206 A H ILL-TOP SI RONGLIOLD, 



railway or some navigable river. In Ftaly it i^5 still quite 

 possible, wbere agricultural conditions are favourable, to 

 have a couiparatively flourisbing town percliecl upon 

 Bome out-of-tbe-way mountain lieigbt. Yiwow a carriage 

 road is scarcely a necessity ; a mule patb will do well 

 enougli for wine and oil and tlio otber simple commodities 

 of southern life. The hill-top town, in short, belongs to 

 an earlier type of civilisation than ours ; it survives, 

 unaltered, on its own pinnacle wherever that type of 

 civilisation is still possible. 



And I sincerely hope our pretty American friend will 

 pardon me for having thus publicly answered, at so great 

 length, her natural question. 



