380 CHAPTER L1II. 



A religion in such close sympathy with Nature, 

 -and so deeply penetrated by the sense of Beauty, may 

 well laugh to scorn the narrow systems bred in the 

 dull brains of unimaginative bigots. Rome may deny 

 progress and proscribe enlightenment, she may plunder 

 the poor and fawn upon the rich, she may sink deeper 

 and deeper into corruption and political intrigue ; but 

 she will nevertheless continue to sway the fairest 

 regions of this world so long as her opponents 

 divorce Keligion from the love of Nature and the 

 worship of the Beautiful. 



Picturesque customs survive in some of the more 

 distant villages. For instance, the young folk 

 celebrate the Summer solstice by leaping through the 

 bonfires which are lighted in each open place. When 

 the weary villagers have gone to rest, St. John, for 

 he is the patron of this day, throws over the 

 smouldering embers his mantle of camel's hair ; and 

 the next morning, early, those who search the ashes 

 will find " St. John's Hairs," a precious treasure and 

 talisman to be preserved. I suppose that these 

 "hairs" are thread-like crystals formed by the 

 melting of some substance which has fallen on the 

 flames. 



Before the annexation in 1860 the Var formed a 

 line of demarcation between the ignorant and easy- 

 going semi-Italian people to the east, and the more 

 enlightened and energetic French population to the 

 west. This line has now shifted eastward as far as 

 Turbie, for Nice is completely Gallicised: not so 

 Monaco and Mentone. Turbie is the true frontier ; 

 it was so in Roman times, and must be so again : 

 "hucusque Italia, dehinc Gallia." When France 



