It is the season of
Carnival, and all these fooleries are permitted at this time. We merely
glanced at the exterior of the celebrated buildings, leaving till
to-morrow a more thorough examination."

"_Monday, February 16._ We rose early and went again to the leaning tower
and its associated buildings. The tower, which is the _campanile_ of the
cathedral and is about one hundred and ninety feet high, leans from its
perpendicular thirteen feet. We ascended to the top by a winding
staircase. One ascending feels the inclination every step he takes, and,
when he reaches the top and perceives that that which should be
horizontal is an inclined plane, the sensation is truly startling. It is
difficult to persuade one's self that the tower is not actually falling,
and I could not but imagine at intervals that it moved, reasoning myself
momentarily into security from the fact that it had thus stood for ages.
I could not but recur also to the fact that once it stood upright; that,
although ages had been passed in assuming its present inclination to the
earth, the time would probably come when it would actually fall, and the
idea would suggest itself with appalling force that that time might be
now. The reflection suggested by one of our company that it would be a
glorious death, for one thus perishing would be sure of an imperishable
name, however pleasing in romantic speculation, had no great power to
dispel the shrinking fear produced by the vivid thought of the
possibility when on the top of the tower.... The _campanile_ is not the
only leaning tower in Pisa. We observed that several varied from the
perpendicular, and the sides of many of the buildings, even parts of the
cathedral and the baptistery, inclined at a considerable angle. The soil
is evidently unfavorable to the erection of high, heavy buildings."

After a side trip to Leghorn and further loitering along the way,
stopping but a short time in Florence, which he purposed to visit and
study at his leisure later on, he saw, at nine o'clock on the morning of
February 20, the dome of St. Peter's in the distance, and, at two o'clock
he and his companions entered Rome through the Porta del Popolo.

Taking lodgings at No. 17 Via de Prefetti, he spent the first few days in
a cursory examination of the treasures by which he was surrounded, but he
was eager to begin at once the work for which he had received
commissions, and on March 7 he writes home:--

"I have begun to co