nty gowns, make up an alluring scene. The salons are richly
furnished and abound in works of art, old pictures, inlaid cabinets,
carvings, rich vases, busts, and statuettes. The library, with its
wealth of books; the music room; the salon for dancing; the supper room,
and the quiet rooms where groups gather before the blazing open fires,
grateful in these lofty rooms whose temperature suggests the frozen
circles of Dante,--all make up a delightful picture. One meets the most
varying individualities. A Russian lady of title may confide her
conviction that her country is ruined, and that she never desires to
return to it. Italy is the country that attracts not only political
refugees from other European countries, but many who are out of sympathy
with conditions elsewhere and who find the cosmopolitan society and the
varied interests of this land of sunshine their most enjoyable
environment.

One pleasant feature of a Roman winter is that of the usual course of
lectures given by Professor Lanciani. The celebrated archaeologist is a
man of special personal charm, and his conversation, as well as his
public lectures, is full of interest and value. The lectures are given
under the auspices of the Societa Archeologica, and a special subject
recently discussed was the celebration to be held in 1911 in Rome. One
project for this celebration includes the plan to lay out a carriage
road around the Forum and the Palatine, and also around the Baths of
Titus and of Caracalla, extending the drive to all those places included
between the Appian and the Latin Way, the Villa Celimontana and the
Circus Maximus.

Professor Lanciani discussed the artistic history of Rome and the
different appearances the city took on in different periods; the
regulation plan drawn up by Julius Caesar and accepted and carried out by
Augustus, by which one-fifth of the total area of the city was reserved
for public parks. In the third century of the empire the city was
inclosed by parks and crossed from end to end by delightful portico
gardens, where valuable works of art were collected. During the period
of the Renaissance there were the famous villas and the Cesarini Park
on the slopes of the Esquiline, and after regretting the many
unnecessary acts of vandalism committed since 1870 in Rome, Professor
Lanciani suggested that a complete reconstruction of the Baths of
Caracalla should be made, to serve in 1911 as the Exhibition Building.
He believed no art