SICILIAN SCENERY AND ANTIQUITIES.
BY THOMAS COLE.
A few months only have elapsed since I travelled over the classic landof Sicily; and the impressions left on my mind by its picturesqueness,fertility, and the grandeur of its architectural remains, are morevivid, and fraught with more sublime associations, than any I receivedduring my late sojourn in Europe. The pleasure of travelling, it seemsto me, is chiefly experienced after the journey is over; when we cansit down by our own snug fire-side, free from all the fatigues andannoyances which are its usual concomitants; and, if our untravelledfriends are with us, indulge in the comfortable and harmless vanity ofdescribing the wonders and dangers of those distant lands, and likeGoldsmith’s old soldier, ‘Shoulder the crutch and show how fieldswere won.’ I was about to remark, that those who travel only in bookstravel with much less discomfort, and perhaps enjoy as much, as thosewho travel in reality; but I fancy there are some of my young readerswho would rather test the matter by their own experience, than by theinadequate descriptions which I have to offer them.
Sicily, as is well known, is the largest island in the MediterraneanSea. It was anciently called Trinacria, from its triangular shape, andis about six hundred miles in circumference. Each of its extremitiesis terminated by a promontory, one of which was called by the ancientsLilybeum, and faces Africa; another called Pachynus, faces the Peloponessusof Greece; and the third, Pelorum, now Capo di Boco, facesItaly. The aspect of the country is very mountainous: some of themountains are lofty; but towering above all, like an enthroned spirit,rises Ætna. His giant form can be seen from elevated grounds in themost remote parts of the island, and the mariner can discern his snowycrown more than a hundred miles. But Sicily abounds in luxuriantplains and charming valleys, and its soil is proverbially rich: it oncebore the appellation of the Granary of Rome; and it is now said thatif properly tilled it would produce more grain than any country of its size104in the world. Its beauty and fertility were often celebrated by ancientbards, who described the sacred flocks and herds of Apollo on its delightfulslopes. The plain of Enna, where Proserpine and her nymphsgathered flowers, was famous for delicious honey; and according to anancient writer, hounds lost their scent when hunting, in consequence ofthe odoriferous flowers which perfumed the air; and this may be nofable; for in Spring, as I myself have seen, the flowers are abundant andfragrant beyond description; and it seemed to me that the gardens ofEurope had been supplied with two-thirds of their choicest treasuresfrom the wild stores of Sicily.
The history of Sicily is as varied and interesting as the features ofits surface; but of this I must give only such a brief and hurried sketchas, to those who are not conversant with it, will serve to render the scenesI intend to describe more intelligible and interesting than they otherwisewould be. Its early history, then, like that of most nations of antiquity,is wrapped in obscurity. Poets feign that its original inhabitants wereCyclops; after them the Sicani, a people supposed to have been fromSpain, were the possessors; th