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water at the command of his holy abbot, and saved his companion, St. Placidus, from drowning. At another of these stations of devotion, I viewed the memorials of St. Benedict himself, receiving the holy cowl from St. Romanus, who first was his master, and afterwards his disciple in the spiritual life. Further on I passed by the great and celebrated abbey of St. Scholastica, now shut up and mouldering, since its inhabitants were dispersed by revolutionary infidels. At length, after many a weary step in climbing up to my then aërial situation, I entered through the outward gateway of the convent, into a dark avenue of interlacing forest trees, which terininated at a lofty but narrow and winding marble staircase, where I entered into the venerable church of St. Benedict's Priory, built, as its paintings and inscriptions, no less than its records, prove, in the ninth or tenth century. Having viewed the curious sacristy, and other adjoining chapels and offices, I descended to where St. Benedict's grotto, a natural cavern, is united with the ancient edifice of the priory *. Here I saw and venerated the Saint's awful oratory, his narrow cell and resting-place, no other than a rough rock. This, however, is now ornamented with a wellexecuted marble statue of the Saint in prayer, by a scholar of Bernini. Near the grotto is an artificial excavation, which serves as a burial-place for the monks of the priory. On a small level spot adjoining to this is a garden, nearly covered with a succession of the thorns into which the Saint cast himself on a memorable occasion. On an adjoining level I beheld the perpendicular rock, at a vast height above the elevation where I stood, whence the holy Romanus, who inhabited a hermitage on that giddy height, was accustomed, once a week, to let down a basket of bread for the support of St. Benedict. Here also I beheld an immense square rock, of many hundred tons' weight, which had evidently slipped from its native situation, and appeared to hang almost pendulous in the air, threatening destruction to the offices below, unless supported by a miracle. I was next shown a brazen cross, which the Saint brought with him from Rome to Sublacum; likewise the broken bell with which Romanus used to summon Bencdict to come out of his grotto, in order to receive his weekly provision; and, lastly, a staff, which measured the Saint's height, and which is between six and seven feet in length. The persons who showed me these curiosities, were the reverend prior, Francesco Cavallo, and Dom Melito Dolci. I afterwards saw the Abbot of St. Scholastica, a venerable Octogenarian, but blind with age. These holy solitaries had nothing of the roughness of their situation in their manners or conversation, which were as polite (because charity,

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"The plans, sections, and elevations of this most singular priory, as also of St. Scholastica's abbey, have been published by my late friend, le Chevalier Seroux d'Azincourt, in his learned folio work, La Décadence des Arts."

humility, and good sense, are the constituents of true politeness,) as if they had spent their lives in a capital or a palace. In descending from the grotto and priory of St. Benedict, I viewed the once magnificent abbey of St. Scholastica, its beautiful church, ornamented with first-rate paintings, together with its spacious refectory, dormitory, and cloisters. These were exhibited to me by a poor secular priest, who keeps the keys of the deserted abbey, and leads an heremetical life in one of its apartments. In a second visit which I paid to St. Benedict's cave, I was accompanied by a real hermit, Angelo Cenci, whom I accidentally met with in the neighbourhood. This good man had spent seven years amongst the monks of La Trappe, and now occupies a solitary cell on the banks of the Teverone.

"I had hitherto passed through the frequented roads of the Apennines; but, being bent on making a circuitous tour, and viewing certain other celebrated places of devotion situated in this wild country, I was obliged to pass through the cross-roads of it, or rather to pass from place to place where there were no roads at all, clambering up rocky mountains, descending into steep precipices, now immersed in mud, now forced to jump from one large stone to another, it being impossible to make regular steps. A great part of the journey I was forced to perform on foot, and, even thus, I met with many falls, though, thanks be to God, none of them was attended with serious consequences. To add to my trials, the guide whom I had engaged at Subiaco (my Italian servant knowing no more of the way than I did), oftener than once led me astray, so that I was obliged to engage another guide, whom I accidentally met with in the middle of the way. It rained in torrents during almost the whole journey, accompanied sometimes with hail, thunder, and lightning. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that we should employ four hours in travelling five miles, in order to get to the first human habitation southward of Subiaco. This is called Rocco di San Stefano. Arriving here at what is called an osteria or inn, we found the whole cave, of which it consisted, quite full of pigs, which were eating the food that was there given them. Hence we proceeded two miles, to the Retiro di San Francesco di Civitella, a convent in which the original poverty, solitude, and austerity of the great Saint whose name it bears, are still observed. The good religious received me with the utmost benignity, and placed before me the best fare their convent produced, bread, cabbage, eggs, and wine, at the same time refusing to receive any money from me, either in the way

of pay, or even as an alms. They showed me many objects of devotion, and, among the rest, the remains of one of their religious, the blessed Thomas of Cori, who died about fourscore years ago, and who was beatified by Pope Pius VI. The body lies under the high altar, in the habit of his order, the face being covered with a visor that exactly represents his proper features,

Having taken my leave of these holy men, I proceeded through roads as rugged as those which I had passed in the morning, and full of wolves; but I was in some degree protected from the pitiless storin over my head, by a forest of chesnut-trees, the fruit of which strewed the road for many miles. We passed by the town of San Vito, and arrived, with great difficulty, late at night, and in a pitiful condition, at Genezano. Here our habitation was an old ruined castle, without glass in the windows, and destitute of almost every other convenience of life. Hunger and fatigue, however, enabled me to make a good meal of homely fare, and to sleep soundly on a pair of hop-sacks. The next morning my first care was to visit the Sanctuary di S. Maria di Bon Concilio, a place of devotion, resembling in many respects the famous house of Loretto, and not less venerated in this part of the Apennines. It is situated in the convent of the hermits of St. Augustin, one of whom, Father Augustine Corsotti, showed me the place with every kind of civility. Many miracles are said to have been performed here, and some of them by that illustrious hermit of this order, the prelate Menochio, the Pope's confessor, who, no less than his penitent, (as I have ascertained,) has performed different unquestionable mi

racles.

"From Genezano I proceeded on the 25th to Palestrina, the ancient Præneste, which bears more interesting remains of its ancient state, especially in the buildings that surround it, than any other city I have yet seen, Rome excepted. It is now one of the seven suburbicarian bishoprics. Hitherto I had been impeded in my journey by the roughness of the road, but in the present stage of it I was impeded by its smoothness, as the road consisted entirely of the old Roman pavement, formed of broad smooth stones, (two feet, at least, square, upon an average,) and fitted together with the nicest masonry. It is impossible for horses to go faster than a foot pace on such roads, with safety to the riders. The ancients cut grooves in these stones, but they are now obliterated. After dining at Zagorella, I rode through rich vineyards, by Monte Portio (where the English college had a country-house) and Monte Dragone, to Frascati.

"Frascati is the Richmond Hill of the Christian capital. It is, indeed, seated on the Apennines, but here the lofty and rugged mountains descend to a more moderate and gentle elevation. In short, the mountain of Frascati is covered with the rich and splendid villas of the Roman nobility, some of which I had seen before, and particularly Ruffinelli, the Tuscan villa of the immortal Cicero, now the property of the independent and classical Lucien, Prince of Canino, which, as it heretofore furnished some of the choicest articles of the Vatican Museum, so now it continues to reward the Prince of Canino's expensive excavations with the most beautiful statues and other antique curiosities. In addition to the Saturnal festivity of Frascati, in

the month of October, (being the May of Rome,) the intelli- ` gent and excellent Cardinal de Somaglia had been enthroned in the cathedral of that city the day I arrived there, which event was celebrated with solemn services, music, fire-works, and other demonstrations of joy. But to these succeeded, a few hours afterwards, an event of the most terrific nature, though by no means uncommon in that part of the Apennines, as the face of it demonstrates,-an earthquake. The weather again became stormy, which before had begun to clear up; this circumstance detained me here a day longer than I had intended to stay. On the morning of the 27th I took horse, and pursuing the course of the delicious mountains I was then upon, I passed by the Belvidere to Grotta Ferrata and Marino. Here I joined company with a number of those excellent women who have done so much honour to their sex and to their religion, in every country where the late anti-christian persecution has raged, -I mean, a company of expelled nuns, who were going to ask the Pope's blessing, and seek some other place of voluntary confinement for the remainder of their mortal course. I now came to Castle Gandolfi, the Holy Father's country house, where he was then enjoying three weeks' partial repose from the arduous and uninterrupted duties of his sublime station. At the foot of his palace is the beautiful lake of Castello; and a mile and a half from thence, and at an equal distance from Albano, is the Emissarium, or wonderful artificial conduit of that lake, made by the ancient Romans. I had nothing now to do but pursue my journey through the remains and vestiges of aqueducts, temples, and other monuments of remote antiquity that cover the plains, to the Eternal City, which the Almighty was pleased to raise to supreme empire, in order to make it afterwards the head of his never-failing religion.

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'Roma caput mundi, quidquid non possidet armis
Religione tenet.'"

THE REV. ROBERT HOADLY-ASHE, D.D.

This excellent Scholar and vigilant School-master was son of a Prebendary of Winchester. He was presented by the Dean and Chapter of that Cathedral to the Perpetual Curacy of Crewkerne in 1775; and in 1780 was appointed by Earl Poulett to preside over the grammar-school in the same town. He compounded for the degrees of M. A. Dec. 11,

*

1793, and of B. and D. D. July 17, 1794, as of Pembroke College, Oxford.-He published in 4to, 1787, for the benefit of an ingenious pupil, some "Poetical Translations from various Authors, by Master John Browne, of Crewkerne, a boy of twelve years old ;" and in 1799, "A Letter to the Rev. John Milner, D. D. F. S. A. Author of the Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Winchester; occasioned by his false and illiberal aspersions on the memory and writings of Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, formerly Bishop of Winchester." The circumstances of the latter publication have been detailed in the preceding article,-the memoir of Dr. Milner. Between the appearance of these two publications, Dr. Ashe had obtained a very considerable property, and assumed the name of Hoadly before that of Ashe, on the death of his aunt, the relict of Dr. John Hoadly, Chancellor of Winchester, and son of the Bishop.

The Rev. R. ASHE to the Rev. WEEDEN BUTLER †. 1. "DEAR SIR, Crewkerne, Nov. 18, 1775. "I rejoice to think that the door is opened for a correspondence between us, though perhaps by this time you begin to think

*See hereafter, p. 747.

Of this truly excellent and benevolent Divine, and of his two sons, the Rev. Weeden Butler, his successor in his School at Chelsea, and the Rev. Dr. George Butler, the learned Head-master at Harrow, some memoirs are printed in the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. IX. pp. 223-224,' and enlarged by his eldest son in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. XCIII. ii. 182-185. Mr. Butler's writings were many and multifarious; but his known publications are few, and mostly re-prints of other writers. Among these the following are ascertained: 1. "The Cheltenham Guide," 8vo, original; 2. "Single Sermons," 4to, and 8vo, original; 3. "Jortin's Tracts," two vols. 8vo, 1790, much enlarged; 4. "Wilcocks' Roman Conversations," two vols. 8vo, 1797; 5. "An Account of the Life and Writings of the Rev. George Stanhope, D. D. Dean of Canterbury, author of the Paraphrase and Comment on the Epistles and Gospels," 8vo, original; 6. "Memoirs of Mark Hildesley, D.D. Lord Bishop of Sodor and Mann, and Master of Sherburn Hospital; under whose auspices the Holy Scriptures were translated into the Manks language," 8vo, 1799, original.

He most materially assisted his friend and coadjutor the late Janes Neild, Esq. in preparing for the press a third edition of the "Account of the Society meeting in Craven-street, published in 1805; " and still more so in the enlarged final edition of 1812, every line of which he twice

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