lancholy. The lower orders are sunk into the grossest superstitions; the higher are deeply infected with infidelity. Both are the prey of extreme ignorance, vice, and superstition. Public spirit, morals, industry, commerce, religion, alike languish. The arts have declined. Even the temperature of Italy has become, in some parts, less healthy, from the vast undrained marshes and the indolent agriculture of the farmers. The French domination lessened some of these evils, whilst it healed none, and introduced other mischiefs of its own. A spirit of turbulence and political chicane has begun to agitate the Carbonari; but with no beneficial influence on morals and religion. The Popish government is so feeble, that hordes of banditti infest the road from Rome to Naples, and venture to negotiate almost openly, for the ransom of their captives. In the meantime the ignorance, profligacy, and secret infidelity of the ecclesiastics increase, and are undermining the few scattered fragments of the Christian temple. The Bible is almost unknown. A friend, who visited Rome a few years back, told me he met a Roman lady of distinction there who had never heard that there was a book revealed by Almighty God which we call the Bible; and who contended for a long time with him that he must be mistaken in supposing that there was: "For," added she, "I must in that case have heard of it." Another friend, a clergyman, who was in Italy in 1818, was asked by a person of education and respectability, at whose house he lodged, what could be meant by the expression, "God is a Spirit," which she found in a tract which he had given her. Upon his explaining this very first element of Scriptural religion, she expressed the utmost surprise, and asked him whether he was really serious in saying that Almighty God did not resemble the pictures and images of him which the church had taught her to believe all her life. The same friend told me, that in a large company when the subject of Christianity happened to be introduced, the most determined principles of infidelity were avowed by the leading persons assembled. At present, little can be hoped for. You have not only to convince the infidel of the truth of Christianity, but you have first to free his mind from the intimate association of it with the corruptions of the church of Rome. His arguments against revelation are drawn very much from these corruptions; and he is neither disposed to allow your account of what Christianity is, to be the true one, nor to receive, on your authority, your arguments in its favor. He has no founda. tion of general knowledge on which you can proceed. Surely all these things concur in exciting the persuasion, that Popery can only be overthrown by the immediate power of that God whose grace it has been so long opposing and resisting. And indeed it is remarkable, that A SUDDEN UNEXPECTED OVERTHROW-at a moment least looked for is the representation given us of its approaching downfall in the Sacred Writings.-Rev. xviii. 8. 10. 17. All that I saw of Italy entirely confirms the accounts given me by my friends. Even as to political affairs, discontent seems lurking in the breasts of the people; especially in Lombardy and Pied mont. They regret Bonaparte; and they will scarcely speak to the Austrian soldiers, of whom there are about eight thousand at Milan alone. When I asked the waiter at Milan if there were any Protestants there, he replied, "We are all Protestants (persons who protest) now." But I indulge too much in these remarks. At Turin, we had eight hundred and sixteen miles to travel to London by the road we propose taking, and we have reduced this to-day by eightyfour miles. The village where we now are, Lansle-bourg, is at the foot of the French side of Mount Cenis, a miserable village of near two thousand souls. We were induced to stop here, because an English woman keeps the inn; she married a Savoyard nine years ago. She was a Protestant, but I observed her faith had been much shaken by the total want of a reformed worship. I said all I could to confirm her mind in the doctrine of Christ our Lord. Beggary and misery still prevail. Crowds of wretched deformed supplicants surround us. We gave a trifle just now to an old woman, aged one hundred and nine years. The people here speak French; so that I hope to be able to communicate a little more with the inhabitants on the subject of religion and morals. else, on a wretched footing. All is under the poThe manner of posting here is, like every thing lice; not a postillion nor a horse stirs without the police's leave; and when they do stir, such creatures-men and horses too-fit for ploughing, rather than for running in a carriage; and men and masters too often ready to cheat the English. Sometimes the postillion crams his legs, shoes and all, into his boots, which are like churns; sometimes he thrusts them in with neither shoes nor stockings. In Lombardy their livery was a light yellow cloth, with tassels! The tackling of the horses, being chiefly of cord, requires one or two regular stops, each stage, for the purpose of being adjusted. And now, as I have fallen upon the customs of the people abroad, I may as well speak to you about the washing, or rather beating, of the linen on the continent. At Geneva, the apparatus was most complete. In the river a kind of covered shed was built, with small boards on the sides going down to the water's edge; at each board a with which she was beating the clothes as she woman was kneeling with a broad stick or platter, plunged them into the water-soap is almost unknown. The clothes are thus half-washed and half-torn, and then charged an enormous price. At Milan, and on the road to Turin, the men and small streams or, puddles flowing through the women in company wash their own clothes in the towns. St. Michel, Friday morning, Sept. 19th, 10 o'clock.-We are still on the Mount Cenis road, though we crossed yesterday the mountain called by that name. We set off this morning just after five, and have come thirty-six miles; the day is extremely cold, but we have no rain, and not much fog; we have been able, therefore, to enjoy the beauties of the country through which we have passed. We have seen nothing as yet which equals the Simplon scenery; but still, many parts of the road have been majestic. The character is wild rocky Alps, with the torrent of the Arque flowing or rather rushing down at bottom. He was born at Arona in 1538, in a small apartment which I saw behind the church; and was of one of the noblest and most opulent families of Italy. At the age of eleven he had several livings given him by his uncle the Cardinal de Medicis, who was elected Pope in 1549. In his twenty-third year he was created cardinal by the same pontiff, and managed the proceedings of the council of Trent, as well as the chief temporal affairs of the Pope, for some years. This I con Aigue-belle, 72 miles from Lans-le-bourg, 4 o'clock, afternoon.-The day has turned out most beautiful; we have been passing through the valley of Maurienne all the morning, and have thus made our way through the Alps, the centre chain of which we crossed at Mount Cenis. This Aigue-belle (Aqua bella) is the gate as it were of these vast natural fortresses, which have been surrounding us at the height of eight or nine thou-sider as by far the most unfavorable part of Borsand feet. The villages and people seem to be still wretched, with many, many goîtres. There are one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants in this valley, who live by the produce of cattle; they plant no grain, but a little oats and barley. The torrent spreads desolation, and renders many parts of the valley a mere marsh. The king of Sardinia has just completed a military fortress, on the spot where Savoy is nearest Dauphiny. road has been capital and on a gentle descent, and many of the points of view have been exquisitely beautiful. The Chamberry, Friday night, Sept. 19th.-We have arrived at this capital of Savoy, after a journey of ninety-nine miles in sixteen hours. The road, after Aigue-belle, became very indifferent, and the night coming on, we were not able to enjoy much of the fine country through which we passed. The proper Mount Cenis road extends from Susa to Aigue-belle, about one hundred and thirty-five miles, and is undoubtedly a stupendous work, though on the whole much inferior to the Simplon. Thus have we again to bless God for all his mercies! The two wet days have given my younger son a little cold, which I trust will soon pass off; in other respects, they have enhanced the value and enjoyment of the fine weather we have been this day witnessing. We hope to be at Lyon to-morrow, at Geneva on Wednesday, and at Lausanne the same evening, to rejoin my dear, dear family, from whom I seem to have been separated for an age. I am your affectionate NOTICE OF CARDINAL BORROMEO. D. W. I was vexed on returning to England, and consulting my books, that I had been so long ignorant of the history and character of Borromeo. He is considered by the Roman Catholic writers as the model of all virtues, and the great restorer of ecclesiastical discipline in the sixteenth century. I have not been able to satisfy myself in what degree he was a true Christian, in the Scriptural sense of the word. That he was devoted to the superstitions of Popery, and was a firm upholder of the Roman see, cannot be doubted; but I have no access to his sermons or letters, so as to judge whether any living embers of the faith and love of Christ were smothered at the bottom of these superstitions. His habits of devotion, his selfdenial, his zeal, his fortitude, his humility, and especially his unbounded and almost unparalleled benevolence, which are ascribed to him by universal consent, would lead one to hope that, notwithstanding "the wood, and hay, and stubble," accumulated on it, he was building on the true “foundation, Christ Jesus."-1 Cor. iii. 11, 12. romeo's life, as to the cultivation of personal piety. Such employments at Rome must have initiated him into all the system of that artful and secular court-and he who was intrusted to draw up the Trent catechism, must at that time have had little real Christian knowledge or feeling. However, in 1565 he left Rome, and went to reside at Milan, of which he had been made archbishop. Here begins the bright part of Borromeo's history. He had now to preside over the largest diocese of Italy, consisting of not less than eight hundred and fifty parishes, many of them in the wildest regions of the Alps. He began by resigning all his other preferments, by giving up to his family his chief estates, and by dividing the revenues of his archbishopric into three parts-one for the poor-another for the building and reparation of churches-the third for his domestic expenditure as bishop; all the accounts of which he submitted annually to the examination of his clergy. He next totally renounced the splendor in which he had lived at Rome, reduced the number of his servants, forbade the use of silk garments in his palace, rendered his household a pattern of edification, slept himself on boards, prolonged his watchings and prayers to a late hour of the night, wore an under dress coarse and common, and devoted himself to perpetual fasts and abstinences. He then entered on the task of restoring decayed discipline and order throughout his vast diocese. To this end he was indefatigable in visiting himself every parish under his care, held frequent ecclesiastical synods, and established a permanent council, which met monthly to inspect and regulate the conduct of the priests. In this manner his contemporaries agree in asserting, that he removed various scandals which prevailed amongst all classes of the faithful, abolished many superstitious usages, and checked the ignorance and abuses of the secular and regular clergy. His fortitude in carrying through his reforms, notwithstanding the violent opposition which he met with from all quarters, deserves remark. On one occasion an assassin was hired, who shot at him, whilst kneeling in prayer, in the archiepiscopal palace. Borromeo, unmoved, continued his devotions; and, when he rose from his knees, the bullet, which had been aimed at his back, but had been caught in the lawn sleeves of his dress, fell at his feet. His charities were unbounded. He built ten colleges, five hospitals, and schools and public fountains without number. Besides this, he be. stowed annually the sum of thirty thousand crowns on the poor; and in various cases of public distress in the course of his life, as much as two hundred thousand crowns more. In the meantime, his personal virtues, his low liness, his self-command, his forgiveness of injuries, his temperance, his prudence, his sanctity, the consistency of his whole character, (I speak after his biographers, whose veracity, I believe, is not questioned,) gave him such weight, that he not only rendered his immense diocese a model of good order and discipline, after an anarchy of eighty years, during which its archbishops had not resided, but extended his influence over the neighboring dioceses, and pushed his regulations throughout a great part of France and Germany. Perhaps his conduct during a pestilence which raged for six months at Milan is amongst the actions of his life which may lead one the most to hope that this benevolent and tender-hearted prelate was indeed animated with the fear and love of his Saviour. Nothing could restrain him from visiting his sick and dying flock, during the raging of this fatal malady: when his clergy entreated him to consult his own safety, he replied, that nothing more became a bishop than to face danger at the call of his duty. He was continually found in the most infected spots, administering consolation both to the bodies and souls of his perishing people; and he sold all the small remains of his ancient splendor, and even his bed, to give the produce to the distressed. that his simple and sublime motto, HUMILITAS, is very affecting to my mind. I trust it was the expression of his real character; and that his submission to the usurpations of the Romish church may have arisen from that faulty prostration of the understanding to human authority, which is so apt to engraft itself, under circumstances like those of Borromeo, on scriptural lowliness of spirit. Oh, if he had more fully studied and obeyed his Bible, and had read with honest candor the treatises of his great contemporaries, the reformers of Germany and Switzerland, he might, perhaps, have become the LUTHER or ZUINGLE, instead of, what he actually was, only the FENELON of Italy. Since the publication of the second edition of these letters, I have had an opportunity of consulting, at the Bodleian library, some of the smaller works of Borromeo; from which I proceed to make some extracts. I. The following are taken from a collection of his letters, published at Antwerp, in 1623. I give only those parts which may serve to express his sentiments on the weightier matters of religion. The institution, or rather invention of Sunday Speaking of the death of Bernardus Vimercatus, schools, is again a further evidence of something of the College of Milan, Borromeo thus expresses more than a superstitious state of heart. Nothing himself: We all die, and are as water spilled on could be so novel as such institutions in the six- the ground. But as this does not depend on us, teenth century, and nothing so beneficial. When but arises from the necessity of nature, wise men we recollect the public admiration which has rest- are distinguished from the foolish by this, that the ed on such schools in our own Protestant and en- foolish bestow this most brief life in obtaining eterlightened country, though planned scarcely fifty nal death; the wise in securing everlasting life. years back, we may estimate the piety of mind, We all, indeed, die without difference; but to the vigor and penetration of judgment, which could some death is the way to life and glory, never to lead a Catholic archbishop and cardinal to insti- end; to others, to darkness and eternal death. I tute them two hundred years ago, and to place trust you will be strongly excited, by the death them on a footing which has continued to the pre- of your brother, to a contempt of this life and a sent day. May I not add, that possibly some of salutary despising of earthly things. I hope you the superstitious usages now attached to these will each of you argue thus: Vimercatus is dead schools may have grown up since the time of in the flower of his age, in strong health, with the Borromeo. Certainly the indulgences which I prospect of a longer life than others; I also must saw were of the date of 1609, five-and-twenty die and in that so unknown and so uncertain years after his death; for the reader must be in-hour, what kind of life should I wish I had followformed that, in the year 1584, this benevolented? What should I wish I had done for the glory bishop fell a victim to fever caught in the moun- of God and for the safety of my soul? I am tainous parishes of his diocese, which he was visit- grieved and ashamed of my present sloth, in a mating in his usual course. As a preacher he was most laborious. Though he had an impediment in his speech, and a difficulty in finding words to express readily his meaning, he overcame these hindrances, and preached most assiduously on Sundays and festivals at Milan. His biographers say, that the higher classes in the city were offended with him, and did not frequent his sermons; but that the common people flocked with eagerness to hear him. Perhaps something of what the Apostle calls "the offence of the cross," may be traced in this. It does not at all lessen my hope of Borromeo's piety, that the rich and great did not follow him. ter so infinitely important. If the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not suffered his house to be digged through. Death impends day and night, and lays wait for my life. Shall I not at length awake? Shall I not take care of my soul, and of my salvation?' "Whoever of you is excited by these thoughts, (and I hope all of you may be so,) will, I trust, in future, employ the greatest diligence in walking worthy of God, and in seeking most eagerly after the perfection necessary to an ecclesiastical person." To archbishop Valentia, Patriarch of Antioch. Such is a faint sketch of some of the chief he writes, "According to the zeal for the divine events in the life of Charles Borromeo. My ma- glory which God, the Father and Giver of all terials are scanty, especially as to the spiritual good, has imparted to me, I love with much affecstate of his heart and affections. It is for God tion all his servants, but more especially those who only to judge on this subject: but charity rejoices are in the dignity and watch, as it were, of bito hope all things in such a case. I acknowledge | shops, and who labor that the most precious blood of Christ may not seem to have been shed in vain for his sheep; and who, as heavenly orbs, both illuminate the sheep with the light of evangelical doctrine, and excite them to all parts of Christian excellence by the force of good example." To the doctor Dumius he says, "By doing this, you will please the Lord Jesus, and this is the chief argument of all; to whom I earnestly pray that he will defend you, and fill you with all heavenly treasures." Of Bishop Alba he expresses a hope, that in dying "he had flown away from the body of this death, to enjoy those blessings which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man to conceive." He writes to Ernestus, archbishop of Cologne, on his being raised to that see: “ And, although I dare not congratulate you on this great dignity, (for some experience hath taught me how much business and care, and how much labor and danger there is in the office of a bishop,) yet I congratulate the inhabitants of Cologne and all Germany, which I hope will be much assisted by your administration of that church and your restoration of ancient discipline, in the love of the Catholic faith, and also in spirit and in truth. Every thing depends, believe me, on your showing yourself to be a bishop who is blameless, as the apostle Paul teaches. This you will easily accomplish, the grace of God assisting you, if you regard nothing whatever but the glory of God, and make both the Catholics and heretics understand this. And what can be considered of such value, in any view, as the welfare of souls redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ? We ought to contemn every thing, and to give up life itself, for the salvation of one soul; what then is to be done, or rather what is not to be done, where the salvation of almost unnumbered souls is concerned?" To the cardinal Valdemontanus he speaks thus: "Piety rests not on any slight foundation, which distance of place may weaken, or length of time destroy; but depends on God, whose nature is eternal and whose power is infinite, and is preserved by his favor. I hear that you not only burn with the love of this piety, but also labor to inflame with it all around you. And nothing ought to be more interesting to any of us than this. For this is to be a sweet savor of Christ; this is to give light to all that are in the evangelical house, which all the servants of Christ are bound to do; but those more especially who are illustrious by their dignity, as lamps well filled with oil and burning in splendid candlesticks." To the bishop of Trent he speaks thus: "In your commendation of my conduct, I see that your design is to excite me to perform hereafter the duties of a pastor with more diligence. For daily, or rather hourly, I more clearly perceive how far I am from that perfection of duty, which both God requires of me, and the dignity in which I am placed demands. Wherefore, I again and again beseech you not to cease supplicating the divine Majesty for me." The following is his language to Ascanines Columna, abbot of St. Sophia: "The more I see in you the gifts of God, the more ardently do I desire that you would contend with all your powers of body and mind to glorify God's name, and bend all your schemes to this one point, to be a sweet savor of Christ. Never imagine that there can be any thing more excellent and more valuable, in every respect, than to diffuse into the minds of those around you the most sweet and delightful savor of Christ, by your well-ordered life and exemplary Christian virtues; and to allure them by a heavenly and divine pleasure, and bring them over from the blandishments of this life, and the seductions of earthly things, to the pursuit of eternity, and a supreme love and delight in God.— This ought to be the end proposed in all our studies, and even all our thoughts. If we aim at any thing else, we are vanity itself." The last extract from these letters is to the cardinal à Joiosa: "I am not ignorant that great difficulties impede and hinder most things; but nothing is difficult, nothing is arduous to love. Love is strong as death. And many things are more difficult in the opinion of men, than they are found to be in fact. But what is arduous or difficult to a good pastor, who by his example sets straight what is crooked, softens what is rough, fills up valleys, and levels mountains? The force of example is great; especially in that man who is adorned with family, age, riches, connections, dignity; and who esteems all these things only so far as they serve to set forth the glory of God." II. After these various citations from his letters, I go on to the following, from the instructions which the archbishop published for the direction of his clergy, in preaching the Gospel. "I charge you before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the quick and the dead, preach the word,' saith the most holy Saint Paul." It is in this solemn manner that Borromeo begins the book. On the subject of the dignity of the sacred ministry, he exhorts the preacher to consider, "1st. That it entirely regards the glory of Almighty God, and the salvation of souls. 2d. That by it. the word of God is conveyed from the very fountain of the divine Spirit, to the souls of the faithful; in order to water them with heavenly blessings. 3d. That it treats of subjects the most sacred and awful in themselves. 4th. That it was exercised, not only by the most holy men, not only by apostles, but by the Son of God himself." He afterwards urges him to meditate on "the difficulty of speaking suitably and with judgment on such subjects, that he may fly with more ardent desires to God, who can supply him with all needful help by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit." 66 He then teaches him that "a preacher should especially pray to God, that by his divine help he may not be lifted up with the pursuit of his own praise and glory; not even with the thought of it; but may take no account of it whatever." He then says, Let the preacher fly as a pest all ambition and all suspicion of it. Let him not aim at, or desire, a more distinguished place for preaching in; but remember that Jesus Christ the Lord, who was sent down from heaven to teach mankind, preached in villages, and houses, and fields." He next gives directions for his conduct: "The preacher should do every thing constantly and boldly for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls. He should be inflamed with the love of God; and not only patiently bear reproaches, threats, and contumely; but endure, if need be, death itself. He should offer and commend himself, as it were, to the divine illumination; and, shutting up his senses, acquiesce and be content with the infinite love and immense charity of the light of God."* As to the preparation of his sermons, "the preacher will understand that his office doth not rest on human learning or eloquence, but on a divine power and the grace of the Holy Ghost; and he will take most diligent care that he does not grieve the Holy Spirit by touching the work of apostles and of the Lord Jesus himself, when infected with any mortal sin. But he will purify his conscience from all sin by the sacrament of penitence, before he begins to read the word of God. And he will consider, that he has much to fear that most solemn threat of the prophet, But unto the wicked, saith God, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee? "Before he begins to study his discourse, he will make a solemn prayer to God. He will then first understand the subject on which he is about to preach; and then meditate upon it, and strive so to affect himself with it, that he may excite the minds of his hearers to the same pious affections. "Before he ascends the pulpit, let him suppose that he has before him a company of hungry men waiting for food from his preaching; or a company of lame, paralytic, dropsical, dumb, and blind persons, seeking for cure from him. Considering this, let him so manage every part of his discourse as to suit their cases, and advance their welfare and cure, by advice, counsel, and all sorts of remedies. "Or let him consider himself as a fisher of men, and remember that he ought to strain every nerve so to fish that he may fill the evangelical net, as it were, with perishing souls, and gain them to Christ the Lord. "After preaching, he should spend some time in prayer, before he takes any refreshment. "As to the times and places of preaching, he should preach every where, and at all times; but especially every Sunday and holy-day; and daily during advent and lent." III. I might finish by giving some extracts from the "constitutions and decrees made by the provincial synod of Milan under the authority of Borromeo," and published at Venice in 1566; but I abstain; I will only notice that it orders every bishop to preach continually, unless hindered by illness; and to make himself acquainted with the state of each parish in his diocese; it directs that schools for educating the clergy should be formed, and a tenth part of all benefices be devoted for that purpose; and that those destined for the church, should read the Bible diligently. These extracts from the various writings of Borromeo are, to my mind, I confess, charming. The allusion perhaps is to 1 John, i. 5. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;" or, Psalm xxxvi. 9. "With Thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see light." They place him in a new light. Instead of the dazzling glare of panegyric as to his outward history, they exhibit him in the soft lustre of the Christian, the pastor, the bishop, as to the interior of his heart. They open to us the fountain of grace and piety, from which his extraordinary benevolence, diligence, and humility flowed. They form another proof, if any were wanting, that the peculiar motives of the Gospel of Christ are alone capable of producing uniform, active, self-denying obedience. What compassion for the souls and bodies of men, what tender affection, what love to Christ, what solemnity of mind as to death, what conscientiousness, what deep impressions of the responsibility of the sacred ministry, what fear of pride and ambition, what fervor of prayer, what knowledge of the Scriptures, what dependance on the grace of the Holy Spirit-in a word, what attainments in the divine life do these extracts betoken! If only a few words were altered, and the great doctrine of Protestantism, justification before God in the merits of our Lord and Saviour, were explicitly stated, they would be in the most complete sense evangelical. Still, as they are, they clearly prove that Borromeo was not only the most laborious and beneficent, but the most enlightened and spiritual prelate of his age in the church of Rome. I do not apologize for the length into which I have been drawn in communicating to the Protestant reader the pleasure which I derived myself from the discovery of such a character as Borromeo. To trace the identity of true religion under the most unfavorable, and almost contradictory appearances, is an office of charity so delightful, as well as profitable, that nothing during my whole tour has disclosed to me a more fruitful source of instruction and joy. LETTER XV. Pont-beau-voisin, Sept. 20.-Lyon, Sept. 28, 1823. Chamberry A Bookseller-Pont-beau-voisin Roads-Bishop Berkeley-Sunday at Lyon-Catholic Sermon - Gibbon-Rivers Saone and Rhone-Fourviere-Hotel de Ville-Revolutionary Horrors at Lyon-Speech of Emperor Claudius-Roman Amphitheatre-Martyrs of LyonCimetiere-Arsenal-Death of Rev. S. Arnott -Chamberry Peasant-Notice of Martyrs in Second Century. LYON, capital of the department of the Rhone, Saturday night, Sept. 20th, 1823, about 789 miles out from Lausanne, and about 2302 from London, by our route. MY DEAREST SISTER-Chamberry, which we left this morning, contains nearly twelve thousand souls. It is the capital of the duchy of Savoy, situated in a fruitful valley on the borders of Dauphiny, at the conflux of the rivers L'Aisse and D'Albans. It has a cathedral and three other churches, two convents, and about one hundred priests. I went this morning into the cathedral; it is dirty and mean, both within and without. I observed in it three boxes for charity: one of them |