banks of the Thames. The foibles of these nobles would not be worth a record, seeing that they are to be found amongst the higher classes of all countries, if they were not, unfortunately, the only traits by which this once powerful body is rescued from utter insignificance and oblivion. The Dofis fond of bullock-driving: if he was not known by that, he would not be known at all. Prince ruined himself on his French embassy, and lives on three pauls a-day." Such was my friend's description of the Roman nobility; and that description was confirmed by much that I heard during my early visits to Rome: when I was there in 1854 they appeared to me to have shaken off some of their indolence, and their amusements were of the more manly kind. The fox-hounds of Prince Odescalchi showed us some good sport, which, I am sorry to learn, has been since forbidden, on account of a fatal accident. A more unwise interference can scarcely be imagined. Let me add, that of the Roman nobles I found a few, in 1854, worthy of a better fate than had hitherto befallen them. One or two of them had come out of the severe trials of 1848-9 with credit to themselves and advantage to the cause which they had manfully, although unsuccessfully, endeavoured to uphold.

Of the great ladies I am unwilling to speak, as I know too little of their domestic habits to be qualified to offer a fair opinion of them. I presume they differ little from the same class in other luxurious capitals. Very few of their houses are open to foreigners, and to the English

perhaps less than to those of any nation. One of these princesses, talking of our fellow-countrymen, designated them as "those who speak the strange language."

If these high-born dames have the failings of their sex, they do not parade them so ostentatiously as it is the fashion to do in some other parts of Italy; and two or three of them, at the very head of society, not indeed Romans themselves, but married to the highest nobles, have been patterns of every virtue. The Princesses Massimi, Borghese, and Doria are never mentioned but with unmingled praise. The death of the Princess Borghese was bewailed as a public calamity. Her surviving sister receives the respectful homage of all classes. She is a blessing to the poor, and the chief ornament of the society to`which she belongs.

RELIGION.

I make no allusion to the doctrines or mysteries of the Roman Catholic faith, when I say that what is called religion is at Rome a part, and a great part, of the business of life, and mixes itself up with the amusements, and the most indifferent actions, of all classes, at all ages. Could the fear of God and the prospects of eternity control human conduct, the Romans ought to be the best of men. The following inscription is, or ought to be, found placarded on the shutter of every little shop: "IDDIO CI VEDE-ETERNITA.” Children play at church processions, with crosses, candles, bells, and tablecloths for robes; grown-up folks, looking on,

cry "bravi," and cross themselves as the mimics pass. A boy, before he takes a leap, crosses himself; when a school parades through the Coliseum, all the pupils and the tutor kiss the cross in the middle of the arena: a party, after an evening-walk, finishes with a prayer in a church, generally in that church which happens to be in fashion for the season. St. Carlo and St. Isidoro were in vogue in 1828, and their contiguity to the Corso gave them a very convenient celebrity; but the true devotional lounger will drop into a dozen churches one after another, and many such there are who seem to have no other occupation; even a poor servant-girl, if she misses mass one day, will hear two the next. A small chapel in the Via San Isidoro is supported by very poor people, who like to have a mass of their own, said by a priest of their own, and some of the contributors are street beggars. A Monsignore officiates once a year, to give a sort of dignity to this ragged fraternity, who are not, however, without their spiritual pride, for they have maintained a contest with the neighbouring monastery of San Isidoro (composed chiefly of Irishmen), respecting what is called a " Via Crucis," or pathway of stations recording the sufferings of our Saviour, which they intend should terminate in their own chapel; but the monks, whose church is above, contend that this would interfere with their road to Calvary, and induce their worshippers to stop half way up the hill. The quarrel is before the Rota.

It is computed that there are 15,000 " clerici" in

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Rome, and, with such a government and such a people, it is matter of surprise that the number is not greater. The priesthood have not only the consciences but the purses of the faithful, to much extent, in their own keeping. If a notary fail to ask a person, whose will he is making, whether he has bequeathed a legacy for pious uses, he is suspended; and in any process between clergy and laity, the most jealous care is taken not to give the victory, "dar la vinta," to the latter. In order to avoid the shame of open-defeat, and at the same time to prevent too gross a partiality, private amends are occasionally made by the tribunal which has awarded the public injustice, but the inclinations and habits of the people are in perfect accord with the government. The priesthood, regular and secular, are in fact a portion of themselves, and what they give to them they give to members of their own family, so that, though superstition has some part in pious charities, fellow feeling and friendship have more. Cardinal Mikra was son of a peasant of Frascati: Cardinal Zurlo was of much the same extraction, and when Consalvi sent for him to tell him he was to have the purple, he thought he had committed some offence, and was to be punished for it.

The rule of the Theatins was to ask for nothing, neither to toil nor to spin, nor to take heed for the morrow; yet, in sixty years, these lilies of the valley flourished and multiplied exceedingly, and became the richest order in Italy. The beggarly Franciscans celebrated their six hundredth anniversary in October

(1842),* * and everything that can give life and importance to the ceremony was to be seen during the three days' holidays of the fraternity. A Franciscan is a great man in these days, yet no one seems to envy or dislike his superiority, or to compare it with his vows of poverty.

The great treasure of Aracoeli, however, is the Santo Bambino, so renowned for curing the sick, that, when the patient is too infirm to visit the church, the image is carried in a coach, with much pomp, to the house of the invalid.

A marble Madonna was lately found in the vaults of a convent to which she had been consigned by the French; and one of the order also discovered a record of a certain miraculous image which once worked wonders in their chapel. Of course the Madonna was the very image; at all events it was reinstalled in

ceremony, and with such success that a monk of the fraternity assured Mr. that the oblations of the first year amounted to 18,000 crowns, and they might reckon upon a regular income of 1000 for many years to come. These are willing offerings, and to these must be added little sums paid for little sins, particularly by women who wish to keep well with their priests, and commute a penance with a small present. The same feeling sends many of those who adventure in

* An account of the festival is given in note † to page 78 of this volume.