ITALIA CON ORGOGLIO DI MADRE, CON DOLORE DI FIGLIA, PREGA AL GRAN RÈ

CHE FU CITTADINO FEDELE, E SOLDATO VIITORIOSO, L’IMMORTALITÀ DEI GIUSTI E DEGLI EROI.

In the middle of the great circular temple rose the enormous catafalque, square in form, divided into three storeys, each one a degree smaller as they went up, the top one being covered with a crimson cloth and surrounded by six grand figures, which the Italianauthorities wished to represent the chief cities of Italy, but which the clergy insisted on being called cardinal virtucs. After some discussion they were named as follows : Magnanimity. Fortitude, Justice, Liberty, Prudence, Loyalty ; qualities to which, in the abstract, no one could take exception. At the corners of the basement were lions couchant, and on each division of the structure were VOL. II. R

placed immense candelabri lit up with wax-tapers. The catafalque reached almost to the lofty dôme, and ail the sides of it were covered with exquisitely wrought garlands of every description, presented by the different cities and provinces of Italy. The walls of the church were draped in black with gold ornamentation. At each side of the altars, over a base on which were emblazoned the arms of Savoy, were large candelabri. The great circular window in the centre of the vault was veiled over with a transparency in the midst of which shone the star of Savoy, the surrounding roof being black, spangled with transparent stars. The effect of the whole was indescribably grand and impressive.

At the door of the church the priests received the coffin and accompanied it up the steps of the catafalque till it was deposited on the summit, the crown, sword, and sceptre, which had been carried with the defunct monarch, being laid upon it ; and beside these emblems of sovereignty was placed the garland sent by Queen Victoria to be laid on the hier of her old ally. When the funeral cortège departed the great surging multitude were permitted to enter and look their last at the remains of the man who had given them national life and liberty.

In the evening the church was closed, and at lo o’clock the ministers and officers of state assembled privately to lay their king in his last resting-place. There was a profound stillness in the church. The priests stood at the high altar beside the open tomb, in front cf which was a silent group of moumers. The officers and men who guarded Victor Emmanuel in this

THE INTERMENT.

last watch stood round the catafalque, motionless as statues, till the order was given to ‘ ground arms,’ when the clash of the weapons on the pavement broke the awful silence which reigned in the church. When the coffin was placed in the grave ail knelt while the priests chanted the burial service. A silence followed, broken only by the click of the mason’s trowel walling in the tomb. Then the bénédiction was said and the moumers departed, leaving il Rè Galantuomo to sleep in peace.

King Humbert said in a proclamation, ‘ Romans, I commit to your charge what I hold most sacred on earth ; prove yourselves worthy of the trust.’ And the Romans replied with one voice, ‘ It is as sacred to us as to you ; we will be worthy.’

We believe [said the Popolo Romano\, that we are interpreting a sentiment which will remain indelible in the soûls of the Romans, that is, gratitude. Rome, even though she was the last to enter in the great family, after having witnessed the immense affection that the Italians bear to the king and to his dynasty, knows what a sacred deposit is confided to her, and she has the conscience to préservé it scrupulously. Though the last in time, she shall be first from this day henceforth in the love that binds ail Italy to her king, and of this love she has yesterday given ample proofs before Europe.

In the loyal démonstrations which the attempted assassination of Humbert last Novembercalled forth, there was one little incident expressive of popular sentiment

244 l'IFE OF VICTOR EMMANUEL II.

in Rome worthy of remark. The city had been suffering from a severe inundation, the Tiber had left its deposit of yellow mud in the streets, and the Panthéon was still more or less surrounded by water, the weather was bitterly cold, when about fifty or sixty thousand Romans who had assembled to make a loyal démonstration expressive of their horror and indignation at the attempted crime, marched through the streets nearly ail night, with bands playing the royal march, etc. ; and when they had gone from the Quirinal to the Capitol, where the syndic brought out theking’s bustto please the excited crowd and made a speech to them, they ail turned with one accord, and without any preconcerted arrangement, to the Panthéon to do honour to the memory of the dead king, and walked round the church in solemn silence.

We do not believe there ever was a monarch whose death called forth such spontaneous démonstrations of loyal affection, or who was followed to the grave by such profound sorrow. With the exception of Garibaldi, he was the last of that noble band of patriots who initiated in North Italy the work of Italian independence. And with the death of her chivalrous king the nation feels the romance of her youth is passed. She now enters on a new and more prosaic era — let us hope a happier and more peaceful one — under a sovereign who has already proved himself a worthy successor of il Rè Galantuomo. And though the heart of the Italian nation is still ‘ in the coffin there with Cæsar,’ it is the just inheritance of Cæsar’s son.

May he live to deserve it, and enjoy it !

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