1829.] C 17 3 



THE WOMAN Of VISIONS; A MEDITERRANEAN SKETCH. 



Corsica had risen into celebrity by its being the birth-place of Napo- 

 leon; but his singular and selfish neglect made it unfashionable in 

 France to know any thing more than that it existed. The French never 

 travel — for the sufficient reason, that, but in Paris, there is no Palais 

 Royal upon the earth ; and as, during the war, the English had nothing 

 to do in the Mediterranean but to fight, Corsica, after the retreat of the 

 English, was as much forgotten as if it were buried in the waters, in 

 which it lies, like an encampment of mountain-tops. The following 

 sketch is strict in point of manners, whatever it may be in person ; the 

 story to which it alludes may, at some time or other, be given. 



Two travellers, conducted by a guide, slowly descended, on foot, the 

 heights of Bastilica. They stopped, at intervals, to examine the nature 

 of the stones by which they were surrounded, and the different species 

 of plants growing among the mountains, from little spots of earth amassed 

 in the numerous crevices of the rock, to which the seeds were wafted by 

 those winds which blow vmceasingly on all the elevated points of the 

 Isle of Corsica. 



While the travellers examined the sllex, their guide smiled ironically, 

 as he continued rubbing the lock of his fusil — a favourite employment of 

 his. At dawn he had enveloped the lock with his cravat, to preserve it 

 from the heavy dew which precedes the sunrise of Corsica. When, 

 towards the middle of the day, the burning heat had reassured him 

 against any danger from humidity, he replaced the cravat in its original 

 destination, and kept incessantly rubbing with the cuffs of his vest all 

 the metallic parts of this cherished weapon — of which he delightedly 

 contemplated the brilliant polish — and, from time to time, tightened the 

 screws with his stiletto. 



" I think that this original is mocking us," said Lord Charles Dou- 

 glass, one of the travellers, to his companion, the young Count Alexis 

 Talzikoff; " you are not aware how much the habitude of arms gives 

 these mountaineers a contempt for aU things unconnected with war. He 

 sees well enough that our pursuit interests us ; yet, far fi'om trying to 

 profit by our discoveries, he finds our employment but worthy of his 

 pity." 



" But," replied the count, " all unenlightened persons think just the 

 same." « 



" No ; this disdain is pecidiar to the island-mountaineer, who is almost 

 always warlike. We should excite merely the curiosity of a continental 

 peasant, or he would look at us with indifference ; but this fellow 

 observes, and laughs at us : he is a true Scotch Highlander. But I 

 know the secret of giving myself importance in his eyes." 



As Lord Charles spoke, the travellers found themselves on the edge 

 of a ravine, through the depth of which ran a stream. Some wild 

 pigeons were drinking at it ; and the trees, which, from distance to 

 distance, sprang through the fissures of the rocks, were covered with 

 those birds. 



" How is your gun loaded, Signor Paolo ?" said Lord Charles to 

 the guide. 



" With two balls." 



M. M. New Series Vol. VHL No. 43. D 



