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225.
looked on as we approached, without suspecting that it was
Rome itself, and believing that it was simply another of the many
towns that we had been passing on the road, when, as we
reached the suburbs and continued to pass through many streets,
I awoke to the fact that I had reached my destination, and
that the dome which at a distance had made no particular
impression upon me, was the great dome of St Peter’s. The
extent of the campagna of Rome, the plain that I have mentioned,
had so dwarfed the city and man’s works therein contained, that
without previous notice that it was Rome which was in sight, my
eye did not grasp the size of what I was looking at. This I
considered to be the explanation of my obtuseness.
Without previous understanding as to the hotel where I would
meet Allston, I happened to go to the very place where he was stopping.
Upon being shown to my room and having changed my dress, I de-
sired some information at the office downstairs, and, while passing
in front of an open bedroom near my own, I observed the back by
its inmate who was a fashionably dressed gentleman evidently
from one of the centers of good tailoring. It never struck me
that it could be my friend whom I had this seen, and my
surprise was very great when on returning from below I then
saw the face and front of the person whom of all others I was
anxious to meet.
Our greeting was a cordial one and, after giving a short account
of my eastern trip and hearing from him the latest news from Paris
and of our mutual friends, Gordon and Martin, who were still
there, we decided to go immediately to the great cathedral so
as to take in without delay, as far as I was concerned, an im-
pression of its size and magnificence. Upon arriving there
and entering the doorway on the right, I was asked to say
what I thought was the height of the cherubs in marble holding
up the receptacle for holy water against one of the columns of the
arches on the opposite side. My reply was, three feet, and this
is the usual estimate given by almost everyone before the real
proportions of the interior are fully realized. We then crossed over and on
coming near I found that the actual height was siz feet. We made
a hurried tour through the interior where I could see that the
costly marbles of many kinds which decorate every part are alone
sufficient to render it more magnificent than any other church,
without taking into account the mosaics over the altars, the
inlaid marble floors and the monuments. It is easy to account
for the spending of two hundred millions of dollars upon St Peter’s
when it has been seen.
It was my intention to stay in Rome about a month and during
the first week I was occupied sight-seeing, and we had exhausted
the important galleries and churches as completely that there seemed
nothing left. But the private collections of paintings belonging to
the princely families had still to be seen, and as we examined one
of those every day, it was my great opportunity to become more
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