them. There is an obliging old consul at Rome who
might be exempted."

The following extract from a letter written in March last, and addressed
to ourselves, from the Rev. David Kay, the able pastor of the Scotch
congregation in Genoa, will be read with deep interest. We know none who
knows better than Mr Kay the condition of Sardinia, or is more familiar
with all that has been done and is doing there. What he says of the
moral condition of Genoa may be taken as a fair sample of the other
towns and States of Italy. None of them are superior to Genoa in this
respect, and most of them, we believe, are below it. Alas! the picture
is a sad one.

"Nothing could be more foolish or detrimental to the evangelical work
in Sardinia than for every man and woman who enters the country, to pass
through it or spend a few months even, to commence 'doing something,' as
they generally express it. They scatter Bibles and tracts broad-cast,
without knowing anything of the people they give them to; and
nine-tenths of these books are carried forthwith to the priest or the
pawnshop, generally the former, and are burned. This does not affect
them much, perhaps, because they will soon be off; but it renders the
position of those stationed in the country very precarious. The priest
likes very much to collect all the Bibles, Testaments, tracts, &c., into
a heap, and, before setting the match to them, bring some of his English
friends to see them. This is no exaggeration. At least two such cases
have come under my notice. Knowledge and prudence are very essential
qualities,--some knowledge of the country and its people, and some
little common sense to use that knowledge well. If our British
travellers and residents would give the Italians a better example of how
the Sabbath ought to be kept, and is kept, by the serious in Britain,
and let precept for the most part alone,--the real missionary work to be
done by people competent,--generally speaking, they would advance the
work far more than by the way they often adopt. We talk of liberal
Sardinia; but _liberal_ is a relative term, and all who know Sardinia
will only apply it relatively. When an injudicious thing is done, or
even when a lawful thing is done injudiciously, we soon see where the
liberty of Sardinia is. It is as lawful for a man to have a thousand
Italian Bibles in his house as to have a thousand copies of 'Rob Roy.'
Both packages come regularly through the custom-house, and duty is