Page:An Account of Corsica (1769).djvu/72

62 too eager hopes of seeing Corsica an Athens, as well as a Thebes.

Corte is situated part at the foot, and part on the declivity of a rock, in a plain surrounded with prodigious high mountains, and at the conflux of two rivers, the Tavignano and Restonica. It hath a great deal of rich country about it, and a wonderful natural strength, being hemmed in by almost impassable mountains and narrow defiles, which may be defended with a handful of men, against very large armies.

Upon a point of the rock, prominent above the rest, and on every side perpendicular, stands the castle or citadel. It is at the back of the town, and is almost impregnable; there being only one winding passage to climb up to it, and that not capable of admitting more than two persons abreast. Thuanus thus describes it: 'Curiae arx faxo sere undique praempto imposita, The castle of Corte placed upon a rock, broken and ragged almost on every side.' In the year 1554, it was in possession of the French. A Capitaine la Chambre betrayed it, for which he was afterwards hanged at Marseilles. The same historian inform us, that after