92 PROSE HALIETJTICS. 



screaming their angry disappointment as the opaque 

 waveSj hiding their prey, roll on to envelope the Castle 

 of St. Uovo in foam, or scaling the high walls of Chiato- 

 moni, pour a deluge of all things base over the lava flags 

 of the causeway. In summer, though the waters are less 

 filthy in hue, they are, in consequence of the heat, more 

 oppressively offensive than in winter; and the rank 

 smells exhaled are frequently so overpowering, that the 

 pedestrian who has been waiting tiE evening to indulge 

 in a marine stroll, and to catch, as he had hoped, the 

 breeze off the sea, is fain to change his route, and in spite 

 of the beauty of the scene and the brightness of the 

 sail-specked horizon, to retrace his steps over the heated 

 pavement of the town in preference. If to walk along 

 the shore be disagreeable, to bathe from it is still more 

 so. The King not only asserts his prerogative over the 

 fish of the bay, but he monopolizes its clean water also ; 

 autocrat of every drop of brine that flows between Na- 

 ples and Syracuse, he is 



Monarch of all lie surveys, 

 His right there is none to dispute ; 

 Folk and fishes submit to his sway, 

 And he claims e'en the sea, like Canute. 



By his edict sea-water that has no scum upon it may not 

 be carried on shore without an express order specifying 

 accurately the number of gallons to be ceded to the ap- 

 plicant,* which may not be transgressed. A black line 



* We were first made acquainted with these restrictions when, 

 intending to take a hot salt bath, our barca/role received orders to 

 fiU it: on plunging in, and finding the steaming stinking bUge- 

 water more fetid than the fish-brine in which inland rheumatics 

 were wont to lie and soak their skins in Pliny's day, the next 

 step was to spring still faster out and hurry as soon as possible 

 to the shore, to inquire whence the atrocious water had been 

 brought. 'JSccola, Signore,' said the unabashed boatman: growing 

 somewhat irate at this cool announcement, a water-guard witness- 



