7iJ Hl&fOltV Of 



tins the worst, for, as all places are covered over, many caverns 

 a I e entirely hidden from the sight, into which, if the inquirer 

 Happens to fall, lie sinks to the bottom, and meets inevitable 

 destruction. Upon coming to the edge of the great crater, no- 

 cliing can sufficiently represent the tremendous magnificence of 

 the scene. A gulf two miles over, and so deep that no bottom 

 can be seen ; on the sides pyramidical rocks starting out between 

 apertures that emit smoke and fiame ; all this accompanied with 

 a sound that never ceases, louder than thunder, strikes the bold 

 with horror, and the religious with veneration for him that has 

 power to control its burnings." 



In the descriptions of Vesuvius or Hecla, we shall find scarce- 

 ly any thing but a repetition of the same terrible objects, but 

 rather lessened, as these mountains ai'e not so large as the former. 

 The crater of Vesuvius is but a mile across, according to the 

 same author ; whereas that of JEtna is two. On this particular, 

 however, we must place no dependence, as these caverns every 

 day alter ; being lessened by the mountain's sinking in at one 

 f'ru])tion, and enlarged by the fury of another. It is not one ol 

 the least remarkable particulars respecting Vesuvius, that Pliny 

 the naturalist was sufl^ocated in one of its eruptions ; for his 

 curiosity impelling him too near, he found himself involved in 

 smoke and cinders when it was too late to retire ; and his com- 

 panions hardly escaped to give an account of the misfortune. 

 It was in that dreadful eruption that the city of Herculaneum 

 was overwhelmed ; the ruins of which have lately been discovered 

 at sixty feet distance below the surface, and, what is still more 

 remarkable, forty feet below the bed of the sea. One of the 

 most remarkable eruptions of this mountain was in the year 

 1707, which is finely described by Valetta ; a part of whose 

 description I shall beg leave to translate. 



" Towards the latter end of summer, in the year 1707, the 

 mount Vesuvius, that had for a long time been silent, now be- 

 (^an to give some signs of commotion, lattle more than inter 

 iial murmurs at first were heard, that seemed to contend within 

 tlie lowest depths of the mountain ; no flame, nor even any 

 fcmoke, was as yet seen. Soon after some smoke appeared by 

 day, and aflame by night, which seemed to brighten all the cam- 

 [lania. At intervals, also, it shot ofl^ substances with a sound 

 very like that of artillery, but which, even at so great a distance 



