from the East, with a view of placing it in the Temple Church on the A ventine hill in Rome, but which they were obliged to deposit in the island of Sicily. This celebrated statue is of the most beautiful white marble, and represents the Virgin with the infant Jesus reclining on her left arm ; it is of about the natural height, and, from an inscription on the foot of the figure, it appears to have been executed by a native of the island of Cyprus, A.D. 733* The Templars possessed valuable estates in Sicily, around the base of Mount Etna, and large tracts of land between Piazza and Calatagirone, in the suburbs of which last place there was a Temple house, the church whereof, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, still remains. They possessed also many churches in the island, windmills, rights of fishery, of pasturage, of cutting wood in the forests, and many important privileges and immunities. The chief house was at Messina, where the Grand Prior resided.f 2. UPPER AND CENTRAL ITALY.—The houses or preceptories of the order of the Temple in this province were very numerous, and were all under the immediate superintendence of the Grand Prior or Preceptor of Rome, There were large establishments at Lucca, Milan, and Perugia, at which last place the arms of the Temple are still to be seen on the tower of the holy cross. At Piacenti» there was a magnificent and extensive convent, called Santa Maria del Tempio, ornamented with a very lofty tower. At Bologna there was also a large Temple house, and on a clock in the city is the following inscription, " Magister Tosicolus de Minia me fecit . . . Fr. Petrus de Bon, Procur. Militiœ Templi in curia Romana, MCCCIII." In the church of St. Mary in the same place, which formerly belonged to the Knights Tem * Atlas Marianne, p. 156 ; Sicilia Antiq., torn. iii. col. 1000. f Gallia Christiana nova, torn. iii. col. lie ; Probst, too), is. col. 1067, torn, x. col. 129Ï, torn. xi. col. « ; Roecus Pyrrhus, Sicil. Antiq. torn. iii. col. 109S, 4, S, 6, 7, &c.