Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1862-09-22
From a new work of Travels.
ROME.
THE VATICAN.


Onr visit to the Vatican occupied two
days, and then il was but hurried glance
at tbis great repeftory of art, learning,
wealth, and power. We democrats from
the land of home-brsd simplicity, and |
mortar unadoFned, were. completely con-
founded BY the constant succession of
splendors. Here are the spoils fTime as
well as its trophies, arranged amid the
museums and Libraries, and long-long
galleries. Here learning and taste have
added building after building, 50 that the
appearance of the whole from ST. Peters
eupola, is that of a long 'parallelogram of
stony fabrics, with squares between, where
in are gardens of rare exotics In great
urns, together with fountains OF clear wa
ter Long arbors of boxwood, and high
fmpenetra bic hedges of living green, spread
around the palaces, upon which we may
look, as we stroll through the long CORR
ders, filed with busts, statues, sarcophagi,
and old inscriptions inserted IN the walls.
To compute the extent OF these halls,
/ miles might be used. The number of
apartments may give some idea of its ex-l
tent. 1t has eight grand stair cases, 200
smaller ones, 20 courts, and ,422 apart.
ments s
The wonders from Etrusca and Egypt
form separate museums, and speak an ear
I lier civilization than that Of the elder Ro-
MANS In the cabinets, relieved by por-
tieos, were the choice statues of antiquity,
} some greatly mutiIated. We had many
opportunities Of applying the principle
eGpede HRrculens. Here were statues of
+ every animal, as well as every variety Of
men and divinities
Separate and apartfrom all others stood
e the great group of the LAGOON. The
greatest offspring of the chiscl stood be-
t fore us, in his torture dignifyiug pain,
:. With an mmortas's patience blending"
!, Oh! what a clench was that old mans
\ what expiring sadness upon that, young
: brow, and what speechless, anxious agony
= upon that other! For two thousand years
that "long envenomed chain of living
Q links has wound about the father and his
cons; awakening sBe deepest - :
e the soul, while it illustrates the power of
e the Rhodian sculptors over the passions of
u man. a, snt ST
: What contrast to this is the Apollo
Belvidere, which is near. Light enshrin-
IS ed; every dignity personified Love del
fled Beauty, Man.iness and Genius, en-
. cased gracefully in the white marble all
e that rivets admiration in the fair, or awak-
g ems awe in the supernal, stand
, 'starlike around until they gather to a Godr'
Raphael;s Transfguration,' which we af-
forwards saw, could not compete for the
guerdon beside these marble marvels of
5 antiquity. The stone has no peer in the
y canvass, in the highest heaven of art.
- 1t would only weary, to tell our visions
Z of beauty and uniqucness, which every
'e where cleaned from niche, ceiling, wall,
floor; throughout library, portico,
r. museum and cabinet. Here weres the
te maps of all Italy, worked in the wall
y There, the mosaic manufactory, where all
"a the saints and popes are starting new
S,4face for Immortality in the panels Of St
Ut Paul. There, the richest tapestry of Cob
elins, with the Bible illustrated by a strange
order Of art. Every where the same i'm
rs pFessiezrr is produced, of endless variety
N. in the mazes of which the mind is almost
ey lost, like child amid Wilderness of foil
be age and beauty. Yet out of all these
"a, endless varieties and I" brotherly dissimili-
h. tudes, arises the goodly and graceful sym
ey 'netry,' that speaks the common reason
in and nature which We all wear under God
get our Maker. Through manifold phase
nd and turnings the mind aseends to tia
est apex Of generalization, where Unity kisse
as heaven and is elnbathed in its pure light
so where the greatest as well as the Teas
ow obey that common law, whose seat is i
us, the bosom Of God.
nd g.