caught in a single season, as they alight on their passage to other lands. Hence the see of Capri has been called the Bishopric of Quails. The heights communicate with the shore by means of a steep flight of nearly six hundred steps. These lead down towards the bay, and, though difficult to mount, are very tempting, from the unrivalled views to be obtained from them at different points. There is always an abundance of flowers on the sloping uplands of the island, even in winter; and the sweet alyssum of our gardens, with crocuses and jonquils, pink and white anemones, bright blue gentians and daisies, cover every verdant field, like the stars in the sky. In many a glowing constellation they diversify the scene with their bright tints, springing up under the fig and the caper tree, at the base of moss-covered rocks or in their rifted sides, and among the ruins of the palaces of Tiberius. He and his wild orgies, his villas and dancing-girls, have passed away, and so have all his successors; but the same humble flowers that he and they trampled upon yet flourish there, and, in obedience to the simple and eternal laws of nature, send forth their sweet odors and display their bright hues, as of old, in perpetual youth, purity, and innocence.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE PROGRESS OF ITALY.

In spite of the opinions of those who praise the good old times, which never existed, and oppose every liberal idea, the progress of humanity is ever onward. It often is slow and uncertain; but it is sure as the hidden yet resistless forces of nature, for it is the cause of God. It strives to move like the vine, which gradually covers and crushes the mightiest ruin or most majestic oak. If it cannot move like the vine, it thrusts out its delicate arms like the woodbine, and beautifies even that decay which it promotes. If it have not the swiftness of the woodbine, it advances slowly, like the lichen, and covers with the dark weeds of mourning the fossil remnants of past intolerance, while it slowly eats away its vitality. It always moves forward with bravery, seizes upon every advantage, and rarely will any storm shake it from its tenacious grasp.

This is well illustrated by the progress of Italy. She has been for ages, and is now to a great extent, sunk in the depths of ignorance and superstition. Yet even within her limits there has always been some slight advance, and at times convulsive throes have shown the pent-up force within. She is now

well advanced towards a brilliant future. The unification of Italy, to be sure, is not yet an accomplished fact, and from the top of the Vatican the Pope, like Satan on Mount Niphates, still looks down with envy and hate on a scene of growing happiness and thrift which he would gladly destroy. But who can doubt the final result? The new government has taken for its maxim, "God helps those who help themselves," and omits no occasion to impress it upon the people. But it cannot do everything at once; and for years to come, doubtless, the rabble of Naples and Florence will chatter and scream, and thrust out their brawny arms towards the sky, and call upon the Madonna to come forth and do and suffer for them what they ought to do and bear themselves. Yet the government can and does find for the people the opportunity of profitable labor and well-directed energy. Railroads are extending in every direction the blessings of free intercourse and enlightenment; improved harbors and light-houses are promoting the increase of trade ; new buildings and manufactories are economizing the capital of the country, which has hitherto been greatly drawn away to other lands. Already we see Victor Emanuel, King by the grace of God and the will of the people, in the van of national industry and thrift. And now that he is "full of noble device, of all sorts enchantingly beloved," now that he leads forth his subjects towards the Canaan of national glory and happiness, shall we doubt the issue? We know that the result is in

the hands of Providence, and we cannot now foresee it; but we know that the right direction is taken. The past career of Italy is black enough, but she is now advancing like the armies of the angels,

"Whose rear lay wrapped in night, while breaking dawn

Roused the broad front and urged the battle on."

We hope to see her, like them, move on and on, to an eternal conquest over the powers of darkness.

The Italians of to-day do not need bread and soup tickets and the alms of the charitable. They must no longer be fed, like dogs, at the doors of monasteries and convents. All such things are as fruitless and ineffective as rain on the mountaintops. They but add a deeper furrow to the rugged lines of the past. They are all degrading, and permanently so. It is the development of mind which is to be the regeneration of Italy. Men may yearn for the prolific future, the millennium which has brightened the pages of so many writers with the tints of coming day, but it will not come except with the progress of education, which alone will bring lasting happiness and a well-founded prosperity. The impression must be deeply made on the mind of every poverty-stricken and ragged son of woe, that beneath that rude exterior smoulders a spark, powerful for good as it has been too much so for evil; that even he has a mind capable of development; that even he has a particle of that force which can extort from the stars their secrets, can wrestle with Nature herself for a share in those powers which God has given her from the begin

ning, and even in death can rule our spirits from the grave. The history of many other nations shows us how much can be done by slowly elevating and improving this mass of idle brain, and directing it into its proper channels. It will be the pride and pleasure of the new government to do this. Already, in every direction, it has opened new veins of wealth, and is guiding the resources of the country towards useful and honorable purposes.

The kingdom of Naples, as might be inferred, is the most degraded of all the Italian States. It has been for ages subjected to every sort of misrule and tyranny, until its people, especially in the capital, are sunk as deeply as they well can be. The grand old maxim of Humboldt says, "To be born is of little account, but to make life valuable is excellent." The Neapolitan says, "Let every man get into the world as he best can, and then look out for himself." This is the result of centuries of vicious misgovernment and depraved religion. The daily lives of the citizens show their moral prostration. Every vice is there practised in the light of day, and poverty and ignorance march hand in hand. They have hardly yet learned to appreciate the blessings of liberty, and one of the modes in which they first availed themselves of the advantages of a free government was the opening of their theatres during Lent, which had never been lawful before. The lower orders of Naples are as inefficient specimens of humanity as one often meets. They bask with comfortable insouciance in the hot