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    accident . Inns are everywhere monotonously similar ; but individual families present every possible variety of type to the observer , and many of the amusing pages of this volume are occupied with the hosts and their families . But we must cease description , and open the volume for some glimpses of Nature and of manners . Here is a glimpse of

    REGGIO . 1 "At sunrise I set out on an exploring expedition , and was soon dodging here and there to find the best views of Reggio among its endless cactus and aloe lanes , fig g ardens , and orange groves . Reggio is indeed one vast garden , and doubtless one of the loveliest spots to be seen on earth . A half-ruined castle , beautiful in colour and picturesque in form , overlooks all the long city , the wide straits , and snow-topped Mongibello beyond . Below the castle walls are spread wide groves of orange , lemon , citron , bergamot , and all kinds of such fruit as are called by the Italians 'Agrumi ; ' their thick verdure stretched from hill to shore as far as the eye can reach on either side , and only divided by the broad white lines of occasional torrent courses . All the fulness of Sicilian vegetation awaits you in your foreground ; almond , olive , cactus , palm tree , aloe , ' and fig , forming delightful combinations wherever you turn your steps . "

    Here we have a bit of Nature and of ancient womanhood : — " The morning ' s walk was most delicious : at every step its scenery became grander , in vast mountainous extent of distance , and close oak-filled vales . All my hopes of Calabrian scenery are fulfilled . Stopping here and there to make an outline of what most struck us ( though these are landscapes not to be hastily drawn ) , we arrived about ten on a sunny height , where beneath a spreading oak , we halted to draw a glorious seaward view , where rock and ravine , wood and vale and water , were so mingled as to form one of the finest of scenes . The whole atmosphere seemed alive with cicadae , who buzzed and fizzed , and shivered and shuddered , and ground knives on every branch above and around . At eleven we began to descend

    towards Condufori , by paths which even the alert and accomplished horse of Ciccio found very unsatisfactory;—beautiful are those wild oak woods!—and at last we lost sight of the eternal Bova , and were once more threading a fiumara like a furnace between white cliffs , speculating on our reception at Condufori , and devoutly hoping our next host might not have dinner ere we arrived . On our asking Ciccio as to the properties and characteristics of the village and its habitants , we could get nothing from him but ' Son Turchi , ' except that we construed into a negative testimonial his volunteering the information ' that we had done well to sleep last night at Bagaladi , —dfghi , doghi , da . ' So we thought too ; for our walk of this morning would have been too much to have added to that of yesterday , not to speak of the loss of such scenery after dusk .

    " Condufori , a little village , wedged in a nook between two hills , the torrent at its feet , and the mountain mass of high Apennine threateningly above it , was at length reached , and the house of Don Giuseppe Tropseano discovered . Alas ! the master was away at the Marina , or Scala , and our appe arance threw his old sister into such a state of alarm , that we speedily perceived all hope of lodging and dinner was at an end . We stood humbly on the steps of the old lady ' s house , and entreated her only to read the letter we had brought—but not she ! she would have nothing to say to us . ' Sono femmina , ' ' Sono femmina , ' she constantly declared—a fact we had never ventured to doubt , ' in spite of her immoderate size and \ igliness' Sono femmina , e non so nient . fi . ' No persuasions rould soften ber , so we were actually forced to turn away in hunger und disgust . As for Ciccio , he merely took his short pipe from his lips , and said , ' Son Turchi—doghi , da . '

    " Neither man nor horse could proceed further under the broiling heat , and unrcfreshed by food ; so we found a most vile taverna , where , for want of better accommodation , we prepared to abide . Ciccio , —the Phoenix of guides , —stowed away the horse and baggage , and set the ' Turchi' to get lots of eggs , which , with wine jiiid snow , made our dinner . It was more difficult to find a place to eat it in , and we truly congratulated ourselves on not having come on to Condufori last night . The wretched hut we wore in whs more than half choked up by the bed of a sick man , with barrels , many calf-skins filled with wine , and a projecting stone fireplace ; moreover , it was as dark sis Erebus ; so in the palpable obscure I sat down on a large live pig , who slid away , to my disgust , from under me , and made

    a portentous squeaking , to the disquiet of a horde of fowls , perched on every available spot above and below . The little light the place rejoiced in was disturbed by a crowd of thirty or forty ' Turchi , ' who glared at us with the utmost curiosity , and talked in their vernacular tongue without ceasing . Wo had also a glimpse now and then of our Hebe handmaid , the assistant or ' waitress' in the establishment , Ji woman with one eye , whoso countenance . struck both of lisas it model of a Medusa : nor was her mistress ( the hostess ) much better . Spite of nil this , we nevertheless greatly enjoyed our roasted eggs , and were soon ready to start again ; for although the heat was great out of doors , yet it was nearly us much so within ; besides , 15 ova wiis a weary way oil " , and Dighi Doghi Da made signs of impatience , so be paid for our lunch , ami oil' we wont once more into the blazing fiumara . " We may , en passant , recal to Mr . Tjear ' n memory—an an artist one wonders liow it escaped him—that ; the Meduna wan not " // /// in the sense of physical deformity ; beautiful nhe was , though terribly beautiful with her paHHionlcHH face and serpent Ioc 1 < h ! We hinted hut now the advantages of escaping from the monotony of inns . iSee how o » r travellers fared in HI I , K WORM JIAM-. " Don Doinenieo Musiluni , the duel" man of the place , to whom the neveriiiiling eare of the Consigliere da JSava had recommended us , was Hitting in the Piazza an obese ami taciturn man , who read the introductory letter , and forthwith took us to his house ; which , among many unplcasing recollections , will certainly ever rank as one of the most disagreeable . 1 / ifc in these regions of natural magnificence is full of vivid contrasts . The golden abstract visions of the hanging woods and crags of l'ietmpcnnutii worn suddenly opposed to the realities of Don . 1 ) . Musitani ' s rooms , which were so full of silkworms as to' be beyond measure ! d ' lH-^ unting . To the cultivation of this domestic creature all Staiti is devoted ; yellow cocoons in immense heaps lire piled up in every possible place , and the atmosphere may he conceived rather than described ; for there is no more sickening odour than that of many thousand caterpillars confined in the closest of chambers . Almost did we repent of ever having come into these ! ( , ' alabiian lands ! After the usual refreshment of snow and wines we waited wearily for supper ; at times replying to the interrogatories of our host on the subject of the productions of In ^ hilterra , and iitfht irliul when diHiuiuMod to wlmtrout mig ht bo found in couchww npnurwntby clwuu ,

    though odious from the silkworms all around them ; but necessity as well as poverty makes the traveller acquainted with strange bed-fellows . " August 4 . —Long before daylight a troop of pigeons came into our room through the ill-shut door , and after them followed fowls , then dogs ; all of which visitors we rejoiced to leave , and were soon exploring the town . Staiti has its fun share of Calabrian mystery in its buildings , caves , and rocks , and employed our pencils far and near till noon , when we returned to our host ' s to find dinner laid out in one of our bedrooms , ' all among the silkworms as before . The contrast between the condition of this house of discomforts , and the cleanliness of those of the more northern provincials in the Neapolitan kingdom , is very striking . Donna Angela Musitani , who had not appeared last night , presided at the table , and our arrival seemed the occasion of a sort of dinner-party in our honour ; for there was

    the Giudice of the town , besides a Canonico or two . The former , a well-bred man when speaking of his ' life of exile' here , said , in the saddest of tones , ' O Dio Signori ! Fra Napoli e Staiti ! fra il Paradiso e l'lnferno V and , indeed , barring the out-door picturesqueness of the place , few more uninviting abodes than the odoriferous Staiti could be pointed out . Nor did the annoyances of a tribe of spoiled children and barking dogs add charms to the family dinner . But the ' vermi di seta' were our chief horror ; and so completely did silkworms seem the life and air , end and material , of all Staiti , that we felt more than half sure , on contemplating three or four suspicious-looking dishes , that those interesting lepidoptera formed a great part of the groundwork of our banquet—silkworms plain boiled , stewed chrysalis , and moth tarts . Glad we were to rush out , to sit and draw among the rocks , pondering how we should once more revisit Pietrapennata on the morrow . Almost all the peasants had some greeting for us as they passed

    homeward after sunset . Some gave us pears , which seem the staple fruit of Southern Calabria ; many asked us if we were planning and writing down for our governo ; and one woman begged me to ask my king to ask hers to let her have salt cheaper ; while another set forth a claim to her house being re-roofed , on account of her grandfather having been killed in battle . The Archpriest of Pietrapennata also accosted us , and , finding how desirous we were of revisiting that village and its forest scenery , good-naturedly asked us to dine at his house . Lingering as late as we could , we took refuge with the Giudice , Don Antonio Morano , for an hour , whose comfortable clean room ( though not free from the general taint of the town ' s vermicular atmosphere ) was a favourable contrast to our host ' s home . Thither , however , we at length retreated , to endure as best we might its evils ; there we endured more strange food ; the children screamed , the dogs howled ; and the fat hostess amused herself by catching unwary dragon-flies , and holding them hi the candle .

    " August 5 . —An hour before daylight we left the Palace of Cocoons with joy . How exquisite was the sweet morning light and air—the deep ravine full of elix , the mill , and the ascent to the opposite side , where those surpassing woods fringed the park-like glades , or formed magnificent pictures with their grey trunks , and arms flung out over rock and dell ! O rare woods of Pietrapennata ! I do not remember to have seen a lovelier spot than the ' winged rock '—not unaptly named , feathered as it is from base to summit . None of your dense carpet-forests—your monotonies of verdure , but made up of separate combinations of pictorial effect , such as one can hardly fancy—Claude and Salvator Rosa at every step ! All the morning we drew in this beautiful place , and little enough could our utmost efforts make of what would occupy a regiment of landscape-painters for years , if every one of them had as many arms and hands as Vishnoo . At noon , a constant breeze

    plays among these umbrageous groves , making even the heat of the day p leasant , and we moved reluctantly to the top of the hill , whose crown of foliage spread away in unmeasured lines to the north ; hence the forest slopes conduct your eye eastward to Brancaleone and other villages , starry bri ght against the blue waveH . At the hamlet of Pietrapennata wo found our acquaintance the archpriest , Don Domenico Luciano , waiting for us in his rustic dwelling , the divine himself clad in an undress of corduroys and u shooting-jacket , the like of which was never seen in the grave Roman States . As all and everybody of the village thronged to see us , we were fain to allow our reverend host to shut us up in a small dark room , where our homely dinner of beans , eggs , and salad was soon ready , and the old gentleman not being of an interrogative turn , his dimple hospitality was very agreeable ; and although his wine was very abominable , yet we had had the forethoug ht to load Ciccio with a basketful of snow , four rotoli of which , wrapped in cloth , had melted

    but little , and served to nullify our hosts fluid . " About three we set of 1 " for Silkworm Hall , taking new paths t hrough those most glorious scenes , but so continually distracted by fresh groups of wondrous beauty that we worked but very little , and arrived late ( the later the better ) at Staiti , well pleased at having once more seen a place which must always dwell in my memory as the beau-ideal of Calabrian park or forest scenery . Supper and silkworms once again ; screaming children and bowling dogs ; the fat lady shoutc < and scolded , and anathematised the daddy-longlegs who Hew into the caudles ; ana mine host was savage at our having visited ' quel prete di Pietrapennata . ' " One must not leave without reading at least one pa # o of n AT , A BUI AN ROMAN CK .

    " For centuries the families of these two feudal possessors of the towns of Pentedatilo and Montcbcllo had been deadly foes , and they ruled , or fought for , the adjoining country from their strongholds in persevering enmity . The l ' aron <» Montebello , a daring and ferocious youth , was left heir in early life to his a . nccnira (( states and rights , and fell in love with the only daughter of the Marehese Pciiledatilo ; but , although the young lady bud contrived to acquaint her lover that her heart woh his , her hand was steadfastly denied him by the Mnrchesc , whom t »< memory of long injuries and wars hardened in his refusal . Opposition , howevci , did but increase the attachment of the young lady , and she at length consented to leave her father ' s house with her lover ; an arrangement being made that " » ll certain night she should open a door in the otherwise impenetrable rock- fortress <» Pentedatilo , and admit young Montebello with a snlHeient force of his retainers to

    ensure the success of her elopement . . " The Huron accordingly enters the castle , but finding that equal opportunity ^ presented him for vengeance on his feudal enemy , and for possessing himself of object , of his attachment , lie resolves to make the " most of both ; he goes first to t "" chamber of the Marches *) of Pontedulilo , and finds him sleeping by the side of M ><> Marciiesu , with a dagger at his pillow ' s heiul . Him he stabs , yet not so fatally an to prevent bin placing his left hand on the wound , and with his right seizing »>» stiletto , and plunging it into the heart of tho innocent Marchesa , suspecting her u the author of his death . Tim Huron Montebello repeating his blows , the Marched fullfl forward on tho wulU uml hi « live blood- » Uin « d linger * leave tr » c * i »> till » l" > w

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    974 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1852, page 974, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1955/page/18/