i^n Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.arcliive.org/details/cliristmasliolydayOOkipwricli ^ CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS IN ROME BY THE RIGHT REV. WM. INGRAHAM KIP, D.D. BISHOP OF CALnrORNIA •rerum pulcherrima, Roma, ViBQ. G«org. ii. 534. NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 39 West Twenty-third St. 1884 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by E. P. Button and Compant, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts To THE COMPANION OF THESE WANDERINGS, HER UySBAND INSCRIBES THIS VOLUME *• Why, wedded to the Lord, still yearns my heart Upon these scenes of ancient heathen fame? Yet lejrend hoar, and voice of bard tliat came Fixing my restless youth with its sweet art, And shades of power, and those who bore their part In the mad deeds that set the world in flame. To fret my memory here— ah! is it blame That from my eye the tear is fain to start? Nay, from no fount impure these drops arise; 'Tis but the sympathy with Adam's race. Which in each brother's history reads its own." — Lyra Apostolica. PREFACE. To have seen Rome is a great fact in an individ- al's life. So it appeared to the writer of these pages, when wandering among her mighty ruins, finding everywhere the bright pictures of youthful imagina- tion surpassed. Cicero in his day declared, — " We are surrounded by tlie vestiges of history." How then should we feel when, standing on the same spot, we realize that eighteen centuries have since added their relics ! The title of this volume does not perhaps, give an adequate idea of its contents. The writer was led to adopt it, because his primary object in visit- ing Rome at that season, was to witness the Christ- mas services. His residence there was, however, prolonged through the gi-eater part of the winter, all of which time was occupied in diligent study of the inexhaustible objects around him. To attempt a de- scription of one half, in a work of this size, would be in vain ; he has therefore only selected from his notes written on the spot, some of those things which excited the greatest interest in his own mind. VI PREFACE. It will be seen that while he has paid some atten- tion to the antiquities of the city and the classical associations connected with them, he has dwelt par- ticularly upon Ecclesiastical matters relating to the Church of Rome. And in this respect, he thinks the work will differ from most of those on the same sub- ject. Travellers seem generally to have given only a one-sided view of the Papal Church. Some were ready to commend everything, and others, on the contrary, saw nothing good in the whole system, — no rite or service which did not shock some violent prejudice. Now in this, as in everything else, there is a proper medium. The Church of Rome is indeed deformed by many fearful errors, which often strike at the very cardinal doctrines of our faith, but she has also retained much that is Catholic. Were it not so, that mighty Hierarchy could not have subsisted for so many centuries, through every change and convul- sion ; winning to its spiritual sway, the crowds of northern barbarians which swept over the city ; and even at the present day, drawing to itself pros- elytes in lands, where intellectual and spiritual free- dom give eveiy opportunity for the thorough discus- sion of this subject. These are the very things which render the system so dangerous, enabling it to charm the imagination and retain its hold upon the human mind, while its influence is withering to the best interests of our race. The writer has, therefore, endeavored to look at the Church of Rome without PRE FA CE. vii prejudice, and while his investigation strengthened tlie unfavorable view ho before had of the practical working of that system, he still has not withheld his tribute of ])raise from anything he saw which was truly Catholic. He has been obliged to write this volume entirely during the last three months, amidst those engross- ing cares of parish duty which necessarily gathered around him after the absence of nearly a year from liis field of labor. He mentions this, not to depre- cate criticism, but to account for mistakes which may exist. To him, however, the labor has been a pleasant one, reviving associations which he would always wish to cherish. Beautiful Italy! thy old traditions lingering around each crumbling fane, and consecrating each fountain and grove, are inspiration to the mind ! thy very language is melody to the ear ! Thy bright and sunny clime ; thy land so richly dowered with loveliness ; thy antique and solemn ruins ; how will the recollections they fur- nish mingle with the stern realities of coming days, and soften the carking cares of this working w^orld ! They will return to us like the glorious visions which ever after floated before the eyes of the Ara- bian shepherd, when — as Eastern fable tells us, — while wandering in the wilderness, he had caught a single glimpse of the gardens of Irim, and then lost them again forever. Alkanv, Christmas, 1845. PREFACE TO PRESENT EDITION. More than twenty years ago, after a winter spent in Rome with the enthusiasm of early clays, the author published this volume. It was shortly after reprinted in London, edited by the Rev. Wm. Sew- all, of Exeter College, Oxford, and in successive editions has retained its place, with the reading pub- lic in England, to this day. In this country, how- ever, it has been long out of print, and the author has, therefore, yielded to the requests of friends to have a new edition issued. In revising it, after another visit to Rome and with the wider experience which these years have given, he finds no necessity to modify a single opin- ion or alter any conclusion which he then expressed. Rome sits unchanged upon her Seven Hills. Greg- ory XVI. indeed sleeps with his predecessors, and Pius IX. reigns in his stead, but the system is un- altered. All things there continue as they were. Even the outward features of the city are un- changed. A score of years has left no impress on her hoary ruins. The Railway indeed now winds X PREFACE TO PRESENT EDITION. across the desolate Campagna, from Civita Vecchia to the city, but it stops without the walls. With- in them no innovations of the nineteenth century are allowed. When the author was asked, — " Do you see changes in anything here since your last visit ? " — he was obliged to answer, — " In nothing but myself! " October, 1868. CONTENTS. I. PIQS /., CiviTA Vecchia. — Journey to Rome. — The " Kternal City " BY MOGNLIGJIT 1 II. ;i^ View from the Tower of the Senator 8 III. St. Peter's Church 21 IV. K, The Christmas Services 41 V. ^ The Capitoline Hill 53 VI. The Vatican 67 VII. Presentation at the Papal Court. — The Popedom . . 81 VIII. / A Day's Ramble in Rome 90 IX. A The Epiphany Services 105 X. The Tobibs of the last Stuarts 115 xii CONTENTS. m XI. p AOt The Coliseum. — Palack of the C.ksahs. — Baths . . . 122 xir. Dramatic Character of the Church Services. — Sermon by A Vicar-General. — Capuchin Ckmeteuy .... 140 XIII. Christian Art. — Overbkck 151 XIV. Excursion on the Appian Way . 159 ?\ XV. ;^ Cardinals. — Mezzofantc 179 XVI. The Protestant Buriai^ground 188 XVII. The Palaces of Rome 199 XVIII. Excursion to Tivoli 223 XIX. The Churches of Rome 230 XX. Exhibition at the Propaganda. — Funerals. — Vespers at the Convent of Santa Trinita 258 XXI. ^ The Roman People. — The Civil Government of the Papal Court 270 XXII. / The Papal Church .281 XXIII, Farewell to Rome 801 ^^^ -, -. .-- . 520, they were recovered and taken to Constantinople. Procopius states, that a Jew advised the Emperor not to put them in his palace, as they could not remain anywhere else but where Solomon had placed them; and this was the reason why the palace in Rome had been taken, and afterwards the Vandals conquered. The Emperor therefore, alarmed, sent them to the Christian churches at Jerusalem. (Burton, vol. i. p. 236.) From that time all trace of them is lost. 64 THE CHRISTMAS HOLY DAYS IN ROME. and massive columns peeping up through the long grass, or dimly seen among the ivy which hangs in thick festoons about them. On our return we came to the entrance of the old Mamertine prisons, which are built under the base of the Capitoline Hill. Livy tells us they were begun by Ancus Martius : and we know that in these gloomy chambers, Jugurtha was starved to death ; the accom- plices of Catiline were strangled by order of Cicero ; and Sejanus, the minister of Tiberius, was executed. Sal- lust, in describing it, says, — " The appearance of it from the filth, the darkness, and the smell, is terrific ; " and such, we can well believe, must in that day have been the case. Tradition has consecrated this prison as the one in which St. Peter was confined, and in the six- teenth century a chapel was therefore erected over it, the walls of which are now covered with votive oflTer- ings from those who ascribe their cure to prayers offered at its altars. Here we procured a guide with lighted tapers, and commenced our descent into the dungeons. A flight of twenty-eight stone steps led us into the upper cell. It is about twenty-seven feet by twenty, constructed of large masses of peperino, without cement, and showing by its very construction its high antiquity and Etruscan origin. From the first chamber a still farther descent brought us into the lower one, which is only about nine feet wide, and six high. The massive stones of the roof, instead of being formed on the principle of an arch, point horizontally to a centre. There was for- merly no entrance to either, except by a circular aper- ture above, through which the prisoners were lowered, and a corresponding aperture in the floor of the iippei THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. Qb cell to lead into the lower. A more horrible dungeon could not well be imagined. There is a stone pillar on one side, which our guide — a young priest — pointed out to us as the one to which St. Peter was chained, and in the centre, welHng up tlirough an opening in the stone floor, is a fountain, which is said to have miraculously sprung up, to enable him to baptize his jailers. Processus and Martinian. The story is, of course, intended to be an improvement on the baptism at Philippi. Our guide also pointed out to us in the hard rock, the impression of a man's face. His story was, that when the soldiers thrust St. Peter into this gloomy dungeon, it was done with such violence that he fell against the wall. The hard stone immediately yielded, as if it had been soft, received the impression of the Apostle's face, and there it is to this day. It may have been a freak of nature, but we should think it was artificial. We asked the young priest if he be- lieved the legend, but could get no definite answer. He only laughed and evaded the question. It was evi- dent to us that, like the ancient philosophers, he had an esoteric and an exoteric doctrine. From this spot commenced the Via Sacra., where Horace tells us he was accustomed to walk, — " Nescio quid meditans nugarum, et totus in illls." Centuries of rubbish had gathered over it, so that the surface of the ground was here many feet higher than formerly, half burying the columns which stand around. When the French held Rome, they commenced excavations, which have since been constantly earned on, until the old pavement under the Arch of Severus was uncov- ered, and we may now tread the same causeway which formerly echoed to the step of the warriors and poets of 66 THE CHRI^MAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. old Rome. Had we some magic wand to wave back the triumphal processions which in " the purple days " of the Empire passed over these stones, what a gorgeous picture would they form ! Captive kings ; princes from the far East, of strange language and costume ; wild beasts dragged from the forests of Africa, to grace a triumph or contend in the Coliseum with men scarcely less savage ; cars and chariots, loaded with the spoils of rifled cities ; and the armed legions of Rome in all the bravery of their conquests, — these would swell the long array which swept before us. We passed once more around the Hill, to find the Tarpeian Rock, down which, in the days of the Repub- lic, traitors were hurled and dashed to pieces at its base. Though surrounded with buildings, and the soil accu- mulated below, yet it is still plainly visible on the southern side of the Capitoline, facing the Tiber. We threaded our way among the narrow streets beneath, and ascending, passed through a garden, when we found ourselves standing on the brink of an abrupt precipice, at least seventy feet in height. It needed not the " Ecco ! Rupe Tarpeja ! " of our ragged guide, the custode of this classical spot, for we recognized it at once as the place described by Seneca, when he says, — " It is chosen that the criminals may not require to be thrown down more than once." And here, in the ancient days of Rome, suffered those who forgot their allegiance and plotted against her liberty ! " The steep Tarpeian, fittest goal of Treason's race, The promontory whence the traitor's leap Cured all ambition." CHAPTER VI. THE VATICAN. E have spent several days in different parts of the Vatican. The gardens, at some seasons of the year, are very pleasant, although ar- ranged too much in the dull uniformity which was the fashion a century ago. When we visited them in the month of January, the oranges were ripe upon the trees, and flowers were blooming around us. They contain some beautiful fountains, and some which are tortured into the most grotesque shapes, as if to deviate as far from nature as possible. Like every other part of Rome, we find here, also, some antiquities — vases, columns, and statues, which have been dug up from tlie ruins of the ancient city. It was in these gardens that Pius VII. was accustomed to give audience to ladies, a custom which his successor has abandoned, having transferred his presentations to the apartments of the Vatican. The manufactory of mosaics is also an interesting place to visit, particularly after seeing the magnificent pictures in St. Peter's. It is under the government of the Court, and few of its works are allowed to be sold. The greater part are intended for the adornment of churches, or else as presents to different crowned heads. The number of tints used amounts to about ten thousand, and some of the large pictures take from 68 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. twelve to twenty years to complete. It requires, there- fore, not only care and patience, but also a high degree of artistical skill. These little tesserce are put in rough, and the full effect cannot of course be seen until the whole surface is polished, when alterations cannot well be made. We passed one morning in the halls containing the Library of the Vatican, which is well known as being, in some respects, the finest in the world. It was prob- ably formed at a very early period, as it is not likely that men like St. Damasus (in the fourth century), who was celebrated for his learning, would have been unprovided with the means of study. We find, how- ever, no express record of it before the days of Hilary (a. d. 467), who established two libraries in the Ba- silica of the Lateran Palace. In the sixth century we first hear of the Bibliothecarius of the Apostolical Library, an office which has been filled to the present day. In the eighth century, the collection begun by Hilary was transferred to the Basilica of St. Peter's, and received constant additions. Then follow several centuries in which we find nothing but casual allusions to the Papal Library, though scattered through this period are the w^orks of Roman writers, which could not have been composed without the aid of many books, and particularly those of ancient authors. We consider this, therefore, one proof that the Library must not only have then been in existence, but also extend- mcr its influence. During the vicissitudes and troubles of the Papal See, in the days when rival Popes were contending for the tiara, it seems to have been well preserved. When Clement V. removed to Avignon, he took with him the THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 69 literary treasures of the See. At the end of the seces- sion, Martin V. restored them to Rome, and they have since been constantly increasing. During the revival of literature under Leo X., that Pontiff sent learned men through the whole East to purchase oriental manuscripts, to add to this collection. Its number of printed books is much smaller than is usually supposed, not exceeding thirty thousand. It is in manuscripts that the Library is so particularly rich, numbering nearly twenty-four thousand ; some of them as old as the fifth century, and others richly illuminated with pictures and miniatures, to execute which must have been the labor of many years. We found the anteroom filled with portraits of the librarians, and immediately inquired of the custode which was the picture of Assemanni ? But he told us, alas ! that the collection was limited to those who had attained the dignity of Cardinal, and as such had not been the case with either of the Assemanni, both were excluded ; and yet the fruits of the researches which they sent forth to the world, will preserve their names long after most of the cardinals, whose portraits grace these walls, have been forgotten. In the long list of librarians, indeed, we doubt whether any were as con- versant as Joseph Assemanni with the rich treasures of the Vatican. Scarcely stirring beyond these precincts, he explored them year after year, suffering no other earthly interest to mingle with his literary dreams, and so absorbed in the pursuit that the remembrances of early youth faded away, and he forgot even his own distant Syi'ian home. And when at last he was laid in the cemetery at Rome, his biographer tells us that he 70 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. sorrowed as much to part from the treasures of the Vatican, as from his decaying hfe.^ There is httle, however, to be seen by a mere visit to this stupendous collection. The manuscripts cannot be examined except by an express order, while the books are inclosed in wooden presses, so that not a volume is seen.. There is nothing, therefore, of a literary air about it, as in the Biblioihcque du Hoi in Paris, or the Bodleian in England, where you see the walls crowded to the ceiling with the labors of the learned. You may pass through these long halls without a suspicion that you are in a library. Nothing is to be seen but painted cabinets, Etruscan vases, and pictures of the early Councils of the Church. In one of the last galleries are collected all the objects of interest belonging to the early Christians, which were found in the Catacombs. Here are their personal ornaments, the sepulchral lamps, paintings, and the instruments of torture by which so many suffered martyrdom. A sight of these things transports us back to the early ages of persecu- tion. We look upon the very hooks and pointed in- struments which tore the flesh of those who " counted not their lives dear unto themselves " when they were to be preserved by apostasy from Christ. It would be useless to attempt to describe the differ- 1 Pasquin made the appointment of Assemanni the subject of one of his witticisms. His two predecessors had been Holstenius, who had abjured Protestantism, and Leo Allatius, a Chian. When, therefore, a Syrian was next appointed, the following distich appeared : — " Praefuit hsereticus. Post hunc, scismaticus. At nunc Turco prcecst. Petri bibliotheca, vale ! " We believe, indeed, that Assemanni was never so complete a Eomanist as to overcome his Syrian prejudices, and that his church, therefore, regards with much more favor the oriental researches of Renardot. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 71 ent parts of the Vatican. It is almost a ci^^iii_ itself! Murray tells us, that " it has eight grand sMreases, two hundred smaller staircases, twenty courts, and four thousand four hundred and twenty-two apart- ments." We will select, therefore, only a few of the principal parts. We succeeded one morning in obtaining admission into the Sistine Chapel at a time when there was light enough to see the paintings. In the large saloon which leads to it, the walls are covered with frescoes, one of which, representing the " Massacre of St. Bar- tholomew^'s," might as well have been omitted, it not being a triumph of which the Church of Rome should be particularly proud. In the Papal mint, however, can be seen a medal which was struck in honor of the same occasion. The glory of the Sistine Chapel has always been the great fresco of the " Last Judgment," by Michael Angelo, which entirely covers one end. It is chiefly remarkable for the boldness of its drawing, the great number of figures introduced, and, of course, the anatomical details.^ The blessed are there, rising from their graves, ascending into heaven, and received by angels ; while demons are seizing the condemned and dragging them down to the pit. It of course gave opportunity to the artist to display his great power, as every possible passion was to be delineated ; but the picture is half heathenish. In the foreground is Charon, in his ferry-boat, rowing the groups over the Styx, and strildng the refractory with his oar. This, however, was in accordance w^itli the spirit of the age ; 1 In 1841, the favorite ballet at the French Opera in Paris was called The Infernal Gallopade of the Last Judgment, all the attitudes of which ;v'ere taken from this picture. 72 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. and Michael Angelo only painted the retributions of Eternity as Dante had described them. It may be a great want of taste, yet the pictures of Michael Angelo are not those on which we could ever look with pleasure. They seem more intended as a study for artists, who can dwell with delight upon the skill of the fore-shortening and the grandeur of the design, than they do to excite the admiration of the un- learned. This very picture is a fair illustration of his style. It is full of sublimity, yet there is nothing to touch the heart. We shrink back from the stern and terrific Being who is hurling down his foes to the tor- ments of the condemned. We recognize not the Son of God as we have always thought of Him. He is here only the terrible Minister of vengeance. The artist, too, seems to take a savage delight in delineating the miseries of the lost, and even uses the divine skill with which Heaven had endowed him, to minister to his re- venge. The inspiration he had imbibed was not lofty enough to enable him to forget the strife and bitterness of private life, and therefore he condemns his enemies to immortality by painting their portraits among the damned.^ Look, too, at his pictures of the " Holy Family," even the most celebrated of all, which is in the Tribune at Florence. It possesses no characteristics of grace or beauty. His Madonna is a noble looking woman, 1 This seems to have been somewhat the fashion of the age. Dante re- cords in his poems his partialities as a partisan, and places his enemies in the Inferno^ while Da Vinci, in his " Last Supper," gives Judas the likeness of one who had offended him. How different from our own Milton, who, bitter as he was as a politician, when he had " his garland and his singing robes about him," seemed to shake from his wings all the entanglements of earth, and to soar into a purer, holier region ! THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 73 fitted to be the ancestress of a race of heroes, but that is all. There is nothing soft and attractive in the coun- tenance — none of that touching loveliness wliich we should wish to recognize in the Mother of our Lord. For these traits we must look to the pictures of Raph- ael and Poussin. His infant Saviour, too, only sug- gests to us the idea of a young Hercules. We should pronounce him a " a noble boy," but seek in vain in his lineaments for anything divine. There is, how- ever, one painting by Michael Angelo, which belongs to the class of subjects he should always have chosen. It is " The Parca3," in the Pitti Palace at Florence, a strange looking picture, with very little coloring, so that it seems unfinished. It is a bold design of the Three Fates, — grave, thoughtful, and severe, — spinning and cutting the thread of human life. The conception is Dante-like, and one well suited to the character of the artist's mind. Lord Byron has somewhere re- corded his admiration of this picture. In truth, the mind of Michael Angelo was too fiery and impetuous to enable him to execute the high finish of painting, and he therefore always prided himself most on being a sculptor. His signature generally was, Michel Agnolo Buonarotti^ Scultore^ and in one of his letters to Varclii, he says, that " Sculpture is to Painting what the sun is to the moon." We are told that he often struck and hewed at the block of marble with a des- perate energy, as if struggling to extricate the form which in liis imagination he saw concealed. For a noble evidence of his talent, we should look at his statues of the gloomy Lorenzo and the armed Ju- lian, in the Church of San Lorenzo at Florence, — as Rogers describes them, — "two ghosts, sitting on their 74 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. sepulchres." His own family seem to have taken the same view of his characteristics ; and when his fellow- citizens were raising his splendid monument in the Church of Santa Croce, and, according to the original design, Painting was to have stood in front of the sepulchre, his relatives remonstrated most urgently. As they considered his peculiar excellence to have been manifested in Sculpture, they contended that it should have the post of honor, and the whole arrange- ment of the statues was accordingly altered. But to return to the Vatican. We passed, on our way, through the Loggia of Raphael — open porticoes covered with fresco paintings from the Old Testament. The first — the " Creation " — is one of those pictures so often attempted in the Church of Rome, in which all reverence seems to be forgotten. It represents the wildness of chaos, — clouds, and darkness, and the war of elements, — and above is a venerable old man, throwing himself upon it, to reduce to order the ma- terials of the universe, and to separate light from dark- ness. It is a vain attempt to convey, by sensible objects, an idea of that scene which the words of In- spiration bring before us so sublimely in the single sentence, — " And God said. Let there be light : and there was light." On every Monday and Thursday the Museum of the Vatican is open, and filled by eager hundreds, who are gathered in groups through every part of its marble galleries, studying these triumphs of human genius. Here, and in the Museum on the Capitoline Hill, are to be found all that survive the wars and devastations which have swept over Rome, all that her ancient conquerors brought from Greece, and all that her own THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 75 artists learned to create, with these lifelike forms of Athenian sculpture as their models. And year after year, as new treasures were discovered among the buried ruins of the old city, this collection has been in- creasing, till it now has become well worthy of an artist's pilgrimage from any quarter of the earth. Here he will see, in some shape embodied, all those forms of beauty which have been flitting, like dim phantoms, through his brain. It takes a morning merely to walk through this col- lection. Long galleries, sometimes a thousand feet in length, are each devoted to a particular subject. One is filled with Greek inscriptions from the old tombs ; another with busts ; another with sculptures of ani- mals ; another with vases ; another with antique can- delabra ; while at every turn are sarcophagi, and altars, and Roman baths, which have been dug up among the ruins. The names of some of these halls — "the Cabinet of the Masks," "the Hall of the Muses," " the Hall of the Biga " — may convey some idea of their contents. Old Egypt is represented here, ever the same, with her strange, uncouth figures, mel- ancholy sphinxes, and gods mingling the monster with the man. The influence of intellectual Greece, too, is everywhere visible, and we see how her worship of beauty softened and refined the stem grandeur of her conquerors. Here, in a circular hall by itself, as if nothing else was worthy to stand by its side, is the " Apollo Belve- dere," and around its pedestal are always collected a group, studying its matchless beauty. It is not the mere development of a human form, but rather the gathering into one of some poet's unearthly concep- 76 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. tions — the expression of some ideal beauty that never really existed. In looking at it, we forget everything physical, in comparison with the soul which beams forth in every feature. He stands, with arm extended, as if the arrow had just parted from the bow, and secure that it would reach its mark, he is tracking its course. " Childe Harold " speaks of the " beautiM disdain " visible in " the eye and nostril." It is stamped, in- deed, on the whole countenance, as if he felt an immor- tal's contempt for the object of his vengeance. " But in his delicate form — a dream of love Shaped by some solitary nymph, whose breast Long'd for a deathless lover from above, And madden'd in that vision — are express'd All that ideal beauty ever bless'd The mind with, in its most unearthly mood, When each conception was a heavenly guest — A ray of immortality — and stood Starlike, around, until they gather'd to a god ! " But the mere beauty of the execution is not all. Could a modern statue be formed, no way its inferior, it would not by any means possess the same interest. It is the thought that this has united the suffrages of three centuries. The intellectual and the cultivated of ten generations have stood before its pedestal, and no dissenting voice has been heard denying its claim to admiration. Michael Angelo, and Canova, and Thor- waldsen, and sculptors from all lands, have studied it, receiving new inspiration as they gazed. Countless writers, too, whose names are familiar in the annals of Hterature, have delighted to pay their tribute to its sur- passing beauty, and thus, as we look upon it, there is added also the charm of a thousand associations. Here, too, in another hall by itself, is the group of THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, 77 " The Laocoon " — the father and his two sons in the serpent's coil and strain. We see them struggling with the desperate energy of those who strive for life, — seeking to unlock the living links which are wound around them, "the long, envenomed chain," — yet striving in vain. The serpent tightens and deepens its coils, and rivets them more firmly, while each moment it is driving its fangs deeper into the old man's side. And yet with this group we were disappointed. The single figure of the father, so expressive of mortal agony, if it could be seen by itself, would be all that we could desire. The sons, however, are not youths. There is nothing juvenile about their forms or features. They are merely miniatures of the father. Parts, too, are restorations, and evidently not in accordance with the original outline of the group, injuring the effect of its intense action. As we traverse these halls we cannot but realize the superiority of sculpture to painting. Zeuxis and Apelles were in their day what Raphael and Guido are in ours, but there remains not a single work which they executed ; and yet here are the beautiful creations of Grecian sculpture, as fresh as they were twenty cen- turies ago. The marble has faithfully retained its trust, and we gaze upon it now as when it came from the artist's hands. But Rome is still a sepulchre of beauty, and it is im- possible to tell what treasures may yet be hid beneath its iniuis. Pliny informs us, that the number of statues was equal to that of the inhabitants, and many are now doubtless covered by the heaps of rubbish which have fallen above them. The elevation of the ground througliout the city, is from fifteen to twenty feet 78 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. above its original level, and no excavation ever is made without disinterring some remains of antiquity. Several of the ancient baths are still unopened ; and, could the Tiber be for a time diverted from its course, there is no doubt but that in its bed would be found many treasures of art, which were buried beneath its waters when the city was so often plundered by bar- barous enemies. The offer to undertake this work has several times been made to the Papal government, but was always declined. Raphael proposed in his day a plan for a thorough exploration, but the authorities had not energy enough to adopt it. Had Napoleon con- quered in Russia, he intended to have made a tri- umphal entry into Rome for the purpose of being crowned in St. Peter's, and then the scheme of Raph- ael would have been put in execution. There are but fifty pictures in the Vatican, but one of them is a painting allowed to be the first in the world, — "The Transfiguration," by Raphael. I know not why it was, but my first impressions were those of dis- appointment, perhaps because my expectations had been raised too high. The colors, too, are said to have somewhat changed since it came from the hand of its great master. After seeing in France and Italy the chef d^oeuvres of the first artists of different ages, and realizing that Raphael was the noblest of them all, I expected, perhaps, when I looked upon his master- piece, to see more than human genius can ever exe- cute. But every moment since, it has grown upon me, until I felt ready to subscribe to the decision which pronounced it the greatest triumph the pencil ever has achieved. No words can describe the aerial lightness with which the figures of the Saviour and the two THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 79 Prophets seem suspended in the air. They appear floating on the clouds, while around them is spread an effulgence of glory, Avliicli nowhere else have colors been able to produce. The Apostles are on the ground below, veiling their faces, as if smitten down, and " daz- zled with excess of brightness." But it was on the head of the Saviour that Raphael lavished all his power, at- tempting to invest Him with a majesty and beauty — to array Him with an air of Divinity — which would make this the very perfection of art. There is but one that can compare with it, and that the countenance of our Lord in Leonardo da Vinci's " Last Supper " at Milan. There, indeed, the artist left the head imper- fect, because he could not realize his conception of the celestial beauty it ought to possess. Yet, unfinished as it is, it expresses all we can imagine. We have already in this chapter spoken of the char- acteristics of Michael Angelo ; Raphael we regard as his perfect contrast. It has been well remarked, tliat the former seemed to have imbibed the spirit of the Old Testament, and the latter that of the New. Every- thing recorded of Raphael appears to develop a loveli- ness of disposition most foreign to the stem character of his great rival. Idolized by his friends, he seemed formed for the fullest display of every social affection. Beauty was the element and atmosphere in which he lived, and his most pleasant occupation was to transfer tlie loveliness of woman to his almost breathing canvas. There it still awakens our admiration as no other pro- ductions of the pencil can, for the centuries which have passed sent forth no rival to eclipse his fame. And when he portrayed subjects of a sacred character, his work appeals at once to our affections. With the spirit 80 THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS IN ROME. of St. John he painted the Saviour of the world, and we recognize in the portrait which he has drawn, One who can be " touched with the feeHng of our infirmi- ties." His pictures therefore teach the lessons of our faith. " The Transfiguration " was Raphael's last work, and before it was completed he was cut off, at the early age of thirty-seven. But seldom for centuries past — if we may credit the account of those who saw it — had Kome witnessed a scene like that which took place on the sweet April day, when this divinest painter of the age was borne to his rest in the Pantheon. Yet before that solemn march began — that march which knows no return — his body was laid in state, with this his masterpiece suspended over it, the last traces of his hand still visible on the canvas. " And when all beheld Him ■where he lay, how changed from yesterday, — Him in that hour cut off, and at his head His last great work; when, entering in, they looked Now on the dead, then on that masterpiece — Now on his face, lifeless and colorless. Then on those forms divine that lived and breathed, And would live on for ages, — all were moved, And sighs burst forth, and loudest lamentations." CHAPTER Vn. PRESENTATION AT THE PAPAL COURT. THE POP.iDOM. PRIVATE LIFE OF THE POPES. 0-DAY we were presented to his Holiness Pope Gregory XVI. by our Consul, through whom, as we have no minister at the Papal Court, all the necessary arrangements are made. So many holy days and other public festivals are continually occurring, that it is necessary to make application some time before, and we had been for several weeks waiting his Holiness' leisure. The re- quired costume is the same as on other occasions, — the ladies in black, with black veils over their heads, the gentlemen also in full dress of black. The only difference is that boots are forbidden, — a very disa- greeable arrangement, as passing in thin shoes and silk stockings through the cold galleries of the Vati- can, and over the marble floors, an invalid would be very apt to take a cold, for which his introduction to the successor of St Peter would hardly be considered a sufficient compensation. Twenty-two hours of the day,^ that is, three o'clock- 1 The Roman day counts its hours from 1 to 24, beginning at sundown. As this is rather indefinite for a starting-point, and from its daily change would be very inconvenient, the Cardinal who presides over this depart- ment, issues a public ordinance, decreeing at what hour the sun ought to set. At this season of the year he places it at 5 p. m. Three o'clock in tho afternoon, therefore, is twenty -two hours of the day. 82 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. in the afternoon, was the time appointed, and punctual to the hour, we assembled in a little room adjoining the Sistine Chapel, where we remained till our com- pany had all arrived. Here hats and cloaks were de- posited, and the Consul drilled us with a few instruc- tions, as to how we were to bow when we walked in, and how we were to bow when we backed out, and other matters of equal moment in the etiquette of the Papal Court. Presently a servant in livery appeared, to conduct us to the anteroom ; the procession formed and marshaled by him, we were led up-stairs, and on — on through the long halls and corridors, till we reached the Hall of Maps, so called because its walls are covered with huge maps, painted in fresco in 1581 by an Archbishop of Alatri, and which are now curi- ous, as showing the geographical knowledge of that day. Here w^e were left for nearly an hour. These vast galleries are always cold, even in the mildest weather, and as this happened to be one of the most severe days we had experienced while in Italy, and we were not exactly in costume for such an atmos- phere, we were anything but comfortable. A large brazier filled with coals (the usual method here of warming an apartment) stood at one end, round which the ladies gathered ; the gentlemen walked about to keep themselves warm ; while some of the younger members of the party, having no fear of the Pope and the Vatican before their eyes, to keep their blood from congealing, most irreverently ran races up and down the gallery. This, by the way, being four hundred and twenty feet long, seemed admirably adapted for such pui'poses. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 83 At length the usher in attendance walked in and announced that II Padre Santo was ready to receive us. The presentation was very different from what I had expected, having lately read the account of one in which there was much ceremony — the guards at the doors — the anteroom filled with officers of the Court — and the mace-bearers heralding the way. Everything with us was very informal, and with the exception of the usher and two servants at the door, we saw no attendants. In we marched in procession, headed by the Consul in full uniform ; the ladies next, the gentlemen bringing up the rear, and found om'- selves in a long room, at the upper end of which, leaning against a table, stood the two hundred and fifly-eighth successor of St. Peter. We bowed as we entered the door — again when we reached the middle of the room — and a third time when we came oppo- site to the Pope. This at least is all that is required of those who " worship God after the way which they call heresy." The true members of the Church of Rome, instead of bowing, kneel three times, and end by kissing either the hand or the embroidered slipper of his Holiness. It is said, that when Horace Wal- pole was presented to Benedict XIV. he stood for a moment in a posture of hesitation, when the Pope, who was remarkable for cheei-fulness and humor, ex- claimed, " Kneel down, my son ; receive the blessing of an old man ; it will do you no harm ! " upon which the young traveller immediately fell on his knees. Kissing the Pope's. foot is not so easily justified, al- though the usual explanation given is, that it is to the cross on the slipper thj^t the homage is paid. But what business has the cross in such a situation ? It is 84 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. curious, too, that a somewhat similar reason was given for this ceremony under the old Roman Emperors. Caligula was the first who offered his foot to be kissed by those who approached him, and we find Seneca de- claiming upon it as the last affront to liberty, and the introduction of a Persian slavery into the manners of Rome. Those, on the contrary, who endeavored to excuse it, asserted that it was not done out of inso- lence, but vanity, that he might, by this means, display his golden slipper set with jewels. After we were presented and had ranged ourselves in a semicircle around him, he commenced at once an animated conversation with the Consul, which gave us an opportunity of quietly studying his appearance and manner. He was dressed in his every-day cos- tume : a white flannel robe, with a cape buttoned down before, and very similar to that worn by some orders of the monks ; a little white skull-cap on his head, and red morocco slippers, on the instep of each of which was wrought the gold cross. His snuff-box (another cross on its lid) was in constant use, while ne laughed and talked in the most sociable manner. Notwithstanding his age — being over eighty — he seems a hale, hearty old man, whom I should not have imagined to be more than sixty. He looked very differently from what he did in the public ser- vices of St. Peter's, when I supposed him to be feeble, and it is probable that the Cardinals whose heads are aching for the Tiara, will have to wait some years be- fore the aspirations of any one of them is gratified. There is, however, nothing intellectual in his counte- nance — nothing which marks him as one worthy in this respect to sit in the seat of Hildebrand. His f(3at- THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 85 ures are exceedingly heavy — the nose too large and drooping — and the general expression of the eyes one of sleepiness. The impression produced upon my mind was that of good-nature. During the whole au- dience there was nothing to remind me that he was the head of so large a portion of the Christian world — still less, that he was a temporal prince to whom many mil- lions owed subjection. After inquiring what parts of the country we came from, and whether all things had become quiet in Phil- adelphia (alluding to the riots of last summer), he suddenly turned to us, and asked, — " What do you intend to do with Texas ? " It was certainly a curious place in which to hear a discussion of this question, jut the Pope seemed to feel as much interest in the matter as if he had been one of our own Southern politicians. His knowledge of the geography of our country i-ather surprised me at the time, but I after- wards learned that he had formerly been for many years Prefect of the Propaganda, during which time the whole foreign correspondence was submitted to him, and he is therefore somewhat acquainted with those parts of the United States in which there are Roman Catholic Missionaries. After about twenty minutes there was a pause in the conversation, when he bowed to us — rang a small bell on the table, I suppose to summon the usher — and we commenced, according to etiquette, backing out of the room. The Pope, however, immediately walked into the recess of a window near him — his usual custom, I am told, to relieve strangers from the awkwardness of so singular a mode of exit — and we were thus enabled to turn our backs to him and leave the apartment in the ordinary way. 86 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. At the close of a presentation it is customary for the Pope to bless the rosaries, crucifixes, medals, etc., which have been brought for that purpose. An attend- ant, therefore, was at hand to receive them, and some of the party having come well provided, the articles were carried in to his Holiness, and in a short time brought out again with the additional value they had received from their consecration. Nothing can be so joyless as the life of the Sover- eign Pontiff. Weighed down as he is by cares and business, with no means of recreation, the quiet and seclusion of the cloister would be a happy exchange. They who only think of him as a temporal monarch, or witness his splendor amidst the ceremonies of the Church, know little of the dull uniformity in which his days are passed. Four centuries ago, the Popes, in consideration of their temporal sovereignty, dis- played in their palaces the same magnificence and fes- tivity which are witnessed at other courts. The old chronicles describe to us fetes, and pageants, and tour- naments, which certainly displayed more of the spirit of this world than of the next. But now a character of austerity seems outwardly, at least, to mark the Pon- tifical Court. The vast and gloomy apartments of the Vatican are deserted, and as you pass through them you meet no one but the officials of the Palace, or some ecclesiastic gliding along with a subdued look and noiseless step. You might imagine yourself in a monastery of Carthusians. The Pope, indeed, is at all times the slave of tlie most rigid etiquette. The heavy robes of his office trammel his steps, and he leads a life of restraint and confinement. A walk in the formal gardens of the Vatican or Quirinal; a THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 87 quiet ride among the mouriifiil ruins of former ages ; or a visit to some clmrch filled perhaps with monu- ments which announce how short were the reigns of his predecessors, are his only sources of relaxation without the walls of his own palace.^ In the days of Leo X. the hours which were spent around the table of the Pontiff were devoted to the highest social enjoyment. While literature was reviv- ing, it was there that its progress was discussed, and plans were canvassed and hints given, which con- stantly suggested to this Sovereign of the House of Medici, new schemes for restoring its former glory. Philosophers, orators, and artists, gathered there ; genius was encouraged to attempt its loftiest flight ; and the poet sang his noblest verses to the music of the sweet lyre, certain of a favorable audience. The deep mysteries of science, and the lighter graces of literature found equal favor with the princely Leo, and in his presence the subtle alchemist from the far East and the gay troubadoiu* of Provence, were seen side by side. There seemed then to be an inspiration in those saloons, and from the halls of the Vatican the new Augustan age first dawned upon the world. So it had been before at Avignon, and as we explored the ruined palace of the Popes, we thought more of Pe- trarch who came thither from Vaucluse to recite his sweet sonnets, than we did of the Pontiff and Cardi- nals whose applause he sought to win. But now this too is changed, and custom requires that the table of the Pope should be occupied by himself alone. His repasts are solitary, unenlivened even by friendly con- verse. In many respects, indeed, this change is a 1 Eustace, Class. Tour, vol. iii. p. 346. 88 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. favorable one, and the austerity of the present day far better becomes the head of the Roman Church than the gay pageantry of the former centuries, yet it ne- cessarily makes his life solitary and cheerless. Elected as the Popes are at an advanced age, they must of course follow each other in rapid succession. Gregory XVI. therefore, having been elected in 1831, has had a longer reign than usual. He is not a man of great talents or remarkable for any particular traits which pointed him out for the office, but was elected, as is frequently the case, amidst the strife of parties. On such occasions, some inoffensive, unexceptionable person, generally of advanced age, is chosen. He seems to share fully in all the antiquated prejudices of his Church, and has lately issued an edict forbidding all railroads within the Papal dominions. It was pro- posed to construct one from Rome to Naples, and the King of Naples was very anxious to have it under- taken. In fact, during the winter he arrived at Rome and it was stated that this was the object of his visit ; but the Pope was inexorable. The Court fears its subjects having too great facilities for travelling, lest a further acquaintance with the world might shake their faith. And yet Rome is supported almost entirely by the money of foreigners, and should all visitors aban- don it for three years, the city would be given up to famine. What a strange spectacle does this history of the Popedom present ! Aged men, reigning but a short time — insulated individuals, deriving no claim from relationship to those who went before them, and yet, amidst all the changes of the world, bequeathing their authority to those who came after them. The un- THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 89 broken line stretches back from him whom we saw to- day in the Vatican, to those Bishops " appointed unto death " who ruled the Christians of the Imperial City when they met in the Catacombs of St. Sebastian, or died as martyrs in the Flavian amphitheatre. Per- haps seventeen centuries ago some of the predecessors of Gregory XVI., as they saw in the distance the smoke of heathen sacrifice ascend from the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter, were unconsciously standing on the very spot where their own magnificent St. Peter's was afterwards to be founded. Yet great as is the change in their situation, is it not equally so in the manner in which they bear the Apostolic office ? Would Clemens, " whose name " — St. Paul tells us — " was written in the Book of Life," have recog- nized as his successors, the lordly prelates of the Mid- dle Ages — trampling on the necks of kings, and crushing thrones with a rod of ii'on ? Alas ! before the days of Christian unity return, Rome must go back to earlier principles, remembering the heritage of suffering which once she received, and by which she grew to greatness. Laying aside her diadem, and resuminor once more her ancient crown of thorns, the world must see her, sitting no longer • so lordly, but rather ready to rejoice if again she should be counted worthy to suffer. Then, when purified by trial, she goes forth to her holy work, poor Humanity will greet her with joy, as she comes preaching the gospel of peace. Yea, the Churches of the world will make answer to her call, as they welcome her to their fellow- ship, feeling that again, after long centuries of war- fare, with one mouth and one heart they can all pro- fess the "faith which was once delivered unto the saints." CHAPTER VIII. A day's ramble in ROME. E have been out to-day, rambling about from one scene of interest to another, with no fixed plan, but wandering in accordance with the suggestion of the moment. There is one advantage in Rome, which is, that from our childhood we have been familiar with pictures and models of its antiquities, so that we recognize them at once. A guide-book is scarcely necessary. We are already acquainted with the story of each old ruin, and want nothing but a map to conduct us to the spot. We first sought for the Pantheon, through the nar- row, dirty streets which have been built up around it. So crowded indeed are the modern habitations, that it is impossible to find a spot from which this unrivaled edifice can be properly viewed. Eighteen centuries ago it was looked upon as faultless, and criticism since has been unable to urge an objection. In the reign of Augustus there were g-athered within its walls stat- ues of the gods, in gold, silver, bronze, and precious marbles. Since then it has been plundered of all that could be carried off, — the statues that graced its cor- nice, the bronze which adorned its d^me, and the silver that lined the compartments of it^ roof within ; yet its faultless proportions remain, the wonder of THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 91 every age. The original inscription on the front still records that it was erected by Agrippa, and when we enter, we stand on the same marble pavement once trodden by Augustus. Its rotunda was so well adapted to the change, that with scarcely an alteration it passed from heathen worship to be used as a Christian church. Not only was Michael Angelo proud to copy it in the dome of St. Peter's, but even Constantinople is in- debted to it for the plan of St. Sophia. Its spoils too are dispersed about the city. Its bronze forms the Balacchino^ or grand canopy over the altar in St. Peter's ; the basaltic lions which guarded the en- trance now adorn the Acqua Felice^ fountain of Sextus V. ; and the beautiful porphyry sarcophagus which once stood in the portico, has been removed by the Corsini to their chapel in St. John Lateran, and instead of the ashes of Agrippa, now holds that of Clement XII. Above is a circular opening, through which alone the light is admitted, and the interior therefore reflects every change in the atmosphere. The flush of mom, the golden radiance of noon, the pui-ple hue which fiUs the air as the sun is going down, the gray twi- light, and the passing shadow of the darkening tem- pest, all are repeated and mirrored on the antique marbles within. At night, too, it is strange to stand in this solemn temple, and see the stars shining brightly in the deep azure above, and the moon flooding the whole firmament with her glory, or seeming to chase the clouds which are rapidly flying past. And al- though the rain pours in year after year, and the Tiber at times in its ovei-flow reaches the pavement, yet this beautiful relic of antiquity seems to defy alike 92 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. the elements and the inroads of time. We see it in- deed in its " disastrous twilight," for the ages which have gone have dimmed its brightness ; yet it may well be questioned, whether the deep and mellow tints it has received from passing centuries do not impart a majesty it did not possess in the time of its early glory. It has too in our day a nobler consecration than when it was devoted to the gods of the old mythology. The niches which once their statues filled, are now occupied by the busts of those who were distinguished for genius or talent. " The dearest hope," says Corinne, " that the lovers of glory cherish, is that of obtaining a place here." Yet the visitor will pass the tombs of Winkelman, Metastasio, Poussin, and Annabal Carracci, to pause before a plain inscription on the wall, which tells us that Raphael is buried be- low. What a fit sepulchre for him, the divinest painter of his age, who died — not in the fullness of his years, but in the fullness of his powers — just livino; lono; enouo;h to show the world how much it had lost ! But of such a building all descriptions are useless. The words of poetry seem more appropriate, and Childe Harold has summed up everything in a couple of stanzas: — • " Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime — Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods, From Jove to Jesus — spared and blest by time ; Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods Arch, empire, each thing round thee, and man plods His way through thorns to ashes — glorious dome ! Shalt thou not last? Timers scythe and tyrant's rods Shiver upon thee — sanctuary and home Of art and piety — Pantheon ! — pride of Rome ! THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 93 *' Relic of nobler days, and noblest arts ! Despoil'd yet perfect, with thy circle spreads A holiness appealing to all hearts — To art a model; and to him who treads Rome for the sake of ages, glory sheds Her light through thy sole aperture ; to those Who worship, here are altars for their beads: And they who feel for genius may repose Their eyes on honor'd forms, whose busts around them close." We turned from it, looking back often to its Corin- thian columns, and entering once more the labyrinth of narrow alleys, sought for the ruins of Pompey's The- atre. But a few massive fragments and arches now remain, and the circular shape of the building is prin- cipally traced by the manner in which we find the houses standing, as they were erected upon its founda- tions. Having been seized by the Orsini during the troubles of the twelfth century, while their strong hold, it was entirely leveled by feudal violence. Yet in its magnificent portico, which once contained an hundred columns, Appian tells us, Brutus sat in judg- ment on the morning of Caesar's death, and close by was the Senate House, in which — " Even at the base of Pompey's statue Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell." From this spot so rich in historical recollections, we wound our way through the narrow and dirty Ghetto, which is allotted to the Jews. " Sufferance is the badge of all their tribe," and here the despised and oppressed Israelites must indeed realize it. In the midst of filth and noisome smells they are crowded together, restricted to this section of the city, while soldiers mount guard at the gates, which are every night closed and kept locked till morning. Even dur- 94 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. ing a great inundation of the Tiber, when all this quarter of the city was under water, their petition for a change of residence was denied. As there happened to be no danger of their drowning, they were not per- mitted to escape until the regular time of opening the gates in the morning, nor at night were they allowed to seek refuge in any other place. Some of them are wealthy, but the meanest beggar who sleeps in the sun on the Scala di Spagna., if he pretend to be a Chris- tian, thinks himself at liberty to spurn them from his path, nor does the smitten Jew dare even to remon- strate. With the Carnival comes their more pubhc degradation. When the bell sounds to announce the beginning of the Festival, a deputation of their oldest members ascend to the Capitol, and there kneeling bareheaded before the Senator, ask permission for their people to reside for the ensuing year in Rome. This is granted them, on condition that they pay the ex- penses of the Carnival, and furnish the prizes, which are generally pieces of gay velvet. Even this is an improvement on their former state ; for in old times they were obliged at this season themselves to run in races through the Corso, while the people shouted in derision as " the Jew dogs " exerted themselves for their amusement. Now they perform this by proxy, and hire the horses wliich exhibit. They are com- pelled also once in the year to be present in one of the Churches at a service which is intended for their ex- press conversion. Where it is held we did not learn, though just without the gates of the Ghetto is a Church, having on its portal in Hebrew^ an inscription from Isaiah Ixv. 2, *' I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 95 way that was not good, after their own thoughts." The situation of this Church would be convenient for the purpose, though the inscription is by no means compHmentary or inviting. The Saturday before Easter is appointed for the baptism of the new con- verts, who have tlie honor of receiving that rite at St. John Lateran, in tlie porphyry vase which is said to have been used for the Emperor Constantine in the same service. Subjects are always found, although the unbelievers in Rome whisper, that one proselyte has appeared so often on this occasion, that he is now regarded as a regular part of the pageant. We went through their quarter, where the lofty houses seemed bending over to meet each other from opposite sides of the narrow street. The shops were filled with the usual miscellaneous assortment of goods characteristic of the children of Israel — rags, old clothes, scraps of iron, worn-out umbrellas, and house- hold utensils of all kinds. Every part was swarming like a perfect hive ; men and women looking out of the windows, and children of all ages sprawling about the doors. Their countenances would anywhere have pro- claimed their descent, as they screamed and gibbered to us, offering their petty wares for sale, and with the most forcible gesticulations inviting us to enter their shops. But with them how strangely different do the two extremes of life appear ! The black-haired, black- eyed children grow up into beautiful maidens, and then change again to be perfectly hag-like in age, as if Nature was thus revenging herself for the prodigality with which her early favors were lavislied. As we left the Ghetto, we passed the ruins of the Theatre of Marcellus, its Doric columns still standing, 96 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. embedded, as- it were, in the neighboring houses, when suddenly we found ourselves in front of the old Palace of the Orsini. We knew it at once by the gigantic bear — the crest of the family — sculptured in stone on each side of the portal, and it reminded us of their old war-cry, " Beware the bear's hug ! " which for ages sounded so often through the streets of Rome, as they met in conflict the adherents of the rival house of Co- lonna. Their old baronial Castle of Bracciano, twenty- five miles from Rome, is the finest of the kind in Italy. Vast in extent, lighted by Gothic windows, still con- taining the family portraits, the silk hangings, the anti- quated furniture, and the armorial bearings of the Orisini, it is a complete picture of a feudal residence in the fifteenth century. It was the first place in the vicinity of Rome which Sir Walter Scott expressed any anxiety to visit, and he spent a day there listening with interest to the history of the turbulent lords of this ancient fortress. In the beginning of this century it was sold to Torlonia, the Pope's banker, who com- menced life as a peddler, and \vvhose son now holds it, deriving from the estate the old feudal title once borne by the Orsini — Duke of Bracciano. We were looking, however, for the Temple of Vesta, and found its situation to agree with the description of Horace in the Ninth Satire, where he represents it as lying in his way from the Via Sacra to the Gardens of Caisar trans Tiherim. But, when we reached it on the banks of the river, it needed no guide to inform us that this was the object of our search. There it was, so small, and light, and beautiful, that it seemed as if it might have been borne through the air by angels, as the legend tells us was done with our Lady's Holy THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 97 Chapel at Loretto. The wonder is, that it could have remained for so many ages, when massive buildings around were swept away. Yet, of its twenty Corin- thian columns, only one is gone, and tlie little circular temple, with the pillars round it, is as graceful and ele- . gant as when first erected. It was, indeed, worthy of its purpose ; for among all the rites of ancient heathenism, there were none so pure and poetical as these. Here watched the consecrated virgins, whose care was only to tend the sacred fire. Noble by birth, the true fulfill- ment of their vow entitled them to loftier honors than mere nobility could claim ; while, if they erred, theirs was a fearful death by which they paid the penalty of sin. There is more romance still lingering about this little temple than all the other antiquities of Rome. Near the Temple of Vesta is that of Fortuna Virilis, whose Ionic columns, half buried in the earth, still show what it must have been in the beauty of its early day. While we were looking at it, one of the crowd of ragged young guides, who had been running round us with the most profuse offers of their services, pointed out a house in the neiorhborhood as that of Rienzi. The name at- tracted our attention, and upon examining the build- ing, we found that it was the one which tradition has always marked out as the residence of " the last of the Tribunes," ^ — he of whom Lord Byron speaks as " the hope of Italy — redeemer of dark centuries of shame." The edifice is a strange mixture of all kinds of archi- tecture. A long inscription is deciphered by antiqua- 1. " The first stars of night shone down on the ancient Temple of Fortuna Virilis, which the chances of time had already converted into the Church of St. Mary of Egypt; and facing the twice hallowed edifice stood the house of Rienzi. ' It is a fair omen to have my mansion facing the ancient Temple of Fortune,' said Rienzi, smiling." — Bulwer's Rienzi. 7 98 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. rians as setting forth the pompous titles of Rienzi, while another on the architrave of one of the windows is ascribed to Petrarch. He was in Rome during the tTubilee, and may at that time have caused it to be affixed. We know that his admiration of Rienzi was great, and he was the " Spirto Gentile " of his beauti- ful Canzone, " Italia mia." The friendship, however, of the poet for the Tribune was the source of many trials to the former. In his distant retreat at Yaucluse he heard of the revolution which had been effected at Rome, and, animated by his love of freedom, addressed to the bold reformer an epistle, in which he exhorts him to complete the good work faithfully, remembering that the world and posterity were his judges. But, un- fortunately, the old Cardinal Colonna was Petrarch's great patron, and when in the struggle which ensued at Rome, between the barons and the new power, six of the Colonnas perished, the poet seems scarcely to have known with which party to side. At length he wrote a tardy letter of consolation to the Cardinal, in which we can see most clearly the struggle in the mind be- tween his gratitude to the family, and his sense of higher obligations to Italy. • In full view of this building stands the massive Arch of Janus Quadrifons, which in the Middle Ages under- went the usual fate of these monuments, and was trans- formed into a fortress by the Frangipani family. The remains of the battlements of brick work, which they erected on its top, are still visible. It is, indeed, strange, when we remember the use to which these buildings were then put by the great Roman families, that so many of them have survived to our day. Besides this Arch, the Frangipani seized on the Coliseum ; the Or- THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 99 sini on tlie Tomb of Hadrian and the Theatre of Pom- pey ; the Colonna family on the Mausoleum of Augustus and the Baths of Constantine ; the Tomb of Coecilia Metella was converted into a fortress by the Savelli and the Gastani ; the ruins of the Capitol were held by the Corsi ; the Quirinal by the Conti, and the Pantheoa by the garrison of the Popes. Nor is much greater respect for antiquities shown in the present day. The magnificent remains of the Tem- ple of Antoninus Pius are now converted into the Do- gana, or Custom House, while its portico — one of the noblest of ancient Rome — is walled up to fonn maga- zines. The Mausoleum of Augustus is deo-radcd into a wretched Circus, where the spectators sit round on wooden seats as in an amphitheatre, while beneath them are the vaults in which once rested the remains of Au- gustus, and Livia, and Tiberius. In the wall is inserted a slab of marble, which their grateful fellow-citizens have placed in honor of divers actors and equestrians, who there covered themselves with immortal glory in the presence of admiring thousands ! And yet, this is the tomb hallowed by the touching lines of Virgil, which he wrote when the young Marcellus became its first occupant ! But a still more curious scene may be witnessed by one who will take the trouble to wind his way through the narrow streets and alleys which lead to the fish-market. There, almost every stall has for its counter a slab of marble, taken from some antique monument or temple, and sprats and gudgeons are flouncing about upon old Latin inscriptions, w^hich else- where would be a treasure to the antiquary. Here, however, their very abundance deprives them of in- terest. About the market-place, too, arc ancient 100 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. columns, the inscriptions on which show that they were of the age of Antoninus. ■ Every place, indeed, teems with the relics of old Rome's magnificence. Pillars and cornices, richly sculptured, are seen masoned into the walls of the most common houses. Granite and porphyry pillars are so plentiful that they cease to have any value. In the churches are ornaments torn from Pagan temples, which there produce often a most incongruous effect. That of St. John Lateran is filled with marble columns, from the tomb of Hadrian and the Capitol, on which the old emblems still remain. Some have carved upon them the geese which preserved the city, others Gothic and Arabic ornaments. In St. Agnes, bas-reliefs, turned for convenience face downward, are used to form a staircase. These are the sights w^hich meet us on every side. But to return to our excursion. We were now upon the Verge of the modern city, and before us was the more open country, with the scattered ruins of ancient Rome. We had already advanced further than we first intended, yet induced by the beauty of the weather we still went on, one object of interest leading us to an- other. We found ourselves near the Cloaca Maxima — those immense sewers said to have been built by Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, only one hundred and fifty years after the foundation of the city. Livy, Strabo, and Dionysius, all describe them as evi- dences of Roman greatness. Pliny, nearly eighteen centuries ago, recorded his admiration, and expressed surprise that they had lasted eight hundred years unin- jured. Ancient authors tell us that a cart loaded with hay could pass under the arch ; and when Agrippa THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 101 cleansed them in the reign of Augustus, he went through them in a boat, to which PHny probably al- ludes in the expression, " urbs subter navigata." To my mind, however, the existence of these works is one proof that there was a city on this spot long before the days of Romulus. I number them with tliose traces we here and there find of earlier ages of a mysterious civilization which in Italy preceded the birth of Rome — a period when the massive Etruscan tombs were built, and those temples were reared in Pa3stum, which two thousand years ago the Romans were accustomed to visit as antiquities. And I am happy to find that such is the view which Ferguson has given in his his- tory. " These works," he says, " are still supposed to remain ; but as they exceed the power and resources of tlie present city to keep them in repair, tliey are quite concealed, except at one or two places. They were, in the midst of Roman greatness, and still are, reckoned among the wonders of the world, and yet they are said to have been works of the elder Tarquin, a prince whose territory did not extend, in any direc- tion, above sixteen miles ; and on this supposition they must have been made to accommodate a city that was calculated chiefly for the reception of cattle, herdsmen, and banditti. Rude nations sometimes execute works of great magnificence, as fortresses and temples, for the purposes of war and superstition ; but seldom palaces, and still more seldom works of mere convenience and cleanliness, in which, for the most part, they are long defective. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to question the authority of tradition in respect to this singular monument of antiquity, which so greatly exceeds what the best accommodated city of modern Europe could 102 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, undertake for its own convenience. And as these works are still entire, and may continue so for thou- sands of years, it may be suspected, that they w^ere even prior to the settlement of Romulus, and may have been the remains of a more ancient city, on the ruins of which the followers of Romulus settled, as the Arabs now hut or encamp on the ruins of Palmyra and Bal- beck. Livy owns that the common sewers were not accommodated to the plan of Rome, as it was laid out in his time ; they were carried in directions across the streets, and passed under buildings of the greatest an- tiquity. This derangement, indeed, he imputes to the hasty rebuilding of the city after its destruction by the Gauls ; but haste, it is probable, would have determined the people to build on their old foundations, or at least not to change them so much as to cross the direction of former streets." ^ At this day, these massive works are as entire as when the foundations were first laid, and are a lasting memorial of the solidity of Etruscan architecture. The huge blocks, put together without cement, still stand un- moved, and the archway, fourteen feet high by as many broad, expands before us as it did to the view of the . Romans, twenty-five centuries ago. Yet above it is a bright, clear spring, the Acqua Argentina, or Silver Water, which comes bubbling forth and disappears under the old arch, while its beautiful stream is the more delightful, because we scarcely expect to meet with it in a spot intended for such different purposes. We were now near the ruined palace of the Caesars, but passed it, winding around the base of the Palatine Mount, attracted by the gigantic arches of the Baths of 1 Progresi and Termination of (he Soman Republic, bk. i. ch. i. note. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 103 Caracalla, which h'e still further beyond. They are situated on the eastern slope of the Aventine, and next to the Coliseum are the most massive remains of ancient Rome. More than a mile in circuit, they are a perfect labyrinth of magnificent ruins. They con- sisted originally of six enormous halls, above two hun- dred feet in height, the crumbling walls of which alone remain, while the deep blue sky above is their sole canopy. The interior stretches out like vast lawns, on which some elms have grown up, spreading their branches till they touch the ruined walls. In one of the ancient buttresses still remains a winding staircase, by which you can ascend to the top of these lofty arches, and there pass around among the broken masses which rise like mountains, sometimes treading on the very verge of a deep chasm, and then climbing some crag, whose rough masonry is entirely overgrown with foliage and vegetation. Yet in all this there seems to be no air of desolation. Everythino* is softened down and veiled by the luxuriance of nature. Wher- ever the stones are reft asunder, a perfect wilderness of flowering shrubs has filled up the chasm, covering the roughness of the shattered sides. The myrtle, the bay, and the white blossoms of the laurustinus, are en- twined with the profusion of creeping vines, which are produced in this luxuriant soil. We sat down on a block of marble, and thought of the past. What a scene of splendor was this in its early day — in those years when the Romans, ener- vated by luxury, sought out daily new pleasures, and were fast preparing for their " decline and fiill ! " And yet to-day we were treading on the mouldering ruins of all this old magnificence, and except the custode ap- 104 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. pearing occasionally through some shattered arch, not a living creature was seen to break in upon the soli- tude. Lofty arches, with ivy clinging to them in every direction, and hanging in deep festoons ; wide saloons, where formerly the gay thousands of Roman citizens gathered ; mosaic pavements, as bright and beautiful as they were seventeen centuries ago, and representing still the atJiletce of that day; fragments of ancient sculpture, — these were around us, covering the hill in strange confusion. Among these ruins, too, Shelley was accustomed to linger, and here were shaped into being those noble creations which he has given us in his " Prometheus Unbound." In the preface he says, — " This poem was chiefly written upon the mountainous ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, among the flowery glades and thickets of odoriferous blossoming trees, which are extended in ever- winding labyrinths upon its immense platforms, and dizzy arches suspended in the air. The bright blue sky of Rome, and the effect of the vigorous awakening Spring in that divinest climate, and the new life with which it drenches the spirits, even to intoxica- tion, were the inspirations of the Drama." CHAPTER IX. EPIPHANY SERVICES. ^ GREEK RITUAL. THE BAM- BINO. VESPERS AT THE PROPAGANDA. HE Festival of the Epiphany seems to be one much honored here, indeed quite as much so as that of the Nativity. The cliurches are all thronged, and the day is celebrated by their most splendid services. The Pope himself performs High Mass in the Sistine Chapel ; but as we had al- ready witnessed that service in St. Peter's, we per- ferred being present at one which takes place only on this single day in the course of the year. Among the dignified ecclesiastics residing in Rome, are many foreign bishops, such as the Greek, Arme- nian, etc. They are to be seen in grand ceremonies, forming a part of the processions, and by the variety of their costumes, adding to the splendor of the pageant. A few days before, in a long conversation with an ecclesiastic of the Church of Rome, I endeavored to discover the precise position of the Greek Bishop, with whom I found he was intimate. He admitted that the Bisliop had no jurisdiction at the East, no fixed diocese, but said that his duty was to ordain the Greek mission- aries sent to those parts from Rome. " Is his authority acknowledged by the Greek Church ? " I inquired. "Yes," said he, "by the Catholic portion of that Church, but not by the schismatics." I saw, of course. 106 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. that lie meant by " the Catholic portion," the few Romish missionaries scattered through the East, and bj " the schismatics," the great body of that Church ; and therefore said, ■ — " Then, to put it in plain language, he is looked upon by the Greek Church in the East, as Bishop Hughes is regarded by our Church in New York, we acknowledging the jurisdiction of another bishop ? " He looked at me for a moment with a smile, and then replied, — " Exactly." In truth, these foreign bishops, with dioceses which they have never perhaps seen, are merely retained here as parts of the pageants of the Church. They appear at the Court of Rome as the spiritual heads of millions in the East, who entirely disown their authority and have no connection with them, but at the same time, with the many strangers here, they strengthen the idea of the perfect Catholicity of this Church. They give the appearance of a visible unity extending through the world, which in reality has no existence. In the Via Bahuino stands a church, which, daily as I passed it, attracted my attention, from the fact that it seemed always to be closed. While every other church in Rome has its doors open for any transient worship- per who may wish to offer his devotions, morning, noontide, or evening, this was the solitary exception. Week days, and festivals, and even Sundays passed, and still it was entirely deserted. We now, however, found an explanation of the mystery. It is the Church of St. Athanasius, subject to the jurisdiction of the Greek Bishop, and as there is no one to attend it, is only open on a single day in the year. This is on the Festival of the Epiphany, when High Mass is performed according to the ritual of the Greek Church. We saw THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 107 it announced in the " Diario di Roma," and having de- termined to avail ourselves of what might be the only opportunity which would ever occur of witnessing this service, we repaired at an early hour to the Church. It is quite small, without anything in the architecture or paintings to attract attention, and from being so little opened, had the damp and chilly feeling of a vault. The congregation seemed to be composed almost en- tirely of English, drawn like ourselves by curiosity. The Greek Bishop entered with a procession, and the choir at once commenced their anthem. He is not more than forty-five years of age, with a coal- black beard covering his breast, and has one of the the most noble voices I have ever heard. The cos- tumes were all difterent from those of the Roman Church ; the Greek cross instead of the Latin was embroidered on every part ; the features and long beards of the attending priests plahily showed their eastern origin ; and every thing united to give the service a peculiarly oriental appearance. The Bishop himself came in clothed in purple, and after being escorted to his seat, robes of white and gold were brought, and his attendants commenced arraying him in them. This process occupied nearly half an hour. Whenever he took part in the service, a priest knelt before him with a large open volume, bound in white and gold, from which he chanted his part. The service was much longer than the Mass of the Roman Church, but composed of the same kind of ceremonies, - — kneeling, crossing, chanting, the wav- ing of censers, and processions of lights. There is, however, an evident significancy and meaning in some of the ceremonies, which requires but little ex- 103 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, planation to be understood even by a careless specta- tor. For example, the Bishop frequently held up be- fore the people branches of lights, that in his right hand containing three, and that in his left, two. This has been adopted to express their faith in the doctrine of the Trinity ; heresies on this subject being those by which the Greek Church has been most troubled. The three lights signify the Three Persons in the Trinity ; and tlie two lights, the Two distinct Natures of our Lord. The High Altar was behind a screen, the part immediately in front of it being open. At the consecration of the elements, when the Bishop was standing before the altar, this was closed by a curtain, and for some time his voice only was indis- tinctly heard, while he himself was unseen. This is a custom which has been for ages adopted in the Greek Church. It was at first commenced as a meas- ure of precaution, because the rite of Baptism had been exposed to public ridicule on the stage, and they wished to guard that of the Eucharist from a similar profanation.' They considered, too, that such mystery was conformable to the nature of this solemn Institu- tion, and therefore concealed the priest from public view, and environed him, as the high priest of old when he entered the Holy of Holies, with the awful solitude of the sanctuary.^ Upon the whole, as a mere matter of taste and splendor, I prefer the Greek ritual to the Latin. It is certainly in some parts more imposing than anything we have seen in the Mass of the Roman Church. A living writer — whose opinion, however, must be taken with some allowance, on account of his overweening I Eustace, Classical Tour^ vol. ii. p- 40. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 109 admiration of Rome — thus contrasts the two services : " Two observable characteristics of the Greek ritual, are its very dramatic nature and its humihty. Its dramatic, one might almost say over-dramatic dispo- sition may be seen particularly in the ceremonies of the Holy Week, compared with those at Rome. Its humility, in the forms of Baptism, receiving con- fessions, and absolving penitents With- out presuming to criticize the Liturgies of the two Churches, it may be allowable to note, that while the Greek ritual of the Eucharist is more dramatic, so to speak, than the Roman, it is scarcely so magnificent vx its tone, or so rich in mystical expositions, neither does it exhibit that quickness at catching expressions of Scripture, and representing them in devotional ges- tures, which is so marvelous in the rubrics of the Ro- man Missal." ^ The great service of the day however was in the Church of S. Maria d'Ara Coeli. This is a strange looking building on the Capitohne Hill, erected on the foundation of the old Roman temple of Jupiter Fere- trius, in which the Spolia Opima were deposited. The ascent to it is by one hundred and twenty-four steps of Grecian marble taken from an ancient temple of Romulus, near the Porta Salaria. They were con- stinicted in 1348, the expense being defrayed by the alms of the faithful after the great plague which Boc- cacio has so admirably described as afflicting Florence in that year. The age of the Church itself is un- known, although all agree in ascribing to it an an- tiquity not lower than the sixth century. Upon enter- ing, your first impression is, that it is composed of an 1 F. W. Faber. 110 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. assemblao-e of fragments. The materials have indeed been plundered indiscriminately from every ancient building within reach, and of the twenty-two large columns which separate the nave from the side aisles, no two are alike. Some are of Egyptian granite, and some of marble ; some white and some black ; two are Corinthian pillars elegantly fluted, and the rest are plain. The capitals, too, are all different, and as none of the pillars were originally of the same length, it was of course necessary to raise them on pedestals of various heights. The grotesque effect produced by this variety may be imagined. On one of the pillars is the inscription in antique letters — "a cubiculo AUGUSTORUM " — wliich would seem to prove that tht Church was built with the spoils of the palace of the Caesars. The pavement formed of mosaic of the most rare and precious marbles, is uneven with age, and the sculptured images of knights and bishops who sleep beneath are rapidly disappearing under the tread of the thousands who pass over their resting-place. My principal interest in this building, however, arose from its connection with Gibbon, whose fascinatinor narra- live must so often recur to the mind while dwelling in "the Eternal City." It was in this Church, as he himself tells us, " on the 15th of October, 1764, as he sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing Vespers, that the idea of writing the ' Decline and Fall ' of the city first started to his mind." To the Romanist, on the contrary, this Church de- rives its veneration from a miraculous wooden fiorure of the infant Saviour, called the Santissimo Bambino^ to which they ascribe especial power in curing the THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. Ill sick. The legend is, that a Franciscan pilgrim carved it out of an olive-tree which grew on the Mount of OUves, and while he was sleeping over his work, St. Luke appeared and painted the image. It is a coarse daub, like divers portraits of our Lord which we have seen ascribed to St. Luke, from all of which — if we believed in their authenticity — we should draw the inference, that his talents as an artist were somewhat below those of a very ordinary sign-painter. The image is placed in a side chapel, and dressed most richly, while gems and jewelry sparkle on all parts of it. Over the infant is bending the Virgin in an ele- gant modern ball dress — red satin, with cord and tassel round her waist ; splendid necklace, with a veil gracefully falling over her and fastened to the back of her head. Around them are pasteboard figures of the shepherds and the wise men, the oxen and the ass, while the picture is completed by canvas side- scenes, background, and clouds. The view seems to extend far into the distance, and there are the hills and palm-trees and all the features of an ori- ental landscape. Altogether, it is quite pretty, and the deception is as well managed as it usually is in the theatre. On the Festival of the Epiphany this scene is all represented on a stage erected near the altar, and crowds of peasantry from the neighboring country throng the Church. In the afternoon the Bambino was brought out in solemn procession. First came the Cardinals, who offered gifts, — I suppose in imitation of the Magi, — and then the image was solemnly car- ried round the Church amidst kneeling thousands. The sick, and the halt, and the blind were there, 112 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. "that at least the shadow of" the wooden image " passing by might overshadow some of them.'* Mothers held up their sick children, that they might be restored to health by a sight of the miraculous Bambino. Afterwards the procession moved to the front of the Church, where the open square on the Capitoline Hill was crowded by thousands. Here once more the image was elevated to bless the pros- trate multitudes, and then for another twelvemonth it was restored to its theatrical little chapel. In the evening we went to the Chapel of the Prop- aganda, which by the way is not open to ladies except on this single day. This Institution is celebrated throuo[hout the world as the one where missionaries are educated for all heathen lands. The Armenian Bishop — a venerable looking man with a long white beard- — was present at the service, which was the ordinary Vespers. The students, about eighty in number, were ranged on the two sides of the Chapel, and presented a strange mixture of all nations and colors. I counted among them, five Chinese and two Africans. Yet here they all sat side by side, without any distinction, singing together the praises of their common Lord. Surely, it must be acknowledged, that in this respect Rome carries out her own Catholic principles and declares, not only in words but by her actions, that " God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." She recognizes no distinctions of climate or country in the house of God. We had just before, as we entered the door of the Chapel, witnessed a similar evidence of this Catholic spirit. An old man, black as possible, in a clerical dress, was just getting into a carriage THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 113 He was assisted by two priests, who with manyljows and demonstrations of respect were taking leave of him. I afterwards learned, that he was an Abyssinian priest, who having spent the greater part of his life in missionary labors in his own country, had now returned to die at Rome. The chanting at the Chapel this evening was with- out any pretensions to the character of fine music, yet there was something to me very inspiring in the sound. Perhaps it arose in part from the fact, that I knew what they were singing — only the pure words of in- spiration, which two thousand years aojo were sung on the mountains and among the valleys of Judea, and had ever since been the sacred hymns of the Christian Church. They were the regular Vesper Psalms for the evening, in the rich i.nd picturesque language of the Vulgate, where the orientalism of Scripture is blended up with such curious felicity with the idiom of the Latin.i The chanting was antiphonal, the forty students ranged on one side singing the first verse, and immediately those on ^lie other side taking up the strain and sinmng the second. In the middle of the Chapel stood a high lectern, and when each Psalm was ended, seven or eight students — among whom were two Chinese — left their places and gathered around it, to lead the .singing of the Crloria Patri^ in which the whole assembly on both sides joined. The organ was pealing overhead as an accompaniment, and when I heard the deep-toned sound of so many manly voices chanting the rich Latin words, and saw the up- turned faces of those who stood about the lectern, I felt that it was indeed a solemn and impressive ser- 1 Milman's History of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 334. 114 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. vice. Widely as we might differ on many points, here at least was a common ground. The words they sang were the heritage of each branch alike of the Chris- tian Church, and if uttered with a true heart fervently, might well raise them above the cares of this lower world, to the same lofty devotion which elevated the spirit of the kingly poet, when he indited these sub- lime strains. CHAPTER X. THE TOMBS OF THE LAST STUARTS. HE last of the Stuarts died at Rome, where the palace which they occupied in the Pi- azza de S. jS. ApostoU, to this day bears the name of the Palazzo del Pretendente. The Villa Muti, too, which the Cardinal York owned, has still some relics of the family, — a portrait of Charles I., a bust of the Cardinal, a picture of the fete given on his promotion to the Sacred College, his favorite walking stick, having on it an ivory head of Charles I., and a bust of the Chevalier de St. George. Sir Walter Scott-, when in Rome, mspected these relics with the liveliest interest. He admired the situation of the Villa, commanding a splendid view over the Campagna, but at the same time remarked, while deploring the fate of his favorite princes, that " this was a poor substitute for all the splendid palaces to which they were heirs in England and Scotland." ^ Justly as the Stuarts were expelled from England, there is still something in the fall of a line which for ages had worn crowns and borne sceptres, that cannot but enlist our sympathy. We felt this when we were travelling in their native land — visiting the deserted palaces of Holyrood and Linlithgow, where once they held their court, or seeing the monuments of the 1 Lockhart's Life, vol. vii. p. 275. 116 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. early members of tlieir race. The chivalrous traits, indeed, which marked so many of them, particularly in the old wars of Scotland, — the gallant death of James, when he disdained to fly from the lost battle, but fell in his knightly harness on Flodden field ; the bold attempt of the young Charles Edward, when he landed at Moidart with only seven attendants to re- cover his ancestral throne ; the gentle spirit and mournful fate of the first Charles ; the sufferings of Queen Mary ; the romantic history of Arabella Stuart, — all these recollections seemed to crowd upon us, awaken our interest, and almost redeemed the char- acter of the family. It was to the Chateau of St. Germain, near Paris, that James II. retired when driven fi'om England, and here he held the shadow of a court for twelve years, until his death. When in Paris, therefore, we felt an interest in finding his tomb, which after some inquiry we learned was in the Chapel of the College des JEcos- sais, within the city, — an institution founded in 1325 by David, Bishop of Moray in Scotland. One morn- ing we repaired thither, and summoning the porter, made known our wish to see the Chapel. He con- ducted us to it, — a small and simple apartment paved with marble, — but we looked around in vain for any monuments. None were to be seen except the in- scriptions on the pavement, which told us that below were buried some old Scottish Bishops, whose armo- rial bearings were there carved upon their tombs, and whose names — Barclay and Beatoun — are familiar to those acquainted with the history of their native land. Not seeing what we wished, we inquired for the THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 117 tomb of King James. The custode at once led us into an adjoining room which, he said, had once been part of the Chapel. Its appearance was antique from the style of the carved seats around it, and the stained glass of the pointed window. At one end was a large alcove concealed by a curtain of heavy crimson velvet. Our guide drew it aside, and before us was the mas- sive tomb of the last Stuart king that reigned in Eng- land. It is about ten feet high, of black and white marble, executed in 1703, two years after his death. His heart is all that was interred here, the rest of his body being buried at St. Germain where he died, and where another monument to his memory has been placed by order of George IV. This one was erected by his faithful friend and the constant companion of his exile, James, Duke of Perth, governor of his son, the Pretender, who afterwards assumed the title of James III. On the top of the monument was formerly an urn of bronze gilt, containing the brain of the king. It was in that day the custom with distinguished indi- viduals, to have the parts of their body interred in different places, and we saw the same thing in Vienna, where the Royal House of i^stria are buried in one chapel, while m another are their hearts in silver and gold urns. To this College also — as is mentioned in the long Latin inscription on the monument — the king confided all his valuable manuscripts, but they unfortunately disappeared during the French Revolu- tion. On the pavement, in front of the king's monument, is a slab over the heart of the queen, and another over the remains of Maria Louisa, their second daughter. Around them are inscriptions in memory of James 118 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. Drummond, Duke of Perth ; Mary Gordon of Hunt- ley, Duchess of Perth ; the second Duke of the same name, who died in 1726 ; John Caryl, Lord Dunford ; the Duchess of Tyrconnel ; Sir Patrick Monteath ; Sir Marian O'Conoly ; Dr. Andrew Hay ; Dr. Lewis Innes, Confessor to James IL ; and Dr. Robert Barclay. The little band who followed their exiled king in his years of banishment, and shared his fallen fortunes, are here sleeping together about his monument. They were faithful to him in life, " and in tjieir death they were not divided." When the visitor is wandering through St. Peter's at Rome, pausing every moment before some splendid tomb of a Pope, where the skill of Michael Angelo, or Bernini, or Canova has been lavished on the stat- uary, there are two monuments which will particularly arrest his attention. One is a richly decorated tomb against the wall, intended to commemorate the virtues of Maria Clementina Sobieski, wife of the Chevaher de St. George, only son ft" James II. At its base is a porphyry sarcophagus partially covered with alabaster drapery, in which her body is deposited. Above is a female figure, holding in her hand a medalHon portrait of the queen, the size of life. It is of mosaic, but so perfect in its execution that it cannot be distinguished from a highly finished painting. In the inscription on the tomb, her titles are enumerated, and among them she is styled — " Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland," She was the granddaughter of King John Sobieski, who defeated the Turks at Vienna, and at the THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 119 time of her marriage in 1715 was called the greatest fortune in Europe. She died at Rome in 1755. Immediately opposite to it, against one of the broad pillars of the Church, is the celebrated monument exe- cuted by Canova to the last of this unfortunate family. Sir WilHam Gell, avIio was in Rome when Scott arrived there, says that he accompanied him to St. Peter's, which was one of the first places he resolved to visit, that he might see the tomb of the last of the Stuarts. To me it was the most interesting spot in this vast building, and often as I passed through it, I felt in- clined to turn from the gorgeous monuments around to this more simple tomb which recorded the termination of the long struggle of a gallant race, having on its enduring marble the proud claims which they did not abandon even in death. It is a white marble mauso- leum, about fifteen feet high, on the upper part of which are sculptured the royal arms of England. Below are three portraits in bas-relief. Two of them are in half armor, and the third in an ecclesiastical dress. They are intended to represent the son and grandsons of James II., the last of whom died here as Cardinal York. Beneath is the inscription, — " Jacobo III. Jacobi II. Magn^ Brit. Regis filio, Karolo Edvardo, et Henrico, Decaiso Patrvm Cardina- LivM, Jacobi III. filiis, Regi.e Stirpis Stvardi^ postremis, anno mdcccxix." The lower part of the monument is occupied by a representation of paneled doors, closed as if never again to be opened, and on each side of them stands an angel with an inverted torch, guarding the entrance. These two female figures are beautiful, and looking mournfully down, they seem to be the guardian genii of tlie ill-fated family, thus 120 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS JN ROME. watching over tlieir last resting-place. Above the door is the quotation, — " BEATI MORTUI QUI IN DOMINO MORTUNTUR." The bodies of these last representatives of the Stuart race are in the crypt under the Church. While going through the vaults, I looked for their tomb in vain, and when we had passed nearly to the end, inquired of the young priest who accompanied us with his lighted taper, where it was ? He said, we must return, and he would show it. We did so, and he pointed it out — a plain slab of marble, so small that we had passed it unnoticed among the many inscriptions around. It is against the wall, a few feet from the pavement, while immediately below it is a projection, about six feet long by three broad, which he touched with his hand, and told us, that within this were the bodies. Yet even in these dark passages, speaking only of death, and sur- rounded by the memorials of those who had long since gone down to the dust, the same lofty claims are held forth. The inscription on that simple stone announces to us, that we stand by the sepulchre of " James the THIRD, Charles the third, and Henry the ninth, Kings of England." As the elder brother descended to the tomb, the younger assumed the barren title he had not power to enforce, and bore it in testimony of his rights, until he had done with earthly crowns forever. There is something melancholy in this inscription, when we remember how vainly, yet how gallantly they fought to regain their hereditary throne, and how many thou- sands were loyal to them even unto death, ascending the scaffold rather than desert the cause of the ancient line. We felt indeed as we stood by their tomb, that a THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 121 more appropriate place for their sepulchre could not be found. They were exiled from England for their at- tachment to the Church of Kome, and in the noblest temple which that faith has ever reared — the most magnificent indeed which the world has ever seen — they have found their last resting-place. There their gallant hearts are mouldering, the sufferings of their exile atoning for the errors of their regal sway. CHAPTER XI. THE COLISEUM. PALACE OF THE C^SARS. BATHS. HE Coliseum is what formerly passed under the name of the Flavian Amphitheatre, and is now the noblest remnant of old Rome. It is, however, only a massive ruin — the mighty skeleton of what it must have been, when, thronged by the gay population of the city, its seats were occupied by nearly one hundred thousand specta- tors. Begun by Vespasian ten years after the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, many thousand captive Jews were employed in its construction ; and when it was finished, in the days of Titus, five thousand wild beasts were slain in the arena during the games, which lasted a hundred days, in honor of its dedication. Such was its first baptism of blood, when the fierce animal of the desert, and the still fiercer human being with whom he fought, poured out their lives together upon its sands. Here, for four hundred years, the gladiatorial shows took place, and many a wounded combatant rolled his eyes around these lofty seats, to see in despair only the signal that he was to have no mercy. To this spot, in the reign of Trajan, Ignatius was brought from Antioch to be devoured by lions, and thus, — to use his own words, — " like God's own corn, he was ground be- tween the teeth of the wild beasts." The last martyr who died here was an eastern monk, Telemachus, who, THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 123 in the reign of Honorius, travelled to Rome to protest against these barbarous exhibitions. In his noble en- thusiasm he leaped into the arena to separate the com- batants, and was torn to pieces by the infuriated specta- tors.^ But tlie impression produced by this voluntary sacrifice was so profound, that the Emperor issued an edict prohibiting these bloody shows. The Romans seem to have been a race, sanguinary beyond the ordinary rules of our nature. Even women shared in the ferocity of their mortal combats. They crowded these lofty seats around us, to watch the for- tunes of the fight, when naked barbarians were arrayed against each other, in a contest from which only one must retire alive. In all their amphitheatres — here, and at Nismes, and at Pompeii — we find honorable places provided for the vestal virgins ; and not only were they present, but it was their privilege to give the fatal siojnal, which condemned to instant death the wretch who had been unsuccessful in the fight, and to watch that the bloody mandate was thoroughly obeyed. A more fearful picture cannot be drawn than that which Prudentius gives of such a scene, — "Virgo — consurgit ad ictus, Et quoties victor ferrum jugulo inserit, ilia Delicias ait esse, suas, pectusque jacentis Virgo modesta jubel, converse pollice, rumpi; Ni lateat pars ulla animse vitalibus imis, Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor." 2 So deep rooted, indeed, was this passion, that it seems to have acted like a frenzy even on those whose reason protested against it. St. Augustine tells us of a Christian young man, who, being induced by his asso- 1 Theodoret, v. 26. 2 Prudent, adv. Syvi. ii. 1095. 124 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. ciates to enter the amphitheatre, for a time resolutely kept his eyes closed. At length, a tremendous shout of the spectators induced him to look out on the arena. The instant he caught the sight of blood, he seemed to imbibe the ferocious spirit of those around him ; he shouted, he cheered on the combatants, he was pos- sessed with an uncontrollable fury, and when he de- parted, the desire to return was too irresistible to be withstood.^ Such was Koman character. Indeed, a greater contrast cannot be given than that which ex- isted between the elegant theatrical shows of the Greeks, where they assembled to listen to the lofty tragedies of ^schylus or Sophocles, and the brutal exhibitions of this arena, for which the Roman popu- lace gathered. And yet these separate scenes but illustrate the different characters of the two nations. These bloody shows, too, were often on a gigantic scale, which we should suppose could hardly have been witnessed without insanity. We will give — in the ex- pressive language of another — one single instance, that of the Emperor Claudius at the Lacus Fuci- nus. " It is one mighty theatre : the terraces of the Abruzzo are covered with eager and delighted specta- tors. Claudius himself, with the bloody Agrippina, the young Nero, and the infamous favorite, Narcissus, is seated at the awful show\ There are slaves and crim- inals to the number of nineteen thousand. They are divided' off into two fleets, to fight against each other on tlie lake. As they defile past the Emperor, they cry, ' Hail ! O Emperor ! The dying salute thee.' The Emperor returns the salutation in such a way, that the poor wretches believe they are pardoned, and break 1 August. Conf. vi. 8. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 125 forth into a frantic tumult of rejoicing, for they love life like other men, and have red blood in their bodies, and each of them a soul as immortal as thine, O Claudius. But pardon ? Are all these spectators on the shelving slopes of the lake-girdHng Abruzzo to be disappointed ? The Emperor descends to the brink, and explains the mistake, and bids the praetorians goad the reluctant victims on board the ships, and nineteen thousand im- mortal beings, for whom Christ had died some twenty years before, murdered each other in a mock battle, for the pleasure of the Roman Emperor and people." ^ It was a solemn thought, therefore, as we stood in this arena, and remembered the nature of the amuse- ments in which the fierce multitudes of Eome rejoiced, that here for four centuries death had reaped a most abundant harvest. Leopards from the East; lions from Africa ; bears from the far North ; and whatever strange and rare animals the conquered provinces could anywhere furnish, were used to slaughter the helpless slaves, whose lives they considered of no value except to contribute to their sports. Here, too, was poured forth the blood of many who died to bequeath the pure faith to us ; and those seats, which towered so high above us, were once filled by crowds, rejoicing with savage exultation to see how a Christian could die. Recollections, therefore, of bitter sufiering crowded on us as we thought of its old magnificence, and we felt that dark must be the Penates which guarded these majestic ruins. The latest scene of bloodshed which took place within these w^alls, was in the fourteenth century, and worthy of a brief notice, as giving some insight into 1 F. \V. Faber. 126 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. the manners of the times. It was in September, a. d. 1332, that the population of Rome, hke their fathers ten centuries before, crowded again the old Coliseum. It had been resolved to exhibit there a bull-fight, after the Moorish and Spanish fashion, and proclamations had been sent through all Italy, inviting the young nobles to exhibit their skill and valor. The day had now arrived, and temporary seats covered these time- worn stones, while on different sides were three balco- nies, lined with scarlet cloth, for the three divisions of Roman ladies who were to grace the sports by their presence. The matrons from the Trastevere, beyond the Tiber, boasting of the pure blood of ancient Rome, and retaining in every feature the haughty lineaments of antiquity, were led by the fair Jacova di Rovere ; while the nobility of the city were as usual divided be- tween the rival houses of the Colonna and the Orsini. The charms of Savella Orsini — says Gibbon, to whom we are indebted for this description — are mentioned with praise, while the Colonna regretted the absence of the youngest of their house, who had sprained her ankle in the garden of Nero's tower. Contemporary annalists give the colors and devices of some twenty of the most conspicuous knights, and their names are among the most illustrious of the Papal States. Such were Malatesta, Savelli, Conti, Annabaldi, Altieri, and Corsi. None of the Orsini took the field, though three of their hereditary enemies, the Colonnas, were among the combatants. They each bore the device of their house, the single column, with inscriptions denoting the lofty greatness they claimed for their family : " Though sad, I am strong ; " " Strong as I am great ; " " If I fall, you fall with me." The latter was indeed the THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 127 motto usually borne by this princely house, and was considered as addressed to the Roman people, intimat- ing that the Colonna family was the support of the state, and if one fell, the other would be involved in the same ruin. Each champion, in succession, de- scended into the arena alone, with a single spear, to encounter a wild bull. The combats were dangerous and bloody, a curious renewal of the old conflicts which once took place on this same arena. In proportion, too, they were equally fatal, for eighteen of these vol- unteers were killed, and nine wounded. But the old chroniclers seem to think that this also had its use ; for though many of the noblest families in Rome were called to mourn, yet the pomp of the funerals at the churches of St. John Lateran and St. Maria Maggiore furnished a second holyday to the people.^ It was on a bright sunny morning that we first went over these ruins, which awaken such a host of varied recollections. As we stood on the highest arch and looked down into the arena, and round on the wasted Campagna, all seemed as calm and peaceful as if no scene of human suffering could ever have been occur- ring there. Not a sound was heard, except the notes of the birds singing among the ivy which had forced itself between the stones. But these remains are in their massive character unlike anything else we have seen. The immense stones of which the building was formed, have been shattered into the most picturesque shapes, until as they project above us, they have the form of overhanmnff rocks. You can however plainly trace every part, — the immeasurable galleries, the seats of the Patricians and Plebeians, and the dens ^ Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. Ixxi. 128 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. below, from which, when the grating was withdrawn, the wild beasts could bound into the arena, to meet their expecting foe. As you wind up the ruined stairs, the copsewood overshadows you, and it is nec- essary to put aside the wild olive, the myrtle, and the fig-tree, when you thread your way through the laby- rinths. The gray lichens, the variegated moss, and the wild flowers so countless in this climate, form a carpet beneath your feet, or hang in rich festoons and drapery over the ruins. The richest depth of coloring seems to pervade the whole ; the sun of many ages has tinged every arch and frieze ; and we have the dark stains on the mouldering ruins con- trasted with the bright hues of the living vegeta- tion. Shelley says he can scarcely believe, that when incrusted with Dorian marble and ornamented by columns of Egyptian granite, its effect could have been so sublime and impressive as in its present state. And yet, massive as these remains are, they consti- tute but a small portion of the original structure. It was — as we have stated in a former chapter — utterly ruined by Robert Guiscard in the twelfth century. Having been stormed and taken, a portion of its walls was hopelessly shattered. Then for several hundred years it was used as a kind of quarry by the Ro- mans. In the fourteenth century Urban V. offered the stones for sale, but found no purchaser except the Frangipani, who wished to use them for building their palace. Finally, the contending families agreed to leave them as common property, and in this way, the Famese and many other palaces were erected from the materials. Yet shorn of its glory and ruined as THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 129 we now see it, enough still remains to excite the won- der of the world. • . . . " From its mass Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been rear'd : Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass, And marvel where the spoil could have appear'd. Hath it indeed been plunder'd, or but clear'd? " The wide arena is now covered with grass like a lawn, piercing the chasms of the broken arches, and thus extending far under the ruins. A few years ago a subterranean passage was discovered, communicat- ing with the palace on the Palatine, within which it is probable that Commodus was attacked by the con- spirators. Gibbon says " he was returning to his pal- ace through a dark and narrow portico in the amphi- theatre." Near at hand is the ruined Meta Sudans, the fountain at which the gladiators refreshed them- selves after the toil and heat of their conflicts. Although the closing of this amphitheatre was one of the noblest and most difficult triumphs of Chris- tianity, yet as we stand within it we have sorrowful evidence, how much the spirit of that faith has changed since martyrs shed their blood upon this spot. A cross has indeed been erected in the centre, yet on it is an inscription, promising two hundred days' indulgence for each kiss which it receives : " Bacciando la S. croce si acquistano duecento giorni di indulgenza." Around the inclosure are fourteen Stations, that is, small shrines, each of which has painted above it some event which happened to our Lord on his way to the Cross, and the devout stop at these in succession to offer their prayers. We could see them at all times going their rounds, and then ending with a kiss to the Cross in the centre. 130 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. On one side is also a rude pulpit, from which a Capu- chin was accustomed at times to preach. This service cannot be otherwise than impressive to a thoughtful mind, even while having no sympathies with the the- ology on which the sermon is based. The poor monk was generally no orator, yet it was a strange contrast to hear his earnest appeals echo through these old por- ticoes, and the doctrines of our common faith an- nounced on that spot which once resounded only with the noise of the death-struggle, the roaring of wild beasts, and the gladiators' strife. It is pleasant to visit these old ruins at different times through the day and night, to mark the effect produced by the change of lights and shadows. In the purple and golden hue of evening there is a mel- low radiance diffused over them, which reminds us of the glowing pictures of Claude. The fading light softens down the desolation, and adds to their beauty without subtracting aught from their imposing char- acter. Like Melrose Abbey, however, he who " would view them aright," must "visit them by the pale moonlight." This rule, indeed, Madame de Stael ap- plies to all the remains of antiquity in this land. " The sun of Italy," she says, " should shine on festivals : but the moon is the light for ruins." The second time we stood within these crumbling walls, it was late at night. Fortunately we came too early, and therefore had an opportunity of seeing the effect produced as the broad deep shadow whicli the giant building cast, w^as gradually retreating before the light. When we arrived, the moon was just high enough to silver one edge of the ruin, while the rest was left in darkness. All was silent around, except THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 131 the step of the solitary sentinel who was pacing the arena, and the murmur which arose at times from the neighboring city. And there we waited, as the Queen of Night — so glorious in the clearness of an Italian sky — gradually mounted up, and tinged row after row of the terraces on which once the spectators sat, the contrast of her silvery hues and the deep shadows of the vaults beneath, producing an effect of which no idea can be conveyed in the cold language of prose. The dark trees waving above the broken arches stood out in bolder relief, and the rents in the shattered battlements became more apparent as the light streamed through them. There is, however, but one description which has ever done justice to the grandeur of this scene. It is that which Lord B}Ton has given in his " Manfred," where every allusion, and every single line indeed presents so vivid a picture to one who has been there in " the witching hour of night," that, long as the quotation is, this little sketch would be incomplete without it. " I do remember me, that in my youth, When I was wandering — upon such a night I stood within the Coliseum's wall, 'Midst the chief relics of almighty Rome; The trees which grew along the broken arches Waved dark in the blue midnight, and the stars Shone through the rents of ruin ; from afar The watch-dog bay'd beyond the Tiber; and More near from out the Ca?sars' palace came The owl's long cry, and, interruptedly. Of distant sentinels the fitful song Begun and died upon the gentle wind. Some cypresses beyond the time-worn breach Appear'd to skirt the horizon, yet they stood Within a bowshot. Where the C«sars dwelt, And dwell the tuneless birds of night, amidst A grove which springs through level'd battlements, . 132 THE CHRISTMAS HOLY DAYS IN ROME, And twines its roots with the Imperial hearths, Ivy usurps the laurel's place of growth; But the gladiators' bloody circus stands, A noble wreck in ruinous perfection ! While Caesar's chambers, and the Augustan halls, Grovel on earth in indistinct decay. And thou didst shine, thou rolling moon, upon All this, and cast a wide and tender light. Which soften'd down the hoar austerity Of rugged desolation, and fill'd up, As 'twere anew, the gaps of centuries; Leaving that beautiful which still was so, And making that which was not, till the place Became religion, and the heart ran o'er With silent worship of the great of old ! The dead, but sceptred sovereigns, who still rule Our spirits from their urns." .... The Palace of the Caesars, allusions to which By- ron has thus mingled with his description of the Co- liseum, stands not far distant. It is a mass of ruins — a mile and a half in circuit — covering; the whole of the Palatine Hill. Here, century after century, the Roman Emperors lavished the wealth of a tributary world to increase the magnificence of their dwelling- place, until at last Nero surpassed them all by his Aurea^ or Golden House. With our modern habits of estimating, we can form but little conception of its splendor. Suetonius says, — " To give an idea of the extent and magnificence of this edifice, it is sufficient to mention, that in its vestibule was placed a colossal statue of Nero one hundred and twenty feet in height. It had a triple portico, supported by a thousand col- umns, with a lake, like a little sea, surrounded by build- ings which resembled cities. It contained fields, vine- yards, pasture-ground, and groves, in which were all descriptions of animals, both wild and tame. Its inte- rior shone with gold, gems, and mother-of-pearl. In THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 133 the vaulted roofs of the dining-rooms were machines of ivory, which turned round, and from pipes scat- tered flowers and perfumes on the guests. The prin- cipal banqueting hall was a rotunda, so constructed that it revolved night and day, in imitation of the mo- tion of the earth. The baths were supplied from the sea, and the sulphurous waters of Albuloe. When Nero, after dedicating this fairy palace, took up his abode there, his only observation was, — ' Now I shall befjiu to live like a man.' '' And what remains of all this splendor? Nothing but shapeless ruins. The battlements are leveled; the trees twine their roots through the marble floors on which once the Caesars trod, and the whispering reeds, the tall grass, and the rank herbage wave in neglected luxuriance over the vanished pomp of the Masters of the world. We wandered 'over the Hill, and among the fallen columns, listening to the ques- tionable representations of our guide, as he showed in one place the ruins of a theatre, and in another gave some shattered arches the name of a temple. The only well defined remains are those of the Baths of Livia. Tapers were lighted, and we descended into them, for they are now completely covered by the ruins and the accumulated earth above. Yet within, the frescoes and gilding are in some places as plain and fresh as ever, and beneath the dark arches are the mosaic floors, which once displayed a beauty fit for the Imperial fam- ily of Rome. Among these crumbling walls and pros- trate pillars, the husbandmen now cultivate their gar- dens, and the bell sounds mournfully from the Monas- tery of Capuchin monks which has been erected on one portion of the Hill. A few tall palm-trees alone 134 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. are seen within their grounds, for their rigorous disci- pline seems to war with the beauty of nature, and the reh'gious house of Bonaventure is an exception to the Itahan maxim, — " Dove abitano i fratri, e grassa la terra." Treasures of art, however, must still be concealed beneath all this rubbish, for it has raised the surface of the ground more than thirty feet above its former level. As late as the year 1720, by accident a mag- nificent hall was here discovered two hundred feet in length, one hundred and thirty-two in breadth, richly ornamented with statues, columns of giallo antico, and other precious marbles. Yet now this mass of crum- bling desolation is a scene of confusion on which the antiquarian speculates in vain. " Cypress and ivy, weed and wall-flower grown Matted and mass'd together, hillocks heap'd On what were chambers, arch crush'd, columns strown In fragments, choked-up vaults, and frescoes steep'd In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd, Deeming it midnight: — temples, baths, or halls? Pronounce who can ; for all that learning reap'd From her research hath been, that these are walls — Behold the Imperial Mount! 'tis thus the mighty falls," Among the ruins of Rome those of her Baths occupy a prominent ])lace. A writer on antiquities thus de- scribes them as they appeared in the days of their glory : " They were open every day to both sexes. In each of the great Batlis there were sixteen hundred seats of marble, for the convenience of the bathers, and three thousand two hundred persons could bathe at the same time. There were splendid porticoes in front for promenade, arcades with shops, in which was found every kind of luxury for the bath, and halls for THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 135 corporeal exercises and for the discussions of philoso- pliy; and here the poets read their productions, and rhetoricians harangued, and sculptors and painters ex- hibited their works to the public. The baths were distributed into grand halls, with ceilings enormously high, and painted with admirable frescoes, supported on columns of the rarest marbles, and the basms were of oriental alabaster, porphyry, and jasper. There were in the centre, vast reservoirs for the swimmers, and crowds of slaves to attend gi-atuitously upon all who should come." These Baths were either entirely free, or at the utmost, the price of admission was a quadra7it, the smallest piece of money coined, which was given to the keeper. Under the Emperors it was their policy to do eveiything for tlie amuseniejit of the people, and when not only the necessaries of life, but also every luxury, was provided for them, and shows, races, and combats helped the dissolute popula- tion to while away the hours of the day, these magnifi- cent structures also were erected to minister to their pleasures. Bathing was indeed an elaborate business with the Romans. They passed tlirough a course of baths in succession, where the agency of air as well as water was applied. These were of diiferent tempera- tures, hot and cold water being furnished in profusion, while between them they took gentle exercise, were anointed with oil in the sun, or in the tepid or thermal chamber, or took their food. And this process was often repeated. Many, we learn, bathed seven or eight times in the course of the day. There are but few customs of the almost forgotten civilization of ancient Rome, of which we cannot, from some source, recover an accurate account. It is so 136 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. with their masnificent Thermce, Those which remain are indeed in ruins, but on the walls of that of Titus was found a fresco, containing a view of one according to the perfect arrangements of that day. Six chambers are exhibited to us in this painting, and we see the burning furnaces which heated the apartments, and in each the individuals going through the process of this much-prized luxury. But more satisfactory still is a discovery made at Pompeii, where an entire establish- ment was disinterred ; and thus, in this miniature city of Roman splendor, we can survey these apartments, just as they were when, seventeen centuries ago, the last bathers left them. In a day which we spent rambling around this silent city of the dead, we found at noon that our guides had arranged the dinner for our party in this Hall of tlie Bath, and there we passed an hour, with around us the dusty fountains, the bronze pipes, and the seats for the bathers ; while directly before us was the marble reservoir, with the maker's name carved on it, and the price paid him for his work. Such an hour enables us to travel back over the gulf of forgotten centuries ; and when, in addition, we see the instruments of this old luxury, — the very strigils wdiich the slaves dropped as they fled, — we feel able, in imagination, to build up once more the ruins of Rome's voluptuous baths, to wake to a second existence the gay crowds which thronged their porticoes, and to behold them as crowned with garlands, they listened to the music of the cithara, or discussed the breathing wonders of Grecian statuary which lined these halls. We have already described the Baths of Caracalla. Those of Diocletian, on the Viminal, are very similar, and consecrated by the tradition that they were THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 137 erected by the labor of forty thousand Christians. They cover an area of more than a mile in circuit, yet are now in ruins, with the exception of the Pina- cotheca, or grand central hall. This — the most noble saloon of ancient Rome, which has come down to us uninjured from ancient times — was preserved by being early converted into a Cliristian church. For this we must thank the legend which connected its history with that of the martyrs. It was remodeled by Michael Ano-elo as we now see it — the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Above, in the lofty vaulted roof, are the metallic rings from which the ancient lamps were sus- pended, and the eight massive columns of oriental granite standing around, are still in their original positions. From these Baths but a short distance separated us from those of Titus on the Esquiline. Our course was through a street corresponding with the ancient Vicus Sceleratus, infamous in Roman history as the scene of the impiety of Tullia, who there drove her car over the dead body of her father, Servius Tullius, after he had been assassinated by her husband, Tarquin. At length, we reached a vineyard, at the end of which is the en- trance to the Baths. Before us stood a row of dark arches in picturesque ruin, under which we passed, and with our guide commenced the descent. Here once stood the Villa of Mascenas, a portion of which was incorporated into this edifice. The work of exca- vation is slowly going on, and future years will prob- ably bring to light many precious remnants of antique art. In one of these halls the group of the Laocoon was found — a mere specimen, indeed, of those ex- quisite works, lifeless but lifelike, whicli classic Greece 138 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. surrendered to her conquerors, and with which they filled every public building. It is strange how admirably parts of these chambers have been preserved, and now that the earth is re- moved, we see them as they were seventeen centuries ago. Beneath the rubbish is often disclosed a pave- ment of mosaic, inlaid with the richest marbles, so that even Apuleius might here have realized what he con- sidered the height of human felicity, — " Vehem enter iterum ac saepius beatos illos qui Super gemmas et monilia calcant! " Above us was the arched ceiling, thirty feet high, covered with frescoes, and as our guide elevated his light on the end of a long pole, we saw the beautiful arabesque decorations so remarkable for their graceful outlines. Birds, and animals, serpents, fawns, and satyrs, are painted there, and the colors are often un- changed from their early freshness, some indeed pos- sessing a beauty of tint in the rich, deep crimson, which modern art finds it difiicult to imitate. Raphael deemed these drawings well worthy of his study, and copied and reproduced them on the walls of the Vati- can. Festoons of flowers and rich tracery compose the borders, while here and there naked figures sport, and disclose that spirit of voluptuousness which was the characteristic of Rome when these halls were built. In the works of the Empire we read everywhere the proof, that her Patricians had degenerated into Syba- rites, seeking only to refine vice, and pass 'their days in one unbroken dream of pleasure. But what a scene must Rome have presented in the years which preceded her downfall, when she had THE CHRISTMAS HOLY DAYS IN ROME. 139 gathered on these Seven Hills all that could be rifled from a conquered world ! If her sons had lost the aus- terity of the Iron Age, the change had also fitted them with deeper devotion to cultivate a taste for the beauti- ful in Art. While they received from the Plains of the Ilissus, those graceful fables which consecrated every spot, — giving to the waters their Nymph, and to the mountain its Oread, — the faith brought with it also something of that spirit of poetry, whose true home was on the heights of Phyle, and among the groves of Cithaeron and Hymettus. They learned to admire the creative power of Praxiteles and Scopas, of Phidias and Myron, writing in sculpture, on the frieze of each shrine and temple, the radiant legends of their old Mythology, or producing from the lucid marble of Pentelicus the transcendent forms of the gods they woi-shipped. These then became the treasures which wealth sought to col- lect, until at last one city contained the spoils of genius for a thousand years. How sad the change which has swept away these miracles of art ! Even the peasant of the Campagna, degraded as he seems to be, realizes the fall of this Mistress of the world, and as he labors among her mouldering ruins, you may he*v» the words of his melancholy song, — " Roma ! Roma ! Roma ! Non e piu come era prima! • CHAPTER XII. DRAMATIC CHARACTER OF THE CHURCH SERVICES. — ' SERMON BY A VICAR-GENERAL. THE CAPUCHIN CEMETERY. HE great trait of the Churcli services in Italy is their dramatic character. There seems to be a tendency to express every- thing by sensible images, and the evil is, that men may forget the distinction between the sign and the thing signified. Expiring Paganism in its dying struggles threw its mantle over its conqueror, and then began the imitation of heathen rites. The lustral water, the incense, and the processions of the antique faith of Greece, were too faithfully copied in the holy water, the censer, and the sacred proces- sions of the Christian Church. The Middle Ages increased the difficulty, from the mistaken zeal and perverted taste which then existed within the Church. It seems to have been the study of her friends, to invent new offices ; to add to the ceremonies of the ritual ; to render the pomp of her outward adorning more magnificent ; and the dresses of her clergy more dazzling. While doctrines were gradually changing, the exterior of religion was also fast losing the simplicity of ancient times, until it be- came incumbered with the accumulated inventions of centuries. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 141 Passion Week gives ample scope for tlie develop- ment of this dramatic taste. In many of the churches, the Gospel which contains an account of our Lord's trial, is read by different priests, who distribute among themselves the various parts of the dialogue. In some of the little country towns, the old miracle-plays — or representations of different Scripture scenes by actors — are still performed. We spent this week in Vienna, and were able as it passed, to see each step of the Crucifixion regularly represented. On the arrival of this season, the altars in the churches were stripped of their flowers, embroidered cloths, and ornaments, and all things wore an appearance of desolation. On Good Friday, the body of our Lord, as large as life, was suspended on the Cross in the different chapels, which were generally, to increase the effect, lighted only to a twilight gloom, while crowds of worshippers were kneeling before these images. At night it was taken down, and laid out like a corpse before the altar, covered with a pall, where it remained tmtil Easter Even was over. I do not re- member a more striking scene than the Cathedral of St. Stephen presented on that occasion. It was a brilHant moonlight night when we approached it. How magnificent it looked when seen at this time, part flooded with brightness and part in the deep shadow, the rents and corroding inroads of time con- cealed and its fi-etted pinnacles and delicate tracery- thrown out in bold relief against the clear sky ! Its *' long drawn aisles " seemed to have doubled in length, and its lofty arches and massive columns were even more imposing than in the glare of day. Through the vast building there was only a feeble lamp here and 142 rilE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. there, just sufficient to show its extent, except a dis- tant chapel which was brilliantly lighted up. There seemed to be every possible variety. One chapel had been left in perfect darkness, and as we passed it, the moon broke forth from the clouds, and poured its rays through the tall Gothic window, lighting up the beautiful shrines, and spreading a ghastly hue over the figures on the monuments. Another had a single glimmering light at the far end, appearing like a dis- tant star. And all around were worshippers kneeling : some in the faint light of the nave, and others just visible in the deep gloom of the arches. Here they watched in prayer through all hours of the night. Everything seemed to be skillfully arranged to pro- duce its eifect on the imamnation and the senses. On Easter Even there is a splendid procession of the Austrian Court from one chapel to another, carry- ing the Host to represent the body of our Lord. When Easter morning dawns, the whole scene is again changed. The gayest ornaments deck the churches, and the most cheerful music is heard in the services. In some of the Italian churches, however, on Good Friday the representation of the Crucifixion, the " Agonie," or " Tre Ore," forms a perfect drama. Dr. Wiseman speaks of some of these services as be- ing " worthy of ancient Tragedy." An artificial mount — in imitation of Mount Calvary — is formed as in a theatre, with pasteboard rocks and thickets, and painted trees. On the declivity are seen the Roman soldiers in armor, some mounted on pasteboard horses, while on a more elevated spot are the three crosses, to which are nailed the figures of our Lord THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 148 and the two malefactors, all arranged so as to produce the best stage effect. At the time of the Crucifixion a sermon of three hours in lengtli is delivered, the different topics of which are taken from the exclama- tions of our Lord upon the Cross. At last, when the priest comes to His dying cry — " It is finished" — he suddenly exclaims, — " The moment has arrived — the Saviour now expires " — and all instantly sink upon their knees. For a time there is an awful silence, while they are absorbed in prayer, until the priest again exclaims, — " They come, the holy men to bear the body of our Redeemer to the sepulchre ; " and forthwith, from the side scenes issue a band of friars, clad in black, who toil up the ascent of Mount Cal- vary, and take down the body, amidst the groans and lamentations of the by-standers. As a preacher is al- ways selected of wild and fervid eloquence, we may imagine the strong effect which must be produced, particularly upon the ignorant, by this service per- formed in a darkened church, and mingled up with every stirring appeal to the feelings. The ordinary preaching of the Itahans is deeply im- passioned in its style, and I have sometimes listened to Dominicans, whose bold declamation and earnest ges- tures as they leaned over the pulpit, reminded me of Peter the Hermit rousing up his audience to the Cru- sade. They deal much in apostrophe, and you fre- quently hear them turn aside with the address, — " O Italy ! " " O my country ! " There was one sei-mon we heard — very different it is true in its character and style — of which I took notes, because it is a fair specimen of the kind of argument used, and because the preacher had just been appointed to a high office in the Roman Catholic Church in America. 144 THE CHRISTMAS IIOLYDAYS IN ROME. Having seen in the " Diario di Roma," that Dr. , Vicar-General of , in the United States of America, was to preach in the Church of S. Andrea della Valle, we went with a party of friends, for the purpose of learning what kind of a man was to be sent out to enlighten our countrymen, and by listening to a sermon nearly one hour in length, had a very fair opportunity of forming an opinion. We found tlie Doctor to be rather a fine looking man, about forty-five years of age, and of a graceful delivery, although not very fluent in his style of speaking. His text was John xv. 26, 27 : " But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me : and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." The first part of the sermon was commonplace enough, merely a discussion of the question. Were the Apostles credible witnesses ? This being finished, we reached tlie grand plunge — the great no7i sequitur^ on which all the rest was founded. " Having thus proved the truth of religion, I have in the same way demon- strated the truth of the Catholic Church," — mean- ing of course, the Roman Church. Here was the fallacy which ran through the whole discourse. The object evidently was to produce a confusion in the minds of his hearers, which would lead them to look upon the Catholic Church, and the Church of Rome, as synonymous terms, and the latter as the only devel- opment of religion in the world. This Church, he said, had always been a witness for the truth, never attempting to create anything new, but only to testify THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 145 to what was primitive. And of this he would give two instances. The first was, when the Council of Nice (a. d. 325) expressed the voice of the whole Church in opposition to Arius, " who taught," said the Doctor, " that our Lord was nothing more than a mere man." This, by the way, was a mistake in ecclesiastical history, thus to impute to Arius what no one ever pretended he held, and what was only avowed by the lowest Humanita- rians of a later day. The second instance was in the sixteenth century, when Luther had begun his heresy, and a Creneral Council of the whole Christian world assembled at Trent, and there recorded the condemnation of the Cliurch against his views. This was the Doctor's ingenious parallel; making the Council of Trent as much the voice of the whole Church as the Council of Nice, and its decrees as weighty and binding. Protestantism Avas then held up to scorn, as being the creed of a most miserable, contemptible minority, and the audience were assured, that the Church of Rome had all the testimony of an- tiquity, — to give you his language, — "looking back through a long chain of witnesses to the Apostles' days, without the least change or shadow of variation in opin- ion^ not a single link being wanting," etc. Then fol- lowed a tirade against private judgment, and his hear- ers were left to suppose, that none who dissented from the Church of Rome had any rule of faith but their own unsettled opinions, while the unity of his own Church furnished a theme for lofty eulogium. The effect of Protestantism, he said, was shown in all the excesses from Johanna Southcote to Mormonism, while 10 146 THE CHRISTMAS H0L7DAYS IN ROME. it was absolutely impossible that the weed of fanaticism could never take root in the Church of Rome. He talked, indeed, about their unity with as much assur- ance, as if the Port Royalists had never existed ; the Jesuits and Jansenists were sworn brethren ; and the Pope did not have occasion, every little while, to pro- scribe some new sect which springs up within their bounds. Then came a passage on the security of their faith. " Hundreds of Protestants, at their last hour, had wished to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, while there never was — there never had been — a single Catholic who at that time wished a different faith." It would be difficult, indeed, for me to give, in this brief space, any idea of the ingenious evasions of the Vicar-General ; the shrewd and cunning manner in which he left his audience to infer things which he did not dare boldly to say, and the false impressions he con- veyed by only half stating a fact. Not a single refer- ence was made to the Church of England, or a hint given of its existence ; but his hearers were left to be- lieve that the only dissent from Rome was what was witnessed in the loose, floating sects of the Continent. He concluded by stating, that a collection would be made in aid of the missions of the Church of Rome, and some of the hooded friars, with their faces entirely covered, and only holes for their eyes, came forward to receive it. The sermon had certainly not disposed us to contribute to this object, nor did surrounding objects remove the impression. Above the High Altar was a magnificent silk canopy, which had been put up at Epiphany, and under it was what would be called, had it not been in church, a pretty puppet-show. It was a THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 147 collection of figures, each about two feet high. On a lofty throne, raised several steps, sat the Virgin Mary with the infant Saviour in her arms, a magnificent crown on the head of each. By her side stood Joseph, and before her were " the three wise men," offering their gifts. They, too, were splendidly attired, rather in the costume of the Middle Ages : caps with feathers, velvet dresses with gold embroidery, and a page be- hind each, holding up his train. Two of the Magi were white, and one black.^ Over them hung an im- mense star, cut of silver paper, two feet high, and, of course, ten times larger than the head of either of the wise men. And all this was just above the High Altar! From the sermon we went to the Church of the Capuchins, adjoining their monastery. It was erected by Cardinal Barberini, brother of Urban VIII., and he is buried beneath the pavement, with the simple in- scription, — " Hie jacet pulvis, cinis, et nihil." This Chapel boasts of one of Gudio's best works — the Archangel Michael trampling Lucifer under his feet. It has been called " The Catholic Apollo," from the majesty and grace with which the angel is clothed. 1 They are called in Europe " the three Kings of Cologne," and we sub- sequently, in the Cathedral of that city, saw what are shown as their skulls. The legend is : that, when the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa stormed Milan, he obtained these bones, and presented them to the Bishop of Cologne, who had accompanied his expedition. Behind the High Altar is a magnificent shrine, within which are placed the coffins of silver-gilt, most curiously wrought. The skulls of the three kings are crowned with diadems of gold, studded with jewels, and inscribed with their names — Caspar^ Melchior^ and Balthazar — written in rubies. The treasures employed about the shrine are estimated at more than 200,000 pounds sterling. 148 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. My object, however, was to visit the cemetery beneath the Church. I found a monk loitering in one of the side chapels, as if waiting to be cicerone to any visitors, and having made known my wish, he conducted me through the cloisters, and down a flight of steps into their old burial-place. Here are several low chapels, in which the monks are interred, the ground being composed of earth brought from Jerusalem. The largest will contain about thirty graves, and the others a somewhat smaller number. Against the walls on all sides, skulls are placed to the depth of nearly three feet, and arranged in such a way as to form niches, as if for statues. The other bones of the skeletons are around, and even above on the ceiling, as if some one in mockery had been sporting with these sad trophies of death. Legs, arms, ribs, spines, and fingers are there, formed into stars and diamonds, wreaths and festoons, altars and chandeliers, — every form, indeed, which caprice could dictate in this strange charnel- house. In each one of 4hese niches stands the skeleton of a monk, arrayed in his old dress. The coarse brown serge is around him, with the cowl drawn over the fleshless skull ; sandals are tied on the feet ; the cord is about the waist ; the bones of the hands are clasped, holding a black cross, and dangling from them, also, a card inscribed with his name and the date of his death. Sometimes, instead of upright niches, they are horizon- tal in shape, and the skeletons are reclining as if at rest on their beds. They are first buried in the conse- crated earth below, the number of graves in which is kept always filled. When, therefore, a monk dies, he is interred in the oldest grave, and the skeleton which THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 149 he displaces is arrayed in the monkish dress, and fixed in one of the niches. There he remains for years, un- til it is time for him to give place to some one else, and then his bones are mingled with the hundreds around him, who are forming fantastic shapes on the ceiling. It was, indeed, a ghastly display, a sort of caricature of death, to see these skulls grinning from under their hoods, — some white and glistening, some with the brown skin still undecayed and drawn like parchment over the bones. The teeth had fallen from their mouths, or else remained there black with age. And thus they are tied up, bending forward from their shal- low niches, until they drop to pieces or are obliged to give place to others. The old monk spoke to me only in a low whisper, and seemed awed by the spirit of the place. He saw, indeed, his brethren around him, their dress of brown sackcloth exactly like his own, and before him, in one of these little chapels, was to be, first his grave, and then the niche from which, perhaps a century hence, his ghastly skeleton would look forth, a show to those who come after us. On the Festival of All Souls, the scene which is wit- nessed here is still more striking. A solemn service is held in this Chapel of the Dead, and masses are offered for their souls. Garlands are placed on the white skulls of the skeleton monks, and bouquets of flowers in their hands. The brethren of the Order gather around the altar, formed of the bones of those who have gone before them, and the lights which flash from above are upheld by chandeliers of the same ghastly materials. The dead and the living meet together; and prayers are uttered by the aged men as they kneel at this mel- ancholy shrine ; and incense floats in clouds around 150 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. these spoils of the tomb. But as they sing the hymns for the dead, with what solemn emphasis must they chant the words of the "Dies Irae," — " Lacrymosa dies ilia Qua resurget ex favilla Judicandus homo reus. Huic ergo parce Deus, Pie Jesu Domine ! Dona eis requiem." " That day of doom, that day of tears, When guilty man awakes in fears, From dust, and 'fore his Judge appears. O bounteous Jesus, Lord forever blest ! Give faithful souls departed endless rest.^ CHAPTER XIII. CHRISTIAN ART. OVERBECK. NE of the wonders of Rome at the present day is a German artist of the name of Over- beck, with whose reputation we had been familiar long before we left home. He is said to have brought Christian art to a higlier degree of perfection than any who are now living. It is one of the pleasures indeed of this land of paintings and statues, to study the progress of art in past ages, and to mark how it has been gradually modified and changed by the progress of the religious prin- ciple. The ancient Greeks worshipped only physical beauty, and deified the human form. They drew their inspiration from the old Mythology, and in the arts produced Apollo as the model of manly vigor, and Venus as the embodiment of female loveliness. They bequeathed this feeling to those who came after them and studied their creations of matchless grace ; and thus for ages artists seemed to seek their inspiration only in " the fair humanities of old religions." Form- ing to themselves a standard of ideal beauty, they mused over it through long years of earnest toil, seek- ing to develop the conception and perpetuate it in the changeless marble. Sometimes every thought and 152 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. effort were concentrated upon a single statue, which was to embody his ideas of perfection. In it the artist enshrined the noble visions he had cherished, and it constituted at once the history of his own mind and the labor of his life. But as the Christian faith prevailed and sunk deeper into the heart of the world, a higher principle seemed to be breathed into the arts, and we can trace its prog- ress as the mediaeval ages went on. Christianity gradually spiritualized and elevated the old concep- tions of beauty. The religious feeling became im- pressed upon the artist's mind, and the Madonna, with her chastened loveliness and holy associations, took the place of the Queen of Love. The students of art cultivated the poetry of religion. In the last century, indeed, an aesthetic school was foimed on these princi- ples, which for a long time exercised a great influence on the Hhine, but has now sunk out of notice. One of its members has beautifully set forth their views in a woi*k entitled, " Reveries of an Art-loving Monk.'* The writer had once been a Protestant, but so de- voted was he to these studies that he became a Ro- manist, because, as he said, " he could not worship the art without subscribing to the faith which gave it birth." This is almost the history of Overbeck. At the beginning of the present century he was dismissed, from the Academy at Vienna, because he did not con- form himself to the artistical rules laid down by the institution. He almost entirely discarded the use of models, except for the arrangement of drapery, be^ cause he thought them unfavorable to the ideal con- ception of character. He trusted to his own vivid THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 153 imagination to delineate correctly the images which floated before his mind. In 1809 he came to Rome, where he was shortly joined by Peter Cornelius and William Schadow, men like-minded with himself, and for a time they lived in perfect seclusion, perfecting their new principles of art. They soon announced their fundamental doctrine, that a deep devotional feeling was the true source of an artist's inspiration. Thus, they became the apos- tles of a new faith which was not long wanting in disciples. They discarded the theatrical attitudes taken from the danseurs of the ballet, and became more true to nature, while at the same time they gave everything a religious character. But with some of their number professional enthusiasm was carried to an extent which led them back into the bosom of the Romish Church. They found indeed more affinity between the practice of the arts and her gorgeous services, than they did in the chilling, rationalistic creed in which they had been educated. Such was the case witli Overbeck and Schadow, while Cornelius, we believe, remained unchanged. But these religious differences entered into their artistical feelings — di- minished somewhat their fraternal intercourse — and the little brotherhood at last separated. Schadow and his pupils returned to Dusseldorf, where he was placed at the head of the Academy ; Cornelius was employed by the King of Bavaria at Munich ; while Overbeck preferred remaining at Rome, where everything suited his own peculiar temperament.^ During the years which have since passed, Over- 1 HisUnre de VArt Modcme en AUemagne. Par le Compte A. Raczyn- ski. 154 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, heck lias continued a most bigoted Romanist, but at the same time celebrated for his austere life and saint- like character. He is indeed a perfect ascetic — one who in another age would have been canonized — liv- ing only for his faith, and using his art but to minister to its development. His very appearance tells his character. Thin, and even emaciated, there is some- thing spiritual in his whole look, and it conveys the idea of one worn down by fasts and vigils. His studio is open but for two hours in one single day of the week, and then his rooms are filled, and he is there himself to explain the pictures. The remark had fre- quently been made to me, that " they were as good as sermons," and they certainly seemed to produce a calming influence on those who studied them. There was an absence of that laughing conversation which is heard in other studios, but the visitors talked in a low voice, as if affected by the very atmosphere and spirit of the place. And there stood the artist himself, with his rapt and earnest look, his gaze perhaps intently fixed on some drawing before him, his whole appear- ance harmonizing admirably with the scene in which he was an actor. Overbeck devotes himself entirely to subjects of a strictly religious character, generally in illustration of some part of Scripture history. He paints but little — the only pieces he has executed being, I believe, altar- pieces for some churches. He merely draws in ciiar- coal, and his sketches are afterwards engraved, while the originals are purchased by a society in Germany which is desirous of forming a complete collection of his works. The wonder is, the effect — the expres- sion he can produce with such simple materials. A THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 155 sheet of paper, a piece of charcoal, and bread for erasure — these are all he requires to create the beau- tiful forms which almost seem to " live and move and have theu' beinc;" before us. He throws his whole soul into the conception, and all his deep devotion breathes forth from every figure. He one day over- heard a lady, who was looking at one of his drawings, exclaim, " How beautiful ! how graceful ! " " Mad- ame," said he, " it pains me to hear you say so. I was in hopes of making them more than beautiful and graceful. I wished them to be religious." In most of his drawings, the figure of our Lord is introduced, and it is in this that the artist particularly excels. There is a degree of calm and heavenly beauty, united with a commanding dignity, which is seen in the pictures of no other artist. In this partic- ular Raphael has not excelled him in his celebrated picture of " The Transfiguration." Overbeck, indeed, some time ago published a work, in which he asserted that no one could paint rehgious subjects without be- ing himself a religious man. Correct, however, as the principle may be, his illustration of it is singularly un- fortunate, for he applies it to Raphael, asserting that in his latter days, w^hen he devoted his pencil and tal- ent to the sensual mythology of Greece and Rome, he incapacitated himself for the loftier delineation of sub- jects of a sacred character. As he forcibly expresses it, " When Raphael forsook God, God forsook him." But who that has sat for hours without weariness be- fore his " Holy Family " — the " Madonna della Seg- giola " — in the Pitti Palace at Florence, but must enter his protest against such an assertion ! There is an ex- pression of indescribable beauty in the countenance of 156 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. tlie Virgin — the mingling of deep maternal love with the lofty consciousness of being the Mother of our Lord, which forces on us the conviction that in the closing years of life he had not lost the high ideal character of his earlier Madonnas. Still more is the feeling deepened when we stand in the Hall of the Vatican, and gaze upon his last and noblest painting, which the hand of Death left unfinished, but which has remained for three centuries, the very triumph and miracle of art. We may, however, apply Overbeck's theory to him- self, for there can be no doubt but that his deep de- votional feeling is the inspiration which gives life and reality to the figures he sketches. When we were at his studio, he was employed on a half-finished picture of " The Scourging of our Lord," in which the mild yet lofty endurance of the patient suflPerer is finely contrasted with the demoniacal expression on the coun- tenances of the tormentors. The face of each one is intended to represent some particular vice, such as pride, anger, envy, and it needs no key to point out which is delineated. Another drawinir was, — " Our Lord sitting in the Boat, and preaching to the Multi- tudes on Shore." His arms are extended towards them, and His expression is the rapt look of one who alone could fully realize liow much depended on their acceptance of His offers. Near it hangs " The Massa- cre of the Innocents." In the gallery at Bologna we have seen Guide's celebrated picture on the same sub- ject. It has all the advantage of his splendid coloring, and the wildness of the different groups, the agony of the mothers, and the marble paleness of the infants, are most remarkable ; and yet, in some respects, we THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 157 prefer this sketch by Overbeck. We shudder as we look at Guido's. It is too painful in its interest. Here, on the contrary, the story is told with equal power, and yet the groups are arranged with such skill, as to show the striknig points of the scene, at the same time skill- fully veiling those which are too revolting to the feel- ings. My favorite picture, however, among them all, is one to illustrate " The Parable of the Ten Virgins." Some are trimming their lamps, while others are just starting from sleep, and in the distance is seen the ap- proaching train of the bridegroom. Had not the artist objected to the terms, I should say that the female figures were exceedingly graceful and beautiful. There is also one large allegorical picture, from which he has painted an altar-piece for the church at Frankfort. It represents " The Triumph of Chris- tianity over the Arts." In the upper part of the picture is the Madonna holding the infant Christ, to represent Religion, and below her are the different schools of artists : sculptors, painters, architects, and poets. All are lookino; towards her, and enoraored in some work which is to advance the worsnip of her Son. Many of them are portraits which we recognize. There stands Michael Angelo holding his plan of St. Peter's ; and Raphael, whose name brings to the mind such associa- tions of beauty ; and Dante, whose genius, on its bold and fearless wing, was able to penetrate into the un- seen world ; and Tasso, wearing the laurel crown which so well becomes the author of "Jerusalem Delivered." But where among them all is so perfect an illustra- tion of the triumph of our Faith over Art, as is fur- nished by Overbeck himself? Every talent, and thought, and feeling, is consecrated to this cause. His 158 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. object is not only to delineate the beautiful in nature, or to arrest and perpetuate by his pencil the bright visions which flit before his own inward soul, but through these instruments to inspire all around him with that love of moral beauty, which is a necessary characteristic of " the pure in heart." CHAPTER Xiy. EXCURSION ON THE APPIAN WAY. E have been waiting for a peculiarly fine day to make an excursion beyond the walls, and this morning, one of the most beautiftil that ever dawned, was all that we could desire. Although the seventh of January, yet the sun was shining so warmly, that in our land it would have passed for June, while there was a freshness in the air, which, as Madame de Stael says, " produces something of melody on the senses." We set out for the romantic fountain of Egeria, about three miles from the gates of the city, yet ex- pecting, with the intermediate places of interest, to find full employment for the day. Our course led us past the Capitoline Hill, and through the Roman Fonim, with its lofty, solitary pillars, gleaming in the sunlight, the Forum, — . . . . " Where once the mightiest spirits met In terrible conflict ; this, while Rome was free, The noblest theatre on this side heaven." We crossed the Via Sacra, passed under the arches of Titus and Constantino, turned from the Coliseum, and winding round the base of the Palatine Hill, and the mighty ruins of the Palace of the Caesars, entered the Appian Way. Constructed nearly eighteen cen- turies ago, its solid pavement is now as firm as ever, 160 THE CHRISTMAS HO L YD AYS IN ROME. and we rode over the same stones which in Rome's glorious day were trodden by the triumphal procession, as it slowly passed up to the Capitol. The roads which extended to all parts of the Empire were among the few works of utility constructed by the Romans, and these we can see were designed by Providence, that the world should thus devise the means by which the Church was to win it back to herself. " The legions of great Rome were for some centuries toilinoj with the pickaxe and spade, to construct mighty roads by which Apostles might compass the ends of the earth. Those huge arteries were the unconscious preparation which poor, blind Paganism was making for the more rapid circulation of the fresh blood that should spring up and stir that monstrous Empire, and be an element at once of health and of destruction." ^ The old Appian Way was distinguished for the splen- dor of the monuments lining its sides, — similar to those now seen in the Street of the Tombs in Pompeii, — and Cicero refers to them when he says, in his " Tusculan Disputations," — "When you go out of the Porta Capena, and see the tombs of Calatinus, the Scipios, the Servilii, and the Metelli, can you consider that the buried inmates are unhappy? " Let us endeavor then to call back seventeen cen- turies, and cause to pass before us the scenes of a CLASSICAL FUNERAL, as oucc it took placc on this spot. It is the burial of one of the Metelli in the early age of the Empire, when the practice of interring the body had ceased, and that of burning been substituted in its place. The Lihertinarii (undertakers) have performed their duty, and for some days the body, dressed in the 1 F. W. Faber. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 161 official robes which once it wore, has been exposed on a couch in the vestibule of the house, with its feet to- wards the door, and the branch of c^^^ress waving above it. But it is now the eighth day, tlie time for the funeral, and the Appian Way is filled with crowds, who have poured out to see the Patrician's burial. At length there came the slow procession, the wail of voices becoming gradually more distinct, while, when it ceased, the music heard in its place sounded subdued and mournfully. First walked the Master of Cere- monies, attended by lictors dressed in black ; then the musicians playing their sorrowful strains ; then the mourning women, who were hired to lament the de- ceased, and sing the funeral song in his praise ; then the slaves whom he had freed, wearing the cap of lib- erty; then the images of his many ancestors, and the military rewards he had gained. The corpse itself came next, on a couch of ivory, covered with purple and gold. A garland of withered, flowers, en wreathed with fillets of white wool, crowned his head ; in his mouth was the coin to pay the ferrj^man in Hades, and by his side the honey-cake to bribe the watchful Cer- berus. Leaves and flowers, too, were strewn upon the bier, which was borne on the shoulders of the nearest relatives. Behind came his family in mourning, and as they walked they uttered loudly their lamentations, the females beating their breasts, and wounding their faces with their nails. But they have at length reached the fiineral pyre, as it stood altar-like in its shape, and covered with dark leaves and the cypress branches consecrated to the tomb. Loudly they chanted the Hymn for the Dead, while all arranged themselves round it, and the 11 162 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. body was placed on its top. Then the nearest relative advanced, and with his face averted applied the torch. Perfumed oil had been poured over the wood, and the fl&.mes therefore encircled it at once, and darted up hio-h into the air. For a lono; time the multitude stood around in a dread silence, while the priests flung per- fumes into the fire, until the pile was consumed. Then the attendants came forward and poured red wine upon the hot, burning ashes, while the relatives gathered them with the bones into the urn. The ser- vice was now over ; the priest, with the laurel branch in his hand, sprinkled those around with water of puri- fication, and dismissed them with the word Ilieet. And as they departed to the city, each one often turned and bade farewell to the deceased with the mournful word Vale^ while the parting Hymn swelled loudly forth with its touching tones : — " Farewell, sotil departed ! Farewell, O sacred urn ! Bereaved and broken-hearted, To earth the mourners turn ! To the dim and dreary shore, Thou art gone our steps before ! But thither the swift hours lead us. And thou dost but a while precede us ! Salve — salve ! Loved urn, and thou solemn cell. Mute ashes! — farewell, farewell! Salve — salve ! II. " Ilieet — ire licet — Ah, vainly would we part! Thy tomb is in the faithful heart. About evermore we bear thee ; For who from the heart can tear thee? Vainly we snrinkle o'er us THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 163 The drops of the cleansing stream ; And vainly bright before us The lustral fire shall beam. For where is the charm expelling Thy thoughts from its sacred dwelling? Our griefs are thy funeral feast, And memory thy mourning priest. Salve — salve ! " Ilicet — ire licet — The spark from the hearth is gone Wherever the air shall bear it ; The elements take their o>vn; The shadows receive thy spirit. It will soothe thee to feel our grief, As thou glid'st by the gloomy river; If love may in life be brief, In death it is fixed forever. Salve — salve ! In the hall which our feasts illume The rose for an hour may bloom ; But the cypress that decks the tomb — The cypress is green forever ! Salve — salve ! " i The last lines have dispelled the vision, the shadows are gone, and there is nothing here but the barren Campagna, and the desolate tombs of Rome's for- gotten sons. Yet more picturesque remains I have never seen ; mighty masses of stone or brick-work utterly ruined during the wars of the Middle Ages, covered with rank vegetation, the wild vines trailing around them, or sometimes — " With two thousand years of ivy grown The garland of Eternity, where wave The green leaves over all by time o'erthrown." We first stopped at one of those to which Cicero 1 This Hymn is by SirE. L. Bulwer, and although not a translation, 3'et embodies so much of the spirit of the old Hymns for the Dead, that we can- not forbear giving it. 1G4 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. refers — the tomb of the Scipios. It is in a vineyard on the hill-side, with a single solitary cypress rising above it. Fortunately, it became covered by the soil, and was thus forgotten and unknown until the year 1780. By accident it was then discovered, and its vaults once more opened, after being closed for tAventy-one centuries ! The front is formed with arches and Doric columns, presenting a chaste fagade. We stopped at a stone gate having over it the inscrip- tion, Sepulehro degli Scipiom, and the sound of wheels having brought the usual cicerone with a tribe of assist- ants from their residence in the vineyard, we mounted the broken steps which led to the tomb. Here tapers were lighted and we prepared to descend. I had ex- pected a single chamber, but found instead a series of passages — dark and damp — extending far into the hill-side. The principal sarcophagus has been re- moved to the Vatican, where we had already seen it. Our guide pointed out the place from which it was taken. It bore the name of the great-grandfather of Scipio Africanus, who was Consul b. c. 297, and when opened, the skeleton was still entire, with the ring upon one of its fingers. This relic is now in the collection of the Earl of Beverley, in England. Among other inscriptions remaining here, we saw one commemorative of the Scipio who conquered in Spain, and received from thence his name of Hispanus. The noblest of them all, Scipio Africanus, is not buried here. Driven by the ingratitude of his countrymen from the city he had. saved, the last part of his life was passed at Liternum, near Naples, and there are still shown the remains of his monument with a por- tion of the inscription, — " Ingrata patria," etc. In an THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 166 excursion which we made to Baise, the guide took us to the top of a Httle hill, from which we could see in the distance the white and glistening marble, which shows where — " Scipio sleeps by the upbraiding shore." But what solemn funeral rites must have been here performed in this old vineyard, as one by one the members of this noble family were borne to their sep- ulchre, and white-robed priests gathered about this portal by which now we stood, and eloquent orators declaimed, and these hills around were covered by the thousands of Rome who had poured out to do honor to him who in Africa or Spain had led their armies to victory ! Who could then have prophesied, that this would be despoiled of its noblest dust, and turned into a common show-place ! " The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now; The very sepulchres lie tenantless Of their heroic dwellers." In the same vineyard is a large Columbarium, a place where were deposited urns filled with the ashes of the slaves and freedmcn. It was only discovered about four years since, and is therefore almost in its antique state. Upon descending into it, we found our- selves in an immense chamber, surrounded by little niches, each containing an urn. We removed the cover from several, which were still filled with ashes and calcined bones. Above each was a little slab con- taining the name. Some inscriptions I copied. " Ne tangito O mortalis. Reverere manes deos." " Hie reliciae Pelopis. Sit tibi terra lebis." It will be per- ceived that the Latin here would scarcely be called classical. One slave rejoiced in the name of " Scribo- 166 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. nia Cleopatra." Some of the freedmen were evidently men of consideration, as it is said of one, — " patri bene merenti." One, we are told, was a member of the praetorian guard; another was butler to his mas- ter; another an actor, "imitator." Sometimes it is re- corded on the little monument, — " frater ejus fecit ; " sometimes, — "pia mater fecit." Beneath, in a niche, still stands the little altar, with the inscription dedica- ting it to " Diis manibus," and above on the frescoes are the paintings, representing the Cock, and other emblems connected with ^sculapius and Mors. From this we went to another in the same vineyard, smaller, but similar in character. The frescoes here are as fresh as if yesterday they were painted, and the bronze lamp still hangs from the ceiling, just as it was left, perhaps two thousand years ago. The ashes of these slaves yet remain, while the old heroic Scipios have been torn from their sepulchres, and their bones scattered. Adjoining is a field, in which the Vestal Virgins, who proved unfaithful to their vows, were buried alive. After being scourged and stripped of her badges of office, the offender was attired like a corpse, and borne through the Forum wjth all the ceremonies of a real funeral. A vault had been prepared under ground, with a couch, and lamp, and table, with a little food, and to this the culprit was led by the Pontifex Maxi- mus, the earth was closed over the surface, and she was left to her lingering death. We drove on to the Church of San Sebastian, erected on the spot where tradition says that saint suffered martyrdom. The Church was open, and deserted, ex- cept by the beggars, who were sunning themselves in THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 167 the porch, and it was with some trouble that we were able to find any one to be our guide. An old monk, with the cord round his waist, at length appeared, and in most choice Italian we signified our wish to descend into the Catacombs. This is one of the openings, and from here they have been traced (it is said) for twenty miles, but owing to the loss of life from persons wan- dering into them, most of the intricate passages have now been closed. In the sacristy of the Church, a plan of the Catacombs, as they extend for a few miles, was hanging up, which represented them as being most complicated — crossing and recrossing in every possible way. A Jesuit, belonging to the Church of Gesu, in Rome, was about to publish a new engraving, but it was not yet completed when we left the city. The passages are generally ranged, one above the other, in three stories, and this renders them more intricate from the many stairs which ascend and descend. Each one of the party was fiimished with a light, and we followed our guide down a flight of stone steps, worn by the feet of the multitudes who had trodden them for eighteen centuries past. At the bottom com- menced the Catacombs, — damp, winding passages, — often not more than three feet wide, and so low that sometimes we were obliged to stoop. Then, again, they would expand into apartments arched overhead, and large enough to contain a small company. On each side were cavities, in which were placed the bodies of the dead, or niches for the urns containing their ashes, and small apertures, where lamps were found. But few sarcophagi were discovered here, for no pomp or ^(^remony attended the burial of the early Christians, when their friends hastily laid them in these dark 168 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. vaults. They sought not the sciilptured marble to in- close their remains, but were contented with the rude emblems which were carved above, merely to show that for the body resting there they expected a share in the glory of the Resurrection. Very many of the graves were those of children, and sometimes a whole family were interred together. The cavities were cut into the soft stone, just large enough for the body, with a semicircular excavation for the head, and the opening was closed with a thin slab of marble. Most of the inscriptions have been removed to the Museum of the Vatican, where we had already seen them. They are arranged there in the same gallery with those found in Pagan tombs, and contrast with them most strongly in their constant reference to a state beyond the grave, while on the Roman monu- ments are no expressions but those of hopeless grief. It shows how immediate was the elevating influence of the new creed. Nothing, indeed, wliich is gloomy or painful finds a place among these records of the mar- tyrs. They evidently laid the athlete of Christ to his rest without any sorrow that his fight was over, or any expression of vengeance against those who doomed him to death. They thought too much of his celestial rec- ompense to associate with it the tortures and evils of this lower life. The words " in pace " are frequently to be deciphered, and in one case I made out, — " in pace et in f ." They are covered, too, with symbolical representations. The most frequent are the well- known monogram of Christ, formed by the Greek let- ters X and P, — the old emblem of the fish, IX0Y2, the letters of which are composed of the initials of the Greek words, 'I>;a-ovs XpiaTOi &€ov Ytos %oiTr)p, "Jesus THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, 169 Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour ; " the ship, to rep- resent the Church ; the anchor, an emblem of hope ; the stag, to show " the hart which thirsteth after the water brooks" ; the hare, the timid Christian hunted by persecutors ; the lion, the emblem of the tribe of Judah ; the dove, indicating the simplicity, and the cock, the vigilance of the Christian ; the peacock and the phoenix, emblems of the Resurrection ; the vine, the olive branch, the palm, and the lamb. Some bear the signs of martyrdom, and one only, a rudely sculp- tured view of a man devoured by wild beasts. These are the simple memorials by which devotion endeavored to hallow the tombs of the departed, and inscribe upon them the unfading hopes which live beyond the grave. Even the Cross itself, the primal symbol of Christianity, which for ages was used in its simplest form, seemed to convey to their minds nothing depressing or melancholy. They adorned it with crowns and flowers, as if rather a sign of all that was cheerful and inspiring. It is instructive to remark, that in none of these monuments of the early centuries do we see any rep- resentation of the Godhead, as is now so common in the Romish churches, under the figures of an old man, a young man, and a dove. The reason has been ad- mirably given by Milman, when he says, — " Reveren- tial awe, diffidence in their own skill, the still dominant sense of the purely spiritual nature of the Parental Deity, or perhaps the exclusive habit of dweUing upon the Son as the direct object of religious worship, re- strained early Christian art from those attempts to which we are scarcely reconciled by the sublimity and originality of Michael Angelo and Raphael. Even 170 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. the symbolic representation of the Father was rare. Where it does appear, it is under the symbol of an immense hand issuing from a cloud, or a ray of light streaming from heaven, to imply, it may be presumed, the creative and all-enhghtening power of the Univer- sal Father." The earliest instance we have of the Eternal Father represented under a human form, is contained in a Latin Bible, — described by Montfau- con, — which was presented by the Canons of the Church of Tours to Charles the Bold, in the year 850. So long did it take the monkish artists of the Church to reach the present height of irreverence ! Neither do we find in the Roman Catacombs any representation of the Virgin and Child. This too was a subject unattempted in the early Church. And when at last they began thus to shadow forth their conceptions of the maternal tenderness of the mother for the Infant Saviour, she is always represented veiled. They endeavored to express the idea by the attitude alone, without attempting to portray the mingled feel- ings which they supposed should characterize the countenance of her, who with all the affections of human nature was chosen to be the Mother of the Lord. It was not, we believe, till the sixth century that these representations were seen ; and then as the superstitious feeling increased which led to the worship of the Virgin, she was more and more surrounded with those emblems which exalted her at last to adoration as the Queen of Heaven. The same statement is true with regard to the Cru- cifixion. Not a single attempt to portray it is to be seen on any of these ancient monuments. The early Church evidently viewed this mysterious subject with THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 171 a reverence too deep and awful to allow its members to attempt a delineation. There is indeed no symbol of our faith, in the use of which we can trace the suc- cessive steps so clearly as in this.^ The lofty faith of the primitive Christians dwelt so much upon the Di- vinity of our Lord, that they shrank in reverence from the idea of coarsely representing the mere corporeal pangs which weighed Him down in the hour of His mortal agony. Such thoughts were reserved for the days of monachism, when the gloomy monks, who were the artists of the Clmrch, brooded in the solitude of their cells over these scenes of suffering, and when they attempted to portray them, forgetting all that was tender and subHme, furnished only that which was painful and repulsive. The followers of St. Basil, we are told, gave the last degradation to this solemn sub- ject, and spread through Western Christendom me- morials of the Passion which were only " of the earth, earthly." These Catacombs therefore furnish a valuable chap- ter for Ecclesiastical History, for we derive from them most of the information we have with reo-ard to Chris- tian symbolism. The early martyrs, by whom they were for a long while peopled, " being dead, still speak." They tell their own simple faith and devotion by the changeless emblems which are as expressive as words. And as we trace these pictured inscriptions down 1 Cardinal Bona — as quoted by Milman, to whose History of Christianity we have been much indebted on this subject — gives the following as the progress of the gradual change : I. The simple Cross. II. The Cross with the Lamb at the foot of it. III. Clirist clothed on the Cross, with hands uplifted in prayer, but not nailed to it. IV. Christ fastened to the Cross with four naifs, still living, and with open eyes. He was not represented as dead till the tenth or eleventh century. 172 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. through successive generations, they unfold to us the gradual change which crept over the feelings of the Church. It seems to present a strange contrast. The respect of its members for her who was " blessed among women " gradually deepened into adoration, while a reverence for some of the most sublime mys- teries of our faith was proportionally fading from their minds. Themes which at first they regarded with so sacred an awe that they scarcely dared to comment on them in words, lost at last their divine idealism, and were coarsely shadowed forth by sensible objects. Thus it is that in her own bosom, and in places which she consecrates as most holy, Papal Rome contains the evidence of that silent change which, as centuries went by, was working in the minds of her members. Our guide pointed out to us, as we passed along, some tombs which had never been opened, and whose inmates had been left to slumber on as seventeen cen- turies ago they were laid to their rest. There was one, the thin marble side of which had cracked, so that he could insert a small taper. He bade us look in, and there we saw the remahis of the skeleton, lying as it was placed by its brethren in the faith in those early days of persecution and trial. In these gloomy caverns the followers of our Lord were then accus- tomed to meet, thus in secret to eat the bread of life, and with tears to drink the water of life. In one of these little chapels which tradition has thus conse- crated, there were found still remaining, a simple earthen altar, and an antique Cross set in the rock above it. It was with no ordinary feelings that we stood on this spot and looked on these evidences of early worship. They had remained here perhaps un- THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 173 changed since the days of the Apostles, and where we then were, men may have bowed in prayer who had themselves seen their Lord in the flesh. The re- mains were around us of those who had received the mightiest of all consecrations, that of suffering, and whose spirits were as noble as any who had their proud monuments on the Appian Way, and whose names are now as " famiHar in our ears as household words." But no historian registered the deeds of the despised Nazarenes. They had no poet, and they died. " Carent quia vate sacro." This was to us a most interesting scene, yet one to be felt more than to be described. We were glad however to ascend the worn steps and find ourselves once more in the Church above. We noticed, indeed, that the comers we turned in these intricate passages were marked with white paint to guide us, yet a sud- den current of air extinmiishino; our lights would make these signs useless, and from the crumbling nature of the rock there is always danger of the caving in of a gallery, or some other accident, whicli might in- volve a party in one common fate. Some years ago, we were told, a school of nearly thirty youtli with their teacher entered these Catacombs on a visit, and never reappeared. Every search was made, but in vain. The scene which then was exhibited in these dark passages, and the chill which gradually crept over their young spirits as hope yielded to despair could be described only by Dante, in terms in which he has por- trayed the death of Ugolino and his sons in the Tower of Famine at Pisa.^ 1 Inf. xxxiii. 21-75. 174 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, On reentering the Churcli, the old monk lighted two candles in a side chapel, and with great reverence proceeded to display a host of relics, such as the blood of the martyrs, and the arrows with which St. Sebas- tian was pierced. The most holy relic is a stone con- taining impressions of onr Saviour's feet. As St. Peter was fleeing from Rome to avoid martyrdom, — the le- gend tells us, — he met our Lord apparently going towards it. " Domine, quo vadis ? " (Lord, whither goest thou?) asked the Apostle, and was answered, that his Master was going to suffer death again, since His servants deserted their post. St. Peter therefore returned and submitted to death, but on the place where his Lord stood were found these indentations in the hard stone, and a Church has been erected there, called by tlie name, " Domine quo vadis." Our faith however not being very strong, we soon turned from these wonders, and drove to our next stopping-place — the tomb of Csecilia Metella. This is one of the best preserved antiquities in Rome, a massive tower seventy feet in diameter, which Lord Byron has well described in the lines — " There is a stern round tower of other days, Firm as a fortress, with its fence of stone, Such as an army's baffled strength detays, Standing with half its battlements alone." No one indeed would take it for anything but a for- tress. Built of massive granite blocks, and with walls twenty-five feet thick, it seems intended to defy the inroads of time and the strength of man. We entered the low portal, and there among the ruins which had fallen about, and the trailing ivy which hung in heavy festoons, we came to the single apartment in the cen- THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 175 tre, now open above to the sky. And yet, the sole treasure placed in this tower of strength, so guarded and enshrined, was — a woman's grave. By some it is conjectured to have been the wife of Metellus ; by others, his daughter. Standing witliin the monument, we read the speculations of Childe Harold on this sub- ject, which are some of the finest stanzas he has ever written. We cannot forbear copying them, although they may be familiar to many of our readers. *' But who was she, the lady of the dead, Tomb'd in a palace? Was she chaste and fair? Worthy a king's — or more — a Roman's bed? What race of chiefs and heroes did she bear? What daughter of her beauties was the heir? How lived — how loved — how died she ? Was she not So honor'd — and conspicuously there, Where meaner relics must not dare to rot. Placed to commemorate a more than mortal lot ! " Perchance she died in youth : it may be, bow'd With woes far heavier than the ponderous tomb That weigh'd upon her gentle dust; a cloud Might gather o'er her beauty, and a gloom In her dark eye, prophetic of the doom Heaven gives its favorites — early death; yet shed A sunset charm around her, and illume With hectic light, the Hesperus of the dead, Of her consuming cheek the autumnal leaf-like red. " Perchance she died in age — surviving all, Charms, kindred, children — with the silver gray- On her long tresses, which might yet recall, It may be, still a something of the day When they were braided, and her proud array And lovely form were envied, praised, and e3'ed By Rome — but whither would conjecture stray? Thus much alone we know — Metella died, The wealthiest Roman's wife: behold his love or pride ! " But all this care has proved useless. The splendid sarcophagus of white marble has long since been re- 176 THE CHPdSTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. moved from its little chamber so massively built up, and may be seen standing in the open court of the Farnese Palace, exposed to the action of every storm. And the tomb itself has been devoted to a purpose far different from that intended by the builder. " This," says Sis- mondi, " with the tombs of Adrian and Augustus, be- came fortresses of banditti, in the thirteenth century, and were taken by Brancellone, the Bolognese gov- ernor of Rome, who hanged the marauders from tlie walls." Adjoining this " woman's grave " are the ruins of a fortress, which in the Middle Ages was a stronghold in succession of the Savelli and Gaetani families. Their armorial bearings are still to be seen upon the walls, and the round windows of the Chapel standing above the ruins give them a most picturesque appearance. In the valley beneath are the wide-spread remains of what is commonly called " the Circus of Caracalla." It is of course crumbling into decay, yet every part may still easily be traced. The great gate-way, the high raised balcony for the Emperor, the carceres or cells, in w^hich the chariots stood previous to starting, the spina^ or division through the centre, around which they swept in the eager contest, — all can be marked. The course was about half a mile around and was re- peated several times, but it is evident that the victory must have depended principally upon the skill of the charioteer in turning. The wall is now broken so that we easily sprang over it, and all is fast settling down to the level of the meadow. The high vines are grow- ing over it, the flowers are crushed beneath our feet as we walk, and no sign of life meets our view but the green lizards which sport among the ruins. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 177 Our last place of visit was the Fountain of Egeria, a name which throughout the world is associated with all that is poetical. Twenty-five centuries have gone since Numa consecrated this spot, and many genera- tions have passed away, yet it still continues to be a place of pilgrimage. Our guide led ns by the re- mains of the old Temple of Bacchus, and around the base of the hill, till suddenly the grotto opened before us. It is under an antique arch on» which the hill seems to rest, and at its extremity the little spring gushes out, and flows over its pebbly channel as clear as crystal, until it is lost in the green meadow which stretches away in front. Around the grotto are niches which once evidently contained statues, but they have long since gone. One only — a recumbent figure, sadly mutilated — remains above the spot from which the stream trickles out. Juvenal objected in his day to the marble ornaments and the art which had spoiled the grotto, declaring that the goddess would be much more honored if the fountain was inclosed only with its border of living green — " Viridi 81 margine clauderet undas Herba." But time has at length wrought the change which he desired. The stones of the old chamber are clothed with moss and evergreens ; the Adiantum Capillus waves over the fountain ; while from the roof hang down long wreaths of creeping plants, till they obscure the entrance, and diffuse a twilight gloom within. And when, standing before this little shrine, we look around, we see on the one side the thick grove, dark with shade, in which Numa is said to have met the goddess, and on the other the sweeping arches of the Claudian 12 178 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, aqueduct, with the purple hills for their background, extending far along the scene. They stretch over the wide Campagna, till they reach the spot where once stood the vanished palaces of Maecenas and Domitian, and we lose sight of them among tlie distant mountains of Albano. Altogether, this is as poetical a spot as the earth can furnish, nor could one be found more lovely even among the Grecian solitudes which Theocritus so beautifully describes. The Dryad and Nymph have indeed gone forever, yet, fable or not, we cannot help feeling, as w^e think of the legend, — " Whatsoe'er thy birth, Thou wert a beautiful thought, and softly bodied forth." CHAPTER XV. THE CARDINALS. INTERVIEW WITH CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI. HILE the visitor is wandering among the ruins of Rome, he will sometimes be roused from his reveries by the approach of a splen- did carriage, flaming with scarlet and gold, and three footmen in gorgeous liveries clustering on behind, all contrasting strangely with the time-worn relics of former ages, and the filth and wretchedness of the modern city. That is the equipage of a Cardi- nal. Within sits an old man, dressed also in scarlet. That is his Eminence. For centuries the College of the Cardinals has been, in many respects, the most powerful legislative body in Europe, and the highest object of ecclesiastical ambi- tion. The sons of the first monarchs considered the dignity a prize worthy of their aim, and the Pope could often win the sovereign himself to his views by the bribe of a Cardinal's hat for one of his family. Regi- nald Pole, the last of the powerful race of the Planta- genets, and one of the gentlest and holiest of men, was a Cardinal, and since his death, no ecclesiastic of that rank has ever resided at the Court of England. He was ill of the same fever as his royal cousin. Queen Mary, and in their last hours constant messages were passing between them. When she expired, foreseeing 180 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. the ruin of his faith, he expressed his satisfaction at the prospect of speedy dissolution, which actually took place in a few hours. He died, it has been beautifully said, " as if by a mysterious instinct, in the very last night whose moon shone upon the rich tillage-lands and dusky woodland chases of Catholic England, still, for one night still, a portion of the Roman Obedience." ^ The last of the exiled Stuarts also died at Rome in the same office, under the title of Cardinal York. The Cardinals are seventy in number, this being the limit fixed by Sextus V. in allusion to the " seventy dis- ciples of our Lord." The College, however, is seldom full, as some appointments are kept in reserve to meet emergencies. They are the Princes of the Church, and are divided into three ranks : 1. Six Cardinal Bishops ; 2. Fifty Cardinal Priests ; 3. Fourteen Car- dinal Deacons. The dignity has, however, now been thrown open to laymen, and the Governor of Rome, who is recognized so often in the streets by his violet stockings and short black silk cloak, usually receives a Cardinal's hat at the expiration of his term of office. They meet occasionally as the Consistory, sitting in the full dignity of the purple, with the Pontiff presiding in person. This, however, is a mere matter of form to receive foreign ambassadors, or to add to the splendor of the Court. Their chief prerogative is when they meet in Conclave to elect a Pope. This is a power which they gained in the eleventh century, under Nicholas II., when a Council conferred on them the exclusive right of voting at Papal elections, thus set- ting aside the ancient privilege of the Roman clergy and people to nominate their Bishop. Hildebrand, I Rev F. W. raber, THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 181 afterwards Gregory VII., was then Cardinal Archdea- con of Rome, the great minister of the Pope's reign, and director of all his measures, and this was one of the steps which he had proposed to increase the power of the Papacy. The voice was indeed the voice of Nicho- las, but the hand was the hand of Hildebrand. For nine days after the Pontiff's death the Cardinal Cham- berlain exercises supreme authority, and even has the right to coin money in his o^vn name, and impressed with his own arms. From the shortness of time these pieces are necessarily scarce. One of them, however, issued on the death of Pius VII., came into my hands, while in Rome. It bears the arms, surmounted by a Cardinal's hat, and around them tlie inscription, — " SEDE VACANTE MDCCCXXiii." On the niutli day the funeral of the deceased Pope takes place, and on the ensuing day tlie Cardinals meet in secret Conclave to elect his successor. There they remain immured in one of the great halls of the Vatican till they can agree in the choice ; the Senator of Rome, the Patriarchs and Bishops who are in the city, guarding the different entrances to the Conclave, to prevent all influence and intrigue. The qualifications of a candidate are, that he shall be fifty-five years of age, a Cardinal, and an Ital- ian by birth. It requires a vote of two thirds, and then France, Austria, and Spain have each the power of putting a veto on one candidate. As might be ex- pected, all the power of the government is in the hands of tlie Cardinals, and they divide most of its offices among themselves. Each one has also a salary, in addition to the emolument derived from his post. At present, the Sacred College consists of fifty-five members — two named by Pius VII., seven by Leo 182 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. XII., forty-six by Gregory XVI. The Dean of tlie College is Cardinal Padini, eighty-seven years of age. Scwartzenburg is the youngest of the Cardinals, being scarcely thirty-six. Sixty-two Cardinals have died since the accession of Gregory XVI. The person I most wished to see in Rome — I may almost say in Europe — was Cardinal Mezzofanti, for his name is known through the world as one of the literary prodigies of the age. The son of an humble tradesman, he commenced his early career as a libra- rian. His birthplace, as he mentioned to me himself, was Bologna. When an obscure priest in the north of Italy, he was called upon to confess some criminals who were to suffer death the next day. They proved to be foreigners condemned for piracy, and he found himself utterly unable to hold any intercourse with them. Over- whelmed with grief at this unlooked for impediment, he retired to his home, spent the night in studying their lano-uao-e, and the next morninor confessed them "in their own tongue wherein they were born." Such at least is the common story told here, and his friends ascribe his success to miraculous assistance, which was afforded him as a reward for his zeal in the discharge of his holy office. From that time his talent was rapidly developed. His knowledcre of lan^uao-es seems to be almost intui- tive, for he acquires them without the least apparent difficulty. At the age of thirty-six, he is said to have read twenty, and to have conversed fluently in eighteen languages. At the present time he speaks forty-two, or, as he sometimes sportively says, " forty-two, and Bo- lognese" — considering his native language so curious a dialect of the Italian, that he might count it as one. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 183 He at one time filled the chair of Professor of Greek and Oriental Literature in the University of his native city, and his fame even then was widely spread througli Europe. When the revolt broke out in 1831, and Bo- logna for a time threw off the Papal rule, Mezzofanti exerted himself so earnestly in behalf of the Pope, that he was soon afterwards called to Rome, and rewarded with an appointment under Mai. When that distin- guished scholar was made a Cardinal, Mezzofanti was raised to the same dignity. Perhaps the most lively account of him is that given by Lord Byron, in his " Detached Thoughts." " I do not recollect," says he, " a single foreign literary character that I wished to see twice, except, perhaps, Mezzofanti, who was a prodigy of language, a Briareus of the parts of speech, a walk- ing library, who ought to have lived at the time of the Tower of Babel, as universal interpreter ; a real mir- acle, and without pretension, too. I tried him in all the languages, of which I knew only an oath or adjuration of the gods against postilions, savages, pirates, boatmen, sailors, pilots, gondoliers,'muleteers, camel- drivers, vet- turini, postmasters, horses, and houses, and everything in post I and he puzzled me in my own idiom." And yet, with all these high qualifications, there is a modesty about Cardinal Mezzofanti, which shrinks from anything like praise. When complimented on the subject of his acquirements, he sometimes answers, " Do not mention it : I am only a dictionary badly bound." A Russian princess, a short time ago, having occasion to send him a note, he replied at once in her own lan- guage, and in terms so perfectly correct and idiomatic, that she could not help responding, complimenting him on the manner in which he wrote Russian. He imme- 184 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. diately answered it, staling " that he was sorry he could not return the compliment as to the manner in which she wrote Russian." I had a letter of introduction to him, and the very last morning I was in Rome, feeling that I should not be satisfied to depart without seeing him, I determined to present it. Upon calling at his palace, I found sev- eral servants in the anteroom, to one of whom I gave my letter and card. He entered with them, and in a moment the Cardinal's secretary came out to conduct me to him. After passing through a long suite of rooms, I w^as ushered into one where I found his Emi- nence, who, advancing cordially, invited me to walk into his library. He is a small, lively looking man, appar- ently over seventy. He speaks English with a slight foreign accent, yet remarkably correct. Indeed, I never before met with a foreigner who could talk for ten minutes without using some word with a shade of meaning not exactly right ; yet in the long conversation I had with the Cardinal, I detected nothino- like this. He did not use a single expression or word in any way which was not strictly and idiomatically correct.^ He converses too without the slightest hesitation, never be- ing at the least loss for the proper phrase. In talking about him some time before to an ecclesi- astic, I quoted Lady Blessington's remark, " that she did not believe he had made much progress in the liter- 1 An American gentleman who has known him for many years, told me he called on him when he was Censor of the Press at Bologna, in com- pany with an English naval captain, some of whose books, being on the prohibited list, had been seized at the Ctistom-house. The captain was in a towering rage, and Mezzofanti, in the course of his explanations, made use of Ihe expression, — "I enter into your feelings." Nine foreigners out of ten, in attempting to convey this idea, would have been just as likely to say, — " I walk into your feelings." THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 185 ature of those forty-two languages, but was rather like a man who spent his time in manufacturing keys to pal- aces, which he had not time to enter," — and I inquired whether this was true. " Try him," said he, laughing ; and having now the opportunity, I endeavored to do so. I led him, therefore, to talk of Lord Byron and his works, and then of English literature generally. He gave me, in the course of his conversation, quite a dis- cussion on the question, Which was the golden period of the English language ? and of course fixed on the days of Addison. He drew a comparison between the characteristics of the French, Italian, and Spanish lan- guages, spoke of Lockhart's translations from the Span- ish, and incidentally referred to various other English writers. He then went on to speak of American liter- ature, and paid high compliments to the pure style of some of our best writers. He expressed the opinion that with many it had been evidently formed by a care- ful study of the old authors — those " wells of English undefiled " — and that in the last fifty years we had im- ported fewer foreign words than had been done in Eng- land. He spoke very warmly of the works of Mr. Feni- more Cooper, whose name, by the way, is better known on the Continent than that of any other American writer. In referring to our Indian languages, he remarked that the only one with which he was well acquainted was the Algonquin, although he knew something of the Chippewa and the Delaware, and asked whether I un- derstood Algonquin ? I instantly disowned any knowl- edge of the literature of that respectable tribe of sav- ages, for I was afraid the next thing would be a propo- sal that we should continue the conversation in their mellifluous tongue. He learned it from an Algonquin 186 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, missionary, who returned to Rome, and lived just long enougli to enable the Cardinal to begin the study. He had read the works of Mr. Duponceau of Philadelphia on the subject of Indian languages, and spoke very highly of them. And yet, all this conversation by no means satisfied me as to the depth of the Cardinal's literary acquire- ments. There was nothinor said which save evi- dence of more than a superficial acquaintance with English literature — the kind of knowledge which passes current in society, and which is necessarily picked up by one who meets so often with cultivated people of that country. His acquirements in words are certainly wonderful, but I could not help asking myself their use. I have never yet heard of their being of any practical benefit to the world, daring the long life of their possessor. He has never displayed anything phil- osophical in his character of mind, none of that power of combination which enables Schlegel to excel in all questions of philology, and gives him a talent for dis- criminating and a power of handling the resources of a language, which have never been surpassed. With Mezzofanti, on the contrary, everything seems to be in detail, and therefore he turns it to no valuable purpose. After having made a visit which far exceeded what the bounds of etiquette would allow, I ftdt obliged to rise, with the apology, " that I had already intruded too long upon the time of his Eminence ; " but he as- sured me, " This was not the case — and that he only regretted, as I was about to leave Rome immediately, our first interview was necessarily our last." He in- quired the ages of my children, and said, " In five or six years they will be old enough to visit Italy, and then THIS CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 18T I trust you will return to Rome, but " — and his voice changed — " you will not find me here : I am too old to hope for it." When I left the library, he insisted on accompanying me through the long suite of rooms to the last, in which was his secretary — and gave me his parting blessing, with the wish, " that I might have a pleasant journey to Naples." When half-way across the apartment, I heard his voice, and turning round, saw him still standing in the threshold, stretching out his hands to me, and adding to his last sentence — " and a pleasant voyage home afterwards." In the narrow compass of this chapter, I can give but a few of the points on which he touched in our lonoj conversation — matters of faith relatinor to his Church — information about the Propaganda, Cardinals Weld and Acton, and Bishop Wiseman — inquiries about the attention to Greek and Latin in our colleges — and questions about the progress of his Church in America. Still less can I give any idea on paper, of the simplicity and kindness of manner which so much charmed me, in one whose reputation is unequaled in the world, and who seems so little affected by the princely dignity of Cardinal with which he has been invested. We parted, never probably to see each other again in this world, yet long shall I remember the old Cardinal's friendly smile ; and I trust we may meet again in that better land where all differences are forgotten, and our Father welcomes as His children all those who loved Him in sincerity and truth, while toil- ing onward through the shadows of this lower life. CHAPTER XVI. THE PROTESTANT BURIAIy-GROUND. HERE are few spots in Rome which the stranger will naturally visit with so much interest as the Protestant Burial-ground. At a distance from his own home, he knows not but that the hand of death may here arrest him, and should this be the case, within these walls he must find his resting-place. But wherever he might wander through the w^ide world, he could not find a more lovely spot in which to lie down for his long, last sleep. We rode out to it on one of those bright and balmy days, which in an Italian atmosphere remind us of the first warm days of our own spring. Just by the Porta San Paolo rises a lofty pyramid, one hundred and twenty feet in height, built of slabs of white Carrara marble, but now perfectly black with age. It is the noble sepulchre of Caius Cestius, erected in accordance with the directions of his will in the ao;e of Auojustus. It is of solid masonry, except the little chamber within, which once contained his sarcophagus. There was nothinir about it which the hand of violence could rifle ; nothing to tempt cupidity ; no statues or carv- ings which could be removed to the museums ; and therefore it has been permitted to remain uninjured. Its very form — adopted by the ancients in imitation THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 189 of the flames that rose from the funeral pyres — was well calculated to resist the influence of the weather. In the days of Aurelian it was built into the city walls, to prevent its being used as a fortress by any attacking enemy, and this aided in securing its preservation. Except, therefore, in the change of color, and in the ivy which has trailed around it, and forced its roots into the crevices of the stones, it is but little altered from what it appeared eighteen centuries ago. Beneath it is the burial-ground, on the slope of the hill looking towards " the Eternal City," and in the direction of the East, so that the sun's first rays rest upon it, and there they spread their warmth, till the dreariness of winter is unknown on this hallowed spot. There are a hun- dred graves scattered among the trees, and the huge pyramid towers over them, as if in mockery of the humble monuments on which it looks down. In the very atmosphere of Rome there is something which induces pensiveness. It is a characteristic, in- deed, o^ these southern climes. The calmness of the air is unbroken by the lightest zephyr ; the blades of grass are motionless ; the leaves rustle not, and there seems to be a deep sleep resting on everything. You are insensibly led to musing, and we felt this influence when we stood in silence among these graves. At a distance we saw those grand and solemn ruins which centuries had bequeathed to us, while around were the monuments of those who were all gathered from other lands, not one of whom but was mingling his dust with the soil of a country which was not his. We read the inscriptions, and they appealed to us in our lan- guage, through its medium claiming with us a nearer brotherhood than with tlic stran Exodus xxxiv. 29, that as Moses came down from the Mount, "he wist not that the skin of his face shone," the Vulgate — the version of the Church of Rome — renders it, " Et ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies sua ; " " and he did not know that his face was horned." It was this phrase, then, which probably led to the mistake, and accounts for the manner in which both painters and sculptors were accustomed to rep- resent the Jewish Lawgiver. In our own version, in- deed, precisely the same mistake is made with this word in another passage. In Habakkuk it says, "He had horns coming out of his hand." It should, of course, be rays of light. We pass on to the magnificent Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore^ the noblest Church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin, and hence its name. It stands in an open square, and the exterior is richly ornamented, while the nave in the interior is nearly three hundred feet in length. The elaborately carved roof is richly gilded, and derives an additional interest from the fact, that the gold used was the first ever brought to Europe from Peru. It was presented to Alexander VI. by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Now and then the great services of the Church are performed in this splendid Basilica; as on Christmas Eve, when the Cradle of our Lord is carried in procession ; and on the festivals of the Assumption and the Nativity of the Virgin, when the Pope himself performs High Mass at its altar. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 243 Just behind it, however, is a Httle Church not often visited, but which once in the year is the scene of some strange ceremonies. It is dedicated to St. An- thony, the patron of the brute creation, and every January, when liis Festival comes round, there is. a service for their especial benefit. The first time I wit- nessed it, I was involuntarily a participant to some extent in the ceremony. We were riding with a lady, when crossing the open square a priest in his surpKce was seen standing on the steps of this httle Church, while one carriage after another was driving up to it, stopping before him for a few minutes, and then pass- ing; on to make room for others. " What," she inquired of the courier, " are they doing there ? '* " Blessing the horses, Madame." " Then tell the coachman to drive up, and we will have ours blessed." So accordingly up he drove. The servants rev- erently took off their hats, and the priest commenced reading a prayer from his book. When he had fin- ished, he took a brush from the hand of an attendant, dipped it in a bucket of holy water at his feet, and sprinkled the horses, repeating the words, — ,"Per intercessionem Beati Antonii Abatis, haec animalia liberenter, a malis, in nomine Patris, et Filu, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen." (Through the interces- sion of the blessed Abbot Anthony, may these animals be delivered from evil, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen). A small fee was handed to the priest, and we con- tinued our ride. For several days this service is con- stantly going on. The following Sunday, however, 244 THE CHRISTMAS HOLY DAYS IN ROME. was the great day. Then, the Square was crowded with animals, and thousands of people were there as spectators. The magnificent carriages of the Pope, each drawn by six horses, and the scarcely less splen- did equipages of the Cardinals and the Roman princes came up, to go through the ceremony. Long rows of post-horses arrived from different parts of the city, and the mules of the peasantry from the country, decked out in ribbons and flowers, while their masters were in all their best array. A friend told me, that on one of these days he saw a young man drag up to the church door a miserable looking little dog, which he held by a string while the service was read, and the poor cur received his share of holy water. What is the precise meaning of this ceremony? Or, what particular benefit are the animals expected to derive from this service, which seems like an in- ferior kind of baptism ? These are questions to which it is difficult to procure definite answers. In " Ger- aldine," however, a book published in defense of the Church of Rome, and recommended by Bishop Ken- rick, as " a work of great interest, directed to remove prejudice, and present the light of truth," is a defense of this service, from which we make the following quo- tation, — " ' But what good did all the blessing and sprinkling do the cattle, and their owners,' said Miss Leonard, ' when they left the good monk, just as vicious and distempered as when they came to him ? ' " " ' That is indeed begging the question,' said Ger- aldine \ *• 1 do not believe that the cattle were so much 90 after the blessing as before,' " ^ 1 Vol. iii. p. 40. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, 245 In another work of fiction, also, we lately found a rather more complete summing up of the benefits, as given by an Italian peasant, — " Is it not a good horse which we have? then it has also had this year St. Antonio's blessing ; my fellow decked him out witli bunches of silken ribbons, opened the Bible before him, and sprinkled him witli holy water ; and no devil, or evil eye, can have any influence on him this year." ^ From the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore, a broad, deserted avenue leads to that of St, John Lateran. This section of the city, indeed, seems scarcely in- habited, an air of desolation pervades it, and the ma- laria reigns on every side. And yet, a few centuries affo the Lateran Palace was esteemed the most salu- brious residence in Rome. Now it stands deserted, and as we look around, we see open fields and vineyards among the decaying houses, and silent moss-grown squares. This magnificent Basilica was commenced by Con- stantine in the fourth century, he assisting with his own hands to dig the fovindation. He had previously con- ferred upon the Church the adjoining Lateran Palace, — so called from Plautius Lateranus, who was put to death by Nero for being engaged in the conspiracy of Piso, — the beginning of those gifts to the Bishop of Rome, whicli drew forth the comments of Dante, when he thus lamented the system it originated, — "Ah, Constantine! to how much ill gave birth, Not thy conversion, but that plenteous dower, Which the first wealthy Father gained from thee." 2 For a thousand years this palace was the residence 1 The Improvisatore, vol. i. p. 29G. 2 /; Inferno, xix. 18. 246 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. of the Popes — the scene of all the licentiousness and fierce feuds of the Middle Ages, which finally wearied out men's minds, and prepared them to welcome the changes of the Reformation. The ceremony of taking possession of the palace is still the first form used after the election of the new Pope, although it has long ceased to be the Pontifical residence. In 1693 Inno- cent XII. turned it into an hospital for the poor, and in the last year a portion has been set apart for a mu- seum, to receive those works of art for which no room can be found in the Vatican. The Church itself has always been regarded as the first of Christian churches, and bears over its portal the proud inscription, — " Sacrosanct a Lateranensis Ec- CLESIA, OMNIUM URBIS ET ORBIS EcCLESIARUM MATER ET CAPUT." Its Chapter still takes precedence over that of St. Peter's, and thus, for fifteen centuries, it has retained its privileges. The exterior of the building is of a ponderous yet sumptuous architecture. It is, however, of that kind, overloaded with ornament, which seems to leave no definite impression on the mind. It has been truly remarked, that no one can look for half an hour at the simple Grecian temples at Psestum, without being able to make a rough sketch of them, while few of those even who have spent a winter at Kome, could give on paper any idea of the front of S. Maria Maggiore or St. John Lateran. The interior has a most imposing effect from the multitude of pillars which are seen, nearly three hundred being employed. There are five aisles, divided by four rows of piers. Its decora- tions, too, are rich in the extreme, corresponding with the rank, antiquity, and magnitude of the Basilica. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 247 The bronze tomb of Martin V., of the princely house of Colonna ; the Corsini Chapel, covered with the rich- est marbles, and bas-reliefs^ and gems ; and the Gothic tabernacle above the High Altar, constructed in the fourteenth century, to receive the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, which happened then to be discovered among the ruins of the old BasiHca, are unsurpassed in magnificence by anything in Rome. The devout Romanist visits this Church with rever- ence, on account of its multitude of precious relics. They are varied in their character, and certainly won- derful in their claims. There are divers pillars, some of which are from Pilate's house, and one belonged to the Temple at Jerusalem. It bears marks of the earth- quake which took place at the Crucifixion, having been at that time split in two. Here is a piece of the table on which our Lord and His disciples leaned when they ate the Last Supper; and on that slab of marble the Roman soldiers cast lots, when they divided the gar- ments of Christ. You cannot doubt the legend, for the stone itself bears the inscription, — " Et super vestem meam miserunt sortem." The one, however, which the priest evidently shows with the highest degree of satisfaction, is a marble altar, the very sight of which settles a theological difficulty, and should be sufficient to convert a heretic. A miracle, they tell us, was wrought upon it to prove the doctrine of transubstan- tiation. A priest, who had suffered some impious doubts on this point to enter his mind, was once stand- ing before it consecrating the elements, when as soon as the prayer had been pronounced, and the change taken place, the holy wafer fell from his hand, and sunk through the marble, leaving the marks of blood as it 248 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. went. The hole through which it passed, and the stain it made, are both before you ! This miracle took place at Bolsena, and in the Vatican is a fresco, by Raphael, intended to illustrate it. On one side of the altar stands the priest, for whose benefit the wonder had taken place, regarding the wafer with astonishment and reverence, while behind him are the choir boys, and people pressing forward, with awe and curiosity on their countenances. On the other side, Julius II. is kneeling in prayer, attended by his Cardinals and Swiss guards. But the student of ecclesiastical history has better reasons to enlist his interest in this ancient Church. Five General Councils, from the twelfth to the six- teenth century, met within its walls. In one of them, which was held a. d. 1215, were present, the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, four hundred Bishops, and Ambassadors of France, England, Hungary, Ara- gon, Sicily, and Cyprus. Here, too, for many centuries the Popes were always elected, and thus from these walls proceeded that influence which was to be felt throughout the Christian world. These were the recollections which crowded our minds as we stood within this silent Church, where no sound was heard but the scarcely audible voice of a priest celebrating the Mass in a distant chapel. And particularly we thought of the strange scene which took place when these arches rang with the name of Hilde- brand, as he was thus suddenly summoned to the Ponti- fical throne. It was on a morning of April, 1073, that before this High Altar stood the bier of Pope Alexander II., while the whole building was densely crowded with those who had come to witness the frmeral services, THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 249 The solemn requiem was wailing forth, and all were uniting in its petitions to commend the soul of the de- parted Pontiff to its Judge, when suddenly the softened strain was overwhelmed by a shout. None could tell by whom it was commenced, for it seemed to burst at once from every part of the edifice. The mighty crowd which had gathered there appeared to have but one voice. The cry was, " Hildebrand." " Hildebrand shall be Pope." " St. Peter chooses our Archdeacon Hildebrand." In vain did the subject of this uproar rush from the ftmeral procession to the pulpit, and, by impassioned gestures, implore silence. Ten thousand voices echoed the cry, — it swelled louder and louder, — nor did it cease till a Cardinal came forward and an- nounced, that " we, the Cardinal Bishops, do, with one voice, elect Hildebrand to be henceforth your spiritual pastor and our own." Eagerly was he hurried to the Pontifical throne ; arrayed hastily in the scarlet robe and tiara ; the Cardinals paid their obeisance, and the still louder shouts of the people hailed him as Gregory VII. Thus on this spot was consummated an election which was to result in crushing the feudal despotism of the age, wresting all sacerdotal power from the hands of the Emperor, and triumphantly asserting the loftiest claims of the Hierarchy, until the Roman Pon- tiff became the ruler of the civilized world. Nearly eight centuries have since gone by, but the spirit of Gregory is living still in the Church of Rome. It bears in its whole organization the impress of his gigantic character. In every department, — in its very frame and groundwork, — we can trace the influence of that tumultuous hour which then passed within these walls. 250 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. We left the Church, and stood for some time on its steps looking at the deserted avenues and squares around it. Directly in front towers up an obelisk, the loftiest in Rome. It rises in the air nearly one hundred and fifty feet, a single shaft of red granite, covered with hieroglyphics. Rameses erected it in Thebes, and Pliny tells us that he lived during the Trojan war. A hundred and twenty thousand men had been employed in cutting it from its native quarry, and there for ages it stood, under the burning sun of Egypt, and among its massive temples. Strange and mysterious rites were performed around it ; new creeds grew up ; revolutions rolled on ; dynasties passed away ; and as the centuries went by, it beheld one kingdom after another crumble into ruins at its base. At length, the people who reared it ceased to be a na- tion, — their antique faith vanished from the earth, — and the land around became once more a desert. Then came an iron race from the distant West, and after years of toil it was removed to gratify the pride of a Roman Emperor. Fourteen centuries have since passed, and we behold it now as fresh and unchano;ed as when it stood in the heart of Egypt, and the priests of Isis looked upon it towering above their Sacred Groves. It still bears upon its sides the chronicles of forgotten ages, but modern wisdom cannot decipher their strange characters. What a history could that old obelisk re- late, and to what a mysterious and shadowy antiquity does it carry back the mind ! On one side of the Basilica stands the Baptistery, a small octagonal building which is said to have been erected by the Emperor Constantine, and though fre- quently repaired, yet it has always been done in ac- THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 251 cordance with its original design. This account of its erection may be true, for it is the unvarying testimony of tradition. Within it is a large porphyry vase which is always shown as the one in which Constantine re- ceived the rite of Baptism. And yet, it is a fact proved by the authority of all Greek and Latin writers, that the first Christian Emperor was not initiated into the Church until sinking beneath his last mortal sickness, and then, the service was performed in a distant land. Theodoret says, " The Emperor was taken ill at Ni- comedia, a city of Bithynia. Being thus led to reflect on the uncertainty of life, he received the holy rite of Baptism, which he had intended to have defen'ed until he could be baptized in the river Jordan." ^ And Soc- rates confirms it with his authority : — "In the follow- ing year the Emperor Constantine was attacked with a dangerous malady ; he therefore left Constantinople, and made a voyage to Helenopolis, to try the effect of its medicinal hot springs. Perceiving, however, that his illness increased, he deferred the use of the baths ; and removing from Helenopolis to Nicomedia, he took up his residence in the suburbs, and there received Christian Baptism." ^ This fact, indeed, has always been one of the mysteries of ecclesiastical history. More than twenty-five years had passed since he avowed himself a Christian, before he took the very first step in the profession of our faith. Was it from supersti- tion, because he believed that Baptism washed away all sins of the past, and therefore it was well to defer it as late as possible ? Or, was it because he did not wish to alienate entirely his heathen subjects, lest in 1 Theod., Ecdes. Hist. lib. i. chap. 32. 2 Soc, Eccks. Hist. lib. i. chap. 39. 252 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. some unexpected emergency their allegiance should fail ; while at the same time the Christians who sur- rounded him, relieved from persecution, were willing to receive their Imperial convert on almost any terms, and therefore forbore too much to press this point, trusting that greater light would lead him naturally to adopt it ? As a fact, however, this delay of Baptism seems to be certain, and throws discredit, therefore, on the claims of the prophyry vase. But the use to which it was appropriated on the night of August 1st, A. D. 1347, has much more surely connected it with history. Then, the Tribune Rienzi watched through the midnight hom^s beside his armor, as was the custom of those who on the morrow were to receive the knightly order of the Santo Spirito, and from some strange association in his mind, — so colored by the wild mysticism which Arnold of Bres- cia had inculcated two centuries earlier, — he ordered his bath to be prepared in this vase which was looked upon as consecrated. But the Papal Court had no sympathy w^ith such visionary superstition, and when the Tribune fell and was imprisoned in the dungeons of Avignon, this act of sacrilege was one of the strongest charges against him. On the other side of the Basilica is a noble portico constructed by Sixtus V. and intended to cover the Seala Santa or Holy Staircase. This consists of twenty-eight broad marble steps, which tradition tells us are the indentical steps once belonging to Pilate's house, and by which our Lord descended when he left the Judgment Seat. The marvel of course is, that they could have escaped the destruction of Jerusalem, and all the vicissitudes which for centuries befell the THE CHRISTMAS BOLYDAYS IN ROME. 253 Christians. I find, however, upon consulting a Roman Cathohc work, the legend is, that during the forty years the judgments which fell on Jeinisalem were suspended, the Christians were on the watch to secure all the relics of their Master, and returning from Pella, after the siege, when terror and confusion reigned, they concealed and carried away the precious steps. No one is now permitted to ascend them but on their knees, and an Indulgence of about two hundred and fifty years is promised to each one who accomplishes the feat, at the same time, " devoutly meditating on the Passion." At whatever part of the day you are there, you see numbers going through the painful ser vice. Men and women — people of rank and beggars — old persons and children — are toiling up, often quite exhausted before they reach the top. When they have gained the highest step, they stoop down and kiss a brass cross inserted in the marble, and the pen- ance is over. At one time, indeed, there seemed to be danger that the marble itself would be worn out by the knees of the countless pilgrims who availed them- selves of the offers of Indulgence. By ordeV of Cle- ment XII., therefore, the steps were covered with planks of wood, which have been obliged to be re- newed three times. Luther tells us of an incident in his own life which occurred on this spot. When the poor Saxon monk was in Rome, while his mind was in its transition state, — disgusted with the superstitions around him, and yet not knowing to what else to turn, — he deter- mined to gain the Indulgence promised for ascending this staircase. While he was slowly climbing up, he seemed to hear a voice speaking from the depth of his 254 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, heart, " The just shall live by faith." He started in terror from the steps up which he had been crawling, and struck with shame at his degradation, fled from this scene of his folly. The little Chapel at the top contains a large number of relics, and is therefore so sacred that no woman is allowed to enter it. An inscription indeed states, that " there is no place more holy in all the w^orld." Among these relics are some of the barley -loaves and fishes, part of the purple robe, and of the reed with which Christ was smitten. The most remarkable, how- ever, is a very sacred painting, claiming to be a cor- rect likeness of our Lord at the age of twelve years. According to this portrait he Avas precisely five feet eight inches high at that age. It ^ was begun by St. Luke, but leaving it for a time, on his return he found it miraculously finished. On each side of the Holy Staircase is a lateral one, by which pilgrims can descend, and as these steps have not the same sanctity, they may be ascended also in the ordinary way. There is one other Church which deserves a brief notice. We rode out one afternoon to the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le mure^ on the road to Ostia, about two miles beyond the Porta San Paolo. Formerly, we are told, a portico, supported by marble pillars, and covered with gilt copper, extended the whole of this distance from the gate to the Church, but no traces of it can now be seen. Tradition informs us, that the original edifice was erected by Constantino on this spot, where repose the remains of the Apostle Paul. In the fourth century, a still more magnificent one was built by the Emperor Theodosius in its place, and thence- THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 255 forth it became a spot to which every pilgrim to the Holy City turned his steps. Ancient writers, indeed, seem hardly able to find words with which to describe its splendor. They tell us of its five aisles ; its lofty nave, two hundred and sixty feet long, and a hundred and forty wide ; its pillars, a hundred and thirty-eight in number, and of such rare marbles, and exquisite workmanship, that they were believed to have been transported from an Athenian temple described by Pausanius. Some were of porphyiy, and others of that beautiful marble called pavonazzo — white, tinged with delicate purple. On the top of these pillars was the celebrated series of portraits of the Popes, from St. Peter to Pius VII. Their true history seems to be, that they were commenced by Leo I. in the fifth cen- tury, who had his predecessors also painted. Before his time they are, of course, therefore imaginary, but afterwards, with some exceptions, they might have been genuine. But all this has long since passed away. About twenty years ago the Church took fire, and the flames raged with such violence that the whole was entirely consumed, and even the splendid columns completely calcined or split into fragments. The rebuilding, how- ever, was immediately commenced, on a scale which will be second only to St. Peter's, and large sums are constantly contributed by princes and sovereigns in all quarters of the world. The High Altar and transept have alone been finished, and many years will elapse before the nave is completed. Even as we saw it, how- ever, its magnificence is great, and the marble pillars are the most splendid we have ever seen. But, except as a mere monument, the Church will 256 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. be utterly useless, for no one can live in this neighbor- hood of pestilence. It stands in one of the most deadly portions of the Campagna, — the adjoining monastery of Benedictine monks has been for years almost de- serted, — and the road which leads to it from the city seems entirely unfrequented. Even the priests, who minister at the altars, can remain but for a short time in winter. As soon as the spring approaches, they are obliged to fly from the deadly malaria. For whose benefit, then, has this sumptuous pile been erected, and from whence are to come the worshippers ? May we not also ask the question, " To what purpose is this waste? " From thence the road leads on about three miles through low, marshy grounds, until we reach the spot on which St. Paul is said to have been beheaded. It is related that such was the manner of his death, his right as a Roman citizen having freed him from the more ignominious punishment of the Cross. Here stand close together three churches, which date from the early times of Christianity. In one of them, ^S'. Paolo alle tre Fontane^ are three fountains, which are said to have sprung up where the head of the Apostle struck and bounded three times. Though close together, the water is entirely different. In the first it is brackish, and of a milky color ; in the second it is less so, and in the third entirely pure. Here, too, are the same evi- dences of the malaria. There are but three priests to perform service, who in winter are relieved every week, and in summer merely go out to say Mass. And yet, with all these precautions, two had died during the season. They looked languid and miser- able, and said that rich, generous living was prescribed THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 257 for them, but one effect of the malaria was to take away all appetite. Such are a few of the Roman churches. With our ideas we can scarcely imagine the effect often produced. We leave the bright glare of an Italian sun, and when we enter, find, instead, a subdued and softened light ; the immense building perhaps stretches out with fiA'e aisles, and a perfect forest of Corinthian columns, the shafts of different colored and precious marbles. The ceiling is carved and gilt, while the pavement beneath is formed of mosaics. No pews obstruct the view, but we look through the whole immense length, and here and there, lessened by the distance, see some priest gliding noiselessly along, or some worshipper kneeling at a pillar's base, with his face turned to the altar. There seems a strange stilhiess in tlie very atmosphere — an impressive solemnity pervading the interior of the vast sanctuary. But whence came the means to erect these costly buildings? They were the free-will offerings which thousands made to their Lord — the donations of men who cared more for the glory of His house than for the splendor of their own residences. It is the fashion to call all this the fruit of superstition, but is it not thus too often that avarice and worldliness excuse their stinted avarice? Whatever other motives may have mingled in their minds, they who have thus sacrificed their worldlv wealth showed a realizinor sense of the life to come, and a belief that there is such a thing as " laying up treasures in heaven." 17 CHAPTER XX. EXHIBITION AT THE PROPAGANDA. FUNERALS. VESPERS AT THE CONVENT OF SANTA TRINITA. ^i^^lEAR our lodgings is the College of the Propaganda^ and we seldom pass it without seeing a Cardinal's carriao;e at the door. It was founded by Gregory XV., in 1622, and has since been justly regarded by the Church of Rome as her right arm of strength — the school in which are trained her missionaries for every foreign land. The building is vast, supplied with a magnificent library, and with a press by which books are printed in almost every known language. It is particularly rich in oriental characters, and has produced many works celebrated for their typographical beauty. The number of students — as I mentioned when speaking of the Epiphany services — is about eighty. It is of course a cherished and favored institution. When in Naples we saw a branch of it, devoted en- tirely to the instruction of young Chinese youths. It was an extensive establishment, but bearing marks of decay, and evidently not kept up as it once had been. The saloon into which we were first shown was painted with representations in fresco of the martyrdom of some of the Jesuit missionaries in China. It was once a handsome apartment, but now had a dingy, nnfur- THE CHRISTMAS HOLY DAYS IN ROME. 259 nished appearance. The priest who was at its head treated us with great poHteness, sending for all his pupils to introduce to us, and at his request they showed us the articles and utensils they had brought from their native land, read aloud to us from a Chinese book, and gave us our names written in the characters of their own lano-uage. The number at one time was large, but for some years has been gradually diminishing, and now only amounts to eight. One of these young men had been in the Institution thirteen years, and one had just arrived. After some years' training they generally go to Rome for a short time, and then return as mis- sionaries to their own country. The Examination has recently taken place at the In- stitution in Rome, and was followed by an Exliibition very much like those of our College Commencements. It consisted of Essays, Poems, and Colloques by the students, among whom were two from the United States. The Catholic character of the Institution is shown by the fact, that these compositions were in ffty-nfiine different languages and dialects. Cardinal Mezzofanti has since given me a programme of the ex- ercises, and I will copy the list of languages in which they were delivered, to show the wide reach taken by tlie missionary operations of this Church : — I. Ebbraico Letterale. XI. Arabo. II. Samaritano. XII. Kurdo. III. Etiopico. XIII. Persiano. IV. Cakleo Letterale. XIV. Indostano. V. Siriaco. XV. Turco. VI. Sabeo. XVI. Maltese. VII. Copto. XVII. Giorgiano. VIII. Greco Letterale. XVIII. Norwegiano. IX. Armeno Letterale. XIX. Dialogo Cinese Letterale, X. Ode Saffica Latina. (by two students from Siam.) 260 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. XX. Esametri Latini. XXI. Sanscrito. XXII. Concanico, (by a student from Goa.) XXIII. Singalese, (by a student from Ceylon.) XXIV. Amarico. XXV. Angolano. XXVI. Caldeo Volgare. XXVII. Ebraico Rabbinico. XXVIII. Armeno Odierno. XXIX. Greco Odierno. XXX. Sonetto Italiano. XXXI. Svedese. XXXII. Dialogo Peguano, (by two students from Pegu.) XXXIII. Inno Italiano. XXXIV. Illirico. XXXV. Albanese. XXXVI. Polacco. XXXVir. Sloveno. XXXVIII. Bulgaro. XXXIX. Tedesco antico. XL. Tedesco Letterale. XLI. Swizzero. XLII. Lingua della Rezia. XLIII. Olandese. XLIV. Danese. XLV. Inglese, (by Sig. Elder of Baltimore.) XLVI. Scozzese. XLVII. Celtico. XL VIII. Irlandese. XLIX. Chilese. L. Spagnuolo. LI. Portoghese. LII. Catalano LIII. Francese. LIV. Terzine, [ington.; fby Sig. Cummings of Wash- LV. Siciliano. LVI. Nizzardo. LVII. Epigramma Latino. LVIII. Dialogo Cinese Odierno, (by three Chinese students.) LIX. Lingua Originaria della Nu- ova Olanda. (by the Missionary Apostolic and Vicar-General of Kew Holland.) I copy this as a curiosity. We often hear of the many languages spoken by the students in tliis College from all parts of the world, and here is an exhibition of what is really done. When shall our own Church be thus prepared to go forth with the pure Gospel to " all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues ! " There are probably few communities in the world which can equal that of Rome in charitable associations. They are called Confraternities^ and are formed by the voluntary union of individuals, often of high rank, who 111 the midst of all the wretchedness around them, de- vote a portion of their time to its relief. Many of these THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 261 are never seen by the mere traveller, or their existence even suspected, for their sphere of labor is private, yet it would be difficult to estimate the amount of happiness they must diffuse. One fraternity, for example, is intended to seek out humble but respectable families who would not be likely to apply for alms, and in some delicate way to relieve their necessities. The members of another visit the hospitals, learn the situation of the patients, and often personally attend to them. Others visit the jails, and furnish comfort and support to prisoners who are without friends or means. Others by voluntary donations pay debts which the poor have unavoidably contracted, and thus relieve their minds from trouble. Others seek the sick through the abodes of wretch- edness in the city, supply them with food, medicine, and professional assistance, and attend them through their illness. Others come in when the last hour is over, defray the expenses of the burial, attend to the performance of the religious rites, and themselves bear the body to the grave. ^ Such are their self-denying labors for the relief of suflPering humanity. The wretched need no other claim upon them, except that they share in a com- mon nature. No "Anniversary" is required to awaken their flagging zeal ; no " Report " is sent out on the wings of the press, to trumpet forth their do- ings to the world ; no " List of subscribers " pub- lishes their charities through the land. The members indeed scarcely know each other, for their visits are made in the dress of the fraternity, so that none can recognize the individuals. But year after year they 1 Eustace, Class. Tour, iii. p. 263. 262 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, labor on — uncheered by the voice of human praise — their good deeds known only to their Father who seeth in secret. Those who attend to funerals, we have frequently seen when engaged in the performance of this duty. They form that " Ancient Brotherhood " — as Rogers calls it — which extends over all Italy. Men of the highest rank — laymen as well as priests — belong to it, and when summoned to this charitable work they go forth shrouded in white dresses, with high pointed cowls on their heads, veiling their faces, and leaving only holes for the eyes. There is something peculiarly ghastly in their whole appearance, so that when they walk behind the dead, "they seem," says Corinne, " like the ghosts of those they follow." " There is much solemnity in funerals abroad, where the Church steps in at once, and takes possession of the deceased as under its protection, under the sanc- tion of its religious authority ; and if it makes an exhi- bition, it is with authority, and this proclamation has lioliness in it. All that is not ecclesiastical is kept out of sight. There is nothing intermediate between the deceased and the Church. The undertaker interferes not, intrudes not here to spoil all. Death, it is true, reigns for the hour, but Keligion triumphs. The Church certifies the triumph, and the resurrection." ^ We have often had these feelings while in Rome, for there is nothing more striking there than their funeral processions. They always take place at night, when the darkness seems in unison with the service, and we have never met them passing through the streets, without being arrested by the solemnity of the 1 Prof. Wilson's Miscvllanies, iii. p. 79. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 263 scene. The corpse is generally borne upon an open bier ; the head exposed, ghastly and white as marble ; the feet, too, uncovered ; and the light pall thrown over the body, showing plainly its shape and outline. The hands are clasped upon the breast, as if the departed had died in prayer, and the attitude had been left un- changed. Everything in the service is intended to be signifi- cant of the hour when the dead shall rise again from the dust. The priests bear lights, to signify that im- mediately before the general Resurrection " the stars shall fall from heaven ; " and the Cross, to denote that then " the sign of the Son of Man shall be seen." The mournful notes in which they sing the Peniten- tial Psalms, declare that in that hour " all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him ; " while the bells, which are heard ceaselessly ringing, call upon all to pray for the peace of the departed soul. The bier is borne by these hooded brothers, while other members of the fraternity carry tall w^axen tapers, which flicker in the evening wind and throw their light upon the corpse, deepening the shadows, and bringing out everything in bold relief. And as the solemn procession sweeps by, they chant in melancholy tones the funeral anthem : — " Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando Judex est venturus Cuncta stricte discussurus ! " Turba mirum spargens sonum Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum. 264 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. " Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patron um rogaturus, Cum vix Justus sit securus? " ^ There is something indescribably touching in the whole service, as we see the glancing lights at a dis- tance, or hear their old monastic chants floating through the long dark streets. Sometimes the voices would have about them a sorrowful wail, as if lamenting the lot of poor humanity, and crying over him they were bearing along, " Alas, for thee, my brother ! " Then would come a louder strain, swelling out like the surges of a far-off" sea, partaking even of a sound of triumph, as if they celebrated the victory which one day the dead should have over the grave. And then, once more, it would sink into a mournful note, and faintly you would catch the words of the solemn dirge they were hymning, as the wind bore to you the plain- tive prayer, — " Miserere Domine ! " There can be no life more difficult than that which passes within a convent. Its members enter, and are at once cut off" from all intercourse with the outward , 1 " How shall poor mortals quake with fears, When their impartial Judge appears, Who all their causes strictly hears ! " His trumpet sends a dreadful tone ; The noise through all the graves is blown, And calls the dead before His throne. " What plea can I, in sin, pretend? What patron move to stand my friend, When scarce the just themselves defend? '* THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 265 world, except what they can have within the hmits of the high- walled garden around them. The objects of deepest earthly interest they know, are the trees and flowers whose growth they watch, and the birds which pay them a passing visit. No changes come to them, except those wrought by the gradual approach of age, as with stealthy step it almost imperceptibly draws nigh. No field of outward labor occupies their thoughts, but everything is centred in themselves. And thus they go on through long years of solitary watching, and mortification, and weariness, and perpetual prayer, vinvisited by any of those joys which gather around the path of social life, until at last, they quietly lie down to their long sleep in the humble cemetery of the convent. But if any have a pleasant lot, it must be the Sisters of the Convent of Santa Trinita. It is situated on the Pincian Hill, looking over the whole of Rome which rises beneath it, with its pinnacles, and domes, and towers. What a dreamy existence must its in- mates pass, while everything on which the eye rests invites to meditation ! The deep blue of an Italian sky is over their heads, the luxuriance of nature is around them, while at their feet are scattered the noblest monuments of ages that are gone. We had frequently been told that the most touching music to be heard in Rome was that of their Vesper service, but that some persons having lately misbehaved during its perfor- mance, an order had been issued to exclude all Protes- tants. For this of course we could not blame them. No one has a right to go into a foreign church merely to gratify his curiosity, and then by levity interrupt the worship. However he may differ from them, he 266 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. should regard tlieir feelings for the sanctity of the place and the service. But the conduct of foreigners in Rome is generally in this particular very exception- able. They seem to regard the most solemn rites and ceremonies of the Church of Rome as merely intended for their amusement, and act accordingly. There cer- tainly is nothing religious in their conduct, and the most we can say of it is that it may be somewhat classical, for they take in a degree the place of the Chorus in the ancient Greek Tragedy, by continually making tlieir comments aloud, and giving their opinion on whatever is going forward. Some of our friends had lately attempted to gain admittance to this service, but without success. We determined, however, to make the trial, and one after- noon walked up to the Convent. The chapel was closed, so we proceeded to a side door and boldly rang the bell. In a moment, a nun in her close white cap appeared at the little grating, and after reconnoitring us, inquired our business. We stated, that we came to attend Vespers ; whereupon we were informed that we could not be admitted, and the grating closed. We lingered about on the Pincian Hill, until a short time after seeing some persons ascend the steps who we supposed to be members of the Roman Catholic Church, we joined them and mingled with their party. Fortunately a different nun came to the grating, through which a brief conversation took place, when the door opened, and we all quietly walked in to- gether. The upper part of the chapel was separated from the rest by a high grating, within which was the altar, while at the other end was a lofty organ gallery com- THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 267 municating with the Convent. In a few moments a priest with four or five attendants entered, and knelt before the Altar. Then a side door within the grating opened, and some forty scholars, their heads covered with white veils, came in, and after gracefully kneel- ing for a moment before the crucifix, ranged them- selves on each side. In the high choir gallery we could just see the white caps of the nuns appearing above the railing. At length the service began. The organ played a few fitful notes, when a single female voice was heard from among the nuns chanting in the most plaintive manner. It seemed indeed to wail out as if a funeral dirge. Others presently joined in, and the sounds sweetly filled the chapel. They ceased, and instantly were heard the manly voices of the priest and his at- tendants, as kneeling like statues, with their faces towards the altar, they sang the response. Then came again those soft and melancholy tones from the organ gallery, and thus they alternated through the whole Evening Psalms. It was the only time in the service of the Church that we had heard male and female voices together, and the contrast was striking. I know not why it was too that the voices of these nuns sounded so plaintively, but they seemed in harmony with the service, heard in the waning twilight ; and the whole effect was deeply devotional. The tones at times seemed to be almost unearthly, as if they had been purified from the frailty of this lower world — the out- pourings of a spirit utterly divorced from all the cares of this wearing life, — " Musical, but sadly sweet." 268 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. Madame de Stael says, " Those who have not heard Italian singing can form no idea of music. The human voice is soft and sweet as the flowers and skies. This charm was made but for sucii a clime : each reflect the other. The Italians have ever devotedly loved music. Dante, in his ' Purgatory,' meets the best singer of his day, and asks him for one of his delicious airs. The entranced spirits forget themselves as they hear it, until their guardian recalls them to the truth." And this view of Italian enthusiasm is correct. In other lands they may bring music to the highest point of perfect execution, but here they seem intensely to feel it. The sweet sounds to which they listen enter into their very souls. And when, in addition, the senti- ments embodied lead our thoughts on to the solemn re- alities of the future, the strains fall upon the ear with a touching power of which words can give no adequate idea. But to return to the Convent Vespers. Besides ourselves, there were only about forty persons present, all of whom were undoubtedly members of the Church of Rome, except one English gentleman, who probably gained admission very much as we did. Their deeply devotional manner, as they knelt upon the marble pavement, contributed much to the solemnity of the scene. They were evidently not mere spectators, but worshippers. As the service proceeded, the twilight deepened, the incense spread through the dark arches above us like a thin white cloud, and the only lights being the candles about the Altar, the rest of the chapel was gradually involved in gloom. There was an absence of all that parade and show which gener- ally mark the services of the Church of Rome, and THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 269 altogether it was the most impressive one which we attended in Italy. For months afterwards we were haunted by the solemn melody of these tremulous, plaintive tones. They reminded us of those " spiritual creatures," whose songs, when " in full harmonic num- ber joined," our first parents heard in the bowers of Paradise, " from the steep of echoing hill or thicket " — " Celestial voices Sole, or responsive each to other's note, Singing their great Creator ! '* CHAPTER XXI. THE ROMAN PEOPLE. THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE PAPAL COURT. T is the fashion to abuse the Itahans. Trav- ellers pass through the country, meeting only the custom-house officers, the postilions, and the hangers-on at inns, and decide authori- tatively on the worthlessness of the people. It is, of course, evident, that they see the woi'st portion, and can learn no thin o; of those traits of national character which lie below the surface. The first view is cer- tainly not prepossessing. The traveller finds wretched- ness on every side of him, and therefore records at once a condemnation against the whole country, which a little more time induces him to revoke. Such was the case with Shelley. Nothing can be more widely dif- ferent than the opinion which he expresses of the peo- ple on first entering Italy, and that which we find in his letters only six weeks afterwards. And this is particularly the case in the Papal States. Your first greeting is from a crowd of beggars. In Tus- cany nothing of the kind is seen, and it proves there- fore that the evil is the result of wretched government. During a residence of several weeks in Florence, we were scarcely ever asked for charity, and on our way through the country saw only an active, industrious population. The instant, however, that we once more THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 271 crossed the frontiers, and entered the territories of the Church, on our way to Bologna, the old scene was re- newed, and the carriage surrounded by swarms, en- treating relief in the name of the Madonna, and all the saints in the Calendar. In Rome itself we meet with apparently the most wretched population in all Italy. There is no trade or commerce, and it seems as if half the people supported themselves by begging. Wherever you go, they gather around, and you have constantly dinned into your ears, *''' Caritd^ forestieri'''' (charity, strangers). They par- ticularly collect on the steps of the Scala di Spagna^ because strangers generally reside in that vicinity, and there they lie in wait, wishing you " good morning," and for a hajoecho^ adding to it a profusion of prayers for your welfare. In addition to the difficulty of find- ing any employment, this delicious climate probably indisposes them to active exertion. Their maxim is, ^•^ Dolce far niente^^ (it is sweet to do nothing), and they make life one long siesta. It glides away in a graceful listlossness, — a dreamy, sleepy indolence, — until illness, or the feebleness of age, warns them that they will soon have done with it forever. Then, some Brotherhood nurses them in their last agonies, and buries them when dead. This state of things, it is true, cannot be pleasant to a stranger, for it brings constantly before him, misery, real or feigned, in every form, until there is danger lest his heart may at last become hardened against every exhibition. Robberies, too, are frequent. Almost the only light in the narrow streets is that which comes from the faintly twinkling lamps hung before the pictures of the Ma- donna. There is ample opportunity, therefore, for the 272 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME, assassin to do his work, and, concealed in a dark alley or doorway, he waits to spring on the passer-by. With him the old demand — " Your money or your life " — means something. The former must be immediately forthcoming, or the latter is gone ; for the stiletto is sharp, and the arm that wields it skillful. Passengers, therefore, at night walk carefully in the middle of the street, looking around them with the cautious air of men, who feel that they are in an enemy's country. As it is, every week we have the tale of some murders committed. No newspaper, indeed, records them, for it is the policy of government to hush up such proofs of its weakness, yet still they are whispered about as items of the daily news. In this respect Rome is a miserable contrast to Vienna, where, so admirable are the police arrangements, that a female might at mid- night walk alone, from one end of the city to the other, without being insulted. These are things most obvious to a traveller, and which interfere most with his comfort, but they are not to be charged on the great body of the people. They are, indeed, hasty and fiery in disposition, but by no means cruel or sanguinary, and their crimes are very often the result of some sudden and almost irresistible impulse. The man of whom you hear as having, in a moment of passion, taken life, perhaps gives himself up to agonies of mind infinitely worse than the scaffold, and then passes his remaining days in a monastery, to atone, by bitter repentance, for his sin. Such are the extremes of Italian character. Most travellers prefer the Neapolitans to the Ro- mans. They are charmed with the light-hearted, merry air of the poor lazzaroni, or amused with THE CHRISTMAS HOLY DAYS IN ROME. 273 the strange contrast in their traits. With scarcely any clothing, and no home nearer than the grave, — through the day lounging in the sun of their delightful climate, and at night sleeping in the grotto of Posi- lippo, or any other shelter that is at hand ■ — steeped to the lips in poverty, and with no prospect before them but to die in a hospital, and be buried like a dog in the Campo Santo, — you would, of course, expect to find them reduced to the lowest state of brutal degradation. And yet, go out on the Mole of a beautiful day, and you will see a circle of these homeless wretches gath- ered around some reader, whom they have hired for a few grana to recite to them the " Orlando Furioso " of Ariosto, or the lofty strains of Tasso. All this, of course, fascinates a casual observer, but I prefer the Romans. They have less frivolity; more depth and solidity ; more of the haughtiness and resei've of the Spaniard — in short, more character than the Neapoli- tans. At the same time, they excel tlie French in sincerity, and the Germans in refinement. The knowl- edge of the arts, which they imbibe from their child- hood with the very air they breathe gives them a grace of mind, and a degree of civilization, which would sur- prise one able to look below the surface. The forms of expression, too, used by the lower orders have often an air of poetry about them, which contrasts strikingly with the uncouth speech, and glaring vulgarisms of the same classes in Northern Europe. It is, indeed, customary with us to ridicule them for their supersti- tions, yet, with the faith in which they were instructed, would it not be a miracle if it were otherwise ? And, besides this, should not the land which has witnessed Salem witchcraft and Mormonism — without mention- is 274 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. iiig countless other developments of fierce fanaticism — remember the line — "Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur? " Those who know them best commend them for being kind-hearted and generous. Charitable we know they are, and the manner in which they minister to tlie wants of those poorer than themselves, might teach a useful lesson to many who pride themselves on their refinement and purer faith. We refer here to the common people, for as a class they are far superior to their nobles. This, indeed, is the case through all Southern Europe, and even in Spain, where the claims of descent are still so much respected. There the An- dalusian peasant is a much nobler being than his lord. How far the stream of Koman blood has remained unmixed with that of the barbarians, who in succession became masters of the city, we cannot of course tell. In one district of Rome, on the further side of the Tiber, live a peculiar race, who probably, more than any others, retain the traits w^hich are left of the ancient inhabitants. They are the Trasteverini^ boast- ing themselves the sole, unmingled descendants of the old masters of the world. You can detect them any- where by their noble figures and haughty bearing, as if they had the consciousness of being of a superior race. "In the tall forms, and bold profiles, of the Trasteverini women, the matrons of Rome might still discern their true successors, fi'esh mothers of new Gracchi ; and in the fiery eye of many a male, in that wild Janiculum suburb, or among the fierce Montigiani, there linger, yet unquenched, the lightnings before which client kings and suppliant ambassadors, were THE CHRISTMAS HOLY DAYS IN ROME. 275 wont to quail." ^ They are most careful to prevent any intermarriage with those around them ; no worldly temptation, indeed, seems strong enough to induce tliem to contract an alliance out of their own clan. Their dress is peculiar: the men having a jacket of black velvet thrown over their shoulders, a crimson sasli round their waist, and large silver buckles on their shoes ; while the women, particularly on fete days, are gayly attired in velvet bodices, laced with gold, scarlet aprons, and their hair braided in silken nets, with large silver bodkins. Even their section of the city seems to be less changed than the rest. Their churches are old temples, but little altered ; the bridges which connect them with the city occupy the same sites as those which were built two thousand years ago ; and among them, they still point to one which has taken the place of that Horatius Codes so gallantly de- fended. The inhabitants seem to have all the lofty spirit of those they claim as ancestors, but there is no worthy object to which to direct it. Such then are the modern Romans, and we have given this sketch because we believe that degraded as we often see them, they possess within themselves the elements of better things. A wretched government has made them what they are. Crushing all enter- prise, and discouraging any studies which may give evidence of an inquiring mind, what does it leave to its subjects but a life of hopeless inactivitj^ ? They have nothing to do — nothing for which to strive, — nothing which it is possible for them to achieve. The time when Rome enjoyed its greatest prosperity was undoubtedly during the brief rule of the French. 1 F. W. Faber. 276 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. When they constituted it " the Department of the Tiber," almost their first act was, the formation of an Institute of twenty-four Professors. The abuses in the administration of justice were at once removed ; asy- lums for assassins abohshed ; murderers torn even from the altar to receive their punishment ; and for the first time in many centuries, life began to be safe within the walls of the Eternal City. The fiery spirit of the Trasteverini impelled them to some outrage, and immediately a strong force crossed the Tiber, marched into their section, seized the ringleaders, and shot twenty-tw^o when surrounded by their own clans- men. From that time there was the most perfect peace in the Trastevere. The feudalities of the nobles too were abolished, and the power of life and death on their estates taken from them. Prince Doria, it is said, at that time, surrendered ninety fiefs, and Bor- ghese as many. A pressure — the crushing weight of centuries of religious despotism — seemed to be removed from Rome, and a new life began to be breathed into its people. Nor did the antiquities escape their care. The Column of Trajan, part of the Forum, and the Baths of Titus, were excavated under their direction ; and more w^as accomplished in a few months than had previously been done in a score of years. We have already mentioned — in describing the Vatican — that one of Napoleon's great schemes was, to carry out the plan of Raphael and have a thorough exploration of all the ruins, the execution of which was only prevented by his fall. The Church too was cleared of the incumbrances by which it had been crippled for so long a time. This THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 277 was effected by the sale of public lands, and when Pius VII. returned, he found that debts to the amount of millions had been liquidated, and in place of bank- ruptcy he had an overflowing treasury. Such was the state of things when the French rule ended. The old government resumed its sway, and at once Rome glided back to the sixteenth century. If the wave of a magician's wand could in an instant transform England into what it was in the days of the Tudors, it would not be a greater change. Industry and energy only rendered their possessor liable to suspicion, and were of course seen no longer.^ The countless ecclesiastics who filled the streets under the old rSgime once more reappeared, and Rome became again what we see it now — the city of priests and beggars. From that time the people were again crushed down by the most grievous of all tyrannies, — that which enchains the soul and the intellect, as well as the body. The most jealous surveillance is kept up, strangers are narrowly watched, the strictest care is taken to exclude all heretical works, and even scientific re- searches are discouraged. Politics of course never form a subject of conversation among the people, for they have no right even to have opinions on these 1 One result of this naturally was, the immediate formation of a new Tapal debt. In 1831 it had increased to six hundred millions of Italian lire — more than twelve hundred thousand dollars, — and it has since been steadily growing. In 1832 such was the exhausted state of the public Treasury, that a foreign loan was negotiated, one was imposed on the prin- cipal cities, the funds of some of the charitable institutions in Bologna were seized, and the land-tax was increased a third: other loans were effected in succeeding years. No variety of expedient has been left un- tried, and yet the financial position of the government daily becomes more critical. 278 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. points. The object seems to be to keep them in ig- norance of what is passing in the rest of the world. Every little while the officers of the Police make a de- scent on Molandini's small circulating Library, — which, by the way, is used almost entirely by foreigners, — and seize every volume which they consider exceptionable. Not a Prayer-book for the British Chapel can be kept for sale in the city, but all are obliged to be smuggled in the baggage of travellers. While we were there, there was a notice one morning at the Reading-room, that the last few numbers of the " London Times " could not be placed on the files. They contained something which the Government did not like, and had been seized by the Police. None therefore could be delivered from the Post-office, and the English had to go without the latest news from home.. There is a little paper published several times a week, not much larger than a sheet of foolscap, but it is principally filled with notices of the Papal Court, festivals and fast days, services, sermons, and ecclesiastics. Any item of foreign news is generally with reference to the movements of some Royal family ; that " the Emperor of Austria has taken up his residence for the summer at the Palace of Schonbrunn," or something equally important. And this is the intellectual liberty allowed by the Papal Government. Can we expect anything therefore from the people ? Our only wonder is, that every spark of generous or lofty emotions is not long since trampled out, and finding them as they are, we do not feel prepared to assent to Dante's charge, when he describes them as — " the people which of all the world Degenerates most." i 1 n Paradiso, Cant. xvi. 1. 56. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 279 Mazzini, one of their own exiles, thus describes his native land : " In Italy nothing speaks. Silence is the common law. The people are silent by reason of terror, the masters are silent from policy. Conspira- cies, strife, persecution, vengeance, all exist, but make no noise ; they excite neither applause nor complaint : one might fancy the very steps of the scaffold were spread with velvet, so little noise do heads make when they fall." Occasionally indeed there is an outbreak, but the Austrian troops march in, and their bayonets soon re- store the cause of despotism. Yet beneath its surface the spirit of the old Carbonari still " lives, and moves, and has its being." That deep feeling of which the stern enthusiast, Arnold of Brescia, the plebeian Rienzi, and the patrician Stefano Porcaro, were in succession the developments, and which in later days burns in every page of Alfieri, is only bidincr its time to come forth in action. We met with individuals dispersed here and there who were writhing under the foreign yoke, and when they found we were foreigners, threw aside the customary caution and gave utterance to their indignant thoughts. The society of '< Young Italy " still exists in depths to which even an Austrian police cannot penetrate, striking its roots evervwhere and reacliing each rank of society. Its objects are, the expulsion of the Imperial troops and the liberation of Italy ; its union under one government, with Rome for tiie capital ; and the redaction of the Pope to his spirit- ual duties as a Christian Bishop. Its members are often men, who, like " the last of the Tribunes," look beyond the feudal forms of the Middle Ages, and feed the kindling fires of their minds by recollections of 280 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. ancient Classic Rome. The very beauty of their land, rich in so many haunting memories, presents to them its ceaseless appeal. As they wander among its an- tique monuments, the admonitus locorum awakens every noble impulse, and speaks to their souls like a clarion's voice. And we trust that one day the time will come, when from the plains of the soft Campania, the hoary relics of Imperial Rome, the sea-girt palaces of Venice, and the olive-groves of fair Milan, shall burst one wild shout, the voice of a people rising in its might — the herald of returning freedom. And then, when their magnificent designs are accomplished, and the name of Italy is once more written among the nations of the world, another Sismondi will be needed to continue her history, assuming for his work indeed a happier name than that which the last adopted, when he was forced to inscribe upon his title-page — " Italian Re- publics ; or, the origin, progress, and fall of Italian freedom,^'' CHAPTER XXII. THE PAPAL CHURCH. HE theory on which the Roman Government is founded is a noble one, — that of rendering everything subsidiary to rehgion. The whole object and aim of the civil authorities is, the advancement of their faith. And, since they are clothed with despotic power to accomplish this end, we should suppose they would wield an overpowering in- fluence for the spiritual benefit of their people. Why is it then that ignorance and degradation, are so much the characteristics of the Roman populace, except that their Church does not well and worthily use the power with which it has been intrusted ? We would attempt, however, with diffidence, the ex- pression of an opinion on the religious state of Rome. It is most difficult, in a foreign land, to decide on the spiritual significancy with which the people invest their many ceremonies, or the degree of moral influence which these rites exert over them. Everything is, of course, more prominently brought before us, than humble, unostentatious devotion. Of the possessors of this spirit, the world knows not. Christ's true follow- ers are often his "hidden ones." Generally, indeed, we learn nothing of a system but its glaring abuses, and from these we form our estimate. We look, for instance, upon a monastery, but remember not how 282 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. many fervent prayers ascend from its altars, or how many hearts, in its gloomy cells, may be disciplining themselves by bitter penitence for the world to come. We think only of the corruptions of the system, — and they are, of course, too great to allow us ever to wish for its restoration, — yet may there not be many a spirit struggling through them, and, in spite of every diffi- culty, painfully winning its way on to purity and peace ? The latter is the suggestion of charity, which we too often forget. It is in this spirit, indeed, that those without her fold are too much accustomed to estimate everything which relates to the Church of Rome. They look at her course through the Middle Ages, and denounce it all as one long period of evil and darkness. And yet, at that time, the Church — changed as she may have been from her early purity — was the only antagonist of the ignorance and vice, which characterized the feudal sys- tem. It was a conflict of mental with physical power, and by the victory she gained, the world was rescued from a debasing despotism, the triumph of which would have plunged our race into hopeless slavery. If the Church substituted another tyranny in its place, it was a better one. It was something which acted on the moral impulses of man, and endeavored in its own way to guide him on to sanctity. No one, indeed, can read the writers of the " Ages " which we call " Dark," without feeling that beneath the surface was a depth of devotion, and a degree of intellectual light, for which they have never received due credit.^ An isolated pas- 1 To any one who wishes to see the oft-repeated stories of the ignorance of " the Darh Ages " most ably refuted, we would recommend Maitland's Dark Ages. THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. 283 sage, or a brief allusion, discover, perhaps, a thorough acquaintance with a truth, which w^e have been accus- tomed to consider utterly forgotten, until rediscovered at the time of the Reformation. Look at one sinorle example of this in the poems of a Spanish cavalier, Don George Manrique, who was killed in the year 1479. Where, in the present day, can Ave find a clearer state- ment of one of the great doctrines of our faith, than is given in the following verse ? — " Thou, that for our sins didst take A human form, and humbly make Thy home on earth ; Thou, that to Thy divinity A human nature didst ally By mortal birth, — And in that form didst suffer here Torment, and agon^-^, and fear, So patiently; By Thy redeeming grace alone, And not for merits of my own, O pardon me ! " i And yet, this was written years before Luther was born ; and it was a popular ballad in Spain, sung in the castles of her nobles, and in her peasant homes through many a retired valley, nearly lialf a century before the Reformation began. We mention this merely to show how erroneous is popular judgment on such subjects, and the necessity there is for estimating with caution the degree of intellectual or spiritual light possessed by masses of men with whom our acquaintance, is neces- sarily very limited. There are, how^ever, many practices of the Church of Rome, wdiich are here constantly before our eyes, so utterly at variance with every principle of true Catho- lic faith, that the most enlarged charity cannot forbid 1 Longfellow's translation. 284 THE CHRISTMAS HOLYDAYS IN ROME. our tliorousli condemnation. Some of these — the rehcs and statue in St. Peter's, the face in the Mam- ertine prisons^ the inscription on the Cross of the Co- Hseum, the services of St. Anthony's Day, and the Santa Scala — we have already mentioned in previous chapters. In the few following pages, therefore, we shall endeavor to speak of others which are most ob- vious. In this city the Church is always before us. Its holy days are enforced by law, when the shops are obliged to be closed, and all business is suspended. The magnificent carriages of the Cardinals constantly dash by ; processions each day pass our windows, with their lighted tapers, chanting the service as they carry the Host, and all kneel on the pavement while they remain in hearing. Wherever we walk, we find throngs of ecclesiastics of every kind. The pilgrim is here, with his " sandal-shoon and scollop-shell ; " the lordly-looking priest, with his ample cloak and shovel hat, and long lines of friars, — " White, black, and gray, with all their trampery." In the city of Rome their number is estimated at one in twenty-five of the population, while in the whole Papal dominions there are said to be (including nuns) nearly fifty-five thousand, — certainly ten times the number necessary for the spiritual wants of the peo- ple. The support for all this army is, of course, drawn from the impoverished inhabitants. Of relics it is almost superfluous to w^ite, for every church has its abundant share of bones, and ashes, and blood, of the Saints. In the Church of San Lorenzo we were shown the gridiron on which St. Lawrence suf- THE CHRISTMAS HOLY DAYS IN ROME. 285 fered martyrdom, some of his teeth, and vials of his blood. In the Church of St. Praxides are marble panels, on which are engraved a list of the relics they have preserved. It is too long for insertion here, but we make from it the following selection : A tooth of St. Peter ; a tooth of St. Paul ; a part of the blessed Virgin Mary's chemise ; part of the girdle of our Lord ; part of the rod of Moses ; part of the earth on which our Lord prayed before his Passion ; part of the sponge with which they gave our Lord to drink, and of the reed on which it was placed ; part of the sepulchre of the Virgin Mary ; a picture of our Lord, which St. Peter gave to Prudens, the father of St. Praxides ; part of the towel with which our Lord wiped his disciples' feet ; part of the swaddling-clothes in which our Lord was wrapped at his Nativity ; part of his seamless garment ; three thorns from his crown, and four fragments of the true Cross. We have copied about one quarter : these, however, are sufficient to show the objects of reverence which are exhibited in every church to the credulity of the faithful. One of the most fatal of their doctrines is that of Indulgences. It seems to be expressed so broadly and unequivocally, that there can be but one way of under- standing it. Over the door of almost every church is the inscription — " Indulgentia plenaria quotidiana PERPETUA PRO vivis ET DEFUNCTis." In the Church erected above the Mamertine prisons is a long Italian inscription, of which we translate the following por- tion : " From a prison it was consecrated a Church in honor of the said holy Apostles, by Saint Sylvester, Pope, at the prayer of the Emperor Constantine the Great, and he gave it the name of