MR LOCK'S TOUR.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12501, 30 March 1909, Page 4

MR LOCK'S TOUR.

■ j 4, Owing to the decision of Germany yo increase her battleships at an unprecedented rate, the British Parliament and People have _ 6een caused sonsiderable alarm, and in consequence the public mind of the Dominion is much exercised over the matter. I was tempted to- go out of my usual course, and for this week contribute an article giving impressions of Germany, referring particularly to that nations attitude towards Great Britain ; but after consideration I deemed it best to continue my notes of travel in various countries in the order on which I visited them, and my views on Germany will come.m due course. Continuing my sightseeing in Rome, after a hurried - inspection of ' the PalazoDel Laterano, I went though the church of St John in Laterano, ~ the first church of Christianity built in. the fourth century by Constantine (the Catholic Bishop of Rome). The exterior of this building was very effective, but not so striking as St Peter's, but a. visit to the interior proved most interesting. It is elaborately decorated and contains rare sculptures, treasures, mosaics, etc. There are two fine organs in this church. The first two things of special interest pointed out to ua were an excellent statue ni Leo XIII, and the high altar of the Pope. We were told that we .were exceedingly fortunate in being present in this church on that particular day, as it was St Phillip's and St Mary's Day, and only once a year, on that day, were the huge curtains we saw, drawn" aside. The lowering of these curtains enabled us to see- some grand pictures, representing Bibical scenes, in beautiful^ • mosaic work— in fact the church copy tamed a lot of choice mosaics in various parts. The Pope's throne 0 which we next inspected, was a wonderful piece of work, the carving, sculpture, gilding, etc. being most effective. This throne has not been used by a Pope since 1870; We saw the cloister built , in the twelfth cen-' tury and here was a great relic saved from the fire. It is in the form bf~a' marble slab, supported by four colums, and was to show the exact height of Christ. It looked -yery .ancient and: we were told that practically millions had walked under the slab to see how. , near -they-" approached the height of Christ. Proceeding furtlier I noticed a number of Brothers teaching classes of small boys, and Sisters importing religious instruction to classes of young girls. I noticed a number of .tombs in this church but I could not remember the names. There were also statues ofthe Twelve Apostles, which; Were considered very fine. A statue representing Christ, after he was tak--en down from the cross attracted a gpod deal of attention. It certainly looked a remarkable piece of work. A painting over 600 years old next claimed my attention. Though exposed . to the air for the whole of that time it was in a fair state of preservation. We were also shown bronze doors older than Christ. We' visited most of the principal churches in. Rome. Inone of them was pointed out to. us the Holy Staircase, wliich it is said Christ came down after he had the crown of thorn's iplacedVpn' -His: head. These stairs had been removed from the house of Pilate. The steps were covered. with wood, with small diamond shaped openings here and there, ; exposing the marble. Ib was necessary to place this covering of wood onthe steps to prevent the stairs from being worn out. The devout ascend, kneeling, and on each step say a prayer. I saw the Golden House of Nero, and the Church of St Mary of Nice. This church has a remarkably fine ceiling,-a great de%l of the decoration being done in pure gold. The gold used to beautify this church was presented to Pope Alexander VI in the fourth century by Queen Isabella. The. ceiling looked sagged, but has had tins appearance for many years. The church of St Maggiore was. next visited. In it we were, shown part of the manger in which Christ was born. It was made of marble. This church was also celebrated for having withm its walls 62 different kinds and qualities of precious 'marble.: These were mostly in columns or pillars. In-re-gard to some of these marbles we were told that many of them were not to be found in the world to-day. - -; We. also visited the church of St Mary of the Angels, but only stayed a few minutes, as Aye wished to see _the Pantheon(or Agrippa's Pantheon) . lhis temple is considered a masterpiece ot ancient Rome. '. It was built by Agrippa in 726, and used as a Pagan Temple until many years later, when it came under the Papal dominion, and it was consecrated to the Virgin arc! martyrs by Pope Bonifazio the IV, and of course it still reriiains a Catholic church. In this temple is the Bath of Nero. , .The building is round in shape and without windows, but it gets its light from a large opening made at the top in the centre of the cupola. . This building is one of the most perfectly preserved of all the edifices of ancient Rome. _ We wero pointed out tliQ extraordinary thickness of the walls, which were 30 feet. I doubted this so stepped it: myself :and foimd it correct. 7 . .Tlie" interior and exterior of this classic temple is of great beauty and the dome is considered one of the finest in existence. It was here I believe we saw the graves..of Raphael, Sonzip, and other renowned artists, also the tombs of Victor Emmanuel and King -Humbert. One of the tombs was covered with fine relief scrolls, velvet palls, wijh inscriptions in purple, and handsomely - bordered with relief and silk of a similar colour. After leaving the Pantheon we passed the Fountain de Temple of Neptune, which was yery effective. The Temple itself was being repaired and renovated for use as a Chamber of_ Commerce. The Colosseum "was next inspected. Everyone knows that this was the great amphitheatre of ancient Rome, where fights between gladiators and ferociousjieasts took place for the amusement of _ the nobles. We were told that on one occasion five thousand wild beasts .and many gladiators were killed. This building had seating accommodation for 50,000 spectators. The area is very large, but not nearly so iarge as that of the Stadium of the .Franco-British Exhibition in London. .' This would hold 90,0Q0 people. The colosseum 'did not strike me in any particular way, only for its immense size for a theatre in those days, and like Mark Twain said it appeared like many noted things in .Rome, "In a bad state of repair." We saw quite a number oi arches ; the best was . . the Arch oi Titus, built to commemorate his vie: tory, over the Jews, A.D., .70. It has a number of .fine bas-reliefs.' The Roman Forum was next^jisited, buf there is very ' little left of this, the most renowned place of ancient Rome, A number of stone pillars supporting large beams, could, be seen, standing, and at the base of these arid lying in all directions were blocks of stone of all sizes. This concluded' the sights we -.saw as an organised party. Latei on. with a friend, I visited quite a number of celebrated, places;. including the column, of Marcus, Aurelius, :tht Piazza del Popolo, the Ronian circus, . with its magnificent fountains, obelisks, etc, part of Vespassidn's Temple the Piazzo, ard Basilicas of St- Pet-en and part of the. Templa of Castor, the Temple of Caesar and Trojan's Column. There, is. little of its ancient beauty left. It is about 90 feet high and the top can be. reached inside bj ascending 182 steps. Tsaw the site of the largest' bath's in ancient Rome, It was called Herme— (something— the great aqueduct of Nero, part, oi the old Roman well, Fountain oi Treves, which is considered one of the biggpst and - best fountains in the world. There is a fine piece of statuary in the centre representing the ocean, on a large shell, carried by sea horses and tritons,. a fine statue_or 'each side representing health and ■abundance. In regard to the fountains, the best I have seen is, save those of Potsdam, Germany, is that of Treves/ Those in ; the basilica of St" Peter, and" old Roman circus are very fine, the water rising to a greai height, but none of them are so prettj ad those I sa,w in America, especiallj at Coney Island arid in Philadelphia : but these fine effects were produced bj

electric lights under coloured glass, the water falling over tiers of colour- . el glass, which was illuminated by electric lights. We paraded the strets of Rome m the evenings. Hundreds of well dressed people were having refreshments in the open air under huge marble verandahs, sitting on dainty chairs with delicately coloured cane seats. The refreshments wero mostly light, ice cream drinks and wines, drawn through long straws. Whilst in Rome I saw several processions of boys..' Although the city was very orderly and quiet, I noticed that most of the business premises had heavy iron bars in front of the doors and windows-f-as if the owners were afraid of burglars. (To be continued.) ,"