afterwards ascertained.

The interior of the town, with its arcades and quaint shops, so
thoroughly Italian, pleased us very much, and we experienced to the full
that delightful sensation of wandering about in a foreign town on a fine
evening just after sunset.

The Hotel du Parc, at which we stayed, was formerly a monastery, and
contains some rather interesting rooms and corridors. Near to this hotel
is a small church thoroughly unnoticeable from the outside; but which
contains three frescoes by Luini, one of which, the Passion, is not only
the masterpiece of the painter, but one of the finest and best preserved
frescoes in existence. And here we may say a few words about fresco
painting, which is such a marked feature in the Italian churches and
buildings. We do so, because some people, even those who ought to know
better, are in the habit of describing any wall-painting as a fresco;
whereas so many of the wall-paintings, especially in Italy, are not
frescoes at all, but distemper paintings on a dry surface. The real
fresco consists of painting upon plaster, while it is wet. The piece of
plaster which is to be painted upon must be only sufficient for a single
day's work--any that is left over must be cut away, and a fresh piece
added for the next day's work. This accounts for the strongly indented
lines which are really the joins in the plaster work.

The fresco of the Passion before alluded to covers the chancel arch of
the little church, and is divided into two complete sections,
representing various scenes from the Passion. This arrangement, by the
way, is not at all uncommon in early Italian frescoes, and, although it
has been severely criticised, there is no doubt that it often lends
great richness to the composition, though occasionally, from the number
of subjects depicted, and the absence of sky and foreground, it makes
the painting appear confused and over-crowded. The first thing that
strikes one in the work, is three crosses in the largest scale of the
picture, which stand out apart from the rest. On the lower section are
seen the holy women mourning for our Lord, and Roman soldiers on
horseback, the former painted with great beauty and pathos--on this row
also are St. John and a very vigorous group representing the
executioners casting lots for the garments. Above are depicted various
stages of the Passion, and the unbelief of Thomas--this last containing
a most beautiful and dignified representation of