daughter, Cæsar and Victoria, a fondness for the polite arts. They both followed their father's profession; but although not without some degree of merit, they failed of equalling his reputation. Victoria was chiefly distinguished for her skill in vocal and instrumental music. In leaving the Valteline, it should be stated that Coxe has given us an account of his ascent of the Muret; and we introduce it, lest the reader should overlook the neighbouring eminences. He says: "I quitted Sondrio, and went up the valley of Malenco, yielding vines, chesnut trees, rye, oats, and pasturage. As I ascended, the sides of the mountains were clothed with birch and firs, and their summits produced nothing but a scanty herbage. The inhabitants of the valley appear healthier, better clothed, and more industrious, than the other peasants of the Valteline. In consequence of their distance from the seat of government, or of being in general too poor to excite the rapaciousness of the Grison governors, they are, perhaps, less oppressed, and for the most part possess a small portion of land. The valley is narrow, and watered by a torrent which forms a continual cataract. The road is a footpath, by the side of a precipice, and carried over huge fragments of rocks. I passed the night in a solitary hut at the bottom of the Muret; the next morning mounted a rugged ascent in the channel of a small stream; observed nothing but bare rocks, without the least appearance of vegetation; came to the top of the Muret, and passed over a large mass of snow and ice. "In these Alpine situations the traveller sees, within the space of a few hours, nature in all her shapes. In the Valteline she is rich and fertile; here she is barren and stupendous. These regions are so dreary and desolate, that if it were not for an occasional traveller, the flights of a few strange birds, the goats browsing on the rugged Alps, and the shepherds who tend them, nature would appear quite inanimate. In these elevated spots, while I was Placed above the storm's career,' I noticed the pleasing effects produced by the vapours and mists floating in mid air beneath me-circumstances finely felt and described by the author of "The Minstrel :”— 'And oft the craggy cliff he loved to climb, And view the enormous sea of vapour, tost In billows lengthening to the horizon round, Now scooped in gulfs, with mountains now embossed!' "From the top of the Muret I descended about three hours a craggy, desolate, and uninhabited country; and noticed the gradual increase of vegetation as I approached the road leading to Chiavenna, a little above Casazza. This passage over the Muret, which serves for the transportation of wine and other merchandise from the Valteline to the Grisons, is only open about five months in the year." CHAPTER XXXVII. THE CITY OF TRENT-ROVEREDO-THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. THE city of Trent is situated in the Austrian province of Tyrol, and was once an independent bishopric of the German empire. It was secularised in 1803, though the bishop is still denominated a prince, and enjoys a revenue of about £4,000 a year. It lies in a deep and romantic valley, through which flows the Adige, in its course from the Alps to the Gulf of Venice, and not far from where it debouches on the beautiful plains of Lombardy. The river is navigable up to the city, where it is spanned by a plain wooden bridge, about three hundred and fifty feet long. The streets are narrow, gloomy, and dirty, and have nothing to recommend them to the traveller. The bishop's palace is antique, but has an unsightly appearance: it is adorned, however, with very fine gardens. The cathedral is a remarkable building, and though deficient of any regular style of architecture, is highly carved and ornamented. The chief attraction of the city is the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which is built entirely of red marble. Here it was the Roman Catholic council assembled; and here is still found a very fine picture, in a high state of preservation, containing the portraits of the most distinguished members of that ecclesiastical conclave. A considerable commerce is carried on in Trent. From its navigable connexion with the Adriatic, from its central position, and from its command of several of the Alpine passes, its merchants might soon rise to eminence, and its people to wealth; but their efforts to extend their trade, and to supply the regions around with the comforts of other nations, are checked by the policy of the Austrian government. There are, however, some considerable silk manufactories in good operation in the city; and the ladies of Europe, in using the best silk thread, little think that the greatest part of it is the production of Trent. But this article, being small in bulk, finds its way through the Austrian douaniers; and from thence, by many channels, into every corner of Europe. Roveredo, taken by storm by the Archduke Sigismund, in sight of the whole Venetian army-on which occasion bombs were used for the first time-is situated in the middle of the pleasant Lazarina valley, which is planted with vines and mulberry-trees, on the river Leno, which flows through the town, and at a short distance from the left bank of the Adige, over which there is a stone bridge. The town, though not large, has many handsome houses, chiefly built of marble. The Corso Nuovo, especially, is adorned with fine edifices. The castle, surrounded with high walls, is also worthy of notice. The town is the seat of several courts of justice, and has a gymnasium, three monasteries, an English convent with a school for girls, a public library, and some charitable institutions. The inhabitants manufacture silk, leather, and tobacco, and have a considerable trade in silk and twist. Ascending from Roveredo, the valley and city of Trent present an enchanting appearThe country around is rich and beautiful. Lofty hills, covered with vineyards ance. and gardens, producing the richest fruit, are finely contrasted with the bold and naked mountains which form the background. All the hills in the neighbourhood are dotted with elegant country seats and houses of the city gentry, who, more than in most German cities, seek the country as a residence. This arises from the unhealthiness of the town itself, which has a climate as hot as the tropics in summer, and almost as cold as Greenland in the winter. Those rural residences often display very great taste in their construction and brilliancy in their appearance-every one perched on its own separate eminence, amidst blooming trees and flowering shrubs, while the bright blue river flows from the gorge of the mountains, and winds round the hills and the southwest quarter of the city; these, as you approach, form the only ornaments of Trent.. TRENT. Its name is familiar to the world on account of the famous council held there, which was first opened in 1545, and extended through a period of eighteen years. This has conferred on this secluded Tyrolese city a celebrity which will never be forgotten. There the most avowed and strenuous efforts were made to check the work of God-the progress of the glorious Reformation. Under the pretence of reviewing the state of the popish hierarchy, the deep-laid scheme for the extermination of all heretics was determined on. From the walls of the church of Santa Maria, the fatal tocsin was sounded which involved the whole of Germany in the flames of civil war, with some occasional cessations, for a hundred years. It deprived the empire of nearly one-half of its inhabitants, ABOVE TRENT, COURSE OF THE ADIGE. by the sword and by famine, devastated its fairest fields, and demoralised all that came within its influence. The cry of millions, whose dust is scattered through the plains of Saxony, the hills of Bohemia, and the banks of the Elbe, who were sacrificed to the tender mercies of Rome in those days of her violence, because days of her power, is doubtless now ascending to heaven: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" The convocation of that council had been ardently desired, not only by all the states in Christendom, but, at first, by Luther himself, who expected that such charitable results might arise from it as would tend to compose the dissensions of the world. But the pope, then Paul III., had other objects in view. Having a ready tool prepared to his hand, in the ambitious emperor of Germany, Charles V., and being well supported by the cunning of his legates in the council, whose abilities soon gained an influence over the crowd of ignorant and indigent Italian bishops which formed the bulk of the assembly, all the corruptions of Popery were retained. One of its first acts was to canonise the apocryphal books, and to class them with the inspired records alone held sacred by the Jews and the first Christians; another was to authorise the Latin Vulgate of the Scriptures as the only translation to be consulted. Doctrines, which had been hitherto received with some latitude of interpretation, were confirmed by the highest authority of Rome; and many mere traditional rites were declared to be essential parts of worship. The breach between Protestantism and Popery, instead of being closed, was widened, and rendered for ever irreparable; the line between Christ and Antichrist, formerly almost indefinable in the judgments of even some good men, was drawn in so marked and decisive a manner, that it has served to keep asunder the principles of Divine truth from the soul-destroying superstitions of Popery to the present day. The members of that council thus closed the door-till then, it may be said, partially opento shut out every ray of light that might tend to the reformation of their system, while they held up the spectacle to all the world of their determination to adhere to every error till the Scripture should be fulfilled, and great Babylon should "come up in remembrance before God." The history of the proceedings of the council of Trent has been penned by three different authors. Father Paul, of Venice, wrote an account of it when the event was yet recent, and some of its members still alive. Though a bigoted papist himself, he exposes the intrigues and artifices which marked the whole affair with consummate skill. This roused the Jesuit Pallavicini, fifty years afterwards, to publish a most artful apology for its proceedings, and the most subtle interpretation of its decrees. But Varges, a Spaniard, who attended in the suit of the imperial ambassadors, writing confidential letters to the Bishop of Arras, as the events took place, may be considered as the best authority on the subject. These letters, which were published, clearly show that it was anything but the "spirit from above" which guided their policy; as neither simplicity of heart, nor sincerity of manners, nor love of the truth, was found among the members of the council of Trent. Its decrees were, however, subscribed by six cardinals, four of them being legates; three patriarchs; twenty-five archbishops; one hundred and sixty-eight bishops, besides many of the inferior clergy. The Protestant princes were already in arms, and had assembled a considerable force to meet the onset of the emperor, who had been reinforced by all the papal troops, and a division or two of Flemings from the Low Countries; but the former, although commanded by men of courage and character, lost their advantage by delay. Charles, by his superior energy and policy, gained several successes over the reformers; and, in the end, the elector and the margrave fell into his hands. The pope, however, fearing lest Charles should turn his victorious arms against Rome itself, withdrew his troops, and found means to check the emperor's triumphs. This gave the reformers a breathing time to |