134 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



the coast of Italy, and whenever it takes place, 

 the people, in a state of exultation, as if it were 

 not only a pleasing but a lucky phenomenon, 

 hurry down to the sea, exclaiming Morgana, 

 Morgana! When the rays of the rising sun form 

 an angle of 45 on the sea of Reggio, and when 

 the surface of the water is perfectly unruffled, 

 either by the wind or the current, a spectator 

 placed upon an eminence in the city, and having 

 his back to the sun and his face to the sea, 

 observes upon the surface of the water superb 

 palaces, with their balconies and windows, lofty 

 towers, herds and flocks grazing in wooded valleys 

 and fertile plains ; armies of men on horseback 

 and on foot, with multiplied fragments of build- 

 ings, such as columns, pilasters, and arches. 

 These objects pass rapidly in succession along the 

 surface of the sea during the brief period of their 

 appearance. The various objects thus enume- 

 rated are pictures of palaces and buildings actually 

 existing on shore, and the living objects are of 

 course only seen when they happen to form a 

 pait of the general landscape. 



If, at the time that these phenomena are visible, 

 the atmosphere is charged with vapour or dense 

 exhalations, the same objects which are depicted 

 upon the sea will be seen also in the air, occupy- 

 ing a space which extends from the surface to 

 the height of twenty-five feet. These images, 

 however, are less distinctly delineated than the 

 former. 



If the air is in such a state as to deposit dew, 

 and is capable of forming the rainbow, the ob- 

 jects will be seen only on the surface of the sea: 

 but they all appear fringed with red, yellow, and 



