The next day the Committee received the resignations of G. Diggemout and B. Tilehunter, Esqrs., and in the course of three weeks the whole of the antiquities from the museum were sold off, but did not realise half enough to pay the rent of the room! The society, of course, could not cavil at Lovit, who had apparently only set them right when they were wrong; but had they known that he, from pure love of mischief, had prepared the "antiquity" especially for their entrapment, their indignation would have been strong indeed! Reader! the Royal Krumbleup Antiquarian Society exists no longer.

Thoughts on the Peoples of Italy.

BY EDWIN RICHARDSON.

NE frequently hears groans and lamentations over the downfall of once puissant nations. The rise and fall of empires is, indeed, one of the most fertile of topics from a "moral" point of view. Hence the "lamentations."

The downfall of the Roman Empire, as it is called, forms the subject of one of the most thumb-marked of our reference books. But this is not all; for many modern nations are benevolently pointed at as following fast in the footsteps of the already defunct-notably, Spain, Turkey, and, until a short time ago, Italy.

The object of this paper is to call attention to the theory that the Roman Empire is still alive, and that it is represented by Italy. I think, after a moment's consideration, it will be admitted by all that, if any nation personates the ancient Roman Empire now, it is Italy. Spain it cannot be, as Spain was never more than occupied, and to a slight extent civilised, by Rome. The same might be said, in a modified degree, of France; Britain and the German-speaking nations would be excluded if by language alone.

An enormous amount of prejudice exists against the view I take of this question, arising from the following causes :-After the usual school curriculum of Cæsar, Cicero, Roman history, &c., the idea, I believe, uppermost in people's minds is that the Roman Empire, weakened by defeat, eaten up by luxury, impoverished by the death of its citizens or their flight to more distant parts, is finally broken up by "incursion of barbarians," who, at a given signal, "incurse" (see maps on the subject) and complete the utter destruction

of the devoted Empire. But there must be many more "atrocities" before the Daily News has a leader on the very last Bulgarian. And so, in the case of Rome, it is obvious that thousands of Romans were left after the destruction of the ruling power of Rome, whose descendants must be somewhere. It may also be remarked that few barbarian tribes settled in Italy, and those which did (as with the Normans in this country), although for a time the governing races, did not form the bone and sinew of the people.

Education in England, as regards continental history, is in sad plight, for history, as taught generally, comprises-1, Bible History; 2, Roman History (ending with extinction of Western Empire and a short account, supplemented by Byron, of the capture of Constantinople and extinction of Eastern Empire); 3, Grecian History; and, 4, English History (with just such little explanatory passages on the history of continental nations as are necessary to a lucid account of the subject).

In not a few minds, therefore, an almost continuous gulf of ignorance stretches between the extinction of the Roman Empire and the history of Modern Italy at about the period when the student begins to read the newspapers; so that a mountain of prejudice has to be encountered before an individual can believe that the Italians and the Romans are one and the same nation. So also to a bear might it be difficult to recognise the infant and the man of sixty as the same individual. Prejudice is the crucifix of mental freedom.

The history of Italy resolves itself into three natural divisions-A. From the earliest times to the fall of Rome; B. From the fall of Rome to about 1700; C. Thence to the present century.

"B" is the least known of these divisions, and about it I would say a little. It is the history of a collection of small but rich and powerful States, at constant war

with one another, but, withal, the home of the greatest art the world has produced since the palmy days of Athens, and the home of science in its infancy, in spite of the efforts of that spectre whose wings have thrown over everything in contact with it the blackest shadow the world has ever seen.

It is not my purpose to write a history of either of these three divisions, but I propose to draw parallels between the peoples and their representative men.

First as to the peoples.

Ancient Italians) Literary, Scientific.

Mediæval

Modern

Enterprising, Warlike. Literary, Scientific, Esthetic. Enterprising, Warlike. Scientific, Esthetic.

The above table will show that in many branches the people are similar. On the other hand, there are

branches in which one has excelled.

The representative men will bear out the same idea.

A, Literary.-Cicero, Horace, Virgil, Livy, and the host of other Roman writers find parallels in Dante, Petrarch, and other mediæval Italian writers, but no parallel in modern times.

B, Scientific.-Science, supported by the Plinys in one branch, and in other branches by those marvellous engineers who made the aqueducts and baths of ancient Rome, and those roads from the city to its most distant provinces, is still supported in Italy; and it is needless to mention names like Galileo, Volta, Galvani to show the scientific genius of great mediæval Italians.

C, Esthetic.-The art-works of ancient Rome were not accomplished by natives, but by Greeks. Thus art was only esteemed in the later period of the Empire. Art, still well represented, especially in the branches of the drama and music, attained its second maximum in all time under the hands of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Guido, Da Vinci, &c., in the medieval times.

D, As to enterprise.-The commerce of the Romans and the medieval Italians ought to speak for itself.

The warlike spirit of Rome is surely represented in the wars of mediæval history-almost as constant as those of Rome.

Upon the whole, therefore, I think, it will be seen that at different times different subjects have been the most prominent in Italy, as in every other nation; and it will be seen that a given characteristic is rarely true of all three divisions, although generally so of two. It is precisely the same in the history of any other nation. Of that sea-battling against the ironbound coast of ignorance, and barbarism, and wretchedness-of that sea of civilization the wave-crests reach different heights at different periods, and Cæsars, Dantes, Raphaels, Voltas, Rossinis at different periods strive their utmost to accomplish the same noble end.

Altogether, taking into consideration the very large number of first-rate men that Italy has produced, either in one subject or another, one sees a continuous golden thread of great genius running through these remarkable Italian peoples from first to last, manifesting itself by great works produced by great epoch-making men who can take their place in the very first rank of the aristocracy of intellect. And if a lack of greatness is to be perceived now, I trust it is owing rather to the machinations of an ignorant, but not death-stricken, priesthood than to the want of inherent genius, and that it is to these machinations that Italy owes its present position among nations.

Finally, considering the vast strides towards civilization made by Italy during the last fifty years, and especially since its consolidation into an empire, it is no idle theory to believe that the "Lone mother of dead empires" may yet send forth sons fit to rank in that illustrious body, the Representative Men of Italy.