orn away; producing the same sort of effect on me as an imaginary
portrait by Pater.

In a semi-geographical work called _Near Home; or, Europe Described_,
published by Hatchards in the fifties (though my friend, Mr. Arthur
Humphreys, denies all knowledge of it), I can recall many stereos of
dialectic cast in a Socratic mould:--

_Q_. What is the religion of the Italians? _A_. They are Roman
Catholics.

_Q_. What do the Roman Catholics worship? _A_. Idols and a piece of
bread.

_Q_. Would not God be very angry if He knew the Italians worshipped
idols and a piece of bread? _A_. God IS very angry.

Mr. Augustine Birrell, if still interested in educational phenomena, will
not be surprised to learn that when I reached to man's estate I 'embraced
the errors of Rome,' as my historical manual would have phrased it.

I pity the child who did not learn universal history from Collier. How
tame are the periods of Lord Acton, the Rev. William Hunt, Froude,
Freeman, Oman, Round, even Macaulay, and little Arthur, beside the rich
Elethian periods of William Francis Collier. Not Berenson, not Byron,
not Beerbohm, have given us such a picture of Venice as Collier in
describing the Council of Ten:--

The ten were terrible; but still more terrible were the three
inquisitors--two black, one red--appointed in 1454. Deep mystery hung
over the three. They were elected by the ten; none else knew their
names. Their great work was to kill; and no man--doge, councillor, or
inquisitor--was beyond their reach. Secretly they pronounced a doom;
and ere long the stiletto or the poison cup had done its work, or the
dark waters of the lagoon had closed over a life. The spy was
everywhere. No man dared to speak out, for his most intimate
companions might be on the watch to betray him. Bronze vases, shaped
like a lion's mouth, gaped at the corner of every square to receive
the names of suspected persons. Gloom and suspicion haunted gondola
and hearth!!

It is owing to Collier that I know at least one fact about the Goths who
took Rome, 'having reduced the citizens to feed on mice and nettles, A.D.
546,' a diet to which many of the hotel proprietors in the imperial city
still treat their clients.

But let _Bellows' Dictionary_, a friend and instructor of riper years,
close my list of great examples and my theme. The criticism is apposite
to myself, and its only oddity--its