Protestant Vigils; or, evening records of a journey in Italy, in the years 1825 and 1827. (Botanical appendix of the plants seen most commonly in Italy.)

Front matter

Rome seen from. Monte Mario PROTESTANT VIGILS; OR, ©fairing Eerortrss OF A JOURNEY IN ITALY, IN THE Years 1826 and 1827. By HARRIET MORTON. Si ! Gesu e la luce Uhe il Popolo smarito ; II notto rischiaru : Questo e la Verga Che in fonte di salute Apre i macigni : II Sacerdote e Questo Fra la vita e la inorte Fietoso Mediator 1 IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY, AND W. BURNSIDE ; AND SOLD BY L. B. SEELEY AND SONS, FLEET-STREET, AND G. WILSON, ESSEX-STREET, STRAND. MDCCCXXIX. LONDON : Printed bv WILLIAM CLOWES, Stamford-Street. TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF BEAUFORT, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE, WITH HER GRACE'S PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY THE AUTHOR

ADVERTISEMENT.

. The respect due to public taste requires of me an apology for offering my Volumes, after the numerous works on Italy sent forth .by persons of genius, eru dition, and research. The manuscript of my pages was written in Italy, and intended originally for the perusal of private friends only : recent circumstances have decided me to give them publicity. I wove by night the materials collected in the day: they were old, and snatched in haste from the store-house of antiquity ; but if 1 have sent through all the warp a golden wire drawn from the inexhaustible treasures of creation and the written Word, my work may yet possess some value, and suit the evening tent of the Christian traveller, who always possesses this advantage over others — that, when earthly objects fade, " He sends bis hopes on high, looks up, And, reaching forth his sickle, reaps the fields of heaven ; And plucks the clusters from the vine of God.'' Page CONTENTS.

Chapter II

Milan — The Cathedral — The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci — The Amphitheatre— St. Ambrose— Lodi— The Trebbia— The Po — Placentia — Borgo St. Domino — Parma — Reggio — Modena — Bologna . . . . . . 15

Chapter III

The Apennines— Foco del Legno — Pietra Mala — Monte Carelli — Florence — Fiesole — The Venus ... 27

Chapter IV

The Medici— The Duomo— The Church of Santa Croce— San Lorenzo ...... 38

Chapter V

Incisa Monte Vache — The Arno — Cortona — Camuscia — The Lake of Thrasymenus — Passegiano — Umbria— Perugia — The Tiber — Nunnery of Bethlemme — Foligno — Spoleto — Monte Somma— Monte Velino — Terni ... CONTENTS. VIII Page

Chapter IX

Ancient and Modern Rome — Justin Martyr — The Pillar of Antoninus — The Tarpeian Rock — Forum Romanum — The Arch of Septimus Severus — The Temple of Jupiter Touans — The Curia — The Tribunal — Via Sacra — Basilica of Constautine — The Arch of Titus, its bas-reliefs — Captive Jews — The Coliseum — The Triumphal Way ..... 86

Chapter X

Superstitions — Altars of Divination — Diario Romano — Spiritual Christmas Food — Cradle adored, at Santa Maria Maggiore — Christmas-day, 1826 ..... 96

Chapter XI

The Tower of the Capitol— Seven Hills of Rome — a Survey of the Palatine — St. John Lateran— La Santa Croce — The Ruins of the Temple of Minerva Medica . . . CONTENTS. IX Page

Chapter XII

The House of Nero— The Baths of Titus— St. Paul— Mamertine ' Prisons — Temple of Antoninus Pius — The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola — The Fountain of Acqua Felice — The Church of " Maria degli Angeli" — The Christian Soldier — Church of La Santa Aguese — Epitaphs from the Catacombs — Temple of Bacchus— Mons Sacer .... 123

Chapter XIII

Monte Pincio — Prisoners — View of Rome — Monks and Priests — Scholars of the Seminario Romano, and Members of the Propaganda fide — Church of La Triniti— The Wall of Aurelius — Gardens of the Villa Borghese — Sunset . . 134

Chapter XIV

The Borghese Gallery — The Pantheon — La Vergine della Rotunda — Bronze of the Rotunda . . . 145

Chapter XV

The Tombs on the Appian Way — The Catacombs — Protestant Burying-Ground — Piazza di Minerva — Monastery of St. Francis — Guido Reni's Archangel — The Convent of St. Isidore — An Irish College .... 151

Chapter XVI

Chiesadi Pietro in Vincolo — Michael Angelo's Statue of Moses — Mons Janiculum — Palazzo Corsini — Sarcophagi — Franciscan Monks St. Peter's Place of Martyrdom — Fountain of Paul the Fifth — Gardens of the Villa Pamfilia Doria — Tombs — Palazzo Farnese ..... 159 b VOL. I. X CONTENTS. Page

Chapter XVII

La Musica nella Chiesa di Gesii — Nuns— The Corso— Trifles — The Fountain of Egeria— ItaUan Marbles — Studio of Thorswalden ....... 167

Chapter XVIII

The Tiber Mount Aventine, Porta della Marmorata— Santa Maria del Sole— Santa Maria Egyptiana — The Tras-Tevere, Esculapius with the Serpent — " The Beautiful Shore" — Circus Maximus — Spring of Juterna — Baths of Caracalla — Canova 175

Chapter XIX

Basilica of San Paulo — Monte Testaccio — Temple of Ceres — Nicholas Rienzi — Carmental Gate — Church of San Nicholas — ■ Villa della Farnesine — The Vatican— RafFaello — The Sestine Chapel — Michael Angelo's Picture of the Last Judgment — Appartamenti Borgia — Christian Inscriptions from the Catacombs — Museo Chiaramonti .... 186

Chapter XXIII

Quit Rome for Naples — Sepolcro di Ascanio — The Alban Mount — The Alban Lake — The Campagna — Circean Point — Velletri — Palazzo Lanceoletti — Convents — Tres Tabernæ of St. Paul — " Linea Pia," over the Appian Way — Pontine Marsh — Terracina ....... 231

Chapter XXIV

Terracina — Torre dei Confini — Fondi — Julia Gonzago — Dogani — Vegetation — Formian Hills — Tomb of Cicero — Gaeta — Ancient Formia — The Baths of Cicero — Women of Mola — Lestrigons — Minturnæ — Banks of the Liris — The Villa of Marius — Capua Naples ...... 240

Chapter XXV

Naples — The Corso — Giardino Reale — Grotto of Posilipo— Strada Nuovo — Bay of Naples — Pozzuoli, anciently Puteoli, the Port of St. Paul — New Mountain — Lake Avernus — Acherontic Lake — Bay of Baja and its environs . . . 249

Chapter XXVI

Money Changers — San Francesco — Church of Prince Sanseverino —Chiselled Net_A veiled Statue of Christ . . DIRECTIONS FOR THE PLATES. VOL. I. The Tiber Frontispiece. Valley of Carafella m Acherontic Lake -D" PROTESTANT VIGILS, (.C 4-c.

Chapter I

Brigg — The Simplon — Domo d'Ossola — Isola Bella — Carlo Borromeo — Sesto Calendo. " If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Believing and re lying on this declaration of the Psalmist, I ventured to seek the health of a dear accompanying friend in a foreign clime — the friend of my youth, the solace of my declining years. Brigg is situated at the foot of some ofthe loftiest moun tains in Switzerland, and is the last town in the valley of the Rhone ; beyond it are immense glaciers and lofty pyra mids of granite. Here are a college of Jesuits and a theatre ; the college is covered with a kind of slate, and its globes with a species of lavizzi that makes them very conspicuous at the head of the valley.

The inhabitants call the latter giltstein ; the ground of it is green, with light yellow veins. I longed to possess time and strength to wander amidst these noble mountains ; there are so many warm ravines and valleys — so many glaciers and precipices — so many VOL. I. B BRICG sweet flowers and roaring cataracts. From the back of our inn, we looked upon the Jungfrau, and the vast Aletsch glacier stretching down its side into the valley ; and the mighty granite peaks of the Breitshorn and the Finster-aar horn standing up as impassable ramparts. Beneath was an open space, where idiots sauntered, and groups of Jesuits were continually passing. It was to the superior of the Jesuit college here, that Wolf, the missionary, had a recommendation, as he passed from Germany to Rome. He says, " The superior received me with great kindness, and entreated me to stay some days with them ; the mem bers of his convent are all very gentle, and have a pleasing external appearance.

The superior seemed to me to pos sess more scriptural knowledge than any I had ever met with ; and he wrote several verses of exhortation and en couragement in my remembrance-book. An awful silence is observed in the convent." The front of our inn presents the torrent of the Saltine, and is opposite to the first bridge over the Simplon ravines and streams. Beyond is a wild mountain view, crowned by the hoary glacier of the Simplon and its buttresses ; and the eye is led up through the valley of St. Nicholas. The pretty fille de la maison waited upon us. On her head was a small chip hat, turned up all round, with plaited black ribbon, sixteen or seventeen yards, forming a singular serpentine edge, and it was trimmed round the crown with pink ribbon. It appears generally worn by the inhabitants of Sion and Brigg, and is very becoming.

Early on Sunday morning the men were called out to be exercised in archery. After a very early mass, the whole day appears passed in sauntering. We felt our privileo-es, as we shut our doors about us, and sought Him who is THE SABBATH. ever found of those that seek him ; and to such, how gra cious are the promises of God! " Delight thyself 'in the Lord, and he will grant thee thy heart's desire." " If thou turn away the foot on the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable ; and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words ; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." In the evening the rain poured down in torrents, and we foresaw a trying day for our courage on the expedition of the Simplon.

We were somewhat dismayed when we were told that we must be up at three. When the morning came we saw lanterns moving here and there, as the men fas tened on our baggage, and the skies were still pouring down their watery treasures. In a foreign land, by the dim light of a setting moon, to start with strange drivers, over Alpine precipices, almost baffled resolution. " Is it safe ?" " Quite safe !" was the answer, and our horses rattled off. You must now fancy us in our caleche, all buttoned up but one corner, — that corner-curtain often lifted to peep upon the edge of some deep precipice ; desire and fear beating quickly in our breasts, as the moon gradually sank amidst the mountain tops, leaving us to feel increased darkness. At length the morning dawned, and the opening clouds let peep forth a star; and " I think it will clear," was the cheering word that broke a silence in which expectation had kept us.

We skirted the bridge of the Saltine torrent, without passing it, and gradually wound up a vast altitude, the dawning light just sufficing to shew the depths and torrents. b2 PERSAL. As the sun rose, the globes of Brigg appeared again at our feet. The valley of the Rhone, the Aletsch glacier, and the lofty pyramids of the Breitshorn and Finster-aar horn, and all our well known mountains, were about us. The winding road is sufficiently broad for three carriages to drive abreast. The ascent is first through a larch grove ; a deep ravine occasions the first gallery, and the Kander torrent the first bridge beyond the Saltine. At a height of eighty feet above the fall, you now sweep round a vast concavity in the side of the mountain ; beneath your eye are the rugged effects of the raging waters of winter, bordered by the rich foliage of summer : to a certain height every slope is covered with rich beech and fir, and smoke here and there, from the chalets in the dale, still speaking of the residence and comforts of man.

We stopped for a quarter of an hour at Persal, one of the refuges built by Buonaparte for his soldiers, when they were forming the road. We had a basin of milk, and a long chat with our hostess. A mixture of Swiss frankness, French shrewdness, and Italian feeling, made her very en tertaining, as she poured forth, with great fluency, her French, Italian, and German, to try which we might best comprehend. When I asked her if she remembered the French troops, she said, "Ah oui!" with much sentimentality; but she had outlived their departure, and appeared to be dwelling very happily with her cows, which, indeed, are a gift pecu liarly bounteous to this spot. We continued our suspen sion-drive over the brink of precipices, winding in lona* sinuosities as far as the bridge of the torrents of Oesbach.

Here the mountains seemed crumbling over our heads; the danger of the Lavanges was very great ; vast masses of FINSTER-AAR-HORN. rock, in loose earth, are suspended above, waiting but the breath of Eolus, or the slightest shock, to overwhelm the traveller in an instant. We crossed the second gallery, and saw on our left the glaciers of Kaltwasser, from whence descend four cascades, the waters of which are carried be neath the road by the most ingenious masonry. The sun now broke forth powerfully; no pen can de scribe the sublimity of that scene. We were skirting a vast holiow of an Alpine height ; the Jungfrau rose in solitary grandeur, with her never-changing snows. Beside her was reared the enormous granitic pyramid of the Finster-aar horn, rising thirteen thousand feet, with regions of ice and snow stretching out to the utmost limit of vision, dazzling in brightness, and their divisions only perceptible by the vast and lofty precipices, dark in their own shadows.

At this moment, in the lowest deep of the abyss beneath, we could just discern our poor peasant attending her cows. Whilst gazing with intense interest, the post-boys quickened their horses to a gallop, and drove us through a long gal lery roofed by a glacier : the darkness, the trampling of the horses on the hollow rock, the rush of water from above, made the whole rather terrific, and we drew a long breath on emerging, whilst our post-boys looked back with an air of triumph at having so speedily brought us through this dangerous spot; where, indeed, if one large stone were shaken out, it would, in an instant, close in death those eyes so lately employed in delight amidst this wondrous scene. We had long been above the line of vegetation, and we now turned upon a region all rock and barrenness, and snow and ice.

It was exceedingly cold, and just when we had thought, here man cannot dwell, we came upon the ruins of an ancient convent and its campanile, and a second SIMPLON. was actually commenced by order of Buonaparte ; the stones ready for building lay scattered in every direction. On the western side of us rose the Eritzhorn, and, on the south, the vast glacier of the Fletchhorn. We had now reached the highest point of our road ; the mountain is six thousand five hundred and ninety-seven feet above the level of the sea, and we slowly commenced our descent. On our left, in the distance, were prodigious points of dark slaty looking mountain-tops, mixed with snows, and on our right a circus forming the crown of the Simplon, magnificent with rugged peaks : the immediate part we were passing was a sort of mountain marsh, and having reached the bridge of Sinkalbech, or Amsenk, we soon arrived at the little village of Simplon.

We were glad to warm our hands at a huge stove, but had not the pleasure of seeing a fire. Epicures speak highly of this inn : we soon wandered forth, and sat beside a little mountain-torrent rushing down from a Sim plon glacier, and which appeared to be one of the sources of the Vedro. Another roared on the left, and, in a deep ravine on a level with the stream, I observed a little glacier, so completely did the high cliffs keep off the sun's rays. Once more en route, we passed the bridge of Lowiback and Kronback, and reached Gsteig, where the Kronback and the Quirna joining their mountain streams, as they descend from the glacier of Lavin, along a straight cut in the rocks, form the Vedro or Diverio, whose roaring waters now kept thundering by our side. The road now turns upon itself, and the Vedro, traversing a thousand rocky fragments, rolls into the valley with a tremendous noise, and the mountains approach so close, the rocks are so awfully suspended, and so loose, that the danger after rain must be imminent.

We crossed a fourth gallery, and our ST. MARCO. 7 attention was suddenly arrested by the beautiful cascade of the Frissinone. Its rush, its rage, the abyss into which it falls, its rising vapour, its rainbow, its dark rocks, make a noble combination. Leaving it with regret, we turned into the gallery of Gondo, said to be cut out of solid granite, six hundred feet long; two large openings in its roof admit the light of day. Emerging from this gallery, the sound again stuns your ear, and, on your right, the Diverio tumbles over immense blocks of stone, and boils into the gulf below; whilst, on your left, the white foam of the rushing waters from the strait of Zwischberghen attracts your eye. Here nature has combined great magnificence and beauty in the rocks and waters ; and the bright beam of the sun — now cut by the dark shadow of a high cliff — now dancing in the watery spray — gave life to the whole.

For miles, the Chauss6e continued on the side of a vast cliff, broken into prodigious masses, separated from its opposing mountain only by the bed of the roaring waters of the Diverio, but varied by every glowing tint and whim sical shape that stone can assume. At Gondo there is an old tower, seven stories high : it has the appearance of a prison, and its grated windows suit well with the dreary grandeur of the scene. Beyond, on a lofty pyramid, is a chapel, surmounted by a cross ; and, on a fine grotesque mass of rock, a pillar. The first Italian village is named St. Marco. Between this place and Isella, we observed a Corin thian column on the ground ; and mosses and ferns were beginning to throw their graceful draperies over its fluted sides. It is said to be the column destined by Buonaparte to support his statue at the end of the Simplon road.

At Isella, the Italian Dogani commenced their operation. A very beautiful female stood with them. After a silvery D0M0 D'OSSOLA. salutation, we entered the fine defile of Yeselles, and passed through a narrow and wild valley over two bridges into the sixth and last gallery. In this region most of the rocks are split, and the blocks on the sides and summit hang suspended : the wind, the rain, or a sound, preci pitates them on the helpless traveller. Turning round a fine height, the debris of a whole mountain lay in wild confusion before us : the road had been cleared, but the Diverio was nearly choked, and its impetuous waters struggled furiously through the wild fragments. As we were emerging from the scene, we stood up and looked back. Salvator Rosa would have been baffled. The misty hue of evening spread upon the mountains, whilst long sunbeams shot between ; and the glaciers and lofty pinnacles of snow reflected a rosy light, contrasting beauteously with the dim dark hue of the crossing forms of the distant ravines.

Reaching Crevola, and crossing the Veriola, we turned with a sharp angle to the right, quitting the Val Vedro for the wide, well-watered valley of the Toccia: the natural and artificial ornaments of the country are instantly changed. The near mountains are covered with wood, and Italian looking summer-houses crown their summits : five or six rivers haste over the long valley, winding in among the vineyards, which cover the whole space between the moun tains, hanging their luxuriant fruit and foliage over granite pillars. Long mountain-valleys come sideways down into the plain, and now and then allow one to peep into the deep recesses that conduct to some hoary summit. We entered a large inn at Domp d'Ossola, the deficiencies and ornaments of which were new to us, and told us LAGO MAGGIORE. 9 that we were actually in that Italy I had so long desired to see.

We entered a very large salon — no bells — no glass to the sashes — no fastening to the doors — tiles to tread on, and the walls and ceiling stuccoed and delicately painted with flowers. We retired to rest, thankful for preserving mercies to Him " who sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills." Domo d'Ossola appeared populous and commercial — the houses are painted with various subjects on the outside. The convent of the Jesuits is of black and white marble. Leaving the town early, we crossed Val Bugnanco, Val Antzina, and the Val Angasca. The latter leads up, between vast rocky buttresses, to Mount Rosa — la Bella Rosa d'ltalia, which displays its rosy beauties to the sun at the height of fifteen thousand and eighty-four feet above the level of the sea. We crossed the pretty Ponte Masone over the Toccia ; and, on the opposite side of the valley, observed the little village of Pie de Mouliere, at the foot of that range of Alps which forms the side screen to Mount Rosa.

Beyond the beautiful wooded mountain on the left of this valley, rises a branch of the Grison range, reaching to Lago Maggiore, and forming one side of the gloomy valley of Intrasca. Mountains and valleys, and rivers, in constant variety, rouse you to observation : there is no napping-time, and your eye is carried along the Toccia, between the fine white marble mountains of Cordaglia, and the red granite masses, near Baveno, till it catches the first glimpse of the Lago Mag giore. Arrived on its border, I was disappointed ; and yet Isola Bella, Isola Madre were before me. But I had just left the gloomy grandeur of the Simplon, and I did not feel in tone, perhaps, for a lighter, gayer landscape. Look- BAVENO. ing to the south there is a flatness, a barrenness. As we drove on the border of the lake, the chesnut, the olive, the mulberry, the fig-tree, and the maize, were luxuriant on our risfht. '5 At Baveno, we found a neat inn, with a terrace of very pretty flowers : here we hired a boat, and in a quarter of an hour were seated in our bark, gathering news from our Italian boatmen.

With just breeze enough to ripple the waves, we glided along by a small island called " II Pes chera," (from the number of pescatori who inhabit it,) and then passed on to the " Isola Bella." The first object is a very large unfinished house — not a vestige of fine archi tecture — and not a tree to shade it. As we rowed round to the steps, the porticos assumed a better appearance, but the family linen was hanging to dry from its balustrades. A well-informed man led us through the galleries. My attention was drawn to a table of agate, a present from Pius VII. to Buonaparte. He and his officers were some time in this Palazzo ; we saw the bed in which he slept, and heard discussions on the reception given him by the Prince Borromeo. The under part of the palace is a succession of grottoes, fitted up with shells, and ornamented with statues.

A head of Jove and a veiled figure were finely executed. On the rock are two " laurus nobilis," (the bay of Italy) — they are six hundred years old. How many laurels, Borromean and Buonapartean, have faded since they began to flourish ! — they appeared in full vigour. On the southern side of the rock rises a pyramid of ter races, on arches. The fruits are delicious ; the lemons and oranges annually gathered amount to thousands ; they are not indigenous, but are preserved in winter by the whole pyramid being boarded over. CARDINAL B0RR0ME0. 11 The exotics were not very choice ; but in summer the flowers are said to be luxuriant. The gardens are in child ish taste, and from no one spot have an unity of effect, — a mere heap of small things. A French nobleman (whom we saw presented to Prince Borromeo) attracted our attention, from his truly high-toned manners.

The two parties walked round the garden together, and as children pre sented flowers, he selected a bouquet and offered it ; the Princess, who was with him, appeared to less advan tage. The Principessa Borromeo was quietly drawing in her boudoir. It was not till we were reseated in our boat, escaped from the scorching heat ofthis Bella Isola, that we woke to all the beauties which surrounded us. To the north rise Mount Rosa, the Simplon, the Gries, the St. Gothard, the Moschellon, the Bennardin, and the Jarisberg ; and from this Alpine amphitheatre the waters rush down to the lake. To the east and south the moun tains gradually decrease to the plains of Lombardy. Isola Madre, a little wooded island, lay before a lofty mountain ; the deep recesses of the north-eastern view received the fine shades of lofty promontories, and led the eye dimly to its distant valleys of Locarno, whilst in front was the dazzling iris-tinted crystal water ; our canopy, heaven's brightest blue ; and, hanging over the shore of Baveno, the rich treasures of the vineyard, surmounted by red granite-rocks.

We glided back to Baveno : they gave us for dinner the fish agone, a species of Sardinia — " Cyprinus Agone." After this refreshment, we drove to Arona, and observed to the right the gigantic statue of Carlo Borromeo, in bronze. Arona, the birthplace of this remarkable character, is now in ruins. The castle, where he was born in 1 538, is totally dilapidated. Invested with the dignities of Cardinal Nephew to Pope Pius IV., he devoted himself to the duties CARDINAL BORROMEO. of his pastoral office as Archbishop of Milan ; with an intellect enlightened by the then spreading doctrines of the reformation, his heart was a stranger to their power. It is true that he, seeing that the accusations of licentiousness brought against the Catholic clergy were just, endeavoured strengthen their declining power by reforming their man ners.

He gave the example, — dismissed eighty domestics — discarded silk from his dress — fasted once a week — evinced his charity by his continuance in the scene of danger at Milan, attending the sick and dying of the plague, — and sold his goods in order to furnish himself with the means of relieving the general distress. Surely, say you, we have a saint? — Yes! he was canonized by Paul V. But he had learned his lessons of charity amidst those scenes which induced his uncle to throw into the gloomy cells of the Inquisition beyond the Tiber all who thought not as the church dictated He planted convents of Jesuits on the hills which overlook Locarno, and here persecuted the Protestants to the utmost; lined the Valteline with forts, and sent inquisitors to seek heretical books ; bands of armed men haunted the road of the Valteline, to seize the Protestants unawares, and carry them to Rome.

Francisco Cellario*, the Protestant minister of Montigno, was near Chiavenna, when some emissaries rushed from a wood on the margin of the Lake Maggiore, and took him prisoner. Can one forget the scenes of war that Borromeo occasioned on its borders ? Barbara di Mon talto, the wife of the first physician of Locarno, having incurred the resentment of the Pope's nuncio, (pa tronised by Borromeo,) he endeavoured to apprehend * See M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. SESTO CALENDO. her. Her husband's house, which had been built as a place of defence during the violent feuds of the Guelphs and Ghibelines, is on this lake, looking to the lofty Alpine heights which rise in solemn grandeur at its northern end. It had, we are told, a concealed door, which it required the strength of six men to move, opening on the water, where a boat was kept waiting to carry off the inmates on any sudden alarm.

Montalto had caused his servants to open this at night, in consequence of an alarming dream, which led him to apprehend danger, not to his wife, but to him self. Early next morning, the officers of justice entered his house ; and, bursting into the apartment where the lady was dressing, presented a warrant to convey her to prison. Rising up, with the greatest presence of mind, she begged them, with an air of feminine delicacy, to permit her to retire to an adjoining apartment. This being granted, she descended the stairs ; and, leaping into the boat, was rowed off in safety before the eyes of her enemies, who were assembled in the court-room to receive her. But, alas ! Montalto found that the danger was still to himself. The officers wreaked their vengeance upon him ; and, ere long, all the Protestants of these beautiful shores were banished, in the midst of winter, to the snows of Bellinzone and its neighbouring mountains.