you may not take notice of a pretty child
or seem pleased with it; so soon as you do the mother will instantly
importune you for '_qualche cosa_' for the child. Neither can you ask for
a cup of cold water at a cottage door, nor ask the way to the next
village, nor even make the slightest inquiry of a peasant on any subject,
but the result will be '_qualche cosa, signore_.' The first act which a
child is taught in Italy is to hold out its hand to beg. Children too
young to speak I have seen holding out their little hands for that
purpose, and so mechanical is this action that I have seen, in one
instance, a boy of nine years nodding in his sleep and yet at regular
intervals extending his hand to beg. Begging is here no disgrace; on the
contrary, it is made respectable by the customs of the Church."

On September 6, after visiting the catacombs, he goes to the Convent of
St. Martino, and indulges in this rhapsody:--

"From a terrace and balcony two views of the beautiful scenery of the
city and bay are obtained. From the latter place especially you look down
upon the city which is spread like a model far beneath you. There is a
great deal of the sublime in thus looking down upon a populous city; one
feels for the time separated from the concerns of the world.

"We forget, while we consider the insignificance of that individual man,
moving in yonder street and who is scarcely visible to us, that we
ourselves are equally insignificant. It is in such a situation that the
superiority of the mind over the body is felt. Paradoxical as it may at
first seem, its greatness is evinced in the feeling of its own
littleness.... After gazing here for a while we were shown into the
chapel through the choir.... In the sacristy is a picture of a dead
Christ with the three Marys and Joseph, by Spagnoletto, not only the
finest picture by that master, but I am quite inclined to say that it is
the finest picture I have yet seen. There is in it a more perfect union
of the great qualities of art,--fine conception, just design, admirable
disposition of _chiaroscuro_, exquisite color,--whether truth is
considered or choice of tone in congruity with the subject's most
masterly execution and just character and expression. If any objection
were to be made it would, perhaps, be in the particular of character,
which, in elevation, in ideality, falls far short of Raphael. In other
points it has not its superior."

Returning to Rome on September 14,