a town of Italy, in the Marca or Marche of Ancona, with a bishop's see. It is small, but fortified; and contains the famous ca/a sancta, or holy chapel, so much visited by pilgrims. This chap- el, according to the legend, was originally a small house in Nazareth, inhabited by the virgin Mary, in which she was saluted by the angel, and where she bred our Saviour. After their deaths, it was held in great veneration by all believers in Jesus, and at length consecrated into a chapel, and dedicated to the virgin; upon which occasion St Luke made that identical image, image, which is still preserved here, and dignified with the name of our Lady of Loretto. This sanctified edifice was allowed to sojourn in Galilee as long as that district was inhabited by Christians; but when infidels got possession of the country, a band of angels, to save it from pollution, took it in their arms, and conveyed it from Nazareth to a castle in Dalmatia. This fact might have been called in question by incredulous people, had it been performed in a secret manner; but, that it might be manifest to the most short-sighted spectator, and evident to all who were not perfectly deaf as well as blind, a blaze of celestial light, and a concert of divine music, accompanied it during the whole journey; besides, when the angels, to rest themselves, set it down in a little wood near the road, all the trees of the forest bowed their heads to the ground, and continued in that respectful posture as long as the sacred chapel remained among them. But, not having been entertained with suitable respect at the castle above mentioned, the same indefatigable angels carried it over the sea, and placed it in a field belonging to a noble lady called Loretta, from whom the chapel takes its name. This field happened unfortunately to be frequented at that time by highwaymen and murderers; a circumstance with which the angels undoubtedly were not acquainted when they placed it there. After they were better informed, they removed it to the top of a hill belonging to two brothers, where they imagined it would be perfectly secure from the dangers of robbery or assassination; but the two brothers, the proprietors of the ground, being equally enamoured of their new visitor, became jealous of each other, quarrelled, fought, and fell by mutual wounds. After this fatal catastrophe, the angels in waiting finally moved the holy chapel to the eminence where it now stands, and has stood these 400 years, having lost all relish for travelling.

The sacred chapel stands due east and west, at the farther end of a large church of the most durable stone of Ifria, which has been built around it. This may be considered as the external covering, or as a kind of great coat to the caza fanta, which has a smaller coat of more precious materials and workmanship nearer its body. This internal covering or case is of the choicest marble, after a plan of San Savino's, and ornamented with basso relievo, the workmanship of the best sculptors which Italy could furnish in the reign of Leo X. The subject of those basso relievoes are, the history of the blest virgin, and other parts of the Bible. The whole case is about 50 feet long, 30 in breadth, and the same in height; but the real house itself is no more than 32 feet in length, 14 in breadth, and at the sides about 18 feet in height; the centre of the roof is four or five feet higher. The walls of this little holy chapel are composed of pieces of a reddish substance, of an oblong square shape, laid one upon another, in the manner of brick. At first sight, on a superficial view, these red-coloured oblong substances appear to be nothing else than common Italian bricks; and, which is still more extraordinary, on a second and third view, with all possible attention, they still have the same appearance. Travellers, however, are assured, with great earnestness, that there is not a single particle of brick in their whole composition, being entirely of a stone, which, though it cannot now be found in Palestine, was formerly very common, particularly in the neighbourhood of Nazareth.

The holy house is divided within into two unequal portions, by a kind of grate-work of silver. The division towards the west is about three-fourths of the whole; that to the east is called the Sanctuary. In the larger division, which may be considered as the main body of the house, the walls are left bare, to show the true original fabric of Nazareth stone; for they must not be supposed to be bricks. At the lower or western wall there is a window, the same through which the angel Gabriel entered at the Annunciation. The architraves of this window are covered with silver. There are a great number of golden and silver lamps in this chapel: one of the former, a present from the republic of Venice, is said to weigh 37 pounds, and some of the silver lamps weigh from 120 to 130 pounds. At the upper end of the largest room is an altar, but so low, that from it you may see the famous image which stands over the chimney in the small room or sanctuary. Golden and silver angels, of considerable size, kneel around her, some offering hearts of gold, enriched with diamonds, and one an infant of pure gold. The wall of the sanctuary is plated with silver, and adorned with crucifixes, precious stones, and votive gifts of various kinds. The figure of the Virgin herself by no means corresponds with the fine furniture of her house: She is a little woman, about four feet in height, with the features and complexion of a negro. Of all the sculptors that ever existed, assuredly St Luke, by whom this figure is said to have been made, is the least of a flatterer; and nothing can be a stronger proof of the blest Virgin's contempt for external beauty, than her being satisfied with this representation of her. The figure of the infant Jesus, by St Luke, is of a piece with that of the Virgin: he holds a large golden globe in one hand, and the other is extended in the act of blessing. Both figures have crowns on their heads, enriched with diamonds: these were presents from Ann of Austria queen of France. Both arms of the Virgin are inclosed within her robes, and no part but her face is to be seen; her dress is most magnificent, but in a wretched bad taste: this is not surprising, for she has no female attendant. She has particular clothes for the different feasts held in honour of her, and, which is not quite so decent, is always dressed and undressed by the priests belonging to the chapel; her robes are ornamented with all kinds of precious stones down to the hem of her garment.

There is a small place behind the sanctuary, in which are thrown the chimney, and some other furniture, which they pretend belonged to the Virgin when she lived at Nazareth; particularly a little earthen porringer, out of which the infant used to eat. The pilgrims bring rosaries, little crucifixes, and Agnus Dei's, which the obliging priest shakes for half a minute in this dish; after which it is believed they acquire the virtue of curing various diseases, and prove an excellent preventative of all temptations of Satan. The gown which the image had on when the chapel arrived from Nazareth is of red camlet, and carefully kept in a glass shrine.

Above 100 masses are daily said in this chapel, and in the church in which it stands. The jewels and riches Loretto riches to be seen at any one time in the holy chapel are of small value in comparison of those in the treasury, which is a large room adjoining to the vestry of the great church. In the presides of this room are kept those presents which royal, noble, and rich bigots of all ranks, have, by oppressing their subjects and injuring their families, sent to this place. To enumerate every particular would fill volumes. They consist of various utensils and other things in silver and gold; as lamps, candlesticks, goblets, crowns, and crucifixes; lambs, eagles, saints, apostles, angels, virgins, and infants: then there are cameos, pearls, gems, and precious stones, of all kinds and in great numbers. What is valued above all the other jewels is, the miraculous pearl, wherein they assert that Nature has given a faithful delineation of the Virgin sitting on a cloud with the infant Jesus in her arms. There was not room in the presides of the treasury to hold all the silver pieces which have been presented to the Virgin. Several other presides in the vestry are completely full. It is said that those pieces are occasionally melted down by his holiness for the use of the state; and also that the most precious of the jewels are picked out and sold for the same purpose, false stones being substituted in their room.

Pilgrimages to Loretto are not so frequent with foreigners, or with Italians of fortune and distinction, as formerly; nineteen out of twenty of those who make this journey now are poor people, who depend for their maintenance on the charity they receive on the road. To those who are of such a rank in life as precludes them from availing themselves of the charitable institutions for the maintenance of pilgrims, such journeys are attended with expense and inconvenience; and fathers and husbands, in moderate or confined circumstances, are frequently brought to disagreeable dilemmas, by the rash vows of going to Loretto which their wives or daughters are apt to make on any supposed deliverance from danger. To refuse, is considered by the whole neighbourhood as cruel, and even impious; and to grant, is often highly distressing, particularly to such husbands as, from affection or any other motive, do not choose that their wives should be long out of their sight. But the poor, who are maintained during their whole journey, and have nothing more than a bare maintenance to expect from their labour at home, to them a journey to Loretto is a party of pleasure as well as devotion, and by much the most agreeable road they can take to heaven. The greatest concourse of pilgrims is at the feasts of Easter and Whitsuntide. The rich travel in their carriages; a greater number come on horseback or on mules; or, what is still more common, on asses. Great numbers of females come in this manner, with a male friend walking by them as their guide and protector; but the greatest number of both sexes are on foot. The pilgrims on foot, as soon as they enter the suburbs, begin a hymn in honour of the Virgin, which they continue till they reach the church. The poorer sort are received into an hospital, where they have bed and board for three days.

The only trade of Loretto consists of rosaries, crucifixes, little Madonas, Agnus Dei's, and medals, which are manufactured here, and sold to pilgrims. There are great numbers of shops full of these commodities, some of them of a high price; but infinitely the greater part are adapted to the purses of the buyers, and sold for a mere trifle. The evident poverty of those manufacturers and traders, and of the inhabitants of this town in general, is a sufficient proof that the reputation of our Lady of Loretto is greatly on the decline.

In the great church which contains the holy chapel are confessional, where the penitents from every country of Europe may be confessed in their own language, priests being always in waiting for that purpose: each of them has a long white rod in his hand, with which he touches the heads of those to whom he thinks it proper to give absolution. They place themselves on their knees in groups around the confessional chair; and when the holy father has touched their heads with the expiatory rod, they retire, freed from the burden of their sins, and with renewed courage to begin a fresh account.

In the spacious area before this church there is an elegant marble fountain, supplied with water from an adjoining hill by an aqueduct. Few even of the most inconsiderable towns of Italy are without the useful ornament of a public fountain. The embellishments of sculpture and architecture are employed with great propriety on such works, which are continually in the people's view; the air is refreshed and the eye delighted by the streams of water they pour forth; a sight peculiarly agreeable in a warm climate. In this area there is also a statue of Sixtus V. in bronze. Over the portal of the church itself is a statue of the Virgin; and above the middle gate is a Latin inscription, importing, that within is the house of the mother of God, in which the Word was made flesh. The gates of the church are likewise of bronze, embellished with bas-reliefs of admirable workmanship; the subjects taken partly from the Old and partly from the New Testament, and divided into different compartments. As the gates of this church are shut at noon, the pilgrims who arrive after that time can get no nearer the Santa Casa than these gates, which are by this means sometimes exposed to the first violence of that holy ardour which was designed for the chapel itself. All the sculpture upon the gates which is within reach of the mouths of those zealots, is in some degree effaced by their kisses.

There are also several paintings to be seen here, some of which are highly esteemed, particularly two in the treasury. The subject of one of these is the Virgin's Nativity, by Annibal Carracci; and of the other, a Holy Family, by Raphael. There are some others of considerable merit which ornament the altars of the great church. These altars, or little chapels, of which this fabric contains a great number, are lined with marble and embellished by sculpture; but nothing within this church interests a traveller of sensibility so much as the iron grates before those chapels, which were made of the fetters and chains of the Christian slaves, who were freed from bondage by the glorious victory of Lepanto.

The place where the governor resides stands near the church, and the ecclesiastics who are employed in its lodge in the same palace, where they receive the pilgrims of high distinction. The environs of this town are very agreeable, and in fine weather the high mountains