trast to their indifference respecting assassination. After hanging a few minutes, the body was lowered down, burnt on a grate, and the ashes scattered to the winds.*

Such scenes, providentially, do not often interrupt the joyous life of a Palermitan, nor cloud the halcyon hours that are whiled away on the Marina. There was an abode of suffering innocence on this glorious public parade of the Piazza Marina, a building which now contains the tribunal of justice and the custom-house. This was once the prison of the Inquisition, and here the deepest crimes were perpetrated, under a pretence of justice, and by those who had the moral courage to style themselves ministers of a merciful God; nor was it until the year 1782 that this infamous mockery of laws was abolished, the prison-doors thrown up, and the archives of the order publicly destroyed, by the Marquis of Caracciolo, amidst the blessings and the applauses of a grateful people.

STRADA ST. URSOLA, VALETTA.

MALTA.

"I love the fields, the woods, the streams,

The wild-flowers fresh and sweet,

And yet I love no less than these

The crowded city-street:

For haunts of men, where'er they be,
Awake my deepest sympathy."

M. H.

THIS is one of the eleven streets which meet at the dorsal-ridge of the "Hog's Back," and preserve communication between the principal harbours. It is the most steep and tedious of ascent, but not on that account the less picturesque; and its descent towards the sea so rapid, that everlasting cleanliness prevails through its whole length. Here, as well as in every part of this sumptuous city, the causeway seems enclosed by lofty palaces that tower over the passenger, in which a noble simplicity is combined with the most rich, accomplished, and exquisite taste. There is something exhilarating in the air of Malta, and to this the architect adapts his design, being himself necessarily inspired by its presence. Bower windows allow the occupant of the upper stories to sit on high, enjoy the prospect, and inhale the balmy atmosphere; and for those who wish to recline within the sculptured palaces, a massive balcony, with a close veranda, excludes the hottest rays, while evening's refreshing breeze is freely permitted to enter.

* Vide" Sicily and its Islands," by Captain Smith.

THE PALAZZO REALE, PALERM 0.

SICILY.

"Oh! better that the ivy-wreath

Should clothe the mouldering tower,
Than it should be a place of strength

For passion and for power.

All glory to those sterner times!

But leave them to their minstrel rhymes." L. E. L.

THE Palace of Palermo is a splendid record of Sicilian history: here may be read the chronicles of centuries in the time-worn features of its varied styles. The site was anciently occupied by the citadel, called La Rocca, of the Saracenic princes, and their once flattering followers are said to have surrendered this place of arms to the brave Norman Count, Ruggieri, who took Messina by surprise with only sixty men, and, advancing through the island, became king of Sicily, over which he reigned with honour till his death, which took place at Mileto, in the year 1101. The foundation of the Moorish palace is attributed to Adelcamus, but the most interesting parts were added by Robert the Guiscard, in the reign of Ruggieri: to this prince we must ascribe also the completion of the much admired Capella Reale, and the erection of the Torre di Santa Ninfa, which occupies one of the four angles of the first Norman ground-plan, according to which the keeps of the Northmen were all built of the other towers, one was erected by the first William, and one by the second William of Norman race. Some portions of the Moorish architecture survive, in the indestructible panelled walls resembling those of La Ziza, but, being incorporated with the Norman towers, are with difficulty discovered. Many apartments, both of ceremony and for private occupation, are shown to the visitor: an ante-chamber is hung with portraits of court-favourites, and two reception-rooms within it are adorned with tapestry representing the adventures of Don Quixotte. The hall of state, or levee-room, is eighty feet in length by thirty in width, the ceiling of which has been painted by Patania, a Palermitan artist: the walls are wainscoted, the panels being filled with red silk damask, enclosed in frames of blue and gold. The private apartments of the palace possess a still greater interest than those just alluded to. Sicilian writers have been loud in praise of the gorgeous furniture and decorations of this rich residence in the days of the Norman dynasty, and there is one Norman apartment in perfect preservation, that supplies some extenuation for their glowing descriptions. This exquisite remnant of past glory presents, at this day, precisely the same sumptuous appearance that it did in the reign of William I.: the ceiling is coved, and encrusted

Tazze Reale, Palerme, sicua.