98 PEOSE HAI/IEUTICS. 



put themselves under cover from its violence. Clouds 

 muster with inconceivable rapidity, and come trooping 

 up from the south-east, tiU they form a serried, black 

 phalanx over Baise, and proceeding vid PozzuoH and 

 Ischia, extinguish the stars and moon, and eclipse even 

 the glare of Vesuvius, making the waters dark and the 

 night hideous. Hark ! it is coming now in earnest, and 

 we happily are at home. That was not the rumble of a 

 carriage along the MargeUina, nor the report of distant 

 fire-arms, but the muffled growl of the approachiug tem- 

 pest, the surcharge of that distended mass of discord 

 which now fills the whole sky ; the great battle between 

 heaven and earth is at hand, and there is a dreadful 

 pause before the first broadside is launched over the 

 ghastly flood. Sometimes a rapid prelude of lightning, 

 with a roll of muffled thunder, precedes the great out- 

 break ; then down it comes irresistibly, booming over 

 the grotto of Pausilippo, shaking the houses along the 

 shore, re-echoing from the heights of St. Elmo, and 

 making the cannon of the Castel dell' Uovo uneasy in 

 their breachings. How abruptly the cats have ceased to 

 caterwaul under our terrace ! no wandering dog any 

 longer bays the eclipsed moon, nor stays to bark at the 

 unfrequent passenger ; every other sound is either hushed 

 or absorbed in the terrible voice of the storm ; and once 

 begun, there is no pause in its violence. Thunderiugs, 

 more and more loud, come at shorter intervals, and its 

 red artillery, more and more dazzlingly bright, appears 

 to penetrate through the opacity of aU things. 'Tis vain 

 to close our eyes, and try to shut it out ; the lightning 

 flames in at the smallest chiuk of the shutters, revealing 

 our coward countenances to one another's observation. 

 Anon a few drops begin to patter against the window, 

 and the assembled party, breathing more freely, hail the 

 famUiar sound; the raiu iacreases, and is soon heard 

 rushing down in torrents. Hopes are now entertaiued 



