The Story of My Life; Being Reminiscences of Sixty Years' Public Service in Canada Part 51

_April 20th--Sabbath._--Went to the "Inst.i.tution des Diaconesses de l'eglise Evangelique de France." The situation is delightful.

Several addresses and statements of affairs. Employed the evening in religious study. Witnessed much lightness among certain ministers of the Protestant Reformed Church. The prevalent views here respecting the sanct.i.ty of the Sabbath are very different from those which prevail either in England or Canada.

_April 25th._--Visited several schools of the Protestant dissenters in Paris--called "Ecoles Gratuites." The first was the Female Normal School, containing nineteen pupils. I was impressed with the admirable arrangement of the school and its appliances, as well as the taste and neatness of the botanical garden. The dormitory was plain, neat, and airy; in it on the wall were pasted the following pa.s.sages of Scripture, viz., Psalms xv. 5., Amos iv. 12. There were two schools for boys and girls attached to the inst.i.tution, but these several departments const.i.tute one school--all Roman Catholic children taught by Protestants, on strictly Protestant principles.

The priests make no opposition. People independent of the priests.

_April 26th._--Pursued my studies with encouraging success. Visited M. Toase who gave me useful information.

_April 27th--Sabbath._--Heard M. Toase; went afterwards to the Madeleine; building magnificent; pa.s.sed through the garden of the Tuileries; a paradise of a place; shades; walks; gra.s.s-plots; lakes; fountains; fish; statues; amus.e.m.e.nts; but, alas! what profanation of the Sabbath!

_April 30th._--Went to Versailles; grand and little Trainon, magnificent.

_May 1st._--The King's birthday and fete; illuminations; fireworks; appearance of the King Louis Philippe on the balcony of the palace.

The Tuileries; the Champs Elysees; booths; fetes; riding; examples of physical strength; girls riding; jumping; great mult.i.tudes; good order preserved; Church of St. Roch; music; saw Lord Cowley; his kindness in lending me his ticket for the House of Peers; getting recommendations from the Government; doc.u.ments on education, etc.

_May 3rd._--Visited Notre Dame; Hotel-Dieu; Chambre des Pairs; Chapelle; gallery of paintings; nuns; few peers present; old men; session short; not imposing; fine paintings in the Chapel; admirable selection in the gallery; answer from Lord Cowley.

_May 8th._--Have devoted several days to study, nothing worthy of remark.

_May 9th._--Left Paris for Lyons; on the top of the diligence on the railroad to Orleans, level, fertile country; pa.s.sed through Orleans; saw Cathedral; Jeanne d'Arc; Loire; historical recollections.

_May 12th._--Examined the curiosities of the town; rough-looking people; homage to the Virgin; "Hotel du Midi;" view from the Observatoire; Roman antiquities.

_May 13th._--Left Lyons in a steamer for Avignon; confluence of the Rhone and Soane; varied, beautiful, and sometimes bold; romantic scenery on the Rhone. Vienne; vineyards; wines; St. Villars; Pontius Pilate; river very narrow and crooked; Roch de Tain; Hannibal; vista of the valley of the Isere; Alps; Valence; St. Pay; Percy; wine of St. Peroy; Castle of Crupol; Drome; Montilvart; Viviers; rocks; ca.n.a.l; Ardiche; "Paul St. Esprit," great curiosity; Roquemon; women carrying stones; n.o.ble and extensive work on the banks of the river, and in the erection of new bridges.

_May 14th._--Avignon; wall; view from the tower of the Cathedral; visit it; paintings very beautiful; palace; inquisition; left Avignon for Beaucaire; river uninteresting; thence to Nismes by railway; poor country; a.s.ses and mules used; women shoeing them; people athletic, but very pa.s.sionate and quarrelsome.

_May 15th._--Examined the antiquities of Nismes; truly wonderful and interesting.

_May 16th._--Arrived at Montpellier; narrow streets; Citadel Fountaine; promenade; Jardin des Plantes; Mrs. Temple's tomb; read a pa.s.sage from Young's Night Thoughts there; Baunia Palm; Ecole de Medicine; Cathedral; Museum of Painting.

_May 17th._--Returned to Nismes; revisited the Amphitheatre and the Maison Caree; beautiful in proportion and execution. Returned to Beacaise; visited the Castle; very high, and remarkably strong; crossed the river to examine a castle, now a prison; historical recollections of both castles. Visited the Church dedicated to St.

Martha; curious front. Visited St. Martha's Tomb; felt awful in the grim darkness, rendered barely visible by the flickering lamp; inscription at the head of the Tomb: "Solicita Noritubatur"; singular well; old women in the Church; the Image of St. Martha, with its knees and feet worn by kissing. Proceeded to Cette; the Amphitheatre is by no means as well preserved as that of Nismes, but larger; the walls immeasurably thick. Saw the remains of a Roman theatre; its curious workmans.h.i.+p attests its former magnificence.

_May 18th--Sabbath._--Back at Ma.r.s.eilles, but no Sabbath here; theatres all open, and crowds pressing into them; saw some curious handbills about the Pope granting indulgences; holy water in the churches; children using it.

_May 20th._--Coast from Ma.r.s.eilles, bold, varied, picturesque; barren rocks; vineyards and olive trees; entrance into the bay and harbor of Genoa very beautiful.

_May 21st._--In Genoa the streets are very narrow; the buildings very high; the city clean; all preferable to Paris; left for Leghorn.

_May 22nd._--At Leghorn, visited Smollet's tomb. At Pisa, saw the leaning tower; baptistry, etc.

_May 23rd._--Entered Rome at sunset. We could see St. Peter's more than fifteen miles off.

_May 25th._--Commenced visiting the churches of the city. 1. Temple of Antonius; column to his honour, and his victories inscribed. 2.

Church of St. Ign.a.z.ia; tomb of Gregory XV. 3. Pantheon of Agrippa--built 22 B.C., of Oriental granite brought from Egypt. The obelisk is from the Temple of Isis. 4. In the second chapel to the left, Raphael was buried in 1520. He gave orders to his scholar Lorenzetto to make the statue of the Virgin, behind which he is buried. It is ornamented by gold and silver offerings of trinkets, rings, and bracelets. 5th. Piazza della Minerva--formerly Temple of Minerva, another of Isis, another of Serapis, now a church obelisk. Statue of Michael Angelo. 6. Roman College. 7. Palace of Prince Doria. In the picture gallery I was especially struck by a beautiful painting of the Holy Family; also t.i.tian, by himself, his last work. Visited the Church of St. Joseph--under which was the Mamertine Prison, where St. Paul was confined. Arch of t.i.tus. The Church of St. Peter's in Vincola has twenty pillars from the Diocletian Bath, two of them Oriental granite. Michael Angelo's last work is a marble figure of Moses, with the two tables of the law under his right arm,--magnificent. There are also twelve magnificent marble figures of the twelve apostles.

_May 26th._--Church of St. Maria, in Villicella; festival in honour of St. Fillippo. High ma.s.s was celebrated in presence of the Pope and cardinals. I stood near the altar, and had a good view of them all. The Pope pa.s.sed twice within a few feet of me; was carried in a splendid chair by twelve men, who pa.s.sed up the aisle into the vestry. He is eighty years of age, good looking and walked with a firm step; he blessed the people as he pa.s.sed. The cardinals kissed the Pope's hand, the priests his toe or foot. Next went to the Church of the Jesuits, where there is a splendid representation of Religion, giving the foot to Protestant heresy in the person of Luther and Calvin.

_June 1st--Sunday._--Went to the Roman College to the wors.h.i.+p of the congregation of Jesuits. In another hall a discourse was being delivered to the pupils, some four hundred being present. At St.

Paul's, was shown the house in which St. Paul resided during two years a prisoner in Rome. Witnessed an extraordinary but most impressive service in the celebrated Amphitheatre, where, it is said, 200,000 Christians were put to death in two centuries.

_June 6th._--During the last five days have been studying Italian, and revisiting some of the more remarkable remains of Roman antiquities, colleges, and schools; also a prison for women, well managed and arranged; much attention is paid to their religious instruction.

_June 10th--Sabbath._--Visited the Churches of St. John, and Maria Maggiore; visited one of the most important and interesting schools of the Christian Brothers; 400 pupils taught by four masters; 4,000 pupils are taught by the same fraternity. Visited also the College of Propaganda; was shewn by the Rector over the whole establishment; it is wonderful, the influence of which is felt in all lands; he shewed me the oldest and most curious MSS. I ever saw.

_June 14th._--Arrived at Naples, after a stage journey of thirty hours. Peasants very lazy; pa.s.sed the murdered body of a man. As we advanced we observed a great change in the manners and habits of the people.

_June 15th--Sabbath._--Vesuvius was splendid last night, to a degree, I understand that has not been seen since 1839. Visited the Poor House; the establishment accommodates upwards of 2,000.

_June 16th._--Visited Pompeii, and Herculaneum, and Vesuvius. Met with the Jesuit Prefect of Educational Inst.i.tutions; and a Priest from the United States. From the Jesuit I obtained a full account of the educational inst.i.tutions in Naples; from the American Priest much useful information on various subjects. Ascended Mount Vesuvius; when we reached the summit my face was burnt; lava falling all round us--G.o.d of dreadful majesty, who art a "consuming fire!" Beheld here the setting sun--G.o.d of glory who art "the light of the world!" Descending we reached our hotel about midnight; thank G.o.d for His protection and mercy.

_June 18th._--Went to the museum to examine the antiquities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Left for Leghorn.

_June 20th--Pisa._--Took a coach with two other gentlemen; a beautiful ride of eight hours along the valley of the Arno, from Pisa to Florence. The best cultivated country, and the best looking peasantry I have ever seen; the river walled, and the bridges fine.

_June 24th._--The celebration of the Feast of John the Baptist, commenced by a chariot race, after the fas.h.i.+on of the chariots in the games of the Greeks and Romans.

_June 26th._--The Grand Duke of Tuscany will not allow Jesuits in his dominion; but in Naples the Jesuits are all powerful--confessors to the king and royal family--and that even an artist cannot get employment who has not a Jesuit for a confessor.

_July 19th._--This day I leave Florence after four weeks of study, and acquaintance with its schools, arts and science.

_July 20th--Bologna._--Crossed the Appenines, and had a view of the Adriatic. Visited the Scoules Normali, containing upwards of 1,000 pupils.

_July 23rd._--Left Bologna in a vetturina for Ferrara, in company with a German and two Americans. Ferrara is fallen, forsaken, solitary.

_July 25th._--Crossed the Po in a curious ferry-boat, and entered the Lombardo-Venetian dominions of Austria. Here I met with the first instance in Italy of money not being asked by Custom House officers; every part of the proceeding indicated dignity unknown to the Papal States. Crossed the Adige by a ferry; pa.s.sed through Monselice, near which is the town and castle of Este. North of Este is Argna, or Argnota, where Petrarch retreated, dwelt, and died!

Next pa.s.sed through Battaglia and Padua; on the left is Abano, the birth-place of Livy. Gothic laggia, vast hall, said to be the largest unsupported roof in the world, built by Frate Giovanni; bust and tomb of Livy.

_July 30th._--Came on to Venice, where we spent four days; a wondrous city.

_August 4th._--Have been in Munich nineteen days; visited its museum, churches, elementary schools, &c., &c.; conversed with many professors.

_August 25th._--Left Munich; pa.s.sed through Landsport; arrived at Ratisbon; visited Valhalla; descended the Danube to Linz.

_Sept. 3rd._--The city of Vienna is the most perfect I have seen, in its buildings, streets, gardens, etc.; it would furnish me with materials for a volume were I a writer of travels.

_Sept. 4th._--Came through Bohemia by the first railroad train from Vienna to Prague, where I remained two days. The houses in the villages through which we pa.s.sed, were all of one story, thatched with straw; the peasants wear skins, and women work on the railroads.

_Sept. 5th._--Left Prague in a small steamer for Dresden; visited Dr. Blockman's school; every appurtenance; very complete schools, both public and private. From thence on to Leipsic; visited all the princ.i.p.al buildings; visited the Burgher school, designed for the education of the middle ranks, and those of the upper ranks, if desired.

_Sept. 15th and 16th._--From Leipsic went on to Halle (in Prussia); visited the schools on Franke's Foundations; several farms belong to the establishment; there are six schools, rather small; there are free scholars, orphans, and money scholars. Went to the University.

_Sept. 17th--Wittemburg._--This morning visited the church in which Luther first preached the doctrines of the Reformation, and where both Luther and Melancthon are buried; I ascended the pulpit, and there prayed that the spirit of the Reformation might more abundantly rest upon me; I experienced strong sensations on entering the church; it is a plain building with a few monuments; the statue (bronze) of Luther is in the market-place, with the words:--

"Ist's Gottes Werk, so wird's bestehen; Ist's Menschen, so wird's untergehen."

We then visited the house in which Melancthon lived, now being repaired; Luther's chamber in the convent; his study, with his chair, table, and stove; his library, his bed-room; at his table I knelt and prayed, and renewed my covenant with my G.o.d. I afterwards visited the place where Luther burnt the Pope's Bull.