would enable him to enjoy the remaining moiety? Astrologers will account for all this by the stars, whose secret influences stamp, at the natal hour, the qualities of the individual, and the accidents of his life. I am not going to attack astrology; its day is now quite gone by, notwithstanding that there are some still living, who would fain call it again into existence, and who contrive to find "audience fit, though few;" for there are those who, notwithstanding that they disclaim all belief in the pretended science, are not averse to being cajoled by it; yet I must be allowed to say that astrology, even supposing it well founded, would be an exceedingly vain and impertinent study, since what avails it to know beforehand that which cannot be avoided, unless we can also bring ourselves to believe that, by being foreseen and foreknown, the most powerful supernatural influences may be thwarted, rendered null and ineffective? - WE set out, not for Bagdad, as did Thalaba and the dark magician Lobabo, but for Bergamo. Our route lay along a chain of the Alps, stretching like a colossal barrier-wall, enclosing and protecting fair Italy against the north, and embattled with craggy peaks on which might be seen accumulated snows that formed such a contrast with the cultivated plain we were travelling through. Summer and winter seemed to be here brought into contact, or it was literally the union of January and May, the latter being the very month during which we made this part of our journey. Midway between Brescia and Bergamo we made a short stop at Palazzolo, a town through which runs the river Oglio. On one of the bastions stands a handsome lofty tower, bearing considerable resemblance to a lighthouse, terminating in a belfry and cupola, surmounted by the figure of a man in armour. It is a very conspicuous object, and seems to have been erected to serve as a look out. We had before noticed other towers and lofty steeples in that part of the country we had just passed through, and learned that they had either been built or considerably heightened by the Austrians, for the purpose of watching the movements of an enemy. The hotel called the Albergo del Sole, where we stopped, commands a full view of the above-mentioned tower, and also a fine prospect in which the eye traces the windings of the river, whose stream is limpid and pellucid as crystal, and whose banks are fringed with trees a lovely picture rendered still more striking by the Alpine back-ground in the distance. out The view within doors was by no means so attractive; the floors were of brick, well incrusted with a coat of dirt that did not look as if it was likely to be soon worn scrubbing out being entirely out of the question. Besides which, the room we were shown into contained several beds ranged along one of its sides—like those in hospitals, all curtainless, but each with its picture of the Madonna, and with its bowl of holy water. It struck me that were the good folks to apply some water, either holy or unholy, to their floors, it would be put to an exceedingly good use; for they certainly needed ablution. However, perhaps even this filthiness may have its purpose, since it serves well enough to conceal another filthy custom; namely, that of spitting upon the floor, which habit is perhaps at once the cause and effect of carpets being such rarities in Italian houses of any kind. Still, though we heretics might deserve no better reception, it does not appear altogether seemly to put the Madonna into such a pig-stye apartment; but perhaps the people consider their dirt to be good evidence of their orthodoxy. "I recollect no superstition," says Southey, "but the Catholic, in which nastiness is accounted a virtue, as if piety and filth were synonymous.” Having despatched our luncheon, we made our exit from the unwashed Albergo, not at all grieving that there was no chance of our ever setting foot within it again; and after journeying two hours longer, entered Bergamo. This place, which is built between two rivers, called the Brembo, and the Serio, consists of an upper and lower town, fenced in by walls, and guarded by a citadel erected on the summit of Monte San Virgilio. The upper town is quite distinct from the other, both in its character and its site. It contains the best buildings and noblest houses, among the rest some handsome palazzi, and has the advantage of commanding an extensive view over a luxuriant and well-cultivated plain, as far as Milan, whose cathedral may be discerned in the horizon. It is also skirted by many well-planted alleys and walks; but at the same time its streets look somewhat triste and deserted. Not so those of the lower town, they being constantly full of bustle and animation; and there seems to be a brisk and thriving trade carried on. In fact, this last-mentioned portion of Bergamo is of comparatively modern date, and may be considered as the suburbs of the original town. In the upper town stands the cathedral, which was erected after the designs of the Cavalier Fontana, the architect of the royal palace at Naples, and of the palace of St. John's Lateran at Rome. The roof is exceedingly heavy with gilding and fresco painting, and there is a very splendid altar to St. Alexander, who is supposed to have a peculiar affection for the Bergamese, and to take them under his own special charge. This sort of local clientship between a particular saint and the inhabitants of a particular town or district is not the least curious trait of Catholicism. Assuredly it is one not a little derogatory from, and inconsistent with, the character attributed to its saints by the Catholic church, to consider them somewhat in the light of parliamentary representatives, bound to attend more especially to the particular interests of their constituents, and of the places for which they have been returned. Thus we meet with the names of hundreds of saints whose names are little at all known even among Catholics themselves, beyond certain localities. Their importance and reputation appear to be so entirely dependent upon place, that it is rather wonderful no one should have ever hit upon the idea of publishing a Hagiogeographia, or Geography of the Saints, pointing out their respective districts, wards, and residences. Ima |