Hopelessly envious was I, too, of the heroic chests of these warriors (not knowing them to be padded, as the waists were corseted), and I would swell out my own little pectoral region to its utmost extent as I walked along the streets, thereby, though I knew it not, greatly benefiting my physical organism. Of course I had no personal commerce with the officers, but the rank and file fraternized with me and my companions readily; there was always a number of them strolling about Rome and its environs on leave, in pairs or groups, and they were just as much boys as we were. They would let me heft their short, strong swords, and when they understood that I was gathering shells they would climb lightly about the ruins, and bring me specimens displayed in their broad, open palms. Our conversation was restricted to few words and many grunts and gestures, but we understood one another and were on terms of gay camaraderie. A dozen years afterwards, when there was war between France and Germany, my sympathies were ardently with the former, and great were my astonishment and regret at the issue of the conflict. Man for man, and rightly led and managed, I still believe that Gaul could wipe up the ground with the Teuton, without half trying. But there were other forces than those of Moltke and Bismarck fighting against poor France in that fatal campaign. She was wounded in the house of her friends. XVII Miss Lander makes a bust--The twang of his native place-- Wholly unlike anybody else--Wise, humorous Sarah Clarke-- Back to the Gods and the Fleas--Horace Mann's statue--Miss Bremer and the Tarpeian Rock--"I was in a state of some little tremor"--Mrs. Jameson and Ruskin--Most thorough-going of the classic tragedies--A well-grown calf--An adventure in Monte Testaccio--A vision of death--A fantastic and saturnine genius--A pitch-black place--Illuminations and fireworks--The Faun-Enjoying Rome--First impressions-- Lalla's curses.