basaltic cliffs and distant far-extending headlands, slope up to the lofty cone of Ben More in the interior. That wide horizon to the monks of old must have been a transfiguration scene in which the most varied effects of light and shade, peace and storm, would be constantly displayed. Every sound would be in harmony with the transcendent vision; and after the still small voices of the wind on the height and the wave on the shore would come at intervals through the solemn silence thus accentuated the thunder roar of the vexed whirlpool of Corryvreckan; and the spectator would be irresistibly urged-like Elijah at Horeb--to cover his face with his mantle before the greatness of God.—Hug¤ MACMILLAN, D.D., in Fraser's Magazine.

THE OLDEST STATE IN EUROPE.

THAT the smallest and the oldest of European governments should be combined in one is in itself a curious fact; that this government should be engulfed, so to speak, in the middle of Italy, with principalities, duchies, and kingdoms whirling around it like leaves driven by a winter's storm, adds force to this political phenomenon; but that so little is known and so little veneration paid to this Methuselah amongst states is perhaps the most extraordinary feature in its existence amongst us in the nineteenth century.

For this is a community whose authentic history dates from the days of Pepin, father of Charlemagne, and whose legendary history carries us back to the days when the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian drove a pious anchorite to the mountains in the neighborhood of Rimini, there to form a semi-ecclesiastical community, which still retains its primitive simplicity both in constitution and customs.

San Marino is the name of this Lilliputian state; it has a population of eight thousand souls, an area of sixteen square miles; it is governed by two captains, it has secretaries of state for home and foreign affairs, and above all it has a most exemplary chancellor of its limited exchequer, who has invariably an annual balance to place at his country's disposition.

Here, indeed, is a field for a modern Gulliver; the whole atmosphere of the place is, politically speaking, Lilliputian, and one longs to people the solitary mountain which occupies almost the whole of the republic with dwarfs and beings of another world. Strange to say, in Roman days this mountain was known as the "Titanic rock;" here, amongst the upheaval of strata and yawning chasms of tufa, the ancients conjured up a race of giants, ambitious in their greatness to overthrow the King of Heaven; whilst now we

find existing on this very spot the most pigmy of states. As the scene of a fairy tale San Marino would offer the facilities of a Brobdingnag and a Lilliput all in one.

Curiosity led me to this mountain Republic, curiosity led me to examine its history and its constitution, and my curiosity was rewarded by the discovery of a unique instance of medieval statecraft, the sole survivor of the countless republics which once dotted Italy, still governed by institutions which were hoary with age when Cesar Borgia endeavored to add it to his dominions, and which Napoleon the Great respected and Garibaldi treated with decorum. Lt those who feel disposed visit with me this tiny state and discuss its peculiarities, only alluding to its constitution and history with Napoleonic respect when occasion may require.

After a drive of a few hours from Rimini our vetturino made us aware that we were crossing the frontier of the republic, where the road which leads to the little commercial village at the foot of the Titanic rock traversed a stream which formed the eastern boundary, and Gulliver found himself amongst the "ever free" Lilliputians. And indeed there are not wanting numerous signs of this much vaunted liberty which the eight thousand Lilliputians enjoy. The word Libertà is chalked up in large letters against every second house: their motto of Libertas is forced on your notice at every turn; it adorns their stamps, their coins, their flag; it is engraven over each of the city portals; and before a few days' residence amongst them had expired, the very notion of liberty became irksome in the extreme. I went to the theater and was greeted by a drop scene representing almost naked Liberty. I mounted up to the piazza and found a white marble statue representing the same personage. I ascended still higher to the parish church, and lo! the patron saint stood over the high altar, with a scroll in his right hand on which was written Liberty!

Nevertheless it was satisfactory to learn that this liberty ended not in a display of the simple word, and this boast of fifteen centuries' standing is still genuine in all its branches. Taxation here is reduced to a mere nothing; the voice of the people governs everything. The officials are sufficiently paid by the honor conferred upon them, and receive a mere nominal salary. Property, hence, as compared with Italy, is of enormous value, and a law has been passed enacting that no foreigner can hold land within the narrow precincts of the republic unless he has spent six consecutive years as a citizen within its boundaries, and during this period has conducted himself as a moral and exemplary citizen should.

Very simple-minded are these Republicans; their requirements are but few, and the luxuries they can offer so visitors are exceedingly limited, so that to one anxious to reside amongst them for any length of time the accommodation offered by the little inn in the Borgo or commercial center at the foot of the rock, will be looked

upon with blank dismay. Ankle-deep we sank in mire as we crossed the threshold, to be accosted by every stench with which an Italian pothouse is redolent; the bedroom looked alive with discomforts, and, though breathing an air of freedom far older than any we conld find elsewhere, we heaved a sigh, and wished it could be less impure.

Before, however, we decided on establishing ourselves in these quarters, I determined to issue forth and see if the little town, the center of government, built upon a cliff a thousand feet above the center of commerce, could offer us a more inviting resting place. 1 was fortified in my search by a letter of introduction to a leading Republican, Domenico Fattori by name, no less a personage than the secretary of state for foreign affairs, and brother of a most learned citizen, who had printed a little story of his country's liberties which was exhibited, together with other treasures of the like sort, in San Marino's little room at the last Paris Exhibition.

Taus I stepped up the steep, rugged path which leads to the city, gaining confidence at every step as I left below me the loathsome "Borgo," and saw enchanting panoramas of mountains, plain, and sea, all brilliantly illumined by a rich opalesque sunset over the pinnacled Apennines, which here assume those grotesque shapes delineated by masters of the Umbrian school.

Did my eyes deceive me? No, it was indeed true. Coming towards me down the rugged path, I saw a gentleman in a tall hat, wearing a badly-fitting suit of dress clothes and a white tie, and in attendance upon him was a lackey in gaudy livery. Nothing more out of place could be imagined: a half-naked anchorite or a skin-clad herdsman one would have passed by unnoticed; and my heart misgave me, for into this wild spot I had not thought it necessary to drag my evening toilette. I questioned my conductor as to the meaning of this apparition, and learned to my relief that he was a captain of the most serene republic of San Marino out for a state walk. When engaged in his official capacity a captain always wears this dress, and in the state wardrobe six dress suits are kept to fitall shapes and sizes of republicans who may attain to the dignity of ruler.

It was with some feelings of trepidation that I knocked at Fattori's door, and was ushered into a sitting-room to interview his wife and sister, owing to the absence of the lord. I told my tale candidly. I stated how charmed I was with all I had seen except the inn, and that I craved for a more pleasing habitation. They referred me to a neighboring house, and invited us next day to join their party in witnessing the grand ceremony of the installation of the incoming captains, on which occasion, twice a year, the Sammarinesi shake off their lethargy and appear right merry in holiday attire.

Charmingly primitive were our host and hostess, whom I found inhabiting a little house near the principal gate of the city; perhaps

no two people could be more entertaining in their domestic arrangements. The lady of the house was portly and garrulous; she was, we remarked, most noble in her bearing, and of noble Republican blood she proved to be. Hers was one of the oldest of San Marino's noble families, for, owing to the inconvenience of having two illitate Captains, certain families are set apart as noble, from amongst whom one of the rulers is chosen. Here their privileges of nobility cease, but not their pride, for old Signora Casali, whose maiden name was Belluzzi, was most proud of her pedigree. She scoffed at the later elevations to the Sammarinese peerage as "nobilità di carta," mere paper upstarts, and for her own parental house she claimed the honor of possessing the genuine nobility of blood. She thoroughly despised her lame and drunken husband, who was the impersonation of a henpecked nonentity. Every meal we ate under the shadow of their roof was attended by the talkative pair, and many were the stories they told us of their quaint little country which served as a relish to many a frugal repast.

Though poor, our accommodation was cleanly, and though our food was brought up from the Borgo and invariably arrived cold, yet the keen mountain air assisted us to dispose of most unpalatable dishes. Everything they sent us tasted the same-be it turkey, beefsteak or chicken, the difference was hardly perceptible; but we had come to study the Lilliputians and not our own comforts, So we were content.

How do the Lilliputians amuse themselves? was one of our first questions, and we soon found them a right jovial eight thousand. Religious festivals are common, and so is wine, and the two combined result in many an uproarious scene. The Sunday before we left was the festival of Santa Mustiola, celebrated at a short distance from the town. After the formalities of the mass and procession had been gone through, crowds of men and women collected at a neighboring house to drink and play games. By this time I was well known to most of them, and each exhorted me to put my lips to their brimming jugs of wine. They filled my pockets with walnuts. So intent were they on hospitality, that I was forced to watch my opportunity to effect an escape as fast as my legs would carry me, to avoid involuntary inebriation.

On the day of San Marino, their patron saint, they hold grand festivities outside the walls, The pièce de résistance for this day is a refined species of cruelty to animals: a live cock is procured and hung by its legs from a tree; each competitor in turn endeavors by a leap to wring its neck. Great excitement prevails amongst the bystanders, and when success attends the attempt the victor is loudly cheered, he receives the bird by way of reward, and the unsuccessful pay a small sum toward the purchase of the cock.

Winter at San Marino is terribly severe; for months they are snow and frost-bound, and to amuse themselves the republicans

have invented a species of tabogening, and down the main street of the town they whirl themselves on a crazy piece of wood with terrible velocity. Last winter a lady Sammarinese gained for herself an unpleasant notoriety at this game, for she slipped off her liscia or sledge, and performed the rest of the downward descent on her own person, which became wofully contused thereby.

The first of April is a day of general mirth and hilarity. Woe to the Lilliputian sluggard who tarries in bed after sunrise on this morning; he renders himself liable to be dragged from his couch, and in his nocturnal attire placed on muleback with an umbrella in his hand, and, shivering with cold, he is set up as an object of derision in the most exposed part of the town. This disaster one year befell our old host, who had been imbibing freely the night before. His wife entered fully into the fun of the thing, and assisted her husband's tormentors in laying their plans. However, lest her domestic arrangements should be exposed to question, she took care that her spouse should retire to rest with a clean nightgown, so that he might appear before the world to the best advantage. It is the case at San Marino as it is in other primitive societies, that the marriage ceremony is attended with unusual merriment; the happy pair trip along the street attended by all their friends at an early hour in the day, to be united under the roof of their country's god; or, if the distance be great, the bride rides with her lady friends astride a mule. On the return to the parental homestead the bride and bridegroom are placed aloft on a dais to be the cynosure of neighboring eyes for the remainder of the day, whilst wild dancing and festivities take place around them. It is a keenly contested point among the assembled matrons, who shall have the honor of assisting the bride on retiring to rest; but it is the oldest and most venerated of the Lilliputian mothers who is appointed to the almost sacred office of presenting the "nouveaux mariés" with a mess of pottage at sunrise.

They dearly love the Italian game of palla on this mountain-top; they are inveterate theater-goers, possessing two within their territory; an excuse for a masquerade they seize with avidity, and talk incessantly of their success in deception on such occasions. Our landlady told us how her mother, when eighty years of age, had gone to a masked ball dressed as a girl of seventeen and, thanks to her good figure and activity, she was enabled to carry off the palm of being belle of the evening.

Let us now say a word about the constitution of this curious little state. In it we see the lineal descendant of ancient Rome, tracing its pedigree through the vicissitudes of medieval Italy and her municipal organizations, each of which reproduced a miniature example of the mighty Roman fabric. Here, in the days of constitutional governments and deeply elaborated schemes of legislation, we find two old Roman consuls ruling a speck of Italy. They now