ELBA is a small island on the western coast of Italy, opposite Tuscany. It is about eighteen leagues southward from Leghorn; and from Piombino, the nearest town on the Continent, it is distant not more than ten miles. The Corsican coast is distant about thirty miles, due west. Rome lies to the south-east, about thirty-five leagues. Porto Ferrajo, the capital of the island, is in 10° 19' East longitude, and 42° 49′ North latitude. The island itself is sixty or seventy miles in circumference, contains about a hundred and thirty-five square miles in superficial extent, and has a population of twelve or fourteen thousand persons. By the Greeks the island was first called Æthalia, and afterwards Ilva; by which latter name it is mentioned by Virgil in his tenth Æneid: (173, 174:) Ast Ilva trecentos, Insula inexhaustis Chalybum generosa metallis.* * The poet is narrating the auxiliaries, ab oris Tuscis, from the Tuscan coasts, who accompanied Æneas in the war against Turnus. Among them we find torvus Abas, rough Abas, and his followers :"Sexcentos illi dederat Populonia mater Expertos belli juvenes: ast Ilva trecentos, Insula inexhaustis Chalybum generosa metallis." "Six hundred Populonia sent along, All skill'd in martial exercise, and strong; Three hundred more for battle Ilva joins,— An isle renown'd for steel, and unexhausted mines." VOL. III. Second Series. N DRYDEN. The island still retains its ancient character. The surface is uneven and mountainous. The plains and valleys are of small extent, and afford little space for cultivation. Corn is not produced in sufficiency for half the inhabitants. Pasture-land is abundant, but cattle and sheep are scarce, and the principal domestic animals are horses and mules. Forest-trees are rare, but aromatic and evergreen shrubs abound. The ilex, or evergreen oak, is the principal coppice-wood of the island. Odoriferous plants are so plentiful, and myrtles, and similar shrubs, so cover the mountains to the very margin of the sea, that the country in summer presents almost the aspect of an extended flower-garden. The valleys and ravines are both deep and beautiful, often mixing together the scenery of Italy and Switzerland on a smaller scale. And as the island is itself of small extent, and the mountains of considerable altitude, the prospects are very striking; comprising the island, its coasts, the surrounding ocean, with some smaller islands, and on one side, the Italian shores. The vine and olive are successfully cultivated; and in the vicinity of Porto Ferrajo and Longone are extensive salt-marshes, from which sixty thousand sacks, each about one hundred and fifty pounds weight, are manufactured annually: it is, however, questioned whether the community does not, lose more in point of health, by the existence of these marshes, than is gained from them in the shape of commercial advantage. Venomous reptiles are very common, such as the smaller scorpion, the blind-worm, the adder, and a spotted spider, whose bite is said to be mortal. Elba is abundant in mineral productions,-as granite, quartz, loadstone, white and coloured marble, &c. Copper is likewise found; and it is reported that formerly, gold and silver were obtained. Iron, however, is the principal mineral. The chief mine is at Rio, on the east coast of the island. This consists of an entire mountain, about three miles in circumference; and is so productive as to afford a supply for Corsica, Genoa, Tuscany, Romagna, Naples, &c. A hundred and twenty Elbese vessels, from |