Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/382

398 and uncommon, and every thing as perfectly well-kept, and as fresh, as if in an eternal spring. My young attendant seemed amused by my delight over the plants, and my knowledge of many of them. He made me a bouquet of the most beautiful flowers.

But the young son of Adam found it, however, wearisome in this paradise, because he dwelt there alone, without Eve, and without visitors. When I asked him whether the time did not sometimes seem long in this solitude, the whole year round,

“Ah securo!” replied he. “Nobody comes here; all the strangers go to Isola Bella. If one were married, however, one could live here very pleasantly; but il Conte will only have unmarried servants!” And he sighed.

Nightingales, by numbers, sing here in the spring, whilst the carnelias are in blossom, and the roses fill the air with their perfume. What a residence this for the honeymoon! I wonder that no rich Englishman has thought of it for his bridal tour.

The castle, or residence, on Isola Madre, is uninhabited, and does not seem intended for a place of abode; yet it has some large and handsome rooms, which afford far more extensive and more beautiful views, than can be had from Isola Bella.

The island lies nearly in the centre of the lake, and has been the largest cultivated, as it is also the largest of the Borromean islands, whence its name,—Isola Madre. The island of St. Giovanni is merely grass-ground and some vineyards. Isola dei Piscatori is wholly covered with small and ugly fishermen's huts.