most picturesque group, kneeling on large stones at the brook washing garments in. the limpid stream, while sunlight falls through the trees in chequered beams, lighting up their coloured kerchiefs and blue gowns. At eventide they go to the fountain, as Rebecca and her companions did when Eliezer met them, and return balancing full vases of shining copper on their heads as they tread the ancient paving stones with a majestic walk worthy of the daughters of a kingly race.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE OLD MOUNTAIN CHURCH.

June 17.-About a quarter of a mile from us, on the old packhorse road, is a curious relic of antiquity, a tiny, quaint old church, called the "Pieve," said to have been built in the 11th century by the Countess Matilda, who was ruler of Tuscany at that time, and very devoted to the Church. It is a long, narrow building; a single nave without arches or aisles; built of large blocks of stone fitted and dovetailed into each other with a precision which is almost Etruscan. One single stone in the northern wall is sculptured with what the peasants call a "girigogolo," a kind of endless plaited knot. The priest whom we asked one day to explain the meaning of this curious stone, said it was a Solomon's knot," and is used in many of the ancient churches. He seemed to consider it a charm, but it is more likely to have an allegorical meaning connected with the endless and mysterious works of God.

The Pieve has a tiny round apse at the east end, a miniature choir behind the high altar. The roof of the apse is formed of irregular flat stones, laid one over the other, and from the stones two rose trees spring and intertwine their long branches. Aunt Louisa gravely announced to the Antiquary that she had discovered an interesting

THE OLD MOUNTAIN CHURCH OF THE PIEVE, BUILT 1100.

archæological fact, viz. that the grave of "Ladye Nancie and Lord Ronald" was in this very Church, for

"Ladye Nancie they laid in the choir;

And out of her bosom there sprung a white rose,
And out of his a sweet brier."

The Antiquary pooh-poohing this, she declared her intention of writing a learned article to prove the Italian origin of that English ballad.

The façade is remarkable for an external pulpit with a flight of stone steps ascending to it. External pulpits are a feature in many of the mediæval Italian churches, and are no doubt preferable in the summer evenings, or when the congregation is very large. The preacher in this little mountain pergamo must have had great inspiration from nature; for before him opens out the valley of the Lima, with its mountains clad in purple and gold, while on all sides, "in verdure clad and strength arrayed," the hills rise protectingly, and the cornfields and green pastures are spread at his feet. The Pieve is now a church without a parish, and is only opened three times a year, when processions take place to it from Piteglio. The interior is perfectly clean, but bare; only the high altar is kept up, being adorned with faded flowers and old candlesticks. A stone bench runs entirely round the nave. This interested the Antiquary, who said he had observed it in many churches of early construction, up to the time of Giotto.

He was very anxious to get at the history of the Pieve, and this evening we happened to meet the

priest of Piteglio near the spot, and took him into conference. He tells us there are no archives preserved, if even any were kept. He has a few old registers in quaint Latin which nobody can read ; but he believes there is not much about the Pieve even in them. There were once, so tradition says, a number of houses here, but scarcely a trace of masonry remains now in the cornfields round the church. When this was a village, Piteglio on its green knoll was the castle-fortress of the lord of the soil, from which he used to make raids upon the people of Popiglio, the village across the valley with its two ruined towers above it. (If ever there are two towns on opposite hills in the mountains, be sure they are hereditary foes.) But gradually the castle became disused, and people made use of its stones to build more peaceable habitations, till Piteglio took its place as the town, and the Pieve was deserted. He pointed out to us, as we looked across the little dell to Piteglio, that there were still portions of the old castle wall remaining, and said that the tower of the present church was once the Keep of the fortress.

"And who takes the revenues from the Pieve now?" inquired the Antiquary.

"I do," modestly replied the curé, "or hope to do so soon; for after ten years' curateship they

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