aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

388 ABOUND THE WOELD.
But who are these ?
Why such a troop of beggars at our
heels ? Is this not a Christian city ? Does not the vicegerent
of Christ here reside ? Did not Peter and Paul here preach ?
Was there not a special epistle addressed to the Romans?
Did not Jesus command his followers to sell what they
had, and give it to the poor, and follow him ? Is this the
fruit of nearly two thousand years of Christian teaching
and practice ? When among the heathen Indians of the
great north-west, with the Congressional committee, I saw
little begging ; but here, near the feet of the visible Christy
Pius IX., I am surrounded by filth, beggars, and rags, or the
scarlet of cardinals. While working for the downfall of
Antichrist,' my constant prayer is, " Thy kingdom come, and
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Just under the shade of Pincian Hill, in a magnificent park,
musical from flowing fountains, and dotted with palms and
flowering-plants from the tropics, I took leave of Prince
George de Solms, the personal kindnesses of whom I can
never forget. Rome, its ruins and relics, its glory and
its shame, I leave with the prayer of faith. If the pope
has been pronounced " infalhble," his temporal power is
gone forever. Roman-Catholicism is waning in Europe ; and
Rome, city of the Cassars, is dreaming of a resurrection.
FLOEENCE.
Southern Europe is grim with the ghosts of dead cities.
Florence, the
glory of the middle ages, and formerly capital
of Tuscany, is built in the form of a pentagon. Its population
is something over one hundred and thirty thousand.
This city was for a season the scene of the brave yet fiery
Savonarola's labors. A kind of second Calvin, he was
called the Catholic reformer of Florence. The j)ope trembled
under his thunderbolts. Through the city flows the
Arno. The suburban eminences are crowned with charming
villas interspersed with clumps of olive-trees. These grow
in such luxuriance that they called out one of Ariosto's
sweetest songs.