Certainly, In A Capital Where The Church
Holds Itself Prisoner, There Is No Show Of Force On The Part Of Its
Captors; And This Is Pleasant To The Friend Of Man And The Lover Of
Italy For Other Reasons.
In the absence of the military you can imagine
that not only does the state not wish to boast its political supremacy
in the ancient capital of the Church, but it does not desire to show the
potentiality of holding its own against the republic which is instinct
there.
The monarchy is the consensus of all the differing wills in
Italy, which naturally would not for the most part have chosen a
monarchy. But never was a monarchy so mild-mannered or seated so firmly,
for the present at least, in the affection and reason of its people.
This is not the place (as writers say who have not prepared themselves
with the requisite ideas at a given point) to speak of the situation in
Rome; and I meant only to note that there are more ecclesiastics than
conscripts to be seen there. Of all the varying costumes of the varying
schools, none is so pleasing, so vivid, as that of the German students
as they rush swiftly by in their flying robes of scarlet. The red
matches the ruddy health in their cheeks, and there is a sort of
gladness in their fling that wins the liking as well as the looking; so
that almost one would not mind being a German student of theology one's
self.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 145 of 353
Words from 39807 to 40063
of 97259
