CHAP. XVI. THE LAGO MAGGIORE OR VERBANUS-ITS MAGOTZO-VALE OF OSSOLA--SEMPIONE ISLANDS-LAKE OF ARONA-COLOSSAL CHARLES-OBSERVATIONS ON THE LAKES COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ITALIAN AND BRITISH LAKESNOVARA VERCELLI-PLAIN OF TURIN. ABOUT twelve o'clock we arrived at Laceno, a large and handsome village on a bay of the Lago Maggiore. Close to this village northward rises a rough craggy mountain, that pours a constant stream in a cascade from its hollow bosom. In front spreads the Lago Maggiore, in its widest expansion. The ancient name of this lake was Verbanus; its modern appellation is derived from its greater magnitude, or rather from its superior beauty; for in this latter quality only is the Larian lake inferior to it. Opposite the bay of Laveno opens another bay, and in the centre of the latter rise the Borromean islands, which are considered as the principal ornaments of the lake, and ranked indeed among the wonders of Italy. To these islands, therefore, we immediately bent our course. As we rowed along gently in order to enjoy the magnificent prospect that opened around us in every direction, we were informed by the boatmen that we were then in the widest and deepest part of the Verbano. Its breadth may be here about seven or eight miles, while the plummet descends to the enormous depth of eighteen hundred feet! The imagination takes alarm at the idea of skimming in a light boat over the surface of such a tremendous abyss, and even the traveller, who has been tost in the bay of Biscay, or lifted on the swell of the ocean, may here eye the approaching shore with some degree of complacency. We first landed on the Isola Bella, as the first in fame and the most attractive in appearance. It derives the epithet of beautiful from the palace and gardens which cover its surface. The palace stands on the extremity of the island, and almost hangs over the water. It contains upon the lower story a suite of rooms fitted up in the style of grottoes, and paved, lined, and even coved with spars, shells, and party coloured marbles, and in appearance, delightfully cool and refreshing. Two magnificent saloons in the principal story form the state apartments; the other rooms are not worth notice. The garden occupies nearly the whole island. It consists of a vast pyramid, formed of ten terraces rising above each other, and terminating in a square platform. These terraces have gravel walks their whole length; they are bordered with flowers, and their walls are covered with fruit trees. Rows of orange and citron shade the walks, and gigantic statues, which when near appear grotesque, crowd the corners and front the palace. These parterres are watered by fountains that rise in different parts of the edifice, and fall in sheets from marble vases. The area of the pyramid covers a space of four hundred feet square; the platform on its summit is fifty feet square, and its elevation about one hundred and fifty. The terraces are supported by arcades, which form so many grand galleries or green-houses, where the more tender plants and flowers are ranged during the winter. The form and arrangement of this garden have been the subject of great admiration during part of the last century, and the Isola Bella has been represented by many as a terrestrial paradise, an enchanted island, the abode of Calypso, the garden of Armida. Burnet, who is enthusiastic in abuse only, when describing this island rises into panegyric, pronounces it to be the finest summer residence in the world, and rapturously gives it the epithet enchanted. In process of time when the public taste changed, and strait walks and parterres and terraces with their formal accompaniments were exploded, the Isola Bella forfeited its fame, the spell was dissolved, the fairy scenes vanished, and nothing remained but a dull heavy mass, a heap of deformity. But if it was then too much panegyrized, it is now perhaps too much despised. Praise is due to the man who had taste and discernment enough to select such a spot for his residence, especially as it was originally a bare and craggy or rather shapeless rock, and had no recommendation, but its site till then unnoticed. In the next place it would be unjust not to applaud the nobleman who, instead of wasting his income in the fashionable amusements of a neighbouring capital, devoted it to works which gave employment to thousands of hands, diffused riches over a large extent of country, and converted three barren craggs into as many productive and populous islands. Edifices that give a permanent beauty to a country, that exercise the taste and the talents of the age in which they are erected, and become monuments of that taste and of those talents to posterity, are at least a proof of public spirit, and deserve our praise and our acknowledgment. To this we may add, that if pleasant walks at all seasons, and the most delicious fruit in abundance, be objects of importance in gardening; we must allow the merit of utility to an arrangement which multiplies space, sunshine, and shade, and adapts itself in some measure to the state of the weather, and to the fancy of the proprietor. However, even modern taste will be gratified and delighted with a grove, lining the north side of the garden, formed of various evergreens, but particularly of bay (laurel) of great height and most luxuriant foliage. A path winding in an easy curve through this thicket leads to a town, and thence to the palace. This grove, from its resemblance to domestic scenery, awakens some pleasing recollections in the mind of an English traveller. A high wall surrounds the whole island, but it is so constructed as to form a terrace, and thus to aid the prᏅ. spect. This prospect, particularly from the top of the pyramid, is truly magnificent. The vast expanse of water immediately under the eye, with the neighbouring islands covered with houses and trees. The bay of Magotzo bordered with lofty hills westward, eastward the town of Lavena with its towering mountain, to the south Stresa, the winding of the lake with numberless villages sometimes on the margin of the water, sometimes on gentle swells, and sometimes on the sides and craggs of mountains. To the north, first the little town of Palanza, at the foot of a bold promontory, then a succession of villages and mountains bordering the lake as it stretches in a bold sweep towards the Alps, and loses itself amid their vast snow-crowned pinnacles, The banks of the lake are well-wooded, and finely varied with a perpetual intermixture of vineyard and forest, of arable and meadow, of plain and mountain. This latter circumstance indeed characterizes the Lago Maggiore, and distinguishes it from the others which are enclosed in a perpetual and uninterrupted ridge of mountains; while here the chain is frequently broken by intervening plains and expansive vallies. This interruption not only enlivens its surface by admitting more light and sunshine, but apparently adds to its extent by removing its boundaries, and at the same time gives a greater elevation to the mountains by bringing them into contrast with the plains. Another circumstance, common indeed to all these lakes, contributes much to enliven their borders; it is, that all the villages with their churches are built of white stone, and have, particularly in distant perspective and in high situations, a very splendid and palace-like appearance. The bank nearest to the Isola Bella is formed of a bold swell covered with a forest, and intersected by several dells, the beds of mountain torrents. The foliage of this forest was even at this season, of a fresh and vivid green, and it harmonized admirably with the gleam of the waters below, and the deep azure firmament above. On the side of the island that faces this forest, a church with a few houses forms a little village. About half a mile westward from the Isola Bella is the Isola dei Pescatori, so called from the ordinary occupation of its inhabitants. It is nearly covered with houses, and with its church makes a pretty object in the general view, but has no claim to nearer inspection. Its population amounts to about one thousand. The Isola Madre rises at the distance of a mile north from the Isola Bella. The southern part of this island is occupied by |