rhythm. As the picture passed among the people one of the
women cried out--

"See how pale the face of the Madonna has become; it is with sorrow to
leave the Mountain."

Another lifted up her voice and prayed that it might not be long before a
calamity befell the comune--as that it might not rain till December, for
example--in order that she might soon return. The bearers stopped at the
little church, where a large chest had been prepared in which she was to
repose during the rest of the journey, and the people's grief culminated
as the chest received her out of their sight.

In _The Marriage of Heaven and Hell_, Blake tells us that, when the
Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with him, he asked, "Does a firm
persuasion that a thing is so make it so?" and Isaiah replied, "All poets
believe that it does, and in ages of imagination this firm persuasion
removed mountains; but many are not capable of a firm persuasion of
anything." Certainly most of the Ericini are capable of a firm
persuasion of something and probably, if Blake could have visited them at
a time when the Madonna was going away from the mountain or coming back
to it, he would have agreed that the age of imagination still lingers in
this classic spot.

Those who did not accompany the picture beyond Santa Maria delle Grazie
now proceeded to the balio, and the beating of the drum floated up
continuously as the chest, followed by an immense crowd on foot, in
carts, and on horseback, was carried down the zigzags and along the
winding road to Custonaci. In many places booths had been erected, where
wine and bread were given freely to all while the bearers rested. At
other points were pulpits, and here they stopped to listen to a short
sermon. A crowd had come out from Paparella to meet and join the throng,
other crowds from Fico, Ragosia, Crocevia, Palazzolo and the other
villages forming the comune, were waiting at various points along the
road. From the balio the whole journey was visible, except when the
windings of the road hid part of the crowd, and, with the help of
glasses, the arrival at the sanctuary could be seen distinctly at about 5
p.m., nearly nine hours after the morning start. On ordinary occasions
the journey takes about three hours. In the evening there were fireworks
and illuminations at Custonaci and bonfires in many of the other
villages.

When the picture is on the mountain it is the custom for the women of the
town to go to the