reaches the water, it ruffles its surface, and carries its waves against the sides of the cavern, where, just above its ordinary level, there are little fissures or holes. The water raised by the impulse which it receives from the wind, rises to these fissures, and passing through them trickles down, through the crevices that communicate with the fountain below, and gradually fills it. In stormy weather the water is impelled with greater violence, and flows in greater quantities, till it is nearly exhausted; or at least reduced too low to be raised again to the fissures. Hence, on such occasions, the fountain fills with rapidity first, and then dries up, or rather remains low, till the reservoir regains its usual level, and impelled by the wind begins to ebb again. Such is the explanation given by the Abate Carlo Amoretti.

We had not time to verify the return of the fountain, which when we visited it, was at its lowest ebb, but we have no doubt as to the flux and the reflux; the regularity of which was confirmed by the testimony of the servants of the house, and indeed by that of all persons in its vicinity. After all, this fountain is classical, the scenery around it is romantic, and the way to it is magnificent; but in itself, it is inferior in every respect to the intermitting fountain ncar Settle in Yorkshire, whose ebb and flow recur every quarter of an hour, and succeed each other without a minute's variation.

Some writers have supposed that one of the villas which Pliny possessed in the neighbourhood of Como occupied this site; but though he had many in the vicinity of the lake, he yet describes only his two favourite retreats, and the situation of the. Pliniana corresponds with neither. The one was, it seems, on the very verge of the lake, almost rising out of the waters, and

in this respect it resembled the Pliniana; but it would be difficult to find in the latter sufficient space among the rocks for the gestatio quæ spatiosissimo xysto leviter inflectitur. The other villa might possibly have stood on the neighbouring promontory of Torno, whence (editissimo dorso) it might have commanded two bays. There are, indeed, many situations on the banks of the lake which correspond with Pliny's descriptions, and consequently leave us at a loss to guess at the particular spots to which he alludes. A little farther on, the lake first contracts itself at Brienno, remarkable for its flourishing laurels, and then expands again and makes a fine sweep, which forms the bay of Argegno, a busy little town, the mart of the neighbouring vallies. The banks still continued to present the same bold and wooded scenery-amanum* (as Pliny the Elder expresses it) arbusto agro-the constant characteristic feature of the Larian lake, and territory.

We next landed on a little island, now called Di S. Giovanni, anciently or rather formerly, that is, in the seventh age, Insula Comacena. This island is wooded and cultivated like a garden, or rather, an orchard, and presents a most enchanting retreat to its proprietor, if he have either taste to discern or means to enjoy its beauties. However, with all the charms of its situation it never seems to have attracted much notice, as we find no allusion to it among the ancients, and little attention paid to it by the moderns. But, in the ages of barbarian invasion, and particularly under the Longobardic kings, it was occasionally resorted to as an asylum safe from sudden attack, and

* x. 29.

sometimes capable of sustaining a siege. There is, indeed, an account of one of the Longobardic monarchs having discovered and conveyed to Pavia a treasure which the Romans had here deposited, a circumstance which, with a few additional embellishments, might be worked into a tolerable romance, especially as the age in which the event is supposed to have taken place is

fertile in legends, and of course fully open to fiction. In fact, we are told that it afforded a retreat to the Christians during the persecutions of the three first centuries, and that from their numbers it derived the rank of a town, under the appellation of Christopolis; that it next sheltered the Greek exarchs, and enabled them to make a successful stand against the Longobardic invaders; and, in fine, that it became an independent republic, extended its conquests over the neighbouring banks, and carried on a long and eventful war with Como. But, these and its other brilliant achievements, not having a Thucydides to transmit them emblazoned to posterity, are gradually sinking into darkness, and will probably ere long be buried in total oblivion. This romantic island swells gently from the lake, is about a mile in length, half a mile in breadth, and half a mile distant from the western bank.

Nearly opposite to it on the eastern bank, the rocks and precipices are rough, shapeless, and menacing; hollowed into caverns and recesses, all dark and tremendous, while beneath them the water is unusally deep, and from its depth, and the shade which the superincumbent rocks cast upon it, appears black and dismal to the eye as well as to the imagination.

As we advanced, we passed some beautiful bays and promontories with their villas and villages. Among these are Balbiuno,

Lenna, where some years ago a subterraneous temple was discovered with a marble statue of Diana, and on the very margin of the lake, Villa, which took its name without doubt from the superior extent or magnificence of the mansion which formerly occupied the same spot; being remains of pillars discernible, in calm weather, under the water close to the shore. Some antiquaries suppose this to be the real site of Pliny's villa; he could not indeed have chosen a more beautiful spot, nor, if we may believe the general opinion, a more genial climate. Hence, its productions, such as aloes, capers, &c. seem to belong to a more southern sky, and surprize us by their blooming appearance under the snowy brows of the Alps. We then traversed the little bay of Tramezzina, and landed at Cadenabbia about four o'clock.

The view from Cadenabbia is the most extensive, and at the same time, the most interesting on the lake; it takes in the greatest expanse of water, because it overlooks the Larian before its division into its two branches, one of which takes its name from Como, and the other from Lecco; and it includes the greatest variety of scenery, because it commands the entrance into both these branches, and the promontory that separates them from each other. This promontory swells into a lofty eminence, is covered with woods, adorned with several villas, and crowned with a convent. It is called Bellaggio, from a village that stands on its extremity.

In front and over the widest part of the lake rises a rough rocky shore, with a ridge of broken grotesque mountains beyond, and above them the bare pointed summit of Monte Legnone, one of the highest of the Alps. As the situation of Cade

nabbia is so beautiful, and as its accommodations are good, the traveller, who wishes to explore the recesses of the Larian lake and its bordering mountains, may make it his head-quarters, and from thence commence his excursions. Bellaggio, and the branch of the lake which lies beyond it, will first attract his attention. The Lago di Lecco (for so that branch is called) takes its name from the town of Lecco (probably the ancient Licini Forum) which stands at its extremity, at nearly the same distance from the point of separation as is Como. The Lago di Lecco is, properly speaking, the channel of the Adda (Addua visu cærulus*) which flowing through the upper and wider part of the lake, may be considered as turning from it at Bellaggio, and contracting its channel as it withdraws, at length resumes its original form and name a little beyond Lecco.

The next excursion may be to Bellano, some miles above Cadenabbia, and on the opposite side of the lake. He will here visit a cavern formed by the falling of the river Pioverna through a rocky cliff, and called very appropriately from its darkness and the murmurs of the torrent, L'Orrido. Lower down and nearly opposite Cadenabbia is a village called Capuana, supposed by some antiquaries to have been the real situation of Pliny's lower villa. Their conjectures are founded principally upon a Mosaic pavement discovered there, a circumstance which proves indeed that there was a villa there, but nothing more. Both Pliny's favourite seats must, I conceive, have been in the neighbourhood of Comum. Not far from this village is a stream

* Claudian De vi. Cons. Hons.