come in and reap the fruits.

CHAPTER XXIX.

SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC CUSTOMS OF THE ROMANS.[10]

A Roman House--Wretched Dwellings of Working-Classes--How Working
Men spend their Leisure Hours--Roman mode of reckoning
Time--Handicrafts and Trades in Rome--Meals--Breakfast, Dinner,
&c.--Games--Amusements--Marriages--Deaths and Funerals--Wills
tampered with--Popular regard to Omens--Superstitions connected
with the Pope's Name--Terrors of the Priesthood--Weather, and
Journey Homeward.

I shall now endeavour to bring before my readers, in a short chapter,
the daily inner life of Rome. First of all, let us take a peep into a
Roman dwelling. The mansions of the nobility and the houses of the
wealthier classes are built on the plan of the ancient Romans. There is
a portal in front, a paved court in the middle, a quadrangle enclosing
it, with suites of apartments running all round, tier on tier, to
perhaps four or five stories. The palaces want nothing but cleanliness
to make them sumptuous. They are of marble, lofty in style, and chaste
though ornate in design. The pictures of the great masters that once
adorned them are now scattered over northern Europe, and the frames are
filled with copies. For this the poverty or extravagance of their owners
is to blame. The best pictures in Rome are those in the churches, and
these are sadly dimmed and obscured by the smoke of the incense. A
fire-place in a Roman house is a sort of phenomenon; and yet the climate
of Rome, unless at certain times, is not that balmy, intoxicating
element which we imagine it to be. During my stay there, I had to
encounter alternate deluges of rain, with lightning, and cutting blasts
of the Tramontana. The comfort of an Italian house, especially in
winter, depends more on its exposure to the sun than on any arrangement
for heating it. Some few, however, have fire-places in the rooms. The
kitchen is placed on the top of the house,--the very reverse of its
position with us. The ends sought hereby are safety, and the convenience
of discharging the culinary effluvia into the atmosphere. The fire-place
is unique, and not unlike that of a smithy. There is a cap for sparks;
and about three feet above the floor stands a stone sole, in which holes
are cut for the _fornelli_, which are square cast-iron grated boxes for
holding the wood char, upon which the culinary utensils are placed.
These are but ill adapted for preparing