of Austria, had prepared for the saint's 
 festival splendid banners displaying the arms and 
 effigy of the Archduke Charles, which, coming to 
 the knowledge of the Bourbonite Spanish Ambas- 
 sador, the latter contemplated an inroad on the 
 church at the head of his followers and a host of 
 French auxiliaries : whereupon Clement XL, who 
 had publicly announced his perfect neutrality in 
 the contest, proceeded in person to the church of 
 San Carlo ; and as no earthly monarch's insignia 
 can be disi:)layed in presence of the reigning Pon- 
 tiff, there was a decent excuse for both sides 
 refraining from collision. Once established, the 
 Pope's visit became an ^^ annual commemoration 
 of peace and union among Christian princes." 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that since the accession 
 of Pius IX. in June, the number of crimes com- 
 mitted against the person as well as against pro- 
 perty in the district of Rome, has diminished in 
 the most extraordinary ratio — the month of June 
 offering about 500 cases, July 340, August 230, 
 September 200, and last month's calendar falling to 
 112: the old admirers of " the red tape system," 
 coercion, and routine, can make nothing of it. It 
 seems to them a sort of '' witchcraft ;" ay, such 
 as that by which Othello compassed the willing 
 affection of Desdemona, 
 
OF BETTER DAYS, 15^ 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 Ro 
 
 The grand ceremony of taking formal posses- 
 sion of the Lateran Church began this morning, 
 and is not yet terminated^ though the guns of 
 St. Angelo are just now marking by their revebe- 
 rated roar, that the most solemn stage of the 
 business is being enacted. To this exhibition of 
 Papal pomp the whole country round has been 
 flocking in for the last two or three days, and the 
 constant arrivals from Naples and Florence have 
 evinced no less interest on the part of foreign 
 visitants. The Olympic games of Greece could 
 scarcely present a fairer gathering in epitome of 
 the various Hellenic tribes than Rome presented 
 this week of all the surrounding towns in a circuit 
 of one hundred miles, diversified in costume as 
 distinctly, and as easily recognizable by a peculiar 
 juxtaposition of primitive colours, as your high- 
 land clans. Down from the suburban hills came 
 bands of music and troops oi pifferari, to describe 
 the general eifect of which would require the 
 classical bagpipe of Mr. Macaulay; ex. gr. 
 
154 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 " The horsemen and the footmen 
 
 Came pouring in amain 
 From many a stately market town — 
 
 From many a fruitful plain — 
 From many a lonely hamlet, 
 
 Which, hid by beech and pine, 
 Like an eagle's nest hangs on the crest 
 
 Of purple Apennine. 
 
 " For aged folks on crutches. 
 
 And women large with child. 
 And mothers gloating o'er their babes, 
 
 That clung to them and smiled; 
 And sick men borne on litters, 
 
 High on the necks of slaves, 
 And troops of sunburnt husbandmen. 
 
 With reaping-hooks and staves; 
 
 '* And droves of mules and asses 
 
 Laden with skins of wine," &c. &c. 
 
 literally ^^ choked every roaring gate*^ of the city, 
 principally on the side of Tivoli, Frascate, and 
 Albano. For several evenings past the theatres 
 have resounded with acclamations bestowed on a 
 dull drama of Abbe Metastasio, dug out of obli- 
 vion for the purpose of political allusion, La 
 Clemenza di Tito; and it was obvious that a po- 
 pular demonstration, on a gigantic scale, was 
 about to be given to his Holiness, expressive of 
 the public resolve to sustain him against all 
 reactionary efforts. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 155 
 
 And most overwhelming was this day^s exhi- 
 bition of physical strength along the whole line of 
 the Pope^s progress from his Quirinal Palace to 
 the Lateran^ amid shouts of enthusiastic devotion, 
 such as the unanimous heart of a whole people, 
 long estranged from such feelings, could alone give 
 forth. The richest tapestries lined the palaces 
 on the line of procession ; festoons, garlands, and 
 silk hangings profusely ornamented the inferior 
 dwellings, and every balcony was a focus of 
 patriotic ebullition, as the Pontiff was borne on- 
 ward in the midst of as picturesque a cortege as 
 the imagination of this fanciful land could conjure 
 into existence. An idea of the dresses worn by 
 the Roman Court in this singular cavalcade, can 
 be only conveyed by you, dear Dickens, to your 
 friends in Cockneyshire by referring them to the 
 gorgeous picture at Hampton Court, of the 
 "Field of the Cloth of Gold;" almost all the 
 costumes in that glowing representation being 
 reproduced in the retinue which rode with the 
 Pope in this splendid revival of a mediseval cere- 
 mony. All the judges were on horseback, as 
 well as all the prelates, bishops, pages, the Gove- 
 nor of Rome,. Captain of Swiss Halbardiers, the 
 senators, and other indescribable functionaries of 
 
156 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 a variegated and many-tesselated government, 
 men in armour, the noble guard and the Pope's 
 standard-bearer, on his obligato mule, leading the 
 van. 
 
 Formerly the cavalcade mounted the steep as- 
 cent of the Capitol, but since Ganganelli fell off 
 his horse on getting down towards the arch of 
 Septimius, it now enters the forum by a circuit. 
 An immense crowd of swarthy peasants from the 
 Sabine, Yolscian, and Latin districts, filled tlie 
 Campo Vaccino, and rent the air with reiterated 
 shouts on the Pope's entering the old Via Sacra, 
 at which moment the great bell of the Capitol, 
 which is only heard on such an occasion as the 
 present, roaring above the voices of the multitude, 
 uttered its diapason of singularly deep vibrations 
 
 '* Pealing solemnly." 
 
 At the triumphal arch of Titus, some curiosity 
 was excited, in the expectation of the Jews' re- 
 presentatives in Rome paying homage, as usual, 
 to the new sovereign, and craving toleration ; but 
 the Pope's good taste dispensed with a display 
 which only keeps alive the sense of inferiority, 
 and difference of caste — a prelude, I hope, to 
 ulterior measures on behalf of Israel. All the 
 rising ground on the Palatine hill was densely 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 15? 
 
 covered with spectators, but the Colosseum, 
 divided into boxes and hung with silks, seemed 
 to be what your great stand is at Newmarket 
 races. 
 
 Farther on, at the church of St. dementis, 
 celebrated on many accounts, and now tenanted 
 by a few Irish friars, some curiosity was excited 
 in the crowd, and expressed by the Papal caval- 
 cade, as to the meaning of a huge green banner 
 floating from the porch, and bearing a harp un- 
 croivned, with other heraldic puzzles. The here- 
 ditary colours of the Ferretti family, as displayed 
 in the Papal escutcheon, are white and orange, and 
 such were the pervading tints of every other at- 
 tempt at decoration on his passage. The caval- 
 cade ultimately reached its destination no doubt ; 
 for me, the crowd prevented all approach to the 
 Lateran church ; and certainly no Roman triumph, 
 nor medieeval pageant could have surpassed what I 
 witnessed to-day. To realise one part of the old 
 classic procession, there were only wanting the 
 Rev. Dr. Newman, Ambrose St. John, and George 
 Talbot, to walk in the character of war captives. 
 
 " Britannus ut descenderet 
 Sacra catenatus via." 
 
158 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Turning from this topic to profane news, the 
 indefatigable Lieut. Waghorn arrived here in the 
 night of Friday and routed up the EngUsh consul, 
 with whom, having been closeted some hours, he 
 started post-haste to Naples on his way to the 
 port of Brindisi, on the Adriatic. The Pope has 
 offered this morning, by placards on the walls, a 
 gold medal, value 1000 dollars, to him who will 
 present the best plan for crossing the great 
 Apennine barrier from Ancona to Rome. Should 
 Waghorn and Pius IX. succeed in bringing the 
 overland route from India to Europe into this 
 channel, they will have done no small deed ; and 
 it will be curious to find that the earliest engineer 
 who laid down the line of railway with its gradients 
 and terminus, was the playful poet, '' the end of 
 whose journey and letter was Brundusium/^ 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Rome, November 11. 
 
 We are in full progress here towards popular 
 government. One of the most significant tokens 
 of the new era was exhibited yesterday, when 
 EIGHT HUNDRED Romau citizcus assembled in a 
 public banquet to greet the political exiles of the 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 159 
 
 jDrovinces, under the magnificent roof of the Ali- 
 berti Theatre, thousands of spectators crowding 
 the boxes, and not a *^ policeman '^ to be seen of 
 any sort. 
 
 This demonstration was got up at a few days^ 
 notice. The committee consisted of men of the 
 middle class — an order of mankind never yet heard 
 of in Roman affairs. Their names deserve record : 
 they were, Orioh, son of the exiled professor (who 
 has returned from Corfu to his native university 
 of Bologna) ; Nattali, a bookseller ; Delfrate, an 
 artist ; Thomasson, a " man of letters ; '^ and De 
 Andreis, a printer. 
 
 The guests were gathered on an elevated plat- 
 form, the committee presiding ; for this popular 
 banquet presented the peculiarity of the presi- 
 dent's chair being " put in commission ; '' w^hen, 
 after discussing the viands wdth Italian gravity and 
 sobriety, the business of the evening began. Che- 
 chetelli, a well-known and voluminous writer, ap- 
 peared for the first time in the character of a 
 speaker, and in a graceful oration bespoke the 
 moderation of his hearers in the enjoyment of 
 their newly-recovered liberty of thought and ac- 
 tion ; so would they best defeat any scheme for 
 rolling backwards the now happy onw^ard tide of 
 
160 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Roman freedom. Next rose Professor Sejani, an 
 exile lately returned from Malta, the author of 
 many tragedies, and implicated in not a few con- 
 spiracies ; on him devolved the task of proposing 
 the health of Pius IX. , a colossal bust of the 
 monarch being forthwith borne forward and 
 crowned with laurel, amid the loud vociferations 
 of the whole theatre. Sejani's speech was ener- 
 getic and clever, and drew down thunders of ap- 
 plause. After him a distinguished medical light 
 of our university here. Dr. De Dominicis, whose 
 brother lately died in prison for political causes, 
 made a most affecting appeal to his fellow-citizens, 
 and was listened to with intense interest ; he dwelt 
 on the necessity of not thwarting the present Pope 
 with an unreasonable eagerness for change, not 
 one in that assembly being more anxious to ac- 
 celerate beneficial measures than the pontiff, to 
 whom alone were known the obstacles to be en- 
 countered, and the difficulties to be overcome. 
 Sterbini, late exile from Marseilles, followed in 
 prose for a while, till kindling with his subject, he 
 burst forth into poetry, or a kind of measured 
 recitative, in the chorus of which, the whole assem- 
 bly, as if whirled into a vortex of ecstasy, soon 
 joined. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 161 
 
 The evening would have passed off with undis- 
 turbed regularity were it not for an incident which 
 may leave the germ of much future ill-will and 
 mistrust. I said before that the middle classes of 
 Rome, hitherto a totally unrecognised body, were 
 the originators of this festival. About a dozen 
 tickets had been taken by members of the Casino 
 del Nobili, and their places kept until an advanced 
 hour, when others were but too happy to fill up 
 the vacancy their absence created. A buzz of 
 inquiry ran through the theatre as to the cause of 
 their non-appearance, when it transpired that 
 Prince Borghese w^as entertaining, that night, a 
 distinguished circle at the palace, and had pressed 
 all his acquaintances into the service. This was^ 
 of course, deemed an aggravation of the offence^ 
 and construed into a premeditated slight on the 
 popular feelings, and on the Pope himself; where- 
 upon, at the close of the proceedings, several 
 hundreds of the younger and more boisterous 
 spirits proceeded in a body to the Palazzo Bor- 
 ghese, and, with determined shouts, called for an 
 illumination of ih^faqadem honour of Pio IX., 
 " Lumi fuori ! lumi faori I viva Pio nono ! '' In- 
 stead of complying with which demand, and thus 
 restoring good humour, the inmates of the palace 
 
162 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 began to close the window-shutters, when a storm 
 of popular execration assailed Borghese and his 
 guests, hisses and groans of an unmistakeable 
 character. The Prince was proceeding to address 
 the mob from the balcony, when, luckily for him- 
 self, he was drawn back by Vincenzo Colonna; 
 and some of the graver and more thoughtful citi- 
 zens arriving from the banquet-hall, prevailed on 
 the irritated crowd to withdraw for the present, 
 convinced that the nobles of the casino and their 
 host would offer every apology to-day. 
 
 Lieutenant Waghorn {ecce iterum) is just come 
 back from his Neapolitan excursion, and by this 
 hour is rapidly proceeding to England. Accord- 
 ing to his own statement, he has quite mesmerised 
 the King of the Lazzaroni. He had a long inter- 
 view with Cardinal Gizzi yesterday; but with 
 what result I have not been able to ascertain. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Rome, November 18. 
 Nothing of a political character has occurred 
 here since I sent you an account of the grand 
 ceremonial at the Lateran church, nor is anything 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 163 
 
 yet known of an intimated intention, which I 
 hinted at last month, on the part of the Pontiff, 
 to address the Roman people in a series of 
 homilies in that ancient Basilica, after the old 
 fashion of Leo and Gregory ^'^the Great/^ The 
 last Pope who made his appearance in a Christian 
 pulpit was the Boiognese Lambertini, about a 
 century ago, an undeniably great man, and the 
 first canonist of his day. Since then the only 
 harangues pronounced by Popes have been ^' al- 
 locutions'^ to the College of Cardinals, mostly 
 distinguishable for bad Latin and premeditated 
 obscurity. The late Gregory, on one of these 
 occasions, took a fancy to denounce the freedom 
 of the press as '^ damnabilem imprimendi licen- 
 tiam." The press throughout Europe is likely to 
 return him the compliment. The common people 
 of Rome have already adopted from Tuscany and 
 the Legations the term '^/rataccio/' as embody- 
 ing their notion of his reign and character. 
 
 The utmost activity, meantime, is discernible 
 ia every department of administration, and every 
 lawyer of any eminence is deej^ly engaged in 
 assisting the labours of the Sovereign for the 
 emendation of a most defective code, which has 
 been retrograde while all Europe was progressing. 
 
 I 2 
 
164 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 In the Legations the petty despotism of each 
 successive local Satrap had never been controlled 
 by any well-defined limits of authority; those 
 limits are being fixed^ and means of appeal fa- 
 cilitated, so as to render the functions of these 
 Legates somewhat analogous to those of French 
 Prefects of Departments. Each district and 
 municipality is to be fairly represented in the 
 persons of responsible landholders, whose voice 
 is to be heard potentially in matters affecting the 
 improvement of their respective territories. 
 
 The most sanguine partisans of progress appear 
 satisfied at the pace which regulates the advance : 
 — if not a galloping reform, 'tis a good smart 
 trot — 
 
 '* Putrem sonitu quatit uiigula campum." 
 
 Visitors from your part of the world are throng- 
 ing fast, and promise a crowded season. The 
 Duke of Devonshire is hourly expected from 
 Florence, with Lords Ward and Headfort. We 
 number already, ^^ intra ponuRrium^^ Viscount 
 Brackley, or Ellesmere, or Egerton, (for I am 
 not a diligent reader of your Peerage, and its 
 various mysteries) ; Lord and Lady Canning ; 
 Lords Clifford, Beverley, and Compton; Lord 
 and Lady Walpole, with Lady Pellew ; the Earl 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 165 
 
 of Shelburne and Lady; Lord Elliot; Earl and 
 Countess Lichfield; Lord Bernard Howard; Lord 
 Keane; Dowager Countess Grey; Le Comte d^ Ar- 
 undel*; Sir T. Hepburn, M.P. ; Mr. and Mrs. 
 Sartoris, and Mrs. Butler; Mrs. Lenox Cuning- 
 ham ; and finally, on a visit to their kinsfolk, the 
 Dorias and Borghese, Colonel and Mrs. Bryan, 
 of county Kilkenny. This latter is the only 
 Irish landlord arrived or expected here this win- 
 ter. It is creditable to that class of your fellow- 
 subjects that they seem to understand fully the 
 proper whereabouts for their presence just now. 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 Rome, November 28. 
 
 To the denizens of Rome there is newly opened 
 an abounding source of gentle merriment in the 
 perusal of French and German journals, whenever 
 the affairs of this metropolis are introduced — 
 
 * This personage, who was admitted generally into a certain 
 kind of society at Rome, this winter, where yet his peculiarities 
 were not quite unknown, has since figured before the London 
 police office with unpleasant results. 
 
166 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 which is now of constant occurrence, though it 
 would seem that the matrimonial imbroglio of the 
 Spanish peninsula and the subsidence of Cracow 
 from the map of Europe ought fully to engage 
 the energetic spirits engaged in editorial redaction. 
 Paragraphs of hazarded news are ventilated at 
 " Nuremberg/^ or take wing from Frankfort and 
 Cologne, birds of good, or, as it may be, of evil, 
 augury, which were never seen from this Vatican 
 hill, but belong rather to what in French news- 
 paper dialect is called cffw«rr/,Anglice, a species of 
 literary wild duck. Fabulous onslaughts on the 
 Jesuits in various small towns throughout the 
 Romagna are favourite game of this description 
 with the press of Paris. No one in Rome is 
 cognisant of aught — save a few vocal manifesta- 
 tions of dislike, never approaching personal vio- 
 lence — of the scenes such as are represented to 
 have occurred in Fano and Perugia. The pam- 
 phlet of the witty Gioberti (severely prohibited 
 in Naples, Modena, and Lombardy), attacking the 
 society^s line of Italian policy, under the title of 
 " Prolegomena,'^ is freely handed about, or, as the 
 poet has it, 
 
 " Con spavento dei divoti galantuomini 
 Si vedono circolar gli * Prolegomeni.' " 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 167 
 
 But any oyert act of physical force against the 
 mistaken fathers is universally reprobated. 
 
 A paragraph appears in the Courrier Francais^ 
 announcing the Pope's wish to contract a fresh 
 loan, and representing the Roman finances as 
 irreparably embarrassed. No such loan is dreanit 
 of. There is a present supply in the exchequer, 
 and the future prospects of the treasurer are by no 
 means discouraging. Such rumours were the con- 
 stant mode of attack by which the irreligious party 
 in Italy sought to damage the papal throne, while 
 ineffectively filled by its late occupant ; and many 
 poetical squibs, with all the virulence, and some 
 of the fancy of Beranger, held up the approac h 
 ing bankruptcy of Rome to the world's scorn. 
 From one, entitled "II Fallimento del Papa," I 
 recollect a few lines : 
 
 " Non basto il talento 
 
 Del gran Lambruscliiui, 
 A cento per cento 
 
 Non trova quattrini; 
 O case inaudito, 
 
 II Papa e fallito! 
 
 " Guai al Pontefice 
 
 Quel buon Gregorio 
 Clie in brevi vendere 
 Dovra il ciborio, 
 
168 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Perche il camefice 
 
 Chiede il salario 
 Gli tocca a vendere 
 
 Sin' al breviario. 
 
 " Che per servar* i titoli 
 
 Di Papa e di soYrano 
 A benedir' i despoti 
 
 Distese la sua mano.... 
 Deb! al gran principe 
 
 Che ci govema 
 Gli presta Diogene 
 
 La sua laterna! " 
 
 Torlonia, who contracted for the last loan, 
 would feel but too happy to get another chance 
 upon the same terms (which he is not likely to 
 have soon), and the more especially as the family 
 are about to receive back in hard dollars the 
 purchase money of the great Bracciano property, 
 which, near thirty years ago, was bought from 
 the Odeschalchi, and which that princely race 
 are now determined to regain. In the purchase 
 of land here, there is always reserved a right of 
 redemption within a given number of years, and 
 the allotted term being now at hand, notice has 
 been served on the Duke of Bracciano tliat 
 Prince Odeschalchi intends refunding the cash, 
 and resuming the duchy. As in the case of the 
 old Tagliacotian operation, when a fictitious nose 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 169 
 
 was cut out of a porter's gluteus maximus, and 
 affixed to a yisage where no nasal organ existed, 
 the title of Ditke is lapsed, with the loss of the 
 property which conferred it, and the strawberry- 
 leaves fall away from the escutcheon of the 
 banker. In the words of your Hudibras : — 
 
 *' Soon as the porter's life was out, 
 Off dropt the sympathetic snout! " 
 
 The Marquis de Custines, who has been here 
 several months, had an interview with his Holi- 
 ness last week, and some interesting remarks fell 
 from the Pontiff, who professed to have read at- 
 tentively the Russian revelations of the witty 
 writer. These remarks are not free for publicity. 
 
 There died here, on Monday, aged 88, a vene- 
 rable Scotch gentleman, the Abbe Macpherson, 
 for many years rector of the Scotch College on 
 the Quirinal hill. The most remarkable passage 
 inhis varied career was when he was selected by 
 the British Government, in 1797^ as their agent 
 in one of the boldest moves on the European 
 chessboard ever imagined, and yet scarcely known 
 to the historian of the period. In that year the 
 British Cabinet received a suggestion as to the 
 practicability of rescuing from the gripe of France 
 and placing under the protection of England the 
 
 I 3 
 
170 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 person of Pope Pius VI., then a prisoner in the 
 maritime town of Savona, on the Genoese coast. 
 An English frigate was ordered to cruise off the 
 land, and the Abbe was sent from London with 
 ample funds to accomplish the object. It would 
 have been successful in every arrangement had 
 not a communication been made by parties in the 
 pay of the Directory from the neighbourhood of 
 Downing Street, disclosing the plan to our friends 
 in Paris. The late Lewis Goldsmith, who knew 
 many things in his time, knew something about 
 this affair. Macpherson was arrested and plun- 
 dered on the frontier, and Pius died in the interior 
 of France, whither he was instantly removed. 
 Up to his death, the Abbe had a hberal pension 
 from the Papal treasury. 
 
 Letters from Florence in accounting for the 
 Duke of Devonshire not arriving here, state the 
 alarming condition of our ambassador. Sir George 
 Hamilton, who was not expected to recover. I 
 trust this is an exaggeration, or that, since that 
 crisis, more favourable news has reached England, 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. I?! 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Rome, December 3. 
 
 I KNOW not whether the return of Count Rossi 
 has given additional impulse to the progress of 
 Roman reforms^ but there is unmistakeable evi- 
 dence of renewed activity in every department. 
 The grand blow, as far as this capital is concerned,, 
 was struck at the beginning of this week, when the 
 old "governor," Marini, got notice to quit. His 
 successor is not yet appointed. This riddance is 
 of paramount magnitude. Every amelioration 
 found in Marini an implacable foe. He was for 
 putting down everything new, from gas to fox- 
 hunting, and keeping up everything old, including 
 filth and beggary. Yet the man was no block- 
 head; but, having started with the "wisdom of 
 our ancestors" party, his sense of consistency 
 suggested a spirit of no surrender, even in a 
 sinking cause. The man of the exigency lately 
 appointed secretary to the provisional cabinet is 
 a gentleman named Rusconi, who, fifteen years 
 ago, retired from Rome, disgusted with Gregory^s 
 proceedings, and has since lived in retirement at 
 
172 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Naples. Returning a few months ago, he had an 
 interview with Pius, and his lucid views, as to 
 what ought to be done, so forcibly impressed the 
 Pontiff, that he was at once admitted to state 
 councils, and will yet direct the Papal govern- 
 ment. Several edicts have been issued on local 
 matters this week. 
 
 The old-established bank of Brancadoro and 
 Co. has just closed its doors, and rumour says, 
 under circumstances not very creditable. The 
 Portuguese minister is a sufferer, and also a cele- 
 brated character, Gaetanino, the late Pope's bar- 
 ber, whose sufferings amount to 8,000 dollars — in 
 fact, a good portion of the legacy he derived under 
 his defunct master's will. People laugh at his 
 disaster. 
 
 By the death of Cardinal Gaysriick, Archbishop 
 of Milan, a hat has fallen in ; and as there are 
 now more than half-a-dozen vacancies, a new 
 creation is spoken of. Gaysriick was a true Ger- 
 man of the old school, and a strong opponent of 
 the Jesuits, whom he kept out of Lombardy to 
 the last. 
 
 I took occasion, some few posts ago, to notice 
 the apathy of Prince Borghese in the cause of 
 national advancement or the improvement of his 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 1.73 
 
 country: a noble opportunity of throwing the 
 weight of his immense territorial property into 
 the scale of the progressive party has been let 
 pass. 1 regret to find that, among other frivolities 
 which occupy the leisure of the Palazzo Borghese, 
 homceopathy is now paramount; and through 
 female influence this nonsense has become posi- 
 tively mischievous. Last March the Duchess of 
 Piombino was a victim, and this week a lovely 
 daughter of Colonel Bryan, of Kilkenny, died 
 under this treatment, none of the many English 
 physicians resident here having been suffered to 
 attend. She had arrived here but a few weeks 
 before in perfect health. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 Rome, December 5. 
 
 At the close of my letter two days ago, 1 felt 
 bound to notice the melancholy death of Colonel 
 Brj^an^s daughter. The solemn dirge and requiem 
 which was held yesterday in the church of Irish 
 Franciscans, St. Isidoro, was attended by several 
 hundred British visitors, besides the young lady's 
 kinsfolk, of the princely houses of Doria, Pam- 
 
174 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 phili, and Borghese. Towards the termination of 
 the sorrowful ceremonial, at a pause in the liturgy, 
 there arose in the body of the church a person in 
 ecclesiastical costume, of pensive and careworn 
 aspect, who, standing near the coffin, addressed 
 himself to speak. His voice was low at first, so 
 that few heard till it gradually filled the church, 
 and it was understood to be a simple recital of 
 the unostentatious virtues of the deceased; but 
 soon came words of more impressive import, and 
 a whisper went round that the unexpected speaker 
 on the occasion was the Rev. Mr. Newman, late 
 of Oxford. To the thousands who have perused 
 his printed sermons delivered in Anglican pulpits 
 it would be difficult to convey a notion of his 
 manner on the present occasion, it being the first 
 time that he delivered himself of an extempo- 
 raneous unpremeditated discourse. But as a letter 
 to you is no proper vehicle for theological com- 
 ments, I add no more. 
 
 I mentioned the dismissal of the Governor of 
 Rome. The treasurer Antonelli got his conge 
 yesterday, and rumour sends him as delegate to 
 Ferrara. Marini, the ex-governor, goes as legate 
 to Lisbon or Madrid : a polite sort of banishment. 
 The next removal, it is devoutly to be hoped, will 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. I'jo 
 
 be the Postmaster- General, Massimo; this func- 
 tionary, not content with neglecting his proper 
 duties in the amelioration of the posting system 
 throughout the Roman States, which is a disgrace 
 to Italy, has within the last fortnight shown his 
 tender regard for Austria, by taking on himself the 
 responsibility of stopping any journals, French or 
 English, which reflect on that respectable Court 
 in its late absorption of Cracow. The Pope is 
 utterly unconscious of his pranks, and may, per- 
 haps, first learn them from this letter when 
 printed. Thus Postmaster Massimo has, of his 
 own authority, confiscated Galignani's Messenger 
 of the 20th, 21st, and 25th of November, as w^ell 
 as the Morning Chronicle of the 18th and 19th 
 ditto. The British residents here are inclined to 
 proceed in a body to the duirinal, to lay their 
 complaint at the feet of the Pontiff\, who will 
 doubtless find a speedy remedy for such insolent 
 interference w4th his general policy. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire has just arrived. 
 
176 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Rome, December 12. 
 A sad calamity has befallen our city. The 
 Tiber, suddenly swollen by rain such as is only 
 witnessed under the tropics, and impeded in its 
 course towards Ostia by a south-east wind, has just 
 flooded two-thirds of the inhabited streets, and 
 destroyed property, both in town and country, to 
 a melancholy extent. This century had not seen a 
 similar inundation, that of 1805 being far less ex- 
 tensive or disastrous. As far as the eye could 
 reach, from the Pincian hill to the foot of Monte 
 Mario, from the Ponte MoUe to the contrescarpe 
 of Castle St. Angelo, became at once a vast lake, 
 interspersed with tops of trees and farm roofs, 
 cattle swimming, and floating waggons. Not only 
 the accustomed low quarters of the piazza Navona 
 and Pantheon, but the Corso and Condotti were 
 submerged, and the well-known magnificent area 
 of the Porta del Popolo became a deep pond im- 
 passable to carriages. It was a singular sight to 
 look down from the Pincian on this extemporised 
 basin, reflecting calmly the surrounding churches 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. l77 
 
 and monuments^ and receiving into its abundance 
 the rather superfluous contributions of the four 
 Egyptian Lions who kept up the farce of their 
 quadruple ye^ d'eau throughout. The central obe- 
 lisk of Rhamses, which rose in quiet grandeur over 
 the waters, seemed, after many thousand years, to 
 have got a glimpse of his native Nile at its work 
 of fertilization. Unfortunately, mischief, unmixed 
 with any compensating result, ensues from these 
 visits of the Roman river. 
 
 The reports from the various quarters (or 
 islands) of the city have as yet brought no ti- 
 dings of drowned men ; though horses, pigs, and 
 kine have perished in numbers, and the misery 
 of the poorer classes can hardly be estimated un- 
 less by the knowledge of their exclusive tenancy 
 of all ground-floors, in Rome the upper stories 
 being alone inhabited by the wealthy. But the 
 unfortunate Jews are in the worst predicament of 
 all other denominations^ their disadvantageous 
 quarter being not of their own selection ; and 
 hence it became only an act of common honesty 
 in the government to behave as it has done by 
 them — to-day supplying them at once, and in the 
 first rank, with food and necessaries. For this 
 purpose domiciliary visits were made to all bakers 
 
178 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 and fashionable hotels and every loaf carried off 
 to the Ghetto, If any good could possibly be 
 elicited from the present sad occurrence, it would 
 be perhaps the forcing the Pope's attention to 
 the folly and un-Christian policy of his predeces- 
 sors in cooping up the remnant of Israel here 
 into a space of the town so confined and so ob- 
 jectionable as to nearly resemble the hold of a 
 Brazilian slave-ship on the middle passage. To 
 condemn a people to perpetual dirt and disease, 
 with the interlude of an occasional delus^e like 
 the present, is a sorry scheme for their conversion 
 and a sad lesson of Christian love. These un- 
 lucky sojourners in the capital of the Church have 
 just had all their property, cloths, silks, velvets, 
 and every commodity in which they trade, de- 
 stroyed at once by no act of theirs : and in any 
 civilized country they would be clearly entitled to 
 recover the amount from the legislature. The old 
 houses are happily falling on each other^s shoul- 
 ders, and the whole rookery will be rendered soon 
 uninhabitable, in which case they must perforce 
 be allowed to select some other part of this wide 
 metropolis to build in. 
 
 This is the moment for their brethren through 
 Europe to memorialise the benevolent Pontiff on 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. l79 
 
 their behalf^ with every probability of success. 
 The Pope would be but too happy to find out- 
 ward support against the prejudices of the lower 
 orders, and of the narrow-minded rich. ^Twas a 
 touching sight to see these helpless sufferers, with 
 the scanty wreck of their furniture, crowded under 
 the roof of the synagogue, which was the only 
 dry spot of their prison house. By the river of 
 Babylon well might they sit and weep when they 
 remembered Sion ! 
 
 There live 3,600 of them in this black hole, of 
 whom 1,900 are paupers, about 1,000 earn a live- 
 lihood by trade, and the remainder are compara- 
 tively rich. They raise among themselves 13,000 
 dollars yearly for the support of their own schools 
 and other institutions. The State draws a large 
 revenue from their commercial operations, and it 
 is a remarkable circumstance in the case of the 
 Roman Jews that by way of propitiating their 
 Christian fellow-citizens they are in the habit of 
 emphatically disclaiming any part or portion in 
 the great misdeed visited upon them and their 
 children. They maintain, and with considerable 
 pretensions to truth, that they are descended from 
 a colony of Hebrew men settled in Rome long 
 before the period of the Crucifixion — and cer- 
 
180 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 tainly we know that Pompey brought thousands 
 of captive Jews to Rome ; and Josephus^ I think, 
 describes 8,000 of them going up to remonstrate 
 with Augustus on some occasion or other. 
 
 I pray the assistance of your brethren of the 
 press in London, in drawing the attention of the 
 friends of Israel throughout Europe to these poor 
 people and their cause: it is truly that of the 
 captive and the bondsman. 
 
 The waters are rapidly subsiding, the wind 
 having now fortunately veered round last night ; 
 the Corso is disencumbered, save that several 
 large boats aground still clog the carriage- 
 way. 
 
 Some ludicrous descriptions of individual dis- 
 aster fill the columns of the Roman Advertiser 
 to-day, in which also flattering mention is made 
 of Prince Borghese and his boat, going round the 
 streets with a bread-basket. This sort of yatch- 
 ing was a source of new excitement, highly amus- 
 ing, no doubt, to the Prince and his high-born 
 associates ; but he has it in his power to do more 
 substantial acts than such ad captandum exhi- 
 bitions; and whenever a disposition to work in 
 earnest for the amelioration of the poor by pro- 
 curing sterling reforms and permanent improve- 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 181 
 
 ments is shown by his Highness^ I shall be eager 
 to mark the euthanasia by special notice. 
 
 Among the spectators of the drowned city from 
 the terrace of Monte Pincio, no small space of 
 public observation was occupied by Signor La- 
 blache^ whose well-known features were wrought 
 into unacted sympathy. 
 
 It is rumoured here that M. Fornari, the nun- 
 cio at Paris^ is to be recalled, and to get a hat: 
 his acknowledged ability has been justly appre- 
 ciated, and doubtless Count Rossi has made a 
 favourable report on his arrival here. Gizzi^s 
 health is not of the best, and he requires the 
 assistance of an able Under-Secretary. The 
 subject of an interchange of diplomatic repre- 
 sentatives between England and Rome has been 
 lately revived; and, though the utmost secrecy is 
 preserved in the matter, considerable progress^ it 
 is understood, has been made. The British Ca- 
 binet insist on the Roman Envoy in London 
 being a layman in all cases. Here the nego- 
 tiation hitches. 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Devonshire had a long 
 audience with his Holiness at the Q.uirinal Palace^ 
 on the 9th. 
 
182 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Rome, December 15. 
 You have been in possession of the dismissal 
 of the Governor of Rome, Monsignor Marini, of 
 whose poUtical tendencies and obstructive obsti- 
 nacy some idea was given in a former despatch. 
 His successor has since been announced in the 
 person of a native of Palermo, Grazzelini, now 
 acting legate at Ancona, where he was sent on the 
 late outbreak, and won golden opinions : he had 
 previously been at the head of the railway board 
 here, and shewn business habits of the first order. 
 As this office is of the utmost importance to the 
 progress of internal improvement in the capital, 
 much satisfaction is felt at so judicious a selection. 
 Grazzelini has had the inestimable advantage of 
 being early initiated into the theory and practical 
 working of constitutional government. He was 
 mixed up, in 1812, with the enlightened patriots 
 of Sicily, who, under the guidance of Lord 
 Bentinck, established a short-lived, but vigorous, 
 representative system of administration in that 
 island, which was upset by the return of old 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 183 
 
 Ferdinand under the accursed wing of the Holy 
 Alliance. 
 
 The removal of Marini was a measure which 
 evinced a bold determination on the part of Pius, 
 but what follows, unless explained to you, would 
 seem to be in contradiction to that display of 
 energy. This very Marini is to be the first, 
 and as yet the only Cardinal of his creation ! He 
 received the official communication yesterday; 
 next week he gets his hat. Commentary of a very 
 bitter sort will be made on this promotion through- 
 out Italy ; but the facts of the case will ultimately 
 become known, and go far to exculpate his Holi- 
 ness. It appears that Marini, who belongs to a 
 respectable family, had a younger brother, who 
 was seeking the hand of a daughter of the princely 
 house of Chigi, and to enable him to make a suit- 
 able settlement on the occasion, the elder brother, 
 who inherited all the entailed property, renounced 
 his claims by a solemn deed, and contented him- 
 self with whatever provision he might earn in his 
 profession as a churchman. Under the old regime 
 he could not be displaced from the governorship 
 without receiving a cardinalship on retirement, 
 with its usual allowance of 4,000 dollars a-year 
 from the treasury. Deprivation of office under 
 
184 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 the new arrangement reduced him to actual beg- 
 gary, having burnt his fleet, a la Scipio, as related 
 above, on entering the church. Much sympathy 
 was accordingly felt for him by the aristocracy of 
 Rome, and many a fair suppliant has made 
 exertions in his favour with the powers around the 
 throne. The princely house of Sacripante, very 
 influential with the Pope, has been indefatigable ; 
 and even Count Bossi has been induced, by some 
 mysterious agency, to intercede on his behalf. 
 The result is merely an indication of the good 
 nature and kind feeling of Pius, and must be dis- 
 tinctly understood as such, not as a token of 
 altered policy or subserviency to Austria, as it 
 would seem to the uninitiated. 
 
 In reference to the above-mentioned pension of 
 4,000 dollars a year, which every Roman cardinal 
 draws from the common exchequer, (foreign 
 cardinals must contrive to keep their red hat in 
 proper trim at their own expense,) it would ap- 
 pear to be and is in reality, a rather heavy item 
 of expenditure in the pontifical budget. Yet you 
 would be wrong in thinking that the resources of 
 St. Peter's patrimony are not adequate to the full 
 expenditure of the papal system, under proper 
 management ; and that management, I am happy 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 185 
 
 to know, is about to be witnessed without much 
 external manifestation. It has been admitted to 
 be a proper maxim, (one I believe of Rochefou- 
 cauld's,) Qu'il faut laver son linge sale en famille, 
 and you will learn with satisfaction that a secret 
 and confidential commission has lately been named 
 by his Holiness to investigate every branch of 
 ecclesiastical revenue, the rent-roll of every con- 
 vent, hospital, confraternity, every canonry, chan- 
 try; in fact, to overhaul the whole financial re- 
 sources of the Roman district. Other districts 
 will come next. This secret committee is com- 
 posed of Cardinals Micara, (General of the Capu- 
 chins,) Bianchi, (ditto of the Benedictine Camal- 
 dulese monks,) Ostini, (Prefect of the "Bishops 
 and Regulars,'') and finally, the late Prime Minis- 
 ter Lambruschini. The most searching powers 
 have been given to this committee, and woe to 
 any abuse, or dilapidation, or malversation which 
 may come under their notice. A consolidation 
 of various institutes, and a severe economy 
 throughout, will, it is understood, produce an 
 aggregate of surplus to the treasury sufficient to 
 meet all pressure, so as to obviate the recurrence 
 to loans for the future altogether. 
 
 LAnd though what follows more properly be- 
   
 
186 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 longs to the speculations of your Money-Market 
 than to political correspondence, the attention 
 of buyers and sellers in the public funds of 
 European states would do well to consider the 
 new aspect of things in Italy, and the relative 
 stability of the various governments, whose pros- 
 pects have of late been materially changed. The 
 price of the Roman funds (five per cents.,) has, 
 for the last ten years, remained unaltered at from 
 100 to 102, or thereabouts, even during the pre- 
 carious rule of Gregory, whom the slightest 
 breath of popular revenge would have dethroned 
 in a twinkling, at any general outbreak on the 
 Rhine, the Po, or the Bosphorus. Still, he ma- 
 naged by borrowing and patchwork to keep up 
 the Papal credit, which never sunk below par. 
 At the present juncture of pontifical prospects, 
 and witli the stability which a whole people's 
 enthusiasm must necessarily add to ^* that divi- 
 nity which doth hedge a king,'^ I should not 
 wonder to see the Roman five per cents, advance 
 at least to the price of the French ditto, which are 
 now quoted at 116-117? and which have been 
 not long ago as high a 120. Verb, sap. The 
 only markets for Romans is Milan or Paris, but 
 any intelligent broker might bring them into 
 Capcl Court. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 187 
 
 As a trifling indication of the Pope's anxiety 
 to bring his states into better unison with the 
 other civilized communities of Europe, the great 
 clock of the Quirinal Palace marks the hours no 
 longer in the old-fashioned and exploded system 
 of twenty-four hours continuous, but in the 
 double duodecimal used on your side of the Alps. 
 It is an humble effort to teach his Romans the 
 ^^ time of day/' 
 
 The house-roofs are all white with snow, an un- 
 usual sight here: a reminiscence of Christmas to 
 our visitors of the North. 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 Rome, December 24. 
 The grant of a cardinal's hat to the unpopular 
 governor of Rome on his late removal from office, 
 (an unexpected measure, of which the peculiar 
 motives were communicated in my last,) has un- 
 doubtedly checked for a moment the enthusiasm 
 of loyalty which had gone on crescendo since July. 
 Numerous pasquinades have circulated this week 
 of a very violent kind, and full of gross personality 
 against Marini. Arrangements were said to have 
 been in progress for greeting the new dignitary 
 
 K 2 
 
188 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 with a storm of hisses and execration on the occa- 
 sion of last Monday^s ceremonial, but the boister- 
 ous state of the weather — unusually severe even 
 for winter — cooled the indignation of the Romans, 
 and by the blessing of the barometer, his eminence 
 got off unscathed. His evening levee was even 
 brilliantly attended ; all the diplomatic body being 
 present in compliment to the Pope, and female 
 influence having worked assiduously among the 
 native nobility in furtherance of this demonstra- 
 tion. The British uniforms were especially con- 
 spicuous in the halls of reception, and much 
 hilarity, considering the bitter cold, was occasioned 
 by the display of the Scottish kilt on the person 
 of some child of — 
 
 " Caledonia stern and wild." 
 
 The Princess Lancelotti and del Drago did the 
 honours with inborn gracefulness, and all things 
 passed off satisfactorily. — ^This being Christmas 
 eve, will account for the brevity of my letter. The 
 festival of this hallowed night is to be held with 
 unwonted solemnity and liturgical magnificence in 
 the basilica of St. Mary Major on the Esquiline. 
 It is probable that the Pontiff, whose charitable 
 donations have been this week on a scale of un- 
 usual largesse, and whose presence, during these 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 180 
 
 sacred rites^ in the midst of his people must en- 
 dear him to all classes, will regain any amount of 
 popularity which the shadow of this unlucky hat 
 may have lost him. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 I 
 
 Rome, January 2. 
 
 I SEE advertised in the usual form, and noticed 
 by the Spectator, a book entitled ^^ Christmas in 
 Rome,'^ by some reverend American " stranger," 
 whose views of men and things here seem rather 
 jaundiced, to judge from the glimpse therein 
 given. Rome cannot be understood by a Jona- 
 than fresh from his conventicle. He cannot ap- 
 preciate immemorial usages; no carmen sceculare 
 brings to his ear the periodical mirth of centuries; 
 for him in vain descends from Prseneste and the 
 Sabine hills the accustomed bagpiper picturesquely 
 dight, tibicen of the festival ; in vain the grim wild 
 boards head (on the shambles round the Pantheon) 
 exhibits between his tusks the suggestive lemon ; 
 the milkwhite kid, bedecked with red berries, hangs 
 alongside in unappreciated contrast ; and the linen 
 tunic in which the Roman butcher stands arrayed. 
 
190 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 strikes not his eye as the exact costume of the old 
 sacrificial functionary. The chesnut roaster at 
 each street corner is in vain surrounded by merry 
 customers; while beggary itself looks jocular* 
 Such people should remain to mess at their huge 
 boarding-houses in the Broadway, eschew the via 
 sacra, and never know the taste of a fig-pecker, 
 (so to Anglicise thy sweet name,) oh, rare bird ! 
 bonny "Byronian^^ becca-fica! 
 
 The religious celebrations of the hallowed time 
 were held with unexampled pomp and solemnity, 
 with pealing anthem, loud hosanna, wax lights, 
 frankincense, and innumerable throng. Large 
 alms were collected for the sufferers of the late 
 inundation, and the worshippers at the British 
 church, outside the gate, contributed munificently. 
 
 On Wednesday, 29th, Pius IX. mounted his 
 horse and rode off towards Ostia to inspect, per- 
 sonally, the ravages of the river in the low grounds 
 below Rome. A select group of Roman cavaliers 
 formed the Sovereign's escort, and that day his 
 Holiness explored a circuit of 30 miles, giving 
 everywhere orders for employment, pointing out 
 tracts for drainage, and raising the wages of the 
 labouring peasantry along his ride. Some of his 
 equestrian cortege were hard pushed to keep up 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 191 
 
 with the PontiiF^ and, probably^ remember their 
 excursion yet. On that evening the students of 
 the EngUsh college gave, after their annual dra- 
 matic performance, a grand supper in the library 
 hall to their friends in Rome ; Sir William Miller, 
 Scott Murray, M.P., Rev. Cambell Smith, (Cham- 
 berlain to his Holiness,) Rev. H. Newman, 
 Revs. G. Ryder and Talbot, Revs. F. Amherst 
 and F. Mahony, MM. Langdale, Radcliffe, 
 Chomley, Petre, &c., &c. The student painters, 
 sculptors, and architects of the three kingdoms, 
 to the number of forty, assembled at their Christ- 
 mas dinner the next day, in the great hall of 
 Bertini ; Prout, pen and ink artist, in the chair. 
 
 The students of the university [Sapienza) having 
 expressed a wish to that effect, the Pontiif has 
 granted a new chair of political economy, and 
 three other professorships are in contemplation. 
 Several obnoxious and jobbing police function- 
 aries were dismissed yesterday to begin the year 5 
 and nothing could exceed the numbers and enthu- 
 siasm of the host assembled before the Quirinal 
 Palace windows on Monte Cavallo, to wish his 
 Holiness the compliments of the season. When 
 Pius appeared on the balcony, the shouts rent the 
 welkin, and as a cloud seemed to approach, his 
 
192 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Holiness put on liis hat, and motioned to the un- 
 covered multitude to do likewise : the few drops 
 of rain which had suggested this apparently trivial 
 kindness, were sufficient to intimate deeper care 
 for their welfare, and no " hatti-sherif " of eastern 
 romance ever elicited such heartfelt applause. 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 Rome, January 14. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon there was, as usual, an 
 immense concourse assembled in the great church 
 of St. Andrea della Valle, to hear the Wednesday- 
 sermon of Padre Ventura, General of the Thea- 
 tines, and by far the most eloquent of our Roman 
 orators. Some delay ensued, when a taller and 
 more majestic personage was observed to move 
 through the crowd towards the pulpit : and soon 
 the well-known and well-beloved figure of the 
 Sovere"gn stood recognizable by the gladdened 
 multitude, and Pius IX. it was who spoke. *^His 
 heart was so full with the varied emotions result- 
 ing from the position he had been placed in by 
 Providence in their regard, that he must give 
 public utterance to what he felt ; therefore had 
 
L 
 
 OF BETTER DAYS. 193 
 
 he come to commune with his people after the 
 manner of olden days ; and firsts he would thank 
 them with the warmest effusion of heart for the 
 transcendent manifestation of their loyalty and 
 devotion upon the Quirinal Hill at the opening 
 of the year, and at various times since the dawn 
 of his pontificate; a revival of old Roman re- 
 verence for the chair of St. Peter, however now 
 inadequately filled. The best return he could 
 make would be by a renewal of his efforts for 
 their welfare, political as well as religious; for the 
 latter especially, as immeasurably the nearer and 
 dearer to his breast.^' The Pope then went with 
 the utmost simplicity and manly good sense 
 into the details of practical improvements which 
 he desired to see effected in the individual con- 
 duct of his hearers, touching on most of the 
 popular vices, and urging with all the fervour of 
 the ancient homilies a thorough moral reform in 
 his auditory. His address, which lasted scarce 
 half an hour, was of course listened to with 
 breathless attention, and then the usual evening 
 service was resumed. This occurrence was quite 
 unlooked for, though my previous letters must 
 have prepared you for something similar. 
 
 In the morning of yesterday a meeting was 
 
 K 3 
 
194 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 held (in the circular Hall of Sculpture at Ves~ 
 covalis,) of British residents in Rome, for the 
 purpose of collecting funds for the destitute and 
 starving Irish. The assembly was sufficiently 
 numerous, and the proceedings unanimous and 
 cordial. Mr. Halford, the Bristol banker, was in 
 the chair, supported by Mr. S. Gurney, Jun., of 
 London, Captain Packenham,R.N., Colonel Bryan, 
 Mr. Herbert of Mucruss Abbey, Mr. Folliott, 
 of Fermanagh, Sir Francis Hopkins, J.Reade, Esq., 
 Mr. Bruen, of Carlow, and a respectable assem- 
 blage of your countrymen. Mr. Whiteside, of the 
 Irish bar, opened the case, and made a powerful 
 appeal ; others followed, and the rector of the 
 Irish College, P. Cullen, by his deputy, hinted at 
 proceedings to be adopted by his brother churcli- 
 men in Rome for rendering the collection general 
 through the city. Several hundreds were sub- 
 scribed, and a creditable sum will no doubt be 
 forthcoming. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 195 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 Rome, January 21. 
 
 Our new governor^ Grazzelini, has addressed 
 himself in earnest to the work of social reform. 
 His first effort is arduous enough, no less than an 
 attempt to extirpate the old cancer of mendicity 
 which has long disfigured Rome. Florence had 
 shown, early in this century, what could be effected 
 by an intelligent government to discourage, and 
 ultimately uproot, the mendicant system from the 
 midst of an industrious and thrifty population ; 
 but the difficulties to encounter in this city are 
 far more formidable ; and therefore success will 
 be, if achieved, a paranlount triumph of admi- 
 nistrative capacity. The process is deserving of 
 attentive study, for obvious reasons just now. 
 For some days the active agents of Roman police 
 were constituted into an army of observation, and 
 the various haunts of eleemosynary practitioners 
 were accurately mapped out. No alarm was 
 given; but at the close of the last week several 
 simultaneous and well-directed razzias were made 
 on the astonished natives of beggardom, and near 
 
196 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 400 of the more prominent male and female 
 characters carried off to the several dep6ts pre- 
 pared for their reception. Church-door comers 
 and favourite thoroughfares were suddenly bereft 
 of their immemorial sentinels; and the vested 
 interest of each ragged incumbent set at nought. 
 Rigid inquiry at each depot quickly brought out 
 the long-suspected fact, that not one-twentietli 
 of them were natives of the city, but had been 
 attracted hither from all quarters by the alms- 
 giving renown of this capital. In return for alms 
 so given, an immense amount of vice was shown 
 to be imported among the native poor, with inve- 
 terate habits of the vilest hypocrisy. Means of 
 conveyance forthwith were found for these unbid- 
 den guests, and some hundreds of them are now 
 on their road homewards, specially recommended 
 to the village or municipal authorities, who are 
 made responsible for their non-return. Accom- 
 panied with a land-tax on the great estates of the 
 Roman nobles, for their support or employment, 
 this measure will greatly relieve the city ; though 
 it may not be so palatable to the Piombinos, 
 Rospigliosi, Ruspoli, Chigi, Borghese, and other 
 leviathan landholders, who would much prefer 
 the practice of ostentatious alms-giving in Rome 
 
I 
 
 OP BETTER DAYS. 19? 
 
 to the compulsory and inglorious payment of extra 
 labourers on their farms. 
 
 To one accustomed here, a walk through the 
 leading streets of this town yesterday, without 
 having to ^^ run the gauntlet'^ of the usual pro- 
 fessionals, was a real novelty. New Rome might 
 be described in the graphic words of Scott's 
 ^' Andrew Fairservice/' when eulogising Glasgow 
 cathedral ; which appeared to him '^ all the better 
 for being cleansed of popish eedols^^ and made, 
 by John Knox, " as dowse as a cat when the fleas 
 are kempt off her!'' Tastes differ as to pic- 
 turesque effect, not merely with reference to the 
 aforesaid eedols, but with regard to the fixt 
 attendance of a goodly row of mendicants at the 
 porch of Christian churches. Long ago Chry- 
 sostom boasted that Pagan palaces and temples 
 might bedeck their porticoes with graceful sta- 
 tuary, but the maimed, the lame, and the blind, 
 were the proper ornaments, metopes and tri- 
 glyphs of an orthodox peristyle. This Byzantine 
 standard of art may not be quite infallible, though 
 Raphael, in his cartoon of the '^ beautiful gate,'' 
 has introduced the lame beggar of Scripture with 
 a skilful eye to contrast. But as the business of 
 our governor is merely wdth social amelioration. 
 
19S THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 the picturesque and archaeological part of this sub- 
 ject may be safely left to Mr. Pugin. 
 
 The annual ceremony of blessing the cattle at 
 the porch of St. Antonio, on the Esquiline, which 
 during the present week keeps all the ostlers and 
 vetturini of Rome alive with excitement, as well 
 as the blessing of two milk-white lambs at th^ 
 church of St. Agnes, which interests all the young 
 ladies from England, and took place this morning, 
 are topics which the rude pen of a matter-of-fact 
 writer had, perhaj^s, better eschew also. The 
 former of these yearly transactions may, however, 
 be looked at, not alone in a sentimental or aesthetic 
 point of view, but as an exhibition of the native 
 breed of horses, a kind of Roman TattersalPs. 
 Very little has been done, and very much might 
 be accomplished, for the improvement of what 
 Frenchmen call la race chevaline in these parts. 
 A few of the nobility attend to their studs, having 
 nothing else to do; but the great mass of the 
 working quadrupeds are miserably underbred, 
 though the vast estates into which this territory is 
 divided afford peculiar facilities for rearing a 
 superior stock of cavalry. The introduction of 
 the Chesterfield fox-hounds has given some im- 
 pulse to the breeding of saddle-horses in the Cam- 
 
b 
 
 OF BETTER DAYS. 199 
 
 pagna; and the new facility afforded by the 
 Peninsular Company^s steam communication 
 direct between Civita-Vecchia and Southampton 
 may bring more English blood into the breed. 
 The good friars^ blessing can do the beasts no 
 harm, nay, may tend to humanise the ferocity of 
 their masters, who can scarcely ill-treat the re- 
 cipient of St. Antonio^s benison; as such, this 
 ceremony ought to be patronised by the ^^ Ani- 
 mal's Friend Society,'^ who might possibly get up 
 a branch establishment for the benefit of London 
 cabmen, or prevail on some benevolent rector (say 
 your brilliant editorial fellow-labourer, George 
 Croly) to give the metropolitan cattle a benefit at 
 the Elephant and Castle. 
 
 A beggar on horseback is considered in Eng- 
 land a rare combination: but a centaur of this 
 kind was to be seen here on the Pincian hill, in the 
 shape of a robust cripple, who rode in daily from 
 his country seat, and, dismounting, took up his 
 position on the great stairs of the Trinita, riding 
 of^ gravis cere domum at eve. I see him now from 
 my window, his donkey being tethered to the 
 accustomed tree. His is a torso as finely developed 
 as that in the Vatican, with a voice to match. I 
 rejoice to find lie has escaped the razzia^ being a 
 
200 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 fellow of infinite drollery: he is in sooth the 
 mighty P(query D)an of our Roman beggars. He 
 has given his daughter 1,000 crowns dowry. 
 
 I have nothing further to notice, save the arrival 
 here of Mrs. Jameson, who, with Lady Charlotte 
 Bury, and Mrs. Butler, adds to our collection this 
 year of female literary celebrities. I notice the 
 presence of the first of these ladies in Rome with 
 particular pride, as I learn it is her purpose to 
 apply her wondrous intellectual powers (combined 
 with the most refined female instinct) to the in- 
 vestigation of the hidden soul of our early mo- 
 numents of Christian art, in painting as well 
 as sculpture. A volume from her on the true 
 spirit of our Italian protoglyphic remains can- 
 not fail to interest deeply and permanently the 
 artistic world of Europe. The subscription for 
 Irish famine goes on prosperously; the Pope and 
 Cardinal Fransoni giving it a strong impulse. 
 Ventura and the Bishop of Montreal preach in its 
 favour this week. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 201 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 Rome, January 28. 
 Our latest lion here is Richard Cobden, fresh 
 from a banquet given him by the merchants of 
 Genoa. I fear he will find little scope in these 
 parts for the development of free-trade propa- 
 gandism; unless, indeed, he apply his ingenious 
 mind to the effecting of a free intercourse with 
 Great Britain in the matter of diplomatic rela- 
 tions, — a topic of more vital consequence to the 
 future prospects of the empire than seems to be 
 generally understood among men of reputed fore- 
 sight. The disaffected portion of your Irish 
 fellow-subjects are fully alive to the importance 
 of free trade between England and the Vatican ; 
 and hence the violent howl from that quarter at 
 the very mention of this " delicate ^^ question. 
 As to mere commercial interchange until the 
 Romans have something besides beads and 
 cameos to barter with us, there must be a pause 
 of some duration ; a few statues of modern make, 
 with some old "noseless blocks'^ of antique 
 
202 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 produce, will scarce make up a return cargo. 
 The little town of Massa di Carara, in the 
 Modenese territory, exports more sculpture, as 
 well as unwrought marble, than the whole 
 Roman states; but as you received from me, last 
 year a complete account of our domestic and 
 foreign trade, showing (from authentic sources 
 of no easy access) a large balance of imports 
 over the exports, and a decisive proof of the 
 non-productive condition of our native industry, 
 I shall not recapitulate what is there fully set 
 forth. In spite of our immense rural resources, 
 and natural capabilities, we are in Rome, essen- 
 tially a mere consuming population. One fact, 
 which I somehow forgot to mention last March, 
 tells our whole story: we send out annually to 
 our Neapolitan neighbours about 100,000 skins 
 of the kid who disports himself on our hills, and 
 the calf who ruminates on our meadows, and we 
 receive parchment back in return, with half a mil- 
 lion pairs of kid gloves, which we might as well 
 make at home. In truth, we have nothing to give 
 in barter for colonial or manufacturing produce, of 
 which we have nevertheless considerable consump- 
 tion; and our case is exactly that of the Irish sea- 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 OF BETTER DAYS. 203 
 
 port described by one of your Irish poets, with more 
 suggestive wisdom than he gets credit for: — 
 
 ** There are ships from Cadiz, 
 And from Barbadoes, 
 But the leading trade is 
 
 In whisky punch." 
 
 As to corn (in which breadstuff we might pay 
 for all our foreign wantsj until the system of 
 entail is destroyed, and the mortmain of monas- 
 teries and hospitals broken up, and a redistri- 
 bution of land takes place, no surplus will be 
 grown for exportation. 
 
 You will be naturally curious to learn how the 
 grand experiment of uprooting mendicity from 
 Rome, described fully in my last, has been found 
 to answer. Hitherto the attempt appears very 
 successful, and street-begging has, if not disap- 
 peared, assumed a very different attitude. The 
 genuine Roman beggar was proverbially the most 
 insolent and importunate of the whole tribe ; the 
 Irus of Homeric days was but a faint prototype 
 of the class. To receive your alms seemed his 
 right, and he pursued you like a bailiff armed 
 with a warrant for exaction. These marauders 
 have been captured and impounded : the highway 
 now is clear to all : but there remain a few strag- 
 glers in the bye ways. 
 
204 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 " Pauca tamen subeunt veteris vestigia fraudis," — 
 
 principally composed of cripples and blind men, 
 whose demeanour is subdued, and who merely 
 rattle a tin canister filled with a few seed bajocchi. 
 The grand staircase of the Trinita exhibits a spe- 
 cimen or two, but not as it did of old, in such 
 numbers as to rival the famous " nix mangiare 
 steps" of Malta. The late Tom Hood described his 
 blind man as " a figure in alto relievo who sought 
 further relief;" as an instance of the ^'clair obscur, 
 being seldom blind to his own interest j" as a 
 " human canister tied to a dog's tail :" and as a 
 *^ Venetian blind " being pulled up and down by 
 a string. But it is very remarkable that no one 
 ever saw a blind man in Rome led about by a dog. 
 Such an expedient never seems to have occurred 
 to the natives here, or if the idea struck them it 
 seems to have been rejected with scorn. Possibly 
 the dogs here are not endowed with the instinct 
 necessary to be entrusted with the guidance of a 
 '^ dark" man; but the fact is, that each suflferer 
 from " gut serene," or other " dim suffusion," 
 takes good care to secure the services of a strap- 
 ping young woman, or a full grown lad, whose 
 whole time is given to the patieht, and, of course, 
 lost to the community. This is decidedly a more 
 
GF BETTER DAYS. 205 
 
 dignified style of thing than if dependent on a 
 mere quadruped ; or, as Virgil has it : 
 
 " Canibus data prseda Latinis." 
 
 And as we are on the subject of dogs, I may as 
 well notice some particulars of the habits of this 
 animal in connexion with the general subject. 
 Louis Bonaparte (Prince of Canind), brother-in- 
 law of Mr. WysCj and rival of Charles Waterton 
 in knowledge of brute instincts, has drawn the at- 
 tention of naturalists to the system of life pursued 
 by the dogs of Rome. You are aware that little 
 sewerage exists here, except the cloaca maxima ; 
 and that having no regular dustmen or street- 
 contractors, the inhabitants are accustomed to 
 throw out the garbage and refuse of their houses^ 
 which is deposited generally in some blind corner 
 appointed for that purpose by the police, and deco- 
 rated with a large inscription on the wall, immon- 
 DEZZAio ; i. e, '^ rubbish shot here.^^ It appears 
 that though several hundreds of these established 
 depots exist in Rome, not one is unappropriated, 
 but has become by usurpation or regular transfer, 
 the fee-simple of some particular dog, who will not 
 suiFer his rights of flotsam and jetsam to be in- 
 vaded by any squatter or new comer, but rules 
 supreme master of the dung-heap he has acquired. 
 
206 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Some cases of copartnership in a dirt corner have 
 been observed, but generally with brothers on the 
 death of the parent ; and desperate battles occur 
 occasionally about " fixity of tenure/^ as in Tip- 
 perary. The unsuccessful claimant, on ejectment, 
 has no resource but the general run of the streets : 
 
 *' Heu! magnum alterius frustra spectabit acervum!" 
 
 I know not whether these details be considered 
 sublime enough for your perusal; but they may 
 furnish you with an humble illustration of the 
 famous con-acre system of Ireland, as patronised 
 by the patriotic landlords of that model com- 
 munity. 
 
 Gibson has just received an intimation from her 
 Majesty (through Lady Canning) that he may for- 
 ward for public exhibition, next May, the truly 
 graceful and classic statue of our Queen, which wc 
 here cannot sufficiently admire. The Duke of 
 Devonshire has just come back from Naples. 
 Our subscription here for the poor Irish amounts 
 already to over 2,000/. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 20? 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 Rome, February 4. 
 
 In addition to the sum of about 2000/., con- 
 tributed by natives and visitors of this metro- 
 pohs, for the moribund population of Ireland, 
 there is an announcement to-day of a grand sub- 
 scription ball, to be given in the Senators' Halls, 
 in the Roman Capitol. 'Tis many a century^ since 
 this classic citadel was visited by Brennus, whom 
 the ^^ Nation" ctaims as one of its own Celtic 
 chieftains ; but it seems never too late to acknow- 
 ledge an old obligation. The resident nobility, 
 ably seconded by his Grace of Devonshire, are 
 most active in promoting this kindly effort. 
 
 The new Governor pursues his career of town 
 reforms, taking Florence still for his model. In 
 that city, until some years ago, as in ours, in 
 rainy weather the streets were, at stated intervals, 
 enlivened by miniature cataracts from projecting 
 spouts, which sometimes discharged a volume of 
 water equal to ^'la Pisse-vache'' in Switzerland, and 
 washed an occasional footman bodily from behind 
 a carriage. All these memorials of mediaeval 
 
208 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 architecture are to be forthwith removed at the 
 sole expense of the house proprietors^ who are 
 not allowed to charge their tenants with a farthing 
 cost; the eaves-droppings are to be conveyed in 
 pipes within one foot of the ground. 
 
 Cases of suicide are proverbially rare in Rome ; 
 whether there be anything in the genius loci 
 adverse to the commission of the ^^rash act/^ or 
 whether the aspect of our mouldering ruins has 
 something soothing to the mind diseased, I do 
 not profess to say. It is certain that an old 
 Roman General felt resigned to his defeat while 
 seated amid the ruins of Carthage, who would, 
 probably, have fallen on his own sword in a gayer 
 locality ; and as a French poet observes — 
 
 " Et ces deux grands debris se consolaient entr'evix." 
 
 It is matter of statistic truth that in this " city of 
 the soul" to which "the orphans of the heart" 
 have resorted long before the days of Byron, 
 self-murder has ever been of rare occurrence. 
 Two days ago, however, the Piazza di Spagna 
 was the scene of a strange transaction. An author 
 of several treatises on educational matters, who 
 had lived some years in London and Paris, where 
 his name is probably not forgotten, Angelo Cer- 
 rutti^ after spending the last few months in com- 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 209 
 
 posing his autobiography, which fills two octavo 
 volumes, and having caused supplies of his work 
 to be distributed for sale at the various book- 
 sellers' shops throughout the city, on the morn- 
 ing of the 2nd instant ordered a number of bill- 
 stickers to placard all Rome with the title of the 
 said autobiography, " scritta lui vivente ;'' and 
 while they were executing his job in all directions, 
 he quietly at noon blew his brains out. 
 
 For the information of some of your metropo- 
 politan rectors of parishes, whose pious wrath, in 
 the refusal of sepulchral rites, is wreaked on the 
 relatives of the departed, I hasten to acquaint 
 you that in Rome, by a decree of Pope Benedict 
 XIV., suicides are declared to be, by the very 
 act, proven madmen; and, as such entitled, as 
 well as dying lunatics, to the full benefit of Chris- 
 tian burial, and are here buried accordingly. 
 
210 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 Rome, February 8. 
 
 I FEAR Austrian influence in Roman affairs is 
 but " scotched, not killed/^ The old serpent 
 seems yet lively enough, and twines itself round the 
 high priest and his ministers after the Laocoon 
 fashion. Last week afforded a case in point. At 
 the instigation of the Kaiser's embassy here, a 
 domiciliary visit was made at the shop of the 
 liberal bookseller, Nattali, and all his stock in 
 trade overhauled in the most unceremonious style. 
 The murder at last was found out: and what 
 d'ye think came uppermost ? Six hundred copies 
 of a pamphlet bearing the print mark of " Paris," 
 and embodying the speech of Count Montalem- 
 bert, in the French Peers, on the massacres of 
 Galicia and Tarnow! Also a few copies of the 
 eloquent Abbe Gioberti's political and religious 
 essays, which do honour to Italian and Christian 
 literature. The indignation of all honest men is 
 aroused at this wanton inroad on the declared 
 policy of Pius IX.; and it has neutralised to a 
 great extent the effect of the late " sermon." In 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 211 
 
 every social meeting of every class the following 
 "card" is circulated reflecting on this act of the 
 new governor : 
 
 ** LO StAMPATORE PERCIUISITO A SUOI CONCITTADINI. 
 
 Fummo sotto il reo Mariui 
 
 Minacciati e non feriti ; 
 Sotto il probo Grasselini 
 
 Senza avizo siamo colpiti ; 
 Spetta a voi Romani adesso 
 
 Guidicar qual sia il progress© !" 
 
 And, certainly^ if the attention of Papal authority 
 is directed towards rectifying the press, it might 
 find other game besides the works and speeches 
 of two most distinguished members of its own 
 communion : men who combine, in rare conjunc- 
 tion, sincere faith with high intelligence and im- 
 pressive logic. There is, for instance, a book 
 which has a greater circulation in the Roman 
 States than the New Testament, or Thomas a 
 Kempis, called the "Book of Dreams,^' or the 
 Oracle of the Government Lottery. Wheel- 
 barrowfuls are sold to the populace at every fair, 
 and it is often the only book in a whole village. 
 The faith of credulous ignorance in this book is a 
 most astounding fact ; and no later than four days 
 ago, at the drawing of the lottery, an instance of 
 its infallibility was quoted in all the haunts of the 
 
 L 2 
 
212 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 people. A labourer fell from the scaffolding of 
 the new hospital in the Corso, and was killed on 
 the spot ; his fellow- workman left the corpse in 
 the street^ and ran to consult his *^Book of 
 Dreams.^^ Paura, sangue, cascata^ were the caba- 
 listic words, whose corresponding numbers set 
 forth therein he selected for his investment of 
 fifteen bajocchi. On Saturday, his three numbers 
 all came forth from the government urn, winning 
 a prize of three hundred dollars. 
 
 Your noticing in print the absurd crusade 
 against Montalembert's speeches and Gioberti's 
 works, while such mischievous rubbish is allowed 
 to poison the popular mind, will have proper 
 effect here, as newspapers are diligently perused 
 at head-quarters, the news-room copies being oc- 
 casionally stopped, an evidence of over-sensitive- 
 ness. The subject of the infamous lottery system 
 is, however, too vast for a casual notice, and 
 deserves a separate letter : its degrading and im- 
 moral operation on every class of this pauper yet 
 gambling community has been exposed by the 
 best writers of Rome itself to no purpose hitherto. 
 Sarcastic poetry has aimed its shaft of ridicule in 
 vain ; for the pulpit, alas ! is not allowed to touch 
 on the tabooed topic: at least so it was understood 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 213 
 
 under Marini^s rule. You meet thousands in 
 Rome who cannot read alphabetical characters, 
 but 1 defy you to find a man, woman, or juvenile 
 raggamufiin for lottery purposes ignorant of arabic 
 numerals. Many were the squibs circulated dur- 
 ing the pontificate of the late Gregory, under 
 whom this mania had grown suicidal, for want 
 of more wholesome excitement. 
 
 " Ewiva la legge 
 
 Che il lotto mantiene! 
 II capo del gregge 
 Ci vuole un gran bene: 
 I mali, i bisogni 
 Degli asini vede, 
 E il fieno provvede 
 Col libro del sogni :" 
 
 which lines are happily capable of translation, 
 though nothing is understood to gain by that pro- 
 cess except a bishop : — 
 
 " Bless the * book' and the law of the lottery, 
 And the ruler who regulates Rome ; — 
 As a proof that he has not forgot her, he 
 Reprints for her people this ' tome.' 
 
 O ! ye donkeys of Tiber ! how can ye all 
 
 Join so, in dissatisfied bray, 
 When ye've got to your minds in this manual 
 
 Such a marvellous manger of hay." 
 
 The carnival has begun brilliantly to-day. 
 
2^14 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 Rome, February 18. 
 
 The Carnival^ thank heaven, is over at last, 
 and ten days of this uproarious tomfoolery, 
 which with ^^ manual wit^^ has superseded every 
 rational sort of occupation, have come to a close. 
 You will not expect me to describe the nonde- 
 script varieties of folly thus exhibited, though it 
 would be easy to transcribe for that purpose 
 several pages of Alexander Dumas' " Count of 
 Monte Christo,'' in which rhodomontizing ro- 
 mance the whole scene is graphically pourtrayed. 
 To that work refer such of your friends as desire 
 it; the frivolous to the flimsy. 
 
 Among all kinds of outlandish costumes repro- 
 ducing the semblance of every foreign garb and 
 gaberdine, people took no notice of something 
 really striking and strange, viz., the entrance into 
 Rome of the new Turkish ambassador and his 
 suite of genuine Orientals. Most spectators took 
 the solemn pageant for part of the general farce, 
 and applauded the Sultan's envoy as a well got-up 
 buffoonery, to the utter amazement of the grave 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 21S 
 
 Ottoman. His Highness Shekib Effendi^ amidst 
 showers of confectionery and groups of dancing 
 harlequins^ proceeded with diplomatic gravity to 
 his appointed residence, and there having spread 
 his carpet and performed his ablutions, lit his 
 pipe, and duly pondered on his reception in this 
 holy city. What his musings were, may be left 
 to the imagination. 
 
 The day after his arrival being Shrove Tuesday, 
 was the culminating point of the previous day^s 
 fun ; and rumour having acquainted the Romans 
 with the real nature of the distinguished infidePs 
 visit, crowds of masquers and gaily-filled chariots 
 thronged under the windows of the turbaned ple- 
 nipotentiary. There sat Shekib EfTendi, playing 
 his chibouk with imperturbable composure, having 
 learnt from his attendants that the Christians 
 were celebrating their ^^ramazan,'^ and having 
 sufficiently imbibed principles of toleration to 
 look calmly on the devotional exercises of the 
 Giaours. Reports were rife as to the costly pre- 
 sents which he was commissioned to offer the 
 Pope on his reception, though different versions 
 prevailed as to the precise nature of the gifts; 
 some maintaining the value of a splendid jewelled 
 pipe, others holding out for a priceless blade from 
 
216 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Damascus, while the learned advocated an illumi- 
 nated MS. of the Kuran : shawls ruled highest 
 with the fair Romans. 
 
 Meantime, in endless succession, carriage after 
 carriage rolled under the balconies of the envoy ; 
 each brilliant equipage of gay masquers vieing with 
 the other in polite manifestations ; flinging flowers 
 and saccharine projectiles in token of recognition; 
 to all which the Sublime Porte's representative 
 " mad^ no sign.'' It is related in Homer that, 
 seated on the walls of Troy, old Priam got Helen 
 to point out the distinguished Greeks as they 
 fought in the distance round the beleaguered 
 town. Had some " devil on two sticks" been at 
 the Turk's elbow on the present occasion he might 
 have performed a similar office in respect of some 
 remarkable characters. 
 
 " Yonder respectable middle-aged gentleman, 
 with a party of English ladies, O Shekib, is the 
 Saib Robert el Gordon, brother of Aberdeen Ef- 
 fendi, both of which personages thou hast heard 
 of in diplomacy. Saib Robert has been British 
 Envoy in Germany, whither thou goest ; but he 
 now disports himself with the rest after the man- 
 ner of the Romans. In the next chariot seest 
 thou a young nobleman of flash appearance with a 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 21? 
 
 black eye^ got by a blow from an orange ? That is 
 one of the hereditary legislators of England, Ward 
 Bey. Following him, driveth past in a dashing 
 vehicle, the Prince of Syracuse, brother to the 
 King of Naples, to Christina Munoz of Spain, to 
 Caroline Lucchese Palli, and to Penelope Capua 
 Smith. He appeareth to be, what I fear he is, a 
 very snob of royalty. Next, in a hackney convey- 
 ance, sitteth a tall gaunt personage, alone, with a 
 quid of tobacco inside his cheek 5 that, O Shekib, 
 is Ben Polk of Naples, brother of ^ Jeames,' the 
 great sultaun of the Yan-kees. He always leaves 
 his embassy and the lazzarone for Rome during 
 Ramazan. Not very gifted is he in diplomatic 
 accomplishments, but a true connoisseur in the 
 famous transatlantic sherbet, sherry cobbler. 
 Anon, Cometh a striking figure, rather short, but 
 manly, with a bushy beard and square forehead : 
 'tis the only clever remnant of the Buonaparte 
 race, the intelligent Prince of Canino : profound 
 as a sage, sportive as a boy. Dost thou notice the 
 splendid equipage, with running footmen and tri- 
 colour cockades ? ^Tis Count Rossi, envoy of the 
 Feringees, the only nation ably represented here. 
 Yonder carriage, with the royal arms of Portugal, 
 carries a masked personage. He would fain pass 
 
 l3 
 
i?18 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 for Don Miguel, formerly King of Lisbon : he is 
 only the Don^s valet, but very like his master. 
 He can't impose on the pubUc here, for we know 
 that the real Miguel secretly left Rome on his way 
 to Oporto, ten days ago." 
 
 Such would be the indications furnished to the 
 inquiring Ottoman by a dispassionate eye-witness, 
 who might also enter into details of many less 
 known, but not less curiously interesting, private 
 individuals; but as none but avowedly public 
 characters — appearing as such in public — are legi- 
 timate subjects of comment, non ragionam di loro, 
 ma guarda e passa. 
 
 The proceeds of the Irish relief ball, given on 
 Monday last, amounted, after all expenses, to 
 300/. The attendance was most brilliant — and 
 over 800. 
 
 The last news is the interv'iew of the senior cap- 
 tain (Cacciari) of the Roman Civic Guard with 
 the Pope, on the occasion of selecting a new 
 colonel of that corps. After some discussion his 
 Holiness asked, whether there would be any ob- 
 jection to his becoming a candidate for that office? 
 Of course none ; and consequently, to the great 
 delight of the Romans, Pius IX. is gazetted to- 
 day Colonel of La Guardia Civica, 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 219 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 Rome, February 28. 
 The Italians are gifted by nature with a high 
 order of intelligence, and whenever the swathing 
 bands by which their very infancy is enveloped 
 are removed, their native energies are in imme- 
 diate evidence. The growth of public spirit in 
 Rome, within a few months, resembles the sudden 
 exuberance of a Russian or Canadian summer. 
 Among the clergy liberal opinions are professed 
 with a marvellous enthusiasm, which, under the 
 late Gregory, di frattesca memoria, would have 
 not only barred all chance of promotion, but in- 
 volved more serious consequences. The public 
 journals teem with the effusions of clerical pen- 
 manship in favour of political reform. In yester- 
 day^s Cotemporaneo, so ably edited by the prelate 
 Gazzola, the leading article is on the '' liberty of 
 the press ;" and the same paper contains vigorous 
 essays on the " right of petition,'^ the necessity of 
 a ^' penny postage,^^ and the sacred duty of every 
 citizen taking part in politics, ^^ il ' sveluppamento 
 della vita publica," Gioberti^s principles are 
 
220 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 forcibly maintained in the teeth of Austria : the 
 Jesuits — considered by public opinion here as the 
 political tools of the retrograde faction, whose 
 centre is Modena— are rather roughly handled, 
 and it is clear that the secular priesthood leads 
 the van in the march of political progress. 
 
 ^^Sir Ricardo Cobden,^^ as the Italian news- 
 papers insist on calling him, was introduced this 
 week to Pius IX. by Cardinal Fieschi, and had a 
 prolonged interview with our Sovereign. The 
 most distinguished of the Roman nobility vie 
 with each other in doing honour to the English 
 cotton- spinner. An edict went forth this week, 
 opening the ports to foreign corn of every sort ; 
 which, though limited for the present, will no 
 doubt be made a permanent measure. Gas-works 
 are being organised ; the railway board is actively 
 engaged : the national guard is a favourite object 
 of the Pope's attention, and a splendid banner, 
 sent them from the civic guard of Bologna in 
 token of fraternisation, was this week solemnly 
 acknowledged and hung up in the Capitol. 
 
 The birth-day of General Washington occurring 
 last Monday, a grand banquet was held in the 
 Hall of Bertini, at which nearly sixty citizens of 
 the United States assembled, under the presidency 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 221 
 
 of their Neapolitan charge d'affaires, Mr. Polk, 
 junior, whose name is not unknown to your 
 readers. Thirteen toasts were gone through with 
 republican vigour and perseverance, not omitting 
 "a successful termination to the Mexican War, 
 with three cheers for General Taylor.^^ Judge 
 Welborn, of Georgia, was eloquent in showing 
 how a visit to Europe only made his own coun- 
 trymen all the prouder of their domestic institu- 
 tions. " Hail, Columbia,^^ and the " Star-spangled 
 Banner,^^ were performed on the pianoforte by 
 Mr. Karsten ; and the American gymnast, Signor 
 Risley, (who has made a harvest in Rome,) volun- 
 teered an appropriate nigger dance, in honour of 
 the father of freedom. 
 
 Such of your readers as have visited Rome, or 
 have merely seen drawings of the porch of St. 
 Peter's, with its ambidextrous semicircular colon- 
 nade, must recollect two statues of medieeval 
 design, meant for Peter and Paul, standing on 
 each side of the ascending steps before the portico. 
 These two blocks of shapeless travertine might 
 have harmonised with the Byzantine taste of the 
 old basilica to which they belonged, but were a 
 palpable eyesore in juxtaposition with the exqui- 
 site sculpture prevalent throughout the work of 
 
222 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Leo X. and his successors. Their limbs were 
 stiflF, their attitude awkward and clumsy, their 
 antiquity undeniably venerable. Like many other 
 of our time-honoured respectabilities, they have 
 received notice to quit, and will be replaced before 
 Easter by two marble statues of somewhat different 
 taste, from the chisels of Fabris and Tadolini, the 
 one director of the Belle Arti, the other a scholar 
 of Canova. These modem productions are on a 
 colossal scale ; each figure is nearly twenty feet in 
 height, though formed each of a single block from 
 Carrara. Each cost 12,000 dollars, and both are 
 now ready to be transported from the workshop on 
 the Tiber, near St. PauPs, on the Ostian road. I 
 have already alluded to the ill-judged expenditure 
 of the late Pontificate in this pestilent swamp. 
 
 It was the intention of the late Pope to have 
 added these two giant works to the other costly 
 materials entombed in that remote spot, where a 
 casual visitor might possibly admire and appre- 
 ciate them ; but the eminently practical and 
 common-sense intellect of Pius took a different 
 view of the matter ; and thought them, if worth 
 paying for, worth seeing by rich and poor 
 without the trouble of a special pilgrimage. In 
 Lucan's " Pharsaha," a Roman general is intro- 
 
OP BETTER DAYS. 223 
 
 duced as indignant at the idea of Amnion's oracle 
 being located in an African desert — an arrange- 
 ment which did not accord with his notions of a 
 provident Deity. 
 
 . . . . " Steriles neque legit arenas 
 
 Ut caneret paucis, mersitque hoc pulvere verum (pulchrum?)" 
 
 So thinks Pius. * * In placing these new 
 statues^ the Pope seems to have had an eye to 
 avoiding the blunder of your famous Wellington 
 arch-abomination. Previous to deciding, he or- 
 dered colossal drawings to be executed with pro- 
 portionate pedestals, and had the whole erected 
 pro tern, on the spot to be occupied. He would 
 not depend on any eye but his own, — and his 
 glance is unerring. The new Peter will wield 
 his "keys" and the new Paul brandish his 
 "sword of the Spirit" after a truly dignified 
 fashion. Their dimensions will not be of the 
 stunted character of their predecessors, but in 
 full accordance with the dome before which they 
 are to stand sentinel. 
 
 Talking of St. Peter reminds me of our Gover- 
 nor's answer to the remonstrances of M. Guizot 
 and the Portuguese ambassador, on the late es- 
 cape of Don Miguel : " Our keys are not those 
 of a jailor." 
 
224 THE BRIGHT DAAVN 
 
 At a late sitting of the Roman Archeeological 
 Society, Cavalier Campana — whose collection of 
 Etruscan antiquities is the first in the world — 
 gave some interesting details respecting a newly- 
 discovered sepulchre of the Roman republican 
 period, not far from the family vault of the 
 Scipios at the Capena gate. The inscriptions 
 record the entombment of several freedmen of 
 Paulus Emilius and Julius Caesar. Subsequently, 
 there is record of the interment of Messalina's 
 tiring-woman, among whose bones in the cinerary 
 urn were found several gold hair-pins and broken 
 jewellery 5 and also of a serving-maid of Cecilia 
 Metella, with similar remnants of toilette. The 
 "court physician^' of Augustus, one Pindarus, is 
 also recognizable for the first time ; as is the un- 
 known colleague of the consul, Sergius Lentulus, 
 anno urbis 7^2, the marble on the fasti consulares 
 of the Capitol being broken after his name. This 
 colleague is now ascertained to have been one 
 Junius Blesus, as was happily conjectured by 
 some old scholiast. It also appears, from these 
 inscriptions, for the first time, that there existed 
 a Philharmonic Society in republican Rome, one 
 of the interred being described as belonging to 
 " collegium symphoniacorum'^ "We know so little 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 225 
 
 of classic music or its performers/^ says a cor- 
 respondent, " that any hint is of value : be it 
 therefore known that this amateur was a ^ dasher 
 of cymbals/ which may suggest the strepitoso 
 character of these ancient concerts/^ 
 
 Since last night a snow storm of the most 
 unusual description has suddenly come down on 
 this capital and the whole Campagna, which is 
 covered with an abundant fall. To me, looking 
 out on this Pincian mount, there is but one tint 
 visible from the Latin hills to the sea. The cu- 
 pola of St. Peter^s looks as if it were indebted 
 to " Sir Ricardo Cobden^^ for a bran-new cotton 
 night-cap. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 Rome, March 8. 
 The organisation of municipal institutions, and 
 of a magistracy selected among the enlightened 
 laity, has occupied the Sovereign's attention this 
 week. Prince Corsini, Marquis del Bufalo, Vin- 
 cenzo Colonna, and Camillo Borghese, have been 
 named commissioners for the furtherance of these 
 desirable reforms. But a far more vital measure 
 
226 THE BRIGHT DAWX 
 
 has been taken by his Holiness, and one likely to 
 be far more practically useful in its effects on the 
 social condition of his people. He has called 
 together, at the Quirinal Palace, a numerous 
 assembly of the principal landowners of the 
 Roman territory, and, in a vigorous allocution, 
 plainly told them that he would no longer tolerate 
 individual neglect, in allowing so many broad 
 acres to remain unproductive, and so many of his 
 faithful peasantry to remain unemployed. He 
 gave them notice that a vigilant eye would be 
 kept on the management of the gigantic territorial 
 districts confided to their care ; denied that they 
 might do as they liked with their own, while 
 there existed hands unemployed and mouths 
 unfed within the boundary of their estates ; told 
 them that if he found labourers in want of work 
 on their properties, he would himself find occu- 
 pation for them at the proprietors' expense ; and 
 finally dismissed the astonished feudal lords with 
 a new, but firm, impression that duties as well as 
 rights formed part of their landed inheritance. 
 What he said, he is the man to do. 
 
 To understand the full value of this bold step 
 on the part of Pius IX., besides exhibiting him as 
 seeking the support of the people alone, without 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 22? 
 
 reference to the suffrages of an effete aristocracy, 
 it is necessary to know that five-sevenths of the 
 whole population depend on agriculture, which 
 forms the real resources of the kingdom. There 
 are here three millions of inhabitants ; and if the 
 produce of the soil were equally distributed, each 
 native of these dominions would be entitled to 
 exactly 750lbs. weight of good available food; 
 that is to say. our annual 
 
 Pastural and grazing produce amounts to.... 350,000, OOOlbs. 
 Grain of all sorts, rice, vegetables l,900,000,0001bs. 
 
 Total lbs 2,250,000,000 
 
 Now the surface of the country, hill and plain, has 
 been ascertained to present, in the form of culti- 
 vated ground, an area of 16,071 square miles; 
 while there remains in a state of neglect, though 
 susceptible of culture, an extent of 1,315 square 
 miles, in addition to only 731 quite incapable of 
 improvement; presenting a total of 18,117 square 
 miles. Your Irish ^' reproductive board ^' have 
 here the means of comparison between the extent 
 of their waste lands and ours ; and, if a master's 
 grasp is put forth here to compel a lazy pro- 
 prietary to exertion, ought not an iron grip to be 
 laudably laid on the spendthrift squirearchy who 
 have been for ages the curse of Ireland ? 
 
228 THE BRIGHT DA'WN 
 
 We have been amused here with accounts of a 
 conspiracy among some friars at Ancona, to upset 
 his Holiness; but the attempt would seem as 
 hopeless as that alluded to in the Georgics : 
 
 " Et conjuratos coelum rescindere fratres!" 
 
 Our newspapers give constant evidence of the 
 bold and enlightened views held by political 
 writers in Rome; and the wonder is, how so 
 many accurate thinkers and vigorous penmen 
 have contrived to bottle up their indignation 
 during the last sixteen years. The Cotemporaneo 
 of the 7th has a splendid ^^ letter to the Pope/' 
 signed by Gioberti, from Brussels, remarkable for 
 freedom of speech and depth of philosophy. The 
 Italico appears to be written by our first profes- 
 sors in law, medicine, and divinity. The Pallade 
 is an artistic and utilitarian sheet. The old Diario 
 crawls on as of old with imperturbable imbecility 
 i^a goose waddling among swans — and so fully is 
 the mind of Rome satisfied with the new organs 
 of recognised publicity, that an attempt to cir- 
 culate a clandestinely printed journal. La Senti- 
 nella del Campidoglio, was put down by us all out 
 of respect to the liberal Pontiff, who has set 
 opinion free for the first time within papal me- 
 mory. The soi'disant patriotism of irreligionists 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 229 
 
 and anti-socialists is at a discount in this penin- 
 sula, and all revolutionary abortions of the Car- 
 bonari school are at an end for ever. Every 
 honest mind rallies, for hope, round Pius IX., 
 and eschews the false oracles of demagoguism and 
 its delusions. Our great lyric poet, Monti, can 
 no longer give utterance to that bitter sentiment, 
 which the spectacle of so many self-seeking and 
 declamatory politicians extorted from him some 
 years since : 
 
 " Delia patria I'amor santo e perfetto 
 Empie a mille la bocca — a dieci il petto!" 
 
 The rumoured demise of Mr. O'Connell raised 
 a slight ripple on the surface of society here, and 
 the principal effect was to attract visitors to 
 Hogan^s studio for a glance at the colossal model 
 of the statue now placed in the Dublin Exchange. 
 The locale which forms this sculptor's workshop, 
 (once tenanted by Canova,) presents just now 
 what may be termed a sort of Hibernian Wal- 
 halla. There stands the sainted effigy of the late 
 Bishop Doyle, imploring divine mercy on a sup- 
 pliant figure of ill-treated Erin, the right of whose 
 impoverished children to legalised relief he argued 
 in vain 5 the voice of hollow turbulence, alas! 
 
230 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 prevailed over the honest accents of him whose 
 crozier whilom swayed 
 
 " Kildare's holy shrine." 
 
 There stands the statue of Drummond, who first 
 directed the energies of Dublin Castle to the ame- 
 lioration of the neglected peasantry. There beams 
 the mild and kindly countenance of Archbishop 
 Murray, ever averse to ecclesiastical strife and 
 the unseemly exhibitions of political churchmen. 
 Again, the allegoric figure of Erin clasps in fond 
 embrace the bust of her aged patriot, Cloncurr}% 
 Close at hand, in a spacious monumental bas 
 relief. Bishop Brinkley, of Cloyne, rests one hand 
 on the celestial globe; while with the other, he 
 turns over the pages of holy writ. From another 
 quarter, the bust of Father Mathew looks forth 
 redolent of Christian philanthropy : on the same 
 shelf is seen the mirthful brow of Father Prout. 
 Tom Steele himself has a niche in this Irish tem- 
 ple of celebrity, and truly somehow the cranium 
 of the " head pacificator,'^ seems identified with 
 the reading of the riot act. The late venerable 
 Mr. Beamish, of Cork, as well as his meritorious 
 partner, William Crawford, both models to any 
 mercantile community, have their representations 
 here, with several Murphies from that city, worthy 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 231 
 
 men and knowledgeable in their generation. The 
 bust of the late Thomas Davis, who first turned 
 the youthful intelligence of Ireland into pathways 
 of manly independence and self-respect, was 
 ordered last year by a vote of his grateful fellow- 
 countrymen ; but the funds have somehow or 
 other been diverted to purposes more pleasing to 
 " Old Ireland." Just at present the sculptor is 
 engaged on a vast design, a sepulchral alto relievo, 
 to the memory of the late Peter Purcell, the la- 
 mented founder of the Irish agricultural societies, 
 who gave, for the first time, a practical direction 
 to the spirit of association, long applied in Ireland 
 to mere moonshine purposes, or the selfish ag- 
 grandisement of individual ambitions. The form 
 of the deceased worthy is accurately, yet ideally, 
 pourtrayed : he has fallen in the midst of his 
 favourite pursuits. The plough is alongside the 
 body of the departed husbandmen, a shepherd^s 
 dog guarding his feet, while the genius of agricul- 
 ture, crowned with ears of corn, presents a palm- 
 branch from above to the votary of food-creating 
 industry. Alas ! 
 
 " Quid labor aut benefacta juvant? Quid vomere terras 
 Invertisse graves? ... it tristis (Hibernus) arator, 
 Mserentem abjungens Purcelli mortejuvencum 
 Atque opera in medio defixa relinquit aratra." 
 
232 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 Rome, March 13. 
 
 For the last few days rumours of all kinds have 
 been afloat respecting a serious misunderstanding 
 between the Austrian ambassador and our govern- 
 ment. It appears that positively the envoy of 
 Austria has gone so far as to demand his pass- 
 ports, which the Pope has ordered to be placed at 
 his disposal at his earliest convenience. Much 
 joy is expressed in every circle of society at this 
 rupture, and an incubus seems to have been taken 
 off the whole social body. It is added that the 
 recent conspiracy at Ancona had something to do 
 with the affair, and also that a formal demand had 
 been made by our government to the effect that 
 the foreign garrison which now occupies Ferrara 
 should be forthwith withdrawn, no necessity ex- 
 isting for its continuance, but, quite the contrary : 
 a regular quarrel is inevitable, and the [sooner 
 matters come to a crisis the better. 
 
 We have nothing of a more striking character 
 to report. Our Sovereign has brought back the 
 days of the great and good Haroon el Reschid, 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 233 
 
 and goes about incognito investigating abuses and 
 relieving distress. A paragraph in the Roman 
 Advertiser gives an account of a visit paid to the 
 ^^ Ragged Schools ^^ of Rome, originally founded 
 by some pious laymen, and which the clergy have 
 since taken in hand. Would that all the unoc- 
 cupied friars of Rome^ (amounting to 800,) had 
 the grace to employ their leisure in imparting 
 instruction to the ignorant multitudes of children 
 by whom they are surrounded. 
 
 There was found yesterday (what is an exceed- 
 ingly rare occurrence here,) the dead body of 
 a poor drunkard in the classic basin of the 
 Fontana di Trevi, which is the water used by the 
 select classes of Roman citizens. Much horror is 
 felt by delicate persons at the unheard-of circum- 
 stance. Possibly it may have been a victim of 
 revenge or jealousy, but as we have no Wakley 
 here to coronise the corpse, the mystery must 
 remain unrevealed*. 
 
 * The actual in life warrants, more than is generally thought, 
 the fanciful fictions of the best "imaginative writers :" allow me 
 to quote YOU. — Eo!. Gr. 
 
 " And her father?" inquired the poetic Snodgrass. ** Remorse 
 and misery," replied the Stranger. " Sudden disappearance — 
 talk of the whole city — search made— fountain in the great square 
 suddenly ceased playing — weeks elapsed ; still a stoppage — work- 
 men to clean it — water drawn off — father-in-law discovered stick- 
 
234 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Not a little disgust has been felt in ecclesiastical 
 circles on receipt of the last Lenten pastoral of 
 Dr. M^Hale, dated February 15, contrasted, as it 
 necessarily is, with the mild and considerate tone 
 of similar official documents here. It appears 
 that he inveighs amid Irish famine against the 
 " soup establishments with which this country is 
 about to be inundated ;^^ talks about "breaking 
 down the fences of discipline ! " and sapiently 
 adds that " this soup, without affording sufficient 
 nutriment, has just as much of the juice of meat 
 as would fill the poor with remorse !^^ An 
 Indian fakir on the banks of the Ganges might 
 be supposed to howl forth such ravings, not a 
 Christian teacher. Last year, it is well remem- 
 bered here, that the same individual ascribed, in 
 his Lenten address, the potato rot to the Bill for 
 endowing provincial academies for the middle 
 classes. 
 
 A new journal has appeared this week, dedicated 
 to medical science; it is called, somewhat quaintly, 
 VEsculapio del Tevere. You will probably see 
 copied from the Presse an account of Don Miguel's 
 
 ing head first in the main pipe, with a full confession in his right 
 boot — took him out, and the fountain played away again, as well 
 as ever." — Pickwick Papers, chap. ii. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 235 
 
 escape, aided by an English Colonel ^ * * * ! There 
 has been no English colonel here to answer that 
 indefinite description. Colonel Bunbury is in- 
 nocent of the soft impeachment, and the French, 
 apparently, must needs have John Bull's finger in 
 every dirty pie. Our English steamer, the Penin- 
 sular Company's Tiger, was run foul of the other 
 day on the Tuscan coast by one of the French 
 government ships. No person injured however. 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 Rome, March 18. 
 
 The Austrian Ambassador appears to have 
 reconsidered the matter of his threatened depar- 
 ture, and, much to the chagrin of the public here, 
 has chosen to remain. Some compromise was 
 immediately suspected to have taken place, and 
 some retrograde movement on the part of the 
 Papal Cabinet was anticipated; nor was the 
 alarm without foundation, as the events of the last 
 few days have given evidence. On Tuesday an 
 edict came out suddenly, and took every one by 
 surprise: a heavy stamp tax is thereby laid on 
 our newspapers! and a rigid censorship is 
 
236 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 announced^ under terms of apparent liberality. 
 There is some laudatory phraseology about the 
 press in general, of which popes and bishops are 
 stated to be, if not the inventors, at least the 
 principal promoters ; the edict goes on to talk of, 
 even '^ la honesta liberta della stampa" but it 
 only crowns the victim with a few flowers of 
 speech previous to immolation. There can be no 
 mistake about it. Austria has obtained the sup- 
 pression of public opinion in the journals of 
 Kome, the only free utterances in the whole 
 Peninsula: and Cardinal Gizzi has sold his coun- 
 try, and the fair prospects of Italy, for a grim 
 smile from the idiot Vandal at Schonbrunn. 
 
 That the Secretary of State alone is to blame 
 in this foul concession, is the opinion of all 
 Home. The Pope is supposed to have been kept 
 in ignorance of the intended blow, and hence the 
 firm determination on the part of the public not 
 to submit to this return of old tyranny. A pub- 
 lic meeting of the proprietors, editors, and 
 printers of the sixteen journals published in this 
 city, was held yesterday at the office of the Co- 
 temporaneo, and it was unanimously resolved, 
 that '^ not a single newspaper should be publisJied 
 in Rome until the revocation of the offensive edict '^ 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 23? 
 
 The Marquis of Azelio attended, and spoke in 
 indignant terms of the servile act of the govern- 
 ment, as did Monsignor Gazzola, with Professors 
 Mazi and Gigli, editors of the Cotemporaneo ; 
 Professor Generali, editor of the Saggiatore 
 (Essayist) ; Doctor Pompili, of the Fanfulla ; 
 Pinto, of the Italico ; Cerotti, of the Giurispru- 
 denza; and Professor Morelli, of the Roman 
 Advertiser. An energetic address to the Pontiff 
 was resolved on, and received thirty signatures of 
 editorial representatives on the spot. To-day an 
 adjourned meeting takes place, and is going on 
 while I write ; a crowd of upwards of three hun- 
 dred printers, with their wives and children, are 
 about to march up to the Quirinal Palace; and 
 such an ^' agitation ^' prevails as no one could 
 have foreseen, in a countr}^ so newly initiated in 
 the blessings of freedom. 
 
 I send you the original of this precious edict. 
 I feel such a loathing at the sight of the dis- 
 graceful document, that I cannot bring myself to 
 translate it. The copies affixed as usual about 
 Rome have been all torn down during last night ; 
 and some supposed emissaries of Austria have 
 torn off the Papal escutcheon from the Post- 
 office, in order to mix up, if possible, the 
 
238 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 fair fame of Pius with that of the offending 
 Gizzi. 
 
 I have confidence that our Sovereign will in- 
 stantly revoke this blundering act of his minister. 
 The press of Europe is, after all, the main sup- 
 port of Pius and of his reforms. Of this I have 
 reason to know, that his Hohness is fully aware, 
 and that no churchman has so keenly appreciated 
 that mighty modern revolution through which the 
 pulpit itself has been so effectually superseded by 
 the printing machine. The only result of the 
 edict of yesterday (w^hich may, if not annulled, 
 prove as disastrous as the Jesuit liCtellier's revo- 
 cation of the Edict of Nantes) would be the cir- 
 culation of clandestine publications like the 
 Sentinella del Campidoglio, of which I spoke 
 in a previous despatch, besides a host of irreli- 
 gious broad-sheets printed in Switzerland, and 
 smuggled, during Gregory's sway, in thousands 
 among the people. 
 
 • My mind is so full of this vexatious matter, 
 that I can scarce think of any news for you. 1 
 may mention, however, that since the public 
 holding of criminal courts (a gracious reform of 
 our new monarch), the able Irish barrister, Mr. 
 Whiteside, Q.C., has been a constant attendant 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 239 
 
 on the sessions, and, I trust, on his return, he 
 will give you the benefit of his experience in 
 Roman law, as laid down by Bartoli, our '' Coke 
 upon Littleton/^ Prince Borghese has shut up 
 his splendid gallery, and discharged all the custodes 
 thereof, because some unscrupulous amateur of 
 the stiff school of art has helped himself to a 
 valuable specimen of Pietro Perugino. Accounts 
 from Florence represent the Grand Duke as 
 affrighted beyond measure at the freedom of 
 public opinion in the Roman press, and he, doubt- 
 less, aided Austria in getting the new edict from 
 Gizzi. Every southern and northern despot feels 
 that the battle of human progress is to be fought 
 at Rome, and we all feel the truth of that notion. 
 Here the banner of reform must be unfurled to 
 rally the millions of hereditary bondsmen, ^ig- 
 nifer Mc statue signum ! hie optime manebimus, 
 ( Vide Livy.) 
 
240 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Rome, March 27. 
 
 The struggle between the Roman newspapers 
 and Austrian interference, of which we had 
 reached the crisis when I wrote last, has just ter- 
 minated in the total discomfiture of Metternich 
 and the triumph of the press. The "edict/' 
 forced on the pusillanimous Gizzi, has, thanks to 
 the firm attitude of our local editors, become a 
 dead letter; and yesterday all our journals came 
 out fresh and vigorous as ever, without the ghost 
 of a " government stamp,'' and evincing no trace 
 of meddling censorship. The Cotemporaneo, at 
 the head of the public instructors, shows re- 
 doubled energy from its short repose, and contains 
 articles of an eloquence and ability which the 
 Parisian Debats has seldom exhibited. I transmit 
 you yesterday's number- It is understood that no 
 change will be attempted in matters of public 
 journalism " for the present year," and such a 
 concession to the late out-burst of opinion is quite 
 tantamounnt to a final settlement. It is a point 
 of etiquette tacitly understood in Rome, that no 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 241 
 
 edict once promulgated can be formally repealed, 
 however it may be suffered to lie dormant: for 
 instance, the late Governor Marini issued an 
 ukase against fox-hunting in the Campagna, ac- 
 cording to which the horse and his rider are still 
 liable to fine and confiscation; yet the hounds 
 meet twice a week, and the whipper-in is reckless ; 
 habemus contra te Catalinam senatus consuUum 
 vehemens et grave; verum tanquam gladium in 
 vagina reconditum! 
 
 Last night, another kindly effort was made to 
 aid the life struggle in Ireland, and produced a 
 thousand dollars. Adelaide Kemble (Sartoris), 
 in unison wdth a number of amateurs, German, 
 Russian, and Italian, got up an extemporaneous 
 concert; and the Spanish Envoy at this court 
 flung open the long deserted halls of the once 
 gorgeous palace of his national embassy for their 
 reception. Lord Ward paid for the lights, and 
 Earl Compton sang, as" did Countess Calergi, De 
 Rougemont, Prince Wolkonsky, Count Castle- 
 barco, and Miss Brown, of Mayo. Nearly three 
 hundred years ago, in these identical saloons, 
 Olivarez and the general (of the Jesuits) Aquaviva 
 organised the rebellion of Hugh O^Neil, in Ulster; 
 and here the "blessing" of the Spanish Armada 
 
 M 3 
 
242 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 was concocted. The same roof looked down last 
 night on somewhat more creditable proceedings. 
 
 Pius IX., whose popularity flags not among the 
 lower and middle classes^ does not meet with the 
 sanie enthusiasm among the selfish and worthless 
 '' nobles/' who have for ages preyed on the vitals 
 of this land without exhibiting a particle of the 
 qualities by which their forefathers bought their 
 honours and distinctions ; it is true that some of 
 these Roman Patrician families at no period pro- 
 duced any great men, but merely gained wealth 
 and an hereditary position from the accidental 
 elevation of a Pope_, whose stupid nepotism be- 
 came a mine of inexhaustible revenues to his lucky 
 relatives. Some very prominent and very frivo- 
 lous leaders of fashionable life here will recognise 
 themselves in this description. Not of this origin, 
 however, is the family whose mansion the Pope 
 honoured last week with a visit, being the first 
 time he has paid such a compliment to any of his 
 private subjects. Prince Massimo, though an 
 indifferent postmaster, is unquestionably one of 
 the best born and truest gentlemen in Rome, 
 being an undoubted descendant of the sole surviv- 
 ing Fabius out of the 300 who marched to Cre- 
 mera ; and through Fabius Maximus and a line of 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 243 
 
 known consuls and subsequent magistrates of tliis 
 city^ traceable in every link to the present day. 
 Mabillon^ Litta, and Cardinal Mai, have each in 
 turn elucidated this unrivalled genealogy, so as to 
 defy cavil. But if anything were wanting to cor- 
 borate the testimony of parchments and marble 
 inscriptions, the experience of every traveller 
 from Civita Vecchia, or Florence, might be ap- 
 pealed to as to the slow-coach system prevalent 
 under the present functionary, whose kinsmanship 
 to the great Cunctator is thereby invincibly 
 proven. 
 
 Lieutenant- General Sir Dugald Gilmour died 
 here on the 25th. He had fought at Quiberon, 
 Copenhagen, Corunna, Talavera, Busaco, Nivelle, 
 and Toulouse, and was Colonel of the 2nd Rifles. 
 He lies with Keats and Shelley. To their grave 
 the finger of glory points steadily, as it may to his 
 now. 
 
 Gibson^s statue of the Queen sails in the Tiger 
 from Civita Vecchia for Southampton, on the 9th 
 of April. The rules of your Academy are not so 
 stringent in point of time as to preclude her Ma- 
 jesty^s entrance through the portals after they are 
 closed by regulation. If you are over scrupulous 
 on the point, so much the worse for yourselves. 
 
244 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 The Prince of Canino talks of visiting England by 
 the same conveyance, and the convenience of this 
 new line of the Peninsular and Oriental boats is 
 beginning to be generally appreciated thoughout 
 Italy. 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 Rome, April 3. 
 
 This solemn week has " given pause ^' to all 
 sublunary things, and the public of Rome, as well 
 as the floating population of pilgrims from every 
 clime, have devoted themselves exclusively to the 
 observances of the ritual and the immemorial 
 pomps of the Catholic rubric, carried on not with- 
 out due admixture of exquisite music and soul- 
 stirring anthems. Many whose sympathies could 
 hitherto never be awakened by these outward 
 ceremonies, looked on by them as only tending 
 to exalt a domineering priesthood in the eyes of 
 an ignorant crowd, have this year mingled in 
 the throng, out of pure regard for our truly en- 
 lightened and benevolent pontiff, and, entering 
 into the true spirit of the mystic liturgy, have 
 ceased to scoff; in more than one instance, the 
 " Parous deorum cultor et infrequens" 
 
 has remained to pray. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 245 
 
 Cobden's visit to Naples, though unattended by 
 any pubhc display (the lazzaroni government being 
 afraid of liberal speeches, such as were delivered 
 in Rome and Genoa after the banquet), elicited, 
 nevertheless, the true feeling of public opinion in 
 that capital. No less than 119 cards of important 
 personages from every class in society were left at 
 his residence. 
 
 The vacant mitre of Milan (involving also a red 
 hat) has not been yet conferred, and occasions 
 much conjecture here, as well as throughout Lom- 
 bardy. People are curious to know whether Aus- 
 tria will have the impudence again to present a 
 German for the Pope's sanction, as the successor 
 of Ambrose, and head of the Ambrosian rite in 
 northern Italy, Old Gaysriich, the late cardinal, 
 was almost forgiven his barbaric origin for the 
 hearty good will he bore his adopted country dur- 
 ing so many years. But anotiier transalpine pre- 
 late will not be on a bed of roses in Milan. 
 
 I forward' you the Roman papers of to-day : you 
 will find the vigour and eloquence of the Cotem- 
 poraneo unabated : the leading article on ^^ The 
 invincible power of public opinion '' is up to the 
 mark of your best public instructors. You will 
 also find an account of the old peasant who, 40 
 
246 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 years ago, saved the life of Pius IX., about to 
 perish in an Itahan river (the Metaurus of old 
 fame), and how it fared with him in Rome, where 
 he had been taken up in the late razzia which 
 swept away all the beggars. 
 
 I see in a leading article of the Times of to-day, 
 that a British embassy in Rome is become a de- 
 sideratum with the thunderer. It was high time 
 to find out that diplomatic want, and never too 
 late to urge a remedy. Sir Robert Gordon was 
 presented last week to his Holiness by the Hano- 
 verian envoy ! Our late ambassador at the court 
 of Vienna must have felt rather awkward at such 
 a solecism in European public manners. 
 
 The same journal informs its readers that 
 France, through Count Rossi, has taken the Pope 
 under its surveillance, and won't allow him to go 
 on too fast in his career of reform. Happily, he 
 does not depend on the Tuilleries for support, but 
 on his own strong heart and vigorous understand- 
 ing — with the blessing of God. The Presse 
 newspaper of Paris, which used to encourage the 
 Papal reforms, has, it is true, ceased to fan the 
 holy fire, and the Abbe de Bonnechose, Roman 
 correspondent of that journal, no longer makes it 
 the depository of his enlightened aspirations. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 24? 
 
 But things go on bravely nevertheless, and pro- 
 mise a great future : — 
 
 Nusquam libertas gratior exstat 
 Quam sub rege Pio ! 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 Rome, April 5. 
 
 Yesterday, while the Pontiff was in the act 
 of blessing " urbem et orbem '^ from the porch of 
 St. Peter's, before a concourse of over 200,000 
 Christians of every creed, a slight disturbance 
 arose, which might have had bad results. The 
 civic guard (of which he is colonel) had petitioned 
 to be allowed to put their hats up on the points 
 of their bayonets, and to cheer, which had been 
 allowed, but the troops of the line made a similar 
 application, which had not been successful, and, 
 in consequence, Zamboni, the commandant, had 
 countermanded the order of the day as regarded 
 the national troop. The people did not know of 
 this, and when the Pope arose amid a deep silence, 
 and his silvery voice was distinctly heard over the 
 crowd, a sudden burst from the whole multitude 
 greeted him, and all eyes were turned on the 
 
248 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 national guard for their expected manifestation; 
 their attitude of simple ^^ attention '^ did not please 
 the Romans, and a row would have ensued but for 
 the timely explanation of some officers, who were 
 on the qui vive. The Pope was escorted, amid 
 wild enthusiasm, back to the Quirinal. 
 
 Clubs are getting quite into vogue here. The 
 nobles have not any longer the monopoly of 
 casinos. The merchants have got up a club — the 
 artists have got one. The Germans had taken 
 the lead in clubbing, and were soon imitated by 
 the French. The English have a well-appointed 
 one in the Piazza di Spagna. A kind of semi- 
 political club (called // Circolo Romano) numbers 
 already 300 members, and most of the journals of 
 Europe are taken. 
 
 A funeral took place last week of some import- 
 ance, as showing how the middle classes are 
 emerging from non-entity into importance and 
 self-respect. A coffee-house keeper, called Ricci, 
 who had been distinguished as the first Roman 
 who brewed gas for the lighting of liis splendid 
 saloons in the Palazzo Ruspoli (the putting out of 
 which gas-pipe I enumerated last year on the 4tli 
 of April, among the doings of the late Governor 
 Marini), having died, was convoyed to his last 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 249 
 
 resting-place by several thousands of his fellow- 
 citizens; the Corso was resplendent with torches, 
 and the National Guard, of which he was a sol- 
 dier, turned out in force to honour their worthy- 
 comrade; he was the great support of the poor 
 exiles, and a stout reformer. You will find the 
 speech pronounced over his grave in the pages 
 of the Cotemporaneo. None but a noble or a 
 *^ saint" ever had honours of this sort in Rome. 
 The mezzo ceto have begun to understand their 
 own worth. 
 
 Rocca, the President of the Equator (Quito 
 and Guyaquil), has sent as ambassador to our 
 court the Marquis Lorenzana. 
 
 The first merchant- vessel (built at Ancona) 
 called Pio Nono, entered Civita Vecchia last 
 weekj and received a royal salute from the batte- 
 ries. You would do well to hint this matter to 
 the Peninsular and Oriental Company, when they 
 next destine a steamer for our Italian and South- 
 ampton line, and are puzzled at the christening. 
 May they have more luck than with the Tiber! 
 
 Last night the dome and colonnade of St. 
 Peter's blazed out with a million lamps, and the 
 spectacle from the Pincian Hill was, on account 
 of the dusk of the sky, brilliant beyond custom. 
 
250 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 'Twas as if a fragment of the " New Jerusalem" 
 had been let down from the empyreum by a 
 golden chain. 
 
 Among the odd regulations which from time 
 immemorial have obtained in Rome is the law by 
 which goats are not allowed to enter the city 
 until after Easter Sunday. In consequence the 
 town was thronged at an early hour this morning 
 with herds of horned visitors from the Sabine 
 Hills, their udders full of milk and their odour 
 recognizable through every thoroughfare. Car- 
 riages could hardly go at any pace for the 
 obstruction. Why they are excluded during the 
 Lent's holy fast, I do not pretend to discover; 
 possibly it may have some mysterious connexion 
 with a passage in the beautiful old dithyraml), 
 ^^Dies irac/' sung on mournful occasions of the 
 church service: — 
 
 ** Inter oves locum prsesta! 
 Et ab hadis me sequestra 
 Statuens in parte dextra!" 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 251 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 Rome, April 8. 
 You may look out for a speedy adjustment of 
 the question of Rome and England interchange 
 of diplomatic relations. Her Majesty's ambas- 
 sador at Naples has just arrived here ; and, if his 
 visit to Rome had merely a recreative object, he 
 would scarcely have chosen to come after the 
 Easter attractions had ceased to render our city 
 interesting, and just when the season of Neapo- 
 litan festivity opens. The Hon. Mr. Temple and 
 our late English minister at Vienna, Sir Robert 
 Gordon, do not appear idle ; and though this 
 business belongs properly to the department of 
 our Florentine envoy, Mr. Hamilton's continued 
 illness has rendered the services of another official 
 personage indispensable. To lay the foundation 
 of an embassy at Rome {tanta molis erat !) would 
 seem a work of surpassing gravity; and the 
 brother of the late as well as the brother of 
 the present occupant of the Fdreign-office are 
 
252 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 not too many for the task. May the mother of 
 the graces smile on the undertaking : 
 
 " Sic te diva potens Cypri 
 Sic fratres Helense, lucida sidera!" 
 
 for, in a case like this, one may be allowed to 
 draw upon both Horace and Virgil for illustra- 
 tions. 
 
 Lady Susan Percy, while at her toilet yester- 
 day, dropped dead on the carpet; ossification of 
 the heart is supposed to have brought on this 
 sudden calamity. You will convey the first news 
 of this additional bereavement to the wide circle 
 already placed in mourning by the demise of the 
 chief of the house of Northumberland. She was 
 kind and charitable. 
 
 Letters from Paris to the Irish College here 
 prepare the members of the clergy and other 
 admirers of Mr. O'Connell for his immediate ar- 
 rival by sea at Civita Vecchia, from which he will 
 have, owing to the horrid state of that road, a most 
 tedious drive to Rome. The town is fast getting 
 empty, as usual about this time of the year, and 
 next month the heat will begin to be intolerable, 
 so that the baths of Lucca, or some other cheer- 
 ful retreat would be a more sensible move. He 
 will find here, in a state of bodily and mental 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 253 
 
 debility equal to his own, in an advanced age, 
 the only living daughter of Curran, the sister of 
 her of whom it is written, in pages that will 
 never die : — 
 
 " She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps," &c. 
 
 If he is enabled to climb the Janiculum hill, he 
 will trace on the marble floor of the church of 
 Montorio the newly-repaired and refreshened 
 epitaphs of two Irish chieftains who did not 
 confine their aspirations against the Saxon to 
 mere talk, but wasted both life and fortune in 
 the hopeless endeavour to create an independent 
 Ireland, to 
 
 ** Right her wrongs in battle line." 
 
 
 HEIC JACEIMT 
 
 o 
 
 'NEALIVS BARO DE 
 
 DVNGANNON 
 
 
 MAGNI HUGONIS FILIVS, ET | 
 
 O' 
 
 DONNEL COMES DE 
 
 avi 
 
 TYRCONNEL 
 
 
 contra haereticos in hybernia multos annos 1 
 
 
 CERTARVNT. 
 
 
 
 MDCVIII 
 
 — 
 
 This memorable inscription had long remained unknown and 
 neglected, when an Irish artist in his rambles brought it to light, 
 and piously restored the nearly defaced characters and the " red 
 hand of Ulster," which is of porphyry. That artist was John 
 Hogan of Cork, a worthy disciple of your Scott's " Old Mortality." 
 
254 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 All the disponible part of the Roman popula- 
 tion isj while I write, flocking out towards the 
 Ponte Molle, there being held a grand steeple- 
 chase along the old Flaminian Way, and the 
 jocky mania being as prevalent here as it has 
 become within a few years at Paris. Prince 
 Odescalchi is in the van of these manly pursuits, 
 and they are something better than effeminate 
 fiddling buffoonery and debauchery which were 
 the only previous resources of patrician life in 
 these dominions. I may as well mention, for the 
 enlightenment of such dull dogs as imagine field 
 sports to be an abomination in the eyes of the 
 Church, that at one of the last meetings of the 
 fox-hounds, Cardinal Piccolomini rode out to 
 witness the throwing off of the pack, and the 
 common sense of the Romans saw nothing to 
 wonder at in the presence of an additional red 
 uniform where all wore the obligato scarlet. It 
 is but fair to add that Piccolomini's mother was 
 an English lady of the old Yorkshire family 
 Scrope, and thus akin to the fiery archbishop 
 "of that ilk'' in Shakspeare. There is not, allow 
 me to add, in the whole college of cardinals a 
 more sound and sensible divine, and he has the 
 best collection of chibouks and the most delicate 
 Latakia tobacco in the Eternal City. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 255 
 
 The Peninsular and Oriental Company^s steamer 
 Tiger, which is to bring Gibson's Queen, is cramful 
 of pictures and sculpture. The Royal Academy 
 will be great prigs indeed if they object their 
 ^^ time regulations'' to the reception of the statue. 
 Nullum tempus occurrit Re^ince ! eh ? 
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 
 Rome, April 15. 
 
 The Hpn. Mr. Temple had a long private inter- 
 view with Pius IX. on Monday, and apparently 
 having transacted business to his satisfaction, re- 
 turned yesterday to his post at Naples. Whether 
 he incurred the penalties of prcemunire I know 
 not, but his brother. Lord Palmerston, has, no 
 doubt, a bill of indemnity cut and dry in his port- 
 folio. He was introduced by old Kessner, the 
 Hanoverian envoy. What a farce ! that King 
 Cumberland, of Orange-lodge renown, should be 
 the channel through which the Pope is to be put 
 in communication with the representatives of a 
 Queen who reigns, at home and abroad, over 
 millions of Roman Catholic subjects*. 
 
 • This winter, when the British Committee for Irish Relief 
 
256 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 If our intercourse with Rome is in favourable 
 progress, a recent step on the part of your British 
 " vicars apostolic '^ is nevertheless likely to create 
 an awkward impediment. You are aware that 
 these functionaries, originally four, were doubled 
 during the last years of Gregor}^, and England is 
 now divided into eight quasi-episcopal districts, 
 viz., metropolitan, York, Lancaster, northern, 
 western, eastern, midland, and Wales. Not satis- 
 fied with this augmentation of their numbers, 
 the vicarial body is just now in the attitude of 
 Oliver Twist '* asking for more/^ Their new de- 
 mand is, to have their locus standi in England no 
 longer vicarial — i. e., removeable at the simple 
 will of the Vatican — but diocesan, with perma- 
 nent, " ordinary,^^ and irresponsible jurisdiction. 
 If this were a mere matter of honorific title, and 
 an approximation on the part of the English 
 Roman Catholic prelates to the plenitude of hier- 
 archy existing for the brotherhood in Ireland, it 
 would be oflfensive only in the nostrils of jealous 
 bigotry. The keen olfactories of Dr. Philpotts 
 might snuff the latent brimstone, and the steadier 
 
 had an audience with Pius, *' Your queen," said he, ** reigns over 
 many distant realms, the theatres of missionary enterprise. I 
 count eighty-BLX bishops of my communion subject to her sway." 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 25? 
 
 Blomfield might object, according to his never-to- 
 be-forgotten axiom, that " wax candles might be 
 placed on the altar provided they were not lit 
 up ! '' but the proceeding is deemed objectionable 
 on other grounds ; as seriously affecting the Ro- 
 man Catholic body, clergy as well as laity, in 
 England. 
 
 The " vicars ^^ have not had the grace, in seek- 
 ing to better their own condition, to raise up, by 
 one common effort, their " beloved clergy,'^ who 
 are at present dismissible at caprice like them- 
 selves*. They seek not the salutary control of a 
 diocesan dean and chapter, according to the 
 canonical arrangements of Catholic Christendom : 
 they do not relish the assistance of irremovable 
 jural deans, appointed for length of service, learn- 
 ing, and piety : no claims of parochial authority, 
 as in Ireland, enter into their project for the 
 ^* good of the church .^^ 
 
 So far in spirituals; but here's the rub! in 
 temporalities they want to ^^ carry the bag,^^ and 
 
 * This selfish indisposition to share with their inferiors can 
 only be illustrated by a phrase of the late O'Connell, cross- 
 -examining a tipsy witness. " Pat, what did you take this morn- 
 ing ?" " Only shai'e of a pint of Kinahan, your honour." "Now, 
 on your oath, was not your share all but the pewter?" This 
 occurred of course before the Irish melted down their pewter pots 
 into Mathewmatical medals. 
 
 N 
 
258 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 to get transferred to their single separate names 
 the pure and simple proprietorship of all the 
 landed and funded property now vested in lay or 
 clerical trustees, for Roman Catholic purposes 
 throughout Great Britain. These accumulated 
 funds, the legacy of by-gone piety, have long been 
 coveted; and as the law of England will not 
 sweep away these solemn trusts at the bidding of 
 the vicars, it is sought to carry the object into 
 effect by the spiritual weapon of excommunication 
 and ghostly terror, should Propaganda give powers 
 to wield such questionable thunder for such still 
 more questionable purposes. 
 
 Considerable funds and rents are held by lay- 
 men in various counties, in trust for Benedictine 
 and Jesuit missions, but as these corporations are 
 powerful at Rome, no attempt is made just now 
 at usurpation in that quarter. The other lay 
 patrons of Roman Catholic livings, holding such 
 patronage according to the canonical usage of all 
 Catholic countries (in right of original grants from 
 the pockets of their ancestors) are all about to be 
 despoiled of their immemorial rights, unless, 
 being made aware of what is brewing in Rome, 
 they instruct Roman lawyers and agents to resist 
 the palpable spoliation, or, what would be more 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 259 
 
 effectual^ bring the matter under the notice of 
 Pius himself. 
 
 The system by which the vicars themselves are 
 created is an anomaly unknown to Catholic 
 Christendom. There is no election by a parochial 
 synod^ as in Ireland : no principle of detur digniori. 
 Caprice and cabal influence the result, and men of 
 mediocrity and cunning will be sure to rise over 
 the heads of such men as Lingard, under the 
 present arrangement. In fact, understrappers at 
 Propaganda settle the spiritual affairs of Great 
 Britain and her colonies just as they like : nor is 
 it understood that these subaltern functionaries 
 (who have the power of suppressing or distorting 
 correspondence) are inaccessible to persuasions of 
 an arithmetical character. 
 
 Brunelli, long secretary for British and colonial 
 affiiirs, has been at last noticed to quit, and goes 
 to some foreign post. Monsig. Corboli, whose 
 uprightness and integrity are unimpeachable, is 
 spoken of as his successor in Propaganda. 
 
 I regret to announce that Gibson's statue of the 
 Queen, which left our quay, in a barchetta, for 
 Civita-Vecchia, to meet the Peninsular and Ori- 
 ental Company's steamer for Southampton, missed 
 arriving. The small barge, owing to the low 
 
 n2 
 
260 THE BRIGHT DAWX 
 
 water in the Tiber, and to the great weight of the 
 marble, with its treble oak casing, stuck in the 
 mud at Ostia, and lies there still. Such are the 
 inconveniences of greatness, as Boileau curiously 
 observes, speaking of Louis XIV., on the Rhine 
 banks, while his army was forcing the passage. 
 
 ** . . Le grand roi, admirant leur courage, 
 Se plaint de sa grandeur qui Vattache au rivage!^' 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 Milan, April 24, 
 
 The vacant archiepiscopal mitre, with contin- 
 gent or rather concomitant red hat, has been 
 placed on the brow, not of a German, as of late, 
 but of Count Romilli, a Bergamasque, wlio has 
 been just translated to Milan from the suflfragan 
 see of Cremona, henceforth to play first-fiddle in 
 the church affairs of Lombardy. The Milanese 
 are in high glee at this forced concession of Kolo- 
 wrath, and in every shop window exhibit a print 
 of the new primate ; a faint reminiscence is their 
 joy of the days when the civic governor Ambrose 
 was, by sudden acclamation of the people, made 
 bishop; and from being a mere layman, and it is 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 261 
 
 supposed only a "catechumen/^ in three days 
 baptised and priested and all. The new prelate 
 had only ruled Cremona one year, but had shown 
 unexampled zeal for the social and moral better- 
 ing of the inhabitants : proved efficiency has been 
 his sole recommendation. He was neither tutor 
 of some booby lord, nor editor of a crabbed Greek 
 play, nor calculating pamphleteer, nor sycophant 
 " master'^ of a college. To the poor of Christ (the 
 original grantees) he handed over, on principle, 
 far more than two-thirds of his church revenues. 
 Such a man ought to succeed to the great Frede- 
 rick, and the still greater Charles, Borromeo. 
 
 The prospects of agriculture in Italy must be a 
 topic of interest to your readers ; and as I have 
 just traversed the -whole of the central and upper 
 districts of the peninsula, I can affirm that for the 
 last twenty years, never was the aspect of the 
 country, or the operations of the farmer, in a state 
 so promising. There can be no doubt of an im- 
 mense surplus of grain for export next autumn, 
 nearly double the usual breadth of land being laid 
 down with that view, consequent on the removal 
 of your corn laws, of which the presence here of 
 Cobden had been an active memento. The rice 
 fields about Milan and Mantua are in high order: 
 
262 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 the numerous floodings of the various streams 
 throughout the winter have had in Tuscany and 
 the Romagna rather a favourable and fertilising 
 effect ; and the second or after-crop of Indian corn 
 is sure to be provided for in due time (after the 
 present harvest) to an immense extent. The 
 weather^ which had been bright and bracing, 
 is now genial and warm, — indeed, in the plains 
 inconveniently hot for the period of the year, and 
 just such as Tasso described it in his time — 
 
 " Cessa al fin la pioggia, e toma il sole 
 Ma dulce sjiiega e temperato il raggio, 
 
 Pien di maschio valor ; siccome suole 
 Tra il fin d'Aprile e il comminciar di Maggio.^* 
 
 (Gerusalemme, XXI.) 
 
 The duchies of Parma and Piacenza, of which I 
 reported unfavourably last year, are still an eye- 
 sore to the well-wisher of Italy. Incredible 
 apathy and indifference seem to have descended 
 from the ruling power down to the lowest grada- 
 tions of the social system. The leaden dulness of 
 despair is discernible in every face ; and cretinism 
 — not metaphorical, but literal and physical — is 
 prevalent to a singular extent, showing the goitre 
 not to be a mere mountain malady, but the 
 natural growth of a sluggish circulation and a 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 263 
 
 stagnant existence. The sooner Bonaparte's 
 widow gives place to the young Duke of Lucca 
 (to whom this Castle Rackrent property reverts 
 by the treaty of Vienna) the better for humanity 
 in this dreary land. She wants him to purchase 
 her out, but he has not the cash. Is there no 
 good Samaritan, or even Israelite, in London with 
 a spare million ducats ? 
 
 The mere material interests of the population 
 in Austrian Lombardy are looked after carefully, 
 and, if men were mere animals, no government 
 more laudably active in providing for the lower 
 instincts and comforts of the people; but though 
 is severely proscribed, and the exercise of the 
 mental faculties strictly interdicted ; not a single 
 ^^ reading-room '^ is to be found in all Milan, and 
 the splendid library of the Brera has but a very 
 scant attendance of book students; ,but woe to 
 the possessor of a copy of any Roman newspaper. 
 If the plague or cholera were in the Pope's capital, 
 there could not be such alarm or precaution 
 against what emanates now from Rome. 
 
264 THE BRIGHT DA\\'N 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 Letter from the Duke of Maktua. 
 Sir, 
 
 My attention has been directed to your correspondent's letter 
 from Milan, containing some very interesting details on Italy. 
 After referring to tlie de})lorable state of degradation to ■which the 
 inhabitants of Parma and Plaisance are reduced, under the actual 
 form of government, allusion is made " to the ex-Empress Maria 
 Louisa's wish to dispose of the duchies at the present moment to 
 the Duke of Lucca for a million of ducats, provided any good 
 Samaritan or Israelite in London will advance the money to pur- 
 chase her out, in consequence of these possessions reverting to the 
 Duke of Lucca by the last treaty of Vienna." 
 
 The impossibility of obtaining access to enlightened works on 
 historical or political subjects in all parts of the Austrian domi- 
 nions sufficiently explains any inaccuracy into whidi your cor- 
 respondent may have been led, for this clause of reservation docs 
 not exist in the treaty signed at Vienna. I am therefore desirous 
 to state that, neither by the life-grant of these possessions, with 
 Guastalla, to the Duchess of Parma, or in virtue of any treaty 
 during my minority, in 1815 at Vienna, or 1817 at Paris, could 
 such a result be tolerated, in accordance with my hereditary 
 rights as a sovereign prince, and the laws of nations ; and I feel 
 convinced that more just and satisfactory compensations might be 
 awarded to the Duke of Lucca, without prejudice to his interests, 
 or encroachment upon prior claims. It will suffice to observe 
 that Guastalla was purchased of Torelli, in the year 1539, by 
 Prince Ferrante Gonzaga, son of our ancestor, in a direct line, 
 John Fran9ois Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and Isabella d'Este; 
 and this possession was erected into a sovereign duchy in 1G21, 
 by the Emperor of Germany, Ferdinand II., in favour of Fer- 
 rante II. of Gonzaga, and his descendants. Guastilla was incor- 
 porated by Austria, without the shadow of a right, with the duchies 
 of Parma and Plaisance, during the minority of my grandfather 
 Prince Philippe Louis de Gonzaga, only six years of age, on the 
 death of Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla, in 1716. 
 
 My protestations against this act are addressed to the sovereigns 
 of Europe, on the 26th of April, 1843, the 21st of June, 1846, 
 and also an important article on this subject may be referred to 
 in the Gazette de France of February 3, 1842. With regard to 
 the duchies of Parma and Plaisance, various revolutions have taken 
 place in these states. The Emperor, Otho III., by a dijiloma 
 dated at Rome, the 11th of June, 996, confirmed Bernard I., 
 
OE BETTER DAYS. 265 
 
 Prince of Gonzaga, in his rights, as Count Sovereign of Parma, for 
 him and his descendants. Prince Henry of Gonzaga (son of 
 Adalbert I., of Gonzaga, by the grace of God Count Sovereign of 
 Milan, of Tessino, and of Valais, Prince of Lombardy, and Mar- 
 quis of Gonzaga,) married, in 1071, Imelda of Parma, great 
 grand- daughter of Bernard I,, Count of Parma. On this marriage 
 the Emperor Henry IV. of Germany erected Parma into a Mar- 
 quisat, by diploma dated the 24th of June, 1075, in favour of the 
 abovementioned Henry of Gonzaga and his descendants, in all the 
 branches of the family. The Marquisat of Parma belonged to the 
 house of Gonzaga until the revolution in Italy during the 14th 
 century, when Parma became a republic. In 1545, the Holy See 
 being in tranquil possession of this state, the Pope, Paul III,, 
 formerly known as Alexander di Farneze, disposed of it in favour 
 of his relation Peter Louis Farneze, first Duke of Parma, Plaisance, 
 and Castro, who being unpopular, was assassinated on the 10th 
 September, 1547, and (after some opposition on the part of the 
 Emperor Charles V., who had announced his resolution to Fer- 
 rante di Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla, in 1546, to favour the resto- 
 ration of the Gonzagas) his son, Octavio Farneze, was confirmed 
 in the same rights and titles on his marriage with Margaret 
 d'Autriche, a natural daughter of the Emperor's. Parma and its 
 dependencies were assured to the house of Farneze nearly two cen- 
 turies, until the death of Antonio Farneze, the last Duke of Parma, 
 on the 20th February, 1731. 
 
 The treaty of the Quadruple Alliance, Art. 5th, says, "The 
 duchies of Parma, Plaisance, and Tuscany, are held as masculine 
 fiefs of the empire." When the succession of these states shall be 
 open, (which they could only be on the death of the Duke 
 Gonzaga, of Guastalla, and the Princes of Gonzaga-Castiglione 
 authentically acknowledged as rightful heirs by the treaties,) they 
 will be given to the eldest son of Elizabeth Farneze, second wife 
 of Philip V. of Spain. Art. 3rd of the treaty of Vienna, (16th 
 March, 1731,) says, "The Emperor accords the succession of 
 Parma to Don Carlos, Infanta of Spain, and promises to dispose 
 the other states of the empire to assent to this arrangement, on 
 condition that no prince bearing the crown of Spain should possess 
 these states." But the Pope Clement XII. not only formally 
 opposed this treaty, but also the entry of the Spaniards into these 
 duchies ; declaring that Parma and Plaisance were fiefs immedi- 
 ately emanating from the Holy See, and that in default of the 
 above-mentioned male heirs, he alone had the right to dispose of 
 these duchies. 
 
 The Pope's protestation against the right of investiture is dated 
 the 30th of December, 1731. The prise de possession in the 
 name of the Infanta of Spain was on the 29th of October, 1731. 
 Don Carlos and his brother Philippe, Infantes of Spain, abdicated 
 successively, the Duchies of Parma and Plaisance for the crowns 
 of Spain and Naples, consequently our rights to these possessions 
 
 n3 
 
266 THE BRIGHT DAWX 
 
 as male fiefs are proved, and by succession in the female line 
 established by the following marriages : 1 . Margaret FameiC, 
 daughter of Alexander Duke of Parma and Plaisance, married, in 
 1581, Vincent Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. 2. Marcella di Males- 
 pina, grand-daughter of Francis Famese, Duke of Latera, married, 
 in 1615, Prince Christian Gonzaga Castiglione Solferino, my 
 ancestor in direct line. 3. Isabella di Martinengo, grand-daughter 
 of Ranuse I., Famese Duke of Parma and Plaisance, married, in 
 1647, Prince Charles V., Gonzaga Prince of CastigUone, Solferino, 
 and Medole, my great-great-great grandfather. 4. The Princess 
 Clitteria Caracuolo St. Buono, grand-daughter of Lavinia Farneze 
 and ^the Marquis d'Avalos, married, in 1772, Prince Franfois 
 Gonzaga-Mantua-Castiglione, my great-great-grandfather. 
 
 In presence of these facts, it will be perceived that the treaties 
 which bind all interests, and which are the political code of nations, 
 have been forgotten on my minority in 1815, and during the 
 minorities of my father and grandfather ; or retarded whenever the 
 princes of this royal house reclaimed that justice so solemnly pro- 
 mised, to reinstate them in their sovereign rights. 
 
 Guastalla, Parma, and Plaisance, during the last century, be- 
 longed to no person definitely; at one time the emperor pretends 
 to dispose of them to Spain, and Spain disposes of them to the 
 emperor. And in virtue of what right do these pnnces act ? The 
 treaties do not mention this ; on the contrary, they established as 
 a pi*inciple that there exist princes of the house of Gonzaga, of 
 Mantua, and Castiglione, who have incontestable rights to these 
 sovereignties. The order of succession, says Montesquieu, is or- 
 dained in monarchies for the good of the state, which demands 
 that this order should be fixed to avoid the misfortunes w Inch arise 
 from despotism, where all is uncertain, because all is arbitrary. 
 In Italy the fatal policy of Louis XIV. still bears its fruits. 
 Lawful sovereigns have been hurled from their thrones, and princes 
 in their minority supplanted, to pave the way to his ambitious 
 vi ws, and their places filled by strangers to the land ; for it is a 
 remarkable fact, that with the exception of our well-beloved Pope 
 Pius IX. and the King of Sardinia, no prince of Italian origin is 
 on any throne in Italy. The actual sovereigns of Tuscany, 
 Modena, Parma, and even Austria, are all princes of the house of 
 Lorraine. 
 
 Accept, sir, the assurance of my high consideration. 
 Alexandre, 
 Prince de Gonzaga-Mantua-Castiglione, 
 Due de Mantua. 
 
 Charles Dickens, Esq. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 26? 
 
 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 Rome, April 28. 
 
 Concerning the anniversary festival of the 
 foundation of Rome, held in the baths of Titus, 
 amid a concourse of 20,000 spectators, 800 sitting 
 down to the banquet, you will have, ere this, 
 heard much; but the speech of the evening, that 
 of Marquis Azeglio, which eloquently denounced 
 the presence and pride of ^^ Goths, Huns, and 
 other Vandals ^^ in Italy, elicited thunders of 
 applause, and has been printed by authorisation of 
 the new board of censorship, in a supplement to 
 the Cotemporaneo* The only other allusion was 
 to England, which the speaker designated our 
 elder sister in ^^manufactures, commerce, and 
 freedom/^ For obvious reasons no reference was 
 made to France ; the recent instructions and con- 
 duct of Count Rossi having taken the gold off his 
 gingerbread completely. The liberality of the 
 new censors is the topic of general praise; and, 
 indeed, it is considered that the palpable truths 
 uttered in the presence of so many applauding 
 auditors, and ratified by the common sense of the 
 
268 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 whole peninsula, would amount to a suj)pressio 
 veri, equivalent to a suggestio falsi. Altogether, 
 this awakening exhibition will not fail to tell 
 throughout Italy; and if the founder of the baths, 
 '^ the beloved of mankind/^ were permitted to 
 hover in spirit over the scene, he could not repeat 
 that "he had lost a day!" 
 
 I am sorry to record the sequel of what took 
 place on the publication of the speeches hailed 
 with such enthusiasm. Four hours elapsed from 
 the moment of their issuing from the press : they 
 were greedily devoured in every coffee-house, club, 
 and private family in Rome: blessings were in- 
 voked on the orators, and on the whole proceed- 
 ing : when, lo ! the agents of the police, "blushing 
 as they entered," made their appearance in ever}^ 
 hole and corner of Rome where the Cotemporaneo 
 was supposed to be taken, and begged and menaced 
 until they got back the " supplement of speeches." 
 Not in all cases were they successful; but at the 
 post-office they succeeded but too well ; and such 
 was the rigour of the search, that I have been un- 
 able to transmit a smuggled copy of wliat was 
 spoken. This I have ascertained on inquiry to- 
 day among officials in my confidence. 
 
 This is simply another quasi concession to Lut- 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 260 
 
 zow, the Austrian minister, whose '^ demand for 
 his passports ^^ recorded by me, produced some 
 weeks ago the attempt at suppressing the Roman 
 journals — an attempt which, as I then chronicled, 
 was defeated by the firm attitude of the press. To 
 "ask for his passports ^^ appears to be the only 
 diplomacy of which he is capable, and in this 
 instance he has only rendered his position at 
 Rome really, Avhat he recently described it in a 
 letter to Metternich, as '^pas tenable." For 
 God's sake, since evidently go he eventually must, 
 why does he wriggle and hesitate about the pre- 
 cise moment of his Jiegira — why imitate the un- 
 fortunate Ovid, when about to go into banish- 
 ment : 
 
 " Ssepe valedicens sum multa deinde locutus, 
 Et quasi discedens o'scula multa dedi, 
 Indulgens animo pes raihi tardus erat 1" 
 
 That he must vanish is evident after the recent 
 convocation of the Roman States General (for it 
 amounts to that), contained in the late circular of 
 Gizzi. This circular has ignited an electric com- 
 bustion in every Italian heart; and every dreamer 
 of constitutional freedom, every enthusiast for the 
 revival of Florentine and Venetian common- 
 wealths, is in ecstacies at the unexpected initiative 
 
270 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 taken by the Pope of Rome in a matter so vital to 
 the cause of civilization : 
 
 " Via prima salutis 
 (Quod minime reris), Papse pandetur ab Urbe !" 
 
 and Lutzow learned yesterday from the loud exe- 
 crations of the people their determination not to 
 be baulked of their franchises by any menace of 
 Austria. You must know that a mock fire was 
 got up yesterday at the Vatican palace (Pius 
 resides at the Quirinal), in order to exercise the 
 '^poinpieri" fireman's brigade. Mock incendiarism 
 might have appeared a capital joke to Gizzi, but 
 the Austrian minister did not see the point. 
 People were seen screaming at the windows, mock 
 flames were visible, ladders were uplifted, fire- 
 engines worked assiduously, and a mob of 8000 
 people had gathered to witness the uproar. Un- 
 luckily the carriage of Lutzow was descried by the 
 populace, when howling and yelling began in 
 earnest ; the blinds of the vehicle were instantly 
 let down, but they knew their man, and, amid 
 shouts of execration, accompanied him to the seat 
 of embassy. He thought himself lucky to have 
 got clear home. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 2/1 
 
 LETTER XL VII. 
 
 Rome, May 8. 
 
 OxV Wednesday^ the 5th, being the feast of St. 
 Pius^ whose best achievement (his bringing about 
 the battle of Lepanto,) once rescued the south 
 of Europe, great doings were planned to honour 
 the name in the person of its present possessor, 
 who bids fair to effect a similar European rescue. 
 Hearing of these projects (for strict orders are 
 issued to inform him of every matter) our mo- 
 narch at once intimated his wish that the waste 
 of blue lights and Roman candles should be 
 superseded by a general distribution of bread. To 
 wish is to be obeyed. Sixty gentlemen met 
 immediately at the Doria Palace, organized them- 
 selves for a combined effort among the affluent, 
 and, though Dante has left on record, — 
 
 '* Quanto e duro calle, 
 II scendere e salire per altrui scale :" 
 
 each member cheerfully climbed the stairs of the 
 palaces allotted him in quest of donations. Seven 
 thousand dollars were quickly forthcoming, and 
 sixty thousand bread tickets put in circulation. 
 
272 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 The remnant is kept to establish an infant 
 school. 
 
 Measures are in progress to reduce the price of 
 salt to one-third of its present cost. The great 
 salt seller, Torlonia, must, of course, be compen- 
 sated for his monopoly. The poor have long 
 felt the hardship of being taxed for this article ; 
 of course the cattle have never aspired to such a 
 luxury. On the 29th of April, Prince Livio 
 Odeschalchi paid down the ransom of the Duchy 
 of Bracciano, which had been in pawn since 180.3, 
 and reassumed the title, which had gone into 
 trade for over forty years. Do you recollect 
 Sterne's description of the French nobleman 
 rasuming his sword on his return from commerce 
 in the Antilles? 
 
 Lord Ward, whose eccentricities are accom- 
 panied by many graceful acts, has just come out 
 in the character of a cognoscente, and paid over 
 to the Prince of Canino 7000/. for four pictures 
 of acknowledged merit. One is by Fra Angelico, 
 and represents the ^' Last Judgment j" another is 
 a sketch from the hand of Rembrandt, " St. 
 John Preaching in the Wilderness." I have not 
 seen the others. 
 
 Prince Massimo, our Post-master, is furious at 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 273 
 
 my comments which somehow or other have 
 found their way into the Allgemeine Zeitimg^ 
 and other organs on the Continent, describing 
 him as a ^^ slow coach/^ His best course would 
 be to accelerate the means of public conveyance, 
 and thus shame the rogues. His sensitiveness 
 was aroused in rather a comical manner by an 
 English lady this season, who, knowing the 
 antiquity of his family (traceable, as you are aware 
 the gens Masshna is to the earliest times of the 
 republic,) thought she was paying a delicate 
 compliment by telling him that she had been 
 that morning to see his " Cloaca V' 
 
 The annual artistic festival of the ^^ Cervera,^^ 
 occurring on the 1st of May, was this year quite a 
 failure. The cause of this is attributable to the 
 matter having fallen into German management; 
 and the utter repulsion of the Roman population 
 to any emanation from Austria, has found vent 
 in this comparatively trivial celebration. The 
 Prussian artists kept aloof as if to show that all 
 Germans were not inimical to social progress. 
 The English scorned the whole affair, and the re- 
 sult was a melancholy but significant tom-foolery. 
 
 On Thursday night a seizure was made of 
 eighty pounds weight of printed satires against the 
 
2^4 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 Pope, entitled '^ La festa delle Spighe in un giar- 
 dim in Pistoia ;'' also another called ^^ Articolo 
 del suolo 47 sopra la cose Italiane,'^ These, it 
 appears, were written by the notorious monk 
 Domenico Ambrosiani, and the package con- 
 taining them was addressed to the Abbate Don 
 G. Tamburini. Both these gentlemen have ab- 
 sconded. The treasonable trash was printed at 
 Viterbo, and the carrier was instructed to drop it 
 at the little pot-house at the Milvian bridge. 
 But that spot, ever since the days of Catiline, 
 has been unlucky for conspiracies ; the landlord, 
 Toffanelli, smelt a rat, and the carrier has been 
 put into jail until he gives evidence respecting 
 the whole transaction. 
 
 The first number of a fresh newspaper was 
 issued to-day : it is called La Bilancia, and pro- 
 fesses to hold the balance even between the 
 Moderates and the Progressive party. It pub- 
 lishes a list of its collaborators, which includes 
 Orioli and several very distinguished native 
 writers. Clever and graceful is the present spe- 
 cimen. 
 
 The French Government have just adopted a 
 significant measure in the teeth of Austria. A 
 French vice-consul has been established (and 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 275 
 
 received the Pope's exequatur) in the frontier 
 town of Ferrara ; of course, to watch every mo- 
 tion of the Kaiser's garrison. There is more in 
 this step than apparent on the surface. 
 
 That Pius IX. is a great and £jood man is pretty 
 well known by this time of day ; but the man of 
 human symjoathies, the man of feeling, is pre- 
 dominant even above the statesman and the legis- 
 lator. At the farewell audience of Bishop Wil- 
 son, previous to his return to the antipodes, 
 (where there are half-a-dozen E.. C. bishoprics,) 
 the Pope said, presenting him with a splendid 
 golden chalice, " Be kind, my son, to all your 
 flock at Hobart Town, but be kindest to the 
 condemned l"^^ 
 
 LETTER XLVIIL 
 
 Rome, May 18. 
 
 To-morrow Pius IX. leaves Rome for a pro- 
 longed visit to the Benedictine Abbey of Subiaco, 
 in the Apennines, forty-four miles inland. This 
 important move had been determined on previous 
 to the receipt of to-day's news describing as des- 
 perate the hopes of Mr. O'ConnelPs attendants of 
 
2/6 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 dragging him alive to this capitaL No change in 
 our sovereign's projects can be ascribed to the 
 advent or non-arrival of the fatlier of repeal ; in- 
 deed, when it was known here that they had 
 decided upon a land journey from Genoa to the 
 Tuscan frontier, involving the " Pass of the Ma- 
 gra^^ of which any of your friends can form an 
 idea from Stanfield's picture exhibited, as I read, 
 in this year's gallerj^, the hopelessness of his 
 coming alive was demonstrated ; their selecting 
 the route to Lyons by Mount Tarrare having 
 previously shown how little conversant they were 
 in practical geography. But as for our pontiff, 
 his mind is essentially practical ; and in labouring 
 for the substantial welfare of his people he has 
 an utter disregard for clap-trap and mere popu- 
 larity. The object of his visit to that glorious 
 wilderness is understood to be twofold. First, 
 he intends to reform the monastery, root and 
 branch, and restore it to what it was in 1465, 
 when it gave hospitality to the first printing press 
 that was set up in Italy ; two fugitive Germans 
 liaving claimed its shelter for the printing of the 
 eclitio p7'i7icej)s of Lactantius, a copy of which is 
 carefully preserved in its once splendid library, 
 ti/pis Sweynheim et Pannartz, mcccclxv. Tlie 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 2/7 
 
 lately defunct Cardinal Polidori was titular abbot 
 of Subiaco, a snug sinecure of 6000 dollars a 
 year. He is to have no successor in that fat 
 berth, which lapses into the national treasury, to 
 pay the national debt. The late Gregory, who 
 granted the sinecure to the late Polidori, was very 
 partial to a sojourn in these romantic regions, and 
 from the adjacent village he brought to Rome his 
 favourite, the famous barber Gaetanino, who traf- 
 ficked in all commodities, sacred and profane, for 
 sixteen years. 
 
 The second object of our monarch is to keep 
 aloof from the turbulent manifestations of popular 
 applause which he anticipates from a series of 
 new reforms fixed and decided on, of a most 
 sweeping character. Financial, administrative, 
 and municipal decrees will issue from his retreat 
 at Subiaco, calculated to astonish the red-tape 
 politicians cf Europe, and smacking of the old 
 Roman energy of Sixtus Quintus. How different 
 his position, in this austere abode, from that of 
 him who wrote verbose epistles from the island of 
 Capreea to the ghost of a Roman senate ! 
 
 Poor Acton is gone to Naples to die ; his life 
 is not worth a fortnight's purchase, and he was a 
 real saint. His removal was the signal for the 
 
278 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 break-up of a very curious establishment kept 
 on for centuries here — a Government school for 
 young aspirants to diplomatic and prelatic office, 
 a kind of ecclesiastical Sandhurst, where " churcli 
 cadetships^^ were the sure reward of successful 
 intrigue and a display of clerical h}^ocrisy. 
 Learning was at a low ebb in this snuggery, to 
 which none could be admitted but of rich and 
 noble Roman families ; but in lieu of erudition, 
 all the arts of cajolery, duplicity, and finesse were 
 practically and theoretically cultivated. Pius has 
 swept away the nuisance without pity, and seized 
 the funds for public use. The institution was a 
 well-meant thing in its original conception ; but, 
 like vegetables which have been planted in too 
 fat a soil, it had '^ run to seed.^^ 
 
 English litigation is very rife just now in 
 Rome. There is the case of an old and respected 
 incumbent, Rev. F. Trappes versus Dr. Browne, 
 of Liverpool ; Rev. D. Hearne, for twenty years 
 incumbent of Manchester, versus the said Dr. 
 Bro\Mie, of Liverpool; Rev. Dr. McCan, also, 
 an old incumbent, versus the new vicar, Dr. 
 UUathorne ; with an Irish case, that of the Vicar- 
 General of Dromore versus Dr. Blake, of Newry. 
 These cases, both English and Irish, are very 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 279 
 
 discreditable to the prudence and forbearance 
 supposed to form part of the episcopal character. 
 
 Your manly and sensible opposition to the ca- 
 pricious depotism vested in these "Vicars" has 
 been duly appreciated here^ and has worked well 
 for the public as well as for the oppressed plain- 
 tiffs. It is too bad that these functionaries 
 should misspend the moneys of deceased bene- 
 factors of their church, and claim to do so by 
 papal rescript^ pour encourager les autres [vide 
 case of Johnson's fund in midland district.) Mr. 
 Romilly^s Bill *, which was introduced too late in 
 the session, would go far to remedy these flagrant 
 and crying abuses. 
 
 The savings bank here was robbed not long ago 
 of 40^000 dollars^ by one Tamberlick, a creature of 
 Gregory^s barber. This official is safe in Castle 
 St. Angelo. 
 
 The greatest financial reform which Pius IX. 
 has yet effected is in the matter of the hospital 
 of Santo Spirito, the great Hotel Dieu of Rome : 
 its revenues surpass^ in land and houses, 100,000/. 
 a year, and, of course, the official plunder is pro- 
 portionate. The "master of the SpittaP^ had so 
 
 • An abstract of this Bill is added at the close. 
 
230 THE BRIGHT DAWX 
 
 good a bertli of it, that what with fines (bribes), 
 and other douceurs, in letting out the property, 
 he scorned a cardinal's hat, which was his on 
 resigning his office. He has been cashiered, and 
 the management put into the care of efficient and 
 honest laymen. 
 
 The Princess Barberini, just dead, lies in 
 state. 
 
 I have to record another investment of Lord 
 Ward : this time he has bought, from a set of 
 old monks who live close by the Fontana di 
 Trevi, a gallery of thirty pictures — some good 
 and some bad — for the round sum of 27,000 
 dollars. 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 Rome, May 28. 
 The leading event of the week here is the 
 death of the great tribune of the Roman people. 
 Cardinal Micara, who expired on the 24th. In 
 him were centered the hopes of the transteveriniy 
 should any evil befal our enlightened monarch: 
 for though Dean of the Sacred College, and born 
 in 1 7/5; he was a vigorous septuagenarian. Fanny 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 281 
 
 Kemble, who, like old Boetius, has written a 
 book, "De Consolatione Philosophica/^ in brisk 
 demand here, records a conversation between 
 Micara and Lambruschini, on their way to the 
 conclave in one carriage : " If the powers of 
 -darkness preside over the election, you^ll be pope," 
 said the defunct : " if the people had a voice, I^m 
 the man ; but if heaven has a finger in the busi- 
 ness, ^twill be Feretti/^ Micara was the terror 
 of the retrograde faction : he was known to 
 advocate most sweeping reforms, including an 
 agrarian law for breaking up entails, and recon- 
 structing the tenure of land in the Roman ter- 
 ritory. Hence the great leviathans of the deso- 
 late Campagna tried to ridicule and depreciate 
 him ; being a Capuchin, he wore a flowing bifur- 
 cated grey beard, and was nicknamed by them 
 the ^^ Pacha of two tails. '^ The utter simplicity 
 of his establishment rebuked the pomp and ex- 
 penditure of his brother dignitaries; but he 
 recked not what they said, and was himself a 
 frank outspeaker. I had a long conversation with 
 him last month, of which Father Mathew, his 
 brother Capuchin, was the subject. " Why 
 doesn^t he come to Rome V ^' Your Eminence 
 is not, perhaps, aware that the lives of some 
 
 o 
 
282 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 thousand poor people depend on his untiring 
 personal exertions in Ireland/' Bene, capisco, 
 bravo padre! But, said he, about his advocacy 
 of temperance, "we wanted him here a little 
 under the late pontificate V Whether this was 
 an epigram or not I do not presume to judge. 
 I merely give his words. 
 
 The consequences of the great banquet in the 
 baths of Titus, and the (confiscated) report of 
 the speeches, are still perceptible. The King of 
 Naples has sent his compliments to Marquis 
 Dragonetti (a Neapolitan,) who spoke the open- 
 ing oration, requesting his presence at court j the 
 orator declined ; whereupon Ferdinand II. called 
 on the Pope to expel him to the frontier, where 
 relays of gens d'armerie were ready to escort him 
 from Terracina to the Castel Nuovo : Pius flatly 
 refused to commit such a breach of hospitality. 
 Here the matter rests. 
 
 The organization of the national guard exhibits 
 the policy of Pius as resting for support not on 
 the mob, but on the middle classes emphatically. 
 All artists, shopkeepers, members of liberal or 
 learned professions, with householders and pro- 
 prietors, are to be enrolled under arms. The 
 nobility have begun to see their mistake, and, 
 
 I 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 283 
 
 convinced that opposition is useless, they are now 
 about to show by a signal demon stration, that 
 they are more determined admirers of the Pope 
 than the people themselves. The 17th of June 
 will be the first anniversary of the grand decree 
 of amnesty, and on that day they are preparing, 
 at their exclusive expense, not allowing any other 
 class to contribute a farthing, a most splendid 
 testimonial of their adhesion. On the spot in 
 the square del Popolo, where last year the people 
 erected a triumphal arch of lath and plaster, they 
 are about to erect the model in gesso of a colossal 
 group in sculpture, with gigantic accessories, from 
 the design of a Milanese sculptor. Yesterday 
 they mustered in force on horseback as early as 
 four o'clock in the morning to escort Pius on his 
 journey to Subiaco. 
 
 The " pilgrims of the heart,'^ to use their own 
 phraseology, arrived on Monday, and proceeded 
 at once to the Irish seminary with the contents of 
 the silver urn, which I saw to-day deposited in 
 the vestry-room of the church adjacent, called St. 
 Agatha dei Goti (of the Goths). The associations 
 and reminiscences connected with this spot are by 
 no means Irish, it having been, since the time of 
 thegothic Arians, a den of heterodoxy; indeed, 
 
 o 2 
 
284 THE BRIGHT DAWX 
 
 Gregory the Great calls it '^ Spelunca pravitatis 
 hcereticcB," (lib. iii. epist. 19). The seminary 
 itself is far from realising the character of a 
 national institution; it was got up a few years 
 back by a Dr. Blake, whose impracticable temper 
 it had to contend with till his removal and the 
 appointment of the present mild and considerate 
 president, Dr. CuUen, but it is by no means an 
 improvement on Maynooth, Far from fostering 
 a race of young clergymen, able to overawe and 
 cope with the intelligent lait}^, of new growth in 
 Ireland, it can at best only produce a set of half- 
 witted ascetics. There is here an Irish convent 
 and church better entitled to this national relic : I 
 mean St. Isidoro, founded several hundred years, 
 and always tenanted by distinguished Irishmen, 
 the earliest being Luke Wadding, the great histo- 
 rian of the Franciscans. There was some whisper 
 of a vault in St. Peter's, but up to this moment, 
 those who gave that hint have been told that none 
 but crowned heads were admissible, such as the 
 Stuart race, the Sobieskis, the ex-queen Christina 
 of Sweden, and (should she die here just now) 
 the ex-queen Christina of Spain, her great rival in 
 combining gallantry with devotion. If I were 
 consulted on the matter, I would at once carry the 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 285 
 
 silver urn away from the obscure and ill-famed 
 locality of the Suburra (vide Persii Satyr, v. 32), 
 ascend the Janiculum-hill, and in the church of 
 Montorio, seek out the spot where moulder the 
 bones of O'Neil of Tyrone, and O'Donnell of Tyr- 
 connell (1608. See page 253). 
 
 "I'd not leave thee, thou lone one, 
 To pine on the stem ; 
 Where the Patriots are sleeping — 
 Go ! sleep thou with them !" 
 
 The Italians find some difficulty in understand- 
 ing why and wherefore this Irish chamj^ion was 
 not disposed to allow his heart a resting-place in 
 his own beloved land. The notion altogether is 
 suspected here to be of posthumous origin, yet 
 numbers resort to this small church to pay their 
 respects to the assertor of his country's freedom, 
 and feel flattered at the thought of possessing 
 the relic within their walls, by whatever agency 
 brought here. The deceased had certainly no 
 reason to cry out with Scipio Africanus, ^^ Ingrata 
 patria ne ossa quidem habebis.^' As to ingrati- 
 tude on the part of his co-religionists and other 
 admirers, the thing is preposterous. He was most 
 munificently remunerated, and never were the 
 words of the Greek orator, in reference to his 
 
286 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 great antagonist more applicable ? A^^apcaros o 
 By/Jbos ; ou^ ! aWa fjL€ya\aloTpo(f)7j(:*. It is on 
 record that the common disturber of Europe, 
 Pope Hildebrand, dying somewhere near Naples, 
 exclaimed, no doubt in perfect sincerity, " Dilexi 
 jusiitiam et odivi iniquitatem ergo morior in exilio ;" 
 but as for Mr. O'Connell, his exile itself was 
 voluntary, not like the banishment of an illus- 
 trious writer of antiquity, whose dying moments 
 are sung by Lamartine : 
 
 " Au rivage des morts avant que de descendre 
 OviDE leve au del de suppliantes mains, 
 Aux Sarmates barbares il a legue sa cendre, 
 
 Mais sa gloire aux Romains I 
 
 ♦* Then with both hands uplifted the bard ere he breathed 
 His last sigh far away from his kindred and home, 
 To the Scythians his ashes hath left — but bequeathed 
 All his glory to Rome 1" 
 
 The mention of uplifted hands may well intro- 
 duce an anecdote of Dan's dying chamber. It 
 seems that the pressure on the brain had caused, 
 naturally enough, partial paralysis of the limbs. 
 On the 14th of May he was observed by his chap- 
 lain to draw his right arm from the bedclothes, 
 and making a feeble effort to raise it, " Doctor, 
 he faintly murmured, ^^ this arm is emanci- 
 pated/' It soon fell. 
 
 * Qu? fi€ya\o(})vris. 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 28? 
 
 We ^^ Romans ^^ are exceedingly fastidious in 
 the matter of Latin inscriptions, and, perhaps 
 from habit and frequency, are familiar with the 
 elegancies which enter into what is here called 
 the "lapidary^^ style. Hence sundry comments 
 have been made on the cacophony of what we 
 read on the urn — "Natus Kerry y obiit Genoee/^ 
 It is mentioned in the authorized, but somewhat 
 ponderous and bigotted biography compiled by 
 John, that Dan^s first schoolmaster (who, besides 
 the hornbook, initiated his pupil into the mystery 
 of a horn comb) was one of the Mahonys. That 
 worthy pedagogue, if alive, would have suggested 
 to Dr. Miley something less dull and less unclas- 
 sical than the above. Perhaps he would have 
 furnished a couplet, justifiable by Virgilian pre- 
 cedent ; ex. gr. ; 
 
 Kerria me genuit : Ligures rapuere ; tenet nunc 
 Roma cor at reliquum Celtica rura decern. 
 
 Postscript. — I have just returned from another 
 visit to the vestry-room, where the heart is kept, 
 I now have found some reason for justifying the 
 selection of St. Agatha^s Church as the final re- 
 ceptacle of Dan^s heart, for here at least there is 
 one other distinguished man entombed. On ex- 
 amining the edifice I find at the right hand 
 
288 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 between two columns, the following inscription 
 on a Greek worthy, who, it appears, is interred 
 beneath, John Lascaris, one of the refugees from 
 Constantinople (when taken by the Turks) and an 
 efficient promoter of the revival of letters in 
 western Europe : — compiler of the " AnthologiaP 
 
 Aaa-Kopis aWoTrayij yalrj eviKaOcro, Fatal/ 
 Oyre \iav ^rjvrjv to ^eve fxcfxcfiofiepos' 
 
 Evpero fieikLX'^Tjv' aXX' axOerai einep Axaios 
 Ovx fTTt x^^^ X^^^* narpis eXcvOepiov — 
 
 which I have not time to versify, but the plain 
 prose of it is this : 
 
 ** Lascaris lies here in a foreign grave ; but O ! stranger, he 
 does not feel uncomfortable on that account — he rather rejoices 
 yet is not without a pang, as a Grecian, that his fatherland cannot 
 afford him an emancipated sod of earth." 
 
 LETTER L. 
 
 Rome, June 8. 
 The heat has been quite intolerable until this 
 week, when a few teeming clouds floated liither 
 and took pity on the parched-up patrimony of St» 
 Peter. These refreshing showers happened to 
 coincide with the Pope's return to town from the 
 Apennine wilderness of Subiacoj and long may 
 
OP BETTER DAYS. 289 
 
 he reign over us. Nothing can exceed the dismay 
 
 which his conduct in abolishing the fat sinecure 
 
 of that "abbot" has spread among the whole 
 
 tribe of clerical aspirants after loaves and fishes : 
 
 of such our city has been cram-full from time 
 
 immemorial. There is now an end to all their 
 
 bright visions a la Friar Tuck : 
 
 "After supper of heaven I dream, 
 But that is fat pullets and clouted cream* !" 
 
 Every church living that falls vacant is sure to be 
 stripped of any superfluous wealth, and reduced 
 to its most frugal limits before it will be conferred 
 
 * During the late reign sad laxity prevailed in church appoint- 
 ments. This will be best understood by a sample, and I therefore 
 (like Sterne,) "take a single captive," though, alas! the party is 
 not in gaol as he ought to be, but at large, to recommence his 
 career elsewhere. Paulo Durio, a native of Piedmont, and a 
 fashionable preacher at Turin, where he published a handsome 
 volume of Sermons, hearing of the luck which Genoese aspirants 
 met at Rome from the patronage of Lambruschini and Fransoni, 
 (see page 102,) came to town, and got appointed Delegate (Civil 
 Governor) at Orvieto. The citizens mobbed him out for offences 
 contra mores. He was nevertheless promoted to be a judge in 
 Rome, (Ponente delta sacra consulta,) was made a canon of St. 
 Peter's church, and Prelato domestico of Gregory XVI. This very 
 Lent he levanted from Rome, after defrauding several jewellers, a 
 clerk of Torlonia's, a waiter of a trattoria, {Antonio Garofalo, 
 whose savings, 400 dollars, he borrowed under promise of promo- 
 tion) and the Shrine of the Virgin at St. Carlos' church, from 
 which he purloined and melted down a golden coronet ejc voto of 
 Civita Castellana. The detail of his rogueries would form a 
 chapter in Gil Bias. Such persons got church preferment ! 
 
 3 
 
290 THE Bright dawn 
 
 on any successor, and that successor must show 
 some claim besides the petty accomplishments, 
 and often unworthy influences which hitherto 
 misdirected church promotion. Jobbers and 
 Pharisees bewail in accents of sadly attuned Gre- 
 gorian cant, this, to them, premonitory symptom 
 of their utter downfall. 
 
 I have more than once in the course of this 
 correspondence, taken occasion to describe the 
 policy of Pius IX. as far from being dependent 
 on the mob, or inclined to pander to mere popular 
 whims ; and last week affords an instance corro- 
 boratory of that assertion. On the day of his 
 expected return, an immense concourse left Rome 
 to welcome their sovereign, and took up various 
 positions along the road. Not far from the Mons 
 Sacer, ever memorable for old Agrippa^s speech 
 about the " belly and the members,^^ a lot of the 
 great unwashed had by a premeditated scheme 
 mustered in force, determined to have their wishes 
 conveyed to the Pope in the most imperative 
 fashion. For this purpose they had engaged a 
 noted character from the trastevere quarter of the 
 town, known for his gift of the gab by the sur- 
 name of Ciceroacchio (which must be pronounced 
 according to Walker, Chichero-whackio) to be 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 291 
 
 their spokesman on the occasion. On the ap- 
 proach of the Papal escort, these plebeians blocked 
 up the passage, and their champion, from the top 
 of a barrel, began his oration, modestly begging 
 that he would oblige them by turning off the pre- 
 sent governor of Rome (Grasselini). Ma perche? 
 said Pius. Perche non lo vogliamo! replied the 
 ^^ Ciceronian ^^ spokesman. The Pontiff, disgusted 
 with the impudence of the whole proceeding, 
 motioned to the motley crowd to kneel down, as 
 he would give them his blessing. When he saw 
 them all fairly on their marrow-bones, he signalled 
 his escort to move on a double quick trot, briefly 
 bestowing his benison on the deluded ^^ aggregate/^ 
 and was soon lost in a cloud of dust {nube cava)^ 
 out of the reach of impertinence. 
 
 In the '^ Lutrin '' of Boileau there is a scene 
 described at the close of the fifth canto, which has 
 a few points of resemblance to the foregoing 
 actuality : a church dignitary, beset by some in- 
 surgent underlings, gets rid of them and their 
 ringleader thus : — 
 
 " Mais le prelat vers lui fait une marche adroite, 
 Tout a coup toui-ne a gauche et d'un bras fortune, 
 Benit tout a coup le guerrier consterne ; 
 Sur ses genoux tremblans il tombe a cet aspect, 
 Et donne a la frayeur ce qu'il doit au respect : 
 Et de leur vain projet les chanoines punis, 
 S'en retournent chez eux dperdus et benis l" 
 
292 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 My budget of anecdotes about this journey to 
 Subiaco is not exhausted. When Pius resolved 
 on going, he summoned the major domo, and bade 
 him present his estimate of the expenses of such 
 a trip. That official re-appeared with a detailed 
 programme involving a tottle of 2,000 dollars* 
 ^^ Send me the postmaster 1 ^^ said Pius. Prince 
 Massimo (our old friend, see page 272,) was sum- 
 moned, and a bargain struck to do the business 
 for 400, and no mistake. Thus does our Monarch 
 respect the feelings of the tax-payers. 
 
 The grand annual procession of Corpus Christi 
 lias just taken place with a splendour and devo- 
 tional enthusiasm never witnessed in by-gone 
 years. The most novel feature, however, was the 
 brilliant appearance of the Noble Guard in their 
 new steel helmets. This new head-gear is after 
 the fancy of Pius himself, who is a connoisseur in 
 military points, and has produced something 
 superior to your ^^ Albert hat." It is of the old 
 Eoman model, and garnished behind with an 
 abundant cataract of horse-hair. The pre- 
 vious cocked hat and feathers gave these young 
 nobles a mere effeminate and holiday semblance. 
 Their present accoutrement is to them an 
 admonition to prepare, if necessar)^ for hard 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 293 
 
 knocks on the head, if they really mean to 
 prove an efficient body-guard to the champion 
 of human progress in the teeth of the old despots 
 of Europe. 
 
 Lord Ward had an interview with our sovereign 
 a few days ago. Pius, willing to be affable, but at 
 a loss how to compliment his eccentric visitor, 
 felicitated his lordship on "his easy circum- 
 stances 1'^ 
 
 In the Cotemporaneo of this week there is 
 honourable mention of the death and obsequies 
 of Father Borghi, a Capuchin, translator of Pin- 
 dar ! Several thousand literati assembled to 
 bury the votary of the cowl and of the muse. 
 There occurs in that paper no allusion to the 
 funeral ceremony performed at St. Agatha, but 
 there is a pastoral letter from some Italian bishop, 
 in Lombardy, imploring alms for the country that 
 has produced un Usserio (Archbishop Usher), un 
 Moore (Tom), et un O'Connell (Dan.) : a droll tria 
 juncta in una. 
 
 It is but fair to add, that something similar in 
 the way of odd juxta-position occurs in a poem 
 once popular in Ireland, from the juvenile pen of 
 Charley Phillipps, now a sober Bankrupt commis- 
 sioner on the Western Circuit. That brilliant 
 
294 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 boy in his "Emerald Isle/' 4to, 1810, indulges in 
 the following apostrophe : 
 
 '* Usher, Swift, and Farquhar! come 
 
 From your star encircled home !" 
 
 LETTER LI. 
 
 Rome, Juife 18. 
 
 While you are celebrating the victory of 
 Waterloo, we have been engaged here in comme- 
 morating the anniversar)^ of last year's amnesty, 
 the first act of our new sovereign, w^ho then 
 struck the key-note of his glorious reign. One 
 would think that we ought to be, by this time, 
 tired of festas, ovations, and public rejoicings ; 
 but we have no sooner hailed one great achieve- 
 ment of Pius, than we are impelled to celebrate 
 another and another : " the cry is, still they come," 
 and we must again ^^ hang out the banner on the 
 castle walls." One thousand crowns prize was 
 offered for the best ode on the great exploits of 
 the Grand Conde, in his youthful dalliance wdth 
 victory. It was awarded to a poet from Gascony, 
 for the following lines : — 
 
 Pour c^lebrer tant de vertug, 
 
 Tant de hauts faits et tant de gloire, 
 Mille ^cus ! — parbleu ! mille iatsl 
 
 Ce n'est pas im sou par victoire ! 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 295 
 
 SucK is our case. We are exhausted in our 
 means of testifying fit appreciation — bankrupts 
 in gratitude. We made an effort yesterday : 
 fifteen hundred musical amateurs, — and it is easy 
 to get together that number here, all more or less 
 vocalists, — put themselves in training beforehand, 
 and executed under the balcony of the Gluirinal a 
 monster anthem in honour of the great deliverer. 
 The standard brought hither from Bologna was 
 plucked from the Capitol, and placed in the van 
 of a gorgeous processional march* ; thence to the 
 Baths of Diocletian, and in those gigantic halls 
 which the genius of Buonarotti has restored to 
 more than Roman grandeur, the anthem was 
 resumed, [and shook the vaulted roofs of the 
 imperial structure. Vespers were sung by a 
 whole population in a way that would have as- 
 tonished the old Pagan persecutor. In the even- 
 
 • Something similar is to be found in a poem of Robert Brown- 
 ing, where he describes a party of Cavaliers 
 
 " Marching along, 
 Three hundred strong, 
 Stout-hearted gentlemen, singing one song !'* 
 
 Browning and his newly-married wife, the gifted Elizabeth Barrett, 
 have been wintering in Italy. May we look on the poetic couple 
 dis par poetarum ^'moa^ daturos," (if possible) 
 
 " Progeniem melius canentem i"' 
 
296 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 ing the illumination was a truly wonderful affair : 
 not a lane or alley that was not radiant, but the 
 Jews outshone us all. Their Ghetto being an 
 obscure hole, embosomed in desolation, and 
 almost under the bed of the Tiber, afforded a 
 grand opportunity for a scientific exhibition of 
 chiaroscuro. Rembrandt and Ghei^ardo delle 
 notti were cast into the shade by Hebrew inge- 
 nuity on this occasion. The effect of a lanthorn 
 on a pole, draped in an old blanket, and stuck up 
 in a lone churchyard, is known to most country 
 gentlemen. Equally sublime and terrific was the 
 glare in the Ghetto. A fish hung against the 
 wall of a dark room sometimes grows awfully 
 phosphorescent, and the race of Abraham could 
 well afford to shine out on this occasion, immense 
 sums having found their way into IsraeFs pockets 
 for the purchase of old tapestry to line the exte- 
 rior of palaces, and hang from balconies, on the 
 passage of the procession. This trade has been 
 enormous for the last year, and there is not an 
 old rag of embroidered silk or arras to be had 
 now in that once celebrated emporium. 
 
 I told you lately how Pius refused to deliver up 
 Marquis Dragonetti to the tender mercies of his 
 most lazzaronic Majesty; but I am sorry to bo 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 29? 
 
 obliged to add that this Neapolitan nobleman has 
 been going on a little too fast here for our less 
 southern latitude, and the consequence has been 
 a message from the Pope a few days ago, giving 
 him a caution, and conveying to him the query, 
 whether it was good taste in him, a stranger, to 
 attempt so prominent a part in the management 
 of public matters at Rome r The hint has ope- 
 rated like magic, and Dragon etti has given up the 
 torch of incendiary politics for the calm cigar of 
 contemplative repose. 
 
 It will be news for your Roman Catholic 
 readers in Scotland that Bishop Murdock of 
 Glasgow has got for coadjutor bishop, yesterday. 
 Rev. Mr. Smith, of Airdrie — his bulls are on the 
 road. 
 
 Overbech has just executed one of those grace- 
 ful and touching little outline drawings in which 
 his real genius is conspicuous, and his present 
 effort will be shortly known extensively in Edin- 
 burgh. Bishop Gillies, who is personally a most 
 amiable and kindly man, full of zeal for bettering 
 the operative classes, has founded, it appears, a 
 sort of holy guild in modern Athens, and prizes 
 are given to those of the brotherhood who excel 
 in " thrift and cleanliness.^^ Overbech was asked 
 
298 THE BRIGHT DAWN 
 
 by the patriotic prelate to furnish the design for a 
 medal to be distributed on these occasions^ and I 
 have seen the result. It is the holy dwelling at 
 Nazareth displaying a modest but neat interior ; 
 Mary is at her distaff on the right, Joseph plying 
 his axe on the left, and the mysterious young 
 indweller among men is humbly engaged sweeping 
 the chips of wood from the earthen floor with 
 simple dignity. The general effect is harmonious 
 and beautiful. 
 
 Young Dan and his reverend companion have 
 had their audience at the Quirinal, but, as I 
 apprehend Dr. Miley will wish to figure as the 
 exclusive Xenophon of this modern Anabasis, (the 
 Cyrus of the expedition in both cases dying in his 
 attempt to reach the "great city,") I leave it to 
 him altogether. 
 
 News for free traders ! There has been a 
 grand customs union, or zollverein, established 
 in Italy, between the dominions of Lucca and 
 Tuscany. The Grand-duke and the Little One 
 have knocked down mutually their tax-gathering 
 sentry-boxes, and a millennium of unrestricted 
 commerce is at hand. What the previous trade 
 was I can't tell. But this step is a really impor- 
 tant one, as preparatory to the abolition of the 
 
OF BETTER DAYS. 299 
 
 lottery y a point on which Tuscany could not act 
 without the concurrence of Lucca^ for obvious 
 reasons. Once the lottery stigmatised in Central 
 Italy, it must go down through the whole penin- 
 sula — a blessing devoutly to be prayed for. This 
 paltry penny gambling has done more harm among 
 us than plague, famine, or the sword elsewhere. 
 
 The new Cardinal Baluffi is an instance of 
 literary merit meeting due appreciation. Besides 
 numerous pamphlets on political subjects, he 
 has written two volumes of the history of the 
 Spaniards in America, and is engaged on a third. 
 
 The weather has become cool and pleasant. 
 The corn is all cut and garnered up round Rome. 
 Wine and oil are likely to be abundant. 
 
 And now, dear Dickens, fare thee well. I have 
 now, during two successive winters, kept you au 
 courant of Roman events : a period which will be 
 ever memorable in the annals of Italy and Europe: 
 comprising the fag end of an exploded system, and 
 the first acts of the ^^ man sent from God, whose 
 name was John.^^ 
 
 But before I conclude, permit me. Carlo mio, 
 to remind you of those lines I sent you ten years 
 ago, and to congratulate you on all you have 
 written since then for the improvement of man- 
 kind. 
 
POETICAL EPISTLE 
 
 SAVONAROLA TO BOZ. 
 
 Genoa, December 14, 1837. 
 I. 
 
 A RHYME ! a rhyme ! 
 
 From a distant clime — 
 From the Gulph of the Genoese : 
 
 O'er the rugged scalps 
 
 Of the Julian Alps, 
 Dear Boz, I send you these, 
 
 To Ught the "Wick" 
 
 Your candlestick 
 Holds up, or, should you list, 
 
 To usher in 
 
 The yarn you spin 
 Concerning Oliver Twist. 
 
 II. 
 
 Immense applause 
 
 You 've gained, oh, Boz 1 
 Through continental Europe ; 
 
 You 've made Pickwick 
 
 CEciimenick*; 
 Of fame you have a sure hope : 
 
 * EidaXop TT]S yrji oiKovfifvrjs. 
 
POETICAL EPISTLE. 301 
 
 For here your books 
 
 Are thought, gadzooks ! 
 A greater luxe than any 
 
 That have issued yet, 
 
 Hotpress'd or wet, 
 From the types of Galignani. 
 
 III. 
 
 But neither when 
 
 You sport your pen, 
 Oh, potent mirth compeller ! 
 
 Winning our hearts 
 
 ** In monthly parts," 
 Can Pickwick or Sam Weller 
 
 Cause us to weep 
 
 With pathos deep. 
 Or shake with laugh spasmodical, 
 
 As when you drain 
 
 Your copious vein 
 For Bentley's periodical. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Folks all enjoy 
 
 "Your Parish Boy,"— 
 So truly you depict him ; 
 
 But I, alack ! 
 
 While thus you track 
 Your English poor-law's victim. 
 
 Think of the poor 
 
 On t'other shore, — 
 Poor who, unheeded, perish, 
 
 By squires despoiled, 
 
 By " patriots" gulled, 
 I mean the starving Irish. 
 
302 POETICAL EPISTLE. 
 
 V. 
 
 Yet there's no dearth 
 
 Of Irish mirth, 
 Which, to a mind of feeling, 
 
 Seemeth to be 
 
 The Helot's glee 
 Before the Spartan reeling: 
 
 Such gloomy thought 
 
 O'ercometh not 
 The glow of England's humour, 
 
 Thrice happy isle ! 
 
 Long may the smile 
 Of genuine joy illume her ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 Write on, young sage ! 
 
 Still o'er the page 
 Pour forth the flood of fancy; 
 
 Divinely droll ! 
 
 Wave o'er the soul 
 Wit's wand of necromancy. 
 
 Behold ! e'en now 
 
 Around your brow 
 Th' undying laurel tliickens ; 
 
 For Swift or Sterne 
 
 Might live — and learn 
 A thing or two from Dickens. 
 
 Genoa, lith December, 1837. 
 
(Mr. Anstey has favoured us with a copy of this Bill, for which, 
 and his other efforts to benefit his co-religionists, he has received 
 thehonour of knighthood from Pius IX.) 
 
 A BILL 
 
 For the letter Administration of Charitable Trusts 
 for the Benefit of Her Majesty's Roman Catholic 
 Subjects. 
 
 Prepared and brought in by Mr. Romilly 
 AND Mr. Ewart. 
 
 Ordered by the House of Commons to be Printed, 23 March, 1847. 
 
 " Whereas by sundry Acts made and passed by the 
 Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, certain Penal Enactments made and 
 passed by the Parliament of England, the Parliament 
 of Scotland, the Parliament of Ireland, and the Parlia- 
 ment of Great Britain respectively, against the Roman 
 Catholic religion and worship, and the teaching, pro- 
 fession and practice thereof, and the disposition of 
 property for Charitable Purposes connected therewith 
 within this realm and the dominions thereunto apper- 
 taining, have been for ever repealed : 
 
 "And whereas notwithstanding the said Acts, cer- 
 tain doubts are entertained as to how far the same 
 respectively have operated to make lawful such Uses, 
 Trusts, or Dispositions of Real or Personal Property 
 for the benefit of Roman Catholics within Great Britain 
 aud Ireland, and the other dominions of Her said 
 
304 A BILL. 
 
 Majesty, as, before aud at the respective times of the 
 passing of the said Acts respectively, were, or were 
 accounted to be superstitious or unlawful : 
 
 " And whereas from divers periods, for the most part 
 anterior to the passing of the said repealing Acts 
 respectively, or some of them, real and personal pro- 
 perty, of considerable amount in the whole, hath been 
 in numerous cases given or disposed, or holden to, upon 
 or subject to certain Charitable Uses, Trusts, or Pur- 
 poses, for the benefit of Roman Catholics within Eng- 
 land and Wales, but which Uses, Trusts, or Purposes, 
 before and at the respective times of the passing of 
 such Acts or some of them, were, or were accounted to 
 be superstitious or unlawful : and in order to prevent 
 the discovery of such Uses, Trusts, or Purposes, and 
 the forfeiture of such property respectively, the ad- 
 ministration of the same hath been exercised without any 
 express provision heiiig made, or order taken for secu- 
 ring the due administration of the said property resj^ec- 
 tively, in conformity ivith the Uses, Trusts, or Piuposes 
 to, upon or for which such property was so given, or 
 disjyosed or holden of the same, whereby it hath in sun- 
 dry cases happened that the said trust premises have 
 been and are diveHed from the several Uses, Trusts or 
 Disjyositions, to, upon or subject to which the same ought 
 to have been administered. 
 
 " And whereas it is expedient to provide for the 
 better and public administration in time coming, as 
 well of the said property as of any other property now 
 or hereafter to be holden, to, u2>on or subject to any 
 Charitable Uses, Trusts, or Dispositions, for the benefit 
 
A BILL. 305 
 
 of such Roman Catholics as aforesaid; and in order to 
 make such provision the more effectual, it is necessary 
 that all such doubts as aforesaid touching the operation 
 of the said repealing Acts, to make lawful such Uses, 
 Trusts, or Dispositions as aforesaid, shall be for ever 
 taken away : 
 
 " Be it therefore Enacted, by The Queen's most 
 Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Con- 
 sent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Com- 
 mons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by 
 the Authority of the same. That from and after the 
 passing of this A ct all such repealing Acts, as aforesaid, 
 and all wills,^ deeds, writings and documents whatsoever 
 relating to such property as aforesaid, or to such the 
 Charitable Uses, Trusts, or Dispositions whereto, or 
 whereon, or subject whereto the same was, is, or shall 
 hereafter be holden as aforesaid, or to the persons or 
 person by whom the same was originally given or 
 disposed, or to the persons or person holding the same 
 or enjoying the benefit thereof respectively for the 
 time being, shall be in all respects construed as if the 
 said Acts had been in force respectively at the respec- 
 tive times when the said property respectively was 
 given or disposed to, upon or subject to such uses, 
 trusts, or dispositions; and that the said Acts and this 
 Act shall be construed together as one Act, so far as 
 the same are consistent and compatible with each other, 
 and as if the clauses and provisions in this Act con- 
 tained had been inserted in or incorporated with the 
 said Acts respectively, or any or either of them. 
 
 And be it Enacted, That no use, trust, or disposition 
 
 P 
 
306 A BILL. 
 
 of real or personal property now limited or made, or 
 hereafter to be limited or made, to or for any cha- 
 ritable purpose for the benefit of Roman Catholics 
 within Great Britain or Ireland, or any other part of 
 her Majesty's dominions, and in conformity with the 
 doctrines, discipline, canons, laws, and usages of the 
 Church of Rome, shall, merely for or by reason of such 
 purpose, be or be deemed to be superstitious, unlawful, 
 or void; and that any such use, trust, or disposition as 
 aforesaid, or the title of any persons or person to enjoy 
 the benefit thereof, or to hold or enjoy the property in 
 respect whereof such use, trust, or disposition is or 
 shall be so limited or made, shall be in no wise de- 
 feated, avoided, or otherwise affected merely because 
 such persons or person as last aforesaid, or any per- 
 sons or person limiting or making such use, trust, or 
 disposition, or any persons or person administering or 
 managing the same or the said property, shall here- 
 tofore have been or are or is now or shall hereafter 
 become members or a member of the Society of Je- 
 suits, or of any other male or female religious order, 
 community, establishment, or society of the Church 
 of Rome, bound by religious or monastic vows; any 
 enactment or enactments, judgment or decree, or judg- 
 ments or decrees of any court or courts of law or 
 equity, to the contrary thereof in anywise notwith- 
 standing. 
 
 "And be it Enacted, That where the particular nature 
 of the charitable uses, trusts, or purposes contemplated 
 by any persons or person giving or disposing any pro- 
 perty as aforesaid for the benefit of Roman Catholics in 
 
A BILL. 307 
 
 England or Wales, shall not manifestly and clearly 
 appear on the face of any will, deed, or other document 
 under the hands or hand of such persons or person, 
 declaring such uses, trusts, or purposes, or other- 
 wise relating to such property, or to such the uses, 
 trusts, or purposes thereof as aforesaid, either in 
 express terms or by reference to some other writing 
 or document, as containing a declaration of such uses, 
 trusts, or purposes, or any or either of them, then 
 and in every such case the usage or method of ad- 
 ministration of the said property for the benefit of 
 such Roman Catholics as aforesaid, for the period of 
 twenty years immediately preceding the institution of 
 any suit, or the presentation of any petition relating 
 to such property or the administration thereof shall, 
 so far as the same shall be found to be in ac- 
 cordance with the doctrines, discipline, canons, laws, 
 customs, or usages of the Church of Rome, and not 
 further or otherwise, be taken as conclusive evidence 
 that such usage or method of administration is strictly 
 conformable with the uses, trusts, and purposes upon 
 and for which such property was or may be given or 
 disposed as aforesaid, and that the same may properly 
 and beneficially continue to be followed and observed, 
 and that neither the title of the persons or person holding 
 or administering the said property ^ nor the title of the 
 said persons or person enjoying the same, or for whose 
 benefit the same is or shall he so holden or administered, 
 shall ever thenceforward he disturbed or called in ques- 
 tion, or otherwise affected on account of such usage or 
 method of administration: Provided, nevertheless, that 
 
 p 2 
 
308 A BILL. 
 
 where any persons or person so giving or disposing as 
 aforesaid, sliall, by any will, deed, or writing, or docu- 
 ment under their, his, or her hands or hand, have 
 clearly declared, either in express terms or by such 
 reference as aforesaid, the particular nature of the 
 uses, trusts, or purposes to or for which any such pro- 
 perty hath been or shall or may be so given or dis- 
 posed as aforesaid, then, and in every such case such 
 property shall he administered and applied in strict 
 conformity with such declaration, any usage or method 
 of administration to the contrary thereof notwith- 
 standing. 
 
 " And be it Enacted, That for ever henceforward all 
 real and personal property whatsoever, now being or 
 hereafter to be given or disposed by any persons or 
 person whomsoever to, upon or for any charitable uses, 
 trusts, or purposes, for the benefit of Roman Catholics 
 within Great Britain or Ireland, or any other part of 
 Her Majesty's dominions, and in conformity with the 
 doctrines, discipline, canons, laws, and usages of the 
 Church of Rome, shall, with the accruing produce, and 
 all other the appurtenances thereof, be and continue to 
 be wholly and solely dedicated to and holden, admi- 
 nistered and applied to, upon and for the uses, trusts, 
 or purposes to, upon or for which such property was or 
 may be so given or disposed as aforesaid, and with due 
 regard to all subsisting rights or right, interests or 
 interest in the premises, and to the said doctrines and 
 discipline, canons^ laws and usages of the said Church, 
 and in particular that where hy the discipline, canons, 
 laws and usages of the said Church, any such rights or 
 
A BILL. 309 
 
 right, interests or interest, are or shall he of a co7iditional 
 or contingent nature, and dependent or defeasible iipon 
 or with the title to hold or exercise any ecclesiastical or 
 spiritual function or authority of the said Church, then 
 and in every such case, the said rights or right, interests 
 or interest shall, both at law and in equity, be and 
 shall be deemed and taken to be conditional or contin- 
 gent, and dependent or defeasible accordingly, and of 
 no other nature, but shall be in all respects expounded 
 and determined by and according to such discipline, 
 canons, laws and usages as aforesaid, and shall not vest 
 or continue, nor be deemed or taken to vest or continue 
 in any persons or person not having obtained such 
 ecclesiastical or spiritual title as aforesaid, or in any 
 person or persons who having obtained such title and 
 having been afterwards tried and found guilty by the 
 competent ecclesiastical authorities or authority in that 
 behalf, according to the said discipline, canons, laws and 
 usages of the said Church of Rome, of some specific in- 
 stance or instances of such misconduct or culpable neglect 
 of duty, as by the same discipline, canons, laws and 
 usages, shall be found to Justify the deprivation of such 
 title, shall have been lawfully and by the competent 
 ecclesiastical authorities or authority in that behalf 
 deprived of the same accordingly." 
 
 [Other technical clauses follow.] 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 p3 
 
LONDON: 
 
 Printed by Schulze & Co., 13, Poland Street. 
 
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