has done since I have been connected with him; regular in his public and private devotions, constant at the Sacrament, temperate in his appetites, moderate in his passions, he has less to apprehend from a sudden summons than any man I have known who was young and gay, and high in health and fortune like him. TRANSLATION OF LAURA BASSI'S VERSES. MESSER CHRISTOFORO, who shewed us the Specola at Bologna, and made his short but pathetic eulogium on the lamented Dottoressa, pointed with his finger (I believe he could not speak) to her much admired and well-known verses on the gate: "Si tibi pulchra domus, si splendida mensa,--quid inde? Si felix annos regnes per mille, — quid inde? Si rota Fortunæ se tollit ad astra,— quid inde? - Tam cito, tamque cito fugiunt hæc ut nihil, — inde. Sola manet Virtus; nos glorificabimur, — inde. Ergo Deo pare, bene nam tibi provenit -- inde." - I brought them home of course, and tried to translate them; but ventured not the translation out of my sight till now. 26th October, 1815. Thy mansion splendid, and thy service plate, Thy spouse All else I sweep away; but what of that? Trust God, and Time defy: eternal is your date. A FRIGHTFUL STORY. HERE (at Florence) our little English coterie printed a book, and called it the "Florence Miscellany,"-you have seen it at my lodgings, and here, one day, for The frolic, we betted a wager who could invent the most frightful story, and produce by dinner time. clock struck three, and by five we were to meet again. Merry brought a very fine one, but Mr. Greatheed burned his, and the following He tore her from the bleeding body of her husband, and throwing her across his horse, spurred him forward, till even the imaginary noises, which for a while pursued his flight, began to fade away and leave him leisure to reanimate his brutal passion. He alighted in a distant and deserted place, and by the faint light which the new moon afforded some moments ere she sunk below the horizon, examined his companion, and found her dead. A crowd of horrid images possessed his mind, but that which prevailed was the fear of discovery. He regained his seat, intent upon escape, * A somewhat similar competition produced "Frankenstein and "The Vampire.' but the horse trembled, and refused to stir. Ruggiero resolved to lose no time in fruitless contentions with his steed, but fly away as fast as it was possible. He ran for a full hour, then found himself entangled by some unseen substance that hindered him from proceeding. The mountain, which had for thirty years been silent, then gave a hollow groan. Ruggiero knew not that it was the mountain: but a column of blue flame shot up from the crater convinced him, while gathering clouds and solemn stillness of the air announced an approaching earthquake. Ruggiero's joynts began to loosen with the united sensations of guilt and fear; surrounded on all sides by torrents of indurated lava, which he recollected to have heard flowed from Vesuvius the year that he was born, when both his parents perished in the flames, and he himself was saved as if by miracle, — his feet stood fixed by difficulty, whilst his mind ran rapidly over past events. The mountain now swelled with a second sigh, more solemn than before. The hollow ground heaved under him, and by the light of an electrick cloud which caught the blaze as it blew over the hill, he happily discovered a distant crucifix, and seeking with steps become somewhat more steady to gain it. Tears for the first time eased his heart, and gave hope of returning humanity. Ruggiero now prayed for life only that he might gain time to request forgiveness; and after a variety of penances courageously endured, he lives at this day, a hermit on Vesuvius,-religion making that residence |