150 
mination which we have fo far made in 
a contrary direfion. © ae 
«¢ Fhat mafs which conceals from-us a 
portion of the north-weft, is the mountain 
of the Camaldulenfes, where pious re- 
clufes make vows of poverty in the midf& 
of abundance, and vows of continence in 
the bofom of voluptuoufoels. 
<©To the norta the fight is loft in thofe 
extenfive and {miling plains which have 
july deferved the appellation of Happy. 
The eye, fatigued by the numerous aipe- 
rities of the mountains, here repofes on 
the uniformity of the champaign. That 
road before us leads to Capua; that on 
the right to Caferta ; and that fill far- 
ther to the right to Benevento. All along 
thefe roads, and in the istervals between 
them, the vine married-to the elm, and 
nourifhed by a vigorous fap, overtops the 
trees by which it is fupported, and its 
amber branches are fufpended ta fefltoons 
beneath arches of verdure. The active 
fecundity of the earth is not however con- 
fined to this two-fold produce, and the 
grain of Ceres, which in every other re- 
gion requires the immediate afpect of the 
Sun, here grows and ripens under the fhade 
of the vinesand the elms. Nay even when 
the harvelt is over, the avaricious huf- 
bandman demands new benefits: he com- 
mits to this thrice fertile earth the feeds 
of vegetables, of pulfe, and other ufeful 
lants, of which he has fill time to ob- 
tain a crop before the fhort and flight 
frofts that take place in this favoured cli- 
mate. 
‘> Look st that hill cf a circular form 
which commands the plain, and breaks 
its uniformity ; that is what we call Capo 
di Monte. The edifice to which it ferves 
as a ba‘e is a royal habitation of elegant 
&rugture, which, rifing above a mafs of 
bufhy trees, refembles a magic palace, 
held fafpended by the hands of fiiries over 
a tuft of verdure enameled with flowers. 
«« Let us now turn our eyes towards the 
eaft. The firt objet that ftrikes. us is 
Veluvius. Like Parnaffus, it exhibits to 
us adouble peak ; that to the left is Som- 
ma, and the other to the right is the Vol- 
cano. The former is covered with’ ver- 
dure towards the north, but to the fouth 
it borrows the fable afpeGt of its tremen- 
dous neighbour, towards whicd it turas 
its concave fides, confumed and worn 
away by frequent eonflagrations. A vait 
mountain of a circular form ferves as a 
common bafe of Somma and of Veluvius: 
this bafe, which is twenty-four ftalian 
miles in circuit, is covered with wood, 
with, gardens, and elegzat buildings, 
Account of the Environs of Naples. 
[March f, 
Around its foot runs a continued gallery 
of towns and villages: St. John, Portici, 
Refina, Torre del Greco, Torre del  An- 
nunziata, and, many others. Below the 
fea prefents a new f{pe&tacle : numberlefs 
fhips and barks plough its waves in every 
direction. At the bottom of the moun- 
tain reign luxury, opulence, induftry, ac- 
tivity: atits top, lava, pumice-ftones, 
afhes, fcoria, are piled one upon another, 
and every thing exhibits the image of de- 
fruction. Lafily, above the fea, appear 
towns, the volcano with its flames, and 
the chain of the Appennines, rearing aloft 
its everlafting fhows, crowns the picture 
with the indentations of its filvery fum- 
mits. Sometimes when the eait wind 
biows on this coaft, the column of fmoke 
emitted by Vefuvius, inclining over the 
gulph, croffes it in the form of an arch, 
and again de{cends towards the region of 
Soltatara, das if to indicate the communi. 
cation which fubfifts between thefe two 
forges of Vulcan. 
‘«Jt is not only the richnefs of this 
picture, but likewife i's compofition, that 
is worthy of notice. To the eaft, a vol- 
cano pofleffing all its force, commanding 
a fertile plain, and commanded ittelf by 
meuntains on which reign eternal frofts ; 
to the welt, a volcano nearly extinguifhed, 
furrounded with ruins, lakes, and culti- 
vated hills ; to the fouth, the liquid ex- 
panfe from whole bofom rife delightful 
iflands ; to the north, a plain covered 
with corn, flowers, and fruits. Could the 
mof active imagination of the moft ac- 
complifhed painter have combined more 
beauties, more contraits, more objeéts, 
graceful, gloomy, {miling, impofing, ter- 
rific, and admirable ? ‘ 
«¢ But let us follow the coatt which 
trends away to the fouth-eaft : there for- 
merily flourifhed four celebrated towns, 
that were ingulphed. in one day by the 
eruption to which Pliny fell a viétim, 
What a tremendous {pettacle hiftcry pre- 
fentsus in one fhort fentence! Pompeia, 
Retina, Herculaneum, et Siabia, populo 
fcdente in theatro, defecere. How terribly 
laconic is the concluding word defecere ! 
<The town which you perceive in the 
angle formed by the bafe of Vefuvius, 
and the coaft that bears away to the fouth- 
welt, is Cadell’ a Mare, a haven and royal _ 
manfion, encompafled with a delightful 
country. Behind it rifes an enormous 
mountain : its fummit is crowsed by a 
{quare block, which feems to have been 
cut by the hand of man; or rather it ap- 
pears to be a coloffal altar, ereéted by 
time, and coniecrated to the fuperior dei- 
ties, 
a he ee 
