210 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



But no matter, all that's done with now, people know better. The march 

 of intellect has made a devil of a commotion since then, and forced us to 

 keep such things snugger." 



SKETCHES OF CORFU, HISTORICAL AND DOMESTIC ; ITS SCENERY 

 AND NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. INTERSPERSED WITH LEGENDS AND 

 TRADITIONS. SMITH, ELDER, AND Co., LONDON. 



THIS is a most delightful volume. We know not indeed when any thing 

 so thoroughly readable and interesting has been laid before us. It is de- 

 lightful equally for its sketches of manners, its descriptions of scenery, its 

 graphic details concerning natural objects, its snatches of true poetry, and 

 for the beautiful spirit which pervades it. Its interest is doubly enhanced 

 by its telling of an island, rich in historical associations and of the man- 

 ners and habits of a people of whom less is known than of the New Zea- 

 landers. But the fair authoress must speak for herself as her own speak- 

 jng is her best recommendation : 



" The Countess I can but smile at her title looks more like a slat- 

 ternly cookmaid, than anything else. She wears the Italian dress ; indeed 

 I know only one Greek family among the higher orders who persist in wear- 

 ing their own costume. One day in the week, the lady is dressed for com- 

 pany ; any other day, if her friends call, she is not at home ; she goes about 

 the house in a wrapping-gown, and dirty untidy night-cap ; a bunch of huge 

 keys dangle from her waist, and an enormous pair of diamond ear-rings 

 repose tranquilly on her shoulders. She can neither read nor write ; but 

 pickles and preserves to a nicety ; and she is the sole nurse of her little 

 grandchild. This good lady is a great enemy of all innovation, and would 

 not eat a potatoe for the world, for she says, it is the very fruit with which 

 the devil tempted Eve. The eldest son, Count Giovanni, is married, and 

 lives in the house. Giovanni has travelled and seen the world nay, I be- 

 lieve, he spent three years in a college at Pisa he fancies himself a pro- 

 digy of learning and talent; and because he had an English master for 

 three months in Italy, he talks cleverly of Stern's romances and Goldsmith's 

 sermons. He assured me very solemnly, that the sun never shines in Eng- 

 land ; and when I asked him, with becoming humility, how, in that case, 

 our fruits and flowers came to perfection ? he answered, * your fruits ripen 

 n hot-houses, and your roses are pretty enough, but they have not the least 

 fragrance.' " 



The following is a bit of natural history worthy of White, Jesse, or 

 Mudie : " You have seen the bee, or clius, it is very common here, an in- 

 sect among flowers; we have also flowers amongst insects. I first saw 

 one on my dress, and took it for a head of grass ; but it moved, walked, 

 and at last I found out it was an insect a mantis. We have the brown 

 and the green mantis, which last is also called the ' walking leaf,' and in 

 very deed its wings are exactly like long slender delicate green leaves. I 

 kept one of them for many weeks, and it used to sit for hours on my work 

 table. The mantis has an odd way of waving about two long feelers so 

 they call it the praying mantis and the country people here call it ano- 

 ther name, ' the devil's horse.' And they say, if a child loses its way, and 

 has the luck to find one of these insects, it shows him the road with its 

 feelers. We find also the nest of the mason-bee, a long purse buried in the 

 earth, and neatly lined with a soft hairy substance, with a lid at top, which 

 shuts down exactly, and is fastened with a hinge. Sometimes we amuse 

 ourselves with watching the ant-lion, who burrows a deep hole in the sand, 

 and lies snugly down at the bottom of it, covering himself slightly over ; 

 presently an unwary ant, trotting along with her burden, tumbles down the 



