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Among these we were particularly impressed with one by Bellini, representing "St. Mark Preaching at Alexandria," and another by Paul Veronese, depicting "Christ in the House of the Pharisee."

The extensive arcade recently constructed here is a magnificent improvement. It takes in parts of four streets, forming a cross, entirely spanned by glass roofs. The buildings below the base of the arches are five stories high. There is a dome in the center, and therefrom wings extend the length of a square in each direction. Within this arcade are a large number of the finest shops, and in the evening when we were there it was thronged with people. The dome, which is much broader than that of our Capitol, in like manner with ours was lighted by a circular row of gas jets.

VERONA, NOVEMBER 6.-We reached Como from Milan last evening. It is a charming place. This morning, after visiting an interesting old cathedral, the market, etc., we took the steamer for Varenna, a tumble-down village on the east side of the lake, some three hours' sail, via Bellagio, another delightful summer resort on a point of land between Lake Como and another part of that lake called Lake Lecco. The scenery was charming, but the season, of course, was too far advanced to show all its beauties. We had for companions Mr. Stickney and wife and Rev. Mr. Sumner, all of whom had traveled with us from Geneva. At Varenna we hired a comfortable two horse carriage and rode over a smooth turnpike for two hours and a half, along the lake shore to Lecco, where, after a good dinner at a hotel, and a view of this singular old town, we took the cars for Bergamo, on the main line from Milan to Verona and Venice. This turn

pike, much of the way, was cut out of the mountains, and at two points it runs a considerable distance through tunnels. Other portions are bordered by grape vines, olive and mulberry trees, with occasional fig trees and box-wood growing spontaneously. The carriage ride was very romantic, and we all enjoyed it better even than the sail on the lake. When we reached Bergamo it had commenced to rain, and the night being dark we were shut out from all view until we arrived, near midnight, at Verona, where we now rest.

Having, in the early part of October, 1867, made the trip from Milan to Venice by daylight, in company with his son Henry Franklin, the writer is enabled to give a brief description of the route. When at a little past six in the morning we took the cars at Milan the ground was covered with frost. At ten we were at Brescia, the ride thus far being through flat, wet country, possessing little interest, except the city of Bergamo, a walled town on the side of a hill, which we passed at half-past eight, and which presented a novel appearance. At eleven we were at Desenzano, on Lake Garda, a beautiful sheet of water stretching off to the mountains on our left. All the way from Milan are forests of mulberry trees. They have the shape of an apple tree, and here and there the peasants were carefully picking the green leaves from their limbs. There were here also many grape vines running in festoons from one mulberry tree to another. We next came to Peschiera, where there are formidable fortifications on the left, embracing a village, which faces Lake Garda, and the whole is upon a small island. There is also a strong fort on the right. Our time being limited, we stopped at Verona only to dine,

and did not leave our seats at Padua; but near the station at the latter place we saw men engaged in expressing the juice from cart loads of grapes by trampling upon them barefooted and bare-legged. These vehicles served both for carts and vats-the cart-body being made tight so as to hold the wine until drawn off. This is probably the primitive mode of making wine.

V

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along,
That you will wonder what hath fortuned.

-Two Gentlemen of Verona.

ERONA, NOVEMBER 8.-Yesterday (Sunday) we attended service at two of the Roman Catholic churches, both very ancient, and also the Waldensian Protestant Mission, where we arrived in time to hear part of a sermon by the Italian pastor, Rev. Stefano Revels. As he preached in the Italian language we were able to comprehend but very little of what he said; but, nevertheless, we were impressed with his apparent solemnity and eloquence of manner, and enjoyed the sweet singing of the choir. The service was in a small room entered through two others, one of which is used for their Sunday School, and over the door of which, in Italian, is this verse: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" The following verses were on the walls of the lecture room: 1- "Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband and come hither." 2-"For we are

His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." 3-"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life." 4-"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." After dinner, on our invitation, Mr. Revels and his young English wife called and passed an hour with us at our hotel. He is evidently well educated, speaking English fluently, and is earnestly engaged in his mission. He says there are fiftynine thousand Roman Catholics, one thousand Jews, and only five hundred Protestants in this city. He makes it a large part of his duty to visit from house to house, where he is always kindly treated, but generally told by the families that they look to their priests for spiritual guidance and prefer that he should not trouble himself to call. Occasionally he meets a person who acknowledges to him secretly that he believes the Protestant to be the true religion, but says at the same time that were he to come out openly and declare such to be his belief, he would be cast off by both priest and people, and consequently unable to get any employment. The priests warn all against listening to the Protestant instruction, and they take and burn all the Bibles they find presented to them. Mr. Revels said there is about one priest here to every thirty of the inhabitants, and that while some of them are rich, a great many are miserably poor and shockingly careless of their personal cleanliness, their under clothing being the color of mummy wrappings. He was stationed several months at Lucca, near Pisa, a town of twenty-one thousand inhabitants, one-tenth of whom he said were priests. There are three Roman Catholic seminaries there, and the preponderance of that

sect is so great in that town that they call it "Sacristel de Roma." Among the Waldenses he said there are a few men possessing property to the value of ten thousand dollars, and these are esteemed very rich; but that they are very miserly, and will try to split a soldo (one sou) to make two of it. A man with five cows, a few chestnuts, and a few walnuts is considered well off. Of the general morals of the Waldenses he spoke very favorably, stating that of the number incarcerated for crime they were only as one to sixty or seventy of the Roman Catholics. He appeared greatly encouraged by the spread of the Protestant faith in Italy, where, he said, there were already forty Protestant churches, embracing not less than three thousand Sunday School children. Besides this, there is one other small Protestant Mission in Verona.

Turn we now to romance and ancient story:

"Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge, break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean."

At

It seems like a dream to be here amid the scenes which must have been familiar to Romeo and Juliet, if indeed any such persons ever lived here. any rate, we are assured that the play of "Romeo and Juliet" is founded on events which actually occurred here; and, without stopping to question the truth of the romance, we have paid a visit to the tomb which, for one franc, is shown as that of Juliet. It is in a rough garden entered from a dirty side street, and the forlorn looking Italian woman who let us in appeared as though she pitied. us on account of our gullibility. A ragged boy ran ahead to show us the way to an old monastery,

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