290 Notes and Gleanings. 



while in Southern Italy there is hardly what can be properly called any winter 

 at all, — occasionally a little frost, with sometimes wet and disagreeable weather, 

 but not sufficiently cold to destroy tender plants, and hardly sufficient to inter- 

 cept vegetation ; so that, under a warm, brfght sun, and the landscape gay 

 with the numerous evergreen shrubs, the winter seems but a continued au- 

 tumn. The grass is gay with daisies all winter. Camellias need no protec- 

 tion, and in February and March are covered with flowers. Geraniums grow 

 in the open air. In February, the almond-trees are in blossom ; and, early in 

 March, peaches and cherries ; and, in February, wild flowers in variety : wild 

 stocks and anemones may be gathered in the fields and by the roadside. But 

 from this there is unfortunately one drawback, — the malaria that is the bane of 

 some of the fairest portions of Italy. In some naturally unhealthy portions of 

 the country, this disease is thought to have prevailed in ancient times, and, since 

 then, to have extended its ravages ; probably owing to the circumstance, that, dur- 

 ing a long period of intestine and foreign wars, cultivation was neglected, and, in 

 consequence, the malaria obtained a foothold : and now the malaria prevents 

 cultivation, that it is thought would diminish if not destroy the evil. Different 

 suggestions have been made with a view to eradicating this disease, the most 

 plausible of which is the one that recommends draining where practicable ; but 

 I believe no attempts in this direction have yet been made. 



There are historical associations connected not only with its cities and towns, 

 but with almost every foot of Italian soil ; for no matter whether the events that 

 give rise to such association are realities or fables, they have been made so 

 familiar to most people, even from early childhood, that they constitute a con- 

 siderable part of Roman history. 



Other attractions of Italy are its antiquities, vast ruins, the remains of a peo- 

 ple whose empire embraced or controlled the then known world, — a people 

 whose footsteps were so. deeply impressed on its soil, that the lapse of twenty 

 centuries, and devastations of all kinds, have failed to obliterate their traces, — 

 and its galleries and museums of sculpture and painting. To these induce- 

 ments to a visit to Italy, common to all, must be added another ; that it is the 

 capital city of the head of the church, — a church that governs the faith and 

 consciences of a greater number than acknowledged the sway of the Roman 

 Empire in its most palmy days, yearly attracting multitudes to worship at shrines 

 deemed especially holy, and to attend observances directed by the church and 

 conducted by its temporal head. 



Italy may be said to consist of high mountains and broad plains. The lofty 

 chain of the Apennines runs the length of the peninsula, branching at the south 

 down each of the capes in which it terminates ; and from this main chain there 

 are various offshoots, some at nearly right angles, and others nearly parallel with 

 its course. Of this mountain-ridge, the highest are barren, naked rocks, with 

 sometimes their lower slopes capable of some cultivation ; while the lower ones. 

 of the range have frequently some vegetation. At the base of these mountains 

 lie broad plains, and among them luxuriant valleys, remarkable in ancient times 

 for their fertility, and still maintaining their former reputation. On the north- 

 ern side of this chain, reaching nearly to the Adriatic, is the great Plain of Lorn- 



