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Rich. II. Act ii. Sc. 2. Unpartial for impartial, was also used by writers in Shakspeare's time. Im in the place of un, is a modern refinement.

clean disherited." It is no very easy matter to read and understand Chaucer and the poets of that age in their old-fashioned spelling, even when put into modern type; but in their ancient garb of black letter, it is still The use of the word least-wise, instead of "at less so, until the reader has been long familiarized to least," is very common in London, and has an odd the task. The antiquated French tongue appears to be effect to the ears of a stranger. But that this expreseven more unintelligible to a Frenchman of the present sion is not absolutely inaccurate, we may gather from age. its being employed in The Life of Lord Herbert of Orthography, therefore, is for the most part what the Cherbury, where it stands in conjunction with "at,' literary and fashionable world for the time being are thus: "At least-wise." The word wise is from the pleased to make it, and, for want of established prin- German weise, signifying manner, and may perhaps as ciples, the mode of spelling established as perfectly fairly combine with least as with those words which right at the commencement of a century, may be dis- are usually associated with it, namely, like-wise, othercarded as palpably wrong, before its close. Consider-wise, &c. It is also common to hear "aggravate" emable alterations in spelling have been made of late years; ployed instead of "irritate," but this is an error common thus such words as honour, favour, &c., have been cut to various parts of the country. A conquest of people, down to honor, favor, &c., although Dr. Johnson gives is used instead of a concourse, and gownd instead of no instance of these words being so written. The gown. These are evident blunders arising from ignowords physic, music, public, &c., are now universally rance, as are the following: vemon, for venom; vemonwritten without the final k, which no schoolboy might ous, for venomous; sermont, for sermon; verment, for have dared to omit at the commencement of the present vermin; palaretick, for paralytic; sitti-ation, for situacentury. And this is not the first abridgment which tion; and also a number of improper plurals, as somethese words have suffered, for they were written in wheres, nowheres, oftens, everywheres, anywheres, anyearlier times, physicke, musicke, &c. Yet many other hows, some-hows, no-hows. words ending in ck have been allowed to retain their final letter, as hemlock, bullock, &c., without any very apparent reason.

Many cockneys introduce an e in the word commandment, pronouncing it commandement; but in The Merchant of Venice, Act iv. Sc. 1, it occurs, "Be valued 'gainst your wife's commandement;" and again in Henry VI., P. I. Act i. Sc. 3, "From him I have express commandement." Again, they employ the word anger as a verb "to make angry." Dr. Johnson gives this verb a place in his Dictionary, and quotes Hooker, Shakspeare, Lord Clarendon, and Pope. In the North, it is customary to say of a person who stints his servants in their food, "he hungers them," an expression corresponding with that before us. Perhaps the error of saying shay and po-shay, for chaise and post-chaise, is a widely-distributed one. The persons who use it, evidently think that shay is the singular, and shays the plural. Other mistakes can easily be traced to carelessness and ignorance. Thus, partner becomes partender; bachelor, bacheldor; obstreperous, obstropolous; Covent Garden, Common Garden; Piazzas, Pee-aches; cover, kivir; prodigy, progidy; contiguous, contagious; dubious, duberous; musician, musicianer. They convert Kensington into Kingsington (probably because there is a palace there), and Portugal into Portingal. Of this last it appears that Holinshed, Stowe, and most of the old chroniclers, wrote it Portingale. In a letter written by the Earl of Salisbury in 1607, the Portuguese are called the Portingalls. When the Portuguese money (Portugal-pieces as they were called) were current in England, this word was in the mouth of every cockney who had a Portingal-piece in his pocket.

Idiom may be considered as the dress and fashion of expression, and in this every language has its peculiarities. May not then the inhabitants of a metropolis, who are conceived to be an order of men superior to the vassalage of the remoter parts of the kingdom, and whose manners have been expressly handed down to us in the words "politeness" and "urbanity," be allowed a few singularities, new and old, while every other part of the island abounds with so many? All courts, and our own among the rest, have ever affected a ton, or refined dialect of their own; but it does not follow that the language of the city is without a basis, though, like the foundation of the city itself, it may lie deep. Respecting this language of courts, it may be remarked, that it is most uncertain in its character, and may receive important changes out of compliment to the monarch. Of this Mr. Pegge gives an instance in the case of the French word carosse (a coach), which was originally feminine, as its termination implies, and as it is also found in Dictionaries prior to the year 1643. After that period, however, it was given as avowedly masculine, and the change is said to have arisen from the following trivial grammatical error. Louis the Fourteenth came to the throne at the age of about five years, and soon afterwards on inquiring for his coach, he happened to confound the gender, and called out, "Où est mon carosse?" This was sufficient to stamp the word "carosse" masculine, of which gender it has remained to the present moment. Such a trifling puerile error is not to be wondered at; but that a whole nation should adopt a change of gender in compliment to it, is a pal-ley" instead of "chimney;" "scrowdge" instead of pable absurdity.

The humble and accepted dialect of London is subject to few innovations. The cockneys are contented with the received language and pronunciation which has descended to them unimpaired and unaugmented through a long line of ancestry. They have not corrupted their native tongue to any great extent; but are in general right, though upon unfashionable principles. Of the words most deformed by this class of persons, Mr. Pegge has, however, given a tolerably long catalogue, and we can only select a few, with his remarks and vindications. The word unpossible is commonly used for impossible; but Milton uses unactive instead of inactive, and unsufferable instead of insufferable. Sir Henry Neville, also, in a letter to Sir Robert Cecil in 1602, says: "It is an unpossible thing for me to do." Shakspeare may be also quoted: "It is all unpossible."

So good an excuse cannot be offered for the expressions "for 'fraid of," instead of "for fear of;" "chim

"crowd;" "squeedge" for "squeeze;" "postès" and "posteses" for "posts." Postes, ghostes, &c., are, indeed, ancient plurals, preserved by old Scottish writers; but the additional syllable given by cockneys is most unnecessary. Margent is used for margin, but this cannot be branded as erroneous, having been patronized by Milton, Shakspeare, and other high names. Bailey and Dr. Johnson allow both. Contráry is also used for contrary; blasphemous for blasphemous. Poetical licence allows this; "let then the cockney," says Mr. Pegge, "have a prose licence." Shakspeare says, "And themselves banding in contráry parts," and Milton, "And with contráry blast proclaims most deeds." Milton alsq says, "Oh argument blasphemous, false, and proud." Curious perversions and interpolations occur in the following terms common in London. Successfully is used for successively; respectively, for

OF CAGE-BIRDS.
VII.

THE BLACKBIRD. (Turdus merula. LINN.)

When snow-drops die, and the green primrose leaves
Announce the coming flower, the Merle's note,
Mellifluous, rich, deep-toned, fills all the vale,
The hawthorn-bush,

And charms the ravished ear.

New budded, is his perch; there the gray dawn
He hails; and there, with parting light, concludes
His melody.- -GRAHAME'S Birds of Scotland.

respectfully; mayoraltry, for mayoralty; admiraltry, | NATURAL HISTORY AND MANAGEMENT for admiralty; commonality, for commonalty; properietor, for proprietor; non-plush'd, for non-plus'd; discommode, for incommode; colloguing, for colleaguing; despisable, for despicable; paragraft, for paragraph; stagnated, for staggered. Speaking of the last expression, Mr. Pegge says, "This appears to be a much stronger and more expressive word than our staggered, which only intimates a quaking of the external frame; whereas, stagnating implies that the circulation of the blood, and the operation of every vital function, were suspended for the moment. I do not, however, give the cockney credit for the force of the word; it seems to have been a random shot, and as if the first syllable had taken its chance for the rest of the word." A singular and egregious error is that of saying, unbethought, instead of recollected. "I unbethought myself," is nonsense. It is suggested that it may be a perversion of "I onbethought myself," or "I bethought myself on it."

The inventive powers of the humbler classes have also been exercised in the formation of such words as an-otomy, meaning a skeleton; and disgruntled, offended. "A strange word (disgruntled)," says our amusing author, "carrying with it an exaggeration of the term disconcerted. It seems to be a metaphor taken from the hog; which I cannot account for, unless naturalists say that hogs grunt from some pleasurable sensation. I have, however, printed authority for it in Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs, where, speaking of the Earl of Manchester being made prisoner in the house of his daughter, the Countess of Rutland, the writer says that the lady was much disgruntled at it.' But after all, the word, as used by the knight, must have been an unguarded escape; for he was rather of humble birth in Westminster, a son of an organist of the abbey, and perhaps in early life a chorister." the lips of the same class we hear solentary, for solitary; ruinated, for ruined; eminent danger, for imminent danger; intosticated, for intoxicated; perwent, for prevent; skrimidge, for skirmish; refuge, for refuse. It is a sort of rule with them to convert ish, and age, into idge; thus we have radidges, rubbidge, furbidge, rummidge. Instead of nisi prius, they say nisi prisi; and instead of nolens volens, nolus bolus: pretty good guesses at these hard words, and coming nearer, perhaps, than we might have expected.

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The lower orders are very fond of meddling with these difficult words, and therefore soon get out of their depth. If imprisoned in Newgate, they are said to call a "habeas corpus," "a hap'orth of copperas." Other common errors appear in the words vocation, for vacation; loveyer, for lover; nyst and nyster, for nigh and nigher; clost and closter, for close and closer; sinst, for since; wonst, for once; industerous, for industrious; sot, for sat; frags, for fragments; waps, for wasp; moral, for model. Of the last, Mr. Pegge says, Every cockney hears morals talked of, though he is unacquainted with models; otherwise he would not say that a child is, by personal likeness, the very moral (meaning model) of his father; which is an inversion of the order of things, because the model, as the prototype, must necessarily precede what is formed from it. He might say that the father is the very moral (to use his own word) of the child."

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But after all, the most striking error in pronunciation among the Londoners lies in the transposition of the w and v, as in weal for veal; winegar, for vinegar; vicked, for wicked; vig, for wig, &c. The use of the w instead of h, in compound words, also gives an additional peculiarity, as in knighthood, widowhood, &c., which they pronounce knightwood, widowwood, &c. These are the foibles of the cockney dialect: its more serious errors will next be noticed.

THE rich and powerful notes of the Blackbird are so often heard in the streets of country towns, and are so much prized by the owner of the imprisoned favourite, that we must needs class this melodist among cage-birds; although its nature and habits seem to require for it a wide and extensive range, and its song is never so delightful as when sounding from the depth of the woods, or from the top branches of some friendly thicket.

In such situations, the blackbird commences its song very early in the season. It is a frequent and welcome guest in cultivated districts, and multiplies according to the increase and spread of rural labour. Where vegetables and fruits are grown in abundance to supply the wants of some neighbouring town, there blackbirds are sure to be plentiful. If the gardener studies his own interest, he encourages, instead of scaring away, these birds; for they clear the ground of a surprising number of snails and slugs, and thus save many a choice plant.

The blackbird is very generally known, and does not need much description. The black plumage, and the tawny yellow colour of the bill, feet, and circle round the eyes, cause it readily to be distinguished at a distance. It is a larger bird than the song-thrush, but not quite so large as the missel-thrush. Quick-sighted and active, it is not so often seen as the thrush; but hides during the day-time in the thickest shades. Towards evening, and very early in the morning, it comes abroad, and roams over low moist grounds for food. Though it sojourns and nestles near inhabited places, it is distrustful, and watchful of danger. It is said to be able to spy the fowler at a very great distance, so that it is approached with much difficulty. When singing on the top of a' low bush, it suddenly ceases on the approach of a footstep, and drops into the bush, slipping through the branches with the greatest facility, and making its way beneath or among the densest foliage. Where blackbirds have been long encouraged, they appear to lose some of their wary and mistrustful character. Thus a recent writer, speaking of the rich grounds on the Middlesex side of the Thames, from Westminster upwards, as far as the market gardens are continued, and of the important services performed by these birds, says, walking along the green lanes among the gardens alluded to, the number of blackbirds, and the activity of their labours, are a very pleasing sight; and one might readily imagine (though it is of course a mere matter of imagination,) that the birds feel that they are as useful as the human labourers who are at work in the same grounds. They are familiarised to all the ordinary sights and sounds, caring little for the scarecrows which are set up for intimidating other birds; and although no bird is very fond of the report of the musket, blackbirds appear to be less alarmed by it than most others."

"In

The blackbird lives a solitary life, except during the breeding season. This commences early, and it is not uncommon to see young ones at the beginning of May. The place chosen for the nest is a thick bush, an ivied wall, or an old tree. If the birds wish to commence operations before the trees and bushes afford any shelter, they sometimes make their nest in a tuft of long grass, near a tree or hedge. The outside of the nest is formed of moss, lichen, and small roots, worked up with clay or mud, and lined with the softest materials that can be found. Both the parent birds work very hard until the nest is completed, and although it is a neat and well

finished structure, they generally get it made in the space of a week. The female then deposits four or five eggs, of a greenish-blue colour, with rust-coloured markings. She sits very closely, and her mate brings her food; but he sometimes shares with her in the labour of incubation. Blackbirds' nests are often found very near houses, and the old bird has been known to sit close when within a few yards of human beings, and sometimes has suffered herself to be caught rather than leave the nest; but in the woodland scenes generally chosen by these birds, they are extremely wary, and it is difficult to find the nest. In every case they are jealous of intrusion, and will abandon their eggs, or even eat them, if they happen to be touched. They have also been known to destroy their young.

Young blackbirds are hearty feeders, and keep their parents on the alert to supply their wants. A great number of worms and caterpillars are carried to the nest, and the young ones thrive well on this food. As soon as they are old enough to manage for themselves, they separate from each other and from their parents, and pursue their search after food in the places where it most abounds, adding to their insect diet all kinds of berries and fruits. And here it is that the blackbird makes enemies. It undoubtedly commits extensive depredations on fruit trees, but these must not be considered apart from the benefits conferred by the bird, and which surely atone for what is injurious in its habits.

Blackbirds have two or three broods in the season, according to the nature of the situation. In cold parts of the country, or in late summers, they may have but one brood; and in this case the song does not begin until the season is considerably advanced. Where they breed two or three times, the song is nearly continuous throughout the whole summer. At the close of that season their moulting commences, and is so complete, that some are often seen with their heads entirely bare of feathers. In general, the plumage of the blackbird is beautifully clean, smooth, and glossy, and the bird delights in frequent washings. The neighbourhood of lakes, or slow-moving streams, are therefore favourite places of resort, especially if thickets or hedge-rows afford shelter for the birds.

Towards autumn blackbirds cease to sing, and in general proceed to migrate. Yet there are many that remain through the winter, roosting in hedges and sheltered spots, and often coming into shrubberies and gardens in search of the snails which may still be found there. They also feed on the berries of the hawthorn, holly, ivy, mountain ash, &c. In very severe weather these birds condescend to join the supplicant sparrows and robins that hover near our windows on the look-out for food; and when the cold is excessive, numbers of them perish.

Blackbirds, as well as rooks and crows, have not unfrequently been found with entirely white plumage. It is mentioned in GRIFFITH's Cuvier that among the accidental varieties of the present species some have the plumage quite white, including even the bill and the feet; some have these parts yellow, others have the bill red. Again, individuals have been observed, whose entire plumage was of a yellowish rose-colour, with the bill and feet yellow. On some specimens the head only is white, with three black spots behind the eyes; the iris, the beak, and the feet, being yellow. Others have a sort of magpie plumage, the wings and tail as white as snow, the rest of the body a beautiful black. Lastly, young ones are sometimes seen with some of the quills white from the origin, and for half their length.

Blackbirds, as well as other members of the thrush family, were held in high estimation among the Roman epicures, and were included in their extensive aviaries, where thousands of birds were fatted for the table. These aviaries were vaulted pavilions, with a great number of roosting-places, and very little light.

The rich full-toned song of the blackbird is almost too powerful for a cage, but is nevertheless the cause of the capture of this bird. The wicker prison is kept in the open air, and a single blackbird is quite enough for one street, and generally becomes the annoyance of some of the dwellers therein. When at liberty this bird sings only during the summer season; but in a cage it sings all the year. The blackbird has a good memory, and shows a slight degree of the propensity which is so remarkably exhibited in its relation the "mocking bird." It is mentioned in the Magazine of Natural History, that near a clergyman's house in Northamptonshire, a blackbird was, in the habit of crowing exactly in the manner of the common cock, and nearly as loud. Perched upon the top bough of an ashtree it might be seen crowing away, and only resuming for a second or two at intervals its natural song. When the cocks from a neighbouring poultry yard answered it, the little bird seemed delighted, and appeared as if it was trying to rival them in the shrillness of its note. Mr. Neville Wood informs us that he has frequently heard the blackbird cackle as a hen does after laying, especially in the neighbourhood of farms, and places where great numbers of fowls are kept. This power of imitation in the blackbird makes it a still more desirable prize to those who are fond of teaching artificial strains to birds. Like the bull-finch, if properly trained, it will learn two or three airs, and will sing them without confusion or intermixture. Persons wishing to bring up young blackbirds usually take them in the nest as soon as they are feathered. They may be fed at first with a liquid paste made of steeped bread, yolk of egg, and bruised hempseed; afterwards with sheep's heart, minced meat, bread crumbs, and different fruits and berries. Blackbirds are indeed ready to partake of almost anything that is brought to our tables. If it is desired to teach the young birds to sing artificial tunes, they must be taken when the quills of the feathers are just beginning to be developed; because they have not then learned their natural song, and will acquire another the more readily. The blackbird's cage should be a large one, and he may well be permitted to occupy it alone, since his disposition in confinement seems quarrelsome and mischievous. In the work above quoted it is said, "Blackbirds must not be shut up with other birds, for, naturally uneasy and petulant, they will pursue and torment them continually, unless in very large aviaries filled with shrubs and bushes. In this way indeed, they may have the pleasure of making their own nests, and bringing up their voung, if they are provided with a sufficient quantity of the proper aliment. To succeed completely it is necessary to abstain from approaching the brood while the little ones are not entirely fledged, for otherwise the old ones will either abandon or devour them."

In order to keep blackbirds in health it is particularly necessary to furnish them with the means of bathing every day. If this and their food are properly attended to, they may live in confinement ten or twelve years.

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Magazine.

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THE TOWN AND LAKE OF COM O.

MORE pleased, my foot the hidden margin roves
Of Como, bosom'd deep in chestnut groves,
To flat-roof'd towns, that touch the waters' bound,
Or lurk in woody sunless glens profound;
Or from the bending rocks obtrusive cling,
And on the whiteu'd wave their shadows fling;
While round the steeps the little pathway twines,
And silence loves its purple roof of vines.
The viewless lingerer hence at evening sees,
From rock-hewn steps, a sail between the trees;
Or marks, mid opening cliffs, fair dark-eyed maids,
Tend the small harvest of their garden glades;
Or stops, the solemn mountain shades to view,
Stretch o'er the pictured mirror broad and blue,
Tracking the yellow sun from steep to steep,

As up the opposing hills with tortoise foot they creep.
WORDSWORTH.

THERE is, perhaps, scarcely a single individual so devoid
of taste for the beauties of nature as not to be struck
with rapture at the first view of the Lake of Como.
The bright sunny cheerfulness of that resplendent lake,
the richness of its surrounding scenery, consisting of
hills covered with vines, chestnut, walnut, and almond
trees; the enlivening effect of its numerous picturesque
villages and delightful villas; the undulating line of its
important city, with its marble cathedral, its towers, and
other imposing edifices, spreading along the southern
extremity of the lake, and shut in by fertile hills; all
these, with the mild and balmy air of Como, fill the
mind with exuberant feelings of delight.

Along the mirror of the flood

Shone palaces, with dome, and colonnade,
Before whose marble steps bright fountains play'd
'Mid trim parterres, and arbors quaintly shorn
VOL. XXV.

By artful toil, that here and there display'd
A Flora, graced with Amalthea's horn,
Pan, or a piping Faun, who glads the groves,
Or quiver'd Dians under gilt alcoves.

But,-lovelier far, fair Como! lovelier far
Thy solitudes, and th' untamed wantoning
Of the sweet woodbine, that, ne'er taught to cling,
Clasps the wild rose, and closely interweaves
Its ring of trailing twine

To deck the rustic porch, and wed the vine,
Where the green trellis of th' exuberant leaves
Shades off Italia's sun-beam. Loveli far,
Where wild flowers wanton are,

And th' unseen violet beneath the tra,
Betrays its fragrant bed,

To wind along the margin of the lake,
Or in the coolness of the rocky cave,
With icy drops the fiery lip to slake,
And watch the flow and ebbing of the wave,
Where Pliny wont to muse; and, f ee from Rome,
Pomps, and gorged theatres, and v in parade
Of train'd disputes beneath the schist's dome,
By other teacher taught, and better lore,
Where the coy spirit of the water stray'd,
Question'd the fount; or lone on Como's shore
Found Wisdom, making solitude a home,
Nature a book. Far lovelier to explore
The leafy labyrinths, o'er whose growth, on high
Tower'd the stone-pine, while streams that flow'd beneath,
Wound, musical, their many-sparkling wreath.-SOTHEBY,

The Lake of Como, the Lacus Larius of the ancients, is a noble expanse of water more than thirty

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miles in length, and between two and three miles broad, divided into two brauches, one of which leads to the city, the other, called the Lake of Lecco, discharging the Adda, and communicating by means of that river and its canals, with Milan. The great glory of Como and its lake will be regarded by the lovers of antiquity as consisting in the fact of the town baving been the birthplace, and the shores of the lake the favourite residence, of the immortal Pliny. The affection with which he regarded the spot appears from several of his letters. Thus, he says to one of his correspondents, "How stands Comum, that favourite scene of yours and mine? What becomes of the pleasant villa, the vernal portico, the shady plane-tree walk, the crystal canal, so agreeably winding along its flowery banks, together with the charming lake below, which serves at once the purposes of use and beauty? What have you to tell me of the firm yet soft gestatio, the sunny bath, the public saloon, the private dining-room, and all the elegant apartments for repose, both at noon and night? Do these possess my friend, and divide his time with pleasing vicissitude? or do the affairs of the world, as usual, call him frequently from this agreeable retreat?"

Pliny delighted to adorn his native town, and to establish among his fellow-citizens institutions for the encouragement of learning. He thus notices his own attempts to form a university at Como:

Being lately at Comum, the place of my nativity, a young lad, son to one of my neighbours, made me a visit. I asked him whether he studied rhetoric, and where? He told me he did, and at Mediolanum. And why not here? Because, said his father, who came with him, we have no professors. No! said I; surely it nearly concerns you, who are fathers, (and very opportunely, several of the company were,) that your sons should receive their education here rather than anywhere else. For where can they be placed more agreeably than in their own country, or instructed with more safety and less expense than at home, and under the eye of their parents? Upon what very easy terms might you, by a general contribution, procure proper masters, if you would only apply towards the raising a salary for them, the extraordinary expense you sustain for your sons' journeys, lodgings, and for whatever else you pay in consequence of their being educated at a distance from home, as pay you must, for every article of that kind. Though I have no children myself, yet I shall willingly contribute to a design so beneficial to my native country, which I consider as my child or my parent; and therefore I will advance the third part of any sum you shall think proper to raise for this purpose. I would take upon myself the whole expense, were I not apprehensive that my benefaction might be hereafter abused and perverted to private ends, which I have observed to be the case in several places where public foundations of this kind have been established. *** * You can undertake nothing that will be more advantageous to your children, nor more acceptable to your country. Your sons will by these means receive their education where they receive their birth, and be accustomed from their infancy to inhabit and affect their native soil.

The charms of Como's lake and scenery have so largely occupied the thoughts and pens of visitors in that neighbourhood, that the town and its objects of interest have se.dom met with a due share of attention. In Pliny's time, Comum was a rich and flourishing city, adorned with ten. ples, statues, porticoes, and pillared gates, and surrounded by large and splendid villas. Nor is the modern Como very inferior in these respects. The cathedral, in materials, magnitude, and perhaps in decoration, though not in style, is judged equal to the temple of Jupiter, and ten or fifteen other churches add to the important aspect of the city. The cathedral or Duomo of Como is reckoned as the third of the Gothic buildings of Italy, exhibiting the features of the Lombard-Gothic style "in full and solemn splendour." This building was the production of a long series of architects from 1396 until the last century. It is composed of white marble, and is of mixed architecture, as may be expected, from its diversity of builders during the period above named. The front is of light and elegant Gothic; the nave is supported by Gothic arches; the choir and

transepts are adorned with composite pillars; and a dome rises over the centre. This dome or cupola was completed about 1732 by Juvara; and though the architecture may be deemed fanciful and complex, yet it is considered to blend happily with the older portions.

The inhabitants of Como are proud of their maguificent Duomo, and it appears that the whole expense of its erection was defrayed by voluntary contributions. The elegant ornaments of the exterior of this edifice are thus described in Murray's Handbook for Northern Italy. "The pilasters and other portions of the façade are covered with most curious emblems, some few masonic, the greater part religious, interspersed with texts and inscriptions in a most beautiful Gothic letter, reminding you of Melrose, and the

'Scrolls that teach you to live and die.’ Many of these bas-reliefs are types; e. g., a fountain, a vine, a lily, a church upon a hill, all exceedingly curious, from the train of thought which they exhibit. Amongst the larger basso-relievos, the Adoration of the Magi, in the arch of the door, should be noticed; but the most remarkable ornaments of this front are the statues of the two Plinys, erected by the Comaschi of the sixteenth century to their 'fellow-citizens.' They are, as it were, enthroned under canopies worked in the most ornamental style by

Rodario.

The other sides of the exterior are in a mixed style, approaching to that which in France is styled the 'renaissance,' but with more good sense and beauty; and enough of ornament to give great richness, without overloading the general outline. The lateral doorways, particularly that on bearing the instruments of the passion, are particularly the northern side, with fanciful columns, and angels elegant. Both these doorways are executed by Rodario. The arabesques, flowing, elegant, and light, interspersed with birds, animals, serpents, and children, are completely Raphaelesque. They appear rather moulded in wax than carved, so delicate, so tender, so morbido are they."

Of the other churches of Como, that of St. Giovanni is adorned by several pillars which are supposed to have belonged to a portico mentioned by Pliny, as erected by Fabatus, his wife's grandfather. The church of San Fidele is a remarkable and very ancient structure, considered to be of the era of the Lombard kings. Strange sculpture of dragons, serpents, and lions has been employed to deck the building, which on the exterior remains nearly unaltered, but within, has been considerably modernized. Three Colleges, and an equal number of public libraries, help to supply the means of education to the population of Como, amounting to nearly twenty thousand. Near the Duomo stands the town-hall, built of red and white marble in alternate layers. The lofty gateways of the city are also imposing specimens of the military architecture of the middle ages.

The city of Como was not only the undoubted birthplace of Pliny, (though Verona has disputed for the honour:) it was also the place of nativity of the astronomer Piazzi, the discoverer of the planets that revolve between the orbs of Mars and Jupiter, and of the celebrated Volta, the electrician, whose important discoveries bring honour to his name, and whose private life appears to have been also distinguished for uprightness and attention to religious duties.

One of the great attractions in the neighbourhood of Como is a delightful villa called Pliniana, so called from an intermittent fountain to be seen there, which was minutely described by the younger Pliny, and also because it is supposed that the villa itself occupies the site of one of Pliny's villas. Many villas were, in fact, possessed by Pliny in this beautiful neighbourhood; but he only describes two, neither of which exactly corresponds with the aspect of the present Pliniana. Mr. Eustace, in his Classical Tour through Italy, describes a visit to this celebrated villa and fountain, which are situated on the margin of the lake at the foot of a precipice, from which tumbles a cascade amid groves of beeches, poplars, chestnuts, and cypresses. Through

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