as the institution has no regular income. They receive salaries of from $300 to $500 each, as also small fees for the degrees of their scholars. While the French held Pisa, there were five faculties in the University; but the present organization is that of three colleges or departments. The first of these is Theology, embracing professorships of Ecclesiastical History, the Sacred Writings, Dogmatic and Practical Theology, Philology, and Oriental Literature. The second department is that of Law, embracing professorships of Latin Eloquence, the Canon Law, the Interpretation of the Holy Canons, Civil Law, the Pandects, Criminal Law, Logic, and Metaphysics, and the Greek and Latin languages. The third department is that of Medicine, embracing professorships in all the various branches of this science. Besides these, there are professors in the different departments of Mathematics and the Natural Sciences. One of the most celebrated of these professors, is Rossellini, a distinguished pupil of Champollion. His department is Egyptian Archæology. Several learned men, who have the title of Honorary Professors of the University, reside at Florence, and are connected with the Medical School, the Museum of Natural History, and other public institutions there.

The number of students in the University, is commonly between 400 and 500. Those of all creeds and conditions in life are admitted, and instruction in all the courses is gratuitous; an example of liberality from which England and other Protestant countries of Europe might derive an important practical lesson. There are commonly among the medical students, thirty or forty Greeks, and several Jews. The time of instruction is four years. At the end of two years, each student is examined in all the lectures he has attended, and is not passed, unless his proficiency has been good. There is another examination at the end of the third year, and a final one for a degree. The examinations are all public, and the questions proposed to each are drawn by lot. The lectures continue from November to May, and June is occupied with examinations. The students are mostly citizens, the nobles resorting to other places of education. The library contains about 40,000 volumes. Among the manuscripts are those of the learned friar, Guido Grandi, Abbot of the convent of St. Michael, in forty-four volumes. He was a celebrated geometrician, theologian, antiquary, and poet, and

Newton regarded him as one of the greatest mathematicians of his age.

Near Pisa, is the Royal Farm of St. Rossore, commenced by the Medici. A beautiful avenue, three miles long, passing through a park, and lined on each side with a canal, leads to the cultivated part. On this farm are 2,000 cows, 1,500 horses, and 90 camels. The ancestors of these last animals were brought to Pisa from the East, in the time of the Crusades, by a prior, of the order of St. John. About twenty of them are worked on the farm, and the rest wander about among the lofty pines or on the sands of the seashore, presenting a scene truly Oriental.

On leaving Leghorn, the first port we visited was Civita Vecchia, in the dominions of the Pope. Our object in going there was to give to such of the officers as chose to visit Rome, an opportunity of doing so. The distance between the two places is forty-seven miles, and as St. Peter's day, and the splendid illumination of the church which bears his name, were soon to take place, every post coach, sound or crazy, which could be mustered, was put in requisition for the journey. No accident occurred during this land cruise, save that a load of midshipmen was cast away, the old carriage in which they rode being wrecked. Thus, though overreached by land sharks and suffering from breakers, still, as they escaped with dry jackets and no bones were broken, it proved a far different affair from a similar accident at sea. Leaving our voyagers, therefore, to take care of themselves, let us return to the port from which they set sail. Civita Vecchia was formerly called the Port of Trajan, because its harbour was constructed by order of that Emperor. It was formed by two immense piers, and an island of large rocks was raised for the purpose of a breakwater, and also to support a lighthouse. Trajan had a splendid villa near this port, the ruins of which still remain. A mile or two inland from the town, on an eminence, are the ruins of an immense bathing establishment, erected by one of the early Roman Emperors. The walls are still standing in some places as high as the second story, and numerous arched passages, aqueducts, and remains of ancient baths may still be seen. The water was supplied by a natural fountain within the walls of the building, the heat of which, to judge from the sensation produced by repeatedly bathing in it, can be but little, if any, less than 100 degrees of Fahrenheit. The fountain is

six or eight feet in diameter, and enclosed with a wall of brick. The water is clear, without any peculiar smell or taste, nor does it leave any mineral deposit in the aqueduct through which it is constantly flowing.

About twelve miles from Civita Vecchia is the town of Corneto. A pleasant day in June was spent in an excursion thither, and a visit to the subterranean tombs of Tarquinium, one of the old Etrurian cities, the site of which was near Corneto. The cemeteries of some of these ancient cities which have been recently examined, resemble the catacombs of Naples, Malta, and Rome, being rather subterranean cities with streets and lanes, than a mere collection of sepulchres. The tombs which we visited, however, were distinct apartments, spacious and high, hewn from the solid rock on which the soil of the region around rests. The walls were covered with stucco, and painted with rude, but often spirited pictures, of trees, men, and animals, either singly or in groups, and with colors as fresh as when first laid on by the hand of the artist. Among these paintings, were men on horseback; persons reclining on couches at table, others in funeral processions, or blowing the rude musical instruments of the ancients. Tradition affirms, that Tarquinium was founded by Tarchon, who assisted Æneas against Turnus. It became a Roman colony under Tarquinius Priscus, who originated there. Thus are these tombs, and the numerous vases and other works of art found there, near 3,000 years old. One tomb which we visited had a large square column in the centre, with an altar beside it. On three sides of this column were painted large-winged genii, and on the front of it, over the altar, was a long Etruscan inscription. Three steps extended round the tomb, above which were sarcophagi, covered with figures of men and women in basso relievo. The walls were adorned with a painted festoon extending round the tomb, and on the left side was painted a funeral procession, attended by musicians, who were preceded by a man carrying a kind of chandelier. Above this picture was a copious Etruscan inscription. The vases found in these tombs, many of which I saw at Civita Vecchia, have been divided by a learned antiquary who examined them into three classes. The first class, from the figures upon them, and the style of painting, are called Egyptian, and may be the work of some colony, who came early to Italy from that portion of Asia Minor where the arts of Egypt prevailed.

The second class are called Ancient Greek, differing in the coloring and figures from the former. The third class are the perfect Greek, exhibiting a much higher degree of finish, and a more advanced state of the arts than either of the other classes. Most of the figures on the two latter classes of vases are of Grecian divinities, or heroes. The excavations made in connexion with some of the ancient Etrurian cities, have brought to light not only splendid vases, but magnificent goblets, bronzes, gold ornaments, ivory, camei, and other precious articles. Lucien Bonaparte has been foremost in these researches. The discovery of a few splendid vases by some shepherds near Canino in 1828, led him to commence excavations, and the result has been, that, in less than three years, he discovered more than 4,000 vases, and other valuable articles.

CHAPTER XVIII.

LIPARI ISLANDS AND SICILY.

Stromboli. Vulcano. - Convicts. - Eolus. - Scylla and Charybdis.- Messina; its History, Situation, Earthquakes. The Plague. -Character of the People. - Robbers.-Cathedral. - Relics. Letter of the Virgin Mary. Palermo; its Walls, History.- Saracens. Learned Men. - Population. Cathedral. St. Rosolia; her Festival.-Triumphal Car. - Races. - Illumination. Papal Paganism. - Capuchin Convent. Remains of the Dead. Hospital for the Insane. - A Friar. - Geology. — Etna; its Form and Height. Cones. - Eruptions. - Decomposition of Lava.

IN passing up and down the Mediterranean, we were repeatedly near the Lipari Islands, and on one occasion had a fair view of Stromboli by night. The light emitted by that volcano was not constant, but, at intervals of twenty minutes or more, a fire rose from the crater, resembling at a distance the thick rush of sparks from the chimney of a furnace, and this in a moment died away. The earliest record we have of the eruptions of Stromboli is 290 years before Christ. It was active, also, in the time of Augustus and Tiberius, and though for centuries after this date history is silent with regard to it, yet we have no evidence that the volcano has at any period been inactive. The crater is on the side of the mountain, about half way from the base to the summit, though at an early period the eruptions must have been from the highest point. The whole island is a volcanic mountain, about ten miles in circumference, rising directly from the water, and, with the others of the same group, furnishing sulphur, alum, nitre, and other volcanic products. Stromboli was inhabited as early as the time of Thucydides, and now contains a population of 2,000 or 3,000 souls. Some centuries since, cotton was raised there, but the principal products now are grapes, figs, and other similar fruits. All of the Lipari Islands were probably raised from the bottom of the sea by volcanic action. They are now eleven in number, although the ancients speak of only seven. So late as the 10th of July, 1831, where the water had before been found to be more than 600 feet deep, there rose a volcanic island to the height of 200 feet above the level of the sea, and meas