-a noble hall, demolished in the thirteenth century, and replaced by the present comparatively tasteless building. That of S. Spirito is of a purer and simpler style; adorned with fine Corinthian pilasters, entablature, and cornice; encumbered with a superfluity of ornament, and wanting a softer colour to please the eye. That of S. Dominico Maggiore is remarkable for the tomb and bronze bust of the poet Marini, erected at the desire of Manso, the friend of Tasso and Milton, who left a bequest for the purpose. That of S. Filippo Neri is one of the finest churches in Naples, and famous for the number of ancient pillars that support its triple row of aisles on each side of the nave. That of S. Gaudioso, belonging to the Benedictine convent, contains the blood of St. Stephen, which, like that of Saint Januarius, liquefies annually on the day of the martyr's festival. That of S. Giovanni

But you must be tired, dear reader, and so am I. Let us have done with churches. If I should devote half a dozen lines to every one of the S. Giovannis, and Giocomos, and Gregorios, and Giorgios, and Gennaros, and Martinos, and Antonios, and Catarinas, and Augustinas, and Annunziatas, and Incoronatas, and Ascensiones, I fear you would never forgive me; and if I should add all the Marias, of which there are not less than thirty, surely I should ruin myself with all my readers. There are more than three hundred churches in Naples; and some of them, artistically considered, are of immense value; but religiously regarded, the African church in Nashville, or the basement of Trinity in Charleston, is worth a million of them!

The Royal Palace is a spacious and magnificent structure. Its front is five hundred feet long, and more than a hundred feet high. The columns and pilasters of its three stories exhibit three orders of architecture-the Doric, the Ionic, and the Composite. Its furniture is equal to that of any palace in Europe. One of its upper saloons has twelve of the largest mirrors in the world, simply empanelled in a delicate border. On the ground-floor is a suite wholly wainscotted with real frescoes and arabesques from Pompeii.

Capo-di-monte is the King's suburban villa. It occupies

an elevated site, strangely beautiful, upon the undermined crust of a tufo quarry, which has been artificially strengthened to support the superincumbent structure. The grounds are delightful, and there is an ilex-shaded avenue more than a mile in length. Its farm is said to supply the royal table, and send a surplus to the Neapolitan market. Its balconies afford refreshing views of the city and its environs. Its pictures are not despicable, especially those which relate to events in the national history. Particularly interesting is The Brave Girl of Gaeta,' who, after despatching the French sentry à la Jaël, spikes the guns with a store of ready nails from her apron, and then delivers over the fortress to her townsmen.

Occupying the highest point of a range of hills northwest of Naples, overlooking the city, and commanding a view of the bay, and many a scene immortalized by Livy and Virgil, stands a monastery, called the Camaldoli. Of course the ladies of our party were not permitted to enter the cloisters, and we preferred their company to that of the monks, and the view we enjoyed without must have been infinitely better than anything to be seen within. There were the bay and the sea, as blue as the azure above them; and there was the capital of the Two Sicilies, with the fine promontories of Posilipo and Misinum; and there was the modern representative of the town, where Paul, the prisoner, with Luke, his companion, first touched the Italian shore; and there were Avernus, and Lucrinus, and the Acheron, and the Elysian Fields, and the site of the beautiful Baiæ, and of Cumæ and Liturnum, and the two villas of the greatest of Roman orators; and there were the sweet islands of Nesida, Procida, and Ischia, with Capri beyond, lying like a great sphinx upon the water; and the Sorrentine coast, with its mountain crest, and its smiling cities; and Vesuvius sending up its vapoury column to the sky, like the fume of a mighty sacrifice; and the vast panorama of the Campania Felix, with its far-spreading vineyards and olive groves, and here and there a village gleaming out from the foliage, walled in by the purple Apennines. It was a scene to intoxicate the soul; and, in the satisfaction of the hour, we forgot the monks and the monastery, and all the little sorrow of life floated off into the blue ether above us.

CHAPTER XIV.

MOUNT VESUVIUS.

The Ascent-The Summit-Ancient condition-Grand Eruption of A. D. 79-Constant Changes-Other Eruptions-View from the Top-Descent-Various Impressions.

MOUNT VESUVIUS was in full view from our hotel; its dark swelling outline forming a grand pedestal for the column of cloud which stood upon its summit during the day, and which the night kindled into a pillar of fire. The sun had just risen above it, and hung tremulous in his lurid canopy, as if ready to fall back into the crater whence he seemed to have come, when we set forth on a visit to the volcano. Six miles from the city we rattled through the main street of Resina, with the palaces and temples of the buried Herculaneum eighty feet beneath our wheels. Here begins the ascent, where carriages are usually exchanged for horses and donkeys. Forty persons, at least, offered their services as ciceroni. Advertised of the impositions continually practised by these fellows, and desirous of obtaining the well-known veteran who has had the honour of conducting Baron Von Humboldt and many other scientific gentlemen, we inquired at once for Vincenzo Cozzolino. One of the crowd promptly replied, I am Cozzolino;' and our driver, who knew him well, promptly confirmed the declaration. Unwilling to take the word of either, we applied to a shopkeeper for further information. He pointed us to a sign across the street, where we had the good fortune to find the real Cozzolino at his breakfast. Cozzolino, the pretender, was now ready to furnish us with beasts, and in five minutes more we were mounted and on our way. cavalcade was a most ludicrous spectacle, climbing a steep and narrow alley in single file, a dozen men and boys belabouring the poor animals with clubs, and shouting and yelling like a whole tribe of Indians. This assistance was more than we had bargained for; and we had actually to

6

Our

beat the rabble off, before we could pursue our way in peace.

A rough ride of an hour and a half, by a gentle ascent, first through gardens and vineyards, and then over successive beds of lava, some of them only a few years old, brought us to the foot of the great cone. Here we left our animals, and began the ascent on foot. It was the steepest and roughest road I had ever travelled. The lava, which contracts in cooling, and breaks into a thousand fragments, has precisely the appearance of cinders from a furnace, only the masses are larger, and their sharp angles form as uncomfortable a pavement as can well be imagined. We saw other ladies carried up in chairs, each upon four men's shoulders, à la pope in Saint Peter's; but ours were American ladies, and declined all such assistance. We then advised, and even urged, that they should allow the guides to aid them with straps; but they stoutly resisted our importunity, and worked their way over the sharp masses with characteristic independence and energy. It was a long and toilsome effort; and ever and anon, as they paused for breath, our officious Italian friends would call out one to another, Signora é medza morta, Signorina é pronta di morire!' but our fair heroines pressed bravely on, literally panting for the summit, and insisting that their promenade was very pleasant; till their score of kind attendants, finding all their arguments and entreaties thrown away, forsook them, and returned in grievous disappointment to the foot of the cone. We were all under the necessity of stopping frequently to rest, and it was amusing to hear old Cozzolino urging us forward, with his mingled French, English, and Italian- Courage, Signora! Avante, Signorina! Allez, allez! Come along, Come along! The ascent occupied nearly two hours, and the whole company was sufficiently fatigued; but when near the summit we found a large mass of snow, which proved a delightful refreshment. We could not have had a more favourable day for our purpose; for the sky was perfectly clear, and a light breeze bore the vapour and ashes in the opposite direction, so that we breathed a pure atmosphere, and had an unobstructed view.

I shall never forget the moment when I first stood upon

the verge of the great crater, and looked down into the fierce caldron at my feet. It is a round hole in the top of the mountain, about three hundred feet deep, and something more in diameter. Its walls are perpendicular, and appear to consist of solid masses of sulphur. From the centre rises a black cone nearly to a level with the surrounding rim, precisely in the form of a funnel inverted in a tub. In the apex is an opening some twenty or thirty feet in width, puffing and blowing like fifty steam-engines, and pouring forth a tremendous volume of smoke. Occasionally the liquid mass is seen boiling and surging within, and ever and anon it flows over the edge, and rolls down the outside, like a stream of melted iron. At irregular intervals, varying from one minute to five, a grand explosion, like the blowing up of a Mississippi steamer, sends the red-hot stones five or six hundred feet above the summit; and these fall back into the glowing furnace, or come rattling down upon the sides of the cone. When these phenomena occurred, our old guide would clap his hands, and shout-❝ Bravo, bravo, Fra Diavolo!' and challenge his infernal majesty to a bolder demonstration. Indeed, he entered heartily. into the enthusiasm of the company, and seemed to enjoy the scene as much as any of us, though he had witnessed it a thousand times. Several black masses beneath our feet, he told us, had fallen there during the preceding night; but there was no danger now, for the wind was blowing in the other direction. He showed us two large stones, one of which, in falling, some time ago, had killed an American officer, and the other had broken the skull of an Englishman. He said he had attended Humboldt in twenty-seven visits to the mountain, during three months which the philosopher spent at Naples for this purpose. While we were there, an English party came up, under the guidance of the old man's son, some of whom ventured too near the brink to suit his ideas of prudence, and one of them, in spite of his admonitions, exposed himself to great danger, whereupon Cozzolino exclaimed-'Oh, he is an Englishman: he is a fool!'

Very near this crater is another, of about the same diameter, but not quite so deep, with a smaller cone near its western wall, whose action was similar to that of the