ENOX AND

TILLER FOUNDATIONS.

cealment by their indented line, and overhanging rocks and woods, were the retreat of the early Christians during the first three centuries, and afterwards of the Greek exarchs, during the Longobardic invasion. In the middle ages, they were the haunt of banditti; and at present their caverns are not unfrequently the storehouses of Swiss and Italian smugglers.

It is chiefly from the villages above the lake that those shoals of pedlars sally forth who perambulate France and Germany with prints, gilt frames, small looking-glasses, and other wares. In England they are now rarely to be met with, and no wonder. To say nothing of our annuals with their score of engravings-for a guinea's worth of the fine arts would be a wholesale purchase to the patrons of the pedlar-we can now buy for one shilling several of the choicest specimens which the modern burin has produced, after the best painters of our day. The Italian hawkers, therefore, cannot compete with us even in price; and the consequence of the market being filled with an improved commodity must necessarily be an improvement in the national taste. This will do good eventually to all Europe: the English never keep things entirely to themselves-when they can get anything for them. At this moment, the walls of almost every inn in Russia are hung with English engravings.

In consequence of the exodus of the young men, several of the villages alluded to are inhabited exclusively by females. These solitary women are as devout as nuns, and work very hard for their dish of polenta, which is almost the only food they ever taste.

The town of Como stands at the termination of the

south-western branch of the lake. It was originally the seat of a Greek colony, but in the time of Pliny was a Roman corporation of great wealth and importance. The situation is fine, and the air excellent; but the town itself is gloomy, and presents little worthy of remark, except a church of white marble, curious from its architectural incongruities. Three miles and a half from Como is the Villa d'Este, once the abode of the unhappy Queen Caroline.

TO AN OLD PLEASURE BOAT,

CONVERTED INTO A SEAT IN SHIRLEY PARK.

BY THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY.

OLD boat! I wish a lot were mine,

In youth and age resembling thine!

When young and strong, like thee to glide

Over a calm and sunny tide;

For innocent enjoyment framed,

Pleasure named with me when Im named!

In age, when too infirm to move

Amid the scenes I used to love,

A cheerful aspect still I'd wear,
Sought by the youthful and the fair;
And offering to every guest,

A shelter, and a place of rest.

Shirley Park, July 1, 1836.