mountainous nature of the country favouring the operations of the natives, the Northern part of it was soon recovered. In 1093 Henry, Duke of Burgundy, having rendered great service to the Duke of Castile against the Moors, obtained his daughter in marriage, and the sovereignty of such parts of Portugal as were not in the hands of the invaders. These he governed with the title of Earl, but his son and successor having, about 50 years afterwards, obtained a decisive victory over the Moors, assumed the title of king: he subsequently occupied Lisbon, and before he died, had the succession of the crown regularly settled on his descendants. The failure of the male line of the royal family in 1580, enabled the well-known Philip 2d of Spain to annex Portugal to his own kingdom without much difficulty. In this humiliated state it continued for 60 years, when a successful insurrection led to the expulsion of the Spaniards from Portugal, and to the conferring of the crown upon the Duke of Bragança, a descendant of the ancient royal family. After this period, Portugal remained subject to it's own sovereigns till the year 1807, when it was invaded by the French, and became shortly afterwards the scene of a military contest between them and the British, which ended in the former people being driven out of the country. During the French invasion, the Portuguese royal family removed to Brasil, where they remained till A. D. 1821: during this interval, Portugal was governed by a council of regency. The alliance of Portugal with England may be dated, in some measure, from the reign of Charles the 2d, who married a Portuguese princess; but more particularly from the beginning of the 18th century, when the throne of Spain was occupied by a branch of the Bourbons. 38. Lisbon, the metropolis of Portugal, and the residence of the Royal Family and the Court, is beautifully situated at the mouth of the R. Tagus, which here expands into a great body of water nearly eight miles wide. It is built on three hills, and lies along the river in the shape of a half-moon, being nearly four miles in length, and from 1 to 1 in breadth : it is unfortified, and open on all sides. The inhabitants, -whose number in 1826 was estimated to be 260,000, are enterprising and industrious, engrossing all the colonial, and three-fourths of the foreign trade of the kingdom. In the year 1755, a great part of the city was laid in ruins by one of the most fatal earthquakes ever experienced; almost all the public buildings, and 6,000 of the dwelling-houses were overturned, and many more were destroyed by a raging fire which broke out at the same time, having been kindled by fires in private dwellings, and the tapers in the churches: the loss of lives was computed at considerably more than 30,000. Many years elapsed before Lisbon recovered from this calamity, and the traces of it are still visible in many parts of the city. The mouth of the Tagus is guarded by the castle of St. Julian, which is founded on a rock, and it's base washed by the sea. To the N. E. of Lisbon, on the right bank of the R. Mondego, stands the city of Coimbra, formerly the residence of the Kings of Portugal, and containing the tombs of several members of the royal family: it is chiefly famed for it's university, the only establishment of the kind in the kingdom, and which was originally founded at Lisbon in 1290, but removed hither at the beginning of the following century. Oporto is situated in the S. W. corner of the province of Entre Douro e Minho, on the northern banks of the Douro, about two miles from its mouth. It stands partly on a hill and partly on the banks of the river, and is surrounded by an old wall, which in many places has fallen to ruin it is in general a well-built town, being accounted the cleanest and most agreeable in all Portugal. It derived it's name Oporto, (i. e. O Porto, the Port,) from it's being situated at the mouth of a great river; it has long been the mercantile emporium for the North of Portugal, and particularly for the export of the wine, hence called Port. This wine is produced at a considerable distance from Oporto, in the province of Tras os Montes, and in some districts of Entre Douro e Minho. The population of Oporto in 1826 was estimated at 80,000 souls. The province of Algarve, the most southern in Portugal, was once an independent kingdom, and still gives the title of King to the Portuguese monarch. The South Western extremity of it, and indeed of the whole country, is called Cape St. Vincent, and is celebrated for the decisive victory obtained off it, over the Spanish fleet, A. D. 1797, by Admiral Sir John Jervis, for which service he was created Earl St. Vincent. : 39. The Portuguese have many colonies and settlements in different parts of the globe. In Africa, they possess Madeira, the Azores or Western Islands, the Cape Verde Islands, with settlements in Guinea, Angola, Monomotapa, and Mozambique: in Asia, they possess the province of Goa, in India; Macao, near Canton; and settlements on the I. of Timor. Besides these, they once had dominion over Brasil, but this latter country has of late years been constituted a separate empire. CHAPTER XII. ITALIA. 1. ITALY was called Hesperia1 by the Greeks, from it's Western situation: it bore also, at different periods, the names of Saturnia, from Saturn, who fled there from his son Jupiter; Ausonia3, from the Ausones, one of it's most ancient nations, once occupying it's most Southern part; and Enotria, from the Enotri. But about the time of Augustus, all these appellations were superseded by that of Italia, which, though used in earlier ages merely to denote the Southern part of the peninsula, then became the general name of the whole country: the origin of the word is said to be from Italus, a chief of the country, or from 'Iraλòs, an ox. The political division of Italy was into Italia Gallica, extending from the Alps to the Rubico and Arnus; Italia Propria, extending as far South as Lucania, which province, with a part of Apulia, and the territory of the Bruttii, was called Magna Græcia, from the number and fame of the Greek colonies there established. 2. Italy was bounded on the E. by Mare Superum, or Hadriaticum Adriatic Sea, or G. of Venice; on the S. by 4 parts of Mare Ionium3, and Mare Siculum; on the W. by Mare Inferum, Tyrrhenum, or Etruscum, and by a part of the Alps, which last, in a general way, may be also said to form it's Northern limits, although the division between it and Rhætia, was some miles to the S. of this great natural barrier. 3. The little R. Formio, now called Risano, at the Eastern extremity of the Alps, near Trieste, was considered the boundary of Italy in this direction; but Augustus included Histria within his division of the country, and constituted the little river Arsia Arsa, the line of separation between it and Illyricum. 4. The principal promontories on the Eastern shores of Italy were, Polaticum Pr. Punta di Promontore, the S. extremity of Histria; Garganum Pr.8 Testa del Gargano, the N. E. point of Apulia; Iapygium, or Salentinum Pr. C. di Leuca, the S. point of Iapygia; Lacinium Pr.9 C. Nau, or delle Colonne, the E. extremity of the Bruttian territory; Herculis Pr. C. Spartivento, and Leucopetra Pr. C. dell' Årmi, at the Southern extremity of the peninsula. Ascending the W. coast, we meet with Vaticanum Pr. C. Vaticano, on the shores of the Bruttii; Palinurum Pr. 10 C. Spartivento, in Lucania; Minervæ Pr. Pia, della Campanella, and Misenum Pr.1 Strophades Graio stant nomine dictæ Insulæ Ionio in magno: Virg. Æn. III. 211. This appellation was not confined to the strait between Italy and Sicily. Horace, who in the passage above quoted, alludes to his danger of shipwreck in the Adriatic, speaks of the same as having occurred in the Sicilian Sea : Non me Philippis versa acies retro, Nec Sicula Palinurus undâ. Hor. Carm. III. iv. 28. Again, he applies the name to the sea about the Ægades Insulæ; 7 Gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat æquor. Id. Carm. II. xii. 2. Virg. En. I. 67. Hor. Carm. II. ix. 7. 10 From the pilot of Eneas, who was lost near that coast. ad finem. Id. Epist. II. i. 202. Virg. Æn. III. 552. Et statuent tumulum, et tumulo solemnia mittent : Vide Virg. En. V. ld. VI. 381. 11 Called so from the trumpeter of Eneas, who was drowned on the shore near that place: At pius Æneas ingenti mole sepulchrum Propert III. xvii. 3. It is mentioned by Horace as abounding in shell fish ; Virg. En. IV. 234. Sat. 11. iv. 33. C. Miseno, in Campania; Circæi Pr. 12 M. Circello, the S. point of Latium; and Populonium Pr. C. di Campana, on the coast of Etruria. 5. The principal gulfs of Italy, on it's Western side, were, Ligusticus Sinus G. of Genoa, on the shores of Liguria; Cumanus Sinus, or Crater G. of Naples, on the coast of Campania; Pæstanus, or Posidoniates Sinus G. of Salerno, between Campania and Lucania; Terinæus, or Hipponiates Sinus, G. of S. Eufemia, and Bruttius Sinus G. of Gioja, both on the Bruttian coast. On the Eastern side of Italy were, Scylleticus Sinus G. of Squillace; Tarentinus Sinus G. of Taranto, on the shores of Lucania and Iapygia; Urias Sinus G. of Manfredonia, in Apulia; and Tergestinus Sinus G. of Trieste, on the coasts of Histria and the Carni. 6. The grand, semicircular chain of the Alps, sweeping round from Monaco, on the frontiers of Gaul and Italy, to Illyricum, was known by various names. The Southernmost part, towards Gaul, was called Alpes Maritimæ Maritime Alps, and extended as far N. as Vesulus M.13 M. Viso; here was the first pass of the Alps frequented by the Romans, and the one by which Cæsar entered Italy to contend with Pompey. Alpis Cottia, about which was the petty kingdom of Cottius, extended from M. Viso to M. Cenis; and from the latter mountain to M. Blanc, extended Alpis Graia, over which, at the Lit. S. Bernard, Hannibal passed on his invasion of Italy 14. The Alpis Graia is 7,200 feet above the level of the sea, and was said to have been so called from Hercules there establishing some Greeks, who had followed him: M. Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe, being 15,680 feet above the level of the sea. From M. Blanc to M. S. Gothard, the chain of the Alps was called Alpis Pennina, from the deity Penninus, who was worshipped on it's summit. Hence the Alpes Rhætica wind through Rhætia, to the sources of the Drave and 12 Called so from Circe, sister of Medea. Famous for it's oysters: Piave, where they assume the name Alpes Carnica or Julia Carnic or Julian Alps, and at Ocra M. Birnbaumer Wald, pass off into Illyricum.-Apenninus Mons 15 Apennine M., after detaching itself from the Maritime Alps, runs diagonally across Italy, to the sources of the Arno and Tiber, whence it proceeds Southwards, through it's whole length, terminating at Leucopetra Pr. C. dell' Armi: it's highest point is Mons Cunarus, now called Monte Corno, or Il gran Sasso, which is 8,790 feet above the level of the sea. 7. The principal river of Italy was the Padus Po, called anciently Eridanus 16, and Bodincus 17, the scene of Phaeton's death, and the metamorphosis of his sisters into poplars 18; it rises at Vesulus Mons, runs first N., and then E., and after a course of 370 miles, enters the Adriatic Sea by seven mouths. It receives, in it's progress, the waters of more than 30 rivers from the Alps and Apennines; it's sands were said to be mixed with gold-dust, and were, therefore, carefully examined by the natives. The other rivers of Italy were, the Athesis fl.19 Adige, which rises in the Rhætian Alps, and runs with a Southern and Easterly course of 245 miles, into the Adriatic Sea, a little N. of the Po: the Arnus fl. Arno, which has it's source in the Apennines, and flows Westward into Tyrrhenum Mare; it is 125 miles long. Tiberis fl. Tiber, or Tevere, rises also in the Apennines, and having been increased by more than 40 rivers, enters the Tyrrhenian Sea 20, 18 miles below Rome, after a Southerly course of 215 miles; it was 15 Quantus Athos, aut quantus Eryx, aut ipse coruscis Vertice, se attollens pater Apenninus ad auras. Lucan. II. 396.-Hor. Epod. XVI. 29. Virg. Æn. XII. 703. 16 By the Greeks; but whether this river of Italy was meant, cannot be spoken with certainty. Proluit insano contorquens vortice sylvas Et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu Virg. Georg. I. 482. Id. Georg. IV.372. 17 Or Bodencus, the Ligurian name, signifying something unfathomable. 18 Ovid. Met. II.-Lucan. II. 408. 19 Quales aëriæ liquentia flumina circum, Virg. Æn. IX. 680. 30 Virgil calls it "Tuscum Tiberim" Georg. I. 499. because it divides Etruria from Latium. For the same reason he attaches the epithet "Lydius" to it, Æn. II. 781, Etruria having been colonized by Lydians. Horace, Carm. III. vii. 28, calls it Tuscus Alveus." |