that it moved, reasoning myself momentarily into security from the fact that it had thus stood for ages.  I could not but recur also to the fact that once it stood upright; that, although ages had been passed in assuming its present inclination to the earth, the time would probably come when it would actually fall, and the idea would suggest itself with appalling force that that time might be now.  The reflection suggested by one of our company that it would be a glorious death, for one thus perishing would be sure of an imperishable name, however pleasing in romantic speculation, had no great power to dispel the shrinking fear produced by the vivid thought of the possibility when on the top of the tower....  The campanile is not the only leaning tower in Pisa.  We observed that several varied from the perpendicular, and the sides of many of the buildings, even parts of the cathedral and the baptistery, inclined at a considerable angle.  The soil is evidently unfavorable to the erection of high, heavy buildings.”

After a side trip to Leghorn and further loitering along the way, stopping but a short time in Florence, which he purposed to visit and study at his leisure later on, he saw, at nine o’clock on the morning of February 20, the dome of St. Peter’s in the distance, and, at two o’clock he and his companions entered Rome through the Porta del Popolo.

Taking lodgings at No. 17 Via de Prefetti, he spent the first few days in a cursory examination of the treasures by which he was surrounded, but he was eager to begin at once the work for which he had received commissions, and on March 7 he writes home:—­

“I have begun to copy the ‘School of Athens’ from Raphael for Mr. R. Donaldson.  The original is on the walls of one of the celebrated Camera of Raphael in the Vatican.  It is in fresco and occupies one entire side of the room.  It is a difficult picture to copy and will occupy five or six weeks certainly.  Every moment of my time, from early in the morning until late at night, when not in the Vatican, is occupied in seeing the exhaustless stores of curiosities in art and antiquities with which this wonderful city abounds.

“I find I can endure great fatigue, and my spirits are good, and I feel strong for the pleasant duties of my profession.  I feel particularly anxious that every gentleman who has given me a commission shall be more than satisfied that he has received an equivalent for the sum generously advanced to me.  But I find that, to accomplish this, I shall need all my strength and time for more than a year to come, and that will be little enough to do myself and them justice.  I am delighted with my situation and more than ever convinced of the wisdom of my course in coming to Italy.”

Morse’s little notebooks and sketch-books are filled with short, abrupt notes on the paintings, religious ceremonies, and other objects of interest by which he is surrounded, but sometimes he goes more into detail.  I shall select from these voluminous notes only those which seem to me to be of the greatest interest.