Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Wife: January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904Waddington, Mary King
General
Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Wife: January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904
Waddington, Mary King
Rome (Italy) -- Social life and customs
Trocchi came in, too--so pleased to see me again and to make W.'s
acquaintance. The two senators talked politics, and Noailles put me a
little au courant of Roman society and the two camps black and white. We
went out at 3.30, as I said before, to Cecilia Metella, and stopped at
Gert's for tea. W. walked home, and I stayed a little while with her
talking over the arrangements for their reception on Sunday. Every
one--Romans, diplomats, and Americans--they have asked has accepted; but
their rooms are fairly large and I don't think they will be crowded.
HÔTEL DE LONDRES,
Monday, February 29, 1880.
I am still tired from the quantity of people we saw last night at the
Schuylers. Their reception was most brilliant; all the world----However,
I will begin at the beginning. We went to church on Sunday, as Dr. Nevin
came to see us Saturday afternoon and said he hoped we would not fail to
come. W. found him clever and interesting. He said he thought I should
hardly recognise him in his new church. It is very pretty--English
style, built by an English architect (Street) in the new quarter, Via
Nazionale, utterly unlike the bare little room outside the Porta del
Popolo, where we used to go and do the music. It makes me laugh now when
I think of the congregation all embarked on a well-known hymn, when
suddenly Henrietta would lower the tune one note--if I was tired, as
often happened, as one of the gayest balls in Rome was Princess
Sciarra's on Saturday night. When I had danced until four o'clock in the
morning (the test of the ball was how late it lasted) it was rather an
effort to be at church at 10.30 Sunday morning and sing straight through
the service. Henrietta had the harmonium and I led the singing. I will
say that the effect of the sudden change was disastrous from a musical
point of view. However, we did our best. I am afraid Henrietta was not
always faithful to Bach and Beethoven in her voluntaries. We had no
music, and she played whatever she could remember, and occasionally
there were strains of "Araby's Daughter" or "When the Swallows Homeward
Fly," which were quite perceptible even through the minor chords. I
liked doing it all the same, and like it still. I am so fond of the old
hymns we used to sing as children, and should like to hear "Shout the
Glad Tidings" every Christmas. I never have since we left America and
Oyster Bay, where also we did the music, and where, when we were late
sometimes for church, Faust, the big black Newfoundland dog would come
and bark when the bell had stopped, telling us quite plainly we were
late--he knew all about it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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