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    think it prudent to keep up the forms of the Catholic church , but feel , I am persuaded , a lingering attachment to it quite independent of reason , and which would prevent them from throwing off the accustomed , and therefore easy yfrkf , , dijd frey-feel themselves" jfrhoi I Jr lit ffisir i > wn disposal- Oife * of the tfiost ^ cornmtirricative with whorrrl tonversetl made a great joke of the modern miracles , and spoke slightingly of every thing connected with the

    church . But he said , " all forms m- religion admitting the doctrine of the divinity of Christ , all were alike irrational ; it was best , therefore , for every man quietly to continue in that in which he was brought up . It was difficult to decide ; and disputes about religion had been the cause of much illwill and of much blood being shed . " Another seriously maintained the extravagant position ^ that " there , is no such thing as the Gatholic religion , no living man believing it in his heart . " While the former of these liberal

    gentlemen was speaking , my eye caught the chain , with a little purse attached to it , which is worn by every Catholic next his heart , containing some mystic sentences sold by the priests to their credulous disciples . One of these I had accidentally an opportunity of examining . It contained a very small print representing the "Virgin , and underneath , St . Francis and Moses , the latter holding a tablet inscribed with the words of his benediction of the people , Numbers vi . 24—26 : " The Lord look upon thee and

    West Ihee ^ &c . ** This hol y ; benediction , " it was added , " did God giyfc 16 M 6 fees , and Jesus Christ gave it % St . Franfeis . Whoever carries this in his garments , with lively faith , is proof against thunders , appafkion % '<¦ ( or ghosts , ) falling sickness , toains of chiid-birlh ; , . feter , sudden death , dangers by sea , ambushes of enemies , and other evils . " On © of the principal means by which the people are Wept in ignorance here * is the rigid censorship of the press . In this great city , there if only -one newspaper publislred , the short official " Journal of the Two Sicilies , ' *

    which does ttot ; perhaps , c 6 ntain more matter that * is crammed lttto a sifngfe tfotwmn of an English newspaper . It would much amuse a person accustomed t ? o the dfepatch of printing and pubttshing in London or Paris , to see how tedious a process is that of the publicati&n of tx book at Naples—and this , let the subject be what it may . In the middle of the last century there was published at Paris a child ' s Ifodfe , entitled ^ < K L'Ecote de Jeunes Dem > - ofeelles , " containing dialogues en the Scripture history , and other stories , which got into general use ^ fti the year 1768 , it was translated by an

    Italian lady , and published at Rome > no doubt with all the legal formalities of five examinations by cardinals , pro&saors bf divinity , and wrinistefs of state , without whteh no unlucky horn-book durst shew its toead in print in that capital . In the year 1790 , the feme of this little book having travelled as far as the capital of the Two Sicilies , his Majesty was pleased , at the petition of Vicetizo Flanto , printer , to grant his Royal permission , datSd February 3—

    ibr what ? Not to print the child ' s book , but—for its being submitted to the inspection of a Professor of the University , that he might report to his Majesty whether it t ? OTrtaiwed any thing ** contrary to the rights bf the Crown fcftd *! he Christiari religion ; " The professor having given a favourable a ^ epott of nearly a page in length , ( subsequently printed on the work , ) it was fianded about from <* ne grave official personage to 'another during the'succeeding year and a half , -Until at lett ^ th tn ^ Mh reviser having subscribed his la ^ oving hand on ttie SWi September , 1791 , the printer was permitted to ptbceed to publication . Yet eiten these long delays are not the worat # e 0 fcto * fc in t ^ ie system . The constant at tendance anil fr equent bribes necesteary in the pwtolic offices in Najfles , in order to ^ et % « Mness dotte tA all , are

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    290 Narrative of a Residence of Four Months at Naples ,

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 290, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/2/