The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-08-04

PNttJ cSOuikS VI NSnppbtch VI hhN Ot<'fft
observances of secularized superstition,
suggests nothing Of degradation or Of de-
cline 1t has living praise in charge Of
its universal and immortal trust. Its re-
ligion certainly is living thing to-day.
So are its trade and industry Of which ev-
cry traveller obtains some glittering token:
The iete of Corpus Christi occurred
while we were in Florence, and from our
window the whole procession could be |
seen, priests, banners, cruci6xes and the
canopy which was borne above the Host,
archbshops and cardinals, and last of all
the Grand Duke himself, with fine ar.
ray Of state carriages and military devil
ces, but there was no sacred significance
in the sight to me-" Less secularized in
the writer's feeling, or less sacerdotalized
is the contrast preferred We attended
worship on Sabbath afternoon in the Pro-
testant Swiss Chapel, the neatest, quietest
place imaginable, and heard from young
Scotch preacher fervid ex tempore SER
mon, which considering the surroundings
was touching to me. The preacher looked
ETHEREAL, as though he lived by faith
alone. As he may perhaps in Florence,
but some are happy in doing that 1--WE
learned from him the next day, something
very cheering of the three hundred Pro-
testants who worship in secret places in
Florence, Those who search the scrip
lures, we suppose, for themselves.
Six days were given to Florence, its
galleries, and, humanity speaking, its shops;
when the spirit which answers less to art
than nature perhaps not of taste or skill
or the love of rest, but that which sup
plants them with the young, of the love
Of romance received the reins, and, the
positions taking them, set forth at four in
the morning OF june 9Th, for storied Ven.
ice, whose widowhood is charming rather
than sad.
The penalties of the love Of romance
were encountered 10 the trip, alleviated
rather than aggravated by senior compan-
ions, willing all to change an imagination
for memory at fair cost. First, to cross
the Apprentices, upon the raised roots of
which those Florentine villas and famous
monasteries are built, even Fiesole itself:
&c / never travelled so far on such contin-
uous sterile and mountainous country as
to-day; still had some fair mountain
scenery, and saw, for the first time, the
Adriatic sea in the sunshine" We left
at four O'Clock, and after hard days
ride of seventy miles reached Bologna
about seven. Not having had either break
fast or dinner, only as we took scarcely
an exception this" piece of dry bread
and cold tongue, while dinner was pre-
pairing, we rode to see the leaning towers
of Bologna, not handsome but inclinng
like that at Pisa. We saw the old Uni
versity and one or two palaces, and
returned to dinner glad enough to rest"
But rest is the great uncertainty of the
Italian towns-they are an outdoor peo-
pie at night. 1--WE rose a little before
four. took cup of coffee, and were off IL
gain" -" The country we passed through
to-day was as fertile and under as high
state OF cultivation as any | have ever
seen, and as level as a floor" and dusty
in proportion. ave passed in the two
days under several different governments,
Tuscan, Papal, Modcnese and Austrian
OF course had a good deal to do with GUS
tom-house and passport Offices"
Shortly before reaching Mantua,-sev-
enty miles again, for the day,-they
crossed the Pc in ferry boat, at this sea-
SOD low and muddy and little wider than
Otter Creek. Virgil's native town is
placed among the reeds and willows he
commentaries SO daintily, amidst which
the cars had penetrated which bear them
to Verona, on the great road of Northern
Italy. The situation of Verona is ex-
tremely beautiful, and would have had
more deliberate survey had we been alone,
h,,t 1ot. II
night, only by doing as set of tired chill
dren would, sitting down and crying we
could 60 no further and then, who
would wish to enter Venice-Beautiful
Venice, the Bride Of the Sea--at mid.
night ?"
Our VILAaB.-Our Village never
looked more beautiful than at the present,