lar platoons, and paused as they came opposite her, and gazed as if moon-struck. The radiant creature sat "quite unconscious of all this, of course," as the lady sitting by her side not very amiably whispered to me.

Last night the annual Ball was given by the Governor at his Palace, and there were many beautiful women present. At that time alone, during the whole year, unless in court, do the nobility wear the family jewels. On this night they are all exhibited on the necks, heads, and arms of the matrons and their daughters. It makes a perfect blaze of diamonds. The nobility of Genoa are among the richest of Italy, for the wealth the crusades opened to them in the East is still gathered here. Such a profusion of ornament I never beheld. There, for the first time, I saw the belle of the city-the Marchioness of Balbi. I was glad to see what the Italians regarded as beauty, and was surprised to find that she had the light complexion and rosy cheeks of the Saxon race. She was beautiful—very, but of that kind of beauty I do not particularly admire; it was, what I would term, of the doll kind. But oh, such spirits, and such a dazzling quantity of diamonds; one almost needed to shield his eyes to look on her. The value of them was variously estimated, but the average estimate seemed to put them at about two hundred thousand dollars. But even her diamonds could not outshine the sparkling joy of her countenance. I never saw a being float so through a saloon, as if her body were a feather and her soul the zephyr that wafted it. It made me sigh to look on her. Such abounding gaiety—such thrilling mirth!-I knew it could not last; this world was not made for it. The next time I saw her she was in deep mourning, with her head bowed down like a bulrush. The bloom had gone from her cheek, and the light from her eye. She vanished from the gay world like a stricken bird. Her brother, the Marquis of Palavicini—one of the noblest young men I ever met-liberal in his feelings and handsome in his person-the pride and hope of his family-suddenly died. I saw him last at the Marquis di Negro's. As I bade him good evening I was struck with the expression of his countenance; it had a look so intensely anxious that it fixed my attention. This was Friday evening. Sabbath

MARQUIS OF PALAVICINI.

45

morning a mutual friend called on me and told me he was dead! So we vanish, like ghosts at cock-crowing.

He was extravagantly wealthy, yet simple as the severest republican in his appearance and habits. I never left him, after a conversation, without feeling that he was destined to affect materially the fate of his country. There was a high principle, and a resolute will in him, that always generates great and energetic action. I shall never forget the effect of a remark of his to me, and the manner of it, one evening, in one of the brilliantly illuminated rooms of the Governor's palace. Amid the dense throng of men on every side, you could detect scarcely one not in military uniform. The young Marquis was standing alone in the centre of the room, leaning against a billiard table, and absorbed apparently in deep thought, yet with an expression of scorn in his features, perfectly withering. I stepped up and addressed him; and after returning my salutation he remarked, with a tone that showed it was caused by no passing feeling, "How contemptible is a nation of soldiers, and how pitiful the state of a people among whom the uniform of an officer is the highest mark of honor.” I looked at him in astonishment. For a remark less treasonable than that, many a noble, during the past few years, had seen the inside of a prison. That declaration acted upon would revolutionize Italy in two months. I turned away, feeling that good would yet come out of that proud young Marquis, or evil to him.

But he is gone, and one of the most frequent regrets I hear expressed is, that his sister cannot now give the series of splendid entertainments she had in preparation.

The cause of his death has checked somewhat the flow of visitors to our fleet. The young Marquis dined one day, with several of the nobility, on board of one of our ships, and, unaccustomed to our strong wines, drank till his blood became overheated. In the evening, when he came ashore, he went up on the "Aqua Sola," where the wind had a fair sweep, and sat down to cool himself. He took cold—became deranged, and was hurried out of the world.

Perhaps you complain that I do not give you more particulars of fashionable society, but it is all alike—splendid rooms, briiliantly illuminated, any quantity of nobility-dancing, waltzing,

promenading, ice creams, hot punch, and late hours, make up the description. It is gay and brilliant, but without force or wit. You would probably agree with Antonio in his opinion of my taste in such matters. He was very much shocked, the other evening, as we were without the city walls purchasing some things for Mrs. L. (who is very sick), because I asked him to accompany me into a low, dirty hovel, from which was issuing the sound of boisterous merriment. He expostulated with ine; and in answer to all my reasons, exclaimed, they are "la bassa gente, signore," (low people). "Exactly," said I, "and that is the very reason I wish to see them. High life is plenty in Genoa, I can see that any time; I want to become acquainted with low life." Willing, however, that he should not be disgraced by being seen with persons so far below his rank, I excused him from accompanying me, and told him I would go alone. But he was too well trained to think of such a thing, and so, without farther ado, marched on. You should have seen the infinite contempt with which he deposited the entrance fee, and pushed aside the blanket that served for a door, and entered. were there he stood with his hat on, and rolling from side to side with a kind of swagger, as much as to say, "I don't care what the tastes of those who would call themselves gentlemen may be, but if I were called upon, I should have no hesitation in expressing my opinion on the matter." The poor fellow really suffered in his feelings.

All the while we

The scene was very much like those I have seen in the quarterings of slaves at the South on the evening of a holiday. The floor was the bare earth, and the dancers and waltzers that spun around on it were most of them bare-foot; while many of the men, with the utmost care in their toilet, could muster only a shirt and a pair of pantaloons. The entrance fee, I think, was four centisima, or four-fifths of a cent. Truly yours.

Odd Brokers-Terrifiic Storm-A Catholic miracle.

February.

DEAR E.-I have discovered a new class of brokers, often in great demand here, and who frequently make handsome speculations. You may confide the secret to a few particular friends for their exclusive benefit, or you may give it to the world for the good of the public. I received my information from an Italian— a Catholic, and a man of rank, so it can be relied on.

There are certain monks, priests, and friars, in this country, ready to do any job, provided it pays well. Now it often happens that a man wishes to pay his addresses to a lady, and finds obstacles in the lady herself or in her friends. In either case he enlists a monk in his service, who, having access where he is denied entrance, and influence where he has none, carries on the negotiations under more favorable auspices. Through his office, he can bring some motives to bear on the parents that the lover could not use; and if communication with the lady is desired, he is sure to bring it about. A good catholic would hardly think of turning a priest out of doors, or presume to question him too closely on his actions. He also, through pretence of administering spiritual consolation, can often gain her ear; and if it should so happen that she herself should be averse to the suitor's prayer, he can work on her fears or feelings "ad libitum." This he does, and often brings about a marriage that otherwise would never have taken place. It matters not whether love or money be the moving cause of the man's wishes; if the priest secures the lady he has three per cent. on all the dowry she brings to the husband. Custom has fixed this rate till it is absolute as law, so that if a monk is the means of securing but one large fortune for a man in his life-time, he gets for himself quite a snug little sum against a

rainy day. Now why not introduce this at home, and establish a new brokerage system. I know many lazy loungers in Broadway, who would not hesitate a moment to give even more than three per cent. of the fortunes they try in vain to touch, if some one would only find means to put one of them in their hands. To be sure it would require men of acknowledged taste, and some character, to be successful in such matters. But this makes it so much the better. It would be decidedly a genteel business. A good deal of flattery, some fraud, and a vast deal of manœuvring, would, of course, be requisite. A proud mama must be wheedled into the belief that her daughter will make a great "speck" by the marriage, or the close-fisted suspicious old Jew of a father convinced that the young man is a perfect pattern of economybut then three or perhaps six per cent. on $200,000!—that's the point. This matter is now left too much in the hands of friends, who do not make a thorough business of it, and hence do not succeed. I give you the suggestion for what it is worth, only if it is acted on and succeeds, see that I have the credit of it.

As I am speaking of priests, I will give you another instance of the value of their services to the country. Last week a most terrific storm visited Genoa; nothing like it has been known since the terrible hurricane of 1823. It came from the southwest, bringing the sea with it, and rolling it up against the base of these mountains as if it would drive them from their seats. Sometimes you would almost need a candle at mid-day, so dense and dark were the clouds that hung over the city. Endeavoring to walk around the outer wall of the town that overhangs the sea, I was often compelled to lie flat on my face, to keep from being carried off my feet, and borne away by the blast. This wall rises thirty or forty feet from the water, and from its top the houses go up fifty and sixty feet higher, and yet the spray and foam would often rise and shoot clean over the roofs of the houses, and be carried by the wind far into the city. The moles that form the harbor, with the sea breaking over them, looked more like snow drifts, with the snow shooting in horizontal lines from their summits. The two light-houses on them, were half the time merely lofty pyramids of foam, with lantern and all buried under the leaping wave. The flag ship, Columbus, parted two of her cables in one