of building, it would appear magnificent, but being founded accidentally by those who sought a refuge from the violence of the times, it is a mixture of shops and palaces, gardens and houses, which ascend a mile high in a confusion which is not disagreeable. After this salutary water was found, and the purity of the air was experienced, many people of quality chose it for their summer residence, and embellished it with several fine edifices. It was populous and flourishing till that fatal plague which overran all Europe in the year 1626. It made a terrible ravage in this place; the poor were almost destroyed, and the rich deserted it. Since that time it has never recovered its former splendour; few of the nobility returned; it is now only frequented during the water-drinking season. Several of the ancient palaces are degraded into lodging-houses, and others stand empty in a ruinous condition; one of these I have bought."

Louvere is, in the present day, a flourishing little town, and is still improving. The late Count Luigi Tadini built a fine palace, with an extensive façade towards the lake, and formed a museum of natural history, and a gallery of paintings and statuary. The best inn in Louvere is the Canon d'Oro, kept by the noble family of Celeri. We marvel that this circumstance alone does not attract a certain class of rich parvenus to the locality. They delight to "gall the kibe" of aristocracy; and for the expenditure of a few ducats at the Casa Celeria, they might summon the representative of the Celeri to unstrap their portmanteaus, and give a polish to their boots.

COMO.

HE people of Como claim a Greek origin, and pride themselves on a descent more ancient than that of Roman cities. After the fall of the empire, this place was held successively by the Goths, the Lombards, and the Franks. In the middle ages it espoused the Ghibelline interest, and was thus led into contests with its Guelphic neighbours, the Milanese, by whom it was taken and burned in 1127. It was gradually rebuilt, and regained its independence, but at length fell irrecoverably under the power of Milan, and took part in all the subsequent political vicissitudes of that city.

Como is the the birth-place of Pliny, whose villa on the neighbouring lake is one of the points of attraction to travellers; an intermitting spring establishes the identity of the locality beyond all dispute. Amongst other eminent citizens, the Comasques delight to enumerate Caninius Rufus and Caius Cecilius, early Latin poets; Paulus Jovius, the bishop and historian; Rezzonico, the poet; and the popes, Innocent XI. and Clement XIII. There is, however, one name connected with Como, which in many respects claims pre-eminent regard, namely, that of Volta, to whose discoveries electricity and modern chemistry are so much indebted.

The Cathedral of Como is deemed one of the finest ecclesiastical structures of the middle ages. It was founded in 1396, and built of marbles from the neighbouring quarries. The façade of white marble is broad and striking, and the interior derives grandeur from the capacity of its dome and nave, and the sombre and impressive character that prevails throughout. The church of St. Fedele, an ancient edifice, is also remarkable for the character of its architecture. The city, including its suburbs, is said to contain upwards of eighteen thousand inhabitants. It has several silk-works and manufactories of woollen cloths; and in literary and scientific associations, and educational institutions, it claims precedence over many of the more important cities of Italy.

Access to the Lake of Como has been greatly facilitated, in recent years, by the introduction of steamers on the lake, and the construction of admirable roads along its shores. The passage down the lake was formerly by a heavy, dangerous boat, which started in the evening from Gravedona, and stopped at the villages to collect passengers to the market of Como, which was reached with difficulty, in the morning, except when foul weather baffled the boatmen's skill, and exposed all on board to imminent peril. On reaching Como, the peasant was compelled to hasten his transactions to secure his return home the same evening. Now, however, he rests tranquilly till six or eight in the morning, reaches Como in time to manage his business leisurely, and arrives at his home, even if situated at the upper extremity of the lake, long before night-fall. So much for steam, which some romantic blockheads have blown up as an intruder upon the quiet lake, but which, so far as we can ascertain, has never blown up them in return; on the contrary, it has contributed to the picturesque of Lake Como, and blessed its villagers with advantages they never before enjoyed. The road on the shores of the lake is one of the finest works of modern engineering science. It is carried by a succession of terraces and galleries from village to village, and through scenes of the most striking beauty. As this road leads to Milan by Lecco, avoiding Como, travellers who desire to enjoy the scenery of that branch of the lake which leads from the promontory of Bellagio to Como, must make its tour in a steamer, or hire a boat to visit the villas and villages which occupy a thousand picturesque sites around its shores.

The Tower of Baradello, situated on a conical sand-stone hill, forms a remarkable feature in the scenery of Como. Originally erected by the Gauls, it became in different ages a stronghold of the power temporarily predominant. During the French possession of Italy, this tower was employed as a telegraphic station-a use to which it seems also to have been put in ancient times, by the display of coloured flags by day, and the lighting of fires at night. It appears, indeed, to have formed the centre of a system of telegraphic communication, as the ruins of other towers seemingly erected for a similar purpose still exist in the district. The hill and tower of Baradello are situated too far to the right to fall within the limits of our view.

VARESE.

FROM THE SACRO MONTE.

BEAUTIFUL, extensive, and diversified prospect is obtained from the Sacro Monte, or Calvary, as it is sometimes named, a commanding eminence situated about two miles from the unimportant city of Varese. In the ascent from Varese, the traveller, after passing fifteen chapels, arrives at the church of the Madonna, on the summit of the Sacro Monte. The sanctity of this edifice makes it the resort of religious pilgrims, and the pilgrims of art are attracted thither by the beauty of its architecture and pictures. It has also its absurdities: one, a statue of the Virgin, attributed to St. Luke; and another, a dried crocodile, said to be the remains of a fearful dragon destroyed by the power of the Madonna.

From the Sacro Monte the traveller looks down upon the picturesque sites of the chapels which he passed in the ascent; and below them lie Varese, the surrounding villas, and a hundred campagnas and palaces. On the right is the lake of Varese, beyond it the lake of Monate, and still more distant, a part of the Lago Maggiore. The view is bounded, in this direction, by the Alps, which blend with the haze and indistinctness of the distant plains. The eye sweeps round the panorama, taking in the Alps, and the mountains which bound the lakes of Lugano and Como, together with the rich intervening country. Milan is said to be sometimes distinguishable in the view. The elevation from which the spectator surveys this prospect, is about two thousand feet above the lake of Varese.

The neighbourhood of Varese is associated with many historical recollections. It was at an early period a district of the Insubrian Gauls; and about 170 B.C. it fell, together with other territories of the Cisalpine Gauls, into the hands of the Romans. About sixty years later, the Cimbrians descended upon the country; and on the decline of Rome, the northern barbarians laid it waste, in their passage to the interior of Italy. The senseless battles of jarring creeds, and the conflict between the temporal and ecclesiastical powers, involved it in the common miseries of the dark ages. And still later, it suffered severely from the people of Como, who resented its attachment to their Milanese enemies. Its plains have been the arena of a thousand battles; and from the time of Bellovesus, the Gaul, B.C. 610, down to the French invasion at the close of the last century, it was a place of sacrifice where rapine and ambition offered up their hecatombs of victims.

The Lago di Varese, or lake of Varese, is of an oval form, about twelve miles in length, and six in breadth. Its banks slope gently to the verge of the water, and are covered with luxuriant vegetation. Fields of deep verdure, bordered by lofty trees; hills covered with thickets; villas shaded with pines and poplars; and villages encircled with vineyards, attract the traveller's regard wherever he turns his eye, and charm him by the combination of picturesque beauty which they present to his view.

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