He is at Rome at present, and appears in his proper form and dress as a Jesuit. But that man can change his country, he can change his tongue, and, Proteus-like, multiply his shapes among mankind. Next year that man whom you now meet on the streets of Rome may be in Scotland in the humble guise of a pedlar, vending at once his earthly and his spiritual wares. Or he may be in England, acting as tutor in some noble family, or in the humbler capacity of body-servant to a gentleman, or, it may be, filling a pulpit in the Church of England. He may be a Protestant schoolmaster in America, a dictator in Paraguay, a travelling companion in France and Switzerland, a Liberal or a Conservative--as best suits his purpose--in Germany, a Brahmin in India, a Mandarin in China. He can be anything and everything,--a believer in every creed, and a worshipper of every god,--to serve his Church. Rome has hundreds of thousands of such men spread over all the countries of the world. With the ring of Gyges, they walk to and fro over the earth, seeing all, yet themselves unseen. They can unlock the cabinets of statesmen, and enter unobserved the closets of princes. They can take their seat in synods and assemblies, and dive into the secrets of families. Their grand work is to sow the seeds of heresies in Churches and of dissensions in States, that, when the harvest of strife and division is fully matured, Rome may come in and reap the fruits. CHAPTER XXIX. SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC CUSTOMS OF THE ROMANS.[10] A Roman House--Wretched Dwellings of Working-Classes--How Working Men spend their Leisure Hours--Roman mode of reckoning Time--Handicrafts and Trades in Rome--Meals--Breakfast, Dinner, &c.--Games--Amusements--Marriages--Deaths and Funerals--Wills tampered with--Popular regard to Omens--Superstitions connected with the Pope's Name--Terrors of the Priesthood--Weather, and Journey Homeward.