fire in the air, and on the ground, which is of course impossible in the sunlight; and the reflection of the flames upon the smoke and the hills made it seem as though we were in an atmosphere of fire..... Day broke at last, and the rising of the dawn upon the black column of smoke behind us gave it a very fearful and ghastly colour....... About this time I twice distinctly saw the volcanic lightning traversing this column of smoke perpendicularly."

The writer observed the formation of several new craters during the following days, all attended with similar phenomena; but with no distinctly new features. On another day he visited the lava stream, of which he gives the subjoined account.

:

"Across the road, where the bridge was carried away, was a hill of lava, at least a hundred feet high. The lava stream had completely destroyed two large estates near this spot, consisting of vineyards and nut orchards valued respectively at £15,000 and £20,000...... The foot of the stream was now at least ten kilometres from the craters, and not less than two kilometres broad, (having spread out over the level land) and was travelling fast through beautifully cultivated ground towards the river Alcantara. It was strange to see how slowly it seemed to move, and yet in a short time it had covered several feet. It was quite black by daylight, except where the crust cracked or pieces fell off, when we could see it white hot inside. All the horrors of the eruption met our eyes here the lovely flowers and trees being slowly overwhelmed by the smoking black mass: the contrast was fearful! A few feet from the lava the bees were collecting their honey, and the birds singing in the bushes two doves, frightened out of an almond tree at our approach, attempted to fly over the lava, but were caught by the smoke and gases, and after circling wildly for a few moments fell in and were burnt; an hour after the almond tree was on fire......The same afternoon we had a slight sprinkling of rain, which passing through the fine black ash, descended as a shower of ink."

The foregoing passages give some idea of the horrors and dangers of Etna when in eruption; though all words must of necessity be inadequate to describe the stupefying effects of such great convulsions of

nature.

The superstitions of the Sicilians have naturally woven a mass of fantastic legends round the mountain many of them of the wildest description. In very early times it was thought to be the prison of the

giant Enceladus, and mediæval piety assigned it as the place of punishment of Anne Boleyn, who was said to lauguish there in eternal torment, as a retribution for having tempted Henry VIII. from his allegiance to the Roman Church. How strange it seems to find the memory of an English Queen preserved in such a place and in such a manner. One Latin author speaks of Etna as the forge of Vulcan; and from the earliest times writers have supposed that there is a connection between this mountain and Vesuvius, from the fact that when either of them is in a state of eruption, the other always remains quiescent. Many have been the expedients for averting the danger of the lava. Even as late as the eruption of 1886 there was a solemn procession from the village of Nicolosi, when the Bishop of Catania displayed the veil of Santa Agata before the approaching stream. Three days afterwards the lava ceased flowing within a few yards of the first houses of the village. The Sicilians call the mountain Mongibello, a curious mixture of the Italian 'Monte' and the Arabic 'Djebel,' both of which have the same signification.

J. D. ERRINGTON LOVELAND.

A WORD ABOUT ROOMS.

In the furnishing and decoration of a room there should be above all things individuality. Its owner should be reflected in everything—in the colouring of the walls, the pictures hanging up on them, in the character and the arrangement of the furniture.

A room thus bearing the impress of the man or woman who lives it in is rarely displeasing, and even if it is in bad taste it will give less annoyance than one furnished by estimate, or one on which several different persons have endeavoured to stamp their various ideas. The room that is arranged by a single individual will invariably be consistent.

Then again there should be no regard shown for fashion, and that colossal vulgarity, "the latest thing." Nor should the tastes of Lady Jones and Mrs. Smith (always so generously willing to advise) be taken into account, when the room will be lived in by ourselves and only have the honour of receiving Lady Jones and Mrs. Smith as occasional visitors.

If people would only furnish their rooms on purely selfish principles, merely with a view to pleasing their own taste and their idea of comfort, their friends would probably derive far more pleasure from them, whereas those that are arranged to meet all tastes are often the cause of unbounded suffering to the unfortunates who are not as colourless as the owners of such apartments.

One great secret in being really successful is to do everything yourselfthis of course does not apply to painting, papering, and the like. No upholsterer can hang a picture, put up a drapery, or arrange china. It is not in them. If you allow them to do this for you your room savours of the shop at once, and loses its individuality.

Then with regard to drawing-rooms. A drawing-room will never look pleasing or natural unless it is lived in-once let the morning-room usurp its place-once make it a kind of solemn Temple for the grand piano, and

it becomes a cold unsympathetic place, avoided by the family of the house and a terror to shuddering visitors. It would be better to leave it unfurnished.

If the furniture is old-fashioned and ugly, some people make matters worse by mixing with it the "latest things" from Liberty and Maples. The result is most unpleasant, and tends to make the old furniture look sulky, and give the new things a swaggering appearance, as if they were perpetually boasting of their youth and good looks. This mixture is much used and admired by the blind followers of Lady Jones and Mrs. Smith.

Then again people fill their rooms with so much rubbish, not because they like rubbish, but with a desire to have the same rubbish as their friends. Here individuality would save them, and they would decline everything that did not appeal to their own sense of what is beautiful and useful.

Our rooms are not bazaars—or rather should not be-but places where we gather together things dear to us from association, or that minister to our rest and pleasure.

It is better to have a bare room with one real work of art in it than a maze of tottering tables and be-cushioned chairs, and the air thick with the worst possible decorations, made to meet the ever-standing demand for what is wrong and bad.

"Learn to do without" is the cry of a man who has of late years done much to beautify our homes. "If you cannot have a real work of art don't be satisfied with an imitation."

CECIL CROFTON.

AUTUMN.

THE tall acacia bends its head,
And holds its drapery fast;
But many a tattered gaud is shed

In the equinoctial blast.

And, "oh, these terrible winds!" it said;

Autumn cometh last.

Struggling, fluttering, sorely pressed,
Like a child in a fit of fear :-

A child in a wild storm, gaily dressed,
Vexed in the wind's career,

'Twas, "Oh, that the gales would sink to rest, Though they herald Winter drear!"

"WE shall abate when your leaves are shed, "And your pomp of life laid low;

"To strip the branch, uncrown the head, "And scatter the seed, we blow:

"And to lull you to sleep, while your seeds, wide spread,

"Germinate and grow."

J.W.M.