Travels in England, France, Italy and Ireland ... Fourth thousand

Preface

. I have not written this little book for the learned, nor to seek fame as an author, but to contribute a mite towards supplying a remarkable deficiency in our Catholic literature. The Catholics of this country, though for the most part poor, are fond of reading. Many religious works, and some few histories, and tales, and political essays are the principal books within their reach. Books of travels they have none. With regard to the customs and doings of other nations they have little means of obtaining information except from Protestant tourists. But their produc tions, even the best of them, are so well seasoned with sneers and misrepresentations, perhaps uninten tional, of the practices, ceremonies, customs, &c, of Catholic countries, that, instead of being instructive, they are pernicious and dangerous. As an offset to some of these journals and tours I have prepared the 1*

PREFACE.

. following pages, as the impressions and experience of a Catholic traveller, and nothing more. I made but a brief tour, and I have made a brief book. I trust it will prove a readable one, and serve as an inducement to others, better qualified than my self, to send forth among our intelligent and reading Catholics other and more extensive and elaborate works of the same class. What Catholics need in this age of printing is good wholesome reading. They do not read for the sake of the style. They are not critics. Nor do they read for the discovery of new and startling ideas. They do not need them. But they seek for information. They love truth, be it never so old and often told. There fore, whatever I could pick up on an excursion not of mere pleasure, but of duty, and along a route not of my own choosing, but another's, I have endeavored to convey to the reader in as plain, straightforward, and intelligible language as I could.

G. F. H. Boston, Christmas Day, 1855. CONTENTS. CaiPira Paob Chapteb Pass I.— INTBODUOTIOK, ... 11 A Cave 48 H. — London, ... 12 VI. — Home, .... 49 Fathers of the Oratory, . . 14 Ancient Bomans, . . .61 Decline and Fall, . . 63 Catholic Soldiers, . . 65 HL — Pasis 16 Hotel Dien,. ... 18 Churches, . ... 67 St. Peter's, .... 69 School of Compassion, . . 20 Juvenile Offenders, . . 22 Canons at their Office, . 61 Ascent to the Dome, . . 63 Adult School, ... 24 Reform School, ... 26 Pio Nono, .... 65 Washing the Feet of Pilgrims, 67 Holy Thursday, ... 69 IT. — Lyons, ... 27 Good Friday, ... 71 Hotel Dieu, .... 27 Easter Sunday, . . . 73 L'Hopital de la Charite, (for Old People and Foundlings,) 28 Benediction at St. Peter's, . 75 Fireworks, . . . .77 Corpus Christi, ... 79 V. — Marseilles, . . .29 Boman Churches, . . .81 Churches, .... 30 Miraculous Conversion of an Israelite, .... 82 Boys' Penitentiary, . . 34 Orphan Asylum, ... 36 Cicerones, . . • .89 Convent of the Capuchins, . 38 The Coliseum, ... 96 Excursion, .... 41 Dialogue, . . • .98 Village Life 43 Private Audience with the Pope 100 Queer Travelling Equipage, 44 Bemarkable Grottoes, . .

CONTENTS, Page Cmpr PA83 Chap. Pisa, 172 The Catacombs, . . .101 Monuments of the Faith, . 104 The Campanile, or Leaning Tower, .... 173 Institutions of Charity, . 105 San Michele, ... 106 The Campo Santo, or Burial Ground, .... 173 San Spirito, ... 112 A Pilgrim 118 Naples, .... 174 Preaching, .... 176 Political and social Aspect of Borne 120 Bay of Naples, . . . 178 Americans in Bome, . . 122 Lazaroni, .... 180 Tomb of Virgil, . . 181 The Bomans, ... 124 Departure from Bome, . . 127 Grotto of Posilipo, . . 182 Pompeii, .... 183 VII. — Florence, . . 128 Baia, . . . .-. .186 Mount Somma, . . . 130 Elysian Fields, . . .188 Wonderful Fish Pond, . . 190 Foligno, .... 132 Perugia l&l Grotto of the Sibyl, . . 192 Vai d'Arno, ... 136 Mount Vesuvius, . . . 194 Cathedral, . . . .138 Herculaneum, . . . 196 Eoyal Gallery, ... 140 Bide on Donkeys, . . 198 Tuscan Ladies, . . . 142 Ascent of Vesuvius, . . 200 Galileo, .... 143 Eoyal Museum, . . . 205 House of Industry, . . 144 Catacombs, . . . 210 Boys' Costume, . . 148 An American Artist, . . 150 Carnival, . . . .211 Capri, .... 212 Protestant Ignorance, . 152 Loretto, .... 212 Prejudice, .... 154 Pilgrims 214 Story of a Friar, . . 156 Chariot Bace, . . . 164 Visit to Firmo, . . . 216 Trieste 217 St. John's Day, . . 166 Horse racing, . . . 166 Incident at Ancona, . . 218 Venice, .... 219 Description of Venice, . . 220 VIII. — Genoa, ... 169 Cathedral 222 Cathedral, . . . .169 Churches, .... 223 Poorhouse, . . . 171 Convent of St. Lazare, . 226 Leghorn, . . . .171 Milan, .... 227 The Medici, ... 172 Yankee Invention, . .

CONTENTS. 9 Yage Chap. Chap. Page St. Charles Borromeo, . . 229 XII. — Ireland, . . 255 Dublin, . . . ., . 256 St. Ambrose, ... 231 The Emperor Theodosius, . 232 Institutions and Charities, 258 Daniel O'Connell, . . 261 15. — The Alps, . . 233 Cork 265 Perilous Ascent, . . . 234 Face of the Country, . . 266 Military Eoads of Napoleon, 236 Father Mathew, . . 267 Milltown, . . . .269 Monastery of St. Bernard, 237 Dogs, . . . .238 KiUarney, 271 Philanthropists, . . 240 Gap of Dunloe, . . .272 Hotels, 241 Lakes 273 Waterford, . . . .275 X. — Geneva, ... 241 Christian Brothers, . . 275 Sunday, . . . .243 Kilkenny, . . . .276 Lake Leman, . . . 244 Public Buildings, . . 277 St. Francis of Sales, . . 246 St. Francis, Bishop of Ge- XIII. — Conclusion, . . 278 Bemarks on the Country, 278 neva, .... 248 Its Besources and Climate, . 279 Beturn to London, . . 250 Its People, Immigration, Traits of Character, . . 281 XI. — England again, . 250 Convent Bill, . . .251 The Irish People in the United States, ... 285 Oxford University, . . A JOURNEY THBOUGH ENGLAND, FRANCE, ITALY, AND IRELAND.

Chapter I. Intboduction

I had but a few hours to prepare. In these few hours my affairs were arranged, my trunk was packed, and at twelve o'clock on the 15th day of February, 1854, I was on board the steamship Arabia, bound for Liverpool. We had fair wind, smooth weather, and of course a rapid run. We reached Liverpool in nine days and twenty hours. We "put up" at the Waterloo House. It is a first class hotel, and therefore, like all such hotels in the United Kingdom, as we afterwards learned, does much towards lightening one's purse. The only thing that entitles them to the appellation of " first class " is the enormous price at which every thing is valued. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Chapter II. London

We went to London by railroad, and took lodgings at Ford's Hotel, Manchester Street. We were delighted to learn that this was not of the " first class." We had every comfort, and convenience, and luxury that we could desire. The venerable proprietor is a devout Catholic, and has gained both the esteem and the patronage of numerous Catholic prelates, clergymen, and laymen who have occasion to sojourn in London. Our impression of London is, that it is a vast and vicious city. Mammon is its king, Venus its queen, and Bacchus its clown. These are the gods which the peo ple of London worship. The buildings, in many parts of the city, are stores, brothels, and drinking shops. The Sunday, indeed, is observed as rigidly as in New England, though not in consequence of any religious principle in the people.

The laws are rigid, and the police effective and numerous. But the laws cannot compel people to go to church, nor can the police check in-door enjoyment. Therefore all the churches are thinly attended, and are useful only as sounding boards. They yield an echo to the voice of the preacher. The Catho lic " chapels," however, are crowded with worshippers. They (Catholic worshippers) are forced to church by the goads of conscience. They believe it to be a sin to be absent from chapel on Sunday. So they go. Protestants believe no such thing ; therefore they go, or stay, as they please. And most of them please to stay. There is another thing that would be likely to strike OF LONDON. 13 an observant traveller. Among the thousands tripping* gayly to "chapel" were persons of every rank, — from the lord to the beggar, — in every sort of costume, from the costliest to the wretchedest — some in rags, some in tags, and some in velvet gowns.

But among the " church " goers the velvet gowns had it by a unanimous vote. The fact is, that in London, and in Boston, and every where else, Protestants go to church because it is fashionable. But to be fashionable one must dress in fashion. But if one cannot, then one will stay at home, or go a frolicking. This is all the more remarkable in that the "churches," for the most part, are never open except on the Sunday. These Christians, taking the Bible as their " rule," maintain that it is commanded unto all men to work six days, and to rest upon the Sabbath day. Therefore, to serve God on either of these days, by prayers and re ligious exercises, would be a manifest infringement of the divine law. The Catholic "chapels," on the con trary, are open for the divine service every day in the year ; and every day, " from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same," is offered the incense of true devotion, and the "clean oblation."

And every day the rich and the poor kneel together at the same altar. We paid a visit to the Fathers of the Oratory of St. Philip. Father Faber is superior of this house. He is one of the distinguished converts from the Oxford school. He is a noble-looking man, rather portly, and very cheerful. The buildings are large and commodious, and the grounds extensive and beautiful. Attached to the Oratory is a fine churcb, capable of seating one thousand persons. There is no unnecessary outlay of money in the building, and no pretence to ornament or elegance a FATHERS OF THE ORATORY. ■about the church, save in and about the sanctuary. The edifice consists of four brick walls, plastered on the in side, and an open ceiling exposing the beams and rafters of the roof. It is so constructed and placed that at a future time it can be enlarged to any extent that may be required.

It is a church for the poor, and here the poor do congregate. To such the good Fathers confine their mission. May God bless their labors and prosper their work. I could not but admire their prudence in erecting a large, cheap, strong, and commodious church for the poor that gather about them. I wish their example were more generally followed in Protestant countries. Catholics are in such countries very poor, as the god Mammon showers his favors only on his friends and adorers. What call, then, have they to splendid churches ? what care they for cornices, and mouldings, and fret work ? of what utility to them are lofty spires, and mysterious domes, and curious, many-colored win dows ? They do not go to church to gaze about, and wonder at the skill of artists and sculptors, but to assist at the august sacrifice of the mass, and discharge a duty of strict obligation.

Our churches are so few, or our flocks are so numerous, or perhaps so poor, that many thousands are compelled to kneel in the streets around the church. Give us, then, churches large enough, where all the faithful of the parish, rich and poor, young and old, may find ample accommodation — where all can pray and assist at mass within consecrated walls. If we cannot afford to erect magnificent temples, let us build barns ; and if the rich will not come to the feast, let us send out into highways and hedges, and invite the poor and the hard-working laborer to come in. LONDON. 15 One thing I will say of London, — and the same is true also of Liverpool, Manchester, and all the cities and towns which I visited in England, — and that is, that one hears scarcely any profane swearing or cursing, either among men or boys.

Had it been a common practice I certainly should have known it, for I took special pains to listen and detect it. Whenever I en countered a group of boys, by day or night, I made it a point to linger near them, to watch their games, to ob serve their conduct, and to overhear their conversation. These groups consisted of from a dozen boys to several hundred. Yet never did I hear a single oath or blas phemous expression. I suppose they do swear some times, but I did not hear it. How different in this land of the Puritans, freedom, and schools, and of religion ! We can hardly walk through a street in Boston, or New York, or Philadelphia, where boys do congregate, that our ears are not assailed with the most horrid and blood curdling blasphemies. All the genius of the devil him self is taxed to invent oaths and curses.

Little boys who can hardly walk are heard to utter the sacred names of God and his Son with prefixes that the most impious of men dare not transcribe. Wretched children ! More wretched parents who have been their instructors and examples ! Says our Savior, " It must be that scandals come ; but woe to that man by whom they come. It were better for him that a millstone were tied about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones." Are our Catholics, workmen in their shops, or else where, never guilty of scandalizing children ? O, if men could only know how long a bad word is remem bered by the child hearer ! CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

Chapter III. Pabis

We took lodgings at the Hotel du Bon La Fontaine, where we were soon quite at our ease. We had com modious apartments well furnished. We could go and come when we pleased, and eat and drink when we had an appetite. And the charges were moderate. What more could we ask of a hotel keeper ? The charitable institutions of Paris are very numerous, and in general well conducted. They are built on a generous scale. Large and lofty halls, wide corridors, and extensive grounds, are to us Yankees their most striking architectural characteristics. An enlightened and Christian philanthropy has studied out and intro duced all the modern improvements for the instruction, tbe discipline, and the bodily comfort of the poor, the afflicted, and the depraved. Some of these institutions are patronized or sustained by the government ; but by far the larger portion, and the best of them, are sup ported by private munificence.

These are the offspring of religion. To religion, therefore, is assigned the first and most important place ; to mental culture the .second ; and to the temporal wants of the inmates the third. These last wants are satisfied in a way which would agreeably astonish an inmate of our Yankee poorhouses, and induce him to wish that he were a Frenchman. The duties of these departments are discharged by zeal ous and disinterested clergymen, by competent laymen, and by Sisters of Charity, or other ladies of kindred orders of mercy. PARIS 17 The Hotel Dieu is a vast hospital for the sick and disabled. There are one thousand three hundred beds, most of them occupied. No remuneration is received for the care and attention bestowed on the patients, all of whom are poor. None are refused admission. Sick ness is an all-sufficient permit.

The inmates, though paupers, are treated with kindness, tenderness, and love. I have said, though paupers, and I am ashamed that I should feel obliged to use the expression. But the truth is, that we Anglo-Americans, inheriting the prejudices of our English progenitors, as well as their language, are too apt to regard the poor with contempt and dis dain. They have no right to be poor ; and if poor, they have no business to be sick. We have poorhouses, it is true, but we make them as uncomfortable and wretched as possible. We treat the inmates as vicious vagabonds, who have become poor and sick out of mere spite. The very respectable gentlemen who are employed by " Friends and Fathers " to receive applications for ad mission often treat them with harshness bordering on cruelty, refusing them with noisy sternness, or propos ing to send them off to some distant island on the ocean, to associate with persons sentenced for crimes.

But even here they enjoyed some comforts ; for they found officers over them that were human; and, touched with their misfortunes, and edified by their virtues, gave them all the privileges and consolations that the laws allowed, which, truth to tell, were not many. So " Friends and Fathers," perceiving this, concluded that the " paupers " were too well fed, and liked to be there. And then they proposed that large dreary buildings should be erected in different parts of the state, and that all persons who were bad enough to be poor and sick — men, women, 2* HOTEL DIEU. and children — should be huddled into them, and made as uncomfortable and as wretched as possible. All this has been done ; and I believe that " Friends and Fa thers " are quite content with every thing — except the appropriation bills.

Well, Catholics are not as wealthy here as elsewhere, but God is as good and as great. But to return to the Hotel Dieu — a far more grateful theme. A poor man, of whatever country or creed, is taken sick in Paris. When notice is given, he is placed on a litter and taken to the door of the hospital. He is immediately received and examined by one of the resident physicians, and by him ordered to be washed and properly dressed, and then placed in a ward desig nated by him. These wards are models of cleanliness and ventilation. He is committed to the care of a Sister of Charity, who becomes to him at once a mother, lavish ing upon him all a mother's care and tenderness. She bathes his temples, she prepares his drinks, she humors his caprices, she bears with his foibles, she smooths down his bed, she administers to all his wants, by day and by night, with an assiduity and patience that nothing can disturb or stay.

If he dies he is decently buried. If he recovers he is permitted to depart, and not detained forcibly, as if he were a felon, to work out the charges for his board, nursing, &c, as, I am sorry to say, is usually done with us. The Hotel des Invalides is a hospital for infirm and superannuated soldiers. It is a princely structure, furnished with every thing that can minister to the temporal or spiritual comfort of the patients. Existence here is not regarded as a boon to infirmity, but rather as a reward of merit. The visits of strangers, instead of reminding them of dependence, fill them with a noble PARIS and patriotic pride. Admission to the hospital they regard almost as a promotion, at least as a public ac knowledgment of their services to their country. And so it is. In the church, behind the high altar, is the tomb of the Emperor Napoleon I. There is not in the world, probably, so large and beautiful a tomb erected to a mortal.

The French people idolize his memory. Per haps they have some reason. He certainly added much to the glory of France, and she is not ungrateful. The French people have elected his lawful heir their em peror ; and though his reign may be less dazzling than his uncle's, we will venture to predict that it will be more popular and more enduring. Three years ago was founded in Paris, by a zealous and charitable lay gentleman, M. Cotte, an institution for boys, called Ecole de la Compassion — School of Compassion. It was designed to fill a void that existed between asylums for the indigent and bereaved, and houses of punishment and consequent degradation. The subjects sought after were young boys plunged into the lowest depths of ignorance and vice, and for whom it would almost seem there was no hope of salvation.

Of these some were the children of vicious parents, who were corrupted from their very infancy ; others whose crimes had brought them before criminal tribunals before they were old enough to know right from wrong ; and a third class utterly regardless of ad monition, restless under restraint, rebels to all authority, plunging into crime for the love of it, and in many cases expelled from other institutions as incorrigible. Hence it appears that this school was established for boys the most depraved and abandoned in the streets of Paris. SCHOOL OF COMPASSION. Whoever has visited Paris, and learned something of its population, can appreciate in some degree the difficulty of the task proposed, and the sublime charity of the un dertaking. Yes, Christian charity ! She takes in her arms, and presses to her bosom, and nurtures with her own and not a stranger's or hireling's milk, those unhappy boys who, having breathed the infected air of the hovels in which they were born, soon go forth into the highways, and market-places, and public walks, carrying the infection with them, and giving it to every other child pre disposed to take it.

What consolation does she offer to heart-broken mothers, and to desponding fathers ! What a soothing balm to the sorest wounds ! Men would cast them out, would torment, would punish them. Religion would embrace them and reform them. I visited this institution several times. I saw the boys in school and in recreation. They were healthy, active, industrious, and cheerful. Their obedience, docility, and rapid improvement give consolation and encouragement to their friends, and a pledge to society. About the same time I visited another institution for boys, the name of which I do not recollect, which has only been in existence two or three years. It is outside of Paris, on the road to Issy. Its object is to provide a home for indigent and homeless boys. It was founded by a clergyman, who has associated to himself one or two other clergymen, and four or five devout laymen, who consti tute a congregation, or brotherhood, entirely devoted to this work.

The number of pupils at the time of my visit was nearly one hundred. They were all in school. I was pleased with the discipline, good order, and cheer ful industry of the scholars. PARIS Each boy pays one dollar a week for his board and tuition ; or, if his friends are unable to pay, the means are provided by charitable persons, or by a society estab lished for this purpose. At Passy, near Paris, is a celebrated boarding school for boys, kept by the Brothers of the Christian Schools. At the time of my visit they had six hundred pupils. They are instructed in all the branches of a " high school" education. The Brothers are accomplished men and excellent teachers. The annual cost of board and tuition is one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The dormitories were very clean and well ventilated.

The refec tories were passably so. The discipline was very good. The food given to the boys is abundant and wholesome. One hundred loaves of bread, each loaf weighing four pounds, are daily distributed. There are institutions in Paris of a different character. Their object is to furnish religious and intellectual in struction and innocent amusement to young men and boys of the laboring classes — most of them shop boys and apprentices. They are supported by the society of St. Vincent of Paul. Buildings are rented, and the rooms are furnished with books, newspapers, writing apparatus, draught boards, &c. They are lighted during the evening. Fine commodious yards are attached, supplied with gymnastic fixtures. On Sundays and holy days Mass is celebrated and catechism taught in a large hall furnished as a chapel.

Large numbers pass the en tire day on Sunday, and at noon a wholesome repast is served. This is done to prevent their strolling about the streets and associating with vicious companions. Some members of the society are present whenever the rooms are open. Were such institutions established in JUVENILE OFFENDERS. the cities of New England, what a fine field it would present for their growth and prosperity ! How many of our young men are ruined, for time and for eternity, by a passion, in itself laudable, though, alas ! too often mis directed, for knowledge, fame, and social enjoyment! To acquire knowledge they read trash. To get fame they spout, and dispute, and sneer at religion, or permit others to do it. For social enjoyment they seek the bar room and the gaming table. Now, if they had within their reach the means of obtaining true knowledge, of expanding their minds, enlarging their views, and of procuring enduring happiness, we believe they would appreciate and use them.

They would then become ornaments to society, and our truest and stanchest patriots. There is in Paris a house for juvenile offenders. It numbers about five hundred boys, of from ten to nine teen years of age, committed for various petty crimes. They are taught useful trades ; they learn to read and write ; they assist at mass on Sundays and holy days. Therefore I wish I could speak well of the institution. But I cannot. It has adopted a system on principle. And though generally acknowledged to be a very bad one, it obstinately persists in upholding it on principle. It blasts and ruins its inmates, body and soul, on the same principle. The system is, solitary or cellular confinement by day and night. Each boy works by himself in his cell. He goes to school by himself in his cell. He eats by himself in his cell.

He plays by himself in a cell yard. He goes to Mass by himself in a church cell. In a word, it is the execrable penitentiary system of Penn sylvania applied to little children — a system rejected and abhorred by the whole civilized world as too cruel PARIS 23 and painful even for hardened and incorrigible felons, and only sustained in Pennsylvania in defiance of public opinion, because it is a system. Its operation in La Roquette, as this institution is named, is just what might be expected. The boys looked sickly and depressed. It is dreadful to think what crimes — unutterable crimes — of thought and deed may be committed by these boys, when left all alone, by day and by night — initiated, as they must have been, in all the mysteries of the worst vices. The reports published show a fearful array of incqrrigibles, of relapses, of idiots, of insane, and of deaths.

They vainly and feebly try to gloss over and explain these appalling statistics, by long and tedious discourses upon the diseased condition of the children before their commitment — as though half the juvenile crimes committed in Paris were by children who were fitter subjects for hospitals and madhouses than for prisons ; not one word of which do we believe. The little urchins (gamins) of Paris are as stout, active, and adroit a set of rogues as ever picked pockets or emptied tills. And if the government, instead of taking them into its own unfeeling grasp, would commend them to the charity of private munificence, there would spring up an abundance of asylums truly reformatory, where the little vagabonds and villains, under pious instructions and paternal discipline, would become virtuous and high-minded boys, and ornaments of society.

But let us turn away from this painful system, to con template another which acts as a partial antidote to its poison. It is called the " Patronage " for juvenile offenders, (Jeunes Detenus.) Its object is to afford a temporary home for such as shall have been discharged ADULT SCHOOL. from " La Roquette," and as soon as possible to place them out with proper masters to learn trades, and then to watch over them till they shall become established in life and in the practice of virtue. This is supported by a society of charitable individuals, who contribute annually a certain sum. Many have been rescued from relapse, and restored to usefulness, by its vigorous and praise worthy efforts. I was much pleased with M. Guillet, the superintendent, who is a mild, benevolent, fatherly old man. He has a brother, who, very oddly for a Frenchman, has become a Quaker, and resides in Bur lington, N. J. His impressions of " La Roquette" coin cided exactly with mine ; and he thought that the whole system ought to be totally and forever abandoned.