the second day for Rome, the weather clearing up just about
the time of our departure.

The Pisans have a significant motto:

"Pisa pensa a chi posa."
(Pisa sits ill
On those who sit still.)

We did not, however, stay long enough in the town to experience the
truth of the aphorism.

CHAPTER IX.

Arrival in Rome--Hotel de la Ville--The Corso--The Strangers' Quarter--
Roman Guides--View from the Capitol--"How are the Mighty fallen!"--The
sculpture-gallery of the Capitol--The Dying Gladiator--The Venus--
Hawthorne's Marble Faun--Bambino Santissimo--The Mamertine Prison--The
Forum--Palaces--The Coliseum--Longfellow's "Michael Angelo."

Travelling by the slow second-class train, we did not arrive at Rome
until nearly 11 p.m.; yet the journey proved interesting, especially as
we approached our destination. The stillness of night increased the
impressive awe that inspired us as we neared the "Eternal City." It was
not only cold and dark, but foggy; and we could see very little;
conjecture, however, was busy as we caught, through an occasional gleam
of light, the shadows of outlying monuments and ruins. As we crossed the
silent-rolling Tiber, and the reverberations of the railway bridge smote
on our ears with a hollow, sepulchral sound, we felt, almost with a
shiver, that we were entering a city of the dead.

The fog was extremely cold and penetrating, striking one almost like the
malaria, and we were glad to get to the well-lighted station, and mingle
with the cheerful animated crowd on the platform, and did not even feel
the intrusive hotel omnibus-conductors a nuisance, but gladly consigned
ourselves to the guidance of one, and drove away. However, we soon found
that Rome was _Imperial_ in her charges. The first hotel wanted from ten
to twelve francs for a bedroom per night, the second likewise.
Ultimately we were safely housed about midnight in the Hotel de la
Ville, in the Piazza del Popolo, at the head of the Corso. Though
perhaps a little out of the way, and less conveniently situated than the
more central hotels in the Piazza di Spagna, it has many advantages in
comfort, is quiet and moderate in charge, and close to the English
church.

This Hotel de la Ville was once the palace and museum of the Marquis
Campana. It is surrounded by so-called "English gardens," beautifully
decorated with columns, statues, fountains, and orange trees full of
golden fruit.

The