We staid at Corfu only as long as the weather obliged us; and as the strong, south wind which prevented our departure brought almost continual rain, we consequently saw little of the neighbourhood, and Corfu presents few antiquities. There are some faint traces of the ancient Corcyra, and in its neighbourhood we observed a singular Doric capital, the projection of the ovolo being equal to the upper semidiameter of the column; it is of small dimensions. We also observed a pilaster capital, corresponding in size with that of the column, which put me in mind of some of those at Pæstum. I have no doubt that these fragments are antique, but on the precise degree of antiquity I do not pretend to decide. The port remains; a beautiful lake, surrounded with every charm of cultivation, wood and mountain, but very shallow, and its borders are said to be highly unwholesome. Sharpe and I dined sometimes at the English tavern, and so completely had we become used to Italian customs, that it seemed quite strange to us to eat out of blue ware, to have soup, with only a little vermicelli at the bottom, instead of being almost filled with it, to have fish follow the soup, a little glass for the wine, iron forks, and to have them and the knives changed with each change of plate. This is I imagine not an ancient custom in England, for some passages in Swift seem to indicate that it was by no means a regular practice in his time. We were told that we should find this tavern very dear, yet soup, fish, duck, shrimps, pudding, wine, and fruit, cost only half a crown a head, though dressed at our own time; a privilege we have not been able to obtain of late either for love or money. At the Italian trattoria a dinner cost 2_s._ 1_d._, which is dearer in proportion, both in the quality of food, and the conveniences afforded.