CHAPTER X 
THE STARRY HEAVENS 
Many years ago I paid a visit to Naples, 
and ascended Vesuvius to see the sun rise from 
the top of the mountain. We went up to 
the Observatory in the evening and spent the 
night outside. The sky was clear; at our 
feet was the sea, and round the bay the lights 
of Naples formed a lovely semicircle. Far 
more beautiful, however, were the moon and 
the stars overhead; the moon throwing a 
silver path over the water, and the stars 
shining in that clear atmosphere with a 
brilliance which I shall never forget. 
For ages and ages past men have admired 
the same glorious spectacle, and yet neither 
the imagination of Man nor the genius of 
- Poetry had risen to the truer and grander 
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