les Peter and Paul
on her right and left. Under this representation was rudely scratched upon
the wall the word, "Advocata," a title which the earliest antiquity
bestows upon her. On a small shelf was placed a case with two or three
rolls or sheets of parchment in it. The appearance of them spoke of use
indeed, but of reverential treatment. These were the Psalms, the Gospel
according to St. Luke, and St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, in the old
Latin version, The Gospel was handsomely covered, and ornamented with
gold.

The apartment was otherwise furnished with such implements and materials
as might be expected in the cottage of a countryman: one or two stools and
benches for sitting, a table, and in one corner a heap of dried leaves and
rushes, with a large crimson coverlet, for rest at night. Elsewhere were
two millstones fixed in a frame, with a handle attached to the rim of one
of them, for grinding corn. Then again, garden tools; boxes of seeds; a
vessel containing syrup for assuaging the sting of the scorpion; the
_asir-rese_ or _anagallis_, a potent medicine of the class of poisons,
which was taken in wine for the same mischance. It hung from the beams,
with a large bunch of _atsirtiphua_, a sort of camomile, smaller in the
flower and more fragrant than our own, which was used as a febrifuge.
Thence, too, hung a plentiful gathering of dried grapes, of the kind
called _duracinae_; and near the door a bough of the green _bargut_ or
_psyllium_, to drive away the smaller insects.

Poor Agellius felt the contrast between the ungodly turmoil from which he
had escaped, and the deep stillness into which he now had entered; but
neither satisfied him quite. There was no repose out of doors, and no
relief within. He was lonely at home, lonely in the crowd. He needed the
sympathy of his kind; hearts which might beat with his heart; friends with
whom he might share his joys and griefs; advisers whom he might consult;
minds like his own, who would understand him--minds unlike his own, who
would succour and respond to him. A very great trial certainly this, in
which the soul is flung back upon itself; and that especially in the case
of the young, for whom memory and experience do so little, and wayward and
excited feelings do so much. Great gain had it been for Agellius, even in
its natural effect, putting aside higher benefits, to have been able to
recur to sacramental confession; but to confession he had never been,
though