tribe of nephews, inordinately enriched by their indulgent uncle. Milton
arrived early in October. The most vivid trace of his visit is his
presence at a magnificent concert given by Cardinal Barberini, who,
"himself waiting at the doors, and seeking me out in so great a crowd,
nay, almost laying hold of me by the hand, admitted me within in a truly
most honourable manner." There he heard the singer, Leonora Baroni, to
whom he inscribed three Latin epigrams, omitted from the fifty-six
compositions in honour of her published in the following year. But we
may see her as he saw her in the frontispiece, reproduced in Ademollo's
monograph upon her. The face is full of sensibility, but not handsome.
She lived to be a great lady, and if any one spoke of her artist days
she would say, _Chi le ricercava queste memorie?_ Next to hers, the name
most entwined with Milton's Roman residence is that of Lucas Holstenius,
a librarian of the Vatican. Milton can have had little respect for a man
who had changed his religion to become the dependant of Cardinal
Barberini, but Holstenius's obliging reception of him extorted his
gratitude, expressed in an eloquent letter. Of the venerable ruins and
masterpieces of ancient and modern art which have inspired so many
immortal compositions, Milton tells us nothing, and but one allusion to
them is discoverable in his writings. The study of antiquity, as
distinguished from that of classical authors, was not yet a living
element in European culture: there is also truth in Coleridge's
observation that music always had a greater attraction for Milton than
plastic art.

After two months' stay in Rome, Milton proceeded to Naples, whence,
after two months' residence, he was recalled by tidings of the impending
troubles at home, just as he was about to extend his travels to Sicily
and Greece. The only name associated with his at Naples is that of the
Marquis Manso, then passing his seventy-ninth year with the halo of