1814.]

427

By another letter of Henry IV.to Queen Elizabeth, which was brought by Wil. liams, upon his return to England, it appears that the Queen took it ill, that he had granted a truce to the Duke of Mayenne, and had treated with him and other leaguers who wished to return to his government. I have given directions, (he says) to the Sieur Williams, to tell to you the reasons which dispose me to open my arms to the Duke de Mayenne, and others of my subjects who desire my favour, and wish to return to my service.

Lomenie, besides his instructions and credentials, brought with him different letters of the King, addressed to the Earl of Essex, to the Lord High Trea surer and Lord High Admiral of Eng land, and the Sieur de la Fontaine, chargé des affaires for France to this nation. [Such a correspondence of members of the council would now be the cause of impeachment, but it appears from Phil. de Commines, vol. ii. passim, to have been usual, and the means by which a former French king kept perpe tual peace with Edward IV.] In the MS. all these letters appear, the object of which is to order the Sieur de la Fontaine to concert matters with Lomenie, and to beg the English to back his requests to the queen. The Earl of Essex was in the interests of France, but as the negociation became very delicate, through the refusal which the king made of satisfying Elizabeth on the subject of Calais, we see by a letter of the Earl of Essex to M. de Lomenie, that he could not treat with him but mysteriously, and by the intervention of a third person, in order, he says, to avoid the jealousies of Our court. [This important passage shows the dangerous indiscretion of Essex, and that he was not merely sacrificed to the statements of his enemies. Elizabeth charged him with tampering with Tyrone, in Ireland, and his ambition of popularity and consequence produced that distrust concerning his integrity in the mind of his sagacious mistress, which in the end ruined him.]

The Sieur de Lomenie, who had left Paris, Oct. 7, for his voyage to England, quitted London the 23d of the same month,without having obtained any thing.

to Dover by the Sieur de la Fontaine, in the hope that the winds would have de tained him there some time, show us that the court of England was in fact exces sively agitated, and very irresolute on the subject of the propositions of Henry,sometimes the Earl of Essex carried it in favour of France; sometimes the contrary party triumphed. "I see, says the Sieur de la Fontaine, in one of his letters, much surprise (l'etonnement) and distraction in this court, to which I have added every new engine in my power; nor should I have desired this delay unless in the hopes of making you the bearer of better news.' "1 In another letter of the 30th of October, he says, "All things are changed in this court; and, in short, they will do nothing which we have asked. M. le Comte d' Essex sends on purpose and by command this gentleman: I think, that if you stay two days longer, they will send some one to you, who may be with you the partaker and bearer of better news. If my office did not detain me, I would come to you in order to explain what the shortness of the time does not to permit me to write."

In another letter of the 8th of No. vember following, the affairs of this court, says the Sieur de la Fontaine, are not the gospel (ne sont pas l'Evangile) for they are often yea and no. At present, there is no further talk on the subject, but a demie-bouche, announced with much mystery. In short, this negociation of M. de Lomenie had no effect.

[This memoir, though barren of incident, and indeed interest, except in one view of displaying the politics of Elizabeth, (for which reason some passages are put in italics) is yet in that view very important. It palpably demonstrates her views respecting expeditions. First, that they should have a specific and private advantage to the succouring party. Secondly, that they should never be carried to an extent which bestows power, or the means of independence in the party assisted. It is strange to see the ridiculous complaints of the ambas sador. Lomenie held out no lure, as a contre-projet, to salve the disappointment concerning Calais, or even made a display of danger from the common adversary! Elizabeth's policy was always to assist party against party, in order to weaken each, but never to elevate either: this, Heylyn shows, was her uniform policy in respect to her domestic religious parties.]

Extracte

ELBA.

F this island, which will furnish so much matter for the future historan, poet, and dramatist, the description by SWINBURNE is the fullest in our lan guage; it therefore merits to be transferred to the pages of the Monthly Magazine, as Swinburne's Travels are now become scarce, and are very dear.

"The season of the year being far advanced, and the Alps covered with snow, I thought it unadvisable with a family to undertake a journey into Italy by land; and therefore, in company with Sir Thomas Gascoigne, hired a French polacre at Marseilles, and embarked for Naples on the 27th of December, 1776.

The getting under sail was tedions, as the currents obliged us to tow out from buoy to buoy; but, when once clear of the land, we went at a prodigious rate, before a brisk north-west wind, which in the evening increased to a storm.

near their base.

All that night, and the ensuing day, the gale continued, and drove us on very fast. As the sea was rough, and the waves short, the irregular jerks and tossings of our ship kept us in perpetual alarms; but fortunately it was tight and well built. The Alps, immersed in snow, appeared on the left hand, about four leagues off, rising cat of the waters to a wonderful height: the sea ran so high, that we could discern nothing About sun-set, we got under the shelter of Cape Corso, the N.E. point of Corsica, and lay-to all night in still water. By this delay, we lost the opportunity of passing throngh the straits of Piombino; for, before morning, the boisterous Maestral sank into a very dull zephyr, which faintly brought us to the island of Elba, and there left us in a dead calm. We were towed into the harbour of PortoFerraio, where Mons, de Langres, the governor, a native of Lorraine, received us with great politeness, and contributed every thing in his power to make our involuntary visit to his port less irksome.

The island of Elba, known to the Greeks by the name of Aithalia, and to the Romans by that of Ilva, has been renowned for its runes from a period beyond the reach of history. Aristotle speaks of them as opened from time immemorial, and Virgil brings a succour to Eneas of300 men from

- Ilva, Insula inexhaustis chalybum generosa metallis.*

It lies about ten miles S.W. from Toscany, in latitude 42° 50'. Its figure is that of an equilateral triangle. Pliny gives it a circuit of an hundred miles. Late geogra‹ Eiba, an island rich in inexhaustible

nines of steel."

phers allow only sixty to its circumference; but, as no map has yet been made upon exact observations, and as the circuit would be much more considerable if every creek and inlet were measured, perhaps the Roman mensuration may come nearer the truth than the modern one. The difference might even be accounted for by the encroachments of the sea, and by the tumbling in of the rocks, which are, in many places, of a mouldering contexture.

Being extremely mountainous, Elba affords but scanty room for cultivation, and produces little more than six months' pro

vision of corn for its seven thousand inhabitants. It is said to have been peopled from Voltera, in very ancient times, the capital of Tuscany, and perhaps of all Italy. The property is at present divided between the Prince of Piombino, who possesses the largest share; the King of Naples, to whom Porto-Longone belongs; and the Great Duke of Tuscany, who is master of

Porto Ferraio.

The climate is much milder than that of the adjacent continent; for Elba produces many plants and fruits that cannot stand the Tuscan winters.

The south-west part of the island is, the most elevated, and consists of lofty unfruitful mountains, composed of black and white granite susceptible of a fine polish. In an old quarry, on the south shore, may be seen several pillars and basons roughly hewn, and left unfinished. The columns of the cathedral of Pisa are said to have been cut out of these rocks. Under this granite is a stratum of slate.

Cala

The N.E. and S.E. parts are chiefly argillaceous slate and iron-stone, with a quarry of grey marble, and some veins of ser pentine. Amianthus is frequent among the shivery rocks. Near the N.E. point is the hill, or mine, of iron ore, belonging to Rio, which supplies most of the forges of Italy. At the S.E. cape is the Monte della mita, so called from the loadstone with which it abounds. This is the magnes colore fusco rubente of the mineralogists, and ap pears to be a ferruginous substance that has passed through a very violent fire with out vitrification. The efficient of magnetism still remains in the unfathomed depths of nature's first causes. Buffon defines it, a constant effect of electricity produced by the interior heat, and the rotation of the globe; but, if it depended on no other cause, we should not experience such variation in the compass. The best magnets in Elba are found near the sea: but, to come at strong ones, the ground must he dug into; because the air, or the rays of the sun, eat out the force of those that lie long exposed to them on the surface. The earth, mixed with these

Mons. de

stones,

a mile before it falls into the sea; but the water gushes out of the rock in such abun dance, that it turns seventeen mills in that short course. We followed this pretty stream down a narrow vale, cultivated with great nicety, and planted with orange and other fruit trees, till it brought us to the celebrated iron mine.

This mine is not, like most others, composed of ferruginens strata, or of pieces of ore dispersed among heterogeneous substances, in horizontal streaks or accidental lumps, which are come at with difficulty, by means of galleries, engines, and deep pus; on the contrary, it forms one large hill of solid ore, worked in three terraces, after the manner of a fine quarry of stone, by clearing away the top, and hewing or blasting the rock, till it drops in shivers into the area, from whence it is whceled to the place of sale. The circumference of this iron hill is near three miles, and the depth of the ore to the slaty foundation about 300 feet. Where it has not yet been touched, or has lain undisturbed many years, vines and other plants grow tolerably well on the surface, and are said by Koest in to contain particles of iron in their leaves and stems, as may be discovered by calcination. If this were really the case, which I very much doubt, it would give a greater degree of credibility to the stories fold in Hungary, where bits of gold are shewn adhering to the stalks and grapes of the Tokay vines, supposed to have been drawn out of the ground by the plant in the course of vegetation.

The place where the present works are carried on resembles a funnel with one side broken down. About 700 pounds weight of gunpowder are consumed annually in blasting, and 106 men constantly employed with the pickaxe or barrow. From a scarcity of wood, none of the ere is smelted on the island, but is sold to the agents of the Tuscan, Roman, Corsican, and Neapolitan furnaces, at the rate of fifty-one crowns per conto; a weight consisting of 33,333 pounds and an half each. The Corsicans and Tuscans have a right to pick the ore, for which they pay an additional price. All others take it unsorted, and, with every parcel of large ore, are obliged to take a tenth part of the refuse: the two privileged traders have a fifth.

This ore is beautiful, abounding in rain bow shoots and crystallisations; but, al though it appears to the eye and to the feel to be almost one solid mass of iron, it is by no means so rich as many iron ores in the north of Europe, and hardly yields half its weight in pure metal.

It is a doubt, whether this mine of Rio be the same mentioned, by Aristotle and other ancient authors, to have been open in their time, but it is generally believed to be so. Pini, who in 1777 gave a dissertation on Elba, makes a calculation to prove, that it is possible these mines may Have been continually wrought since that

very distant period, without being more exhausted than we see them. He supposes the present area, where the ore is dug, to be a cylinder of 5000 feet in circumference, upon a depth of 200 feet, capable of con taining 397,727,000 cubic feet of earth or ore, of which, only one-third part, or 132,575,666, is to be assigned to the solid mineral; that each cubic foot of ore weighs 408 pounds; and therefore, that the whole weight of the ore hitherto dug ont amounts to 54,090,872,000 pounds. Now, for many years back, the annual exportation has not exceeded 41,666,250 pounds weight; by which computation it appears, that it would require 1,298 years to work out a quantity equal to what may be contained in the above-mentioned area. But as the steward assured me, he did not sell, upon an average, more than 35,000,000 of pounds weight a year, the allowance made by Pini is too great by near a seventh. Besides, much more copper was used anciently in arms and utensils than at present; gunpowder was unknown, and consequently greater difficulties attended the miner's art. The ore of Elba was probably smelted at no other place than that from which it derived its name, Populonium, and therefore we may believe, that a much smaller quantity than 55,000,000 was annually extracted; consequently the mine could not be worked down to its actual state in so short a term as 1,298 years. The extent of the part yet untouched will afford em, ployment for many ages to come, notwithstanding the greater expedition used in modern metallurgy. The Prince of Piombino, to whom these treasures belong, receives from the sale, communibus annis, about 40,000 Roman crowns (9,5231. sterling), clear of all expences."

The ancients were of opinion, that the ore was reproduced in a course of years by a species of vegetation; and such has been the sentiment of some moderns, who allege, that many pickaxes, and other implements, have been found in old workings, covered with an incrustation of iron. As none of these tools have been met with in the heart of the virgin rock, but always in the trenches, where the shiver of old grooves

has

Lobarde, in a note upon this passage of his translation, doubts the accuracy of my calculations; he thinks 3,380. sterling, (which is nearly the amount of what I state as the expences of working, &c.) much too small an allowance for 106 miners, beside officers, overseers, and the expence of car riage. In answer to this it must be observ. ed, that part of the 106 workmen wheel the ore to the boats, which is all the carri age required, while the remainder break down the blocks of ore; and I imagine that the pay of these 106 labourers does not exceed 2000l. per annuin; and as the officers are few in number, the remainder of the 3,3801. is more than sufficient for their salaries and the wear and tear of tools.