The Litchfield County post., 1827-05-17

 garland sparkling wi,h diamonds and other HreciOus stones IT., candlesIlcks, lamps and chand,.iiers. are all of massive -sIlVer.-l Tine ory,.,s of which there are several, are ln B styIe corresponding with the whOle interior uf the Church. -
 There is also In each of the wings Of the budding, spacious hali; one of winch IS mn sh.,; aud furnished u style not at all interl- vr to that of the i..aiA body of the church. In the vau!l bc!Ow. we saw the urn which con- taits the ashes of t,le Grand Master La Gas sic~, the builder of the church. To the Knights, also, Val"tta is indebted for it's splendid Library ofsixty thousand vol umes
 Citta Vecchia was the ancient capital of the Island. Its situation is central, aud On the highest land. Here we found nothing of the noisy hustle of Valttta. No mirthful thrOng of playful children enIivened the streets. 1t was the silence of midnight. It is the unso- cial, dreary abode of Monks and Nuns. Here, through the double grating of their dark and gloomy rccesses we saw these delllded se- questered females. It was heart-sickenlllg sight. How far from the precepts of that a. posfle, whom Publius once, in this very city, lodged three days cOurteously, and to whose name spleudid churches are here now dedica- ted, and costly monuments erected. St. Paurs Cathedral, according to tradition, Oc- cupies the very spot where Publins lived. 1t is a more beautiful, but less expensive edi. fee than the church of St. Joha's. Its paint ings surpass all have eyer seen; among the most splendid of which, is the shipwreck Of the Apostle.
 Near Citta Vecchia is the entrance of the Catacombs. These are artificial, subterrane v an excavations ia the solid rock. Passages just sufficient to admit a single person, are carried in many different directions and tO great distances. They are said to extend in one direction two miles; and in another sev en. As many according to report, have here lost their way and perished, the entrances are now closed up. They open on each side, at short intervals into what appear to have been the abodes of men. Que, far more spacious the rest, not imprubably was chapel. We saw also parts of what one were mills for grin ding corn. We examined also a number of large well formed ovens. There are ma ny sepulchres and inches cut in the wall. In some of these inches single body only was laid in others whole family appear to have been deposited side by side ;-sOme of the scpulchres being those of full grown persons, and others those of infants.
 Besides the two cities, there are, in the Va rious parts ofthe Island, twenty or thirty vil-
 
 and all of them are we'll furnished with churches. Twelve years since, great rava ges were made by the plague which then overspread the Island, so that many of these dwellings were made deso!ate, and not a few continue to this day without an inhabtant.- ! One considerable vrl.ge, now known as the Deserted Village, was entirely desolated by that pestilence !; and from the superstition off the Maltese it is suffered still to remain a des- oation. And do not wonder at it.. If there be spot where gB,sts are tO be looked for. well might they be expected in this dreary place. It was evening when visited it. r..With cautious step and slow" made my way intOI several of these gloomy mansions, over these [ piles ofruins which blocked up their entrance. No faithful watch dog gave notice of my ap- proach. No circle of wondering children gazed at the stranger. called bat no an swer was returned, except the echo from the surrounding walls. The silence of the grave was there. Even the noisy bell {, fihc village church had becOme dumb. Maths and ves- per were there no longer regarded, and prisons had ceased to ascend from the cOnsecrated place. The priest and the people had gore down to the grave.
 This Deserted Village is fit emblem off the moral dcsoation, which still overspread the Island. Popery is to the soul what the pestilence is to the body.-it impovishes--de- grades-destroys. There is no calculating the sums it lavishes upon sacred edfces. idle Nuns. and crowds of lazy Priests. 1t has ex- torted untold treasures, poured it into the church, turned thousand peennyless on the world.a d crowded every street with beggars.
 1t denies access to the foundation of all knowledge. It strenuously opposes every plan for enlightening inc mind which beneyO- lrnce suggests. It turns the attention from things important. and fixes it upon trivial rites and cerimonies. Here. when "the church go- ing belP' is to have d place beneath the dome, in solemn pomp the Bishop christens it, and commissions it to protect the. people from the thunder and the tempest. Hence. when the tempest ragcs, and the thunters roar, though it be at midnight, the bell-m is summoned to hts post, and then the credulous multitude doubt not that impending danger is averted.
 There, when man has laid his deceased friend in the grave, he must give money to the priest to pray his soul out ofpursatory. And. to remind him of his pious duty, on every corner ot the wall surrounding the place of burial, is the carved image of a soul in Purga- tory. TLe flames are playing round hm, While he, with upliftcd hands, appears to be beseeching surviving friends to help him out os that place oftorment. The crier also arr n