or petrifying matter*. On throwing a bundle of shrubs or small sticks into it, they will in a few days be covered with a white crust; but what seems still more extraordinary, this incrustating quality is not so strong in the lake itself as in the canal, or little rivulet that runs from it, and the farther the water has flowed from the lake, till it is quite lost in the Anio, the stronger this quality becomes. These small round incrustations which cover the sand and pebbles, resembling sugar-plumbs, are called Confecti di Tivoli, or confections of Tivoli. Fishes are found in the Anio, both above and below Tivoli, till it receives the Solfatara, after which, during the rest of its course to the Tiber there are none. The waters of this lake had a high medicinal reputation anciently, but they are in no esteem at present.

The lake of AGNANO, in the kingdom of Naples, is not far dis tant from the Grotto of Pausilipo, which as an artificial excavation will be described in Part III. of this Work. The communication between these two remarkable places is by a very pleasant road, between fine vineyards. This lake is a perfect circle, about an Italian mile in circumference. At high water, in some parts of it, is seen a strong ebullition. On approaching it, one is sensible of the motion of the water, which possibly proceeds from the ascent of the effluvia. The tenches and eels in this lake have in winter a very good flavour, but in summer are not eatable, which is în some measure imputed to the great quantities of flax and hemp brought thither from all the neighbouring parts, which are soaked in this water for the purpose of mellowing them.

Near this lake stand the sudatories of St. Germano, which consist of several apartments built with stone, where the heat and sulphurepus vapours issuing from the earth soon cause a profuse sweat; in some places the wall is too hot for the hand to bear it, and yet the heat is supportable in the hottest room, especially if you stoop toward the ground. The same observation is made on the baths of Tritoli. The patients are put into rooms of different degrees of heat, according to the nature of their complaint; and in the sudatories of St. Germano, which are said to be very efficacious in the gout, debilities, inward heats, &c. they never stay above a quarter of an hour at a time.

* See a similar property in the water of Loch-neagh in the subdivision 3, of this section.

Within an hundred paces of these salubrious sudatories is a small natural cavern, known by the name of "Grotto del Cané,or Dog's Grotto," which we have already described *. As we have also the general face of the valley of Solfatara itself +.

This lake is in some places an hundred and eighty feet deep; and some old walls standing near it, are supposed to be the remains of a temple to Apollo.

Of the lakes in FRANCE, none need be mentioned here but that of THAU, on which is seated the small town of Frontignac, or Frontignan, seventeen miles to the south-west of Montpelier, cele brated for its excellent muscadine wine, its jar-raisins, and its hand. some town-house. This wine is called by the English Frontiniac. The above lake, which is also named Maguleone, is twelve leagues in length, and separated from the sea only by a narrow tract of land; but in one place has a communication with the gulf of Lyons, which, according to Busching, takes not its name from the city of Lyons, which is seated at a great distance from the sea, but rather from the violent storms so frequent in this shallow part of the Mediterranean, and which destroy the ships as a furious lion does its prey.

BRITISH ISLES.

In ENGLAND, the adjoining counties of Cumberland, and Westmorland, are so highly celebrated for their lakes, and the beautiful romantic scenery that surrounds them: that we shall more minutely advert to them in the ensuing subdivision of this section. The principal lakes in Cumberland are, Derwent-water, Uls-water, and Broad-water; beside which, Bassenthwaite, Low-water, Wasdale, and Dalgarth, are all worthy of notice.

The lake of DERWENT-WATER is in the vale of Keswick: it is three miles in length, and a mile and half wide. Five islands rise out of this lake, which being covered either with turf or trees, add greatly to the beauty of the appearance. On one of these islands is an elegant modern-built house. More to the north-west, the river Derwent, after running a short space in a narrow channel,

* See ch. xxv. sect. vii. vol. II.

+ See vol. I. ch. xvii, p. 509.

enlarges into the long and narrow lake, called Bassenthwaite, at the termination of which is a remarkable water-fall, named Lowdore. The Derwentwater estate was not long since restored to its noble family, subject to a large fee farm rent, for the use of Greenwich hospital.

ULS-WATER is a long and narrow lake, with its southern part in Westmorland, while all the rest is equally divided between the two counties. If a swivel-gun, or even a fowling-piece, be dis charged from a boat on this lake, in certain parts of it, the report will reverberate from rock to rock, promontory, cavern, and hill, with an astonishing variation of sound, now dying away upon the ear, and again returning like peals of thunder. This re-echo may be distinctly heard seven times in succession.

Among mountains where eagles build their nests, in the western part of Westmorland, and on the borders of Lancashire, is WINANDER-MERE, the longest and most beautiful lake in England, said to be so called by the Saxons, from its winding banks. It is about ten miles in length from north to south, but in no part is broader than a mile. It is paved as it were at bottom with one continued rock. In some parts it is of a vast depth, and is well stored with a fine fish called char*, which is rarely found elsewhere, except among the Alps, and in some of the lakes of America. The Uls-water, already mentioned, has likewise some char; but not in such plenty as here. In the forest of Martindale, to the south of Uls-water, the breed of red deer still exists, in a wild state.

In WALES, the BELA lake, of Merionethshire, deserves to be spoken of. This country is watered by several rivers, the most of which are connected with lakes, and the principal of which are the Dee, the Avon, and the Drurydh. The Dee has two spring-heads in the eastern part of the county, after the union of which it is supposed to run through the lake Bala, or Pimble-meer, without mixing its waters with those of the lake; at least the different tribes of fishes seem not to mingle; for it is said, that though the Dee abounds with salmon, none are ever taken in the lake out of the stream of the river; nor does the Dee carry off any guiniads, a fish

* Salmo Carpio and S, Alpinus of Linneus,-Editor.

peculiar to the lake, which resembles the whiting, but tastes like a trout.

The most remarkable lochs, or lakes, in SCOTLAND, are Lochtay, Lochness, and Lochleven, which send forth rivers of the same name with themselves; Lochlomond, which sends forth the river Lomond; and Lochiern, from which flows the river Iern.

On Lochleven lately resided a collateral relation and namesake of the celebrated Dr. Smollet, to whose memory he raised an obe. lisk, on the bank near the house in which he was born. Smollet was entitled to this mark of attention; for we are indebted to him for the following beautiful lines to the lake itself.

On Leven's banks, while free to rove,

And tune the rural pipe to love,
I envied not the happiest swain
That ever trod th' Arcadian plain.

Pure stream! in whose transparent wave
My youthful limbs I wont to lave;
No torrents stain thy limpid source;
No rocks impede thy dimpling course,
That sweetly warbles o'er its bed,
With white, round, polish'd pebbles spread;
While, lightly pois'd, the scaly brood,
In myriads, cleave thy crystal flood:
The springing trout, in speckled pride;
The salmon, monarch of the tide;
The ruthless pike, intent on war;
The silver eel, and mottled par.
Devolving from thy parent lake,
A charming maze thy waters make,
By bow'rs of birch, and groves of pine,
And hedges flower'd with eglantine.
Still on thy banks, so gaily green,
May num'rous herds and flocks be seen;
And lasses, chanting o'er the pale;
And shepherds, piping in the dale;
And ancient faith, that knows no guile,
And industry, imbrown'd with toil;

And hearts resolv'd, and hands prepar'd
The blessings they enjoy to guard!

IRELAND abounds more in lakes, or as they were formerly called, loughs, than perhaps any other country of the same extent; and especially the provinces of Ulster and Connaught, in which they are more frequent than in the other pro vinces of the kingdom. They are usually classed under two denomina tions; fresh-water lakes, which have no access of the tide, or mixture with the sea, and salt lakes, into which the tide flows, and which may more properly be called inlets of the sea.

Of the fresh-water lakes, one of the most extraordinary is Lough. lene, in the county of Kerry, which is remarkable for its singular beauties. It is about six miles in length, and, at a medium, near half as much in breadth; and is interspersed with a variety of beautiful islands, many of them rich in herbage, and well inhabit, ed. Eagles and ospreys are here in great numbers, and the islands and rocks in and around the lake are adorned with groves of the arbutus, which is frequently four feet and an half in circumfer, ence, and nine or ten yards high.

Lough-erne and Lough-neagh are by much the largest lakes in Ireland. The former is divided into two branches, the upper and lower, which are separated by the water being contracted into the compass of a considerable river for some miles, after which, en, larging itself, it forms the lower lake. This lough, in both its branches, takes its source through the whole length of the county of Fermannagh, from the south-east point to the north-west, nearly dividing it into two equal parts. It abounds with a great variety of fishes, as pike of a prodigious size, large bream, roach, eels, and trout; but it is chiefly valued for its salmon.

Lough.neagh is somewhat of a square form, but indented on every side. It is esteemed the largest lake in Ireland, and is exceeded by few in Europe, being twenty miles long from the north-west point to the south-east, near fifteen miles from the northeast to the south-west, and ten or twelve broad at a medium. Lough neagh communicates its benefits to five counties, Armagh, Tyrone, Londonderry, Antrim, aud Down; the latter of which it only touches by a small point on the south-east side. It receives