Santa Maria della Spina, Pisa

There is of course more to Pisa than the Leaning Tower.

Sadly, it is often used only as a transit point to Florence and other parts of Tuscany and Umbria. If people do stay in Pisa it is often for one day only.

In 1873, Henry James wrote of Pisa:

"[A]s you "feel" the morbid charm of Pisa you press on it gently, and this somehow even under stress of whatever respectful attention. I found this last impulse, at all events, so far as I was concerned, quite contentedly spend itself in a renewed sense of the simple large pacified felicity of such an afternoon aspect as that of the Lung' Arno, taken up or down its course; whether to within sight of small Santa Maria della Spina, the tiny, the delicate, the exquisite Gothic chapel perched where the quay drops straight, or, in the other direction, toward the melting perspective of the narrow local pleasure-ground, the rather thin and careless bosky grace of which recedes, beside the stream whose very turbidity pleases, to a middle distance of hot and tangled and exuberant rural industry and a proper blue horizon of Carrara mountains.

The Pisan Lung'Arno is shorter and less featured and framed than the Florentine, but it has the fine accent of a marked curve and is quite as bravely Tuscan; witness the type of river-fronting palace which, in half-a-dozen massive specimens, the last word of the anciently "handsome," are of the essence of the physiognomy of the place.

In the glow of which retrospective admission I ask myself how I came, under my first flush, reflected in other pages, to fail of justice to so much proud domestic architecture--in the very teeth moreover of the fact that I was for ever paying my compliments, in a wistful, wondering way, to the fine Palazzo Lanfranchi, occupied in 1822 by the migratory Byron, and whither Leigh Hunt, as commemorated in the latter's Autobiography, came out to join him in an odd journalistic scheme."


One of the main features of Pisa is the number of churches, many of very long standing.

One of the most remarkable churches is the small Gothic church of Santa Maria della Spina.

It has sat perched on the banks of the Arno for nearly 800 years.

It was built in 1230 on the banks of the river Arno next to an important bridge, called Ponte Novo. The bridge was destroyed during the 15th century and was never rebuilt. Being the church close to the bridge, it was given the name of Santa Maria de Pontenovo. On being expanded in the fourteenth century by the Gualandi family, its name changed in 1333 to Santa Maria della Spina, when it preserved the reliquary of a thorn of the Saviour’s crown (spina = thorn). Today the reliquary is in the church of Santa Chiara (near the Hospital).

The exterior appearance is marked by cusps, tympani and tabernacles, together with a complicated sculpture decoration with tarsiae, rose-windows and numerous statues from the main Pisan artists of the 14th century. These include Lupo di Francesco, Andrea Pisano with his sons, Nino and Tommaso, and Giovanni di Balduccio. The Madonna and Child by Andrea Pisano is a copy.

Compared to the exterior, the interior appears quite simple. It has a single room, with a ceiling painted during the 19th century reconstruction. In the presbytery's centre is one of the highest masterpieces of Gothic sculpture, the Madonna of the Rose by Andrea and Nino Pisano.

Just a few yards away is the small Church where St Catherine of Siena received the stigmata.

Further references:

Wikipedia on "Santa Maria della Spina"

What Dorothy Saw

In 1820, just five years after The Battle of Waterloo, William, Mary, and Dorothy Wordsworth went on a Tour of Europe.

On Sunday, September 2nd. 1820, they were in Milan. This was after the Napoleonic occupation. They saw the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.

Even at that time, the painting seems to have been more an icon than simply just a painting.

Dorothy Wordsworth recorded her strong impressions in her Journal:

"Went also to the Convent of Maria della Grazia to view that most famous picture of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, painted on the wall at one end of the Refectory, a very large hall, hung along the sides with smaller pictures and, at the other end, that painting of the crucifixion of which we had seen a copy at Lugano.

This Refectory was used in the days of Buonaparte as a military storehouse, and the mark of a musket-ball, fired in wantonness by a French soldier, is to be seen in one part of the painting of Leonardo da Vinci. Fortunately the ball hit where the injury was as small as it could have been ; and it is only marvellous that this fine work was not wholly defaced during those times of military misrule and utter disregard of all sacred things.

It is perfectly notorious that this picture suffered more from conversant in pictures, I cannot take upon me to describe this, which impressed my feelings and imagination more than any picture I ever saw, though some of the figures are so injured by damp that they are only just traceable.

The most important are, however, happily the least injured ; and that of Our Saviour has only suffered from a general fading in the colours, yet, alas ! the fading and vanishing must go on year after year till, at length, the whole group must pass away. Through the cloisters of the monastery, which are shattered and defaced, pictures are found in all parts, and there are some curious monuments."


Why has the picture exercised such a hold on the imagination and sensibilities of the West ?


In his Lives of the Artists, Vasari attempted an explanation:

"The work, finished after this sort, has always been held by the Milanese in the greatest veneration, and by strangers also, because Leonardo imagined, and has succeeded in expressing, the desire that has entered the minds of the apostles to know who is betraying their Master. So in the face of each one may be seen love, fear, indignation, or grief at not being able to understand the meaning of Christ; and this excites no less astonishment than the obstinate hatred and treachery to be seen in Judas. Besides this, every lesser part of the work shows an incredible diligence; even in the table cloth the weaver's work is imitated in a way that could not be better in the thing itself."


The theme

The theme of the painting is not new. It was not the first or the last on this theme. It was a traditional theme for refectories.

The moment caught are the moments after Christ's pronouncement, 'I say to you that one of you is about to betray me' (Matt 26:21). Surprise, incredulity, fear, anger, denial, suspicion follow these words.

But other implications are clearly present: Judas' left hand, hovering above a dish, echoes Christ's continuing words, 'He that dippeth his hand with me into the dish, he shall betray me' (Matt 26:23).

Christ's own hands, his right closing towards a glass of wine and his left directed towards a piece of bread, suggest his institution of the Eucharist, either immediately after his betrayal announcement (according to Matthew) or immediately before (in Luke's Gospel).

Peter`s vigorous reaction is in contrast to his thrice frightened denial of Christ a few hours later. Thomas the skeptic naturally challenges his master's words. Philip has risen to his feet, dismayed by the foreseeable consequences of the treason. Bartholomew has jumped up and is questioning Simon, who indicates that he knows nothing.

Distracted by the conversation between John and Peter, Judas reaches for a different piece of bread. At the same time, Jesus too stretches out with his right hand towards the bread, and the hand of Judas.

We now know for definite which apostle is which. In the ninetenth century, one of Leonardo`s Notebooks was discovered and deciphered which indicated who was who. Below is a plan showing the identifications.

The depiction

Leonardo da Vinci described painting as "silent poetry".

The painting is the depiction of a few moments. A few moments in an event which for Europeans immersed in a Christian civilisation- whether Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Anabaptist, Agnostic, or whatever- was one of the most important events in the history of man: the institution and celebration of the First Eucharist. Whatever the differences of the Reformation and the counter-Reformation, it was an event about which Christians of the various denominations could agree, unite and not dispute.

It is a dynamic not a static depiction. The story is told through the depiction, reactions and movements of the faces, bodies and limbs of the characters in the tableau vivant.

The effect of Christ`s statement causes a visible response, in the form of a wave of emotion among the apostles. These reactions are quite specific to each apostle, expressing what Leonardo called the "motions of the mind."

The painter has organised their "action" like a theatre director. He noted the apostles' names and distributed roles:

"One who has just been drinking," Leonardo da Vinci wrote in his notebook, "has put down his glass and turned his head toward another, who is speaking. Another, entwining his fingers together, is turning with a frown toward his neighbour. Another displays the palms of his hands and shrugs his shoulders up toward his ears, struck dumb with amazement. Another whispers in the ear of his neighbour, who turns toward him and inclines his ear, while holding in one hand a knife and in the other a bread roll partly cut." (Leonardo's Notebooks)

Instead of showing the 12 apostles as individual figures, he grouped them in dynamic compositional units of three, framing the figure of Christ, who is isolated in the centre of the picture.

All the diners are seated on one side of the table. None of them have their backs to us. However, most previous depictions had typically excluded Judas by placing him alone on the opposite side of the table from the other twelve. Judas leans back into shadow. He is not distinguished as in previous Last Suppers by the lack of a halo in contra-distinction to the others who would all have haloes. Judas takes the bread at the same time as Jesus, just after Jesus has predicted that this is what his betrayer will do.

On the face of it, it is ultra-realism: the viewer is simply an observer to a scene taking place in a room in Jerusalem which to an onlooker such as one of the servants to the Supper would appear to be nothing out of the ordinary.

This was more apparent in former days than now. See the copy of the picture below. The fine 16th century oil on canvas copy is conserved in the abbey of Tongerlo, Antwerp, Belgium. It reveals many details that are no longer visible on the original.

Beneath the top of the table, and table cloth, one could see the table legs and the feet of Christ and the apostles. Christ was depicted sitting cross-legged. The other feet of the apostles depict action of various types.Unfortunately, the bottom of the picture is now virtually indistinct. Further, at one time a door was inserted immediately beneath the figure of the Christ. His legs and feet are no longer visible.

But as in all Leonardo`s paintings, the effects are subtle which render the painting memorable. The painting's setting is a trompe l'oeil "extension" of the end wall of the actual dining hall. The perspectival viewing point is well above a viewer's head. The walls are skewed inward to create a trapezoidal rather than rectangular room. This has the visual effect of pushing the table with its thirteen men to the immediate foreground.

The figure of Christ is highlighted. It is not finished or rather, it is imperfect. Leonardo said that he could not do justice to the divine face. Accordingly our imaginations are necessarily engaged in the task. However the means by which Christ is highlighted is subtle and not didactic. There is no halo around Christ`s head. However, all of the angles and lighting draw attention to Christ. Christ`s head is framed by an open window in lieu of a halo. Christ's head is at the centre of the composition. Apart from reaching out for bread, he, unlike the others, is relatively still. His head is also the vanishing point toward which all lines of the perspectival projection of the architectural setting converge.

The figure of Christ is suggestive of the Crucifixion, the picture immediately opposite the picture of The Last Supper in the Refectory. The opposite wall of the refectory is covered by a Crucifixion fresco by Donato Montorfano. His head inclines to his left. His arms are outstretched but in a downward position with hands resting on the table. The palms of the hands are visible -the ones which would help bear the weight on the Cross. The feet are in the same position as on the Cross.


The setting

It was painted in the refectory by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron, the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza. The lunettes above the main painting, formed by the triple arched ceiling of the refectory, are painted with the Sforza coats-of-arms.

The refectory was part of the Dominican convent attached to the family church of the Duke.

The opposite wall of the refectory is covered by a Crucifixion fresco by Donato Montorfano, to which Leonardo added figures of the Sforza family in tempera. He painted Lodovico with his eldest son, Massimiliano, and on the other side the Duchess Beatrice with Francesco, her other son, both afterwards Dukes of Milan. The Crucixion was already there when Leonardo began his painting.

Unlike the setting of Ghirlandaio`s Last Supper in the Refectory of the Convent of San Marco in Florence, the civil power (the Sforza) intrudes and looms large within the spiritual realm. Leonardo had to please and not displease his patron. He also had to negotiate the terms of the painting with the Abbot of the Convent. These were the principal constraints within which Leonardo had to work.


The state of the painting and the restorations

It is perhaps surprising that Dorothy Wordsworth was able to make out anything at all. But her fears about the state of the painting were more than justified. The problem arises from the medium of the painting. Leonardo painted The Last Supper on a dry wall rather than on wet plaster, so it is not a true fresco.

That is why the copies of the painting, especially the one in Belgium, and the preparatory sketches are so important.

As early as 1517 the painting was starting to flake. By 1556 — less than sixty years after it was finished — Leonardo's biographer Giorgio Vasari described the painting as already "ruined" and so deteriorated that the figures were unrecognisable.

In 1652, a doorway was cut through the (then unrecognisable) painting, and later bricked up. This can still be seen as the irregular arch shaped structure near the centre base of the painting.

A first restoration was attempted in 1726 by Michelangelo Bellotti, who filled in missing sections with oil paint then varnished the whole mural.

Another restoration was attempted in 1770 by Giuseppe Mazza. Mazza stripped off Bellotti's work then largely repainted the painting. He had redone all but three faces when he was halted due to public outrage.

In 1796 French troops used the refectory as an armory; they threw stones at the painting and climbed ladders to scratch out the Apostles' eyes. The refectory was then later used as a prison.

In 1821 Stefano Barezzi, was called in to remove the painting to a safer location. He badly damaged the centre section before realising that Leonardo's work was not a fresco. Barezzi then attempted to reattach damaged sections with glue.

During World War II, on August 15 1943, the refectory was struck by a bomb. Protective sandbagging prevented the painting being struck by bomb splinters, but it may have been damaged further by the vibration.

From 1978 to 1999, Pinin Brambilla Barcilon guided a major restoration project which undertook to permanently stabilise the painting, and reverse the damage caused by dirt, pollution, and the misguided 18th century and 19th century restoration attempts.

Some areas were deemed unrestorable. These were re-painted with watercolour in subdued colours intended to indicate they were not original work, whilst not being too distracting.

Now, to see the painting, all visitors must book. To further conserve the painting, visitors can only stay in the room for 15 minutes. This means less time for the other paintings including the Crucifixion.

Church and Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan)

Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with The Last Supper (Milan)

LEONARDO da Vinci (b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519, Amboise)
The Last Supper 1495–1498
Tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic 460 × 880 cm, 181 × 346 inches
Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan)

LEONARDO da Vinci (b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519, Amboise)
The Last Supper 1495–1498
Tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic 460 × 880 cm, 181 × 346 inches
Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan)

The Last Supper 1495–1498 (Detail - Christ)

The Last Supper 1495–1498 (Detail - Christ)

The Last Supper 1495–1498 (Detail)

Last Supper (copy)16th century
Oil on canvas, 418 x 794 cm
Abbey of Tongerlo, Antwerp, Belgium

Giovanni Donato Montorfano (1440 - 1510)
The Crucifixion (1495)
Fresco
Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan)

LEONARDO da Vinci (b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519, Amboise)
Study for the Last Supper c. 1495
Pen, ink, silverpoint on blue prepared paper, 145 x 113 mm
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

LEONARDO da Vinci (b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519, Amboise)
Study for the Last Supper1494-95
Red chalk on paper, 260 x 392 mm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

LEONARDO da Vinci (b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519, Amboise)
Study for the Last Supper1494-95
Pen and ink on paper, 266 x 214 mm
Royal Library, Windsor

Rome 1670

For some reason, there was a school of reputable people in England and Europe who believed (perhaps more out of hope than anything else) that Rome would be destroyed in the year 1670.

Disaster prophecy always seems to recur throughout history: Millenariansm; the prophecies of the Jehovah`s Witnesses; Chicken Licken.

John Aubrey (March 12, 1626–June 7, 1697) English antiquary and writer, member of the Royal Society, and the author of Brief Lives, in his Miscellanies upon Various Subjects discussed why it was believed that Rome would disappear in 1670.

"DAY-FATALITY OF ROME ,
Written by Mr. JOHN PELL, D.D. from whom I had it.

THEY that called the city of Rome, "Urbs Æterna", seemed to believen that Rome could never be destroyed. But there have been great numbers of men, that did verily believe, that it shall have an irrecoverable over-throw. Writers have proceeded so far, as to foretell the time of Rome's final ruin. Some said that Rome's perdition should happen in the year of Christ 1670, they have now been decried nine whole years: so that few take care to know what reasons moved them to pitch upon that number.

A Lutheran historian, anno 1656, wrote thus, "Finem Jubileorum Ecclesiasticorum omniumque temporum in Scriptura revelatorum, desinere in Annum Christi Millesimum sexcentesimum & septuagesimum, antehac observavit Beatus Gerhardus cum Philippo Nicolao".

But all men are not of Dr. Gerhard's opinion. Many men believe, that some of the prophecies in the Revelations do reach far beyond our times, and that the events of future times will unclasp and unseal a considerable portion of the Apocalypse. One of the reasons, that recommended the number of 1670, was because it is the sum of 410, and 1260.

Historians agree, that in the year of Christ 410, in the month of August, Rome was trampled under foot, and her heathen inhabitants were miserably slaughtered by the victorious army of Alaric, a Christian King of the Goths. Paulus Diaconus saith, August the 24th was the day of King Alaric's taking Rome. Kedrenus saith, it was August the 26th, perhaps the army first entered the 24th, and the King followed not till two days after.

As for the other number 1260. It is twice found in the Revelations of St. John, ch. 11, 3. "My two witnesses shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days." And chap. 12, 6. "Should feed the woman in the Wilderness, a thousand two hundred and threescore days." And it is there expressed in another form, (42 times 30) chap. 11, 2. "The Gentiles shall tread the holy city under foot forty and two months." Chap. 13, 5. "Power was given to the blasphemous beast to continue forty and two months." Chap. 12, 14. "The woman is nourished in the Wilderness for ({Greek text: Kairon kai kaironos kai hemisu kairon}) a season and seasons, and half a season." See Act. 1, 7. 360 and 720, and 180 are equal to 1260. So it seems every {Greek text: kaipo} hath 360 days, or twelve months at thirty days to a month.

No doubt Daniel had given occasion to this expression, chap. 7, 25. " A time, and times, and the dividing of time." No man can ground any distinct reasoning upon such general words. But yet it is not tied to a just number of days, (as 360) but is capable of various interpretations in several prophecies. Daniel useth a plural in both places, and not a dual, (two times and two seasons) nor doth John say, two seasons: but by his Numeral Illustration, he teaches us to understand him, as if he had said, (chap. 12, 14). " For three seasons and half a season:" I say Numeral Illustration. For I take it to be no other than an easy example (12 and 24 and 6 are 42) to direct the sons of the prophets not yet arrived to the skill of dealing with difficult supputations of numbers not then discoverable. As Revel. 13, 18. "Here is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast."

By 1260 days, almost all the interpreters understand so many years, but not a year of 360 days; because they find no nation that hath so short a year. The Egyptians had a year of just 365 days; but before St. John was born, the Romans had forced them to allow 365 1/4 as we use now in England.

In an enquiry concerning Rome, it is fit to consider the length of a Roman year. (I may justly say a Roman-Moyed; for no city ever had their year's length and form of a calendar determined, settled, and commanded with so much absolute authority as Rome had) Julius Caesar by an edict commanded that number of 365 1/4 to be observed, and therefore it is called a Julian year. Three Julians and an half have days 1278 3/8, but Julian years 1378 3/8 are 1278 Julian years, and days 136 31/32; or almost 137 days.

Almost 100 years ago, Pope Gregory the XIII by a papal bull introduced a calendar wherein the year's length is supposed to have days 365 97/500 Then three Gregorian years and an half have days 1278 279/800 But Gregorian years 1278 279/800 are 1278 Julian years, and days almost 118. Wherefore instead of adding 1260, add 1278, add 137 days to the year of our Lord 410, August 26. The sum shews the year of our Lord 1688, August 163, that is, ten days after the end of December 1688 old stile. This is the utmost, or farthest day, beyond which no Apocalypse account (reckoning from Alaric) can point out a time forthe final destruction of the city of Rome.

Again (instead of adding 1260) add 1278 years, and days 118 to the year of our Lord 410, August 24. The sum shews the year of our Lord 1688, August 142, that is, eleven days before the end of December 1688 old stile. This (December 20) is the nearest or soonest day that can be gathered by Apocalyptic account (reckoning from Alaric) to point out the time of Rome's final ruin. But if it happens not before the eleventh of January, men will make no more reckoning of Alaric; but begin a new account from Attila, in the year of Christ, 453.

Calculation to a day (when we can do it) may be defended by a great example. Exod. 12, 41. "At the end of 430 years, even the self-same day, &c." John Pell."


Moral: Never abandon reason and common sense.

Lord Nolan

The death has been announced of Lord Michael Patrick Nolan, a former Law Lord on January 22, 2007.

The son of a solicitor, Michael Patrick Nolan was born in 1928. His father’s family had emigrated from Co Kerry during the Irish potato famine. He was brought up in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, and attended Ampleforth, where his housemaster instilled in him a lifelong love of fishing.

As a Judge, Nolan’s decisions were seldom fashionable or even popular.

His most important judgment was in M v Home Office, in which he found the former Home Secretary Kenneth Baker in contempt for deporting a Zairean refugee subject to a court order. This firmly established that ministers and civil servants were accountable for their personal actions and can be proceeded against..

A month later Nolan again publicly criticised the Home Secretary, this time for refusing to set our parole terms for a convicted IRA terrorist.

Nolan was a member of the Court of Appeal panel that overturned the convictions of the Birmingham Six.

He also allowed the appeal of Judith Ward against a conviction for killing ten people in a 1974 coach bombing. Describing that conviction as a “grave miscarriage of justice”, he said it had resulted from the deliberate withholding of evidence that proved her innocence. His judgment transformed police practice by institutionalising the right of defendants to see nearly all the papers produced by a criminal inquiry.

After two years at the Court of Appeal Nolan was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (the English equivalent of a Supreme Court judge) in January 1994.

Appointed by John Major as chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Lord Nolan left no one in any doubt that he, and he alone, would determine how the committee would conduct its business. The committee’s first report, published in mid-1995, argued that MPs should declare their earnings from acting as parliamentary consultants and be banned from acting as paid agents for lobbying firms. It also recommended that a new commissioner be set up to oversee MPs’ conduct.

The Telegraph has said: "Not the least reason for the Nolan committee's success was the recognition of its chairman's unquestionable personal integrity, which was rooted in a devout Roman Catholic faith."

In 2000 Nolan was asked by the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, to conduct a review of the problem of paedophile priests. His report, published in April 2001, contained 50 recommendations. These included the setting up of a national child protection unit within the Church to root out child abuse by vetting clergy, lay staff and volunteers before they took on new posts. The unit, it was suggested, would have responsibility for maintaining a national database of information on all applicants for ordination to ensure that those deemed unsuitable to work in one diocese were not able to seek employment in another.

See the obituaries in
The Times

The Telegraph

The Romans in Scotland

Roman occupation south of Hadrian`s Wall is generally well known. The Roman occupation north of Hadrian`s Wall is rather less so.

The Antonine Wall in Scotland was the northernmost frontier of the Roman empire. It ran from Bo'ness near Carriden in Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth, to Old Kilpatrick in the outskirts of Glasgow near Dumbarton on the Firth of Clyde.

Roman remains showing the extent of Roman occupation in Scotland is shown on the above map.

The recent nomination of The Antonine Wall as a World Heritage Site has revived interest in the Roman occupation of Scotland.

The proposal/nomination document on the Heritage Scotland site is a minefield of information, not only about the Wall itself but also about Roman remains in Scotland generally.

References:

The Antonine Wall
http://www.roman-britain.org/frontiers/antonine.htm

Wikipedia:
Antonine Wall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Wall
Roman Britain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain

History of the Antonine Wall
http://www.antonineway.com

Historic Scotland:
News: http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/news-full-article.htm?articleid=24510
The Antonine Wall World Heritage bid andNomination document:
http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/policyandguidance/world_heritage_scotland/antoninewall.htm

Blessed Mother Marianne Cope (1838-1918)

Though leprosy scared off most people in 19th-century Hawaii, that disease sparked great generosity in the woman who came to be known as Mother Marianne of Molokai

In 1888, Mother Marianne and two sisters went to Molokai to open a home for “unprotected women and girls” there. The Hawaiian government was quite hesitant to send women for this difficult assignment; they need not have worried about Mother Marianne! On Molokai she took charge of the home that Blessed Damien DeVeuster (d. 1889) had established for men and boys.

Full note on her life: Mortuum Mundo...Vivum in Christo.

A Victorian Converts

"CHAPTER LI.

CARDINAL MANNING--"OUR CHAPEL."


Cardinal Manning was a real friend to me, and I often spent an hour with him on a Sunday morning or afternoon discussing general topics. At my request, when I had no thought of being converted to his Church, he marked in a book of prayers which he gave me several of his own selections, which I have carefully preserved; but I can truly say he never uttered one word, or made the least attempt, to proselytize me.

He left me to my own free, uncontrolled, and uncontrollable action. My reception into the Church of Rome was purely of my own free choice and will, and according to the exercise of my own judgment. I thought formyself, and acted for myself, or I should not have acted at all.

I have always been, and am, satisfied that I was right.

As to Cardinal Manning, his extreme good sense and toleration were my admiration at all times, and I shall venerate his memory as long as I live. His kindness was unbounded.

It was after his death, which was a great shock to me, that I was received into the Church by the late Cardinal Vaughan.

When the latter was showing Lady Brampton and myself over that beautiful structure, the new Westminster Cathedral, I thought I should like to erect a memorial chapel, and made a proposal to that effect.

We resolved to dedicate it to St. Gregory and St. Augustine. It was afterwards called "Our Chapel." The stonework was accordingly proceeded with, and afterwards the plans for decoration were submitted to the Archbishop and myself. For these decorations I subscribed a portion. The rest of the work was our own, and we have the satisfaction of feeling that Our Chapel is erected to the honour and glory of God. "

From The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton)(1904)

By Henry Hawkins Brampton (b. at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, 14 September, 1817; d. at London, 12 October, 1907),
Judge of the Queens Bench Court, London

A Biographical entry of his life is in The Catholic Encyclopedia.

Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession Through the Streets of Florence

Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (3 December 1830–25 January 1896)
Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession Through the Streets of Florence 1853-5
Oil on canvas 222 x 521 cm.
On loan to the Leighton House Museum, London, from Her Majesty The Queen.

Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession Through the Streets of Florence 1853-5 (detail)

Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession Through the Streets of Florence 1853-5 (detail)

Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession Through the Streets of Florence 1853-5 (detail)

The English establishment and middle-class had an attachment to Florence. It was an essential stopping point on the Grand Tour.

In the painting, Cimabue's celebrated 'Madonna' is carried in procession through the streets of Florence. In front of the 'Madonna', and crowned with laurels, walks Cimabue with his pupil Giotto. Behind are Arnolfo de Lapo, Gaddo Gaddi, Andrea Tafi, Nicola Pisano, Buffalmacco, Simone Memmi. In the right corner is Dante.

This was Leighton's first major work, painted in Rome. It was shown at The Royal Academy in London in 1855. It was four years after the passing of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851. However, despite its Catholic theme, it was an immediate success, and Queen Victoria bought it for 600 guineas on the opening day.

She recorded in her diary: 'There was a very big picture by a man called Leighton. It is a beautiful painting, quite reminding one of a Paul Veronese, so bright and full of light. Albert was enchanted with it - so much so that he made me buy it.'

The scene is based on the passage in Vasari`s Lives of the Artists regarding the artist Cimabue:

"After his return to Florence he made for the church of S. Maria Novella a picture of our Lady, which work was of larger size than those that had been made before that time, and the angels that stand round, although they are in the Greek manner, yet show something of the modern style.

Therefore this work caused such marvel to the people of that time, never having seen a better, that it was borne in solemn procession with trumpets and great rejoicing from the house of Cimabue to the church, and he himself received great honours and rewards.

It is said, and you may read it in certain records of old pictures, that while Cimabue was painting this picture, King Charles of Anjou passed through Florence, and among other entertainments provided for him by the people of the city, they took him to see Cimabue's picture; and as no one had seen it before it was shown to the king, there was a great concourse of all the men and women of Florence to see it, with the greatest rejoicing and running together in the world.

From the gladness of the whole neighbourhood that part was called Borgo Allegri, the Joyful Quarter, and though it is now within the walls of the city, it has always preserved the same name."

Some images of some of Cimabue`s Madonnas can be seen here.

Reading the Blogs: A Library of Posts

A day for reading the blogs. Many, many interesting posts but the following came up and bit me.

The Lion and the Cathedral

A post on Beckford`s Fonthill Abbey (now disappeared), as well as links to the eccentric owner who was the author of Vathek, one of the best known English Gothic novels.

There is a link to a book with illustrations of the Abbey.

The architect, James Wyatt, was an ancestor of the now deceased journalist, Woodrow Wyatt, friend of Lady Margaret Thatcher and the late Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth.

The Roving Medievalist

Interesting posts on English cottages. Unfortunately the cost of an English cottage is now astronomic and very much outwith my reach. But we can dream....

The hermeneutic of continuity

Graves and tombs at St Mary's, Chislehurst: Charles West, the Founder of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children; Claude Sophie O'Shea, infant daughter of Charles Stewart Parnell; monument to Napoleon III, et cetera and additiional comment by mulier fortis.(in the comments section)

Catholic News Service

New book offers inside glimpse of John Paul II's life in Poland and Rome on "A Life With Karol," by Cardinal Dziwisz.

Tea at Trianon

Who spied on Pope John Paul II ? The author provides a good link to Sandro Magister: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=113441&eng=y

in illo tempore

Has kindly followed up my post on Guido Reni with more interesting information:
A mosaic copy of the painting of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome of St Michael the Archangel, executed some 125 years later, is in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, above the Altar of St Michael the Archangel.

Christ`s Hospital

As an antidote to the post below, it is sometimes useful to consider what the Church has achieved in the past.

In an era of socialised medicine and cradle -to -grave social services, it is hard to recall the work carried out by Church agencies before the State took control.

One of the sights of Rome which impressed the diarist John Evelyn in the seventeenth century was Christ`s Hospital in Rome, situated on the Via Triumphalis, near Monte Mario.Via Triumphalis (now called Via Trionfale) is a long Roman road of starting in the neighbourhood of the Vatican City , and goes up the small hill of Monte Mario and ends at the Via Cassia in the Giustiniana quarter. The road was so called because from the time of Titus, it was used for Triumphal processions.

Evelyn wrote:

"25th January.1645

Hence, we went to see Dr. Gibbs, a famous poet and countryman of ours, who had some intendency in an Hospital built on the Via Triumphalis, called Christ's Hospital, which he showed us.

The Infirmatory, where the sick lay, was paved with various coloured marbles, and the walls hung with noble pieces; the beds are very fair; in the middle is a stately cupola, under which is an altar decked with divers marble statues, all in sight of the sick, who may both see and hear mass, as they lie in their beds. The organs are very fine, and frequently played on to recreate the people in pain.

To this joins an apartment destined for the orphans; and there is a school: the children wear blue, like ours in London, at an hospital of the same appellation.

Here are forty nurses, who give suck to such children as are accidentally found exposed and abandoned. In another quarter, are children of a bigger growth, 450 in number, who are taught letters. In another, 500 girls, under the tuition of divers religious matrons, in a monastery, as it were, by itself. I was assured there were at least 2000 more maintained in other places.

I think one apartment had in it near 1000 beds; these are in a very long room, having an inner passage for those who attend, with as much care, sweetness, and conveniency as can be imagined, the Italians being generally very neat.

Under the portico, the sick may walk out and take the air.

Opposite to this, are other chambers for such as are sick of maladies of a more rare and difficult cure, and they have rooms apart. At the end of the long corridor is an apothecary's shop, fair and very well stored; near which are chambers for persons of better quality, who are yet necessitous. Whatever the poor bring is, at their coming in, delivered to a treasurer, who makes an inventory, and is accountable to them, or their representatives if they die.

To this building joins the house of the commendator, who, with his officers attending the sick, make up ninety persons; besides a convent and an ample church for the friars and priests who daily attend. The church is extremely neat, and the sacristia is very rich. Indeed it is altogether one of the most pious and worthy foundations I ever saw. Nor is the benefit small which divers young physicians and chirurgeons reap by the experience they learn here amongst the sick, to whom those students have free access. "

The rehabilitation of Cesare Borgia

Cristoforo dell'Altissimo
Portrait of Cesare Borgia, (16th century)
Oil on wood, cm 60 x 45
Firenze, Uffizi, Corridoio Vasariano

The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday 23 January 2007 reports that the remains of Cesare Borgia, the notorious inspiration for Machiavelli's The Prince, are to be moved into a Spanish church.

Cesare Borgia (September 13, 1475? – March 12, 1507) was the illegitemate child of Pope Alexander VI, one of the most notorious of the Renaissance popes. It is generally recognised that the Borgia family brought disgrace on the Church.

Cesare was made cardinal by his father at the age of 17 and an accomplished murderer by the age of 25.

His remains have lain for centuries outwith church grounds. For centuries local bishops in Spain have refused to allow theinterment of the remains in a church.

However, Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, the Archbishop of Pamplona, has caved in after more than 50 years of petitions and Borgia will finally be moved back inside the church on March 11, the day before the 500th anniversary of his death.

I guess there`s hope for us all.

Cesare Borgia`s ultimate fate is in the hands of God. But in the age of the instant headline and reaction, and when the Church has important battles to fight in the modern world, does the re-interment of the remains in a church give rise to, what is called in football, an "own goal" ?

The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church in its section on the Consistory of September 20, 1493 gives a full biography of Cesare Borgia.

Abortion and Freedom

Fr Jim Tucker at Dappled Things has a useful post on "Abortion and Freedom" from a conservative point of view,

He writes:

"Today being the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it would be good to renew our solidarity with all those who have been killed by abortion, as well as with those who are acting to end this barbarous practice.

If a government is good for anything, it's good for preventing aggression against individuals and their property, and this is particularly true in the case of those who are weak, vulnerable, and without a legal voice of their own. This is why we are not only morally opposed to abortion, we are also committed to having the government protect those whose lives are in danger from it.

That, in a nutshell, is the secular argument against legal abortion, a principle with which everyone ought to be in agreement."

He then gives various links to the Libertarians for Life site and an interesting collection of articles defending preborn human life from the standpoint of individual liberties.

The Triumph of the Innocents

William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910)
The Triumph of the Innocents. 1883-84.
Oil on canvas, 61 1/2 x 100 in.

Hunt is most famous for his religious work, The Light of the World, painted 1851-53.

His other religious paintings are also well known: The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple; Christ and the Two Marys ; The Scapegoat; The Shadow of Death; Melchizedek.

Here, Hunt also has a new subject, the Resurrection. Where he had earlier concentrated upon the humanity of Christ and his later sufferings, he now paints an image of the afterlife, representing not the resurrection of Christ but that of the slaughtered innocents. Perhaps the subject is pertinent in view of it being the anniversary of Roe v Wade. Perhaps it is also apposite in view of the recent discussions about the existence or otherwise of Limbo. What does happen to the souls of the aborted ?

In portraying Christianity's first martyrs, Hunt returns to a theme he had treated in his Druids picture almost three and a half decades before. But whereas there he emphasized mercy, now he sets forth the martyr's reward.

The three chief visionary elements in the picture are the spirits of the martyred children, the sacred light which envelops them, and globes which rise from the stream of eternal life.

Hunt explained the picture as follows:

`We come upon the Holy Family during their flight into Egypt just at the moment that Mary is changing the garments in which she has wrapped Jesus "at the time of the escape from Bethlehem," when suddenly "Jesus recognizes the spirits of the slain Innocents . . . They reveal the signs of their martyrdom. Garlanded for the sacrifice, bearing branches and blossoms of trees, they progressively mark their understanding of the glory of their service." At the rear of this visionary company, infants slowly awaken into their new spiritual life, yet bearing the marks of "earthly terror and suffering still impressed upon them. Towards the front are other spirits of children triumphing in completer knowledge of their service. One of them in priestly office leads the band. Those who follow cast down their tokens of martyrdom in the path of their recognised Lord" ("Epitome," The Triumph of the Innocents [London, 1885], ). These children, who prefigure all Christian martyrs, also prefigure those martyrs" reward of eternal life. "Death is already seen to have no sting, the grave no victory" .



References:
William Holman Hunt in the "History of Art" — a paper by Albert Boime published originally in The Art Bulletin 84 no1 94-114 Mr 2002.
http://www.all-art.org/neoclasscism/hunt1.html

Inversnaid, by Loch Lomond

Views of Inversnaid



Views from Inversnaid:





The Waterfall:

The Gazeteer of Scotland (see http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/Background.html) describes it so:

"A hamlet with a hotel situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond. There are spectacular views across the loch to the Arrochar 'Alps' and nearby are the rock pools and water falls of the Snaid Burn. The locality provided inspiration for the poets William Wordsworth and Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Sir Walter Scott passed this way in 1792 and 1828. Rob Roy Macgregor acquired land at Inversnaid and a barracks was erected here in 1719 to control the Jacobite districts after the 1715 rebellion.

Inversnaid is located 20 miles (32 km) north west of Aberfoyle. It is linked by road to Stronachlar on Loch Katrine and to the east is a farmstead known as the Garrison of Inversnaid which incorporates the remains of a military Barracks built in 1718-19. The West Highland Way passes through Inversnaid and a mile to the north by the loch side is Rob Roy's Cave, a refuge often used by Rob Roy Macgregor."


William Wordsworth`s (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850) poem was written in 1803.

To the Highland Girl of Inversnaid

SWEET Highland Girl, a very shower
Of beauty is thy earthly dower!
Twice seven consenting years have shed
Their utmost bounty on thy head:
And these gray rocks, this household lawn, 5
These trees—a veil just half withdrawn;
This fall of water, that doth make
A murmur near the silent lake;
This little bay, a quiet road
That holds in shelter thy abode;— 10
In truth together ye do seem
Like something fashion'd in a dream—
Such forms as from their covert peep
When earthly cares are laid asleep!
But, O fair Creature! in the light 15
Of common day, so heavenly bright,
I bless Thee, Vision as thou art,
I bless thee with a human heart:
God shield thee to thy latest years!
I neither know thee nor thy peers, 20
And yet my eyes are fill'd with tears.

With earnest feeling I shall pray
For thee when I am far away;
For never saw I mien or face
In which more plainly I could trace 25
Benignity and home-bred sense
Ripening in perfect innocence.
Here scatter'd, like a random seed,
Remote from men, thou dost not need
The embarrass'd look of shy distress, 30
And maidenly shamefacèdness.
Thou wear'st upon thy forehead clear
The freedom of a mountaineer;
A face with gladness overspread;
Soft smiles, by human kindness bred; 35
And seemliness complete, that sways
Thy courtesies, about thee plays;
With no restraint, but such as springs
From quick and eager visitings
Of thoughts that lie beyond the reach 40
Of thy few words of English speech—
A bondage sweetly brook'd, a strife
That gives thy gestures grace and life!
So have I, not unmoved in mind,
Seen birds of tempest-loving kind 45
Thus beating up against the wind.

What hand but would a garland cull
For thee, who art so beautiful?
O happy pleasure! here to dwell
Beside thee in some heathy dell; 50
Adopt your homely ways, and dress,
A shepherd, thou a shepherdess!
But I could frame a wish for thee
More like a grave reality:
Thou art to me but as a wave 55
Of the wild sea; and I would have
Some claim upon thee, if I could,
Though but of common neighbourhood,
What joy to hear thee, and to see!
Thy elder brother I would be, 60
Thy father—anything to thee.

Now thanks to Heaven! that of its grace
Hath led me to this lonely place.
Joy have I had; and going hence
I bear away my recompense. 65
In spots like these it is we prize
Our memory, feel that she hath eyes.
Then why should I be loth to stir?
I feel this place was made for her;
To give new pleasure like the past, 70
Continued long as life shall last.
Nor am I loth, though pleased at heart,
Sweet Highland Girl! from thee to part;
For I, methinks, till I grow old
As fair before me shall behold 75
As I do now the cabin small,
The lake, the bay, the waterfall,
And thee, the spirit of them all!





The poem was based on an actual meeting which Wordsworth had at Inversnaid with a Highland girl in 1803. He was on tour with Coleridge and his sister, Dorothy. In her Journal, Dorothy described the day thus:

"Friday, August 26th.

We did not set off till between ten and eleven o'clock, much too late for a long day. This distinction between the foot and head is not very clear. What is meant is this : They would have to travel the whole length of the lake, from the west to the east end of it, before they came to the Trossachs, the pass leading away from the east end of the lake.

Our boatman lived at the pretty white house which we saw from the windows : we called at his door by the way, and, even when we were near the house, the outside looked comfortable ; but within I never saw anything so miserable from dirt, and dirt alone : it reminded one of the house of a decayed weaver in the suburbs of a large town, with a sickly wife and a large family ; but William says it was far worse, that it was quite Hottentotish.

After long waiting, and many clumsy preparations, we got ourselves seated in the boat ; but we had not floated five yards before we perceived that if any of the party and there was a little Highland woman who was going over the water with us, the boatman, his helper, and ourselves should stir but a few inches, leaning to one side or the other, the boat would be full in an instant, and we at the bottom ; besides, it was very leaky, and the woman was employed to lade out the water continually. It appeared that this crazy vessel was not the man's own, and that his was lying in a bay at a little distance. He said he would take us to it as fast as possible, but I was so much frightened I would gladly have given up the whole day's journey ; indeed not one of us would have attempted to cross the lake in that boat for a thousand pounds.

We reached the larger boat in safety after coasting a considerable way near the shore, but just as we were landing, William dropped the bundle which contained our food into the water. The fowls were no worse, but some sugar, ground coffee, and pepper-cake seemed to be entirely spoiled. We gathered together as much of the coffee and sugar as we could and tied it up, and again trusted ourselves to the lake. The sun shone, and the air was calm luckily it had been so while we were in the crazy boat we had rocks and woods on each side of us, or bare hills; seldom a single cottage, and there was no rememberable place till we came opposite to a waterfall of no inconsiderable size, that appeared to drop directly into the lake :close to it was a hut, which we were told was the ferryhouse.

On the other side of the lake was a pretty farm under the mountains, beside a river, the cultivated grounds lying all together, and sloping towards the lake from the mountain hollow down which the river came. It is not easy to conceive how beautiful these spots appeared after moving on so long between the solitary steeps.

We went a considerable way further, and landed at Rob Roy's Caves, which are in fact no caves, but some fine rocks on the brink of the lake, in the crevices of which a man might hide himself cunningly enough ; the water is very deep below them, and the hills above steep and covered with wood.

The little Highland woman, who was in size about a match for our guide at Lanerk, accompanied us hither.

There was something very gracious in the manners of this woman; she could scarcely speak five English words, yet she gave me, whenever I spoke to her, as many intelligible smiles as I had needed English words to answer me, and helped me over the rocks in the most obliging manner. She had left the boat out of good-will to us, or for her own amusement. She had never seen these caves before ; but no doubt had heard of them, the tales of Rob Roy's exploits being told familiarly round the " ingles " hereabouts, for this neighbourhood was his home.

We landed at Inversneyde, the ferryhouse by the waterfall, and were not sorry to part with our boatman, who was a coarse hard-featured man, and, speaking of the French, uttered the basest and most cowardly sentiments. His helper, a youth fresh from the Isle of Skye, was innocent of this fault, and though but a bad rower, was a far better companion ; he could not speak a word of English, and sang a plaintive Gaelic air in a low tone while he plied his oar.

The ferryhouse stood on the bank a few yards above the landing-place where the boat lies. It is a small under a steep wood, and a few yards to the right, looking towards the hut, is the waterfall. The fall is not very high, but the stream is considerable, as we could see by the large black stones that were lying bare, but the rains, if they had reached this place, had had little effect upon the waterfall; its noise was not so great as to form a contrast with the stillness of the bay into which it falls, where the boat, and house, and waterfall itself seemed all sheltered and protected.

The Highland woman was to go with us the two first miles of our journey. She led us along a bye foot-path a shorter way up the hill from the ferry-house. There is a considerable settling in the hills that border Loch Lomond, at the passage by which we were to cross to Loch Ketterine; Ben Lomond, terminating near the ferry-house, is on the same side of the water with it, and about three miles above Tarbet.

We had to climb right up the hill, which is very steep, and, when close under it, seemed to be high, but we soon reached the top, and when we were there had lost sight of the lake ; and now our road was over a moor, or rather through a wide moorland hollow. Having gone a little way, we saw before us, at the distance of about half a mile, a very large stone building, a singular structure, with a high wall round it, naked hill above, and neither field nor tree near ; but the moor was not overgrown with heath merely, but grey grass, such as cattle might pasture upon. We could not conjecture what this building was ; it appeared as if it had been built strong to defend it from storms ; but for what purpose? William called out to us that we should observe that place well, for it was exactly like one of the spittals of the Alps, built for the reception of travellers, and indeed I had thought it must be so before he spoke.

This building, from its singular structure and appearance, made the place, which is itself in a country like Scotland no wise remarkable, take a character of unusual wildness and desolation this when we first came in view of it ; and afterwards, when we had passed it and looked back, three pyramidal mountains on the opposite side of Loch Lomond terminated the view, which under certain accidents of weather must be very grand.

Our Highland companion had not English enough to give us any information concerning this strange building ; we could only get from her that it was a " large house," which was plain enough.

We walked about a mile and a half over the moor without seeing any other dwelling but one hut by the burn-side, with a peat-stack and a ten-yards-square enclosure for potatoes ; then we came to several clusters of houses, even hamlets they might be called, but where there is any land belonging to the Highland huts there are so many out-buildings near, which differ in no respect from the dwelling-houses except that they send out no smoke, that one house looks like two or three. Near these nouses was a considerable quantity of cultivated ground, potatoes and corn,and the people were busy making hay in the hollow places of the open vale, and all along the sides of the becks. It was a pretty sight altogether men and women, dogs, the little running streams, with linen bleaching near them, and cheerful sunny hills and rocks on every side. We passed by one patch of potatoes that a florist might have been proud of ; no carnation-bed ever looked more gay than this square plot of ground on the waste common. The flowers were in very large bunches, and of an extraordinary size, and of every conceivable shade of colouring from snow white to deep purple. It was pleasing in that place, where perhaps was never yet a flower cultivated by man for his own pleasure, to see these blossoms grow more gladly than elsewhere, making a summer garden near the mountain dwellings.

At one of the clusters of houses we parted with our companion, who had insisted on bearing my bundle while she stayed with us.

I often tried to enter into conversation with her, and seeing a small tarn before us, was reminded of the pleasure of fishing and the manner of living there, and asked her what sort of food was eaten in that place, if they lived much upon fish, or had mutton from the hills ; she looked earnestly at me, and shaking her head, replied, " Oh yes ! eat fish no papists, eat everything."

The tarn had one small island covered with wood ; the stream that runs from it falls into Loch Ketterine, which, after we had gone a little beyond the tarn, we saw at some distance before us.

Pursued the road, a mountain horse-track, till we came to a corner of what seemed the head of the lake, and there sate down completely tired, and hopeless as to the rest of our journey.

The road ended at the shore, and no houses were to be seen on the opposite side except a few widely parted huts, and on the near side was a trackless heath. The land at the head of the lake was but a continuation of the common we had come along, and was covered with heather, intersected by a few straggling foot-paths.

Coleridge and I were faint with hunger, and could go no further till we had refreshed ourselves, so we ate up one of our fowls, and drank of the water of Loch Ketterine ; but William could not be easy till he had examined the coast, so he left us, and made his way along the moor across the head of the lake.

Coleridge and I, as we sate, had what seemed to us but a dreary prospect a waste of unknown ground which we guessed we must travel over before it was possible for us to find a shelter. We saw a long way down the lake ; it was all moor on the near side ; on the other the hills were steep from the water, and there were large coppice-woods, but no cheerful green fields, and no road that we could see ; we knew, however, that there must be a road from house to house ; but the whole lake appeared a solitude neither boats, islands, nor houses, no grandeur in the hills, nor any loveliness in the shores. When we first came in view of it we had said it was like a barren Ulswater, Ulswater dismantled of its grandeur, and cropped of its lesser beauties. When I had swallowed my dinner I hastened after William, and Coleridge followed me.

Walked through the heather with some labour for perhaps half a mile, and found William sitting on the top of a small eminence, whence we saw the real head of the lake, which was pushed up into the vale a considerable way beyond the promontory where we now sate. The view up the lake was very pleasing, resembling Thirlemere below Armath. There were rocky promontories and woody islands, and, what was most cheering to us, a neat white house on the opposite shore ; but we could see no boats, so, in order to get to it we should be obliged to go round the head of the
lake, a long and weary way.

After Coleridge came up to us, while we were debating whether we should turn back or go forward, we espied a man on horseback at a little distance, with a boy following him on foot, no doubt a welcome sight,and we hailed him. We should have been glad to have seen either man, woman, or child at this time, but there was something uncommon and interesting in this man's appearance, which would have fixed our attention wherever we had met him. He was a complete Highlander in dress, figure, and face, and a very fine-looking man, hardy and vigorous, though past his prime.

While he stood waiting for us in his bonnet and plaid, which never look more graceful than on horseback, I forgot our errand, and only felt glad that we were in the Highlands.

William accosted him with, "Sir, do you speak English?" He replied, "A little." He spoke however, sufficiently well for our purpose, and very distinctly, as all the Highlanders do who learn English as a foreign language ; but in a long conversation they want words ; he informed us that he himself was going beyond the Trossachs, to Callander, that no boats were kept to let " ; but there were two gentlemen's houses at this end of the lake, one of which we could not yet see, it being hidden from us by a part of the hill on which we stood. The other house was that which we saw opposite to us ; both the gentlemen kept boats, and probably might be able to spare one of their servants to go with us. After we had asked many questions, which the Highlander answered with patience and courtesy, he parted from us, going along a sort of horsetrack, which a foot-passenger, if he once get into it, need not lose if he be careful....

Sunday, August 28.
We recognised the same objects passed before, the tarn, the potato-bed, and the cottages with their burnies, which were no longer, as one might say, household streams, but made us only think of the mountains and rocks they came from. Indeed, it is not easy to imagine how different everything appeared ; the mountains with mists and torrents alive and
always changing : but the low grounds where the inhabitants had been at work the day before were melancholy, with here and there a few haycocks and hay scattered about.

Wet as we were, William and I turned out of our path to the Garrison house. A few rooms of it seemed to be inhabited by some wretchedly poor families, and it had all the desolation of a large decayed mansion in the suburbs of a town, abandoned of its proper inhabitants, and become the abode of paupers. In spite of its outside bravery, it was but a poor protection against "the sword of winter, keen and cold." We looked at the building through the arch of a broken gateway of the courtyard, in the middle of which it stands. Upon that stormy day it appeared more than desolate ; there was something about it even frightful.

When beginning to descend the hill towards Loch Lomond, we overtook two girls, who told us we could not cross the ferry till evening, for the boat was gone with a number of people to church. One of the girls was exceedingly beautiful ; and the figures of both of them, in grey plaids falling to their feet, their faces only being uncovered, excited our attention before we spoke to them ; but they answered us so sweetly that we were quite delighted, at the same time that they stared at us with an innocent look of wonder. I think I never heard the English language sound more sweetly than from the mouth of the elder of these girls, while she stood at the gate answering our inquiries, her face flushed with the rain ; her pronunciation was clear and distinct : without difficulty, yet slow, like that of a foreign speech. They told us we might sit in the ferry-house till the return of the boat, went in with us, and made a good fire as fast as possible to dry our wet clothes. We learnt that the taller was the sister of the ferryman, and had been left in charge with the house for the day, that the other was his wife's sister, and was come with her mother on a visit,an old woman, who sate in a corner beside the cradle, nursing her little grand-child. We were glad to be housed, with our feet upon a warm hearth-stone ; and our attendants were so active and good-humoured that it was pleasant to have to desire them to do anything. The younger was a delicate and unhealthy-looking girl ; but there was an uncommon meekness in her countenance, with an air of premature intelligence, which is often seen in sickly young persons. The other made me think of Peter Bell's " Highland Girl : "

As light and beauteous as a squirrel,
As beauteous and as wild !

She moved with unusual activity, which was chastened very delicately by a certain hesitation in her looks when she spoke, being able to understand us but imperfectly. They were both exceedingly desirous to get me what I wanted to make me comfortable. I was to have a gown and petticoat of the mistress's ; so they turned out her whole wardrobe upon the parlour floor, talking Erse to one another, and laughing all the time. It was long before they could decide which of the gowns I was to have ; they chose at last, no doubt thinking that it was the best, a light-coloured sprigged cotton, with long sleeves, and they both laughed while I was putting it on, with the blue linsey petticoat, and one or the other, or both together, helped me to dress, repeating at least half a dozen times, " You never had on the like of that before." They held a consultation of several minutes over a pair of coarse woollen stockings, gabbling Erse as fast as their tongues could move, and looked as if uncertain what to do : at last, with great diffidence, they offered them to me, adding, as before, that I had never worn "the like of them." When we entered the house we had been not a little glad to see a fowl stewing in barley-broth ; and now when the wettest of our clothes were stripped off, began again to recollect that we were hungry, and asked if we could have dinner. " Oh yes, ye may get that," the elder replied, pointing to the pan on the fire.

Conceive what a busy house it was all our wet clothes to be dried, dinner prepared and set out for us four strangers, and a second cooking for the family ; add to this, two rough "callans," as they called them, boys about eight years old, were playing beside us ; the poor baby was fretful all the while ; the old woman sang doleful Erse songs, rocking it in its cradle the more violently the more it cried ; then there were a dozen cookings of porridge,and it could never be fed without the assistance of all three. The hut was after the Highland fashion, but without anything beautiful except its situation ; the floor was rough, and wet with the rain that came in at the door, so that the lasses' bare feet were as wet as if they had been walking through street puddles, in passing from one room to another ; the windows were open, as at the other hut ; but the kitchen had a bed in it, and was much smaller, and the shape of the house was like that of a common English cottage, without its comfort ; yet there was no appearance of poverty indeed, quite the contrary.

The peep out of the open doorplace across the lake made some amends for the want of the long roof and elegant rafters of our boatman's cottage, and all the while the waterfall, which we could not see, was roaring at the end of the hut, which seemed to serve as a sounding-board for its noise, so that it was not unlike sitting in a house where a mill is going. The dashing of the waves against the shore could not be distinguished ; yet in spite of my knowledge of this I could not help fancying that the tumult and storm came from the lake, and went out several times to see if it was possible to row over in safety.

After long waiting we grew impatient for our dinner ; at last the pan was taken off, and carried into the other room ; but we had to wait at least another half hour before the ceremony of dishing up was completed ; yet with all this bustle and difficulty, the manner in which they, and particularly the elder of the girls, performed everything, was perfectly graceful. We ate a hearty dinner, and had time to get our clothes quite dry before the arrival of the boat. The girls could not say at what time it would be at home ; on our asking them if the church was far off they replied, " Not very far " ; and when we asked how far, they said, " Perhaps about four or five miles." I believe a Church of England congregation would hold themselves excused for non-attendance three parts of the year, having but half as far to go ; but in the lonely parts of Scotland they make little of a journey of nine or ten miles to a preaching. They have not perhaps an opportunity of going more than once in a quarter of a year, and, setting piety aside, have other motives to attend : they hear the news, public and private, and see their friends and neighbours ; for though the people who meet at these times may be gathered together from a circle of twenty miles' diameter, a sort of neighbourly connexion must be so brought about. There is something exceedingly pleasing to my imagination in this gathering together of the inhabitants of these secluded districts for instance, the borderers of these two large lakes meeting at the deserted garrison which I have described. The manner of their travelling is on foot, on horseback, and in boats across the waters, young and old, rich and poor, all in their best dress.

If it were not for these Sabbath-day meetings one summer month would be like another summer month, one winter month like another detached from the goings-on of the world, and solitary throughout ; from the time of earliest childhood they will be like landing places in the memory of a person who has passed his life in these thinly peopled regions ; they must generally leave distinct impressions, differing from each other so much as they do in circumstances, in time and place, etc., some in the open fields, upon hills, in houses,under large rocks, in storms, and in fine weather.

But I have forgotten the fireside of our hut. After long waiting, the girls, who had been on the look-out, informed us that the boat was coming. I went to the water-side, and saw a cluster of people on the opposite shore ; but being yet at a distance, they looked more like soldiers surrounding a carriage- than a group of men and women ; red and green were the distinguishable colours. We hastened to get ourselves ready as soon as we saw the party approach, but had longer to wait than we expected, the lake being wider than it appears to be. As they drew near we could distinguish men in tartan plaids, women in scarlet cloaks, and green umbrellas by the half-dozen. The landing was as pretty a sight as ever I saw. The bay, which had been so quiet two days before, was all in motion with small waves, while the swoln waterfall roared in our ears. The boat came steadily up, being pressed almost to the water's edge by the weight of its cargo ; perhaps twenty people landed, one after another. It did not rain much, but the women held up their umbrellas ; they were dressed in all the colours of the rainbow, and, with their scarlet cardinals, the tartan plaids of the men, and Scotch bonnets, made a gay appearance. There was a joyous bustle surrounding the boat, which even imparted something of the same character to the waterfall in its tumult, and the restless grey waves ; the young men laughed and shouted, the lasses laughed, and the elder folks seemed to be in a bustle to be away. I remember well with what haste the mistress of the house where we were ran up to seek after her child, and seeing us, how anxiously and kindly she inquired how we had fared, if we had had a good fire, had been well waited upon, etc. etc. All this in three minutes for the boatman had another party to bring from the other side and hurried us off.

The hospitality we had met with at the two cottages and Mr. Macfarlane's gave us very favourable impressions on this our first entrance into the Highlands, and at this day the innocent merriment of the girls, with their kindness to us, and the beautiful figure and face of the elder, come to my mind whenever I think of the ferry-house and waterfall of Loch Lomond, and I never think of the two girls but the whole image of that romantic spot is before me, a living image, as it will be to my dying day. The following poem l was written by William not long after our return from Scotland :

Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower
Of beauty is thy earthly dower ! et cetera "




Almost eighty years later, in the autumn of 1881, the Jesuit priest and poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins (July 28, 1844 – June 8, 1889) headed north for a holiday, up from Glasgow, to the Scottish Highlands, and the beautiful Loch Lomond. He wrote, “The day was dark and partly hid the lake, yet it did not altogether disfigure it but gave a pensive or solemn beauty”. He landed at the small settlement of Inversnaid. He wrote this poem:

Inversnaid


This darksome burn, horseback brown,
His rollrock highroad roaring down,
In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam
Flutes and low to the lake falls home.

A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth
Turns and twindles over the broth
Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning,
It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.

Degged with dew, dappled with dew
Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through,
Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern,
And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.

What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.