a mere helpless automaton going through a certain set of
mechanical motions, with which his will has nothing to do. All who
approach or address him prostrate themselves and kiss his embroidered
slipper before they rise.

When the whole ceremony was over, and most of the crowd dispersed, the
Pope, after disrobing, was passing through a private part of the
church where we were standing accidentally, looking at one of the
monuments. We made the usual obeisance, which he returned by inclining
his head. He walked without support, but with great difficulty, and
appeared bent by infirmity and age: his countenance has a melancholy
but most benevolent expression, and his dark eyes retain uncommon
lustre and penetration. During the twenty-one years he has worn the
tiara, he has suffered many vicissitudes and humiliations with dignity
and fortitude. He is not considered a man of very powerful intellect
or very shining talents: he is not a Ganganelli or a Lambertini; but
he has been happy in his choice of ministers, and his government has
been distinguished by a spirit of liberality, and above all by a
partiality to the English, which calls for our respect and gratitude.
There were present to-day in St. Peter's about five thousand people,
and the church would certainly have contained ten times the number.

* * * * *

19.--We went to-day to view the restored model of the Coliseum
exhibited in the Piazza di Spagna; and afterwards drove to the
manufactory of the beads called _Roman Pearl_, which is well worth
seeing _once_. The beads are cut from thin laminae of alabaster, and
then dipped into a composition made of the scales of a fish (the
Argentina). When a perfect imitation of pearl is intended, they can
copy the accidental defects of colour and form which occur in the real
gem, as well as its brilliance, so exquisitely, as to deceive the most
practised eye.

20.--I ordered the open carriage early this morning, and, attended
only by Scaccia, partly drove and partly walked through some of the
finest parts of ancient Rome. The day has been perfectly lovely; the
sky intensely blue without a single cloud; and though I was weak and
far from well, I felt the influence of the soft sunshine in every
nerve: the pure elastic air seemed to penetrate my whole frame, and
made my spirits bound and my heart beat quicker. It is true, I had to
regret at every step the want of a more cultivated companion, and that