Middletown transcript., 1871-07-29

English Ccmetary and tho Forum. VI
course Crisp took possession of the vacant
seat, and Vernon exchanged looks Of dis
may with us ms We rolled through the Pi-
azza dEspagna. Snuntering among the
ruins for an hour, we saw Crisp standing
apparently spcll-bound before the arch of
Scptimus Scvcrns, aud gazing at the en-
tablaturc through double cyc-glass. Re-
garding this as piece Of mere aifectaiion
and yet curious to know what ho had made
of the Latin inscription, we approached
the archaeological enthusiast, who ex-
claimed with professional zcst Them
anccn,s cut letters well. :" Scarcely had
the smiles excited By this original com
mcn,ary subsided. when. speaking Of Shell
ley aud Keats. whose graves we we're n
bout To visit. the former name caught the
car Of Crisp. "Ah." he said, lis Shelley
in town? had made memorandum To
call on him Aud when we reached the
pyramid Of caius Ccstus. hc ostcntatiouslv
transferred to the back of letter the lines
from the Tempest, on the slab which COW
crs Shcllcy's heart, as an original cpituph
written by Lord Byron; and when, re-
turning, Shakespeare happened to be men
toned he shook his head aud gravcly oh
served. that from all he had heard, the
bard was very wild as young man :"
Crisp's one political lca aud national
watchworl was General jackson. H.
challenged comparison with him beside
the sareopharus Of Sripio and the tomb of
llairian he proposed substituting the
battle Of New Orleans as subject of the
has-rclcfs on the column of Traian and
shouted the name Of his hero on the mos,
inappropriate occasions and to audiences ir-
norant thereof. with complaccncy aud n
coiilencc that were amusing To- us aud be-
wilcring to them When hundreds Of
Italian voices were c"llinp favnritc pri-
ma ...aHn before the curtain, "lIurri for
jackson was the incongruous cry inter
mingled with those euphonious plnulits ::
and many stolid Englishman became pug.
nacnus when summoned to compare the
old Roman of Tennessee with Nelson and
Victoria Ia vain was Peter reminded
that tho poor tnpuchin he hulled. or the
sarcastic heggnr who impro,iscd Jokes at
his expense, understood no, word Of Fin.
glish ; he only talked the loulcr and ri
vailed Heppo, the lame mcndicapt on the
| Piazza steps, every time b. passed him,
IN vociierous and unintcllgihlc ohiura-
tons. Despite rrmonstrancc, he insisted
upon going 10 hear tie Mscrrrr. n, The
Si,tine Chapel in green frock cont. . AMI
when the Swiss rUari lowered his halherd
aud declared n black dress Goa, and gloves
were required Cor admission, he looked
eravely iu his face the speech having
bccn translated and replied in English
Nv hateycr you may think Of this coat, |
wore at lcycc of General Jackson :"
j But an this occasion the namc served as
password. for the soldier, thinking hc
claimed the privilege Of military rank
raised his spear aud answered apnligciical-
ly -" All, 4earraie j,1sse. and doubtless
10 this day Crisp inugncs that etiquette
was waived in his tayor out og respect to
the Oh hcros name. Not for 4 moment
did b. forget to draw inyidious compari-
sous between Rome aud New York -
lleas be considered a. an offset % pictures:
DrvieiD wine was eoatemtllc side Al
hany ale the oysters were dc,establc af.
, Ter Sarcws bury, anl Saddle Rocks: and
a lirnalwny omnibus the grand locomotive
lc,iiefatum Of the Eiornal city lIo con-
traS,cd the molc.likc process Of the lazy
excaeu;ors It, the Forum with tho crltic
lraiu-diggers Of the American metropolis j:
and his one MT was calling the climbing
lcyo,rr of the Ara Coli stair. the nc plns
ultra Of superstition. lie sic'lch for Wall
street in the Via Appis. aud declared if
nI ls | IL, T.
al! the walls AMI ruins, aud drive the
strcct.coblcrs indoors, abolish saints
days, and cxpcl the olor Of incense aud
garlic by daily distribution Of chloride of
lime prohibit i,inerant musicians. and
substitute anthracite and furnaces 70. peri
pa,c,ie scalti'H.
It was funny to hear Grips art com
ments. lie used to con his cuiic-bool,
and then extemporize in the galleries
One day he glanced hastily at the ca,a-
loguc. and m.stook the description Of
pshyee for that Of Venus emerging from
her ahlu,ious, in the next scstibulc; and.
when group Of visitors passed before
the former, volunteered to cnligh,cd ,hcn:
This" said hc . is one cf the most re-
markable statues in Rome; it represents
frisky a-coming out of bath" He cx-
hibi,cd what hc asserted was bust OF
himsclf-a declaration only sustained by
the pug nose aud the smrk. Instead Of
paying thousand dollars to Powers" he
remarked, Il ordered this, ut an alabaster
shop on tho Lung Arno, for eighty; aud
do you know why it looks so lively?
found out that the way io sc, good cx.
preston when sitting to an artist, is to
imagine yourself some grca, man in
great fix. When | sat for that bust |
thoaght myself Napoleon crossing the
Alps" lie was indignant at the mu,ilated
antiques. aaa called them a "sel;," cspe-
cially the Hercules torso in the Vatican.
and a copy of the Venus dc Milo. WHO
wants to see mans belly aud shouldcrs?"
he asked. and why don't they put arms
on that woman ?" He laughed at a fellow
countryman who paid five hundred seudi
r. ,.,lJ ,,nata. - foot aoJ a lalc