“What duz one old man want of ’leven thousand rooms? He can’t be in more’n one to time, and if he tried to go round and see if his hired help kep’ ’em swep’ up and mopped and the winders cleaned, it would keep him on the go the hull time and be too much for him.”
But I told Josiah that Mr. Pope didn’t make use of the hull buildin’ his own self, but there wuz libraries in it and museums and picture galleries. I believe myself Mr. Pope is a real likely man, of which more anon. I don’t believe that there is a room in the U. S. or the hull surroundin’ world so grand and magnificent as the Great Hall of the Vatican Library. It is over two hundred feet long, and glorious in architecture and ornaments from top to bottom. It contains the most priceless treasures in books and manuscripts. For hundreds of years the collection has been constantly growing by purchase, gifts and conquests. One of its choicest treasures is the Bible of the fourth century.
The picture galleries in the Vatican contain pictures and statutes enough, it seems to me, to ornament the parlors of the world if they wuz divided up. And the museum––I don’t spoze there is so big a collection in the world of such rare and costly things, and I spoze like as not there will never be another one so large and valuable. I never should try it, nor Josiah wouldn’t. It would be too big a tug on our strength, if we had oceans of money, and can no more be described than I could count the sands of the sea and set ’em in rows.
We thought one day we would visit the Pantheon. Miss Meechim didn’t really want to go on account of her conscience partly, and I too felt some as she did, for it wuz a pagan temple riz up to all the gods twenty-seven years before Christ. But finally we all did go. As I told Miss Meechim, we could keep up a stiddy thinkin’ on better things, if we wuz lookin’ on pagan shrines.
She said she wuz afraid that Rev. Mr. Weakdew wouldn’t approve of her being there, and she didn’t seem to enjoy herself very much and I d’no as I did. But it must have been a glorious place as fur as beauty is concerned in its prime, for it is beautiful in its ruin. There are no windows, but it has a large circular openin’ in the ruff through which I spoze the smoke of sacrifice ascended, not much, I believe, above the figures that used to stand up there fifty feet above the marble and porphry pavement––Mars, Jupiter, Apollo, Minerva, Vulcan, etc., etc. For all everything has been stole from this gorgeous temple that could be, it is grand-lookin’ and beautiful now.
From the Pantheon we went to the Capitol––the Capituline Hill where justice wuz meted out to the public from kings and nobles.
We went safely past the two huge lions at the foot of the staircase––though Tommy got behind me when he first saw them––past the spot where Rianzi wuz killed. Here we see no end of statutes of the Cæsars, the Popes and other influential 368 families. We stood on the spot where Brutus made that memorable speech, and I felt that I could almost see that noble figger as he stood there sayin’: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!” If I had been there, I’d lent him two pairs; mine and Josiah’s in welcome.
The bronze wolf, spoke of by Mr. Cicero, is still standin’ there; and in the museum here we see no end of rich sculpture, statutes, mosaic and beautiful, rare objects of art. Pliny’s doves made a noble show; they are made of little pieces of stun, one hundred and sixty pieces in an inch; I couldn’t done it to save my life. The Venus of the Capitol looks beautiful; Josiah thought she favored Sally Ann Henzy, but I didn’t. And, ’tennyrate, Sally Ann would have scorned to appear in company in that condition; Sally Ann is real modest.
In the Pincian Garden, we see the villa of Lucullus, a brave soldier who had his faults, but wuz a good provider and thought a site of his vittles; he made me think of Josiah. And also we see the home of Mr. Nero––mean creeter––I wuz glad enough he passed away before I got there. My principles on intemperance and monopolies would have riled him up dretful, and Arvilly’s talk made him hoppin’ mad. I d’no what he would have took it into his head to do. And I never should have gin him the freedom of Jonesville, never, he needn’t thought on’t; nor I never should invited him to make a all day’s visit to our house, nor a afternoon one, either.