So long as
human nature remains the same, this splendor and pomp of processions,
these lighted torches and ornamented churches, this triumphant music
and glad holiday of religion will attract more than your plain
conventicles, your ugly meeting-houses, and your compromise with the
bass-viol. For my own part, I do not believe that music and painting
and all the other arts really belong to the Devil, or that God gave him
joy and beauty to deceive with, and kept only the ugly, sour, and sad
for himself. We are always better when we are happy; and we are about
as sure of being good when we are happy, as of being happy when we are
good. Cheerfulness and happiness are, in my humble opinion, duties and
habits to be cultivated; but, if you don't think so, I certainly would
not deny you the privilege of being wretched: don't let us quarrel
about it.
Rather let us turn to the Artists' Festival, which takes place in this
month, and is one of the great attractions of the season. Formerly,
this festival took place at Cerbara, an ancient Etruscan town on the
Campagna, of which only certain subterranean caves remain. But during
the revolutionary days which followed the disasters of 1848, it was
suspended for two or three years by the interdict of the Papal
government, and when it was again instituted, the place of meeting was
changed to Fidenae, the site of another Etruscan town, with similar
subterranean excavations, which were made the head-quarters of the
festival.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205