Miss Findon tells of similar experience—
“Once, as we sat in the Colosseum, Miss Buss read us Byron’s lines and also Dickens’ words about it. I remember the tones of her voice now as she ended:—‘God be thanked—a ruin!’ And then paused while we tried to carry our minds back to that old time when under that same blue sky, this ruin had been the scene of those terrible fights of men and beasts, and the Roman ladies looked on. How different from the tender heart of her who was sitting in our midst!”
Long before the story of Italian patriots was generally known, Miss Buss had made it her own, and she loved to tell it; as she had told us on the afternoon of Christmas Day that year. I find a note dated 1877, in which she mentions a talk with Old Pupils—
“I told them about ‘new Italy,’ and read from Mrs. Browning, and Mrs. Hamilton King’s ‘Disciples’ and ‘Aspromonte.’ Do you know Mr. Browning’s ‘Court of the King,’ a small poem?”
In a letter to her nephew, we find her feeling on this side of Italian history—
“Rome, January, 1884.
“I hope you sympathize with the progress of humanity, dearest lad, and with the regeneration of a nation! My heart thrills when I think of how much men have suffered to make beautiful Italy a geographical fact, instead of a mere name. Only last year a young Triestine, named Overdank, was hanged by the Austrians because he with others wanted to annex Trieste to Italy. Many people think the whole eastern side of the Adriatic ought to belong to Italy. Of course this was rebellion on the part of Overdank. According to law, no doubt, he suffered. But the horror is that the executioners are said to have sent the bill for the cost of the execution to the heart-broken mother! She had to pay them, but has since died—happily for her.... And those are Christians, and have mothers!
“Italy has a grand past. May she have as grand a future! In the blood of the thousands of martyrs for the liberty and unity of their country is the hope of future generations. Our country’s history seems but of yesterday, when one is in Rome, surrounded by memorials of the old Roman Empire. Have I told you of the discovery of the house of Numa Pompilius, just excavated in the Forum, close to the arch of Titus, under the old gate of the Palatine? It must have been used by the Pontifex Maximus all through Roman history to the time of Augustus, who chose to live on the Palatine, and fulfilled the conditions by making his house on the Palatine state property. When he left the house in the Forum, the Vestals were placed in it, and the discoveries show that these ladies lived in almost regal splendour in this house, and their statues, broken—in some cases wilfully—and defaced, are being dug up daily. When we came, one only had been found. Now there are from twelve to sixteen at least. On these statues is recorded the name of the Vestal. On one the name is erased. Did she lapse, or did she become a Christian?
“In December last, a jar containing 864 Anglo-Saxon coins, dating from 901 to 946 A.D. (I think) was found. How did these coins come there? Surely they were brought by the Anglo-Saxon pilgrims mentioned by Bede. Can you begin to understand the extraordinary fascination of such a place?...
“I am constantly in a state of thrilling emotion arising from the associations, and one thing overpowers another. One was quite speechless at the sight of the ancient inscriptions from the tombs of the early Christians. It was a thrilling thing to see a man like the Pope, whose office is so ancient and so sacred, even to those Christians who do not agree with him.