cook, put his foot upon the monarch's neck,
repeating the words of the psalm,--"Thou shalt tread upon the lion and
adder." This high temple of the Adriatic is vast and curious, but
wanting in effect, owing to the low roof and the gloomy light. The
Levant was searched for columns and marbles to decorate it; acres of
gold-leaf have been expended in gilding it; and every corner is stuck
full of allegorical devices, some of which are so very ingenious, that
they have not yet been read. The priests wore a style of dress admirably
befitting the finery of the Cathedral; for their vestments were
bespangled with gold and curious devices. What a contrast to the simple
temple and the plain earnest worshippers with whom I had passed my
former Sabbath amid the Vaudois hills! But the God of the Vaudois,
unlike the wafer-god of the priests, "dwelleth not in temples made with
hands."

Passing along on the narrow paved footpaths which tie back to back the
long lofty ranges of the city,--the fronts being filled with the
ocean,--I visited several of its one hundred and twenty churches. I
found mass ended, and the congregation, if any such there had been,
dismissed; but I saw what was even more indicative of a reviving
superstition: in every church I entered I found classes of boys and
girls under instruction. The Sabbath-school system was in full operation
in Venice, in Rome's behalf. The boys were in charge of the young
priests; and the girls, of the nuns and sisters. In some cases, laymen
had been pressed into the service, and were occupied in unfolding the
mysteries of transubstantiation to the young mind. Seating myself on a
bench in presence of a class of boys, I watched the course of
instruction. Their text-book was the "Catechism of Christian Doctrine,"
which contains the elements of the Roman faith, as fixed by the Council
of Trent. The boys were repeating the Catechism to the teacher. No
explanations were given, for the process was simply that of fixing
dogmas in the memory,--of conveying as much of fact, or what professed
to be so, as it was possible to convey into the mind without awakening
the understanding. The boys were taught to _believe_, not _reason_; and
those who acquitted themselves best had little medals and pictures of St
Francis given them as prizes. I remarked that most of the shops were
shut: indeed, so little business is done in Venice, that this involved
no sacrifice to the traders. As it was, however, the city