paid to restore the interior of a church; and if there had been any tutelary divinity who protected the gallery at Florence, he would have done a great public service had he turned out the artists who restored the statues; but Santa Rosalia's fête-day has one unfortunate remembrance-the bouquet of the fire-works was the signal for the revolution in 1820.

The interior of the cathedral, although the unity of style is destroyed, is yet rich and splendid: here will be seen pillars of Egyptian granite, Sicilian marbles of great value, whilst the grand altar is resplendent of jasper, agates, and oriental alabaster; there is one pillar of lapis lazuli, of uncommon size, and the whole, although far inferior to many churches of Rome or Naples, is yet well worthy of a careful examination; and which examination will not tend to exalt, in the twenty-eight marble busts which are stuck about the cupola, the reputation of the famous Sicilian sculptor, Ghagini.

When I first visited the Duomo, a musical mass was being performed, and the bishop was in attendance; and although I knew in many fiddles are used in churches, I confess ver sounded agreeably on my ears; the ing of fiddling and dancing go to

gether, and prayers and pirouetting should be kept separate, as in the embassy at Paris, where Sunday is devoted to the one, and Monday to the other. An ambassadorial mind is far above all mundane affairs on the Sunday, but the expenses of the Monday will recall him to his mortality. It is well remarked, that all temples dedicated to the Divinity by the ancients, stood apart; they were alone for worship, uncontaminated by the vicinity of buildings for worldly occupations. The progressive state of improvement has done away with such narrow prejudices-a dining-room or a ball-room will do for devotion, dinner, dancing, and desecration.

The Duomo has its sculpture, and Villa Reale, the pupil of Canova, has given in marble the entrance of the relics (if they are her bones) into Palermo, with our Saviour, at the instigation of the contemplative saint, driving from this Eden war, pestilence, and famine. They have all returned once or twice, notwithstanding the sculpture and the prayers of St. Rosalia. Nor is this splendid cathedral destitute of tombs, of elaborate workmanship, in oriental porphyry or white marble; and the traveller may rub up his historical reminiscences at the

VOL. II!.

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side of the ashes of Roger the King, and many other royal remains, such as Henry VI. and Frederick II., Constance, Queen of Arragon, William, Duke of Athens.

It is said that Ferdinand IV. greatly contributed to the preservation of these tombs. Roger ruled over Sicily for fifty years, and added, by his indomitable courage, to the glory and prosperity of the kingdom. The island passed through the cruel ordeal of war and anarchy during the reign of Ferdinand II.; and although the brigands pillaged the temples, the tomb of Roger was respected. In short, the Duomo, both exterior and interior, will well repay the traveller for the longest hours he devotes to its inspection. It is a curiosity on the outside-it is a Sicilian history within.

This King Roger has his memory preserved in more places than the Duomo, for in the church of St. Simione, or La Martorana, on the right-hand entrance, there is the effigy of the white-bearded Roger, receiving the honour of coronation by the hands of the Saviour. In this church there is much mosaic and some pictures; but the eyes must be good to estimate the value of the Palermitan

painter, Vicenzo-Ainemolo, or to discover the merits of the Madonna of Il Zoppo of Salerno (the painter was lame) of Gangi. There is a mysterious darkness of this church, which dates as far back as 1113-a kind of sombre, religious obscurity, which, however in harmony with the edifice, is a serious obstacle to scrutiny. There is a convent attached to it, the iron gallery of which overlooks the Toledo, is sometimes occupied by those who have devoted themselves to religion, and yet crave after the world.

In every Catholic city, the church of the Jesuits will always be found the richest; and in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, examine either Naples or Palermo, there will be found no deviation from this rule. However superb may be the church of Jesus, however redundant of sculptures and paintings, the exterior is far from striking; it stands in a small square, and its vicinity is that of the most doubtful; it is approached by narrow streets, and it is only when the portals are passed that the richness is discovered. The music in this church is considered the best in Palermo; but it does not follow that the best is excellent; and this remark may take a wider range than Sicily. I

confess I came out of this church, on Low Sunday, admitting the truth of the remark of an English clergyman who accompanied methat "it was not worth cutting our own service to come and hear." The whole ornamental part struck me as too heavy-too gorgeous, whilst the congregation seemed all afflicted with colds, and bore out, from their eternal expectorations, the remark of another companion, that "they seemed all to have come from Spithead." But, gorgeous or dirty, it cannot be denied that the pictures and the statues have some pretension to admiration; and the chapels, which are in the naves, or the grand altar, with its exquisite marble ballustrade, cannot be passed unnoticed.

But throughout all Italy, the churches from first being the objects of sight-seers, gradually diminish in interest; almost the whole are more or less alike; and whether you see the descent from the Cross in the church of the Santa Zita-and the heads of this picture are of rare finish-or if your eyes are fixed on the dying Madeline, by Novelli, in the same church, you feel that a hundred times before you have seen the same faces and the same agony; a remark which may extend to the