Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1839-08-08
M c I. L. ~ x.
Correspondence ofthe New York Star.
ROME.

luis u the longest Gay IN tue year, anu nv
actually sweitering in the heat of an Italian mid
summer. Ii is too hot to walk, or ride, or read;
but | have just now learned that a countryman
leaves this, for London, tonight. and the tempta-
ton of sending yea q letter 10 too strong 10 be re-
sisted. As | have already mentioned, 1 cannot
bring myself to write an ePistle and then run the
chance Of having il opened, read, and burned in the
rascally Post efice here, because, f%orsooth, 1t does
not latter the Government, the religion, and the
morals Of this hotbed Of frse-living and narrow
thoughts.
The natural result of a merely formal religion is
very apparent here. The lower classes cannot help
becoming the victims Of superstition, while the mid
die and upper ranks fall into Deism. The coming
generation promise better, however, than that which
now exists. 1t is chiefly among Tie young people
that Deism prevails. The young gentlemen OF
Rome are generally well educated, honorable men.
So much Of the mere form and ceremonial OF faith
is exhibited before them that they are tired OF it
they laugh at the idea OF relics working miracles
they laugh at the recent humbug of eanonizing FIVE
bran-new Saints-and it is only to avoid scandal
that they go to confession once a year.
1t is dee TO the Romans to say that in no part OF
the Continent do foreigners feel more at ease than
in the Eternal City. Whatever your religious faith
NAV be, it does not seem to matter in Rome. The
utmost federation prevails. Any creed may have
a Church of its own, aye, even within the shaaow
of St. Peters, ifyou please, At High Mass, or any
other splendid ceremonial Of the Catholic Church.
the best places are given to hereto beholders.-
Even the lower classes are tolerant. len TO one
that a stranger unwittingly may do or say some
thing to shock the prejudices Of a Roman; but II 1t
be believed that you did not mean the insult, 1t IS
not noticed. Should a foreigner be also a Catholic,
he is sure of kind notice and hospitality upon the
slightest NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. without any In
PRODUCTION at all. By the way, you cannot bring
too many letters ofintroduction 20 Italy. I~ortonla,
the banker. always considers u letter of credit upon
him as equivalent TO a letter of introduction. Ii
he does not like you, he will show 1t by not asking
you a second time to bis house.
Nv former letter told you what | thought of the
morals-namely, that they are very $3.50. AS an
instance additional, let me state what | was told to-
day upon excellent authority. A German gentle
man was pointed out to me, OF no very d'sttngue
appearance, TO whom a beautiful Roman lady took
a fancy. She sent to him and he called upon her.
al like YOU" said she, looking at him with her
large dark eyes-'I like you, and wish you could
like me-" This was frank, at any rate, and the
stranger was equally so. He told her that she was
very beautiful-that she knew before. lie added
that he loved her-tAat she wished to know. 30
from that time to this, he is almost domesticated In
the family! Tho lady's husband is polite to him.
there is no public violation ofthe conventional rules
of society, SO the lady is received In company just
as usual. The husband, in such a case, forms o IL
ason of his own, and thus strikes the balance against
his wife's fraity. You may remember from the
Guiccioli case, how these matters are not needed
in I,aly. There was the daughter living in adulte'
ny with Lord Byron, and her father and brother
(the Counts GAMBIA living under the same root
with La Contessa and Milor!
If the Romans have their faults, they also have
their redeeming qualities. I have found them ex-
tremely fond Of their children, very social in their
habits, and remarkably sober. Indeed, a drunken
man in Italy is a rare sight. In Rome you dress as
YOU please-you indulge in your personal tastes and
even eccentricities, without being noticed, or even
stared at. Not even in London might a man VEN
ture into the street in red slippers, and a gingham
dressing gown, but | have seen the English do so
bere.-and no one minded them. In private LODI
ginc houses, much true kindness (such as money
cannot prompt or pay) is often exercised toward
strangers-especially if they be in delicate health
In a word, | think the faults ofthe modern Romans
spring from a bad political system working upon
minds naturally acute and active-for craft, hypo-
crisy and falsehood are the natural fruits of a 60
vcrnment which brushes freedom of thought.
There is no pant of Rome which has more inte-
rested my feelings than the Protestant burial ground.
1t lies near the pyramid known as the tomb OF
Caius Cestius-it is just beyond the wall OF old
Rome. The earliest wild flowers of the year spring
UD Ia lHfs UNIV Oui pAShAf AANN
cemetery, but how many recollectiors are attached
to it. Miss Bathurst's tomb is on the second ter
race (there are three.) She was thrown into the
Tiber by her horse and drowned. Keats tomb is
at the bottom Of the burial place, close by that oi
Dell, who knew more and wrote better about the
Fine Arts in Italy than any one OF modern times
Upon Keats grave an inscription briefly mentions
that beneath rest A" all that was mortal OF a young
English poet,' and concludes with the line he es-
r II. - a. 10 .rnonl ,.AOn HE tnrphefrra
'Here lies one whose name was written in water
In the most Gowery and almos; hidden corner ofthe
cemetery, a, the top, Shelley is buried. His ashes
rest bere-His body was burned on the sea-shore.
1t would be folly TO attempt a description OF 81.
Peters. The p%oetical critique upon 1t in Childe
Harold is on every ones lips. There is nothing In
the world like St. Peters-the Cathedral OF ST
Paul's in London, seems pretty when think oil IT,
IL is rather a body of churches under one huge root,
than a mere church. Rich in sculpture and eiaoo-
rate in mosaic, it is the Queen Of Churches. You
look forward. and the extremity is more than six
hundred feet away: you look again, and the mosaic
floor, unbroken by pews and seats. seems to cover
an immense extent,-yOu look and from whence you
stand, in the middle of the fame, is between tour
and Ave hundred feet! and outside the Church how
ccordant. The tall obelisk from Africa, the en-
circling colonnade, the graceful fountains. Oh,
what a wonder of art is ST. Peters!
OF sculpture and painting, Win winch ito"o -
full, | shall say nothing. Every one plays the cri-
tic upon them, and some play the fool. Believe
me. tina, no written sketch can convey even an idea
of the value and number of the treasures OF art IN
Rome. l nigh, pirate of Claude's landscapes
(some of them should be called sed-scapes') OF uui'
dos force, of RnphaeIs expression, OF Da Vincis
char oseuro, of Tilian's coloring, of Vandyke's
truth, and so on through a catalogue, but should
not tell you how variously they effect me. lido be-
lieye that six months effectionate acquaintance with
,bese gems of art. would make the mind expand
morecompletely and effectively, than twelve months
hard reading in an University. The mind becomes
elevated by familiarity with these w%ondrous works
II sees the intellect that wrought them, and 1t scars
beyond its former self. Art in Rome is the gen.SS
loci. 1t pervades the Eternal City. You imo,oe
a taste for it, without being at all conscious ina,
you do. You institute involuntary comparisons OF
stvle. Yop become acquainted with the idiosyncra-
.v or .anb art;s,'s mind ma his pencil displayed II.