Rambles through Rome; descriptive of the social, political and ecclesiastical condition of the city and its inhabitants

Front matter

RAMBLES THROUGH ROME; DESCRIPTIVE OF THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECCLESIASTICAL CONDITION OF THE CITY AND ITS INHABITANTS. BY THE CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN. LONDON : HOPE AND CO., PUBLISHERS, 16, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1851. LONDON! HOPE AND CO., PKINTEES, 16, CHEAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. TO HENRY VALLANCE, Esq. My Dear Friend, Allow me to dedicate to you these, my Rambles through Rome, which will serve to remind you of our con versations about Italy. You have revived for me the " Vir probus dicendi peritus " of ancient times ; and in inscribing your name on the title-page of this work, I identify myself with the feeling that led Joel Barlow to dedicate his poem of the Columbiad to Fulton. Yours sincerely, Le Chevalier de Chatelain. A TOUR THROUGH ROME.

Chapter I

A ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE. It is but four months ago that I was in London — but two since I was iii Brussels, and seven weeks have not gone by since I was walking about in Paris, meditating the sudden resolution of walking to Rome on foot — the only true method, in my opinion, of really becoming acquainted with the bye ways as well as the highways of any country ; and here am I, on the present day, 5th of November, 18 — , resting from my fatigues on the hed of a Roman inn ! and I can say to myself that I really am in Rome, the object of my dreams when a boy at school — the object of all my wishes at a riper age. How slowly the night seems to wear away, and how I long for daylight, to get up and feast my eyes on the sight of this city of wonders, — to contemplate and admire the pictures, statues, and palaces that the mighty genius of so many great men has bequeathed to posterity !

Yet I am now really a citizen of the Eternal City — my feet will press the soil that covers the ashes of a Brutus, a Cato, and a Cæsar ! The hours of night. seem an age to my impatient spirit. Thus I soliloquized; and on the morrow I sallied forthwith headlong impatience to become acquainted with this most celebrated of all towns, and I scoured the papal city with a fever of eagerness bordering upon delirium. I will not chronicle the impressions of this first sight, of which words would R give but a very imperfect idea. I purposely suffered some days to elapse, till the effervescence of my feelings had some what subsided, when I felt the necessity of procuring a guide,' or what in Italy they denominate a cicerone. The cicerone that was presented to me was gentlemanly and dignified in his manner.

His age might be from forty five to fifty ; his gentle and melancholy face was expressive, and changed at the slightest emotion ; his eyes, shaded by long black lashes, occasionally flashed like lightning, and had all the penetration of one accustomed to scan the inward thoughts of his fellow creatures. Nor was Fernando, for so I shall call him, an ordinary character ; alas! why did the hand of death so soon deprive me of a friend ? But we will lay aside these sad recollections, as I am about to relate an ad venture in which I bore a share, thanks to the confidence he thought fit to repose in me, after an intimate acquaintance of some months. One day Fernando had conducted me to a narrow street on the left hand at the foot of the great walled staircase of the Capitol, when, suddenly stopping short, he exclaimed, " Would you like to see the Tarpeian Rock ?" and on my replying in the affirmative, " Look up before you," said he ; " it is at the end of this narrow passage."

Time has not rohbed it of its name! and while the spot which contains the ashes of the Horatii, who conquered the sceptre of Latium for Rome, is yet a matter of dispute, people fancy they can discover even now upon this rock the traces of 'the blood of a Manlius and a Cassius ! While Fernando was speaking, I had examined this un changing instrument of justice and revenge. The Tarpeian Rock would appear yet more elevated, were its basis cleared of the filth and rubbish that encumber it. The cavities scooped out in its sides seem to have been applied to various foreign uses, judging by the remains of masonry by which they are still coated. The sight of this colossal patibulary affects the mind painfully, wrings one's heart, and scares the imagination. The eye scans Its summit, then falls on its base, then again measures its height, and turns away in disgust.

It was on leaving this hideous spot that Fernando for the first time proposed to me to go home with him. I accepted this offer. Fernando was not rich ; he lodged on a third floor : but his apartment was remarkably neat and clean. A youny person was seated near the window embroidering; she rose io offer me a chair, an act of civility which she performed with inexpressible grace. " This is my daughter," said Fernando, presenting her to me ; she is the only near relation 1 have on earth. God is witness that the dear girl is well aware of this, and behaves in a manner worthy of all praise." The young lady coloured to her temples with a most amiable diffidence. " Nina cultivates both painting and music," con tinued the father ; for I considered that agreeable accomplish ments are always useful to a young person who is deprived of her mother.

The society of the Muses is a very safe, and even a consolatory one." So saying, he made a sign to Nina, who immediately sat down to the piano, and accompanied her voice in a piece full of expression. I complimented her on her talents, which were, indeed, very remarkable. She afterwards showed me some flowers, painted in water colours, very delicately and faithfully touched off; and Nina received the praises 1 again bestowed on her with the evident gratification of a mind too ingenuous to act modesty. Such was my first visit at my cicerone's. Several other visits followed, and I was requested to repeat them, perhaps all the more cordially, because I did not appear over anxious to do so. Fernando and I agreed that we should carry on our excursions in a leisurely manner ; and according to this system, several days elapsed between our walks.

One morning, thinking to forestal Fernando, I called at an early hour at his lodgings, when, to my surprise, his daughter informed me he had not yet come in! I showed some astonishment, and inquired if he slept out of the house. Nina, somewhat agi tated, looked round like a person who is fearful of being over heard, and after carefully shutting the door, and conducting me on to the leads, she spoke as follows : — " You must know, sir, that my father has sometimes very strong reasons for being absent during the night — I may tell you what they are, as you are a foreigner, and my father looks upon jou as a friend — were you a Roman it would be dif ferent, for — " Again she looked all around and began to weep. Touched by the state in which I saw her, I ventured to approach, and taking her hand in a friendly manner, I entreated her to tell me the cause of her tears.

She remained silent a few moments, then wiping her eyes, " Yes," said she, " I will tell you all ! For two years have I kept this secret in my heart of hearts — but it oppresses me beyond endurance, and you shall hear it — meantime, very likely, my father may come in. " You perceive that large house down there, beyond the b 2 . Tiber ? that is St. Michael's Hospital, a frightful place, where the depraved of both sexes are put into confinement ; this is the subject I am about to spoak of. My father is a Catholic, butmvmother.was a Jewess; their marriage took place under the rule of the French, for before their time these sort of unions were not permitted, and have since been prohibited. My mother had a sister, who soon slept with the ashes of her fathers, and left Rachel an orphan. Rachel was an excellent creature, and my parents took her in ; my father and I were very fond of her.

She knew the history of the Bible by heart, and when we used to sit on this terrace, she would divert us by her narrations. I was not twelve years of age when I had the misfortune to lose my mother ; this sad event endeared Rachel still more to our family. From that moment she took upon her all the cares of our household, and endea voured to alleviate, as much as possible, my father's grief for the loss of his partner. " We continued to live happily together, when one day my father announced that he was going to set off for Piedmont, on account of an inheritance which it was necessary for our interests that he should take possession of in person. He embraced us tenderly, recommending Rachel and myself to look upon Lorenzo — such was my brother's name — as a second father, and to defer to his judgment in everything he should bid us do.

Lorenzo indeed, though only twenty, was quite capable of replacing my father ; he knew several languages, and he would, no doubt, have realized all our hopes without the dreadful misfortune that befell us. "You must know that every Sunday and holiday^ve went to mass — Rachel, who always waited for us at the church door, then took Lorenzo's arm, and we vsed to take a walk on the Corso or behind the Coliseum, in the pretty public garden. The parish priest, however, I don't know why, took it into his head to disapprove of Rachel's associating with us. One day he came and asked my brother angrily who she was, and why she was never seen at church. Lorenzo's answer, though strictly true, did not satisfy him ; he maintained that a Jewess had no right to live anywhere but in the Ghetto;* moreover, he considered that it was highly indecorous, so prettv as she was, that she should live under the same roof as Lorenzo, and swore that he would put an end to such scandalous doings.

As we did not rightly understand what scandal he alluded to, * An unwholesome quarter of Eome assigned to the Israelites, in which they are pent up like sheep in a fol.l; the gales being closed at eight o'clock we took no account of this threatening colloquy ; but to avoid having to see him in future, we left off going to our parish church. The priest in a rage sent for Rachel to come to the Presbytery. Now you must know, sir, that here we dare not resist the order of our parish priests; in Rome it is they who are entrusted with the police of their parishes, and they can, when they please, order persons to be taken to prison by carabiniers. Rachel went, therefore, to the Presbytery accompanied by Lorenzo. It appears that the priest wanted Rachel to have come alone, and, in his ill-humour, he apostrophized Lorenzo in such violent terms, that my brother called him a tyrant, in reply to which the priest answered that my cousin must either turn Christian or leave the neighbourhood.

" Neither of these conditions could be complied with. Rachel had no other home but ours, and she was much attached to her religion ; she declared as much to the priest. But far from attending to her remonstrances, our persecutor only became the more inveterate, and he threatened my cousin with shutting her up in St. .Michel's. In this pressing danger my brother hastened to the Governor of Rome, and pleaded his cousin's cause with so much earnestness, that he obtained a safeguard for her. We now thought ourselves secure; we had yet to learn with what inveterate obstinacy the servant of God pursued his end ; and indeed, taking advantage of our security, the priest manœuvred so cleverly, and acted his part so plausibly with the grand vicar, making him believe that my brother lived with my cousin as if she were his wife, that one day, just as LoreiTzo left us, the house was surrounded and Rachel taken away by a troop of soldiers.

"You may imagine Lorenzo's grief in hearing of this catastrophe ; a burning fever laid him low on a bed of sick ness, and in his fits of delirium he would exlaim — ' Woe, woe to the author of your misfortunes, Rachel ! Woe to him ! no earthly power can screen him from my just revenge!' " However, all our neighbours, or rather all the inhabitants of our part of the town, witnesses to the falsehood of this slanderous imputation cast upon my brother and my cousin, drew up and signed a petition, which Lorenzo, the moment he had somewhat recovered the shock he had received, carried to the Secretary of State. The event of this affair seemed to be favourable to us ; but the papal minister had no sooner read the petition, than he observed harshly, that these kind of certificates proved nothing whatever ; and were Rachel as chaste as Susannah herself, she must yet spend two years at St. Michel's. Such injustice was revolting, hut what cuuld A ROMANCE IN RF.AL LIFE. my brother and I oppose to this violation of all laws, human and divine ?

We had nothing but our tears. " Since this cruel answer of the pontifical minister, no day passed but what Lorenzo loitered about in the vicinity of that odious house, in the hopes of at le^st catching a glimpse of poor Rachel. He waited a long. time in vain, but at last he recognised her through the wooden grating placed over each window — it was at one of the upper stories. Overjoyed at seeing her, and certain of having attracted her notice, Lorenzo was about to express by signs the grief he suffered for her imprisonment, when two carabiniers seized him roughly by the arm, and ordered him to follow them. On a sudden Rachel thinkingthey were going to take him likewise to prison, screamed aloud, and bursting through the wooden lattice of her window, threw herself into the street below ! Ah, sir, would that I could forget so horrible an event!

Our poor Rachel's body was one mutilated heap, her blood besprinkled my brother, and even the carabiniers allowed him to throw himself like a madman on the ground beside my cousin. Alas ! he was only just in time to receive her last sigh. " A woman who had seen from afar that Lorenzo was arrested, had come to give me notice of it, and I left the house determined to accompany him to prison should they be taking him there. Judge of my anguish, when, on reaching St. Michel's, I recognised Rachel in the lifeless, mutilated corpse that lay on the ground, and my brother, pale and disfigured, addressing the people around him with frantic rage — ' Yes,' cried he, ' I swear I will pursue with fire and sword the tyrants who have driven us to despair; I swear to revenge the guiltless virgin whom they have treated like a reprobate courtezan ; though I should perish on the scaffold for it, I will not have sworn in vain !' Both the people and the soldiers applauded his resolution, The frightful sight that was .lying before them was indeed calculated to rouse their indignation ! alas ! their indignation could not give me back Rachel, and by averting my brother's arrest for a moment, it only contributed to deprive me of him for ever in the end.

" Ever since this dreadful day Lorenzo's character seemed totally changed. He had not shed a tear at Rachel's death, and during the two months that followed, not a murmur escaped his lips. , One single idea hatt taken possession of his mind, and that idea was revenge. He never went out but armed, aud each time he left home, he embraced me with trembling emotion, as though we should never meet again ; and, indeed, he had put into my hands the sum that my father had entrusted him with on his departure, telling me that I must learn to shift for myself come what would. VV hen I pressed him to explain his meaning, he evaded my questions, and turned away with a sigh ; and if, during our meals, my tearful eyes happened to meet his with an im ploring look, he averted his face, and ran and shut himself up in his room.

" One day he did not appear at the usual hour ; I stood on the threshold of the door to watch for his return, and I heard the neighbours say that some one had fired a pistol as the parish priest's coach went by, and that his secretary was killed. My thoughts at once flew to Lorenzo. A cold per spiration ran through all my limbs. I came back into the house, and sat down in despair in this very spot. I waited all the night, all the morrow, and the following night, but no Lorenzo appeared. I then became convinced of my misfor tune. I was, moreover, told that my brother was suspected of having committed the deed, and that the police agents would no doubt come and search the house. Bad news is always more certain of being true than good news, and this was soon painfully proved by the arrival of a detachment of soldiers, who, during several days, made repeated perquisi tions in our dwelling, and without the least regard for my affliction, taunted me with the coarsest language and most cruel threats.

" Luckily my father returned at this juncture. His presence gave me the courage to attempt to live, for I jiad re solved to die of hunger, and for three days I had followed up this fatal resolution. I don't know whether my father was afraid of increasing my grief by the sight of his own, but he received the news without betraying the least agitation, and only said that we must be resigned to God's will. He, how ever, took the necessary steps for obtaining the privilege of not being exiled from Rome, a measure usually adopted to wards the parents of state criminals. My father was allowed to remain, on account of his having been absent at the mo ment the event took place, and perhaps they hoped, by watching all his actions, to discover his son's hiding-place, for no one knew what had become of him.

But my father is prudent, and though I have every reason to believe that he knows where Lorenzo is concealed, he will not suffer himself to be surprised." Nina was just at this point of her interesting narrative, when the noise of a key turning in the lock made her become silent. She signed me to be discreet by placing her finger on her lips, and went to embrace her father, who en tered. Fernando appeared surprised, and put out on finding me in his lodgings at so early an hour, but Nina perceiving this, very adroitly gave him to understand that I had but just arrived ; and after we had exchanged a few words, Fernando proposed to me to take our walk through the Eternal City, which we accordingly did. * • * * More than a month had passed by since I had become possessed of a portion of Fernando's secrets.

One evening after accompanying a friend back to the top of the Quirinale, I found a crowd of people, of all ages and sexes, about to march forth singing canticles of a solemn and majestic cha racter. These were the Purgatorii, or in other words, per sons who assemble every Friday to pray for the souls in purgatory. I resolved to avail myself of the opportunity of sauntering about Rome during the night, and mingling with the crowd, I walked out of the town by St. Lorenzo's gate. But instead of following the road leading to this Basilica, I took the via Labricana, an ancient road but little frequented, in hopes of getting sooner into the open country. I fancied that the country about Rome, especially at such an hour, would fill me with a melancholy sensation, in which my ima gination delighted to indulge.

I was obliged to walk a couple of miles before I was able to leave the high road, which was skirted by long walls and impenetrable hedges. This monotony, so tiresome by daylight, acquires an imposing aspect by night: it seems as if it were the labyrinth of infinity. The moon had just risen, and lighted up some valuable fragments that the vilest taste has suffered to be mixed up with cement, of which strange materials the neighbouring tombs were constructed. A thousand reflections arose to my mind, all more or less relative to the emptiness of sublunary things. Who, indeed, would not have found ample food ior such reflections, on beholding the marble fragments of the Capitol serving to close the patrimony ofa vine-dresser? A sort of cavern now stood before me, which seemed to have been formed by the giving way of the ground above.

On stooping to examine it, I perceived that the interior was vast, and having entered after a moment's hesitation, I found it was a tomb in the style of the Colombaria. The walls of the vault were coated with stucco, elegantly elaborated. I dipped my arm into several of the urns, and drew out some handfuls of ashes and burnt bones. While disturbing these cold remains, death appeared to me far less hideous than it seems in our Christian sepulchres. The Romans, it is true, did not convert their tombs into bugbears ; they considered them as temples raised to the Diis manibus, where pious hands placed the urn of a benefactor or of some valued freedman ; and instead of a repulsive putrefaction forbidding all approach, their remains, purified by fire, were watered by the tears of affection and covered with perfumes and flowers.

On leaving this sepulchre I mended my pace, and fouud myself in a deserted spot. Several owls who were whirling round these shapeless and gigantic ruins, and an innumerable quantity of fireflies sparkling like so many stars in the midst of the fern and on the banks of the river, seemed the only living beings near me. The accidents of the soil had every now and then formed what appeared like the craters of an extinct volcano, and were sometimes real precipices. The ground, which was cracked here and there, trembled several times under my feet, and I could hear the roaring of a sub terranean torrent. I then understood the full meaning of what had been once said in my hearing, namely, " that the country about Rome presents nearly as many dangers to those who reconnoitre it, as to those who would attempt to clear it for cultivation," and I advanced with great precau tion.

Who could have helped me had I fallen into some precipice ? Whichever way I looked I saw nothing but ruins, the silvery summit of the Apennines and the sky above me, and no sound met my ears save the plaintive hymns of the Purgatorii fading away in the distance like the moaning of the wind through the crenated pinnacles of a cathedral. I was not, however, alone. Just as I had sat down on the edge of one of those pseudo craters, a voice resounded through the hollow rocks, " Help me father," it said, 1' I am so weak I can scarcely move." I looked round in surprise, and lend ing an attentive ear, 1 heard a rustling of brambles and thistles, and I could distinguish two figures slowly emerging fro.n the bottom of the abyss, f' Oh V exclaimed the same voice, " How the soft light of the moon refreshes my weary sight !

I have been pining so long in the dreary darkness of this quarry ; but how comforted I should be, if by the light of the same moon I could but once more behold my sister's beloved face !" I at once recognised Fernando in the voice ofhis companion, who replied : " You must not expect it. We ought to be thankful enough to Providence for giving me the means of eluding1 the vigilance of the Argus-eyed police. But let us sit down, my son, and before we venture further, have the courage to take some nourishment. The fear of being betrayed by the moon light has made me bring but little, but if you husband well these few provisions, they will last till I am able to return." " Father," replied Lorenzo (for it was he), " you know that I never consume all the food you bring me. This state of forced inactivity at the bottom of a cavern, the damp air that I breathe, my tedious existence, and consuming grief, have all combined to injure my health and give me a distaste for every sort of nourishment.

I have but one wish left — to see my sister, and then die !" " My son, you distress me with those sad thoughts." " O father ! you know it is not my fault if I do. While Rachel still existed, my sole wish was to live in quiet obscurity. B ut she is no more ! at least if I could have revenged her !" " Be calm, my son, I entreat you ; your exclamations may be heard, and your retreat will be traced, and you undone." " Oh! father, you know that I am not alarmed at the thoughts of death ; and if I have taken refuge in the cata combs, it is only to save you from a cruel exile, and from the painful idea of my bloody head rolling at the feet of the popu lace. Had I been an orphan, I should have acted differently." Fernando looked anxiously around. I was in the shade, consequently escaped his eye. Somewhat reassured about the safety of their interview, he said feelingly to his son, while the latter took some refreshment : " You appear to me too bent on revenge ; Christ's holy gospel teaches us to pardon the in juries we have received ; and could this mild precept but take possession of your heart, I doubt not but you would feel some relief."

" Hear me, father; I did not give myself up to the full excess of my resentment without having previously endea voured to conquer it. Heaven is my witness, that had one of my equals reduced me even to despair by the most fiendish wickedness, I could yet have pardoned him, because some repentance might have been expected from him. But when men in power oppress the innocent whom they ought to pro tect, when they conceal their brutal passions under the vile mask of hypocrisy, and dare to inflict the stigma of a shameful punishment on virtue's self— so rare as it is on earth when they deprive the orphan of his liberty — his only treasure—how can they lay any claim to profit by the maxims of the holy Gospel ? and you, can you consistently blame me for execrating and cursing those who have steeped my youth in bitterness by assassinating my beloved; she who was one day to have been my partner for life ?

Oh ! no doubt, were justice dealt with an even hand in this land of oppression, I should have loudly cried for revenge before the assembled judges ; and when the law had been about to strike the guilty, I might then, and then only, have recommended him to Divine mercy. But you know that all complaints, if uttered against those in power, are accounted as so many crimes in Rome, and punished by banishment. Tyrants are always most suspicious when most hated, and they cannot hear a sigh without a cold perspiration creeping all over them; and had I attempted to arraign Rachel's murderers, they would only have slandered her memory. O father ! father ! there is no society where despotism reigns triumphant, and no order where violence usurps the place of law. In such a state of things man preserves his natural rights, and force alone can deprive him of them.

I wished to make use of mine, but fate betrayed my courage, and Rachel, Rachel is unrevenged !" As he pronounced these words a shudder of horror con vulsed Lorenzo's frame. " Ah ! Rachel," cried he, while sobs almost choked his utterance, " my beloved, your image is still before me. I still behold those dying eyes fixed upon my face; I still seem to press within my arms that writhing, dis located form, to feel your last breath upon my cheek — and yet — yet you are unrevenged !" and as he spoke he tore his hair, and beat his head on the ground. " For Heaven's sake," cried Fernando, folding his son in his arms, " I conjure you to banish those dreadful thoughts, that will unseat your reason. However legitimate your resentment may be, it must give way to necessity." " Your heart disowns your words," replied tho young man in a solemn voice ; you curse inwardly the execrable tyranny that has reduced your son to bury himself alive within these tombs, and deprived your old age of its support.