height; the grain and stalk are of a gold color, and the ears seldom contain less than 60 grains. Oranges, lemons, figs and almonds are raised in great quantities.

11. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. The exports are wine, oil, fruits, silk, sulphur, grain, flax and hemp. The commerce is entirely in the hands of foreigners. No Neapolitan ship ever ventures without the straits of Gibraltar. There are no manufactures of any consequence.

12. EDUCATION. The sciences are in a miserable state throughout the kingdom. There are no schools for the lower classes, and the few means of instruction are in the hands of an ignorant clergy. The three universities at Naples, Palermo, and Catania are provided with fine libraries and numerous professors, but little is taught in them beside law and natural philosophy. In the city of Naples there are 45 printing offices; in Sicily only five.

13. GOVERNMENT, REVENUE, &C. Naples is an hereditary monarchy. The king exercises both the legislative and executive power. The continental and insular parts have each a separate legislation, but these bodies have only the right of voting taxes. The revenue is 12,593,484 dollars; the debt 84,000,000. The army consists of 28,000 men, and the navy of two ships of the line, five frigates and fifty small vessels.

14. HISTORY. The Norman knights who expelled the Greeks and Saracens from this country in the 11th century were the founders of the kingdom of Naples. Roger II. in 1130 assumed the title of King of Naples and Sicily. The better to confirm his title he received the kingdom as a feif from the Pope. From this period till within a few years, the Roman Pontiff has received an annual fee of a horse and a purse of ducats as an acknowledgment of liege duty from the king of Naples. The sovereignty was even transferred by the pope to the House of Anjou. Sicily came into the hands of the king of Arragon in the 13th century and the two countries were divided for some time. Ferdinand the Catholic conquered Naples, and for two centuries the united kingdom remained a Spanish province. Naples fell to Austria at the peace of Utrecht, but was re-conquered by Spain, and in 1759 became an independent kingdom under a Spanish prince. The French revolution caused the establishment of the Parthenopeian Republic at Naples in 1799, but this was quickly overthrown. Napoleon gave the kingdom of Naples to his brother Joseph in 1806, and transferred it to his brother-in-law Murat in 1808, but the year of Waterloo restored the ancient king. In 1820 a constitution was accepted and sworn to by the king, but an Austrian army abolished it at the point of the bayonet.

CHAPTER LXVIII. - GENERAL VIEW OF ITALY.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. Italy is bounded north by the Alpine countries of Switzerland, the Grisons and the Tyrol. The Adriatic washes the northeastern coast, the Mediterranean washes the southern and southeastern; on the northwest it is bounded by France. It forms a long peninsula with a length from northwest to southeast of 700 miles, and a width generally exceeding 100. In shape, it is commonly compared to a boot with Sicily lying The continent lies between 37° 50′ and 47° N. lat. ; and 6′ and 19 E. lon. and contains 110,442 square miles.

at the toe.

2. MOUNTAINS. The Alps constitute for the most part, the northern boundary of this country. The Apennines extend through the whole peninsula and send off branches from the main ridge forming capes on the Mediterranean and Adriatic. Granite and limestone are the principal rocks in these mountains.

3. RIVERS. Italy has no large river except the Po, which drains by its numerous branches nearly the whole northern part. All the other streams rise among the Apennines.

4. SEAS. The Adriatic on the northeast lies between Italy and Turkey. The Ionian Sea is that portion of the Mediterranean lying to the southeast between Italy and the Morea. The part between Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and the continent is called the Tuscan or Tyrrhenian Sea.

5. ANIMALS. In the mountainous parts are found the lynx, the chamois, the wild goat, ferret, dormouse, lemming and porcupine. There are many oxen called buffaloes, which are tamed in the southern parts. The Neapolitan horses are strong and well made: the ass and mule are of an excellent kind, and the sheep are equal to the Spanish. Birds are numerous. Some of the reptiles of the south are common to Africa. The most noxious serpents are the asp and viper. The tarantula, or poisonous spider of the south has been the subject of many fables: its sting yields readily to different remedies. The seas abound with fish and molluscæ. In the Gulf of Taranto is found the shell fish which affords the Tyrian purple so highly prized by the

ancients.

race.

6. INHABITANTS. The Italians are descended from different nations, which at various times overran Italy, though they are now blended into one A few Greeks live on the coast of the Adriatic; there are Germans in Lombardy, Venice, &c, and Jews scattered over the country; but there are not probably 200,000 inhabitants who are not Italians. The Italians are distinguished for their animated and expressive countenances, and they have very brilliant eyes. They are generally of dark complexions, well formed and ac tive. The women have black or auburn hair, and most of the requisites for beauty. Among the inhabitants are many cripples and deformed for the poor in Italy suffer many hardships and privations: but among the lowest class. and especially at Naples, the human form is seen in its greatest perfection, and the half clad lazzaroni are the best models for a sculptor.

In all the States of Italy there are the usual grades of European nobility; and the individuals are more numerous than those of the same class in any other country. In some of the states of Italy all the sons of the nobility and their sons, bear the original title. Of course numbers are indigent; and many of them are known to solicit charity.

7. DRESS. The higher classes wear the common European dress. At Genoa however females of all ranks, wear very gracefully, the mozzaro, a kind of shawl, thrown over the head and shoulders and folded round the arms. In Savoy the French fashions are generally followed by the upper class; but the common people all over Italy have their local peculiarities of dress. The fashions vary even in small districts or towns. The shepherds wear the skins of their flock, with the wool outward in summer, and inward in winter. These garments are rudely formed, and have sometimes only holes pierced for the head and arms. In Sardinia and Tuscany, the females have many ornaments of pearl, coral, and gold; and even the poorest are rich in these. In Tuscany the females of the common classes wear black beaver hats, with highcrowns, and stiff plumes of black feathers. On holidays they are streaming with ribands. At Naples the lazzaroni have gaudy holiday dresses, but some of them may be seen lying naked in the sun, and many have no other covering than breeches that end above the knee. In the island of Procida, the females to this day wear the Greek costume, which in that sequestered nook, though within a few miles of Naples, has descended from their

ancestors.

8. LANGUAGE. The written language of Italy is uniform, though there are various dialects spoken in different districts, and in Savoy the more general language is the French. The Italian is founded on the Latin, which it nearly resembles, except in the articles, and auxiliary verbs. All foreign or barba

rous words, are said by Muratori not to exceed one thousand. The language is so sweet and liquid that it is consecrated to music in all European countries; yet though soft to a great degree, it is distinguished for force, as will be allowed by all readers of Dante. The language is spoken with the most purity at Rome, Siena and Florence, but the Venetian dialect is the most musical.

9. MANNER OF BUILDING. In Italy are the most splendid and perfect monuments of architecture. The churches are the most costly and magnificent; the monasteries capacious, and the palaces unrivalled. Many of these latter however in the Venetian territory, though built by Palladio, are suffered to decay, and some are razed, for the sake of the materials. Architecture, painting, sculpture and other arts are exhausted on the churches. Many of them have a minuteness of finish that is nothing less than wonderful. The pillars of some are encrusted with mosaic pictures, or precious stones, the walls covered with frescoes, and the doors inimitably carved in bronze. The gates of the Baptistery at Florence, were pronounced by Michael Angelo, to be worthy of Paradise;' they are divided into copartments and carved in bronze with scriptural histories. There is no part of the churches that is not richly ornamented. The cities of Italy are all well built, and Genoa is named from its palaces, the superb.' It is almost a city of palaces, many of which are very striking in effect. In Florence, the architecture is of a more solid character; the indication of a time when factions convulsed the city, and every house was designed to resist an assault, and stand a siege. There are few windows or coluinns in the Tuscan palaces. Some of the chief buildings have been for ages unfinished; the Pitti palace wants a wing, the Cathedral is not completed, and the vestibule of the Laurentian Library has still the scaffolding erected by M. Angelo.

At Rome many of the 300 churches are worthy of admiration, and one of them is the greatest monument reared by the hand of man. The palaces are numerous and elegant. They are generally quadrangles, with an area within, and a wide stair-case of marble. The windows are numerous. The palaces however seem to be designed as much for the spectator as the tenant; and none of them are devised for the English principle of comfort.

At Naples the churches though rich, are of an inferior architecture, but the palaces are imposing. The roofs are flat and covered with a cement, that endures the climate. The roofs are terraces at some seasons the people sleep upon them, and every window has a balcony. At Rome and Naples there are few chimneys, the climate is so mild that little fire is necessary. The ladies however have in winter, a little vase of coals which they place under their dress; they call it a marito, or husband. The leaning towers are one of the peculiarities of Italy. There are two at Bologna, side by side, overhanging the most populous part of the city. One is slender and 350 feet high. It was formerly 476, but was reduced, from caution, after it had withstood an earthquake. It was erected A. D. 1110. The other is 130 feet high and eight feet out of the perpendicular. At Padua is a hall built in the 12th century, which has withstood several earthquakes: it is 300 feet long, 100 feet wide and the same in height. It is larger than Westminster Hall, yet the walls are insulated and not strengthened by abutments or mutual binding of any sort. The Leaning Tower at Pisa has already been described.

10. FOOD AND DRINK. The food of the Italians is light; neither the climate nor the national indolence require any other. Chestnuts are used in many parts as food, made into a heavy bread and in several of the cities, roasted chestnuts are sold hot. They are six times as large as the same nuts in America. Potatoes are growing somewhat into use with the common people. At Rome, polenta or hasty pudding made of the flour of Indian corn, is a general dish with the common people. Macaroni is a common food only at Naples, where it is both a luxury and a necessary. It is however much used over

all Italy. It is a dried preparation of flour in long tubes which are boiled till they become swelled and soft, when they are eaten with a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese. It is with the lazzaroni the happiest time of their happy twen tyfour hours, when their toil, their tricks, or their importunity, have obtained a few grains to purchase macaroni, which they hold in long vermiform strings above the head, which is thrown back, and feed themselves, as it were by a measure of length. Fruit and vegetables form considerable articles of food. Coffee is a common beverage, and no shops are more frequent than coffee rooms. A traveller is surprised to see a course of small birds on the table, not larger than wrens. They make a part of every dinner in the south of Italy. The wines of Italy, in spite of the want of skill in making, are excellent. They are light and reach their perfection in a year. The wines of Sicily are the most exported. The Marsala, or Sicily Madeira, made from the Madeira grape, is a strong white wine and much of it is consumed in the United States. The wines of Sardinia and Corsica, might with care be made of a superior quality, and those of Tuscany are of established reputation. The Aleatico is a red muscadine, and the best is produced at Montepulciano, in the Val de Nievole, and in the Lucchese territory. The sweetness of the wine is tempered with an agreeable sharpness. At Artimino is produced an excellent claret. The Verdea is a pleasant white wine made in the vicinity of Florence, and the Trebbiano is so sweet that it is almost a syrup. The Orvieto is a delicious table wine; and the best which is produced in the states of the church. Montefiascone in the vicinity of Orvieto, produces a most luscious Muscat wine. The Neapolitan territory produces the Vino Greco, a sweet wine, the Lachryma Christi, sweet and luscious, and a muscadine wine, very aromatic. The Gragnano is an agreeable red wine produced at Castellamare in the vicin ity of Pompeii. The Lachryma Christi is raised in a soil mixed with the lava or ashes of Vesuvius. All these wines are cheap, for the narrow policy of several of the governments imposes restrictions on exportation, and the inland transportation to the cities is not easy. The Italian wines seldom improve after a year. The domestic consumption of them is great, yet the Italians are as temperate nearly as the Spaniards. The rosoglio, a cordial, is drank at Naples and various cordials in different places.

11. TRAVELLING. The most expeditious way of travelling, is by post; which is somewhat cheaper than in France. But a common method is to go with a vetturino, in a coach containing 6 or 8 persons. There is no want of this conveyance on all the principal routes. It is cheap, and as the rate is but 30 or 40 miles a day, affords the best opportunity of seeing the country. The vetturino looks out among foreigners for his passengers, to each of which he tenders a ducat in pledge; to be forfeited if he should fail to go: but if the passenger should fail to be ready, he also forfeits his ducat. The bargain with the vetturino generally includes the passage, and accommodations at the inns; and this arrangement saves the traveller much overcharging and wrangling. The route from Rome to Naples, perhaps 150 miles, costs about six dollars, and the vetturino is held to furnish a supper of several courses, and a single bed-room, to each passenger. It is common to make him signa contract specifying the particulars; and to give him a certain sum, perhaps half a dollar, at the end of the journey, if he has been civil and obliging. The main roads are good; but the cross roads are hardly passable, and in Sicily there are hardly any interior roads. The custom houses and the passports are great annoyances. The custom houses are at the frontiers of the states, and at the entrance to cities; the officers well know how to visit the traveller with manifold vexations, if he should fail to purchase their forbear ance with a few pauls, generally less than half a dollar. When this prelim inary is adjusted, the traveller is permitted to pass with his baggage unopened. There is no escaping the Doganieri. "They stop the chariot and they board the barge.' The vexations of the passports are of more frequent

Occurrence.

The passport is taken at the gate of all considerable towns, carried to the commandant, indorsed and returned by a soldier whose low bows are generally rewarded with a small coin. When a stranger resides in a city, he surrenders his passport and receives a written permission to remain for a certain time, and this must be renewed when the time has expired. Before quitting one independent state, to visit another, it is necessary to have the permission of the minister or consul of the state to which the traveller is going. These various indorsements and seals on a passport soon cover every part of it, and new paper must be added to it, which in time becomes a long roll.

The inns are few of them good; but generally on the main routes the accommodations are equal to those in France. The beds are almost universally good; and the bedsteads are of iron, with a net work of thin iron bands to support the bed.

In cities the hotels generally supply only lodgings. A furnished room is let, and the occupier receives his meals from a tratteria, or goes to one himself.

In Italy, which is cut up into so many states, with inefficient governments, robbery is, or has been almost a profession, and committed on a scale unequalled except in Spain. The robber in Italy, seems to be shielded by popular favor and he is celebrated in ballads. Fra Diavolo, of Itri, was renowned and feared beyond the limits of his country, and many other brigands have raised themselves to 'that bad eminence. The frontiers of the kingdom of Naples, beyond Terracina, were the most dangerous defiles for the traveller, who if he failed to satisfy the robbers with sufficient plunder was held to ransom himself by a draft on his banker; and the brigands seldom omitted to keep their threat of murdering him when the draft was protested. Not only travellers were thus seized, but wealthy residents: the wife of one of these sent for ransom a sum less than that demanded, and received in return the captive's ears with an intimation that the knife would next be directed against his throat. The house of Lucien Buonaparte was robbed within 15 miles of Rome, and his secretary carried away and held to a ransom of several thousand ducats. It was intended to capture the prince himself who happened on that day to be absent. The weakness of the government is the strength of the brigands, though at the present time the roads are generally safe. A cardinal, the secretary of state, was sent to Terracina, to confer with the robbers, and offer amnesty to all that would surrender, and suffer a limited imprisonment in the castle of St Angelo, with a certain allowance, or salary, from the government. Some leaders, their wives, and many followers surrendered, but the government broke faith and held them after the stipulated time. While in prison they were much visited. They were a fine race of men, but hardened and ferocious. The wife of the chief was celebrated for beauty, and the little son went through the brigand exercises with his musket, for the amusement of visitors. Sicily was formerly impassable by reason of robbers, but when the English had possession, they introduced the code of Alfred, making districts answerable for crimes, and the success was so complete, that Sicily is not much infested with robbers even now.

Before closing this article, it is proper to mention some of the peculiarities of Italian travelling. In Sicily, where there are hardly any roads, the common conveyance is the lettiga, a sort of sedan on long poles. It is carried by two mules, one before and one behind it, with the poles supported over their back, like common shafts. At Naples, there is a small but very spirited breed of horses, driven about at full speed in a little open chair, or calèche. The driver stands on a board behind, and holds his reins over the passengers' heads. There are seats but for two passengers: but persons often cover the little carriage, holding on, wherever they can find space to plant a foot. Eight or ten may be seen thus, carried swiftly by one horse.

Before the present stupendous roads over the Alps were made, it was toil