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with George T. Curtis, B. F. Hallett, Judge Fletcher, R. C. Winthrop, George S. Hillard, etc.; persons, including Prescott, Bancroft, Lord Brougham, Bunsen, Tocqueville, etc. I broached to him my criminal law theories, and he encouraged me to pursue them, suggesting the aid that I should find in Bentham.
He also spoke of having read an Italian criminalist whose name was not familiar to me, but whom he praised with great warmth.
He told me curious chapters in Franklin's history; . . . in Lord Palmerton's, which he had heard from the Duchess of Sutherland; and an account of Lord Palmerton's giving him the particulars of his Don Pacifico speech, which he (Lord P.) said was “extemporaneous, and all came from here,” touching his forehead with his hand.
Sumner remained in
Rome from April 20 to May 13,—his time laboriously occupied with its treasures of antiquity and art, renewing his memories of his earlier visit, and cared for by his affectionate hosts.
He witnessed the ceremonies of
Easter; listened in
St. Peter's to the
Miserere from the
Doria gallery; was greatly interested in the bronze doors for our national
Capitol, still in the studio of
Rogers, to whom he suggested persons and events for commemoration; talked earnestly with Story and with Hamilton Wild of statuary and paintings; met other friends from
Boston,—
Edward N. Perkins,
Turner Sargent,
J. L. Motley,
Miss Emma Weston, and
Hawthorne, then writing his ‘
Marble Faun;’ passed many hours in studios,—those of Story,
Rogers, Overbeck,
Cranch,
Lehman,
Hosmer,
Ives, and Page; made a melancholy visit to that of
Crawford, which still held the artist's unfinished works; gathered a stock of photographs at Macpherson's; visited with
Bemis galleries and churches and studios.
The latter wrote in his journal: ‘He talked with Page about art, and evidently made an impression; he talked about the historical incidents of the
Venus di Medici.
I was wearied with the hard work which he put me to.’
Sumner was sad at leaving
Rome, feeling that he should never be there again, and deeply regretting that he had left so much unvisited.
He wrote to
Longfellow, May 12, the day before leaving
Rome:—
I have been in Naples, visited Paestum, which I had never seen before, and the ancient cities, and driven near the rolling, fiery lava.
All this was most interesting; but nothing touches me like Rome.
Constantly I think of early days when I saw everything here with such fidelity, under the advantage of health which I do not now possess, and of boundless hope for the future which long ago closed on me. I am asked constantly what I find new in Rome.
For this I have one answer.
The photographs, which, as I drive through the streets or walk on the Piazza di Spagna, certainly arrest and
