book would savor only of the
repetition of loves and enthusiasms already recorded in the previous
work in which Walter Savage Landor formed the central figure. For that
reason no mention of Florence, beyond some mere allusion, is attempted
in these pages, which only aim to present certain fragmentary
impressions of various sojourns in Italy, refracted through the prism of
memory. Whatever inconveniences or discomfort attend the traveller
swiftly fade, and leave to him only the precious heritage of resplendent
sunset skies, of poetic association, of artistic beauty. In spirit he is
again lingering through long afternoons in St. Peter's till the golden
light through the far windows of the tribune is merged into the dusk of
twilight in which the vast monumental groups gleam wraith-like. Again
he is ascending the magnificent _Scala Regia_, and lingering in the
Raphael Stanze, or in the wonderful sculpture galleries of the Vatican,
or sauntering in the sunshine on the Palatine. In memory he is again
spellbound by ancient and mediaeval art. In the line of modern sculpture
the work of Franklin Simmons in Rome is a feature of Italy that haunts
the imagination. No lover of beauty would willingly miss his great
studios in the Via San Nicolo da Tolentino, with their wealth of ideal
creations that contribute new interest to the most divine of all the
arts.

"The world of art is an ideal world,--
The world I love, and that I fain would live in;
So speak to me of artists and of art,
Of all the painters, sculptors, and musicians
That now illustrate Rome."

The mystic charm of the pilgrimage to Assisi; the romance that reflects
itself in the violet seas and flaming splendors of the sky on the shores
of Ischia and Capri; the buried treasures of Amalfi; the magnetic
impressiveness of the Eternal City,--all these enter into life as new
forces to build and shape the future into undreamed-of destinies.

L. W.

THE BRUNSWICK, BOSTON,
October Days, 1907.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I THE PERIOD OF MODERN ART IN ROME 3

II SOCIAL LIFE IN THE ETERNAL CITY 127

III DAY-DREAMS IN NAPLES, AMALFI, AND CAPRI 227

IV A PAGE DE CONTI FROM ISCHIA 281

V VOICES OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 341

VI THE GLORY OF A VENETIAN JUNE