Festa dei Morti, when certain rites of purification are performed for all departed souls. On this occasion a priest, with the aspersorio and censer in his hand, walks in procession to the campo santo, singing a Miserere as he goes along. Having chosen such a situation as best commands a view of the inclosure, he offers up several prayers, agreeably to the ritual, for the dead who lie there, sprinkling the earth at the same time with holy water, and perfuming it with incense. This ceremony clearly dates from the 'feralia' of the Romans, from which festival it principally differs in the season of its celebration; the latter having been solemnized on the 21st of February, a month which is thought to have derived its name from an old Latin word, 'februare,' signifying to purify, in allusion to this rite: Quia placatis sunt tempora pura sepulchris Tunc cum ferales præteriere dies. Ov. Fast. ii. 33. At that pure season, rest th' appeased sprites, And it may be observed, that the Purification of the Virgin is commemorated as a festival by the Roman catholic church at the beginning of this month: at which season it is somewhat curious that small tapers, after having been blessed, are given by the priests to the people. These are kept in their houses as a kind of charm, and are never lighted except in cases of dangerous illness, or domestic calamity. Small torches, to which some purifying virtue was supposed to belong, appear also to have been bestowed by the ministers of old Rome upon certain individuals at least, if not upon the public in general, at this same period: Ipse ego flaminiam poscentem februa vidi: Ov. Fast. ii. 27. The purifying charm a priestess sought, It is needless to say, that in this country we preserve the memory of the custom in the word candlemas. Having had cause to touch upon the sale of indulgences, it is convenient to mention in this place a passage in Suetonius, which appears to me to afford some explanation of that abuse of the church of Rome. In his life of Vespasian he records several indecent plans which that emperor pursued for raising a revenue; and amongst the rest is that of selling pardons ('absolutiones' is the word used,) to culprits, whether guilty or innocent; nec reis, tam innoxiis quam nocentibus, absolutiones venditare cunctatus est.' (Vespas. 16.) Since then the pope has confessedly adopted some practices of his imperial predecessors, those pontifices maximi whose title he inherits; such, for instance, as that of offering his foot for salutation, which was first done by Diocletian, is it not possible that he may also have followed so tempting an example in his fiscal arrangements, and have thus granted to spiritual offenders, as a spiritual prince, that release from punishment which it seems was before accorded to temporal offenders by a temporal prince? I shall close the present chapter with one remark more, which may not be thought here altogether out of place; that a power of releasing convicts under certain circumstances, once possessed by the vestal virgins, is now a prerogative of the cardinals. If a vestal met a criminal on his way to execution, she could demand his life, provided she declared upon oath that the meeting was accidental. (Dempster. Antiq. Rom. lib. iii. 19.) The same privilege, I say, at this moment is vested in the cardinals; for which reason, lest they should counteract the purposes of justice, they generally keep within doors at the time that sentence is about to be inflicted. 192 CHAPTER XII. ON THE AGRICULTURE OF ITALY. In prefixing this title to the present chapter, I do not wish to create an expectation that I am about to enter upon an essay on the existing state of agriculture in Italy and Sicily in all its details. To attempt such a subject would lead me far beyond the limits that I have prescribed myself; for I have not professed to do more than record some of those points of coincidence between ancient and modern times which present themselves to the mind of a classical traveller whilst wandering in these countries. Extensive then as the subject of agriculture itself is, the points to which I allude may yet be few. Indeed, there is nothing in relations between landlord and tenant, in methods of cultivation, or in |