"Before we commence our excursion to Turin," said the Doctor, we will rest a few days."

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"I think, indeed, replied Edward, from what little I could observe of Nice through the dusk, it appears a charming spot, and that a short time spent here would be very agreeable."

Edward was up the next morning with the sun, and strolling to the rampart, he remained motionless with astonishment. The small extent of country which he saw was one continued garden full of orange, lemon, and bergamot trees; between these were planted peas and all other kinds of vegetables; to these were added plots of roses, carnations, ranunculas, anemones, and daffodils, all blowing with such vigour and perfume, as no flower in England ever exhibited: behind the town rose stupendous mountains, the most distant covered with snow; and before him stretched the magnificent ocean. The morning being extremely clear, a fisherman, who was pleased with the astonishment imprinted on his countenance, joined him, and pointed out in the distance the shores of Corsica. He also invited him to his hut, and presented him with some fine carnations, large quantities of which he said were shipped off for Turin, Paris, and even London, every autumn. They are packed up in boxes, without any preparation, one pressed upon another: the person who receives them, cuts off a little bit of the stalk, and steeps them for two hours in vinegar and water, when they recover their full bloom: they may then be placed in water bottles, where they are screened from the severity of the weather, and they will continue fresh and unfaded the greater part of a month.

Edward returned home to breakfast, delighted at the thoughts of sending carnations to England; and detailing to his friend the particulars of his morning excursion, he proposed packing up the flowers immediately, and dispatching them to his mother. "What a climate this is, Sir!" continued he.

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And did you meet no disagreeable amidst the profusion of sweets you have described?" enquired his tutor.

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Why, yes, I did certainly,” replied Edward, "the lizards annoyed me a good deal in the gardens, and I was stung to death with gnats and flies."

DR. WALKER..-" And last night did you feel no inconvenience from fleas, &c. &c."

EDWARD." I confess I did not sleep much, although I had gauze curtains to my bed."

Dr. WALKER.- "And see what a swarm of flies covers every article of your breakfast. You are strangely altered methinks; and as you are become so well satisfied with all these inconveniences, put on your hat and we will go and see the ruins of the ancient city Comenelion, now called Cumia. The hills are, I understand, infested with snakes, and some few scorpions; but to us, who are now philosophers, these animals will only present a study for natural history.'

There are the remains of an amphitheatre at this place, and of an aqueduct, and in defiance of the various disagreeables they met with, our travellers were highly pleased with their little excursion.

The natives of this place are extremely fond of festivals, and much of their time is lost in entertainments, which somewhat resemble an English fair. There are a great many noblesse in this part of the country; but they are very poor. Smollet says that a friend of his having taken shelter for the night in a cottage belonging to one of these noble families, the next morning he heard the father address his son in the following extraordinary manner: "Chevalier, as tu donné à manger aux cochons."

"I have hired mules and guides to conduct us to Turin,” said the Doctor, " and to-morrow morning we start; but mind, Edward, we set off extremely early, in order to avoid meeting the long string of mules in the mountains, which pass daily between Coni and Nice. L'Escarene was the first village they met with, and from thence passing the mountain called Brans, which took up four hours, they reached Sospello, where they slept a few hours only. After passing one other mountain, not quite so high as Brans, they fixed their quarters for the night at La Giandola, a tolerable inn. These mountains are infested with smugglers, and our travellers were under some little apprehension, lest they should be attacked, as they observed two or three extraordinarily dressed figures in several parts of the mountain, the Doctor fired his pistol, hoping that the reverbation from the neighbouring mountains might induce them to suppose their party was large, and divert them from making any attack upon them; but he forgot that the mountains were covered with snow; and that his pistol, though well loaded with powder, would make no more noise than a pop-gun. An involuntary laugh followed this tremendous explosion, and the gentry who had excited his apprehensions disappearing, they proceeded merrily on, till they came to the natural cascades, formed by the little river Roida, which runs in a bottom between frightful precipices. Here there was noise enough, for there was little or no snow on these mountains, and every sound echoed from rock to rock, and produced a surprising effect. The Col de Tende was a more formidable undertaking than they had supposed; and when they reached the inn, called La Ca, which is about half way up the mountain, they hired fresh guides to assist them in ascending. These men carry a kind of hoe to break the ice, and make a sort of step for the mules. When our travellers were near the top, they were obliged to alight and climb the mountain, supported by two of their guides, (Coulants as they are called,) who from habit ascend these snowy regions with as much ease as if they were traversing an even grass plot. The summit of the Col de Tende presents no object either of interest or beauty, and without delay, therefore, they seated themselves in a kind of sledge, called a Léze, made of

two pieces of wood, which are carried by the coulants for the accommodation of passengers. One coulant stands behind, and the other before, as conductor, with his feet paddling in the snow, in order to moderate the velocity of the vehicle. Limon stands at the foot of this mountain, and in a very short time our travellers entered the beautiful plain which extends to the very gates of Turin, the chief city of Piedmont. Turin is seated at the foot of the Alps, and at the confluence of the Doria and Po. It is extremely elegant, and the citadel is a master-piece of architecture. Our travellers entered this city by the gate of Nice, and passing through the elegant Piazza di San Carlo, they took up their quarters in one of the principal inns in the great square called La Piazza Castel. The regularity of the streets of Turin is remarkable, and in order to preserve this, no inhabitant is allowed to make any alterations and repairs, but on a uniform plan, laid down by the government. The walks along the Po in its environs, are extremely picturesque, and the city itself presents from thence an imposing appearance. The fortifications are regular, and are kept in excellent repair. The king's palace stands at the end of the Strata di Po: it consists of two magnificent structures in a simple but noble style of architecture, joined together by a gallery, in which are several pictures, statues and antiquities of great value.

Why," said Edward, as they sat down to breakfast the morning after their arrival, the clock strikes five, and I am sure my watch is right, and it is by that nine.

DR. WALKER. -"Know you not, Edward, that the Italians count the commencement of the day at sunrise, and conclude it at sunset? That their clocks strike in general twenty-four hours, and that the sun having risen to the inhabitants of London this morning at 4 o'clock, (it being the 19th of July,) your watch must necessarily be nine; though the clock here has struck five, for as the day commences with sun-rise, and as that took place at 4 o'clock, it must needs be five. Some of their clocks go no further than twelve, and some not beyond six, and then begin again."

EDWARD." This mode of reckoning appears to me to be attended with much inconvenience. When it strikes three times in the four and twenty hours, how are people to know what three it is?"

DR. WALKER." That is rather a simple question, but not more simple than the people are who adopt that mode of reckoning time. It reminds me of the savages who count by moons. The height, however, of the sun, and the gencral aspect of the day, of the pursuits that are going on, and so forth, these would to all those who are accustomed to make use of their eyes, indicate which of the three it was; and as for strangers, why they must make use of their eyes too, if they have not watches of their

own; but let us now take a stroll through the city, and see what the people are doing at this hour."

As they quitted the inn, a funeral passed by, and it being the first they had seen in Italy, their curiosity induced them to follow the procession. The body, as is customary in this country, was dressed, with the face uncovered, and it was laid upon an open bier; all this they expected; but they were not prepared to see the corpse tumbled headlong into a grave without a coffin. Upon enquiry they found the custom very general; and they were informed that every parish church was furnished with a vault, and that numbers of bodies were often precipitated together into this common receptacle of fallen man. This disgusting custom is sometimes productive of serious consequences, and many epidemic disorders are frequently caused by the noxious effluvia of these places.

SECTION II.

GENERAL VIEW OF ITALY.

UPON their return home, Dr. Walker desired Edward would bring out their Atlas, that they might skim the geography of Italy.

Italy," continued the Doctor, "is longitudinally divided by the Appennines, and was anciently called the Garden of Europe;' and it still merits that title in a certain degree; but the dreadful ravages of the Huns converted many of its fertile plains into desarts; the pools of such places became stagnant, and the atmosphere insalubrious. Where the ground is high, and well cultivated, the air is dry and pure, and the weather in general serene, though liable to violent rains. In summer the heat is so great in the south, that it would be intolerable if it were not tempered by cool breezes from the Appennines and the sea. The northern confines are varied with lakes and the towering Alps. Mount Gorgona, the spur of the Appennines, adorns the Gulf of Manfredonia.

The subterraneous treasures of this beautiful country are no ways inferior to those which adorn and enrich its surface. Its rivers are not numerous; the Po is the principal; it rises in Mount Viso, one of the highest of the Alps, and after receiving upwards of thirty rivers, as it flows to the eastward by Turin, Casal, Valenza, Placenza, Cremona, it falls into the Adriatic by seven mouths. Its course is about 300 miles. The Arno rises in the Appennines, visits Florence, Pisa, and

falls into the Mediterranean. The Tiber's course is south by west; it runs about 150 miles, passes Orta, and 10 miles below Rome mixes with the Mediterranean sea. The Adige runs south and east, passes Verona, and empties itself into the Adriatic, just above the Po.

The principal islands are Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Ischia, and Elba.

EDWARD." The marbles of Italy are very valuable, I think, Sir. I have heard of the Florentine marbles, and those of Carrara, as being much valued by architects."

DR. WALKER.- "The Carrara marble is highly esteemed by statuaries, that and the Parian, which is considered the purest of all, are indeed denominated statuary marbles. Carrara also produces a deep blue-coloured marble, called - Bordiglio, which in texture resembles the white from the same place.

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Cipolin is also a statuary marble, traversed by veins of

mica."

EDWARD." I do not quite comprehend what mica is." DR. WALKER..-"You bave seen the Aberdeen granite, with which many of the streets of London are paved. You have observed, I dare say, that there is a bright sparkling about it. Those bright particles are mica, the pale blueish substance is quartz, and the darker material is feldspar. The superiority of the Parian marble over that of Carrara is this-the latter is intermixed at times with a considerable portion of quartz; while the former is composed almost solely of carbonate of lime. Lumachella, (in English, small snail, this marble being principally of shells,) is a beautiful marble of a greyish brown colour, containing shells that still retain their polish. Bleyburg, in Carinthia, produces the finest of this kind: the base is a greyish brown compact limestone, in which are implanted shells of a fine colour and beautiful irridiscent hues.

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The Florentine marble is composed of a very compact argillaceous limestone, of a grey colour, with designs of a yellowishbrown, representing architectural ruins."

"That must be the most interesting of all," interrupted Edward.

DR. WALKER." Then there is the yellow Sienna and the Campan, the Verde Antico, Verde de Corsica, and many other varieties. There are a mixture of granulatory foliated limestone, calcareous spar and serpentine, with threads of the asbestos. I believe I mentioned to you some time ago, that there was an elastic marble; I have since discovered that it is phosphoric : that is to say, it emits an irridescent light, under particular circumstances. This property is not confined to the elastic marble, for some on being merely rubbed in the dark, and others on being previously exposed to a strong heat, emit this phosphoric light. Of these kinds of phosphorescent stones, that generally denominated the Bolognian stone is the most curious. A casual disco