his admirers, taking him in their arms, would bear him thither; and then, with trembling voice, he could only say, 'Little children, love ye one another.' These and other well-attested historic recollections, rushing upon my mind, lift me on to the mount of transfiguration. I am happy. Could I have my library and a few congenial souls present, should be resigned to live under these soft, clear skies of Asia till, putting off my pilgrim's sandals, I hear the voice, Thou hast finished thy course: come up higher!'" XXX NAPLES, ROME, AND FLORENCE "Rome, the magnificent, inheritress 66 Of all that imaged god or goddess, when * Rome is a curse, evolved from benediction; A violence that leads envaled affliction; A whirl of selfhoods, held in bad from worse. Levites with war horns, Joshua with swords." Finding the Turkish countries in certain respects uncongenial, the autumn and wintry winds from the Black Sea injurious to his lungs, his quest for knowledge of the Orient still unsatisfied, Mr. Peebles obeyed the promptings of his spirit inspirers by resigning his consulship. Through our consul-general at Constantinople, Hon. Mr. Goodnowe, of Portland, Me., the resignation was accepted, but not until after his commission had received confirmation in the Senate. Leaving Turkey, he took an extensive tour through Asia Minor. . . . " 'Mid evergreen isles waves a sapphire sea. I am entranced in meditative delight," he said, as his steamer circled westward, bound through the Archipelago," classic sea of antiquity." Sailing out of the Dardanelles, there was Clazomenæ, once a famous center for commercial cities; then Scio, Byron's "rocky isle," where the Christian crusaders massacred the Turks in the name of the "Prince of Peace;" then Samos, home of Pythagoras; then Cos, of mountain-peaks; then sainted Patmos, where John was banished, but was "in the spirit on the Lord's Day;" and Rhodes, too, with its ruined Colossus; then classic Syracuse, which Strabo said was once "twenty-one miles in circumference," sacred to the memory of Eschylus, Demosthenes, and Archimedes; then Mt. Ætna, Sicily, covered with snow, towering up eleven thousand feet, with three distinctive zones of vegetation. He was now on Italian soil, in the city of Messina, Sicily, the guest of Mr. Behn, the American consul,- land of Tasso, Columbus, Galvani, Perasee, and other geniuses ascended! Were they not his companions? The very thought of it hallowed every instinct to grateful meditation. Noticing the papal monasteries and churches, the superstition of the lower classes, removing their hats before the priests, the devoutness of the wild brigands, "equal to the eccentricities of American Christians at eight-o'clock prayer-meetings," and invoicing the French bayonets that guard the papal throne and the Romish machinations of Empress Eugenie, "the Pope's Imperial Nuncio," he concludes his lesson in these memorable words: "Educate the people, permit women to vote, and republics like Edens will cover all isles and continents." This feeling was evoked mainly by the following experience in Messina, an episode which he afterward related in one of his American "bureau" lectures upon his lectures upon his "Oriental Travels: " "The sound of a band of music attracted me to the street, where I saw a small procession carrying sacred images, and surrounded by a crowd, which idleness, curiosity, or religious enthusiasm had induced to swell their ranks. It was St. Agatha's Day; and being a stranger, and curious to know what was going forward, I joined the procession as it entered the Plaza, and there witnessed the performance of a variety of ceremonies. Not seeing as distinctly as I wished, I mounted a block, steadied myself in my place by a branch of a tree, and, to use an American phrase, was ' enjoying it hugely,' when all at once I became conscious that the attention of the crowd was diverted to and concentrated upon me. They began to talk to me: I couldn't understand them. They gesticulated fiercely,for the Italians, like the French, talk as much with their hands as their tongues,- still I did not know what they meant, nor what to make of it, and made up my mind that I had better retire from the scene. With this intention, I stepped down from the block; but the throng pressed round me with louder words and wilder gestures, as if to frustrate such an attempt. Then I thought of calling the police to my aid. I had learned Italian enough for that: it was an essential that I took care to acquire the first thing after my arrival. I shouted till I brought one to the ground, and he, too, began to talk to me with an astonishing severity; which, incomprehensible as it was, warned me that I must look further for safety. In this strait, a lucky expedient suggested itself. I threw open my coat, displayed the badges of the Progressive Lyceum and the Knightly red cross that I fortunately wore, struck them with the air of a man who proclaimed himself to be a distinguished character, and signed the policeman to follow me to the Hotel de Victoria. The effect was magical. Impressed with a sense of my importance, and a conviction that there was a mistake somewhere, the throng fell back, the policeman at my urgency accompanied me to the proprietor of my hotel, by whose aid I succeeded in making him understand that I was an American consul. The explanation of this popular demonstration against me was, that they had mistaken me for Father Gavazzi, who was reported to have recently landed on the island, intending to harangue the people against the pope's infallibility. Gavazzi, you may recollect, was at one time a priest; but, latterly apostatizing from the church, he drew upon himself the righteous fury of all its devoted followers. For some unaccountable reason, I was regarded as in league with Garibaldi, the very unruly anti-churchman; and so I was! and the excited mobs were shouting, 'Down with the agitator! Away with Padre Gavazzi!' The moral to be derived from the adventure is this: If you would insure your safety in a foreign country, keep out of crowds." Voyez Naples et mourez. “I change the traveler's motto," said Mr. Peebles, "See Naples, but never die!" Boarding a neat Italian steamer, he was among the monks,— cowled, crossed, cloaked beggars! "They not only looked fat and sleek, but drank wine and smoked cigars very much like sinners in gin palaces, dirty and lazy too!" Passed close to volcanic Stromboli, the ancient Eolus, revered by Pliny, the exiled home of Charles Martel, famous with the Crusades; and, landing, he found rooms in the Vico Carminillo,- former residence of Robert Dale Owen while American minister there. The odor of his good name still lingers in that city. At rapid glances, he analyzed the kaleidoscopic scenery; and his soul enlarged in reverence for the beautiful of other days, still blooming amid ruins. We catch some of his sunbeams of thought: "The waters of the Bay of Naples have a cerulean tint, crescent-shaped, backed by an amphitheater of hills and mountains, with rocky slopes covered with sunny villas, sprinkled with orange and lemon, fig and oleander; Capri, loveliest of isles, in front, a silver slipper; caves and grottoes in it; Sorrento, gleaming through the waves, home of Torquato Tasso; the streets narrow and dingy, paved with lava; badly constructed dwelling-houses, iron gates, flat-roofed; insolent carriage-drivers, villainous misrule of Catholics! "O Pius IX.! you so rich from hoarded taxes,- Peter's pence and foreign purses laid at your feet,- feed the people. Get your crimson-clad cardinals, sleek bishops, and priests to plowing, sowing, and cultivating the fields for your beggars' sake, instead of mumbling prayers for 'Christ's sake.' Who with brains cares a fig for the decisions of your Ecumenical Councils? The people are above all councils. Who cares whether there be one, three, or thirty thousand gods, provided they are all good ones? Who cares how Jesus was begotten, allowing that he was well begotten, and lived (as I believe he did) a beautiful and divine life? Who cares whether Jonah, of Nineveh memory, swallowed, or was swallowed by a whale, providing the bones of neither obstruct |