1828.) 
tour, but of a residence—not of the residence 
of an individual, but of a family—the results 
of the varied and multiplied impressions of 
many individuals—not of one who “ pro- 
tests” against the religion of the country he 
visits, but of one who professes it, and well 
understands the religions of both ;—not of 
one—we give nearly the author’s own words 
—who, proud of his own rights and privi- 
leges, looks with contempt upon every coun- 
try unblessed with English institutions, but 
of one who is relieved from all extravagant 
admiration of his own government, by being 
refused all share in it—placed, in short, 
inter erarios—with no privilege, but that 
of paying taxes. 
Mr. Best is plainly a reformer by circum- 
stances—-necessity forces him forward; not 
led by ratiocination, nor prompted by any 
generous desires to promote the common ad- 
vantages ofimproved institutions, but driven 
by suffering. As a Fellow at Oxford, and 
reading for the Bampton lecture, he was, we 
scarcely doubt, a zealous champion for the 
powers that be—a railer, perhaps, at Catho- 
lics and dissenters—charging all opponents 
of the existing administration with a wilful 
design to pull down the church and the 
constitution, so long the admiration of 
the world—resolute to keep down all that 
were down—exclaiming against change as 
innovation, and treachery, and treason— 
imputing scandalous motives where it was 
safe, and damning with faint praise where 
it was not. Now he takes the tone of a man 
born in oppression—the iron has sunk into 
his soul—the sense of wrong is inveterate in 
him—he is alienated from his country—is 
blinded to her superiorities—sympathizes 
with his Catholic brethren of Ireland—vin- 
dicates their rights to freedom and inde- 
pendence—is spiteful towards King William, 
and rails at the Custom-house. ‘ Is an ec- 
clesiastic a fit person to be a temporal sove- 
reign ?”’ he asks, when discussing the Pope’s 
sovereignty. ‘‘ Why, as to the internal go- 
vernment of a state, if by this phrase is 
meant all the farrago of protecting, prohibit- 
ing, and countervailing duties, and inter- 
ference in the affairs of commerce, down to 
the retail trade of the lowest shopkeeper—if 
it mean the balancing of party interests, and 
the work of determining how far the good of 
the whole should be sacriticed to the clamours 
of parties—if it mean the business of reme- 
dying the irremediable evil of poverty, an 
evil only aggravated by political regulation 
— if it mean the preservation of hares and 
partridges from the profane touch of those 
on whose land they are nourished—if such 
and such be the senses in which the words 
‘internal government of a state’ are to be 
understood, an ecclesiastical person is an 
unfit head of the state,’ &c. 
Nevertheless, the author’s thorough good- 
nature occasionally overcomes his ill-humour, 
and his natural turn for the facetious throws 
a gleam of sunshine over the gloomy and 
querulous cast of his political sentiments. 
Domestic and Foreign. 
363 
It is difficult—zealous Catholic as no doubt 
he is—to believe that he is not laughing in 
his sleeve, even when taking his sternest 
tone of defence. At Turin, he speaks of a 
chapel much frequented by Protestants for 
a sight of the holy napkin, exhibited to the 
faithless once a year, but to the faithful at 
any time on especial application, and “ as- 
sisting’? at mass. Protestants visit, it 
seems, for the sake of saying something in 
their ‘‘ tour”’ about miracles—‘“‘ as the co- 
lonel put sticking-plaister on his shoulder, 
that he might in his dispatches report him- 
self wounded. Fortunately for the mock- 
ers,” he continues, ‘‘ there is somewhere in 
Flanders another holy napkin: it follows, 
therefore, that no veneration is to be paid to 
relics, and that popery is a cheat through- 
out, Q@. E. D.”” What thinks the Protestant 
of this retort? Again: “ at Florence is a 
picture of the blessed Virgin, said to be by 
St. Luke; it is a relic much venerated; and 
kept in a little chapel, which, being an in- 
closure of bars of brass, looks like an aviary 
or other large cage. It is enriched with all 
that looks glittering and precious ; a golden 
lamp, the present of Charles IV., hangs 
from the ceiling. The picture was exposed 
twice during our stay: once on occasion of 
prayers for rain, and once during the lying- 
in of the archduchess—hboth times with good 
success ; for the archduchess recovered, and 
the rain came swbito, as a workman in the 
Palazzo Nicolini observed to me, imme- 
diately on the exposition of the picture. I 
know not if the conservators of this madonna 
had the prudence of the Bishop of Avignon. 
His clergy waited on him to propose that the 
image of St. Agricol should be carried 
through the streets in procession, with 
prayers for rain: the bishop went to look at 
his barometer, and seeing the top of the 
mercury to be quite spherical, said, ‘ Mes- 
sieurs, ne compromettons pas le crédit du 
saint; attendons.’’”? After telling this 
story, the author adds, with all imaginable 
gravity, “ This will be called trickery by 
those who blame the Catholic clergy for be- 
lieving in modern miracles, and at the same 
time for not expecting them to be wrought 
whenever they ask for them. The church of 
England has in its prayer-book prayers for 
rain and fair weather, which are recited at 
times, I believe, in the country parishes 
during haymaking and harvest.” 
The church of St. Paul fuori delle Mura, 
in the Via Appia, by the carelessness of 
some workmen repairing the roof, took fire, 
and burnt furiously thirty-six hours, when 
the roof fell in, and the whole was a mass of 
ruins. The beautiful marble pillars were 
found calcined, or fallen, or cracked, or tot- 
tering. The shrine in which repose the 
relics of the apostle, though in the centre of 
the conflagration, was unhurt. ‘ Yet so 
incredulous is the age,’’ observes the author, 
*¢ that no one cried out, ‘ A miracle! a mi- 
racle !’ Does the miraculous nature of a 
fact depend on human belief? If so, "tis 
