Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
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Fitzgerald, Sybil; Fitzgerald, Augustine [Ill.]
Naples — London: Adam & Charles Black, 1904

DOI chapter:
Chapter II: Naples - The Museum - Capo di Monte
DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.59000#0071
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Naples—The Museum—Capo di Monte
anguish and rattled chains at appropriate points. This
proved too much for the listeners. The experiment
succeeded too well. They rushed in terror from the
sacred precincts in a frenzy of religious fear, and many
were injured in the panic which ensued. Inquiry
brought the truth to light, and disgrace fell upon the
too zealous Padre.
The first time I went into a church near Naples I
noticed a coffin in the middle aisle with wreaths of
flowers and lighted candles round it. Approaching, I
saw, to my amazement, that the coffin was unclosed,
and that the waxen face of a dead man was in full
view. The sight of Death is far more impressive than
the mere knowledge that Death is there, and perhaps it
was for this reason that the people were allowed to
wander in and receive into their impressionable natures
the full meaning of “ memento mori.” Fewer men
than women are seen in the churches,—as, indeed, is
the case elsewhere in Italy. Among the younger
generation and the student class free-thinking is not
uncommon.
Let us say a few words about the University of
Naples, one of the three important “ accademie ” which
were the outcome of the intellectual movement of the
Renaissance. This University makes the town a centre
of learning as well as one of mere pleasure. Perhaps few
of the travellers who pass through the throngs of careless
idlers in the Toledo, or of the indolent pleasure-seekers
in the Corso, realise that over a thousand students are
working in their midst, that foreign men of learning
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