called Latte, which bursts from a vast cavern on the side of a mountain, and forms a cascade of more than a thousand feet before it reaches the plain. The cavern is supposed to extend for miles through the bowels of the mountain, and even to lead to the icy summit which supplies the stream. In short, he may return by Bellaggio, and range through its groves of olive and pines, visit its palaces, and compare it with the description which Pliny gives of his upper villa or his Tragedia; for on this spot it stood, if we may credit antiquaries, and certainly a more commanding and majestic site he could not have chosen ; but though several circumstances of the description agree with this situation, yet, I doubt much as to the accuracy of their application - Imposita saxis lacum prospicit lacu latius

utitur . fluctus non sentit, &c. are features applicable to a hundred situations on both the shores of the lake, as well as to the promontory of Bellaggio; while the only expression which seems to distinguish it from many others is not, in my opinion, applicable, in Pliny's sense, to the spot in question. His words are-Hæc unum sinum molli curvamine amplectitur; illa editissimo dorso duos dirimit. That the word sinus may be understood of the two branches of the lake I admit, but that it is not so extensively applied in this passage must appear evident, when we consider that no villa, garden, nor park, can be supposed to embrace in its windings one of the branches of the lake, which is fifteen miles in length; and consequently we may conclude that the word sinus here signifies one of the little bays formed by some of the numberless promontories, that project from the shores between Como and Cadenabbia. I must here notice another mistake, into which the same antiquaries seem to have fallen. They suppose that the channel between the island above described and the shore, is alluded to in the

following words:-Quid Euripus viridis et gemmeus*? Now it is evident from the context, that the villa to which this Euripus belonged, was in the immediate vicinity of Como, suburbanum amænissimum, an appellation by no means applicable to a seat sixteen or eighteen miles distant from a country town.

But to return to Bellaggio.-This delightful spot, now covered with villas and cottages, was, during the anarchical contests of the middle ages, not unfrequently converted into a receptacle of robbers, outlaws, and banditti, who infested all the borders of the lake during the night, and in day-time concealed themselves amid these thickets, caverns, and fastnesses: and indeed when neglected, and abandoned to nature it must have resembled the fictitious haunts of Apuleius's robbers, and have been a steep and savage wilderness-Mons horridus, sylvestris, frondibus umbrosus et imprimis altus cingitur.

per obliqua devexa saxis asperrimis

From Cadenabbia we sailed to Menaggio, a few miles higher up the lake. From this little town we had a full view of the lake from Bellaggio to Gravedona and Domaso; beyond this latter place the Larian receives the Adda, after which it contracts its channel, and changes its name into the Lago di Chiavenna. We are now about to take our leave of this celebrated lake, but think it necessary first to make some general observations.

The lake of Como, or the Larian, (for so it is still called, not

unfrequently even by the common people), retains its ancient dimensions unaltered, and is fifty miles in length, from three to six in breadth, and from forty to six hundred feet in depth. Its form is serpentine, and its banks indented with frequent creeks and harbours; it is subject to sudden squalls, and sometimes even when calm, to swells violent and unexpected; both are equally dangerous. The latter are more frequently experienced in the branch of the lake that terminates at Como than in the other parts, because it has no emissary or outlet, such as the Adda forms at Lecco. The mountains that border the lake are by no means either barren or naked; their lower regions are generally covered with olives, vines, and orchards; the middle is encircled with groves of chestnut of great height and expansion, and the upper regions are either downs or forests of pine and fir, with the exception of certain very elevated ridges, which are necessarily either naked or covered with eternal snow. Their sides are seldom formed of one continued steep, but usually interrupted by fields and levels extending sometimes into wide plains, which supply abundant space for every kind of cultivation. These fertile plains are generally at one-third, and sometimes at two-thirds, of the total elevation. On or near these levels are most of the towns and villages, that so beautifully diversify the sides of the mountains.:

But cultivation is not the only source of the riches of the Larian territory: various mines of iron, lead, and copper, are now as they were anciently, spread over its surface, and daily opened in the bowels of its mountains; besides quarries of beautiful marble, which supply Milan and all the neighbouring cities with the materials and ornaments of their most magnificent churches.

Nor are, (were, I should say), the borders of the Larian lake destitute of literary establishments. Several convents, and some collegiate churches kept or patronized schools, and spread knowledge and civilization over the surface of a country apparently rugged and abandoned. Collegiate churches, especially where all the canons, without exception, are obliged to reside (as in the district of Milan, and indeed in all catholic countries) nine months in the year, have always appeared to me of great utility in the country in general, and particularly in remote tracts and unfrequented provinces. The persons promoted to stalls in these establishments are generally such as have acquired reputation as authors, distinguished themselves in universities and colleges as professors, or rendered themselves serviceable as tutors in private education. The conversation of such men was well calculated to propagate a spirit of application and improvement in the vicinity of their Chapter; while the service of the church, always supported in such establishments with great decency and even splendor, strengthened the influence of religion, and with it extended the graces and the charities which ever accompany its steps. To these we may add, that the decorations, both external and internal of these churches and of the buildings annexed to them, not only give employment almost constant to numerous artisans, but moreover inspire and keep alive a taste for the fine arts; and to the number of such establishments and to their splendid embellishments we may perhaps ascribe that relish for music, painting, sculpture, and architecture, and that nice discernment in these arts, so generally prevalent in Italy, and observable even in peasants and day-labourers. The entire suppression therefore of such foundations, which is now taking place almost all over the continent, is to be lamented as impolitic and mischievous, and

likely in its consequences to deteriorate the taste, and gradually to barbarize the manners of the people at large; and in a special manner, of the inhabitants of wild and mountainous regions*.

We set out from Menaggio about ten o'clock, and took our way towards the lake of Lugano on foot, first over a fine hill, and then through a most delightful vale, between two very lofty and steep, but verdant mountains. From the summit of the hill we looked down on the Lario, and had also a distinct view of a considerable part of its eastern branch, or the Lago di Lecco. The latter part of the valley through which we passed seems, at some distant period, to have been under water, as it is low and swampy, and terminates in a lesser lake, called from its situation Lago di Piano. The picturesque hill which rises beyond this lake appears from the marshy flats that surround it, as if it had once been an island. The traveller on passing the valley ought to turn round occasionally, in order to behold the magnificent barrier of craggy rocks that close it behind.

* I cannot turn from the Larian lake without reminding the reader of the verses in which Claudian alludes to its magnitude, the fertility of its banks, and mountains that border it.

Protinus umbrosa qua vestit littus oliva
Larius, et dulci mentitur Nerea fluctu,

Parva puppe lacum prætervolat. Ocius inde
Scandit inaccessos brumali sidere montes.

De Bello Getico.