ever fancied them; and
the ruined temples and the mouldering aqueducts which are scattered
over the Campagna; I do not believe there is a finer view in the
world than that from the eastern gate of the city, embracing the
Campagna, with its ruined aqueducts diverging in long broken
arcades, and terminated by the sweep of the Albanian hills,
sprinkled with their white villages, and celebrated in song and
story! But the great charm of the scene springs from association;
and though everything in Italy is really picturesque, yet strip the
country of its historic recollections,--think merely of what it is,
and not of what it has been,--and you will find the dream to be
fading away.

"You would be shocked at the misery of the people, especially in
the Pope's dominions: but their element seems to be in rags and
misery; and with the ceremonials of their religion and the holidays
of the church, which average nearly three a week, they are
poor--and lazy and happy. I mean, happy in their way."

In a later visit the poet was domiciled in an hotel on the Piazza
Barberini, where the wonderful view included then the entire city "to
where St. Peter's dome darkens against the sunset." Of this visit his
brother, Rev. Samuel Longfellow, writes:--

"Here Mr. Longfellow became for the season the centre of the group
of American visitors and resident artists, whose well-known names
need not be recounted. Here he made, also, acquaintances among the
Italians,--especially the Duke of Sermoneta, the Dantean scholar,
and Monsignore Nardi, of the papal court. The Pope himself he did
not visit. An interesting acquaintance was that made with the Abbe
Liszt, who was spending the winter in Rome, having rooms in the
abandoned Convent of Santa Francesca, in the Forum. Calling there
one evening, in company with Mr. Healy the artist, the inner door
of the apartment was opened to them by Liszt himself, holding high
in his hand a candle which illuminated his fine face. The picture
was so striking that Mr. Longfellow begged his companion to put it
upon canvas,--which he did; and the painting now hangs in the
library of Craigie House. At a morning visit, Liszt delighted the
party with a performance upon his Chickering pianoforte.

"To see Rome, as all travellers know, is a work for many months;