JUNE 349 



the vine -dressers echoing from the leaf -veiled depths 

 below.' 



That is an exact description of the spot ; we went 

 there often, and we, too, hung over the parapet and 

 thought of the tempo passato. I could see the little 

 church tower always from my bedroom window. 



On this beautiful June afternoon we saw the most 

 picturesque and characteristic procession — the Host 

 carried from the church to the chapel of a villa about 

 half a mile off. The houses round, year by year, take 

 it in turns to be so honoured. The priests in general 

 were very ugly and common-looking, but the young 

 man who on this occasion carried the Host was superb, 

 like the Giorgione in the Pitti. The lighted candles in 

 the outdoor evening light, the white-robed priests, the 

 long procession of peasants, were most striking. Arriv- 

 ing at the villa, they passed to the chapel under a loggia, 

 the tessellated pavement of which was drawn out in a 

 beautiful coloured pattern made of the petals of flowers 

 — Poppies, Roses, Larkspurs, the brilliant yellow 

 Broom — and all between the pattern filled in with little 

 leaves of bright green Box. The effect was to me quite 

 new and very decorative. The procession passed on 

 each side, and the priest alone, carrying the Host, was 

 esteemed worthy to walk straight down the middle of 

 this nature -coloured carpet. Nothing could have been 

 more rurallj' peaceful and lovely than the whole scene. 

 In the earlier days of the century we were taught to 

 believe the troubles of Italy, like the troubles of Ireland, 

 were owing to Catholicism. Now the theory is that the 

 Latin races are dying out ; but if this is true, is it cer- 

 tain they are dying of Catholicism ? Is it not quite 

 wonderfully clear the Italians have never lost their 

 Paganism ? I confess, as I watched the whole scene, I 

 could only think of Pater's opening to 'Marius the 



