234 A Century of Science 



i 

 Mr. Parkman's route was from Gibraltar by way 



of Malta, to Sicily, where he travelled over the 

 whole island, and thence to Naples, where he fell 

 in with the great preacher Theodore Parker. To- 

 gether they climbed Vesuvius and peered into its 

 crater, and afterwards in and about Rome they 

 renewed their comradeship. Here Mr. Parkman 

 wished to spend a few weeks in a monastery, in 

 order to study with his own eyes the priests and 

 their way of life. More than once he met with a 

 prompt and uncompromising refusal, but at length 

 the coveted privilege was granted him ; and, curi- 

 ously enough, it was by the strictest of all the mo- 

 nastic orders, the Passionists, brethren addicted to 

 wearing hair shirts and scourging themselves with- 

 out mercy. When these worthy monks learned 

 that their visitor was not merely a Protestant, but a 

 Unitarian, their horror was intense ; but they were 

 ready for the occasion, poor souls ! and tried their 

 best to convert him, thereby doubtless enhancing 

 their value in the historian's eyes as living and 

 breathing historic material. This visit was surely 

 of inestimable service to the pen which was to be 

 so largely occupied with the Jesuits and Francis- 

 cans of the New World. 



Mr. Parkman did not leave Rome until he had 

 seen temples, churches, and catacombs, and had 



