nt lustre shine
Along the snow-clad Apennine."

It was all we could desire--a glorious sun, clear atmosphere, and
genial, bracing air. How fair is Nature at this hour! "One drinks in the
air by long draughts; the eyes seem to be intoxicated with the sun, the
very soul to bathe in the glory of colour!"

Meanwhile, we have passed Frejus, Nice, Villafranca, Antibes,--the old
castle at Mentone projecting out into the sea; and now lovely Monte
Carlo and Monaco are in view, nestling amidst terraces of orange and
olive trees,--graceful palms lifting their heads here and there to the
blue sky. Then a sterner and more imposing series of views, the
coast-line more rugged and broken, as we gradually near the mountain
ranges of the Alps and the Apennines, and approach the harbour of that
magnificent city unrivalled indeed in the commanding grandeur of its
situation--"Genova la Superba." I now quite realized that this glorious
coast scenery must be seen from the sea, to understand and appreciate
its special beauties.

As I had anticipated, the fussy and over-punctilious Italian sanitary
officers demurred at admitting us to Pratique, and were about to put us
in quarantine on account of the death of the poor emigrant, though it
was clearly evidenced that he died from some organic disease. The poor
emigrants were longing to get on shore and seek their homes once more,
and I was most anxious to catch the train to Leghorn, to receive my wife
on her arrival from Malta. Still, officer after officer came on board,
and it was useless to chafe with impatience; they persisted in going
through the whole of their tiresome, circumlocutory inquiries, and
having their talk out: this aggravating palaver evidently being extended
to magnify their office.

At last they came to the conclusion that we were entitled to a clean
bill of health, and released us. I hurried on shore, and arrived at the
station just ten minutes after my train had started. This was most
provoking, but fortunately I found a little steamer of the Rubatino
line, going to Leghorn that night, and at once engaged a passage in her.
I found another Englishman on board, and as the little vessel rolled
about in the trough of the sea, and there was therefore evidently little
sleep to be got in our small cabins, we did our best to walk the deck
till midnight; and then, with a "_Good night_," crawled into the
confined cabins allotted to us, exercising, of course, the full
privilege