It was most delicious weather, when we came into Modena, where the

darkness of the sombre colonnades over the footways skirting the

main street on either side, was made refreshing and agreeable by

the bright sky, so wonderfully blue. I passed from all the glory

of the day, into a dim cathedral, where High Mass was performing,

feeble tapers were burning, people were kneeling in all directions

before all manner of shrines, and officiating priests were crooning

the usual chant, in the usual, low, dull, drawling, melancholy

tone.