Produced by D. Alexander, Janet Blenkinship and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)
ROLLO IN ROME,
BY
JACOB ABBOTT.
BOSTON:
BROWN, TAGGARD & CHASE,
(SUCCESSORS TO W. J. REYNOLDS & CO.)
25 & 29 CORNHILL.
1858.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by
JACOB ABBOTT,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
Massachusetts.
ELECTROTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.
[Illustration: THE VATICAN BY TORCHLIGHT. See page 204.]
[Illustration: ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE.
Publishers. Boston.]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--THE DILIGENCE OFFICE, 13
II.--THE JOURNEY, 34
III.--THE ARRIVAL AT ROME, 56
IV.--A RAMBLE, 68
V.--GETTING LOST, 88
VI.--THE COLISEUM, 105
VII.--THE GLADIATOR, 127
VIII.--THE TARPEIAN ROCK, 147
IX.--GOING TO OSTIA, 167
X.--THE VATICAN, 192
XI.--CONCLUSION, 208
ENGRAVINGS.
THE VATICAN BY TORCHLIGHT, (Frontispiece.)
THE MOSAIC SHOP, 12
PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY, 21
THE PONTINE MARSHES, 49
DOING PENANCE, 59
RIDING AMONG THE RUINS, 91
LOOKING DOWN FROM THE COLISEUM, 109
VIEW OF THE LOWER CORRIDORS, 123
ASCENT TO THE CAPITOL, 139
STATUE OF THE GLADIATOR, 143
INTERIOR OF THE PANTHEON, 163
THE COLISEUM BY TORCHLIGHT, 209
ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE.
ORDER OF THE VOLUMES.
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC.
ROLLO IN PARIS.
ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND.
ROLLO IN LONDON.
ROLLO ON THE RHINE.
ROLLO IN SCOTLAND.
ROLLO IN GENEVA.
ROLLO IN HOLLAND.
ROLLO IN NAPLES.
ROLLO IN ROME.
[Illustration: THE MOSAIC SHOP. See page 73.]
ROLLO IN ROME.
CHAPTER I.
THE DILIGENCE OFFICE.
Rollo went to Rome in company with his uncle George, from Naples. They
went by the diligence, which is a species of stage coach. There are
different kinds of public coaches that ply on the great thoroughfares in
Italy, to take passengers for hire; but the most common kind is the
diligence.
The diligences in France are very large, and are divided into different
compartments, with a different price for each. There are usually three
compartments below and one above. In the Italian diligences, however, or
at least in the one in which Mr. George and Rollo travelled to Rome,
there were only three. First there was the _interior_, or the body of
the coach proper. Directly before this was a compartment, with a glass
front, containing one seat only, which looked forward; there were, of
course, places for three persons on this seat. This front compartment is
called the _coupe_.[1] It is considered the best in the diligence.
[Footnote 1: Pronounced _coupay_.]
There is also a seat up above the _coupe_, in a sort of second story, as
it were; and this was the seat which Mr. George and Rollo usually
preferred, because it was up high, where they could see better. But for
the present journey Mr. George thought the high seat, which is called
the _banquette_, would not be quite safe; for though it was covered
above with a sort of chaise top, still it was open in front, and thus
more exposed to the night air. In ordinary cases he would not have been
at all afraid of the night air, but the country between Naples and Rome,
and indeed the country all about Rome, in every direction, is very
unhealthy. So unhealthy is it, in fact, that in certain seasons of the
year it is almost uninhabitable; and it is in all seasons considered
unsafe for strangers to pass through in the night, unless they are well
protected.
There is, in particular, one tract, called the _Pontine Marshes_, where
the road, with a sluggish canal by the side of it, runs in a straight
line and on a dead level for about twenty miles. It so happened that in
going to Rome by the diligence, it would be necessary to cross these
marshes in the night, and this was an additional reason why Mr. George
thought it better that he and Rollo should take seats inside.
The whole business of travelling by diligence in Europe is managed in a
very different way from stage coach travelling in America. You must
engage your place several days beforehand; and when you engage it you
have a printed receipt given you, specifying the particular seats which
you have taken, and also containing, on the back of it, all the rules
and regulations of the service. The different seats in the several
compartments of the coach are numbered, and the prices of them are
different. Rollo went so early to engage the passage for himself and Mr.
George that he had his choice of all the seats. He took Nos. 1 and 2 of
the _coupe_. He paid the money and took the receipt. When he got home,
he sat down by the window, while Mr. George was finishing his breakfast,
and amused himself by studying out the rules and regulations printed on
the back of his ticket. Of course they were in Italian; but Rollo found
that he could understand them very well.
"If we are not there at the time when the diligence starts, we lose our
money, uncle George," said he. "It says here that they won't pay it
back again."
"That is reasonable," said Mr. George. "It will be our fault if we are
not there."
"Or our misfortune," said Rollo; "something might happen to us."
"True," said Mr. George; "but the happening, whatever it might be, would
be _our_ misfortune, and not theirs, and so we ought to bear the loss of
it."
"If the baggage weighs more than thirty _rotolos_, we must pay extra for
it," continued Rollo. "How much is a _rotolo_, uncle George?"
"I don't know," said Mr. George, "but we have so little baggage that I
am sure we cannot exceed the allowance."
"The baggage must be at the office two hours before the time for the
diligence to set out," continued Rollo, passing to the next regulation
on his paper.
"What is that for?" asked Mr. George.
"So that they may have time to load it on the carriage, they say," said
Rollo.
"Very well," said Mr. George, "you can take it to the office the night
before."
"They don't take the risk of the baggage," said Rollo, "or at least they
don't guarantee it, they say, against unavoidable accidents or superior
force. What does that mean?"
"Why, in case the diligence is struck by lightning, and our trunk is
burned up," replied Mr. George, "or in case it is attacked by robbers,
and carried away, they don't undertake to pay the damage."
"And in case of _smarrimento_," continued Rollo, "they say they won't
pay damages to the amount of more than nine dollars, and so forth; what
is a _smarrimento_, uncle George?"
"I don't know," said Mr. George.
"It may mean a smash-up," said Rollo.
"Very likely," said Mr. George.
"Every traveller," continued Rollo, looking again at his paper, "is
responsible, personally, for all violations of the custom-house
regulations, or those of the police."
"That's all right," said Mr. George.
"And the last regulation is," said Rollo, "that the travellers cannot
smoke in the diligence, nor take any dogs in."
"Very well," said Mr. George, "we have no dogs, and we don't wish to
smoke, either in the diligence or any where else."
"They are very good regulations," said Rollo; and so saying, he folded
up the paper, and put it back into his wallet.
On the evening before the day appointed for the journey, Rollo took the
valise which contained the principal portion of his own and his uncle's
clothes, and went with it in a carriage to the office. Mr. George
offered to accompany him, but Rollo said it was not necessary, and so he
took with him a boy named Cyrus, whom he had become acquainted with at
the hotel.
The carriage, when it arrived at the diligence station, drove in under
an archway, and entered a spacious court surrounded by lofty buildings.
There was a piazza, with columns, all around the court. Along this
piazza, on the four sides of the building, were the various offices of
the different lines of diligences, with the diligences themselves
standing before the doors.
"Now, Cyrus," said Rollo, "we have got to find out which is our office."
But Rollo was saved any trouble on this score, for the coachman drove
the carriage directly to the door of the office for Rome. Rollo had told
him that that was his destination, before leaving the hotel.
There was a man in a sort of uniform at the door of the office. Rollo
pointed to his valise, and said, in Italian, "For Rome to-morrow
morning." The man said, "Very well," and taking the valise out of the
carriage, he put it in the office. Then Rollo and Cyrus got into the
carriage again, and rode away.
The next morning Mr. George and Rollo went down to breakfast before six
o'clock. While they were eating their breakfast, the waiter came in with
a cold roast chicken upon a plate, which he set down upon the table.
"Ah!" said Mr. George, "that is for us to eat on the way."
"Don't the diligence stop somewhere for us to dine?" asked Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "I presume it stops for us to dine, but as we
are going to be out all night, I thought perhaps that we might want a
supper towards morning. Besides, having a supper will help keep us awake
in going across the Pontine Marshes."
"Must we keep awake?" asked Rollo.
"So they say," replied Mr. George. "They say you are more likely to
catch the fever while you are asleep than while you are awake."
"I don't see why we should be," said Rollo.
"Nor do I," said Mr. George.
If Mr. George really did not know or understand a thing, he never
pretended to know or understand it.
"It may be a mere notion," said Mr. George, "but it is a very prevailing
one, at any rate; so I thought it would be well enough for us to have
something to keep us awake."
"We will take some bread and butter too," said Rollo.
Mr. George said that that would be an excellent plan. So they each of
them cut one of the breakfast rolls which were on the table in two, and
after spreading the inside surfaces well with butter, they put the parts
together again. The waiter brought them a quantity of clean wrapping
paper, and with this they wrapped up both the chicken and the rolls, and
Rollo put the three parcels into his bag.
"And now," said Rollo, "what are we to do for drink?"
"We might take some oranges," suggested Mr. George.
"So we will," said Rollo. "I will go out into the square and buy some."
Rollo, accordingly, went out into the square, and for what was
equivalent to three cents of American money he bought six oranges. He
put the oranges into his pockets, and returned to the hotel.
He found Mr. George filling a flat bottle with coffee. He had poured
some coffee out of the coffee pot into the pitcher of hot milk, which
had still a considerable quantity of hot milk remaining in it, and then,
after putting some sugar into it, and waiting for the sugar to dissolve,
he had commenced pouring it into the flat bottle.
[Illustration: PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY.]
"We may like a little coffee too," said Mr. George, "as well as the
oranges. We can drink it out of my drinking cup."
Rollo put his oranges into Mr. George's bag, for his own bag was now
full. When all was ready, and the hotel bill was paid, Mr. George and
Rollo got into a carriage which the waiter had sent for to come to the
door, and set off for the diligence office. It was only half past seven
when they arrived there. Rollo saw what time it was by the great clock
which was put up on the front of one of the buildings towards the court
yard.
"We are too early by half an hour," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "in travelling over new ground we must always
plan to be too early, or we run great risk of being too late."
"Never mind," said Rollo, "I am glad that we are here before the time,
for now I can go around and see the other diligences getting ready to go
off."
So Rollo began to walk about under the portico, or piazza, to the
various diligences which were getting ready to set out on the different
roads. There was one where there was a gentleman and two ladies who were
quite in trouble. I suppose that among the girls who may read this book
there may be many who may think that it must necessarily be a very
agreeable thing to travel about Europe, and that if they could only
go,--no matter under what circumstances,--they should experience an
almost uninterrupted succession of pleasing sensations. But the truth
is, that travelling in Europe, like every other earthly source of
pleasure, is very far from being sufficient of itself to confer
happiness. Indeed, under almost all the ordinary circumstances in which
parties of travellers are placed, the question whether they are to enjoy
themselves and be happy on any particular day of their journey, or to be
discontented and miserable, depends so much upon little things which
they did not at all take into the account, or even foresee at all in
planning the journey, that it is wholly uncertain when you look upon a
party of travellers that you meet on the road, whether they are really
having a good time or not. You cannot tell at all by the outward
circumstances.
There was a striking illustration of this in the case of the party that
attracted Rollo's attention in the court of the diligence office. The
gentleman's name was Howland. One of the ladies was his young wife, and
the other lady was her sister. The sister's name was Louise. Mr. Howland
intended to have taken the whole _coupe_ for his party; but when he
went to the office, the day before, to take the places, he found that
one of the seats of the _coupe_ had been engaged by a gentleman who was
travelling alone.
"How unlucky!" said Mr. Howland to himself. "We must have three seats,
and it won't do for us to be shut up in the interior, for there we
cannot see the scenery at all."
So he went home, and asked his wife what it would be best to do. "We
cannot have three seats together," said he, "unless we go up upon the
_banquette_."
But the bride said that she could not possibly ride on the _banquette_.
She could not climb up to such a high place.
Now, Mrs. Howland's real reason for not being willing to ride on the
banquette, was not the difficulty of climbing up, for at all the
diligence offices they have convenient step ladders for the use of the
passengers in getting up and down. The real reason was, she thought it
was not genteel to ride there. And in fact it is not genteel. There is
no part of the diligence where people who attach much importance to the
fashion of the thing are willing to go, except the coupe.
"And we don't want to ride in the interior," said Mr. Howland.
"No," said the bride, "that is worse than the banquette."
"Nor to wait till another day," added Mr. Howland.
"No," said Mrs. Howland. "We must go to-morrow, and we must have the
_coupe_. The gentleman who has engaged the third seat will give it up to
us, I am sure, when he knows that it is to oblige a lady. You can engage
the two seats in the coupe, and one more, either on the banquette or in
the interior, and then when the time comes to set out we will get the
gentleman to let us have his seat. You can pay him the difference."
"But, Angelina," said Mr. Howland, "I should not like to ask such a
thing of the gentleman. He has taken pains to go a day or two
beforehand to engage his seat, so as to make sure of a good one, and I
don't think we ought to expect him to give it up to accommodate
strangers."
"O, he won't mind," said Mrs. Howland. "He would as lief change as not.
And if he won't, we can arrange it in some way or other."
So Mr. Howland engaged the two places in the coupe, and one on the
banquette. When the morning came, he brought his two ladies to the
diligence station in good season. He was very unwilling to ask the
gentleman to give up his seat; but his wife, who was a good deal
accustomed to have her own way, and who, besides, being now a bride,
considered herself specially entitled to indulgences, declared that if
her husband did not ask the gentleman, she would ask him herself.
"Very well," said Mr. Howland, "I will ask him then."
So Mr. Howland went to the gentleman, and asked him. He was standing at
the time, with his umbrella and walking stick in his hand, near one of
the pillars of the portico, smoking a cigar. He looked at Mr. Howland
with an expression of some surprise upon his countenance on hearing the
proposition, took one or two puffs from his cigar before replying, and
then said quietly that he preferred the seat that he had taken in the
coupe.
"It would be a very great favor to us, if you would exchange with us,"
said Mrs. Howland, who had come up with her husband, and stood near. "We
are three, and we want very much to be seated together. We will very
gladly pay the difference of the fare."
The gentleman immediately, on being thus addressed by Mrs. Howland, took
the cigar out of his mouth, raised his hat, and bowed very politely.
"Are you and this other lady the gentleman's party?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," said Mrs. Howland.
"Then I cannot possibly think of giving up my seat in the coupe,"
replied the gentleman. "I am a Russian, it is true, but I am not a bear,
as I should very justly be considered, if I were to leave a compartment
in the coach when _two_ such beautiful ladies as you were coming into
it, especially under the influence of any such consideration as that of
saving the difference in the fare."
The gentleman said this in so frank and good-natured a way that it was
impossible to take offence at it, though Mr. Howland felt, that by
making the request and receiving such a reply, he had placed himself in
a very ridiculous position.
"I prize my seat more than ever," said the Russian, still addressing the
ladies; "I prize it incalculably, and so I cannot think of going up upon
the banquette. But if the gentleman will go up there, I will promise to
take the very best care of the ladies possible, while they are in the
coupe."
Mrs. Howland then took Louise aside, and asked, in a whisper, whether
she should have any objection to ride in the interior, in case Mr.
Howland could exchange the place on the banquette for one within. Louise
was quite troubled that her sister should make such a proposal. She said
she should not like very well to go in there among so many strangers,
and in a place, too, where she could not see the scenery at all.
Besides, Louise thought that it would have been more generous in
Angelina, if she thought it necessary for one or the other of them to
ride inside, to have offered to take a seat there herself, instead of
putting it off upon her sister, especially since it was not so proper,
she thought, for her, being a young lady, to ride among strangers, as
for one who was married.
Mr. Howland then suggested that they should all ascend to the banquette.
The persons who had the other two seats there would of course be willing
to change for the coupe; or at least, since the coupe was considered the
best place, there would be no indelicacy in asking them to do it.
But the bride would not listen to this proposal. She never could climb
up there, in the world, she said.
By this time the coach was ready, and the conductor began to call upon
the passengers to take their places, so that there was no more time for
deliberation. They were all obliged to take their seats as the conductor
called off the names from his way bill. The two ladies entered the coupe
in company with the Russian, while Mr. Howland ascended by the step
ladder to his seat on the banquette. While the passengers were thus
getting seated the postilions were putting in the horses, and in a
moment more the diligence set off.
Now, here were four persons setting out on a pleasant morning, in a good
carriage, to take the drive from Naples to Rome--one of the most
charming drives that the whole tour of Europe affords, and yet not one
of them was in a condition to enjoy it. Every one was dissatisfied, out
of humor, and unhappy. The Russian gentleman was displeased with Mr.
Howland for asking him to give up his seat, and he felt uncomfortable
and ill at ease in being shut up with two ladies, who he knew were
displeased with him for not giving it up. The bride was vexed with the
Russian for insisting on his place in the coupe, and with her sister for
not being willing to go into the interior, so that she might ride with
her husband. Miss Louise was offended at having been asked to sit in the
interior, which request, she said to herself, was only part of a
systematic plan, which her sister seemed to have adopted for the whole
journey, to make herself the principal personage in every thing, and to
treat her, Louise, as if she was of no consequence whatever. And last of
all, Mr. Howland, on the banquette above, was out of humor with himself
for having asked the Russian to give up his seat, and thus subjected
himself to the mortification of a refusal, and with his wife for having
required him to ask it.
Thus they were all at heart uncomfortable and unhappy, and as the horses
trotted swiftly on along the smooth and beautiful road which traverses
the rich campagna of Naples, on the way to Capua, the splendid scenery
was wholly disregarded by every one of them.
Now, it is very often so with parties travelling in Europe. The external
circumstances are all perhaps extremely favorable, and they are passing
through scenes or visiting places which they have thought of and dreamed
of at home with beating hearts for many years. And yet now that the time
has come, and the enjoyment is before them, there is some internal
source of disquiet, some mental vexation or annoyance, some secret
resentment or heart-burning, arising out of the circumstances in which
they are placed, or the relations which they sustain to one another,
which destroys their peace and quiet of mind, and of course
incapacitates them for any real happiness. So that, on the whole,
judging from what I have seen of tourists in Europe, I should say that
those that travel do not after all, in general, really pass their time
more happily than those who remain at home.
I have two reasons for saying these things. One is, that those of you
who have no opportunity to travel, may be more contented to remain at
home, and not imagine that those of your friends who go abroad,
necessarily pass their time so much more happily than you do. The other
reason is, that when you do travel, either in our own country or in
foreign lands, you should be more reasonable and considerate, and pay
more regard to the wishes and feelings of others, than travellers
usually do. Most of the disquietudes and heart-burnings which arise to
mar the happiness of parties travelling, come from the selfishness of
our hearts, which seems, in some way or other, to bring itself out more
into view when we are on a long journey together than at any other time.
In the ordinary intercourse of life, this selfishness is covered and
concealed by the veil of politeness prescribed by the forms and usages
of society. This veil is, however, very thin, and it soon disappears
entirely, in the familiar intercourse which is necessarily produced by
the incidents and adventures of a journey. In being daily and hourly
with each other for a long time, people appear just as they really are;
and unless they are really reasonable, considerate, and just towards one
another, they are sure sooner or later to disagree.
But though the bridal party were very much out of humor with each other,
as we have seen, Mr. George and Rollo were entirely free from any such
uneasiness. They both felt very light-hearted and happy. They rambled
about the court yard till they had seen all that there was there to
interest them, and then they went to their own diligence. They opened
the coupe door and looked in.
"Our seats are Nos. 1 and 2," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George. "One of them is next the window, and the other
is in the middle. You may get in first, and take the seat by the
window."
"No, uncle George," said Rollo, "you had better have the seat by the
window."
"We will take turns for that seat," said Mr. George, "and you shall
begin."
Mr. George arranged it to have Rollo take his turn first, because he
knew very well that, in the beginning of a journey, such a boy as Rollo
was always full of enthusiasm and excitement; and that, consequently, he
would enjoy riding at the window much more at first than at a later
period. So Rollo got in and took his seat, and Mr. George followed him.
In a very few minutes afterwards, the postilions came out with the
horses.
But I have something particular to say about the postilions and the
horses, and I will say it in the next chapter.