the hill I found the ruins of a castle, which had once been of considerable strength, having the date 1393 above one of its gates, but it is said to be of a much earlier period. Several of the police left me here to proceed, as they told me, in search of some unfortunate carbonari, who are hunted at present like wild beasts. You must know that a few years ago the country was in a state of insurrection, which was suppressed by a small Austrian force. The inhabitants are not devoid of personal courage, if you take them individually; but they have no confidence in each other, and cannot, therefore, fight as a body. In consequence of this insurrection the whole country was, of course, disarmed and put at the mercy of the brigands, who used to enter villages at midday and carry off the respectable inhabitants to their fastnesses, from which they were not released till their friends had paid a ransom. Some progress has been made towards organising an armed force throughout the country; the government, however, is naturally afraid of trusting arms to the landed proprietors, who have generally evinced a desire to have some influence in the management of their affairs. An order was given some time ago to the syndic of each parish to furnish a list of citizens to whom he thought arms might be entrusted; but, before the government approved of it, it was submitted to the ecclesiastical authorities, and when it was returned to the syndic it was generally found reduced to one half, and his own name was often omitted. Thus the government refused to allow a man to bear arms who by his office was entitled to command the force. The timidity of the government makes it act inconsistently, and often causes disaffection when none formerly existed. In the population of Policastro, which consists of seven thousand, only sixty were found worthy of being entrusted with arms.

I could find no more ancient remains, nor, indeed, is it likely that any more have survived, as this town was never of great importance. It was a Greek colony from Rhegium, founded B.C. 470, and colonised by the Romans B.C. 197, though never rising to eminence. The marsh at the mouth of the river renders the city unhealthy, and the archbishop, with the principal inhabitants, are said to leave it from May till December. After resting a short time at Policastro, I proceeded on my way along the coast. As the mountains seemed to approach the shore, I suspected my onward course would be tedious and fatiguing; and as I wished to reach Maratea, a village fifteen miles distant, I determined to hire a boat, if such a thing could be procured. I soon fell in with a few fishermen's huts, and had no difficulty in making a bargain with them to carry me to Maratea, stopping on my way at Sapri, which is supposed to be the site of the ancient Scidrus. The boat had not the luxurious and easy movement of a Venetian gondola, yet I have never enjoyed one of them so much as that in which I was now embarked. The rain which had fallen a few hours before had communicated freshness to the air, and as I stretched myself at full length on the hard bench, with my umbrella above me, I congratulated myself on my wisdom in choosing this mode of proceeding. We soon entered a small and beautiful harbour, near which was situated the village of Sapri.

I

There was more appearance of comfort in this village than in any had yet seen. The houses were interspersed with gardens and vineyards, and the late shower made everything look fresh and cool. I was struck

by the luxuriance of their fruit-trees. The orange and citron-trees were flourishing in all their beauty. The "albicocco," our apricot, seemed to thrive-the Neapolitan "crisuommolo," of which they are so justly proud. Their word is evidently a corruption of the Greek xpvoóunλovgolden apple. Martial (iii. 47) might have had the scene before his eyes on which I was gazing when he wrote:

Illic videres frutice nobili caules,

Et utrumque porrum, sessilesque lactucas,
Pigroque ventri non inutiles betas.

"There you might have seen cabbages with noble hearts, and both kinds of leeks (leeks and onions), dwarf lettuces, and beet-roots, not unserviceable to the torpid stomach."

The Italians are as fond of all kinds of green herbs as their ancestors were in Roman times, and the salad forms always a principal part of their frugal meals in the country. I could with difficulty get over the flavour of the strong-smelling garlic, of which they seem particularly enamoured. I met several respectable inhabitants, with whom I entered into conversation, and they pointed out to me an ancient inscription built into the pedestal of a holy cross in the middle of the public piazza. It was much worn away, but I was able to decipher it.

It was to the following effect, and I give it on account of the melancholy moaning with which it concludes:

D. M.

L. SEMPRONIO

L. F. POM. PRISCO
AED. DVOVIR.

DES. V. A . XXV.
MEN, VII.

SI. NON. ANTE. DIEM. CRVDELIA. FATA . FVISSENT. HIC. PATER. ET. MATER. DEBVIT. ANTE. LEGI.

This stone was erected by his disconsolate parents to Lucius Sempronius, a magistrate (duovir), we must suppose, of Scidrus, which office he had reached before he was twenty-five years of age. Their grief is shown by the expression, "If the Fates had not cruelly carried him off prematurely, his father and mother ought to have been placed in the grave before him." You will observe that the last two lines are hexameter and pentameter.

This same idea appears in an inscription found at Pozzuoli, to the following effect:

D. M.

VMBRIAE. A. FILIAE.

IVSTE. V. A. XVI.

MEN. VII. DIES. DECE.

A. VMBRICIVS. MAGNVS.

ET. CLODIA. FELICITAS. PA

RENTES. FILIAE. INCOMPARABIL.

QVOD. ILLA. PARENTIBVS. FACERE .

DEBVIT. MORS. INTER. CESSIT.

FILIAE. FECERVNT. PARENTES.

E

This is erected to Umbria, the peerless daughter of Aulus Umbricius Magnus and Clodia Felicitas, who died in her sixteenth year. "What she ought to have done to her parents, death prevented, and her parents had to perform it to their daughter." I have seen many of these sepulchral monuments throughout Italy, and this is the tone in which they murmur and complain. Amidst all the survivors' grief for the departed, amidst even the yearning to be gathered with them in the dust, there is not the slightest hope expressed that they will rejoin them in an united immortality. Rarely do they soar above the graceful S. T. T. L., " Sit tibi terra levis,"-"May the earth lie light upon thee!"

I have been deeply affected, as all must be, with some of the sepulchral inscriptions that are found in the museums of Italy. What can be more touching than the following on a bride snatched away within the first bloom of marriage ?

D. M.

L. ARVLENVS SOSIMVS FECIT

CLODIAE CHARIDI CONIVGI DVLCISSIMAE
QVAE SI AD VITAE METAM PERVENISS(ET)
NON HOMINIBVS NEQVE DIS INVIDISS(ET).
VIX SECVM VIXIT DIES XV.

"L. Arulenus Sosimus erected this monument to his dearest wife Clodia Charis. If she had reached life's extended line, he would have envied neither men nor gods: she lived with him scarcely fifteen days."

Can you read this without emotion?

LAGGE FILI BENE QVIESCAS

MATER TVA ROGAT TE

VT ME AD TE RECIPIAS.
VALE.

Son Laggus, mayest thou rest in peace: thy

Mother begs that thou wouldst take me to thee.

Farewell.

Peace is the predominating idea in their epitaphs; hope in ours.

The stairs of one of the houses showed a specimen of coarse mosaic; the site of the ancient town, however, had been nearly half a mile from the present village, on the north side of the little bay, at a spot now called Camerelle. Here many coins and cameos have been found, and the foundations of houses are still to be seen. More particularly there are considerable remains of a theatre, with eight niches and some of the steps still existing, two small aqueducts, city walls of a reticulated structure, a portico of considerable length; but I saw no inscriptions, though such have been found both in the Greek and Latin languages. It was a Greek city, mentioned by Herodotus (vi. 21), from whom we learn that it was a colony of Sybaris, and was one of the places to which the surviving inhabitants of that city retired after its destruction by the inhabitants of Croton, B.c. 510. Though it appears from its remains to have been a city of considerable size, and possessed the only tolerable harbour between Naples and Sicily, it is never mentioned connected with any historical event, and drops altogether out of view at a very early period.

I met the boat at a point of land forming one side of the harbour. The

two points of the harbour are guarded by two towers, the one to the west called Buondormire, and the other to the east, Lubertino. I was not sorry to get on board, as the rays of the sun reflected from the sand rendered all exertion unpleasant. As we advanced, the mountains approached close to the shore and overhung the sea. There was a winding path along the face of the hills, but at this period of the day it would have been madness to have attempted to proceed on foot. There was not a breath of air, and the heat was greater than I had ever experienced; yet the boatmen seemed to suffer little inconvenience, though their bodies were exposed, uncovered, to the direct rays of the sun. I am now cautious, as I suffered last year by imprudently exposing myself a very short time on my way to the palace of Tiberius, on Capri, when I received a sunstroke, and suffered for several months considerable inconvenience.

As we were on our way to Maratea, the boatmen told me of a strange phenomenon, of which I am sorry that I did not hear before I left Sapri. They maintained that close to Sapri, near a rock called Scialandro, a stream of fresh water bubbles up in the midst of the sea in such quantities, that when the weather is calm you can drink it unmixed with salt water, but when the wind blows it gets mixed, and you can only see the bubbling in the sea.

After proceeding for ten miles through this heated furnace-for I cannot compare the air to anything else-the mountains were seen to recede somewhat from the shore, and a deep valley ran far into the country. Here Maratea was situated, and here I intended to take up my abode for the night. My boatmen had no regular papers, and suggested a difficulty which had not occurred to me, that if they made their appearance at the usual landing-place, they would be asked for the register of their boat, and that the consequence of their not having it would be that we should be all arrested. Of course this did not suit my purposes, and what I had experienced already of the police of this country made me quite satisfied that they were stating what would certainly take place. I did not choose to run any such risk, and insisted that they should land me at once on the shore, and I should make my way to the village, exciting as little attention as possible, and keeping my own counsel as to the mode by which I had approached. I crept slowly along the shore, and as soon as I saw a chance of mounting the rocks with any degree of safety, I left the coast that I might avoid encountering any of the police. The inhabitants had with great industry cultivated every little spot in this narrow valley, yet the bare limestone rock constantly protruding had an unpleasant effect to the eye. Before I left Naples, I had been furnished by the Prince of Satriano, one of the ablest and most illustrious of the Neapolitan nobility, with a number of letters of introduction to his friends in different parts of the country, and among them was one addressed to the Baron di San Biagio, of Maratea. As soon as I thought that his household was likely to be awake (you see that I benefit by experience), I waited on the baron, who insisted that I should do him the honour of remaining with him for the night-an honour which I assure you, after my last night's troubles, I was not slow to grant. Nothing could exceed the kindness which Í received, and indeed the only danger seems to be lest it should degenerate into the opposite by its excess. I have never felt so strongly as I have done within the last few days the difference between filth and

cleanliness. The warmth of the climate generates insects of all kinds in a very prolific way, and I no sooner think that I have got rid of my tormentors than I receive a fresh supply from some other quarter. I can verily believe these to be one of the plagues of Egypt.

Maratea is situated on the declivity of a high hill, and is so surrounded by mountains, that from November till the end of January the rays of the sun do not reach it. The olive, however, was growing luxuriantly; and I was surprised to see quantities of myrtles, the bark of which, when reduced to powder, I was told, was used for tanning leather. They are famed for cheese, and in Naples most of the cheesemongers and porksellers are from this little village.

In the evening I paid a visit to the syndic, whom I found superior to any I had yet met in this office, and from whom I received much civility. He proposed that I should accompany him through his village, and that we should visit the monastery of San Biagio, situated on a high hill above Maratea, and where I have no doubt my reception would have been somewhat more courteous than that which I received yesterday at Camerota. The evening is the period of the day that all the inhabitants assemble in the open air, and generally in the public square. It was crowded as we passed through it, and all rose to salute us with much ceremony. Before we could get half way up the hill, the sun was approaching the horizon, and I was obliged to be satisfied with a glimpse of the lofty mountains of Calabria, which rose in the distance, and whose tops were gilded by the rays of the setting sun.

You are aware that the Romish Church asserts that the power of working miracles has descended to her from the time of the Apostles; and you will not be surprised, therefore, to hear that the monks of San Biagio animate the devotion of true believers, and fill their own pockets, by the exhibition of a miracle regularly every year. They contrive by some means, I dare say not remarkable for ingenuity, to cause a statue of our Saviour to perspire manna; and if I had felt much anxiety to witness it, I might have gratified my curiosity by the sacrifice of a few days, as it takes place this week. I have already, however, seen enough of these mummeries at Naples and its immediate vicinity. The manna is, of course, a cure for all sorts of diseases, and brings a considerable sum into the treasury of the monastery. If any one happens to recover, after he has employed this manna, the monks take care that it should be announced in all parts of the country; and, in cases of failure, they have it always in their power to say that it arises from a doubt in the mind of the patient as to the efficacy of the remedy.

I have inquired respecting ancient remains, as geographers are inclined to place the city Blanda on this site; but I can hear of nothing, except, indeed, a tower on the shore, which they call Torre di Venere, where it is possible that a temple of Venus may have been situated. No coins or cameos seem ever to have been found here. The evening had now closed in before I again reached the house of my host, and I was not sorry to observe, on my return, symptoms of supper at an earlier hour than is usual among the Italians. Their hours of eating do not correspond with ours. They rise at daybreak, and, if they can afford it, they have a cup of coffee mixed with rosolio, but unaccompanied with any eatables; if they are poor, they are satisfied with a glass of bad anisette, a kind of spirits,