DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0244
216
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. V.
along·, give it a very magnificent appearance,
and entitle it to the pompous appellation of
Fluviorum Rex; if, as Addison justly observes,
its pre-eminence be confined to the rivers of Italy.
Though inferior to the Rhine or Danube in the
extent of country it waters, it certainly surpasses
the former, and equals the latter, at least atVienna,
in its immense surface. Its waters very different
from the sea-green colour of the Mincio,were thick
and yellow with mud ; its banks are low, and the
country around flat; hence its frequent and ex-
tensive inundations. Its borders are lined with
trees and villages, and pleasing, though by no
means picturesque. As the Po is a truly classic
river, we walked tor some time on its banks with
great satisfaction, and recalled to mind various
passages in Virgil, Ovid, Vida, &c. in which its
name occurs. We then returned to Governolo,
and as we passed through, visited and admired
its beautiful church, which, unfortunately, owing
to the poverty of the inhabitants, occasioned by
the French invasion, has never been fitted up and
furnished for divine service. We were then drawn
up the river by our boatmen, and arrived at
Mantua about five. *
* I thought it necessary to enter into very minute details
in describing the banks of the Mincio, as they are very little
known, notwithstanding the poetical fame of the river.
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. V.
along·, give it a very magnificent appearance,
and entitle it to the pompous appellation of
Fluviorum Rex; if, as Addison justly observes,
its pre-eminence be confined to the rivers of Italy.
Though inferior to the Rhine or Danube in the
extent of country it waters, it certainly surpasses
the former, and equals the latter, at least atVienna,
in its immense surface. Its waters very different
from the sea-green colour of the Mincio,were thick
and yellow with mud ; its banks are low, and the
country around flat; hence its frequent and ex-
tensive inundations. Its borders are lined with
trees and villages, and pleasing, though by no
means picturesque. As the Po is a truly classic
river, we walked tor some time on its banks with
great satisfaction, and recalled to mind various
passages in Virgil, Ovid, Vida, &c. in which its
name occurs. We then returned to Governolo,
and as we passed through, visited and admired
its beautiful church, which, unfortunately, owing
to the poverty of the inhabitants, occasioned by
the French invasion, has never been fitted up and
furnished for divine service. We were then drawn
up the river by our boatmen, and arrived at
Mantua about five. *
* I thought it necessary to enter into very minute details
in describing the banks of the Mincio, as they are very little
known, notwithstanding the poetical fame of the river.