ce occurred recently. A Signor Galli, cousin of the
minister of that name already mentioned, died in the July of 1854, and
left his whole property, amounting to about fifty thousand pounds, to
neither relatives nor priests, but to works of benevolence for the
relief of the poor. The trustee under the deed was proceeding to plan a
workhouse or an asylum for infirm old men, when the Chapter of St
Peter's claimed the money, on the ground that, as the works of
benevolence were not specified in the will, the funds were the property
of St Peter's. Some hundreds of old men are employed in the repairs
continually going on about that church, and the Chapter meant to spend
the money in that way. Meanwhile the S. Visita put in its claim in
opposition to the Chapter, and awarded the property for masses for the
soul of the departed; deeming, doubtless, that the whole would be little
enough to expiate the well-known liberal opinions of the deceased. So
stands the matter at present. It is impossible to say whether the money
will be spent in paving the Piazza San Pietro, or in masses; as to the
relief of the poor, that is now out of the question.

It is customary for Roman families to desert the dead, that is, to leave
the body in the hands of the priests and monks, who perform the
necessary offices to the corpse, conduct the funeral, and sing masses
for the soul of the departed. The pomp and display of the one, and the
length and number of the other, are regulated entirely by the
circumstances of the deceased's family. A more ghastly procession than
the funeral one cannot imagine. Instead of a company of grave men,
carrying with decorous sorrow to its final resting-place the body of
their departed brother, you meet what you take to be a procession of
ghouls. The coffin, borne shoulder-high, comes along the street,
followed by a long line of figures, enveloped from head to foot in black
serge gowns, with holes for the eyes. They march along, carrying large
black crosses and tallow candles, and using their voices in something
which is betwixt a chant and a howl. The sight suggests only the most
dismal associations. But it has its uses, and that is, to move the
living to be liberal in masses to rescue the soul from the power of the
demons, of which no feeble representation is exhibited in this ghostly
and unearthly procession.

The modern Italians pay great regard to omens; and, in the important
affairs of life, are guided rather by con