are washed down with excellent appetite and copious libations of cold water, the wine being generally unpopular, because of its too close affinity with vinegar. Experience, however, seems to prove that, mixed with water, it is the most wholesome beverage to be found in these regions to the generality of people. When we were there in 1859, the Pension was kept by M. Escoffier, the well-known restaurateur from Nice, who, with the efficient aid of his wife, managed matters very well upon the whole, and succeeded, as far perhaps as any one can, in satisfying such restless, exacting, and discontented people as the occupants of such places commonly are. Of all nations, we think the English a shade or two the worst in these respects. The walls and ceilings of this old convent are, like all houses in Italy, however humble, ornamented with frescoes tolerably executed. So common is the talent for this kind of work, and so cheap a luxury is it, that we were informed such ornamentation, and even better, is executed by artists who think themselves well paid with two or three shillings a day. This brought to our remembrance the remark of a very eminent Scotch artist, with whom, some years ago, we found ourselves alone before dinner in an elegant drawing-room in Edinburgh. "We are still barbarians," he said; "a white roof over our heads, and a splendid carpet beneath our feet!" No doubt this is a solecism in taste which the Italians have long escaped, though their climate may have suggested one-half of the lesson; but perhaps the thoughtful reader may think it a parable which carries a deeper meaning. The climate of St Dalmas is dry and bracing. The temperature, during the summer months,

is wonderfully equable. From the middle of June till the 10th September, the thermometer never fell below 70° Fahr. during the day, nor ever rose above 80°, except two or three days in the end of July, when it rose in the heat of the day to 82° or 83°. We had no record of the lowest temperature during the night, as we had no self-registering thermometer; but our feelings assured us that the nights were always warm,-a single sheet and a light cotton counterpane being all the bedclothes that were supplied, the latter being generally dispensed with. We felt it pleasant to sleep with our windows open, though the natives do not approve of this practice, and its propriety in those climates may well be questioned. At sunset, of course, everybody kept within doors; an hour after, everybody went outside, when it was pleasant, and reckoned safe, to stroll or sit as long as any one chose. Early in the morning, the eastern hills afford shade for those who choose to walk, though even then it is warm; but by eight o'clock the sun is too powerful. Between ten and eleven A.M. the breeze begins to blow up the valley from the sea, and grows stronger till about two P.M., when it gradually dies away. This is the history of the weather during three months, without any observable variation, except on three days, which were exceptions, but which exactly resembled each other. On these, the only days, as far as memory serves, on which we saw clouds, a thick mist was discerned about eleven A.M., filling the narrow pass in the under part of the valley. This gradually travelled up the pass, and ascended the hills, till it covered all the heights surrounding. At the same hour, about half-past one P.M.,

on each occasion, a tremendous thunder-storm occurred, accompanied with such torrents of rain, that in a short time every place was flooded, and the Briga river, which was nearly dry before, descended with a stream probably a yard deep in front, and in an hour it ran at the speed of a mill-race six feet deep. Before four o'clock all was over, and by five o'clock the sun was shining in all his splendour upon the glancing mountains, the drenched earth, and the roaring floods. Except on those three occasions, the weather was uniformly bright and warm, the heavens without a cloud, so that we soon took it as a matter of course, and nobody either spoke or apparently thought of the weather. Thus was cut off, by the hand of Providence, one of the staple articles of our British conversation. After July, the evening and the morning became sensibly cooler; and in the last month of our sojourn the afternoons were delightful, and driving and riding became a real luxury for those whose strength did not permit them to enjoy the greater luxury of walking. This last, however, is here a luxury, or even a possibility, only to such as have active limbs and sound wind, as there is very little level ground, and the finest views are to be reached only by paths that are both rough and steep. For persons of light weight, the donkey is equal to anything; the mules are not more safe, and far less pleasant, indeed they are seldom found good in this locality. A new road to Briga supplies the only level drive in the neighbourhood. That up the valley by Tenda, or down the gorge to Fontana, is more beautiful and picturesque.

We could not obtain accurate information as to the

elevation of St Dalmas. Probably it is nearly two thousand feet above the level of the Mediterranean. We shall not detain our readers with detailing the grounds of this conclusion, which, however, cannot be very far from the truth. Now that it is in possession of the French, the country will, no doubt, be soon accurately surveyed, and all such details will become accessible. Upon the whole, St Dalmas furnishes a desirable summer residence for such invalids as are wishful to remain during summer within reach of the coast, and to whom a dry, bracing, and moderately warm climate is beneficial. That the country here is healthy upon the whole there cannot (we believe) be any doubt. The situation of the Pension, though pretty, is not the best that the locality affords; a noble one is only a furlong south upon a small hill in the chestnut forest. But the great objection to the present situation is the nearness and roar of the stream, and the nearness of irrigated meadows. A spirited capitalist, who should erect a large house in a proper situation at St Dalmas, could hardly fail to meet with abundant encouragement, as supplying a want which is very frequently and painfully felt.

THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY.

The people who inhabit this region are in many respects worthy of study. Their moral and social, no less than their physical features, are pretty distinctly marked. There can be little doubt that they are Celts by race; less mixed, perhaps, than anywhere else upon the Continent. What traces of this derivation their

The

language may bear, we cannot say; but their features and general appearance so much resemble those of the Irish, that, meeting with a company of them anywhere in Great Britain, in the month of July or August, one would pronounce them Irish reapers without a moment's hesitation. Some of them look the very originals from which Erskine Nicol painted his highly characteristic pictures. Nor need we wonder at this; remembering that this country was included in Cisalpine Gaul, and was even in the classical Roman age inhabited by Celts. Their patois, which sounds bold and nervous, has evidently a great deal of Latin in it, as might be expected; and, besides, is said to be compounded of Celtic, Greek, Spanish, and Saracenic, with some French words. common people do not understand Italian, and hardly a word of French; among the upper classes both these languages, as well as the patois, are generally spoken, though, before the annexation, Italian was the fashionable language, which the patriots also affected. Of course that is changed now. The priests, who perform the Mass in Latin, everywhere, in the country, employ the patois in preaching. In some respects, whatever their resemblance in others may be, they are a striking contrast to the Irish; they are never, even the poorest of them, seen in rags; their garments, often patched and clouted to the last extremity, with no squeamish regard to harmony of colours, are always whole; none of them appear to be idle; the women in their daily journeys to and from the fields, are always found knitting stockings as they walk; and though numbers are poor, beggary may be said to be unknown, These people are