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; 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 forty to a hundred tons, are continually employed in exporting the iron from this mine. The two principal towns are Porto Ferrajo, on the northern, and Porto Longone, on the south-eastern coast. The former was founded by Cosmo, the first Duke of Florence, after whom it was for a time called Cosmopoli, but afterwards Ferrajo, from the quantity of iron found in its vicinity. Its harbour is safe, commodious, and well defended; the population is about three thousand. The religion of Elba is Romish, and Priests abound. The character of the inhabitants is rated somewhat higher than that of their continental neighbours. They are said to be grave, but credulous and ignorant. It is evident that Elba possesses what have been sometimes briefly called great capabilities: but it is as evident that there, as elsewhere, those capabilities require, for their due and advantageous improvement, a population truly enlightened, and truly free; such a population as Papal Rome is neither in the habit of training up herself, nor of allowing to be trained up by others, where by force or fraud she can prevent it. Elba, however, is principally remarkable for having once been the seat of imperial government. On the restoration of the Bourbons to the throne of France in 1814, Bonaparte, retaining the imperial title, was allowed to retire to Elba, which he was to hold for his life in full sovereignty. Accordingly, on the 28th of April, 1814, at eleven at night, he embarked on board the British ship, The Undaunted, Captain Usher, under a salute of twenty-one guns, for his new empire, about sixty leagues off, in a south-easterly direction; and on the 4th of May he landed in form, the people welcoming him with many shouts; for though he had been unpopular among them as Emperor of France, they anticipated considerable advantages from his residence among them as their own Sovereign. At first, while the novelty of his situation remained, and no prospect appeared of regaining what he had lost, the Emperor of Elba seemed to be not uncomfortable. One thing deserves note. Soldier of the Revolution as he was, |