LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| FACING PAGE | ||
| i. | St. Martin’s-le-Grand, London | [3] |
| ii. | The Marble Arch, London | [4] |
| iii. | Triumphal Arch, Paris | [15] |
| iv. | The Bastille Column, Paris | [20] |
| v. | Christian Martyrs in the Colosseum, Rome | [37] |
| vi. | The Roman Forum, Rome | [39] |
| vii. | The Pantheon, Rome | [41] |
| viii. | Garibaldi’s Monument, Rome | [45] |
| ix. | St. Peter’s Cathedral, Rome | [49] |
| x. | The Arch of Titus, Rome | [61] |
| xi. | Church of the Trinity, Rome | [67] |
| xii. | Team of Oxen in Tuscany | [72] |
| xiii. | Dante and Beatrice, Florence | [83] |
| xiv. | Mrs. Wardle near the Duomo, Florence | [81] |
| xv. | St. Mark’s Cathedral, Venice | [109] |
| xvi. | Mrs. Wardle and Miss Himmel by the Doges Pillar, Venice | [116] |
| xvii. | Ditto, in Gondola, Venice | [105] |
| xviii. | Milan Cathedral, Milan | [129] |
| xix. | St. Gothard Tunnel | [141] |
| xx. | William Tell’s Monument | [145] |
| xxi. | Lion of Lucerne | [153] |
| xxii. | The Rhine Bridge, Basle | [167] |
| xxiii. | The Casino, Monte Carlo | [185] |
| xiv. | Miss Brown at Mentone | [183] |
| xxv. | Mr. and Mrs. Green, Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Wardle and Mrs. Giles at Cannes | [189] |
“Go, little book, God send the good passage,
And specially let this be thy prayer:
Unto them all that thee will read or hear,
Where thou art wrong, after their help to call,
Thee to correct in any part or all.”—CHAUCER.
CHAPTER I.
London: Its teeming millions of population: Its commercial aspect: Leaving Victoria Station for New Haven: On the Boat: New found friends: Landing at Dieppe: Leaving for Paris: Rouen, its Cathedral, etc.
We had settled to have a holiday—not a mere pic-nic, not a week-end at Blackpool, or a tour of a few days in the Isle of Man—but a real first-class, out-and-out trip. Where then is it to be? Why, to Rome and back, came the reply. From St. Paul’s in London, the largest city in the world, to St. Peter’s in Rome, one of the great cities of the ancient world.
“To Rome!” my friends said in astonishment.
“Yes! to Rome.” There seems to be magic in the very word. Rome—The Eternal City. The city of the seven hills. The city of which St. Paul was proud to be a citizen. See Acts, chapter 22, verse 25. “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, uncondemned?” verse 28. “Then the Chief Captain came and said unto him. Tell me, art thou a Roman?” He said, “Yes.”
Rome stands for power. Her proud eagles once swept their wings over almost the then known world. Rome stands for antiquity, greatness, wealth, splendour, conquest and colonization, liberty, law, self control, prowess, skill. But, alas! It also stands for cruelty, luxury, strife, war, humiliation, decay, decline.
This is the objective really of our holiday. Now it is settled, ways and means, and the route, etc., are but details. Packing! Well, I am a poor hand at packing. I think it must be a gift to be able to pack well. I think a good packer must be born, not made. If I pack, sure as fate, the things I want first are at the bottom of the trunk. My dear little wife, to whom I owe much for packing and general comfort during the tour, and, indeed, I owe to her well-kept journal, much that assists me to make this record of our holiday.