Wearing, in general, the unpolished organs of a rude and unlettered people, this country boasts the production of patriots equal to those of Rome and Greece; and of writers, scarcely to be equalled in their several departments. Being a country where auriculas grow wild among moss, half covered with ice, summer and winter may be traced on the opposite sides of the same mountain: and it is no uncommon circumstance to gather flowers with one hand and snow with another!

In the south of FRANCE the temperature of the air, and the mildness of the climate, render the towns and cities highly agreeable to reside in, and exceedingly conducive to the restoration of health. And yet it formed a subject of complaint to Rousseau, that the French had little taste for Nature, and still less for landscape. In the beautiful parts of literature, France is superior to England; but decidedly inferior in point of morals, politics, and philosophy. From Lyons to Bordeaux, and thence to the foot of the Pyrenees, the climate is exceedingly agreeable. The moon rises, for the most part, in cloudless splendour; and the sun sinks with all the rich teinture of an Italian atmosphere.

PORTUGAL has an exquisite climate: her mornings being delightful, and her evenings truly enchanting. She boasts of two hundred fine days in the course of the year ! In poetry Camöens is her principal glory; and that poet she would not rescue from a life, not of comparative poverty, but of absolute want! Her rank in science is of the third order.

There are parts of Spain, which would seem, in some degree, to corroborate the hypothesis of the Abbé du Bos. Justin a said of the Iberians, that they were as much afraid of losing their gravity, as some persons are of losing their lives. This character applies, in a great measure, to their descen

a Illis fortior taciturnitatis cura quàm vitæ.

dants. Livy, too, said of the ancient Catalonians, that it was more difficult to disarm, than to destroy them :-a remark equally applicable to the modern Catalonians.

These instances are not insulations. Others might be brought from the various provinces of Europe; but surely Montesquieu, were he now living, could not suppose, that the modern French bear any resemblance to the natives of Gaul; when the Franks possessed themselves of the west part of that country; the Burgundians of the east; and the Visigoths of the north. And yet his hypothesis would imply the argu

ment.

SPAIN has a climate for the best painter and the richest poet; while its literature is copious in every department, except those of science and philosophy. It is a country formerly romantic for its chivalry, the beauty of its women, and the pride of its ancestry. In latter days it has become a prey to all the evils of foreign and domestic despotisms.

Boswell spoke to Johnson of a friend, who was so attached to this climate, that he was unwilling to return to his own country. "Sir!" said Johnson, "he is attached to some woman. What is climate to happiness? what proportion does climate bear to the complex system of human affairs?"

Few climates have been more celebrated, than that of ITALY; a country admired for its specimens of art, its ancient love of liberty, and, its modern patience under tyranny! Vain are the inhabitants in the midst of poverty; and luxurious against the lessons of disease. The general climate of ITALY, however, has been much misconceived. It is not so favourable for astronomical observation as England; (England having more clear days and nights ;) since Italy is subject to frequent fogs in summer, and to rain in winter. When the atmosphere is clear, however, the skies are transcendant: sometimes like pearls and silver; and in the evenings like

Ferox gens nullam esse vitam sine armis putat.

burnished gold. Piedmont so beautiful, so fruitful, and abounding in every luxury of life, boasts a climate, superior to that of Italy in general; and yet-who can refrain from expressing astonishment and almost indignation, when he recollects, that neither a painter, nor an historian, and only one poet of eminence, was ever born in the country!

She pines beneath the brightest skies,

In Nature's richest lapt

Thebes has produced her Pindar; Cappadocia its Strabo and Pausanias; its Basil and Gregory Nazianzen; but Piedmont!—she is, in a literary sense, a disgrace to her climate.

It is remarked by Tacitus, that the ancient Germans, dividing their year into three seasons, had no idea of autumn. That season, on the contrary, was better esteemed in ancient Thessaly, than either summer or spring; being remarkable for its long continuance, and its brilliant skies.

Though the summers in the CRIMEA are variable, the autumns pestilential, and the winters rigorous, the springs are delightful. The hills are covered with sheep; the air is mild; the sky serene; and the wild vine mingles in the hedges with the arbutus and jessamine. Flowers of every colour spring up in myriads; perfumes, which ravish the senses, are unequalled by those of any other country in Europe; while the soil is capable of producing every description of fruit, that grows in France, Italy, or Greece.

The MOREA has a climate temperate and agreeable. From April to August there is seldom rain: the most agreeable season is winter: the stars shed a golden light; its skies are exceedingly brilliant; and the water of its coasts, and of the Archipelago, is of a deep azure. MITYLENE was celebrated

for its wine, its climate, and its women.

The birth-place of

a V. Alfieri. Born at Asti, Jan. 7th, 1749.

b Abdera and Thebes were bye-words for stupidity; and yet the former produced Protagoras, Anaxarchus, and Democritus; and the latter, Cadmus, Amphion, Hercules, Hesiod, Pindar, Plutarch, Epaminondas, and Pelopidas. VOL. II.

Z

Arion and Pittacus, Phanios, Sappho, and Theophrastus, it was worthy of being the occasional residence of Aristotle and Epicurus. Fragments of the finest marble attest its ancient magnificence. CROTO was said, in ancient times, to have been remarkably conducive to the strength of men, and the beauty of women. The Isle of SAMOS consists of rocks, mountains, and precipices, interspersed with pines, mulberries, and olives, growing over mines and quarries of white marble. Thunder-storms in this island are more frequent in winter than in summer. Samos was so fertile and beautiful, that Horace applies to it the epithet concinnaa. The air in the Isle of SIPHNOS was so pure, that men lived longer on that island, than in any other of the Greek republics: and RHODES, an island once so celebrated for its roses, had so mild a climate, that there was not`a day in the year, in which the sun did not shine upon it. Pindar called it the daughter of Venus, and the wife of Apollo;-the most elegant compliment ever paid to any country.

The climate of CRETE is as delightful, as its constitution was formerly excellent. Its winter of two months resembles the May of England and the April of Italy. The rest of the year is a continued succession of fine days and brilliant nights. In the day, the sky is cloudless; in the night, a countless profusion of stars, whose brilliancy is seldom obscured by vapours, renders the season of sleep more beautiful than the splendour of the day. Hence it was called "Macarias, the happy Island." The ancients might well fable this country to be the birth-place of Minerva, the cradle of Jupiter, and the theatre, in which he consummated his nuptials: the favourite haunt of Cybele; and on whose enchanting shores the Dardan hero was so anxious to erect a city.

I have always esteemed that passage one of the most affecting in all Virgil, where Æneas, after having made good his landing, erected a fort, and built houses; where, after his a Epist. xi. 1, 2.

companions had begun to cultivate the soil, and he had turned his thoughts towards legislating for his little colony, by dividing the lands, promoting marriages, and enacting laws, he is represented, as finding himself under the necessity of quitting the island, and of seeking his fortune in another country! For his corn was blighted, and his grass was parched; his trees devoured by caterpillars; and his companions in danger and in exile falling every day from fevers, occasioned by noxious vapours.

On quitting Greece and its dependencies we may remark, that though, for the most part, it was sterile: yet it was the land of freedom and the arts. SICILY, on the other hand, was so fertile, that it was called the granary of Rome. There is, in fact, not a wealthier soil in the whole circumference of the globe and yet what a nursery of tyrants it has always been!

The republic of SAN MARINO affords nothing, by which we may accurately judge of the effect of climate; but it proves how compatible happiness is with a sterile soil, and an elevated region. This small republic, standing upon an indurated sand-rock, has neither soil, climate, nor spring-water to boast; but it has independence and happiness. It consists of an abrupt mountain, surrounded by small crags lying around it; enveloped, for the most part, in clouds; with neither a flower nor a rivulet; and frequently covered with snow, while the country beneath glows with alternate shade and sunshine. This republic owes its origin to the circumstance of a Dalmatian having fixed upon this craggy eminence for a hermitage. Having obtained, during the course of a long life, a high reputation for sanctity, many religious persons resorted to him; and having effected what the world regarded a miracle, the princes of the country gave him the entire property of the mountain. From this time the eminence increased in population; and a republican form of government was instituted, which exists even at the pre