got here. It begins, " Adeo profundum, horridumque spectaculum," &c. but it is too long to transcribe. It is likewise described by Homer,* 12th of the Odyssey; Virgil,† 3d Æneid; Lucretius, Ovid, Sallust, Seneca, as also by many of the old Italian and Sicilian poets, who all speak of it in terms of horror; and represent

* Dire Scylla there a scene of horror forms,
And here Charybdis fills the deep with storms:
When the tide rushes from her rumbling caves,
The rough rock roars; tumultuous boil the waves;
They toss, they foam, a wild confusion raise,
Like waters bubbling o'er the fiery blaze;
Eternal mists obscure the aerial plain,
And high above the rock she spouts the main.
When in her gulfs the rushing sea subsides,
She drains the ocean with her refluent tides.
The rock re-bellows with a thundering sound;
Deep, wonderous deep, below appears the ground.

That realm of old, a ruin huge was rent,

In length of ages from the continent.
With force convulsive burst the isle away;

Thro' the dread opening broke the thundering sea.
At once the thundering sea Sicilia tore,

And sunder'd from the fair Hesperian shore';

And still the neighbouring coasts and towns divides
With scanty channels and contracted tides.
Fierce to the right tremendous Scylla roars,
Charybdis on the left the flood devours:
Thrice swallowed in her womb subsides the sea,
Deep, deep as hell; and thrice she spouts away
From her black bellowing gulfs disgorged on high
Waves after waves, that dash against the sky.

POPE.

PITT

it as an object that inspired terror, even when looked on at a distance. It certainly is not now so formidable; and very probably the violence of this motion, continued for so many ages, has by degrees worn smooth the rugged rocks, and juttling shelves, that may have intercepted and confined the waters. The breadth of the Straits too, in this place, I make no doubt is considerably enlarged. Indeed, from the nature of things it must be so; the perpetual friction occasioned by the current must wear away the bank on each side, and enlarge the bed of the

water.

The vessels in this passage were obliged to go as near as possible to the coast of Calabria, in order to avoid the suction occasioned by the whirling of the waters in this vortex ; by which means, when they came to the narrowest and most rapid part of the Straits, betwixt Cape Pelorus and Scylla, they were in great danger of being carried upon that rock. From whence the proverb, still applied to those, who in attempting to avoid one evil fall into another.

Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens evitare Caribdem.'

There is a fine fountain of white marble on the

quay, representing Neptune holding Scylla and Charybdis chained, under the emblematical figures of two sea-monsters, as represented by the poets.

The little neck of land, forming the harbour of Messina, is strongly fortified. The citadel, which is indeed a very fine work, is built on that part which connects it with the main land. The farthermost point, which runs out to sea, is defended by four small forts, which command the entry into the harbour. Betwixt these lie the lazaret, and a light-house, to warn sailors of their approach to Charybdis, as that other on Cape Pelorus is intended to give them notice of Scylla.

It is probably from these light-houses (by the Greeks called Pharoi) that the whole of this celebrated Strait has been denominated the Faro of Messina.

There are a number of galleys and galliots in this beautiful harbour, which still add greatly to its beauty. Three of these sailed this morning, in order to cruize round the island, and to protect it from the sudden invasions of the Barbarians, who are often very troublesome on the south coast. These vessels made a very picturesque appearance as they went out of the

harbour; their oars moving all together, with the greatest regularity. I think there are nine or ten men to each oar; and indeed it appears to be the hardest work you can imagine. They all rise, every stroke of the oar, and when they pull, they almost throw themselves on their backs, and seem to exert their utmost force. These wretches are chained to their oars, and sleep every night on the bare benches, without any thing to throw over them. Yet, what is strange, notwithstanding all the misery they suffer, I am told there was never known an instance of any one of them putting themselves to death. They often, indeed, confer that favour upon one another, but it is only in their quarrels, and by no means out of kindness. In a company of English in the same circumstances, promotion would probably go on much faster, as there would be no want of vacancies, provided only ropes and knives were to be had.

We intended this morning to have paid our respects to the prince of Villa Franca, the governor, and to have delivered our letters; but he is gone to his country-house, and as there are no carriages to be had, we are obliged to wait his arrival in town, which will probably be to-morrow or next day.

We are still under a good deal of uneasiness about our servant, and are obliged to conceal him carefully from the people of the healthoffice, who seem to haunt us, as we have met them this morning in all our walks. Were he to be discovered, perhaps some of us might have the pleasure of making a little voyage, on board one of those galleys, for our amusement. Indeed, the captain of the ship, poor fellow, would run the greatest risk, who is obliged to answer for every person on board.-We shall leave this place as soon as possible; for I do not believe there is much more to be seen about it.

20th at night. After dinner our deputeconsul (a Sicilian) carried us to several convents, where we were received by the nuns with great politeness and affability. We conversed with them for some hours through the grate, and found some of them by no means deficient, either in point of knowledge or sprightliness; but none of them had sincerity enough (which we met with in Portugal more than once) to acknowledge the unhappiness of their situation. All pretended to be happy and contented, and declared they would not change their prison for the most brilliant situation in life. However, some of them had a soft melancholy in their