ITALY. LETTER XI. 133 



fmoke to one fide of the funnel, you enjoy from 

 the fummit of the mountain a moil extenfive no- 

 ble view. I had that pleafure, and drank to 

 your health a glafs of lacryma Chrifti\ an excel- 

 lent wine, growing upon the cinericeous fertile 

 hills, that are adjacent to the foot of the moun- 

 tain. I heard at feveral times under ground a 

 hollow tremulous found j this is more intenfe and 

 frequent before the eruptions, which arrive, and 

 are apprehended, rather after continual flrong rains 

 then in dry weather. Prof. Vairo at Naples has 

 allured me, that during the eruptions of Vefuvius 

 perpendicular iron bars are found to be ele&ric. I 

 flip over the furrbcating damps, which will be 

 defcribed this year by Mr. Bartoloni in Defcription 

 delle moffette del Vefuvio. 



I have noticed already, that the form of Ve- 

 fuvius is changed by every eruption ; and 

 particularly fo in the places of the eruptions. 

 Many old Poets and Hiftorians defcribe that 

 mountain as very fertile, and grown over with 

 wood. Hence it appears, that for many centu- 

 ries it ought to have been quiet without any erup- 

 tion (fee Magazine of Hantbrcugb, vol. ix.J ; and 

 that many more centuries, anterior to that time 

 of the Ancients, have been requiHte to rife it by 

 many fucceffive eruptions to its ancient form and 

 K 3. elevation, 



