of sadness; would that I could tear myself away-forget thee!-that's impossible; there is an irresistible impulse drags me forward and I must obey," saying which, he turned away and was soon lost to sight in the surrounding darkness.

The house opposite, to which he had been serenading, was that of a private gentleman named Varese, who resided there with his only daughter, to whom he was fondly attached. The fair Maria di Varese was then verging towards her eighteenth year, and though the Neapolitan women do not bear away the palm of beauty, yet here and there one shines forth so fair and beautiful, that it seems as if Nature in a fitful moment had chosen to combine all its beauties in one object and make some amends for many neglects. Such was the case with the daughter of Varese, who was one of the reigning beauties of Naples, and many were the offers made to her, which in every sense of the word, would be considered as eligible, but her father, who was a quiet, easy man, allowed her always to please herself, and she invariably did so by refusing them; her reasons for so doing she never gave, for, indeed, that would not have been an easy task. She was in love, passionately in love; but with whom she knew not; that he was young, handsome, and of a proud bearing, she did know, and that he sincerely loved her, she felt convinced; these were conclusive reasons in her own mind for her refusals, but as they would be known to the world, she prudently kept them to herself, and abstained from saying more than was sufficient without harshness, to convey her intentions.

At the appointed hour of meeting, Maria threw her thick black veil over her head, so as completely to hide her features, and without an attendant, hastened to the church of St. Filippo, where, leaning against one of the beautiful ancient granite pillars, for which that church is so celebrated, was a man scarcely discernible in the gloom from his being completely enveloped in a dark cloak, whilst his hat, slouched over his face, served to conceal his countenance. As Maria approached he went towards her.

"This is kind, Maria, very kind." "I am afraid some one may have watched me, let us turn down this street; it is dimly lighted, and we shall not be followed;" in saying which they turned down a street leading towards the bay.

"Maria, I have sought this interview with you to say much that nearly interests us both; you know I love you truly and sincerely, and have I not seen, that for my sake, you have refused some of the proudest matches in this fair city-I could almost have wished you had not done so, you could, perhaps, have been far happier."

"Nay, Paolo, there you wrong me. I do not desire ever to be a wife unless indeed it were the".

"Wife of Paolo you would say; heaven knows how fondly I have pictured to myself the time when such might happen, but it cannot be, we must strive to forget each other.

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Forget each other!"

"Oh, Maria, it will break my heart to think I have seen thee for the last time, but could I wish that you should join your fate with one who dare not appear in the open day, but like a bird of night, comes forth only in the dark, who fears the gaze of men when fixed upon him, and at whose very name when mentioned, the people mutter forth a prayer for protection to their patron saint."

"With the opinions of men I have nought to do; I have loved you, Paolo, for yourself alone, and what the world may say or think, I care not."

"Spoken like yourself, dearest Maria, but pause a moment and consider; Í have no home to lead you to-I wander forth as an outcast, seeking shelter amidst the mountains, safe only because their access is dangerous; you surely would not love to dwell there?"

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Yes, Paolo, with you, rather than in the splendid palaces of the city."

"Maria, I will disguise nothing from you; listen and judge for yourself. I was born in this proud city, the only son of one of its highest nobles, and all that wealth could procure or art invent, was mine, soon as I expressed the wish. I was educated in a country far away, where freedom is the birthright of each, whether rich or poor; there no despotic ruler tramples down those who but offend in imagination, and man looks forward to enjoy ing that he gains by honest industry, nor fears the powers of those above him. The death of my father recalled me to my native country, and when I arrived to assume my rank, I saw then the vast difference betwixt the country I had left and that which gave me birth; ruled with an iron hand by strangers, by the vile Spaniards, who felt no interest in our welfare, but

whose only object was to draw from it all our wealth, and render us the lowest of slaves. Think you, then, that the ideas of liberty I had inculcated were compatible with the scenes I daily witnessed. No; I strove to create resistance to the despotic will of our rulers, and upon a new tax being imposed on the immediate necessaries of the already overburthened people, as a noble, and one of the highest native rank, I stood forward and denounced the tax as oppressive and unjust; what was the consequence? None supported me, and I was accused of trying to subvert the order and welfare of the State, condemned to the confiscation of my estates and perpetual banishment from my native land. Burning with rage and the thirst for revenge, I sought the mountains, allied myself with men at war with every one, and under an assumed name, became their leader; none know who or what I am; the name I have taken has become known far and wide for feats of daring. I have not sought for plunder, but to wreak my vengeance on those tyrants who have forced me to become an outcast where I was born of the highest rank. You see, therefore, what I am and what has made me such; if you are content to live with me in the mountains, we will together to a small village a few leagues hence, where there is a priest, that in former days I befriended; he fell with me, but still retains his attachment; before him we will offer up our vows of faith; what say you, my dearest Maria?" The Italian women are fierce in their love and their revenge; the obstacles that present themselves in the minds of womankind in our colder climes are overlooked, if even for an instant they enter their imaginations; they act from the impulse of the moment, and there is such a deep toned feeling of romance within them, that if once aroused, they see not the realities of human life, but are guided by the vision they have conjured up. Maria saw only that she loved and was beloved; the object of her affections was unfortunate, and for that she loved him more; she at once gave that hand which many a rich and stately noble had in vain sued for, to one without a home; a name decreed to be blotted from his country's list, and whose life was in hourly peril of falling a sacrifice to the often violated laws

If ever the fire of love burnt with unquenchable ardour, it did so in the

breast of Maria; the continual dangers her husband encountered, raised her feelings to the highest pitch of excitement; at times, his lengthened absence would almost drive her to madness. She knew his daring courage, and dreaded lest he should, by some rash act, have fallen into an ambuscade of the Viceroy's soldiers; then his safe return would dispel these evil forebodings, and-but who can paint her feelings: in social life the course of love runs so smooth, that though we know it does exist, yet it rarely bursts forth. Here was a woman imbued with all those strong and violent feelings of a southern clime, who had given up all to follow one she loved to devotion, and who had remained for hours the prey of every dreadful thought the imagination could depict, finding they were but the fantasy of the brain.

The daring of Paolo's band at length became such, that the Government determined, by some strong means, to endeavour to suppress it, though their principal reason for so doing was, because they found that the individual members of the Government were generally selected to wreak their vengeance upon, and to them mercy was but rarely shewn; with the nation, nobility, and others, plunder was the only object of the band; there was no cause of dread for their lives; but far different was the case when any of the Government officers fell in their way, for but few returned to tell the treatment they met with. It was no use tampering with the peasantry to endeavour to gain their assistance in leading some troops to the retreat of the band; some pretended ignorance, and if one was found who came forward, it was soon discovered that it had been merely to lead the troops into some ambuscade, whence they generally returned considerably diminished in numbers, many of them having served as a target for the unerring aim of some expert marksmen. It was clear, too, that the band was led by some man of considerable talent, but who or what he was none were able to discover; his assumed name of the "Avenger" leading to no clue by which to trace him, the Government, therefore, determined upon bringing all the troops under their command into play upon the occasion, and, by drawing an immense circle round the place near which they were known to retreat, to gradually close in upon them; and, in order that their intentions might not be known to any one, the officers did not receive

their instructions until the troops were assembled and ready to march forward. The measures were so well taken, that when the circle was formed, the band was within it, and were not aware of their danger, until informed by the peasantry; but, as it would take some days before they could effectually close in, it gave them time to see if some plan could not be devised to escape the impending danger, and, if none presented itself, to die, as they had lived, at war with all.

It soon became apparent that death was all that remained, for volley after volley could be poured in upon them, and their numbers were so insignificant, compared to the troops, that the most determined bravery would be unavailing. Paolo's heart sickened when he thought none could be spared; his wife, who had forsaken all for him, to fall thus prematurely, her beauteous form to be mangled, exposed to the insults of an infuriated soldiery, it almost drove him to madness: many times was he on the point of hastening to deliver himself into the hands of the Government, praying their forbearance, but he knew the determined nature of his band, and that they would meet death rather than surrender, since many of them were sought by the Government for political offences, who, when taken, could expect no mercy, and, therefore, preferred to die like men rather than endure the lingering tortures of their oppressors.

Maria had thought but little of herself; she had entered heart and soul into her husband's views of freedom: she had looked forward as ardently as he had done to the time when they should see their country emancipated from the Spanish yoke; and well did she know that the loss of life he would regret much less than not seeing his darling hopes accomplished-from the moment that their danger had become imminent she had thrown aside her womanish fears, and striven to shew that she feared death as little as the bravest; but still there were moments, when alone, that the feelings of the woman would burst forth in silent tears: little as she felt for herself, she could not control them, when she thought of him she loved, and how brief would then be his career.

It was a sad night to the band that was passed in looking forward to the morrow as the last that would break upon them; some few tried to recall an almost forgotten prayer, whilst others muttered forth deep and loud curses

against their oppressors, who had hunted them from house and home to slay them like beasts of the field; others there we, too, whose thoughts wandered far away, and brought them once again with those they had loved in early youth, and who had followed life's troubled path with them under the cherished name of wife, and whose sweet children that, in better days and times, had played around them, and been the source of many happy hours, ere misfortune had made them broken men, and raised their hands against their country's laws. The morning burst forth in all its southern splendour, and found the band already armed and determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The surrounding mountains which, on the preceding night, had been covered with troops, were now, to their astonishment, untenanted, save the birds of prey, which occasionally flitted across them: whereever the eye could trace not a soldier was in sight; they seemed, as heretofore, the sole possessors of the mountains, and free again to roam there, and as they could. How was this to be explained; a thousand conjectures were hazarded, and all, save the right one, surmised; they were, however, not long without the desired information, for the news flew swiftly towards them.

Our Tomaso Anello, more commonly known by the name of Masaniello, had at length succeeded in exciting his countrymen to resist the despotic rule of the Spaniards; a fresh tax on fish, fruit, &c. imposed by the Government, had exasperated the populace in the highest degree, and led to the overthrow of the Spaniards. It was to assist in quelling the disturbance that the troops had been suddenly recalled from the mountains; they arrived too late, the Fisherman of yesterday was reigning over Naples with the most despotic sway.

During the few days reign of this extraordinary man much good was effected for his country, one, amongst others, was the revocation of that decree by which Paolo had been exiled, and his estates confiscated; there were but few who ever knew that the distinguished Count di Artini had been the so much dreaded "Avenger," and oft, in after life, would he recount to his infant children, whilst his wife would stand by an admiring listener, the daring feats which had made that Chief so renowned, and little did they think, as they lent a listening ear, that it was to

"They shall call the Nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her Princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles

in the fortresses thereof, and it shall be an habitatiou of dragons and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the Satyr shall cry to his fellow. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow; there shall the vultures also be gathered every one with her mate."-ISAIAH XXXIV.-12.

"The cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voices shall ring in the windows; desolation shall be in the

thresholds; for He shall uncover the Cedar

work!"-ZEPHANIAH 11.-14.

FALKLAND PALACE is a highly pic turesque fabric; and, from its associations, absolutely fascinating; but, if a man goes thither, merely for architectural delights, why then, a great square donjon, with broad turrets and notched gables, a façade of low and heavy structure, its massive cornice and thick cable mouldings, together with the peculiarity of dozens of portraitures between the buttresses, every buttress containing a statue with elaborate canopies and brackets; frowning turricles enringed with noisy jackdaws; and tall chimnies with quaintly carved coronals; an assemblage of gorgeous but unwieldly decoration, will, it is to be feared, woefully disappoint him.

The chapel is a hundred feet long and forty broad; and its roof is redolent of the flattering remains of past royalty, and wretchedly false promises of future immortality; it is painted in ribbed compartments of azure, vermillion, and gold,-in scrolls, in shields, in diadems, in mantles, in cyphers, in

mottoes.

Oh, House of Stuart !-oh, princely family! whose heir-loom was this fortune; whose lineage was lifted up, only to be cast down; if I had never loved thee before, I should surely love thee here. Stricken myself with sorrows, that tinge every thing bright with their own sickly hue; the very gloom of these dusty chambers-the gusts that hold their mystic converse in the place of kings-the dull light lurking by stealth and with shame through the discoloured lattices-the miserable relics of blazoned grandeur ruined below the scorn of Malice herself, are pleasing to me. Nothing now rejoices me, and these tell me that in sorrow I am not alone.

Fleur-de-lys, roses and thistles complete the faded decorations of the ceiling; in the centre of which is a large shield, containing the arms of Scotland, England, and Ireland; the Red Lion being marshalled first, and England quartering France second in the escutcheon. I observed the portcullis and crown, (the badge of the Tudor family) and the Prince of Wales' plume, with its motto of majestic humility,"Ich Dien." A grand gallery, with five colossal windows looking northward, extends parallel with this apartment. How, like gilded motes in the sunbeam, appear its departed companies to the imagination. Nothing but royalty breathes in the murky air; nothing but ermines and coronets break through the dismal arcade; no echoes but of royal command and courtly adulation flit beneath that high and dusky roof. Through the windows you may see the soft hills, sheltered villages, and tinted woods of Strath-Eden; just such a warın sun as this, tinged the pale stubbles and green pastures with golden red, when kingly eyes saw, but recked not of them; but within the towered Palace within-where be the lamps that, with arch-coloured light, caused the departed daylight to be forgotten?-where the pictures, that made the lovely landscapes of Strath-Eden appear dull and tame?where the bowered and pillared tapestries, which, when men saw, they said, Would Nature were as fair!'-where the majestic forms that dignified these scenes?where the lustrous eyes that deified them?

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A roseate flush of sunset flaked over the painted roofs and dismantled walls of these old chambers, as I descended by a broad turret stair to The Vaults. A long dreary glimmering range! No

thing in this most painfully interesting Pile, affects one more strongly, than the immediate proximity of its sacred and festal precincts to its accursed and mourning dungeons. It is too cutting a sarcasm on human life. One moment secure and elated in self applause; the next, plunged by one false step into darkness and disgrace! Here the Keep soars from its foundation to its summit -one hideous chasm of gloom; for the floors of the different stages that composed it have all disappeared,; and Lady's Bower, and Captive's Pit, are blent in one vast shuddering height of darkness.

The court behind these buildings was once a quadrangle, which was destroyed by fire. There is a long range of saloon windows in a less antiquated style, denoting, with their melancholy orifice, the path of the flames. There is also here a noble round tower, containing abysmes of the most frightful and pitchy blackness. In this Torre del Fame, it is said, the unhappy Alexander of Rothsay was starved to death; and, if the wounds of the mind be considered equivalent to the pains of the body, no less tragical was the destruction bestowed on Falkland Palace, by the death of the most enlightened Prince Scotland ever boasted. It is true James the Fifth died in the Tapestried Chamber instead of the reeking dungeon;but the heartbroken king, and the hunger-pined Prince alike, quaffed to its dregs the bitterness of death. It was in his last moments at Falkland, that James was apprised of Mary's birth; and the well-known prophecy he uttered on that occasion, connects this Palace with a Princess-the very mention of whose name makes praise common-place, compassion cant, and horror an every day tale.

The most striking feature of Falkland Palace is its cumbrous magnificence of mould; even its commanding towers look low from their bulk. To see the buildings, however, in all their picturesque variety, the roofless and the roofed-turret and hall-staircase and gateway-diamond lattices, and gaping windows of rich sculptures, the brocades of barbaric carvings, that lace its broad buttresses, and the reverend hue of solemn gray that its huge walls disclose; while birch and pine trees, of gigantic trunks and clottered foliage, are illumined by the calm evening sunflame that floats upon the pile, and phalanxes of rooks hovering over the trees and towers, whose incessant cries

scarcely permitted the shrill note of the martlet, or the deep soft tones of the cushat to be heard; -thus to see Falkland Palace, makes desolation pompous, and imparts a glory to gloom.

CLARA FARNESE.

THIS extraordinary woman was Pope Paul's third sister, and the person to whom he owed his Cardinal's cap, and, consequently, all that followed upon it, though he rewarded her ill for it; for he poisoned both her and his mother, that he might possess all their wealth. Their father was a poor man who went about selling sausages. Clara married young, and was soon a widow; she was a most agreeable woman, but possessed little personal beauty. Her brother was bred to letters, and was one of those poor churchmen who were looking about on all hands where to find patronage, when on a sudden his sister's charms, assisted by her artifices, raised him to a height, to which he was far from pretending at that time. At some public ceremony, Clara Farnese was so near Pope Alexander VI., and was so much in his eye and in his thoughts, that he ordered one of his attendants to enquire who she was and where she lived. Instruments are never wanting on such occasions to great persons, and, notwithstanding the Pope's great age, yet his vices still clung so close to him, that he could have no quiet till Clara Farnese was introduced to his presence. She resolved to sell herself at a tolerably high price, and a cardinal's cap for her brother was both asked and granted; a promise of it at least; she then be came an inmate of the lewd old Fope's palace. It fell out, however, that when the next promotion came to be in agitation, the proposition was rejected by Cæsar Borgia with scorn; he had never been a slave to his word, and he had no mind that his father should observe it on this occasion.

The mode of promotion was this:the Pope settles the list of the cardinals, and writes down all their names in a paper with his own hand, and in a consistory, when all business is ended, he throws down the paper on the table, and says to the Cardinals, habetres fratres; "You have now some brethren." Upon that one of the secretaries takes up the paper and reads the names aloud; the Sberri, (the Pope's