Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1868-05-13
LETTERS OF REV. DIR. LORD.
WRITTEN TO MS PANTY.


formed up to Good Friday That day took
for myself giving up the peculiar and meagre
services Of the Sistine Chapel and the MISE
rere, which had heard before, for the great
er pleasure Of wandering amid the ruins of
ancient Rome. and going out upon the histor-
ic Campagna, and taking one long look at the
blue draped Soracte and the " bee loved" Hy-
mettus The Campaua is a slightly rolling
prairie and It's interest consists in it, associa-
tions On these plains the egions of Rome
marched Here the cohorts Of ,he empire
coutended with Carthagcnians and Vandals
| could almost hear in that wide solitude the
tramp Of warriors aud the wild moaning Of
battle But the days of imperial glory are
ended, and the ruins that lift their arches in
TO the sky, or hide themselves under ivy and
grasses and flowers, or decay amid groves Of
cypress and pine, tell only Of a mighty race
thai have vanished from the earth. Tombs
and temples, columns and pedestas, blocks Of
marble, bridges, ditches heaps Of masonry,
payements covered with grass, aqueducts with
their miles Of arched grandeur lying along The
plain. make one feel as If he was looking upon
a desolate and ruined world. | could hardly
dream, as my eye and feet wandered over this
wide desolation that the sun would ever rise
again. And while the Church within the
walls of Rome was celebrating the death Of
Christ, | was surveying the mighty fragments
of Paganism without. The gloom Of this ruin
is intoerably oppressive II is like that of a
, deserted, dilapidatcd house, on whose hearths
are the ashes Of FIRE quenched long, long
ago.
The next day, Saturday, gave to modern
ID IL. -
Maria Trastavere, the oldest church in Rome
II was built over petroleum spring, and is
the church of the holy oil Its columns are
e old Roman, and perhaps belonged to the ba-
! silica Of an ancient temple It's ceiling is
splendidly succeed aud frescoed by Domini-
chino. 1t contains monument to Coeceius,
who lived " iorty-fiye years with his wife
B without any quarrel" But ! will not try to
describe the churches into which | have been.
ln general features they are all alike. Two
rows Of columns support a yaulted or square
; ceiling The ceiling and sides are frescoed,
some with exquisite designs, some with horr-
bic and disgusting representations. In one,
scenes from the life Of Christ or from the his
tories of the Old Testament in another, hid
eous paintings Of martyrdoms in another,
pictures Of tortures by men, serpents and
devils, such as would give the nightmare TO
look at The'scene in all the churches is the
same. \ few poverty stricken souls kneelng
at this or that altar; few beggars at the
. door to lift the great mat which hangs before
it, or shake their caps in your face; now and
then priest with pictures or relics to sell, or
! a mendicant frar with money box jingling
in your ears. Once in a while priest be-
& fore the altar with his back scored with a
= cross, or a drowsy, monoionous chant, or a
Is ringing bell, or a kneeling woman, or "A star
ing stranger with Murray in his hand. Lamps
p or candles are always burning and the gloom
Of the churches is heightened by their siekly
glare.
, There are few churches that have a spe-
4 cial object Of interest; painting by one OF
the old masters frcscO of unusual beauty
relic Of ancient times OF a costly decorated
/. Bambino But aside from these, and from
e ST. Pauls and St. Peters, the old churches OF
Rome are all alike With exterors incom-
5. parably ugly, with the interior cold and Sc
pulchral, there is nothing in them to attract
I. the eye or riyet the heart. The architecture
&c of these Italian churches is Of a mongrel type
d 1t is part Greek, and part Gothic, and par
n Italian. Doric and Corinthian columns stanC
a side by side in the same church. Squar'
! ceilings and arched chapes are under th'
d same roof All kinds Of art have laid thei
~ tribute at the feet Of Rome, and the result i
ID a constant sense of discord. | have not seel
,e a church since | left England that satis6e'
Is the eye in its style of architecture. | woul,
d, give more for one glance at our new church
than to see the exterior of all the churches il
Italy 1t is in itself more truly artistic AM
beautiful
lam not disposed to 90 into raptures owe
the picture galleries of Rome. There is
vast mass of rubbish in them. And vet
> saw Yesterday in the Soiara gallery. a Mag
dalen NV Gnido. that answered NV dream
=. Most of the Maqdalens seem to be inspires
a. with any feeling but that of penitence. Bu
a tbis was the very ideal of contritiou. Tn
eve was filed with the divinest sorrow, am
one could hardly refrain from tear at til
~ sight of such surprising love and grief ming
led in the same face. 1t will haunt me 70
life II is only here and there a Gem @
h.. purest ray repays the long search of pictur
N Galleries The Nndonnas and Venuses are Al
ne ss alike. save that the one are draped and tn
other nude. The same models inspire tn
Z. pencils of different painters, and only her
N. and there is there n creation of such genius a
he to fasten the eve and hold the memory captiy
h.. forever Pictnres here are valued in propol
t;on N their sge Antimes are the rae,
~. Tho shons are 6lled with dim nointings I
centuries ago. and Yesterday our landlor
T., BROUGHT ont for our purchase picture of tn
VIRGIN ON wood that might have been painte
- n thonsand Years before Christ so yenerabl
was ;ts annoorance We were satisfied wit