Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Wife: January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904 — John Shaqi
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
Schuyler has got back, and the maid is a lamb, but is going all the
same. The doctor and the other servants advise it strongly, and I am
sure Gert will find a nice Italian maid here to replace her. W. and I
have done a fair amount of sight-seeing these days, and yesterday he
paid a long visit to Cardinal Nina--Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the
Vatican. He found him reasonable and interesting. I tell him he is
getting quite a "papalino"--he finds the Cardinals so pleasant. He came
and got me after his visit and we went off to the Chambre des Députés.
Visconti Venosta was going to make a great speech attacking the Ministry
on their foreign policy, and they thought there would be a lively
séance. We were in the Diplomatic box--all the Ambassadors were there,
and he had just got up to speak as we got there. They don't speak from
the tribune, as in France. Every man speaks from his own place--and as
he had his back to us we didn't hear very well. He spoke very easily,
and was very well listened to. Occasionally there would be a sort of
growl of disapproval, but on the whole the house was much quieter than
ours. Cairoli looked quite composed when Visconti was pitching into him,
smiling even when he remarked he didn't understand the Italian
character, nor how to use the great powers his position gave him, etc.
Various people came up and spoke to me, among others Countess Celleri,
who seems to be taking up politics now. She has grown a little older,
but is very handsome still, and was evidently a great attraction to all
the young diplomatists who were in the box. W. admired her appearance
and manner very much. We stayed there till 5.30 hoping that Cairoli
would answer, but he didn't, the discussion rather trailed on, so we
went for a turn in the Villa Borghese to get a little air before our
dinner at the British Embassy. It was very crowded, all the swells
driving--King, Queen, and Khedive all in separate carriages. The King in
a small victoria with one aide-de-camp--the Queen in her big landau with
one lady and the red royal liveries; the Khedive in an ordinary
carriage, but conspicuous, as he and his gentlemen all wore the red fez.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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