The Sun.
London, England, 1812-03-28 00:00:00

SICILY.

The situation of ►his country gives an interest to
all that relates to it, and therefore we insert the fol-
lowing account of I he, present state of parts of it that
are memorable in historic annals.

" In approaching a city th-at was formerly a corn -
petitor in power and grandeur to Athens, and mis-
tress of the arts and urbanity of Rome itself, the sight
of the Obelisk without the town, ;trid the_ two only
remaining mutilated columns of the famous temple
%of Olympian Jobe, present to the inind a thousand
ideas and reflecliona on the history and fate of cities
and nations. ' Upon the wings, it may be said, of
imagination, we pass rapidly back through the im-
mense space of more than twenty-five ages, and we
already think and speak of Archias, of Thrasybulus,
of Dionysitts, of Dion,. of Timoleon, of Agathocles,
of Pvlarcellus.

" The entrance into Syracuse, by four bridges and
wet ditches, partakes of the grand, and is rendered
more noble by the gates on each side, and the_four
orders of foitification, which bring to the recollec-
tion the works of Coni, of Alexandria, of Lisle, of
Valenciennes, and other celebrated fortifications of
Europe. To our mortification, however, we discover
that the interior of the town does,
_not correspond
with so promising an exterior. The population is
scanty, and few signs of opulence, or good houses,
or streets : so that it should seem the test salt of
eulogium to write this inset int'on :—‘ This was,the
ancient Ortigia.' The too nof Syracuse is consider-
el among the fourth in rail of the cities in Sicily ;
for excepting PAlermo, Messina, and Catania, there
are none others that can pretend to class above it.—
Its circuit, including its vast fortifications, is said to
be three miles, and its population is supposed to
amount to fourteen thousand inhabitants. They
seem to believe there that only an age ago it amount-
- ed to forty thousand, and is lessened at lea,st two
thirds of its number. For my own part, I should
like to inquire into the foundation of such a belief,
because neither the situation of the inhabited parts,
nor the history of its political state, nor the contem-
plation of its principal buildings, can induCe us to
believe.such an inconceivable change in so limited
a period as one hundred years.
" There are several churches, and houses of gen-
tlemen sufficiently neat ; but as to the streets, with
the exception of the two principal, they are general-
ly narrow and dirty, and unpleasant ; there is no-
thing that deserves the name of a square, and the
market itself would be mean, even among the incon-
siderable towns of the island. The great harbour,
as every one knows, is capacious, secure, and mag-
nificent, and, viewed from the citadel, displays itself
to the eye with great beauty and' advantage, in the
figure ofa majestic and noble ellipsis : it wants al.
together the best ornament and most significant
charm which it ought, and might have, a quantity
of vessels, and a considerable trade; and it is dis-
gusting and painful to behOld this wonderful bay,
which has received from the hand of nature such
singular advantages, and might be so prosperous,
empty, and deserted, without navigation or com-
merce.

" I have heard and read of a thousand projels for
giving lite and recovery to forlorn and fallen Syra-
cuse; but the major part are faulty in the outline,
or isupeiably difficult in the execution, and cer-
tainly there is none that can compare in efficacy and
importance to that of drying up their unwholesome
and. sterile marshes, and thus render a large portiori
of their land capable of irrigation, in imitation of the
rich and luxuriant fields of Lombardy.
" ANTIQUITIES.-The theatre is in Nealiolis ;
and of it there only remains an outline of the form,
and the setts shaped ont of the living rock; which,
However, co not partake of the grand. According
toil a most patient calculations of an intelligent Eng-
lish traveller, it was found that it might contain for-
ty thousand people. Considering all the circum-
-stances of the Greek Sicilian republics, such a ca-
pibility in the theatre was a procf of a very large
population'; but not the enormous and inconceiva-
ble number of millions, as some learned men, too
much iuclined to the marvellous, have attributed to
the ancient Syracuse.
" The amphitheatre has been lately discovered,
tolerably spared by the hand of 'time, so that the
seats may be distinctly observed, and they resemble
those of the theatre. The Vomitories, the docirs,
and entire pother), with the facade, yet remain, &c.
We contemplated it with great attention and interest,
but without pleasure; for our imaginations 'pour-
trayed to us the painful scenes that were exhibited
from the horrid ferocity of the 'Romans in the less
happy times of this republic.
CATACOMBS.-These dark and frightful caverns,
intended for the sepulture of dead .bodies, so extend
themselves, and are so Beep in 'the bowels of the
earth, that it is difficult, without considerable prac-
tice, to find the way out. -The hermit established
there and others, assured us that they are cool in
the summer and warm in winter ; which may be
expl :inetrby saying that the air there communicating
little or at ail with the external. air, preserves-nearly
the same temperature all the year round, as is 0t.).;,
served in the celebraied caves at Paris. A house
bath, lately discovered, elegant and entire in all its
branches, pleased us extremely, and led us to - re-
marl., that if cleanliness is so necessary every where,
it must be more so at Syracuse, where the heat is
excessive.
" The Venus, lately found in the midst of cer-
tain ancient colUmns, is a most exquisite specimen
of the art of sulpture. The Arethusa, -of which the
poets have fabled so much, is a spring of little im-
porranee, that flows within the town near the sea;
its waters are not drinkable, except in cases of great
necessity.
"Catania is believed to contain forty-fine thousand
inhabitants ; there are five principal streets, spacious,
straight, and handsome. Its palaces are noble, and
such a quantity of private houses and buildings, that-
it may justly be ranked with the gayest and most
magnificent cities of Italy. For private houses of a
splendid style of architeaure, it is so lined with
them, that more are to be seen in proportion than
in the capital itself; whence arises the vulgar saying,
that " the Catanese can only build palaces.) and they
seemed better pleased to undertake these and leave
them unfinished, than to begin and finish houses of
more circumscribed dimensions. Notwithstanding

all these and other Fine buildings, the finely payvd
Streets, the quantity of carriages, the abundance of
prov.7sions and merchandize-of all sorts, with a cer-
tain sort of traffic in natural productions, and the

handsome style-of life of the inhabitants.'altogether,
'observations present themselves to the intellignt
traveller4- which obscure these advantages, and place
Catania •in the class of cities less advanced in
civili-
zation. There are not, for example, more than
four ,or five coffee-houSesf and those ditty and ill
furnished with the necessary articles. There.is not
in the town a carriage for hire. Excepting the five
principal streets above-mentioned, ail the rest are
very narrow, without trade or inhabitants, and so
many nests of poverty and filth. • Almost ,all the
country in the environs of the town is squalid and
black, and naked, almost to frighten one. The Ma-
rina is narrow, shapeless, and dismal in appearance ;
and finally, what is scarce to be believed, there is
not without the town the length of a furlong of
good carriage road.—They have lavished, or la.?
ther thrown away, immense sums of money in the
construelion of a -mole; but .1 cannot refrain from
hinting the consideration, that the intertyl com-
merce of this place is of infinitely More importance

than even the external ; and it would be more suit-
able to those engaged in it to think of facilitating

the communication to the interior and with: other
districts of the 'island, before they take into con,i-
deration the means of establishiing it with, foreign
nations at a distance.

" Catania has a rich Bishopric; and a numerous
clergy ; and is only exceeded by Palermo itself in
the number of its Princes, Dukes, Marquisses, and
other Noblemen and Gentlemen, who possess large
manors and estates."

CAMBRIDGE, MARCH go.—The following Gen.
tlemen acre admitted to the under-mentioned degrees on
Friday last ; —Dottor in Divinity, Rev. loimsun Atkinson
Bustield, of Clare Hall. Masters of Arts—john Norman
Pearson, Esq. of Trinity College • Henry Jeremy, Esq. of
Trinity College; Rev. Robert Roberts, of St. lohn's Col=
lege; Robert Ekinc, Esq.. of King's College; I ohn Bayley,
Esq. of Emmanuel College ; Rev. lohn Evans, Fellow of
Clare Hall; Rey. William Leeson, Fellow of Chic Hall ;
Key. G. C. Gorman, 'fellow of Queen's College; Rev.
Thomas Beevor, Fellow of Queen's College ; Rev. Bohn
Fisher, Fellow of Magdalen College; and Henry Hutchins,
Esq. of Trinity Hall. Bachelors .in Civil Law—Robert
Hodgson, Esq. of Trinity Hall, and Thomas Henry Stirhog,
Esq. of Magdalen College. .

MA-acx 27.—Richard Watts, 'E,4. and Mr.
Henry L. *Bidden; of Trinity hall, were on Friday last ad-
tnittcd Bachelors of Arts. -air. John jefli:rson, It.A. of
Jesus College, was on Friday last elected a Fellow of that
Society.

The subjea of the Seatonian Prize Poem for the preseht
year is—Joseph's making himself known twins Brethren.
The Rev. George Mathew, M. A. late of Trinity Col-
lege, has been presented, by his Royal Highness the Prince
Regent, to the Vicarage of Greenwich, in '-Kent, void by the
death of Dr. Burnaby. The Rev. Thomks Cantley,. -M. A.
of Jesus College, was last week instituted to the,Viearjge of
Griston,. in Norfolk, on the presentation of the Lord Bisholy
of Ely. The Rev. H. Nkorice, of Chiptiing Ongar, Essex,
has been presented to the Vicarage.ot Ash well, llerts, by.
the Bishop of London.

Wonderful Increase in Commercial and Literary
Intercourse.—lri 1728, the London Post arrived-one
day at Edinburgh with only one Sixpenny Londoa
letter, and that • was addressed to tht Postmastet-
General on office business. The arrival of the Petit
was then only once a fortnight, t10.44' it is six yin t
a week. The post then ernployefl ten days in tra.
veiling from London to Edinburgh, ti.ow it em
ploys only ['lift. Then the mails produced 110 re-
venue, or net profit to Government, but were raliei
a continued charge; but the revenue of the Post
Office in Scotland, for the year ending in April.
1812, was 85,7911. Hs. sd:

The AsSizes for Devonshire d;d not terininate:
until a late hour on Saturday night last ; and of
twelve that .received sentence of dea►h, tiact:
were left for execution, viz. Frederick Lustique , 3
French prisoner, for forgery , Ja►nes lkilliams for
assault and robbery; and Lawrence Lynch, private
of the Roscommon Militia, for uttering forgeci.
notes.

A carious circumstance took
:place at an A.,SiZfr
town last week. A learned sage of the law went to
pay a secret visit to a cyprian in the town, but till
lady being engaged with one of the grand jury, tins
learned gentleman was shewn into an -adjoining,
room. The grand juryman hearing a bustling
the room, mentioned the circumstance to the lady, •
who observed.that it-was a cat ; but he thought it
prudent to lock the door, and the learned gentle=
-man was in consequence several hours in confine-
ment, until the juryman departed. The affair has .
caused much tnetriment in the town.

BIRTHS. '
On Monday last, in Weymouth-street, the Lady of the
Hon. 1). M. Erskine, of a Daughter. •
On the 24th inst. at Richmond, the Hon. Mrs. Murray,
of a Son.

On Thursday, in Brunswick-squares the Lady of B. By les,
Esq. of a Son.
Yesterday, at the Goverimient-House, at Landguard Fort,
the Lady of Colonel C. A. West, Lieutenant.Govcrnor, of
a Daughter.
The same day, in Hans-place, the Lady pf Richard Creed,
Esq. of twins.