[This chapter is extracted from the Journal (headed "Notes by the Way ") which Mr. Carter kept during his two years' travel, supplemented by a few of his letters.]

"St. Goar.

"WE were amused one day at watching the parish schoolboys at their military exercises, armed with long white rods in lieu of guns, and afterwards at gymnastics, under the pollarded lime trees in front of the hotel, which run along the bank of the Rhine. I found it was part of their school-work, half an hour being allowed for it, and it took place twice every week.

"Education in the parish schools was compulsory from six to fourteen. Often children are sent to school at five, but they do not leave before fourteen. Confirmation and First Communion are thus secured before leaving school. Policemen look up the absent children, and parents are fined if their children are absent long without sufficient cause. The Government Inspector visits the school here twice a year. The religious instruction depends on the Priest or Pastor. The population here is mixed, part Catholic, part Protestant; but a very kindly feeling exists between them. I was told two striking facts as to this. It is the custom to decorate the houses throughout the place on Corpus Christi Day; and Protestants decorate if even a single Catholic happens to be living in the house, and often when there are none but Protestants. The same is done when the R.C. Bishop comes to confirm. It is made a great and general fete by Protestants equally as by Catholics.

"I was told that the only occasion of collision was the disposal of children in the case of mixed marriages; all marriages, as I understood, are made at first as civil contracts. The couples thus united are afterwards (if they will) married religiously according to their faith. . . . The importance given to civil marriage (if the term can be thus applied) must, one should think, deteriorate the view of marriage, and so tell most injuriously on the general standard of religious life."

"Ulm, September 8.

"The cathedral, notwithstanding its bareness (it is in the hands of Protestants), is, next to St. Ouen at Rouen, the most devotional building I know, as a fabric, from the extreme beauty of its architectural proportions. As in England it was not the Reformers, but the Puritans, who mutilated our churches, so here it was the later, not the earlier, enthusiasts who did the savage work. The series of statues along the nave were destroyed in the Thirty Years' War. But there still remains several remnants of the past. The high altar is there, and the tabernacle in the side wall, with its magnificent canopy, and a pictorial crucifix on the east wall of the south aisle.

"Beneath this crucifix, as we looked about, there was a poor old woman, evidently a Catholic, kneeling on the bare stones, and at the close of her prayer she doubly crossed herself.

"It seemed an instance of what I have above mentioned, the kindly mutual forbearance that exists here abroad between Catholics and Protestants.

"I would that such a feeling might arise in England. It may be urged that it would only betoken indifference as to any specific faith. I do not think it need necessarily be so. Real earnest people would equally cling to their own distinctive tenets. The best people are always the most lenient and forbearing as to differences, yet they do not therefore feel indifferent as to their own specific doctrines. The only difference would be that the unearnest, unthinking multitude would exchange their narrow bitterness for charity and largeness of heart.

"But there are special hindrances to this kindly feeling in England. The very nearness of the true view of the Church of England to Rome, the divisions among ourselves, the aggressive character of Rome, are specialities, in our case, of difficulty."

"Coire, September 11.

"At the entrance of the cathedral there was a temporary arch, wreathed with green and flowers. A similar arch had been placed at the gate close by, leading to the seminary. We found that the cause of the decoration was a young seminary priest having said his first Mass the Sunday before. How striking and touching a proof is this of a deep faith in the Real Presence pervading the people. And surely there is cause. For what more stupendous and beneficent ministry can be given to men? Will such faith ever again take root in England, and be more than it is at present, an exceptional belief, the life of a mere party in the Church, not of the mass of the people? Will it ever be that the first offering of the great Eucharistic Sacrifice will have greater interest attached to it than a first sermon?

"Next to the older churches in Rome, I know none more historically interesting than this cathedral. Coire was a Roman fort, and on the site of the present cathedral stood a heathen temple. On the ruins of this temple was built, in 450, a Christian church, which still remains. It forms an open crypt under the chancel of the present cathedral, and Mass is said in it every Good Friday. Its altar has been transferred to the chancel above.

"Coire was converted by English Saints, by St. Lucius, king, and the memory of what Coire and this country owes to our people is preserved in the splendid triptych over the high altar. It is composed of figures in wood, painted and gilt. On either side of the Virgin and Child, in the main row of figures, are these--

"(1) St. Gall, from Ireland.
"(2) Another Saint from Ireland, whose name I did not catch.
"(3) St. Lucius, King of England.
"(4) The sister of St. Lucius.
"(5) St. Ursula.
"(6) St. Florian (Scotland).
"(7) St. Siegbert (Scotland).
"(8) Placidus of Coire.

"St. Lucius and his sisters are said to have been martyred here A.D. 173. There are many curious and beautiful relics in the sacristy, among the rest a very early tabernacle brought from Ireland."

"Val di Ticino.

"There are fine old Lombard bell-towers in this valley. In two of the churches, which seem mostly to be open, I found Vespers being said (by) the people without any priest present, and in one case in the dark almost, and evidently said by heart. Only three or four women were present in either case. But the custom shows the admirable use to which open churches may be put."

"Bellinzona, Third Sunday in September.

"To-day is being kept throughout Switzerland as a festival of national thanksgiving for national blessings; illuminations, and guns firing the evening before, and to-day a grand High Mass, military musick interchanged with the church music; the church crowded with troops, and corporation and magistrates present; a sermon by a good-looking, earnest priest on true liberty, 'O Patria, O Liberia, O Religione,' being the burden of it; and he spoke of poor Prance, and its liberty turned into licence, and of Italy as using liberty to throw off Catholicism. I observed that neither officers, or corporation, or troops, paid any marks of devotion at all to the consecration or elevation of the Blessed Sacrament. Probably many of the troops were from Protestant villages, and so no general order could have been given. Benediction immediately followed, and a Te Deum. Service in all about three hours in length."

"TO THE REV. W. A. CARTER.

"Lugo Maggiore, Stresa, September 25.

"Thanks for the papers safely come. We have been here just over a week, lodged in a comfortable little set of rooms on the ground floor looking on the lake. You heard of us, L------tells me, up to Bellinzona. We all enjoyed our jog-trot journey. Specially two quiet days at St. Goar; a lovely afternoon at Heidelberg, where I took the girls a drive up the Neckar--how like Switzerland--and round over the Castle; the sight of Ulm Cathedral, which struck me as only St. Ouen at Rouen did for its devotional effect as a building; the day at Friedrichshafen and Coire; and the whole journey by Ilanz, over the passes, [The Oberalp and St. Gotthard] grander far than I had anticipated.

"Here we found Bishop Harris, Mrs. Monsell, etc. The former left the next morning, the latter three days after. Bishop H. very flourishing, and greatly enjoying his work; entre nous, his wandering episcopacy in other people's dioceses I could not do; though, of course, it must be done, and he does it very well. We are to meet him again at Rome, where now his charge extends, since it has become part of the kingdom of Italy.

"We sometimes wander about the hillside, where all the fruits are ripe, and the people busy gathering them in; a wonderful abundance of corn and vines, and figs, and peaches, and apples, the grapes not being gathered yet except for eating. Yesterday we made a lovely boat expedition to the river at the head of the lake beyond Baveno. That part of the lake is all covered with nets, and very large and exceedingly good trout therein are caught, and sent off everywhere, to Paris, etc. ... I called on Bishop Nixon, who lives close by, as you probably know.... [Formerly Bishop of Tasmania.] He tells me the old nobility of Italy are all for the Pope's temporal status, and the master here (of the hotel) speaks as if they expected France to interfere and set 'humpty-dumpty' up again. We shall probably take a boat to Instra this afternoon, which they tell me is lovely,"

"Stresa, September 18.

"I went one day to Pallanza, and on a bookstall in the market-place found both a Latin and an Italian Bible, each to be had at the same price, eight francs; the Italian copy in two octavo volumes. At Instra, just beyond Pallanza, there is a small congregation of Protestants. It is the only case of the kind on the lake. The peasantry here are full of enthusiastic praises of the late Mrs. Nixon, for her active, generous, considerate charity. The cure, the chaplain of the Duchess of Genoa, and all the village followed her to the grave. The two priests went to the house to accompany the friends of the family."

"September 30.

"I have just been to see this beautiful house Mr. Henfrey is building near Baveno, on a most lovely site, and in the grounds an English church, Lombard style, circular. The of ordinary stonemasons are 2 1/2 francs, rising for higher workmen to 4 1/2 and 5; that of labourers 1 1/2 francs. The granite pillars in the church cost £8 brought to the spot."

"Sunday, October 1.

"It is a great Festa; the second greatest here. The greatest is that of S. Ambrogio, the patron saint. This is of Santa Maria del Rosario. A large image of the Virgin and Child carried in procession through the streets, with crucifixes, lights, and a great concourse of people from all the neighbourhood. It was altogether wretched, shocking, and undevotional. I saw a very few only of the old women who formed the procession saying prayers, and very few with rosaries, though it is called especially the Festa del Rosario. A few women knelt before the image as it returned into the church. Immediately outside the church were stalls with gingerbread, etc. There were monkeys, etc., playing. The town band formed part of the procession, and immediately after Benediction, which followed the return of the procession, the band played dances, and the people began a polka, a hundred or more dancing together, just in front of the church.

"Certainly the exhibition amuses the people, but I could see no sign of its stimulating devotion, as must have been the case in former days. I suppose the fact is, that a Festa is not to be considered as a religious act at all, but as a public entertainment, a popular festive representation to gratify a national love of scenic exhibitions. But to use such sacred symbols for such an end is surely a serious abuse of the serious side of things; nor is it possible to separate off the idea of some virtue being attributed to the image, or at least to the honour paid to it. At all events, when conducted as it was to-day, it is but a miserable travesty of what must have been in its best days a very questionable kind of devotion.

"Italy is rising in material activity. There are now four war-steamers being built, two at Venice, one at Spezzia, one, I think, at Genoa, and of these every portion is of Italian make. This is the first time such an effort has been made. Lately, when a railway was projected in North Italy, the contractors planned to get the carriages made in France. The workmen of Milan rose and complained, the Government interfered, and compelled the company to have all made at home."

"Menaggio.

"I found here the Holy Bible in Italian, French, and English in the reading-room, and that they had been left by an Englishman. The landlady, an intelligent woman, rather apologized for their being there, and said that a good Catholic ought not to read it; that her priest would refuse her absolution if she was known to read it, and told me the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit as a warning against seeking to read Holy Scripture, and was surprised to be told that this story was in the Bible."

"Milan, Sunday, October 8.

"The specialties of the Gregorian (? Ambrosian) Rite at Mass are: (1) That the deacon and subdeacon kneel during the prayers, one at the north, the other at the south end. Is it possible that this is derived from the Cherubim in the Holy of Holies overshadowing the Mercy-seat from either end? A mark of Eastern connection is the seven lighted lamps suspended before the Altar. (2) The reading of the Epistle and Gospel from the north ambo outside the chancel, evidently the primitive use. (3) The presentation of the wafers at the Offertory by two men and two women, the former coming up to the altar rail, the latter to the foot of the chancel step, the celebrant coming down to receive them from each. Evidently this is a remnant of the early custom of the presentation of oblations by the people."

"October 3.

"The anniversary of the Plebiscite of Rome claiming its place in the kingdom of Italy. It was signalized by gathering together all the children of the Communal schools, 6000 in number, or thereabouts, the firstfruits of the changed state of things. They were assembled at the Palatine, I think."

Bologna, October 8.

"Church of St. Dominic. The great saint lies buried here in an altar tomb. Above the altar a most beautifully sculptured work of Nicholas of Pisa, most rich in figures, most chaste statues and high reliefs, Carrara marble. The two subjects in front are his raising a dead person, and his burning the Albigenses. Two of the statues are by Michael Angelo. . . . The University very splendid and deeply interesting. On all the walls shields of arms of different persons of all nations who have studied there. The chief rooms now form a magnificent library. . . . Three end rooms are filled with ancient Etruscan memorials from the necropolis of the city that stood 3000 years ago, before Rome was built, close by what is now the Campo Santo, about three miles from the town. . . . All the bodies were laid as ours are, from east to west, the feet towards the east, except a very few which lay at an oblique angle, apparently an exception to the rule, owing to obstacles in the way. . . . Among the tombstones was one on which an angel was represented grasping the hand of a man, apparently the deceased, as if welcoming him into another world; a remarkable testimony to the Pagan instinct of immortality."

"TO THE REV. W. A. CARTER.

"Hotel de Milan, Florence, November 3.

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

"I want your good services. You will remember my plan about St. Stephen's. We have now the means of carrying out the plan of the district. The Bishop accepts the sum we have of £1000 as the commencement of an endowment, on conditions of our guaranteeing the necessary addition, which of course we gladly do, and we may get something from the commissioners, only it is necessary that the papers required should be sent in by the 20th of this month. I have written fully to the Provost with formal application, and I trust a college meeting may be in time. Will you kindly expedite it so that we may not lose the opportunity; it will be an immense gain to the rectory.

"We have had some cold weather, a second Tramontana of three or four days, but it is mild again, and almost every day it has been blue sky and bright warm sun; we have only wanted a fire one day, when it was raining. . . . Philpotts, who sat next to me in school, is here with wife and children, and I passed last evening in his room in a neighbouring hotel. [The late Rev. Thomas Philpotts, of Porthgwidden, Cornwall.] ... There is a good deal of active work going on, the cathedral being restored by the Government, and two of the churches by the Municipality. The people willingly bear the tax for such works, and I am told the Government mean to complete the facade of the cathedral, which has hitherto been shapeless, rude brick. There is a general look of activity, and the higher classes feel the many new sources of employment opened to them by the change. All works of art are more carefully kept. We generally pass our morning at one of the galleries, and wander about in the afternoon. I still need my two supports in general, but can get on faster and farther, and carriages are not dear, eighty cents a course. . . . What a mess S. W. and York have made, notwithstanding all that Monsell has said."

Notes.

"Florence.

"Mr. Sloane has just died, and is buried in the Campo Santo of the Misericordia. He was the initiator of the magnificent facade of Santa Croce. Towards it, I am told, he contributed £30,000, and had planned to add a pair of brass gates when he died. He was an English Roman Catholic, educated near 'Kensham,' came out here to be tutor to the son of one of the nobles, and by successful speculations in mines, etc., became wealthy; became a friend of the Grand Duke. He would have been buried in Santa Croce, but his wife could not have been buried there with him."

"November 9.

"Saw to-day the great poor-house behind Santa Croce. It contains about seven hundred--men, women, and children. It was begun by Napoleon I., by the suppression of the Carmelite convent, since carried on by public and private benefactions and bequests. A new wing is about to be added, for which plans are ready. It is under the direction of Signor------ as sole manager. He had become noted for his excellent management of the prisons, and the king, as I understood, appointed him to this post as a lighter task after his former laborious work. It is most admirably managed. Over the door is an inscription stating the object to be to receive poor and sick who scorned the shame of begging. Male and female parts of the house are completely separated, so much so that in church the women sit in closely latticed galleries, while the men and boys are below. All are free to come and go, but only respectable characters are admitted. There are old and sick, and there are boys and girls from three years old, children of poor or ill-conducted parents. The destitute may be received free, and may enter for a time, as, e.g. for winter, or for life. Those who are sent by the Municipality are paid for by them at the rate of one franc a day, which covers clothing and all expenses. Private persons may place any one there on the same terms. Children are kept till eighteen years of age, and are regularly taught trades. They chiefly work in the daytime, and are taught in the evening. Everything used in the establishment, even bedding and clothing, is made in it; only linen, cloth, and leather are purchased. On the girls' side we saw some sewing and making garments, others at looms making the stuff for the gowns, others with spindles making the thread. The old sick women were knitting. On the male side there was the room for shoemaking, other rooms for carpentering (excellent furniture is made there), other rooms for printing (they print a good deal for Government), other rooms for ironwork.

"For teaching, there are separate rooms, one for reading, one for writing, one for musick, one for design, drawing, etc. There was also an admirable and extensive covered court for gymnastics. We saw lads, active, cheerful, intelligent, and well-grown, at various exercises. There are foils and masks and military implements for exercise. "We saw some sets at dinner. The lads came in in military order to the sound of the drum, then all knelt down, and were very reverent while saying grace. They had semolina broth, looking very thick and good, and meat, bread, and wine. They have meat daily, sometimes twice, a good small loaf three times a day. Everything in kitchen, dining-rooms, and bedrooms looked beautifully clean. The beds were iron, the bedding a mattress of Indian corn leaf, a bed on this, a sheet, blanket, and coverlet, each soft and warm. . . . Besides the church is an oratory upstairs out of the infirmary, with windows opening into it, for the sick. Mass is said in the church every Sunday and festival. The house and premises form a parish.

"As far as I can learn, there is a manifest tendency towards Protestantism. But the chief result that I hear of are many of the poorer having become Plymouth Brethren, and the Waldenses spreading. The latter have a considerable school here. Some persons of mark have joined the Protestants just lately."

"TO THE REV. W. A. CARTER.

"Hotel de la Ville, Naples, Christmas Eve.

"This will reach you, I trust, before Christmas week is run out, and so I trust my heartiest wishes for all truest Christmas blessings and those of another year, may reach you and yours. How strange it seems to think of your many Christmas works, in our quiet idlesse here by the far-off sea. We have butchers' broom with beautiful red berries, and the pepper tree, like an evergreen acacia, instead of holly, and presents of immense oranges from the hotel-keeper, instead of mincepies. "We have quite warm weather, and one lovely day had a delicious drive to Baiee. I think of making a few days at Salerno and Amalfi; but this will continue our headquarters throughout next month.

"I can picture your church looking very nice. M------and G------are helping to decorate the church here; it is rather pretty, and a real church, built on ground given by Garibaldi in 1860, during his reign here. Thank you for the Guardian just arrived. I have not had the copy in which the Bishop of London's charge would, I suppose, have appeared. I am rather anxious to see it. ...

"The 'Parish Mass' in the churches at which the parishioners communicate is at 5 a.m. in the summer and 7 a.m. in the winter (there are in many churches Masses as late as 12 or 12.30). Immediately after the parish Mass the catechising takes place in the sacristy, or in the priest's house. There is a temporal inducement to attend the catechisings, for many benefactions, such as marriage portions for the girls, are put into the hands of the priests, who give them to those who are regular in their attendance. There is not much preaching here, not generally on Sundays, only on great occasions and special holidays.

"Government schools are free. Little or no religion is taught in them. Private schools for boys are from 3 to 6 francs a month. The son of the hotel-keeper, three years of age, pays 3 francs. Boys pay more than girls. . . .

"Went into a small church above the Hotel de Ville about 3.30. Catechising was going on; about ninety were sitting in different seats, all women; some quite old, some with their babies, some only girls. Seven priests (at least seven ecclesiastics) were engaged in teaching. Robert Proctor, [His cousin] who lives in a villa above Portici, tells me of the rate of wages, as follows:--a day labourer, one day, 1.20 francs; to his coachman, 2 francs a day, and the man keeps himself; his man cook, £2 a month, and the man keeps himself; for his villa, with a good garden, £40 and no taxes; for his horse, £40 a year, including food.

"His garden is full of oranges and lemons. . . . "I visited the old Campo Santo. This a large square court, paved with broad square flags and surrounded by a high wall, one side of which has a cloister, and is entered by high gates. The Stations (of the Cross) are painted on the walls. In the stone floor are distributed, at equal distances, openings into the pits below, three hundred and sixty-five in all, one of which is opened every day. Four o'clock is the time fixed for the daily burials, which are thus together. Immediately after the burials the pit is closed. The bodies are slipped down out of a long trough, just wide enough to hold them. I saw one being made ready. The bodies are clothed up to the neck, but no coffin is used of any kind. A priest officiates so far as this. No service or prayer is said, but the priest sprinkles holy water over the body, and gives a blessing. Whether the bodies of the poor are first taken to a church, I do not know. There is no chapel at the Campo Santo that I saw. There were a good many poor women in the Campo, apparently gathered for the approaching burial. Several were going round the Stations, kneeling on the stones before the pictures (it was Friday), no priest with them. A few were standing saying prayers at the stone which had been closed the day before, over that day's pit, of which the cement was fresh.

"It was a most melancholy scene, and the man who described how the burials took place spoke of all as a simple matter of course.

"I saw the wife of the agent of the Anglo-Continental Society. The depot of books is closed, and the books stowed away, waiting for further orders. She gave a very discouraging account, scarcely any sale of books, though she thought this had been the most flourishing depot. The resident manager is one of the excommunicated priests. She told me that in 1860 as many as one thousand priests in and about Naples had joined the movement, and the king had given seven churches for their use. There was then no Archbishop. When the King and the Pope arranged for the appointment of an Archbishop, these churches necessarily fell under his jurisdiction, and consequently the excommunicated priests could no longer officiate in them. Gradually the greater number of them submitted, but three hundred held firm to their position, and she did not know what had become of them. She thought they had dispersed and gone to their homes. Each of them has an allowance of £16 a year from the Government. The priest of this depot has laid aside his habit, and attends the English Church, at least the prayers in the morning, leaving before the sermon, and never remains for the Holy Communion service, and, so far as she knew, communicates nowhere."

"January 13.

"Saw to-day the first shoots in leaf, on the endmost branches of a vine against a wall. The peas are in. full blossom, some in pods in the gardens. In some very sheltered places they are ready for eating. We have had them twice for dinner. The early shoots of the orange trees are of some length. The thermometer stands to-day, in my room, on the side furthest from the south window, at 55, without a fire. The lowest point it has been at is 54, any time from 7 a.m.

"Robert Proctor's coachman, driving me from Portici, observed upon the statue of St. Januarius on the bridge at the borders of the city, placed there for the saint to ward off the lava and ashes of the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius. He observed how the saint protected Naples. I asked him who protected Portici. He said, 'St. Giro.' And who protects Resina, (the next town). 'Oh, Una Madonna.'

"Above Portici, on the higher ground at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, is a statue of St. Januarius, marking the spot where the lava once stopped in its course, with an inscription stating how it had been stayed by the intercession of the saint."

"TO THE REV. W. A. CARTER.

"Piccolo, Sentineling Casamicciola, Ischia,

"January, 30, 1872.

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

"We came here last Friday week, intending to return to Naples last Thursday, but we are detenus. The daily steamer leaves at 6 a.m., rather an undertaking, and the one boat that goes at a reasonable hour only comes on Thursday, calling on its way from P. to Naples. I should have gone in a four-oar to Cape Misenum, about two hours off, where a carriage might meet us from Naples, but the weather has been unsettled, so we are hoping to go on Thursday next. We had last week three days and nights of almost uninterrupted rain, but some lovely days, and the thermometer from 58 to 60 generally. It is no unpleasant imprisonment. The island itself very lovely, exceedingly varied, and a lofty volcanic mountain, nearly three thousand feet high, rising above us, all the sides and crannies covered with terraced vineyards, interspersed with orange and lemon orchards and occasional olive trees, and houses on most picturesque eminences, all with flat roofs to dry the figs on, and arcades here and there along the fronts, painted various colours. The churches are domed, the general effect wonderfully like the East. The view from the colonnade in front of our bedroom windows, here in a very 'homey' kind of hotel, is most beautiful, commanding the whole line of coast of Cumae and Baise to Cape Misenum, stretching back northwards to the Abruzzi range, the highest of which are covered with soft cloud-like snow; and then southward the Island of Procida, with its lofty castellated tower; and behind, all the high ground above Naples and Vesuvius. The quiet 'homyness' of the place is delightful. All that seems wanting to make it perfect is the spring vegetation, and summer sky and bluer sea of a few months hence. Our company is very agreeable, but a strange mixture, which is one of the odd interests of our wandering life. A ritualist clergyman, with his wife and two other ladies, partly to visit whom I came here (for he had, though personally unknown to me, offered me, when I was ill, to make his house at Bournemouth my home); an elderly Indian merchant (now a Suffolk squire) and his wife, who delights to find us able to play a rubber in the evening; an English artist and wife, come for the baths to cure his neuralgia; a Danish artist, M. Lundgren, who belongs to our Water Colour Society, very clever and interesting; a middle-aged German spinster, an associate of some Protestant Sisterhood; and an Irish dissenting family, who distribute tracts both in and out of the house. To the elderly wife of the Indian, a good old body, who reads her chapters every morning, his wife gave 'The Ritualist's Deathbed,' to the German spinster associate, 'Out of the Pit." Last Sunday they went forth and distributed tracts broadcast over the whole village. The priests were greatly excited. There was a burning of a good many, we were told, at the house of the Parrocco, and J------ saw the people tearing them to shreds in the piazza, making quite a snow shower.

"I have been interested to learn about the schools which have sprung up under the new Government. The people were at first indifferent to it, but gradually the desire has grown. The boys' school is a very animated scene, the master a superior teacher, trained at a normal school at Pozzuoli. Out of a population of three thousand, of which the scattered town of Casamicciola consists, there are one hundred and fifty boys at school, and about a hundred girls. The normal school for mistresses is at Naples. Every province throughout Italy has its normal school. Twice a year the Government inspectors come round. They have a book with extracts from the Bible, and a lesson-book and catechism authorized by the Church; it rests with the master to teach as much of the catechism as he likes; the priests never enter the schools, and are opposed to the movement. The chief master here is Liberal and anti-Papal, as probably most of them are; but the master of the former set of boys is a Papale, and so is the mistress.

"Apparently the Government appointments are accommodated to circumstances, and they are careful not to offend the Church; the issue must be the rising up of a (spirit) in the lower classes, as already in the higher, against the whole Papal system--with what results time only can show. There is an old Catholic weekly journal (in Italian) published in Naples, which I see sometimes, well written, sensible, and temperate. Another is published in Bologna, said to be better. These are the only public signs I believe of this movement. . . .

"The Government seems to be very considerate in training the people. Yesterday, when we took our donkey-ride to Forio, one of the towns on the other side of the island, we saw a notice of the Census, in which it was explained that a Census was not a new thing, but had taken place in the Roman Empire under Julius Caesar, and afterwards when our Lord was born, and adding that it had nothing to do with taxation. . . . Probably we shall not go to Rome till after the Carnival. I hardly care enough about it to make an effort for it. I suppose you have read Lightfoot on the New Revision. You would delight in it; it is very good."

"TO HIS SISTER, MRS. BALSTON.

"32, Capo le Case, Rome,
"Tuesday in Holy Week (1872).

"... It is very strange to feel Christmas and Easter passing in a foreign land, and not easy to realize them in the circumstances under which they come. The sightseeing in the midst of this season is very incongruous, and yet there is nothing else to do, and attending the R.C. services is partly only another kind of sight-seeing. Happily we have a very nice church here, and the services are really all we could desire--hearty, and fully attended, and very nice music, and all reverent. The Chaplain is very earnest and active; daily celebrations this week, morning and evening services always, three celebrations on Easter Day.

"Our weather here all through March has been trying; constant rain and scirocco wind, soft and warm and sometimes rather depressing. We have, of course, had occasional delightful days. . . . We hope to be at the Tenebrse services to-morrow at St. Peter's, and the Thursday Mass there, which I believe is a very striking' service, and at part of the 'Three Hours' on Good Friday (at the Gesu). There have been beautiful evening services on Friday, with singing, through Lent, and only on Fridays, except Sundays. Yesterday, as a counterpoise to these Papistical ways, we went to hear Pere Hyacinthe lecture. He is giving a series of lectures on Catholic Reform. The room was crowded, but very few Romans there, as far as we could see. . . . Could follow him well, and were delighted with his eloquence. However, it is only a 'pleasant song,' as far as Rome is concerned, though after generations may be different. There seems no manner of likelihood of reform here, as far as can be seen.

"Our lodging arrangements go on very steadily, our cook a great success, and occasionally we have something like English joints, and it is certainly more economical than hotels, and the quiet of it pleases after the babble of table d'hotes. I get about better, and have laid aside my second stick, and thankful to say I have escaped cold. . . .

"Mrs. C. has just been with Pere Hyacinthe, and while his. words are fresh in her mind, she came to tell me what he said, viz. that he believed Rome to be the centre of unity, and that the Episcopate was formed and organized at Rome as its centre, and that our best hope of reunion was with the Greeks rather than with Rome, and any hope of reunion with Rome was only in the distant future. Her impression was, that what Hyacinthe looked for is the reunion of the old Catholics with the Roman body by a change of feeling and opinion in the latter. . . .

"I talked with William Palmer. He acknowledged that the East was right as to the Filioque; that what determined him against the Greek Church was its subjection to the State and its anathemas against opponents; that no one can by his reasoning decide on the question of the Church which he should join, but can only take some leading idea and follow it out--in his case the principle followed was that of a visible church; that men's predispositions and circumstances determine their judgment, and that they are guided mainly by their egoisms.

"At the French Church on Palm Sunday, being the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation, the preacher stated 'that our Lord was the principle of grace, but Mary the channel; that God had made Mary the depositary of grace, the Holy Spirit bestowing all graces upon her for this end, and that she was the dispenser of grace as she pleased comme elle veut.'"

"Good Friday.

"At the Tre Ore at the Gesu to-day the preacher of the meditations on the Third Saying said, 'I see two altars, one the Cross, the Altar of Blood, the other the Heart of Mary, the Altar of Love'; and he went on to parallel the two, saying 'that our Lord gave up His life, Mary her soul.'"

Mr. Carter came home for some months in the summer, and returned to Italy in the following autumn.

"TO HIS BROTHER.

"Via delle Carruzze, Rome, December 17, 1872. "We have been here just over a fortnight. I found comfortable lodgings close to the Corso, in a narrow street running out of the Piazza di Spagna. . . . Canon Gregory [The present Dean of St. Paul's.] is here, and I have been about with him some days; also Dr. Coates, a Torquay acquaintance, with whom I have walks. I have been making expeditions with Parker (of Oxford), who is the great authority among the visitors here on archaeology. I have been to three of his lectures, after which he takes parties to see the things he has been lecturing about, and really very interesting it is. One picks up a good deal, though perhaps some stuff with it. The Forum is being gradually cleared out, and a great quantity of old work in fragments has been found. Immense building plans are going forward. Three large building companies have been formed, and a vast extent of the high ground above S. Maria Maggiore is being covered with large houses and broad streets. . . . We are going to see the Pope shortly. Our weather has been delightful for a few days, like late October, bright and fresh. One lovely evening, the moon very bright, we went to the Coliseum, and walked about it and the Forum; most enjoyable. We have had no need of fires except the last two or three evenings.

"We came from Florence by Siena and Orvieto; about four hours of the journey between Orvieto and Rome is by j
diligence. Some very fine country we have passed through,
crossing the Apennines. Both the towns are most interesting, and finely situated. Siena, besides its cathedral, is most -
picturesque, fine palaces, quaint streets, and ox-carts going j*
about them such as the old Romans would have used. ... I think of staying here till the middle of February, and then going to Capri and Ischia for a few weeks, quiet country and economical. . . .

"I have the Times lent me occasionally, and have just been reading of Stanley's victory. It must have been a mistake and done harm, though Goulburn's letters are touching and weighty. Pusey, Liddon, etc., have well kept out of it. I had made up my mind that nothing else could have been done with the Athanasian Creed; every other proposal is full of objection, but what will be the effect on the laity? . . . A very happy Christmas and New Year to you all."

"Rome, December 4, 1872.

"A Talk with Bishop Howard on the Infallibility Question.

"His line of argument was that the Council of Chalcedon was not valid till the Pope had approved it; that it was the same with all Councils; that it was a general belief of theologians that even a majority of a Council was no avail against a minority if the Pope sided with the minority.

"(He spoke of the Council of Rimini, had affirmed this, but on my pressing him on this, withdrew it, and said it was a generally accepted belief), that if a Pope had condemned a doctrine as heretical, there was no appeal, according to general belief; that therefore the principle of infallibility resided in the Pope, though hitherto exercised in union with the Church or Episcopate; that the possible difficulty of convening a Council in consequence of opposition of States might be a reason for affirming the truth now; but that it was always held as a truth; that undoubtedly the promise was given to the Church to be guarded from error, and kept in the truth; that it was as easy, indeed easier, to Almighty God to keep one man, than to keep a hundred; that the infallibility gift was a thing to be exercised constantly and in. the intervals of Councils, and therefore could not depend on Councils.

"He said that the late Council had been promulgated sufficiently according to technical rules, that its decrees had been proclaimed publickly here at Rome, as well as individually by bishops in their sees.

"He explained the infallibility gift as an overruling guidance, not an inspiration, because this implies a means of imparting new truth; that infallibility was only a guarding against error, and directing judgment in the use of means equivalent to the promise to preserve the Church in existence; that the Pope would be speaking infallibly whenever he pronounced a judgment in such a way as to make it clear - that it was binding on the Church and on consciences; that it would be assured that he had used all means to improve his judgment and weigh the questions and the opinions and decrees of the past; that it was a matter of faith that God would take care that he should not speak unguardedly, or falsely, or ignorantly; that it concerned the Pope as a matter of conscience how far he had used proper means of informing himself; but that whether he had done so or not, God would take care that only truth was declared by him; that he would be hindered from any erroneous utterance; that infallibility was in fact unerring; that thus any one might rest assured and trustful that God would be true to His own promise, and would assure to His Church the truth only as ascertainable in this way.

"He considered that infallibility as to morals was as necessary as to the matters of faith, because of the connexion between faith and morals; and that false views as to morals might prevail as well as to faith, as if false definitions as to murder might be declared.

"The following is told by Mr.------, who had the story from a cousin of the lady in question.

"It runs as follows:--

"The Pope, when a layman in the Guardia Nobile, fell in love with a Miss------, daughter of Sir------Fitzgerald of Ireland, was engaged, and the day fixed for the marriage in a church in Rome; he parted from his fiancée the day before the intended marriage to go to make his confession. He confessed to a Jesuit, to whom he told his engagement. The confessor said, "It must not be; that the Lord had other designs for him." On remonstrance being offered as to how to save his honour, and that of his family, the confessor said he would arrange that; that it must be left wholly to him. That evening Count Ferretti was sent off to Civita Vecchia, and there put on board a ship, and sent to Rio Janeiro; there he was ordained, and worked hard among the sick during a time of cholera. Nothing had been said by the confessor to the family to apprise them of what had been done; and the next day the bridal party, the bride, the bridegroom's best man, all assembled at the church, and finding no bridegroom, returned. Miss Fitzgerald never saw her intended husband again till one day she was in Rome; it was the election of a new Pope. She was in the square of St. Peter's; she saw the bricked-up window broken through, and heard the Dean of the Sacred College declare that Ferretti was Pope (tu es Petrus), by the name of Pius IX., and saw her intended husband enthroned behind the peacock feathers.'

"Talking with Monsignor Stonor, he spoke of the question of union having been considered, but determined to be impossible, except by absolute submission; of the position of the Papacy and Roman Church against the revolutionary spirit of the age, as finally fixed, waiting for a reaction which was to be expected; and of his amazement at the progress of Church restoration in England, of his great preference for our style of architecture, etc."

"A.D. 1873.

"Conversion of St. Paul. Dined at Mr. Marsh's, the American minister; Bishop Strossmayer and his secretary, Mamiami, Vice-President of the Senate, and Borghi, were present; also Dr. Pantaleoni, Mr. Langden, Mr. Walpole, Mr. Meira, and Hemans. Dr. Pantaleoni spoke of the mixing of different nations tending to union of ideas on religion, which he thought manifestly increasing; of the hope for Italy and the Church of Rome being in bringing the clergy more under the influence of the State, and restoring the old system of electing the bishops, and so getting the present state of absolutism in the Papacy modified; and of infidelity being the great hindrance to progress towards reform; and that of 500 Members of Parliament, not above 60 could be counted as believers; of the difference of mind in our races and the Latin, we, starting from the sense of individual responsibility, the Latin races, from allegiance to a central body, in our case working from individuals to a centre, in the other cases working outward from a central authority to individuals; of the error of the Church of Rome in thinking a reaction would ever come, or its present position of antagonism ever being made good. He said, on my referring to the Bible as the guide or ground of stability, that if Italians could ever be got to read the Gospels, it was as much as could ever be expected; they would never read the Old Testament. . . .

"Mr. Langden spoke of the different phases of belief, of the sections of the Church being complementary to each other, and of the strong line of division between the clergy and laity in Italy; the clergy never giving credit to the laity of being in earnest or believing; the laity never giving the clergy any credit of having any liberal ideas or desire of improvement of the state of the Church.

"The papal view is that the king has been forced on by revolutionary violence to enter Rome and remain against his will.

"They fully expect a reaction, and wait for it, possessed with the conviction that absolutism is the sole remedy against rationalism and politicalism.

"Mr. H------told me that in the late census, out of the 26,000,000 of Italians, 19,000,000 could neither read nor write. He said he was at the promulgation of the dogma of infallibility; that at the very time the thunder pealed, and the lightning struck one of the cupolas of St. Peter's, and that it became quite dark; that the Pope seemed struck by it, but recovered himself; that the account appeared in one paper speaking of the event as the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai in thunder and lightning; that it was suppressed and did not appear in others . . .; that he travelled to Florence the next day, and some one with him said the Pope would lose his temporal power before the year ended . . . and it so happened; immediately after the promulgation of the dogma, France declared war against Austria."

"Talk with Monsignor Nardi.

"He considered that union was impossible, that the dogma of infallibility had been in his opinion inexpedient to enter upon; but once started, necessary to be affirmed that the devout laity would side with the bishops; that the more the State resisted the Church, the more the bishops would throw themselves back on the Papacy; but that a great struggle would come, and it would be a terrible time for the Church.

"He considered that we held only two Sacraments, and on its being urged that there was a difference, separating the two from the five others, he did not admit it. Said also that the Fathers were no rule, that they varied too much."

"Talk with Father Douglas.

"He considered that the dogma made no difference in the faith of the Church, only brought it out that the practical difference was that, now Gallicanism was impossible, it would be ipso facto heresy. He considered that the Pope could decide of himself alone with, or without, counsel or advice of any one; that if a Council were called, and the majority went one way, he could rule it a contrary way; but that the head was not to be viewed without the body; that it was not therefore to be expected, or morally possible, that he should thus act, but that all subjects are according to individual rule weighed first by congregations appointed for the special purpose, and come before the Pope only after all possible sifting, often heard and reheard, before his final decision.

"He explained that the difference between a Beatification and a Canonization was in this: that a Beato was revered and invoked by a particular order or Church; a Santo by the whole Church.

"Munich, June 13,1873.

"Had an hour's converse with Döllinger.

"He said that their object was to act upon the upper classes; that more would be done to spread their views, but for the fewness of the priests who had joined them, two only in Munich, fifty in all Germany; that he did not expect a change of Popes to make any difference in the line of Roman doctrine, but that a new pope would probably come to some terms with the Italian Government, and that this would modify the state of things; that Strossmayer had not submitted, only had given his priests permission to publish the decree if they desired, but without implying his sanction or approval, and that he had not published it himself, and it only circulated in his diocese as a matter of Church news; that he paid his visit to the Pope only on condition that the dogma was not mentioned, and that the Pope accepted him thus, though the Jesuits had stated that it (was) otherwise, but that this statement of theirs had been withdrawn. On my asking about the election of Reinkens to be Bishop, he said that, having been once excommunicated, Rome could do nothing more; that his Episcopal acts would be valid, his ordinations, etc., so much so, that a priest ordained by him would be accepted by Rome without farther ordination if he seceded to Rome; and I understood him to say that his acts would be like the acts of our bishops. He added that, after examining the question of our orders, he was satisfied of their validity, and accepted all our Sacraments, etc.; he implied throughout, as we should, that the validity of ordination depended not on any link with the Roman See, but on the Canonical Rules (etc.) being observed.

"On my asking as to the prospect of reunion with the Alt Catholicks, he said, not while we were in union with the State, in consequence of the false doctrines and defects in the uncatholic part of our body (this he did not say, but acceded on my saying that I remembered his having expressed such an opinion as to our being committed to such errors and defects while in union with them), but that whenever we were separated from the State, which he thought eventually must happen, then the Low Church section would form into a distinct body, and the Catholic part of us into another body, and then the latter could unite with the Alt Catholic. He spoke strongly of the State alone now keeping us together; at the same time he said we ought to hold on to the State as long as we could, that it would be unwise to hasten the separation, unwise to surrender a certain benefit which it gave us for an uncertain one. Observing on the amount of difference existing in the Alt Catholic, he spoke of time modifying and changing, the difficulty of altering long usages and ideas, etc. On my observing that the cultus (of the) Blessed Virgin must be a great difficulty, he said that this would, and ought to be, modified, that the cultus was 'unnatural/ that what was said (ordinarily) was 'no calumny but a truth,' that our Lord was put into the shade, that there really was a contradiction between the books of divinity and the common popular usage, the former saying that there was no necessity to pray to the Saints, and for consequence not to the Blessed Virgin Mary; and these devotions of the people (are) cast entirely upon the principles of such worship. On my alluding to Pere Hyacinthe and the Swiss movement, he said that the French Swiss would attach themselves to the French line of thought, the German Swiss to the German, difference of language hindering combination; that Pere Hyacinthe was putting forward such questions as of the marriage of priests, etc., naturally; but that the Germans considered it quite a subordinate one, that it would follow on any change; and he alluded to the Greek Uniat--priests allowed to have wives--and he implied the same as to other purely disciplinary matters. He then went on to speak of Confession, and alluded to the discussions now rife in England. He gave his opinion freely on some important points . . . that confession ought not to be pressed or over encouraged in little matters; that it was more for serious, deadly sins; that he had in his own experience observed that English ladies were disposed to make too much of little matters, getting up a case for confession without need. He thought this very hurtful, and a misuse of the Sacrament of Penance. He denied that Roman priests required some deadly sin to be recalled in order to give absolution, and spoke of the evil of such an idea; that Roman priests always gave the same form of absolution whenever they absolved. He spoke very strongly of the evil consequences of what universally prevailed, of giving absolution on the mere promise of forsaking sin, so that what was charged against the Roman Confessional of leading persons to sin on from the easy obtaining of pardon, making, as he said, a 'safety valve' for sin, is strictly true, everywhere prevailed. I asked how it had arisen. He only repeated it was certainly the fact. On my suggesting it might be from the difficulty of keeping up a stricter view of Confession in case of such numbers, he put this aside, as not being the case, from the numbers of priests and of persons neglecting confession. He said half the people in Munich kept away from Confession. It would be different, he said, in villages, where the parish priest knew everybody. On my asking whether all these were therefore debarred communion, he said no; that in towns it would not be known who went to Confession or not; that it could not but be left to every man's own conscience, and that it was equally so in villages where there were monasteries, the monks being Confessors; and as he seemed to imply, they acted without concert with the parish priest. On my asking particularly on the point, he said all parish priests were, of course, from their position, empowered to confess, that their assistant priests also had no difficulty, but were in fact equally empowered; that other priests like himself had to arrange this with the parish priest, but that it was readily agreed to.

"His parting words to me were, that while Russia would have her influence in the East, Germany and England would be the leading nations influencing the West; that we on our side must work towards a future union, which would come after our day."

In June, 1873, Mr. Carter returned home with strength restored, and again took up his work in the parish and Sisterhood.

He was warmly welcomed by parishioners and friends, and to the address in which they expressed their hope that he might "long be spared to watch, as you have always done, over our best and highest interests, and to minister to our spiritual necessities," he returned the subjoined answer:--

"Clewer Rectory, July 8, 1872.

"MY DEAR FRIENDS,

"Your kind welcome to me on my return home has deeply affected me, and can never be forgotten by me. To have been restored to the hope of being useful in my appointed duties is a blessing for which I heartily thank Almighty God; but you have added to this the happiness of feeling that I have your affectionate goodwill, which is the greatest possible comfort and encouragement to me.

"In the long period that I have been permitted to minister in this important parish, I am very conscious how imperfectly I have fulfilled what I have desired to do, but your expressions of sympathy lead me to trust that you accept my desires, and regard kindly what it may please God to allow me to do.

"My children wish me to express their sense of thankfulness to you for your kind thoughts of them, and their delight, in which they unite with me, in being again amongst you.

"I heartily pray that in whatever trials of sickness and infirmity it may be your lot to share, you may have a large measure of that kindness and those consolations which have been richly and most mercifully granted to me in my time of need.

"Believe me to remain,

"Your obliged and faithful friend

"and servant in Christ our Lord,

"T. T. CARTER."

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