to the surface. Of course, the tombs may either be few, or pre Mention having been made of the Gregorian Museum, we must allow Mrs. Gray to be heard in some of her notices of his Holiness whose name this museum bears, viz. Gregory the Sixteen th, the reigning Pope : "Too much praise cannot be given to the Pope for his taste and magnificence in conceiving the design of collecting into one vast museum all the remnants of Etruscan art and antiquity found in his dominions. He has prosecuted it, and is prosecuting it, with unremitting ardour; and when the name of Gregory the Sixteenth may be confounded in our memories with the many who have preceded him in the Papal chair, the name of Gregory, the munificent preserver of the scattered records of an ancient world, must ever be held in veneration by those who have taste or learning sufficient to appreciate the vast importance and inestimable value of his work. I wish he would only add his protection to those extraordinary and interesting tombs from which his many relics and curiosities are taken. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the curious and beautiful in ancient art, and well versed in the historic lore of past ages; and he is an excellent judge of what rare objects may or may not be worth his own expensive purchase. This truly wonderful museum is an effort of the Pope's taste struggling against a very low exchequer; and want of money, notwithstanding his very small personal expenses, has sometimes been the reason why he has abstained from acquisitions which he was otherwise most anxious to make. The formation and arrangement of his museums (for he has so much enlarged and improved the Egyptian, that he may almost be said to have made it as well as the Etruscan) are his solace during the intervals of business; and though he is certainly not remiss in presiding over the councils of the Church, I have heard those say who are attached to his person, that he tears himself away from his vases and bronzes with the utmost regret, and returns to them again with all the zest of a schoolboy when he has finished his task. As is to be expected in the pet of a sovereign, the Gregorian collection is arranged with the utmost taste and in beautiful order; the credit of which is greatly due to the Cavaliere Visconti, Director of the Papal Museum. This was one of our favourite haunts in Rome, although it was not until nearly the end of our residence there that we were capable of fully enjoying it; for at the beginning we were too ignorant to know what were the objects most rare, most curious, or most worthy of admiration or attention. Ignorance, however, is always pardonable and often unavoidable upon subjects that are new; but not so the pert contempt with which many of our well-educated countrymen treat everything they do not understand. We once met a minor political star, now high in office, on his return from a visit to this museum; and on asking him what he thought of its contents, he replied, 'Oh pots and pans, just like any other pots and pans.' The English, we are told, are much respected in Italy on account of their probity and honour; although their uncourteous manners and hauteur, arising frequently from ignorance and national vanity, give offence. We now subjoin a few passages without comment or remark, each of them being sufficiently complete in itself. Our first refers to relics which have led to important constructions, affording the reader not only an idea of the variety of antiquities discovered in the sepulchres, but of the pains and ingenuity of interpreters. "Another most remarkable frieze consists of a procession of souls to judgment; and among these one group in particular attracted our attention. It represented the soul of a person who had in life been of doubtful character, much both of good and evil being attributed to him; and in this case the nicely-balanced scales of justice trembled. He is dragged in a car before the judge by two winged genii, the one good and the other evil, who are contending for the exclusive possession of him. In the eagerness of dispute, the car stops; they cannot draw it on, but remain stationary, to mark the uncertain reputation of the deceased. The evil genii are represented as black; and all the spirits wear a cothurnus, or buskin of that form which was sacred amongst the Etruscans to immaterial existences, especially the genii of Darkness, Death, and Sleep. It is not winged, but peaked like wings in a sheath, and reaches mid-way up the leg. The genii are all winged; and the souls, of which there are many, have no wings. Only two are represented in the plate, because only a small part of the subject is given; but in the tomb there was a long procession, each bearing some instrument as a symbol of his profession. Only a small part remains, travellers having thought proper to break off and carry away the stucco; and no doubt what we saw will soon follow. It was the idea of the Etruscans that the soul preserved after death the likeness of the body it had left: but that it was composed of thin elastic air, and clothed in airy white. The good genius wishes to proceed with the two souls represented to the gate of happiness; but the evil genii who claim them seem more in number, and the one who stops the car wishes to turn it into the gate of misery, by which an evil genius is already sitting and waiting for its return. The difference of representation between this and the "Tifone," to which we afterwards proceeded, is very remarkable; for here the evil genii were not frightful, though black, bore no serpents, and their hammers were of a different form from the usual hammers of Death." Concerning sacrificial instruments: The "Among the bronzes of the Jesuits' College are some singular looking hooks, with immense claws, and various odd adjuncts, which are the counterparts of what are still shown in the Christian Museum of the Vatican as instruments of torture by which the early Christians were martyred. Jesuits now consider this as a mistake, and that they were really used by the Etruscan aruspices in sacrifice, probably as flesh-hooks, and, as we supposed, resembling those mentioned in the Bible as having been struck into the seething-pot by the sons of Eli. I have seen them in various museums besides, and I think in the British Museum in the room of ancient bronzes. One of the rarest sacrificial instruments that has been discovered was a spoon of ivory, shown to me by Monsignore Wiseman of the English College. The Etruscans used ivory in profusion, but very little of it has come down to us; and this spoon was of a very singular shape, with elabo VOL. I. (1841) NO. I F rately carved ornaments, and from its unique appearance and fragile material, appeared to me one of the most remarkable relics of antiquity I had ever seen." Etruscan jewellery in vogue: "I heard, in particular, much of the beauty of the gold and jewelled ornaments belonging to Lucien, (Bonaparte,) and that, a few winters ago, the Princess of Canino had appeared at some of the Ambassador's fêtes in Rome with a parure of Etruscan jewellery, which was the envy of the society, and excelled the chefs-d'oeuvre of Paris or Vienna. Thus, after thousands of years, the sacred and ceremonial costumes of the illustrious of the early world were made to contribute to a scene of splendour in modern Europe. Ancient Rome, under her kings, had probably seen many such, and modern Rome now looked upon them again." Something altogether modern : "At the inn we were complimented upon being the only English people who had ever known how to eat meat properly, which means, being interpreted, how to eat it over-dressed without finding fault; and we were considered as very comme il faut and superior in wisdom upon that account. The smart maid of the inn, after being very attentive for some little time, at last made a sort of dart at my arm, begging pardon in the I talian way, Scusa, Signora,' as she lifted up the frill of my sleeve. I felt much obliged to her, and sat quite still, never doubting but that she was brushing delicately off or killing some stinging insect which she had observed. I could not, however, understand all her manoeuvres with this frill, for she pulled the sleeve gently beneath, whilst she held it up, and I saw no insect whatever. She then thanked me, and said that she now knew how the sleeve was made, and how to fashion her next festa gown like it. She told me that it had attracted the admiration of the house the moment I entered; and that the women in it being unable to divine how so admirable a sleeve had been contrived, she had brought the head mantuamaker of the place two or three times through the room to look at it, in hopes of discovering the secret, in order that the Chiusi sleeves might be made henceforward in the same manI had indeed been annoyed with the woman, for she always loitered as she passed through, and stopped to ask me some commonplace question, such as • how I liked Italy?' and 'if it was ever so hot in England?' and I had set her down for an idle housemaid. I was greatly praised for allowing this sleeve to be examined; whilst between laughter and anger I knew not what to say, for I was not only amazed at the impertinence, but really provoked that an Italian girl should give up her own picturesque and graceful costume to follow the silly, and, in a poor person, the vulgar-looking fashions of the French metropolis. I had little idea that I was personating Le Courier des Dames when I entered our apartments in the inn at Chiusi." ner. Papal discipline: 66 Amongst other out-of-the-way things, Corneto contains the Bridewell or House of Correction for the clergy of the Papal States. If ever it becomes in the way, i. e. a place of resort for strangers, I doubt not the Bridewell will be removed, as the remarks of foreigners might not always be either pleasant or discreet. There were thrity of these reverend gentlemen in confinement in May, 1839; some for murder, some for forgery, and some for other crimes. How these crimes are expiated I did not learn; whether by fine, or confinement for a term of years, or for life. A very zealous Italian, I should think, would deny the existence both of the crimes and the persons. It is only by accident and inadvertency that a stranger can ever hear the truth of these things. We English, however, who fancy that the Italian clergy never are punished, are very glad to ascertain the existence of such a place." We are likely to have a history of Etruria from Mrs. Gray. In that work we may expect the fruits of further research among the Sepulchres, together with descriptions and discussions extending over a wider aud more diversified field. 1841. ART. VIII.-The Secret History of Dissent, illustrated in the Life of the Rev. Josiah Thompson, a Secession Minister. 2nd. Edition. By NATHAN OLIVER, Esq. London: Henderson. BEFORE noticing particularly the amusing and clever little work named at the head of this article, we shall endeavour to make good our promise given in a late paper, viz., to present to our readers a general account of the existing condition of the church of Scotland, and also to mark with some degree of precision, the origin, progress, and position of the several parties in that ecclesiastical establishment. Every one who peruses the Monthly Review must be aware that there is rebellion or distraction at this moment within the gates of the Kirk; and therefore in proportion to the peculiar pretensions of that institution, its celebrity, and its singular relation to the civil power and political principles, must be the interest attaching to any impartial view of its present condition. It will be as difficult, however, to mark minutely and distinctly the precise shades of difference between the various parties in the Kirk, as it would be to perform an analogous process towards the political classes and factions in the state. But the great division, in respect of religious doctrine and discipline, is accurately outlined by the terms Evangelicals, on the one side, and Moderates, on the other; while as regards ecclesiastical government, and the relation existing between the establishment and the state, or which ought to exist, there are Patronage-men, Vetoists, Non-Intrusionists, and Voluntaries. If we succeed in an endeavour to ex-plain the meaning of these several terms, how they came into use, and what are the tenets of each of the parties named, we shall have accomplished what was intended by us, and what will enable our readers to understand with tolerable exactness the notices and statements which are continually to be met with in the daily prints, and in innumerable publications respecting the war that has been waged for some time within the precincts of the Scottish church establishment, which is gradually verging to greater extremes, and which, may result in the destruction of the institution. But whether such a catastrophe is to ensue or not, there is no observing person, no one in the least acquainted with Scottish character and history, who can hesitate for a moment in predicting that a result of signal importance to the establishment itself, as a lesson to other ecclesiastical institutions, and as a symptom in the progression or reactions of the age will be worked out and proclaimed. The evangelical party are the direct and faithful representatives of the founders of the Kirk; their doctrines are the spiritual doctrines of Knox; they are the descendants of the Covenanters; are, in short, the Puritans of Scotland. They are strict in regard to discipline; the ministers belonging to that class, must observe an austere morality; must be diligent and earnest in the performance of their clerical duties; must preach with unction, and must constantly urge the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel upon the belief of their hearers. The great majority of the common people, almost all the peasantry and farmers, especially in the western counties, which were so plenteously watered by the Covenanters in the times of the Jameses of England and the Charleses, which were so saturated with the blood of martyrs, are evangelicals. On the other hand, the moderate party is the offspring of the episcopalians who intruded into the Kirk during the reigns just now referred to. If their numbers be comparatively small, they yet could count the aristocracy, the refined, the philosophical, and the learned, down to a recent period, as firm adherents to their ranks. If the ministers in their sermons dwelt chiefly on moral duties, read cold essays, and troubled themselves little with the arduous offices of a more spiritual kind, they were, till lately, for the most part, more addicted to scholarship, were more elegant every way, more gentlemanly, more liberal construers of conduct, more addicted to amusements and social pleasures, and far more acceptable at the tables of the aristocracy and the higher classes, than the other party. In respect of doctrine the evangelicals are strict Calvinists; the moderates are Arminians. Whatever there is in the communion of genuine and fervent religion is to be ascribed chiefly to the agency and example of the former portion of the clergy; whereas most of the literature which has adorned the priesthood of the Kirk has been bequeathed by the latter. Each of these great parties has had its periods of supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs; the puritans generally having been in power under the Whigs, the other class under the Tories. The Patrons |