WAYSIDE NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 5968, 28 April 1882, Page 4

WAYSIDE NOTES.

[By an Otagonian.J

NAPLES, February 19, 1882. To enjoy travelling, especially in Italy, a person must be really strong and proof against colds or the effect of bad smells from filthy drains, perhaps hundreds of years old, not flushed nor kept clean neither inside nor outside of the bouses. I can stand all but those filthy odors. At Cannes and Nice they were very disagreeable. Mentone was somewhat better, and there I enjoyed myself much. Colds and influenza are very common, and no wonder, for the sun, when it can shine upon you, is intensely hot, and the narrow stinking streets very chilly and cold, while all the places we visit being paved with marble and consequently very cool, it is almost impossible to avoid a chill at one time or another. Typhoid fever and Romish ague are so prevalent during the warmer months that English tourists only visit these countries in the winter time. I have heard of a good many cases, but I fancy they are amongst people who scorn all precautions, and who for the sake of convenience sleep or live at hotels in the lower parts of the towns instead of on the hills, and who go running about the stinking streets at night. We shall not stay longer here than we can help, but return to Rome, where we purpose staying one night en route to Florence. Resuming my narrative of our doings m Rome, we visited the or Villa Borghese, the property of a family of that name, of very ancient lineage, and exceedingly rich, A description of one of these villas will pretty nearly answer for all. They are not very handsome, viewed from the outside. The fronts and roofs are flat, and in general some portion of the latter is railed off so that a person can sit or walk upon it. Sometimes this selected area is converted into a kind of garden by means of boxes and pots filled with earth, in which shrubs and flowers are cultivated and creepers are trained over trellis work. In front of the house, outside of it, is generally a great deal of statuary—most of it colossal in size—and these adornments are continued at the entrance hall and in all the rooms, galleries, and corridors thrown open to the public. These, too, are hung round with paintings and furnished with inlaid tables and Mosaics from floor to ceiling. The ceilings are most exquisitely painted. Then here and there are tables and vases in malachite, marble, Egyptian granite, and all kinds of wonderful and beautiful things. There are marble columns o! different colors, mirrors and ornaments of every description. The floors are mostly of marble— some polished, Everything is arranged for show and effect; comfort apparently is not cared for, though doubtless there are suites of rooms for the family to dwell in, not open to the public. On Sunday afternoon we walked to Monte Pincio and heard the band play. There were crowds Of people and hundreds of carriages being driven round the Park with gay and well-dressed occupants. The dress or the nurses in Rome exceeds in picturesqueness that of the French. The skirt is often dark or pale blue, trimmed sometimes with a broad baud of old gold or scarlet; or it may be.sometimes made up entirely of bright colors—scarlet, blue, or yellow. If yellow a great deal of scarlet is worn with it, and probably a scarf or small neckerchief of green. The skirt is short and gathered all round the waist. A < bodice if blue, green, or red, or striped is worn outside the dress, and is made with bones just like a pair of stays. A white kerchief is folded round the neck and bosom, but so arranged as to leave a large portion of both bare for the display of several rows of Roman pearls or beads of various colors. Then a small brilliantly colored kerchief is placed over the white one, On the head is placed a gay cap with long flowing satin ribbons and a pretty gilt pin set with pearls stuck on one side of it. The nurse carries a Roman baby, elegantly dressed, laid upon a small, pillow, and tied up in what looks like a handsome pillow-slip or large bag, trimmed with lace, so that I should think it would be utterly impossible for the poor bantling to move its legs. Next day my companion and I went to the picture gallery at the Vatican, and saw the original frescos on the walls executed by Raphael and others of note. His celebrated picture of the “ Transfiguration ” is wonderfully beautiful, and very rich in coloring. There are many fine : paintings of painful subjects, such as St. Peter crucified with his head downwards and St. Sebastian pierced with arrows, Christ also is represented as in every variety of agony, But I do not like them. On Our return my companion had to attend the funeral of Dr Phillips, an old friend of his.

Next day we went to St. Peter’s, and climbed the dome, the beauty of which cannot be seen from below. There are two galleries round the dope—one .at half its height, and the other near the top. From these the beautiful figures in Mosaic can be seen to advantage. I was too much out of health to go above the first gallery, but my companion and others who accompanied us went to the top—outside. The fatigue of the ascent was great, though ail the way round and round the dome there are no steps until near • the top, where it becomes steep and narrow. The rise is by an inclined plane. After descending we went into the very ancient Sistine Chapel, with which I was greatly disappointed, probably because having heard so much in praise of it my expectations were raised too nigh. As for the fresco of “The Last Judgment,” I think it hideous.

Next day my companion went to the palace of the Csesars. which he seeped much to enjoy. We afterwards went to the Capitol, where among, many other* things we saw the busts of Julius Caesar, Nero, and in factjof most of the Roman emperors and ancient worthies, philosophers, etc. Here also is the original “dying gladiator,” the “old bronze wolf,” and Romulus and Remus, as well as statues of Castor and, Pollux, which are placed at the head of the entrance steps. On Sunday we went to St. Paul’s, where we took cold. It is a most beautiful church, and pleases me better than St. Peter’s, The long rows of polished marble columns, the beautiful rich windows of stained .glass, in each of which is a single figure, the splendid paintings, the pillars of richly-carved malachite ’supporting a handsome gilt and crimson canopy, the altars and steps and lamps, and the generally rich coloring of the ■ church combined to make it a most enchanting place. Lx spite of their age the old twisted columns in the cloisters are remarkable for their beauty. The Carnovale commenced the day before, and Sunday is considered the great day with them at Rome. It is a remnant of pu old, barbarous custom. Verandahs, balconies, and windows in the principal street, called the Corso, are richly decorated with trappings of all colors and designs, and they asked for each seat about Iss. A number of people dress up in every variety of costumes —the gayer and the more absurd the better. All wear masks, and drive up and down the Corso in carriages, for the hxrei of which they have to pay enormously. Their amusement is that of pelting each other and everybody within range with confites and a mixture of lime and sand, which, if any of it strikes the face or enters the eyes, is very dangerous, Huge bouquets of flowers are freely thrown about. A lady who had not provided herself with a little wire mask, worn generally in defence of the face, had her face cut open by one of them. I think the custom is senseless and vulgar. I did not go on to the Corso after two o’clock, but I saw many groups of masqueraders going thither, amongst whom were three young children—the boy dressed as a cayaner in blue and white satin and lace, with a small blue mask; the girl, as a Swiss dancing girl, beautifully dressed in satin; and the baby, some two and a-half or three years old, just able to toddle, was decked out in a gay-colored pointed-waisted dress, with a satin train, which spread out behind her, as she trotted along, like a ridiculous little peacock. I pitied the poor little thipg. On Monday we again visited the Vatican to see the library and the statuary. We were greatly delighted with both, but to de*

scribe all we saw would be tedious. I may, however, mention the “Laocoon” and somebody’s “chariot and horses”—-I forget whether it was Apollo’s or Phaeton’s—possibly neither. Next we had a drive on the old “ Appian way,” along which St. Paul is said to have come. It is strange, weird, and very interesting; for on each side are the ruins of tombs—huge, big things, built of stone—some of them looking like small pyramids or large towers. It is called a street of tombs. Far away on each side is the Campagna, stretching away to the Alban Hills and the Appenine Ranges. There also is the ancient aqueduct, with its innumerable arches—some broken down, and others again in good repair. It is a wonderful work. Next day we saw the Church of the Lateran and the Santa Scala—a flight of marble steps said to have been brought from Pilate’s house at Jerusalem which Christ ascended when brought for judgment before Pilate. The marble is covered with wood, pieces of which are cut away to show the marble rises. _ The wood is quite polished by penitente going up on their knees. We saw six or eight going up at the same time. They get up one step, count their beads, say a ■pater, staring hard at you all the time, and then climb another step, where they go through a like ceremony. For performing this feat of gymnastics, indulgences are granted by the Pope. This concluded our sight-seeing in Rome. The next day we left for Naples, having sojourned three weeks in the world’s ancient capital. We arrived here at midnight, but having written to engage rooms, the omnibus from the inn met us, and consequently we experienced no trouble. As we ascended the hill, I saw Vesuvius for the first time. By day, smoke and steam only can be seen rising from the cone and hanging in a thick, long cloud; but at night, about every three minutes a red, lurid glare spreads over the very top of the cone, which lasts not quite a quarter of a minute, when fresh smoke and steam come up and all becomes black.