Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, August 16, 1859
xml:
Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, August 16,
1859
transcriber
Transcriber:spp:vxa
student editorTranscriber:spp:les
Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive
Institution:University of Rochester
Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections
Date:1859-08-16
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Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, August 16, 1859
action: sent
sender: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16
Death: 1872-10-10
location: Rome, Italy
receiver: Frances Seward
Birth: 1805-09-24
Death: 1865-06-21
location: Auburn, NY
transcription: vxa
revision: jxw 2021-02-02
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Page
1
e
William Henry Seward’s series of travel letters in 1859
are organized and listed by the date of each entry. 1 Rome Tuesday
Evening August 17 e
August 16th, 1859 was a Tuesday, and
William Henry Seward’s letter dated August 10th identified that as his first day
in Rome, meaning August 16th would be the sixth day as mentioned in this letter.
Thus, we believe he misdated the letter to be on the 17th and it is actually the
16th.,
Sevenixth day in Rome
My dearest Frances, I have just finished reading your letter
of the 25th, and a dozen American newspapers, the only
information of the outer world that has reached me in my landing
place here. This afternoon I stopped to buy some
thing at a shop in the Corso, and as soon as I entered
a blind man
impertinent assailed me. I was ten minutes in ma-
king my purchases. When I came out I gave up all
the change I had to the beggar but before I reached my
carriage I was beset with double impetuity by anoth-
er blind man
his daughter
ineffectually labored to drive them off, and the Coachman
was on the point of applying his whip when the
boy of the first blind man pitched into them and
rescued me. Going home to night I stopped for
an ice at a Cafe – a poor woman
was at my door and took all my change not
excepting an old Imperial copper coin having bearing
a head of Augustus which I had paid a quar-
ter of a dollar for in the morning. These are
the experiences of a traveler in here.
The Americans are likely I think to take
the lead in sculpture in this city. What a sagacious
thing it was in the Catholic Church to repeal the law
which forbids the making and worship of images? The Church
may refrain as much as it pleases, but the arts of
Page
2
2
sculpture and painting owe their highest development
in all ages to the devotional passions of mankind.
The American sculptors and painters profit by the
breaches of a law they condemn if they are Protestants.
The Church of St Peter in Martino stands on a
high eminence. East of the Vatican and commands a
magnificent view of Rome. On its summit is a monastery
of Franciscan friars, and with their cloisters
a perfect bijou of a temple erected by in honor
of St Peter over the hole in the ground in which made
by the post of the cross on which he was executed.
It is of marble exquisitely wrought into most elaborate
embellishments, and was the gift of the pious Isabella
of Spain and her bigoted successor Philip
find it to understand how St Peter was
crucified here, and also in the center
of the Circus of Nero in front of St Peters in
the Vatican as I have told you before that he was
I shall not undertake to reprove you for it. Either
Isabella was misled as to the spot or I have
been. It is fortunate for art, though perhaps not for
the Christian Faith that the mistake was not discovered
until each of the two places was marked by
a monument of rare excellence and beauty
e
Editorial Note
Editorial Note
Sevenixth day in Rome
My dearest Frances, I have just finished reading your letter
of the 25th, and a dozen American newspapers, the only
information of the outer world that has reached me in my landing
place here. This afternoon I stopped to buy some
thing at a shop in the Corso, and as soon as I entered
a blind man
Unknown
with his sonUnknown
16 years old
bold and impertinent assailed me. I was ten minutes in ma-
king my purchases. When I came out I gave up all
the change I had to the beggar but before I reached my
carriage I was beset with double impetuity by anoth-
er blind man
Unknown
and his boyUnknown
and a consumptive
manUnknown
and his daughter
Unknown
. The
GentlemanUnknown
who was with me
ineffectually labored to drive them off, and the Coachman
Unknown
was on the point of applying his whip when the
boy of the first blind man pitched into them and
rescued me. Going home to night I stopped for
an ice at a Cafe – a poor woman
Unknown
with a babyUnknown
was at my door and took all my change not
excepting an old Imperial copper coin having bearing
a head of Augustus which I had paid a quar-
ter of a dollar for in the morning. These are
the experiences of a traveler in here.
The Americans are likely I think to take
the lead in sculpture in this city. What a sagacious
thing it was in the Catholic Church to repeal the law
which forbids the making and worship of images? The Church
may refrain as much as it pleases, but the arts of
2
sculpture and painting owe their highest development
in all ages to the devotional passions of mankind.
The American sculptors and painters profit by the
breaches of a law they condemn if they are Protestants.
The Church of St Peter in Martino stands on a
high eminence. East of the Vatican and commands a
magnificent view of Rome. On its summit is a monastery
of Franciscan friars, and with their cloisters
a perfect bijou of a temple erected by in honor
of St Peter over the hole in the ground in which made
by the post of the cross on which he was executed.
It is of marble exquisitely wrought into most elaborate
embellishments, and was the gift of the pious Isabella
of Spain and her bigoted successor Philip
Death: 1598-09-13
. If you find it to understand how St Peter was
crucified here, and also in the center
of the Circus of Nero in front of St Peters in
the Vatican as I have told you before that he was
I shall not undertake to reprove you for it. Either
Isabella was misled as to the spot or I have
been. It is fortunate for art, though perhaps not for
the Christian Faith that the mistake was not discovered
until each of the two places was marked by
a monument of rare excellence and beauty