offer food for meditation' to the hungry devotees, whose long fasts are about to be recompensed by repletion. In one shop we saw St. Paul irradiated by a glory of sausages; and in another the ill-boding bird of St. Peter, hung up with the apostle it had warned in vain; Madonnas curiously carved in butter, and Bambinos in lard, warmed the devotion of the inward man; and every eatable of plastic consistence, or of malleable form, was pressed into the service of architectural decoration and symbolic piety.

"On EASTER SUNDAY the service is performed at St. Peter's, and it is then that the church exhibits all its splendour, and exhibits its forces on a site worthy their display. The spacious Piazza of St. Peter, its porticos and colonnades, its beautiful fountains, its stupendous façade, glittering in the noon-day sun, become the scene of action. Above its marble walls rise fantastic awnings, for the accommodation of the spectators, who at an early hour crowd their elevated seats. The space below is lined with infantry. The light horse, with their showy dresses, form a line within. The Roman military standards, once the banners of universal conquest, now only serve to deck the pageant and to flaunt above the gaudy little colours of the Swiss corps.

"In the centre of all, forming the inner circle, and crowding the steps of the church, are a multitude of common people. The loggie above the portico are filled with the cardinals; and in the centre, raised upon men's shoulders high above all, like some dimly-seen deity, and reduced almost to a speck by his elevation, appears the Pontiff. He is said to pray, but prays unheard; and when he rises to give the benediction, the act, scarce visible, is awfully announced by the tolling of the great bell of St. Peter's, and the firing of the cannon of St. Angelo. The military ground their arms, and drop on their knees; the cardinals fling down the church's indulgences among the people, who scarcely stooped to pick them up, though each was the remission of years of frailty. Drums beat, trumpets sound, the music plays, the troops file off, and the ceremony finishes at night with the illuminations of the Vatican.

"On Easter Monday a general rout ensues: 'Give me a horse, my kingdom for a horse,' is the cry. Post-horses and vetturino-stands are on that day all that the Vatican and St. Peter's were the day before. Some fly for amusement to the crater of Mount Vesuvius, others to the abyss of Herculaneum; rendezvous are given among the ruins of Palmyra, and parties are arranged among the cedars of Mount Lebanon: some return to seek hearts left at Florence or Genoa; and others who, amidst all the affectation of virtû, and pretended admiration of a climate with which few are not disappointed, pant for the comforts of a British fire side, turn their heads homewards, delighted to have seen Italy, and delighted to leave it. The Roman matron is left to prepare her pizza de pasqua' undisturbed by her restless lodgers; and the Roman existence resumes its monotony, its indolence, and its quietude; with nothing to look to but the mal-aria, until 'le passage des hirondelles' shall again bring a bevy of foreign visitants to the Porta del Popolo."

It is pictures like these which "give the very body of the times

their form and pressure," that distinguish the observations of intellectual and gifted persons from those of the common herd of travellers. Formerly the English thought they shewed their loyalty, whenever they went abroad, by insulting the host, at the hazard of finishing their days. in a prison, ridiculing the miracles pretended to be worked by favourite saints or relics, and keeping their hats as firmly on their heads, and their knees as stiff, on all occasions, where the custom of the country they might be in required them to kneel or be uncovered, as any of the staunchest adherents of quakerism could do in the days of Charles II.; and this contempt was richly repaid by the hatred of the Catholics, who looked upon their most solemn ceremonies to be polluted by the presence of these island-heretics, and rejoiced in all the fervour of pious zeal when they had an opportunity of shewing their Christian regard for the good of their souls by purifying their bodies in this world with the holy fires which were typical of what they were supposed to deserve in the next. Now the case is altered: the best places, the most imposing ceremonies are reserved for the English, who gaze with complacent civility upon the mummeries which have long ceased to interest the enlightened, who profess the faith of which they form the excrescences. Lady Morgan remarks, that so few Italians of condition attended the ceremonies described in these extracts, that it awakened the muse of Pasquin. When asked by Marforio "where he was going in his court-dress, he replies, "To the Vatican"-" But!" says Marforio," you will get no admittance." "Pardon me," he rejoins, "I have lately turned heretick."

The eagerness with which the Italians begin to imitate our social institutions, and to study our literature, is a more pleasing subject of reflection. In Naples our language is studied almost as much as that of France; our newspapers find their way into its most enlightened circles, and the Marchese Berio, distinguished still more by his literary acquirements than by his rank and opulence, has addressed Lord Byron in an ode so replete with beauty and enthusiasm, as sufficiently proves how competent a judge he is of the merits of the noble bard whom he thus apostrophizes in a strain of poetry little inferior to his own. The sight of these stanzas, which have not before been submitted to any other eyes than those of the author's private friends, is one of the benefits which Lady Morgan's introduction into the literary circles of Italy has enabled her to confer on her readers; and assuredly it is only doing her justice to say, that she has given us more information on the actual state of society in that country at the present moment, the alternate influence of France and Austria on its manners and feelings, and the probable effects of the Holy Alliance and the revived order of things, than can be found in any of the numerous publications which have made their appearance since peace has smoothed the way for idleness and folly to lead their countless votaries over the continent, to enrich foreigners with the property which they grudge proportioning any share of to the benefit of their own country.

THE CORONATION.

I HAVE seen the Coronation, and never did I witness a sight so magnificent-so august-so sublime. If ever the exclamation of" hæc olim meminisse juvabit" can be applicable, it must be to a spectacle like this, which, by eclipsing the future as well as the past, has condensed the wonders of a whole life in one absorbing moment, and given me reason to be thankful that my existence was made contemporaneous with such a surpassing display of glory and splendour. So far from seeking to aggrandise what I have seen, even if that were possible, by any inflation of language, I have purposely abstained, during several days, from any attempt at description, in order that some portion of my enthusiasm might be suffered to evaporate; and yet, even now, I feel the necessity of perpetually keeping my pen below the level of my feelings, lest I should be suspected of intemperate exaggeration. In all sincerity of heart I may say, that I unaffectedly pity those who, from any inexcusable considerations of interest, or the more justifiable causes of compulsory absence, have been debarred from sharing the intense gratification which I have experienced. Exhibitions of this nature are rare, and a concurrence of circumstances united to give interest and magnificence to the present, which may never be again combined. The previous night, by its serene splendour, seemed anxious to do honour to the approaching gorgeousness. One would have thought that it was a court-day in heaven, and that all its nobility were present, sparkling in their stars, and coronets, and girdles of light; while imagination easily converted the milky way into a cluster of radiant courtiers gathering around the throne from which their splendours were derived. Morning began to dawn with a calm loveliness, which rather confirmed than dissipated these floating delusions of the mind. From the gallery where I had procured a seat, I saw the stars gradually "gin to pale their ineffectual fires," until none remained visible but Dian's crescent, slowly changing its hue from gold to silver, and the sparkling son of Jupiter and Aurora, Lucifer, who, by his reluctant twinklings, seemed struggling for a little longer existence, that he might catch one glimpse of the approaching magnificence. Already were the eastern skies steeped in a faint grey light, interspersed with streaks of pale green, while fresh flushes of a rosier hue came every moment flooding up from beneath the horizon, and a breeze, sent forward as the herald of the sun, presently wafted around me such a gush of crimson radiance, that I felt (to use the only poetical expression of Sternhold and Hopkins) as if the morning" on the

wings of winds came flying all abroad." Behold, I exclaimed, "the jocund day

Stands tiptoe on the misty mountains' top;"

and I was endeavouring to recollect Tasso's beautiful description of sun-rise, when the increasing charms of the day-break compelled me to concentrate all my faculties in the contemplation of the scene with which I was surrounded.

The gallery where I had taken my station was a terrace which overhangs the Lake of Chêde, opposite to Mont Blanc; and he who from this point has seen the sun rise, and shower its glories upon the romantic and stupendous wonders with which he is encompassed, will not marvel that I shrink from the hopeless attempt of its description. It is a spectacle to be felt, not painted. Amid the solitude of those gigantic and sublime regions there is something peculiarly impressive in witnessing the magnificence of Nature, as she silently performs her unerring evolutions; and the heart of man, feeling itself in the immediate presence of omnipotence, turns with instinctive reverence to its Creator. But let me resume my narrative of the Coronationnot of a poor fleeting mortal like ourselves, but of that glorious King coeval with the world, and to endure till the great globe itself shall crumble and dissolve;-of that truly legitimate Sovereign, who alone can plead divine right for his enthronement, since the Almighty has planted his feet deep in the bowels of the earth, and lifted his head above the clouds;-of that Monarch of the mountains, who indeed deserves the appellation of Majesty-Mont Blanc. If I cannot say, in newspaper phraseology, that the morning was ushered in with the ringing of bells, I may affirm, that ten thousand were waving to and fro in the breezes of Heaven, for the lilies of the valley, and the hyacinths, and the blue-bells, and the wild flowers, were all nodding their down-looking cups at the earth; and who shall say that they were not melodious with a music inaudible to human ears, although fraught with harmonious vibrations for the innumerable insects who were recreating themselves beneath their pendent belfries? No daughter of earth, however fair or noble, would have been presumptuous enough to aspire to the honour of strewing flowers on this august occasion, for a heavenly florist had fashioned them with his hand, and perfumed them with his breath, and Flora scattered them spontaneously from her lap as she walked along the valleys. By the same mighty hand was performed the ceremony of the anointing; and as I saw the dews of heaven glittering in the dawning light, while they fell upon the head of the mountain, I exclaimed, "Here, indeed, is a monarch who may, without impiety, be termed the Lord's anointed." Bursting forth from a pavilion of crimson

and gold clouds, the sun now threw his full effulgence upon the lofty forehead of Mont Blanc; and the Glaciers, and the rocks of red porphyry and granite, and the valley of Chamouni, and that sea of diamonds, the Mer de Glace, gradually became clothed in gorgeous robes of light. As I contemplated the seagreen pyramids of ice that surrounded Mont Blanc, each, as it became tipped with sun-light, appearing to put on its coronet of sparkling silver, methought there never had been so grand a potentate, encircled with such splendid nobility and courtiers. Nor did the great Hall in which they were assembled appear unworthy of its tenants; for as it had not been built by hands, so neither was it limited by human powers, possessing only the walls of the horizon for its boundaries, and having for its roof the azure vault of heaven, painted with vari-coloured clouds, and illuminated by the glorious and flaming sun. From the tops of the surrounding heights, various stripes of purple clouds, laced with light, assumed the appearance of flags and banners floating in the air in honour of the joyous day; but my attention was more particularly directed to two hovering masses of darker hue, which, majestically descending from heaven towards the summit of Mont Blanc, at length deposited their burthen upon its head in the form of a crown of snow, which an electric flash instantly lighted up with intolerable splendour, while a loud peal of thunder gave notice to all the world that the ceremony of Coronation had been accomplished. Alps and Apennines "rebellow'd to the roar," every mountain opening its deep-toned throat, and shouting out the joyful intelligence to its neighbour, until after countless hollow and more hollow reverberations, the sound died away in the distance of immeasurable space.

Nor was the banquet wanting to complete this august festival, for as mine eye roamed over the fertile plains and valleys commanded by the eminence on which I stood, I found that He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills had covered them with corn, and fruits, and wine, and oil, and honey, spreading out a perpetually renewed feast for whole nations, diffusing, at the same time, odours and perfumes on every side, and recreating the ears of the guests with the mingled harmony of pipingbirds, melodious winds, rustling woods, the gushing of cascades, and the tinkling of innumerable rills. Again I turned my looks towards Mont Blanc, and lo! a huge avalanche, detaching itself from its summit, came thundering down into the valley below, making earth shake with the concussion. "Behold," I exclaimed, "He who overthroweth the horse and his rider, hath sent his Champion to challenge all the world ;" and at this moment a smaller portion, which had broken away from the falling mass, came leaping towards me, and shivered itself into a cloud