On the following day they crossed the narrow but
swollen river, which anciently formed the boundary
between the Greeks and Carthagenians; on the next,
passed the celebrated battle ground of Rugiero, and
soon after came in sight of the sea. Isabel's heart
expanded at the view of that element which connected
her with her country. It was dearly familiar
to her eye. The carriage turned an angle of the
road, and directly before them rose the abrupt promontory
of Monte Pelegrino; the telegraph rising
distinctly from its summit, while on the plain below
appeared the city of Palermo, environed by olivegroves
on the one side, and the Mediterranean on
the other.

Whether the metropolis which greets the eye of
the traveller be an inland city, or reared on the
borders of the deep, let him mark well its distant
aspect. Whether Genoa rise like an amphitheatre
of palaces and orange-groves to his sea-worn eye,
or Florence repose amid its olive-clad hills beneath
his entranced gaze; whether it be the swelling dome
of St. Peter's, or the oriental cupola of St. Mark's,
which crowns the prospect, let him mark well its
distant aspect; let him patiently trace every line of
the landscape; let him watch the sunlight and shade,
as they alternately play upon the edifices and the
verdure, the heavy wall and the light-springing
tower; let him earnestly ponder the scene, even as
he dwelt upon the last fading landscape of his native
land; let him hoard up the associations of the novel
spectacle and feel, from a distant position, the

[figure description] Page 094.[end figure description]

inspiration of the renowned locality; for when he has
once plunged into the narrow thoroughfares, and
mingled with the motley crowds within the circle of
the fairy scene, how much of the romance it awakens
will be rudely dispelled! how many of its brightest
suggestions will be coldly overshadowed! But Isabel
gazed upon Palermo, not only with the curiosity of a
traveller, and the interest of an enthusiast; she
looked long and earnestly upon its dense buildings
and numerous domes, as if she would ask the fair
Capital if within its wide walls was the father she
sought.

eaf405.n3

[3] Paradise Regained.

p405-100 THE CAPITAL.

“To see the wonders of the world abroad.”

[figure description] Page 095.[end figure description]

The Cassaro of Palermo presents the usual scene
of mingled pomp and poverty observable in the
main street of every European city. To one whose
eye has been familiar with the red bricks and slated
roofs, the green blinds and cheerful portals of the
American dwellings, such thoroughfares are rife with
novelty. He has been accustomed to the click of the
mason's trowel, and the hasty greetings of hurrying
pedestrians, eager to reach the scene of traffic or the
sanctuary of home. All around him has worn an
aspect of freshness; everything has been symbolical
of newness and growth. How different the view
now presented! The high stone walls of the edifices
throw a gloomy shade over the broad flags. There
is the gay uniform of the soldier, and the dark robe
of the priest. At his side the mendicant urges his
petition. Near yonder shrine a kneeling peasant

[figure description] Page 096.[end figure description]

prays. In the centre of the street a richly-dressed
cavalier displays his exquisite horsemanship. Against
the adjacent palace-wall, a poorly-clad old man urges
his donkey, whose slender proportions are almost
hidden beneath a towering load of vegetables. In
the café opposite, groups are composedly discussing
the merits of the new prima donna; and near the
door, a knot of porters are vociferously disputing
about the division of a penny. This dazzling equipage
in the carriage of the archbishop; that stripling
with sheep-skin hose, is driving his goats into a yard
to milk them for the table of some English resident
who can afford the luxury. These half naked boys
are gambling away, on the sunny curb-stone, the few
grains which some passer has thrown them in charity;
the other cluster of untidy women are ridding each
other's heads of vermin—an incessant and conspicuous
employment. From the overhanging balconies
flaunts the wet linen hung out to dry; and the venders,
with baskets of fish, pulse, and herbs, dexterously
wend their way through the vehicles and
loungers, and announce their commodities above the
hum and shouts of the crowd. Sternly a file of soldiers,
awkwardly shrouded in loose gray coats, conduct
a band of miserable prisoners chained together; and
morosely glides by a Capuchin friar with bare head,
long beard, and enormous sack, in search of alms
for the expectant poor.

Through this heterogeneous assemblage, as Frazier's
carriage was one day passing. Vittorio asked
them to observe a building of unusual extent. “This

[figure description] Page 097.[end figure description]

is one of the two remaining establishments,” said he,
“formerly possessed in Palermo by that once wealthy
and powerful community—the Jesuits. The
broad airy court of the college is surrounded by
spacious corridors, conducting to chambers where
instruction is gratuitously given in the various
branches of literature and science. This society is
one of the few truly useful fraternities of priests existing
in Sicily. They are the ministers of education,
and engage in their mission with a zeal and an interest
worthy of the cause.”

“It is remarkable,” said Frazier, “how that intriguing
association, whose influence was once so
widely felt, has dwindled into insignificance. Who
would imagine that in those quiet looking young
men promenading in the yard, we see members of
that sect whom we read of as the secret devotees
of ambition in the courts of princes.”

“An incident occurred at their institution not long
since,” said Vittorio, “which would indicate that
they are still not deficient in cunning. One of their
number who acted as treasurer, embezzled a sum of
money, and gave it as a dowry to his sister on her
marriage. As he had entered the society quite poor,
when the rumor of his generous donation reached
the ears of the brethren, they held a council, and
having no doubt of the fraud, ordered him into their
presence with the determination to banish him from
the college. Upon being asked if he had presented
his sister with the specified sum, he replied

[figure description] Page 098.[end figure description]

affirmatively; and when questioned as to the source of this
sudden wealth, answered quite unabashed, that he
had taken it from the common fund. “For,” he
added, “is not our creed that we are all bound
together by the tie of Christian fellowship; and are
obligated in weal and wo, to afford mutual aid? I
took the gold, and appropriated it as a dowry for our
sister in the faith, in accordance with those principles
of charity and love which we profess.” The
sincerity of the delinquent's manner, with the force
of his arguments, sealed the lips of the council, and
he was acquitted.”

At no great distance are the Quartro Cantoni,
where the two principal streets of the metropolis
intersect each other at right angles, and whence one
can gaze through the long and crowded vistas to
the four gates. Upon the huge, dark corners of
the adjacent palaces are hung the theatre advertisements,
and below, several fountains fall into
old marble basins. No one can pause at this
spot without feeling that he is in the very centre
of a populous city. Beyond, and separated from
the street by a spacious square, is the Cathedral.
Its interior is wanting in effect from the lightness
which distinguishes and deforms the churches of the
island. After regarding the cluster of sarcophagi
which contains the ashes of the Sicilian sovereigns,
the travellers passed on and entered a chaste little
chapel on the right of the main altar. “These bassorelievos,”
said the Count, “are the work of Gaggini.

[figure description] Page 099.[end figure description]

The finest represents the angel of the Lord driving
away War, Famine, and Pestilence,—the enemies of
mankind, from Palermo, at the intercession of St.
Rosalia, whom you see kneeling at the feet of Jesus
and smiling at the success of her petition. That circular
portrait over the altar is a representation of the
fair saint, and beneath are preserved, in a box of
silver studded with jewels, her mortal remains. The
tradition is that ages ago Rosalia, the daughter of a
wealthy and noble house, turned aside from the allurements
of pleasure and youth and retired to the
bleak summit of mount Pelegrino, to give her life to
prayer. Centuries of change rolled away, and the
story of the lovely anchorite was lost in obscurity;
when the plague visited Palermo. At the very height
of its ravages, a poor man of the city dreamed that
an angel appeared to him in the form of St. Rosalia,
directing him to tell the archbishop to seek on the
mountain, beneath her ancient retreat, for her bones,
and bear them in solemn procession through the
streets, when he was assured the pestilence would
instantly cease. This was done amid much pomp
and solemnity, and the promised miracle wrought.
The senate immediately declared St. Rosalia the protectress
of Palermo, and ever since she has been
worshipped as their patron saint. For five days in
July a feast is held in celebration of this event, exceeding
in magnificence every similar festival. Fireworks,
social gaiety, triumphal processions, illuminations
and music, are the uninterrupted announcements

[figure description] Page 100.[end figure description]

of these greatest of Palermitan holidays; and the
flower-decked car of the saint, drawn by fifty oxen
covered with garlands, moves gaily along the thronged
Toledo.”

At a short distance from the cathedral is the
royal palace, where an ancient chapel and one of the
finest observatories in Europe interested the strangers.
Returning, Vittorio bade them note the building now
devoted to the tribunals in the Piazza Marina. It is
a Saracenic structure, formerly the seat of the inquisition,
and bears interesting evidences of the date
of its erection. The best monument, however, of
this period of Sicilian history, an epoch involved in
great obscurity, is a large fabric at Olivuza, near the
city, called the ziza, and supposed to have been an
emir's residence.

The contrasts, however, between the old and new
world are not confined to the results of Art. Around
the congregated dwellings of both hemispheres
is spread the varied scenery of Nature; and the
sojourner, if he be not an inveterate worlding, has
been wont to repair thither for solace and refreshment.
Yet how different are the emblems of her
benignant presence from those to which he has been
accustomed! at home, he gazed upon the flowing
stream whose greatest charm is its bright hue and
crystal clearness; in this distant region, he roams
beside a turbid river only attractive from the events
of which it has been the scene, or the classic legend
which arrays it in fictitious glory. At home, his

[figure description] Page 101.[end figure description]

eye rested upon cottages of wood with orchards beside
them, vegetable gardens in the rear, and hard-by
the long well-pole poised in the air; now he beholds
the peasants cottage of stone, and the olive, aloe, Indian
fig, or grape-vine constitute the verdure
around it. There the little belfry of the village school
rose conspicuous; here the open shrine of some local
saint; there the forest outspread in wild majesty;
here the campagna stretches in peaceful undulations.
There the chirp of the cricket announced
the close of day; here the tinkling bell of the returning
mules, and Avé Maria stealing on the breeze, usher
in the evening. There many an uninvaded haunt
repays the wanderer with romantic dreams; here
the spell of some ruined temple entrances his fancy
with hours of retrospective musing. Still Nature's
votary feels that the same gentle companionship is
with him; and recognizes the invisible spirit of the
universe endeared by communion in another land;
for there is a well known voice with which she greets
her children in every clime.

One of the most pleasing characteristics of the
Sicilian Capital is the beauty of its environs. It is a
curious fact that one of the most conspicuous of the
mountains which environ the city is strikingly similar
to Vesuvius, while Mount Pelegrino, from one
point of view, presents the same form and general
aspect as the rock of Gibraltar. Many happy hours,
when the state of the elements was auspicious, were
passed by Frazier, his niece, and their friend, in rides

[figure description] Page 102.[end figure description]

and walks amid the quiet and fertile country about
Palermo. Sometimes, on horseback they ascended
to Monreale, a picturesque town about four miles
from the city, where the Norman kings are buried.
The old church here situated was built by William I.,
and is lined with mosaics, which serve admirably to
awaken the associations of that primitive era after
the establishment of Christianity, when the zeal of
her advocates was expended upon gorgeous temples
and elaborate ornament. Still higher, a rich convent
of Benedictines affords another fine point of view.
When the visitor has satisfied his curiosity in noting
the marble and alabaster, the literary rarities and
antique relics which enrich this establishment, tenanted
like the one at Catania, exclusively by noblemen;
when his gaze is weary with regarding the paintings
of Monrealese—the best of Sicilian artists—
which decorate its walls; he can survey the broad
and verdant plain, the distant city and its sea-bright
boundary spread out in rich contrast below. A still
more favorite observatory, nearer the metropolis, is the
site of an old asylum of the followers of St. Francis—
the monastery of Maria di Gesù, on the side of the
opposite mountain. From the path constructed along
the cliff, one can look forth upon this picture, pausing
at will, to mark its varying features as he ascends
the umbrageous hill-side. Indeed the public and
private edifices which command views of this unrivalled
scene, are numerous enough to satisfy the
taste of the most fastidious admirer of the

[figure description] Page 103.[end figure description]

picturesque; and no more delightful excursion can be
imagined than the circuit of the entire plain on a
fine day. It is adorned by the villas of many noble
families, which are surrounded with enclosures well-stocked
with every description of tree, shrub, and
flower. The beautiful effect of these gardens is enhanced
by statues, whose white hue is relieved by
the evergreen around their pedestals, and many
ingenious devices to amuse and surprise the visiter.
One of these domains, erected by the late king, is
arranged in the Chinese style.

How peace-inspiring seemed that valley to the
eye of Isabel, reposing with its grain fields and olive
orchards, many of them planted by the Saracens, its
orange clusters and cypresses, its villas and almond
trees, with the mountains encircling, like majestic
sentinels, its fertile precincts, the domes and roofs
of Palermo rising time-hallowed from amid its green
beauty, and beyond all, the wide and sparkling sea!
In early spring, all there is perfume and song, and
not even when the snow lies in heavy masses upon
the hill-tops, does it cease to cheer the sight with its
evergreen garniture.

“Let us pause,” said Vittorio, one day when they
had arrived at a solitary and elevated part of the
rocky environment. They stood still and looked forth
upon the vale. “The first impression, I think,” continued
he, “is that of abundance. We do not merely
see, we feel, as it were, the luxuriance of the earth.
A new sense of nature's productiveness is borne to
the mind, as it contemplates such verdure and plenty.

[figure description] Page 104.[end figure description]

But while we gaze, another and higher feeling possesses
us. The tranquillity of the landscape soothes
every common passion into quietness, and lures all
care-born restlesness to sleep. Something of the calm
happiness of primeval existence seems to breathe
from so Eden-like a prospect; and from the lulled
waters of the spirit, as the ancients fabled of the
birth of beauty, emerges the brightest creation of
thought, the fairest offspring of emotion;—a sentiment
of confidence in our origin and destiny, a speechless
gratitude, an undefined hope, a self-content alike
inexplicable and blessed. Is it that we imbibe the language
of the universe, or are exhilirated by her
music? Is it that we momentarily lose the weight
of life's burden, or forget in so cheering a presence
that the earth is not a garden?”

“It is, perhaps,” replied Isabel, “that we realize
anew the goodness of the Creator, and thus renew
our faith in his paternity. The world often seconds
the chill and dark creed of the sceptic, while Nature
ever encourages the hopes of the heart. We see the
beauty lavished upon the physical universe, and
comes there not thence an assurance that if the
domain of matter is thus cared for and enriched, the
quenchless, living spirit is destined to renewal, progression,
and happiness?”

From the upper end of the Marina, if the equestrian
inclines to the right, he comes out upon a
broad, level space called the plain of Erasmus. A
group of bare-legged fishermen, with their nets
spread out for repair upon the green sward, two or

[figure description] Page 105.[end figure description]

three cord-weavers, or a knot of the country guards
lounging in the noon-tide sun, appeared scattered
over this field; after crossing which, one passes a
pretty little church where the victims of the law are
buried, and soon arrives at the old Saracenic bridge
that spans the Oreto. This river, now shrunk to the
dimensions of a mere brook, constituted the scene of
a noted galley combat which is said to have occurred
near Monreale. Its wide bed and high embankments
are still easily traced. The aspect of
this vicinity is rendered picturesque by masses of
broken wall half-covered with vegetation, and several
tall, square water pillars wreathed with thick hanging
weeds. It was a mild and autumn-like day, and
already long past noon, when the travellers, returning
from a sequestered road, along which their horses
had been slowly pacing for a considerable time,
found themselves again in this somewhat familiar
spot. There was a freshness as well as solemnity in
the appearance of a cypress grove which rose before
them; and they readily turned into the almost
deserted way, left their steeds at the gate, and entered
the Campo Santo. As they did so, two men,
bearing a black sedan chair—the bier of the lower
orders—appeared proceeding slowly up the grassy
pathway. No other moving object disturbed the
profound repose of the burial-place, save the swaying
tops of the gloomy trees and the nodding of some
spire of herbage which had shot up higher than its
fellows. Rows of square flag-stones intersected the

[figure description] Page 106.[end figure description]

ground at equal distances, denoting the huge pits into
which the naked corpses are promiscuously thrown
with as little ceremony, and less feeling perhaps, than
the fish-packers of the neighboring coast manifest in
arranging their prey. A low, rude cross placed near
one of the reservoirs indicated that it was unsealed
for the day's interments, if so rude a disposition of
the dead merits the name. The strangers involuntarily
paused. They had been inhaling the balmy and
living breath of nature; the hum of a populous city
had scarcely died away upon their ears; their conversation
had been lively and hopeful, for few can
resist the exhilarating influence of a ride on horseback
beneath a lovely sky, and in sight of evergreen
foliage and blue-waving hills; and now they were in
the silent precincts of a grave-yard surrounded by
the emblems of death. An old and miserably clad
friar emerged from the building which bounds the
opposite side of the cemetery, and approaching the
group, offered to display the wonders of the establishment,
with as much complacency as the cicerone
of a gallery of art or continental museum would have
manifested. To one who travels not so much to acquire
miscellaneous information as to realize truth;
not with a view to court novelty but to awaken
thought; not merely to be amused but to enjoy associations
and feast imagination; to one, in a word,
who seeks in foreign scenes congenial mental incitement,
there is nothing more vexatious than the
officiousness, intrusion, and affected jargon of those

[figure description] Page 107.[end figure description]

who act as guides and showmen about the interesting
localities of Europe. Isabel shuddered as she
beheld this veteran dweller among the dead, and
marked the indifference to scenes of mortality which
familiarity had induced. Frazier followed the monk,
while Isabel and the Count walked to and fro in an
area of the sunny enclosure. “This,” said he, “is
the burial-place of the poorer classes. Their ideas
of doing honor to the dead are quite peculiar. Those
who have the means engage the old friar and his
assistants to preserve the embalmed bodies or skeletons
of their friends, which are placed in hideous
array, some of them decked out in the gayest dresses,
in the lower chambers of that edifice. The poor relatives
of the deceased yearly renew the vesture and
ornaments of the withered bodies, deeming this a
testimony of their remembrance. What a dismal
manner of manifesting the sentiment! Yet how affecting
is this clinging to the mere casket of life!
How does it proclaim the earnestness with which the
most unenlightened repel the thought of annihilation!
But does not such attachment to the mortal remains
evince how dimly the idea of immortality has dawned
upon the minds of these ignorant people? Is it not
another proof of the unspiritual tendency of their
religion as popularly believed? Intelligent men often
ridicule what they call the visionary tenets of some of
the more refined sects—but what can obviate the
appalling impression that death and decay awaken.—
but a faith, not merely general but elaborately
constructed from our inmost experience, and vivified

[figure description] Page 108.[end figure description]

by revelation—a faith that recognizes an existence
perfectly independent of physical life—a faith that
habitually regards the tides of thought and love as
already merged in the ocean of eternity, though now
connected by a narrow and ever-evaporating stream
with the river of Time?”

“Still,” said Isabel, “it is not every one who can
best keep alive the glorious truth of an after existence,
by thus maintaining a sense of the distinctness of our
two lives. With many they are too much interwoven;
and with all the inner and the outer world
more or less commingle. Therefore it is, I think,
that the cemetery should be hallowed by nature and
rendered eloquent by art. It seems to me that many
of the customs of Europe in regard to the dead evidence
anything but Christian civilization, and I turn
with pleasure and gratitude from this horrid receptacle,
to the picture my memory affords of the beautiful
cemetery at New Haven and the quiet and
soothing precinct of Mount Auburn, where nought
meets the eye but chaste marble memorials, the refreshing
hue of the greenwood, and the flowers which
enamel the graves.”

“That is happy,” said the Count. “Such scenes
should not remind us of the earthly remains but of
the enfranchised spirit. Who would linger over the
clay when the friend it impersonated has vanished?
An accustomed walk or a favorite book is more
emblematical of the departed than his senseless frame;
for the first ministered to his deathless self; with the
last his connexion has utterly ceased. To preserve

[figure description] Page 109.[end figure description]

and cherish so wretched a memorial, so earth-born
and material a symbol, is as soulless as for the prisoner
to fix his eye upon the dim walls of his dungeon,
when a star beams radiantly through his cold grate,
as if to call his gaze heavenward.”

[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]

p405-116 THE NOVICIATE.

“But when it happens that of two sure evils
One must be taken, where the heart not wholly
Brings itself back from out the strife of duties,
Then 'tis a blessing to have no election.”
Wallenstein.

[figure description] Page 111.[end figure description]

The prevalence of monastic institutions is one of
the most striking features of Sicily. Originated during
the dominion of the Spainards, like ill-weeds they
have taken deep root and quite overrun the verdant
island. In the country they occupy the most desirable
sites, and in almost every street of the capital the
high gratings of the nunneries appear protruding from
their lofty walls. Thousands of the fairest daughters
of the land are immured within these spacious
asylums. Among such a multitude, some doubtless
are devoted to that religious meditation which is the
professed object of their seclusion; but the majority

[figure description] Page 112.[end figure description]

manifest as lively an interest in the world they have
renounced as the busiest of its denizens. By means
of their friends they are constantly informed of the
events of the day, and manage to maintain a surprising
acquaintance with the intrigues and doings of the
metropolis. Indeed, a half hour's chat with one of
these fair recluses is said to subserve the purposes of
the gossip better than a gazette of which there is
quite a dearth. And in return for the sweet scandal
the wicked world provides them, they are constantly
distributing presents of comfits. By this demi-intercourse
with their fellow-beings, and in attending to
their share of the duty and ceremonial of the house,
their hours glide by, and every year adds to their
number. Isabel availed herself of an occasion which
offered to witness the rite by which a noviciate was
entered upon. The daughter of a merchant with whom
Frazier was acquainted being about to perform
these vows, he invited the strangers to attend the
function.

It was the last day of the month. As the carriage
rolled over the flat pavements through the crowded
Toledo, lights gleaming from the cafés and shops,
fell on groups of mechanics toiling by the wide
thresholds, shelves of confectionary thrust forth to
tempt the passers, and now and then revealed a set
of grotesquely-clad buffoons—the light-hearted celebrators
of the carnival, surrounded by a laughing
mob. Now they passed an elegant equipage with
its complement of dashing footmen; and now
the white robes of a Dominican friar fluttered by.

[figure description] Page 113.[end figure description]

One moment Isabel admired the dexterity of the
coachmen as they drove furiously on, the wheels of
their vehicles almost in contact, another gazed
upon a fountain murmuring amid its old sculptured
ornaments and weed-grown inscriptions; and the
next instant they turned into a narrow street, dark,
and silent but for the clear echo of their horses' feet
as they struck the flag stones. Riding rapidly through
the streets of an European city produces in the
stranger's mind a novel excitement. One thought
predominated in the mind of Isabel. She remembered
that the insignia of life, of active and cheerful existence,
whose inspiration she then felt was about to
be abandoned by her whose vows she was soon to
hear. She endeavoured to imagine her own feelings,
if such were her lot. “It is not love of what is called
the world”—(thus she mused)—“that would make
such an hour dismal to me. I am not indissolubly
wedded to the pursuit of pleasure. Long since I
have realized the vanity of the petty triumphs sought
in artificial society. I should mourn to quit life
because it is the arena of experience, the sphere of
duty, the lot of my race. I would not, if I could,
escape the common destiny of a human being. I
would share in the toil, anxiety, and suffering, I
would take part in the higher enjoyments, I would
have my inheritance in the kingdom of thought and
affection, because it is human. A mightier will than
mine placed me here; a holier agency than that of
accident creates the circumstances of life. Let the
afflictions, the temptations, the cares of being be

[figure description] Page 114.[end figure description]

endured; let me be free to commune with nature and
society, let me courageously fulfill my destiny; and
for the truth that shall guide and protect me, let me
trust to the paternity of God.” The strain of her
meditations was abruptly broken by their arrival at
the convent. They entered the parlatorio, or conversation
room. It was already half-filled with
company who, to judge by their gay dresses, and the
occasional laughter and lively discourse with which
they were beguiling the time, one would suppose
had assembled for some purpose of glad festivity.
At the head of the room, surrounded by the ladies
of her family, and the companions of her youth,
sat the maiden on whose account they had assembled.
She was tall, and of that form which, at a glance,
we are apt to denominate genteel. A dress of
white satin richly decorated with lace, showed to
the best advantage her fine, intelligent face, dark
eyes shaded with long black lashes and head of hair,
amid the ebon masses of which clusters of diamonds
glittered beneath a knot of snow-white ostrich feathers
that nodded above, and gave to the tout ensemble,
a queen-like aspect. This impression was enhanced
by the air and manner of the lady. Occasionally
turning to a party of nuns who clustered about
the open door which formed the limits of their asylum,
she replied to their words of encouragement
with an affable dignity. Sometimes addressing her
mother who sat beside her she seemed to perform
the same kind office of consolation to her. At the
entrance of one of the friends whose society had

[figure description] Page 115.[end figure description]

enlivened, with girlish playfulness, many an hour of
her young life, she rose and gracefully, often even
joyously, saluted her as if she were receiving the
gratulations of a bride. Sometimes she caressed her
little brother, a pretty boy of five or six, apparently
delighted at the brilliant costume of his lovely sister:
at others, although but momently, she would sit silently
looking around her, as if called for the first
time to play the part of an entertainer, and, as yet
unskilled in disguising the weariness which too often
renders that character one of the most onerous in the
whole range of social requisitions. A blithe tone,
pleasant, talkative mood, and happy smile distinguished
her from the other young ladies upon whose
faces seriousness would oftener rest, and glances of
thoughtful regret not unfrequently be cast towards
their smiling friend. Isabel watched the scene, and
recalled the beautiful simile which compares an
unconscious sufferer to the sacrificial victim that
wears proudly, and playfully nibbles the flowery
garlands that to all else are emblems of its approaching
fate. Ices and sweetmeats were distributed. The
buzz of conversation rose and fell. There were pleasant
jests and calm discussions among the party, and
as little apparent commiseration as the ancient assemblies
at the gladiatorial combats, were wont to
show for the beings whose death was to be barbarously
consummated for their amusement. Isabel
was separated from her friends, and found herself
near some acquaintances with whom she had little
sympathy; and after the ordinary greetings were

[figure description] Page 116.[end figure description]

interchanged, was at liberty to entertain herself with
her own thoughts. These were presently entirely
engrossed in attempting to conjecture the motives
and present feelings of the noviciate. She was soon
convinced that there was a deep sentiment veiled by
the blitheness of her manner; an eye and a contour
so speakingly intelligent, she was convinced appertained
to a mind that could pierce the shadows of
gross superstition, and a heart with a capacity of
feeling which had, or would ere long, occasion its
possessor intense suffering. Thus her sympathy was
earnestly excited; nor could she relieve the longing
she felt to interfere with the proposed vows, till she
was assured that after a year's trial the novice
would be at liberty to leave the convent. This consideration,
however, would not have greatly solaced
Isabel, had she been aware of the means assiduously
used to rivet the chain of motives which first allure
the young to make trial of conventual life. From
the parlatorio the company adjourned to the church,
which was brilliantly lighted for the ceremony.
Isabel, as a stranger, was provided with a place near
the grate, about which a dense crowd soon collected.
The priest at the main altar commenced a mass.
An orchestra stationed in a high gallery began a
sacred strain, and turning to the chapel she saw a
procession of the sisterhood approaching, bearing
lighted tapers, and in the midst walked the novice.
They encircled a little platform, placed just within
the lattice, on which sat the abbess and her assistants,
and at the feet of the former, kneeled the

[figure description] Page 117.[end figure description]

devoted maiden. She was still apparelled in her ballroom
attire, but a crown of flowers was substituted
for the jewels and plumes, and in her right hand she
bore a wand of palm. At Isabel's side, in a high
chair covered with crimson velvet, sat the officiating
priest. The aged mother of the institution threw
back her silken cowl, drew forth and assumed her
tortoise-shell spectacles, and opened the ritual. Isabel
noted the picture as the soft radiance of the numerous
lights fell on the upturned face of the novice, and
the time-withered lineaments of the abbess. In the
one she read youth and innocence—the harmony of
a confiding and undimmed nature; in the other, the
traces of experience, the expression of command, the
quiet and fixed features of that epoch in life, when
Hope's visions have melted away, and the listless content
of subdued feeling, like the calm surface of a
summer sea, reflects what is around, but stirs not in
the exhausted breeze of fresh emotion. She observed
the bright eye of the maiden glance kindly at
the younger nuns, and, as the monotonous recitative
of the priest succeeded that of the women, on her
fresh lips stole such a smile, as she caught the eye of
the old lady, as would have provoked a responsive
look from one more sensible to such an appeal or
less disciplined in self-control. A lock of the dark
hair was severed, and the silken curtain drawn. In a
few moments it was again thrown back, and, arrayed
in the black robe and white cape of a nun,
appeared the inducted novice. The dress was singularly
becoming—more so than that it had displaced.

[figure description] Page 118.[end figure description]

Again she kneeled and the preacher commenced his
exhortation. Fervently did he congratulate the fair
girl on her choice. Eloquently did he picture the
evils she had escaped and the blessings she had
secured. There was sincerity in his tones; but Isabel
remembered the silver sweetness of voice which
the novice's responses had betrayed, and the spell of
the speaker's was lost. She turned to the mother and
saw the tears roll down upon the lace 'kerchief
which covered the breast whereon this lovely creature
had so often reposed. The little brother of the
noviciate, whether offended by her new array or
touched with the solemnity of the scene, became
very restless, and after many vain attempts to attract
his mother's attention, began to cry piteously as if in
remonstrance to the vows with which they were
severing from him, perhaps forever, an indulgent and
fond sister. His wailing was not suffered to interrupt
the orator who continued his discourse. The
child was hurried from the crowd. Isabel observed
that throughout the ceremony, the novice ventured
not a glance towards her kindred and friends gathered
about the tressil-partition; but she saw her breast
heave beneath the folds of her sacred habit, and fancied
that not one of her mother's sighs escaped her
ear. When the address was brought to a close, the
nuns pressed forward and embraced the new member
of their society. The company in the church
slowly withdrew. Isabel followed the ladies to the
parlatorio, and entered just as the mother and daughter
were tearfully embracing. A throng of

[figure description] Page 119.[end figure description]

congratulating friends encircled the noviciate. Isabel wished
for her sake that all was over. But soon the maiden
eagerly inquired for her father. He was in a distant
corner of the apartment. When he approached, his
beautiful daughter, clad as it seemed to the strangers
in the habiliments of a living grave, kissed him affectionately.
Isabel saw him whisper to the abbess
and doubted not it was a request to treat his child
kindly. She thought of her own parent and asked
herself whether he could thus leave her to linger out
a sad existence in the cloister. The idea chilled her
very soul; and seizing the proffered arm of her
uncle, they hurried from the place.

The Marina of Palermo is one of the most admirable
promenades in Europe. By many continental
travellers it is deemed unsurpassed. The broad,
blue expanse of the bay rolls to the very base of the
long and smoothly-paved walk; a spacious and level
road for carriages lies between this and the range of
palaces and gardens which bound it on the opposite
side; while at both extremities, the noble promontories,
which rear themselves protectingly and enclose
the harbor, shield the beautiful resort and gratify the
eye of the visitor. Thus the imposing vicinity of the
finest edifices, the verdure and perfume of a public
garden, and the cool, bright sea are concentrated, as
it were, around this magnificent Marina. Those
who dislike the vicinity of vehicles and horsemen,
can repair to the terrace which rises above the road
and extends to half the length of the drive. The

[figure description] Page 120.[end figure description]

continuance of this upper walk is all that is wanting
to complete the splendid promenade. On gala
days nothing can exceed the cheerful and elegant
aspect of this scene. Equipages of every degree of
richness pass, in long lines, to and fro through the
centre, and the walks appear thronged with the various
costumes of Southern Europe. And daily, at
all seasons, the stranger about two hours after midday,
may find it more or less fashionably occupied.
But it is in the summer evenings that the Marina of
Palermo appears to the greatest advantage, and is
most generally and consciously enjoyed. Half the
population repair thither to enjoy the sea-breeze.
The distant mountains are robed in a greener hue; the
adjacent groves are clothed in the richest tints; the
ocean cooly murmurs and stretches, like a crystal
plain, before the eye wearied with the scorching
heat of these southern skies. The burning sun is
slowly sinking in the west. Then the nobility seek
in their open carriages the refreshing breeze from the
ocean. The fat priest seats himself on one of the
marble benches; the soldier leans upon his musket
and raises his heavy cap to catch the delicious air;
the freed child gambols along the terrace-walk; the
languid beauty readily accepts the ice which her gallant
proffers at the side of her landau; and to stir
the serenity of the scene with a congenial excitement,
music from a band stationed about the centre of the
drive, in a temporary theatre, steals forth to cheer
and to charm the gay multitude. Such is the

[figure description] Page 121.[end figure description]

Marina on a summer night. But when Frazier and the
Count, obeying the suggestion of Isabel, left the carriage
at one of the gates and came out upon the
promenade, it was almost entirely solitary. In the
distance, the figure of a single individual might be
seen hurrying along; and at one or two points, a
knot of fishermen were arranging their nets. High,
dark, and towering rose the mountains, and the foliage
seemed blent in one heavy mass. But over the face of
the sea and on the palace-roofs, the beams of the full
moon glittered; and the foam-streaks shone in the
mild light, as they ran with a plaintive and hollow
murmur along the stones. As Isabel and her companions
gained the walk, and felt the soothing effect
of a promenade by the sea at so quiet an hour, they
wondered that so few had improved the privileged
time. But her mind was intent upon the scene she had
left. The light demeanor of the young noviciate, the
interesting expression of her face, the solemnity of
the rite remained vividly impressed upon her mind;
and she was eager in her inquiries of Vittorio as to
the views of the parent and the feelings of the child.

“You must have observed me,” he replied, “conversing
with a young man in the parlatorio, who
was seated near your uncle. That youth, more than
two years since, became enamoured of the novice.
He had a small income, not however sufficient to
warrant his marriage unassisted by additional means.
His affection was reciprocated. The father of the
young lady is a man of wealth. At the

[figure description] Page 122.[end figure description]

commencement of the suit he objected to its consummation on
several trivial grounds. These difficulties were at
length obviated; but the father at last peremptorily
refused to advance his daughter the sum requisite for
her establishment. There is no doubt that he could
have done this without any actual sacrifice; but he
is a man who has gained his property slowly, and in
its acquisition, acquired that base love of wealth for
its own sake, which too often shows itself stronger
than those affections which are the deepest, and
should be the most inviolate sentiments of the heart.
The daughter wearied with the disappointment and
suspense of her situation, and despairing of any favorable
change, resolved to quit the world.”

“This accounts,” said Isabel, “for the smiling
manner in which she went through the ceremony.
It was the levity of hopelessness, the mock-playfulness
of despair.”

“And wonder not,” resumed Vittorio, “that she
should find little to interest in this world after her
prospects were thus blighted. She has seen only
or chiefly the worst side of human nature. She has
reason to believe in the universal reign of selfishness;
for this, society and her own kindred have taught
her. Her passion was not a violent one. She sought
in the cloister, not so much a refuge from disappointed
affection, as an asylum adapted to one who
is indifferent to the world because she has nothing
to hope from it.”

“The more shame to the land of her birth!”

[figure description] Page 123.[end figure description]

exclaimed Frazier, “since there was in the circle of
her experience, no human being whose example inspired
her with an ambition to be useful; no one of
her sex whose character and domestic influence
suggested the idea of living for the improvement of
others; no instance of female devotion in the path of
single life. In America, thank heaven, there is
scarcely a family, where there is not a genuine sister
of charity, in the shape of what is vulgarly called an
old maid.” Isabel smiled, and said, when they were
again seated in the carriage, “there is to my mind
something awful in the idea of so young and gifted
a woman incarcerating herself thus without even the
supporting motive of devotional enthusiasm. Her
blithe manner when kneeling in that cloistral garb
was more touching to me than would have been her
tears. It spoke of a light estimation of life and its
blessings, a want of perception of human responsibility,
an utter insensibility to that spiritual destiny
which can throw over the most objectless existence,
an infinite interest and a superhuman dignity. Of
this not a thought seems to have dawned upon that
maiden's mind.”

“No,” said the Count, “she has gone in all her
loveliness and innocence from the home of her childhood.
She has left the circle her presence should
have gladdened; the kindred whose happiness should
have been hers. Talents of untried power, love of
unfathomable intensity will be palsied by a round of
mechanical rites and trivial occupations. Yet

[figure description] Page 124.[end figure description]

negative and blighting as I feel such a fate to be, consider
how I am obliged to reproach my country,
when I say that, in all probability, her life as a
Catholic nun will be infinitely happier than that of a
Sicilian wife.”

p405-130 VITTORIO.

“The spirit culls
Unfaded amaranth, when wild it strays
Through the old garden-ground of boyish days.”
Keats.

[figure description] Page 125.[end figure description]

The site of the Villa Giulia, or public garden of
Palermo, with the exception of its low and therefore
somewhat humid position, is singularly felicitous.
It is separated, in its whole length, from the sea
only by the Marina, and as there are no intervening
buildings, the whole extent of the bay is open to the
eye of the wanderer through its verdant precincts.
And however warm may be the season, one can
scarcely fail before noon, or at sunset, to discover
some shady recess which is freely visited by the
breeze from the water. Adjoining this favorite
retreat is the Botanical garden, whose lofty palm trees
rise picturesquely to the eye, giving an aspect of
oriental beauty to that portion of the prospect. It was
through this enclosure, that during the late seige the

[figure description] Page 126.[end figure description]

troops from Naples affected their approach to the
walls, and the rich exotics which adorned the establishment
were crushed beneath the ruthless feet
of the soldiery. The more public grounds of the
adjacent garden once witnessed a still more sacrilegious
scene. During the sway of the Inquisition, a
priest and nun were burnt alive on this spot, in the
presence of an immense assemblage, for having declared
themselves favored by miraculous visions.
There is nothing now to remind the visitor of these
or similar events. The noble entrance of the Botanical
institution conducts him into a circular apartment
classically adorned, whence a fine vista of
foreign trees, and several admirably constructed
stuffos, are discoverable; and the utmost neatness,
order, and beauty, gratify the eye. The Villa is
somewhat more extensive, and is tastefully laid out
into alleys shaded with the interwoven branches of
the orange trees, and diversified with parterres of
flowers, statues, and fountains; forming one of those
quiet and delightful resorts which are planted, with
such beautiful wisdom, amid the dense buildings and
confined thoroughfares of European cities. For
several hours during Sunday, in the spring and summer,
a band stationed about the centre of the garden
enliven the throng with a variety of airs; and the
scene, at these periods, is one of the most pleasant
imaginable, as all classes of citizens are seen strolling
in parties through the paths, clustered listlessly about
the fountains, or conversing in groups, in some retired
nook of the extensive grounds.

[figure description] Page 127.[end figure description]

It was during one of their promenades in this
favourite spot, on a clear bright morning, that Count
Vittorio was induced, at the earnest wish of his
companions, to speak of his former life. The garden
was almost solitary. The season and the spot
awakened the early associations of the Count; and
the sight of a rosy little child; setting at defiance the
entreaties and threats of his nurse as he shouted and
gambolled along the walks, carried him back to the
well-remembered days when he had sported in that
very garden under similar surveillance. Yeilding to
the impulse of awakened memory, he imparted to
his attentive and deeply-interested friends a sketch
of his experience, in that spirit of confidence and
freedom, which the breath of Nature and the spell of
congenial companionship naturally awakens.

“The memory of my earliest years confirms the
general idea that the first epoch in life, however distinguished
by exuberance of feeling and earnest curiosity,
is not necessarily the period when the leading
traits of character are manifested, or its highest
principles formed. I remember my early boyhood
as a period of intense pleasure and frequent though
not lasting disappointment. Every object and agency
which appealed to natural sentiment found an instant
response in my heart. For several years my
daily pastime consisted in gazing from the balcony
of our palace which overlooked the principal street.
The narrow bounds of this little gallery constituted
the sanctum of my childhood. I ran to and fro over
its tiled floor, and peeped through the iron-wrought

[figure description] Page 128.[end figure description]

balustrade; while my mother sat at her embroidery
frame near the open window, watching my sports.
Here dawned upon my young mind its first notions
of the world. Hour by hour, I gazed down upon the
passing crowd, and to the silent observation of those
childish days I can trace many of the opinions and
prejudices of after years. I saw a moving panorama
of human life, and deeply sank its lessons into
my mind. There were two classes of men who, even
at that hour, were the objects of my dislike, and
against whom there grew up in my breast an inveterate
antipathy, which after experience, unhappily,
has not tended to remove. These were soldiers and
priests. The former I detested partly perhaps on
account of their stern manner, but chiefly because I
saw them conducting the prisoners, whose fettered
limbs and miserable appearance excited my pity.
The latter awakened my abhorrence from the moment
that I was the witness of the overbearing
demeanor of one of their fraternity who visited our
house, and with a cold pertinacity which roused my
impotent anger, persisted in being informed of every
detail of our domestic affairs. I was especially annoyed
at the number of these two classes which
mingled in the passing crowd; and when any priestly
procession or regiment of soldiers entered the
Toledo, instead of remaining at my post, I would run
to the very extremity of the saloon and shut my ears
against the sound of the approaching drum or the
rising chant. This conduct surprised my mother, and
she endeavored, but without effect, to correct these

[figure description] Page 129.[end figure description]

prejudices, particularly that against the priests; for
being herself a strict catholic, she considered the
feeling I manifested toward the professed ministers of
the faith as fraught with danger. Her apprehensions,
however, were much lessened by the pleasure
I evinced in attending the functions on feast days at
St. Giuseppe. She knew not that it was the grand
strain of the organ and the solemn architecture
which charmed me, and that often, as I was kneeling
beside her on the marble floor, my imagination
awakened by these incentives was wandering in
wild dreams and vague speculations, while my lips
mechanically repeated the words of the mass. My
other great source of pleasure was listening to the
singing of the daughter of one of our neighbors.
This lady, like most of the Sicilians, had large eyes
of the most brilliant jet. Her voice was of great
compass and she sang with much naïvete and pathos.
She was very partial to me, and as often as I could
obtain permission to visit her house, she would sing
my favorite airs, and bend her dark eyes in kindness
upon me as I sat, lost in delight, upon a stool at her
feet. These amusements, with occasional pic-nic excursions
in the summer, made up the history of my
childhood. Simple as the circle of this experience
seems, it was not altogether inadequate to the nature
to which it ministered. My affections—those eternal
fountains in whose freshness, purity, and freedom the
happiness of humanity is most deeply involved—were
gratified and cherished. My mind—that intelligent
power in the expansion and culture of which so much of

[figure description] Page 130.[end figure description]

human progress and energy consists—feasted on the
glory of nature and the variety of the human world.
Curiosity was not then satiated; the sense of wonder
had not become palsied; feeling was vivid, responsive
and earnest, glowing with the intensity of its
celestial origin. When first I began to reason, it
seemed to me men were prone to exaggerate the
happiness of childhood. I thought it so glorious a
thing to inquire, to unroll the scroll of knowledge, and
to see everything in the light of science. The illusion
was temporary. I soon learned that the less of
the spontaneous there is in character, the less also is
there of interest; that technicality can petrify truth,
and that the sooner the rosy glow of life's morning
fades from the spirit's domain, the faster gathers
over it the chill shadow of the world and the dim
atmosphere of Time.

“But long before childhood was merged in youth I
was called to trial. My mother died. Every circumstance
of this event remains impressed upon my
mind, but it was not until years after its occurrence
that I realized its consequences. The greatest misfortune
that can happen to a young man is such a
bereavement. Nought can recompense him for the
loss of a mother. A father's affection is generally
more worldly. It is too often graduated by the degree
of success with which his son may meet in the
pursuit of wealth or fame. A mother's love is more
of an inborn and self-nourished sentiment. I know
we have recorded signal instances of parental ambition
in women; but it has far oftener been my lot to

[figure description] Page 131.[end figure description]

witness the manifestations of an attachment infinitely
purer. To a man of true and deep sentiment there
is no greater consolation in the whole range of his
affections, than the consciousness that there is one
being who loves him for his own sake; whose devotion
the changes of his fortunes will not influence,
and to whose eye the fairest laurels cannot make
him dearer; who loves him individually and regards
the circumstances, the wealth, the honors that may
environ him only as temporary means of his enjoyment—
a graceful drapery which, if the rude blast of
misfortune throws off, will but make her clasp him
closer to her heart and more tenderly cherish him in
her love. But it was only by slow degrees that the
extent of this early loss came home to my mind;
and its memory proved one of the most subduing and
chastening thoughts which visited my impetuous
youth. Another of its good effects was its influence
upon my social life. I cultivated from a mere boy
such female society as was calculated to elevate my
mind and call forth my best feelings. My heart has
never been suffered to indurate from the absence
of that gentler companionship, without the influence
of which all that is most refined in man would be
superseded. There has ever been within the scope
of my acquaintance some fair being who has found
the time and the feeling amid more binding relations,
to evince a soul-soothing interest which cheered my
orphanage. I have never been wholly motherless.

“My father's mind was now entirely devoted to political
schemes. He was an ardent republican, and

[figure description] Page 132.[end figure description]

for many years had been secretly engaged in a confederacy
to secure the independence of Sicily. And
when the dearest of his domestic ties was severed,
all the energy of his nature was concentrated upon
this darling purpose. Although I was but a child,
yet from my reflective turn my father reposed a
confidence in me which I have since recalled with
wonder. I was his sole companion at home, and
after returning from the conclave, he would sit in the
hall, now bereft of the presence which hallowed
it to his view, and drawing me to his side, half-soliloquize
over his past happiness and present objects,
while I looked my sympathy and caught, perhaps,
more of the spirit of his designs than he could
have imagined. How vivid is the retrospect of those
hours! I can see before me now the long and lofty
apartment, its ranges of sofas, and gilded cornices,
the brightly-painted frescos on the ceiling, the table
covered with little memorials (the delight of my
childhood) of my mother's tasteful handiwork, the
alabaster vase daily filled with flowers; and, in the
shade of the curtains, the figure of my father in his
sable dress, his pale features shaded by a cap of
black velvet, and his eye resting musingly and mournfully
on me, as he unconsciously poured forth the
feelings which overcharged his breast. To the solemnising
effect of these seasons, I attribute much of the
thoughtfulness which distinguished my youth. I felt
myself marked out and signalised by being thus made
the confidant of my father. The sense of character
soon dawned upon me. The idea of responsibility

[figure description] Page 133.[end figure description]

was precociously developed. I began early to think.
Though mute on the great subject of my parent's
thoughts, though inadequate to comprehend the
extent of his aim and the importance of his object,
yet I understood distinctly, I felt deeply that my
country was depressed, subject to an exterior domination,
and that her enfranchisement was in contemplation.
I cannot tell you how the grandeur of this
design delighted my young fancy. It was the subject
of each day's musing and each night's dreams.
The very vagueness of my conceptions increased
their power. Often have I left the servant who attended
me, at the church of St. Rosalia, and climbed
to the telegraph on the summit of Mount Pelegrino,
and gazing thence over the lovely valley of Palermo,
and sea-ward to the Eolian isles—thought of the new
glory which would illumine the scene beneath the
smile of Liberty. True, I knew not clearly the nature
of the blessing; but I had learned to think that in its
train all others came, and I understood it to be especially
inimical to soldiers and priests—the objects of
my boyish detestation. I knew something, too, of
the history of my native island, and images of ancient
glory, ill-defined but glowing, fed the flame of my
enthusiasm. It was June. The luxuriance of summer
without its scorching heat breathed, like a conscious
presence, around the dense confines of the
city. To my young being the time was full of inspiration;
and one breezy evening as I sat on a granite
bench upon yonder terrace, looking on the gay
groups below, and feeling the exhilarating breath of

[figure description] Page 134.[end figure description]

the sea, I followed a poetical vein which I had often
indulged, and wrote upon my tablets an Invocation to
my country. These verses, some years afterwards
when I was learning your language, I translated, and
repeat them, because they will give you a good idea
of the wild wishes of that hour.

[figure description] Page 135.[end figure description]

“The secret party of which my father was so devoted
a member were doomed to disappointment,
from a cause which has often occasioned the failure of

[figure description] Page 136.[end figure description]

popular movements—premature action on the part of
those least fitted to assume the responsibility. Among
the many ancient traditions relative to this island is
that which asserts that it once formed part of the
mainland. If there is any truth in this, it might
appear that with the convulsion of Nature which
divided it from the continent, sprang up a similar line
of demarcation between the inhabitants of the two territories;
for the present, cordial hatred existing between
the Sicilians and Neapolitans is an antipathy
inherited from the earliest time, and at no period
have the inhabitants of Sicily been reconciled to the
idea of forming a constituent part of the kingdom of
Naples. If any other motive had been requisite to
render their independence more obviously desirable,
it was furnished by the experience they had of the
English constitution during the brief continuance of
the British domination. In the summer of 1820, the
popular feeling on this subject reached its acme. At
the feast of St. Rosalia, while mass was celebrating
at the cathedral, the first indication of an approaching
tumult was given by some person in the crowd suddenly
and repeatedly exclaiming “Liberty, and the
Constitution!” In the evening three soldiers passed
through the streets wearing the badge of the Carbonari.
The commanding officer went in person to
arrest them, but was surrounded by the people, and
narrowly escaped with his life. The next day the
populace forced from the authorities an order of
admittance into the arsenal, and there supplied themselves
with arms. This success emboldened them

[figure description] Page 137.[end figure description]

beyond measure. A Franciscan friar, whom intoxication
had infuriated, appeared in their midst, urging
them on to sanguinary effort. Their latent superstition
was awakened. They looked upon the long
beard and sacred habit of their monkish leader and,
with one voice, declared him to be Moses commissioned
by Heaven to secure their independence. The
prison was thrown open and the city echoed with the
noise of conflict. For several days anarchy reigned
in Palermo. The rabble intoxicated with their temporary
triumphs, gave themselves up to indiscriminate
rapine and butchery. The horrid scenes then
enacted, the license and brutality which prevailed
indicated the utter unfitness of the people for the dignity
and blessings of political freedom. Slowly but
surely this impression gained upon the reluctant mind
of my father. Still he exerted himself to wrest the
newly-acquired power from the mob, and restore order
and peace. After sometime this was affected. A
provisional government was established, and for a
few months the capital of Sicily was nominally independent.
But small was the satisfaction which this
long-desired condition brought to the minds of the
intelligent patriots. They could effect no unity of
sentimennt or action between the different parts of
the island. Messina, mindful of her long rivalry with
the metropolis, refused to take part in the cause.
The Neapolitan troops stationed themselves near the
walls, and after repeated repulses were finally admitted
within the gates. A year afterwards the inhabitants
were prohibited from holding arms without

[figure description] Page 138.[end figure description]

a license, the usual enginery of despotism was reestablished,
and the leaders of the struggle and known
advocates of liberal principles were executed or
banished. The latter was my father's fate; and as
the mountains of our native island faded from our
view, the last hope of patriotic success vanished
drearily from his mind, and the first bright and absorbing
dream of boyhood melted like a mist from
my sanguine heart.

“We soon repaired to England. There, when
habit had somewhat reconciled me to the reserve of
northern manners, and practice had given me the
command of your native tongue, I was conscious
of a new and important era of mental experience.
I became deeply interested in the study of English
literature. I communed with the master-spirits of that
noble lore, enriching my mind with philosophical truth
and my imagination with poetic beauty of a deeper
and more elevating character than the prevailing
literature of the South had afforded me. But from
these studies I gained general ideas rather than fixed
principles. This was the more to be regretted as I
soon arrived at one of those gloomy epochs of life,
more or less known to us all, where “of necessity
the soul must be its own support.” My father, wearied
with disappointment and rendered restless by the
changes which had followed in such rapid succession
upon his declining years, sunk under the effects of a
fever, and grief and anxiety would have soon laid
me beside him had I not yielded to the urgency of
friends and changed the scene and climate. I selected

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Malta for the place of my destination chiefly because
of its contiguity to my native island. I little thought,
in the dejected mood in which I embarked, of the
consolation there awaiting me. So happy is the
retrospect of my visit, notwithstanding it occurred
at one of the saddest periods of my life, that I dwell
upon every circumstance attending it with unabated
pleasure. The day of my arrival and those immediately
succeeding it are thus brightly present to my
memory, because they are associated with one of the
most blessed occasions of my youth. It was then
that I gained one of the greatest of human acquisitions,
a sense of important truths, in the light of which
the darkness and doubt which over-shadowed my
spirit were suddenly dissipated.

“The sun shone clearly as we neared Malta. The
warmth of the atmosphere, the deep blue tint of the
water, and the tones in which we were greeted, made
me realize that I had once more entered the precincts
of Southern Europe. In the distance, more like a
pictorial than a real scene, rose the ancient city. Its
peculiar hue, the long line of massive battlements, and
the darkly wrought domes chained our attention. In a
few moments we were at anchor in the quarantine
harbor between two forts. A clump of verdure
relieved the eye as it rested on the heavy walls, all
wearing the same dim yellow or greyish shade; and
the picturesque figures of the Highland regiment gave
animation to the scene. The view was beautiful after
the moon rose. The shadow of the dark wall on the
calm tide, the soothing reflection of the light, the perfect

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repose, was all in striking contrast to the scenes of
bloodshed, and the sounds of death with which my
memory was busy. On the evening of the next day we
received permission to go round to the grand harbor.
As, towed by fifteen boats, we slowly proceeded, at
sunset, from every new point, the city spread out
before us,—the long bastions dotted with moss, at
whose wave-washed foundations the restless tide
now moaned; above them dark ranges of buildings,
and around various craft plying. We entered the
harbor between the memorable castles of St. Elmo and
St. Angelo, and were soon moored by the quay, along
which were swarming the motley crowd ever to be
seen at night-fall in such a place. It was not until
the succeeding evening that we obtained pratique.
As I walked up the Nix-Mangare stairs, the supplicating
voices of the beggars, the silent sternness of
the soldiery, the clanking fetters of the convicts
sweeping the streets, and here and there a shrine,
carried me at once back to my home and the days of
childhood. The intervening space of time seemed
annihilated. Nor was this feeling lessened on entering
our hotel, which had been a knight's palace. The
stone floors, painted walls, and lofty ceilings, were
strangely familiar. A new sense of my loneliness,
of all that I had lost and suffered came over me. I
felt more keenly than ever that I was an orphan and
an exile.

“My companions, without understanding the nature
of my melancholy, strove to divert it, and dragged
me that very evening to a ball given by the officers

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of the regiments then quartered in the island. The
display was very brilliant. At the entrance of the
hall were four suits of ancient armour arranged at
the corners of a kind of military tent, and at the
head of the ball-room was a fine staff of colors surrounding
the British escutcheon. The scarlet uniform
of the military, and the neat blue of the naval
officers, the calm faces and light ringlets of the
English damsels, contrasting with the dark hair and
eyes of the Maltese, the national banners and fresh
garlands on the walls, rendered the pageant quite
dazzling. This insignia of joy into which I had
suffered myself to be drawn, instead of alleviating,
served to deepen the gloom which oppressed me.
Gladness was upon every face, and I asked myself
whether there was one amid the multitude, who was
an outcast like myself. As the idea presented itself,
my eye fell upon a countenance which seemed almost
to answer the unuttered inquiry. It was that of a
man beyond the prime of life, whose expression
would have denoted no common familiarity with
sorrow, were it not for a certain tranquil dignity
and benign spirit which softened and elevated its
aspect. As the gaze of the stranger met my own, I
felt that instinctive consciousness of sympathy which
is so impressive yet inexplicable. I watched his
movements; I followed his eye and endeavored to
image his thoughts, till a call to the supper-room interrupted
my sight for a few moments, after which
I discovered that he had left the assembly. My
pillow was haunted by that thoughtful and kindly

[figure description] Page 142.[end figure description]

face. Its remembrance comforted me as if I had
read there a message of love. I could not account
for these vagaries; and on the following morning
stole away from my companions, and went forth to
make the circuit of the ramparts, to see what effect
a solitary walk would have in dispelling my gloomy
mood. Upon one of the saluting batteries are several
monuments tastefully adorned with trees. Here is a
pleasant promenade. Below, various vessels are
moored; far away to the left is the wide sea, and
immediately beneath, the dingy houses and narrow
streets of the town. Altogether the prospect was
impressive and pleasing. The adjacent memorials
of the dead, the refreshing hue of the shrubbery and
the hum of busy life, with the ocean stretching illimitably,
and shadowed only by a passing cloud or the
wing of a sea-bird, combined to form one of those
happily blended landscapes which embody in mingled
and striking symbols, the idea of nature and art, of
ancient times and modern characteristics, of man
and his Creator. I leaned over the parapet and endeavoured
to catch something of its calm and pleasantness.
But it came not; and I applied earnestly
to myself the words of the poet:

“As if to bless me with the last boon, I saw

[figure description] Page 143.[end figure description]

ascending to the bastion, the gentleman whose appearance
had so interested me at the ball. We exchanged
salutations and then spoke of the prospect before us.
The voice and manner of the stranger were singularly
winning. By degrees our acquaintance advanced,
and in a week there was knit between us a
bond of sympathy which time cannot sever. I imparted
to my friend what you have so patiently heard.
He repaid me by unfolding the theory of his faith,
which has been my consolation from that hour.
Yet his history, his very name is unknown to me.
Our interviews took place during our daily promenades,
and just as he was about to fulfil his
promise and confide his own experience to me, the
vessel in which he had taken passage for the East
was suddenly ordered to sail, and I had not even an
opportunity of bidding him farewell. The following
day, receiving official permission to return to Sicily,
I immediately embarked, and arrived here an altered
being; for those characteristics and views
which you have so often wondered should appertain
to a native of these regions, are but the result of my
communion with that stranger-friend.”

eaf405.n4

[4] It is a historical fact, that at the siege of Messina the
women braided their hair into bow-strings for the use of the
archers.

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