imagination of seeing the boy, he discovered the whole matter; and the body being found in the wood, it was taken by the monks, and buried in the churchyard of the Holy Trinity, in Norwich; but many miracles being supposed to be wrought by it there, it was removed in the year of our Lord 1150, and enshrined in the church.

18.-EASTER-EVE.

Blessing of Houses at Easter.-The week before Easter (says a recent traveller, in a letter from Pisa, dated March 30, 1822) our house was blessed by the rector of the parish, who first asked us whether it were a custom among us to have our houses blessed at this time of the year: we answered, that it was not. He said it was his duty to bless every house in the parish; but, if it gave offence, he would omit ours. We assured him to the contrary; that we considered the blessing of a good man a good thing, and we should gladly receive it. The next day our landlord's wife came to ask the same question, saying, if we objected, it should not be done: at the same time, her manner showed that she would have thought her house in great danger if we refused, which, of course, we did not. The day following, the rector arrived, dressed in a little white cassock over his black clothes, accompanied by an inferior priest, in the same costume, by way of an attendant. The former pronounced the blessing, in the name of the Trinity, on the house and its inhabitants, and repeated the same ceremony up stairs and down stairs, in every hole and corner. The sequel of the story is, that every house makes a small offering; the poor, of eggs; the more genteel, of chocolate: as we wished to be considered of the latter class, we presented him with a pound of it. He became our firm friend and daily visiter.-Three Years' Residence in Italy.

Before twelve o'clock at noon on the day before Easter (observes the same entertaining author), the resurrection service begins at the Quirinal Chapel at Rome. Exactly at that hour a curtain is drawn back, which conceals a picture of our Lord. Then begins a universal peal from all the bells, accompanied with the beating of drums and firing of guns; and joy succeeds to mourning. During the week, until this moment, a universal stillness prevailed in the streets: not a bell was heard to ring in any of the churches. The drums, and all instruments of music, were silenced, and scarcely a loud word was to be heard from the mourners as they traversed the streets. The churches were all hung with black; and nobody, not even the English, appeared except in that sable garb.

19.-EASTER DAY.

An account of some very curious early English customs on this day will be found in our volume for 1826, p. 73. For ceremonies practised in France, at Easter, see T.T. for 1828, pp. 85-87. The following account of Easter at Toulouse is communicated by a correspondent to the Mirror:'

6

From the morning of Good Friday silence reigns over the town; not a bell is heard, and the superstitious people imagine the bells are all gone to St. Peter's; their customary amusements about the streets are suspended; and though they do not at any time live very luxuriously, at this season they fast with great rigour. We visited the chapel belonging to the little convent of Les Frères; at one end was a kind of stage, the distance representing Mount Calvary, with the cross; in the foreground was an altar, on which was the figure of a lamb asleep; two automaton figures, habited as Roman soldiers, were placed on either side, also asleep; and a beautiful fountain of real water played in front. At the moment they suppose our Saviour to have risen, the cannons fire, and all the bells begin to ring at once (returned from St. Peter's, of course, by the same means they went), which has, undoubtedly, a very imposing effect. Upon revisiting the chapel, we found the lamb gone, the soldiers had started upon their feet, in a posture of great surprise and alarm; and between the altar and the mount was the figure of our Saviour ascending. A custom at this time prevails, which has, no doubt, the same origin as the paschal eggs. The moment the bells begin to ring, every one hastens to their friend or neighbour nearest at hand, uttering a patois rhyme, signifying, 'Hallelujah! the omelet for to-morrow; and the person thus addressed must accordingly furnish an omelet for the women's breakfast next morning. This occasions a great deal of amusement, as frequently two persons will be endeavouring to win of the other at the same time, when

the only chance is, which can speak the fastest. High mass is, of course, celebrated in the churches; after which the priest walks in procession under a handsome canopy, and blesses all the people who choose to come to him. The rest of the day is spent in different kinds of amusement and feasting.

TO DON GASPAR MELCHIOR JOVELLANOS; for the EASTER

HOLIDAYS.

A truce now, dear Jové, to care for a season!
Come-Easter is nigh-to the lute let us sing,

Whilst the March wind pines sadly, gay strains such as Teos
Heard warbled 'midst grapes to her bard's attic string;
Or beside the mild fire, bid with exquisite converse
The fugitive hours pass in brilliant relief:

They go-but from night's shady keeping return not;

Why then by lost dreams should we make them more brief? As to gold the white down on the summer-peach changes, So the bloom that my cheek early feathered is fled; And the years that have passed, bringing wisdom but slowly, With thousand gray ringlets have mantled my head. I have seen the vale smile beneath April's sweet blossoms, Beneath burning June have I seen them decay;

And the pomp and profusion of viny October,

Before dull December waste coldly away.

Yes! the days and winged months escape from us like shadows,
And years follow months, as the sea-billows pass-

Mind it not-we've a charm against Time's revolutions,
In the bright golden liquor that laughs in the glass.
Pour it out: crowned with myrtle and rose, we will frighten
Chagrin far away with our long merry shout;

And in pledges quaffed off to wit, wine, and dear woman,
Disregard the rude elements warring without.

For what are they to us, if our bosoms beat lightly,

And beauty and song set our prisoned souls free;
Whilst the bliss which a king would exchange for a sceptre,
Love, the holy enchantress, consigns me in thee?

I remember one eve when the sun, half in shadow,
Sank slow to his own western island afar,

Whilst the peasants and peasant-girls danced near my trellis,
And I in the porch touched my festal guitar;

How I sang the rich treasure which Heav'n in its bounty
Had lent to console me in pleasure and pain;

And in prayers for thy welfare implored all its angels-
Thy welfare, so dear to our own native Spain;

Smit with passionate thirst, in my right hand the beaker
I filled till the bright bubbles danced o'er the top,
And to thee and to thine, in a frenzy of feeling,

Drained it manfully off to the last purple drop:

'And whilst maiden and youth stood in loud admiration
Applauding the feat, how I filled it again,

And with yet deeper rapture a second time emptied
Its bowl of the glory that brightened my brain;
Singing still, singing still in my zeal for thy glory,
As now to my lute in its ardent excess,

Thy virtues, thy fame in the land's future story,
And the bliss, more than all, that in thee we possess!

Foreign Review.

The author of a Narrative of Three Years' Residence in Italy," while noticing the ceremonies at Rome on this day, says, the show was, indeed, very splendid, but much more like a theatrical representation than an acceptable service in honour of that glorious Being who inhabiteth eternity, and who wills that his worshippers adore Him in spirit and in truth. The scene was gay and animated. Every one looked pleased at being disencumbered from their sombre garments, which were now exchanged for all which fashion and finery could display. The church, and the whole piazza before it, were crowded with all classes of persons in gala dress. The Pope was carried, in magnificent state, through the church, shaded by waving peacocks' feathers, attended by his guardia nobile, in princely uniform, glittering with gold, their helmets adorned with plumes of feathers; the ambassadors and their wives, the senator and his train, the Armenian bishop and priests, in very splendid robes, the cardinals, bishops, and all the Roman troops, in grand procession. In short, every one around was clothed in fine linen, and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls! The ceremonies concluded with the blessing, which the Pope pronounced from the terrace, as before; and the people below received it on their knees, looking up, with eager eyes,

for the indulgences which are scattered among them by some of the cardinals.

In the evening, the festivity of this holy day was concluded by a grand illumination of St. Peter's, and fire-works at the castle of St. Angelo. On entering the piazza, we beheld the architecture of the dome, façade, and colonnade, all marked out by soft lamps; and while we remained lost in admiration, a deep-toned bell tolled; and in a moment, as if struck by a magical wand, the whole fabric burst into a dazzling blaze of the most brilliant light; nor could we conceive how the sudden transition was effected. From hence we drove to a large building opposite the castle of St. Angelo, from whence we saw the fire-works. St. Peter's, in all its blaze of glory until they began, still looked very brilliant; but from the moment when the girandolo blazed forth, which is meant to imitate an eruption from the crater of Vesuvius, the intense light of the fireworks, in a great measure, eclipsed that of the illumination. There is a baptism of Jews at the church of St. John Lateran, at which every year one or two are induced to receive baptism, either for the sake of the thirty pounds.given on the occasion, or from some other motive: but very few, if any, are supposed to be real converts. I have even been told, that the same Jew has been baptized more than once, when no other could be persuaded to come, that the appearance may be kept up.

19. SAINT ALPHEGE, Archbishop of Canterbury, was stoned to death at Greenwich, A.D. 1012.

20, 21.—EASTER MONDAY and TUESDAY.

An account of some curious customs on these days, in different parts of England, will be found in T.T. for 1822, p. 107: see also our volume for 1823, p. 75, and T.T. for 1828, p. 86.