Chapter iii.
On the way to St Peter's the bridge of St Angelo is passed, and Corinneand Lord Nelville crossed it on foot. "It was on this bridge," saidOswald, "that, in returning from the Capitol, I for the first timethought deeply of you." "I did not flatter myself," replied Corinne,"that the coronation at the Capitol would have procured me a friend, buthowever, in the pursuit of fame it was always my endeavour to makemyself beloved.--What would fame be to woman without such a hope?" "Letus stop here a few minutes," said Oswald. "What remembrance of past agescan produce such welcome recollections as this spot, which brings tomind the day when first I saw you." "I know not whether I deceivemyself," replied Corinne; "but it seems to me that we become more dearto one another in admiring together those monuments which speak to thesoul by true grandeur. The edifices of Rome are neither cold nor dumb,they have been conceived by genius, and consecrated by memorable events.Perhaps, Oswald, it is even necessary that we should be enamoured ofsuch a character as yours, in order to derive such pleasure from feelingwith you all that is noble and fine in the universe." "Yes," repliedLord Nelville; "but in beholding you, and listening to yourobservations, I feel no want of other wonders." Corinne thanked him in abewitching smile.
On their way to St Peter's they stopped before the castle of St Angelo."There," said Corinne, "is one of those edifices whose exterior is mostoriginal; this is the tomb of Adrian, which, changed into a fortress bythe Goths, bears the double character of its first and seconddestination. Built for the dead, an impenetrable enclosure surrounds it;and, nevertheless, the living have added something hostile to it by theexternal fortifications, which form a contrast with the silence andnoble inutility of a funereal monument. On the top is seen an angel ofbronze with a naked sword[7], and in the interior the most cruel prisonsare contrived. Every event of Roman history, from Adrian to our time, isconnected with this monument. It was here that Belisarius defendedhimself against the Goths, and, almost as barbarous as they who attackedhim, threw at his enemy the beautiful statues that adorned the interiorof the edifice[8]. Crescentius, Arnault de Brescia, Nicolas Rienzi,those friends of Roman liberty who so often mistook memories for hopes,defended themselves for a long time in this imperial tomb. I love thesestones which are connected with so many illustrious facts. I love thisluxury of the master of the world--a magnificent tomb. There issomething great in the man who, possessing every enjoyment, everyterrestrial pomp, is not dismayed from making preparations for his deatha long time before hand. Moral ideas and disinterested sentiments fillthe soul when it in a manner breaks through the boundaries of mortality.
"It is from here that we ought to perceive St Peter's. The pillarsbefore it were to extend as far as here:--such was the superb plan ofMichael Angelo; he expected, at least, that it would be so finishedafter his death; but the men of our days no longer think of posterity.When once enthusiasm has been turned into ridicule every thing exceptmoney and power is destroyed." "It is you who will revive thatsentiment," cried Lord Nelville. "Who ever experienced the happiness Ienjoy? Rome shewn by you, Rome interpreted by imagination and genius,_Rome, that is a world animated by sentiment, without which the worlditself is a desert_[9]. Ah, Corinne! what will succeed to these days,more happy than my heart and my fate permit!" Corinne answered him withsweetness: "All sincere affections proceed from heaven, Oswald! Whyshould it not protect what it inspires? To that Power belongs our fate."
At that moment St Peter's appeared to them, the greatest building thatman has ever raised; for the pyramids of Egypt themselves are inferiorto it in height. "Perhaps," said Corinne, "I ought to have shewn you thefinest of our buildings last, but that is not my system. It is myopinion that to beget a sensibility for the fine arts, we must begin bybeholding objects that inspire a deep and lively admiration. Thissentiment once felt, reveals, if I may so express myself, a new sphereof ideas, and renders us afterwards more capable of loving, and ofjudging, what even in an inferior order recalls the first impression wehave received. All those gradations, those prudent methods, one tintafter another, to prepare for great effects, are not to my taste; wecannot arrive at the sublime by degrees; infinite distances separate iteven from that which is only beautiful." Oswald felt an altogetherextraordinary emotion on arriving opposite St Peter's. It was the firsttime that the work of man had produced upon him the same effect as oneof the wonders of nature. This is the only work of art, now on ourearth, possessing that kind of grandeur which characterises theimmediate works of the creation. Corinne enjoyed the astonishment ofOswald. "I have chosen," said she, "a day when the sun is in all itslustre, to shew you this edifice. I have in reserve for you a still moreexquisite, more religious pleasure, when you shall contemplate it bymoonlight: but you must first witness the most brilliant intellectualfeast--the genius of man adorned with the magnificence of nature."
The square of St Peter is surrounded by pillars--those at a distance ofa light, and those near of a massive structure. The ground, which isupon a gentle ascent up to the portico of the church, still adds to theeffect which it produces. An obelisk, 80 feet high, stands in the middleof the square, but its height appears as nothing in presence of thecupola of St Peter's. The form of an obelisk alone has something in itthat pleases the imagination; its summit is lost in the air, and seemsto lift the mind of man to heaven. This monument, which was constructedin Egypt to adorn the baths of Caligula, and which Sixtus Quintus causedto be transported to the foot of the temple of St Peter, thiscotemporary of so many centuries, which have spent their fury upon it invain, inspires us with a sentiment of respect; man, sensible of his ownfleeting existence, cannot contemplate without emotion that whichappears to be immutable. At some distance on each side of the obeliskare two fountains, whose waters form a perpetual and abundant cascade.This murmuring of waters, which we are accustomed to hear in the opencountry, produces, in this enclosure, an entirely new sensation; butthis sensation is quite in harmony with that to which the aspect of amajestic temple gives birth.
Painting and sculpture, imitating generally the human figure or someobject existing in nature, awaken in our soul perfectly clear andpositive ideas; but a beautiful architectural monument has not anydeterminate meaning, if it may be so expressed, so that we are seized,in contemplating it, with that kind of aimless reverie, which leads usinto a boundless ocean of thought. The sound of fountains harmoniseswith all these vague and deep impressions; it is uniform as the edificeis regular.
"Eternal motion, and eternal rest,"
are thus blended with each other. It is particularly in a spot like thisthat Time seems stript of his power, for he appears no more able to dryup the fountains than to shake these immovable stones. The waters, whichspout in sheaves from these fountains, are so light and cloudlike thaton a fine day the rays of the sun produce on them little rainbows,formed of the most beautiful colours.
"Stop here a moment," said Corinne to Lord Nelville, when they hadalready reached the portico of the church; "stop a little before youlift up the curtain which covers the door of the temple. Does not yourheart beat as you approach this sanctuary? And do not you feel at themoment of entrance all that excites expectation of a solemn event?"Corinne herself lifted up the curtain and held it to let Nelville pass;she displayed so much grace in this attitude that the first look ofOswald was to admire her as she stood, and for some moments sheengrossed his whole observation. However, he proceeded into the temple,and the impression which he received beneath these immense arches was sodeep, and so solemn, that love itself was no longer able to fill hissoul entirely. He walked slowly by the side of Corinne, both preservingsilence. Indeed here every thing seemed to command silence; the leastnoise re-echoes to such a distance that no language seems worthy ofbeing repeated in an abode which may almost be called eternal! Prayeralone, the voice of calamity, produces a powerful emotion in these vastregions; and when beneath these immense domes you hear some old mandragging his feeble steps along the polished marble, watered with somany tears, you feel that man is imposing even
by the infirmity of hisnature which subjects his divine soul to so many sufferings; and thatChristianity, the worship of suffering, contains the true guide for theconduct of man upon earth.
Corinne interrupted the reverie of Oswald, and said to him, "You haveseen Gothic churches in England and in Germany; you must have remarkedthat they have a much more gloomy effect than this church. There wassomething mysterious in the Catholicism of the northern nations; oursspeaks to the imagination by external objects. Michael Angelo said onbeholding the cupola of the Pantheon, 'I will place it in the air;' and,in effect, St Peter's is a temple built upon a church. There is someconnection between the ancient religions and Christianity, in the effectwhich the interior of this edifice produces upon the imagination. Ioften come and walk here to restore to my soul that serenity which itsometimes loses: the sight of such a monument is like continual andsustained music, which waits to do you good when you approach; andcertainly we must reckon among the claims of our nation to glory, thepatience, the courage and the disinterestedness of the heads of thechurch, who have devoted one hundred and fifty years, so much money, andso much labour, to the completion of an edifice which they who built itcould not expect to enjoy[10]. It is even a service rendered to thepublic morals to present a nation with a monument which is the emblem ofso many noble and generous ideas." "Yes," answered Oswald; "here thearts possess grandeur, and imagination and invention are full of genius;but how is the dignity of man himself protected here! Whatinstitutions! what feebleness in the greater part of the governments ofItaly! and, nevertheless, what subjugation in the mind!" "Othernations," interrupted Corinne, "have borne the yoke the same as we, andhave lacked the imagination to dream of another fate.
'Servi siam si, ma servi ognor frementi.'
'_Yes! we are slaves, but slaves ever quivering with hope,_'
says Alfieri, the most bold of our modern writers. There is so much soulin our fine arts that perhaps one day our character will be equal to ourgenius.
"Behold," continued Corinne, "those statues placed on the tombs, thosepictures in mosaic--patient and faithful copies of the masterpieces ofour great artists. I never examine St Peter's in detail, because I donot wish to discover those multiplied beauties which disturb in somedegree the impression of the whole. But what a monument is that, wherethe masterpieces of the human mind appear superfluous ornaments! Thistemple is like a world by itself; it affords an asylum against heat andcold; it has its own peculiar season--a perpetual spring, which theexternal atmosphere can never change. A subterraneous church is builtbeneath this temple;--the popes, and several foreign potentates, areburied there: Christina after her abdication--the Stuarts since theoverthrow of their dynasty. Rome has long afforded an asylum to exilesfrom every part of the world. Is not Rome herself dethroned? Her aspectaffords consolation to kings, fallen like herself.
'Cadono le citta, cadono i regni, E l'uom, d'esser mortal, par che si sdegni.'
'_Cities fall. Empires disappear, and yet man is angry at being mortal!_'
"Place yourself here," said Corinne to Lord Nelville, "near the altarin the middle of the cupola; you will perceive through the iron grating,the church of the dead, which is beneath our feet, and lifting up youreyes, their ken will hardly reach the summit of the vault. This dome,viewing it even from below, inspires us with a sentiment of terror; weimagine that we see an abyss suspended over our head. All that is beyonda certain proportion causes man, limited creature as he is, aninvincible dread. That which we know is as inexplicable as that which isunknown, but then we are accustomed to our habitual darkness, whilst newmysteries terrify us and disturb our faculties.
"All this church is ornamented with antique marble, and its stones knowmore than we concerning the ages that are past. There is the statue ofJupiter, which has been converted into St Peter, by adding the nimbus tothe head. The general expression of this temple perfectly characterisesthe mixture of gloomy tenets with brilliant ceremonies; a depth ofsadness in ideas, but the softness and vivacity of the south in externalapplication; severe intentions, but mild interpretations; the Christiantheology, and the images of Paganism; in a word, the most admirableunion of splendour and majesty that man can infuse into his worship ofthe deity.
"The tombs, decorated by the wonders of the fine arts, do not presentdeath under a formidable aspect. It is not altogether like the ancients,who engraved dances and games upon their sarcophagi; but the mind isabstracted from the contemplation of a coffin by the masterpieces ofgenius. They recall immortality, even upon the altar of death; and theimagination animated by the admiration which they inspire, does notfeel, as in the north, silence and cold, the immutable guardians ofsepulchres." "Without doubt," said Oswald, "we wish death to besurrounded by sadness; and even before we were enlightened byChristianity our ancient mythology, our Ossian, made lamentations anddirges concomitants of the tomb. Here one wishes to forget and to enjoy.I know not whether I should be desirous of such a benefit from your finesky." "Do not believe, however," replied Corinne, "that our character islight, or our mind frivolous; it is only vanity that causes frivolity.Indolence may introduce some intervals of sleep, or of forgetfulnessinto our lives, but it neither wears out nor dries up the heart; andunfortunately for us we may be aroused from this state by passions moredeep, and more terrible than those of souls habitually active."
In finishing these words, Corinne and Lord Nelville approached the doorof the church. "Another glance towards this immense sanctuary," said sheto Nelville: "See how little man appears in presence of religion, evenwhen we are reduced to consider only its material emblem! See whatimmobility, what eternity, mortals can give to their works, whilst theythemselves pass away so rapidly, and only survive themselves by theirgenius! This temple is an image of the infinite, and there is no limitto the sentiments to which it gives birth--to the ideas which itrevives--to the immense quantity of years which it recalls to ourreflection, either of past or future ages; and on quitting its walls weseem to pass from celestial thoughts to worldly interests, from theeternity of religion to the atmosphere of time."
When they were outside the church Corinne pointed out to Nelville Ovid'sMetamorphoses, which were represented on the gates in basso-relievo. "Weare not scandalised in Rome," said she to him, "with the images ofPaganism when they have been consecrated by the fine arts. The wondersof genius always make a religious impression on the soul, and we make anoffering to the Christian religion of all the masterpieces which othermodes of worship have inspired." Oswald smiled at this explanation."Believe me, my lord," continued Corinne, "there is much sincerity inthe sentiments of nations who possess a very lively imagination. Butto-morrow if you choose I will conduct you to the Capitol. I have, Ihope, many other walks to propose to you. When they are finished willyou go? Will you--" She stopped, fearing she had said too much. "NoCorinne," replied Oswald; "no, I will never renounce that gleam ofhappiness which my guardian angel, perhaps, causes to shine upon me fromthe height of heaven."
FOOTNOTES:
[7] A Frenchman in the late war, commanded the Castle of St Angelo; theNeapolitan troops summoned him to capitulate; he answered that thefortress should be surrendered when the Angel of Bronze should sheathehis sword.
[8] These facts are to be found in the _History of the Italian Republicsof the Middle Ages_, by M. Simonde, of Geneva. This history willcertainly be considered as an authority; for we perceive, in reading it,that its author is a man of profound sagacity, as conscientious as he isenergetic in his manner of relating and describing.
[9] "Eine Welt zwar bist du o Rom; doch ohne die Liebe, Waere die Welt nicht die Welt, waere denn Rom auch nicht Rom."
These two verses are from Goethe, the German poet, the philosopher, theman of letters, whose originality and imagination are most remarkable.
[10] The Church of St Peter is said to be one of the chief causes of theReformation, inasmuch as it cost the Popes so much money that they hadrecourse to the multiplication of indulgences in order to build i
t.