Slender twigs have in three years become respectable trees, that, with proper care, bear excellent fruit. You need but stick the smallest scion in the ground, leaves and blossoms burst forth, and presently it shades the astonished planter with its spreading branches. Vines wreathe themselves in equal abundance on the north and south sides of the buildings, and the only difficulty is to repress their wild luxuriance. Acacia hedges, scarcely two years old, show stems as thick as my arm, and orange twigs of the same have formed an embowered walk, planted here for the sake of the thick shade, not of the fruit.

"But not the least striking thing in the garden is the small quantity of water by which all this is produced and supported. Palermo, like Rome, derives its supply of water from a system of pipes, that mostly branch off into the separate houses-an arrangement ascribed to the Arabs ;-but for the gardens and plantations there are, in the southern hills, pond-like reservoirs, filled from the neighbouring springs, from which the water is from time to time drawn. The utmost strictness of regularity is observed in the allotment of the stream amongst the several estates: our friend D. is allowed the use of the water for the princely gardens only from six o'clock till nine every Saturday morning. At six o'clock a sluice at the upper end of the grounds is opened, and the fertilizing element flows, in many a serpentine winding, over the whole domain for three hours; during which the thirsty soil must imbibe enough to last it for a week. Precisely at nine o'clock a lower sluice is opened, and the water pours down on to the next neighbour's land. As a thousand little advantages are taken upon these occasions, it is evident that the estates nearest to the hills must be better supplied than those situated lower down; the Princess's gardens are of the latter class, and yet does every plant and vegetable luxuriate there, in an exuberance not to be described."

Our Wanderer leaves Palermo in company with two friends, a Count Cesarotti and a Dr. Longinus, attended by a French_servant and a guide; all, the guide excepted, armed jusqu'aux dents, in preparation for being forthwith robbed and murdered, as the established concomitant of a Sicilian tour. No such disaster however befals them; not even an alarm of the kind occurs; and they are further informed that the robbery and murder trade has been abandoned;-why is not explained to us, if it was to the travellers. The abandonment, however, is not so complete-or if it was then had not long been so-as actually to insure the life and purse of all and every stray tourist; for we have a sad story of a worthy botanist, Professor Schweigger, from Königsberg, being knocked on the head by his guide. But then this professor was, it seems, an imprudent, grumbling, abusive person, who, heedless of southern antipathy to fatigue, dragged his weary, sleepy guide up and down every mountain he could find, even at noontide and it is held to be doubtful whether the tired and overheated assassin was instigated by sheer ill-humour, fear of being prose

cuted for some petty pilfering, or a longing desire for the store of gold coins which he took from the dead man, and which betrayed him. But, whatever were his motive, he was hanged, and Professor Schweigger is, or then was, the last traveller who had been murdered.

-

Of all the places visited, and not merely skirred through, by our travellers, we think Girgenti (the ancient Agrigentum) one of the most interesting, as also one of the least generally known. To Girgenti then we will hasten, first however pausing a moment at the last stage, Sciacca, of which we are told:

"The kindly-looking little sea-port town lay before us upon a green hill in the loveliest sunshine. Such a profusion of the cactus we had never before seen. It not only forms the enclosure of the gardens and fields, but runs far along the town walls, where it so completely conceals them, that from a distance Sciacca seems to be merely hedged round with cactus. As there is no inn in the whole town, we sought the hospitality of a monastery."

The party were often obliged to do so, and were generally well received, and as well entertained as the means of the community allowed.

"Cesarotti bad letters of recommendation to all the priors in Sicily; but in spite of these, our reception here was so ungracious that we resolved to embark at once in a speronara (a species of Sicilian small craft), and sail that very evening for Girgenti, where the sailors promised that we should be by morning. . . . At first all went well. The sailors rowed lustily out of the harbour, singing merry songs as they pulled. The town upon its hill shone in the bright glow of evening, and was gradually lost amidst the rich green of the encircling mountains. . . . By sunset we had reached the open sea; the land breeze filled our sails, and the keel cut through the long swell with an agreeable undulation. We settled ourselves for sleep, but the restless activity of our tormentorfiends (anglice, vermin) made repose impossible, and we spent a wakeful night in the most inconvenient situation possible.

It had not yet dawned when we were beside the molo or wharf of Girgenti; but our sailors had said nothing of the quarantine regulations inforced all round the island. We were obliged to wait several hours, till the proper officer could be fetched from the town, which lay half a league off. The sun grew hotter, and so did our impatience. At length the eagerly desired guardian of the public health appeared, riding on an ass; our Captain took two steps towards him, unfolded his papers, and read aloud that we came from Sciacca, an unsuspected place. Thereupon we were permitted to prender pratica, the technical phrase for landing under quarantine regulations.

*

*

"The quarantine functionary, upon hearing that forestieri di gran merito (meaning distinguished foreigners) were on board the speronara, had brought several donkeys with him, upon whose backs we climbed the

The

steep ascent to Girgenti, which lies 1,100 feet above the sea. The sun burnt hotter and hotter, and on the summit of the hill arose a tempestuous wind, that drove all the dust of the unclean town upon us. only inn in the place was full, aud we were sent to a remote private house. Here too we could not gain admittance, and all we could at last obtain was a couple of miserable unfurnished rooms opposite to the inn. A table and two or three chairs were a laborious acquisition, and a heap of straw was spread upon the floor, the substitute for beds. In short our entrance into Girgenti was in no wise agreeable, and clearly proved that little provision had been there made for the accommodation of forestieri di gran merito. . . . The milk for our coffee was fresh milked from the goats that traverse the town at day-break in large droves. The goatherd blows a small horn of a peculiar and fine tone, which impresses itself upon the soul, and interrupts the morning's sleep agreeably from its association with the idea of breakfast.

"For some days we could not visit the antique temples, for after so much fine weather we were now to experience the disfavour of the heavens. A tempestuous rain was almost incessant. The sea, which is seen from many parts of the town, showed no trace of its beautiful azure. Overhung with heavy clouds, it had assumed a thick grey colour, and looked really frightful.

"We found some compensation in the acquaintance of a highly respected ecclesiastic, by name, Ciantro Panitteri, who is considered as the Mecænas of Girgenti. He employs his considerable fortune chiefly upon works of art; a merit which every day becomes more uncommon in Sicily. He has had his fields near the town dug up, and his labours have been repaid by the discovery of several fine statues, which adorn his country-house: but the most valuable fruit of his researches is a splendid collection of vases, mostly of preeminent beauty."

We pass by the author's raptures, now somewhat commonplace, about the beauties of antique statues and vases; but we must here observe that in the often rifled Sicily, Agrigentum seems to be the only ancient store-house of the treasures of sculpture where any thing really valuable is still to be found, coins and medals excepted. To return to the Girgenti Mecænas, whose collection is second only to the Prince of Bisicari's at Catania, meaning of course second in Sicily.

"The walls of the room that contain these vases are suitably decorated with paintings after Grecian models, and the ceiling is covered with good frescoes. The artist who executed them, Politi, was formerly the intimate friend of the vivacious Ciantro, and guided his love of the arts: he has not long since very judiciously arranged the position, at the appropriate height, of a frieze dug up in Ciantro's garden. But the artist and his clerical patron have now quarrelled violently. Politi would not tell us upon what occasion; but lamented that, in consequence, his teatro civico (civic theatre), which can succeed only under the protection of the liberal Ciantro, was closed, which prevented his giving a

representation, in which he and his two daughters would have performed, in honour of the signori Inglesi, (English gentlemen).

"We were at first annoyed at being every where taken for signori Inglesi, but soon found that this is now merely a common name, equivalent to travelling foreigners, so employed from the English being the most numerous travellers, and especially the first explorers of Sicily. Since the recent Austrian occupation, a distinction begins to be made between Inglesi and Tedeschi (the proper Italian for Germans), much to our advantage. The Austrians are feared on account of their military strictness, without being altogether hated; they are even preferred to the Neapolitan bloodsuckers. A new distinction now has to be made between Tedeschi and Germani (Austrians and Germans), whom the people here take for distinct nations; and as we always called ourselves Germani, whilst we were seen to converse with the Austrian officers, we were often asked if the two languages were not distinct?

"As to the teatro civico, as Girgenti, which contains but 12,000 souls, cannot possibly support a public theatre, the active Politi, chiefly from his own means, has fitted up a private theatre, where he from time to time entertains the play-loving Girgentines with dramatic performances; and as comedies only come upon his stage he calls his theatre the civic, or burgher, play-house. Politi boasts of having been much applauded in his favourite parts in the Padre de Famiglia and the Uomo del Mondo (Father of a Family and Man of the World), two plays of Goldoni's.

....

"But Politi's acting is a mere subsidiary talent. He is especially an architect, a painter, an engraver, and, a matter of course upon this classic ground, an antiquary. He has been occupied these two years in drawing an old sarcophagus that stands in the cathedral, and explaining the bas reliefs from Euripides. This cathedral stands at the very highest point of the town; we climbed thither in a fearful storm, but our trouble was well repaid; the bas reliefs are wonderfully beautiful.......

"From the front of the cathedral you command the ancient and new town..... The new town, not a tenth of the former in size, appears to be built upon the site of the ancient citadel. ...... So soon as the rain ceased, we descended to the temples, and it was a pleasure to see the powerful and immediate action of the sun. In less than half an hour the hill side facing the sun was perfectly dry, whereupon the little grey lizards crept out of their hiding-places, and chirped over the lofty stones."

The ruined temples in question seem to have been dedicated

to

"Juno Lucina, Concord, Hercules, Jupiter Olympius, Castor and Pollux, Vulcan. ....South of this line towards the sea, are the Temple. of Esculapius and the monument of Thero; to the north a chapel of Phalaris, (it may be presumed a fancy name), and the villa of Ciantro

Panitteri, no antique certainly, but a landmark visible from afar, and our usual resting place."

Of these temples how much is standing, how much fallen, (the Temple of Concord alone seems to be in tolerable preservation), we confess we care not greatly, at least in a book, and least of all in a review. Where the notice must be so brief and vague, it is the general effect, in the landscape and upon the imagination, from the abundance and richness of ruins, (which here at Girgenti are surely great for a nook of Sicily) that interests us and our Wanderer, evidently, an amateur artist, at least, seems in the following passage partly to agree with us.

"Each of the preserved temples offers singly abundance of picturesque aspects and views; but I was fortunate enough to combine them all in one agreeable picture, upon which occasion I had a hearty laugh at our good Politi. He had lately completed, for a travelling Russian, whose name no Sicilian organs could pronounce, a drawing in which appeared the two chief temples, the tomb of Thero, the sea, the town of Girgenti, and Ciantro Panitteri's villa; and he made such a mystery of the point from which this view was obtained that I was on fire to discover it. And this I effected, by bearing in mind his remark that one of the temples appeared only in part in the landscape. ..... I went zealously to work, and the very next day laid my sketch before Politi. His amazement was both comic and tragic. He knew not whether to laugh or be angry; and seemed to suspect me of dealing in the black art, since I had copied his drawing without having seen it.

"Upon my way home from the temple, towards evening, along a path winding through the richest verdure, I saw a party-coloured throng of figures coming towards me. It was a rustic wedding party, moving homewards with music and singing. They had probably been to the town for the ceremony, and were now conducting the bride, with clamorous rejoicing and merriment, to the house of the bridegroom. First came a violin and a clarinet, then a number of women, dancing and singing; amongst whom frolicked a petulant bajazzo (buffoon or merry Andrew) walking oftener on his head than on his feet. Behind the women came the young couple, hand in hand, and really loaded with ornaments; then a crowd of relations and wedding guests. Amongst the men there were some fine tall figures; the women pleased me less; they were embrowned with toil, and little resembled the Hellenic Hebes that had floated before my eyes whilst drawing the temples; yet there was no denying the thoroughly national character of the whole procession, to which a part of the ruinous wall and the gothic arch of the city gate formed a fitting back-ground. ...... The dissonant music and the jocund shouts gradually died away in the

distance.