the party unable to record any dreams of the
vivid and peculiar nature you mention from my own experience; I conclude
it is owing to the dulness of my imagination. I suppose the more intense
power of reverie is a symptom of the poetical temperament; and perhaps,
if I possessed more enthusiasm, I should always have possessed more of
the religious instinct. To adopt the idea of Philalethes of hereditary
character, I fear my forefathers have not been correct in their faith.

_Amb_.--Your glory will be greater in establishing a new character, and I
trust even the conversation of this day has given you an additional
reason to adopt _our_ faith.

Ambrosio spoke these words with an earnestness unusual in him, and with
something of a tone which marked a zeal for proselytism, and at the same
time he cast his eyes on the rosary which was suspended round the neck of
the stranger, and said, "I hope I am not indiscreet in saying _our_
faith."

_The Stranger_.--I was educated in the ritual of the church of England; I
belong to the Church of Christ; the rosary which you see suspended round
my neck is a memorial of sympathy and respect for an illustrious man. I
will, if you will allow me, give you the history of it, which, I think
from the circumstances with which it is connected, you will not find
devoid of interest. I was passing through France in the reign of
Napoleon, by the peculiar privilege granted to a scavan, on my road into
Italy. I had just returned from the Holy Land, and had in my possession
two or three of the rosaries which are sold to pilgrims at Jerusalem as
having been suspended in the Holy Sepulchre. Pius VII. was then in
imprisonment at Fontainebleau. By a special favour, on the plea of my
return from the Holy Land, I obtained permission to see this venerable
and illustrious Pontiff. I carried with me one of my rosaries. He
received me with great kindness. I tendered my services to execute any
commissions, not political ones, he might think fit to entrust me with in
Italy, informing him that I was an Englishman. He expressed his thanks,
but declined troubling me. I told him I was just returned from the Holy
Land, and bowing with great humility, offered to him my rosary from the
Holy Sepulchre. He received it with a smile, touched it with his lips,
gave his benediction over it, and returned it into my hands, supposing,
of course, that I was a Roman Catholic. I had meant to present it to his
Holiness,