Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/201

Rh after which one and all departed to their various homes.

I have had great enjoyment at two grand musical soirées, and also from the meeting with various persons of different nations,—Rome is a rendezvous for all,—have seen much beauty, and many elegant toilets. But oh! if the young ladies, and still more the elder ones, did but know how unbecoming it is to expose their bare shoulders as they now do, and what disagreeable remarks gentlemen make about them!—— Rank, wealth, beauty, talent, or learning, seem to be all equally good letters of introduction to the grand saloons of Rome.

On Sunday, the 14th, I was present at the dedication of a nun in the Convent of St. Philippo, near Santa Maria Maggiore. Jenny, who was somewhat fatigued after the party of the preceding evening, declined going out so early in the morning, and thus I set off alone. It was a fresh, cool morning, but the sun shone gloriously, and I enjoyed the walk in the pleasant morning air, and thought with compassion of the young girl who was now about to dissever herself from all pleasures of this kind. Meeting, on my way, with the Baroness E. and her daughter, who were also going to witness the same ceremony, I was invited to join them.

The whole street, as we approached the convent, was strewn with sprigs of myrtle, and men of the Pope's body-guard were stationed at the convent gates. We entered the refectory, a spacious, light room, the large windows of which admitted the sunshine, and afforded a view into the garden, where