auf die nuzlichste und genussvollste art die Schweitz zu
Bereisen. Von J.C. Ebel. Zurich, 1804-5. 4 vols. 8vo.--This most excellent
work affords every kind of information which a person proposing to travel,
or reside in Switzerland, would wish to acquire. It has been translated
into French under the title of Manuel du Voyageur en Suisse. Zurich, 1818.
3 vols. 8vo. This contains all the additions of the 3d German edition.

ITALY.

As the traveller descends the Alps, the first regions of Italy into
which he passes present him with mountains subdued in size, and
gradually passing from magnificence to grandeur and beauty; then the
rich and luxuriant plains of Lombardy meet him with their improved
agriculture, and in some places curious geology. He next advances to
those parts of Italy which are rich in the finest monuments of art, and
associated with all that is interesting in the period of the revival of
literature; with Dante, Boccacio, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso, and the
Medici. The proofs of commercial wealth, united with magnificence and
taste, present themselves to him in the palaces of Genoa, Venice, and
Florence; and he hears, on every side, the most classical tongue of
modern Europe.

Rome, with which, in conjunction with Greece, the associations of his
frank and enthusiastic youth have been deeply formed, next rises to
view: to the classical scholar, the antiquarian, the man of taste and
virtue, the admirer of all that is most perfect in human conception, as
brought into existence by the genius of Michael Angelo, and Raphael,
this city affords rich and ample materials for study and description,
though it is unable to excite that grandest feeling of the human breast,
which is raised by the land of Leonidas and of Socrates. Greece fought
for liberty! Rome for conquest! The philosophy of Rome is less original,
less pure and disinterested, less practical than that of Greece.

Through all this part of Italy the geologist finds materials for
examination and conjecture, in the ridge of the Appennines: and these,
rendered still more interesting, accompany him into the Neapolitan
territory, both continental and insular.

Such are the principal subjects to which travellers have directed their
attention in Italy; and the travels which chiefly relate to these
subjects, and treat of them in the best manner, we shall select.

385. Les Observations Antiques du Seigne