The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-11-21

To people who wish to be better acquaint-
ed with Cardinal Antonelli, the master spirit
of the papal government and consequently
Garibaldis great antagonist, we commend the
following extract from an article entitled
"Some Dinners in Rome," published original
ly in London, in the Sixpenny Magazine:
This evening dine with the Maggior Do
mo at the Vatican. The Maggior DOmo had
been fortunate man. The son of a small
farmer Roman SANDER says bandit) of Ter
racina, he had risen in the world; and, in
'tead OF the goatskin leggings and sheepsfin
coat, is to be seen now in scarlet, purple. and
point-lace. He has amassed. it is said. above
a million of money. He is supreme in Rome.
Princes and dukes bearing names great in
history will watch his expression as he passes,
whether he smiles graclous1y, or whether
he utterly ignores their existence. The poor
old man who lifts the three fingers and drones
forth "Urbi ct Orbp is mere Infant in his
hands; he is one of the most subtle and ac-
complished politicians in Europe. Like all
who rise in the world, the Maggior Domo is a
much vituperated man. He is accounted the
most cruel and implacable Of tyrants Scarce
ly man or woman in that city but looks for
the time when their or some other assassin's
knife will be at his throat.
The Maggior Domo is an unfortunate man.
Persistent and immovabe in long course of
disastrous policy, he changes not not even a
title; but is still persistent and immovable,
though every one of his schemes have come
to naught, all his efforts have proved abortiye.
and he himself be now vainly buffetng the
stream that must shortly carry him to that
crashing destruction the sound of which is
already in his ears. So il seems to VULGAR
eyes at least; but what if the vulgar ewes are
wrong? What if the penetration and address
that have raised that man from the grade of a
tlller Of the ground to the most influential DO
sition in the Catholic world, should also have
impaired to his mental vision superhuman
keenness, enabling him to discern that the
end is not yet: and that his part in the COM
plicated game now being played is to hold on,
unswervng and unfinching, himself the only
seeing one amidst world OF blind? And, at
ter all, it can be said of him, that he has con-
tinued things as he found them, in opposition
to all change. The Maggior Domo is a mas
ter OF self-possession. But one hour after the
news had reached him of Garibaldis success
in Sicily, he passed half an hour in conyersino
with me on indifferent topics; and in the eui-
ct of'that grey eye, and the calm of that plac-
Id mouth, no one would have OWNED that he
and almost he only-was in possession OF
intelligence fraught with fatal consequences
to his lifelong policy, and, with it, to the Pa
pacy.
The Magyior Domo is a omely man. and
evidently is not unconscious of it. He has
an ensemble that strikes at a gance-one o.
those iaces that instantaneously attracts and
bxes the eye OF the beholder,-so much Sc
that you may be in his presence again and
again without mark ng that his tailor is the
best in Rome, or noticing the elegant figure
the choice texture of his silken raiment. OF
the fine, delicate, but somewhat claw-likf
hand. Yet analyze that lace, examine the
features, and excepting in its clear pale com
piexion, it differs but little from half the face,
you meet in the next street of the Trasteyere
The forehead is developed enough, but no
remarkably SO; the lips firmly pressed tonetS
er, but mobile and expressive; the nose !;
gently aquiline; the eye, generally snnnoee,
to be black, is deep iron gray. almost blue
the, hair. black, glossy, and gently waved
perhaps the most noticeable part of the phys
iosnomy is the sensitveness and expression
contained in the sharply-cut orbit of the eye
exceeding in this respect what may be seer
IN Ine portrait of Gevartius in our natlona
gallery. 1t is kaleidoscope countenance,-
beautiful in the whole, but almost meaning
less in the interchangeable, TOO. A Dusl
ness, in the morning, that face Is quiet, po
lite, and attentive to all you say; IN genera
conversation, it is animated and earnest II