Page:An Account of Corsica (1769).djvu/57

Rh Nor ev'n the last sad gift, the wretched claim, The pile funereal, and the sacred flame. Nought here, alas! surrounding seas enclose. Nought but an exile, and an exile's woes.

He hath also vented his spleen against the place of his exile, in the same extravagant manner, in his books De Consolatione. But we must consider, that notwithstanding all the boasted firmness of Seneca, his mind was then clouded with melancholy, and every object around him appeared in rueful colours.

Corsica is, in reality, a most agreeable island. It had from the ancient Greeks the name of Kαλλιςη, Callista, on account of its beauty; and we may believe it was held in considerable estimation, since Callimachus places it next to his favourite Delus,

Next in the rank, Phoenician Cyrnus came, A fruitful isle, of no ignoble name.

It is charmingly situated in the Mediterranean, from whence continual breezes fan and cool it in summer, and the surrounding body of water keeps it warm in winter, so that it is one of the most