As soon as they had breakfasted the next morning, they sallied forth on foot, and wandered through churches, palaces, and colleges, till Charles was quite sick of St. Anthony, the patron saint of the city, who adorns every corner, and stares you in the face over every gate: Mr. Melville had seen quite enough of him, when at length they came to a picture of that venerable gentleman, engaged in the very profitable employment of preaching to the fishes." You see," said Mr. Wilmot, "that the fishes are here represented as half out of the water, in an attitude of great attention ?"

"Yes," answered Charles, "I perceive they are; but considering that we are taught to believe they have no souls to be saved, I cannot help thinking the saint's occupation all cry and little wool,' as the devil said when he share the swine."

This melted even Mr. Wilmot's gravity, and they returned to dinner laughing, and Charles shutting his eyes, vowing he

would see no more of St. Anthony till he had dined.

The next day they proceeded to Vicenza. The morning was beautiful, the town was pretty, and Charles would have wished to pass some time there; but Mr. Wilmot seemed inclined to go on; and having taken a view of the theatre, which is a beautiful and curious piece of architecture, they pursued their journey to Verona, which was full thirty miles farther, being the longest distance they had travelled in one day since they had been in Italy.

At this town they remained two days, the first of which was principally taken up in viewing the amphitheatre, which still stands the most perfect ruin in Italy. It is in form a long oval, and calculated to contain from twenty-one to twenty-two thousand spectators; and standing within its lone walls, and looking round upon the seats once thronged with beings like our selves, we cannot help thinking what a

monument

monument it forms to the memory of ages past. Man builds himself a tomb, which scarcely bears his name beyond a single generation, while time heaps up the ruins of a world as records to his footsteps.

The next day, having seen two triumphal arches, which were nothing after the amphitheatre, they proceeded on to Mantua, which city they entered by a fine causeway that joins it to the land. Charles's expectations of Mantua had not been raised very high, and the broad streets, and fine buildings, struck him more than they otherwise would have done. An island in the lake, formed by the Mincia, was pointed out to them as the birthplace of Virgil; but Charles was rather inclined to dispute their authority for the assertion.

From Mantua, and the works of Julio Romano, they proceeded to Parma, where the magnificent dome paintings of Correggio occupied Mr. Melville's principal attention, and looking up, he felt as if he E 6

too

too was an inhabitant of the skies he saw represented, and that the figures were floating in the air around him.

After leaving Parma, they arrived the same evening at Modena, the seat of the house of Este, famous for the bucket stolen from Bologna, which occasioned a bloody, an inveterate war, and gave rise to the poem, "La Secchia rapita." The country from Modena to Bologna seemed excessively fertile, and the people cleaner, and more laborious, than Charles had hitherto seen in Italy.

On arriving at the latter city, Mr. Wilmot proposed to remain there till Charles's return from Florence; but afterwards changing his mind, he accompanied him to a little town on the frontiers of Tuscany, where Charles promising to return in five days, parted from Mr. Wilmot, as it so happened, never to meet him again.

CHAP

CHAPTER VI.

Sydenham.-Sir, as I told you, I am a mere idler, a roving

drone without a hive.

The Wheel of Fortune,

A new Acquaintance.

FEW travellers who passed through Italy shortly after the late revolutions in that country, but were not made sensibly aware of the jealousy of its Austrian masters, by a thousand little vexatious delays about passports and horses, which extended even to instances where suspicion was out of the question. But it may be always remarked, that people who are in the habit of practising meannesses do not limit them to cases where they may be advantageous to themselves, but do it gratuitously at other times, as if practice was necessary to

keep