The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

49, NE@N~
for, He was Q charming enthusiast Tor both,
radiantly yet reverently exulting In their
respective Treasures. and justly but moi
heuehtily proud Of the newly introduced
electrioity which lighted tho darkness Of
the underground rooms and corridors. He
told us he had been twenty years q mis-
hionAfy IN Rurnania, where he had possibly
acquired the delightful English he spoke.
When he would have us follow him no said
Ali persons come this way and he politely
spoke Of tho wicked Emperor whose bust
wa somehow there as Mr.. Commodus.
With all his gentleness. however. that
good father had q certain smiling severity
before which The spirit bowe ID. He had
made us wait half an hour before he came
70 let us into the church. and during the
hour We we're with him there he kept The
! door locked against an unluoky lady who
arrived just too late to enter With us. Not
only this. but he utterly refused 10 30 back
with her singly and show her the things We
had seen. Perhaps IL would not have been
deoorous; they do not let ladies. either sinsiy
or pfdrally. into the garden OF the convent.
which IL memorable among many other
facts 40 being the retreat Of Mr.. Commodus
when he suffered from sleeplessness, and
where he onoe oarelessly left his list Of
victims lying about, 90 that his friend Mar
ola found It n reading her am IN IL
joined with other friends in his assassina-
tions The Sex has indeed had much re-
straint b bear from the Church. but in some
respects IL has been rendered fearless III
the assertion Of is rights. With poor
ON one OF these Ii the indefeasible right
to ask aims, and I admir- ed the courage.
almost the ferocity. Of the aged crone
whom I had promised charity in coming to
the place and who rose up as / was being
driven past her In going away and stayed
my oabtnan with a olamor which he dared
not ignore. Her reproaohes continued
through the ensuing transaction and fol-
lowed him away with stings which instinct
and experience taught her how to implant
in his tenderest sensibijties.
A chapter much longer b any ] have
written here might well be devoted to the
study Of the clerical or secular guides In
the minor churches Of Rome. They ars
Of every manner and degree OF ~kindhness.
mixed with q fair measure Of intelligence
and q very fitting faith In the legends OF
their churches. You soon get on terms
Of impersonal intimacy with them. and
you cannot come away without sharing
tA1cLT pTOu0 58iOndl b66i anu ul6UnKulbnlnR
for tho moment in favor Of their respect
i've churches above every other. II did
not matter whether IL was that newest
church In the Quarter del Pratt. or that
most venerable among the oldest churches
the Church Of San Gregorto: I found q rea
con for agreeing with the sacristan upon its
singular claims. These were especially
enforced by the good dame. the only woman
saoristan I remember. who would not spare
us a single object OF interest In Ban Gre
gorio's. which is indeed for the visitor Of
Anglo-Saxon race supremacy rich In its
associations with the conversion Of his an
oestofs from heathenism. Being myself
Of Cymrio blood. and Of q Christianity two
or three hundred years older than that d
the ordinary Anglo-Saxon traveller. I am
afraid that IL was from q rather patronixing
piety that I visited the church where the
great 81. Gregory dismissed to their mission
In England st. Augustine and his fellow
apostles on one OF the greatest days Of the
sixth century. I might have stayed to
imagine them knesling among the people
who then thronged the genially irregular
piazza, but as We came up some ecclesias-
tical students were playing ball there. their
robes tucked into their girdles for their
eIO6VoT COnNoul0uC6, anu We mau6 OUT way
ct once into the church. 1t forms one Of q
oonsecrated group Of edifces enshrining
the memory Of the best Of the Popes. who
was also the greatest; and here or In the
adjacent converts a score Of miracles were
wrought through the heavenly beauty Of
his life. OF these miracles, Of whose inspi-
ration you must feel the poetry even II you
cannot otherwise believe them. the ~loveliest
has Its substantial witness In one Of the
little chapels next the church. There you
may zee with your eyes and touch with your
hands the table at which st. Gregory fed
every morning twelve poor men. I'LL one
morning a thirteenth appeared in the figure
Of Christ tho Lord, as II to own them His dis
cipies. The chapel which enshrines tho table
Is one Of three. quaint In form and rich il
art, standing In the garden called st. Silva's.
after the mother Of st. Gregory. Az we
came out through IL the westering sun
poured the narrow court before the chapel
full Of golden light and threw the black
shadow Of a cypress across the way that q
nle Of Comaldolese monks were taking to
the adjoining convent. They were talking
cheerily together, and swung unhsedinR
by In their white robes 30 near that I could
almost feel tho watt Of them across the
centuries that parted their faith and mine.
We had come to st. 0regory's from the
Baths Of Caracalla. which We had set >out
10 see on the first OF our Roman holidays.
and after turning aside for the Coliseum
had now visited on next to the last Of them.
The stupendous ruin could scarcely have
been growing In the ten or twelve weeks
that had passed. but a bewildering notion
OF something IKE this obseesed me a. I
saw It bulking aloof In overhanging cliffs
and precipices, through the cool and bright
April air against a sky Of perfect blue. As
1t had been cast up out Of the earth In
some oonvulsive three OF nature. II fioun-
dered over Its vast area In shapeless masses
which had capriciously received the effect
OF human design In the coping Of the In |
accessible sleeps. in the arches hinging
between the beetling craes. |
In the mammoth spring and sweep Of the
vaults, In the gloom OF the oavernous sper-
lures of Its giant walls. For the moment
Its immensely dwarfed the image OF all
the other fragments OF tho Roman world
and set definite bounds to their hugeness
the mind. 1t seemed to have been not
a ..-l ~t.<i. AdtAon an N ~hola ottv SA> L