AN ASCENT OF VESUVIUS. 



Double, double, toil and trouble ; 

 Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. 



Macbeth, Act iv. Scene 1. 



There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top 



Belch'd fire and rolling smoke ; the rest entire 



Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign 



That in his womb was hid metallic ore, 



The work of sulphur. Paradise Lost, I. 670. 



THE first thing which a traveller looks out for on his route towards 

 Naples is the smoke of Vesuvius; and during- his stay there, unless it 

 be very long and wearisome, he will every day go where he can catch 

 some view of the mountain, to see what appearances there are on its 

 summit, and to guess what sort of work is going on in its interior. 

 Vesuvius also, as seen from Naples, is a very attractive object. The 

 gentle inclination of its side and its double peak are both most elegant, 

 The blue sea lies before it ; at its base are the white houses and villas 

 of Portici ; higher up appear the vineyards ; and the w hole is crowned 

 by a pinnacle of curling smoke. From Pompeii and the eastern side 

 of the bay its appearance is very different. Only one peak is visible, 

 and that is stained and streaked with streams of lava, and looks like 

 a vast cauldron of boiling pitch. The cities which once were spread at 

 its base are now buried, and the vineyards which once crept up its 

 sides are scorched and destroyed. It stands more alone, and more 

 separated from any other mountain, than is generally represented in 

 the published engravings. The Appennines, which according to them 

 seem to touch it, stand far behind, and are separated by a consider- 

 able extent of plain. And its' whole form, character, and situation, 

 indicate its nature and origin. 



All mountains are delightful, from the variety of appearances they 

 present ; but Vesuvius, from its constitution, is necessarily more vari- 

 able than any other. Its smoke is generally quite white, and at a 

 very great distance, as at the Bay of Mola, might be taken for a 

 cloud hanging upon the brow of a hill. It assumes the most beautiful 

 changes of shade and direction, according as it is influenced by the 

 state of the atmosphere, the time of the day, or the strength of the 

 fire which is burning below. Sometimes it rises with a stem, and 

 forms a large body high up in the sky, so as to resemble a huge oak 

 tree ; sometimes the wind extends it through the air quite across the 

 bay, flickering and waving like a long streamer from the rnast head 

 of a battle-ship. One morning, when there had been a storm all 

 night, and the sky cleared and the sun came out about mid-day, 

 Vesuvius, when unveiled from the mists, had his cone covered with 

 snow up to the very edge of the crater, from which clouds upon 

 clouds of smoke would not rise, owing to the heaviness of the air, but 

 rolled tumbling down his side to the sea, and then floated gently 

 across the bay. At nig-ht, when there is a slight eruption, the peak is 

 M.M. No, 2. K 



