Chapter LXIII

I take train for Venice—Every one on first seeing it says he
shall stay a long time; no one stays more than a fortnight—The
Piazza San Marco; all peace and quiet; no sound of voices, or
wheels, or hoofs—One’s coffee turns to nectar as one feeds
on the Duomo—The palace of the Doges more majestic than
Man—How to imagine what Venice is—The _calle_ and dainty
marble bridges—The little canals, where some keep their own
gondola as we do our own carriage—One takes a gondola at the
Piazzetta—One sweeps by lovely palaces on a Grand Canal—One
gets out at the Rialto—This fine old palace is the General Post
Office, that is the Fondaco dei Turchi—Then the Palazzi Pesaro,
La Ça Doro, Guistiniani, and Foscari—The Arsenal—The Gallery
of Art—Churches angular—Churches domed—The Via Garibaldi—The
squares of St. Maurizio and St. Stephano—Venice very cold
in March—San Marco the most perfect square on earth—The two
Othello families—No fear of being run over by cabs—The opera
at Venice—The island of Lido—Venice compared to a picture
book—Across the Brenner by way of Verona—Munich—Stassfurt
again—Excursions to the Harz—The Brocken, the Affenthaler
valley—The castle of Falconstein—Proposal for a monument
to Goethe—Return to Italy over the Brenner—My travelling
companions—Florence, the Perseus and the Loggia dei Lanzi—The
inspired evangelists of art—I saw my estimable friends the
Villaris again—On my way to Rome 255

LXIV.

A young Jesuit—The lake of Perugia and the hill cities—_Urbs
recondita, cittá rovinata_—The Pantheon, the palace of the
Cæsars that was—The skeleton of the Forum—The antiquarian
genius—The transfiguration of Rome and the Transfiguration
of Raphael—The Laocoon—The Apollo Belvidere, _alias_ Lord
Chesterfield’s transfiguration—The Ariadne—The Athlete, at the
end of a Via di Scolpitura—The Barbarini Palace and Beatrice
Cenci—The Ghetto, the Cenci palace—The Romans proud of Rome—A
worn-out pedigree—The Corso, the Piazza Colonna—St. Paul
replaces Marcus Aurelius Antoninus—The obelisk in the Piazza
di Monti Clitorio—The Palazzo Doria Pamfili—Upstairs to the
Capitol—Stopped on one’s way by two lions spurting water—Castor
and Pollux; their nags—The Campidoglio—Marcus Aurelius taking
his ride into future times—The museum of the modern Capitol 265

LXV.

“What come ye for to see?”—The graves of Keats and Shelley—The
church of San Paolo _fuori_—St. Peter’s rise from the dead—The
tomb of the Scipios—The catacombs of the early Christians—The
old cloisters of San Paolo—St. Peter’s palace, the Vatican—The
Sixtine Chapel in which Michael Angelo re-creates the world 275

LXVI.

Faithful to England for a time—A summer passed at
Ballenstedt—The castle of Blankenburg, the billiard-room
and chapel—The situation of Ballenstedt: forest, hills, and
lakes—Its vicinity to the Affenthaler valley—Reflections on
paper—I am my own posterity—My writings since my eightieth
year have delivered my message—The human comedy—I insinuate
that I am the only English epigrammatist, _par excellence_—The
general incapacity of appreciation—Short poems have often a
biographic flavour—Further useless reflections—The almost
imperceptible difference between man and man 280

LXVII.

The importance of religion, being a sermon preached to stones—I
essay to hope backwards, and fail 286

LXVIII.

Philographs of eminent medical men known to me in my day—Some
of our scientists—The weak side of our great theorists,
concerning the sun and conservation of energy 292

POSTSCRIPT 299

ERRATA.

[Transcriber’s note: the errata have been corrected.]

Page 45, line 28, _for_ “that” _read_ “those.”
” 49, line 25, _for_ “equery” _read_ “equerry.”
” 79, line 1, _for_ “Breadalbine” _read_ “Breadalbane.”
” 89, line 2, _for_ “Tristam” _read_ “Tristram.”
” 147, line 10, _for_ “Lover” _read_ “Lever.”
” 158, line 6, _for_ “_vertueuse_” _read_ “_vertueuses_.”
” 202, line 18, _for_ “Marcel” _read_ “Marcet.”

MEMOIRS OF EIGHTY YEARS.