I had the perusal of a Latin book in folio, entitled Statuta Illustrissimae Reipublicae Sancti Marini, printed at Rimini by order of the commonwealth. The chapter on the public ministers says, that when an Ambassador is despatched from the Republic to any foreign state, he shall be allowed, out of the treasury, to the value of a shilling a day. The people are esteemed very honest and rigorous in the execution of justice, and seem to live more happy and contented among their rocks and snows, than others of the Italians do in the pleasantest valleys in the world. Nothing indeed can be a greater instance of the natural love that mankind has for liberty, and of their aversion to arbitrary government, than such a savage mountain covered with people, and the Campagna of Rome almost destitute of inhabitants.'-Addison.

A l'ombre du nom de son saint patron, protégée par son peu d'importance, San Marino a subsisté jusqu'à nous, et nous montre cette alliance de la religion et de la liberté qui fut le caractère des communes italiennes au xiiie siècle. Rien ne saurait exprimer plus vivement une telle alliance que la nouvelle cathédrale de Saint Marin. Les sept mille habitants qui forment la population de ce petit Etat, et qui payent un impôt annuel de quatre sous par tête, sont parvenus à bâtir de leurs économies une fort belle église qui a coûté cent cinquante mille francs. Ils ont placé debout sur le maître-autel la statue du saint national, et dans ses mains un livre ouvert où est écrit ce seul mot : Libertas.'-Ampère.

From S. Marino a most interesting extension of the excursion may be made to

San Leo, 18 m. from Rimini, about 3 hours' drive from S. Marino, on account of the constant ascents. Two rivers have to be forded, one of which is dangerous when the snow is melting on the Apennines. The whole scenery is the burnt landscape of Umbria, with the oddly-shaped valleys, the strange knobs and pinnacles of limestone rock, and the hill-set villages, of which the early painters made so much use. Quite unexpectedly, on crossing a mountain ledge, one comes in sight of S. Leo, a tremendous rock with utterly perpendicular sides, forming the most impregnable fortress. It is not strange that it was one of the three places selected by Dante to give an idea of the steepness of the Mount of Purgatory. The town is entered by a ledge in

1 Purg. iv. 25.

the rock and a tunnelled way. Its Castle-'La Rocca'-is a prison containing 300 prisoners. Its compartments, from their characteristics, are called L'Inferno and Il Paradiso. In the end room of the latter the famous Cagliostro died, in 1795. Facing the other side of the rock, standing close together, are the two Cathedrals, both of exceeding antiquity. In classical times San Leo bore the name of Mons Feretrus and was celebrated for a magnificent temple of Jupiter. In the persecution under Diocletian, S. Leone fled hither, a band of disciples gathered around him, and the name was

changed. The place was the seat of a bishopric in 882, and at this date the earlier cathedral was in existence, for an inscription on a marble tabernacle in the nave, which serves as a canopy for the font, says that it was presented to the church in 882 by Ursus, Duke of Monteferetro. Several pillars with beautifully sculptured capitals in both cathedrals are supposed to be relics of the Temple of Jupiter. The second cathedral stands very finely on the edge of the rocks. It has three aisles; from the centre a staircase descends into a noble crypt; from the sides, staircases ascend into the choir. Two of the pillars in the nave are supported by a basement of animals.

S. Leo was the most important fortress of the Dukes of Urbino, and was three times besieged while in their hands, the last time in 1516, when, in the reign of Duke Guidobaldo, it was captured by the Papal troops under Lorenzo de' Medici.

'The garrison consisted of a hundred and twenty men, one-tenth of whom had fallen in its defence. After three months spent in hopeless assaults, a Florentine carpenter, named Antonio, observing from the opposite height the absence of sentinels over one of the most precipitous parts of the rock, attempted to make his way up the face of it, sometimes aided by plants and bushes in the clefts, but generally driving iron spikes into their crevices, and fastening ropes, ladders, or beams as he advanced. After four nights of this perilous toil he reached the wall, which he found, as he expected, without defenders. Having reported the way accessible, a number of light infantry were entrusted to his guidance, whom he ordered to strap upon their backs their shields, swords, and hatchets. On September 30, under cover of a wet and foggy night, he conducted these safely to the summit, accompanied by a drummer and four pairs of colours. At daybreak, an alarm was given from the watch-tower of an assault upon the gate, towards which the besiegers had sent a party; and, whilst the defenders hurried in that direction, Antonio, with some fifty men, displayed their colours, and beat to arms. Ere the garrison had recovered their presence of mind, the gate was opened by the escalading party to their comrades, and the place was carried.'-Dennistoun's Memoirs of the Duke of Urbino.

IT

CHAPTER XIX.

PESARO AND FANO.

T is 1 hr. by rail (3 frs. 85 c.; 2 frs. 70 c.) from Rimini to Pesaro. The line runs within sight of the sea, and passes :

La Cattolica (Stat.). The place which gave shelter to the twenty orthodox bishops who fled from the Arian Council of Rimini.

Pesaro (Inn, Leone d' Oro) was the ancient Pisaurum, so called from its foundation upon the Pisaurus, now the Foglia. In the Middle Ages it was in turn ruled by the Popes, the Malatestas, and Sforzas; then it passed to the Della Rovere, Dukes of Urbino, when it became the residence of a distinguished and intellectual court. It is described by Castiglione in the Cortegiano. The residence of Bembo here is mentioned by Ariosto :—

'La feltresca corte,

Ove col formator del Cortigiano

Col Bembo e gli altri sacri al divo Apollo

Facea l'esilio suo men duro e strano.'-Sat. iii.

Bernardo Tasso was induced to settle at Pesaro by the Duchess Lucrezia d'Este, with his famous son Torquato, who here wrote L'Amadigi. In later times Giovacchino Rossini the composer was born here, Feb. 29, 1792, to whom a bronze statue was erected near the station in 1864.

Pesaro is beautifully situated in a rich country, and is a very charming and prosperous place. The old Palace of the Della Rovere, which Ariosto called the 'Asylum of the Muses,' is now the Palazzo Prefettizio. It is a noble work of Girolamo Genga and his son Bartolommeo, c. 1500. The

great hall is magnificent. A Casino in the garden is shown as that in which Tasso lived with his father.

The Biblioteca Olivieri contains some Manuscripts of Tasso. The Cathedral is of little interest, but almost all the minor churches are worth visiting for some one object.

S. Francesco, which has a splendid portal with sculpture in low relief, contains

Left, 1st Altar. Giovanni Bellini. The Coronation of the Virgin. A grand important work of the Master, against which has arisen many a storm from outside.'-Burckhardt.

'One of the largest and most important works of the Master out of Venice. The pilasters of the frame and the predella are also adorned with charming little pictures.'-Kugler.

At the end of the right aisle are the shrine and tomb of the Beata Michelina da Pesaro, of the 3rd Order of S. Francis, who died June 19, 1356. She is now the patroness of the town, but is far more celebrated from the famous picture in the Vatican of her ecstasy, by Baroccio. Her monument is curious, with projecting lions and watching angels.

S. Domenico (with lions at its entrance) contains :—
Giovanni Sanzio. Marriage of S. Catherine.

In the Sacristy. Luca della Robbia. Madonna.

S. Giovanni Battista contains :

Choir. Niccolò di Pietro Gerini da Florentia, 1400. Madonna between S. Francis and S. Michael, who is weighing souls. Sacristy. Zoppo. Christ between two Angels.

S. Agostino has a beautiful Gothic portal. In front of its pillars are lions ridden by old men. In a chapel on the right is the extraordinary tomb of Julius Jordanus, 1633, with a huge dancing figure of Death.

Two miles from Pesaro, near the summit of Monte S. Bartolo, is the Villa Imperiale, a favourite residence of the Dukes of Urbino, built by the Duchess Leonora Gonzaga as a surprise for her husband Francesco Maria I. It was decorated with frescoes, now much ruined, by Dosso Dossi