Did you speak to me?"
The Doctor blinked and rubbed his eyes, and wondered what the company were laughing at. In a few minutes, however, he concluded to resume his broken slumber in his bed. He accordingly retired; and the company followed his example.
CHAPTER XIX.
ST. PETER"S!--THE TRAGIC STORY OF THE FAT MAN IN THE BALL.--HOW ANOTHER TRAGEDY NEARLY HAPPENED.--THE WOES OF MEINHERR SCHATT.
Two stately fountains, a colonnade which in spite of faults possesses unequalled majesty, a vast piazza, enclosing many acres, in whose immense area puny man dwindles to a dwarf, and in the distance the unapproachable glories of the greatest of earthly temples--such is the first view of St. Peter"s.
Our party of friends entered the lordly vestibule, and lifting the heavy mat that hung over the door-way they pa.s.sed through. There came a soft air laden with the odor of incense; and strains of music from one of the side chapels came echoing dreamily down one of the side aisles. A glare of sunlight flashed in on polished marbles of a thousand colors that covered pillars, walls, and pavement. The vaulted ceiling blazed with gold. People strolled to and fro without any apparent object. They seemed to be promenading. In different places some peasant women were kneeling.
They walked up the nave. The size of the immense edifice increased with every step. Arriving under the dome they stood looking up with boundless astonishment.
They walked round and round. They saw statues which were masterpieces of genius; sculptures that glowed with immortal beauty; pictures which had consumed a life-time as they grew up beneath the patient toil of the mosaic worker. There were altars containing gems equal to a king"s ransom; curious pillars that came down from immemorial ages; lamps that burn forever.
"This," said the Senator, "is about the first place that has really come up to my idee of foreign parts. In fact it goes clean beyond it.
I acknowledge its superiority to any thing that America can produce.
But what"s the good of it all? If this Government really cared for the good of the people it would sell out the hull concern, and devote the proceeds to railways and factories. Then Italy would go ahead as Providence intended."
"My dear Sir, the people of this country would rise and annihilate any Government that dared to touch it."
"Shows how debased they have grown. There"s no utility in all this.
There couldn"t be any really good Gospel preaching here.
"Different people require different modes of worship," said b.u.t.tons, sententiously.
"But it"s immense," said the Senator, as they stood at the furthest end and looked toward the entrance. "I"ve been calc"latin" that you could range along this middle aisle about eighteen good-sized Protestant churches, and eighteen more along the side aisles. You could pile them up three tiers high. You could stow away twenty-four more in the cross aisle. After that you could pile up twenty more in the dome. That would make room here for one hundred and fifty-two, good-sized Protestant churches, and room enough would be left to stow away all their spires."
And to show the truth of his calculation he exhibited a piece of paper on which he had pencilled it all.
If the interior is imposing the ascent to the roof is equally so.
There is a winding path so arranged that mules can go up carrying loads. Up this they went and reached the roof. Six or seven acres of territory s.n.a.t.c.hed from the air spread around; statutes rose from the edge; all around cupolas and pillars rose. In the center the huge dome itself towered on high. There was a long low building filled with people who lived up here. They were workmen whose duty it was to attend to the repairs of the vast structure. Two fountains poured forth a never-ceasing supply of water. It was difficult to conceive that this was a roof of a building.
Entering the base of the central cupola a stairway leads up. There is a door which leads to the interior, where one can walk around a gallery on the inside of the dome and look down. Further up where the arch springs there is another. Finally at the apex of the dome there is a third opening. Looking down through this the sensation is terrific.
Upon the summit of the vast dome stands an edifice of large size, which is called the lantern, and appears insignificant in comparison with the mighty structure beneath. Up this the stairway goes until at length the opening into the ball is reached.
The whole five climbed up into the ball. They found to their surprise that it would hold twice as many more. The Senator reached up his hand. He could not touch the top. They looked through the slits in the side. The view was boundless; the wide Campagna, the purple Apennines, the blue Mediterranean, appeared from different sides.
"I feel," said the Senator, "that the conceit is taken out of me.
What is Boston State House to this; or Bunker Hill monument! I used to see pictures of this place in Woodbridge"s Geography; but I never had a realizing sense of architecture until now."
"This ball," said b.u.t.tons, "has its history, its a.s.sociations. It has been the scene of suffering. Once a stoutish man came up here.
The guides warned him, but to no purpose. He was a willful Englishman. You may see, gentlemen, that the opening is narrow. How the Englishman managed to get up does not appear; but it is certain that when he tried to get down he found it impossible. He tried for hours to squeeze through. No use. Hundreds of people came up to help him. They couldn"t. The whole city got into a state of wild excitement. Some of the churches had prayers offered up for him though he was a heretic. At the end of three days he tried again.
Fasting and anxiety had come to his relief, and he slipped through without difficulty."
"He must have been a London swell," said d.i.c.k.
"I don"t believe a word of it," said Mr. Figgs, looking with an expression of horror, first at the opening, and then at his own rotundity. Then springing forward he hurriedly began to descend.
Happy Mr. Figgs! There was no danger for him. But in his eagerness to get down he did not think of looking below to see if the way was clear. And so it happened, that as he descended quickly and with excited haste, he stepped with all his weight upon the hand of a man who was coming up. The stranger shouted. Mr. Figgs jumped. His foot slipped. His hand loosened, and down he fell plump to the bottom. Had he fallen on the floor there is no doubt that he would have sustained severe injury. Fortunately for himself he fell upon the stranger and nearly crushed his life out.
The stranger writhed and rolled till he had got rid of his heavy burden. The two men simultaneously started to their feet. The stranger was a short stout man with an unmistakable German face. He had bright blue eyes, red hair, and a forked red beard. He stared with all his might, stroked his forked red beard piteously, and then e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed most gutturally, in tones that seemed to come from his boots--
"Gh-h-h-r-r-r-r-r-acious me!"
Mr. Figgs overwhelmed him with apologies, a.s.sured him that it was quite unintentional, hoped that he wasn"t hurt, begged his pardon; but the stranger only panted, and still he stroked his forked red beard, and still e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed--
"Gh-h-h-r-r-r-r-r-acious me!"
Four heads peered through the opening above; but seeing no accident their owners, one by one, descended, and all with much sympathy asked the stranger if he was much hurt. But the stranger, who seemed quite bewildered, still panted and stroked his beard, and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed--
"Gh-h-h-r-r-r-r-r-acious me!"
At length he seemed to recover his faculties, and discovered that he was not hurt. Upon this he a.s.sured Mr. Figgs, in heavy guttural English, that it was nothing. He had often been knocked down before.
If Mr. Figgs was a Frenchman, he would feel angry. But as he was an American he was glad to make his acquaintance. He himself had once lived in America, in Cincinnati, where he had edited a German paper.
His name was Meinherr Schatt.
Meinherr Schatt showed no further disposition to go up; but descended with the others down as far as the roof, when they went to the front and stood looking down on the piazza. In the course of conversation Meinherr Schatt informed them that he belonged to the Duchy of Saxe Meiningen, that he had been living in Rome about two years, and liked it about as well as any place that he had seen.
He went every autumn to Paris to speculate on the Bourse, and generally made enough to keep him for a year. He was acquainted with all the artists in Rome. Would they like to be introduced to some of them?
[Ill.u.s.tration: Gracious Me!]
b.u.t.tons would be most charmed. He would rather become acquainted with artists than with any cla.s.s of people.
Meinherr Schatt lamented deeply the present state of things arising from the war in Lombardy. A peaceful German traveller was scarcely safe now. Little boys made faces at him in the street, and shouted after him, "Mudedetto Tedescho!"
Just at this moment the eye of b.u.t.tons was attracted by a carriage that rolled away from under the front of the cathedral down the piazza. In it were two ladies and a gentleman. b.u.t.tons stared eagerly for a few moments, and then gave a jump.
"What"s the matter?" cried d.i.c.k.
"It is! By Jove! It is!"
"What? Who?"
"I see her face! I"m off!"
"Confound it! Whose face?"
But b.u.t.tons gave no answer. He was off like the wind, and before the others could recover from their surprise had vanished down the descent.