in great haste. "Siguor Benno," cried the man, "here is your cloak, which the podestà has sent to you," at the same moment handing his master a large yellow cloak.

"My cloak !" replied the signor, in a tone full of anguish, "a fitting marriage present. Oh! my father, how dreadful

an inheritance hast thou left me."

They approached the church. A priest, who was in waiting, celebrated the holy office. As he turned round to bestow the nuptial benediction on them, he happened involuntarily to put his foot upon the cloak, which the young man had let fall upon the steps of the altar. As the eyes of the priest encountered this cloak, he stepped back, as if he had trod upon a serpent; but, recovering himself in a moment, he finished his solemn office. Then opening the Scriptures, he read that part which contains the history of the treachery of Judas, and ends with the words, They that take the sword, shall perish with the sword."

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The priest, as he concluded, shut the book violently, and retired in a manner which seemed to surprise the persons present.

"And you, too-ministers of the gospel-do you also join the common cry against me," murmured Benno, as he led his bride out of the church. He then gave orders to his servant to prepare for departing immediately; and the first dawn of the morning was just about to appear, when Camilla and her husband quitted Majano to return to Florence.

*

*

One of those passage boats which ply upon the Arno, and which are rowed by the unassisted labour of one waterman, was slowly making its way up the river; there were several persons on board, presenting that variety of character and appearance, which is commonly met with in companies whom chance has thrown together. A conversation, the topics of which were suggested by the various objects they passed, ensued between three persons, one of whom was the notary Grandonio, already known to the reader.

"Have you ever been in Germany?" asked a young man of a rustic appearance, but who had also the air of a student. He was dressed in a suit of brown cloth, with gaiters of the same colour; he wore thick shoes, a large sword, and his hair was combed smoothly down.

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'Oh, yes," replied the notary, to whom his question was addressed; "I have seen it, as Messer Ariosto says he saw foreign countries, without being obliged to spend his money at inns, or fearing foul weather; that is to say, in the map.'

"For my part," said a fat monk, who was also one of the passengers, I prefer Italy to all other countries. There it is that religion is duly observed, and its ministers properly respected. There churches and chapels"—

"There it is said the student, interrupting him, in a bantering tone," that the monks drink the best wine, and reap the most plentiful harvests."

"And there it is," said the boatman angrily, "that one meets with the greatest number of ugly German faces. "Never," he added, lifting up his oar as he spoke, as if he would have liked to use it as a weapon, was anything more true than the proverb, which says, that Italy's three scourges are the typhus, Germans, and monks.""

Many thanks to you, my brother," replied the monk with an air of humility.

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"Oh, I don't mean you, holy father," said the boatman, as he replaced his oar in the water; you do us much less harm than those cursed foreign swords which abound amongst us, and which may Heaven confound! If the people of this country were not true descendants of Cain, and always busied in trying to kill one another"

"What is that villa on the left called?" asked Grandonio, who saw that this conversation was likely to lead to no good, and that it was, at this period, even dangerous to be a listener to such rebellious discourse.

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"It is the Casa Macchiavelli, signor, replied the boatman. Ah!" cried the notary," is it possible to prefer another country to this, in which the most illustrious recollections crowd upon one at every step? Where everything combines to remind one of the glories of the days which are passed, the places and the times in which Boccacio, Petrarch, Tasso, Dante"

This villa, which Macchiavelli built during his prosperity, received him as a refuge in his adversity. He pleasantly speaks of his walks hence to Florence, at the period when he was struggling against indigence, and when Fortune had stripped him of every thing but his family and friends.

"Yes, indeed," cried the student, who saw an opportunity of interposing, "talk to me of Dante. He was a man indeed! How I delight in the picture he has drawn of that frozen ocean, which Lucifer sweeps with his gigantic wings. The tears and cries of the damned inspire me with terror which has something of pleasure mixed up in it. I cannot say either that I am sorry at his having introduced that wicked archbishop, and the crowd of monks, who expiate in the torments of hell their cunning and hypocrisy." He looked round to the monk, who made him no other reply than by casting his eyes towards the earth with an air of mortification.

And, if there is justice in heaven," said the boatman, "that ocean will one day swallow up these cursed Germans, with their yellow mustachios: and that it may I wish from the bottom of my heart."

The notary, with a true lawyer's caution, thought it high time again to interrupt this discourse.

Among our other obligations to the great men I mentioned, it is not the least that they drove away, by the splendour of their own works, the remembrance of those monstrous romances which infested our classic land. I mean such as 'Amadis De Gaul' and Palmerin of England,' and the rest of the books so full of enchantments, and giants, and marvels."

Why did they not drive away the white uniforms and the sabre's of the north ?" cried the indefatigable boatman with his thundering voice.

"And why," said the student, who delighted in quizzing the monk, "did they not drive away that fat, comfortable, and contented race of lazy priests?"

The monk remained silent.

"As to recollections," continued the student, "I prefer those of the little town, which you can see in the distance on the other side of the river, to all those of the most sumptuous villas, and even of the most renowned poets that ever wrote. There, beneath that spire which peeps out among the olive trees, I was this morning regaled with some exquisite Sicilian wine, by a company of jovial deacons, who treated me like a brother. By-the-by, too, I saw one of the most singular marriages."

"A marriage, signor ?" said the notary eagerly.

Yes," replied the student, "a marriage. Is there any thing so rare in a marriage that it should make you open your eyes so wide? Though, if you had really seen it, you might have been surprised."

"Can you describe the bride to me?" said the notary, endeavouring in vain to conceal his impatience.

"Are you in search of her?" rejoined the student. If you are it is too late, for she is by this time the wife of another— but such another!"

"For Heaven's sake, good signor scholar, explain to me fully what you mean by these hints. I am the friend—that is to say, I am interested-not for myself, but I am interested for others in the fate of the lady you allude to."

Then, my good grave signor, I recommend you to calm yourself. Try to forget her, for, upon the faith of a student, you may as well; since she is lost to you and to all the world, having become the wife of”

It is always difficult for any other than a native to understand the gestures with which an Italian fills up his discourse, instead of pronouncing words which it might be dangerous or inconvenient to utter aloud. To those who are in the habit of using and practising these expedients, a smile, a sign, a shrug, or the raising a finger, have all the effects of speech, and the Signor Grandonio seemed to comprehend something of dreadful import now, as the young student, instead of finishing his speech, pressed his hand upon the notary's neck.

Holy Virgin!" he cried, "can it be possible?" His legs trembled, and the paleness of his face denoted the agitation of his mind.

"Nothing is more true," replied the student, struck by his manner; "but, if I had known you had been so deeply interested in this affair, I would not have spoken of it so lightly. Nevertheless, I have told you no more than the exact truth. And, moreover, the priest was so much affected at the sight of the yellow cloak which the young man spread over the steps of the altar, that".

"I prythee spare me these details," said the notary. "It was at Majano, you say, that the marriage took place ?"

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"Yes, at Majano, the town which you see upon the hill

there."

The boat, at this moment, stopped, and the notary left it immediately. He was seen to take the road to Majano, and at that place it should seem that the scholar's tale was confirmed; for, on the return of Signor Grandonio to Florence, the news which he brought plunged the Signora Baldi into the deepest affliction.

Camilla, in the mean time, was living in a neat but some. what old-fashioned house, in one of the most retired parts of Florence. She had lived here for some months with no other society than that of her husband, but yet in almost perfect happiness. The interior of her house was marked by an elegant simplicity, which had more of good taste and comfort in it than of splendour. Her apartment, which adjoined that of her husband, was adorned with portraits of the saints, and religious emblems, from the hands of the best masters. A large glass door, the panes of which were beautifully painted, led into a garden which even now was delightful, although the rigour of the season hid many of its beauties. Still it furnished flowers enough to decorate the chamber, in which books, a harp, pencils, and drawings, were scattered about profusely.

Camilla's husband was young, affectionate, and attentive. She enjoyed all the pleasures of a peaceful life and an easy fortune; besides, she was married-and yet Camilla was not quite happy.

(To be concluded.)

ASCENSION.

A small poem has lately made its appearance under the above title. It is a description of the Island of Ascension, given in a very poetical as well as geographical manner. Indeed future geographers ought not to omit using this poem as an authority for their future descriptions of "Ascension;" for it is an island which appears to have been much libelled by those gentlemen, who have invariably described it as barren rock, destitute of inhabitants." Mr. Johns, the author of the poem, says "The island at first sight has a L. 56. 2.

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