tain, that their fellow inhabitants of the mountains, the bears, first taught them the art of climbing. When spring comes in again, they undergo as sudden a change as the May-day metamorphosis of our heroes of the brush and shovel. They quit France, and return to their native huts; and cheerfully pay over to their poor parents the whole amount of their winter gains. During the summer they tend the cows, and work in the fields, until the autumn, when they again quit their rural occupations, for the polluting drudgery of Paris.

The word Savoyard has become quite a technical term in the French language; it is universally employed by the French to denote a chimney-sweeper, let him come from what part of the world he may. The natives of Savoy, therefore, feel that it degrades them, and they prefer taking the name of Savoisiens. M. Millin takes many exceptions to this innovation, which he maintains to be contrary to grammar and etymology. They should call themselves Sabaudiens,' says he; or else they should call themselves Savaudiens. And he will not admit that they are justifiable of breaking Priscian's head, even for the purpose of ridding themselves of an appellation to which the unconquerable spells of habit and custom have annexed so many humiliating associations.

The fertile plains of Piedmont are discernible from the point of Mount Cenis called the Molaret; and M. Millin thinks that it was from this station that Hannibal showed Italy to his soldiers. From the Molaret to Susa, the mountain presents only an easy descent; and the swarms of tattered beggars who now surround the traveller, sufficiently announce that he has entered Italy.' The enthusiasm with which he had begun his journey now revived. His own words only can do justice to his ardour.

La nuit approchoit quand j'arrivai à Suze. Apres avoir franchi le Mont Cenis, je croyois que tout alloit dejà me paroître nouveau. 'Je là tiens cette terre sacrée; la voilà enfin, m'écriai-je, cette Italie; ce sont ses villes, ce sont ses nations que je vais voir.

Je parcourus presque à tatons les rues de la ville et ses approches, attendant avec impatience, le lendemain pour visiter l'arc qui lui donne quelque celebrité, et commencer mes observations.'

·

M. Millin began his course' in search of the antiquities of Suza, in company with a respectable canon,' one Monsieur Marietti, who was well acquainted with the history and the ⚫ monuments of his country. Poor Monsieur Marietti is now numbered with the departed. La mort l'a enlevé depuis: je n'en dois pas moins temoigner ma reconnoissance pour les bons offices qui j'en ai reçus.'

The arch of Suza, to which he walked along with Monsieur Marietti, was erected in honour of Augustus, by Marcus Julius Cottius, a deposed king of the Cottian Alps. Marcus Cottius was conquered by the Romans, who afterwards restored him to the enjoyment of a small portion of authority in his former dominions, under the title of Prefect. M. Millin gives the details of the inscriptions and sculptures on the arch; the latter of which have not been accurately described by former travellers. In the year 1805, two headless statues of excellent workmanship? were dug up near the arch. These torsos offered no distinguishable characters; but it was nevertheless conjectured,' in the way that the cognescenti are wont to conjecture, that the one was intended for Augustus, and the other for the Prefect. According to this supposition, M. Millin observes, that

it would at least have been proper to have allowed them to ⚫ continue where they were discovered, as being local monuments;' but they hastened' to send the mutilated trunks to Paris, where the head of the Emperor Napoleon was placed on the shoulders of one of them, and the head of the Emperor Tiberius was fitted to the other.

The great church of Suza is well stocked with relicks. They have as much of the body of St Maur, as was left after satisfying the veneration of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who solicited a portion of it in the year 1679. They have also the body of St Stephen. There is, to be sure, another body of St Stephen in the church of St Lawrence at Rome: but the priests of Suza were induced to set up in opposition to the priests of St Lawrence, in consequence of a lucky discovery which took place in 1520. On the 1st day of December in that year, one John Baptist Serrano, a mason of Lugano, was employed to pull down part of the wall of a chapel in the cathedral dedicated to St Stephen. In the course of his operations, this happy workman found an 'enveloppe' of paper in a hole in the wall, which immediately crumbled into dust, with the exception of one small fragment containing the following letters, C. SCTI. STEPHI PTHOM.; these were easily deciphered, and found to signify, Corpus Sancti Stephani Prothomartiris. It was now necessary to account for the presence of the body at Suza. This was accomplished by an ingenious chain of conjectures. The Patriarch of Alexandria might have given it to Charlemagne, Charlemagne might have offered it to the Abbey of Novalaise, from thence it might have been translated to the Church of St Justus; and when it arrived there, it might, though no one knew why or wherefore, have been deposited in the hole in the wall. And upon these grounds it was determined, that this must be the main relic, and that the

church of St Lawrence could only boast of some parts or particles of St Stephen.

Part of the houses in the quarter of the nobles, the 'contrada di nobili,' were destroyed in the year 1728 by a flood. The palaces of the nobles, which are now in the other parts of the town, are distinguished from the dwellings of the plebeians by a small column or mullion in the windows; besides which, they have a great door and a little door, an honour to which no vulgar house can aspire.

. Celles des nobles sont distinguées dans Suze de celles des * plebeiens, par une petite colonne mince qui separe la croisée. Aucune maison bourgeoise ne devoit avoir cet ornement. On reconnoit encore à leur double entrée, les chetives demeures des nobles que l'on commence dejà à nommer palais; elles ont une grande porte et une petite.'

M. Millin complains, and doubtless with reason, that at Suza no food can be found either for the body or for the mind,-no vegetables, no bread, no fruit, no library, no cabinet, and no hommes celebres; for it is greatly to be apprehended, that all the learning of Suza expired along with her late bright ornaments, the Abbé Sacchetti, and Mons. Marietti, the Canon.

• Monsieur l'Abbé Sacchetti et même le chanoine Marietti, qui sont morts depuis mon prémier séjour dans cette ville, auront-ils des successeurs 2

The villagers are uncouth and boorish. The men look upon their wives as beasts of burthen. If their cows are ill,' they send for the médécin;' but if their wives are ailing, they are left to themselves. It may, however, be doubted whether this species of neglect is a conclusive proof of the brutality' of the villagers of Mont Pantier; for M. Millin states, that the women are so hardy that they return to their domestic labours immediately after childbirth; and they probably fare better when left to the aid of nature, than if they had been placed under the care of the village doctor. Many strange customs, which were related to our author by Monsieur Derrien,' prevail amongst the peasants inhabiting the Alps, in the neighbourhood of Suza. At Gravieres, when the bridegroom goes to the house of his intended spouse, for the purpose of conducting her to church, one of the relations of the lady disguises himself like a tattered old woman; he bears a distaff by his side, and a set of skimming dishes and ladles hangs at his girdle; in this attire he places himself at the house door. A dramatic dialogue is then held, which has doubtless been settled from time immemorial. The fictitious beldame offers herself as the bride,—' y vos voye pas o sie trop brutta;' I won't have you, you are too

ugly,' is the answer given by the suitor in the patois of the country. They then scold and abuse each other; till at length a very little miss is brought out, who is also rejected by the surly bridegroom- non e pas cela, l'e trop jouven;' 'I won't have her, she is too tender.' The bridegroom and the old woman quarrel again; till at last the carline dips one of her skimming dishes in a pot of boiled rice which is placed by her side, and which she spurts against the bridegroom. The real bride then comes forth, and meets her impatient lover.

One of the amusements of the villagers is a species of morrisdance, or rather sword dance. The dancers are dressed like Roman soldiers, ou à peu près.' The Spadonieri,' for so they are called, were originally part of the actors in an ancient traditionary mystery, of which the subject was the decollation of St John the Baptist. The Spadonieri were only known in particular places till the year 1731, when the inhabitants of Giaglosse, and many other villages, first learnt the dance from the inhabitants of Salbertand, a neighbouring commune. This fact is very singular, and shows how slowly the inhabitants of secluded districts acquire new customs. The Salbertandians had the spadonieri in 1637.

The castellated monastery of St Michael is erected on the summit of Mount Pircheriano. The founder, Hughle de Cousu,' was advised to choose this spot by a friend, whom he consulted respecting the accomplishment of a vow which he had made. It came to pass, that Hugh fell asleep immediately after the conversation so had; and the same advice was repeated to him in a vision. Few legends have a greater appearance of veracity. It is said by some, that Hugh began to build his monastery on Mount Caprassio, and that the materials were miraculously transported to Mount Pircheriano. But as this miracle seems to contradict the vision, we submit that it may be reasonably doubted.

M. Millin has given a striking description of the Sagra di San Michele,' which we shall transcribe.

'On voit s'élever cet énorme édifice, à la fois militaire et religieux. Il faut pour arriver, monter un immense escalier qui tourne en perron, et contre le mur du quel sont d'antiques tombeaux, qui ont été ouverts il y a dejà long-temps. Les corps qui en ont été terrés, sont placés dans une embrâsure qui occupe la milieu de cet escalier, et qui est aussi composé de gradins. Ils sont dressés contre le mur, ou placés sur leurs tombeaux, comme si la trompette avoit sonné pour les en faire sortir, et comparoître au dernier jugement. Des pieux pelerins les ont coiffés de voiles bleux ou rouges, et les ont ceints de draperies de même couleur, cet attirail ajoute encore à l'effroi, qu'inspirent ces corps desséchés; ils sem

blent être les guardiens de ces voutes immenses qu'éclaire un foible jour. Il ne reste d'autre ornement sur ces antiques tombes, qui des écus en pointes chargés d'armoires.

Behind the monastery is a precipitous rock, called the leap of La Bellotta. They say that a girl, who was thus called on account of her beauty, was pursued to the brink of the precipice by a lustful soldier. She invoked the help of the Virgin, and threw herself down the rock; and it is scarcely necessary to add, that she escaped unhurt. Thus far there are many parallel legends. La Bellotta was doomed to experience a fatal catastrophe. There were unbelievers even in those days, who doubted the truth of the miracle; and La Bellotta, who confided in her patroness, attempted to silence them by repeating the experiment. But she tempted Heaven;-the Virgin denied her succour; and poor Bellotta was dashed to pieces by the fall.

M. Millin received a grand welcome when he reached the hotel de l'Europe' at Turin; and he seems to have been greatly amused by it. On alighting, he was immediately surrounded by the maestre dell' Aibergo, four valets splendidly dresse in li⚫veries of fustian trimmed with tinsel, and two tall chasseurs.' Our Savan, who well understood that this brilliant suite was the preliminary to a formidable attack on his pocket, yielded for a moment, and allowed himself to be conducted into the grand apartment.' He then came to a proper understanding with mine host, and obtained a decent and convenient logement' for a moderate price; while the valets and the chasseurs doffed their fustian finery, and waited upon him in a 'simple' jacket, until the arrival of another stranger.

• Tous les valets avoient été remettre leurs riches habits au crochet, et firent le service avec une simple veste, jusqu'à ce que un nouvel avertissement leur annonçât qu'ils devoient aller repeter auprès d'un autre étranger la scene qu'ils venoient jouer pour moi.

It will be recollected, that Rousseau expatiates upon the contrast between the regularity and cheerfulness of Turin, and the dirt and gloom of those parts of Paris which he first entered after his Italian journey. Since his time, the city has become still more cheerful, and it has undergone further improvements. The bastions and ramparts, and all the gates have been demolished; and the air circulates freely through its straight-lined streets, and spacious squares. Under the Sardinian government, each street bore the name of a patron saint. This nomenclature did not please the wise and philosophical French authorities. France began by producing two orthodox denicheurs de saints; and she ended with myriads who followed that calling in a very different spirit. They attempted to substitute the names of the