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serves as a cemetery, remarkable for the good order and cleanliness with which it is kept. Some of the inscriptions are very touching, from their simplicity; and appeal strongly to the heart, when perused, as to-day, in the silence and solitude of this place of death, with a blue sky and glorious sunshine overhead, and a balmy air fanning the brow and exhilarating the spirits. The sense of these blessings renders one more disposed to mourn for those torn for ever from the bright sunshine and cheerful earth, to the dark and narrow home, where rest those who once enjoyed them as we now do. Without the blessed hope held out to us by religion, how fearful would be the prospect of a dreamless and eternal sleep in the cold dark grave!

MODENA. This is a quiet and silent place: the palace large and disproportioned to the town, as also to the extent of territory of its sovereign. The gallery contains several good paintings by the Caracci, Guercino, Guido, Albano, and Dossi. The custode pointed out with great complacency the pictures returned from Paris, a journey which is considered to be a certificate of their value; the French being supposed to have taken only the best. They judge works of art better than they execute them, Signora," was the custode's remark.

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The library contains above eighty thousand volumes, and above three thousand manuscripts. In it Muratori and Tiraboschi consulted authorities

for their histories; and spent many an hour filling those pages since so often referred to by students. They were both at the head of this library, a circumstance which invested it with increased interest to me, who feel a reverence towards those pioneers in literature who open a route to the less laborious and enterprising. Two volumes of the Bible, with innumerable and beautiful miniatures by Taddeo Crivelli, and an artist whose name I forget, I could have looked at for hours.

A collection of provincial poetry, said to contain poems nowhere else to be met with; a manuscript of Dante, with some quaint figures on it; various manuscripts of Bojardo and Tasso; and the correspondence of Tiraboschi, were shown

to us.

This fine library belonged to the house of Este; and was brought hither from Ferrara, when its possessor, Cæsar d'Este, was despoiled of his dominions by Clement VIII.

The museum contains some antiquities, but is only now forming. The bucket, rendered more famous by Tassoni, than by its having been taken from the Bolognese, still dangles from its chain and I looked on it with interest, as having inspired a poem which, whatever Voltaire may have written in depreciation of it, has very great merit; but he who could depreciate Shakspeare, may be pardoned for attacking Tassoni.

Samuel Rogers! Samuel Rogers! never will I

put

faith in you again. In vain have I sought the Orsini Palace near the Rizzio gate, to see the picture of "Ginevra," that luckless maiden who found a tomb upon her bridal day within "an oaken chest, half eaten by the worm, but richly carved by Anthony of Trent."

Shall I confess it? this story so well told, was one of my great inducements to visit Modena; and now that I am here I can find no one who ever heard of it. Mine host shrugged his shoulders, and declared he never knew of such a thing; the cicerone was puzzled and confounded, and thought there must be some mistake, for had such an event ever occurred, it surely must have been communicated to him; for man and boy he had dwelt at Modena, and was acquainted with all circumstances that could interest strangers.

O Samuel Rogers!

unjustly

-yet let me not accuse you

Lest I, perchance, should wrong thee, gentle bard,
For now methinks I call to mind some note

Remembered vaguely, in which thou there didst own
The place uncertain where th' event occurred.
And sooth to say, thy Italy is now

Lodged with some other books I value much,
Within a fourgon journeying on to France,
By nearer route than that which I have taken,
So I cannot consult its graceful page

Where sweet and gentle thoughts are ever found.

Deprived of Ginevra, I sought some other heroine in memory's cell; and remembered Tarquinia Molza, a fair poetess, born at Modena, in the middle of the

fifteenth century. She excelled not only in poetry, but was a proficient in the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages; and what was still more important than all this erudition, was an amiable and excellent woman. Appointed lady of honour to the Princesses Lucretia, and Leonora d'Este, she passed many years in the dangerous ordeal of a court, respected for her genius, and beloved for her estimable qualities. When she returned to her native town, she received a diploma, granting her and her family the rights and prerogatives of Modena; which diploma is still preserved in the archives of Modena. Tasso has introduced her as one of the interlocutors in his “Dialogue on Love," which, in honour of her, he named Molza; and Francesco Patrizzi dedicated to her the third volume of his "Discussions Peripatetiques."

This dedication is so honourable to my sex, that I remember to have read it twice. Patrizzi says in it that he considers her the most learned of all the women hitherto distinguished in the world of letters; that she perfectly understood the Greek and Latin historians and orators; and above all, Plato among philosophers, and Pindar among the poets. He refers to her poetry in Latin as well as in Italian ; and dwells with complacency on her knowledge of logic, and moral philosophy, physiology, theology, and all the other ologies: then sums up all by adding, "What may not be said of your skill in music, in which you surpass not only all musicians,

but the Muses themselves." Of her eloquence, benevolence, virtue, and grace, he makes an equally honourable mention; and this from such a writer was no mean praise.

Read this, ye envious men, who are disposed to question the capabilities of women for grave studies! and ponder on it, ye ill-judging women, who claim an equality with men, instead of rendering yourselves more than equal, by the high cultivation of your minds, and the exemption from passion and prejudice to which the necessities and temperatures of political life expose them. Remember, that the rare endowments, and still more rare accomplishments of Tarquinia Molza were so meekly borne, and her domestic duties so admirably fulfilled, that those who most admired her for her genius and learning, valued her still more for her goodness. Lose not, then, O woman! the precious time afforded you for mental cultivation, in vain and unbecoming clamours for equal rights with men. Those amongst you who perpetrate this sorry folly, inflict the deepest injury on your sex, by furnishing ground to the other, to deny you the respect to which you are entitled. Be worthy to become the friends as well as companions of your husbands, by qualifying yourselves to share their studies while sweetening their homes. Rejoice that you are saved from the arena of politics, and the arduous efforts compelled by professional life; and that the many hours of uninteresting labour to which men are condemned,

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