The Portland daily press., 1886-08-18

IL was in this Ghetto that Rienzi lived; and
from here he used to start forth, like trav-
cling lecturer and stereoptician of to-day,
with three pictures to illustrate his theme
one OF the downfall of Babylon, one of the
destruction of Jerusalem, and one of Rome.
lie held these up to his fellow citizens, and
haranguing them for their sluggishness,
warned them that Rome would share the
tate OF these naughty capitals if they did not
resist their tyrants
On the edge of the Ghetto stands the
Cencl Palace. When we read the sad
tale OF Beatrice's childhood and of her
gnastly murder of her father, we were
thankful that the et-faced girl, whose
head is gracefully wrapped in white folds,
that is known all over the world as Beatrice
Cencl, is fraud as far as the identity of the
portrait matters. The same face is found in
church painting of Guido Reni's, which
most likely was taken from one of his mod
els. How this famous picture ever came in
the possession of the Borghesi family and re-
ceived the name of Beatrice Cenci is not
known; but the dates of her life and Guido
Reni's work vary largely. We weula rather
admire it as a fair unknown than to think a
girl born in sin, trained in iniquity, to fill up
at last the cup of evil in such horrible
crime, could wear such look of peace as
beams from this famous picture.
We were reminded of the folly of boosted
pedigree, while sucking up our skirts to pick
our way among the filth of this section of
the city, upon which the anathemas of
priests and people have long rested The
present Pope, who sits in the Vatican in sui
len Indignation at his wounded pride,
owns a lineal descendant of Rienzi as
his mother; and the present heir Of
the Cenci estate married an Ameri-
can. All this quarter of Rome is full
of historic buildings, like the Temple of Her
cules, Horatio Coolies bridge, Marcellus thea
tire, and too many more to discuss in letter.
To-day it teens with masses of filthy occu-
pants of stifed homes, who are human scav-
engers, sneaking out of sight, in the cellars
under the very sidewalks upon which you
| tread, to Gull over the sweepings of the
| streets.
| Remembering all the Jews have had to
| bear, although it is true they have not made
| the scourging whip of justice and vengeance
| Christening rod, we did not wonder, that
even today, they will go round about, rather
| than pass under the Triumphal Arch of Ii
| tus, which commentaries the destruction Of
| their beloved Jerusalem the Golden. Here
| Titus has engraved the seven-branched
candlestick, which was snatched by
| profane hands from The Holy of Holes.
| Some hopeful and enthusiastic antigua
| rians have, by diligent search, traced its
| travels for centuries, and still hope
to recover the long lost candle
| stick. For many years church tradition
that they were thrown into the Tiber put the
hunters off their proper track. An English
| duchess impelled by this vain hope, spent
many thousands in draining the river When
| Rome was ransacked by barbarians it was
| taken to Carthage, from there to CONSTANT
nople; but from this time, about the year
| $50, misfortune seemed to rest upon this city,
so that the emperor concluded it was wiser
to send it back to the keeping of the Chris
| tian church at Jerusalem, where it is sup
| posed it remained until the Holy Land was
invaded by the Persians. Here the clue is
lost but the hopeis entertained that its sa-
credness has preserved it from utter annihi-
lation, and it will yet turn up in the far of
Orient, where the great Mogul resided, who
| in his turn, swept over Persia
| M. C. P. B.