Ages, which are my special study and delight, were ended. Its history and antiquities occupy a great part of my thoughts, for I spend half my life in Italy, and the days I have passed in Italy have mostly been devoted to Church antiquities. I regard the venerable Church, which has been going like a clock since the days of the Apostles, with the utmost affection and interest. Not having been brought up in the Church of Rome, and having a feeling of repulsion to all dogma, I cannot hope to penetrate deeper than the outer shell of that ancient and glorious institution. But I hope that those who are members of the Church of Rome will recognize the pleasure and enthusiasm with which I study their antiquities and monuments; and accept my assurance that, if I have written anything which hurts their feelings, I have not written it with any outspokenness or levity that I might not have used in writing of England. And England is my religion.
Before closing this foreword I have to make various acknowledgments. There are many books to which I have to acknowledge my indebtedness. First among these comes Gregorovius's great History of Rome in the Middle Ages, translated by Mrs. Gustavus W. Hamilton, and published by George Bell & Sons (8 vols. in 13, £3 3s. nett). This book is
