younger-Uncle George's playing off a trick upon mamma, the humour of which I was at that time unable to appreciate. My dear mother was for ever vowing-for ever, that is, until within the last two months-that I was the most extraordinary infant that had come into the world from the earliest times unto the present, and that there could never be such another in the revolving ages that were to come, and for ever boasting, in particular, of how she should be able, on account of my distinguished appearance, to pick me out from among a hundred others at a baby-show. Now, this latter assertion Uncle George denied; and in order to prove himself in the right, he hit upon this device. Upon my being taken out for a constitutional upon a certain morning, he caused me to be equipped in an entirely new suit of raiment, secretly procured at his own expense, and then to be brought back again to my mother in some quarter of an hour's time by the nursemaid of Mrs Brown, our neighbour, who had been herself confined almost simultaneously, in the character of her son Undecimus Brown. Poor dear mamma fell into the snare at once. She allowed that I was a fine enough child, a more than averagely respectable baby, but still that there was a something wanting, she couldn't say what, which her particular offspring possessed in an uncommon degree. I did not seem, somehow, quite so intelligent, quite so clear complexioned, quite so sweet tempered. No, it was not her fancy; there was a marked difference: there was a certain flabbiness about my flesh, and a lack of that healthy firmness about the calves, which was indeed a peculiar and touching spécialité about her own darling son. When Uncle George burst out a laughing, and disclosed the trick, it was Falstaff and Prince Hal in Henry IV. again, and The Devil to Pay as well. My mother insisted upon it that she had known it all along. What an absurd idea that she, a mother, should not know her own dear darling child! What a cruel and unnatural uncle the man must be who could thus trifle with the tenderest feelings of our nature; and then hysterics and the governor sent for, and a regular scene.

My uncle is a bachelor, and did not understand that women will bear anything better than a practical joke. I never was deceived, mind. Even at that period, when I was of course comparatively without experience, it was not easy to take me in. But what is the use of intellect to one in my present state? It would be far better for me, indeed, if I had a less keen appreciation of the position in which I now crawl. I use that expression advisedly; I cannot stand yet, even when holding on to the chairs by the tips of my small fingers. This is, however, the accomplishment to attain which I am directing all my infant energies. I find that crawling brings me into currents of cold air from under doors and elsewhere, and that a higher elevation would partly obviate this; besides which, I am apt to get trodden upon, and when I utter my indignant protest against such conduct, the iron of that sarcasm, long since rusted with my tears, is driven into my infant spirit by the remark: 'Oh, never mind; it's only the Old Baby!' It will scarcely be credited, perhaps, that the principal staple of my present nutriment consists of gravy, saved that is to say, left-from the mutton or beef of the family dinner of the preceding day, mingled with crumbs of bread swept off on the same occasion from the table-clothleavings, offal, garbage, in fact, that is my daily food! I have seen with my own eyes the Other going out for her perambulation in her perambulator (once my property) attired in my private embroidered pelisse, and sheltered under my particular umbrella from the rays of the sun. My complexion is now of no sort of consequence. I may get black and tan-I'd rather be that than red and yellow as the Other is-for all they care, and be exhibited to the public in a cotton dress

without the least ornament of fancy. Deprivation of necessary milk-diet, neglect, and robbery, are the three simple charges which I have to make against the members of my family and household. Also, inhumanity in short-coating me before my time, through which I have suffered severely in my extremities from the late east winds. Also, and lastly, cruelty in not providing me with anything to sit upon, or, more correctly, with any place where I can sit with comfort and satisfaction, now that there is no more room for me upon my nurse's knee. That generation after generation should push us from our stools,' as each grows old, is, as the poet has told us, an event to be expected; but to be pushed about from one article of furniture to another, discrowned, throneless, a very Lear of the nursery, is, I think, rather hard upon a superannuated infant. At present, my existence may be said to be, like any approaching marriage in high-life, upon the tapis, or Kidderminster only, from which nobody, save Uncle George, ever takes the trouble to pick me up. In a word, out of revenge, I suppose, for having exceedingly little of that feature himself to boast of, the Other has put my nose out of joint. I'm the Old Baby.

THE CARMELITES OF JESI.* A FEW days after my excursion to Loretto, I had my last glimpse of real Italian scenes and Italian life, in a visit to Jesi, a small city of great antiquity, about twenty miles distant from Ancona. The circumstances that led us thither hinged upon the acquaintance of my uncle's family with an Irish priest, who belonged to a convent of Carmelites in that place. Father O'Grady was a jovial, burly personage, with a round bullet-head, an athletic frame, and a stentorian voice, that always reminded me of the holy clerk of Copmanhurst in Ivanhoe. His great delight in his occasional visits to Ancona, where he always lodged in a monastery of the same order, was to be invited to our house to have a raal English dhinner,' as he termed it, which he dolorously contrasted with the fare provided by the cook at the Jesi convent. Once, too, the provincial of the order, a fine, dignified old man of seventy-five, with a silvery fringe of hair and regular impressive features, like one of Perugino's saints, came to dine with us, attended by another monk, a certain Padre Fiorenzo, as well as Father O'Grady-both of them very much subdued in his presence. Our Hibernian friend, however, always protested himself indemnified for this restraint, by his gratification at the approval the entertainment drew from his superior, who, as the spring advanced, was urgent that we should test the hospitality of Jesi in return.

Some English travelling friends, waiting for the steamer to Trieste, were comprised in this invitation, which my uncle, though not without some sighs at the long hours of conversazione, and making the amiable with the brotherhood, which lay before him, was coaxed into accepting; and a beautiful morning in the latter part of June saw the two families in motion.

After following the high road towards Senigallia along the curve of the bay for some miles, the way to Jesi turns inland in a westward direction. Long rows of mulberry-trees, connected by ample festoons of vines; cornfields nearly ripe for the sickle, interspersed with plantations of young maize, beans, and olives, equally indicated the fertility of the country and its staple productions. Less hilly and romantic than the scenery near Loretto, it still had no lack of beauty; a background of mountains was never wanting, and gifted with that marvellous brightness and diversity of colouring peculiar to this clime, the landscape rarely sank into monotony.

* See Journal, No. 222-The Santa Casa of Loretto.

Jesi is an interesting little town, of some 5000 inhabitants, tracing its origin to an indefinite number of centuries before the foundation of Rome, and famed in the middle ages as the birthplace of Frederick II., the great emperor of Germany, whose constant wars with the Roman pontiffs and encouragement of literature, render his memory very popular amongst Italian writers. A thriving trade in silk has preserved it from the squalid misery discernible in most of the inland towns of the Marche; and it can boast of some palaces in tolerable preservation, a casino, a very pretty theatre, and several churches, that of the Carmelites being amongst the principal.

Father O'Grady, radiant with joy, was awaiting us in the street, to shew the way to the hotel where we were to take up our quarters-for within the cloister itself no woman may set her foot-until two rooms adjoining the church and sacristy were prepared for the day's festivities. They had been up since daybreak, the good man said, but 'the last touch was still wanting.'

The last touch being a lengthy process, and the inn barren of resources, a walk was proposed. We were conducted by the father and Padre Fiorenzo, his great friend, through the market, the principal square, and the main street called the Corso, the worthy pair being evidently desirous the citizens of Jesi should all participate in the novelty of the presence of strangers, for the town, lying out of the general route of travellers, is very rarely visited. After this promenade, somewhat fatiguing under a noonday's sun, we went over the casino. The billiard, conversazione, and ball rooms, all well arranged, and in good taste, incomparably superior to any corresponding establishment in towns of far higher pretensions in England; but then, as Lucy was at hand patriotically to remark, had we not mechanics' libraries, and schools, and charitable institutions, to atone for this deficiency? Admitting all this to its fullest extent, I cannot see why casinos, on the same simple footing as those so common in Southern Italy, should not be advantageously grafted on English county society. In towns too small to have a casino de' nobili to themselves, the higher and middle classes are content to waive questions of caste, and meet, as at Ancona, or Macerata, or Jesi, on this neutral territory. Once a week, during Lent or Advent, when there is no opera to serve as a rallyingpoint, reunions for music and cards draw together the subscribers, without any extravagance in dress on the part of the wealthier ladies, provoking the less affluent to foolish emulation. Two or three times in the course of the year, balls are given, where a greater display is permitted, yet still without the inequalities of fortune thus rendered more apparent leading to any offensive airs of superiority. No refreshments are supplied on these occasions, the low amount of the subscription, twelve dollars a year for each member-inclusive of his family, however numerous-not furnishing funds beyond those necessary for attendance, lights, and music, and keeping up the establishment for the old bachelors and heads of houses, who frequent it regularly every day and every evening the whole twelvemonth round.

his portly sides with laughter; but Padre Fiorenzo related with complacency that in fact one night the previous Carnival, they and several others of the brotherhood had been present at a concert given in that same theatre on behalf of the poor, which the bishop permitted all the clergy and religiosi to attend; dwelling with the simplicity of a child upon the great enjoyment this had afforded them.

From these mundane resorts-a messenger having come to say all was now in readiness-we adjourned to the church of the Carmelites, where a side-door gave admission to the sacristy, and beyond this to a dark, low-ceiled room, lined with massive walnut-wood presses, in which all the vestments and ornaments for the great religious solemnities were deposited. iron-barred window looked into the inner quadrangle of the monastery; and through a half-opened door we had glimpses of a long table spread for dinner; around which several dark-robed figures were hovering, the silvery head of the provincial himself now and then discernible as he directed the arrangements.

An

Father O'Grady being troubled in his mind about a certain plum-pudding, on the manipulation of which the dawn of morning had found him engaged, now ceded his post as chief spokesman and squire to Padre Fiorenzo, who, with two other elderly monks, very gladly engaged to do the honours.

The next half-hour saw the good father revolving perpetually between us and the kitchen, now disputing with the cook, an octogenarian artist, who had no sympathy for such outlandish compounds, now restraining the merriment of some of the younger visitors, for whom the idea of transgressing convent etiquette was irresistibly attractive. A door from the sacristy temptingly stood open, leading down by two or three steps into the court, of which the church and the rooms we occupied formed the southern extremity and barrier. Under pain of the severest excommunication, the monks repeatedly assured us, females were interdicted from proceeding further; the threshold on which we crowded on hearing these particulars, being the utmost boundary. The two blooming, joyous sisters, just out of the school-room, who had accompanied us from Ancona, with a mother too indulgent to act as any check on their spirits, and an elder brother, a barrister, almost as full of sport as themselves, proved amusingly refractory on this occasion. Whenever the provincial-who had come in once or twice to pay his compliments-was out of the way, or my uncle's attention was engaged, they made a feint of dancing down the steps and rushing into the forbidden ground; just for the amusement of being chased back again by the terrified Padre Fiorenzo, and rebuked by Father O'Grady, who evidently enjoyed the joke, though he tried to look serious upon it, with: Childhren dhear, why can't ye remain quiet? Shure, now, it's excommunicated ye'll be! Ah! more's the pity that ye don't care for that! Now jist be asy, and don't turn the house out of windows.' But as the 'children' would not be 'asy,' after one or two more escapades, the door was locked; and they were fain to resort to some new device to beguile the time. Visible from the ironbarred window were some of the younger brethren walking up and down the prohibited quadrangle, trying to get a glimpse of the English heretics, whose visit had thrown the whole community into such pleasurable excitement. With black silk scarfs and white handkerchiefs, the delighted mad-caps extemporised some nuns' costumes, in which they took their stations at the window, and confronted Father O'Grady as he was crossing the enclosure on his return from one of his expeditions to the kitchen.

this apparition, in which he was chorused by Padre Fiorenzo and the others; until hearing the provincial approaching, they wiped their eyes, and entreated them to remove their impromptu attire; while to keep them out of further mischief, and provide some employment for the more sober members of the party, they asked the superior's permission to shew us the church vestments. This was graciously accorded; and one after another the presses were opened by the monks; and rich brocades, tissues of gold and silver, silks embroidered in various colours, were successively drawn forth, the provincial himself deigning to explain for what they were designed.

The welcome announcement of dinner still found us thus engaged. We were ushered with great glee-for I cannot repeat too often that, with the exception of the provincial, they all seemed as easily set laughing as a parcel of school-boys-into the next room, where our venerable host and the fathers who had previously been making conversazione, took their seats with us at the table. We were waited upon by two lay-brothers, whose broad smiles and occasional remarks, shewed they participated in the general hilarity; the provincial himself playing the courteous attentive host to perfection, seeming to sanction and approve it. To say the repast was seasoned with Attic salt would be a flower of speech; neither was there anything peculiarly droll in the sallies with which Padre Alberto, the bel esprit of the convent, sustained, or, in Father O'Grady's opinion, enhanced his reputation; but there was something so pleasant in the intense childlike happiness of these good Carmelites, that it would have been invidious to scan their intellectual attainments at such a moment. Dr Primrose's oft-quoted words were exactly applicable to that party: 'I can't say whether we had more wit among us than usual, but certainly we had more laughing.'

Of the dinner itself, I shall say but little; the readers of these sketches must be by this time familiar with Italian bills of fare. The soup of clear broth, wherein floated little squares of a compound resembling hard custard; the unfailing lesso; a frittura of brains and bread-crumbs, sprinkled with powdered sugar; larded capons; a dish of fennel-root, dressed with butter and cheese; roast kid; a pie, of which cookscombs were the principal ingredients, with a sweet crust; a zuppa Inglese, cake steeped in rum and covered with custard; on purpose,' the provincial said, 'for the English ladies, accustomed from childhood to mix spirits with their food; and, lastly, Father O'Grady's plumpudding, but, alas! served in a soup-tureen, for the flour had been forgotten in its composition, and no amount of boiling had availed to give it the desired consistency. Still the innumerable jokes this furnished, amply compensated for its partial failure; the young barrister told them it was exactly like the plumbroth served out at Christmas at St Cross's Hospital, one of the most famous institutions in England, he asserted, for good cheer, and incited every one by example as well as precept to do justice to Father O'Grady's culinary achievements. Though he had already shewn himself emulous of a boa constrictor's capacity, he now sent his plate for a second supply, compelling Padre Fiorenzo, as a tribute to friendship, to do the same.

At the conclusion of the banquet, Fra Carmelo, the old cook of whom we had heard so much, and who was declared to have acquitted himself right manfully, was summoned to receive the thanks of the company. The messenger found him playing the guitar, with which he was wont daily to solace himself at the completion of his duties in the kitchen, and triumphantly led him forward. In his brown Carmelite dress, he certainly looked a most interesting cook. Though past eighty, his tall spare figure was only slightly bowed; and there was a vivacity in his light-blue

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eyes and ruddy complexion, which led to the conclusion that his alleged occasional shortcomings in his art were more the result of inattention than incapacity. On rising from table, the provincial offered to fare due passi, a great distinction, which was of course accepted. Again the whole party sallied forth, he and my uncle-who won golden opinions, though suffering martyrdom throughout the day-leading the van. went to see two or three churches, and then, at Father O'Grady's suggestion, were taken to a nunnery, which he knew would be a treat for us. All the sisters crowded to the parlatorio to see the strangers. It was not a grating, as in the stricter orders, but simply a large aperture like a wide unglazed window, at which they clustered, talking eagerly to the monks, asking questions about the little world of Jesi, and gazing with unrestrained and delighted curiosity upon us. Amongst fifteen or sixteen thus assembled, little beauty, less mind, was discernible. I saw but one interesting face-a face that had, or might have had, a history written on it. Indeed, several of these nuns were positively ill favoured, evidently devoted to the cloister because their parents had found it impracticable to get them otherwise disposed of. Some told us they had never left the convent since their first entrance as educande, seven or eight years of age; they grew attached to the nuns and their companions, and as the time for returning home drew nigh, estranged by many years' separation from their families, besought that they might not be removed, and passed through their novitiate, and took the veil, without ever going beyond the walls. They all talked as fast as possible, as if to make the most of the opportunity; interspersing whatever they said, or commenting on whatever they heard, with invocations to the Madonna and saints, and ejaculations of simple wonder. I was amused, though, at noticing how well informed they were of all that was passing in Jesi society; their information being derived, the monks told us with an air of pitying superiority, through whatever they could glean from occasional visitors; but especially from the gossip collected at market by the woman charged every morning to purchase their supplies, and who, in consigning the provisions at the convent-wicket, communicates any novelties she has picked up. A single observation denoting deep thought or enthusiasm, I sought in vain to hear; indeed, as I reflected at the time, it would be difficult to convey any notion of their limited capacity. Not tending the sick, not instructing the poor; with only four or five educande to bring up till the age of sixteen or seventeen, exactly as they themselves have been educated-embroidery and the making of confectionary filling up all the leisure left after the performance of their stated religious exercises, which call them for several hours daily to the choir, what a dreary unsatisfactory life, according to our notions of existence and its duties, stretches itself before these women. But they said they were happy; and, looking at the bevy of English girls before them, lifted up their eyes and hands in sadness to think their hearts were not disposed to follow their example.

It was pleasant to know what delight our visit had afforded them, and to note the earnestness with which they begged us to return to Jesi and come to see them; to have the conviction that we had furnished the whole sisterhood with materials for at least a fortnight's conversation, and several years' reminiscences.

The good Carmelites, too, if our self-pride did not greatly mislead us, marked this day with a white stone; and long after the pursuits and interests of a busier life have dimmed its recollections with the majority of their guests, will continue to treasure every incident of their visit.

My leave-taking of the good monks of Jesi was soon followed by a long farewell to Ancona and its kindly people. In bringing these sketches to a conclusion, I

absent old woman, who, he swore bitterly, had been meddling, and had hampered the lock.

At first, the fellow's antics amused me: but all at once it struck me that the passion was unnatural and feigned; and now the queer reports I had heard of London traps and villainies rushed to my recollection: and I began immediately to suspect that all was not as it should be. I turned towards the door, intending to regain the shop, when it suddenly flew open, and a figure in the guise of an old woman, supporting herself on a crutch, barred the way.

I say, in the guise of an old woman; for if that apparition was of the female sex, then I am the man in the moon. I had mown too many masculine beards during the last seven years to be mistaken on that point: the seeming old woman was a sturdy ruffian of forty, not two hours shaved-I saw it at a glance; and the sight sent all the blood in my veins bounding back to its source.

The Jew launched a torrent of abuse at his confederate, and demanded the key of the chest. I was too much prepossessed to note his acts or to hear much he said. I endeavoured to maintain a careless air, but could not withdraw my gaze from the pretended old woman. I heard the box-lid thrown back, and the voice of the Jew extolling the wares within. I made a feint of turning to look at them; and at the same moment I saw the petticoated ruffian feeling with his left hand for what seemed a fragment of a broomstick, which leaned against the wall behind the door. Something-perhaps my better angelgave me courage. I dashed at the object myself, and seized it firmly in my grasp-it was a painted bar of iron. My worst suspicions were confirmed in an instant; and at the same moment the villains who had me in their toils, threw off the mask. The bigger ruffian lifted his crutch with both hands, and aimed a savage blow, which I luckily caught on the iron bar, and which shivered the crutch to fragments. Almost at the same moment the Jew grappled me by the throat. I dashed the heel of the bar into his face, and he flew to the end of the room, carrying my lavender-silk neck-tie and diamond pin in his hand. I expected the bulkier assassin would close; but, instead of that, he planted his back against the door -now firmly shut-and shielded himself with the remnant of his crutch. No time was to be lost-the Jew would recover himself, and return to the attack in an instant-heavy tools were lying about-I should be beaten down and slain. Madly I rushed towards the door, and was in the act of poising my weapon for a blow which should crush the skull of the burly ruffian, spite of his fence, when suddenly the whole scene shot upwards into the air; the last thing I saw was the fire-flashing eye and demoniac grin of my opponent and I was falling, falling in a gulf of pitchy darkness.

Men of genius talk and write very fine things about the wondrous celerity of thought, and the freaks of imagination and memory under certain circumstances. I don't understand that kind of subject myself; but it's all true they say, nevertheless. In those most horrible moments I saw myself a child in armsa boy at school-an apprentice, shaving my master's customers in the old shop-and, what is more, I saw myself dead and dashed to pieces at the bottom of a frightful dungeon, and my mangled body stripped and plundered, and then packed away in a hole, out of the world for ever.

But this terrible vision was not destined to be realised. Instead of dashing on the floor of a dungeon, I fell souse into a mass of filthy fluid, the odour of which informed me at once that I had been hurled into the common sewer. The drain was deep, and I had to exercise some skill as a swimmer before I found my feet. Even then I stood up to the armpits

in the vile liquid, the effluvia of which threatened to poison me with every breath I drew. Happily, I had suffered no serious bodily injury by my fall, the force of which had been neutralised by the water. I looked up just as the trap-door through which I had descended was in the act of closing-saw it raised to its level, and heard the villains slipping the bolt that secured it. What was to be done? I gave myself up for lost. If I cried out, none were likely to hear me save the fiends who had compassed my destruction, which any alarm on my part would only goad them to complete. I had not relinquished the iron bar, but still clutched it mechanically, and I now began groping with it in the dense darkness, to ascertain, if possible, in what direction to proceed, to escape, if it might be, from the ruffians' power. I found that I stood in the centre of the channel, in which a slow current ran in one direction, as I judged towards the river. The water shallowed towards the sides. I crept involuntarily to the side furthest from the trap above my head, where the flood scarcely reached to my knees. A deadly shiver came over me, and I felt about with my hands for some place of rest, as I fancied my senses were leaving me. Thank Heaven, that did not take place! A rough sort of buttress of old brickwork projected from the bank, and in the angle of that I crouched half in the water, and tried to collect my wandering faculties. I was hardly ensconced in this position, when a dull gleam shimmered faintly on the surface of the filthy water. I knew it must come from the trap-door overhead, and waited in horror for what it might portendhalf-expecting to see the ruffian masquerader descend, knife in hand, to make sure of his work. I held my breath, for I knew that the villains were listening, and that the slightest sound from me would seal my doom. Then I heard a lumbering noise above, and the next moment down came a shower of the monster paving-stones, which would have crushed the life out of an ox had they fallen upon him. Then the trap closed once more, and again all was darkness.

How long I crouched there, devoured with terror and apprehension, I cannot say. To me it appeared an age; it may not have been a dozen minutes. I had come to the conclusion that there I should die, and rot piecemeal, and never be discovered; and there I should have died, it is my opinion, if a new cause of apprehension had not roused me. While I was in the lowest state of despondency, a red gleam shot along the dark water, from the distance of some thirty feet up the stream. I looked, and there, through a hole in the overhanging arch, caused by knocking out a few bricks, appeared the face of the Jew, still bleeding from the compliment I had administered, and wild with mingled rage, pain, and anxiety. The wretch held a horse-pistol in one hand, and in the other a lantern furnished with a bull's-eye, which threw its searching rays to whatever point he turned it. I was sure now that my hour was come; but lo! when the flash was turned in my direction, its full force fell on the intervening buttress, and by lying still as I was, I could remain effectually concealed.

Through a small crevice I watched the face of the Jew, as he turned his piercing eyes in every direction, and I thought I read in it at length his conviction that I had perished-a conclusion to which he may have been helped by the sight of my hat cast up in the shallows on one side. In that case, I asked myself, what would he do? Would he not descend with his comrade to find and plunder my body? I had not a doubt of it-and my only chance lay in making my escape before they executed their purpose. The light which had shewn me the Jew's face had shewn me also something of the bearings of my prison. I saw that I could not proceed down the stream without getting into deeper water, but that upwards the depth