MISS COSTELLO'S TOUR TO AND FROM VENICE.

Tim present facilities in the way of travelling, which remove all obstacles to the locomotion of the " most delicate female or the most tender in- fant," coupled with a very sufficient supply to the demand for the striking facts of history, art, and natural wonders,- in. the form of guide-books, bid fair to render tours as stale and dull as the bulk of novels have become. So flimsy and nauseating they scarcely can be ; because the travellei must deal for the most part with actual things. The weather, the inns, the cookery, the company, even the sights and scenery, have so strong a basis of matter-of-fact, that Hibernian or American genius cannot alto- gether substitute its own conceptions for actual things. The very his- tory or legends derived at fourth or fifth hand from some compiler are founded on fact, and, what is of more consequence, are limited by cus- tom to a brief space; so that we are not called upon to bear the inven- tion of the tourist for a matter of three volumes. Still, the facilities of

rambling and the itch of publishing have reached a point which will in- duce people either to eschew tours, unless in the case of a country but

little visited or of some special capability in the writer; the first requisite excluding France, Italy, and Rhenish Germany, as well as the main lines of Syria, Egypt, and India. Miss Costello's Tour to and from Venice, including an outward pil- grimage amongst the Vaudois and a return visit to the Tyrol, is to be

placed in the category of commonplace travels, so far at least as matter is concerned ; and though the style is fluent, and exhibits the arts of a well-practised writer, its graces are too obviously artificial, not to say mechanical, to attract the reader. We see the bookmaker at work, though it is doubtless a clever hand, and with more original reading in middle-age literature than the common herd of archeology-mongers possess. The introductions, too, whether historical or legendary, are dis- missed with greater brevity than is usually the case ; so that they possess more of point and pith. Many, however, are sadly trite. Surely any- body who cares about the subject knows as much of the League of Cam-

bray, and its consequences to Venice, as Miss Costello can tell in a pas- sing allusion ; and "blind old Dandolo," or the misfortunes of Tasso, are as hacknied as anything well can be. Even were the subjects of her allusions fresher, she proceeds on a false principle. We need not travel to Italy to get up associations ; they can as well be invented at home.

Beyond that feeling which all experience at celebrated places, but which is too vague and dreamy for print, except in the "thoughts that breathe and words that burn" of a great poet, the interest of scenery depends upon its application by knowledge and judgment. What do we care for the oration of one of those sophists who would lecture Hannibal on the art of war, touching the mode of improving Canine, or the fancies of a littkrateur respecting the feelings of the combatants, from Consuls downwards? But we should be interested in a review of the field by a competent military critic. So it is with art. The mere feelings of a half-taught or untaught observer are "vox et preterea nihil " ; but we listen willingly to those who gaze on the triumphs of painting, sculpture, or Alpine engineering, with learned eyes.

There is Miss Costello's usual defect in those parts of the Tour to and from Venice which profess to describe existing things. The writing

is too fine, and there is too much of it. This failing, which is experienced in all her works, may seem more prominent in the present volume from the ground having been so often described. It is only when one happens to light upon some unobserved feature that her descriptions possess any

attraction of novelty, beyond what may be imparted by the style of the individual writer. As she possesses the experience of a travelling book-

maker with the eye of an accustomed observer, she often succeeds in making a point which others might miss. The following is a strange ex- ample of female vanity in the district of Lake Como.

" As I was sitting at my window on the terrace at the inn of Bellaggio, a young girl came to bring me a message, whom I detained in order to question her about her beautiful hair and its ornaments. I suggested that it must take a long

time every morning to arrange those spille round the head so carefully; but was answered that the eventoccurred only once a week, when an artist visited all the damsels who required his aid, and decorated them for the Sundays fete. I ex- claimed in amazement, that they must surely be injured and displaced if they were not removed at night; but my smiling informant assured me that they were very careful and never lay down on them, resting their heads on their hands while they slept.

" Anything more uncomfortable I could not conceive, and could scarcely after this information look at them without a painful sensation. This is indeed the very triumph of vanity, to sacrifice sleep and ease in a warm climate to appear- ance! and when one considers that every other part of the dress of these women is slovenly, the fact is more remarkable still."

Here is a picture of poverty amongst the pastors of the Vaudois. Some allowance must be made for Continental habits, as regards furniture and comfort, compared with those of England. "At Villar, we paid another unsuccessful visit to the house of a minister, who was absent, like many of his brethren, on a pastoral excursion: his housekeeper

did the honours of his simple cottage most cheerfully, and seldom could a picture

be presented of less sophisticated habits and manners. Here was no evidence of comfort or luxury, no easy chairs and velvet sofas, no elegant curtains and com- modious study-tables, like a parsonage-house in Eneand. The general arrange- meat of the Barbe's abode was more resembling the scanty conveniences of a Welsh curate of the Established Church in neglected Wales.

" We were shown into the parlour, a boarded apartment, without carpet, fur nished with three coarse hard chairs, and two deal tables, much marked with ink, but very clean; on one of these some German and French books and a pile of

papers were placed. There were shutters to the one window, but no curtains; and

there were large drawers to the largest table, which appeared to serve as cup- boards from the articles produced from them, namely, salt and knives. A tin tray, with sparkling water and glasses, was brought us, which was all we required, and all, probably, that could well have been given; and I imagined I detected a sigh of regret, and something like mortified hospitable feeling, as the goodnatnred

housekeeper placed this refreshment on her absent master's table. The kitchen and sleeping-rooms of the establishment were extremely neat, but as bare as economy could desire; yet there was an air of cheerfulness about the place, which showed that the good clergyman, who bears a very high character for benevolence towards the poor, was content in his simple domicile."

The following account of the splendour of Italian inns seems to us a new feature in a well-worn field. Has the march of upholstery crossed the Alps ?

"The splendour with which Italian inns are fitted up leaves Paris far behind: the immense size of the rooms and their loftiness is extremely impressive to a stranger accustomed to such dwellings in France; and I was of the number of

those who are greatly surprised by the first appearance of the first Italian hotel to which I had been introduced. The walls of the chamber which I chiefly occu- pied daring my stay were hung with blue darnasked satin with a golden border.

A small iron bedstead, beautifully worked, stood in a recess, shaded by white muslin curtains mixed with blue satin, with rich fringes. The bed-curtains

were of embroidered muslin and geranium-coloured cashmeer ; the white coverlet had two deep flounces of embroidery; crimson satin chairs with gilt backs alter- nated with blue fauteuils; a white marble chimney-piece, gay carpet, and inted

ceiling, completed the ensemble • and a window of huge dimensions opm into a balcony, from whence I could watch the goings-on below, where, in the piazza, men looked like mice from the height which our second floor was above them.

".The only thing in which Paris has the supremacy in furnishing is in the article of looking-glasses; for all here were small and poor, and contrasted as strangely

with the rest of the adornments as the rude iron handles of the locks and the ill- painted white doors."

The following picture of Italian courtesy contrasts forcibly with the churlishness of the Swiss.

" In the glare of a bright sun the little port of Como, in spite of its glassy water and its tower-crowned hills is far from attractive; and any attempt to walk along the margin of its pool is disappointing, for sheds for boat-building, besides litters innumerable, prevent all passing beyond a circumscribed limit, although, from the inn, we bad imagined a stroll would be charming. My companion wished to make a sketch of the harbour; but it was found difficult to select a spot sufficiently clean to allow of a few minutes' pause beneath the ruined, antique arcades opposite the water.

"Italian courtesy, which is always awake, would not permit our standing in the street; and the baker, his wife, and friend, at whose dingy portal we stopped, all interested themselves to procure us chairs. The action was the same as I had often met with in France; but the manner was characteristically different. There is none of that easy familiarity, mixed with wondering cunosity, among the

Italians, which one always meets with in the lively French. They are in courteous and obliging, but have more dignity and show more deference n their style of offering a civility: they are graver and more gentle, and do not intrude on those whom they make their temporary guests. • • " The drive was extremely pleasant for some time, the country finely culti- vated, and the scenery and productions still Italian; although the manners of the free people were quite different, their superiority manifesting itself in a cessation of the courtesy which we had so much admired of late.

" Not a peasant touched his hat or gave a glance of cheerful greeting: a Yankee rudeness singularly opposite to the careless independence of English freemen; made itself instantly felt; and I could not but regret that liberty, admirable in it- self; should disdain the polish which could only adorn its worth without injuring its purity in any way. "The morning was grey and damp, as some rain had fallen duringthe night; and when we took our stations on board the steamer, on the wet deck, we looked about for some stool or chair on which to place our feet. Having taken possession of two camp-stools, we turned them on their sides, and thus defended ourselves from the danger of catching cold by contact with the damp boards. A consequential- looking personage, gaily dressed, who bad been leisurely walking backwards and forwards among the few passengers, smoking his cigar which he unceremoniously puffed in every one's face as he passed, now approached us, and, with a frown, stooped down and snatched the stools from tinder our feet, exclaiming in an im- perative tone that they were to sit on and not for other purposes. " I remonstrated that the decks were wet; but the captain, for such our polite new Swiss acquaintance turned out to be, was inexorable. Our English attend- ant here came to the rescue, and insisted on some substitute being provided; re- marking somewhat sharply on the want of civility displayed."