The. Final Reliques I Fat Er Prou - Forgotten Books

T H E

FINAL RELIQUES

FAT H E R PRO UT

( T H E R E V. FRA N C I S M AH O N Y)

COLLE CTE D AND E D I TE D

BLAN CHARD JE RRO LD

30 1130 1:

CHATTO AND WINDUS , PICCADILLY

1 8 76

PRE FAC E .

T HE OBJECT of col lecting and ed iting the F i nal

Rel iques of one of the most bri l l iant and origina l

lz'

tiémz‘eurs of our time was to rescue from obl iv ion

such of the Prout writings as had not been in

c luded in the celebrated work edi ted by Ol iver

York (Mahony himself) , with i l lustrations by

A lfred Croquis (Maclise ) .

T hese resusci tated writings comprise,for the

most part, his Correspondence from Rome wi th

the Dai ly News, begun when i t was under the

brief editorsh ip of Charles,Dickehs. T h e letters

were cons idered at the time not on ly worthy of

as high a p lace in the publ ic estimation as the

general i ty, at least, of his former more showy

and attractive contributions to ‘ F raser’s and‘ Bentley’s ’ Magazines

,but that they were sufh

c ient,i f he had never contributed a l ine to either

vi PRE FACE .

of those periodicals , to leave his mark upon his

t ime .

T o a publ ic organ of essent ial ly broad and in

dependent views,Mahony was essent ial ly the

right man in the right place,as Roman Corre

spondent, during the short conterminous epochs

which he described as T h e Fag End of a LongReign ’

( that of Gregory XVI . ) and‘ T h e Brigh t

Dawn of Better Days ’ (the open ing of P ius the

Ninth ’s Papal r eign) ; and fortunate indeed was

D ickens when he shook hands wi th the Padre on

the M ilvian Bridge, of histori c renown , accepting

from him a handful of c igars bought at T orlonia’

s

and ‘ élessea’ Me Pope,’ and engaging him at the

same time to enter upon the correspondence .

T h e period for Rome was one of transit ion .

I t came not long after the consti tutional regimes

which had been partial ly established in F rance

and Spain , under Louis Phil ippe.

and Maria

Christina, with which the I tal ian democracy, no

matter how overawed by Austria, sti ll cherishing

the sacred flame of their old municipal l iberties,

secretly sympathised , and sigh ed and watched

for,with all the fervour of their race , but wi th

al l the patience of martyrsf- the martyrs of the

PRE FACE . vii

po l i ti cal and spiri tual oppress ion of a thousand

years ! T h e trans it ion was on i ts march shortly

before the great European outbreak of 1 848 ;

and nowhere d id i t exh ib i t such pecu l iar phases

as at the very seat of mental repress ion , i n

Rome itself. No one cou ld read those phases ,

and understand the s ituation better than the

bright and penetrating l ittle I rishman , half- priest ,

hal f man of the world, the trained th inker, the

tolerant looker - on ,and accompl ished scho lar . I n

Rome he was at home and on h is own manor.

H is education , his tastes, h is train ing, al l h is

antecedents attached h im to Rome . H e had its

ancient and modern h istory by heart. He

viewed and valued th is irrespons ib le but pecu l iar

despotism of Papa l Rome in a Cathol i c sp irit,

which partook of no sceptical contempt, sti l l less

of sectarian rancour or exclus iveness . He praised

and encouraged it where he saw it endeavour

ing with parental sol i c itude to do good , and : d

vancing in the right d irection , as i t appears to

have done in T h e Bright Dawn ’ of P i o

re ign ; and he gave i t no rest whi lst i t wou ld

slumber on wi th i ts eyes shut upon the signs of

the times,as in T h e Fag End

’ of Gregory th e:

viii PRE FACE .

S ixteenth ’s . L ike E rasmus . and Savonarola, who

never broke thoroughly with their old Church , he

would stand by her, with all her faults, to the

last ; but he would not seek to reform her abuses

in an ultra - puritan spirit with the one, but laugh

her into common sense wi th the other. T h e

great value of the letters, written during the

closing days of Gregory the S ixteenth ’s régime,i s that they enable the reader to understand the

significance of the Opening of P io Nono’s reign .

Austrian diplomacy, representing an imperious

despot ism,second to none other on earth

,ru led

the Vat ican during the former epoch, whilst a

generous spirit of reform and patriotism inspired

i t during the latter .

No history of I taly pretending to give a ful laccount of the progress of constitutional thought

and action throughout that country, from the early

years of this century to the entry of Victor

Emmanuel into Rome, can be written without a

studied and faithful reference to these ‘M e‘moz

’

res

pour semi?” in which Mahony described P io

N ono’s pure character, as i t shone out in the

bright days of his early promise and nobler asp ira

tions . I t wi l l be for other pens to describe and

PREFACE. ix

account for the change that presently came ove r

the sp irit of h is patriotic dream .

T h e Preface to the ‘ Facts and F igures from

I taly,’ under which title Mah ony

’

s Roman Corre

spondence was publ i shed in a col lected form by

Bentley—now out of print and almost forgotten

was set forth as wri tten by one J eremy Savona

rola, a Benedictine monk , and descendant of the

great F lorentine reformer. I t was a characteristi c

Prout conception,worthy of the Padre in h is

happiest mood . Whilst profess ing to hai l fromSardin ia , and to give an account of the island and

its affairs during a disturbed pol i tical epoch , i t

covertly caricatures the state of I reland during the

latter years of the O ’

Connell era . As a pol itica l

satire i t was worthy of Swift h imself. I ndeed it

may be put down as one of the wittiest , most

penetrating, and most suggestive, i f not the most

so, of al l Mah ony’

s prose writings . I n DonJ eremy’s Preface appears T fie Lay ofLaz arus,

one of the most powerfu l of the writer’s satirical

lyrics, ostens ibly on the sending ' round of the

begging box by the Sardin ian agitator, and dema

gogue , Dandeleone , during the days of the chestnut

rot, which beggared and more than decimated the

miserable inhabitants of the island . I n real ity i t

reprobated the extraordinary circumstance of the

O’

Connell T ribute producing during the

year of the potato rot,and consequent I rish

plague and famine .

Some of the more remarkable of Mah ony’

s

prose writ ings were in his letters to the Globe ,with which newspaper he commenced to corre

spond from Paris shortly after the Revolution of

1 848 . Although for the most part short, and

some of them very short, they were always pun

gent,epigrammati c, and scholarly. Some pas

sages have been carefully selected for a place in

these F inal Reliques .

I n addition to such informat ion as the editor

could obtain from Mah ony’

s few survrvmg

relatives in I reland as to his early education ,a question of great interest when those rare and

bril l iant acquirements are taken into considera

t ion which challenged the admiration of all who

read h is contributions to the periodicals and

journals already mentioned ; an old friend and

quondam pupil of his , for a short time, at the

I rish College of the J esuits , has contributed

a paper entitled Famil iar Memorab i l ia of the

Writings,Genius , and Education of Father

Prout. ’ I n this E ssay is given the key to the

Padre’s wonderful faci l i ty in Latin Compos i tion ,and to his deep knowledge of ancient and modern

Church H istory—to h is hatred of O ’

Connell and

the turbu lent schoo l of I rish agitation— to h isapparent T oryism— to h is trenchantly abus ive

style of pol iti cal and general intel lectual contro

versy in the press and in society. T his latter,without such exp lanation

,would seem a mystery

to al l who did not know him,when assured by

those who did that he comb ined a thorough sp iri t

of toleration with a mind that not on ly respected ,

but reverenced the éz'

eme’

mzces of soc iety, and a

heart surcharged with goodness .

Whilst the 7 4 55 0” d’

éh /e cannot be given why

a man of such genius,acquirements

,and energy

as must have secured h im a leading rank in any

profess ion but the incongenia l one to which he

unfortunately committed himself, shou ld have

been an ecc les iastic,and stil l more strange a

Roman Cathol ic eccles iasti c,the writer of th e

E ssay pall iates the abnormal pos ition of h is friend

by dec laring his bel ief that i t was altogether an

affair of pressure from home ; and'

th at, as E rasJ

xii PREFACE .

mus entered the priesthood to get rid of the im

portunities and persecution of his guardians, so

Mahony took the same deplorable s tep more to

avoid the reproaches of his family than to please

himself.

I t being the fashion to talk about the learning

of the J esuits, and a great deal having been said

about Mah ony’

s indebtedness to it,the Famil iar

M emorabil ia ’ speaks in no flattering terms of

the l iterary character of the celebrated Order

during the present century, pointing out that the

descendants of the men who left behind them

such lasting monuments of classic learning as

the Gma’as aa

’ Paraassam, and the Virgi ls, Ovids,Horaces

,J uvenals

, &c . , edited [ a mumD elpaz'

m'

,

have not enriched European l iterature with evenan ordinary school - book for upwards of a hundred

years . After al luding in laudatory terms to their

leading Latin poets , Casimir Sarbievius, Van

nierius, Camirius, &c . , the E ssay points to the

gems of the M use E toaemes andAfafla’z'

nes Cami

contributed by the Wellesleys, the S trangfords,the Cannings , the Lyttletons, the Gladstones, the

Druries, the Merivales, the Creasies, &c . , which of

themselves,without cal l ing in the aid of the M il

PREFACE. xiii

tons,Buchanans

,Addisons , and V incent Bournes of

former times,need not fear comparison with the

brightest and best of the J esu it Parnassus .

T h e general i ty of the l i terary men who were

intimate with Mahony having been of Op in ion

that he owed much of his out- of- the -way knowledge,

and what might be cal led quaint learn ing, to hi s

J esu it train ing,i t is not uninteresting to know,

from an o ld and intimate friend of h is, trained

i n the same berceau of primary instruction with

h im,his reasons for thinking that the ch ief and

most valuable portion of Mah ony’

s learning was

attributable to h is extraord inary industry, and de

sultory reading, out of c lass, both at St. Acheu l

and the Rue de Sevre . T h e J esui t class lore

gave him l i ttle or no trouble (something l ike S ir

Wil l iam Hamil ton ’s case at T rin ity Col lege,Dub

l in , although n ot to be spoken of in the same day

w i th that ph ilosoph ic prodigy), and occupied no t

anything l ike the time he devoted to study. He

read the most out - of- the -way works,and de

voured every sort of knowledge he cou ld lay his

hands on .

’

Of the manner of man he was, th e space he

fi l led in inte l lectual soc iety at home and abroad ;

xiv PREFACE.

his quaint sayings ; his genial outbursts of senti

ment, sometimes more candid than courtly ; h is

stern sense of right ; his reverence for rel igion , and

hatred of scoffers ; his unqual ified rel igious tolera

tion, which caused him, whilst they were proud of

him, to be looked on coldly by the men of his

cloth ; his rarely g ifted and discriminating mind ;his most sympathetic heart—all these trai ts and

features of h is personal character and history

may be traced through the various anecdotes and

sketches suppl ied to this volume by friends who

knew him long and intimately. T h e Editor is

indebted for notes of the Padre’s last days , his

portrait, autograph , &c to some Paris friends of

his , and particularly to the relatives of Mrs . Mul

don,who nursed him in his last i llness . With his

i llustrious friends—Maginn, Dickens, J errold , and

T hackeray—the name of Mahony will be ih

scribed ih the L iterary Pantheon, amongst the

Engl ish Wits and Humourists of the N ineteenthCentury.

CHAR

I I.

I I I .

IV.

VI .

VI I .

VIII .

IX .

C O N T E N T S

PAGE

PREFACE

T HE REv. FRANCIS MAHONY

FATHER PROUT ’S RELIQUES

MAHONY IN PARIS

DON JEREMY SAVONAROLA

ROM E,1 846 . THE FAG E ND OF A LONG REIGN . 2 2 9

BETWEEN T HE OLD REGIM E AND THE N EW

T HE BRIGHT DAWN OF BETT ER DAYS

ROM E,1 847

PARIS N OTES UNDER THE SECOND EM PIRE

POLIT ICAL E PIST LE FROM FATHER PROUT To BOZ 5 2 7

FATHER PROUT ’

S INAUGURAT ION ODE

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MAHONY

CHA PT ER I .

THE REV. FRANCIS MAHONY.

T HE Reverend F rancis Mahony, common ly cal led

Father Prout,

1 came of a respectable midd le - c lass

Cork fami ly,and was born in the year 1 80 4 .

H e always adopted his simple surname ofMahony,without

th e prefix ofO to it, until afew years before his death, when h eput it on his vi siting card . H e then took it offagain in hi slast year. Mrs . Sheehan , ofwhose husband I speak further on,and with whom h e was a prodigious favourite, asked h im th e

reason why h e h ad not retained th e 0 before his name all hislife previously, presuming, ofcourse, that h e h ad always a rightto do so . H e answered h er in words to th e same effect as th efollowing letter, which h e wrote to h er next day

Paris,2 1 August, 1 85 7 .

My dear Mrs . S. ,—I value your esteem too highly to make

myself ridiculous by assuming what I h ave no right to . Praylook at th e authority on these matters, and you will see whatclaim I have to use an e scutcheon used by us for 2 5 0 years .

‘ Th e only occasion on which Irishmen made a stout andsuccessful resistance to England was on th e walls ofLimerick .

You wi ll see that by records in Bermingham T ower, DublinCastle

,it was found that among those wh o marched out of

B 2

4 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT.

He went through his Humani ty,

’ or Classical

course, at S t. Acheul , the College of the J esu its

at Amiens , from which , when he declared h is

intention to embrace a clerical l ife and enter the

Order, he was transferred to their Parisian Seminary ih the Rue de Sevres . Between the latter

establ ishment and Montrouge, the Maison de

Campagne of the Fathers attached to i t i n theneighbourhood of the capital , he spent the usual

two years’ novitiate period, besides the years

required to complete his philosophical and theo

logical studies . I t was whilst thus engaged in

Paris,and as yet very young, that he was looked

upon by the J esu it commun ity as a distingu ished

pupil who bid fair to add to the renown of the

Order. But the learned fathers of the Rue de

Sevres were suckl ing not such a son as the

RP. de Poulevoy , whose mortal part is being laid

under the stones of the Church of J esus while

I write .

1 T his J esu it father gave al l h is l ife to

Limerick,and, on the ir arrival at Cork, refused to go to France,

wasmy great- great- grandfather, wh o had stood to his guns likea trump, h e be ing in th e artillery at th e siege .

Yours very sincerely,FRANK O ’MAHONY.

‘ T o MRS. JOHN SHEEHAN .

’

1 T h e Reverend Father de Poulevoy, wh o h ad been Superior ofth e house ofth e Rue de Sevre s for twelve years, wasburied on November 30 , 1 8 74, at eight o’clock in th e morning.


6 FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT .

né en Irlande , je me sais s’ i l est

paren t du Comte de ce nom mais al’e sprit , aux

préjugés e t aux systemes de M . le Comte, il ajoutele fanatisme, la diss imulation ,

la_politique e t tou t

le caractere d ’un jésuite. Dieu nous préserve que

sa Compagnie triomphe en France S ’ i l était con

fesseur de notre bon Roi , il ferai t de magnifiquesau to - da -fé. Les Cathol iques I rlandais e t Ecossais

ont um peu les gouts des Catholiques E spagnols ;i ls aiment a humer la fume’ e des pauvres mal

heureux qu i n ’

entendent pas la messe .

La Compagnie destine le P . O’

M ah oni aetre

a la tete des congregations e t des colleges . E l lelu i fait, pour cela, connaitre a fond des sciences

diverses de la Société. Apres l’

avoir fait passer

par Mont Rouge,elle l ’a mis au mil ieu des vieux

P.P. de la Rue de Sevres , pour apprendre, a leur

école,aétouffer tous les sentiments de la nature

devant la morale de la vie dévote, e t l’on espere

que, docile aux lecons de ses maitres , le j eune

O’

Mah oni deviendra plus insensible e t plus cruel

encore que les inquisi teurs les plus endurcis de

Saragosse e t de Valence. ’

T his descrip tion amused Mah ony‘

on many a

day of his l ife . He kept the Abbé ’s book by him,

and would read out the passage to a friend who

dropped in, winding up with a hearty laugh . At

FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT .

last he presented it to James Hannay in 1 86 5 ,

signing himself - in the fly - leaf Frané M akouy a’e

Saragossa.

But a lthough Mahony cou ld laugh heartily

at the figure of himself as an I nqu is itor, he was

no scoffer and he always spoke with reverence

for the masters to whom he owed that taste for and

command of the classics , which made him wealthy

through his chequered l ife with a H orace in his

pocket. He expressed his acknowledgments

handsomely in his Fraserean paper ‘ L i terature

and the J esu its and he freely repeated them

whenever the occas ion offered in conversation .

Where did you get your wonderfu l fami l iari ty

with Latin he was asked .

He answered : F rom the Jesu its, where wel ived in an atmosphere of i t. ’

As bearing intimately, and coming from one

ofthe best l iving authorities upon th is point,the

following observations by Mr. J ohn Sheehan , 1 of

1 Better known in th e world ofliterature by his nom de

plume ofTize Tris/z W/zz'

sky D rinker,in th e T ipperary Hall

Papers ’ of‘Bentley’s M i scellany,’ and th e Ki ng/It of[ uuz’

sfiowma few years back

,in th e T emp le Bar Magaz ine.

’H e won his

laurels as a classical humourist in prose and Verse,after

Maginn’

s death,and when Mahony was going offth e Magaz ine s

and devoting himself to journali sm. Having,like th e Padre

gone through in lz'z‘erz's izumauz’orz’bus th e curriculumofa JesuitsCollege (Clongowes Wood), and afterwards our more hard

8 F INAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

the I nner T emple, will be found interesting to the

reader

Prout contributed in verse much more largely

than his friend Doctor Maginn to Bentley’s M is

cellany and , although he first rose to l iterary

fame with the Prout Papers in Fraser’s Maga

z ine,

” where his polyglot facetiae took the world of

scholarship by surprise, so signally and so agree

ably, it may be fairly said that the gems of a s imi

lar descript ion with which he enriched the “ M iscel

lany were equally bri l l iant and of the first water .

Prout ’s pure and idiomat ic Latini ty and mediaeval

quaintness of thought, displayed through the

medium of his exquisi te monkish rhymes,were

something extraordinary. I t is accounted for in

this way that, having received the rudiments ofhis

classical education in his native city of Cork, he

pursued and completed it in the colleges of the

J esuits abroad . During his boyhood Cork , what

ever it may be now, was famous for i ts accurate

training in what may be called the j unior classics,

headed University course (T rinity, Dub lin , and T rinity, Cambridge), like th e Doctor, as we l l as be ing ah Irishman in heartand soul, and au bout a

’es angles, h e may be trusted for-a fair

measure ofth e genius and writings ofboth his brill iant countrymen . T his h e h as done in his biographical notes to th e las tedition ofth e Bentley Ballads,’ publ ished by th e NewBurl ington House in 1 869 .

FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT . 9

and especial ly as‘

regards a purely phi lological , if

not an otherwise deep ly critical knowledge of them .

Indeed,throughout the province of Munster you

cou ld scarcely find a vi llage wh ich had not at the

head of its school . one of that c lass of teachers

called red -wigs ,” laborious and conscientious

'

men

i n their l ine,and terrible discip l inarians , who

taught Latin and Greek , and the e lements of

mathematics,up to the Univers ity entrance re

quirements, and taught these branches of primary

education wel l for they spared neither pa z'

as nor

peualfles, in the strictest sense of the terms—andwou ld have the business done . T hose were the

days,and Munster the country, of the “ poor scho

lars,

” who wandered about from tutor to tutor, and

from parish to parish , the charitable farmers of the

neighbourhood affording them in turn a week ortwo ’s board and lodging for God ’s sake

,

” just as

the students of the M iddle Ages,th irsting equal ly

after knowledge, and equally poor, were received

throughout the schools,not only of I reland

,but of

the Continent .

Prout’s career in Zz’

z‘

erz

'

s fiumauz’

orz’

éus on the

Continent was a distinguished one. I t was under

foreign J esuits that he learned to write Latin

elegiacs, hexameters , alcaics, and sapphics , with

ease and elegance ; and it can be eas i ly under

IO FIJVAL RELI CS OF FA TIIER PROUT

stood that the curious fel ic ity of expression to

which he afterwards attained in his publ ished

product ions was greatly assisted by the copious

Lat ini ty he acqu ired in the schools of logi c,philo

sophy, and theology, i n which it was the language

of thesis and disputation . He spoke it with

faci l ity when a young man , on. leaving the J esu its ,and when he made his appearance as a periodical

writer. French and I tal ian he spoke nearly as wel l

as he did his mother tongue.

I have already given in a wel l - known work,

my ideas more at large on the pecul iari ty ofProut’s Lat in scholarship

,and wound up my

remarks on this point as follows‘ T hese few observations on one of the most

famous Latin verse writers of h is day and the

means by which he acquired his truly class ic ele

gance and facil ity, may not be uninteresting to

academic readers, especial ly at a time when change

after change is tak ing place in the educational

course,not only of our great publ ic schools , but of

our old U nivers ities ; when we already begin to

contemplate the ignoble picture of our grand

sons turn ing away from the ancient fountains

from Which even the humblest drank the

mystic waters and felt a generous glow ; and

when old and young worshippers al ike are be

FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT . 1 1

ginning to ask,are the voices and echoes of the

haunted groves and streams of old to be lost

before long, as we go down“ the ringing grooves

of change,

‘ amidst the roar of the steam - engine

and the iron way P’ 1

He was even sensitive of the subject of h is

c loth, and the Order under whose roof h e

'

h ad

learned to wear it.‘When T hackeray once began to talk of

St. Paul , Mahony expressed a hope that he did

not mean to lecture on h im as one of the h u

mourists. And when a very different man tooksome l iberties with his cloth

,he put h im down

with a peremptory and fervid sarcasm , which he

wel l knew how to use , and dec l ined ever again to

meet h im or receive h is apologies . He was a

thorough humouris t in character as in Intellect,and even excess ive in h is departure fromanythingl ike conventional manners . But he was too much

of a gentleman at heart,and too sound a thinker,

to tolerate any violation of what was essential ly

sacred in the decorum of l ife .

’ 2 Mahony became

in due time a priest, and served in Switzerland

and in I reland . He was at one time a master at

Clongowes Wood Col lege (the I rish s ister of

1 Sheehan ’s preface to th e Bentley Ballads,’ 1 869 .

2 T h e Pall Mall Gaz ette .

’

1 2 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT.

S tonyh urst) , although only for a short period ,during which M r . Sheehan was one of his pupils .T here was a guoa

’aru commuue m

’

ucu/um—a free

masonry—between him and me,’ M r. Sheehan

writes , which did not and could not exist between

him and your father, T hackeray, Dickens, CookeT aylor, Ainsworth, poor dear Blanchard , Maxwell ,Crofton Croker, Percy Bankes, Maginn , or any

other of his elder or younger l i terary acquaint

ances, wi th the exception of Frank S tack Murphy

( the Serjeant and Commissioner of Bankruptcy) ,who was from the same original éerceau, a J esu its

’

College .

’—f7 . S . 10 B .f7 . , April 30 , 1 8 73.

I n a subsequent communicat ion wi th which

we have been favoured by M r . Sheehan , he

enables us to see what the l ives and studies of

the young Roman Cathol ic gentlemen of I reland

were in his t ime at Clongowes Wood , as wel l as

to understand what Mah ony’

s connection was with

the College , a connection as brief as i t was unfortunate , and which proved that his social spiri t and

l iberal aspirations total ly unfitted him for the

highly discipl ined and self- denying Order to

which he would fool ishly l ink his dest i ny, and in

which he toofondly hoped to l ive and die .

I remember,’ writes M r. Sheehan, ‘ first

seeing Mahony and making his acquaintance on


1 4 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT.

and fives . T his prefectship involved not only the

duty of looking after the most important section

of the pupi ls during recreation hours in the play

ground and play - rooms, but the additional ones ofpreserving s i lence and decorum in chapel and

study hall , and of taking charge if required of a

walking or cours ing party in the country.

1

‘ Amongst the subj ects proposed by our

Master of Rhetoric to our class, at the head of

which I had the honour of being—orations,odes

,

epigrams, etc—was one for an epitaph to be

inscribed over the tomb of J eremiah Daniel

Murphy,a highly gifted young member of the

judge may be confidently referred to his exquisite version ofT h e Groves ofB larney -for it wasMurphy and not Prout

, as

all th e world thought, wh o did it—in th e second ofth e ProutPapers . ’ T h e First ofGrammarians got also through a goodlyquantity ofclassic prose as well, including Quintus Curtius, th eGcrmania and Agricola ofT acitus, Xenophon’s Cy ropaea

’

ia, and

Stock’s Lucian . T hen Engl ish composition was confined to

th e grave E ssay, called in th e old Stonyh urst idiom, th e Ampli

fication Tncmc, turned out, according to th e fancy ofth e writer,after th e grand periodic style ofBurke, or th e more chaste and

e legant model ofAddison .

1 T h e pupils were divided into six schools , ofwhich th ethree upper one s, above mentioned, formed th e H igher Line .

’

T h e three lower schools—Second and T hird ofGrammar, andRudiments, forming th e ‘ Lower Line,’ played by themselves,in and out ofth e house

,did not take very long walks in th e

country, and were not permitted to aspire to th e honours,or to

undergo th e fatigues ofcoursing.

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT . 1 5

celebrated Cork fami ly of that name , who had

died a few years previously . As the most dis

tinguish ed alumnus of al l the Clongownians before

our time,and

,as far as the span of his young life

may be considered,more distingu ished than al l

that came after,i t was thought that h is A lma

Mater ought not to leave h im unwept, unhonoured ,and unsung .

Shortly after the subject had been given out,our master

,who was a person of great considera

tion in the Order,was cal led to Dub l in on , some

important bus iness connected wi th it,where he

remained for about a month , Mahony being ap

pointed by the prefect ofstudies to take hisp lace . T his he did most effic iently, which is say

ing much for the acquirements and abi l iti es which

he disp layed even in those early days,when

,to

fi l l worth ily the place of such a man as the regular

master was to teach up to the mark of the best

professor who ever fi l led the same chair at Clon

gowes, either before or s ince . T his‘

was Grecian

Fereley (Father Paul) , who went by the name ofthe “ Rattler,

” for the bri l l iant style in wh ich he used

to rattle through his work,retouching so happi ly

the odes and orations of his class,and rendering

so choicely some of the more celebrated passages

from the ancient poets and orators . L ight be the

1 6 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT .

turf that covers his honoured remains in Rath

coffey ! He was far away the prime favourite ofthe College during his career of more than a

quarter of a century, during which time he enjoyed

the esteem and affection of all who had relations

with him,i n class and out of i t.

‘ T o return to the subject of the inscription .

Our temporary master proclaimed mine the best

that . had been sent in ; bu t he afterwards put his

Roman hand over it , pol ish ing i t aa’ ungucm and

the amended edi tion was shortly afterwards sent

to its dest ination , as fol lows

JEREM IAS DAN IEL MURPHY,

MAGN/E SPET ADOLESCENS,

LIBERALIBUS D ISCIPLIN IS

SUPRA IETAT EM EXCULT US ; SEPT EM LINGUARUM PER ITUS ;M IRA MORUM PURI TAT E AC SUAVITAT E

BLANDUS, COMUS ;

I LLI BAT I IEV I F LO R E PRzEC I SU S,

NON . JAN . Mncccxxrv. ,

IETAT IS XIX .

H IC JACET .

FILIO SUO PRIMOGEN ITO AC D ILECT ISSIMO

AFFLICT I PARENT ESPOSUERE .

AVE ET VALE !O dilectcpuer, terris solatia nostra

,

T h e young J erry Dan of those days—about

FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT . 1 7

the close of the first quarter of the century—was

a nephew of the then celebrated R . C . Bishop of

Cork,and of the rich and princely merchant,

J erry Murphy,resident in “ the beautiful c ity

,

”

who was considered the head of the great Cork

onian fami ly. T h e latter was father of our Ser

jeant, who was an eminent Clongownian—a gold

medal l ist for c lass ics at T rin ity Col lege, Dub l in ,a Fraz erian (he s its between J ack Churchil l and

Macnish i n the cartoon of Regina’s twenty - seven

worthies with Maginn in the chair, at the Opening

of Prou t s book, pub l ished in an honoured

leader of the Northern Circui t, as well as one of

the most bri l l iant wits of h is day ; and who died

b efore his time some dozen years'

back a Commis

sioner of Bankrupts . I n the case of al l the Cork

Murphies, whose progeny during the present

century seems to have fructified as numerous ly as“ the seed of Abraham ,

” the second Christian

name of the sons has always been understood as

a patronymic , i ndicating the Christian names of‘ their fathers respectively . T hus J erry Dan was

J erry the son of Dan , J erry J erry the son of J erry,J erry N ick the son of N ick, J erry J ohn the son of

J ohn , and so on , J erry seeming to have been the

favourite Christian name of the ce lebrated tribe of

bankers,profess ional men

,and merchants, whose


accumu lation of the gifts of fortune , even as re

garded the least fortunate amongst them,made it

more probable that their eldest sons were thus

baptized in compl iment to the great J erry Murphy,

the chief member of the family, and the Serjeant’s

father, than from any sympathy with the J ewish“ prophet of sorrow .

”

I t was at the beginning of November,a couple

of monthsor so after his arrival at Clongowes, and

when Mahony was winning golden op in ions in

h is temporary professorial chair that a play- day

was proclaimed to al l the College. Amongst the

arrangements for the occasion i t was agreed that

the Rhetoric ians , mustering about twenty of as

smart I rish boys as ever entered in coursing line

on a h eadland to “so - h o

” and follow up a hare ,should take the Duke of Leinster’s country, as

far as Carton,the other two portions of the “ Higher

L ine,with their greyhounds , taking other direc

tions . I t was also agreed upon , Mahony, as our

Master,taking charge of our class , that we should

have a two o ’clock dinner at the hotel in May

nooth ,and then course home again whilst we had

l ight,stopping an hour or so at the end of the day

at my father’s for tea and the cl cclcra of such

fest ive occasions . Unfortunately for the expedi

tion in general and its leader in particu lar, we


drank much less of the tea than the cl celera, as

wil l be seen by the sequel . My father’

s p lace at

Celbridge was about three mi les from Maynooth

and about five again to Clongowes, where it was

calculated we shou ld be able to arrive in ample

time for night prayer, the Chape l bel l for wh ich

rang on p lay - days at n ine and on ordinary ones at

half- past eight.‘We had very good sport, I remember ; but

our conductor,who had noth ing of the sportsman

in him,took very l i ttle interest in our proceedings

t i l l feeding time ; nor did anything of parti cu lar

note occur during our two h oursfldinner at ‘ th e

Maynooth Hotel . T his was one of the ordinary

bucol ic banquets of boi led fowls and bacon , roast

geese stuffed almost to conflagration , app le p ies

and custard puddings , with lots of cabbages the

l iquor of which you cou ld smel l a hundred yards

off at least, and potatoes of the finest growth , such

as they were before “ the disease ” set in amongst

them , and boi led as none but old I rish female

cooks cou ld in those days turn them out on

pewter or trencher. After dinner we had a single

tumb ler of whisky -punch,the spirit—considered

the best in those days—being from old J ohnny

Power’s disti llery . T his modest al lowance was

cons idered enough for young heads at a singleC Z

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

s itting and everybody was satisfied with it,

recollecting that we should not be let off with tea

alone on our way home at my father’s . I mention

th ese _particulars to show that up t i l l this momen t

of the day, when three - quarters of i t had passed ,the leader of the expedition had conducted i t and

himself unexceptionally.

‘ A t Celbridge we . met, I need scarcely say,with a very hearty recept ion—in fact it was the

I rish Ccaa’ mil/c faillnc (a hundred thousand

welcomes) that awaited us . I f the fatted calf was

not killed, there was, as they said in I reland of old ,“ a fire l it under the pump,

” or, speaking less poeti

cally, the kitchen boiler was ready to overflowing

for what promised to be an exceptionally wet

evening . After tea and éarnéracé , a capital sort

of tea - cake of gigantic dimensions, s tuffed withraisins and currants

,a whole host of decanters,

fi l led with the native and flanked by large jugs

of the boi l ing element and carved wooden bowls ofsugar

,were pu t on for our refection , in the dining

room . My worthy sire sat at the head of the table,whilst the foot was taken by Father Dan Call inan ,the parish priest

,an eminent hand at a grave and

spirit- searching discourse in the pulpit, and one of

the pleasantest raconlcurs in the world out '

ofi t.I don ’t know how many songs we sang—how


FINAL RELICS OI ' FATHER PROUT.

when he visited I reland . On that occasion , the

patriot, he said , disgraced himself by going on his

knees to the persecutor of Carol ine of Brunswick,

and present ing him,after an outrageously fulsome

address, wi th a crown of green . How bitterly he

quoted the l ines from Byron ’s I rish Avatar

Wear,Fingal

, th y trappings O’

Connell proclaimH is accompl ishments H is And th y country convinceHalf an age ’s contempt was an error offame,And that Hal i s th e rascaliest sweetest young prince l ”

Shouts of Dan and Emancipation ! ” inter

rupted the speaker.

F i fty O ’

Connells, said Mahony, would

not have got you Catholic Emancipat ion , if thegreat bulk of the Engl ish nation had not made uptheir minds that the time was come, and Peel and

Well ington had not been afraid of a civi l war .

H is second ground of objection to O ’

Connell was

his agitating in favour of Such moonshine as Re

peal,when thestate of the Parl iamentary franchise

called for reform in I reland as much as in England ;and there was one great reform for which the sons

of the Catholic upper and middle classes in I reland

held ou t their hands suppl iantly—the reform of

the Dublin Univers ity .

“ But, said Mahony, “ he

may be a gentleman , he never was a scholar.

H e'

had no scholarly or academic instincts what

FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .03

ever. T h e humblest boy in any of . the lower

schools of Clongowes cou ld run before him in

classics . I don ’ t th ink ,” said he, the man could

translate a chapter of any of the Gospels in the

Greek T estament ; and he never put a Latin

hexameter or pentameter l ine together in h is l i fe .

He never yet had a particle of sympathy with

scholars and Scholarship , and he never wi ll . L ike

al l half or quarter educated men , he hates us , and

doubly so if we happen to be Roman Cathol ics .”

Now the row began .

1 Speech after speech

was level led at the “ degenerate son of E rin ,whose interruptions were of the most provoking

kind but never without point.

Why do you blame O ’

Connell, said Father

1 T h e Clongownian,’amonth ly periodical ofgreat promise,

but short- l ived duration , published in those ‘

merry days,Per

missu Superiorum,

’ thus noticed this passage ofth e evening’sentertainment

Exoritur clamorque virum clangorque tubarum

T hen th e shindy that rose,and that came nigh to blows,

All description surpassesSuch angry orations, and Latin quotations,

And j ingling ofglassesYou ’d swear, never yet, such an uproarious set

Ofrhetorical ranters ,T ogether all spouting

,and cheering, and shouting

T ill both those enchanters ,T O stop th e mad din , Kate and Molly stepped in,

And swept offth e decanters ! ’


Call inan , “ for welcoming George the Fourth to

I reland Did he not afterwards give his royal

assent to the Emancipation Act And did not

th e most flattering of all our I rish Avatars comefrom Clongowes ? I remember how well I l iked

i t at the time—so much so that I got it ‘ by heart ;and I ’l l sing i t for y ou

What radiance bursts across our isle,

Our night ofwoes redeeming,And lights on E rin ’s ch eck a smile,So late with sorrow streaming ?

’T is h e, that star, when hope was nighT o wreck in Sorrow’s ocean,

Arose with cresset light on high .

And woke our heart’s devotion .

Wreathe, Erin , wreathe a garland brightOfsong and glory blended,

Pure as th e gems ofstarry lightT hat deck his brow so splendid .

There let thy native shamrock shineIn rays oftriple gleaming,

And Scotland ’s thistle round entwine,

T h e rose betwixt them beaming.

”

After drinking the worthy pastor’s “ health

and song, which reconci led all our differences ,and taking our a

’uc/z ana

’a’urris

,or st irrup cup ,

which , for most of us , was one, if not two , too

many, we took our leave and turned out, abou t

two hours at least later than we ough t to have

done, to return to Clongowes, i f our leader as well


as everyone else had not been carried away by

the heat of debate and the fumes of the parental

punch .

‘

What a change comes over the spirit of the

drinker’s dream—the youthfu l drinker of themountain dew—on such occasions , when leavingthe fervid and protracted scene of the symposium

for the outer atmosphere ! T h e giddy head and

swimming vision, the th ickened speech , the disordered stomach

,and in too many instances the

eccentric motion of the feet !

Al l this was experienced by our party, some

of us after we had got a mile, others of us after a

couple, on our way back to the College . T hen

came on an autumnal storm , with thunder and

l ightning, and the rain descending in torrents ,which scattered our already shattered column

,

l ike the Old Guard at Waterloo,in al l directions .

T here is but l ittle doubt that the majori ty of our

party would have been found next morning

somno m’

uoque scpulli amongst the wet grass ,and under the leafless , dripping hedges , i f our

leader, with myself and a few others , sobered up

to the terrific respons ib ili t ies of the S ituation , had

not circulated amongst them,and kept them awake

with our walking sticks .‘ A mercifu l Providence at last sent down the

2 6 FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT .

road, on their way to Dubl in, some Bog of Allencarmen , with their cars laden with peat for firing,

called in that part of th e country “ black turf.” I

remember well— for I was one of the half- dozenwho s tood by the commander—what a hard bargain we had to drive with the bogmen

,to induce

them to turn back with us and our helpless

charges to the College . A pound a load,I th ink ,

was what we agreed to pay for the turf,on the

top of which—some of the loads being piled up

from seven to eigh t feet high above the wheels

we got, after considerable difficul ty, and laid out

our unconscious companions in equal groups . I t

was indeed pitiful to see how we were obl iged to

tie them with the car ropes, to prevent their fall ing

off, which from such heights would have been

certain destruction .

‘ I t was midnight when we got with our ex

temporised améulanccs to the outer gate of the

demesne . T here men were waiting with lanterns ,on the look - out for us . Not many minutes after

wards we defiled in front of the College, on to the

kitchen wing,where several lay brothers were en

disponiéilitc’

,who helped to get the sleepers very

quickly down from their aerial perches . A fter

administering hot negus al l round, and chafing

their wofully chil led l imbs,as we were proceeding


'

2 7

to get our heroes to bed, a wh isper we‘

nt timidly

round,the Rector having come down amongst us ,

with two or three of the superior masters , that one

of our number was missing.

IS i t the red - haired young ginllcman that

y az are looking for ?” enquired one of the turf

men,who was quietly enjoying his jorum by the

kitchen fire . Faith, i f that’s al l , my honeys , he

’

s

lying on the top , where we put him alone , pil ing

the sods about him to keep out the rain and the

cow/cl, as nice as anyth ing.

‘ I t turned out as the stupid man had said ,who had forgotten al l about h is charge in h is

hurry to help the rest of the S leeping c'

onvoy

down , and his thirsty anxiety, as he confessed

himself, “ to get his share of what was going.

Our unfortunate companion was accordingly un

turfed and unsacked ; bu t everyone was horror

struck, when he was carried into the great kitchen

of the College, between four men , each hau l ing

him by a l imb, and a fifth holding his head up , to

see the l ivid and ghastly appearance he presented .

H is eyes were open and glazed,his nostri ls fright

ful ly distended , his extremities l ike icicl es, and his

breath nowhere . T h e apothecary of the establ ish

ment, .wh o slept in the hbuse and was called up ,ordered the poor fel low a hot bath

,to restore sus

2 8 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

pended animation . Certainly the process was not

long about producing the desired effect ; for instantly the victim was placed in the wooden vat,which was used to wash the College potatoes

,and

which was now fi l led up with water from the

boiler hot enough to scald a whole drove of

slaughtered pigs, he uttered a scream loud enough

to wake the dead . I nstantly rescued from the

boil ing element,which everybody thought was

not so h ot,or, more probably, had thought

nothing about i t, he was rolled in blankets, and

after having had some cordial administered tohim he was carried to the infirmary . T here he

had to remain in bed for nearly a fortnight, the

house apothecary having to attend chiefly to the

frightful state of the epidermis , which was peeled

from the nape of his neck to his tendon Achilles—in fact, the poor fel low was barked all over !

‘ Mahony got into a sad scrape wi th the

Rector, who gave me also an awful lecture, as

it was in my father’s house the drinking bout had

taken place which ended al l but fatally. I f you

wan t,said the august personage

,

1 “ your next

Scythian entertainment to be carried out to i ts

1 Father Kenny, th e most eloquent preacher ofhis day,when th e pulpit e loquence ofth e Dubl in capital was at its

height, in both Churches .



reluctant T ory Government, he never forgaveh im for commencing his wild - goose chase of

Repeal , instead of devoting himself to the practical amel ioration of his country—to introducing

,

for example, a Poor- Law system s imilar to the

Engl ish one, which he opposed for a long time indeference to the j ealous feel ings of the bulk of theRoman Cathol ic priesthood , who feared i t would

lessen their hold on the obedience and affections

of the poor ; or a sweeping change in the laws

between landlord and tenant— such as has taken

place upwards of forty years afterwards ; or the

opening of the fellowships and scholarships of the

Dublin University to the sons of the Roman

Cathol ic middle classes, and thus g iving them not

only their fair Share of the prizes of l ife in common

with their Protestant fel low - countrymen,but bring

ing about between both the long-wished - for ratio

vivendi— a more l iberal and generous intercourse,

a more cordial and Christian - l ike understanding .

O’

Connell, as is well known , very strenuously and

eloquently denounced , on all poss ible occasions, in

and out of Parl iament, the I rish tithe system

which,with al l the other long- condemned anomal ies

of ecclesiastical ascendency in I reland,has been

done away with . Mahony used to maintain that the

I rish Roman Cathol ics in Parl iament were bound,

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT . 31

by their oaths, and out of i t by the spirit of the

Emancipation Act,not to inj ure the Protestant

Church of’

Ireland . I ndeed he went so far as to

express h is del ight that i t maintained by i ts ample

revenues a numerous and efficient body of scholars

and gentlemen (mean ing the parochial ministers)i n that country, .whose educated sons fi l led the

l iberal profess ions honourably, and whose wives

and daughters went about, even amongst the

Roman Catho l i c poor, dispensing charity and

doing good . He may have been imbued with a

good deal of this tolerant feel ing by his intercourse

with the Conservative men of letters with whom it

was his fortune to mix when he first came to\London , and ch ief of these the leading contribu

tors to B lackwood ’s ” and F raser ’s Magazines .

But from what source soever he drew his prin

ciples of rel igious toleration , i t is quite certain that

h is warmest friendships were formed through l i fe

irrespective of ecclesiastical or sectarian considera

tions . Be it understood al l the whi le that he was

anyth ing but lax as regards the rel igious tenets in

which he had been brought up . Sti l l less was he

a lati tudinarian or a scoffer. I have heard a good

deal and read a l i ttle from men who knew him

about his carrying about with h im a Horace in

one pocket and a Béranger . in the other . Now

32 FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT.

my own opin ion is that he had no occasion to do

so, for he knew both his favourite au thors by

heart ; and I never saw him produce either from

any pocket on his person . T here was one volume,however

,which he carried in a si lk - covered case

,

renewed from time to time by one or other of his

lady friends . T his was the Latin Vulgate of theScriptures from which the Roman Cathol ic priests

all over the world are bound to read their Office

daily. He told me in his cnlrcsol of the Rue des

Moulins in 1 85 7 that he never allowed a day to

pass without reading several chapters of it . And

as this may be the best place and most fi tting op

portunity to testify to h is deep sense of rel igion , I

can solemnly say that I never knew him to allow

any irrel igion,especial ly Voltaireism, to pass

unrebuked in his hearing. H e may have been ,canonical ly speaking,

an indifferent priest— an

inefficien t member of an uncongenial profession ,which I have always understood he entered from

family pique and impetuously—l ike the wild I rishg irl who married for spite but he was in heart

'

and soul a thoroughly bel ieving and , as everyone

knew,a most s incerely tolerant Christian . He was

on friendly and in some instances affect ionateterms with many ministers of various Christian de

nominations ; had the highest esteem for several


J ewish Rabb is and their noble o ld fai th and even

his academic pride and h igh cu l tivation did not

h inder h imfrom sympath ising wi th field and street

preachers,whose miss ion , however rude their

speech and manner might be , he always declared

was generous and good . T o one of these, after

l istening one Sunday afternoon to a discourse of

excel lent purpose,which the humble and unat

tach ed m in ister of the Gospel had del ivered to a

few dozen auditors of the working class on K ennington Common, he put th is question i n h is

usual brusque way : “ From what authority, s ir,do y ou derive your ordinat ion T h e man very

quietly rep l ied , “ F rom the authori ty of H im who

said ‘ Go ye forth and teach al l nations Very

good, s ir, said Prout, “ excel lent authority ! you

can ’ t have higher or better 1‘ I believe that Mahony, after he h ad been

sent from Clongowes to the Continent, soj ourned

at the J esu its, College of F reiburg for some time

on further probation , whence again he was sent

on to Rome .

T h e J esu its in France,Switzerland, and I taly,

it is wel l known , admired his genius and acquire

ments , j ust as much as he loved and venerated

them to the.

last ; but, as Lord Melbourne said of

D

34 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT .

Lord Brougham, when he refused to make him

his Chancellor, perhaps for the same reason , the

Society coula’no! gel on wiln Aim

I t i s quite certain that he did not remain long

with the Jesu its in any of their establishments after

his departure from Clongowes, and equal ly certain

is it that he did not take priest’s orders amongst

them . Nei ther did they recommend him to orders

outs ide their pale nor object to his taking them .

’

He was ordained by some I tal ian bishop , as I

always understood , not as a member of any regular

order,but independently, as an ordinary priest,

for the secular mission .

He officiated in London , not long after his

cal l to the priesthood , both at the altar and in the

pulpit . He did occasional parochial duty for a

worthy man , Doctor Magee , whom Dan O’

Connell

used to call the “ Abbot of Westminster, when

now and then the latter took a vacat ion trip to the

Continent. He preached several times moreover

before the aristocratic congregation of the Spanish

Ambassador’s chapel . ’

He afterwards j oined the Cork Mission under

the R igh t Reverend Dr . Murphy, and acted as

chaplain to one of the hospitals during the cholera

epidemic . But we may dismiss Mah ony’

s early re

lations’

with his Church with a letter on the subject

FINAL RELICS OF FA THEE PROUT. 35

from his friend Mr. C . L . Gruneisen ,

1 which ap

peared in the Pal l Mal l Gazette ’

(May 2 5 , 1 866)in rep ly to certain passages of the ob i tuary notice

of Mahony in that journal‘ I n your high ly interesting notice of the late

F rancis Mahony,you stated that his exact rela

tions to his Church were not known,and that some

of his writings gave offence to the I rish Roman

1 Mr. Sheehan, wh o i s an old friend ofMr. Gruneisen ’s,

supplied me with th e following note upon h im H e was

formerly one ofth e editors ofth e’

“ Morning Post,” forwhich h e went to th e North ofSpain towards th e end ofth eCivil War, as correspondent from th e camp ofDon Carlos. H e

was with th e army ofth e latter ’s youngest brother,Don

Sebastian, when it reached within sight ofMadrid, and its

commander turned back again to th e North,in obedience to

th e advice “

ofhis council ofwar, as Hannibal did fromRome,wh o, h owever, ,

wh en h e reconnoitred it from th e Alban H ills,found out h e h ad strong walls

,a resolute garrison, even after

th e disaster ofCapua, and a regular Siege to encounter. Don

Sebastian,on th e contrary

,h ad only such resistance as an Open

town with its urban or national guard, and,at most, two or

three regiments ofregular troops could offer, to encounter.

T aken pri soner by th e Ch ristinos on one occasion,M r.

Gruneisen was condemned to be shot, and th e sentencewould have been certain ly carried into effect, with th e expres ssanction ofEspartero, if th e powerful remonstrance s ofth eBriti sh Ambassador (Sir George Vi llars

, afterwards LordClarendon), h ad not h ad its due effect with th e Governmentat Madrid, and prevented such a shameful piece ofcoldblooded brutality, SO characteri stic not only ofth e SpanishCivil War in those days, but ofthat which is raging in th e

Basque Provinces at present.

36 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

Catholics . T his is quite accurate as to the last

statement, but, as regards Rome, there was never

the sl igh test doubt as to his orthodoxy. So’

much

so,indeed

,that he. might have had a Cardinal ’s

hat,but for that which is imputed to him as his

one great faul t— convivial ity. At Rome, sostrongly impressed were the leading men of the

Church with his abil ities, that it was intimated to

h im that he might hope to rise h igh in honours

ecclesiastical,if he would devote his exclusive

services to the Pope. He assented ; a period of

probat ion was ass igned,during which i t was ascer

tained that his not ions of temperance were too

l iberal for the Church . Prout told me the tempta

t ion he had at Rome ; adding,

“ Any road , they

say,leads to Rome, but would it not have been

odd if I had got myself there through the Groves

of Blarney ? ” I treated his statement, at the time,as a joke ; but, from one of the highest Church

authorities in Paris, I subsequently had full confir

mat ion of the fact that the Cardinal ’s hat was

actually offered to him , i n prospect ; and that he

lost the dist inction as I have in timated . T h e

Fraserian set of 1 834 l ived in a dangerous time .

Club l ife was quite in its infancy. T h e artistic andl iterary world congregated ch iefly in the smal l

hours , in strange places . T h e painter, the sculptor,


FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT.

chats I ever had with Prou t was sitt ing with him

and the late Cavour, the famed I tal ian M in ister,outSide the Café Cardinal , on the Boulevard des

I tal iens . How many pet its verres were verséa’

on that occas ion I care not to record , but in a sharp

encounter Father Prout certainly got ’the best of

Cavour, clever as that statesman was .’

Mahony, Maginn , and Maclise were all Cork

men , and the two former had early recol lections in

common of the humours and carousals of their

native city, which led them into the small hours ,very often , at one of ‘ the s trange places ’ round

about Covent Garden . T hese reminiscences,

enhanced with the learning of the Rue de Sevres ,and experiences of I taly, Switzerland , and France,which Mahony had obtained in his you th ; and

brigh tened wi th the unctuous humour and the

piercing wit of the clubbable man ,’ who could not

get himself within the rules of Loyola, but was

much more at h is ease tossing j ests abou t F raser’s

table in Regen t Street, or quoting Horace or

Beranger—his ancien t and modern idols—at

Offley’

s ; made that bri l l iant amalgam of wi t and

tenderness,reading and roystering, which was pre

sented to the world from the imaginary incum

bency of Watergrasshil l . Mahony was a com

bination of Voltaire and Rabelais . I ndeed, give

FINAL RE LICS OF FA THEE PROUT . 39

the roguish H ibern ian mouth to that head of the

philosopher of Ferney, which adorns the foy er ofthe Comédie F rancaise, and you have the authorof the Prout Papers . ’ I n h is early time , Mahony

was a cruel scoffer—not at things holy , as we haveshown

,but at men , and the ways of men . He was

impat i ent of restraint and contradiction , a savage

and seldom courteous antagonist in an argument,an enemy who never slep t . He

_

flew at the throat

of h is antagonist ; but then this was the spirit

which was abroad in his early l i terary day . For

while he held his rap ier in his'

hand , he cou ld

laugh , and sometimes let the offender off with thekick of contempt. He opens N 0 . ix . of the ProutPapers ’ by a few words with the Sun

Before we plunge with Prout into the depths

of French phi losophy, we must p luck a crow with

the “ Sun .

” Not often does i t occur to us to notice

a newspaper criticism ; nor, indeed, in this case ,should we condescend to wax angry at the d is

charge ofthe penny- a- l iner’s pop -gun , were i t not

that an imputation has been cast on the good

father’s memory, which cannot be overlooked, and

must be wiped away . T h e cai ti ff who writes in

the “ Sun ” has, at the instigat ion of Satan , thrown

ou t a hint that these songs,

1 and spec ifical ly h is

brill iant translation of Malbrouck,

” were written

1 T h e Songs ofFrance.

’

40 FIIVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT.

under vinous inspiration ! A false and atrociousl ibel. Great mental powers and superior clever

ness are too often supposed to derive assistance

from the bottle . T hus the virtue of the elder Cato

(firisci Catonis) is most unjustifiably ascribed to

potations of unreflecting Horace ; and a profane

F rench sophist has attributed Noah ’s escape from

the flood to S imilar partial ity

Noé le patriarcheSi célebre par l ’arche ,

Aimait fort le jus du tonneau ;Puis qu’il planta la vigne,Convene z qu

’

e’

tait digneDe ne point se noyer dans l ’eau !T o have drown ’d an old chap

,

Such a friend to ‘th e tap,

’

T h e flood would have felt compunctionNoah owed his escapeT o his love for th e grape ;

And his ark was an empty puncheon .

T h e i l lustrious Queen Anne,who

,l ike our own

regma,encouraged l iterature and patronisedwi t

,was

thus calumniated after 'death , when her statue was

put up where i t now stands , with its back to Paul’s

church , and its face turned towards that celebrated

corner of the churchyard which , in those days, was

a brandy - Shop . Nay, was not our late dignified

Lord Chancellor 1 equally lampooned, with th e

1 Brougham.

FINAL EELTCS OF FATHEE EEOUT . 1

s l ightest colour of a pretext, excepting, perhaps ,“ because his nose is red ” P Good reason has he to

curse h is evi l genius , and to exclaim with Ovid

Ingenio pern NAso poeta meo

‘We were prepared, by our p revious knowledge

of history,for this outbreak of calumny in P rou t ’s

case ; we knew, by a reference to the b i ography

of Christopher Columbus , of Gal ileo, and of Dr .

Faustus ( the great inventor of the art of printing)that his intel lectual superiority would raise up a

host of adversaries prepared to analyse h im,nay,

i f necessary, to accuse him of witchcraft. T h e

writer in the “ Sun ” has not yet gone quite so far,contenting h imself for the present with the assertion

that the father penned “ these songs of F rance ” to

the sound of a gurgl ing flagon

Aux doux gloux gloux que fait la bouteille .

T h e idea is not new.

’

T hen Mahony,forgetting the penny - a - l iner ’

and the ‘caitiff,’ upon whom he drew h is sword , puns ,

and quotes , and frol ics in his wildest manner‘ I t was stated of that locomotive knight, S ir

Richard Blackmore,whose ep ic poem on K ing

Arthur is now ( l ike Bob Montgomery’s “ Omni

presence ”) present nowhere, that he

Wrote to th e rumbling ofh is coach -wheels.


I n al lus ion to Byron ’s lameness, i t was h intedby some Z oilus that he penned not a few of his

verses slanspale in uno. Even a man ’s genealogyIs not safe from inuendo and inference ; for Sam

Rogers having discovered from Beranger’s song ,

le T ail leur e t la Fe’ e,

” that h is father was a tailor,

pronounced his parentage and early impress ions

to be the cause why he was such a c apital hand

at a hem - a- stich . I f a s imilar analogy can hold

good in T om Moore’s case (whose juvenile associations were of a grocer sort), i t wil l no doubt

become obvious why fiis compositions . are so

highly spiced,

” his taste so “ l iquorish,

” and his

name so prodigal ly sugar - candy.

”

T his kind of attack is happily no longer in

vogue— nor are there many who regret its disap

pearance ,as Hannay did , because it was the

emanation of a robust sp irit. I n Mahony i t

generally appeared to bubb le ou t of excess of

laugh ter and an overcrowding of whims and ideas

but the laughter was not cordial however,but

rather of victory over an enemy upon the ground .

T h e plentifulness of Mah ony’

s material always

strikes h is readers . He was a traveller who had

crammed his wallet—and what he used were theb its that struggled out of the burs ting corners .

I t had also been his happy lot to get upon

FINAL RELICS OF'

FA THER PROUT . 43

strange roads while very young. Now and then

he wou ld speak even tenderly of those thus early

pi lgrimages in which his mind .was formed

putt ing his words between the l ips of ‘ the lone

Incumbent . ’

‘When ,’ 1 he observes , in h is paper on Dean

Swift’s Madness,’ ‘ my course ofearly travel led

me to wander in search of sc ience, and I sought

abroad that scholastic knowledge which was

denied to us at home in those evi l days ; when ,by force of legislation, I became, l ike others of

my clerical brethren, a peripatet ic ph ilosopher

l ike them compelled to perambu late some part of

Europe in quest of profess ional education— the\Sunny provinces of southern F rance were the regions of my choice ; and my fresh gleanings of

l i terature were gathered on the banks of that

migh ty stream so faithfu l ly characterised by

Burdigela’

s native poet Ausonias, i n h is c lassic

enumeration

Lenius Arar, Rh odanusque celer, plenusguc Garnumna.

And in another passage, on the songs of France

he reverts to his early t ime

I have l ived among the F rench in the

freshest dawn of early youth , i n the merid ian home

1 Written in 1 833.


of manhood ’s maturi ty my love was cast and my

l ines fel l on the pleasant places of that once - happyland . Ful l gladly have I strayed among her

gay hamlets and her hospitable ch éteaux , anon

breaking the brown loaf of the peasant, and anon

seated at the board of her noblemen and her

pontiffs . I have mixed industriou sly with every

rank and every denomination of her people ,tracing as I went along the pecul iar indicat ions of

the Celt, and the Frank , the Norman and the

Breton , the langue a”oie and the langue u

”oc

not at the same t ime overlooking the endemic

features of unrivalled Gascony . T h e manu

facturing industry of Lyons, the Gothic reminis

cences of T ours,the h istoric associations of Or

leans,the mercanti le enterprise and opulence of

Bordeaux,Marseilles

,the emporium of the Levant ,

each claimed my wonder in its turn . I t was a

goodly scene ; and, compared to the ignoble anddebased generation that now usurps the soil , my

recollections Of ante - revolutionary France are

l ike dreams of an antediluvian world .

’

Here speaks the sometime student of the

Rue de Sevres, who knew Paris when Charles th e

T en th was king,and when his Order ’ flourished

on the sunny soil . T hree years before 1 he had1 1 830 .



the spectre that stood before Brutus in the camp,

and promised to meet him at Phil ippi . ’

I n this same paper, the writer refers to the

J esuits as ‘ that unrivalled Order of “ l iterati ,” and

expresses h is personal feel ings of attachmen t to the

instructors of his youth , alluding to Lat in as ‘ that

glorious parlance,

’ and confess ing,

his partial ity towards Petrarch because he belonged to his Order. ’

But if Mahony made a close acquaintance

amongst the J esu its wi th the classics in those years

which form the man , he lost the grace and sweet

ness (such grace and sweetness as Horace derived

from his father sitting at his elbow In his school

hours) which the stripl ing can derive only from avirtuous home . T h e ‘ lone incumbent Shows

that his boyhood was lonely . He was sent off to

Amiens before he was twelve years old . I f he

had the acuteness of boys bred away from the

soc iety of mother and s isters , he had also their

hardness . I t is curious to note, by way of illus

tration,the respective moods of Mahony and

T heodore Martin when they approach Horace .

Martin isby no means strai t- laced ; but in

h is approach to the immortal Venusian he sweeps

the mere convivial aspect of him aside, and dis

courses ofh is tender conscience and his honour,and has a passing regret for the absence from his

FINAL RELI CS OF FATHEE 'PROUT . 47

verse of that ‘ gracious tenderness towards

womanhood ’ which is perhaps its only b lem ish .

1

Mahony,while acknowledg ing hearti ly the l ife

long consolation and enjoyment H orace had been

to h im,dwel ls rather on h is bri ll iant and convivial

than on his nob le and affectionate qual i t i es . We

seem to see Martin at his fires ide with a noble

and gifted wife at hand, and in a framework of

household gods conning h is H orace to the sweet

scent of Bohea ; but we are left in no doubt about

the Father ’s way of setting himself to the enjoy

ment of his poet . He draws the scene h imself.

Watergrassh il l,present : I . P rout ; I I . An Elzevir

1 2 mo ; I I I . A jug of punch ; 4to . He l i fts h is glass

and cries Here’

s a health to H orace ! ’ V iv i tu !

Songster of T ivol i,who alone of al l the tunefu l

dead , alone of Greek and Roman wi ts , - may be

said to LIVE .

’ And the address that fol lows has a

flavour of punch stirring strange jumbles of ideas

in the J esuit brain

I n the circle of thy comprehensive phi lo

1 H is mother h e would seem to have lost early. NO

mention ofh er occurs,directly or indirectly

,throughout hi s

poems ; and remarkable as H orace i s for th e warmth ofhisaffections, this could scarcely have happened h ad sh e not diedwhen h e was very young. H e appears also to have been a

'

n

only/

ch ild .

’

Horace,’ by T heodore Martin . William Blackwood and Sons .


sophy,few things belonging to heaven and earthwere undreamt of nor did i t escape thy instinct ive penetrat ion that in yonder brief tome, Short,plump , and tidy, l ike i ts artificer

,thou hadst

created a monument more durable than brass,more permanent than an I rish Round T ower

,

”

or a pyramid.ofKing Cheops . I t was plain to

thy intu it ive ken that, whatever mischances

migh t befal l the heavier and more mass ive pro

ductions of ancient wisdom , thy lyrics were des

t ined to ou tl ive them all . But though the ep ics

of Varius might be lost, or the decades of L ivydesiderated , remotest posterity would possess

thee ( l ike the stout of Barclay and Perkins) ,enlire—would enjoy thy book , undocked of its

due proportions , uncurtailed of a single page

would bask in the rays of thy genius, unshorn ofa S ingle beam .

’

And presently he concludes— as he drains thebowl : ‘ Here

,then , I say , is a H EALTH TO

HORACE ! T hough the last cheerful drop in my.

vesper- bowl to - night be well - nigh drained , and

the increasing feebleness of age reminds me too

plainly that the waters are ebbing fast in myclepsydra of l ife

,sti l l have I a blessing in reserve

—a benison to bestow on the provider of such

intellectual enjoyment as your small volume has

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT. 49

ever afforded me ; nor to the last shal l I discontinue holding sweet converse, through its medium,

with the Graces and the N ine .

’

I imagine that the Father’s Elzevir fel l open

at the ode ‘ Ad Amph oram,

’ but the Cork wit’s

cups were not of the clearness and c leanness of

that which dainty Horace l i fted to h is l ips .

Prout in h is convivial moments reminded you of

Cork, and not of Rome except, by the way, that

in the famous entresol of h is in the Rue des

Mou l ins,the pignalz

‘

a always s immered by the

stove, and enabled h im to have the alternate re

freshment of brandy and éouillon . A bottle of

Chabl is and a vo lume of Rabelais,Browning

’

s

$ l ight, wou ld not have been exactly to the tasteof his fri end , who had used himself to stronger

stuff and a more exciting st imu lant.

I never saw him but twice,

’ a friend 1 writes

to me , each time at a Par is cafe‘. T h e fi rst t ime

he pu l led a medal, bearing the effigy of some

Roman emperor, from his pocket, and said that i t

was in exact accordance with the description of

the said emperor given by Suetonius . ’

A friend met h im in the Strand . Mahony,without saluting h im, looked at h im,

as usual ,over his spectacles, and said

1 M r. Sutherland Edwards.

E

50 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT

What are you doing

A curious thing,’ was the answer, an article

on the beard .

’

Ah said Mahony, Laurence Beyerlink,

Magnum T heatrum Vita Humana —article

T h e prompt hint proved a valuable one and

Mahony added that Beyerlink was a Low Coun

tries J esuit one of the old fellows that you

Protestants are always running down .

’

Mahony, the cosmopol itan , was at home in

many places . H is grey eyes had twinkled over

the waters of the T iber, the Seine, the Arno, and

the T hames . He had wandered with his hands

clasped behind his back by the shores of Lake

Leman,and he had had tender moments by the

R iver Lee,which he sang in the Bells of Shan

don ’ and the Lady of the Lee ,’ discovering

herein a softer vein than is commonly found in

his writings . But he was most at home in

London , after al l, among the Fraserians and their

successors ; and in later l ife it was to these early

London associations he always recurred when the

wine had loosed ‘ the jesses of his tongue. ’ We

shall presently see the kind of man he was in

Paris let us glance at him now as we remember

him in the Museum Club, in Henrietta Street,


Covent Garden, at Offley’

s over the way,or

snugly housed for the evening in some cosy

chambers of the T emple .

He was a remarkable figure in London . A

short,spare man, stooping as he went, with th e

right arm clasped in the left hand behind h im ; a

sharp face with piercing grey eyes that looked

vacantly upwards,a mocking l ip , a close - shaven

face,and an ecclesiastical garb of slovenly appear

ance—such was the old Fraserian , who would

laugh outright at times, qui te unconscious of bystanders

,as he slouched towards T emple Bar

,

perhaps on his way to the tavern in Fleet Street

where Johnson ’s chair stood In the chimney

corner.

Speaking of T emp le Bar reminds me that

th is is the p lace to introduce a good story which

Mr . Sheehan has favoured us with concerning the

old gate and another one a lmost as old , i n which

Prout and my father figure conspi cuous ly ; and in

which I need scarcely add that both the comba

tants were worthy of each other ’s steel .‘ T here was a curious fel ic i ty in J errold ’s titles

and nomenclature of al l descripti ons,’ writes Mr.

Sheehan,

‘ as regards his p lays , papers , and per

sonalities. H is happiest hit in this way was h is

Hooks and Eyes,a din ing soc iety founded by

E 2


h im in one of his merry social moods, which

flourished for a few years early in the ’

so’

s, and

which comprised men of letters, medical men ,lawyers

,eng ineers

,and enfants cl ’espril of all kinds

with pretensions to the name. T h e quaint but

comprehensive idea , worthy of the witty founder,involved the proposition that, in humanity at least,it needed nothing l ike exact mechanical fi tness for

the hooks and eyes to fasten and adhere to each

other. T h e hook might be a large one,bu t the

eye would never be found too smal l ; and , vice

versa‘

, the smal l hook fastened on to the large eye

most admirably—such was the power of spiritualinfluence, moral magnetism or other social esolerica

comprehended in the superiori ty of mind over

matter.‘

Jerrold , when present, as he generally

managed to be, presided at our dinners, which

took place once a fortnight at one or other of

the moderate - priced dining - houses . Our dinner

ticket,with a pint of sherry , cost five Shill ings, paid

for at entrance, al l other drinks during or afterd inner being paid for as ordered by the guests

respectively. Pretty much the same rule obtained

at the Red L ions Dining Society abou t the same

period, at Anderton’

s in F leet S treet, with the

additional solatium to the pride and pockets of the



Why not have wished h im in the o ther and

the better place,” answered Prout, “ i f he crossed

your earthly path so disagreeably, and if you must

hate poetry l ike P lato and T om Carlyle ? ”

Poor devil rejoined J errold , “ I only

wished him in l imbo that the chaplain of the

Hooks and Eyes might have the pleasure of eman

cipating him ,unless he preferred sending him on

to purgatory for his outrage on the Muses .“Where I ’d much sooner send a certa in

writer in ‘ Punch ’ ” said Prout, “ to undergo a

sl ight process of purificat ion !”

‘ J errold said something about his inadmissi

bility to a place which excluded heretics and the

wits laughed heartily at each other, as everyone

else did but the laugh was not al l over yet .‘ Later on in the evening

,when some half

dozen songs had been sung, and some half- dozen

eccentric subjects had been discussed,the chair

man proposed several rounds ih succession of

good things, everyone being bound to take the

theme up , whether in prose or verse, and pass i t

on to his right hand neighbour. Rounds of Parl ia

mentary, l i terary, and dramati c bores the gallant

and indefatigable M ember for L incoln the Bavius

or Maevius of the last unfortunate poem that had

been brought out ; and the last weaver of tragic

FINAL RELICS OF FATHEE PROUT . 5 ;

fustian,were safe to be inc luded ; rounds of his

torical fools, from“ Macedonia

’

s madman to the

Swede rounds of the gentlemen of fiction , from

Don Quixote to the Baron of Bradwardine ; of its

sages,from Sancho Panza to Sam Wel ler rounds

of ancient and modern beauties, from H elen of

T roy and Cleopatra, to the Eglintoun Queen of

Beauty,and the then reigning Queen of Song, the

match less Guil ietta Grisi rounds of old sayings

and true ” &C. &c . , a l l of which had circu lated in

merry round most happi ly, without flagging or

failure, ti l l at last some member coming in rather

late, and being ushered by the waiter through the

folding doors at the back of the chairman,which

the ceremonious functionary flung open cl a’eux

Oallanls, J errold immediately proposed a round of

gates , with or without comment and called on the

newly- arrived member to lead off,without further

reflection . T h e latter, who was a barrister,1 gave

1 Poor Moriarty Every one in and about th e T emple , andevery member ofth e Garrick knew h im. He was officially connected with th e opening ofth e first Crystal Palace, and wroteth e famous article in th e Edinburgh

,

’

ostensibly on th e Catalogue, but which was an eloquent and exhaustive review ofth egrand and memorable affair altogether. Like Prout h e was anI rishman and a Cathol ic a southern too, but tall. slender, anddark, whilst th e Padre was short and thickset. Moriarty wasbrother to one ofth e most distinguished members ofth e Iri shRoman Catholic episcopacy, th e B i shop ofKerry,wh o died not

long ago, afewmonths before th e barrister.


at once “ T h eGates of the T emple, and added , with

mock dignity “ May those glorious portals long

protect from profane mobs and despotic govern

ments the arc of the Const itution‘ J errold, who followed the barrister, gave T h e

next - door neighbour to the T emple gates,more

ancient and respectable than either— old T emple

Bar. ” He added the wish , in which he felt certain

all present would hearti ly j oin,that the luminous

head of their esteemed friend at the other end of

the table might never be seen surmounting i t,spike - pinned and ghastly

,and taking an unenvi

able posi tion in the criminal records of the country,alongside the heads of the rebels of 1 7 1 5 and

1 745 for he Shared the opinion of several mutual

friends that any man who sang the Reel of T ull i

gorum with such verve and gusto as their reverend

chaplain,must not only be a J esu it, but a Jacobite

as well , of the very first water

When the uproarious laughter which followed

J errold ’s bit ing bi t of Oaclinage had ceased , and

the universal cal l for Prout had brought him to his

legs,the former was to be seen sti l l chuckl ing at

the’

fun he had produced,though anything but

unmindful that he was just going to “ catch it ” in

h is turn ; and the latter looked round the board

with that look of mingled drollery and mischief,

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT. 5 7

over his spectacles,which he always fixed upon

you when one of his good things was coming.

Looking down at length stedfastly at his antago

nist,he said T h e gates of Janus

’

s temple were

only shut three times during the 70 0 years of the

Roman commonwealth, from Numa to Augustus .

T h e gates of T emple Bar were on ly shut three

times during my time, and then on ly for a moment

on each occasion, when they were opened again

to welcome and admit within the civic precincts,

on their coming to th e throne,their Majesties

George and Bi lly the Fourth,and our present

young and most gracious Queen V i ctoria. I f

those illustrious portals are ever destined to be

shut a fourth time in our days,I trust i t wi l l be

in the face of Douglas J errold by that discreetaréiz

‘

er eleganliarum and master of ceremonies ,the City Chamberlain . He would

,of course

,

reopen it, more majorum,to our royal vis itor

,

the facile princefis of London argoi and cfiafifBut, i f not recommending him to the Recorder’s

court and a gate thereunto adjacent,which holds

asti l l more unenviable pos ition than T emple Bar

in the criminal records of the country—and most

assured ly, i f he does not mend his manners and

moderate the rancour of his tongue,he shal l have

to appear before the one,and pass through the

58 FINAL EELIcs OF FATHEE PROUT.

other—I think I see the wise janitor pointing out

to our modern Diogenes a gate, which stands

further on in the heart of the city, where he

may breathe freely of a congenial atmosphere

an atmosphere which we all know is redolent of

ichthyological sweets ; in other words, pre

eminentlyfi sfiy ! Without dismissing our chair

man,as our venerable deceased friend Anch ises

did pious fEneas and his gipsy companion thes ibyl , through the Gate of Ivory, or the Gate of

Humbug, which Virgi l we all know meant it to

be—that particular descent into hell , l ike

J errold ’s, being a fable and -

a joke the whole way

through—without further comment of any kind ,I ’ ll give you

,gentlemen , Bill ingsgate and

Douglas J errold ! May the capital of England

never miss the time - honoured and class ic odour of

the one, and the l iterature of England long enjoythe searching and trenchant wit of the other !

‘ Everyone who knew Jerroldwell wil l recollect that, l ike Robin Hood, he rather gloried than

otherwise in an adversary who put him fairly on

h is back or shot a straighter and keener Shaft

than he, which however was very seldom the case.

Consequently, after the laugh in turn at his ex

pense had passed away— and it can easily be

fancied that it was a long and hearty one—h e and


Prout were as good friends as ever during th erestof the evening.

’

With H orace in one pocket and Beranger

in the other,he was never a man at a loss how

to spend an hour ; and many a fancy and many

a ‘ roguery ’ such as he played on T omMooreto his heart’s content, came out of h is peri

pate tic dreamings in the popu lous streets of

London . Sometimes , i n the thick of his crowded

thoughts,he wou ld pass a friend, hardly deign ing

even the nod with which T hackeray wou ld keep

you at a distance when he was working out ‘ the

next number ’ i n the hal l of his club, or lounging

along Pal l Mal l . A t others he wou ld quit you in

haste, or abruptly tel l you' the l ine he had quoted

that morning in an article,or burst into the news

of the day, and embroider it with some l i terary

fancy of his own . For he looked at al l the

world’

s affairs over the page of a book , and theday was a happy one when he had seized upon

some passing even t,and wound a l ine of Horace,

l ike a wreath,about it.

T h e good Father was an impatient man in a

controversy, or when an argument became warm

but a good hit wou ld send him off into a loud

snappish laugh,and recal l him to a friendly

humour. H e frequented the smoking- room of

'FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

the Museum Club, when the club - house was in

Northumberland Street,and before he left for

Rome in 1 84 7 as the correspondent of the DailyNews . ’ Here he would have l ively bouts of wit

with Douglas J errold,or talk of books with T . K .

Hervey, or of painting with F rank S tone . At

Offley’

s he would assemble his younger friends

(he del ighted in young people) , as Hannay,J oseph Crowe

,

1 the humble collector of these

final rel iques,S idney Blanchard, and other l ite

rary beginners,and among these the Fathe r was at

h is best . He poured out h is stores of learning

and his far- reaching experiences of men and

things prodigally,and without any airs of supe

riority or seniority. He was the oldest in a

company of boys . Yet in his most hilarious

moods he contrived to inspire respect . He also

evoked a warmer feel ing, for he sympathised

with the struggles of his young friends, entered

warmly into their plans , gave them advice frankly

and famil iarly,and never dealt it out from a

heigh t . I recal l many very happy hours of

bookish talk and banter with the Father that

warms my heart towards his memory , and has

incl ined me to the task I am now seeking to ac

1 Son ofEyre Evans Crowe, the historian ofFrance, andnow Consul-General at Diisseldorf.



name of our common friend Mahony .

1 How can

I make the very nothings I Shall be able to tel l you

which yet are all I remember like characteristic

points ” in the man whom I knew so l ittle,and l iked

so much— into something worthy of record ? I

met him first at Emerson T ennent ’s ,many years ago.

We talked and agreed about Rabelais and E rasmus , disagreeing as notably when he undervalued

Spenser. I henceforth continued to meet him about

town , general ly in Regent S treet. I never knew

where he l ived he used to disappear, and return

as unexpectedly, and our communication was a Latin

word or two ofgreeting.

“Where have you been P

H is answer “ At Constant inople,

At Rome,—a classical good - bye, and there an end . One

day I began “ I go to I taly “We shall

probably meet there , he said . I started a few days

after,spent a month on the road , and reached

Leghorn ; as I was being rowed past the Lazaretto

to land, I looked up at the knot of passengers just

deposited there by a steamer of longer passage

than mine . Mahony was lean ing over'

th e rai l

H eus tu and so on . T hus I continued to find

and lose him during my years of I tal ian l ife . Once

he came, and found me too indisposed to see him

1 Letter ofMr. Robert Brown ing to B . J. , June 5 , 1 868.

FINAL EELI cs OF FATHEE FE OUT. 63

he changed h is whole manner of indifference,and

pushed into my bed - room , despi te al l entreaty,saying he “ knew more than any doctor about sore

throat such as I was affected by .

” I remember

his earnest and affectionate way : he made me

drink some compound of strong wine and good

things,while the I tal ian servants declared that

th e prefaccio was murdering the S ignore .

” How

ever,the signore got wel l at once ; to ass ist con

valescence he came six weeks together, without

the interval of a day, spending the even ings h ilari

ously . I hear him now in the entrance of the

apartment, three rooms off, announcing himself

by shouting a song at the top of his voice with, for

his first word,

“ Boy,my pipe ! ” “ A pries t ! ”

ejacu lated the servants .

But he talked wisely, kindly, and considerately

too . I thought he was a man ful l of sympathy

and in want of it,vexed by the knowledge that

his reputed J esu itism put people upon their guard,

and threw suspicion on his own advances . H is

love for the two or three who had got at h is rea l

nature , despite of i ts fantasti c d isgu ises, was al l the

more intense ; T hackeray he cou ld never praise

enough .

1 At last he came one evening J ust as

1 Mahonywas th e trustee ofth e property settled on FeargusO

’

connor ; and was a most tender and considerate friend to

this misguided enthusiast in his troubles .


I expected ; Rossi has been“murdered, I shall go

to Rome to - night . ” He certainly had expected it,for he said a week before, T h e fool ish fellow will

be stabbed one of these days . ” Exactly so ouracquaintance continued to the end . Of late years

,

i t was only in Paris that we met— ih Galignani’

s

reading- room . I saw him there a month or two

before his death , bade him come into the passage

and shake hands with a boy of seventeen , whomhe knew a baby he did so , asking kind questions,and ending

,in reply to mine, with “ I shall very

l ikely spend the remains of an il l - ordered l ife in

Rome,

” laughingly ; but the next I heard was of

h is death,as I say. What can you make out of

such poor points as these P T hey help me,how

ever of course with many other subsidiary

touches too faint for reproduction— to confirm my

instinctive guess at, and subsequent certainty of,the goodness of Mah ony

’

s heart ; his fine scholar

ship and rare faculty were plain to everybody.

’

M r. Harrison Ainsworth , who knew Mahony

well from the Fraser t ime downwards, speaks of

his companionable qual it ies as well as the eccentric

forms his friendship would take

He 1 once tore down a small bil l, announcing

a continental ed ition of my romance Rookwood,

1 Letterfrom‘

B . J .

FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT 65

from the wal ls of Galignani’

s courtyard , then in

the Rue Vivienne, and sent the mud - bespattered

fragments in the Shape of a letter When he

chose,he was a most agreeable companion . He

often dined with me qu ietly—sometimes alone,

and sometimes with Maclise and others—at Kensal

Lodge ; and I look back with del ight on those l ittlemeetings , when we were al l young—or compara

tively SO— and fu l l of enthusiasm .

’

M r . Sheehan gives us the following recollec

tions of the Padre ’s l i fe in London , which would

have been from about the end of the ’

4O’

S (wh en

Prout returned from his Roman “ Dai ly N ews

miss ion) to about the middle of the’

5o’

s (when

he final ly went to l ive in Paris) , during whichperiod both friends saw a great deal of each other .

‘ Mahony enjoyed very fair i f not altogether

robust health nearly al l his l i fe , his “ pipes,

” by

which term he cal led h is bronch ial tubes , being from

the time he had passed h is fortieth year the only

weak point in h is constitution . As he went stil l

deeper into middle age , and the fal l ing leaves of

autumn warned h im of coming cough and catarrh ,he used to speak in terms of genuine horror of our

English winter ; and yet, although possess ingmeansenough to migrate regu larly with the swal lows ,instead of being off to winter i t as in former years


in Egypt, Palestine , Malta, Rome, or F lorence , he

was to be found within a stone ’s throw of the

T hames,weath ering as best he could our November

fogs and rainfalls of December, and , sti l l more

trying in his case , our dry easterly winds of spring.

For the fascinating communion of kindred spirits

whose evenings breathed nothing of the stiff and

studied convent ional ity of themodern club smoking

room,bu t gave him so often the Opportunity he so

rel ished of crossing his trenchant blade with intel

l ectual metal worthy of his steel , he struggled wi th

atmospheric drawbacks , and braved the dangers of

the cl imate .

I t must not be understood that he remained

during anything l ike a whole lustrum of his middle

l ife al l the year round in England, wi th the ex cept ion of that one which intervened between hisreturn from Rome, after having corresponded for

a couple of years with the “ Daily News ” from that

c ity, and his settl ing down in Paris in a s imilar

capaci ty for the Globe .

”

I f there was one thing more than another that

he hated in nature, it was frost. He would have

been about the last man to volunteer as chaplain

to an Arctic expedition . He had no t the most

remote idea of being laid on Greenland ’s coast ”

even with the same London compan ionship—sti ll


less under the more uncanonical conditions of the

poet’s erotic hypothes is . And yet I have heardhim cry out approvingly, in the gay Spiri t of h is

favourite Horace, from whom he wou ld tel l you

that Gay took his insp iration

Pone’

me pigris ub i nulla campisArbor aestivarecreatur aura;Quoa

’latus muna’i nelnclce, malargue

y upiz‘

er urge

and,dwel l ing with emphas is on the words in

I tal ics,he would declare that they described

England in winter, with its lea'den sky, pestiferous

fogs,and dreary leafless woodlands , to the very

letter.‘ A l l who knew him in h is later years must

remember how his cough used to tease and some

t imes rack him , when he had just indulged i n

one of his “hearty and l i terally uproarious fi ts of

laughter, after having floored , i n h iS strong and

uncompromis ing way, an intel lectual foe, or hailed

some humorous joke or genu ine witty saying,even

at his own expense .

‘ T h e Paris ian winter,after he left London

to correspond with the G lobe ” from the F rench

capital , he found in some respects more trying

than the London one . He used to say that the

cold dry wintry wind in that S ide of the world ”

F 2


commingl ing with the dust of the white stone from

the Valley of the Seine which is scraped from the

front of the Paris ian houses , every three years in

their turn , was as hurtful to the thorax as the hot

sand -wind of the Sahara, and a much more bitter

draft of i l l - health to drink down than the Novem

ber fogs or the cutting spring winds of London .

Before he had finally g iven up his editorial

chair in the S trand to commence his correspond

ence from Paris , he was tried during that winter

very severely by an increasing elongat ion of the

uvula ; and he shrunk for a long t ime from the safe

and simple, as well as the comparatively painless,

operation of having i t cut. At length Erasmus

Wilson,who was a great friend of his

,persuaded

him one morn ing when he called on the Doctor,after a n ight of torture

,to allow him to examine

his throat in the regular way, promis ing,of course

,

not to attempt any Operation wi thou t giving h im

due notice . Wilson, proceeding to put in the

usual spatula with his left hand , concealed in his

right the l ittle Sharp instrument for such del icate

cases made and provided . T h is , while the

patient ’s head was thrown back, he secretly intro

duced, and removed the superfluous lump of tor

menting flesh , withou t warning, but without the

sl ightest delay or difficul ty . I n fact,” as Mahony


7 0 FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT .

stamp in all respects , than this s ingularly beau tiful

inscript ion .

T h e old class ic, during his I tal ian wanderings

of earl ier days—and nobody al ive knew I taly,ancien t and modern , better than h e—had most

probably meditated over some broken statue

amidst the ruins of Lucullus ’s gardens, tracing on

its pedestal the letters Luculli manu, and recol

lected them in after years ; for he never forgot

anything.

’

Prout,

’ Mr . Sheehan continues , was a constant

visitor at Gore Lodge,Kensington Gore

,when I

occupied it for a few years after my marriage

1 850—53.

’

My predecessor in this beautiful res i

dence, which was S ituated next Lady Bless ington’s

(Gore House) was M r . Nurse , a well - known archi

te ct in h is day, who had purchased the lease and

furniture , the latter in exquis ite taste , of the Lou is

Quinze era, from the then celebrated man of fashion

and ge nius , Count d’

Orsay ; and I purchased the

place and everyth ing, as i t s tood in the Count’s

t ime,from the archi tect.

T here, in that now sol itary - looking dwell ing,

a lmost the only one of the old houses of the Upper

Gore le ft standing amidst the new and magni

ficent quarter which has sprung up around it,like

T h e rose ofth e wildernes s left on its stem,

T o Show where th e garden h ad been,”

were assemb led,a quarter of a century now gone

by,and in the very prime of their years and intel

lect,some of the most genial and bri l l iant sp irits

of their time,When Prout appeared amongst

them,i f notprimus in illis, certain ly nulli secan

a’us, there was sure to be an evening of rare and

very often most amusing intel lectual enjoyment .

Alas ! how many of them have passed away with

our gifted friend himself—T hackeray ; J errold ;the trio of the T imes ,

” Mowbray Morris ( the ablemanager) Bailey (thewriter of the

“ grand fact

leader, and afterwards Governor of the Bahamas ),and poor Bowlby (massacred when T imes ” corre

spondent in the war by the Chinese) Burcham ,the

metropol itan pol ice magistrate and ex - Fel low ofT rin ity, Cambridge— (perhaps its best class ic s ince

Bentley and Porson) Will iam Costel lo , the great

l ithotritist (whom Prout used to cal l Gulielmus a

Lapia’e) Lawrence , the Queen

’s surgeon (afterwardsSir .William) ; M cDowall, the sculptor ; Cottrel l ,the Benvenuto Cel l in i of the race cups S ir Richard

K irby, of the War Offi ce , who himself with his

accompl ished daughters used to receive , so often

and so hospitably,everybody who was worth

knowing in l i terature and art at h is h

7 2 FINAL RELICS CF FATHER PROUT .

Dorset Square Pat Costello,Dan O

’

Connell’

s

famous attorney, the wi ttiest of drol l I rishmen

whose good things, had they been jotted down

and publ ished after h is death , would have had a

greater run than J onah Barrington ’s,a great many

of which,I always fancied

,were apocryphal

al l gone ! Bu t several others of the old set sti l l

remain in fron t of their various professions and

posit ions,in as fine heart and “ keeping ” as in the

heyday of you th— the privi lege of high cultivation,

which , combined with honourable antecedents , can

render the afternoon and even the late evening of

l ife cloudless and cheerful as its brightest and

happiest morning.

Although our winter fireside was a very warm

and social one , and around it were assembled in

various groups the choice spirits already alluded

to,our most agreeable evenings were passed during

the summer season , which we enjoyed at our rus

in urée, without any break, unti l Parl iamen t itself

broke up , and the exodus from the capital to the

seaside and the Con tinent became at length

complete .

Our dining- room opened on the garden of the

Lodge,which was more of a fi laisance in miniature ,

with outspread lawn , and a few fine old trees , to

walk and lounge amongst, than a fru i t or flower


garden,there being scarcely half a dozen fru i t

trees or flower knots with in i ts entire area, which

embraced about the space of an acre . Near

its entrance from the house , and with in hai l of the

din ing- room,to which we could retreat in case of

a sudden storm,rose a fine old mulberry tree , one

of the loft iest and shadiest I ever remember to

have sat under,where our choicest l ittle dinners

used to take place . Our tab le was a round one ,capable -ofbeing expanded by putting on leaves insect ions , but not to the extent of ho lding morethan eight to n ine persons . I ndeed half a dozen ,including my wife and myself

,was our favouri te

number.

On one of these occas ions Prout dropped in

on us at our sunset feeding hour,as he sometimes

did , an unexpected , butm as he ever was— a wel

come guest. Our servant had just served the

soup ; and our only guests at the moment were

the M s , husband and wife, the former a bar

rister of my own I nn of Court,the I nner T emple

and the latter a class ic beauty in mind and person ,whom those who have met her in society (duringthe 5o

’

s) can never forget . A l though Engl ish ,and of high b lood , and one of the most refined and

educated women I ever had the pleasure of being

acquainted with,she sang some of the more


genuine Scotch and I rish songs and bal lads

amongst these , Kenmuir’

s up and awa’ , Will ie !and the Shan Van Vaugh —with a na '

z’

oele’ and

a witchery which I have Seldom seen equalled on

the stage or in society . She sang amongs t those ,many of whom could s ing wel l themselves , and all

of whom knew what good singing was . She was

Prout’s tenth muse and T hackeray though t her

conversational powers the most agreeable in the

world ; and we al l thought her bal lad - s i ng ing per

fe ction . She is a leader of I ndian society at present,where my old friend her husband holds a leading

pos ition at the Calcutta bar.F ish had just been served round

,when a

tremendous lan I‘a - ra -ra - ra knock at the hal l door

Shook the whole house from chimneypot to foun

dation . Immediately afterwards one of the ser

vants presented the card of a visitor, the announce

men t ofwhose name sent the colour from the cheeks

of both the M s instantaneously and they

looked for al l the world l ike people who, having

gone out for an agreeab le sai l , suddenly fel t they

were in for a pretty cons iderable squall , with a

black thunder- cloud about to burst over their

heads .

T h e new arrival , an old Cambridge friend of

mine,and a Fel low of one of the chief colleges of that


Univers ity,was a cousin to the barri ster, to whom ,

with his wife and myself alone of those present,i t

was known that he had gone wrong in h is head,

and fal len into very eccentric habits for some years

back . We were aware too of the additional sad

fact that he had had to be p laced under medical

care and treatment some time previously at

Winslow ’s,or Munroe ’s , or some other upper - class

maison a’e sanle

’

,which I cannot at this distance of

time exactly remember.

Neither my wife nor Prout had ever seen or

heard of h im before .

Before any decis ion cou ld be come to respect

ing our eccentric v is itor, and whilst I was about to

proceed upstairs to h im, he appeared in the balcony

of the back drawing- room window overlooking the

garden , from which he cal led out exu l tingly

Hallo , Jack , my old friend ! (myself)What, Wil ly, my boy (his cous in ,) you there , too .

And by all that ’s lovely,there ’s my beautifu l cousin

Nelly herself‘ Of course there was nothing for i t but to

accept the S ituation , and surrender at discretion to

the storming party, who came down on the instant

to join us and be presented to Mrs . S . A mo

ment’

s whisper to the latter from Mrs . M . before

W. M . reached the garden , let her into the secret ;


but Prout was left in the dark about the newcomer

altogether, being absorbed in a special ly favourite

plat of his, a red mullet (en papilloze) to which , hesaid , Lucullus apportioned one fishpond alone, and

always supped on it in his “ hall of Apollo .

”

Everything went on smoothly and pleasantly

enough between'

our eccentric guest and the

company for nearly the whole of dinner time ; and ,with the excep tion of a very odd sort of laugh ,which he indulged in without an accompanying

observation , as he swallowed each success ive glass

of Moe' t, and’

wh ich made us al l laugh at its oddity

Prout (secuna’ummorem) laughing the loudest

the poor fellow ’s conduct, all things considered,was unexceptionable .

T h e authorities of his col lege having refused,very natural ly, to recommend him to “ orders,

” he

had taken it into his head , i t would appear, to

come ou t on all occasions in the style of a clerical

dandy, his idea being that, in doing so, he should

sp ite the Dons , and make them ashamed of

themselves . Consequently, he always appeared

in the height of H igh - Church fashion—black frockwi th straight cu t collar and single breast, andblack silk waistcoat buttoned h igh to the lower

edge of his cravat, which was t ied with scrupulous

elegance,and was of such a dazzl ing snowy white


7 8 FINAL RFLICS OI ' FA THER PROUT .

Church, which asks al l sorts of questions, and

answers none .

‘P. T hen , s ir, you are not a clergyman and

therefore you have no righ t to assume—above al l

to assume constantly— the dress and appearance of

one .

”

‘M ( laughing wi th the pecul iar laugh al luded

to) Cucullus nonfacil monacnum. I s that logic,

you old J esuit ? ”

‘P. You ’re laughing at your own joke

M “Who has a better right‘P.

“ Sir, you’re sai l ing under false colours !

‘M “ And Clerical rig ( singing at the top of his

voice),Nowwe sai lWith th e gale

T hrough th e Groves ofBlarney, O

Where old ProutIs drinking stout

And whisky with Kate Kearney, O l

P. S ir, you’re a privateer !

‘M Sir, you’re a gazetteer

T here was no resisting this absurd hit at

Prout’s journal istic occupation , which , with th eproposal of a glass of champagne al l round—Ozen

frapfie oi la glace, suggested by one of the ladies

with emphasis— dispelled at once the raging storm

and the controvers ial thunder rol led harmlessly

from the clear blue Sky.


‘ T h e laughter that fol lowed threatened for

some t ime to be inextingu ishable .

Prout told me years afterwards in Paris that

he never laughed so heartily in h is l i fe as he did

the summer evening he met mad M

the mulberry tree at K ensington Gore .

‘ Appealed to by the madman , who certainly

bore all the appearance of one at the time, and

called on by him to say if he had not settled the

J esu it,I said th at I thought i t a fair fight but a

drawn battle and h is cous in the barrister added

under

Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere litesEt vitulfi tu dignus, et hic.

”

T h e whole affair, said our friend , settl ing

down a bit from his exaltation , “ reminds me of a

l ittle masquerade in clericals,which beats my fun

into fi ts ; and, i f you l ike, I’ l l tel l i t to you .

”

By all means let us have it ! everyone

cried and we had it from him,as fo llows

Your glorious countryman,J ack ,

” said he

( to me),“ and yours

, Reoerenclzlssime ( to Prout)the Marqu is of Waterford

,was driven home one

night verylate, or rather very early in the morning,by a stalwart and swel l ish - looking cabman . He

occupied at the time the Archb i shop of Armagh’

s

house in Charles Street,St . James ’s Square, during

his uncle’

s temporary absence from town . J ump

ing from the hansom,he was soon admitted by


the hal l porter who had waited up for him,and

whom he ordered to g ive the driver hal f a sove

reign , and dismiss h im .

Cabby,so far from being satisfied , expressed

himself abusively to the servant, fl inging him back

the half- sovereign, although i t appeared that he

had been only engaged by the Marqu is something

under an hour, and tel l ing him that in Offering him

less than a sovereign his master was anything bu t

a nobleman and a gentleman . F inal ly he declared

in a loud voice outs ide the hall door that he shouldnot think of taking less than a sovereign , and thathe ’d have it too—so help him so and so, 81 C.

T h e insolent bully then waited for a moment

or two,to see what effect he produced inside the

house .

“ T h e Marquis , who had just turned into the

morning room off the hal l , heard all that the

cabman had said , and , being rather partial to

pol ishing off bull ies in those days , made up his

mind on the spot to give th is particular one a

prime taste of his qual ity. Perceiving his uncle ’s

House of Lords costume hanging up in the morn

ing room , he instantly donned it, three - decker wig,

gown , lawn sleeves , and all , and turned out to

the cabman , who was then recommencing his

abuse , and swearing more fiercely than before .



Marquis stil l fol lowing him and crying out,

‘Won ’t

you wait for the half- sovereign‘ Shortly after the ladies had retired upstairs

,

and we lit a cigar all round , the barrister, taking a

strol l round the garden with Prout, told him of

his cous in ’s affl icting condition , assigning the usual

reason in such cases Wh y no one Should take offence

at rudeness or eccentric ity where there was no

moral responsibil i ty.

S trangely enough , the same thought came

into my head as I strolled with W . M . on the other

side of the garden and , more as a colourable ex

cuse for Prout’s discourteousness than in the Spirit

of a j oke at either party’s expense, I told him he

must excuse our friend the Padre, for he had gone

wrong in the head and suffered cons iderablemental affl iction some few years back .

T heologically twisty,” my friend supposed

the most dangerous of al l madnesses , next to

homicidal .

I though t not,

’ I repl ied , for although he stood

by his old faith, he did so in anything but a contro

versial or sectarian spirit . On the contrary, his

was a broad Christian ity, and his rel igion one of

charity and toleration . A good man to him was

a good man , whatever creed or colour.

I suppose he th inks rel igious faith an affair

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .,

85

one,at the Gore, i s given by M r. Sheehan as

fol lows

Tne B ells ofSfiana’on .

An entry in my journal for 1 85 1 reminds me

that on a certain n ight in the J anuary of that year

we had Prout in great force at our house, and never

more himself,S inging or rather shouting T h e

Bel ls of Shandon to the uproarious merriment if

not to the thorough appreciation of al l present.

T his was after I had given the song in a much more

subdued,and as I thought , appropriate fash ion , to

our friend the author’s disappo intment, disgust, and

indignation .

Most unquestionably this heart- stirring song

has made the Watergrassh il l poet’s name more

famous than al l his other poetic productions put

together. H is po lyglot vers ions of “ T h e Groves

of B larney,” his exceedingly c lever metrical transla

t ions of some of Moore’s melodies into Latin and

French , and his exqu is ite rendering into Engl ish

verse, whether faithful or paraphrastic, of the

creme de la cre‘

me of the modern Latin poets, as

wel l as of the songs of Beranger, Clement Marot,and other favourite Fren ch lyric writers , were read

and enjoyed only by a l imi ted number,and those

only the l iberal ly educated portion of the pub l ic .


i n at length more uncontrol lably than ever, and he

d ied at last of softening of the brain in the West

of England .

T h e two men met some two or three times

subsequently to their first meeting, and on one

of those occasions again unexpectedly at Gore’

Lodge ; when it was remarked that they frater

nised most sympathetical ly, displaying something

bordering on a womanly tenderness for each other.T hey drank, smoked, talked . and walked together,to the exclusion almost of every other person

present . When they walked about the garden,it

was arm in arm or sometimes poor W. M . ,who

towered head and shou lders over the Padre,

wou ld be seen with his arm for a moment or sohalf enclosed round the latter’s Shou lders

,l ike a

great school girl fondl ing some l i ttle pet ; and his

compan ion wou ld with the u tmost gentleness (arare effort for h im) disengage himself and recom

mend . in both cases, some eau a’o S elle

,at the

buffet, with what he used to cal l “ a hot cinder i

i t . ”

During their conversation , I ascertained, i

talking to both separately afterwards, that the

had been particularly guarded not to touch on

subject of madmen or madhouses .

A second evening, on this occasion a


86 FIIVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

T h e few thoroughly original poems—abou t half a

dozen in al l—which he condescended , over a spaceof so many years

,to publish , were also addressed

to persons of cultivated intel ligence . Bu t there is

a genuine natural pathos and a manly simpl ic ity,

l ike what you find in some of Robert Burns’s and

Beranger’s choicest songs, which make their way to

the most untutored heart and humblest intelli

gence,in the natural way he recalls the memory of

the old bells that rang out from the ancient steeple

in years long gone by and enchanted h is infant

ear— the music to the imag inat ion of infancy,

celestial—the music of the skiesWhose sounds so wild wouldIn th e days ofchildhoodFling round his cradleI ts magic spell,”

and which,haunting him in his after wanderings

,

when l istening to the bells of Saint Sophia,

Moscow, Notre Dame, or Sa in t Peter’s itself,

Made th e bells ofShandonSound farmore grand onT h e p leasant watersOfth e River Lee.

”

T h e spire of Shandon , built, as he s tates

h imself, in a foot - note to the song,is a prominent

object from whatever side the traveller approaches

Cork ; and he adds that “ in a vault at i ts foot

FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT . 87

sleep some generations of the writer’

s kith and

kin . T h e poet’s own remains have been gathered

to h is fathers in the same spot but no tombstone

or memorial has been p laced over them worthy

of h is name and gen ius . A col lection for the

purpose recently set on foot in Cork, strange to

say,produced not more than some eight or nine

pounds,as recorded the other day in the local

newspapers—a sad reflection on the l i terary Spiri t

and patriotism of Cork , which he wrote and spoke

of with such en thus iast i c affection ; and one which

speaks sti l l less for the poet’s wealth ier co - rel igio

nists therein , whose old Church , whatever they may

think of h is eclectic po l i t ics,he stood up for in the

press and in society to the last. T hey indeed,

above al l others , ought to be proud of the l i terary

laurels wh ich he won , as wel l as of the pecul iar

education’

which developed and moulded h is

bril l iant powers ; and if every one of the Cork

Mah onys, Murphys , and Mccarthys who have

been educated at a J esu its ’ col lege were on ly to

subscribe a pound each,they would real ise a fund

amp le enough to defray the cost of a monumen t

worthy of him and his native city. On it they

might wel l be satisfied to p lace the s imple

inscription that underneath lay the writer of T h e

Shandon Bel ls,

” a song which wou ld be sung


as long as and wherever the Engl ish language

is spoken .

From the time it was first publ ished Shandon

Bells ” became popular in England and I reland , butespecial ly so amongst the upper class of the

London I rish , in consequence of the exquisite

vocal rendering of i t by Mr . Morgan D ’

Arcy, a

relative of the celebrated Dubl in brewer of that

name, and one of the best private singers I ever

heard in any country. D’

Arcy sang, or rather

warbled , i t, as he did some of Moore’s heart- search

ing melodies , in tones of manly tenderness ; but,strange to say, the author conceived a differentstyle of vocal i l lustration for i t altogether. He

was respectful when D’

Arcy was called on to

sing it in h is presence ; and he could scarcely be

otherwise, seeing that everyone present applauded

the s inger to the echo ; bu t he was not at all

pleased, and sometimes expressed himself very

ungraciously when any other s inger of less prestige

ventured on a s imilar style of interpretat ion .

He would maintain that to s ing i t in a tender

tone, pure and s imple, was a mockery and a

mistake . He would be understood as having

conceived a loftier idea than swee tness and tender

ness,per so, when he described the music from the

old Shandon belfry ringing ou t more gloriously



breathed al l at once from flutes of stone three

hundred feet h igh ! ’ Sing the song,not as a

ditty, but a dithyramb . S tand up to your work, and

throw your whole voice and heart and soul into

i t or, if you wil l s it, let i t not be on a pianoforte

stool—s it on a class ic tripod and kick out !Prou t then gave us h is vers ion of the song,

chanting i t much more loudly than even his Reel

of T ullygorum,

” which he used to sing i n dith yrambic cadence

,and declared that i t ought to

be accompanied by a H ighland claymore dance

throughout . H is vigorous and formidable s tyle

of s inging his own production had the charm of

novelty, at all events , about it, and amused his

audience prodigiously, with the excep tion of

T hackeray, who very dri ly observed that i t was

a pity the law against parricides could not be put

i n force in this instance . T o this Prout instantly

repl ied that, as the Duke of Newcastl e said about

h is tenantry, he had a right to do as he l iked wi th

his own .

One or two ladies , who had jo ined us from

the drawing- room , on hearing that something

very special was coming off in the smoking- room

endeavoured at first to stop their ears out of

regard for their tympanums ; but after the first


s tanza they got used to the fun , and joined in i t

most hearti ly .

We wi l l now glance at the lone I ncumbent of

Watergrasshi l l—Mah ony’

s second self.

T h e real Father Prout,’ the Padre

’

s b rothe r,Mr. N icholas Mahony, J.P. ,

of B larney, Cork ,writes to me

,

1 ‘ was an old clergyman who was in

t imate wi th our fami ly when we were al l ch i ldren

and was on ly remarkable for h is qu iet, s imple

manners . ’ Another corresponden t (Mr. J ames

Murphy) , who knew the orig inal Father wel l ,asks me , ‘ Now

,are you aware that the original

Father Prou t, the real eccentric Padre , was many

years parish priest of Watergrassh il l,about seven

miles from Cork , who flourished from 1 80 0 to

about 1 834 , the time of his death ? I suspectthere are very few l iving now who know anything

about him , except in the city and county of Cork ,where his memory is sti l l kept al ive

,owing to

innumerable anecdotes told about h im ,many ofthem wel l known to myself ; for I knew the oldman well , and more than once , when I was a

very young man,dined wi th him in h is domici le

at Watergrasshi ll,i n company with many others ,

every one of whom,alas are gone to their rest.

’

1 January 1 8, 1 8 7 5 .


CHAPT ER I I .

FATHER PROUT’

s RELIQUES .

OLIVER YORKE , in the preface to the firs t edition

of ‘ Father Prout’s Rel iques,’ observes : ‘ Objects of

art and virtue lose considerab ly by not being

viewed in their proper l ight ; and the common

noonday effluence is not the fittest for the right

contemp lation of certain capi ci ’opera . Canova, we

know,preferred the midnight taper . Le t, therefore,

uifruaris religuiis” l ib . i . fab . 2 2 ) the

dim penumbra of a sepulch ral lamp shed its solemn

influence over the page of Prout, and alone preside

at i ts perusal . ’ T h e cold, pale, sepu lchral l ight

now shines indeed over ‘ the lone incumbent of

Watergrasshil l,’ and his whimsical introducer or

master of the ceremonies, O l iver Yorke . I n

November, 1 85 9 , when F rank Mahony‘ did the

honours’

to the latest edition of Father Prout’sRel iques ,

’

he dwelt, with that touch of sadness

which underlay h is wit, on his friend Maclise’

s

great cartoon of writers in F raser —Saying of the


twenty- seven contributors there depicted,only

eight were then l iving Mr . Procter, lunacy com

missioner ; Serjeant Murphy, insolvency ditto ;the author of ‘ Vanity Fair the vigorous word

wielder who was then supplying ‘ F raser ’ with‘ Sartor Resartus Ainsworth Gleig, the worthy

and effic ient chaplain -general of Her Majesty’s

forces S ir David, and Frank Mahony . And

now h ow does the account stand ? T h e gentle

Procter has lately passed to h is rest ; T hackeray

has lain some years ‘ under the daisy ;’ Frank

Stack Murphy has long ago passed from the scene .

T h e vigorous word -wielder, and thought-Wielder

to boot, l ives , however, keeping the old brightness

and the old strength ; Gleig is stil l in evergreen

bloom ; and M r . Ainsworth h as not yet laid his

pen aside. But the Fraserians have died out,

as Well ington ’s veterans faded out of the Waterloo

banquet , until it was a sorry feast, with shadows

behind the chairs .

I n the dim penumbra of a sepu lchral lamp ’ I

am endeavouring to collect the clz'

s/ecta meméra

the quaint and wittyFath erwh o l ies at peace within

the shadow of the church tower of Shandon , while

the bells in song still shake out their music over the

pleasant waters of the river Lee . But first of the

Prout Rel iques —written when first the Reverend



embody himself i n this very figure of a priest in

the county of Cork, by which he is pleased to be

represented . No man can separate himself from

his traditions and early associations even if he

tries . But a wise and generous man does not

choose to try. He adores his own Sparta, though

he may grumble at her modern government,and

be tired of her black broth . T here is no sepa

rating Carlyle altogether from S cotch Presby

terianism ; and the cosmopolitan Mahony, known

as well at Rome as at London , and at Paris as at

either,has the kind of genius and accomplish

ments natural to an I rish Cathol ic and an I rish

man of the South . Nothing is pleasanter than

bri ll ian t I rishman who has not l ived too excl

sively in his native country, even though he sha

the national weakness of never getting Norseman

or Saxon over his tumbler withou t endeavouring

to prove his Celtic origin .

‘We think, in fact (and we love above

things to fix the h istorical posit ion of a man p

paratory to taking a good look at him)Father Prout may be most conven iently studied

as an I rish humourist. He is almost exactly

the I rish what Professor Wilson was to t

Scotch— a representative of their pecul iar tal

and character in the guise of a humourist,

FINAL RELICS OF FATHEE PROUT. 9 9

without the narrowness of a too marked nation

al ity. F rom that vice (which produces in real i ty

only provincial bores) Wi lson was saved, notonly by largeness of mind, but by an Oxford edu

cation and a Cumberland residence as Prout has

been by his Continental education , by London as

sociations,and by foreign travel . T h e two writers

are national in genius and sp iri t rather than in de

tail,representing the wines oftheir national i ti es

,

not the skin and stone of the grape only. Wi lson

writes about Burns,Mahony Sports with Moore.

One glorifies the H ighlands , the other the bel lsof Shandon . One takes a low land shepherd to

speak through,the other an upland country priest.

Yet it wou ld be unfair to charge either with uh

due narrowness of sympathies .

T h e reader wi l l see at once that we are not

comparing the characters , so much as the pos i

tions , of these remarkab le essayists . Mahony

may be to I reland what Wi lson was to Scotland,

wi thout great personal resemblance in genius the

flavour of it, i n fact, differing as widely in themen as that of the whisky of their respectivecountries . ’

Mah ony’

s fun is essential ly I rish—fanciful ,playful, Odd, irregular, and more grotesque than

Northern fun . I n one of his own phrases, he isH 2


‘ an I rish potato , seasoned with Attic salt - a

queer,characteristi c touch of the very faculty it is

meant to describe . But take a few paragraphs

from h is ‘ Apology for Lent,"to put you en rap

fiorl again with the wayward and eccentric spirit

of his humour‘ T h e Hollanders, the Swedes , the Saxons , the

Pruss ians,and in Germany those circles in which

the Gothic blood ran heaviest and most stagnant,

hailed Lu ther as a del iverer from salt fish . T h e

fatted calf was killed , bumpers of ale went round,and popery went to the dogs . Half Europefollowed the impetus given to free opinions

,and

the congenial impulse of the gastric juice ; joining

in reform , not because they loved Rome less, but

because they loved substantial fare more . Mean

t ime, neighbours differed . T h e Dutch , dul l and

Opaque as their own Z u ider Z ee , growled defiance

at the Vatican when their food was to be con

trolled the Belgians, being a Shade nearer to the

Celtic family, submitted to the fast. While Ham

burg clung to its Oeef, and Westphal ia preservedher nams, Munich and Bavaria adhered to the

Pope and to sour- crout with desperate fidel ity.

As to the Cossacks , and all that set

northern marauders , they never kept Len t at a

time , eand i t would be arrant folly to expect


1 0 2 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT .

found out that they would never hold out against

hunger,as we can , when locked up , and that the

verdict was general ly carried by popish obstinacy,former Administrations discountenanced our ad

mission to serve on juries at al l . By an oversight

of Serj eant Lefroy, all this has escaped the

framers of the new jury bil l for I reland .

‘ T o return to the I rish exports . T h e prin

cipal item is that of pigs . T h e hog i s as essen

t ial an inmate of the I rish cabin as the Arab

steed of the Shepherd ’s hut on the plains of Meso

potamia . Both are looked upon as part of the

household , and the affectionate manner in which

these dumb friends of the family are treated , here

as wel l as there, i s a trait of nat ional resemblance ,denoting a common origin . We are qu ite ori

ental in most of our pecul iarit ies . T h e learned

Vallancey will have it that our consangu inity is

with the J ews . I migh t elucidate the colonel ’s

d iscovery by showing how the pig in I reland

plays the part of the scapegoat of the I srael ites

he is a sacred thing, gets the run of the kitchen ,i s rarely molested

,never kil led

,but al ive and

buoyant leaves the cabin when taken off by the

landlord ’s driver for arrears of rent, and is thenshipped clean out of the country, to be heard of

no more . I ndeed the pigs of I reland bear this

FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT . 1 0 3

notable resemblance to thei r cousins ofJudah ,that nothing can keep them from the sea—a ten

deney which strikes al l travel lers in the interior

of the island whenever they meet our droves of

swine precip itating themselves towards the out

ports for sh ipment. ’

I n these passages , the characteristical ly I rish

fact is,that the fun and the argument are blended

together in a kind of way which makes i t impos

s ible to tel l which is which . T here is an audacity

in H ibernian humour, above al l, which mocks

reason with an appearance of reason ing,as a bul l ’

insults you by its . superficial ai r of good sense .

‘ T hey talk’

ofour drinking,’ said Curran

,

‘ but

who ever heard of an I rishman being éorn a’runE

So, too, a certain I rish vagrant who was passing

himself off for a sh ipwrecked sailor,happened un

luckily to app ly to a naval man for rel i ef. ‘What

i s the mark on the lead - l ine at five fathoms i”

asked the officer. ‘ I ndeed,s ir,

’ said the ragamuffin piteously

,

‘ my misfortunes have put {nae

pariicular Oranoé ofsaymansnip clane out of my

head .

’

T here is a richness about this which we

should not find in an Engl i shman or a Scot.T h e basis of humour in Prout is racy of the

soil from which he sprung. T h e men wi th whom

he rol l icked in his most exuberant pages were of


Cork . But his style of i l lustration was from the

seminary, his wit was A tt i c, his outlook was from

classic lands . He embroidered the long tai ls of

Paddy’s coat with j ewels borrowed from the stores

of Greece and Rome . Hannay says of him

He sports with his scholarship just as he quizzes

U ltramontanism , and fires arrows at Repale .

”

F i rmly bel ieving in the classics, he shows his love

for them , as a man shows his love for his children— by playing with them .

’

T his very happily

expresses Mah ony’

s usual l iterary mood . But

when we are told that Prout was making a fight

for the ancient tongues , and this was the kind of

way he chose to Show his regard for them ,

’ we

say nay . Prou t had no object . A man does not

play with his children—with a purpose . Prout

was a convivial l iterary man of his day when the

tumbler s tood close to the inkhorn . He was at

home with Mag inn and the Fraserians. He

loved the ‘ dead’

languages,’ for they were not

dead to him, but rather the most robust l iving

tongues wh ich had supplied to him his daily

l iterary food, through al l the more impressionable

years of a man ’s l ife . And , therefore, when

j esting he used the weapon of Horace rather than

that of Curran .

Being a scholar, he affected the society of



would have stoutly res isted in I reland the late

attempted process of Ital ian Cullenisation .

’

T h e Father was also a jovial soul—jovial asMaginn and his companions were . Hannay, who

carried this old - fash ioned convivial i ty down to

our own t ime, and was the soul of a roystering

club which met by the class ic piazzas of Covent

Garden , not twenty years ago , under the title of‘ T h e T umbler,

’ threw 'al l h is verve into a de

fiance ofthe good T ories and scholars who drankmany glasses in the small hours

,and were not

Cockneys .

Now,

’ says Hannay, ‘ i n our good Father as in

al l the school,there is a broad l iberal homel iness

which we do most entirely respect even in the midst

of its extravagance, which last was, of course, partly

assumed for the sake of its roystering humour. A

fine smell of lemons, so to speak, is felt through

his pages,1 al ternating with the notes of

T h e bells ofShandonWhich sound so grand on

T h e pleasant waters ofth e river Lee .

What is piquant too, i s the pecul iar mix ture of

the four. great elements of T oryism , classic ism ,

sarcasm,and punch . For they are all uni ted and

1 Notably in ‘ T h e Watergrasshill Carousal . ’ See ‘ FatherProut’s Reliques. ’

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT . 1 0 7

related . T h e punch is brewed with water from

the Aganippe . T h e Radical i s contemned as

much for being a bore and what Lord V incent,i n

Pelham,cal ls a “ Latin less lubber, as for h is

mere princip les,being indeed as fatal to a true

symposium as to our ancient constitution . Hence

one qual ity of the man of th is school led h im into

another. H is loyalty was moistened by punch,

his satire was fortified by quotation ; and to

picture him in al l his entirety you must fancy h im

with aspoon in h is hand,and a Horace in his pocket

,

holding forth to an after - dinner company upon the

last publ ic appearance of' the Mr. Roupell or Mr.Wil l iams of the time . Such would be the Fraserians of 1 834—5 or so, whom we are anxious to

hand down to l i terary historians of posteri ty .

T h e class had its eccentric ities and its exaggera

tions . We do not say that i t i s right to review

an indifferent translator by call ing him a “ brain less

and tuneless ragamuffin . We shou ld not venture

to call Cicero a pamph leteer. I n defending the

I rish Church , we shou ld hard ly interpolate in the

argument a request for a tumb ler of hot whisky

and -water. But in sp ite of such b i ts of l iterary

friskiness we have a kindness for the old crew .

T heir respect for antiqu i t ies ” and insti tutions ,for learning and letters

,were valuable qual i t ies .

1 0 8 FINAL RELI CS OF -FATHER PROUT .

T heir horse - play in the polemic way was rough,

but had an Aristophanic genial i ty about it. Our

smart bagmen and sen t imental counter- jumpershave less heart as they have undoubtedly lessbrains, while, with regard to knowledge, the

breed are in the deplorable condition of not

feel ing the want of it. T hey pick up enough

time to serve them for the -day,as costermon

buy thei r fish or vegetables by the barrowful . ’

Hannay ’s contempt for the Cockney and

del igh t in convivial men of letters who could

with the classics l ike Prout—a kind of sp

which he himself del igh ted— led h im to a

recklessness in h is defence of the outrageo

sonalities which were rife in the old F

days . T here was robustness in the h itti

robustness of the prize - figh ter. T h e age

become so outrageously cockneyfied, as Han

would say, that we have pu t down the ring

taken to croquet. He ' ci tes the Opening

sage of Prout’s’ papers on Horace . Let

reader cons ider whether l iterature has lost m

by toning down such rough handl ing as

Father indulges in .

‘ F rom the ignoble doings of modern W—sneaking and dastardly at home, an


FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT.

a lustre on that imperial court, should have m

all their precious theories in a rooted horror

agitators and sans- culottes, was a natural result ofthe intel lectual progress made s ince the unletteredepoch of Marius and the Gracchi . I n the bard ofT ivol i , who had fought under the insurrectionary

banners of Brutus , up to the day when “ the chinsof the unshaven demagogues were brought to a

level with the dust ( l ib. i i . , ode T ory principles

obtained a distinguished convert ; nor is th

trace of mere subserviency

’

to the men in

or any evidence of ins inceri ty in the record of

pol it ical opinions . ’

Surely the odes are more worthily introduc

i n a subsequent passage

H is l ittle volume contains the distil

quintessence of Roman life,when at its very ac

of refinement . I t i s the most perfect por

(cabinet size) that remains of the socialdomestic elegance, and cultivated interco

the capital , at the most interesting period

perity. But the philosophy it inculcates , and

worldly wisdom it unfolds , is appl icable to al l ti

and all countries . Hence we canno'

t sympath

with the somewhat chi ldish ( to say the least of

distaste, or indisposition, evinced by the

pilgrim, Harold (canto iv . , st. for


enduring '

lyrics thatformed the nourishment of our

intel lect,

“ when George the T hird was K ing.

”

T h e very affectation of al luding to the “ dril led,dul l lesson

,forced down word for word , i n his

repugnant youth,

” proves the alumnus of Harrow

on - the—H i l l to have rel i shed and recol lected the

almost identical l ines of the author he feigns to

disremember —Carmina Liz/i memini PLAGOS UM

mini part/o Oréilium a’ictare (Ep ist. i i . and

( though Peel may have been a more ass iduousscholar) we can hard ly bel ieve the beauties of

Horace to have been lost on Byron , even in h is

earl iest hours of idleness . ’

Hannay cites from Prout ’s trans lations of

the Odes—Mah ony’

s foremost work of love-“ his

Vides ut alté ; as conta in ing the hearty, cheering

vivacity of the original, with neatness and point of

express ionVERSIO PROUT ICA.

See h ow th e winter blanchesSoracte

’

s giant browH ear h ow th e forest branchesGroan for th e weight ofsnowWhile th e fix ’d ice impanelsRivers within the ir channels .

Out with th e frost expel h erPile up th e fuel-block,

And from th e hoary cellarProduce a Sab ine crock ;


O T h aliarck ! rememberIt counts a fourth December.

Give to th e gods th e guidanceOfearth ’s arrangements . List !

T h e blasts at their high b iddanceFrom th e vex

’

d deep desist,Nor

’mid th e cypress riot ;And th e old elms are quiet.

Enjoy, without foreboding,Life as th e moments run ;

Away with Care corroding,Youth ofmy sou l nor shunLove , forwhose smile th ou’

rt suited,And ’mid th e dancers foot it.

While youth ’s hour lasts,beguile it ;

Fol low th e field,th e camp,

Each manly Sport, till twil ightBrings on th e vesper- lamp.

T hen let th y loved one lisp h erFond feel ings in a whisper.

Or in a nook hide furtive,T ill by h er laugh betray’d,

And drawn , with struggle sportive,Forth from h er ambuscadeBracelet or ring th ’ offender,In forfeit sweet surrender

I t is seldom ’ Hannay remarks ‘ that a Hor

t ian translator attains more than one qual ity of h

au thor at a time . T urn to other vers ions of th

ode,and you wil l find that Lord Ravensworth’



envoy of Augustus is ful ly conscious , on his arrival

at Capua, that his motions are narrowly watched by

the quidnuncs of that vagabond town, and that the

probable object of his j ourney is sure to be dis

cussed by every barber in and about the market

place . HOW does he act While the mules are

resting at the ‘caupona

’

( for it appears the vet

turini system of travell ing is of very old date in the

I tal ian peninsula) , the ch arge d’

affaires seeks out a

certain tennis - court, the most favourite place of

publ ic resort, and there mingles in a game with the

citizens , as if the impending destinies of the future

empire of the world were not a moment in his

contemplation,or did not rather engross h is whole

faculties for a while. T his anecdote,I bel ieve

,

has not been noticed by M r. T aylor in h is profound

book,the Statesman .

’ I t is at his service .

Leaving Maecenas to the enjoyment of his

game of rackets , let us return to the Capuan

hostelry, and take cognisance of what may be sup

posed to be then and there going on . Here then ,we are

,say. at the sign of ‘ S ilenus and the Jack

ass ,’

in the ‘ Via Nolana .

’ I n answer to our

inquiries,it will appear that

’

the author of

Georgics (the‘T’Ene id

’ was ye t unpubl ish

had,as usual with him on the slightest emergenc

found his stomac

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT. 1 1 5

while his fellow travel ler, the distinguished lyrist

of the day,had sympathetical ly complained of the

effect produced on his tender eyel ids ( lip/bus) bythe clouds of incessant dust

,and the glare of the

noonday sun .

“T hey have both , therefore, previous to resum

ing their seat in the clumsy vehicles (réeclm) , whichhave conveyed them thus far, decided on devoting

the sultry meridian hour to the refresh ing process

of a qu iet siesta . T h e s lave, with in whose attri

butions this service is comprised (a’ecurio cuOicu

laris) , is quickly summoned , and but few minutes

have elapsed before the two great ornaments ofthe Augustan age , the master—sp iri ts of the then

intellectual world , are fairly deposited in their

respective cel ls , and consigned to the care of tired

nature’s kind restorer . Whoever has explored the

existing remains of s imi lar edifices in the neigh

bouring town of Pompei i , wil l probably form a

fair estimate of the scale of comfort and style of

accommodation prevalent at the head inn of Capua .

Entering by a smoky hal l (atrium) , the kitch en

being on one s ide, and the servants’ offices on the

other, your travel ler proceeded towards the

compluvium, or open quadrangle courtyard , on

each side of which,i n Cloister fash ion , were

ranged the S leep ing apartments ; small , darkI 2


chambers , each some eight or twelve feet square,having, at the heigh t of about s ix feet from the

mosaic ground -floor, a scanty aperture, furnished

with a l inen bl ind , a crockery lamp ,a bronze tripod

and basin a mirror of the same material,

forming,with a hard couch (stragula) , the complete

inventory of the movables within . A knight

templar, Carthusian monk, would feel quite at

home in your antique hostelry

L i ttl e dreamed, I ween , the attendant slave,mayhap sti l l less the enl ightened master himself

,

the high honour conferred on his establ ishment by

an hour’s occupancy of its chambers on that occasion .

T h e very tall gentleman with the ungainly fl

and sl ight stoop in the shoulders , so awkward an

bashful in his address , and who had complaine

of such bad digestion , became, no doubtfth e objectof a few not over- respectful remarks among

atrienses of the household . Nor did the short,Sancho - Panza- looking sort of personage , form

in every respect so complete a contrast to

demure and sedate companion, fail to el icit s

curious comment and some not v

conjectures , as to what might be nis relat ive positi

in society, in what part icular capacity did th

both follow the train of the rich knight Mmce

T his was , no doubt, acutely and dil igently



Virgi l from his earl iest infancy up to the

period of confirmed manhood,had not left the

banks of the M incio, nor the plains of Lombardy.

I t required the confiscation of his l ittle farm and '

the transfer of his ancestral acres to a set of quasi

Cromzvellian intruders (Octavius Caesar’s mil itary

colonists) to bring him up to Rome in quest of

redress . He was then in his 3oth year. T ender

ness, sensibil ity, a soul feel ing al ive to all the

sweet emotions of unvitiated nature, are the

natural growth of such happy seclusion from a

wicked world. Majestic thoughts are the off

spring of sol itude . P lato meditated alone on the

promontory of Sunium Virgi l was a P latonist“ T h e boyhood and youth of Horace (as I

think may be gathered from my last paper)spent in a total ly different atmosphere ; and

fore no two poets could be nurtured an

in scéools of poetry more essentially

T h e ‘ lake ’ academy is not more differentthe gymnasium of the ‘ si lver fork .

’ Epidwelt among the busy haunts of men : Hora

was an Epicurean .

T h e latter was , in every respect, as his out

ward appearance wou ld seem to indicate, ‘ of the

town , townly.

’ M i rabeau used to say whenever

he left Paris, that, on looking through his carriage


windows at the faces along the road , he cou ld

ascertain to a fraction how far he was from the

capital . T h e men were his mi le - stones . Even

gen ius In the provinces wears an aspect of s impl i

city. T h e Romans were perfectly sensib le ofthisdifference . Uréanum sal was a wel l - known com

modity , as easi ly distingu ished by men of taste in

the metropol is , as the verbal provincial isms which

pervade the decades of L ivy were quickly de

tected by the del icate sensib i l i ty of metropol itan

ears .

I n society Horace must have shown to great

advantage in contrast with the retiring and nu

communicative Mantuan . Acute , bri l l iant, satiri

cal, his versati le accomp l ishments fascinated at

once . V i rgi l,however, inspired an interest of a

different description . T houghtful and reserved,

‘ the rapt sou l s itting in his eyes gave intimation

of a depth of feel ing and comprehensiveness of

intel lect far beyond the range of al l contemporary

minds . Hab itual ly s ilent, yet, when he spoke in

the solemn and exquis itely musical cadences peculiar to his poetry, i t was as if the ‘

Spirit of

P lato ’ revealed itself, or the S ibyl l ine books were

unfolded .

I can ’t understand the passage in the tenth

Satire ( l ib . i .) where the Sab ine humourist asserts


that the Muses who patronise a country l ife

(gaudentes ruro Camcenm), having endowed Virgi lwith a mild and lenient dispOsition , a del icate

sweetness of style,had also bestowed on him a

talent for the facetious (molle, atguefacetum) .T here is assuredly

,more fun and legitimate

drollery in a page of the said Satires , than in allthe ‘ Eclogues and Georgics ’ put together.T o extract a laugh out of the ‘ IEneid

’ i t re

quired the help of Scarron .

Horace was the delight of the convivialcircle. T h e flashes of his Bacchanal ian minstrelsy brightened the blaze of the banquet, and

his love songs were the very quintessence of

Roman refinement. Yet never did he achieve

such a triumph as is recorded of his gifted friend,when, having consented to gratify the household

of Augustus and the imperial circle by reading aportion of his maj estic poem

,he selected that

famous exposi tion of P lato ’s subl imest theories , the

s ixth book of his ‘IE neid .

’

T h e charm of the

recitation gave addit ional dignity to that high

argument, so nobly d eveloped in harmonious

verse . But the intel lect had feasted its ful l when

he suddenly changed his hand and appealed to

the heart when the glowing episode of the young

Marcellus came by surprise on the assembled



and amusing way ; j ust as of two men who

Latin, he who knows it best will not necessawrite the best verse or prose. T here goes

more real brain to mastering one language,

Porson did Greek, than to all the readiness

using fifty languages, col loquial ly, of a Me z z ofaBut then the resul t is not so startl ing

,so

so odd . T h e crowd pass by the land surv

who is doing intellectual wonders with his c

to gape at the juggler who is swallowing

Father Prout is a great wit, humourist, and es

sayist, of large l iterary accompl ishments , and weheart i ly relish the fun which he thinks proper to

make by amusing himself with h is kWe have intimated as much before. B

to see him admired for what is most adm

about him,not for the sportive exercises only

his versati le and bri l l iant mind .

’

‘ T h e Rogueries of T om Moore ’ combine

them all Mah ony’

s gifts, except that of

eloquence,which is to be found in his pa

‘ Dean Swift’s Madness,’ in the course of

by the way,he al ludes to the beautiful S imile of

the melodist ’ who sang of ‘ some banque

deserted .

’

T h e opening of the paper (da

March 1 830 ) shows how Father Prout could

serious


Yet a few years, and a fu l l century shal l have

e lapsed s ince the death of Dr. J onathan Swift,

Dean of St. Patrick’s . Yes , O my friends ! i f

such I may presume to designate you , i nto whosehands, when I am gathered to the S i lent tomb,these writings Shal l fal l, and to whose kindly

perusa l I commend them, bequeathing at the

same time the posthumous bless ing of a feeb le

and toil -worn old man— yes, when a few winters

more shal l have added to the accumulated snow

of age that weighs on the hoary head of the

pastor of this up land , and a short period shal l

have rol led on in the dul l monotony of these latter

days, the centenary cycle wil l be ful ly completed,th e secular anthem of dirge - l ike solemnity may be

sung, s ince the grave closed for ever on one whom

Britain justly reveres as the most upright,intu i

tive,and gifted of her sages , and whom I reland ,

when the frenz ied hour of strife shal l have passed

away,and the turbulence of parties shal l have

subsided into a national calm , wil l hai l with the

rapture of return ing reason,as the first, the best,

the mightiest of her sons . T h e long arrears of

gratitude to the only true disinterested champion

of her peop le wi ll then be paid , the long- deferred

apotheosis of the patriot divine wi l l then take

place , the shamefu l ly - forgotten debt of glory which


the lustre of his genius shed around his semi

barbarous countrymen wi ll be deeply and feel ingly

remembered the old landmark of genuine worth

wi ll be discovered in the ebbing of modern agi

tation, and due honour will be rendered by a

more enlightened age to the keen and scruti

nising philosopher, the scanner of whate’er lies

hidden in the folds of the human heart, the pro

ph e tic seer of coming things, the unsparing

satirist of contemporary del inquency, the stern

Rhadamanthus of the pol itical and of the l ite

world , the star of a benighted land, the lance a

the buckler of I srael

We ne’er shall look upon his l ike again .

‘ And sti l l why must I recal l (what I wou

fain obl iterate) the ever- painful fact—graven alas !

too indelibly on the stubborn tablets of his bio .

graph ers, chronicled in the annals of the cou

and , above all , firmly and fatally establ ished

the monumental record of his own ph ilanthro

munificence—the disastrous fact that ere this b

l iant l ight of our island was quenched in death,towards the close of the year 1 74 5, long before

that sad consummation, the flame h ad wavered

wild and fl ickered fitfully i n its lamp of clay,casting around shadows of ghastly form , and soon



that the J esu its had deserved wel l of the Republic

of Letters,he prints a translation of a short de

votional poem by an old schoolfellow of Prout’s‘ who entered the Order in 1 7 54 , and died a

missionary in Cochin China ’ the old sch oolfellobeing of course, the lone incumbent himself.

is called Don Ignacio Loyola’s Vigi l in the Chap

of our Lady of Montserrat

When at th y shrine, most holy maidT h e Spaniard hung his votive blade,And bared his helmed brow

Not that h e feared war’s visage grim,

Or that th e battle - field, for h imHad aught to daunt, I trow.

Glory h e cried,with thee I ’ve done

Fame ! th y bright theatres I shun ,T o tread fresh pathways now :

T o track T HY footsteps , Saviour God !With throbbing heart

,with feet unshod

H ear, and record my vow.

Yes, T HOU shalt reign ! Chained to th y throneT h e mind ofman thy sway shall own,And to its conqueror bow.

Genius his lyre to T heeshal l lift,And intellect its choicest giftProudly on T hee bestow.

’

T his from the translator of ‘ T h e Groves

Blarney ’ and ‘ T h e Night before Larry was

S tretched .

’

T here was in Father Prout a good


deal of Scarron and someth ing of Gresset, the

latter of whom he quotes at the open ing of his‘ Apology for Lent,

’ in which the bubb l ing I rish

humour of the Father comes out more wild ly than

in any of h is papers . Referring to his polyglot

edition of ‘ T h e Groves of B larney’ he describes

his own happ iest facu l ty as ‘ a rare comb ination

of the T eian lyre and the I rish bagpipe—oftheI onian dialect b lending harmoniously with the

Cork brogue,—an I rish potato seasoned with

Attic sal t . ’ T h e lyre and the bagpipe sound by

turns in the fol lowing address of the lone incum

bent’

‘ I do attach much importance to the act ofJames I .

, who in 1 6 1 9 issued a proclamat ion re

minding h is Engl ish subj ects ofthe obl igation ofkeeping Lent

,because his Maj esty ’s object is

clearly ascertained to have been to encourage the

traffic of his countrymen the Scotch , who had just

en embarked largely in the herring trade , and

r whom the thrifty Stuart was anxious to secure

a monopoly in the British markets . But when

in 1 6 2 7 I find the ch ivalrous Charles I . ,your

artyred king,sending forth from the Banqueting

ofWhitehall , his royal decree to the sameI am at a loss to trace his motives . I t is

hat Archb ishop Laud’s advice went to the


effect of reinstating many customs of Cathol icity,

but from a more d il igen t consideration of the sub

ject I am more incl ined to think that the Kingwished rather, by this display of austere practices,to soothe and concil iate the Puritanical portion ofhis subjects, whose rel ig ious notions were supposed

( I know not how justly) to have a tendency toself- denial and the mortifications of the flesh.

Certain i t is that the Calvinists and Roundheads

were greater favourites at B ill ingsgate than the

H igh - Church party from which we may conc

that they consumed more fish— a fact corrobo

by the contemporary testimony of Samuel B

who says that when the great s truggle c

menced

Each fish erwoman locked h er fish up,And trudged abroad to cry No b ishop

‘ I will only remark in furtherance of my

views,that the K ing’s beefeaters and the

mandising Caval iers of that period would 11

stand in fair fight against the austere and

Cromwellians.

‘ I t is a vulgar error of your countrymen

connect valour with roast - beef, or courage w

plum - pudding. T here exists no such assoc

and I wonder this national mistake has no

noticed by J eremy Bentham in his



grassh ill Carousal , that, by the l iberal use of Cork

names made in it, gave considerable offence in the

Father’s native town . But with none were more

l iberties taken than with that ofMr. Daniel Corbett.

One of the Father’s intimate friends wri tes to me 1

At the house of one especial friend of his I oftenused to meet him—this was Dan Corbett, senior,a dist inguished dent ist, a man of rare genius ,had he turned his abil ities to the stage

,

doubtedly have real ised a very large fortune,

so Prout often told me . He was an admira

comic actor, and repeatedly gave proofs of

genius on the boards of the Cork T heatre,charitable purposes . He was without a rival i

I reland as a comic s inger of rare and funn

songs— many of them his own composition . O

the whole, had he appeared at Drury Lane

Covent Garden , Corbett would have gained

nown , and a niche in the temple of fame.

his Rel iques,

” Mahony alludes to Dan Corb

as “ the hospitable dentist who never had

crackers on his tabl e,” for they would spoil

trade by saving the teeth of his guests . ’

Friar O ’

M eara’

s song,sung with the friar

’

s

eye on a succulent turkey apparent through t

1 Letter from Mr. James Murphy, ofLiverpool, to B .

December 1 7 , 1 8 74 .


itchen - door, is in the Father’s most roystering

Iein

Why, then , sure it was made by a learnedT h e ‘ ru le by which I beg,

Forbidding to eat ofth e tender fowlT hat hangs on yonder peg.

But, rot it no matterFor here on a platter

,

Sweet Margaret bringsA food fit for kingsAnd a meatClean and neatT hat’s an egg

Sweet maid,Sh e brings me an egg newly laid !And to fast I need ne’er be afraid,

For’

tis PegT hat can find me an egg.

Nostrfi. non est reguléEdenda gallina,Altera sed edula

Splendent in culinfiOva manus sedu laAffert mihi b ina !Est MargaritaQuae facit itaPuellarum regina !

We now turn from the Rel iques of the

raserian days c losed by the Ladye of Lee , to the

c liques of a later time which the jocund scholar

attered over newspapers and magazines while he.

K 2


l ived a lonely man,save when T hackeray bro?

i n upon him from London,or he met a

from across the Channel , by the T iber or tSeine .

Let us first tarry With the Padre on the ban

of the Seine.


CHAPT ER I I I .

M AH O N Y I N PAR I S .

T HE Rev. F rancis Mahony, or Father Prout,trudging along the Boulevards with his arms

c lasped behind him,his nose in the air, his hat

worn as French caricaturists ins ist al l Englishmen

wear hat or cap his qu ick , clear, deep - seeking eye

wandering sharply to the right or left, and sarcasm- not of the sourest kind— p laying l ike j ack - o

’

lantern in the corners of h is mouth . Father

Prout was as much a character of the F rench

capital as the learned Armenian of the Imperial

L ibrary only a few years ago . He was of those

voluntary exiles to the banks of the Seine who

loved their . Paris wel l , and was as much part of

Paris as Murger, Musset , P rivat d’

Anglemont,

Mery, the great T heo , LeSpes, Mouselet, Dr.

Veron , and a host of other notable strollers were

or are . Very scornfully,too

,did the Father look

down upon the later strol lers,for he cou ld carry


back his mind to the days of greater, more ear

nest men ,‘when l i terary warfare was waged by

soldiers with the souls of lofty gentlemen , andthe tailor’s son sang through the bars of Ste .

PelagieLisette seule a le droit de sourireQuand je lui dis : Je suis indépendant,Je suis, je suis indépendant.

I t Was difficult to meet Father Prout. Hewas an odd , uncomfortable , uncertain man . His

moods changed like Apri l skies . L ight

though ts were busy in h is brain,l ively and frisk

as ‘ troutlets in a pool . ’ He was impatient of

terruption , and shambled forward talking in

undertone to himself,wi th now and then a

or two of laughter, or one short Sharp laugh

a bark , l ike that of the marksman when the arrow

quivers in the bull ’s eye . He would pass you

with a nod that meant,

‘ Hold off—not to - day !

You had been with him in his en tresol of the Ru

des Moul ins over n ight, and had been dismi

in the small hours when he had had gos

enough . You had been charmed with the range

of his scholarship,the ease and raciness of his wit,

by the masterly Skil l with which he handled

l iterary tools , and the Shades of the best

good company whom he could summon


FINAL REL ICS OF FA THER PROUT.

old J esuit dress . When his brain was ful l -flowingto his tongue

,he would keep you under a tropical

sun by the Luxor obel isk, and tel l you when h efirst knew Paris

,and how he saw the scaffoldings

of the Rue Royale, and what historic pageants

had watched progress ing inwards and outwa

by the T u ileries . Apposite anecdote , qu

sounding phrase covering wretched l ittleness,

coats over muddy petty hearts : MonsieurT alleyrand , Beranger

’s a’e,everybody’s

Philippe and his mess , the poet- president and t

the nephew of somebody who l ives to rule

roast—better roast too,than Monsieur Chose

by contract for his guests— h a ! ha ! the Fat

laughed , unmindful of the heat—and h

on . Louis Phil ippe as U lysses ! the t

del ightful toy . U lysses , as Leech could draw

with bottle—nose,a cotton umbrel la under his

and a market basket in his hand , going ou

the Sunday dinner. T h e store of recolle

would gape wide,and i t would end with

‘ You ’ve nothing to do for an h our; have a c

And away to the Rue des Moul ins , one of those

grand ancient hotels * in which the Padre

l ighted . He was proud of his hotel , with

Jacobin atmosphere,and would have writhed w

expropriation ’ written upon the dear wal ls .

FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

T his Rue des Mou l ins and hereabouts,Father

Prout lOved—the Moul ins and the N ew S treet ofthe L i ttle F i elds of h is friend T hackeray, whom he

helped to perch in an apartment herein , before Mr.

T itmarsh had written h is book on Paris—a book,by

the way,which the Father called ‘ a very poor th ing

—poor, for T hackeray . A lso, the Father was a

difficult critic to please , when the subj ect was

Paris . We have stood together, looking at the

old T hackeray home,on the way to the famous

entresol, and hence the conversation has been led

far back to the days when Mr. T hackeray was a

young man,and the incumbent of Watergrasshil l

was his sen ior and l iterary mentor. T hey were a

curious pair to meet in after days , sal lying radian t

from T hackeray’s hostelry in the Place VendOme .

Both had grey hair ; and the si lver head of the

author of ‘ Vanity Fair,’ towered high above the

l ittle sharp face of the somet ime mentor, who had

given up literary ambit ion,and retired to thread

his beads of gold as they might rise to his fingers

for his evening -

paper. T ender memories held the

two together,and it was a hol iday to the Father

when a few lines of the fami l iar, handsome l ittle

hand , told h im that h is friend was round on the

P lace once more . Pass ing Vachette ’s ( i t was not

Breh aut’s then) after dinner one summer evening,


a voice cal led to me,Brandy - and -water T h

Father was seated in the shade, alone with h iiced water and carafon . Not a word of salutationno hand - shaking.

S it down .

’

I think T hackeray had just departed f

America,after the great banquet, whereof ther

was much talk,extending beyond literary circle

on account of the indiscret ion and tasteless pi

ture - painting of a correspondent for a provincipaper. I n paren thesis , I would ask what Esociety would say to an Adrien Marx ?

Father was naturally led to talk of his friend,the splendid fortunes that had waited at le

upon his genius . And so,back to the beg i

T h e mind, l ike the eye, loves a contrast ; a

shade,as a rel ief from the Shine. Hawth or

observes,in h is Blith edale Romance,

’ ‘ Huma

destin ies look ominous without some perceintermixture of the sable or the grav.

’ I f no

sable,surely of gray, enough was spread over

l ife of T hackeray .

‘ T h e sable overspread him ,

’ was about wh

the Father observed on this head I knew hi

well before you were born . I was h is domest

friend in the early t ime, and got the l ittle hou

together here for the young couple. ’ T h e eyes



put the women and the rest of i t in a S

and comfortable place . Before Maginn could

into the matter he must have sool. for deck

clearing.

’

T h e Father looked slyly round at me,seeming

to say,T h e old story, you see. La Oelle afaire,

this l iterary business

T his was a startl ing beginn ing ; but Maginn

was not to be had on any other terms . He was

the only available man at the time. You we

not born,remember. ’

T h e Father chuckled over the l ittle Scratch .

Now, there are so many geniuses , the difficult

would be in the choosing.

’

I ventured my little point the mulberries

that day are the blackberries of this . ’

T h e Father was somewhat prone to resen t

i nterruption of this kind,as an incursion on

province. No ; the blackberries , to a 5m

blackberry, bel ieve they are mulberries, but

are just fi t for gipsies ’ finger and thumb now,

blackberries were when the down was up

T hackeray’s chin . Maginns are not runni

about the market- places , though Pat Lardu

and the rest of them have veneered such a lot

ye . T h e impossibil ity of making a purse of si

out of a sow’s ear remains ; but, a plague on’

e

FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT . 1 43

they ’ve contrived a silk cover, and the ear passes

off unsuspected as the l in ing . T hackeray was

obliged to come to Maginn’

s terms . Maginn go t

his first hundred ; and where do you think I brought

them together

T hackeray, the young man of fash ion , and t/Ie

man of the position when a magazine was to be

started— I cou ld make no guess .‘ A t the Crown T avern , Vinegar Yard , Drury

Lane ! ’

I n Maclise’

s cartoon of writers in Fraser, anno

1 835 , Maginn is addressing the bri l l iant company

from the chair . T hackeray is four removed from

the president,between Percival Banks and Chur

A young man with plentiful hair, the deep

of the time, and a glass in one eye , general ly

with the mark of fashion upon h im— the parent of

the Yel low - Plush Papers faces h is old friend

Frank Mahony . And th is is how my old friend

of the Rue des Mou l ins looked , three - and - thirty

years ago I cou ld pick him out from the throng ,

as I could pick out Al lan Cunningham from the

close resemblance to his son Peter. J ust so must

the Father, with the merry l ip and the search ing

eye, have looked when al l the world was young to

him . I met and knew him in his after- glow here

he is in the noontide of h is fame, a man of greater


mark than the future author of ‘ Vanity Fa‘ T h e lone incumbent of Watergrasshil l ’ watc

tenderly over young M r. T hackeray,in his 1

’

go- cart days—when the fashionable you th

town thought it a great exploit and experience

get into the company of Maginn , and to be admit

to the mysteries of the publ ic - house in Vine

Yard . Prout, dating a preface to his Reliq

from Paris in 1 8 5 9 , observes that he knew

great Maclise in his boyhood . I t was in boyh

then , that Maelise fixed th e Father’s true feat

in enduring copper. ’

T h e meeting at the Crown ’ in Vinegar Y

was,of course, of earl ier date than the cartoon

Maclise ; for herein T hackeray is establ ished

tributor to ’ F raser,’

and is s itting at the b

with the sol id - browed Scot who is contri‘ Sartor Resartus

’

; and he may be taking

with Coleridge , who looks the oldest of

company.

‘ I t was a poor business , was the new magazin

the Father resumed , thinking leisurely over‘ I t wasn ’ t l ikely to

,get

‘

on .

’

T hen a

T hey quarrelled . People always fal l ou

failure . I t’s your fault, and i t’s mine

,and

t ’other man ’s over the way . Maginn wasn ’ t

easiest man in the world to deal with .


FINAL RELICS OF FATIIER PROUT .

dine without fish ; and on F ridays he stood by

colours by din ing on i t exclus ively. He alw

would maintain that the proper way of

yourself to small fish at least, such as red mul

of which he was passionately fond , whitings , her

rings, trout &c . , was with your fingers , as th eArabs dived ‘ into their savoury . mess of rice and

kabobs ; whilst with the larger ones he would use

spoons and forks of ivory, bone, or wood . He

submitted, for the Oiense’

ances, to a S i lver fork, towhich he objected almost as strongly as he did to

cold steel i tself. I t was a great treat when 0

got him well on to the subject of piscicultu

which he would discuss in all its bearings , from its

importance as an object of national wealth to its

beneficial bearings upon the public health, and its

moral significance in the sumptuary regulations of

the Roman Cathol ic Church .

‘ After dinner and his bottle of Volnay atVoisin ’s

,he was sometimes to be found in the fi

autumn evenings, s itting in front of the

R iche on the Boulevards . On such occ

were general ly seen wi th him some.

four of the leading men of letters of the

Engl ishmen almost invariably ; for, altho

spoke French to perfection , and co

own with h is F rench acquaintances, n

FINAL RELI CS OF FA THEE FE OUT . 1 47

spirituel and W i tty they might be, yet he was

more partial to the ir society during dinner than

afterwards . H is genial sp iri t never took to the

post - prandial coffee andpetit verre, and only came

thorough ly out as he mixed h is cognac and water,

sometimes hot, if the evening was at al l ch il ly,but general ly iced , as al l the world take it in Paris

in the fine season . Hot or co ld , however, the

premier garcon , who knew his way, put the ele

ment before him , with lemon and sugar, and a

smal l carafe of the finest velours, which the Padre

discussed at h is ease, over the space of a couple

of hours,when he would generally rise, sometimes

abruptly,without taking leave of h is friends

,and

gorhome to bed .

On one of those occas ions, during a very fine

October evening,when the Boulevards shone ou t

en fileine jouissance, as P rout was seated at his

accustomed table with T hackeray and a couple of

other friends,I happened to be stroll ing by

,and

as hai led by the party .

My friend Mr . Henry Smith , then mayor of

ambridge , as wel l as proprietor and editor of

he “ Cambridge I ndependent Press , was on a

1 After Mr. H . Smith ’s death, which took p lace some ten

ears back,th e Cambridge Independent,’ for which I wrote

L 2


visi t with me in Paris at the time , .and accompa

me in my strol l along the Boulevards . He

indeed what you migh t cal l b ig amongst big

lishmen , ih wel l - proportioned height and bu

being over six feet,and weighing not far short

twenty stone, with handsome regular features and

a wel l - shaped head—his whole appearance indi

cat ing what he really was, one of the most genial

and good - natured men in existence .

‘Whilst the garcon was looking out for a

chair large and strong enough to accommodate

friend—no easy matter—I presented him standto the group , as an Engl ish j ournal ist of hstanding, and the Pres ident of the Engl i sh

vincial Press Association—Mr. Smith , of

bridge.“ ‘ Not M r . Smith , of Cambridge ! repea

P rout on the instan t,in a tone ofmock indig

but M r . Smith,of England ! ” wh ich sudd

not inappropriate outburst of droll fancy cau

us all to laugh so loud that the occupants

the tables in our neighbourhood looked ro

at us,all anxious to ascertain what the fun

about

th e leading article s in Cambridge, London , and Parisnearly twenty years, reverted to th e family ofMr.Hatfield, th e original founder ofth e newspaper.



without the chance of c’claircissement or reconcil ia

t ion .

‘ A group of about a dozen jol ly and remark

ably substantial - looking Engl ish excursionists werepassing along i n front of us, and amongst themone of gigantic height and bulk, very l ike BenCaunt, if i t was not the veritable champion ofEland himself

,with his nose very l i ttle , if at

improved since the day i t was flattened in h

figh t with Bendigo or the Norwich T inman ,forget which .

“What a form idable - looking fellow !

claimed one of our party ; add ing the well -km

Monstrum h orrendum, informe, ingens

Cui nasus ademtus added Prout , instan

changing the end of the hexameter for h is purpose,so far happily, and remarking that, I f the giant

not get along, l ike Polyphemus , with his eye

his nose , or what was left of it, would be the b

of the T aliacosian operation .

”

T hen the Padre,dart ing one of his misch

vous looks at T hackeray over his spectacles ,“Overgrown humanity becomes additionally

spicuous with any damage or drawback to

countenance.

You allude personally to my height


bu lk and the misfortune which occurred to my

nose , I presume —said T hackeray looking

more serious than jocose at his tormentor.“ Not personal ly, in the sense you seem to

mean ,” answered Prout, “ but aesthetical ly. I never

heard from yourself how your great nasal accident

happened ; although I once heard a capita l Char

terh ouse joke about it—very funny, but of course

very apocryphal .”

T h e bridge of my nose, answered T h acke

ray,was smashed, pure ly and simply,in a fair

stand - up fight with another Charterhouse boy

and my beauty was so comp letely Spoi led that I

went by the name of ‘ T h e Cherub ’ as long as I

remained in the school afterwards .”

Poor fel low said Prout, real ly in sympathy

and , sure enough , i t was an awfu l smash

And now for the Charterhouse joke—praywhat may that have been about my nose ? ” de

manded T hackeray .

“Why, not that i t had been compromised in a

fight,but

Good heavens what else“ T hat you fel l and stood on it !

Of course ,’

all present laughed hearti ly at the

absurdity of the idea,excepting the victim , who ex

1 5 2 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

claimed against its being a Charterhouse joke ba blundering I rish one.

Well , they say,” said Prou t, returning to

charge—and not rel ishing the home- thrust ab

the blundering I rish joke— “ that in your scdays your legs looked so long and so out of

portion with your torso, that the onlt onderw

they did not trip each other up and compromi

you more frequently than they did

Another laugh at T hackeray ’s expense

of us could resist it) who coloured up highly,looking in his opponent’s face, sai d very deli

rately

Rudis indigestaque moles

Rua’is, if you choose , and since you are

sensitive,” cried out Prout “ although I co

have meant to be rude, when I said tha

version of your nasal accident was only aan apocryphal one . As to being an ‘

um

heap of matter,’ I shall only return the c

ment in a very different spirit, and hope

put you in a different humour . For the Ovidi

quotation which you apply to my case , I prefer to .

apply the Virgi l ian one to your own

Mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet

You are more long- headed than lon


1 54 FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

trouble of a gesture of recognition . At intervalsold famil iar faces beamed upon him as he entered

,

friends of the long t ime ago, passing to or fromthe continental hol iday. M r . Browning would :

suddenly appear, homeward bound from London.

Admirable were the caricatures of M r. Browning,

senior,who dwelt in Paris , and died there a few

years ago,according to the Father. When Prout

was pondering a new edition of the ‘ Rel iques,

’

that of 1 8 5 9 , we find him in communication with

he great man who wrote P ippa Passes . ’

‘ From F lorence,’ the ‘ lone incumbent ’ writes,

the poet Browning has sent for th is editio

l ines lately found in the E uganeian H ills,on a marble slab that covered the bones of

d’

Abano, held in his age to be an astrologer

Studiando le mie cifre con compasso,Rilevo ch e saropresto sotto terra

Perche delmio saper si fa gran chiasso,E gl i ignoranti mi hanno mosso guerra.

‘ Of which epitaph the poet has supp l ied

vernacular rendering verOatim

Studying my ciphers with th e compass,I find I shall be soon under th e daisy ;

Because ofmy lore folks make such a rumpus,That every dull dog is thereat unaisy .

’

T h e l i terary sympathy between the

FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT . 1 5 5

Browning and the translator of Beranger and

author of the Bells of Shandon ’ is explained in

this bit of correspondence .

T h e translation del ighted the Father, who

thereupon launched into h is own theory of trans

lation . He held that ‘ in the clear fai lure of one

language to el ic it from its repertory an exact

equivalent, i t becomes not only proper but impera

tive (on the law principle of cestui apre‘

s in case

of trusts) to fal l back on an approx imate word oridea of kindred import, the interchange in vocabu

lary showing at times even a balance in favour of

the substitute, as happens in the ordinary course

of barter on the markets of the world . He

(Prout) qu ite abhorred the clumsy servil ity ofadhering to the letter whi le al lowing the spirit to

evaporate ; a mere verbal echo, distorted by

natural unfructuositie s, g ives back neither the tonenor qual i ty of the original voice

,whi le the ease

and curious fel ic i ty of the primitive utterance is

marred by awkwardness and effort ; spontaneity

of song being the qu intessence,spontaneity is that

which is the charm of Prout ’s work in the way of

translation . He waited ti l l the corresponding

idea came . I n h is ‘ Rel iques,

’ and in his news

paper correspondence,there are hundreds of bits

of happy inspiration,for h is translation was inspi


rat ion , witness his songs of France, whether ofM illevoye , De Vigny, or Beranger . Drops of his

scholarly humour in this way beaded the brim ofhis sparkl ing letters .

T h e manner in which these letters for his

paper were produced was as original as the ma

of them . T hey were put together l ike mosai

or l ittle scraps of paper,bi t by bit

,a t int being

added wherever he could pick i t up on his daily

saunterings . T h e gossip of the day never fail

to stir something good out of the full caldron

his brain . AS he kept his pot- au -feu, his

h is olla poa’ria

’a , call it what you will , s

'

in the Rue des Moul ins , so he treated his bra

adding and sti l l adding to the rare contents,that the hazard of the fork was never risked wi

out bringing something good to the surface. I

take an example at random ; i t appeared in th e

Globe ’ in 1 8 50 .

T h e Father is roused by a foreign jargon .

‘un

Engl ish in sound as well as s ignificance,’ ab

rescript,’ enthronisation ,

’ ‘ j ubilee ,’ and

S ince i t appears they are to become ‘ household

words in merry England,’ they must be und

s tood . T h e Father takes up the pall ium , and

is at home,merry with the wealth of erudition

can easily throw about the subj ect . He premi



as the Father shows when in Henry I . ’s time, h is

Archbishop of York got over head and ears indebt to buy a pall ium .

’

T h e pall ium is a ‘ purely

mundane affair,’ a ‘ regular bi t of fancy costume

,

and not to be confounded with pious usages inany way .

’

T h e Father is bold that i t shou ld besough t for so eagerly by sensible old men is only

proof of human flunkeyism.

’ I t Shrivelled fromthe folds of a robe into the proportions of a garter

,

as i t appears in the armorial emblems and official

seal of Armagh , Canterbury, and Dublin . T he

following is one of the Father’

s happy uses ofapropos knowledge

T here stands about a mile outside the Po

P ia,on the road to T ivoli, an old convent 0

attached to the sti l l more ancient ch urch of

Agnes . T hese nuns are poor, and rarely do any

of Rome’s high - born damsels enter the Cloister of

this lonely and neglected s isterhood . T hey havegot a small paddock attendant to the monastery

,

'

and therein keep a couple of sacrednecessarily of the merino breed , but stil l

and happy ministrants of their wool for the texture

of this noble decoration . T h e sisters spin it,not

by any new- fangled jennies, but on the oldarchal spindle, and weave it in a loom of

the pattern might date from the days of Pen

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT. 1 59

Doubtless these s imp le -minded and angel ic vestals

feel inward happiness in the thought of working

out an ornament for the chosen champions of their

Church a feel ing akin to what in feudal ages

animated the bosom of fair spinsters , who wove a

scarf for some cherished and select model of

chivalry

Emblem bright which to embroiderWhile h er knight wasfar away,

Many a maiden hath employed h erFairy fingers night and day.

‘ No one wi l l be so unreasonable as to quarre l

ith the Pope for decorating any Engl ishman with

pal l ium , especial ly as he no longer pockets the

allows i t to go for the support of these

or nuns . ’

T h e Father, on the creation of S ir J . Brooke

s rajah of Sarawak, continues—wel l , not in therdinary our own correspondent ’ s tyle T h e

of the F lowery Land may make Dr.

of Hong Kong a first chop Mandarin,senting the doctor with a sp lendid button

,

ough both these happy gentlemen would see

e propriety of a reference to their own sovereign

the occasion . Mr. Roebuck ’s constitutional

sees noth ing, even in the creation of a West

ster mitre by a foreign prince,to warrant the

FI IVAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

notice of our Queen .

’

T h e Father is ready

the member for Sheffield Upon that point thefollowing aphorism of old Guicciardini seems tous worthy of recol lection :

“ He that bears one

blow at an enemy’s hand asketh another, and hethat endureth one contemptible neglect from h issubj ect shall be sure of many . For not to havesense of a foreign affront and be displeased at

home - bred abuses, and capable to redress both,are things much derogating from the honouprince ; the first argues a pusil lan imi ty of

the other a debil ity of judgment. He,that will not be wronged a second t ime

remedy the first, against a stranger by the 1

against a subject by the law .

”

As far back as 1 833, the Father boaste

he knew the F rench character thoroughlywas not tired of studying its manifestations

than a quarter of a century later . I don ’t th

his Opinions in the main were modified by

latter daily studies . T h e French , among

he was happy, were always to h im a nat

bright ch ildren , ‘ possessing al l the frol icsome

wildness, all the playful attractiveness o

pleasant epoch in l ife, but deficient in the

faculties of dispassionate reflection .

’ He p

his opin ion with his p lentifu l learning.



J esu its, and fumbles amongst their inexh austibl

treasures . ’

T h e sneer and short laugh , the flash of th

sharp eyes,and the impat ient gesture and the rud

tongue punished the audacious meddler with

theme. T h e Father was ready to bury h im

a mountain of books the dabbler had never 5

He ran h is tongue along the bright rol l of na

which had issued from the desks of the

Forth from their college of Dijon , in B

came Bossuet to rear h is mitred front at th

of a despot and to fl ing the bolts of his trem

oratory among a crowd of elegant volu

T hey cradled the genius of Corneille. Mol i

was the fruit of their class ic guidance .

D’

Olivet, Fontenel le, Orebillon ,Le F ranc

Pompignan—there is scarcely a name knownl iterature during the seventeenth century wh

does not bear testimony to their prowess in

province of education—no profession for wthey did not adapt their scholars . ’ T h e Fainexhaustible. He remarks that Frangois

i ssued from their col lege of Louis le Gran

that they l ittle knew to what purpose the

quent ‘ Voltaire would convert his

Voltaire ! Of Voltaire—ofnone soand strikingly did Father Prout


vis itors— they were rare—wh o penetrated his

entresol. And assured ly there never ‘was a

comp leter F renchman than Monsieur FrangoisArouet. Our friend had the F renchman ’s play

fulness also when he l iked . I turned with him

into a bye - street from the Rue de R ivol i one

evening— somewhere behind the Oratory Church .

He had stepped as ide from our direct path to

have a gossip with an humb le housewife with whose

boy and girl he appeared to be on terms of the

most cordial intimacy . T h e poodle T oto bounded

after him and l icked his hands wh i le he made

his inqu iries about h is young favourites , who were

at school . On another occasion h e tapped at the

window of a house . T here was an ins tant com

motion within . T h e fami ly was that of a journey

man watchmaker, and the Father was a friend of

theirs,and he handed his watch in through th e

window to be regulated .

But in London Father Prout showed his

kindly side . I was a boy when I first met h im .

He was del ighting in the society of a crowd of law

and other students who had formed a discuss ion

club . He looked alittle grim now and then among

us, he who had supped with Coleridge and Southey ,and been a guide to T hackeray in his youth . He

was generous, however, fu l l of spirits , bubbl ingM 2

1 64’


over with anecdote and i l lustration ; in Short,he

had that touch of the boy in him which has been

marked so Often in men of the highest stamp .

He laughed his heart iest at our debates,warmed

his heart I think in the fire of our youth,showed

a most affect ionate interest in any among us who

gave the least promise of intellectual excellence,

and in a discussion manifested that amiabil ity

wh ich’

a .big dog shows to a l ittle one .

I never met Father Prou t by Galignani’

s or

by the Café Cardinal , or in the Café Vaudeville

on the P lace de la Bourse ( then the café of many

newspaper correspondents) , that he did not, ifwe fell into a chat, ask how the ‘ boys ’ were

getting on . He had chosen a few from the hun

dred,and he held his impression of them fast

,as

he held the learning which he never ceased to

accumulate .

I was not in Paris when he died,but I have

heard of his clos ing days from an accomplished

American lady who sat often at h is bedside,

brigh tened some of his last hours , and bore with

his roughnesses, knowing that they were as much

an inseparable part of him as the brain that lay

under the thinly- scattered snow flakes of his age .

Sometimes he would greet her, and bid his

gracious vis itor talk with him . Sudden ly she was


FI IVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

throat being severely affected but he constantly

wrote his wishes upon a slate kept at his hand .

By his own desire he saw the Rev. F . Lefevre,

the Superior of the J esui ts , and he wrote to the

Abbé Rogerson,of S t. Roch , to come to him ;

and the latter remained with him after he had

received th e last Sacraments of the Cathol ic

Church, unti l he died .

1 H is remains were borne

to Cork,and l ie by the Bells of Shandon .

’

POS TS CRIPTI

[Having finally appl ied to M r . Sheehan for a

few ‘ Last Words ’ on the Padre ’s l iterary career

and original training,knowing that he had pecul iar

opportuniti es of being intimately acquainted with

both , he has been good enough to favour me with

the fol lowing M emoraéilia on the subject, which

form a fitting postscrip t to his agreeable souvenirs

of our bril l ian t and singularly gifted friend . B . J.]

Inner T emple,June 1

,1 8 7 5 .

Dear S ir, - I have much pleasure in acceding

to your request to let you have a frank expression

1 Letter from Mr . T . Woodlock, ofUplands, Monkstown,

Dublin,Mah ony

’

s nephew, to B . J . January 1 1 , 1 8 7 5 .


of my opinion on the genius and writings of our

deceased friend Mahony, as wel l as what I know

and think worth relating of h is early train ing and

education,to enab le you to measure h is pecu l iar

school,and account for the more s ingu lar features

of his bril l iant original i ty .

‘ I accord with your wishes the more readily

as,in the first p lace, you express your confidence

in me that, having had the experience of a Univer

sity career, after finish ing my primary educationat a J esu it col lege , I shou ld, from such an independent and advanced standpoint, be enab led to

form a more impartia l as wel l as more competent

judgment in the matter than if i t had been my

destiny to have begun and ended my academic

education with the Ratio S tua’iorum of the J esuits .

I n the second p lace, from the c ircumstance of

having worked in the same fields of class ic humour

on which he has left h is more enduring mark , you

give me credit for appreciating more accurately

than the pass ing reader the high character of the

,l iterary rel iques he has left beh ind h im . And

final ly it is understood between us that I am not

expected to write an elaborate review or essay, but

simply jot down a few frank and s incere remarks,

given as if in conversation with a friend,without

any formal premeditation of the subject.

1 68 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT

Wishing you all the success which your

undertaking merits,and feel ing confident that our

world of Engl ish l iterature sympathises with theobject you have in View of rescu ing from future

obl ivion the biographical and l iterary memorabilia

of a name which claims an honoured place amongst

the most brill iant littérateurs of our century.

I am dear S ir,Yours faithfully

,

‘ J OHN SHEEHAN .

‘ BLANCHARD JERROLD,E SQ .

’

Familiar M emoraéilia oftne Writings, Genius and

E ducation ofFatéer Prout.

Ut premerer sacré‘

.

Lauroque, collatfique myrto,Non sine Dis animosus infans

HOR. Aa’

Calliopen .

T h e most interesting moments of Mah ony’

s

l ife were when he first opened a Latin grammar

in Cork , to prepare for the priesthood, for he was“ dedicated to the altar from his childhood and

when he went to London some quarter of a century

afterwards .

Had his parents been imbued with more


1 7 0 FINAL RELI C'

S OF FATHER PROUT .

perfection, was, without any exaggeration , marvellous .

‘ Among such enfants cl’

esprit his rare acquire

ments and j ovial original ity made him at once

popular. and his rich l iterary resources were in

ful l requ is ition . Breathing such an exciting at

mosph ere ,amidst such fascinating employments

and companions , he wove his Parnassian wreaths

instead of composing his homi lies, and changed

the smoke of the incense and the sacerdotal

chal ice for the fumes of the Virgin ian weed a“ the cup that cheers ” but we cannot always 5

inebriateth not . I t was not, of course, to

expected that a dissolution between him and

uncongenial Order should not,however it

brought about, have taken p lace before I

Here I should say that he never underwent

ep iscopal censure, that he never was on

friendly terms with his ecclesiastical superi

who simply thought that he had mistaken,dishonoured , his profess ion and that I am

of his having performed without any probiimpl ied or posi tive , different sacerdotal functions

different periods of his l ife, afterwards .‘ T h e most popu lar of the polyglot composi

tions in the Prou t Papers was that which firs t

al l attracted the attention , not

FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT . 1 7 1

readers general ly, but of al l who in this country

receive the ordinary education of a pub l i c school .T his was T h e Groves of B larney

,the original

words of which were written by a celebrated con

vivialwit in h is day , Dick M ill igan ,1 of Cork

,and

were introduced into Lord Glengall’

s farce of

T h e I rish T utor ,” by the famous actor of comic

I rish_parts

,T yrone Power . When the c lassi c

curios ity, as c lever as it was amus ing, first appeared

( see second Prout Paper,“ F raser’s Magaz ine ” for

Apri l 1 83 i t was interwoven with a serio - comic

prose rhapsody in praise of p i lgrimages , the gis t of

the story being a p i lgrimage to the B larney

stone by the old pastor of Watergrassh il l and

nox

less a personage than S ir Walter Scott . T hree

ver31ons, in Latin , Greek, and F rench , were given

in paral lel columns,alongside the original words

,

of which the Lat i n and French were by Prout,

and the Greek by F rank Murphy, of the T emp le ,afterwards the Serjeant and Commissioner in

ruptcy . T h e French was cons idered to

the h ighest in order of merit, the Greek

and the Latin th ird . I t was thought bythe leading cri tics of the time that the whole pro

duction would have been sti l l more perfect, as a

1 T h e author also of‘ Saint Patrickwas a Gentleman,

’

a songofequal popularity with Th e Groves ofBlarney.

’


piece of classic drollery,had the Lat in and Fre

rhymes been adapted to the metre and air of

old canticle . T h e Greek version being in rhym

anacreonti cs , at once fai thful and spirited, and

one ever dreaming of s inging the language ofT eian

,as German and other Continental students

chaun t Lat in verses ,1 and even Engl ish do French ,Murphy ’s performance was deemed all that could

be des ired . T h e Serj eant, en fiassant, was the

best writer in his day of Greek anacreont ics at

Clongowes Wood and T rini ty College, Duh l

T here were three more s imilar odes contribute

by him to the earl ier Prout Papers,

” as Fran

Creswell , of Furnival’s I nn

,which the Pad

acknowledged— although not intell igibly enough

the unin itiated—as wel l as that he was indebtto the young barrister for the chief portion of. thereport of the Watergrasshil l Carousal . He inti

mates moreover in terms about which there can

be no mistake,that the rhyming Latin Sapphic

version of Campbell ’s “ Battle of Hohenl inden ”

was Frank Creswell ’s ; and even if he had not,the difference in style from his own would disclose

the fact that,on the point of fidel ity alone, it did

’

1 Gaucleamus zgz'

tur, juvenes, a

’um samus ‘E a

’

ite,

conviviales D ulce cum soa’aliéus sapit vim/m éonunz

&c .



justly called, as far as Lat ini ty may be regarded ,“ the modern Horace, the three next in lyrical

rank were Camirius,Hossch ius, and Wallius.

Vanniere ,their best writer of hexameters , and

au thor of the beautiful poem of the Prcea’iumRus

ticum. I always though t deserved a Cambridge

edition as much as Casimir,and that he ought to

be much better known in our world of scholarship

than he is .‘ T h e best of the Continental modern Latin

poets are not to be found enrolled in the Order of

the J esuits . Vida,Archbishop of Cremona

,the

author of “ T h e Christiad ” and “ T h e Silkworm

( the translation of the latter by Prout, one ofhis best

performances) had just gone off as the J esuits

were coming on Sannaz aro, a Neapol itan gentle

man attached to the court of F rederick of Arra

gon , who wrote D ePartu Virginis, and Fracastor1

who invested even such an otherwise repulsiv

subj ect as the M oréus Gallicus with the most

quisite graces of the Latin muse, both flourisin the century before Ignatius of Loyola found

his institution . Cardinal Polignac,2 wh o publ ish

1 Hallam prefers h im as a poet to Vida and Sannanotfor th e construction ofhis verse, butfor his brilliantceptions.

2 T h e unfortunate minister ofCharles th ehis origin from th e same old stock. T h e card


in'

1 74 7 his“ Anti - Lucretius (a poem which Pro

fessorT yndal l wou ld do wel l to read in the originalLatin

,un less he shou ld prefer the excel lent trans

lation of i t by M . de Bougainvi l le) was not aJesu it ; nor did he attain such excel lence as a

writer of Latin hexameters in any of their col

Speaking of the cardinal ’s education and

scholarship,I am reminded of the fact that abou t

this epoch the c lasses at the J esu it col leges

a great fal l ing off as regards not on ly the

s but the rank of the students in H umanity .

and the Port- Royal i sts , when the Orderwith Rome

,as it has ever done , against the

nists and the l iberties of the Gal l ican Church ,exposed its dangerous and despotic system of

logical casu istry in Lou is Quatorze ’s time .

generation l iving during the earl ier years

Lou is Quinze ’s reign had begun to forget much

its obnoxiousness ; and the generation coming

had nearly forgotten al l about i t. T hen

events,wh ich cannot be blotted out of their

ory, took p lace, and which sent them down

hill in the publ ic estimation faster and faster every

ofVoltaire ’s,and th e obj ect ofhis work was at once

th e atomi c theory ofth e old Roman poet, and th erialism ofth e encyclopedists.


’

day, until at length they were expelled from Franceby a decree of the K ing and Parl iament ( 1 7 6 2 )brough t abou t by their great enemy the ministerChoiseul , additionally instigated to effect theirdownfall by the Marqu ise de Pompadour

,on

account of their endeavours to put an end to h erintercourse with the K ing. During the period

ranging Over the second and third quarters of the

last century, the Order appears to have paid more

attehtion to court and pol itical intrigue than

l iterature and the circle of the sciences and,even

whilst i t retained i ts sacerdotal character and

col legiate status , to have mixed i tself very largely

and unworthily with trade and commerce. I t natu

rally fel l back therefore from the h igh intel lectual

position it had previously maintained and

at length the governments of France, Spain ,Portugal made a clean sweep of it from t

dominions , i ts scholarship seems to have

snuffed out, not only from Wes tern Europe,'

from the world altogether. When it waspressed by the rescript of Pope Clement X I

1 7 73, the Fathers of the Order became missionaries through Asia

,Africa, and America, and

were to be found again on a few European spots ,fol lowing their usual metier of coll

tion , about the end of that century.



altogether by the F rench Revolutionary Army,

under Dumouriez .

T h e exiled Belgian Fathers found a munificent protector in Mr. T homas Weld, of Lulworth

Castle, one of the most ancient and wealthy

Roman Cathol ics in the United K ingdom,who

bestowed upon them his mansion and demesne of

S tonyh urst, in Lancashire .

‘ I n less than twenty years afterwards theOrder purchased the splendid residence, with

about three hundred acres of land attached to it,

of Castle Brown , in the county of Kildare, g iving

i t the ancient tit le Clongowes Wood, which it had

enjoyed before the Brown family came into posses

s ion of the property.

T h e Engl ish and I rish branches of the Order,the former about eighty, and the latter about :

s ixty years in existence, have pursued an ex

tremely quiet and inoffens ive course, attending

exclusively to the education of the sons of our

Roman Cathol ic upper classes, and caring as l ittle

abou t making a figure in the l iterature of the outer

world as for mingl ing in the rel igious controver

s ies or party pol i tics of the country.

T h e somnolency of S tonyhurst in intellectual

movement may be fairly measured by the evidence

that was el ic ited concerning its ratio stua’iorum

FIIVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT 1 7 9

from some of its alumni, during the great trial of“ T h e C laiman t ” I t certain ly can boast ofhavingoriginally educated R ichard Shei l , who , however,graduated subsequently at T rinity Col lege

,Dubl in

,

ne of the most bri l l iant orators of h is day and

ced an able and accompl ished writer and

er in the person of T homas Wyse— the

r of whom the British pub l ic of every rel i

creed were p leased to see’

advanced to the

of our Legation at Florence , and the latter

to a corresponding pos ition of dignity at Athens .

I know no other distinguished man in arts or

arms,in l i terature or the learned profess ions

,

whose education th e Lancashire establ ishment

can c laim since its foundation .

ClongowesWood can boast of not afew namesich stand high in the Honour Lists of T rin ity

llege , Dub l in , and afterwards amongst the

of the I rish Bar, and the Dubl in Faculty

Medic ine . T h e difference in the resu lts ofeducational training at these J esu it col leges Ie to be fairly owing to the fact that the

rich and respectable professional and mercant i le

ses of th e I rish Roman Catho l ics,a working

who depend on their brains for getting on in

go to Clongowes, and in many, i f not mos t

es , to T rin ity Col lege afterwards,whi ls t

N 2


the sons of the Roman Cathol ic nobles , baroneand superior landed gentry generally, not alo

Engl ish but I rish , go to S tonyh urst, and toUniversity afterwards—just as the sons of

upper ten thousand of the Engl ish E stablis

Church are sent to T rini ty, Cambridge,Christ Church , Oxford, these colleges being

sidered more comme ilfaut and gen tlemanlythe other col leges of the two great EnUniversities .

‘ All this has reference, more or le ss, to

learning of the Order general ly, of which Prout

the credi t of having drunk deep , from his p

mortem biographers in the Reviews and

zines,as well as to L iterature and the J

in part icular, his s ixth paper of the F ras

series , the subj ect of which he treated

cleverly, and which , without accusing him of

partial affect ion , he made the most of, going

however, very far into the history of th

i l lustrate his panegyric . He has told

of the l iterary or learned career of the J esu its

ever so many generations back . How could

T h e successors of the learned Fathers

wrote the works he speaks of in prose and v

as wel l as left behind them such last ing

ments of class ic learning as



of Addison ’s works, “ is what may be called

good breeding of poetry, as i t g ives a cer

gracefulness which never forsakes a mind t

contracted i t in youth, but is seldom or never

by those who would learn it too late .

An acquaintance with the class ics , be it ea

or late , cannot be achieved without its eleme

foundation having been first securely laid .

did not study his rudiments under the mi

and gentl e class system of the J esuits , bu t got

them by heart, in fear and trembl ing, under a

Munster pedagogue, who firs t put a Latin grammar

in his hand when about seven years of age, and

Greek one about a year and a half afterwaT hose were the men , those Munster teachers ,the Cork ones 1 especial ly

,who would have t

elementary business done to perfection . Any o

who shirked it , no matter what his age, S ize,condit ion , was safe to have i t wel l flogged ih im .

A fter some four or five years of this pe

train ing—and what a deal of the junior class icsmust have had dril led into him during that time,

1 Maginn’

s father,wh o kept th e first school in Cork,wasofthem upwards offifty years ago. T h e Doctor assisted infamous academy for some years

,previous to his

London .


an age when,if of a good constitution , and rightly

handled,a youth can do as much brain work in

a week as in a month afterwards— the tiny Cork

school - boy was sent to the J esu it College at

Amiens,at the same early age as his precocious

and bri l l iant fellow - townsman Maginn entered the

Dub l in Un ivers ity, namely in his th i rteenth year .

Of course,the well - dri l led and precocious l i ttl e

fel low jumped up at h is firs t term ’s examination to

the head of his school or class , and kept i t ti l l the

end of his Humanity career. With emu lation at

the prow ,

‘ and confidence at the helm , he sailed

over the azure waters wh ich flowed for h im

gently and as smooth as a summer lake ; or,d uring th is, the p leasantest period of h is p leasant

l ife,he gallopped along the floweriest of paths

and over the springiest of courses , l ike that which

Atalanta bounded along in A rcadia, or the old

four- mi le one of his native Curragh . T h e J esu its

turned him out, not so much a bril l iant spec i

men of their train ing, as a bright,particular

,

and self- i l luminated star. T heir class ic course

gave h im l i ttle or no trouble, and occup ied not

anyth ing l ike the hours he devoted to study. He

read the most Out- ofth e rway works, and devoured

every sort of knowledge he cou ld lay his hands

on .

“ T h e Learning'

ofthe J esu its , indeed


“ S tat nominis uméra —all that had passed

away long and many a year before his pupilage atAmiens and the Rue de Sevres . T hen , as now

,

the Order took no lead in the world of intellect ;but was satisfied to enjoy its rich inheritance

,t

renown of bygone years , the reflection of i

former greatness .‘ Prou t’s great facil ity of Latin compositio

which surprised his l iterary friends in themencement of his London career, was to

counted for by his having been accustomed to

speak and argue in Latin during the years i t took

him to go through his logic , philosophy, and theo

logy schools in the Seminary of the Rue de

Sevres , where it was the language of thesis and

discussion . At the same . t ime, although it

enabled him to have Latin and even the choicest

of modern Lat in at h is fingers ’ ends,

.it would not

have made him an elegant Latin verse writer,which one cannot be without constant reading

from an early age of the Augustan poets, com

mitting their choicest passages to memory,and

endeavouring to conceive and compose in their

cl ass ic idiom and manner. He had gone through

all this in h is Humanity course at Amiens, as the

students at every other J esuit college, successfully

or unsuccessfu l ly, went through it ; or as th e


1 86 F IIVAL RELI CS OF . FA THER PROUT .

these outpourings of his fert i le muse wi thout

scarcely an exception . T hey consist of thesongs of F rance and I taly, the crime de la cre

’

me

of the Horatian odes, Vida’s S i lkworm,

”

Vaniere’

s“ Parrot,”a goodly selection from Sar

bieski, Sannaz aro , Buchanan , Beza, &c . ( into

Engl ish) ; such specimens, grave and gay, of ourown songs as “ T h e Burial of S i r J ohn Moore

,

”

(his enefcl’

muvre) T om Moore’s “ Shamrock ” and

Go where Glory waitsthee ,” “ T h e Groves of

Blarney,”

&c . ( into French) .“ T h e Groves ” he

turned also into I tal ian rhymes , precisely to the

same metre, which , although composed late in l ife,I think one of the best things of the kind he ever

did . I ndeed, I have heard more than one well

educated I tal ian declare i t to be perfection .

I t has been said over and over again that it

requires a poet totranslate a poet worthily that

he who would transplant the foreign flowers suc

cessfully into h is nat ive soi l must not only be amaster of his language, but be endowed with the

poetic spirit as well ; and Pope and Dryden are

always adduced as instances proving, by their

famous translations of the two greatest poets of

antiquity, the truth of the proposition . I am

afraid the theory does not hold good in all or even

in most cases take that for examp le of our Engl ish


translators of Horace , some of whom have done,al though on ly in detached portions , thei r work

well , without having ever produced anything ori

ginal of their own worthy of being cal led a poem .

One of the best of these H oratian translators,

indeed we th ink the best of them,i s the latest,

Mr. T heodore Martin . He has done the odes

with great sp iri t and fidel ity ; yet one has never

heard of him as a poet—ofhaving done anythingoriginal of such merit as would entitle h imto suchcons ideration .

Prout’s original writings in verse may be put

in a very smal l space . but what few there are'

entitle him to no undistinguished p lace in our

p oetic firmament . I al lude,of Course, to h is more

serious subj ects , h is treatment of which p lace h im

at al l events in the first rank of the vers a’e socie

’

te’

writers of h is day ; and one of them ,

“ T h e Mis

tletoe ,” p laces h im

,I th ink

,far above them al l . T h e

symbol ical connection obe tween the myst ic p lant and

the coming of Christian ity he dec lares to have

heard sung in an old note] or Christmas carol once

i n Bretagne,where tradition gave the credit of the

fancifu l theory,so charming in thought and senti

ment, to a Breton divine, the greatest if not always

the most orthodox scholastic ph i losopher of h is day.

T his was none other than the accomp l ished but un

1 88 FLYAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

fortunate Abelard, wh o used to mix up diamond

in order of merit I would place his Redbrms t of

Aquitan ia,

” a ballad ofgre at path os on th e loss of

follow th e poet’ s steamboa t in the waters ofth e

mise. Th e Lad y of Lee ” comes next, a love laymore sensuous than spiritual, which, when indul

ging in its pass ionate conceptions ,one can very well

dota l vows , ifhe had not reason to repent them asbi tterly as th e young pries t of Cybele

‘

, orth e above

men tioned Peter Abelard himsel! T hen T h e

Legend ofArethusa,” addressed in a diffe ren t spirit

to Mrs . M ilner Gibson, a t ribu te ofclass ic refine

proudes t lady in th e land might feel proud. He

wrote a beautiful poetic address to Dickens from

abroad when th e great novelist of the future edited

th e opening numbers of Bentl ey’s Miscellany.

"


1 90 F IN/1L RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

And a rod from his robe h e drew’Twas a withered boughT orn long ago

From th e tr unk on which it grew.

But th e branch long tornShowed a bud new born ,

T hat h ad blossomed there anew.

T hat wand was y esse’

s rod,’

Symbol , ’

tis said,

OfH er,th e Maid

Yet Mother ofour God !

A Priest ofEgypt sat meanwhileBeneath his palm tree hid,

On th e sacred brink ofth e flowing N ile,And there sawmirrored

,

’midT al l obelisk and shadowy pileOfponderous pyramid,

One lowly, lovely, Lotus plant,Pale orphan ofth e flood

And long did that aged hierophantGaz e on that beauteous bud

Forwe ll h e thought as h e saw it floatO

’

er th e waste ofwaters wi ld ,On th e long remembered cradle boat,Ofth e wondrous H ebrew child

Norwas that lowly lotus dumbOfa mightier Infant still, to come,

Ifmystic skiffAnd hieroglyph

Speak aught in Luxor’s catacomb .

I I I .

A Greek sat on Colonna’s cape,

In his lofty thoughts alone,

FINAL REL/CS OF FA THER PROUT. 1 9 I

And a volume lay on Plato’

s lap,

For h e was that lonely one 3And oft as th e sageGaz ed o ’

er th e pageH is forehead radiant grew 5For in Wisdom’s womb ,Ofth e world to come

A vision blest his view .

H e broached that theme in th e AcademeOfth e teachful ol ive grove

And a chosen few that secret knewIn th e Pore/2

’

s dim alcove:

A Syéz’

l sat in Cumae’s caveIn th e hour ofinfant Rome,

And h er vigil kept and h er warning gaveOfth e H oly One to come .

’Twas sh e wh o cul led th e hallowed branch

,

And silent took th e helm,

When h e, th e Founder-Sire, would launch

H is bark o’

erHade s ’ realmBut chief sh e poured h er vestal sou lT hrough many a bright illumined scrol l,

By priest and sage,Ofan after age ,

Conned in th e lofty Capz'

fol.

A D ruid stood in th e dark oak woodOfa di stant northern land,

And h e seemed to hold a sickle ofgoldIn th e grasp ofhis withered hand

And h e moved h im slowly round th e girthOfan aged oak to see

1 9 2.

FINAL RELICS OF FAYH ER PROUT .

Ifan orphan plant ofwondrous b irthH ad clung to th e old oak tree .

And anon h e kne lt, and from his beltUnloosened his golden blade,

T hen rose and culled th e M '

st/efoe

Under th e woodland shade .

O blessed bough , meet emblem thouOfall dark Egypt kn ew.

Ofall foretold to th e WIS8 ofold,T o Roman, Greek, and y ew.

And long, God grant, time- honoured plant,Live we tosee thee hung

In cottage small,as in baron ’s hall

,

Banner and shie ld amongT hus fitly rule th e mirth ofYuleAloft in th y p lace ofpride

,

Stil l usher forth,in each land ofth e North ,

Th e so lemn C/zrz’stmas

Parnell ’s Hermit, so praised by Pope an

other competent judges, was deemed enough b

itself to constitu te h im a poet,if he never wrot

another verse , the fact being that he was too we

off to compel his muse to be industrious . T h

same view may be fairly taken of T h e M istletoe

withou t taking into cons iderat ion its author s per

formances as a metrical translator or paraphrast <the most charming poetry of ancient and moder

t imes, which were as numerous as they we:

charm ing, and, in many cases , incomparable.

Having already entered into exp lanation



I n the society of ladies, who petted and

flattered him very much , his choleric tempera

ment was charmed and soothed down , and the

extraordinary creature ’

( the name he went by

amongst his fair friends) who would worry

toss up a hundred small controversial ists of

own sex in the same time that the famous dog B

would have settled so many rats , became tow

fail a tame and most agreeable l ion in my ladye

‘ I always considered this unrestrained in

tolerance, which formed such a drawback now and

then to my friend’s otherwise fine conversat ional

powers , arose from his own passionate although

by no means ungenerous nature, untamed and

untempered by the wholesome training which

boys obtain throughout the public scholastic estab

lishments of this coun try, and about which they

know nothing in the Roman Catholic

the Continent. I n the former case, the

m iniature world ru led by its own schoolboy l

which teach , besides the principles of me um

tuum, those of toleration and fairplay, and

manners and manhood of a- gentleman . T h

princip les being maintained very rigorously

some occasions , the masters think i t better not

look on at many things that occur in carrying th

FINAL RELICS OF FATH EE PROUT. x9 ;

i nto practice—th ings that wi l l and must takeplace in the p layground , a lthough they are never

incu lcated from the pulp i t—such as not submit

ting to wrong or insu lt, not presenting your right

cheek when your left has been smitten, or, vice

versa‘

, putting a bu l ly down , or sending a

sneak or a coward to Coventry . I n the Roman

Cathol ic system of the Continent the ascet ic spiri t

dominates everyth ing on the one hand, Whilst

pass ive obedience to and total dependence on

Superiors are made a rel igious ob l igation on the

other. Had Mahony learned when a smal l boy

the inestimable lesson of keep ing a,civil tongue in

his head , which he certain ly should after a few

lickings from one or other of h is schoolfel lows , his

brill iant and genial qual i ti es as a soc ia l companion

in after l ife would have been without a drawback ;and we might apply to him the second half of the

quatrain of Moore ’s monody on the death of poor

Sheridan,as fu l ly and truly as the first

Whose humour, as gay as th e fire -fly’s l ight,

Played round every obj ect, and shone as it playedW/zose wit in Me eomoaz‘, as gmi/e as orig/it,N e

’

er earriea’a h art- slain away on ifs blade.

As to the personal vituperation in which he

indulged in writing against Whigs and Whiggery

and pol it ical opponents in general, it was the ru le0 2


and practice of the Press to indulge in such per

sonalities, not only during the first but for the

better part of the second quarter of our century ,which latter was the season of the Prout l iterary

laurels and he indulged in i t in common with his

contemporaries .

T hose were the days when the John Bul l

and the Age ” of the weekly, and the Herald

and “ S tandard of the daily press, were in all

their glory of party rage and personal invective .

I t was then that T heodore Hook and Maginn

and the wits of the T emple, paid byWestmacott of

the Age —who could not write a decent para

graph himself— squ ibbed the Whigs to madness,

who had no publ ication to retal iate on the brill iant

bu t reckless T ory skirmishers,with the exception

perhaps of the “ Weekly D ispatch ,” then in its

best days , and rendered particularly attractive

the powerful writings of “ Publicola. Leigh H

l ibel led the Prince of Wales in theExaminer, and was imprisoned for i t . Csuffered also for h is personal virulence in h“ Register . ” He appl ied to the “ T imes new

paper an epithet of the shambles . Amon

h is mildest n i cknames were “ Old Glory ” for

F rancis Burdett B lack S lugs for the cl

the E stab l ished Church Puddledock fo


1 9 8 FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT .

i n the dust. T h e Whigs , goaded beyond what

flesh and blood could bear, fired into and charged

the T ory scribes and spouters as heartily and as

terribly. Vituperation ! vituperati on vitupera

t ion ! was the order of the day, ti l l the veteran

battal ions began to ret ire or die off their succes

sors got reconci led to the changes in the constitu

t ion and the violent storm of party personal ities

beginning to pass away, the reign of good taste

and decent Engl ish got gradually to be restored,and the Press to be purified . L ike the white star

of the twin sons of Leda shedding its gentle in

fluence over the angry face of the deep , Her

gracious Maj esty ’s advent to the throne and subse

quent marriage to a wise and accompl ished Prince

ushered in a calmer pol i ti cal atmosphere,i f it did

not altogether set the party winds and waves atrest .

Simul alba nantisStella refulsit

,

Defluit sax is agitatus humor,Concidunt venti,fugiuntque nube s,E t minax

, quod Di voluére, pontoUnda recumbit. ’

Even when the great free - trade agitation was a

its highest, a few years afterwards , the Press, wit

perhaps a few petty provincial exceptions,got u


“

very nearly, i f not altogether, to i ts presen t

honourable and gentleman ly standard .

‘ About th is time it was that Mahony wrote

his letters from Rome to the “ Daily News

afterwards his correspondence to the Globe,

” i n

both of wh ich , whils t he disp layed h is former wit

and learn ing, he evidenced a much more to lerant

spirit than when he heaped persona l abuse on

Dan O ’

Connelland Lord Mu lgrave,and flung his

personal flippancies—which I always considered

very worst of h is mauvaisesfilaisanieries at

dist ingu ished countrymen,Dionys ius Lardner

T homas Moore. Autres iemps, aa iresmceurs.

Such is the natural disposit ion of mankind ,”

the greatest orator of ancient or modern

s , “ that invect ive and accusation are heard

p leasure , while they who speak their own

are received with impatience .

” 1 T h e

d part of the propos ition ho lds good invari

the first not a lways—at least i t does not at

nt, i n Engl ish oratory, Engl ish l i terature ,ent society or circle of Engl ish men

As the mantle of charity covereth many sins ,so Mah ony

’

s clerical gown , which , although he very

1 Demosthenes . Oration on th e Crown.

z oo FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

seldom wore it, noone could take away from h

—(S acera’os iri wierrzam seez ma’am ordz'

nemM e

soo’oo) , if i t did not screen h is ebull it ions of temper,

protected him from their consequences . He knew

this well and it was the reason why, with his gene

rous disposition , he felt sorrow for his rudeness,

and was always ready to ask pardon for it a few

moments afterwards .T h e ardour of his temperament and bril l iancy

of his genius would have ensured him a place in

the firs t rank of any profession but the one to which

he unfortunately had committed himself, and forwhich he was as unfit as another of its great but

errat ic l ights,E rasmus

,who too entered it more

from fear of his guardians,as Mahony did to avoid

the reproaches of his family,than to please him

self. 1‘ T h e choice of an uncongenial profession has

rendered many a one morose and general ly

agreeable to his acquaintances (Mahony,morose , was , except under contradiction, a

agreeable companion) but if not too far co

1 Comme il n’

estoit entré dans cette Maison Rel igieuseque parforce, ils’estoit resolu d ’en sortir avant que faire Profession mais neanmoins la crainte qu ’i l eut de sesT uteurs, jointeala honte qu’il avoit de quitter ainsi son Monastere, l’empeschad’

exécuter ce qu’i l avoit projette, de sorte qu ’il fit profession .

Ancient French Life ofErasmus . ’


SAVONAROLA



ratified the solemn compact by your accept

of that handful of cigars , which I pressed on

under the pretext that they were blessed by

Pope,

’ whereas I had bought them freshly at

shop of his highness Duke T orlonia, in the Corso .

I trust you found their efficacy in traversing the

pest ilent Campagna, and that your remembrance

of the donor has not gone the way of al l smoke .

‘ By this time you will have rejo iced al l Cock

neydom with your pleasant p ictures from I taly,from which I understood you to intend carefullyel iminat ing all shadow of our peninsular pol itics .Perhaps you are right. You have passed too

rapidly among us to penetrate these darker

objects,and though gifted with the most obser

vant eye of al l modern seers, your glance was but

transi tory. As you passed along you have simply

dagaerreoiypea’ the glorious landscape, the towered

c ities,and the motley groups : but your country

men , the landscape painters here , at whose mess

table I am an occasional guest, have stigmatised

that new - fangled process , no doubt from jealousy,by the opprobrious term of dog -wapping .

old method of the camera ooscara , which they s

cl ing to,allows a more patient study of deta

and involves a more laborious investigation

varying appearances ; the phe


insti tutions,I apprehend , must be contem

by aid of the o lder instrument, and much

y of handl ing is requ is ite in bringing i t to

bear on the Camera Apostol ica of Rome .

’

And then the writer p lunged into an account

what he cal led ‘ the fag end of an old reign .

’

hen,i n 1 84 7 , he republ ished them , he took a

now a’eplame, i n the true Prout vein , and figured

as a Benedictine monk, one Don J eremy Savona

rola . He prefaced the col lection of h is letters

with the fol lowing account of Don J eremy

T h e venerable author of these letters, now

ving at Rome in the hale enjoyment of his

seven years , was born in the island of

A.D . 1 7 70 . T h e fami ly, as anyone famil iar with I tal ian h istory knows , is of Floren

tine origin,and this branch appears to have left

the banks of the Arno in disgust at the brutal

treatment which their great kinsman , the sainted

Jeronymo, experienced at the hands of the de

generate Medici , and the infamous Pope Borgia,in 1 49 8 . Quitting the commercial but very

profligate community of F lorence , the exi les

appear to have brought with them , and introduced

into Sardin ia, a taste for industry and woollen

manufactures , matters not much understood by


the idle aborigines , and we find the family settlecnear the southern seaport town of Cagl iari

,when

they have carried on steadily their useful pursuit:for the last hundred years .

T o understand the biography of our author, i

i s absolutely requisite to enter fully into the cir

cumstances of the island in which he was bornand where he passed his early l ife at the close 0the last century. Sardinia is an oblong bit 0ground in the middle of the Mediterranean

,con

taining near square miles , bu t so shape <that i t resembles what Robinson Crusoe was s<

frightened at on the sea- shore, on that memorabh

occasion when he saw in the sand the print of

sole of a man ’s foot

Et sola in sicca secum spatiatur arena.

Some superstitious people have jumped

once at the conclus ion that the island was ori

nal ly meant to be trampled on ; indeed , Ju

says it has been ‘ uniformly plundered and

pressed ,’ but the fact of its pecul iar form cann

be denied with the map of Europe staring onethe face . So sure as the peninsula of I taly is

vis ibleface- loot, kicking Sici ly before i t as if

were a sort of triangularfoot-oall, so Sardin

looks l ike the huge vestige of some



I rish pattern , sti l l exist in the interior of thi

island , besides one or two - at Malta . T h e Cartha

ginians soon conquered these eastern colonists , an

introduced with Arab and Nubian blood the tru

Punic‘ idiosyncrasy which all subsequent inter

mingl ing of more sober and steady northern race

has never effectual ly cured or tamed . T h e islanc

was most useful to that great trading communityas a grazing -ground and corn granary : hence ir

the treaty of Hanno, after the first Punic war , th efollowing stringent article was inserted , at1nst1gat1on of the African board of trade

‘ I n S ardinia nulli Romanorum negotia

neoe opfiia’um fiossia

’ento

,n inil emunto si

oeuerz’

t,in tra a

’z’em o . aai

'

ta.

’

(Polyb. l ib .

But it was doomed to follow the fortunes of

sea that surroun ds it . When Rome masteredM editerranean

,Scipio seized on Sardinia

,

became so fertile under the cast- i ron fix

Roman rule that Horace immortal ised its

fields in a song ( l ib . i . 0 d . But when

fell and the northern Vandals captured the i

its ferti l ity received a check from which

never recovered . T h e Roman system had

everything ; the barbarians left everything

vague,and undefined . T heirs was the

system of agriculture,


ing in Celti c Gaul . ‘ Nec qu is agri modum

aut fines proprios habet, sed magistratus in

singulos gentibus cognationibusque homi

(c lans) quantum agri e t quo loco eis visumtribuunt ; e t anno post, al io trans ire cogunt

’

e Bel l . Gal l . ’ l ib . vi. ) Horace , a Sabine farmer,aware of this defective system among. the

yth ian tribes of agricu lturists . Imme tata

ibus jugera,

’ says he,

Nec cultura placet longior annua. (Lib i ii . 0 d .

e con - acre tenure of soi l was thus fata l ly intro

d; for wh ich the Sardin ian word‘

tancave’ i s

up- tothis day, where the‘

vidaz z one’ holdings

l leases of tracts of ground , for which

rmers draw lots wi th the middlemen ,and al l

fusion . When the Saracens , a sort of Danes

red the coast in the seventh century, they

ut did not alter the tenure of the land ,der every success ive government, has

to the present. I n the eleventh century

two trading republ ics of Genoa and P i sa took

island alternately,and squabbled about i ts

terdom,agreeing at last to leave their riva l

to the arbitration of F rederick Barbarossa .

mperial wiseacre, reversing the‘ judgment of

cut the foot in two parts, giving the toesP 2

FIJVAL RELIC'

S OF FA TIIER PROUT .

and instep to P isa,and the flee! to the Genoe

Corn , as i t happened, grew principally on the

district . Matters jogged on this way,heel and

unti l A.D . 1 30 0 , when Pope Boniface V I I I . took it

into his head , by some nocuspocus, to discover

the island belonged to him , and he accordi

issued a bul l ( in the exact terms of Adrian’s

to our Henry I I . , making him a present of I relan

and bes towed thefoot on Jacomo Secondo , Kiof Arragon . (See this grant in the Chu

H istory’ of Cardinal Baronius, continued by

Ranaldi, anno T h e Spanish king sailed

from Barcelona, took the island , and , as a record,built the town of Barcelonetta, a kind of London

a’erry in its s ignificance . Spain held its foit up to 1 70 8 , when i t was captured by an

fleet under Admiral Leake, in the war of

Spanish success ion . T h e Marquis of J ama

then viceroy, made a very poor resistance for

sovereign . I n 1 7 2 0 Cardinal Alberoni and

Stanhope agreed to swap the island for S—and the House of Savoy thus final ly got p

session,which it has ever since retained .

Under the strong and wise government .ofT urin the country, which the Spanish vi

had only plundered and demoral ised, began

to advance in all the elements of Europ


FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT.

hands, reckless of what must necessari ly 0

after that difficult consummation . During

short interval of foreign conquest, when they

the isle al l to themselves , i t i s in black and w

recorded by their only authentic h istorians

(Gli Annali a’ez

’

Quattro M aestri) , that their

favourite pol itical economy consisted in cutting

each other’s throats ; for, having taken the troubleto read that work, a rather ponderous compositionof 40 0 pages , I find the average for each historic

page g ives s ix broken heads,four throats c

twenty head of cattle carried off, three rapes ,a few brace of minor robberies . T h e moresensible and though tful patriots who knew

elements of Sardinian society wil l ever keep a]

from the mischievous mooting of this miss ion

millennium as not merely flat moonshine, but the

wildest internecine lunacy.

T h e crowned head of the House of Sav

one of the oldest and most respectable monarc

in Europe , reigns over three united kingdoms,P iedmont

,Savoy, and Sardinia. T

these three countries under one sceptre was

brought abou t and elaborated, by a

chain of events , to their mutual clear a

and every wel l - informed person will

wi th me, E sto perpetua


towards the north was the cradle of the royal

family it was original ly a'

poor district of H igh

landers,which by the transfer of i ts court to

T urin on the acqu isition of P iedmont, thought

ruined’

outright, whereas the very contrary

ken p lace, and by its junction with th e more

and enterpris ing population of the south

y h as been marve l lous ly developed .

of this is owing to the shrewd common - sense

atter -of- fact t endencies of the thrifty Savoywho are not to be deluded or gul led by

cajol ing appeals to their weak s ide or Celtic pre

judices . Not so the Sardin ians . Averse '

to hab i ts

of sustained industry, unwi l l ing to use the meansuofi improvement with in their reach , taught bydesign ing rogues that they are the finest peasantry

Europe,which they have heard so often that

almost bel ieve ‘ i t a fact,they imagine they

cut a grand figure in the world , cou ld they‘ cut the painter. ’

'

In ' the meantime, they

lously neglect every s ingle department ofind ividual , or national amel ioration .

But before th is misch ievous dream of a repeal

of the union with the two other kingdoms came

athwart their habitua l s lumber, there had been a

prel iminary subject of angry and unprofitable

agitat ion . Rel igion was the ostensible cause .


T hey are all Cathol ics , and all agreed as to the

substantial doctrine which everywhere regulates

the influence of the gospel ; but two denominations

of minor theology, unknown to the primit ive

teachers of Christianity, sprang up in the island

during the Spanish occupation . T h e Dominicans

of Spain had introduced among the people an

exaggeration of the respectful homage ever due to

Christ’s Holy Mother (the most exalted of merely

human beings),and had inculcated the debateabledoctrine of her ‘ immaculate conception ’ as a point

of bel ief without which no intercommunication

could be held with fel low - Christians . T h e metro

pol itan church was dedicated under this title. I n

vain,for the pacification of these wild theorists,

did the g igantic intel lect and unrival led erudition

of MURATORI write, at the suggestion of govern

ment, his book ‘ De Superstitione Vitanda

adversus votum sanguinarium pro immaculata

Deiparae conceptione’

(M i lan , 1 74 2 . 4to) . Un

fortunately a Spanisn party was hereby created

in politics, under the outward gu ise of s imple

rel igion . T h e loyal adherents of the court of

T urin , comprising most of the intel l igent, great

part of the commercial , and nearly all the landlord

class,did not hold the Spanish view of the ‘ im

maculates,

’ but held with the P iedmontese that



T h e great opposit ion to this grant was not

the upright and fairplay - loving people of

T urin is known to be so called from Tau

( taurus) , and 7 onn Taureau (a famil iar nameinhabitants) is a just and honest fel low, unles

attempt tomay him , and then he becomes

nate. But the mos t deadly obstacle arose

nat ive Sardinian adversaries with in the

itself. Possessing the loaves and fishes,these

l ike to bask alone in the sunshine of govern

patronage , to the exclus ion of disloyal and

affected folks . T h e two factions began a stand

fight . I f i t could not be described under the

fragrant designation of a war of the roses,it might

have some claim to be cal led the battle of the

citrons— the acidity being great on both s ide

while sour oranges and ro tten ‘ lemons ’ were

respective missi les of each party, the c

interests of both going to the ju ice. T h e

government, being then at war with France

Spain,was s incerely desirous of bringing this

bilitating inward squabble to a c lose . All

T urin required was a guarantee against Spanish

influence, and with that proviso offered to admitthe ‘ immacu late ’ laity . to publ ic offices if the

could vouch that none but loyal subjects

exercise sp iri tual control over them in the

FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT 2 1 9

ranks of their clergy. T h e fores ight of the court

of T urin , in making th is stipulation , was subse

quently shown . Had there been a right of

objection on the part of the crown , no such publ ic

s ince have ensued as MAC—(eniao)hop of Vestrai n, a roaring bellows

n ; H IGGIN I , firebrand and M'

s/mp of

Arda,and Ca ta -male , the incendiary pharisee of

M IDIA.

A quiet interchange of mutual concess ion was

about . to set the vast question at rest, when a

brawl ing lawyer, with the aid of the mob (wh ichhad no interest m the exc lus ion at al l) , broke off

all negotiation,took the business forc ib ly out of

t h e hands of the upper m1ddle classes , and , getting

that portion of the clergy who depended’

on the

mob for support to back h im , began systematical ly

to bu l ly the court of T urin , qu ite disgusted the

great Peruke party,exasperated the royal family,

and flung lack the settlement of the question

FIFTEEN YEARS to be tnen most unsatisfactori ly

amid rank l ing b itterness and mutual gnash

teeth,which it wil l take another generation

to forget ; for tnefatners nave ea ten sour grapes,

ana’tne cnz

'

la’ren

’

s teet/z are set on edge. (Jerem.

xxxi .

Tnis result of the arch - lawyer’s tak ing up the

2 2 0 FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

question in the spirit and tone of a vulgar bully,

was not then antic ipated , nor is i t now even

general ly understood ; but it was both seen and

felt by our young J eremy in his calm retreat

at the Benedictine abbey of STo . MAURO ,where

he took a dispassionate view of the distan t tumult.H is youth and manhood passed in compil ing,with

the rest of the Benedictine brotherhood,that um

rivalled storehouse of history, L’

Art de Verifier

les Dates ,’ in which every doubtful matter is sifted

by reference to authentic records . T heir art is

exemplified below.

T his arch - lawyer’s name was Dandeleone , of

an old Carthagin ian family of the Smuggléri,1

T h e fol lowingminute stands recorded on th e books ofth eBoard ofRevenue Commissioners

,1 7 8 1 , and was afterwards

confirmed by th e Irish H ouse ofCommons, and placed on

the ir journal s . It completely settles an historic doubt.T h e plan ofsmuggl ing on th e coast ofKerry having been

changed to Darrynane, where there were stores for purpose ofstoring th e goods smuggled, itwas found that th e establishmentofth e Dungannon cruiser was not calculated for th e preventionofth e illic1t trade a plan was therefore fixed upon to meet th ethen mode ofsmuggling, and effectually to subdue it at Darrynane, and overturn th e system ofillicit traflic and marine and

land parties were therefore established under th e command ofMr. Whitwel l Butler, a gentleman ofproperty and character,and a justice ofth e peace in th e county ofKerry.

Done by th e Board, with approbation ofgovernment, th e2 2 nd ofMay,

Th e above is extracted from th e Appendix to th e Journals



to get the question into h is own hands, and ap

propriate i t to himself by infuriating the multitudein a pursuit totally profitless to themselves , but

not so to him—this affords a clue to h is wholecareer.

N on bis in ia’eni is a maxim of our criminal

jurisprudence ; but though a man cannot be pro

secuted, h e may be rewarded thrice for the one

act originally and subsequently Dandeleone was .

T h e penny and the paternoster were not more ih

separable than, in his eye, pence and the proper

sort of patriotismAlterius sic

Altera poscit opemres et conjurat amice.

H is professional gains among the Sardinian l iti

gants were considerably increased by the notoriety

of his pol itical efforts , as the radical oratory of thelate Henry Hun t helped the sale of his blacking.

His popularity fi lled the small local newspapers ;and as action begets reaction , the newspapers

swelled his populari ty. He skilfully kept’

h is name

before the publ ic, a process of which he understood

the ful l value . He preferred abuse to si lence.

T h e educated classes instinctively shrunk from

tact with this boisterous man of the people .

his j olly phiz was on every aqua

I 'INAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

island . Paa’re M atteo had not yet arisen i n those

days of delusion .

He got up an ‘ immaculate association i n the

Sardin ian Corn Exchange, in which the principal

besides h imself were D ick Scutum,after

ofthe mint in T urin,and T omaso

secretary of the board of control for

rus, who has written a history of that society ,is connected with the Buonapartes . Both

e saw how pern icious the system was,but were

forced into i t. T here was, besides, a ch ivalrous

buffoon cal led T omaso Ferro, whom Dandeleone

made the mouthpiece of every absurdity,usefu l i n

to h imself, but'

ofwhich he shunned thece . He also kept a newspaper editor

,

i , of the Pilota , author of a s lang dictionary

choice I tal ian , who , being most unscrupu lous ,al l the dirty work in print .

T h e office of gonfaliero for the Clara districtarrie vacant ; a spiri ted gentleman , Gormano

1 originated and forcou’ Dandeleone i nto

the plan of electing bun into the vacancy . T his

settled the business , and T urin sul len ly gave up

T h e name i s Carthaginian . T h e Mahons or Mah onys

gave it to Port Mahon (Portus M aglzonzs) in M inorca, in th e

first Punic war.


the point,which i t had been ready to conc

gracefully fifteen years before . All the people

was the loss to them of their forty - franc franchise,by Dan ’s collusion . T h e upper classes were alonebenefited .

I t would have been natural enough for thwell - off classes to pay Dandeleone his fee

speechifying . But they shirked payment, th inki

perhaps, that he had been rather an obstacle

than a promoter of, the accommodation of

question . T hereupon Dan got the clergy to hold a

plate for him at the chapel doors , year after year,to collect pencefrom tbc poor, for whom he had

never done anything in his whole l ife, and whose

claim to a legal provision he had actually resisted

when proposed by the holy bishop of Kildara

T his roused the bile of Don J eremy. A like fit

of saeoa z

'

iicz’zgnatz

'

o prompted Swift to denounce,in 1 735 , William Wood

’s design on the trades

people ’s copper currency in I reland . For years,as long as it lasted , J eremy mixed up with all

l i terary effus ions a continued onslaught onbeggary. Dandeleone . in return , maligned nun

in a ‘ speech of the day,’ at the Corn Exchange .

1

No Sardinian priest,according to Dan , was at

1 On Monday, February 2 0,1 843. See Irish newspap

ofth e day.


2 2 6 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT.

Archb ishop Mora and the Primate of Armagh ,withe wisest and most enl ightened of the episcopacy

,

formally withdrew from his set . T hey even approved of certain government colleges , whichwould bring together all classes , and extirpate

mutual hatred and distrust a state of publ ic feel

ing,on which Dan having thriven and grown

prosperous,fel t loth to see abol ished . He there

fore cal led the colleges godless ,’ and got Barretti

to hint in his ‘ P i lota,’ that ‘ the archbishop was

insane 1

T his happened just as a rot among the chest

nuts had begun to alarm the people, whose food

that tree principal ly furnishes, and Dr. Mora had

ordered prayers agains t famine,which would have

the effect of preventing the annual plunder at the

chapel doors ; yet he got about 2 0 ,0 0 0 l. that very

November . I t was, however, the last haul he ever

made, and drew forth a lyric from Don J er

which , in an Engl ish form , may be seen‘ T imes of November 1 4 ,

1 845 , not badly tra

lated

1 T his infamous ‘ dodge ’ is noticed in th e ‘MorningChronicle,’ October 7 , 1 845 T h e utmost disgust i s felt at anarticle in th e Dublin Pilot, ofMonday

,calculated to convey

th e impression, or rather th e certainty, that th e Cathol ic PrimateofIreland (Dr. Crolly) was insane


T HE LAY OF LAZARUS.

(Lainento a’i Laz z aro) .

Hark,hark, to th e begging-box shaking

Forwhom i s this alms -money making ?For Dan, wh o i s cramming his wallet, while famineSets th e heart ofth e peasant a- quak ing .

I I .

Man ’s food in Earth’s bosom i s rottingBut Charity’s dole i s allotting

T o whom? At God ’s door th e PAMPERED once moreT o plunder th e PAUPER i s plotting

T h e priest from th e altar inveiglesT h e peasant

,reluctant

,still higgles

’T is his chi ldren ’s support. But a jolly year’s sportM ust be h ad for th e Derrynane beagles .

IV.

’T is godless

’

to give education’T is godless to teach a gulled nation

But ‘ GODLIKE ’

oh cal l it, to sh oulder your wallet,Swelling huge in this hour ofstarvation .

v.

Archb ishops are mad if they reason‘ Are mad ’ if they league not with treason ,

‘ Stark mad if they hint,in a prayer or a print,

Common sense to th e people'

h e preys on

Q 2

2 2 8 FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT .

T heir rounds mark his myrmidons plyingT o where in you cab in i s dying

T h e victim ofwant, pale, stricken, and gaunt.Go enter and pillage th e dying

T ake, take it, in meal or in metal .But hush —where i s infancy’s prattle ?

On itsmother’s chilled breast lies th e babe in Death’s rest.Pshaw Come, give th e box a good rattle !

VIII .

T h e land is all blighted with famine,T h e land is all blighted with famine,

Yet still doth lie crave—and,like ghoul at a grave,

Ra cks rottenness, rooting forMammon

ENVOI .With a HAND from ABOVE to affl ict h im,

LowLAZARUS lie s. Yet th e victimIn his anguish implores (but in vain) for his sores,T hat th e BEAGLES ofD IVES may lick them.

He died two years afterwards at Genoa . Hi

son,however (infeliicpuerf) continues the busi

ness,which

,in his petty and paltry hands

,ha

sadly fallen off. Lejeu no uaut pas la cbana’elle

May we al l be let enj oy peace and quietnes

at last in th is our I s land of S ardinia!

CAGLIARI y ou 1, 1 847 .


CHAPT ER V .

THE FAG END OF A LONG RE IGN .

AMID the settled gloom and su l len despondency

which continue to weigh down our sp iri ts when

engaged in brooding over our condition internal ly,

the year 1 846 has opened rather auspic iously on

t his cap ital , with reference to i ts external relations .

T h e imperial vis i t runs no risk of being forgotten

long wil l i t be talked of by Roman dip lomacy with

al l the enthusiasm of Scott’s old dowager respec t

ing a royal vis it,equal ly unexpected , and propor

tionately important . Great also is the exu ltation

of the hotel - keepers at the unwonted influx of

Russian plutocracy, the northern hordes having

this winter crossed the Pon teM olle in unusual force- not, as of old , to ravage and despoi l , but rather

after the fash ion of their ancestral gladiators from

the Volga and Danube,

T o make a Roman holiday.


T h e Eng l ish migratory flocks are also m c

siderable feather ; last fortnight, at the‘ blessing

of the cattle,

’ their hunters and carriage horses

were numerously conspicuous in the muster of

quadrupeds annually gathered before the porch of

St. Antonio, on the E squ il ine oxen , mules , asses ,sheep

,all had their share of the friars ’ blessing

,

save the fox - hounds,the whipper- in not having

the grace to bring his pack up from the Campagna.

A very bad s ign,

’ as Father Luke,in your

wicked comedy,would say or s ing ; for, consider

ing the precarious tenure which this esoteric sport

has of the ground,its enjoyment i s to be fenced

round with all due Observances . 1

Nothing could exceed the frigid indifference of

all classes here at the announcement of the Duke’s

death at Modena. T h e Pope’s coachman dying

would make a greater sensation indeed were it not

th at et iquette of relationship required the postpone

Fox - hunting i s far too manly and exciting an exercise not

to alarm th e drowsy old prejudices ofth e government.cordingly when poor Bertie Mathews broke his neck

, Gov

Marini gladly made it an excuse for his edict ofsuppression,issued in November. But h e was made quickly to retrace thatstep . T h e Roman nob ility rose en nzasse against th e attemptto meddle with their sports, and th e prelate h as been forced todraw in his horns . Had it been an edict merely oppressive to

shop - keepers, tradesmen, orpeasants, its revocation would havebeen quite another matter.



From his aboccamento with the Czar,to wh

it is now pretty well known that he and al l in his

confidence look forward with tremulous,with

sleepless anxiety, and out of which , to his amaze

ment,he came forth so signally successful

eyes of Europe , the octogenarian frame of Ghas gathered fresh impulse , and , as i t

galvanic action . What may be called the‘ court ’ of Rome had never flattered itself

the aesthetic fascinat ion of St. Peter, so potent i

influencing Goth , Hun and Vandal , bu t which

Charles V . J oseph I I . and Napoleon profanely

set at naught (confiding 1n the more modern

agency of salt- Peter) would have overawed sostalwart a barbarian . A newfresco is in contemplation for a hall in the Vatican ; indeed

‘ Leo

confronting A tti la ’ clearly can be reproduced

wi thout much novel ty of attitude or even drapery,save in the regi ‘mentals of the g igantic Romanoff.

An early day in February, and a chosen com

mittee (superseding the routine tribunal which

would have otherwise taken cognisance th

riage- broker at Madrid but it is quite enough for us to s

to th e affairs ofth e Peninsu la

Be his Old age hale and mellow,And may th e shrewd old fellowLast long as his old umbrella —ED .


have been named for invest igating, i n its spiri tual

Operation , the late act of the Bri t ish legislature

for the endowment of lay col leges in I reland .

T h e few whose names have transpired are

thoughtfu l and accomp l ished men , and know the

bounds of their competency,long accustomed to

simi lar vexed questions in other European states .

T h e clauses submitted , as more or less objection

able,by the I rish remonstrants , have every chance

of being fairly sifted . T h e only I rish prelate here,Dr. Kennedy of K i l laloe

,keeps strictly aloof, but

is understood to s ide rather with the older and

more enl ightened members of the episcopacy in

his judgment of the measure . . H is prudent re

serve has not, however, prevented the free ex

press ion , three days ago , in'

his presence, of a

rather forc ible op inion,to wit that ‘ the b ishops

in I reland favourable to the col leges ought to be

denied Christian burial,and their ashes thrown

into the Shannon,

’ the meri t of which decent and

sober utterance belongs to an official of the I rish

seminary here . T h e wiseacre i s from Waterford ,for which latitude he is better fitted than that of

Rome , where as yet the T urkish custom has not

general ly obtained of keeping a holy id iot in each

mosque for luck .

’

Peop le here are not easi ly surprised at


any absurd rumour in the newspapers,

indeed they seldom read ; bu t th e pers

tenacity with which the Carl ist journalsmonth after month , asserted the failure of

diplomat ic mission at this court, has amaz

oldest inhabitant. T h e influence he obtain

firs t he kep t and extended,and never

Louis Philippe ’s wishes more respected t

s ince he was chosen to urge and enforce th

Lately he had bu t to signify an objection, and

J esuits , who have access everywhere , found

not to the pulp it of the French nat ional church

S t. Luigi de’

Frances i .

I n the matter of railways much uncertain

prevai ls the Holy Father is said to have relaxt

his frown and lent his ear to innovation and to h

barber Gaetanius, a functionary of well - knoy

influence,and whose position in state affairs ar

other matters should be understood. I n t!

spring the steamer wi l l resume the towing

barges up the T iber, beyond the city, into tl

Sabine terri tory, where a good bed of coal h

been lately found and is worked , besides anoth

farther inland towards Subiaco . Bu t concernii

the development of steam power in this capit

and the prospect for its u tterly idle people of t

varied branches of industry to be created throu;



coryp/ze’

es into dancing order ; the clumsie

ankles in al l Christendom being those of R

as every artist will tell you , and any eye can

She came out, however, last night (Sunday) ,understood, with applause unequalled s ince the

days of th e class ic Arbuscula . T o - day,being

Candlemas morning, Pope Gregory in person,and in rude health , went process ionally through

the ceremonies, and BLESSED the CANDLE S ; may I

never see a Pope rather incl ined to bless ex tin

guis/zers ; and let us both thereupon devoutly

ejaculate F iat Lux !

T h e consistory, held this morning, February

1 2 , has just broken up and has afforded the friends

of Louis Phil ippe matter for congratulation . T h e

assembly of cardinals , which would not have

taken place for some t ime in the usual course,was

hastened in compl iment to the newly- arrived

French Bishop of Arras, a strenuous adherent of

the Orleans dynasty, a quondam veteran soldier

of the Empire,and whose pure and unchallenged

merits as a Gall ican prelate had justified the

demand of the K ing for a hat, which had been

granted five years ago, bu t which had to be fitted

on by Gregory in person , according to rule, this

morning. F rom twenty to th irty of the leading

FINAL RE LZCS OF FATHE F PROUT . 2 39

cardinals were 'in attendance . T h e Pope having

taken his seat, a lawyer opened the p leadings pro

forma, in a ‘ beatification case,’ but was qu ickly

cut short by the crier, who cal led on the real

business of the day. T h e aged F renchman was

therefore introduced , and advancing to the steps

of the pontifical throne , received a most cordial

acollade from the pontiff. T h e respective ages of

the two performers in the solemn scene being 80

and 8 1 , added not a l ittle to its impress iveness .

T h e on ly obj ection that can be taken to an

occurrence l ike th is is its rari ty . T h e admiss ions

into the purple order, which ostensibly governs

the Roman Catholi c church , of individuals born

b\eyond the A lps have of late years d imin ishedin En alarming ratio to the eyes of the thoughtfu l

supporters of the pontifical system . Ou t of

near seventy hats,not half a doz en have been given

beyond the I tal ian Pen insu la . T h e present Pope

has created fifty out of the l iv ing princes of the

church,and not only have they been almost in

variab ly I tal ians,but th irty of the number have

been selected from a sti l l more restricted boundary

Papal States . T his is neither far - seeing

l. Spain has but one hat left of

olden dignities Portugal has but recently

ired one ; Bavaria and Belgium have each


a single c/iapeau, and Austria proper IS in

s imilar state of destitution . France,by the exe

tions of Louis Phil ippe, has three. As for thBrit ish I sles

,they have no claim , of course, sinc

they wil l neither g ive nor take even a diplom

representative, though old N icholas h imself is abo

to admit a nuncio at S t. Petersburg. Acton i

merely a Neapol itan , and as such the name i

mixed up with intrigues of a period l ittle creditab

to Great Britain . T h e time is far remote whe

men of mind , L ingard or Wiseman , will be raise

to the dignity which God and nature had intende

for them . T h e thing, however, may work

own cure before then . T h e I rish seem to

their aboriginal and persevering exclusion

any power,place, or rank in the church they

with surpris ing placid ity . I t is true that some

rather curious candidates would be probably

forward for a hat did the whim seize their patriWe should have Mayo recommending its L i

of T uam ’

( leonum aria’a nutrix ) , Connaught‘ Dove of Galway ’

( nota sou’es fialumbis) , to t

combined horror and amazement of this knowing,

grave,and eternal c ity.

I n the matter of canonisat ion , (incidentall

al luded to during t/ze consistory ) , I taly has stimore signally taken to itself the l ion ’



fication of transcendent maidenly and matern

hol iness .

Rome Ash -VVednesday .

Carnival has been unprecedentedly brillianFor the last ten days, the roll of equipages , the

interchange of bouquets, the discharge of confectionery projecti les , mid the uproar of the Corso,and of the two parallel streets that disembo

in to the square a’elpojfiolo, have been incess

T h e F rench embassy ball outshone the co

t ition even of the Doria , the Borghese, Lord

Ward,and the Bachelors ’ Club . T h e colts from

the Campagna ran their appointed races, and

that a Roman lad was ki l led by a kick from 0

these quadrupeds,and an American artis t

i n the back by a native, everything wen t off

perly. T h e sudden contrast of this quiet mo

is quite a rel ief. T h e Haunt ing masqueraders h

vanished as by enchantment . T h e garb .ofbrie ty and demure looks meets the eye . Ma

a northern nymph who might be met yesterday

very different attire

Nuper in stratis studiosa florum,

i s now close- veiled in the costume of cenerento

borne towards the Vat ican, to share at the

Pope’s hands the envied ashes .


T h e profits of this season to the commerce of

Rome (such as it is) can scarce ly be overrated .

T heir pol i tical economists have the hones ty to

confess what is stil l denied in high quarters here ,that the influx of strangers is the very breath of

Roman nostri ls . You need not be told that the‘ balance of trade is awfu l ly aga i nst the pontifical

dominions but this—as wel l as many other nu

pleasant facts— i s careful ly kept out of men’s

thoughts in th is eternal place . F rom a di l igent

examination of official papers (not of easy access) ,i t turns out that the imports exceed the exports by

no less a sum than five mi l l ions of dol lars annual ly.

One detai l of th is balance - sheet (which I intend to

send you) is sti l l more discred itable, inasmuch as

the export trade is almost exclus ive ly made up of

materials, whi le the imports are invariab ly

es of foreign skil l and industry, leaving to

c an overwhelming account of beggarly indo

and government incapacity . I t can be nomatter of surprise that, whi le every capital

th ern Europe has nearly doub led its popu

lation s ince the century began , this metropol is

numbers only a few hundred more citi zens th is

year of our Lord than it d id in 1 80 0 ; neither wil l

it be thought a very improbable occurrence that

memorials and remonstrances to be presented toR 2


the Roman government on the part of crippled

and Oppressed trade, as well as other subjects of

poli tical grievance, were actually flung, on the

drive of the P incian H ill , into the lap of the late

visitor—aye, the Czar N icholas . Even as regardsEngland

,the balance of Russian commerce is

somewhat differently cared for.

T hese few lines will occasion your paper to be

stopped at the post—office , as was every number inwhich the publ ic interests of th is Oppressed com

munity were advocated . Whenever ‘ Galign

copies similar obnoxious paragraphs,he is

vicariously punished by s trict confiscation in t

P iazza Colonna .

We can only grumble at such things as the

are, senz a rimea’io, but the Spanish nation has

right to complain , and deserves to be trampled on

by foreign diplomacy if i t do not give

utterance to i ts indignat ion when the despatof its envoy at this court are (as they were a

days ago) , after having been confided tocustody of the post- office , found unsealed in

publ ic piazza of St. Agostino, and brough t in

s tate to the Spanish representative by a passi

s tranger .

You will not see this fact in the Gaze

d’

Augsbourg .

’



T h e real editor was the facetious Father Ryllo ,a

L i thuanian genius of no common order, who can

not forget being exiled by the Czar’s predecessor

in 1 8 2 4 . Ryllo is a stirring spirit, and has left his

mark on the Caucasus,on the Anti - Lebanon (a

Sir C . Napier) , and the island of Malta . Henow about vis it ing Abyssin ia, and you may t

fore expec t to hear of bustl ing intell igence fro

that quarter .

I t is hard , nevertheless, to exonerate the

th orities from the publication , in Roman type

this pseudo - narrative . T h e title - page of the l i

brocbure bore,’ tis true

,no printer’s na

whereabouts was simply ‘ I tal ia,’ and since t

i t has disappeared miraculously from all

Roman bookstalls ; but that the printing th

was winbou’ at i s wel l understood by anyone w

knows of the peri ls that environ here clandestin

typography. T his is one ofthe inconveniences twhich a government is l iable , which looks up

the ‘ freedom of the press ’ as the ‘ offspring

hell first - born .

’ I t must be responsible for wh

ever is printed .

I t were happy for the publ ic welfare if th

were the only inconvenience, but people will r

even in Rome ; and the book trade is a b

of industry which,on the banks of the


government h as effectual ly withered up , and thus

added another melancholy leaf to the bortus siccus

of Roman beggary. Wi thout taking into account

what is smuggled , a sum of do l lars is

annual ly paid by th is poor community to foreign

booksellers—mainly for I tal ian works . I f a Romanvirtuoso labours with an MS . he seeks the obste

tric art of the printing - press anywbere but witbin

You need not be told how many hands and

heads are lucratively engaged elsewhere in the

recently - adopted s tyle of i l lustrated typography.

From al l share in that e legant industry Rome , by

its own restrictions , has shut i tself out. T h e

e ngraver’s fami ly pines , the hand of young genius

languishes unemp loyed, and , by paralysing the

free production of letterpress , its concomi tant and

brother art is stricken down .

As to periodica l l i terature, which is now

awakening mankind al l over Europe to a sense of

the beautifu l and the usefu l i n every department

of science, here there is a universal blank . T here

is , to be sure, a costive serial , cal led the Album

di Roma,’ a number of wh ich fel l under our eye

the other day ; but the leading article being a

dissertation on ilgiuoco a’el oca—viz . the game of

goose,’

we flung it as ide with a wish that if the


‘ authorised ’ editor did not wish to enl ighten his

doci le readers , he migh t avoid thus sneering at

their imbecil ity. Newspapers and their great

corollary— advertisements—are,of course, nu

dreamt of.

T h e paper on which this number of the‘ Daily News ’ is printed has probably come in

the shape of Roman rags from Civita Vecchia or

Ancona. T his export (exclusive of smuggl ing)is

,in pounds

,two mill ions and a half of the raw

material of paper. Any boy in one of your‘ ragged schools ’ can calculate the loss which

ensues on exporting rags and receiving printed

books in return . An alarm was raised a few years

ago about this glaring deficiency in the manage

ment of things , and by way of remedy, a proh i

bition agains t the exit of rags was enacted . T h e

rags were then used as manure ; nothing could

force them into paper under the restrictions of thepress . T h e prohibition was accordingly removed .

As in the similar case of the old log in Horace ,the better alternative (between dung and divinity)was resolved upon

Maluit esse Deum. Deus inde ego, farum aviumque

Maximaformido .

I must break off, having to attend a sitting of



formly snubbed and crushed since the days 0

R ienzi .

T h e declamat ions of Young I taly may or maynot be all froth ; but Arabic figures cannot be

dealt with in the fashion of rhetorical flourishes ;the whole quest ion may resolve itself into a s imple

study of the balance - sheet of the Roman trade .

Let your readers (matter -of- fact people) pause ateach separate figure, and then sum up their im

pressions from the general coup cl’

oeil of the follow

ing cartoon , which has not been painted in the

Vatican

1 . Cotton tissues. T h e population pays,

every yard in use, hard cash to the looms

England,Switzerland, and Mulhausen . T

mil l ions of dollars (exclus ive of smuggl ing) a

ascertained to be lost on this i tem . T h e on

attempt to manufacture a coarse description

cotton stuffs was made in the workhouse at Diocl

t ian ’s baths, and in the arsenal of galley s laves

Civita Vecchia. T h e paupers preferred be

and the only ‘ cotton lords ’ left are the latt

gentry.

2 . I n woo/lens, things are not quite so

though the staple is miserably cared for. Alar

some years ago at the enormous out

money to purchase foreign broad - cloth,t

FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT. 2 5 1

Pope’s advisers suggested the exploded system

of bounties ; a certain sum was ordered to be paid

to the manufacturers according to qual i ty as wel l

as quantity .

T h e resu lt was that the trade appeared to

revive.

Manufactories EllsIn 1 836 there were in Operation 2 8 producing

1 837 36

1 838 46

I 839 44

But the force of bounties wou ld no farther go .

T h e th ing had been worked uphi l l to the utmost

of its capaci ty ; smuggl ing increased , and bounties

W ere jobbed ; last year Peel’s pol icy of reducing

the tariffwas adopted , and at the fair of S inigaglia,

the quantity of foreign c loth admitted at reduced

rates doubled in amount, and kept up the produce

to the Papal treasury, but several factories have

since been discontinued , and much misery has

ensued . I t must be added that the intel l igent

manufacturers blame government for not givingsuch powers as are supp l ied in F rance by the

system of lit/rots, a matter not understood in

England , but absolutely necessary here whenever

workmen are congregated in bodies . Meantime

the Roman states export raw wool to the amoun t


of dollars,and import the same spun or

woven to the amount of dollars .

3. I n silben tissues these states could sup

ply all Europe, with common painstaking. T h e

whole Campagna might be planted wi th mul

berries, if the landowners had the sl ightest wish

to improve their enormous tracts . T h e women

spin enough to save a portion of the loss,which

is thusRaw silk exported, in value 489 dollars .Spun si lkWoven silk imported

,in value

4 . I n flax and bomb the balance of trade is

actually in favour of Rome, and that to an unex

pected exten t, so as to cover the whole loss of the

cotton imports . T h e sp inning and weaving of

l inen is attended to, not in manufactories , but in

the homesteads of the cottagers,and withou t any

encouragement or interference of government .

T h e women here again redeem the laziness and

incapacity of the men . For, particularly On the

other side ofthe Apennines, the old habits of thepeasantry have survived , and though no longer is

part of Macaulay’s description true

When th e oldest cask is Opened,

And th e largest lamp is litAnd th e chestnuts glow in th e embers,And th e kid turns on th e spit.



blameable condit ion , arguing arrant laziness this

article is imported to the extent of

dollars .

8 . Corn shal l form a chapter to itself i n afuture communication . T his is the monster grievance, and ought not to be dealt wi th perfunctori ly.

9 . For gums, resins,fruit, wines, the absoluteloss on the balance of import and export isdollars.

1 0 . Colonial produce, tea, coffee, sugar, are of

course on the wrong s ide of the ledger,but not

an attemp t has been dreamt of to imitate the

French and German beet - root factories,though

this vegetable , plan ted lately in the fat ground

near Aricia, produced roots varying in weight fromten to tbirty pounds ! I t migh t as well fot onLethe’s wharf as on the banks of the T iber

,for all

the government cares .

1 1 . I n the matter of obecse and butter, fancy

an agricultural country importing these two articles

from its neighbours to the amount of

dollars,and at the same t ime export ing cows and

oxen to the extent of dollars .

1 2 . I ron,brass

,tin ,

leaa’, and z inc, are all im

ports ; yet are there abundant chalybeate indica

tions and olden mines of iron at Vi terbo,at

T olfa, at Montelone , and coal -beds unworked .

FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT 2 5 5

T h e government prefer bringing the al l - impor

tant artic le from Elba of the Florentines. Some

praise is due to Gregory for the ironworks estab

lish ed at the Fal ls of T ivol i and T ern i , but the

rule subs ists more glaringly because of the ex

ception .

1 3. I n straw bonnets, the industry of the wo

men again exh ib its a s l ight compensation in an

export of dol lars .

1 4 . I have not been able to get the returns of

the delf and crockery trade , but a large balance is

here against Rome though one of its smal l depen

dencies, Fayenz a, had formerly the glory of giving

its name to this most profi tab le branch of in

dustry .

1 5 . I n the artic le of B elli Arti the export is

of course on the S ide of Rome , but to an amount

far less than wou ld be supposed , a mere trifle over

dol lars . T hese be a few data on wh ich

to found an opin ion as to the value of church

government and the exc lus ion of laymen from the

management of temporal affairs ; and further,whi le such an aggregate of poverty is necessari ly

accumu lated in the Roman states , with what

face can the ecclesiastical ru lers of this be

n ighted land refuse the offer of capital for the

construction of railroads Let Europe judge .


Rome March

Much disgust is felt and expressed in ecclesiastical circles here at the tenour of Dr . J ohn

Mac Hale’s Lenten manifesto, ascribing the potato

rot to the establ ishment of I rish colleges for the

lai ty . I tal ian gravity relaxes into a smile of pity

for the people to whom such garbage is presented

wi th impunity. Nor, while the question is knownto be under reference to superior authority, do

people here overlook the indecency of this indi

vidual prejudgment, seeming, as i t were, to bully

the Vatican .

T h e British artists, who meditate exhibiting

their capi Il’

opera among you in May, have last

week been engaged with the numerous agents of

Mac Cracken , &c . , and many a trim bark spreads its

canvas for England , with other and more preciocanvas under hatches .

Not a few flasks of Orvieto have perished

waft ing good wishes with the bill of lading.

were invidious to mention names ; besides, does

not this particular department belong to one of

their artistic brethren , whose pen is as graphic as

h is pencil , but whose sterl ing good nature is s

more conspicuous M ichael Angelo T itma

He is well remembered here, where he re



Galignani,’ of the 7 th , having had the hardi

hood to copy something extracted from one ofmy

letters to you,was confiscated at the pontificalpost

office . L ike Hoby the bootmaker, when Ensign

Shu ttleworth threatened to withdraw his custom,

the great Paris newsmonger wil l no doubt pu t up

his shu tters .

M arch 2 8.

T h e utter discomfiture of the insurgents on

the Vistula, and the sad tinge of ridicule which

this attemp t has flung on popular efforts to obtainredress of grievances by the sword, are things not

without important reaction on the prospects of

Central I taly . T h e aspiration for del iverance is

not checked nor retarded ; but the folly of any

premature and fractional attempt has been thus

effectual ly demonstrated . And hence,though

the old Bastilles of darkness and despotism and

the dwellers therein may imag ine the ground

more steady beneath them than i t was before this

sl ight earthquake, or rathermua’ouabe, the volcanic

action is bu t adjourned . From Mount Gibello to

Hecla the hin t is taken .

T h e Swiss regiments concentrated in the L

gations for the expected ou tbreak in April

now pile their muskets comfortably, and the


usual ly thick crop of bayonets visib le on the other

bank of the P0 may disappear for the season .

Many a good old cardina l legate wil l enjoy a

sounder n ight ’s rest beyond the Apennines and

if a new loan is wanted of T orlonia, to stop a fresh

gap of the yearly - yawning defic it, the great tobacco

contractor wil l be,perhaps, in better humour.

A few days ago this government provided for

its subj ects the spectac le of a publ i c execution,

into the detai ls of which performance I do not

enter. T h e law ’s delay had al lowed the cu lprit to

remain two years in prison before his final produc

tion, and his case is not unsuggestive of much

c spund teaching, not to the mere rabble who

gathered round the spot where of old R ienz i

spoke,and where now the guil lotine discourse th ,

but rather to those whom providence had made

responsib le for the conduct of the modern Roman

people . I n the minutes of the trial i t appeared

that this youth of twenty - four had sought al l over

the Campagna, from F rascati to Ardea , for work,and had sought in vain , before reso lving, first , on

the sale of his prayer - book,which fe tched three

bajoccni ; and finally,on ki l l i ng the firs t man he

met, who turned out to be a charcoal - burner, as

poor as himself. Now,wherefore was there no

S 2


work for Francesco Sciarra, in that wide champaign

with its rich soi l and its abounding pastures ?

T h e answer is simple : these lands are either

held in mortmain 1 by the church or the monks

(which are two dist inct categories) , or by hos

pitals, or by such leviathan landowners as Bor

gh ese , Rospigliosi, P iombino, Barberini , and (anamesake of the criminal) Prince Sciarra . T h e

church lands are never improved by additional

labour. because the incumbent has but a l ife

tenancy, and general ly l ives in Rome . T h e

monks are migratory or reckless . T h e hospitals

are gigantic jobs, where the plunder is divided

between the highest and the lowest functionaries,

a mere fractional part finding its way to the

original humane object, and no funds can be

spared for agricultural progress . T h e great land

proprietors either have no taste for expensive im

provements on a strictly entai led estate , or they

have other and less creditable pursu its ; they feel

themselves to be mere ciphers in the ecclesiastical

dominions,without the natural influence of pro

perty and rank,and therefore deem themselves

not answerable for the pauperism around them.

So between the aristocracy and the church ( the

1 See Mah ony’

s evidence on this subj ect before a Com

mittee ofth e House ofCommons .


2 6 2 FINAL RELI CS - OF FATHER PROUT .

the votive offering a bajoccbo for the soul of the

poor charcoal - burner— the sympathy being all

monopol ised by the homicide,as in I reland

,and

none left for his vict im .

T h e selection of the neighbourhood of Rien z i’shouse for these exhibitions is singularly infelicitous, but not more so than was a certain adver

tisement in the form of a leading art icle which

appears in the ‘ Roman J ournal ’ of last T hursday.

By this the public is informed that the Colonna

family offer for sale al l that remains of the famous

pine - tree in their gardens on the Quirinal,blown

down by the thunderstorm of May 1 84 2 ,i t having

been planted so far back as 1 332 , on the day that,through their ancestors, the Commonwealth of

Rome was brought under subject ion to i ts present

rulers,by the death of Cola , the last of the

T ribunes . Already fifteen cart- loads of firewood

had been retai led ou t of the broken branches'

ofthe gian t tree , and , now that the trunk alone was

left, i t was supposed that some admirer of antiques,vegetable as well as mineral , migh t be tempted to

exchange wi th the Colonna for hard dollars this

proud memento of their race. No bidder has yet

offered, though the gardener yes terday s tronglyrecommended the t imber to an Engl ish vis itor asbuonoper nu napore—J‘ good for bu ilding a steam


boat ;’ i t were better perhaps used in the con

struction of a printing - press . You may recol lect

that the same storm blew down ' T asso ’s oak on

the Janiculum , but the poor monks did not sell for

firewood the memorial of their melancho ly guest,

nor made they a peddl ing traffi c of T orquato ’s tree .

T h e wife of your member for Manchester— M rs .

M i lner Gibson , daughter of Sir T . Cu l lum , Bart .

of Suffolk—is a descendant of the Colonnas, andshe is not probably aware that th is Opportunity

offers of securing an heirloom of that time

honoured l ineage . You may mention the subject

to her with my best respects .

April 4.

T here is much qu iet amusement, not untinged

with a dash of melancholy , supp l i ed perpetually to

strangers here by the efforts of government to

arrest the progress of those modern improvements

which must obvious ly u ltimately be adopted even

in Rome . T h e mirth wh ich borders on sadness isstated by metaphysicians to have pecul iar fasci

nat ions, and some ae sthetic poet observes that no

merriment was to h im more enjoyable than

T h e funIn mourning coaches when th efuneral ’s done .

such feel ings were apt to creep o’

er the


mind,in read ing last week the newest edict of the

local authorities affixed on the walls for the

guidance of all shopkeepers and others . T his batti

sbemfi,which it is impossible not duly to respect,denounces the modern innovation of gas - l ight

made of our old acquaintance the previously de

nounced carbonfossile, and all private gas -works ofthis nature are suppressed . Hereby many an industrious and enterpris ing establ ishment has its

pipe pu t out al l of a sudden , while those which are

suffered to remain are subjected to a thousand vexat ious restrictions and domici l iary visits from officials, who, as usual , must be bribed to report

favourably. T hey are further told that their private

gas - generators will be all confiscated at some unde

termined period when it shall please the wisdom

of authori ty to establ ish government gas -works—a

period far remote , to be sure, bu t suffic iently in

definite effect ively to discourage the ou tlay of

private capital ists on their private comforts or

accommodation . M i lan,Florence , Leghorn,Venice,

T urin,and Naples are gas - l i t long since .

T here is a refinement of stupidity in this pro

ceeding,which requires no further development .

Alas ! there was a time when the Rome of Leo

X . gi rded up her loins to walk in the vanguard of

c ivil isation , instead of being, as now, decrepit and



and awful gathering of the whole human rac

pecul iarity of assembling on one spot the most

heterogeneous elements , which nothing short of a

grand convulsion could otherwise bring into jux

taposition . On looking round , the eye wanders

from the uniform of the cardinals to that of the

Brit ish red coats . A fat Capuchin friar is seen

alongside of the great French novel is t De Balzac,

whose rival rotundity of form and ampl itude o

visage are conspicuous ; the pious assiduity 0

Don M iguel edifies the beholder ; while the two

married daugh ters of Charles Kemble , spite 0

their black veils,send h 1s thoughts far away to th

haunts of Norma and of J ul ietta . T h e bluff fac

of S ir Henry Pott inger reminds one of our recen

glories on the banks of the n oranof, Wh ilthe tall gaunt figure of M r. Polk (brother to th

Yankee Pres iden t) , ris ing in a ghastly vis ion be

hind him,suggests a s imilar discomfiture of th

Kentuckian S ikhs on the banks of the Columbi

river. Scotch feudal ism is there in the person 0‘ the Glengarry ;

’ Pol ish exi les pray

of Russian major - generals ; Puseyite

abound. T here is Prince Pau l L ieven near

Whiteside , late counsel for the Repeal co

rators ; Coun t T oltstoy , S ir Charles

Prince Gall itzin , Countess Flah aut,


Twig, of the ‘ wel l - known firm in Crutched F riars ’

London .

Apropos of Mr. Polk (aforesaid) , the presence

of this gentleman in Europe is one of the beautifu l

i llustrations of the supposed democratic ex emption from that wel l - known Roman vice , nepotism .

Here is an ind ividual sent out at the expense of

the all - repudiating repub l ic , in the h igh capac i ty

of envoy to the court of Nap les, for whi ch emp loy

ment his qual ifications appear to be that he is ab

solutely incapable ofi nterchanging his ideas in anyEuropean dialect spoken on th is continent

,a sense

of which incapacity seems to have suggested to

him the uselessness of h is sojourn ing in Nap les ,RE h e has been al l this year in Paris or elsewhere .

April 1 8.

My anticipations of there be ing a screw loose

in the arrangements between Rome and Russia

prove correct. T h e vis i t of the Empress to th is

capital i s,after al l the expens ive preparations ,

final ly interdicted by the autocrat, and the

Czarina is by th is time on her way seawise from

Naples to Leghorn . As she sai ls along the

Roman coast she may probab ly catch a gl impse

of the cross topping the dome of St . Peter’s , an

object vis ib le far out at sea but noth ing further is

2 68 FINAL RELICS OF -FA THER PROUT .

she fated to behold of all the marvels gatogether here . Among the many evils o

in the schism of old Phot ius,

’twixt G

Latin church,the non -

gratification of 1

female curios ity, in this instance, i s clear]

able to bygone theology,and a most

commentary migh t be written on the

warning of the seer in the ‘ IEneid uttered

centuries previous

Has autem terras, Italique hanc littoris oram,

Effuge cuncta mal is h abitantur (ma nia Graiis) rura Latinis

T h e innocent M r. M urray, in the pastor

s impl ic i ty of his guide- book , has put on record h‘ agreeable surprise to find the artists of all cou 1

tries l iving here together on such amicable terms

I t is,perhaps, righ t that the publ ic general!

should take for granted the existence of th

Arcadian state of things, and one feels loth 1

disturb so charming a vision . What boots it, i

sooth,to learn that the F rench cl ique do n<

associate with the German set, or that the Ru

sians have an overseer at a h igh salary, to see th ;

their pol i tical principles undergo no contaminatic

from the indiscriminate B urscbensc/zaft of art

Who cares to learn that a Germanic confederatichave establ ished among themselves a kind <



P ietro Perugino,attain al l the excellences of

great scholar. T hese artists, among the m

zealous of whom are Fygh t, Sch addow, S ch nore,

and Overbeck,in their works , display, with much

of the dryness of Albert Durer, great talent, anda s trong feel ing for express ion . T hey are not

without admirers and patrons .

Now, although volumes have been sincewritten on the subject in newspapers and reviews

,

the whole p i th and subs tance of the matter hasbeen put forth by Shrewd Davie , in these fewl ines, twenty years ago . T h e real s ting which

envenoms the business is , however, contained in

the concluding words of the cannie S cot ; and in

England , I apprehend , as well as here , the realquestion which sets men at loggerheads is

,ought

there to be a monopoly in certain mystical hands

of the publ ic patronage , of government orders,and private commissions I s there to be a domi

nant sect in art ? Are there to be Christian and"

Pagan painters Are the saints ’ to inherit the

land, to the u tter exclusion of the profane P

A grand stand—up effort to do battle agai

this conspiracy has j ust been made in the great

hal l of the Roman Capitol . On the occasion of a

biennial solemnity held by the Academy of St.

Luke,Professor Visconti read an official harangue,

FIIVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

which,owing to the no ise of the over- crowded

saloon,cou ld be but ind istinctly heard , but which

being now in print before me , can be calmly con

sidered . I t is a violent tirade, almost personal ,against Overbeck and his fol lowers , and by way

of bemg more dispass ionate, i s announced as the

composition of the pres ident, Caval ier Fabris ,himself a sculptor ; the venerable old imitator of

the stiff Perugino is styled by the classic president

nu copiatorepea’an te, at the same time that he is

somewhat incoherently designated as a novatore

che con fals i princip i i temerariamente esposti e

con presuntuosa s icurezza inculcati fa deviare la

gioventucredula, &c . &c . , the object of this new

sect is further stated , with some shrewdness , to be

merely a scheme to avoid fair upright competition,

by keeping aloof from'

the ordinary field of

emulation , where their intrins ic weakness would

be detected ; to crow on a dunghi ll of their own

choice, where no rival deigns to encounter them ;‘ per togl ier d inanz i qualunque importuna emula

tione e restar sol i a dominar l ’arte he calls the

purist painter a ‘ povero di sp iri to,

’ ‘ senza anima,at the same time that he hin ts at his being only an

old hypocrite all the time,con arrogante ipocris ia

’

as if all th is ant i—paganism,artist ic Puseyism

,

philo - Puginism, &c . &c .,were all but cunning


devices of quackery to fi l l the pockets of men

who laugh in their sleeve at the enthusiasm they

have created .

I give you these details , wi thout entering into

the merits of the case further than to state that

strong jealousy exists among the I tal ians,forced

to see, as they do every Sunday , the enormous

crowd of Engl ish attending the levee of Overbeck .

T his idol ’s shrine is near the J ews ’ quarter, i n the

palace of the Cenci (chosen for effect by the cun

ning ch arlatan ,

'

say they) , and certainly there

various symptoms of trickery discernible in som

of the old gentleman ’s pecul iarities .

I n sculpture, where there is l ittle scope

deviat ion from the enduring canons of the subli

and beaut iful , the new sect has not broken gro

to any extent ; but the Cavalier Fabris aforesaid ,who has succeeded to the presidency and emolu

ments of Canova (owing to the cameraa’erie of Gre

gory XX I . ,who, when a poor monk, often quaffeda flask of Orvieto wi th the sucking sculptor), isbut a poor apology for the genius that is departed .

John Gibson ’s statue of the Queen,ordered

for Buckingham Palace , is now nigh finished,

stands forth confessedly a masterpi ece of ma

portraiture . N 0 coin , medal, picture, or m

which the Brit ish public has yet seen,can


2 74 FINAL RELI CS OF FATH ER PROUT .

all approach ing the merit of this work ; a production of unmistakable nat ive genius

,which is under

stood to be ordered by the managers of Concilia

t ion Hall . I f they thus expended all the funds

levied from the duped mul titude,none would

cavil at the extortion ; for when all the brawlers

wil l be silent in their graves, and the foll ies of the

present hour long forgotten , this proud monument

of well - directed patriotism wil l yet gladden theeyes of mill ions .

T h e Bavarian artist,Wolf, among many im

tan t works for Berl in and Munich , has been

missioned by Her Majesty of England to ex ecua statue of Prince Albert, by reason , perhaps,his having many years ago (before the

marriage) carved a bust of the Prince when

in Rome . Of the present work, which is nearly

completed,it is enough to say that th e l ikeness is

unexceptionable. T here is an elegan t gentleness

in the Royal Consort’s express ion , a smooth mi ld

ness,somewhat grotesquely contrasting,

th eless, with the warl ike costume Ofalegionary

,in which (kilt included ) he stands before

you . T here are the bronze buskins , the corslet,the studded belt. He grasps the Roman s

swordfand leans on a round buckler, withph ins carved thereon . I t needs no

FI IVAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

soul to anticipate the future celebrity of this per

formance ; the ‘ hat ’ was noth ing to this : alas !

there is a sad dog in Fleet Street, an unscrupu

lous assailant of the most solemn tomfooleries

need I name the implacable Punch ,’ who,

Hushed in grim repose , awaits hi s marble prey

A Mr . Cardwel l 1 of Manchester has model led

some very - superior works ; he is j ust now eu

gaged in modell ing a wassai l - bowl, which has

been ordered by some patron of the AngloNorman period of art . I t is supposed to re

present the favourite drinking - cup of h im who

wrote the Canterbury T ales ,’ as is indicated by

following suggestive inscription , which , in

k letter,gracefu l ly runs round the tracery of

the vase

This be Chaucer hys cup ye well ofengl ish undefiled .

Painting in Rome ranks now but second to

sculpture there is no use in asking why,

2 but the

1 T h e Statesman , vol. i . p . 9 7 .

2 At an artists ’ dinner last Christmas (th e occurrence willbe found later on) it was stated from th e chair

,and ratified

by ‘applause

,

’ that th e head- quarters ofSCULPTURE must everbe Rome, as irremovable thence as th e immobile saxum ofh erCAPITOL ; but as for being still th e head nurse ofyoungpainters , sh e performed that office oflate somewhat after th efashion ofh er own sh e -wolf

,and h er udders were exhausted .

T 2


fact is undemiable : there is a much greater amo

of relative talent among the brethren of the ch

than among the fraternity of the brush . Among

natives , Caval ier Podestihas succeeded to the emo

luments and office of the late Camuccini, a chancon siderably for the better. Brick - dust is now

a discount , and a more pleasing set of tints

been introduced on the Roman palette .

academic figures have been banished from

canvas , and some original ity of design has 5 11

seded the monotony of previous years . Yet

Roman school far below that of Paris , Lond

and even M i lan . I n Podesti’

s studio there

nevertheless , a Decameron which might vie

that ofWinterh alter. I t is decidedly more si

and has more local truthfulness .Capalti i s exquis ite in portraiture, and M inardi

unrivalled in l inear drawing ; but the great attrac

t ion is the studio of Cornel ius . I t were wrong

confound this painter wi th the servile adherents

Overbeck : he has burst the swaddling- clothes

early art,’ and dashes off his subject with a no

freedom . He is now engaged on a series

cartoons for a grand cemetery to be painted

fresco at Berl in . T h e subjects are from the

of Revelat ion , and also'

from his own t

fancy for, as I was contemplating one



original ity to his marble busts ; he may be truly

cal led the founder of Yankee sculpture . T hisstyle is quite his own .

An able artist, as well as a connoisseur, Mr.Macpherson has lately had the luck to purchase

,

at the breaking up of the great storehouse ofCardinal Fesch , an oaken panel , abou t four feet byfive, which is covered with an unfinished painting

of Christ borne to the sepulchre,now pronounced

by the best judges in Rome, and by Cornel ius , to

be an undoubted oil p icture by Buonarotti. equal

in al l its pecul iarities to that in the F lorentine‘T ribuna.

’ I ts history is curious enough . I t was

purchased at Fano, on the Adriat ic, for thirty- five

bajoccbi, in a barbe r’s shop , where i t had done

duty for several centuries as a table , the back

the picture having been polished for the

surface of that piece of domest ic furniture .

speculator who brought it to Rome sold i t to

Cardinal at once for twen ty- seven crowns , and it

lain among the lumber uncleaned ever S ince . T h e

government officer, Visconti , was oirdered to put

his seal on it— no ex eat regno—but, by some

oversight, the custom - house funct ionary, F’

allowed himself to be outwitted , and the


oak board is now safe at Leghorn , under the pro

tection of the British flag.

T h e same gentleman , whose researches in the

interesting mine ofStuart an tiquities have beenrewarded by so many valuable J acobite treasures

(see‘ Quarterly Review ’ for J anuary 1 84 7 , art.

‘ Stuart seems to possess a kind of

Scottish second - s ight, by which he instinctively

recognises the presence of an old master. I n the‘ Odyssey ’ we have U lysses

,the old master ’ of

I thaca, after many years of defacing care and d is

figuring toils , sti l l identified by can ine sagacity .

And a picture by Sebastian del P iombo (an un

questionab le portrait ofV ittoria Colonna, paintedTn x h er widowhood), was on the point of beingscraped to utter destruction by an ignorant

restorer, when M r. Macpherson came , saw , and

rescued the invaluable canvas and restored it to

its name and origin . Caval ier M inardi,the first

authority in Rome on these matters,has hailed

and vouched for the discovery,which has derived

singular corroboration from an acknowledged

portrait of the lady in a N eapol itan col lection .

S ince the bold revelation of Ossian by his distinguish ed grand- uncle

,there have beenfew such

fel icitous trouvailles.


M emorandum—At the Café del Greco,

’ fre

quented by the chi ldren of art, the unin itiated

visitor hears what sounds like an ‘unknown

tongue T hose who gently ask th e waiter for a

Carlo D olce are simple applicants for a very mild

form of alcohol ic st imulant ; while you well -wh is

kered individual,who

.prefers a sti/7

” tumbler of

grog, quickly conveys his meaning by call ing for a

Florence April 2 9 .

Being here to pay a passing visi t to some very

dear friends, I do not omi t to keep you an courant

of what passes , and I am now in a posit ion to tell

you that the pear is ripening, if this Peninsula canbe l ikened to a pear, when it bears so notoriously

the semblance of a boot. Our F lorence , ‘ the

thrifty,’ is s ituated on the shin - bone of that fan

ciful simil itude , and Bologna, ‘ the fat forms

natural ly part of the calf ; while Genoa,superb ,

’ suppos ing the boot to be of the

Hessian model , would have to play the ornamental

part of i ts then obligato appendage, the tassel .

I n this arrangement Lombardy and the Venetian

territory would not be included within the leather

at all,though undeniably belonging to the leg ; and

Austria most undoubtedly thinks that where


2 8 2 FIIVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT.

combined with strict adherence to Cathol ic ortho

doxy) ; the permission g iven to the refugees of

1 8 2 0 to revisi t P iedmont and Genoa, the increase

of the army to over well - discipl ined troops,

all nat ives of Upper I taly ; the selection of Genoa

as the rendez vous of all the scientific minds and

daring souls of the Peninsula, who are to gath

an immense force and unanimity there next

September—all these indications of ulterior views

on the part of King Carlo Alberto have spread

alarm and dismay among the Austrian auth orit

at M ilan . T h e obj ects contemplated are perfecobvious . ‘ I taly for the I tal ians ,

’ is the i ll - sup

pressed cry ’ on every l ip . Hence a rapid march

of numerous Hungarian and Bohemian regiments

into the provinces of Lombardy hence a strength

ening of the garrisons along the front1er.Explanations have been sought by the old

M eph istoph iles of V ienna, . and he has received

evasive repl ies . T h e mild game of diplomacy is

found to be of no use here there are no Galician

peasantry here to let loose on I tal ian noblemen .

What is to be done P Foreign bayonets are

brought down in plenty. and the sl igh test commo

t ion wil l g ive an opportunity to test their efficacy.

Meant ime, the war of custom - house vexations

has already commenced . Within the last few


days we learn that the duty on P iedmontese wine

has been cons iderably augmented at the frontier

of Lombardy ; you are aware that immense

suppl ies of that article pass from P iedmon t into

the neighbouring territory, less productive in

vineyards,and subj ect to Austria. Another and

most s ign ificant change has taken place in the

relative bearing of Mi lan and T urin towards each

other. H itherto the subjects of both dominions

having landed property in both were allowed al l

the rights of rec iprocal c itizensh ip , and were inthe enjoyment of a twofold protection , coupled

with a twofold al legiance . Late ly the Austrian

authorities have given notice that all h is Imperial

Majesty’

s subj ects so s ituated must make their

election , and dec lare themselves l ieges of ei ther the

Kaiser or of the K ing. A further measure has

been adopted ( sti l l on the part of Austria) .

H itherto the farmers and peasantry on the imme

diate frontier could pass to and fro with a docu

ment annually renewed . Now,there must be a

special and distinct passport for each time they

pass the boundary . I t is reported that, to meet

the increase of duty on P i edmontese w ines , thecourt of T urin is about to increase the customs

on all the wool len and other tissues of Bohemian

origin, and to retal iate right and left on the


Emperor. We shal l see . War may be carried 0

by tariffs .

Nous frapperons Falck with twenty per cent.

T h e facts suggest their own commentar

T hat commentary is freely made in the Un

s it ies of P isa and Bologna, and wherever th

youth of I taly congregate ; nor do elderly me

draw any different conclusion of what is g

on . T h e I tal ians have ceased to look to Fran

for aid

Can Gaul or Muscovite befriend ye ? NO .—BYRON.

T hey are learn ing self- rel iance,and if the principl

of non - intervention is sustained,short work wil

be made of the foreigner .

Of course you gave no credi t to the rumou:

that Renzi had been secretly executed in th i

castle of St. Angelo . T h e Roman governmen

dare not indulge in such a luxury of vengeance

however palatable to some of Mettern ich ’s disciple .

at the Vatican ; but the next best thing was t<

murder his character,and that has been attempte <

by the Austrian embassy here,to which I h aw

traced the report prevalen t last week , that Renz

had turned informer,and g iven in a long l ist 0

secret rebels of Ancona,Bologna, Forli , a

Perugia.

’ None bel ieved i t, when the question



walls on . the memorable occasion . T his is plain

speaking. Numbers of the P iedmontese and

Genoese clergy are to harangue the people in the

churches on the subject of that s ignal triumph of

their fatherland over the invader.

T o promote sympathy and brotherhood amo

the states of I taly seems to be the watchword

the patriots . Already have the municipal ity

Genoa determined on restoring to P isa the colos

chains which adorn the Cathedral of S t. Lawren

and the mole, and which were maritime trophi

carried off many centuries ago by the Genoe

fleet,when P isa bad a fleet and harbour to

with the aforesaid chains . A deputation is to

sent, and a warm interchange of patriot 1ofeelinwill doubtless ensue .

Bologna.

T h e tenure by which the Pope retains his half

dozen Legations ’ north of the Apennines resem

bles somewhat the hold which the Grand T urkbad on Algiers , and sti l l has on the regency of

T unis . He cannot keep them with a t igh t hand,and must be sat isfied wi th a lax grasp and a loose

rein . H is Pashas have done their duty if the

tribute bags be duly remitted to the Papal t

sury, and al l minor disarrangements must

FIIVAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT. 2 87

winked at. T h e peop le of Bologna, i n particu lar,are rather unwil l ing to be kept in leading- strings .

When writing from Rome, I transmitted to you

the late edict against gas publ ished in the metro

pol is , and wh ich was , of course , there submitted to

with a sl ight growl . N 0 such ch ild ish man ifesto

wou ld be tolerated here . T h e municipal auth ori

ties have at th is moment in active construction

three large gas - works for the publ i c l ighting of

this active and industrious town,notwi thstanding

the wel l - known displeasure fel t thereat at head

quarters . T heir indignation at the refusal of

railroads is intense,seeing that the whole l ine from

F lorence to Leghorn,with a branch to S ienna ,

w ill be open next year.I t wi l l go hard wi th the mul titudinous lay

dependents and clerical hangers - on about the

Papal court when these provinces fai l them .

Bologna is the grand milch - cow from which these

babes of grace derive their al imentary suppl ies,

and with out the Legations the whole system could

not last a single day . Hence any peace - offeringto Austria, any bribe to Lou is Phi l ippe, any com

plaisance to Prussia, sooner than lose th is vacca

sacra . T h e animal is exceedingly restive meant1me

,

Faenum habet in cornu .


and no wonder, considering the perpetual drain 0its resources , receiving nothing in return save

present of two Swiss regiments (of men eaclto keep i t in order, assisted by a regiment

Pontifical dragoons .

When i t i s stated that the principal portion

the Papal income is collected here and transmitteover the mountains , it were wel l to remind you

what that income is , and h ow further circu

stanced, in order that those who shall have rec

vered their money ou t of the rai lway deposits ma

have the option of investing the same in Roman fivper cents . I t is wel l then to remember that th

total revenue of the Roman states is somewha

under two mil l ions sterl ing ; but the expense

collecting it being about 460 ,0 0 0 l. there remain

a net income of 1 ,540 ,0 0 0 l.

I n 1 834 the publ ic debt was 6 ,30 0 ,0 0 0 l. Sinc

then other loans .have been contracted , at variou

rates of usury : one last year, from the tobacc

broker, T orlonia, for two mi ll ion dollars .

T h e interest of the publ ic debt, payable i

Paris and M i lan,absorbs annually 5 60 ,0 0 0 l. an

upwards .

T h e different heads under which the revenu

may be classified will indicate the form of taxation

used in the Roman states it s tands thus in dol

lars


2 9 0 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT

You can find the average from these dT his last item , viz . the income made by

couraging gambling propensit ies in the igno

vulgar, is a subject too serious to be dismissea passing not ice . I promise to anatomise

part of the Roman system m detail,and ex

its demoral is ing operat ion in full . I have only

sought here to give you some insight into

mere financial condition of the eclesiastical do

n ions .

Returning to the affairs of th is ' capital tow

centre of the Legat ions ,’ i ts principal feature

course its world - famous and t ime - honoured un

sity . I n the present fallen condition of this once

celebrated ‘ A lma Mater ’ may be traced the

degrading influence of the modern Roman

and the unb lushing effrontery wi th which

selfish worldl ings trample ou t the torch of sci

Shortly after the few months of emancipwhich this territory enjoyed in 1 831 , the

of the Papal legate was to issue an edict con

the benefit of univers ity education to you ths born

in the district,and forbidding all others to ap

proach the schools at one fell swoop sweeping offmore than half t he aspirants after knowledge.Numbers of students from the Levant, from

Greece, from Dalmatia, and other countries , were

FINAL RELIC'

S OF FATHER PROUT

thus sent off to other founts of learning,and the

halls of Bo logna have ever s ince borne resemb lance

to those of Balc lutha in desolation . Every prof

fessor of eminence was e ither ban ished or kidnapped . M ez zo/an te, whom Byron found here in the

good o ld days of the univers ity, was induced by

the sp lendid bribe of a red hat to quit the scene

of his early distinction , and mingle with the mob

of courtly valets at the Vatican .

J urisprudence and medicine, which were so

highly cu ltivated for so many centuries , are now

both in the most languish ing state, and the very

School of D ivin ity, when compared to that of

Munich,Bonn , or even Louvain , i s much below

par, and far beneath contempt . T h e only academy

here which may be tru ly described as flourish ing

and ful l of vital i ty is the Lyceum of Musical

Science, presided over and kept al ive by the im

ossini. I t is the pol icy of al l despotisms

ourage the enervating arts , and to turn , i f

le, the energies of youth i nto the volup

uous paths and mazes of e legant sensual i ty .

Motus docere gaudet Ionicos,

nd music has effectual ly done for I taly whatdid for the T urks . Ever s ince the in

on of operas here and ch ibouks there ,U 2

2 9 2 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT.

al l energy has departed as wel l from the childre

of Dante as the fol lowers of the Prophet . T h

old Saracen sword was left to rust i n the scabbard

to be replaced by the peaceful pipe and the war

cry of the Viscontis, the Gonz agas, old Dandolo

and old Doria, have been superseded by th

modern modulat ions of some Signor Squallini

of Her Maj esty’s T heatre,’ late from the Scala o

the Pergola . I t is pitiful to see the young noble

of this once valorous land totally absorbed, da

and night,in the frivol ities of the gamut .

T h e chairs of jurisprudence and medicine

scarcely be expected to attract the ambitio

any intell igen t professor in a country where a

exercise of the mental faculties is l

with jealous distrust and forthwith

wi th a cordon sanitaire of egbionnage, su

i n mal ignant misrepresentat ion . Yet,standing Rome’s horror of innovation in sci

and though up to this day that common instru

the stethoscope is not admitted into the

(an Engl ish doctor who used it having been

named the ‘ dottor della some olc

ladies in the metropol is have had influenc

enough at the Roman court to obtain toleration

and even patronage , for ‘ homoeopathy ! ’ I n th

middle of last Lent, the Dowager Princess P iom



factures,or fisheries, or mines , or publ ic wo

not a bit of it—the ‘ Apostol ic chamber,’

humorously calls i tself ( they call the same

an Aul ic counci l ’ at Vienna) , laid out the m

at once in soldiers ; they purchased up at

some prime lots of bludgeon -men in the

bru tal and ignorant valleys of Swi tzerland ,they now think themselves safe while the pay a

provender can be provided .

Let there be the slightest misintel l igence

tween the courts of T urin and the authorities

Lombardy, the Legations rise to a man , and a

the northern I tal ians to sweep the coun try of eve

beer- drinking boor in the length and breadth

the land .

Methinks I have said enough to persuade tho

happy people in England cal led ‘ scrip - holder

who have recovered their deposits from the cor

mittee -men , to invest this so happily recuperate

capital in Roman Fives.

Milan : May 1 2 .

T h e atti tude of open host il ity assumed by t!

authorit ies of Lombardy towards the court

T urin , so promp tly met, on the part of Piedmor

by scorn and defiance, i s a new feature in tl

aspect of I tal ian pol itics , and you wil l have h er


he first to put the Engl ish publ i c in possess ion

this startl ing change in the prospects of

them Europe. T h e s ituation is not altered,

the note i s rather crescendo than symptomati c

T h e utmost activi ty reigns in al l

epartments the war and pol ice offices

t work n ight and day, and strangers arriving

Lower I taly or the Swiss fron t ier give the

ludicrous accounts of the vexatious exami

ns they and their passports have to undergo

in the general pan ic . T h e movemen t has com

municated i tself to the smal l adjacent terri tories

more or less depending on Austria . T h e young

Duke of Modena has precip itately left his capi tal

ae x fallen back on Reggio . T h e Archduchess

Maria Lou isa has left Parma in a most unex

pected manner, and retreated upon P lacentia .

T h e consternat ion and alarm wou ld be most

amusing, did they no t i ndicate a most conscience

stricken admiss ion of imbeci l i ty, usurpation , in

trusion , and recognised wrong . T h e whole po l i cy

of Mettern ich seems to go to pieces at a single

kick , and Austria stands here in the predicamen t,not of a European power

,but of a member of

the swell -mob detected in flag‘

rante, and exposed

to general deris ion .


Con arte e con ingannoSi vive mez z o l ’annoCon inganno e con arteSi vive l’altra parte

It is true that I have my own suspicions as tothe real cause of the sudden fl ight of the young

Duke and the concurrent and synchronous lieg ira

of the imperial widow. Pol itics may have some

thing to do in the matter, but

T hrift Horatio, thrift

E conomy was one among the propel lent motives .You must have learnt how the K ing of Naples

was cleared out by the visit of the Czarina the

rumour of cul inary ravages committed by the

Russian locusts set every I tal ian court aghast ;T uscany trembled at the approach of this female

Att i la, with her famished hordes . T h e Grand

Duke, however, i s rich , and he put the best face

he could on the matter ; he even went out of h is

way to give a grand gas i lluminat ion of the whole

quay of the Arno,from the Ponte T rinitato the

new gas -works . He got bu t smal l thanks and

poor courtesy in return from these haughty folks .

T hey departed,however, and set out over the

Apennines northwards , no exact route having been

announced,and bence the compl icated terror of

the petty courts on the high road . At Bologna it


2 98 FIIVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT.

ments, bu t there is a l i ttle bird that s ings a note

of warn ing aloft, and the tenor of its song, if not

,ca ira , i s something tantamount . I t may not be

the ‘ rogue ’s march ,’ but possibly an air more

pol ite from the Gaz z a Ladra . People wil l h

their own again .

It will be perhaps urged , m respect to

provender with which Maria Louisa could fur

her Russian vis itors , that Parmesan cheese m

supply a pie‘ce de resistance capable of blun

their exorb itan t appetite. T hose who make

suggestion are not probably aware that

in question , owing to the neglect of

rulers , i s no longer a staple of ei ther

P lacentia scarce a pound of it is made here,the whole manufacture is now carried on beyo

the P0 , in the pasturages that surround Lo

Many are the melancholy changes which

befallen the cit ies of Lombardy and many

are expected . Verona, from being a most re

gentle,and industrious town , i s now tran

into a barrack , and wi thin the last week

uninhabitable by intrenchments , bristl ing cannon ,and barred gates . Mantua, which was once, in the

bosom of i ts l impid lake, with i ts long causew

and gl ittering domes , the M exico of I ta

seen i ts water drawn off into stagnant dite


churches changed into cavalry stab les , and its

artistic courtly Dukes replaced by a sauerkraut

eat ing F ield - Marechal . T h e sp lendours of Monte

zuma have vanished , and the glories of Gonzaga

are gone ! yet what poet i s found to weep over

Mantuan decay ? Why is there no sympathy

for such desolation ? Perhaps the neighbouring

widowhood of the ‘ sea Cybele ’—ofVenice—hasmonopol ised our deplorings, and none are left for

Mantua ; the V i rgi l ian town suffering in th is

instance from its vic in i ty to la bella Venez ia, as it

did of o ld from its ‘ too great proximity to Cre

mona

Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae

T h e demise of Gregory XV I . was the periodoriginal ly fixed for a new organisation of th is

country but i t is p leasant to learn that the vene

rable old Pontiff is yet l ikely to last a year or two ;a swel l ing in the legs 1 has been announced in my

It h as since been ascertained that one ofhis medicaladvisers strongly urged, as th e only chance ofprolonging hislife, immediate amputation ofth e left leg. Gregory was thun o

derstruck at th e unheard - ofproposal . From th e earl iest personal records ofth e Popes

,compiled by Anastasius t/ze Libra

rian,

’

down to this day, there h ad been no precedent for a

Pontiff with a wooden leg. H is horror ofinnovation , whichvented itself upon gas and railroads, here produced a repug

nance which swayed h ismind even at th e peri l ofhis l ife . He


last Roman advices ; his general health is, how

ever, wonderfu l for his age . With al l h is pol itical

mistakes (and what could a poor monk havelearnt in his cel l of this wicked world ’s ways the

Roman Bishop is , after all, a genuine honestcharacter. When he dies, you may fairly repro

duce the words of your Lord Bacon , concerning

his namesake and predecessor : Gregory X I I I .fulfi l led the age of eigh ty- three years, an absolute

good man , sound in mind and in body, temperate,full of good works , and an almsgiver.

’ N

Organum .

’ Chapter of L ife and Death . )I t would be premature to hint anything

to h is probable successor ; though more is l ik

to be known here in Genoa about the matter

at Rome itself. T his c i ty has had the luc

produce and possess no less than s ix of

most influent ial Cardinals , for the Genoese

foo ting anywhere ; they are not unl ike the S

in promot ing and ass isting their

T h e secretary of state , Lambrusch ini, is from

town , so is Franzoni , head of the Propaga

and spiritual ruler of al l vour H iberno - British

scouted th e proposition . T here i s something impressive in theold man ’s consistency, reminding us ofth e sublime outburst inT acitus .

Oportet Imperatorcm stantemmori



commands the Emperor’ s navy is an Engl ishcal led Acton , who was heretofore captain

ship in our East I ndia Company ’s service . He

has recently embraced the Cathol ic rel igion, and

been created Admiral of T uscany . I n this curiousrecord of the I tal ian branch of the Actons

, a

family which boasts of two baronetcies in England,

you wil l admire the energies of your Anglo - Saxonrace in taking roo t when transplanted . You will

also recognise in the Roman eminence attained

by the offspring of a seafaring adventurer,some

thing already il lustrated in the opening l ines of

the IE neid

Fato profugus Liburnia venitLittora :mu ltum il le et terris jactatus et alto

genus unde LatinumAlbanique Patres .

T here is no further pol itical overt act to commu

nicate the fermentation goes on steadily.

T h e J esu its here help i t on by their effortsto regain the mastery over the K ing’s present

advisers ; but it i s al l fru itless intrigue. T he

parochial clergy at Genoa are to a man on the

popular side, and the pulpit will shortly bec

the vehicle of patriotic appeals to an aw

people .

FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT .

I have had the good luck to get from Mar

sei lles an early copy of your P ictures ,’ 1 in which

this city occupies the foreground . I have j ust

glanced through the work , the tone and tendency

of which I fain would notice at fu l l leisure . Wi th

out indulging in pol i t ical diatribes , 52 la Lady

Morgan ( indeed morgue, as the F rench cal l it, or .

presumption of any sort,i s al ien to your gentle

nature), you have done I taly yeoman’

s service .

I am rather glad you have not adopted the out

ward semblance ofa pol i tic ian , whatever may bethe real working of your sp irit, non oglat

F oe .

1 Dickens ’ Pictures from Italy .

’


CHAPT ER V I .

BETWEEN THE OLD REGIME AND THE NEW.

i s wel l known that H is Hol iness Pope

egory XV I . ( cal led in that branch of the

nedictine order to which he belonged , Don

uro Capellari), departed this l ife J une 1,on

very day that the peop le in England were

in a morning journal of recent b i rth those

considerate reflections on his memory

are to be found at page 1 0 1 of h is re ~

rkable volume, and which Don J eremy wrote

May 2 4 at Genoa . I t wou ld appear that atnoa our author embarked for h is native is land

Sardinia on a visit to h is fami ly and friends at

l iari , and consequently no record exists from

pen of the transactions that occurred during

conclave which immediately assembled at

me, and eventuated in the happy election of

onut J ohn Mastai Ferretti .

I was not in Rome myself then , nor indeed atX 2


any other time, but I don’t consider that an im

pediment to my speculating accurately upon theaffairs of the Cathol ic capital rather the contrary

,

as I thereby enjoy the advantage of that respect

ful distance which is known to lend enchantment

to the V iew . T h e best and most circumstantial

works on Roman topography have been written by

honest Germans who never crossed the Alps in

their l ives ; and my laborious friend Desborough

Cooly, author of that astonishing book the Negroland

,

’ knows every corner of Afr1ca better thanMahomed Al i or Marshal Bugeaud , though his

travels, except an occas ional trip to Gravesend,have been mostly confined to the reading- room

of the British Museum , among the writings of

J esu it miss ionaries .

T h e Museum library is a great nat ional work

house where the paupers of literature are employed

i n elaborating the materials of their dead fellow

creatures into a useful kind of l i terary guanoforthe cul tivation of the publ ic mind . Much has

been said during the last days of the late Parlia

ment about a great case of bone- crushing at An

dover, in Hampshire , and considerable sympathy

has been el icited for the bumpkins engaged in

that pursu it . T h e resul t is— a big blue - book

added to the stock in our Museum . But I hope



having for object to decide into whose custod

the key of heaven is to be committed,bein

composed of cardinals , so named , rather odd]perhaps , from the term cardines, the h inges of

door. He may then indulge in a sl ight digressioon the cardinal virtues , making honourablementioof the four cardinal points , and of a recent iteof fashionable haberdashery .

But if he means to astonish the publ ic by th

depth of his researches and the extent of h

erudition,he wil l never confine himself to commo

place dissertat ions,nor bound his enquiries with i

the l imits of the printed books to be ha

at the Museum . He wil l make a plunge into tl

more recondite departmen t of manuscript, an

grope with desperate daring through the M

repositories of our nat ional collection . T his

the plan which I follow myself.

I n the present instance I have ferreted

(and the documents are all now lying before

a complete assortment of the squ ibs,placards,

pasquinades put forth at Rome during the se

conclaves of

UrbanV I I I . (Barberini )I nnocen t X .

Alexander V I I .

Clement I X .


Clement X . (A ltieri. )I nnocent X I . (Odescalc/zi.)A lexander V I I I . (Ottoboni. )I nnocent X I I .

Clement X I . (A lbani.)ending with

I nnocent X I I I . (Conti.)

embrac ing a period of exactly one hundred

years,viz . from 1 6 2 1 to 1 7 2 1 . T h e collection

appears to have been the work of an impartial

amateur, and though the handwriting is pecu l iar,you can make it out by an occasional guessf I tis numbered in S ir F red . Madden’s catalogue ,1 0 80 6 addit. MS .

T hese spontaneous outbursts of popu lar h u

mour, applause, indignation , or sarcasm ,as the

occasion might suggest,are the only true mirror

in which we can get a gl impse of the real state of

affairs in any country where there is nofreepress ;and consequently they are far more to be rel ied

on (making every al lowance for personal i ty and

passion) than the solemn humbug of history from

the pen of an enslaved or h ired h istorian . I n

Milton’

s celebrated plea for l iberty in matters of

the press , a treatise of wondrous logical power

and manly common sense,the ‘Old man eloquent

’

dwells scornfu l ly on the necess ity existing in a

31 2 FIIVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT

government l ike that of Rome of submitti

every scrap of print to a Dominican friar, ‘ mas

of the sacred palace,

’ without whose imprimatnothing has ever been suffered to go forth to t

Roman world . I s the world in i ts infancy, that

i s to be treated as a child ? P ius I X . now sa

No

Considering them in this point of view , I m

say that a very comprehens ive, and, at the sa

t ime,very minute knowledge may be acquired

Roman society and the prevalen t characterist

of c ivil and ecclesiastical l ife in that city duri

the period in question from these remarka

MSS .

H ine septem dominos videre montesE t totam licet contemplariROMAM .

T hough much wil l depend on the constructi

which each reader’s previous prejudices vs

prompt in disparagement or in favour of tl.

E ternal City .

VEUVE d ’un PEUPLE Rov et REINE encor’

du monde

T here is vast variety of matter as well as sty le

prose and verse,and, with some doggrel , a go

intermingling of terse and beaut iful poetry in tlvoluminous assortment of Roman personalitii

I have too great a respect for old Jeremy’

s

’

boc



even his great predecessor Cardinal Ximenes,

the shade. Resembl ing in many points our

great political Cardinal Wolsey, his rise as well ash is fall was the work of female influence

,and one

Laura, the Queen

’s nurse, bribed by the Regent

Orleans, achieved his disgrace and downfall . L ike

Wolsey, be also aspired to the Papal throne, andwhen forced to quit Spain attended the conclaveof 1 7 2 1 in the character of a candidate . Among

o ther squibs directed against h is pretensions,I

select this as being almost subl ime in its splendid

introduction of a passage from the prophecies ofDaniel .

A BLAST AGAINST CARD INAL ALBERON I , CAND IDATE FOR THE

T IARA (T HE SON OF AN OLD GARDENER IN PARMA), 1 7 2 1 .

ALBERO, ch e fra noi t’

estolli e ti dai vanto,

Ch ’il mar’ adombri e ’l sol e il cie l riempi,Volgi l’idea nei giatrascorsi tempi,Ne di tuoi fasti insuperbia cotanto.

Deh non h ai tu letto nel libro santo,

Pieno per te di memorandi e sempi,Ch e IDD IO grida destruttor degl i empi,L

’ALBERO s1 RECIDA E CADA IN FRANTO.

l

T al contra T E non meno funesta e atroceQual turbo orrendo infra spelonca alpinaT uona del ciel l’inesorabil’ voce,E della tua caduta ormai vicinaAll

’

averno, all’ orco, alla tartarea foceSi udira rimbombar la tua ruina

1 Daniel iv . 1 1 .

FIIVAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT . 31 5

As a curious specimen of the freedom of invective publicly indulged in on those occasions

,and

the existence in Rome of a strong spirit of irreve

rence towards the govern i ng powers both in Church

and State , I select the fol lowing lampoon against

the whole body of the red - hatted dign itaries,pre

ferring to g ive a samp le of wholesale abuse than

to transcribe more specific onslaughts on indivi

dual character with which the collection abounds .

A SILLY D IATRIBE ON TH E CONCLAVE OF 1 7 2 1 .

Fan consilio gl i volpi in VaticanoGuardate a vostri pol li, Aquila e Gallo 1

Ch e in conclave vi e pili d ’un capel gialloE piti d ’un T urco in abitO '

Cristiano .

Il Macch iavel vi sta l’

officio in manoVeggonsi ogni or per non commetter falloP111 d ’un man ’ vi e ch’ h a fatt’ il calloNel tesser frodi e ogni inganno strano .

Non pili colomba, ma fiamme di fuoco,Per abbrucciar in un tutto il conclave

,

Scendi, SPIRITO SANT o in questo luoco

Affonda col noch ier anche la nave,Atterra i rei di te si prendou giuocoCh e in man ’

di LADRI non sta ben la C II IAVE .

After that,i t is but fair to give an example of

the laudatory style,which portion of the MS . is , I

regret to say, less plent i ful ly furn ished than the

1 France and Germany.


uncharitable part, being thus an accurate mirror

human society . T h e activity of friendly poets

these occasions never seems to equal the energetlabours of critics and foes . I t must have been

period of great gain to the hirel ings of Parnassu

for I perceive (with a blush for our gentle cra

that most of the eulog ies bear internal eviden

of having been paid for in sol id eecclcini. He

is a poetic recommendation,which to a care

reader would seem rather ironical

A PUFF FOR CARD INAL BARBERIN I , CAND IDAT E FOR TH

POPEDOM,1 7 2 1 .

O Iddio non avrai gia mai pensatoRitrovar fra noi simil personeT essuto aver’ e favole e cansone ,

E tutto contra nu tal buon’ porporato

Si ti v uol ramentar Ch ’ egl i sia statoIl punitor del empio e del bricone

E prottetor solo delle pie personeE pili buon di lui non si e trovato.

Regirator lo chiam e avaro. O indegnoE quanta opera col

’ senno e colla manoFe ch e superi ogni piti sano ingegno.

Si ePAPA , buon per te, popol ’ RomanoVi danno l’APE in ogni strada l’insegnoDi que l ch e fe in tuo ben’ l ’ottavo URBANO .

T h e allusion to the heraldic bees towards

close of this sonnet is intell igible to everyone\1



I I .

Fures rosarum, turba praedatrix thymi,Nectaris artifices,

Bonaeque ruris h ospitae

II I.

Laboriosis quid juvat volatibusRus et agros gravidisPerambulat e cruribus

I\hSi Barberino delicata principeSaecula melle fluantParata vob is saecula

I t is, perhaps , very impudent on the part of

mere l iterary hack,as I humbly confessed myse

in undertaking for Don J eremy these intercala

pages,to submit any poetry of mine for insp

tion,but having translated Sarbie ski’s l ines to

own satisfaction , I cannot help printing them he

T o THE ARMORIAL BEES ofBARBERINI

I .

C itiz ens ofMount Hymettus,

Attic labourers wh o toil,Never ceasing, til l ye get usWinter store ofhoneyed spoil.

I I.

Ye,wh o nectar, (sweets, and odours),Hebes ofth e hive compose,

Flora’s privileged marauders,

Chartered p irates ofthe rose .

FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT. 31 9

I I I .

Every flower and plant ye touch on,Wears at once a fresher grace

BEES ye form th e proud escutcheonOfth e Barberini race .

IV.

Emblem bright which to embroider(Whi le h er knight wasfar away),

Many a maiden hath employed h erFairy fingers n ight and day.

V.

Bees though pleased your fl ight I gaz e on,In th e garden or th e field,

Brighter hues your wings emblaz onOn th e Barberini shield

VI .

H itherto a rose ’s Chal iceH eld thee , winged artisan,But thou fillest now th e palaceOfth e gorgeous Vatican .

VI I .

Ofthat race a Pontiff re igneth,Sovereign ofImperial Rome ,

Lo th’

armorial Bee obtainethFor its hive ST . PET ER’

S DOME

VI II .

And an era now commences ,By a friendly genius planned

Prince ly Bee, URBAN di spense s

Honeyed days throughout th e land.

32 0 FINAL RELIC'

S OF FATHER PROUT .

IX.

Seek no more, with tuneful humming,Where th e juicy floweret grows

Halcyon days for you are coming,Days ofplenty and repose .

x .

Rest ye workmen , blythe and bonny,

Be no more th e cowslips sucktH oneyed flows th e T iber honeyFills each Roman aqueduct.

x 1 .

Myrtle groves are fast distil l ingHoney h oney

’

d falls th e dew,

Ancient prophecies fulfillingAmillenniumfor YOU .

T urning aside for the present from the

templation of these former conclaves , and ente

on the subject of that recent assembly w

elected Coun t J ohn Mastai Ferre tti, his pre

Hol iness , no documents have been put intohands by which I might hope to elucidate

various influences which contributed to b

about that happy result . Confessedly,things

gone on during Gregory’

s s ixteen years of re

from feebleness to dotage, and from bad to wo

T h e finances were in an awfu l state ; the trand commerce of the country depressed

, paralys

and in despair the cultivation of science in ev



valent in Lombardy were objects of adminis

trative sol icitude. All was desolate, barren,waste, and dilapidated , beyond the graphic pic

turing of the inspired writer who has left on

solemn record h is landscape of the field tena

by an idle man , with its fences broken down,its other evidences of sad improvidence .

Proverbs, xxiv.

Ver. 30 . I went by the field of the slothful , a

by the vineyard of the man void of understanding ;

31 . And 10 , i t was all grown over with thorns,and nettles had covered the face thereof

,and the

stone wal l thereof was broken down .

32 . T hen I saw,and considered i t well I

looked upon it,and received instruction .

33. Yet a l ittle sleep , a l ittle slumber, a little

folding of the hands to S leep

34 . So shal l thy poverty come as one th

travelleth and thy want as an armed man

I t was at a cris is l ike this that old Gregory

last died . What followed I may leave to a poet

to describe ; for, s ingularly enough, the conclave

of 1 846 has been foreseen , and allegorically adum

brated, in an episode called T h e Monks and the

Giants,

’ as far back as the year 1 8 1 8, when Robert


ind Wil l iam Wh istlecraft, harness and col larnakers , at Stowmarket in Suffolk, publ ished theirproposed NAT IONAL POEM , of which Mr. Murray,)fA lbemarle Street, printedfour

’

cantos . I n the'

ourth canto i s the fol lowing prophetic narrative,

which speaks for itself, and saves me the trouble

Dfentering into detai ls

XVI I.We wheeled h im out, you know, to take th e air

It must have been an apoplectic fit.He tumbled forward from his garden chaIr

H e seemed completely gone but warm as yet.

(I wonder h ow they came to leave h im there . )Poor soul h e wanted courage, heart, and wit,

For times l ike these—th e shock and th e surprise,

’

Twas very natural th e gout should rise.

XVII I.

But such a sudden end was scarce expected.

Our parties will be puz z led to proceedT h e Belfry Set divided and dej ectedT h e cris is i s a strange one, strange indeed

I’ll bet th e fighting friar is elected .

It often happens in th e hour ofneed,

From popular ideas ofutility,People are pitched upon formere ability.

x 1x .

I’ll hint th e subj ect

, and communicateT h e sad event—h e ’s standing there apart

Y 2


Our offer,to be sure, comes somewhat late

But then we never thought h e meant to start,

And if h e gains his end, at any rateH e h as an understanding and a heart

H e’ll serve or he ’ll protect his friends, at least

With better spirit than th e poor deceased .

T h e convent was all going to th e devil,While th e poorcreature thought himself beloved

For saying handsome things and being c ivil,Wheeling about as h e was pulled and shoved

By way ofleaving things to find the ir level .H is funeral sermon ended, both approved,

And went to Friar John, wh o merely doubtedT h e fact, and wished them to enquire about it.

XX I .

T hen left them,and returned to th e attack .

T hey found their Abbot in his former placeT hey took h im up and turned h im on his backAt first, you know, h e tumbled on his face

T hey found h imfairly ‘

stiff, and cold, and blackT hey t/zen unloosed each .ligature and lace

,

H is neckcloth and his girdle, hose, and garters,And took h im up and lodged h im in his quarters .

XXII .Bees served me for Simile before,And bees again , bees that have lost their king,Would seem a repetition and a bore,Besides, in fact, I never saw th e thing

And though those phrases from th e good old store,Offeebler hummings and offlagging wing,’

Perhaps may be descriptive and exact,

I doubt it—I confine myself to fact.


32 6 FI IVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

Falsehood and malice hold alternate chairs,And lecture and preside in Envy’s sect.

T h e fortunate and great sh e never spares,Sowing th e soil ofhistory with tares .

XXVI I .

Thus jealous ofth e tr uth, and feeling lothT hat Sir Nathaniel henceforth should accu se

Our noble monk ofcowardice and sloth ,I’ll print th e affidavit ofth e muse ,

And stat e th e facts, as ascertained on oathCorroborated by surveys and views ,When good King Arthur granted them a brief,And ninety groats were raised for their relief.

XXVIII .

T heir arbours, walks, and alleys,were defaced

Riven, uprooted, and with ruin strewn,And th e fair dial in the ir garden placed,Battered by barbarous hands and overthrown.

T h e deer with wi ld pursuit dispersed and chasedT h e dove-house ransacked and th e pigeons flown,

T h e cows all killed in onepromiscuous slaughter,Th e sheep all drowned, and floating in th e water.

XXIX.

T h e mill was burnt down to th e water-wheels,T h e giants h ad broke down th e dam and sluiceDragged up and emptied all th e fishing reels ,Drained and destroyed th e reservoir and stews,Wading about and groping carp and eelsIn short

,no single earthly thing ofuse

Remained untouched . Beyond th e convent wall,T h e friars, from their windows, viewed it all.

xxx .

Hence th e bare hope ofpersonal defenceT h e Church, th e Convent’s, and the ir own protection

Absorbed the ir thoughts, and silenced every senseOfpresent feuds at Friar John ’s election .

Such wou ld appear, in the form of a prophetic

allegory,by substituting the cardinals for the

monks and the Austrians for giants , a fu l l and

true statement of the recent transact ions at Rome .

T h e first acts of the newly - elected Pontiff are

on record . He was scarce proc laimed to the

peop le, and raised amid enthusiasm to the vacant

chair of Peter, than he cal led for the F rench am

bassador, the only representative i n Rome of

European progress , and by cordially embracing

Count Rossi , seemed at once to fl ing down the

gauntlet to the old despotisms of the Continent.

Nor was he long without striking a forc ible

blow at the system of terror, tyranny, and espion

age by which the government ofh is predecessorhad been miserably upheld . He saw near ten

thousand of the quondam subjects of Rome p1n 1ngand gnashing their teeth in exi le

,fomenting in

fidel ity and disaffection to al l ecc les iastical ru le

in every town in Europe,scandal is ing Catholic

countries and rejoicing Protestant dominions, by

their open , and in some respects justifiable, denunciations of their native land . He knew that


he held the keys, not to’

lock the gates

their return to fidel ity and patriotism,not to

clude hope, and Change hosti l ity to despair.seized the glorious opportunity of showing h

self generous , magnanimous , and confident in

natural emotions which , in an I tal ian breast,kindly treatmen t is sure to awaken . He unbarred

the gates of the Roman territory to them all.T h e great act of political amnesty was the act of

the Pont iff himself. Alone he did it. Ambassa

dors fumed and threatened cardinals dis

hinted , earwigged, and menaced ; old st

showed an elongated visage, as if all were 1

Not one of the officials in authority could be

to s ign the decree . HE SIGNED IT H IMSELF.

appeared on J une 1 7 . Rome arose in its trans

of joy l ike one man , and the kindred and friends

of the ban ished did not feel more wild enthusiasm

than the rest of the population . T h e general

bosom swelled with grateful emotion, and the

voice of the people found utterance in a vast

variety of del ightful demonstration . From the ends

of the earth,from the capital cit ies and seaports

and dark recesses of the whole Continent, the

exiles came back , as I srael returning

Babylonian captivity. T h e Shout of welco

the song of gladness was heard in the land .



BROKEN , and the highway of nat ions made freeonce more

Year after year the phenomenon takes placein the presence of those various and manly tribes

,

Qui profundumDanubiumbibunt

but it has not happened for centuries on the banksof the Roman river, where , though to al l appear

ance the yellow waters had run their course with

the semblance of a rapid flow, yet was the moral

and intellectual progress of the T iber Checked,obstructed, and frozen ; and after the dormant

monotony of ages , i t was reserved for the energy

of Count Ferrett i to give the indwellers of the

E ternal City a spectacle such as that above

described . T h e guns of S t . Angelo that an

nounced his election , told Europe at the samet ime that the old pathways of progress and civili

sation were reopened , and that the ICE WAS

BROKEN at Rome.

We have seen great things already achieved.

What are we to look for in the vista of a long and

prosperous future ? T hose who know P ius IX.

have their answer ready ; indeed, they find

query ready satisfied in the words of Paul‘Whatsoever things are TRUE whatsoever thi

are HONEST ; whatsoever things are JUST ;


soever th ings are PURE ; whatsoever th ings are

LOVELY ; whatsoever th ings be of good report ; i f

there be anything VIRTUOUS , if there be anyth ing

PRAISEWORTHY, count on the real i sations of these

things .’—Phil ippians iv . 8 .

For US, who are not of his flock, what may we

hope from the access ion to the confessed ly most

distinguished chair of Christ ian episcopacy of an

enl ightened nob leman , who is a d iscip le of Christ

far more than a rabb i among men ? Much in

every way. We may count on him for sympathy

in what may be our unintentional error ; for a

kindly toleration in matters wh ich l imited reason

or deficient information prevent us from seeing

in\t he same l ight as he was educated to V iew

them . We may look to him for a mit igation of

that intolerant spirit wh ich has never made con

verts , whatever b itterness i t may have infused

into the intercourse of European soc iety. We

may look to h im,final ly

,i f the accomp l ishment of

such a work enters at al l into the designs of Pro

vide’

nce , for a GENERAL UN ION 1 and AGREEMENT

1 This union is not so difficult as it appears to many th e

points ofagreement between th e two Churches are numerous ;those on which parties hesitate few,

and not th e most important.On most ofthose, it appears to me, there i s no e ssential difference between Cathol ic and Protestant, th e ex isting d iversity ofopinion arising in most cases from certain forms ofwords which

332 FINAL REL/CS OF FATHER PROUT .

among CHRIST IAN CHURCHES, a ‘ Communi

Saints . ’

admit ofsatisfactory explanation . Ignorance, misconcprejudice

,i ll-wi ll

,pride, and points ofhonour, keep us ( 1

on many subjects, not a love ofChristian humil ity, charittruth .

’- Jame s Doyle

,B ishop ofKildare . Letter to an

dated Carlow, May 1 3, 1 8 2 4 .


CHA PT ER V I I .

THE BRIGHT DAWN OF BETT ER DAYS.

Rome October 2 0 .

HE month of October has been from time imme

morial sacred to the observance of the Roman

villegiatura , during which the cool accl ivities of

th e circumambient hi lls afford, i f not watering, at

athing, places to the general publ i c, state

naries included . T h e active mind of P iusbrooks no relaxat ion ; and during h is vis i t to

Fal ls of T ivol i th is week, h is whole time was

oted to the organ isation of the new iron -works,

ch promise to rel ieve Rome from part of the dis

tribu te she now pays to foreign industry .

asts,smel ting furnaces , specimens of agri

l imp lements,models of iron bridges ( these

tter especial ly), occupied the attention of him

ho is ex - officio Pontifex,

’ 1 and orders mixed

1 Th e original Roman Pontiffs were entrusted with th eepairs and construction ofbridges—whence their designation .


with encouragement were issued for a varie

works . T h e Roman finances are, thanks

various retrenchments made in the Papal

hold,and the discontinuance of many sin

far from being in the hopeless condition they

have assumed had the late reign gone on . T he

grand millstone tied round the neck of the Papal

treasurer is the payment of the Swiss boors, who,

to the number of near garrison the Le

gations. T o get rid of these now worse thanuseless mercenaries IS the firm determination ofP ius ; but he is bound by the stol id and suicidal

compact signed by the late Gregory in the y

1 831 , when, frightened out of his senses b

revolt of Bologna, he agreed to guarantee their

pay and allowances for twen ty years to come,which period wi l l not expire til l 1 85 1 . T here ISsome notion of biring them ou t to any foreign

power who may want such efficient bludgeon -men,

and may be will ing to rel ieve his Holiness of the

incumbrance . T hey would be invaluable to keep

In those early days, religion was intimately blended with whatever conduced to public utility . This etymology has not

e scaped th e author ofParadise Lost,

’ wh o alludes to itfor thepurpose ofhaving a fl ing against his bite noire

,PRELACY.

T alking ofth e bridge which h e make s th e devil build overchaos to get '

at this planet, th e subl ime old Roundhead calls ita work PONT IFICAL



gaged to convert into agricu ltural labourers in

flourishing French colony of Algiers . Whet

this was meant as a dry j oke by the generally

serious and solemn plenipotentiary, I have no

means of knowing. Noth ing has yet been

Cided on the point. Of one thing there can

no doubt, and that is the cordial feel ing of P

towards Louis Phil ippe, and hence he has done

in his power to forward the Montpensier ma

as far as his influence with the Spanish

could be used for that obj ect . Viewed

Rome, that question assumes an aspect very

ferent from its appearance to an EnglishDon Carlos has received a hint that if h

here h is sojourn wil l not be made very sati

tory should he assume the character of a

tender. A l l these things annoy the F rench Car

l ists as wel l as those of the Peninsula, but they

must swallow the bitter pi l l in s ilent acquiescence .

You wil l scarcely bel ieve it true, but it is,nevertheless, so generally asserted by grave men

in every quarter, that there must be somefoundat ion for the report, that h is Holiness , previous to

taking solemn possess ion of the Papacy on the

9 th of November, intends, during eight consec’

u

t ive days,to preach in propriapersona from the

pulpit of St . J ohn Lateran . We are all on the

FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT.

ui vive for this unheard - ofcourse of lectures,only

be historical ly paral leled by'

th e discou rses of

respected kinsman Savonarola, in the glorious

of Florent ine freedom . I shal l send an

sis of these ‘ speeches from the throne ’ as

occur. T h e late secretary,Lambrusch ini,

ted last week in a guasi—treasonable

e—the original letter having founde Pope’s hands . P ius sen t for h im ,

fragments before his face,and told him

more .

’ Cardinal del la Genga h as been

more deep ly engaged in p lotting with Austria,g with certain o ld jobb ing functionar1es herebel ief in town is that his Eminence is nowin the Castle of St. Angelo. I f not

,where

he ? For the las t week his whereabouts is the

wn mystery.

Rome October 2 8.

I forward the first number of the ‘ Roman

dvertiser,’ 1 an Engl ish week ly j ournal , which

egan its significant career last Saturday .

N 0 less than five new dai ly and weekly publ i

1 This paper i s edited by a son ofth e late poetic Mrs .emaus . Emerging froma Benedictine convent, th e young ladows taste and industry, but i s yet rather green . He h as

to learn in his editorial capacity.

2 2


cations are announced to meet the demand of

freshly- created reading pub l ic of native growth

among others Il Popolare,’

L’

E ch o del T emp

Il Contemporaneo,’ and , perhaps , the most impe

tant of al l , La Giurisprudenza.

’

T his last j ournis to be modelled on the F rench ‘ Gazette d

T ribunaux ,’ and is the natural offshoot of a mo

vital amel ioration of j ustice , viz . publicitycriminal trials—matters which have hitherto be

managed in the dark, and over which pub

opinion never could exercise any sort of contr

Not only are all trials to be now conducted in tll ight of day, but the whole criminal code is undegoing revis ion , and the land that has produced

Beccaria’

is no longer to be disgraced by the Syst

matic absurdities and glaring discrepancies of laRoman jurisprudence. T h e cellular system

under consideration for prison discipline .

part of Europe , perhaps, are there such dis

able jails as have existed from time immem

here,and nothing has been attempted in the

of change s ince they were inspected by

philanthropist Howard , at the Close of the la.

century.

T o improve the admin istration in every bra

is the firm resolve of P ius I X . but the very

ence of the government must be first



sol itude is now unbroken , save by a chance buffalodriver or cockney tourist, for whose edification it

i s rather too much to spend a half- dozen millionof dollars

,even if a surplus ex ISted in the Papal

treasury. King O tho . who repudiates his bondholders, might as well exhaust the small remnant

of the Greek budget in an attempt to restore theParthenon , while roads are wanting and banditti

unsuppressed . T h e present Pope has reduced toone - third the allowance for this item of unnecessary outgoings, and has thus obviated the oppress ive effects of i ts ultimate bearing on the people .

T h e late Gregory never took this view of things,

being a s imple monk . Two years ago an old

F lorentine usurer pu t up a stone facade to a

church in th e Via Larga, and abou t the same timeProfessor Segato, having succeeded in a process

of embalming dead bodies , so as to render them

sol id and imperishab le, this squ ib was read on the

pedimentNuovo miracoloVivo segato

Sangue del popoloPetrificato.

Next to finance the most urgent difficulty

h is Holiness is to find men of intellect andtegrity not only will ing bu t adequate

of carrying out his views ; all the old


are found to be more an incumbrance than aid.

I n the new cabinet, the members of which are

named in the publ i c journals , you wil l find that he

has included none of the cardinals . Much wi l l

depend on the new creations which he may be

enabled to make by frequent deaths among those

respectab le octogenarians . One point he has de

termined upon , viz . not to grant a red hat’ merely

because routine of office has accustomed certain

funct ionaries to look up to that d ign ity as a re

tiring provis ion . T h e governor ofRome, a sortof pol ice officer, expects i t as a matter of course

so does the head of the war office ; but I can

safely affirm that neither Marin i nor Medic i

S pada (who hold these respective posts), wi l l bemade a cardinal i n a hurry

,even on removal from

office . T h e late Secretary Lambrusch ini has no

reason to grumb le , having got a sp lendid retiring

allowance , dol lars a year,as segretario dei

Brevi. I am sorry to report the fading health of

Cardinal Acton ; and I fear much for the speedy

loss of old M icara,deservedly popu lar with the

Romans .

We have had torrents of rain for the last ten

days . O ld T iber walked the streets , and among

other entertainments consequent on rainy nights


at Rome (for you recol lect that when nocte elicit

totd, redeunt spectacula mane) the Pantheon presented a most striking though simple phenomenon ;the whole area of the marble floor being coveredseveral feet deep with a placid sheet of

coloured l iqu id, the reflection of the great

above in the mirror below,

‘ swan and shad

gave you an idea of the interior of a vast globe

overpowering dimens ions .

Fanny E lsler was presented to the Pope by

Colonel Pfyffer, of the Swiss Guard ; and th e

monarch blandly said that ‘ talent in every de

partment of human excellence was ever welcome

to his dominions . ’

T h e Pope made a visit in state to the aged

martyr of alleged Russian brutal ity,the Polish

nun Macryna, as if to intimate his views respecting

Poland . T his lady’s story made a great stir last

year,and she is now the object of extraordinary

veneration . She has of late been induced by the

flattery of the F rench nuns, who have given h er

kind hospital ity, to try her hand at ‘ miraculous

cures,

’ and th is year a young French abbé, who

had lost h is voice,became quite a l ion in all

fashionable circles here , by recovering his speech



Rome November 3.

On the evening of October 2 8 , M r. Newma

accompanied by M r . Ambrose S t. John , enter<

the E ternal City, which had been for the last Itdays deluged with incessant rain . Next mornix

the ex - Angl ican proselyte’s first impulse was

pay his homage at the tomb of the Apostl

( limina apostolorum) , when , as Chance would ha‘

it, P ius I X . was in the act of real ising the l ines

Scott ’s ballad

T h e Pope h e was saying his high high mass,All at St. Peter’s shrine .

T heir interview occurred in the crypt or subteranean sanctuary, the O ldest port ion of the basili

Whatever importance may attach to the arrival

this distinguished transfuga , the most celebratperhaps , of the many that have come hither sin

the days of Queen Christina of Sweden ( in wheccentric lady ’s quondam boudoir I now hap

to wri te) , the advent of so propitiatory an offerto the genius of the seven h ills seems to h

influenced the elemen ts ; the rain has stopped,

E t soles mel ius nitent.

I t would appear that the inundations of Up

I taly opposed serious obstacles to the progre

the Oxford pilgrims, and that at one

FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT . 347

cart which bore them , drawn by oxen ( i n the

absence of any other conveyance) , was wel l - nighswallowed up by the rush of many waters . Safe

from those semi - apos to l i c ‘ peri ls of the flood,

’ they

are now engaged , under the gu idance of the most

intel l igent of their countrymen and co - rel igionists,

in a brief survey of whatever is most remarkable

here ; and in a few days Mr . Newman, late of Ox

ford,with his companions, wi l l take possession of

chambers in the Col lege of P ropaganda, and en ter

on a preparatory course previous to re - ordination

in the Church of Rome .

T here wil l be another capella to - morrow in

th e eh urch of S t. Charles Borromeo,i n the Corso ;

this church is one of the most maj estic in Rome,

and it is bu t fi tting that i t Should be so to typify

aptly the grandeur and h igh character of the

benevolent spiri t i t i s erected to commemorate .

Why the Pope Shou ld v i s i t th is Church in par

ticular on the anniversary of the great Archbishop

of Milan is a question interwoven with the quarrel

of the Span ish success ion in 1 7 0 6 , and therefore

not uninteresting in 1 846 ,when jus t a century

and a half have terminated in reproducing the

selfsame imbrogl io,as if in exact accordance wi th

th e Pythagorean cycle of which V i rgi l i s expos itor,


and which would foreshadow a new Peninsul

War, another Well ington .

Alter erit tum T iphys, e t altera quae veh at ArgoDelectos h eroas erunt etiam altera bella

,

Atque iterum ad T rojammagnus mitteturAchilles .

I n 1 7 0 6 , then , the dean and chapter of thChurch

,being Milanese subjects , and partisans

the house of Austria, had prepared for the saint

festival splendid .banners displaying the am

and effigy of the Archduke Charles , which cominto the knowledge of the Bourbonite Spanis

ambassador,the latter contemplated an inroad O

the church at the head of his followers and a ho

of F rench auxiliaries ; whereupon Clement Xl

who had publ icly announced his perfect neutralit

in the contest,proceeded in person to the churt

of San Carlo ; and , as no earthly monarch’s i

S igu in can be displayed in presence of the reignir

Pontiff,there was a decent excuse for both Sid

refraining from coll ision . Once established , 11

Pope ’s vis it became an ‘ annual commemorati

of peace and union among Christian princes .’

I t is worthy of remark that, s ince the accessi

of P ius I X . i n J une, the number of crimes con

mitted against the person as well as again

property in the district of Rome , has diminish

in the most extraordinary ratio—the month


350 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT

of music and troops of fiferari, to describe 1general effect of which would require the classibagpipe of M r. Macaulay ; ex. gr.

T h e horsemen and th e footmenCame pouring in amain

Frommany a stately market townFrommany a fruitful plain

Frommany a lonely hamlet,

Which,hid by beech and pine,

Like an eagle’s nest hangs on th e crestOfpurple Apennine .

For aged folks on crutches,And women large with child,And mothers gloating o ’

er their babes,T hat clung to them and smiledAnd sick men borne on litters,

H igh on th e necks ofslaves,And troops ofsunbumt husbandmen,With reaping-hooks and staves

And droves ofmules and assesLaden with skins ofwine

, &c. &c.

l iterally ‘ choked every roaring gate of the cit

principal ly on the s ide of T ivol i , F rascati , a

Albano . For several evenings past the th eatr

have resounded wi th acclamations bestowed on

dul l drama of Abbe M etastasio, dug out of oblivi

for the purpose of pol itical al lusion, La Clemen

di Tito ; and it was obvious that a popular d

monstrat ion, on a gigantic scale, was about to

g iven to his Hol iness, expressive of the pub]


resolve to sustain h im against al l reactionary

efforts .

And most overwhe lming was th is day’s exh ibition of physical strength along the whole l ine

of the Pope’

s progress from his Quirinal palace

to the Lateran , amid Shouts of enthusiastic de

votion, such as the unanimous heart of a whole

people, long estranged from such feel ings, could

alone give forth . T h e richest tapestries l ined

the palaces on the l ine of process ion ; festoons ,garlands

,and s i lk hangings profusely ornamented

the inferior dwel l ings , and every balcony was a

focus of patriotic ebu l l i tion , as the Pontiff wasborne onward in the midst of as p icturesque a

Cortege as the imagination of th is fanc ifu l land

could conjure into existence. An idea of the

dresses worn by the Roman court in this s ingular

cavalcade can be on ly conveyed by you,dear

Dickens , to your friends in Cockneysh ire by re

ferring them to the gorgeous p icture at Hampton

Court of the F ield of the C loth of Gold almost

all the costumes in that glowing representation

being reproduced in the retinue which rode with

the Pope in th is sp lendid revival of a mediaeval

ceremony . Al l the judges were on horseback

as wel l as al l the prelates,bishops

,pages

,the

governor of Rome,captain of Swiss halberdiers,


the senators, and other indescribable functionarof a variegated and many- tesselated governmemen in armour, the noble guard and the Popstandard - bearer, on his obligato mu le, leading

van .

Formerly the cavalcade mounted the ste

ascent of the Capitol , but s ince Ganganelli fell

h is horse on getting down towards the arch of S

t imus . it now enters the Forum by a circuit .immense crowd of swarthy peasants from

Sabine,Volscian , and Lat in districts, fi l led

Campo Vaccino, and rent the air wi th reiterat

Shouts on the Pope’s entering the old Via Sacat which moment the great bel l of the Capi

which is only heard on such an occasion as 1

present, roaring above the voices of the multitu

uttered its d iapason of s ingularly deep vibration

Pealing solemnly.

At the triumphal arch of T i tus some cur

sity was excited in the expectation of the Jew

representatives in Rome paying homage, as usuto the new sovereign , and craving toleratio

bu t the Pope’s good taste dispensed with a d

play which only keeps al ive the sense of in

riority and difference of caste—a prelude, I ho

to ulterior measures on behalf of I srael .



present the best plan for Crossing the great Apen ine barrier from Ancona to Rome . ShouWagh orn and P ius I X . succeed in bringing t

overland route from I ndia to Europe into tchannel , they will have done no small deed ; a

i t W ill be curious to find that the earl iest en

neer who laid down the l ine of railway,with

gradients and terminus , was the playfu l poet, ‘ t

end of whose journey and letter was Brundusiu

Rome November 1 1

We are in full progress here towards popul

government . One of the most S ignificant toke

of the new era was exhibited yesterday, wh

eight hundred Roman ci tizens assembled at

publ ic banquet to greet the pol itical exiles of t

provinces,under the magnificent roof of the A

bert i T heatre , thousands of spectators crowdi

the boxes,and not a pol iceman to be seen of a

sort

T his demonstration was got up at a few da)notice. T h e comm ittee consisted of,men of tmiddle class—an order of mankind never y

heard of i n Roman affairs . T heir names desen

record ; they were Oriol i , son of the exiled pr

fessor (who has returned from Corfu to his natiuniversity of Bologna) ; Nattali, a bookselle


elfrate , an artist ; T homasson , a ‘man of letters ;’

nd De Andreis, a painter.

T h e guests were gathered on an elevated

latform, the committee pres id ing—for th is popubanquet presented the pecul iarity of the presi

chair being put in commiss ion ’

- when,after

sing the viands with I tal ian gravity and

ty, the bus iness of the evening began . Che

a wel l - known and voluminous writer,d for the first time in the Character of a

and in a gracefu l oration bespoke the

n of his hearers in the enjoyment of their

ecovered l iberty of thought and action ;ld they best defeat any scheme for rol l ing

rds the now happy onward tide of Roman

m . Next rose Professor S ejani, an exi le

returned from Malta, the author of many

es, and impl icated in not a few consp iracies ;devolved the task of proposing the heal th

I X . , a co lossal bust of the monarch being

h borne forward and crowned with laurel ,the loud vociferations of the whole theatre.

i ’s speech was energetic and clever, and

down thunders of app lause . After him a

guish ed medical l ight of our un ivers ity h ere,De Dominicus

,whose brother lately died in

rison for pol i tical causes,made a most affect ing

A A 2


appeal to his fel low- Citi zens , and was l istened to

with intense interest he dwel t on the necessity of

not thwarting the present Pope with an unreason

able eagerness for change, not one in that assembly being more anxious to accelerate beneficial

measures than the pontiff, to whom alone were

known the obstacles to be encountered, and the

difficulties to be overcome . S terbini, late exile

from Marseil les , followed in prose for a while, till ,kindl ing wi th his subject, he burst forth into

poetry, or a kind of measured recitative , i n the

Chorus of which the whole assembly, as if whirled

in to a vortex of ecstasy, soon joined .

T h e evening would have passed Offwith undisturbed regularity were i t not for an incident which

may leave the germ of much future ill -will and

mistrust. I said before that the middle classes of

Rome hitherto a totally unrecognised body,were

the originators of this festival . About a dozen

t ickets had been taken by members of the Casino

deiN obili, and their placeS'

k’

ep‘

t unti l an advanced

hour, when others were bu t'

too happy to fi l l up

the vacancy their absence created . A buzz of

enquiry ran through the theatre as to the cause of

their non - appearance, when i t transpired that

Prince Borghese was entertaining, that night, a

distingu ished circle at the palace . and had pressed



the pontiff,to address the Roman people in a

series Ofhomilies in that ancient Basil i ca, afterthe old fashion of Leo and Gregory ‘ the Great . ’

T h e last Pope who made his appearance in a

Christian pulpit was the Bolognese Lambertini,

about a century ago—an undeniably great man,

and the first canonist of his day. S ince then the

only harangues pronounced by Popes have been‘ allocutions ’ to the College

'

ofCardinals , mostlyd istinguishable for bad Latin and premeditated

obscuri ty . T h e late Gregory, on one of these

occasions, took a fancy to denounce the freedom of

the press as ‘ damnabilem imprimendi licentiam.

’

T h e press throughout Europe is l ikely to returnlzim the compl iment . T h e common people ofRome have already adopted from T uscany and

the Legat ions the termfrataccio, as embodyingtheir notion of his reign and character.

I n the Legations the petty despotism of each

success ive local satrap had never been contr

by any well - defined l imits of authority ;being fixed

,and means of appeal faci l itated, so as

to render the functions of the Legates somewhat

analogous to those of French prefects of depart

ments . Each district and municipal ity is to be

fairly represented in the persons of responsible


landholders,whose voice i s to be heard potential ly

in matters affecting the improvement of their re

spective territories .

T h e most sangu ine partisans of progress

appear satisfied at the pace which regu lates the

advance . I f not a gal lop ing reform ,

’

t is a good

smart trot

Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungu la campum.

’

N ovember 2 8.

T o the den izens of Rome there is newly opened

an abounding source of gentle merriment in the

perusal of F rench and German journals , whenever

the affairs of th is metropo l i s are introducedwhich is now of constant occurrence, though it

wou ld seem that the matrimonial imbrog lio of the

Span ish pen insu la and the subs idence of Cracow

from the map of Europe ought fu l ly to engage the

energetic sp iri ts engaged in editorial re’daction .

Paragraphs of hazarded news are venti lated at

Nuremberg or take wing from F rankfort and

Cologne, b i rds of good , or, as i t may be, of evi l ,augury, which were never seen from this Vatican

h il l , but belong rather to what i n F rench news

paper dialect is cal led canard, Angl ice, a Species of

l iterary wi ld duck . Fabu lous onslaughts on the

J esu its in various smal l towns throughout the


Romagna are favourite game of this description

with the press of Paris. No one in Rome is cog

nisant of aught—save a few vocal manifestationsof d isl ike, never approaching personal violence

of scenes such as are represented to have occurred

in Fano and Perugia. T h e pamphlet of the witty

Gioberti (severely prohibited in Naples, Modena,and Lombardy) , attacking the society

’s l ine of

I tal ian pol icy, under the title of ‘ Prolegomena,’

i s freely handed about, or, as the poet has it,

Con Spavento dei divoti galantuominiSi vedono circolar gl i Prolegomeni .

But any overt act of physical force against the

mistaken fathers is universal ly reprobated .

A paragraph appears in the Courrier Francais ,’

announcing the Pope’s wish to contract a fresh

loan,and representing the Roman finances as

irreparably embarrassed . N 0 such loan is dreamt

of. T here is a present supply in the exchequer,and the future prospects of the treasurer are by

no means discouraging. Such rumours were the

constant mode of attack by which the irrel igious

party in I taly sough t to damage the Papal thronewhile ineffectively fi l led by its late occupant ; and

many poetical squibs, with all the violence, and

some of the fancy, of Beranger, held up the ap

proach ing bankrup tcy of Rome to the world’s



Odescalch i, and which that princely race are now

determined to regain . I n the purchase of land

here, there is always reserved a righ t of redempt ion within a given number of years , and the

al lotted term being now at hand , notice has been

served on the Duke of Braccino that PrinceOdescalchi intends refunding the cash, and re

suming the duchy. As in the case of the old

T al iacot ian operation , when a fict i tious nose was

cut out of a porter’s g luteus max imus, and affixed

to a visage where no nasal organ existed, the title

of D ube is lapsed with the loss of the property

which conferred it, and the strawberry leaves fall

away from the escutcheon of the banker. I n the

words of your Hudibras

Soon as th e porter’s life was out,Offdropt th e sympathetic snout

D ecember 3.

By the death of Cardinal Gaysrtick,Arch

bishop of M i lan , a hat has fal len in , and as there

are now more than half a dozen vacancies, a new

creat ion is spoken of. Gaysrtick was a true

German of the old school, and a strong opponent

of the J esu its, whom he kept out of Lombardy to

the last .

I took occasion , some few posts ago, to notice

FI IVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

the apathy of Prince Borghese in the cause of

national advancement or the improvement of h is

country ; a noble opportunity of throwing the

weigh t of his immense territorial property into

the scale of the progress ive party has been let

pass . I regret to find that,among other frivol it ies

which occupy the leisure of the Palazzo Borghese ,bomceopa tny i s now paramount, and through female

influence this nonsense has become positively

mischievous . Last March the Duchess of P i om

bino was a victim,and this week a lovely daughter

of Colonel B ryan , of K i lkenny, died under th is

treatment,none Ofthe many Engl ish phys icians

res iden t here having been suffered to attend . She

had arrived here but a few weeks before in perfectheal th .

T h e so lemn dirge and requ iem held over the

poor lady in the church of I rish F ranc iscans , S t .

I s idoro,was attended by several hundred British

vis itors,besides the young lady ’s k insfo lk, of the

princely houses of Doria, Pamph ili, and Borghese .

T owards the termination of the sorrowful cere

mony,at a pause in the l i turgy

,there arose in the

body of the church a person in ecc les iastical costume, of pens ive and careworn aspect, who , stand

ing near the coffin , addressed himself to speak .


H is voice was low at first, so that few heard ti ll it

gradually fi l led the church , and it was understood

to be a simple recital of the unostentatious virtues

of the deceased ; but soon came words of more

impress ive import, and a whisper went round that

the unexpected speaker on the occasion was the

Rev . M r. Newman , late of Oxford . T o the

thousands who have perused his printed sermons

del ivered in Angl ican pulp its, it would be difficult to convey a not ion of his manner on the

present occasion , it being the first t ime that he

del ivered himself of an extemporaneous unpre

meditated discourse . But as a letter to you is

no proper vehicle for theolog ical comments , I add

no more .

T h e next removal , i t is devoutly to be hoped,will be the Postmaster- General, Massimo ; this

funct ionary, not content with neglecting his proper

dut ies in the ameliorat ion of the posting system

throughout the Roman states , which is a disgrace

to I taly,has within the last fortnight shown his

tender regard for Austria by taking on himself

the respons ibi l i ty of stopping any journals, French

or Engl ish , which reflect on that respectable court

i n its late absorption of Cracow. T h e Pope is

u tterly unconscious of his pranks , and may, per

haps, first learn them from this letter when printed .


366 FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

Condolli were submerged, and the well - known

magnificent area of the Porta del Popolo became

a deep pond impassable to carriages . I t was a

s ingular sight to look down from th e P incian onthis extemporised basin , reflecting calmly the

surrounding churches and monuments, and receiv

ing into its abundance the rather superfluous con

tributions of the four Egyptian l ions who kep t upthe farce of their quadruple jet d

’

eau throughou t.

T h e central obel isk of Rameses, which rose in

qu iet grandeur over the waters , seemed , after

many thousand years,to have got a gl impse of

his nat ive N ile at i ts work of ferti l isation . Un

fortunately,mischief

,unmixed with any compen

sating result,ensues from these vis its of the

Roman river.

T h e reports from the various quarters (or

islands) of the city have as yet brought no t id ings

of drowned men ; though horses , pigs , and kine

have perished in numbers,and the misery of the

poorer classes can hardly be estimated unless by

the knowledge of their exclusive tenancy of al l

ground -floors, in Rome the upper storeys being

alone inhabi ted by the wealthy . But the nu

fortunate J ews are in the worst predicament of al l

other denominations , their disadvantageous quarter

being not of their own selection ; and hence it


became only an act of common honesty i n the

government to behave as i t has done by them

to - day supp lying them at once , and in the first

rank , with food and necessaries . For th is purpose

domici l iary vis its were made to al l bakers and

fashionable hotels and every loaf carried off to

the Ghetto . I f any good cou ld poss ibly be el ici ted

from the present sad occurrence, i t wou ld be,perhaps , the forcing the Pope

’s attention to the

fol ly and un - Christian pol i cy of h is predecessors

in cooping up the remnant of I srael here into a

space of the town so confined and so Objectionable

as to nearly resemble the ho ld of a Brazi l ian

slave - sh ip on the midd le passage . T o condemn

a people to perpetual dirt and disease,with the in

terlude of an occasional deluge l ike the present,’

is a sorry scheme for their conversion , and a sad

lesson of Christian love . T hese un lucky SO

journers i n the capital of the Church have just

had al l the ir property, c loths , s i lks, velvets , and

every commodity in wh ich they trade , destroyed

at once by no act of theirs ; and in any civil ised

country they wou ld be c learly entitled to recover

the amount from the legislature. T h e old houses

are happily fal l ing on each other’s shoulders,and

the whole rookery wil l be rendered soon unin

hab itable,i n which case they must perforce be


allowed to select some other part of this wide

metropol is to bui ld in .

T his is the moment for their brethren though

out Europe to memorial ise the benevolent pont iffon their behalf

,with every probabil ity of success .

T h e Pope would be too happy to find outward

support agains t the prejudices of the lower orders

and the narrow -minded rich .

’

Twas a touching

s ight to see these helpless sufferers , with the

scanty wreck of their furniture , crowded under

the roof of the synagogue, which was the only

dry spot of their prison- house . By the river of

Babylon wel l might they s it and weep when they

remembered S ion

T here l ive of them in this black hole,

of whom are 'paupers about earn a

l ivel ihood by trade , and the remainder are com

paratively . rich . T hey raise among themselves

dollars yearly for the support of their own

schools and other institutions . T h e S tate draws

a large revenue from their commercial operat ions,and it i s a remarkable circumstance in the case

of the Roman J ews that by way of propitiating

their Christian fel low- Ci tizens they are in the habit

of emphatically disclaiming any part or portion

in the great misdeed visited upon them and their

children . T hey maintain , and with considerable



( Prefect of the B ishops and and

finally, the late Prime M in ister, Lambrusch ini.T h e most searching powers have been given to

this committee , and woe to any abuse,or dilapidation, or malversat ion which may come under

their notice . A consol idat ion of various inst itutes,

and a severe economy throughout, will , i t is

understood , produce an aggregate of' surplus to

the treasury sufficient to meet al l pressure,so as

to obviate the recurrence to loans for the future

altogether .

And though what follows belongs more pro

perly to the speculat ions of your money-market

than to pol itical correspondence , the attention of

buyers and sel lers in the publ ic funds of EuropeanS tates would do well to consider the new aspect

of things in I taly, and the relative stabil ity of the

various governments , whose prospects have of

late been material ly changed . T h e price of the

Roman funds (five per cents .) has for the last tenyears remained unaltered at from 1 0 0 to 1 0 2 , or

thereabouts , even during the precarious rule of

Gregory,whom the sl ightest breath of popular

revenge would have dethroned in a twinkl ing,at

any general outbreak on the Rhine, the P0 , or

the Bosphorus . S ti l l he managed , by borrowing

and patchwork, to keep up the Papal credit , which


never sunk below par . At the present j uncture

of pontifical prospects and with the s tabi l i ty which

a whole people ’s enthusiasm must necessari ly add

to ‘ that divinity which doth hedge a king,

’ I shou ld

not wonder to see the Roman five per cents .

advance at least to the price of the F rench ditto,

which are now quoted at 1 1 6—1 1 7 , and wh ich

have been not long ago as high as 1 2 0 . Verb. say .

T h e on ly market for Romans is M ilan or Pari s ,but any intell igent

'

broker might bring them into

Capel Court.

As a trifl ing indicati on of the Pope’

s anxiety

to bring h is s tates into better unison wi th the other

civi l ised communities of Europe,the great Clock

of the Quirinal Palace marks the hours no longer

in the Old - fash ioned and exp loded system of

twenty - four hours continuous,but i n the double

duodecimal used on your s ide of the A lps . I t i san humble effort to teach h is Romans the ‘ t ime

of day .

’

December 2 4.

T h e grant of a cardinal’

s hat to the unpopu lar

Governor of Rome , on h is late removal from

office,has undoub ted ly Checked for a momen t the

enthus iasm of loyalty wh ich had gone on crescendo

s ince J u ly. Numerous pasqu inades have circu

B E Z

37 2 FINAL RELI C'

S OF FA THER PROUT .

l ated this week of a very violent kind , and full of

gross personal ity against Marini . Arrangements

were said to have been in progress for greeting

the new dignitary with a storm of h isses and

execration o n the occasion of last Monday’s cere

monial , but the boisterous state of the weather

unusual ly severe even for winter - cooled the in

dignation of the Romans , and , by the blessing of

the barometer, his Eminence got off unscathed .

H is evening levee was even brill iantly attended,

al l the diplomatic body being present , in compl i

ment to the POpe , and female influence having

worked assiduously among the native nobil ity in

furtherance of th is demonstration . T h e Brit ish

uniforms were especially conspicuous in the halls

of reception , and much hilari ty, considering the

bitter cold , was occasioned by the display of the

Scottish kil t on the person of some child of

Caledonia stem and wild.

T h e Princesses Lancelotti and Del Drago did the

honours with inborn gracefulness, and all things

passed off sat isfactori ly .

T his being Christmas Eve will account for thebrevity of the letter. T h e festival of this hallowed

night is to be held with unwonted solemnity and

l iturgical magnificence in the basi l ica of St. Mary


CHAPT ER VI II .

R O M E . 1 84 7

T h e following Reliques are taken from Mah ony’s letters from Rome

contributed to th e Daily N ews during th e first two years ofits existence .

On closingh is correspondence Mahony e te to Dickens And now,clear

Dickens, fare thee well. I have now,during two successive winters, kept

you an courant ofRoman events a period which will be evermemorablein th e annals ofItaly and Europe—comprising th e fag end ofan explodedsystem and th e first acts ofth e man sent from God, whose name was John .

But before I conclude,permit me, Carlo mio, to remind you ofthose

lines I sent you ten y ears ago, and to congratulate you on all you havewritten since then for th e improvement ofmankind.

’

During th e two years ofMah ony’

s correspondence, which were th e

opening ones ofth e present Pope ’s reign , th e latterwas an anti-Austrian

and an I talian patriot to h is heart’s core ; and th e Correspondentsympathised thoroughly with th e popular enthusiasm in h is favour. T h e

murder, however, by th e Roman mob, ofth e minister, Count Rossi, wh owas a sincere friend ofpopular progress ; h is Holiness’s own flight toGaeta ; th e re

’

gime ofth e revolutionary triumvirate, and th e French occu

patiou,changed th e spirit ofh is dream .



arrayed, strikes not his eye as the exact costume

of the old sacrificial functionary . T h e Chestnut

roaster at each street corner is in vain surrounded

by merry customers , and beggary itself looks

j ocular. Such people should remain to m

their huge boarding- houses in the Br

eschew the via sacra, and never know the tast

a fig- pecker (so to Angl icise thy sweet name) , oh,rare bird ! bonny becca -fi ca

On Wednesday, December 2 9 , P ius IX .

mounted his horse, and rode off towards Ostia, to

inspect personally the ravages of the river in the

low grounds below Rome . A select group of

Roman caval iers formed the '

Sovereign ’s escort,and that day his Holiness explored a circui t of 30

miles , g iving everywhere orders for employment,pointing ou t tracts for drainage

,and raisin

wages of the labouring peasantry along h

Some of his equestrian cortege were hard pus

to keep up wi th the Pontiff, and probably

member their excursion yet. On that e

s tudents of the Engl ish col lege gave , after theirannual dramatic performance

,a grand supper in

the l ibrary hal l to their friends in Rome,S ir T .

M i l ler, Scott Murray, Rev. W . Newman , Re’

vs .

G . Ryder and T albot, MM . Langdale , Radcl iffe,


Ch omeley, Petre , &c . &C . T h e student painters,

scu lptors , and architects Ofth e three kingdoms, tothe number of forty, assemb led at their Christ

mas dinner in the great hal l of Bertin i ; Prout, pen

and . ink artist, in the Chair .

T h e students of the U nivers ity (Sapienz a)having expressed a wish to that effect, the Pontiff

has granted a new Chair of po l it i cal economy, and

three other professorships are in contemp lation .

Several Obnoxious and jobbing pol i ce functionaries

were dismissed yesterday (J an . I,1 84 7 ) to begin

the year and noth ing cou ld exceed the numbers

and enthusiasm of the host assembled before the

Quirinal Palace windows,on the Monte Caval lo

,to

wish his H o l iness the compl iments of the season .

.When P ius appeared on the balcony, the shou tst the welkin , and as a Cloud seemed to approach ,Holiness put on his hat

,and motioned to the

crowd to do l ikewise ; the few drops of

had suggested this apparently trivial

were suffic ient to intimate deeper care forwelfare , and no ‘ hatti - sheriff of eastern

mance ever e l ic ited such heartfelt app lause .

Yesterday afternoon (J an . 1 3) there was , as

usual , an immense concourse assembled in the

church of St . Andrea del la Val le, to hear the


Wednesday sermon of Padre Ventura,general of

the T heatines, and by far the most eloquent of our

Roman orators . Some delay ensued, when a taller

and more majesti c personage was observed to move

through the crowd towards the pulpit, and soon

the well - known and well - beloved figure of the

Sovereign stood recognisable by the gladdened

multi tude ; and P iu s I X . i t was who Spoke.

H is heart was so full with the varied emotions

resulting from the position he had been placed in

by Providence in their regard,that he must give

publ ic utterance to what he felt therefore he had

come to commune with his people,after the manner

of the olden days and first he would thank them

with the warmest effusion of heart for the trans

cendent manifestation of their loyalty and

upon the Quirinal H il l at the opening of

and at various times s ince the dawn of his

cate ; a revival of . the old Roman reverence

the chair of St . Peter, however now inadequat

fi l led . T h e best return he could make would

a renewal of his efforts for their welfare , politi

as well as rel igious ; for the latter especially,unmeasurably the nearer and dearer to hi

T h e Pope then went, with the utmos

and manly good sense, into the details

improvements which he desired to see


382 FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT

accurately mapped ou t . No alarm was given

but at the Close of the last week several simul

taneous and well - directed raz z ias were made on

the astonished natives of beggardom , and near 40 0Ofthe more prominent male and female characcarried off to the several depOts prepared

reception . Church door corners and

thoroughfares were suddenly bereft of their i

morial sentinels , and the vested interest of

ragged incumben t set at nought . R igid en

at each depOt quickly brough t ou t the long

suspected fac t that not one - twentieth of them were

nat ives of the city, but had been attracted hither

from al l quarters by the alms -giving renown of

this capital . I n return for alms so given,an

immense amount of vice was shown to be imported

among the nat ive poor, with inveterate habits of

the vilest hypocrisy . M eans of Conveyance forth

with were found for these unbidden guests,and

some hundreds of them are now on their roa

homewards , special ly recommended to the vi

or mimicipal authorities , who are madefor their non - return . Accompanied with a landtax on the great estates of the Roman nobles for

their support or employment, this measure will

greatly rel ieve the city though i t may not be so

palatable to the Piombinos, Rospigliosi, Ruspoli,

FIIVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT .

Chigi,Borghese

,and other leviathan landholders

,

who wou ld much prefer the pract ice of ostentatious

alms - giving in Rome to the compulsory and

inglorious payment of extra labourers on their

farms .

T o one accustomed here, a walk through the

streets of th is town yesterday , without having to‘ run the gauntlet ’ of the usual professionals , was

a real novel ty . New Rome might be described in

the graphic words of Scott’s Andrew Fairservice ’

eu logis ing Glasgow Cathedral , which ap

to h im al l the better for being c leansed of

sh eedols,’ and made by J ohn Knox ‘

as clowse

cat wben t/zefleas are bemfit oyfber T astes

to picturesque effect, not merely with

e to the aforesaid eedols, but with regard

xed attendance of a goodly row of mendi

cants at the porch of Christian Churches . Long

ago Chrysostom boasted that Pagan palaces and

temples might bedeck their porticoes with gracefu l

statuary,but the maimed , the lame, and the b l ind

were the proper ornaments,metopes and triglyphs

of an orthodox peristyle . T h e Byzantine standard

of art may not be qu ite infal l ible, though Raphael , in

h is cartoon of the ‘ Beautiful Gate,’ has introduced

the lame beggar of Scripture with a skilfu l eye to

Contrast . But as the bus iness of a j ournal ist is


merely with social amel ioration , the picturesque

and archaeological part of this subject may be safely

left to Mr . Pug in .

T h e annual ceremony of b lessing the cattle at

the porch of St. Antonio , on the E squil ine, which ,during the present week (Jan . keeps al l the

ostlers and vetturini of Rome al ive with excite

ment,as well as the blessing of two milk—white

lambs at the Church of S t. Agnes , which interests

al l the young ladies from England , and took placethis morn ing, are topics which the rude pen of

worldly- minded journal ism had perhaps better

eschew also . T h e former of these yearly transac

t ions may,however, be looked at, not alone in a

sentimental or aesthetic point of view, but as an

exhib ition of the native breed of horses—a kind

of Roman T attersal l ’s . Very l ittle has been done,and very much might be accompl ished, for the

improvement of what F renchmen cal l la race

cbevaline, in these parts . A few of the nobil ity

attend to their studs, having nothing else to do ;but the great mass of the work ing quadrupeds are

miserably underbred , though the vast estates into

which th is territory is d ivided afford pecul iar

facil ities for rearing a superior stock of cavalry.

T h e introduction of the Chesterfield fox - hounds



match . I rejoice to find be has escaped the raz z ia ,

being a fel low of infinite drollery he is in sooth

the mighty P (query D - )an of our Roman beggars . He has g iven his daughter crowns

dowry.

January 2 8.

Our latest l ion here is R ichard Cobden,fresh

from a banquet given him by the merchants of

Genoa. I fear he will find l ittle scope in these

parts for the development of free - trade propagan

dism,unless

,indeed , he apply his ingenious

'

mind

to the effecting of a free intercourse with Great

Britain in the matter of diplomat ic relations,a

topic of more vital consequence to the future pro

spects of the empire than seems to be general ly

understood among men of reputed foresight . T h e

disaffected portion of our I rish fel low - subjects are

fully al ive to th e importance of free - trade between

England and the Vatican , and hence the violent

howl from that quarter at the very men tion

this ‘ del icate ’ question . As to mere commercial

interchange, unti l the Romans have something

besides beads and cameos to barter with us there

must be a pause of some durat ion a few statues

of modern make, with some old ‘ noseless blocks ’

of antique produce, will scarce make up a return


cargo . T h e l ittle town of Massa di Carrara,in the

Lucchese territory, exports more sculp ture as wel l

as unwrought marb le than the whole Roman States .I n sp ite of our immense rural resources and naturalcapabil iti es , we are , i n Rome essential ly, a mere

consuming populat ion . One fact tel ls our whole

story : we send out annual ly to our N eapol itan

neighbours abou t Skins of the kid who

disports h imself on our hi l ls , and we rece ive back

in return half a mil l ion pair of kid gloves which

we might as wel l make at home . I n truth,we

have nothing to give in barter for colonial or

manufacturing produce , of which we have never

th eless cons iderable consumption , and our case is

exactly that of the I rish sea - port described by one

of your poets with more suggestive wisdom than

he gets cred it for

T here are ships from CadizAnd from Barbadoes,

But th e leading trade i sIn whisky- punch .

As to corn ( in which breadstuff we might payfor al l our wants) unt i l the system of en tail isdestroyed , and the mortmain 1 of monasteries and

hospitals broken up , and a redistribution of land

1 Mahony gave some intere sting evidence on this subj ectbefore a Committee ofth e House ofCommons .

C C 2


takes place,no surplus wil l be grown for exporta

tion .

You will be naturally curious to learn how the

grand experiment of uprooting mendicity from

Rome,described fully in my last

,has been found

to answer. H itherto the attempt appears very

successful,and street begging has, if not disap

peared ,assumed a very different attitude. T h e

genu ine Roman beggar was proverbially the most

insolent and importunate of th e whole tribe ; the

I rus of Homeric days was but a fain t prototype

of the class . T o receive your alms seemed his

right,and he pursued you l ike a bail iffarmed with

a warrant of exaction . T hese marauders have

been captured and impounded ; the highway is

now Clear to al l but there remain a few stragglers

in the byeways,

Pauca tamen subeunt veteris vestigiafraudis,

principal ly composed of cripples and bl ind men ,whose demeanour is subdued, and who merely

rattle a tin can ister fi l led with a few seed bajoccbz .

T h e grand staircase of the T rinita exhibits a

specimen or two , but not as it did of old, in such

numbers as to rival the famous ‘ N ioc M angiare

steps of Malta . T h e late T om Hood described


399 FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT .

in knowledge of brute instincts,has drawn the

attent ion of natural ists to the system of l ife pur

sued by the dogs of Rome . You are aware that

no sewerage exists here excep t the cloaca max ima ,

and that having no regular dustmen or street con

tractors , the inhabitants are accustomed to throw

out the garbage and refuse of their houses , which

is depos ited general ly in some bl ind corner ap

pointed for that purpose by the pol ice , and

decorated with a large inscription on the wall ,Immondeez aio, i. e . rubbish shot here. ’ I t appears

that though several hundreds of these established

depots exist in Rome,not one is unappropriated ,

bu t has become, by usurpation or regular transfer,the fee - simple of some particular dog, who wil l

not suffer h is rights offlotsam and jetsam to be

invaded by any squatter or new comer, bu t rules

supreme master of the dung - heap he has acquired .

Some cases of copartnersh ip in a dirt corner have

been Observed, but generally with brothers on the

death of the parent ; and desperate battles occur

occasionally about ‘ fix ity of tenure ,’ as in T ip

perary . T h e unsuccessfu l claimant on ejectment

has no resource but the general run of the streets

H eu magnumalterius fr ustraspectabit acervum


Cases of su icide are proverbial ly rare in

Rome : whether there be anything in the genius

loci adverse to the commiss ion of the rash act,

’ or

whether the aspect of our mouldering ru ins has

something sooth ing to the mind diseased,I do

not profess to say. I t is certain that an o ld

Roman general fel t res igned to h is defeat whi le

seated amid the ruins of Carthage, who would ,probab ly

,have fal len on h is own sword in a gayer

local i ty ; and as a F rench poet observes

E t ces deux grands débris se consolaient entr’ eux .

I t i s a matter of statistic truth that in th is‘ c ity of the soul ’ to which ‘ the orphans of the

heart ’ have resorted long before the days of

Byron , self-murder has ever been of rare occur

rence . Two days ago (Feb . however,the

P iazza d i Spagna was the scene of a strange

transaction . An au thor of several treatises on

educational matters , who had l ived some years in

London and Paris,where his name is probably

not forgotten,Angelo Cerrutti, after spending th e

last few months in composing h is autobiography,which fi l ls two octavo volumes, and having caused

supp l ies of the work to be distributed for sale at

the various booksel lers ’ shops throughout the c i ty,

on the morning of the z ud inst . ordered a number

39 2 FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT

of b il l - stickers to placard all Rome with the t itle

of the said autobiography,Scritta lu i vivente

,

’

and while they were executing his job in al l direc

t ions , he quietly at noon blew his brains ou t.

For the informat ion of some of your metro

pol itan rectors of parishes , whose pious wrath is

wreaked , in the refusal of sepulchral rites , on therelatives of the departed

,I hasten to acquaint you

that in Rome,by a decree of Pope Benedict X IV . ,

suicides are declared to be by the very act proven

madmen . and as such entitled, as well as dying

lunatics , to the ful l benefit of Christian burial , and

are here buried accordingly.

February 8.

I fear Austrian influence in Roman affairs isbut ‘ scotched not killed .

’

T h e old serpent seems

yet l ively enough,and twines i tself round the high

priest and his min isters after the old Laocoon

fashion . Last week afforded a case in point . A t

the instigation of the Kaiser’s embassy here, a

domici l iary visit was made at the shops of the

L iberal bookseller Nattali, and al l h is stock in

trade overhauled in the most unceremonious

s tyle. T he murder at last was found out, and

what d ’ye think came uppermost Six hundred

copies of a pamph let bearing the print mark of



S tates than the New T estamen t or T homas aKempis, cal led the ‘ Book of Dreams ,

" or the

oracle of the governmen t lottery . Wheelbarrow

fuls are sold to the populace at every fair,and it

is often the only book in a whole vi llage . T h e

fai th of credulous ignorance in this book is a most

astounding fact, and no later than four days ago,at the drawing of the lottery, an instance of its

infall ibi l ity was quoted in all the haunts of the

people . A labourer fel l from the scaffolding of

the new hospital in the Corso, and was kil led on

the Spot ; his fel low -workman left the corpse

in the street, and ran to consult his ‘ Book of

Dreams . ’ Paura , sang ue, casca ta , were the caba

l ist ie words whose corresponding numbers set

forth therein he selected for his investment of

fifteen bajocc/zi. On Saturday his three numbers

al l came forth from the government urn, winning

a prize of 30 0 dollars

T h e subj ect of the infamous lottery system is ,however

,too vast for a casual notice

,and deserves

a separate letter ; its degrading and immoral ope

ration on every class of this pauper yet gambl ingcommunity has been exposed by the best writers

of Rome itself to no purpose h itherto . Sarcastic

poetry has aimed its shaft of ridicule in vain - for

the putt it, alas ! i s not allowed to touch on the

tabooed topic .

C I IU PI U VVC C3

C0 1 l ibro dei sogn i .

February 1 8.

T h e Carnival , thank H eaven , i s over at last,and ten days of this uproarious tomfoolery

,which

has forcib ly superseded every rational sort of

occupation , have come to a c lose.

Among al l kinds of outlandish costumes re

producing the semb lance ofevery foreign garband gaberdine , peop le took no notice of something

real ly striking and strange , viz . ,the entrance into

Rome of the new T urkish ambassador and his

suite of genu ine Orientals . Most spectators took

the solemn pageant for part of the general farce,

and applauded the Su ltan ’s envoy as a wel l got up

buffoonery, to the utter amazement of the graveOttoman . H is H ighness Sh ekib E ffendi , amidstshowers of confectionery and groups of dancing

harlequ ins,proceeded with dip lomatic gravity to

his appo inted residence,and there having spread

is carpet and performed his ab lut ions , l it his p ipe

d du ly pondered on h is reception in th is ho ly


Ci ty. What his musings were may be left to theimagination .

T h e day after h is arrival being Shrove

T uesday, was the culminating point of the pre

vions day’s fun ; . and rumour having acquainted

the Roin ans with th e real nature of the distin

guish ed infidel’

s visi t, crowds of maskers and gaily

fi l led chariots thronged under the windows of the

turbaned plenipotentiary . T here sat Sh ekib Effendi, plying his chibouk with imperturbable -com

posure , having learnt from his attendants that the

Christians were celebrat ing their Ramazan ,’ and

having su fficiently imbibed principles of toleration

to look calmly on the devotional exercises of the

Giaours . Reports were rife as to the costly pre

sents which he was commiss ioned to offer the

Pope on h is reception , though different vers ionsprevailed as to the precise nature of the gi fts,some maintain ing the value of a splendid jewelled

p ipe,others holding out for a priceless blade from

Damascus,while the learned advocated an illumi

nated MS . of the Koran ; shawls ruled highest

with the fair Romans .

Meantime,in endless succession , carriage afte i

carriage rolled under the balconies of the envoy

each bri l l ian t equipage of gay masquers vieingwith the other in pol ite manifestations , fl inging



ance, s itteth a tal l gaunt personage alone , with a

quid of tobacco inside his Cheek ; that, O Sh ekib,

is Ben Polk,of Naples , brother of “ J eames ,

” the

great sultaun of the Yan - kees . He always leaves

his embassy and the lazzaroni of Rome during

Ramazan . Not very gifted is he in diplomatic

accompl ishment, but a true connoisseur in the

famous transat lantic sherbet, sherry cobbler.

Anon,cometh a striking figure , rather short but

manly,with a bushy beard and square forehead

’ tis the only clever remnant of the Bonaparte

race, the intell igent Prince of Canino : profound

as a sage, sport ive’ as a boy. Dost thou not ice

the splendid equipage , with running footmen and

tricolour cockades ’

T is Count Rossi , envoy of

the Feringees, the only national ity represented

here . Yonder carriage with the royal arms of

Portugal carries a masked personage . He would

fain pass for Dom M iguel , formerly K ing of

L isbon he is only the Don ’s valet,bu t very l ike

his master. He can ’t impose upon the people

here , for we know that the real M iguel secretly

left Rome, on his way back to Oporto, ten days

ago .

’

Such would be the indications furnished to the

inquiring O ttoman by a dispass ionate eye -witness,

who might also enter into details of many less

FINAL RELI CS OF FA THER PROUT . 39 9

known,but not less curiously interesting, private

individuals ; but as none but avowedly publ i c

characters— appearing as such in publ ic— are le

gitimate subj ects of comment, ‘ non ragionam di

loro,ma guarda e passa .

’

T h e last news is the interview of the senior

captain (Cacciari) of’

the Roman civic guard with

the Pope , on the occas ion of electing a new colonel

of the corps . After some discuss ion his H ol iness

asked whether there would be any objection to h is

becoming a candidate for that office ? Of course

none ; and consequently, to the great del ight of

the Romans , P ius I X . i s gazetted to—day ( F eb . 1 8)Colonel ofLa Guardia Civica .

February 2 8.

T h e I tal ians are gifted by nature with a h igh

order of intel l igence , and whenever the swathing

bands by which their very infancy is enveloped are

removed , thei r native energies are in immediate

evidence . T h e growth of publi c spirit' in Rome ,

with in a few months,resembles the sudden

exuberance of a Russian or Canadian summer .

Among the clergy l iberal op in ions are professed

with a marvel lous enthus iasm which,under the

late Gregory, difratesca memoria , o ld have


not only barred all Chance of promotion , but in

volved more serious consequences . T h e publ ic

journals teem with the effusions of Clerical penmanship in favour of pol itical reform . I n yesterday ’s‘ Cotemporaneo ,

’ so ably edited by the prelate

Gazzola, the leading article is on the ‘ l iberty of

the press and the same paper contains vigorous

essays on the ‘ righ t of pet i tion ,’ the necessi ty of

a ‘ penny postage,’ and the sacred duty of every

c i t izen taking part i n pol itics,il svelupfiamen to

della vita publica . Gioberti’

s principles are forcibly

maintained in the teeth of Austria the J esu i ts

considered by publ ic Opinion here as the political

tools of the retrograde faction , whose centre is

Modena— are rather roughly handled , and it is

Clear that the secular priesthood leads the van inthe march of pol it ical progress .

‘ S ir R icardo Cobden ,’ as the I tal ian news

papers ins ist ou cal l ing h im , was introduced this

week to P ius I X . by Cardinal Fiesch i, and had a

prolonged interview wi th the sovereign . T h e

most distinguished of the Roman nobi l ity vie wi th

each o ther in doing honour to the Engl ish cottonspinner. An edict went forth this week, opening

the ports to foreign corn of every sort ; which ,though l imited for the present, wil l no doubt be



Readers who have visited Rome, or have

merely seen drawings of the porch of St . Peter’s,

with its ambidextrous semicircular colonnade,must

recol lect two statues of medimval design , meant

for Peter and Paul , standing on each side of the

ascending steps before the portico . T hese two

blocks of shapeless travertine might have har

monised with the Byzantine taste of the old

basil ica to which they belonged , but were a pal

pable eyesore in j uxtapos ition with the exquisite

sculpture prevalent throughou t the work of Leo

and,h is successors . T heir l imbs were stiff

, th

attitude awkward and clumsy, their antiqu

undeniably venerable. L ike many other of

t ime - honoured respectabi l ities , they have r

not ice to quit, and will be replaced before

by two marble statues of somewhat different tasfrom the Chisels of Fabris and T adolini

,the O

director of the Belle Arti , the other a scholar

Canova . T hese modern productions are on

colossal scale ; each figure is nearly twenty fei n height, though formed each of a single

from Carrara . Each cost dollars , an

are now ready to be transported from the

shop on the T iber, near St . Paul’s , on

road . I have already al luded to the ill -j udged

penditure of the late pontificate in th is pestil

swamp .

FIIVAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT .

I t was the intention of the late Pope to have

added these two giant works to the other costly

materials entombed in that remote spot,where a

casual vis itor might possibly admire and appre

ciate them but the eminently practical and com

mon - sense intel lec t of P ius took a different viewof the matter ; and thought them , i f worth pay

ing fo r, worth seeing by rich and poor without

the trouble of a special pi lgrimage . I n Lucan ’

s

‘ Pharsal ia,’

a Roman general is introduced as

indignant at the idea of Ammon ’s orac le being

located in an African desert— an arrangemen t

which did not accord wi th his notions of a provi

dent de ity .

Steriles neque legit arenasUt caneret paucis, mersitque h oc pulvere verum (pulch rum

So th inks P ius . I n p lac ing these new

statues , the Pope seems to have had an eye to

avoiding the blunder of your famous Wel l ington

arch - abomination . Previous to deciding, he or

dered colossal drawings to be executed,wi th pro

portionate pedestals , and had the whole erec ted

pro tem. on the Spot to be occupied . He would

not depend on any eye but h is own—and his

glance is unerring. T h e new Peter wil l wield his‘ keys ,

’ and the new Pau l brandish his ‘ sword of

the Spirit’

after a truly dignified fash ion . T heirD D 2


dimensions will not be of the stunted Character Oftheir predecessors , but in ful l accordance wi th the

dome before which they are to stand sentinel .

T alking of S t . Peter reminds me of our

governor’s answer to the remonstrances of M .

Guizot and the Portuguese ambassador on the

late escape of Don M iguel Our keys are not

those of a jailor. ’

A t a late sitting of the Roman Archaeolog ical

Soc iety, Caval ier Campana—whose collect ion of

E truscan antiquities is the first in the world

gave some interesting details respecting a newly

d iscovered sepulchre of the Roman republ ican

period , not far from the family vau l t of the Scip ios

at the Capena gate . T h e inscrip tions record

the entombment of several freedmen of Paulus

Emilius and Jul ius Cmsar. Subsequently,there

is record of the interment of M essalina’

s t iringwoman

,among whose bones in the cinerary urn

we re found several gold hair- pins and broken

j ewellery ; and also of a serving -maid of Cecil ia

Metel la, with s imilar remnants of toilette . T h e‘ court physician ’ of Augustus, one P indarus , is

also recognisable for the first t ime ; as is the

unknown colleague of the consul , Sergius Lentu

lus,anno urbis 7 6 2 , the marble on thefasti cousu



territory , and in a vigorous allocution plainly told

them that he would no longer tolerate individual

neglect, in al lowing so many broad acres of land

to remain unproduct ive , and so many of his faith

ful peasantry to remain unemployed . He gave

them not ice that a vigilant eye would be kept on

the management of the gigant ic territorial districts

confided to their care ; denied that they might do

as they l iked with their own , while there existed

hands unemployed and months unfed within the

boundary of their estates ; told them that if he

found labourers in want of work on their proper

ties,he would find occupation for them at the

proprietors ’ expense ; and finally dismissed the

astonished feudal lords with a new but firm im

pression that dut ies as well as rights formed part

of their landed inheritance . What he said, he is

a man to do.

T o understand the ful l value of this bold step

on the part of P ius I X . , bes ides exhibiting him as

seeking the support of the people alone , wi thout

reference to the suffrages of an effete aristocracy,

i t is necessary to know that five - sevenths of the

whole populat ion depend on agricul ture,which

forms the real resources of the kingdom . T here

are here three mil l ions of inhabitants and if the

produce of the soil were equal ly distributed, each

nat ive of these dominions would be entitled to

exactly 7 50 lbs . weight of good avai lable food ;that is to say, our annual

Pastoral and graz ing produce amounts to lbs.

Grain ofall sorts, rice, vegetables, SI C. 1,9 oo,ooo,ooo

T otal 2,2 5 0 ,ooo,ooo

Now the surface of the country,hi l l and plain

,

has been ascertained to present, in the form of

cultivated ground, an area of square mi les

while there remains in a state of neglect,though

susceptible of culture, an extent of square

miles , i n addition to on ly 731 quite incapable of

improvement—presenting a total of 1 8,1 1 7 square

miles . Your I rish ‘ reproductive board ’ have

here means of comparison between the extent of

The ir waste lands and ours ; and if a master’s

grasp is put forth here to compel a lazy proprietary

to exertion , ought not an iron grip to be laudably

laid on the spendthrift squ irearchy who have for

ages been the curse of I reland

We have been amused here with accounts of

a conspiracy among some friars at Ancona to

upset h is H ol iness ; but the attempt wou ld seem

as hopeless at that al luded to in the Georgics . ’

E t conjuratos coelum rescindere fratres

Our newspapers give constant evidence of the


bold and enl ightened views held by pol itical writers

in Rome and the wonder is , how so many accu

rate thinkers and vigorous penmen have contrivedto bottle up their indignat ion during the last

s ixteen years . T h e ‘ Cotemporaneo’ of the 7 th

has a splendid ‘ letter to the Pope,’ signed by

Gioberti , from Brussels , remarkable for freedom

of speech and depth of philosophy. T h e ‘ I tal ico ’

appears to be written by our first professors in

law, medicine , and divinity . T h e Pallade ’ i s an

artistic and util itarian sheet . T h e old ‘ Diario ’

crawls on as of old with imperturbable imbecil ity

a goose waddling among swans—and so fully

is the mind of Rome satisfied with the new organs

of recognised publ icity, that an attempt to Circu

late a clandest inely- printed j ournal , La Sentinella

del Campidogl io,

’ was put down by us all , out

respect to the l iberal pontiff who has set opini

free for the first time withi n papal memory. T

soi-disan t patriot ism of irrel igionists and anti

social ists is at a discount in this peninsula, and all

revolu tionary abortions of the Carbonari school

are at an end for ever. Every honest mind rall ies,

for hope, round P ius I X . , and eschews the

oracles of demagogism and its delus ions .great lyric poet, Monti , can no longer g ive

ance to that bitter sentiment, which the spe



men . Again , the allegoric figure of E rin Clasps

in fond embrace the bust of her aged patriot,

Cloncurry. Close at hand, in a spacious monu

mental bas - relief, Bishop Brinkley, of Cloyne ,rests one hand on the celestial globe

,while with

the other he turns over the pages of Holy Writ .

F rom another quarter the bust of Father Mathew

looks forth, redolent of Christian philanthropy ;on the same shelf i s seen the mirthful brow of

Father Prou t . T omSteele himself has a niche in

this I rish temple of celebrity,and truly somehow

the cranium of the ‘ head pacificator’ seems iden

tified with the reading of the R io t Act . T h e

late venerable M r. Beamish , of Cork, as wel l ash is meritorious partner, Will iam Crawford , both

models to any mercant i le community,have their

representations here, with several Murphies from

that City, worthy men and knowledgeable in their

generation . T h e bust of the late T homas Davis ,who first turned the youthful intell igence of I relandinto pathways of manly independence and self

respect, was ordered last year by a vote of his

grateful fel low - countrymen ; but the funds have

somehow or other been diverted to purposes more

pleasing to ‘ Old I reland .

’ J ust at present the

sculptor is engaged on a vast design , a sepulchral

alto rel ievo , to the memory of the late Peter


Purcel l , the lamented founder of the I rish agri

cu ltural societies, who gave, for the first time,

a practical direction to the spiri t of association,

long appl ied in I reland to mere moonshine pur

poses or the selfish aggrandisement of individual

ambitions . T h e form of the deceased worthy is

accurately, yet ideally, pourtrayed ; he has fallen in

the midst of h is favourite pursu its . T h e p lough

is alongside the body of the departed husbandman,

a shepherd ’s dog guarding his feet, whi le the

genius of agricu l ture , crowned with ears of corn ,presents a palm branch from above to the votary

of food - creating industry. A las !

Quid labor aut benefacta juvant ? Quid vomere terrasInverti sse graves ? it tri stis (Hibernus) arator,Maerentem abjungens PURCELLI morte juvencum

k Atque opere in medio defixa relinquit atatra.

March 1 3.

Our sovereign has brought back the days ofthe great and good Haroun al Rasch id , and goes

about incognito,investigating abuses and rel ieving

distress . A paragraph i n the Roman Advertiser’

gives an account of a vis i t paid to the Ragged

Schools of Rome,original ly founded by some

pious laymen ,and which the Clergy have s ince

taken in hand . Wou ld that al l the unoccupied

friars of Rome ( amounting to had the grace


to employ their leisure in imparting instruction

to the ignorant multitudes of children by whom

they are surrounded

T here was found yesterday (what is an exceedingly rare occurrence here), the dead body

of a poor drunkard in the classic basin of the

Fontana di T revi , which is the water used by the

select classes of Roman citizens . Much horror

is fel t by del icate persons at the unheard - ofCircumstance . Possibly i t may have been a victim

of revenge or j ealousy, but as we have no Wakley

here to coronise the corpse, the mystery must

remain unrevealed .

1

Not a l ittle disgust has been felt in eccle

siastical circles on receipt of the last Lenten

pastoral of Dr. M ‘Hale , dated February 1 5 ,

contrasted , as it necessari ly is , with the mild and

considerate tone of s imilar official documents here.

1 T h e actual in life warrants,more than is generally thought,th e fancifu l fictions ofth e best ‘ imaginative writers allow meto quote YOU—ex . gr.

‘ An d h er father ? ’enquired th e poetic Snodgrass . ‘ Re

morse and misery,’ replied th e Stranger. ‘ Sudden disappearance—talk ofth e whole City—search made—fountain in th e

great square suddenly ceased playing—weeks e lapsed ; stil l astoppage —workmen to clean it—water drawn off— father- ln - law

discovered sticking head first in th e main pipe, with a ful l confession in his right boot—took h im out, and th e fountain playedaway again, as well as ever. ’—Picbwicb Papers, Chap . i i.



Every southern and northern despot feels that thebattle of human progress is to be fought at Rome

,

and we all feel the truth of that notion . Here the

banner of reform must be unfurled to rally the mil

l ions of hereditary bondsmen . Signifer h ic statue

S ignum ! h iC opt imemanebimUs.

’

( Vide L ivy. )

March 2 7 .

T h e struggle between the Roman newspapers

and Austrian interference has just terminated in

the total discomfiture of Metternich and the

triumph of the press . T h e edict ’ forced on the

pusillanimous Gizzi has,thanks to the firm atti

tude of our local editors , become a dead letter ;and yesterday all our journals came out fresh and

vigorous as ever, without the ghost of a govern

ment stamp,

’ and evincing no trace of meddling

censorsh ip . T h e Cotemporaneo,

’ at the he

the publ ic instructors, shows redoubled

from its short repose, and contains articles of

eloquence and abil ity which the Paris ian Deba

has seldom exhibited . I transmit you yesterda

number. I t is understood that no change will b

attempted in matters of public journal ism ‘ for th

present year,’ and such a concession to the

outburst of Opin ion is qu ite tantamount to a

settl ement. I t i s a point of etiquette taci


stood in Rome , that no edict once promu lgated

can be formal ly repea led , however i t may be

suffered to l i e dormant : for instance,the late

Governor Marin i issued an ukase against fox

hunt ing in the Campagna, accord ing to which the

horse and h is rider are st i l l l iable to fine and con

fiscation, yet the hounds meet twice a week , and

the whipper- in i s reck less ; ‘ h abemus contra te

Catilinam senatus - consultum veh emens e t grave

verum tanquam gladium i n vaginal reconditum

Last night another kind ly effort was made toaid the l ife - struggl e in I reland , and produced a

thousand dol lars . Adelaide Kemble (Sartoris) ,in unison with a number of amateurs

,German

,

Russ ian , and I tal ian , got up an extemporaneous

Concert ; the Spanish envoy at th is court flung

open the long - deserted hal ls of the once gorgeous

palace of h is national embassy for their reception

Lord Ward paid for the l ights, and Earl Compton

as d id Countess Calergi, De Rougemont,e Wolkonsky , Count Castlebarco , and M iss

of Mayo . Nearly three hundred years

ago,in these identical saloons, Olivarez and the

general (of the J esuits) Aquaviva, organised th e

rebell ion of Hugh O’

Neil i n U lster ; and here the‘ blessing of the Spanish Armada was concocted .

4 1 6 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT

T h e same roof looked down last night on some

what more creditable proceedings .

P ius I X . , whose popularity flags not among

the lower and middle classes , does not meet with

the same enthusiasm among the selfish and worth

less ‘ nobles,’ who have for ages preyed on the

V i tals of this land withou t exhibi ting a particle of

the quali t ies by which their forefathers bought

their honours and distinctions ; it is true that some

of these Roman patrician famil ies at no period

produced any great'

men , but merely gained

wealth and an hereditary position from the acci

dental elevation ofa Pope whose stupid nepot ismbecame a mine of inexhaustible revenues to his

relat ives . Some very prominent and very frivolous leaders of fashionable l ife here wil l recognise

themselves in this description . Not of this orig in ,however, i s the family whose mansion the Pope

honoured last week with a visit, being the first

t ime he has paid such a compl iment to any of his

private subjects . Prince Massimo,though an in

differen t post -master,is unquestionably one of the

best born and truest gentlemen in Rome,being

an undoubted descendant of the sole surviving

Fabius out of the 30 0 who marched to Oremera ;

and through Fabius Maximus and a l ine of known


4 1 8 FINAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT

spirit of the myst ic l iturgy, have ceased to scoff,in more than one instance, the

Parcus deorum cultor et infrequens

has remained to pray .

Cobden’

s vis i t to Naples , though unattended

by any publ ic display ( the lazzaroni governmentbeing afraid of L iberal speeches , such as were

del ivered in Rome and Genoa after th e banquet) ,el ic ited , nevertheless , the true feel ing of publ ic

opinion in that capital . No less than 1 1 9 cards of

important personages from every class in society

were left at his residence .

April 5 .

Yesterday, while the pontiff was in the act of

bless ing ‘urbem cl orbem ’ from the porch of S t.

Peter’s , before a concourse of over Chris

tians of every creed , a slight disturbance arose,which might have had bad results . T h e civic

guard (of wh ich he is colonel) had petitioned tobe al lowed to put their hats upon the points of their

bayonets , and to cheer, which had been al lowed ,but the troops of the l ine made a similar appl ica

t ion which had no t been successful,and

,in conse

quence ,Z amboni , the commandant, had counter

manded the order of the day as regarded the


national troops . T h e peop le did not know of th is,

and when the Pope arose amid a deep s i lence,and

his si lvery]

voice was d istinctly heard over the

crowd , a sudden burst from the whole multitude

greeted h im , and al l eyes were turned on the

national guard for their expected manifestation ;their atti tude of s imple attention did not please

the Romans,and a row wou ld have ensued but for

the time ly exp lanation of some officers,who were

on the gui vive. T h e Pope was escorted,amid

wi ld enthusiasm , back to the Quirinal .

C lubs are getting qu ite into vogue here . T h e

nobles have not any longer the monopoly of

casinos. T h e merchants have got up a club ; the

artists have got one . T h e Germans had taken

the lead in Clubbing, and were soon imitated by

the F rench . T h e Engl ish have a wel l - appointed

one in the P iazza d i Spagna. A kind Ofsemipol it ical Club (cal led [ I Circolo Romano) numbers

already 30 0 members , and most of the journals of

Europe are taken .

A funeral took p lace last week of some im

portance,as Showing how the middle classes are

emerging from nonenti ty to importance and self

r'

espect. A coffee - house keeper, cal led R i cc i , wh oE E 2

42 0 FINAL RELICS OF FATIIER PROUT .

had been distinguished as the first Roman who

brewed gas for the lighting of his splendid saloons

i n the Palazzo Ruspol i ( the putting out of which

gas - pipe I enumerated last year on the 4th of

April, among the doings of the late Govenor

Marin i) , having died , was convoyed to his last

resting- place by several thousands of his fel

low - cit izens ; the Corso was resplendent with

torches , and the national guard , of which he was

a soldier, turned out in force to honour their

worthy comrade . He was the great support of th e

poor exiles,and a stout reformer. You will find

the speech pronounced over his grave in the pages

of the Cotemporaneo .

’ None but a noble or a‘ saint ’ ever had honours of this sort in Rome .

T h e mez z o ceto have begun to understand their

own worth .

Rocca, the Pres iden t of E cuador (Quito andGuayaquil) , has sen t an ambassador to our court,the Marquis Lorenzana .

Among the odd regulat ions which from t ime

immemorial have obtained in Rome is the law by

which goats are not allowed to enter the Ci ty until

after Easter Sunday. I n consequence the town

was thronged at an“

early hour this morning wi th

herds of horned visitors from the Sabine H il ls,



personage indispensable . T o lay the foundationof an embassy at Rome (tanta molis erat l) wouldseem a work of surpassing gravity ; and the

brother of the late as well as the brother of the

present occupant of the Foreign - office are nottoo many for the task . May the mother of the

graces smile on the undertaking

Sic te diva potens Cypri,Sic fratres H elenae

,lucida sidera !

for, in a case l ike this, one may be al lowed to

draw upon both Horace and Virgi l for i l lustra

tions .

Letters from Paris to the I rish col lege here

prepare the members of the clergy and other

admirers of M r. O’

Connell for his immediate

arrival by sea at Civita Vecchia,from which he

will have,owing to the horrid state of that road,

a most tedious drive to Rome . T h e town is fast

gett ing emp ty,as usual abou t this time of the

year,and nex t month the heat wil l begin to be

intolerable, so t hat the baths of Lucca, or some

other cheerful retreat, would be a more sensible

move . He will find here, in a state of bodily and

mental debil i ty equal to his own , at an advanced

age,the only l iving daughter of Curran , the sister

FI IVAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT

of her of whom it is written,i n pages that wi l l

never die

Sh e i s far from th e land where h er young hero s leeps .

I f he is enabled to cl imb the Janiculum H i ll’

,he wil l

trace on the marbl e floor of the church - OfM ontorio the newly - repaired and refreshened epitaphs

of two I rish Chieftains who did not confine their

asp irations against the Saxon to mere talk,but

wasted both l i fe and fortune in the hopeless endea

vour to create an independent I reland, to

Right h erwrongs in battle line .

HE IC JACENTO’NEALIVS BARDO DE DVNGANNON

MAGN I HUGON IS FILIVS, ET

O’DONNEL COM ES DE TYRCONNEL

Qv1

CONT RA H IERET ICOS IN HYBERN IA MULTOS ANNOS

CERTARVNT

MDCVI I I .

T his memorab le inscription had long remained

unknown and neglected , when an I rish artist in

h is rambles brought i t to l ight, and piously re

stored th e nearly - defaced Characters and the ‘ red

hand of U lster,

’ which is of porphyry. T hat

artist was J ohn Hogan , of Cork, a worthy disciple

of your Scott’ s O ld Mortal i ty .

’


T h e Peninsular and Oriental Company’s

steamer T iger,’ which is to bring Gibson ’s Queen .

i s cram full of pictures and sculpture . T h e Royal

Academy will be great prigs indeed if they object

their time regulations to the reception of the

statue . Nu l lum tempus Occurrit Reginae eh ?

April 1 5 .

I regret to announce that Gibson ’s statue of

the Que en h wh ich left our quay, in a barcbetta , for

Civita Vecchia, to meet the Pen insular and

Oriental Company’s s teamer for Southamp ton ,missed arriving. T h e small barge, owing to the

low water in the T iber,and to the great weight of

the marble, with i ts treble oak casing,stuck in the

inud at Ostia, and l ies there stil l . Such are the

inconveniences of greatness,as Boi leau curio usly

observes , speaking of Lou is X IV . on the Rhinebanks , while his army was forcingthe passage

Le grand roi,admirant leur courage,

Se plaint de sa grandeur qui l’attach e au rivage

Milan,April 2 4.

T h e vacant arch iepiscopal mitre, with con

t ingent or rather concomitan t red - hat,has been

placed on the brow, not of a German , as of late ,but of Count Ro

’

milli, a Bergamasque, who has



districts of the Pen insu la, I can affirm that for

the last twenty years never was the aspect of the

country,or the Operations of the farmer, in a state’

so promis ing. T here can be no doubt of an

immense surplus of grain for export next autu

nearly double the usual breadth of land being

down with that view, consequen t on the

of your corn - laws,of which the presence here

Cobden had been an active memento . T h e ri

fields about M i lan and Mantua are in high or

the numerous floodings of the various s

throughout the winter have had

the Romagna rather a favourable and feeffect and the second or after- crop of I

corn is sure to be provided for in due t ime

the present harvest) to an immense extent. T

weather,which had been bright and bracing,

more genial and warm— indeed, in the pla

inconveniently hot for the period of the year, a

just such as T asso described it in his time

Cessa al fin la pioggia, e torna il sole ,Ma dulce Spiega e temperato il raggio,

Pien di maschio valor siccome suoleT ra il fin d ’

Aprile e il comminciar di Maggio.

Gerusalemme, xx . )

T h e mere material interests of the populati

in Austrian Lombardy are looked after


if men were mere animals , no government

be more laudably active in providing for the

lower instincts and comforts ofthe peop le ; but,though i t is severely proscribed , and the exercise

of the mental faculties strictly interd icted,not a

single reading—room is to be found in al l Mi lan,and

the splendid l ibrary of the Brera has but a very

scant attendance of book students ; but woe to

the possessor of a Copy of any Roman newspaper.

I f the p lague or cholera were in the Pope ’s capital ,could not be such alarm or precaution

inst what emanates now from Rome .

Rome April 2 8.

Concern ing the anniversary festival of the

ndation of Rome, held in the baths of T itus ,a concourse of spectators , 80 0 s itting

down to the banquet, you wi l l have, ere this ,heard much ; but the speech of th e even ing, that

of Marquis A z egl io,which eloquently denounced

the presence and pride of ‘ Goths, Huns , and

Vandals ’ i n I taly, el ic ited thunders of applause ,has been prin ted

,by authorisation of the new

of censorsh ip,in a supp lemen t of the Co

raneo .

’

T h el

only o ther al lus ion was to

nd,wh ich the speaker des ignated our e lder

r in ‘ manufactures,commerce, and freedom .

’


For obvious reasons no reference was made

France, the recent instructions and conduct

Count Rossi having taken the gold off his gin

bread completely . T h e l iberal ity of the

censors is the topic of general praise and,ind

i t is considered that the palpable truths utterethe presence of so many applauding auditors

,

ratified by the common sense of the whole Pesula, would amount to a suppressio veri equival

to a suggestiofalsi. Altogether this awakenexhibition wil l not fail to tel l throughout

and if the founder of the baths , ‘ the belove

mankind,

’ were permitted to hover in spirit

the scene, he could not repeat that ‘ he had

a day.

’

I am sorry to record the sequel of what to<

place on the publ ication of the speeches haili

with such enthusiasm . Four hours elapsed frothe moment of their issu ing from the press til t

were greedily devoured in every coffee - hons

club, and private family in Rome ; blessings we

invoked on the orators, and on the whole pr

ceeding ; when 10 ! the agents of the polic‘ blushing as they entered ,

’ made their appearan'

i n every hole and corner of Rome where tl

‘ Cotemporaneo’ was supposed to be taken; at

begged and menaced unti l they got back tl



( for it amounts to that) contained in the latcircular of Gizz i . T his C ircular has ignited a

electric combustion in every I tal ian heart ; an

every dreamer of constitut ional freedom , ever

enthus iast for the revival of F lorentine an

Venet ian commonwealths, is in ecstas ies at thunexpected in itiat ive taken by the Pope of Romin a matter so vital to 'the cause of civil isation

Via prima salutis

(Quod minime réris), Papac pandetur ab URBE

And Lutzow learned yesterday from the lou

execrations of the people'

their determination nc

to be baulked of their franchises by any menac

of Austria . You must know that a mock fire wa

got up yesterday at the Vatican Palace (Pin

res ides at the Quirinal) in order to exercise th

fiompieri firemen’

s brigade . Mock incendiarisr

might have appeared a capital j oke to Gizzi , bi

the Austrian minister did not see the poin'

People were seen screaming at the windows , moc'

flames were vis ible, ladders were uplifted, fire

engines worked assiduously, and a mob of

people had gathered to witness the uproar. Ur

luckily the carriage of Lutzow was descried b

the populace,when howl ing and yell ing began i

earnest ; the bl inds of the vehicle were instant!

execrat ion accompan ie 1m to t e seat

embassy . He thought h imself lucky to have

t c lear home .

May 8.

On Wednesday, the 5 th , being the feast of St .

P ius, whose best achievement (his bringing aboutbattle of Lepanto) , once rescued the south of

Europe, great doings were p lanned to honour the

name in the person ofi ts present possessor, who( b ids fair to effect a s imi lar European rescue .

Hearing of these projects ( for strict orders are

issued to inform him of every matter) our monarch

at once Intimated h is wish that the waste of blue

lights and Roman candles shou ld be superseded

by a general distribution of bread . T o wish is to

be obeyed . S ixty gentlemen met immediately at

the Doria Palace, organised themse lves for a

comb ined effort among the affluent,and , though

Dante has left on record

Quanto e duro calleIl scendere e salire per altrui scale

each member cheerfu l ly c l imbed the stairs of the

palaces al lotted h im in quest of donations . Seven

and dol lars were qu ickly forthcoming, and

ty thousand bread tickets put in c ircu lation .


T h e remnant is kept to establ ish an infant

school .

Measures are in progress to reduce the cost

of salt to one - third of its present price . T h e

great salt - seller, T orlonia, must, of course, be

compensated for his monopoly. T h e poor have

long felt the hardship of being taxed for this

article of course the cattle have never aspired to

such a luxury . On the 2 9 th of April, Prince

L ivio Odescalch i paid down the ransom of the

Duchy of Bracciano, which had been in pawn

s ince 1 80 3, and reassumed the t itle, which had

gone into trade for over forty years . Do you

recol lect S terne’s description of the French noble

man resuming his sword on his return from com

merce in the Anti l les

Lord Ward, whose eccentricities are accom

panied by many graceful acts, has just come out

in the Character of a cognoscente, and paid over to

the Prince OfCanino 7 ,0 0 0 l. for four pictures ofacknowledged merit. One is by Fra Angel ico,and represents the Last J udgment,

’ another is a

sketch from the hand of Rembrandt, ‘ S t. John

Preaching i n the Wilderness . ’ I have not seen

the others .

T h e annual artistic festival of the ‘ Cervera,’



T hat P ius I X . i s a great and good man is

pretty well known by this t ime of day ; but the

man of human sympathies, the man of feel ing,

i s predominant even above the statesman and the

leg islator. A t the farewell audience of Bishop

Wilson , previous to h is return to the Antipodes

(where there are half a dozen R . C . bishoprics),the Pope said , present ing him with a splendid

golden chal ice Be kind , my son , to all yourflock atHobart T own , but the kindest to the condemned

May 2 8.

T o -morrow P ius I X . leaves Rome for a pro

longed vis it to the Benedictine Abbey of Subiaco,

in the Apennines, forty- four miles inland . T h is

importan t move had been determined On pre

vions to the receipt of to - day’s news describing

as desperate the hopes of Mr . O ’

Connell’

s atten

dants of dragging him al ive to this capital . N 0Change in our sovereign ’s projects can be ascribed

to the advent or non - arrival of the Father of Repeal ;indeed

,when i t was known here that they had

decided upon a land journey from Genoa to the

T uscan front ier, involving the Pass of the

Magra,

’ of which any of your friends can form an

idea from S tanfield ’

s picture, exhibited, as I read ,i n this year’s gallery, the hopelessness of his

coming al ive was demonstrated their select ing the


route to Lyons by Mount T arrare having previ

ously shown h ow l i ttle conversant they were in

practical geography . But as for our Pontiff,his

mind is essential ly practical and in labouring for

the substantial welfare of h is peop le h e has an

utter disregard for Claptrap and mere populari ty.

T h e Obj ect of h is vis i t to that glorious wilderness

is understood to be twofold . F i rst, he intends to

reform the monastery, root and branch , and restore

i t to what it was in 1 46 5 , when i t gave hosp ital ity

to the first printing - press that was set up in I taly ;two fugitive Germans having c laimed i ts Shel ter

for the printing of the editioprinceps of Lactantius,a copy of which is carefu l ly preserved in its once

splendid l ibrary,typis Swey nbeim et Pannartz ,

MCCCCv . T h e lately- defunct Cardina l Po l idori

was titu lar Abbot of Subiaco, a snug s inecure

of dollars a year . He is to have no suc

cessor in that fat berth,which lapses into the

national treasury,to pay the national debt. T h e

late Gregory,who granted the sinecure to th e late

Pol idori,was very part ial to a sojourn in these

romantic regions,and from the adjacent vi l lage he

brought to Rome his favouri te , the famous barber

Gaetanino,who traffi cked in al l commodities ,

sacred and profane,for S ixteen years .

T h e second object of our monarch is to keepF F 2

.436 FINAL REL ICS OF FATHER PROUT .

aloof from the turbulen t manifestat ions of popular applause which he ant ic ipates from a series

of new reforms fixed and decided on,of a

most sweeping character. F inancial,administra

t ive, and municipal decrees wil l issue from his

retreat at Subiaco , calculated to astonish the red

tape pol itic ians of Europe , and smacking of theold Roman energy of Sixtus Quintus . How dif

ferent his position, in this austere abode, fromthat of him who wrote verbose epistles from the

island of Capraea to the ghost’ of a Roman senate !

Poor Ac con is gone to Nap les to die h is l ife

is not worth a fortnight ’s purchase, and he was a

real saint. H is removal was a signal for the

break - up of a very curious establ ishment kept on

for centuries here—a government school for young

aspirants to diplomat i c and prelatic office , a kind

of ecclesiastical Sandhurst, where ‘ church cadet

ships were the sure reward of successful intrigue

and a display ofclerical hypocrisy. Learn ing was

at a low ebb in this snuggery, to which none

could be admitted bu t of rich and noble Roman

famil ies ; but i n l ieu of erudition , al l the arts ofcaj olery

,dupl icity

,andflnesse were practical ly and

theoret ically cultivated . P ius has swept away the

nuisance without p ity, and seized.

the funds for



him were centred the hopes of the trasteverini,

should any evil befal l our enl ightened monarch

for though Dean of the Sacred College, and

born in 1 7 7 5 , he was a vigorous septuagenarian .

Fanny Kemble,who

,l ike old Boetius , has written

a book, De Consolatione Ph iIOSOph ica,’ i n brisk

demand here, records a conversat ion betweenM icara and Lambrusch ini, on their way to the

conclave in one carri age : Ifthe powers of darkness preside over the election , you

’l l be Pope ,’

said the defunct ; ‘ if the people h ad a voice, I’m

the man ; but if heaven has a finger in the blisiness,’ twi ll be Ferretti . ’ Micara was the terror of the

retrograde faction he was known to advocate most

sweeping reforms , i ncluding an agrarian law for

breaking up entai ls and reconstructing the tenure

of land in the Roman territory . Hence the

great l eviathans of the desolate Campagna tried to

ridicule and depreciate him ; being a Capucbin ,he

wore a flowing bifurcated grey beard , and wasn icknamed by them the ‘ Pacha of two tails . ’

T h e u tter simpl i ci ty of h is establ ishment rebuked

the pomp and expenditure of his brother digui

taries ; but he recked not what they Said , and washimself a frank outspeaker. I had a long conver

sation with him last month , Ofwhich Father Mathew, his brother Capuchin , was the subject . Why


doesn’

t he come to Rome ?’ ‘ Your Eminence is

not, perhaps, aware that the l ives of some thousand

poor peop le depend on h is untiring personal ex ertions in I reland .

’ Bene cap isco , bravo padre

Bu t, said he, about h is advocacy of temperance,we wanted him here a

'

little under the late ponti

ficate .

’ Whether this Was an ep igram or not,I do

not presume to judge . I merely give h is words .

T h e ‘ pilgrims of the heart,

’

- to use their own

phraseology, arrived on Monday, and proceeded at

once to the I rish seminary -with the contents of

the si lver urn , .Wh ich'

I sawto - day depos ited in

the vestry - room of the Church adjacent, cal led St .

Agatha dei Goti (of the Goths) . T h e associat ionsreminiscences connected with th is spot are by

no means I rish , i t having been , s ince the time of

the Gothic Arians , a den of heterodoxy indeed ,Gregory the Great cal ls i t ‘ Spelunca pravitatis

h aere ticae’

( l ib . i i i . ep ist . T h e seminary

itself is far from real is ing the Character of a

nal inst i tut ion ; i t was got up a few yearsby a Dr. B lake , Whose impracticab le temper

i t had to contend with ti l l his removal and the

appointment of the present mild '

and considerate

pres ident,Dr. Cul len ; but i t

‘

i s by no means an

improvement on Maynooth . Far from fostering a


race of young clergymen , able to overawe and

cope with the intell igen t laity, of new growth in

I reland , i t can at best only produce a set of half

witted ascetics . T here is here an I rish convent

and Church better ent itled to this national rel ic . I

mean St . I s idoro,founded several hundred years

,

and always tenanted by distinguished I rishmen,

the earl iest being Luke Wadding,the great

historian of the F ranciscans . T here was some

whisper of a vault in S t . Peter’s , but up to this

momen t those who gave that hin t have been told

that none but crowned heads were admiss ible,such

as the S tuart race, the Sobieskis, the ex -queen

Christina of Sweden , and (should she die here

just now) the ex - queen Christina of Spain,hergreat

rival in combining gallan try wi th devot ion . I f I

were consulted on the matter, I would at once carry

the si lver away from the obscure and i ll - famed loca

lity of the Suburra (vide PersiiS a ty r. v . ascend

the Janiculum H ill,and in the Church of Montorio

seek out the spot where moulder thebones of O ’

N eil

of T yrone, and O’

Donnell of T yrconnell 1 60 8 .

I’

d not leave thee, thou lone one,

T o pine on th e stemWhere th e PATRIOT S are sleepingGo sleep thou with T HEM

T h e I tal ians find some difficulty in understan

ing why and wherefore this I rish champ



T hen with both hands upl ifted, th e bard, ere h e breathedH is last sigh far away from his kindred and home,

T o th e Scythians his ashes hath left—but bequeathedAll his glory to Rome

T h e mention of upl ifted hands may well intro

duce an anecdote of Dan’s dying chamber. I t

seems that the pressure on the brain had caused ,natural ly enough , partial paralys is of the l imbs .

On the i 4th of May he was observed by his

chaplain to draw his righ t arm from the bed

Clothes , and making a feeble effort to raise i t,Doctor,

’ he faintly murmured,this arm is eman

cipated .

’

It soon fel l .

We ‘ Romans ’ are exceeding fast idious in

the matter of Latin inscriptions,and

,perhaps

from habit and frequency,are famil iar wi th the

elegances which enter in to what is here called the‘ lap idary ’ style. Hence sundry comments have

been made on the cacophony of what we read on

the urn— ‘ Natus Kerry, obi it Genoae .

’ I t is

mentioned in the authorised bu t somewhat pon

derous and bigoted biography compiled by J ohn ,that Dan ’s firs t schoolmaster (who, besides thehornbook , in itiated his pupil into the mystery of a

horn comb) was one of the Mah onys . T hat worthy

pedagogue,if al ive , would have suggested to Dr.

Miley something less du l l and less unclassical than

the above . Perhaps he wou ld have furn ished a

couplet, j ustifiable by V i rgi l ian precedent, ex . gr.

K'

erria me genuit n ures rapuere tenet nuncRoma cor, at reliquum Celtica rura ducem.

1

Postscrifit.— I have just returned from another

vis it to the vestry- room , where the heart i s kept.

I now have found some reason for j ustifying theselec tion of St . Agatha’s church as the final re

ceptacle of Dan’s heart, for here at least there

is one other distingu ished man entombed . On

examin ing the edifice I find at the right hand,

between two columns , the fo l lowing inscription on

Greek worthy,who

,i t appears

,i s i nterred

neath,J ohn Lascaris, one of the refugees from

(when taken by the T urks) andient promoter of the revival of letters in

estern Europe—compi ler of the ‘ Anth ologia .

’

1 A friend and fellow - countryman h as given me th e following metrical translation , in th e Prout ve in, ofth e Padre ’s proposed inscription for th e urn containing O ’

connel l ’s heart atRome. Most ofmy readers are, doubtless, aware that th e body

great Irish leader l ies buried at Glasnevin , where , besideremain s

,a lofty round tower, after th e ancient Irish model ,

been erected to his memory .

In Kerry I was born ;In Genoa died forlornMy heart awaits at Rome,T h e Judgment Day to come,T i ll when, Without replevinMy bones lie at Glasnevin !


’

Arimraplg t’

ih h omiyr)'

ya l'

g r’

vmdflero I ‘a'

Za v

OiiréMa il Sill/17V 13Eéve p ep tpo'

y evog'

Eiipe‘

ro p eth ixinw ( MA axflera t ein e’

p’

Axa iog

O ifx t’

n' iXOi

’

IV xei'

xa warpig th evflépiov

which I have not time to versify, but the plain

prose of it i s this‘ Lascaris l ies here in a foreign grave ; but, O

stranger, he does not feel uncomfortable on thataccount—h e rather rejoices, yet is not without a

pang, as a Grec ian, that h is fatherland cannot

afford him an emancipated sod of the earth .

’

June 8.

T h e heat has been quite intolerable unti l thi

week , when a few teeming clouds floated hit

and took pity on the parched - up patrimony of

Peter. T hese refreshing showers happened

coincide with the Pope’s return to town from t

Apennine wilderness of Subiaco,and long may

reign over us ! Nothing can exceed the dism

which his conduct in abol ishing the fat s

'

of that abbot ’ has spread among the whole

of Clerical asp irants after loaves and fishes

such our City has been crammed ' full from timeimmemorial . T here is now an end to al l their

bright visions , e la Friar T uck

After dinner, ofheaven I dream,

But t/zat is fat pul lets and clouted cream


446 FINAL RELIC'S OF FATHER PROUT .

to be their spokesman on the occasion . On the

approach of the Papal escort these plebeians

blocked up'

th e passage , and their champion from

the top of a barrel began his oration , modestly

begging that he would oblige them by turn ing up

the present governor of Rome (Graz z elini),‘M a

said P ius . ‘ Percbe non lo vogliamo/

repl ied the Ciceronian ’ spokesman . T h e pontiff,

disgusted with the impudence of the whole pro

ceeding, motioned to the motley crowd to kneel

down , as he would g ive them his blessing. When

he saw them al l fairly on their marrow - bones , he

s ignalled his escort to move on at double - quick

trot,briefly bestowing his benison on the deluded

aggregate,’ and was soon lost in a Cloud of dust,

(nube out of th e reach of impertinence.

I n the ‘ Lutrin ’ of Boileau there is a scene

described at the close of the fifth canto which has

a few points of resemblance to the foregoing

actual ity : a Church dignitary, beset by some in

surgen t underl ings , gets rid of them and their

ringleader thus

Mais le prélat vers lui fait une marche adroite,T out-a- COiip toume agauche

,et d’un bras fortune

Bénit tout acoup le guerrier consternéSur ses genoux tremblans il tombe acet aspect,Et donne ala frayeur cc qu ’il doit au respectEt de

’ leur vain proj et les Chanoines punis,S

’

en retournent chez eux éperdus BENIs


My budge t of anecdotes about this j ourney to

Sub iaco is not exhausted . When P ius resolved

on going, he summoned the major - domo, and

bade h im present his estimate of the expenses of

such a trip .

T hat official reappeared with a detai led pro

gramme involving a tottle of dol lars . Send

me the post - master,’ said P ius . P rince Mass imo

(our old friend) was summoned , and a bargain

struck to do the bus iness for 40 0 , and no mistake.

T hus does our monarch respect the feel ings of

our tax - payers .

T h e grand annual process ion of Corpus Christi

has just taken place (J une) with a sp lendour and

devotional enthusiasm never before witnessed

in by - gone years . T h e most novel feature was ,however, the bril l ian t appearance of the noble

guard in their new steel helmets . T his new head

gear is after the fancy of P ius h imself, who is a

connoisseur in mil i tary points , and has produced

something superior to your ‘ A lbert hat . ’ I t is of

the old Roman model , and garnished beh ind with an

abundant cataract of horsehair. T h e previous

cocked hat and feathers gave these young nobles

a mere effeminate and ho l iday semb lance . T heir

present accoutrement is to them an admonition to


prepare , if necessary, for hard knocks on the head ,if they real ly mean to prove an efficient body

guard to the Champion of human progress in the

teeth of the old despots of Europe .

Lord Ward had an interview with our sove

reign a few days ago . P ius , wishing to be affable,but at a loss how to compl iment his eccentric

vis i tor, fel icitated his lordship on ‘ his easy circumstances

I n the ‘ Cotemporaneo of this week (J une 8)there is honourable mention of the death and

obsequ ies of Father Borghi,a Capuchin

,trans

lator of P indar ! Several thousand l iterat i as

sembled to bury the votary Ofthe cowl and themuse . T here occurs in that paper no allusion to

the funeral ceremony performed at S t. Agatha,but there is a pastoral letter from some I tal ian

B ishop in Lombardy,imploring alms for the

country that has produced nu Usserio (Archbishop

Usher) , un M oor ( T om) , et un O’

Connell (Dan )

a drol l triajuncta in uno.

One would think that we ough t to be by this

t ime tired offestas, orations , and publ ic rej oicingsbut we have no sooner hailed one great achieve

ment of P ius,than we are impel led to celebrate



persecutor. I n the evening the il lumination was

a truly wonderful affair, not a lane or alley thatwas not radian t ° but the J ews outshone us all .T heir Gbetto being an obscure hole, embosomed

in desolation , and almost under the bed of the

T iber, afforded a grand opportunity for a scien

tific exhibition of Chiaroscuro . Rembrandt and

Gherardo delle Notti were cast into the shade by

Hebrew ingenuity on this occasion . T h e effect

of an Old lantern on a pole draped in an old

blanket, and stuck up in a lone churchyard is

known to most country gentlemen . Equally

subl ime and terrific was the glare in the Ghetto .

A fish hung against the wal l of a dark room some

times grows awfu lly phosphorescent, and the race

of Abraham could well afford to shine out on thisoccasion

,immense sums having found their way

into the pockets of I srael for the purchase of old

tapestry to l ine the exterior of palaces and hang

from the balconies on the passage of the proces

s ion . T his trade has been enormous for the last

year,and there is not an old rag of embroidered

silk or arras to be had now in that once celebrated

emporium— a hint to Holywel l S treet.

Overbeck has j ust executed one of those

touching and graceful l ittle outl ine drawings , in


which his real genius i s consp icuous,and his

present effort wi l l soon be extensively known inEdinburgh . B ishop Gi l l ies , who is personal ly a

most amiable and kindly man , fu l l of zeal for

bettering the operative Classes , has founded, i t

appears,a sort of holy gui ld in modern A thens,

and prizes are given to those of the brotherhood

who excel i n ‘ thrift and Clean l iness . ” Overbeck

was asked by the patriotic prelate to furn ish the

des ign for a medal to be distributed on. these

occasions , and I have seen the resu lt. I t is the

holy dwel l ing of Nazareth,displaying a modest

but neat interior ; Mary is at her distaff on the

right, J oseph p lying his axe on th e left, and the

mysterious indwel ler among men is humb ly eu

gaged in sweeping the chips of woo d from the

earthen floor with s imple dignity. T h e general

effect is harmonious and beautifu l .

News for free - traders ! T here has been a

grand customs un ion,or zo l lverein

,estab l ished

in I taly,between the dominions of Lucca and

T uscany . T h e Grand Duke and the L i ttle One

have knocked down mutual ly their tax - gathering

sentry- boxes,and a mi llennium of unrestricted

commerce is at hand . What the previous trade

was I can ’t tel l ; but this step is real ly an important6 c; 2


one, as preparatory to the abol ition of the lottera point on which T uscany could not act W ithout

the concurrence of Lucca for obvious reasons .Once the lottery ls stigmatised in Central I taly

,it

must go down through the Whole peninsula—a

bless ing devoutly to be prayed for. T his paltry

penny gambl ing has done more harm than plague,

pestilence, or famine elsewhere.

June 2 8

We have been going too fast here, and much

difficulty is found in putting on the drag- Chain to

the pol itical wheel . A disagreeable col l is ion was

nearly experienced this week , and it required

al l the sagaci ty of Gizz i to keep clear of a crash

Fervidis

Evitata rotis .

T h e mob , under the guidance of Ciceroacch io,have begun to show Clear symptoms of unmanage

able wil fulness,and hence the mingled comm

and entreaty of the Pontiff in h is edict of the 2

instant,deprecating assemblies of the people

the future . T his mock ‘ Cicero ’ above 111

whom I knew for years as a cart - driver in the

town,of formidable temper, is a fellow very capable

of mischief,if once he is told the story of Wat

T yler or Massaniello,

‘ about which he knows

happily no more than about h is great namesake,



Gizz i was obliged to give a flat refusal yester

day ( June 2 7) to a distinguished committee who

had projected a monster concert in the theatre ofT orri d i Nonna ; he required a detailed pro

gramme of words, music , singers , etc . , before he

would allow any more such publ ic celebration of

the amnesty . T hey memorial ised H is Holiness ,who wrote the fol lowing billet to the Governor of

Rome last evening . I t is a nut which your readers

can crack for themselves .‘ A Monsig. Govern . Conosciuti i spartiti e

lette le parole—che si soppongano moderatecome moderato nel la gran massa e il lodevolis

simo popolo romano—permetta.Pro PAPA I X .

’

T h e mitre of Cork has not been placed by

propaganda on the brow of T heobald Mathew,

not because of any hostility fel t here to his views

on the use of alcohol—views and exertions which

Rome has long ago appreciated and been proud

of ; not for any doubt as to his eminent qualifica

tions of mind and heart such as would confer on ,not receive , honour from mere episcopal rank , but

s imply because he had not the vote of Cash el’s

metropol itan,Dr. S lattery , who happened to hold

the proxies of two absent b ishops (Foran of


Waterford, and F rench of K i lfenora) , whose presence at and cognisance of the Cork scrutiny

might have a ltered the resu lt . T h e Bishop of

Kerry did not vote at al l , and the oldest b ishop

and most j udic ious of the province,Dr. Ryan , of

L imerick , voted for Father Mathew. S ince the

rescript of 1 8 2 9 (a sort of I rish comm/dai) Rome

has never reversed the verd ict of an epz'

scofial

majority, however c lear was the parocfiial preference in the first bal lot urn . A s it happens

,i t i s

,

perhaps, wel l that the i l lustrious friar does not

Give up to Cork what wasmeantformankind,

since that d iocese has had the luck to obtain in a

new dignitary, Dr. De lany, a profound theologian ,a mi ld and kind ly man fu l l of common sense as wel l

asbrimfu l of zeal , and , in a qu iet way of his own ,as shrewdly humorous as Me Dr . De lany of Swift.

I went yesterday (Sunday, J une 2 7 ) to theChurch of Andrea del la Val le, to see the prepa

rations for the funeral rites of Mr. O’

Connell,

which were described as of a most costly character,the Pope h imse lf having contributed to the sub

scription . On entering I found about th irty work

men with large brushes engaged in rubb ing out

and covering with fresh paint the former memorial


of one who had original ly erected this wooden

structure, a catafalgue of sixty feet high , with astatue of Rel igion on the top . Being naturallycurious to know who was the important personage

who had enjoyed the maiden prerogative of the

arch itectural timber they produced,after having

laid so many years in a lumber - yard , to be thus

presented to the public of Rome,I found on

examining the defaced inscriptions that the ori

gimal occupant of the a lfalfa/que was a singularlyuncongenial person , the grandmother of Dyce

Sombre, the old Begum of Sombroo ,which had

been primari ly erected a dozen years ago in the

Church of St. Carlo. All the interest which at

taches itself to a pal impsest MS . was aroused on

this occasion , i t generally appearing that some

classic fragment is traceable on the parchment

before it becomes the recipient of a holy father,but in this instance the revuls ion of sentiment was

uncontrollable. Everyone knows who the Begumwas

,though her legacies to the Church were most

munificent ; the grandson , or son , or step - son (forshe was first a dancing- girl and l ived to be eighty)is known as a complete jackass ; bu t her own

atrocities in I ndia are current at Leadenhall

Crudelismater magis an fatuus puer illePI lle puer fatuus Crudelis tu quoque mater



then and there taken from the tail of the plough

to be dictator in town . T h e object of this gather

ing (at which the government winked) was to

afford the Man of the People an Opportunity of

haranguing his fellow plebeians in favour of the

J ews in the Ghetto . P ius wants to let them out,

but a very strong prejudice against the l iberal act

l ingers among the mob . Hence the Pope resorts

to the instrumental ity of the popular oracle ; andMs speech firo populo y ua

’z o to the tagrag and

bobtail of Rome was an oratorical curiosity which

T om S teele himself could not outshine . T h e

result was a general cheer for the children of

I srael . But the crowning absurdity was the uprising among the crowd ofthe deputy Americanconsul

,a M r. Clarke , who keeps a boarding- house

in the Corso, and who volunteered a long harangue

to show how trade would not suffer by letting the

jews loose on the city, forasmuch as in free and

enl ightened America the damage had arisen from

the non - existence of a Ghetto in New York ! and

concluded with a toast to the ‘ stars and stripes ,’

or as he called them ‘ Le stel le e le righe di

America,’ about which rig the mob being in a

state of blessed ignorance, kept a dignified s ilence

and went home .


On Monday came forth at last (J u ly) the long

expected edict organ is ing the National Guard , and

the who le town rang with shouts of jubi lee on both

banks of the T iber. Fourteen battal ions are to

be forthwith embodied , clothed, and armed , making

a force of men for the ci ty, nearly equal to

the whole standing army of our State . Once

arms in the hands of every Roman,adieu

,a long

adieu , to the hope of ever undoing what P ius has

done . T h e volunteers of old Dungannon are

now reproduced in th is capital ; and as Grattan

then gloried , there is not a man that washes his

firelock to ~ night that is not p ledged to the redemption of h is native land , and the sustainmen t of her

freedom .

’

T h is last b low has come l ike a thunder

clap on the Austrian ambassador, and he is fairly

at h is wits ’ end . H is latest card was to try and

persuade the correspondents ( there are four or

five) of the German gazettes to spread a report inEurope that the Pope is mad ; but those gentry,who are known here, not daring to go so far, have

ventured,I understand

,to h int that P ius is about

to RESIGN THE POPEDOM ,and we must be prepared

for some such nefarious rumour, originating in the

back kitchen of Count Lutzow. T h e new civic

mi l itia is to be supp l ied by government with the


accoutrements of sold iersh ip , each man paying

three pauls (eigh teenpence ) a month to the mil itary chest. I n the l ist of officers all classes are

represented : the banker T orlonia has the command

of a battal ion,so has Prince Corsini , whose men

are the trasteverin i brigade ; Prince P iombino

takes command of the Colonna l lS lOn the cele

brated archaeolog ist Campana is colonel of a dis

trict ; Duke Salviat i has the battal ion of the

Campo Marzo,in which last corps appears among

the captains the name of Angelo Brunetti , a very

significant appointment. T his gentleman is the

famous man of the people, quondam cart - driver,now known under the name of

who is destined, no doubt, to play a part yet in

Roman affairs .

Il est parti pour l’Aquitaine,Comme timbal ier ( charretierP) est pourtant,On le prend pour un Capitaine,Rien qu

’

avo ir sa mine hautaineE t son pourpoint d ’

or e’

clatant.

V. Hugo . La Finance du T imbalier. ’

C lashing his cymbals (cartwhip P) forth h e wentWith a proud and gallant bearing

,

Sure for a captain h e was meant,T o judge from his accoutrement,And th e gold- lace garb h e’s wearing.

Prout,

’

vol. 11. p . 1 8 2 .



of criminals as wel l as in the indictment . T h e new

code will bring a remedy to th is remnant of the

dark ages yet some think it has i ts advantages,as it is difficult for a crafty man to humbug orbamboozle in the precise idiom of a dead tongue,every term of which has a fixed meaning. Fancy

a Serj eant Buzfuz or Bilkins ‘ trying i t on ’ before

a learned tribunal in choice Latinity

July 1 8.

I try to keep myself cool , but cannot avoid

being somewhat bewildered by the doings of the

last few days . T h e narrative shall be as calm as

the subject will admit of.

Father Ventura’s funeral oration on the defunct

agitator was at the bottom of the affair. For two

success ive (dog) days, did the eloquent enthusiastsp iri t up an auditory of Romans to the

comprehens ion of their power and knowledge of

their position in the eyes of Europe . T h e old

rostrum of republ ican times never gave utterance

to such stirring appeals, and the thermometer of

popular self- rel iance rose to its height. A printed

report of the bipartite harangue was of course

prepared for publ ication , when Count Lutzow,

whose energy seems to grow with antagonistic

strength, strained every nerve, and obtained from


Gizz i and Graz z elini the suppress ion of the speech

and a temporary triumph .

A lull ensued for a week . A l l seemed quiet

and even ins ip id. T h e E ternal City ’ appeared

to have res igned itself to a long summer sz'

esm,

and everything was in keeping with the lovely

serenity of the weather. T h e unemployed part

of the popu lation had gone forth to the harvest

work , and the townspeop le flocked to the suburban

gardens . T h e l ively tambourine, i n antic ipation

of the October vintage, began to make itself

heard under the trel l is of the neighbouring vine

yards , and many a merry group of those in whom

it were ‘ folly to be wise ’ might be seen , the

young men wi th jacket on shou lder and rose

in hat under the luxuriant shade of the fiergola ,

the sun to rest, or tripping it with the

maidens in their kirtles short,and their s i lver

bodkins keeping time to the crispy musi c of the

mandol ine .

But Linden sawanother sight,When th e drum beat at dead ofnight.

One of the most fiendish plots ever concoctedagainst an unsuspecting popu lation came to l ight

four days ago.

Emboldened by his success in obtain ing from

our Governor Graz z elini the suppress ion of


Ventura’s oratory, the Austrian ambassador was

traced to the head - quarters of the J esuit order ;and on last Sunday sermons were preached fromthe pulpit of Gen ! sneering at the funeral oration

,

and disparaging the orator and his topic . ‘

( I)gesu i ti ardirano Domenica scorsa avventare comevespe ilpugnolo contra questo leone predicavano

contro l’elogio , ma copertamente secondo l’

ipocrito

sti lo .

’

T h e other pulpits took up the matter at

vespers ; Maz z ani at the Sapienza, the rectors

of St . Mark and the Magdalen, Abbe Fabiani,Father Boerio, Abbé Romanin i , blew the trumpet

of denunciat ion against the counter- blast of the

J esuits .Such was the posture of affairs last Sunday

evening,and a week pregnant with the fate of

Rome was ushered in on Monday. T h e I tal iano ’

came out a perfect blank sheet, tell ing i ts own tale

of what the censorship had done for it. Some

thing was brewing which could not bear publ icity.

A cit i zen had been robbed,and on going to

Governor Graz z elini for address the S ici l ian said‘ Eh gioia mia (my jewel) why come to me ?

have you not Cicero Wh ackio and his people ? ’

T his flew l ike wildfire about the town , and

Graz z elini became an object of popular susp icion .

I could hardly bel ieve him a traitor to freedom,



confusion on the evening of the festa during the

torchl ight and fireworks ; to occupy by the dis

affected portion ofthe regiments the three greatstreets that disembogue into the P iazza del Popolo

and at a g iven signal , under pretence of aggress ive

movements among the people , to make a general

onslaught, a sort of Peterloo . T h e fugitives were

to be met in the back streets by bloodhounds

armed with sti lettos, upwards of of which

cowardly weapons were subsequently seized in

the possess ion of the ringlea ders and finally, the

general resul t was to be ascribed to the saturnal ia

of a people not ripe for freedom , on whom the

Pope had fool ishly lavished the g ift of l iberty .

A reaction in the whole framework of govern

ment was looked for as the necessary consequence,and the conspirators considered such an object

cheaply purchased at the price of popular blood

shed .

One element of confusion rife here just now

they much calculated upon . T here is an inter‘

necine war declared between the hackney coach

men ofthe town and those of the country. T hese

belligerents have commenced tilting each other

with their carriage poles . J ousting of this kind is

qu ite common of late, and is as destructive in

its way as were the chariots, armed with scythes,of K ing Sennacherib .


I t can scarcely be bel ieved that such a revoltingscheme cou ld be entertained by the M inister of

Austria, had not the Janrow massacres in Gal ic ia

given us a warrant for the measure of Metternich ’s

pol icy, and no one here doubts of the connivanceand privacy of Count Lutzow in the whole affair .T hat crafty and unscrupu lous too l of Austria

,

Lambrusch ini, who has al l the daring without th e

wit and reck less jovial i ty of Card inal de Retz

(him who wielded thefrozzcz’e) had every knowledgeof the p lot, and i f captured , b i ds fair to decorate

with his head the sp ikes on th e Castle of S t.

Angelo .

I t was clear that where a gang of traitors

associate somebody wou ld p lay the I scariot or

T resham . Somehow or other the p lan became

known at the club of the Circolo Romano. Late

on T hursday night Prince Salirati (he is th e

youngest brother of Borghese), at the head of a

deputation from the c lub claimed admittance to

the Pope’s chamber on the Quirinal , and pre

sented P ius with a hastily drawn - up statement of

the contemp lated coup ; the evidence which they

adduced,and the detail s they were in possession

of, left no doubt on the pontiff’s mind of the

urgency of the cris is . He slept not that night,orders were given for the immediate arrest of the '

H H 2


ringleaders, summonses were issued to various

men of rank and influence to ral ly round the per

son ofthe sovere ign ; proclamat ions were prepared and issued at daybreak, call ing on the

citizens to arm at once, each man at the district

guard - house to which his battal ion belonged ; and

muskets were quickly brought out of the arsenal

of S t. Angelo for distribut ion among the people.Eager and burn ing with indignant loyalty

,the

workmen and citizens grouped themselves around

the residence of the cap tain in each of the fourteen

regions into which the city is d ivided . T h e whole

day was one of watch and ward . T here was no

time to think of uniforms , each man in his working

dress or every- day costume,had to be provided

with two belts, to one of which is attached a

cartouche box containing twen ty- four ball cart

ridges,to the other a sabre ; on his shoulder he

carries a firelock with bayonet,and this new

improvised soldiery looks as if i t real ly could and

would fight for P ius against any and every

aggressor . Numbers impl icated in the conspiracy

have been arrested , and are guarded by the people

from the fury of the mob .

Lambrusch ini, meantime, i s understood to be

lurking at Civi ta Vecch ia,ready to fly on failure

of ‘ the plot. T h e fol lowing placard is visible in

every conspicuous local ity



and they have in consequence just issued the

following placard

AL PoP0 Lo ROMANO .

Un grido generale h avvi da colpevolo di orri

bil i macch inazion i contro te, Popolo generoso,

alcuni individui,fra qual i udimmo dolorosamente

,

ma non meravigl iati , designarsi alcuni che appar

tengono per nostri ranghi poco instant i dopo neleggevamo i nomi su degl i affissi, che alcuni deinostri vol lero divel lere dai muri

,spintivi forsi da

imprudent i supe riori in quegl i affissi nominati,

che abusando della mil itare subordinazione,con

tale atto quanto inuti le e tardo altrettanto inconsiderato, misero a repentagl io anche la vita dei

loro , infel ici subalte rni , dalle leggi mi l itari cos

tre tti ad obedirli. Udimmo che tu,mossa a

sdegno per tal i cose, con la tua voce fulminavi

universale anatema contro noi tutti e l’infamia dipochi sopra uno intera famigl ia di tremila cittadinide l 0 Stato facevi pesare . Udimmo tutto cio e nefummo profondamente dolenti , e tanto piu in

quantoch e per la nostra qual ita di militari subal

tern i a noi non e premesso tampoco d ’

innalz are

la voc e al trono per essere l iberat i da quella tabe

che infetta il nostro corpo . Vorrai tu ascriverei

e colpa se per le passate comuni calamit ‘a fummo


costretti contro la nostra universale volonta di

mirare nei nostri ranghi tal genere di publ ica

esecraz ione . E qual co lpa poss iamo aver noi se

furono r1vest1ti di grandi subaltern i e superiori

costoro ? Qual colpa a noi se un odioso passato

l ’ indora d i decoraz ione che non immarginabile

ferita ob l igo po i parecch i d i noi a portare su l

petto ? Cosa avevamo da fare ? Pugna darl i ?

E ra un de l i tto . R icorrere al le peti z ion i col lettive .

La legge mil itare le vieta e le punisce coi ferri .

Noi fummo ridotti a suppl icare anonimi,esponendo

fatti e ragioni , ma fummo sempre, sempre inascol

tati . Cosa restavaci ? Chiedere un congredoi’

Presto s i dice ! il povero mi l i tare ch e dalla prima

sua e ta fece il soldato non ha di che vivere fuori

dei ranghi : e le famigl ie ? Vedi or tu quanto

fummo infel ic i e quanto pur troppo lo s iamotuttavia e 10 saremo finche costoro non veranno

abras i dai nostri ruol i—da quei ruol i su i qual isono pure scri tti quei tuoi buon i carabin ieri , che

nel 1 837 tu osservasti prima dis interessata con

solazione ed alte del le tue famigl ie afflitte dal l ’

orribi le flagello che decimo quest’ alma cap itale ;

ruol i su i qual i leggonsi i nomi d i mil le vi ttime

sacrificate al le s icurezza del le tue sostanze e del la

tua vita ; ruol i su i qual i leggonsi i nomi a

centinaja di amici del la patria , che portarono , fino


a poco tempo fa, il marchio dell’ odio e della

persecuzione degl i empi , che per tesaurizzare e

despotiz z are venderebbero lo Stato a S ufouosso

ruol i finalmente nei qual i tu , l’

augusto nostro

sovrano, lo Stato in tero , l’

umanita tutta, troverete

amici nove decimi e mezzo di nomi . Via adunque,

popolo generoso, ritorna il tuo affetto ad un

corpo,che se fu generalmente infel ice ben, lungi

fu dal l ’ essere universalmente perverso ; se fumisero, lo fu abastanz a, portando, senza potere

di scuoterlo, il carico della publ ica maledizione

meritata da pochi empii che forzatamente gl i

vennero associate. Unisci le tue alle nostre

preghiere perche i nostri ranghi vengano dal

provvidentissimo governo del l’ immortale P io I X .

purgati dalla indegna genia che tu s tesso designasti colpevole d’

immenso attento,e noi in ogni

tuo pericolo, O trionfo, apriremo o chiuderemo

la tua marcia vittoriosa a traverso le picche

nemiche o i patri trofei .‘

(S i distribuisce gratis .)I CARABIN IERI . ’

‘ T o THE ROMAN PEOPLE .

‘ A general outcry stigmat ises us as guilty of

horrible mach inations against you . O generous

people. Some individuals appear, whom we hear



them ? What could we do ? Poignard them ?

T hat would be wrong. Pet ition the Pope in a

round - robin ? Mil itary law forbids it, and punishes

i t with arrest. We were reduced to the expedient

of anonymous letters, but we never got anyone in

authority to notice us . What could we do Ask

for our oougo’ ? T hat is soon said ! T h e poor

soldier who has embraced that condition from his

youth has no means Ofl ivel ihood save in theranks— and then his family ' You can now see

how unfortunate we are,and are l ikely to continue

unti l we can get those men erased from the army

list in wh ich we are enrolled ; we are the good

carabineers,whom you have known in the year of

cholera devoting themselves to the assistance of

your fami l ies , afflicted by the terrible visitation

of the year 1 837 disinterestedly and nobly—an

army list on which are the names of hundreds,who were sacrificed in your service, protecting

your l ives and your property—an army l ist on

which is inscribed hundreds who brought upon

themselves the hatred of petty despots because

they stood by the people against the vil lains

who would se l l the patrimony of S t. Peter to

the devi l h imself for a consideration—an army

l ist in which you and our glorious sovereign will

ever find the truest and most devoted champions .

FINAL RELIC’

S OF FATHER PROUT . 47 5

Come then, no more nonsense, generous peop le ,restore your confidence to a body which i s unfortunate , was doubly so in not having the means of

shaking off the incubus that pressed it to the

earth , we mean the curse of such associates as

have disgraced our noble uniform . Unite our

demand with us that the glorious P ius may purge

our ranks of that scabby set of rotten sheep,which

you have very properly denounced as gui lty of the

most nefarious machinations ; and we , on our part,wi l l in every peri l of yours , i n every triumph of

yours,be ever found in the van of your glorious

onward march , through the hosti le p ikes of the

foemen, or mingled in the victorious jubi lee .

‘ T HE CARABINEERS .

’

I n the midst of the tumu l t the carriage of

Cardinal Gabrie l Ferretti, the new Secretary of

State , entered the Porta del Popolo , and while thecolossal statue of his i l lustrious cous in was being

erected in th e square , th e horses were taken from

his vehicle,and he was drawn in triumph to the

residence of the vacant functionary . Gizz i has the

gout,and it is h igh time that he shou ld give way

to an efficient and honest man . I must tel l you

that the great amnesty projected for the 1 7 th

(Saturday) has been adjourned to Sunday ( to- day)


by an order of P ius dated last week ; and the

Pontiff’s mot ive for this change was to enable the

artiz ans to work at their usual call ings on the

week - day, and celebrate the amnesty in a Chris

tian jubilee on the Lord ’s Day, not agreeing with

your Engl ish Pharisees that Sunday was desecrated by such a solemnity, for he noways recog

nises the J ewish Sabbath ordinance as app l icable

to the Christian festival .T hings

,however, turned out as I have re

corded . T h e Sunday has come, but with no other

celebration than the hearty thanksg iving of the

people for the peri l they have escaped . I honestly

hope the Order of J esu its will not be found en

gaged in so nefarious a bus iness . Yet a caricature

has been traced to the authorship of Pada Marchi ,representing aNational Guard of the new institu

tion of Rome, holding on h is bayonet a set of

priests, enfilading after the fashion of a set of larks

on a spi t ; and certainly this was a most indecorous

and injudicious exercise of the Padre ’s wit.


CHAPT ER IX .

PARIS NOTES UNDER THE SECOND EMPIRE .

T do D OOM ofRuo/zol, Yuuuauy 5 , 1 858 .

IN connection with the sad and unexpected death

of Mdl le . Rachel , which reached us by telegraphlast evening, I may mention that the CountessDel Gri l lo (R i stori) has purchased a res idence in

Paris, and comes out in ‘ Maria Stuarda ’ on

the 1 sth .

Mdl le . Rachel leaves two mi l l ions of francs

to her eldest boy . She died a staunch adherent

Ofthe Mosaic d ispensation , though oft and oftrumoured to have joined the prevalent form of

Christian ity in F rance . A rabb i from T ou lon

pres ided at her last hour. She is to be buried in

the H ebrew cemetery at Paris . T h e F igaro has

devoted twe lve columns to a kind of omuz’

um

goiAoI/um of anecdotes, letters, and occurrences


during her short but bri ll iant career and some of

these letters are odd enough . T here is one in

exceeding bad French from F . M . the Duc de

Wellington,who can ’t go to her ‘ bénéfice ,

’ as

he has to attend Parl iament, ‘ of which he is

a member. ’ T h e account of her singing‘ La

Marsei llaise ’ i s full of piquancy. Her vis it to

Madame Lafarge in prison , her various appear

ances i n London , her failure in America, her

triumphant progress through other Europeancapi tals , are all fully dwelt on . She is compu ted to

have received twelve mil l ion francs from the time

she first appeared at the T heatre F rancais, twenty

five years ago . More than a dozen sculptors

have ex ecuted her bust She was born at a small

inn in Switzerland , i n 1 8 2 0 , her father being a

sort of g ipsy and travell ing showman . She sang

for years in the cafés abou t the Palais Royal,and

the plate was handed round for stray sous . In

every sense she was one of the most remarkable

women of this century.

Concern ing Rachel , a story is told in the

Belgian papers abou t her recent visit to Egypt.I t appears a padre fel l in with her at Malta

,and

promised, if she became a convert, that he would

vouch for the Pope himself g iv ing her baptism in



of I srael . M . Fould has ordered the actress’s bust

for the T heatre Francais . F igaro condescends

to revive a remark , made at the burial of Kean,

on the impossibil ity of getting into Richmond

church full houses to the last which is twisted

into the service at: Pere la Chaise, when the gates

had to be barred against the crowd eager to

honour Rachel .

A fter Victor Hugo,Lamart ine, Moliere

,

Beranger, and other glories of France, i t is now

Rachel ’s turn to be overwhelmed with an out

burst offeculent B il l ingsgate from that odoriferousholy watering- pot, the Univers . ’ I ts aspersions

this morning on her talent, private character, and

al l that is sacred , now that she is in her recent

grave, are real ly of too disgusting a nature to be

tolerated in a civi l ised community. T h e whole

J ewish race comes in for part of the foul ribaldry,because the Paris I srael ites were justly proud of

this distingu ished daughter of J udah .

I f Rachel had not to be embalmed , she might

have been buried al ive . E leven hours after thetelegram reached Paris of her death she was sti ll

breathing. T h e operator who came to embalm first

felt the carotid artery, and was startled to find pulsa

FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT.

t ion ; the truth was known at once, and she on ly

died in the evening . A curious story is in the

Monde I l lustré .

’ She had the usual horror of

din ing th irteen at tab le a dinner given on the suc

cess of the Angelo ’ of V ictor H ugo was l iab le to

this obj ection . What has become ofthe thirteenHugo and h is wife, at J ersey ; Girard in and h is

wife - she is dead ; Prad ier is gone ; A lfred de

Musset gone ; Gerard de Nerval , su icide ; Count

d’

Orsay dead my s ister Rebecca, dead . I alonesurvive .

’

Referring to Rachel ’s funeral , Mahony cal led

her ‘ the most i llustrious of modern daughters of

I srael . ’

Everyone famil iar with Byron ’s l i fe at Ven ice

mus t remember the Armenian monks on an island

where his lordsh ip used to study, a vis itor of these

holy men . One of that branch of Christian ity,

named Moorat, very rich , as most of his persuasion

are in the East , founded a sp lendid ly - endowed

col lege and church at Paris for his co - rel igionists .

I t is in the Faubourg St. Germain , and few

Engl ish ever saw it ; but Barnabo, of the Propa

ganda,heard of it

,and forthwith set h is wits to work

to get it out of Paris and into Rome . T h e ArmenianI I 2


fathers have but a faint allegiance to the Latin

church , all their sympathies being with the eastern

part of Christendom ; indeed the great mass ofthat ri tual is in direct hosti l ity to the claims of

western supremacy. However, the Emperor ofthe F rench , having seen the will of Moorat,

specifying Paris for h is bequest, pointblank toldBarnabo that in Paris it should remain . On this

Barnabo wreaked his revenge on the Armenians

of Paris, and insisted on sending others to replace

them, a thing sooner ordered than done ; but the

leading monk, Father Aivasouski, has just gone

off in disgust at the whole affair, and is now a

Greek archbishop over al l Bessarabia, which is all

Barnabo took by his motion .

T h e funeral of the Queen of Oude took place

at two o ’clock to - day (January 2 7 , T h e

Russian embassy had been enquiring yesterday

about the hour of the ceremony, no doubt meaning

to attend, but better counsels came during the

n ight,and it was seen that such a step would be

most offensive . She s leeps in her foreign grave,after l ife’s fitful fever.Part of the cemetery of venerable Father La

Chaise is allotted to the disciples of the Prophet.and l am not aware that a wall of the requisite


486 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT.

aspirants for mitres are a very numerous class,a

new tone is already percept ible in clerical u tter

ances, and the road to promotion is instinctively

seen . T h e late six months’ imprisonment of the

fanat i c Auguste Martin , for his book on ‘ False

and T rue Cathol ics,’ with a fine of f. , has

taught folks that what may suit the atmosphere of

Southern I taly won ’t do here . He is already re

pudiated by the Univers,’ though he only said in

a book what that organ has been grinding day

by day ; that j ournal now says that he is an un

bel iever, and only wrote to bring Ultramontanism

into disrepute ; nothing can be more false, as

Martin is far more sincere and honest than the

newspaper scribe and pharisee.

A case is now before the law courts which is

worthy the attention of Samuel Oxon . A lady

gets married to a man , who said and proved by

false documents that he was the legi timate son of

a respectable father. Now he turns out to have

been a bastard . I n canon law errorpersone is an

inval idating, or as the Roman Cathol ic Church

calls it,a diriment impediment to such matrimony.

T h e F rench tribunal seems to take that view ofthe

case ; but no dec ision has yet been g iven .

I t wou ld be very much to the credit of the

FINAL RELI C'

S OF FATHER PROUT.

great Hope fami ly if they cou ld keep their fami ly

squabbles out of newspapers . Here we have

Madame Hope (Miss Rapp) again th is morning

figuring in a trade affair with an upholsterer . Any

one who passes by P i ccadi lly may admire the

truly art istic iron rai l ing of a particu lar mansion .

On inspection he wi l l find a globe with a zodiac .T his latter emblem simp ly means a Aoop ,

which

is the canting crest of that Dutch fami ly . T h e

hoop I’ z'

u'

g does not appear to advantage before the

publ i c .

T here are posi tively no roads , nor, of course,bridges , in modern Greece . A flourish of trumpets

is about to inaugurate one at Calch is over the

Euripus . T h e King and, of course, Queen , have

made an effort to get there, but cou ld not reach itei ther by land or sea . T hey are, however, bent

on going to Naup l ia (Napo l i d i Romania) , and you

wil l ask what for ? T o commemorate a great event

which took p lace twenty - five years ago, viz . , the

landing of O tho h imse lf in person , per Madagas

car,

’ Lyons captain . Anyone lounging into the

Greek Parl iament,last week, wou ld have seen the

reader of the house, Leontides, member for Patras ,

on h is legs,propos ing a grant of funds, not to pay

the bondholders,not to pave A thens, not to make


a furlong of road,but francs to spend in

fireworks on the anniversary of O tho’s landing !T h e brigands are in full force within gunshot of

the Hymettus, and pillaged M egara lately, but a

Russ ian paper gives a droll vers ion of that l ittle

inconvenience in so orthodox a territory ; it is the

T urks that cross over the border, not with blue

bonnets, but the Greek red fez, and personate

nat ive thieves . Swift has accounted for the indifferent class ofbishops sent to I reland in QueenAnne’s t ime by the fact of Hounslow Heath having

to be travelled over by the new nominee of each

vacant see ; and a highwayman , lying in wait,bagged the bishop ’s documents, and wen t over the

Channel to be inducted and get his mitre . T hough

not a spade has been at work yet on the P iraeus

Railway, a tariff of charges is already placarded,and for sixty- five Ae

’

um g ( sixpence) you fly (notyet) first class goods three drachmae a ton .

T hat important potentate the Prince of Monaco

has finally sold two villages to Sardin ia ; in fact,the two bourgades had gone bodily over to P ied

mont in 1 848, and refused allegiance to Goyon , the

fi rst king of that ilk . He loses Roccabrune and

M entone, but pockets from Villamarina, the Sar

dinian envoy here, as much as will pay for his

lodgings in Paris .



fur coat, which he left to J ohn Casa ( leaving hislute to Boccaccio) . T his remarkable garb was

”

to

be seen yesterday for auction in the publ i c mart

here , being the spoil of a commissariat agent in

the second I tal ian campaign of Bonaparte. T h e

fur is al l gone, and the leather alone survives,with a few fi l igree devices in s ilk , and some quaint

words in the unmistakable cal igraphy of Laura’s

lover. Most scholars are aware that the form of

letters traced by Petrarch ’s hand was pecul iar and

distinct in h is day from other hands , as on i t the

type cal led z

'

z‘

o lz’

es was modelled first in the Vene

tian printing- office of Aldus . T h e pillager of

this trophy has carefully kept the parchments and

seals of Casa, Bocatello , a Pope and several car

dinals, through whose custody it passed in succes

s ion . What would the Brit ish Museum offer for

a genuine robe de eAamOI/e of Geoffrey Chaucer,who was only a contemporary of the I tal ian poet,and has left us a record of meeting him at

Avignon

M r. Spurgeon in Paris, 1 85 8.

Dr. Spencer, Bishop OfMadras , under whosecustody the Marboeufchurch is , denies that heever sanctioned the occupation of his pulpit by

Orator Spurgeon . T h e only benefit that preacher


takes by the puff prel iminary in the Paris Patrie,

’

i s to get abused by the ‘ Univers ’ for smoking

cigars and quaffing porter, as if the c lergy of Spainand Austria did not smoke to a man

,while in

Mexico monks fol low funerals with a cigar in their

mouth . T h e Charivari ’ th inks that Cavour is a

very D iocletian of persecution . I s not ex com

munication the proper weapon of the c lergy, as

an elephant fights with h is trunk,a cuttle fish

with h i s black l iquid,and a polecat with his

odour ?

Tfie False H oz

’

u M uréets.

Great consternation exists at Augsbourg. T h e‘ Gazette ’

Ofthat town informs Europe of somevampire in human form , who, with the aid of

ch loroform , stupifies ladies at dusk in the streets ,and cuts Offthei r hair, without doing any furthermisch ief. Latterly this scalp - hunter has been at

h is pursu it i n the open dayl ight, and ladies go out

attended by armed lacqueys to obviate a rape of

their locks . Dark mystery shrouds the affair, and

the burgomeister is dumbfounded .

A tenaciou s memory might throw out a hint

as to the real perpetrator of these misdeeds .

Does no one remember a periwig maker of Mar

seil les,who

,fifteen years ago, waylaid the T ou lon


dil igence, and, armed to the teeth , took no money,but walked off with the hair of two ladies

,the

only passengers ? T his man , on being arrested,turned ou t to be mad his insanity, l ike that of

Solomon Causs, being brought on by public

neglect of his invention of a ‘ toothless comb ,’ an

art icle about as useful as a prongless fork. He

was placed in an asylum,from which he 1 5 known

to have escaped in 1 848 . He has not turned up

since.

T h e hair- cutting mania at Augsbourg, which

I noticed some weeks past,has not been sup

pressed , but rather assumed alarming proportions .

All classes of females are now the victims , and

none of them can identify the practitioners . 30 0

pol ice are on the watch in vain . Chloroform is

now undoubtedly in extensive use in that old

German town for th is nefarious object, which ap

pears utterly inexpl icable.

T fie Orsz’

uz’

A liempi on Me s e ofN apoleon I I I

y auuauy 1 4, 1 8 5 8 .

T hree I tal ians . late from Brussels, are the

persons guil ty, and our min ister at that court had

warned this Government of their departure for

the purpose . T h e rapidity with which the in


494 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT.

kil led and wounded were of the secret pol ice,who

always attend on the court movements . T h e

Empress was brave, and did not, as her sex is wont,go into any hysterics whatever. T here is but

one feel ing of indignant horror al l over the town

at this abominable misdeed and if Napoleon I I I .had gained a battle of Austerl itz in defence of

France, he could not have had so lucky a claim

on the enthus iasm of the population . T h e lower

classes of workmen look on him as exposing his

l ife in their cause , and his popularity can, from

this event, go on eueseeudo. Not a sou l i s allowed

to pass through the Rue Pelletier, where the scene

occurred,and where the blood is now congealed

by the frost of th is morning. T h e horse of the

team that was killed received a shot upwards in

the belly, and the ladies, in gett ing out to go into

the vestibule, had to dip their satin sl ippers in

the blood of the wounded and k i l led . All the

glass in the neighbourhood is smashed, and the'

pilasters of the Opera house riddled wi th grape

shot. Lord Cowley was at the T uileries last

night to bring the condolence of England,and

her joy at h is Majesty’s and consort’s escape

from treachery—a feel ing which wil l be prevalent

throughout Europe. T hese assassins have done

the most signal service to the Imperial dynasty,


and consol idated for ever i ts hold on the affectionsof France . You must have noticed h ow often I

mentioned the Emperor’

s unguarded exposure of

himself to danger in publ ic thoroughfares of late,

but it wou ld not do to ki l l h im adoue, as the regency

of Eugenie wou ld be most popular in the country.

I t was requ is ite to k i l l both , and as she is lovelyin her l ife, in death they were not to be d ivided .

T h e good star of J oseph ine was the safeguard of

the uncle, that of Eugenie is not the less tal ismanic

in the nephew ’s case .

T h e evening papers continue to gossip about

the I tal ians . I t was at N o . 1 0 Rue Mont- T habor

that the p lot was arranged . Gomez and De S i lva

came to take Ors in i to the theatre the two first

were noticed by the porter of the house to carrysomething each in a si lk handkerchief, which he

presumed to be opera - glasses . T h e four con

spirators were found each in possession of a

pecu l iar pattern Ofneck wrapper, which indicatedmutual intel l igence. An I rish doctor, O

’

Rourke ,

has publ ished a scientific paper in the journals, in

which some curious effects of the explos ion and trau

matic detai ls are described from minute analysis .

As a corollary of the attempt on Napoleon’

s

496 FINAL REL ICS OF FATHER PROUT .

l ife comes news from Genoa of an insurrection at

Ancona,which , if I had bel ieved , I would have

telegraphed last evening ; bu t as the news Ofthe Orsin i plot had reached T urin , i t is qu ite poss ible that a wild - duck took flight over the Alpsfor the nonce . Orsini had immense popularity in

the Legations . I t i s now stated that no I tal ian

refugee will be tolerated in Paris , unless he find

two respons ible securities among householders .

Unt i l the trial , which comes on during the first

fortnigh t in February, nothing more wil l be known

in authentic shape and to that intensely exciting

drama I must refer the curious for further details .

I t is s ingular but true , that at the'

moment of

the explosion the Paris Lodge of F reemasons were

holding a brotherly banquet within’

twenty yards

of the theatre,and Rose Croix was on h is legs ,

under presidency of Murat, giving the toas t of

T h e Emperor ,’ and dwell ing on the dismal pros

pects that would ensue for France if anything

should happen to him,when the assembly was

startled by the sudden uproar in the neighbour

hood . Yesterday Napoleon I I I . , according to

this morning’s Moniteur,

’ received at the T ui leries

an address from the Grand Orient, to which he

warmly responded .



she being will ing to keep her seat. T h e ex .

plos ive compound is known to be fulminating

powder’

ofmercury, ‘

and that each gargousse wascrammed with all manner of destruct ive elements

,

i s proved by a fist ful l of old nails , needles , and

glass spl inters, which the surgeon at an hospital

extracted from a poor girl belong ing to Galignani’

s

printing- office ; she is in a precarious way. About

twenty persons have been seized ; bu t i t would

seem that a knot of I tal ians concocted the whole-a native of Modena, a Florentine, a Roman,and a Corsican being now mentioned . I n Rue

Mont- T habor one refugee was taken with money in

bank- notes , as much as and part sovereigns.

Who is ‘ Conte Orsini ,’ whose servant betrayed

him at an apothecary’s shop, where he got his

wounds dressed , no one can tel l . I f I taly cannot

act on Europe in its national character,in its indi

vidual elements it has shown forcible French

influence : a ruthless M edic i brought about themassacre of St. Bartholomew ; a Maz arini ruled

with iron hand ; a Galigai (des Ursins) intrigued ;a Riquetti (M irabeau) upset the throne ; a

Buonaparte set it up again ; a Pozzo di Borgo

helped to change the dynasty ; a Fiesch i was

nearly as successful ; and here we have P ierri

within an ace Ofconvu lsing France. I taly has


taken charge of mankind’

s consc iences to a large

extent, and at the T re nt Assembly, the I tal ian votes

being 30 0 to 80 , they dictated the creed of half

Europe . Mere organ - grinding and barometer

making are far from being their on ly resources.and Byron quotes with endorsement Alfieri’s

boast that, for good or i l l , the ‘ plant man grows

luxuriantly in I taly .

’

And this rem inds me of Petrarch ’s fur coat,which comes to the hammer next T uesday, in

Rue Ross in i . T hat it is the genu ine paletot of

the il lustrious man is general ly thought here, and

as to the verses written in his wel l - known hand,i t so happens that the Encyclopédie ,

’ publ ished

near a hundred years ago , alludes to h is habit of

writing on the nearest avai lab le surface , specifying

the cuff of h is leather tunic, the exis tence of which

is glanced at inc idental ly.

News from Genoa comes of a s tatue to Chris ‘

toph er Columbus about being erected in the

centre of that old exchange where the commerce

of al l Europe used to be regulated when the great

sailor gave a new world to Cas ti l le and Leon , a

land which another I tal ian Cardinal Alberon i

governed i n after days .

I noticed the indignation felt at another scribex K 2

50 0 FINAL RELI C’S OF FATHER PROUT.

i n that paper attribut ing to Victor Hugo the

guilt of th is knot of infuriated I tal ians . T h e

Débats ’ this morning crushes this villany withall the weight of i ts wrath , and taunts these co

rel igionists of Ravaillac and La L igue with the

ant i - national drift of all their abominable teaching,

denouncing their efforts to reduce France to anU ltramon tane depth of degradation only seen in

sou thern I taly, and point ing ou t how every atro

c 1ty 1n F rench history crept from over the Alps .Boileau is quoted

Mais enfin je ne puis, sans horreur et sans peine,Voir le T ibre agrands flots se mélerala Seine,E t trainer dans Paris ses moines, ses farceurs,Sa lang ue, ses poisons, ses crimes, et ses moeurs .

I n point of fact, al l the other contemporaries of

Bossuet , not to mention Port Royal , had a strong

antipathy to being dragged at the tai l of I taly.

Racine,Pascal

,De Sevigne, and the leading minds

of that period , were unanimous on that point ,which was cal led Jansenism , then and s ince .

I come from a rather stormy meeting of the

Engl ish residents at Paris , held in the great saloon

of M eurice, which is nearly as large as Free

masons ’ T avern,and was fi l led to inconvenience

by the assembled Britons , anxious to congratulate


50 2 FI IVAL RELICS OF FATHER PROUT.

been appeased , the gathering dispersed wi th cheers

for Napoleon I I I .

All the interest of the assassins ’ plot is now

centred in Count Orsini, who appears as the Guy

Faux of the conspiracy. His . opinions on pol i ti

cal matters have never been a secret, and when

delegated by the Roman triumvirs to Ancona to

suppress assassination , he went so vigorously to

work that the stiletto disappeared in the Legat ions .

His capture by the Austrians, and his escape from

the c itadel of Mantua have been read in pamphlets ,lectures

,and the Daily News . ’ I t was of late his

stock in trade. He looked on Mazzini as too backward and hesitat ing a tactician to suit his views and

i t may be rel ied on that Orsin i never had any inter

course wi th the Genoese ringleader . I n personal

appearance he was far more formidable than that

sallow,sublime sort ofWerter~faced man ,

his aspect betraying energy and vio lence . As to

De S i lva, the Venetian, whose real name is Rudio,he l ived here in fashionable style in the Rue des

Pyramides, and sported a curricle . One of the

gang l ived in Rue Pelletier, three others in Rue

Montmartre, and they visi ted each other daily.

Since J anuary 8 , when they arrived from London,


the pol ice had an eye on them all,and it i s most

preposterous to attribute to England any hand in

the act which was concocted in the heart of Paris,

where Ors in i has been these three weeks,l iving

Oppos ite the T reasury, next the greatest thorough

fare in town . Yet here we have Henry Cauvin

cal l ing out in the Constitutionnel,

’ for a change

in the hosp itable and free laws OfEngland . He

might as wel l bark at the moon . And the

Univers ,’ whose doc trines are identical with the

fanat ic ism of Ravaillac, ins ists on the refugeesbeing sent to America forthwith , indu lging in a

scurri lous and ignob le tirade against V i ctor Hugo,

whom it cal ls the T yrtaeus of gal ley—s laves ,’ with

other p ious ejacu lations .

Such is the impress ion made in P iedmont by

the bold defence of Ors in i by J u les Favre, that a

go ld medal is about to be struck in h is honour.

T h e pol it ical testament of the condemned man

is hawked about Lombardy and the Legations ,where it is making an immense sensation . T h e

appeal,which is going on wh ile

’

I write, 15 , of

course,a hopeless effort, and wil l on ly give old

Dupin an opportun ity for imperial rhetoric. Ishal l have probab ly to telegraph to -morrow that

al l i s over .


Engl ish lawyers cannot be expected to guesson what conceivable grounds Orsin i ’s counsel

could appeal , bu t an uncertified bankrupt in F rance

is much more seriously compromised in his civi l

and social rights than he is by British jurisprudence ; and it so happened that a fash ionable

tailor,basking in the sun of imperial patronage,

was on the jury, and his presence was supposed

to inval idate the strict legal ity of the trial . Old

Dupin overruled the objection . T h e execution

was expected th is morning.

A letter from F lorence is indignant at the

shoemaker P ierri being described as a native of

that fair c ity, whose inhabitants are proverbial for

ameni ty and gentleness . T h e man is from Lucca,which town furnishes vagrants to al l Europe

,and

is blessed with a basso - rel ievo in t imber, to which

K ing John Lackland had great devotion,swear

ing thereon,

‘ By God ’s face of Lucca on all

occasions .

Tne Gueai N apoleon D espate/zes.

I have again glanced over the first volume of

the great Napoleon Despatches , just out, and I

p ick therefrom what is a fair specimen of th e youth

ful hero’s style



record of a Buonaparte is the account of that ex

ploit by one of the family who assisted therein it

i s on the shelves ofthe British Museum . S acco

dz’

ROIna dz’

Gz'

aeomo B uonapaufe, in 8vo. , 1 5 1 2 .

I have had it in hand .

TIze B ealn ofMe Queen ofOude.

T his afternoon (January 2 7 , 1 85 8) at half- pastone , the Queen (mother) of Oude , who came herefrom London last T hursday with a large retinue ,died at the Hotel Lafitte , not of any disease , bu t

bl ighted hopes , figurat ively cal led a broken heart.

I was wrong in attribu ting good sense to the

attachés o f the Russian embassy in Paris, when I

stated that the poor old Queen ofOude was allowed

to go to her grave without any pol itical capitalbeing made out of her in that quarter. I t now

turns out that when the mourners sat down on the

funeral carpets around the coffin at Pere la Chaise ,the circle was composed of her relat ive s, and as a

matter of course the members of the Ottoman

embassy to honour a sister Mahommedan but i t

must puzzle people to know on what pretext, save

an insidious one , did two secretaries of the Mus

covite legat ion in this city present themselves and

take their seats , squatting among those orientals .


I s th is to be to ld in Oude and to what purpose

T h e French Government here very properly con

sulted Lord Cowley as to the funeral of th is British

subject . H is lordsh ip telegraphed to h is Govern

ment, and the removal of the body to I ndia was

objected to as qu ite unsu itable in the present

cris is . Hence the choice of its present resting

p lace. As F rance is now a smal l Mahommedan

power, by right of i ts A lgerine territory, i t has had

the foresight and l iberal ity to erec t at public cost

a min iature mosque of graceful architecture on a

hillock overlooking the Paris cemetery, destined

to any F rench subj ect of that creed , and this on ly

three years ago . T h e lady of whom I am speaking

is the firs t tenant of a tomb i n th is vicin ity . T h e

name of A l lah was invoked publ icly for the firs t

time in Paris , and the imaum or muft i gave utter

ance from the smal l minaret. T h e I tal ian general ,Orgoni , was of course, from his I ndian connection ,a mourner on the occas ion but I again ask whatbusiness had Russia in this affair

I am sorry for the credit of Engl ish scholarshipthat the ‘ Royal Society of L i terature ,

’ in T ra

falgar Square, shou ld be hau led up by F renchcritics but a paper was recently read there aboutd iscoveries in As ia M inor, and about Queen


Artemis ia, the inconsolable widow of Mausolus,

i n which that lady is stated to have fought

gallantly in her galley at the battle of Salamis.Now she was not born ti ll 1 35 years after thatnaval engagement

,though i t is perfectly true that

Herodotus talks Ofa namesake as manoeuvringher ship among the Pers ian armada . T h e Ath e

naeum,

’ which gave the paper, should have noticed

the mistake, and not left that to M . de Saulcy, of

the I nstitu t here.

T h e Univers comes out wi th a strong article

i n favour of an invasion of M exico by Spain.

T h e g iant grasp of J onathan is abou t to clutch

that fertile but fool ish country, and the prospects

of U ltramontanism look very dismal in that

eventual ity. Hence the desire to extend the

c ivil is ing and enl igh tened influence of Madridover its old colony ; but people know not which

to laugh at or abhor most in the doctrines of

the Univers,’ ‘ a cl ique , on whose altar stands

enthroned, not the Lamb of God , but the T iger

of the I nquisition ,’ says Alphonse Karr.

A stupid rumour is going the round of theBelg ian papers that Count Morny is about to purchase

the evening broadsheet Courrier de Paris . ’ What



epistle to mm elzerKolo, a functionary in the de

partment du H aul R/u'

n,puffing the Government

candidate, Keller, who stands against the popular

favourite, Migeon ; he states that h is man is the

Emperor’s own ch osenc

one , and that al l good

takes its origin from him , the initiative of al l that’s

bad belonging to all else— a kind of imperial

manicheism perfectly ludicrous in an appeal to

freedom of election . Keller, in this View of the

case ispredeslz'

ned, and free -will extinct . He will

probably find enough of lz'

OeI'uIn aIfOz'

lIfiuIn left to

place M igeon again at the head of the poll . T h e

l etter is so flagrant, that word is passed not to re

produce i t in the Paris papers .

Another document, s igned ‘ Espinasse,’ bears

the stamp of s imilar wisdom . I t is a manifesto

against the use of slang in dramati c works , and

every theatrical manager has bee n served with acopy. By th is new edict Paul Bedford would be

sent to the stone jug for his song of N ix my

dolly,pals, fake away !

’ A definit ion of zonal

constitutes slang is a desideratum . Parl iament

has a slang of i ts own ; so has the stock ex

change,the turf, the conventicle, the printing

office , and the newspaper. Veuillot, in his

U nivers,

’ talks devout slang, and calls his foes

des navels so constantly that the canauds in that


organ are known as oanands aux naoets. Fancy a

J ack T ar on any stage reduced to compress h is

notions in words sanctioned by the D z

’

elz’

onnaz

’

ue

de l’

Aeade‘In z'

e.

T h e F rench Academy has to e lect a successor

to A lfred de Musset next week . T here are two

factions in that assembly of forty wits . T here is

the l i terary and genu ine witty set who want to

elect J u les Sandeau, romance writer and general

scholar, half of whose name is justly worn by a

lady but ladies are not el igible, so they pay her

the comp l iment by deputy. T h e other set are

bent on making the Academy a sort of aristocratic

club . T his is cal led the ducal faction s ince the

cho ice of the Due de Noailles, who is not exactly

the cal ibre of intel lect warranting a seat among

the forty, but he is nephew to Madame de

Maintenon,and his name is on the title -page of a

book about Scarron’

s widow . Now this set want

to elect as successor to a distinguished poet a

certain Legitimist, Count de Marcel lus , who has

printed a few things , but, happening to be

ambassador in the Levant, he had the luck to

get hold of the Venus de M i lo, on its discovery

in the Greek Archipelago, and his name is’

thus

known in classic c irc les . T h e betting is on J ules


Sandeau, if the wits don’ t spl it their votes on

another writer.

A paper has come under my notice affording

details of the system by which the war navy of

France is suppl ied with men . I t is not exactly our

Old pressgang method, but somewhat milder, yet

equally cogent . Every boy, or cook , or hangeron of a boat, ship, barge, or other floating tene

ment on rivers , canals, or fishing grounds, is on the

register of a local government inspector, under the

category of ‘ seamen ,’ and at eighteen , if decided

on ‘ seafaring,

’

i s sent on board some craft to be

taught elementary matters . T here are no less

than on the books, besides dock

yard labourers of al l sorts , exclus ive of galley

slaves . F ive thousand men are called out each

year for government service afloat, as regularly as

the land army conscript ion and each man at fifty

years of age, if he can prove that he has served

twenty - five ei ther in the imperial navy or in

merchant sh ips—not coasters — is entitled to go

ashore on a pens ion , but sti ll l iable to be called

out on an emergency . I t is obvious that ‘

Organi

sat ion ’ such as this is pecul iarly French , and

utterly at variance with the freedom and self

rel iance by which our marit ime enterprise all over

the world has attained its giant predominance .



previous management badly chosen in a distant

suburb, but the new d irectors mean to place it on

the margin of the Garonne, accessible to theocean and river shipp ing.

Punctually to time the cardinal stepped forth,

and was ushered into a spac ious compartmen t ofthe train . T rumpets struck up , and the convoy

moved on to the not inappropriate air of Partant

pour la Syrie ,’ as from the terminus on the Op

posite coast to which we were bound the fi rs t

F rench crusaders sailed for the Holy Land . T h e

environs of Bordeaux to the east are not remark

able for fertil ity,but shortly the train quitting

Gascony shot across th e stream , and for the

rest of the day kept to the northern bank unin

terruptedly . We now entered on a h ighly- cu lti

vated territory, and passed the thriving towns of

Langon , Lareole, and Marmande, saluted along

the l ine by acclamations, the discharge of pigmycannon

,wi th various musical and vocal accompani

ments at every hal t. Farther on, at T onnins, the

fat soil was seen prepared for the coming crop of

that rank ( and fi le) weed destined to supply thecorporeal wants of F rench warriors, le laa

caporal. Entering the department of the Lot- e tGaronne

,the whole atmosphere was embalmed

with the myriads of prune - trees , i n fu l l blossom,


nor is this beautifu l efflorescence ‘

unprofitably

gay,’ as no less than seven mi llion francs are the

annual produce of the dried fru it, which now wil l

be sti l l more p lentifu l ly diffused throughout

Europe and the Levant. No doubt the planters

do not grudge M . Emi le Péreire his ‘ p lum,

’ or

several p lums .

C lear sunshine had early favoured our pro

gress , and near noon a blue southern sky canopied

the joyfu l caravan . Lunch was in the programme

fixed for our arrival with in the wal ls of Agen,and

not too soon did that p icturesque town appear

seated on its amphitheatre of sloping hills . A

great alacrity was shown in the performance of

this interlude, the abundance and excellence of the

viands being beyond al l praise . Of course the

inevitable periwig- maker and poet, J asmin , was

forthcoming,and great apprehens ion had been

felt lest an outpouring of his muse might delay

the uncorking of the A i . Happ ily, the barber

bard spared the hungry auditory,who deemed

pate de foie and langue a la glace more ad hoc

than Languedocian rhymes . T h e worthy cardinal

d id justice to the collation ,'

and your corre

spondent, being the only son of perfidious Albion

present,had a good p lace allotted him , and cou ld

witness h is deal ing with a lobster mayonnaise (or1. L 2


cardinal de mer, as J . J an in dubs those crustacea),in such a way as to do justice to Lenten fare .

From Agen, where, as well as at Montauban ,we were reinforced by al l the mayors and prefects of the adjacen t districts, we now kept gl idingalong the edge of the lateral canal , a work of

Louis Phil ippe, who sank mill ions in an under

taking now ent irely superseded by the railway.

I n point of’

fact, i t is worse than useless, as asource of miasmata in hot seasons, and the sooner

th is water channel gives way to the fire - king the

better—Vulcan , not as in the Homeric contest,here getting the victory over his antagonist , the

Simoi’

s . T h e aspect of the populat ion grew more

s trikingly wild and meridional as we proceed,a

sort of Arab physiognomy occasionally discernible,and much in the building as wel l as accoutrements

of this race of people,particularly abou t Castel

Sarrazin . bringing back a host of Moorish

memories . A t length T oulouse hove in sight,its great landmark being ‘ a tal l bully ’ i n the form

of an obel isk on a hill , meant to glorify Soult’

s

victory over Well ington , i n the same fashion

that another column commemorates at Boulogne

an invasion of England , which only did not takeplace, a hit being apparently as good as a miss

in both cases . A dense population welcomed with



a benevolent eye, gave effect to his utterance .

T hese mingl ings of church dignitaries with in

dustrial undertakings are pecul iar to the Latinised

nations , where the pontifex in pagan t imes was

professionally mixed up with thepon ls eI‘

enaussees ;

hence M ilton, when Satan builds a bridge across

Chaos, cal l s i t ‘ a work pontifical,’ as a Round

head ’s hatred of prelacy could not forego the sar

casm ; but with us in England prelates confinethemselves to their own sphere of action

,and

Bangor had no benison to bestow on lofty M enai ,nor was the voice of Blomfield heard in the

depths of the London T unnel .

Meant ime your correspondent rambled through

the old capital of Languedoc, exploring its dul l

old - fashioned streets, which were striving to look

l ively for the occas ion . I n many respects it re

sembles Saragossa or Valladol id, and the costumes

of the ladies, as well as their features , have a

Spanish appearance . Every casement had its fairor brunette occupants, and haste thee up , Xariffa,

to gaze with al l the town seemed to be the pre

valent summons in every household . T h e pro

cession moved on towards the famous locale of

the J eux F loraux , the haunt of Clemence Isaure

and every olden troubadour, the far- famed

Capitol .

FINAL RELIC'

S OF FATHER PROUT . 5 1 9

Lost among the crowd of offic ial and decorated

notab i l i t ies , your correspondent stood at the foot

of the great marb le staircase, on the architrave of

wh ich he looked up and saw inscribed in letters

of goldE scal ier des I llustres

whereupon ,‘ smiting h is pensive bosom

,

’ he felt

h is unworth iness to mount so magniloquent a

sanctuary. Up , however, he went, in obedience

to duty, and found the immense hal l profusely

decorated , and the banquet spread for 40 0 i llus

trions and hungry guests , M . Emi le Péreire i n

the chair . Dinner performed , the first toast was‘ T o the Emperor of the F rench ! ’ and, to the

great dismay of the head - quarters of Legitimacy,

i t cal led forth thunders of app lause. M . West,prefect of the Haute Garonne, repl ied . Next was

given Prosperity to the new l ine,’ and the poet

J asmin was al lowed to recite his patois cantate,Lo Camin de F erro but the toast of the even

ing was confided to the cardinal , and when ,address ing an immense concourse of represent

atives from the Paris journals and those of the

departments , he gave out in manly tones thetal ismanic word

,La Presse de F rance,

’ the roof

rang with the applause of a sympathis ing auditory.

Under th e impression of that last sentiment, I

5 2 0 FINAL RELICS OF FA THER PROUT.

write these hurried l ines descript ive of the openingof th e Via Emil ia. ’

A Doctor Bonaccioli having died at Rome in

possess ion of a round mill ion of dollars , was

worked upon in his agony to make his own soul

sole and residuary legatee thereof, th e object of

which it is needless to specify ; for three years

h is brother has been baffled by various tribunals,

and can ’ t recover a halfpenny of the family pro

perty, though proof abundant of the testator’s in

capacity to make a rational will was and is forth

coming. Floxeal M oxlfnaz'

n

For the last forty years , in the quiet old

tumble- down city of Versail les,inhabited by

decayed Legit imist famil ies , a lady dressed in the

garb of a semi-monastic style was known to pursue

the even tenour of her way, received into the

local circles of aristocracy, and in receipt from a

nob le family of francs annuity, as ex—abbess

of a suppressed monastery. At her death this

week she turns ou t to be a man . T h e real

abbess must have died in emigration , and a

swindler of the rougher sex , gett ing her papers, has

personated her for near half a century. T h e

name of the deceased androgyne was Comtesse de



I was awoke th is morning by a huge barrel

organ grinding a tune qu ite new in Paris,from

the Beggar ’s Opera,’ When the heart of a man

is oppressed with care,’

&c . , &C. Free trade in

song is unobj ectionable.

I went to hear the trial of old Dupin for em

be z z lement and captation of his dead wife’s pro

perty, but i t was postponed . T h e case is not as I

orig inally was informed, but i t amounts to this,that being entitled only to her l ife interest

(usufuuel) in the lady’s woods and forests , he cut

down timber and otherwise dilap idated the pro

perty illegally and fraudulently . But he is not at

all to be classed with Chancel lor Bacon , I apprehend

T h e wisest, deepest, meanest ofmankind.

Immense hi larity was caused in the T urin Par

liament by the enquiry into an election , at which

the clerical candidate was a S ignor Marrone . One

curate had told h is very simple parishioners to

remember the name well, and by way of artificial

memory he bid them vote for the big chestnut, ’

which is the equivalent of the name. On opening

the bal lot- box a number of votes were found, in

FINAL RELIC‘

S OF FATHER PROUT . 5 2 3

accordance to the c lergy’s order,for Signor

Guossa Caslagna a gross error,as it proved .

Lola Montes, on h er arrival in th is scene of her

juveni le eccentric ities , has done a wise thing for

once . She has eschewed notoriety,and gone over

to the qu iet Faubourg St . Germain , where , as i f

i n merry mood sti l l , she has selected La rue des

Saints - Peres as the local ity to fix her tent . She

may find a final welcome from the ho ly fathers .

An ingenious and painstaking map - maker,

rival of Wyld at Charing Cross, a S ignor Rosa,has just executed a marvel lous trigonometrical

survey of the whole basin of the T iber, from its

mouth at Ostia to its cradle near the T emple of

Clitumnus. I t is about to be engraved ; andwhat makes it interesting is that the getter - up of

th is chart is a l ineal descendant of Salvator Rosa .

A recent statistical return from the depart

ments,ordered by the H ome - Office , g ives

as the aggregate number of the houses in the

country which can be cal led Chateaux . Of these

mansions or manors , 31 1 have been erected in

the twelfth and th irteenth centuries ; 89 4 i n

the fou rteenth and fifteenth ; i n the six


teenth and the remainder in more modern t imes .

T here are no less than of these feudal

edifices which stil l boast of drawbridge, moat,crenellated turrets, and wet or dry ditch .

I n the Emperor’s speech from the throne hetakes credi t for what he has done in reclaiming

the waste lands of Gascony, between Bordeaux

and Bayonne. I t is only S ix months ago that he

turned his energ ies to that work , on the occasion

of going so often to Biarritz and now, what with

roads , drainage, and every appl iance of Scotch

husbandry, the whole surface of the soi l i s becom

ing available, and the value of property so much

enhanced , that the gentry and peasantry hai l in

h im the wielder of a magic cornucopia, the T rip

tolemus of Les Landes, which folks could onlyget over on sti l ts heretofore .

T h e painter of sea - pieces, Gudin , has recovered

tod ay, o n process against a certain colourman ,called O ttoz , a sum of francs , for injury

done the artist, in sell ing him canvasses prepared

with white of z inc, the result of which was that

several onefs- d’

oeuoue of marine scenery were

fall ing to decay, and the t ints all absorbed or

faded . T h e details are only of interest to the

profess ion.


5 2 6 FINAL RELI CS OF FATHER PROUT.

with the duties of presiding at the Senate that he

could not occupy a box at the revival of Rossin i ’s

Bruschino the other nigh t, and was the loudest in

applause.

Madame de Flemmern, an old lady (says the

Z urich bl ind for years past, and who

had gone through a painful Operation without

benefit,was fondl ing a grandchild, two years old,

at the door of her cottage ; the baby gave her a

violent thump in the eye, and she at once re

covered perfect visual power.

FINAL RELIC’S OF FATHER PROUT. 5 2 7

POET ICAL EPISTLE FROM FATHER PROUT To Boz .

Genoa : December 1 4, 1 837 .

ARHYME a rhymeFrom a distant cl ime

From th e Gulf ofth e GenoeseO

’

er th e rugged scalpsOfth e Ju lian Alps,

Dear Boz , I send you these,To light th e I/Vz

’

eé

Your candle stickHolds up , or, sh ould you list,T o usher inT h e yarn you spin

Concerning O liver Twist.

I I .

Immense applauseYou ’ve gained, 0 B0 2

Through Continental EuropeYou ’ve made Pickwick(Ecumenick

Offame you have a sure hopeFor here your booksAre thought, gadz ooks lAgreaterMore than anyT hat have is sued yet,Hot press

’

d orwet,From th e types ofGalignani.


But neither whenYou sport your pen,

O potent mirth - compellerWinning our heartsIn monthly parts,’

Can Pickwick or SamWellerCause us to weepWith patho s deep

,

Or shake with laugh spasmodical ,As when you drainYour copious ve in

For Bentley’s periodical .

Folks all enjoyYour Parish Boy,’

So tr uly you depict h imBut I

,alack

While thus you trackYour English poor- laws victim

,

T hink ofth e poorOn t’other shore

Poor wh o, unheeded, perish,By squires despoiled,By patriots ’ gul led

,

I mean th e starving Irish .

V.

Yet there’s no dearthOfIrish mirth,

Which, to a mind offeeling,

Seemeth to beT h e H e lot’s gleeBefore th e Spartan reel ing



Fudge cries Squire T hornhill,Much to th e wonder ofyoung greenh om Moses .

Such word ofscorn il lMatches th e Wisdom Fair ’ thy whim proposes

T o hold on Cornhill .

With Fudge, or Blarney, or th e T hames on FireT reat not thy buyerBut proffer good materialA genuine Cereal,

Value for twelvepence, and not dear at twenty.

Such wit replenishes th y Horn ofPlenty

Norwit alone dispense,But sense

And with th y sparkling XerezLet us have Ceres .

Ofloaf thou hast no lack,Nor set, l ike Sh akspeare

’

s zany, forth,With lots ofsack,

Ofbread one pennyworth.

Sprightly, and yet sagacious,Funny

, yet farinaceous,Dashing

,and yet methodical

So may th y periodical,On this auspicious morn,

Exalt its horn ,T hron

’

d on th e H ill ofCom


V.

Ofaught that smacks ofsect, surpl ice, or synod,Be thy grain winnow

’

d

Nor deign to win one laughWith empty chaff.

Shun aught o’er which dullard or bigot gloatsNor seek our siller

With meal from T itus Oate sOr flour ofJoseph M iller.

VI .

T here’s corn in Egypt still(Pilgrim from Cairo to Cornhill l),Give each his fill .But

,all comers among

T reat best th e youngFill th e b ig brothers ’ knapsacks from thy bins,But slip th e Cup ofLove in Benjamin ’s .

Next as to thoseWh o bring the ir lumbering verse or ponderous prose

T o where good Smith and E lderHave so long held their

Well -garnish ’d Cornhill storehouseB id them not bore us .T ell them instead

T o take their load next street, th e Hal l ofLead

VI I I .

Only one word besides .As h e wh o tannetli hides

Stocketh with proper imp lements h is tannerySo thou, Friend I do not failT o store a stout corn -flail

,

Ready for use, with in thy Cornhil l granary.


Ofold thou walked abroad,Prompt to right wrongs, Cal iph Haroun al RashidDeal thus with Fraud,

OrJob orHumbug—thrash it

IX .

Courage, old Friend long foundFirm at thy task, nor in fixt purpose fickleUp choose th y ground,

Put forth thy shining sickleShun th e dense underwoodOfDunce orDunderh ood

But reap North, South, East, FarWest,T h e world -wide Harvest

LONDON : PRINT ED BY

SPOTT ISWOODE AND CO . ,NEW-ST REET SQUARE

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