Romanticism

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Rome

Romanticism, a term somewhat loosely
used and difficult of definition, but in gen-
eral meaning the reproduction in modern art
or literature of the life and thought of the
Middle Ages, The great critic, Walter Pater,
says that the terms classic and romantic do
not describe particular periods in literary his-
tory so much as certain qualities and tenden-
cies running through the literature of all
times and countries. As at present understood,
the term romanticism faces in two directions.
As it earlier opposed its novelty, its freedom
and lawlessness, its strange beauty, to the
classical respect for rules, conventions, and
precedents, so now its discontent with exist-
ing conditions, its idealism, and mysticism are
opposed to the realist's adherence to fact.

Perhaps the most important title in the
history of English romanticism is Thomas
Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
published in 1765. Among the many illus-
trious names which adorn this period are
those of Chatterton, Byron, Wordsworth,
Scott, Crabbe, MacPherson, Cowper, Cole-
ridge, and Burns. In Germany the movement
manifested itself in the transcendentalism of
Kant, in German pietism, and in such writers
as Goethe, Novalis, Schiller, Richter, Fouque"
and Hoffman. The great apostle of romanti-
cism in France is Victor Hugo. A large and
brilliant galaxy of names surrounds him,
among them De Musset, Lamartine, Gautier,
George Sand, Dumas, Chateaubriand, Rous-
seau, Sainte-Beuve, and Flaubert. Consult
Beers' English Romanticism in the Eighteenth
Century; Maar's Modern English Roman-
tidsm (1924).

Romany. See Gypsies.

Romblon, pueblo, Philippine Islands, capi-
tal of Romblon prov., 167 m. s.e. of Manila.
It has a completely landlocked harbor; p.
10467.

Rome, the capital of the ancient world and,
since 1871, of the kingdom of Italy and of
the prov. of Rome; p. 1,349,000. It is on the
Tiber, about 22m. from its mouth. The river
divides the city into two unequal parts, the
more important lying on the eastern or left
bank, from which rose the famous 'Seven
Hills* of Rome. The climate is fairly good in
winter but oppressive and humid in summer.

Modern Rome is distinguished for its his-
toric ruins, its many monuments, statues,
gates, fountains, public buildings, and famous
churches. The city is enclosed by a circle of
detached forts and by a wall pierced by 13
gates. Twelve bridges span the Tiber in or
near the city, several of them of great an-

tiquity. The oldest is the Ponte dei Quattro
Capi built by Fabricius in 62 B.C. The Ponte
SantJ Angelo, with its five arches, leading to
the Vatican, is the best known.

For purposes of description, the city may
be divided into four sections: i. the n. and
northeastern hills; 2. the district on the left
bank of the Tiber; 3. the district to the s.;
and 4. the district on the w. or right bank of
the river. The northern and northeastern sec-
tion comprises the Pincio, Quirinal, Viminal,
and Capitoline Hills. In ancient times the
Pincio was covered with parks and gardens,
and the Quirinal was the home of the Sabine
settlement. At the extreme n. is the Porta del
Populo, at the beginning of the Via Flaminia,
which connects Rome with Tuscany. This
northern district contains the church of Santa
Maria del Populo; the Fontana di Trevi, the
finest public fountain in Rome; and the Villa
Medici, erected in the sixteenth century and
since 1800 occupied by the French Academy
of Art. In its eastern part is the Piazza di
Spagna, around which centers the foreign life
of the city. To this square, from the Pincian
Hill, descends the famous Scala di Spagna,
with its 137 steps. Leading from this section
of the city to the Piazza Venezia, which may
be said to be the center of Rome, is the broad
busy thoroughfare known as the Via Nazion-
ale, the most important street in modern
Rome. On it stand the Gallery of Modern
Art and the Palazzo Colonna. A little to the
s.e. is the church of Santa Pudenziana, said
to be the oldest church in Rome, erected on
the spot where St. Pudens and his daughters,
who entertained St. Peter, are said to have
lived. Still farther e. rises the imposing edi-
fice of Santa Maria Maggiore, the largest of
the churches in Rome dedicated to the Vir-
gin.

The second district, that part lying next
the Tiber on the left bank, extends from the
Quirinal and Capitoline Hills to the river.
During the Middle Ages and the following
centuries it was almost the only inhabited
quarter of the city and is still the most dense-
ly populated. It has many narrow crooked
streets, but contains numberless points of in-
terest. The main thoroughfare is the Corso.
officially known as Corsb Umbcrto Primo,
and continued outside the city to the n. as
the Via Flaminia. The Corso is nearly a m.
in length; about half way in its course is the
Piazza Colonna, one of the busiest squares in
Rome, in the center of which rises the Column
of Marcus Aurelius (95 ft.). Farther to the s,
is the Palazza Sciarra Colonna, the finest of