Everybody has to pass up and down, or along in front of these steps a hundred times a day, so you soon get to know them all by sight, besides recognising many of the originals of the pictures that you have seen in the studios; Alessandro, the pifferaro, with his long hair and dark melancholy eyes, which have earned him many a dollar, and the pretty little Philomena, with her sweet imploring look, and a happy consciousness of her own charms. One group every visitor at Rome this winter must have observed-a man with long hair and beard, in a very picturesque costume-a broad-leafed high-crowned hat, and an immense skin with the hair on, forming one very striking part of his get-up; he had his pipes at his back, and by his side a small chubby-faced boy with large round eyes, who used to stand with his little hand stretched out for the bajocco, which he demanded in a most piteous voice. In one studio was a charming picture, in which this little youth was introduced exactly in the same attitude in which you might see him any day. It was admirably done, quite to the life, and you expected to hear him come out with "Date mi qualche cosa" every minute.

There was also a most lovely Sir Joshua-like baby, with auburn hair, the most beautiful complexion, and such fat little legs and arms. It used also to be brought to sit, and is introduced in the same picture as the little boy. The mother was immensely proud of it, as well she might be; and it was a pretty sight to see it asleep on her lap, whilst its portrait was being transferred to the canvas.

The early morning is the time to see the steps; then, if it is a fine sunny day, the effect is very charming-the women in their bright colours, red head-dresses, and black hair fastened up by large silver pins; the men with their long beards and most picturesque, though dirty, costumes; and the boys with large liquid eyes. These Italian peasants are very different from the same class in England; they seem as if they could not sit, stand, or walk, without falling at once into a graceful attitude, and in every position are a perfect study for a painter.

There was one other constant frequenter of these steps, who formed a striking contrast to the rest. This was an old cripple, in a blue jacket and red waistcoat, who used to be there every day, and all day long, whatever the weather might be. He used to sidle about like a crab. I forget whether he had any legs, but if so, they were doubled up in some mysterious way, and he made more use of the hands for locomotive purposes. He used to lie there all day, like a lion waiting for his prey. There is a double flight of steps up to the Trinità di Monti, meeting in the middle; here he used to take his post, and whichever flight you came down he was always ready, and scrambled across with his eternal "Cattivo tempo, signore," in the most cracked of falsettos.

The antipathy I took to this individual I am afraid was most unchristianlike; but I believe he was a rank impostor. There is a story that his daughter was married lately, and he presented her with a dowry of two thousand scudi, and when some one mildly remonstrated with him for continuing to beg, he modestly replied:

"Ah, signore, ho un' altra figlia.”

Under the trees that line the road to the Pincian there is a donkey tethered all day; it brought him in the morning, and he rides off at night, when his day's work is over-I have no doubt to a much better supper than many of those whose charity he has obtained during the day..

ON THE TURKISH QUESTION.*

A GLANCE AT THE POLITICAL STATE OF EUROPE AT PRESENT

AND IN FUTURE.

It is not surprising that a political question which involves the interests of so large a portion of Europe should occupy and agitate the public mind from "Indus to the Pole," and that it has awakened the energies of the press even in a country which has resolved, if possible, to preserve its neutrality, although bordering on the theatre of stirring events, and situated, as it were, between the belligerent powers. Everything that comes from the shores of the Baltic, whither the gallant fleet of England has gone, to prove to the world that the heroic spirit of Nelson is not extinct, that Britain's fearless mariners have still "Hearts of Oak" to uphold the honour of that flag which

Has braved a thousand years

The battle and the breeze;

that they will her

Glorious standard launch again

To match another foe!

And sweep through the deep

While the stormy tempests blow—

everything that comes from the shores of that northern sea, where rides the superb armada in which so many British hearts are bound up, will be received with at least some degree of interest by the British public; and some little curiosity may be excited to know the views of the muchtalked-of Eastern question, offered to his own countrymen, by a political writer belonging to one of the nations of Scandinavia.

H. P. Selmer's volume has recently made its appearance in Copenhagen, and, in placing his work before the Danish public, he reminds them that the misunderstandings between Russia and Turkey, and now also between Russia and the greater powers, which threaten a rupture to the peace of Europe, must be a subject of consideration possessing much interest for Denmark, which, though not at present involved in the events that darken the political horizon of Europe, "will surely by no means remain untouched, either in case of a general war, or of un eventually extensive transformation of political relations." He remarks that

"Latterly, in the greater part of Europe, even in our fatherland, there seems to be an overwrought sympathy for the fate of the Turkish arms in opposition to that of the Russian, in the already commenced warfare; a feeling which, in our own country, recals to mind the stirring period of the Sleswig-Holstein war, and the sympathy then accorded by strangers."

But he insinuates that this feeling in favour of Turkey is somewhat misplaced. Public sympathy, he says, should range itself on the side of Peace, Liberty, and Improvement, in opposing Conquests, Despotism, and

Om det Tyrkiske Spörgsmaal, &c. By H. P. Selmer. Copenhagen, 1854.

Barbarism; and, he adds, "whatever may be said of Russia, it would be satirising truth to choose, as the representatives of Peace, Liberty, and Improvement, Turkey and the Turkish people." He thinks it is absurd to expect that the Turks should ever become a civilised people, or Turkey a real European state; and he asserts that the dismemberment and partition of the Turkish empire will be the only mode thoroughly to bring about such a complete political regeneration of Europe, as events would appear to be tending to: that such a partition, carried out successfully, would be for the best and truest interests of all parties, taking into consideration the advantages both to the governments of states, and the people who compose these states, and not excepting Turkey itself-where the interests of twelve millions of Christians have to be consulted, who reside in European Turkey, by the side of a third of that number of Mahometans, of whom again but a third part are actually Turks. He contends that such a partition and dissolution would be but simply the continuation and completion of that which has long been going on, seeing that wide regions have, by degrees, been "drawn away" from Turkey, and are now found in the possession of Russia, Austria, Greece, and France; while other large provinces of the Ottoman empire are in a half independent state, and Turkey itself, internally ruined, seems with great strides to be marching to its dissolution-a consummation which, if not soon about to happen, cannot, at all events, be avoided in process of time.

This idea, that the dismemberment and partition of the Turkish empire would be the most certain means of bringing about the complete political regeneration of Europe, and would secure advantages to all its other governments and states, is in direct opposition to the opinion of the great English diplomatist, Lord Palmerston. In a speech he made more than twenty years ago-in 1833-he said: "It is of the utmost importance for the interest of England, and for the maintenance of the peace of Europe, that the territories and provinces forming the Ottoman empire should be an independent state. The integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire are necessary to the maintenance of the tranquillity, the liberty, and the balance of power in the rest of Europe." THE INTEREST OF ENGLAND, at least, must remain unchanged, since to consult that, and that alone, has always been the avowed guide of Lord Palmerston's political conduct, and this statesman has given his approval of the war against Russia in defence of the Turkish Sultan.

But, the preservation of the balance of power in Europe-the protection of "our ancient ally," the Porte-justice and generosity towards a noble and oppressed people-and similar rhetorical flourishes, may all, summed up, be transposed into one plain truth: the necessity of preventing the ambitious and greedy Czar from seizing on Constantinople, and thereby bringing his Russian dominion into too close proximity to the British possessions in the East Indies. Were the clever, yet ruthless, designs of the Imperial Catherine to be carried out, and Turkey to become, not merely the vassal, but a province of Russia, that colossal power would not content itself with its vast tracts of land in the icy regions of Northern Asia, but would probably seek to add to them the rich and fertile territories of the south, now held with a strong hand, but not without some difficulty, by Great Britain.

To return, however, to our Danish author. Before giving, at any length, his ideas as to the state of Europe in the future, he takes a retrospective survey of the events of the past century, and those of the earlier part of the age in which we live. We will give a portion of this at least, as nearly as possible, in his own words:

"That nothing under the sun is lasting or immutable, is an axiom, of the truth of which there are no more convincing proofs to be obtained than those afforded by the course of political events. From the earliest period of history-not to speak of the destinies of commercial associations -states have been seen to rise and to fall, to increase and to decline in power and prosperity, in an everlasting stream of remarkable changes. If we cast a glance backwards, over the more recent past and the political arena of our own part of the world, Europe, we shall not be long in finding examples of the most striking extremes of the power inherent in political revolutions. Thus, while between three and four hundred years ago the southern European kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, making a wise and well-directed use of their means, and the fortunate circumstances in which they were placed, acquired, in a manner not alone astonishing to that age, by the conquest of half the world, an extraordinary degree of power and greatness, which threw far into the shade all the other nations of that period; in our days (having decayed during a couple of centuries) they have sunk into the most pitiable state of misery and weakness, so that Spain, once one of the mightiest, the richest, the most extensive, and most fortunately situated kingdoms in the world, taking the lead of all others in Europe, can now scarcely maintain its rank as a second-rate power-nay, has not even been able to prevent a fortress-important in a political and military point of view-on its own territory from being wrested from it by another power, and retained permanently in its occupation.

"Still earlier than the first date of the above-named events, rolled on from the East the tremendous Turkish power, and speedily swallowed up one of the greatest and most celebrated states in Europe, for a time even threatening to annihilate European civilisation and Christianity. But that power has sunk, by degrees, back into nothing, and Turkey is now, notwithstanding the vast regions that are still under its dominion, in a position of weakness that borders upon dissolution; and for a long time past it has only formed a subject for general calculation, how the space of which it consists can best be parcelled out and shared between the other European states. Nay, in the very century in which we live, we have seen, perhaps, one of the most wonderful facts history has to relate-how one mighty spirit, whose equal scarcely any land or any time has produced-by his own matchless genius, aided by the peculiar situation and circumstances into which he was thrown, created for himself an amount of political power and sway to which none had ever before attained; a power, however, which more suddenly than it had been acquired, sank into nothingness, when Providence had ordained the hero's fall.

"Even our own country, Denmark, offers without doubt, especially if we go back to its ancient history, a vivid example of the uncertainty and fluctuation of political matters.

"But if we somewhat more closely examine the period which has recently passed, especially the events of the last half of the bygone century, we will find during that time not only several in the greatest degree re

markable and important political changes (doubtless a greater number and of more importance than had ever previously taken place in a similar extent of time), but likewise what would seem to be the commencement of, or preparation for, a complete revolution in the political affairs, not only of Europe, but also of all parts of the world. We see how, close upon the commencement of the last century, one of the many small principalities of Germany, assuming the name of a kingdom-the title of king having been granted by the then mighty German emperor to an insignificant and vain-glorious prince, as a harmless gratification, a childish plaything-began boldly to place itself alongside of the great European powers; and how this originally small state has been so astonishingly fortunate, has risen so rapidly, and has so much increased in importance, that the kingdom of PRUSSIA is now rightfully entitled to be classed among the five great powers of Europe.

"We see another of the new great empires, the most colossal of them all, owing principally to the surpassing abilities of one man who erected a power, which became more widely enlarged under his successors, come forth from its nook in the extreme verge of Europe, where, until then almost unmarked, and without much influence, it had played an inconsiderable and subordinate part, and with the greatest and most fortunate conquests from neighbouring powers, and with an energetic development of its own resources, soon acquire such a degree of might and influence, that scarcely any of the higher powers have so much to say, at the present day, in the great political circle as RUSSIA.

"About the middle of the eighteenth century commenced another, and one of the most remarkable political movements ever seen, namely, the English acquisitions in the distant East Indies, which, originating in a commercial speculation, increased so wonderfully, as speedily to become the foundation of a political power appertaining to Great Britain, in the richest and most magnificent countries of Asia-a dominion which has extended itself to such a degree, that (including the tributary or protected countries) it now spreads over a space containing more than 135,000,000 of human beings.

"Shortly after, another not less important event occurred, though very different in its character; we allude to the separation from Britain of the greatest part of the ci-devant English colonies in North America; which, feeling their own power, after a short and successful war, assisted by some of the European nations, threw off their allegiance to the mother country, and erected one of the most remarkable states that has ever existed in the world. The loss to Britain on that occasion was very great; but it is a loss for which she has amply compensated herself. The United States have since quadrupled their territories, and form at this day, short as has been the period of their independence, a power which can take its place along with the greatest, and which has already commenced playing a very imposing political part. The vast extent and importance of these American States and Asiatic possessions have caused the domain of European politics to be carried far beyond the boundaries of Europe to remote parts of the world, and thus to invest political life, in the future, with infinitely more extensive functions, and a much wider field of action. Soon after the loss of its American colonies, Great Britain commenced (in 1788) founding new settlements in