The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-09
world. Milton heard her at Cardinal
Rarberini's concert

world. Milton nttTi ncI at Ndiiuiai
Barberinfs concert.
The author Of these memoirs observes
that, in proportion "a We come down to
the time in which he Is writing, the more
do the usages of Rome begin TO resemble
the usages Of to-day. At date OF the
visit Of the President DE Brosses (second
quarter of the eighteenth century, the
Roman women wore f.lse hair Chateau.
BRAND recalls that IT, custom proceeded
from far back: "Prnperiius asks his life
why she delights in adjoining her hair.
The G." lie women, our mothers, supplied
the hair Of the Severnas, Pr~cas, raus-
tinas, Sabinas Neleda says to Eudorus,
speaking of her hair, It's my daden, and
! have kept II for thee. head of hair
was not the greatest conquest Of the
Romans, but II Was one Of the most lasting.
We often find in the tombs of women the
whole of that ornament. which has resisted
the scissors of the daughters Of the night,
while We look in vain for the comedy brow
which il adorned. The periumed tresses,
the object Of the idolatry OF the highest
of the passions. have outlivcd empires.
Death, which skaters all chains. has been
unable to break that net. To-day the
Italians wear their own hair. which the
women Of the people plat with coquettish
grace
Among the interesting psrsonages whom
Chateaubriand had met in Italy when he
took part in the Congress Of Verona was
the Countess Of Albany. the widow Of
the Young Pretender Charles Edward.
1t is well known that after her first husband
died she secretly married the poet Alfieri.
and, after his death, contracted third
marriage with Fabre, the French historical
painter. Our author records that when
he saw her age had produced in her an
effect contrary TO that which it generally
produces. Time customarily ennobles the
countenance, and. when the countenance
belongs to an old race, imprints some
trace OF that race on the brow which 1t
has marked
~The Countess of Albany. however, was
thickset, with expr, ssionless features and
common air, If the women in Rubens's
pictures were TO grow old, they would
he like Nine. d Albany al the age at which
/ met her. ! am sorry that the heart,
fortified and confirmed by Alferi. should
have had need of another support The
reminiscence Of Nine. d'Albany causes
our author to recall also the fact that when
in 1903 he was attached to the French
Legation in Rome. he saw for moment
the Cardinal of York. who by hereditary
right, was Henry TX, King Of England.
the last of the Stuarts in the male line.
then seventy-nine years of age, and destined
TO live but four years longer. He had
had Chataeubrand notes. writing in the
reign Of Louis Philippe, the weakness 10
accept a pension from George Ill; the
- .l 4 lal 10, -, 100
from Cromwell Thus the House Of Stuart
took ll9 years TO die out, after losing the
throne, which it never recovered. Three
Pretenders have handed on to one another
the shadow Of crown; they had intelli-
gence and courage; what did they lack?
The hand of God For the rest. the Stuarts
consoled themselves at the sight Of Rome.
They were but one slight accident the
more amid those vast fragments, small
shattered column standing in the midst
Of a great burial ground Of ruins. Their
House, in disappearing from the world.
enjoyed yet this further comfort; it beheld
the fall of Old Europe; the fatality clinging
to the Stuarts dragged other kings with
them to the dust. among whom was Louis
XVI, whose grandfather had refused an
ASYLUM TO the descendant Of Charles l.,
and Charles X. has died in exile at the age
OF the Cardinal Of York. and his son and
grandson are wanderers on the face of the
earth
Among other memorable visits to Rome
called to mind by Chateaubriand. were
| those of Goethe and Byron. For Germanys
| foremost poet he processes but little SYM
| pathy. Il feel Schiller he says, y under.
stand Goethe. There may be great beau-
| ties in the enthusiasm which Goethe exc
periences in Rome for Jupiter; excellent
critics think so; but ! prefer the God OF
the Cross to the God Of Olympus. ] look
| in vain for the author Of Werther along the
banks Of the Tiber; l find him only in this
phrase NV present life is, as it were, a
dream Of youth: we shall see il arm fated
10 enjoy it, or to recognize that this. too.
is vain, as so many others have BEEN.
To the author OF Rene the author Of
| -Childe Harold" was more sympathetic:
when Napoleon's eagle allowed Rome to
escape from it's claws, she fell back into the
| bosom of her peaceful pastors; then Byron
appeaved at the crumbling walls OF the
| Casars; he flung his distressed imagination
| over her many ruins. like mourning cloak.
Rome. thou hadst a name. he gave thee
another; that name will cling TO thee: he
called thee the Niobe Of Nationsr After
| that last storm OF poetry 1.-THE fourth canto
| of 'Childe' Harold Byron was not long in
| dying" Chateaubriand adds: Il might
| have seen Byron at Geneva and did not
| see him, I might have seen Goethe at Wei
mar, and did not see him; but ] saw Nine.
de Stael die, who, disdaining to live beyond
| her youth, passed swiftly to the Capitol
with Cornne: imperishable names. illus
| trious ashes, which have associated them
selves with the name and the ashes OF the
Eternal City"
| The general impression made upon Cha
| teaubriand's mind by his residence In the
| Eternal City WAS one Of veneration for the
departed grandeur Of the place. Whatever
may be- he writes, -the changes In man.
ners and persons from century to century
| In Italy, we observe a habit Of greatness
| there which we, paltry barbarians, cannot
| approach. There still remains Roman blood
in Rome and the traditions Of the masters
| OF the world
when one sees foreigners crammed
| into small new houses at the Porta del
Popolo or lodged in palaces which they
have divided into boxes and pierced with
chimneys, It is rs though one saw rats
scratching at the feet Of the monuments
Of Apollodorus and Michael Angelo. or
gnawing holes into the Pyramids" Al
| ready In 1924 the great Roman families
we're Impoverished To-day the Roman
mobiles, ruined by the Revolution, immune
themselves within their PALACES. live par
simoniously and have become their own
| ka, hn