"Or we might even get a church out of him," said I, a little slyly. "Ha, ha, ha! we will convert him, and make a good Christian of him in the end." When will our Protestantism, or Rationalism, or whatever it may be, sit as lightly upon ourselves? Another time I had the following dialogue with an old Piedmontese priest who lived in a castle which I asked permission to go over:-- "Vous etes Anglais, monsieur?" said he in French. "Oui, monsieur." "Vous etes Catholique?" "Monsieur, je suis de la religion de mes ancetres." "Pardon, monsieur, vos ancetres etaient Catholiques jusqu'au temps de Henri Huit." "Mais il y a trois cents ans depuis le temps de Henri Huit." "Eh bien; chacun a ses convictions; vous ne parlez pas contre la religion?" "Jamais, jamais, monsieur, j'ai un respect enorme pour l'eglise Catholique." "Monsieur, faites comme chez vous; allez ou vous voulez; vous trouverez toutes les portes ouvertes. Amusez vous bien." CONSIDERATIONS ON THE DECLINE OF ITALIAN ART. (FROM CHAPTER XIII. OF ALPS AND SANCTUARIES.) Those who know the Italians will see no sign of decay about them. They are the quickest-witted people in the world, and at the same time have much more of the old Roman steadiness than they are generally credited with. Not only is there no sign of degeneration, but, as regards practical matters, there is every sign of health and vigorous development. The North Italians are more like Englishmen, both in body, and mind, than any other people whom I know; I am continually meeting Italians whom I should take for Englishmen if I did not know their nationality. They have all our strong points, but they have more grace and elasticity of mind than we have. Priggishness is the sin which doth most easily beset middle-class, and so- called educated Englishmen; we call it purity and culture, but it does not much matter what we call it. It is the almost inevitable outcome of a university education, and will last as long as Oxford and Cambridge do, but not much longer.