Departure from England—Arrival at Gibraltar-Excursion into SpainArrival in Sicily-Bay of Palermo-City and Noblesse-Experiment of the British Constitution-Sicilian Parliament-Errors of the British Authorities-Concise Account of Manners, &c. in the Sicilian CapitalReflections on the general State of the Island-Departure from Palermo, and Arrival at Girgenti-Ancient Republic of Agrigentum, Commerce, Luxury, and fine Arts-Splendid Site of the City-Description of its Temples and other Antiquities--Modern City of Girgenti upon Mount Camicus-Cathedral, Public Library, &c.-Festival at the Dominican Convent-Excavations among the Tombs-Departure from Girgenti— Peasantry-Celebration of Harvest-home-Music-Arrival at and Description of Castro Giovanni-Temple of Ceres-Lake of Proserpine— Ancient Castle converted into a Gaol-Scene among the Felons-Administration of Justice, and Prison Discipline-Account of Riots and Execution at Palermo.

IN the latter end of the year 1812, I accompanied the friend to whom these pages are dedicated, in a tour through several countries

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ARRIVAL AT GIBRALTAR,

bordering on the Mediterranean, those theatres of the most interesting events recorded in the annals of history. Having completed our preparations in London, and engaged a servant experienced in foreign travel*, we embarked at Portsmouth, on board His Majesty's ship the Revenge, which, after a more than usual variety of storm and calm, cast anchor in the beginning of January 1813, under the rock of Gibraltar.

This inestimable jewel of the British Crown, and key of those important straits over which "Europe and Afric on each other gaze," rises so majestically from the waves, amidst scenery so strikingly sublime, as to command universal admiration; but it is peculiarly adapted to excite surprise and pleasure in the bosom of an Englishman, who finds himself, as it were, at home in a strange land, after having measured that long tract of ocean which rolls betwixt him and his native shore! Here, in the passing crowd his eye recognises the faces of his countrymen, and his ear the familiar sounds of his own language; in the shops he observes the manufactures of Great Britain, in the garrison her defenders, in the port her ships: above all, he enjoys the comforts of social life and the blessings of civil liberty, upon a barren rock, from whose lofty heights he may look down upon the confines of two quarters of the globe, peopled with the victims of ignorance, tyranny, and superstition. The light of freedom on this beacon-hill shines brighter from the surrounding gloom; he feels the glow of patriotism more ardent in his bosom, and he learns to appreciate more truly that glorious constitution for which his forefathers bled, and which they have left him as his best inheritance.

After we had exhausted the natural and artificial curiosities of Gibraltar, our residence was protracted by the agreeable society and hospitality which it afforded, and was diversified by an excursion into Morocco, as well as by a tour in the south of Spain, at a very re

* Luigi Antonietti, a native of Piedmonte, whose honesty, fidelity, and good temper, well deserve this public acknowledgment.

markable period of its political history. The splendid entertainments of the carnival, with its bull-fights, those extraordinary exhibitions of skill, courage, and inhumanity, which we witnessed in Cadiz, the architectural beauties of Seville, with its pompous mummeries of degraded worship, were much less interesting to us than to behold the struggles of a great people for independence, and to mark the light of reason and truth, gleaming out from beneath that darkness which had so long covered the nation. It was for a long time painful to see those generous struggles terminated by the annihilation of all rights, and the reorganization of tyranny and superstition; to discover that chains and dungeons were become the rewards of patriot eloquence and undaunted valour; to find the rising hopes of a generous people crushed by an iron sceptre in the hands of a liberated monarch, who in his captivity was the idol of their blind attachment, for whom their best blood was spilt, and whose name was joined in all their aspirations after liberty. But Ferdinand seems at length to be recovering some of the sympathies of human nature and brighter prospects appear to hang over the destinies of Spain.

April 10th.-Having bid a final adieu to Gibraltar, we proceeded, from necessity more than choice, to Alicante, which was at this time the seat of war, on the south-east coast of Spain: we landed in hopes of enjoying the novel spectacle of military operations, but soon found that affairs were in no train to gratify the curiosity of amateurs; we therefore seized a very early opportunity of re-embarking on board the Pilot brig of war, in which after various adventures, we beheld the classic shores of Sicily on the 1st of May.

It was a fine evening in this delightful season of the year when we cast anchor in the bay of Palermo. The land-breeze wafted fragrance from the orange groves in its environs; the sea was covered even to the horizon, with innumerable little vessels, whose white triangular sails, crossing each other to catch the gale, seemed like the extended pinions of aquatic birds; whilst the deep radiance of the setting sun gilded the

CITY AND NOBLESSE.

fantastic summits of that grand semicircle of mountains, which surround the "conca d'oro," that "golden shell," in which Sicilian poets represent Palermo as set like a beauteous pearl. In these delightful retreats*, which rival even the shores of Parthenope, we were fortunate enough to land just before news arrived of the plague in Malta, by which means we escaped the tedious intervention of quarantine.

Palermo has been so often and so well described, that I need not enter into a particular detail of its beauties. It is a city worthy of the fine island of which it is the capital; it is divided into four parts, by two long streets, terminated with lofty gates, and forming, at their intersection, a fine piazza, called the “ Quattro Cantonieri." It contains many superb edifices, profusely adorned with native marbles, amongst which the following deserve particular observation :-The college of the Jesuits, at this time used for the session of parliament; the cathedral, whose oriental gothic outside puts to shame its modern interior; and the royal palace, to which a curious chapel is attached, in the arabesque style, covered from top to bottom with rich mosaic.

The island, though at this time menaced with invasion by a strong force upon the Calabrian coast, was secured from all the horrors of war by a protecting British army; and as Palermo was the residence of those Neapolitan nobles who had fled with Ferdinand, few capitals in Europe could vie with it in splendour; though it must be confessed, this splendour was chiefly external, for the prime comforts of domestic life, as well as the pleasures of refined taste and rational society, were lamentably sacrificed to vain parade and ostentatious decoration: ambitious poverty was preferred to elegant economy, and the appearance of

"La città

*The gardens in the suburbs of Palermo, and the conca d'oro, are unrivalled in beauty. di Palermo (says Bisaccione, Lib. i. Mem. Hist.), ha d'intorno una corona di monti, che rendono il piano et la città in forma di conca." "Palermo, città magnifica, ha un contado ove contende l'amenita con la dovitia d'ogni cosa, et si chiama perciò conca d'oro"-(Rosacci descrizione di Sie.) It is called by Fazzello, the Sicilian historian-" Ager non Siciliæ modo sed Italiæ quoque pulcherrimus." Its beauty in ancient times may be learned from Athenæus: ἡ δὲ Πανορμίτις τῆς Σικελίας πᾶσα Κῆπος προσαγορεύεται, διὰ τὸ πᾶσα ειναι πλήρης δένδρων ἡμέρων Lib. xii. 524.

EXPERIMENT OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION.

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happiness to its reality. Thus, though the public promenade of the Marina glittered every evening with its costly equipages and gaudy liveries, many noble mansions exhibited most disgusting scenes of penury and meanness. A few families, however, ought, in justice, to be excepted from this general censure: that of the Prince Grammonte, in particular, appeared a pattern of conjugal virtue and domestic felicity its members were sensible, well-informed, and polite; educated in the English system, and able to converse in our language with nearly as much fluency as in their own: the same encomiums will apply, in every particular, to the family of the Duke di Sangro; and I should be very much wanting in gratitude, if I omitted to mention the continuance of that genuine hospitality in the Prince Butera, which so many Englishmen have experienced, in happier times, at Naples.

Painful as it was to remark the extreme imbecility of the reigning family, the dissolute morals of the nobles, the perversion of justice, the iniquity of the laws, and the general venality and corruption, in a country which requires only the co-operation of man with the bounty of Providence, to make it a paradise upon earth, it was still gratifying to an Englishman to observe the efforts made by Great Britain to recover this ally from such a state of national degradation. By her influence Ferdinand had resigned the authority, though he retained the name of king: the queen, who had too long indulged in the most atrocious acts of tyranny, and connected herself with the interests of Buonaparte*, waited only for a favourable wind at Marsala to quit for ever the Sicilian shores; whilst the hereditary prince, glad to purchase present power at the expence of future privilege, consented to adopt

* Several conspiracies were detected at Messina, in which she was clearly implicated, for delivering up the citadel and flotilla, and betraying our army to the French. In the last of these her correspondence was disclosed with the chief officer of police in Messina, called the captain of justice (Capitano della Giustizia). This agent of hers was tried by a jury of his own countrymen, condemned, and hanged. At the place of execution the poor man made loud lament, complaining bitterly of his hardship in suffering the punishment of death for executing the commands of his own sovereign, whom he thought it his duty to obey.