fore does the former excite sentiments of awe and devotion? especially when we learn from our very infancy To walk the studious cloister pale, Casting a dim religious light.at Junin faron tad If to these enchantments we add the pealing organ, the fullvoiced choir, the service high, and anthems clear, we are irresistibly attracted to a style that awakens so many delicious recollections, and calls forth some of our best and most holy feelings. When opposed to it, Greek and Roman architecture, though it may retain its beauty, yet seems divested of its majesty; and appropriated as it is almost entirely amongst us to the mansions of the great and to the resorts of the gay, it inspires pleasurable ideas only, and awakens emotions of mirth, and expectations of theatrical amusement. But this association of ideas, so favourable to Gothic, is peculiar to an Englishman. An Italian's prejudices run in a contrary direction. The Gothic or Tedesca he considers as an invention of the northern barbarians, and a combination of disproportions and dissonances. Its twilight pale is to him the sullen gloom of northern forests, and of skies for ever clouded; its clustered pillars, are mere confusion, ill-contrived bundles of stone; the apparent length or elevation is the result of narrowness and disproportion; the pointed arch, the consequence of ignorance in not knowing the art of forming a round one; the stone braces that intersect the vault, clumsy contrivances to support it; the fretwork of the windows, happy inventions to obstruct the light; in short, he looks upon the whole style as an ill assorted mass of incongruities, dispro > portions, encumbrance, confusion, darkness, and intricacy, well adapted indeed, as were the forests of Scandinavia, to the gloom and horror of Druidical sacrifices and Runic incantations, Barbara ritu Sacra Deum, structæ diris feralibus aræ. Lucan. but very ill calculated for the purposes of a christian congregation, the order and decorum of its rites, and the festive celebration of its mysteries. It would here, perhaps, be the place to inquire when and whence the Gothic style passed into Italy; an inquiry which would naturally lead to another, inseparable indeed from it, though more extensive and intricate, where that style originated. But, as the subject is, if not strictly speaking Gothic, at least anticlassical, I may be allowed to exclude it from these sketches, and instead of a dissertation and my own very insignificant opinion, call the attention of the reader to a passage from Cassiodorus; and admitting that it may not refer to the style in question, yet I will ask him whether it would be possible to describe it more accurately*.—Quid dicamus columnarum junceam proceritatem? moles illas sublimissimas fabricarum, quasi quibusdam` erectis hastilibus contineri et substantiæ qualitate concavis canalibus excavatas, ut magis ipsas æstimes fuisse transfusas alias caris judicas factum, quod metallis durissimis videas expolitum †. * Cassiodorus lived in the sixth century, and was secretary to the first Gothic kings. + Lib. VII. Var. Form. xv. From this epistle we learn, that under the abovementioned princes, Rome still abounded in statues even of bronze-that its edifices The most remarkable object in the interior of this church is the subterranean chapel, in which the body of St. Charles Borromeo reposes. It is immediately under the dome, in form octangular, and lined with silver, divided into pannels representing the principal actions of the life of the Saint. The body is in a shrine of rock crystal, on, or rather behind the altar; it is stretched at full length, drest in pontifical robes, with the crosier and mitre. The face is exposed, very improperly because much disfigured by decay, a deformity increased and rendered more hideous by its contrast with the splendor of the vestments which cover the body, and by the pale ghastly light that gleams from the aperture above. The inscription over this chapel or mausoleum, was dictated by St. Charles himself, and breathes that modesty and piety which so peculiarly marked his character. It is as follows: CAROLUS CARDINALIS FREQUENTIORIBUS CLERI POPULIQ. AC CUPIENS HOC LOCO SIBI MONUMENTUM VIVENS ELEGIT. If ever a human being deserved such honours from his fellowcreatures, it was St. Charles Borromeo. Princely birth and fortune, the highest dignities, learning, talents, and accomplishments, were in good repair-and that government was extremely attentive to their preservation. เ qualities so apt to intoxicate the strongest mind even in the soberness of mature, I might say, in the sullenness of declining, age, shone in him even when a youth, without impairing that humility, simplicity of heart, disinterestedness and holiness, which constituted his real merit and formed his most honourable and permanent distinction. It was his destiny to render to his people those great and splendid services which excite public applause and gratitude, and to perform at the same time those humbler duties which, though perhaps more meritorious, are less obscure, and sometimes produce more obloquy than acknowledgment. Thus, he founded schools, colleges, and hospitals, built parochial churches, most affectionately attended his flock during a destructive pestilence, erected a lazaretto, and served the forAsaken victims with his own hands. These are duties uncommon, magnificent and heroic, and are followed by fame and glory. But, to reform a clergy and people depraved and almost barbarized by ages of war, invasion, internal dissension, and by their concomitant evils, fainine, pestilence and general misery; to extend his influence to every part of an immense diocese including some of the wildest regions of the Alps, to visit every village in person, and inspect and correct every disorder, are offices of little pomp and of great difficulty. Yet, this laborious part of his pastoral charge he went through with the courage and the perseverance of an apostle; and so great was his success, that the diocese of Milan, the most extensive perhaps in Italy, as it contains at least eight hundred and fifty parishes, became a model of decency, order, and regularity, and in this respect ₹ *He was made cardinal and archbishop in his twenty-third year, by his uncle Pius VI. who had resigned several rich livings to him twelve years before. 1 has excited the admiration of every impartial observer. The -good effects of the zeal of St. Charles extended far beyond the limits of his diocese ; and most of his regulations for the reformation of his clergy, such as the establishment of seminaries, yearly retreats, &c. were adopted by the Gallican church, and extended over France and Germany. Many of his excellent, institutions, still remain, and among others that of Sunday schools; and it is both novel and affecting to behold on that day the vast area of the Cathedral filled with -children forming two grand divisions of boys and girls ranged opposite each other, and these again subdivided into classes according to their age and capacities, drawn up between the pillars, while two or more instructors attend each class, and direct their questions and explanations to every little individual without distinction. A clergyman attends each class, accompanied by one (or more laymen for the boys; and for the girls by as many Imatrons. The lay persons are said to be oftentimes of the first distinction. Tables are placed in different recesses for writing. This admirable practice, so beneficial and so edifying, is not confined to the Cathedral or even to Milan. The pious archbishop extended it to every part of his immense diocese, and it is observed in all the parochial churches of the Milanese, and of the neighbouring dioceses, of such at least as are suffragans Lof Milan The private virtues of St. Charles, that is, the qualities that C * See La Lande. * |