Situated upon a declivity, and a level at its base, the aspect of Catania is magnificent and imposing, from the number of public buildings, the width and regularity of the streets, and the size of many of the dwellings of in dividuals. There are upwards of fifty religious edifices of different descriptions, including churches, convents, and monasteries. The cathedral, dedicated to St Aga tha, was founded in the year 1094, and richly endowed by Roger the Norman ; but it has often suffered dilapida tion front earthquakes, and its appearance is said to be greatly altered from the repairs it has received.
The Benedictine convent of St Nicholas, -which occu pies a large space in the higher part of the town, is a spacious mass of building, capable of accommodating more than twice the number of its inmates. The size and splendour of the convent bespeak the opulence or their order. Nobility of birth is an indispensible requi site, exacted by the rule of the convent from those who are candidates for a share of its comforts. It is not easy to reconcile this with the profession of a religion, the es sential doctrine of which is humility. In the church of the convent there is an exquisite organ, which has been rated inferior only to the celebrated instrument in Ant werp. The museum, occupying one wing of the con ' eat, contains many valuable curiosities, the most inter ( sting of which have been found in Sicily and Italy. As it is within the convent, men only are admitted ; but they are readily admitted at suitable hours.
The church, though very splendid, is decorated with paintings of little merit, representing chiefly miracles. In ow•, St Benedict is seen llying through the air, with out the uncanonized appendage of wings, holding in his hand a youth suspended by the hair. The writer of this article was told by one of the brothers, that the boy was a Christian captive, who, lamenting the loss of his reli gion, prayed fers ently to the saint, while discharging the office of cup-bearer to the sultan. Benedict propitious ly heard his pious importunities, and quirk as descending through the dome of the apartment, seize.d the boy by his flowing locks, flew off with him, and land ed him in safety in his father's house, in as short a time as any magician in the Arabian Nights could have done, leaving the Grand Turk in astonishment to lament his rapti Canymedis honores.
In the Sanctum Sanctorum of this church a most pre cious relic is shewn, which a heretic observer might rea dily mistake for a rusty fragment of a ten-penny nail ; but the miraculous power with which this piece of rus ty iron is endowed, irrefragably proved it to be no other than one of tne identical nails that pierced our Saviour at the crucifixion. When a stream of molten lava, some years ago, threatened destruction to the convent, the relic was brought from its deposit, and held up in menace to the demon of the lava, which accordingly was immedi ately turned from its impious course.
One of the breasts of Saint Agatha, the patroness of Catania, is preserved to this day, from the time that she suffered martyrdom in defence of her faith and her ho nour, at the early age of fourteen ; from the shrivelled remains of her, we are entitled to suppose that she was full grown. Many other sacred morsels of saints of both sexes, which, though equally well authenticated, we shall not enumerate, sanctify this place. Narrow streets with lofty houses, has very often been reprobated as an error in the construction of towns in warm climates ; the mo dern Catania, however, shews that the greatest possible inconvenience results from the streets being made very wide, and the houses low. They are so spacious, that the buildings scarcely afford any shade, consequently the heat and glare of light produced by the direct rays of the sun, together with the reflection from the lava, of which both the street and buildings are formed, are intelera able.
The palaces of the nobility arc begun upon so magni ficent a scale, that few of them are finished. In making this remark, we are forcibly struck with the uniformity of national character, apparent in some circumstances, notwithstanding the changes that have taken place in the government and laws of a country. Plato said, that when a Sicilian sits down to supper, he eats as if he never were to cat again ; when he builds a house, he builds as if he never were to die. I lad the philosopher lived in the pre sent times, every one must have recognised the likeness of his portrait. We have said the palaces of the nobility, because in Sicily no man of rank inhabits a house; nei ther does the country produce what in England is called a gentleman. These palaces are built in a square, ith one side to the street ; the first upper floors are occupi ed by the proprietor, for none of the nobility reside up on their estates. They contain large apartments for show, and generally pretty small rooms for use. If a stranger makes his visit at the time of a meal, he will certainly find the family in a small dirty apartment, with pyramids of maccaroni piled before each, upon a table cloth bearing stains of oil, of an older date than yester day's supper, attended by squalid lousy servants. The scene is changed on gala days, the spiders are dislodged from gilded apartments, by prescriptive right their own, and the powdered menials are decked out in laced live ries. The lower part of the palace forms a striking contrast to an English eve, but it is, nevertheless, in a state of Italian consistency, filth and finery, and silken lags ; here coolers and all sorts of mechanics of the low ( st orders are to be seen at work in their cells, to hen elri yen in by the heat, or on the pavement, when the cool ness allow s them to breathe a purer air.