beautifully situated near an old pine and some cypresses, Genazzano rises in a valley on the left about half a mile distant from the road. It contains the shrine of the Madonna di Buon Consiglio, who flew hither through the air from Albania.

"From this time the Madonna of Genazzano, called 'Our Lady of Good Offices,' began to work miracles, and a church was built in her honour, with a monastery adjoining it. The Order of the Augustines possessed themselves of this wonder-working and holy source of gain, which is not less profitable, if not more so, than the Madonna of the Augustine monastery at Rome. For this Divinity of Genazzano enjoys throughout the whole of Latium a reputation, which exactly corresponds with that of a heathen oracle. Twice a year, in spring and in summer, her festival is celebrated, and thus a double harvest of offerings is reaped, besides innumerable presents of money and jewels brought by the worshippers. And as even the poorest countryman lays his mite upon the altar of the picture, it may be said that this one Madonna taxes the whole Latian Campagna as well as the State itself. I was told that the offerings are collected by certain confraternities which exist in the Campagna; each member puts into the common fund as much as five baiocchi a month, and thus a travelling confraternity brings sometimes as much as a hundred scudi. The yearly receipts of this place of pilgrimage are estimated at 37,500 francs."-Gregorovius.

The festa of the Madonna of Genazzano, on the 25th of

in this part of Italy. A figure-artist should never fail to see it, and the most sanguine expectations as to colour and costume cannot possibly be disappointed.

"Even on the eve of the festival the pilgrims begin to arrive, and the place and the whole landscape becomes animated in a wonderful manner, while the air resounds perpetually with the chanting of Litanies. Through all the streets pass gay but orderly crowds. They come from the Abruzzi, from the sandal land, from Sora, from the Liris, and from all parts of the Latian Campagna.

"The festival of Jupiter Latiaris seems to be renewed before our eyes, so numerous are the thousands that approach, so varied their dress and their dialects. They come down from the hills with their solemn chant of the Ora,' there down the broad road, here along the river, by field paths, ever and again fresh bands of pilgrims in bright red, green, and blue costumes, with their tall pilgrim staves (bordoni) in their hands, and the sight combined with the grandeur of the scenery is one which would be alike wonderful to the artist, the poet, and the historian.

". . . They wander along the Sacco, and down from the hills (come i grù, che van cantando lor lai), like the cranes who sing as they go. The middle ages passed before me; and I thought of those bands of pilgrims who thronged to Rome at the Jubilee year, and more than once the sight made me repeat that beautiful verse in the pilgrim sonnet of the Vita Nuova,

Deh! peregrini, che pensosi andate

Forse di cosa che non v'è presente,
Venite voi di si lontana gente,

Com' alla vista voi ne dimostrate?

"They go by tens, twentys, fiftys, hundreds, and even more. All ages are represented amongst them; the old man leans on the same pilgrim staff which has supported him already fifty times along the same road, and this may perhaps be the last time: the matron passes with her grandchildren; the beautiful and blooming maiden; the sturdy youth, the boy; even infants are here carried on the heads of their mothers, for in one of these processions I saw a young woman carrying on her head a basket in which lay a laughing child, its eyes wide open as if it was enjoying the beautiful sunshine. Most of the wornen carry on their heads a basket of provisions, or a bundle of clothes, which still more increases the beauty of the spectacle. If any one could lift up the veil from these souls they would see concealed crime side by side with innocence, and vice, remorse, pain, and virtue passing in a motley crowd.

"It is like a great and beautiful but serious masked procession which passes over one of the most beautiful scenes of nature, always with fresh dresses and colours, and with different faces. One sees the people of

Frosinone, of Anagni, the inhabitants of Veroli, of Arpino, of Anticoli, of Ceprano, and the Neapolitans from Sora.

"See the groups from Sora! dark olive complexions and beautiful

oval faces. The women look fantastic, like the Arab women; they are adorned with strings of coral or golden chains round their necks, and heavy gold earrings; their heads are covered with white or brown kerchiefs, with long fringes, which hang down upon the neck like a madonna's veil they wear white chemisettes quite loose though folded in

:

innumerable plaits, and over these a low, dark red bodice. short, of a bright red or blue colour, with a yellow border. large dark eyes, under black, strongly marked eyebrows!

The skirt is

And what

'The pilgrims of Ceccano The women wearing red bodices with long aprons of the same colour, white kerchiefs on their heads with long

ends hanging down behind, and sandals. The men in pointed hats, with red jackets, and a girdle round the waist, twisted of bright ribbon.

'Pilgrims from Pontecorvo ! The women in dark red dresses beautifully ornamented; with a red head-dress; beautiful and majestic. 'Pilgrims from Filettino: black velvet bodices, a most simple dress, quiet and graceful.

"Ciociari! The men and women of the sandal land! Perhaps from some place near Ferentino, or farther away, from the Neapolitan boundaries of the Liris and the Melfa. It is a land of beautiful and wild mountains, which extends from Ferentino far into the Neapolitan territory. There the people wear the Ciocia, a very simple covering for the foot, from which the country is called Ciociaria. I found this covering for the foot in use near Anagni. One more primitive certainly cannot be found, perhaps one might also say there is none more comfortable. It certainly made me envy the Ciociari. The shoe is simply formed of a square piece of ass or horse skin. Holes are made in this skin, through which a string is passed, and this parchment is so tied round the foot that it forms itself to the shape of the foot. The leg is swathed up to the knee with coarse grey linen, bound round many times with string or thread. Thus the Ciociaro moves freely and comfortably across the fields, and over the rocks, whenever he goes to dig the ground (‘zappar la terra'), or drives his sheep and goats, as a shepherd with bag-pipes, dressed in a short grey cloak, or clothed in skins. These sandals are classical, and Diogenes would have worn them if he had not gone barefoot; and Chrysippus or Epictetus might have praised them in a treatise on the few needs of wise men. If these shoes are well arranged, and the linen leggings new, they look well, but very bad and beggarly when they are old and ragged; and as this is generally the case, it has given the sandal folk a character of ragged poverty, and their name is despised and even used as a word of reproach. One day, when a man of San Vito was showing me the beautiful panorama of the Campagna, he said to me, 'See, sir, there lies the Ciociaria!' and he smiled with a look of lofty contempt.

"The Ciociari wear bright red vests, and pointed black felt hats, which seldom lack a gay feather, a bow, or a flower. I found among them, especially in the Campagna of Rome, a remarkable number of men with fair hair and blue eyes; they wear their hair cut short behind, like the Prussian Landwehr, but let it hang down in long locks from the temples. Hang a ragged grey waterproof cloak or a black or white sheepskin on the Ciociaro, and we have our sandal man complete; but we will not give him a gun in his hand, or he will fall upon us as a robber in the pass of Ceprano, crying out, 'faccia in terra,' and will empty