populous as a city. There are upwards of three
thousand statues upon it, and places for a thousand more. Here stands a
monk, busy with his beads,--there a mailed warrior,--there a mitred
bishop,--there a pilgrim, staff in hand,--there a nun, gracefully
veiled,--and yonder hundreds of seraphs perched upon the loftier
pinnacles, and looking as if a white cloud of winged creatures from the
sky had just lighted upon it.

I purposed to-morrow to climb to the roof, and thence survey the plains
of Lombardy and the chain of the Alps; so, turning away from the door, I
made the tour of the square in which the Cathedral stands. I came first
upon a row of cannon, so pointed as to sweep the square. Behind the
guns, piled on the pavement, were stacks of arms, and soldiers loitering
beside them. Ah! thought I, these are the loving ties that bind the
people of Lombardy to the House of Hapsburg. The priest's chant is heard
all day long within that temple; and outside there blend with it the
sentinel's tramp and the drum's roll. I passed on, and came next upon a
most unusual display of literature. Four-paged pamphlets in hundreds lay
piled upon stalls, or were ranged in rows against the wall. The subjects
discussed in these pamphlets were of a high spiritual cast, and woodcuts
were freely employed to aid the reader's apprehension. These latter
belonged to a very different style of art from that conspicuous in the
Cathedral, but they had the merit of great plainness; and a glance at
the woodcut enabled one to read at once the story of the pamphlet. The
wall was all a-blaze with flames; and I saw the advantage of an
infallible Church to teach one secrets which the Bible does not reveal.
The sin chiefly insisted on was that of despising the priest; and the
punishment awaiting it was set before me in a way I could not possibly
mistake. Here, for instance, was a wealthy sinner, who lay dying in a
splendid mansion. With horrible impiety, the man had refused the wafer,
and ordered the priest about his business, despite the imploring tears
of wife and family, who surrounded his bed. A glance at the other
compartment of the picture showed the consequence of this. There you
found the man just launched into the other world. A crowd of black
fiends, hideous to behold, had seized upon the poor soul, and were
dragging it down into a weltering gulf of lurid flame. In another
picture you had an equally graphic illustration of the happiness of
obeying Mo