too well from thine own experience, to render it necessary for me to draw your attention to the subject; and if I now refer to it, it is to excite in our mutual breasts a reminiscence of early feelings; for our whole life should be a continuation of the Sunday of our first communion.

For a long period prior to this event, has the pastor prepared the youth for this two-fold solemnity. In some places, as at Rome, the children spend the last ten days in a monastery allotted for the purpose, in order, that, living there in seclusion from the world, from their parents and relatives, they may devote themselves to meditation, and to serious preparation for the solemn event which is to occur. At last arrives the expected day. Early the church bell gives the signal. The children assemble in the school-house; and thence, each sex apart, they proceed under the conduct of their teachers to the church. This is a highly affecting spectacle: the boys are clothed alike; so are the girls; the latter being mostly clad in white dresses, simple, beautiful, and modest. But the most beautiful and touching of the whole is, the expression of devotion in their countenances; the piety manifested in their gait, look, and demeanour. As they approach the church, their delicate infantine voices pour forth a hymn; and as they enter singing, the organ strikes up its sweetest notes, accompanied by a chorus, of the clearest, but withal, the tenderest harmony, like an angelic salutation from above. Then the community joins in saluting the young members, now admitted into its bosom. At the

altar, the priest stands awaiting them, robed in a long white vestment, and wearing his stole. He, also, salutes them with amiable dignity, and, after they have formed themselves in a semicircle round the altar, he calls their attention, in words, few, but persuasive and strong, to the important action which they are about to solemnize.

STUDENMAIER.

LESSON XVIII.

INNISFALLEN.

SWEET Innisfallen, fare thee well,

May calm and sunshine long be thine!

How fair thou art, let others tell,

While but to feel how fair is mine!

Sweet Innisfallen, fare thee well,

And long may light around thee smile,
As soft as on that evening fell,

When first I saw that fairy Isle.

Thou wert too lovely then, for one

Who had to turn to paths of care,
Who had through vulgar crowds to run,
And leave thee bright and silent there.

No more along thy shores to roam,
But on the world's dim ocean tost,
Dream of thee sometimes, as a home
Of sunshine, he had seen and lost.

Far better in thy weeping hours,
To part from thee as I do now,
When mist is o'er thy blooming bowers,
Like sorrow's veil on beauty's brow.

For tho' unrivall'd still thy grace,

Thou dost not look, as then, too blest,
But in thy shadows, seem'st a place
Where weary man might hope to rest-

Might hope to rest, and find in thee,
A gloom like Eden's on the day
He left its shade, when every tree,
Like thine, hung weeping o'er his way.

Weeping or smiling, lovely Isle!

And still the lovelier for thy tearsFor tho' but rare thy sunny smile,

"Tis heaven's own glance when it appears.

Like feeling hearts, whose joys are few,

But when indeed they come, divineThe steadiest light the sun e'er threw

Is lifeless to one glance of thine.

MOORE.

adjacent.

accommodation overloaded

THIS church stands on a high hill, about five miles from Bologna. It is in the form of a Greek cross, of the Corinthian order, and crowned with a dome. As the people of Bologna have a peculiar devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and crowds flock from all quarters to visit this, her sanctuary; for their accommodation, in all seasons and in all weather, a portico has been carried from the gates of the city up the hill to the very entrance of the temple, or rather to the square before it, This immense building was raised by the voluntary contributions of persons of every class in Bologna: the richer erected one or more arches, according to their means; the middling classes gave their pecuniary aid in proportion; and the poorest insisted on contributing their labour to the grand undertaking. It is, in reality, a most noble monument of public piety, and alone sufficient to prove, that the spirit and magnificence of the ancient Romans still animate the modern Italians.

The church is of a fine and well-proportioned

form, rich in marbles, but overloaded, as we imagined, with ornaments. It is needless to add, that from such an elevation the view is beautiful; lost on one side in the windings of the neighbouring Apennines, and extending on the other over a plain of immense extent, and unparalleled population and fertility. One circumstance struck us particularly, while on the hill. It was the end of March, the sky was clear, and the weather warm, nearly as it may be on a bright day in England in the month of May; so warm in short, as to render the shade not only pleasing, but desirable; yet, in various parts of the hill, and near the church, the snow lay deep, and in vast masses, still likely to resist, for some time, the increasing warmth of the season; so great is the influence of such mountains as the Alps and Apennines, on the climate of the adjacent countries.

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