Climate. In respect to climate, Italy is one of the most favored countries in Europe. The air is almost everywhere mild and genial, the excessive heats of summer being moderated by the influence of the mountains and surrounding sea. In Lombardy the climate in the mountains is cool; in the plains and on the coasts it is warm. Tuscany and the States of the church lying more to the south have an increased degree of warmth; and in the kingdom of Naples, the heats of summer, especially when the Sirocco blows, are sultry and oppressive. The climate of Italy is, in general, salubrious, but there is a large district, extending along the coast of Tuscany and the States of the church from Leghorn to the Neapolitan frontier, a distance of 200 miles, and reaching in some places 40 miles inland, which is unhealthy in the summer and autumn. The prevailing complaint is an intermitting fever of the worst kind; and the thin population who occupy this tract are of a sickly and languid appearance. The cause of this evil is supposed to be the pestilential air of the stagnant marshes, which abound here.

Soil and Productions.] Almost every part of Italy possesses a fertile soil, capable, with moderate cultivation, of producing in. abundance all kinds of grain, vegetables and fruits. The soil in Lombardy, particularly, is a deep, alluvial mould of great fertility. The most important productions are vines, olives, and other fruit of the most delicious quality. Cotton and silk are also cultivated to a great extent. Particular districts are distinguished for particular products. Lombardy is the chief corn country; in Tuscany and some parts of Sardinia, the culture of fruit, particularly of olives, predominates; while the unhealthy district between Leghorn and the kingdom of Naples remains chiefly in a state of natural pasture.

Agriculture. Skilful agriculture is confined to the north; in the centre and south it is at a very low ebb; and throughout the whole kingdom of Naples, the abundance of vegetable productions is owing much more to the climate and soil than to the industry of the inhabitants. Lombardy on the other hand is in a high state of cultivation, and for many centuries has been styled the garden of Europe. Great attention is paid here to irrigation, a practice which is much facilitated by the number of rivers flowing from the Alps, and the inhabitants spare neither pains nor expense to distribute their waters over the plains.

Population, Language and Religion.] The population, including Sicily and Sardinia, is estimated at 19,044,000. The Italian lanlanguage is spoken throughout the whole country, but with various degrees of purity. On the borders of France and Germany it is corrupted by the languages of those countries. The purest Italian is spoken in Tuscany and at Rome. The established religion is the Roman Catholic; but all other sects are tolerated.

Literature.] No country in Europe has surpassed Italy in the number of men eminent in literature and the fine arts. This was wing partly to the circumstance that it was the refuge of men of letters, when driven from Greece by the invasion of the Turks,

but more to the early independence of the principal cities. The brilliant era of Italy was the 15th century: her republican institutions had not then been impaired, and the light which they shed was brightened by the darkness of the rest of Europe. The Italians still excel in works of imagination, but they can at present boast of few writers of eminence in the higher branches of literature.

Antiquities.] Antiquities form one of the great objects of interest to the traveller in Italy. They are most numerous in Rome and its vicinity, and in the kingdom of Naples, and consist chiefly of amphitheatres, triumphal arches, pillars, roads, catacombs, and subterraneous ruins.

Police.] The police in Italy, particularly between Rome and Naples, is extremely defective; hardly a month passes without some robbery on the highways; and the governments are so inefficient that they enter into compromise with the leaders of the banditti. The dreadful crime of assassination is less frequent than is generally supposed, and is the result not of deliberate malice, but of passion. It is promoted by the very improper practice of carrying arms. The French and Austrians found no difficulty in stopping this horrid custom, by prohibiting individuals, under severe penalties, from carrying arms.

Manufactures.] The manufactures of Italy are not in a very flourishing state. The principal articles are silks, linens, woollens, artificial flowers, straw hats and bonnets, &c. These, how

ever, are almost all for home consumption. The articles for commercial exchanges are very limited, and consist less of manufactures than of raw produce.

Commerce.] The navigation and foreign trade of Italy were formerly very considerable, Venice and Genoa holding the first rank among the commercial cities of the age; but they have long been outstripped by England and Holland; and the share of trade they have at present is in a great measure carried on in foreign bottoms. The Italian ships seldom go out of the Mediterranean. Considerable trade is carried on with Switzerland and Germany by land.

The particular states remain to be described. The first in order is the kingdom of Sardinia.

1. KINGDOM OF SARDINIA.

Situation and Extent.] The continental part of this kingdom is bounded N. by Switzerland, from which it is separated by the Pennine and Lepontine Alps; E. by the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom and the dutchy of Parma, from the first of which it is separated by lake Maggiore and the river Tesino; S. by the Mediterranean; and W. by France, from which it is separated by the river Var, the Maritime and Cottian Alps and the river Rhone. It extends from 43° 40′ to 46° 40′ N. lat. and from 6° to 10° E. lon.

The area, including the island of Sardinia, is estimated at 27,400 square miles.

Divisions. The kingdom is composed of the following territories, several of which are again subdivided.

Natural Features.] Sardinia is almost encircled, except to wards the east, by lofty mountains; the Alps forming the western and northern boundaries, and in the N.W. separating Piedmont from Savoy, while the Apennines run along the southern border. As you proceed from these lofty ranges towards the interior, the surface presents a succession of mountains and hills, gradually diminishing in height till they terminate in the beautiful plains, which occupy the central and eastern portions of the kingdom and extend into Lombardy. The principal river is the Po, which rises on the western frontier and traverses the country in its whole breadth, receiving the numerous streams that descend on all sides from the mountains. The soil is very fertile, the plains yielding abundantly wheat, rye, barley, maize, and in the low grounds, rice, while the hills are covered with flourishing vineyards, and rich pastures The mountains present one of the richest mineral districts in Europe. Savoy, which is separated from the rest of the kingdom by the loftiest part of the Alps, has a rugged and rocky surface and is naturally one of the poorest countries in Europe, but by dint of skill and industry, the inhabitants raise enough to supply their wants.

Chief Towns.] Turin, the capital, and one of the most regularly and beautiful cities in Italy, is situated in a broad plain on the Po near its confluence with the Doria. Its citadel is reputed one of the strongest in Europe. It has a university and 88,000 inhabitants.

Genoa stands on the declivity of a hill on the gulf of Genoa, On the land side it is surrounded by a double wall and is a place of great strength. The harbor is in the form of a semicircle, about a mile in diameter, and is deep enough for ships of 80 guns, but the entrance is difficult. When viewed from the harbor, Genoa and its environs present the form of an amphitheatre. The white buildings, erected on successive terraces, form a contrast

with the naked appearance of the Apennines and give the town an air of great magnificence, but the interior does not altogether correspond to these impressions. Genoa exports rice, fruit, and olive oil, also her own manufactures, viz. silks, damasks and velvets. The chief business is carried on under foreign flags, from a dread of the Barbary corsairs. The population is 76,000.

Alessandria is a strong town on the right bank of the Tanaro, 44 miles E. of Turin. It has fairs in April and October, which are attended by merchants from all parts of Italy, and even from France and Switzerland. The population is 35,000. The village of Marengo, celebrated for the battle between the French and Austrians on the 14th of June 1800, is 5 miles S. E. of Alessandria.

Nice is delightfully situated on the Mediterranean at the foot of an amphitheatre of hills, and is much resorted to by invalids on account of the salubrity of the climate. The harbor is spacious and the trade considerable. Population 18,500. Chamberry, the capital of Savoy, is situated on a branch of the Rhone, near the French border, and contains 12,000 inhabitants.

Government, Revenue, &c.] The government is an unlimited monarchy. Some of the territories, however, possess privileges which were guaranteed to them when they were incorporated with the rest of the kingdom. This is particularly the case with Genoa, which was added by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and which is still governed by its own laws, and preserves its senate, its supreme court of justice, and provincial councils, whose assent is necessary to the imposition of new taxes. The revenue is about £1,500,000. The standing army, amounting to nearly 60,000 men, is larger in proportion to the population and resources than that of almost any state in Europe.

ISLAND OF SARDINIA.] The island of Sardinia is situated to the south of Corsica, from which it is separated by the strait of Bonifacio. It extends from 38° 55′ to 41° 17′ N. lat. and from 8° to 10° W. lon. It contains 9,200 square miles and 520,000 inhabi tants. The surface presents a pleasant variety of hill and dale, and a chain of mountains runs through the island from north to south. The soil is generally fertile, producing wheat, vines, olives and other fruit in abundance. The climate is healthy wherever the land is elevated, but unhealthy in the vallies and low grounds, where the marsh vapors generate disease. The lower classes of people live in extreme ignorance and poverty, and are constantly oppressed by the barons. The interior of the island exhibits a degree of barbarism which can with difficulty be believed to exist in Europe. The shepherds are dressed in the skins of goats and sheep, and roam with their flocks over the uninhabited tracts. They go constantly armed to protect themselves from the banditti in the mountains. Cagliari, the capital, and residence of the viceroy, is in the southern part of the island, on a gulf of the same name, and has a spacious and secure harbor. The inhabitants, who are about 30,000 in number, carry on con siderable trade in oil, wine, and especially salt.

2. LOMBARDO-VENETIAN KINGDOM.

The Lombardo-Venetian kingdom forms part of the Austrian empire, and will be more properly described under that head.

3. KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES.

Situation and Extent.] The continental part of the kingdom of the two Sicilies is called the kingdom of Naples. It occupies the southern part of the peninsula of Italy, and is bounded N W. by the States of the church, and on all other sides by the Adriatic and Mediterranean: from Sicily it is separated by the strait of Messina, which in the narrowest part is not more than two miles broad. It extends from 13° to 19° E. lon. and from 37° 50' to 42° 55′ N. lat. The area of the whole kingdom is estimated at 43,600 square miles, of which Naples contains 31,000 and Sicily 12,600.

Divisions.] The kingdom of Naples is divided into the following provinces.

Face of the Country, &c.] The Apennines pass through the whole extent of the kingdom, from N. W. to S. E. and in Abruzzo there are several summits more than 8,000 feet high. Below the mountains there are many fertile hills, and extensive plains and vallies, which under the influence of an invariably mild climate present a remarkable luxuriance of vegetation. Marshes are found on various parts of the sea-coast and by their insalubrity render some of the most fertile districts uninhabitable. The soil is in general very fertile,producing corn, tobacco, vines,olives, &c. in abundance, but owing to the indolence of the people agriculture is much neglected. In many parts the grain is still separated from the straw by the trampling of cattle.

Volcanoes.] This kingdom is exposed to volcanoes and to earthquakes, which have sometimes buried whole cities in their ruins. The most celebrated volcano is Vesuvius, a solitary mountain. 6 miles E. of Naples. It rises to the height of 3,600 feet above the sea, and has been liable to frequent eruptions. The first on record is that of the year 79, when Pompeii and Hercu