Devonshire it is said wishes to become their owner, but so large a sum (five thousand pounds) is demanded for them, that no purchaser has yet been found. Good as is the taste of the Duke of Devonshire, and vast as is his fortune, both are considerably exaggerated in France and Italy; where every dealer in curiosities imagines that in his Grace will be found a ready buyer of any thing rare, however enormous may be the price demanded for it.

We went yesterday to Monza, and took with us an order to see the celebrated iron crown. On the road we passed through Greco; and stopped to view some very fine frescos by Bernardino Luini.

The town of Monza, though silent and deserted, is full of interest, as offering so many traces of the Lombards; and this very silence and solitude is not only in harmony with the aspect of the place, but better disposes the mind to the contemplation of the objects it contains, and the reflections they awaken.

The royal villa is outside the town, and is approached by a long avenue of stately trees. It owes all the beauty of its apartments and grounds to the good taste of Prince Eugène Beauharnois, who rendered it a most agreeable residence, and who loved to resort to it as a refuge from the cares of state.

The history of Psyche, by Appiani, ornaments the orangery, and has a very good effect.

The cathedral, founded by Theodolinda, contains many curious objects, but none to which so much interest is attached as the iron crown; that crown which encircled the brow of the chosen husband of Theodolinda, bestowed on him unsought, by her who was compelled to the delicate and painful office of announcing to him the honour she designed to confer on him, and which bound the laurelled brows of Charles V. and Napoleon.

Theodolinda evinced a woman's wit and grace in the mode she adopted for making the overture of her hand to Agigulphus: nevertheless the task must have been a trying one to feminine feelings. I ventured to hint this to one of the monks, who was relating the anecdote; but he gravely reminded me that the queen was a widow, and consequently not so timid or bashful as if she had not previously been married. 66 Besides, Signora," added he, queens have no refusals to dread, and this Theodolinda well knew."

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The following was the mode adopted by Theodolinda to offer her hand to Agigulphus. She ordered a precious cup, never used except by her royal self, to be filled with the rarest wine, and having taken

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a portion of its contents, she presented it with her own hand to him she had selected as her husband. Some persons are malicious enough to assert, that in placing it in his hand, she allowed hers to give it a gentle pressure: while others insist that she turned towards his lips the side of the cup that her's had touched, in order that he might not by any possibility misunderstand her intentions, and so compel her to the painful necessity of avowing them by words. But these surmises, (for they cannot be more than surmises) must be mere scandal; and I, for one, can never believe that the fair Theodolinda could commit such solecisms in feminine delicacy, as either to press the hand of Agigulphus, or turn to him the side of the cup which her lips had touched.

One thing, however, is quite clear, that Theodolinda must have been greatly beloved by her subjects, or they would not have authorized her to offer, not only her hand, but what they perhaps thought much more important, her crown, to any husband she might select an example which I fear is not likely to be followed in modern times, in those countries where the Salique law does not exist, and in which subjects are so ungallant, as to leave nothing, save their hands and hearts, at the disposal of their queens;

a want of gallantry which places the husbands selected in a much less enviable position than that filled by Agigulphus.

The iron crown, so designated from a ring of iron, made of the nails of the cross on which the Saviour suffered, is incased in gold, and beheld from such a distance, as to offer only a glittering object flashing through the fumes of incense from the censers of the priests, and the less pleasant smoke of the torches held up to display it. The crown is contained in a huge cross placed over the altar, and is never touched without the celebration of a religious ceremony.

A priest, in full canonicals, attended by two others bearing torches, and some half-dozen white robed boys, entered the church, the priests prostrated themselves before the altar, and prayed, while the sacristan mounted by a ladder to the cross, opened it, and displayed the crown.

To atone for not letting us see the real crown nearer, we were permitted to examine a copy of it; and more, were allowed to look at a cotton gown, said to have been worn by the Virgin, which is enshrined in a silver case, and which testifies that Raphael had better taste in attiring her than was evinced by herself, if we may judge by this specimen

of it. This gown, to which so much value is attached by the clergy at Monza, is evidently not more than two centuries old; but the people receive it as a most sacred relic, and question not its authenticity.

The gifts of various sovereigns and other pious persons, were shown us, many of them of considerable value, but not remarkable either for good taste or fine workmanship. It would appear that the donors imagine that the saints to whom these offerings are made, or the clergy, their delegates, are either bad judges of such matters, or that they prefer the intrinsic value of gold and gems, to beautiful design and execution.

ARONA.

The colossal statue of St. Carlo Borromeo is well placed on the summit of a hill above the town of Arona, and seen at a distance has a

very imposing effect. The saint is represented holding a book in one hand, while the other is xetended in benediction; employments allegorical enough of his mission on earth, which was to enlighten and to bless. The statue looks grim and monstrous when approached, appearing, like other great men, to most advantage at a distance. declined the proposal made by our cicerone, of

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