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    these was exhausted , fcongs were sung by tlie clergyman , at the request of his religio-laic brethren . In speaking of tlie feigning pope , the fact of his having illegitimate children was alluded to ! With the exception that one of the company quoted passages from the beautiful Italian translation of Young ' s Night Thoughts , by the Abbate Alberti , of Naples , the

    conversation was in general such as mi g ht be expected from a party of military officers in England . Although it steered clear of absolute p rofaneness or indecorum , it was of such a cast as would not be tolerated , for a moment , in a company of persons pretending to any religious character in our own country . With all this , however , the prayers were not forgotten . In the morning , and again in the afternoon , the clergyman took up his Breviary , which he kept constantly by him , and for about twenty-five minutes

    wasmuttering as fast as even Neapolitan lips could move , which greatly outstrip our rigid northern organs in the race of formal devotion . The performance of this task did not even put a stop to the conversation , for a new bridge having been erected in one part of the Pontine Marshes , since he had paid his last visit to " the metropolis of the Christian world , " our priest deliberately opened the window in the midst of his devotions , put his head out , and stilt muttering his prayers , mixed up with them remarks to his companions on the object which had excited his curiosity . — " And this is Christian Italy r said I to myself , where the licentiousness of hint whose title is the "

    Holiness of our Lord , " is openly and jocosely alluded to by his own clergy , and where addresses to Him , who will be worshiped in spirit and in truth , are mixed up and pronounced in the same breath with the most ordinary matters of discourse ! In such a country it may be doubted if the infidel be even to be pitied ; certainly lie is not to be wondered at . In coming to Naples , I was prepared , by the accounts of travellers , to expect that I must either wage perpetual warfare against imposition , or submit to it in a degree beyond all limits . The first specimen that occurred I

    will not withhold from the reader . I was set down by the coach at the corner of a street as near as a carriage could come to the hotel at which I was to be lodged , about ten doors' distance . My baggage having been detained at the custom-house , I had only a light bag , for the carriage of which , to the inn door , a dispute immediately began amongst four or five men . The strongest bore off the prize , and then , although it was one of the most

    frequented hotels in Naples , he pretended not to know the way , and appealed to the rabble about him for their counsel and direction , which ail shouted out their readiness to afford him , and arriving at our destination almost in the instant of our setting out , all planted themselves in my way demanding a "buon * mano , " or fee . Three insisting on following me into my bed-room , planted themselves in attitudes of defiance , and demanded to be

    paid ( although I had already paid the porter ) in the character of " CiceronL " Wishing my apartment to be cleared of them , I offered them what was equal to about tenpence in English money , but their leader , with violent gesticulations and a roaring voice , indignantly flung the preferred sum on the table . In vain I now appealed to the people of the house . I was told it was best

    to give them something more , which I was obliged to do before my visitors would stir a step from their posts . What a contrast to the amiable Waidenses whom I had lately visited , where the stFanger is obliged to have recourse to persuasion and contrivance in order to induce tnose who have real ty performed services for him to accept the merited remuneration ! On Sunday morning one of the first objects which greeted jny eyes , was a party playing at cards , not only with open windows , but sitting in the balcony ,

    Untitled Article

    Narrative of a Residence of Four Months at Naples . 23

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 23, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/23/