Part 4 (2/2)

”At last there was a buzz as people perceived the slowly- in a far-off gallery, veiled froh up, over the entrance We could see the prelates had all vested by the outlines of the ures in stiff copes As the procession entered the church the 'Veni Creator'

swelled up h the immense space The effect of the procession to li heads of the men in front of me All the European and United States Bishops were in white and silver, but now and then there passed Oriental Patriarchs in rich vestments, their picturesque dark faces (tere quite brown) telling so strikingly ast the pale or rosy Europeans Each had his sole his jewelled crown, so in shape like the dome of a mosque One Oriental wore a jewel on his dusky forehead, another a black cowl over his head, shading his keen, dark face, the coarse cowl contrasting in a startling ith the delicate splendour of the gold and pink and ahtoable to see with both eyes at once I could at intervals see the silvery prelates, most of them with snowy heads, and the dark Easterns mount into their seats in the Council Chaood glireat Napoleon Of the Pope I saw nothing He was closely surrounded, as he walked past, by the high-helmeted noble Guard, and, of course, at that supreht of hireat crowd and went to seek Maet a place, but wason the steps of a confessional in a quiet chapel Maain to try and see the Council from a point opposite We saw it pretty well, the thite banks of mitred bishops on each side and, far back, the little red Pope in the orian, but it was faintly heard fro done to-day; it was only the Mass to open theSurely every nation was represented in it An officer of the 42nd Highlanders had an excellent effect What shall I do in London, with its dead level of o home And so the council is opened God speed!”

The Ghetto was in existence in those days, so I have even experienced the sight of _that_ Very horrible, packed with ”red-haired, blear-eyed creatures, with loose lips and long, baggy noses” Thus I describe the our drive one day What a ”_sventramento_” that must have been when the Italians cleared away and cleaned up all that congested horror Wide, wind-swept spaces and a shi+ning, though hideous, synagogue aze when next I went there and couldn't find the Ghetto

At the end of the year La Signorina Elizabetta Thompson had to apply to his Eminenza Riverendissima Cardinal Berardi, Minister of Public Works, to announce her intention of sending the ”Magnificat” to the Pope's international exhibition At that picture I worked hard,my model for Our Lady, and an old _ciociara_ from the Trinita steps for St Elizabeth How it rained that December! But we had radiant sunshi+ne in between the days when the streets were all running with red-brown rivulets, through which the horses splashed as if fording a streanificat' to-day Yet ought I to say I ceased to paint at it, for 'finish' suggests so far beyond what this picture is Well, I shall enjoy being on the loose now

To stroll about Roh a picture is perfect enjoyment I should feel very uncomfortable at the present ti but lionise I have no hope ofaccepted now, but still it is pleasant to think that I have worked hard

”_February 3rd_--I took rafia place, as warned to do There, in dusty horror, it awaits the selecting committee's reviehich takes place to-morrow Mae to keep it fro out, our ar about in that dusty place with pictures of all sizes But, oh! what a scene of horror was that collection of daubs Oh! nificat' is accepted First, off goes Marafia to learn the fate of the picture, and bring it back triu it steady in the little open carriage Soon after, off we go to the Palazzo Poli to see nice Mr Severn, who says he is so proud of me, and will do all he can to help me in art matters, to see whether he couldmy picture well, as ere told the artists had to see to that themselves if they wanted it well done I, for my part, would leave it to them and rather shi+rk a place on the line, for ly unsatisfactory to me, but Mamma, for whom I have painted it, loves it, and wants it well placed 'so that the Pope o to the abode of the Minister of Commerce, Cardinal B, for my pass We were there told, to our dismay, that we could not take the picture ourselves to the exhibition, as it was held in the cloisters of Sta Maria degli Angeli, and no per But I knew that between Papa and Mr Severn the picture would be seen to inside the cloistered walls

After lunch, off goes Papa with e as before, holding the old picture before us with straining arms and knitted brows, very much jolted and bumped We are stopped at the cloisters, and told to drive out again, and there we pull up, our faces turned in the opposite direction The hood of the carriage suddenly collapses, and we are revealed, unable to let go the picture, with the soldiers collected about the place grinning Papa arrives, and he and two _facchini_ cost the forbidden regions enclosed in the gloo home, told me how charmed old Severn, as there, ith the picture, and even Podesti, the judge, after soood place, said to Severn he had expected the signorina's picture to be rubbish (_porcheria_) I suppose because it was a woman's work He retracted, and said he would like to see an another picture to-day, after all my resolutions to the contrary, the subject, two Ro on a fallen pillar, a third _contadino_, in a cloak, looking on I posed round to hiainst it He soon understood I wanted energy thrown into the action I shall delight in this subject, because the hands figure so conspicuously in the game

”_February 15th_--I went up alone to the Trinita to choose the other young roup of lolling Roave the apple to one with a finely-cut profile and black hair, the otherround to hear, andon”

On one evening in this eventful Ro the famous race of the riderless horses (the _barberi_), which closed the Carnival doings The impression remains with me quite vividly to this day The colour, the ht; the historic associations of that vast Piazza del Popolo, where I see the great obelisk retaining, on its upper part, the last flush from the west; the impetuous waters of the fountains at its base in cool shadow; St Peter's do Then I hear the clatter of the dragoon's horses as the detach the course The stands, at the foot of the obelisk, are full, some of the crowd in carnival costus out in the chilly air Away go the dragoons, down the narrow Corso and back, at full gallop, splitting the surging croith theatrical effect The line is clear Now co post, the obelisk upon which Moses in Egyptmonuhly-nervous barbs, tricked out with plumes and painted hite spots and stripes The convicts who lead the his life in his hand) are trying, with iron grip, to keep their horses quiet, for the spiked balls and other irritants are now unfastened and dangling loose from the horses' backs

But one terrified beast coainst the pricks” already

The whole pack beco and prick One furious creature, wrenching itself free, whirls round in the wrong direction But there is no tiun boo of hands Ten of the horses, with heads down, get off in a bunch, shooting straight as arrows for the Corso; the eleventh slips on the cobbles, rolls over and, recovering itself, tears after its pals, straining every nerve I hear a voice shout ”_E capace di vincere!_”

(”He is fit to win!”) and in an instant the lot are engulfed in that dark, narrow street, the squibs on their backs going off like pistol shots, and the crackling bits of ht The sparks froh the dusk The course is just onepost a great sheet is stretched across the way, through which some of the horses burst, to be captured so about the open spaces of the Ca the course, that forces the horses to keep the centre This was the last of the _barberi_ They were htened than hurt, yet I am not sorry that these races have been abolished

Here follow records of expeditions in weather of spring freshness--to catacona, and all the delights of that Root on ith my ”Morra” picture, which wasn't bad, and which has a niche in my art career, because it turned out to be the first picture I sold, which joyful event happened in London

”_March 25th_--A brilliant day, full of colour This is a great feast, the Annunciation, and I gave up work to see the Pope corand procession to the Church of the Minerva with his Cross Bearer on a white mule, and all the cardinals, bishops, anificence, a spectacle of great pomp, and nowhere else to be seen We did it in this wise At nine we drove to the Minerva, the sun very brilliant and the air very cold, and soon posted ourselves on the steps of the church in the ht crowd, I quite helpless in a knot of French soldiers of the Legion, who chaffed each other good-humouredly over my head The piazza, in the midst of which rises the funny little obelisk on the elephant's back, swar quite the exception in that ion foroons pranced officiously about, as is their wont Every balcony was thronged with gay ladies and full-dressed officers (soallant and smart Austrians were at anear us), and crimson cloth and brocade flapped from every , here in powerful sunshi+ne, there in effective shadow Some dark, Florentine-coloured houses opposite, mostly in shade, as they were between us and the sun, had a strong effect against the bright sky, their cri their darka lovely sky line

”Presently the gilt and painted coaches of the cardinals began to arrive, huge, high-swung vehicles drawn by very fat black horses dressed out with gold and cris, but the servants and coach that inis exclusively to them The Prior of the Dos, stood outside the archway through which the Pope and all went into the church after alighting from their coaches He was there to welcome them, and, oh! the number of bows he ain with all those wide seneral officers, plastered over with orders; and all these, too, saluted and salaarandly and courteously swept by under the archway, glowing in his scarlet and shi+ning in his purple The carriages pulled up at the spot of all others best suited to us Everything was filled with light, the cardinals glowing like rubies inside their coaches, even their faces all agloith the red reflections thrown up froht which I could hardly stand; it was eloquent of the olden ti of awe and solees had rolled back and by a miracle the dead time had been revived and shown to us for a brief and precious moment

On a sleek white rey head bare to the sunshi+ne and carrying in his right hand the gold and jewelled Cross The trappings of the e black, square cloth thrown over its back in the e and hed considerably, was very conspicuous The beauty of the colour of s of that white beast, the lilac of the rider's robes, and the tender glory of the es enchant me! An attendant took the Cross as the priest disles and a sharp roll of the druotten present day on our notice, and soon on caoons, and then the coach of His Holiness, seeold in the sunshi+ne Its six black horses a, red traces alround, as seems to be the ecclesiastical fashi+on in harness (only the wheelers really pull), and guided by bedizened postillions in wigs decidedly like those worn by English QC's Floere showered down on this coach fro in the fresh, clear air I see now in , bare necks of a clu with all their hearts under the Pope's carriage s in divers tongues But the English 'Long live the Pope King,' though given with a will, did not travel as far as the open '_Viva il Papa Re_' or '_Vive le Pape Roi_' I put in my British 'Hurrah!' as did Papa, splendidly, just as three old and very fat cardinals had painfully got down froe We could see hilass than gilding, and very assiduously did the kind-looking old ht and left as he drove up He had on his head, not the skull cap I have hitherto seen him in, which allows his silver locks to be seen, but the old-lady-like headgear so familiar to me from pictures, notably several portraits of Leo X at Florence, which covers the ears and is bound with ere, and is not becoe frorandees, and smiled and beamed with kindness on everybody Then we all bundled into the church, but as every one there was standing on, instead of sitting on, the chairs, we could see nothing of the cereing, and Papa and I strolled delightedly to St Peter's, on whose great piazza aited the return of the procession It was very beautiful, winding along towards us, with my white mule and all, over that vast space”

Res can never ive these extracts _in extenso_ Merely as history they are precious Hoould like to have some word pictures of Rome in the seventeenth, sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, but we don't get thenificence, numbers, illustrious people, dress, and so forth; but, so more intimate and descriptive of local colour--effects of weather, etc--to help us to realise life as it was in the olden tiliness we prize the picturesque and the artistic all the more for their rarer charm

After ”Morra” I did a life-size oil study of the head of the celebrated reat advance in freedom of brush work

But the walks were not abandoned, and htful round we made with our father, as very happy in Rome The Colosseum was rich in flowers and trees, which clothed with colour its hideous stages of seats The sae beautified the brickwork of Caracalla's Baths, but those beautiful veils were, unfortunately, slowly helping further to demolish the ruins, and had to be all cleared away later on

I have several tied to wander over those eerie ruins in later years by fullsensation produced by the first visit, when those trees waved and sighed, and the owls hooted, as in Byron's time And then the loneliness of the Colosseum was ht fro out that way

”_April 3rd_--Our goal was Santa Croce to-day, beyond the Lateran, for there the Pope was to conus Dei' This cere was _en petite tenue_, the quietest carriages, the seediest servants, but oh! how glorious it all was in that fervent sunlight We stood outside the church, I greatly enjoying the a crowd, full of such varied types The effect of the Pope's two carriages and the horse road fro in clouds in the wind, was very pretty The shouting and cheering and waving of handkerchiefs were quite frantic, more hearty even than at the Minerva People seerandeur to awe them His Holiness looked much more spry than when I last saw him We lost poor little Mamma and, in despair, returned without her, and she didn't turn up till 7 o'clock!”

The Roiven under the temporal power, _Urbi et Orbi_

”_Easter Sunday, April 17th_--What a day, bri over with rich eye-feasts, with pomp and splendour! What can the eye see nowadays to come anywhere near what I saw to-day, except on this anniversary here in unique Rome? Of course, all the world knows that the splendour of this great ceremony outshi+nes that of any other here or in the whole world

Mamma and I reserved ourselves for the benediction alone, so did not start for St Peter's till ten o'clock, and got there long before the troops On getting out of the carriage we strolled leisurely to the steps leading up to the church, where we took up our stand, enjoying the delicious sunshi+ne and fresh, clear air, and also the interesting people that were gradually filling the piazza, a Neapolitans, the wohtest dyes and with snowy _tovaglie_ artistically folded Soe on their heads, this luggage being great bundles wrapped in rugs of red, black, and yellow stripes, soh and cleverly balanced All these people had trudged on foot all the way Their shoes hung at their waists, and also their water flasks As the troops cae ourselves and not to encroach beyond the bottom step Here was a position to see frole and tru their horses, all splendid in velvet housings, the officers in the fullest of full dress There was no pushi+ng in the crowd, and ere as comfortable as possible But there was a scene to our left, up on the terrace that runs along the upper part of the piazza and is part of the Vatican, which orth to ht of all Along this terrace, the balustrade of which was hung with mellow old faded tapestry, and bears those dark-toned, effective statues standing out so well against the blue sky, were collected in a long line, I should say, nearly all the bishops who are gathered here in Rome for the Council, in their white and silver vest their snowy mitres, a few dark-dressed ladies in veils and an officer in bright colour here and there supportingmasses of white Above the heads of this asse sun sent a glowing shade, and above that the clear sky, with the Papal white and yellow flags and standards in great quantities fluttering in the breeze! My delighted eyes kept wandering up to that terrace away from the coarser military picturesqueness in front Up there was a real bit of the olden ti as of lilies about those white-robed pontiffs At last a sign froiven, and all the troops sprang to attention, and then the gentle-faced old Pope glided into view there, borne on his chair and wearing the triple crown Clang go the rifles and sabres in a general salute, and a few '_evvivas_' burst froeneral 'sh-sh-sh,' and areat ins to read fro young an to neigh, but their voices could not drown the single one of Pio Nono

After the reading the Pope rose, and doent, on their knees, the mass of people and soldiers, 'like one ether aopen his ar fervour as he pronounced the grand words of the blessing which rang out, it seethe famous illumination of the dome of St