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    exposed to the view of the whole street . As it was about seven in the morning , they had probably been already to the early mass , and had been " confessed" for the sins of the past week , after which the Catholic considers the Sunday as his "to do his own pleasure . " I paid an early visit , on this day , to the Cathedral of St . Gennaro or Januarius . There was a large crowd of

    persons assembled at confession , and from the strong passions of some , and the glaringly affected extravagances of others , some sobbing aloud to the priest , others sighing and groaning within themselves , others calling aloud to the Madonna and the Infant Christ for compassion , the whole scene was a perfect Babel of confusion . He who has seen Venice and Rome has still much to learn respecting the genuine effects of popish superstition , by visiting Naples . In the former cities the indolence and comparatively

    unimpassioned temperament of the inhabitants , render it a matter more of pomp and display than of real feeling . And in Rome , in particular , the immense body of Protestant strangers , with a scarcely suppressed smile on their countenances , goes far , I am persuaded , to check the disposition to ludicrous extravagances . "It is to amuse the English , ' * Cardinal Gonsalvi is reported to have said , " that these ceremonies are prepared . " But at Naples you behold

    a mass of thorough devotees , unrestrained by any feeling of taste , and unawed by any apprehension of ridicule , obeying the impulse of their impetuous tempers . Under the magnificent dome of St . Peter ' s , I had seen a crowd of the various nations of Europe , each at their separate confessionals , pouring into the ear of an ecclesiastic , who understood their respective languages , the acknowledgment of their past transgressions , and their vows of future amendment . Though a public , it was a decorous'and comparatively tranquil scene >

    suited to the confidential nature of the communications , breathed in whispers through the gratings , which concealed the shame of the speaker from the eye of the hearer . But at Naples I saw elderly gentlemen , whose years might be supposed to have cooled the ardour of their feelings , kneeling down between the knees of a juvenile confessor , whimpering aloud and with clasped

    hands , apparently in agony , under his face , seeming to implore his forgiveness . Others before images of the Virgin were breaking forth into groans and sighs ; others sobbing to convulsion ; others pacing up and down in agitation , and proclaiming aloud their self-condemnation . I noticed one young man in particular , whose deportment ( had it occurred in England ) would certainly have satisfied the Lord Chancellor as to the necessity of a

    statute of lunacy . With his hat and cane in his hand , he was perpetually spinning round and round , with a greater or less degree of rapidity , according to the greater or less degree of emotion excited by the thoughts passing through his mind , his brother devotees having , apparently , from knowing his humour , left him a free circle for the performance of his revolutions . As his sins came in rotation before his view , if any one smote him more sharply than another , this made him utter a sudden cry and quicken his pace . He spoke almost continually and in the voice of weeping , with his

    handkerchief at his eyes . Passing by the mad scene in the body of the church , I inquired if there would be any sermon that morning , and was pointed to the crypt , where , by the light of wax tapers , a priest was preparing to deliver an exhortation to an audience of not more than fifty persons The preacher took no text , which is no uncommon thing at Naples , but delivered a desultory address on the necessity of Christians living wholly secluded from the pleasures of the world . I inquired why so few persons attended the sermon while there were several thousand going to ana fro in the church ? The answer was , " We make little account of the preaching $

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    24 Narrative of a Residence of Four * Mtonths at Naples ;

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/24/