Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 93, No. 570, April, 1863Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 93, No. 570, April, 1863
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
very prominent place in the third. In private life he was highly
estimable, possessing, however, few of those qualities which gather
round their owner troops of devoted friends. His manners were reserved,
except with those who knew him intimately; his nature was proud, but he
was kind-hearted, charitable, and deeply religious—being free from the
two extremes of silly mannerism on the one hand, and pharisaical
austerity on the other. He was buried in the churchyard of his own
village, only the members of his family and a few old friends following
him to the grave.
THE INEXHAUSTIBLE CAPITAL.[3]
Footnote 3:
‘Roba di Roma.’ By William W. Story. 2 vols. London, 1863.
If, at some future day, perhaps still remote, when the present wearer of
the triple tiara shall have descended into the tomb, and when the power
of some who now support him shall be numbered with the things that were,
Rome, in compliance with the wishes of Italy, shall become the capital
of that fairest of European kingdoms, there will be one class of persons
who, although they may not regret it, will be losers by the change, and
those are the foreigners, especially English, who, for six months of the
year, take possession of all that is best in the papal metropolis. In
addition to its garrison of French troops, that renowned city has now
for many years submitted—with a far better will than it does to the
presence of Gallic legions—to a foreign occupation of a more agreeable
and profitable description. Combining more varied attractions than any
other city in the world, Rome has become the first watering-place in
Europe. Its waters of Trevi are as fascinating to votaries of pleasure
and lovers of art as the most salutary springs to seekers after health.
Its galleries and antiquities offer years of occupation, even to the
most sedulous of visitors, before these can say that they have
sufficiently seen and studied them; its winter gaieties and amusements
are abundant to satisfy the greediest of such enjoyments; during its
long spring (and much of what is winter elsewhere is spring at Rome)
lovers of pleasant rides and delightful scenery discover that in such
does the Campagna abound. But still, to that majority of its foreign
visitors which soon become sated with pictures and statues and classical
remains, Rome’s chief attraction is unquestionably the pomps and
ceremonies, the splendour and the shrines of that Church whose
headquarters the Italians so earnestly desire to see transported beyond
the limits of Italy. Remove the Pope, and of course there is an end to
the grand solemnities in which he is the most prominent figure; to the
magnificent _funzioni_ of Holy Week, to witness which thousands annually
flock to Rome, filling to the roof every hotel and lodging-house; to
gorgeous ceremonials, brilliant processions, and high festivals; to the
chairing of the Pontiff and the feeding of the beggars; the washing of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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