the level of the old town to be rigidly
ascertained.

Here, as at _Aci-Reale_, balconies at windows, for the most part
supported by brackets, terminating in human heads, give a rich,
though rather a heavy, appearance to the street. Much amber is found
and worked at Catania. It has been lately discovered in a fossil
state, and in contiguity with fossil wood; but we were quite
_electrified_ at the price of certain little scent-bottles, and other
articles made of this production. You see it in all its possible
varieties of colour, opacity, or transparency. The green opalized
kind is the most prized, and four pounds was demanded for a pair of
pendants of this colour for earrings. Besides the yellow sort, which
is common every where, we see the ruby red, which is very rare: some
varieties are freckled, and some of the sort which afforded subjects
for Martial, and for more than one of the Greek anthologists, with
insects in its matrix. _This_ kind, they say, is found exclusively on
the coast of Catania. There are such pieces the size of a hand, but
it is generally in much smaller bits. Amber lies under, or is formed
_upon_ the sand, and abounds most near the _embouchure_ of a small
river in this neighbourhood. Many beautiful shells, fossils, and
other objects of natural history, appear in the dealers' trays; and
polished knife-handles of Sicilian _agate_ may be had at five dollars
a dozen.

THE LAST OF THE KNIGHTS.

DON JOHN AND THE HERETICS OF FLANDERS.

It would almost seem as though chivalry were one of the errors of
Popery; so completely did the spirit of the ancient orders of
knighthood evaporate at the Reformation! The blind enthusiasm of
ignorance having engendered superstitions of every kind and colour,
the blow struck at the altar of the master idol proved fatal to all.

In Elizabeth's time, the forms and sentiment of chivalry were kept up
by an effort. The parts enacted by Sidney and Raleigh, appear studied
rather than instinctive. At all events, the gallant Sir Philip was
the last of English knights, as he was the first of his time.
Thenceforward, the valour of the country assumed a character more
professional.

But a fact thus familiar to us of England, is more remarkable of the
rest of Europe. The infallibility of Rome once assailed, every faith
was shaken. Loyalty was lessened, chivalry became extinct; expiring
in France with Henri IV. and the League--in Portugal with Don
Sebastian of Braganza-