arge and inconvenience.

Arrived at the inn, I sent to Herr Schmidt, to whom I had been
recommended, with the request that he would despatch a trustworthy
cicerone to me, and make me a kind of daily scheme of what I was to
see. This was soon done, and after hurrying over my dinner I
commenced my wanderings.

I entered almost every church I passed on my way, and found them all
neat and pretty. Every where I came upon picturesque villas and
handsome houses, with glass doors instead of windows, their lower
portion guarded by iron railings and forming little balconies. Here
the women and girls sit of an evening working and talking to their
heart's content.

The streets of Palermo are far handsomer and cleaner than those of
Messina. The principal among them, Toledo and Casaro, divide the
town into four parts, and join in the chief square. The streets, as
we pass from one into another, present a peculiar appearance, filled
with bustling crowds of people moving noisily to and fro. In the
Toledo Street all the tailors seem congregated together, for the
shops on each side of the way are uniformly occupied by the votaries
of this trade, who sit at work half in their houses and half in the
street. The coffee-houses and shops are all open, so that the
passers-by can obtain a full view of the wares and of the buyers and
sellers.

The regal palace is the handsomest in the town. It contains a
gothic chapel, richly decorated; the walls are entirely covered with
paintings in mosaic, of which the drawings do not display remarkable
taste, and the ceiling is over-crowded with decorations and
arabesques. An ancient chandelier, in the form of a pillar, made of
beautiful marble and also covered with arabesques, stands beside the
pulpit. On holydays an immense candle is put in this candlestick
and lighted.

I wished to enter this chapel, but was refused admittance until I
had taken off my hat, like the men, and carried it in my hand. This
custom prevails in several churches of Palermo. The space in front
of the palace resembles a garden, from the number of avenues and
beds of flowers with which it is ornamented. Second in beauty is
the palace of the senate, but it cannot be compared with that at
Messina.

The town contains several very handsome squares, in all of which we
find several statues and fountains.

Foremost among the churches the Cathedral must be mentioned; its
gothic facade occupies one entire side of a squa