a space that it is saddled by a small wooden bridge, that is commonly considered as dividing it into two separate sheets of water, though not with much propriety. When by a gradual curve you lose sight of the opening where the lake flows out, you are at times surrounded on all sides by dark slaty rocks and piles of monstrous mountains, among which Snowden seems willing to assert his sovereignty, but can scarcely lift his brow above the rest. At other times you discover one or two green spots with some wood and corn-fields, and a cottage or two. Then near the pass where the bridge is, but a little higher up, commanding that and each side of the lake, on a steep but not high rock, which projects before the rest, stands the single tower of Dolbudern Castle, which the Welch princes made use of as a place of retreat from the English, and is in the strong round Norman style of building. At the upper extremity is the poor little village of Llanberris, on a very flat, green, unwooded, but not extensive, plain, pent in by this same lake on one side, and these enormous mountains on all the rest.

But now for some adventures, not indeed in character with the savage greatness of the rest of the picture. As soon as we arrived at the miserable cabaret, not equal to the worst English hut, the mist thickened all round, and it began pouring most violently. But there was no alternative, for we were obliged to return and by the same convey

ance, our whole party consisting of four ladies and as many gentlemen. We rowed on in the storm and wind over the rough billows; and the slipping of one gentleman, not very young, into the water, and the sangfroid with which his wife regarded the accident, occasioned some involuntary and not malicious mirth. When the peril of the waters was past, we had five miles more to travel under the pelting storm in an open cart. My conclusion is lame, yet not unhappy. We arrived safely at last and have escaped colds.

I wish this description had been sooner ended, for I have hardly room to ask after your present employment and future plans, and to inquire about Wilkes and Waters. Remember me most heartily to them, and tell me what they are doing. If Waters's sermon is printed, tell me who is the printer, that I may order it as soon as possible. I think that feather must please us as much as it pleases our friend.

I see some faces here familiar to both of us: Mr. Olivers' of Massachusetts, who lodges next door; Mr. Hillingworth's, the tutor; and this morning Peter Prattinton's, on a botanical tour, with whom I was glad to shake hands after an interval of five years. Would I could see my friend Price's, and have his pleasant company in a walk which I devise into the valley of Festiniog.

I am ever his affectionate friend,

H. F. CARY.

LITERARY JOURNAL, 1798.

To January 22. Finished Dante's Purgatorio, and read the Septem contra Thebas of Eschylus.

22 to 27. Read the Phonissæ of Euripides, and read the odes, elegies, and Elfrida of Mason, with Jane.

October 19 and 20. Read Aristotle's Poetics in Tyrwhitt's edition a second time. Read the Charmides of Plato. This dialogue consists of different solutions of the word "temperance." The most beautiful part of it is the beginning, in which the growth and lovely form of Charmides are described.

21. Read in Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses, with Jane.

23. Read the Io of Plato. It is difficult to say whether Socrates is serious or otherwise in what he says of poetical inspiration. This is, on the whole, a pleasant dialogue. Finished the second book of Macchiavelli's Historia Fiorentina. Continued Reynolds' Discourses, with Jane.

24. Read the third book of Macchiavelli's Historia Fiorentina. This book places before the eye the internal confusion of Florence. It contains a speech artfully constructed to excite the fury of the populace; and two very striking characters, the one of the aspiring but public-spirited Michiele di Lando, the other of the temperate, severe, and unfortunate Benedetto Alberti, who has the features of an old

Roman. The family of the Medici now begins to appear, Salvestro (the friend of Benedetto Alberti) in 1376, and Veri in 1393. They both espoused the cause of the populace, but without intemperance or ambition. Read Pindar, Olymp. ii. Continued Reynolds' Discourses, with Jane.

October 25. Read the fourth book of Macchiavelli. The dying address of the good Giovanni de' Medici to his two sons, Cosmo and Lorenzo, and his character, are admirable. Our interest is strongly excited for the wise Cosmo, who returns after a short banishment in 1433. The supplication of the miserable inhabitants of the valley of Seravezza to the Florentines, and the answer of Nicolo da Uzano to Nicolo Barbadori are striking features in this book. Read the Life of Philippo Brunnelleschi in Vasari. The genius, the industry, and the perseverance of this man in architecture and mechanics were wonderful. He is mentioned by Macchiavelli in the fourth book, which induced me to read his Life. The anecdote of his unsuccessful plan of destroying Lucca, which Macchiavelli relates, is omitted by his biographer. Continued Reynolds' Discourses, with Jane.

This

26. Read the fifth book of Macchiavelli. book is full of the wars of the Florentines with their neighbours, particularly the Duke of Milan. Each side carries on the war with hired forces. Francesco Sforza and Nicolo Piccinino are the heroes, who combat with much stratagem and little blood

shed. Rinaldo dagli Albizi, the head of the aristocrat party, dies in banishment after fruitless attempts to bring back himself and his faction by force. His character is well drawn.

October 27. Began the sixth book of Macchiavelli. 28. Finished the sixth book of Macchiavelli. He contrives to make the complicated intrigues of the Italian States, the kingdom of Naples, the dukedom of Milan, the republics of Venice and Florence, &c., very interesting. This book ends in 1463.

29 to 31.-Read the seventh and eighth books of Macchiavelli. The history concludes with the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, in 1492. These two last books are less full of interest than the preceding books, which may be attributed to the overruling and absolute authority possessed by the house of Medici over the republic of Florence. On the whole this is an admirable piece of history, perspicuous in its narration and nervous in its style, adorned with strong delineations of character and eloquent speeches, and furnished with useful political observations.

November 2 and 3. Read the first and part of the second book of Macchiavelli again.

4. Finished the Lettres Persanes.

5. Read the Theages of Plato; an easy dialogue without any passage of peculiar beauty.

6 to 9. Read in Aulus Gellius for the first time. 10 to January 22, 1799. Read Roscoe's Life