spot is just such as might have been selected for such a purpose.  It is difficult of access to an extraordinary degree, and it is said to be no less than two thousand five hundred feet above the stream which flows at the base of the rocky hill on which it is built.  Tradition, however, is not the only testimony to the truth of this account of the origin of the strangely placed little town, for in many cases the inhabitants have preserved their old Arabic names.  It is from this strange eyrie of Saracinesco that our picturesque and handsome friends of the Piazzi di Spagna descend to seek a living at Rome from the profession which they have followed for generations of artists’ models.  And this is the explanation of the singular sameness of beautiful feature, the utterly un-Roman type, the sharply-cut features, and the admirable grace of movement and of attitude which characterize these denizens of the steps—­if of the steppes no longer.

What a life they lead!  From early morn to dewy eve there they lounge, in every sort of restful attitude, basking in the sun, with nothing on earth to occupy mind or body save an eternal clatter.  On what subjects, who shall say or attempt to guess?  Every now and then one of the tribe is hired by an artist to go and pose for a Judith, a Lucretia, a Venus, as the case may be.  Some are wanted for an arm, some for a hand, some for a brow, some for a leg, some for a bust.  Some one may have a special gift for personating an ancient Roman, and another exactly assume the saintly look of a Madonna or the smile and expression of a Venus.  Their several and special gifts and capacities are all well known in the world of their patrons, and special reputations are made in the art-world accordingly.  It is a strange life:  not probably conducive to a high development of intellectual and moral excellence, but very much so to the picturesque peopling of the most magnificent flight of stairs in Christendom.

T. A. T.

FAUST IN POLAND.

Nowhere do we see the genuine soul and character of a people so distinctly as in its myths, legends, popular songs and traditions.  They reflect faithfully, though—­perhaps we should say, because—­unconsciously, the deeds, aspirations and beliefs of the earlier ages, and not only afford to our own precious material for philological and ethnological study, but still exert, in many instances at least, considerable influence over the ideas and feelings of men.  The Faust legend will never lose its mysterious fascination:  many poets have felt it, but Goethe’s insight penetrated all its depth of meaning, and his marvelous poem is for us the supreme expression of it.