a very remarkable aerial phenomenon, which is sometimes observed from the harbour of Messina and adjacent places, at a certain height in the atmosphere. The name, which signifies the Fairy Morgana, is derived from an opinion of the superstitious Sicilians, that the whole spectacle is produced by fairies, or such like visionary invisible beings. The populace are delighted whenever it appears; and run about the streets shouting for joy, calling everybody out to partake of the glorious sight.

This singular meteor has been described by various authors; but the first who mentioned it with any degree of precision was Father Angelucci, whose account is thus quoted by Mr Swinburne in his Tour through Sicily:

"On the 15th of August 1643, as I stood at my window, I was surprized with a most wonderful delectable vision. The sea that washes the Sicilian shore swelled up, and became, for ten miles in length, like a chain of dark mountains; while the waters near our Calabrian coast grew quite smooth, and in an instant appeared as one clear polished mirror, reclining against the aforesaid ridge. On this glass was depicted, in chiaro scuro, a string of several thousands of pilasters, all equal in altitude, distance, and degree of light and shade. In a moment they lost half their height, and bent into arcades, like Roman aqueducts. A long cornice was next formed on the top, and above it rofe cælestes innumerable, all perfectly alike. These soon split into towers, which were shortly after lost in colonnades, then windows, and at last ended in pines, cypresses, and other trees, even and similar. This is the Fata Morgana, which for 26 years I had thought a mere fable."

To produce this pleasing deception, many circumstances must concur, which are not known to exist in any other situation. The spectator must stand with his back to the sea, in some elevated place behind the city, that he may command a view of the whole bay; beyond which the mountains of Messina rise like a wall, and darken the background of the picture. The winds must be hushed, the surface quite smoothed, the tide at its height, and the waters pressed up by currents to a great elevation in the middle of the channel. All these events coinciding, as soon as the sun surmounts the eastern hills behind Reggio, and rises high enough to form an angle of 45 degrees on the water before the city, every object existing or moving at Reggio will be repeated 1000 fold upon this marine looking-glass; which, by its tremulous motion, is as it were cut into facets. Each image will pass rapidly off in succession as the day advances, and the stream carries down the wave on which it appeared. Thus the parts of this moving picture will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. Sometimes the air is at that moment so impregnated with vapours, and undisturbed by winds, as to reflect objects in a kind of aerial screen, rising about 30 feet above the level of the sea. In cloudy heavy weather, they are drawn on the surface of the water, bordered with fine prismatic colours.

To the above account we shall add the following, given by M. Houel, whose judgment and veracity render his authority highly respectable. "In fine summer days, when the weather is calm, there rises above the great..."