VIEWSrnRome As You Find ItrnAmerican and British Writers in the Eternal Cityrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnFor Englishmen, the Roman Forum was nearly as much arnpart of their polihcal heritage as the Tower of London orrnWestminster Abbey. Since Colonial America was a part ofrnBritish culture, educated American colonists shared in thernBritish reverence for antiquity. Eighteenth-century EngHshnienrn(and those Americans who could manage it) traveled tornItaly—Rome in parhcular—in search of roots of the kind thatrnhave nothing to do with ethnicity, and everything to do withrnculture and the burden of a glorious shared past.rnPhilip Stanhope, earl of Chesterfield, whose letters to his sonrnexpress the ideal of the civilized life conceived of as a Mozartrnconcerto, visited Rome only once, as a young man. hi 1750, hernoffered this advice: “You will probably ne’er see Rome again;rnand therefore you ought to see it well now: bv seeing it well, I dornnot mean only the buildings, statues, and paintings; thoughrnthey undoubtedly deserve your attention; but I mean seeing intornthe conshtution and government of it.” Earlier, Chesterfieldrnsuggested his private view of the English community at Romernwhen he wrote of the “sauntering, illiterate English . . . livingrnentireh’ with one another, supping, drinking, and sitting up laternat each others’ lodgings; commonly in riots and scrapes whenrndrunk; and never in good compan’ when sober.” Elsewhere,rnhe remarks, “You seem to like Rome…. Have you made an acquaintancernwith some eminent Jesuits? I know no people inrnChilton Williamson, jr., is the senior editor for books atrnChronicles.rnthe world more instructive.” Given the earl’s detestation of popery,rnthe comment may be surprising. The Catholic Church,rnhowever, seems to have had a fascination for Chesterfield (as itrndid for many English and even more, as we shall see, for Americanrnvisitors to Rome), since he also wrote, in an earlier letter,rn”A propos of the Pope: remember to be presented to him beforernyou leave Rome, and go through the necessary ceremonies forrnit, whether of kissing his slipper or his b-h; for I would never deprivernmyself of anything that I wanted to do or see, by refusingrnto comply with an established custom.”rnhi the fall of 1764, 14 years after le petit Stanhope left Rome,rnanother Englishmen, far better known today, arrived there.rnThe young gendeman, only recentiy a British military officer,rnhad come down to Italy from Geneva, where he had lived forrnsome years and rediscovered his Protestant faith after losing itrntemporarily to poper)’. Twent}’-five years later, memories of hisrnfirst view of Rome remained sharp in his mind.rnI can neither forget nor express the strong emotionsrnwhich agitated my mind as I first approached and enteredrnthe eternal city. After a sleepless night I trod, with loftyrnstep, the ruins of the forum; each memorable stop v’herernRomulus stood, or Tully spoke, or Caesar fell, was at oncernpresent to my eye; and several days of intoxication werernlost or enjoyed before I could descend to a cool andrnminute invesfigation.rnMAY 2001/13rnrnrn