ranean below Rome; and the Arno, confined to Tuscany, are the next important streams.-Northern Italy contains several large and lovely lakes, of which the principal are Garda, Maggiore, and Como. Central Italy has a considerable number, but two only are extensive, the Lake of Celano (ancient Fucinus), which having no natural outlet was furnished with an artificial emissary, to prevent its frequent overflows, by the emperor Claudius, and the Lake of Perugia (ancient Thrasimenus), on the borders of which Hannibal obtained his famous victory over the consul Flaminius.

264. Insular Italy comprises the large Island of Corsica, belonging to France; Sardinia, separated from it by the Strait of Bonifacio, and more extensive, which gives its name to the Sardinian monarchy; and Sicily, detached from the mainland by the narrow strait of Messina, forming part of the kingdom of Naples, occupied on its north-eastern side by Etna, the principal European volcano. This mountain has been the scene of fiery explosions from the earliest times. It has a circuit of eighty miles at the base, and rises to the height of 10,882 feet, the travelling distance from Catania to the summit, including about twenty-four miles. Its lower portion, called the Fertile region, has a tropical vegetation, and is highly cultivated. The middle district, or the Woody region, consists of a belt of forests, luxuriant oaks, beeches, and chestnuts. The upper portion, or the Desert region, produces ascendingly shrubs, plants, and lichens, followed by utter sterility. North of Sicily lie the Lipari Isles, two of which, Vulcano and Stromboli, contain active volcanoes. The other Italian islands of note are Elba, off the coast of Tuscany, the scene of Napoleon's residence in 1814, possessing valuable iron mines; Ischia, on the north side of the Bay of Naples, a site of volcanic action in ancient times; Capri, on the south side, which witnessed the gloom and guilt of the emperor Tiberius; and the Maltese group, about sixty miles south of Sicily, belonging to Great Britain.

The Maltese islands consist of Malta, Gozo, and Comino intermediate. Malta the largest, an important naval station, was held by the Knights of St. John, from the middle ages to the year 1798, when it was taken by the French, and by the English in 1800, who were confirmed in the possession of it at the peace of 1815. Valetta, the capital, is surrounded by fortifications deemed impregnable. On the north-east coast, is the Calle de San Paulo, or haven of St. Paul, traditionally supposed to be the spot on which the Apostle landed after his

shipwreck. The population of the islands amounts to upwards of 127,000. The government is administered by a governor and council, subject to the orders of the Queen in Council.

265. The Italian states rank in the following order as to territorial extent :

The entire population is supposed to amount to 23,000,000, of which Naples has nearly 8,000,000; Sardinia and Lombardy, nearly 5,000,000 each; the Papal States, 2,500,000; and Tuscany, 1,500,000; the Duchies dividing the remainder.

256. The kingdom of Naples embraces the south of the peninsula, and with Sicily is styled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. No portion of Europe possesses greater natural advantages; but long misgovernment, together with the inveterate indolence of the people, has prevented the development of its resources.-Naples, the capital, seated on the splendid bay to which its name is given, is the most populous city of Italy, containing 360,000 inhabitants, gay, licentious, and absurdly superstitious, ever active in the pursuit of pleasure, but inert in the important concerns of life, and uncommercial. Reigning sovereign, Ferdinand 11., ascended the throne 1830.

The continental part of the kingdom contains no provincial city of importance, but has many interesting historic sites. Puzzuoli, a small town on the north side of the bay of Naples, represents Puteoli; and Reggio, on the Neapolitan shore of the strait of Messina, one of the largest cities after the capital, occupies the site of Rhegium. These places were visited by Paul on his journey to Rome, Acts xxviii. 13. The field of Cannæ, the scene of Hannibal's great victory, is in the vicinity of Canosa, not far from the Ofanto, a river of the Adriatic. The modern town of Arpino, near the Roman states, contains many remains of Arpinum, the birthplace of Marius, Cicero, and Agrippa. Sulmona, N. w. of the lake of Celano, is the Sulmo of Ovid, the place of his birth. Nola, where the emperor Augustus died, is to the north of the bay of Gaeta.

The Bay of Naples exhibits an unsurpassed combination of land and water scenery. Vesuvius is on the eastern side, about ten miles from the capital. It was deemed an extinct volcano previous to the great eruption of A.D. 79, which destroyed the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. From that period to the year 1138, eight eruptions are recorded; none occurred afterwards till 1306; a pause followed of more than three centuries with only one slight outbreak; but since 1666 the volcano has only been at rest for very brief intervals. The earliest trace

of Herculaneum was discovered in 1711 by a peasant while sinking a well near Portici at the base of the mountain. The site of Pompeii was identified about 1748, and a considerable part of the town has been cleared of its superincumbent materials.

Palermo, the capital of Sicily, occupies a plain on the north coast, styled by the the semi-oriental natives the Vale of the Golden Shell.-Population 180,000. Messina, on the north-east coast, is seated on one of the finest harbours in Europe; and along with Catania, at the southern base of Etna, has been repeatedly damaged by earthquakes and volcanic explosions. Siragosa, further south, stands amid the ruins of the renowned Syracuse; and Girgenti, on the southwest side of the island, with magnificent remains adjoining, represents the ancient Agrigentum.

The classical Scylla, is a rock on the Italian side of the strait of Messina; and Charybdis, an eddy, now called the Galafaro, on the opposite Sicilian coast. The fears of the ancient mariners, in relation to these places, evidence their inexpertness, as they present no difficulties in modern navigation. Europe obtains nearly all its sulphur from Sicily.

267. The Sardinian monarchy includes the island of that name, the principalities of Piedmont and Nice, with the duchy of Genoa, in the north-west of Italy; and the duchy of Savoy, beyond the Alps, and without the limits of Italy Proper. The country is well-watered and fertile; the people industrious; and the form of government liberal, but far from being established upon a secure basis.-Turin, the capital, a remarkably fine city on the Po, containing 120,000 inhabitants, is the principal seat of science and literature south of the Alps. Reigning sovereign, Victor Emanuel II., ascended the throne 1849.

Genoa the Superb, on the Mediterranean, the chief port of the Sardinian States, though fallen from the rank held during the middle ages, is still an important commercial city. It was the birthplace of Columbus. Population 114,000. Nice, on the coast, near the French frontier, famed for its delightful situation, has long been a resort of invalids. Chamberry the chief town of Savoy, lies at the junction of the great roads leading from Lyons and Geneva to Turin across Mont Cenis. Chamouni, a Savoyard village, has a European reputation owing to the scenery of its valley, and as the starting place for the ascent of Mont Blanc.

A singularly interesting people, the Vaudois, inhabit three valleys on the east side of the Cottian Alps in Piedmont. They have long formed a communion separate from the church of Rome, and have remained faithful witnesses for Christ from very early times, notwithstanding the most barbarous persecutions. In 1655, the Protector Cromwell interfered to procure for them the free exercise of their religion, and Milton commemorated their fidelity and sufferings in the noble sonnet,

"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold."

The Vaudois communion comprises about 20,000 individuals, distributed in thirteen parishes, each with its pastor, one of the pastors having the title of moderator.

Cagliari, on the south coast of Sardinia, is the capital of the island. Population 27,000.

268. The Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, in the north and north-east, forms part of the Austrian empire, separated from the Sardinian territory by the Ticino, an affluent

of the Po, and the Lago Maggiore. It consists of two principal divisions, which comprise the richest districts of the peninsula, and present the greatest evidences of material prosperity, recently marred to some extent by an unsuccessful attempt to throw off the Austrian yoke. Milan, on the plain of Lombardy, between the Ticino and the Adda, at the head of the western division, contains upwards of 150,000 inhabitants; and Venice, on an arm of the Adriatic, the capital of the eastern division, more than 100,000.

Milan is the general entrepôt of the trade of northern Italy, communicating with central Europe by the great roads across the Alps of the Simplon, the St. Gothard, the Splugen, and the Stelvio. Its profusely adorned cathedral of white marble, commenced in 1385, is an object of admiration to all strangers. Milanese Lombardy includes Mantua, on the Mincio, one of the strongest fortresses in Europe; Pavia, a decayed city on the Ticino, the seat of a university; Bergamo, north-east of Milan, the birth-place of Tasso; Como, at the south-west extremity of its beautiful lake, associated with the name of Pliny; Monza, north of Milan, where the celebrated iron crown of the Lombard kings is still preserved; and Lodi, on the Adda, memorable for the terrible passage of its bridge by Napoleon in 1796.

Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic in the middle ages, is remarkable for its situation, being inclosed by a lagune; and built on islands, with canals for its thoroughfares. Venetian Lombardy contains Padua, a large ancient city near a branch of the Brenta, the most highly-famed school in Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; Vicenza, on the Bacchiglione, adorned with many fine specimens of the architectural skill of Palladio, one of its citizens; and Verona, on the Adige, possessing an important fortress, and many monuments of Roman times. The village of Campo Formio, near Udino, towards the borders of Austrian Germany, is noted for the treaty of peace concluded there between France and Austria in 1797.

269. The States of the Church extend in a north-west direction from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic side of central Italy. Rome, the capital, on the Tiber, the renowned mistress of the ancient world, and in modern times the metropolis of the papacy, in lat. 41° 50′ N., and long. 12° 30′ E., contained before its recent siege an estimated population of 150,000. The present pope, Pius IX., was elected in 1846. The ecclesiastical administration of the temporal sovereignty was long a source of exasperation to the people, and required the presence of the French and Austrian soldiery for its support.

The

Rome is situated about sixteen miles from the mouth of the Tiber. modern city is principally on the left bank of the river. It occupies a plain, the ancient Campus Martius, to the north of the famed hills, four of which are now almost deserted sites. The walls are about fifteen miles in circuit, but a large part of the inclosed area consists of fields, gardens, and vineyards. Among the monuments of antiquity, the most remarkable are the remains of the great Flavian amphitheatre, or Colosseum, commenced by Vespasian and completed by Titus; the column of Trajan erected by the senate in honour of his Dacian victories; the arch of Titus, commemorating his conquest of Judæa; the arch of Septimius Severus, a memorial of his successes against the Parthians; and the arch of Constantine, raised on the occasion of his becoming sole emperor of the

west. The statue of the Apollo Belvidere, the Laocoon, Antinous, and the Dying Gladiator, are celebrated works of ancient sculpture. In modern Rome, upwards of 360 churches, and about eighty palaces are enumerated. It has been the boast of the inhabitants that the pope might say mass in a different church every day in the year; but the list includes very many that are always shut, and more still that are only opened once a year, on a festival day. St. Peter's, commenced in 1506, dedicated in 1626, but not completed in its present state till 1780, rises from the pavement to the top of the cross 430 feet. Down to 1694, the outlay amounted to 10,000,000l., without including the internal ornaments. The total cost is supposed to have been nearly twice that sum. A much inferior structure, St. John Lateran, is the metropolitan church, of which the pope is minister, and in which he is crowned. The Vatican, the winter palace of the pope, is an enormous pile of 4,500 halls, chambers, and galleries, besides courts and gardens, with museums rich in sculptures and paintings, and a vast collection of rare books and manuscripts. A series of paintings in fresco by Michael Angelo, among which that of the Last Judgment is conspicuous, adorn the Sistine chapel of the Vatican; and its picture gallery has Raffaelle's greatest work, the Transfiguration.

Bologna, at the north base of the northern Apennines, is the principal provincial city of the Papal States.-Population 70,000.

Civita Vecchia on the Mediterranean, and Ancona on the Adriatic, are the chief ports.

270. The States of Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and Lucca, grand duchies and duchies, occupy the remainder of central Italy, with the republic of San Marino, an insignificant territory near the Adriatic, surrounded by the Papal States, and only nominally independent.

Florence, the capital of the Tuscan grand duchy, the native city of Dante, Michael Angelo, and Galileo, is called la bella, the beautiful, from its delightful situation in the garden valley of the Arno. It has also been styled the metropolis of the middle ages, from its castellated palaces, structures of the period. The museums and galleries of the city are rich in sculptures, ancient and modern, paintings, and historical collections.-Population 100,000. Leghorn, a seaport on the Mediterranean, embraces the whole foreign trade of Tuscany, and ranks as the greatest commercial emporium of Italy. The grave of Smollet is in the English burying-ground.-Population 78,000. Pisa, on the Arno, near its mouth, a decayed city, contains many ancient buildings and a remarkable leaning tower, which diverges 15 feet from the perpendicular. A colony of camels, brought over by the Knight's Hospitallers in the time of the crusades, has been perpetuated on the plain of Pisa.

Modena, the capital of the duchy, occupies a fine plain between the rivers Panora and Secchia, arms of the Po.-Population, 27,000. Reggio, the native place of Ariosto, is the only other town of any importance, containing the museum of Spallanzani.

Parma, the capital of the duchy, on a river of the same name, has no interest apart from the paintings of Correggio.-Population, 30,000.

Lucca, the capital of the small duchy, on the Serchio, is remarkable for its highly cultivated vicinity, the most densely peopled portion of Italy.-Population, 24,000.

The little republic of San Marino comprises an area of 27 square miles; contains the town of that name, and a few villages, with about 6,000 inhabitants.

By the death of the archduchess Maria Louisa of Parma, ex-empress of France, Dec. 17, 1847, that duchy descends to the duke of Lucca, according to the arrangements of the congress of Vienna; and the duchy of Lucca passes to the grand duchy of Tuscany. The latter provision had previously taken effect by the voluntary cession of Lucca to Tuscany in October, 1847, on the part of the duke for an annual stipend.

271. Of Italy in general, the northern portion, consisting of the basin of the Po, is the most fertile and highly cultivated. Rice is grown extensively in the low grounds