LIFE IX AX ISLAND. 77 



much loveliness, widening out at Baise, casting forth 

 sweet headlands here and there to secure its posses- 

 sions, finally stretching into the lower heaven of sea, 

 the lingering Cape of Messina. Even there it seems 

 the admiring earth cannot have enough of it, but, 

 dropping Procida humbly by the shore, like an 

 apology, goes out rejoicing to another mountain - 

 head, and there breaks off in a climax, unable to 

 exert herself further. All this we have in daily 

 vision, uninterrupted, except by mists and clouds, 

 which often add more beauty than they take away, 

 from our island at the other arm of the bay. And 

 not only this, but on the other side the noble Sor- 

 rento promontory, and the low shadowy coast yonder 

 under Vesuvius, where Pompeii keeps funeral watch 

 over her dead. If there is any nobler combination 

 in the world, imagination, being overtasked, cannot 

 conceive of it. This is what we contemplate from 

 Capri in the blaze of the early summer, in its fresh 

 morning tints, in its sunset splendours, in grand 

 apparel of cloud and storm, in ineffable fulness of 

 peace. So that it is no common lot to begin with, 

 to live thus suspended midway between heaven and 

 the sea on this divine island, from which, if one's 

 ears were but sharp enough, one might still hear 

 out to seaward the terrible sweetness of the Siren's 

 song. 



The holiday travellers who traverse Switzerland in 

 crowds, or who make an annual rush through Ger- 



