trees by order of Napoleon. The Corso is circular, not more than half or three-quarters of a mile in circumference, around which the coaches chase one another, somewhat in the style of the ancient chariot races. The walks are extensive, beautifully shaded, and commanding a fine view of the mountains on one side, and the vale of the Po, on the other. Great numbers of both sexes were out on the Festa of the Madonna. The women are handsome-tall, graceful, and genteel, wearing white veils and turbans, without hats, even in public. They have cheerful faces, and are remarkably gay and animated in their manners.

Two fountains refresh the Garden, about which seats are extended in the shade. On the bank of the Reno, which murmurs by, there is a modern gymnasium, ornamented with twenty Corinthian pillars. It is appropriated to wrestling, playing ball, and other athletic exercises, in which the youth were engaged. Few carriages appeared on the parade, and the attempts at style were meagre, in comparison with Rome, Naples, or Florence. Many of the higher classes were in the country, to which the Bolognese are much more partial than the other Italians.

Early next morning we resumed an examination of the town, revisiting the Piazza del Gigante, the Gallery, and most of the localities, which have already been described, together with many that were new to me. An intelligent gentleman accompanied us through the various departments of the University. It is an extensive pile of buildings, furnished with appurtenances and accommodations, which are suited to what has been one of the greatest schools in the world. The philosophical and chemical apparatus is very complete. Our polite and obliging guide, who appeared to be an officer in the institution, spoke of Franklin, Hare, and Priestly in terms of high respect. A superb monument has been erected to the memory of Galvani, a native of this city, and the discoverer of the new science to which he has given

name.

The cabinets of geology, mineralogy, and natural history are all well filled, and the articles in an excellent state of preservation. An extensive anatomical museum, which is one of the oldest in Europe, and little inferior to that of Florence, contains an infinite variety of preparations, partly of real subjects, and partly in wax. We were extremely anxious to see that philological prodigy, Professor Mezzofanti,

who is said to understand forty-two languages. Our cicerone reduced the number to thirty, two more than Sir William Jones was acquainted with; and there is reason to believe, that even after this deduction, the depth of his erudition has been somewhat exaggerated, though it is doubtless wonderful. Mezzofanti is now at the age of forty-two. He was out of town at the time of our visit, and deprived us of the pleasure of looking at the University Library, of which he has charge.

The most eminent man in the medical school, and the first physician in Italy, is Dr. Tommasini, professor of clinical medicine. A friend at Florence had given us letters to him; but he had unfortunately gone to Naples, a distance of four or five hundred miles, on a professional visit to a patient of distinction, who died before his arrival. He is a native of Modena, and now at the age of about forty. We saw the portraits of two female professors in the hall. They have good faces, and were eminent in their departments, though in my opinion out of their proper spheres. Of this the Bolognese appear to be sensible; for the chairs of these fair lecturers on the most indelicate of all subjects, are now vacant, and will probably never again be filled by the same sex. * There are forty professorships in the University, and the number of students is seven or eight hundred.

The afternoon was occupied in an excursion to the Certosa or Campo Santo, at the distance of a mile and a half from the town, in the western suburbs. It is approached by a fine avenue, bordered by fields, gardens, and trees, and its situation is extremely rural. It was formerly a large convent, with a chapel attached to it. The grounds, courts and cloisters have been converted into cemeteries, crowded with graves and sepulchral monuments, many of which are stately piles of marble in the first style of elegance.

A striking peculiarity was observed in the disposition of the graves. The dead are assorted according to their ages. There is one compartment for children; another for female adults; a third for male adults; and a fourth for persons beyond

* The French still keep up the custom, and some of the first lectures, in the department alluded to, are given by females, with experiments on all kinds of subjects, real and artificial, dead and alive. I accompanied a medical friend to one of them, and heard an elderly woman of great volubility, deliver her instructions to a class of students. Such exercises may no doubt be useful, but they are not very attractive.

a certain age. Prices of sepulture vary as in Pere la Chaise. The grounds are a mile and a half in circuit, substantially enclosed, and prettily shaded with pyramids of cypress. Several grave diggers were at work in opening tombs and vaults, whose voices alone broke the profound quiet, which reigns through the cemetery. The church is still kept up, in which the last sad offices are performed. About the walls are suspended many spoils and trophies, taken from the Turks at Constantinople, Tunis, and Algiers. Among the rest are chains, in which

captives are bound. They are about four feet in length, with a fetlock at one end, and a ring at the other. In the cells of the church is an extensive assortment of rude but rare Madonnas, exhibiting the miraculous forms in which the Virgin appeared at different and remote places, in France, Spain, Italy and the East.

At evening we visited the Chiesa del Servi, which is the popular church at Bologna, and the scene of half the intrigues in the city. Preparations were making for the last and great day of the Feast of the Madonna, to take place on the morrow. It is a long low edifice, with the high altar nearly in the centre. The air was suffocating from the smoke of censers and tapers, as well as from the garlic of the crowd, which thronged the aisles. Our attention was arrested by a group, bending at a shrine of peculiar sanctity, on one side of the church. The faces of the Virgin and her child were of a black glossy colour, besmeared with grease. To prevent any farther deformities of the frightful images, they had been encased in glass, so as to be seen but not caressed. Three lamps were burning in front. The central one was open, into which the devotees dipped their fingers, and daubed their foreheads with the holy unction. Sometimes little flowers or sprigs were substituted, immersed in oil, rubbed as near the face of the idols as possible, and then kissed with fervour by the prostrate votaries. Armed soldiers were stationed before the altars to keep the peace in the general rush to the shrines. At 8 o'clock, an officer of the guard, wearing his sword, cocked hat, and cane, bustled through the aisles, driving the multitude from their prayers and from the church, while they were in the very act of kneeling. This scene was one of the most singular, as well as the most strongly marked by abject superstition and unresisted tyranny, that I witnessed in the whole course of my tour through Italy, not excepting the ido latrous worship in St. Peter's.

After the show was over at the church, we went to a more dignified spectacle at the Teatro del Corso. The theatre is spacious and neat ; and the boxes exhibited a splendid circle of beauty, whose white head-dresses gave to their complexions the delicacy of nuns, We saw the dramatic corps belonging to Maria Louisa, Archduchess of Parma, and late Empress of France, who were here on a visit for a few days, from the neighbouring city. They are highly respectable, and the entertainment of the evening was far from being dull. The music was excellent, worthy of the native city of Rossini.

LETTER LXXXIII.

DEPARTURE FROM BOLOGNA-RIDE TO FERRARA-ENVIRONSSKETCH OF THE CITY-LIBRARY-TOMB OF ARIOSTO-MANUSCRIPTS-HOSPITAL OF SAINT ANNA PRISON OF TASSODUCAL PALACE-HOUSE OF ARIOSTO-CHAPEL OF BENEDICTINES-CERTOSA-SANTA MARIA IN VADO-CATHEDRALDEPARTURE FROM FERRARA-PASSAGE OF THE PO-SCENERY OF ITS BANKS-AUSTRIAN CUSTOM-HOUSES-ROVIGO--THE ADIGE-MONSELICE-ARRIVAL AT PADUA.

September, 1826.—At 6 o'clock on the morning of the 10th, we left Bologna for Ferrara. A ride of thirty miles presented very little variety of scenery, and few objects worthy of attention. The route extends over a flat country, covered with poplars and vines. It is bordered by much stagnant water, in the form of pits for rotting hemp. They are mantled with corruption, and emit a horrible stench. The inhabitants have sallow bilious countenances, and the region is extremely insalubrious. Hemp is one of the staple commodities. The peasantry were engaged in dressing it. Large quantities of it are taken across the mountains to Leghorn, and thence exported. It bears a higher price in market, than the same article from any other part of Italy. A canal connects Bologna with Ferrara. We saw a few boats navigating its sluggish channel, which does not appear to be much used for transportation. On the very banks of it, many teams were met, laden with heavy articles.

The suburbs of Ferrara at once reminded us of the Cam

pagna di Roma. walls of the city. most unpastured.

Immense solitudes extend to the very The ground is unfenced, untilled, and alA few cattle and sheep were seen sprinkled over the dreary waste. The faubourg, without the gate, presents a still stronger picture of desolation. Its houses are tenantless and ruinous; some with the roofs tumbled in, and others with shattered windows. Here and there a sickly, squalid inhabitant was crawling along the street, with a voice almost too feeble and sepulchral to beg. The city is girt with walls and moats. Above the dilapidated portals, the Pope's arms are conspicuously displayed, and a regiment of guards, sufficient to reclaim the desert which spreads under the ramparts, is stationed at the entrance, to extort fees from travellers. Half an hour was occupied in the examination of our passports and luggage. Cardinal Arizzio, from Naples, is the vicegerent of his Holiness, and no part of St. Peter's patrimony is more shamefully neglected, povertystricken, and wretched.

We took lodgings at the Three Crowns, a large shell of a building. The arms of the Ex-Empress Maria Louisa, of the King of Prussia, of the Prince Michael of Russia, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, were suspended in the court, with an inscription stating precisely the day when each of these royal personages ate his macaroni and omelet at the Tre Corone.

After taking such refreshments as the house afforded, we commenced a ramble over the town, which is of formidable extent, and may be styled what a foreign minister denominated one of our own--" a city of respectable distances." The streets are wide, straight, and originally handsome, but now gone to decay, solitary, and in many instances grassgrown. Frequently you might walk half a mile without meeting an inhabitant. The ruins of the interior, as well as the solitudes beyond the walls, recall an image of Rome, and are in accordance with the feelings awakened by the Prison of Tasso and the tomb of Ariosto.

Our first visit was to the Library. Collections of antiqui ties occupy the courts below. A custode received us at the

door.

He is an intelligent old man, who has held his office for twenty-seven years. He is precise and oratorical in his diction, has his story well conned by rote, and can repeat the contents of half the books he shows. The library is one of the richest and rarest in Italy, filling four or five different