tiful. It has an ideal grace which charms alike the philosopher and the peasant. His tomb for Alfieri, in Florence, is exceedingly chaste and striking, and, as they were personal friends, is a charming link in their history. The name of Canova was inscribed by Pius Seventh in the "Golden Book of the Capitol," who also made him Marquis of Ischia, with a handsome pension. As a man, Canova was remarkable for his amiable temper and benevolent disposition. His opinion of himself was modest, and his appreciation of others cordial and generous. His last work was a large group, in which religion is represented as victorious. He died in Venice in 1802, loved and venerated by all.

We have mentioned the name of Ocello of Sienna, as one of the most eloquent preachers of his day. He was contemporary with Bembo, and enjoyed the esteem and affection of that gifted man. "He discourses," says the latter, writing to Vittoria Colonna, the celebrated Marchioness of Pescaro, at whose solicitation Ocello had visited Venice, "in a very different and more Christian style, than any other that has mounted the pulpit in my day, and, with more lively charity and love, brings forth truth of superior excellence and usefulness." Again, he says: "There is not a man or woman in the city who does not extol him to the skies. O, what pleasure, what delight, what joy he has given!" Little did the courtly and too worldly cardinal know, that in all this lay the seeds of that Protestantism which he aided to persecute and extinguish.

Bernardino Ochino, for that was his real name-the other, we presume, being his ecclesiastical one-was born in Sienna, and educated as a monk. He was not distinguished for learning, but possessed a commanding person, powerful emotions, and an extraordinary force of eloquence. When advanced in years, his hair was white as the driven snow, and his beard, of the same color, flowed down to his girdle. His voice too, perfectly under com

mand, had a clear, powerful and ringing tone. With a pale face, and dark, penetrating eyes, his aspect was exceedingly venerable and striking. He preached in Naples, Venice and other places. The sanctity of his life added to the force of his words; and he was appointed general of his order. His popularity was unbounded, and it was acknowledged on all hands that he was the greatest preacher in Italy. But he long struggled with his convictions, endeavoring to gain peace of mind by merits and penance. At last he found rest in the great doctrine of justification by faith, and preached it long before his Protestantism was discovered. At last he was indicted for heretical opinions, and his death resolved on; in consequence of which he fled to Ferrara, and thence to Geneva. His defection from the Papal church was a matter of infinite regret to many. "Ah, Bernardino !" exclaims his former friend, Caraffa, "how great wert thou in the eyes of all men! O how beautiful and fair! Thy coarse but sacred cap, excelled the cardinal's hat, and the pope's mitre; thy mean dress, the most gorgeous apparel; thy bed of wattles, the softest and most delicious couch; thy deep poverty, the riches of the world. Thou wert the herald of the Highest, the trumpet sounding far and wide; thou wert full of wisdom and adorned with knowledge; the Lord placed thee in the garden of Eden, in his holy mount, as a light above the candlestick, as the sun of the people, as a pillar in his temple, as a watchman in his vineyard, as a shepherd to feed his flock. Still thy eloquent discourses sound in our ears; still we see thy unshodden feet!" He then goes on to mourn his defection, intimating that some demon must have taken possession of the holy Bernardino, "like the reprobate King of Israel of old." But Ochino was rejoicing in the God of his salvation, and went everywhere, in Geneva, Augsburg, Basel and other cities, preaching the word to his countrymen resident in those places. He went with Peter Martyr, another Italian Protestant, an exile from

home, to England, and thence returned with him to Germany; the one settling at Strasburg, and the other at Zurich, where he succeeded Beccario as pastor of the exiled Locarnese.

Having adopted some peculiar views on the subject of the Trinity, he was banished from the city by the council of Zurichan act of gross injustice and persecution. At the age of seventysix he departed thence with his four little children, in the depth of winter. He went first to Basel, and thence to Moravia in Germany, and, in the year 1564, died in Slacovia, having previously lost a daughter and two sons by the plague, which was then raging in that place. Notwithstanding his Arian sentiments, he was a good man, full of faith; full also of that divine energy which is the soul of all true eloquence. Celio Secundo Curio, another Italian preacher and scholar, the friend of Olympia Morata, and one of the most devout and energetic of the Italian Protestants, who fled for his life from his native country, and settled in Basel, in Switzerland, has left a Latin translation of a sermon by Ochino, on justification by faith. This has all the clearness and point of some of Luther's discourses on the same subject, the great keynote of the Reformation, and "the test of a rising or a falling church." A brief extract from this discourse will doubtless interest our readers, as a specimen of Italian preaching in the sixteenth century, such as Vittoria Colonna and Olympia Morata loved to hear.

"There is a law,” says he, "or rather custom, in certain cities and districts, that in the last week of Lent, which they call the Great or Holy Week, a certain number of malefactors and prisoners are liberated without any punishment, fine, or restitution on their own part, but solely from the mercy of their sovereign. Now, though in mentioning this custom, while I praise the clemency, I blame the superstition which has given rise to it; yet it very appropriately represents to us the goodness of God. For

even as these criminals are freed without any exertion or attempt on their part, and not only undeserving of the kindness, but worthy of severe punishment; so we are preserved by the mercy of God, through the mediation of Jesus Christ.

"Do you wish to know how this is brought about? Look to the thief who was affixed to the accursed tree along with Christ; and tell me, I pray you, what good did he ever do, that he should hear from Christ these words: This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise! You say, perhaps, he suffered stripes, tortures, and the cross.' I answer, he deserved all these on account of his crimes, and not these only, but greater, eternal death.' For though by these sufferings he might atone the breach of human laws, were he to die a thousand times he could not give satisfaction to Divine justice. And if you should say, that the thief was saved by a miracle, or by some singular privilege, I will tell you that it is by an equal miracle, and by the singular mercy of God, that any will be saved; and if they are saved, as all men are of the same nature, it must be through grace. For by nature we are all liable to eternal perdition, and, as St. Paul says, 'to the wrath of the Son.'

"But God, who is rich in mercy, 'before the creation of the world elected whom he chose to be saved in Christ; and those whom he elected he also called, and whom he called he also justified and glorified.' These words are not mine, but the Apostle Paul's, the teacher of the Gentiles. So our justification, salvation, and blessedness have their sole foundation in Christ-not partly in Christ, and partly in ourselves. Whence Paul teaches the Corinthians, that no man can lay other foundation than that which is laid, namely, Jesus Christ;' and those who ground their salvation on any other thing are foolish and ignorant of divine truth, and resemble those who build their house not upon the solid rock, but upon the quicksands, which the force of the winds and waves will destroy."

CHAPTER VIII.

Ferrara-Its Past and Present Condition-The Days of Duke Borso-Ferrara the Asylum of Literary Men-Its Distinction in Literature-Duke Alphonso and his Sisters-Ariosto-Sketch of his Life-Orlando Furioso-Specimens of his Poetry.

In a wide and desolate plain, a few miles from the river Po, lies Ferrara, once the magnificent and polished capital of the ancient duchy of that name, but now a faded and melancholy town, whose grass-grown streets and crumbling palaces give back the echoes of the stranger's foot, as, in sombre mood, he traverses its smooth-flagged pavements. Once it contained a hundred thousand inhabitants, and was the scene of commercial activity, of literary and military splendor. Now it can scarcely boast the fourth part of its former population, and looks deserted and woe-begone. Under Papal dominion it has suffered a sad decline, and is seldom visited, except by the lovers of antiquity, and the admirers of the genius of Ariosto and Tasso. The principal streets are spacious and handsome, adorned with superb old palaces, whose fronts extend on either side, as far as the eye can reach, with arched gateways below, and proud cornices above. Long, narrow streets are found in other parts of the city; but in these the grass grows rank, and all is silent and desolate. Monasteries and convents open into them; but no bell is heard from the towers, no monk is seen at the gate, no beggar even lying under the wall. The court-yards are desolate; no horsemen, "unbonneted and rib