NERVI. 339 



in the Hotel Eden. Throwing wide the windows, I was 

 enchanted by the sublime outlook over land and sea. 

 For, though I have many times before beheld this scene, 

 it never fails to make an impression on me and stir my 

 inmost soul. How glorious is the world! And \'et how 

 dark can be the shadows that brood over it ! Below 

 me the garden was already in its spring splendour, and 

 the whole earth was resplendent in festal attire ; and 

 beyond stretched the endless, sapphire-blue sea. Here 

 was a profusion of colours : there a profusion of light. 

 Among the dark - green Palms and Orange trees and 

 silvery- gre)- Olives, gay Roses gleamed. The bright 

 Camellia bushes, in the garden across the road, bore 

 such numbers of blossoms that the place seemed 

 sprinkled with purple. 



We hasten down to the sea onto the splendid parade 

 of which Nervi is justly proud. The waves still dash 

 as of old against those rocks on which I had dreamt 

 away so many hours in b^•-gone years: the old Saracen 

 tower still keeps watch over the coast; and in the east 

 lies the picturestjue promontor\' of Portofino, bathed 

 in blue and flecked with gleaming white hamlets sunning 

 themselves on its slopes. 



We, too, have come here to sun ourselves. We 

 have been pining so long for more warmth, more light 

 and more colour. 



Very fair is this bay of Nervi with its fringe of ever- 

 green gardens, its background of steep and lotty moun- 

 tains, and the clear-cut promontory of Portofino standing 

 out so proudly into the sea. 



