DOMO D'OSSOLA.

Now the scene is changed,

And on Mont Cenis, o'er the Simplon winds

A path of pleasure.

ROGERS.

THE traveller who intends to enter Italy by the Simplon, after leaving Viêge usually passes through Brigg, one of the most considerable towns of the Haut Valais, situated opposite to the base of the Simplon. The route of the Simplon, with its wonderful road, passing through excavated mountains, and over precipitous valleys, has been so frequently described, that a repetition of its marvels and its beauties may well be spared. The road is one of the few really noble monuments which Napoleon has left of his reign. It was commenced in 1801, and occupied upwards of three years in the completion, affording employment to 30,000 men. Fifty bridges are thrown over the valleys and precipices, and five galleries are hewn through the solid rock, the largest of which is nearly seven hundred feet in length.

Having ascended through the wild and magnificent scenery of the Simplon, the eager traveller at length beholds the fair plains of Italy spread before him:

But now 'tis past,

That turbulent chaos; and the promised land

Lies at my feet in all its loveliness!

To him who starts up from a terrible dream,

And, lo! the sun is shining, and the lark
Singing aloud for joy, to him is not
Such sudden ravishment, as now I feel
At the first glimpses of fair Italy.

The first view of Italy from the Simplon cannot fail to delight the traveller. He beholds, spread out before him, the beautiful Val d'Ossola, enclosed by sweeping hills, crowned with verdure, and speckled with picturesque villages, and with mansions embosomed in the trees. In the distance lies the town of Domo d'Ossola, so called from its containing the principal church, or duomo of the valley. It is a small, but populous commercial town, much frequented by the small merchants of Milan and of Switzerland. The environs of the town are laid out in meadows, or planted with vines, frequently supported by little pillars of granite.

Evelyn has left an amusing account of his passing the Simplon. "This night, through almost inaccessible heights, we came in prospect of Mons Sempronius, now Mount Sampion, which has on its summit a few huts and a chapel. Approaching this, Capt. Wray's water-spaniel (a huge filthy cur, that had followed him out of England) hunted a herd of goats down the rocks into a river made by the melting of the snow. Arrived at our cold harbour (though the house had a stove in every room), and supping on cheese and bread, with wretched wine, we went to bed in cupboards so high from the floor, that we climbed them by a ladder. We were covered with feathers, that is, we lay between two ticks stuffed with them, and all little enough to keep one warm. The ceilings of the rooms are strangely low for those tall people.

The house was now, in September, half covered with snow; nor is there a tree or bush growing within many miles. From this uncomfortable place we prepared to hasten away the next morning, but as we were getting on our mules, comes a huge young fellow, demanding money for a goat, which he affirmed that Capt. Wray's dog had killed; expostulating the matter, and impatient of staying in the cold, we set spurs, and endeavoured to ride away, when a multitude of people being by this time gathered together about us (for it being Sunday morning, and attending for the priest to say mass), they stopped our mules, beat us off our saddles, and disarming us of our carbines, drew us into one of the rooms of our lodging, and set a guard upon us. Thus we continued prisoners till mass was ended, and then came half a score grim Swiss, who taking on them to be magistrates, sate down on the table, and condemned us to pay a pistole for the goat, and ten more for attempting to ride away, threatening, that if we did not pay it speedily, they would send us to prison, and keep us to a day of public justice, where, as they perhaps would have exaggerated the crime, for they pretended we had primed our carbines, and would have shot some of them (as, indeed, the captain was about to do), we might have had our heads cut off, as we were told afterwards, for that amongst these rude people, a very small misdemeanor does very often meet that sentence. Though the proceedings appeared highly unjust, on consultation among ourselves we thought it safer to rid ourselves out of their hands, and trouble we were brought into, and therefore we patiently laid down our money, and with fierce countenances had our mules

and arms delivered to us; and glad we were to escape as we did. This was cold entertainment, but our journey after was colder, the rest of the way having been, as they told us, covered with snow since the creation; no man remembered it to be without and because by the frequent snowing the tracks are continually filled up, we pass by several tall masts, set up to guide travellers, so as for many miles they stand in ken of one another like to our beacons."

Since the peace, the Simplon has been tracked by an endless succession of English travellers:

If up the Simplon's path we wind,
Fancying we leave this world behind,

Such pleasant sounds salute one's ear,

As-" Baddish news from 'Change, my dear

The funds (phew, curse this ugly hill)

Are lowering fast-(what, higher still?)

And (zooks, we 're mounting up to heaven!)
Will soon be down to sixty-seven."