cost, to a well regulated family, near so much, in the course of the year,
as coals do in our houses.--_Monthly Magazine._

* * * * *


ROMAN FUNERALS.


The ceremonial of the funeral of a cardinal is considered as one of the
most imposing at Rome, which is a city of ceremonies, and yielding only
in magnificence to the obsequies of royal personages. The burial of the
Mezzo-ceto classes is conducted rather differently. The body is exposed
much in the same manner, at home; but the convoi, or passage from the
habitation to the sepulchre, is generally considered as an occasion which
calls for the utmost display. Torches, priests, psalmody, are sought for
with a spirit of rivalry which easily explains the sumptuary laws of the
Florentine and Roman statute-books, and which, unnoticed but not
extinguished in the present age, in a poorer must have been highly
offensive to the frugality and jealousies of a republic. The religious
orders, the Capucins particularly, are in constant requisition; not a day
that you may not meet two or three of their detachments in various parts
of the city:---the religious or charitable fraternities, such as the
Fratelli della Misericordia, of which the deceased is generally a brother
or a benefactor, or both, think it also a point of duty and gratitude to
swell the _cortège_, and in the greatest numbers they can muster to attend.
Their costume, which is highly picturesque, is always a striking feature,
and adds much to the brilliancy of the display. They wear a sort of sack
robe or tunic, which covers the whole body, girt with a rope round the
waist, and with holes pierced in the _capuchon_ for the eyes; their large