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e Friday ^evening^ August 26. 1859.
15th. day in Rome.
My dear Fanny
Rome is constructed on a principle not known in the
United States. In the whole city there is hardly one
single house, or dwelling of one family. The common or
median people have no separated homes or shops.
The homes built two hundred or more years ago
are very spacious, very long, onethree four five six
seven stories high. The ground floor is the sub sol, or
basement, then there is an entre-sol – above this the
2d, 3^d 4th &c stories. The basement is occupied by
shops stores, stalls, every thing and every body base
It is generally petty and intolerable. The entre sol
is occupied by the families or persons who can
afford to go no higher, the dignity of the family
is measured by its elevation above the nuisances
of the subsol and streets which are narrow and
wretchedly unclean. Society in Rome consists of three
classes, the nobility, the gentry and the plebeians.
The nobility derive their titles ^and estates^ from the Pope. Each
Pope I think has generally ennobled some one or
more of his relatives. They are without power, and
most of their estates are dilapidated. Their
palaces built on a magnificent scale are now very

22
neglected. Furniture which in England goes for so
much, here is of little account. Wealth and magnificence
are measured by the statues and pictures which
a nobleman or gentleman owns. The aggregate
wealth of Rome in this respect surpasses that
of the whole world tender. The Popes being bache-
lors, the Papal palaces are naturally most
enriched in this truly noble way.
I have finished to day my survey of the
palace of the Vatican. A special license permitted
me to visit the museum or manufactory of
Mosaics. Like the Gobelin, and Sevres
at Palaces this is a Royal institution. Nothing
is made for sale, every thing is made to
enrich the Churches and palaces of the state
or for a present to some concerned friend.
The Mosaic is executed here on every scale.
It is a work of most astonishing slowness requiring
patience inexhaustible. A single head requires
of the artist three or four years, some pictures require
more than twenty, each separate stone is chiselled
and ground and adjusted repeatedly.
From the Mosaics I went into the Picture gal-
Lery. The collection is small, but every picture
is a masterpiece by a master. What better

23
can I do then to give you the names of the artists
Leonardo da Vinci, Perrugino, Raphael,
Francesca, Murillo Benvenuto, Guerano
Domenichino, Michael Angelo, Titian &c &c
Here I saw the Transfiguration of Christ,
by Raphael the ^his^ last and greatest work,
the greatest painting in Oil in the world
and the Communion of St Jerome by Domenichino
which holds the second ^next^ place next to
the by the testing of all judges and critics.
From this the best collection
in Rome I descended to visit the Gallery
in the Palace Barbieri.
In this collection Guidos Beatrice Cen-
chi, which I knew instantly by the remembrance
of an hundred copies is the chiefest treasure –
It is said to have been taken the night before her
execution. I ran hastily much too hastily through
this gallery, to get time to look into the
one in the Palace Borghese. Here I had
two hours for 800 pictures in 12 large chambers.
I had only time to study Raphael's Entombment
of Christ, Correggio's Danae, Domenichino's
Sybil, Domenichino's Chase of Diana, Albinis
scenes, Raphaels Arches, Titans Sacred

24
and Profane Love, and VanDykes Entombment
of the Savior. There remain near seventy
other galleries to be visited. But they all
wait until you can come to see them
yourself. As for me, I have seen already
more than I can carry away in remembrance.
Art has already entered into my mind,
and I shall regard Rome hereafter as
containing the deposits of genius – may I not
add of devotion and of virtue. Surely those
who sculpted the noble statues, and
painted these pure and holy and religious
subjects must have had their souls fired
by faith and enlarged by aspirations
which distinguished them from all other
mortals – and how strange it is to see
Rome living as if it were forever in the
contentment inspired by the heavens. Since
the very last of these works America has
been peopled, and ^Here^ Italy is the has doubled
The world is already proposing if not a new
religion at least a great modification of the
one that is cherished here, and government is
assuming new forms as America is also. But Rome
rests satisfied, content, having the past and the dead
unconscious of the outside world and of their Fame

h No. 18^th 19^th
August
Rome 22
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