winds its way, now passing under the arches of a bridge, now expanding into a peaceful pool, now brawling and chafing through narrow and rocky chasms, and then thundering, as it dashes down some gloomy ravine. With such a prospect before the eye, one may well believe that

"earth hath this variety from heaven

Of pleasure situate in hill and dale."

The road, changing at intervals from one side of the valley to the other, passes through several galleries and tunnels hewn in the solid rock. Below Faido it leads through one of the grandest gorges on the route, and so deep that barely light enough penetrates its depths to show the falls of the Ticino. This is one of the most imposing scenes in the valley, and the mind recalls with rapture the strip of blue sky seen through rent and ragged rocks that overhang the way, the delicate ferns and tufts of moss that contend with waving grasses for the possession of every nook in the face of the cliff, the graceful arch that supports the road, and the impetuous river, casting up from its indigo depths thousands of blue and white bubbles, which, bursting in the more tranquil waters below the cataract, scatter far and wide the lacy foam which flecks the surface.

Those who would thoroughly enjoy this pass, and appreciate at leisure every distinctive beauty that presents itself to the eye, should walk through it, as far at least as Bellinzona. In this way only can one estimate its varied attractions. The trip

may be easily made in two days and a half from Lucerne, by taking the steamer as far as Flüelen, and sending one's baggage by diligence and rail to Milan. The traveller should take a knapsack or haversack with a moderate amount of clothing, a light coat, and an umbrella. This latter is indispensable, not only as a protection from the rain, should a shower scowl over the landscape, but from the sun, whose rays have greater effect upon one on account of the difference in temperature between the northern and southern sides of the Alps. The first night should be spent at Hospenthal, which is about thirty miles from Flüelen and two hours' walk below the summit of the pass. An active pedestrian might easily go on to the hospice at that point, but the accommodations there are poor, while the hotel at Hospenthal is large and convenient. The second night can be passed at Giornico, thirty miles from Hospenthal, where is a very comfortable inn. At noon of the third day Bellinzona can be reached, which is about seventyfive miles from Flüelen. In an atmosphere so exhilarating and amidst scenery so delightful fatigue is scarcely felt. As in the ever-changing panorama one new beauty after another presents itself, we are drawn on, as it were unconsciously, with no more weariness than in a dream. The hopes of the past have become to us the bright fruition of the present, and all care and dejection are absorbed in the intensity of our enjoyment. As Goethe says, "The book of nature is, after all,

the only one which has on every page important meanings." No leaf of it teems with a deeper significance, or can be studied with greater benefit, than this, where all the myriad forms of nature's works are grouped together.

In every form of watery beauty the pass of St. Gothard is preeminent, and one can never admire sufficiently the varied charms of its thousand cataracts. Some, like a downward smoke," hang over the face of steep precipices; others rush with violence over massy rocks. The most wonderful of all is a cascade near Faido, whose current, descending from a great height, is again forced upward, in form not unlike a white ostrich feather, fringed with curls of foam. In presence of the irresistible beauty of falling water, old as the eternal hills, yet ever bright and gay, we can hardly marvel that the ancients placed the source of eternal youth in a fountain. What can be more fruitful of unalloyed and ceaseless pleasure than the Alpine torrent ? Born of the clouds near the eagle's nest and the lightning's mark; glacier-fed; free from mortal taint; unwrinkled by corroding time; leaping from rock to rock and crag to crag in every form of profuse and exultant beauty, now crowned with a rainbow, and scattering its golden shower in the sunshine over every green and gladsome thing, now moaning, with voice low, soft, and gentle as that of Cordelia, in some eddy under deeply shading trees, and behind moss-covered stones, as if it had found the refuge it sought

and would never go forth; slowly moving under graceful willows, whose fringed roots drink in its precious influence till their boughs send down a rain of foliage, as if they would gladly return to the source from which their beauty rose; battering vehemently against some rocky barrier, or with calm strength scooping out deep hollows; leading its long train of waters under massive arches, till at length in peaceful meadows it broadly spreads its current, and tranquil, passionless, without an inundation, except the web which the delicate waterspider circles around it, or the sigh which the falling leaf wafts from its watery grave to either shore, ever" full of all blessed condition," it ministers in a thousand ways to the pleasures and wants of humanity. Such and so varied is the course of the mountain-torrent; such and so varied is the life of man, and when the matured richness of a wellspent life has expanded and purified the soul, such is its peaceful and beneficent close.

Bellinzona, which lies at the entrance of the pass, is a queer old town, with walls stretching across the valley, and three castles, very well preserved, looking down upon it. As is the case with many other Italian towns, every element of external beauty is offset by an interior which annoys every sense alike. Narrow streets, black with the accumulated

dirt of many years, women, to whom washing is

evidently one of the lost arts, sitting in the marketplace, and selling fruit and vegetables amid heaps of garbage, shops where no broom was ever known

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to enter, odors arising from every form of decay, - harsh and discordant chattering of peasantry and towns-people, and many another aggravation, — cause one to turn with satisfaction to the picturesque scenery around it. Commanding every access to two great roads, this town was formerly, and is now, an important military station. It is situated at the junction of the St. Gothard and Bernhardin passes with the roads to Locarno and Magadino. It was, therefore, in ancient times the nucleus of more fierce fighting and intrigue between the Swiss and Italians than any of their frontier towns. The castles which predominate over it were for many years garrisoned by the former; and their three bailiffs found in the exercise of an infamous tyranny some slight indemnity for their temporary banishment from their native mountains. From this spot is a pleasant drive of twelve miles to Locarno on the Lago Maggiore. Here we see for the first time the orange and lemon growing in the open air, and the laurustinus and myrtle everywhere in blossom.