they have for some years lived shall have had time to produce its necessary influence, considerable amelioration may be expected. They are remarkable for simplicity and obedience to authority, are peaceable and valuable subjects, of acknowledged veracity and fidelity, frank in deportment, kind in disposition, and free from the dissolute manners of other tribes in the country. They are affectionate husbands and fathers; their women are free from any sort of restraint, and are modest and retired in their habits. All are strikingly superior to the tribes. around them, and although they have no longer their ancient high character and station, they are still much respected by the best part of the native community. Most of them are poor, and gain a livelihood by constant labour; but many engage in trade; and although none are affluent, several individuals among them are in easy circumstances. Their clergy are generally poor: the bishop is maintained from the funds of the College of Cottayam, which allows him six hundred rupees per annum. He is frugal in his living, and plain in dress. His ordinary costume is a loose vesture of dark red silk, with a large golden cross suspended from his neck: on occasions of ceremony, a robe of yellow muslin is thrown over his vesture, and he then bears the mitre and crosier. The priests are called Catanars: they are chosen from among the best families, but have been designated as very ignorant, though the influence of the College of Cottayam is gradually diminishing this evil. A few of them are married, but the feeling of the Church is in favour of their celibacy, which probably arises from the Romish influence of the seventeenth century. They allow their beards to grow, and to descend over their breasts; and the hair of the head is cut short round to resemble a crown or tonsure. In their ordinary costume they wear a loose white shirt over large trousers, and cover their heads with a square piece of cloth or silk, the ends of which fall down their back. When they officiate in the church, the head is uncovered, and they put a long white gown over all the rest of their dress. There is nothing in the dress of the common people to distinguish them from other natives of their own condition, with the exception that the women are more decorously covered. The men wear a piece of white cloth round the middle of the body, its quality constituting the only difference between the dress of the rich and poor. They shave their beards, but let the hair of the head grow to a great length, which is sometimes allowed to hang down on the back, and sometimes is tied up in a knot behind, and fastened with a metal cross. The women wear large bangles of metal round their ankles, and an additional garment over the upper part of the person; and when they go to church, or visit their pastor, they put over all a cloth which reaches from the top of the head to the ground, and leaves nothing visible but the face. Both sexes are taller and more robust than the Nairs, and altogether are of a fine and handsome appearance; but the women have rarely the delicate forms and features so often found among the latter, which probably arises from the life of labour they lead, as some of the more affluent are said to be extremely fair, and to possess great beauty. Their numbers are reckoned by one authority at about 160,000; of whom 90,000 are said to belong to the Syro-Romans, and 70,000 to the pure Syrians. Another account gives the numbers 66,000 and 33,000, respectively: the latter is the more probable, because the whole number of native Christians in Travancore, including the Roman Catholics, has been stated officially at 160,000. The number of parishes is given by three authorities as 55, 57, and 59, for the Syrians, and at 64, 98, and 101, for the Syro-Romans: the first of these is probably a clerical error, and should be 94. Their oldest churches are long, narrow buildings, with low entrances, having large buttresses and sloping roofs. The modern churches partake somewhat of the style introduced by the Portuguese into India. They have very little ornament, and are generally ill kept and dirty; many are much dilapidated, and some are totally ruined. Among these we may mention the ancient Cathedral of Angamale, and the great church of Paroor, which was capable of containing 1500 persons; these were wantonly demolished by Tippoo Sultan in 1790. It is believed by those best acquainted with the disposition of the Indian Christians, that there would be no great difficulty in bringing them all into one united body, were it not for the jealousy of their priests, who even refuse to marry persons of the differing sects. This circumstance appears to be the only obstacle to so desirable a consummation. THE elephant is said to attain to its full growth and maturity in eighteen or twenty years; the horse and ass in five; the mouse and rabbit in five or six weeks. The duration of life is nearly proportionate; a mouse and a rabbit are aged in three and six years; horses and asses live to thirty, and even to forty years; a lion, which is full grown Tower menagerie; the elephant reaches one hundred or in five or six years, attained to the age of seventy in the two hundred years; the whale suckles its cubs for a whole year. They are probably long-lived, but in our eagerness for oil we have no leisure for experiments or physical inquiry.-J. S. DUNCAN. JOHN W. PARKER, PUBLISHER, WEST STRAND, LONDON. For the great desire I had To see fair Padua, nursery of arts, I am arrived for fruitful Lombardy, The pleasant garden of great Italy: And by my father's love and leave am arm'd,' THE PLACE SALONE. A course of learning and ingenious studies.-SHAKSPEARE. A TRAVELLER in the last century says that " Padua has contracted, from its long low porticos and its gloomy churches a grave old vacancy of aspect." But since the decline of Venice this city has increased in importance and consequently in cheerfulness: but still it has a grave and learned aspect. Long rows of arches, generally pointed, support the houses. Irregular places,-wide-stretching tracts of desolate waste on the outskirts, all add to its strange solemnity; may it never lose its peculiar character! Old Italy still remains predominant in this ancient seat of solemn learning. The whole city is one vast monastic precinct, and the remarkable structures which it contains harmonize happily as parts of the singular picture which it affords*." The Italians call this city Padova: it is the ancient Patavium, a town of the Veneti, known as the birthplace of the historian Livy, and now a town of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. Many traditions are pre *MURRAY'S Handbook for Travellers in Italy, VOL. XXV. served within it respecting its origin. It is, perhaps, the oldest city of the north of Italy, its founder being, on the authority of the Eneid, no less a personage than Antenor the Trojan. Antenor, from the midst of Grecian hosts Could pass secure, and pierce th' Illyrian coasts; In the year 1274, while preparing the foundation for the Foundling Hospital of Padua, a large sarcophagus of marble was discovered, containing a second of lead, and a third of cypress wood. The third contained a skeleton, longer than the ordinary stature, grasping a sword; and an inscription upon the inner coffin was interpreted to indicate that the tomb belonged to Antenor. The discovery excited the greatest enthusiasm, and the remains of the founder of the city were deposited in the church of San Lorenzo, whither also the sarcophagus was transported. In modern times the church has been demolished, but the sarcophagus has been spared; it stands at a corner of a street, beneath a 796 canopy of stone. Whatever may be thought of the amount were found. Padua is still called "la Dotta," in compliment to its celebrated university or studio, which enjoyed considerable reputation so early as the commencement of the thirteenth century. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it numbered no less than 6000 students; but the number does not exceed 1500, although its professors are men of repute. Its botanic garden, the first in Europe, was instituted by the Venetian senate in 1443. It is laid out in the ancient style of stiff forIt contains mality, and adorned with statues and busts. some of the oldest specimens of trees and plants now common in Europe, "the patriarchs of our shrubberies, plantations, and conservatories." The oriental plane is peculiarly venerable: the magnolias are superb. Here also was established the first school of anatomy under Vesalius, in 1540, who was truly the founder of anatomical science, he being the first to give a complete description of the human body. The astronomical observatory, celebrated by the discoveries of Galileo*, is situated on the summit of a lofty tower, the sole remnant of the stronghold of the cruel tyrant Ezzelino di Ravenna, who made Padua the chief seat of dominion. This tower was the entrance to the dungeons where his victims groaned in anguish. In the Gabinetto fisico is displayed one of the vertebræ of the spine of Galileo, who for eighteen years was professor in this university. It was stolen by the Florentine Doctor Cocchi, who, in 1737, was intrusted with the removal of Galileo's bones to the church of Saint Croix at Florence. Cocchi's son inherited this relic from his father, and disposed of it to the patrician Angelo Quirini: it then passed to the mathematician Vivorio de Vicence; then to his physician, Dr. Thiene, who presented it to this university. By a similar fraud, the Laurentian Library at Florence possesses a finger of this great philosopher. "How strange has been the destiny of this great man's body!" exclaims Valery t; “alive, envy immured it in a dungeon: dead, admiration would tear it in pieces. The enthusiasm of the Italians incites them to a species of brigandage for such illustrious remains." The honours of this university were formerly open to competition by females. "Of these no one at tained a higher reputation than Lucretia Helena Cornaro, a Venetian lady of a noble family, the daughter of a procurator of St. Mark. She acquired an accurate knowledge of the Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and had some acquaintance with the Arabic. Her knowledge of all the scholastic sciences was extensive; and, possessing a talent for poetry, she composed verses, which she sang to her harp. So deeply also was she versed in theological studies, that the University of Padua was desirous of enrolling her amongst the doctors of theology, but this proceeding was opposed by the bishop. She was, however, honoured with the cap of doctor of philosophy, which was bestowed upon her, in 1678, in the cathedral of Padua, no other building being sufficiently capacious to accommodate the crowds who assembled to witness the ceremony." She died unmarried, in 1684, at the age of forty-eight. The Clerical College, or Seminary of Padua, is justly celebrated for its printing-press, its Latin dictionary, and its library. "I cannot contemplate, without respect," says Valery, "the MSS. in twelve folio volumes, of the great dictionary of Forcellini: it is a monument of the science, perseverance, and modesty of this holy and learned man. One certainly does not expect to find sensibility and pathos at the head of a Latin folio lexicon; but yet I know nothing more touching than these words of Forcellini, addressed to the pupils of this seminary, in which he reminds * See Saturday Magazine, Vol. XXI., pp. 9, 38. + Voyages Historiques en Italie, to which work we are indebted for mary of the details of this article. them of the time, the anxiety, and the powers which, during Padua is so peculiarly rich in buildings of the highest Perhaps the most interesting structure in Padua is the Palazzo della Ragione, or town hall, which extends along the market place. It is a vast building, standing entirely upon open arches, surrounded by a Gothic loggia, and was built by Pietro Cozzo between 1172 and 1219. The history of this hall is as remarkable as its aspect. In 1306 there arrived at Padua an Austin Friar, Frate Giovanni, a renowned architect and engineer. He had travelled far and wide, in Europe and Asia, to the very Indies, and had brought back plans and drawings of the buildings which had most attracted his attention, and among these was a drawing of a roof of a great palace in India. The design pleased the Paduans, and they requested him to roof their hall (which had previously formed three chambers) in like manner; and Fra' Giovanni assented, asking no other pay than the wood and tiles of the old roof, which he was to take down. The interior of this hall utterly defies the pencil. A scanty proportion of small apertures, which can hardly be called windows, dart their rays in every direction, cutting the eye by their sharp light, but hardly dispelling the gloom of the huge concave. The great ribs of the coved roof almost touch the ground, and the whole is closely covered with the strange mystical paintings, designed, it is said, by Giotto, according to the instructions of the great physician, astrologer, alchemist, and suspected magician, Pietro d'Abano (born 1250, died 1316.) At one extremity of the hall is the so-called monument of Livy. In 1413, near the site of a house which, according to immemorial tradition, belonged to Livy, was discovered a tesselated pavement, beneath which was a leaden coffin, containing a skeleton supposed to be that of the great historian. The discovery excited the utmost enthusiasm, and it was determined to deposit the remains in the palazzo. The translation took place with much pomp; the bier was covered with cloth of gold, and it was carried by the noblest and most eminent of the citizens and professors of Padua. The relic was divided; the jaw-bone was deposited in the Cancellaria; and Alfonso, king of Naples, despatched a special embassy to request the gift of an arm, which was granted. This hall also contains the two beautiful Egyptian statues of granite given by Belzoni to this his native city. Above and between them is placed the bust of this enterprising but unfortunate traveller, in his Turkish dress. It was executed in Carrara marble by M. Rinaldo Rinaldi. In addition to the bust a very beautiful medal was struck by the city in token of their gratitude. In the hall is a stone of black granite, inscribed with the words "lapis vituperii." It was formerly applied to a singular use, and served by a very simple machinery all the purposes of our insolvent courts. Any unfortunate Paduan who found himself unable to pay his debts, and was willing to swear that he was not worth 5., was seated in a full hall upon this stone, without that protection from the cold which his garments usually supplied: he sat down three times, each time repeating the words "Cedo bonis," and by this process was relieved from the burthen of his debts But the ceremony is regarded as so great an indignity, that it has not been A meridian line crosses the hall: the ray of the sun passes through a hole, decorated with a golden face, in the roof. The whole structure is now greatly neglected, and it has a forlorn appearance. The churches of Padua are numerous and singularly rich in works of the highest art. The cathedral is of very mediocre architecture, and is neither beautiful nor majestic. The original plan was furnished by Michael Angelo, but during the two centuries that were occupied in completing it every architect introduced some novelty of his own. It was not finished until 1754. The sacristy, pillaged and spoiled by the French, contains some curious early liturgical MSS. The baptistery, near to, but separate from the cathedral, is a fine Lombard building of the twelfth century; its walls and cupola are entirely covered with frescoes. The episcopal palace is rich in frescoes and admirable pictures. The library, of which Petrarch may be reckoned as one of the founders, is rich in early printed books and inedited MSS. The baptistery as well as the library contain portraits of Petrarch, which do not seem to represent the same person. It has been remarked that if the various portraits of Dante have all a common resemblance, those of Petrarch all differ. "Petrarch and Laura must often have been very unlike themselves if all their portraits are true. It may be suspected that both fancy and wilful deception began to furnish illustrations of Petrarch at an early period; and if you collect his portraits you may please yourself amongst a wonderful variety." The Italians consider to be most authentic the portrait in the Episcopal Library. It was originally painted on the wall of the house of the poet at Padua. In 1581, when the cathedral was about to be enlarged, this house was demolished; and one of the Professors of Canon Law in the University caused it to be cut out of the wall entire, and removed to his house, where it remained until 1816, when it was removed to its present position over the door of the library. M. Valery describes the church of Antonio il Santo (the patron Saint of Padua) as the chief and most ancient marvel of Padua. The design is by Nicholas of Pisa. It was commenced in 1230, and brought nearly to its present form in 1424. The exterior is somewhat simple in its ornaments, which are few, plain, and large. Its seven domes and three minaret spires cause it to resemble the mosque of the Moslem. "Within it presents an overwhelming mass of decoration and enrichment. In this scene of splendour the chapel of the saint appears as a blaze of gold and silver, and brilliant marbles, illuminated day and night by the golden lamps and silver candlesticks and candelabra borne by angels, sending forth the flames which burn before the shrine." In 1797 the French were paid 100,000 francs to ransom the relics of the saint, for which purpose one of the three golden lamps was melted down, the one selected having been presented by the Grand Seignior. During ten centuries this church has been held in such high repute that the number of masses required to be said in it daily is so considerable that all the priests in Padua could not get through them; therefore, the chapter is authorized, by a bull of the pope, towards the end of every year, to say certain special masses, which count for a thousand ordinary ones, and thus the arrears are cleared off. Singularly enough the interior of this church is watched by dogs, of the shepherd's dog species, from Dalmatia; and they perform their duty remarkably well. M. Valery relates that a domestic having remained in the church after the gates were shut, was so narrowly watched by the dogs, one on each side of him, that he dared not stir during the whole night, his slightest motion threatening to bring the dogs to his throat. The Scuola di Sant' Antonio near the church, contains some beautiful and curious frescoes of Titian or of his school, the subjects of which illustrate the life of the saint. These frescoes are among the best preserved of the works of this great painter. In the square before the church is a fine bronze equestrian statue of Gattamelata, captain-general of the mercenary Venetian troops, by Donatello, said to have been the first work of the kind that was cast in Italy by the moderns. The small church of the Annunziata nell' Arena belongs to the commencement of the fourteenth century, and is singularly characteristic. It occupies the site of a Roman amphitheatre, as the term "nell' Arena" implies. It is rich in the works of Giotto, whose vast frescoes cover its walls. Among these are the strange figures of the Virtues and Vices, and the celebrated "Last Judgment," said to have been executed under the direction and superintendence of Dante, who was intimate with the artist. Although the silent hand of time during five centuries has produced its effects upon this magnificent work of art, it is said to be the best preserved of this artist's productions. The church of the Eremites is one of the most curious in Padua. "It is a most solid and striking building, from its simplicity as well as its ornaments. It consists of a single aisle lighted from the extremities; an arrangement which produces a Rembrandt effect of light and shade." The tombs in this church are among the few remaining memorials of the once powerful princes of Padua. Padua was surrendered to the Venetians in 1405, by Francesco di Carrara and his two sons: they were independent princes, nowise subject to Venice; but by the Council of Ten they were condemned and strangled in the dungeons of St. Mark. The church of Santa Giustina, supposed to have been erected on the site of the Temple of Concord, is a handsome piece of architecture, with eight domes and numerous chapels. It is rich, as usual in this city, in works of art. Its ancient and valuable library was sold in 1810 by Napoleon's government, and the books and MSS. have been dispersed over Europe. "Padua is said to be the father-land of striking clocks." The clock which occupies the great battlemented tower near the cathedral, is claimed as the contrivance of Giacomo Dondo, or Dondi, erected in 1344. Besides the twenty-four hours, it tells the course of the sun and the phases of the moon, and yet goes as merrily as on the day when it was first made. The most celebrated promenade of Padua is the Prato della Valle, a species of open Pantheon, where are exposed the statues of the great men of Padua, from the statue of Antenor the Trojan, down to that of Canova. The original intention was, it seems, to limit this honour to illustrious Paduans, but these not being sufficiently numerous, other statues were admitted, as well of foreigners as of Italians. The Academy of Sciences, Literature, and the Arts, instituted in 1779, publishes its Memoirs, which now form about ten volumes quarto. A few years ago the population of Padua was estimated at forty-seven thousand inhabitants, a number which was said to be increasing. The town is fortified with walls, ditches, and bastions. The river Bacchiglione flows by its walls. upon the Dutch, the only Europeans who are now ad- | allowed to move, without a special permission and under mitted to any commercial intercourse with this singular a numerous guard. When any other vessels have arpeople. Before the establishment, however, of the jea-rived at Japan, the crew representing themselves to be lous policy by which the Japanese are now distinguished, in want of water or provisions, they have been supplied, there appears to have generally existed an intimate com- but every sort of payment refused, in order to show munication between the two empires. The Chinese, more strongly the determination to suffer no trade. indeed, occasionally made pretensions to supreme author- Other adventurers who were suspected of insidious deity over Japan; but they seem to have been backward signs, have been subjected to close and prolonged in enforcing them, and most of the hostilities in which imprisonment. the two nations were occasionally opposed to each other, were carried on in Corea, and were caused by a struggle for the sovereignty of that peninsula. At the period when the Portuguese first pushed their discoveries into this part of the East, they seem to have enjoyed unrestricted intercourse with the inhabitants, and a degree of religious toleration somewhat remarkable in a country where the authority of the sovereign is so intimately connected with the established faith. Numbers of Jesuit missionaries, with St. François Xavier at their head, made the most active and successful exertions for the conversion of the natives to Christianity; and according to the reports made to their superiors in Rome, they at one time numbered among their proselytes no less than two hundred thousand native Christians, many of them belonging to the highest ranks; but at length a civil war broke out in Japan, which ended in the extirpation of Christianity. Few portions of the religious history of the world (says a writer in the Quarterly Review) would be more interesting than a faithful record of these events. In the annals of Christianity few examples have occurred of a triumph so rapid, followed by a destruction so complete. Whether the force of circumstances compelled the Jesuits, who were agents of that great conversion, to associate themselves with a party in the civil feuds which then distracted Japan, or whether they did so voluntarily, and in pursuance of the alleged practice of their order-of which their first apostle, Xavier, was a joint founder with Loyola-may be doubtful; certain it is that in an evil hour they took their part in the dispute, and perished. Japanese tradition attributes to them, as a cause and justification of their fall, rapacity and sensuality. This we doubt. These vices are usually the attendants of long and undisturbed possession, rather than of the circumstances in which the missionaries of a religion struggling into life were placed. It is likely that the hostility of their Dutch rivals may have magnified individual instances of such errors, and that the zeal of triumphant persecution may have perpetuated the imputation. It appears that the legitimate Ziogoon was supported by the Christians, to whose faith he inclined, and that the usurper, on overcoming his rival, commenced a legal persecution against the religion whose votaries were opposed to his pretensions. After this had continued for some years, a province of which the inhabitants were principally Christians, erected, in the year 1637, the standard of revolt; and the prince, finding himself unable to restore his authority, applied for and obtained the assistance of the Dutch, which decided the fate of the unfortunate insurgents. This was followed by a more sanguinary and unrelenting persecution of the Christians, and in about twenty-five years the work of destruction was complete. During this persecution, it was incumbent on all who would escape the most cruel punishment, to trample on the image of the crucified Redeemer, and on the picture of the Virgin; but it is related, to the honour of the native Christians, that they almost universally resisted the most seductive offers of reward, and endured the severest tortures, rather than abjure the faith to which they were converts. From this period has existed that rigid system of excluding foreigners from the empire which subsists in full force at the present day. To such an extent is this carried that no foreign vessels are allowed to touch at Japan, except a limited number of Chinese traders and two Dutch merchantmen annually from Java; and these are subject to the strictest restraint, all strangers being confined to certain prescribed limits, from which no one is The Dutch factory is limited to the number of officers considered necessary for conducting the trade, which is at present, eleven; and so strict is this limitation, that when one of the presidents of the factory was accompanied by his wife and child, he could not obtain permission for them to remain; not that there seemed to be any particular dread at the admission of a female, but from the general exclusion of every human being who was not absolutely necessary for the carrying on of the trade. As soon as a vessel arrives off Japan, a boat is sent to her by the guards, who keep constant watch on the coast. Not a word is interchanged; but written interrogatories are handed on board, which must be answered, and the paper returned to the boat. The ship must now wait for orders, and, in the interval, every book, picture, or anything connected with the Christian religion, is placed in a chest under lock and seal, to be delivered up, with all the arms and ammunition on board, until the vessel's departure, when they are returned. If the ship appear to be one of the two Dutch merchantmen allowed to arrive annually, hostages are demanded and delivered, and a deputation proceeds on board, comprising several Japanese interpreters, well versed in the Dutch language, for the purpose of If the result prove examining the passengers and crew. satisfactory, the vessel is towed into the harbour of Na gasaki, but no one is allowed to land without undergoing a personal search, except indeed a new president, who is exempted from this annoyance on his arrival. allowed to land in Japan, are confined, is the Bay of The place to which the few foreigners who are Nagasaki; and the residence of the Dutch is an artificial island, built for this express purpose. When the Ziogoon was asked in what form the island should be constructed, he unfolded his fan as the pattern, and such is accordingly its shape. Dezima, as the island is named, is about 600 feet in length, and 240 across, and is connected with the town of Nagasaki by a stone bridge, but the prospect from either side is cut off by a high wall. The bridge is closed and strictly guarded, so that no foreigner can pass out without permission, nor any Japanese enter, except those who have the sanction of government; and no person whatever may pass the gate without being searched. The houses in this island of imprisonment are built by citizens of Nagasaki, and the Dutch pay an exorbi tant rent, fixed by authority. All purchases and sales between foreigners and natives must be transacted through the agency of the Japanese authorities, as the former are not allowed to have any money dealings, nor even to have any money in their possession. The cargoes of the Dutch ships are delivered to the appointed officers, and the return goods purchased with the proceeds, the Dutch president being furnished with an account, which he has not the means of checking. As the Dutch are not allowed to bring into the island any domestic servants, certain Japanese are allowed by the government to act in that capacity, each being furnished with a seal or passport, which authorizes his entrance at the lawful hours. All these servants understand Dutch; but it is stated that "all are obliged, prior to entering upon their offices, to sign, with their blood, an oath binding them to contract no friendship with any of the Dutch; to afford them no information respecting the language, laws, manners, religion, or his |