^*

ii^^r* '^

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

From the Library of

WILLIAM M. ODOM

LETT ER S

FROM

S I C I L Y.

LETTERS

FROM

SICILY.

WRITTEN IN THE TEAR 1798,

BY A Gentleman
TO HIS FRIENDS
IN
ENGLAND.

IBLontion ;
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
Br W. STRATFORD, yisD S. TOUNG,
CROWN-OOimT, TflVIPLE'BAR,
1800.

TO
Dr. CLARKE.
DEAR SIR,
Amongst the number of my
friends who have solicited the pub
lication of the following Letters,
there is no one to whom I could
address myself with more propriety
than to you, who have so kindly
assisted in bringing them to the
press.

ii DEDICATION.
Permit me then to dedicate them
to you, and at the same time to
make use of your name as a sanc
tion to this undertaking.
The event of the disastrous Re
volution, which at the close of the
year 1798, compelled the Royal
Family of Naples to seek refuge in
Sdcily, has rendered that island a
more general subject of enquirj^,
and excited a strong desire to be
come acquainted with the present
state of it : it is owing to this par
ticular circumstance, that I feel
more inclined to comply with the
request of my friends, hoping that

DEDICATION. Ill

they will find somewhat to satisfy
their curiosity.
Truth, in writings of this nature^
is undoubtedly the main object.
If the veracity of the. Author be
once doubted, he might as well
have..w'ritteh his work in his study,
without encountering the difficulk
ties of travelling. AIP his descripn
tions sink to a level with niere
works of fancy, and the interesting
story of hardships which he has
suffered, is only regarded as a fabu^
lous narrative to connect his tale.
You will find, I trust, dear Sir, that
I have never lost sight of this ob-
a 2

iv: DEDICATION.
ject. I have always bornp in mind
the observation of Voltaire, that
" rien n est beau que le vrai, le vrai seul
est aimahle" I therefore flatter my
self that some of my readers will
derive information frpm the con
tents of this Volume: at least I
may presume to hope, that the cri
tic will not find any sentiments,
which are likely to prove injurious
t6 the minds," or to contaminate the
morals of those who may read
them. The pleasures of travelling, it is
generally i acknowledged, are /vari-
rious, but there is nbt one amongst

DEDICATION. V
tibem more satisfactory, than that
of communicating to those who are
interested for our welfare, the
scenes which we have witnessed in
distant countries, and the dangers
to which we may have been ex
posed when separated from them
by seas and mountains. I have at
present an opportunity of gratify
ing this propensity, and as a tribute
of my esteem, I beg that you, and
the rest of my friends, will accept
of the following pages, in printing
which 1 have no other aim in view,
than that of affording you and, them
some entertainment.

VI DEDICATION.
Wishing you an uninterrupted
enjoyment of health and happiness
through life,
I remain, with constant regard.
Dear Sir,
Your much obliged
Friend and Servant,

Thomas Bingham Richards.

ADVERTISEMENT.
IF tlie readers of these Letters should be de
sirous of acquiring some knowledge of the His
tory of Sicily, the writer begs leave to refer them
to the third Volume of Swinburne's Travels,
where it is so accurately detailed, as to render it
superfluous to add any thing farther upon that
subject. For the same reason, he has judged it
needless to prefix any map of the island, as there
are already many extant in different geogra
phical works.

CONTENTS.

LETTER I.
^REFLECTIONS upon undertaking the Tour
of Sicily — Grand Scenery in the Bay of
Naples — Island of Capri, - pagel
LETTER II.
Arrival at Messina — Stromboli — Isles of Lipari
— Eruption of Fire — Curious argument — Fine
Prospect upon entering the Faro — Port of
Messina— Zancla — Palaces on the Quay de
stroyed by the Earthquakes — An interesting
Note — Style of Building — Population—Sub
urbs — Distress of nsS— Commerce - 8
LETTER III.
Enchanting Prospect from the Hill near the
Convent of St, Francis Singular Form of
fhe Mountains , of Calabria— Opera House—
A striking Contrast—Postscript, - 20

CONTENTS.

LETTER IV.

Arrival at Catania — Difficulties of .Travelling —
Reflections tipon the Postscript of the preced
ing Letter — Effect of Day-Li^ht upon ihe
Spirits — Mules — Campieri — Road out of
Messina — Fiume di Nisi — Situation of the
Cities and Villages — Cape and Castle of Ales
sio — Road over the Mountains, jf Taormina.
Reflections— Inn at Giardini-^View of Etna
at Sun-rise — Road at the Foot of the Vol
cano — Lava — River of Fire ivhich destroyed
Catania in 1669. - - page 27,
LETTER V.
Situation of Catania, and Style of Building —
Convent of Benedictines — Museum'^ Compa
rison betiveen Vesuvius and Etna - 42
LETTER VI.
Ascent of the Mountain — Cultivated Region-
Monte Rosso and Monspeliere-r-Convent of
St. Nicolo' — Monk — Suppe) — -Ride by Moon
light — Woody Region — Wild Roars -— Desert

CONTENTS. %l
Region — Spifio d' Asino — Plaiji of Elaus —
New Crater — Ideas upon the Nature of the
Summit of Etna — Torrent of boiling Water —
Sun-rise — Valley of Calanna — Reflections —
Great Crater— "Philosopher's Tower — Grotta
de* Capri — Scenery in the woody Region, p, 48

LETTER VII.
Syracuse — Journey from Catania — Lentiiii —
Hercules — River Alcantara — Nature of the
Country — A Disappointment — Miserable Cot
tage — View of Syracuse -^ Fortifications —
Sirocco. - - - 73

LETTER VIII.
Reflections — Degeneration of Sicily-r-Descrip-
tion of the present Syracuse— Public Build
ings — Sudden Change when the English Fleet
lay at Anchor in the Port — Ancient Syracuse —
Ortygia — NeapoK — Sepulchres dnd Lacrima-
torioe — Latomie — Ear of Dionysius^Temple
of Minerva — Fountain of Arethusa — Old
Castle. - - . 81

Xll CONTENTS.

LETTER IX.

Sepulchres of Tycha — Situation of that Division
of ancient Syracuse — Castle ofSablo, pr Epi-
polis — Walls of the City — Euriolus — Singular
Ideas ofthe Peasants respecting Necromancy —
Anniversary of the Dead — Visit to the Vaults
of the Convent of Capuchins in antient Acra
dina — Reflections — Latomie. - page 94
LETTER X.
Rivers Anapus and Ciane — Papyrus — Method
used by the Romans to make Paper — Vestiges
ofa magnificent Temple of Jupiter Olympus —
Dreadful Thunderstorm — Quakers. 104
LETTER XI.
Catacombs. - - - in
LETTER XII.
Return to Catania — Ruin adjoining the Road-
Miserable Inn — Lightning — Museum of the
Prince of Biscari — Celebrated Organ — Mu
seum of Chevalier Giueni — Reflections — Anti
quities. - - - 114

CONTENT?. Xlll

LETTER XIII.

Return to Giardini — Face of the Country — En
chanting Scenery — Village of la Zqfferana,
and Course ofthe Lava of 1790 — Superstitious
Faith in the Virtue ofthe Veil of St. Agatha —
Castagno de' cento cavalli — Fair at Mascali —
Reflections — Inconvenience arising at Giardini
from the Inn being filled tvith Travellers — .
Priest — Fine Painter — Antiquities of Taor
mina — Governor — Theatre — Grand Situation —
View from it — Naumachia — Reservoirs p. 124
LETTER XIV
Return to Messina — Ancient Mines near Nisi—
Style of Cultivation and Appearance of the
Country round Messina — Charibdis — Ideas
upon that Phenomenon - - 136
LETTER XV.
Arrival at Palermo— Sparonaro— Coast to Cape
Orlando — Storm — Shipzvreck — Exertions of
the Women to assist the unfortunate Mariners
in saving their Cargo— Dreadful Night— Culti-

XIV CONTENTS.
vation of fhe Country— Castel dell' Anno — Cha
pel and Priest — Holy Cotton — Treasures and
Vests — Sometliing omitted — Coast from Cape
Orlando — Termini celebrated for Grapes —
Cape Reale — Landing at Palermo— Inn and
Hostess — Prison. - - page 1 44

LETTER XVI.
Description of Pnlirmor— Situation — Outline of
the City — Styk of Building— Bustle — Car
riages — Population-^Numhet of Nobility, and
Reason why they all flock to Palermo — Water —
Snow — Reflections — Corrupt Manners — Ob
servance of the Sabbath — Opera House — Day
converted into Night, and vice versa — En-
ihanting Road to Monreale — Fine Prospect —
Cathedral and Situatioii of that City 1 59

LETTER XVII. '
Marino — Incitations to Love — Cupid — Suburbs'
of Palermo— Port— Spanish Men of War —
Drive to the Bagaria — Description of that
Spot — Palaces — Church of St, Flavia — Fe
male Sex — Early Marriages. « 17.^)

CONTENTS. XV
LETTER XVIII.
Rupture of the Treaty between France and Na
ples — Impending Revolution— Singular Effect
of Jealousy illustrated by a Story — Consul
General — Rejoicings for the Birth of a Prin
cess — Police. - - 186
LETTER XIX.
The Viceroy's Procession to one qf the Churches—'
Te Deum— -Number of Churches in Palermo —
St. Joseph' Sr~Unfinished State of the Buildings
in Italy and Sicily — Duke and Duchess of F.
—Palace of Tisa — Viceroy's Chapel — Pre
parations for returning to Naples. 193

ERRATA,
Page 4, lliie 13, for Pesilippo, read Posilippo.
Page 10, line 6, for tlie Edits, read Eolus.
Page 15, line 14, for reference b read c.
Page 22, line 4, for reference c read b.
Page 26, line 16, no note, take out the reference d.
Page 30, line 21, tor bandittis, iea.d banditti.
Page 31, line 2, for Campieri, read Campier e.
Page 42, line 4, for stratas, f ead strata.
Page 51, line 15, forszYe, readi«te.
Page 66, line 17, for lamps, read lumps.
Page 69, line !> tor Empedodes, read Empedocles'.
Page 74, line 18, to Cata, add nia.
Page 7 8, line 24, for rightly, lead highly.
Page 81, for 21st. read 31*^. October,
Page 82, line 9, for their, read Az*.
Page 83, line 2, for comfort, read comforts.
Page 95, line 2, leave out the word to.
Page 113, line 23, for reference e read rf.
Page 114, line 6 and 7, for or read of.
Page 155, line 7, for arrival; at market they S^c.
read
arrival at market ; tha/ IfC.
Page 156, line 23, ior pos, xea.dpas.
Page 201, line 20, for nymphs, readnymph.
Page 204, line 7, for dreadfull, read dreadful.
Page 212, line 4, ior propose, read purpose.

LETTERS FROM
SICILY.

LETTER L
October 18, 1798.
¦L WRITE the present Letter on
board a Trabacplo, a small merchant ves
sel, in whicli I embarked this morning, to
put in execution a plan which has been
long uppermost in my imagination; and
the cheering solace of the lonesome hours
that I have passed since January last,
when the revolution in Switzerland
obliged me to cross the Frigid Alps, and
B

2 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
seek refuge amongst the Appennines in
Tuscany. I allude to that of visiting the
island of Sicily, and of inspecting the na
tural curiosities and interesting vestiges of
ancient splendour with which it abounds.
Although I have met with innumerable
objects of admiration in Germany, Hun
gary, Switzerland, and Italy, which I have
enjoyed during the last three years, still do
I embark upon the present tour with an
ardour for novelty, equal to what I felt
vipon firft leaving my native soil, and my
expectations are raised to a very high pitch.
Yet I flatter myself, from what I have
been able to collect from the descriptions
of other travellers, and from the testimony
of many of my Italian friends who have
made the tour of Sicily, that my hopes
will not be disappointed ; and as the pre
sent crisis does not admit of my attending
closely to commerce, I know not in what
manner I could employ a few weeks more
satisfactorily. i

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 3
A favorable breeze carried us six
leagues from the Mole at Naples, and
then dying away, left us becalmed be
tween the island of Capri, and the most
western cape of the Bay of Naples, where
we may expect to continue till sun-set,
when a breeze generally springs up in this
climate. It would be totally impossible
for my weak pen to paint to your imagi
nation the view which presents itself from
the veffel. I will attempt to describe it to
you; your own ideas must enliven the
scene. Imagine yourselves opposite the
center of a vast amphitheatre, replete with
the most interesting objects, which can be
produced by nature and art; beginning
from the west, you see several little islands
breaking the azure line of the far diftant
horizon like clouds, and next that of Is
chia, a high mountain, which emerges
from the surface of the sea ; and a little to
the right a chain of cloud topt appennines
lose themselves in distance. The objects
which present themselves gradually as you
B 2

4 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
turn towards the East, are the Cape of
Misenum, where the fleet of Pliny lay at
anchor during the violent eruption of
Mount Vesuvius, which overwhelmed
Pompeia with hot ashes ; the gulphs of
Baja and Puzzuoli; the Monte Nuovo,
which was forced up in one night from a
level surface on the borders of the Lucrine
Lake ; Mount Falerno, renowned by Ho
race for its wine ; Procida, a lofty island
crowned with a town of the same name ;
Nisida, a bold rock; and the cape and
mountain of Posilippo, garnished with pa
laces, convents, and villages. By the time
you have surveyed these interesting ob
jects, your eye arrives at the center of the
enchanting amphitheatre, where the noble
city of Naples rises majestically from the
' shore, presenting a pleasing mixture of
churches, fortresses, and palaces, towering
one above the other. Here your attention
is fixed by the variety, and your soul en
raptured by the grandeur of the scene.
Gradually verging toward the right you

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 5
overlook the spacious and fertile plain
called Terra di Lavoro, bounded by a
fterile ridge ofthe Appennines near Caserta
and Mount Vesuvius. It resembles a large
garden interspersed with villages and ele
gant villas, and the grand volcano with its
immense crater, and rivers of black lava,
forms a picturesque contrast with the cul
tivated vale below. Adjoining it are those
bold -mountains covered v.dth forests, dreffed
in the richest tints of autumn, which in
close the Bay of Naples on the south side,
and rise majestically behind the cities of
Castelammare and Sorrento, and run out
to cape Campanelle, very near the spot
where we now lie. To form an adequate
idea of this scene, you must add the clear
azure of an Italian sky, and the soft tint
of the watery foreground, and then can
you imagine that; a happier combination
of picturesque subjects is to be met with in
any other country on earth? Can you
figure to yourselves any scene more invi
ting, more pleasing, or more enchanting ?

6 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
But it would have ftill greater charms for
me, if you could participate in the de
lights of it.
Capri is an island of a very singular
form, which has apparently been separated
from the main land by some violent con
vulsion, or forced above the surface of the
sea by a subterraneous power. It is about
ten miles in circumference, and celebrated
for its wine, and the ruins of twelve villas
of Tiberius and Augustus Caesar, who both
spent some years of their, lives there in
every kind of licentiousness. At present
it contains a small city, inhabited by a co
lony of about three thousand fishermen and
their families ". 21/. 12 o'clock.
The light breezes of the evenings have
been generally unpropitious to our sailing,
therefore we have scarce run thirty knots
since the 1 Sth. The infallible travelling
companions and constant inhabitants of a

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 7
foreign vessel, viz. rats, mice, bugs, fleas,
and flies, have amioyed me so incessantly,
as to disturb my sleep, and render me very
little disposed to do any thing which re
quires the exertion of my patience for a
few minutes only ; luckily I have nothing
partic\ilar to impart to you. We have the
gulph of Policastro opposite our larboard
beam, and are in sight of some of the isles
of Lipari. The coast from cape Cam
panelle fouthward, is bold and very high ;
but we have been fo far distant from it,
that I could not take any sketches.

LETTERS FROM SICILY.

LETTER II.
Messina, 22d. October.
THANK God, I am now safe arrived
at Messina, after a tedious and fatiguing
voyage ! We scudded , along upon a wind
all yesterday afternoon and the following ,
night. At eight o'clock in the evening we
were within three leagues of Stromboli :
the weather was fo very hazy that I caught
only an imperfect glimpfe of that volcano.
It is an isle which in several points of
view appears a perfect cone, nearly of the
same size and height as Vesuvius. The
crater is on the north side, and about two
thirds of the whole height from its base.
It emits a dense column of white smoak,
and has no intervals of tranquillity, as is the
case with Vestivius. Flames issue so fre
quently from its crater, that it serves the
purpose of a light houfe to vessels at sea,
and under this denomination we find it re
corded by several ancient writers. The

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 9
isles of Lipari are ten in number, and to
judge from the singularity of their forra,
most of them appear to have been forced up
above the surface of the sea, and raged with
fury as volcanoes for several ages. To this
fact various ancient writeia .bear testimony.
Stroinboli is at present the only burning cra
ter, although the other isles contain Iprings
of hot water, and produce a great quantity
of pumice stone, sulphur, and other vol
canic matter: Homer, Virgil, and several
ancient poets and historians called them the
Eolian islands, from Eolus, the god of
winds, who was supposed to reside amongst
them; and according to Strabo, Stromboli
was the place of his residence. I remem
ber to have met with many passages con
cerning them, particularly in Virgil, who in
forms us, that when any of the gods or god
desses wished to raise a storili, or command
any particular wind to the prejudice or favor
of the mortals on earth, they descended to
Eolus, fixed a bargain withshim, and were
furnished accordingly from a bag, in which

IO LETTERS FROM SICILY.
thofe winds were kept which they desired
to have. I cannot conceive from what
this allegory originateid, nor does the reason
commonly assigned for it, appear sufiici
ently plausible. It is generally said, that
it arose from tl*» Eolus, who was of the
race of the Heraclides, and came with a co
lony to these islands, at the time of the
Trojan war. By marrying the daughter of
Liparus, son of Ausonius, king of Italy,
he became king of the island, which he
called after his own name, and having
learned how to foretel the changes of the
wind and weather, by the fmoke which
was emitted from the volcanoes, he was
often consulted upon this subject by ma
riners, passing from Italy to Sicily, and
was held as a god in distant countries.
Homer and Virgil took advantage of this
ftory, and dressed it in lively colours. Still
this tale appears too insignificant to form
the foundation of a belief in the god of
winds, which existed for so many ages in
the heathen religion. Be that as it may.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. u.
Eolus has now lost his empire, and the sea
is as calm around the isles of Lipari, as
elsewhere in the Mediterranean. ' The cool
air of the evenmg drove me into the cabin
soon after sunset, and "ha ving a bad head-
ach my servant was induced to leave me
undisturbed, while Stromboli emitted
flames to the height of several hundred
feet. I felt a tittle chagrined at losing so fine
an opportunity of seeing this eruption,
which was a very grand spectacle to those
who were upon deck. The violence of
my head-ach banished sle«p from my eyes,
but in the midst of my suffering, I was en*
tertained by a long metaphysical dispute up
on education and morals, between a Cata-
nese apprentice, and a Spanish body guard,
who both lay stretched upon a matrass
beneath me. The former left no scheme
untried to bring his opponent to confess,
that a liberal education, where the excelleur
cies and vices of the world are exposed in

12 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
their true light, is best calculated to render
a man or Woman happy in their own mind,
and a blessing to society ; and the latter
used every argument in defence of the most
rigorous monastical discipline, where the
theory only is taught of what mankind
ought to be, and where no regard is paid
to the real actions of man. The reason
which the Catanese assigned for con
demning this method, was, because a person
so educated, was rendered unwilling to
resist the temptations of this world, from
having never been properly made ac
quainted with the evils which may accrue
from giving way to them. The Spaniard
on his side persisted in maintaining, that
the virtues of mankind alone should be-
impressed on the minds of youth, and no
mention whatsoever be made of the vices
of the world ; and he frequently repeated
that it is better to be ignorant than to know
too much: sufficient was said upon this
topic to fill a volume. Towards day-break
my philosophers began to argue with less

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 13
energy, their words were gradually pro
nounced in a famter tone of voice, a little
nonsense succeeded, and all points in dis
pute were settled in sleep. When I emerged
from the nest of vermin, which is a
title well adapted to the cabin, I was agree
ably surprized at finding myself at the en
trance into the Faro of Messina, v/here the
picturesque and lofty mountains of Cala
bria form a striking contrast with the Co/-
lines riantes of Sicily. Soon after doubling
the Cape on which the light-house is situ
ated, where the passage is not more than
a mile in breadth, I discovered the city of
Messina under high mountains, whose
craggy summits were richly gilded by the
warm glow of the rising sun. A number
of ships under full sail,, together with se
veral other delightful objects, contributed
to render the scene as enchanting as any
I ever beheld. The celebrated Scylla and
Charibdis were pointed out to me by the
pilot of our vessel; but I will defer treat
ing of them for the present, that I may here

14 LETTERS; FROM; SICILY,
after give you more details respecting them
than. I am able to do in this letter. The
port of Messina is spacious and very safe ;
it is formed by a neck of land projecting
into the Faro in the shape of a sickle,
leaving an entrance about three hundred
yards wide. From this circumstance the
city was called Zancla, accordirig to Thu-
cidides, who Informs us, that the fickle of
Saturn fell upon that spot ; as Sicily is very
productive of wheat this is rather a happy
idea. Diodorus Siculus says, that it took
its orighial name from Zanclotto, a king
of the Island in. the days of the famous
giant Orion, who was placed amongst the
gods, and from whom the heavenly con-
stellatipn takes it name. Zancla was de
stroyed, according to Pausanias, in the
XXIXth. Olympiad, and Messina was'
built upon its ruins, named after a town
in the Peloponesus. ,The beautiful cres
cent of marble palaces along the quay,
which Brydone describes with great accu
racy and elegance, is now a mere heap of

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 15
ruins, having been entirely destroyed by the
dreadful earthquakes of 1783, which razed
many cities to the ground, split the moun
tains asunder, and divided immense masses
of rock. The sight of these dreary objects
of the devastation committed by the most
awful phenomenon in nature, has a strong
effect upon my feeUngs, and recals to my
mind, the scenes of distress and horror
which I witnessed in May last at Sienna,
when the earth was in a state of agitation
during the space of three days, and the
finest buildings were ruined by the violent
shocks of earthquakes*. The houses in
the modern parts of the town are built en
tirely of stone, generally two or three sto
ries high, with small iron balconies at each
window, and many of the streets running
in direct lines; the effect of the whole
is very pleasing, and struck me at the
moment as being very like part of the
sxiburbs of Vienna. If I may be allowed
to draw a conclusion from the general bustle
and stir in the streets, I should imadne

i6 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
Messina to be very populous in proportion
to its size, and may venture to assert, that
it contains upwards of thirty thousand in
habitants. The inns are wretched, and
the one I am in is little better than a
hovel, but any thing upon terra firma is
acceptable after a tedlovis voyage.
A person who lands at Messina after a
direct voyage from Naples, must be ama
zingly struck witb the style of building,
from the contrast which its low houses
form with the lofty mansions of that ca
pital. The iron 'balconies at first sight
would give the appearance of a prison, but
the ground floor of every house being con
verted into shops, that idea is lost in the
gaiety and bustle of the scene. In the
squares of the city are some fine fountains,
particularly one near the cathedral, which
though not of ancient date, exhibits some
proofs of skill and taste in regard to the
sculpture. The habitations in the suburbs
consist only of two stories, and many of

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 17
them since the earthquake are mere planks
of wood, fastened together in the shape of
a hut, which have a most miserable ap
pearance. How different was the state of
Messina when Brydone and Swinburne vi
sited it , before that dreadful convulsion,
and what an unfortunate change has taken
place since that period ! The horrid catas
trophe of 1783 is the subject of a tale of
woe in the mouth of every inhabitant,
which it is distressing to hear ; and I was
astonished when they related the imminent
dangers which they had escaped, and that
many had lain buried under the ruins of
their houses, and the manner in which
they extricated themselves from that ter
rible situation. Were they not well aware
of the numerous advantages which must
accrue from the situation of their port,
and of the great commerce, which from
that circumstance must naturally be earned
on with every European nation, they
would never have returned to ¦dwell in
their tottering habitations ; but all ideas of

i8 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
personal safety seem to yield to those of
lucre. Considering the present imfavor
able crisis of commercial affairs in general,
and particularly of those of the Mediter
ranean, I am rather surprized at finding a
great number of Neapolitan, Imperial, and
Genoese vessels now at anchor in the
quay. Sicily in 'itself can consvime very
little of the produce of foreign countries,
therefore these ships generally come in
ballast to receive cargoes of wheat, silks,
oil, drugs, brimstone, and fruit, which the
island produces abundantly in the greatest
perfection ; it is consequently advantageous
to the Italian merchants, who make con
signments of these goods to the northern
ports of Europe, to buy them at Messina,
where in default of home consumption, and
on account of the copious harvests yielded
oy the unparalleled fertility of the soil, they
are purchafed at lower prices than at Leg
horn, or Naples. The country to the west
of this city is very hilly and highly culti
vated, producing the prickly and spiral

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 19
aloes, olives, lemons, oranges, grapes, and
figs in abundance. The villages, convents,
and country houses, are so delightfully si
tuated, as to correspond with the mpst ro
mantic ideas of picturesque beauty. I have
often wished that I could transport you
hither to partake of the natural delights of
this country, but I must content myself
with the hopes, that my letters may afford
you a temporary amusement, and you may
depend upon my utmost endeavours to re
present every thing worthy attention, in
the truest light, without allowing myself
those liberties, which are I fear, with too
much justice, sometimes imputed to tra
vellers, of depreciating or exaggerating,
as b^t suits their humour. I remain, &c.

c 2

so LETTERS FROM SICILY.
LETTER III.
Messina, 23d. October.
THE lively description which Brydone
gives of the view from the hill, a little to
the north of the city, where the anniver
sary of St. Francis is celebrated, induced
me to i-ise early this morning, and walk
thither to enjoy the scene, when the na
tural beauty of every object was height
ened by the glowing rays of the rising svin.
I do not remember ever to have been more
enraptured with nature, than upon attain-^
ing the summit ofthe hill; the city audits
suburbs occupied the foreground, the Faro
resembled the mouth of a majestic river,
rolling its limpid waves in silent dignity
through two chains of mountains, and
emptying Itself into the ocean; the high
coast of Calabria dressed in the richest and
most harmonious tints of autumn, enli
vened by the glow which filled the whole
atmosphere, enchanted me with a pleasing

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 21
uhionof variety and grandeur, but I shud
dered with horror, when I reflected upon
the dreadful calamities to which this- de
lightful country is subject, and blessed
Heaven that my own native island is ,free
from them.
The outlines of the mountains of Cala
bria, which are for the most part horizon
tal, and rise gradually above one another,
from Tropea southwards, form a singular
contrast with the conic topt Alps, whose
summits pierce the clouds, while the for
mer seem pressed down by them. This
circumstalice merits the nearer attention of
naturalists, as it strikes me, that from the
very irregular shape of the Alps, they were
forced up in unwieldy masses by a subter
raneous power (most likely that of fire
and confined vapours) while on the, con
trary, the mountains of Calabria were
formed at a later period by sediment. The
Volcanists and Neptunists (as they have
been termed) have each a powerful argu-

S2 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
ment in their fav6r, and you will clearly
see, that an union of both systems would
fornl the most reasonable theory of the
earth*. After contemplating for some hours the
grandeur of the prospect from the hill, I
returned into the city to deliver a letter of
introduction to Mons. De C — , the Dutch
Consul, who received me with every mark
of politeness. He inhabited one of the
beautiful houses upon the quay at the time
of the great earthquakes, and from having
witnessed that horrid scene through all its
stages, he gave me an interesting detail of
the dangerous situation of himself and se
veral neighbours, from which they escaped
almost miraculously. He likewise gave
me some preparatory iristructions in regard
to the tour which I am going to undertake
in the island, and to my great satisfaction
assured me, that I need not harbour any
fears on account of the banditti, who never
injure the person of a defenceless traveller.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 23
The objects of curiosity which might de
tain me here not being very numerous, I
shall proceed towards Mount Etna with
out delay, as the air grows colder every
day, and the trees begin to cast their tinted
foliage. I have been to the Opera House this
evening, which I readily left to converse
with you, a far more agreeable employ
ment, than sitting upon thorns to hear bad
singing, and see worse acting. The house
is neat, but of an exceedingly bad form,
being that of a parallelogram with round
ends ; it is very small, containing only sixty
boxes ; these were pretty well filled with
Neapolitan and Portuguese naval officers,
"belonging to some ships of war, which have
lately put into this port from the blockade
of Malta.
I have observed fewer idle people in the
streets of Messina than at Naples, and the
lower class seem more industrious and bet-

24 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
ter clad than the Neapolitans. This may
in part be accounted for, by the commerce
being greater in proportion to the number
of inhabitants than at Naples, the climate
being less relaxing, owing to the continual
current of air through the Faro, and from
luxury and vice not being carried to so high
a pitch as in most parts of .Italy. The
women are in general very plain at Mes
sina, the only exceptions are some few of
the higher ranks of society, but these are
mostly Italians or Palermitans: those of
the lower class dress much neater than in
many parts of the Continent, and do not
shew that desire for tawdry colours, which
prevails in all Germany, Switz^erland, and
Italy. Nature has bestowed her two chief
gifts upon this island, viz. a fine climate,
and a light soil : the rarest of her produc
tions spring up spontaneously, and grow
almost uninvited to the highest state of
perfection ; the natives want more cultiva
tion than the country they live in, and it
is distressing, but equally true, that human

LETTERS FROM SICILY. ^s,
beings dwindle here, whilst every thing
around them flourishes. What a contrast
is this to the island which you inhabit;
where, though the sun is frequently con
cealed from your sight, aud piercing winds
often blast the hopes of the labourers, still
Britons rise triumphant over other nations
to whom nature has been lavish of her
choicest blessings, and their laudable in
dustry and steady perseverance procure
them those luxuries, comforts, and neces-
saries of life which no other nation on
earth can boast of.
I shall next address you from Catania;
do not be alarmed if my letters should not
reach you very regularly, as they may be
detained here, and at Reggio and Ronie,
waiting for the northern posts which fetch
them. P. S. As I was preparing to seal die
preceding letter, I was confiderably alarmed
at the shock of an earthquake, which lasted

«6 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
about fifteen Seconds with an undulate'
motion ; it has totally unhinged me, and
for a time deprived me of all recollection of
myself. The moon shines through opake
clouds, aad the air is oppressive. I have
observed nothing like electric fluid, and
perhaps there may be good reason to doubt
the doctrine of the connection between the
atmosphere and the bowels of the earth at
the time of an earthquake. I hope to get
off in the morning ; the night will appear
long, and anxiety will make every moment
tedious ; although the people, who are as
sembled in the streets, assure me that I
need not dread a second shock, as the first
is generally the most severe/ : in my pre
sent situation, surrounded by so many ruin
ed piles, the effect of a similar event which
took place but a few years ago, this argu
ment, though founded Without doubt upon
experience, affords but little comfort to my
agitated mind.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. I?
LETTER IV.
Catania, 26th October.
I ARRIVED here this evening, after a
very fatiguing journey from Messina ; for,
although the whole distance is only fifty
miles, and I have not travelled more thah
half that number each day, yet the roads
were so abominable, the heat so oppres
sive, the accommodations so miserable^
and the pace of the mules so hard and un
comfortable, that I am not only stiff in
every joint, but feel myfelf bruised from
head to foot. In the Postscript of my last
letter from Messina, I stated how much I
was alarmed, not without reason, at the
shock of an earthquake, rather more severe
than any that has been felt since that of
1783. The dreadful scenes around me,
the imminent danger I had ktely escaped
at Sienna, the distress which I was wit
ness to when that unfortunate city was
nearly razed to the ground^ and the great

a8 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
expanse of land and water between my
dearest and best friends and myself, accu
mulated themselves with all their horrors
and wild phantasies, to increase the pertur
bation of my mind. I was alone in my
miserable chamber, a small lamp burnt
dimly in one corner of it, and the moon
shone at intervals through the apertures of
a ragged curtain. I fancied that I saw the
earth opening its ravenous jaws, and emit
ting all consuming flames and masses of
fire. I started at my own shadow, re
flected upon the wall by the faint glimmer
ing of the lamp ; every footftep, every
sound appeared to me the harbinger of a
dreadful shock. My heated imagination
exceeded all bounds, I sprang from my
chair and awakened my servant, who lay
stretched upon a matrass in the anti-cham
ber, forgetting all his cares in sleep. My
wild looks alarmed him — What's the mat
ter, what has happened? Did you not feel
the whole house rocking about, and can
you ask what is the matter with so much

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 29
indifference ! He replied only by a smile,
and again closed his eyes. Towards morn
ing I enveloped myself in my travelling
coat, and dozed for a few hours, waking
frequently, strongly impressed with the idea
that the earth was in motion. At sun rise
I got up, a little refreshed in body, ' and
more tranquil in mind. Day-light had a
wonderful effect upon my spirits, and soon
raised them from that depressed state into
which they had been thrown by a combi
nation of unpleasant circumstances. I ob
served every one return briskly to his daily
labour, and the course of business and plea
sure did not seem in the least interrupted.
By eight o'clock my fears were so entirely
dissipated, that I resolved to accomplish my
former plan of staying at Messina till the
following morning. I repeated my visit
to the hill near the convent of St. Fraacis,
and walked about the city and its environs
most of the difty. It would be tiresome to
describe to you every trivial object which
may arrest my attention for a few minutes.

-go LETTERS FROM SICILY.
in a country so far distant from you, and
where there are so great a number of sub
jects to be met with more worthy of notice.
I will therefore leave Messina for the
present. I set off for Catania early on the morn
ing of the 25 th, in company with my trusty
servant, my faithful dog, and a mule dri
ver, without whom these stubborn animals
will frequently fall down on the road, and
unless you make use of cruel means, it is
impossible to re-mount them, and to pro
ceed on your journey. The driver, with
whose voice they are well acquainted, calls
ou^t to them incessantly, .accompanying his
shouts with blows and goads to keep them
constantly awake to their duty, and drive
off stubborn fits. I would generally advise
travellers to take a guard, or campiere with
them, which will infallibly protect them
from the assaults of banditti^, as their red
uniform is always respected, and it is be
lieved by many, that the generality of them

BETTERS FROM SICILY. 3*
have some connection with those armies of
plunderers. These campieri may be hired
in any city: they ride before you with a
long gun across the pummel of their sad
dle, and are as despotic in the little inns on
thc road, as any bashaw of the east. Im
mediately upon arrival at the place where
you mean to lodge or dine, they ask for
your orders, and see them punctually
obeyed, preventing any kind of imposition,
which Sicilians will generally practise upon
travellers, whenever they have an oppor
tunity of so doing.
For near three miles out of Messina I
rode through a chain of villages, running
parallel with the Faro, and about half a
mile distant from it ; this intermediate
space is laid out in gardens and groves, of
myrtle, orange, lemon, fig, and olive trees,
and cultivated chiefly by nature in the most
luxuriant style. On my right , hand the
hills rose in gradual ascent till they became
lofty mountains, and appeared as bold com-

32 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
petitors to those on the opposite coast of
Calabria. They form part of a chain of
mountains anciently called the Hebrodes,
which are spoken of by several authors.
Upon leaving the villages the road conti
nues along the beach, the mountains ap
proach nearer to the sea, and exhibit over
hanging precipices of steril rock, which are
in some parts picturesquely formed, and
harmoniously tinted. We baited at a small
village on the banks of the river Nisis, a
mere torrent, called by the Greeks Chryso-
thoas, from their finding gold mixed with its
sands. I was told that ruins of ancient gold
and silver mines are to be seen amongst the
mountains near its source, about four miles
from the village. We joined some tra
vellers, who had had the precaution to
bring a campiere from Messina, which I
thought would .be a comfortable security
after sun-set. The soil is very fertile,
producing almost spontaneously every spe
cies of vegetables, but the country is mi-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 33
serably cultivated, the effeft probably of
an oppressive government, and a want of
proper encouragement. I observed seve
ral small cities and villages, situated upon
the summits of the mountains, to enjoy
the cooler atmosphere, and according to
the opinion of some authors, to be above
the reach of plundering invaders, which is
certainly a very weighty argument.
Amongst these the little city of Fozza,
and the village of Saouca, cannot fail to
attract the notice of a traveller. The for
mer crowns a high rock of- a perfectly co
nical shape, environed by mountains, and
the latter runs along' the ridge of a pro
montory, declining gradually on both sides
from the church, which is in the center.
After ascending a high hill near this vil
lage, I was struck with the fine ruins of
the Castle of St. Alessio, upon a cape of
that name, formerly called Argenum.
They are in the Gothic style, and proba
bly formed an extensive fortress and pa
lace, nine centuries ago, when the Nor-
D

34 LETTERS ^ROM SlCltY.
mans subdued and governed Sicily, Upori
leavings this venerable vestige of fallen
greatness, the high mountains of Taor
mina, or Taurominum, according to Dio
dorus Siculus, Strabo, and others, present
ed themselves to my view ; and after de
scending about a mile, the road again con
tinued along the beach. Several half ruin
ed watch towers, inhabited only by wood
pigeons, and mantled with vines, recall to
your mind the times of the barbarians, and
are convincing proofs of the consequence
of this island in the scale of Europe before
more distant shores, and a new world sup
plied this quarter of the globe with the pro
ductions, which were, till then, fetched
chiefly from Sicily.
Leaving the beach the road ascends,
steep and craggy, up the mountains of
Taormina; the scenery becomes confined
and highly romantic. A narrow path
winds along the side of a firightful preci
pice, which is overhung by immense rock?

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 3s
arid masses of volcanic emanations, in a
manner as terrific as ariy thing I ever be
held of the same nature, either amongst
the Alps, or in Switzerland; When I had
attained the highest point of the mountains,
I Was much disappointed at finding the
summit of the majestic Etna involved in
dark clouds, but its bafe portended some
thing far exceeding my ideas. Full of the
most ardent desire to see this volcano un
veiled, I rode pensive down the long hill to
Giardini. Evening had spread a shade of sombre
grey over the scene, and the objects of na
ture lost their lively colours and fascinating
forms. The high rocks before me exhibited
chaos of rude masses; the distant bells of
a convent of Dominican Friars, situated on
a towering height, called the monks to
vespers. My ideas floated upon various
subjects. The tinkliilg of the vesper bells
recalled to my mind the horrid massacre
committed in cold blood, upon thousands
d2

36 LETTERS TROM SICILY,
of the most enlightened men of the thir
teenth century. At this fatal signal the
injured inhabitants of Sicily murdered every
Frenchman and his family, not sparing
even their infants, and extirpated the race
of their conquerors, who had rendered
themselves obnoxious to their hatred by
their dissolute manners, which are too of
ten the companions of refinement. I next
looked towards the gigantic Etna, from
whose flank I fancied I beheld torrents of
flaming matter, issuing with fury, over
whelming the wretched villages, and lay
ing waste the neighbouring country. Me
thought I saw the lofty crater vomiting co
lumns of fire and smoke, and heard the
loud peals of thunder from its bowels.
My imagination turned to more domestic
scenes; I reflefted upon my dear friends,
separated from me by seas, countries, and
mountains; I cast a sigh, when I ran over
the vast expanse between us. The rocks
impending frightfully over my head, seemed
to exclude me from all intercourse with

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 37
the rest of Europe. Lost in this train of
ideas, I gave the reins to my mule, who
carried me safely to the inn at Giardini,
where I was roused from my reverie by
the appearance of the inn-keeper's daugh
ter, a beautiful girl, of the perfect Grecian
stature and features, who came to the door
to dispose of the little luggage I had with
me. I was conducted into a spacious apart
ment, the only room in the inn ; it- there
fore answers the purpose of parlour and
bed-room, for travellers of both sexes and
their servants. Supper was served up in
vases, formed like those which were in use
amongst the ancient Greeks, and my little
waiting maid, with her light blue corset,
and hair tied up with a bunch of ribbons,
made me almost imagine, that Grecian
manners and customs were retvirned to
Sicily from Elysium, or that I was in a fa
mily which had preserved them for ages,
pure, and without any alteration. The vil
lage is extensive, but dirty and miserable,
and seems oiily half inhabited. I left it by

38 LETTERS FROM SICILY •
moon-light this morning, and at sun-rise
was struck and enchanted at the awful and
picturesque view of the great volcano,
crowned with snow, and emitting clouds
of smoke. The warm hue caused by the
rays of the sun, jvist peeping from the
deep, added to the autumnal garment in
which the mountain was clothed, rendered
the scene, as grand as human imagination
can devise ; and the first sight of this enor
mous mass exceeded in every respect my
most sanguine expectations. Let insigni
ficant man behold this wondrous work of
an all-powerful Creator, and adore the
greatness of his might who raised it ! Well
might those fathers of literature, the
Greeks, call it the Mansion of Deities !
Their ideas could not expand themselves
to one all-wise being, sole Creator and
governor of the universe, and every thing
terrestrial seemed far too mean to be com
pared to it. Plato, it is said, came from
Greece to Syracuse, with an intention
to ascend Mount Etna; the emperor

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 39
Adrian, and in later times Cardinal Bembo
accomplished it, and were astonished be
yond measure at the wonders which they
beheld. Think then -w^hat an effeft it must
have upon an Englishman, accustomed to
the gentle slopes of the hills upon the sur
face of his native land !
^, The road for about fifteen miles from
Giardini winds along the foot of the vol
cano, at some distance from the. sea, arid
through a country laid out, with a pleasing
variety, in corn fields, vineyards, and gar
dens, inclosed by olive, fig, aloes, lemon,
almond, and other fructiferous trees. This
scene suddenly wears a very different
afpect from what you have enjoyed hi
therto, and you proceed for the distance
of three miles over an ancient stream of
lava of a most dreary appearance, barely
producing a few mosses and stunted trees.
The country again becomes pretty to laci,
a small city on a hill, containing riothing
worthy remark. For want o{ other con-

40 LETTERS FROM SICILY;
venience, I was obliffed to dine in the sta-
ble with the mules and their drivers, and
then continued my route to Catania, ten
miles farther. This part of the country is
overwhelmed with many streams of lava of
different ages ; some of it produces a little
moss, some a few bushes, and some is en
tirely steril, presenting a barren and un
common aspect, though perhaps in a few
centuries it will become a delightful gar
den, as the lava, when pulverised by time,
forms a rich, black, and light soil.
Lava has not, as you may naturally sup
pose, a smooth surface and vitreous ap
pearance, which is the case with the gene
rality of fluids when they congeal from a
boiling state, but it is a stony substance,
of a dark grey colour, and full of pores of
various sizes, between that of a pin's head
and an egg. The external surface of a
stream of this .volcanic matter, when the
heat has left it, exactly resembles ploughed
land, and is covered with acute excres-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 41
cences, or projecting parts, so that it is
very difficult and dangerous to walk over
it. The course of that terrible river of
fire, which destroyed the city of Catania
in 16&9, and is in some parts six miles
broad, is easily traced from its source to
the sea beoRuse of its recent date, and from
its being totally Unproductive of every kind
of vegetation. Upon entering- this city, I
was rather surprised at its great population,
the regularity of its streets, the number of
carriages upon the parade, and the elegant
stile of some of its public buildings. It
grows very late, I remain, &c, &c.

4t LETTERS FROM SICILY,
LETTER V.
Catania, 21th October.
I HAVE spent the whole of the morn
ing in strolling about this city, which lies
at the foot of Mount Gibel*, upon different
stratas of lava very near the se&, and in a
similar situation to Portici under Mount
Vesuvius, with this difference only, that
from Portici to the summit of the Neapo
litan volcano, the distance is only four
miles, whereas it is a continual ascent of
thirty miles from hence to the crater of
Etna. The greater part of Catania has
been built within the last seventy years,
the style of architecture is conseqviently
modern and uniform ; but very few of the
houses or public buildings are entirely com
pleted. The streets run in direct lines,
about a mile in length, which has a pleas
ing effect. The pavement is generally
good; the exterior appearance of the
churches and public edifices is grand and
* The common name in the country for Mount Etna.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 43
symmetrical, and the columns are for the
most part of marble. Amongst the former
St. Michael's church attracts the traveller's
notice for a moment ; although it does not
contain any internal decorations, which are
not common to all other catholic churches.
The convent of Benedictines, is an extpn-
sive building, containing a handsome mar
ble staircase, newly polished and ornamen
ted in a most elegant style with paintings
and panneUing, and a spacious church,
whose nave is of very superior architecture,
and whose altars are adorned with large
modern paintings, the work of a native of
great talents, who has studied the art in
Rome, and with Several highly polished
Corinthian columns of verde antique.
There is likewise a library well stored
with books, and a museum attached to this
convent, replete with an indescribable va
riety of Grecian antiquities, volcanic ema
nations, fossils, and marine productions of
every species, but it is much to be regretted
by travellers, that the whole of these curi-

44 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
ofitles are placed in the greatest disorder,
and kept in glass cases, rendered so very
opake from the dust which covers them,
that it is utterly impossible to derive
either benefit or satisfaction from the sight
of the rarities they contain. While occu
pied in viewing this museum, the abbot of
the convent, and several friars, waited up
on me in a formal manner to congratulate
me as a Briton, upon the late glorious and
unparalleled victory of the Nile, which has
placed them in a state of security, and may
perhaps save them from the much dreaded
jaws of French plunderers. They were
not deficient in paying a variety i of hand
some compliments to our happy- nation,
and testified the greatest regard for Eng
lishmen, This sentiment I find generally
prevails throughout Sicily amongst every
class of society, and it gives me infinite
satisfaction to witness the high estima
tion in which my countrymen are held,
even in these far distant realms, , God
grant that they may ever Continue to

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 45
be beloved and cherished by other nations,
and to merit the good character which
they have gained in all the countries of
Europe, which I have visited hitherto.
From this circumstance, I consider the
present moment highly favorable for my
travels, as I need not be urider any
apprehension of being ill treated ; but on
the contrary, I am sure of meeting every
where with a kind reception. The convent
of Benedictines was entirely surrounded
by the lava of 1669, and to the great asto
nishment of every one received no injury.
Upon its surface are some pretty gardens,
full of flowering shrubs and fruit trees, but
particularly small orange trees not above
two feet high, and which are loaden with
fruit. The view of Mount Gibel from
these gardens is grand and majestic beyond
description : it stands before you like a vast
pyramid, without even a hillock to break
the regularity of its form. You must not
be surprized if I take up my residence at
Catania for a month, I am so deeply pe-

46 LETTERS FROM tlClLY.
netrated with admiration for this great vol
cano^ that I cannot leave it without satis
fying my curiosity in every respect. The
more I observe it, the more I take delight
in its form, its height, and its tints. Vesu
vius appears only a molehill when com
pared to it, and loses very much in the
comparison. What an addition to a vol
cano is a crown of driven snow ! and what
a necessary appendage is a torrent, if I may
use the expression, of smoke issuing frora
its crater! But on the other hand, Vesu
vius has some unparalleled peculiarities ;
its situation in the enchantin ¦ bay of Na
ples, with the vicinity of that magnificent
city, renders it a more picturesque and
pleasing scene than even Etna itself. The
combination of scenery in the bay of Naples
is so very fascinating, that it is more cal
culated to cause delight to the soul at first
sight, or to raise the spirits, than to inspire '
awe and admiration, which is precisely the
case in beholding the giant Etna. Vesu
vius loses itself as a volcano in the attract-

LETTERS FROM SlClLV. 47
ing appearance of the objects around it,
whereas the character of Etna is so strongly
delineated, that it corresponds with the ro-
rtiantic descriptions of enthusiastic writers.
As the weather is at present propitious,
and promises to continue settled, I shall
commence the ascent of the mountain this
afternoon, and proceed as far as I am able
to-night, that I may reach the summit to
morrow morning before sun-rise, and re
turn back to Catania the same eveninsf.
You may expect a true and accurate de
scription of every thing which may strike
my fancy, though I must assure you, by
way of preparation, that words are wanting
to describe the state of my feelings upon
viewing the scenes around me ; therefore
your own Imagination must embellish the
details, which my weak pen may furnish
you with, and I shall be fully repaid for all
my trouble, if I raeet with success in af
fording you sorae entertainraent.
I reraain, &c. Sec.

48 LETTERS FROM SICILV.
LETTER VI.
Catania, 29th October,
I RETURNED frora Mount Etna yes
terday evening, and it was my intention to
write to you at that tirae, but I found my
self so much fatigued, that I was unable to
accomplish it ; therefore I now take up my
pen to give you an exact description of
the various scenes and objects which at
tracted my attention.
I left this city, in company with my
host, at three o'clock in the afternoon of
the 26th instant. We entered immediately
upon the cultivated region (Regione colti-
vata or Pieraontese) which surrounds the
whole mountain with a zone about twelve
railes in breadth, and frora seventy to ninety
in circumferenoe. It contains many cities
and. villages, amongst which Catania, Ta
ormina, Calabitano, la Motta, Culia, Casa-
lotta, Monspellero,'Tricastagno, and Via-

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 49
grande, are the raost considerable. These
are iall built upon beds of lava, eraltted at
various eruptions, which is easily perceived
by the different state of vegetation, a cri
terion whereby you may form an idea of
the date of each stratum. The road
through this region ascends very gradually,
and is either artificially or naturally paved
with lava. The villages are truly misera
ble ; their houses consist only of four walls,
built of lava, a roof of red tiles, a window
and a door, so that in case any future erup
tion should oblige the inhabitants to eva
cuate them, they would not suffer any ma*
terial loss in consequence of. their flight,
and they might re-establish themselves in
any other situation in a very short tirae,
imitating the wandering Arabs, who pitch
their tents in the most convenient spot,
and reside there till want compels them to
search fresh quarters. The country exhi
bits a series of rivers of lava of raany ages,
somiC of them producing every kind of fruit
tree, and laid out in vineyards, gardens,
E

50 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
and groves of lemon trees, and others, der
sert and unprofitable to the present genera
tion. I often turned round to adraire the
view towards Catania, which increased in
beauty and extent as I ascended ; the cul
tivated region occupied the foreground, the
city and surrounding villages the middle
distance, and the azure main and moun
tains of Syracuse were in the back ground,
I passed at the foot of several hills, ancient
craters and sons of Etna, forced up by an
internal power at the time of a great erup
tion, frora which I could trace rivers of
lava, as it is from, them, and not from the
great crater, that thofe torrents of igneous
matter issue, which lay waste the ' neigh
bouring country, and seldom stop in their
destructive course till they form a promon
tory in the sea. These, to the number of
a hundred and upwards, rise like molehills
from the sides of the mountain, in the space
between the cultivated and desert regions,
but the former is more particularly occu
pied by them. The Monte Rosso, situated

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 51
near the road about twelve miles from Ca
tania, is the most conspicuoxis araongst
them, and frora it was emitted that -dread
ful river of all consuming fire, which over
whelmed that city in the year 1669, and
in an instant buried its churches and pa
laces, and thousands of its inhabitants, in
a. dense mass of red hot lava. Ifhe form
of this hill is nearly that of a perfect cone :
its sides are covered with black ashes and
sand, which it emitted so copiously as to
bury the village of St. Nicolo about a
mile from its summit, and leave no vestiges
of it.- .The rdadinow passes over the sandy
plain, which :marks the site of: this unfor
tunate villa^.:- Adjoining to -the Monte
Rosso is; another extinguished crater of a
sirailar nature,- called Monspeliere, frora a
village of that narae. Having passed the
plain of Black Ashes, we arrived at the
convent of St. Nicolo 1' arena fSt. Nicho
las on the Sand) so called from its situa
tion. This convent is small, and belongs
to the Benedictines of Catania, to vyhom it
E 2

6* LETTERS tROM SICfLV.
serves as a summer residence, and frcfift
its convenient situation it is become thd
general resort of travellers in this season
of the year to get a night'f lodging. The
old monki who is charged with the care of
it during the absence of his brethren, re
fused, in a direct and positive tone, to ad
mit me under his roof^ alledging, that there
were many French spies in the neighbour
hood, and that I had a very suspicious ap-
pearance* I immediately produced my
passport, to convince him that I was an
Englishman, a step that could not fail to
attract his attention^ and I then in
formed him of the kind reception I had
met with from the abbot and friars of
his order at Catania, accorapanying these
proofs of ray innocence, as to the crime of
being a spy^ which he suspected I was
guilty of, with manifold intreaties. He at
last listeried to the voice of reason, and
gave orders that our mules should be taken
proper care of. It was a fast day, I had
brought some excellent fish from Catania^
which I desired my host to present to the

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 33
friar, and assist in cooking them. The
monk's countenance becarae gradually
raore conciliating, and his manners less
reserved. He ordered a matrass to be pre
pared for me in one of the dormitories, and
another for my host, who having stripped
off his coat, and turned up the sleeves of
his shirt, was very busy in one corner of the
spacious kitchen, preparing the fish, and
making a sauce of wine and onions, whose
grateful odour seemed to enliven the looks
ofthe monk. We sat opposite to one an
other at a round table, nearly in the cen
ter of the kitchen. The fish were placed
between us, and in a short time we called
for a second course of thera. The monk
became more conversible every minute,
and I felt a desire to convince hira that I
was an EngUshraan, as well in sentiment
as by nature, I found out thechannel to his
heart, I condemned the actions of the
French, and coraraiserated the poor old
Pope in all his sufferings, exclaiming vlo-
kntly against the injustice of mankind tOr
wards him. The jde^ of harbouring a spy

54 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
seemed gradually to quit his breast; he
became very friendly — " Are Englishmen
« Christians ?" said he ; « Undoubtedly,"
replied I, *' and as sihcerely so as any pfeo-
" pie updn earth." Their established
church only differs from yours, in abolish
ing a few trifling ceremonies, and in not
acknowledging the dominion of the Pope
over the minds of raen, or his title as head
of the church ; which might perhaps have
been the case to this day, had not one of
the Popes (imprudently in regard to his re
ligion,' but happily for us) ' offended a king
of England in a mere affairof politics, who
threw off his yoke, without making any
Other very material alteration in the reli
gion ofhis kingdom *. We sat Conversing
wpon a' variety of subjects till ten o'clock,
when the old mari, very considerately,
fetched me his best artd warmest great coat,
to guard me against the excessive cold air
of the ni^t, and Wishing me a Successful
joumey up the mountain, he conducted
me to my cell. I threw rayself upon the
* Alluding to Henry vm.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 55
piatrass, but was kept av,'ake by a heavy
shower of rain, which made me fear that
I sliould be obliged to return to Catania,
without being able to ascend any farther.
At eleven the weather cleared up, and up*-
on being informed that the moon shone
bright, I fell asleep.
I was awakened at one o'clock, and
mounted my mule with hopes of reach-^
ing the summit, 16 railes from the con
vent, before sun-rise. The moon, that
lair frierid pf traveUers, threw a, silver
.|int upon the cpipunt^in ; ] the smoke ap
peared,, like a vast torrent, dashing from
precipice : to, precipice, and filling the air
ivith foam,, or like a huge mass of Alpine
snow, hurled: Jby a stPrm with increasing
y,el.oci,ty and magnitude, .from . the summit
of sorae ihigh rock, into the chasm below,
I |iad a scene before me, . that struck rae
at once vvith awe and adrairation. As I
ascende,d the cold increased, and the friar's
great coat, added to two of my own,
proved of essential service to rae. The

S6 LETTERS ^ROM SICILY,
woody region (regione selvosa or bosche-*
rina) commences at the convent, and is
about ten miles broad. The ride by raoon
light, independant of the grandeur of the
Scenery, continually before my eyes, was
very delightful. I saw large herds of wild
boars rooting under the trees ; these ani
mals are not, strictly speaking, wild, though
they roam in the forests unmolested during
eight or ten raonths in the year ; they are
fed in the remaining months, and con
sequently are not very shy at the ap
proach of a human being. Their backs are
covered with bristles, their mouths are
provided with long tusks, and they are of a
dark grey colour, differing in no respect
from the wild boars of the forests in (Ger
many, excepting that necessity obliges
them to look upon man as their protector,
rather than their enemy, therefore they do
not fly before him: notwithstanding this, I
must own that I should not like to find
myself alone among a herd of them, though

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 57
my guide assured me, that they never in
jured any one without being provoked to it.
The ascent through the forest is very
steep, and difficult of access for several
miles. At four o'clock, we entered the de
sert region (Regione scoperta) about six
miles in breadth, and extending to the cra
ter on all sides. The reason for its being
termed defert., is evident the raoment you
enter upon it, for it produces no kind of
vegetation whatsoever, save only a few tufts
of mountain grass, a small yeUow flower^.-
ing plant, and several lichens or raosses.
The road becoraes steeper as you ascend,
and the loose luraps of lava, and thick bed
of sand and ashes, render it alraost iraprac
ticable for the raules to proceed. The air
strikes as cold as I ever remeraber to have
felt it upon the Alps. For the distance of
two or three railes you have a raountain
before you, called the Spino d' Asino, most
probably a son of Etna. It is about three
hundred feet lower than the highest point

58 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
above the great crater, and covered with
snow throughout the year. After ascending
near three railes frora the woody region, we
arrived at the plain of Elaus (Piano d'EIao)
in the region of ashes, (Regione cenerosa)
forraing a part of the desert region. This
plain is about six miles in circumference,
and is bounded by several mountains of
ashes like the Spino d' Asino, which were
apparently forced up from its surface.
Here I was obliged to. disraount, and pro
ceed on foot with my guide, to see a new
crater formed at the recent date of Fe
bruary last, and cbnsequently unknown to
naturalists. - It is situated on the plain of
Elaus, about three miles from the highest
surarait of Etna, arid was forraed by: the
sinking, or giving way of a part of th?
plain, ' about a mile in circumference. Its
shape is not, like thatof most other craters,
a reversed cone, but its sides are perpendi
cular, similar to those of a well. A small
column of smoke, very strongly impreg
nated with sulphur, issues from a spot

LETTERS FRO^f' SICILY. 59
about fifteen yards below the level ofthe
plain, which gives a greenish tint to every
thing around it, and crusts the stones over
with a thick coat of flower of brimstone,
I threw several pieces of lava into this
crater in a perpendicular direction, and
heard each of them resound upon an ave
rage, thirty times in forty seconds, which
was as far as my ear could trace them.
The sides of this crater are of a burnt ar
gillaceous stone, without any regular ar
rangement of strata, and apparently with
out much ceraent, for whole masses of it
are continually falling into the precipice.
A person let down securely by a rope might
perhaps rhake sorae interesting discoveries,
without being rauch incommoded by the
sulphureous vapours. From the circum
stance of so extensive a space of the sur
face of the plain sinking into the bowels of
the raountain, I ara inclined to conclude
that the latter is entirely hollow, and is no
thing more than a vast, conic funnel, co
vering the immense furnace, incessantly

6o LETTER^ FROM SICILY,
raging in the bowels of the earth, and that
the crisis is approaching, when the whole
plain will fall into the abyss of fire, and a
new crater be forraed, as extensive as the
space which sinks in. This phasnomenon
took place with Mount Etna in the year
1537, and with Vesuvius so late as 1794;
and in the course of tirae, I doubt not, but
that they will both gradually decrease in
height and extinguish theraselves ; ofwhich
the Zolfatara, near Naples, and several
other ancient volcanos, which I have met
with, are striking examples ; or if the fire
rages with too much fury to be extin
guished, it will force up a new crater, and
so on ad infinitum. This late addition to
the curiosities of Mount Etna, is called
" la fosse di Serrapizzuta," from a kind of
ditch of that narae, adjoining it, about ten
yards broad, and forraed by that torrent of
boiling water eraltted frora. the great crater
in 1755, which according to Brydone car
ried destruction with it through all the re
gions ofthe mountain. I have often tried

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 61
to convince my own mind of the true ori*
gin of this water, but never could find
substantial proofs to support any one of the
suggestions of various writers upon the
subject: still I am of opinion, that the sea
must have been the original supply. Bry
done says, that the force of suction can ne
ver raise that element tothe imraense height
of ten thousand feet ; he seems to draw his
conclusion from comraon cases, but the
nature of Etna is such, that it may exhibit
many phaenomena which the greatest na
turalists can never account for. It is cer
tain that Stromboli and Vesuvius have con
nections with the sea, and that torrents of
boiling water have frequently issued from
the latter : if then those molehills, when
corapared with the Mongibello, possess a
sufficient power of suction to extract wa
ter from the sea, why should not that
power be proportionably increased, with
regard to Mount Etna ? My host assured
me, that in several of his peregrinations
with traveUers up to the crater, he has

62 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
found many perfect shells, and a composi
tion of a testaceous nature, neither of
which were calcined^ but appeared ' some
what scorched, which probably was effected
while they lay in the crater.: He presented
these specimens to the. Prince of Biscari,
in whose museum they are to beseen* A
shell is so light a substance, that I caA ea
sily conceive that a number of them were
sucked up with the body of water, and that
many were dropped upon the sides of the
crater; but, though this appears a "striking
proofs I cannot think of corroborating any
contrary system upon the testirapny of an
illiterate Sicillari. Brydone supposes, that
this water raust have issued from the inte
rior eayerris of the .mountain, w-hich being
opened and burst asunder by internal force,
let out the melted snow contained in them.
This hypothesis appears to have only one
argument against it, which is the excessive
and Incessant heat of the mountain. Water
is an element, which is collected into natu
ral or artificial reservoirs by degrees, and a
quantity so great as that which over-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 63
whelmed the regions of Mount Etna, must
have been a collection of ages. It appears,
therefore, very unaccountable, how it could
have been preserved from evaporatipn in
the heart of a burning mountain. But to
return from -this digression : I followed my
guide a little farther to the edge of a tre-
mendous precipice, facing the east, where
we sat down to breakfast upon some ham
and a chicken, which my host had provided
file with.
At a quarter before seven o'clock the
lamp of day eraerged apparently from
the gulph of Tarento, and for some rai
nutes the face of nature wore the aippear-
ance of a valley of fire. The surface of
the sea, and the light clouds which floated
between the surarait and foot of; Etna,
were tinted with the warmest glow. The
objects, before in confusion, were born, if
I may use the expression, by degrees : as a
painter finishes his painting, or a modeller
his model, rendering every, part gradually
distinct, and marking it by the fixed eha-

64 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
racter which it Is to bear, so the sun disco
vered to ray .astonished eyes, the waterSj>
mountains, forests, valleys, cities, villages
and hamlets, which lay scattered in the
vast expanse below rae : the shades of night
being gradually dispersed, the tints becarae
natural, and this scene so undescribably
grand and elevating, lay before me like a
large map. I could trace the rivers from
their sources to the sek, and the ridges of
mountains, till they finished in some bold
promontory, or gradually decreased towards
the shore. The little clouds, moving fleetly
beneath my feet, added to the variety of
the scene, and their flakey appearance
formed a singular contrast with the tinted
scenery below. The valley of Calanna,
which lay Immediately before me, is no
thing more than a spacious chasm, bound
ed by frightful precipices ; a little beyond
it is the volcano of Mazzarra, a son of
Etna, which was raised in 1 329, during one
of the most violent eruptions of which we
have any record. To enumerate the many

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 65
Striking objects which I bel\5ld frora the
Suramit of Mount Etna, it would be alraost
necessary to enter into a topographical de
scription of the raountains, lakes, rivers,
cities, &c. contained in the island of Si
cily, for when the atmosphere is perfectly
clear, they all lie beneath you as on a map,
or like an extensive city when viewed from
some high tower, or steeple. Imagine your
selves placed upon an elevation of upwards
of ten thousand feet perpendicular height,
frora whence you can overlook a district
of land and water, bounded by an horizon
not less than seven hundred miles in cir
cumference ; and do you think it possible
for a huraan being to behold at one view,
this astonishing variety of scenery, without
being struck with awe and veneration for
the great author of all this beauty }
How inmgnificant do the raost perfect
works of raan appear, when corapared with
those of Hira who rules this, and nuraber-

6S LETTERS FROM SICILY,
less other worlds*. After long and silent
admiration of this undescribable scene, I
ascended near two miles over the ashes,
until I arrived at a course of lava about
seven railes long, and one mile broad,
emitted from a cavern near the crater
Seven years ago, now occupying a valley
where the snow forraerly had made a lake,
or rather plain of ice. The surface of this
lava is so very uneven as to render it al
most impassable, and if you make one false
step, you are in imrainent danger of se
verely bruising, or even breaking your
limbs. Having surmounted this difficulty,
I proceeded up a steep place near half a
mile high to the great crater. The depth
of sand and ashes, and the loose Ittmps
of lava scattered upon the surface of this
ascent, rendered it so very fatiguing, that I
could not clirab raore than ten yards without
taking rest, and I really despaired beirig
able to attain the suramit, after so much
* For further illustration of the view from the summit of
Mount Etna, vide Brydone's very elegant description.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 67
exertion. My feet slipped at every step,
I could hardly support myself. The
smoke which issued from different places
on the side of the ascent almost choaked
me, and the column from the great crater
drove me back twice, and offuscated the
sun so as to leave me in a glooray shade.
My guide covered my face ^yith the hood
of a cloak he had with him, leading me on
through the sulphureous exhalation, until
we came to a spot, where, upon uncover
ing my eyes, I beheld at my feet the vast
gulph of fire and smoke. I know not how
to describe the sensations which I experi
enced at this awful sight, nor is it possible
for words to paint the state of my feelings.
Reflect a moment upon the appearaiiee of
an abyss three miles in circumference,
emitting colurans of thick vapour; upon
the possibility of an eruption of fire and
lava at the raoraent you are looking into
it, and upon ray relative situation in regard
to the rest of the world, insulated, and far
from those I esteem most ; you may then
easily account for my raind being in such a
F 2

68- LETTERS FROM SICILY,
State of confusion, that I literally do not
know how I got down to the streara of
lava, but when I arrived, I fpund my face
and hands rauch bruised ffom the nume
rous falls which I had had, and my head in
great pain from the acuteness of the va
pours. After repassing the lava, I again as
cended a mountain of ashes, opposite
the one leading to the great crater, and
called il Montagnola del Filosofo, to see a ruin
known by the name of the Philosopher's
Tower (la Torre del Filosofo.) This
consists in a low wall about ten yards
in circumference, and in sorae places
even with the ashes, so that you would
hardly discern its form from the few stones
and pieces of mortar which remain, if your
imagination was not assisted by a know
ledge of its having once been a tower of
some kind. It is difficult to decide the
original use of a building of this nature,
erected in a situation so very singular;
but nine authors in ten inforra us, that it

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 69
was built by Empedo^Jes, a great raathe
matician and astrologer, to observe the
stars and the phenoraena of the mountain,
and what is very probable, to raise himself
to the dignity of a demi-god in the eyes of
his feUow-creatures. This philosopher was
born at Syracuse, and in all likelihood re
sided in his tower on Mount Etna during
the most temperate season of the year, but
who knows ? It may be reasonably sup
posed, that it was erected for the eraperor
Adrian when he ascended the mountain.
We have no proof of his not passing the
night there to watch, the crater, and in that
case it was absolutely necessary that sorae
covering should be raade, raore substantial
than a tent, to protect him frora the pierc
ing wind which always blows upon such
iramense elevations.
Frora this ruin I descended near three
miles to a sraall crater or hole, forraed
in the center of that stratum of lava
which filled up the valley of the lake
in 1791. It eraits no vapour, is of a

70 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
reversed cOnic shape^ and appears
forraed father by eruption, than by any
part of the mountain having given way. I
heard a stone, which I threw into it, re
sound near twenty times, and it appeared
to be fifteen seconds in reaching the bot
tora. The lava which surrounds it is of a
surface so very uneven as to form preci
pices from five to fifteen feet high, and it
was not without great difficulty that wc
gained the path which leads to the Woody
region. About the middle of the forest I
dismounted my mule to inspect the grotto
of goats (la Grotta de 'Capri) a cavern,
where people pften pass the night in sum
mer, and which, as we)l as the neighbour
ing rocks and trees, bears testiraony of the
many travellers who have visited Mount
Etna from all parts of Europe. It appears
that the lava overflovved some corabusti
ble matter, which being destroyed, and af
terwards carried away by the frequent
torrents of melted snow, a vacuity was
left, now called the Grotto of Goats,
being a place of resort of those animais.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 71
There are many similar caverns in the
streams of lava, some of which are used as
cellars, and others are said to be so ex
tremely cold, as to endanger the life of the
person who enters them. In descending
through the wood, I was highly delighted
with the beautiful contrast between the
fresh green of the oak, the rich autumnal
tints of the beech, and the dreary grey of
the lava. The more L admired the varie
gated landscape, the more I discovered the
harmony of its colouring ; and I never so
ardently wished for the pencil of Claude
de Lorraine as I do at present, if it were
only to convince you, that it is not with
out reason that I write in a style little short
of enthusiasra, when I atterapt to describe
these scenes.
Upon my arrival at the convent at about
two o'clock, the raonk and myself sat down
to a large tureen of excellent soup, which
was, as you may suppose, very acceptable
after the fatigue I had undergone since

72 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
I left it. I arrived, thank God! safe
and well at Catania at seven o'clock yes
terday evening, having met with no mis
fortune upon this difficult tour, or any
thing to discourage me from proceeding
on my journey to Syracuse to-morrow,
forty miles farther south. I could write
about Mount Etna for a whole day toge-^
ther, but I should tire you with a multipli
city of ideas, which though strictly true,
would to you appear wild and roraantic.

LITTERS FROM SICILY. 73
LETTER VII,
Syracuse, 50th. October.
I AM just arrived at this renowned and
ancient city, very much fatigued with my
day's journey, having been obliged tb sa
tisfy the good appetite which a traveller
generally enjoys, with a little fish and some
bad water, not being able to meet iwith
better provisions upon the road, I left
Catania before sun-rise, and rode. eighteen
miles through an extensive plain, "which
takes its narae froni that city. Tt is of' a
sandy soil, producing spontaneously, prickly
aloes, rayrtles, arbutus's, and some other
flowering scrubs. There are several lakes
between Mount Etria, and the ridge of
mountains which is to the south of this
plain, oneof thera is • forty-eight railes in
circumference, and is called the Lake df
Lentini, from a small city of that name on
its banks, terraed Leontinura and Leontium
by various ancient authors. This was the
first city founded in Sicily, and was in-

74 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
habited, according to several writers, by
the Lestrigonians, which Pliny confirras.
It is said that Hercules paid it a visit,
and being highly gratified by the kind re
ception that he met with, acted very be
nevolently towards it, though I cannot find
out in what mamier, ^
The city of Herculaneum, overwhelmed
by the lava of Mount Vesuvius, took its
Jiame from a porapous feast made upon
that spot in honour of Hercules, when he
visited it, and the number of Grecian tenw
pies which we find dedicated to a demi
god of that narae, induce me to conclude,
that some extraordinary personage of an
athletic form so called did exist, and was
known to the ancients as Samson is to us.
At the distance of nine miles from Catafua.
I passed the river Alcantara in a ferry.
This is the chief river of the island, rising
at the foot of MongibeUo, and flowing with
a gentle current into the sea. The space
between its mouth and Catania, a distance

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 75
of about fifteen railes, is productive of vast
q'uafitities of yellow amber, which the Ca
tanese manufacture very expertly into or
naments of dress and u'^^e, arid I may call
this their Chief export trade, as they supply
most of the south of Europe with it. Hav
ing passed the plain, I rose by a steep ascent
fdr near a mile, through a coppice of flow
ering shrubs,- whose berries being dyed by
the season with a red and purple hue, had
a very pretty effect. I continued eight
miles overall elevated plain of arable land,
though it appears quite incomprehensible
to rae how the labourers are able to culti
vate it, as it is covered with large stones
and raasses of lava, some of w^hlch could
not be moved but by an union of force and
mechanism. The stones and pieces of limestone
lying scattered over the plain in this
manner, are all perforated by pholades,
a species of marine worm, and exhibit
other strong proofs of having been for-
rnerly covered by the sea, which from their

76 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
present forms must have played around
thera sorae thousands of years. The strati
fication of this plain is perfectly horizontal.
The fpecies of stone is priraary calcareous,
and upon its surface are raany nodulated,
black raasses of ponderous lava. There are
several deep chasras forraed by torrents, of
which now only a little brook reraains, the
sides of these chasras are curiously exca
vated by the force of the water in the form
of caverns of a considerable size.
After descending from this elevated plain,
I rode through a cultivated country for six
miles till I arrived at a small house standing
alone on the road side, where the mule
drivers generally bait thehsmules, with an
appetite so great, that I could have relished
any dish frora the hands of the dirtiest Si
cilian cook ; but alas 1 the host, and all his
fanally, regardless of what travellers might
arrive, was gone to mass at a church two
miles distant, and had shut up the house,
I suramoned up my patience, and rode
four miles farther when a little inn

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 77
afforded rae a few fresh anchovies, sorae
bad water, and a feed of corn for the
mules. This miserable cottage, like the
generality of those in the neighbourhood,
consisted only of one large apartment
which served as stable, pigstye, hencoop,
kitchen, sitting roora, and bed-charaber.
The Hottentots of Africa cannot live in a
more comfortless manner ; and we are less
astonished at their raisery when we be
hold in Europe, and in Christian countries,
people equally wretched, I proceeded over
a plain of bare rock, producing only a few
tufts of grass and stunted bushes. This
likewise exhibited the strongest proofs of
having once been at the bottora of the fea,
and I should have been inclined to think
that this eleraent withdrew itself from its
surface but a very few centuries ago, were
it not that the Grecian and Latin authors
make no mention of the fea having occu
pied these ' parts. I next ascended a low
rock, forming a proraontory in the sea,
called the Grecian Laidder (la Scala Greca),

78 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
and rode over a plain raore cultivated, but
alraost as rocky as the last. The first view
of Syracuse was raore striking than I had
imagined. Its fortifications, of a modern
date, give it a grand appearance ; but its
interior disappointed rae beyond measure,
for it is dirty, miserable, and poverty struck.
Before I had passed all the outworks I en
tered eight gateways, and rode over four
drawbridges, you may therefore easily form
an idea of its numerous bastions, moats and
rampartsi which recalled to ray raind the
entrances of some of the German cities^ I
was taken to the governor's palace for pre-
fentation, a customary ceremony, and a
neceffary precaution, that In case of disturb
ance, or any difficulties which might arise be
tween the traveller and the inhabitants, the
governor raay recognize hira on any appli
cation for justice, i dissipated the vapours
occasioned by the Sirocco which has blown
hard all to-day, by a turabler of Albanello,
the first wine of the island, not unlike Ma
laga, but stronger: it is ^btly prized

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 79
throughout Sicily and Italy. The effect
of the Sirocco varies according to the dis
position or state of the blood of the person
exposed to it. My servant was out of
huraour with every thing and every body
around him; the raule driver was struck
durab for eight railes ; as for rayself I felt
drowsy and stupid, and little inclined to
ask questions or enter into conversa
tion. The warmth of this oppressive S, E.
wind was about equal to that of a moderate
heated oven ; and if you add to this, the
beams of a Sicilian raeridian fun, you may
easily fuppose I have fuffered very much
from heat to-day, I could not account for
the peculiar warmth of this wind ; but ac
cording to the general opinion, it proceeds
from the excessive heat of the deserts in
Barbary, frora which direction it blows,
or frora its coraing to this island from be
tween the tropics. The north and north-
eaft winds are the coldeft. This is attri-

8o LETTERS FROM SICILY,
buted to the, frigid air which they bring
with them, in passing over fuch vast tracts
of fea and fnow from which they can imT
bibe no warmth. Why then, should not
a fouth wind, or one coming from any of
the neighbourkig points of the compass, be
oppressive and hot ?• The wind undoubtedly
derives its warrath or frigidity from the
countries over which It -passes, I have felt
the fbuth' wind as cold in Switzerland,
when it blows frora the Alps on the fouth
fide, of the lake of Gepeva, as any north
wind. This muft proceed frora its ha.ving
passed over those vaft. raountains, and seas
of Ice, It has therefore been concluded, that
passing over the extensive and burning de
ferts of Africa, the wind, or current of air
which crosses the Mediterranean rauft be
warra, and consequently oppressive. Such
is the Sirocco, of which there are different
kinds naraed according to their variation,
east OI west, from the south point of the
compass.

LETTERS FROM SICILY* 81
LETTER VIIL
Syracufe,^\st Octoben
THE Sirocco has blown with vehe
mence all day, and predorainates so abso
lutely over ray faculties as to render rae
very little difpofed to enter into a dis
sertation upon -lW. antiquities which I
have feen in ray rarable about this city and
its environs ; but as evening is the only
period in which I have any time to ad
dress you, I must conquer the effects of
this debilitating wind, and endeavour to
raake you participate in the enjoyraerit
which I feel on visiting an ifland so inte
resting to every adrairer of architecture,
painting, and natural and ancient history.
Palerrao, Messina and Catania produce fine
ftudies for the architect. The outlines
and tints of the raountains throughout Si
cily are grand and picturesque ; they would
afford the greatest instruction to the young
artist, and the highest satisfaction to an
G

9s LETTERS FROM SICILY.
adept in painting. The naturalist, whether
volcanist or neptunist, would find sufficient
food for his hypothesis. Etna would af
ford him jfroofs for his system of fire, and
the raountains in the neighbourhood of this
city would supply hira with those necessary
to defend his system of water. Each would
find endless stxidy, antLpontiiiual satisfac
tion, in the pursuit of mme favorite branch.
The antiquarian would meet with the ori
ginal Grecian models frora which the
Romans have copied their noblest works of
art. The botanist would discover many
plants, but little kno^yn on the continent of
Europe, and in their highest state of per
fection. The moralist might study his
fellow creatures almost in a state of na
ture. There are parts which have but
little comraunication with the seaport
towns, where man is ferocious, unculti
vated, and as ignorant of the ways of the
world as an inhabitant ofthe Pelew Iflands,
and would be equally at a loss, were he to
be conducted into a modern city where

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 83
comraerce and the arts flourish, and bring
with them the comfort* and luxuries of life.
Does it not appear strange that a nation
shovild in a few centuries be so mourn
fully degenerated from ifs former state of
superiority over the rest of the worid?
Here Seneca, Plato, Archimedes, Em
pedocles, Callimachus, and many other
Grecian philofophers, improved mankind
with their doctrines ! This was the resi
dence of the raost magnificent monarchs,
who were surrounded with a super
fluity of grdndeur and elegance ! The
greatest generals of Athens, of Carthage,
and of Rome exercised the railitary art
upon Sicilian plains ! Fallen is all this
greatness, and of it nought, but half cor
roded ruins now remain! The reflection
upon this woeful change is gall to the
honey of human vanity, and raakes one
look upon mankind and all their pursuits
as the dream ofa night, transitory and un
substantial. G 2

84 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
I will now proceed to give you sorae
description of the present and ancient
Syracuse. The city known at this day
by that name is situated upon a peninsula
about two miles in circumference, joined
to the main land by a narro vv Isthraus, -
which forms two ports, one to the
north called the Little Port, the other
to the south-west called the Great Port.
The former was the Porta Marraorea of
the ancients, and is only calculated for the
reception of galleys and small craft ; the
latter is five miles in circuraference, and
the entrance into it, on the east side, is one
mile broad, which is defended by an old
castle and a battery ^ fleur d'eau. About
the year 1550 Charles the Vth, king of
Spain and Sicily, united the two ports by
>means of several canals,, and insulated the
xity to render it raore safe against the in
roads of the Saracens ; by adding very
considerably to the. fortifications he made
it almost irapregnable, when .well armed

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 85
and garrisoned. The interior of the city,
as I have before stated, is very dirty and
poverty struck in the strictest sense of
the phrase. The houses are seldom above
three stories high, and badly built. The
dreadful earthquakes of 1693, which did
not leave one stone of it upon another,
have tended to add to its poverty, and reduce
it to a state of misery from which it seems
very improbable that it will ever recover.
It has no coraraerce like Messina, and
but very little intercourse with other coun
tries. The governraent and religion too
are calculated to keep the people in slavery
and ignorance ; it is therefore scarcely pos
sible that they should ever be able to eraerge
froni that state of absolute want into which
theywere thrown only a century ago by the
above raentioned catastrophe* The church
of St. Ignatius is worthy of observation,
being of excellent design, and better exe
cution. The corivent of St. Lucia and
Spirito Santo are two sraall neat buildings,
containing sorae good palntirigs. They,
like raost of the tchurches iii Sicily, are

86 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
paved with coloured and varnished tiles,
which being kept clean have a neat effect,
and supply the place of marble or wood,
two rare, and consequently dear, articles in
this quarter of the island. The palace del
Bosco, and that of the senate, together
with sorae few private buildings, would
cut a handsorae figure in the chief streets
of any European capital: but these are
raised from the pockets of the lower class,
and tend only to forra a greater contrast
with the misery of their dwellings. The
number of convents and nunneries is far
too great In proportion to the size and po
pulation of the city. I never saw any
where so many black gowns walking
through the streets ; half the people you
meet are enlisted in the service of the
church, and from their great ignorance
they are raore superstitious than any fet of
men I ever met with.

I am informed that during the short
time the English fleet, under admiral
Lord Nelson, lay at anchor in the Great

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 87-
Port in July last, the city was quite
metamorphosed into a gay, busy, and
lively place. The peasants, attracted by
the honest dealings of the English, came
down with provisions of all kinds from
the mountains, and pitched their tents upori
the neck of land between the two ports,
remaining there till the fleet set sail for
Alexandria, It almost appeared as if the
city was returning to its ancient splendour ;
and I have no doubt, from its relative si
tuation in regard to Turkey, and from the
excellence of its port, that if it enjoyed a
free government and a liberal religion, it
would in a short tirae engross the trade of
many of the sea ports of Sicily, Italy, and
the Adriatic, It is strange, but equally
true, that a great many persons in this ifland
entertain hopes of being one day fubject to
the English government ;¦ and I have raet
with sorae elderly people whoSe only
wishes are to see that day before they die.
I have already said more of modern Sy
racuse than it deserves ; but if I have been

88 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
dull, or unentertaining, I request you to
attribute it to the power of Stupefaction
which the Sirocco carries with it.
Ancient Syracuse occupied a space of
ground full twenty mileS in circumference,
and consisted' of four cities, whose names
were Ortigia, Tycha, Acradina, and Nea
poli. Ortigia was situated precisely upbn
the same peninsula as the present Syra
cuse; . the remaining three lay to the north,
and formed the most noble part of that city.
Between Ortigia, Acradina, and Nea
poli, and upon the isthmus, was an im
mense market place, most probably sur
rounded by large columns, of which five
have been excavated from below the sur
face, about nineteen feet In height, and of
a hard species of lime stone with large
veins of quartz : This must have been
brought from some distant quarter, as I
. have not raet with a similar kind of stone in
the island. Leaving the market place, and
proceeding about a raile to the north-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 89
weft, you enter Neapoli (new city) si
tuated amphitheatricaUy towards the great
port, and iramediately. under Tycha,
which occupied the plain above it. There
is a fine theatre at Neapoli cut entirely
out of the rock, upon which you read
the word Philistides, just opposite the Pros
cenium, where it is near three hundred
feet broad, and was, I doubt not, very
handsome. A little to the north is a
bath, and a road called the sepulchral
road; winding through numberless sepul
chres cviriously excavated in the rocks.
Sorae of thera are roomy, and filled with
niches for the lacrymatorlae, or sraall vases
of tears, which the relations of the deceased
generally placed in the torab, as tokens, of
their affection. It was amongst these se
pulchres that Cicero found out that one, in
which the body of Archimedes was depo
sited, and which he relates to have been
marked with the syrabol of a globe, from
which he knew it ; but as time, or perhaps
the hands of some of the Roman soldiery

go LETTERS FROM SICILY,
have erased that mark, it is impossible to
decide at present which was the tomb of
that phUosopher. There is a very perfect
aqueduct cut through the rock, bringing
water to this day eighteen miles ; it is a
work worthy of any age. Between Nea
poli and Ortigia are the Latomie, or quar
ries of stone, from which the four cities
were bullf. The rocks are half overgrown
with bushes, the caves are large and pictu
resque, and the bottom is covered with a
light soil, highly cultivated, so that the
views in these Latomie are quite enchant
ing. In the north-western comer of one
ofthe largest of these quarries is the ear'
of Dionysius, an imraense caverni about
seventy feet high, cut with wonderful art in
the hard rock, and in the shape of part of
the channels of a human ear, so that the
sound of any noise or talking made in the
cave concentrated into a small aperture at
the top of it, which comraunicated with a
private chamber, where it is said the tyrant
Dionysius resorted, either to hear the

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 91
groans of his prisoners, chained up in the
cave below, or to detect their secrets, and
punish them accordingly. He had a pri
vate staircase cut out ofthe rock, by which
he ascended into this chamber ; part . of
it is still extant. This appears a strange
tale, but several authors make raention of
the fact; the tyranny of Dionysius was
so great, and his character so black and
cruel, that it is very probable he may have
ordered a prison of this kind to be exca
vated, roused by suspicion, and a fear of
conspiracies. Besides, I cannot devise any
other use for a place of this singular form.
The present cathedral is built upon
twenty-six fine Doric columns, whose flutes
are a foot across at the base, frora whence
they taper elegantly towards the top. These
forraed a part.of a very magttificent teraple,
dedicated to Minerva. I cannot conceive
how the Catholics have been able to reconcile
it to theraselves, to erect a Christian church
on Heathen piUars, and I ara sorry that

9* LETTERS FROM SICILY.
they have destroyed such a venerable ruin.
The fountain of Arethusa near the great
porti, is a curiosity visited by every travel
ler. It Is a copious spring of clear water,
which according to the opinion of the an
cients, and that of many of the inhabitants
of Syracuse, takes its rise near Olympia in
Greece, and runs under the sea for the dis
tance of five hundred miles. The river
which Is said to form this fouritain, is
called Alpheus : It . is reported, to have
fallen in love with Arethusa, and to have
come in search of her. Pindar, Timeus,
VirgU, Ovid, Claudianus, Italicus, Pausa
nias, and Pliny, confirm the received opi
nion of the course of this river from
Greece, and even attest, that the blood of
victims, killed in sacrifice near the river
Alpheus in Olyrapia, tinged the fountain
of Arethusa in Sicily. Laying aside the
iraprobability of a connection of this kind,
I raust own I was at first rather astonished
at finding such an incessant spring of clear
fresh water close to the sea, but my sur
prize was diminished, when I reflected up-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 93
on the raethod which I have seen the na
tives of the isle of Elba, opposite the coast
of Tuscany, take to procure fresh and
Sweet water. They scrape a hole in the
sands upon the sea beach, and the clearest
water oozes out of its sides in such quan
tity, as 4.0 fill a hole which would hold a
gallon in less than a minute. It ceases
therefore to be surprising, that fresh water
should be so very near the sea, as' it oozes
down from the raountains. The chief
singularity in regard to the fouritain of
Arethusa, is being upon an elevation,
and upon an island, or rather peninsula^
for there is no current round it, though
there is water. The old castle, situated
at the entrance Into the great port, is of
Saracen origin, and of a^ quadrangular
forra, with four towers, one at each cor
ner. The gate and hall of audience ex
hibit sorae specimens of Moorish sculpture.
There are a few pieces of cannon, and
sorae invalids to protect the city from the
Algerines. I remain, &c.

54 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
LETTER IX,
Syracuse, November 1st, 1798.
I MOUNTED my mule this morning,
and accompanied by a guide, rode in a
north-west direction towards the castle of
Epipolis. About a raile out of town I
paffed araongst the sepulchres of Tycha,
sirailar to those of Neapoli, Sorae of them
are in good preservation, and adorned with
columns and frontispieces, which denotes
their having belonged to families of sorae
consequence, of whose grandeur not one
bone, or even one atom, is npw reraaining.
Leaving these tombs, once receptacles of,
the inanimate and corroding bodies of thou
sands of the raoft enlightened raen in Eu
rope, and ornamented withall the pageantry
of the various syrabols used to raake death
aweful, and which are frequently raore so
than even death itself, I entered upon a spa
cious plain, about ten raUes in circura
ference, formerly coveted by the palaces.

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 95
temples, and houses of Tycha^ of which
few veftiges can now .ate be traced. The
situation is very eligible for a large city.
The basis is a hard calcareous rock ;
and the elevation above the sea is just
sufficient to give it a fine prospect over
Ortygia, the two ports, Neapoli, Acra
dina, Mount Hybla, the neighbouring
mountains, and the intermediate country
between it and Mount Etna, which ap
pears in all its glory, I looked in vain for
remnants of the fine palaces, noble ftreets,
baths, temples, and other raagnificent
buildings which once adorned this plain ;
aU I saw was a bare rock with a few exca
vations for cellars, and sorae deep ruts
formed by the wheels of carriages or cars,
like those extant at Pompeia, on the Ap
pian way. After proceeding about four
miles I arrived at the ruins of the castle of
Sablo, built at the west end of Tycha,
where the barracks were situated and called
Epipolis, from the Grecian word, implying
that it stood above the city to protect it.

96 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
and command a view of the neighbouring
country. Thucydides and Llvybothagree that this
fortress was of wonderful architecture, but .
give no particular description of it : all
that now remains is an oblong square
about one hundred and fifty feet in lerigth
and thirty in breadth, with .three small
parts of the foundation of the west end.
These together with the wall which. sur
rounds the square are built of hewn
stones, each about three feet In length, one
foot and a half, in breadth, and one in
depth, laid upon one another without any
kind of cement. Around the castle are
the entrances to several subterraneous pas
sages, about nine feet wide, but chiefly
choaked up with dirt and stones. I explored
sorae of them which seeraed to lead towards
Neapoli, ^and Epipolis had undoubtedly
a connection of this kind with the other
parts of the city, either to facllitatfe the
escape of the tyrants in case of rebeUion,

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 97
or to serve as passages for the troops in
time of war. The walls of the city are
visible in feveral parts : they are also of
hewn stone, and about ten feet thick.
There is one of thera facing the north, near
five railes long, which was built in forty
days by coramand of Dionysius at the tirae
when Marcus Marcellus, the Roraan ge
neral, lay encamped ori that side of the
city. I rode on a mile farther westward,
and ascended a rock to another spot where
there was a fortress called Euriolus, an
outwork of the city ; but there is nothing
left to deraonstrate what it was originally,
except two very large round cisterns or re
servoirs for water excavated in the rock,
I believe some author, in treating upori
Syracuse, mentions that the military chest
of money, by far the richest collection of
specie in the country, was kept In this
castle, and this idea is universally believed
by the peasants ofa sradll village just under
it, called Belvedere. They not only imagine
the mon'ey to have been deposited here,
H

gS LETTERS FROM SICILY.
but likewise fancy that it is bewitched by
the art of sorae necroraancer, and are
firraly persuaded, that some one will come
frora a distant country, who is master of
the charra, to raake It appear. This ac
counts for a singular adventure which I
met with; the women and children called
after me, following* me through the vil
lage, and repeating the words " / danari,
"idcmari; the money, the money," al
most incessantly. I turned round to ask
my guide the reason of this conduct, as I
thought they wanted to demand money of
me ; but he only answered by a sign for
me to proceed, adding, that he would tell
me afterwards what they meant. As they
are particularly jealous of this hidden trea
sure, it would have been dangerous for me
to have atterapted to have takeiii any view,
for which purpose I had brought ray draw
ing board with me. This circumstance
served to convince them more fully, that
I Jbad the book of the charra, and was the
expected person who possessed the area-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 99
nura to produce the raoney. My guide
told rae all this on our return horae, and
instead of undeceiving these poor creatures,
he gave them to understand, that I really
was a conjuror, and that having forgot a
necessary part of my necromantic appara
tus, I should return again in a few days,
to make the money come forth. Would
you think it possible that in the present en
lightened age, there exists In Europe a
people who are sufficiently credulous to
believe a tale like this ? How easy is it for
the priesthood of the Catholic church, to
establish an absolute dorainion over the
minds of such poor, deluded wretches, to
make thera bow down to iraages, acknow
ledge their agency for our Saviour, and be
lieve in the superstitious stories of mira
cles, performed by pictures, and In all the
dark deceits of their religion. On my
road home I saw nothing worthy notice,
except an extinguished volcano, of very
ancient date, and a large black serpent.
H 2

100 LETTEKS PROM SICILY.
This is a most solemn day in all Catholic
countries, it is the anniversary of the feast
of the dead, the day when the coffins are
opened, and their contents exposed to vievv.
My curiosity induced rae to witness this
scene, and spend an hour araongst the
dried carcasses of raany of my fellow-
creatures under the convent of Capuchin
Friars, situated in ancient Acradina, about
two miles out of town. I descended
through a large trap door into a kind of
chapel under the church, where the bodies
are placed up in niches, surrounded with
branches of laurel, and lighted by wax ta
pers. My servant threw himself before
the altar, where a number of hoary friars
were singing the service adapted for the
day. The friends of the deceased were
visiting In great solemnity the corpses of
their relations, whom they easily recognized
frora a slip of paper fastened upon the
skull, or garment of each of them, upon
which the narae was written. Most of
them were dressed in the habits of monks^.

LETTERS; FROM SICILY. io»
and placed in the attitude of prayer, with
rosaries in their hands, and long white
beards pendant from their chins. I saw
several of the friars, apparently near eighty
years of age, tottering round the chapel,
who raust very shortly be ranked araongst
the nuraber of the bodies in the niches.
Though much struck with this scene, I
could not avoid smiling at the corpse of an
elderly man lying iri a coffin with a glass
cover : he was dressed in a brown scratch
wig, silk coat, waistcoat, breeches and
stockings, and firie shoes and buckles. You
will easily excuse rae, if I tell you, that
the coraic appearance of this odd figure
made me laugh ; and I have seen death for
the first tirae in my life in a ludicrous
light. This visit has tended very little, as you
may conceive, to awake any feelings of
horror within ray breast; for the car
cases in the chapel under the Capu
chin Convent being neatly adorried with

108 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
laurel, and lighted up with tapers, they
lose entirely the disgusting appearance
which they would have elsewhere, and
you regard and touch them as were they
raere statues. Frora this chapel I was
conducted to the Latomie adjoining the
convent, by a venerable old friar, who did
not refuse a trifle that I offered hira for his
civility. These Latoraie are very exten
sive and highly picturesque. You walk in
a grove of orange and lemon trees, envi
roned on all sides by bold, impending
rocks, half covered with bushes, and Inha
bited by wood pigeons. There are several
curious olive trees which spring out of the
stone in a singular manner, and in some
parts, when they have ^grown through the
crevices, they have gradually split large
masses of rock in twain. A violent thun
der-storm detained me some hours at the
convent, which I spent in conversation
with the friars, and in adrairing a very
beautiful, and rauoh esteemed painting of
the head of St. Francis by an unknown

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 103
hand, but rauch in the style of Guido
Reno, or one of his pupUs. To-raorrow
I shall go in search of the Papyrus in the
river Anapus, of which the ancients made
paper ; for the present, I remain, &c. &c.

104 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
LETTER X.
¦Syracuse, 2d. November.
I WRITE to you daily, in order to
give you an exact detail of every object
which attracts ray attention, and not to
orait even the raost trivial circurastance
that raay afford you any satisfaction ;
but should these long letters becorae tire-
sorae, which 1 fear will be the case, you
raust attribute it to ray desire of amusing
you, and giving you some information of
this interesting Island.
I went this morning in search of the
Papyrus on the banks of the river Anapus,
and although I met with some obstacles
before my return here, still the jaunt
proved very agreeable and instructing to
me, and I would recoraraend it to every
one who raay visit Syracuse. A boat
carried rae across the great port direct in
to the inouth of the river Anapus, about

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 105
two miles west of the peninsula. It was
with difficulty that we steered through the
forest of tall reeds, which alraost stopped
the navigation of this river, and after hav
ing proceeded about a mile, I observed a
smaU -current, for I can hardly call it a
river, which, upon enquiry, I found to be
the Ciane, near whose source, as fables re
port, Pluto entered the earth with Proser
pine, after having stolen her away from near
the river Akantara. Ciane, the sister of
Proserpine, met the robber upon the spot
where the current now takes its rise, and
endeavoured to rescue the fair captive;
Pluto iraraediately staraped upon the earth,
which opened directly, and he descended
with his victira to his own kingdom. The
disappointed Ciane, poor nymph, shed a
flood of tears sufficiently copious to cause
the present current, which took its name
from that circumstance.
We continued to steer up the Anapus,
and first raet with the papyrus plant,
about a mUe and a half frora the

jo6 LETTERS FROM SICILY;
Ciane, where it grows in great quanti
ties, and continues to overhang the banks
of that river all the way to its source,
which is only five railes frora where it erap
ties itself into the great port. This rare
plant shoots out a triangular stalk to the
height of about seventeen feet, on the top
of it is a large tuft of foliage like a
bunch of rushes, which by its weight gives
a bend to the stalk, and hangs over the
river. The diaraeter of the stalk near the
root is generally four inches, and varies in
proportion to the height. These plants do
not grow distinctly, but in tufts, or quan
tities so closely united together, that their
foliage forras one dense mass of a fine dark
green, with a tint of brown. The inside
of the stalk when broken appears perfectly
white, porous, and full of strings or veins :
it may be easily split into fine slices,
ofwhich the ancients raade their paper,
laying thera across one another, and keep
ing them some time under a press. The
glutinous juice contained in the stalk served
efiectually as a size, aud united the parts so

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 107
closely together, as to give the whole a
smooth and even surface, well adapted to
write upon. Paper of this kind has been
made very lately, but it is rarely to be met
with. That numerous collection of raa
nuscripts found at Porapeia, and preserved
in the Royal Museum at Portici, were all
written upon this vegetable paper ; but the
natural size which It afforded, being either
diffolved or consumed by the heat of the
ashes emitted from Vesuvius, the paper
now falls to pieces, if not handled with the
greatest nicety, and bathed in oil, previous
to the opening of the manuscripts, which
were all found rolled up, and without any
kind of binding.
After having sufficiently observed the
scite of the source of the Anapus, and
growth of the Papyrus, I left the boat,
and ascended a hUlock close to the ri
ver, to take a near inspection of two fine
fine colurans, which once formed part of a
very magnificent temple, dedicated to Ju
piter Olyrapus, wherein was a noble statue

io8 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
of that god, dressed in a garment of gold
by Hiero, king of Sicily. Valerius Maxi-
raus tells us, that the tyrant Dionysius
stole this garraent, under pretext that it
was too heavy for the god during the heat
of summer, and of too frigid a nature to
keep him warm in winter; he therefore
had hira clad in a woolen robe, which was
adapted to both seasons. Thus you find,
that in the Heathen belief, as in the Ca
tholic, the rich took advantage of the cre
dulity of their Inferiors, and illustrious rob
bers were as common as they are in our
times. I was adrairing these two venera
ble pillars, when the god, in whose ho
nor they were raised, caused the raost
tremendous claps of thunder, and alarraing
flashes of forked lightnirig, which I ever
beheld in the heavens. The order of na
ture seeraed convulsed, the clouds fled in
whirlwinds through the regions of air. At
one raoraent the whole heraisphere was
dark aud disraal, at another it appeared on

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 109
fire. I never witnessed any scene of this
nature equally terrific. The rain at length
carae down in torrents, and we ran for
shelter under the projecting tiles of a little
cottage which was shut up.
My guide did not cease to invoke the
raost holy Maria, and St. John the Baptist,
the patron of thunder and lightning, for
the space of an hour, and trembled with
fear, hiding his face at every peel of thun
der. I repeated to him several times, that
there is a God who watches over u.s, who
ordains every thing, and whose almighty
will is not to be averted by the whole army
of saints and raartyrs. He acknowledged
the truth of this philosophy, but his fear
overpowered his reason, and he re
raained in a raost agitated state till the
fury of the storra was abated. I then
told hira, a little ironically, that his saints
had saved us,- and that I owed my
life to his kind intercession with them.
No, says he, God will not injure you, be
cause you come from a couatry inhabited

no LETTERS FROM SICILY.
by a certain people called Quakers, who,
I am informed, are the truest Christians,
and the most just in their dealings with
men. You will naturally suppose, that I
was surprised at these words from the
mouth of an illiterate Sicilian, and that
they afforded rae subject fbr raeditation,
while I was crossing the great port on ray
return horae. Upon raaking a few enqui
ries, I found that this raan attributes all
England's glory to that sect, and believes
that Quakers are the only people chosen of
God to work miracles. These are singular
ideas, to be found in the mind of a strict
Catholic who lay sighing before the altar
yesterday in the church of the Capuchins.
The sickening Sirocco still spreads its debi
litating influence over my faculties. Should
to-morrow be fine, I shall roam amongst
the Catacombs, and pay a second visit to
the enchanting Latomie. I remain, &c. &c.

LETTERS FROM SICILY, »ii
LETTER XI,
Syracuse, November 3d.
THE thunder has rolled so incessantly,
and the weather has been so very unpro
pitious, that I have only to-day been able
to see the catacombs. These repositories
of the dead, where a little dust and a few
splinters of bones are the only vestiges
of thousands of our forefathers, are situated
about a mile from the outer gate of the
present Syracuse in the ancient division of
Acradina. An old hermit, who has the care
of a gothic church built at the entrance
into these catacombs, supplied rae with a
torch, and conducted me down the dark
stairs leading to them. He shewed, me in
a recluse spot a fragment of a column of
granite^ erected on a. pedestal, against
which many of the primary Christians suf
fered martyrdora, and with the serious air
of credulity he pointed to sorae spots occa
sioned by the stain of their blood. I said

na LETTERS FROM SICILY,
nothing which raight lead the grey-bearded
old raan to detect ray disbelief in the pos
sibility of blood-staining polished granite,
and he told rae that the very sight of this
coluran had cured raany diseases, for which
reason it was held in high veneration
throughout the island, and part of Cala
bria. We entered the catacombs ; they
are in much better preservation than those
of Naples, although of a raore ancient
date ; the reason of this evidently proceeds
frora the different species of rock in which
they are excavated : at Naples it is of a
sandy nature, with a coarse grain and lit
tle ceraent. Here it is a calcareous stone,
coraposed of marine prodvictlons and sand,
well ceraented together. There are sorae
caves, with eighteen or twenty different
excavations for Sarcophagi, these very
probably were allotted to certain farailies.
I found several pieces of bones which are
very rauch prized by the Catholics, frora
the general supposition that they must
have belonged to sorae raartyr. The ex-

LETTERS FROM SICILY, ug
tent of these subterraneous sepvilchres is
not ascertained, I walked in thera until the
old herrait begged I would return, fearful
lest our torches should be entirely con
suraed, or that he raight not be able to
find the way out again, It is generaUy as
serted in this neighbourhood that there are
passages which extend as far as Catania
(not less than forty railes), and tradition
says, that before the lava overwhelmed that
city two young men really found an exit tra
der one of its churches, and that others have
perished in the attempt* There are many
chapels araongst the catacombs mostly ofa
circular shape, with a dome which ends in
an aperture at the top, thrbugh.which a few
rays of light find their Way into the chapel.
These apertures were probably m^de td
admit a circulation of air fo necessary in a
place where thousands bf bodies lay cor
roding, to which many were added daily.
It would be tedious to dwell any longer
upon Syracuse *: I shall return to Catania
to-morrow, and you wiU hear from rae the
following day, tUl then I reraain, &c. &c.
I

114 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
LETTER XII.
Catania, 5th November.
BEFORE I mentipn to you the variety
of agreeable and instructing objects which
I have met with to-day, let rae juft take
notice of my journey from Syracuse. About
eight miles from that city is a ruin ad
joining the road, buUt in the same style of
architecture as the castle of Epipolis, of
hewn stone, without any cement. Its shape
is pyraraidic^l, upon a square base, and very
perfiect, except the top, whieh seeras to have
been thrown down by violence. It is the re
ceived opinion that this little pyramid was
erected by order of Marcus Marcellus, the
Roman gefieral, in coraraeraoration of a
victory which he obtained over the Syracu-
fans, coraraanded by the tyrant Dionysius,
and that the latter, upon the evacuation
of their territory by the Roraan troops,
ashamed of having a teftimony of theii
defeat handed down to pofterity, destroyed

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 115
the inscription which illustrated the pur
port of the edifice. This is a very rational
opinion, and as there is no ancient author
who contradicts it, or gives us any one
more satisfactory upon the subj eft, I should
adopt it as the fact. I arrived at a miser
able haralet, containing two or three habi
tations, called Castel dell Agnone, twenty-
four miles frora Syracuse, at three, with a
traveller's appetite ; but such is the extreme
poverty of the country that neither for love
or money, to use a comraon phrase. Could
I obtain raore than a couple of eggs and
a little hot, half-baked, black bread, to
satify the hunger of myself, my servant,
and dog ; luckily a little fruit, which I had
brought from Syracuse, served tb increase
this scanty raeal. We proceeded slowly an.d
did not reach Catania before eight o'clock,
which afforded rae an opportunity of see
ing the finest sheet-lightning I ever be
held. The whole west seeraed on fire,
and in continual raotion, which had an
aweful and grand effect, I 2

n6 LETTERS FROM SICltY,
The j-enowned rauseum. of the prince of
Biscari was the first object v^^hlch attracted
my attention this mornin||, It is filled
with the choicest antiquities, chiefly col
lected under the iramecRate direction of
the prince, who, being a true frierid and
encourager of literature, has spared neither
money nor pains iii bringing to light many
fine specimens of Grecian scijlpture and ar
chitecture, which have lain in oblivion for
two thousand years, and without the active
exertions of so liberal a character, might
have continued unsought after for two
thousand years to corae. Before you en- .
ter the rauseura you are conducted Into two
court yards or small squares, full of an
tique' columns of granite and marble, Gre
cian and Roraan tablets of Inscriptions,
statues, sarcophagi Tor stone coffins) ara-
phorcE (or vases for wine) of an iramense
size, and several other species of antiqui
ties, too unwieldly to be placed under a
roof, and which cannot be injured by being
exposed to the external air. The first

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 117
chamber is full of penates (or household
gods) of bronze metal, instruraents used in
agriculture, lamps, &c. aU very choice and
rare of their kind ; but in particular I was
struck with a small statue of Mercury, and
another of Mars : The attitude of the for
mer, and expression of the latter, excel
what I have generally met with in statues
or paintings. The next apartment is an
extensive gallery, divided into three parts,
containing statues, fragments, and capitals
of columns, cornices, busts, inscriptions,
raosaic pavements, &c. The most reraark
able araongst these curiosities is a fine
piece of Grecian fculpture, representing the
body and one arra of a Jupiter of gigantic
size. This fragraent was found in the
theatre of this place, and if perfect would
be a noble counterpart to the Farnesian
Hercules, for what is now reraaining is of
the finest proportion, and equal to that
chef d'oeuvre. A Hercules, rather da
maged, and a bust of Pyrrhus, raerit
the artist's attention, as well as a head of

ii8 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
Scipio Africanus, in bas relief. One side
of this gallery is entirely covered with the
most valuable Etruscan or Grecian vases,
equal to any thing that I ever saw in Na
ples, and arranged in a light and simple man
ner, each of them standing upon a project
ing shelf, so that you can fee the shape in
which their merit chiefly consists at one
view. In several of them ai'e fmall dry
splinters of bones, the only relicts of some
perhaps noble Grecians, who once acted a
brilliant part on the stage of life. I ob
tained sorae of these bones and severaL
other curiosities, which, on account of their
great number, are not held in very high
estimation here. In another chamber are
penates of chalk and clay, formerly in use
amongst the poor, as those of bronze metal
were amongst the rich. It would be te
dious to enumerate the fpeciraens of raa
rine productions, volcanic eraanations, mi
nerals, beasts, birds, &c. &c, contained in
the other apartments : two of these are
occupied by ancient arms and armour.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 119
another by antique dresses, &c, the whole
forming one of the compleatest rau-
seuras I ever saw on the Continent, which
does honour not only to its possessor, but
to the whole island. There are many
glass cases full of monsters, amongst which
Iwas struck with a snake with a head at
each extremity of its body, so that it had
no taU, and a cyclops, or kid, with orily
one eye in the center of its forehead.
It was not without regret that I left this
repository of interesting curiosities, and
bent my steps towards the church of St.
Nicholas, to hear a celebrated organ made
by a monk named Donato, Music never
had such a power over me, nor did I ever
conceive that it could be brought to so
great a state of perfection. :This:orgaii
not only imitates most musical instruraents
in a simiple state, but gives you likewise the
variations and exceUencies. of each, so as to
enchant you beyond measure, and make
you quite disgusted with the harsh tones of

120 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
half the church organs on the Continent,
The monk who has the manageraent ofit
was out of town when I passed through this
city a few days ago, but upon his return the
abbot mentioned to him my desire to hear
It played, and having fixed upon the day, he
accordingly exhibited all his skill to con
vince me that sorae merit lay in his own
talents, as vVell as in the perfection of the
instrument. I was informed,, that several
great personages of the north of Europe
have offered large suras of money for it,
but the monks consider it as an everlast
ing fixture in their church, and are agreed
riot to part with it, uutil necessity may
induce them to accept of a liberal offer.
My Valet de Place next conducted me to
the museura of the Chevalier Giueni, con
taining a very extensive collection of lavas,
fossils, and raarine productions, arranged
in an exquisite raanner in six neat apart
ments, with the name and qualities of each
specimen written upon it by the Chevalier
himself, in Italian and French, so that a

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 121
person who is not a professed naturalist,
may be instructed and amused by spending
a few hours in this rauseura. The Che
valier, who I am informed is a generous
and liberal minded man, takes infinite de
light in the study of natural history, and
at his leisure hours has raade sorae curious
statues and flowers of shell ' work, and
taken views upon the spot of various erup
tions of Mount Etna, which are judiciously
hung upon the walls of the apartraent
containinglavas. All those minute shells,
whose beauties cannot be discovered by
the naked eye, are placed under raagni
fying glasses, of which there are upwards
of three' hundred in one bureau. A raan
who can spend his days in the pursuit of a
study so agreeable and entertaining, raust
lead a rauch -happier life than he who is
actuated by a thirst for glory, and a love of
raoney. Upon inspecting into the rainds
of both these characters, even supposing
the latter to have attained the highest pitch
of earthly grandeur, we should find that

122 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
the former is really most to be envied, and
that he has experienced less of the troubles
of this world, and tasted raore true plea
sure in the career of his days, than the
latter. I left this rauseura to observe the ruins
excavated by order of the Prince of Biscari,
which consist in a Grecian theatre, a Ro
raan amphitheatre, and Grecian hot and
cold baths. These are all in a state of
good preservation, and bear a character
consistent with the luxury and riches of the
times in which they were erected. All the
columns, cornices, and other decorations,
being conveyed tb the rauseum of the
Prince^ they now only present a noble ske
leton of bare walls, of which I need not
make any farther mention. The baths
were used as churches for many centuries,
and the ignorant friars of the conv'ent
above, were never aware of their original
use. The Prince at last caused them to be
stripped of their fantastical decorations,.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 123
split their altars asunder, and erased the
representations of saints, which were
daubed upon their walls. I think I have
now given you a description of every thing '
worthy reraark in this city. I purpose
setting off for Messina to-raorrow, and as
my route to Giardini will be changed, it
may be in my power to coraraunicate
something interesting to you. In the
mean time, I remain, $cc.

124 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
LETTER XIII.
Giardini, 1th. November.
SINCE I wrote last I have been very
much entertained, and as much fatigued.
I left Catania an hour before sun-rise yes
terday raorning, in order to visit the great
chesnut tree, thirty miles from that city,
and reach this village the sarae night ; this
object was accomplished after sitting twelve
hours upon ray mule, ascending precipices,
climbing over walls, breaking through
fences, wading through torrents, and pass
ing over roads, half stopped up by large
blocks of lava and rock. But I was well
rewarded for all this trouble, and saw a part
of Mount Etna very httle known to my
countrymen, which, taken in a natural
point of view, may be considered as the
most deUghtful country under the sun.
The villages, which are numerous and
large, are generally situated under ancient

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 125
volcanellos, or hills projecting frora the
priraary volcano. These are covered with
that light productive soil which always lies
upon the surface of the lavaj and are cul
tivated in delightful vineyards and orchards,
I raet with the chesnut, apple, pear, peach,
fig, cherry, orange, lemon, date, and seve
ral other fructiferous trees growing almost
spontaneously, and producing the most de
licious fruit. Some of these, which are
later in shedding their foliage, were dressed
in a delightful verdure, whUe others, co
loured with the richest tints, were bidding
a last farewel to autumn ; you may easily
conceive the harraony and beauty of this
scene, to which ma,y be added the contrast
formed by the roraantic cottages of black
lava, whose ruddy roofs peeped over the
yellow vine, 1 felt raised above all terres
trial objects to such a degree, that forgpt-
ting myself, I Seemed wrapt in a dream of
a future world, and all the globe of earth
lying at ray feet.

126 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
But leaving this digression ; We stdpped
a short tirae to bait at the vUlage of La
Zaffrana, so called frora the quantities
of saffron flowers which are produced in
the neighbourhood. A streara of lava
very nearly spread desolation over' this
village in the year 1790, but having di
vided itself into five different currents,
it grew congealed before it reached
it. This event, though perfectly natural,
is noted in the annals of the Catholic
church, as one of the greatest miracles ever
performed by the veil of St. Agatha,
which was brought by the Archbishop of
the diocese in grand procession from Cata
nia, and tickets were fastened to the neigh
bouring rocks and trees, inscribed with the
words taken from the Bible, " Thus far
" shalt thou go, and no farther.'''
I arrived at the celebrated chesnut tree,
comraonly called // Castagno de* Cento Ca
valli, at three o'clock, after having been led
astray several tiraes by an inexperienced

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 127
guide. This singular production of the ve«
getable kingdora, is composed of five old
trunks, whose circumference may be about
fifty paces, or one hundred feet, but they are
so very much decayed, that it is impossible
to recognise their having been united. The
ramification is neither picturesque npr ex
tensive, and the house which was erected,
for the reception of the fruit in the center
of the trunk, is now fallen to ruins, and
only presents a heap of stones to the view.
Had I not been previously apprized of the
state of this immense tree, I should have
been rriuch disappoiuted at that iri which
I found it ; and was it not for the enchant
ing country ypu ride through to see it, I
should not think it an object worthy
the traveller's notice. There are se
veral other large trees of the same ria
ture very near it, one of which, called
11 Castagno della Nave., (Chesnut of the
Ship) is near twenty yards in circurnfe-
rence, and a healthy tree. Another nearly
the same size, is termed // Castagno della
Navotta (Chesnut of the little Ship.)

128 LETTERS FROM SICILY^
Ffom that spot I descended direct to Giar*
dini, a distance of fifteen long miles, and a
most shocking road. The villages I passed
through were large, and rather better
than those nearer Catania. In Mascari, a
small town very pleasantly sltviated, it
happened to be the annual fair, which af
forded me a curious sight of great numbers
of the peasants of Etna dressed in tawdry
silks, I could hardly Iraagine that persons
so richly clad, were the inhabitants of those
miserable cottages, of lava, wherein they
live in the greatest filth, and raost abject
misery during all the rest of the year. Just
at this time of gaiety, which lasts only a
few days, they come forth like butterflies
in May, and then creep into their black
Chrysolis's, to reraain buried in oblivion
until the following fair,
I never raet with any people who approach
so near to the brutal state, as the ignorant
and superstitious inhabitants of Mount
Etna. Take away frora this race of men
the physical power of speech, and you

LETTERS Erom sicily. 129
Would find their reason very little, if any
superior, to what is called instinct in
beasts. I will not dwell upon a subject
which would lead me into a train of
reasoning, and have no other tendency,
than that of tiring both yourself and
the writer. Upon arrivmg at the inn,
1 found it occupied by a Catanese party,
and several other travellers, so that it was
with difficulty, and only after repeated en
treaties, that I obtained admission into a
little anti-chamber with two beds, one of
which was occupied by an arch priest, arid
a country fellow, whorri he called his cou
sin. The former was loquacious ; we
conversed together for two hours upon the
state of Europe, and had arranged raatters
for the utter destruction and exterrairiation
of the French nation, when he nodded his
head and fell asleep. At half past five he
arose to continue his journey towards Mes
sina, and finding I was awake, he exerted
all his power of arguraent, and/ talents of
persuasion, to convert me to the Catholip
K

J30 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
felth, Sometiraes we disputed with, fer
vour, at others we reasoned coolly upon
the subject, but it was all in vain. I
was very glad to wish hira a pleasant jour
ney, without desiring ever to meet him

again.

I rose at sun-rise, arid have eraployed
the raorning in seeing the antiquities of
Taorraina, a sraaU dirty city, situated upon
a bold and high rock, two railes above this
village. My guide first conducted me to a
celebrated Roraan artist, commonly called
Don Titto, though his proper name is
Luslere, well known araongst the virtuosi
in the art of painting, as being exces
sively nice in iraitating nature, and fre
quently travels from one country to an
other, to take views of the; most interest
ing remnants of antiquity. His present
stay here will be about twelve months,
when he intends to proceed to Syracuse and
Agrigentum, His collection, when com
pleated, must be a fund of instruction and

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 13 1
amusement. He received me very politely;
and shewed rae several excellent drawings
of views in the neighbourhood of Rome
arid Naples, which though in water colours,
have a more natural effect than any that I
ever met with in oil, even by the first masters,
and confirraed me in the opinion, that for
landscapes, water colours are preferable to
oil. Don Titto inforraed rae ofa recent or
der frora the Cdurt of Naples, for all fo
reigners to be seized and iraprisoned, who
should be found taking views of any kind
in the country about Taorraina ; he there
fore judged it proper to obtain the Go
vernor's pertilission, if I had any desire
to raake sketches of the theatre. I fol
lowed this wise counsel, and was con
ducted to his Excellency, a fine old raan
of eighty, Who has served forty-five years
in the king's body guards. He received
irie with raarks bf the greatest affection,
embraced me, blessed my nation' and self
several times j offering his' best ser
vices wherever they might be acceptable
K 3

1 3* LETTERS FROM SICILY.
to me. In short, he quite overwhelmed ine
with kindness, which caused rae to leave him
with regret. What a coutrast Is the charac
ter of this venerable Eld, to that of the
German governors of pitiful cities, or small
fortresses, who abound In pride and arro
gance, and whofe habitatloris are never
approached but with fear and trembling !
The theatre of Taorraina is the finest
pile of ruins, and the raost striking vestige
of ancient grandeur, that I ever beheld.
It is situated upon a high rock, which
forras a bold prombntory, and even seeras
to bid defiiance to the raajestic Etna, while
the tottering ruins which crown its sura
mit peep down upon the briny waves be
low. The view frora this spot raust ele
vate and encnant the soul of any one who
has the; smallest taste foi* the sublirae aud
beautiful. The boundless ocean, the vast
Gibello, with its curling smoak, the exten
sive country, the picturesque rocks, whose
frightful precipices; seem to hang only by

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 133
a cloud over the city of Taorraina, the
richness of the tints below, and the pure ,
whiteness of the driven snow upon the
suramit of Etna, form a corabination of
the grandest objects which can possibly be
united in one scene. The choice of this
situation is in itself a sufficient criterion to
judge of the refined taste and exalted ideas
of the Roraans, who were the founders of
this noble edifice in the days of Julius
Caesar, soon after the subjugation of the
Lestrigonians, who colonized this part
of the island frora the Morea. This thea
tre is very extensive, and in sufficient pre
servation to give a just idea of its for
mer state. The subterraneous canals for
conducting water, the passages for the ac
tors, and the public and private entrances,
are all open : the holes excavated for
the reception of the long poles, which sup
ported a kind of awning over the whole,
are as perfect as if they were destined for
present use. It is aUowed by antiquarians
and artists, that this is the finest reranant

134 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
of Roman magnificence existhig in any
country, excepting only the Coloseura,
whose situation must be very much jrife-
rior, as the neighbouring buildings must
diminish the effect of the whole which is
here perfect. At Taprmina there Is rio
thing to conteraplate but the surround
ing scenery ; no insignificant object inters
feres to divert the nalnd for one raomerit,
frora the train of pleasing reflections into
which it raust infaUibly be drawn by the
view constantly before the eye. You are
naturally raost struck at first sight with a
sraall obelisk upon a hill, than with a caStle
in a valley. Such is the coraparison which
may be made between the Colo.seura and
this theatre, without diralriishing the in
trinsic merit of the former.
The Naumachia is in the eity. It is a
large space of ground surrounded by a
raassive wall, full of niches for statues, and
like the theatre, bears testiraony of the
magnificence of its founders. Theother

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 135
ruins consist chiefly of reservoirs, which
served to supply this Naumachia, the city,
and theatre with water. One of thera Is
of a sirailar nature to the Piscina Mira
bile at Baja, near Naples; its roof is sup
ported by a row of eight pillars bf brick,
covered with that durable Roman ceraent,
which takes a polish, and becomes harder
by age. I observed several other antiqui
ties of less note, which would interest you
very little, were I to give you a detailed
description bf thera ; I will just raention
one, however, raerely on account of a cir
cumstance attending it, that will make you
smile. Upon an antique fountain, oppo
site the cathedral is a sphinx ; as this was
a profane figure, it has been crowned
and converted into a Madbnna, or Virgin
Mother. I leave you to imagine what a
ridiculous appearance this quadruped saint
has, and remain, &c.

igS LETTERS FROM SICILY,
LETTER XIV.
Messifia, llth November.
UPON the journey frorn Taorraina to
this city, I saw nothing worthy reraark,
which I have not noticed in my letter of
the 26th of October frora Catania, except
some ancient mines about four miles from
the little village of Fiume di Nisi ; they
once produced great quantities of gold and
silver, but exhibit no other vestiges .of
their forraer excellence than a few grot
toes, from which the ore was excavated
upon the summit of a high rock of granite ;
this convinces me, that the former inha
bitants of the island had no idea of mining,
and only dug where the gold glittered;
from the nature of this part of the isle,
and frona the quantity of gold which, was
found mixed with the sands of the tbrrent
of Nisis, I think it natural to conclude,
that the basis of this rock must be as pro
ductive, or more so, according to coraraon

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 137
rules, than its surarait, of which the Ro
man colonists were not aw^re, A nuraber
of Saxons were permitted to open these
mines afresh about the year 1730, land
continued working them for forty years,
when they were abandoned by .the colony,
and nobody else has thought proper to re
new the undertaking.
The pounding mills, and several other
buildings erected on the banks of the tor
rent, were almost razed to the ground by the
earthquakes of 1783, but raight be repaired
at a raoderate expence, and I doubt not
but a speculator in these mines would de
rive great profit from penetrating farther
into the heart of the rock. This is not
likely to be effected by any one but a fo
reigner, as the inhabitants of the island'
have not sufficient courage to spend a far
thing upon an uncertain pursuit. That
spirit of enterprize, which was so manifest
inthe southern kingdoms of Europe, at
the tirae when Columbus, CortCs, Pizarro,

J 38 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
and Albuquerque discovered an unknown
world,, ploughed the boundless ocean .in
search of continents and islands, which
they were uncertain of finding; and with
steady perseverance and unwearied zeal
passed over the frigid suraraits of the
Andes, and raarched over thousands of the
slain upon the plains of Mexico in. quest
of gold ; that spirit of enterprize which at
that period signalized the Spaniards, Por
tuguese, and Italians, seems now fled to
northern, climates,' vvhere the natives will
exert all their powers in excavating the
viler metals from the bowels of the earth,
while the former neglect the . prospect of
obtaining even gold,
I had jproposed setting sail for Palermo
this morning, but forgot that it is the an
niversary of St. Martin, when every body
in iMessina must eat a. bjt of Turkey, and
it was quite impossible for ; ray friends to
procure rae a Sparonaro, (a sixtall boat
used for coasting) and. a preferable, and

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 139
more safe conveyance than upon mules
over land, but particularly so on account
of the banditti, which a traveller of course
is anxious to avoid. I haye been rarablmg
vip the hills, and amongst the groves of
orange and leraon trees, and am more de-«
Ughted with the country, the raore I be
come acquainted with it. The style of
cultivation, and the ovitlines and tints of
the mountains, are adapted to enchant the
senses, more than the face of any country
I have visited hitherto. The views in the
Black Forest, and in Austria, in the envi
rons of Berne, Lausaune, Vevey, Geneva,
St. Maurice, Genoa, Sienna, and Naples,
have all a peculiar character, which though
it strikes the beholder at first with wonder
and deUght, loses gradually its influence
over the raind, and fatigues it with a sarae
ness hardly to be described. The environs
of Messina appear in continual variety,
there is ¦ a pleasing raixture of the grand,
the picturesque, and the gay, calculated to

140 LETTERS FROM SICILY;
raise a desponding spirit, and exhilarate the
heart.

I dined with a large party at the Dutch
consul's ; we took a walk to see the
faraous Charybdis, situated on the outside
of that sickle-shaped neck of land which
forras the port. We crossed over this lat
ter in a boat, and walked near a raile on
the neck of land towards the light-house,
buUt tp apprize vessels of the vicinity of
the troubled waters. The evening was
very calra, and Charybdis was sufficiently
tranquil to suffer a boat to pass, over its
current, without affefting It in any other
manner, than by carrying it swiftly down
the Faro for about the distance of two
miles, where its power ceased. A ,good
swimmer, with the current in his favor,
might at that time have passed over this
little whirlpool, without running any risk ;
but at noon when the waters rise, it becoraes
turbulent, and a great part of the Faro ap-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 141
pears In a boiling state : in high winds and
storms it is irapassable, and vessels are ob
liged to keep close to the shore of Calabria
for fear of being drawn into its current. The
sea is then truly terrific ; if the current runs
southwards, it carries ships down towards
Taorraina, if northwards, . it wilt hurl
them towards the rock of Scylla, alraost
opposite the Torre del Faro, and about
eight railes frora Charybdis. This gave
rise to the well known Latin proverb,
" Incidit in Scyllam, cujiiens vitare Charib-
dim *". The ancients were so inexpert in
nautical affairs, and generally raade such
extravagant descriptions of every object of
terror, which they had not sufficient philo
sophy to account for, that it is not surprising
that they should have painted Scylla and
Charybdis in the raost frightful colours.
One of thera In Speaking of the former,
says, that rock was always covered with
clouds, and so extremely high and perpen
dicular, that no man could ascend it, not
even if he had twenty hands and twenty
* Who shuns Charibdis, upon Scylla falls.

J 42 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
feet. This author mlist have fbunded his
description upon the reports of raariners,
who were as rauch addicted to telling
marvellous stories as the Dutch sailors,
employed in the whale fisheries; who
return home with incredible accounts of
floating islands, and fish in the Frozen
Ocean several railes long. I can easily
iradgine, that an acute point or projection
of land at the bottora of the sea, stops the
violent current of tfae Faro ; that this pro
jecting point of land Is excavated by the
incessant force of the waters Into caves,
and that the sea playing, In thera, and
meeting with this restriction, causes the
surface to be In continual agitation, which
increases according to the velocity of the
current, or turbulence of the weather.
Brydone gl-^es a very clear and accurate
account of this natural curiosity, and I
would recommend you to read his wbrk,
from which you will derive much instruc
tion and amusement, in every thing that
relates to this islarid.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 143
I ara going to trust myself once more to
the mercy of the waves, having secured
my passage for Palermo, about two hun
dred miles to the westward of this city, in
a Sparpnaro, which conveys money and
letters for the raerchants, and keeps within
gunshot ofthe shore, so that Ibeg you will
not be anxious on ray account. The
post arrived here yesterday from Reggioy
and brought me eight letters from England,'
Germany, Switzerland, and Italy : as they
all inform me of the welfare of ray friends,
I shall embark to-morrow with a light
heart, I remain, &c, &c.

144 LETTERS FROM SICILY!
LETTER XV.
Palermo, llth. November.
BY the kindness of Providence, I arrived
at this city safe and well yesterday after
noon, but was SO excessively fatigued j
from having passed four sleepless nights in
the Sparonaro, and from the uneasy mo
tion of that little vessel, cavised by the
boisterous sea, that I have not recovered
^uificlently to describe my voyage to you
till to-day ; but before I proceed, let me
say a few words upon the nature of a Spa
ronaro. It is a sraall vessel, built like the
long boat of aman of war ; in length about
thirty-six feet, and in breadth eight at the
widest part. It is manned by six rowers
and a pilot, who is continuaUy at the helm,
and is either the owner of the boat, or one
who has a fhare in it. When the wind is
favorable these vessels carry a mainsail and
jib; being very long and narrow, they
saU with great velocity, and when ac-

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 145
tuated by the force of both wind and oars,
which Is often the case, they may be said
to outsail the wind. As they are employed
to traverse the channel of Malta, and carry
letters, money, passengers, and provisions-
to different ports in Sicily and Calabria, it
is necessary that they should be excessively
fleet to escape the Algerine rovers and
Turkish privateers, which are continually
cruising round the island ; and they have
answered their purpose so well, that I ne
ver heard of any one of them being either
taken or lost. The mariners who navigate
them, are generally well experienced in the
knowledge of the state of the heavens, and
wUl foresee the approach of a storra, twelve
hours or raore, before it reaches thera;
they then steer for the nearest port, and
wait till its fury is abated. At the stern of
the boat is an awning covered with oil
cloth, which is so low that you must al
ways be in a recurabent posture. This I
found exceedingly fatiguing the second and
third day, and almost intolerable on the
'fourth, L

.146 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
In such a vessel I embarked, tbge-
ther with my servant and dog, my only
travelling companions, soon after mid-day
on the 12th Instant, and the wind w^as so
very propitious, that we were carried
twenty-four miles against the current of
the Faro in two hours. A calm suc
ceeded, and the sailors worked at their oars
for sixteen hours, which brought us off
Cape Orlando, ninety-four miles from Mes
sina, and one hundred and six frora Paler
rao. The coast between the forraer city
and this Cape is bold and sterile, but with
out population; this rather surprised me
as the soil upon the rocks appears light and
black. It is worthy of observation, that
although this side of the island is nearest,
and directly opposite tb the Italian coast,
StIU there are very few vestiges of the Gre
cians or Romans to be found, and the
country ajppears always to have been in Its
present stated On the erainences there are
watch towers to give alarra to the interior,.
incase of invasions bythe eneray, this was
effected by means of large fires, as is the

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 147
plan in Switzerland, and other mountain
ous countries.
Just as we had dovibled Cape Or
lando, we found the sea ran high into
the shore, and tjie south-west quarter of
the horizon was very cloudy ; but as there
was not much wind, I pressed the sailors
to proceed, not dreaming of an approach'-
ing terapest, which they however foresaw,
and returned with dispatch to a small port,
sufficiently spacious to contain four boats
on the east side K)f Cape Orlando, and so
immediately under that rock as to be well
sheltered from S. and S. W. winds. Here
the Sparonaro was drawn upon the beach,
and the raainsail boom being laid from poop
to prow, and covered with a black woolen
eloth, it formed a good tent to protect us
against the bad weather. At eleven the
wind blew very fresh, continuing with
increasing fury all that day and the follow
ing night. The sea ran literally mountain
high;, the spray was carried above fifty
L 2

148 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
yards into the air, and fell dovvn like' ralft*
At four o'clock I witnessed a very interest
ing scene : a small vessel of 'about eighty
tons burden, freighted with deal boards,
was observed near a league out at sea, tos
sing about In a terrible manner at the
mercy of the waves. As she could not
keep the sea on account of the very high
wind, she was obliged to run on shore, and
the sailors on board her being well ac
quainted with every creek on the coast,
chose a sandy beach to run upori, hoping
to save their own lives arid the cargo, which
being light would be driven on shore,
should the vessel go to pieces, and be easily
collected on a sandy beach. By a clever
manoeuvre, the pilot of the vessel brought
her on shore in a slanting direction, and not
right a-head, so that she struck with less
violence, and before her lower beams went
asunder the merchandize was got on shore,
and the vessel being lightened, was hauled
upon the beach in a state fit for repair, and
only half full pf water.' I walked near two

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 149
miles to see her soon after she had run on
shore, and found a nuraber of country
people assisting in saving the cargo, but
I raust own ray indignation was roused,
when I observed as many as thirty
woraen working incessantly, whilst as
many raen were standing idle upon the
beach, gazing at the breakers dashing over
the vessel. Several of the young girls car
ried twenty or thirty long planks without
interraission, many of which I could not
have lifted, and gave astonishing proofs of
their strength; this formed a singular
contrast with the idle boors who were look
ing at them. The wind continued increas
ing and howled amongst the rocks, the
night was very dark,. and the sea roared in
cessantly; the rain fell copiously at Intervals,
and added to the awful rage of the storm.
If a small 'mass of the rocks which over
hung our little port had fallen upon us, or
if the slender cords had broke, we must have
been inevitably lost. In the various coun
tries and trying situations ui which I have

150 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
found rayself, I never experiettced such ter
ror as during that night.
The following day the storra abated gra
dually ; I ascended the rocks to look into
the state of the country, which I found
in general well cultivated, i and > so produc
tive of corn and fruit trees, that I was, sur
prized to see it so thinly inhabited, and'
that its few inhabitants should be. so raise
rable. The night of the 14th was rauch
Calraer than . the preceding one ; I fore
saw that we should set sail the following
day. The sky became clearer, and the
waves dashed against the rocks with lefs
fury ; worn out at last with fatigue, I fell
asleep for a few hours.
The next morning I walked up to the
summit of the Cape, to see an old castle
half in ruins, but still inhabited,' called
Castel deir Anno. It belongs to the faraUy
of the Prince Castelreale, who erected it at
the time when the nobles of this inland were

LETTERS FROM SICILY- , ifir
absolute in their donaaln ; before the union
of thc Two Sicilies. Its situation, extent,
the fragraents of the walls, and the ruins
of prisons are proofs of its strength, and of
the forraer despotism of its possessor,, The
.parish church, which now occupies one
front of it, is all that reraains of its Prigi-
ginal grandeur. The priest, who inhabits
a few tottering rooras adjoining the chapel;
was (particularly anxious to shew rae aU
the curiosities belonging to it, and to ex
plain, the miracles performed by the won
derful. JMadonna of Castel dell' Anno, a
small wax figure kept in a glass case, with
iron bars, and arGurtain before it, and
standing upon the chief altar. As I ob
served the cereraony of dipping ray finger
in the holy water, and crossing rayself with
it upon entering the church,, this priest be
lieved I was a catholic, and conducting
me to the altar^ he asked vvhether I, wished
to see the Madonna. Willing to carry on
the deception: for the sake of satisfying my
curiosity, I answered in the affirmative.

152 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
and fell upon my knees. He then lighted
two wax tapers before the curtain, which
he drew up, and discovered a delicate little
figure of the Virgin Mother behind the iron
bars, somewhat similar to the appearance
of a bird in a cage.
After this ceremony was perforraed, and
we had beat our breasts,- and rauttered our
Pater Nosters, the priest gave rae a piece
of wool frora under the glass case, which
he informed me with the serious air of cre
dulity, was capable of quelling a storm,
and of preserving me from all evil, if I
prayed to the Madonna of Castel dell'
Anno in any case of necessity. He then
presented rae with' a picture of the Virgin,
which assured rae of her favor. Enriched
by these treasures, I proceeded to admire
some of a different species, the posses
sion of which would have afforded me
much more satisfaction, than all the relics
of saints, and other curiosities of that na
ture contained in Europe. These consisted

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 153
' in four large silver lamps, and a service of
plate for the Sacrament, all elegantly
adorned, and purchased with money given
as alms, in doriation to the church.
The priest next produced a quantity of
rich vests of scarlet, blue, white, black,
orange, brown, violet, and other coloured
sattin, bordered and ornamented with gold
lacel Each colour is adapted to a certain
saints' day : the black with gold for fune
rals had a very rich appearance. After
taking leave of this servant of the church,
and bestowing a little alras to the Ma
donna, a cereraony of all others not to be
forgot, I walked out upon the terrace of
the Castle, where there are five pieces of
rUsty cannon, which I should think it
highly dangerous to fire. They are placed
there to keep off the pirates, and Maho
medan Invaders, but the priest told me,
that he confided in the Madonna, and not
in the cannons, and very likely the one is
as capable of protecting him as the other'.
J forgot to mention that this man and

154 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
others assured rae, that this little inani
mate figure is so very much attached to
her preseut situation at Castel dell' Anno,
that upon being deposited several times in
the church of Naso, a village six miles dis
tant, she has always returned by herself to
the Cape, and it Is useless to atterapt to
place her elsewhere.
The wind fell at noon, and at two we
again launched upon the main, though the
waves still ran high. At midnight we got
off Cefalu, a small city on a rocky cape, and
fifty miles from Cape Orlando. The country
is fine and very productive, the mountains
rise with a slope from the sea, and are co
vered with wood and verdure. The little
city of St, Marco crowns the rocky sura
mit of a high mountain in a singular raan
ner, and presents a very picturesque coujt
d'ceuih The men were obliged to row in
cessantly during the night, as the wind,
which was fresh, was quite contrary. At
a little after sun-rise the following raorning

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 155
we passed Termini, a city that looks very
neat from the sea, and is celebrated for its
grapes, which are sent fresh to Naples;
Messina, and Palermo, and bought up
with such amazing avidity, that it is almost
irapossible to raeet with a single bunch half
an hour after their arrival %,at market»they
are of that species called the white sweet
water, like those of the Pays de Vaud in ap
pearance, but raore rich in their flavour.
We scudded along at the rate of ten
miles an hour, and doubled the high raoun
tain called Cape Reale, projecting boldly
into the sea, and with its rocky walls seems
to bid defiance to the power of that, ele
ment. It Is only nine railes frorn Palerrao,
and you enjoy a fine prospect of the moun
tains behind that city. We conjtended
with the waves tiU one o'clock, when we
entered the little, port of Palermo, calcu
lated only for light vessels, and about a
mile and a half frora the Great Port. I
obtained permission frora the Health Office

156 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
to land, which is comraonly called Pra
tique, without any difficulty ; tpy papers
only were taken into custody to be exa
mined, and returned to me if found to con
tain nothing treasonable. I put up at the
French inn, kept by a woman, who exactly
ans\yers the d4||pcription of Brydone's hos
tess, when he visited Palermo, and I con
cluded that the present landlady must be
the same, until upon enquiry I found that
she had been dead several years, and the
one now occupying her situation is her
sister, who raust have been about twenty-
five when that, traveller was here. She too
is married to a stupid fellow like an idiot,
and has a tongue that never ceases plaguing
rae. I can hardly chase her frora my
chamber, as she Is extremely attached to a
French chit chat, not having entirely for
gotten her native language. Upon asking
her for clean sheets, she looked at me with
an air of dignity, and answered pertly, Je
ne suis fins Cochon, moi, je ne suis point Sici-
lienne, je viens de Paris. This I thought'

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 157
a very ridiculous phrase frora the raouth of
the dirtiest woman I ever met with. The
most miserable villages of the Alps cannot
I believe produce her equal. The inn is,
if possible, worse than herself. The^scene
which I beheld upon entering it, was un
describably bad. My chawiber has a floor
of tiles which has never been washed.
There is a window, but without any glass,
so that I am reduced to the necessity of
either keeping the shutters open, and being
exposed to the heat of the sun, or of sitting
in the dark. Add to this a situation in the
shabbiest, dirtiest street in Palerrao, or per
haps in Europe, and just opposite a glooray
prison, where every tirae I go out upon the
balcony my eyes are regaled with the sight
of a number of miserable wretches thrust
ing their hands through the unrelenting
bars of their cells, to ask for charity. The
union of these horrors gave me at first
such a disgust for Palermo, that I would
have paid all the money which remained
in my pocket to have embarked directly

158 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
for Naples, but my tone soon changea,
when I walked oiit and began to recon
noitre the other parts of the city ; and as
you have now partaken of the hardships
of ray voyage, I will endeavour to enter
tain you in ray next with a description of
this capital, whith I think will afford me
something interesting to comraunicate to
you, and repay me for ray trouble.
I remain, &c. &c.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 159
LETTER XVI.
Palermo, l%th November.
THE subject of my present letter will
be to give you a rough sketch of the situa
tion, and a general description of this city,
reserving any particular objects of notice for
following letters wherein I IhaU give you a
detail of whatever may claim any attention,
Palermo is fituated almoft in the center
of an extensive bay, beneath a chain of
high mountains, which, rising ata little
diftance frora the sea, leave a fruitful
plain, whereon the city is buUt, Thefe
mountains are unproduftivc of every kind
of trees, but are covered with a raossy ver
dure and short grass, up to their surarait.
The plain beneath them is a most enchant
ing garden, producing all the luxuriant
fruits of southern climates in their higheft
ftate of perfection, and enamelled, if I may
use the expressibn, with convents, churches,
and country seats. The summits of the

i6o LETTERS FROM SICILY.
mountains terminate generally in a bare
rock of a reddish tint, which when glided
by the rays of the rising sun has a highly
picturesque appearance. The general out
line of the city Is perfectly uniform. Two
noble streets, each of about a mile and a
half in length, cross one another from north
to south, and frora east to west, forraing a
small opening in the centre called the quat
tro cautoniere or ottanpla, from its octangu
lar forra. This Is decorated with edifices
of an elegant but rather antique style of
architecture, ornaraented with statues of
Flora, Ceres, and Poraona, and of several
Sicilian kings with arms and Inscriptions.
The four streets which run from this pom
raon center are perfectly strait, about
twenty yards broad, and very well paved
with large hewn stones. The houses are
not uniforra as to structure or size, but ge
nerally present a noble front to the street,
ornaraented with colurans, cornices, and
statues. The ground floor consists in open
shops, which, when decorated in an attrac-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 161
tive raanner to allure the country people
have a very lively effect. There are bal
conies before each wludow, and the attics
of several houses which belong to nunne
ries in the neighbourhood are cased tip with
Chinese work, from whence the fair pri
foners gaze upon the busy world below,
and no doubt often sigh to mix with it.
From day-light till the heat of the
day coraraences, that is, when the sun be
gins to ctilminate, and there is no shade in
the streets, the noise and bustle Is astonish
ing. I do not recoUeft to have raet with
any thing equal to it either in Lon
don, Vienna, or Naples. At that period
the streets seem to be the fixed place
of rendezvous for all the lower orders of
society. The quantity of fruit-stalls is In^
numerable, and the woraen and boys walk
ing up and dowri with pomegranates,
olives, medlars, oranges, pistacclo-nuts,
figs, and other fruits are equally so;
all of them have , such potent voices that
M ,

i62 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
they never cease one rainute to extol their
merchandize with an intolerable, and al
most deafening, bawl. To these you may
add droves of country people with asses
and mules, laden with all kinds of pot
herbs, crying out likewife in a manner
which raust affect the strongest nerves.
At this tirae the sailors flock frora the
port to purchase provisions. The police
officers, secretaries, clerks, and apprentices,
hasten to their daily occupations, taking
their breakfast on the road, which confists
in some bread or biscuit, and a little fresh
fruit just gathered in the neighbouring gar
dens, and covered with a luxuriant bloom.
At noon, when the market of the raorn
ing is over, the streets begin to fill with
carriages,, sedans, raonks, and priests. The
fcene becoraes alraost as busy as the for
raer. There being no paths for foot pas
sengers as in our towns in England, the
people are obliged to walk upon the car
riage road, and it is rather furpfising that

LETTERS FROM SICILY, ^63
an accident seldom happens although the;
carriages are driven through the streets
with astonishing velocity. The , number of
them is very great In proportion to the size
of the city ; the poorest of the nobility
keep three or four, and part of their richer
brethren are not content with a dozen, but
often exceed that number. There are some
few good horses, but mules are the beasts
most comraonly in use, and these, which
are originally of the Spanish brped, are
active, powerful, and sure footed. To
draw a concise picture of this bustle, iraa
gine upwards of 200,000 souls inhabiting a
space of ground, only five miles in circum
ference, and add to these the throngs of pea
sants, which spend the day in the city, and
return to their cottages in the evening.
The necessaries of life are much
cheaper here than in Italy, and the luxu
ries may be more easily supported in this
capital than at Naples, For this reason an
immense train of nobility reside here and
M 2

i64 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
oeconoraise their narrow Incomes, whd
Would hardly be able to kCep a carriage at
Naples. Their court is held at the vice
roy's palace, and being less brilliant than
that of a monarfch its attendants are not
fpurred on by pride to vie with one ano
ther In their attire or equipages. The city
is blessed with a continual and copious
supply of clear Water, conducted in pipes
from the adjacent mountains. This
is the first luxury In a warm climate,
but which Is wanting in many parts of
Italy. Snow too abounds here, and in
case of a very mild winter it is brought
from Mount Etnai, which svtpplies all Si
cily, Malta, and part bf Calabria, and
according to Brydone, yielded an anriual re
venue to the Bishop of Catania ofj^^- 10,000,
Nature seeras to have poured out her gifts
upon Palerrao without' denying its inhabi
tants any thing which raight tend to raake
them happy ; but these, regardless, and
almost insensible of her bounty, live like as
many brutes without other desires than to

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 165
eat and drink. There appears to be no erau
lation within their breasts. The raiser
able peasant, though blessed with Hercu
lean force, will plod on in his misery and
die almost as naked as he entered the
world. The lower class is more Ignorant,
superstitious, treacherous, idle, and dirty
than any people I ever met with. Thp
mildness of the climate, and the richness
of the soil, yields thera alraost every ncr
cessary of life, without that Incessant lar
bour which the poor of northern cliraates
are obliged to praftlse to raaintain themr
selves. StiU their habitations are wretched,
and contain an accuraulation of every spe
cies of filth. The nobility, excepting sorae
few, are ruined for Vant of eraployraent
in their state. They have no diets, np
parliaraents to rouse their eraulation and
abilities. They are born with titles,
and with a moderate incorae. Idleness,
and. a want of a liberal education^ p^^event
thera frora fignaUzing themselves in any

i66 LETTERS FROM StClLt.
manner, except in forming the most ro
mantic plans and deepest intrigues, which
they will carry on with unceasing ardour,
and at the perU of their lives, till their ob
ject is accomplished. The situation of this
capital, and the few visits that are paid
to it by the people of rank of other coun
tries, prevent it from participating in the
gradual iraproveraent which takes place in
ialraost every other country, and raany an
cient abuses, both in religion and govern
raent, are riot yet abolished which exist in
few other countries, Spain and Portugal per
haps excepted. If it was not for the greater
part of the shops being shut, it would be
difficult to ascertain which day out of the
seven is appointed for the more particular
observance of the Sabbath. The cries are
incessant, the trade brisk, and the populace
full as unruly and disorderly as upon a
market day. They generally go to mass
at sun-rise, or soon after, and think no
more of religion for the rest of the day.
Pleasure is their only objeft. The evenings

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 167
are dedicated to revelry, riot, and play
houses. I met with a strong instance of vanity m
a woman to whom I was first introduced
in her box at the Opera House, where she
was environed by young ladies. There
was one araongst thera whora she called
sister, a girl about fifteen. It struck rae,
that this must be a finesse of polite life,
and I found out after sbme tirae, that she
is her daughter. Thus you see it suits the
convenience of mothers sometiraes to dis
own their children, but this is a foolish
method of disguising age, as the face will
generally detect what the mouth denies.
The form and decorations of the Opera
House of St, CeciUa are neat and siraple ; it
is of an oval shape, containing a pit, with
fifteen rows of benches, and four stories of
boxes, of which there are thirteen in each
story. The nuraber of the whole including
sixteen stage boxes, is about sixty four. This

i63 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
house will contain near eight hundred peo
ple, and although small, it is never full, as
the middling and lower classes have no taste
for the opera. This is not to be wondered
at, for ta one who is neither amateur nor
connoisseur of singing, this kind of perfor
mance raust appear a mere medley of dreffes
and signs, both preposterous and unraeaiir
ing ; it is therefore natural, that the lower
orders of society should frequent other
places of evening amuseraent, and receive
no pleasure from an opera. Before I was
as well acquainted with the nature of this
performance as I am at present, I was
rather surprized at finding the finest Opera
houses in Italy without galleries, or any
place for the imraediate reception of the
labouring class of raankind, who are so
fond of finishing their day in a theatre ;
but upon inspecting into the cause of
this apparent seclusion of them from
an entertainment so generally in vogue,
I find it arises from their disinclination
to partake of it. The only end or pur-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 169
pose of an opera is to encourage luxury,
whereas a play has always some effect
upon the mind, and may be raade the
instruraent of instruction, which can
hardly be the case with an opera. Cards
were played, refreshraents were handed
about in raost of the boxes, and the cora
pany seeraed quite regardless of what was
going forward on the stage, I have seen
so many of Metastasio's opera's in Italy,
that I find the paltry productions of raost
of the raodern writers very insipid, and can
seldora fix ray attention through the first
act. The heat of the cliraate induces the
higher ranks of society to reverse the order
of nature, by using the night in the sarae
manner in which the day is employed in
northern countries. The Opera does not
coraraence till nine o'clock, and ends at
midnight, when it is customary to drive out
for an airing, take a walk, sup, or pay visits.
When the sun begins to spread its influence

17© LETTERS FROM SICILY.
over nature, they retire to rest. This raode
of living may, in some measure, account
for the fair complexions of the Sicilian
ladies, although they are born in a country
where the sun has so much power, that it
has almost converted rae into a negro in the
space of a few weeks.
I have this morning accompanied the
chevalier A. G. to Monreale, a small city
about five railes south of Palerrao, situated
upon an erainence, whence it coraraands a
very grand and varied prospect. The road
for about three railes Is quite strait ; on
each side of it is a chain of neat country
houses and convents, the forraer with their
balconies and gateways resemble little pa
laces, and the latter are of an iraraense size
and noble appearance. There are also
several beautiful seats of the nobility,
which are elegantly built and painted. We
next ascended a zigzag road, cut on the
side of a steep rock, and ornamented with
statues, inscriptions, and cooling fountains

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 171
of crystal water, which never cease to flow.
The valley beneath, about three miles
broad, is an orchard of orange, olive, fig,
and other fruit trees. The Innumerable
quantity of country-houses, the rich and
velvet look of thp sorabre verdure of the
orange trees, and the still richer tint of
their ripened fruit, the harraony produced
in the whole scene by the varied garment
of auturan, the contrast forraed by the high
and sterile raountains which encorapass the
valley on three sides, the raajestic appear
ance of the city, port, and suburbs, and the
unbounded view of the sea, and sraoaking
sumrait of Stroraboli in the distant hori
zon, form a combination of objects, calcu
lated to enchant the senses. I often wish
you could enjoy these scenes with me, that
we could ascend the bold rocks, or wander
together araongst groves of orange-trees,
loaded with luxuriant fruit, which seera
ingly invite you to gather them, as if to
ease them of their burden.

172 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
YovL will think rae strangely infatuated
with Sicily, but if you could transport
yourself hither, you would see that it Is
not without reason, that I ara so much
pleased with the natural beauties in which
it abounds. We walked about Mon Reale,
but met with nothing reraarkable except
its cathedral, a large gothic edifice, built by
Williara the Second, king of Sicily, about
thc year 1175, and dedicated to the Virgin
Mary, by perraission of Pope Alexander
the Third. Its interior walls are adorned
with fine raosalcs, descriptive of the raost
striking parts of the Old and New Testa
raent, and the roof is supported by some
grand colurans of Egyptian granite. Hav
ing been for several centuries the sepvilchre
of the kings of Sicily and their farailies,
there are raany antique raonuraents, of
porphyry, granite, and raarble, which are
worth attention, on account of the quality
of the stone, and the sculpture and design
of the Sarcophagi. Monreale is now

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 173
united to the see of Palermo, but had for
merly an Archblshop of its own, when
the monarchs of this island resided here ;
upon the union of this crown with that of
Spain, the Court left Palermo, and I sup
pose the want of patronization and nobles
impoverished the See of Monreale so con
siderably, that It was not able any longer to
raaintain a separate Archblshop. The city
raay contain about ten thousand souls, who
raostly earn their bread at Palermo ; there
are likewise some convents, which serve to
drain the neighbourhood of its dainties. I
should suppose the situation of this city to
be as salubrious as that of any place In Eu
rope. It Is about five miles frora the sea,
the interraediate country is , highly culti
vated, it lies upon an erainence alraost sur
rounded by high raountains, whence there
is a continual current of fresh air, and there
is no raarshy land or stagnant water with
in many railes of it. This combination
of all that Is required to constitute a

174 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
healthy situation, makes rae conclude,
that it would be a very desirable Spot of
retireraent for a valetudiriariari, and pre
ferable to any I have yet seen. I will lay
by ray pen for the present to resume it
to-morrow, flattering myself with the
idea, that my endeavours to entertain you
will not be unprofitable. Till then,
I remain, &c. &c.

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 175

LETTER XVII.
Palermo, 1 9th. November.
YESTERDAY afternoon I strolled up
on the Marino ; the gate which leads to It
is called la Porta Felice, at the southern
end of the chief street, termed II Corso ; it
is of noble architecture, and adorned with
statues and eagles of white raarble, the
eagles forming part of the arms of the city.
The Marino is a terrace about fifty yards
broad, running along the sea-side for near
a mile, and used as a walk or drive for all
classes of people. At the present season of
the year the carriages bf the nobility are very
nuraerous ; they parade up and down the
Marino from six o'clock till sun-set, when
they retire to prepare for the Opera, or
pther arauseraents of the evening. But It
is in suraraer that this walk is most fre
quented, and particularly about midnight,
when all the 'torches are extinguished at
Porta Felice, the better to favor the pur-

176 LETTERS FROM SIClLt.
suits of love and intrigues. A band of
music Is placed in a neat little orchestra of
marble pillars, near the centre of the walk.
Soft tunes awaken the soul to tenderness,
the gentle murrauring of the waves lulls it
Into love, the hour, the situation are fa
vorable, and hearts not made of stone can
hardly avoid catching the flame.
Near the end ofthe Marino is a delight
ful garden called the Villa Giulia. It was
dedicated to public use by' the Senate in the
year 1788, and is still raore adapted to en
courage the tender passion than the Marino.
Here no carriages disturb the gentle whis
pers of a tete a tete ; you walk under
groves of orange and leraon trees, whose
fragrant odour cannot fall to please, whilst
the thick foliage serves as an impenetrable
rampart against the intrusions of the sly
moon. There is nothing to betray the
secrets of love, Cupid governs as absolute
monarch, and seems to have fixed his
throne In this bewitching spot, among the
crystal fountains, and orange groves. The

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 177
garden is' adorned with raarble busts, sta
tues, bird cages, and small summer-houses,
which serve as places of resort In case of
rain. Leaving these scenes, I continued
my walk about two railes and a half west
ward to the Ught-house to see the port.
The suburbs which I passed through are
very wretched, and chiefly inhabited by
fisherraen; they contain sorae spacloiis
magazines and storehouses, and two or
three large private edifices. The port Is
not near so commodious or safe, as either
that of Messina or Syracuse, but is adapted
to the commerce of the place, which at
present appears very insignificant. The
whole nuraber of raerchant vessels lying
there at anchor may be about fifty. They
are raost of thera deeply -laden with flour,
for the supply of the Neapolitan array now
encaraped beyond Rorae. There are like
wise two Spanish raen of war and a fri
gate, that have lain here eight raonths.
They brought a very rich cargo of quick
silver from the mines of Idria, and were
N

178 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
destined to sail directly to the gulph of
Mexico, but the arrival of the English
fleet in the Mediterranean corapelled thera
to take refuge in Palermo, whence they
have sent' their cargo to Carthagena in
¦ sraall vessels, and will reraain themselves
until the peace, for they would find it dif
ficult to get to Spain during the war, as our
ships have watched them very narrowly,
and still continue to do so.
The Chevalier A . G. and myself drove
to the Bagaria this morning, about nine
miles out of town. The road goes through
a flat country, very well cultivated, and
producing several kinds of fixilt, and other
vegetables in great perfection. It is hedged
by aloes, mostly in flower, which have a
pretty appearance as you drive between
thera. . The Bagaria Is the most singular
spot of ground I ever beheld. Imagine a
plain not raore than ten railes in circurafe
rence, bounded on the east and west by the
sea, and on the north and south by two
raountains ; sterile by nature, being covered

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 179
with a reddish sandy soil, and ornaraented
with large palaces, placed about two hundred
yards frora each other, and not adorned by
any kind of verdure, except small French gar
dens inclosed with high walls. Any one of
these palaces would grace an English park,
but they seem placed here by raagic, with
out any taste whatsoever. There are about
fifteen of them, all of a different style
of architecture, and fantastically painted.
You may easily conceive how rauch this
scene raust strike an Englishman, who fan
cies his park, shrubbery, or garden, the
greatest ornament of his country seat, and
who would rather live In a neat cottage
buUt in a garden, than in a palace on a
desert. Although there is a great variety
of buildings in the Bagaria, there is not one
which may be considered as a model of
taste In regard to its architecture ; and the
interiors, though adorned with the choicest
ornaraents, exhibit a scene of confusion and
dirt. Many of their possessors are either
too poor, or too rauch addicted to the ruin
ous vice of garabling, to be able to support
N 2

i8o LETTERS FROM' SICILY,
the expence of two sets of furniture, fo that
they bring It frora the city when wanted ;
and in several of these Immense palaces,
belonging to the first princes in the island
there are no beds. What a contrast do
these vast edifices form with the neat and
compact villa's of our nobility and gentry,
where every thing Is to be found which can
be conducive to the corafort of their inha
bitants. The palace of the Prince of Palagb-
nla, renowned as a coraposition of ridi
cule and monsters, Is still very curious,
though by no means equal to what It was
when Brydone was here. That author
says, that the incessant complaints of
the ladles agairist the terrific appearance
of the preposterous statues which sur
rounded it. Induced the successor of the
late Prince, the original founder of this
collection of oddities, to take down aU
those statues which Were near the road,
and leave those only standing near the
palace. It is rather to be regretted, that

LETTERS FROM SICILY. i,8i
he should have been so weak as to be pre
vailed upon to destroy one of the finest
originals of ridicule that ever existed.
The late Prince, who was half an idiot,
(which is easily to be perceived by the
traits of his features in an excellent por
trait, upon the wall of one of the rooms)
spent all his time and money in collecting
every thing that was preposterous and un
common. He paid very handsomely for
every monster of a figure that was brought
to him, and gave the most frightful statues
the choicest place in his palace. The little
which still remains, conveys some Idea of
the ancient state of this repository of oddi
ties. The walls of some of the rooms are
covered with blue and white cut glasses,
and the cielings are of mirrors. The mar
ble statues and stairs are of porphyry,
and still retain some elegance, though In
a state of ruin. In a few years there
will be nothing remaining to attract the
notice of travellers, and no traces left of
one of the i
ever existed.

one of the most singular characters that

i82 LETTERS FROM SflCILY.
The palace of the Prince of Valguernera
is the handsoraest building in the Bagaria,
and there are sorae hedges of rayrtles in
the gardens which are pleasing to the eye.
We took a drive round about to see the
church of St. Flavia, built in the style of
St. Peter's, and neatly ornamented with
modern paintings and statues.
You will be rather surprised when I in
form yovi that the generality of the feraale
sex in this cliraate Is at a state of maturity
at twelve years of age, and they frequently
marry at that time, and sometimes even a
little younger. It is the custom, or rather
the interest, of the nobility to marry young
in most countries, for the sake of family
connections ; but here it is common
amongst the lower orders of society, and
the age of fifteen may correspond with that
of twenty-five in northern cliraates. In a
country where education is badly attended
to, and where religion has little influence
or restraint over the rainds or actions of
mankind, how can raarriage be considered

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 183
as a state of happiness ? How is it probable
that the affections of a child can be fixed
to one objeft, when it has no reason to
guide them ? It Is not surprising, or even
unnatural, that, \mder such circumstances,
marriage should become a heavy burden,
that the wedded should seek variety, and
that their breasts should be open to every
illicit passion. If nature has so ordained
it that man and woman shall come to ma
turity at an earlier age in warm climates
than in cold ones, it is incumbent upon the
religion and 'government of the country to
exert therafelves in reraedying that evil
(for such it raay be terraed in the present
state of society) by bestowing all possible
pains upon the education, and preparing
the young mind for the part which it
is to aft in life. What prudence in the ^
management ofher affairs, or in the con
duft of her own person, can we look for
in a mother of fourteen? How can she
be expefted to lead that regular life which
it is the duty of a mother to lead ? Uncon-

i84 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
trouled by any one, and least of all by her
own reason, will she not resort to every
place of mirth, keep late hours, and de->-
stroy her constitution with unwholesome
food ? Her offspring will be weak and
puny, and herself an old woman at thirty
years of age. The state of raatriraony in
Italy, and other warra cliraates, would be
far raore happy if the soleran vow was not
to be made till both sexes had fixed their
stature, and finished their education. We
should not witness so rauch jealousy, envy,
rage, misery, ruin, and assassination if the
parties had more consideration in the
choice of their companion in life. It is
between thirteen and eighteeri that a fe
male mind delights in the Belles Letters,
before that age her capacity cannot com
prehend the maxims either of religion or
morality. When she ought to become a
student she becomes a mother, and how
can her mind be furnished with sufficient
knowledge to direct her conduct. The
avocations of the wedded state, the plea-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 185
sures of the world, and a variety of trifling
occupations will naturally divert her weak
mind from every kind of study until youth
be fled, and the age arrived when she has
no zest for knowledge ; but for the fake
of eraployraent she will pass the remainder
of her days in intrigues, fetting a shocking
example to her children, and rendering
herself, her husband, and other families
unhappy through life.
Excuse this digression of your's, &c, &c.

i86 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
LETTER XVIII.
Palermo, 21st November.
I BEGIN now to look with anxiety to
wards Naples, but fear that I shall be
detained here a week or ten days longer,
waiting for a convoy which is to convey a
regiment of cavalry and a quantity of flour
to Naples. It Is said, that the king has
broken the treaty of peace and marched
his troops to Rome i I am afraid that he
cannot long resist the artful designs and
depredating arraies of the French, and ere
many months be passed we shall see thera
triumphant In the raagnificent city of
Naples. I expeft there will be a revolution
in that country even raore distressing than
that which I witnessed in Switzerland, and
ray plan of residing peaceably in Naples
until spring raust I fear be laid aside. It is
necessaryfor me to reflect upon ray situation,
and in case any thing unpleasant should
happen I will endeavour to extricate my-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 187
self as well as possible. It often grieves
me to think upon the anxiety which you
raust be under for ray welfare araidst all
these troubles, and upon the outskirts of
Europe ; bvit I trust rayself to the care
of Providence, with confidence. This let
ter will be a medley of different subjects, as
there is little more in Palermo worth notice.
My friend, the chevalier, related the story
of an affair to rae which took place here a
few days before ray arrival. It will help to
convince you of the want of education in
the higher orders of fociety, and of some of,
their passions being as unrestrained as in a
state of nature ; and you will fee in a stronger
light the depravity of their minds, when I
inforra you that similar circurastances hap
pen alraost every raonth. Don Toraaso
C — 1 — na, son of the Duke of G — t — no,
is the hero of the tale. He is a handsome
young man, whose appearance would be
lie the weakness of his mind. He pro
fessed the most ardent love for the princess
of la P — t — la, a young woman, who was

»88 LETTERS FROM SICILY,
considered the beUe of Palerrao. She had
been raarried but very few months, and
Don Tomaso could not exist for one day if
he did not behold the object ofhis affection.
He accompanied her every where, and in
short payed her all those attentions which
it is the duty of an affectionate husband to
pay to his consort, but which the prince
neglected, being engaged In numerous af
fairs of love, gambling, and intrigues.
Susceptible to every look, and almost pe
netrating Into the thoughts of the princess,
Don Tomaso fancied that he observed
soraething cool In her actions which led
hira to suspect her fidelity towards hira.
His iraagination roused itself to a pitch
bordering upon madness, and his suspicion
increased with every raoraent, he burnt
with rage, and uncontrolled by raorality or
reason, he resolved in the space of a very
few hours to be revenged. The ways of
effecting this were various, but Don Toraaso
,hit upon one entirely novel. He treated
the princess as if she had been a school-

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 189
toy, with whom he had quarrelled. Hav
ing devised the raethod, the raeans soon
presented theraselves. He stopped the
princess's carriage at raidnight as she was
returning frora the opera, juraped Into it,
and both with his fifts and a cane he
beat her in a violent raanner, and then
ran off. The prince upon beirig infOrraed
of the affair did not either challenge or
cause Don Toraaso to be assasinated ; he
only raade a report of his conduct to the
viceroy, who ordered hira to be iraprisoned.
The viceroy is an intiraate friend of the
Duke of G — t — no, and will no doubt soon
release- his valiant son. A sirailar affair
happened a few raonths ago at Florence,
and were I to collect all the anecdotes
which I have heard relating to love and
intrigues, I should be able to fill a folio
volurae. I have been introduced to our con
sul general, vvho is so rauch respected for

igo LETTERS FROM SICILY.
his upright conduct, that the viceroy and
consuls of other nations, whether friends or
enemies, consvilt with him upon affairs of
the greatest moment, and his judgment and
justice in his decisions, together with his
love for the honour of his country, are
truly exemplary: He lives in a neat house
which he has built on the road to Mon
reale, where he is happy to enjoy the
fociety of his countrymen, and render them
as comfortable as lies in his power. On
the 22d the guns of the citadel were fired,
both morning and evening, for the happy
delivery of the princess hereditary of a
daughter. • The viceroy's palace and the
theatres were illurainated. The archbishop
and other public charafters, in the service
of government, hung out portraits of the
king and queen badly painted upon their
balconies, and placed a ,few wax tapers
before them. The viceroy did not appear
at the theatre, therefore the ladies were not
in gala dresses. You would have been

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 191
struck at seeing several of the first female
nobility sitting in the front bf their boxes
and eating a kind of coraraon soup raade
of bread, hara, cheese and herbs ; after
this, they drank several, jtglasses of red
wine. The police of this city is very bad ; it is
xinsafe to walk even in the public streets
after 8 or 9 o'clock, although they are
patrolled by parties of soldiers. A nuraber
of those belonging to the regiraent of ca
valry, which Is going to Naples, seera de
termined to plunder as rauch as they can
before they leave the Ifland. They rob
houses, shops, and persons ; and although
feveral have been taken up, still they con
tinue to aft so desperately that eight of
tl;iera attacked fifty constables, shot their
leader, wounded two others, and drove the
rest away. These men, like most banditti
who are in parties, never injUre the person
they rob, unless he resists, and then they will

192 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
not spare hira. The sirocco still blows^
and the weather is cloudy and wet. I
have not beena ble to take raany walks into
the country, but have confined myself
to my wretchied charaber, enjoying the
amuseraents of drawing and thinking of
you, I remain, &c.

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 193
LETTER XIX.
Palermo, 29th., Novembe7\
THE anxiety which yovj. raust be under
on ray account, induces rae once raore to
address you frora hence, although I am
fearfvil I shall not be able to arause you.
The weather has continued quite unfavo
rable for my rambles in the country ; , I
have visited the Opera for an hour or two
every evening, having free admission to
the manager's box, where I raeet a party
of seven or eight, which raakes a little va
riety to ray lonely life. The Viceroy at-^
tended one of the churches on the 23d,
where the Te Deum was performed in all
the pomp of the Catholic religion, on ac
count of the birth of, the Princess at Ca
serta. The procession to the church was
far raore magnificent and splendid than I
could have expected ; the elegant carriages
of the nobility were drawn by four and six
horses, preceded and followed by several
o

194 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
running footraen, lacqueys, &c. dressed in
all the pageantry which is used on such oc
casions. Three large gilt coaches and six
preceded the Viceroy, who carae Iri one of
those iramense vehicles of glass, called
coaches by our forefathers ; a regiraent of
cavalry brought up the rear, and a regi
ment of infantry drawn up before the en
trance ofthe church, fired volleys at inter
vals. There would hardly have been room
for another person, the church was so ex
cessively crouded, althovigh very spacious.
The rausic was harmonious In the greatest
degree, and exceedingly grand. The whole
forraed a scene worthy the attention of a
foreigner, and I am much gratified in hav
ing been present at this ceremony, although
it is not equal to raany processions which
I have seen upon the Continent.
The nuraber of churches In Palerrao ex
ceeds that of any town which I have ever
seen. Wherever you stop to gaze around
you for a raoraent, your eye meets with
four or five of them, and the ringing of bells

LETTERS FROM SICILY, 195
continually assails your ears. Some of these
edifices are very magriificerit, particularly
that of St. Joseph, whose roof is supported
by thirty-four very large Ionic piUars of
grey marble, with white bases arid capitals.
The altar is of agate, marble, arid lapis
lazuli, curiously irilaid and finely poUshed ;
but this, like the generality of Italian and
Sicilian buildings, is not quite compleated ;
the pavement is of brick, though it was
intended to be of raarble. A traveller will
find this to be the case throughout all Italy,
St. Peter's is not quite compleated, nor are
any of the superb public buildings either at
Naples, Messina, Catania, or Palermo.
The designs are noble, but the eyes of the
undertakers have outreached their purses.
I went to the Consul's in the afternoon,
and raet there the Duke and Duchess of
F. with a sbn of the Prince of P. who
were corae to see the Consul's telescopes
and ' electrifying machine. The Duchess
is a charming little woman, daughter of
o 2

196 LETTERS FROM SICILY.
the Chevalier Giueni of Catania, de
scended from the Dukes of AnjoU,
whose rauseum I have mentioned in my
letter from that place. The Duke has
little to say for himself, and is rather ad
dicted to jealousy, perhaps not without
reason. This coviple were attached to each
Other six years before they were united in,
wedlock. The prince of F. father of the
Duke, disapproved of the match, as being
ignorainious to his faraily, and would ne
ver give his consent to it. The Chevalier
married them at last at Catania, and the
Prince disinherited his son. The son and,
daughter-in-law repaired iraraediately to
Palerrao, represented the affair In a Court
of Justice, which, frora what authority I
could not learn, ordered the Prince to pay
^.6000 sterling to the couple for the ex
pences of the wedding, and to continue to
pay thera a pension of jT. lOOCf per month,
until he should take his son again Into fa
vor. The Duchess is very partial to Eng
land, and says she will go there when
peace is made ; I have given her an invi-

LETTERS FROM SICILY. 197
tation to spend a week at our house, which
she said she should accept of if her wish
can be accomplished.
Onthe 24th I walked to an old Saracen
palace belonging to the Prince of Castel
reale; it is a spacious building, very high,
ofa quadrangular forra, and of a purer and
plainer style of architecture than was cora
raonly used araong the Saracens when they
over-ran the south of Europe. It Is called
Tisa, and served as a sumraer residence for
a king of that narae in about the year 1 326,
when Palermo was taken by the infidels,
and made their capital ; there are ten or
eleven other fine edifices of the same na
ture in the city, which are now modern
ised and converted Into palaces for the no
bility. On ray return horae I attended
raass In the viceroy's chapel, a sraall an
tique building, whose interior walls are en
tirely covered with mosaics, like the ca
thedral of Monreale, but one of these re
presenting a boar hunt, seemed to me but
little adapted to adorn a place of worship.

igB LETTERS FROM SICILY.
The church of the nunnery of St. Cathe
rine is entirely of inlaid marble of many co
lours and bas reliefs, representing the sto
ries of sacred history ; but though the ap
pearance of the whole is very rich and
splendid, still it looks confused, and ap
pears to have no other raerit than that of
the choice of the colours of the raarble,
and the raanner In which it is inlaid.
The long wished for convoy which Is
to convey me to Naples is entering the
port. I ara going to the Consul's for ray
passport to quit this island, where I have
spent near forty days in a satisfactory and
instructive raanner.
Farewell for the present ; ray next will
be frora Naples, should I not be carried
into Tunis. Providence will, I hope, soon
guide me to ray native country, and to the
arras of my friends ; this believe rae. Is
the most ardent wish of
Your's, &c. &c.

The author arrived safe at Naples on
the Qth of December 1798, but met with
nothing worthy communication, as the objects
in view were the, same as are already de
scribed in the voyage to Messina^

( 201 )
NOTES,
»AN English traveller to the south of Europe and the
Holy Land in 1610, gives an interesting description of the
Island of Capri, which I have transcribed for the amusement
of my readers.
" Capra is an island small and rocky, having no haven,
nor convenient station. But the ayre is there mild, even
during the winter ; being defended from the bitter north by
the Surrentine mountains, and by the west wind, to which it
lies open, refreshed in the summer : possessing on all sides
the pleasure of the sea, and tlie delicate prospects of Vesu
vius, Naples, Cuma, and the adjoyning ilands. The The-
loboans did first inhabite it, so called of Thelon, the father
of Oebalus :
Nee tu carminibus nostris indictus abibis,
Oebale, quem generasse Thelon Sebethide
Nympha. Tertur, Theloboum Capreas cum regna teneret,
Jain senior -^— Virg, .^n, lib, vii.
*
Nor shall our verse thee Oebalus forget.
Whom the nymph^ Sebethls to Thelon bore :
Thelon then old the crowne of Capra wore.
And Theloboans rul'd 
who were originally of Samus. But when Augustus Csesar
came into these parts, it was inhabited by Grecians; and
because an old saplesse tree did flourish afresh upon his land.*
ing in the island, he would needs have it of, the Neapoli
tans, in exchange of jEnaria: which from henceforth he var
riously beautified, and honoured with his retirements. But
Tyberius made Capra by his cruelty and lusts, both infa-

202 NOTES.
mous and unhappy : wbo hither withdrawing from the af
faires of the Common-wealth, (for that the Hand was unac-
cessable on all sides by reason of the upright cliiTs, except
onely at one place, no man being suffered to land but upon
especiall admittance) hence sent his mandates of death. In
the mean time making it a very stew of incredible beastli-
linesse, which modesty will not suffer to relate. In so much
that Capra was stiled the Hand of Secret Lusts, and he Ca-
preneus. His usuall companions were magicians and sooth
sayers : whereof the satyre speaking of Sejanus,
Tutor haberi
Principis augusta Caprearum in rupe sendentis.
Cum grege Chaldceo, — Juven, Sat. x.
The Prince's tutor glorying to be nam'd.
Sitting in caves of Capra with defamed
Chaldaeans.—
The principal of these was Thrasyllus ; whom Tiberius in
tending on a time to thrust downe from the cliffe as they
walked together, in that he had failed in a former prediction,
and perceiving by his lookes that he was troubled in his
mind, demanded the cause : who replied, that by his art he
foresaw some hardly to be avoyded danger to be neere him :
whereat Tiberius amazed altered his purpose. Unto this
iland they used to confine offenders, a custome that continues
to this day. Amongst other grots here is one that hath an -
entrance very otscure, but leades into a lightsome cave : ex
ceeding pleasant, by reason of tfae water dropping from on
high. About the shore therei are divers ruines, sufficient
witnesses of the Roman magnificency. Here is a little city
(whereof there is a Bishop) ofthe name of the iland, having
a strong fbrteresse, so seated that by r«e alone it may be
defended.

NOTES,

203

<> THE points in dispute between the Volcanists and Nep
tunists, may be reduced into the following six heads, which
I think calculated to explain the different grounds, upon
which the abettors of each liypothesis found tlieir creed.

Volcanists,
1st. The earth was in the
beginning a red hot mass,
which grew cool by de
grees ; it was afterwards
overflowed by water,
2d, The dry land was raised
above the surface of the
sea by an inioard power ;
thus the power worked
itoxa within outwards, and
the circumference of the
earth was by that means
enlarged.
3d. The effecting power
(causa" efficiens) was air
and fire,
4th, The land dried gradu
ally.
5 th, The irregularities in the
strata of the mountains
arise from earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions,
6th, The alluvial or secon
dary mountains were pro
duced from the ruins and
destruction of the primary
mountains, and contain
no marine animals.

Neptunists,
1st. The earth was in the be-
, ginning a cold jnass en
compassed by water, in
which the solid parts
formed themselves by
sediment,
2d. The dry land arose from
the recession of the sea
into the hollowed parts
(jf the earth ; thus the
power worked from
without intvards, and the
surface of the earth was
diminished. ¦
3d, The effecting power
(causa efficiens) was air
and water.
4th, The sea suddenly with»
drew from the land.
5 th, The irregularities in the
strata arise from the
natural giving way nf the
earth.
6th, The ajluvial mountains
were formed, stratified,
and sunk into irregulari
ties, as sediment of the
sea, and contain marine
productions.

204 NOTES,
' FOR the entertainment of my readers, I have annexed the
following letter, written to my friends from Sienna, imme
diately after the earthquake alluded to.
Sunday llth May, 1798, , , Written at the Villa of the
Marchioness Z. two miles from Sienna on the road
to Florence.
I cannQt delay a single post to inform you of the dreadfull
danger to which I have been exposed, by the most awful
event which can happen upon the surface of the globe, and
to beg that your thanksgivings in union with my own, jnay be
offered up to the Almighty, for his gracious preservance of the
lives of so many of his creatures, who were upon the verge
of eternity. You will have observed, that in preceding let
ters I have made mention of the unusual appearances in the
heavens, attended with very unsettled weather. Yesterday
afternoon at ten minutes past one o'clock, the most terrible
earthquake took place that was ever felt in Sienna. I was
writing in my room, and a friend and a servaint were in the
apartment, when the most violent and reverberatory motion
almost overset my chair, and threw the servant entirely
down, affecting us for a moment like a slight electric shock.
This dreadful convulsion of nature lasted _,during thirty se-
seconds, without intermitting from the violence with which it
commenced. A tremendous noise issued from the bowels of
the earth, to which was added the rattling of the furniture
around us, and the cracking of the walls. It did not strike
either of us at the beginning that what we felt was an earth
quake, but 'ere many seconds had elapsed, that idea entered
into my mind, and I called out loudly. Run, Run, upon
which we hurried otf through our suit of aparbnents towards
the street.^ vThe nearest objects were for a few minutes con
cealed from my sight by clouds of dust, occasioned by the fal
ling chimneys and cornices which bestrewed th? street. The

NOTES. 205
affrighted inhabitants rushed from their houses, speechless
and pale, but soon broke out in the most bitter lamentations,
uttering incoherent prayprs, and proceeding ai by instinct to
wards tlie churches. A croud assembled round a poor mortal
who had been thrown from a scaffolding close to the gateway
of the inn, and who, dreadfillly mutilated, lay wallowing
in his blood. When I was sufficiently collected to call to
mind the improbability of a second shock following the first
in immediate succession, (which is seldom the case) I re
turned into the apartments, which I found in a deplorable
condition. The floors were cracked in lines all across the
rooms ; the windows were distorted and twisted into a dia
gonal shape, so as to render it impossible for us to open
them : the key stones, and those of the doors likewise were
split in twain, and the separations at the corners of an out
ward wall were so wide, that I could see the light through
the crevices at each side of the angle. The sight of these
objects, and the state of insecurity in vyhich I fourid my
self, entirely deprived 'me of the little philosophy the
earthquake had left me. The moment was replete with
horror ; I followed the multitude to the Lizza, (a public
walk) where a vast concourse of fugitives was speedily as
sembled together, whose countenances were strongly marked
by the feelings of their hearts. Religion seemed to be their
chief resource ; a series of Paternosters and Ave Maria's
were muttered from every mouth, accompanied by frequent
beating ofthe breast, and making signs of t;he cross, Happy
they, who can fly to this infallible resource in a moment so
pregnant with distress ! It is then that the most bigoted Ca
tholic is happier than the wisest philosopher, I observed that
tents were pitched upon the Lizza, andthe inhabitants seemed
disposed to remain there during the night ; a plan which at

20S NOTES.
first appeared to me very pusillanimous, as I knew that the
greater part of their houses could not be rendered entirely
uninhabitable, but experience, as you shall hear, convinced
me to the contrary. m. '^//^l^^I^
At three o'clock my English companion and myself felt
that our usual hour for dining was past, we summoned
up our resolution, and returned to our tottering apart
ments. Upon enquiry, the chief part of the food which
had been prepared for the day was not eatable, having been
covered with mortar and soot from the chimney j a few rem
nants were however collected, and served up to us, and a
bottle of Monte Pulciano wine had almost obliterated from our
minds the scene of the morning, when at four o'clock a se
cond shock dro\^e us hastily from our chairs, and ere we had
reached the staircase a third succeeded, which made us fully
sensible of the imminent danger that surrounded us, when
under the roof of a half-ruined house. The apertures of the
walls were opened wider, and the beams creaked like those
ofa ship when labouring in a storm. We we're now deter
mined to fly into the country, where we might occasionally
run into the open fields, and not be in dread of falling chim
neys or cornices. We directed our steps to the villa of Lady
S  , our most intimate friend, whom we found in the great
est distress, and lost in the agonies of grief. The cieling of
an apartment in the College of Nobility fell upon twelve of
the students, and fractured the limbs of several of them :
amongst the rest Lady S  's eldest son was left in a very
dangerous state, ' He was brought into the country as the
safest place, during the time we were at her villa ; and I
fear, although the most able surgeons attend him, thathe must
be a majTtyr to this unfortunate accident. The misery of the
unfortunate mother penetrated the breast of a numerous train
of nobility who came to offer their consolation, and the scene

NOTES. 207
acted so forcibly upon the spirits, that no one could refrain
from shedding tears.
Judging that under such circumstances it might not be
convenient for us to stay long at this villa, we returned
once more towards the city. On the road we felFin with
a Mr. G,  , an English gentleman, who has resided in
Sienna during the last twenty-five years, and has built a neafc
country house after the manner of our nation, which, from
being held together by large beams, did not sufler the smallest
injury from the repeated s^hocks. Mr, G— — accompanied
us to town, anxious to know whether a relation of his was
amongst the number of nuns killed by the fall of the cupola,
while adorning an altar in the church of their convent. We
walked upon the Lizza until the dusk of the evening, when
not without some fears, we re-occupied our apartments : but
confiding in a good Providence, we sat communicating our
thoughts until twilight gave w^y to darkness; we then called
fer candles, begging the servant who brought them to tread
l^htly across the apartments, such was the insecurity of our
situation ; and he. had hardjly placed them . upon the table,
when a fourth shock succeeded, which brought them to the
ground. This happened at half past eight, and threw us into
great alarm ; wrapping ourselves up therefore in our great
coats we hurried out of the eity, undetermined where to seek
refuge. You cannot conceive what satisfaction I felt upon
finding myself in the open air, tinsurrounded by walls and
houses, which threatened to bury me alive. We finally re
solved to beg a bed at our friend's the Marchioness Z, whose
manifest hospitaUty and goodwill towards the English, in
duced us to seek an asylum at her delightful villa. We were
kindly received amidst a numerous party of fugitives, whom
we found at prayers, and with them vve oflfered up our thanks
to the Governor of the Universe for his preservation of us.

208 NOTES,
The Duke of Braschi, nephew to the Pope, and several other
distinguished personages ot the expatriated Romans were of
the party. Itwas judged most expedient to pass the night in
a spacious coach house, which was free from the smallest
crevice, where we could all be together, for society was
best calculated to afford alleviation to the mind under our
mutual distress. Some mattresses were spread around it, and
chairs and sophas introduced to make up the deficiency, A
plenteous supper was served up, which, with good company
and delicious wine, dispelled our fears, and made us less
uneasy under the circumstances which had brought us toge
ther. Upon the removal of the table the ladies first chose
their places of repose, and the gentlemen reclined upon the
chairs and sophas, accommodating each other as much as
they were able. Few eyes were closed till one o'clock, when
sleep overcame tlie desire to converse, and an universal si
lence prevailed.
A little before seven o'clock in the morning, as my
companion and myself were walking on the high road
towards the city, whence we were anxious to remove our
effects, we felt another slight shock, and distinctly heard
a continuation of several sounds not unlike those of distant
cannon during an engagement at sea. We found most ofthe
houses in the city deserted, and the number of tents upon the
Lizza much increased. There were upwards of fifty car
riages which serve as habitations for the Nobles, Many
hundreds of people are retiring into the country, conveying
with them whatever they can. The churches being deemed
unsafe places of resort, are shut up, and mass is performed
in the open air.
I forgot to mention, that the poor old Pope had a very
narrow escape from death at the first shock, . He was in his
apartment at a convent of Augustine Friars, and before the

NOTES. 209
shock-had subsided, some monks conveyed him into the Cor-
ridores : just as he had left the room, the chair upon which
he had been sitting for several hours, was covered with a
mass of bricks and mortar. This was termed the greatest qf
miracles, and renders the venerable old man doubly holy, in
the eyes of his adherents. His Holiness, together with
Odescalchi, formerly the Nuncio at Florence, were con
ducted to the Florentine tower, a palace belonging to Sig.
Faustina S, a fine old lady of a very noble family.
The weather both yesterday and to-day has been oppres
sive, with intermitting showers, bi ' no tendency to violent
storms, the frequent foUo^vers of such convulsions. Another
shock, as violent as the first, would raze Sienna to the ground ;
it is already rendered uninhabitable for the present. The
college, churches, and other public buildings, are shut up,
and much money must be expended upon them before
they can be reinstated in their former condition. Some
of the private houses, and the palaces in particular, are so
thoroughly damaged, that in my opinion, the best plan would
be to take them entirely dpwn, and rebuild them upon a
smaller scale. But the Sanese will o'iily patch up the cre
vices, and unite the disjoined parts by a few iron bars ; so that
any subsequent shock must utterly destroy them ; they con
sole themselves with the idea, that a similar event will not
take place during their lives, as upon searching the records
of the city, it is found that these violent earthquakes only
happen once in a century, which has hitherto been the case,
and this appears a fixed period for the collecting of sufficient
vapours and confined air to convulse the earth, , when it en-
deavours to force a passage from its bowels. Not reposing
great confidence in this supposition, I dread a repetition of
what has already happened, and know not where this sad

210 NOTES,
disaster will end. I must now conclude my tale of woe,
which I fear will distress your feelings, as much as it does my
own in relating it. Do not encourage despair ; under the
eye of Providence I trust all will be well still.
Monday 2Sth, same ViUa,
At one o'clock this morning we felt another shock, and at
half past four another, which threw the whole coach house
into confusion, bqjng nearly as violentas the one of the 26th.
Chevalier G  , whose beautiful wife was mistress to the
G' of S. and was at thattime of our party, with two
lovely babes, unmindful of this interesting groupe, ran out of
the gates exclaiming, Le mie Galline ; Le mie Galline ! Oh my
chickens. Oh my chickens ! I naturally supposed that he
meant his children, but the Marchioness informed me, that
he alluded to some favorite bantams, and other rare fowls,
which he had left at Sienna, and feared lest they were killed.
I was informed, that he afterwards absolutely took them fron)
the city in his carriage into the country, whither he retired
with his lovely family ! The motion of this shock being only
undulatory, without any violent concussion, it occasioned no
material damage to the city.
Yesterday evening we formed a party to the Lizza, which
appeared like a vast camp of fugitives, and was it not for
the misfortune wbich gave origin to this singular assemblage,
it presented a coup d'ceuil, amusing ra,ther than distressing.
There was a mixture of rich and poor, rendered equal by
mutual distress. Some of them were adjusting their gar
ments, others cooking their food, and attending to their fa
mily occupations, as much as circumstances would allow.
Tents, carriages, fires, and trees formed a chequered view,
equally singular arid new to me.

NOTES. 211
Upon an altar erected in the center ofthe Lizza^ thfey have
placed a painting of the Virgin Mary, with the child Jesus
and St, John the Baptist, It was pretended, that before the
earthquakes could cease and security be restored to th6 city,
this picture of the Virgin must open its eyes and move its
head. The priests inforijied the public, that this could only
be effected by fervent prayers and bounteous donations ; I was
present during the feigned ceremony. The rich and poor,
but more particularly the latter, passed in regular succession
before the altar, and laid either money, jewels, watches, or
rosaries upon it. At a fixed period the priests surrounded it,
so as to prevent any one from approaching very near it,, and
when they thought that the attention of the spectators dimi
nished, or that they had tired their eyes by looking stedfast
for a long while at the same object, they universally ex
claimed, " The miracle is performed, the eyes are opened .'"
A great part of the ignorant spectators durst not have uttered
a syllable to the contrary, and those that said they had not
seen the motion of the eyes or head, were soon silenced by
the overawing priests, who firmly asserted that they had
seen it, and one of them, in my hearing, absolutely said he
would take an oath to the fact, I saw no motion of course
whatsoever, nor did any one of my companions ; the picture
stood unconnected with any thing that could contain ma
chinery to move the head and eyes, and was literally a paint
ing upon canvas. What do you think of such notorious ab
surdity ? Can that religion be ^ pure which encourages such
superstition? Does it proceed from the doctrine of the
gospel of Christ, which it professes to follow ? No, my dear
friends, in your greatest lenity you cannot but condemn it.
The grand Duke, a kind father to his people, has rendered
them amore essential service in their present distress, than all
p2

212 NOTES,
the holy pictures in his kingdom could afford them. He has
sent 10,000 dollars to Sienna to relieve the immediate wants
of the inhabitants, and has promised to lend farther succour
in a short time. My English companion and myself pjPpose
taking a small villa, near to that of the Marchioness, being
unwilling to quit the agreeable society which we have en
joyed since our arrival here, and desirous of perfecting our-
.selves in the pure language spoken in this neighbourhood.
Should any thing very particular occur, you will hear from
me by the next post, and if you do not, you may conclude
that all is well. Adieu. '

NOTES. 213
* FOR the advantage of those amongst my readers w^ho may
xwish to become better acquainted with ancient Syracuse, and
have not an opportunity of prying into all the different authors
who have treated upon that city, I have subjoined the follow
ing note :
Syracuse was first built and inhabited by the Etoli, a people
which migrated from Etolia, and a city called Ortygia, in the
Peloponesus, a short time after the universal deluge. On thjs ,
account their new colony was called Ortygia, About 4100
years after the creation of the world, according to the Mosaic
calculation, and 700 years before the building of Rome,- the
Etoli were expelled from Ortygia by the Siculi, who in their
turn were driven out by one Archias a Corinthian, who fled
thither with a numerous train of his countrymen, on accountof
the discovery of a plot formed by them against their govern
ment. This happened abcut 412 years before the foundation
of Rome, These Corinthians strengthened and adorned the
city, and rendered it very extensive.
Strabo says, that Syracuse was twentyrtwo miles in circum
ference, and Cicero against Verres often extols the magnifi
cence and excellence of that city. The three cities which
were added to Ortygia were called Acradina, Tycha, and
Neapolis, of which I will treat separately, beginning by
Ortygia. This was originally -a peninsula, but the neck of land was
divided by the force of the waters, and it became an island
connected with the main only by a bridge. It contained a
piost magnfficent temple dedicated to Diana, whose anniver
sary was celebrated with great pomp during three days, which
were spent in continual banqueting and rejoicing, and ac
cording to Livy the drinking was excessive, for which the
Syracusans were always notorious.

214 NOTES.
There was likewise a temple consecrated to Minerva ; up- ,
on its summit was placed the shield of that goddess so bril
liantly gilt, and of such enormous dimensions, that it was
visible to mariners far off at sea. It was an established cus
tom, that when a ship set sail from Syracuse, and the sailors
could no longer see the shield of Minerva, they took a cup
of earth, which they had collected for the purpose from the
altar of the gods, beyond the walls of the city, near the
temple of Jupiter Olympus, and cast it into the sea by way of
sacrifice to Neptune and Minerva, and then proceeded joy
fully on their voyage. According to Cicero, this temple
contained a much admired painting of Agatocles in the act
of fighting on horseback, and also twenty-seven tablets, upon
which were drawings from life of , all the tyrants of Sicily, ex
ecuted in . the most exquisite taste, Thfe porticos at the en
trances to the temple were adorned with ivory and gold, and
carved heads of Gorgon and Medusa, In the years 1530 and
1543, several antiquities were brought to light in Ortygia,
amongst which was a bust of marble with an inscription in
Latin, signifying " To the Destroyer of Tyranny," I can
not devise to whom it alluded, unless it was meant to repre
sent M, Marcellus, Another curious vestige of ancient Sy
racuse which was discovered, consisted in a number of qua
drate hewn stones, ofa large size, and in all about four thou
sand, which served as the foundation of the palace built by
Hiero, and inhabited by the Roman prietors after the subju
gation of Syracuse by M. Marcellus : upon this same spot
stands the Castle of M^rietto, of Saracen origin, intended to
deter the Algerines from plundering the city.
It would be needless to dwell upon the fountain of Are
thusa in Ortygia, already mentioned in this work, but I will
proceed to the ancient Acradina, whose name is derived from

NOTES, 215
a Grecian word, signifying an elevated part of the city, ac
cording to Cicero, Diodorus, Plutarch, and Livy, This
latter historian, in the fourth Book of his sfecond Punic War,
informs us, that Acradina was joined to Ortygia by a bridge,
and extended northwards along tlie coast as far as La Scala
Greca, a few miles on the road to Catania, and as we read
in the 1 6th Book of Diodorus, it contained an immense and
wonderful building, commonly called the House of Seventy
Beds, built by Agathocles, king of Syracuse, which sur
passed all other edifices in Sicily for magnificence and size-
It was destroyed by lightning, and no traces are left of it.
There were several other public buildings and teniples in this
part of the city, bnt none more striking than the temple of
Jupiter Olympius, built by Hiero the younger, which was
six hundred and sixty feet in circumference, and proportion
ate in length and height. It contained one of those three
statues ofthe god, which were carved precisely in the same
style, and were renowned in the world in those days. An*
other of them was taken from Macedonia by Flaminius, and
conveyed to Rome, and the third was held most sacred in
Pontus. The statue in Acradina was in such Celebrity, that
not only all Sicily, but the inhabitants of more distant parts
performed pilgrimages to it. There were also temples dedi
cated to Juno, JEsculapius, and Bacchus : I must not omit
taking notice of an orrery which existed in Acradina, exhi
biting all the motions of the planets, and the operations ofthe
heavenly bodies.
Tycha was joined to the walls of Acradina on the western
side ; this name signifies fortune, and was given to the city
from a very ancient Temple of Fortune which it contained.
It extended to the west as far as the Castle of Epipolis, a dis
tance of about five miles frora Acradina, and was entirely

216 -NOTES.
surrounded by strong walls. It was supplied with fresh wa
ter by means of aqueducts, some of which were near twenty
miles long, and are still existing in a very perfect state, and
would perhaps to this day conduct the water, had not the
Athenians, when besieging Syracuse under Alcibiades, Thra-
sibulus, and Nicias, destroyed their channels, to deprive the
city of water, which on this account now runs into the river
Anapus. The fourth and last division of the immense Syracuse was
called Neapolis, signifying a new city, as it was founded
after the other three already described. It joined Acradina
on the East, and lay between Tycha and the great ^ Port,
There was in it a large theatre, whose , situation and size
may be easily traced by the row of seats which are cut in the
rock. On a stone facing the Proscenium is the Grecian word
Philistides, whence the theatre took its name. There were
several teraples containing celebrated statues, and the Latoraie
of which I have treated before,
Syracuse was governed by many kings or tyrants, several
of whom deserved the latter title, in the sense in which it is
commonly taken. Hiero forbid his subjects to talk to one
¦another under pain of death, they therefore invented signs, by
which they n^ade themselves understood. All ancient writers
extol the unbounded riches of the Syracusans, which became
an adage in other countries. They were likewise most
sumptuous in their tables, and luxurious in their raanners.
fThey drank wine so copiously, that Plato and Athe.neus com
pared them to frogs, and Aristotle de Animalibus, and Pliny,
inthe IOth Book, chapter LIV, makes mention of a drinker
at Syracuse, who would continue drinking during the tirae
that tvvo eggs were hatched in a kind of oven or stove.

NOTES, 217
It vvras at Syracuse that a famous vessel was built by order
of Hiero, and under tlie direction of Archimedes of immortal
meraory. The nails which united the parts of this ship were
of brass, and weighed tfenj and according to some authors,
even fifteen pounds. They were placed so near to one an
otlier throughout the ship, that it was impossible to penetrate
it with any of the instruments of destruction used in the naval
engagements of that age. The hull was entirely covered
wkh plates of lead, and the smallest crevices were filled up
with pitch and tow. In the centre of the siiip there were
thirty chambers, each of thein large enough to contain four
beds. They were paved and adorned with elegant carvings
in wood, representing the most interesting scenes of the
Trojan war. At the stern there were three other apartments
ornamented with porticoes, &c, and adjoining to these there
was an extensive kitchen. Several colonades adorned the
upper deck, and sra^U gardens full of odoriferous plants, cy
press, and other umbrageous trees, which grew in yases of
lead or clay. There was likewise a temple dedicated to
Venus, paved with agateSj and other lucid stones, and wain
scotted with cypress wood ; the doors were of ivory, and
fragrant wood, painted delightfully. There was a library
which contained an orrery, similar to the one then existing
at Acradina, and adjoining to it was the bath, containing
three couches, and three copper boilers for heating the water.
The stools were of polished stones. At the stern of this vessel
was a reservoir or cistern, which would hold 2000 barrels of
water, and was elegantly adorned with embossed figures : it
supplied a stew stored with excellent fish. There were bar
racks for the soldiers "both starboard and larboard, ten stables
fbr horses with every requisite accoutrement, and all the ne

218 NOTES.
cessary provisions ; there were even blacksmiths and carpen
ters shops, and a mill. The pillars which supported the deck
were carved to represent Atlantes, or figures of men or
beasts in that attitude. Amidst all the wonders of this- vessel,
there are none that surprize me raore than the fortifications,
which consisted in strong walls and bastions, and eight watch
towers, and in the center of the ship there was a raost curious
piece of mechanism invented by Archimedes, which cast out
great stones and pieces of iron eighteen feet long, to, the
distance of near seven hundred feet. The tops were filled
with piles of huge stones ready to be thrown, down upon an
eneray. The stores which were constantly kept on boardj
consisted in one hundred and forty thousand bushels of corn
and flour, and ten thousand barrels of salted provisions.
This fine vessel, built to please the fancy of a tyrant,
served a very useful purpose at last ; being sent laden with
corn by Hiero as a present to Ptolemy, Ising of Egypt, at the
time ofa great dearth in his dominions.
Cicero calls Syracuse the habitation of the gods, and the
handsomest of cities, with whose, spoils the republic of Rome
was adorned for many centuries, because when taken by
M. Marcellus it was plundered of all its statues and paintings,
which were conveyed tp- Rome. .- Whence > Livy observes/
that the Romans then began to behold and admire the works
of the Grecians.
Syracuse was the stage upon which the great Archimedes
acted : a brief account of some of the incidents of his life
may not be uninteresting to my readers. Plutarch in the Life
of M. Marcellus, makes him related to Hiero Minor, oneof
the tyrants. He was instructed in mathematics by the best
masters, but very soon surpassed them ; and Livy styles him.

NOTES. 219
the only beholder of the stars and of the heavens, Cicero
speaks of hira under the title of a terrestrial god, a human
being endowed with divine art. He invented a raost curious
orrery, exhibiting the motions of the sun, the moon, and the
five planets; and such 'was his mechanical knowledge; that
he destroyed with facility all the raachinery, and instruraents
of destruction, which were used by the eneraies of Syracuse in
attacking tlie city ; whence M. Marcellus gave him the title
of the Sole Defender of Syracuse. He discovered a metliod
of ascertaining the purity of raetals by their specific gravity,
in consequence of an application from Hiero, who wished
to detect a fraud practised upon him by one of his subje£ls,
-whom he had ordered to make a crown of the purest gold,
but had great reason to suspect there was a raixture of silver
with the gold, which, by the assistance of Archiiftedes, he
afterwards found to be the case.
It is not authenticated in what manner this great mathe
matician died, but it is generally believed that he was killed
by a Roman soldier, at the time when Syracuse was taken by
the troops of that nation. The soldier entered the study, and
desired Archimedes to accompany him to the Roman general ;
the great raan was so intent upon sorae piece of machinery,
that he paid no attention to the intruder, which was con
strued by this proud Roman into contempt, and he irame
diately slew the philosopher. This is the assertion of Pliny.
M. Marcellus was extreraely hurt at this event, having given
-particular orders to spare his life previous to the subjugation
of the city, and having been for several years a great admirer
of his excellence. The works of Archimedes were translated
into Latin by order of Pope Nicholas the Fifth,

220 NOTES,
' A STOUT Algerine cruizer raight land forty or fifty
men here, and plunder this castle of all its treasures in a few
hours, and before any assistance could be got from the neigh
bouring village of Patti, full four miles distant from the
Cape.

FINIS.

fT