1806.] 
pedeftrian, never was expreffion more ap- 
plicable. We pafled on our right the 
way that leads to the Carthufian convent, 
and on our left that which conducts tothe 
village of Attignano. We continued to 
afcend towards Fort St. Elmo, and at 
length arrived at the houfe of Signior 
C*** M***, where we were to dine. 
This houfe, though not very con{picuous, 
is molt favourably fituated for ferving in 
fome meafure as an obfervatory, and com- 
mands a view the molt magnificent and 
extenfive. It is itfelf of confiderable ele- 
vation, and is placed on the fummit of the 
mountain, on the declivity of which the 
city of Naples is fituated. Its roof, like 
all thofe in this country, ts flat, futround- 
ed with a balluftrade, and the horizon is 
open on every fide, excepting a fingle 
point, where the lofty mountain of the 
Camaldulenfes, intercepting the view, fets 
off the objects to the right and left of that 
dufky mafs. ; 
After dinner our Amphytrion took us 
to the terrace and faid ; ** Caft your eyes 
over this immenfe circle, and when you 
have recovered from. your furprife, we 
will endeavour to feparate the numerous. 
objects which prefent themfelves, to 
confider them individually. 
‘© To give you the meafure of the fur- 
face which is difplayed around you, firk 
obferve, toward the north-welt, that blue. 
ifh mountain, whofe foot is wafhed by the 
fea, and whofe fummit pierces the tkies : 
itis the mountain of Circe. It is more 
than thirty leagues diftant from us ; and 
the other elevation, which is nearer, is the 
promontory of Gaeta. That ball which 
feemis to rifeabove the fea, is an enormous 
circular tower, called by the people the 
Cattle of Orlando, but which is in fact 
the maufoleum of Minutius Plancus, as 
is attelted by the infcription that ftill ex- 
its. If you turn from this point of the 
horizon toward the eaft, among the nume- 
rous fummits of the Appenines, you will 
diftinguifh two more elevated than the 
reft, at as great a diltance: trom us as 
Monte Circello: they form the partition 
between the eaftern and weftern poriion of 
this divifion of Ttaly ; and were we ca- 
pable of tranfporting ourflves to their 
fummits, we thould behold at once the 
Adriatic Sea and the Gulph of Genoa. 
Toward the fouth other elevated points 
exhibit the fame vapour-like hue, and 
confequently are equally diftant. And, 
Jaftly, to the weft the vicw is bounded 
only by the circular line where the azure 
of the fea is blended with that of the hea- 
vens, The circle, of which we oecupy 
Account of the Environs of Naples. 
127 
nearly the centre, has therefore a radius 
of thirty leagues, and you may thence 
form fome idea of its fuperficies, But, 
quitting objects which are too remote, let , 
us confine ourfelyes to a theatre all the 
parts of which we may with eafe diflin- 
euith, 
<¢ Behold, beneath your feet, the city 
of Naples defcending in the form of an 
amphitheatre, and covering the brow of 
the mountain: one-kalf of this metropolis 
is ituated on the declivity of the hill 5 the 
other extends ‘o the fea, and bends to- 
wards the gulph, a portion of which it 
embraces. his gulph is ten leagues in 
length, and its breadth, gradually increaf- 
ing towards the fea, is three, four, five, 
or fix leagues. Notwithfanding its ex- 
tent, every object in it may be diftinctly 
perceived, which is owing fo the extraor- 
dinary purity of the air we breathe. That 
obtufe point which projects into the fea at 
the bottom of the city, 1s the Caftle of Ova, 
fo denominated -from its form. If, leav- 
ing this cattle, your eye follows the fhore 
that ftretches away toward the welt, you 
come to the Villa Reale, a promenade, 
fituated between the hills and the beach, 
and the road running parallel to it leads 
to the grotto of Paufilyopo. This Greek 
name is probably compofed of the two 
words pauo and lupe ; th eformer fienify- 
ing I put an end to, I relieve, and the fe- 
cond, pain, forrow, fatigue. Indeed 
this hill, fo celebrated for its fertility, its 
gardens, its country-feats, was well cal- 
‘culated co afford recreation from the la. 
bours, cares, and buttle of the city. 
«© That dark road, a thoufand paces in 
length and twelve feet broad, had former- 
ly .one equal elevation ; but having been 
led for more than thirty centuries, the 
foil, which is nothing more than harden. 
ed pozzuolana, a fpecies of turf, is fo worn 
away, that the road has funk confiderably, 
and travellers now fee over their heads the 
marks made in ancient times by the cha- 
riot-wheels' in the walls of the grotto. 
Strabo informs us, that, in his time, two 
carriages might conveniently pafs there. 
During the reign of Nero, there was nei- 
‘ther hole ner window for the admiffion of 
light, and the airentering only at the two 
extremities, this long gloomy cavern was 
always fuli of a yellow duft, dry, and al. 
moft impalpable. Seneca, who calls it the 
Neapelitan Crypt, fays, that in paffing 
through it he experienced the fate of the 
wrettlers, and that it is a long prifon, 
where nothing ts to be feen but darkne(s. 
This expreffion of Seneca proves that Mil. 
ton’s ** darknefs vifible” is not of fuch 
R2 moder, 
