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¦ jAtt. 21, I860.] ^ 7 1
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the [city has shrunk up, until its preci...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Notes On Science. A Stronomers Have For ...
for this purpose , and the ingenious savages are said to be able to Slice virgin wet nurses at will . Two French chemists , MM Dav ^ ne and GiBARD . havediscoveredthatperfectlydry sulphuretted hydrogen does not act upon silver . They found that , under such condition ! , silver leaves may be' suspended in the gas without suffering ^ A ^ uSn of much interest to us as a naval people has beeiv Started by the assertion that iron nails or bolts promote the decay ot wooden snips . The theory , which is supported by some experiments , is that the iron becomes peroxidized by exposure to air and moisture ; then parts with a portion of its oxygen to the wood , which is slowly destroyed ; takes another dose of oxygen from the air , and parts with it in turn . , , . In the way of apparatus , a most valuable instrument has been produced and patented by Messrs . Gbiffin . It is a gas furnace , built up of suitable pieces of fire-clay , and _ constructed so that a blast of air is conveyed into the centre of each jet of gas at the moment of combustion . The effect produced is qmte wonderful , —a
small furnace fusing a pound and a half of cast iron m twenty minutes . Mr . Gbiffin has an ingenious contrivance for preventing- loss of heat through the flue , which is descending , and filled with small pebbles through whose interstices sufficient ventilation takes place , while the pebbles themselves absorb a large portion of the caloric . . . , . - Among miscellaneous news we may mention that a rien venvot platina has been found in Frederickstown , United States ^ by JJr . Koch ; and that M . Paten has disgusted the epicures of Paris , by telling thern that their favourite delicacy , the edible birdsnests , conr sists chiefly of a peculiar spittle secreted by the Salangane swallow .
¦ Jatt. 21, I860.] ^ 7 1
¦ jAtt . 21 , I 860 . ] ^ 7 1
The [City Has Shrunk Up, Until Its Preci...
the [ city has shrunk up , until its precincts are a world too wide : and the walls , if they are useless , are harmless also—more , by the way , than you can say for most things here- There is no stir or bustle at the gates . Two French soldiers striding across a bench are playing at piquet with a pack of greasy cards . A packhorse or two nibble ; , the blades of . grass between the stones , while their owners haggle ' with-the solitary guard about the " octroi " duties . A sentinel on duty stares listlessly at you as you pass , and you stand within the walls of Rome . You are coming , shall I say from Ostia , and enter therefore by the Porta San Paolo— the gate where legends tell that Belisarius sat and begged . I have chosen this one out of the seore of entrances as recalling fewest of past memories , and leading to the within
heart of the living , working city . You stand , then , Rome , and look round in vain for the signs of a city . Hard by , a knot of dark cypress trees waves above the lonely burial -ground where Shelley lies at rest . Along , straight , pollard-lined road stretches before you , hetween high walls , into the grey distance . Low lulls or mounds rise on either side , covered by stunted straggling vineyards . You pass on . A beggar , squatting by the roadside , calls on you for charity ; and long after you have passed you can hear the mumbling , droning cry , "Per l ' amore di Dio e della Santa Vergme ! dying in your ears . On the wall , from time to time , you see a rude painting of Christ upon the Cross , and an inscription above a slit beneath bids you contribute alms for the souls in purgatory . A peasant woman , perhaps , is kneeling before the shrine , and a troop of riests by on the other side . A string of carts again , drawn
p pass by bullocks , another shrine and another group of priests , and you are at the river side . The dull muddy Tiber rolls beneath you ; and in front , that shapeless mass of dingy , weather-stained , discoloured , plaster-covered , tile > roofed buildings , crowded and jammed together on either side the river , is Home itself . You are at the city * s portthe " Ripetta :, " or quay of Rome . In the stream there are a dozen vessels , something between barges and coasting smacks , the largest possibly of fifty tons burden . There is a Gravesend-looking steamer , too , lying off the quay , but she belongs to the French Government , and is only employed in carrying troops to and from Civita Vecchia . At this point all traffic on the Tiber ceases . Though the river is navigable for a long- distance above Rome , there is not a boat to be seen above the bridge now in sight . A few steps more ., and the walls on either side are replaced by houses , and the city has begun .
LETTER PROM ITALY . ( SPECIAL . ) Rome , 14 th January , 1860 . M Y first recollections of Rome date from too long ago , and from too early an age , for me to be able to recall the impression caused by its first aspect . It is hard indeed for any one , at any time , to jiidge of Rome fairly . Whatever may be theobjeet of our pilgrimage—whether art , or religion , or history—we Roman travellers are all , under some guise or other , pilgrims to the Eternal Citv , and look with a pilgrim ' s reverence upon the shrine of our worship . The ground we tread on is enchanted ground , we breathe a charmed air , and are spellbound -with a strange witchery . A .. kind of glamour steals over us ; a thousand memories rise up and chase
each other . Heroes and martyrs , sages arid saints , consuls and popes and emperors , people the weird pageant , which to our mind s eye hovers ever mistily amidst the scenes around us . Here , above all places in God ' s earth , it is hard to forget the past and think only of the present . This , however , is what I now want to do . Laying aside all thought of what Rome has been , I would fain describe what Rome is now . Thns , in my solitary wanderings about the city I have often sought to picture to myself the feelings of a stranger who , caring nothing and knowing nothing of the past , should enter Rome with only that listless curiosity which all travellers feel perforce , when for the first time they approach a great capital . Let me fancy that such a traveller , in the person of my r ^ ade r—a very Gallio among travellers—is standing by my side . Let me try and tell him what , under my Mentorship , he would
mark and see . It shall not be on a bright cloudless day that we enter Rome . To our northern eyes the rich Italian sunlight gives to everything , even to ruins and rags and squalor , a deceptive glory and a beauty which is not due . No , the day shall be such a day as that on which I write—such a day , in fact , as the days are oftener than not at this dead season of the year- —sunless and damp and dull . The sky above and the hills around are shrouded with grpy unbroken clouds . It matters little , by what gate or from what quarter we enter . On every side the scene is much the same . The Campagna surrounds tjie city . A wide , waste , broken , hillock-covered plain , half common , hnlf pasture-land , and altogether desolate , A few stunted trees—a of
deserted house or two-r-hero and there a crumbling mass shapeless brickwork : such is the foreground through which you travel for many a weary mile . As you approach the cicy there is no ohango in the desolation , no sign of life . Every now and then a string of some half-dozen peasant carts , loaded with wino barrels or wood fngrcots , comesjingling by . The carts , so called rather by courtesy than right , consist of three rough planks and two high riokotty whoels . The broken-kneed horses sway to and fro beneath their unwieldy loads , and the drivers , clad in rough sheepskin oloakfl , crouch sleepily upon the shafts . A solitary cart is rare , for Jtho neighbourhood of Rome is not the safest of places , and those small piles of stones with the wooden cross surmounting them witness to
the fact that a murder took place , not long ago , on the very spot you are passing now . Then , perhaps , you pass a drove of wild shaggy buffaloes , or n , travelling carriage rattling and jolting along , or a stray prioHt or so , trudging- homewards from some outlying ohupel . That red-bodied , funevoal-looking two-horao conoh , crawling at a snail ' s pace , belongs to his Excellency the Onrdinnl , whom you can see n , little further on , -pottering 1 feebly : along £ he x'oad in his violet stoohfngs , supported by his clerical secretary , and followed at n respectful distance by his two attendant priests . At . hurt , out of the dreary waste , iit the end of the ill paved sloughy road , the long line of tumbledown walls riseB gloomily . A few cannon-shot would batter n broach nnywhoro . Howovor , nt Rome thero is neither eonunoreo to impede nor building extension of any hind to ohoek ;
The houses do riot rnprove on closer acquaintance . One and all look as if , commenced on too grand a scale , they .. haH-ruined their builders before their completion , had then been left standing -empty for years , and were now occupied by tenants too poor to keep them from decay . There are holes in the walls where the scaffolding wasfixed ; large blotches where the plaster has peeled away , fetoncs and cornices , which have been left unused , lie in the mud before the doors . From the window sills , and on ropes fastened across the street , flutter half-washed rags and strange apparel . The height of tho
houses makes the narrow streets gloomy , even at mid-duy . ^ At night , save in a few main thoroughfares , there is no light of any kind ; but then at Rome nobody cares much about walking , m outof-the-way places , after dark . The streets arc paved with the most slippery and angular of stones , placed herring-bone fashion , with ups and downs in every direction . Foot-pavement there is none ; and the ricketty carriages drawn by the tottering horses come swaying round the endless corners with an utter disregard for the limbs and lives of the foot-folk .- You are out of luck if you come to Rome
on a " festa" day , for then all tho shops are shut . However , even here the chances are two to one , or somewhat more ,-in favour of the day of your arrival being a working day . When the shops are open there is at any rate life enough of one kind or other . In most parts the shops have no window fronts . Glass indeed , there is little , of any sort , and the very name of plate-glass is unknown . The dark , glopniy shops , varying in look between a coach-house and a winevault , have their wide shutter-doors-flung open to the street . A feeble lamp , hung- at the back of every shop you pass before a painted Madonna shrine , makes the darkness of their interiors visible lhe trades of Rome are primitive , and few in number . Those dismembered , disembowelled carcases , suspended in every variety of posture , denote the butcher ' s shop : not tho pleasantest of sights at any time , least of all in Rome , where tho custom of washing the meat after
killing it seems never to have been introduced . Next door , too , is a stable , crowded with mules and horses . Those black , mouldy loaves , exposed in a wirework cage to protect them from the clutches of the hungry street vagabonds , stand in front of the baker ' s , where the price of bread is regulated by the pontifical tariff . Then comes tho " Spaceio di Vino , " that ? most gloomy among tho shrines ofc Bucchus , where the sour red wine is drunk afc dirty tables by the grimiest of tipplers . Hard by is the " Stannaro , " or hardware tinker , who is always rebottoming dilapidated pans , and drives a brisk trade in those qlumsy , murderous-looking Jknives . Further on is the greengrocer , with t |» o long strings of greens , and sausages , and flabby balls of cheese , a , nd straw-covered oil-flasks dangling in festoons before his door . Over the way is tho Government depot , where the coarsest of salt and tho rankest of tobacco are sold at mononolv nrices . Those erav , particoloured stripes of paper , inscribed
with the cabalistic figures , flaunting at tho street corner , proc aim the " Prenditoria dei Lotti , " or office of the Papal Lottery , where gambling receives thtf sanction of the Church- —and prospers under clerical auspices to such an extent , that ; in the city of liume alone , with a population under two hundred thousand , fifty-h y o millions ot lottery tickets are said to bo taken annually . Cobblers ami ciirpenWs , barbers and old ^ lothoamon , seem to mo to curry on tnoir trades much in tho same way all the world over . The peculiarity
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21011860/page/19/
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