The eleventh volume of the Text of the great work on Egypt is published. It contains some interesting memoirs on the communications between the Indian Sea and the Mediterranean by the Red Sea; on the canal of Alexandria; on the Isthmus of Suez; a description of the town of Qoceyr; a notice on the medicines usual among the Egyptians; a memoir on the ovens for hatching chickens; a description of Lake Menzaleh, by General Andreossi; and observations on the Fountain of Moses, by Monge. Nos. 93, 94, and 95, of the plates are also published.

M. Gau, whose Antiquities of Nubia (of which seven numbers are published) have been so well received by the public, is going to publish 25 plates of Egyptian antiquities, consisting of bas reliefs, and paintings, copied on the spot, by M. Gau himself.

A new novel, Elisa Tarrakanoff, by M. Bonnelier, is founded on the following story, the authenticity of which is, we believe, very questionable. Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, had, they say, a natural daughter; and few persons were in the secret; one of these persons was the Polish Prince Radziwill, who, after the death of Elizabeth, carried the young princess off, and conducted her to Rome, either to promote the advantage of his country, or to forward his own ambitious designs. But Catherine II., aware of his projects, sequestrated his property; and, while he was absent for the purpose of getting this sequestration taken off, she sent her favourite, Alexis Orloff, for the purpose of seducing the young princess, by flattering her with the hope of placing her on the throne. He succeeds in ensnaring the credulous Elisa into a pretended marriage, the object of which is to accomplish an atrocious crime. A Russian fleet is in the harbour of Leghorn; seconded by the English Consul, and still more by his wife, Orloff persuades his unsuspecting victim to visit the fleet, where she meets only chains, and soon afterwards death.

Germany-The first volume of Mr. Wiebeking's grand work, The History of Civil Architecture, has excited great interest, and an ardent wish to see the whole completed;

which, we understand, it is expected to be by the publication of the second volume at Easter fair. Mr. W., whose elaborate work on hydraulics has acquired him the highest reputation on the Continent, though it is not known in England as it merits (the late 'lamented Mr. Rennie, we believe, had a copy of it), has exerted himself to the utmost on this new work, one of the most important that has ever appeared on the subject; it is illustrated by an amazing number of fine plates, some of them on an extraordinarily large scale, the author having either himself measured, or caused to be measured, above 900 cathedrals and churches in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, England, and France. Plates will likewise be given of all the most beautiful and curious antique temples, including many of the most remarkable Egyptian temples, &c. taken from the French Description de l'Egypte.

Another part of the Life of Goethe is expected at Easter fair, and also the second volume of Professor Horn's Illustrations of the Plays of Shakspeare.

Dr. Niemeyer, Chancellor of the University of Halle, has already published a second edition of his Observations, made during a Tour in England.

History of the city of Danzig, from the oldest times to the present, vol. I. This is the title of an interesting work just published by a Dr. G. Löschin. Danzig is without dispute one of the most ancient commercial cities, and is proved to have carried on an extensive commerce even in the 10th century. In all the wars carried on by the Poles, Russians, Swedes, Prussians, Danes, and the Teutonic Knights, it acted an important part, and that for centuries together. Such a city was worthy of particular notice; but in earlier times it was not possible to publish any thing complete; the apprehensions and fears of the patrician order enveloping every thing in mystery. Dr. Löschin, however, has now been permitted to consult the archives of the city, and has thus been enabled to compose a work highly interesting. This first volume brings down the history to the year 1660.

1

THE grand Festa di San Francesco took place while we remained at the Monastery; this is the greatest feast celebrated by those monks: it was preceded by a novena, or nine days' vigil, during which, we observed, the monks fasted somewhat more, and sang and prayed a great deal more, than usual-to tell the truth, they worked very hard; for in the morning before day-light they were up and paying their devotions in the church; they continued to exercise themselves there, with but short intervals of rest, during the whole day; in the evening, after supper, they prayed about half an hour before the picture over the door of the refectory, which we have mentioned; and after this, they repaired to an altar in the dormitory, where they concluded their labours for the day. During the whole novena, the church was adorned with hangings, and partially illuminated day and night. All the monastic functions were exercised with the greatest activity, but none more so than the cerca, or business of begging. In order to form a correct idea of this matter, we determined to accompany one of the lay brothers (they only being employed on this important service) in one of his expeditions; accordingly one fine day, immediately after dinner, Frà Filippo came to us agreeable to appointment, and we set out with him to beg for the honour of Saint Francis. Our friend had a crutch stick, armed at one end with an iron spike; and to his shoulder was fastened a large wallet, in which one indispensable piece of equipment was a large loose leathern bottle, that extended it-, self more or less, according to the liberality of the benefactors of the convent; the wallet generally returned home laden with a very mixed cargo-sometimes with olives and eggs, fagioli and bread,-at others, with bacon, flour, peas, fruit, &c. We set out at the hot and lazy hour when every one was reposing, except those whose callings or necessities compelled them to be up; and we trudged along through the silent

Naples, June, 1822. streets of Sorrento, utterly unnoticed, until we reached the house of a poor woman, who sold aquavitæ, rosolio, terragli, &c. The monk and the honest donna were on the best of terms; no sooner did we appear than she made us sit down, and placed some of her best rosolio before us; and after having taken two or three preliminary pinches of the monk's smuggled snuff, she began to consult him on her affairs; and when he had instructed and comforted her by his counsel, he introduced the subject of the festival, saying, he hoped the people would not forsake the Saint who had never forsaken them; that the festa would be worthy of San Francesco, with many hints of the same kind: all this was said generally, and not addressed to her in a downright begging style, and the scene was concluded by her giving him five grains and a handful of terragli; then, after another pinch, of snuff, and a few compliments interchanged between the monk and the good lady, we took our leaves. We thence went on to Prospietto, by the house of Tasso, near which we entered into a cantina, where the Frate was received with great kindness by the master and mistress, who presently began to ask how the good brothers got on in their collections for the feast; Frà Filippo, with a very serious face, told them that times were not what they had been; that the good spirit of religion and generosity seemed to have left the people, and that hitherto the collections had been very trifling-very trifling indeed; in short, that he had never known such bad times since he had worn the santa lana; and this, by the bye, was no cunning exaggera tion, for the times have indeed, changed for the monks; during the last twenty years they have suffered various oppressions, many monasteries have been suppressed, and the reverence in which the people formerly held their spiritual advisers has been "mocked into air," (we know not that much moral good has been effected by the change,) and

all the orders have fallen into comparative contempt and neglect. The good cantiniere, who knew nothing of these modern improvements, who was no Carbonaro, and was really attached to the Frati, expressed his sincere regret for their disappointments; and to console his guest produced a bottle of his very best, gave him a carlin in hard cash, and promised to send him three bottles of good wine in aid of the festivity. After drinking a glass round, we took leave of the cantina, and also of the city, directing our course to the masserie, lying towards Massa. We knocked at a door in a solitary lane, and Frà Filippo, lifting up his voice, uttered a loud cry, which, though perfectly unintelligible to the uninitiated, was very well understood by the people within; in a short time the door was opened by a poor decrepid old woman; she also expressed great satisfaction at seeing her friend the monk, and we advanced with her to the house, which was in the middle of the farm, and at some distance from the entrance. The peasants were very busy with their double raccolta of grapes and olives: on approaching the house we saw two boys hoisted up in a large square stone trough, treading out the grapes, of which fresh supplies were brought every moment by girls and boys from different parts of the masseria; we looked at the merry little rogues for awhile, and then walked onward into the vineyard, where we saw a number of young folks busily employed in gathering the grapes; and continuing our walk, we reached a pleasant arbour of vines at the extremity of the farm, which was indeed just on the edge of the cliffs; we had thence a view of the marina grande of Sorrento, which lay immediately below. Here, sitting in the shade of the yellow leaves, we ate the fine fresh grapes which the monk selected for us, gathering them from the living vine, which hung over our heads. We afterwards returned to the house, and entered a very large room in which a fire was burning on a large open hearth, and an iron pot of no inconsiderable dimensions was hung up to boil. It was a

Friday, and consequently a digiuno for the people as well as for the monks; the old woman asked our companion if he would have some fagioli, which she had in fact prepared for him, as she expected his visit; Frà Filippo was of course nothing loth, and very soon the fagioli, smoking hot and invitingly white, were served up with much respect, on a coarse but clean tablecloth; some pickled peparoli (capsicums) were produced as a whet, and we, as well as Filippo, began to do great justice to the good lady's fare. The fagioli are often prepared with oil and vinegar; the old woman asked our companion if he would have some oil, offering to give him some virgin oil; to this, of course, (as virgin oil is very good,) he readily agreed, on which she got up, and the monk, and we also, followed her into the room where the oil was pressed. Here we found all the apparatus for oil making, and an immense quantity of olives, some lying in the press, some in the wring, and others which had been freshly bruised, heaped up in one corner, and slowly dropping the virgin oil into a well beneath prepared to receive it; from this store the woman dipped out some with a glass; it was beautifully clear, and had a most delightful flavor. On our return to the kitchen this was added to the fagioli, and rendered them so palatable, that we all ate very heartily of them, although it was so very soon after dinner. Fi lippo, as he hinted to us afterwards, had "saved a corner" in expectation of this treat, and indeed it was his usual practice, when there was but lenten entertainment at the Monastery, to have occasion to call upon some one whose respect for the cloth, and affection for him personally, insured him somewhat better fare.While we were eating, the master of the vineyard dropped in; Filippo began a conversation with him about the vintage, and presently produced two segars (a present which had been made him by a tobacconist in the town): he gave one of these to the farmer, the other he hit himself, and they both began smoking and talking of various affairs; their dis

course was assisted by the old mo ther and by three ruddy damsels, who came in from the Masseria to listen to the edifying words of the Frate, and to gaze at the due giovani Inglesi. At length the conversation flagged, and we sallied out to the wine-cellar, where the must was fermenting; here the monk affixed little prints of San Francesco to every butt, saying, at the same time, that the Saint would now take that wine under his protection, that it would consequently be a very good wine, and would run no risk from heat or rain or thunder, as long at least as they continued to pay a proper respect to their beatified patron; which he doubted not they would always continue to do, as they had long done, because they must certainly have found the advantages of it. We re turned to the house, and the peasant told Filippo he would give him half a barrel of wine, two rotoli of oil, and four rotoli of fagioli; at the same time he gave him some peparoli and pomi-d'oro to carry with him to the Monastery: he also presented him with some bunches of fine grapes selected for the purpose, and those we ate as we walked off. We had staid in this masseria, what with eating and drinking, smoking, talking, &c. so long, that the monk found it would be necessary to curtail his excursion and return towards town. On our way thither we stopped at a fine large garden, the master of which paid his little tax in coin; and on leaving him, we descended by a picturesque path to the marina grande, and on arriving there went into a cantina, kept by a distant relation of the monk, who at our arrival was busily engaged in roasting chesnuts. Here, however, we were not so well received as at the other places; it is true, that on our en trance he placed some of the chesnuts before us; but as the monk was his relation, he did not treat him with much deference, did not offer us any wine, and even allowed us to pay for the fruit he had put before us. While we were seated there, some fishermen, having nothing on but short cotton drawers and shirts, the sleeves of which were tucked up to the shoulders, and red woollen caps on their heads, came in to take their evening repast, which was a

few chesnuts and a little wine. Frå Filippo presently introduced the subject of the festa, and àpropos to that, began discussing the possibi lity of smuggling some Palermitan snuff-smuggling being a trade in which he occasionally peddled a little; about the latter subject he got some information; but for the festa he got neither money, roba, nor promises. As it grew dark we left the taverna, and jogged on towards the Monastery-we, the profane, were pretty merry, from what we had drunk; but Frà Filippo, who had been long used to tipple a little here and a little there, comported himself pretty discreetly; however, on the road he amused us with a low Nea politan song about catching fleas, which he hummed in a suppressed voice, stopping whenever we met any persons by the way, in order that no scandal might accrue to the order. At length we reached the Monastery, and thus ended our afternoon's cerca, which had made us acquainted with many little circumstances respecting the ways and means of the Francis cans, that otherwise we might never have known.

And now let us return to the novena. During these nine days the preparations for the festival were carried on with great activity; there was more hurry and bustle in the Monastery than we had ever before witnessed, and every member seemed animated with extraordinary zeal and alacrity. Very frequent consultations took place; and for several days following, we observed nearly the whole brotherhood assembled in a group, and debating with the gravest and most important looks and tones imaginable; on inquiry we found that the subject of these consultations was about introducing two butts of wine into the Monastery, without paying the gabella. To make this matter a little clearer, we must observe, that the country near Sorrento does not abound in wine, from which circumstance it happens that the monks never get enough wine in the cerca for the consumption of the Monastery, and are consequently obliged to purchase it from time to time. For the great festival, an additional stock was requisite, the con ventual cellars had run low, and consequently the provident Superior